Hong Kong: More anti-rodent efforts set

The Food & Environmental Hygiene Department today announced that it will launch an eight-week anti-rodent operation in target areas of various districts on May 2.

In view of the fruitful results of the previous anti-rodent operations in designated areas, the department will conduct two rounds of the operation this year.

The first round will be carried out in target areas in Central & Western and Southern Districts, Tsuen Wan, Tai Po, Wong Tai Sin and Kowloon City to cover more rodent black spots, including those in public markets and municipal services buildings, hawker bazaars and rear lanes adjacent to food premises.

Thermal cameras will be used to detect rodent activities and dispersal routes in devising rodent prevention and control work.

Relevant government departments and housing estates have been asked to adopt rodent prevention and control strategies. Letters were also sent to owners' corporations and property management companies to give advice on such work.

In response to recent reports, the department said the mere dividing of the overall expenditure on pest control by the number of rodents trapped cannot fully and truly reflect the effectiveness of its rodent control work.

In addition to trapping and poisoning, rodent control work includes routine inspection of rodent black spots, taking enforcement actions, conducting joint inspections, providing technical support for various departments and organisations, carrying out publicity and education work as well as following up on complaints, it explained.

The department emphasised that it has been closely monitoring the performance of pest control services contractor staff and if a contractor's performance is found to be unsatisfactory upon inspections, it will take action in accordance with the current sanction mechanism.

This story has been published on: 2022-04-29. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Vietnam, Oman sign agreement on visa exemption

Vietnam and Oman have sealed an agreement on visa exemption for bearers of diplomatic, special and official passports.















Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Quang Hieu. (Photo: VNA)



The pact was signed by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Quang Hieu and Omani Ambassador to Vietnam Saleh Mohamed Ahmed Al Sagri in Hanoi on April 28.



After the agreement takes effect, Vietnamese and Omani citizens holding diplomatic, special and official passports valid in at least six months will be granted a visa-free entry, stay, transit and exit within 90 days from the date of entry.



Those who want to stay for more than 90 days must carry out necessary procedures requesting the competent authorities to issue a visa for them within 90 days from the date of entry.



The signing of the agreement plays an important role in the development of relations between the two countries, creating favourable conditions for the exchange of delegations, and cooperation in economy, trade, and tourism.
By Azernews





The fire that broke out in the Azersun Industrial Park in Sumgayit, 30 km of the capital Baku, was extinguished at 0824 (GMT +4) on April 29 as a result of operational measures, Azerbaijan's Emergencies Ministry has said.

The ministry's State Fire Service and the Civil Defence Troops, the relevant forces of the Sumgayit Regional Center, and two helicopters of the aviation detachment were involved in extinguishing the fire. Urgent measures were being taken to prevent the fire from spreading over a large area.

Police officers and the ministry removed explosives and poisonous substances from warehouses in the industrial park, which could pose a serious threat to people and the environment, took them to a safe place and ensured the evacuation of workers.

The ministry emphasized that no one was injured as a result of the fire, and the firefighter, who was hospitalized in the Sumgayit Emergency Hospital, was discharged for outpatient treatment; his life is not in danger.

Currently, demolition work is underway on the site.

Moreover, during a preliminary investigation, it was determined that the fire started in the area of ??a plastic waste dump and, spreading to food and other warehouses, covered a large area.

A criminal case was opened in the Investigation Department of the General Prosecutor's Office under Article 225.2 of the Criminal Code. An investigation group was formed, consisting of investigators from the Prosecutor's Office and the Emergencies Ministry.

The group is investigating the incident to determine the causes of the incident and determine the amount of damage caused. The public will be informed of the investigation results.




No recruiting firm answered a request for proposals to oversee the hiring of Madisons first independent police monitor, the Police Civilian Oversight Board learned Thursday.

The news comes after the boards attempt to hire a monitor on its own fell apart in January when documents surfaced showing the boards lone finalist, city Department of Civil Rights Equal Opportunities Division Manager Byron Bishop, had discriminated against a woman hed been having an affair with and violated state licensing requirements at his former company.

The board put off a decision on what to do next until a later meeting, but its options include again trying to hire the monitor directly, soliciting specific firms about overseeing the hire or changing the request for proposals and posting it again.

Brian Pittelli of the citys Finance Department said its unusual but not unprecedented for no one to respond to a city RFP, but noted the unique situation in regards to what were looking for.

Independent police monitors, which serve as a check on police departments and have powers that vary with the city, have become more common but are not widespread. The National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement lists about 10 such monitor or similar positions on its website. They are often paired with civilian oversight boards, such as the one created along with the monitor position in Madison in September 2020.

Pittelli said the boards RFP was posted for about a month and shared widely, including with at least six firms the city contacted directly.

Feedback from those firms, which he didnt name during the boards Thursday meeting, including that they were too busy to take on more work and that news surrounding the previous search led us to believe this would be challenging.

The boards first hiring process drew 30 applicants; two were named finalists but one dropped out. A white applicant with past military experience also filed state and federal complaints alleging board members social media posts suggest they are biased against candidates like him, although Bishop, who is Black, also has military experience.

Neither the board nor the independent monitor is given the power to fire or discipline police  tasks reserved under state law for the citys Police and Fire Commission, or PFC  but they can conduct independent investigations of Madison police, make referrals to the PFC, prepare an annual report on the citys police chief and conduct community outreach on police matters.

Creation of the board and the monitor position were the culmination of years of work by activists to increase oversight of Madison police in the wake of a string of fatal police shootings, as well as an independent consultants report that made 146 recommendations  including that the city should hire a monitor  but deemed the department far from a department in crisis whose use of force was limited in volume and primarily minor in nature.

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When she launched her political campaign for governor, Rebecca Kleefisch shockingly attacked incumbent Gov. Tony Evers for an outdated unemployment system that left hundreds of thousands wondering what they were going to do just to make ends meet.

What Kleefisch failed to note in her speech is that this very unemployment insurance system was flagged for her and former Gov. Scott Walker as an urgent problem just three weeks into the Walker-Kleefisch administration in 2011. They knew this was a crisis waiting to happen and did nothing.

I know this happened because I was the Walker-appointed secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD). I was the one who flagged this urgent problem just three weeks into the administration, only to be rejected. Not only did they refuse to act at the time, but over their entire eight years in office, the overhaul of these outdated systems was ignored.

Immediately after assuming this role in 2011, I personally conducted a threat assessment of the department. This included verbally reviewing the status and pressing problems with each department head. This threat assessment review ranged from facilities management, safety and security to the unemployment insurance system. We also held formal meetings with each department head as we worked to identify challenges and implement solutions departmentwide.

In the first three weeks of 2011, the team at the Unemployment Insurance Division brought to my attention the urgent need to revamp the system. Because it was obsolete, it required a great deal of maintenance, and they were concerned that one of these days a serious problem would occur that would prevent the issuance of unemployment insurance checks. It was clear then, as weve now witnessed, that this system could collapse if the volume of requests suddenly increased.

Given that a project of this scale would likely involve federal funds, and for the purpose of bringing a specific solution to the governor and lieutenant governor, I contacted the U.S. Department of Labor and brought the issue to the undersecretary of the Department of Labors attention. I was told that if Gov. Walker would send a formal letter reporting the issue and requesting assistance from federal agency, the U.S. Department of Labor would align resources to modernize the system, and it even offered to create extra processing capacity. The Department of Labor was aware that several states also had obsolete unemployment insurance systems.

Subsequently, I reported the issue and presented the proposed federally-funded solution, together with several other initiatives that I felt were needed to help the private sector have qualified workers and for workers to find sustainable employment. The response was a categorical and emphatic no! It was clear to me that under no circumstances would the Walker-Kleefisch administration accept federal help from a Democratic president to fix the failing unemployment insurance system in Wisconsin. They did not care that a failed system would hurt businesses, workers and families. They only cared about how it would look politically if they accepted help from President Barack Obama. It was playing politics at its worst, and it hurt Wisconsin.

In a September 2011 interview, Kleefisch even acknowledged publicly some issues with unemployment insurance, vastly downplaying the severity of the problems, but showing the administration was aware of this issue early on and failed to act over the next seven years. Kleefisch can try as she might to score political points and divide Wisconsinites over this issue, but she cant hide the truth about her record. When she had the opportunity to do something about the system, she chose to play politics and do nothing.

Had the modernization process been implemented by the Walker-Kleefisch administration in 2011, Wisconsins government, private sector and workers would not have had to endure the unemployment insurance problems that have occurred when the pandemic first hit our great country.

Perez was secretary of the Department of Workforce Development in 2011. : srcmannyperez@gmail.com and 262-442-7680.
Adding yet more impetus to the urgent call for reform, a state investigation found that the Minneapolis Police Department routinely violated civil rights law over the past decade by engaging in a pattern of racial discrimination.

The findings released Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights wont be a surprise to the thousands who have protested against race-based brutality and discrimination by the Minneapolis Police Department. In many ways, the report just validates those concerns and complaints. The Human Rights Department found that discrimination is not present in isolated or sporadic incidents but that it is repeated, routine or of a generalized nature.

The report is a deeply researched and valuable analysis of the Minneapolis Police Department and why it must change. And it faults city leadership for not doing more to hold officers accountable and change the culture of the department around its treatment of people of color  especially Black citizens.

The damning 72-page report is based on the results of a two-year investigation that began just days after George Floyd was murdered in police custody in May 2020. It studied Minneapolis data from 2010-20, as well as a review of 700 hours of body camera footage, 480,000 pages of city and police documents, and interviews with city and police staff and leadership. The Human Rights agency also interviewed more than 2,000 community members, observed training sessions and completed ride-alongs in all five police precincts.

Based on that work and additional research, the state department found a pattern of racial disparities in how MPD officers use force, stop, search, arrest and cite people of color, particularly Black individuals, compared to white individuals in similar circumstances.

Investigators also found that officers use social media to conduct surveillance of Black citizens and organizations unrelated to criminal activity. And it found consistent use of racist, misogynistic and disrespectful language.

The report blames racist and discriminatory practices on a police culture in which officers and supervisors receive deficient training that emphasizes a paramilitary approach to policing that results in officers unnecessarily escalating encounters or using inappropriate levels of force.

The police department and the city are faulted for not holding officers accountable for misconduct, in part because former and current city and police leaders have not collectively acted with the urgency, coordination, and intentionality necessary to address racial disparities in policing to improve public safety and increase community trust, the report concludes.

Some of the findings do deserve more analysis. As the Star Tribune editorial board has argued, prior to 2020 the state-mandated arbitration process made it too difficult for departments throughout the state to fire or discipline bad cops. In 2020, the Legislature enacted promising reforms in the process for police, yet the human rights report essentially blames the Minneapolis Police Department for its arbitration failures prior to the change.

Questions also may be raised about some of the statistical conclusions in the report. Data comparing arrests under similar circumstances is critical and damning, but many factors beyond race and bias could complicate drawing broad conclusions about some disparities.

Those issues aside, the editorial board has long advocated for policing reforms that will rebuild public trust in police. Now that its investigation has concluded, the Human Rights Department will work with city officials to develop a consent decree  a court-enforceable agreement that identifies specific changes and a timeline for those reforms. The Human Rights Department will also meet with community members, Minneapolis officers, city staff and other stakeholders to help determine the contents of the decree.

However, even before the decree is settled, the report says there are immediate steps the city and the police department should take. Reasonable recommendations include establishing clear policy and performance expectations, and seeing that officers meet those expectations; improving officer training; and communicating honestly with the public, especially during critical incidents such as officer-involved shootings.

In addition to following those recommendations, City leaders have the opportunity to make significant change by appointing a reform-minded police chief, improving training while rebuilding the decimated force with new hires, and possibly bringing on a new director of community safety to help oversee the department. They should look to fill these positions with leaders who are committed to building a Minneapolis Police Department that all citizens can trust.
RUPERT  The first day of a preliminary hearing for a Heyburn man charged with first-degree murder was filled with the grisly details of how Julio Lopez was hit in the head with a heavy object and burned on Jan. 2  and an eyewitness account by a roommate who later came forward to police and said he watched it happen.

Lopez, who was a 41-year-old Heyburn man, was shot in the head with a .22 caliber gun.

Kalob W. Morrison, 33, is also charged with destroying evidence, criminal conspiracy, failure to notify authorities of a death and three counts of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.

An online hearing was held Thursday to schedule the second day of the preliminary hearing, which will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

During a preliminary hearing, a prosecutor presents evidence against a defendant and a judge decides if it is sufficient to move the case to district court.

Minidoka County Prosecutor Lance Stevenson said in a previous interview that Morrisons brother, Klee Morrison, of Littleton, Arizona, will also be charged, but he is currently being held on other federal charges.

On Wednesday, Mini-Cassia Misdemeanor Probation Director Amber Prewitt presented a map of the Morrison residence which showed pings from Lopezs ankle monitor, which was found where his leg would have been at the burn scene. She also showed pings along the course where he was driven in his vehicle after his death until the monitor went out of cell tower range.

A Mini-Cassia tree company manager also provided camera footage showing Lopezs vehicle driving past the business, followed by Klee Morrisons pickup, shortly after Lopez died.

The Ada County forensic doctor who performed the autopsy on Lopez said all three of Lopezs injuries  the blunt-force blow to the head, gunshot wound to the head and the thermal injuries from the fire  could have caused his death, but Lopezs body was likely set on fire after he died.

Witnesses testified Wednesday that Kalob Morrison spent hours outside his residence on Jan. 2 tending a burn pile used to destroy evidence at his home. A blackened spot pointed out as the burn pile by witnesses, was clearly visible on an aerial photo taken by a police drone during a search of his home and on a satellite map.

During the hearing, Morrison, who was dressed in orange and white striped jail clothing with his hands shackled, spent the day furiously writing notes and passing them to his attorney during witness testimony.

Witnesses included sheriffs deputies from Lincoln, Minidoka and Cassia counties, forensic scientists who processed evidence at their labs, the autopsy doctor and an eyewitness.

The eyewitness testified that he had been living in a house on the Morrison property  which included more than one house and a business  since August when Morrisons father died. He said Morrison had a wife, children, and a girlfriend on the side, along with a lifestyle that involved drugs.

The witness said Lopez had banged on the door looking for Morrison at midnight on Jan. 1 and the witness told him to come back at a reasonable time.

Lopez wanted to turn the business at the residence into a chop shop, which takes stolen vehicles and dismantles them, the witness said, but he was unsure of the extent of business dealings between Morrison and Lopez.

The witness said in the early morning hours of Jan. 2, he was awakened by Morrison having a loud conversation with Lopez on the phone in the garage and he went to investigate.

Kalob was being defensive and hostile on the phone and said I got your money and your tools, come over, the witness said.

The witness took the phone from Morrison and spoke with Lopez, which was how he knew who Morrison was speaking with on the call.

Morrison always carried a .22 caliber revolver and owned other guns, the witness said.

A few hours later, he saw Lopezs vehicle through his bedroom window, and Klee Morrison was also at the house.

He heard Klee Morrison ask Kalob Morrison if he wanted him to take care of the problem for him.

The witness testified Klee Morrison had a large 10- to 15-pound metallic ball with a strap attached hanging from his wrist and he saw him hit Lopez with it on the side of the head.

According to court reports, police originally suspected Lopez was hit by a six-pound sledgehammer.

When Lopez was hit, he fell to the ground and Kalob Morrison grabbed him and held him down.

The witness, who had gone outside during the incident, said that when he fell, Lopez was partially obscured by his vehicle but the witness could see his legs were kicking.

I only heard him murmur, Please, please stop, the witness said.

Klee went to go get something, the witness said, but he couldnt see what it was.

I saw his legs stop and there was no more fighting, he said.

He said then it appeared that the Morrison brothers were trying to get Lopez in his vehicle.

The witness then went back into the house.

I was scared and I locked the doors, he said. The man said he did not have a cellphone in the house and did not immediately report what he saw because he thought he would be killed.

Despite the cold, Kalob spent the day tending a fire at the spot where Lopez was struck, the witness testified.

Stevenson intends to call two more people to the stand to testify on the second day of testimony, he said.

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The Idaho Public Television debate among the three Republican candidates for Attorney General produced some unsettling takeaways. For one, it appeared that Art Macomber and Raul Labrador were more intent on running against Governor Little than challenging incumbent Lawrence Wasden.

Macomber said he would have sued Little over COVID restrictions. Labrador claimed Wasden had allowed the Governor to abuse his authority during the pandemic, that hed been a yes man for Little, and that he gave legal justification to whatever the Governor wants to do. Labrador said he would stand up to the Governor. Wasden correctly pointed out that when the Governor or Legislature ask for advice, the Attorney General is legally obligated to give them accurate, unbiased legal advice, but he cant force either to follow the advicemuch like the old saying that you can lead a horse to water but cant make it drink.

Wasden mentioned the elephant in the debate roomthat Labrador is running for Attorney General as a stepping stone to become Governor. After all, Labrador gave up a safe Congressional seat four years ago to run against Little for Governor. With all of Labradors out-of-place criticism of Little in the debate, Wasdens observation is probably correct.

If Little found it exasperating to have a Lt. Governor who was continually stabbing him in the back, imagine an Attorney General using powerful legal tools to do the same for the next four years in his push to become Governor. There may be some credibility to the word on the political grapevine that Little urged Wasden to seek another term as AG so as to prevent that kind of Statehouse dysfunction.

To illustrate the dysfunction he could bring to the office, Labrador repeatedly baited Wasden to reveal advice he gave the Governor on pandemic response. Ethical rules prohibit lawyers from disclosing confidential legal advice, as Labrador well knows. A lawyer who does not respect basic ethical rules has no business seeking to be the States top legal officer.

Labrador lambasted Wasden for failing to join other states lawsuits against the federal government. Wasden responded that he often works with other states when Idahos interests are at stake and a lawsuit is supported by the facts and law. Labrador had to be chagrined to find out that Wasden had been endorsed by the National Rifle Association the very day of the debate.

The NRA endorsed Wasden for his legal action in four NRA-backed gun rights cases. The NRA praised his steadfast support and demonstrated leadership on Second Amendment issues.

Both Labrador and Macomber said they would have joined an ill-fated lawsuit brought by the Texas Attorney General, challenging the 2020 election results in 4 other states. Wasden correctly pointed out that the lawsuit struck at the very heart of federalism and, if successful, would have allowed other states to challenge a wide range of Idaho laws. The U.S. Supreme Court saw the suit as a political stunt and unceremoniously tossed it out in just four days.

Any competent lawyer who reviewed the Texas papers would have recognized that it had no legal merit. It was an embarrassment to everyone who put their name on it. All three Trump-appointed Justices voted to squash it. None of the nine Justices found any merit in the suit. For Attorney General candidates to admit that they would support such a constitutionally dangerous and losing lawsuit is a disqualification from the office.

Wasden was aware that the politically advantageous thing would be to sign onto the suit, but he had too much respect for the Constitution to do the smart and easy thing. It took a great deal of courage to do the right thingto stand up for the rule of law despite the political consequences. He has repeatedly demonstrated himself to be the trustworthy choice. It is telling that none of Idahos former Attorneys General or Governors are supporting either of Wasdens opponents.

Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served 8 years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as a Justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He is currently a regular contributor to The Hill online news. He blogs at JJCommonTater.

Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served eight years as Idaho attorney general (1983-1991) and 12 years as justice of the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He is currently a regular contributor to The Hill online news. He blogs at JJCommonTater.

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I have barely heard mention during the current election cycle of what should be the main issue in the Idaho primary election this yearprotection of Idahos precious water resources. As far as issues go, water is not a shiny attention-getter like voter integrity, critical race theory or jailing librarians, but it is the very lifeblood of our semi-arid State.

In 1889, one of the framers of Idahos Constitution commented that, without water, you couldnt even raise a crop of jackrabbits on the States land. With years of chronic drought predicted for the Gem State, water is becoming even more essential to the future of Idaho.

No State officer has more ability to affect Idahos water future than the Attorney General. The Governor obviously has significant influence over water policy, but the AG can dramatically affect the control, allocation and protection of Idaho water through federal and state court proceedings.

I come from a family of farmers and water users, whose livelihood has always been tied to the States water policy. When the Swan Falls water rights fight erupted between the State and Idaho Power Company in early 1983, I stepped forward to do my part.

It was inspiring to see Attorney General Jim Jones put his career on the line to protect Idahos control over Snake River waters. I worked with Jim and numerous legislators whose cities, farms and voters were at risk and we prevailed.

My 20 years of service in the Idaho Legislature, starting in 1986, was motivated by a concern over maintaining water policies that would facilitate growth of Idaho cities, farms and industries dependent on using Idaho waters for the States future. When Idaho Power made efforts in the 1990s to undo some of the protections for water users in the upper Snake River Valley, Attorney General Al Lance put his foot down.

An even more concerted effort was vigorously opposed by Attorney General Lawrence Wasden after I left office in 2006. He fearlessly fought the effort publicly and in court action, until the parties were able to reach a Swan Falls affirmation agreement in 2009 to protect our water using population. Wasdens unrelenting work since then to protect Idaho water resources has been exemplary.

He has strongly and successfully resisted federal overreach when litigating and/or negotiating federal water right claims relating to river basin adjudications in all parts of the State. He has vigorously fought to preserve the States authority to adjudicate Clark Fork and Bear River waters in State courts.

Believe it or not, there are water-hungry interests within our State and along our southern and western borders that see the immense value of Idaho water and are intent on getting their hands on substantial portions of it. This comes at a time when the State faces the crisis of a prolonged period of drought.

It is absolutely essential that the State have an Attorney General with a proven track record to protect our wateran Attorney General who has shown time and again that he will put his job on the line to uphold Idahos sovereignty and the rule of law. That person is Lawrence Wasden.

Voters should not be distracted by shiny-object issues that will disappear once the election is over. The real issues should be those meat-and-potato issues that, while not particularly designed to excite our attention, will actually determine the future of our children and grandchildren. Water is at the very top of that list.

Bruce Newcomb is a lifelong Idaho rancher. He served 20 years in the Idaho House of Representatives (1986 through 2006) and was Speaker of the House for 8 years (1999 through 2006). He was inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame in 2010.

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Wyatt won second place in the Public Safety Writing category. Judges complimented his good breaking news coverage on the fatal shootings at El Norteno in February 2021 , but the star of the collection is the detailed report into the frustrated prosecutor in the story of husband shooting his wife. You can almost hear the frustration from him, while also painting the difficult picture of a chaotic scene.

Kozelsky won third place for Feature Writing Portfolio. The judges wrote that her story on Leatherwood Grocery, Larry McNeelys store which is just down the road from her house and where she likes to get gas, nabs and the latest community news, was fascinating with good detail in listing what it used to sell and where the goods were placed in the store. When Kozelsky had the opportunity to interview superstar kids author Jeff Kinney, she thought why should she ask him questions when he has young fans all around the area, so she held a Zoom meeting with him with a student each local middle school had identified as a top fan. Nice creativity with the students interviewing the author, judges wrote.
About 100 people attended the City of Martinsville and Waukeshaw Developments grand opening of the Chief Tassel building on East Church Street and toured the new apartments.

The former office building now houses two office spaces on the ground floor and 21 residential units on the other four floors of the building, said real estate agent Gina Ashbrook of Rives Brown. They plan to furnish half of the apartments for short-term use to traveling professionals.

Three units, including one handicapped-accessible apartment, are on the main floor, and each rents for $975. Rent includes water, sewer, trash and internet. Electricity will be paid by the tenant. Each of the other three floors has six apartments each. The rent for second-floor apartments is $1,000; third-floor, $1,025; and fourth-floor, $1,050.

The ground floor has a stone floor and the upper stories have refinished hardwood flooring. The units all have a similar style and color scheme of greys and off-whites whites with modern appliances and light fixtures. Halls have dark grey trim and doors and dark green paint at the lower part.

Bathroom floors have white honeycomb-patterned tile. Most units have a shower and bathtub combo while a few have only a standing shower with glass-paneled doors.

Most apartments have two rooms, some with doors to close off the rooms and others with a more open floor plan that flowed throughout the unit. The number and style of closets also varies by unit.

The view out the windows also varied depending on the unit. The lower floors show mainly a brick wall but some of the units on the upper floor have a view of the tops of the surrounding buildings, and some even looked out onto the street.

The units have old-fashioned elements that have been fixed up to fit the style of the new units. Some had narrow, secret doors that were not openable but were painted to match the units, and others had small cabinets with glass paneling that looked to hold old pop-out tables.

On the first floor, there is a mail room that is fully redone, but mimics the look of an old mail room in style.

Each unit contains its own unique style with different elements: Some feature arches in door frames, others have a second cover door over their front door and the light fixtures were in varying places depending on the unit.

The Chief Tassel building was built in 1929, and the City gained ownership of it in 2018.

Some five to 10 years ago, the building began to fall into a bit of disrepair, City Manager Leon Towarnicki, said. Paint was peeling, some of the windows were opening.

In 2020, the City and Waukeshaw started an agreement to redevelop the building. This redevelopment included a full renovation while still maintaining some elements of its history, including an old fashioned mail room.

The city received athe Virginia Brownfields Assistance Fund grant from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Department of Environmental Quality for work to clean up some of the asbestos and some of the other environmental issues in the building, Towarnicki said.

Its a real honor and a pleasure to be able to gather and celebrate this really impactful project that Waukeshaw has delivered to our community, Kathy Deacon, executive director of Uptown Partnership, said. This kind of project serves as a vehicle for revitalizing uptown and spurring economic development.

Waukeshaw specializes in adaptive use and historic preservation in their renovation work and worked with Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation (EDC), Uptown Partnership and Complete Community Economies in the completion of the building. Waukeshaw in 2015 reonvated the Henry Hotel, across the street from the Chief Tassel building.

President and CEO of Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation Mark Heath offered his thanks to all the people involved in the redevelopment of the building and said that he was really looking forward to seeing the finished project here and that it was just a good day for all of us in the community.

Waukeshaw President Dave McCormack said that it would not have worked the help of the city.

Weve finally gotten to the finish line with this project and  were tickled to death because this is just another step in what were all trying to do to revitalize uptown Martinsville, Towarnicki said. This is just another step and another piece in the journey.

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Marion has a new furniture store at the McDowell Square shopping center.

Farmers Home Furniture is now open for business at 364 U.S. 70 West, Suite 13 at the McDowell Square center. This store is in the 18,000-square-foot section that used to be the Peebles department store.

Farmers Home Furniture opened its first store in Soperton, Ga. in 1949 with fairness, trust, quality and value in mind for the customer. Farmers Home Furniture has become one of the largest and one of the most successful furniture retailers in the Southeast with more than 250 locations in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky, according to a news release.

The new store in Marion is having a soft opening now and a formal grand opening is scheduled for June 23.

Manager Hannah Coleman said since 1949 Farmers Home Furniture has focused on providing quality home furnishings to its neighbors in the local communities across the Southeast.

The Marion store has furnishings for living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms along with home audio-video electronics and large appliances like refrigerators, stoves, driers and washing machines. You can find home decor like pictures and mirrors and furniture for childrens rooms. There are also outdoor power equipment like weed trimmers, push mowers and riding lawn mowers.

If you cant find what you want at the Marion store, you can order other items online through www.farmersfurniture.com.

The chain offers home furnishing products and services that exceed customer expectations and its products can be purchased for a reasonable price on a financing plan that allows for a same-day sale. With more than 250 stores spanning seven states, Farmers Home Furniture has the benefit of a strong buying power to provide low prices without losing the hometown quality and service.

Our in-house financing plan has helped the residents of communities across the Southeast purchase their dream furnishings for over half a century, said Coleman.

Farmers Home Furniture in Marion now has two employees: Sheila Robinson, credit manager, and Skyla Conley, sales consultant. Eventually, there will be seven employees.

The store is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. It is closed on Sundays.

Farmers Home Furniture is committed to being a part of the positive and progressive ideals of this community and is humbly grateful to be able to contribute to Marions area growth, stated a news release.

We are a family oriented store, said Coleman. We will do anything possible to make sure (our customers) have what they need. We try to keep the prices low as possible. We go to the smaller towns so they can furnish their homes.
Kuwait has approved the funding for the development of a key residential project, South Saad Al Abdullah Town, as well as the rehabilitation of the historic Souq Al Mubarakiya, reports say.

The South Saad Al Abdullah housing project costs a total of KD2.1 billion, Trade Arabia notes citing state-run news agency KUNA, and will be phased over the coming state budgets according to the construction stages of the project.

The housing issue is a top priority for the government, which does its utmost to provide adequate funding for the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) to meet its obligations towards the people of Kuwait, Finance and Economic and Investment Affairs Abdulwahab Al Rasheed told reporters.

On January 25, the government injected liquidity to the appropriation of 11,428 plots of land, he added.

Souq Al Mubarakiya which was recently hit by a huge fire, the minister noted, will benefit from a budget of $19 million for rehabilitation.
Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA), in partnership with RAK Ports, has announced the appointment of Zaiton Consultancy to support the emirates cruise tourism.

Experts in developing and promoting cruise services, Dubai-headquartered Zaiton Consultancy will be responsible for developing and marketing Ras Al Khaimahs burgeoning cruise sector.

The announcement comes as the global industry gathers at the Seatrade Cruise Global event in Miami until April 28, where Zaiton Consultancy is participating as Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authoritys representative.

One of the fastest growing sectors in tourism, cruising saw an annual passenger growth rate of 5.4% from 2009 to 2019, with services now close to pre-pandemic levels. In recognition of the importance of cruise tourism, the authority and RAK Ports have worked together on a number of projects to further develop the emirates offering. This includes the transformation of its old ferry terminal into a modern and efficient boutique cruise passenger terminal and the development of marine transport infrastructure around it.

The authority has also invested in designing bespoke visitor itineraries for arrivals to attract a larger segment of leisure cruise passengers and welcome new audiences from across the world to the destination.

Considered as one of the most diverse and fastest growing destinations in the region, a key part of the authoritys strategy to attract three million visitors a year by 2030 is to ensure accessibility via all means of transport, including luxury cruise ships. These passengers will be welcomed to the emirate via the dedicated terminal, which is able to accommodate multiple cruise ships of up to 214 m in length docking simultaneously.

To ensure a continuation of the service levels luxury cruise passengers expect, the terminal features cutting-edge security measures such as facial recognition CCTV, luggage and personal baggage X-ray machines, delivering a seamless, hassle-free experience.

We are ready to receive the worlds most elite cruise ships and showcase our beautiful nature Emirate to this growing segment of travellers, comments Iyad Rasbey, Executive Director, Destination Tourism Development & MICE at Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority. Weve seen first-hand the significance of cruises to the destinations overall tourism eco-system. We also recognize that water transportation is becoming increasingly important in terms of connectivity and will support our aviation strategy in bringing tourists directly to Ras Al Khaimah. He further added: With its wealth of experience and recognition within the cruise industry, Zaiton Consultancy is the perfect partner to take our strategy to the next stage. We look forward to working with the team to boost cruise tourism in the Emirate and attract new audiences from across the world.

It is a huge honour to work with Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority and RAK Ports to develop and market the Emirates growing cruise proposition, said Executive Director of Zaiton Consultancy, Jasem Zaiton. With an initial strategy based around smaller passenger ships before moving our focus to mainstream cruise liners, we will bring our global expertise to market Ras Al Khaimahs truly unique offering and one-of-a-kind experiences to cruise passengers around the world, he added.

With the aim of attracting 50 cruise ship calls each season, and some 10,000 passengers within the next few years, the focus will be on explorer/expedition Cruises, where emphasis is placed on the experience ashore, excursions and ports of call.  TradeArabia News Service
The former president of the National Assembly, Amadou Damaro Camara, and of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Lounceny Camara, were charged and booked into the civil prison in Conakry last night.

Justice accuses Amadou Damaro Camara of embezzling money while he was in office at the National Assembly between April 22, 2020 and September 5, 2021. Several cases are intertwined. But the main one concerns the construction of the new headquarters of the National Assembly. It was originally a contract worth nearly 15 billion GNF (about 1.6 million euros), a very large part of which has evaporated.

The former president of the National Assembly Amadou Damaro Camara, former deputy Lounceny Camara and former quaestor of the Assembly Michel Kamano were interviewed several times by the central directorate of judicial investigations of the national gendarmerie, which conducted the preliminary investigation.

Then at around 3pm on Wednesday, they were brought before the Court of Repression of Economic and Financial Offenses (Crief). Their interrogation lasted until 1am. The Crief prosecutor charged them with misappropriation of public funds, corruption, embezzlement in the awarding of public contracts, illicit enrichment and conflicts of interest. Only Michel Kamano was allowed to go free, under judicial supervision.
Two prominent Sudanese opposition figures have been released after two months in prison. They are a former minister in the civilian government and a former member of the Sovereign Council, who were arrested in early February by the military authorities in a major wave of arrests. They were held in Kober prison in Khartoum. Is this a goodwill gesture by the authorities toward the opposition?

The first significant release took place on Tuesday, March 26, when Khaled Omar Youssef, a former minister in the Sudanese civilian government, was freed. He had been a member of the countrys main civilian political alliance, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FLC).

This was followed by the release of Mohammed al-Fekki Suleiman, a former member of the Sovereign Council. He was also chairman of the committee charged with recovering property looted by the former regime of Omar al-Bashir. The committee has since been dissolved by the junta. All of the FLC leaders who were detained in recent weeks have been released, said lawyer Azhari al-Haj, who had earlier announced the release of his client Mohammed al-Fekki.

Among those released were Taha Othman, Wagdi Saleh and Abibakr Faisal, all members of the Forces for Freedom and Change.
ECOWAS had asked Burkina Faso on Wednesday to provide a reasonable timetable for the return of civilians to power. Ouagadougou wanted more time and the Minister of Foreign Affairs explained this to the press on Thursday morning.

Burkina Faso, according to its Foreign Minister Olivia Rouamba, wants a purely technical team, composed of military personnel, to go to the field to take the real measure of the security situation. In addition, a political team must work on an acceptable timetable requested by ECOWAS.

We are not able to give content to this notion of acceptability or non-acceptability of the timetable, so together we should draw up the broad lines of what is acceptable or not, said Olivia Rouamba.

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, some Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States have noted and highly appreciated this approach, which is part of a dynamic of collaboration and cooperation in order to find a happy and favorable outcome for the Burkinabe people.

Taken individually, some Heads of State do not want Burkina Faso to suffer the same fate as certain States, said the head of Burkina Fasos diplomacy, without naming the countries concerned.

Proof that ECOWAS is on the ground to help the country, it has just announced the dispatch of 10,000 tons of food to deal with the humanitarian crisis. And the Chief of Staff of the Burkinabe army has been authorized to take part in meetings and military operations organized by ECOWAS in the subregion, despite Burkina Fasos suspension.
Soaring food prices are causing the International Monetary Fund to fear social unrest on the continent.

Fears about food security have increased sharply with the war in Ukraine and soaring food prices, increasing the risk of social unrest in vulnerable countries, the Washington-based institution warned Thursday in a regional report.

We are very concerned about the recent surge in food and fuel prices on the continent, commented the director of the Africa Department at the IMF, Abebe Aemro Selassie, noting the risks of social protests.

This shock hits in an extremely targeted way the poorest, by increasing the prices of food, fuel and transport in general, and at the end of the chain the producers of goods and services who raise their prices, he continued.

The surge in food prices is unprecedented: they reached a new record in March and erased the previous high of 2011, according to the index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which includes prices of vegetable oils, cereals or dairy products.

Two months after the start of the war in Ukraine and while the conflict shows no sign of abating, rising food prices will exacerbate food insecurity and social tensions, the IMF fears.

It was precisely a sharp increase in the price of basic foods that preceded the hunger riots of 2008, protest movements of varying degrees of violence in some thirty countries, notably in Senegal and Cameroon, as well as in the Maghreb and the Caribbean.

Should we fear another act 2? The IMF remains cautious about potential violent revolts. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu drew a parallel in April between the 2008 explosion and the current situation: both crises are marked by soaring food, fuel, fertilizer and transport prices, he said.

The situation is potentially even more problematic this time, he added, because of two years of pandemic and the major risks to next years crops from the war in Ukraine.
The Family Law Center in Pittsburgh is seen on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Around the country, as child welfare agencies use or consider algorithmic tools like in Allegheny County, an Associated Press review has identified a number of concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

For family law attorney Robin Frank, defending parents at one of their lowest pointswhen they risk losing their childrenhas never been easy.

The job is never easy, but in the past she knew what she was up against when squaring off against child protective services in family court. Now, she worries she's fighting something she can't see: an opaque algorithm whose statistical calculations help social workers decide which families should be investigated in the first place.

"A lot of people don't know that it's even being used," Frank said. "Families should have the right to have all of the information in their file."

From Los Angeles to Colorado and throughout Oregon, as child welfare agencies use or consider tools similar to the one in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has identified a number of concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. Related issues have already torpedoed some jurisdictions' plans to use predictive models, such as the tool notably dropped by the state of Illinois.

According to new research from a Carnegie Mellon University team obtained exclusively by AP, Allegheny's algorithm in its first years of operation showed a pattern of flagging a disproportionate number of Black children for a "mandatory" neglect investigation, when compared with white children. The independent researchers, who received data from the county, also found that social workers disagreed with the risk scores the algorithm produced about one-third of the time.

Case work supervisor Jessie Schemm looks over the first screen of software used by workers who field calls at an intake call screening center for the Allegheny County Children and Youth Services, in Penn Hills, Pa. Child welfare officials in the county say the cutting-edge algorithmic tool  which is capturing attention around the country  uses data to support agency workers as they try to protect children from neglect. The nuanced term can include everything from inadequate housing to poor hygiene. Credit: AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

County officials said that social workers can always override the tool, and called the research "hypothetical."

Child welfare officials in Allegheny County, the cradle of Mister Rogers' TV neighborhood and the icon's child-centric innovations, say the cutting-edge toolwhich is capturing attention around the countryuses data to support agency workers as they try to protect children from neglect. That nuanced term can include everything from inadequate housing to poor hygiene, but is a different category from physical or sexual abuse, which is investigated separately in Pennsylvania and is not subject to the algorithm.

"Workers, whoever they are, shouldn't be asked to make, in a given year, 14, 15, 16,000 of these kinds of decisions with incredibly imperfect information," said Erin Dalton, director of the county's Department of Human Services and a pioneer in implementing the predictive child welfare algorithm.

Nico'Lee Biddle, a former foster care kid turned therapist, social worker and policy advocate, talks about the use of data-driven algorithms outside one of the county's Children, Youth and Families offices in North Versailles, Pa., on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. "This shows when you have technology designed by humans, the bias is going to show up in the algorithms," says Biddle, who has worked for nearly a decade in child welfare, including as a family therapist and foster care placement specialist in Allegheny County. Credit: AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

Critics say it gives a program powered by data mostly collected about poor people an outsized role in deciding families' fates, and they warn against local officials' growing reliance on artificial intelligence tools.

If the tool had acted on its own to screen in a comparable rate of calls, it would have recommended that two-thirds of Black children be investigated, compared with about half of all other children reported, according to another study published last month and co-authored by a researcher who has audited the county's algorithm.

Advocates worry that if similar tools are used in other child welfare systems with minimal or no human interventionakin to how algorithms have been used to make decisions in the criminal justice systemthey could reinforce existing racial disparities in the child welfare system.

Workers field calls at an intake call screening center for the Allegheny County Children and Youth Services office in Penn Hills, Pa. on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. Incidents of potential neglect are reported to Allegheny Countys child protection hotline. The reports go through a screening process where the algorithm calculates the childs potential risk and assigns it a score. Social workers then use their discretion to decide whether to investigate those concerns. Credit: AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

"It's not decreasing the impact among Black families," said Logan Stapleton, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. "On the point of accuracy and disparity, (the county is) making strong statements that I think are misleading."

Because family court hearings are closed to the public and the records are sealed, AP wasn't able to identify first-hand any families who the algorithm recommended be mandatorily investigated for child neglect, nor any cases that resulted in a child being sent to foster care. Families and their attorneys can never be sure of the algorithm's role in their lives either because they aren't allowed to know the scores.

Child welfare agencies in at least 26 states and Washington, D.C., have considered using algorithmic tools, and at least 11 have deployed them, according to American Civil Liberties Union.

People walk to the Family Law Center in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. Child welfare officials in Allegheny County say the cutting-edge algorithmic tool  which is capturing attention around the country  uses data to support agency workers as they try to protect children from neglect. The nuanced term can include everything from inadequate housing to poor hygiene. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Larimer County, Colorado, home to Fort Collins, is now testing a tool modeled on Allegheny's and plans to share scores with families if it moves forward with the program.

"It's their life and their history," said Thad Paul, a manager with the county's Children Youth & Family Services. "We want to minimize the power differential that comes with being involved in child welfare  we just really think it is unethical not to share the score with families."

Oregon does not share risk score numbers from its statewide screening tool, which was first implemented in 2018 and was inspired by Allegheny's algorithm. The Oregon Department of Human Servicescurrently preparing to hire its eighth new child welfare director in six yearsexplored at least four other algorithms while the agency was under scrutiny by a crisis oversight board ordered by the governor.

Attorney Robin Frank poses for a photograph outside the Family Law Center in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. A longtime family law attorney, Frank fights for parents at one of their lowest points  when they risk losing their children. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

It recently paused a pilot algorithm built to help decide when foster care children can be reunified with their families. Oregon also explored three other toolspredictive models to assess a child's risk for death and severe injury, whether children should be placed in foster care and if so, where.

For years, California explored data-driven approaches to the statewide child welfare system before abandoning a proposal to use a predictive risk modeling tool in 2019.

"During the project, the state also explored concerns about how the tool may impact racial equity. These findings resulted in the state ceasing exploration," department spokesman Scott Murray said in an email.

Los Angeles County's Department of Children and Family Services is being audited following high-profile child deaths, and is seeking a new director after its previous one stepped down late last year. It's piloting a "complex-risk algorithm" that helps to isolate the highest-risk cases that are being investigated, the county said.

Attorney Robin Frank walks to the Family Law Center in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. The job is never easy, but in the past she knew what she was up against when squaring off against child protection services in family court. Now, she worries shes fighting something she cant see: an opaque algorithm whose statistical calculations help social workers decide which families will endure the rigors of the child welfare system, and which will not. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Attorney Robin Frank speaks with a paralegal at their office in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. Frank, a family law attorney in Pittsburgh, is still trying to untangle how, exactly, Allegheny Countys algorithm is impacting each client she shepherds through the system. "There's no way to prove it  that's the problem," Frank says. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Family law attorney Robin Frank signs a birthday card to send to a former client, in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. She keeps a birthday calendar for the children shes helped and sends them handwritten cards to remember times when things went right. Frank is still trying to untangle how, exactly, Allegheny Countys algorithm is impacting each client she shepherds through the system. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

The moon sets behind homes in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. Around the country, as child welfare agencies use or consider algorithmic tools like in Allegheny County, an Associated Press review has identified a number of concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

In the first few months that social workers in the Mojave Desert city of Lancaster started using the tool, however, county data shows that Black children were the subject of nearly half of all the investigations flagged for additional scrutiny, despite making up 22% of the city's child population, according to the U.S. Census.

The county did not immediately say why, but said it will decide whether to expand the tool later this year.

Explore further A better way to reduce child maltreatment

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Emer McGrath, associate professor at the College of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences at NUI Galway and consultant neurologist at Saolta University Health Care Group. Credit: Aengus McMahon

New research from NUI Galway and Boston University has identified a blood biomarker that could help identify people with the earliest signs of dementia, even before the onset of symptoms.

The study was published today in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

The researchers measured blood levels of P-tau181, a marker of neurodegeneration, in 52 cognitively healthy adults, from the U.S.-based Framingham Heart Study, who later went on to have specialized brain PET scans. The blood samples were taken from people who had no cognitive symptoms and who had normal cognitive testing at the time of blood testing.

The analysis found that elevated levels of P-tau181 in the blood were associated with greater accumulation of -amyloid, an abnormal protein in Alzheimer's disease, on specialized brain scans. These scans were completed on average seven years after the blood test.

Further analysis showed the biomarker P-tau181 outperformed two other biomarkers in predicting signs of -amyloid on brain scans.

Emer McGrath, Associate Professor at the College of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences at NUI Galway and Consultant Neurologist at Saolta University Health Care Group was lead author of the study.

"The results of this study are very promisingP-tau181 has the potential to help us identify individuals at high risk of dementia at a very early stage of the disease, before they develop memory difficulties or changes in behavior," Professor McGrath said.

The research team said the identification of a biomarker also points to the potential for a population screening program.

Professor McGrath said: "This study was carried out among people living in the community, reflecting those attending GP practices. A blood test measuring P-tau181 levels could potentially be used as a population-level screening tool for predicting risk of dementia in individuals at mid to late-life, or even earlier.

"This research also has important potential implications in the context of clinical trials. Blood levels of P-tau181 could be used to identify suitable participants for further research, including in clinical trials of new therapies for dementia. We could use this biomarker to identify those at a high risk of developing dementia but still at a very early stage in the disease, when there is still an opportunity to prevent the disease from progressing."

Explore further New blood test for Alzheimer's developed

More information: Emer R. McGrath et al, Blood Phosphorylated Tau 181 as a Biomarker for Amyloid Burden on Brain PET in Cognitively Healthy Adults, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (2022). Journal information: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease Emer R. McGrath et al, Blood Phosphorylated Tau 181 as a Biomarker for Amyloid Burden on Brain PET in Cognitively Healthy Adults,(2022). DOI: 10.3233/JAD-215639
Percentage change (%) in notifications of new malignant cases in 2020 versus 2019. Credit: Karolinska Institutet

A study from Karolinska Institutet and the Nordic cancer registries shows that cancer notification rates declined in the Nordic countries during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in AprilMay 2020 compared to previous years. In the fall of 2020, the cancer rates recovered in Denmark, Norway and Iceland, yet only partly in Sweden and Finland. In the Faroe Islands, the changes in cancer rates were not statistically significant. The study was published in International Journal of Cancer.

In this Nordic comparison, researchers from Karolinska Institutet and representatives from each of the Nordic cancer registries have compared rates of cancer notification during 2020 with corresponding reporting in pre-pandemic years. The researchers used high quality data of pathology notifications to the population-based national and regional cancer registries of Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. These notifications represents the fastest reported data to the cancer registries, and may therefore not entirely correspond to official incidence due to additional, complimentary reporting later.

In all countries except the Faroe Islands, monthly numbers of new malignant cases declined during April-May 2020. The largest decline was observed in Sweden, where the number of new cases in May 2020 were 31% lower compared to the same month in 2019. Significant declines in new malignant cases in April and May was also found in Finland (-24% May), Denmark (-16% April) and Norway (-15% April), while non-significant in Iceland (-17% April). In Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland the reporting rates during the second half of 2020 rose to almost the same level as in 2019. However, in Sweden and Finland, the increase did not compensate for the spring decline (annual reduction -6.2% and -3.6%, respectively). The notification patterns for in-situ cases were of similar magnitude. However, for Sweden, lower rates of in-situ cases were also reported in the autumn 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a decline in rates of reported new cancer cases in the Nordic countries, with the most pronounced reduction in Sweden. Possible explanations include the severity of the pandemic, temporary halting of screening activities and changes in healthcare seeking behavior in the general public. Cancer screening programs were halted in the early phase of the pandemic to varying degree in the Nordic countries, with regional variations and delays also within countries.

Our findings suggest that, despite differences in pandemic mitigation efforts in the Nordic countries, the severity of the pandemic may have had a larger effect on cancer detection than strict societal restrictions.

Percentage change (%) in notifications of new in situ cases in 2020 versus 2019. Credit: Karolinska Institutet

Continued monitoring of cancer trends are needed

"Our study shows similar patterns of declines in five Nordic countries in April-May 2020, with the strongest decline in Sweden. It is important to note that the early phase of the pandemic was a period of uncertainty which may have affected the general public's behavior to seek healthcare for cancer symptoms. Screening was halted in some countries, and in those where screening remained open lower attendance rates were still reported in some places," says first author Anna Johansson, Docent at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet.

"Importantly, there was a recovery in cancer rates during the autumn of 2020 in all countries, although this recovery did not fully compensate for the spring deficit in Sweden and Finland. There is therefore a need to monitor whether delays in cancer diagnosis will lead to increased rates of late-stage disease. Although there were marked differences in pandemic mitigation efforts in the Nordic countries, our findings show similar overall patterns across countries, especially in the beginning of the pandemic."

She continues: "Our next step is to continue to monitor the cancer rates in collaboration with national initiatives in each country. In particular, it is of importance to use quality assured data to monitor the future stage distribution of cancer."

Explore further Prostate cancer biopsy, diagnoses down during the pandemic

More information: Anna L. V. Johansson et al, The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on cancer diagnosis based on pathology notifications: A comparison across the Nordic countries during 2020, International Journal of Cancer (2022). Journal information: International Journal of Cancer Anna L. V. Johansson et al, The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on cancer diagnosis based on pathology notifications: A comparison across the Nordic countries during 2020,(2022). DOI: 10.1002/ijc.34029
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than a third of Massachusetts households with a child under five didn't have enough diapers to change their child as often as needed, according to our survey. A baby without enough diapers might have more doctor visits for diaper rash and urinary tract infections. But we also found a link between diaper need and other concerns, like depression and chronic illness, that are less obvious and seemingly unrelated.

Our data for this study came from an online survey of Massachusetts residents led by The Greater Boston Food Bank from October 2020 and to January 2021. Food bank epidemiologist Rachel Zack and data analyst Nick Birk helped us compile, analyze and interpret the survey data.

We looked at more than 3,000 responses from participants in the food bank's survey. Of those, we selected the 353 respondents who reported having a child age four or under using diapers. We then asked them specifically, "If you have children in diapers, do you ever feel that you do not have enough diapers to change them as often as you would like?"

We found that 36% of families with young children went without enough diapers during the pandemic.

But diaper need is about more than bare baby bottoms. We found that in households with the greatest diaper need there is also a greater likelihood of other significant concerns. For example, we found that people who reported diaper need were also more likely to report symptoms of depression or living in a home where someone had a chronic illness.

Previous research has highlighted the stress of needing but being unable to get diapers for a baby. The link between diaper need and chronic illness adds substantial evidence that households dealing with health issues are more likely to struggle with other hardships like food insecurity and unmet medical needs.

Among those at greater risk of not having enough diapers are parents or caregivers under 26 years of age, Latino parents or caregivers and people with less than a high school education. This might be related to the relatively limited resources these parents and caregivers have to draw upon to meet their daily needs.

Why it matters

Diapers are an essential child care need and a significant expense for families with young children. The National Diaper Bank Network defines "diaper need" as "lacking a sufficient supply of diapers to keep an infant or child clean, dry and healthy." The group estimates that the average cost of a month's supply of diapers is US$80$100. Public aid programs for families with low incomes generally do not provide diapers.

We had previously identified links between diaper need and food-related hardship. Our newer study sheds light on the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic and brings more income-related findings, such as the fact that diaper need is more common in households where someone lost a job. We also found more need for diapers in households with a 2019 income of less than $50,000 than in those with higher incomes. Speaking of income, our findings show that pandemic diaper need persisted despite most U.S. households' receiving federal economic stimulus payments and diaper banks' expanding distribution. Without these factors, there might have been more families in the state without enough diapers.

What still isn't known

We used mathematical weighting to get data representing the Massachusetts population. But we haven't yet looked into diaper need in other states or nationally.

It's also not yet clear what the most effective solutions are for families lacking enough diapers for their babies. We have not measured the effectiveness of diaper banks or other diaper distribution models. Legislation proposed in Massachusetts would create a diaper distribution program or give qualifying families $30 to purchase diapers each month.

Congress also has considered creating federal funding for diaper distribution programs, in 2019 and again in 2021. And in February, lawmakers proposed allowing families to cover the cost of diapers with health savings or flexible spending accounts. If these programs become reality, studying their impact and effectiveness could prove useful.

Previous research already has found, however, that providing diapers to families needing them has benefits beyond the obvious. In a 2017 study of families with low incomes, life in their households improved when they received diapers from a local diaper bank. Parents reported more positive moods, along with improved health and happiness of their children. Diaper distribution increased family members' attendance at school, work and child care centers. And families were also able to divert household finances toward other basic needs, including utilities and medical care.

Explore further Research leads to diaper cost reduction program

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Credit: Shutterstock

What makes us want things we like? We know things that offer potential rewards, including food, sex, addictive drugs, and even certain artworks, can inspire desire in usbut why?

The French Enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot pointed out a central conundrum: "Desire is a product of the will but the converse is also true: will is a product of desire."

Neuroscience has solved part of the mystery, by identifying a system that drives wanting in mammals involving specific brain regions. Desire may help an animal to survive, for example by wanting to experience pleasure from nutritious food.

Now, as we discuss in a paper in Science, new research by Jingnan Huang at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University and colleagues has found evidence of a similar wanting system in honeybees.

A common currency for driving wanting

What do we mean when we talk about "liking" and "wanting" things? Well, for neuroscientists, "liking" means the pleasurable feeling we get when we consume some reward. "Wanting," on the other hand, means being motivated to reach the reward.

We know a bit about what happens in our brains and those of other mammals such as rodents when we want a reward. It involves dopamine, a kind of chemical called a neurotransmitter that enables communication between neurons in our brains.

To understand how the process works for non-mammals, Huang and colleagues looked at what happens in the brains of bees when presented with the prospect of a reward.

As the German scientist Karl von Frisch showed in the 1920s, honeybees use a symbolic dance language to communicate the location of rewarding flowers to hive-mates.

Other bees who observe this "waggle dance" are enticed to leave the hive and forage to collect nectar or other nutrition.

Huang and colleagues measured dopamine levels in the brains of the dancing and observing bees. They discovered that dopamine surges for performers and watchers at the beginning of the waggle dance, dropping off by the time the dance concludes.

Dopamine levels were higher when watching the dance than when the bees were actually feeding. These fluctuations show it is the expectation of wanting the sweet reward of nectar that chemically motivates the honeybees to forage.

During the waggle dance, dopamine fluctuations motivate bees to go out hunting nectar.

A wanting system in a miniature brain

In spite of having fewer than a million neurons in their brains, honey bees demonstrate complex behaviors and are cable of solving problems like detecting flower scents and colors.

Other research shows bees can learn symbols to represent numerical quantities, or can learn to perform math tasks like arithmetic.

Huang and colleagues also showed that providing higher dopamine concentrations to some test bees increased their motivation and improved their capacity to learn flower signals like scent.

How to motivate pollinators

Honeybees and other bee species native to the different regions of the world are among the most important pollinators of many commercial and wild plant species. By carrying pollen from one flower to another of the same species, bees ensure cross pollination which often results in higher number of seeds and fruit size.

Therefore bees are of important economic value by pollinating valuable crops such as almonds, citrus and various species of vegetables.

Queen bees can modulate dopamine pathways of young bees to capture their attention and motivate them to complete specific tasks. A better understanding of the effects of dopamine on the wanting system of honeybees may open the door to a more efficient and sustainable use of honeybees for many tasks including agricultural and neuroscience.

The new research on honeybees also supports an idea raised by the famed English naturalist Charles Darwin 150 years ago, in his book The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals. He proposed that liking and disliking things was so helpful to animals that it might form the basis for wanting mechanisms in humans and other animals.

This idea, alongside the presence of a wanting system in honeybees suggests that a precursor of the mammalian wanting system may have developed very early in the evolutionary history of animals. It may also provide a biologically plausible explanation for why we want what we like.

Explore further How honeybees read the waggle dance

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
A smartphone user can image the eye using the RGB selfie camera and the front-facing near-infrared camera included for facial recognition. Measurements from this imaging could be used to assess the user's cognitive condition. Credit: Digital Health Lab

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a smartphone app that could allow people to screen for Alzheimer's disease, ADHD and other neurological diseases and disordersby recording closeups of their eye.

The app uses a near-infrared camera, which is built into newer smartphones for facial recognition, along with a regular selfie camera to track how a person's pupil changes in size. These pupil measurements could be used to assess a person's cognitive condition.

The technology is described in a paper that will be presented at the ACM Computer Human Interaction Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2022), which will take place from April 30 to May 5 in New Orleans as a hybrid-onsite event.

"While there is still a lot of work to be done, I am excited about the potential for using this technology to bring neurological screening out of clinical lab settings and into homes," said Colin Barry, an electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. student at UC San Diego and the first author of the paper, which received an Honorable Mention for Best Paper award. "We hope that this opens the door to novel explorations of using smartphones to detect and monitor potential health problems earlier on."

Pupil size can provide information about a person's neurological functions, recent research has shown. For example, pupil size increases when a person performs a difficult cognitive task or hears an unexpected sound.

Measuring the changes in pupil diameter is done by performing what's called a pupil response test. The test could offer a simple and easy way to diagnose and monitor various neurological diseases and disorders. However, it currently requires specialized and costly equipment, making it impractical to perform outside the lab or clinic.

Engineers in the Digital Health Lab, led by UC San Diego electrical and computer engineering professor Edward Wang, collaborated with researchers at the UC San Diego Center for Mental Health Technology (MHTech Center) to develop a more affordable and accessible solution.

"A scalable smartphone assessment tool that can be used for large-scale community screenings could facilitate the development of pupil response tests as minimally-invasive and inexpensive tests to aid in the detection and understanding of diseases like Alzheimer's disease. This could have a huge public health impact," said Eric Granholm, a psychiatry professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine and director of the MHTech Center.

An illustration of the flow from data acquisition to the final data. A user self administers a pupil response test, then the data are collected off-device to compute the distance and pupil diameter. The final result is shown on the far right. Credit: Digital Health Lab

The app developed by the UC San Diego team uses a smartphone's near-infrared camera to detect a person's pupil. In the near-infrared spectrum, the pupil can be easily differentiated from the iris, even in eyes with darker iris colors. This enables the app to calculate pupil size with sub-millimeter accuracy across various eye colors. The app also uses a color picture taken by the smartphone's selfie camera to capture the stereoscopic distance between the smartphone and the user. The app then uses this distance to convert the pupil size from the near-infrared image into millimeter units.

The app's measurements were comparable to those taken by a device called a pupillometer, which is the gold standard for measuring pupil size.

The researchers also included various features in their app to make it more user friendly for older adults.

"For us, one of the most important factors in technology development is to ensure that these solutions are ultimately usable for anyone. This includes individuals like older adults who might not be accustomed to using smartphones," said Barry.

The researchers worked with older adult participants to design a simple app interface that allows users to self administer pupil response tests. This interface included voice commands, image-based instructions, and a cheap, plastic scope to direct the user to place their eye within the view of the smartphone camera.

"By testing directly with older adults, we learned about ways to improve our system's overall usability and even helped us innovate older adult specific solutions that make it easier for those with different physical limits to still use our system successfully," said Wang, who is also a faculty member in the UC San Diego Design Lab. "When developing technologies, we must look beyond function as the only metric of success, but understand how our solutions will be utilized by end-users who are very diverse."

The Digital Health Lab is continuing this work in a project to enable similar pupillometry function on any smartphone rather than just the newer smartphones. Future studies will also involve working with older adults to evaluate home use of the technology. The team will work with older individuals with mild cognitive impairment to test the app as a risk screening tool for early stage Alzheimer's disease.

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Following communal violence in a village in Uttarakhand on April 16, several Muslim families have fled the area fearing arrests and further attacks.

Muhammad Raafi | TwoCircles.net

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NEW DELHI  Dada Jalalpur village in Bhagwanpur area of Roorkee, Uttarakhand is quiet with many Muslim families having fled the village a week after communal violence broke out.

On April 16, a Hanuman Jayanti procession entered the village while playing loud songs on the DJ. A local house owner objected to this and asked the crowd to move ahead. The procession did not move and an argument began.

When I heard the uproar, I went to the terrace and saw the procession.. I told myself that they are worshippers and will move on, said Reshma, a resident.

She said she saw people engaged in an argument. Soon it escalated into a riot-like situation with both sides pelting stones.

Many stones landed at Reshmas terrace, and some landed on the porch smashing her car. Some people barged in and took away Rs 50,000 from my home, she said. Most of the rioters were outsiders. She regretted that the local Hindus did not intervene and stop the outsiders. We live with so much mutual love here, she said.

After the spate of communal violence, many Muslim residents fled Dada Jalalpur village.

Akhtari, a 55-year-old resident of Dada said that those in the procession were carrying swords and lathis. It was a crowd of around 1000 people and the wielding of swords and lathis had made their intentions clear.

She said that Jai Shri Ram chanting crowds damaged her tractor. I came down when I heard a loud noise. They hit me with stones and ran after me with lathis. She said her three-month-old granddaughter was hurt in the head.

Muslim families living in the village are now fearful and scared to go outside.

Parveen, 70, was hit in his right hand with a stone. She said since that day she is scared and fearful of going outside.

Many injured Muslims said that they were thrashed and were forced to chant Jai Shri Ram.

Reshma, 30, a resident, said that they entered her house from the terrace. They caught my brother-in-law and hit his head and insisted he chant jai shri ram. He repeated the slogan for our safety, she said.

We are terrorized and no Muslim is left in the mohalla (locality), she said.

As per locals, the sword-wielding mobs also set Muslim houses on fire and damaged scores of vehicles belonging to the minority community.

Abid Ali, 35, said that around 200 people vandalized his house. They beat us, dragged our car out of the house, and then set my vehicle on fire in the middle of the road.

The Muslim villagers alleged that the police did not act against the mob and said that the police were biased. Police were standing with the crowd, Parveen said. She alleged that the police stood and watched with the crowd from the other side of the road while the mob was pelting stones at her house.

Abid corroborated Parveen. He said that initially there were no police. Once they came we thought they would secure us. Instead, they sided with the mobs. After the mob left, the police started thrashing us, he said.

Hussan Jahan, a 60-year-old lady, alleged that the police instead of taking action against the rioters started harassing Muslims in the area. They forcibly took away my phone and then took all contacts from it. They were abusing us.

The police have so far arrested 11 members of the Muslim community among 12 persons named in the FIR and 40 unknown persons.

PD Bhatt, staff officer of Bhagwanpur police station told The Quint that they have placed a reward on seven people. We are doing an investigation based on the complaints we received. Muslims have not given any official complaints to the police. If the police did not take action, many people would have been injured and someone could have died as well. We acted on time to stop the violence, he said.



Muhammad Raafi is a journalist based in New Delhi. He tweets at @MohammadRaafi
Recruitment and follow-up procedures, Malawi, 20192020. SpO2: peripheral blood oxygen saturation. Notes: Some children referred to hospital from a primary health-care facility did not attend hospital because caregivers did not always follow the referral pathway. Data collectors at primary health-care facilities monitored whether children received onward care at a second primary health-care facility instead. Credit: Prospective cohort study of referred Malawian children and their survival by hypoxaemia and hypoglycaemia status. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/bulletin/online-first/blt.21.287265.pdf?sfvrsn=a74d2056_5

A study in rural Malawi underscores the need for better clinical management of severely ill children with very low blood sugar or blood oxygen levels. The study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the Parent and Child Health Initiative in Malawi, among others, found high mortality rates for children with either of these symptoms even when they were admitted to a hospital. The findings are published in the journal Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

"Clearly there are areas where clinical management of children with low blood sugar or low blood oxygen levels could be improved, with potentially life-saving impact," says Carina King, researcher at the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, and the study's lead author.

The study followed 784 children (012 years of age) with very or moderately low blood sugar or blood oxygen levels who were referred from rural health facilities to hospitals in the Mchinji district of Malawi between 2019 and 2020.

Current local clinical practice calls for children with signs of severe illness to be referred to hospital for supportive care. However, previous studies suggest that referrals may result in delays of treatment, especially in low resource areas where a lack of transportation and financial barriers are common.

Measurable symptoms

The current study examined what happens to children with two measurable symptomshypoglycemia (low blood glucose) or hypoxemia (low blood oxygen saturation)after they are referred, including survival rates.

The study found that the children with severe hypoglycemia had a fatality rate of 27.8% compared with 5.6% for those with moderate hypoglycemia and 2.9% with normal blood sugar levels. Children with severe hypoxemia had a fatality rate of 13.9% compared with 3.9% for those with moderate hypoxemia and 2.3% for those with normal blood oxygen levels.

Frequent clinical diagnoses for these children included acute respiratory infection, malaria, malnutrition and sepsis or meningitis. Infants younger than two months had the highest fatality rate of all age groups. Most severely ill children received glucose or oxygen treatment upon admission to hospital, but none received treatment upon the first point of contact.

"Our findings suggest that earlier identification and prompt care-seeking could help reduce the risk of death for children with severe hypoxemia or hypoglycemia," says Helena Hildenwall, associate professor at the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet and last author of the study. "However, more research and well-designed trials are needed to determine the optimal treatment for these groups."

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More information: Prospective cohort study of referred Malawian children and their survival by hypoxaemia and hypoglycaemia status. Journal information: Bulletin of the World Health Organization Prospective cohort study of referred Malawian children and their survival by hypoxaemia and hypoglycaemia status. cdn.who.int/media/docs/default  df?sfvrsn=a74d2056_5
Damien Murray, an associate professor of psychology at Tulane, and PhD candidate James Moran were part of a Tulane team that studied the link between students taking an introductory psychology course and their dispositional intelligence. Credit: Rusty Costanza

For college students studying psychology, taking an introduction to personality course can go a long way in their understanding of another person's behaviors and traits.

That was the finding of a Tulane University study that looked at the connection between the introductory personality course and a student's dispositional intelligence.

The study, published in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association, showed that students who took the class showed marked increases in dispositional intelligence from the beginning of the class to the end.

James Moran, a Ph.D. candidate in the Tulane Department of Psychology, said dispositional intelligence is basically an understanding of another person's personality traits. Analyzing how well students acquire dispositional intelligence poses important implications for students in a variety of academic, social and professional settings, he said.

"Our findings suggest that taking an introduction to personality course significantly increases the students understanding of others' personalities," Moran said. "So, they are able to understand others' behaviors as they relate to their personality."

Moran served as the principal investigator on the research team, which also included Michael Hoerger and Damien Murray, both associate professors in the Department of Psychology and Ph.D. graduate Laura Perry.

Researchers surveyed 19 Tulane undergraduates who had completed Introduction to Psychology as a prerequisite. The students were assessed on their knowledge of personality psychology on the first day of class and the last day of class in the 2019 fall semester, using a trait induction subcomponent of dispositional intelligence. Students' scores of dispositional intelligence significantly increased from the first day of class to the last day of class. Results were separated further by individual personality factors and revealed that students significantly increased their understanding of openness and agreeableness.

"Education in personality psychology equips students to scientifically understand traits and behaviors among different personalities," Hoerger said.

Moran said the findings demonstrate that students gain knowledge in their understanding of core personality dispositions that vary across people, including behavioral indicators of traits, how different traits interact and how personality traits are expressed in behavior and interaction.

"Dispositional intelligence helps us understand people better and has been associated with academic and professional success among students. This knowledge for students will benefit them in their interpersonal and professional relationships," Moran said.

Based on the findings of this study, the authors suggest that students' personality education is vital for their academic journey and professional career. In addition, the authors said, understanding personalities will increase individual interactions with classmates and coworkers over time, which could minimize conflict in work settings and help students to be more adaptable and versatile in their careers.

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More information: James B. Moran et al, Dispositional intelligence of the Five-Factor Model as a learning outcome in an undergraduate personality course, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology (2022). James B. Moran et al, Dispositional intelligence of the Five-Factor Model as a learning outcome in an undergraduate personality course,(2022). DOI: 10.1037/stl0000315
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

An estimated 25 percent of people older than 65 have type 2 diabetes, a condition in which the body cannot produce enough insulin to effectively manage blood sugar. Insulin plays an important role in the brain, and people with prediabetes and diabetes are at increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline. Delivering insulin to the brain intranasallyatomized and sprayed through the nosehas been shown to improve verbal memory and has emerged as a potential treatment for cognitive decline in the elderly.

Now, a team of scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have assessed the long-term effects of intranasal insulin (INI) on cognition and on gait in people with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus. MemAID, a phase 2 randomized controlled clinical trial, provided evidence that intranasal insulin increased the walking speed, increased cerebral blood flow and decreased plasma insulin in participants with type 2 diabetes, while it improved decision making and verbal memory in trial participants without the disease and those with pre-diabetes. The findings, published in the Journal of Neurology, suggest intranasal insulin should be further tested for its possible utility as a treatment for type 2 diabetes as well as a treatment for age-related functional decline.

"Walking speed is an important clinical predictor of well-being in the elderly that correlates with cognitive decline, hospitalizations, disability and death," said corresponding author Vera Novak, MD, Ph.D., of the Department of Neurology at BIDMC and an associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. "At baseline, participants with diabetes walked slower and had worse cognition than the participants without diabetes, who served as a clinical reference for normal aging population."

Novak and colleagues at BIDMC and BWH enrolled 223 participants ages 50 to 85-years-old with and without diabetes, and assessed their normal and dual task walking speeds, attention, memory and executive function and mood using a battery of validated tests. Half of the participants with diabetes (n=51) and half without diabetes (n=58) were treated with insulin, delivered intranasally via an electronic atomizer once daily. A double blinded trial, the other participants were given an inactive placebo (sterile saline) that was also delivered intranasally.

After 24-weeks of treatment participants with diabetes who received INI had faster walking speeds during treatment and post-treatment than participants with diabetes who received placebo. The INI-treated participants with diabetes also demonstrated increased cerebral blood flow in the frontal lobe, and lower plasma insulin and insulin resistance compared to the placebo group, while the INI-treated participants without diabetes showed improved decision making and verbal memory. Combined, the INI-treated participants both with and without type 2 diabetes demonstrated faster walking and better executive functioning and memory, with those with pre-diabetes showing the most marked improvements in decision making and verbal memory.

"The consistency of the trends in the data showing better performance on walking speed and cognition for INI-treated participants, especially in those with pre-diabetes, carries great implication for potential early intervention using INI in this population to prevent or slow down the progression toward Alzheimer Disease's related dementias," said Long Ngo, Ph.D., senior author of the study and co-director of Biostatistics Division of General Medicine at BIDMC , as well as associate professor of medicine and biostatistics at Harvard Medical School, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "With 96 million adult Americans, and increasing number of younger people having pre-diabetes, this finding on the beneficial effect of INI deserves more attention and definitive confirmation in a larger trial."

The treatment was not associated with any serious or moderate adverse events. Intranasal insulin treatment was safe in participants with type 2 diabetes treated with subcutaneous insulins.

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More information: Vera Novak et al, MemAID: Memory advancement with intranasal insulin vs. placebo in type 2 diabetes and control participants: a randomized clinical trial, Journal of Neurology (2022). Journal information: Journal of Neurology Vera Novak et al, MemAID: Memory advancement with intranasal insulin vs. placebo in type 2 diabetes and control participants: a randomized clinical trial,(2022). DOI: 10.1007/s00415-022-11119-6
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Amid the many problems posed by the pandemic, one positive outcome is that COVID-19 is providing valuable insights that could help researchers unlock the secrets of another intractable disease: diabetes.

At RUSH, researchers are using data gathered during the pandemic to understand the connection between the two diseases and why COVID-19 affects people with diabetes differently.

People with diabetes face higher COVID-19 risks

Over the past two years, data has shown that people with type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop severe COVID-19 that leads to hospitalization and sometimes deathand the reason is likely inflammation, says Rasa Kazlauskaite, MD, MS, director of the Diabetes Technology Program at Rush University Medical Center and a RUSH endocrinologist.

"People with type 2 diabetes typically have chronic, low-level inflammation that is difficult to detect in clinical practice," she says. "When they become infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, this low-level inflammation can become hyperinflammation that affects their lungs, heart and other parts of the body." This hyperinflammation is what likely leads to more severe complications from COVID-19, she says.

Having diabetes may also put people at risk for "long COVID," or what doctors call post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection, or PASC, says Alan Landay, Ph.D., vice chair of research and division chief of translational and precision medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine at RUSH.

"In patients with diabetes, there's a disordered metabolic environment that actually enhances the replication of the virus," Landay says. "That may create a higher susceptibility to the virus, and it may also affect the clinical outcomes in those patients. But it's not one-size-fits-all."

To find out why only some people with diabetes develop COVID-19 complications, scientists at RUSH and the nonprofit research institute RTI International have been monitoring COVID-19 in patients with diabetes in Chicago as well as in Malaysia for comparison. So far, scientists have tracked differences in outcomes by age, sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index and other factors in 5,712 patients, with results to be published later this year.

Insights into different ways that diabetes develops

Beyond trying to understand why some people with diabetes have worse outcomes from COVID-19 than others, researchers also hope to gain more insights into how diabetes develops. Scientists already know that for some people, it's not just a faulty immune system that triggers type 1 diabetes or insulin resistance that leads to type 2 diabetes. The National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases recognizes more than 50 different ways that a person can develop diabetes, from defects in a single gene to other health issues like liver disease.

"Ideally, we would like to investigate each and every one of those 50 causes," Kazlauskaite says. "And we are finding that some people have several diabetes causes at the same time. In other words, a patient may not just have the purely insulin-resistant type of diabetes, what's typically defined as type 2, but they might also be affected by steroids or autoimmune diabetes at the same time." Doctors may call this "hybrid diabetes," suggesting that the etiology, or cause, of diabetes may be much more complex than originally believed.

Could COVID-19 be a new cause of diabetes?

It's possible, Kazlauskaite says. A study recently published in the medical journal The Lancet found that people who survived COVID have a 40% higher risk for developing diabetes. She believes many of the new cases of type 2 diabetes are occurring in people with pre-diabetes who don't know it.

"People might have pre-diabetes with chronic, subclinical inflammation before they get COVID-19. So, when they do get infected with the virus, they could develop hyperinflammation that causes metabolic stress and more insulin resistance. As a result, they manifest overt diabetes," she says.

Another theory is that COVID-19 disrupts the immune system. "We know hyperinflammation can cause autoimmune disease. When this happens, the immune system gets 'confused' and starts attacking its own tissues, including insulin-producing cells in the pancreas," she says. This is the process that causes type 1 diabetes, which primarily develops in childhood but may also affect adults.

A third theory is that steroids given during COVID-19 treatment could cause diabetes because they often raise blood glucose, Kazlauskaite says. For some patients, glucose levels return to normal after the steroids have been discontinued, but for others, the effects are lasting.

A fourth reported hypothesis is that COVID-19 can cause severe inflammation of the pancreas (known as pancreatitis), where the body's insulin-producing cells reside. This can trigger diabetes, although it is relatively rare, Kazlauskaite says.

Testing better ways to treat diabetes

Beyond trying to understand the link between COVID-19 and diabetes, doctors at RUSH strive to improve care for patients with both conditions. Like other types of infections, COVID-19 can make existing diabetes worse. That is why controlling glucose in hospitalized patients with both conditions is so critical, Kazlauskaite says.

To help nurses monitor blood sugar levels in these patients at RUSH, Kazlauskaite and her team have been testing continuous glucose monitoring technology that allows nurses to keep an eye on patients' glucose from the nurses' station.

Called inpatient glucose telemetry, the technology alerts nurses before a patient's blood sugar gets into the danger zone. The telemetry project at RUSH was made possible through a generous donation from Thomas and Aferdita Merkel (Aferdita received her bachelor's and master's degrees in nursing from the Rush University College of Nursing). So far, data suggests that patients with COVID-19 and diabetes fare better when their glucose is well controlled.

"It's not only a good thing for patient safety, but it's also good from the nurses' perspective," Kazlauskaite says.

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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

When brain scientist Birgitte Kornum from the Department of Neuroscience recently arrived in Rome for one of the largest sleep conferences in the world, she was completely taken aback. There were pharmaceutical companies everywherewith stands, information material and campaigns.

They all wanted to treat daytime sleepiness or to turn off the brain at night. And a lot of them focused on hypocretin, which is a protein found in brain cells and which has recently attracted a lot of attention within sleep research.

This is because hypocretin is suspected to play a role in both insomnia, which is a decreased ability to fall asleep at night, and in narcolepsy, which is a decreased ability to stay awake during the day. People suffering from insomnia may have too much hypocretin in the brain, while people suffering from narcolepsy have too little. Researchers also suspect hypocretin to play a role in depression, ADHD and other mental disorders.

A lot is already known about the hypocretin system in the brain. There is even a new drug for insomnia countering the effect of hypocretin, latest introduced in Canada in 2018. According to Birgitte Kornum, though, the problem is that we know very little about how hypocretin is regulated inside the cells.

Therefore, Associate Professor Birgitte Kornum and her colleagues set out to shed light on the issue in a new study, which has recently been published in the journal PNAS. The study combines tests on mice, zebrafish and human cells, and the researchers cooperated with their neighbors at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, among others.

MicroRNA associated with sleep regulation

The team of researchers have spent several years studying one of the cellular mechanisms that affect hypocretin levels. Here they have focused on a small molecule called microRNA-137 (miR-137).

"We discovered that miR-137 helps regulate hypocretin. To experience normal sleep, you need to have the right amount of hypocretin in the brain at the right time, and miR-137 helps with that. Though MiR-137 is also found in other parts of the body, it is especially pronounced in the brain," Birgitte Kornum says about the new study, which she has headed together with Assistant Professor Anja Holm from Aalborg University.

MicroRNA regulates various cellular processes, including hypocretin levels. Therefore, there is considerable research interest in microRNAs, as they could be targeted in order to regulate such processes.

Previously, the scientists knew very little about the role played by miR-137 in the brain, but now Birgitte Kornum's research team has demonstrated that it is associated with hypocretin regulation and thus with sleep.

"This is the first time a microRNA is associated with sleep regulation. Drawing on the UK Biobank, we discovered some genetic mutations in miR-137 which cause daytime sleepiness. The study demonstrates this connection in both mice and zebrafish, and we are able to prove the connection with hypocretin. Our discovery shows just how complex the machinery of sleep is. Imagine inheriting a variant of miR-137 that puts you at higher risk of feeling sleepy during the day," says Birgitte Kornum.

Hypocretin affects sleep stages

Hypocretin, which has caught the attention of the pharmaceutical companies, also affects the order of the sleep stages.

Our sleep is usually divided into four stages. The stages follow a specific order, and this order is vital to the quality of our sleep.

"Narcolepsy patients suffering from low levels of hypocretin experience muddled sleep stages. We know this from mice tests demonstrating that hypocretin affects the order of these stages," explains Anja Holm from Aalborg University, who is first author of the study and who did the tests together with Birgitte Kornum.

Existing research suggests that to solve the problem we need to gain more knowledge of hypocretin regulation. And here the Danish researchers point to a different, but equally important piece of the puzzle, namely the immune system.

"Most people know that when you are ill you often feel tired. And when you have a fever and the immune system is hard at work, you often suffer from poor sleep. So we know that something happens to the hypocretin level when the body is trying to fight off a virus infection, for example, and we are trying to understand this process," says Birgitte Kornum.

"In the study, we show that one of the immune system's transmitter substances, IL-13, has a special effect on hypocretin. We can tell that when we add IL-13, it affects miR-137 and thus also the level of hypocretin in the body. We still do not know why, though, but we are currently doing tests that may be able to give us an answer."

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More information: Anja Holm et al, The evolutionarily conserved miRNA-137 targets the neuropeptide hypocretin/orexin and modulates the wake to sleep ratio, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Anja Holm et al, The evolutionarily conserved miRNA-137 targets the neuropeptide hypocretin/orexin and modulates the wake to sleep ratio,(2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2112225119
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The first year of medical training after medical school brings intense stress, long work hours, irregular sleep schedules, and a risk of new or worsened symptoms of depression.

But two new studies identify two groups of first-year residents, also called interns, who may be especially at risk of developing mental health concerns: those who are training to be surgeons, and those who are members of sexual minorities.

The studies, both published this week by teams from the University of Michigan, add to the growing body of knowledge not just about mental health concerns in medical training, but also about the impacts of intense stress on mental health in general.

The data in both papers comes from the Intern Health Study, based at the Michigan Neuroscience Institute and led by the director of the Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg and Family Depression Center.

Every spring, the study recruits physicians who are about to start their first year of residency to volunteer to track their mood, activity, sleep and other measures over the next 12 months through a wearable device and smartphone app. Their medical and life history, and DNA samples, are also collected and analyzed.

Surgical interns and depression:

A new paper published in JAMA Surgery by a team led by U-M Department of Surgery assistant professor Tasha Hughes, M.D., M.P.H., shows for the first time how surgical residents' mental health changes over time during their first year of training, and how it compares with non-surgical residents' experience. The study looked at data from 12,400 interns, including 2,793 surgeons-in-training, between 2016 and 2020.

Training in most surgical disciplines begins with at least one general surgery intern year even if a physician ultimately will pursue specialized training in a particular type of surgery. Hughes and colleagues find that surgical interns actually came into their training with a lower rate of existing depression symptoms than peers of similar ages in the general population.

But by the end of the intern year, 32% of those who had started with no signs of depression had scored high enough on at least one mood survey to be considered depressed. Female surgeons, those with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual, those without partners, those who worked the most hours on average, and those who had a history of adverse childhood experiences were more likely to develop signs of depression.

Even after adjusting for these factors, surgical interns were more likely to develop new-onset depression than new physicians in other disciplines, except when work hours were taken into account.

Among those who showed signs of new-onset depression on at least one survey, 64% had continued signs of depression on a later survey, suggesting persistent issues.

And only 26% of those who screened positive for depression actually reported seeking mental health care during their intern year, and even among those who had an especially high score on their first screening, only 39% sought help.

"Surgical training, especially in the United States, can be a period of intense stress, which we find is linked to new onset of depression," says Hughes. "These findings suggest a need for surgical program directors, leaders and health systems to continue to find ways to mitigate the effects of surgical training, normalize help-seeking, make mental health support easily available, and pay special attention to those with characteristics that might put them at increased risk."

LGBTQ physicians-in-training and depression:

The second study, published in JAMA Health Forum, used data from more than 7,000 interns who started training in medical or surgical specialties in 2016 through 2018 and disclosed their sexual orientation as part of their intake questionnaire. Just over 7% said they were a member of a sexual minority group, including lesbian, gay, bisexual or another non-heterosexual group.

In all, depression scores were higher at the start of the intern year for members of sexual minorities compared with their heterosexual peers, and the gap grew as the year went on, with the biggest differences seen in the second half of the year.

The study's lead author is Tejal Patel, who will graduate from the U-M this week with her bachelor's degree and a double major in cognitive science and biology, health and society. Intern Health Study director Elena Frank, Ph.D., notes that the project was part of Patel's honors thesis and that being first author of a research letter in a top journal as an undergraduate is a rare feat.

"These results indicate that interns who are part of sexual minority groups may experience unique workplace stressors leading to a widening disparity in mental health," says Patel. "This is important to note because as physicians become more depressed, this can lead to greater risk of medical errors and attrition from medicine. As a result, it may be hard for sexual minority patients to find a physician with whom they can relate, and who will be the right fit for them."

Frank adds that the experience of LGBTQ+ medical trainees has largely not been studied, and that as many as one in five members of Generation Z identify as a member of a sexual minority.

"Ensuring that we support the development of a diverse physician workforce that reflects our communities is increasingly critical," says Frank, an assistant research scientist at MNI. "With our large, national study we realized we were in a unique position to be able to provide some insight on potential disparities in mental health experiences and are hopeful that our data will spur further research in this area and inform targeted efforts to facilitate a healthier and more inclusive educational environment for all physicians."

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More information: Tasha M. Hughes et al, New-Onset Depression Among Surgical Interns, JAMA Surgery (2022). Tasha M. Hughes et al, New-Onset Depression Among Surgical Interns,(2022). DOI: 10.1001/jamasurg.2022.0618 Tejal H. Patel et al, Symptoms of Depression by Sexual Orientation During Physician Training, JAMA Health Forum (2022). DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2022.0812 Journal information: JAMA Surgery
March 2022 Monthly Homeless Report and Homeless Quarterly Progress Report Quarter 1 2022 Published

Over 9,800 homeless recorded in March  a 3.5% increase on previous month

3% increase in number of people who exited or were prevented from entering emergency accommodation in Q1 2022

Youth Homelessness Strategy due to be published in Quarter 3

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh OBrien, TD, has today (29 April 2022) published the Monthly Homeless Report for March 2022 and the Homeless Quarterly Progress Report for Quarter 1 2022.

Monthly Homeless Report for March 2022

The Monthly Homeless Report for March 2022 shows that 9,825 individuals were homeless, an increase of 333 (3.5%) on the February 2022 total. The number remains lower (-7%) since its highest level in October 2019 but recent increases are serious cause for concern.

Among the homeless adults recorded in March, 4,957 (71%) were single adults and there were 1,238 families in emergency accommodation.

A total of 2,811 children (under-18) associated with these families, were in emergency accommodation in March 2022.

Homeless Quarterly Progress Report for Quarter 1 2022

Approximately 413 families presented as homeless in the Dublin region in Q1 2022, an increase of 8% on the corresponding period in 2021 (381). 245 families entered emergency accommodation in the Dublin region in Q1 2022, an increase of 91 on Q1 2021.

The report shows that during Q1 2022, 1,228 adults and their dependants exited, or were prevented from entering emergency accommodation, by way of a tenancy being created.

The report also shows that 775 people exited emergency accommodation to private rented tenancies under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme and 214 people exited homelessness to local authority homes in Q1 2022.

Housing First programme for long-term homeless

The Department also provided information today on the first full operational quarter of the new Housing First National Implementation Plan 2022-2026, a key response to ending long-term homelessness among those with complex health and mental health needs. The Housing First Programme provides the most vulnerable of our homeless population with a home for life as well as with key wraparound health and social supports. A total of 58 new supported tenancies commenced in Q1 2022. Through the programme, there are 703 high-support need individuals, who were formerly rough sleepers or long-term users of emergency accommodation, housed and supported in their own homes. The programme is now operational in every county in Ireland.

Commenting on the details contained in the reports published today, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh OBrien T.D. said:

The continuing increase in the numbers accessing emergency accommodation is a serious concern. The Government, local authorities and others are making every effort to reduce homelessness. Key to this is the delivery of new social housing and boosting overall supply.

The Government is investing significantly in social and affordable housing, with a record 4 billion allocated for current and capital investment in housing this year alone. Funding is in place to deliver 11,800 social homes, including 9,000 new build homes, building on the progress made last year when 9,183 new social homes were provided, a 17% increase on 2020.

Increasing overall housing supply across tenures (social, affordable, private rental and private ownership) is also critical. To the end of March this year over 22,000 new homes were completed, the highest rolling 12-month average over the past decade. Commencement Notices for almost 35,000 new homes were received between April 2021 and March 2022, the highest rolling 12-month total since comparable data were first published.

We are providing more social homes, we are completing more homes in general and we have a strong pipeline of homes commenced. This supply activity, as well as targeted measures specifically centred on homelessness, will allow us to meet the challenge of eradicating homelessness.

Under Housing for All, the Governments national housing plan to 2030, the Government is committed to providing 47,600 new-build social homes by the end of 2026, and 90,000 social homes by 2030. In terms of social housing delivery:

Last year, 9,183 new social homes were provided, a 17% increase on 2020.

were provided, a 17% increase on 2020. This year, there is a target to deliver 9,000 new build social homes , which will be delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies

, which will be delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies Overall, in 2021, over 23,000 households on local authority housing lists had their housing needs met.

on local authority housing lists had their housing needs met. The Government continues to ensure vacant social housing units are brought back into use as quickly as possible through the voids programme. Investment of over 90 million since the start of 2020 has brought some 6,000 units back into use . Further significant funding is being provided this year.

. Further significant funding is being provided this year. The HAP scheme plays a vital role in housing eligible families and individuals. At the end of Q4 2021, over 100,000 HAP tenancies had been created since the scheme commenced. More than 61,900 households are actively in receipt of HAP support and over 33,000 separate landlords and agents provide accommodation to households supported by the scheme. The HAP scheme continues to be an important social housing support and remains a part of the suite of social housing options currently available across the country.

since the scheme commenced. More than 61,900 households are actively in receipt of HAP support and over 33,000 separate landlords and agents provide accommodation to households supported by the scheme. The HAP scheme continues to be an important social housing support and remains a part of the suite of social housing options currently available across the country. The 2021 Summary of Social Housing Assessments showed that 59,247 households were assessed as being qualified for, and in need of, social housing support (as of 17 November 2021). This figure is down 2,633 (4.3%) from 61,880 households on 2 November 2020. This figure also represents a total decrease of 32,353 (35.3%) since 2016.

In terms of overall housing supply, the Government, through Housing for All, targets 24,600 homes being built this year.

To the end of March this year, over 22,000 new homes were completed , the highest rolling 12-month average over the past decade.

, the highest rolling 12-month average over the past decade. Commencement Notices for 34,846 new homes were received between April 2021 and March 2022, the highest rolling 12-month total since comparable data was first published.

National Homeless Action Committee

The Minister reiterated his commitment to working towards eradicating homelessness by 2030. He said:

The National Homeless Action Committee, which I chair, continues to meet regularly. Joined-up policy and action is key to the delivery of homeless actions, including those under the Governments Housing for All plan.

A number of measures have been identified and are now being advanced. The first draft of the Youth Homelessness Strategy has also been circulated to members of the committee. It will outline the causes of youth homelessness and what actions are required to help young people who are aged 18  24 and who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. I aim to publish the Strategy later this year.

The Minister also supported the recommendation contained in the Housing Assistance and Discrimination Scoping Study on the Housing Assistance Ground under the Equal Status Acts 2000-2018 by Rory Hearne and Judy Walsh (on behalf of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission) relating to the provision of information in HAP documentation alerting tenants and landlords that discrimination on housing assistance grounds is unlawful. He said that inclusion of such information on the HAP website and application form will be considered and progressed by officials in the department.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Link to Homeless Report - March 2022

Link to Homeless Quarterly Progress Report for Q1 2022

The Quarterly Progress Report is prepared by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, based on quarterly performance reports submitted by the nine regional lead authorities responsible for the administration of homeless services at local level.

Children have been clearly enumerated in the monthly homeless statistics since July 2021 so comparisons with previously published data must be qualified, given that they are not directly comparable.

The Government continues to ensure vacant social housing units are brought back into use as quickly as possible through the voids programme. Investment of over 90 million since the start of 2020 has brought some 6,000 units back into use. Further significant funding is being provided this year. The return to use of vacant local authority will be allocated to those on social housing waiting lists, including those currently in emergency accommodation.

The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme plays a vital role in housing eligible families and individuals. At the end of Q4 2021, over 100,000 HAP tenancies had been set-up since the scheme commenced. More than 61,900 households are actively in receipt of HAP support and over 33,000 separate landlords and agents provide accommodation to households supported by the scheme. The HAP scheme continues to be an effective and secure forms of social housing support and remains a part of the suite of social housing options currently available across the country.

The Housing Agency undertook an analytical exercise on behalf of the Department, to better understand what level of discretion should be made available to Local Authorities under HAP. This review was submitted to the Department on 20 December 2021. The Department is currently in the process of reviewing the Housing Agency discretion report and is carrying out an analysis of the data and conclusions presented in it. This analysis by the Department and the Housing Agency report will be the basis for recommendations to the Minister in Quarter 2 of 2022.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage also funds Thresholds National Tenancy Protection Service, which is instrumental in preventing homelessness in the first instance and supporting people to remain in their homes.

In December, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage issued new guidance to local authorities on the preparation of local Homelessness Action Plans. This guidance is to support the implementation of Housing for All, in particular, the policy provisions and actions on homelessness.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage Press Office

Tel: (01) 888 2638 (direct)

Email: press@housing.gov.ie

Website: gov.ie/housing

Twitter: @DeptHousingIRL
Minister Ryan opens first grid-scale solar project to connect to the national grid under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS)

The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD, today formally opened the first grid-scale solar project to connect to the national grid under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS).

Millvale solar farm, developed by Neoen, is now delivering electricity into the national grid. It is located close to Ashford in Co. Wicklow and has a generation capacity of 8MW. The farm occupies 25 hectares and has 33,600 solar modules  enough to power approximately 3,600 homes every year and avoiding 4,800 tonnes in CO2 emissions.

This is the first of many solar projects to reach commercial operation under RESS 1  the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme  and the first of almost 600MW of solar generation capacity secured in the auction. If we also include wind projects, this is actually the third project to reach commercial operation under RESS 1.

Neoen has also secured support, under RESS 1, for two other solar farms  Hilltown and Hortland.

Commenting on the opening of Millvale solar farm Minister Ryan said:

The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme is one of the primary policies set out in the Programme for Government and the Climate Action Plan to address Irelands climate challenges over the coming years. It supports the growth of the green economy, creates sustainable work opportunities and benefits citizens, as renewable energy becomes more cost effective and replaces fossil fuels such as coal and peat.

Historically Ireland has had a singular reliance on onshore wind for our renewable electricity. With RESS 1 we sought to create technology diversity and to promote the emerging solar industry in Ireland. I am delighted to see Millvale energise; this is Irelands first grid-scale solar project under RESS.

This is the first of many solar projects expected to energise under the RESS this year. Its a key starting point on our journey, under the Climate Action Plan, to install up to 2.5GW of solar energy on the electricity system by 2030.

What is the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS)?

The RESS is an auction-based scheme, which invites renewable electricity projects to bid for capacity. Successful applicants receive a guaranteed price for the electricity they generate. The scheme is open to a range of technologies, including wind and solar, with provisions to couple renewables and storage capability at project sites. This will broaden the renewable energy mix and enhance security of supply.

In RESS 1  the first scheme which opened in 2020  a standalone solar preference category was included in the auction, to allow solar projects to compete on a like-for-like basis with other solar projects, rather than competing with the well-established wind industry. Those auction results indicated that solar projects were, for the most part, able to compete on par with wind.

In RESS 2  the second scheme  the design of the auction has been modified, removing the standalone solar preference category and, instead, utilising an Evaluation Correction Factor (ECF). The ECF is intended to reflect the relative benefits that each type of technology (and the diversity that they bring) has on system costs. The qualification process for RESS 2 is now complete and the auction opened this morning (Friday, 29th April 2022), with final results due in mid-June. It is anticipated that RESS 2 will deliver a significant increase in the proportion of renewable generation delivered by solar  by the end of 2024.

The solar capacity secured under RESS 2 is expected to contribute significantly, in the first half of the decade, towards our ambitions to connect up to 2.5GW of solar to the electricity system by 2030. These solar connections provide a predictable and clean source of generation to the grid.

Renewable electricity in the context of the Climate Action Plan

Further developing our renewable electricity generation capacity is fundamental to achieving the broader climate goals, under Climate Action Plan 2021.

Climate Action Plan 2021 sets out a goal of achieving a 51% reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and setting us on a path to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Key to achieving this is a target to generate up to 80% of our electricity from renewable sources by the end of this decade. The plan also projects what the relative proportions of renewable electricity will look like by 2030. It includes projections for up to 8GW of onshore wind capacity (an increase of up to 3.5GW on current connections), at least 5GW of offshore wind capacity and up to 2.5GW of solar (PV) capacity.

Moreover, the recently launched Micro-Generation Support Scheme (MSS) aims to deploy up to 380MW of new generation from renewable self-consumers (including an export payment for all micro-generators).

Substituting wind and solar for fossil fuel electricity generation will also displace emissions in other sectors, for example through the electrification of (car-based) transport and residential heating.

Reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuels and boosting the Circular Economy

More broadly, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent energy challenges, has underpinned the importance of accelerating the switch to indigenous, renewable sources of energy and reducing Irelands reliance on imported fossil fuels. Measures that reduce fossil fuel use also support the development of Irelands Circular Economy, by reducing our dependence on the extraction of natural resources, many of which have to be imported. In this way Ireland can reduce its exposure to complex supply chains and supply shocks.

ENDS

NOTES TO THE EDITOR

Further information on the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS), including final terms and conditions for individual auctions and auction results, see: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/36d8d2-renewable-electricity-support-scheme/.

Background

The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) is an auction-based scheme, which invites renewable electricity projects to bid for capacity. Successful applicants receive a guaranteed price for the electricity they generate.

Increasing Technology Diversity: The scheme is open to a range of technologies, including wind and solar. There are provisions to couple renewables and storage capability at project sites. This will broaden the renewable energy mix and enhance security of supply.

Solar Preference and Evaluation Correction Factor: In RESS 1 a standalone solar preference category was included in the auction, to allow solar projects to compete on a like-for-like basis with other solar projects, rather than competing with the well-established wind industry. The auction results indicated that solar projects were, for the most part, able to compete on par with wind. In RESS 2, the auction was modified, removing the standalone solar preference category and, instead, utilising an Evaluation Correction Factor (ECF). The ECF is intended to reflect the relative benefits that each type of technology (and the diversity that they bring) has on system costs.

In RESS 1 a standalone solar preference category was included in the auction, to allow solar projects to compete on a like-for-like basis with other solar projects, rather than competing with the well-established wind industry. The auction results indicated that solar projects were, for the most part, able to compete on par with wind. In RESS 2, the auction was modified, removing the standalone solar preference category and, instead, utilising an Evaluation Correction Factor (ECF). The ECF is intended to reflect the relative benefits that each type of technology (and the diversity that they bring) has on system costs. Community Participation: The obligatory Community Benefit Fund (CBF) will generate a significant volume of capital for communities living in close proximity to renewable projects each year, for the duration of the support scheme. This will support local community initiatives and sustainable development goals.

The RESS received EU state aid approval in July 2020. The RESS is a product of both independent economic analysis and public participation and consultation. The development of the RESS has included an in-depth review of international best practice, across the UK, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Canada and Scotland  world leaders in community-led renewable electricity projects.

RESS Auctions

The frequency of future RESS auctions is dependent on the renewable electricity project supply pipeline, along with evolving market, locational and technological considerations.

The second of a minimum of five envisaged auctions, to occur between 2020 and 2025 to deliver on 2030 targets, is underway. These auctions will provide pathways for renewable developers, including solar and offshore wind projects through dedicated offshore auctions, to plan and develop their projects. It will also allow Ireland to take advantage of new technologies as they emerge.

A roadmap of future auctions, which sets out the indicative timelines and volumes for auctions over the coming decade (and provides clarity for developers in relation to when they need to have their projects 'auction ready'), was published in December 2021. This roadmap will be updated later this year.

Reduce Your Use: Government of Ireland campaign

In other energy-related developments, the Government this week launched a new nationwide public information campaign  Reduce Your Use  to promote and encourage efficiency and to highlight the range of supports that are available to households and businesses. The initial phase of the public information campaign will run for the next four weeks, with ads running in print, on radio and across social media. The campaign will be phased over the coming year, tailored for different seasons, activities and energy demands.

Energy efficiency advice within the campaign is provided by experts at the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). It is practical and evidenced-based, detailing what actions can help to save the most money and energy. The campaign also highlights the range of Government financial supports for households and businesses. The Government has been especially proactive in this regard, introducing a suite of targeted and universal supports that is among the most comprehensive across all EU Member States.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Russia pounded targets from practically one end of Ukraine to the other Thursday, including Kyiv, bombarding the city while the head of the United Nations was visiting in the boldest attack on the capital since Moscows forces retreated weeks ago.

Ukrainian emergency services said 10 people were wounded when a Russian missile hit a 25-story apartment building in Kyiv on Thursday evening and set off a fire, which partially destroyed the first and second floors.

The bombardment came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said Ukraine has become an epicenter of unbearable heartache and pain.

A spokesperson said Guterres and his team were safe.

Meanwhile, explosions were reported across the country  in Polonne in the west, Chernihiv near the border with Belarus, and Fastiv, a large railway hub southwest of the capital.

The mayor of Odesa, in southern Ukraine, said rockets were intercepted by air defenses.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Ukraine says Russian offensive in east picks up momentum

 NATO chief says Finland, Sweden could join quite quickly

 Biden seeks new powers to use oligarchs assets for Ukraine

 A chilling Russian cyber aim in Ukraine: Digital dossiers

 After a rocket: One second and you are left with nothing

Follow all AP stories on Russias war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had very substantive and warm talks on energy and defense cooperation with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov during his visit to Kyiv on Thursday.

Zelenskyy said they agreed that damaged Ukrainian military equipment could be repaired at Bulgarian plants and then sent back to Ukraine.

Another issue we agreed on was the supply of Ukrainian electricity to Bulgaria and the joint use of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline to diversify energy supplies in the region, Zelenskyy said late Thursday in his nightly video address to the nation.

Russia this week cut off natural gas supplies to Bulgaria and also to Poland, two NATO members which have been among the strongest European supporters of Ukraine in the war.

Although Bulgaria gets over 90% of its gas from Russia, the cutoff does not immediately put the country in dire trouble because of other potential suppliers. The Trans-Balkan gas pipeline runs from Greece through Bulgaria and Romania to Ukraine.

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine  An 11-year-old Ukrainian boy was one of at least three people wounded in what emergency officials are calling the first Russian strike in a residential area of the southern city of Zaporizhzhia since Russias invasion began.

The city has been a crucial waypoint for tens of thousands of people fleeing the besieged southern port of Mariupol.

The rocket strike came Thursday as parts of southern Ukraine prepared for a further onslaught by Russian forces who seek to strip the country of its coastline.

Residents said at least eight homes in the modest neighborhood were damaged or destroyed.

Glass shards cut the boys right leg to the bone. The injured boys father, Vadym Vodostoyev, said it just takes one second and youre left with nothing.

KYIV, Ukraine  Russia struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday evening.

At least one person was killed and several were injured, including some who were trapped beneath the rubble, according to rescue officials. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Shevchenkivskyi district in the northwestern part of the city was hit twice, causing fires in at least two high-rise buildings.

The explosions, which sent plumes of black smoke into the air, came just shortly after the two leaders held a press conference in which Guterres condemned the atrocities committed in towns like Bucha, where evidence of mass killings of civilians was found after Russia retreated. Authorities said the U.N. chief and his team were safe.

Appearing to be one of boldest attacks on Kyiv since Russian forces retreated from around the capital weeks ago, the explosions came as residents have been increasingly returning to the city. Cafes and other businesses have reopened, and a growing number of people have been out and enjoying the spring weather.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines prosecutor on Thursday identified 10 Russian soldiers she accused of atrocities in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, one of the wars major flashpoints that helped galvanize Western support of Ukraine.

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said on Facebook that the 10 soldiers in Russias 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Ground Forces Brigade who occupied Bucha were involved in the torture of peaceful people. She did not specifically say that her office had filed criminal charges, and appealed to the public to help develop evidence.

The Russian government denies it targets civilians. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently honored the brigades work, and Venediktova said he bears responsibility for the soldiers actions as their commander-in-chief.

During the occupation of Bucha, they took unarmed civilians hostage, killed them with hunger and thirst, kept them on their knees with hands tied and eyes taped, mocked and beat them, Venediktova said, adding that the Russian soldiers threatened to shoot the hostages and looted houses.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, visiting Bucha on Thursday, called for a thorough investigation of alleged war crimes. Ukrainian authorities have said they are investigating thousands of possible war crimes, including killing of civilians, bombing of civilian infrastructure, torture, sexual crimes and use of prohibited weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nightly video address to his nation, renewed a pledge to hold Russian soldiers accountable for crimes. He added about the 10 suspects identified Thursday: Some of them may not, after all, live until a trial and fair punishment. But only for one reason: This Russian brigade has been transferred to the Kharkiv region. There, theyll receive retribution from our military.

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden is rejecting the idea that Russias war in Ukraine could grow into a larger proxy conflict between Moscow and the United States and NATO allies that may even bring the world closer to nuclear confrontation.

At an event at the White House where Biden asked Congress for an additional $33 billion to aid Ukraine, the president said Thursday that the idea of a larger proxy war was concerning but not true.

He blamed Russian authorities for exaggerating such speculation, saying it shows the desperation that Russia is feeling about their abject failure with the invasion of Ukraine.

Instead of saying that the Ukrainians, equipped with some capability to resist Russian forces, are doing this, theyve got to tell their people that the United States and all of NATO is engaged, Biden said.

He added that no one should be making idle comments about the use of nuclear weapons and called doing so irresponsible.

LONDON  The British government says a U.K. national has been killed in Ukraine, and another is missing.

The Foreign Office confirmed Thursday that it is supporting the family of a British national killed in Ukraine. It also said it was urgently seeking further information on another Briton who is missing.

The government did not provide further details.

Sky News reported that the Britons were believed to have been fighting with Ukrainians against the Russian invasion.

Volunteers from Britain and many other countries have traveled to Ukraine to fight, despite being discouraged from doing so by their governments.

ISTANBUL  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says both U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin have told him that their talks in Moscow earlier this week were positive.

Erdogan told reporters before leaving for a trip to Saudi Arabia, that he held separate telephone calls with Guterres and Putin.

Mr. Guterres ... informed me that the talks (with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov) were positive. In our discussion with Mr. Putin yesterday, Putin expressed the same views.

Erdogan added that the Russian president had conveyed the opinion that a U.N. intervention is positive for the future. He did not elaborate.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian troops defending a steel plant that is the last Ukrainian bulwark in the key port of Mariupol say an intensive Russian bombing has inflicted more casualties.

The Azov Regiment holed up at the giant Azovstal steel plant on Thursday posted a video showing people combing through the rubble to remove the dead bodies and help the wounded after the Russian bombing overnight. The Azov said the Russians hit an improvised underground hospital and its surgery room, killing an unspecified number of people and wounding others there.

The video couldnt be independently verified.

The Russian troops have pummeled the mammoth seaside plant with relentless airstrikes and artillery barrage, trying to uproot its defenders holed up in a 24-kilometer (15-mile) maze of underground tunnels, passages and bunkers.

Ukrainian officials say that up to 1,000 civilians also were sheltering in Azovstal. They are demanding that Russia provides a safe exit for them under the United Nations aegis.

WARSAW, Poland  Polands border guard agency says that it has recorded 3 million crossings into Poland from neighboring Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24, while there have been 904,000 crossings into Ukraine.

Border guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska said Thursday that the number includes people who cross a number of times because, for example, they regularly do shopping in Poland and then go back.

Polish authorities say some 1.6 million refugees have applied for and received special ID numbers that will allow them to work and receive free health care and education in Poland.

VIENNA  The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says radiation levels in excavations found in the exclusion zone around the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant were well below the maximum authorized levels for plant workers.

Ukraines state power company said after Russian troops withdrew at the end of March that they received significant doses of radiation from digging trenches in the area.

IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said Thursday that, during a visit this week, experts from his agency took measurements from excavations probably made by occupying soldiers.

He said that the levels were three times or more lower than the authorized levels for workers in areas exposed to radiation.

As for whether anyone was actually exposed to those radiation levels, he said: We have asked about possible exposures or situations; we havent received any answer.

Although that suggested the health risk wasnt as great as feared, Grossi stressed that its not a place to have a picnic or excavate.

BRUSSELS  Senior European Union officials say countries or companies bowing fully to the terms of a Russian presidential decree insisting that they pay their gas bills in rubles will be in breach of the blocs sanctions.

The Kremlin says importers should establish an account in dollars or euros at Russias Gazprombank, then a second account in rubles. They would pay the gas bill in euros or dollars and direct the bank to exchange the money for rubles.

The officials warn that Russias central bank could hold on to the money before converting it and in essence use the funds as a temporary loan for the national economy or to prop up the ruble. The EUs sanctions prohibit any transaction with the Russian Central Bank.

One official said Thursday that if the member states and the European companies apply strictly the decree  it will constitute a breach of the sanctions. His job description does not allow him to be named publicly.

The violation essentially comes with the use of the second bank account. The EUs executive branch, the European Commission, has said that companies could remain in compliance by paying in euros or dollars, as per their contract, and then notifying Gazprombank that their payment obligations are over.

Ultimately, its up to the 27 EU countries to judge whether the rules are being broken. Some of those countries are heavily reliant on Russia for gas.

 By Lorne Cook.

TOKYO  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is defending his countrys ongoing purchase of gas and other fossil fuels from Russia.

Speaking during a visit to Japan on Thursday, Scholz said that it is a challenge that many European countries, including Germany, are dependent on imports of fossil resources from Russia.

Scholz said his government aims to end imports of Russian coal and oil this year. He said that the same will happen for gas, but that is a process that will require more time.

Asked whether he was concerned Russia might stop shipping gas to Germany, like it did this week for Poland and Bulgaria, Scholz acknowledged that any interruption would have consequences for the economic situation.

He said this was also the reason why there no sanctions have so far been imposed on energy supplies from Russia, adding this had been decided in close cooperation with our partners who themselves are energy exporters and therefore in a different starting position, such as the United States.

Scholz said: Whether and what decisions the Russian government takes in this regard one can only speculate, but it makes little sense to do so.

ANKARA, Turkey  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has discussed the war in Ukraine in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The leaders also discussed a prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia that took place in Turkey on Wednesday. Erdogans office said he told Putin on Thursday that Turkeys mediation in the exchange was an indication of the importance Ankara attaches to peace, dialogue and cooperation.

He reiterated Turkeys readiness to mediate between Russia and Ukraine and its wish to establish peace in the region by increasing the momentum generated in face-to-face talks that were held between the two countries delegations in Istanbul late last month.

It was the second telephone call between the two presidents this week. On Tuesday, Erdogan urged Putin to agree to direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden is asking Congress or new powers to seize and repurpose the assets of Russian oligarchs as part of a new funding request to aid Ukraine in its defense against Russias invasion.

In remarks at the White House on Thursday morning, Biden will formally ask for billions of dollars in additional U.S. spending earmarked for supplying Ukraines military, bolstering its economy and supporting the millions of refugees who fled Russias invasion two months ago. The White House said he will also seek new authorities from Congress to strengthen U.S. sanctions against the Russian government and those who profit from it, the White House said.

Biden is asking lawmakers to make it a criminal offense for a person to knowingly or intentionally possess proceeds directly obtained from corrupt dealings with the Russian government, double the statute of limitations for foreign money laundering offenses to 10 years, and expand the definition of racketeering under U.S. law to include efforts to evade sanctions.

MOSCOW  Russia says that Turkey gave it advance notice before moving to bar Russian planes from flying to Syria over its territory.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that Turkey had asked Russia more than a month ago not to send Syria-bound planes over its territory. She added that the reasons for that were clear to us and the Russian side isnt using that route.

Zakharova made the comment when asked about Turkeys weekend announcement that it had halted Russian flights to Turkey over its territory from the start of this month.

It wasnt clear whether the move was related to Russias military operation in Ukraine. Turkey has close relations with both countries and has positioned itself as a mediator.

Russia and Turkey have backed opposite sides in the Syrian civil war.

SOFIA, Bulgaria  Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov has said during a visit to the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka that he hopes Bulgarian lawmakers will agree next week to send military assistance to Ukraine.

Petkov was due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv later Thursday. He said after viewing damage caused to Borodyanka during the initial Russian advance that we cannot be indifferent. We cannot say that this is a Ukrainian problem, we cannot say some people are dying but we are not interested in that.

He criticized the argument of some politicians in Bulgaria that denying military aid to Ukraine would bring about a faster peace.

Petkov said: If this is the price of peace, if the Russian state continues to fire and no one can defend himself  is this the peace we want?

KYIV, Ukraine  Mariupol authorities are sounding the alarm about unsanitary conditions in the ravaged port city that they say pose a deadly danger to its remaining residents.

Mariupol City Council said on the messaging app Telegram Thursday that deadly epidemics may break out in the city due to the lack of centralized water supply and sewerage, the decomposition of thousands of corpses under the rubble, a catastrophic shortage of drinking water and food.

It said that the lives of 100,000 people who still remain in Mariupol, out of 450,000 pre-war residents, may be in danger  pointing to diseases like cholera and dysentery.

The Telegram post cited Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko as saying that the invaders are not able to provide the remaining population with food, water and medicines  or are simply not interested in that. He said that living conditions in the ruined Mariupol are now medieval and that an immediate and complete evacuation is needed.

WASHINGTON  A majority of U.S. adults say misinformation around Russias invasion of Ukraine is a major problem, and they largely fault the Russian government for spreading those falsehoods.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 61% of people in the United States say the spread of misinformation about the war is a major problem, with only 7% saying its not a problem. Older adults were more likely to identify the wartime misinformation as an issue, with 44% of those under 30 calling it a problem, compared with 65% of those 30 or older.

Misleading social media posts, fake pictures or videos and propagandized headlines have proliferated on websites, from TikTok to Facebook, since Russias assault on Ukraine began in February. In recent weeks, Russian state media and social media accounts have operated in lockstep to push tweets, TV reports and posts that claim photos of bombed buildings and bodies across Ukraine have been staged or faked.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Here's a quick guide to some upcoming arts and cultural events happening around Missoula.

UMs She Loves Me

(April 28-30, May 1-8)

A Tony Award-winning musical will cross the stage at the Montana Theatre after a yearlong postponement.

She Loves Me brings together the University of Montana's School of Music and the School of Theatre and Dance, complete with a live orchestra.

According to a UM news release, the romantic story is a treasured musical adaptation of the play Parfumerie, by Miklos Laslo, whose plot was plucked for the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan classic, Youve Got Mail. In this telling, two shop workers in 1930s Budapest are combative at work yet unknowing pen pals. The music and lyrics were written by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick of Fiddler on the Roof.

Associate professor Pamyla Stiehl is directing and choreographing, with MFA candidate Spencer Stern in the music directors chair.

The run continues April 29-30, May 4-7, at 7:30 p.m. with matinees on May 1 and 8 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available through the pick what you pay program at griztix.com, buying in advance is recommended.

International Wildlife Film Festival

(Through April 30 in person, May 1-7 virtual)

The 45th annual wildlife film fest zooms at cheetah speed into its final weekend. Screenings continue through April 30 in the Roxy Theater. After that, the virtual catalog opens from May 1-8.

Heres a few of the in-person special events during closing weekend:

Friday, April 29: Wildly Drawn Shorts with a filmmaker Q&A at the Roxy.

Saturday, April 30: Best of Festival rescreenings at the Roxy.

Go to wildlifefilms.org for more information.

Izaak Opatzs album release show

(Friday, April 29)

Extra Medium is the latest release from Izaak Opatz, a Whitefish native who started his songwriting career here in Missoula with the Best Westerns, in which his baritone stories enunciated over musical backdrops that rest somewhere between country and rock and roll. (For a while, they called their style dirt wave.)

Opatz has pursued a solo career, where he and his collaborators work under a less rollicking style of arrangements that place his words at the front over the vibe. Find out what heartbreak has brought him by checking out Extra Medium at the release show or via digital platforms.

Opatz is fond of nontraditional venues, and so his show will be held at Love Boat Paddle Co., at 738 S. First St. W., near Free Cycles. The show time is around 8-11 p.m., and youll also hear Dean Johnson.

Jazzoula at the ZACC

(Friday-Sunday, April 29-May 1)

The 2022 Jazzoula festival continues this weekend, with jazz groups ranging from small combos to big bands performing in the Show Room at the Zootown Arts Community Center.

The lineup is almost entirely from the Missoula area or maintains ties here, as the festival aims to showcase western Montanas instrumental and vocal talents.

It runs Fridays-Saturday, April 29-30, with doors at 5:30 p.m. and music starting at 6:30 p.m. Then on Sunday, May 1, head over early with doors at 10 a.m. and music at 11. Admission is $18 general or $15 for students and those 50 and up.

Friday, April 29

Music at 6:30 p.m. Doors at 5:30 p.m.

All City High School Combo; Matt Austin Quartet; The Absent Wilson Conspiracy with Steven Gores; SG Modern Jazz Project; Chuck Florence & Jim Driscoll Band; Canta Brasil.

Saturday, April 30

Music at 6:30 p.m. Doors at 5:30 p.m.

Lhanna Writesel Quartet; Melody Anderson Trio (Kyle Curtis, Pete Hand, Ed Stalling) plus one of Andersons vocal students; Crosstalk; Virginia Vinal Womens Swing Orchestra with Kimberlee Carlson vocals; Missoula Jazz Collective; Salsa Loca.

Sunday, May 1

Music at 11 a.m. Doors open at 10 a.m.

UM Combo; Naomi Moon Siegel Trio featuring Tommy Sciple bass and Ed Stalling drums set; Milan House Quartet with Jeff Troxel guitar; Patti Nolan and Friends.

Symphonys Family Concert

(Sunday, May 1)

A contemporary piece custom-made to introduce kids to classical music is coming to Missoula this week.

The Family Concert was originally scheduled earlier this year, but was postponed due to the omicron surge. Luckily, the guest composer of the piece, James Stephenson, was able to reschedule a visit with two public events. His piece, Once Upon a Symphony, will bring kids on an adventure through nature with animals, rivers and forests and represented by different instruments, according to a news release. Music director Julia Tai will be joined by theater director Rosie Seitz-Ayers for extra dramatic flair.

The performance is Sunday, May 1, at 3 p.m. in the Dennison Theatre. Tickets are $8. Head to missoulasymphony.org or call 406-721-3194. Livestreams are available.

On Thursday, April 28, from 3-4 p.m., you can head to the Missoula Public Library and get a map to lead you around the library with Tai. On Saturday, April 30, Stephenson will give a public presentation (more geared toward adults) from 3-4 p.m.

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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)  A union representing Atlantic City casino dealers is calling on New Jersey lawmakers to prohibit smoking in the resorts casinos.

The United Auto Workers wrote earlier this week to state legislators asking them to hold hearings on a bill that would close a loophole in state law that leaves casinos as virtually the only indoor workplace where smoking is permitted. The letter was made public on Thursday.

Our members include dealers who sit inches away from patrons who blow smoke directly into their face for eight hours a day, every single day, read the letter on behalf of workers at Caesars, Bally's and Tropicana. It is simply unacceptable knowing what we know about the dangers of secondhand smoke. No worker in the state of NJ should be forced to breathe cancer-causing chemicals every single day.

For nearly two years, a group of Atlantic City dealers has been pushing lawmakers to prohibit smoking in the casinos.

But the casinos' trade group, The Casino Association of New Jersey, says doing so would place the casinos at a competitive disadvantage in the crowded northeast casino market, particularly when seven of the nine casinos have not exceeded the level of gross operating profit they enjoyed before the pandemic hit.

The casino association commissioned a report in February predicting that a smoking ban would cost jobs and revenue. But casino workers strongly disputed those projections, and said the report did not take into account the possibility that gamblers put off by a smoking ban might return in subsequent years as they adjust to the new smoke-free situation.

The move by the UAW is also significant in that it shows a split between the two major casino workers' unions in Atlantic City. In a letter sent earlier this month to state Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite Here casino workers union, urged lawmakers not to pass a smoking ban.

A smoking ban would mean lost jobs for our union and throughout the state, and lost tax revenues and less money for senior programs, said McDevitt, whose union represents workers engaged in other casino-related jobs.

The UAW rejected what it called the scare tactics employed by the casinos, adding nothing is scarier than the health risks of being repeatedly exposed to secondhand smoke.

Bills that would eliminate the casino exemption from the state's 16-year-old indoor smoking law are pending in the state Assembly and Senate. But neither has yet had a committee hearing, a necessary first step before a bill can move forward in the state Legislature.

The bills enjoy wide bipartisan backing, and the UAW said, We are certain they will pass.

We will not stand idly by and watch our members choose between their health and their job, said the letter. We all have a right to breathe clean air at our workplaces.

Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at twitter.com/WayneParryAC

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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FRIDAY, April 29, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Thousands of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. South could have been avoided if more people masked, social distanced, kept kids from school and made other behavioral changes to reduce the spread of the virus, researchers say.

In other words, if they had acted more like folks up North.

The study authors suggested that if the entire United States had followed the lead of the Northeast in taking such measures, more than 316,000 COVID-19 deaths might have been prevented before Omicron became the dominant variant.

More than six in 10 of those potentially avoidable deaths were in the South, according to the team at Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies, in Washington, D.C.

"Our study is the first to quantify avoidable deaths and confirm that both COVID-19 deaths and avoidable deaths disproportionately occurred in the South," study co-author Michael Stoto said.

For the study, published online April 28 in the journal PLOS ONE, the investigators analyzed U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data on excess deaths between Jan. 3, 2020 and Sept. 26, 2021. Excess deaths are the difference between the number of current deaths and deaths expected based on previous years in the United States.

During the study period, there were nearly 896,000 excess deaths nationwide associated with COVID-19. That's 26% more than reported by other experts who track disease, the researchers said.

The official U.S. COVID-19 death toll was nearly 1 million deaths as of late April, but these findings suggest that grim mark was actually passed at the beginning of 2022, according to the study authors.

The researchers also compared the Northeast, Midwest, South and West and found that regional differences in COVID-19 death rates persisted throughout the study period.

Since the start of summer 2020, the South has had higher COVID-19 death rates than the rest of the United States. Since October 2020, the South had 48% of COVID-19 deaths in the country, even though it makes up 38% of the U.S. population.

"Our goal was to carefully examine regional differences in COVID-19 death rates based on reliable statistical data," Stoto, a professor of health systems administration and population health, said in a university news release.

"This is one of a series of planned studies to look carefully at the response to COVID-19 in the U.S. and other countries, and to learn from the experience in order to strengthen preparedness for future potential outbreaks," Stoto concluded.

More information

There's more on COVID-19 at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCE: Georgetown University, news release, April 28, 2022

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FRIDAY, April 29, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Land parasites that pose a risk to human and wildlife health can hitch rides on the millions of pounds of microplastics that float between oceans, a new study shows.

"It's easy for people to dismiss plastic problems as something that doesn't matter for them, like, 'I'm not a turtle in the ocean; I won't choke on this thing,'" said corresponding author Karen Shapiro. She is an infectious disease expert and associate professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis.

"But once you start talking about disease and health, there's more power to implement change," she said in a university news release. "Microplastics can actually move germs around, and these germs end up in our water and our food."

Microplastics  no bigger than a grain of rice  have contaminated waters as remote as in Antarctica.

This study found that three disease-causing parasites from the land can hitchhike on microplastics to reach oceans and end up in places they'd normally never be found.

The three parasites are Toxoplasma gondii, Cryptosporidium (Crypto) and Giardia, which can infect both humans and animals.

T. gondii  a parasite found only in cat feces  has infected many ocean species with the disease toxoplasmosis. It's been linked to the deaths of sea otter and critically endangered wildlife, including Hector's dolphins and Hawaiian monk seals. In people, toxoplasmosis can cause lifelong illnesses and developmental and reproductive disorders.

Crypto and Giardia cause gastrointestinal disease and can be deadly in young children and people with weakened immune systems, the study authors said.

For the study, the researchers conducted lab experiments to assess whether the parasites stay attached to two types of microplastics in sea water: polyethylene microbeads (often found in cosmetics such as exfoliants and cleansers), and polyester microfibers (found in clothing and fishing nets).

The parasites clung better to microfibers than to microbeads, but both can carry the parasites, according to the study published online April 26 in the journal Scientific Reports.

While microplastics that float on the ocean surface can travel long distances, those that sink may concentrate the parasites near the bottom of the sea where filter-feeding animals like zooplankton, clams, mussels, oysters, abalone and other shellfish live.

"This work demonstrates the importance of preventing sources of microplastics to our oceans," said study co-author Chelsea Rochman, a plastic-pollution expert and assistant professor of ecology at the University of Toronto. "Mitigation strategies include filters on washing machines, filters on dryers, bio-retention cells or other technologies to treat stormwater, and best management practices to prevent microplastic release from plastic industries and construction sites."

More information

There's more on microplastics at the National Geographic Society.

SOURCE: University of California, Davis, news release, April 26, 2022

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ABILENE, Texas (AP)  Republican efforts to stop the Biden administration from changing how asylum claims on the U.S. border are handled widened Thursday as Texas and Arizona asked courts to block new procedures that could decide asylum cases in months, instead of years.

The lawsuits pile onto an already busy week over immigration policy. The U.S. Supreme Court is questioning a rule that forces some asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico, and a federal judge in Louisiana temporarily stopped the phaseout of asylum restrictions that were put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has the Biden administration defending planned changes to asylum programs on all fronts. Those now include new rules that would empower asylum officers to grant or deny claims  an authority that has been limited to immigration judges for people arriving at the border with Mexico.

Thirteen states, all with GOP governors or state attorneys general, joined Arizona in a lawsuit filed in Louisiana. Texas filed a similar challenge.

This is nothing more than a radical attempt to set up a system that encourages illegal immigration and undermines the rule of law, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has said the new procedures will ease burdens on immigration courts, which are part of the Justice Department.

The Biden administration estimated last year that it would need to hire 800 more employees for asylum officers to handle about 75,000 cases a year. Without more money and new positions, it is unclear how much impact the move will have at first.

The United States has been the worlds most popular destination for asylum-seekers since 2017, according to the U.N. refugee agency, putting enormous strain on immigration courts. The court backlog has soared to nearly 1.7 million cases.

The states involved in the lawsuit have also sued to preserve o preserve so-called Title 42 authority, which denies migrants a chance at asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
FRIDAY, April 29, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Rates of high blood pressure among pregnant women in the United States are on the rise and now occur in at least one in seven hospital deliveries, a new government report warns.

The overall rate of what are called hypertensive disorders in pregnancy increased from about 13% of hospital deliveries in 2017 to 16% in 2019, but rates are higher among certain racial/ethnic groups. In addition, the researchers found that the rate was highest among women older than 45 (31%), and also high among those in rural counties (16%), in lower-income ZIP codes (16%), and those in the South (16%) and Midwest (15%).

High blood pressure in pregnancy can cause severe complications, such as heart attack and stroke, and is a leading cause of pregnancy-related death in the United States, the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said in a news release describing the report. About one-third of women who died during childbirth had a hypertensive disorder in pregnancy.

Dr. Zsakeba Henderson, senior vice president and medical officer at the March of Dimes, called the new numbers "concerning."

"It reinforces previous literature on the high percent of pregnancy-related deaths that have underlying hypertensive complications either prior to pregnancy, during or postpartum," she said.

Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy include both high blood pressure that begins during or after pregnancy, and chronic high blood pressure that's present before pregnancy and continues during pregnancy.

The report, published April 29 in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, shows the need for better prevention, recognition and treatment of high blood pressure during pregnancy, the researchers said.

"There are many strategies that clinicians can use to identify, monitor, and manage people with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy to prevent severe complications and deaths. A great example is home-monitoring of blood pressure during and following pregnancy," said Dr. Janet Wright, director of the CDC's division of heart disease and stroke prevention at the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

The report noted that factors associated with an increased risk for high blood pressure during pregnancy  such as older age, obesity and diabetes  have increased in the United States.

The CDC also said that hypertensive disorders in pregnancy affects more than one in five hospital deliveries among Black women and about one in six deliveries among American Indian and Alaska Native women.

These race-based differences may have societal causes, Henderson believes.

"There is a component of denial of care when African American women seek help for pain or that health care providers fail to treat them with dignity and respect," she said. "These stressors trigger a chain of biological processes, known as 'weathering,' which undermine African American women's physical and mental health."

All of this "puts them at higher risk for a range of medical conditions," Henderson said.

The authors of the CDC report agreed, citing less access to and lower quality of health care, and higher rates of obesity and other risk factors for high blood pressure during pregnancy as contributing factors to these racial disparities.

The report also said that racial bias in the health care system can affect screening, diagnosis and treatment of high blood pressure in pregnancy, and that mental stress from racism has been found to be associated with chronic high blood pressure.

"As health care professionals, we must recognize the factors that contribute to racial inequities and work individually and collectively to reduce these rates," said study author Dr. Wanda Barfield, director of CDC's division of reproductive health at the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. "Addressing hypertensive disorders in pregnancy is a key strategy in reducing inequities in pregnancy-related mortality."

More information

For more on high blood pressure in pregnancy, go to the American Academy of Family Physicians.

SOURCES: Zsakeba Henderson, MD, SVP & MCH impact deputy medical officer, March of Dimes, Atlanta; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, news release, April 28, 2022

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WASHINGTON (AP)  The worst possible moment for bringing Trevor Reed home turned out to be the best.

With U.S.-Russian relations at their lowest point in decades, it seemed an improbable time to hope for the release of Reed, a former Marine detained in Russia for almost three years. Yet this week the Biden administration completed the type of transaction it had earlier seemed resistant to, exchanging Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot and convicted drug trafficker serving a 20-year prison sentence in Connecticut.

A series of events and considerations in the last two months helped facilitate the swap, including escalating concerns over Reed's health, a private Oval Office meeting between his parents and President Joe Biden and a secretive Moscow trip by a former diplomat on the cusp of Russia's war with Ukraine.

All those three forced the White House to make a decision that they hadnt made before," said Mickey Bergman, vice president at the Richardson Center for Global Engagement.

How the war  and the breakdown in U.S.-Russian relations  affected the deal isnt clear. U.S. officials stressed that the negotiations for Reeds release were narrow in scope, focused squarely on the prisoners and not on Russias war and not reflective of any broader diplomatic engagement. But while the timing of the deal was startling, its also clear that the groundwork for it had been laid before the conflict had begun.

I did it, Biden told reporters Wednesday about the deal. I raised it. I raised it three months ago.

Just as the war was about to commence, Bergman and his colleague, Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and ex-New Mexico governor, flew to Moscow on the plane of FedEx chief executive Fred Smith for a meeting with Russian government officials. It was a continuation of negotiations they'd been having for the release of Reed and another jailed American, corporate security executive Paul Whelan.

They left with the contours in place for the one-for-one swap that ultimately took place.

In Texas, Joey and Paula Reed were worrying that Russia's war with Ukraine, and resulting tensions with the U.S., could close off communication channels and prevent any common ground for negotiations. During meetings with administration officials in the last year  including with the Justice Department, which prosecuted Yaroshenko  the couple expressed support for a swap but say they weren't led to think that was a viable option.

They didnt say: Oh, we agree with you, thats a great deal. Thats a good point,'" Paula Reed said in a February interview with The Associated Press. They didnt say anything like that. They just said: We hear you. Thank you very much.'

But weeks into the war, the couple did something that got the White House's attention.

As Biden traveled to Texas to support veterans, the Reeds stood along the motorcade route in hopes of getting meaningful face-time with the president. That didn't happen, though he did speak by phone with the couple. Later that month, they arrived in Washington and stood with signs near the White House, hoping again to meet with the president.

This time, they were invited into the Oval Office for a sit-down with Biden and other administration officials. The White House issued a statement that night reiterating its commitment to getting Reed and Whelan home, an issue that senior officials had raised in private meetings with Russian leaders.

The meeting was a rare bit of presidential access for the family of an American detainee, especially since Biden himself has been less public than his predecessor, Donald Trump, about efforts to get Americans home. Behind the scenes, though, Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were raising the cases with the Russians, and Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, was working on the issue too.

Hovering in the background was Reed's health. In March, Reed told his parents he'd been coughing up blood several times a day, had pain in his lung and a broken rib. Last year, he contracted COVID-19. Even on Wednesday, his parents were taken aback by how thin their son looked during video footage of the transfer. They said they expected that he'd need medical care before resuming his daily life in Texas.

Paula Reed told ABC's Good Morning America that Trevor was getting testing done, and his sister, Taylor, said that his spirits are bright.

Hes telling stories," she said. "Hes flirting with the nurse staff. Its great. Its great to see.

His health issues also alarmed U.S. officials.

That, I think, contributed to really ratcheting up the conversations on this issue, getting to a point where we were able to make this arrangement, getting to a point where we were able to turn to some of the logistics of simply getting it done, a senior administration official told reporters in a background briefing this week.

Separately, a lawyer for Yaroshenko has said his client also suffered from multiple health problems and had earlier tried unsuccessfully to have him freed early from prison on compassionate release grounds because of the pandemic.

Left out of any deal were Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage-related charges that his family says are fabricated, and Brittney Griner, a WNBA star detained in February after Russian authorities said a search of her bag revealed a cannabis derivative.

The Whelan family said in a statement that it was happy about Reed's release but troubled that their loved one wasn't part of it.

Paul has already spent 3 and a quarter years as a Russian hostage, the statement said. Is President Bidens failure to bring Paul home an admission that some cases are too hard to solve? Is the Administrations piecemeal approach picking low-hanging fruit?

Richardson, who has helped facilitate multiple releases of American detainees and hostages in recent years, said the Biden team deserves recognition for authorizing this particular swap at a time when U.S.-Russia relations were so low.

It doesnt matter who gets credit, Richardson said, as long as hostages like Trevor Reed are home.

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.etuckerAP

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The week that Dr. Anthony Fauci declared the pandemic part of covid-19 over was also the week Vice President Kamala Harris and two Democratic members of the Senate tested positive for the virus. That left Democrats without a working majority in the chamber, meaning another week without continued funding for federal anti-covid efforts.

Meanwhile, election-year politics continued to block efforts to advance any more of the Democrats health agenda, while opponents of the Affordable Care Act filed yet another lawsuit challenging a portion of the law, in this case the provision of preventive services at no out-of-pocket cost to patients.

This weeks panelists are Julie Rovner and Rebecca Adams of Kaiser Health News, Rachel Cohrs of STAT News, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News.

Among the takeaways from this weeks episode:

The recent report that most Americans have had covid  even if they dont realize it  surprised a lot of people but may not change many habits. The assurance of vaccines, the growing availability of treatment options and increased immunity because more people have had an infection is providing the public some relief from concerns about the virus.

But for people with compromised immune systems or parents of children too young to be vaccinated, the fear of covid is still front and center.

Two Democratic senators  Ron Wyden of Oregon and Chris Murphy of Connecticut  and Vice President Harris are not able to go to Capitol Hill this week because they have tested positive for covid. That brings home again the stalemate over new federal funding for programs to fight the virus. That spending was deleted from a major spending bill in March when lawmakers couldnt agree on the provision. Democrats pledged to bring it up again shortly, but a smaller version that has some bipartisan support has still failed to gain enough votes to be passed.

One sticking point in Congress on the covid funding is that many Republicans want to bar the Biden administration from rescinding an immigration policy instituted by President Donald Trump. That policy used public health concerns to stop many people from coming across the Mexican border to the U.S.

The clock is ticking on Capitol Hill for the many initiatives, plus traditional spending bills, lawmakers want to pass before Congress leaves to campaign for the midterm elections in the fall. There is much interest in whether the Biden administration and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) can strike a deal to resuscitate part of the presidents Build Back Better plan. Manchin said last year he couldnt support the plan then being debated, and his objections tanked the bill. If they can agree on a proposal, it is expected to be smaller than what the administration originally sought, but Manchin has not made clear what he will accept.

Any effort to move a revised Build Back Better package would likely have to be done before Congress takes off for its August recess, because the fall will be busy with election preparations.

As the nation awaits a decision from the Supreme Court on a key abortion case, Planned Parenthood has announced plans for a major advertising campaign to alert voters to restrictions being implemented around the country.

Former Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who died last weekend, is remembered for his work on health care and his ability to bridge partisan differences to craft important legislation. He generously made time to explain issues to reporters because he cared deeply about the policies.

Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read too:

Julie Rovner: STAT News He Had an M.D. and a Ph.D. but Didnt Match Into a Residency. It Was the Push He Needed to Jump Into Health Tech, by Tino Delamerced

Rebecca Adams: The New York Times Its Life or Death: The Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens, by Matt Richtel

Rachel Cohrs: BuzzFeed News The Private Equity Giant KKR Bought Hundreds of Homes for People With Disabilities. Some Vulnerable Residents Suffered Abuse and Neglect, by Kendall Taggart, John Templon, Anthony Cormier, and Jason Leopold

Anna Edney: STAT News The Doctor Who Is Trying to Bring Back Surprise Billing, by Bob Herman.

Also discussed on this weeks podcast:

To hear all our podcasts, click here.

And subscribe to KHNs What the Health? on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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SEATTLE (AP)  The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously rejected an effort to recall Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The justices upheld a Thurston County Superior Court decision that the charges made against Inslee did not provide factually or legally sufficient grounds to support a recall campaign.

The recall petition was brought by a citizen group called Washingtonians to Recall Insleee. It alleged that the governors orders limiting activities and gatherings during the pandemic interfered with their rights.

For example, the petition argued, Inslee violated the separation of powers by banning landlords from suing tenants for overdue rent; violated constitutional rights of assembly and to petition the government for redress of grievances by prohibiting public agencies from holding in-person meetings; and violated the right to assemble by limiting the size of in-person gatherings.

The court, however, found that Inslees proclamations were well within his emergency powers.

Governor Inslee has used his discretion to navigate this pandemic, making difficult decisions in an effort to balance the health and safety of Washingtonians with their individual liberties," Justice Debra Stephens wrote for the court. "While reasonable minds may disagree with the governors discretionary decisions, such disagreement is insufficient to support a recall.

The recall backers did not explain how a temporary limitation on the ability of landlords to sue their tenants infringed on the power of the courts; there were adequate alternative means, such as telephonic or online meetings, to ensure public access to government; and restrictions on gatherings were not directed at suppressing speech but tailored to serve a substantial government interest, the justices said.

Olympia resident C Davis, who brought the appeal of the superior court ruling last June, told The Associated Press on Thursday he had not yet read the Supreme Court opinion but the result was not too much of a surprise.

Washingtonians to Recall Inslee is ready to support another recall effort, by a different proponent, that will make three new charges against the governor, Davis said.

Washington faced one of the first known outbreaks of COVID-19 and was among the first states to implement sweeping restrictions in the early days of the pandemic. It has since eased or rescinded many restrictions, such as bans on large gatherings and vaccination requirements for such gatherings, while others, such as a mask requirement for healthcare settings, long-term care facilities and jails, remain in effect.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The New York Times scrambled to change its Wordle game on Monday to avoid a puzzle answer that might be seen as some sort of commentary on the news. The Times says its game, which gives users six tries to guess a different five-letter word each day had fetus as its original answer on Monday. The newspaper said it was entirely unintentional and a coincidence" that the word came up less than a week after a leaked report suggested the U.S. Supreme Court was about to change the nation's abortion policy. The Times said fetus had been loaded into the game before the newspaper even bought it, and changed to a different word because it intends games to be an escape from the news.
On his new album, Extra Medium, songwriter Izaak Opatz heads out on many a highway, contemplating wins, losses and life in the middling zone referred to in the title. Connections click, then misfire and fizzle, and new hopes emerge, all with a scenic backdrop.

In the opening track, Passenger Side, he pines for partnership, the kind filled with small gestures like helping someone take off a coat while driving. Meanwhile, the music summons up loneliness. Accordion, percussion, keys and background vocals are mixed so low they merge into an ominous and spare voice, empty as the shotgun seat he's staring at.

IF YOU GO Izaak Opatz is having an album release show for Extra Medium on Friday, April 29, at Love Boat Paddle Co. at 7 p.m. with Dean Johnson. Suggested donation is $10. The album is out on April 29 via BandCamp. Check local shops for CD availability.

The closer, In the Light of a Love Affair, has spacious arrangements, too, but a more optimistic sheen thanks to a new meeting: his narrator is squinting and seeing roses in four lanes of brake lights on a California freeway.

The windshield shows up repeatedly in songs, in an organic way, as though the image was born of actual driving. In Big Sandy, this observation emerges during a cross-state haul: Montana is an ocean, with a lot of open sea between the towns, and leagues of power lines that slouch and slip like waves lapping on a prow.

A Montana discography

Opatzs recorded catalog goes back to 2014s High Country, with the Best Westerns, a Missoula group that rollicked and shuffled in a zone somewhere between country and rock n roll in a way that felt natural in bars, whether on the Hip Strip, in watering holes outside Glacier National Park or up on the Hi-Line.

A Whitefish native and seasonal worker in the park, Opatz pursued songwriting in Nashville and then Los Angeles, helped by Jonny Fritz, a friend and kindred spirit in their humor and craft.

In 2017, Opatz released a solo album, Mariachi Static, that was deliberately different in its production: brighter and more modern, but the songwriting and his baritone voice remained true. Old-school keyboards, occasional horns and crisp drums augment the country-songwriter and guitar work at the core.

His collaborators from California join him again here and shared the producers credit: Malachi Delorenzo (drums, backing vocals) and Dylan Rodrigue (keys, guitar, backing vocals, bass), along with some lead guitar from Albert Hickman and reeds by Jordan Bush. During the pandemic, he cut Hot and Heavy-Handed, a set of pop-country covers that shows his affinity for the side of country that favors hooks, puns and fun along with the tear-jerker ballads.

Opatz studied English at the University of Montana, and is going back to school for journalism. His lyrics and cadence feel like a prose writers, with details parceled out in clever and surprising places, and long phrases that culminate in short, elaborate country guitar flourishes rather than periods.

He stocks his scenarios with honest yet unflattering details of single life, like eating eggs by yourself over the sink or waking up hungover in a sleeping bag in a park thats not as quiet in the morning as it was when you went to bed. On the more seemingly triumphant end, in the shifting, quick tempos of Chinook Wind, he takes a long drive to meet up with a woman only to realize shes ambivalent, the gesture was wrong-headed. He admits he misjudged her and made of her my great white whale.

Shampoo is the kind of tune that takes a sort of everyday revelation most often forgotten by the time you get to work, and builds a humorous yet serious tune out of it. The narrator describes how he never brings his own shampoo to a guests house. From there, it spirals into larger thoughts about his vagabond life and inability to finish things, whether as insignificant as a bottle of conditioner or life-changing.

A thing about places: Solo and with a band, Opatz has played small towns and small bars for the fun of it, so his music seems built for road trips. (Maybe Ill keep on driving just to feel the sun on my left arm, he says in Big Sandy.) That song also name-checks the Mission Mountains and the Jocko Divide. Chinook Wind piles on references like dates at the springs and makes good on the central metaphor: a pulse of June in the middle of the winter can do more harm than good.

While he can write a ballad, his sense of humor shows through in the lyrics and the music. Hes a fan of the trombone, either playing it himself or bringing in a friend for live shows, and it punctuates the songs in welcome ways: like a horn player from a New Orleans marching band wandered into a country bar at just the right moment for a little catharsis.

Those moments are a necessary escape though, as reality always returns, as he acknowledges in Blue Pilot.

I take my daydreams for the future, forgetting that time is like a river, you can paddle like crazy, you can swim for safety, but it doesnt make a damn bit of difference.

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Kyle Brekke admits feeling lost when he first found Missoula.

A Minnesota native, Brekke kicked off his senior year of high school by signing up for the U.S. Marines. During five subsequent years in the infantry, he was stationed in Hawaii and deployed to Hong Kong, the Philippines, Korea and Japan. Afterwards he bounced around colleges in California, becoming an unhappy economics major.

It was a weird stage in my life, the veteran said. I kind of dropped out. Then COVID hit.

Brekke decided to return to Minnesota. He had always found solace in the outdoors, so he and his pickup camper took a circuitous, soul-searching route home that passed through Missoula. A friend showed him around town, and he walked across the University of Montana campus beneath looming Mount Sentinel.

It felt right, he said. I was thinking about a forestry degree, and as soon as I got back to Minnesota, I applied.

Brekke isnt alone. More than 1,400 military-affiliated students attend UM, which this year earned a Gold ranking for being a Military Friendly School from MilitaryFriendly.com. He learned right away why UM earned the designation.

I applied to all the big forestry schools, and the communication process was really smooth for me here at UM, said Brekke, now a junior in the Universitys W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation. An adviser put me in touch with a veteran in the forestry school, and he told me all about things and sold me on it. I didnt get that from any other school I applied to.

That same adviser, Darryl Lee, helped Brekke land a job with UMs Military and Veteran Services Office. In that role he helps other veterans like himself transition to university life. This includes helping them process their benefits and getting them signed up for everything from health care and housing to email.

We even help them get to class and decide where they want to sit in class, he said. Some of them are older and getting back into all that can be a struggle. The main thing is we try to have other students helping them who have basically lived through the same experience.

The Military and Veterans Services Office is located in a house at 1000 E. Beckwith Ave. on the edge of campus. Its a base of operations where veterans can share experiences and support one another. Brekke said they offer a lounge, coffee station and television, and the basement has a bank of computers where veterans can study and work on assignments.

UM really provides a special learning environment for military and veteran students because we clearly understand where our students are coming from while empowering them to get where they want to go, said Patrick Beckwith, the West Point Military Academy graduate who directs UMs Military and Veterans Services Office. We earned the Military Friendly Gold designation because we recognize our military and veteran students are a core component of the UM identity.

Beckwith said his office actively works to recruit veterans and active-duty members of the military and their families. It also works to certify and process VA benefits and collaborates with UM academic departments to help improve credit transfer

Brekke has helped launch the universitys new Student Veterans Organization, which is designed to help students with military connections succeed in higher education and navigate post-military life.

This includes an ambassador program where we try to match veterans with another student in their major, he said. We want to alert them to all the available resources at their disposal and help them plan for the classes they need to take.

Brekke said he felt supported as a veteran when he arrived on campus, and it doesnt hurt that UM is surrounded by mountains and nearby wilderness.

The school and the outdoor opportunities here are endless, he said. For a lot of veterans that was a lot of what the career was  you are outside, rucking and camping  and you can do a lot of that here as well. I try to get out a lot in our area.

Brekke plans to graduate in 2023. Does he feel like hes found his path?

It took me a long time to figure out where I need to be, he said. Im glad I didnt rush it, and Im happy where I am. I felt a little lost, but I found a home here.

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Following an hours-long coroners inquest on Thursday, a Missoula County jury found a Missoula sheriffs deputy not criminally responsible in the lethal shooting of a Black man last summer.

Johnny Lee Perry II, who was 31, died after Missoula County Sheriffs Deputy Sean Evans fired lethal shots at him last August. Perry died from a gunshot wound to the back.

Deputies responded to a 911 call on Southside Road, about 2 miles from the Deep Creek bridge. The caller reported her father had been threatened by Perry, who the reporting party said was wielding a machete and threatening her father with it. Perry did not have a gun.

It was predicted and expected, due to the narrative of the inquest, Perrys mother, Lesha White, said of the jurys decision. My son was not represented.

The jury deliberated for roughly 45 minutes.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Coroner Jessie Billquist-Jette oversaw the inquest held at the Missoula County Courthouse. Missoula County Deputy Attorney Mark Handelman represented the state.

In a coroner's inquest, a deceased person is not represented in the same manner as a defendant is in court proceedings. Lesha White said their family was unable to procure legal help with the short notice they were given about the inquest, leaving them without an attorney in the courtroom.

Two sheriffs deputies, Justin White and Evans, testified along with Corporal Troy Rexin, who supervised the situation.

Deputy Justin White gave the bulk of testimony at the inquest for the sheriff's office. He provided a run-through of the incident, explaining why deputies used the tactics they did. Justin White deployed a 40 mm foam-bullet weapon, but gave the lethal commands for Evans to shoot.

Deputies identified the man who had his daughter call the police as Jackie Maxvill. Perry and Maxvill had been hanging out earlier in the day, witness Zoe Tate said in her testimony. She was with them for a period of time shortly before the incident, but didnt hear Perry making any threats against Maxvill.

Outside of the courtroom, Tate said she heard Maxvill making statements encouraging law enforcement to shoot Perry.

At some point after that, Maxvill accused Perry of threatening him and asked his daughter to call 911. Maxvill was not called to testify at the inquest.

We have a Black man and white man, whose daughter called in for the police, Lesha White said. "(Maxvill) called his daughter and is supposedly being threatened but he calls his daughter."

When deputies located Perry, dash and body camera footage showed sheriffs deputies spending about 30 minutes giving him commands before they fired shots.

For that period of time, dash camera video footage showed deputies yelling at Perry from about 50 feet away. Their orders were largely repetitive, telling Perry multiple times to drop the machete and that he was under arrest.

No one ever asked Johnny how he felt, Lesha White said. "No one ever asks Johnny, what was it that made you (feel) threatened? They didnt even ask him if he had threatened (Maxvill).

For most of the time deputies were interacting with him, Perry was swinging the machete around in an open field. Footage showed no other people in sight or near him, apart from law enforcement.

As Justin White was driving to the scene, he said he made the decision to request the 40 mm foam-bullet weapon based on the heightened level of the call. When deputies arrived, they gave Perry verbal commands and then started using a loudspeaker when Perry didnt respond.

Throughout his testimony, Justin White continually referred to Perry as having committed a forcible felony, alluding to the allegations that he physically threatened Maxvill.

I have probable cause to arrest him for a felony, and he is still refusing to comply with all commands, Justin White said as he walked the jury through responding deputies' process. At no point does he show hes willing to comply at all.

Evans said he ruled out using a taser based on Perrys machete and the concern the knife would intercept the taser wires.

Following several minutes of commands, Perry starts to move toward a camper.

Put it down or force is going to be used against you, Johnny, one deputy said on video footage right before they started firing.

Deputies followed him and fired two non-lethal, foam bullets that hit Perry along with two more foam shots that missed him. After the foam bullets were deployed, deputies said they saw Perry swinging the machete still, but Lesha White said she did not see that in the footage.

After being hit by the foam bullets, the video shows Perry starting to run away. Justin White then shouts lethal, lethal," followed by Evans rifle shots that hit Perry in the back. When Perry hits the ground, deputies approach him, handcuff him and apply medical aid. He was taken by helicopter from the scene to Providence St. Patrick Hospital, where he died from blood loss.

Justin White, Evans and Rexin were all in uniform at the inquest and are still currently employed by the Missoula County Sheriffs Office.

Perry is survived by his mother, stepfather, siblings and two young daughters.

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SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP)  Apple on Thursday reported strong quarterly results despite supply shortages, but warned that its growth slowdown is likely to deepen. The company said it's still struggling to get enough chips to meet demand and contending with COVID-related shutdowns at factories in China that make iPhones and other products.

Although initial results for the January-March period topped analysts projections, the good news was quickly eclipsed when management warned of trouble ahead during a conference call.

The main takeaway: Apples sales will be squeezed by the supply problems much harder in the current April-June quarter than in its previous one. The company estimated it would take a hit to revenue of $4 billion to $8 billion as a result.

It will affect most of the product categories," Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts.

Apple's stock price fell 4% in extended trading, reversing a positive response after the Apple report initially came out. Before the sobering forecast lowered the shares even further, Apple's stock had fallen 10% from its peak in early January.

It was a solid quarter, but it looks like COVID has reared its ugly head," said Edward Jones analyst Logan Purk. It looks like it's two steps forward, one step back."

Like a wide gamut of companies ranging from automakers to health care providers, Apple has been grappling with shortages of computer chips and other key technology components required in modern products.

Apple had expected the crunch to ease as this year progressed, but recent COVIDs outbreaks are starting to curtail production in Chinese factories that the company relies on.

Despite those headwinds, the results for the January-March period drew a picture of a still-expanding empire generating massive profits that have yielded the firm a $2.7 trillion market value -- the largest among U.S. companies.

Apple announced a 5% increase in its quarterly dividend, which has been steadily rising since the company revived the payment a decade ago. Effective May 12, Apples new quarterly dividend will stand at 23 cents per share -- more than doubling from 10 years ago.

Even without that supply issues, Apple would still be facing some of the same challenges confronting many other major technology companies. After enjoying a pandemic-driven boom, its becoming tougher to deliver the same levels of spectacular growth that drove tech-company stock prices to record highs. The crisis continues to fade away and growth on a year-to-year basis has become harder to maintain.

Apples most recent quarter illustrated the high hurdles the Cupertino, California, company is now trying to clear. Revenue for the period totaled $97.3 billion, yet it was only 9% higher than the same time last year. It marked the first time in the past six quarters that Apple hasnt produced double-digit gains in year-over-year revenue. That number, however, exceeded the average revenue estimate of $94 billion among analysts surveyed by FactSet Research, indicating that Apple's growth slowdown hasn't been quite as severe as investors were anticipating.

Quarterly profit came in at $25 billion, or $1.52 per share, a 6% increase from the same time last year. Analysts had predicted earnings per share of $1.42.

As usual, the iPhone remains Apples marquee product with sales of $50.6 billion in the past quarter -- a 5% uptick from the same time last year. Apple has been trying to keep its iPhones sales growing while chips remain in short supply by siphoning some components from the iPad, which saw its sales fall 2% from last year to $7.6 billion.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russia pounded targets from practically one end of Ukraine to the other Thursday, including Kyiv, bombarding the city while the head of the United Nations was visiting in the boldest attack on the capital since Moscow's forces retreated weeks ago.

Several people were wounded in the attack on Kyiv, including one who lost a leg and others who were trapped in the rubble when two buildings were hit, rescue officials said.

The bombardment came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said Ukraine has become an epicenter of unbearable heartache and pain. A spokesperson said Guterres and his team were safe.

Meanwhile, explosions were reported across the country, in Polonne in the west, Chernihiv near the border with Belarus, and Fastiv, a large railway hub southwest of the capital. The mayor of Odesa, in southern Ukraine, said rockets were intercepted by air defenses.

Ukrainian authorities also reported intense Russian fire in the Donbas  the eastern industrial heartland that the Kremlin says is its main objective  and near Kharkiv, a northeastern city outside the Donbas that is seen as key to the offensive.

In the ruined southern port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian fighters holed up in the steel plant that represents the last pocket of resistance said concentrated bombing overnight killed and wounded more people. And authorities warned that a lack of safe drinking water inside the city could lead to outbreaks of deadly diseases such as cholera and dysentery.

In Zaporizhzhia, a crucial way station for tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Mariupol, an 11-year-old boy was among at least three people wounded in a rocket attack that authorities said was the first to hit a residential area in the southern city since the war began. Shards of glass cut the boys leg to the bone.

Vadym Vodostoyev, the boys father, said: It just takes one second and youre left with nothing.

The fresh attacks came as Guterres surveyed the destruction in small towns outside the capital that saw some of the worst horrors of the first onslaught of the war. He condemned the atrocities committed in towns like Bucha, where evidence of mass killings of civilians was found after Russia withdrew in early April in the face of unexpectedly stiff resistance.

Wherever there is a war, the highest price is paid by civilians, the U.N. chief lamented.

Separately, Ukraines prosecutor accused 10 Russian soldiers of being involved in the torture of peaceful people in Bucha. Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova did not say her office had filed criminal charges, and she appealed to the public for help in gathering evidence. Russia denies it targets civilians.

During his nightly video address, Zelenskyy renewed his pledge to hold Russian soldiers accountable for crimes they commit and said about the 10 identified earlier Thursday: Some of them may not, after all, live until a trial and fair punishment. But only for one reason: This Russian brigade has been transferred to the Kharkiv region. There theyll receive retribution from our military.

In the attack on Kyiv, explosions shook the city and flames poured out of windows in at least two buildings  including one residential one  in the capital, which has been relatively unscathed in recent weeks. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least three people were hospitalized after the strike, and plumes of smoke could be seen over the city.

The explosions in northwestern Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district came as residents have been increasingly returning to the city. Cafes and other businesses have reopened, and a growing numbers of people have been out and about, enjoying the spring weather.

It was not immediately clear how far away the attack was from Guterres.

Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Several journalists have been killed in the war, now in its third month.

Also, both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.

Western officials say the Kremlin's apparent goal is to take the Donbas by encircling and crushing Ukrainian forces from the north, south and east.

But so far, Russia's troops and their allied separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains, taking several small towns as they try to advance in relatively small groups against staunch Ukrainian resistance.

Russian military units were mauled in the abortive bid to storm Kyiv and had to regroup and refit. Some analysts say the delay in launching a full-fledged offensive may reflect a decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to wait until his forces are ready for a decisive battle, instead of rushing in and risking another failure that could shake his rule amid worsening economic conditions at home because of Western sanctions.

Many observers suspect Putin wants to be able to claim a big victory in the east by Victory Day, on May 9, one of the proudest holidays on the Russian calendar, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II.

As Russia presses its offensive, civilians again bear the brunt.

Its not just scary. Its when your stomach contracts from pain, said Kharkiv resident Tatiana Pirogova. When they shoot during the day, its still OK, but when the evening comes, I cant describe how scary it is.

Ukraine's military said that Russian troops were subjecting several places in the Donbas to intense fire and that over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces had repelled six attacks in the region.

Four civilians were killed in heavy shelling of residential areas in the Luhansk region of the Donbas, according to the regional governor.

Columns of smoke could be seen rising at different points across the Donetsk region of the Donbas, and artillery and sirens were heard on and off.

Many of the Russian troops who were in Mariupol have been leaving and moving to the northwest, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. military assessment, didn't have exact numbers but said a significant number of the roughly one dozen battalion tactical groups that were in the city were moving out.

Russian forces are making slow, incremental progress in the Donbas  gaining only several kilometers on any given day, the official said. As of Thursday, Russia had launched about 1,900 missiles into Ukraine  the vast majority fired from outside Ukraines borders. Most are strikes on Mariupol and the Donbas.

In Mariupol, video posted online by Ukraine's Azov Regiment inside the steel plant showed people combing through the rubble to remove the dead and help the wounded. The regiment said the Russians hit an improvised underground hospital and its surgery room, killing an unspecified number of people. The video couldnt be independently verified.

An estimated 100,000 people remained trapped in Mariupol.

Deadly epidemics may break out in the city due to the lack of centralized water supply and sewers, the city council said on the messaging app Telegram. It reported bodies decaying under the rubble and a catastrophic shortage of drinking water and food.

Ukraine has urged its allies to send even more military equipment to fend off the Russians. U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress for an additional $33 billion to help Ukraine.

This story was corrected to remove a reference to a man being killed in the attack on Kyiv. He lost a leg in the attack.

Associated Press journalists Jon Gambrell and Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, Yesica Fisch in Sloviansk, and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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The oldest son of former President Donald Trump has met with the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. That's according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private session. The interview with Donald Trump Jr. took place Tuesday. He's one of nearly 1,000 witnesses interviewed by members of the House committee as they work to compile a record of the worst attack on the Capitol in more than two centuries. He's the second of Trumps children known to speak to the committee. His sister Ivanka Trump sat down with lawmakers for eight hours in early April.
BOISE, Idaho  A former Idaho lawmaker was convicted Friday of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial in which the young woman fled the witness stand during testimony, saying "I can't do this."

The intern told a Statehouse supervisor that Aaron von Ehlinger raped her at his apartment after the two had dinner at a Boise restaurant in March 2021. He said the sex was consensual.

At the time, von Ehlinger was a state representative from Lewiston, but he later resigned.

Von Ehlinger, 39, was found guilty Friday of rape. He was found not guilty of sexual penetration with a foreign object.

Afterward, 4th District Judge Michael Reardon told the jury: "This has been an unusual case attended by many unexpected circumstances, but I appreciate your attention ... and hard work."

Sentencing has been scheduled for July 28.

Von Ehlinger sat calmly as the verdict was read, as he has throughout the trial. Von Ehlinger talked quietly with his attorney, who removed items from von Ehlinger's pockets as he was handcuffed and remanded to custody.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, and has referred to the woman in this case as "Jane Doe" at her request.

Doe haltingly described the moments the alleged assault began, before abruptly leaving the witness stand.

"He tried to put his fingers between my legs and I closed my knees," Doe said.

At that, she stood up.

"I can't do this," she said, quickly walking out of the courtroom.

The judge gave the prosecuting attorneys 10 minutes to find her to determine if she would return and resume her testimony.

When she did not, the judge told the jurors they had to "strike (Doe's testimony) from your minds as if it never happened," because the defense could not cross-examine her.

During his testimony Thursday, von Ehlinger often spoke in a clear, loud voice directly to jurors, saying he and Doe decided to return to his apartment to "hang out" after eating at a fancy Boise restaurant. Then they began making out on the couch, he said.

"Things were going well, and I asked (Doe) if she would like to move to the bedroom," von Ehlinger said. "She said 'Sure.' We got up, held hands and walked into the bedroom."

Deliberations stretched for seven hours until nearly 8 p.m. Thursday before the jury decided to break for the evening. At one point, the judge summoned the attorneys to his chambers because the jury asked a question. No details were made public about the jury's inquiry.

When the allegations became public  largely because of the legislative ethics investigation  Doe faced unrelenting harassment from some of von Ehlinger's supporters. Her name, photo and personal details about her life were repeatedly publicized in "doxxing" incidents. One of the people who frequently harassed her was in the courthouse to attend the trial, but law enforcement banned the man from the floor where where case was being heard.

During closing arguments, Ada County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katelyn Farley told jurors that the case was about "power in the wrong hands" used to the "great devastation" of Doe. Von Ehlinger had social, political and physical power over the petite intern, Farley said.

"He used that power to rape and forcibly penetrate her," Farley said, pointing at von Ehlinger. Doe resisted in several ways, she said, highlighting the testimony of law enforcement investigators and a nurse sexual assault examiner who interviewed Doe after the assault.

"Words show lack of consent. Excuses of 'Why this shouldn't happen,' show lack of consent. Yanking your head back and getting an injury shows lack of consent," Farley said.

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Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen is asking the Montana Supreme Court to reinstate new restrictions on voter ID passed by the Legislature last year, along with an end to voter registration on Election Day.

Earlier this month, Yellowstone County District Court Judge Michael G. Moses granted a preliminary injunction blocking portions of the new laws, along with two others, which are being challenged by the Montana Democratic Party, voting rights groups and Native American organizations.

Dale Schowengerdt, a private attorney with Crowley Fleck hired by Jacobsens office to help defend the laws, filed the opening brief in the appeal Wednesday.

Jacobsens appeal accuses the plaintiffs of delaying until just before the upcoming elections before filing their requests for injunctions, to force a decision under a truncated timeline and avoid appeal ahead of the election. In asking the high court to restore the new election laws, Jacobsen argues that last-minute changes to the rules will create additional confusion for voters.

School board elections in Montana take place May 3. The federal primary election is June 7.

The state has aired public service announcements approximately 14,240 times on broadcast television and 18,102 times on radio, educating the public about the laws requirements, the brief states. That's in addition to mailers to registered voters and materials for local election officials.

The filing also accuses the groups of using academic compilations and abstract political theory, rather than direct evidence of actual voter harms, to support their allegations.

The plaintiffs had argued the laws were designed to disproportionately make it harder for certain groups of people to vote, including those living on Native American reservations, people with disabilities and college students. In his order granting the injunction, Moses found that each of the laws potentially create unconstitutional burdens on the plaintiffs right to vote, as well as their right to equal protection.

Regarding the new voter ID requirements, Jacobsen maintains that they should pass constitutional muster based on a prior decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief also reiterates her position that the Legislature has sole discretion on whether to allow voter registration on Election Day.

Regardless of how the state Supreme Court rules, new laws restricting ballot collection practices and the ability of voters who turn 18 before Election Day to get ballots ahead of their birthday will remain on hold until the larger case is resolved.

Even local election officials have at times been caught off-guard by the changing legal landscape. Moses last week amended his original injunction to narrow its application to portions of the laws, effectively reinstating new restrictions on what types of ID are needed for voter registration in Montana. Notably, that meant that someone using a college photo ID would need additional documentation showing their name and address.

But the top elections officials for the counties containing the states two largest college towns, Missoula and Bozeman, said Thursday they hadnt received any such notification from Jacobsens office as of nearly a week later. Her elections director, Dana Corson, sent an email to elections officials at the end of the day Thursday notifying them of the change.

And while lawyers argue over the details, Montana voters head to the polls wondering what information they received over the last year from the states election officials is accurate, Jacobsen's brief states.

And as of Thursday evening, the Secretary of States website to which Jacobsens TV ads direct viewers still contained inaccurate information about Election Day registration and voter ID requirements.

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A Montana State Hospital patient has been charged with two felonies for an alleged attack in March that was the final straw for federal regulators who pulled funding from the state-run psychiatric facility for repeatedly failing to maintain minimum health and safety standards.

Video referenced in court filings shows Andrew Darocha, 35, knocking a female patient to the floor and then kicking or stomping her head. Photographs taken of the woman after the attack show she was bleeding from the eyes and at least one ear, according to charging documents.

Prosecutors noted she had multiple brain bleeds and facial contusions and will require reconstructive surgery as a result of the assault.

Reports of the assault triggered a review by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which had already been to the hospital multiple times to document dangerous conditions and lapses in care that resulted in four preventable deaths.

At the time of the assault, the hospital had been issued three unresolved "immediate jeopardy" citations. But due to its status as a last resort for many patients with severe mental illness, CMS granted the facility an extension to correct the issues before the federal agency yanked its reimbursement funding for services.

The assault resulted in another immediate jeopardy citation on the facility, leading CMS to ultimately decide to terminate its agreement with the state to reimburse for services there.

The affidavit filed March 24 in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County District Court states a state hospital employee first heard a noise in the TV room on one of the units. She looked over to see Darocha kicking what appeared to be a chair. The employee then noticed a woman lying on the ground next to the chair.

Current and former employees who have spoken with the Montana State News Bureau report workforce shortages have been central to many of the issues raised by CMS related to patient safety and supervision. Those who spoke in interviews after the attack described it as a traumatic event for employees involved.

Law enforcement learned the woman, another patient at the facility, had "turned Darocha and another female in for holding hands" prior to the alleged assault, according to charging documents.

Detectives who arrived at the hospital gathered evidence from Darocha, finding his shoes had been wiped off with a paper towel, but the stitching was soaked with blood.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Attorney Ben Krakowka charged Darocha with aggravated assault and tampering with evidence, both felonies that could result in a combined 30-year prison sentence. The case record from district court shows Darocha was released from jail and ordered back to the state hospital for examination. Darocha's attorney, Christopher Miller, did not return an email seeking additional information on Thursday.

Roughly two months before the consultants touched down in Warm Springs, the Montana Standard reported Darocha was arrested after breaking a vehicle's window and rifling through the car in Butte.

Since CMS terminated the funding agreement, the state Department of Public Health and Human Services announced Kyle Fouts, the hospital administrator who has overseen the hospital's recent decline, will be transferred in early May to the Intensive Behavior Center in Boulder.

The state health department, which operates the hospital, this month installed a third-party contractor to conduct an analysis of the facility and stabilize the workforce.

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Montanas Bitterroot National Forest proposes the Bitterroot Front Project (BFP), encompassing 144,000 acres.

The Bitterroot Front Project (BFP), the agency says, will promote forest restoration and reduce tree mortality from disease, insects, and fires. The way to accomplish these goals is through chainsaw medicine.

The agency implies fewer trees are killed by wildfire or insects in areas with substantial logging, but it never counts the trees it kills with chainsaws. Recent studies suggest that more total trees are destroyed by thinning and fire than from fires alone if you include all the trees removed by chainsaw medicine.

The FS claims logging will reduce insect attacks and thus will reduce wildfires. But again, recent research indicates that trees killed by insects are less likely to burn at high severity.

The snags resulting from a large blaze or killed by insects store carbon for decades, not to mention the charcoal in the soil, and roots, all of which also store carbon. Logging releases three times the carbon as a wildfire on a per-acre basis and ten times the carbon of wildfire and insects combined. Indeed, logging recently suppressed coal as a significant component of CO2 emissions.

When the agency claims it will reduce wildfire by logging, it ignore the best science that shows that active forest management INCREASES fire spread under extreme fire weather conditions. Why? Because when you open the forest through logging, it often promotes the regrowth of grasses, shrubs, and other fine fuels that sustain blazes. The lack of shade permits fine fuels to dry out, making them easy to ignite. Also, the open forest allows more wind penetration which favors fire spread.

The wind is the primary factor in fire spread. And wind's ability to spread and enhance fire spread is not linear; instead, it is exponential. In other words, a 20 mile an hour wind doesnt just double fire spread over a 10-mile breeze but quadruples it. So you can imagine what a 50-60 mph wind can do.

Without wind, you don't get much fire advance. But with wind, embers are tossed often a mile or more ahead of the fire front, starting new ignition zones. Lofting of embers by wind is why thinning, logging, and other "active forest management" fails to halt significant blazes.

For instance, both the Dixie Fire, which burned nearly a million acres, and the 400,000 acres plus Bootleg Blaze in Oregon raced through forests where as much as 75% of the land had been treated with active forest management  i.e., chainsaw medicine.

Even prescribed burning is relatively ineffective when confronted by a wildfire driven by extreme fire weather. One critique characterized prescribed burning effectiveness as a watering can that pretends to be a river.

Furthermore, the FS implies that high severity fires where most trees are killed are somehow undesirable. Yet, more wildlife species are dependent on the snag forests that result from these blazes than the low-severity ignitions they suggest are desirable.

The snag forests that result from high severity blazes will have more bees, more butterflies, more fungi, more birds, more flowers, more fish, more bats, and more food for large animals like elk and deer. Some studies suggest the second-highest biodiversity found in a forest ecosystem is the snag forests resulting from high severity burns.

That is why chainsaw medicine degrades rather than restores forest ecosystems. Dead trees are critical to a healthy forest ecosystem.

Climate, not fuels, is driving our large blazes. We are now amid the worse drought conditions in 1200 years. Does anyone think this isn't the major factor driving large blazes?

To protect homes, start at the house and work outwards. Reduce the flammability of the home ignition zone. But treating the forest more than a hundred feet from homes provides no additional benefit and only degrades our forest ecosystems.

In promoting chainsaw medicine, the Forest Service is like the old-time Snake Oil salesman who promoted magical elixirs to cure all ailments. Chainsaw medicine is todays snake oil. Dont buy it.

George Wuerthner is an ecologist who has published several books on fire ecology issues.

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A jury found Katie Layne Quackenbush guilty of reckless endangerment in the shooting of a homeless man in Nashville in 2017. The verdict was delivered Wednesday afternoon.

Quackenbush, 31, was charged in the shooting of Gerald Melton on Music Row on April 26, 2017. Melton, who was 54 when he was shot, survived his injuries.

Initially, Quackenbush, an Amarillo, Texas native, was indicted in 2018 on charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Following a two-day trial in Davidson County Criminal Court, a 12-person jury convicted her of the lesser misdemeanor offense.

She is set to be sentenced on May 12 and faces up to a year in jail, probation and a fine.

TRIAL: Trial begins for Katie Quackenbush, accused of shooting homeless Nashville man in 2017

FROM 2018: Katie Quackenbush indicted on charges including attempted murder in homeless man's attack

Quackenbush, free on $25,000 bond since her arrest, will remain free until sentencing.

The shooting happened after an argument between Quackenbush and Melton on 19th Avenue South, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department.

Police said Quackenbush shot Melton after an argument about the exhaust fumes and loud music coming from her Porsche SUV. Detectives reported Melton had been trying to sleep on the sidewalk about 3 a.m. when he was disturbed.

Melton later testified that Quackenbush asked him if he "wanted to die tonight." He said he was walking away from the SUV when Quackenbush drew a gun from her purse, got out and fired two shots at him.

FROM 2017: Metro police obtain search warrant for social media of woman accused of shooting homeless man

Quackenbush then drove with her passenger to Taco Bell and then to Quackenbush's home. Melton underwent at least three surgeries due to his injuries.

Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said neither Quackenbush nor a female passenger in the SUV initially reported the shooting to police. Rather, another person who found Melton with gunshot wounds called for help.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Katie Quackenbush found guilty of reckless endangerment: 2017 shooting
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institutes Caldwell Campus will offer several Saturday culinary arts classes for adults this summer. The four-hour Saturday courses will be led by culinary arts instructor Chef Corey Hooks and will cover several different types of cuisine and cooking techniques. The classes will be in CCC&TIs culinary kitchen and classroom at the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center in Lenoir.

Classes will be offered on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost is $60 per class or students can sign up for all four courses and receive a special rate of $225. Pre-registration is required and space is limited.

Following is the schedule of upcoming classes and topics:

Saturday, May 21

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Taste of NOLA

Learn about Louisianas signature Cajun and Creole cuisines. Students will make the signature dishes synonymous with Cajun cooking including gumbo, low country shrimp and rice, alligator etouffee and jambalaya.

Saturday, June 4

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Wok Cookery

A wok is traditionally a round-bottomed, high-walled pan with Asian roots dating back to the Chinese Han dynasty. Its unique shape makes it ideal for a variety of cooking techniques. In this course, students will learn these techniques and experience the flavors of Thailand and China including Pad Thai, shrimp fried rice and Lo Mein.

Saturday, June 18

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

South of the Border

This course will introduce the flavors of Mexico, South America and Central America and ignite the palate with a variety of spicy dishes. Students will learn how to prepare Peruvian ceviche, Oaxacan mole tacos, empanadas with chimichurri and Sopa de Lima.

Saturday, June 25

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Soups with Quick Breads and Flat Breads

Learn the techniques that build flavors and depth to soups and chowders. Students will learn how to make a variety of soups including farmers chowder, Thai chicken with coconut and ginger scented cauliflower. Students will also learn how to prep the perfect quick breads and flat breads to accompany their soup creations including corn bread, biscuits and naan flatbread.

Space is limited and cost is $60 per class or $225 for all four classes. For more information or to register for these classes, call 828-726-2242.
A man wanted in a murder investigation is in custody after a Thursday afternoon traffic stop.

Nolan Andre Smith, 22, was taken into custody after a traffic stop on Interstate 40 in Catawba County, confirmed Maj. Banks Hinceman with the Burke County Sheriffs Office.

Scanner traffic overheard by The News Herald indicated Smith was pulled over on Interstate 40 eastbound around 3 p.m. Thursday.

Hes been sought by the sheriffs office along with the U.S. Marshals Service on a charge of murder since at least Monday, according to releases from BCSO and the marshals.

Investigators believe Smith killed 35-year-old Jonathan Carl Ross, who was found unresponsive and without a pulse when deputies were dispatched to an assault call on Spaniel Street in Connelly Springs early on April 22, a previous release from the sheriffs office said.

The Marshals Service described Ross killing as brutal in a press release, but Smith told The News Herald reporters Thursday afternoon he was innocent as he was walked into the Burke County Sheriffs Office.

Im just being questioned, Smith said. I dont really know whats going on.

When asked if he remembered anything that happened last week, he said he wasnt a part of it.

I am innocent, Smith said. Im just [in] here to be questioned.

Smith doesnt have any previous convictions, but he has pending charges in Catawba County of accessory after the fact of murder, breaking and entering, larceny of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of stolen goods or property and altering or removing a guns serial number, according to a records check on the North Carolina Judicial Branch website.

This is a developing story. More information will be published as it becomes available.

Chrissy Murphy is a staff writer and can be reached at cmurphy@morganton.com or at 828-432-8941. Follow @cmurphyMNH on Twitter.

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Chrissy Murphy Chrissy Murphy has been covering crime, breaking news and city government for The News Herald since May 2018. Follow Chrissy Murphy 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 police chase began in Uptown Butte. It ended after stop sticks deployed by police near the Warm Springs exit off Interstate 90 deflated a tire on the westbound Ford Ranger pickup driven by John David Hill of Butte.

Butte-Silver Bow Police Officer Brian Berger, for various reasons, had attempted to stop Hills pickup. He followed the teal green Ford Ranger as it traveled through Uptown streets, running stop signs and stoplights, and then continued the pursuit as Hills pickup merged onto Interstate 90. Berger radioed for assistance.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Police Officers Daniel Beasley and Richard Pasha responded. They sped out to I-90. Pasha deployed the stop sticks and he and Beasley and fellow Officer David Wolfe were standing along the westbound on-ramp when Hills pickup approached the device at an estimated speed of 95 mph.

The date was June 19, 2021.

All three officers said they heard a loud pop as the pickup neared the stop sticks. Beasley, whose military service sent him to Afghanistan and Iraq, suspected it was a gunshot. The evidence suggested he was right.

The events of that night led to multiple felony criminal charges against Hill and, ultimately, a five-day jury trial this week in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County District Court. The most serious charges against Hill were three counts of attempted deliberate homicide for allegedly shooting toward the three police officers.

Throughout the trial, Hills defense lawyers zeroed in on the woman who was Hills passenger that night, depicting Elizabeth Beth Weber as a meth addict and manipulative liar who could have fired the shot through the windshield or been involved with a struggle with Hill for the firearm when it discharged.

The trial concluded Friday. The jury deliberated three hours.

They found Hill guilty of one count of attempted deliberate homicide for allegedly shooting in Pashas direction. They found him not guilty of the other two deliberate homicide charges.

They found him guilty of three counts at felony assault of a peace officer; guilty of felony partner or family member assault; guilty of felony possession of dangerous drugs; and guilty of misdemeanor fleeing or eluding of a peace officer.

Hill did not visibly react when the verdicts were read.

Prosecutors included Ben Krakowka, county attorney for Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, and Matt Enrooth, a deputy county attorney. Third Judicial District Court Judge Ray Dayton heard the case.

After the verdict, Dayton ordered a presentence investigation before sentencing. Hill was returned to jail, wheres he been since June 2021.

Pasha was a witness for the prosecution during the trial. He testified about the sound he heard as Hills pickup approached the stop sticks.

There was an incredibly loud pop, a sort of cracking sound, he said.

Pasha testified that he instinctively ducked. He said it was clear to him that hed been shot at  for the first time in his law enforcement career of nearly eight years.

In separate testimonies, Beasley and Wolfe offered similar reactions.

Soon after, Hills pickup, with one deflated tire, stopped about two miles down the highway. Several police, with guns drawn or rifles leveled and barking commands to surrender, arrested Hill and detained Weber without incident.

Pasha and other officers testified there was a bullet hole in the pickups windshield and an AR-15 pistol (also described as a rifle during the trial), a shell casing, unfired cartridges, a magazine clip and beer bottles discovered in the pickup. A cigarette pack was later found to contain a small amount of methamphetamine, according to testimony from a state crime lab toxicologist.

Hill was charged with three counts of attempted deliberate homicide because three police officers were deemed to have been standing where they might have been shot. They were Pasha, Wolfe and Beasley.

Weber appeared as a witness for the prosecution. She was not charged in the case and police said they never considered her to be a suspect.

Krakowka asked Weber how it felt to be on the witness stand. She said she was scared.

Weber acknowledged a troubled history  struggling with an addiction to methamphetamine, losing custody of her children, scrapes with the law.

She initially appeared meek and defeated. She spoke so softly efforts were made to adjust her chair and microphone.

Still, Weber remained difficult to hear.

She described her experiences as a passenger in Hills truck during the pursuit on Interstate 90. She said she complied when he asked for a beer and helped him smoke meth in a pipe (though a pipe was not found in the pickup). She said Hill had an AR-15 firearm that hed had for a while.

Weber said Hill implied he was intent on committing suicide by cop.

He looked at me and smiled, Were going to die, she recalled.

She said Hill yelled at her to find the AR-15 magazine, which had apparently fallen out of the weapon when it was fired.

Krakowka asked Weber what she said to the officers as they handcuffed her.

Thank you for saving my life, Weber said. If you have any questions, Ill tell you what happened.

She added, I didnt know what rock bottom was until that day.

Weber was tearful at times during this testimony.

Yet once defense attorney Suzanne Marshall Malloy began her cross examination, Webers responses stopped being soft and subdued. She turned feisty and no one described having trouble hearing her.

Malloy doggedly reviewed Webers history of drug abuse and probation revocation, the loss of custody of her children, the use of methamphetamine on the eve of being a passenger in Hills pickup and more. She questioned Webers credibility and wondered whether she was concerned when detained by police on June 19, 2021, about another probation revocation  one that could send her to prison.

Weber responded that she felt happy just to be alive and wasnt worried that night about probation.

I had no involvement in this besides being put in the passenger seat, she said.

The defense noted on several occasions that none of the investigators or forensic specialists could say for certain who fired the gun.

In his opening statement Monday, defense lawyer William Lower wondered out loud whether Weber might have been the shooter. Or the gun might have fired accidentally, he said.

Later, the prosecution called to the stand Webers current probation officer, Cacie Cain. She testified that Weber had been doing well, had a job, was attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings and seemed to have embraced sobriety. She said Weber had admitted she had briefly lapsed in recent months and seemed forthcoming when she interviewed her.

Malloys cross examination of Cain took issue with the characterization that Weber was doing well. She cited a host of times when Weber did not keep appointments and Cain agreed that the last time Weber was drug tested was in November.

An update Thursday from Cain said that a recently administered drug test showed methamphetamine in Webers system.

A key witness for the prosecution was Anthony Poppler, an expert in shooting analysis and reconstruction for the Montana crime lab. He examined the bullet hole in the windshield and used various instruments and techniques to estimate the path and trajectory of the bullet that passed through the windshield.

Poppler said the bullet was traveling at a downward angle.

It originated from the drivers side of the vehicle, he said.

Poppler acknowledged, however, I dont know who fired the bullet.

Stephanie Shappee, a forensic scientist at the state crime lab, testified that she found two latent fingerprints and two palm impressions on the AR-15 but said neither the prints nor the palm impressions matched Hill or Weber.

Butte-Silver Bow Police Detectives Josh Stearns and Chris Snyder had been summoned to the scene that night because investigators from the states Division of Criminal Investigation were not immediately available.

Stearns testimony included the strongest statement during the trial to state that he believed the driver of the pickup was the person who fired the AR-15.

Later, the defense called William Schneck as an expert witness in crime scene analysis reconstruction. He described a recreation of the events of June 19, 2019, using a similar but not identical Ford Ranger and a woman close to Webers size, and said it was possible that Weber could have fired the shot from the firearm.

Its certainly possible for the driver or the passenger to have taken the shot, he said.

During the trial, Eric Miller, a forensic toxicologist for the state crime lab, testified that a blood sample drawn from Hill after the encounter with police was positive for methamphetamine. There was no indication of alcohol consumption, however.

Hill was charged with partner or family member assault for making Weber fear for her life, according to testimony.

His flight from police was a given.

Hill could face 100 years or more depending on sentencing for the various felonies of which he was convicted.

Pasha testified during the trial that his brush with serious injury or death on the night of June 19, 2001, occurred just before Fathers Day that year. He said he has two young children at home and, for a time, questioned whether continuing to work as a police officer was a prudent course.

After the verdict Krakowka complimented the jury for its effort to consider all evidence and arguments before reaching a verdict. He also expressed appreciation for the men and woman who serve in law enforcement in Butte-Silver Bow County and Anaconda-Deer Lodge County.

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Dozens of people  some in military uniforms and white gloves, some in winter coats and winter gloves  braved the snowy, below-freezing day on April 29 to celebrate the grand opening of the Butte Veteran Affairs Clinic.

The clinics location on Three Bears Drive, close to the Southwest Montana Veterans Home, was chosen in May 2020 after providing services from a clinic in Anaconda since 1996, Montana VA Executive Director Judy Hayman said at the event.

During those 25 years, our clinic has proudly grown the number of veterans we serve, and then run a clinic, which was originally designed to house one primary care team, said Chief of Stakeholder Relations for VA Montana Christina Lundstrom.

The clinic is veteran-centered, Hayman said, and designed around the Patient Aligned Care Team model, where a team made up of several different health care workers, such as a nurse practitioner, therapist, a social worker and more. The clinic in Anaconda has one primary care team, but the Butte Clinic, which is four times as large, is able to accommodate two. There are plans to add a third, as well.

Hayman spoke at the beginning and end of the ceremony, after a flag folding, flag raising and opening prayer done by Annishinaabe artist and Helena-area healer Louise Ogemahgesig Fischer.

PACTs, Hayman explained, enables visits to be more private, require fewer transitions and less waiting time. PACTs also work together, meaning teams can connect patients to necessary providers without the barrier of having to schedule another follow-up appointment.

This new design optimizes a patients time, and is really a one-stop shop, Hayman said.

At the Anaconda clinic, she said, they served over 1,700 veterans. The Butte clinic has the capacity to serve 2,100 local veterans from Butte-Silver Bow and neighboring counties.

Being centered on veterans also means offering innovations for veterans convenience such as robust patient Wi-Fi, improved sound-canceling rooms and a convenient location with easy access and lots of parking, as well as numerous advances in tele-health, Hayman said.

The clinic will be providing outpatient mental health services, as well as tele-health, tele-audio and tele-retinal.

This is a dream, said Navy veteran Tom Muntzer of the clinic. Its as good or better than Fort Harrison, he said.

Navy veteran Tom Goyette said hes been on the patient side and the healthcare side, as he spent 20 years as a registered nurse. Im able to see it from both sides, and it is a great facility.

When the move from Anaconda to Butte was announced, some Anaconda veterans were disappointed to see the clinic leave town.

Veterans who experience transportation challenges getting to the clinic can call 406-447-6270 to connect to a veterans Transportation Services ride or 406-691-0497 for a Disabled American Veterans ride, Democratic Sen. John Testers office said in a statement to The Montana Standard. For more information on travel claim assistance, veterans can call 406-447-7409.

Tester spoke at the ceremony, as did representatives for Republican Sen. Steve Daines and Congressman Matt Rosendale.

Its was a fact then and its a fact now, Tester said. This clinic would not be here if not for the veterans of southwestern Montana You said, Tester, dammit, go to work and get this thing funded.' And we did.

The community-based outpatient clinic will be a place for the veterans of southwest Montana to receive the quality medical care they deserve, said Representative for Sen. Steve Daines Mike Waters at the event from a statement prepared by Daines. Montana needs more facilities like this one to better serve the needs of every veteran in every part of the Treasure State.

As we all know, nearly one in 10 Montana residents are veterans, said Kelly Cotton, representative for Matt Rosendale in a statement prepared by Rosendale. Therefore, we must invest in projects that continue to serve their needs.

Tester is the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs committee, which oversees the Department of Veterans Affairs. Rosendale serves on the House Veterans Affairs committee. In the past few months, new VA clinics have opened in Bozeman and Missoula.

Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher, who is a veteran and utilizes the clinics services, also spoke at the ceremony.

Local veteran Mike Lawson was chosen to cut the big, red ribbon at the ceremony with a pair of large, red scissors.

Lundstrom said that that morning, when the VA asked the clinic staff who should cut the ribbon, they mentioned this one person who showed up to the clinic almost daily to check in on things and communicate the status of the clinic with the community through his column in Butte Weekly. That person was Lawson.

I was honored, Lawson said of the privilege after the ceremony.

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Republicans want to restrict citizens right to vote. See the guest opinion in the Friday, April 15 Montana Standard. Fifty Seven Montana Republican Legislators complained about Judge Mike Moses recent decision placing four Republican bills on hold until a full hearing can be held and the case fully decided.

Over 400 bills were introduced by Republicans in 49 States in 2021 attempting to restrict voters rights. In addition Republicans are opposing the John R. Lewis Bill (HR 4) introduced in Congress, which attempts to reinstate the 1965 Act that requires federal supervision over voting in States where there is a real danger that Blacks and other minorities are being restricted in exercising their right to vote. Republican Senators wont even allow it to be debated on the Senate floor. Lets face it; many Republicans dont want everyone to vote.

In 1964, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Earl Warren, said, The right to vote freely for the candidate of ones choice is of the essence of a democratic society. Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 555 (1964). Indeed the right to vote is mentioned directly or indirectly 8 separate times in the U.S. Constitution as Amended. In 4 separate places, it states that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged." It has been called the most important right of all.

The 57 Republican Legislators make two arguments to justify their four bills to restrict voting rights. First, the Legislature has the right to provide the manner and procedure of voting in Montana. That is true. They do not, however, have the right to limit or abridge the right to vote that is granted to every Montana citizen. Article II, Section 13, Montana Constitution. The final determination of whether these bills unconstitutionally limit or abridge the right to vote is not in the hands of the Legislature. It is in the hands of the Courts who must interpret the Constitution.

The main complaint of the 57 Republican Legislators is that Judge Mike Moses is exercising the Courts right and obligation to make that decision. Let Mike Moses do his job.

Second, these Republicans say these limitations on the right to vote are entirely reasonable. That is exactly what the Southern law makers said when they passed poll tax laws and requirements of a civics test during the Jim Crow era in the South. They were intended to, and did, prevent most Blacks from voting. These kinds of limitations are never reasonable.

For example, HB 176 prevents same day registration which means low income Native Americans may have to drive many miles to town twice, once to register and once the next day to cast a vote. That is probably at least $30 which is about three times higher than the poll tax requirements used to be. The poll tax was made unconstitutional in 1964 by the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Similarly, HB 530 prevents anyone asking for a personal benefit, such as gas money, for delivering his or her ballot to the Elections Office, which could also be a $30 expense. HB 169 prohibits the use of student IDs which may make it more difficult for young people to come up with a picture ID or utility bill that shows their address.

Lets face the facts. These 57 Republican Legislators, and many more Republicans as well, really want to prevent as many poor people, minorities, working people, and elderly from voting as they can. It is undemocratic. It is unconstitutional. And it is wrong. I cant understand why thinking people really want to discourage people from voting if they believe in democracy.

Fraud is not currently an issue or concern. As a legislator, I was often told, particularly by Republicans, If it aint broke, dont fix it.

One more thing. Not only do these 57 Republicans want to prevent the Courts, Judge Mike Moses in this case, from doing their job, namely, deciding whether the Legislature has gone too far. But they spend 2/3rd of their long article commenting on the personal life of the Judge, including that he has made political contributions to Democrats and was appointed by a Democratic Governor. They claim he is an activist judge. An activist judge is nothing but a judge whose decisions the speaker does not like. If you want proof of this, simply read the Supreme Court case of Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000) in which the justices most closely associated with Republicans out voted the justices most closely associated with Democrats by a margin of 5-4, thus resulting in the selection of George W. Bush to be President of the United States.

Be a proud American. Support both the U.S. and Montana Constitutions. Support measures which make it easier for all Americans to vote, not harder. Please oppose those bills which are intended to discourage some people from voting.

Billings attorney Tom Towe has served in both houses of the Montana Legislature and has chaired both the Montana State Parks and Recreation Board and the Montana Coal Board.

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MORNING SUN  The Morning Sun School Board canceled a special meeting Thursday to consider a recommendation of contract termination of Steve Hollan, the districts elementary principal.

Superintendent Mike Peterson said the meeting was canceled after a consensus of the board members agreed they did not wish to meet.

At this point, the board doesnt feel like there is any need to have a meeting, so they canceled it, he said.

The board had met April 6 for its regular meeting, and at that time an estimated 50 district staff and interested residents had packed into the board meeting after word spread that Hollan had been asked to resign.

About a dozen people spoke, most in support of Hollan, who is completing his second year with the district. Hollan said he would not submit his resignation.

In his comments to the board, Peterson and the assembled group, Hollan spent over 16 minutes listing and then challenging the issues that apparently led to a March 31 request from Peterson and other school officials for Hollan to resign.

Among the issues Hollan identified and refuted were:

Feelings by the school board that Hollan was pitting the staff against it and was undermining its authority by personally buying items and donating them to the school to create the perception the board would not.

People had overheard Hollan saying he was doing everything he could to protect the day care.

He was causing tension that had never been present before.

He was making decisions and taking action without going through the proper channels.

Hollan suggested Peterson and the board had failed to provide him with due process to rebut the assertions, which he claimed were based on rumors and hearsay, or failed to follow established board policies.

Peterson said Thursday the cancellation of the special school board meeting meant there was no change in the status of Hollans contract and he had not submitted a resignation.

Under Iowa law, Hollan must be notified by May 15 if his contract will not be renewed.

Peterson indicated there were no current indications the issue would be part of the boards regular May 10 meeting agenda.

At this point there havent been any decisions to include it on the agenda, he said, adding he was proceeding with the idea there would be no staff changes.

With the staffing that we have well just move forward and begin planning for next year, Peterson said.

A message seeking a comment from Hollan was left on his school answering machine on Thursday, but he did not return the call.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The United Nations doggedly sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol on Friday, while Ukraine accused Russia of showing its contempt for the world organization by bombing Kyiv while the U.N. leader was visiting the capital.

The mayor of Mariupol said the situation inside the steel plant that has become the southern port citys last stronghold is dire, and citizens are begging to get saved." Mayor Vadym Boichenko added: "There, its not a matter of days. Its a matter of hours.

Ukraines forces, meanwhile, fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the country's industrial Donbas region. Artillery fire, sirens and explosions could be heard in some cities.

In other developments:

 A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, his family said in what would be the wars first known death of an American in combat. The U.S. has not confirmed the report.

 Ukrainian forces are cracking down on people accused of helping Russian troops. In the Kharkiv region alone, nearly 400 have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted after Moscows Feb. 24 invasion.

 The international sanctions imposed on the Kremlin over the war are squeezing the country. The Russian Central Bank said Russias economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year, and the outlook is extremely uncertain.

On Thursday, Moscow's forces launched a missile attack on a residential high-rise and another building in Kyiv, shattering weeks of relative calm in the capital following Russia's retreat from the region early this month.

U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said one of its journalists, Vira Hyrych, was killed in the bombardment. Ten people were wounded, one of them losing a leg, authorities said.

The missile strike came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"This says a lot about Russias true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the U.N. and everything the organization represents, Zelenskyy said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was Russian President Vladimir Putin's way of giving his middle finger" to Guterres.

In an apparent reference to the Kyiv bombing, Russias military said it had destroyed production buildings at the Artem defense factory.

The missile strike came just as life in Kyiv seemed to be getting back a little closer to normal, with cafes and other businesses starting to reopen and growing numbers of people going out to enjoy the arrival of spring.

Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst and head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said the attack carried a message: Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure."

Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east also have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.

But so far, Russias troops and the separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains.

In the bombed-out city of Mariupol, around 100,000 people were believed trapped with little food, water or medicine. An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders and 1,000 civilians were holed up at the Azovstal steel plant.

The Soviet-era steel plant has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more dire after the Russians dropped bunker busters and other bombs.

Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse, said Boichenko, the mayor.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said the organization was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv to create safe passage.

This time, we hope theres a slight touch of humanity in the enemy, the mayor said. Ukraine has blamed the failure of numerous previous evacuation attempts on continued Russian shelling.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that the real problem is that "humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals. Moscow has repeatedly claimed right-wing Ukrainians are thwarting evacuation efforts and using civilians as human shields.

Also Friday, two towns in central Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region were hit by Russian rockets, the regional governor said. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.

Fighting could be heard from Kramatorsk to Sloviansk, two cities about 18 kilometers (11 miles) apart in the Donbas. Columns of smoke rose from the Sloviansk area and neighboring cities. At least one person was reported wounded in the shelling.

The governor of Russias Kursk region said that a border post came under mortar attack from Ukraine and that Russian border forces returned fire. He said there were no casualties on the Russian side.

In the village of Ruska Lozava, near Kharkiv, hundreds of people were evacuated after Ukrainian forces retook the city from Russian occupiers, according to the regional governor. Those who fled to Kharkiv spoke of dire conditions under the Russians, with little water or food and no electricity.

We were hiding in the basement. It was horror. The basement was shaking from the explosions. We were screaming, we were crying and we were praying to God, said Ludmila Bocharnikova.

A video posted by Ukraine's Azov battalion showed troops raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the government building in the center of the village, though fighting continued on the outskirts.

Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for," she said, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it.

The Marine Corps said Cancel served four years but was given a bad-conduct discharge and sentenced to five months' confinement for violating orders. No details on the offense were given.

At least two other foreigners fighting on the Ukrainian side, one from Britain and the other from Denmark, have also been killed.

Associated Press journalists Jon Gambrell and Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, Yesica Fisch in Sloviansk, and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Leisbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT) has appealed the interdict ordering it to cease construction on the development that would house Amazons South African headquarters. If successful, construction could resume.

This was revealed by the chairperson of the Observatory Civic Association (OCA), Leslie London, during an interview with Cape Talk.

London believes that the developers are relying on being granted leave to appeal rather than having the interdict overturned.

Normally, an interim interdict is not appealable as it is an interim decision. They argued in court that the effect of the interdict was final and therefore they could appeal it, he explained.

They are hoping that by appealing it, the interdict prohibition on building will be lifted so they can continue construction until the matter becomes before the High Court for review.

London explained that, in this scenario, the construction would be much further along by the time it reaches the High Court.

That is their strategy. They are not expecting the interdict to be overturned, they are expecting the interdict to be appealable, and therefore the construction could continue, he said.

LLPT appealed the High Court interdict in March 2022, saying it would result in thousands of lost jobs in the Western Cape if the decision were allowed to stand.

It is clear that the court failed to consider properly, or at all, the evidence that by interdicting the LLPT from carrying out any construction work, the LLPT and the wider community would suffer severe and irreversible harm out of all proportion to that which might be sustained by the applicants, and none was evidenced by them, the developer argued.

According to London, the judge is still considering the application. He also explained that one of the parts of the interdict  meaningful consultation  was not being met.

Since the interdict was granted, which included two parts: one was no building, and the other was meaningful consultation, we havent seen anything from the point of view of the respondents regarding meaningful consultations, he said.

In fact, weve probably seen quite the opposite. Theres been quite a severe kickback against the Khoi entities supporting the opposition to the development.

London added that the OCA had also received a fair amount of backlash.

They had offered the developers conciliation under the National Environmental Management Act, which was rejected.

Western Cape High Court Deputy Judge President Goliath ordered that construction at the R4.6-billion Observatory redevelopment must be ceased urgently on 20 March 2022.

LLPT at the time revealed that it had employed just short of 4,000 workers, of which it had to furlough 750 after the High Court interdict was granted.

It added that around 500 workers in factories supplying building materials for the site were also affected.

The City of Cape Town gave the construction of the River Club development the go-ahead in April 2021, with Amazon as the anchor tenant from the outset.
Candidates for the 1st District Napa County Board of Supervisors seat made their pitches during a recent online forum, touching on issues ranging from climate change to wine country land use planning.

The League of Women Voters of Napa County held the Thursday forum. Joelle Gallagher, David Graves, Garrett Hale and Suzanne Truchard participated.

Voters in the 1st District will choose among them in the June 7 primary election. The 1st District includes the central city of Napa and the Carneros region.

The candidates began by introducing themselves.

Gallagher said she has served the community for 30 years, from being executive director of the Napa County Farm Bureau to her job today as executive director of First 5 Napa County. She helped found the Napa Housing Coalition. She is on the county Planning Commission.

I have the skills and experience in the two main focus areas of the Board of Supervisors  land use, and health and human services, she said.

Truchard described how her family came to the United States from Cuba during the 1960s after losing their property during Castros revolution. She grew up in Miami. Her community came together to help pay for her education at Harvard University.

Because my community was there for me, I now find it my duty to give back to my own community here in Napa and serve the people of Napa, the local attorney said.

Graves co-founded Saintsbury winery in 1981. He has been a county planning commissioner and recently served on the countys Groundwater Sustainability Plan Advisory Committee.

Hes running because Napa County is at an inflection point, Graves said. Past success doesnt guarantee a secure future. So many things have happened even in the last six weeks that call into doubt business as usual.

Its not a time to point fingers or circle the wagons, he said. Napa needs to work for all the members of its community, now and in the future."

Hale is a local businessperson and among other things is an electrical contractor who owns Pacific Electric. He said hes owned a retail store and been involved in advertising and mining and solar.

Ive been asked to run for county supervisor because of what I know and because of my fortitude in solutions, he said. Im always about solutions. People ask, what are you going to do about housing, what are you going to do about the homeless? Well, with the homeless, Ive actually hired homeless.

The candidates were asked for their priorities on the county and state level.

Truchard said its important to have a good relationship with the state, but also not be afraid to push back. She talked of having the state recognize Napa County really is a unique county in the state.

In terms of legislative priorities, I think transportation is a huge opportunity as it relates to climate change, she said. I think we can focus on shaping policies that incentivize people to go green.

Transparency is important. The county needs to refocus its energies on having clear policies that the public understands, Truchard said.

Graves said the county needs to look at the land use process from a bigger scale, a watershed-scale perspective. It needs land capability analyses that encompass each of the watersheds.

I think we need to have a robust joint fact-finding process that guides how we make decisions, Graves said. I think weve seen the dueling expert model is a big waste of time, and it doesnt serve the interests of the environment or the community or even people who are proposing projects.

"Dueling experts" is when proponents and opponents of a project during public hearings both bring forward consultants who have reached different conclusions, perhaps on how planting vineyards will affect erosion. That leaves the Planning Commission or Board of Supervisors to pick between them.

Gallagher said housing and implementing the climate action plan are important. She noted the county has had a climate action plan in draft form for almost four years.

We really need to get ahead of the climate situation by really looking at what we can do legislatively locally, she said. There is a lot happening at the state level, but we need to do that locally.

She wants to get moving on an environmental impact report for the next general plan using current science, Gallagher said. The EIR for the general plan dates back to 2007 and looks ahead to 2030.

I think we need some local preference ordinances for housing, so people who live and work here actually have opportunities for housing before people who dont live or work here, she said.

Hale said his priorities at the county level are economic.

Because we talked about the state pushing on us with the (housing mandate), that we need more housing, we need more housing, he said. We hear we need more business, we need more revenue here. But again, it has to be a collaborative effort, that were actually able to raise the funds, generate the revenues to make that happen.

Nobody wants or needs more taxes, Hale said. People are struggling as real estate increases. The county needs to look at the opportunities to take its network of workers and work together more efficiently to find additional funds and resources in the community.

Its going to be a big job working with the state, Hale said. We do have to push back on the state because we need common sense. They need to understand we do have limited resources and in the interim well do our due diligence to make it happen.

The League of Women Voters has posted the forum on its website, along with forums for the 3rd District Board of Supervisors race and Sheriff race. Go to lwvnapa.com to see them.

You can reach Barry Eberling at 707-256-2253 or beberling@napanews.com

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The historic Napa Valley winery Heitz Cellar has filed a lawsuit against one of its cask suppliers, claiming the company sold them barrels that were faulty. Purchased and delivered from Gamba USA  an offshoot of Italys Fabbrica Botti Gamba  in October of 2020 for a little over $60,000, the lawsuit states that Gamba sold Heitz five different custom-built oak casks, three of which had persistent leaks and one of which was contaminated with a non-naturally occurring compound.

According to the case files, Heitz staff first noticed issues with the casks in December of 2020 after filling them with wine, when the barrels continued to leak from multiple locations, including its doors, valves and other parts.

[The] plaintiff also received nine oak wine casks from a different manufacturer [and] placed all 14 casks in the same room under the same conditions  None of the casks received from the other manufacturer leaked, the report states.

Then, a month later in January 2021, Heitz representatives said a round of routine testing determined that one of the Gamba casks was contaminated with 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole, or TCA. A common cause of cork taint, this TCA contamination essentially made that barrel of Heitz wine unsaleable.

All 580 gallons of the tainted wine were a total loss, Heitz representatives said in the complaint.

A day after test results confirmed the presence of TCA, Heitz met with Gamba USAs president, Jeff Ghidossi, and on Feb. 1, 2021, Ghidossi returned to take shaving samples from the outside of the contaminated cask.

On June 24, 2021, Heitz formally demanded a reimbursement. Claiming that no resolution has been made, they have formally filed a lawsuit with the Napa County Superior Court and have asked for a jury trial.

Gamba knew that (Heitz) was purchasing the Gamba casks to store wine, [and] accordingly sold the Gamba casks with an implied warranty that the Gamba casks were fit for that particular purpose, the lawsuit reads. The casks were negligently manufactured, designed and/or inspected by Gamba.

Neither party have provided further comment regarding the ongoing case, and a management conference is slated for late September.

You can reach Sam Jones at 707-256-2221 and sjones@napanews.com.

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Over 200 injured in mass protests in Sri Lanka

Unidentified Indians fire rocket-propelled grenades at police department

Azerbaijan establishes new border protection organization

New South Korean president urges North Korea to denuclearize

Azerbaijan FM says he had 2 telephone conversations with Armenia counterpart

Resistance Movement kicks off marches in Yerevan

Azerbaijan FM says Armenia's proposals cannot be called proposals

Azerbaijan MFA: Armenia authorities have not refused to normalize relations despite opposition protests

Azerbaijan hopes to get 7 villages in Armenia

Bayramov: Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed in Karabakh

Azerbaijan FM speaks against Armenia opposition

China's central bank cuts yuan against dollar to new low in a year and a half

Azerbaijan ignores points added by Armenia on agenda of forthcoming talks

Process of including Armenian church in UNESCO World Heritage List is discussed in Irans Isfahan

Armenia defense ministry: Azerbaijan MOD lying once again

American Armenians stage demonstration outside Armenia consulate

Newspaper: Notification to be sent to Armenia Patrol Guard Service head today

Quake hits Georgia-Azerbaijan border zone, also felt in Armenia

Biden signs Lend-Lease Act to defend democracy in Ukraine

Newspaper: 44-day war military casualties parents are summoned for questioning at Investigative Committee

EU considers additional funds for eastern countries for a deal to ban Russian oil

Armenia PM to visit Netherlands

Germany's finance minister warns that wage increases could further fuel inflation

Ursula von der Leyen travels to Hungary to persuade Orban to support sanctions on Russia

NEWS.am digest: Armenia marks May 9, Shushi liberation; Azerbaijan opens fire on Sotk gold mine

Ursula von der Leyen says unanimous vote on key areas of EU policy no longer makes sense

Resistance movement marches through central streets of Yerevan

US First Lady meets with Slovak President

North Korea urges citizens to strictly adhere to antiviral measures in connection with COVID-19

Armenian TV host dies after falling into river

Javelin manufacturer to double production of anti-tank missile systems

Sri Lankan Prime Minister submits his resignation to the President

Marukyan: There should have been half million people on streets now if people really wanted change of power in Armenia

Russia envoy to Armenia: Everyone should avoid steps that could aggravate situation

Oil prices drop in Saudi Arabia after COVID-19 outbreak in China

Armenia army general staff ex-deputy chief: I will say its a lie if someone says it was possible to win 44-day war

Georgia condemns presidential elections in South Ossetia

ARF Dashnaktsutyun Party official says authorities plan to divide Armenian diaspora

Azerbaijan continues attempts to appropriate Armenian Dadivank Monastery

Bitcoin is trading at a low since the summer of 2021

Armenia ambassador-at-large: Whoever says 'they want Artsakh to be part of Azerbaijan' probably wants it

Turkeys Erdogan to attend Teknofest in Azerbaijan

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Novak: Russia has already started selling oil to a number of new buyers

Putin: NATO countries did not want to hear Russia

Two Chinese ships enter Japanese territorial waters

China assures Australia of peaceful intentions in cooperation with Solomon Islands

Holy Etchmiadzin clergy visit Victory Park memorial in Yerevan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Let us live for new victories

Armenia ex-defense minister: Wedding at Mountains ideologically impossible after change of power

NATO Secretary General urges Putin to withdraw troops from Ukraine

Karabakh negotiation process did not fail under Armenia ex-President Serzh Sargsyan, says Seyran Ohanyan

Armenia ex-defense minister: Resistance Movements breakthrough moment already passed

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Armenia PM: Blood of our martyrs who gave their lives to Motherland should not be forgotten

Armenia premier, president, others are at Victory Park

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Armenia PM visits Yerevan military pantheon

Zelenskyy and German Parliament Speaker discuss heavy weapons supply to Ukraine

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Israel to abolish mandatory PCR testing at airport as of 20 May

US and G7 countries introduce new package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus

Syrian President visits Iran

Canada PM visits city of Irpin in Ukraine

Armenia's ex-president Serzh Sargsyan is on France Square

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Marine Le Pen still hopes to defeat Macron in parliamentary elections

German Parliament Speaker arrives in Kiev

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Resistance Movement rally in Gyumri ends: next rally will take place tomorrow in France Square

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YEREVAN.  Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: "On May 1, at 16:00, the strongest rally of recent years will take place in Yerevan," one of the leaders of the fight against the [incumbent] authoritiesNA [(National Assembly)] deputy speaker, [opposition ARF] Dashnaktsutyun [Party] member Ishkhan Saghatelyanannounced yesterday.

The groups that have been protesting for about two weeks in the capital [Yerevan] and provinces demanding the resignation of the authorities will come together in the capital on May 1. (). It is assumed that the big rally will be held at Republic Square.

Our sources say that the opposition will not send [back] homeas usualthose gathered on that day, and will call for a non-stop struggle of disobedience, they will try to paralyze normal life and thus achieve the resignation of the authoritiesas [PM] Nikol Pashinyan once did [in 2018].

We were informed that if this phase of the peaceful street struggle fails for some reason, the opposition has a plan B, which they do not declassify yet.

By the way, the even leaders of the opposition do not have an idea about the entire amount of what to do that day; everyone is informed about what they themselves will do.

We were told that new leaders of the struggle, who are now waiting for the development of events, will also to enter the arena.
YEREVAN.  The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsperson) of Armenia, Kristinne Grigoryan, on Thursday met in Paris with the representatives of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA), Ambassador of Armenia to France Hasmik Tolmajian, as well as with the representatives of the French Association of Armenian Lawyers and Jurists (AFAJA).

During the meetings with the representatives of the International Federation for Human Rights and the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, the Defender presented the manifestations of the consistent policy of Armenophobia conducted by Azerbaijan at the state level, which were present both during and after the 2020 war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the Human Rights Defenders office informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The manifestations of the policy of hatred towards the Armenians of Artsakh were presented, among other things, the intimidation of and use of force against the village population in the vicinity of the border line. References were made to the manifestations of state policy conditioned by ethnic and religious hatred, such as the Trophy Park of killed Armenian soldiers and chained prisoners of war in Baku, the concrete actions of the Baku administration to eliminate samples of Armenian heritage and traces of Armenian nature, as well as the statements of the President of Azerbaijan, which incite hatred and are a confession of Armenophobia.

The representatives of the International Federation for Human Rights were interested in the reasons for the Azerbaijani approach to the non-returning of Armenian prisoners of war and captives, as well as international legal processes. The representatives of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism considered it unacceptable and condemned the practices of opening the trophy park and teaching hatred to the young generation, emphasizing that the policy of hatred with such level of organization can cause new crimes.

A cooperation agreement was reached with the Defender's Office in the field of human rights protection and promotion.

A working discussion was held with Ambassador of Armenia to France Hasmik Tolmajian, and the representatives of the French Association of Armenian Lawyers and Jurists on the ongoing and planned actions, as well as the need to combine the efforts to achieve results.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has again made threats against Armeniabut this time covertly.

"I have been saying for more than a year that Armenia must sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan. The Armenian side has only recently agreed. The same goes for demarcation [of the borders]. We expect that [respective] meetings will take place within the framework of the commission very soon," Aliyev said, speaking at the international conference entitled "South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation."

It is especially symbolic that this conference is taking place in the Azerbaijani-occupied Armenian city of Shushi, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

"Azerbaijan is ready to sign a peace agreement with Armenia. Now we see steps from the Armenian side on the peace agenda. Armenia and its political elite must accept the new realities in the region and renounce revanchism. Besides, steps are needed to ensure lasting and stable peace in the region," the Azerbaijani president added, Haqqin.az reported.

According to him, "during this period after the second Karabakh war, I hope Armenia has realized how important peace is. If the peace treaty is signed, if the five principles mentioned [by Azerbaijan] are applied, there will be lasting and stable peace in the region."

Aliyev did not forget to mention the role of Turkey in all this.

The Shusha [(Shushi)] Declaration signed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in June last year is a vivid example of our brotherhood and cooperation. With that document we have worded our cooperation in all formats. "

He stressed that Azerbaijan and Turkey are allies in all spheres, including military and defense.

"And in general, the main goal of Azerbaijan is to restore Karabakh and return the former refugees there," Aliyev said.

He added that a meeting of the Azerbaijani-Armenian joint working group will take place very soon.

"We are actively advocating for a new era in the Caucasus, an era of peace and cooperation. Finally, we recently received a positive response from Armenia. The [latters] government has accepted the five basic principles proposed by Azerbaijan, which shall be at the basis of a peace agreement with Armenia," Ilham Aliyev said.
Russia reduced the average daily oil production in April against the backdrop of Western sanctions by 8.7 percent compared to March, to 1.37 million tons. The fall is due to the refusal of European traders to buy oil from Russian state-owned companies, as well as a trend towards a decrease in refining within the country, Kommersant reports.

The Department of Energy in March stopped publishing data on oil production and refining. Production at the Sakhalin-1 project has been significantly reduced. The project operator Exxon Neftegas reduced production by almost 11 percent to 25.3 thousand tons per day. On April 26, production fell by almost 10 percent, and on April 27, Exxon Neftegas declared force majeure.

The company explained this decision by obstacles to fulfilling its obligations under agreements and conducting operations at the required level of international standards. ExxonMobil, after Russia launched a special operation on the territory of Ukraine, promised to gradually withdraw from the project and stop investing in Russia.

Andrey Polishchuk of Raiffeisenbank explained that production is declining due to European consumers turning away from Russian oil, and redirecting volumes will take time and better offers. At the same time, oil exports from Russia increased by 8.8 percent compared to March due to a reduction in refining.
Ilham Aliyev considers the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) as citizens of Azerbaijan. The latters president stated about this speaking at the international conference, entitled "South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation," which is being held in the Azerbaijani-occupied Armenian city of Shushi, Artsakh.

We accept Armenians living in Karabakh, as our citizens. We hope that they will soon understand that they have all the rights and security guarantees as citizens of Azerbaijan, Aliyev said, APA reported.

"Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan is a country where many national minorities live," the Azerbaijani president added, claiming that all of them live in peace and tranquility in Azerbaijan. "Representatives of the Armenian people also lived in Azerbaijan, and they have never faced any problems. Therefore, Armenia must stop the propaganda of Azerbaijanophobia. Myths created by Armenia about us will never contribute to peace."

At the end of the last century, however, the Armenian population of Azerbaijan was deported from the country as a result of several waves of ethnic cleansing. And Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence and won the war imposed on it by Azerbaijan.
YEREVAN.  A consultation took place Friday at the Government of Armeniaand chaired by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Arayik Harutyunyanon the programs being implemented in Artsakh and the ways to solve the existing problems, informed the press service of the PM.

I want to emphasize the following circumstance. In fact, both before and after the 44-day war in 2020, and also during the war, we always coordinated our work and assessed it important that the authorities of Artsakh be fully informed about our plans, including the content and process, challenges and opportunities of the negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This principle has always been observed, will remain the same.

You know, sometimes I think that there is no need to emphasize that, because it's so logical that sometimes it can even be superfluous. But once again I want to state that the number one beneficiary of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is Artsakh, the people of Artsakh. And, consequently, thinking about negotiating, implementing something secretly is simply illogical, it is simply impossible to imagine such a thing. That's why we are always in touch with you, Mr. President. Our other partners also work in parallel with Artsakhs partners, Pashinyan said in his opening remarks.

And addressing the Artsakh President, Pashinyan stated: I consider it important, I appreciate your recent statement that the Artsakh authorities are also, in fact, adopting the peace agenda. And I want to say that the agenda of peace is in no way an agenda of defeat. The agenda of peace is the agenda of overcoming the horror of war, the difficulties that followed the war, its an agenda to guarantee the security, the rights, the future of the people. And I must say that as a result of very hard work, I have to state today that I see the way, moreover, I see the sequence of steps that should lead us to the destination that we are constantly talking about, discussing. That is, the guarantee of the security and rights of the people of the Republic of Armenia, of the Artsakh Republic and, as I have said before, there is a very important principle, that is the people of Artsakh should live in Artsakh, consider themselves Armenians of Artsakh, Armenian of Karabakh, Armenian in one word. And this is the agenda that we must move forward together.
The European Union (EU) can play an active role in normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We support it, and we are already seeing the fruits of our work. Brussels has become the main place of visits for me. The statement came from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at a meeting with the participants of the international conference entitled "South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation," Haqqin.az reported.

It is especially symbolic that this conference is taking place in the Azerbaijani-occupied Armenian city of Shushi, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

To note, however, Aliyev has repeatedly sharply criticized the OSCE Minsk Group and in fact started the process of transferring the Karabakh conflict settlement process from the OSCE to the EUand taking into account the unprecedented activeness of the EU in this matter.

According to Aliyev, the European Union is a very important partner for Azerbaijan, as there is a large agenda of cooperationincluding trade, energy, transport, as well as humanitarian issuesbetween the two parties.

The Azerbaijani president noted that the development of a new strategic partnership agreement with the EU is in the final stage. Also, he stressed that Azerbaijan expects to receive financial assistance from the EUand in proportion to the amount and terms of the assistance that Brussels intends to provide to Armenia.

"Such a decision would be fair for both countries," Ilham Aliyev added.
YEREVAN.  A huge part of our joint work is related to the socio-economic sphere. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this in his opening remarks during Fridays consultation at the Government of Armeniaand chaired by him and President Arayik Harutyunyan of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), informed the press service of the PMs office.

And this is a key issue, because it is essential that we do everything to make conditions for the people to live in Artsakh, to feel safe, to see their future living in Artsakh. Of course, this also goes for the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, about the Republic of Armenia, I am convinced that we are moving in the right direction. This is very important. I am convinced that we are moving in the right direction, I am happy, when the Artsakh authorities share that conviction. I once again welcome you, Mr. President, dear colleagues, wishing a fruitful discussion today, Pashinyan added.

In response, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan said: Fortunately, today there is a general political atmosphere in Artsakh, the Armenians of Artsakh first of all, of course, welcome and accept the agenda of peace, because there might be no one who knows the price of peace better than the people of Artsakh. But, on the other hand, I want to note that we do not see any direction to deviate from our right to self-determination, which we started from the first day of the movement. Therefore, I want to thank you for the opinion that any topic, any document will be discussed with the Artsakh government, and naturally, will stem from the mood of the people. Of course, it should be noted that no other way is possible, that is, it is not possible to have a document that will be rejected by the people of Artsakh. We all understand that, and in that sense we have a long political struggle.

The second is the security component, which is the most important today. Fortunately, recently it seems to have stabilized with the direct mediation of Russian peacekeepers, and today provides an opportunity to discuss socio-economic programs.

And the most important is the socio-economic at this stage. If there is no population in Artsakh, then it becomes meaningless to talk about the political struggle and security. That is why the demographics, the socio-economic programs are becoming important again today, the programs that started after the war are continuing. And we think that they should not only continue, but awe should also complete the ambitious programs we have started. And our main goal, the main issues at this stage are the political, security, demographic and socio-economic issues. We never faced any problems over those. But there are some questions on which we expect to receive answers during today's discussion, which will determine our further steps in terms of continuing those programs.
Armen Gevorgyan, an MP of the opposition Armenia Faction in the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia and a representative of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), on Thursday delivered a speech at the Plenary Sitting of PACE Spring Sessionduring the debates on the report on safeguarding and promoting genuine democracy in Europe.

There are two issues mentioned in the documents under discussion that I am going to highlight.

First, I would like to refer to the statement that I quote "democracy is not the dictatorship of the majority". Unfortunately, this is the path that in the past years a number of governments in our member States have chosen. This way often results in the consolidation of power by one political force and, thereby, exaggerated executive power. Then it yields limitations on the role of the parliament and the work of the political opposition. Further restrictions on media and new limitations of the freedom of expression, as well as interference in the work of the courts, are also obvious. In fact, we are witnessing the formation of the so-called "liberal dictatorship".

For reasons unknown to many of us, the Council of Europe and many other organisations have so far chosen to ignore the above trends. I hope this is not the result of a compromise between traditional democratic values and new global politics. I believe that genuine democracy trademarks cannot be awarded to any country because of any geopolitical calculations or preferences. In addition, it seems to me that the presented negative manifestations of the dictatorships of the majority should become a special subject of monitoring in the member States of the organisation.

Second, there is a reference to certain responsibilities to other member States that genuine democracies must have for the purposes of achieving the common goal of peace based upon justice and international co-operation. I agree with this but I think double standards should be called out.

It has become obvious that the new Europe has so far failed to identify the most reasonable and novel solutions to people's right to self-determination. We have to recognise that historically marked aspirations for national self-determination will continue to influence the European democratic path. Peace and stability on the continent if there are no fair and equal approaches.

Dear colleagues, we shall not create cases when the quality of democracy in the member States is being neglected because of any geopolitical transformations. I believe it had been the view of the founders of this organisation that the anti-democratic processes within member States and among them must receive objective evaluation and assessment in Strasbourg, Armen Gevorgyan noted in his address.
We all know, I have repeatedly stated to the public that during the 44-day war, cargo planes with weapons regularly flew from Russia to Armenia several times a day. The statement came from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at a meeting with the participants of the international conference entitled "South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation," Haqqin.az reported.

It is especially symbolic that this conference is taking place in the Azerbaijani-occupied Armenian city of Shushi, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

"We were following all the routesfrom Rostov, Mozdok. We had asked our Georgian friends to close the airspaceand they did so.

Also, we had asked our Georgian friends to close the land route whereby weapons could be transported from Russia to Armenia through Georgia; they did that as well, and we are grateful to them.

We sent a letter to all the Caspian [Sea] countries, asking not to allow Russian cargo planes with weapons to Armenia. We sent it to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran. Sadly, those planes entered Armenia through the territories of those countries. That was the case, and we should not hide that side of the 44-day war," Aliyev added.
Sweden has not yet made a decision regarding NATO membership, said Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde.

The discussion of this issue in the parliament is still ongoing and the process of joining the bloc differs from the Finnish one, the Finnish television channel MTV quotes the minister. So she commented on the question of whether Stockholm plans to apply to NATO at the same time as Helsinki.

Linde noted that preliminary work on the prospects for joining the alliance will be completed in Sweden by May 13. That is, until the date of the "possible filing" by Stockholm of the country's official application to join NATO. The foreign minister also said that "Finland's decision to join the bloc has greatly influenced the Swedish" point of view on the issue.

At the beginning of April, the discussion about the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO intensified. The main members of the alliance supported this prospect. In Finland, a majority of members of parliament have already spoken out in favor of joining the bloc. In addition, about 65% of the country's residents also positively assess this prospect, according to the results of a survey published on April 28 commissioned by the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. In Sweden, political discussions on this matter are currently ongoing, Stockholm sees and tries to assess the risks and problematic aspects of joining.

According to the American side, the issue of admitting Finland and Sweden to NATO may be considered at the next summit of the alliance in Spain on June 29-30.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev does not know the name "Shushi" and where it comes from. He stated about this at his meeting with the participants of the international conference entitled "South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation," Haqqin.az reported.

It is especially symbolic that this hypocritical statement was made at the aforesaid conference which is being held in the Azerbaijani-occupied Armenian city of Shushi, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

Accusing Armenia of "falsifying history," the Azerbaijani leader said that "the policy of falsifying history has continued for 5-6 years; even after that it was supplemented with new parameters."

"That is, they have even officially replaced the names of Azerbaijani cities with false Armenian names. For example, they started calling the city of Shusha Shushi. The name 'Shushi' has never been in history; I do not even know what it means," Aliyev said.

The ancient Artsakh capital of Shushi, has been subjected to numerous enemy invasions, as well as to the horrific massacre at the beginning of the last century. The Armenian Shushi has always been the object of desire of the Azerbaijanis. Ultimately, having captured Shushi after the 44-day war in the fall of 2020, the Azerbaijani authorities have begun to actively destroy its Armenian monuments and churches.
Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 29.04.22:

Ararat Mirzoyan reaffirmed Armenia's position on the processes aimed at establishing regional peace and stability, negotiations on a comprehensive peace treaty with Azerbaijan.

Minister Mirzoyan agreed to the proposal of the Russian side to hold a trilateral meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan within the meeting of the CIS FMs, which will be held on May 13 in Dushanbe.

His remarks came during Thursdays hearings at the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives,

Blinken said that is what he is very actively engaged in, including in connection with the situation in Ukraine.

The Secretary of State said he had spoken many times with the Armenian PM and Azerbaijani President to make sure first and foremost that no one takes any steps that could lead to a resumption of the conflict, as well as to try to advance and support a long-term political settlement.

The Secretary of State noted that $45 million have been allocated to Armenia from the US state budget, and $2 million of which are intended for demining.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Russian MFAs spokesperson Maria Zakharova noted that they see our role in contributing to rapprochement between Yerevan and Baku.

While rendering assistance to Yerevan and Baku in preparation of a peace agreement, the Russian side focuses on proposals of basic principles for the establishment of interstate relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, she said.

Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev claimed that during the 44-day war, cargo planes with weapons regularly flew from Russia to Armenia several times a day.

His remarks came during the international conference which took place in the Azerbaijani-occupied Armenian city of Shushi, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

We sent a letter to all the Caspian Sea countries, asking not to allow Russian cargo planes with weapons to Armenia, he noted. Sadly, those planes entered Armenia through the territories of those countries. That was the case, and we should not hide that side of the 44-day war, Aliyev added.

The leader of the Turkish nationalists called on the deputy of Armenian origin Garo Paylan to leave Turkey, Evrensel reported.

Devlet Bahcelis remarks came after Garo Paylan submitted the bill on Armenian Genocide recognition.

Let him establish ties with the Armenian diaspora. I advise him to go to America, Turkish nationalists noted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been invited to the G20 summit in November, which will be attended by his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, according to the leader of host nation Indonesia.

I have invited President Zelenskyy to attend the G20 summit, said President Joko Widodo.

He suggested a compromise had been reached following Western pressure to bar Russia from the event in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden is asking Congress for $33bn to support Ukraine, a massive sum that he says will help Ukrainians continue to fight Russias brutal invasion that is intensifying in the east of the country.

Speaking to reporters from the White House on Thursday, Biden said assistance to Ukraine is a small price to pay to defeat Russia and reduce the possibility of future conflict.

Biden did not specify the amount of money he is seeking, but earlier on Thursday, senior administration officials said the White House wants $33bn in supplemental funding for Ukraine.
Hunter Akridge arrived at Emory College of Arts and Sciences armed with a personal understanding of workplace inequality and a relentless curiosity about economic injustice.

He filled the next two years with directed study and coursework in his double major of anthropology and economics, even conducting research in Germany despite the pandemic, to sharpen his focus on the impact of new technology on workers.

Now, as one of only 16 Beinecke Scholars selected nationwide this year, Akridge is motivated to tackle issues of employee autonomy through graduate study and research.

The esteemed national award comes with $34,000 to help defray the cost of pursuing his PhD: $4,000 to use prior to entering and the rest while attending the graduate school of his choice.

This feels like the culmination of my personal and academic experiences before and after coming to Emory, Akridge says. Being a Beinecke Scholar gives me more breathing room to think more authentically about how I can take that to shape these next few years, researching how increased power, autonomy and knowledge to workers can benefit both them and business.

Combinining curiosity with conscientiousness

Akridges high school job in a Texas grocery store and years watching his mother support the family exposed him to struggles low-wage workers face with unpredictable schedules, limited benefits and unsteady hours.

The financial stability that came with his selection as a QuestBridge Scholar gave him the freedom to explore different scholarly frameworks for practical perspectives and possible solutions to those challenges.

His first year, at a time when most students were studying remotely, he sought out social science classes and independent study projects grounded in substantive ethnographic research and writing.

Akridge raised thoughtful connections between the working poor in the United States to theories and initiatives covered in Sam Cherribis upper-level course on economic development in Africa and the Middle East.

A senior lecturer in the departments of Middle Eastern studies and economics, Cherribi encourages students to examine development through the lenses of sociology, anthropology and economics  all fields that Akridge immersed himself in, both in class and on his own time.

He was like a hummingbird, coming in with thoughtful questions and then flying backward to think about it, says Cherribi, who has since worked with Akridge on two directed studies in economics. That ability to listen and be very critical, even willing to rethink his own ideas, makes him a unique intellectual.

Michael Peletz, the Samuel Candler Dobbs professor of anthropology, found those same qualities when Akridge took his 300-level course examining the social, cultural and political dimensions of law and justice. Peletz says he cautioned Akridge that the coursework might be too much for a first-year student, only to find him taking on even more than the course required.

In addition to being brilliant, Hunter has an insatiable curiosity and would pursue additional readings to develop a more thorough understanding of every question he raises, says Peletz, who later admitted Akridge into a graduate-level seminar. He is so motivated to learn and so kind and conscientious, its just a joy to talk to and get to know him.

Akridges outside readings included papers and books by cultural anthropologist Carla Freeman, the Goodrich C. White professor of womens, gender and sexuality studies whose research focuses on the globalization of labor and the meanings of work in peoples everyday lives.

As the executive associate dean of Emory College, Freeman has not been teaching formal classes. Akridge sought her out to discuss her work and his own goals of conducting an ethnography of work.

That meeting launched two years of research under Freemans guidance, starting with literature reviews and developing virtual ethnographic methodologies to examine Emory College facultys work-life balance during the pandemic.

I have come to see Hunter as a genuine colleague, Freeman says. His boundless curiosity, exemplary analytical and communication skills, and generosity of spirit as a student, scholar and citizen are qualities that will serve him well in any career path.

Creating opportunities for research

Akridges research with Freeman shaped his interest in labor studies and the role of technology. Specifically, he is interested in social shaping  how the layers of privilege such as gender or migration affect workers.

After the pandemic canceled his planned study abroad, he moved to Germany on his own last fall to continue his research. Freeman, who was in Germany on a research fellowship, was able to meet with Akridge regularly as he conducted his research and attended classes online.

The experience of the pandemic has made it more clear that the American labor movement is in transition, so it feels very topical and relevant to me to ask these questions now, Akridge says.

Back on campus this spring, Akridge has served as co-editor of the Anthropos undergraduate journal and was invited to join the Lambda Alpha and Omicron Delta Epsilon honor societies for anthropology and economics, respectively.

He also is continuing with timely research. As an intern with The Workers Lab nonprofit, Akridge has been synthesizing the social science literature around app-based work and conducting interviews with gig workers to learn from their experiences.

This summer, Akridge will be part of a project at Carnegie-Mellon Universitys Human-Computer Interaction Institute, focused on the design of hospitality work and technologies.

The project, funded by the National Science Foundation, will include qualitative research with housekeepers to see how they experience  and resist  the app-based management practices that limit their autonomy in completing their jobs.

Akridge expects to turn that research into an honors thesis next year, to critically examine algorithmic management. He then plans to pursue a doctoral degree to conduct further ethnographic research on sociotechnical systems to advance more equitable workplace technologies and conditions.

A lot of discussions about the future of work center on glamorous remote work, like digital nomadism, or the fear of full automation for blue-collar work, like long-haul trucking, and pending mass technological unemployment, Akridge says. But the reality is, the way AI and automation are affecting low-wage work now are often invisible, insidious and undemocratic. They dont get the attention that could help ensure dignity for all.
A century ago, tuberculosis was the equivalent of COVID-19 today: a respiratory disease that was everywhere, killing men and women across all strata of society. Once the world discovered an effective antibiotic treatment for TB, it became mostly relegated to the margins. And yet, until the arrival of SARS-CoV-2, more people died of TB every year than any infectious disease, especially in poorer countries.

Now, a new grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will support scientists at Emory and three other institutions in the U.S. to further research into an airborne bacterial disease that killed approximately 1.5 million individuals and was responsible for an estimated 10 million new cases in 2020.

The goal of the Emory/Georgia Tuberculosis Research Advancement Center (Emory/Georgia-TRAC) will be to catalyze and expand collaborative multidisciplinary TB research in the U.S. and internationally; capitalize on the strengths of the Emory/Georgia TRAC universities to grow and diversify TB research in new directions; and identify, train and mentor the next generation of TB researchers and scientific leaders.

Principal investigators Neel Gandhi , MD, professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health, and Jyothi Rengarajan , PhD, professor of medicine at Emory Vaccine Center and the School of Medicine, say the initiative will harness Emorys deep infectious diseases expertise as well as tap into the complementary strengths of other institutions in the state.

Emory/Georgia-TRAC will include colleagues from the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Morehouse School of Medicine and Georgia Tech. It will also work closely with public health professionals in the Fulton and Dekalb county health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The statewide alliance helps us form a common umbrella under which TB investigators in Georgia can find new opportunities for collaborations and synergy, says Rengarajan. We are also using our strengths in areas like vaccines, immunology, epidemiology, systems biology and microbiology.

Gandhi points out that that Emory investigators are already engaged in existing studies that span the spectrum of TB basic and translational science as well as cohort studies and clinical trials in multiple countries and communities locally with a high incidence of TB.

This initiative builds on that and provides us a mechanism to entice people from different fields to collaborate on TB research and offer pilot grants for new, cutting-edge ideas, he says.

In 2014, the World Health Organization said it wanted to see TB eliminated by 2050  which meant reducing the incidence of TB globally to one case for a million people. Both Gandhi and Rengarajan say that its now increasingly clear that many countries will be unable to meet that goal. Even the U.S., which has made giant strides in disease control, still has 22 cases per million.

Like COVID-19, TB also disproportionately affects those in under-resourced settings; people who live in poverty, have little access to health care, sanitary facilities and education, and are malnourished. In the U.S., 72% of TB cases in 2020 occurred among those born outside the U.S., a pattern consistent over the last many years.

If theres one thing we have learned from the pandemic, its that a dangerous infectious disease anywhere is a dangerous infectious disease everywhere, says Gandhi. The impact of a respiratory pathogen such as TB being present in the world is a big reason to ensure we find ways to end this disease.

About a third of the worlds population is infected and attempts to rein in the disease have been beset with problems including the emergence of TB strains resistant to multiple lines of drugs; a 100-year-old vaccine  the only one to be licensed  that has limitations; and a paucity of funding for new research and interventions.

Recognizing that it was critical to accelerate and consolidate research efforts in TB, Emory launched the Emory Tuberculosis Center a couple of years ago to house the universitys various research efforts under one umbrella entity. Gandhi and Rengarajan say the new NIAID funding, which amounts to nearly $1 million annually over five years, is ideally timed to capitalize on a solid foundation of skills, knowledge and infrastructure.

Apart from Gandhi and Rengarajan, the Emory Tuberculosis Center is co-led by fellow faculty member, Kenneth Castro, MD, professor of Global Health, RSPH and former chief of the Division of TB Elimination at the CDC.

Emory/Georgia-TRAC will function as an arm of the Center which comprises investigators across the scientific and policy spectrum. Over the last decade, Emory has made significant investments in TB, growing the number of principal investigators involved in researching the disease from 5 to 24, a 380% increase. Concurrently, annual funding has also increased from $3.4 million in 2010 to $12.5 million in 2020, a 267% increase. Most of the grants are funded by the National Institutes of Health, which includes the NIAID.

Emory/Georgia-TRAC is one of four such TB research centers being funded by the NIAID. The three others are: Interdisciplinary NexGen TB Research Advancement Center at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas; the Johns Hopkins University TRAC in Baltimore, Maryland; and the University of Washingtons TRAC in Seattle, Washington.

Some of the key experts involved in the Emory-TRAC leadership include Sarita Shah Rafick Sekaly and Jeffrey Collins , all at Emory. Collaborators at UGA include Christopher Whalen and Fred Quinn
Four Emory University faculty members have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nations oldest and most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research.

Elected this year are:

Carlos del Rio , MD, executive associate dean, Emory School of Medicine & Grady Health System; Leon L. Haley Jr. MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine; and professor of global health and epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health

, MD, executive associate dean, Emory School of Medicine & Grady Health System; Leon L. Haley Jr. MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine; and professor of global health and epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health Martha Albertson Fineman , Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law

, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law William Herbert Foege , MD, Emeritus Presidential Distinguished Professor of International Health, Rollins School of Public Health

, MD, Emeritus Presidential Distinguished Professor of International Health, Rollins School of Public Health Hank Klibanoff, professor of practice, Creative Writing Program, Emory College of Arts and Sciences

Im proud to see yet another distinguished class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences include so many exceptional Emory faculty members, says President Gregory L. Fenves. This is a highly deserved recognition of both the excellence and impact that these four scholars have had as researchers, educators, communicators, and innovators across a range of disciplines.

The Emory professors are among 261 newly-elected members of the American Academy, which was founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock and others who believed the new republic should honor exceptionally accomplished individuals and engage them in advancing the public good. The academys dual mission remains essentially the same more than 240 years later, with honorees from increasingly diverse fields and with work focused on the arts, democracy, education, global affairs and science.

We are celebrating a depth of achievements in a breadth of areas, says David Oxtoby, president of the American Academy. These individuals excel in ways that excite us and inspire us at a time when recognizing excellence, commending expertise and working toward the common good is absolutely essential to realizing a better future.

Carlos del Rio

One of the nations foremost experts on infectious disease, Carlos del Rio serves as co-director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research and Co-PI of the Emory-CDC HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Unit and the Emory Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit.

His research focuses on the early diagnosis, access to care, engagement in care, compliance with anti-retrovirals and the prevention of HIV infection. He has worked for more than a decade with hard-to-reach populations, including substance users, to improve outcomes of those infected with HIV and to prevent infection with those at risk.

del Rios international work includes collaborations in the countries of Georgia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Mexico, Kenya and Thailand. He has worked on emerging infections such as pandemic influenza and was a member of the World Health Organization Influenza A (H1N1) Clinical Advisory Group and of the CDC Influenza A(H1N1) Task Force during the 2009 pandemic. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2013, and elected International Secretary of the National Academy in 2020.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, del Rio has been a leader locally and nationally, doing research, developing policies, writing scientific publications and making countless media appearances. del Rio has advised municipal, state and national leaders, including Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Tyler Perry Studios, the NCAA, the USTA, Delta Air Lines, United Air Lines, Truist Bank, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Atlanta Opera, among others. He also served on the national advisory committee of the COVID Collaborative, which focuses on developing consensus recommendations and engaging with U.S. leaders on effective policy and coronavirus response.

A native of Mexico, del Rio became an American citizen in 2007, and in 2021 the Carnegie Corporation of New York honored del Rio as part of their Great Immigrants, Great Americans campaign, celebrating the wide-ranging contributions of naturalized citizens who have strengthened the nation through their lives and examples.

In 2021, del Rio received the City of Atlantas highest honor, the Phoenix Award, for his pivotal role in providing civic leaders and the community as a whole with expert medical and public health guidance and support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Martha Albertson Fineman

Martha Albertson Fineman is an internationally recognized law and society scholar and a leading authority on critical legal theory and feminist jurisprudence.

She is the founding director of the Feminism and Legal Theory (FLT) Project. Begun in 1984, the project holds workshops and uncomfortable conversations, hosting visiting scholars from around the world. The project has produced 11 books thus far, including At the Boundaries of Law: Feminism and Legal Theory, the first published anthology of feminist legal theory, and Transcending the Boundaries of Law: Generations of Feminism and Legal Theory, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the project.

She also is the founder and director of the Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative, which emerged from the FLT Project in 2008 and provides a forum for scholars interested in engaging the concepts of vulnerability and resilience and the idea of a responsive state in constructing a universal approach to address the human condition.

An American Bar Foundation Lifetime Fellow, Fineman earlier this year was honored with the Outstanding Scholar Award from the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. She is the recipient of the 2017 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Law Schools, and served as the 2019-2020 Distinguished Lecturer, Hagler Institute for Advanced Study, Texas A&M University. She received the 2018 Kate Stoneman Award from the State University of New York, Albany, and gave the Seeger Lecture on Jurisprudence at Valparaiso University in 2017. She was awarded an honorary degree from Lund University in Sweden in 2013.

Prior to coming to Emory in 2004, Fineman served as the Maurice T. Moore Professor at Columbia University, then joined the Cornell Law School faculty, where she held the Dorothea Clark Professorship, the first endowed chair in feminist jurisprudence in the nation.

William Herbert Foege

Winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, William Foege received an honorary degree from Emory in 1986 and the Emory University Presidents Medal in 2016. He has also served as executive director and fellow for health policy at The Carter Center and as a senior medical adviser for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Foege has championed many issues, but his focus has been children in the developing world. He is a strong proponent of disease eradication and control and has taken an active role in the elimination of Guinea worm disease, polio, measles and river blindness. By writing and lecturing extensively, Foege has broadened public awareness of these issues and brought them to the forefront of domestic and international health policies.

Foege served as chief of the Smallpox Eradication Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and was appointed director of the CDC in 1977. In 1984, he and several colleagues formed the Task Force for Child Survival, a working group for the World Health Organization, UNICEF, The World Bank, the United Nations Development Program and the Rockefeller Foundation. Its success in accelerating childhood immunization led to an expansion in 1991 to include other issues that impact children. The organization, headquartered in nearby Decatur, was renamed the Task Force for Global Health and is affiliated with Emory.

Hank Klibanoff

Hank Klibanoff is a veteran journalist, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Peabody Award-winning podcast host. He co-authored The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for history. Prior to joining Emory, he was a reporter and editor for more than 35 years, holding reporting and editing positions in Mississippi, The Boston Globe and The Philadelphia Inquirer, and serving as a managing editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Klibanoff is director of the Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project at Emory, for which students examine Georgias modern civil rights history through investigation of unpunished racially motivated murders. His podcast based on the project, titled Buried Truths, produced by public radio station WABE, was the winner of Peabody, Robert F. Kennedy and Edward R. Murrow awards.
Denmark seeks greater co-operation opportunities with Vietnam

Vietnamese Ambassador to Denmark Luong Thanh Nghi recently held a working session with leaders of Asia House, a non-profit organisation with the goal of connecting Danish entrepreneurs, scholars, and diplomats with Asian partners.













DenimoTech Group of Denmark has built a modern Bitumen adhesive processing plant in Vietnam, using Danish green technology.



According to Ambassador Ove Ullerup, chairman of Asia House, and Ambassador Susanne Rumohr Hkkerup, managing director of Asia House, the major need for the Danish business community, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is to seek broader co-operation with Asian nations in general.



However, information regarding the investment and business environment, markets, fields, and potential partners in both Vietnam and throughout the region for Danish businesses have remained relatively limited. This is despite having obtained remarkable results in co-operation which is still far from reaching the full potential.



Ambassador Ullerup emphasised that the Danish Government attaches great importance to the role of SMEs, describing them as, the backbone of the Danish economy." Therefore, expanding the co-operation network between Danish SMEs and Asian businesses, especially in Southeast Asia, will be one of Asia House's primary tasks moving forward.



He noted that currently the nation is increasingly being seen as a magnet for Danish SMEs thanks to the favourable business environment, as well as certain competitive advantages that Danish firms are looking for.



In response, Ambassador Luong Thanh Nghi stated that Asia House has become a special friendship bridge between the two countries, as well as between Danish individuals and organizations, along with the Vietnamese Embassy and Asian embassies based in Copenhagen



The Vietnamese diplomat affirmed the Vietnamese Embassys readiness to unite with Asia House for the purpose of connecting both nations people and businesses, as well as expanding co-operation fields. This can be seen as a contribution to strengthening the ties of friendship and co-operation between the two countries in a more effective and substantive manner.



During the course of the meeting, the two sides discussed a range of specific co-operation measures and plans between the Vietnamese Embassy in Denmark and Asia House to promote the exchange of delegations at all levels. This is along with launching a range of trade and investment promotion activities and connecting businesses of the two countries in the fields that they boast strengths in.



They consented to work together to propose ideas and initiatives aimed at seeking new co-operation opportunities, thereby making practical contributions to mutual ties in the future.



Asia House, formerly known as East Asia Company (Det stasiatiske Kompagni), was first established in 1898. Over its long history, Asia House has gradually developed into an independent, non-profit organisation with the aim of intensifying exchanges and co-operation between Denmark and the Asian region, especially in the fields of economy, culture, and people-to-people exchanges.



The current management board of Asia House consists of numerous former diplomats, as well as prestigious scholars and leaders from Danish corporations.
Douglas Hicks, dean of Emory Universitys Oxford College, has been selected as the next president of Davidson College, a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina.

Hicks, who has served as Oxfords dean since 2016, is returning to his alma mater, having earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Davidson before earning a master of divinity degree from Duke University and his MA and PhD in religion from Harvard University. He will take the helm at Davidson on Aug. 1.

Dean Hicks elevated Oxford College in its mission to educate and transform lives, says President Gregory L. Fenves. He made Emory's founding campus into a destination for students from across the nation and around the world seeking a unique liberal arts education and college experience. I am grateful for all he has done for our university and wish him the best as he moves on to lead the Davidson community.

Oxford College is located on Emory's original 1836 campus in Oxford, Georgia. With an emphasis on a residential, liberal arts experience, it offers a distinctive, small-campus setting that allows first- and second-year students to thrive both academically and personally before continuing to Emorys Atlanta campus to complete their bachelors degrees through Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Goizueta Business School or Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.

Hicks has been instrumental in advancing Oxford across many dimensions, focusing on academic excellence, leadership education, diversity and investment in financial aid, infrastructure and faculty and staff.

Doug Hicks has been a transformational dean for Oxford College, helping to realize its exceptional potential as a leader in undergraduate education, says Ravi V. Bellamkonda, Emorys provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

While Oxford is known as Emorys birthplace, its also a vital part of Emorys future, especially as we focus on providing an unparalleled experience for undergraduates through our Student Flourishing initiative, Bellamkonda notes. Were excited about whats ahead for Oxford as we continue to build on whats been achieved under Dougs leadership.

As part of Oxfords strategic plan, Hicks led the creation of a distinctive new general-education curriculum, including Discovery Seminars, experiential learning and a Milestone Project for every student, while increasing the number of advanced classes and adding new areas of study. Thanks in part to these efforts, applications to Oxford have more than doubled over the past six years to over 20,000 in 2022, contributing to record diversity and academic strengths among enrolled students.

The Oxford campus has also seen signficant physical and philanthropic expansion during Hicks tenure, including the addition of a new dining hall and student center and renovations of the historic Phi Gamma, Pierce and Humanities buildings. Meanwhile, Oxfords endowment has nearly doubled since 2016 and the college has already surpassed $70 million raised toward its $80 million 2O36 Campaign goal, enabling new investments in financial aid and the student experience.

Hicks has also strengthened ties with Emorys Atlanta campus to ensure students smooth transition and to foster student flourishing, including strengthening post-graduation career opportunities through the Mellon Humanities Pathways Program. In addition, he has helped lead Emorys work to memorialize the labor of enslaved persons as co-chair of the universitys Twin Memorials Working Group.

It has been an honor to be part of the Oxford and Emory communities for the last six years, Hicks says. I am proud that Oxford's outstanding faculty and staff have worked together to deliver an extraordinary liberal arts education to our diverse and highly talented students. I know that they are not only prepared to excel in their studies in Atlanta, but also to grow into leaders who will serve their communities far beyond college.

Hicks will continue to serve as Oxfords dean through July. Bellamkonda will name an interim dean in the coming weeks following consultation with faculty and other stakeholders, after which a national search will commence for the next dean of Oxford College.
Ahead of the Life Insurance Corporation of India's forthcoming Initial Public Offering (IPO), India's largest ever IPO, on May 4, the LIC is set to hold a press conference here on Friday. The much-awaited issue of the LIC IPO is set to open on May 4 and will remain open for bidders till May 9, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said. The government, which wholly owns the insurance behemoth, plans to sell a 3.5 per cent instead of 5 per cent as mentioned in the previous Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP), said sources. LIC has cut the size of IPO from 5 per cent to 3.5 percent due to the market condition. A proposal to reduce the size of LIC's IPO to 3.5 percent from 5 percent proposed in its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) was tabled and approved at a board meeting held on Saturday. The insurance company has set its price band for the Initial Public Offer (IPO) at Rs 902 to Rs 949 per equity share. The size of the LIC IPO is set to be the largest so far in the country. The government targets to raise Rs 20,557.23 crore by offloading 3.5 per cent of its equity stake or 22.13 crore shares of LIC. This is substantially lower than the earlier projection of about Rs 60,000 crore. The IPO will be a pure offer for sale. Out of the 22.13 crore shares offered for sale, around 5.93 crore shares have been reserved for the anchor investor portion. Employee reservation portion is at1.58 million while policyholder reservation is at 22.14 million. Half of the shares are reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIB), 15 percent of the shares will be reserved for non-institutional investors while the rest is for retail investors. Policyholders will get a discount of Rs 60 per equity share. Retail and employees will get a discount of Rs 40. Last month, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved the initial public offering proposal of LIC. The company has filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). It has time until May 12 to launch the IPO. If it is not done by May 12, the company would be required to file fresh papers with the market regulator. The government had initially wanted to list LIC in the last financial year that ended March 31 but had to delay the sale after the Russia-Ukraine war triggered a market rout. (ANI)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 29 (ANI/NewsVoir): 'Akshaya Tritiya' - an occasion ushering infinite auspiciousness is celebrated on the third day of the Shukla Paksha of the Indian month of Vaisakh and is known for marking new beginnings in one's life. This occasion is symbolic of good luck, success and fortune gains. This year, Akshaya Tritiya will be celebrated on 3rd May 2022. The term 'Akshaya' means imperishable or eternal. This festival signifies wealth, prosperity and happiness, conferring endless fortune to those buying precious metals. The true, natural white of platinum symbolizes purity, wealth, power and strength. Jewellery cast in unfading and unchanging platinum, retains its white colour and never fades or tarnishes despite the passage of time. A universal symbol of love, rare and precious platinum, has stood the test of time to mark all the important milestones in one's life, which makes it a perfect buy on this occasion. Each piece of platinum jewellery under the PGI programme is cast in 95 per cent pure platinum, offering one of the highest standards of purity in precious jewellery. It bears the purity hallmark of "Pt 950" stamped inside the piece - which makes it even more compelling on a significant and auspicious day like Akshaya Tritiya. With a modern twist to traditional designs, the platinum jewellery range for this special occasion includes elegantly crafted deity pendants of Lord Ganesha and Aum, to other skillfully crafted pendants, chains, earrings and neckpieces for women, Platinum Love Bands for couples and classy chains and bracelets for men. Commenting on this auspicious occasion, Vaishali Banerjee, MD India - Platinum Guild International, said, "Akshaya Tritiya is one of the most auspicious days in the Indian festival calendar, known for bringing in prosperity and marking new beginnings. Platinum is a naturally occurring luminescent white metal. It stays white through a lifetime, never losing its white sheen. With a growing preference for choosing what is pure, naturally white, we are positive that platinum jewellery will see an uptake. All our retail partners are looking forward to positive Akshaya Tritiya." Furthermore, commenting on their special designer edition under Men of Platinum to be launched on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, Amarendran Vummidi, Partner of VBJ Jewellers said, "Jewellery made in platinum is 95 per cent pure, it comes with a Quality Assurance Card and bears the purity hallmark of Pt 950. It is this combination of its natural white and purity that makes it perfect for the occasion. With a wide range of platinum jewellery options available, we are confident that men will find what they seek on this auspicious day where white and pure is essential." Rajesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director of Kalyan Jewellers commented on the special Platinum collection for Akshaya Tritiya, "We have seen platinum grow over the years especially amongst the young, who seek what is modern, aspirational. They look for what matches their sense of style and look at pieces that are unique. They are familiar with the qualities of the metal and seek them out. Platinum as a metal is naturally white, never fading or tarnishing. Its purity and rarity make it truly precious for consumers today." Additionally, Dipu Mehta of ORRA Jewellers said, "We foresee the demand for platinum picking up across the country, primarily driven by younger segment that has developed an increased preference for the metal. Its qualities of purity, rarity, true white make the ideal buy for this important occasion." So, celebrate this festival with rare and precious platinum this year and let the purity of its true white fill your life with abundance. Platinum Guild International (PGI) is a marketing organisation with the vision to develop the global platinum jewellery market as a new demand source for platinum. It was formed in 1975 with specialist teams dedicated to growing the global platinum jewellery market through consumer and trade-facing programmes in the four key jewellery markets of China, India, Japan and USA. Since then, jewellery development has demonstrated a strong track record in delivering results. Through various programmes, both direct-to-consumer and in collaboration with jewellery retailers and manufacturers, PGI creates consumer ounce demand by first identifying opportunities for platinum in jewellery, and then developing them with partners. It also aims to build an enduring commitment to platinum in jewellery. PGI's consumer marketing and educational programmes are focused on developing awareness and an appreciation for platinum's unique properties as a precious metal for fine jewellery. In addition, PGI works globally with collaborative partners running extensive marketing programmes in the four main platinum jewellery markets of China, Japan, USA and India. These markets are staffed with experts in strategic planning, marketing, retail, design and business development. PGI is funded by the leading platinum producers of South Africa, as well as through co-funded programmes with the jewellery industry. Purity Assurance Program PGI has partnered with TUV India Pvt Ltd to implement a robust audit programme to ensure the purity of platinum under its programme. TUV is one of the country's first certification bodies and has been closely associated with the quality revolution in India. Under Platinum Guild India's quality assurance programme, each individual piece of jewellery has an assured purity as high as 95 per cent. And as a proof of this assurance, every piece is stamped 'Pt950' and comes with a tamper-proof quality assurance card that distinguishes authentic platinum from other jewellery This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 29 (ANI/PRNewswire): Fineotex Chemical Limited (FCL), one of India's leading and most progressive specialty chemical producer with a market leading position in international textile industry has announced robust financial numbers in Q4FY22. HIGHLIGHTS OF CONSOLIDATED BUSINESS Consolidated business represents the performance of FCL and its subsidiaries (FCL Group) Consolidated Business Q4-FY22 vs Q4-FY21 (Y-o-Y basis) The Revenue from Operations of the Group has increased to Rs. 12,139 Lakh from Rs. 7,502 Lakh. The Revenue from Operations registered a growth of ~ 62 per cent; The Profit after tax (PAT) of the Group has increased to Rs. 1,700 Lakh from Rs. 1,195 Lakh. The PAT registered a growth of ~ 42 per cent; The Operational EBITDA of the Group has increased to Rs. 2,152 Lakh from Rs. 1,285 Lakh. The Operational EBITDA registered a growth of ~ 67 per cent; The EPS of the Group has increased to Rs. 1.5 per share from Rs. 1.0 per share. The EPS registered a growth of ~ 50 per cent; Consolidated Business FYE March 2022 vs FYE March 2021 (Y-o-Y basis) The Revenue from Operations of the Group has increased to Rs. 36,823 Lakh from Rs. 21,851 Lakh. The Revenue from Operations registered a growth of ~ 69 per cent; The Operational EBITDA of the Group has increased to Rs. 7,121 Lakh from Rs. 4,057 Lakh. The Operational EBITDA registered a growth of ~ 76 per cent; Final Dividend - The Board has recommended a final dividend subject to the approval of members at the ensuing Annual General Meeting @ 20 per cent i.e. Rs. 0.40 (PY Rs. 0.30) per Equity Share of Face Value of Rs. 2/- which represents 33 per cent Y-O-Y growth in the dividend. Highlights of India Business: India business represents the performance of FCL Standalone and FSPL (wholly-owned subsidiary in India) India Business Q4-FY22 vs Q4-FY21 (Y-o-Y basis) The Revenue from Operations of the Company has increased to Rs. 10,117 Lakh from Rs. 4,796 Lakh. The Revenue from Operations registered a growth of ~ 110 per cent; The Profit after tax (PAT) of the Company has increased to Rs. 1,696 Lakh from Rs. 910 Lakh. The PAT registered a growth of ~ 86 per cent; The Operational EBITDA of the Company has increased to Rs. 2,012 Lakh from Rs. 1,030 Lakh. The Operational EBITDA registered a growth of ~ 95 per cent; India Business FYE March 2022 vs FYE March 2021 (Y-o-Y basis) The Revenue from Operations of the Company has increased to Rs. 28,261 Lakh from Rs. 12,948 Lakh. The Revenue from Operations registered a growth of ~ 118 per cent; The Operational EBITDA of the Company has increased to Rs. 6,191 Lakh from Rs. 3,122 Lakh. The Operational EBITDA registered a growth of ~ 98 per cent; Other Highlights Working Capital Cycle - There have been continuous improvements in the working capital cycle over the periods mentioned below - Consolidated business - Net working capital has been improved by 51 days. India business - Net working capital has been improved by 47 days. Volume Growth - For the current FYE March 2022 the Consolidated business has seen overall volume growth of 62 per cent compared to the previous FYE March 2021. India business has observed overall volume growth of 85 per cent compared to the Previous FYE 2021. Commenting on the successful result, Surendrakumar Tibrewala, CMD, Fineotex Chemical, said, "We are thrilled to announce the tremendous growth numbers. We will continue to strengthen our position and expand into new, untapped markets. Our aim will be to develop our chemistries and enter into strategic alliances in order to strengthen our existing and new relationships in both the domestic and foreign markets. Our plant's sustainability requirements will allow expansion and further utilisation, and with demand on the rise, we anticipate a bright future. These are exciting times for Fineotex, and we are excited about the progress that is being achieved and the chances that are heading our way. The Board has proposed a final dividend of Rs. 0.40 per share of face value Rs. 2." Commenting on the successful result, Sanjay Tibrewala, Executive Director and CFO, Fineotex Chemical, said, "We have continued our growth trajectory in the current year, attaining 69 per cent percent growth, achieving working capital efficiency, and boosting our EBITDA margins. With the onset of the pandemic, we focused on developing home care and hygiene specialities, a diversified but related division of non-toxic specialty chemical solutions. This emerging business has opened up substantial business openings and thus giving us the opportunity to tap into new markets. The new manufacturing hub at Ambernath is one of the several new investments by us. It was a logical and necessary step in expanding and strengthening our competitive position at a local and global level. The initial planned capacity of 36,000 MTA is being ramped up to 40,000 MTA to cater to growing demand. In terms of our future trajectory, we are currently working on an additional expansion 21,000 MT. Due to process efficiency achieved internally, our working capital has also shown constant improvement. Our advanced capabilities, along with strategic collaborations, position us well to sustain growth, add value to our clients and maximise shareholder value." FCL's CEO, Arindam Choudhuri mentioned , "We have expanded our portfolio and are working on providing more solutions for textile companies as well as a more diverse product range. With these steps, we feel all stakeholders will be able to see an even more beneficial shift in the growth. We have made a significant contribution to the worldwide ESG and sustainability movement. We manufacture while protecting the environment's long-term viability and are devoted to zero waste practices, as seen by our extensive certifications and accreditations. It has endeavored to efficiently manage the release of dangerous chemicals, most notably by launching Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals programmes (ZDHC)." Founded in 1979, Fineotex Chemical (BSE: 533333) (NSE: FCL) is leading specialty chemical producer and a solution provider, having a market leading position in the specialty chemicals, in the international business as well as the domestic textile industry. The Company manufactures chemicals for the entire value chain for the textile industry including pre-treatment, dyeing, printing and finishing process. The Company has successfully expanded into home care, hygiene and drilling specialty chemicals sector which is already supporting the next phase of growth for the Company. The Company manufactures over 475 products and exports to over 69 countries. The Company has manufacturing facilities in Mumbai and Ambernath, India and Selangor, Malaysia with combined capacity of 83,000 MT. The newly set up facility at Ambernath with capacity of 40,000 MT (initial planned capacity 36,000 MT) will cater to customers' demand for existing textile specialties and the fast-growing home care and hygiene and drilling specialties business. The subsidiary in Malaysia, Biotex Malaysia drives all the R&D initiatives of the Company and overall new product development. Biotex specializes in high end specialty finishing textile chemicals like water & oil repellents, anti-microbials, etc. for textiles. It has critical industry certifications such as Bluesign, Global Organic Textile Standard, REACH, Bhive, ISO 9001:2015, ZDHC and OEKO-Tex, which make the Company preferred choice for global textile manufacturers. This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
New Delhi [India], April 29 (ANI/SRV): India Institute of Patent and Trademark, Delhi, celebrated World Intellectual Property Day on 26th April 2022. An online virtual event was conducted with speakers from 9 different countries. The event was initiated by Kirtiman Sharma and Cheshta Sharma, founders of Indian Institute of Patent and Trademark. World Intellectual Property Day is acknowledged annually on 26 April. The event was established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2000 to raise awareness of IPR. The topic chosen for World Intellectual Property Day 2022 is 'IP and Youth Innovating for a Better Future'. Across the globe, young people are stepping up to innovation challenges, using their energy and ingenuity, curiosity and creativity to steer a course towards a better future. World Intellectual Property Day is an opportunity for young people to find out how IP rights can support their goals, help transform their ideas into reality, generate income, create jobs and make a positive impact on the world around them. Cheshta Sharma, representing India narrated the growth story of India giving statistics of increase of patent filings in India. Jessica Zimberlin, represented US discussed inventorship and ownership by using case study. Wissam El Amilfrom Lebanon discussed briefly how Ukraine war impacted the domain of Intellectual Property Rights in his country. Gabriel Marcuzzo Cavalheiro Rio de Janeiro, Brazil talked on the role of crypto currency and its impacts in the domain of IPR.Gurbir Singh Sidhu , Canada talked about an Intellectual Property Clinic providing IPR services at a cheaper price so that people can enjoy the benefits arising out it. Md. Belal Hossen Bangladesh talked about the domestic laws related to IPR of his country and new changes in patent law. Rosena Nhlabasti, Qatar and Mercy M from Kenya talked about challenges in their respective countries. Final speaker Amy from US give out different resources for attendees to how to gain in-depth knowledge of IPR. Session was attended by IP Professional around the globe and moderated by Sheeza Malik, IIPTA and Zixuan Wang, Partner Kommit LLP. The event witnessed global unification and corporation in area of Intellectual Property. The event was great success with the support of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Indian Institute Of Patent and Trademark (IIPTA) who work in awareness of IP. Event Website - https://www.iipta.com/world-ip-day-2022/ Company Website - https://www.iipta.com/ You Tube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V47n1GkRtYI This story is provided by SRV Media. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/SRV)
New Delhi [India], April 29 (ANI/ATK): 200+ engineering jobs has been added in less than 3 months. This is the story of one such organisation, Mumbai-based TCR Engineering Services who has hired NDT engineers to undertake various inspection activities for Gas Infrastructure Pipeline projects in Odisha, working with leading engineering companies including Kalpataru Power Transmission (NS:KAPT), Likhitha Infrastructure (NS:LIKI), PowerMech (NS:POMP), Corrtech International, Advance Infrastructure, Essar Construction and Enprocon Enterprises. Natural Gas is the cleanest, efficient, non-polluting, environmentally friendly, and relatively economical of the fossil fuels. Natural gas pipelines are the core and strategic assets for India's energy security and backbone to achieve the gas-based economy. The Government of India is planning to invest billions of dollars to expand the gas pipeline network. Odisha has several cross country, city gas distribution and slurry gas pipeline projects ongoing from Indian Oil, GAIL, BGRL and JSW. TCR Engineering Services has been leading the charge and is on its way to scale the regional hub branch established in Bhubaneshwar to perform Testing, Quality Assurance and Inspection activity in East and North-East India. As an equal opportunity employer, TCR has been aggressively recruiting trained engineers across the hub. They have employed over 200 engineers for NDT inspection in the last 12 months and the numbers are going to grow by the end of this year. According to Samir Kumar Choudhury, general manager of TCR Engineering (Eastern) based in Bhubaneswar, "TCR is committed to local engineering talents and is a believer of the vision set by the Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) ". He further added "TCR has an established skills enhancement training and knowledge-sharing program for all its team members. The company has an aggressive growth path built over the 50 plus years of the company's true dedication towards setting a new industry standard for precision, transparency, and reliability. We are so proud to have a small and direct role to play in nation building." This is a great opportunity for freshers and experienced NDT professionals based out of Odisha and Eastern Zone to contribute and unlock value with massive exposure to complex problems. TCR Engineering has been actively working on cross country projects for end-client Indian Oil Corporate Limited (IOCL) with radiography testing and Non-Destructive Testing (NDT). Several prestigious projects including the Paradip-Somnathpur-Haldia Pipeline, Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG Pipeline, Koyali-Ahmednagar-Solapur Pipeline, as well as several city gas distribution pipeline projects are part of this engagement. TCR has also been approved by IOCL to work in multiple spreads of the prestigious 2,800 km long Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG pipeline which at once constructed, is expected to be World's Longest LPG Pipeline. In addition to this, as part of the Prime Minister Urja Ganga Project in Odisha, TCR has been working for infrastructure companies under supervision of Mecon for different spreads of GAIL including the Jagdishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra Pipeline (JHBDPL) which includes the Dhamra-Angul Pipeline (DAPL) in the first part and the Bokaro-Angul Pipeline (BAPL) in the second part. As a Qualified Radiography provider, the team at TCR has also undertaken testing for multiple spreads of the Srikakulam-Angul project, which is a gas pipeline, with a maximum diameter of 24 inches, that starts in Andhra Pradesh and ends in Odisha (India). When asked about the hiring requirements, Shemi Bhaskaran, Department Head of NDT services at TCR says "We recruit and select individuals who are passionate about their work, have an inherent curiosity, with a strong desire to learn. Work is bound to the customer's strict project timelines and having outstanding time management skills truly helps,". He further added, "TCR complies to stringent quality standards as per ISO 17025 and NABL. All NDT team members are recruited based on their experience, their compliance to ASNT CP-189 as well as the ISNT and BARC set qualification guidelines. " You also get an opportunity to work with latest innovations and diverse technologies in the space of Radiography and Ultrasonic Testing for pipelines using external X-Ray's, internal crawlers and gamma-ray machines, work on the latest Close Proximity Radiography with a Selenium-75 sources, do projects related to digitization with Computed Radiography using IR plates, convert legacy conventional RT Films into digital images, cataloged and systematically archived on online cloud storage. "Once you come on board, you can be a part of any of the dedicated crews at TCR that undertakes Automated UT, Phased Array, ToFD as well as several advanced NDT techniques, said Abhay Dhuri, Pan-India RT Operations Manager at TCR. Founded in 1973, TCR Engineering is a pioneer and the most trusted for Material, Metallurgical and Corrosion Testing laboratory in India with NABL, ISO 17025 and BIS accreditation. TCR continues to serve over 2500+ clients globally each time setting a new industry standard for precision, transparency, and reliability. TCR undertakes materials destructive testing along with radiography and ultrasonic testing on pipelines for detection and evaluation of flaws in materials or weld structural properties. Metallurgical expert team of TCR performs a comprehensive pipeline asset integrity program including mechanical with chemical analysis, sour gas corrosion studies, CTOD, fitness for service, remaining life assessment and failure investigation. Learn more about TCR at www.tcreng.com This story is provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ATK)
Gurugram (Haryana)) [India], April 29 (ANI/NewsVoir): NASSCOM Centre of Excellence - Internet of Things & Artificial Intelligence (CoE-IoT & AI) organized its third innovation Day at Gurugram, with the objective of promoting innovation being done by start-ups and to enable the adoption of its solutions by Government organizations and industry players. The centre invited more than thirty (30) start-ups in the area of Drone services (Agriculture, Logistics), various Healthcare Solutions, AI/VR based solutions, BMS, Robotics etc; many of them are physically incubated at the centre. The products and solutions showcased were part of the physical and virtual program. The Event brought together country's key start-ups, entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, funding entities, etc under one platform to celebrate entrepreneurship and promote innovation. The programme addressed the key aspects of nurturing start-up's ecosystem through interactive sessions, workshops, and presentations based on themes and was packed with interesting speakers. On the occasion, Mandip Singh Brar, IAS, MD, Hartron commented that, "Government of Haryana is a leader in creating an enabling environment for the success of innovators through programs like NASSCOM Center of Excellence and expects the use of technologies in addressing real life challenges in the areas of agriculture, rural health, environment, crime solution, traffic management and many other areas. Start-ups have the potential to accelerate India's integration into global value chains and create global impact." Sanjeev Kalia, DGM, Hartron, opined that, "Academia has a strong role to play in building the innovation culture. Going forward, such events give exposure to the faculty and students about the criticality of innovation in addressing the problems." Sudhanshu Mittal, Head - NASSCOM CoE Gurugram & Director-Technical Solutions, stated, "Since its inception, the NASSCOM CoE has been working to catalyse the start-up success. Start-ups are connected with NASSCOM CoE through physical and virtual incubation program, with the objective of exploring solution deployments with industry and government. The start-ups benefit immensely from fund generation opportunities and mentorship provided through the CoE platform. Program is fully supported by Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and Government of Haryana." Eminent dignitaries including Industry leaders, Academia, and State Government representatives and others graced the event with their esteemed presence and in-depth suggestions. Start-ups like, Ramja Genosensor, Electron Electric Motors, NebulARC Technologies, Dentra, Vizara Technologies, Octobotics Tech, Core Data Networks, Elecbits technologies, Bharat Rohan, TechEagle Innovation, Vecors and Adivid among others showcased their innovations. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
New Delhi [India], April 29 (ANI/PNN): Technological advancements of this era have revolutionized every field of life. Teaching is no exception. ICT-based instructional practices have noticeably paved their way into the profession of pedagogy around the world. However, the majority of Indian schools are not catching up to technology use in classrooms. The average school in India is equipped with a computer lab, but not much beyond that. In addition, parents are increasingly looking for schools that offer new learning tools to prepare children for the digital future. Realising this rapid development early, Ramagya School, Noida is redefining India's old-age education by integrating technology into education, which is driven by the best global practices based on research and innovations. Ranked as the 4th best School in Noida by the times school survey and under top 30 schools in India by Forbes, Ramagya School understands that through the latest technology learning has become even more fun than before. Utkarsh Gupta, Managing Director, Ramagya Group said,"From using smart classrooms to game-based learning, students at Ramagya School are more inclined to learn and grasp knowledge with a tech-enabled mode of teaching. Emerging as one of India's top Schools, Ramagya School is most suitable for students who wish to go the extra mile to grasp information that is way ahead of their course curriculum, as it combines the power of technology with the infrastructure of a traditional learning environment." So let's understand how Ramagya School's modern stratagem towards learning outpaces the traditional learning methods offered in most other Indian schools: INFRASTRUCTURE & FACILITIES: Labs Laboratories are the most important infrastructure of an educational institution. Ramagya School has got a 'Composite Science Lab' to enable the practical knowledge of students by doing. The lab provides an open environment for students to experiment and do research work. The School also possesses a full suite 3D lab that provides a unique learning experience to students when it comes to observing the curriculum concepts in the 3D format. It helps the students to visualize concepts through these specialized learning modules in a thought-provoking manner with the help of a stereoscopic 3D projection system, 3D electronic viewing glasses and above all a specially designed 3D curriculum library. With a vision of promoting education in the best way possible, Ramagya has also introduced Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) in the school, where children get a chance to work with tools and equipment to understand the concepts of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Learning through Virtual Realty Ramagya School's constant endeavour is to provide the latest digital technology to make learning impactful and everlasting. As a part of their latest offering, they have introduced virtual reality labs for the teaching of STEM with 450 modules having breathtaking content in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics. Veative's VR Tools enable teachers to manage content, plan lessons and track student's progress. Moreover, this customized syllabus helps in planning the modules as per their syllabic requirement and thus makes learning effective. Smart Classrooms At Ramagya School, the advent of a smart classroom has brought in a revolution as it has turned classrooms into high-tech learning environments. These interactive classrooms offer much better teaching efficiency for teachers and learning situations for students. They also promote the students' active learning and improve the results of the curriculum. CURRICULUM: Robotics Ramagya has introduced robotics in their school years so that students can discover their interests and talents in this field. Students get an opportunity to create something tangible and make it perform the actions that they program it to do. Not a lot of fields combine creativity with engineering and technology--robotics does. Flexi-Learning Ramagya's customized learning programme, 'flexi learning' uses the latest technology to impart education in form of live demo classes, peer to peer learning, online study material and assignments and flip classes by expert and experienced faculty from IIT to facilitate the learning process of the young and ambitious learners. These exclusive features of the Ramagya make it distinct from the other top schools in Noida. Computer Programming Today, in the computer age, not all schools teach coding in early childhood, resulting in a major gap in the requirements of the new world and our children's skills. The collaboration of Ramagya School with WhiteHat Jr. serves to empower a whole generation to become creators versus consumers of technology. They teach fundamentals of coding-logic, structure, sequence and algorithmic thinking to enable kids to generate creative outcomes like websites, animations and apps. Through this program, students learn the fundamentals of coding, structure, sequence and algorithmic thinking to generate creative outcomes like animations and apps. All classes are taught Live 1:1 Online in the comfort of your home by top teachers and subject matter experts. Genius Corner Ramagya knows that students learn in different ways and at different paces. Hence, Ramagya has introduced a personalized learning programme, Genius Corner which is a teaching model based on that premise. Each student gets a "learning plan" based on how he learns, what he knows, and what his skills and interests are. It's the opposite of the "one size fits all" approach used in most schools. The mission is to empower educators to know their students better and help them in crafting a unique experience for each student. For this, Genius corner empowers schools with technology providing rich analytics into each child's performance. School Cinema Ranked among the top schools in Noida, Ramagya has entered into collaboration with Lxl Ideas Pvt Ltd for School Cinema to teach Lessons of Life to the students from class LKG to Class 10th through Award-winning films and engaging activities. School Cinema is a film-based learning module combined with a fun and exciting film workbook, which uses a language and medium that children are familiar with to subtly and indirectly influence their minds and their actions on varied subjects. RESOURCES: E-Library Technology has become an inseparable part of our lives and thus, the e-library at Ramagya combines technology and information resources to allow access for breaking down the physical barriers between resources. The e-library allows not only teachers and students to take advantage of a wider range of materials but also to communicate with people outside the formal learning environment. Raz-Plus Students develop reading skills most efficiently as the instructions, practices, and assessments are blended and informed by data. And for that, Ramagya School has collaborated with Raz-Plus - a comprehensive blended learning platform that includes the leveled resources, teaching materials, and student portal to address all your instructional needs. It combines teacher-led whole-class and small-group instruction with technology-enabled resources for personalized reading practice. All resources are accessible online and available in printable, projectable, and digital formats to strengthen the connection between what is being taught and what students independently practice. Website: https://ramagyaschool.com/noida/ This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
The Congress and Prashant Kishor have parted ways after a spell of parleys but while the real reason for their 'divorce' has not been divulged by the party, highly-placed sources said that the reason is the political strategist "changing the goalpost on the last minute on the last day". Sources said that initially, PK, as Kishor is popularly known, met Rahul Gandhi through party leaders Jairam Ramesh and K.C. Venugopal after party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi gave him cold shoulder. Rahul Gandhi, subsequently, connected to him to party chief Sonia Gandhi who made a committee to look after his suggestions. Initially, PK wanted to manage elections of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and in return was Bihar Congress Presidentship for him. Sonia Gandhi and party leaders agreed to his condition, and also that he be part of the team to manage 2024 Lok Sabha elections. PK then insisted on a presentation on which some party leaders agreed while some disagreed, but everyone was of view that PK be onboard. However sources say when the Congress floated the Empowered Action Group idea, PK backed out and demanded he be given the position of a team leader directly reporting to the party President. This, the Congress refused and amicable parting solution was worked out The Congress on Tuesday officially announced that election strategist will not be working for the party as he declined to be part of the Empowered Action Group for the 2024 general elections. The declaration came a day after Sonia Gandhi had announced the constitution of the group. Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet: "Following a presentation and discussion with Prashant Kishor, the Congress President has constituted a Empowered Action Group 2024 & invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts & suggestion given to party." Kishor, on his part, said that the Congress needs "leadership" and "collective will" to fix its "deep-rooted structural problems". "I declined the generous offer of #Congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections. "In my humble opinion, more than me, the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms," he said in a series of tweets. --IANS miz/vd ( 401 Words) 2022-04-28-20:38:02 (IANS)
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday filed a complaint with Delhi Police alleging that a few leaders who had deserted the party are trying to take illegal possession of its office in the Gurdwara Rakabganj complex in the national capital and demanded due action be taken against them as per the law. A senior delegation of the party, including Balwinder Singh Bhundur, Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, met the DCP, New Delhi, in this regard. The delegation submitted that the law enforcement agencies take due action to ensure the working of the SAD office is not disrupted in any manner whatsoever. Simultaneously, SAD initiated Akhand Paath at the office premises to express solidarity with Sikh prisoners and pray for their early release. The community is awaiting the release of Sikh prisoners who have served more than their life sentence in jail and have not been released even after the same was approved by the Centre in 2019 on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. SAD Delhi President Paramjit Singh Sarna, who served as the President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee earlier, also paid his obeisance on the occasion and extended his support to the cause of the release of Sikh prisoners. Meanwhile, talking to the media in Delhi, Daljit Singh Cheema and Virsa Singh Valtoha said the Sikh community is dismayed that the Sikh prisoners, including Balwant Singh Rajoana and Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, have not been released on the occasion of the 400th Parkash Purb of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur which was commemorated by the Centre recently. "The entire Sikh community was hopeful that the Sikh prisoners would be released on this occasion. Now we hope the same will happen by April 30 by which time the Supreme Court has directed the Centre to take a decision on the mercy petition of Balwant Singh Rajoana," they said. --IANS vg/arm ( 334 Words) 2022-04-28-21:06:24 (IANS)
According to the official, a tip-off was received regarding the supply of deer horns near BD Estate, Timarpur, Delhi by a woman.

Police, accompanied by Forest and Wildlife Department officials conducted at the spot, and arrested the woman, a resident of Aruna Nagar, Majnu ka Tilla, Delhi. A total of 3 kg deer horns of barahsinga (swamp deer), valued at Rs 1.5 crore in international market, were seized from her possession.

On questioning, the woman revealed that she brought the horns from Gopal Thakur of UP's Bahraich to supply in Delhi.

The police have registered a case under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act and further probe is on.

--IANS uj/vd

( 144 Words)

2022-04-28-21:06:25 (IANS)
Three persons belonging to the Scheduled Caste community have alleged that they were brutally thrashed by a wine shop owner, who also used casteist slurs against them, but the Delhi Police did not lodge a case under the SC/ST Act. The matter has been reported from South Delhi's Mehrauli area. The SC/ST commission is also looking into the matter and has written to Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana. Speaking with IANS, Joginder, a relative of the victims, said Ram Singh, Raj Kumar and Mangal, were brutally thrashed by their employer. "They have suffered severe injuries. They have wounds all over the body. The accused used filthy language that lower caste people are born to be beaten. We approached the Delhi Police but they didn't lodge a case under the proper sections and under the SC/ST Act," alleged Joginder. IANS has accessed the CCTV footage and FIR copy of the matter. The victim Ram Singh along with his brother Raj Kumar works for the alleged accused Mohan Lal Mann, the wine shop owner. "Singh has alleged that Mann and his friend Chitwan along with one Imran brutally thrashed him and his colleague Mangal. Singh's hand was tied so that he couldn't resist. His brother Raj Kumar was also thrashed," read the FIR. Arun Halder, the vice chairman of the SC/ST commission, said that they want an inquiry into the matter. The SC/ST commission has also written a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana. Congress MP Udit Raj took to Twitter and wrote that the police didn't help the victims. The police said that they were looking into the matter. --IANS atk/bg ( 291 Words) 2022-04-28-21:20:02 (IANS)
Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs John Barla on Thursday said that the Centre is ready to help Kerala for the betterment of minority communities, if the state government come up with suitable proposals. "The Kerala government should cooperate with the Central government for creating awareness about Central schemes among minority communities in the state, as there are several schemes for them," he said while interacting with the media here after calling on Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis and other leaders from the Christian community here. "Minority communities' students have got a few schemes which provides interest subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies and it should be availed," he added. Barla also said that the Christian community has contributed a lot towards nation building and made many sacrifices in educating the country. In Kerala, of the 3.30 crore state population, 54 per cent are Hindus followed by the Muslim population at 26 per cent and the Christian community at 18 per cent. --IANS sg/vd ( 179 Words) 2022-04-28-21:46:03 (IANS)
Mevani's lawyer Angshuman Bora said that they submitted their arguments and urged the court to grant bail to Mevani, who's also the Convener of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch.

"The order has been reserved by the sessions court. We expect the court's decision on Friday," Bora told the media.

The 41-year-old legislator, who was elected from the Vadgam Assembly constituency, was first arrested by the Assam police on April 20 (from Gujarat) in connection with an "objectionable" tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was re-arrested by the Assam police on April 25 on different charges, including "outraging the modesty of a lady police officer".

Mevani was sent to five-day police custody by Barpeta's chief judicial magistrate on April 26 on charges of "voluntarily causing hurt", "criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty" and "force on a woman cop intending to outrage her modesty".

Meanwhile, the Congress led by its senior leaders, including state unit chief Bhupen Kumar Borah and opposition leader Debabrata Saikia, on Thursday staged sit-in demonstrations against the arrest of Mevani, who had earlier pledged outside support to the party, in all the 34 districts of the state.

The police detained Congress leaders and workers at many places, but subsequently released them.

The Gujarat legislator was first arrested on April 20 following a complaint filed against him by an Assam BJP leader seeking action against Mevani under the IT Act.

--IANS sc/arm

( 277 Words)

2022-04-28-22:36:05 (IANS)
A two-member delegation of the Government of Kerala visited the Gujarat Chief Minister's residence in Gandhinagar on Thursday to study the digital governance model of Gujarat. The delegation was led by Kerala Chief Secretary VP Joy. According to Gujarat Chief Minister's Office (CMO), the officials from the Kerala government appreciated the governance model of Gujarat after understanding the complete working methodology of the three digital platforms- CM Dashboard, Jansamvad and Pragati Gujarat. They also studied the real-time performance monitoring system of government schemes and initiatives at the Collector-DDO-Municipal Commissioner levels under the CM Dashboard. The CM Dashboard was launched by the Government of Gujarat in the year 2018. The dashboard is a platform on which various government projects at the district level are listed and their progress is monitored. The ongoing development works across the state are tracked simultaneously on a single screen of the CM Dashboard. It provides single-point access to the Chief Minister to view the progress of the projects. Through the CM Dashboard, the Chief Minister can also monitor the work from the District Panchayat to the District Collector's level. The complete set-up of the CM Dashboard has been installed at the official residence of the Chief Minister in Gandhinagar. The officials also monitored the Jan Samvad Unit - a system through which the beneficiaries can interact directly and are enabled to give feedback on the services and schemes of the government. They saw how under the Pragati Gujarat platform, the Gujarat government digitally reviews the government projects. For this, the Gujarat government officials present at the CM residence showed the review methodology of the projects above 5 crores to the Kerala officials. The team of Kerala government officials also visited the Vidya Samiksha Kendra at Gandhinagar. They observed how the Gujarat government does live monitoring of government schools at every level in ways to improve the education system based on the feedback mechanism. (ANI)
Chief Justice of India NV Ramana will be chairing the 39th conference of Chief Justices of various High Courts of the country today. Being held after a gap of six years, the conference is being organized with an aim to address and resolve the issues concerning the judiciary. The venue of the conference will be the premises of the Supreme Court. According to a press statement, the conference shall review the progress made on the resolutions passed in the previous Chief Justices Conference-2016 and also toconsider further steps that need to be taken to improve the justice delivery system inthe country. The conference will also be attended by Justice Uday U Lalit and Justice AM Khanwilkar, the two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court and all the Chief Justices and acting Chief Justices of High Courts. The Supreme Court has been organising the conference of Chief Justices of High Courts with the object to deliberate on issues related to the judiciary. The first Chief Justices' conference was held in November 1953 and till date 38 such conferences have been organised. The last Conference was held in the year 2016. Besides the evaluation of progress made vis-a-vis resolutions of Chief Justices' Conference-2016, other major issues are to be deliberated upon in the Chief Justices' Conference-2022 are strengthening of the network and connectivity at all court complexes pan India on priority basis, human resources and personnel policy - needs of district courts, and, infrastructure and capacity building among others. The conference will also discuss the institutional and legal reforms and appointment of High Court Judges. The conference will inter alia, delve into issues governing the development of IT infrastructure for district courts; a permanent cadre of computer officials for IT needs of district courts; transmission of orders and judgments through e-mail to all stakeholders; use of artificial intelligence technology in judicial matters for quick disposal etc. The conference of Chief Justices of all High Courts will be followed by the joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi on April 30, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both the Chief Justices' conference and the joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices are being held after a gap of six years, at the initiative of the Chief Justice of India, Justice NV Ramana. (ANI)
Highlighting Indian Navy's contribution to India's maritime security, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday hailed the naval forces for the visible, credible and responsive presence in the Indian Ocean Region. Rajnath Singh addressed the Senior leadership of the Indian Navy on the concluding day of the Naval Commander's Conference on Thursday. Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, Defence Secretary and other senior Defence Ministry officials were also present. Stating that he has interacted extensively with officers and sailors of the Indian Navy in the last three years, Singh commended the sea warriors for their professionalism and dedication with which they continue to perform the duty of safeguarding the maritime interests of the nation and for maintaining a high operational tempo. He also congratulated the Navy for the successful conduct of MILAN with the participation of 39 friendly foreign countries. The Defence Minister appreciated the Navy for having a "visible, credible and responsive presence in the Indian Ocean Region" and establishing itself as the "Preferred Security Partner" and complemented the Navy for the successful rescue operations of Seychellois national at sea, the anti-Narcotics operations in February this year and deployment of the Navy's Flood relief teams in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Speaking on the prevailing security environment in the world, Singh referred to the ongoing Russia and Ukraine conflict and stated that this has once again highlighted that being self-reliant without dependencies is a vital necessity. He complimented the Indian Navy for being at the forefront of 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat' initiative of the Government and said that the Navy must continue to lead the way and remain a necessary guarantor of India's maritime trade, security and national prosperity. "It is heartening to note that in consonance with the 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat' initiative of the Government, the Navy has re-invested over 64 per cent of its Capital budget into our own economy and I am told that the percentage share of modernisation budget is bound to grow upto 70 per cent towards indigenous procurement, in this current financial year," he said. Expressing happiness that out of 41 ships and submarines which are on order, 39 are being built in Indian shipyards, he said that it is important to leverage on the momentum that has been gained thus far and urged the senior leadership to maintain their focus on futuristic capability development, to ensure that the nation's maritime power grows in tandem with the nation's economic interests. Speaking about the progress of the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier and the successful completion of the three sea trials, Defence Minister stated that the delivery of, Vikrant, would be another milestone event and that all-out efforts need to be made so that the ship is delivered and commissioned in the 75th year of our Independence. Singh also commended the Navy on the commissioning of major Naval units since the last Commanders' Conference namely INS Visakhapatnam, the first ship of the P15B project, the fourth P75 submarine INS Vela and the Navy's second P8I squadron INAS 316 at INS Hansa, Goa. He appreciated the Indian Navy's numerous initiatives to progress military diplomacy, which included gifting of two Fast Interceptor Craft to Mozambique, technical support towards refit of ships from Friendly Foreign Countries, Joint Surveillance of the Exclusive Economic Zone of friendly nations and conduct of bilateral and multilateral exercises in the last six months. According to the Ministry of Defence, the conference presented an opportunity to the Naval Commanders to introspect on important maritime matters at the Military Strategic level. They also shared views on key issues that confront our National Security with Senior Government Functionaries. The Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Air Force Staff also interacted with the Naval Commanders and discussed avenues of augmenting Tri-Services synergy and readiness, in the prevailing Security environment. The Naval Commanders, during the conference also interacted with 'Think Tanks' on Strategic issues, along the sidelines of the conference. (ANI)
"Himveers of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) participate in a Yoga session at 15,000 feet in snow conditions in Uttarakhand Himalayas under the aegis of the forthcoming International Day of Yoga 2022," ITBP informed.

With the celebration of 'Yog Utsav' at Red Fort organised by the Ministry of AYUSH on April 7, the countdown began for the International Yoga Day which is celebrated every year on June 21 since 2015. (ANI)
A panel constituted by the Assam government recently recommended that a notification be passed to recognize Assamese Muslims as an Indigenous Assamese speaking community of the state and issue identity cards to them. The recommendations have again raised questions about the objective of the exercise and whether it will benefit the community or create a further divide in the region, which has witnessed various waves of migration over the years. Consequent to the formation of sub-committees for the overall development of the indigenous Assamese Muslim community here, the seven sub-committees submitted their reports containing their recommendations to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at a program held at Janata Bhawan in Guwahati on April 21. "The five sub-groups of Assamese Muslims - Syed, Goriya, Moria, Deshi and Julha - should be clearly mentioned and recognized in the government notification. A provision similar to the Article 333 of the Indian Constitution may be enacted to provide a representation of Assamese Muslims in Parliament and Assam Legislative Assembly, an Upper House (Legislative Council) may be created in Assam as per Article 169 of the Indian Constitution and once the Legislative Council is formed, a specific number of seats may be reserved for the Assamese Muslim community in this council," the Sub-Committees set up by the state government recommended. The panel also recommended that a separate authority be set up for Assamese Muslims so that the directorate could provide the necessary documentation to the people of this community to reflect their distinct identity and it may be in the form of an identity card or a certificate. "Based on the recommendations, my government would formulate short term, medium-term and long term plan for implementing the recommendations for achieving socio-economic and academic empowerment of the indigenous Assamese Muslim community in Assam," said Sarma. Mominul Awal - Chief convener of Janagosthiya Samannay Parishad which is the umbrella body of 21 indigenous Muslim organizations told ANI that they are welcoming the decision taken by the Assam government. "It's our demand that a separate census for Goriya, Moria, Deshi community people should be conducted and the government should give identity cards to them because the Bangladesh origin Muslims population is about one crore in the state and the Indigenous Muslims are facing an identity crisis - politically, economically, culturally. The government had formed Sub-Committees and the panels had already submitted their reports, and recommendations to the Chief Minister," Awal said. He further said the government should give constitutional safeguards to the Indigenous Muslims in Assam. The panels also recommended the state government that "women to be free to discard social subjugation in a matter of choice of individual dress up especially in public spaces there must not be coercion to wear niqaab, burqa, and hijab." (ANI)
Seven people have been arrested by Ayodhya police on Thursday, all are accused of disturbing the peace and equanimity of the city by throwing objectionable posters and objects at several mosques in Ayodhya. The arrested accused have been identified as Mahesh Kumar Mishra, Pratyush Srivastava, Nitin Kumar, Deepak Kumar Gaur alias Gunjan, Brijesh Pandey, Shatrughan Prajapati and Vimal Pandey, all are residents of Ayodhya. Senior Superintendent of Police (Ayodhya), Shailesh Kumar Pandey said that the incident was carried out by 11 people out of which seven have been arrested while the other four are absconding. "A total of eight persons on four motorcycles, led by Mahesh, threw objectionable posters and objects outside the mosques. The police recovered the objects, and a mobile phone and vehicles have been impounded. We have arrested seven people so far, four are absconding. We will arrest them soon. Action under the Gangsters Act and NSA will also be initiated against them," said the SSP. During the investigation, it was found that Mahesh Kumar Mishra was the main conspirator and along with his other accomplices, a conspiracy was hatched at Brijesh Pandey's house in opposition to the recent incident in Jahangirpuri of Delhi. It also came to light that the accused on the night of Wednesday, first reached the Beniganj Tiraha where after seeing PRV's car could not execute the plan on Beniganj Masjid and thus moved to other mosques. They threw the objectionable posters and objects at the Ayodhya's Masjid Kashmiri Mohalla, Tatshah Mosque, Ghosiyana Ramnagar Masjid, Idgah Civil Line Mosque and Gulab Shah Dargah behind Dargah Jail. Police also said that out of the four arrested three accused have previous criminal history. "The accused Mahesh has four cases registered against him in Kotwali Police station Ayodhya. Apart from this, the accused Nitin and Vimal also have cases registered against them," said a police officer. Police said that all the seven accused have been booked under Sections 295 (injuring or defiling places of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code. (ANI)
With the Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections scheduled to be held in 2023, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will execute a detailed action plan from May 5 to May 20 in the state to strengthen the party, party sources said on Thursday. Ahead of the State Assembly poll next year, the core leaders of the Chhattisgarh BJP held an important meeting with party national president JP Nadda and party national general secretary BL Santosh in the national capital on Thursday. The meeting was attended by former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, BJP State President Vishnu Dutt among other leaders. According to party sources, discussions were held regarding the execution of a detailed action plan from May 5 to May 20. "As per this plan, vistaraks (observers) will be sent to all the Shakti Kendras of the state. There are more than 4,500 Shakti Kendras in the state. Each Shakti Kendra includes 5-7 booths. All vistaraks will carry out the election preparations at these booths in 15 days," said sources. Sources revealed that after that the party is also preparing to hold protests on various issues including unemployment allowance in the state in the presence of the party's Yuva Morcha. The party is also chalking out a plan for the same, sources added. Sources further told that instructions were given to strengthen the party at the booth level during the meeting. The 2018 Chhattisgarh Assembly elections were held in two phases on November 12, 2018, and the second on November 20, 2018. In 2018, Congress in Chhattisgarh Assembly polls won 68 of the total 90 seats. The BJP was reduced to only 15 seats while the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh Jogi-Bahujan Samaj Party (JCCJ-BSP) combine won seven seats. (ANI)
The apprehended accused were identified as Basir Khan, Altaf Khan and Jahidul Ali.

Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Morigaon district, Suprotive Lal Baruah said, "We have apprehended three persons and seized two trucks and pick-up van. The seized trucks were coming from Manipur. Out of three apprehended persons two are from Manipur."

The police officer further said that the market value of seized drugs is estimated at around Rs 4.50 crore.

"Based on secret information, a team of Jagiroad police station in Morigaon district had checked two trucks and a pick-up van at a petrol pump at Jagiroad area on early morning of Friday. The police team recovered 43 soap cases containing 567 grams of heroin from the trucks and pick-up van," said the police officer.

A case has been registered against the arrested accused. Police said that further actions will be taken accordingly. (ANI)
Nearly 14,000 Bangladeshi nationals were sent back and averted to enter at Indo-Bangladesh border in India since 2019, said a Border Security Force (BSF) report accessed by ANI. According to the report, as many as 9,233 Bangladeshis have been held at IB while they were trying to flee back after their 'illegal' stay in the country. "At least 4,896 Bangladeshi nationals were held while trying to enter India from the neighbouring country during the same period i.e. 1 January 2019 to 28 April 2022," it said further. Thus, 14,361 Bangladeshi nationals were intercepted crisscrossing the border in just over three years. The report found that the maximum number of illegal migrants entering or leaving India is from South Bengal border. A majority -- 11,034 Bangladeshi nationals out of total 14,361 Bangladeshi nationals held at International Border (IB) during the infiltration attempts -- were held at South Bengal border. A senior BSF officer said that around 80 per cent of the illegal immigrants entering or leaving India from Bangladesh take place in the southern parts of Bengal owing to the unfenced and riverine borders. South Bengal border runs from Sundarban to Malda. India shares a 4,096-km-long boundary with Bangladesh of which South Bengal Frontier shares 913.32 kms, of which more than 50 per cent is either unfenced or riverine in nature, at certain places, where the villages are right on the IB making it difficult for the security forces to detect infiltration. A senior official from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) added that over the period they have changed their approach while dealing with the problem. "To deal with illegal immigration problem at Bangladesh borders, we have asked security forces to hand them over to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) as a goodwill gesture, after verifying if they were not involved in any criminal activities in India. Because there was no purpose of putting them in jail," he said. Most of the people who crossed over the border illegally have come in search of livelihood, he added. In December 2019, after the Parliament cleared Citizenship (Amendment) Act, there was surge in migration of illegal immigrants. In the year 2020, only 1,214 immigrants attempted to enter India while 3,463 left the country. A nationwide lockdown was also enforced in the same year because of the Covid-19. This too is believed to have impacted the illegal movement. A senior BSF officer said they held men, women and children while they were attempting to cross over to India. Touts active on both sides of the border assisted them in the cross over. "Most of the illegal immigrants were lured of better employment, pay and quality life in India and they were asked to pay a large sum to assist them in illegally crossing the International Boundary," said the officer. He added that in the last few years, the infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals has curbed down because of better border management like coordination with Bangladesh counterpart, fencing at border and technology supported patrolling. Another officer said that there is substantial incidents in which people are illegally trying to cross the international border and enter Bangladesh. "We won't call it exodus but crackdown of various government agencies on illegal immigrants, all over the country, that have forced many of them (immigrants) to leave and go back to their country," he said. The effective border management system not only shot down cases of infiltration but also brought down the cases of cattle smuggling and smuggling of drugs from the Indo-Bangladesh border. The BSF officers added that they have more than 85 per cent of fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border. But at some damaged places, they are replacing the fencing with Anti Cut-Anti-Climb. (ANI)
Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, while addressing a conference of the Chief Justices on Friday, said that 126 judicial vacancies were filled in various High Courts in less than a year, expressed expectations of 50 more appointments. Highlighting the issue of vacancies, CJI Ramana said, "Due to our collective efforts, we could fill 126 vacancies in various High Courts, in less than a year. We are expecting 50 more appointments. This remarkable feat could be achieved because of your wholehearted co-operation and commitment to the institution." CJI Ramana requested the Chief Justices of High Courts, which are still having a number of vacancies, to forward the names for elevation at the earliest. He also expresses happiness about the response from some of the High Courts, which according to him, has been extremely encouraging. "In the past one year, we have got nine new judges to the Supreme Court and 10 new Chief Justice for High Courts. I thank my brothers in the Collegium for their cooperation.I am looking forward to a fruitful and productive discussion today on all the agenda items," CJI Ramana said, who was chairing the 39 Conference of Chief Justices of various High Courts of the country. In his welcome address to the conference, CJI Ramana said that today, in addition to taking stock of the progress made in the implementation of the resolutions adopted six years ago, they will also be taking up discussion on the 6 agenda items including strengthening of IT infrastructure and connectivity at all court complexes pan India on priority basis, Human Resources / Personnel Policy - Needs of district courts, Infrastructure and capacity building. Institutionalizing the mechanism for augmenting and creating state-of-the-art judicial infrastructure, institutional and legal reforms, the appointment of High Court Judges, Emoluments of High Court Judges, and augmenting post retiral benefits of High Court Judges were among other agenda items that would be discussed in the conference. CJI Ramana also pointed out the COVID pandemic and said, "On the judicial side, the Courts across the country have offered huge respite to the people who were struggling to survive the pandemic. I congratulate all of you for contributing to the humanitarian efforts in your own way." (ANI)
Four accused including two Afghan nationals were arrested from Delhi's Bhogal area in connection with a case where the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Delhi Unit on Thursday busted an India-Afghanistan drug syndicate and recovered 50 kilograms of heroin worth over Rs 100 crore from a residential flat in southeast Delhi's Jamia Nagar, Shaheen Bagh. "NCB Delhi zone seized 50 kg high-quality heroin, 47 kg suspected narcotics, 30 lakhs drug money in cash counting machines and other incriminating materials from a residential premise in Jamia Nagar, Shaheen Bagh on April 27," Deputy Director General (DDG) Operations of NCB, Sanjay Singh said. The probe so far has revealed that an Indo-Afghan syndicate was based in Delhi and is expertise in manufacturing and adulterating heroin locally, Singh said. One of the investigators said the "kingpin" of the syndicate is based in Dubai and the agency is probing the case further, including certain links with Pakistan-based narcotics operatives. "The man who was arrested is an Indian national, had taken the house on rent in Delhi where the drugs and cash have been recovered," the officer added. Singh said the drugs were kept in backpacks and jute bags. It was wrapped in packets of e-commerce companies like Flipkart and others. "This is one of the biggest narcotics seizures in Delhi, that too from a residential area, in the recent past. Another 47 kg of "suspected" narcotics were also seized from the premises and has been sent to a laboratory for testing," Singh said. Officials said that the seized heroin originated from Afghanistan and the cash found is suspected to have been channelled through hawala. The NCB also seized cash-counting machines and some other "incriminating" material from the premises, officials said. NCB further said that the India-Afghanistan syndicates smuggle goods to India through maritime as well as land-border routes and heroin is smuggled with legitimate goods and cargo. "The contraband is subsequently extracted from these goods by the Indian members of the syndicates with the help of some Afghan nationals," one of the officers said. NCB officials also said that the teams are carrying out raids to bust the entire network and the traffickers are linked to operatives based in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi. The agency had raided locations in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana, due to suspected links with this international drug syndicate. According to NCB sources, the drugs recovered from Shaheen Bagh are also being investigated from the narco-terror angle. The agency suspected that the seized drugs and cash may be related to narco-terrorism. NCB had recently conducted an operation in collaboration with Gujarat ATS in which two people were arrested, both of them were residents of Muzaffarnagar. NCB had recovered 35 kilos of heroin from them. While investigating this, NCB suspected that this entire racket is connected across the border from Pakistan to Gujarat and Afghanistan. Further investigation is going on. (ANI)
A senior BSF officer said that personnel on night patrolling near the international border heard a humming sound during the early hours on Friday.

"Personnel illuminated the area by firing para bombs to aim at the object and fired several shots towards it," he said.

During the morning hours, an extensive search operation was launched and a quadcopter was recovered in the fields near IB.

"The quadcopter was coming from the Pakistani side was shot down by its troops in Ram Tirath area of Amritsar sector," he said.

The BSF, in a statement, said, "An intensive search of the depth area was carried out and at about 6:15 am, the troops recovered a black coloured Quadcopter, "Made in China", Model-DJI Matrice - 300" near Dhanoe Kalan." (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Friday granted time to the Delhi government to file a reply to the plea moved by Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited in connection with the petition moved by BSES Rajdhani Power Limited. BSES has challenged the transfer of power from Delhi to Haryana and the order issued by the Ministry of Power last month. Justice Yashwant Varma granted time to the counsel of the Delhi Government to file a reply and listed the matter for May 13, 2022. The court has extended the stay on the order passed by the Ministry of Powers for the transfer of power to Haryana till the next date of hearing. The bench has also granted time to BSES to file a rejoinder in the reply filed by the respondents. The High court on April 12 had allowed Tata power to intervene and to make submissions in the petition moved by the BSES. The Counsel for the Delhi government submitted that he needs time to file a reply to the petition moved by Tata Powers. Advocate appearing for Tata Power had submitted that out of total allocation its share is 10 Megawatts. It has submission to make as it is equally affected by the passed by the ministry. The High Court on March 30 had stayed the order passed by the Ministry of Power on March 29 for the reallocation of power from the Dadri-II plant to Haryana. The Centre had submitted that this was not the first time that the power has been reallocated, it happens from time to time. Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi appearing for the petitioner BSES had submitted the aforesaid order is wholly without jurisdiction since no power inheres in the respondents to reallocate power that forms part of the allocation made in favour of the petitioner and duly approved by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). He had also submitted that the surrender of power which was contemplated in terms of the communication of October 7, 2021, was with respect to the Dadri-I Thermal Power Plant alone. The Senior Counsel had also withdrawn the attention of the court to the order of the DERC of 30 March 2022 which categorically records that the commission had not communicated any request to the Ministry of Power to either re-allocate or surrender the share of NCT from Dadri-II to other states. (ANI)
Amid the power crisis in the national capital, Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday urged the Centre to ensure the availability of coal by getting the train racks repaired for smoother and timely transportation of coal to the power generating plants. He further said that the power plants in Delhi cannot function with the coal backup of one day. Addressing a press conference, Jain told that the country is facing a severe power crisis due to a lack of coal availability, as there is no backup available with power plants for this. "In normal circumstances, (for smooth supply of energy) coal should be available with the power generating plants as a backup for 21 days. However, today there are many plants in the country that do not have a backup of coal even for a day," Jain said. Adding further, he said that the current peak for power demand in Delhi is 6,000 MW. On being asked about arrangements for power supply in hospitals, the power minister said, "We will look at how and where to adjust it, but I would urge the government to get these tracks fixed so that the coal can be transported easily, which is a better solution". "There is no payment pending from the Delhi government. It can be possible that the states- Haryana and Uttar Pradesh- have not made their payments," he added. He also mentioned that instead of an increase in the number of train tracks, it has significantly reduced upto 10 per cent. "Earlier there were 450 train racks but now it is 405," he said. During the conference, he also hinted at the problems Delhi might have to face if power plants shut down due to a lack of coal availability. Earlier in the morning, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited in a series of tweets said that Unchahar and Dadri stations have declared more than 100 per cent rated capacity of the grid. It said that except for one unit of the Unchahar power station, all the other units are running at their full capacity. "Currently #Unchahar and #Dadri stations are declaring more than 100% rated capacity to the grid. All units of Unchahar and Dadri are running at full load except Unchahar Unit#1, which is under annual planned overhaul," the tweet read. "All the six Units of Dadri and five Units of Unchahar are running at full capacity and receiving regular coal supplies. Present stock is 1,40,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) and 95,000 MT respectively and import coal supplies are also in pipeline," it added. (ANI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit Bengaluru on May 3 ahead of the likely cabinet expansion in the state. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said he would discuss inducting new faces with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. "Amit Shah is likely to visit Bengaluru on May 3 and I would try to use the opportunity to seek an audience to discuss cabinet expansion," Bommai said today. Speaking to reporters after attending the programme to launch the new products of JS Group of companies, he said, "I am heading to Delhi today evening to attend the conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of all States. I have not discussed cabinet expansion with the party top brass. The party leadership will take the decision at an appropriate time." On July 28, 2021, BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai was sworn in as the 23rd chief minister of Karnataka. Basavaraj Bommai took the oath to the chief minister's office in the presence of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa and Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot at the Raj Bhavan. Since then, the Cabinet expansion in the state is due to be held. (ANI)
Dismissing the Delhi government's claims of a shortage of coal at its plants, the NTPC Limited on Friday said Dadri and Unchahar power plants are running at full capacity and receiving regular coal supplies. This comes a day after the Delhi government claimed that very little stock of coal was left in power plants. "Currently Unchahar and Dadri stations are declaring more than 100 per cent rated capacity to the grid. All units of Unchahar and Dadri are running at full load except Unchahar Unit 1, which is under annual planned overhaul," the NTPC said in a tweet. It further said that present stock is 140000 MT and 95000 MT respectively and import coal supplies are also in pipeline. "All 6 Units of Dadri and 5 Units of Unchahar are running at full capacity and receiving regular coal supplies. Present stock is 140000 MT and 95000 MT respectively and import coal supplies are also in pipeline," it added. Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also claimed that the situation is very grave in the whole of India. "There is a huge shortage of power in the country. So far we have managed it somehow in Delhi. The situation is very grave in the whole of India. Together we soon need to find a solution. Quick, concrete steps are required to tackle this problem," Kejriwal tweeted. On Thursday, the Delhi government expressed its concern over the possible shortage of coal in power plants that supply electricity to the national capital and has written a letter to the Central Government urging it to ensure adequate coal supply. As per the Delhi government, in NTPC's Dadri-II power plant, only a day's worth of stock is left and in Jhajjar (Aravalli), only 7-8 days' worth of stock is left. The Dadri-II, Unchahar, Kahalgaon, Farakka and Jhajjar power plants in Delhi supply 1751 MW of electricity per day. "At present, there is a shortage of coal in various thermal stations supplying electricity. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)'s Dadri-II and Jhajjar (Aravalli), both power plants were established primarily to meet the power requirement in Delhi. However, there is very little stock of coal left even in these power plants," Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain said. As per Delhi government data, the Unchahar power plant has two days' worth of stock left, Kahalgaon has 3.5 days' worth of stock left and Farakka has five days' worth of stock left. For the first time in April, Delhi's peak power demand clocked 6000 megawatts (MW) as the unabated heatwave continues to push the power demand to newer highs. On Wednesday, the power demand was 5786 MW and it has increased by around 3.7 per cent in just 24 hours. Peak power demand in the BRPL area of South and West Delhi today clocked 2549 MW and 1375 MW in the BYPL area of East and Central Delhi, as per the data by the discoms. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Friday said that it will hear in July a plea seeking to declare virtual court hearing as a fundamental right. A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao declined to give an urgent listing in the matter as it is said that there are various matters before the court. The court said that it will list in July. The matter was mentioned by Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra. Various petitions were being heard by the top court seeking virtual hearing as a matter of right. One filed by the All India Association of Jurists and advocates, representing around 5,000 lawyers across the country, has sought an immediate stay of the administrative order passed by the Registrar General of the Uttarakhand High Court terminating the functioning of virtual courts and thereby, compelling all the lawyers to conduct their cases through physical mode only. The petition, filed before the Supreme Court, was drawn and settled by counsel Siddharth R Gupta, and has been filed through AOR (Advocate On Record) Shriram Parakkat, and journalist and online legal correspondent, Sparsh Upadhaya. The petition sought a direction to declare virtual court hearing as a fundamental right and to continue virtual hearings in all High Courts. The plea specifically challenged the decision of the Uttarakhand High Court to revert to full physical functioning from August 24 to the exclusion of the virtual mode of hearing cases. The petition raises an important plea of declaration of 'access to virtual courts' by both the counsel as well as the client as a Fundamental Right guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution of India, which cannot be terminated casually and cursorily by the High Court through an administrative order, the petition filed before the Supreme Court said. (ANI)
Raut, while speaking to media persons today, alleged that the BJP opposed an all-party meet called by the Maharashtra government to discuss the loudspeaker issue and accused the party of doing politics over it.

"Maharashtra government said that court order to be followed regarding loudspeakers. State Home Minister (Dilip Walse Patil) called all parties for the meeting but BJP opposed it," the Shiv Sena MP said.

"It means you want to do politics and want to create disturbance on the matter of loudspeakers in the state," he added.

Earlier this month, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government held an all-party meeting over the ongoing loudspeaker row. After the meeting, the state government urged the Centre to make rules regarding loudspeaker at the national level.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray had stoked controversy earlier by asking the state government to remove loudspeakers from mosques while warning that if the demand isn't met, his party members will put loudspeakers to play Hanuman Chalisa. (ANI)
In positive and welcome news to the tourism sector, Tres 2022 is all set to roll out on the 3rd and 4th of May at Andaz Delhi. In its fourth edition this year, Tres will showcase 50 of the region's most exceptional boutique hotels, retreats, lodges and camps, and innovative travel concepts in the luxury and mindful tourism segment to an audience of over 40 overseas travel operators from the UK, France, Australia, USA, Germany and more, and over 100 Indian travel companies from across the country. The driving vision of Tres is to bring together select and carefully curated properties and travel experience providers with the right and targeted audience of tour operators and travel facilitators for stimulating travel into and within the country for shared industry growth, that is multitude in impact and sustainable in nature. Moving away from the regular trade shows, Tres offers bespoke one-to-one focussed appointments between buyers and sellers that are mutually decided upon by the exhibiting partners and the buyers. The show has received an overwhelming response from overseas as well as domestic travel companies as well as the hotelier community. "Tres has always been a fantastic platform with a brilliant lineup of business meetings for us. We're looking forward to reconnecting and establishing new relationships with the right international and domestic operators and travel companies. Given the recent situation and what we've been through, Tres 2022 inspires confidence and optimism for the trade at large. How better to kickstart business after the pandemic than with Tres!" remarks Shilendran Mohan, Vice President of CGH Earth Experiences. From small boutique properties to intimate forts & palaces, wildlife lodges and wellness retreats to private villa concepts and glamping, the Tres 2022 Wanderlist of Exhibitors share a similar philosophy that reflects a strong concept led by people and their stories, personalized and focused on immersive, intuitive hospitality. They are design-led and aesthetic as well as authentic and mindful of their surroundings and the community around them. The upcoming edition of Tres will also introduce a special section dedicated to Travel Concepts- specialist companies who curate interest-specific experiences. From viewing the Amer Fort at eye level with Travel Plan Experiences in Jaipur to traveling with the Nomads with Mantra in Ladakh the range is distinct and diverse at the same time. "We deeply believe that the subcontinent is a global destination for leisure, luxury, and inspirational travel that offers a unique diversity and is magnificent and transformational in its offering. And Tres is a resolutely focused translation of this confidence in travel offerings, one we share with the travel trade at large. We're grateful for the support of Madhya Pradesh Tourism and Gujarat Tourism boards who are our leading partners; their support has been highly motivating for all of us," says Sowmya R Vijaymohan, Director at Tres. Adding to the value of the platform, Tres Ignite sessions led by travel, destination and media experts will discuss relevant topics pertaining to the present and future possibilities in the region's travel landscape, destination perspectives and niche experience-focussed interests. (ANI)
"A local court of Barpeta district of Assam granted bail to Jignesh Mevani in case of alleged assault on a policewoman. He is expected to be released on April 30 owing to some formalities," Bora told ANI.

Mevani was remanded to five days of police custody by a local court in the Barpeta district on Tuesday in connection with an assault case.

Earlier on Monday, Mevani was re-arrested by Barpeta Police for assaulting a policewoman, soon after he was granted bail in the matter connected to his tweets about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mevani was arrested by an Assam police team from Palanpur town in Gujarat over a couple of his tweets.

An FIR was filed against him after a complaint was filed by an Assam BJP leader, Arup Kumar Dey. A case was lodged against Mevani under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), section 153(A) (promoting enmity between two communities), 295(A), and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and sections of the IT Act.

A couple of tweets on Mevani's Twitter handle are not visible on his feed with a message displaying that the tweets have been withheld in India based on a "legal demand".

Mevani claimed that he was arrested out of a political vendetta against him.

The Assam state Congress unit had protested the arrest of the Gujarat legislator. Elected as an independent MLA, Mevani had extended his support to Congress in September 2019. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the Sikh community has become a strong link in India's relations with other countries. Interacting with a Sikh delegation at his residence this evening, PM Modi said, "When I went to Iran in 2016, I got the opportunity to visit Bhai Ganga Singh Sabha Gurudwara in Tehran. One more unforgettable moment of my life is my visit to the Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial in France. It pays tribute to the sacrifices of the Indian soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the World War. This experience is an example of how our Sikh community has become a strong link in India's relations with other countries." The Prime Minister asserted that he is making efforts to strengthen the link further. "It is my fortune that I have got an opportunity to strengthen this link further. I keep on making every possible effort for the same," he said. "Our Gurus have taught us courage and service. The people of India went to different parts of the world without any resources and achieved success through their labor. This is the spirit of New India today," the Prime Minister added. PM Modi further called the Indian diaspora the "rashtradoot" of the country and said that they are India's bold voice and identity in the foreign countries. "New India is touching new dimensions, leaving its mark on the world. This period of the COVID pandemic is the biggest example of this. At the beginning of this, people were expressing concerns about India. But, now people are giving examples of India everywhere. But today India has emerged as the biggest vaccine producer in the world," he said. "We have emerged as one of the largest startup ecosystems. India's rising stature makes the diaspora proud because when the country's respect increases, people's respect increases as well. I have always believed the Indian diaspora is the 'rashtradoot' of India. You all are India's bold voice and identity outside the country," the Prime Minister added. (ANI)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday held a review meeting on Higher Education Department and directed the officials to make 10 months of internship mandatory for the graduation courses. During the review meeting, Reddy said that it should be in three phases, 2 months for the first year, 2 months for the second year, and 6 months of internship for the third year. The Chief Minister also directed the officials to ensure a significant increase in Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) stating that the state government is implementing schemes for the purpose. "Fee reimbursement is being provided under Vidya Devena and the charges for accommodation under Vasathi Deevena so that poverty won't deprive a student of pursuing higher education. GER should be more than 80 percent," he said. He said the courses in higher education should be job-oriented and added that supplementary courses and special courses should be introduced to the existing courses. "Students should become proficient in English to increase communication skills and added to provide the best training to students for GRE and GMAT exams," he said. The Chief Minister said fee reimbursement and Vasathi Deevena schemes will be applicable to all the children in a family where they were limited to only one child and added that this decision was taken to ensure education for both girls and boys. "Girls are dropping out of school in backward areas and directed the officials to focus in Western Kurnool, Chittoor, and Prakasam districts," he said. He instructed the officials to choose 4 to 5 universities in the state and take steps to make them on par with the best universities in the country. (ANI)
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday released the 'Mandate Document: Guidelines for the Development of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) at a function held at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that the National Education Policy 2020 is the 'Philosophy', National Curriculum Framework is the 'Pathway' and the mandate document released today is the 'Constitution' to champion the changing demands of the 21st century and positively impact the future. He further said that the mandate document will bring about a paradigm shift with a focus on the holistic development of children, emphasis on skilling, the vital role of teachers, learning in the mother tongue and cultural rootedness. It is also a step toward the decolonization of the Indian education system, he added. Terming the preparation of the National Curriculum Framework a scientific and continuous process and NCF a society's document, he suggested creating an app-based process to enable suggestions for the NCF from every citizen of our country. Appreciating the experts, academia, and intellectuals for making possible this landmark day in our Indian knowledge system, the Education Minister said that India's model of education based on the NEP 2020 will act as a benchmark for emerging economies across the world. Central to the implementation of the transformative National Education Policy 2020 is the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) which will empower and enable outstanding teaching and learning in the country, by converting the vision of the NEP 2020 into reality in our schools and classrooms. The development of the NCF is being guided by the National Steering Committee (NSC), chaired by Dr K Kasturirangan, and supported by the Mandate Group, along with the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT). The NCF includes the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE), the National Curriculum Framework for Early Childhood Care & Education (NCFECCE), the National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE), and the National Curriculum Framework for Adult Education (NCFAE). During the launch event, Dr Kasturirangan said that there is a need to bring greater flexibility to the education system. The NCF will contribute to building an education system that can stand the dynamics of the changing times and fulfil the need of the 21st century, he added. NCF will also fully account for other initiatives like NIPUN Bharat, the national mission for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by the Ministry of Education, which are being implemented with the required urgency even as the NCF is being developed. Dr K Kasturirangan, Chairperson, National Steering Committee for the National Curriculum Framework, Dr Ashwathnarayan CN, Minister for Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, Dr BC Nagesh, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Government of Karnataka, Ms Anita Karwal, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, Government of India, and Prof. Dinesh Prasad Saklani, Director, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) were present on the occasion. (ANI)
The government has stated that a fresh exam will be re-conducted and the dates for which will be announced soon.

"Karnataka government cancels the PSI recruitment fresh exam will be conducted for PSI recruitment. Exam dates will be announced soon," said Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra.

Earlier in the day, the Karnataka Home Minister said that the Crime Investigation Team (CID) arrested the main accused, BJP leader Divya Hagaragi and four others in connection with the Sub-Inspector (PSI) recruitment exam scam.

Divya, who was absconding in the case, was arrested from Pune on Thursday night.

The PSI scam case is related to the irregularities in the appointment of police sub-inspectors in the state.

MLA and former minister Priyank Kharge had alleged that there was a huge scam in the PSI recruitment of more than 545 candidates and that the Home Minister along with the government and officials are clearly involved in this.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said everything related to the PSI recruitment scam will be thoroughly investigated, and action will be taken against those found guilty.

The Chief Minister further informed that he has instructed the CID to speedy and transparent investigation. (ANI)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin moved a resolution in the state Assembly urging the Central government to permit the state government to send essential commodities including rice, pulses, dairy products and medicines to Sri Lanka amid the ongoing economic crisis. The resolution moved by him stated, "But so far no clear reply has been received from the government of India in this regard. Therefore, this August House hereby resolves to urge the Government of India to positively consider the request of the Tamil Nadu Government immediately to send food and other essential commodities including life-saving medicines from Tamil Nadu to the people of Sri Lanka, who are facing severe hardship. CM MK Stalin said, "On a humanitarian basis we should provide supporting hands to them. People are standing in long queues to get petrol and diesel. The power cut is there all over the nation, public transport also decreased. Tamils are suffering. Pesticide in Jaffna estates is being sold for Rs 32,000 which was once sold for Rs 1200." "Don't want to comment or care who rules or what political things happen there but on a humanitarian basis, we should support and help our neighbours," he said reading the resolution. "I urge all parties to extend their support to the resolution," Stalin added. "Sri Lankans' life is in very sad condition now. We are in a position to provide them with essentials. The State government cannot supply them directly. It has to be done with the approval of the Union government and disbursed through the Indian embassy in Sri Lanka. I had placed a request (on the subject) with the Government of India soon after the crisis in Sri Lanka," Stalin read from the resolution. "When I met PM Narendra Modi in Delhi, I raised this issue", the Chief Minister said moving the resolution. In a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 31, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin discussed the economic condition of Sri Lanka and proposed to send relief materials including food and medicines from the state to Sri Lanka, sources said. (ANI)
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Telugu Desam Party (TDP) National President and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday urged the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh to take immediate action against the illegal granite mining mafia based on the latest orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). In a letter to the Chief Secretary here, Naidu said the NGT Southern Region's order dated April 22, 2022 sought firm steps against mining violators in Survey Nos 104 and 213 in Muddanapalli village in Shantipuram mandal in Chittoor district. The TDP chief, who provided a copy of the NGT order to the CS, said the Tribunal had already confirmed the illegal mining that took place in Muddanapalli. The NGT also ordered the Chief Secretary, Additional CS (department of the environment) and Chittoor Collector to hold spot inspections and to scientifically measure the extent of illegal mining already done there, as per the press release. Naidu said the Tribunal had asked the CS to submit a report along with the mining violators, their names and details. It asked the Chittoor Collector to make sure that no further illegal mining and transportation would be carried out there. Naidu told the CS that the illegal granite mining was exposed only after he personally visited the spot. "During that visit, he saw heavy machinery and granite blocks. There was also evidence that the ruling YSRCP leaders and bigwigs were involved in this. Stringent action should be taken against the culprits." The TDP chief pointed out that the mining department officials swung into action only after his visit to the illegal mining spot. "As there was no action against the violators, the NGT Southern Region, Chennai, was approached for preventing illegal mining. The Tribunal had also found fault with reports submitted by officials on illegal mining and asked them to submit detailed reports afresh." Naidu termed it unfortunate that such indiscriminate illegal mining was going on in the Kuppam assembly constituency represented by the Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister for 14 years. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Central government to release a 62-year-old Pakistan national, who has been languishing in a detention centre here for more than seven years, after Islamabad refused to accept him as its citizen. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli directed the government to decide on granting him a long-term visa, to enable him to apply for Indian Citizenship and asked it to place its decision before the court in four months. The Court released Mohammad Qamar, who has been declared a foreigner by the tribunal, on condition to furnish a personal bond of Rs 5,000 and two sureties of the like amount and his permanent address in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, where he proposes to stay. The apex court further directed him to report to the local police station once in a month. Although he had completed his sentence of three years imprisonment imposed on him by a Magistrate under the Foreigners Act in February 2015, he was sent to the detention centre at Lampur in Narela, Delhi, for deportation but Pakistan refused to accept him as its citizen and he is still languishing at the detention centre. The top court noted that Qamar had married a woman, who is an Indian citizen and had five children out of wedlock. His daughter and son have filed a plea seeking his release from the detention centre. The apex court further took note that as per the Uttar Pradesh government, his wife had divorced him and now stays in Delhi with her five children. It also took into that no document pertaining to the divorce has been produced before the court. It also noted the statement of the Ministry of Home Affairs that though Pakistan was given consular access to the detenu twice in 2019, the Pakistan government is yet to confirm his nationality which is necessary for his deportation. Qamar was arrested on August 8, 2011, from Meerut and was held guilty by a court here for overstaying his visa and was sentenced to three years and six months in jail and a fine of Rs 500. According to his children, their father Qamar alias Mohammad Kamil was born in India in 1959. The habeas corpus filed in the top court said, "He (Qamar) had gone with his mother from India to Pakistan as a child of around 7-8 years in 1967-1968 on a visa to meet his relatives there. However, his mother died there, and he remained in Pakistan in the care of his relatives." On attaining adulthood, Qamar came back to India on a Pakistani passport around 1989-1990 and got married to Shehnaaj Begum, an Indian citizen, in Meerut, they said. The plea said that Qamar has no documentary proof to show that he had gone with his mother to Pakistan around 1967-68 and his mother died there therefore, his story has not been believed. It added, "Nevertheless, the undisputed fact is that he came to India around 1989-90 on a passport of Pakistan and did not renew his visa due to lack of education and, subsequently, got married here." In Meerut, he was doing menial jobs and residing there along with his family, who all have Aadhaar cards issued by UIDAI, the plea stated. (ANI)
A POCSO court on Friday awarded the death sentence to two persons who gang-raped, murdered and then again raped a minor's body in Bundi district on December 23, 2021. It termed the case as the rarest of rare. The accused were identified as Sultan and Chhotulal. Bundi Superintendent of Police Jai Yadav said that the police started a manhunt after the body of the 15-year-old girl was found in the dense jungles falling under Basoli police station area. The Superintendent of Police reached the spot and called a forensic team and dog squad to collect scientific evidence of the incident. The police conducted an intensive search in the nearby dense forests. The entire area was sealed off and an in depth search operation was carried out in the entire forest with 10 police officers, 200 police personnel and the dog squad following which the criminals were arrested in just 12 hours. They confessed to their crime during interrogation. The police collected evidence and presented the challan in the POCSO court in Bundi in 3 working days. The state government completed the formalities in just 24 hours and Mahavir Singh Kishnawat, Advocate in the Rajasthan High Court, was appointed as special public prosecutor. The Special PP said in his arguments that when the minor victim escaped from accused Sultan and ran for help towards her maternal grandfather, Chhotulal 62 (accused), he also raped the victim. The marks on her body told the story of how the demons must have wrought their cruelty, he said, adding that the accused also raped the body of the deceased after the murder, which comes in the category of rarest of rare. The court sentenced both the accused to death in just 11 working days. Director General of Police ML Lather said that precise systematic research by the police was done with the use of scientific and technical tools. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said "This is the first case under the POCSO Act in the state in which two convicts have been sentenced to death simultaneously." Since the formation of our government, "8 convicts have been given death sentence, more than 137 have been given life and more than 620 convicts have been sentenced," he added. --IANS arc/bg ( 390 Words) 2022-04-29-19:06:02 (IANS)
The BJP will intensify its attack on Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren over allotting land to his wife and politics of appeasement. Jharkhand BJP president Deepak Prakash said that there is complete anarchy in the state and his party will intensify its agitation against the Soren government. Hitting out at Chief Minister Soren, Jharkhand BJP president Prakash told IANS that for the first time in the history of India, a chief minister is allotting land to himself, his wife, relative and close associates. "Has any chief minister of any state of the country allotted land to himself, his wife, relatives and others violating all the laws and rule of land. There is complete anarchy in the state. Development work started in the previous BJP government has been stalled. The Soren government is anti-development," Prakash said. Prakash, also a BJP Rajya Sabha member, noted that by allotting land on mining lease, Soren violated the provisions of the People's Representation Act as the chief minister is in-charge of state mines department. Recently, the Election Commission (EC) has sought opinion on whether Chief Minister Soren's alleged actions fall under the purview of 'office of profit'. The EC action came after Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais forwarded a BJP memorandum urging him to disqualify the chief minister from the Assembly according to the provisions of the Representation of People's Act, 1951 for 'misusing his official position' for personal gains. Referring to the comment of Jharkhand minister Hafizul Hassan, Prakash said that this is the example of Soren government's politics of appeasement. "Earlier, the Jharkhand government allotted space in the state assembly to offer 'namaz' and now, the minister is making inflammatory remarks. Stopping all the development work, the Soren government is only concentrating on appeasement of a particular community," he said. On Thursday, Prakash tweeted a video of Jharkhand minister Hassan, and said: "This is the real face of the Hemant Soren government. Does the Chief Minister have courage to ask the minister to resign?" "Whatever the Central government is doing will cause them equal damage. We are 20 per cent, you are 70 per cent. If our 20 homes are shut, you too have to lose 70 per cent," the Minister was heard saying in the video. Prakash said that the Jharkhand BJP has started state-wide agitation against the Soren government from April 21 to 30. "BJP workers are protesting across the state against the anti-development and politics of appeasement and we will intensify in future," he added. --IANS ssb/pgh ( 429 Words) 2022-04-29-20:57:44 (IANS)
Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, citing the pendency of 40 million cases in trial courts and several million cases in the high courts, on Friday said that a "pall of gloom settles" and it is a "hopeless situation". In his address at a reception held by the Supreme Court Bar Association for Chief Justices of various high courts, he said that technological advancements adopted by the judiciary have enabled it to track the pendency of cases and added that an e-committee headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, is putting the entire data on the National Judicial Data Grid. "When we see the result, a pall of gloom settles... you find that you are in a hopeless situation, a feeling of hopelessness starts developing." He said there are 24,000 judges at the trial court level and over 600 judges at the high court level. "The arrears in the trial courts are 40 million cases. So far as the pendency in high courts is concerned -- 4.2 million civil cases, 1.6 million criminal cases," he said. The event was attended by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, judges of the Supreme Court and members of the Bar. Venugopal added that in trial courts, cases are pending for 30 years, and at high court level cases are pending for 15 years, 10 years and so on. "Therefore, the question is with an average pendency of 8 years in the trial court, 8 years in the high court. How would you believe that the public has confidence in the justice delivery system," he asked. He added that the top court judgments say access to justice is a fundamental right, but against whom the poor undertrial, who is detained for the same number of years as he would have been punished, will enforce fundamental rights. "According to me it has to be against the government of India, government of states as well as the judicial system itself," he added. Citing pendency, the AG said this is the most pressing issue so far as the justice delivery system is concerned and the Chief Justices of the high courts would have to innovate and find reforms by which the entire arrears can be done away with. The AG said there are 5,000 vacancies at the trial court level and some high courts are working with only 50 per cent judges. He added that the judges, governments, and lawyers have to work together to address this issue. "76 percent of the inmates in jail are under trials and this is the highest in 25 years.. These are poor people who cannot even furnish bail and they rot in jail for years... something drastic has to be done. We have to all put our heads together to remedy this situation so that the justice delivery system can regain its position as an effective cure to the deep menace and disease which has crept into the system," he said. Chief Justice Ramana said he fully endorse what AG has said. --IANS ss/vd ( 525 Words) 2022-04-29-21:22:03 (IANS)
Washington [US], April 29 (ANI/Sputnik): The United States is awaiting formal decisions from Sweden and Finland about whether to join NATO in the buildup to an alliance summit in June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday. "It's under very active consideration by both countries. There's a NATO summit, as you know very well, coming up soon, so I would anticipate that we'll hear more about that by the time of the summit," Blinken said in response to a question on the matter during a hearing of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Talk of Swedish and Finnish accession to NATO has been on the rise since the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in February. The conflict is likely to be a focal point of the summit in June, which is set to take place in Madrid. (ANI/Sputnik)
The legislation seeks to boost the nation as it faces pressure from China. This bill, which was cleared in the Senate last August, was passed 425 to 0 on Wednesday.

The measure directs the secretary of state to develop a strategy to "regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization, and for other purposes."

The bill has been sent to US President Joe Biden to sign it into law.

Chinese experts on Thursday said the latest US effort to help Taiwan regain observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA) will prove futile again, just like how numerous political stunts pulled by the separatists over the past five years failed to achieve any meaningful results.

The Beijing government has been blocking Taiwan's representation at WHO meetings after the self-ruled democracy elected Tsai Ing-wen as Taiwan's president in 2016 and again in 2020.

Delegates from Taiwan had attended the WHA as nonvoting observers from 2009 to 2016, during a period of relatively warm ties between Beijing and Taipei.

Chinese analysts suggested that the US administration might pull some tricks but that will prove futile too, state media outlet Global Times reported. (ANI)
The Students for a Free Tibet-India (SFT) celebrated the 33rd birthday of the 11th Panchen Lama in the north Indian hill town of Dharamshala which reflects India and Tibet's friendly relationship. But their relationship has not flourished overnight. Both the countries share the relationship way back in 7th Century when Buddhism was introduced to Tibet. In order to preserve and propagate the Buddhism Dharma, Tibet sent many of its people to India to study Buddhism and simultaneously invited many Indian Buddhist masters to Tibet. According to "Tibet: A Political History" book, Buddhism came to Tibet in 7th Century from Nepal and India but the actual propagation began in the 8th Century with the arrival of Guru Padmasambhava and Acharya Shantarakshita. Although the book states that Buddhism was introduced in 7th Century, but according to Tibet's History records, it arrived in the country in 3rd century at the time of 28th Tibetan Royal line Lha Tho Thori Nyentsen, Tibet press reported. During his reign, he received a book of Buddhist scriptures written in Sanskrit and even an early Tibetan Historian Nel-pa Pandita mentions that the book was received from a certain Pandita Losemtso of India. Thus, here it can be said that the seed of Buddhism in Tibet was planted in the 3rd century but was able to proliferate only after the 7th century. In the early phase of propagation, three kings namely king Songtsen Gampo, Trisong Detsen and king Tri Ralpachen with the assistance of Indian Buddhist Pandita's played a significant role. Due to their immense contribution, these kings are referred to as the three Dharma Rajas in the history of Tibet. The first of the three Dharma Rajas was Songtsen Gampo, the 33rd King. With an intention to introduce Buddhism and Tibetan script in his country, King sent one of his ministers Thonmi Sambota with other sixteen companions to learn the Sanskrit language and Buddhist literature in India. During his stay in India, Thonmi Sambota learnt Sanskrit from his tutor Lipikara and Devavidyasimha and returned back to Tibet. Later, he devised the Tibetan script taking the model of Brahmi and Gupta script and is known as the father of Tibetan language and literature. The second Dharma Raja was king Trisong Detsen, the 38th royal line. When he asserted the throne, many ministers, who are devoted to Bon religion, opposed the King and to eradicate all these hurdles coming in the way of the development of Buddhism, King sent his minister Ba Salnang to Nepal to invite Shantarakshita (Indian Buddhist Master) to teach the basic doctrine of Buddhism. Later, Guru Padmasambhava, the great Indian tantric master of Tibet was also invited to the country, reported Tibet Press. With his arrival, Padmasambhava through the means of his powerful tantric tactics was able to subdue the Bon spirits and also made them to take an oath to defend the new religion i.e., Buddha Dharma. In fact, Tibetan history records that many of these spirits were later taken into the Buddhist pantheon as a Dharma protectors. Their contribution to Tibetan history cannot be measured. They are also known as the Khanlob Chosum: The Acharya (Shantarakshita), the abbot (Padmasambhava) and the Dharmaraja (Trisong Detsen). Besides, the second Dharma Raja during his reign sent the young Tibetans to India for training and study Indian Buddhism. Under the guidance of Shantarakshita, the king also introduced the system of monkhood in Tibet. Third Dharma Raja, Tri Ralpachen has invested a huge amount of money in the construction of temples and monasteries and also supported Indian scholars like Upadhaya Jyanamitra, Ratnarakshita to retranslate the scriptures and commentaries which was not translated according to the standard terminology during the reign of the earlier kings, as reported by Tibet Press. But unfortunately, the Era of Tibet's Religious Kings came to an end with the assassination of king Ralpachan by the supporters of his elder brother Lang-Darma. His older brother opposed the Buddhist religion and did every bit to destroy the teachings of Buddhism in Tibet. Under his reign, Buddhism suffered a terrible setback, the monks were forced to either strip off their robes or marry or to declare themselves to be the followers of Bon religion. Many monasteries and scriptures were destroyed and burnt to the ashes. This era was often regarded as the "Dark Age of Tibetan Buddhism." Gradually, his atrocities became so intense that a pro Buddhist monk named Lalung Palgye Dorje assassinated Lang-darma in 842. Thus, with this the long lineage of royalty came to an end that ultimately led to the collapse of the great Tibetan Kingdom. Lang Darma tried everything to destroy Buddhism but still he couldn't remove it from its roots. Therefore, the spark for second phase of Buddhism arose from the western Tibet where the King of Guge, Tsenpo Khore gave his throne in the hand of his younger brother Songe and himself became a monk and ordained as Lha Lama Yeshe Od. Their forefathers can be traced back to the lineage of King Lang-darma, according to Tibet Press. Hence, with Indian Buddhist masters and Tibet's Buddha Dharma king help, the Buddhism not only remained in the country but also disseminated to other countries like Mongolia, Nepal and Bhutan. (ANI)
The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) 20th National Congress is likely to re-elect General Secretary Xi Jinping for a historic third term, setting a new precedent for the country. President Xi Jinping, who has been occupying the top post since 2012, was unanimously chosen as a delegate to the ruling party's 20th national congress at the CPC Guangxi regional meeting on April 22. "The announcement of Xi's unanimous election won a burst of sustained and warm applause at the regional congress on Friday morning," Xinhua reported the same evening. CPC leaders are effectively chosen in China, and Xi's appointment as a delegate was more like a formality, Policy Research Group (POREG), a think tank said in a report. "This may not mean that his election as the general secretary is 100 per cent certain, but it is a very firm step," Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy was quoted as saying. Earlier, Hu Jintao was also chosen as a representative to the 18th National Congress in 2012 when he handed over the baton to Xi. In April 2017, Xi was chosen as a delegate to the CPC's 19th National Conference by a unanimous majority at the 12th CPC Guizhou provincial congress. Thereafter, Xi's selection of Guangxi as a delegate is important, as Guangxi was one of China's poorest regions until 2017, the report said. During the upcoming National Congress, CPC's Central Committee, the party's top governing body delegates will go to vote, during the congress, which is held every five years for the party's elite. The committee's 200 or more members will vote on who will be seated on the Politburo and its Standing Committee, the Communist Party's highest decision-making body. Xi's proteges make up the majority of the 25 members of the CCP's Standing Committee of the CCP Politburo. As a result, a political battle over personnel issues at the party's core is quite improbable. While there has been speculation of pushback from former Premier Zhu Rongji and his allies, their impact will remain limited, the report said. Xi administration has made several modifications to the party's statutes, as well as significant personnel changes. The majority of the newly appointed province leaders are no longer members of the Political Bureau's Standing Committee, the report added. However, the majority of the Xi administration's roster will stay unchanged in 2022, the report said, adding that Xi's stock of subordinates from his time in the provinces is nearly depleted. Given the increased difficulty of picking proteges in the future, a new framework for personnel selection, including the nomination of a successor, is required, the report further said, adding, only after that, Xi's successor and the Chinese Communist Party's new leadership structure will materialize. (ANI)
Hundreds of trade unions in Sri Lanka have been staging a nationwide protest over the mishandling of the ongoing economic crisis in the country and have called for the immediate resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The work at many state and private institutions was disrupted on Thursday due to the strikes launched by nearly a thousand trade unions demanding the resignation of the President and the government, Colombo Page reported. A protest march that started from the Fort Railway Station with the participation of several trade unions proceeded to the Galle Face People's Struggle Grounds with protesters chanting slogans against the government. According to reports, more than a thousand protests were held in several major cities around the country. Protests were reported from several towns and cities, including, Matara, Kurunegala, Kandy, Anuradhapura, Chilaw, Kegalle and Gampaha, as well as Katunayake and Koggala. Large crowds were seen protesting particularly in Matara, Kurunegala, Kandy and Anuradhapura, which have been the centres of protests. Ravi Kumudesh, the co-convener of the trade unions and mass organizations who joined the protest, said that if the government does not listen to the voice of the people, "a continuous trade union action will be taken in another seven days." Many schools in the island were closed as teachers and principals too joined the mass strike. Even the officers of the Sri Lanka Administrative Services (SLAS) joined the strike, the report said. Businesses in Pettah and other parts of the island remained closed. Private bus and train services were also significantly reduced due to bus and train workers supporting the strike. Sri Lanka is facing one of its worst economic crises resulting in widespread protests against the Rajapaksa family leaders, including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and PM Mahinda Rajapaksa. The recession is attributed to foreign exchange shortages caused by a fall in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as reckless economic policies, which have resulted in people facing an acute scarcity of food and basic necessities, heating fuel, and gas. (ANI)
External Affair Minister S Jaishankar arrived in Bhutan on an official visit on Friday and said he was looking forward to a productive trip and enhancing bilateral cooperation between India and Bhutan. "Delighted to be back in Bhutan. Good to see @FMBhutan Tandi Dorji. Look forward to a productive visit," Jaishankar tweeted.' He also shared photographs of his arrival here. Jaishankar is in Bhutan at the invitation of his Bhutanese counterpart Lyonpo Tandi Dorji, as per an official statement by India's external affairs ministry (MEA). Jaishankar will receive an audience with Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the King of Bhutan also call on Bhutan Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering. He will also meet his counterpart Dr Tandi Dorji, the MEA said. India and Bhutan share a unique and time tested bilateral relationship, characterized by utmost trust, goodwill and mutual understanding, said the statement. Jaishankar will be Bhutan's first high-level visitor from abroad since March 2020. During the visit, the two sides will discuss all issues of mutual interest, including the upcoming high-level exchanges, economic development and hydro-power cooperation. Yesterday, Jaishankar arrived in Dhaka, kicking off his three-day visit to Bangladesh and Bhutan from April 28-30. Notably, this is Jaishankar's first visit to Bangladesh, since March 2021. In Dhaka, Jaishankar called on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during his official visit to the country and also conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation to her to visit India later this year. EAM Jaishankar also exchanged views with the Bangladesh PM on bilateral, regional, and international issues of mutual interest. "This afternoon, EAM called on Prime Minister of Bangladesh, H.E. Sheikh Hasina and conveyed Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's invitation to her to visit India at her convenience later this year," an official statement said. Jaishankar also met his counterpart, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, AK Abdul Momen and extended him an invitation to attend the next meeting of the Joint Consultative Commission to be held in India prior to the visit of PM Hasina. (ANI)
US President Joe Biden said on Friday Washington will not let Russia intimidate or blackmail their way out of sanctions. This comes after Russian energy giant Gazprom cut natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday after they refused to pay for gas in rubles. "Yesterday, Russia threatened two of our allies with a cut off of energy supplies. Let me be clear: We will not let Russia intimidate or blackmail their way out of sanctions. And we will not allow them to use their oil to avoid consequences for their aggression," Biden said in a tweet. The US President said that Washington is working with other nations to help their "European allies threatened by Russia with gas blackmail." "We are working with other nations -- like South Korea, Japan, and Qatar -- that support our effort to help our European allies threatened by Russia with gas blackmail meet their energy needs in other ways. Aggression will not win. Threats will not win," he said in another tweet. On March 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree stipulating that all contracts for gas supplies with companies registered in "unfriendly" countries be settled in rubles. Media reports said some European gas buyers have already paid for supplies in rubles as Russia demanded. On Wednesday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Russian energy giant Gazprom's decision to suspend gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland is yet another attempt at blackmail. "The announcement by Gazprom that it is unilaterally stopping delivery of gas to customers in Europe is yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail. This is unjustified and unacceptable. And it shows once again the unreliability of Russia as a gas supplier," von der Leyen had said in a statement. (ANI)
Islamabad High Court(IHC) on Thursday announced the formation of a separate commission, to address the grievances put forward by the Baloch students of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), reported a local media. The Chief Justice of Islamabad HC, Athar Minallah agreed to form a commission after rights activist and lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir filed a petition against the harassment of the Baloch students protesting over the disappearance of Hafiz Baloch, one of their colleagues accompanied by constant harassment issues. The commission will be headed by Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, reported the Dawn newspaper. According to the court order, apart from Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani other members who will comprise the commission include, former senator Afrasiab Khattak, Asad Umar, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's central secretary-general, Nasir Khosa, Balochistan's former chief secretary, along with other human rights ministries and interior secretaries. Meanwhile, the petition submitted by the QAU students stated that the Pakistani authorities across the country are holding them accountable for the disappearances and subjecting them to racial profiling, based on their ethnicity alone. As a form of harassment, the Baloch students reported that they were forbidden from visiting their hometowns. If they did not comply, they were threatened to be abducted, reported the Dawn newspaper. In relation to the racial discrimination, a student at the National University of Modern Languages in Islamabad, Bebgar Imdad, was picked up from Punjab University while Dildar Baloch, another student was also picked up from Karachi, based on zero evidence. The Islamabad HC said that the claims of the students were justified, adding that ethnic profiling serves as the worst form of human rights violation and that the Constitution would not support it at any cost. The court also agreed that the issue has been pending for a long while, owing to the negligence of the public functionaries, announcing a probe into the matter with immediate efficacy, reported as per the Dawn newspaper. "The commission shall enquire and investigate into the grievances of students belonging to the province of Balochistan regarding racial profiling, enforced disappearances and lack of security while visiting their hometowns. The commission shall thereafter formulate recommendations and submit its report before the court," the court order stated. Further hearing in the matter was adjourned till May 13. (ANI)
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Friday suggested holding a referendum on the issue of amending the country's basic law to modernize and democratize its political system. "When these reforms were proposed, we thought that the draft amendments to the constitution would be considered by the parliament," Tokayev told a meeting of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan. "This is one of the procedures established by the current legislation. However, the upcoming large-scale and significant changes will have a significant impact on the future of the country. Therefore, I propose to hold a republican referendum on amendments to the constitution," he was This comes a few days after Tokayev approved the National Action Plan to implement the reforms promised in his March 16 state of the nation address "New Kazakhstan: The Path of Renewal and Modernization". Proposing Constitutional reforms to limit the powers of his office, Tokayev last month had said the Central Asian Country needs to switch from "super presidential" rule to political modernization with a focus on the role of citizens in governing the state, including through electoral processes. With an aim to create "New Kazakhstan", Tokayev had presented a programme of comprehensive modernization based on what he described as long-standing public demand for radical changes. The plan, approved by the March 29 presidential decree, not only sets concrete deadlines for implementing the reforms through various legal acts but also defines clear responsibilities of state bodies for meeting those deadlines. Kazakhstan Embassy said in a release that the plan covers ten key areas, which were initially outlined in the address. They comprise limiting the powers of the President, including termination of his/her membership in a political party for the period of their term of office, prohibition for close relatives of the President to hold senior positions of political civil servants and senior positions at the quasi-public sector, etc. Another major area is improving the electoral system, which includes switching to a mixed electoral system. Changes to the legislation will also be made to expand opportunities for the development of the party system in the country, including simplifying registration procedures for political parties. Amendments will also be made to the Constitution to modernize and improve the electoral process. (ANI)
Central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe also provided an update on the progress made during the recent discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Addressing a meeting of the Committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, he said progress has been made towards establishing a macro-fiscal policy framework and initiating structural reforms.

The central bank governor also expressed confidence that a staff-level agreement with the IMF is likely to be reached within the next two months.

Weerasinghe announced that additional measures will be implemented to address urgent economic concerns.

The measures include introducing regulations to encourage the U.S. dollar flows currently transacting in the informal market to be channelled through the formal banking system.

As a result of policy measures already introduced by the central bank and the government, he is of the view that expenditure on imports will be declining further to more sustainable levels.

Sri Lanka is going through an economic crisis brought about by foreign currency shortages and it halted external debt repayment on April 12. (ANI)
Brussels [Belgium], April 29 (ANI/Sputnik): The European Union has called on all actors concerned to avoid the destabilization of the situation in the unrecognized republic of Transnistria, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday. "The reported incidents in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova that have taken place over the last days are detrimental to the security and stability of the Republic of Moldova. The European Union calls on the responsible actors to avoid the destabilisation of the situation," Borrell said in a statement. The diplomat also reiterated the EU's support for Moldova's "sovereignty and territorial integrity ... within its internationally recognised borders and with a special status for the Transnistrian region." "To support Moldova in addressing the impact of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the EU is providing comprehensive aid to address the immediate challenges of the refugee inflow, and has stepped up its medium-term support to strengthen Moldova's overall resilience," the statement added. (ANI/Sputnik)
The foreign ministry in a statement expressed its condolences to the families of the deceased, adding that the government accompanied by the people of Pakistan stands in union with the Afghans. According to him, the attacks aimed at the Afghan people are executed to topple the resolve of the Afghan nation.

"The government and people of Pakistan extend their sympathies, support and solidarity to the people of Afghanistan and particularly with the bereaved families," said the foreign ministry. "We believe these heinous acts of terrorism against innocent Afghans are aimed at weakening the resolve of the Afghan nation in pursuit of peace, stability and progress," he added.

The twin terrorist blasts claimed the lives of 9 Afghan civilians while injuring 13 others, confirmed a provincial police spokesperson.

Pakistan has also urged the international community to extend all their support and cooperation to Afghanistan, to thwart terrorism from the countries, enabling them to overcome the challenges. (ANI/Xinhua)
Amidst an armed build-up in the Balkans in midst of the Russia-Ukraine war, China has reportedly supplied a secret consignment of anti-aircraft weapons to the Serbian military. Six cargo planes with Chinese military markers reportedly landed at the Belgrade civilian airport carrying surface to air missiles for the Serbian military. Though, Serbia has not given any formal response to the report of shipment. But this is not the first time Serbia has bought military equipment from China, Financial Post reported. Weapons delivery was also made to two NATO nations Turkey and Bulgaria. This highlights China's increasing global reach, the report said. The secret delivery has raised a lot of concern in the West, especially over the statehood of Kosovo which is not recognized by Serbia, Russia, and China. As this can culminate in another war in the Balkan country, the report stated. There are concerns in the West that the armed build-up of Serbia with the help of Russia and China could push the Balkan country towards another war against its former province Kosovo. In 2020, US officials had cautioned Belgrade against the acquirement of the Chinese anti-aircraft system HQ-22. The export edition of HQ-22 is designated as FK-3. US officials have said that for Serbia to join the European Union, it must regulate its military equipment with the Western standard, the report said. Serbia's acquisition of military equipment from China has not been taken well by the West, the report said, adding that although, Serbia has sought membership in the European Union, not abiding by the rules of the Western military alignment and getting defence shipments from China jeopardizes the situation. By supplying weapons to the heart of Europe, China has made its presence felt in the region, the report further said. (ANI)
Soloman Islands Prime Minister on Friday accused the Australian government of hypocrisy over his country's security deal with China, saying that Canberra should be more transparent with other Pacific nations. Last week, Soloman Islands and China signed the framework agreement on security cooperation. Upon this, Australiam PM said that the construction of a Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands will be the 'red line' for Canberra and Washington. "One would expect that as a member of the Pacific family, Solomon Islands and members of the Pacific should have been consulted to ensure this AUKUS treaty is transparent since it will affect the Pacific family by allowing nuclear submarines in Pacific waters," Soloman Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare told parliament, as quoted by Russia's Sputnik News Agency which cited Australian broadcaster ABC News. Sogavare further stated that he had learned about the Australia's AUKUS security pact with the United Kingdom and the United States from media. "Oh, but Mr Speaker, I realise that Australia is a sovereign country which can enter into any treaty it wants to, transparently or not. Which is exactly what they did with AUKUS," Sogavare said. He also criticized the "gaps" in bilateral 2017 Honiara-Canberra security treaty. He said that when Australia sent its troops to their nation at its request to appease the riots last year, they refused to protect the Chinese infrastructure and investments. He also said that Australian government's refusal to admit the fact was "disappointing", as reported by Sputnik. Australia, the US and the UK announced a new trilateral defence partnership last September. Australia prioritized it over a USD 66 billion contract with France for 12 conventionally powered military submarines, as AUKUS partners promised it technology to develop its own nuclear-powered submarines. (ANI)
American troops left behind USD 7.12 billion worth of military hardware in Afghanistan after they pulled out from the war-ravaged country, in August last year, the US Department of Defense said. The US provided a sum of USD 18.6 billion in military hardware to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) for 16 years. Out of them, equipment worth USD 7.12 billion consisting of air-to-ground munitions, aircraft, military vehicles, weapons, and other military gear remained in Afghanistan, after the US's withdrawal from the country, the CNN reported citing the DoD. Putting an end to the tedious evacuation process, the US military had has confirmed that they will not return to the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan either to destroy or to retrieve the equipment. The hefty amount of equipment left behind in Afghanistan will serve to refocus attention on the chaotic departure of the US from the war-torn country which has been widely condemned by politicians of both parties. As per the report issued by the DoD, almost all of the equipment that remained in Afghanistan required special maintenance. Rob Lodewick, army major of the US Defence Department assured, that all the equipment left in the Afghan territory belonged to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). He added that the military supplies that the U.S. military used in the war were either destroyed or retrograded before the US departed from the Afghan lands. The amount of USD 7.12 billion was not a part of the figure, reported CNN. Further, aircraft worth USD 923.3 million which was left behind in Afghanistan were demilitarized and rendered inoperable before the departure of the US. Apart from air-to-ground munitions, valued at USD 6.54 million, and about 40,000 military vehicles, other equipment which were left behind included night vision, surveillance, "biometric and positioning equipment" and explosive ordinance disposal and demining equipment. Earlier, on August 31, the final few US military planes left Afghanistan after they concluded their chaotic mission of evacuating American citizens, helpless Afghan civilians, and third-country nationals from the unprovoked war and seizure of Afghanistan by the Taliban. (ANI)
The Chinese side has expressed its willingness to consider facilitating the return of Indian students to China on a need-assessed basis, said the Indian Embassy in China on Friday. This comes after the meeting of External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar with the State Councilor and Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi on 25 March. Notably, the Indian students pursuing medicine from Chinese Universities are unable to return to China to attend classes. In order to facilitate this, the Indian Embassy intends to prepare a list of such students which will be shared with the Chinese side for their consideration, said the Embassy in its statement. The Embassy also directed the Indian students to provide the necessary information by filling up a Google Form by May 8, 2022. "Once the collated information is shared with the Chinese side, they would consult relevant Chinese departments to verify the list and indicate whether the identified students can travel to China to complete the course. This coordination process would be carried out in a time-bound manner," read the statement. As per the Embassy, the Chinese side has also conveyed that eligible students should unconditionally abide by the Covid-19 prevention measures, and has agreed to bear all expenses related to Covid-19 prevention measures by themselves. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said that it has been regularly raising the issue of Indian students pursuing medicine from Chinese Universities being unable to return to China to attend classes, but has not gotten any positive response from the other side. The remarks were made by MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in response to questions citing reports according to which China is facilitating the return of students from countries like Sri Lanka. "I have seen some reports, but I don't want to speculate here that some students are going back. We are concerned about students in India and on that, we don't have any movement yet... so if the Chinese are looking at options on how they can get students in, I sincerely hope, that Indian students would also benefit from that mechanism," Bagchi said. "As regards the issue of students, yes, this is something which has come up a couple of times. We have discussed, I think even on this forum we have responded. During the visit of Chinese FM Wang Yi, I think the EAM himself mentioned that we had taken it up," the MEA spokesperson added. (ANI)
An acute energy crisis in Pakistan has worsened prolonged power outages in the country, as small business owners struggle to continue work in the face of soaring temperatures, reported local media. On Thursday, several parts of Pakistan witnessed extreme power cuts for long durations, disrupting daily life and businesses. While urban centres experienced load sheddings up to 6 to 10 hours, rural regions fell prey to power outages lasting approximately 18 hours a day, reported the Dawn newspaper. Shortage of fuels and gas, accompanied by a dramatic drop in power generation by thermal plants owing to the imbalance in demand and supply has led to this disaster. A shortfall of about 6,000 to 7,000MW has been reported. "With increasing temperatures, the total shortfall is ranging between 7,000 to 8,000MW, and it may surge further if the hot and dry weather persists in the coming days," quoted a power official, as reported by Dawn newspaper. Residents of the capital and garrison city are frustrated over the long hours of power cuts, especially during the holy month of Ramazan. According to small business owners, the long power cuts are interfering with their work. "We failed to give stitched suits to the customers on time. The frequent power cuts made difficult to do work," said a tailor. Accompanied by a sharp increase in the heatwave, parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa witnessed load sheddings up to 15 hours per day. Areas of Karachi, Sindh, and Balochistan were also not spared. Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) stated that situations are likely to improve once all the commercial activity after Eiul-Fitr decreases, reported local media. Officials of the Islamabad Electric Supply Company(IESCO) asserted that they were keenly observing the power load management at different durations. They have claimed that power generation will start as soon as they are able to overcome the present crisis. The closure of several power plants in Pakistan due to lack of fuel and other technical pitfalls has caused such an electricity shortfall while a few powerplants also received capacity payments post-shutdown as well. (ANI)
The ongoing severe lockdown restrictions in China's Shanghai to contain the spread of COVID-19 has drastically affected the day-to-day lives of the people due to food shortage, a media report said. Furious residents of Shanghai have posted videos of people yelling from the balconies of apartments out of frustration caused by harsh measures imposed by the authorities. But the government has been denying reports of revolt and officials have been contesting saying all is well and managed well. The breakdown in supply chains, especially of food has exaggerated the problems of the people. People have started posting their frustrations on the country's social networking site Weibo saying that the food parcels which include ducks given to residents in Pudong district's Zhoupu township were found to be rotten as they had turned green in colour. Shanghai authorities dismissed the allegations as "rumours". According to reports, Shanghai residents have also been falling sick after consuming some of the food supplies because of the distribution of stale food by the authorities amid the city's COVID-19 lockdown. Some neighborhood committees have instructed residents to throw out questionable (rotten) food items while officials have said they would investigate the matter. The issue of low-quality food rations had added to woes of residents who have been struggling to get quality food, medical help, earn money and lead a respectable life but authorities in Shanghai have begun taking more harsh measures like sending drones to warn people to behave properly. The city's poor handling of the country's worst Covid-19 outbreak in two years has raised public distrust in the authorities and anger at the government. It is time for the authorities to ensure that quality food supply and medical help are provided to residents living indoors under difficult conditions. (ANI)
The incident took place in the Wangcheng District in the city of Changsha near the Changsha Medical Institute, Chinese broadcaster CCTV reported.

The total area of the building was about 800 square meters (8,600 square feet). The first floor housed shops, the second floor catering establishments, and the third floor a private cinema, while the rest of the floors housed a small hotel.

The causes of the collapse have not yet been determined, and there is no information at the moment on how many people were in the building at the time of the incident, the report said.

Firefighters and rescuers are working at the scene. (ANI/Sputnik)
This comes after four Nepal citizens were kidnapped "at gunpoint" from Taksim Square by a group of six Pakistan nationals. As per the reports, the Nepalis were also subjected to torture by these Pakistanis after being abducted.

"The Turkish government has tightened the visa policy for Pakistanis after crimes reportedly involving Pakistanis," reported Arab News quoting Pakistani media outlet, Aaj News.

"The government has also stopped issuing temporary residence permit for Pakistanis," it added.

As per the media reports, the abductors also demanded a ransom of 10,000 euros. Later on, the police conducted a raid against the kidnappers and they were successfully nabbed and arrested.

In another incident earlier, some Pakistani nationals were also detained by the Turkish authorities for protesting the ouster of Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan from power. However, after the intervention from Pakistani diplomats the arrested protesters were released.

Notably, a significant number of Pakistanis live and work in Istanbul, Ankara and other major cities across Turkey. In addition, every month hundreds of Pakistani citizens visit the transcontinental country, reported Arab News. (ANI)
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has picked up members of the country's billionaire club as members of the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to change the economic direction and end protectionist policies, Express Tribune reported. According to reports, the prime minister will chair the EAC, which is initially planned to meet every week. Among the members are former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, former finance minister Saleem Mandviwalla, and Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Minister of State for Finance Ayesha Ghous Pasha and Minister of State for Petroleum Mussadiq Malik. Pakistani billionaires have been included in the EAC in huge numbers. Among prominent ones is one of the richest men, Mian Mohammad Mansha and his nephew Shahzad Salim. Mohammad Ali Tabba -the owner of the Lucky Cement, has also been made part of the new EAC. He also served in the Imran Khan's EAC. Arif Habib, another billionaire industrialist has also been retained in Shehbaz Sharif's EAC. Ijaz Nabi -- an economist, has secured the seat in the new EAC. Nabi had also remained part of the previous government's economic advisory bodies and was among those who supported reducing fuel prices, which eventually led to the derailment of the IMF programme. The 22-member body having representation of the government and the private sector also has at least three members of former prime minister Imran Khan's Economic Advisory Council, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday, The Express Tribune reported. Apart from reviewing the overall economic condition of the country, the economic advisory council reconstituted by Pak PM Shehbaz will advise on short-term macroeconomic stabilisation, and structural reforms for stable and sustained economic progress, media reports explained. It will review the existing market imperfections in the various important sectors of the economy in order to promote competition by correcting the market distortions. After the reformulation of the EAC, one of the biggest challenges for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be to avoid conflict of interest of the EAC members while making policy decisions. The majority of the EAC members are those who have prospered in business due to the protectionist policies and the government's dole-outs in the shape of subsidies. Interestingly, one of the terms of reference of the EAC will be to analyse the effectiveness of subsidies, protection and other financial support by the government to state-owned enterprises (SoEs) and other vital sectors of the economy in the context of overall cost and benefit analysis of such subsidies and protection. Historically, the EAC has never remained an effective forum for serious policymaking and the platform is often used for forwarding personal agendas by the members. While Pakistan's miserable economic condition is shrouded by the political upheaval in the country over the past few months, The new EAC needs to reverse this trend by putting it behind its personal business interests. (ANI)
With the overarching aim of providing critical medical aid to Sri Lanka during the ongoing economic crisis, Indian Naval Ship Gharial, as part of Mission SAGAR IX, arrived at Colombo on Friday and delivered over 760 kilograms of 107 types of critical lifesaving medicines. The shipment was received by Health Minister of Sri Lanka, Channa Jayasumana, and would be supplied to the University of Peradeniya Hospital. Taking to Twitter, Indian Embassy in Sri Lanka wrote, "From #India for their brethren in #Srilanka!!! A consignment of drugs and medical supplies was handed over by High Commissioner to Hon'ble Minister #ChannaJayasumana in #Colombo today. INS Gharial was deployed for ensuring expeditious delivery of the consignment to Sri Lanka." In line with the Government of India's vision of SAGAR - Security And Growth for All in the Region - the Indian Navy undertakes several deployments titled 'Mission SAGAR' to assist friendly IOR littorals. Since May 2020, the Indian Navy has successfully concluded eight such missions, deploying ten ships to 18 Friendly Foreign Countries. With a steadfast intent of delivering a high quantum of humanitarian assistance to our neighbours, personnel from ships and shore organisations of the Indian Navy have invested close to a million man-hours to bring succour to our friends, overseas. Sri Lanka is now facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948. The recession is attributed to foreign exchange shortages caused by a clampdown on tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic. It left the country unable to buy enough fuel, with people facing an acute scarcity of food and basic necessities, fuel, and gas. In February, New Delhi provided a short-term loan of USD 500 million to Colombo for the purchase of petroleum products through the Ministry of Energy and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka. Three months before that, in November 2021, India gave 100 tonnes of nano nitrogen liquid fertilisers to Sri Lanka as their government stopped the import of chemical fertilisers. The total fuel delivered to the people of Sri Lanka, over the last 50 days, amounts to nearly 200,000 MT including a consignment of 40,000 MT, by Indian Oil Corporation, outside the line of credit facility, in February 2022. Energy Minister Gamini Lokuge thanked the Government of India for the fuel consignments. India announced another USD 1 billion as a credit line to Sri Lanka to help shore up the sinking economy of the island nation. New Delhi also provided the stock of 11,000 MT of rice to Colombo. (ANI)
In the wake of loud chanting and sloganeering against Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his delegation, Saudi Arabia's authorities on Friday arrested some Pakistanis over violating the sanctity of the Masjid-e-Nabawi (PBUH) in Medina. A spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in Pakistan confirmed the arrests and said that this amounts to a violation of the sanctity of the place, reported ARY news. This comes as Shehbaz Sharif-led delegation, who is in Saudi Arabia on a three-day official visit, received a "wonderful welcome" as they entered Masjid-e-Nabawi in Madina. A viral video has been circulating on social media platforms that showed hundreds of pilgrims raising "chor chor" [thieves] slogans upon seeing the delegation making their way to Masjid-e-Nabawi. After the incident, it was reported that police have arrested them for violating sanctity. In a video, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and member of the National Assembly Shahzain Bugti were seen along with others. According to the Pakistani newspaper, Aurangzeb indirectly blamed ousted former PM Imran Khan for the protest. "I will not name this person on this holy land because I do not want to use this land for politics. But they have destroyed the [Pakistani] society," said Aurangzeb. Dozens of officials and political leaders have accompanied the Pakistan Prime Minister on his visit to the Kingdom. One of the Twitter users, Muhammad Ibrahim Qazi said that Saudi Arabia citizens are calling out ousted PM Imran Khan. "Citizens of Saudi Arabia are calling out ousted PM Imran Khan to have exported the moral obscenity to the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah. They are also condemning Pakistanis for violating the Kingdom's laws," Qazi said. (ANI)
According to the broadcaster, the ministry did not provide any details on the deliveries for the security reasons.

Zechmeisterova also confirmed that the Czech Republic was in talks with Germany to create a model of cooperation regarding military assistance to Ukraine, the broadcaster added.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces. Many Western countries have since been supplying Ukraine with military materiel, including lethal weapons. Russia has denounced the supply of weapons to Ukraine from the West, saying that it adds fuel to the fire and derails the negotiation process. (ANI/Sputnik)
After meeting the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar admired his vision of transforming Bhutan and termed it a key aspect in shaping the 'unique' partnership with India. Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar wrote, "Privileged to be received by His Majesty the King of Bhutan. His vision of transforming Bhutan shapes the direction of our unique partnership." External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, who is visiting Bhutan, also held talks with the Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering and discussed the current global scenario along with the bilateral cooperations between the two countries. During the talks, Jaishankar informed the Prime Minister on the progress in the bilateral cooperation and development partnership. The EAM arrived in Bhutan on an official visit on Friday. Jaishankar also handed over the 12th consignment of medical supplies to Bhutan, as a gift to Bhutan. He also inaugurated three projects and dedicate them to the people of Bhutan. Before the visit, he said that he was looking forward to a productive trip and enhancing bilateral cooperation between India and Bhutan. "Delighted to be back in Bhutan. Good to see @FMBhutan Tandi Dorji. Look forward to a productive visit," Jaishankar tweeted. He also shared photographs of his arrival here. Jaishankar is in Bhutan at the invitation of his Bhutanese counterpart Lyonpo Tandi Dorji, as per an official statement by India's External Affairs Ministry (MEA). India and Bhutan share a unique and time-tested bilateral relationship, characterized by utmost trust, goodwill and mutual understanding, said the statement. Jaishankar is the Bhutan's first high-level visitor from abroad since March 2020. During the visit, the two sides will discuss all issues of mutual interest, including the upcoming high-level exchanges, economic development and hydro-power cooperation. Jaishankar arrived in Dhaka, kicking off his three-day visit to Bangladesh and Bhutan from April 28-30. Notably, this is Jaishankar's first visit to Bangladesh since March 2021. In Dhaka, Jaishankar called on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during his official visit to the country and also conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation to her to visit India later this year. EAM Jaishankar also exchanged views with the Bangladesh PM on bilateral, regional, and international issues of mutual interest. Jaishankar also met his counterpart, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, AK Abdul Momen and extended him an invitation to attend the next meeting of the Joint Consultative Commission to be held in India prior to the visit of PM Hasina. (ANI)
Although Beijing has extended firm diplomatic support to Russia during the Ukraine conflict, it appears unwilling to back Moscow in a whole-hearted manner to avert Western sanctions due to the fear of secondary sanctions. In an effort to stem growing suspicions over its ties with the Kremlin, China was sending a delegation headed by Huo Yuzhen, China's special representative to China-Central & Eastern Europe Cooperation, to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, and Poland in the coming days, reported Russian media council. China's support to Russia in opposition to the enlargement of NATO has given rise to concerns in the Eastern and Central European countries about the reliability of the Asian giant as a partner which can be counted on. While on one hand, China was looking for heavy discounts on the purchase of Russian oil/oil products and gas, it was at the same time denying the supply of Russian oil to Asia through tankers, thus depriving Moscow of economic benefits. It was also unwilling to route Russian payments through its financial system for fear of secondary sanctions and expressed an inability even to shift products of Russian processors deemed necessary for the Russian industry from Taiwan to China. In order to expedite the freight movement, the first cross-border railway bridge between China and Russia was expected to be fully operational by August 2022, cutting the train journey from Heilongjiang to Moscow by 800 km and travel time by 10 hours. The Bridge would further facilitate China to the transport of coal, iron ore, timber, and mineral fertilizers from Russia, which was expected to boost cross-border trade. Interestingly, Chinese customs data revealed (March 2022) an increase in trade with Russia by over 12 percent as compared to March 2021 as well as a rise in imports from Russia by 26 percent. According to reports, China's interest in the Russia-Ukraine conflict was purely economic, other indicators also suggest that the relationship between Beijing and Moscow was more than just numbers. A survey conducted between March 28 and April 5, 2022, by the 'Carter Center China Focus' on Chinese public opinion regarding Russia's actions in Ukraine, reveals that the majority of China's netizens feel that supporting Russia was in China's best interest. China's Deputy permanent representative to the UN Dai Bin too stated that arms supplies to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia will not bring peace to Ukraine. The whole world is currently paying for economic pressure on Russia, and the sanctions have led to a food crisis and rising energy prices. On April 14, 2022, CIA Director William Burns, speaking at the Georgia Institute of Technology, termed Chinese President Xi Jinping 'a silent partner in Putin's aggression in Ukraine' and pointed to the "immediate threat posed by renewed Russian aggression against Ukraine" as well as the "longer-term problem posed by China's ambitious leadership", calling it "the single most important geopolitical challenge" of the 21st century. It seems that Beijing wants to have the best of both worlds; however, it must keep in mind that sailing simultaneously in two boats may lead to capsizing one, if not both of them. China's subtle isolation from Russia can be attributed to protecting its own interests as Beijing has recently come under international scrutiny, with a never-ending stream of US officials urging it to distance itself from Russia or suffer "consequences." Despite being asked to mediate a truce between Russia and Ukraine, and Beijing openly proclaiming its determination to do so, China appears to be choosing a low-profile strategy. (ANI)
Washington [US], April 29 (ANI/Sputnik): The United States hopes that Mexico will join the opposition to Russia on the issue of Ukraine - a matter that will be discussed between the leaders of the two countries later on Friday, a senior Biden administration official said. US President Joe Biden is scheduled to hold a virtual meeting with his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador later in the day. The two presidents will discuss the Ninth Summit of the Americas, which will be held in California in June as well as migration, economic development and regional security. "We respect the Mexican leadership at the United Nations and [want] to see [Mexico] join us in imposing cost on the Kremlin in what it is doing in its brutal war on Ukraine," the official said. Last week, the Organization of American States (OAS) voted 25 to zero to suspend Russia's status as a permanent observer at the organization . A total of eight countries, including Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, abstained from the vote. (ANI/Sputnik)
Twitter user Haroon shared a video clip on the micro-blogging site, that showed Sharif arriving at a facility accompanied by heavy security. However, the people standing by the side in huge numbers can be heard raising slogans against the Pakistan PM.

The voices of discontent against the new Pakistan PM can be ascertained to the way in which he rose to the post, after former PM Imran Khan was made to resign.

Earlier, the Shehbaz-led delegation, which is in Saudi Arabia on a three-day official visit, received a "wonderful welcome" as they entered Masjid-e-Nabawi in Madina.

A viral video that got viral showed hundreds of pilgrims raising "chor chor" [thieves] slogans upon seeing the Shehbaz-led delegation making their way to Masjid-e-Nabawi.

In the wake of loud chanting and sloganeering against the Pakistani Prime Minister and his delegation, Saudi Arabia's authorities on Friday arrested some Pakistanis over violating the sanctity of the Masjid-e-Nabawi in Madina.

Sharif is on his maiden three-day official visit to Saudi Arabia. Dozens of officials and political leaders have accompanied the Pakistan Prime Minister on his visit to the Kingdom.

Sharif was sworn in as Pakistan's 23rd Prime Minister on April 11 after his predecessor Imran Khan was ousted following a no-confidence motion. (ANI)
The blast took place in PD 6 in the city of Kabul, TOLOnews reported.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, Abdul Nafay Takor said at least 10 people were killed and more than 20 others were wounded in the blast.

Earlier, a spokesperson for the Kabul security department, Khalid Zadran, said that at least five people were killed and more than 20 others were wounded in the blast, TOLOnews reported.

It further reported that witnesses have said the number of casualties is high.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate's spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid, on Twitter condemned the blast and said that the perpetrators will be arrested and punished soon. (ANI)
A large number of Chinese nationals are leaving Pakistan from Karachi after 3 Chinese nationals and one Pakistani citizen were killed in a suicide attack by a Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) at Karachi University on April 26. A video is going viral on social media showing a large number of Chinese in PPE kits leaving from Karachi Airport. Asad Malik (@AsadtoAsad), a Pakistani, shared a video clip on Twitter and wrote, "As soon as the US sponsored imported regime came into power followed by a blast on the Chinese. News is that over 2000 chinese are leaving Pakistan. It seems our enemies are succeeding in their mission. #MarchAgainstImportedGovt" Another Pakistani Syed Shayan (@mrscnzyt) wrote, "Thank you Lumber 1 as you didn't find any conspiracy but.. attack on Chinese people and now Chinese leaving Pakistan and work on CPEC project will slowdown.. but no conspiracy and Well done America You achieve what you need". Saleem Khan (@saleembct) also shared the video clip and wrote on Twitter, "Karachi Airport Today. Around 2000 Chinese leave due to the threats. Very tragic indeed as projects would close" A large number of Chinese engineers and other workers are working in Pakistan's Sindh and Balochistan provinces as part of One Belt One Road (OBOR) project. Many Chinese teachers are even teaching Mandarin to Pakistanis in various Universities and institutes. This has irked the indigenous Baloch and Sindhi political activists are they oppose any Chinese investment in their region. The recent suicide attack that killed 3 Chinese teachers was carried outside the University of Karachi's (KU) Confucius Institute. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack. The Karachi suicide bombing is part of an intensifying Baloch pushback against the 54 billion USD China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It also spotlights the larger and deeper struggle for Balochistan's freedom. (ANI)
According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, the foreign ministry declared that reports of an attempted assassination of the Ambassador of Qatar to Iran are false, urging the media to be more discerning when publishing news.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry and the Embassy of Qatar in Tehran have not yet made any comments on the alleged assassination attempt.

Unlike other Gulf Arab countries, Qatar has quite friendly relations with Iran. Over the past five years, their relations grew even stronger as Iran helped Qatar cope with economic challenges when the neighboring Arab countries effectively blockaded the country. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Qatar in February of this year and signed an agreement to boost transport links between the two countries. (ANI/Sputnik)
Santa Ana police are searching for a gunman who shot into a car with three local high school students, killing one and wounding another.

The suspect, wearing dark clothing and a hoodie, approached the victims' vehicle about 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the 1400 block of South Minnie Street and opened fire, said Sgt. Maria Lopez.

Roberto Izelo, 18, died from his injuries. The other victim, 19, was taken to a hospital and was listed in stable condition, Lopez said. The men were cousins and attended Century High School, she said.

One of the victims is a baseball player at the high school who had left a baseball game just before the shooting, Lopez said.

A third person, a 16-year-old male, was in the back seat of the car during the shooting but was not injured, Lopez said.

No arrests have been made. There is no known motive for the shooting and the investigation is continuing.

Anyone with information about the shooting can call the Santa Ana Police Department's homicide unit at (714) 245-8390.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Boston firefighters responded to a fire on Wayland Street in Dorchester, Thursday evening.

The fire displaced a total of 8 people. Of those displaced 3 are adults and 5 are children, according to the Boston Fire Department. The Red Cross is assisting with housing. None of the occupants were injured in the fire.

2 dogs died as a result of the fire, according to officials.

The Boston Fire Department estimates the amount of damage caused by the fire to be $200,000.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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(Reuters) -Abbott Laboratories said on Friday it would release limited quantities of nutrition products that had been put on hold following a recall of some powdered infant formulas from its Michigan facility.

The company had in February recalled some baby formulas, including certain Similac products, made at its plant in Sturgis after complaints about bacterial infections in infants who consumed the products.

That weighed on sales at its nutrition unit in the latest reported quarter and led the company to lower its sales growth view for the full-year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had said it was investigating the complaints, which included four reports of Cronobacter sakazakii infections and one complaint of a Salmonella Newport infection. An inspection of the Michigan facility found quality control issues in March.

Abbott maintains no formula that has been distributed has tested positive for either bacteria.

The FDA said on Friday the company had conducted standard product testing and committed to completing further testing of the product batches prior to release. However, as enhanced testing would take more time, the health agency has allowed for the products to be released for individuals needing urgent, life-sustaining supplies.

The nutrition formulas Abbott is releasing include Calcilo XD, Cyclinex-1 and 2 and ProViMin, as well as Similac PM 60/40. The product lots being released were not included in the recall, Abbott said.

(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Aditya Soni)
STORY: Holding signs reading "Stop Russian oil" or "How does it feel to finance genocide," protesters laid down on the ground after playing siren and bombing sounds on a loudspeaker outside the EU institutions' windows.

Members of "Promote Ukraine," an informal group of Brussels-based Ukrainians said they organised the event, so it would coincide with an EU ambassadors meeting during which they believed a sixth package of European Union sanctions against Russia would be discussed.

The Ukrainians protesters were joined in by representatives of the Belgian branch of campaign group "Rise for Climate," who called on EU members to "accelerate the (energy) transition and encourage the energy independence of all European countries."

Earlier in the week, the European Commission said a sixth package of European Union sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine was expected "very soon."

The exact date of the package is not yet confirmed, and as with the previous rounds of EU sanctions it would need approval from EU countries, EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson told a news conference in Warsaw on April 26.
The Mississippi Alliance for Public Safety is seeking the release of records including all body camera and dash cam footage of the 2021 shooting death of 3-month-old LaMello Parker, activists announced at a press conference this week outside the Harrison County Courthouse in Gulfport.

In 2021, LaMellos father, Eric Smith, took the baby hostage after killing his mother and her nephew. During a police chase on Interstate 10, law enforcement officers fired 20 rounds into the car, killing both Smith and LaMello.

Authorities previously refused to release body camera footage and other records on the grounds that they were investigative material under review by a Harrison County grand jury, said Leo Carney of American Descendants of Slavery Mississippi.

Now that the grand jury has reached a decision to clear the officers of wrongdoing, the activists say the materials should no longer be exempt from the public record.

Lea Campbell, an activist with the Mississippi Rising Coalition, submitted a request for public records including the Harrison County officers body and dash cam footage of the shooting; radio recordings and transcripts of communications between law enforcement; all evidence provided to the Harrison County grand jury; disciplinary records of the officers involved with the shooting; and the Harrison County written policies and procedures regarding the chain of command in hostage situations.

The records request was filed separately with the city of Gulfport, Harrison County, and the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.

Activists have been seeking more transparency and accountability from police regarding the shooting.

I want to know the name of the officer who shot LaMello. I think we deserve to know that. Is he or she still on patrol duty? I definitely think we need to know that, said Melissa Garriga, another activist with Mississippi Rising, at the press conference.

Campbell said DPS Commissioner Sean Tindells public reaction to the grand jury decision, in which he said, LaMello Parkers life was needlessly taken as a direct result of the actions of Eric Smith, was unprofessional and immoral.

Campbell said Tindells statement was false, arguing that Lamello was killed by one person  the officer who shot him.
NEW BEDFORD  Khalid Omar unfurled a green prayer rug in his living room Wednesday afternoon, revealing a gold pattern on its top. He laid it down, positioned it to face Mecca  the site of the holiest shrine in Islam  and began his Maghrib prayers; the fourth of the five daily required of Muslims.

Ferdous Omar, 2, spurts about the home, iPad in hand as an episode of Talking Tom and Friends plays on the television.

In short order, his mother, Khalida Hakimi, corralled him in an embrace, showering him with kisses and loving words in Dari, one of the major languages spoken in Afghanistan.

After an accident where the child burned his hand on a cup of tea a few months ago, the couple prays in turns when at home out of an abundance of caution.

But when they are having their moments with God, nothing else matters. Especially during the holy month of Ramadan.

"Once you start [praying] you don't hear anything," Omar, 30, said. "You just focus."

This Ramadan is different though. It's the first in their new home in the U.S. as well as their first in a non-Muslim majority country.

Most prominently, it's their first after they were evacuated from Afghanistan as Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021.

Khalid Omar plays with his son, Ferdous Omar, 2, at their home in New Bedford, while his wife, Khalida Hakimi, prays in the background. Each will take turns praying so that the other can take care of Ferdous. Afghanistan nationals Khalid Omar, his wife, Khalida Hakimi, and son, Ferdous Omar, have been living in New Bedford since February.

Afghan refugees fled country in 1990s

Refugee life is not new for the family. During Afghanistan's civil war in the 1990s, they each fled to Pakistan with their respective parents.

There they spent much of their childhoods.

"I've been a refugee more than I've been a citizen of my own country," Omar said. "When I was born, my family emigrated from Afghanistan to Pakistan because of the civil war."

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Omar grew up in Quetta  capital of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province  where he met Hakimi, 29, when they were about six and seven years old respectively. They became quick friends, but that time together was cut short when her family returned to Afghanistan in 1997, shortly after the Taliban first came to power.

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"Probably because they thought the Taliban will govern Afghanistan forever and, eventually, we would all have to go back," Omar said.

Hakimi was in Herat in 2001 when the U.S. invaded and swiftly routed Taliban regular forces. She recalled that during the invasion, she and her seven siblings saw planes performing bombing runs from their rooftop.

Afghanistan nationals Khalid Omar, his wife, Khalida Hakimi, and son, Ferdous Omar, 2, have been living in New Bedford since February.

"When they were attacking in the night it was so scary," Hakimi said. "So, we all wanted to sleep with our dad...so we would not scare at night.

"We all were sleeping beside my dad...We were just holding [his] legs."

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Those moments of terror eventually gave way to the rise of the Republic of Afghanistan under the leadership of Hamid Karzai. It was under that government that the childhood friends reunited.

Taliban enters Kabul

Omar returned to Afghanistan in 2009, when he was 18 and Hakimi was 17. They reconnected in short order.

"I told my mom: keep an eye on her," he recalled. "Make sure nobody takes her."

They married in 2017.

Khalida Hakimi performs afternoon prayers during Ramadan at her home in New Bedford. Afghanistan nationals Khalid Omar, his wife, Khalida Hakimi, and son Ferdous Omar, have been living in New Bedford since February.

By August 2021, both were professionals. Hakimi, a doctor, was finishing up her OBGYN specialty studies while Omar worked on a women's empowerment project with the United States Agency for International Development.

Because of these circumstances, they felt compelled to flee as the Taliban entered Kabul.

"We left Afghanistan ten days after the government fell," Omar said. "They came on the 15th and we left [for] the airport on the 25th."

The family  with only a bag a piece, their documents, and some food  spent two sleepless nights in the airport as chaos materialized around them.

"Those were really tough days," Omar said. "But luckily, we made it."

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The family first went to a refugee camp in Qatar, then Germany, before coming to the U.S.  El Paso, Texas, specifically  in November.

They then briefly moved in with a host family in Andover before being placed in their new home by St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford  near to Omar's brother and sister-in-law.

Trauma after fleeing Afghanistan

After an exchange of parting pleasantries, a woman with an ID badge leaves the Omar home, allowing space for their next guest to come in.

Omar and Hakimi explained that she was an early intervention specialist working with Ferdous, part of an effort to mitigate the traumatic effects of the months since the evacuation jolted him out of a comfortable middle class existence.

"I think it has affected him a lot," Omar said. "We could understand the situation, like what we are going through, and we could handle it. But for babies, it was very tough."

Indeed, Ferdous was eating solid foods when the family evacuated. That changed when they were moved from their initial camp in Qatar to Germany.

"In the camps there was no solid food for him, just milk," said Hakimi. "So he just forgot [how] to eat solid food.

"He still is not eating," she continued, wiping away a tear as it formed in her eye. "And now I'm trying to just feed him again. But he refuses. He just drinks milk."

The trauma touched Khalid as well. While still in the camps, doctors prescribed a medication for his depression and diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The ordeal has affected him physically as well. Omar lost 22 pounds over the course of the ordeal, bringing him down to about 130 lbs.

"In camps, it was really tough days," Omar said. "If you put me [through that] again, I will not be able to handle it.

"When you are in that situation, that bad situation, it's survival mode," he continued. "Automatically [in] your mind, everything changes."

Afghan evacuees in Bristol County

The family arrived in New Bedford in February at the behest of Omar's brother, Shafiullah Amini, and his wife, Farkahnda Ehssan.

The Omars' arrival brought the number of Afghan evacuees in Bristol County to 28, according to the SouthCoast Afghan Welcome Network. Of the six families, five settled in New Bedford and one in Dartmouth.

Though evacuee may seem like an odd term, there are reasons for it, according to Mali Lim, an immigration attorney.

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"Everybody just says [refugee] because I think everybody understands the word, for better or for worse," Lim said. "Theres all kind of connotations."

According to Lim, many of the arrivals in Massachusetts were evacuated by the Department of Defense and fall into two categories.

Khalida Hakimi looks online for ways to get her doctors equivalency in the United States, as her son, Ferdous Omar, 2, plays in the foreground. Afghanistan nationals Khalid Omar, his wife, Khalida Hakimi, and son, Ferdous Omar, have been living in New Bedford since February.

The first of these are Special Immigrant Visas, slated for those who worked directly with the U.S. government and military in Afghanistan.

The Omars currently have a SIV's, but initially entered the U.S. under the second category, as humanitarian parolees.

"When the [Afghan] government turned down everything was chaos," he said. "So they were just evacuating everyone and everyone that entered the U.S. came under humanitarian parole."

Though the Omars are lucky  they recently applied for green cards  many remain in limbo, as the humanitarian parole term applies to a wider category of people.

"Humanitarian parole was granted to a lot of people who didnt work directly for the U.S. Military but they were people that the government deemed particularly vulnerable," Lim said. "People that maybe worked for Afghan National Security Agency, journalists, womens rights activists."

'We have not heard any bomb blasts'

It's a Saturday evening during Ramadan and 100 people gathered at the Islamic Society of Southeastern Massachusetts in Dartmouth to break their daily fast with a communal iftar.

In the common room, people gather and prepare the table filled with dishes of rice, chicken and dal.

Khalid Omar and his son Ferdous Omar, 2, head towards the Winslow school in New Bedford to play some soccer. Afghanistan nationals Khalid Omar, his wife, Khalida Hakimi, and son, Ferdous Omar, have been living in New Bedford since February.

Ferdous and other children run laughing amongst the celebrants, adding to the symphony of community reverberating within the mosque's walls.

In another corner, men gather around Amjad Bashlah, an immigrant from Syria, who holds a container of dates that they will use to break their fast at 7:34 p.m.

"Hold on guys! It's not time yet!" he said sternly.

About a minute later, Martin Bentz stepped up to the mic at the front of the room to recite the Adhan  the call to prayer.

"Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!" God is great! he sings out. "Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah." I bear witness that there is no god except the One God.

In the first row of worshippers stands Khalid Omar. It's his first visit to the mosque with his family since they came to the area.

The experience emphasized for them the month's focus on community, and the blessings it has brought to their lives.

"They have helped us a lot," Omar said in the interview later at his home. "Everything you see around, the community brought us because we didn't have any money to buy."

Slowly but surely, the family is integrating into life in their new home. The International Institute of New England currently pays their rent and utilities. In addition, they provide the family with a $500 stipend  a stop-gap measure for six months to help them land on their feet.

They said they cannot perform zakat  traditional alms for the poor  this Ramadan, but plan to once on their feet.

Omar has had several job interviews recently and said he hopes to be employed in the near future.

Hakimi began work in April as a medical interpreter for IINE.

When she can find a moment, she also researches how to transfer her medical certifications to the U.S. in order to become a practicing physician.

The quiet of their new home only makes their first American Ramadan more important.

"It's peaceful," Omar said, when asked what Ramadan meant to him.

"We have not heard any bomb blasts for a long time now."

Contact Kevin G. Andrade at kandrade@s-t.com and follow him on Twitter: @KevinGAndrade. Support local journalism and subscribe to the Standard-Times today!

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Afghan refugees in New Bedford experience Ramadan at Dartmouth mosque
Former Afghan Lt Gen Sami Sadat vows to "continue to fight" to liberate Afghanistan

An ex-general in the Afghan army says he and many other former soldiers and politicians are preparing to launch a new war against the Taliban.

Lt Gen Sami Sadat said that eight months of Taliban rule has convinced many Afghans that military action is the only way forward.

He said operations could begin next month after the Islamic Eid festival, when he plans to return to Afghanistan.

The Taliban took control of the country in a rapid offensive last August.

The hard-line Islamists swept across the country in just 10 days, as the last US-led Nato forces left following a 20-year military campaign.

Speaking for the first time about the plans, Lt Gen Sadat told the BBC he and others would "do anything and everything in our powers to make sure Afghanistan is freed from the Taliban and a democratic system is re-established".

"Until we get our freedom, until we get our free will, we will continue to fight," he said, while refusing to be drawn on a specific timeline.

The general underscored how the Taliban had been reintroducing increasingly harsh rule - including severe restrictions on the rights of women and girls - and it was time to stop their authoritarian order and start a new chapter.

"What we see in Afghanistan in eight months of Taliban rule has been nothing but more religious restrictions, misquotation, misinterpretation and misuse of the scripts from the Holy Koran for political purposes."

He initially planned to give the Taliban 12 months to see if they would change, he said. "Unfortunately, every day you wake up the Taliban have had something new to do - torturing people, killing, disappearances, food shortages, child malnutrition."

He said he received hundreds of messages daily from Afghans asking him what he was going to do about it.

But in a country shredded by more than 40 years of conflict, many Afghans are weary of war, desperate to leave, or struggling to survive in the midst of a deepening economic crisis. The UN speaks of a country marked by "combat fatigue" with millions on the brink of starvation.

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Many in rural areas which bore the brunt of Nato's war against the Taliban have welcomed the relative calm now that US and Afghan warplanes have left the skies and Taliban attacks have ended.

Lt Gen Sadat, who commanded Afghan government forces in the southern province of Helmand in the last months of the Taliban offensive, is also accused of ordering attacks which killed civilians. When questioned about the charges he denied them.

In August last year he was appointed to head the Afghan special forces and arrived in Kabul the day the Taliban swept in and his commander-in-chief President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Asked whether there was any alternative to another war, Lt Gen Sadat said he hoped that moderate Taliban, known to be uncomfortable with a growing raft of restrictions reminiscent of draconian Taliban rule in 1990's, could be part of a new government.

"We are not against the Taliban," he said, just against their current "textbook," describing an Afghanistan where "everyone fits in, not a country only for Taliban."

In recent weeks, an audio message in which the general speaks about an armed fight against the Taliban with the aim of "re-liberating" Afghanistan was leaked to the media.

In the past, armed groups including the Taliban won Afghan wars with the support of neighbouring countries, a foothold in the country, and foreign funding.

A Taliban member stands guard at a checkpoint in Kandahar

It is not clear that Lt Gen Sadat's allies, as well as the many other armed groups which have been forming, have any of these assets.

Multiple groups are now united by their goal of ousting the Taliban but they're also divided along ethnic lines, and loyal to rival commanders.

Lt Gen Sadat said he was in touch with one of the most prominent groups known as the National Resistance Front (NRF) whose leading figure is Ahmad Massoud, son of the late legendary commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

"I am in contact with my brother Ahmad Massoud and we support his actions in every way, I also contact and support other resistance groups," he said in his leaked message.

He told the BBC their fight was an insurgency funded by patriotic Afghans. He said they had no foreign backers and were not seeking one. At 37, the former army's charismatic and youngest general - who was educated in London and many western military academies - said his generation recognised that mistakes were made by the past administration he was part of.

But he said they were let down by corrupt Afghan politicians and US policies.

He believed, he said, that the chaotic US troop pullout in Afghanistan had shown America's weakness and led to Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine.

There was criticism of the chaotic US-led Nato pullout from the country, with questions raised over how the Taliban was able to seize control of the country at such speed.

Lt Gen Sadat said it was bad for Afghanistan but he blamed it on politicians in Nato countries, most of all US President Biden, not western military commanders, many of whom he is still in touch with. "It's not an ending that we could be proud of, or happy with."

He expressed admiration for Ukraine's resistance but warned that they too could one day be let down by Nato.

"I think they are holding their ground pretty well. But I also tell them to, you know, believe in themselves more, because the continued support from Nato and other countries could come to a halt.

"I hope they will get continued support as long as they need it."
Afghans trying to enter the U.S. to escape Taliban rule are subject to stricter requirements than Ukrainians trying to flee the Russian invasion of their country, and thousands of Afghans  even some threatened by the Taliban  have been rejected, refugee advocates say.

There are clearly two refugee systems  one for Ukrainians and one for Afghans, said Matt Zeller, an adviser to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Afghans are our longest wartime ally ever  youd think wed want to do right by them.

The Biden administration rejects the criticism, arguing that the U.S. has brought in tens of thousands of Afghans since the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan last year and that it continues to work to help Afghans come to America.

Weve welcomed more than 78,000 Afghans to the United States since August of 2021 and were committed to continuing to resettle Afghans, and ultimately that is the clear indication that there is no double standard here in terms of our steadfast treatment [of] our Afghan allies and [of] those Ukrainians in need, said an administration official who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Unlike Afghans trying to secure entry to the U.S. on humanitarian grounds, Ukrainians dont have to pay a $575 administrative fee, dont need to show proof of vaccination and dont need to have an in-person consular interview with a U.S. representative, according to refugee organizations and U.S. government statements.

The administration may want to think its sufficient to do the bare minimum to save our Afghan allies, while doing whats necessary for Ukrainian refugees, but the disparity couldnt be more jarring, said Chris Purdy, director of Veterans for American Ideals and Outreach at Human Rights First, an independent advocacy group.

While many (Afghans) were brought here out of desperation, many thousands more have been left behind and are still under direct threat from the Taliban," Purdy said. "Over the last eight months, we have been begging the administration for the exact same program that theyre now giving Ukrainians."

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The administrative fee is a large amount of money for many Afghans, and its almost impossible to satisfy that requirement, said Adam Bates, a policy counsel at the International Refugee Assistance Project. The median annual per capita income in Afghanistan is about $400.

Afghans can apply to get the fee waived, but its not clear how frequently the request is granted.

Refugee advocates also argue the U.S. has a special obligation to Afghans, given the 20-year U.S. war effort and that there are no friendly U.S. allies on the countrys border that are ready or willing to absorb large numbers of refugees.

After the large-scale evacuation of Afghans that accompanied the withdrawal of U.S. troops in August 2021, thousands of Afghans who were not able to secure a flight out in the chaos at Kabul airport applied to enter the U.S. under an obscure immigration program known as humanitarian parole. The program allows temporary entry to the U.S. on humanitarian grounds but no path to permanent legal residence.

Afghans and the immigration lawyers helping them saw humanitarian parole as a potential alternative route to getting to the U.S. instead of applying for refugee status in a third country, a process that can take years and drain the meager savings of the applicant.

But Afghans applying for parole are facing long delays, and many applications are being rejected. Since July, out of about 45,000 applications from Afghans for humanitarian parole, 2,200 have been denied and only 270 have been conditionally approved, according to Matthew Bourke, spokesperson for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

By contrast, more than 4,000 Ukrainians were granted humanitarian parole in February and March, according to U.S. government data.

In reviewing Afghan applications for parole, U.S. authorities consider the specific facts of each case to determine if there is a distinct, well-documented reason to approve humanitarian parole for an individual, Bourke said.

Advocates helping Afghan applicants say U.S. authorities are asking for extensive evidence that an applicant faces a specific and imminent danger, and some say U.S. officials appear to have tightened the criteria over the past several months. Afghans who received threatening letters from the Taliban, who were beaten by the Taliban and who belong to a vulnerable group targeted by the Taliban have had their applications rejected by U.S. authorities as inadequate, refugee advocates said.

When asked about a possible policy change, USCIS declined to comment.

To help Ukrainians forced from their homes by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration recently launched a program that allows Ukrainians to settle temporarily in the U.S. if an American citizen sponsors them and demonstrates they have the means to financially support them. Under the program, Uniting for Ukraine, the Ukrainians receive humanitarian parole, allowing them to stay in the U.S. for up to two years.

The Biden administration sees the comparison between the program designed for Ukrainians and Afghans applying for humanitarian parole as misleading, the administration official said.

The official said the more apt comparison for Uniting for Ukraine is Operation Allies Welcome, which helped resettle tens of thousands of Afghans in the U.S.

In that instance, Afghans did not have to go through the standard application process for humanitarian parole and the U.S. government granted them parole after evacuating them from Afghanistan to third countries to complete the screening and vetting process.

Bates, with the International Refugee Assistance Project, said that there is a clear difference in how Afghans and Ukrainians are being treated and that advocacy groups have been asking for a more flexible approach for Afghans.

Its not even a year apart from these separate instances. I dont know if it can get any more obvious that theres a problem here, Bates said.

Its impossible not to see the echoes of bigotry and xenophobia that have informed U.S. immigration policy, he said.

The administration official vehemently rejected the idea that discrimination or prejudice based on religion or nationality played any role in how Afghans were being treated.

African and Caribbean immigrant advocates also have questioned how Black refugees are treated by U.S. authorities compared to Ukrainians and have accused the federal government of a double standard.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has previously denied accusations that the governments treatment of migrants at the U.S. southern border represents a double standard. U.S. authorities have allowed in thousands of Ukrainians at the southern border, and Mayorkas directed border officials in March to consider exempting Ukrainians from the Trump-era policy known as Title 42.

Title 42, a public health order used after the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, lets U.S. border authorities turn back migrants without giving them a chance to apply for asylum.

Apart from Afghans appealing for entry to the U.S. under the humanitarian parole provision, there are also tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for U.S. troops who are trying to resettle to the U.S. under a special U.S. visa program set up over a decade ago. The U.S. evacuated only about 3 percent of the Afghans who applied for the special immigrant visas, leaving behind an estimated 78,000 former interpreters and others who were employed by the U.S. government, according to a recent report by the nonprofit Association of Wartime Allies.
Most Americans have a fundamental grasp of the legal system in the United States, particularly its constitutional protections.

But the legal systems in other countries operate under their own set of rules.

Amanda Knox's harrowing legal ordeal has put her in the compelling position of knowing the difference.

Knox, who was famously convicted and finally exonerated in a 2007 murder case in Italy and has gone on to become a journalist and best-selling author, is the keynote speaker at the Erie County Bar Association's annual Law Day luncheon on May 10 at noon at the Bayfront Convention Center. The association said it is taking reservations through Monday.

The National Law Day theme for 2022 is "Toward a More Perfect Union: The Constitution in Times of Change," and Knox can speak to the importance of the constitutional protections in the United States, said Erie lawyer Craig Murphey. He chairs the Erie County Bar Association's Law Day committee, which recommended Knox as a speaker.

"We thought she would have an interesting perspective on American constitutional rights as compared to Italy," Murphey said.

Knox, 34, of Seattle, spent nearly four years in an Italian prison and eight years on trial for a murder that Italy's highest court ultimately found she did not commit. The court in 2015 annulled the convictions of Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, acquitting them both of murder charges.

Another speaking engagement:Amanda Knox visits Hutchinson Community College to speak about wrongful conviction

While Knox was a University of Washington student studying abroad, she and Sollecito were initially charged in the slaying of Knox's roommate, 21-year-old British exchange student Meredith Kercher, on Nov. 1, 2007, in Perugia, a university town in central Italy. Knox and Sollecito were convicted in 2009, and were first acquitted in 2011 by an appeals court, which cited a lack of evidence.

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Amanda Knox speaks on Nov. 9 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas. At this point in her speech, Knox relives the time she was released from an Italian prison and heard other inmates yell out to her "liberta," the Italian word for liberty, in support of her release.

The two were convicted again in 2014, and the appeal process ended with Italy's highest court ruling in favor of Knox and Sollecito in 2015. Unlike in the United States, the Italian justice system has no protections against double jeopardy.

An Ivorian immigrant, Rudy Guede, was the only person ultimately convicted of killing Kercher. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison and was released in November. Guede has denied killing Kercher.

In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, ordered Italy to pay Knox $20,000 in financial damages for the police's failure to provide her legal assistance and an independent interpreter during the night she was questioned following Kercher's murder.

Dispute over movie:Amanda Knox calls out 'Stillwater' director for 'fictionalizing away my innocence'

Since her exoneration, Knox has made a career as an author, podcast host, journalist and speaker on such issues as wrongful convictions and public shamings. Her best-selling memoir, "Waiting to Be Heard," was published in 2013. She and her husband, Christopher Robinson, a novelist, host the podcast Labyrinths, in which they "delve into stories of getting lost and found again."

To make reservations for the May 10 Law Day event, go to eriebar.com/events/ecba-events/1752-law-day-2022. The Erie County Bar Association can be reached at 814-459-3111.

Lawyers, others honored

At its Law Day luncheon on May 10, the Erie County Bar Association will honor lawyers and members of the community with its annual awards. The association released the names of the honorees in advance. They are:

Chancellor of the Bar Award  Erie lawyer Robert G. Dwyer. The award recognizes an Erie County Bar Association member who was nominated by his or her peers for significant contributions with respect to their practice, attitude toward the court and fellow lawyers, and participation in civic affairs and community life, according to the association.

Pro Bono Award  Erie lawyer Robert C. LeSuer. The award honors the volunteer efforts of an Erie County Bar Association member who has assisted with the delivery of civil legal services to the poor.

Liberty Bell Award  Lori Dolan, immediate past president of the Erie chapter of the League of Women Voters. She has also been the league's president, vice president and secretary and has worked on on numerous league committees. The Liberty Bell Award recognizes a local non-lawyer for community service that has strengthened the American system of freedom under law.

Diversity & Inclusion Community Award  Tywonn T. Taylor is the first recipient of the award. He is the director of programming for Mercyhurst University at the Booker T. Washington Center and is the founder of Careers and Dreams, an organization that supports and provides opportunities to inner-city youth.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Amanda Knox, exonerated in Italian murder case, to speak in Erie
Amber Heards favourite wine - with a very impressive price tag - was revealed at the defamation trial against her ex Johnny Depp.

The defamation trial between Mr Depp and Ms Heard began on 11 April in Fairfax, Virginia following Mr Depps lawsuit against his ex-wife in March 2019. Mr Depp is arguing that she defamed him in a December 2018 op-ed published in The Washington Post titled I spoke up against sexual violence  and faced our cultures wrath. That has to change.

Mr Depps business manager Edward White testified in court on Thursday that by the end of the marriage between Ms Heard and Mr Depp in 2016, they had a $160,000 wine bill at LA vendor Twenty Twenty Wine Merchants.

Mr White also spoke about his work in resolving the couples finances as their divorce was finalized at the beginning of 2017.

The business manager said Mr Depps tab with the merchant has been almost paid off since the divorce, adding that Mr Depp still purchases wine at Christmas to give away as gifts.

His wine bill has shrunk to virtually zero because he does not continue to consume much in the way of wine, Mr White said.

The business manager said Ms Heard liked a bottle of wine costing around $500 from the Spanish winery Vega Sicilia.

In preparation for Ms Heards 30th birthday celebration, a night when one of the fights leading to the divorce occurred, she ordered five bottles of the Spanish wine as well as eight of another variety.

The specific wine enjoyed by Ms Heard, Vega Sicilia Unico, spends at least ten years between barrel and bottle, representing one of the longest ageing processes in the world, the winery website states.

We use new and used 225-litre French and American oak barrels and 22,000-litre wooden vats. A long and complex, yet wonderful construction of the wines, during which they obtain endless nuances, definition, texture, and depth over time, the company adds.

The drug and alcohol use of Mr Depp and Ms Heard has been widely discussed during the trial, with Ms Heard claiming that Mr Depp became violent while he used drugs and was drinking.

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Mr Depp testified that it was he who was the victim of domestic abuse, adding that Ms Heard could drink two bottles of wine a night.

He has previously said that his personal wine expenditure went above $30,000 a month.

During cross-examination, Mr White was asked by Heard lawyer Ben Rottenborn about Mr Depps spending habits.

Ms Heard didnt buy any of the dozens of properties that Depp owned, correct? Mr Rottenborn asked. She didnt pay $5m to blast Hunter Thompsons ashes out of a cannon, did she?

She didnt buy a yacht that she couldnt afford and then have to sell it to JK Rowling, did she? he added.

In her 2018 op-ed, Ms Heard wrote that like many women, I had been harassed and sexually assaulted by the time I was of college age. But I kept quiet  I did not expect filing complaints to bring justice. And I didnt see myself as a victim.

Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our cultures wrath for women who speak out, she added at the time.

While Mr Depp isnt named in the piece, his legal team argues that it contains a clear implication that Mr Depp is a domestic abuser, which they say is categorically and demonstrably false. Mr Depp is seeking damages of not less than $50m.

Ms Heard has filed a $100m counterclaim against Mr Depp for nuisance and immunity from his allegations.
By Jason Lange

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan majority of U.S. voters oppose politicians punishing companies over their stances on social issues, a cold reception for campaigns like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' against Walt Disney Co, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

The two-day poll completed on Thursday showed that 62% of Americans - including 68% of Democrats and 55% of Republicans - said they were less likely to back a candidate who supports going after companies for their views.

DeSantis signed a bill last week that strips Disney of self-governing authority at its Orlando-area parks in retaliation for its opposition to a new Florida law that limits the teaching of LGBTQ issues in schools.

For DeSantis, a rising star in the Republican Party, it was an attempt to bolster his conservative credentials as a culture warrior ahead of a possible run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

But even when prompted along the lines of DeSantis' own argument for his action - that laws should remove benefits of government tax breaks from corporations that push a "woke" agenda - 36% of Republicans nationally said they would be less likely to support a candidate with such a view.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll still showed that DeSantis, 43, is a potential force in national Republican politics.

Presented with a list of prominent politicians, a full 25% of Republican respondents said DeSantis best represents the values of their party, second only to former President Donald Trump who was favored by 40% of Republicans. Texas Governor Greg Abbott garnered 9%.

But the poll also showed a nation deeply divided on how schools teach about sexual orientation and gender identity -- the subject of the controversial Florida law.

Half of U.S. voters support laws banning classroom discussion on sexual orientation or gender identity for children age 5-11, including 69% of Republicans and 36% of Democrats.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English and throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 1,003 adults and had a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of about 4 percentage points.

(This story corrects name in first para)

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)
Corn grows in an Illinois field.

Ukrainian farmers could still plant a majority of their crop acres in the war-torn country this spring.

But, they likely will shift away from corn and focus more on crops such as sunflowers, wheat and barley for domestic consumption, according to Viktor Korobko, commodity trader and analyst from Odesa, Ukraine.

Korobko estimates corn production in Ukraine could total between 22 million and 22.5 million tons in 2022, barely more than half what it produced last year.

For corn, very little is affected (by the war with Russia) in terms of territorial losses, Korobko said during a webinar hosted by CommStock Investments. The problem is sporadic business. Thats the primary reason farmers are shifting production. They plant, but not the way it was before.

We have control of the (grain) export facilities, but we dont have control of the (Black) sea.

Ukraine typically exports more than 80% of the corn it produces, including a large amount to China, and ranks as the No. 3 corn exporter in the world.

But, with grain exports at a standstill and a large amount of stocks on hand, farmers there are attempting to plant a variety of other crops.

Ukraines remaining outlet to export crops is to the southwest via rail, truck and barge on the Danube River. Korobko estimates Ukraine grain exports plummeted from 7 million tons a month to 700,000 tons since the start of the war.

So far, Russian pirates control the Ukrainian part of the Black Sea. Thats why theres no movement of vessels, he said. Everybody is trying to find a Plan B with old stocks and a new crop coming.

Ukraine is still sitting on about 9.7 million tons of old-crop corn, according to government calculations. And Korobko believes it could be closer to 15 million tons when adding in grain stuck at port terminals.

We have a lot of stocks, he said. And a lot of corn is still sitting in ports.

But corn exports likely wont resume in earnest until after the war, according to the analyst.

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As for wheat, Korobko estimates the wars effect on planting and grain movements could cut into output by 25% to 35% in Ukraine this year.

Ukraine typically ranks as the No. 6 wheat exporter in the world.

Overall, sources in Ukraine estimate total planted crop area could drop to around 70% of normal this season, AgriVisor reported in its Market Watch newsletter.

We continue to see mixed opinions on Ukraines spring crop planting and yield potential, AgriVisor analysts noted. The question now is how much of the Ukraine losses can be offset with elevated production in other regions of the world.

Ukraine crop yield potential is in question due in large part to supply chain issues for crop inputs, particularly fertilizer. Diesel fuel supplies have shifted to war efforts, and labor is an issue this season as about 20% of farm workers joined the war effort.

Some farmers are covered up to 50 or 60% (for fertilizer needs). Others are covered way less, said Korobko, who reported a Ukrainian fertilizer facility was heavily damaged by Russian shelling. There is some trade going on (and the banking system is still operational), but the prices are very high and the logistics are very difficult.

Korobko is living a nomadic lifestyle amid the war, traveling between his home in Ukraine and nearby Moldova and Romania, where he moved his family.

At 5 a.m. on Feb. 24, I woke up to a blast about 4 kilometers from my house as the Russians bombed a Ukrainian military base, he said of the terrifying start of the invasion. I woke my family up and we decided to immediately pack our bags. By 6 a.m., we were in the car and out of there. We didnt want to wait for more blasts.

This story was distributed through a cooperative project between Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Association. For more food and farming news, visit FarmWeekNow.com.

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Analyst: Ukrainian corn output could decline by half
Deadline

A local TV weatherman is feeling the heat after he described Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green in terms often used for primates. Joey Sulipeck, the chief meteorologist at Fox13 WHBQ-TV in Memphis, took to Twitter after the Memphis Grizzlies got drubbed by the Warriors on Saturday night 142-112, to complain about Memphis player Kyle []
(Reuters) - AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine still has market potential despite an expected global oversupply of shots and delays in the vaccine's approval in the United States, its chief executive Pascal Soriot said on Friday.

Soriot told reporters after AstraZeneca published its first quarter results that although the focus as now shifted to protection from severe disease in cases of COVID-19, AstraZeneca's shot, which it developed with Britain's Oxford University, is expected to offer durability.

"We believe this vaccine still has a potential, it's very easy to administer and distribute," he said, adding: "The volume in the future will be less because people probably will only need one booster per year and not everybody will take it".

Soriot said that AstraZeneca's move to make some profit for the vaccine, of which he said 2.9 billion shots have now been delivered, would also help.

AstraZeneca has started earning a modest profit on the vaccine, which was initially sold at-cost. But the British drugmaker has said it would continue to sell it to low-income countries on a non-profit basis.

The vaccine's use in the European Union and Britain has diminished they have inoculated much of their populations and tend to prefer mRNA vaccines.

The vaccine has still not won approval for use in the United States, the world's biggest pharmaceuticals market, and Soriot said AstraZeneca has been in talks with authorities there.

"We haven't really made the final decision as it relates to (seeking approval of the vaccine there) but hopefully we'll be able to reach a conclusion very soon," he said.

The United States has asked for detailed data on AstraZeneca's vaccine, while the country's top infectious diseases expert has indicated that they may not need it after as a result of the country's use of shots from Pfizer and Moderna.

U.S. health officials, in a highly unusual public rebuke, last year criticized AstraZeneca for using "outdated information" to show how well its vaccine worked.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Natalie Grover in London; Editing by Alexander Smithh)
The Atlanta Community Food Bank is getting a $55,000 donation, all thanks to a YouTuber from Cumming.

Eric Decker, known as Airrack on YouTube, competed in a tournament against 14 other popular YouTube creators.

The winning jackpot was $1 million.

Decker lost, but the guy who won gave him another chance to win big.

The 15 creators, who each have millions of followers, competed in whats appropriately called The Creator Games, put on by another YouTuber, Mr. Beast.

The man who won the $1 million prize is Zach King. He decided to give it all away to his subscribers and to charity.

So kicking things off, Im giving away a Tesla, King announced on his YouTube channel.

King also gave Decker a chance to win $55,000 for his charity of choice by eating extremely hot chicken wings.

I think the highest level was 3 million Scoville. Its like the equivalent of eating 3,000 jalapenos at the same time, King told Channel 2s Heather Catlin.

Decker dominated  although with a few tears.

OTHER GOOD NEWS STORIES:

I feel horrible. like absolutely atrocious, Decker said.

But he said it was all worth it.

Coming from a small-town kid in Cumming, Georgia, combine with and having the opportunity to win back money for the home city thats way, way worth it. Ill go through anything for that, Decker said.

Decker volunteered with the Atlanta Community Food Bank when he lived in Atlanta and immediately knew that was where he wanted the money to go.

I have so much faith in that organization. And Ive seen that organization at work, and Ive seen the people on the receiving end, so it was a no-brainer for me to donate all the money there, Decker said.

Catlin spoke with a board member at the Atlanta Community Food Bank, who said this is a huge gift. Every dollar can feed up to four people, so $55,000 can provide 220,000 meals, and the need is there.

The board member told Catlin that with this economy, demand has skyrocketed.

IN OTHER NEWS:
PANAMA CITY  A Panama City man was sentenced Thursday to life in prison after a jury convicted him of lewd and lascivious molestation on a child.

A jury found Darrel Fred Swearingen, 48, guilty after 17 minutes of deliberation. Circuit Court Judge Timothy Register then imposed the life sentence.

Prosecutors Frank Sullivan and Jae Hee Kim proved that Swearingen committed the offense against the victim in 2010 when he was left alone with her. Testimony showed that the victim reported the molestation to an adult family member, who did not report it to authorities.

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The Gulf Coast Children's Advocacy Center was made aware of the allegations in 2020 and began an investigation. Bay County Sheriff's Office Lt. Christian Williams interviewed the victim and Swearingen before making an arrest in January 2021.

During trial, testimony from the victim was consistent with what she had previously disclosed to family and law enforcement. Her sister also testified against Swearingen.

During Swearingen's time on the stand, Sullivan noted inconsistencies between Swearingen's initial statement to law enforcement and his trial testimony. Prosecutors also noted that Swearingen was a six-time convicted felon.

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City man gets life in prison for child molestation
President Biden spoke by phone Friday with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. (Associated Press)

President Biden held talks Friday with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as a looming deadline to lift COVID-related restrictions at the U.S. southern border magnified concerns over the administration's immigration policies and an increase in illegal border crossings.

The conversation  which lasted 52 minutes and touched on cooperation over migration, energy, security and economic growth  comes at the end of a tough week for the White House.

The administration faces mounting criticism over its plans to end so-called Title 42 authority, a public health order that allows border agents to expel asylum-seekers to Mexico. The policy was enacted during the Trump administration to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The Biden administration says the use of Title 42 was never intended to be permanent, and the policy is being eased along with other pandemic-related restrictions.

The majority of the conversation was about migration and was about continued work on coordination, economic coordination, on taking steps to reduce migration to the border, and they have been a partner in that over the last several months, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a press briefing following the call.

Lopez Obrador described the conversation as "cordial" and said in a tweet following the call that the two discussed "issues of interest in the bilateral relationship."

Psaki said the tone of the call was "constructive" but declined to say whether Biden asked Lopez Obrador to add Mexican troops at the border once Title 42 is lifted.

Earlier this week, a federal judge halted the Department of Homeland Security's plans to suspend the order May 23, as a growing number of Democrats who are up for reelection have joined Republicans in criticizing the winding down of the policy. Republicans grilled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas on Capitol Hill over a record number of border crossings that resulted in 210,000 arrests in March, the highest monthly total in two decades.

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Biden has struggled to strike a balance on immigration, fulfilling campaign promises to his party's progressive wing while appeasing the concerns of centrists about illegal border crossings. Republicans have been hammering Democrats on the issue ahead of November's midterm elections.

After calls from some Democrats to produce a more detailed plan to replace Title 42, the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday released a 20-page memo laying out a six-point strategy that includes sending more personnel to the border, fast-tracking procedures for those who don't qualify for asylum and expanding temporary detention facilities along the border.

Encouraging Mexico to cooperate in handling an increase in border crossings once Title 42 is lifted was to be a top agenda item in the president's call with Lopez Obrador, according to a senior Biden administration official.

"We really will need to rely on our partnership more than ever to have a coordinated response, to surge additional staff and resources on both sides of our border to make sure that we have an orderly and humane response," said the official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity in advance of Biden's conversation.

While grappling with Title 42, the White House has also sought to terminate a Trump-era policy known as "Remain in Mexico," which requires asylum-seekers, a majority from Central and South America, to stay in Mexico while their cases are being considered. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments earlier this week on whether the administration can scrap the program.

The two leaders also discussed the Summit of the Americas, set for June in Los Angeles. The U.S. will host leaders from North, South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean, for the ninth summit.

Lopez Obrador said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard would travel to Washington on Monday for discussions on "issues of cooperation for development and the Summit of the Americas."

Asked if Biden planned to visit the U.S. southern border ahead of the summit, Psaki said, "We're certainly open to it."

The two leaders last met in person in November around the announcement of the U.S.-Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health and Safe Communities. But tensions have since surfaced over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Mexico has condemned the invasion, but Lopez Obrador refused to join the U.S. and other countries in imposing economic sanctions on Russia for its continued assault.

The two have also clashed over Mexico's planned energy reforms, in which Lopez Obrador has sought to consolidate state control of his country's electric power market, in a potential violation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact.

A senior U.S. official said the administration has concerns about the potential negative impact of Mexico's energy reforms on U.S. private investment there and is working to resolve the disputes.

Times staff writer Kate Linthicum contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden met virtually on Friday with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as immigration at the border has become a major issue for the Biden administration.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the majority of the conversation was about migration, and was about continued work on coordination, on economic coordination, on taking steps to reduce migration to the border, and they have been a partner in that over the last several months.

The meeting comes just a few days after a federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to halt its efforts to lift a public health order known as Title 42 that was issued because of the Covid pandemic, a policy that allows the swift expulsion of migrants at the border with the stated aim of preventing the spread of Covid.

Senior administration officials said ahead of the call that Biden planned to discuss Title 42 developments with Obrador.

"Weve been working in close partnership with Mexico to manage, mitigate and reduce irregular migration, especially as we plan together for the end of the use of Title 42 authority in late May, one official said. "Were facing similar challenges and having a common response is really critical.

In a readout of the meeting Friday night, the White House said the two leaders discussed the importance of working together with countries throughout the hemisphere to ensure safe and sustainable livelihoods for their respective citizens and migrant populations, to advance our partnership to create jobs in Central America, and support efforts to expand legal pathways for migrants and refugees."

The readout did not specifically mention Title 42.

The administration had sought to end the public health order on May 23, and Republicans have focused on the planned repeal as a point of attack on Democrats over immigration as the primaries for the midterm elections are set to begin. They've denounced the effort to lift the order, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., visiting the border earlier this week with other GOP lawmakers to speak with Border Patrol agents about the issue.

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Roughly 8,000 migrants per day are currently crossing the southern border, according to internal Customs and Border Protection data obtained by NBC News  figures that could lead April to top Marchs record high for border apprehensions. The Biden administration predicts roughly 12,000 migrants per day will begin crossing the border if Title 42 is lifted. About half of the migrants encountered are turned back across the border and prevented from seeking asylum. When Title 42 is lifted, immigrants will be allowed to live in the United States while they pursue asylum claims, a process that can take between two to four years.

The Biden administration has also sought to end a Trump administration policy known as "Remain in Mexico" that requires people seeking asylum at the southern border, mainly from Central and South America, to wait in Mexico while their claims are decided. That plan drew a lawsuit from Texas and Missouri, which is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We continue to encourage Mexico to invest in its asylum system," the administration official said. "As we work to build efficiencies in our asylum system and to return those that dont qualify, we ask Mexico to do the same. We have really strong cooperation that continues to grow on combating human smuggling and trafficking."

The U.S. and Mexico "have a shared interest in mobilizing a hemispheric wide response to the historic flows," the official said, adding that that includes having "a coordinated response to surge additional staff and resources on both sides of our border to make sure that we have an orderly and humane response."
President Biden on Friday mourned a former U.S. Marine whose family said he was killed in Ukraine earlier this week while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces against the Russian invasion.

Its very sad. He left a little baby behind, Biden told reporters on Friday afternoon when asked about the development after a White House event with inspectors general.

The family of Will Joseph Cancel, a 22-year-old former Marine, told CNN late Thursday that he was killed in Ukraine on Monday while working with a private military contracting firm in the country.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it, to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it, Cancels mother Rebecca Cabrera said in an interview with CNN.

She said that her son had a wife and a seven-month-old baby.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki offered condolences to Cancels family earlier Friday but also reiterated the administrations advice that Americans should not travel to Ukraine for any reason.

The White House has discouraged Americans from traveling to Ukraine due to the deteriorating security situation amid Russias bloody invasion, which recently entered its third month.

Still, thousands of international fighters are estimated to have traveled to Ukraine in order to help the country beat back the Russian onslaught.

The Biden administration has sent billions in security assistance to Ukraine, but the president has ruled out putting U.S. forces on the ground in Ukraine to fight the Russians.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Billy Chemirmir, the 49-year-old Dallas man accused of the 2018 killing of Lu Thi Harris, was found guilty of capital murder Thursday by a Dallas County Jury, according to a news release from the Dallas County District Attorneys Office.

After about 45 minutes of deliberation, the jury decided the evidence showed beyond a reasonable doubt that Chemirmir killed the 81-year-old woman, according to the Dallas County DA.

The automatic sentence for the crime is a life sentence without the possibility of parole, according to the DAs office.

After 45 minutes of deliberation, a Dallas County jury has found 49-year-old Billy Chemirmir guilty of capital murder in the 2018 death of Lu Thi Harris.  Dallas County DA (@Dallas_DA) April 28, 2022

Chemirmir, an accused serial killer, was arrested in 2018 after police said he assaulted another woman who survived the attack. He has also been accused in the murders of 17 other women over a two-year period in Dallas and its suburbs.

At the start of his trial, the jury was shown a video deposition in which a 91-year-old woman said she survived an attack by Chemirmir.

My eyes were just fixated on these green rubber gloves that I saw. ... I knew instantly when I saw those two green rubber gloves, number one, I should not have opened the door, number two, my life was in grave danger, Mary Annis Bartel said in the video.

The Associated Press reported in 2021 that Chemirmir was arrested in March 2018 after he attacked Bartel at her apartment in Plano. Bartel died in 2020.

This is just a verdict and a dealyed sense of justice the families of Lu Thi Harris, Mary Bartel, Mary Brooks and Mr. Chemirmirs other alleged victims so crave and deserve, the Dallas County DA said in a news release Thursday.
Oxygen

Single mother Kelli Underwood survived brain tumors, divorce, and depression, but an ill-fated love triangle would be the death of her. Underwood was born and raised in Mesquite, Texas, just east of Dallas. She married young but it wouldnt last, nor would her second marriage. As a single mother of three, she struggled to balance work and family. When it came down to it she was always a very positive person. Anybody that met her said that her smile would light up a room. Thats just the type of
UN Security Council condemns terrorist attack in Pakistan's Karachi University

Xinhua) 08:11, April 29, 2022

Security personnel inspect the blast site of the terrorist attack inside a university in Karachi, Pakistan, April 26, 2022. (Xinhua)

The council members reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Thursday strongly condemned the terrorist attack in the University of Karachi in Pakistan, which led to the deaths of three Chinese nationals and one Pakistani and several injuries.

In a press statement, the members of the council condemned in the strongest terms Tuesday's heinous and cowardly terrorist attack, which was claimed by the Majeed Brigade of the Baloch Liberation Army.

The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the governments of Pakistan and China, and they wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured, said the press statement.

The council members reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. They underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice. They urged all states to cooperate actively with the governments of Pakistan and China, as well as all other relevant authorities in this regard.

The council members reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed. They reaffirmed the need for all states to combat by all means, in accordance with the UN Charter and other obligations under international law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that the United States would strongly support Sweden and Finland should they decide to pursue membership in NATO.

We, of course, look to them to make that decision. If thats what they decide, we will strongly support it, he told Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) during a House hearing.

Blinken told Costa he could not provide a timeline but noted it is under very active consideration by both countries.

Sweden and Finland have both expressed interest in joining NATO since Russias invasion of Ukraine began.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg signaled on Thursday that Sweden and Finland would be welcomed into the alliance.

Its their decision, the NATO chief said, according to The Associated Press. But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be warmly welcomed, and I expect that process to go quickly.

The interest in Sweden and Finland joining NATO after decades remaining outside the military alliance is another reflection of the unexpected turns the Russian war in Ukraine has had on international policy.

Finland shares a border with Russia and had not embraced NATO membership throughout the Cold War and its aftermath, but warmed toward the idea quickly after the invasion began in February.

Membership in NATO stipulates that any attack on a NATO member is an attack on all members.

Ukraine is not a member of NATO, and one of Russias reasons for invading it was because its government was pursuing the idea.

The United States and other NATO nations have not sent soldiers to Ukraine because it is not a member state.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A member of Parliament in England has been accused of watching pornography inside the House of Commons.

Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, was accused of watching adult material inside the parliament chambers. Two colleagues allegedly caught him watching the inappropriate material. Parish has identified himself as the suspect of an investigation but refuses to comment on the validity of claims.

"Following recent allegations regarding an MPs use of their mobile phone in Parliament, I have referred myself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in the House of Commons," Parish said in a short statement on the matter.

TRUMP BLASTS PRINCE HARRY: 'SO DISRESPECTFUL' TO ENGLAND AND 'AN EMBARASSMENT'

In addition to refusing to comment, Parish has assured his constituents that he will not be taking a break from governance and will continue his duties as usual.

Conservative Party MPs react as British Labour Party opposition leader Keir Starmer gestures during Prime Minister's Questions at the House of Commons in London, April 27, 2022. UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/Handout via REUTERS

"I will be cooperating fully with any investigation, and whilst it is ongoing I will continue to perform my duties as MP for Tiverton and Honiton," he said. "I will not be making further comments at this stage."

His wife Sue Parish told the Times of London, "It was all very embarrassing."

"My breath was taken away, frankly," she told the paper, adding that her husband is "quite a normal guy, really. Hes a lovely person."
By Brian Ellsworth and William James

MIAMI (Reuters) -The British Virgin Islands should have its constitution suspended, its elected government dissolved and effectively be ruled from London, according to a highly critical report into governance in the British overseas territory released on Friday.

Queen Elizabeth's representative on the island, Governor John Rankin, had ordered the inquiry in 2021 to investigate "the corruption, abuse of office, and other serious dishonesty" in the territory's governance.

Its report found that millions of dollars of state funds were spent each year by politicians and ministries without proper process, along with serious dishonesty in relation to sales of public property and widespread abuse of appointments.

The report is not directly linked to the arrest in Miami on Thursday of the islands' elected premier, Andrew Fahie, on charges of money laundering and conspiring to import cocaine. But British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the arrest demonstrated the importance of the inquiry.

The investigation was led by British judge Gary Hickinbottom.

"He has concluded with a particularly heavy heart that unless the most drastic and urgent steps are taken, the current situation with elected officials deliberately ignoring the tenets of good governance will go on indefinitely," Rankin told a news conference.

"He notes that the people of the BVI deserve better, and that the UK government owes them an obligation to protect them from such abuses and assist them to achieve their aspirations for self-government as a modern democratic state."

Any decision to suspend parts of the constitution would fall to London, which said it was sending a minister to the BVI before announcing a plan next week.

In a statement, Truss said the report "shows clearly that substantial legislative and constitutional change is required".

But the Islands' acting premier, Natalio Wheatley, said a suspension of the constitution was not necessary.

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The report said principles of good governance had been ignored throughout Fahie's administration, witnesses had been afraid to come forward and government disclosures had been "shambolic".

"With limited exceptions, in terms of governance... the people of the BVI have been badly served in recent years. Very badly indeed," the executive summary said.

If London accepts the inquiry's central recommendation, one of more than 40 in the 946-page report, Rankin - a career British diplomat - would take over the day-to-day running of the BVI.

Rankin is appointed by the queen on advice from the British government, and in normal times his role would be small.

Hickinbottom recommended that the new administrative arrangement should last two years, but also that ministerial government should resume as soon as practicable.

(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth and William James and Zarrin Ahmed; writing by William James; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
One of a pair of suspects charged with allegedly kidnapping a 3-month-old baby from his grandmother's Northern California home had befriended the woman and became "obsessed" with the child, according to local Spanish-language reports.

The grandmother, Victoria Mejia, told Univision 14 San Francisco that she met Yesenia Guadalupe Ramirez, 43, at church. Ramirez befriended her and seemed to hover over her when her grandson, Brandon Cuellar, was near, Fox affiliate KTVU-TV reported.

MISSING 10-YEAR-OLD WISCONSIN GIRL FOUND DEAD, POLICE OPEN HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION

She constantly wanted to be around the child, Cuellar's mother Jessica Ayala said. She said she was at work cleaning houses when she got a call from her sister-in-law informing her of the abduction.

"I didn't know how to react," she told Univision. "I fell to the ground and it was a moment that I can't explain."

The boy was snatched on April 25 from Mejia's San Jose apartment as she was unloading groceries, police said. He was found Tuesday after an intense police search. Ramirez, 43, allegedly convinced Mejia to go with her to Walmart so they could buy baby supplies before the alleged abduction, the Univision report said.

She was arrested after she kept changing her story during a police interview, authorities said.

A tipster spotted a van allegedly registered to Ramirez and Cuellar was found in the home of Jose Roman Portillo, who is also charged in the case. His connection to the case has not been disclosed.

He was allegedly seen on surveillance camera carrying a baby car seat and walking to a vehicle moments after the baby was taken. A third person who was arrested, Baldomeo Sandoval, 37, was released from police custody Thursday and will not face charges, the San Jose Police Department said.

Relatives told Univision that he is married to Ramirez.

She allegedly plotted the abduction, police said.
Celine is showcasing its beachwear capsule collection with a pop-up at Paris department store Le Bon Marche, opening on Saturday.

Dubbed Plein Soleil, like the 1960 French film adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley starring Alain Delon, the collection is inspired by the French Riviera, where Celine artistic director Hedi Slimane set the film for his spring 2022 collection.

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The temporary installation on the ground floor, which will remain in place until June 5, resembles a beach cabin. Lacquered white wooden floorboards evoke boardwalks, while gold and amber tinted mirrors echo the warm light of summer. The wood and leather furnishings are accented with straw deck chairs.

A straw bag from Celines Plein Soleil beachwear collection. - Credit: Emmanuel de Jorna/Courtesy of Celine

Emmanuel de Jorna/Courtesy of Celine

The face of the collection is French actress and director Suzanne Lindon, who first appeared in a Celine campaign in 2010 and recently starred in the French version of In Treatment on Franco-German channel Arte.

The line includes crop tops, as well as a floral-printed dress, lightweight denim pieces, and a handmade crochet dress. For poolside lounging, Slimane offered terry cloth bandeau tops and skirts, bikinis, sandals, sneakers, sunglasses, beach towels and a variety of hats, alongside classic straw bags and striped totes.

Completing the selection is a hammock; a Finnish throwing game called Molkky, consisting of wooden pins, and a petanque set.

Celine in 2020 joined the ranks of luxury brands courting customers in summer holiday destinations with in-season merchandise. The Plein Soleil collection will also be sold in three pop-ups in China, in addition to 16 Celine boutiques worldwide, including those in Saint-Tropez and Cannes, France; Monaco; Miami, and Dubai.

Meanwhile, Dior has been steadily expanding distribution of its Dioriviera collection since it was launched in 2018, while Loewes Paulas Ibiza capsule collection is now in its sixth edition. All three brands are owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, as is Le Bon Marche.

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Petanque balls from Celines Plein Soleil beachwear collection. - Credit: Courtesy of Celine

Courtesy of Celine

SEE ALSO:

Dior Heads to the Caribbean With Pop-up at Cheval Blanc St. Barths

Loewe Takes Paulas Ibiza Collection to Le Bon Marche

The Attico Wants to Join You at the Beach

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Thomas Tuchel, pictured, is looking forward to his first meeting with Frank Lampard (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)

Thomas Tuchel has revealed Sundays Goodison Park clash with Everton will be his first in-person meeting with Frank Lampard.

Tuchels Chelsea predecessor Lampard sent the German coach a good luck message when the former Paris St Germain boss took the Stamford Bridge helm in January 2021.

Lampard is now battling to keep Everton in the Premier League, with the struggling Toffees managing just one win in six matches in all competitions.

Frank Lampard will come up against his Chelsea successor Thomas Tuchel this weekend (Richard Sellers/PA) (PA Wire)

Tuchel admitted relishing an exciting week comprising his first trips with Chelsea to both Manchester United and Everton, with meeting the Blues record goalscorer Lampard as an added bonus.

He sent me a very kind, respectful message after I took over at Chelsea that meant a lot, said Tuchel, of Lampard.

I was a huge fan of him as a player and he is and will remain a legend at our club and this is a given.

I was very happy when he wrote me that message and it was very gentlemanly.

We didnt have the chance to go out and have lunch and he took the chance to go and take charge of Everton.

He took an assistant from us, Joe Edwards, we were not so happy! Just joking. We will meet some friendly faces with Joe and Ashley Cole and Frank, who I have never met in person.

It is a very exciting week for me, I would love to meet him. We need the points, they need the points urgently as well.

It is an exciting week for me personally. I love to play at Old Trafford and everybody tells me about the atmosphere at Goodison Park and how emotional and how tough it is to play there.

These are two nice fixtures, what it is all about. I am excited to go there and we expect a tough fight.

A good showing but we'll have to settle for one. #MunChe pic.twitter.com/V4lYefrkQi  Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 28, 2022

Lampard handed the likes of Reece James and Mason Mount their Chelsea breakthroughs in his west London managerial tenure.

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Tuchel has been at regular pains to express his admiration for Chelseas academy system, with the club now having produced a glut of current homegrown senior stars.

Asked if he had Lampard to thank for the nucleus of quality academy stars at his disposal, Tuchel insisted the former Blues midfielder would not have promoted anyone who did not warrant their chance.

I dont know if it is gratitude. I dont think Frank did it to do them a favour, said Tuchel.

I think every coach does it because it is all about helping the team. It is not about age in any direction.

If Thiago (Silva) helps us we dont care about how old he is. And we dont care how young somebody is. When you are ready you are ready. I strongly believe you find your way if you have what it takes.

I am very grateful for the quality the academy produces and grateful for the culture at Chelsea to push these boys through and this is top, top quality.

It is our job to let them play and to prepare and push them on this kind of level. This is what Chelsea is about.
China has slammed Australia for opposing its security pact with Solomon Islands, calling it a colonialist myth-driven violation of sovereignty and saying Canberra had no right to lay down any "red line".

This came as Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a Chinese military base in the South Pacific nation would be a "red line" for his government, days after Beijing and Honiara confirmed the signing of the deal without revealing details.

Talk of China building a naval base on Solomon Islands was "purely fake news", Chinese defence ministry spokesman Tan Kefei said on Thursday, accusing the Australian government and media of intentionally distorting facts and creating tension.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

Cooperation under the new security pact would involve "maintaining social order, protecting people's lives and property, humanitarian assistance [and] natural disaster responses", Tan reiterated.

Addressing an online event with Pacific Island nations the same day, China's vice foreign minister Xie Feng said negotiating and signing a framework security cooperation agreement was "the sacred right of two sovereign countries" in line with international laws and norms, and no one had the right to point fingers at China.

"On what grounds can Australia draw a 'red line' for Solomon Islands, 2,000km [1,200 miles] away, and China, 10,000km away? If not an infringement of another country's sovereignty, interference in another country's internal affairs and a breach of international rules, what is this?"

Xie said Australia's stance amounted to "disinformation, defamation, coercion and intimidation", and proof that it was still "obsessed with colonialist myths, exercising coercive diplomacy, trying hard to control the Pacific islands to maintain a so-called sphere of influence".

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"The Pacific is the common home of regional countries, not someone's 'backyard' or 'turf', and should be a stage for international cooperation, not a chessboard for geopolitical games," he declared.

The China-Solomon security agreement is "open and transparent [and] not targeted at third parties," Xie told a virtual event launching a cooperation centre on climate change for China and Pacific Island countries, in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong.

He said China understood the climate change challenges facing the island nations and was willing to provide help "as a good friend, partner and brother."

Attending the event virtually were officials from Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Micronesia, Kiribati, Fiji and Vanuatu.

Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Chinese ambassador Li Ming attend the opening ceremony for a China-funded national stadium complex in Honiara on April 22. Photo: AFP alt=Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Chinese ambassador Li Ming attend the opening ceremony for a China-funded national stadium complex in Honiara on April 22. Photo: AFP>

"China has no selfish interest in developing relations and cooperation with Pacific Island countries," Xie asserted. "[It] does not seek 'spheres of influence' or engage in bullying and coercion but is always a constructive force for peace and development."

Since being announced last week, the China-Solomon Islands security pact has sparked strong concerns from the United States and its Pacific allies.

The White House sent a high-level delegation to Honiara to warn Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare of unspecified action against his country. US ally Japan on Monday also dispatched a foreign vice-minister, saying the deal with Beijing could affect the security of the entire Asia-Pacific region, while fellow Pacific nation New Zealand has also questioned whether it will destabilise the region.

Australia, which is the Solomons' biggest aid donor and has security ties with it, reacted even more strongly. It had tried to pressure Sogavare into not signing the deal when the news first broke in March.

And while Morrison has reiterated his opposition to a Chinese naval base, other politicians have presented even stronger rhetoric on the impact of the deal on Australia's national security.

Sogavare has sought to reassure all that a Chinese base was not in the offing, urging critics to respect his country's sovereign interests and said that traditional partners, such as Australia and New Zealand, remained important.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
By Sophie Yu and Brenda Goh

BEIJING (Reuters) - For the Fengxi Inn guest house, China's annual May Day holiday is usually a sell-out period, with guests booking out its rooms weeks in advance due to its location nestled in the green lush hills of the country's southwestern Guizhou region.

But it is expecting much fewer visitors this year for the upcoming holiday, even after slashing room rates and blasting promotions on social media, as China fights its largest outbreak since the virus emerged in Wuhan in late 2019 with lockdowns and curbs on movement.

"We only have guests on May 1st and 2nd, after that we have few guests," said Fengxi Inn manager Chen, only gave her surname. "People won't travel because they need to take multiple COVID tests."

Hotels across the country are bracing for what is expected to be one of China's leanest holiday travel periods since early 2020.

The May holiday from April 30 to May 4 is traditionally one of China's busiest tourist seasons as spring moves into summer.

Hotels from Beijing to Sanya have slashed prices by up to 50%, with room rates in many Chinese cities hitting a five-year low for the holiday period, according to travel search engine Qunar.com

Research by Gavekal Dragonomics estimated that 57 of China's 100 biggest cities were under some form of COVID curbs as of last week, including the most populous city Shanghai. Many others have imposed restrictions, such as multiple COVID tests or quarantine on arrival for travelers.

Passenger volumes across air, road and rail is expected to fall by 62% year-on-year during the five days, an official from the Ministry of Transport said on Thursday.

Travel company Trip.com Group said over half the bookings on its platform for the holiday were from travelers looking to stay close to home within their province.

Some cities are urging residents not to leave at all. Shenzhen has offered 500 million yuan ($75.21 million) of electronic shopping vouchers to residents to spend in local shops and restaurants from May 1. Ningbo city on the east coast is doing something similar.

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"With people shelving travel plans over this May long weekend, we are expecting tourism-related spending to shift to people buying more consumer goods online," said Jacob Cooke, co-founder and CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, an e-commerce consulting firm based in Beijing.

($1 = 6.6483 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Sophie Yu and Brenda Goh; Editing by Stephen Coates)
BEIJING (Reuters) - The decline in Chinese factory activity likely steepened in April, a Reuters poll showed, as extensive lockdowns halted production and disrupted supply chains, boding ill for the economic outlook in the second quarter.

The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) is expected to have dropped to 48.0 in April, the lowest reading since February 2020, and down from 49.5 in March, according to the median forecast of 26 economists polled by Reuters on Friday.

A reading below 50 indicates contraction from the previous month while one above that suggests expansion.

Analysts expected the deteriorating COVID situation in China and escalating anti-virus measures, including the lockdown of the mega city of Shanghai that lasted throughout April, drove the plunge in activity.

Electric car maker Tesla, on Wednesday flagged a temporary fall in production due to China's curbs after it said last week it had lost about a month of build volume out of its Shanghai factory due to the shutdowns.

The full and partial lockdowns in key manufacturing hubs including Shanghai, Suzhou and Ningbo in April has disrupted domestic supply chains, analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note, even though production could partly sustain under closed-loop management systems.

"The lockdown impact on the manufacturing sector would be more than headline PMI shows, given the unwarranted support from longer supplier delivery time amid road logistics disruptions," Morgan Stanley analysts said.

China has vowed to tackle bottlenecks in supply chains affected by COVID by easing congestion at ports and airports and restoring delivery services, according to a State Council meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday, state TV reported.

Even as COVID cases in Shanghai declined in recent days, the capital city of Beijing is grappling with fresh outbreaks, leading to mass testing and mobility curbs in some parts of the city.

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Nomura analysts forecast China's gross domestic product growth in the second quarter to be 1.8% year-on-year.

The official PMI, which largely focuses on big and state-owned firms, and its sibling survey for the services sector, will be released on Saturday.

The private-sector Caixin manufacturing PMI, which focuses more on small firms and coastal regions, will be published on the same day. Analysts expect its headline reading will ease to 47.0 from 48.1 the previous month.

(Reporting by Ellen Zhang, Stella Qiu and Ryan Woo; Editing by Sam Holmes)
MarketWatch

Answer: The first thing to know is this: Federal student loans and about half of private student loans provide a death discharge, which cancels the remaining debt upon death of the borrower, says Mark Kantrowitz, author of Who Graduates From College? To find out if your private student loan could be erased in case of death, youll need to call your servicer and inquire about their policies. Have a question about getting out of student loan or other debt?
PHOENIX (AP)  Arizonas clemency board has unanimously declined to recommend to Gov. Doug Ducey that the death sentence of a prisoner be delayed or reduced to life in prison in what would be the state's first use of the death penalty in nearly eight years.

The decision by the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency on Thursday marks one of the last steps before Clarence Dixons execution in the 1978 killing of Arizona State University student Deana Bowdoin. The execution is scheduled for May 11.

The board made the decision after hearing tearful comments from Bowdins sister, Leslie Bowdin James, who reflected on the brutality her 21-year-old sister suffered.

There is not one legal, social or moral imperative for recommending a reprieve or commutation, she said.

The boards decision keeps the execution on track, at least for now.

A hearing is scheduled Tuesday in a Pinal County court to consider whether Dixon is mentally fit to be executed. His lawyers argue Dixons psychological problems keep him from rationally understanding why the state wants to end his life. Prosecutors have said in court records that the hearing will likely lead to a delay in the execution.

Authorities say Bowdoin, who was found dead in her apartment, had been raped, stabbed and strangled with a belt. Dixon had been charged with raping Bowdoin, but the charge was later dropped on statute-of-limitation grounds. He was convicted, though, in her death.

Before his conviction in Bowdoins death, Dixon was serving life sentences for sexual assault and other convictions stemming from an attack in the mid-1980s on a 21-year-old Northern Arizona University student. DNA samples taken while he was in prison later linked him to Bowdoins killing, which at that point had been unsolved.

In arguing that their client is mentally unfit to be executed, Dixons lawyers say he erroneously believes he will be executed because police at Northern Arizona University wrongfully arrested him in the previous case.

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His attorneys concede he was in fact lawfully arrested then by Flagstaff police and said he cant distinguish between reality and fantasy in the case involving the NAU student.

Board chairwoman Mina Mendez said Bowdin suffered before her death as a result of Dixons actions, that the victims family is haunted by the killing and that she believes the condemned man understands why he will be executed, despite claims that he is mentally unfit.

What was missing was remorse or any kind of acceptance of responsibility, Mendez said.

Board member Michael Johnson said, I dont see him having received any injustice.

Dixon chose not to be present at the hearing.

His lawyers had tried unsuccessfully to get the courts to call off the hearing, arguing the boards makeup violated a law that lets only two people from the same professional discipline serve on the board. Three board members worked previously in law enforcement.

Despite their objections, Dixons attorneys still participated in the hearing.

Amanda Bass, one of Dixons lawyers, said the defense team wasnt disputing whether their client was guilty of murder or minimizing the suffering of Bowdoins family, but rather were asking for mercy because key information about his mental illness wasnt heard at his trial, where Dixon had represented himself after firing his attorney.

Bass said jurors didnt hear that Dixon had been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a young man and at one time had been committed to the Arizona State Hospital.

Bass also said Dixon was the subject of a civil commitment order issued two days before Bowdoins killing by then-Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sandra Day OConnor after the future U.S. Supreme Court justice had found Dixon not guilty by reason of insanity in a 1977 assault case. The order was issued two days before Bowdin's killing.

The jury didnt know any of this, Bass said.

Ellen Dahl, a Maricopa County prosecutor, said the cruelty suffered by Bowdin was unimaginable.

Mercy? Dahl asked. Where was the mercy for Deana as she lay with a strap across her neck?

The last time Arizona used the death penalty was in July 2014, when Joseph Wood was given 15 doses of a two-drug combination over two hours in an execution that his lawyers said was botched.

States, including Arizona, have struggled to buy execution drugs in recent years after U.S. and European pharmaceutical companies began blocking the use of their products in lethal injections. Last year, Arizona corrections officials revealed that they had finally obtained a lethal injection drug and were ready to resume executions.

Arizona has 113 prisoners on death row.

___

This story has been updated to reflect that Arizona has 113 prisoners on death row, not 112.
The committee for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign is seeking to block Special Counsel John Durham from obtaining certain documents related to law firm Perkins Coie and its work with the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and opposition research firm Fusion GPS.

In a filing late Thursday, Hillary for America (HFA), the principal campaign committee for former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign, argued that certain privileged documents should be withheld based on attorney-client privilege.

DURHAM RELEASES FORMER CLINTON LAWYER MICHAEL SUSSMANN'S TEXT MESSAGE, SAYS HE PUT 'LIE IN WRITING'

Durhams team, earlier this month, had sought the production of documents related to the work and requested the non-party entities provide "further justification for the assertion of their privilege."

Hillary For America and the DNC are the holders of the privileges at issue, according to the filing.

Perkins Coie is the law firm that the DNC and the Clinton campaign used to fund the now-infamous anti-Trump dossier. The unverified dossier was authored by Christopher Steele, an ex-British intelligence officer, and commissioned by Fusion GPS.

To support the opposition to compel and justify the assertion of attorney-client privilege, Hillary For American provided declarations from Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook and Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.

Mook, in a declaration filed in court late Thursday, said that in April 2015, Hillary for America "engaged Marc Elias and the law firm of Perkins Coie as its general counsel."

John Podesta in a 2013 file photo 2013 Getty Images

"It was my expectation that the law firm would be responsible for providing legal services and legal advice to HFA," Mook states. "When HFA engaged Perkins Coie as its general counsel in April 2015, Donald Trump had not yet announced his candidacy for the presidency. He announced his candidacy in June 2015."

Mook stated that by April 2016, Trump had a "significant lead in the delegate count for the Republican nomination, and it seemed highly likely that he would eventually be the Republican nominee for the 2016 Presidential election."

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DURHAM SAYS CIA FOUND DATA ALLEGING TRUMP-RUSSIA CONNECTION NOT 'TECHNICALLY PLAUSIBLE,' WAS 'USER CREATED'

"One of the topics about which Perkins Coie provided legal services and legal advice to HFA involved fact-finding and research that the campaign conducted regarding candidate Donald Trump," Mook states.

"Although I was not aware during the campaign of any contractors that Perkins Coie engaged to assist it in providing legal services and legal advice regarding this work, I did believe throughout the campaign that whatever work Perkins Coie performed, either through its own professionals or through any contractors it may have engaged to assist it, the work was done for the purpose of providing legal services and legal advice to HFA," Mook states.

In his declaration, Podesta states: "HFA asserts its attorney-client privilege and the attorney-work product protection with respect to all documents and information under the control of Perkins Coie or any of its consultants, including Fusion GPS."

"HFA is not waiving any of its privileges, and it opposes the governments motion to compel filed on April 6, 2022," Podesta states.

The back-and-forth over documents comes ahead of the trial of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, which is set to begin May 16.

Durham's original indictment alleges Sussmann told then-FBI General Counsel James Baker in September 2016  less than two months before the 2016 presidential election  he was not doing work "for any client" when he requested and held a meeting where he presented "purported data and 'white papers' that allegedly demonstrated a covert communications channel" between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, which has ties to the Kremlin.

Durham, in previous court filings, attempts to outline the connection between Sussmann and the now-infamous and discredited anti-Trump dossier, which contained allegations of purported coordination between Trump and the Russian government.

Durham, in a filing earlier this month, stated that Sussmann "represented and worked for the Clinton campaign in connection with its broader opposition research efforts" and "took steps to integrate" the Alfa Bank allegations "into those opposition research efforts."

Earlier this week, during a motions hearing, government prosecutors argued that there is a "strong intersection" between the opposition research against Trump that Steele was collecting on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the allegations Sussmann presented to the FBI attempting to tie Trump to Russias Alfa Bank.

Sussmanns defense attorneys called Steele a "lightening rod," and argued that introducing anything about him or his work into the trial would be prejudicial against their client.
Protesters clashed with police in several Colombian cities Thursday as hundreds of demonstrators marked the one-year anniversary of a mass uprising against outgoing conservative president Ivan Duque.

In Bogota, Medellin and Popayan, hooded protesters threw stones, Molotov cocktails and fireworks at riot officers.

Police responded with flash bombs, non-lethal ammunition and tear gas.

One protester was wounded in the eye and several young people were detained at National University in Bogota, AFP journalists observed.

One year ago -- in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic -- Duque's government proposed a tax increase, igniting a wave of social unrest across the country that lasted until June.

Roads were blockaded and civilians engaged in bloody confrontations with security forces.

According to a UN report, at least 46 people died in last year's clashes -- 44 civilians and two police.

Next month, Colombians will choose Duque's successor, with leftist opposition candidate Gustavo Petro favored in polls.

In the run-up to the protest anniversary, Petro's coalition was divided over how involved they should be.

Although part of his leftist coalition decided to join in, the centrist labor and teachers' unions which led the protests last year chose to remain on the sidelines.

"Any violent act and riots will be the action of a criminal strategy of the right wing to accuse Gustavo Petro and affect elections," declared Wilson Arias, a senator-elect for the leftist coalition Pacto Historico, in a tweet.

jss/vel/yow/des/bfm
Gary Arellano, 63, was shot when he tried to intervene in a fight at La Alma Lincoln Park, authorities said. This was where he grew up. This is where he lived, a relative said of the citys west side. This is where he died.
An Oklahoma couple who planned to exchange vows in Las Vegas instead got married on the plane after their flight was canceled, they tell PEOPLE.

Last week, Jeremy Salda and Pam Patterson quickly put together plans for a Las Vegas wedding set for Sunday, April 24.

The duo made sure to check off all the boxes: they reserved an appointment for a marriage license, booked a hotel near the Strip and bought tickets for a flight from Oklahoma City to Nevada. Patterson even bought a $200 wedding dress online.

But their plans soon hit turbulence  just two days later, their flight was canceled, leading them to rebook with a different airline, this time for a flight with a connection out of Texas.

When they finally made it to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Salda and Patterson could only watch as their final flight to Vegas was delayed multiple times before being outright canceled.

The couple, who began dating in August 2020, had worn their wedding attire to the airport because they wouldn't have much time to spare once they made it to Las Vegas. After hearing their story, an ordained minister heading to Las Vegas offered to marry them if they couldn't make their wedding appointment.

Salda, Patterson and the minister found a Southwest Airlines flight to Vegas out of Love Field Airport and quickly called an Uber to get them there in time.

RELATED: After Beating Cancer Twice, Louisiana Woman Marries for the First Time at 73  and She Has No Regrets

Oklahoma Couple's 7-Mile High Marriage Credit: Jeremy Salda and Pam Patterson Salda

Jeremy Salda and Pam Patterson Salda

"It's like a scene from a movie," Patterson, 52, tells PEOPLE in the video above. "I'm literally running through the airport, through security, in a wedding dress. People are shouting at us, 'Congratulations! Yay!'"

When they boarded, the pilot asked the couple if they were going to get married in Las Vegas, to which Patterson replied: "We're going to try, but if not, I'm just going to get married on this plane."

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Turns out, the flight crew liked the idea and they began decorating the cabin with toilet paper streamers. They even downloaded a copy of "Here Comes the Bride" and brought out bottles of champagne.

Do you have a love story the world needs to know? Send the details to love@people.com for a chance to be featured in Real-Life Love, People.com's new series dedicated to sharing extraordinary romances and heartfelt gestures.

When they reached a cruising altitude, the lights were dimmed, and the minister they just met hours earlier officiated Salda and Patterson's wedding in front of dozens of strangers.

"I said, 'If there's ever any turbulence I want to weather it with you,'" Patterson recalls.

The couple began dating two years ago after Patterson was laid off from her medical sales job during the pandemic. Salda, a 49-year-old graphic designer who is also divorced, was Patterson's first online date.

"It was just one of those great dates," Patterson, who has a 28-year-old daughter and 20-year-old son, remembers, "where you talk all night until 2 a.m."

During their first time together, Patterson told Salda that she likes to "throw kindness around like confetti." So for their second date, Salda brought flowers and a bag of confetti that the two tossed around town.

"He is just so kind and sweet and helpful and complimentary, and he will do anything for anybody," Patterson says of Salda, who has a 15-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter. "He just makes me feel special all the time."

RELATED: Women Born on Same Day in Same Hospital Now Engaged 30 Years Later  All Thanks to Their High School Reunion

While they had chemistry together, the two weren't yet ready to settle down. Instead, they chose to stay in touch while dating other people.

"I didn't know if I was ready to do a whole, family thing again," Patterson says.

But they eventually reconnected after Salda reached out to her on Mother's Day, and treated her to a day out after she said the day had been stressful.

"She is probably the kindest, nicest, most generous person I have ever met in my life," he says of Patterson. "I have never met somebody that truly looks for the good in others. She can find good in just about anybody."

Oklahoma Couple's 7-Mile High Marriage Credit: Jeremy Salda and Pam Patterson Salda

Jeremy Salda and Pam Patterson Salda

Salda made things official when he proposed to Patterson on a beach in Cancun in January.

"I've been speechless twice in my life: The time I met Tim McGraw, and that day," Patterson remembers.

That's when their idea for a Las Vegas ceremony began. They planned a Cabo wedding in August, but first needed to have a legal one in the U.S., and Sin City seemed like the perfect place to do it.

Instead, their wedding at 37,000 feet over Arizona has gone viral, with countless people across the world watching the sweet moments that unfolded on the plane.

Among the cherished memories: the couple's first dance up and down the airplane aisle to Bruno Mars' "Marry You."

"I said I wanted to be his co-pilot for life," Patterson recalls.

One passenger even gifted them a mini donut as a wedding cake. And a notebook was passed around the plane as a guest book.

Patterson says, "Someone on the plane told us, 'I feel like I just watched a rom-com.'"
A 42-year-old Dallas man has pleaded guilty to human trafficking after he was charged in September 2019, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 6.

Tremont Blakemore, who called himself Macknificent, pleaded guilty Wednesday to sex trafficking through force, fraud and coercion in front of U.S. District Judge Ada Brown. Blakemore admitted in plea papers to running a large human trafficking organization in which he threatened grotesque violence to force women to engage in commercial sex acts for his financial benefit, according to the release.

Blakemore made women travel across the country to engage in commercial sex acts, advertising them on websites like Backpage.com, and demanded that the women turn over all the money and get his permission for personal spending, according to the Justice Department.

He would use violence when his victims would disobey him by doing things like leaving the house without his permission or keeping money for themselves, according to the Justice Department. Victims told law enforcement he would slap, punch, choke, kick and burn them with cigarettes.

Im going to make an example out of someone soon, Blakemore said in a group text to his victims, according to the news release. I will not continue to tolerate disrespect thats one of my biggest pet peeves.

Blakemore said he used money from his victims sexual encounters to buy luxury goods including gold and diamond jewelry and Rolex watches, in part to recruit additional victims, according to the Justice Department.

Blakemore faces up to 20 years in federal prison, according to the Justice Department. Charges were filed after investigations by the Homeland Security Investigations Dallas Field Office, Oakridge police, Dallas police, the FBI Dallas Field Office and the North Texas Traffick Task Force. Melanie Smith and Nicole Dana, assistant U.S. district attorneys, prosecuted the case.
A Ukrainian serviceman in Donetsk Oblast.

2005: Russians have captured two British volunteers working in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the Guardian has reported.

British aid workers Paul Urey and Dilan Healy were helping to deliver humanitarian aid in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

According to the Guardian, Presidium Network, a UK-based NGO that carries out evacuations of families and individuals from war zones, identified Paul Urey and Dylan Healy as the captured men.

1908: The number of casualties in Russia's bombing of AzovStal makeshift hospital grew from 178 to 600 people wounded in the attack, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko has said at a briefing.

Russians continue to destroy Mariupol residents, Boychenko said.

Russian troops have already killed more than 20,000 Mariupol residents, which the mayor said, was a "genocide of the Russian-speaking population" of Ukraine by Russian troops.

"There is almost no food, almost no water, almost no medicine. They have been in such conditions for more than 60 days. And they are begging for help," Boychenko said about the situation in Azovstal.

1602: Invading Russian troops have started kidnapping men of conscription age in Melitopol, the city's mayor, Ivan Fedorov, has reported.

"All men of military age are being abducted," Fedorov said during a telethon on Ukrainian TV.

"Two weeks ago, they began to offer them to join the Russian army, and today they are kidnapping them at checkpoints and taking them to unknown locations."

1529: Russian proxies in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts have been forcing local students to donate blood to wounded Russian soldiers, Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudswoman Lyudmila Denisova has reported.

According to her, there were more than 700 cases of forced blood donations reported in the occupied territories of the Donbas.

Students of the Donetsk National University, Donetsk National Technical University, Donbas National Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Donbas Law Academy, M. Gorky Donetsk National Medical University, Luhansk Medical University, Luhansk Agrarian University, Luhansk Pedagogical University, Luhansk Academy of Internal Affairs were forced to give their blood to soldiers.

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Denisova said that this is a violation of the Geneva Convention on the protection of the populations of occupied territories.

1508: Ukraine's SBU security service has arrested a group of Russian soldiers that were aiming to seize Pivdennoukrainska Nuclear Power Plant in Mykolaiv Oblast, SBU press service has reported.

Three Russian soldiers were hiding in an abandoned building near Voznesensk.

In March Russian invading forces attacked Mykolaiv Oblast, trying to seize the NPP.

1456: Ukrainian forces have liberated Ruska Lozova, a strategically important village in Kharkiv Oblast, the Ukrainian Land Forces Command has reported.

"A Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) squad under the command of the Commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrsky have liberated Ruska Lozova. Currently, it is completely under the control of the Armed Forces, "the statement reads.

According to the Ukrainian military, this is a strategically important village on the Kharkiv-Belgorod highway. The Russians used their positions in Ruska Lozova to shell Kharkiv.

1228: Yesterday's Russian missile strike on Kyiv killed RFE/RL Ukrainian Service journalist Vira Hyrych, her colleagues have reported.

A Russian missile hit the building where she had an apartment. Her body was found in the morning of April 29.

Morning Digest

Yesterday evening Russia shelled Kyiv's downtown, killing at least one person and injuring more than 10. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky not far from the place of the attack, said he was shocked that Russia dared to attack Kyiv during his visit, BBC has reported.

Read also: Interview with Azov fighter about the situation in Mariupols last stronghold

President Zelensky has said the incident says a lot about "Russia's true attitude towards the international diplomatic institutions."

The international community needs to react, he added.

The U.S. House of Representatives has finally supported a bill on a lend lease for Ukraine, which should significantly speed up the supply of weapons, transport, and other assistance to Ukraine from the United States.

The bill must now be signed by U.S. President Joe Biden.

Read also: About 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers remain at Azovstal  Vereshchuk

Overnight, Russian invaders strengthened their push against Ukrainian forces all over the war front in Ukraine's east and south.

The occupiers have been shelling Kharkiv Oblast with artillery. Two people were killed and four more wounded in Kharkiv, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synehubov said. One person was wounded in the village of Khroly , one person died and one person was wounded in the village of Kotliary, and five people were wounded and two people killed in the village of Pokotylivka in Kharkiv Oblast.

The Russian army has been progressing in Donbas, but the progress is slow and uneven, US officials told CNN.

Read also: 64th day of Putin's war. U.S. passes Lend-Lease for Ukraine, Russian missiles strike Kyiv during UN visit

Meanwhile, Ukraine's General Staff reported that Russia has been shelling Ukrainian positions all over Donbas and in the south of Ukraine, preventing Ukrainian forces from regrouping.

Ukraine aims to evacuate people from Azovstal today, Reuters has reported, citing the President's Office of Ukraine.
Almost half of the sidewalks in Denver are either missing or too narrow, according to city documents, and thats not counting those that are broken or damaged. That's why the Denver Streets Partnership started the Denver Deserves Sidewalks campaign. The group says they are done waiting on the city
By Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co's head of corporate affairs, Geoff Morrell, is leaving the company three months after joining from oil and energy company BP Plc, according to an email on Friday from Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek.

Morrell's brief tenure has been marked by controversy over the company's response to Floridas law barring classroom instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity for some younger students.

"It has become clear to me that for a number of reasons it is not the right fit," Morrell wrote in a separate email to his staff. "I have decided to leave the company to pursue other opportunities."

Both emails were seen by Reuters.

Kristina Schake will lead the company's communications efforts, Chapek said in the email. Her 30-plus years of experience include heading up President Joe Biden's vaccine education program, as well as communications for Instagram and work in the Obama administration.

Government relations and global public policy will be led by Disney's general counsel, Horacio Gutierrez.

Disney became the focus of criticism for initially failing to speak out publicly against the Florida legislation, which critics call the Dont Say Gay bill. The company said it worked behind the scenes to influence the legislation, an approach Chapek admitted had failed. He later voiced disappointment with the measure and apologized to the company's LGBTQ employees for failing to be a "stronger ally in the fight for equal rights."

When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill into law on March 28, Disney issued a statement saying it "should never have passed" and said that it should be repealed.

Disney's public condemnation opened a new front in the nation's culture wars, with DeSantis signing a bill on April 22 that would strip the company of its self-governing authority at its Orlando-area parks in apparent retaliation.

The company has yet to issue a statement on the new law, which would take effect on June 1, 2023.

(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn. Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock

Groups of voters in at least three states have embarked on a high-stakes legal fight to disqualify lawmakers who participated in or provoked the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. The voters, represented by the progressive group Free Speech for People, argue that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution bars anyone who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding "any office, civil or military," in the United States.

The effort so far has been mixed  one federal judge dismissed the case against Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), pending appeal, but another has allowed litigation to proceed against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Free Speech for People has also filed challenges against two GOP congressmen in Arizona, representatives Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, plus state Rep. Mark Finchem (R), and another group is trying to disqualify a group of Wisconsin Republicans, including Sen. Ron Johnson (R).

Should Jan. 6 "insurrectionists" be barred from serving in Congress?

Pro: The law is the law

The "disqualification clause" of the 14th Amendment "adds a constitutional requirement for holding federal office, namely, refraining from insurrection or rebellion against the United States after taking an oath to support the Constitution," and like all such constitutionally prescribed limits on holding federal office  age, citizenship, term limits  it is "self-executing, meaning it takes effect immediately and without the need for congressional intervention," Bruce Fein, an official in the Reagan Justice Department, writes at The Hill.

In effect, Fein writes, "the candidacies of Greene and Cawthorn will be stillborn if they are proven to have engaged in insurrection against the United States on Jan. 6."

Con: That's not what the law means

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, mostly as a way to "to get rid of people who wanted to come back to Congress" or the federal government after joining the Confederacy in the Civil War, "usually as military officers," Ron Elving explains at NPR News. Since Reconstruction ended, "it's become something of a relic, as we have not had another insurrection or rebellion on the scale of the Civil War."

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"Since 1868, the federal judiciary has had few occasions to interpret Section 3," so "the courts are largely in uncharted territory," Josh Blackman and S. B. Tillman write in The New York Times. But according to a persuasive 1869 case, Section 3 is not self-executing, so "only the federal government  not the states  can disqualify insurrectionists from congressional ballots." Congress hasn't done that, they add, so "state courts and elections boards lack jurisdiction to exclude alleged insurrectionists from the congressional ballot."

Pro: Fealty to the Constitution is a minimum qualification

"Do we really need the courts to tell us people who participate in insurrections against the government don't belong in office? Is that the sad state of our politics in 2022?" Joyce Vance asks at MSNBC. For her part, "Greene's conduct isn't really in question  no matter how many times she rolls her eyes and tries to will her own words away"  and her April 25 testimony in federal court "presented a stark picture of someone who seems intent on turning democracy into cosplay."

Con: The courts will never go along with this

Ultimately, it's unlikely these challenges to the candidacies of lawmakers tied to Jan. 6 "will have any teeth," MSNBC's Vance writes. "Using this particular Civil War-era constitutional amendment to hold Greene accountable is fraught," and "lawsuits like this may not be enough to keep people who sought to undo one of the most sacred traditions of our government, the peaceful transfer of power, out of positions where they can do still more damage to democracy."

Pro: "Insurrection" must have consequences

"Insurrections aren't everyday, casual affairs," and in the Greene hearing, "Free Speech for the People pointed out that the Constitution doesn't normalize insurrection," Vance writes at MSNBC. It's some consolation that "even if the challenge to Greene's candidacy is unsuccessful, it has played a role in exposing more Americans to painful truths about the times we live in. Every step toward ensuring Americans don't think of an insurrection as an event to move on from without holding those responsible accountable is a step in the right direction."

Con: Voters decide the consequences

Cawthorn's lawyer called the challenge to his candidacy "fundamentally anti-democratic" and argued it "supplants voters for state bureaucrats who will determine who can represent the people." And in the end, the fates of Cawthorn, Greene, and the others rests with the voters in their districts, attorney Teri Kanefield concludes at NBC Think.

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The U.S. Department of Justice sued Paul Manafort, who served as former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign chairman, for just under $3 million for not reporting his financial interest in foreign accounts in a timely fashion.

A jury convicted Manafort of tax evasion and bank fraud charges in Aug. 2018, but President Trump pardoned him in 2020, shortly before leaving office.

"The United States of America brings this action to collect outstanding civil penalties assessed against Defendant Paul J. Manafort for his willful failure to timely report his financial interest in foreign bank accounts," the Justice Department said Thursday in a filing with the U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, Florida, Reuters reported.

Paul Manafort arrives for a hearing at US District Court on June 15, 2018, in Washington, DC. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

The DOJ says it is seeking $2,976,350.15.

Manafort's lawyer, Jeffrey Neiman, characterized the lawsuit as an attempt to embarrass his client. He said the government is seeking a penalty against Manafort "for simply failing to file a tax form."

DURHAM SAYS CIA FOUND DATA ALLEGING TRUMP-RUSSIA CONNECTION NOT 'TECHNICALLY PLAUSIBLE,' WAS 'USER CREATED'

"Mr. Manafort was aware the Government was going to file the suit because he has tried for months to resolve this civil matter," Neiman said. "Nonetheless, the Government insisted on filing this suit simply to embarrass Mr. Manafort."

In the 2018 criminal fraud case resulting in conviction, prosecutors had accused Manafort of hiding from U.S. tax authorities the $16 million he earned as a political consultant working for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine to fund an opulent lifestyle. They also accused him of having lied to banks to secure $20 million in loans after his Ukrainian income dried up. He did not register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) until 2017, years after his Ukraine work.

A Republican-led U.S. Senate committee concluded in 2020 that Manafort's involvement in the Trump campaign posed a counterintelligence threat, making the U.S. vulnerable to Russia.

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"Taken as a whole, Manafort's high-level access and willingness to share information with individuals closely affiliated with the Russian intelligence services, particularly [Konstantin] Kilimnik and associates of [Oleg] Deripaska, represented a grave counterintelligence threat," the committee wrote in a 966-page report.

HOW PAUL MANAFORT IS CONNECTED TO TRUMP, RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

The case against Manafort came amidst Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Trump's ties with Russia  an investigation currently at the heart of Special Counsel John Durham's own investigation. Trump has repeatedly claimed that Mueller's probe was a "witch hunt," and critics have faulted the Trump-Russia investigation for relying on the salacious and unverified dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, paid for by the Clinton campaign.

U.S. Attorney John Durham, center, outside federal court in New Haven, Conn., after the sentencing of former Gov. John Rowland. Bob MacDonnell/Hartford Courant/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

"It was a weaponization of the law enforcement and national security operations," Manafort told Fox News in January. "It was targeted. In my wildest dreams, I couldn't have imagined this type of targeting, to undermine his presidency and to try and remove him from office. And there was no way I was going to ever be a participant in that."

Manafort claimed that law enforcement officers induced him to lie while he served time in jail from June 2018 to May 2020.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Donald Trump Associated Press

Donald Trump will remain in contempt of court for stymying NY Attorney General Letitia James' probe of his business, a judge ruled.

Trump is being fined $10K a day for failing to comply with the AG's subpoena for his personal business documents.

The judge has repeatedly questioned why Trump hasn't sworn a statement detailing where he had searched for documents before coming up empty.

Donald Trump will remain in contempt of court and must continue to pay a $10,000-a-day fine to New York's Attorney General for failing to comply with her subpoena for his personal business documents, a Manhattan judge has ruled.

The decision came Friday in a hastily-called conference before the judge who presides over the multiple subpoena battles between Trump and AG Letitia James.

"I'm disappointed that Mr. Trump hasn't been more forthcoming," the judge, New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, said during the conference. "Where did he keep files? I'm assuming it wasn't all in his head?"

Read the judge's opinion here.

A Trump lawyer begged for the fines to end

A lawyer for Trump had hoped that the conference would end with the judge at least lifting the heavy fine, if not the contempt order that imposed the fine.

"I will give you additional information until you feel satisfied," Trump attorney Alina Habba told the judge.

"I will do whatever you want to show you there's really nothing left in his custody," in the way of documents, she told the judge at another point. "What he has in his possession you already have."

But Engoron said that the contempt order will remain in effect until Trump swears out an affidavit that clearly describes the "who, what, where and when" of his search for the personal business documents James wants for her three year probe of the Trump Organization.

Trump's one-page affidavit was not enough

A cautiously-worded one-page affidavit that Trump swore to on Wednesday was deemed insufficient by the judge.

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That affidavit, signed in Sharpie by the former president before a Palm Beach County, Fla., notary public, asserted that he has no more documents "in my personal possession" to turn over to the AG probe.

"If there are any documents responsive to the subpoena I believe they would be in the possession or custody of the Trump Organization," he added.

"Obviously," AG attorney Andrew Amer said at the conference, "Mr. Trump's affidavit says not much at all."

Engoron agreed.

"I would have liked him to say, here is where I keep my records," the judge told the parties.

And what about the 'Post-its?'

"He's famous, I believe, for Post-its," the judge continued. "When he wants something done, he puts a Post-it on it," the judge added, citing a deposition from Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten. Yet no such sticky notes have been turned over, the judge said.

"He doesn't have any Post-its," Habba snapped back, in one of the conference's odder moments. "That's a comment that was made by Mr. Garten that's become a very press-heavy thing," she said, adding, "It's actually comical."

In response to an AG subpoena, Garten had told the AG last summer that "Mr. Trump had assistants who maintained files on his behalf, that he received and maintained hard copy documents, and that he used Post-it Notes to communicate with employees," according to an AG filing from January.

The judge said he may at some point reconsider the imposition of the fine.

"If you don't hear from me, it's still in effect," he told Trump's lawyer. "The clock is still ticking."

Where did Trump look? What did he look for?

The contempt order, however, will remain until Trump swears out a more detailed affidavit explaining where documents were searched for and why those searches came up empty, the judge said.

"I want to know who did these searches," Engoron told Trump's lawyer.

"Where did they look? When did they look? What were they looking for?"

The judge suggested a second avenue for getting out of contempt. An independent document-search firm, HaystackID is completing a court-ordered search for all Trump Organization documents.

That independent search will wrap up within two weeks, with final tranches of records due on May 6 for office-stored documents, and May 13 for off-site storage documents, AG attorney Kevin C. Wallace told the judge.

The judge replied that those search results may ultimately answer the AG's remaining document questions.

"Obviously I'll take, as the Attorney General has agreed, I'll take what they [HaystackID] say at face value, whether it's May 6, or May 13 or May 1st. And we'll look at the situation then. We'll see if there's been compliance."

$10K-a-day since Tuesday

Trump was found in contempt on Monday. The fines began to accumulate on Tuesday, when the judge issued his written contempt order.

At the hearing, Habba insisted that Trump, through the Trump Organization, has already turned over all the documents he has to the AG's investigation, which is probing whether Trump lied about the worth of his real estate assets in order to secure millions in loans and tax breaks.

"I don't want to do this dance back and forth," she said during the hour-long conference, which was held via video.

"I don't have more documents to give you. So you can fine us for ten months, but you're not going to get any more documents from Mr. Trump."

Lawyers for the AG's office countered Trump was issued a separate document subpoena in December because two years of Trump Organization searches for Trump's documents had "lots of problems," as one of the AG's attorneys, Amer, said.

"We don't believe those searches were done correctly, thoroughly, or adequately," Amer told the judge.

How do you know that, the judge asked.

"We've been reading the Haystacks reports," which is turning up documents that the Trump Organization had not initially produced, Amer answered. "There's huge gaps and holes," Amer said.

As of Thursday, Trump owed James' office  as the aggrieved party in the contempt order  $30,000 in fines. That total will rise Friday to $40,000.

Trump will appeal the contempt order and fine, said Habba, who has already filed a notice of appeal in the case.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A student from India who left his family for Ukraine to attend university and find a better job says he experienced discrimination and robbery in the midst of an ongoing war.



Mohammad Sajid, 23, arrived in Kyiv in February to study at the National University of Physical Education and Sport and find a part-time job to be able to support his family in India. But they had no idea that a war would erupt in Ukraine a week later.



"It was hard going as I didnt know the language and also how things work in Ukraine but one thing was for sure, I had left behind a country that I knew I could never progress in, where a culture of corruption means bribes often matter more than your skill set, Sajid shared in an essay for Metro.



He and his friends encountered some challenges while trying to escape Ukraine because of the language barrier. He claimed taxis would charge Indians double the price, while white people only paid half.



The drivers took white people and animals over us, Sajid wrote. I felt like an outsider  I had never experienced the scale of discrimination and racism I saw there  it was sickening and heart-breaking.



Other locals were generous enough to offer money and food during Sajids nine-day journey from Kyiv to Lviv. He shared that he was robbed of his clothes and money while attempting to leave Kyiv, but a local Good Samaritan managed to help him escape to a refugee camp in Poland.



It felt like crossing the border both practically and emotionally  it was quite stressful because I thought I may get stopped and then sent back, he continued.



Sajid remains at the camp and has since received new clothes, money and food from Khalsa Aid, which provides humanitarian aid in disaster areas and civil conflict zones. He is now searching for a place to live as the camp has limited space, but he says he doesnt feel Ukraine nor India is safe for him.



Sajid has since been in contact with his family, but he has barely gotten any sleep because of his memories from the first days of trying to flee from Kyiv. He hopes that both Ukrainian people and Indian students stranded in the country get the help and support they need.



I hope I can find somewhere to go and that my life takes a positive turn but until then I am safe here and am really grateful for the support I have been given so far, Sajid said.



While I have concerns about my own future and other students  the main thing I pray for is the end of the war.







Feature Image via Getty

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Elisabeth Moss is defending Scientology against its detractors, calling the religion misunderstood.

During an interview with The New Yorker, the "Handmaid's Tale" star, 39, who rarely speaks publicly about Scientology, opened up about her long history with the religion, which was founded in the 20th century by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

I dont want to come off as being cagey, Moss said of her involvement with the religion. If you and I met, just hanging out as friends, Im, like, an open book about it. (But) I dont want people to be distracted by something when theyre watching me. I want them to be seeing the character. I feel like, when actors reveal too much of their lives, Im sometimes watching something and Im going, Oh, I know that she just broke up with that person, or, I know that she loves to do hot yoga, or whatever it is.

Moss' parents joined Scientology before she was born, with Moss' involvement beginning when she was a child.

Household (Sophie Giraud / Hulu)

However, some of Moss' fans have trouble reconciling the fact that the actor, who plays a strong female character battling an oppressive and sexist government in "The Handmaid's Tale," is in real life a member of a group often accused of being a dangerous cult.

"People can obviously hold in their mind whatever they want to, and I cant control that. If its not that, its going to be something else," Moss told the New Yorker.

The Emmy winner said she "would just encourage people to find out" about Scientology for themselves and not rely on media reports.

Ive certainly been guilty of reading an article or watching something and taking that as gospel," said Moss.

Moss later added that her acting work often reflects her personal values. And obviously something like religious freedom and resistance against a theocracy is very important to me," she said.

The "Mad Men" alum, who credited Scientology for making her a better communicator, said the religion is more welcoming to newcomers than people may realize.

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Its not really a closed-off religion, she said. Its a place that is very open to, like, welcoming in somebody who wants to learn more about it. I think thats the thing that is probably the most misunderstood.

As for allegations of tensions between Moss and fellow Hollywood star and ex-Scientologist Leah Remini  who won multiple awards for her her anti-Scientology docu-series Scientology and the Aftermath"  Moss advised fans again not to believe everything they read.

Moss disputed Reminis 2017 claim to The Hollywood Reporter that the church forbids Moss to speak to Remini, who is now considered by church leaders to be an "antisocial personality."

I have never received any request to talk to her, said Moss. So there hasnt been an opportunity for her to say that. I dont know her that well, so its not like we were friends.

She also denied reports that she exited the room to avoid hearing Remini's speech after Remini won an award for the series at the 2017 Television Critics Association Awards.

I went to the bathroom," Moss explained. "I wish it was more exciting than that."
By Stephen Jewkes and Francesca Landini

MILAN (Reuters) -Eni will press ahead with plans to find alternative gas supplies following Russia's invasion of Ukraine after first-quarter profits soared above expectations on booming prices.

The Italian energy group is looking to use its presence in Africa to provide 14 trillion cubic feet of extra gas and more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help Europe cut its reliance on Russian supplies.

"We rapidly reacted to the ongoing challenges of the energy market...to find alternative and additional supply opportunities for Europe," Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi said on Friday.

Descalzi has travelled with Italian ministers to several producer countries in Africa to secure alternative supplies, signing deals with Algeria, Angola, Egypt and Congo Republic.

Eni, whose main shareholder is the state, is one of the biggest wholesale buyers of Russian gas, importing 30 billion cubic metres last year.

It is weighing its options over the payment scheme Russia introduced for buying its gas, sources said.

Descalzi said the first quarter marked "clear progress in executing our strategy of delivering security and sustainability of the energy system".

The conflict in Ukraine sent commodity prices higher when tight supplies and resurgent demand after COVID-19 had already shaken markets.

In the first three months, Eni said adjusted net profit came in at 3.27 billion euros ($3.4 billion) from 0.27 billion euros a year ago, beating a 2.47 billion euro consensus.

The group raised its operating profit target for its gas and power business on the back of a supportive outlook for the year, while also raising cash flow expectations.

"Eni is raising guidance... and the outlook for earnings and cash is positive in our view," said Santander energy analyst Jason Kenney.

At 0950 GMT Eni shares were up 0.6% while the European oil and gas index was up 0.2%.

Like peers, Eni is overhauling its oil and gas businesses and shifting to renewables and low-carbon energy.

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On Friday, it confirmed plans to list its renewables and retail business Plenitude this year in what is likely to be one of Italy's biggest initial public offerings.

The group could list up to 30% of Plenitude which sources have said could be worth around 10 billion euros.

($1 = 0.9492 euros)

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes and Francesca Landini; editing by John Stonestreet and Barbara Lewis)
Marine wildlife could disappear over the next few centuries at rates not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs as the worlds oceans continue to warm due to rising greenhouse gases, according to a new study.

Without a substantial reduction in emissions, species losses from warming and oxygen depletion alone could mirror the sizable impact humans have already had on marine biodiversity by 2100, researchers found in the study published in Science.

Tropical waters would undergo the most severe biodiversity loss, while polar species are at the highest risk of extinction, the scientists noted.

Aggressive and rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are critical for avoiding a major mass extinction of ocean species, senior author Curtis Deutsch, a geosciences professor at Princeton University, said in a statement.

But if the worlds nations do succeed in curbing emissions, such a reversal could reduce the risk of extinction by more than 70 percent, according to the study.

The silver lining is that the future isnt written in stone, lead author and postdoctoral researcher Justin Penn added.





Welcome to Equilibrium, a newsletter that tracks the growing global battle over the future of sustainability. Were Saul Elbein and Sharon Udasin. Send us tips and feedback. Subscribe here.

Today well take a look at how warming climate conditions could lead to rising cases of viral sharing among species. Then well look at the increasing rates of habitat loss in the worlds forests.





Climate change could spark next pandemic: study

As the global climate continues to warm, wild animals may be forced to relocate to areas with large human populations  increasing the likelihood of a viral jump that could cause the next pandemic, new research shows.

Different mammalian species will encounter one another for the first time during these journeys  called geographic range shifts  and in doing so, they will also share thousands of viruses, according to the study, published on Thursday in Nature.

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Harder to track, easier to spread: Such shifts will also pave the way for pathogens like Ebola or coronaviruses to thrive in new areas and in new types of animals, making them harder to track, the authors warned.

This phenomenon will essentially normalize the risks that people today associate with wildlife trade, according to lead author Colin Carlson, an assistant research professor at Georgetown University Medical Center.

[Live animal markets] arent special anymore, Carlson said in a statement. In a changing climate, that kind of process will be the reality in nature just about everywhere.

How they measured it: To draw their conclusions, the scientists conducted a comprehensive assessment of how climate change will transform the global mammalian virome  or the collection of viruses found in mammals.

They simulated potential hotspots by using geographic models of the mammal virus network and range shift projections for more than 3,000 species, under various climate change and land use scenarios for the year 2070.

A chief concern the scientists identified was the possibility that animal habitats will shift disproportionately to the same places that humans inhabit, amplifying the risk of viral spillover.

That process, they warned, is already underway in todays environment, at 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may not be able to thwart these events from unfolding, according to the authors.





CURRENT CLIMATE PLANS INADEQUATE, RESEARCHERS SAY

Even if the world succeeds in keeping warming this century under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit)  the internationally recognized upper limit for global warming  doing so will not reduce future viral sharing, the scientists noted.

Bats have scientists most concerned: Rising temperatures will have particularly worrisome effects on bats, as these winged mammals can both travel long distances and are responsible for the majority of novel viral sharing, according to the study.

The scientists projected that the greatest impacts of such viral emergence will occur in Southeast Asia, which they described as a global hotspot of bat diversity.

But there may be a solution: While the authors concluded that climate change is poised to become the biggest upstream risk factor for disease emergence  surpassing deforestation, wildlife trade and industrial agriculture  they also pointed to a possible solution to this new predicament.

That solution, they contended, involves pairing wildlife disease surveillance with real-time studies of environmental change.

If a Brazilian free-tailed bat finds its way to Appalachia, for example, researchers should be looking into what viruses came along for the ride, according to Carlson.

Predicting and preventing a future pandemic: Trying to spot these host jumps in real-time is the only way well be able to prevent this process from leading to more spillovers and more pandemics, Carlson said.

Were closer to predicting and preventing the next pandemic than ever, he added.

To read the full story, please click here.





US leaders tout public, private sustainability push

A top White House official and various local government leaders on Thursday touted both public and private efforts to pursue sustainability during Day 2 of The Hills Sustainability Imperative event.

Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Commission on Environmental Quality (CEQ), said sustainability is becoming a cross-cutting issue that is driving action among diverse citizens and companies.

People are aware that their communities are changing in significant ways, that the stream that they  grew up fishing in, it can no longer be counted on for fishing, she said.

And that, I think, has really made people more focused on, well, what can I do personally? And also companies  what can we do to position ourselves and make sure that were able to continue our operations when things go awry?

To Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway (D) of Madison, Wis., the path to becoming a so-called city of the future has required setting specific goals for the community.

Its really important to set a goal and then to really look at what are the places in your own functions as a city that you can reduce emissions, Rhodes-Conway said.

We as government need to lead by example, if were going to ask the rest of our community  individuals, the private sector  to reduce their own emissions.

Madison has set a goal of reaching 100-percent renewable energy sources by 2030 and is already 75 percent of the way there.

Some particular successes along the way, according to the mayor, have been mapping out the citys entire watershed, investing in energy efficiency and launching the first electric fire engine in North America.

Were really pushing on all fronts, she said.

Watch recorded conversations with all of the events speakers, including Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and actress Sigourney Weaver, on The Hills website.





NEW FOSSIL FUEL PROBE

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said Thursday he intends to launch an investigation into the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries for their contribution to global plastic pollution. Bonta also said he intends to subpoena ExxonMobil.



The public has been aggressively deceived by some of the largest and most influential corporations in the world, Bonta said at a press conference.

To read the full story, please click here.





Researchers raise alarm over forest loss

A growth in wildfires and global commodities industries wiped out 11 million hectares of global forest cover in 2021  approximately the area of the state of Tennessee.

This illustrated a stubbornly consistent pattern of forest loss, with tropical forests at particular risk, according to a study from nonprofit Global Forest Watch.

What can be done: National governments and global companies have both demonstrated how deforestation can be halted, researchers say.

For example, Indonesia has scaled back the massive deforestation caused by its palm oil industry  which joins soy and cattle as a key historical driver of forest loss.

Palm oil is a key component in E.U.-imported biofuels and a staggering range of consumer goods from cosmetics to chocolates  and an ingredient whose export Indonesia just banned.

But deforestation for palm oil in Indonesia is now at a 20-year low after five straight years of reductions, according to a study published last month in PLOS One.

A combination of corporate commitments and government action has been key to halting deforestation in Indonesia, the Global Forest Watch study found.



That decline coincides with the implementation of No Deforestation commitments by many principal global palm oil importers, researchers noted.

Still, a rise in palm oil prices  now at a 40-year high  may endanger those gains, according to the report. Various other surging commodities prices are also threatening forests, researchers found.

Read the full story and researchers tips to curb deforestation here.



Thermal Thursday

Run far or run short, youll likely run the same speed: study

Humans evolved to run naturally at the most sustainable pace  the one that burns the least calories  whether theyre running short or long distances, according to a new study in Current Biology. This means that those heading out for races this summer should try cranking some fast music if they want to improve their times, or burn more calories.

Dont expect firefighters to put out massive blazes this summer: fire chief

The U.S. is facing another big fire season this year as high winds and dry vegetation fuel unusually early spring blazes in New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska  and the public shouldnt expect firefighters to stop them, as Boulder, Colo. wildland fire chief Brian Oliver told NPR. We dont mobilize a force to go turn a hurricane around, right? We get everybody out of the way and we try to come back in and clean up, he added.

Waste Management heats up its garbage for fuel

Waste Management announced plans on Thursday to invest $825 million in expanding its biogas infrastructure from 2022-2025. With this addition, the company said it will generate enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 1 million homes.





Please visit The Hills Sustainability section online for the web version of this newsletter and more stories. Well see you tomorrow.



VIEW THE FULL EDITION HERE

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Russias invasion of Ukraine has curtailed the reach of Russian state media in the U.S., forcing the Kremlin to use other avenues to reach Americans and other Western audiences, according to a recent Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment obtained by Yahoo News.

The war, along with Russian medias coverage of it, has spurred Western governments, social media companies, and individuals to limit or disengage from Russian state media outlets, likely degrading many outlets ability to directly message to Western audiences through 2022, states the April 22 DHS bulletin, produced in coordination with the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The assessment is part of the U.S. governments tracking and analysis of Russian state-sponsored messaging efforts targeting Western audiences. But those who track Russian disinformation remain concerned about the Russian governments capabilities when it comes to meddling in the 2022 midterm elections.

An armored convoy of pro-Russian troops moves along a road in the port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 21. (Chingis Kondarov/Reuters)

There has been a global crackdown on Russian state media since the February invasion, pushing Russia to use more circuitous channels to reach the West. But these efforts are likely to be less successful, according to the bulletin.

We assess that Russias efforts to circumvent Western punitive actions, such as redirecting state media users to alternative hosting platforms, in addition to its use of covert channels, are unlikely to be as effective in reaching U.S. and European audiences as legacy RT and Sputnik infrastructure, the April 22 bulletin states, referring to two government-sponsored Russian media outlets.

However, the bulletin notes that English-language state media in China have provided an avenue for Russian disinformation and misinformation to maintain its influence.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chinese state media outlets began amplifying Russian allegations of U.S.-funded bioweapon labs in Ukraine, portrayals of NATO as the aggressor through decades of U.S.-led eastward expansion, and assertions that Western sanctions are unlikely to be effective, the DHS assessment states.

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However, the report adds, Chinese-state media did not amplify some other Russian-backed narratives, such as the claim that Nazis ran Ukraine.

One DHS source involved in tracking Russian disinformation targeting the U.S. says the decreased reach of Russian state media appears to have, at least up until now, weakened the Kremlins efforts to potentially influence the 2022 elections or made such efforts more difficult.

Ohio State Sen. Matt Dolan, left, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, votes in the May 3 primary election in April in Cleveland. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Russia is just going to have to get more creative. Theyre going to have to rely in some respects on countries like China to do their bidding, the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal agency assessments, said. DHS declined Yahoo News request for comment.

Russian disinformation experts told Yahoo News the assessment tracks with what theyve seen in recent months but strongly cautioned against downplaying or underestimating Russias capabilities.

The diminished reach of its state media will force Russia to use more covert channels like proxies to try to influence the upcoming elections, said Bret Schafer, senior fellow and head of the information manipulation team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a nonpartisan group that aims to counter Russian disinformation campaigns.

Those proxies dont have the same audience, he said.

But Russias messaging challenge isnt new, Schafer said. He pointed to the Russian propaganda outlets News Front and South Front, for example, which were removed from Facebook in 2020 after they were discovered to be linked to Russian intelligence services.

Weve seen evidence over the last couple of years that theyve continued to try to circumvent those bans by essentially running that content through mirror sites, sites that just publish the same content verbatim but they have different domain names so theyre not getting caught by Facebook, he said. So that means its slipping through, but those domains dont have much of a following."

While Schafer said Russian state media outlets that are aimed at the global south, such as RT Espanol and RT Arabic, have not been affected as much, the decline in interactions on Facebook in particular has been significant  especially if you talk about the outlets that target English speakers primarily.

Theyre struggling, when you look at those aggregate numbers, to find the same audience that they were before the war, he said.

The DHS bulletin notes that RTs twitter handle urged its followers to join alternate platforms like Canada-based video streaming service Rumble, which hasnt yet limited Russian state media content. As of March 18, RTs Rumble account had 36,000 subscribers compared to late February, when it had almost 4.6 million subscribers to its now-blocked YouTube account.

The assessment says U.S. audiences visit RT and Sputnik websites substantially more often than all covert Russian proxy outlets combined, citing commercial data on website traffic trends. On a three-month basis in early 2021, RT and Sputnik received roughly 29.7 and 5.6 million U.S. visits respectively, while different proxy outlets received between 5,000 and 612,000, according to this data.

While Schafer said any impact state-run media outlets like RT or Sputnik had has clearly been degraded, he warned that Russia still has other tricks up its sleeve.

Specifically, Schafer said he remains concerned about Russias ability to influence political campaigns through hacking or hack-and-leak operations, which would essentially use intelligence services to obtain compromising information about a candidate that could then be leaked through various channels, such as a U.S. media outlet.

Those options are still available, he said. So I still think there's a clear foreign influence threat. Its just likely not going to come from an overt attributable source.

A broadcast van from Russia's state-controlled Russia Today television service parked in front of St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin in Moscow. (Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images)

Russia could also attempt to compromise U.S. voting infrastructure, as it has done in the past, said Shelby Grossman, a research scholar at the Stanford Internet Observatory who has been tracking pro-Kremlin propaganda online since before the invasion.

Even if such attempts are on their surface not very effective, the perception of voting infrastructure insecurity could undermine confidence in the election, she told Yahoo News.

Cindy Otis, a former CIA analyst and expert on disinformation threats, did not view the DHS document but said that generally speaking she thinks its too early to say whether efforts to decrease Russian state medias reach are working, let alone whether they will limit Russian disinformation operations that target U.S. elections in 2022.

Moscow has a whole suite of other tools it continues to use despite limitations on RT and Sputnik, such as gray propaganda websites through which it launders disinformation; its foreign allies who amplify narratives for them; domestic and foreign influencers, such as media personalities and social media stars, including in the U.S., who amplify Russian disinformation; and fake social media accounts, she said.

A former senior government official involved in aspects of the investigation into Russias interference in the 2016 elections put it more bluntly.

They dont need China; they dont need state media, said the former official, who also requested anonymity. They just need social media and Tucker Carlson."

_____

What happened last week in Ukraine? Check out this explainer from Yahoo Immersive to find out.
Conservatives Push For Books On Sexuality And Race To Be Removed From Texas Libraries

A person sits in the Houston Public Library on April 26, 2022 in Houston, Texas. A group of local residents is suing Llano County in federal court for the County's removal and censorship of library books addressing racism and LGBTQ issues. The lawsuit addresses "censorship of public libraries being a violation of the first and fourteenth amendments" and comes as conservatives continue to seek and implement restrictions on children's content covering American history, racism, and LGBTQ issues. Credit - Brandon Bell-Getty Images

Just as extremists have used the Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election to undermine American democracy, far-right advocates of privatizing public education are using Big Lies to undermine public schools. Supporters of public schools must see these ugly attacks for what they are and take a stand against them.

In a recent lecture at ultra-conservative Hillsdale College, culture war orchestrator Christopher Rufo detailed the strategy for replacing public education with a universal voucher system. To get to universal school choice, you really need to operate from a premise of universal public school distrust, Rufo explained. Earlier in that same lecture, describing how to lay siege to institutions, he noted the necessity to create your own narrative and frame and advised his audience they have to be ruthless and brutal.

Rufo and other dark money-funded extremists follow a consistent playbook for attacking public schools.

First, they concoct lies, smears and distortions that stoke fear and anger, such as that eight-year-old white students are being taught to hate themselves because they are responsible for slavery, and that kindergarten teachers are grooming five-year-olds.

Next, these falsehoods are spread on social media and by Fox News and the click-driven, controversy-obsessed mainstream media.

Finally, extremist state politicians champion cookie-cutter bills provided by those same national voucher backers to solve the manufactured outrage, often under the banner of parents rights.

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In the wake of the worst pandemic in a century, policymakers should be focusing on how to strengthen public education and support students success and well-being, by expanding pre-k, addressing shortages of teachers, nurses and guidance counselors, increasing access to AP classes and career technical education pathways that lead to well-paying careers, and better equipping schools to teach critical thinking skills and address spiraling rates of youth depression, anxiety, and suicide.

Instead, politicians following Rufos playbook are doing the exact opposite. They are banning library books, textbooks, and news services that help students learn to identify misinformation. They are demanding teachers remain neutral on, or worseteach both sides ofNazism, slavery, lynching, and other historical atrocities. And they are encouraging lawsuits against teachers and school districts that teach thorough and accurate history. They are marginalizing and dehumanizing LBGTQ students and teachers and same sex families and barring students from receiving mental health services and lessons that foster their social and emotional development and well-being.

As Rufo made clear, the assaults on public schools in state after state are part of a nationally orchestrated and funded campaign. The goal is to destabilize public education and replace it with a universal, unregulated voucher system which would increase segregation and exacerbate already wide gaps between the rich and the rest of us.

But parents and the public strongly support public schools, and there is encouraging opposition to this drive to undermine public education.

Last month, in Indiana, a sweeping bill to censor teachers, limit access to mental health services, and impose costly bureaucratic requirements on teachers and school districts failed because of a tsunami of opposition from parents, teachers, students, and faith leaders and private pushback from business leaders.

In New Hampshire, in March school board elections, all 33 pro-public education school board candidates in 14 school districts who were endorsed by state civic groups and the two state teachers associations, won election against anti-public education candidates funded by an extreme national group.

And last week, in a must-watch 5-minute floor speech, Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow, a self-described straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom, powerfully held legislator Lana Theis to account for Theis national talking points-filled fundraising email accusing McMorrow of supporting grooming and sexualizing kindergartners and teaching that 8-year-olds are responsible for slavery. McMorrow said, We cannot let hateful peoplescapegoat and deflect from the fact that they are not doing anything to fix the real issues that impact peoples lives. And I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen.

We know from history, and we are seeing in real-time with Vladimir Putins war on Ukraine, that unchecked disinformation and dehumanization cause untold damage and suffering.

If people of conscience stay on the sidelines, Rufo and other extremists could well succeed in their drive to weaken public education, undermining our democracy and further eroding Americas middle class.

But if people stand up against these attacks, as so many did in Indiana and New Hampshire recently and as McMorrow did last week, we can defeat this destructive push to privatize education and instead strengthen our public schools ability to help all our children succeed and create a better future for all of us.
Energy giants Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday posted huge profits bolstered by sky-high gas prices and told investors that they plan to keep oil production mostly flat.

Chevron raked in $6.3 billion in the first quarter, quadrupling its profit from the same period last year, while Exxon brought in $5.5 billion, more than double last years first-quarter haul.

The oil and gas companies are among the biggest beneficiaries of soaring gas prices, which rose 44 percent in the U.S. over the last 12 months, according to AAA. Crude oil remains above $100 per barrel amid supply constraints stemming from the pandemic and Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Despite calls from the Biden administration to increase oil production to bring consumer prices down, Chevron and Exxon executives on Friday said that they would keep production relatively flat. Exxon instead announced plans to triple its stock repurchases to $30 billion through 2023, while Chevron said it would repurchase a record $10 billion of stock by the end of the year.

I want to acknowledge the very real impact the high prices are having on families all around the world, Exxon CEO Darren Woods said on an earnings call. You may recall that we anticipated this in 2020 with industry investment levels well below those required to offset depletion.

Major shareholders have urged oil and gas giants not to invest too much in new production, arguing that those capital expenditures could turn into bad investments when oil prices inevitably drop.

Still, the huge first-quarter profits and buyback programs announced Friday, which come as high gas prices hammer low- and middle-income Americans, are certain to draw scorn from liberal groups and Democratic lawmakers who have accused the industry of price gouging.

Theres no secret as to why their profits are soaring: Big Oil has fixed costs of production while the market price of oil is skyrocketing, thanks to Russias invasion of Ukraine and other reasons. This is a classic situation of windfall profits, Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, said in a statement on the earnings reports calling for a windfall tax on oil giants.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday unveiled legislation to empower regulators to hit oil and gas companies with penalties for keeping consumer prices high while returning the resulting profits to shareholders.

They are hoarding the windfall while keeping prices high for people at the pump, Pelosi said during a press briefing in the Capitol. In this time of war  in any time  there is no excuse for big oil companies to profiteer, to price-gouge or exploit families.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has again delayed its decision on an environmental assessment of SpaceXs plans to launch its Starship rocket from the companys Texas base.

The FAA was scheduled to render a decision in its Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for SpaceXs plans on Friday but announced that the decision will slip to 31 May. SpaceX needs a launch license from the FAA to complete further testing of its Starship vehicle.

The FAA is working toward issuing the final Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for the SpaceX Starship / Super Heavy on May 31, 2022, an FAA statement read. The agency continues to review around 18,000 general public comments.

Its the fourth time the FAA has delayed its decision in the PEA, a process the administration began in November 2020. A decision was initially expected in December 2021, but the FAA pushed it first to 28 February, then to 28 March, and again to 29 April.

Significantly larger than the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft currently flying, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants to use Starship for everything from delivering his companys Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, to building a city on Mars.

But so far, Starship has barely gotten off the ground. SpaceX began relatively low-altitude flight tests of the spacecraft around the companys Starbase facility in Texas in 2019  four of which saw the spacecraft explode on landing  but has yet to fly to space due to the lack of an FAA license.

And successful completion of the assessment is just one step toward that license.

The completion of the PEA will not guarantee that the FAA will issue a launch license, the FAA statement read. SpaceXs application must also meet FAA safety, risk and financial responsibility requirements.

SpaceX has run afoul of the FAA before, with an unauthorized test flight of Starship in December 2020, and the continued delays could be a sign the company will have trouble getting the necessary approvals to move forward with Starship test flights at Boca Chica.

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And SpaceX has already had to restart an environmental review process with another regulator after failing to provide the requested information.

On 7 March, the US Army Corps of Engineers, which manages US wetlands, withdrew SpaceXs application to dramatically expand its facility at Boca Chica.

In a letter to SpaceX that was leaked to CNBC, the corps wrote that it had requested necessary information from the company back in May 2021, and so closed the application. SpaceX can restart the process by providing the necessary information.

Its not clear how the current delays could affect SpaceXs development schedule. Mr Musk has been saying a Starship test flight is imminent since at least the spring of 2021.

Its also not clear SpaceX truly needs the FAA license to launch from Boca Chica, Texas, to move forward with the Starship program.

In a February media event largely focused on Mr Musks philosophy and plans to build cities on Mars, he said that if the FAA denied a launch license or required SpaceX to conduct of lengthier, more detailed Environmental Impact Statement, SpaceX could launch Starship from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the company already lunches its Falcon 9 rockets.

But even Mr Musk admitted launching from Florida would require at least six to 12 months of additional time to construct the launch tower necessary for launching Starship from Cape Canaveral. And the longer any delays run, the more they could hurt beyond just SpaceXs bottom line.

In April 2021, Nasa selected SpaceXs proposal for a modified Starship vehicle to serve as the lunar lander for Nasas return to the lunar surface as part of the ArtemisMoon program in 2025.

Although Nasa did recently open a new competition for a second lunar lander design for later Moon missions after 2025, Nasa is still counting on SpaceX to deliver a Starship-based lunar landing system in just a few years time.

The SpaceX proposal not only uses a Starship vehicle to land on the Moon, but also multiple flights of tanker Starship vehicles that would fuel the lunar landing vehicle while in orbit around Earth, a complicated system that has never been tried before.

The existing Starship vehicles, meanwhile, have yet to leave the atmosphere.
Reuters Videos

STORY: Two Palestinians who killed three Israelis in an attack in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish town were apprehended on Sunday (May 8), according to Israeli security forces.Israeli forces had mounted an extensive search since the incident on Thursday, also Israel's Independence Day, in which two axe-wielding assailants ran through Elad, some nine miles north of Tel Aviv.The men have been identified by Israel as residents of a village near the Palestinian city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.They were captured in a forest near Elad.Thursday's incident was the latest in a recent upsurge of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has raised fears of a slide back to wider conflict.Palestinians and members of Israel's Arab minority have killed 18 people in attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have mostly targeted civilians.Israel has responded with arrest raids in Palestinian towns and villages which have often sparked clashes.The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of the year is at least 40.Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, praised the Elad assault but did not claim responsibility. It said the attack was a response to Israeli actions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.Over the past month, Palestinians and Israeli police have repeatedly clashed at the sensitive complex.Palestinians accuse Israel of not doing enough to enforce a long-standing ban on non-Muslim prayer there, which Israel denies.The compound is Judaisms holiest site and the vestige of two ancient Jewish temples.
State employees hoping to receive a one-time $1,500 bonus will have to rely on House budget writers to continue to advocate for the money.

Senators this week adopted a $12.6 billion spending plan that does not include a $1,500 bonus for state employees, something proposed by the House as part of its $13.9 billion spending plan.

Whether state employees see a bonus, which would cost $45 million, will have to be worked out with the House when the two chambers hold a conference committee, expected to begin next month, to reconcile the two spending plans.

But state workers will see an increase in their regular pay.

The Senate agreed with the House on a 3% across the board raise for state employees, as well as spending an additional $101 million to cover wellness visits for state workers and ensure they wont pay higher health and dental insurance premiums on the state health plan.

The lack of a bonus comes as senators approved a $1 billion tax rebate to go along with a $1 billion tax cut pushed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee.

The rebate plan would send between $100 and $700 back to income tax filers depending on their income tax liability.

House members also approved an income tax cut as part of the chambers budget deliberations. The House plan would cut $600 million in taxes the first year. It would eventually increase to a $1 billion tax cut over several years as long as the economy and as long as revenues to the state grow by enough money. The House plan did not include a rebate.

Peeler called the Senates spending plan a budget for the people.

It includes $2 billion in historic tax relief for everyday South Carolinians while ensuring the services for our citizens are properly funded, Peeler said when introducing the Senates spending plan on the floor. This budget makes significant investments in critical services such as mental health care and the Department of Social Services, helping to protect the most vulnerable of our state. All of this was achieved with our primary focus remaining on the taxpayer.
UK retail vacancies are starting to stabilise after year of record highs. Photo:Henry Nicholls/Reuters

The high streets in the UK had fewer empty shops in the first three months of the year as more city workers back in the office and more tourists out on the streets cut the vacancy rate.

According to figures from the British Retail Consortium, the overall UK vacancy rate decreased to 14.1% in the first quarter of 2022, which was a 0.3 percentage point down from the last three months of 2021.

All locations saw vacancies decline with shopping centre vacancies falling to 19%, down from 19.1% in the previous quarter.

Read more: UK retail sales slump in April as soaring prices dampen spending

On the high street, vacancies decreased to 14.1% between January and March, which was down from 14.4% in the last quarter of 2021.

Retail park vacancies decreased to 10.6% in the first three months of the year, a 0.7 percentage point fall from Q4 2021. The figures also show that it remains the location with by far the lowest rate.

The first quarter of this year saw a large quarterly improvement in shop vacancy rates. The economy had fully reopened, with more city workers back in the office, and more tourists out on the streets. This allowed some businesses to grow and invest in repurposing and reopening empty units, especially in retail parks and high streets, Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said.

Despite this improvement, the overall proportion of empty storefronts remains well above its pre-pandemic levels, especially in the north of England. While many northern regions saw the biggest quarterly improvement, they still have the highest vacancy rates in the country as they were hit harder by the pandemic and have a lower average level of disposable income.

Much has changed with the cost of living rising and the conflict in Ukraine damaging consumer confidence. It remains to be seen how the increasing costs and the war in Ukraine will impact on businesses and the vacancy rate in the future. While peoples shopping habits have changed, the need for vibrant communities at the centre of our towns and cities has not. Government should look to reform business rates so that businesses can invest in these areas that need it the most.

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Read more: UK retailers to be hit by 'tsunami of costs', think tank warns

Vacancy rates jumped as the COVID pandemic restricted access to physical retail destinations up and down the country.

The latest figures show a continued  and welcome  reduction in empty units across nearly all regions in England as well as across both Scotland and Wales, as market recovery continues post-COVID, Lucy Stainton, director of the Local Data Company, said.

This decline in vacant space is being driven by further repurposing of retail space, growth in the independents sector and an increase in activity across the chains as well, as many brands are back on the acquisition trail after the pandemic stalled growth.

Watch: The risks of buying now and paying later
Students at Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles meet with college admissions officers during an information session on campus. Now they are weighing financial aid offers. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Yajun Chen is an A student but may turn down the University of California for a community college. Eric Xie-McCarthy achieved a 4.6 GPA in a rigorous course load but had to consider forgoing a rich residential experience at his top choice, UC Berkeley, to save money and commute to UCLA. And Nadia Alwiny was accepted into the highly competitive ArtCenter College of Design but was heartbroken when she thought she would have to decline the offer.

These seniors at Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles are nearing the end of an arduous, stressful college admissions season  among the most competitive ever. And although many experienced the euphoria of an acceptance letter to their dream school, they are now confronted with the same stark reality facing millions of students in the class of 2022 as the national deadline for college decisions approaches on Sunday.

It's not enough to receive a hard-earned admission offer. Students and their families have to be able to afford to accept it.

"For many people, financial aid is the make-or-break factor for attending college," said Eric, whose offer from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was so low  a $5,000 scholarship to cover annual costs of $60,000  that he quickly declined it.

Why student need is increasing

Amid rising college costs and economic uncertainty, students are more dependent than ever on financial aid. More than 70% of 76,000 California students surveyed in 2020 by the California Student Aid Commission said their families had lost part or all of their incomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and nearly two-thirds said they worried "a lot" about paying for tuition and fees.

A survey of 400 students last year by the California Community Colleges system, whose enrollment plunged during the pandemic, found that affordability and availability of no-loan financial aid were the top factors that would motivate prospective students to enroll. More than one-fourth of those students said they would not consider enrolling because they needed to work full time.

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"We know from the data that students are most concerned about how they will pay for college," said Marlene Garcia, the student aid commission's executive director. "Many students, especially those attending the community colleges, are dropping out because of costs and are opting to work and stabilize their lives amid the lingering pandemic. What keeps me up at night is whether they will ever come back."

What California is doing

California is mounting one of its largest-ever efforts to make college affordable  providing more than $1 billion in additional funding for expanded financial aid, affordable student housing and cheaper textbook costs.

Expanded Cal Grants: This past year, state elected officials significantly expanded Cal Grants  already the largest state financial aid program in the nation  by liberalizing eligibility requirements and providing award offers to an additional 140,000 community college students as of November. Lawmakers are proposing additional reforms this year.

Middle-class scholarships: Families making less than $200,000 annually are set to benefit this fall from a fivefold increase in the state Middle Class Scholarship Program. The state is planning to pour an additional $515 million into awards, which will serve nearly 200,000 more California State University students and 113,000 UC students when compared with 2021, according to a report last month by the state Legislative Analyst's Office. For the first time ever, awards will be based on total cost of college attendance rather than just tuition, providing help to cover housing, food, transportation and other expenses.

The estimated average awards would vary, from about $3,000 for students with annual family incomes between $80,000 and $100,000 to about $1,300 for those earning less than $20,000. Lower-income students would receive smaller average awards because the aid is aimed at covering gaps left by other federal, state and institutional grants.

Aiming for debt-free tuition: The University of California, in a compact this year with Gov. Gavin Newsom, has committed to providing a debt-free education for all undergraduates by 2030 and for half of them by 2025. To help reach that goal, Newsom pledged a 5% annual base budget increase over five years, and the UC regents approved raising tuition once for each incoming first-year class. UC in turn will increase the share of tuition and fee revenue set aside for financial aid from 33% to 45% beginning this fall. The tuition policy will result in $16 million in additional financial aid  $4 million of it from the larger set-aside this year.

In the first installment of its debt-free education plan, UC is offering no-loan financial packages to about 6,000 more students this year, which is expected to cost about $13 million. Berkeley, for instance, offered no-loan packages to 776 first-year students and 329 transfer students this fall, about 5% of its newly admitted students for fall 2022. It also has produced a financial aid navigation guide.

Lower textbooks costs and housing. State leaders are also aiming to lower college expenses by reducing textbook costs and addressing the demand for more affordable student housing. They have launched a $2-billion grant fund over three years for student housing projects. UC additionally has pledged to include requests for student housing in campus fundraising campaigns.

"We're driving progress on urgent needs like debt-free college, more spaces for students and closing equity gaps," said Ben Chida, the governor's chief deputy cabinet secretary. "What's great is how many leaders are right there with us and all in on this. The next few years will be transformative."

Native American grants: Beginning this fall, UC will offer tuition-free educations to all California residents who are members of federally recognized Native American, American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. "The University of California is committed to recognizing and acknowledging historical wrongs endured by Native Americans," UC President Michael V. Drake said in announcing the program.

Without such aid, said Lynda McGee, the college counselor at Downtown Magnets, college would be out of reach for many of her students, who are overwhelmingly low-income.

Most of their parents are immigrants from Latin America and Asia who work as cooks and servers, caretakers and housekeepers, security guards and cashiers. It's one reason she nudges her students to apply to institutions on the list of no-loan colleges she keeps in her office. A handful of her students have received full-ride offers this year from Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia and other well-endowed but highly selective universities; most of her students, however, will attend California public campuses and take advantage of the state's generous financial aid programs.

The complexities of financial aid

College counselors like McGee say that the expansion of financial aid won't mean much to students if they don't know how to apply for it.

"The key to college for my kids is financial aid, but it's really difficult to understand," she said. "I constantly go to trainings to stay informed about the changes. How can we expect high school seniors to comprehend something professionals have to continually study?"

Eric can attest to that. When he filled out his federal financial aid application, he included his parents' retirement funds as assets  only to learn from McGee that they don't count. After readjusting, his expected annual family contribution dropped from about $8,000 to $3,000  making him eligible for more Cal Grant aid. That extra financial support will allow him to attend Berkeley and experience dorm living and a full on-campus life rather than attending UCLA as a commuter student.

Eric's advice to other students: Fill out financial aid applications early  and ask college counselors or other experts for help.

The complexity of the financial aid maze is one reason the California Student Aid Commission is supporting further Cal Grant reforms, such as consolidating eight programs into two. "You need like a PhD in financial aid to be able to understand what a student qualifies for," said Jake Brymner, the commission's deputy director of policy and public affairs.

Brymner said an upcoming simplification of FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, would help once it launches in October 2023. And a new state law taking effect this fall will also make a difference, he said, by requiring every school district to make sure all seniors complete a FAFSA or California Dream Act application or intentionally opt out.

Currently, about 56% of the graduating high school class of 2022 has filed for aid, up from 53% last year. Brymner cited promising signs that students most affected by COVID-19 may be reengaging: First-generation college-goers increased financial aid application filings by 5.4% this year over last, with a 9.4% increase among those with annual family incomes at or below $40,000. The increase in applications was partly due to a one-month extension of filing deadlines to April 1, he said.

Making tough choices

At Downtown Magnets, the intense college-going culture has resulted in sky-high filing rates of financial aid applications: 94.4% of seniors. Earlier this month, the school was honored by the California aid commission for having the highest filing rate among schools of its size statewide. McGee shared the credit with the school's parent educator, Claudia Pena, and her 17 college peer counselors for prodding parents and students to complete the form. In addition, both McGee and teacher Paul Sellier hold sessions on how to read a financial aid letter.

McGee and others also help students become their own advocates. Gia Xin Huang, for instance, was raised by a single mother from China who lost her caretaking job during the pandemic and now scrapes by doing piecemeal sewing for a clothing factory. Her father, who lives separately, is a domestic worker but supplements his meager pay with income from a rental property.

Gia Xin was accepted by her dream school, Wellesley College, but because her father's property was included in the financial aid calculations, the award offer fell $20,000 short of covering the cost of attendance, she said. In another complexity, McGee said, the assets of a noncustodial parent are not counted in the FAFSA but are included in the College Scholarship Service Profile, another type of financial aid application developed by the nonprofit College Board. It is used by many colleges, including Wellesley, to assess the need for non-federal financial aid.

Gia Xin asserted her leadership skills to file a financial aid appeal to Wellesley  and last week the college granted it. After detailing her family's financial difficulties and her father's lack of involvement in her life, Gia Xin received a new financial aid offer that will cover all but $1,950 of the $88,172 annual cost of attendance, including a $75,000 institutional grant from Wellesley.

"It's kind of a broken system," she said of the financial aid process, "but it taught me to advocate for myself."

Nadia also successfully appealed for more financial aid from ArtCenter and, supported by state and federal grants and loans, will be able to accept the offer and pursue her dream to become a game artist.

The UC system's appeals process, including information and contacts, is outlined on individual campus websites. UCLA, for instance, notes that common reasons for an appeal include changes in income from job loss or divorce, or additional expenses, such as higher rent or medical bills. Appeals must be submitted three weeks before the end of the academic year and UCLA urges applicants to file as quickly as possible because funding is limited.

Unsure of what he will major in, Yajun is leaning toward turning down offers from UC Riverside and UC Merced for a community college  and said he might do so even if he were wealthy. He has learned to be frugal from his father, a chef, and his mother, a supermarket worker. At a community college, he believes he could explore various fields without spending a large sum of money.

"Why spend extra money?" he said. "Why not save it?"

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A Finnish court on Friday acquitted a suspected warlord accused of atrocities in Liberia's civil war, including rapes, ritual murders and the recruitment of child soldiers.

In its ruling, the Pirkanmaa district court found the prosecution had "not proven with sufficient certainty" that Gibril Massaquoi, 52, had been involved in the alleged crimes in the later years of Liberia's second war, which ended in 2003.

At the time, Massaquoi was a senior commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a Sierra Leonean rebel group that also fought in Liberia.

Massaquoi, who denied all charges, moved to Finland in 2008 and was arrested there in March 2020 after a rights group investigated his war record.

Defence lawyer Kaarle Gummerus said Massaquoi was "extremely relieved" by the judgement.

"We'll wait a month to see what decision the prosecutor makes with this case and then we'll be able to see what the next six months will be like," he told AFP.

Prosecutor Tom Laitinen told AFP his team had not yet had time to decide whether to appeal the 850-page ruling.

The trial has been closely watched by campaigners who have fought for decades for those who carried out atrocities in Liberia to face justice.

- 'Monumental precedent' -

A probe by rights group Civitas Maxima's into Massaquoi prompted Finnish police to launch an investigation.

At the outset of the trial in February 2021 the group said the "ground-breaking" verdict could set "a monumental precedent".

In the Liberian capital Monrovia, civil rights campaigner Adama Dempster said that regardless of the verdict, he welcomed the fact that the trial had taken place.

"Those who committed hideous crimes during the war, it tells them that they will have their days in court," Dempster told AFP.

"I am happy to know that justice has been rendered," said 30-year-old Natasha Wilson, who was eight when she lost her two brothers in the war.

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"I hope others will also be brought to justice."

Defender Kaarle Gummerus said the verdict "will doubtless give a lot to think about regarding how these cases are investigated and prosecuted" for those involved in other Liberian war crimes trials.

"But what kind of precedent this judgement will set for those cases remains to be seen," he told AFP.

Back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003 in the West African nation of five million left 250,000 people dead and millions displaced.

The conflicts were marked by merciless violence and rape, often carried out by drugged-up child soldiers.

So far only a handful of people have been convicted for their part in the conflict, and efforts to establish a war crimes court in the country have stalled.

Former Liberian warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor was imprisoned in 2012 -- but for war crimes committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone, not in his own country.

- 'Angel Gabriel' -

In an unprecedented move, the Finnish court decamped to Monrovia between February and April last year, and again in September, to hear testimony from dozens of witnesses and visit sites where the atrocities allegedly unfolded under Massaquoi's orders.

Massaquoi himself remained in custody in Finland, and followed the proceedings from his cell.

The visits became the first time that testimony in a Liberia war crimes trial was heard in the country.

The Finnish trial thus avoided the problems of bringing witnesses to Europe that have hampered similar Liberian war prosecutions in Switzerland and France.

In villages in northern Liberia, witnesses claimed Massaquoi went under the moniker 'Angel Gabriel' and ordered civilians, including children, to be locked into two buildings which were then torched.

A 4,000-page evidence dossier seen by AFP further detailed mass murders, rapes and cannibalism in Lofa county and the capital Monrovia, and the enslavement of child soldiers.

But Massaquoi's defence highlighted numerous inconsistencies and contradictions over the timings and locations of witness accounts of atrocities.

His lawyers insisted he was in neighbouring Sierra Leone under watch in a UN safehouse at the time.

Massaquoi agreed to give evidence to the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, set up to investigate war crimes in that country.

He was later granted asylum in Finland and immunity from prosecution over crimes in Sierra Leone, but not Liberia.

Finnish law allows the prosecution of serious crimes committed abroad by a citizen or resident.

sgk/po/jll/har
Four Florida corrections officers were arrested for murder in connection with the death of an inmate who was beaten in February at a prison south of Miami, state law enforcement authorities said Thursday.

Officers Christopher Rolon, Kirk Walton, Ronald Connor and Jeremy Godbolt face charges of second-degree murder in the Feb. 14 death of a Ronald Gene Ingram, 60, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Friday in a news conference. The charges also include conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, aggravated abuse on an elderly or disabled adult, conspiracy to commit aggravated abuse on an elderly or disabled adult, and cruel treatment of a detainee.

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The arrests came at the end of a 2 1/2-month investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. The Florida Department of Corrections, which runs the state's prison system, requested the investigation, according to the FDLE, which described how the inmate died in state custody in its press release:

Ingram was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder out of Hillsborough County. He was living in a single cell in the mental health unit at Dade Correctional Institution in south Miami-Dade County.

On the morning of Feb. 14, Ingram was scheduled to be moved to Lake Correctional Institution west of Orlando.

Before he was taken out of his cell, he threw urine at one of the officers. The officers then put handcuffs on him and removed him from his cell.

Even though he was handcuffed and listening to officers, officers started to beat him. He was then carried to a transport van and put in a compartment by himself.

During a stop in Ocala, Ingram was found dead inside the van. An autopsy found that he died from a punctured lung that led to internal bleeding. He also had face and torso injuries that appeared to be from a beating.

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Rolon, 29, Walton, 34, and Connor, 24, were booked Thursday into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami, each with no bail. Godbolt, 28, was arrested and booked into jail on Friday.

The FDC is the states largest agency, and the nations third-largest state corrections system. It employs more than 25,000 full-time staff, including nearly 21,000 correctional officers. About 80,000 inmates are housed in Floridas prison system.

It has come under intense public scrutiny over the past several years for inmate deaths and questionable use of force by its staff.

In 2014, the Miami Herald published a series of stories, Cruel and Unusual, that documented a number of cases, including the death of a 50-year-old mentally ill inmate who was pulled into a locked shower by prison guards  at Dade Correctional  as punishment after defecating in his cell and refusing to clean it up.

He was left unattended for more than an hour as the shower filled with steam and water, and later died.

No correction officers were charged with a crime following a lengthy investigation, but the man's family filed a lawsuit and reached a $4.5 million settlement with the state.

In his statement, FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen said investigators conducted dozens of interviews over nearly three months "to ensure justice on behalf of the victim and his family.

Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon, in a statement, said "the staff involved in this case failed, and as an agency we will not stand for this."

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida corrections officers charged in death of inmate in Miami
A Florida prosecutor is declining to pursue a battery charge against a West Palm Beach police officer who had been accused of excessive force after he punched a man during a November 2019 arrest, officials said.

Prosecutors on Wednesday announced a no file in the case, according to court records, writing in a memorandum that the evidence was not sufficient to support a criminal prosecution.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, or FDLE, arrested Officer Nicholas Lordi, 34, in February on an aggravated battery charge in connection with the Nov. 1, 2019, encounter outside a grocery store.

Surveillance video showed Lordi punching John Monroque, 65, repeatedly in the face.

The FDLE, which investigated the use of force at the request of West Palm Beach police, cited surveillance and other video in saying the use of force was excessive and not justified.

Officers were called to the store on a trespassing call, and there was a struggle as they tried to put Monroque in handcuffs, officials said.

The FDLE said in an affidavit that a review of video shows Lordi had Monroque in a headlock from behind and that Lordi punched him in the head and face about six times while they both were on the ground.

At the time, Monroque's hands were not under his body, and he was not hitting the officer or anyone else, the affidavit says. It says Lordi then got on top of Monroque and struck him about five times in the head and face area.

The department said investigators found Lordi used excessive force in the arrest and that Lordi put his knee on Monroques head while he was handcuffed.

Monroques nose was broken.

A close-out memorandum filed by the assistant state attorney in the case says that during a struggle a second officer yelled gun! and that video shows a grabbing motion toward that officers gun belt.

It says Lordi grabbed Monroque from behind and struck him to stop an attack on the second officer. Under the law, both officers reasonably reacted to what they perceived as an immediate threat of serious harm to themselves, it says.

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Video released by the state attorneys office Thursday shows a struggle during the arrest, and it appears to show the second officer trying to keep Monroques hand away before all three go to the ground.

Video from a body camera dropped on the ground appears to show Monroque touch or grab the second officers face as they are on the ground, and Lordi begins punching Monroque as the second officer is getting up with a stun gun in his hand.

The FDLE cited a review of surveillance video and body camera video in finding that there was probable cause for the aggravated battery charge against Lordi, according to an affidavit.

Marc Freeman, a spokesman for the state attorneys office, said the FDLE provided all videos to prosecutors after Lordis arrest.

There is a higher standard for our office in filing charges than probable cause, Freeman said.

A West Palm Beach police spokesman told NBC affiliate WPTV of West Palm Beach that Lordi is back on modified duty.

The attorney who represented Lordi did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Thursday night.

Messages to the attorney who represented Monroque, Sue-Ann Robinson, were also not immediately returned after business hours Thursday. She told WPTV that Lordi is out of control in the video.

The no-file in the case means that no charge will be filed against Lordi and it will not be presented to a grand jury, according to the close-out memo and Freeman.

CORRECTION (April 29, 2022, 6:59 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated when John Monroque was arrested. It was in November 2019, not November 2021.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP)  Ballet dancers Adrian Blake Mitchell and Andrea Lassakova moved to Russia years ago to chase their dream of performing with the best in a country where people live and breathe ballet.

But days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the couple uprooted their lives and left behind their prized jobs with the prestigious Mikhailovsky Ballet Company in St. Petersburg.

Mitchell, who is American, and Lassakova, who is from Slovakia, are among the dozens of foreign dancers who have left Russia since the war started in February. The two are now in the U.S., preparing for a performance in Southern California.

They say the war is bound to take Russian ballet back to the isolation of the Soviet era.

Most of our friends are international. They left, and I dont think they will come back soon," Lassakova said.

Amy Brandt, editor in chief of Pointe, an American online magazine about the world of ballet, said there were likely fewer than 100 foreign dancers working in Russia when the war started. But based on social media posts and hiring announcements by dance companies outside Russia, most have left, she said.

Russia opened its ballet world to the West in the decades after the Soviet Union's collapse. In 2011, American ballet dancer David Hallberg became the first foreigner to be named a principal dancer at the storied Bolshoi Ballet.

But in recent weeks, Russian ballet companies have experienced backlash over the war. The Bolshoi Ballet and Mariinsky Ballet companies, Russias most renowned ballet institutions, performed in the United States every year as part of their international tour, but already performances scheduled for this year have been canceled.

It feels like were going backward in time in a lot of ways," Brandt said.

Mitchell and Lassakova lived in Russia for seven years but decided to leave the country in early March after Russian troops invaded Ukraine and as rumors of martial law, financial collapse and the loss of liberties loomed. They hired a taxi and hurriedly left with their dog for Estonia.

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While in Russia, the pair didnt involve themselves in politics, despite seeing many pro-democracy protesters marching outside their apartment. But once across the border, and now in the U.S., the dance partners have been vocal about their opposition to the war.

We had a difficult situation. But whats happening to the people of Ukraine is just the most tragic, terrible thing I could imagine, Mitchell said during an interview at Westside Ballet studios in Santa Monica, California, where he was once a student and where the couple will perform next month to raise funds for the school.

Mitchell believes dancers, both Russian and the few foreign ones who remain, may oppose the war but fear the consequences of protesting.

You hear very few Russian dancers speaking out, but many of them want to leave because they want to be able to speak out, he said.

Russian ballerina Olga Smirnova quit the Bolshoi Ballet last month to protest the Russian invasion. She now dances with the Dutch National Ballet.

Since arriving in the U.S., Mitchell and Lassakova have been traveling the country, doing benefit performances and giving talks in support of Ukraine.

They are currently rehearsing at Santa Monica's Westside Ballet for a performance of Russian choreographer Oleg Vinogradovs Barbers Adagio."

Its a ballet Mitchell and Lassakova performed in St. Petersburg. Now they fear they may never dance in Russia again.

Russian ballet is definitely going to be totally isolated, Mitchell said. Isolated from the West.

___

Associated Press writer Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed to this report.
A former U.S. Air Force airman from Georgia pleaded guilty to child pornography charges after official found thousands of child sexual assault images in his possession.

The Lowndes County Sheriffs Office arrested 25-year-old Ricardo Garcia in Sept. 2020 after deputies received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

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

According to court documents, deputies found two child pornography videos on a Dropbox account that belonged to Garcia.

On Sept. 11, 2020, deputies searched Garcias Valdosta apartment and seized several devices.

TRENDING STORIES

On the devices, deputies found 15,000 images and 40 videos that depicted child sexual assault. The victims ages ranged from infants to teens.

Downloading child sexual assault material is a hideous crime against the most innocent people in our society. Our office will pursue federal prosecution against these types of child predators, said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. The successful outcome in this caseand others like itis the direct result of a cohesive response from a mixture of caring citizens, responsible businesses, child advocacy groups, plus local, state and federal law enforcement. Rooting out child predators and bringing them to justice takes all of us.

Garcia faces up to 20 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Garcia will also have to register a sex offender.

There is no parole for Garcia. His sentencing hearing has been set for July 26 in Albany, Georgia.

IN OTHER NEWS
Ukrainian and American flags Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel was killed while fighting against Russian forces in Ukraine, ABC News reports.

Cancel, age 22, reportedly volunteered to travel to Ukraine and fight after Russia invaded. CNN says he "was working with a private military contracting company" since mid-March, and was killed Monday.

His family confirmed his death, while a U.S. Department of State official said they "are aware of these reports and are closely monitoring the situation," but declined to comment further "due to privacy considerations." His body has not yet been found.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that Cancel "certainly sounded like a very passionate young man," expressing her condolences to his family. She also urged others not to travel to Ukraine at this time. "We know people want to help, but we do encourage Americans to find other ways to do so," she said.

Cancel's wife Brittney Cancel said he "went there wanting to help people, he had always felt that that was his main mission in life." Read more at CNN.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is considering sending long-ranged howitzers to Ukraine, a security source told Reuters on Friday, confirming a report published by Welt am Sonntag newspaper only days after Berlin first decided to supply heavy weapons to Kyiv.

The move follows warnings by the Kremlin that Western arms supplies to Ukraine posed a threat to the security of the European continent "and provoke instability".

Ukraine's pleas for heavy weapons have intensified since Moscow shifted its offensive to the Donbas, an eastern region with largely flat, open terrain seen as better suited for tank battles than the areas in the north around the capital, Kyiv, where much of the earlier fighting took place.

Berlin is in talks with the Dutch government on delivering the Panzerhaubitze 2000 to Ukraine, the source said, referring to one of the most powerful artillery weapons in the Bundeswehr inventories that can hit targets at a distance of 40 km (25 miles).

The Dutch aim to supply a "limited number" of the same howitzers to Ukraine, ANP news agency reported on Tuesday, as Germany has offered to provide training and ammunition for the weapons built by German defence company KMW.

Critics, including Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, have accused Berlin of dragging its heels on giving heavy weapons to Ukraine and on other measures that could help Kyiv repel Russian forces, such as an embargo on Russian energy imports.

Most of the heavy weapons NATO countries have sent to Ukraine so far are Soviet-built arms still in the inventories of east European NATO member states, but the United States and some other allies have started to supply Kyiv with Western howitzers.

On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the Western military alliance was ready to maintain its support for Ukraine in the war against Russia for years, including help for Kyiv to shift from Soviet-era weapons to modern Western arms and systems.

Moscow describes its actions in Ukraine as a "special military operation" to "denazify" the country.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by Rachel More and Miranda Murray; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Florida will soon have a new Commissioner of Education.

State Senator Manny Diaz was appointed today with unanimous support from the Florida Board of Education.

Diaz is the first person of Hispanic descent to be appointed to the position and has decades of experience in education working as a teacher, assistant principal, and chairing education committees in the Florida House and Senate.

STORY: Gov. Ron DeSantis taps State Sen. Manny Diaz for Florida Education Commissioner

There was no opposition during the Board of Education hearing Friday, but Diaz isnt a stranger to controversy.

In his time in the House and Senate Diaz was usually tasked with carrying controversial education bills including legislation expanding charter schools and private school vouchers.

Most recently though, he sponsored the Governors Stop WOKE Act.

In the confirmation hearing, State Senator Manny Diaz received unanimous praise, with many who came to testify highlighting his support of parental rights in education.

Hes a dad. He will respect parents rights, said President of the Central Florida Urban League Glenton Gilzean Jr.

But its that topic that makes Diaz a polarizing choice to head the Florida Department of Education.

Diaz sponsored this years individual freedom bill, dubbed the Stop WOKE Act by the Governor.

STORY: Race-related instruction bill signed by DeSantis, lawsuit filed by Jacksonville attorneys

It prohibits a laundry list of concepts associated with Critical Race Theory from being taught in the classroom and even corporate diversity training.

Words like Critical Race Theory and woke evoke strong feelings from people for or against, said Jacksonville attorney Jesse Wilkison.

Wilkison is leading a federal lawsuit challenging the law championed by Diaz.

The suit argues the law is unconstitutional because its overly vague and violates the free speech of students, teachers, and employers.

This is about not having the executive and legislature dictate by fiat what can be taught in schools, said Wilkison.

Story continues

Wilkison said Diazs appointment signals the Governors plans to keep the battle over classroom curriculum front and center.

Governor DeSantis is first and foremost concerned with fighting ideological battles over race relations rather than addressing the real problems that plague Florida schools, said Wilkison.

STORY: Stop W.O.K.E. Act: Florida governor takes stand against critical race theory with new legislation

Diaz, who will now be in charge of implementing the policy he carried through the legislature, told us he intends to ensure compliance.

Were gonna implement the law. Were gonna follow the law. All of our schools are gonna follow the law and that the way, you know, its very clear the intent of the legislature and the Governors signature, said Diaz.

Diaz wont officially assume the role as commissioner until June 1.

Just 20 days later a federal judge in Tallahassee will consider a motion to block the implementation of the so-called Stop WOKE Act.

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Lauderdale County SheriffAlabama jail guard Vicky White fatally shot herself as she and escaped murder suspect Casey White were being chased by law enforcement in Indiana on Monday, ending an extraordinary 11 days on the run that captivated the nation.Weve captured them, Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said in Evansville, Indiana, a five-hour drive from the Florence, Alabama, lockup the pair had vanished from.Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton, Vicky Whites former boss, told re
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said Friday that he opposes the Biden administration's forthcoming plan to cancel student loans. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

DeSantis railed against Biden's yet-to-be announced plan on student-debt forgiveness.

The governor argued taxpayers shouldn't have to subsidize degrees in gender and 'zombie studies.'

Biden said he'd make a decision about the issue in the coming weeks.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis staunchly opposes President Joe Biden's still-to-be released, yet much-talked about plan to forgive some student loan debt.

"My view is: Why would you make a truck driver, or a waitress, or a construction worker pay off the debt for somebody that got a PhD in gender studies? That's wrong," DeSantis, a Republican, said Friday during a press conference in Williston, Florida.

DeSantis is among many Republicans who say it's unfair for taxpayers without higher education degrees to shoulder billions of dollars in debt that will result from the federal government writing off loans of those with the degrees.

The Biden administration has not revealed details of its student loan cancelation plan nor said that anyone would be taxed to pay toward the federal debt it would incur.

About 16,600 people received a degree in gender studies in 2019, according to Data USA. The data don't show how many of them also have student debt, but the Education Data Initiative found that people with an undergraduate degree in social sciences have an average debt of almost $11,000.

Those with curriculum and instruction degrees hold the highest level of debt out of any other undergraduate major, the data show.

At his press conference, DeSantis stressed that government leaders should focus their efforts on helping students receive trade certificates in areas such as welding, electric, and HVAC.

"Going to a four-year brick-and-ivy university is not the only way you can be successful," said DeSantis, who received an undergraduate degree in history from Yale University and went on to receive a law degree from Harvard University.

"Honestly for many people it's not the best way," he added. "You look at how much people have gone into debt, and then they end up with degrees in things like Zombie studies, and then what happens? They end up working where they could have worked at a high school anyways."

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DeSantis also said, incorrectly, that 60% of student loans are from people who went to graduate school. Data from the Education Data Initiative show that nearly 47% of federal student loan debt belonged to graduate student borrowers.

DeSantis' latest financial disclosures show that as of December 31, 2020, he had a remaining balance of $22,225 on his student loans to Sallie Mae. His salary as governor is $134,181.

Biden is dangling student loan forgiveness

DeSantis' star power in the Republican Party has grown following his high-profile battles with the Biden administration, particularly over differences in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. He's up for reelection in Florida this November, though many GOP political insiders believe that he'll run for president in 2024, particularly if Trump decides against a comeback bid.

A reporter at Friday's press conference asked DeSantis when he was running for president, but he laughed, shook his head, and selected another reporter to ask a question.

At one point during his press conference, DeSantis called the Biden administration the "Brandon administration," a reference to the "Let's go Brandon" chant that's a stand-in for "F--- Joe Biden."

Congressional Republicans have been ramping up criticism regarding the potential for Biden to issue broad student-loan relief. They've argued it's unfair to people who have already paid off their loans and that relief shouldn't go to people with high salaries.

NBC News has reported Biden would likely tie forgiveness to income, citing an anonymous source. Almost a third of all student debt is owed by the wealthiest 20% of households and only 8% is owed by the bottom 20%, according to a study released in January by the Brookings Institution.

President Donald Trump first suspended student-payments in March 2020 as part of COVID relief, and that suspension has been extended several times, including under Biden, but it's set to expire after August 31.

On the campaign trail, Biden pledged to forgive $10,000 in in student debt per borrower, but there's a lot of chatter on Capitol Hill over whether he'll go further. Biden's initial pledge would require the government to write off $321 billion in loans, according to a recent analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

On Thursday, Biden told reporters he was not considering the $50,000 in debt reduction that many Democrats in Congress are calling for, but that he was "in the process of taking a hard look at whether there will be additional debt forgiveness" and would announce it in "the next couple of weeks."

Student loan forgiveness doesn't have enough support in Congress, so Biden will have to take action through executive order. Questions remain not only about whether he has the authority to forgive loans but over whether inflation could worsen if he does.

Yet progressives are urging Biden to make good on his student loan forgiveness plans to improve Democrats' prospects in the midterms, when they're expected to lose the House and as their majority in the Senate is also at risk. A recent Harvard Kennedy Institute of Politics poll found that 85% of 18- to 29-year-olds favor some government help on student loan debt.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Former president Donald Trump became so unhinged in his demands that governors violently put down civil rights protests that Maine Governor Janet Mills thought he was having a nervous breakdown, a new book by a pair of New York Times reporters claims.

The Independent obtained a copy of This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for Americas Future by Times scribes Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns ahead of its 3 May release date.

The book claims Mr Trumps ranting during a conference call with the nations governors so troubled Ms Mills that she summoned a member of her security team to join her in listening to the then-president.

Ms Mills, a Democrat, recalled what she said to the guard in an interview with the authors.

You gotta sit here and listen to this because I think the president of the United States is having a nervous breakdown or something, and its scary, she said.

On the other side of the country, Oregon Governor Kate Brown became so alarmed as Mr Trump demanded governors restore order that she called her husband in to listen along.

You cant make this s*** up, she reportedly said.

The protests for civil rights and racial justice that erupted across the United States after then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd were a thorn in Mr Trumps side as he ran for re-election against Joe Biden, and the then-president often characterised them as out-of-control race riots based on the actions of a minority of protesters in a handful of cities with Democratic mayors.

Yet some in Mr Trumps orbit considered the violence associated with some of the protests a political boon to the then-presidents re-election campaign, and when Ms Brown tried to ask then-Vice President Mike Pence for assistance removing federal agents  who on Mr Trumps orders were clashing with racial justice activists on a nightly basis  from her state, an administration official warned her: Not everyone wants to de-escalate this.
A gunman wanted for allegedly shooting at people near a University of Central Florida campus has been arrested, according to UCF police.

READ: Shooting at downtown UCF campus after gunman follows victims from bar, police say

Orlando police said they arrested 19-year-old Careem Pryce in collection with the shooting.

The shooting occurred around early April 17 near the Subway on Livingston Street and North Magnolia Avenue.

Three people reported that a man shot at them outside of UnionWest at the UCF downtown campus.

The victims told police that earlier in the night, the group got into an altercation with the shooter at the Knight Library near UCFs main campus and the individual stated he would shoot them.

READ: Florida prison guards charged with murder in inmate beating

Police said the gunman followed the group to the UCF downtown campus and shot at them.

Officers said no one was injured.

UCF police said the suspected shooter has no affiliation with UCF or Valencia College.

READ: Student loan debt: What is Biden considering when it comes to loan forgiveness?

Police said Pryce has been charged with multiple felonies and he has been trespassed from all UCF property.

UCF police said video from surveillance cameras played a major role in identifying the suspect.

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, and click here to watch the latest news on your Smart TV.
A Kansas City woman will spend 84 months in federal prison after she admitted to carrying out two Northland-area bank robberies last year, according to prosecutors.

Sarah T. Watkins, 42, was assigned the sentence by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner during a hearing Thursday in Kansas Citys downtown federal courthouse. She pleaded guilty in November to a single count of armed robbery.

According to prosecutors, Watkins walked into the Central Bank in Claycomo on Feb. 1, 2021 and handed a note to a teller that said: HAND OVER ALL THE MONEY AND I WONT SHOOT. Prosecutors said she then removed a gun from her purse and directed the teller to Do it!

The following day Watkins robbed the Capitol Federal Savings in Liberty, prosecutors said, and presented a note with the same language. She again allegedly brandished a firearm and demanded the teller turn over all the cash in the drawer.

Two days later, prosecutors said Kansas City police officers attempted to stop the getaway car, a white sedan that had been seen on bank surveillance cameras, and she led them on a high-speed pursuit. She was chased until she lost control of her car and crashed at East 21st and Walnut Streets.

Police arrested her after she fled on foot. As she was running away, prosecutors said Watkins reached into her waistband and then made the shape of a gun with her fingers and pointed at police officers.

During an interview with FBI agents later that night, Watkins admitted to robbing both banks.

Under the terms of her sentencing Thursday, Watkins was ordered to pay restitution to the bank. Both banks reported a combined loss of $2,736.
To view past editions of The Hills 12:30 Report, click here: https://bit.ly/30ARS1U

To receive The Hills 12:30 Report in your inbox, please sign up here: https://bit.ly/3qmIoS9

> A midday take on whats happening in politics and how to have a sense of humor about it.*

*Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Habreaks down crying hysterically.

IN CONGRESS

Is that is that Joe Manchin standing outside the Senate with a boombox over his head playing, Let It Go?:



Via The Hills Alexander Bolton, Sen. Joe Manchins (D-W.Va.) latest moves are fueling new doubts that hell agree to any sort of legislative package on President Bidens agenda, deepening Democratic worries about what theyll be able to deliver to voters by Election Day. https://bit.ly/3Mz1OLW

How so  Manchin has been hard to pin down: A  Democratic senator said efforts to negotiate with Manchin one-on-one, whether led by senior White House officials or Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), arent working.

How this could play out: https://bit.ly/3Mz1OLW

^ A PLAN B  LOOK FOR BIPARTISAN SOLUTIONS:

With Democrats reconciliation path in limbo  though members of the party want it to be revived  they are leaning into talks with Republicans on multiple fronts: Immigration, election reforms and climate.

More on the bipartisan efforts, via The Hills Jordain Carney: https://bit.ly/3vTA269

Happy Friday of White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner! Heres a list of parties this weekend. Im Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and whats coming up. Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to cmartel@thehill.com  and follow along on Twitter @CateMartel and Facebook.

Did someone forward this to you? Want your own copy? Sign up here to receive The Hills 12:30 Report in your inbox daily: https://bit.ly/3qmIoS9

Interesting read  the House Freedom Caucus is having a bit of an identity crisis:

Via Politicos Olivia Beavers, A group founded with right-leaning policy ambition that later became a Donald Trump defense team is starting to split in important ways, from how to respond to this weeks Kevin McCarthy tapes to  more fundamentally  whether to reorient itself back to its limited-government roots. https://politi.co/3KAOUvS

Story continues

Interviews with more than 40 Republicans  including 30 lawmakers, 16 of them in the Freedom Caucus  paint a picture of a group that shapeshifted as the GOP itself realigned during Trumps presidency, becoming more populist and nationalist, but less bound by policy principles.

Read the full story including a spat between Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.): https://politi.co/3KAOUvS

QUICK CATCH-UP  HERES A SHORT VIDEO OF IMPORTANT MOMENTS ON CAPITOL HILL THIS WEEK:

https://bit.ly/3kqXd2p

IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Another day, another positive COVID-19 case:

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield announced this morning that she has tested positive for COVID-19.

Was she in close contact with President Biden?: She tweeted, This morning, I tested positive for COVID-19. I last saw the President Wednesday in a socially-distanced meeting while wearing an N-95 mask, and he is not considered a close contact as defined by the CDC. https://bit.ly/38xLNY3

How is she feeling?: She is experiencing mild symptoms. Read her full tweets: https://bit.ly/3vVQumm

TIDBIT FROM THE COMMS STAFF:

White House deputy communications director Pili Tobar is leaving her position to join the private sector, according to The Hills Brett Samuels: https://bit.ly/3s12z8W

LATEST WITH THE JAN. 6 INVESTIGATION

The Harry Potter book series of hearings:



The House select committee investigation the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021 is planning to hold eight (!) hearings in June. https://bit.ly/3Lta4Nn

Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told CBCs Robert Costa: You know most issues or subjects get one hearing or maybe two hearings. So we looked at essentially the comprehensive story that we have to tell, and we divided it up into chapters that will allow for the unfolding of the narrative, and we hope that it will make sense to people.

When the first hearing kicks off: June 9.

LATEST WITH COVID-19

Happening in June:

Via The Hills Peter Sullivan, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday released tentative June dates for its advisory committee to meet to discuss authorizing COVID-19 vaccines for young children, offering a rough timeline for when authorization could come. https://bit.ly/3KyD5WF

Specifically: The agency said it is setting aside June 8, 21 and 22 for meetings of its advisory committee for vaccines for children under 5 and will provide more details once applications from Pfizer and Moderna are complete.

CASE NUMBERS:

Coronavirus cases in the U.S.: 81,256,091



U.S. death toll: 993,184



Breakdown of the numbers: https://cnn.it/2UAgW3y

VACCINATION NUMBERS:

Total number of vaccinations administered in the U.S.: 574 million shots have been given.

Seven-day average of doses administered: An average of 84,471 doses

For context: The U.S. population is roughly 331 million.

Breakdown of the numbers: https://bloom.bg/3iVTPLH

NOTABLE TWEETS:

Bahaha:

@surasshu tweeted, ppl like lets devalue twitter and bro, imma be honest, idk how much worse i can post. https://bit.ly/3OKKupc

Getting traction  this person had way too much time, but I also thoroughly enjoyed the saga:



Comedian Patrick McDonald tweeted, yesterday I set up a wildlife camera and made a red carpet for birds and squirrelsheres who came by on MY BACKYARDS BIGGEST NIGHT. Here are the highlights  with pretty detailed context: https://bit.ly/36Znxhd

^ This tweet has nearly 180,000 likes so far.

ON TAP:

The House and Senate are out. President Biden is in Washington, D.C.

10:15 a.m. EDT: President Biden received the Presidents Daily Brief.

1 p.m. EDT: President Biden speaks with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador by phone to discuss North American priorities.

3:15 p.m. EDT: President Biden joins a meeting with inspectors general.

4:30 p.m. EDT: Vice President Harris holds a virtual meeting with leaders of 15 Caribbean nations.

3 p.m. EDT Monday: The Senate meets next. The Senates Monday agenda: https://bit.ly/3LwywNV

WHAT TO WATCH:

10:45 a.m. EDT: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) held a press briefing. Livestream: https://bit.ly/37TWpR9

2 p.m. EDT: White House press secretary Jen Psaki holds a press briefing. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3kmNtpY

Sunday morning: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will appear on NBCs Meet the Press.

IN LIGHTER NEWS:

Today is National Shrimp Scampi Day.

And tomorrow is a fun combo: Its National Oatmeal Cookie Day AND National Raisin Day.

And to get your weekend off to an adorable start, heres a puppy meeting its new best friend: https://bit.ly/3KwIRIq

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

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras requested membership of the CAF-Development Bank of Latin America, the organization reported Thursday, as leftist President Xiomara Castro's administration seeks financing to alleviate severe budgetary imbalances left by her predecessor.

Castro, who took office in January, must tackle a public debt of almost $15.7 billion, or 59.3% of Honduras' Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

More than 30% of the national budget must go toward paying off the debt, according to finance ministry officials.

"The government of Honduras formally expresses its interest in becoming a member of CAF, with the aim of having various financial tools and instruments available," the government wrote in a letter addressed to and published by the development bank.

The letter mentions Castro's desire for Honduras to form part of the CAF "within the shortest possible time."

At the beginning of the year, the Honduran Congress approved the government to take on some $2 billion in internal and external debt to handle the imbalances in public finances over the next two years.

The CAF, based in Caracas and established in 1970, is made up of 20 countries, 18 from Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Spain and Portugal, and 13 private banks in the region.

(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa; Writing by Kylie Madry in Mexico City; Editing by Stephen Coates)
By Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong court on Friday increased a jail sentence to five years, in line with a China-imposed national security law, for a student who called for independence from China in posts on the Telegram messaging service.

Lui Sai-yu, 25, an engineering undergraduate at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, was charged with inciting secession in April 2021 with messages calling for "acts to be taken to unlawfully change the regime" in Hong Kong.

He has been in detention since September 2020, after police raided his flat and found a pepper ball gun, meant for firing irritant powder for self-defence, an extendable police baton, two military knives and protective gear.

Judge Amanda Woodcock had originally sentenced him to 3 years and 8 months after his guilty plea led to a one third reduction.

But prosecutor Ivan Cheung said the crime Lui committed was of a serious nature and must fall within sentencing guidelines in the security legislation. Woodcock then increased it to 5 years.

Lui's lawyer, Edwin Choy, told Reuters they were considering an appeal.

Other charges for possession of firearms and offensive weapons were dropped, according to the judgement.

The court heard that Lui had posted messages like "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Time" and "Hong Kong independence. The only way out", which were protest slogans during pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019.

But Choy said posting on Telegram was different to speaking in public or to the media, and Lui was not a well-known person and had only limited influence.

Lui himself had told the judge in a mitigation letter that his original intention was to let the voice of people be heard.

"It was difficult for an energetic and idealistic young man to keep completely uninvolved", Lui wrote, referring to the 2019 protests, fuelled in part by fears among some people that China was eroding freedoms promised to Hong Kong when the former British colony was handed back in 1997.

Story continues

"My love for Hong Kong was no less than anyone else's."

Hong Kong's government and China deny any erosion of freedoms in the city.

Lui became the fourth person jailed under the 2020 security law that punishes subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts with up to life imprisonment.

The first, former waiter Tong Ying-kit, was jailed for nine years.

Critics say the law erodes the freedoms promised by China under a "one country, two systems" formula when the city was returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Chinese and Hong Kong authorities say the law was needed to restore stability after the 2019 protests.

(Reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by James Pomfret, Robert Birsel)
An engineering student from Hong Kong has been sentenced to five years in jail for advocating the citys independence from the Chinese Communist Party in his messages sent on instant messaging app Telegram.



Lui Sai-yu, a 25-year-old undergraduate student at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, was charged with incitement to secession in April 2021 under the 2020 Beijing imposition of the national security law.



Lui was originally sentenced to 3 years and 8 months by Judge Amanda Woodcock when his guilty plea reduced one third of his sentence; however, it was increased to 5 years on Friday after prosecutor Ivan Cheung argued his crime was of a serious nature. Woodcock was bound by Article 21 of the security law to sentence the student to at least five years.



The student was first arrested in September 2020 following a police raid in his flat in Fanling. Police seized an extendable police baton, two military knives, a pepper ball launcher and protective gear.



In exchange for the prosecutors dropping two charges from his possession of firearms and offensive weapons, Liu pleaded guilty on Wednesday.



The prosecutor said Liu co-managed the Telegram platform Channel of Anti-Communism and Hong Kong Independence to call for independence. Investigators found more than 1,000 offending messages sent by Liu that included statements such as Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times, Hong Kong independence, the only way out and Fight against totalitarianism.



By choosing the forum of an open Telegram channel, the defendant and the other administrator intended to reach out to as many as possible, the judge said. This offense was committed during a time when there was social unrest and heightened anti-government sentiment. In this context and in such a social climate the offense aggravated the risks of public and social disorder.



Lius lawyer, Edwin Choy Wai-bond, is considering an appeal. He claimed that posting on Telegram differs from speaking in public, especially since his client is not a well-known person and only has limited influence.



In a mitigation letter, Liu told the judge that his intention was to let the voice of people be heard. He referenced the 2019 Hong Kong protests, which was fueled by citizens fear of China removing the freedoms promised to the island when it was returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Authorities, however, say the law does not erode any freedoms and was meant to restore stability after the protests.



It was difficult for an energetic and idealistic young man to keep completely uninvolved, Lui wrote. My love for Hong Kong was no less than anyone elses.



Lui is the fourth person to be jailed under the 2020 national security law that criminalizes any acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign or external forces with up to life imprisonment.







Featured Image via Handout via SCMP

Story continues

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Kansas House Republicans, led by Speaker of the House Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, overrode Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a food stamp work training requirement bill. It is expected to pass the Senate.

Kansas Republicans on Thursday overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a bill that supporters claim will move unemployed people off of food stamps and into jobs.

The law's new work training requirements for food stamps will go into effect July 1.

"This bill simply causes individuals that are able-bodied without dependents that work less than 30 hours a week to go to training in order to get a better job," said Rep. Sean Tarwater, R-Stilwell, who carried the bill on the House floor.

The bill, HB 2448, mandates certain food stamp beneficiaries complete a work training program that is currently voluntary.

Democrats claimed the proposal was intended to kick the working poor off food stamps "to be mean to poor people." The training will be mandatory, even for some people who work part-time jobs, or potentially for some who care for family members that aren't technically dependents.

Republicans saw it as a solution to a workforce shortage, but offered conflicting theories on how it would work.

Some contended that most beneficiaries will take advantage of the work training program and find a new job. Others suggested that relatively few will abide by the requirement and receive no training, which would lead to a loss of benefits.

Republicans did not have a supermajority when the bill first passed the House 70-46 last month, but enough legislators flipped to give the 86-36 override two more ayes than needed. The override in the Senate was a party-line 29-11.

More: Food stamp recipients won't be required to complete work training program after Kansas governor veto

Maine man from Florida group pushed legislation

The law institutes a new requirement for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as food stamps. Able-bodied adults without dependents who work less than 30 hours a week will have to complete an employment and training program to get SNAP benefits.

The sole proponent of the legislation during committee hearings was a conservative activist and former Maine government official who works for a Florida organization that also lobbied in Kansas for election security laws.

Story continues

Sam Adolphsen, of Opportunity Solutions Project, told lawmakers that Kansas has a "workforce shortage crisis," and "there are tens of thousands of able-bodied adults on your welfare programs that could fill those jobs." He later claimed there are 40,000 to 50,000 able-bodied adults on food stamps in the state.

Kansas does have a workforce shortage, but it is less pronounced than in most states, and the law affects far fewer people than he said it would.

The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting shows Kansas had about 90,000 open jobs in February. Kansas is tied for the second-lowest job opening rate nationwide, which is calculated by dividing the number of job openings by the sum of employment and job openings.

The Department for Children and Families in March reported a monthly average of about 14,000 able-bodied adults without dependents receiving SNAP benefits.

Adolphsen told lawmakers that the legislation "makes that obvious connection" between the number of open jobs and the number of abled-bodied adults on food stamps, and will move "people on welfare into some of those open jobs in the state."

Adolphsen didn't say whether those potential workers would be qualified for the available jobs. The Kansas Chamber previously reported that a fall 2021 poll of business leaders found their top concern was the quality of the workforce, especially insufficient soft skills and technical skills.

The legislation sparked opponent testimony from dozens of advocacy organizations, including food banks that said it will put additional pressure on food insecurity. It was originally packaged with Medicaid reforms targeting low-income parents, aged-out foster care youths and women who've been diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer.

"The goals of this bill are just common sense," Adolphsen testified in March. "The bill will protect welfare benefits for the truly needy, and it will help move able-bodied Kansans from welfare to work."

More: Kansas bill targets food stamps, Medicaid for poor parents, aged-out foster youths, women with cancer

Was the bill intended as workforce solution?

Rep. Sean Tarwater, R-Stilwell, led House Republicans in overriding Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a food stamp work training bill.

Despite the original backer of the bill claiming it was an answer to the workforce shortage, Republicans have grown divided over whether it really is a solution and whether that was ever the true intent.

"There are a ton of jobs open across the state just waiting for qualified individuals to fill," House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, said earlier this month. "This legislation can help make that happen."

Tarwater appeared to contradict that when he carried the override motion on the floor.

"This will not fix our workforce issues, but that's not the intent of this bill," he said. "The intent of this bill is to help these individuals. And with so many high-wage jobs available right now, I feel that it's our duty to train these people to help them better themselves."

But Tarwater previously said, "We think that people will most likely just go back to work for 30 hours rather than go to the class."

State officials have predicted, based on past evidence, that a mandatory training program would have a participation rate of about 9.3%.

Hawkins had predicted a Kelly veto because "it goes against her preferred governing strategy of giving out goodies at taxpayer expense."

After the Kelly veto, Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, accused the governor of engaging in a "war on work."

"It is hard to comprehend that during a time in which Kansas is experiencing record unemployment, the governor would veto a bill aimed at getting able-bodied adults back into the workforce or on a pathway out of poverty, towards self-sufficiency and personal prosperity," he said.

However, data show Kansas has record-low unemployment.

Kansas Department of Labor statistics show last month's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.5%, the same as the previous month and tied for the lowest reported rate on record. The state has nearly 37,000 unemployed individuals

"It's not a perfect bill, it's not going to solve our workforce crisis," said Rep. Susan Humphries, R-Wichita. "But it gives hope and dignity to a vulnerable population."

More: With record-low unemployment amid 95K open jobs, lawmakers pass bill to move Kansans off food stamps

Is bill 'a gift' to SNAP beneficiaries?

While Democrats contend the bill is punitive by kicking the working poor off food stamps, Humphries claimed it will "show compassion by helping lift people up."

"I believe poverty and opportunity are moral issues," she said. "Human dignity has deeper roots than what is in our wallet. Human dignity and happiness are the result of faith, family, community and earned success through work.

"What is the central solution to poverty? It's work. It's not a punishment. It's a blessing. Helping someone move to a place of self-sufficiency is a gift to them. Work, not money, is a fundamental source of dignity, and getting that training that will move them there is a process to hope and self-respect."

"It's punitive in nature," said Rep. Jason Probst, D-Hutchinson. "This will not solve a workforce shortage. There are many, many factors that play into what's going on in the workforce. ... We are going to harm people with this."

He pointed to fiscal estimates of a $3 million annual cost to implement a mandatory work training program.

"We're increasing the size of government with this bill, and we're doing it just to prevent people from accessing federal funds that are already applied to the state," Probst said.

Rep. Mark Samsel, R-Wellsville, was one of the Republicans who switched their vote. Among his concerns was growing government, but "it looks like an absolutely good investment in the people of Kansas."

Rep. Charlotte Esau, R-Olathe, explained that while she "is not convinced it is right to pass this," she flipped her vote in-part because "I hope this bill accomplishes what the supporters state it will do."

More: 'Business is booming in Kansas,' Gov. Laura Kelly says, as economist remains optimistic despite concerns

Jason Tidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jtidd@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason_Tidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas GOP passes food stamp work training law Laura Kelly vetoed
FIRST ON FOX: After leaving the White House as an adviser to then-Vice President Joe Biden during the summer of 2014 and becoming the president of a DC-based company founded by a Chinese executive with ties to officials at some of the highest levels of the Communist Party of China, Francis "Fran" Person visited the White House at least seven times between 2015 and 2016.

Person, who emailed with Hunter Biden and his longtime business partner Eric Schwerin frequently about business dealings associated with the Harves Group in 2015 and 2016, made multiple visits to the White House during that time, including attending a White House holiday reception in December 2015 with Bo Zhang, the Chinese executive who founded the Harves Group.

White House visitor logs from 2015 and 2016 show that Person met with his sister, Anne Marie Muldoon (Person), who previously worked for Schwerin and Hunter at Rosemont Seneca Partners before joining Vice Presidents Bidens office in May 2014, at least four times. Another listing for Person in March 2016 was a meeting with Steve Ricchetti, who was Bidens chief of staff from 2013 until 2017 and is currently Biden's White House counselor.

HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS PARTNER MADE 8 ADDITIONAL WHITE HOUSE VISITS IN 2016, VISITOR LOGS SHOW

Person, who served in the Obama administration as an adviser to Vice President Biden and a special assistant to President Obama between 2009 and 2014, left the White House in late July 2014 for a "special advisory role" at the University of South Carolina, his alma mater, before becoming the president of the Harves Group less than six months later in January 2015, where he "[h]elped guide the formation" of the DC-based company and established "global partnerships" in China.

A Politico profile piece on Person's exit from the White House in 2014 revealed that Person traveled with then-Vice President Biden to 49 of the 50 countries he traveled to between 2009 and 2014, including China and Serbia. The article also included quotes from Biden and then-second lady Jill Biden praising Person.

Story continues

"In times of urgency, everyone from the Secret Service to my communications and policy teams, the first guy they go to is Fran," Biden said.

"Fran has been like a son to Joe and me," Jill Biden said. "For eight years, we traveled the country, shared holidays together  Fran may be leaving the office, but he will always be a part of our family."

REPUBLICANS PRESS HUNTER BIDEN'S BUSINESS PARTNER FOR RECORDS ON TAX REFUND TRANSFER FROM FATHER

Fran Person responded to a Fox News Digital inquiry Thursday evening about the White House visits, saying that they were "personal in nature" and that he was "visiting with old colleagues and friends" that he served with for six years during the Obama administration.

"Those visits were personal in nature, visiting with old colleagues and friends whom I served with during my six years working there, and completely unrelated to my work with Harves Entertainment which was creating experiences and attractions with iconic brands across the sports and entertainment industry," Person said.

Person did not address whether he or Zhang communicated with or met with Obama-Biden administration officials outside of the White House to discuss Harves-related business deals. He also did not address whether he or Hunter have introduced Zhang to Biden.

FOX Business previously reported that Hunter's private equity firm, Rosemont Seneca Advisors, held financial interests in multiple Harves affiliates.

In March 2017, Schwerin emailed Hunter breaking down their firm's interests, including a 5 percent stake with Harves Amusement Parks and ownership in Harves Sports and Entertainment, both of which fall under the Washington, D.C.-based Harves Group.

Hunter's introduction to the Harves Group came nearly two years earlier when Fran, then the president of the Harves Group, messaged him in July 2015 and invited him to meet Zhang and his family in China.

"Bo Zhang and his family would host us," Person wrote in the email. "They are a great family with great respect and relationships in China. Bo graduated from American Univ and is in his late 20's, and his parents own Harves Century Group of Shenyang - which is a top tier private chinese real estate development firm."

Person's email went on to say that Zhang is "being groomed to take over his familys dynasty" and that the trip wasnt about selling Biden on anything, but more about "grow[ing] that relationship," adding that "there will be plenty of big things that come down the road that we can work on."

"His mom is actually the Chairman of the company, which is unique in China," Person wrote. "They are very private, and wouldn't tell anyone about you coming. Bo's father-in-law is actually the Governor of Hainan (Chinese Hawaii), which he doesn't advertise at all."

Zhang's father-in-law, Liu Cigui, was later elected as the Communist Party secretary of the Hainan province in 2017. He is considered a "loyalist" of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Harves Century Group, the China-based entity owned by Zhang's parents, is backed by the state-owned China Development Bank. It is the parent company of multiple U.S.-based Harves affiliates, including Harves Investment Group (HIG), Harves Sports, and Harves Global Entertainment, where Person is now the CEO, according to his LinkedIn. He is also the CEO and co-founder of DreamCube Innovations, a company that Fast Company described as an "enticing new technology and brand thats already signed deals with the NBA as well as with the Manchester United soccer club" that is set up "across China."

It does not appear that Hunter could make the China trip that Person had pitched him on in 2015. However, multiple emails reviewed by FOX Business showed that Person and Zhang had met with Hunter and Schwerin in Washington on numerous occasions.

They had also emailed back-and-forth coordinating potential Harves-related business deals. Hunter referred to Zhang as his "good friend and business colleague" in a 2016 email.

One of the names copied on the email was James Bulger, the nephew of notorious Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger. In addition to appearing to help Biden get a Chinese business license for his uncle's telemedicine company just a few years earlier, Bulger played an influential role in Hunter's Chinese business ventures.

In addition to Schwerin, Hunter, and Person communicating about business deals, Hunter worked behind the scenes sending email pitches to raise money for Person's unsuccessful congressional campaign in 2016, where he received $2,700 each from Schwerin and Hunter, including $1,000 from then-Second Lady Jill Biden. Zhang and his mother, Jinglan Shao, both maxed out to Fran's campaign with two $2,700 donations each.

A White House official deflected on a media inquiry from Fox News Digital about Person's visits to the White House during the Obama administration by criticizing "transparency" issues in the Trump administration.

"These are all meetings that have been public for years because both the Obama-Biden Administration and this administration released visitor records for the sake of transparency - a practice discontinued during the Trump years," the official said.
The troubles at the Holyoke Soldiers Home, which provides state-funded care for veterans in western Massachusetts, began well before a COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in the deaths of at least 76 residents and widespread illness among staff.

A new report released Friday, by the States Inspector General, raises serious questions about the Baker Administrations hiring of the former superintendent in charge of that soldiers home, and his ability to lead.

25 Investigates has reported extensively on troubles at the soldiers home, throughout the pandemic.

25 Investigates: Internal emails reveal lack of preparation for COVID-19 outbreak at Holyoke Soldiers Home

Bennett Walsh became the superintendent of the Home in May 2016. The IG began its investigation in 2019 after receiving an anonymous complaint raising several concerns about then-Superintendent Bennett Walsh.

Superintendent Walsh did not have and did not develop the leadership capacity or temperament for the role of superintendent, according to the IGs report. He created an unprofessional and negative work environment, retaliated against employees he deemed disloyal, demonstrated a lack of engagement in the Homes operations, and circumvented his chain of command.

The report also indicates Bennett lacked the credentials needed to be superintendent.

...his resume lists his positions as field and company grade infantry officer, recruiting officer, operations officer/program manager, executive officer, safety officer, faculty instructor, and the executive officer for Parris Island, South Carolina. His duties included overseeing large groups of military personnel. His resume does not include any direct or supervisory experience in a healthcare setting or skilled nursing facility, according to the IG.

The Office of the Inspector General is an independent state agency tasked with preventing and detecting fraud, waste, and abuse in the use of public funds and public property.

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The report says the secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Marylou Sudders, and the Homes Board of Trustees did not follow the statute that gives the Board the power to appoint the superintendent.

Rather, the Board recommended three candidates, the EHS secretary met only with Mr. Walsh and the governor appointed him as the Homes superintendent, according to the report.

EHS failed to recognize that the recurring complaints indicated that Superintendent Walsh did not have the leadership skills or temperament to lead the Home, according to the IG.

The Offices investigation focused on leadership, management, and oversight at the Home during the period May 2016 to February 2020, according to a statement from the IG. As the devastating impacts of the pandemic on the Home in March 2020 became clear, the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General and the United States Attorneys Office for the District of Massachusetts announced investigations into the events related to COVID-19.

Walsh was placed on paid leave on March 30, 2020, and then fired by Secretary Sudders in June of that year after the publication of a report Governor Baker had commissioned to investigate outbreak.

Report: Hell broke loose after series of leadership errors at Holyoke Soldiers Home

A court later found this termination letter to be void because the Board, not the EHS secretary, was the proper body through which the governor could have exercised any authority to remove him. A month after the courts decision, on October 13, 2020, the Board accepted Superintendent Walshs resignation, according to the IG report.

At one point, Walsh and and the homes medical director were facing criminal charges for their handling of the facility. Those charges were later dismissed.

Judge dismisses all criminal charges against leaders of Holyoke Soldiers Home

The Inspector Generals report also makes several recommendations to fix longstanding structural problems, address fundamental flaws related to oversight, and strengthen management and accountability.

Inspector General Recommendations:

Veteran Services should be elevated to a cabinet-level secretariat. One person must be responsible for the oversight and management of the superintendent; one person must have the authority and responsibility to appoint, supervise, discipline and remove the superintendent. The Department of Veterans Services Secretary should have this authority and responsibility for the superintendents at the Soldiers Homes in Holyoke and Chelsea.

Superintendents of the Soldiers Homes must meet certain requirements, including being licensed nursing home administrators with extensive management experience.

The Department of Public Health should have the authority and funding to provide independent clinical oversight and support for the Soldiers Homes.

DVS should establish an ombudsperson and a hotline to allow confidential reporting by residents, relatives, staff and concerned citizens.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services responded with the following statement:

The Baker-Polito Administration commissioned an independent report by Attorney Mark Pearlstein to investigate the circumstances that led to the tragedy at the Soldiers Home in Holyoke and multiple investigations, including one by the Legislature and another by the Attorney General, reached many of the same conclusions, that failures by Bennett Walsh and senior medical team members led to the outbreak. The Administration is reviewing the report from the Inspector General, which identified several recommendations that have already been addressed by the Department of Veterans Services and the Soldiers Home. The Administration filed legislation almost two years ago to strengthen oversight of the soldiers homes and looks forward to addressing these issues with the Legislature.

You can read the full IG report is here.

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

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

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
By Bernadette Christina and Fransiska Nangoy

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia should be able to tackle its cooking oil shortage in the next few weeks and lift an export ban on palm oil and its refined products in May, an industry body said on Thursday, a day after a last-minute policy U-turn sparked more alarm for markets.

The world's top palm oil producer expanded an export ban on raw materials for cooking oil to include shipments of crude palm oil and most of its refined products just hours before it took effect at midnight Wednesday, in an attempt to secure domestic supply and bring down soaring prices.

Sahat Sinaga, senior official at the Indonesian Palm Oil Board, said that decision had shocked the industry, but that he was confident the supply issue could be resolved not long after the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr in early May.

He added that a palm oil export target of 34 million tonnes in 2022 would be met.

Asked about the timeline suggested by the palm oil board, Trade Ministry senior official Veri Anggrijono said "we are all hoping this can be solved quickly".

A trade ministry regulation on Wednesday said the export policy would be reviewed monthly, or as often as needed, while Chief Economics Minister Airlangga Hartarto said it could be lifted when bulk cooking oil recedes to 14,000 rupiah ($0.97) a litre nationwide.

It sold for 19,000 to 20,000 rupiah a litre in Jakarta's markets on Thursday.

Previous measures to tame prices had failed due to distribution problems, not supply shortages at factories, Sinaga said, but he expressed confidence in the government's assigning of food procurement agency Bulog and other state firms to handle distribution.

"It will be a great success. It won't take long. After Eid, the market will be flooded," he said.

Markets had shown relief when Indonesia's chief economic minister said on Tuesday the ban would only cover refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm olein, but a day later authorities announced other products would be included.

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That had an immediate impact on global vegetable oil prices, sending palm oil futures in Malaysia up by 9.8%. The jitters spilled over into markets on Thursday as the ban took effect.

Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi said the decision was taken after careful consideration and monitoring cooking oil supply daily.

"I hope we all understand the urgency of this policy," Lutfi said.

Palm oil association GAPKI said the industry was working with the government to ensure affordable cooking oil supplies, but urged authorities to avoid a lengthy and devastating ban on palm oil exports.

'VERY NEGATIVE IMPACT'

"A total ban on the export of CPO and all its derivatives, if prolonged, will have a very negative impact on not only plantation, refinery and packaging companies, but also millions of smallholders," GAPKI said in a statement.

Demonstrating Indonesia's determination to enforce the ban, its navy on Thursday said it had seized two tankers carrying crude palm oil, palm olein and methanol for paperwork discrepancies the day before the measure took effect.

MT World Progress was travelling towards India with 34,854.3 tonnes of palm olein, while MT Annabelle was bound for the United Arab Emirates with 13,357.4 tonnes of crude palm oil and 98 barrels of methanol on board.

The ban has trapped at least 290,000 tonnes of the edible oil meant to be headed to India at Indonesian ports and oil mills, four industry officials told Reuters on Thursday.

Shares in Indonesia palm oil companies fell on Thursday, while concern over the ban pushed the rupiah currency to its lowest since July 2021. In Riau province, small farmers said prices of palm fruits were already dropping.

Radhika Rao, senior DBS Bank economist, said the prospect of exports being impacted was negative for Indonesian earnings and the current account and would "dampen sentiment on the rupiah".

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday said people's need for affordable food trumped revenue concerns for now.

The ban gave a lift to his approval rating in an independent survey conducted from April 20-25 - recovering slightly from a 15-percentage-point slump from January.

Food seller Sandri, 42, said he was struggling, but supported the president's move to bring cooking oil prices down.

"It's been heavy on me, because the government said oil prices in markets have gone down. But in reality, it's still the same, there's no drop yet," Sandri said.

($1 = 14,460.0000 rupiah)

(Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy and Bernadette Christina; Additional reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman, Gayatri Suroyo and Zahra Matarani; Editing by Ed Davies, Tom Hogue, Martin Petty and Jan Harvey)
DUBLIN (Reuters) -Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Friday the prospect of Britain introducing laws to unilaterally overrule parts of the Northern Ireland protocol governing post-Brexit trade is causing friction in talks with the European Union.

Britain and the EU have spent months trying to agree on how to remove many of the checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom agreed under the protocol. A British minister said on Thursday the sides were at an impasse.

Local media has reported that Britain is preparing laws that could be announced as soon as next month to do away with parts of the protocol. Ministers have said they are looking at a range of options.

"What we're hearing from some voices in London at the moment is that the British government is going to effectively pass domestic legislation to override elements of international law... in order to do away with elements of the protocol," Coveney told an event in the United States.

"That is causing tension between the British government and the EU," he added.

Perceptions that the protocol erodes Northern Ireland's place in the UK have sparked anger in pro-British communities.

The largest unionist party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), has said it will not enter a new power-sharing government after elections next week in the British-run province unless the protocol is completely overhauled.

Coveney said the DUP stance, along with anxiety in parts of the unionist community over polls showing Irish nationalists Sinn Fein set to become the biggest party for the first time, will make forming a new administration "very, very difficult".

He said the institutions established under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement were "perhaps under more threat now than they have been at any point" since then, adding he remained hopeful that Northern Ireland would find a way out of the impasse.

The Good Friday Agreement largely ended three decades of violence between mainly Catholic nationalists seeking to merge with Ireland and Protestant unionists who want to remain part of the United Kingdom.

(Reporting by Padraic HalpinEditing by William Schomberg and Gareth Jones)
Several Jacksonville-based businesses are teaming up to give jobs to people who have autism, Down syndrome, or other intellectual and developmental differences (IDDs).

Zach Alexander has been with Als Pizza in Riverside since June of 2021. The 25-year-old could be described as an all-star food prepper. You may not realize it when you meet him, but Zach has an IDD.

For us, hes just part of our team, Chris Kelly, Director of Operations for Als Pizza, said. Hes Zach, and we love having him.

Kelly hired Zach through a non-profit associated with a group called Connectable, which works to turn businesses into more inclusive workplaces, especially through hiring. He told Action News Jax he has a personal reason for partnering with this group: his cousin.

Hes [Kellys cousin] in his mid-60s right now, and they didnt have programs like this when he was younger, Kelly said. If he had something like this when he was in his mid-20s, his whole life trajectory would be very different.

Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) are a group of disabilities that begin at birth or in childhood that can affect a persons intellectual, physical, or emotional development.

For Zach, this job has given him a second family. They [his colleagues] are very nice people, Zach Alexander said. Chris is like one the kindest persons Ive ever met.

Now, hes a part of our team, and we cant operate our business without him, Kelly said.

Shopability Saturday is April 30. Families can support one or more of these businesses either in person or online. There are 150 to choose from. Just take a selfie in front of one of the inclusive businesses you visit  or a photo of what you purchased. Then, post it on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter using the hashtag, #ShopabillityJax  and tag @ConnectableJax for one entry to the drawing. Two entries will be randomly selected and will win one of two $100 Visa gift cards.

STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories
NEW YORK (AP)  A baby tree kangaroo that's just poking its nose out of its mother's pouch is the first of its species born at the Bronx Zoo since 2008, zoo officials announced Friday.

The birth of the Matschies tree kangaroo joey is an exciting birth for the Bronx Zoo and a unique opportunity for people to observe one of natures most intriguing evolutionary adaptations, zoo director Jim Breheny said in a news release.

The Matschies tree kangaroo is native to Papua New Guinea and is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is arboreal and lives in mountain rainforests.

The species is much smaller than Australia's well-known red kangaroo. An adult male Matschies tree kangaroo weighs between 20 and 25 lb (911 kg). The joey is about the size of a human thumbnail at birth, zoo officials said. The tiny joey crawls through the mothers fur to enter her pouch and emerges after about seven months.

At this stage of development, the joey will spend a lot of time in his moms pouch with just its head sticking out," Breheny said. "As it matures it will begin to explore its environment and start spending short periods of time outside the pouch.

Conservationists believe that fewer than 2,500 Matschies tree kangaroos remain in the wild. They are threatened by habitat destruction, hunting and other human activities.
A federal judge has ruled in favor of H&R Block by ordering a competitor to stop using certain names and images.

Late last year, the Kansas City-based tax giant sued Twitter founder Jack Dorseys company Square Inc., which changed its name to Block Inc. Leaders at H&R Block said that move co-opted their brand name, confused consumers and infringed on the companys trademark protections.

This week, U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey granted H&R Blocks request for a preliminary injunction against the California tech company. Her order bars Dorseys firm from using Block, Inc., Block, or other close variants like Blocks, in its tax preparation app.

The judge ruled that Block Inc.s name and green images that resemble H&R Blocks logo could confuse consumers.

H&R Block has been using the Block and green square families of marks for decades, Laughrey wrote, and over that time, has carefully nurtured a reputation for high-quality service and reliability with respect to consumers most sensitive financial information.

In changing its parent company name, Block Inc. retained the Square name for its company that provides point of sale systems to retailers across the country. The company also includes the Cash App brand and the music streaming service TIDAL.

The injunction bars the California company from publicly communicating through advertising, press releases or social media that it is associated with Cash App Taxes or other brands associated with taxes or tax services. The order required H&R Block to post a $250,000 bond and will remain in effect until the litigation is resolved.

Block Inc. has argued that no reasonable consumer could possibly confuse H&R Block with its Cash Appor Cash App Taxes brands. H&R Block claims that the Cash Apps rounded green square logo could confuse consumers because of its similarity to the tax giants own green square logo.

The California company on Friday asked the court for a temporary stay on the injunction. Block Inc. asked the judge to hold off on imposing the injunction as both parties are set to begin court-mandated mediation on May 10.

We are pleased that the Court has recognized the strength of our Block brand and our family of Block trademark rights, H&R Block said in a statement. Todays ruling is an important victory in the effort to prevent a competitor from unfairly leveraging the reputation and trust H&R Block has earned over the past 65-plus years.

Officials with Block Inc. could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Justice Department is suing Trump's one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort for nearly $3 million for allegedly failing to report his financial interest in foreign bank accounts between 2013 and 2014.

The lawsuit claims Manafort failed to fill out conventional "FBAR" reports required for all foreign bank balances over $10,000 a year, and his income tax returns did not reflect the existence of the overseas accounts in Cyprus, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the United Kingdom. The source of the unreported income, according to the lawsuit, was Manafort's consulting work in Ukraine with known associates Richard Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik.

"He owes the United States $2,321,797 for the willful FBAR penalty for 2013, plus interest and failure to pay penalty," the documents filed in Florida federal court allege. Additionally, the documents allege he owes $300,000 for the willful FBAR penalty for 2014, plus interest and a failure to pay penalty, for a total of $2,976,350.15.

Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort arrives at the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse for a hearing on June 15, 2018 in Washington, DC.

According to the court documents, a delegate from the Secretary of Treasury, assessed a penalty against Manafort for "willful failure" to pay both the 2013 and 2014 FBARs in May of 2020. On July 23, 2020, a delegate from the Secretary of Treasury sent Manafort notice of the assessment of the 2013 and 2014 FBAR penalties requested payment, the court documents alleged.

Manafort's attorney Jeffrey Neiman said in a statement that the "civil lawsuit seeks a money judgment against Mr. Manafort for simply failing to file a tax form."

"Mr. Manafort was aware the Government was going to file the suit because he has tried for months to resolve this civil matter," Neiman said. "Nonetheless, the Government insisted on filing this suit simply to embarrass Mr. Manafort."

Manafort was convicted of multiple financial crimes including tax and bank fraud and obstruction in 2018. He was later sentenced by two separate judges to over seven years in prison, but former President Donald Trump pardoned him in December of 2020.

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Leading up to the 2016 presidential election, Manafort served as the Trump campaign chairman before ultimately finding himself in the crosshairs of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose office prosecuted the 2018 charges.

Despite Trump's pardon, Thursday's lawsuit argued that Manafort still owes the U.S. government for alleged financial wrongdoing.

Tough new abortion bill OKd by Oklahoma lawmakers: CBS News Flash April 29, 2022

DHS Secretary Mayorkas faces GOP questioning in border policies hearing

FDA announces ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars
Good Friday morning Connecticut,

More sun, a tad warmer but also windy again on Friday. A sunny weekend is ahead, with temperatures in the low 60s and slightly less wind than we've been experiencing all week.

A special weather statement has been issued for Connecticut on Friday as there is an "elevated risk of fire growth and spread" due to the expected strong wind gusts and dry conditions.

Here are the news stories trending across Connecticut on Friday:

Many of the state's key COVID-19 metrics are moving in the wrong direction.>>>Read more by clicking here.

A driver saw a car that had crashed on the side of the road and called 911. First responders found 3 dead, per police.>>>Read more by clicking here.

A jury ordered the hospital to pay the family of a man who died following a surgical procedure in 2015, according to a report.>>>Read more by clicking here.

Police said a middle school teacher accused of touching a student inappropriately during class was arrested this week.>>>Read more by clicking here.

He will be supervised for one year, a judge ruled. If he's successful, the charges against him could be dismissed.>>>Read More by clicking here.

Current traffic conditions:

PUTNAM - Road Work on I-395 Northbound between Exits 47 and 49 (2.0 miles) in effect today until 3:30 pm. The right lane is closed. Reported Friday, April 29 at 8:01 am.

SOUTHINGTON - Road Work on I-691 Eastbound between Exits 4 and 8 (3.7 miles) in effect today until 3:30 pm. The right lane is closed. Reported Friday, April 29 at 8:11 am.

VERNON - Road Work on I-84 Eastbound between Exits 64 and 66 (1.9 miles) in effect today until 3:30 pm. The right lane is closed. Reported Friday, April 29 at 9:57 am.

Story continues

WINDSOR - Road Work on I-91 Northbound between Exits 40 and 42 in effect today until 3:30 pm. The right lane is closed. Reported Friday, April 29 at 9:34 am.

CROMWELL - Road Work on I-91 Northbound between Exits 22 and 23 in effect today until 3:30 pm. The left lane is closed. Reported Friday, April 29 at 9:37 am.

STAMFORD - Delays. I-95 Southbound is congested between Exits 10 and 5 (4.0 miles). Reported Friday, April 29 at 7:01 am.

ROCKY HILL - The Ferry Is Closed Until Further Notice, Due To Mechanical Issues . Reported Friday, April 29 at 6:00 am.

COLCHESTER - Road Work on RT2 Eastbound between Exits 16 and 18 (3.7 miles) in effect today until 3:30 pm. The left lane is closed. Reported Friday, April 29 at 9:30 am.

COLCHESTER - Road Work on RT2 Westbound between Exits 18 and 16 (3.6 miles) in effect today until 3:30 pm. The left shoulder is closed. Reported Friday, April 29 at 10:41 am.

MIDDLETOWN - Road Work on RT66 at Arrigoni Bridge in effect today until 3:30 pm. The right lane is closed. Reported Friday, April 29 at 9:18 am.

PLAINVILLE - Road Work on RT72 Westbound between Exits 2 and end of expressway in effect today until 3:30 pm. The left lane is closed. Reported Friday, April 29 at 9:48 am.

WATERBURY - Road Work on RT8 Southbound between Exits 32 and 30 (1.0 miles) in effect today until 3:30 pm. The right lane is closed. Reported Friday, April 29 at 8:46 am.

OLD SAYBROOK - Road Work on RT9 Northbound between Exits 2 and 4 (4.1 miles) in effect today until 4:00 pm. Expect lane closures. Reported Friday, April 29 at 9:46 am.

NEWINGTON - Road Work on RT9 Northbound between Exits 29 and 30 (1.5 miles) in effect today until 3:30 pm. The right lane is closed. Reported Friday, April 29 at 10:28 am.

Key CT COVID-19 Health Metrics Trending In Wrong Direction: CT News originally appeared on the Across Connecticut Patch
VALENTYNA ROMANENKO - FRIDAY, 29 APRIL 2022, 12:09 The body of a dead woman, a journalist, has been found under the rubble of a house in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the capital, which was struck by a Russian missile on 28 April. Source: Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko on Telegram Quote: "Friends! Rescuers who are continuing to search through and clear away the rubble of a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district which was hit by a rocket yesterday have just found the body of the deceased." Details: According to journalists, the body was that of Vira Gyrych, who had been working as a producer at the Ukrainian bureau of "Radio Svoboda" in Kyiv. "Radio Svoboda" officially confirmed the death of a colleague. Quote: "Radio Svoboda" producer Vera Girich died as a result of a Russian missile hitting the house where she lived in Kyiv. The shelling took place on 28 April. The body of the deceased was found under the wreckage on the morning of 29 April. Vira Gyrych started working in the Kyiv bureau of "Radio Svoboda" on 1 February, 2018. Prior to that, she worked on leading Ukrainian TV channels. The editorial board of "Radio Svoboda" expresses its condolences to the family of Vira Girich and will remember her as a bright, kind person, a true professional. " Background: On the evening of 28 April in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv, in the centre of the city, aggressor's missiles hit an object and a nearby apartment building. The apartment building was new and still largely uninhabited. Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Herashchenko reported about a dozen victims. On the morning of 29 April, the capital's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said that four people had been hospitalised.
The Oklahoma legislature has passed an abortion bill similar to the one in Texas, on Thursday.

The Oklahoma Heartbeat Act, formerly known as SB 1503, prohibits abortions when cardiac activity can be detected in a fetus which might be as early as six weeks with exceptions in case of medical emergencies, rapes, or incest. The bill also allows any private citizen to sue anyone who provides an abortion or helps a woman to get one.

Women from states with strict abortion laws like Texas would go to Oklahoma for abortions.

None of these states were set up to accept thousands of patients from another state. We have access issues of our own in each of these states, said Zack Gingrich-Gaylord, Communications Director of Trust Women Foundation.

The ban would take effect once Governor Kevin Stitt signs it. But abortion providers have already filed a legal challenge in court. The Supreme Court will evaluate the issue in a case involving Mississippis abortion law, in June this year.
Eboni Major was the poster girl for Bulleit Distillery and the first Black blender in the companys history. She made waves with her award-winning bourbon, but her success was marred by racial discrimination.

The reported discrimination was severe to the degree that she developed health issues and had to leave the company, a lawsuit alleges. Major also has suffered embarrassment, anxiety and mental anguish because of her previous work environment, her attorney alleges.

Eboni Major was an award-winning blender for Bulleit Distillery before she was pushed out by a hostile work environment, her attorney says. (Twitter/@eboni_major)

According to the lawsuit Major filed against Bulleits parent company, Diageo, Major dealt with constant microaggressions during the five years and seven months that she worked for Bulleit.

She was the only Black person at the distillery in Shelbyville, Kentucky, where she claims she was paid less than her white counterparts, but was expected to do more. She also claims she wasnt given the same recognition as white employees and they were often credited for her work. Most of her complaints reportedly were ignored except for when she faced retaliation.

All of that led her to work in a hostile environment, according to the complaint filed in the Supreme Court of New York on April 4.

Stephanie Childs, the executive vice president of corporate relations for Diageo North America, disputed Majors claims.

Diageo celebrates and values diversity on all levels, and our long track record demonstrates a real commitment to creating a culture that supports inclusivity, Childs said in a statement to The New York Times.

In spite of the harassment, Major rose through the ranks of the company. She started as a blending intern in 2015. In 2019, she pitched her own bourbon, Blenders Select. It won the Gold Medal at San Francisco World Spirits Competition. In addition, Major won Diageos Global Craftsperson of the Year award. In December 2020, Whiskey Advocate named Blenders Select its fourth-top whiskey.

It was the first time any Bulleit blend was named among Whiskey Advocates Top 20 blends. However, Majors picture was excluded from the companys social media when Whiskey Advocate recognized the product.

Story continues

Despite the accolades for the liquor that she created alone, Majors name is nowhere on the label for Blenders Select. Yet, Johnnie Walkers Jane Walker, which was launched at the same time as Majors bourbon, had the creators signature on every bottle, even though a team helped create the product.

When the liquor won the World Spirits Competition, Bulleit posted a photo of the bottle on its Instagram page, but not a photo of Major. However, a white female co-worker who accomplished less than Major often would be featured on one of the companys other whiskey brand pages.

Behind the companys doors, Majors white coworkers had little regard for racial sensitivity despite touting an environment of diversity and inclusivity. On one occasion, another employee said to Major: Hey, Poufy Head, what happened to the dreads?

When Major complained to her bosses, one recommended that she say something back to the other employee about her hair.

Her immediate supervisor also denigrated and stereotyped Major. He once referred to Major as a peon and asked her about crime, citing Ms. Majors African-American ethnicity as the reason for asking the question, the lawsuit says.

Major found various disparities in the pay ratio between her and other employees even as she became a brand ambassador.

Major went on a national marketing tour where she was required to set up, curate and clean up her own event presentation, but she was often skirted out of her talent fee, overtime, and other compensation. She also had to make her own travel arrangements on some occasions, despite being assigned the tasks by the company.

Major was left stranded in the rain after hosting a dinner for bloggers during a marketing trip in March 2020 because Diageo did not arrange transportation back to her hotel, the lawsuit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, her marketing role went beyond hosting events and sample tastings. Her image was on the hangtags for bottles and marketing campaigns for Black History Month and Womens History Month, with little to no compensation.

Eboni Major was the only Black person at her company in an industry led by white men. (Twitter/@eboni_major)

Diageo and Bulleit used Majors image to their public relations advantage, sometimes without her permission or with her disapproval.

In February 2019, while Bulleit was in the middle of a public scandal, Major was asked to do a live podcast interview with comedian Adam Carolla. She told her supervisors she was concerned about being abused because of Carolllas reputation of being offensive.

However, Majors bosses assured her that the comedian would stick to his notes and talking points, the complaint alleges.

However, it turned into a traumatic experience for Major, according to her claims. She was the only Black person there while Carolla made several racist jokes and hosted a segment called, What would happen if I got pulled over by the cops?

Later that year, the company ended Majors marketing tour.

In retaliation for complaining often and bitterly about the differential treatment she received as a person of color, all of Ms. Majors media opportunities were suspended, the lawsuit says.

Major and company officials agreed to mediation that ended without a settlement. She rejected a $300,000 deal and continued to face retaliation and differential treatment. In June 2021, Major was diagnosed with hypertension, which her lawyer said resulted from emotional distress.

I tried with Diageo over and over, Major said. They fought me every step along the way.
NEW YORK  FBI agents may have violated the rights of accused subway shooter Frank James by taking multiple DNA samples from him this week without first contacting his lawyers, the lawyers complain in a court filing.

Attorneys for James, held without bail since his April 13 arrest for the stunning explosion of gunfire on a morning rush hour train where 10 people were shot, argue in Brooklyn Federal Court that standard practice required them to be notified beforehand.

By depriving counsel of the ability to be present to witness the procedure, as occurs routinely, they lessened Mr. James ability to later challenge the validity of of the physical taking of the sample, the attorneys wrote.

Because the government failed to provide notice to counsel before questioning and searching Mr. James, their practice risked violations of Mr. James core constitutional rights.

Authorities had already taken the accused shooters DNA after his Manhattan arrest on April 13.

A spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney declined comment on the filing lawyers made two days after the Tuesday FBI visit.

The defense lawyers said the agents questioned James, took multiple DNA swabs and directed him to sign unspecified documents without providing any explanation for the deviation from standard procedure.

The 62-year-old James arrived in Brooklyn in the early morning hours of April 12 before boarding a train, setting off a smoke bomb and opening fire. He was on the run for two days until he was taken into custody in Manhattan.
BEIRUT (AP)  Lebanon's military on Friday said it has detained five people in the northern city of Tripoli as they prepared to smuggle 85 migrants by boat to Europe.

The announcement came days after a boat carrying more than 60 migrants capsized on April 23 off the coast of Tripoli. Seven bodies were recovered, with 47 people rescued and the others still missing. Survivors blamed the Lebanese navy of causing the accident by ramming into the boat.

For years, Lebanon had been a country that hosted refugees. But since the country's economic meltdown began in October 2019, hundreds of people have attempted a perilous sea journey to Europe to seek a better life. Several have drowned on the way, and hundreds have reached their destination.

Tripoli is Lebanon's second largest and most impoverished city. Lebanon, a nation of 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, is in the grip of a historic economic and financial crisis rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country's ruling class.

The army said the smugglers were detained late Thursday as they were preparing to send 85 people on a boat after collecting a total of $400,000 from them. The boat was confiscated in a sea resort in the country's north, it added, and the detainees are being questioned.

On Tuesday, Lebanons government tasked the military judiciary with investigating last week's deadly sinking of the migrant boat.

Search and rescue efforts were still underway to locate those still unaccounted for since last weekend's incident.

Survivors have accused the Lebanese navy of deliberately ramming the vessel while trying to force it back to shore. Lebanese officials have blamed reckless smugglers for deliberately overloading the boat and eschewing safety precautions.
America is becoming such a hodge-podge of different-colored people and beliefs. Muslims with their sharia law, crack-pots who believe in more than two genders, same-sex people getting married and having children  everyone, no matter how deviant their ideas may be, claiming the same right to be heard, resulting in the killing of unborn babies, drinking their blood and pedophilia all being seen as natural rights.

Theyre coming for our freedom  the free-market capitalism that has always taken care of every worthy citizen. Even the tradition of beneficent charity for the unworthy poor is to be undone by the tyranny of socialism  a godless, heartless Muslim Marxist conspiracy to shackle us under tyranny.

Isnt it time that there was a nation where white, Christian people are fully in control; a place with lots of open land into which the one true people can expand almost without limit? Well, there is such a place. A nation with 6.6 million square miles of territory  almost 1/8th of the Earths habitable landmass. A lot of it is in colder extremes which, with global warming, will become more usable every year. A land that already has a deep tradition of strong leaders who take quick action against all enemies of the people, including the press.

In this nation, English is taught in the public schools, which also teach children patriotism. No lingering on any ugliness of past history here, just stories about glory, rightness, strength and obedience for the national good. The population of this country is so low (150 million) that if all 74 million people who voted for Trump in the 2020 election emigrated there, they would not only be a very welcome addition, but a strong influence on how things work. The flavor of public discourse, already very Trumpian, would be even stronger. And then, who knows? Maybe even a long-dreamed-about Trump tower in Moscow. Oops, did I give it away? Yes, the country Im talking about  a place that is almost heaven for white supremacist, Christian nationalist, authoritarian-spirited folks  is Russia. Heres a link on how to become a citizen there: expatica.com/ru/moving/visas/russian-citizenship-995117.

Heres the reality: White, Christian folk who think that God hates gays and that transgender people are an abomination have been a small and shrinking minority in the U.S. for a while. A majority of us feel that the soul-wrenching issue of whether to terminate a pregnancy should be between a woman, her doctor and her god or other support system. As for the pedophilia, drinking babies blood, teaching our children to hate America, the coming of sharia law or any number of other whack-a-doodle ideas cooked up by Q-Anon conspiracy theorists  theyre mostly just that: Whack-a-doodle.

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Except, possibly, for the pedophilia. Ive noticed that Trump minions seem to know a great deal about that. And, why not? The Donald used to hang out a lot with Jeffrey Epstein before he was arrested, had a mysterious suicide and disappeared. (Did anyone actually see his body being buried?) Prominent GOP figures like Matt Gaetz and Roy Moore were both accused of dating underage girls. After Tennessee finally set a minimum age for marriage, the GOP sponsored a bill to reverse that onerous limitation. (Oh, well, maybe the Democrats made em do it.)

Really, most folks in this country believe that if you work full time, you are worthy of a living wage, family leave, health care and a vacation from time to time. Some point out that democratic socialism isnt authoritarian MAGA-style governance, like Russia or North Korea, but does provide higher standards of living in countries like Sweden, Germany and Finland. Americans dont want to depend on a taxpayer subsidy (like we give large corporations) or on charity. Mostly, we believe in independent self-governance, working out our own solutions and not having to be dependent upon the fickle beneficence of the wealthy to survive.

So, if you are one of those who just cant deal with that, theres an age-old political trope that you-uns used to throw at us liberals: America, love it or leave it. (Remember the bumper stickers?) Nows your chance. Use this link: expatica.com/ru/moving/visas/russian-citizenship-995117.

Bye.

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: From the Left: Almost heaven for America, love it or leave it crowd
Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District, speaks Wednesday during a news conference about Southern California's water shortage emergency. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: If it were not so serious, the ineffectiveness of our water officials would be laughable. For years many of us have been saying that the time to save water is when you have it, not when it's almost gone. And yet we keep seeing decisions made as if the shortage is only temporary and not permanent. ("Parts of Southern California don't have enough water to meet demand, sparking sweeping cuts," April 27)

It isn't going to rain or snow a lot anymore. Scientists have been telling us this for a very long time. Drought and heat are here to stay, but we keep watering away while some agricultural fields are flooded, Caltrans waters the weeds on the freeways, and municipalities water whatever they want whenever they want.

Now, in a panic, people will be told to use some percentage less than before, which rewards the water wasters. Naturally, there will probably be financial penalties, so our wealthy neighbors in gigantic estates will continue to drench their tropical rainforests without regard to the cost.

By the way, it probably isn't going to rain next year either. We should have anticipated this in 2020 or before.

Andy Marias, Westlake Village

..

To the editor: The Metropolitan Water District's decision to impose unprecedented water restrictions is the latest shoe to drop in the slow-motion catastrophe that is our climate crisis.

Like increasingly apocalyptic wildfires and the cavalcade of high temperature records being set one after another, water restrictions are previews of the future that climate scientists have been warning of for decades.

Perhaps rather than squander our energy on the inevitable finger pointing and haggling over who is to blame or how to apportion what water is available, we might instead invest it in the radical energy overhaul required to reduce our reliance on the fossil fuels that are the cause. Or not.

Jordan Sollitto, Pasadena

..

To the editor: Yes, the water conservation measure may result in dead lawns and trees. However, the lawns and trees that will suffer the most are the very ones that should be eliminated from our landscaping.

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Drought-tolerant ground coverings, plants and trees require little to no water. Drip irrigation applies water to the root zone where it's needed with no waste. Mulch reduces evaporation, insulates the soil and prevents weed growth. California native plants require no summer water.

This is our future. Get used to it and get onboard  the sooner the better.

Kathy Horbund, Venice

..

To the editor: We are at the end of April, and Southern California residents are already being asked to water our yards one day week beginning June.

Recently I visited two public institutions, and both locations had bathrooms with toilets that flush automatically once before using and once after use.

The MWD should tell public institutions to inspect their automatic-flush toilets to stop water waste.

Cindy Yee, Monterey Park

..

To the editor: Your article says, "With the state's major reservoirs at low levels, the MWD has been left without enough water in parts of Southern California."

Assuming that this is true, may I also assume that there will be a halt to construction of new houses? It seems as though one would logically follow the other, or am I just some sort of simpleton?

Jay James, Pico Rivera





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
WASHINGTON -- A senior U.S. defense official said Friday the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of the Ukrainian resistance.

We also assess that because of this slow and uneven progress, again, without perfect knowledge of every aspect of the Russian plan, we do believe and assess that they are behind schedule in what they were trying to accomplish in the Donbas, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. militarys assessment.

He said the U.S. believes the Russians are at least several days behind where they wanted to be as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east.

As the troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been slow and uneven, and certainly not decisive in any, in any event, the official said.

 By Lolita C. Baldor

___

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Ukraine cracks down on anyone suspected of aiding Russian troops

 A former U.S. Marine became the first known American to die fighting for Ukraine

 Ukraine slams Kyiv attack amid new Mariupol rescue effort

 Ukraine says Russian offensive in east picks up momentum

 NATO chief says Finland, Sweden could join quite quickly

Follow all AP stories on Russias war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

___

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.

The constant brutal bombardments, the constant Russian strikes on infrastructure and residential areas show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people. Therefore, the defense of our land, the defense of our people, is literally a fight for life, he said late Friday in his nightly video address to the nation.

He said the cities and towns of the Donbas will survive only if Ukraine remains standing. If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones. As they did with Mariupol.

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Zelenskyy said Mariupol, once one of the most developed cities in the region, was now a Russian concentration camp among the ruins.

In Kharkiv, a major city to the north, the situation was brutal but Ukrainian troops and intelligence agents have had important tactical successes, he said without elaborating.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said about 20% of the citys residential buildings have been so badly damaged that it will be impossible to restore them.

Zelenskyy said rescuers were still going through the rubble in Kyiv after Thursdays missile strikes. He expressed his condolences to the family of Vira Hyrych, who was killed in the bombardment. He said she was the 23rd journalist killed in the war.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appears to have dismissed the need for the United Nations to help secure humanitarian corridors out of Ukraines besieged cities, striking a tough line a day after the U.N. chief toured war-wracked Kyiv with that very aim.

As an interviewer at Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV tried to ask Lavrov about U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians, Lavrov cut him off.

There is no need. I know, I know, an irritated Lavrov said. There is no need for anybody to provide help to open humanitarian corridors. There is only one problem  humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals, he said.

We appreciate the interest of the secretary-general to be helpful, he added. (We have) explained  what is the mechanism for them to monitor how the humanitarian corridors are announced.

During the hourlong interview, Lavrov also accused the West of sabotaging Russias peace talks with Ukraine. He claimed that thorny negotiations in Istanbul last month had been progressing on issues of Russian territorial claims and security guarantees until Ukrainian diplomats backtracked at the behest of the West.

We are stuck because of their desire to play games all the time, Lavrov said. Because of the instructions they get Washington, from London, from some other capitals, not to accelerate the negotiations.

When asked about the risks of war spilling into neighboring Moldova after a series of explosions rattled a breakaway border region within the country, Lavrov struck an ominous tone.

Moldova should worry about their own future, he said. Because theyre being pulled into NATO.

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KHARKIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian authorities are cracking down on anyone suspected of aiding Russian troops under laws enacted by Ukraines parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Feb. 24 invasion.

Offenders face up to 15 years in prison for acts of collaborating with the invaders or showing public support for them.

Not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion, and pro-Moscow sentiment is more common among Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east.

Although the Zelenskyy government has broad support, even among many Russian speakers, not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion. Support for Moscow is more common among some Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east. An eight-year conflict there between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces had killed over 14,000 people even before this years invasion.

Some businessmen, civic and state officials and members of the military are among those who have gone over to the Russian side, and Ukraines State Bureau of Investigations said more than 200 criminal cases on collaboration have been opened. Zelenskyy has even stripped two SBU generals of their rank, accusing them of treason.

A registry of collaborators is being compiled and will be released to the public, said Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraines Security Council. He refused to say how many people have been targeted nationwide.

With martial law in place, authorities have banned 11 pro-Russian political parties, including the largest one that had 25 seats in the 450-member parliament  the Opposition Platform For Life, which was founded by Viktor Medvedchuk, a jailed oligarch with close ties to Putin.

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KHARKIV, Ukraine  Hundreds of people have been evacuated to Kharkiv from the nearby village of Ruska Lozava that had been under Russian occupation for more than a month.

Almost half the village has escaped on buses, in shrapnel-ridden cars or on foot after fierce battles saw Russian troops pushed back and Ukrainian forces take full control of the village, according to the Kharkiv regional governor.

A video posted by the Azov battalion shows troops raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the government building in the center of the village although fighting continues on the outskirts.

Upon arrival to Kharkiv less than 12 miles (20 kilometers) away, those who fled have described to Associated Press reporters the dire conditions they faced while living in basements with little water and food and no electricity.

We were hiding in the basement, it was horror. The basement was shaking from the explosions, we were screaming, we were crying and we were praying to god, said Ludmila Bocharnikova.

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WASHINGTON  A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, according to his relatives, making his the first known death of an American citizen while fighting in the war against Russia.

Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN. Cancel joined the Marines after graduating from Newburgh Free Academy in New York and served from 2017-21. He more recently worked as a corrections officer in Tennessee.

Cabrera said her son signed up to work with the private military contractor shortly before fighting began in Ukraine on Feb. 24 and that he agreed to go to Ukraine. She said he flew to Poland on March 12, entered Ukraine shortly thereafter and had been fighting alongside men from a number of countries.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it, she said.

Cabrera said her sons body hasnt been recovered.

Cancel had also served as a volunteer firefighter in New York and leaves behind a wife and 7-month-old son, according to an online fundraising page set up by a man identifying himself as Cancels father. Cancels wife received the call informing her of his death on Tuesday, the page said.

___

KYIV, Ukraine  A leading Ukrainian political analyst says Russias missile strike on Kyiv signaled its intention to keep fighting despite international efforts to mediate an end to the hostilities.

Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said Thursdays strike on Kyiv while U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting the city indicated Moscows intention to press its attack.

Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure, Fesenko told The Associated Press.

With this missile strike, the Kremlin is sending a warning to all international structures and organizations trying to influence or contain Russias aggressive military plans, Fesenko noted. While Russia has so far failed to score any significant gains in Ukraine, it intends to continue its offensive and keep striking cities with missiles.

The attack reportedly killed at least one person and wounded at least 10 others, and was the first on Kyiv since Russia refocused its efforts on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Guterres and his team were not injured.

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LVIV, Ukraine  The mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol says those hiding at a massive steel mill are running out of food, water and medicine.

Vadym Boichenko described the situation at the Avozstal steel plant as dire. The steel mill is the last position held by Ukrainian fighters, who also are with civilians.

The Soviet-era facility has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more extreme after the Russians dropped a series of so-called bunker buster bombs and unguided munitions.

Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse, Boichenko said, according to a translator. They are begging to get saved.

He added: There, its not a matter of days, its a matter of hours.

Boichenko said he hoped a cease-fire would allow those inside the steel mill to safely leave. Russia earlier offered a truce that was rejected by Ukrainians, who said Moscow previously broke other agreements.

We hope theres a slight touch of humanity in the enemy, the mayor said.

Boichenko spoke Friday in a government-organized video conference.

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MOSCOW  The head of the Russian Central Bank says the outlook is extremely uncertain as the countrys economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year.

International sanctions and falling consumer demand are squeezing the economy as inflation rises.

The Central Bank cut its key interest rate from 17% to 14% on Friday and predicted the economy would shrink by between 8% and 10% this year.

The current situation is extremely uncertain. Simultaneously, supply trends and the factors driving aggregate demand are also changing dramatically, Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina said.

The Central Bank said annual inflation was 17.6% as of April 22 and forecast it would rise to between 18% and 23% by the end of the year.

After a temporary surge, consumer demand is decreasing in real terms, accompanied by a rise in households propensity to save. The decline in imports due to the introduction of external trade and financial restrictions is outstripping the decline in exports, the Central Bank said in a statement.

Despite the gradual change in the country and commodity structure of exports and imports as new suppliers and sales markets emerge, businesses are experiencing considerable difficulties in production and logistics.

___

WARSAW, Poland  Ukraines first lady, Olena Zelenska, said the war hasn't changed her husband and has only revealed his qualities to the world, including his determination to prevail.

Zelenska, speaking in an interview with the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita published Friday, also said she has not seen her husband President Volodymr Zelenskyy since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Since Feb. 24, I have been seeing my husband just like you  on TV and on video tapes of his speeches, she said.

She accused Russia of trying to carry out a genocide against the Ukrainian people and expressed her sympathy with all those who have been forced to flee their homes.

I wish I could hug each of them. It is easy to imagine the difficult path they went through, escaping from basements or bunkers in Mariupol, from firing from Kharkiv, from the occupied Kyiv region, and even from Lviv or Odesa, which were also under fire from Russian missiles, she said.

The newspaper, making clear that it interviewed Zelenska remotely and not revealing her location, asked her if the war had changed her husband.

The war has not changed him, she replied. He has always been a man you can rely on. A man who will never fail. Who will hold out until the end. Its just that now the whole world has seen what may not have been clear to everyone before.

___

LONDON  Tens of thousands of troops from NATO and other north Atlantic nations will take part in a series of military exercises across Europe in the coming weeks as western countries seek to deter Russian aggression.

The exercises, backed by aircraft, tanks, artillery and armored assault vehicles, will take place in Finland, Poland, North Macedonia and along the Estonian-Latvian border. They will include troops from NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force, which includes non-NATO members Finland and Sweden.

The scale of the deployment, coupled with the professionalism, training and agility of the British Army, will deter aggression at a scale not seen in Europe this century, Lt. Gen. Ralph Wooddisse, commander of the U.K.s field army, said in a statement.

The deployments will begin this week in Finland, where troops from the U.S., Britain, Estonia and Latvia will participate in Exercise Arrow to improve their ability to work alongside Finnish forces.

Also this week, some 4,500 troops will take part in Exercise Swift Response, which will include parachute drops and helicopter-borne assaults in North Macedonia. The operation will include forces from U.S., Britain, Albania, France and Italy.

Next month, 18,000 NATO troops, including forces from Britain, France and Denmark, will take part in Exercise Hedgehog along the Estonia-Latvia border.

In late May, about 1,000 British soldiers will join troops from 11 other nations for Exercise Defender in Poland.

The security of Europe has never been more important, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said. These exercises will see our troops join forces with allies and partners across NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force in a show of solidarity and strength in one of the largest shared deployments since the Cold War.

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The US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty says one of its journalists was killed by a Russian missile strike on Ukraines capital, Kyiv, Thursday night.

Vira Hyrych died when the building she lived in was hit and her body was found in the buildings rubble Friday, Radio Free Europe said. Hyrych had worked for the broadcasters Ukrainian-language service since 2018, Radio Free Europe said in a statement.

Ten people were wounded in the attack, including at least one who lost a leg, according to Ukraines emergency services.

Describing the attack, Russia says it destroyed production buildings at a defense factory in Kyiv. Russia used high-precision, long-range weaponry to hit the Artem factory in the Ukrainian capital, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday.

The spokesman appeared to be referring to strikes on Kyiv that took place on Thursday evening, shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said cruise missiles were used in the attack and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and four hospitalized when a residential building was hit.

Konashenkov also said Russia had destroyed a missile launch site that Ukraine had used to strike the Russia-held Ukrainian city of Kherson.

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LVIV, Ukraine  A British aid group says it believes two Britons have been abducted by Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine.

The British Foreign Office said it is urgently seeking more information about the two mens case.

Dominik Byrne, the co-founder and chief operating officer of the Presidium Network, told the AP on Friday that the men were last heard from on Monday.

Byrne said the men were taken while trying to carry out an independent evacuation in Dniprorudne, near the city of Zaporizhzhia, some 470 kilometers (290 miles) southeast of Kyiv.

Byrne said the family that the two men had been trying to evacuate later were interrogated by Russian forces, who asked them about the British spies. Bryne said the family later escaped to Poland.

Byrne identified the men as Paul Urey and Dylan Healy. He said they had been operating on their own in the war zone and hadnt been associated with any aid group.

The British Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia hasnt acknowledged taking the men.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark  A 25-year-old Dane was allegedly killed in Mykolajiv on April 26 while fighting with the International Legion Ukraine, a unit for foreigners who want to join the fight against Russia, according to Danish broadcaster TV2. The mans name was not given.

In a statement to Danish media, the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen said it could not confirm the report and was in contact with Ukrainian authorities.

It may therefore take time before the details are clarified because the war creates extremely difficult conditions, the statement read.

The Jyllands-Posten daily, one of Denmarks largest newspapers, said up to 100 Danes have traveled to Ukraine to fight Russia, citing Ukraines Embassy in Denmark.

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LVIV, Ukraine  The British Defense Ministry says Russias focus in its war on Ukraine remains the Donbas region.

In an update Friday, the British military said heavy fighting had been seen around Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. The British said they believe Russia is trying to attempt an advance south from Izium toward Slovyansk.

The British military said in a tweet: Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces.

The British military has been offering daily public reports on the fighting since the start of the war in February.
Thursdays shooting on Beale Street has both locals and tourists on high alert. It may have some people questioning whether theyll be safe visiting the landmark.

Uncomfortable, nervous, worried, where are the cops at? said Hannah Watson of Memphis.

RELATED: Fistfight leads to gunfire on Beale Street, police say

Police said this man, pictured in a red jacket and blue jeans, shot a man several times on Beale Street around 1:10 a.m. on Thursday, April 28.

Thursday morning, just after 1 a.m., gunshots rang out on Beale Street, sending one person to the hospital.

Im not totally surprised. Things have been getting more violent around the country, said Jim McLaughlin and Lauren Lichy who are visiting Memphis from New Jersey.

They said their heads are on a swivel after this shooting.

Ill still come out. Just be more alert. Use caution. Its a beautiful city, said Lichy.

But, not everyone agrees. Hannah Watson, who lives Downtown, said that once the clock strikes 10:30 p.m., shes not leaving her home.

You dont want to be out with that going on. And, it didnt always use to be that way, said Watson.

And, this isnt a one-off thing. A few weeks ago, there was a shooting that killed a man and hurt two others on Beale Street around 2:30 a.m.

Cut it out. You wouldnt want that to be your brother, sister, mom, auntie. Just stop it. People come Downtown to enjoy themselves, said Watson.

RELATED: Everything we know about the shooting involving police on Beale St. that left a man dead

We dont generally hear about violence on Beale during the day. Some people said that, once the sun is down, they stay clear of the area.

Most of the violent stuff happens at night. Theres nothing to be done about it, to be honest, because its a crime of passion, crime of opportunity, said Crime Analyst Bennie Cobb.

Both shootings happened after midnight. Cobb, a retired Shelby County Sheriffs Office captain, said guns and liquor dont mix.

Any time that person adds alcohol or has been drinking, a group of people have been drinking, and you add a gun to the situation, thats a recipe for disaster, said Cobb.

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Cobb said that while it may be safer to visit Beale Street during the day, theres always the potential to become the victim of a crime.

Crime is going to be there. Crime is going to happen. We just have to change the mentality of the people committing the crime " said Cobb.

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Trending stories:
Norse Atlantic Airways

Norwegian low-cost startup Norse Atlantic Airways announced its first four routes between Oslo and the US.

Destinations include New York, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando, and fares start at $129 one-way.

The carrier will operate Boeing 787 "Longships" in a two-class configuration, including economy and premium.

New European low-cost carrier Norse Atlantic Airways just announced its first routes and fares, with plans to connect Norway to four US cities using its Boeing 787 "Longships."

On Friday, Norse revealed it will connect Oslo to New York's JFK International Airport, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, and Orlando starting this summer. The new competition will bring more options to travelers and herald a "new era for consumers seeking good value, choice and friendly service when choosing to travel across the Atlantic."

"Norse now offers the lowest one-way point-to-point transatlantic fares in the market," CEO Bjorn Tore Larsen said in a press release. "Whether traveling on business, leisure or simply wishing to explore the world, Norse now makes it possible for everyone to explore for less."

The startup also revealed that more US destinations, as well as routes from London and Paris to the US, would "be announced soon." In March, the airline confirmed it had received slots at London's Gatwick airport at "no cost."

The official announcement strays away from Norse's initial route choices in the US. In a filing to the Department of Transportation in January, the carrier revealed plans to serve smaller airports in the Los Angeles and New York metro areas.

Specifically, Norse wanted to fly to Stewart International Airport, which is about 60 miles north of Manhattan, and Ontario International Airport, which is about 50 miles from Los Angeles.

Norse is a Norwegian carrier that intends to fill the niche transatlantic gap left behind when Norwegian Air Shuttle ceased its long-haul routes in 2020 due to bankruptcy. Keeping with its Viking theme, the airline will fly Boeing 787 "Longships", each of which has been named after national parks around the globe, like Raet in Norway and Yosemite in California.

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The carrier has a planned fleet of 15 Dreamliners, according to Norse, and received its first in December. The planes have a two-class configuration  economy and premium. When booking, travelers can choose from three fare options, including Light, Classic, and Plus, which "reflect the way that [passengers] want to travel, and which options are important to them."

Take a closer look at Norse's four initial routes to the US.

Between Oslo and New York

Manhattan skyline Ismael Rios / EyeEm

Norse will begin thrice-weekly flights between Oslo and JFK on June 14, though service will increase to daily on July 4. Fares start at $129 one-way.

Between Oslo and Fort Lauderdale

Sunset over Fort Lauderdale, Florida Sean Pavone / Getty Images

Norse will begin thrice-weekly flights between Oslo and Fort Lauderdale on June 18. Fares start at $149 one-way.

Between Oslo and Orlando

John Greim/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Norse will begin thrice-weekly flights between Oslo and Orlando on July 5. Fares start at $149 one-way.

Between Oslo and Los Angeles

kenny hung photography/Getty Images

Norse will begin thrice-weekly flights between Oslo and Los Angeles on August 9. Fares start at $169 one-way.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Lawyers for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., argued in a court filing Thursday that a text message she is alleged to have sent shouldn't be entered into the supplemental record in a case to knock her off the Georgia primary ballot next month because she "has no recollection" of it.

"I am authorized to say on behalf of Rep. Greene that she has no recollection of this text and, since her texts are automatically deleted after 30 days, she has no way to verify anything about it," said a filing by her lawyers.

Her lawyers further argue that the alleged text is "innocuous."

The text message in question, which dates to Jan. 17, 2021, appears to show Greene telling then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that some GOP lawmakers were saying President Donald Trump should call for martial law.

The message, which was obtained by CNN, cast doubt over Greene's testimony at a hearing last week that she couldn't recall whether she had advocated for martial law to keep President Joe Biden from taking office.

NBC News hasn't been able to independently confirm all of the text communications, which appear to reveal efforts by Trump officials and the former president's allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that go well beyond what was previously known.

In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law. I dont know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else! Greene is alleged to have written.

Greene's lawyers raised doubts Thursday over the authenticity of the messages, which plaintiffs had asked the judge to consider in a filing Tuesday.

There is no copy of it in its original form, and no verifiable source that CNN claims to have gotten it from. As a result, there is no one to cross-examine and this is hearsay within hearsay, they wrote.

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John Bonifaz, one of the lawyers involved in the challenge to Greenes candidacy pushed back, telling NBC News Thursday, "that seems to be their claim, that this is just a total lie and never happened, and yet she vigorously is out there defending what the message says."

Greene's lawyers said that regardless of its authenticity, the message was still "irrelevant since it has absolutely nothing to do with the January 6th attack on the Capitol, the claimed event of the insurrection, or Rep. Greenes engagement in it."

An election and campaign finance reform organization known as Free Speech for People and led by Bonifaz, sued last month on behalf of a group of Georgia voters to remove Greene from the ballot because of the role she is alleged to have played in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Greene testified under oath for nearly four hours as a witness at a hearing last week and was asked whether she had advocated for martial law before Bidens inauguration.

I dont recall, Greene said repeatedly when she was asked about conversations and social media posts surrounding the election and the attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

Days before the inauguration she was still engaged in trying to find a way to stop the transition of power, Bonifaz said. In our view the evidence is overwhelming that its not believable she didnt remember any of this.

Attorneys on both sides were given an extended deadline until noon Friday to submit final briefs.

The plaintiffs lawyers contended that the correspondence further undermines Greenes credibility," because it resembled "the kind of message with the kind of recipient that a reasonable person testifying truthfully would remember."

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, will ultimately decide whether Greene remains on the ballot for the states May 24 primary.
MARIUPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Residents of Mariupol recounted the horrors of the battle for their now devastated city this week as they sifted through the rubble for belongings, cooked meals by the roadside or just stared at the charred shells of buildings all around them.

"It was terrible... like films that show the last days of the planet  the same thing happened here," said Viktoria Nikolayeva, 54, who like many residents stayed with her family in a basement as Russian and Ukrainian forces battled overhead.

"We were hungry, the child was crying when the Grad (multiple rocket launcher) shells were striking near the house. We were thinking, this is it, the end. It can't be described... I can't put it into words," she tearfully told Reuters.

Emergency services were seen on the streets collecting the bodies of those who did not survive the weeks of fighting.

Mariupol in southeast Ukraine saw some of the heaviest fighting of the war so far and much of the port city now lies in ruins. Russia declared victory there last week but hundreds of Ukrainian forces and civilians remain trapped in the vast industrial complex of the city's Azovstal steel works.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said an operation was planned on Friday to get civilians out of the plant but gave no details. Previous evacuation efforts have failed.

Russia has denied targetting civilians in what it calls a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West say the fascist allegation is baseless and that the war is an unprovoked act of aggression.

'ALL WILL BE OK'

In the shadow of Mariupol's blasted and wrecked apartment blocks - many missing walls as well as windows and balconies - a woman wearily sliced an onion on a table set out in the spring sunshine. A cyclist rode by. A man loaded furniture items onto a truck.

A makeshift wooden cross - one of many around the city - marked the spot near an apartment block where somebody had been hastily and temporarily buried during the fighting.

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Mayor Vadym Boichenko has said tens of thousands of civilians were killed in Mariupol. Organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations say they believe thousands have died.

"It was a massacre. It was the scariest thing when the shells were flying overhead. Shells, rounds and all such, you couldn't survive it. And yet we did," said Vitaliy Kudasov, 71.

"A shell exploded eight metres away... I didn't manage to get to the basement in time, I felt the heat on my face. But whatever, thank God it will all be OK," he added.

(Reporting by Reuters Television; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Frances Kerry)
SheKnows

Barack Obama shared a lovely message for Michelle Obama in honor of Mothers Day on Sunday, and the family photo shows how his daughters, Malia, 23, and Sasha, 20, have each developed their own flair for fashion. One of them prefers a breezy laidback style while the other is comfortable with a more glamorous look []
An East St. Louis man was sentenced to four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Bernard L. Mosley Jr., 23, was sentenced Tuesday in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Illinois. He will also serve two-year term of supervised release following his release from prison.

Mosley was indicted by a federal grand jury in October of 2020 and pleaded guilty in February, according to a press release from the United States Attorneys Office.

Agents with the U.S. Marshals Service found Mosley at a house in East St. Louis and arrested him on an active warrant. They saw a loaded .380 caliber Ruger handgun laying in plain view, according to court documents. Mosley acknowledged that the gun belonged to him and told agents he purchased it as protection from robbers, the documents state.

Mosley also admitted to making a phone call from the St. Clair County Jail identifying a government witness to associates in an attempt to dissuade the the witness from cooperating with the government.

Mosley had been previously convicted on a 2010 federal drug charge.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, U.S. Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, and the Illinois State Police.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Burns and David Dean.
He had a badge, a uniform and even a gun. He also had solo use of a police cruiser for an entire day.

But the man was not a police officer and had no law enforcement training.

Channel 2 Action News uncovered that this happened in the small town of Grantville, GA  about 50 miles south of Atlanta.

We have done plenty of stories over the years on police impersonators. But in this case, it was the chief of police who handed over the keys to the police cruiser.

I handed him the keys myself. Yes, sir, Grantville Police Chief Steve Whitlock told Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray.

Whitlock told Gray he does not think he did anything wrong, and he would do it again.

Can you see where thered be confusion? Gray asked.

Yes, sir. I do. But I still see nothing wrong with it. He helps us on any kind of activities we need. So, I dont think theres a problem with it, Whitlock said.

[HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANT 2 INVESTIGATES TO LOOK INTO? Submit your stories ideas here]

The man at the center of the controversy is Grantville resident TJ Boyd. He is the police chaplain and a pastor. He is Whitlocks pastor.

Hes also a convicted felon who served time for making and distributing meth.

Channel 2 Action News found out about the incident after a then-Grantville police officer saw Boyd blocking traffic and took pictures.

That officer has since quit working in Grantville, but we are hiding his identity because he fears retaliation.

I saw TJ Boyd get out of the car. My, you know, my jaw dropped. Im like, Why is he in a police car? the former officer said. You know, a citizen could have needed help and he wouldnt be able to respond properly.

Channel 2 Action News took the pictures to Georgia POST, the state office that certifies and disciplines police officers.

They had already launched their own investigation into the incident.

Everything about this is concerning, said Mike Ayers, director of Georgia POST.

What did you think when you first saw that picture? Gray asked.

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MORE STORIES FROM 2 INVESTIGATES:

Well, first of all, theres no doubt it looks like a police officer. And, you know, my initial thought was this, this problem, Ayers said.

But Whitlock told Channel 2 Action News he did not see a problem with handing a convicted felon with no police training the police cruiser.

The City of Grantville had contracted with a film production to provide two off-duty officers to work security, and they were an officer short.

Boyd is not a police officer. But he looked like one that day.

The man knows that hes not a police officer. At no time was anybody ever was told that he was a police officer, Whitlock said.

The problem is the public doesnt know. He looks like a police officer there, Gray countered.

Well, yeah, youre right. Yes, sir, Whitlock responded.

Whitlock said the gun Boyd was carrying was not police issued, but Boyds own firearm.

Just last year, Boyd received a pardon for his felony drug charge and had his right to carry a gun reinstated.

He received a letter of recommendation from his parishioner  Grantville Police Chief Steve Whitlock.

The day that that happened, I was not aware. Its my fault that TJ had a gun on. I didnt give him a gun. But he has a permit to carry a gun anywhere, Whitlock said.

But while that pardon allows Boyd to carry a gun, it does not wipe away consequences of the conviction.

Georgia POST said that by Georgia law, Boyd cannot be a certified law enforcement officer with his criminal record.

The position of law enforcement officer is a sacred trust that is imparted upon that officer, by the citizens of this state, Ayers said.

Ayers told Gray this is a serious issue that could have had dangerous consequences.

I think that this is one of those instances where, quite frankly, we got lucky nothing bad did happen, Ayers said.

A POST investigator met with Whitlock and advised him that this was inappropriate, and that the situation was handled poorly.

I believe that its been resolved at this point in time. For whatever reason, if we find that down the road that it hasnt been, our conversation will be very different, Ayers said.

POST said Whitlock pledged to them it would never happen again. But that is not what Whitlock told Gray.

Gray asked the same question several times, and each time got the same answer.

Would you do something like this again? Gray asked.

Yes, sir. I would, Whitlock responded.

Boyd would not respond to our requests for an interview.

It can be a felony or misdemeanor to impersonate an officer.

The GBI investigated this and declined to prosecute Boyd.
Apr. 29The voices of the lawmakers were filled with emotion as they recounted their personal histories  sometimes gripping reflections of race, culture and ethnic traditions.

One spoke of the stripping of Native language and cultural traditions from her family members during the era of boarding schools and how she is still grappling to come to terms with that history.

Another, who is Hispanic, said his parents never graduated from elementary school but bought themselves opportunity through hard work and perseverance. "They did not have equity," he said.

And a third, Black state Sen. Harold Pope Jr. of Albuquerque, said he was "ashamed" the discussion  one centering on whether the academic framework known as critical race theory is being taught in New Mexico's public schools  was even taking place.

"I know it's a political season. I know people run for office. I know this is a national trend," Pope said Thursday during a Legislative Education Study Committee discussion on new social studies standards. "But we are here to do what we can for the kids of New Mexico. And, in a lot of ways, we're not having that discussion right now. We're just not."

The discussion hinged on controversial new social studies standards in the state's public schools, scheduled to be implemented in the 2023-24 school year. The standards, which had not been updated in more than a decade, were approved by the state Public Education Department after heated discussions earlier this year.

But the elephant in the room was the question of whether critical race theory falls within those standards. The concept is a way of examining whether public policies and laws have systematically embedded racial thinking and action in legal, educational and civic structures.

It has become a political wedge issue in an election year, nationally and in New Mexico. Opponents contend it can lead people to believe one race is inherently racist or oppressive and make people of color believe their status is dependent upon the actions of people in the past.

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Advocates argue critical race theory is merely a way to understand how a society can become systemically racist through legal and judicial policies and procedures. It also can help children understand and respect one another, regardless of their racial, ethnic and cultural background, they say.

Many social studies teachers last year said a planned overhaul of the state's social studies standards should allow for teachers to handle controversial subjects such as race and social justice in a well-rounded, historically accurate manner.

Gwen Perea Warniment, deputy secretary for teaching and learning for the state Public Education Department, said the new standards push students to a level of inquiry that will lead them to question how the historical events of years past  such as the passage of racist Jim Crow laws  affect them and those around them today.

"History is the story of us," she told committee members.

But Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington and an outspoken opponent of critical race theory  who recalled his Hispanic parents running five businesses and achieving success despite a lack of formal education  said he has concerns that "concepts of a political ideology" will be taught as history.

"If you say things are stacked against you because of things that happened years and years ago that nobody in the room had anything to do with, based on identity, ethnicity, race ... I think it sets children up for feelings of they are not ever going to be able to achieve," he said.

Rep. Patricia Roybal-Caballero, D-Albuquerque, countered and said her grandparents and father  who were Native Americans  were forced to assimilate to a culture other than their own.

She said if the new standards mean "talking about the violence associated with that history, if it means talking about land, our lands being stolen and if it means talking about why my father and grandfather were stripped and robbed of their language and culture, then that's what it has to be."

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rebecca Dow, a House member from Truth or Consequences, questioned whether children in elementary school could possibly examine and understand the questions posed in the standards  particularly since the conversation is "difficult for adults."

After listening to lawmakers reveal their own stories related to the issue, Dow  who unsuccessfully attempted to introduce a bill that would ban critical race theory teaching in schools during this year's regular legislative session  called the discussion "a complicated conversation about what is objective and what is subjective. I am processing things, and I'll be digesting things for a while."

Last fall, when New Mexico announced it would update its social studies standards, many people protested the move during a demonstration at the Public Education Department building in downtown Santa Fe.

Some expressed concern critical race theory might become part of the new curriculum.

At that time, Public Education Department officials said they had no plans to incorporate it into the standards.

Warniment said after the hearing this is the first time since 2009 the state has updated or changed its social studies standards and that it is past time to recognize the many historical events and figures that have come into play during that period.

She said she thinks the issue is coming to a head now "because we have not been teaching it so students can make those critical connections between historical events and current events."

Otherwise, she said, we will continue to "remain in a space where we continue to spin out."
A Miami man was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography over the course of one year.

William Gross Jr., 31, shared in a messaging application in 2020 videos and images of children being sexually abused, the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Southern District of Florida said Thursday in a statement. According to investigators, he boasted on Kik Messenger about his sexual exploits with young girls, requested explicit videos of them and sent a lewd picture asking if a young girl could handle it.

Kik Messenger is known for allowing users to be anonymous, and it does not require them to register a telephone number, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

READ MORE: Are the kids safe? Here are symptoms of child abuse and where to find help in Florida

An undercover law enforcement officer was able to view still images, videos and file sharing links depicting child pornography that members shared within the group chat of about 50 members, according to court records. From August through November of 2020, Gross sent unsolicited videos and images of child sexual abuse in the chat thread to the undercover agent, investigators say.

READ MORE: South Florida man gets 15 years for sextorting young girls on social media

In addition to his prison sentence, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced Gross will be placed on supervised release for 50 years.

READ MORE: A South Florida man arrested on child porn charges was a YMCA camp counselor, cops say

In February, a jury found Gross guilty of seven counts of distributing child pornography, court records show.

For more information about internet safety, go to justice.gov/psc.
This is an excerpt from Please Like Me, a social news team newsletter about the week that was in internet culture. You can sign up here.

The sheer number of people creating TikToks, posting YouTube comments, and live-tweeting about the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial this week is staggering  and even brands are getting on board.

The defamation case against Heard that is currently being heard in a Virginia courtroom is the second time Depp has sued over published allegations by Heard that he was violent and abusive during their relationship.

On the first day of the trial, Amber Heards attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, said that Johnny Depp had punched and kicked Heard during a three-day blackout in Australia. Depp argues that the allegations are untrue and that he lost film offers and other job opportunities because of them.

The trial has become a viral moment, with millions online dissecting every word and serving as an online jury. And the content seems to overwhelmingly be on Depps side, pushed by a very large fan base that appears to be a combination of OG actor fans, Harry Potter stans, and true crime aficionados. The Potterheads joined the mix after he appeared in two of the Fantastic Beasts movies, while several of the true crime accounts are ones obsessed with the Menendez brothers, who were convicted of killing their parents in the 1990s and have seen a recent resurgence of support on TikTok.

But when it comes to Heard and Depp, people seem to be forgetting that there are two real people in the midst of this, who are having to relive the worst parts of their relationship. Even if we dont know the full truth of what happened between them, we do know these are people who were in a complicated, volatile relationship, and now their most intimate moments are being mined for tweets, memes, and hashtags.

This is not the first time weve seen fans and self-appointed detectives comb over every detail of a public figures life looking for clues. We see it every day with people who are fans of the Kardashians, or are trying to decipher Taylor Swift conspiracies, or were obsessively investigating the Gabby Petito case.

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When it comes to Heard and Depp, there is a massive difference in how viral the posts go depending on which person it is supporting  on TikTok, videos under the #JusticeForAmberHeard hashtag have over 21 million views, but ones under #JusticeForJohnnyDepp have over 5 billion. On Facebook, there have been 1,667 posts this week using the hashtag supporting Depp, with a total of over 7 million interactions (likes and shares), and the one for Heard has just 16 posts with 10,415 interactions.

Depps fans have been using not only stan accounts but also their own personal accounts to take on what they deem to be misinformation. Some analyze Heards physical appearance  for example, people have accused her of copying Depps outfits and said she might be faking her eyesight when she wore glasses after not wearing them the day before. Theres even a theory that Heards attorney is a Depp fan and that she is attempting to make Heard look bad on purpose.

Last week, Depp testified about seeing feces on his side of the bed, which led to memes about Amber Turd and the hashtag #MePoo trending on Twitter. I cant imagine what it must have been like for anyone who has spoken out about sexual harassment and assault as part of #MeToo to see that parody hashtag trend.

Among Heard supporters on TikTok, one viral video posted on the @justiceforamberheard account is a clip from the trial that focuses on a text that Depp allegedly sent, which reads, Lets burn Amber!!!

But the internet has really fixated on one specific part of Heards attorneys opening statement after a cosmetics company got involved, also via TikTok. Bredehoft held up a makeup set known as a correcting kit and said, This is what Amber carried in her purse for the entire relationship with Johnny Depp.

One Depp fan posted a video edit of the trial where they pointed out that the item Bredehoft was holding appeared to be by Milani Cosmetics.

Milani then took a chunk from that video and created its own trending content. In it, someone marches to the sound of a viral Backyardigans song while showing that the brands correcting kit was released in 2017, while Heard and Depps relationship ended in 2016. Depp fans took this as proof that Heard must be lying, since that specific product did not exist at the time and she couldnt have used it to cover her alleged bruises.

This video is now Milani Cosmetics most-watched TikTok, with 5 million views. Prior to this, none of their videos had been breaking 500,000 views (only one had over 400,000 at the time of writing).

A spokesperson for Milani told BuzzFeed News that they cannot officially claim it was their product. Our video was to verify the claim that our eagle-eyed and loyal fan base made about the product named in the trial. Milani Cosmetics is not taking a formal stance on the trial, evidence, or future outcome of the case, they said.

But comments posted to the Milani Cosmetics TikTok account seem to say otherwise. The account has been replying to Depps fans and liking comments, including one reading newest Milani model - Johnny Depp.

What has been completely lost in the noise is that Bredehoft at no point said Milani Cosmetics name. Instead, she was explaining that Heard had learned the different colors to use to cover bruises depending on their appearance. Milani did not invent color-correcting, and there were plenty of other color-correcting products on sale before 2017.

She became very adept at it, and youre gonna hear the testimony from Amber about how she had to mix the different colors for the different days of the bruises, Bredehoft said. As they were, as they developed in the different coloring and how she would use these to touch those up to be able to cover those.

A public relations representative for Depp has been sending the Milani TikTok to journalists. In an email seen by BuzzFeed News, the PR professional asked to be identified as a source close to JD and claimed that what the attorney said had been refuted. Milani Cosmetics said it was not aware of this.

By responding with that TikTok, Milani made itself the main character and got the TikTok clout it had probably been looking for a long time. But it did this by participating in the online hate train focused on a woman who says she was abused.

The campaigning for Depp hasnt all been online, either  its been an event for fans in person too. The judge addressed the court to say that no overnight camping would be allowed on courthouse grounds and warn spectators against making gestures or facial expressions.

But this didnt stop fans from showing support in creative ways. One fan has been showing up with alpacas, telling the Washington Post that she brought them along to brighten Depps day. Depp fans have also been heard screaming Witch! and booing Heard outside the courtroom.

A Starbucks in Los Angeles had two tip jars on display, one labeled Johnny Depp and the other labeled Amber Heard, where customers could express their support. The Depp one was filled with bills, whereas the Heard one was empty. BuzzFeed News spoke to 28-year-old Summer Canova, who filmed a TikTok showing the jars after spotting them and said they made her coffee break more fun.

I have been keeping up with the trial a little bit, and I am a huge Johnny Depp fan and Im hoping that he can find justice in this case, she said.

After other Depp fans found Canovas TikTok, it went viral. It seems like most of the comments are Johnny fans rooting for him, she said. But of course, there are some angry people that thought that this tipping game was bad because its referencing a domestic violence case.

The former couples marriage counselor testified in court this week that there was mutual abuse, and that both actors suffered from abuse growing up. Fans and brands turning pain into memeable moments  like a fun game of good vs. evil, trying to figure out who is right and who is wrong, when we know life and relationships are a lot messier than that  is only making things worse for everyone.

More on this
Reuters

"I'm confident we are going to get inflation back down to our 2% target, but I am not yet confident on how much of that burden we're gonna have to carry versus getting help from the supply side," Kashkari said in an interview with CNBC. "Virtually all of that news is in the wrong direction," he said, citing the war in Ukraine and COVID lockdowns in China as putting upward pressure on prices. While there is some signs that inflation may have softened "just a hair," Kashkari added, other indicators point to consumers remaining in robust health.
A man was arrested Wednesday morning in Modesto for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Turlock earlier this month, police said.

Turlock police began investigating after a 16-year-old girl came forward and said she was assaulted April 17 in a motel, according to a news release.

Investigators identified Christian Alberto Alvarado, 26, as a suspect and quickly gathered enough evidence to make the arrest, police said.

Police at first did not know where he was, which delayed the arrest until Wednesday at Alvarados Modesto home. He was booked into the Stanislaus County jail following an interview with Special Investigations Unit investigators.

Alvarado faces one preliminary felony charge of oral copulation with a person under 18 years of age.

We applaud the courage of the young woman who came forward to report this,  Lt. Neil Cervenka said in the release. She will never know how many other crimes this may prevent.

Police believe there may be additional victims and are encouraging them to come forward.

Anyone with information should call Officer Nathan Urban at 209-668-6571, the Police Departments Tip Line at 209-668-5550, ext. 6780, or email at tpdtipline@turlock.ca.us.
A mother and her child are reported missing and endangered in Florida, according to authorities.

Tanayris Negron-Mantilla was reported missing by her mother on April 25, according to a news release from the Orlando Police Department.

Negron-Mantilla is believed to be traveling with her 11-month-old child, Katalina, in a gray 2016 Toyota Camry, according to police.

Authorities said the woman needs to take her medication.

The public is asked to call 911 if they see the mother and child.

Missing 5-year-old saved after concerned citizen spots her at gas station, PA cops say

Coast Guard ends search for kids missing in Mississippi River. Louisiana divers step in

Missing 88-year-old fisherman found dead in water wearing life jacket, TX officials say

10-year-old found dead in woods leads to another childs arrest, Wisconsin cops say
Tesla chief Elon Musk sold about $8.4 billion worth of shares in the electric carmaker in the days after Twitter's board agreed to his $44 billion takeover offer, according to US securities filings.

Musk unloaded about 9.6 million Tesla shares in a series of transactions Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, according to filings Thursday and Friday morning with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US market regulator.

The transactions, generally priced between $800 and $995 per share, following Monday's announcement he would acquire Twitter and take it private in a deal that relies heavily on Musk's personal fortune.

Following these sales, Musk, the world's richest person, holds around 163 million shares in Tesla, via a trust.

"No further TSLA sales after today," Elon Musk tweeted late Thursday, using Tesla's stock symbol.

To finance his takeover of Twitter, which was confirmed Monday, Musk has pledged up to $21 billion from his personal fortune, with the rest financed by debt.

Twitter shares rose 1.6 percent to $49.77 in morning trading Friday.

That is still well below Musk's offer of $54.20 a share in the deal, a discrepancy that market watchers say points to the risk the deal will not close.

Some analysts have expressed doubts over whether the deal will be completed, including questions about the financing and concerns that Twitter would distract Musk from running Tesla.

Tesla shares, which have plummeted throughout the week, rose 4.4 percent Friday to $916.30.

tu-jmb/cs
By Liz Hampton, Stephanie Kelly and Nia Williams

(Reuters) - When Jeremy Davis was laid off from his oilfield job in Texas in 2020, he did not want to leave the industry after 17 years in oil and gas.

But his next jobs brought one mishap after another. He was hospitalized for almost a week following a shift at a chemical manufacturing facility; another company he worked for never paid him, leaving him short $5,000.

"There comes a point and time where you also get extremely frustrated with the unpredictability and (lack of) stability," said Davis, 38, who now works in construction closer to his home and family near Austin, Texas.

Davis says he would be open to returning to energy, but for now, he is one of thousands of workers in the United States and Canada who have left oil and gas jobs, put off by arduous conditions, remote locations, and insufficient compensation, or lured to the renewables sector as the world transitions to cleaner energy.

Governments are pushing oil and gas producers to increase output with prices hovering around $100 a barrel amid a worldwide supply shortage. The shortage of workers is limiting how much producers in the United States and Canada can increase oil output this year as governments try to find ways to offset the effect of lost Russian barrels following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Oil workers left the industry in droves after the COVID-19 pandemic started. Now, the U.S. unemployment rate has fallen to 3.6%, just a hair above the pre-pandemic low, but there are still roughly 100,000 fewer oil and gas workers now in the country than before the pandemic.

Oil industry employment in Canada has rebounded more swiftly, which has allowed workers to drive a harder bargain in negotiations for benefit and wage packages as companies try to maintain their workforce.

"At a job fair in a place like San Antonio, pre-COVID, maybe 200 people would show up. Now it's 50 or 100," said Andy Hendricks, chief executive of Patterson-UTI Energy, which is currently running about a sixth of the 695 drilling rigs operating in the United States.

Story continues

His company may hire another 3,000 workers this year after hiring back 3,000 in 2021, and even has recruiters set up at a shopping mall in Williston, North Dakota, to find potential workers.

HELP WANTED

Canadian producer Peyto Explorations and Development Corp would drill more wells if they could staff more rigs, said CEO Darren Gee. Calgary-based Peyto produces 98,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of oil and natural gas.

"We probably would increase the capital budget this year if we could get people," Gee said, adding that new workers often lack experience. He pointed to the University of Calgary's move to suspend its oil and gas engineering program last year as an example of why the industry is struggling for new talent.

Employment in the U.S. oilfield services and equipment sector was nearly 609,000 in March, the highest since September 2021, but still below pre-pandemic levels of about 707,000, according to the Energy Workforce and Technology Council.

Mark Marmo, CEO of Deep Well Services, an oilfield firm based in Zelienople, Pennsylvania, said fracking work in places like West Texas is currently delayed about two weeks to a month because of a lack of labor.

"We hired 350. If we could hire another 350, we'd put them all to work," he said.

In the mining and logging industries, which includes oil and gas work, an estimated 14,000 workers quit in January, the highest level since early 2020, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. About 13,000 workers were estimated to have quit in February.

"We've had companies in the Permian that have gone out and hired 100 new employees and within six months there's only eight to nine original employees still working," said Tim Tarpley, with the Energy Workforce and Technology Council, a trade group whose members include Halliburton Co and Schlumberger.

U.S. and Canadian production is anticipated to grow even with a tight labor market, but executives said output could surpass expectations if more workers were available.

In the United States, output is expected to grow by about 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2022 to average 12 million bpd, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast, short of 2019's all-time high of 12.3 million bpd. Canada's production, including natural gas liquids, is forecast to rise by 190,000 bpd to 5.75 million bpd, the EIA said.

COMPETING WITH AMAZON

Fewer skilled workers are willing to travel to the remote Canadian oil sands region for turnaround season, when thousands are needed for essential maintenance on oil sands plants, said Terry Parker, executive director of the Building Trades of Alberta, because companies no longer pay a big enough premium for the inconvenience.

Parker said oil sands labor rates ranged from C$30 ($23.78) an hour for less skilled work, to C$50 an hour for high-skilled workers like pipefitters, boilermakers and millwrights.

Unite Here, a union representing hospitality workers in industry accommodation camps, negotiated agreements for better overtime for workers at camps operated by Civeo Corp in the oil sands, the union's Canadian director, Ian Robb, told Reuters.

In March, the union also secured a wage increase of up to 22% for workers at an Atco Ltd camp serving the long-delayed Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project, according to a news release.

In Alberta, the average weekly wage including overtime for all employees in mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction is up 7.3% since February 2020, according to data from Statistics Canada.

In the United States, hourly wages for production and nonsupervisory employees are currently about 5% higher on average than the year-ago level, and oilfield wages are due to rise about 10% for the year, according to oilfield consultancy Spears & Associates.

However, average hourly wages in the U.S. oil and gas extraction industry are still below pre-pandemic levels, currently estimated at $45.45 an hour for February 2022, versus $48.37 an hour in February 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Patterson-UTI raised wages last year because of competition from retailers that historically paid less than the oil industry, Hendricks said.

"We're competing against Amazon hiring drivers, or Target with positions in air-conditioned warehouses. It's easier than a drilling rig in west Texas in the summer," he said.

Oil and gas workers leave industry in droves https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/ce/egvbkelekpq/Pasted%20image%201651180865162.png

($1 = 1.2618 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver, Stephanie Kelly in New York and Nia Williams in Calgary; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Nepal's marijuana ban could soon be up in smoke, as lawmakers mull a return to the liberal drug policies that once made the Himalayan republic a popular pit stop on the overland "hippie trail".

Half a century ago, thousands of fun-seeking backpackers from around the world made their way to Kathmandu to buy potent hash strains from government-licensed stores on "Freak Street" -- a lane named for long-haired and unkempt foreign visitors.

Washington's global war on drugs, and its accompanying pressure on foreign governments, prompted the closure of the capital's dispensaries in 1973, along with a cultivation ban that forced farmers to rip up their cannabis plants.

Now, with Western countries easing their own prohibitions on marijuana, the government and legal reform campaigners say it is time to stop criminalising a potent cash crop with centuries-old ties to the country's culture and religious practices.

- Corruption and smuggling -

"It is not justifiable that a poor country like ours has to treat cannabis as a drug," Nepal's Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada told AFP.

"Our people are being punished... and our corruption increases because of smuggling as we follow decisions of developed countries that are now doing as they please."

Khatiwada sponsored Nepal's first parliamentary motion advocating an end to the ban in January 2020, and two months later a bill was put to lawmakers seeking partial legalisation.

A change in government has stalled progress since, but in December of that year Nepal backed a successful campaign to have the United Nations reclassify cannabis out of its list of the world's most harmful drugs.

Nepal's home ministry has since launched a study into the medicinal properties and export potential of marijuana that is expected to support a revived parliamentary push to end the ban.

"It is a medicine," said prominent activist Rajiv Kafle, who lives with HIV and began campaigning for legalisation after using the drug to treat his symptoms.

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Kafle said ending the ban would be an "important booster" to Nepal's tourism industry, which is still reeling from the Covid pandemic, and would also benefit Nepalis suffering from chronic illnesses.

While the current law allows for medicinal cannabis, there is no established framework for therapeutic use and the government still enforces a blanket ban on consumption and trafficking.

"So many patients are using it, but they are forced to do it illegally," Kafle told AFP. "They can get caught anytime."

Enforcement of the ban is already patchy: tourists visiting Nepal's backpacker haunts are unlikely to encounter the long arm of the law for lighting up a joint in a Kathmandu back alley.

Authorities also look the other way during an annual festival held to honour the Hindu deity Shiva, the destroyer of evil, who is regularly depicted clasping a chillum pipe used to smoke cannabis.

Ganja smoke wafts around the grounds of Kathmandu's Pashupatinath Temple each year as holy men gather to celebrate and worshippers fill their own chillums with Shiva's "gift".

But elsewhere, penalties are harsh and regularly enforced. Marijuana dealers risk up to 10 years jail time and police seize and destroy thousands of cannabis plants across the country each year.

- 'Part of our culture' -

Prohibition interrupted a long tradition of cannabis cultivation in Nepal, where plants grew wild and their stems, leaves and resin were used in food, as clothing fibres or as a component of traditional Ayurvedic medicines.

"The ban destroyed an important income source in this region," a farmer in western Dang district told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It ignored how it was part of our culture and everyday life, not just... an intoxicant."

Several Western countries have ended their own bans on marijuana use in recent years, including parts of the United States, which once spearheaded the global campaign to criminalise the drug.

In California, dispensaries sell "Himalayan Gold", a strain which originated from Nepal and calls to mind the country's historic associations with weed culture.

A rejuvenated marijuana trade tailored to burgeoning export demand and cashing in on Nepal's existing "international brand value" could prove highly lucrative, said Barry Bialek, a doctor working at a cannabis research centre at Kathmandu University.

"As a cash crop it can be good locally but also in the global market," he told AFP. "It can be a leader in the world."

pm/gle/aha/ser/jfx
NEWARK, NJ  The following news release comes courtesy of Invest Newark. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Invest Newark, the City of Newarks Economic Development Corporation, has partnered with =SPACE to present Newark Small Business Week: a series dedicated to bringing equitable resources to the booming city of Newark, leading small businesses to success and continued growth. The five-day experience will provide events, workshops and networking opportunities for new and experienced local Newark entrepreneurs alike to help build and support local businesses. It will kick off on Monday, May 2 with the Small Business Expo - a Business-to-Business Conference & Networking Event for Small Business Owners, Entrepreneurs & Start-Ups. A full list of details, scheduled events, and registration information can be found here.

Our small businesses are the backbone of our community, and we remain committed to helping them recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Mayor Ras J. Baraka. Newark Small Business Week is an opportunity for all Newarkers to show their support for our local entrepreneurs and the people they employ, because they are pivotal to keeping our economy thriving. I thank Invest Newark and Equal Space for making these necessary opportunities and resources available and look forward to kicking off the week at the Expo.

The goal of Newark Small Business Week is to provide existing and hopeful small business owners access to a variety of resources to further encourage entrepreneurship in Newark. The Small Business Expo, the kickoff event, will provide networking opportunities for small business owners to connect with each other, get guidance directly from City agencies; learn from business support experts; meet lenders and get tips to access capital; and network with fellow passionate entrepreneurs. Mayor Ras J. Baraka will also join Invest Newark, =Space, and community members to launch the week.

I am thrilled that during Newark Small Business Week, we are offering a wide range of workshops, panel discussions, and networking events aimed at supporting our local entrepreneurs, said Allison Ladd, Invest Newark Board Chairperson and Deputy Mayor/Director for Economic and Housing Development. As our community continues our strong recovery, I encourage neighbors to support the small and local businesses that play such a critical role in communities across Newark. If you havent done so already, please register and join us for what promises to be a week full of opportunities and resources designed to help our small businesses thrive.

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Newark Small Business Week 2022 will also provide workshops to inform best-practices in Newark entrepreneurship, such as an in-person event power-packed with inspiration, proven strategies, actionable steps, tips, resources, and information for maximum business growth. The series will also include the opportunity to pitch a grant to help kick-start a small business, which will be hosted entirely in Spanish for the first time ever. On Thursday, May 4, Invest Newark will host panel discussions and speaking engagements, including Women-In-Novation 4.0, a mini conference led by powerful female innovators & disruptors across industries  in music, tech, government, business, and finance. Some of the topics of discussion will include:

How to increase business sustainability

Building your authentic influence in the digital age

Growing your brand through a non-corporate lens

Accessing brand capital through refining your pitch

Newarks small businesses took a major hit during the pandemic, and many are still in the process of recovering, said Roy Southerland, Interim President and CEO of Invest Newark. Along with Mayor Ras J. Baraka and the City of Newark, we have supported our entrepreneurs throughout the pandemic and this Small Business Week we are continuing our focus on ensuring they can thrive. With our valuable partner, =Space, we are thrilled to provide this innovative five-day experience to meet the needs of our entrepreneurs and the people they employ which will support Newarks vibrancy for years to come.

Small Business Week is about providing the space for entrepreneurs to connect to valuable resources and thrive, said Citi Medina, Founder of =SPACE. =SPACE has always believed in existing as a nexus between corporate and small business. This event series is bringing that mission into fruition.

With =SPACEs focus on providing equitable access to resources for multicultural founders, LGBTQ+ businesses, and women ventures and Invest Newarks primary focus on advancing Newarks strong and diverse economy, the organizations are simultaneously building vibrant communities and opportunities for all Newarkers. Small Business Week 2022 is the ultimate experience for entrepreneurs of all types and stages. If you are interested in participating or are looking for more information, contact Elizabeth Da Silva at edasilva@investnewark.org or (973) 273-1040.

Dont forget to visit the Patch Newark Facebook page. Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Sign up for Patch email newsletters.

Newark Small Business Week 2022: Events, Networking, Workshops originally appeared on the Newark Patch
Dozens of texts exchanged between Sean Hannity and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows between November 2020 and Joe Bidens Inauguration Day show the Fox News host growing increasingly exasperated about MAGA lunatics pushing Donald Trump to overturn the election results.

The 82 texts were among more than 2,300 of Mr Meadows messages obtained by CNN, and reveal that Mr Hannity was initially a committed supporter of efforts to invalidate Mr Bidens election victory before becoming fed up.

The pair discussed getting Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott on board efforts to push the so-called big lie that Mr Trump had won the election.

And as their hopes of overturning the election results appear to fade, Mr Hannity proposes they enter into a joint real estate business venture.

In one exchange on 22 December 2020, Mr Hannity contacts Mr Meadows seeking an update on the fruitless efforts to find fraudulent votes.

Hey my friend. How are you doing? Mr Hannity asks, in the texts obtained by CNN.

Mr Meadows says: Fighting like crazy. Went to Cobb county (Georgia) to review process. Very tough days but I will keep fighting.

The Fox host replies: You fighting is fine. The fing (sic) lunatics is NOT fine. They are NOT helping him. Im fed up with those people.

On 11 December, Mr Hannity shares conspiracy theories about the deep state and his belief that the media had been protecting Joe and Hunter Biden.

They steal an election. What am I missing Mark? We r so Fd as a country.

The next day, Mr Meadows responds: I am afraid you are not missing anything. The evil prevails for a time and they are rejoicing. But we must continue to fight.

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told Sean Hannity: The evil prevails for a time and they are rejoicing. But we must continue to fight (Associated Press)

They go on to discuss the Georgia Senate run-off elections at length, with Mr Hannity saying the seats are slipping away.

Kemp is a total idiot, Mr Hannity says, referring to Georgia governor Brian Kemp.

Mr Meadows said he planned to set up an organisation of lawyers that fights election laws in every state and fight Biden actions every day, starting on Jan 20.

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The text messages offer a revealing insight into the coordination between the White House and Fox News, as well as internal conflict inside the right-wing network.

In an exchange on 6 December, Mr Meadows sent a link to an article in which former Fox host Chris Wallace interrupted Health Secretary Alex Azar after he referred to Mr Biden as vice president rather than president-elect.

Mr Meadows says: Doing this to try and get ratings will not work in the long run and I am doubtful it is even a short term winning strategy.

The same day, Mr Hannity replies: Ive been at war with them all week. We will talk wen I see u.

He adds: Also if this doesnt end the way we want, you me and Jay are doing 3 things together. 1- Directing legal strategies vs Biden 2- NC Real estate 3- Other business I talked to Rudy. Thx for helping him.

A 22 December 2020 text exchange between Mark Meadows and Sean Hannity (CNN)

A few days later, Mr Meadows asks for Fox CEO Suzanne Scotts phone number.

Send me Suzanne Scotts number if you can. I can call through switchboard but that makes it a bigger deal.

Mr Hannity replies that he will.

The Independent has contacted Fox News for comment.

On the day of the Capitol riots, Mr Hannity appeals to Mr Meadows to get the president to call off the rioters.

Can he make a statement. I saw the tweet. Ask people to peacefully leave the capital, the Fox host texted.

He then sends a link to a tweet suggesting that Trump cabinet secretaries were discussing invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president.

CNN reported that Mr Meadows was also in text contact with other Fox hosts Maria Bartiromo, Tucker Carlson and Brian Kilmeade.
OSLO (Reuters) - Norway will close its borders and ports to Russian trucks and ships, joining sanctions imposed by the European Union over the war in Ukraine, the Norwegian foreign ministry said on Friday.

Russian fishing vessels, which often land their catch at ports in northern Norway, will receive exemptions from sanctions.

Norway's Arctic Svalbard archipelago, which operates under a 1920s treaty allowing expanded foreign access, will also be exempted, the ministry said.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche)
OKCPS expected to ask voters for bonds up to $900 million in bonds for school upgrades
The Recount

Piers Morgan, the English broadcaster, and journalist said that though sentiments were high on both sides regarding Roe v. Wade, it was not the right way to behave. While speaking on Fox & Friends, the English writer discussed the relevance of the demonstrations outside Supreme Court justices homes and churches as a fallout of the draft opinion leak last week. Morgan criticized the arson attack on the anti-abortion building in Wisconsin.
Jacksonville Police Department vehicle

Update 4:00 p.m.

A press conference was held Friday afternoon at the city of Jacksonville Center for Public Safety regarding the arrest of a New Bridge Middle School teacher accused of secretly filming students in his classroom.

Jacksonville Police Chief Michael Yaniero said detectives are in the process of examining the content of the seized devices and working to identify potential victims.

"At this point in the investigation, there is no evidence that has been found to support that any physical contact between Stephen Bera and students of New Bridge occurred," Yaniero said, though he encourages students to come forward with any information they may have.

District Attorney Ernie Lee said Bera was charged under North Carolina General Statute GS14-202, "secretly peeping into a room occupied by another person," under the subsections F and G.

Both are Class I felonies, and Bera was charged with 10 counts under each.

"We do have a lot of the video images," Yaniero said. "We've been going through those images for most of the day, there's a lot of images for us to look at. The images fit that statute because they show students in various stages of undress and so, we'll continue to look at those videos, we've reached out to our ICAP partners and they're helping us go through the data that we have within the devices that we seized last night."

Yaniero did say the recording device seized was designed to look like something else.

Chief Communications Officer of Onslow County Schools, Brent Anderson, said Bera has resigned his teaching position, surrendered his teaching license, and is no longer employed by the OCS system.

He began his employment with OCS in 2007 as a language arts teacher at Hunters Creek Middle School. He also worked at Northwoods Park Middle School, Onslow Virtual School, and most recently, New Bridge, Anderson said.

"The safety and security of students in the Onslow County School system is our highest concern," Anderson said. "The thoughts and prayers of everyone with OCS goes out to all who have been impacted by the events which have resulted in the arrest of former teacher Stephen Bera. The Onslow County School system maintains high standards for all our employees and Mr. Bera's actions stand in stark contrast to our expectations."

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11:51 a.m.

An Onslow County middle school teacher has been arrested for allegedly secretly filming students in his classroom.

Jacksonville Police Department received information Thursday that Stephen J. Bera a teacher at New Bridge Middle School had secretly recorded students in his classroom, according to a news release from the department Friday morning.

The release said detectives found that Bera had installed a secret recording device in his classroom, and with the assistance of school officials, detectives seized the device and other items of evidence from the school, before responding to Bera's residence where he was taken into custody without incident.

Bera has been charged with secretly using or installing a photography device with the intent to capture the image of another without their consent and is under a $25,000 secured bond.

The release said the investigation is active and ongoing as detectives work with the District Attorney's office to identify more charges which will be forthcoming.

We are asking anyone with knowledge of this incident to contact the Jacksonville Police Department," said Investigative Services Supervisor Lieutenant Christopher Funcke. "We are currently working with Onslow County school officials to identify victims and will be reaching out to those involved.

A press conference is scheduled at 3 p.m. today, and The Daily News will stream the conference live on Facebook.

The Police Department asks that anyone with information or concerns reaches out to the police department. The department has crisis counselors on staff and available to speak with those who have been affected.

Anyone with information is asked to contact JPD Criminal Investigations Division Detective B. Stitz at 910-938-5039 or Crime Stoppers at 910-938-3273. Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards of up to $2,500 for information determined to be of value to law enforcement. Callers to Crime Stoppers are not required to reveal their identities. Information can also be anonymously texted via Text-A-Tip by typing TIP4CSJAX and your message to 274637 (CRIMES).

Reporter Morgan Starling can be reached at mstarling@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on The Daily News: Onslow County teacher has been arrested for secretly filming students
LOS ANGELES  Legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne has tested positive for COVID-19, his wife, Sharon Osbourne, revealed in a video Thursday.

The video was shared on the Twitter account of "The Talk UK," Sharon's new talk show. In tears, Sharon said she planned to return to the United States to be with her husband. In the emotional interview, Sharon also said she is "very worried about Ozzy right now."

"We've gone two years without him catching COVID, and it's just Ozzy's luck that he would get it now," Sharon said.

The former Black Sabbath frontman's bout with COVID-19 is the latest in a series of health issues he has faced in recent years.

In 2020, Ozzy revealed he was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, Rolling Stone reported. Before that, he underwent surgery related to a nasty fall, during which he contracted a potentially fatal staph infection.

At one point, the rocker jokingly credited Satan for helping him avoid COVID-19, according to Rolling Stone.

"My wife had the virus; my daughter had the virus and I never got it," he said. "Being a devil worshipper does have its good points!"

Ozzy Osbourne Tests Positive For COVID, Wife Sharon Says originally appeared on the Los Angeles Patch
Reuters

Singapore has banned a controversial Indian film about the exodus of Hindus from Muslim-majority Kashmir, citing concerns over its "potential to cause enmity between different communities". "The Kashmir Files" has been praised by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Hindu nationalist followers, and has proved a box office hit, but critics say it is loose with facts and fans anti-Muslim sentiment. "The film will be refused classification for its provocative and one-sided portrayal of Muslims and the depictions of Hindus being persecuted in the ongoing conflict in Kashmir," the Singapore government said in a statement on Monday in response to media queries.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Pakistan's newly elected prime minister was visiting Saudi Arabia Friday on his first foreign trip since taking office, an attempt to boost economic relations with the wealthy, oil-rich kingdom as Pakistan struggles with huge debt, soaring inflation and a worsening energy crisis.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif landed on Thursday in the holy city of Medina, just weeks after political turmoil that rattled Pakistan's fragile democracy and led to the ouster of former Premier Imran Khan.

Sharif professed enthusiasm before his departure, even speaking in Arabic in a video that praised the brotherly kingdom"  a country where he spent years in exile and cultivated close ties with top officials.

Although Sharif sought to leverage his maiden trip to the birthplace of Islam as a diplomatic milestone, the political divisions that have pushed Pakistan to the brink of crisis were on stark display during his three-day visit.

Dozens of Khan's supporters pumped their fists and hurled insults at Sharif, mobbing their political opponent as he visited one of Islam's holiest sites  a rare scene of chaos at the shrine in Medina that drew public anger and condemnation back in Pakistan.

Sharif's trip came at the invitation of the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry reported, in order to advance economic, trade and investment ties and create greater opportunities for the Pakistani workforce in Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom hosts some 2.7 million Pakistanis, more than any other country. Remittances from expat laborers to Pakistan are projected to reach $32 billion this year, according to Pakistan's central bank.

I will have wide-ranging discussions with Saudi leadership, Sharif tweeted, to renew & reaffirm our bonds of brotherhood & friendship.

Sharif is the younger brother of disgraced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif  who, like other powerful family members, has been dogged by accusations of corruption that they have dismissed as politically motivated.

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The kingdom is familiar territory for the Sharif political house. After a bloodless military coup ousted the elder Sharif from power in 1999, Saudi Arabia agreed to host the deposed Nawaz Sharif and his family.

A 2008 U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks reported that Shahbaz and Nawaz Sharif retain excellent business and personal relations with the Saudi royal family," adding that "Saudi money reputedly financed the Sharifs parliamentary campaign.

Shahbaz Sharif was accompanied on his visit by a delegation of some 40 people, including officials and family members  a size that prompted sharp criticism from supporters of Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or Pakistan Justice Party, and had Sharif vigorously assuring the public he took a commercial flight at his own expense.

Controversy rose as Sharif visited the mosque of Prophet Muhammad in Medina, part of the smaller umrah pilgrimage that can take place any time of year.

As Sharif's delegation glided through the immaculate courtyard, dozens of Pakistani pilgrims at the mosque could be heard yelling chor! or thief! at the sight of their newly elected prime minister, according to footage widely circulated on social media.

Saudi security guards could be seen attempting to restrain the pilgrims. In one video, a man could be seen tugging the hair of a Pakistani official.

The episode sparked widespread fury in Islamabad on Friday, as the new government condemned the ousted prime minister and his supporters for sowing division.

"This man (Khan) wants to destroy the society, this man has divided the nation, and this man is misguiding youths, said Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, demanding the Saudi government take action against those who accosted Sharif.

These (people) should be deported, so that we can also take action against these violators, Sanaullah added.

There was no comment on the issue from Saudi authorities. The official Saudi Press Agency reported Sharif's evening prayers at the mosque in Medina without further details.

___

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
A Pensacola teenager has pleaded not guilty to charges that he killed his own mother.

David Allan Ohlson, 18, is being held without bond in the Escambia County Jail, accused of second-degree murder with a firearm. His attorney, Sharon Wilson, filed motions with the court this week entering Ohlson's not guilty plea, waiving arraignment and demanding a jury trial.

According to the arrest report filed with the Escambia County Clerk's Office, Ohlson admitted to shooting and killing his mother at about 1 a.m. April 8 at their Bellview home. During his interview, he told Escambia County Sheriff's Office deputies "of all the people he planned to shoot, he did not expect his mother to be one of them."

Escambia County Sheriff's Office deputies say Ohlson's father, 43-year-old David Aaron Ohlson, or Aaron Ohlson, called to report the shooting, saying his son had shot his wife but that it was "accidental." When they arrived on scene, they found David Ohlson's mother in the living room with a shotgun wound to her abdomen. She was taken to the hospital where she died in surgery.

Original story: ECSO: Father witnessed his 18-year-old Pensacola son shoot and kill woman with shotgun

David Aaron Ohlson and his wife, Adriana Ohlson, are pictured in this screenshot of a photo posted on Instagram. Three weeks after the couple separated, their son, David Allan Ohlson, is accused of killing his mother with a shotgun.

The victim's name is redacted in the arrest report at her husband's request. Florida law allows victim's families to decide if the person's name should be made public, but Aaron Ohlson referenced the passing of his wife, 48-year-old Adriana Ohlson, in numerous social media posts on his Facebook and Instagram accounts, as well as frequent posts about his concern for his son.

"Your homies came to see you today son!! They hung out in your room they stuck around and hung out!! It felt good it just hurts so bad that you're not here and neither is your mom," Aaron Ohlson posted on his Facebook page on April 28, followed by a series of sad and crying emojis.

According to the arrest report, Aaron Ohlson told deputies he and Adriana had separated three weeks earlier and he was living with relatives. He said his wife called him at about 12:30 a.m. April 8, because their son was "acting out" and she mentioned a gun, but he couldn't remember exactly what she said. Ohlson said he started driving to their home on Princeton Drive and on the way his wife called him back to say "things had calmed down."

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When he got there, Ohlson reported he saw his wife standing in the living room, and their son, David, was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Ohlson said his son then raised a shotgun, pointing it first at him and then at his mother. As he moved toward the teen, Ohlson said he fired the shotgun at her and immediately dropped the weapon.

"The father picked up the shotgun and secured it inside of his truck outside the home and returned and called 9-1-1," the responding deputy wrote. "The father stated that David Allan Ohlson has some psychological issues, but he stated he was unaware of exactly what the issues were."

David Ohlson told deputies that, "his life fell apart about three weeks ago when his parents separated," and that recently his mother had lost "empathy" for him, and he believed she was going to leave. He told investigators they had argued earlier that day when she got home, and he thought she was "very cold" toward him. Ohlson said he got angry and decided to retrieve the shotgun from a safe in the house and put it in his car with the intention of killing a friend of his mother's.

David Aaron Ohlson and his son, David Allan Ohlson, pose for a photo in this image posted on Instagram Dec. 12, 2020. David Allan Ohlson is accused of killing his mother, Adriana Ohlson, on April 8, 2022, three weeks after his parents separated.

However, Ohlson said he couldn't go through with it and he didn't even leave the driveway, so he brought the gun back in the house and pointed it at his mother and himself as they were "arguing." He also told deputies that the situation had calmed down before his dad arrived and he had unloaded the shotgun, but when his dad got there, he loaded a round in the chamber, raised the shotgun, pointed it at his mother and pulled the trigger.

"David Allan Ohlson also made a statement that he had no right to shoot his mother over words," the report stated.

On April 9, the day after Adriana Ohlson was killed, her husband posted a number of pictures of his wife, son and family on his social media accounts, including a photo of himself and Adriana Ohlson on Instagram with the caption:

"Adriana you are my forever and ever  you and David are all i ever want and all i ever need!! I don't know how to move forward I'm frozen I'm scared I'm absolutely shattered  but right now our boy needs us! Send some help down from above please baby we gotta stand strong for our boy are 'Big strong bear ' you from up there and me down here! Let's do this baby are boy needs us! Don't worry about me I've been hurtin since I was a kid and one thing I know how to do is live hurt! Our son needs us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

On Facebook, Ohlson also announced information about his wife's funeral, which was held in person and online April 22, at First Pentecostal Church in Pensacola. The service is available on the church's website. According to friends and family who spoke at Adriana Ohlson's "Homegoing Celebration," she was originally from Recife, Brazil, and had a large extended family there, but she had built a life in the United States as wife and mother to their only child, David Allan Ohlson. The Ohlson's 20-year wedding anniversary was Dec. 26, 2021.

Much of the service was given in both English and Portuguese, Adriana Ohlson's native language. Her loved ones describe her as a devout follower of Christ who attended both First Pentecostal Church and a local church with a Brazilian congregation. One of the attendees read her obituary at the service.

"Adriana was a devoted and loving mother to David Allan Feijo Ohlson," the woman introduced as Sister Duce said. "She supported and encouraged David in every aspect of his life. Her love for her family and God is a shining example of what a mother and a faithful servant should be. She had a beaming smile, friendly personality, and outgoing nature. She will be missed and remembered by so many people who were lucky enough to know her."

Adriana Ohlson's older sister, missionary and special education teacher Soraya Barbosa, traveled from Brazil to represent her sister's family at the service, speaking on behalf of their mother, stepfather, siblings, nieces, nephews and cousins.

"Adriana was loved by everyone," Barbosa said in her condolences. "God is good. When 'Drica,' Andriana's Brazilian nickname, came to the United States I gave her a Bible as a farewell gift. I had prayed she would find salvation, until one day, perhaps months later, she called me and told me she had given her life to Jesus. Since April 8, Adriana has been celebrating eternal life next to her savior."

Adriana Ohlson's sister-in-law, Sarah Hayles, tearfully remembered how special she was to her friends and family, especially to her son, who seemed to require extra care.

"So many people knew and loved Adriana," Sara Hayles said. "She had such a friendly and caring personality. She was an amazing mom who went above and beyond for her son. She was a kind and fun aunt who taught my kids all about the colors of Carnival and the beauty of Brazil."

Adriana Ohlson's estranged husband, Aaron Ohlson, also spoke at the service. In the video, he initially appeared to struggle as he stepped up to the podium and briefly put his head on his arms before speaking more than 20 minutes orating. He said his late wife was drawn to him the night they met at a club in a Pensacola because he had a Jesus pendant on his necklace and she thought he went to church.

Ohlson said his wife saw potential in him that none of her friends or even his own mother saw in him and despite their warnings that he was "trouble" and might not be worth her time, they hit it off and married a few months after they met. Two years later he said they were blessed with the "wonderful" birth of their son, David, in 2003, and how tenuous her pregnancy was when Adriana Ohlson was bedridden for five months.

"I was being told by the doctors to be prepared to lose one or the other, maybe both," Ohlson said. "So that went on for months on my mind and I thought that was bad enough, but I didn't lose either one of them and we spent the next 18 years dedicated to our son, my son, David Allan, who was her pride and joy and mine, still is."

Ohlson said for the next 18 years they both focused on David and their family and that it was "all work, really little play, and all work because we both understood to get anywhere in life it takes constant work and dedication." According to their social media accounts, Adriana was primarily a stay-at-home mom who also spent time working at her local churches, and Aaron Ohlson has worked at Southway Crane & Rigging since 2015. On Instagram he describes himself as "Musician. Hard worker. Love life. Family man. Pensacola boy ya hoid!!"

Ohlson has numerous photos of he and his son together on social media going back years. One post, dated Sept. 7, 2015, shows a picture of then 11-year-old David Ohlson holding a semi-automatic weapon at a gun store with the caption: "Little drummer boy and his 50 friends! #223 #streetsweeper #Proudpapa."

According to the latest court filing from the State Attorney's Office, David Ohlson killed his mother but not with any "premeditated design." Prosecutors also filed a motion asking the young man to "offer evidence of any alibi" in his defense. His next court date has not yet been set. In the meantime, Adriana Ohlson's friends and family say they are praying for peace and healing.

"I know that we are all dealing with this tragedy today the best way that we can," said First Pentecostal Church Senior Pastor Brian Kinsey. "We're coming to grips with one of the very worst things that can happen to a family and it just hurts our heart."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola teen accused of killing mom after parents separated
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippines presidential frontrunner Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Friday turned down his closest rival's challenge to a debate, saying a face-off with Leni Robredo will never happen and he prefers to communicate directly with the public.

Robredo, who narrowly beat Marcos in the 2016 vice presidential election, challenged the son and namesake of the late dictator to a debate "anytime, anywhere" so voters can scrutinise their characters and compare their visions.

Marcos has attended just one of four presidential debates since campaigning for the May 9 election began, compared to Robredo's three.

Marcos led Robredo by 32 points in the latest survey in March and the two have a bitter rivalry, with Robredo's affiliation firmly with the movement that toppled his late father in a 1986 "people power" uprising.

"I am inviting Mr. Marcos to a debate to give the public a chance to face him and ask him about the controversies surrounding him," Robredo said in a statement.

"We owe it to the people and to our country."

Marcos's spokesman, Vic Rodriguez, said "Bongbong", as Marcos is commonly known, wanted to keep campaigning civil.

"Bongbong Marcos's Uniteam is guided by positive campaigning, no badmouthing. It sends its message and call for unity directly to the public," he said in a statement.

Marcos's ducking of debates has been criticised by opponents and academic groups, who say the public is being denied the opportunity to see all candidates challenged and scrutinised.

Political analyst Earl Parreno said shunning debates was Marcos's way of ensuring his "shallow knowledge of issues will not be exposed."

Though incumbent leader Rodrigo Duterte's daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, is Marcos's running mate and his party has backed Marcos, the president himself has said he wants to be neutral and has not endorsed anyone.

More than 67 million Filipinos have registered to vote in the elections, which historically have a high turnout.

Posts contested include the presidency, vice presidency, 12 senate seats, 300 lower house seats, and roughly 18,000 local positions.

(Reporting by Karen Lema and Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Martin Petty)
International rules not defined by certain clique: FM spokesperson

Xinhua) 08:20, April 29, 2022

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Thursday said that international rules should be the norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, not the ones defined by a certain clique or bloc.

Wang made the comment at a press briefing after British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss criticized China for not condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine, saying that China's failure to play by global rules would cut short its rise as a superpower.

Noting Liz Truss has also mentioned NATO in her speech, Wang said that as a product of the Cold War and the world's largest military alliance, NATO should have made necessary adjustments in accordance with the changing times since the Cold War was long over.

However, Wang said, NATO has long clung to the old security concept, engaged in bloc confrontation and become a tool for certain countries to seek hegemony, and constantly created confrontation and disturbances.

NATO demands that other countries abide by the basic norms of international relations, yet has wantonly waged wars and dropped bombs in sovereign states, killing and displacing innocent civilians, he added.

Wang pointed out that NATO has in recent years come to the Asia-Pacific region to throw its weight around and stir up conflicts as a military organization in the North Atlantic, and the impact of NATO's eastward expansion on the long-term peace and stability of Europe is worth reflecting upon.

"NATO has messed up Europe. Is it now trying to mess up the Asia-Pacific and even the world? " he said.

He also reiterated that China's position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and clear. "We always make independent judgments based on the merits of each matter," he said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
The Phoenix Police Department has released jaw-dropping bodycam footage of an April 14 shooting that left a 40-year-old female officer injured.

The shooting took place at a gas station near Cave Creek and Beardsley Road. Police officers responded to a domestic violence call and met a woman there, because she told them she was uncomfortable meeting police at her home.

In a 911 phone call released by police, the woman tells officers her boyfriend, 35-year-old Nicholas Cowan, was suicidal and acting erratically. She feared there would be a violent confrontation if the officers showed up to where they were.

In the bodycam footage, the officers can be seen interviewing a woman when a blue Prius pulls up. The female officer, identified as Denise Bruce-Jones, approaches the car and is fired upon, falling backward. Off to the side, her partner returns fire at the Prius as it speeds away. Shots can be seen hitting the walls and windows of the convenience store.

OKLAHOMA JURY RECOMMENDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR CONVICTED COP KILLER

The shooting suspect, later identified as 35-year-old Nicholas Cowan, evaded authorities for several days. He was arrested in Scottsdale, following a barricade situation on April 17.

On Thursday, police announced the arrest of 41-year-old Michael Hankins for allegedly helping Cowan while he was on the run.

Police said in a probable-cause statement that Hankins allowed Cowan to stay at his apartment for two nights before renting a Scottsdale residence for the wanted man.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Hankins had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

Police said Thursday that a woman was also arrested Wednesday in the case, but a Maricopa County Superior Court spokesman said Thursday the court didn't have records on charges against that person.

Fox News Adam Sabes and The Associated contributed to this report.
Phoenix police released body camera footage of an April 14 shooting that involved suspect Nicholas Cowan, arrested on suspicion of shooting an officer.

Phoenix police responded to a gas station around 10:35 a.m., near Cave Creek and Beardsley roads, after a woman called concerned about her boyfriend saying he was suicidal.

According to Sgt. Andy Williams with the Phoenix Police Department, the woman was the suspect's girlfriend, who police previously had identified as Cowan, 35.

Police released footage captured by body-worn cameras as well as a clip of the 911 call made by the woman on Thursday.

In the audio, the woman, who was not identified, tells a dispatcher that her boyfriend is hurting himself. She is heard asking the dispatcher to send an ambulance, not the police, saying "I think if the cops show up there it's not gonna be good."

The audio is then cut off when the woman tells the dispatcher that Cowan has a gun.

According to Williams, a male and female police officer responded to the scene and were interviewing the woman outside of a gas station when the suspect drove up to the gas station.

The footage shows the woman identifying the man, saying "oh my God, that's him" to the female officer. The officer then turns toward a Prius being driven into the gas station and slowing down near a pump.

The female officer begins to approach the vehicle and as she is asking the driver to step out of the vehicle, she appears to be struck by a shot fired from inside the vehicle, the footage shows.

As the officer lays on the ground, the footage captured from her camera then shows the other officer exchanging gunfire with the suspect while shielding himself behind a parked car.

Footage from the other officer's body camera shows him firing back at the driver and emptying his gun before moving to assist the injured officer. By this time, the Prius is no longer visible in the footage.

According to Williams, the suspect then fled the scene and evaded police for three days after the incident.

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On April 17, he was located in Scottsdale near 66th Street and Osborn Road where police negotiated and ultimately arrested him, according to Williams.

The suspect was taken to a hospital for his injuries from the shootout on April 14. He was later booked into jail for two counts of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, drive-by shooting and misconduct involving a weapon, Williams said.

The female officer remained in medical care as of Thursday night, Williams said.

At least three other people have been arrested in suspcion of helping Cowan.

The charges that Caroline Coster, 35, and Michael Hankins, 41, are unclear.

Nicole Montalbano, 33, faces charges on suspicion of hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence, according to court documents.

An internal investigation by the Professional Standard Bureau is being conducted.

Yellow tape surrounds the scene, pictured on Feb. 12, 2022, at a home where a barricade standoff occurred that led to a shooting involving multiple Phoenix police officers on the morning of Feb. 11, 2022.

Reporter Chelsea Curtis contributed to this article.

Reach breaking news intern Jane Florance at jflorance@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @Florance_Jane.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bodycam footage of shooting involving suspect Nicholas Cowan released
PETALUMA, CA  After a two-year hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, the annual Butter and Egg Days Parade returned Saturday to the streets of downtown Petaluma.

The beloved community event that dates back more than 100 years drew an estimated crowd of 20,000 this year, with 119 parade entries.

The festivities included other traditional events such as the popular Cutest Little Chick Contest and the Cow Chip Toss. There were food vendors galore and even a petting zoo.



The pre-parade 36th annual Cutest Little Chick contest at the Barnyard Stage drew more than 60 children as contestants, some of whom were babies as young as 3 months old.

One parade entry that had spectators dropping their jaws was a pair of very large snakes that had to be at least 6-feet-long carried by students for the Petaluma Wildlife & Natural Science Museum, which was celebrating its 30th anniversary.

This year's event theme, "Community  The Heart of Petaluma," celebrated the opportunity for Petalumans to gather together after the cancellation of Butter and Egg Days in 2020 and 2021.

"Honoring the myriad of engaged nonprofits, businesses, and volunteers with huge giving hearts that fuel our community spirit, the theme echoes what makes Petaluma such a special place to live," the Petaluma Downtown Association said.

"Petaluma is known for its strong sense of community," said Marie McCusker, executive director of the Petaluma Downtown Association. "This years theme shines the spotlight on our amazing businesses and organizations that connect us with one another. These relationships give us resiliency through difficult times. The return of the parade in 2022 is the ideal time to celebrate that."

Enjoy our photo gallery above, courtesy of local photographer Al Francis.

Photos: Cutest Little Chicks Flock To Butter & Egg Days In Petaluma originally appeared on the Petaluma Patch
ELOY, Ariz. (AP)  The pilot in charge during a forbidden Red Bull plane-swapping stunt said Friday he takes full responsibility for the ensuing crash over the Arizona desert.

Luke Aikins, the lead pilot, admitted in a post on his Instagram that he disregarded a denial from the Federal Aviation Administration two days before Sunday's mid-air crash.

I made the personal decision to move forward with (the) plane swap. I regret not sharing this information with my team and those who supported me, Aikins wrote.

He said he would cooperate fully with the FAA and any other regulatory agencies.

Aikins and another pilot flew separate single-engine Cessna 182 airplanes up to 14,000 feet (4 kilometers) Sunday evening as part of a stunt to promote the energy drink company. They tried to switch planes as the aircraft descended.

One plane spun out of control and crashed near Eloy, roughly 65 miles (104 kilometers) southeast of Phoenix. The pilot was able to parachute out safely. The second pilot regained control of the other plane and landed safely.

It was not clear what possible penalties Aikins could face. Elizabeth Isham Cory, an FAA spokeswoman, said the agency does not comment on open investigations. But the FAA provided a copy of a letter denying Aikins' request.

Aikins had petitioned for an exemption from the rule that pilots must be at the helm with safety belts fastened at all times. He argued the stunt would be in the public interest because it would promote aviation in science, technology, engineering and math.

Robert Carty, FAA deputy executive director of flight standards service, denied the exemption.

Red Bull, known for organizing wild promotional stunts, said in a statement it looks forward to continuing to work with Aikins. The company called him a courageous, highly skilled athlete who has been honest about his role in the incident.
Twitter

Although Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine for months building up to the moment in February when Russian President Vladimir Putin kicked off the assault, his military appears to have had one key oversight: Russian mercenaries are fighting with inferior first-aid kits without key life-saving gear, according to a number of viral posts that reportedly originated from Russian fighters involved in the war.

Russians are starting to sound off about how Putin has failed to adequately prepare the military with first-aid kits for the invasion of Ukraine, comparing photos allegedly depicting Russian kits side-by-side with Ukraines, which appear to be more fully stocked to save a wounded soldiers life.

The Russian first-aid kits, in contrast, appear to contain the bare minimum: what looks like several instruction manuals and possibly something to tie off a tourniquet. The Ukrainian kits, on the other hand, seem to have a whole number of tools, including scissors, an intubation tube to help someone with a blocked airway breathe, and more.

The original source of the images is not immediately clear, but they appear to be linked to several popular Russian Telegram and blog accounts, including one that is involved in a fundraising effort for the Russian military.

But the stark contrast is emblematic of a broader undercurrent that has surprised military analysts in the last several months: For all the talk about the Russian military being incredibly powerful, the Russian military was woefully underprepared for the kind of large-scale invasion Putin wanted to wage.

Russian mercenaries posted this comparison of a Russian soldier's first-aid kit (above) and a Ukrainian one (below). "This is what Putin and Shoigu brought us to..", one of the commenters complain. pic.twitter.com/AXaRJoSHnV  Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) April 29, 2022

The shortcomings of the Russian military have been glaring throughout, and have only been mounting. Moscow quickly realized it didnt have enough manpower to launch an invasion in Ukraine, and has worked, largely unsuccessfully, to try to recruit more troops. In the early days when Russian forces worked to capture Kyiv, they fell apart at the seams and just stalled outside of the city, running out of fuel and supplies.

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But in the case of the first-aid kits, the Russians likely could have prepared for this in advance if they cared an iota about saving their own troops lives, Jeffrey Edmonds, a former Russia director on the White House National Security Council, told The Daily Beast.

That shows a lack of concern because the Russians have invested a lot of money in their military, and I'm certain the combat first-aid kits would not have broken the bank, Edmonds told The Daily Beast. That's not a failure of procurement, in the sense thatthats an attitude or an approach or a command climate they could change.

The kind of lack of concern can trickle down into morale problems in the Russian military, and make them falter on the ground as well. Indeed, Russian troops have been abandoning their weapons and equipment for weeks and suffering from morale problems, according to a senior U.S. defense official.

If I were a Russian soldier, I might think, Well, okay, my general health in combat really isn't something that's valued that much,' Edmonds said. It just shows a level of concern for your soldiers.

Moscows problems are bigger than just planning and logistics, though. As Russia has failed to capture Kyiv, the military has rerouted to focus on eastern Ukraine. But there, too, Russians have been bumbling through it. They havent been able to capture the last holdout of the besieged port city of Mariupol, Azovstal, a steel and iron plant.

More broadly, the Russians have had a lack of strategic intelligence for some time now, and throughout Ukraine, their missile strikes have had a significant number of failures and havent been as accurate as they would like them to be, a senior U.S. defense official said on a call Friday.

The problems with the first-aid kits, though, could speak to a number of issues Russia has been running into, as Russian soldiers appear to have few supplies that can save their lives if theyre suffering from life-threatening injuries.

A modern first-aid kit costs a lot of money, and the Soviet first-aid kit is already in stock, there is no need to buy it, the Conflict Intelligence Team, a nonprofit investigative team, said in a briefing last week. Such a first-aid kit is not useless, but it is much worse than the ones the Ukrainians have The Ukrainian army has much more time to save the wounded before they die.

And with fewer life-saving tools, Russians appear to be stumbling through maintaining manpower in the ongoing invasion. Russian forces casualties have been slowing down in the war in Ukraine as they have narrowed their focus, according to a Pentagon assessment, the senior U.S. defense official said in a call Friday. But where there is still fighting ongoing, Russians are still dropping like flies.

If President Biden brought me in the Oval Office and said, Jeff, how do I make my military fail? I would say do exactly what Putin did, Edmonds said.

Even so, Russian forces continue to levy attacks against Ukraine. In recent hours, Russia hit Kyiv with missile strikes, killing at least one person, according to local authorities. Russia has also hit Kharkiv, and the regions near Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Chernihiv, Donetsk, and Mykolaiv regions in the last 24 hours, according to Ukraines regional military administrations. In that time, the Russian forces have killed 13 civilians and injured 47 civilians, the agencies said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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It's a story of unlikely friendship. A small research robot is currently living with an Emperor penguin colony in Antarctica, providing vital information for researchers in Cape Cod, CBS Boston reports.

ECHO, the robot, belongs to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and rolls around the tundra collecting data used to study marine ecosystems.

The small robot takes readings and collects data like a normal researcher, but his existence allows researchers to collect real-time information year round and minimize the impact their presence could have on the animals' lives.

ECHO with the colony. / Credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via CBS Boston.

Researchers say the penguins seem to be getting along swimmingly with the robot.

"The really cool thing is if I as a human would try to get as close as ECHO, they would be running away," the Marine Animal Remote Sensing Lab's Daniel Zitterbart told Popular Science. "We don't want to scare the animals. Our general aim is to do more science with less impact. And humans have much bigger impact on the animals than the robot actually has."

"CBS Evening News" headlines for Friday, April 29, 2022

Feeding the hungry in Ukraine

Elon Musk sells $8 billion in Tesla shares, days after Twitter deal
Apr. 29CANTON  A discussion about funding for possible projects along the Grasse River was met with some resistance at a joint meeting of the village and town boards Wednesday night.

The item on the agenda was a discussion of a Local Waterfront Revitalization Program Grasse River Recreation Assessment grant that would be applied for in the next New York State Consolidated Funding round.

Correspondence received by the boards and residents at the meeting were more concerned with another waterfront project, that of the proposed project on Willow Island on the south side of the Main Street bridge.

Town Councilor Robert J. Washo pointed out that there were two issues involving the river that were being viewed as one issue by some people.

"There is the use of Willow Island and what is already in progress and the repurposing of what is along the Grasse River. They are two different issues," he said.

Village Trustee Carol S. Pynchon agreed.

"The comments we got today do not pertain to this application. This application is the inventory and assessment for recreation assets," she said.

The Willow Island project received funding in 2019, but a first attempt to find a firm to plan and execute enhancements to the island was unsuccessful. This spring, a second request for proposals was issued, which received one response that is still being vetted, according to Economic Development Director Leigh Rodriguez.

The RFP is based on a proposed plan to develop an arts-themed public park on Willow Island. While no final decisions have been made, the project could expand the current sculpture garden owned by Grasse River Heritage and repurpose adjacent village-owned land with a covered outdoor performance space, a playground, restrooms and landscaping. The project is a collaboration of the town and village of Canton and Grasse River Heritage, according to Ms. Rodriguez.

Village resident Mark J. McKenna said Wednesday night that Willow Island is ill-suited for the project. Its location off a busy road is not ideal for an entertainment venue that could draw crowds and the low-lying island is subject to flooding, he said.

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Village resident Richard W. Grover said that the Willow Island project had not received enough public input and that the RFP listed specific elements and only mentioned a public information session at the end of the plan.

Most importantly, Mr. Grover said, the park is public property and he is against "turning it over to Grasse River Heritage."

Ms. Pynchon said that there had been several opportunities for public comment on Willow Island and that enhancements to the park had been talked about as far back as 2015.

The grant that is being used for the assessment of the park was funded in 2019, she said.

Although there have been a lot of ideas for Willow Island discussed, such as an amphitheater, nothing has been decided, Ms. Pynchon said. A consultant will be hired to assess the ideas for the park and make recommendations.

Mr. Washo asked whether it would make sense to take a step back on Willow island and have the two projects mesh together better.

"This (Willow Island) has been in the works for a number of years," Ms. Rodriguez said. "One of the goals of our Comprehensive Plan was to enhance waterfront parks."

No decision was made at the meeting to reapply for the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program, which was applied for last year unsuccessfully.

"It is an $81,000 application to try to get a study done on the river corridor," Town Supervisor Mary Ann Ashley said. "The question is, do we want to reapply?"

Ms. Rodriguez said the grant would fund the hiring of a consultant to do an assessment and develop a plan to make improvements to existing features and structures and to make recommendations on enhancements.

"They did not have anything bad to say about our application (last year)," Ms. Rodriguez said of comments she received from the Department of State.

Both boards agreed to study the issue in committees in the coming weeks and make a decision at regular board meetings soon.

Ms. Rodriquez said no information on this year's Consolidated Funding has been released, but she expects to learn something by the middle of May.
Roger Stone on December 17. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Roger Stone was barred from Twitter in 2017 after attacking journalists online.

He tried to rejoin the platform after Elon Musk's purchase of the site and was barred hours later.

"I'm anxious to see how strong Elon Musk's commitment to free speech is," he said.

The longtime political operative Roger Stone briefly returned to Twitter after being permanently suspended  only to be barred again hours later, The Daily Beast reported.

"Well bitches I'm back on Twitter," the close ally of former President Donald Trump said on Telegram early Thursday. "I'm anxious to see how strong Elon Musk's commitment to free speech is."

The Daily Mail reported that Stone was on Twitter from about 1 a.m. to 11 a.m. ET, gaining about 80 followers before being barred.

"I posted a new account to prove a point," Stone told The Daily Beast. "I look forward to whoever made the decision to suspend my account getting fired. Attn: Elon Musk."

Twitter accepted Musk's $44 billion buyout of the site on Monday after first fighting against it. The deal is set to close sometime this year.

The billionaire said in a statement he hoped to "make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spambots, and authenticating all humans," while advocating for absolute free speech.

A spokesperson for Twitter told The Daily Beast that Stone's account "was permanently suspended for violations of the Twitter Rules, specifically our ban evasion policy."

Stone was originally suspended from Twitter in 2017 for targeting the CNN reporters Jake Tapper and Don Lemon and the New York Times columnist Charles Blow. The journalists reported on the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, and Stone called it "fake news," while adding derogatory slurs.

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"The battle against free speech has just begun," Stone told Politico after his initial ban. "This is a strange way to do business and part and parcel of the systematic effort by the tech left to censor and silence conservative voices."

In 2019, Stone was sentenced to 40 months in prison on one count of obstructing an official proceeding, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering for his involvement in the 2016 election, but Trump commuted his sentence.

Stone has also said that Trump's Truth Social app, a Twitter alternative, censored his use of free speech.

Representatives for Twitter and Stone did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Rome woman accused of shooting and killing her mother was found not competent to stand trial in Oneida County Court, attorneys said.

Paleigh Iannarilli, 23, of Rome, previously was indicted on felony second-degree murder charges after police reported she shot and killed 43-year-old Theresa Nielsen during a dispute Feb. 7 at Nielsen's home on Milton Avenue in Rome.

Prior coverage: Victim identified in Rome homicide

Public safety: Emergency response tested during 'real world scenarios' at Oriskany training center

An exterior view of the Oneida County Courthouse in Utica on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.

Two separate psychiatric evaluations were conducted on Iannarilli that found her not competent for trial. Neither party objected to the findings.

The case has been adjourned until April 26, 2023, though Iannarilli may be examined periodically before then, said Oneida County Assistant District Attorney Michael Nolan, who prosecuted the case.

Iannarilli initially was found competent following an evaluation while the case still was in Rome City Court, said her attorney, Oneida County Chief Public Defender Leland McCormac.

"I was rather shocked that the first 730 came back competent," he said, referring to Article 730 of the state criminal procedure law that dictates such examinations.

However, such a determination can change based on the mental health state of a defendant at that time, unlike a plea to not responsible by mental disease or defect, McCormac said. If Iannarilli was later found competent, he said this likely would be a defense.

"It's just extremely tragic," he said of the case.

H. Rose Schneider covers public safety, breaking and trending news for the Observer-Dispatch. Email Rose at hschneider@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Rome woman found not competent to stand trial in mother's homicide
(Reuters) - Russia does not consider itself to be at war with NATO over Ukraine since such a development would increase the risks of a nuclear war, RIA news agency cited Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Friday.

RIA also said Lavrov told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya channel that Ukraine was at fault for stalled peace talks with Russia, blaming what he said was Kyiv's changing negotiating positions.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren)
MOSCOW (AP)  Russia's former economic development minister, the country's highest-ranking official to be jailed in nearly two decades, has been granted parole after serving more than half of an eight-year sentence on a bribery conviction, Russian officials confirmed Friday.

Alexei Ulyukayev filed a petition for early release after serving more than five years. A court in the Tver region, some 140 kilometers northwest of Moscow, granted him parole on Wednesday, court officials told the Interfax news agency.

Ulyukayev may be released from prison as soon as mid-May, the officials said, if no appeal against the parole ruling is filed.

The former minister was detained in 2016 at the headquarters of Russias largest oil producer, state-owned Rosneft, after a sting operation by Russias main intelligence agency. Prosecutors say he accepted a $2 million bribe from Rosnefts influential CEO, Igor Sechin, for giving the company the green light to privatize another oil firm.

The circumstances of the case sparked speculation that Ulyukayev was caught in a Kremlin power play involving Sechin, a longtime associate of President Vladimir Putin.

Ulyukaev went to Sechins office in November 2016 to discuss Rosnefts affairs, and was arrested as he was leaving the building with a bag full of cash that Sechin had given him. Ulyukayev told the court that he thought the bag contained a bottle of wine and a basket filled with sausages.

In tapes played in court earlier in the trial, Sechin was heard telling Ulyukayev to take the bag with the sausage. Russian media reported that Sechin has a tradition of gifting people baskets of sausages from his own butchers shop.

Shortly after the arrest, Ulyukaev was dismissed from his post. He has maintained his innocence throughout the trial and insisted Sechin had set him up.
MILFORD  For a second straight year, the Select Board has denied a bid to allow a carnival put on by Fiesta Shows to set up at the high school this summer, citing traffic and public safety concerns.

Further complicating matters is that last year's compromise location, Fino Field, is not available this time around.

A carnival is a good thing, but its just in the wrong place, Select Board member Paul Mazzuchelli said during the board's meeting Monday night.

The request for the permit came from the local Fourth of July Parade Committee, which organizes the summer carnival.

More: Milford's Fino Field will be site of weekend carnival. Action starts Thursday

The board last year denied a permit to host at the high school last year for similar reasons  the town's potential legal liability and neighbors who worried about noise, crowds and parking. The carnival was was moved to Fino Field, but that is not an option this year because the field is under renovation, according to Parks and Recreation Administrator Jim Asam.

The Spider Wheel ride spins against the night sky during the Fiesta Shows carnival at Fino Field in Milford, July 29, 2021. For the second year in a row, the Milford Select Board has denied a proposal to allow the carnival to set up at Milford High School, citing public safety concerns.

In regards to public safety, board members and residents said Godfrey Lane has only one way in and out and moving police and fire vehicles through congested areas would be extremely difficult.

You have a fire, you're going to lose your house, said Select Board member Thomas OLoughlin. You have a heart attack, youre going to lose someone.

Resident Kelly Boccia read a prepared statement on behalf of herself and neighbor Bonnie Parker, stressing the importance of traffic safety and crowd control. Both women live near Milford High School, on Bandy Lane.

We love the idea of the carnival  the revenue and joy it brings is amazing," Boccia said. However, with the concerns of crowds and foot traffic (especially considering COVID-19), several loud generators and limited parking, she believes the high school is "not the most appropriate place to house it.

More: Carnival seeks dates in Milford; Select Board says change the venue

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Joseph Callery, a member of the Fourth of July Parade Committee, said he understands the concerns.

"We werent prepared (to move) last year, but we are this year, he said.

The group has been organizing the carnival since January and had sent 775 letters to residents who live near the high school to keep them informed.

We havent really heard that much feedback, negative-wise, Callery said.

In fact, organizers said they received nearly 400 signatures of support on an online petition to host the carnival at Milford High School.

But Boccia spoke out against it on Monday.

There seems to be no consideration to postpone for a year should they not find a place to house for the carnival and also no real empathy for those who have legitimate concerns, she said.

Select Board member Michael Walsh echoed those sentiments, reading letters from acting Police Chief James Falvey and Fire Chief Mark Nelson that detail crowd concerns and the ability to move emergency vehicles up West Fountain Street.

The big picture youre missing is public safety," Walsh said to Callery.

At the start of the meeting, Callery said Milford High School officials had already allowed the Fourth of July Parade Committee to host the annual carnival, which is a fundraiser for the committee, on school grounds.

"I don't understand for a moment why the School Committee will put this back on us," O'Loughlin later countered. "That we are going to take a vote and then we'll let you make the decision. I think that was inappropriate."

The Fourth of July Parade Committee is now on the hunt for an alternative location, for which the Select Board said it would be happy to help.

Fiesta Shows, based in Seabrook, New Hampshire, is aiming to hold the carnival in August.

Were not going to give up, were going to try and try and try again, Callery said.

This article originally appeared on The Milford Daily News: Select Board denies permit for summer carnival at Milford High School
Shasta County Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Ramstrom, center, sits in the audience during the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

Shasta County Health Officer Dr. Karen Ramstrom's job performance is coming up for discussion for a second time before the Board of Supervisors.

The board will meet in closed session next week on an item titled to consider the discipline/dismissal/release of your at-will employment as Shasta County Health Officer," Ramstrom said in a statement released Friday.

In an email on Friday, she said, "I am hoping for a favorable outcome on Tuesday."

Reached for comment on Friday, Supervisor Mary Rickert said, "I'm sorry this has all come about. I totally support Dr. Ramstrom. I thought she did an exceptional job during the pandemic in trying to do all she could do to provide for the health and safety of all Shasta County residents."

In her statement to the community, Ramstrom said her performance had been evaluated in October 2021 by her supervisor, Public Health Branch Director Robin Schurig.

A sign in support of Health Officer Dr. Karen Ramstrom is seen in the lawn in front of the Shasta County Administration building on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.

Ramstrom called that evaluation "positive" and said it "did not mention anything suggesting that my job was in jeopardy." She also said that she had "no specific information from the Board that my job performance was unsatisfactory in any way."

While some supervisors said they were upset with Ramstrom's handling of public safety matters during the pandemic, Ramstrom said that she, retired Health and Human Services Health and Services Agency director Donnell Ewert and Schurig "were never more restrictive than the state required; we followed the state law. Period. We conveyed information and leadership during a very difficult time for the entire world."

Ramstrom said she and the two other health officials worked together in partnership "with the Board to find the best solutions in the midst of an insurmountable situation."

While saying she was sad and disappointed by the board's actions, she added that "I don't want to leave my job and I don't want to be muzzled. I object to being terminated. There is just too much work to do, so many important issues that need our attention ... I would like to continue serving Shasta County if given the chance."

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Legal fued?: Shasta supervisors take no action on mystery personnel item, receive warning about legal feud

Ramstrom has drawn the ire of many who have protested mask mandates, vaccination requirements and other safety measures due to the 2020-22 coronavirus pandemic.

People critical of Ramstrom have said that her actions have been unconstitutional, though she did not enact any mandates related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Only once did the county enforce health guidelines on businesses, when it sent a letter to a water park during the first few months of the pandemic. In late July 2020, WaterWorks Park agreed to end its season early after the county said it needed to cease operations to avoid having its public pool permit revoked.

Ramstrom did not enact any mandates related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, she did issue guidance to businesses to explain state rules related to shutdowns during the pandemic, said Kat DeBurgh, executive director of the Health Officers Association of California.

In September 2020, facing backlash from opponents that included nurses, Ramstrom rescinded a public health order for all health care workers get a flu shot that season.

Read more: Coronavirus in Shasta County: Woman dies of COVID, outbreak low but rising

Over the past months, anti-Ramstrom protesters found a sympathetic ear in Board Chairman Les Baugh and Supervisor Patrick Jones, culminating with the supervisors conducting Ramstrom's performance evaluation on March 15.

Under the newly-constituted Board of Supervisors, Baugh on March 1 requested that the board conduct Ramstroms evaluation in closed session.

Jones has said Ramstroms job performance has generated email complaints to him from the community, more complaints than any other county employee.

Jones said in March that he thought Ramstrom had done a poor job of communicating with the public on some coronavirus issues, including the after effects of the COVID-19 vaccine.

I have not had an evaluation for her, so it would be nice for me to be able to do that," Jones said.

On April 5, the board held a second closed session to discuss a personnel matter. Following nearly three hours in that closed session, the board announced it had taken no action on the "public employee discipline/dismissal/release" agenda item.

Many meeting attendees suspected the item referred to Ramstrom.

Some people at the meeting suggested that the county was asking for a wrongful termination lawsuit if supervisors dismissed Ramstrom.

County Executive Officer Matt Pontes and County Counsel Rubin Cruse Jr. also received job evaluations during the past few months.

Like those jobs, the health officer's position is board-appointed.

Since the start of the pandemic, health officers have faced controversy as they carried out state-set mandates for business restrictions, mask wearing and more.

Of California's 61 health officers, 20 local health officers had left their jobs since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, said DeBurgh during an interview last month. Other top health executives have also left their posts, she said, including 20 local agency directors and 21 local health department directors, Deburgh said.

Michele Chandler covers city government and housing issues for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Follow her on Twitter at @MChandler_RS, call her at 530-225-8344 or email her at michele.chandler@redding.com. Please support our entire newsroom's commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta County health officer fighting for her job speaks out
Folks renting in Charlotte know it is not cheap, and prices only continue to rise.

A new report shows renters are paying almost $200 more each month for a one bedroom apartment than they were a year ago.

READ MORE: Its Russian roulette out there: Tenants face sticker shock as rents rise

Channel 9s Gina Esposito spoke with renters living in the city who say their budgets are feeling the hit as rent costs climb.

Keith Brice is from Charlotte. When he recently moved back to the city, he was shocked to see the price to secure an apartment.

He pays $1,500 for a one bedroom apartment near Optimist Park. A price, he said, that seems reasonable compared to what other folks are being charged.

I was seeing $1,700 was like the minimum in some of the places I was seeing, Brice said. I saw as high as $2,200 for a one bedroom. Center city was a lot higher. It was like $2,500 for a one bedroom, and those were a lot smaller than the apartment Im renting right at Optimist Hall.

ALSO READ: Charlotte emergency housing assistance program reopens applications for April

A new report by apartmentlist.com shows from March to April that rent in Charlotte rose 1.1%.

Right now, the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment in Charlotte is $1,309. A two-bedroom costs an average of $1,463.

It was shocking, honestly, Brice said. I know there are people who arent as fortunate who have to work two jobs (to afford rent).

According to Apartment Lists report, rent growth in Charlotte and North Carolina is rising above the national average.

RELATED: Heres how much workers have to earn to afford rent in Charlotte area

Brice said to find a place that fits your budget in Charlotte, you will need to shop around. He said that can be easier said than done for a lot of people.

As we know the housing market is just crazy, he said. Right, its obviously driving up the demand for rents going higher, because you have to live somewhere. You have to pay it so its scary, but at the same time, its great to see the growth in Charlotte.

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The report says Charlotte ranks fourth in terms of rent growth statewide. Asheville leads the list followed by Cary and Raleigh.

(WATCH BELOW: Its cheaper to buy than rent in all but three counties in the Charlotte market)




Three people were found dead Friday morning inside an apartment across from Jacksonville University, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Calls to the 911 dispatch center alerted police to an apparent argument inside a unit at the River City Landing complex at 2681 University Blvd. N. just after 7:30 a.m., Lt. Mike Silcox said. A neighbor also reported hearing a loud noise during the commotion.

He would not say if the victims were male or female, only that they were adults and 25 to 30 years old. He did confirm they were shot and a gun was found.

Amber Alert: Jacksonville child and man found safe after Amber Alert issued related to triple shooting

Detectives swarm the south corner of the River City Landing apartment complex at 2681 University Blvd. N. across from Jacksonville University for a deadly triple shooting.

Although Silcox said "at this time we do not believe that there is a danger to the community," investigators had not determined if this was a murder-suicide.

Silcox also said he did not believe the victims were Jacksonville University students.

Sheriff's Office investigators confer at the scene of Friday's triple shooting at the River City Landing apartment complex on University Boulevard across from Jacksonville University.

Detectives were seeking surveillance video from the complex that might provide any additional clues.

The university issued the following statement regarding the shooting:

"Jacksonville University is aware of the incident at the River City Landing apartments and is working closely with the Jacksonville Sherriffs Office to remain updated as their investigation progresses. There is no threat to campus and no university students were involved in the incident. Jacksonville University continues to maintain a JSO and security presence on campus, as it normally does. The safety of everyone on our campus is our top priority."

River City Landing crime: 17-year-old charged with attempted murder in August shooting wounding 2 teens

Arlington fire: Blaze consumes River City Landing apartments; 2 injured, several families evacuated

Three dead, teens arrested: 4 arrested in Monday triple homicide at Jacksonville complex; 1 suspect only 14

Anyone with information on the case can contact the Sheriffs Office at (904) 630-0500 or First Coast Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-8477 (845-TIPS) to remain anonymous and be eligible for rewards. Or email JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org or rewards@fccrimestoppers.com.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Three shot dead in apartment across from Jacksonville University
A Miami man remained in Florida Keys jail Friday after Monroe County sheriffs deputies arrested him on several fisheries charges the day before.

Deputy Willie Guerra, who is assigned to marine patrol, arrested Sergio Sosa, 52, on charges of possession of undersized mutton snapper and hogfish and possession of over-the-limit hogfish.

According to the sheriffs office, Sosa was fishing on the Long Key Bridge around 1:40 p.m. Thursday when Guerra inspected his catch. Guerra found thee undersized mutton snapper and two undersized hogfish, said sheriffs office spokesman Adam Hoffner said.

On Friday afternoon, Sosa was in county jail with no bond information immediately available.
The 74

It has been obvious since his presidential campaign that President Joe Biden is not a supporter of charter schools. The reason has never been clear to me. Does he oppose the movement for philosophical reasons, or does he believe it is the most politically advantageous path to travel? No matter what his reasons are, his []
Progressives have been clamoring for President Biden to sign an executive order wiping out billions in student loan debt, but the commander-in-chief had been hesitant to take a step some doubt is even legal. That changed this week when he acknowledged its under consideration. Young Voices contributor Albert Eisenberg, who wrote an op-ed on the topic for FoxNews.com, tells Jim on "The Final 5" why he believes it would be a bad move.
A Thibodaux man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal court after pleading guilty to selling methamphetamine.

Dontrell Mathews, 42, pleaded guilty last week to distribution of meth, U.S. Attorney Duane Evans said.

After Mathews entered his plea, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier handed down the 10-year sentence along with three years of supervised release and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

Mathews was one of 18 suspects indicted following a two-year multi-agency narcotics investigation in 2018, authorities said. According to court documents, federal agents used a confidential informant to buy about 27 grams of meth from Mathews on July 31, 2018.

Related: Narcotics investigation leads to 18 indictments

Previous crime news: Terrebonne Parish man pleads no contest to child sex crimes

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Office of Homeland Security Investigations, Terrebonne Parish Sheriffs Office and the Lafourche Parish Sheriffs Office.

Assistant United States Attorney Andre Jones prosecuted the case.

During a news conference after Mathews arrest, Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said the investigation served as an example of agencies working together for the common good.

This case illustrates the value of task forces, Webre said. The sharing of information and resources between our local deputies and narcotics agents with Louisiana State Police and federal agents helps keep all our streets safe. These partnerships are critical with these large trafficking investigations which can span multiple jurisdictions and states.

 Staff Writer Dan Copp can be reached at 448-7639 or at dan.copp@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanVCopp.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Thibodaux man gets 10 years after pleading guilty to selling meth
Three Florida correctional officers accused of administering back alley justice in the fatal beating of a prison inmate this year were arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder, officials said.

A fourth unidentified officer who is also accused of participating in the alleged Feb. 14 assault remained at large, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in a news release.

The three officers were identified as Christopher Rolon, 29; Kirk Walton, 34; and Ronald Connor, 24, the agency said. They were charged with second-degree murder, according to court records and the law enforcement department.

Dade Correctional Facility in Fla. (NBC Miami)

The Florida Corrections Department said in a statement released five days after the alleged beating that 10 officers had been placed on administrative leave and that one had resigned.

The Corrections Department notified the state inspector general and asked the state law enforcement agency to investigative the matter, the statement said.

The beating is alleged to have occurred after an inmate in the mental health unit at Dade Correctional Institution was reported to have thrown urine at one of the officers.

The officers restrained the inmate, who was not identified, and removed him from his cell, the department said. Then they began beating him  even though he was in handcuffs and compliant with officer commands, the department said.

The inmate, who was scheduled to be taken to a different prison, was so badly injured that he had to be carried to the transport van, the department said.

When the van stopped in Ocala, about 340 miles away, the inmate was found dead in a secure compartment inside the van, the department said. An autopsy determined that he died from a punctured lung that caused internal bleeding.

"Individuals who are sentenced to incarceration by our criminal courts have lost their freedom but not their basic rights," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "Inmates should not be subject to forms of back alley justice which are actions in violation of Florida law.

It was not immediately clear whether the officers have lawyers to speak on their behalf. Court records did not list any.
As National Poetry Month comes to an end, theGrio acknowledges the importance and impact of lyricism in Black music

Langston Hughes is regarded as one of the greatest poets to ever walk a turn in this country. Its for good reason, too. Hughes had an unparalleled knack for presenting existential quandaries and telling elaborate, three-dimensional stories.

Like poetry, music acts as a mirror of society. It equally shows all of its blemishes and imperfections, as well as its beauty and simplistic charm. This is why when celebrating poetry, the Black lyricist deserves to be included in the rhetoric. The thread and connection of the poet to the lyricist is evident throughout American history.

Langston Hughes, Rakim (Getty Images)

In Hughes piece The Negro Speaks of Rivers, he writes, Ive known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. Here, he gives the reader a tomes worth of information about his origins and how his surroundings have molded him. Wu-Tang Clan rapper Raekwon the Chef displayed the same ability in the song C.R.E.A.M.:

I grew up on the crime side,

The New York Times side,

Staying alive was no jive

Had secondhands,

Moms bounced on old man,

So then we moved to Shaolin land.

In a short passage, Raekwon was able to explain the dangers of his native Staten Island, the existence of poverty, and the absence of his father.

Sure, Raekwon has the benefit of having his words accompanied and enhanced by music, but that makes it no less potent and impressive. To be profound through simplicity is incredibly difficult. Both great poets and great lyricists have that power.

On Hughes Mother to Son, he wrote: Dont you fall now  For Ise still goin honey; Ise still climbin, and life for me aint never been no crystal stair, a celebration of a Black mothers influence on her man-child through the unfathomable obstacles of her own existence.

The same heartache and hope can also be heard in the pen of Tupac Shakur in Dear Mama.

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And even as a crack fiend, mama,

You always was a Black Queen, mama,

I finally understand,

For a woman, it aint easy trying to raise a man.

In some quarters, lyricists and musicians arent viewed in as high regard as many of our legendary poets. Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, and so many others were also activists who served their communities.

But musicians and lyricists (many of whom are both) have penned lyrics that are just as moving as poems. r

On I Know You Got Soul, Rakim wrote about the metaphysical process of writing an intricate rap:

I start to think and then I sink,

Into the paper like I was ink,

When Im writing, Im trapped in between the lines,

I escape when I finish the rhyme.

Few lyricists can capture the concept of love like Stevie Wonder. In As, he writes of a love so deep, it will transcend the lives of him and his lover:

As today I know Im living,

But tomorrow could make me the past,

For that I mustnt fear,

For I know deep in my mind,

The love of me Ive left behind.

Alas, when love goes wrong, poets and lyrics are both even more expressive. Smokey Robinson, once called the greatest American poet by Bob Dylan, had many such passages that address heartbreak:

The way you wrecked my life,

Was like sabotage,

The love I saw in you was just a mirage.

Frank Ocean expressed similar feelings in Bad Religion, writing about loving someone who didnt return his feelings.

If it brings me to my knees, its a bad religion,

This unrequited love

To me, its nothin but a one-man cult.

Black poets and musicians have always been able to diagnose the nations social ills. Just think of Giovannis The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr., as an example as she wrote,

His headstone said

FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST,

But death is a slaves freedom,

We seek the freedom of free men.

In Concrete Jungle Bob Marley expressed the same struggle of being bound by oppression, yet putting on a brave face despite it.

No chains around my feet,

But Im not free,

I know I am bound here,

In captivity,

Never know what happiness is,

Never know what sweet caress is,

Still, I be always laughing like a clown.

Years later, Lauryn Hill, the mother of five of Marleys grandchildren, mused in Mystery of Iniquity about how the pursuit of capitalistic goals and ambitions preached by American gatekeepers leads to madness and the cyclical destruction of free thought and individualism:

The revolving door, insanity every floor,

Skyscraping, paper chasing,

What are we working for?

Empty traditions, reaching social positions,

Teaching ambition to support the family superstition?

In the face of all that Black Americans have to overcome, there is always hope  escapism is found while we still breathe. This concept is illustrated eloquently by Billy Strayhorn in Lush Life.

I live my day as if it was the last

Live my day as if there was no past

So, the next time you hear a beautiful, poignant, or heartbreaking song, take some time to appreciate the amazing poetry from Black poets and lyricists, from Curtis Mayfield and Bill Withers to Andre 3000 and Jill Scott. As Dunbar once wrote, they know why the caged bird sings.

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

The post I, too, sing America: celebrating the poetry of the Black lyricist appeared first on TheGrio.
Lexi Ellis, a support staffer at Blues Egg, a breakfast and lunch restaurant, sets a table for diners. The restaurant at 317 N. 76th St., Milwaukee, is one of four operated by Black Shoe Hospitality, one of the Top Workplaces for southeastern Wisconsin.

The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 caused businesses to make adjustments such as allowing their employees to work from home or work flexible hours.

In many cases, companies adjusted their hours or closed.

When 2021 arrived, vaccines were available to combat COVID-19 but employers faced new challenges and supply chain issues.

During the pandemic, workers were asked to make drastic adjustments. Now many workers are reconsidering their options and that puts companies in deep competition with each other, across sectors, for employees.

That's part of the reason so many companies participate in the Journal Sentinel's Top Workplaces for Southeastern Wisconsin survey. Being named a Top Workplace helps an employer stand out.

The pandemic upended many industries and among the hardest hit was hospitality, particularly restaurants.

Amy Kerstein, administrator for Black Shoe Hospitality which operates Maxies, Blues Egg and Story Hill BKC, all in Milwaukee, and Buttermint in Shorewood, said some workers left the hospitality industry entirely. Black Shoe is searching for those who are willing to learn.

Pre-pandemic we operated seven days a week. We currently are on a five-day model because staffing our restaurants is such a challenge, Kerstein said. We are slowly growing our staffs and will open a sixth day.

New Berlin based, family owned, ITU Absorb Tech has been based in Wisconsin for nearly 100 years, providing environmental industrial laundry services. The pandemic caused significant labor shortages that negatively affected our customers and our own sales, and service operations, said Mariah Eiben, human resources administrative assistant for Absorb Tech.

In the current climate, workforce shortages are inevitable. In the past year, like many other companies we have been compelled to address staffing challenges, Eiben said.

We work in a very team-oriented environment. Employees are assisting in areas they dont normally work in order to meet our customers needs. We have added sign-on bonuses to attract more candidates to fill our openings and increase staffing levels.

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With unemployment so low during much of 2021, businesses are having issues finding the bodies needed to fill job openings.

Companies like ITU Absorb Tech have been reevaluating how employees are being treated and listening to concerns they raise.

Most importantly, employees dont leave jobs because of companies, they leave because of people. So we have to ensure we have the right people in the right seats at all times and provide a culture people want to work in, said Kristen Tracy, public relations manager for Cousins Subs at its Menomonee Falls corporate office.

We celebrate successes, recognize milestone work anniversaries and invest in our teams personal and professional development.

Supply chain issues across industries

Some companies have benefited from the workforce changes.

Dean Stier, marking director for IEWC Global Solutions in New Berlin, said the company has grown during the last two years. IEWC is an international distributor of wire, cable and wire management products.

We feel that IEWC is actually benefiting from the record number of people rethinking their careers and professional paths, Stier said.

Our ongoing efforts to create an empowering place to work are paying off as we attract talented people looking for something better. IEWC has a fantastic culture and a very generous benefits package, including the (employee stock ownership plan), that creates an incredible environment.

Challenges arose for IEWC after businesses started opening back up.

After the initial COVID shutdowns ended, manufacturing came back in a big way and with it, a crush of demand. Fortunately, IEWC was very careful in managing costs during the downturn and, in fact, invested in those areas that would make us stronger in the rebound, Stier said.

We also worked very closely with suppliers to better understand their specific challenges and develop strategies with them to help us both become stronger as demand improved. All of that allowed us to remain nimble in our strategic approach to managing an uncertain supply chain.

Supply chain concerns

Supply chain disruptions have been a major concern with some companies incorporating delays into their planning.

We experienced supply chain issues in all our product categories, said Krista Hanamann, human resources and safety manager for Illing Packaging in Richfield.

We use close communication with our vendors and customers to ensure we have the right materials at the right time. We expanded warehouse offerings to accommodate targeted growth amid the shortage and broadened our manufacturing base," she said.

"We provide creative alternatives to our customers where there are pinch points. For example, when tin paint cans started having supply chain issues and pricing escalated, Illing brought on a line of decorated plastic paint cans that reduce cost and lead time and better secure supply for our customers.

Black Shoe Hospitality also experienced supply problems.

"We have had to look elsewhere other than our normal food, beverage and product suppliers to get some of the very basic products that we use daily," Kerstein said. "Costs have skyrocketed."

Viking Masek Packaging Technologies in Oostburg, points to its versatility, proactive planning and adaptation that have enabled the company to grow.

"We invested heavily in keeping equipment and components in stock at our U.S. headquarters to alleviate supply chain uncertainties, enabling us to get our clients what they need faster than the competition. We absorb some of the risk of carrying contingency inventory to meet the needs of our customers," said Danielle Ohl, marketing specialist.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Top Workplaces: Businesses wrestled with worker shortage, supply chain
Tasos Katopodis/Getty

In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, as cases spread rapidly and deaths mounted, then-President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw help for governors who didnt treat him nicely, and his aides barred the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from giving briefings for a staggering six months, according to a trove of new information released this week.

Emails between top officials from the CDC and Trump administration, released by a House panel on Friday, also revealed that Trump aides strong-armed the CDC into watering down its public-health guidance for churches in May 2020, just as houses of worship were emerging as particularly risky settings.

In early May, the CDC released two reports, one of which detailed how a pastor at an Arkansas church and his wife unwittingly spread the virus to 26 others, which came to balloon into a cluster of 61 people, of whom four died. The second report found that 87 percent of attendees at a choir practice in Washington had caught the virus.

The message, and accompanying recommendations that churches hold virtual or drive-in services only, was a stark contrast to Trumps ridiculously rosy suggestion in April that the country should reopen entirely and be raring to go by Easter.

Trump Admin Sabotaged COVID Efforts to Score Political Points, House Probe Finds

Perhaps not surprisingly, when the CDC sent its draft guidance for religious communities to the White House on May 21, 2020, Trump aides immediately pushed back, the emails show.

Aides expressed concern that the guidance seems to raise religious liberty concerns and suggested the CDC be allowed to publish guidance contingent on striking the offensive passages.

White House lawyer May Davis called previous CDC guidance problematic and suggested proposed changes on top of Kellyanne [Conway] edits that removes all the tele-church suggestions. She added, [T]hough personally I will say that if I was old and vulnerable (I do feel old and vulnerable), drive-through services would sound welcome. Its not clear what the offensive passages were but the final guidelines didnt include any suggestions for tele-church or drive-in services.

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House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis

The next day, Trump outright told state governors in a press briefing that they should allow churches to reopen completely.

According to extracts of a forthcoming book by New York Times journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, obtained by The Hill this week, Trump went even further with governors, threatening to withdraw pandemic aid if they didnt offer reciprocity or treat him nicely.

The book, This Will Not Pass, depicts Trump as a mafia don, demanding loyalty from supplicants and political opponents alike, by turns using the largest bully pulpit in the world to beat them into submission and cajoling them in private to offer support, The Hill wrote.

In one call with governors detailed in the book, Trump threatened to cut federal funding for most states that had deployed the National Guard to help battle COVID. He told them that if they wanted the federal government to cover the costs, You have to call me and ask me nicely.

Trump Tested Positive for COVID Before Biden Debate, Not After, Says His Ex-Chief of Staff

In another call with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Trump said he would allow a COVID-addled cruise ship moored in San Francisco to dock so passengers could be treatedbut he would be watching out for the reciprocity from Newsom.

President Trumps comments, his rhetoric ,and his almost flippant attitude in some contexts made it difficult for a governor like me to really push the seriousness of the medical emergency that were in, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told the books authors.

Meanwhile, House Democrats also released excerpts of an interview with former CDC Director Robert Redfield on Friday in which he revealed the Trump administration blocked the CDC from giving public briefings, bar a few exceptions, for the first six months of the pandemic.

It came after Nancy Messonnier, then the director of the CDCs National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, issued an early warning about the severity of the looming pandemicsomething the White House was desperately trying to downplay. She was sidelined and later resigned.

This is one of my great disappointments... [t]hat HHS basically took over total clearance of briefings by CDC, Redfield said. None of our briefings were approved.

He said it caused him PTSD for probably six months.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. Bianca De Marchi-Pool / Getty Images

Liz Truss said she is "appalled" by the arrest of Andrew Fahie, premier of the British Virgin Islands.

Courts documents say Fahie was involved in money laundering and conspiracy to import at least 5 kg of cocaine.

BVI Governor John Rankin said it was "shocking," adding: "I would call for calm at this time."

The UK's foreign secretary has said she is "appalled" after the premier of a British territory was arrested for drugs trafficking and money laundering.

Andrew Fahie, premier of the British Virgin Islands, was arrested in a sting operation in Miami on charges of conspiring to import cocaine into the US and money laundering.

In a statement, BVI Governor John Rankin said it would be "shocking news for people in the territory", adding: "I would call for calm at this time."

The BVI governor acts as a representative for the Queen, while the premier is in charge of daily legislation and law enforcement.

Court papers filed in Florida alleged that Fahie was involved in conspiracy to import at least 5 kilograms of cocaine and money laundering between October 16, 2021, and April 28, 2022, The Guardian reported.

According to the report, undercover agents with the US Drug Enforcement Administration posed as members of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and set up a meeting between Fahie and Hezbollah operatives to establish a place to store thousands of kilograms of drugs arriving from Colombia.

Liz Truss, the UK's foreign secretary, said: "I am appalled by these serious allegations. This arrest demonstrates the importance of the recently concluded commission of inquiry."

Last year, the UK set up a commission of inquiry into misgovernance in the BVI, which has heard allegations of systemic corruption and misuse of public funds.

Screengrab from the BVI Commission of Inquiry YouTube/BVI Inquiry

Last year Sir Geoffrey Cox, the former UK attorney general, came under pressure over allegations he had used his parliamentary office to conduct meetings while working on the inquiry. While the opposition Labour Party referred the matter to the Standards Commissioner, the case was not pursued.

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Rankin, who is due to set out the country's next steps on Friday, declined to comment on the specifics of Fahie's arrest but said it was not related to the UK's inquiry.

"What I can confirm is that the arrest was a US operation led by the DEA and is not linked to the commission of inquiry report," he said. "The remit of the commission of inquiry focused on governance and corruption, and was not a criminal investigation into the illegal drug trade."

To avoid unnecessary speculation, I intend to move ahead urgently on publication of the Inquiry Report so the people of the BVI can see its contents and its recommendations in the areas it addresses."

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Toby Sterling and William James

LONDON/THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Britain will send investigators to Ukraine to help gather evidence of war crimes, including sexual violence, its foreign minister said on Friday.

Both Ukrainian prosecutors and the International Criminal Court (ICC) are investigating potential war crimes in Ukraine since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion, which the Kremlin calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise its neighbour.

Moscow denies committing war crimes in Ukraine or targeting civilians during a war that has killed thousands, devastated many cities and towns and forced five million people, mostly women and children, to flee abroad.

Speaking after meeting with ICC officials, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said a British team would head to Ukraine in May with a special emphasis on investigating rape as a possible war crime.

"It's done to subjugate women and destroy communities and we want to see it stopped," she said.

"This is about collecting a wide range of evidence, witness statements, forensic evidence, and video evidence," she said outside the court building in The Hague.

BAN ON RUSSIAN ENERGY

Separately, Truss met with her Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra to discuss the need for further sanctions on Russia, including a halt on purchasing Russian fossil fuels.

The two NATO allies have been closely aligned on Ukraine policy, with both supporting the supply of heavy weaponry for its war effort. Both also support a full ban on Russian energy exports to Europe, including gas, by the end of 2022.

Truss said Britain endorses prosecuting Russian leaders for the war crime of aggression -- a thorny question under international law.

The ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes committed on Ukrainian soil, including by Russian soldiers, but cannot bring aggression charges since Russia is not a member of the court.

Some politicians and legal experts have called for the establishment of a separate tribunal as the quickest way to hold Russian politicians responsible for an illegal war.

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"We want to see all the crimes prosecuted," Truss said.

However, she added, "I'm concerned that if there's focus on setting up an additional tribunal that will divert resources away from this vital evidence collecting."

(Reporting by William James and Toby Sterling; Editing by Kate Holton and Gareth Jones)
Ukraine is working on an operation to evacuate citizens from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol after Russias attempt to storm the plant on Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky participated in talks Thursday with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Today, President Zelenskyy and I had the opportunity to address this issue, Guterres said of the crisis in Mariupol.

As we speak, there are intense discussions to move forward on this proposal to make it a reality, he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in principle to an evacuation of Ukrainian civilians remaining at the steel plant in a meeting with Guterres on Tuesday, despite reporting that he initially ordered his troops to ensure that no Ukrainian civilians or soldiers escaped from the complex.

The President agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee for the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, said Stephane Dujarric, a Guterres spokesperson.

However, Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko of Donetsk, Ukraine, said Thursday that Russia continues to block any evacuations.

Kyrylenko claimed that Russia was blocking evacuations in order to capture members of the Ukrainian military.

They [want to] use the opportunity to capture the defenders of Mariupol, one of the main [elements] of whom are the  Azov regiment, said Kyrylenko.

Therefore the Russian side is not agreeing to any evacuation measures regarding wounded [Ukrainian] troops, he continued.

Guterres continues to support Ukraine and plans to work with the Red Cross to help evacuate Ukrainians.

Mariupol is a crisis within a crisis. Thousands of civilians need life-saving assistance. Many are elderly, in need of medical care or have limited mobility. They need an escape route out of the apocalypse, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ukraine published a video on Friday showing a strike on Russian tanks and vehicles.

A techno soundtrack could be heard playing in the background of the video, uploaded to Facebook.

The music in Ukraine's videos has the affect of normalizing attacks that are killing Russian soldiers.

Ukraine's government uploaded a video on Friday showing its troops destroying Russian tanks and vehicles, with a techno soundtrack in the background in the latest attempt to stoke the country's morale and that may also help to dehumanize the Russian troops they are trying to repel.

The minute-long video posted to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Facebook page shows Russian tanks hit with Ukrainian strikes, before catching on fire.

Meanwhile, Crazy Frog  a Swedish animated character and musician  is playing in the background of the video.

"The invaders continue to die in an inglorious and pointless war. Together we will win!" The Ukrainian military wrote in a caption on its Facebook page.

It was not immediately clear when the strike took place, and Insider was unable to identify the exact location of the strike.

Russia has so far refused to acknowledge exactly how many troops have been killed in President Vladimir Putin's two-month-war. Ukraine has said it killed 20,000 troops, though Western officials have pegged the number closer to 15,000.

Ukraine has previously published propaganda videos of attacks on Russian forces, set to different music. The music in these videos has the affect of normalizing attacks that are killing Russian soldiers without showing their bodies being burned or torn apart; attacks like these on a Russian tank will kill the three crewmen inside, for example.

In March, it published aerial footage of what it claimed to be an artillery barrage of Russian forces  set to AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."

Ukraine has also published a video earlier this month showing scenes of dead civilians and destruction across the country, set to calming music in the background as an attempt to convince the European Union to avoid buying Russian gas.

Translations by Oleksandr Vynogradov.

Read the original article on Business Insider
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is heading to West Africa on Saturday to join Muslims marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan and to highlight the impact of the Ukraine war on the African continent, the U.N. announced Friday.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the secretary-general will arrive in Senegal on Saturday evening, travel to Niger on Monday and to Nigeria on Tuesday and then return to New York.

The U.N. chief will share an Iftar dinner -- the meal breaking the Ramadan fast -- with President Macky Sall of Senegal, who assumed the presidency of the African Union earlier this year, Haq said.

Guterres will also take part in celebrations of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan with Nigers President Mohamed Bazoum, Haq said, and he is also scheduled to meet Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari.

In the three countries, the secretary-general also will meet civil society representatives, religious leaders and families affected by violence and instability in Africas Sahel region, including people internally displaced and refugees, the U.N. spokesman said.

Guterres will also see first-hand the impact of climate change on vulnerable communities, and will assess progress and challenges to the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Haq said.

The secretary-general issued a report this month saying Russias war on Ukraine threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries in Africa and elsewhere that are now facing even higher food and energy costs and increasingly difficult financial conditions.

Guterres began annual Ramadan solidarity visits in his previous job as the U.N. refugee chief but the tradition was interrupted by the pandemic.
Reuters Videos

STORY: "You are fighting for the Homeland, for its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of World War Two. So that there is no place in the world for executioners, punishers, and Nazis."This was Russian President Vladimir Putins rallying cry to his soldiers on Monday (May 9), in a speech evoking the memory of Soviet heroism on the 77th anniversary of victory against Nazi Germany. Addressing massed ranks of servicemen on Red Square during the annual Victory Day parade, Putin condemned what he called external threats to weaken and split Russia.He also acknowledged the cost in Russian lives, pledging to help families of fallen soldiers. But his 11-minute speech, on day 75 of the invasion of Ukraine, was largely notable for what he did not say.He did not mention Ukraine by name, gave no assessment of progress in the war, and offered no indication of how long it might continue. Over in Ukraine, the mood was defiant."We are fighting for freedom for our children, and therefore we will win. In an address, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the anniversary of triumph over Nazism, his country was fighting for a new victory.Because only a madman can want to repeat the 2,194 days of war. The one, who is already repeating the horrific crimes of the entire Hitler regime and copying everything they did. He is doomed.Ukrainian officials said heavy fighting was underway in the east of the country and warned people to take cover from expected missile strikes.There were signs of defiance in Russia, too.Russian satellite television menus were altered to show viewers in Moscow messages about the war in Ukraine.Anti-war slogans such as "You have the blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of dead children on your hands," and "The TV and the authorities are lying" appeared on various channels.It was not immediately clear how the slogans appeared. As the war rolls into its 10th week, peace talks between the two sides are continuing, Russias chief negotiator told the Interfax news agency on Monday.Ukraine and Russia have not held face-to-face peace talks since March 29, though they have met by video link.Zelenskiy said last month that there was a high risk that the talks would end, blaming public anger with what he said were Russian atrocities committed as they retreated from parts of northern Ukraine. Moscow has accused Kyiv of stalling the talks and using the reports of atrocities to undermine negotiations. It denies targeting civilians in what it calls a special military operation.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Assistant United States Trade Representative (USTR) for African Affairs Constance Hamilton will lead a delegation to Kenya on May 1 to explore opportunities for enhanced trade and investment engagement, USTR spokesperson Adam Hodge said on Friday.

The delegation will include subject-matter experts from USTR and the Departments of State, Labor, Commerce and Agriculture, he said.

The visit follows recent meetings between top U.S. trade negotiator Katherine Tai and Kenyan Cabinet Secretary Betty Maina in which the two agreed to work on deepening U.S.-Kenya trade ties despite the Biden administration's decision to freeze Trump-era negotiations on a free trade agreement.

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi told a trade conference in February that the U.S. government was engaging in robust talks with Kenya as part of its drive to expand equitable and inclusive U.S. investment in Africa.

Tai met virtually in December with Maina, a move the Biden administration says will deepen the bilateral relationship.

The administration of former President Donald Trump had launched talks with Nairobi on a bilateral free trade agreement, but the Biden administration put the negotiations on ice, focusing instead on dialogues with trading partners.

Hodge said the U.S. delegation would seek to collaborate with their counterparts on way to "generate inclusive growth" that benefits workers, attracts investment and promotes regional economic integration.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David LawderEditing by Chris Reese and Aurora Ellis)
A 19-year-old is facing a capital murder charge in connection to shooting two of his cousins to death outside an Arlington apartment complex.

Julius Rollins, of Arlington, was arrested Tuesday on the suspicion of murder for 31-year-old Martell Brown and 21-year-old JyTavious Fields, both of Farmerville, Louisiana, who were fatally shot on Jan. 7.

The shooting occurred around 8 p.m. in the 2100 block of Cypress Club Drive. Arlington police responded to the scene after a resident said they believed they heard gunshots and minutes later found two men unresponsive in the parking lot.

Rollins lived in the apartment complex where the shooting occurred, and Brown and Field, both cousins of Rollins, were visiting the teen, who was on parole for an aggravated robbery charge and wearing an ankle monitor, according to Rollins arrest warrant affidavit.

Days after the shooting, on Jan. 12, police interviewed Rollins who told them he was asleep during the murders and didnt learn that his cousins died until the following morning.

Juliuss cellular phone was later seized, at which time, Julius became uncooperative and belligerent, the warrant said. On Jan. 14, Julius cut off his ankle monitor and attempted to flee the state. He crashed the vehicle he was in, during which he was arrested for unrelated charges as well as his parole violation warrant. Julius was in possession of a second cellular phone, which was seized.

After further investigation, police found messages that Rollins knew of the shooting prior to the morning after it occurred, and that the 19-year-old was trying to sell a firearm, which ballistics would later identify as being a potential make and model of the murder weapon, according to the warrant.

Information collected by Rollins ankle monitor also disproved that he was asleep during the shooting. A warrant for Rollins arrest was filed after investigators said the 19-year-old provided false accounts to police and attempted to flee the state.

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Julius has a criminal history including the aggravated robbery, which he currently is wanted for on a second parole violation warrant as of April 3, the warrant read. Recently he was charged with failing to ID a fugitive and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

Rollins was charged with capital murder on April 22 and was taken into custody the following day.

Arlington police said the motive for the shooting still remains unclear.

We cannot and will not tolerate this kind of violence in our city, said Chief of Police Al Jones. I appreciate the tremendous amount of time and effort our homicide detectives put into working this case. Its because of their tenacity that we were able to make this arrest.
(AFP via Getty Images)

West Ham are investigating allegations that two German commentators were attacked during the first leg of West Hams Europa League semi-final against Eintracht Frankfurt at London Stadium.

Reports emerged during the game that the broadcasters were attacked after Michail Antonio had pulled the Hammers level in the 21st minute of the 2-1 defeat.

The pair, said to have been commentating on the match for German radio, were moved to a different broadcasting position at half-time.

According to reports in German newspaper Bild, the reporters commented live on air that one of their headsets was ripped off and thrown on the floor.

A West Ham spokesperson said: The club is aware of the incident and will be working to identify the offender.

In line with our zero-tolerance approach, anyone identified will have their details passed to the police.

They will be given an indefinite ban and be unable to enter London Stadium and travel with the club. There is no place for this kind of behaviour.

ESPN commentator Derek Rae reported that the duo, Philipp Hofmeister and Tim Brockmeier, were working for ARD Radio and explained later on-air that one was struck on the neck when supporters possibly took umbrage at their emotional expressions when Eintracht scored the opening goal.

Additional reporting by PA
As the extreme drought gripping the American West enters its third year, water levels in Lake Mead, the largest man-made reservoir in the U.S., which supplies water to tens of millions of people, are at their lowest since the construction of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s.

During the past month, the water level in Lake Mead has continued to plummet, leaving it at roughly 30% of capacity and exposing the top of an old intake valve. At maximum capacity, the lake sits at 1,299 feet above sea level. On Wednesday it was measured 244 feet below that, at 1,055 feet above sea level.

On the same day, as a result of the lakes falling water level, the Southern Nevada Water Authority activated a new low-lake-level pumping station completed in April so the state will continue to be able to supply residents with water.

The sun sets on Lake Mead, where water levels have declined to lows not seen since the reservoir was filled after the construction of Hoover Dam, on April 16. (Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

"It's the worst it's ever been," Colby Pellegrino, deputy general manager of resources of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week regarding the ongoing drought.

This week, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California issued restrictions on roughly 6 million customers that are set to begin on June 1 due to water shortages in Lake Mead and the Colorado River. The restrictions prohibit residents from watering lawns and plants more than one day per week.

As Yahoo News reported, the federal government declared its first-ever water shortage for the Colorado River in mid-August of last year, triggering cuts to the amount of water Arizona was able to draw from it. Since then, the situation has only gotten worse, with water levels dwindling at Lake Powell, another major reservoir on the Colorado River.

Last week, seven Western states that rely on the Colorado River for water agreed with a recommendation by the Department of the Interior requesting that they implement conservation measures like the ones put in place in Southern California. While states like Washington saw sufficient rainfall this winter to alleviate drought conditions, portions of states like Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado continue to experience extreme drought.

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Another view of the low water level in Lake Mead. (Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

"Not only is this drought continuing to chug along, it's proceeding at as full-steam pace as it ever has been," Parker Williams, a climate scientist at UCLA, told National Geographic.

Williams is an author of a new study published in Nature Climate Change that shows that warmer temperatures linked to excess greenhouse gas emissions have made the Western drought 40% more severe, and that the current drought will likely drag on through 2030.

With the drought expected to continue worsening as temperatures rise, water levels in Lake Mead are expected fall even further. The danger, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, is that if the lake's elevation falls below 895 feet, the "Hoover Dam can no longer release water downstream to California, Arizona, and Mexico."
The Daily Beast

Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via ReutersVictory Day, commemorating the triumph of the USSR over the Nazis, was once again a source of great fanfare and attention in the countries of the former Soviet Bloc. The day brought, as it has in the past, military parades and solemn commemorations. And, as has often been the case in the past, it brought a rousing presidential speech that conveyed great strength and resolve in the contemporary battle against Hitlers successors.The twist this May 9 was that
Jeannine Cook has been fascinated with Harriet Tubman ever since she picked up a book about the abolitionist in her school library as a child.

Cook, 38, learned everything she could about Tubmans life and how she led over 100 enslaved people to freedom before serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. In Tubman, Cook saw the embodiment of what women, Black people and people with disabilities could achieve at a time when equal rights for all had not yet entered the American lexicon.

In February 2020, just before the pandemic hit, Cook opened Harrietts Bookshop, a Philadelphia bookstore named after Tubman that sells books by female authors.

Now seeking to honor Tubman on a grander scale, Cook is campaigning to make her the first American woman to be honored with a federal holiday. Cook has collected more than 7,800 signatures on a petition calling for the designation, and she distributes blank postcards in her bookstore that customers can use to write their representatives in support of the effort.

At least one politician has taken notice. Last month, Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., introduced a bill in the House that would establish Harriet Tubman Day as a federal holiday sometime after Presidents Day.

Of the dozen federal holidays currently recognized, Presidents Day is one of three, along with Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Columbus Day, that recognize famous men in American history. Only one, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honors a Black person. Juneteenth, the most recently created federal holiday, commemorates the end of slavery.

Boyle did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he said in a news release last month, Our federal holidays must be a mirror of the American experience while at the same time reflecting our countrys history and diversity.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush proclaimed March 10 Harriet Tubman Day after Congress passed a resolution calling for its establishment. Still, it wasnt made a federal holiday, and Cook and other supporters say Tubmans life and legacy deserve a higher level of national recognition.

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Its the multifacetedness of Harriet that I find so extraordinary, Cook said. There were so many ways she, I believe, exemplifies how to take the worst of what society has offered and to transmutate that into an immense amount of power  not for yourself, but for the people around you.

A 'brilliant mind'

Tubman was born enslaved on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in late February or early March 1822, according to Kate Clifford Larson, author of the 2004 biography Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero. When she was about 13 years old, Tubman sustained a head injury after an overseer hit her with an iron weight, causing her to suffer from headaches and seizures for the rest of her life, context that makes her achievements all the more significant, Clifford Larson said.

Its remarkable that she survived and she was able to accomplish the things we all know.  This is a disabled woman who really achieved amazing things, she said.

With the help of the Underground Railroad, a network of activists who helped enslaved people flee the South, Tubman escaped bondage in 1849, when she was 27 years old, after the person who owned her died, Clifford Larson said.

But after Tubman reached Philadelphia, she basically did not feel completely free, because her mother, her father, her brothers and sisters, everyone she loved was still in Maryland, and they were not free, Clifford Larson said.

Image: Harriet Tubman (Library of Congress via AP)

Over the next decade, Tubman returned to Maryland to lead 60 to 70 slaves to the North in 13 separate expeditions. The groups included her parents, brothers, nieces and nephews, according to Clifford Larson. She also gave directions and guidance to about 70 more people who found paths to freedom on their own, Clifford Larson said.

Tubmans treks came with extreme risks heightened after the 1850 passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, which compelled citizens to assist in capturing enslaved people who escaped, among other measures.

It was very dangerous. People were betrayed all the time on the Underground Railroad, Clifford Larson said. So she had to take people that she could trust and that she loved.

Tubman attributed her success on the journeys to guidance from God, according to Clifford Larson, who added that her brilliant mind also helped her shepherd dozens of people to freedom while avoiding capture and death.

She could not read or write English texts, but  she could remember everything, Clifford Larson said. She knew how to read the night sky because she grew up in a maritime community  so she knew how to follow the North Star or any other constellations that could help her travel.

After her last journey to Maryland in 1860, Tubman continued to help free enslaved people, serving as a spy, scout and nurse in the Union Army. In June 1863, she became the first woman to lead a major military operation at the Combahee Ferry Raid, where she and 150 African American Union soldiers freed more than 700 slaves, according to Clifford Larson.

In the decades that followed, until her death in 1913, Tubman became active in the womens suffrage movement and established a nursing home for African Americans on her property in Auburn, New York.

An ongoing fight for recognition

Despite her accomplishments, Tubman continued to be overlooked throughout the 20th century, said Clifford Larson, who was inspired to undertake her biography of Tubman when her daughter brought home a childrens book about the abolitionist in the 1990s. Clifford Larson, who was then in graduate school for womens history, started digging and learned the last biography on Tubman had been published in the 1940s.

There were so many childrens books published about her, but no serious scholarship, she said.

Despite the absence of a federal holiday, Tubman has received other recognition. In 2013, President Barack Obama established the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Maryland, and in 2017, the National Park Service opened the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in New York.

But a yearslong effort to replace President Andrew Jacksons likeness on the $20 bill with Tubmans has been repeatedly stalled since the Treasury Department first confirmed the change in 2016. Last month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told The Washington Post that Tubman will not appear on the bill until 2030 because of all the steps, including updating anti-counterfeiting technology, which is required to design and produce new currency.

Barbara Ortiz Howard, founder of Women on 20s, an organization working to get notable women on U.S. currency, said she believes "its easier to create a holiday than it is to change the currency."

Only five federal holidays have been established in the past century, according to the Congressional Research Service, and at least one attempt to create one for a woman failed. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., introduced a bill in 2011 calling for a federal holiday honoring suffragist Susan B. Anthony, but it died in the House Oversight and Reform Committee, the same committee to which Tubmans bill was referred after its introduction last month.

The bill currently has five Democratic co-sponsors and would need to pass the House and Senate and be signed into law by the president before a federal holiday could be established.

Cook, the bookstore owner, said she remains hopeful and believes a federal holiday for Tubman could bolster the call for reparations for descendants of enslaved people.

It could be a day that supports us with how to mourn the tragedy that slavery was, she said, and how to focus on repairing that harm.
A stock picture of a general view of the sign on the Foreign Office in central London. (Photo by Clive Gee/PA Images via Getty Images)

The Foreign Office has apologised after a British woman who reported being raped in Turkey was told to "carry on with your holiday and enjoy it".

The woman reported the assault in 2018 after being attacked on holiday with friends.

She launched a complaint about how her case had been handled after officials "did not believe her or take her seriously", a public services watchdog has found.

Only identified as Ms B, the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman found she was not given legal advice or information about local police procedures.

She was led to believe she had given sufficient evidence to the police, did not need a forensic examination and had completed the necessary steps for a criminal investigation, when none of this was the case.

Believing FCDO officials did not take her seriously, Ms B raised concerns over their attitude, but received a message from the Vice Consul which said, "What you now have to do is to carry on with your holiday and enjoy it.

The Foreign Office said they will learn from "where we have fallen short" in cases of rape and sexual assault. (Getty)

She returned to Turkey a further three times to follow up her case with police, but despite hiring a local lawyer, no one was arrested for the crime.

The watchdog said knowing if a police investigation had been conducted earlier could have led to a better outcome has "compounded Ms B's trauma".

Ms B said in a statement: "After being the victim of a traumatic sexual assault whilst in a foreign country, I turned to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, a Government Department, to support and advise me.

"The awful failings and bad advice given by the FCDO left me in a vulnerable situation where I was forced to use my own intuition to preserve forensic evidence.

"Whilst in Turkey and on return, I was failed at every hurdle by the FCDO and re-victimised. The FCDO gave false hope on my return to the UK, which led to a forensic medical examination.

"The very poor advice and deceitful involvement of the FCDO hindered the assistance of the British Police Force, causing me prolonged suffering, additional anger and unnecessary distress."

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A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office spokesperson told Yahoo News UK: We apologise for the distress caused and will immediately implement the Ombudsmans recommendations.

Since this incident in 2018, the FCDO has taken a number of steps to ensure victims are not failed in the same way.

We are committed to learning from where we have fallen short so we can improve the consular support we provide to British nationals in cases involving rape and sexual assault.
A screenshot circulating online appears to show a tweet from the World Economic Forum calling for reform of the internet as part of the Great Reset, a plan to revive the economy after Covid-19 that has been targeted by conspiracy theories. However, the organisation said the tweet, which misspells the name of its founder, was fabricated. AFP found no record of the post on the organisation's Twitter account.

"The internet must be reformed, there is too much misinformation out there. This will be the next step in the Great Reset, says Klaus Schawb (sic)," reads text on a screenshot shared on Facebook on March 30.

The Facebook post reads: "Cyber attacks".

The screenshot appears to show a tweet from the World Economic Forum (WEF), a Swiss-based foundation that organises an annual forum for political and economic leaders in Davos.

The Great Reset is an initiative launched by the WEF and Prince Charles in 2020 in a bid to fix long-standing problems exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The plan to "revamp all aspects of our societies and economies" involves everything from building "green" urban infrastructure to changing wealth taxes. But it has been targeted by conspiracy theories branding it as a secret plan to control populations or deliberately create epidemics.

The same screenshot was shared on Facebook here and here.

Some social media users appeared to believe the posts showed a genuine tweet from the WEF.

"What is everyone doing now to protect their digital info when this happens? Banks, files, passwords," one person commented.

"They want to control what you can and can't read," another wrote.

The WEF made various recommendations on improving online safety in a report in June 2021, where it said that digital platforms should have to respect industry-wide safety standards just like transportation or energy sectors.

It also highlighted problems such as health misinformation and online extremism as needing "urgent attention".

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'Malicious misinformation'

However, the tweet about reforming the internet is fabricated.

"This is deliberate and malicious misinformation," a spokesperson for the WEF told AFP.

They said the tweet was "fake" and "has never been posted by the World Economic Forum".

The message misspells the name of the WEF's founder and chief Klaus Schwab, who "never made this statement", the spokesperson added.

Furthermore, the date written on the purported tweet is March 22, 2022. On that day, the WEF posted 14 tweets on a range of issues, including World Water Day, Covid-19 cases and cutting oil usage.

However, it did not tweet anything about internet reform that day.

A search of tweets posted from the forum's Twitter account with the phrase "the internet must be reformed" did not find any such tweets.

The phrase is also not included in the Great Reset agenda or website.

AFP has previously debunked disinformation targeting Schwab and the WEF here, here and here.
(Facebook)

Last Wednesday, Wynn Alan Bruce asked two neighbours to drive him to the bus station in Boulder, Colorado so that he could travel to Denver.

One was unable to fit the trip into her schedule; the other, his next-door neighbour of 20 years, agreed. Chris King knew that Mr Bruce, 50, had suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a car accident as a teenager so was unable to drive. Instead, Mr Bruce got around the local area on one of his three bicycles  but not a sufficient mode of transport for the nearly 30 mile journey to Denver.

Mr King also knew that his neighbour, who lived alone with his cat in a townhome secured through a city affordable housing programme, had trouble focusing and organising.

Mr Bruce would start projects on his porch and then absent-mindedly abandon them, his neighbour told The Independent. Mr King cleaned up one such pile of collected items this week.

I dropped him at the bus station, and he had a backpack, says Mr King. Mr Bruce, who also had a small bag, told his neighbour that he was travelling to Denver to meet with my meditation group.

Mr King said: A couple of days later, the cat was still in the window, and he wasnt around.

And then, I found out.

Mr Bruce died after setting himself on fire on Friday, 22nd April  Earth Day  in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington DC. He was airlifted to hospital by a medical helicopter, and nearby roads were temporarily closed. Mr Bruce died 24 hours later, according to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

His self-immolation was described as not suicide the morning after his death, by a woman who described herself as a Zen Buddhist priest and a friend of Mr Bruce.

This is a deeply fearless act of compassion to bring attention to climate crisis, Dr K. Kritee, also known as Kritee Kritee or Kritee Kanko, tweeted on Sunday.

The DC police department has given no indication that Mr Bruce left a note, and witnesses said that he was silent before he set himself alight. Police would not comment to The Independent, citing an ongoing investigation.

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This guy was my friend. He meditated with our sangha. This act is not suicide. This is a deeply fearless act of compassion to bring attention to climate crisis. We are piecing together info but he had been planning it for atleast one year. #wynnbruce I am so moved. https://t.co/bHoRaLK6Fr  Dr. K. Kritee (@KriteeKanko) April 24, 2022

Police in Boulder, where Mr Bruce lived for more than 20 years, are not involved in any investigations into his death, a spokeswoman told The Independent.

The details of his travels from Colorado to Washington DC are unknown.

While self-immolations have been used in protests before, such as among Buddhists and anti-war protesters during the Vietnam War, this is believed to be only the second time that it has been linked to climate change.

In 2018, climate activist David Buckel, 60, died by self-immolation in Prospect Park in Brooklyn in protest at the use of fossil fuels. Shortly before his death, Mr Buckel emailed a suicide note to several media outlets explaining his actions.

Most humans on the planet now breathe air made unhealthy by fossil fuels, and many die early deaths as a result  my early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves, he wrote. Mr Buckel had been a prominent civil rights lawyer and LGBTQ activist and ran the marriage-equality project at Lambda Legal.

The only public suggestion from Mr Bruce that climate change motivated his actions were a few cryptic Facebook posts. In October 2020, he posted a link about climate change, science and global impact, and last year he commented on that post with a fire emoji and the date 4/22/2022.

Other posts  such as a quote from astronomer Carl Sagan or photos of Walden Pond  suggested a passion for environmental issues and clean air.

Mr Bruces father also appeared to suggest that climate change had motivated his son.

I agree with the belief that this was a fearless act of compassion about his concern for the environment, Douglas Bruce, 78, told The Washington Post.

Everybody gets to decide for themselves about how their end of life is going to take place. I honor that. I honor that. I respect him for it.

Wynn Alan Bruce left a cryptic message on his Facebook page a year before his death (Facebook)

Multiple calls from The Independent to Douglas Bruce were not answered and a message was not returned.

However fellow residents of his quiet complex in Boulder, whod known him for two decades, expressed extreme shock at his actions.

Several said that they had never heard him mention climate change.

Mr King found out about his neighbours death that weekend. The tragic news was shared with him by two people, whom he described as caretakers, after they arrived at Mr Bruces home.

The visitors told him that Mr Bruce had taken his own life. Another neighbour later discovered online that Mr Bruce had set himself on fire.

Where did all that come from? one neighbour had asked, Mr King recalled to The Independent.

It could be something he was just obsessing about internally, he added.

Most of Mr Bruces Facebook activity focused on Buddhism, meditation, nature and his own photography. He ran a small business called Bright and True Photos taking portraits. At times, he also worked retail jobs.

Mr Bruce loved cycling, hiking and being out in nature, say friends, who universally described him as sweet, gentle, and kind.

At the nearby store Natural Grocers, where Mr Bruce shopped regularly previously worked, employees were quietly sad, said a manager who asked not to be named.

He was in here last week, smiling and happy, she told The Independent.

She said that his former colleagues were in shock not just at his death but at the level of planning.

Pauli Driver-Smith, who tutored Mr Bruce for two years in photography and other subjects, at Front Range Community College described him as a very kind, caring, compassionate person.

He liked talking to people, she said.

The tutor was paired with Mr Bruce because their interests and talents aligned and, she told The Independent, because she also had a TBI.

Mr Bruce suffered a brain injury in a car crash not long after he graduated from high school in Florida.

According to a St Petersburg Times article, he and a friend were heading to pick up their dates in October 1989, the Washington Post reported, when their Oldsmobile crashed. His friend was killed and Mr Bruce  just days before he was set to join the Air Force  was flown by helicopter to Tampa General Hospital.

He survived with lifelong injuries, derailing his military ambitions and countless other plans that the young and talented athlete had been planning.

It was a significant accident, and it took him a long time to recover, his father told The Post.

Ms Driver-Smith told The Independent that she could relate to [Wynn Bruces] struggles. She said that he could have trouble focusing, calming down, or accurately gauging decisions.

Every TBI differs in effects and severity, according to The Mayo Clinic, with wide-ranging ramifications including everything from inability to organise thoughts and ideas; trouble following and participating in conversations; irritability; lack of awareness of abilities; or issues with multi-tasking, problem-solving or decision-making.

Mr Bruces eye for photography was exceptional, Ms Driver-Smith says, and his pictures exuded great joy, particularly those focusing on nature.

I think he felt at peace in nature, she told The Independent. Nature has a way of wiping out a lot of the business and everything thats around you. You get into nature and the quiet and it kind of helps centre you  and thats one of the things he told me about Buddhism, is that it was helping to center him and helping him to be more grounded.

Mr Bruce attended retreats at the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, about 40 minutes northwest of his house in a pristine mountain landscape, according to neighbours and the Center itself.

The Ecodharma Retreat is not associated with the main Boulder Shambhala Center, in the heart of the city. Boulder Shambhala representatives said that they had no knowledge of Mr Bruce.

Boulder has a large population of Buddhists, with different communities varying in size and beliefs.

Ecodharmas co-founder, Dr Kritee Kritee, was one of the first people who knew Mr Bruce to make a statement following his death.

In the tweet on Sunday, she wrote: This guy was my friend. He meditated with our sangha. This act is not suicide. This is a deeply fearless act of compassion to bring attention to climate crisis. We are piecing together info but he had been planning it for atleast one year. #wynnbruce I am so moved.

A number of people expressed distress on social media at the apparent admiration for Mr Bruces violent death.

A day later, Ecodharma released a separate statement which said that the organisation have never talked about self-immolation, and we do not think self-immolation is a climate action.

As we grieve the death of our friend Wynn Bruce and prepare a memorial page to honor him, we want to emphasize that none of the Buddhist teachers in the Boulder area knew about his plans to self-immolate on this Earth Day. If we had known about his plans, we would have stopped him in any way possible. That would be our spiritual, moral and legal responsibility. Just like everyone else, we have been trying to figure out what happened.

The statement continued: Nevertheless, given the dire state of the planet and worsening climate crisis, we understand why someone might do that We hope we can hear Wynns message without condoning his method.

The Independent has tried to reach Dr Kritee and Ecodharma for comment. Dr Kritee referred back to Ecodharmas written statement.

Friends told The Independent that they struggled to understand how Mr Bruce had planned the trip, and what had convinced him to take his life so publicly and violently.

Beverly Lyne, a nurse who lives across the shared green space from Mr Bruces home, told The Independent that he also asked her for a ride last Wednesday. She said her conversations with Mr Bruce had always been casual and light.

It seems as though he was able to plan and to get the funds to buy a ticket, but I dont know, I cant imagine that he put that together, said Ms Lyne.

We knew he had issues about just making day-to-day decisions, she said.

She gestured to the grassy area between their homes.

Here hed put his hammock up and then sleep all day. Its like, Wynn, this is not a campground, she laughed softly.

Mr King said one neighbour described Mr Bruce as suggestible. His former tutor, Ms Driver-Smith, used the same word.

He was, at times, easily led, she told The Independent. He was suggestible, I should say. You could suggest things to him and it was, Oh, that makes sense, but I also think that the problem  and this is just a guess on my part, because ... I can be suggestible, and then I sit back and say, Oh, wait a minute, that doesnt make any sense  but at the moment it did, she said, adding that it can be hard to think fast.

She added: Getting to Washington DC, I could see him doing it on his own. Once he got to DC, how he managed to find the Supreme Court ... I dont know, maybe he had help, maybe he didnt.

Ms Driver-Smith said that she wanted him to be remembered for his kindness and passion for people.

He had a lot of potential, and he wanted to make the world a better place.

I wish that his passion for environmentalism and his passion for photography, that he had found a way to marry the two into something more positive than setting himself on fire.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
Kateryna Tyshchenko - Thursday, 28 April 2022, 22:47 Russia launched five missiles at Kyiv immediately following the meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations. Source: President Zelenskyy's video address According to Zelenskyy: "Today, immediately following our meeting [with Guterres - ed.] Russian missiles were launched at Kyiv. Five missiles. This reveals a great deal about Russia's real attitude to global institutions. About Russian leadership's attempts to denigrate the UN and everything that it stands for. Russia's actions therefore require an appropriate response." Details: Zelenskyy said that Russian missile strikes on Ukraine - on the cities of Kyiv, Fastiv, Odesa, Khmelnytskyi and others - prove again and again that it is "too early to relax". "We cannot think that the war is coming to an end. We still have to fight. We still have to drive out the invaders," he stressed. Earlier: After 20:00 on Thursday, 28 April, Russian missiles hit a [military] facility and a neighbouring residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi neighbourhood of Kyiv. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is still in Kyiv. According to the latest reports, six people were wounded when a missile struck a residential apartment building in Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi neighbourhood.
University of Lynchburg will lower its tuition rate for all adult students to $500 per credit hour this fall, in addition to offering three new bachelors degree programs.

The adult students are in the Access program at UL. Adult students are ages 25 and older that may or may not have previous college credits.

Roger Jones, ULs associate provost and dean of graduate studies, said the focus was on creating more options for adult students in the program.

Our focus here was to provide an option for those individuals who wanted to work and get their degree, Jones said.

The three new bachelors programs offered are a bachelor of arts in business studies, bachelor of professional studies in diversity strategies and bachelor of professional studies in community and nonprofit leadership.

UL officials put a task force together about 18 months ago, made up of representatives from the community and across campus, according to Jones.

Jones said they gathered data across those 18 months by doing surveys, focus groups and meeting with individuals around campus and in the community. With the information gathered, they decided they needed to develop three majors just for Access students.

Susan Hogg, director of admissions and a member of the task force, said the group went through the survey list and came up with 10 questions. There were close to 20,000 students the group surveyed from ULs database, according to Hogg. They went to Central Virginia Community College as well as businesses. This survey helped give the group an idea of what businesses and adult students wanted.

Hogg said they will continue to work with businesses in the community to help the program.

We will continue to work and partner with businesses in the community to make sure that we are meeting their needs and their employees needs, Hogg said.

The top priority that was taken from the surveys was a need for nursing students. They were unable to fast-track that as there are multiple steps needed to have an accredited program that would be offered in a non-traditional time frame, according to Rogers. Business was the second priority and leadership was near the top. They used these statistics to come up with potential classes that can address those areas.

The task force decided to introduce two bachelors of professional study programs because of the feedback they received from a questionnaire they sent out to business executives. UL officials sent them a list of 40 potential classes and asked them to prioritize which courses are most important, according to Rogers. Of the top 13 courses that were ranked, nine of them had connections to diversity and inclusion.

Rogers said business and community leaders are looking for people in their organization who can work in different environments, work with individuals from different cultures and work with individuals who are different from them.

The new program will start in August. Hogg said UL is willing to take adult students part time as they may have other commitments.

We do understand that some of these adults have children, Hogg said. So if they just want to come and start out slow, thats okay.

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A convicted serial robber with a gambling addiction was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Richmond to 40 years in prison for the robbery of Colonial Downs VA-Horseplay off-track betting parlor in Henrico County of $43,000, along with a separate holdup in Colorado that ended with an employee being shot.
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New Delhi: Saharanpur ATS arrested Darul Uloom student for suspicious activities. It is said that the student who have been arrested is from Bangladesh.

He was studying in Deoband through fake documents.

It is also said that the arrested student was taking online training from Pakistan.

He is said to have fake ids from the state of Meghalaya.

On the other hand, Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom Deoband will now be sharing the documents of aspiring students with the local intelligence unit for verification and an in-depth scrutiny of their antecedents.

This comes after, few students are found to be indulging in any anti-national activities.

More details awaited.
Heartland Christian School will say goodbye to one of its founding leaders this spring.

Carolyn Parton, secondary principal at Heartland, will retire at the end of the school year.

Parton, who has worked in Christian education for 30 years, was the leader of Victory Christian School when it merged with Loess Hills Christian School to form Heartland Christian in 2001.

It has been an emotional time for everyone knowing that one of our mainstays is leaving our classrooms and hallways, said Larry Gray, executive director of the school. She has played such an important role for our staff, students and parents for a long time. She has been well respected for many years by our students, who have gleaned from her experiences teaching and leading our school in the way the Lord has directed her.

Its been a very interesting, enjoyable and faith-filled time, Parton said. Its definitely been a wonderful watching of what the Lord wants us to do with Christian education in our community.

Besides serving as administrator of the middle and high school programs, Parton has taught geography, family foundations, math prep, study skills and David Ramseys financial success class, she said. On most days, she works on administrative tasks in the morning and teaches in the afternoon.

We pray for those kids, because we love them, she said. We have such a great group of kids. We have almost zero discipline problems here. Theyre fun, theyre polite  theyre just good kids. They care about each other. Its just a pleasure to be a part of their lives.

Parton has also been part of the schools effort to gain full accreditation. The school had always been accredited for elementary but received candidacy accreditation for K-12 in 2019 and full accreditation for K-12 earlier this spring.

Parton and her husband, the Rev. Lonnie Parton, have three adult children  two sons and a daughter  but have also cared for foster children, she said.

After our youngest left, we had foster kids for about 10 years, she said. We were foster parents of teenage girls, mostly, because theyre the hardest to place, she said. I loved doing that.

With three empty bedrooms, the Partons were able to accept sibling groups, she said.

It was really great, because we could keep the siblings together, she said.

They stopped foster parenting about two years ago, and Parton said she is ready to slow down a little. School days, with preparation and occasional activities, can get long, and she spends a lot of time on her feet.

I knew this was the right time to retire, because wed gotten through the pandemic pretty much, she said. That was a difficult period for everybody. Ive known for the last couple years that I was probably going to be leaving pretty soon. Its really nice to leave when things are on the upswing.

Registration for this fall has been going well, and Parton anticipates enrollment will rebound from the dip it took during the pandemic.

Im sure were going to be right back up where we were before the pandemic, if not beyond that, she said.

Parton will continue to serve on the Heartland Christian School Board but wont have to go to school every day.

Im never going to leave the house anymore when the wind chill is horrible, she said.

Parton looks forward to doing more things at Victory Fellowship Church with her husband. She is also looking forward to accompanying him on mission trips.

My husband and I are really involved in mission, she said.

The couple helps support a mission in Ethiopia through Fathers House International and sponsors some children there and Ive never gotten to go there, Parton said.

The Partons are scheduled to lead a ministry event in June in Portland, Oregon and plan to do an outreach in Hawaii in October and probably Africa next spring, she said.

And then there are the grandchildren.

I have five grandkids that are wonderful, she said. Theres nothing better than grandchildren. Theyre a delight.

Heartland Christian will hold its graduation ceremony on May 14 and its last day of school on May 18.

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King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan and Prince Moulay Rachid, commemorated on Thursday Laylat Al Qadr, the 26th day of Ramadan.

On this religious occasion, the King performed the prayers of Al-Icha and Taraouih.

The minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs proceeded to the closing of Sahih Al Boukhari before the Commander of the Faithful.

Given the preventive measures in force, the Sovereign celebrated this blessed night in a private setting and with very reduced attendance.

Laylat al-Qadr or Night of Destiny commemorates the night on which God first revealed the Quran to the Prophet Mohammad.
The health sector in Morocco offers huge opportunities for foreign investors, including from the United Kingdom, participants in a webinar held by the British Chamber of Commerce for Morocco (BritCham) stressed on Thursday.

The booming sector of health is favored by the evolution of the regulatory framework, public-private partnerships and the rise of telemedicine, the participants explained at the event on Moroccos health sector opportunities: Between ambitions and challenges.

Azeddine Ibrahimi, professor of medical biotechnology at the Mohammed V University of Rabat, highlighted the advantages of investing in the Moroccan health sector, noting the countrys privileged geographical position which allows smooth access to African markets.

He also highlighted the major projects underway in the sector, led by the industrial unit for the manufacture of anti-Covid-19 vaccines and other vaccines in Benslimane, stressing the importance of the emergence of an ecosystem able to produce medical technologies centered on Morocco and foreign markets.

The North African Kingdom is resolved to promote Morocco-made vaccines and drugs, he said.

For his part, Hassan Belkhayat, co-founding partner of Southbridge A&I stressed the remarkable growth of many start-ups operating in the health sector, recalling the boost given to this sector by the New Development Model (NMD).

The stakeholders of this sector benefit from a favorable climate for their growth, given the evolution of the regulatory framework including the law on telemedicine and the establishment of the Mohammed VI Fund for Investment, he stated.

For his part, Hassan Ghazal, president of the Moroccan Association of Telemedicine and eHealth, deemed it necessary to implement more training programs for health professionals, to meet the increased need for skills in the sector.

Given their expertise, the UK operators can contribute to the promotion of the Moroccan health sector, marked by an increasingly intense digitalization, he explained.
The home stretch of Nebraskas May 10 primary election starts with Mondays deadline to register in person to vote or ask for early ballots to be mailed out.

Eligible voters who want to vote but havent registered must do so at their county election office by 6 p.m. local time, according to Secretary of State Bob Evnens website at sos.nebraska.gov/elections/2022-elections.

Applications to have early ballots or replacement ballots mailed to a specific address must be in those offices hands by the same time, the website says.

Primary deadlines already have passed for registering to vote online or at other authorized locations, such as Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles offices.

Lincoln County Clerk Becky Rossell said her office mailed letters Wednesday to registered voters whose polling site has changed due to redistricting after the 2020 census.

Voters in North Plattes Precinct 4 will cast in-person primary ballots at Best Western Plus, 3201 S. Jeffers St., she said.

The Holiday Inn Express was no longer available to host Election Day voting for that precinct, said Rossell, who doubles as the countys election commissioner.

She again encouraged voters to visit the Nebraska Voter Information Lookup webpage through Evnens office (votercheck.necvr.ne.gov/voterview) as the fastest way to confirm their registration status and polling place.

Voters who choose to cast early ballots also can use that webpage to track whether their ballot has been received and accepted, Rossell said.

She reminded voters that they might cast ballots in a handful of new races due to redistricting, even if theyre voting at the same physical location as before.

The Nebraska Voter Information Lookup site also lists (by clicking Districts) the federal, state and local election districts applying to a voters address.

Not all the races seen there will be on the May 10 ballot, however. Some wont be contested until the Nov. 8 general election, and others  like North Plattes mayor  wont be up for election again until 2024.

Lincoln County residents may mail early-ballot requests or hand-deliver those requests or voter registrations to Rossells office in the courthouse at 301 N. Jeffers St., Room 101, North Platte, NE 69101.

County residents can ask questions by calling Rossells office at 308-534-4350, extension 4110, or via email at election@co.lincoln.ne.us.

Among other pre-primary deadlines and notes for voters:

 Nebraskans registered with a recognized political party will vote on that partys candidates for federal offices, Nebraskas top statewide offices and county offices.

All Nebraskans will vote in nonpartisan races for the Legislature, city offices, school boards and most multicounty boards.

City and school board races will only appear on the primary ballot when more than two candidates have filed for an open seat. Other city and school candidates otherwise advance to the Nov. 8 general election.

 Voters registered as nonpartisan may request a special ballot to vote in a given partys congressional primary.

In 2022, that option is limited to the 3rd Congressional District race in west central Nebraska. Neither of Nebraskas U.S. Senate seats is up for election.

 Besides mailing early ballots, voters using that option may deposit them in the county dropboxes at the courthouses south door or in the County Sheriffs Office parking lot across the street at 302 N. Jeffers St.

Ballots must be sealed in their official envelope, which must be signed and dated as indicated. That corresponds to signing the precinct book when voting in person.
The most recent high school student survey found that 58% of teens had their first drink before turning 15 years old. In addition, 21% of respondents who admitted to drinking alcohol said they had done so in the last 30 days.
The snow from this weeks blizzard could be a blessing in disguise for North Dakota ranchers, but its arrival during what should be a warmer month makes it hard to see the long-term benefits.

Like many of the states cattle producers, New Rockford rancher Jeff Schafer was well into his calving season when the state was hit by a three-day blizzard that forecasters say could be historic.

We were at the halfway point before the storm, said Schafer, 56. The timing of the storm didnt fit with calving season, but we just roll with the punches.

The weekly crop report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service shows that calving as of the start of the week was 48% complete in North Dakota, behind 56% last year but near the average of 50% for this time of year.

Cattle and calf conditions before the storm hit were rated mostly good to excellent, with death loss mostly average to light. The storm has the potential to change that.

"The combination of snow, wind and colder temperatures will be particularly dangerous for young livestock for much of the region," AccuWeather Meteorologist Matt Benz said.

Its a combination of things that threaten cows and especially young calves during such a storm, according to Schafer. His cows still had a good hair coat, but once its soaked down by wet snow it loses much of its insulation value.

The wind blows right through you, he said. Thats the challenge with cows and young calves. If you can keep them out of the wind, theyre tough.

An April blizzard in 1997 that had similar conditions as this year's storm killed 100,000 cattle in North Dakota, about 10% of the herd. A lot of the lost animals were calves and yearlings.

"There wasnt as much advanced warning of that storm as there was this time," said Julie Ellingson, executive vice president of the North Dakota Stockmens Association, the state's largest rancher group. "I know that this system registered in a significant way on a couple different models, and knowing that early has been helpful. We havent had any reports of livestock losses at this time, although it is early, of course."

The state Agriculture Department said it didn't expect to have information on possible livestock losses until after the storm was over.

The storm dropped as much as 2 feet of snow across a wide area. The timing during calving season might mask the benefits of the storm. Many counties had enacted burn bans, and ranchers across the state have been faced with few options but to sell off cows as they run short of grass.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map, released Thursday, showed little change from last week, but the moisture from the blizzard won't be factored in until next week's map. Nearly all of the western half of the state is abnormally dry or in some form of drought, and has been for more than a year. The U.S. Drought Monitor is a partnership of the National Drought Mitigation Center, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Schafer, president of the Stockmen's, has had conversations recently with ranchers across the state. Some said the moisture from the storm will enable them to hang on to cows they were planning to sell. Others said they were already fighting prairie fires, and though they might struggle during calving they know they need the moisture.

The snow is actually a blessing, he said, adding that it might be the weather event that primes the pump and stops the liquidation of cow herds in the state.

Schafer, a fifth-generation rancher who was holding his grandchild, a potential seventh-generation rancher, on his lap as he spoke, said he hadnt lost any calves in the storm.

Generally speaking, some of that shows up later, he said, referring to long-term issues such as scours and pneumonia.

Ranchers who calve earlier are set up for cold weather with barns and shelter, said Tim Long, herdsman at the Central Grasslands Research Center near Streeter. Some delay calving until April in an attempt to avoid the type of weather the state is getting now.

Its just something you have to deal with when it comes, Long said.

Cows respond differently to the stress of a blizzard, he said. One might abandon her calf to take care of herself, while another might become overly protective and put at risk a livestock handler trying to move her calf to shelter. A newborn calf that doesnt get up and nurse misses out on the colostrum that is vital to its immune system, and gives it a healthy start in life. Without it the calf will never be as thrifty as it should, Long said.

Skye Walz, 35, and her family rely on deep draws not far from the Little Missouri River for calving cover. A few calves were born ahead of the expected April 15 start date of one group of cows, but as the date approached "we got ready," Walz said.

"A lot of the time when we start calving there's always some kind of storm," she said.

As the storm intensified, Walz, her husband, brother and parents cleared paths in the snow and put out extra hay. That work continued Thursday, which Walz said was worse because of drifting snow pushed by high winds on Wednesday.

"Yesterday was pretty intense," she said.

Prior to the storm, Schafer sampled soil in some of his farm ground. He found frost at 10 inches, and said this weeks snow will likely delay planting too.

Well get a late start, he said. It could be into May.

Reach Travis Svihovec at 701-250-8260 or Travis.Svihovec@bismarcktribune.com
Three residents were honored Wednesday for rescuing a Scotts Bluff County sheriffs deputy from a burning vehicle.

Representatives of the Nebraska State Patrol and Scotts Bluff County Sheriffs Office presented Keagan Shifflett, Robert Regester and Kealan Hawley with Life Savers Awards for their actions at NSP Troop E Headquarters in Scottsbluff.

Around 7:20 a.m. on April 18, Sheriffs Deputy Josh Ruzicka suffered a medical incident that caused him to lose consciousness while driving his patrol vehicle on Highway 71.

The vehicle left the road, hit an embankment and caught fire. Shortly afterward, the witnesses saw the vehicle burning near a patch of trees and rushed to help.

Shifflett told the Star-Herald, Robert and I were heading to Bomgaars to get some boots, and we took Highway 71 because of the train on (Highway) 26. Sure enough, wed seen the (deputys car) on the ditch bank, so we pulled over, ran over there and banged on the window to see if hed wake up. Well, he didnt, so we grabbed a hitch, we hit the window and shattered it. We pulled him out and, right after we pulled him out, the car blew up.

The trio pulled Ruzicka onto the road, where medics soon arrived to get him to safety. Regester said hed told Shifflett to call 911, then Hawley arrived and the trio worked to break the vehicles windows and drag Ruzicka to safety.

I was just on my way to college, Hawley said. I saw them two going back and forth, and I said Wow, somethings wrong.

After the rescue, he said, he went home, got bandaged up after cutting his fingers during the rescue, and headed back to college.

NSP Col. John Bolduc and Capt. Kurt Von Minden, as well as Sheriff Mark Overman, were among those on hand Wednesday to present Shifflett, Regester and Hawley with their awards.

Normally, we present Life Saver awards to our troopers who are involved in incidents like this, but its really special when we get a chance to honor our citizens who decided to step up and take action, NSP Superintendent Bolduc said. The actions of these three heroes showed courage and boldness during an emergency situation. It is with deep appreciation this award is presented to these three gentlemen.

Ruzicka and his wife, Beth, were also available to provide awards and to thank the trio for saving Ruzickas life.

Im very appreciative and thankful they were there and did what they did, and Im standing here because of it, Ruzicka said.
Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Elon Musk has been doing his best to fill the Donald Trumpshaped hole on Twitter. Since striking a deal to buy the site for $44 billion on Monday, Musk has served up nearly two dozen tweets that are a Trumpy cocktail of obnoxious, mean, stupid, scary, and (on rare occasions) funny. Heres a sample:

The far left hates everyone, themselves included!  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2022

Next Im buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 28, 2022

Truth Social (terrible name) exists because Twitter censored free speech  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2022

However, no one could ever truly replicate the former presidents chaotic and often dangerous social-media energy, and Trumps banking on that fact to save his ailing Twitter competitor, Truth Social. Just before the glitchy site officially launched on February 21, Trump posted a truth that read in part, see you soon! He didnt truth a single thing for the next two months, and he even bungled the name of the site at a recent rally, calling it Truth Central. But when Musks impending purchase of Twitter sparked speculation that Trump might be allowed back on the site, he quickly shot down the rumors. On Monday, Trump told Fox News, I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on Truth.

Truth Social will be a voice for me, Trump added, when asked if he was worried about the competition. And thats something nobody else can get.

Trump pledged to start truthing in earnest within the next week. He kept his word, posting this late on Thursday night:

It case it is not clear, thats supposed to be a shot of Trump truthing while standing in the middle of the oversaturated lawn at Mar-a-Lago (though obviously hes not actually posting anything on Truth Social in this photo, since its embedded in the only truth he has uploaded this week). And of course, #COVFEFE is meant to be funny because Trump inexplicably tweeted the word in 2017. Overall, its a pale imitation of the horrific yet compelling social content that fueled Trumps meteoric political rise.

Trumps return to social media is quite difficult to share with friends who may be Truth-curious. Though truths feature a share button, they can only be viewed within the iPhone app; Truth Social still isnt available to Android users or on desktop. If you attempt to forward the message via email or text you get a 404 error message, which doesnt even prompt the recipient to set up a Truth Social account.

For now, anyone who wants to sample this mediocre Trump content without committing to Truth Social will have to resort to the same method Trump is using to keep up with Twitter these days. As the Washington Post reported earlier this week, Though Trump has publicly panned Twitter as boring and irrelevant, he still looks at the site often, mostly via printouts of tweets from politicians and journalists handed to him by his aides.
Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Kathy Hochuls ascent to the New York governors mansion was a unique one, a sudden rise in the aftermath of months of allegations against and investigative reports about her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo. Following his resignation, Hochul became New Yorks first female governor, and she selected Brian Benjamin, a state senator from Harlem, to serve as lieutenant governor, the role she held for seven years.

But in the middle of her campaign for her first full term, Hochul once again found herself contending with a scandal involving her running mate. In mid-April, Benjamin surrendered himself to authorities, facing five federal charges including bribery. Prosecutors unsealed an indictment that alleged that, as a state senator, Benjamin directed thousands of dollars in state funds to a real-estate developer in exchange for donations to his 2021 bid to be city comptroller. Benjamin submitted a not-guilty plea and was released on bond and later resigned as lieutenant governor. That doesnt eliminate him from the ballot for the Democratic primary this summer, though, on which his name will appear next to Hochuls.

With the primary election only months away, heres a look at the few options that Hochul has at her disposal.

Changing the law

New Yorks election laws do not allow for a candidate to be removed from the ballot after theyve been charged with a crime. A persons name can only be removed from the ballot if they were to die, move out of state, or be nominated for another office. Hochul has stated that she wont ask Benjamin to move, but in recent days she has been advocating to revise the law.

Amy Paulin, a member of the state assembly representing Westchester County, sponsored a bill that would expand the criteria that could result in a candidates removal from the state ballot. Under my proposal, if someone has a life-threatening illness, has been indicted for a crime, or has resigned from the office for which they are nominated, they can get off the ballot, Paulin said in a tweet. Its not fair to voters to have someone on a ballot who isnt a viable candidate.

The proposed bill has been met with a tepid response by Albany lawmakers, with many unsure about changing the laws at this point in the election cycle.

I really, really, really dont like to change rules in the middle of a process, and certainly in the middle of an election. She did speak to me last night and we will continue the conversation. Right now, theres no bill in the Senate, said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, as reported by WRGB in Albany.

There have been reports that discussions about the bill have picked up this week, but it remains unclear whether such a law would take effect in enough time for Benjamins name to be removed before the primary.

Selecting a new candidate

Just as Hochul was able to select Benjamin as her lieutenant governor, she has the ability to select a replacement for him. But that move could prove to be difficult in a scenario where Benjamin remains on the ballot. So far, with the June 28 primary date looming, Hochul has yet to hint at a possible name for a new running mate.

New York is one of several states that holds separate races for governor and lieutenant governors in which candidates campaign as an individual ticket but ultimately have to be voted upon individually. In New Yorks case, the races are separate in the primaries only, with the winners listed on the same ticket in the general election. This has the potential to result in a scenario where Hochul is victorious in June and Benjamin loses, leaving Hochul in the general election with a running mate she didnt campaign with.

On the Democratic side, there are two other major candidates for lieutenant governor. Ana Maria Archila, a progressive activist, is running with Jumaane Williams, the citys public advocate, who is challenging Hochul for the title of governor. Diana Reyna, a former City Council member and deputy Brooklyn borough president, has joined Congressman Tom Suozzis gubernatorial bid. Both Archila and Reyna would make history if elected, becoming the first Latina to serve in that role and the first Latino ever elected to statewide office.

In an interview a day after Benjamins resignation, Hochul was asked if she might try to align with one of her rivals running mates. I have not even heard that rumor, so no. This is very early in the process, Hochul said at the time.
North Carolina is another Senate battleground where Trump is engaged. Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Getty Images

As we head into the midterm primary election season, Donald Trump, who has staked a lot of prestige on his many endorsements in Republican contests, is cruising for a bruising in Georgia and risking setbacks in several other states. But an emerging bright spot for the ex-president is the U.S. Senate primary in North Carolina, where his endorsed candidate, Representative Ted Budd, has surged into a strong lead in a new Emerson poll for The Hill.

Until quite recently, Trumps Budd endorsement was looking like a potential mistake. Better-known former governor Pat McCrory was leading in both polling and fundraising, while Christian right warhorse Mark Walker seemed to be nipping at Budds heels. A Politico story in early March described Budd as struggling:

A February poll by Remington Research Group conducted for Walkers campaign and obtained by POLITICO shows Budd falling 5 points since a January survey by the firm. Remingtons most recent poll put McCrory at 35 percent, Budd at 24 percent, Walker at 17 percent and Marjorie Eastman  a late entrant into the race who has had moderate success with fundraising  at 3 percent. Undecideds make up 21 percent of voters, the poll found.

A separate poll, commissioned by the pro-Walker super PAC Awake Carolina, found Budd slipping even further. The survey, conducted by Ingress Research Group Feb. 27 and also obtained by POLITICO, found McCrory at 29 percent, Budd at 18 percent, Walker at 11 percent, Eastman at 4 percent and 35 percent still undecided. The firm polled 864 likely Republican primary voters using phone interviews and online questions, with a margin of error of 3.3 percent.

In the new, non-candidate-sponsored Emerson poll, however, Budd is at 38 percent, McCrory at 22 percent, and Walker is far back at 9 percent. The poll showed that 59 percent of Republican primary voters say Trumps endorsement makes them more likely to vote for a candidate. But Budds most important backer may be the Club for Growth, which has pledged to spend up to $14 million on ads praising their candidate, and more importantly, bashing McCrory as a liberal, a loser, and a traitor to the Boss:

Aside from the McCrory loss to Democrat Roy Cooper in 2016, the case that he is a bad general-election candidate is reinforced by the Emerson poll, which shows the former governor trailing likely Democratic nominee (and former chief justice of the State Supreme Court) Cheri Beasley, with 41 percent to her 43 percent support, while Budd leads her by seven points and Walker leads her by five. Beasleys most formidable primary opponent, State Senator Jeff Jackson, dropped out of the race in December and endorsed her. Shes steadily raising money. Beasley would be the first Black U.S. senator from North Carolina, a sometimes-overlooked battleground state (Trump carried it by just over one percent of the vote in 2020, while Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham lost by a slightly greater margin).

One other finding from the Emerson poll worth noting: Budd is running well ahead of the 30 percent threshold North Carolina has set for avoiding an expensive and contentious runoff.

During much of this cycle, the Senate race has been overshadowed by political and legal wrangling over the Republican-controlled North Carolina legislatures efforts to gerrymander U.S. House districts for the next decade, which so far have been thwarted by state and federal courts. But the Senate seat is one of nine that Cook Political Report currently rates as competitive (either tossups or leaning Democratic or  as in North Carolina  leaning Republican). And its a particularly big deal for Trump, whose midterm strategy is to show his clout in both primary and general-election races. For the moment, he may have 99 problems in the midterms, but Budd aint one.
Opelika Police detectives arrested an Opelika middle school teacher Thursday and charged him with three sex-related charges involving a middle school student, according to a press release from the Opelika Police Department.

Caleb Daniel Fuller, 36, of Auburn. has been charged with electronic solicitation of a child, sexual contact with a student and luring a child someplace in order to perform or to propose sexual acts, police said.

This case remains under investigation by the OPD and police said additional charges are pending.

Opelika City Schools are cooperating with the investigation and have placed Fuller on administrative leave, according to the police report.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the OPD Detective Division at 334-705-5220 or the Secret Witness Hotline at 334-745-8665. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through the Opelika Police mobile app.
Opelika Pastor Dean Odle says the reason hes running for governor is simple: he was frustrated with how the COVID-19 pandemic was handled.

He announced his candidacy in September of 2020.

When churches, schools and businesses were shut down, Odle said it was a violation of the First Amendment. He decided not to shut down his own church, Fire and Grace Church.

We knew that there were early treatment protocols, the hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin protocols, that were saving peoples lives, saved my life, said Odle, 54. I was very upset when I never saw our governor or our State Health Director Scott Harris ever even mention that it was a possibility.

Odle said that Harvard and a company that has disappeared put together a fake study that said hydroxychloroquine caused heart attacks and was dangerous, but that there is no data. The study was published in May 2020 in the medical journal The Lancet, which retracted the article several weeks later.

In the past when he traveled to Africa to plant churches, Odle said, he took hydroxychloroquine to prevent malaria and he never had any problems.

That summer, he and his wife Nancy continued to get more frustrated and talked about what they could do.

I said apart from taking up arms or just praying, I said we run for office and we try to change things, he said. After going into prayer, I just felt that that was what I should do.

The primary election is May 24 and voter registration ends May 9. There are nine Republican candidates running for governor, including Gov. Kay Ivey and Tim James.

Censored

Once Odle started campaigning, he said, he started getting censored, he said, and online platforms including YouTube, Facebook and Google shut down his accounts.

Out of all the candidates Im the only one thats had my YouTube channel terminated because I talked about the early treatment protocols, the issues with the vaccine and for health freedom, he said.

Odle said this has interfered with his campaign, but he still believes he has a good chance. Hes focused on spreading the word through billboards, signs, TV, radio and in person.

The Alabama establishment is about to be surprised because they think Kay Ivey is winning in a landslide. Its not gonna happen, he said. Im not saying its gonna be mewell seebut I can tell you that shes not.

Odle said not to go by the polls because his name is either not on it or is spelled Dennis ODell.

Opelika native

Odle grew up in Opelika where he lived until 11th grade when he moved to Montgomery. He attended Troy State University for a year, then took what he said was an unconventional route through ministry.

Odle has been involved in different areas of ministry since 1987 including youth pastor, missionary, church planter and pastor. Hes also taught Bible and civil government classes to junior high and high school students through a homeschool co-op.

Odle and his wife Nancy have a daughter named Faith that they homeschool in Opelika. Odle has two daughters from a previous marriage, one who lives in Birmingham and the other in Montgomery. Nancy has a daughter and son from a previous marriage, and they both live in Georgia. They also have three grandchildren.

Odle returned home to Opelika in 2009 and started Fire and Grace Church where he is currently the pastor. It also runs an online ministry school.

If elected

Odle wants fake RINO Republicans to stop getting elected and wants to stop the progress of what he calls the New World Order.

Theres a plan and theres been a plan in place probably since about the 1940s by the worlds elite to eventually weaken the sovereignty and power of the United States because they have a goal for the United Nations to be a world government, Odle said.

Over the years, multiple politicians and world leaders have talked about this New World Order, according to Odle. He listed President Joe Biden, President George Herbert Walker Bush, journalist Walter Cronkite and more.

What theyre wanting to create is a communist-type world government, he said. Theres going to be ultimately a world leader. And they tell you, its not my words again, people say its a conspiracy theory, but the conspirators are actually admitting what theyre doing and you see them actually working towards it.

Odle said hes also passionate about improving the education system, reforming the prison system, lowering taxes, promoting health freedom and allowing Alabama to drill for oil and natural gas.

If he were elected, he said, hed like to have a full school voucher program similar to Floridas.

Florida was ranked 29th in K-12 education in 2017, Odle said. They did two things, and this is what I want to do: they got rid of Obamas Common Core curriculum and they expanded their school choice programs.

Floridas education system for K-12 is now ranked third, he said, while Alabamas is ranked 47th.

Odle said he is for lowering taxes but understands the need to pay for roads and bridges.

Where Im a little different, again, Im the only one talking about using the 10th Amendment (and) getting back to states rights, he said, the doctrine of nullification put forth by Madison and Jefferson, basically where states are sovereign and where the federal government does not have authority to tell us what to do.

Odle said he wants to use this to allow Alabama to drill for oil and natural gas, which he thinks will help the state prosper by lowering taxes, adding jobs and bringing in more revenue.

Alabama needs to do this because this is the only way you really prosper, he said. You have to produce something that has value instead of depending on federal handouts, and weve been doing that too long. Thats how the federal government controls a lot of what we do, and weve just got to stop that.

If elected, Odle also wants to get Alabama Senate Bill 312 passed, which would require health care facilities and pharmacies to fill prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment.

It would have made it illegal for a pharmacist to not fill it, Odle said. It would have allowed the doctors to use anything that was FDA approved, but use it for off-label use, but of course, our weak RINO majority up there, weak Republicans, didnt even let it out of committee and yet other states are passing it.

Odle said he wants it to be up to the patient and the doctor to determine the treatment to use and for it not to be decided by bureaucrats, state government or federal government.

Were in a political and media mess instead of caring about whether people live or die, he said. It got politicized and it shouldnt ever have.

I think there should be freedom. If you want the vaccine you should be free to get it, but if you dont, you should never be coerced in any way, whether its the threat of losing your job or not being able to go to school or travel, he said. That stuff should never happen in America, but it has.
In light of a recent arrest in Auburn involving a rideshare driver charged with sexually assaulting a passenger, survivor organizations are providing data and safety tips for using ridesharing services.

Although Uber and Lyft have some safety features installed, critics say more needs to be done to protect passengers and drivers from sexual assault and have suggested installing cameras in every car, according to Helping Survivors, an organization that helps victims of all types of sexual abuse and assault.

Now that rideshare services like Uber and Lyft are all over the place, safety in these rides are things that we need to be aware of, said Claire Willis, outreach director for Helping Survivors. Unfortunately, the environment inside these rides are prone to all forms of sexual assault. Some cases in particular are especially tragic.

Theodore Leroy Halls Jr., 46, a ridesharing driver from Opelika, was arrested in Auburn on April 12 and charged with first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse in connection to an incident occurring two days earlier, police said. On Tuesday, Halls was arrested again on additional rape and sexual abuse charges related to an incident in 2020, police said.

Nationally, Lyft reported 4,158 cases of sexual assault between 2017 and 2019, and Uber reported 5,981 reported cases of sexual assault between 2017 and 2018, according to reports from each company.

The report is broken down into five categories: non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part, attempted non-consensual sexual penetration, non-consensual touching of a sexual body part, non-consensual kissing of a sexual body part and non-consensual sexual penetration.

The most commonly reported offense has been in the category of non-consenual touching of a sexual body part. In 2017 through 2018, Uber received a total of 3,000 of these reports in 2017-2018, while Lyft received a total of 2,300 of these reports.

In these same time periods, Uber reported 464 incidents of non-consensual sexual penetration and 587 incidents of attempted non-consensual sexual penetration, while Lyft reported 360 incidents of non-consensual sexual penetration and 320 incidents of attempted non-consensual sexual penetration.

In Lee County, the sheriffs office reported 62 sexual offenses in 2021, but Sheriff Jay Jones said none of these cases involved a rideshare. This report also does not include sexual abuse of a child under 12, enticing a child for immoral purposes, lack of consent or computer crimes.

The Opelika Police Department reported approximately 49 incidents classified as a sexual assault in 2021, 56 incidents in 2020, 42 in 2019, 49 in 2018 and 38 in 2017. The OPD is not aware of any incidents that have involved a rideshare service.

Safety and screening

After receiving a number of lawsuits in relation to sexual assaults, Uber and Lyft have made some improvements to increase passenger and driver safety.

Uber specifically has added an In-App Emergency button, which allows riders to call 911 from the app. This provides police with a current location, vehicle information and trip details.

A feature called RideCheck detects if a trip goes unusually off-course or if a possible crash has occurred, according to the Uber website.

Uber also requires background checks, annual driving checks and random identity checks of drivers.

These checks disqualify individuals with felony convictions, violent misdemeanors or other disqualifying misdemeanors in the last seven years, but Uber also reviews records beyond the seven-year period.

If we identify a report made at any time in a persons history for certain serious criminal convictions, the potential driver will be disqualified according to our standards, the Uber site says.

These include the attempted and conspiracy crimes associated with sexual assault, sex crimes against children, murder/homicide, manslaughter, terrorism and kidnapping.

Lyft requires a driver to pass a background check, undergo a DMV check and provide up-to-date documents. Lyft also conducts annual checks and has continuous monitoring.

Members of Lyfts safety team receive six months of specialized training in a variety of areas including speaking with survivors of sexual assault and harassment.

Lyft also has safety features in the app that include smart trip check-in, emergency help and 24/7 critical response line.

Tips and services

Local law enforcement officials stress the importance of being alert and aware of your surroundings and paying attention to warning signs.

Opelika Police Chief Shane Healey encourages individuals to do homework before taking a car service like Uber or Lyft by checking ratings and reviews and making sure the person and vehicle on the app match with who arrives to pick you up.

While in the vehicle, Healey said to pay attention to the route and know ahead of time the directions to your location.

Helping Survivors adds that individuals should wait inside for the driver, use the mobile app to share driver and trip data with family or friends, ask the driver who theyre picking up before getting in the vehicle, ride in the backseat and dont share any personal information.

When using a rideshare service, Sheriff Jay Jones advises not to travel alone because theres safety in numbers.

One of the things that we like to always remind potential victims is that if something doesnt seem right, thats your senses telling you that somethings probably not right, Jones said. People shouldnt ignore those uneasy feelings.

After sensing somethings not right, Jones said, the best thing to do is remove yourself from the situation as soon as possible.

If the situation cant be avoided, Jones said to yell, scream or do anything possible to draw attention to the situation so a bystander nearby may be able to help.

There are also features on smartphones that will notify police faster than dialing 911, and Jones recommends exploring your phones settings for these helpful features.

Auburn Assistant Police Chief Clarence Stewart reiterated that its important to travel in a group and return as a group when taking a rideshare service. Dont be put in a situation where you are alone with a stranger, and dont send friends home alone through a rideshare service.

Remember, it is important to trust your instincts and use your best judgment if you ever feel unsafe, Stewart said in an email. If something doesnt feel right, dont get into the vehicle.

If youve been assaulted, you immediately need to get help, Healey said. You need to get someplace safe, call the police, call an ambulance.

Healey said its important for a victim to be medically checked out and to go to the authorities immediately.

You dont even want to go home and take a shower first. As soon as youre able, call the police, he said. Theres a lot of evidence that is exchanged when a sexual assault occurs that needs to be captured.

Out of every 1,000 sexual assaults, only 310 are reported to the police, according to statistics from Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Local law enforcement agencies ask citizens to call 911 when they feel their personal safety is threatened and to immediately report if theyve been assaulted.

After notifying the police, victims should also notify the rideshare company as soon as possible. Reports can be made online or through the Uber or Lyft app.

Survivor resources

Local law enforcement agencies refer victims of sexual assault to Rape Counselors of East Alabama or Safe Harbor, Auburn Universitys sexual assault response team.

They are wonderful organizations that do everything they can to help the victims in crisis, Jones said.

Holland Myers, prevention educator and victim advocate with Rape Counselors of East Alabama, said theyve seen an increase in sexual assault victims recently.

She said the organization reaches over 8,000 individuals in a year, which includes victims, family members of victims and education and outreach programs. As far as victims and individuals who call the hotline, Myers said they could have anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 a year.

The organization serves five counties in East Alabama and offers free, confidential services to victims and their families.

Its important to note that were not just for survivors, were for the community as a whole, Myers said. We meet survivors where theyre at and we will provide any services that they need.

This includes a 24-hour anonymous hotline and accompanying survivors to medical appointments, counseling appointments, court trials and more.

We like to say that we come in as their friend, their support system, whatever they need at the time, Myers said. Were in that unique role where we can shape-shift into whatever they need us to be.

Victims can also call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) to talk to trained professionals.

The Helping Survivors website provides a comprehensive guide about sexual assault in a rideshare. For more information, visit helpingsurvivors.org/sexually-assaulted-uber-lyft-driver/.

According to , an American is sexually assaulted every 68 seconds and 8 out of 10 rapes are committed by someone known to the victim.
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FretHaus, a guitar exhibition combining art, design and function, is on view at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University through July 31.

For the first time, the museum is partnering with the School of Industrial and Graphic Design in Auburns College of Architecture, Design and Construction on the exhibition content, design and programming. Students in the 2022 senior thesis design studio conceptualize, prototype and ultimately produce fully functional guitars with a rock-n-roll-edge. The exhibition also features work from Professors Rich Britnell and Keith Medleya professor of practice, master luthier and product development manager for Gibson Guitarsand creations from previous years studios.

The title combines the word fret, a common guitar component, with the German word haus to echo the term Bauhaus, an influential art school founded in 1919 in Weimar, Germany. Auburns nationally ranked Industrial Design program is rooted in the subsequent modern movement. Students taught by original Bauhaus faculty members established the Auburn program in 1945, making it one of the oldest in the country.

Guitars are built on tradition. FretHaus is here to break that, said Britnell, who directs the studio in the School of Industrial and Graphic Design. Tradition often lacks innovation. As industrial designers, our purpose is to innovate.

Whether a musical instrument, a product or a service, all industrial designers conceptualize before exploring materials. They revise and problem-solve for optimal appearance, functionality and manufacturability.

The program also fosters collaboration, Britnell said. Students gain real-life experience by working with Professor Medley and other representatives from companies such as Gibson Guitars and EMG Inc.

Malinick said university collaborations that support instruction, research and outreach are top priorities leading into the museums 20th anniversary in 2023.

With this exhibition, we invite the industrial designers as co-learners alongside the museum team, said Cindi Malinick, the museums executive director. As the cultural heart of a public research university, we seek to work alongside all colleges, no matter the discipline, to experiment and support the fluid exchange of ideas.

Adam Kennedy of Charlotte, North Carolina, developed his concept from observing musicians on stage and noting a solution. The concept was to create a modular guitar that would eliminate the need for multiple guitars on stage by allowing for interchangeable pickups, Kennedy said. This idea came to me watching live shows and seeing two- to three-minute intervals to change guitars and settings when the time could be reduced to almost 30 seconds.

Kennedys guitar finish is a collage of posters by Wes Wilson, who designed iconic artwork for the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

Museum visitors will see insightful, playful, technical and futuristic creations and the artists words and inspirations, Malinick said. We are sure the exhibition will prompt broad thoughts and conversations, including which guitars are surprising and what materials reveal about the artist and our culture.

Located on Auburn Universitys campus at 901 S. College St., the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art is open free of charge from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT Tuesdays through Sundays, with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Auburn Universitys art collection includes mid-20th century American modernism, Mexican modernism, contemporary prints and photographs, works on paper depicting the South, ceramics and Southern visionary art.

Donations to the museum are made through the Auburn University Foundation. For more information, visit jcsm.auburn.edu or call 334-844-1484.
why does Kim always wear one piece suits with gloves and stuff



does she wear a diaper?

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she's been appointed a balenciaga "ambassador" hence always those looks.

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Its Kim, so I cant be bothered to google lol, but Im almost sure she gave an interview recently where she did in fact say shes worn diapers for some of these outfits.

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she probably dehydrates the shit out of herself to make her look skinnier and not have to pee

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Its her new aesthetic these days. Its ugly but its hot in fashion rn. Long gloves are back

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lmaooooo

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lol why is he even there?

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Mte

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he was sitting in the public section. apparently he rents a room at the beverly hills hotel part time.

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Honestly, I would have had the same reaction, that's some funny shit.

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LOL, this is kind of wholesome.

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This case has been a mess. I assume she just has no real clue the kind of person she is cause like how would you go to court knowing the shit they have on you and think "I'll definitely win."

Plus just her mom fighting and her lawyer fighting and her having a terrible time on the stand (though if the Kardashian lawyer included those naked photos when they said they wouldn't, that's a pretty dick move)

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I think she just operates in a very delusional world. All the things that have come out during this case and she has admitted, on top of her tweets about being a single mom with no support- something that is and was very easily proven wrong- just show how out of touch she is with reality and the truth.



She's def. one of those people that operate under 'if I believe it's true, it must be', if they repeat a lie to themselves enough they actually convince themselves is the absolute truth.

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she's a single mom just like my nephews' mom is!



Claims of no support but:



-my brother gives her money

-lives in our upstairs apt for $800 (in LA!)

-consistently has babysitting help from my mom (who she dumps the kids on CONSTANTLY)

-comes down to grab food my mom cooks

-gets BANK government asst. money because my newphews are legally permanently disabled



and so much other shit.



but yes, you are a single mom with NO support AT ALL. She will literally sit there and say that shit to our faces all the damn time like she thinks its a funny anecdote or something.



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sure but at the same time that's not how the law works. you can be the shittiest person in the world and have the track record longer than the great wall but that does not justify illegalities done against you. at the end of the day, kardashians knowingly interfered with her "livelihood" by influencing/pressuring the producers of the network to cancel her show and chyna being an all around scumbag of a person does not and cannot negate that. she has no chance in hell on defamation suit (i can't believe her lawyer even attempted that seeing how it's next to impossible to successfully prove defamation in the US especially when it comes to celebrities like chyna who are pretty much past libel) but she has a very good chance at winning on intentional interference.

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Okay my cousin Vinny







Edited at 2022-04-29 09:28 pm (UTC) Lol irl at getting into it with the judge.Okay my cousin Vinny

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lmao oh no she losing, losing your honor!!

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I need to question if Chyna's lawyer is an actual lawyer or just somebody who told her they were. The stuff they let her admit to doing and now getting into it with the judge? Truly wild.

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The Cali Bar is like a baby bar exam.

She should have gone for a more ruthless lawyer, if she also didn't care about the association with other terrible people a better lawyer would have previously represented.

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What? California is known to have one of the hardest bars in the country switch the lowest passage rates. They used to have one of the highest cut score in the country. Meaning that you had to score above a certain number in order to pass. The rumor was because they had so many people taking their bar that they needed to be super hard to get in in order to not absolutely flood and destroy the market. They also do not do reciprocity. There are only like 3 states that dont let someone who has been practicing law in another state for multiple years waive into being able to practice in a new state. *Not counting pro hac vice stuff where you need a local counsel in order to practice ons a specific case in a different state.

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Her lawyer is Kim Kardashian

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I find if bizzarre there are courts in LA

like I feel like normal life doesnt even happen there

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Nothing against you personally, but that's exactly why most people from LA know outsiders' opinions of it are irrelevant. 10 million people aren't made up solely of influencers and entertainment industry goons.



Edited at 2022-04-29 09:41 pm (UTC)

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lol right? no shade to OP but comments like that always crack me up, they're so silly.



But oooo my favorite that always makes me rage is "LA is SO fake and SO toxic. The people are the worst."



Yeah bitch if you stay exclusively in a tiny radius where all the OTHER transplants are at. None of you are from LA so all of your opinions are literally irrelevant. You don't know SHIT about LA.

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i was born and raised in the bay area and so many out-of-staters would assume i was just surrounded by celebrities all the time lmao

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Born in LA, raised in Burbank. Moved to Utah for a bit and an East Coast boy actually said to me: "But you are not blond!"



Dude.

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Lmao thats like me saying if you arent a native New Yorker you cant say anything about it

I was obviously kidding but to say theyre irrelevant well kinda LA

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The LA courts are the largest and busiest in the country! 99% probably unrelated to celebrities, but there is a disproportionate number of high profile/celebrity related cases.

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Edited at 2022-04-29 09:18 pm (UTC)

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China wasted her koins obvs.



We all knew she got w Rob for revenge cmon.. Poor rob.. Hope her kids can have a good balanced life even tho all the khlownery

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I'm just curious as why only Kourtney and Kendall didn't get sued.

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The two least involved women in the family. Those two generally don't make waves not even a splash

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she doesn't have a case against them bc they likely didn't contact E! about Chyna, so for the same reasons Kim's case just got dismissed

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Most likely weren't involved.

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they're the least exciting to look at

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Kris is that you?

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Kim, Khloe, and Kylie actively emailed the network and talked shit about how dangerous they felt Chyna was. Kendall and Kourtney arent gonna get involved lol

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This is not what the Dark Lord wants for us.

We have truly strayed from his unholy path

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is there footage of her trying to sass the judge because i would pay to see it

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Same



The first day of jury deliberations kicked off with a tense exchange between Chyna's attorney Lynne Ciani and presiding Judge Gregory W. Alarcon over instructions read to the jury on Thursday. Ciani said she wasn't given the opportunity to argue the jury instructions prior to their presentation. Alarcon fervently rejected her claims.



"I don't want to be responsible for your trial tactics," Alarcon told Ciani as he stormed out of the room, declaring a recess.



The court reporter had to interrupt the argument multiple times asking for the two not to speak over each other.



"I did my best," she said after Alarcron had left the courtroom.

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Lmaoo poor court reporter having to type out that petty argument

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It really doesn't seem to be going well for her, between the shit she's been saying on the stand and her lawyer being dumb enough to try shit talking the judge. She seems detached from reality





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Friday, April 29, 2022

As we are getting closer to next weeks OPEC+ meeting, the market has been increasingly questioning the necessity of yet another formal rubber-stamping of monthly production quotas. With Russias production down by almost 1 million b/d compared to February levels and Libya constantly battling supply disruptions, the oil groups compliance rate is only going to increase. Despite a significant drop in demand from China, oil is set for a fifth straight monthly gain, with ICE Brent settling in at around $110 per barrel.

Russia Cuts Poland and Bulgaria Gas Supply. Russia halted gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after the countries refused to open new bank accounts and pay for Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) deliveries in roubles, a decision that the European Commission denounced as blackmail.

OPEC+ Expected to Ram Through Another Agreement. Already in their second year of supply discipline, OPEC+ countries are expected to greenlight another 432,000 b/d monthly increase for June at their monthly 05 June meeting, even as Kazakhstan and Russia have been going down in terms of oil production.

Russias Sakhalin-1 Goes into Force Majeure. The Sakhalin-1 project in the Russian Far East, producing some 270,000 b/d of crude, saw its operator ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) declare force majeure as it became increasingly difficult to ship crude from there.

US Congress Vows to Go After Oil Companies. US Democrats in Congress have accused domestic oil companies of gouging and profiteering off high gasoline prices, seeking to introduce legislation that would allow the US Federal Trade Commission to go after them and double the penalty to $2 million per day.

ExxonMobil Makes Three New Stabroek Discoveries. US oil major ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) made three new discoveries in offshore Guyana, namely Patwa, Barreleye, and Lukanani, taking the total recoverable resource of the Stabroek Block to 11 billion barrels.

No One Knows How To Pay for Russian Gas. Amidst the continent-wide confusion as to whether using Gazprombank accounts to pay for Russian gas breaches EU sanctions, Germanys economy ministry stated that if the companies declare that contracts have been fulfilled with the euro payment, it should not contradict the sanctions regime.

China to Cut Coal Import Tariffs to Zero. As domestic coal production reached an all-time high of 395 million tons in March, China scrapped import tariffs altogether from May 01 amidst unprecedentedly high global prices, potentially freeing up the way for more discounted Russian coal into the country.

Chevron Signs Up for Suriname Block. Surinames state oil company Staatsolie and US oil major Chevron (NYSE:CVX) signed a production sharing agreement for exploration and production for the offshore block 07 in the west of the shallow offshore area, with the latter taking an 80% stake in the project.

Glencore Cuts Guidance on Metals Production. Citing operational challenges and COVID-related drawbacks, UK-listed trading major Glencore (LON:GLEN) lowered its 2022 production guidance on cobalt, copper, and zinc by some 5-10%, with the latter two seeing a 15% q-o-q decline in Q1 2022.

Shell Tightens Russia Restrictions on Crude Buying. UK energy major Shell (LON:SHEL) revised its restrictions on buying Russian oil, stating that it would no longer accept products with any Russian content after rumors of an emerging Latvian Blend stoked fears of tacit blending.

Germany Wants to Take Over Rosneft Refinery. Germany is preparing to take over the Schwedt refinery operated by Russias state-owned oil company Rosneft (MCX:ROSN), the only refinery remaining in the country that is running predominantly on Russian oil, in a drive to bring total imports to zero.

No Quick COVID Rebound Looming for China. Despite a five-day Labour Day coming up, China's crude demand is set to stay depressed as some 180 million residents remain under some form of lockdown, with gasoline and demand still more than 25% below year-ago levels and jet fuel demand down more than 50% year-on-year.

US Sues Leading Metals Producer. The US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Brazilian miner Vale SA (NYSE:VALE) over false and misleading dam claims following the 2019 Brumadinho dam disaster that killed 270 people, saying that the firm knew about the dam not meeting international standards.

Shell Doubles Down on Indian Renewables. UK oil firm Shell (LON:SHEL) agreed to buy Indias renewable energy-focused company Spring Energy for $1.55 billion, boosting 2.9 gigawatts-peak of solar and wind projects, becoming the third energy major to do so after BP (NYSE:BP) and TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE).

By Josh Owens for Oilprice.com

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Crude oil prices are set to record the longest string of monthly gains since early 2018, Bloomberg reported today, citing the increased price volatility resulting from the war in the Ukraine and Covid lockdowns in China.

April is the fifth month in a row that oil prices will end with gains, despite the slips caused by demand uncertainty as China continued to pursue its zero-Covid policy, locking up several large cities.

Despite these demand worries, the upside potential for prices remains considerable as the European Union reports progress on an oil embargo against Russia. Previously a staunch opponent of such a move, Germany has now mellowed, with economy minister Robert Habeck saying this week that Germany had already considerably reduced its Russian crude imports.

The latest from Habeck was an expression of hope that Germany would be able to find a replacement for Russian oil within days, with the official signaling this would put an end to its opposition to an embargo.

These updates from Germany became the latest to push oil prices up, reversing losses brought about by the demand worries. If an embargo is agreed upon, prices will soar even higher and extend their gains streak into next month.

OPEC+, meanwhile, is meeting next Thursday for its regular discussion of production. Expectations from analysts point to zero change in strategy, meaning the cartel will likely stick to its original arrangement of adding approximately 400,000 bpd to its combined output every month even though many member states have consistently failed to deliver.

Last month, OPEC alone added just 57,000 bpd in production, which was substantially lower than its quota of over half of the agreed 400,000 bpd monthly increase in OPEC+ output. The figure represented production declines in some OPEC members, such as Nigeria and Lybia, with most of the groups increase in output coming from Saudi Arabia.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Members of the European Union are expected to agree on an embargo of Russian crude oil imports as early as next week, according to officials, in a move that would lay to rest a point of contention among its members.

Such a measure has been discussed for weekswith the United States adding pressure on the group to do its part to stop funding Russia with its payments for oil and gas supplies.

The EU will continue to discuss the matter over the weekend, according to the New York Times, with the European Commission set to draft the finalized proposal to submit it to EU ambassadors for approval. Those ambassadors are scheduled to meet on Wednesday of next week, with final approval set to be delivered by the end of the week, anonymous EU officials told the New York Times.

There is no indication of how inclusive or complete an embargo would be, but its clear that some type of embargo is on the horizon.

The EU gets a quarter of its crude oil from Russia. Analysts have suggested that if the EU instituted a full ban on crude oil, it would result in a significant financial hit and that Russia may be unable to find enough willing buyers to take the oil that normally heads to the EU. Such a financial hit could hamper Russian President Vladimir Putins ability to continue to fund the war in Ukraine.

There are longer-term implications as well. If Russia fails to find an outlet for all of its crude oil in the wake of an EU crude oil embargo, Russia could be forced to slash productionproduction that may be unable to come back online.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to send biofuel blending mandates to the White House for review as early as the first part of next week, sources told Reuters on Thursday.

The biofuel mandates will cover the three years up to and including 2022.

The EPA proposed reducing the amount of biofuels that oil refiners are required to add to petroleum fuels in order to give the refining industry a break after suffering demand destruction from the pandemic and high crude oil prices. Neither the oil industry nor the biofuels industry was happy with the proposed reductionthe biofuels industry for not turning against his campaign commitment to renewable fuels, and the oil industry for not cutting the mandates enough.

At the time, the EPA had proposed a reduction to 17.13 billion gallons for 2020, from 20.09 gallons set in 2019. For 2021, the EPA had proposed 18.52 billion gallons, and for 2022, the EPA proposed an increase, to 20.77 billion gallons.

It is not yet known whether next weeks proposal by the EPA will be the same as they proposed in December.

In January, however, sources suggested that President Biden was considering a cut to the 2022 biofuels blending mandates for ethanol. Oil refiners have argued that there isnt enough ethanol to meet some of those requirements.

The oil and biofuels industry have a long history of disagreeing over the Renewable Fuel Standard program. But last year, the American Bakers Association joined the fight, arguing that corn is an essential agriculture commodity used in baking and asking for the mandates to either be lower or at least not increased.

The RFS program is facing even more scrutiny in the current high price oil and gasoline environment.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Diesel prices, the lifeblood of industry, have hit a record $5.16 per gallon, trending $1 per gallon higher than gasoline prices, with inventory shortages adding severe pressure and resulting in inflated prices for consumer goods.

While gasoline prices get much of the attention, diesel, which broadly is the fuel that moves the economy, has quietly surpassed its recent record high as distillate inventories, which include diesel and jet fuel, have plummeted to their lowest level in years, media quoted Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, as saying.

AAA records diesel at $5.18 per gallon as of early Friday.

De Haan warned that if U.S. distillate inventories fall much furtherby five million barrelsthey will be lower than at any point in the last two decades.



In the first half of March, diesel and gasoline prices began to soar to record highs as a result of Russias invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions, coupled with post-pandemic economic recovery that has led to a continual uptick in demand.

Loss of refining capacity will make the diesel crisis the most painful for the U.S. Northeast, and there is no indication of a reprieve in the near future, with GasBuddy predicting that diesel prices will remain high and continue to outpace gasoline prices.

Record-high diesel prices continue to drive up the cost of consumer goods, which all have to be transported by a trucking industry powered by diesel engines.

There is now concern that a ripple effect could see U.S. diesel prices topping $6 per gallon as Russia cuts off natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. That could potentially force Europe to shift to other fuels, such as diesel, to fill in gaps.

Diesel exports to Europe from the Middle East are also now soaring, Bloomberg reports, with the Russia-Ukraine war pushing prices up significantly.

Ive started to use the term diesel crisis, Tom Kloza, head of global energy research at OPIS, told CNBC. It clearly is a crisis thats happening before our eyes. I wouldnt rule out lines, shortages or $6 [price] in places beyond California. I wouldnt say its a shortage yet. Europe, I think theyre headed for a shortage, he said.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Poland is still purchasing Russian gasvia reverse flows from Germanyafter Gazprom cut off direct gas supply to Poland on Wednesday, the Russian gas giant said on Thursday, as carried by the Russian news outlet, RT.

"This week Poland refused to pay for the Russian gas with the new terms, in rubles. It was grandly announced that they no longer needed Russian gas and would not buy it anymore," Gazprom's official representative Sergey Kupriyanov was quoted as saying.

"But in fact Poland keeps buying Russian gas after the direct supply was halted. It now buys the gas from Germany, and it comes back to Poland with the reverse flow via the Yamal-Europe pipeline," he added.

On Wednesday, the day on which Russia halted gas supply to Poland, as well as to Bulgaria, flows on the Yamal-Europe pipeline from Germany to Poland jumped, according to pipeline operator Gascade cited by Reuters.

Late on Tuesday, Poland and Bulgaria said they had been notified by Gazprom that Russian gas supply to the two countries would be cut off as of Wednesday. Gazprom says supply was stopped "due to absence of payments in rubles."

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described the halt of Russian supply as "a direct attack" on Poland and vowed that the country would not give in to "this blackmail."

In Bulgaria's case, Bulgaria is required to pay in U.S. dollars for Russian gas under its contract with Gazprom, and Russia's demand for payment in rubles is a breach of that contract and adds risks to the buyer, Bulgarian Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov said on Wednesday.

"It is clear that in the current war in Ukraine, Russia uses natural gas as a political and economic weapon," Nikolov added, noting that Bulgaria will not negotiate under pressure.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said on Wednesday that he had discussed the situation with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a phone call and that Bulgaria and Greece would continue to work together for energy security and diversification, which is of strategic importance to both countries and the region. Bulgaria and Greece are confident that the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, a pipeline to diversify gas supply away from Russia, will be completed on time this summer, Petkov added.

Following Gazprom's halt of supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, the European Commission and Bulgaria agreed on Thursday to set up in Sofia a first regional taskforce as part of the EU's Energy Purchase Platform for gas and electricity.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Production has partially resumed at Libya's largest oil field after a force majeure was imposed on it earlier this month, the operator of the field, Spain's Repsol, told Argus this week.

The National Oil Corporation, which imposed the force majeure, had not confirmed the restart of production as of the writing of this article.

El Sharara has the capacity to pump as much as 300,000 bpd, which makes it a target for various factions in Libya's politically fragmented landscape. The latest suspension of production resulted from anti-government protests that shut down two export terminals.

According to the NOC, "a group of individuals put pressure on workers in the Al-Sharara oil field, which forced them to gradually shut down production and made it impossible for the NOC to implement its contractual obligations."

The NOC said it was "obliged" to declare a state of force majeure on El Sharara "until further notice."

According to Repsol, however, the El Sharara field is producing again, at a rate of 70,000 bpd.

"Today, roughly speaking we are producing in gross terms about 70,000 b/d, more or less 25pc of the field," the chief executive of the Spanish company told Argus.

The export facilities that were shut down earlier this month appear to remain under force majeure.

"At a time when oil prices are recovering significantly due to increased global demand, which is being exploited by all producing countries to increase their oil revenues, the Libyan crude is being subjected to a wave of illegal closures, which will have serious damage to wells, reservoirs and surface equipment for the oil sector, as well as the loss of state treasury opportunities at prices that may not be repeated for decades to come," the National Oil Corporation said earlier this month.

The latest production disruptions are happening as Libya eyes substantial expansion of its oil production in order to take better advantage of higher oil prices. The plan is to boost production to 1.4 million bpd. Currently, per the latest OPEC figures, Libya is producing around 1 million bpd.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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As Poland desperately attempts to restore the flow of Russian gas to the country, its government has ordered Russian Novatek to hand over pipeline infrastructure or face legal action amounting to infrastructure expropriation.

On Friday, a Polish government spokesman told the Associated Press that Russian Novatek Green Energy had been ordered to make its pipelines available to Polish companies and that failure to comply would mean legal action.

Invoking crisis management laws, AP cited government spokesperson Piotr Mueller as saying that the fate of Novatek, Russias second-largest natural gas producer, depends on whether this Russian firm, linked to Russia, will cooperate in the proper way . whether the employees, acting on some instructions, will not be trying to block this process in some way.

Russian RT media, a Kremlin mouthpiece, reported that Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had requested state companies PGNiG, PSG and Gaz-System to immediately supply gas to grids formally owned by Novatek.

While Polands state-run gas companies can provide gas to those municipalities that have been cut off, they require Novateks infrastructure to achieve that.

Several dozen Polish municipalities have been left without gas after Novatek suspended supplies to the country earlier this week.

Also earlier this week, Poland placed a Novatek subsidiary on its sanctions list, along with 50 other Russian and Belarussian entities and individuals.

On Thursday, Polish officials vowed to force compensation from Gazprom for what it has called unlawful actions. Poland claims that Russia has breached its contract by demanding that natural gas be paid for in rubles and then cutting off gas supplies upon Polands refusal to comply.

Gazprom will have to pay us compensation because it acted in an obviously unlawful way. This is the opinion of specialists from different countries, Deputy foreign minister Piotr Wawrzyk told Polskie Radio.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com



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Tribal and local authorities and volunteers from a Minnesota-based missing persons foundation will search the Yurok Reservation in remote Northern California over three days for Emmilee Risling, a 33-year-old Native woman who went missing last October.

The search, which will involve more than 30 people, several boats and 10 cadaver dogs, was prompted by an Associated Press article published in February about Rislings disappearance. It begins Friday morning and ends Sunday night.

The mother of two, who has ancestry from three area tribes, fell through the cracks both in life and in death. Her case was one of five instances since 2020 where Indigenous women went missing or were killed between San Francisco and Oregon and helped prompt the Yurok Tribe to declare a state of emergency around missing and murdered Indigenous women.

The Jon Francis Foundation will provide volunteers and helped assemble 20 other searchers and 10 cadaver-sniffing dogs, said Yurok Tribal Police Chief Greg O'Rourke. The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office and Yurok police will also provide a combination of several sheriff's deputies, search and rescue personnel, two boats and four boating officers, he said.

The search will cover a massive area  about half the reservation  and also parts of the Klamath River and its banks.

I am grateful that the foundation has been able to use its contacts to bring in the additional resources so we can answer the familys questions and bring closure to the family, O'Rourke said in a phone interview.

The vast expanse of terrain and river that needed to be searched made it impossible for the tribe and local authorities to complete the job on their own, he said. The AP previously reported on jurisdictional issues with the case: Risling was a member of the nearby Hoopa Valley Tribe but went missing on the Yurok Reservation. The Yurok Police Department is in charge of the investigation, but the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office will decide when to declare the case cold.

The tribe tried to organize their own volunteers but it was not a full law enforcement search and rescue, O'Rourke said.

The search is under tribal authority but the sheriff's office will provide three deputies, all-terrain vehicles and volunteers from their search and rescue posse, said Samantha Karges, agency spokeswoman.

David Francis, who founded the nonprofit in 2007 after his son went missing on a hike in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, said he was first contacted by a Yurok tribal member living in San Francisco after the AP article was published. He then read the story and reached out to the tribal police chief and Risling's parents after learning about the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, he said.

Francis' group has conducted 28 missing persons searches after local authorities have stopped looking and have found bodies in 10 of those cases, he said. His own son was found after more than a year of family-funded searches; it was determined Jon Francis fell more than 120 feet while hiking in the mountains.

I went into investigative mode and said, Can we help this family? Because thats what we do," Francis said. In these cases, we dont know what happened, we cant find them and we cant lay them to rest and its very painful."

Risling was an accomplished traditional dancer and graduated from the University of Oregon with a double major. She planned to attend law school, but got caught up in an abusive relationship and struggled with mental health and drug addiction after returning to the Hoopa Valley Tribe's reservation.

Her parents and tribal law enforcement say she repeatedly fell through the cracks in a vast, remote area with almost no mental health services and limited law enforcement and addiction treatment services.

She sometimes wandered naked on the Hoopa Valley and Yurok reservations. Just before her disappearance, she had been released from jail on an arson charge and hadn't shown up for her court date.

She was last seen in October soon after walking across a bridge in a remote sliver of the Yurok Reservation.

Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
MIAMI (AP)  The premier of the British Virgin Islands and the director of the Caribbean territorys ports were arrested Thursday on drug smuggling charges in South Florida, federal authorities said.

Premier Andrew Alturo Fahie and Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard were taken into custody by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents at Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport and charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to launder money, according to a criminal complaint. Maynard's son, Kadeem Maynard, faces the same changes in the alleged scheme, according to the records.

Fahie and Oleanvine Maynard had been at the airport to meet Mexican drug traffickers, who in reality were undercover DEA agents, to see a shipment of $700,000 in cash that BVI officials expected to receive for helping smuggle cocaine from Colombia to Miami and New York, the complaint said.

A DEA confidential source had previously met with Maynard and her son after being introduced by a group of self-proclaimed Lebanese Hezbollah operatives, according to the complaint. After Fahie became involved, it said, the BVI officials agreed to to let the smugglers bring the cocaine through the port at Tortola before continuing on to the U.S.

Governor Of The British Virgin Islands John Rankin released a statement clarifying that Thursdays arrests in Florida were not connected to a Commission of Inquiry issued last year in the territory. That investigation was meant to focus on governance and corruption, not a criminal investigation into the illegal drug trade, Rankin said in a statement posted online.

It isnt known whether the commission had found any suspected wrongdoing by Fahie or Maynard, but Rankin said he expects to have the results published urgently to avoid unnecessary speculation.

The British Virgin Islands, with a population about 35,000 people, is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean Sea, located east of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The governor is appointed by the queen, the territorys ultimate executive authority, and acts on her behalf. The premier is the head of the government and is elected in a general election along with the other members of the ruling government.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
BOSTON (AP)  A former top security executive at eBay Inc. has pleaded guilty to his role in a campaign to harass and intimidate a Massachusetts couple who published an online newsletter he perceived as critical of the company.

James Baugh, 47, of San Jose, California  eBays former senior director of safety and security  admitted Monday in federal court in Boston to nine charges in connection with the campaign that involved disturbing deliveries  among them, live insects, a bloody pig face mask and a book on surviving the loss of a spouse  to the victims home, federal prosecutors said.

The intimidation started when senior executives at eBay became frustrated with the newsletters tone and content, according to federal documents.

The harassment campaign also included online posts inviting the public for sexual encounters at the victims home, and a trip to the Boston area to spy on the victims with the intention of installing a GPS device in their vehicle, federal authorities said.

The couple from Natick spotted the surveillance and contacted local police. After learning of police involvement, Baugh lied to investigators, deleted digital evidence and falsified records, authorities said.

A voicemail was left Tuesday with Baugh's attorney.

Baugh was one of seven eBay employees or contractors charged in the harassment scheme that ran from August 2019 until August 2020. He is the sixth to plead guilty. One has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. San Jose-based eBay has previously said they were fired.

Baugh faces decades in prison at sentencing scheduled for Sept. 22, if he receives the maximum sentence.

The Massachusetts couple, Ina and David Steiner, who publish the newsletter EcommerceBytes, sued eBay and several employees including former CEO Devin Wenig last summer over what they described as a conspiracy to intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them in order to stifle their reporting on eBay.

The lawsuit alleges the employees were carrying out the directives of Wenig and another executive. Wenig was not criminally charged, has denied any knowledge of the harassment campaign, and his lawyers have asked that the Steiners' claims against him be dismissed.

He stepped down as CEO of eBay in September 2019.

The lawsuit has been stayed as the sides negotiate a settlement, according to court records.

The Silicon Valley giant has apologized to the couple and said that it fully cooperated with the law enforcement investigation.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
If you're wishing you had a little more exposure to income investments right now and a little less exposure to growth, you're not alone. The market's recent shellacking hasn't exactly been uniform; growth stocks have really taken it on the chin. And their sell-off may not be over yet.

The good news is, it's not too late to start shifting more of your portfolio into dividend-paying positions. You don't even have to do any stock picking to make this happen, either. This trio of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) can do the job in a snap. Here's a closer look at each.

iShares High Dividend Equity Fund

If your goal is producing above-average dividend income right now, your first stop should arguably be the iShares High Dividend Equity Fund (NYSEMKT: HDV).

Just as the name implies, this iShares fund seeks to maximize your payout by choosing stocks with superior dividend yields. That's not to suggest, however, it merely tracks down the market's highest-yielding names and shoves them into a bucket you can then buy a piece of. This fund is meant to mirror the Morningstar Dividend Yield Focus Index, which limits its constituents to U.S. stocks "screened for superior company quality and financial health."

The end result is a basket of 75 solid stocks that also happen to pay above-average dividends. Among its top holdings right now are names like AbbVie, JPMorgan Chase, and Verizon, supporting the fund's current yield of around 3.2%.

That may not seem like a whole lot; you can certainly find bigger yields out there. But you'd be hard-pressed to find better yields without giving up the solid blue chip status all of this fund's stocks boast.

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

If you're more interested in long-term dividend growth than current income levels, consider the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (NYSEMKT: VIG).

Once again, the name says it all. The ETF is built around tickers that may not necessarily dish out a ton of regular quarterly income now, but rather it holds stocks that reliably grow their payouts in a big way over time. Microsoft is this ETF's top holding at this time, fairly representing the bigger premise here. Microsoft shares are valued at a premium, and while the company doesn't prioritize dividends, it does pay them. Its priority is growth. It just so happens that its dividend grows in step with the company's top and bottom lines.

And this ETF certainly accomplishes its goal. Last year's total payments of $2.66 per share were 46% better than what the fund was paying just five years back, and almost 90% stronger than the annualized dividend from a decade ago.

The trade-off is the yield you're stepping into. The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF's current yield is a modest 1.7%. That's why it's not a an ETF to choose if you need good passive income right now. If you can afford to park some money in the fund now and wait five or 10 years, however, it'll be well worth it. You should get some respectable capital appreciation in the meantime.

SPDR S&P 500 High Dividend ETF

Finally, add the SPDR S&P 500 High Dividend ETF (NYSEMKT: SPYD) to your list of ETFs to consider if you're looking to add passive income potential to your portfolio.

At first glance it seems comparable to the aforementioned iShares High Dividend Equity Fund. And there's some overlap, to be sure. But there's more difference between the two than it seems on the surface. The SPDR S&P 500 High Dividend ETF is arguably the more aggressive option, with the higher yield to prove it. This fund's current dividend yield stands at 3.7%, reflecting the fact that the underlying index is focused more on stronger payouts and less on raw fiscal health.

Not that it's buying junk. Valero Energy, Cardinal Health, and real estate investment trust Iron Mountain are three of the ETF's 10 biggest holdings at this time, mirroring the S&P 500 High Dividend Index its modeled after.

It's a distinction that matters more than you might think. The Morningstar Dividend Yield Focus Index serving as the basis for the iShares High Dividend Equity Fund is rather static, since companies that are fiscally healthy tend to remain fiscally healthy, and therefore remain in the index. The S&P 500 High Dividend Index, however, is rebalanced every six months to hold the 80 highest-yielding S&P 500 names at that particular time. While this potentially leads to above-average taxable turnover, it also ensures this ETF offers the highest-possible yield at any given time among the three ETFs in focus here.

10 stocks we like better than Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

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JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns and recommends Iron Mountain, Microsoft, and Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
In an NFL draft focused early on stoppers, it was the goers  wide receivers  who stole the spotlight Thursday night. Not simply prospects, either. Yes, the first five selections came on the defensive side of the ball, including edge rushers Travon Walker of national champion Georgia to Jacksonville and Aidan Hutchinson of Michigan to Detroit at Nos. 1 and 2. It was the first time in 31 years that no player on offense went in the opening five picks. So, naturally, the next five choices were on offense. And those kept coming: right through No. 12. And the theme throughout the first 20 picks was to get guys who could catch the ball  including Philadelphia acquiring standout A.J. Brown from the Titans, and Arizona getting veteran Marquise Brown from the Ravens.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Tennessee lawmakers cut taxes, helped subsidize a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans, added a new level of scrutiny for school library content and imposed tougher restrictions on transgender athletes in a busy 2022 legislative session that wrapped up for the year Thursday.

Lawmakers have sent Republican Gov. Bill Lee plenty of bills to consider, though he has not vetoed anything as governor. He has already signed some this year. Others have become law without his signature.

Here are some key bills that the GOP-controlled General Assembly passed and spiked since January.

BUDGET

The $52.8 billion spending plan for 2022-23 includes a one-month sales tax holiday on groceries, a $750 million boost to K-12 schools and $100 million in violent crime reduction grants. It also features a $121 million break to waive the state portion of vehicle registration tag fees over the next year, $9.7 million to eliminate a professional privilege tax for doctors and $68 million for one-year broadband tax relief. Lawmakers balked at Lee's proposal to add $200 million to relocate a handful of schools in flood plains, redirecting it to state reserves.

TITANS STADIUM

Lawmakers agreed to authorize $500 million bonds to help fund a new Tennessee Titans stadium, while allowing Nashville to raise its hotel-motel tax by 1%, which is expected to funnel $10 million more annually toward the stadium.

SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA

Lee secured passage of his overhaul of the state formula for funding Tennessee's multibillion-dollar K-12 education system. Tennessee would join nearly 40 other states that attach a set amount of money per student.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE

As a federal investigation hovers over the statehouse, lawmakers passed a campaign finance and ethics face-lift. Among the provisions, certain politically active nonprofits must disclose spending totaling at least $5,000 within 60 days of an election on communications that contain a state candidates name or likeness. Political committee leadership must provide identification. Candidates and officeholders must sign disclosures of financial interest under penalty of perjury. Campaign finance reporting requirements would increase in the 10 days before an election.

ABORTION

Lawmakers voted to add harsh penalties for doctors who violate strict regulations over dispensing abortion pills. An anti-abortion proposal nearly the same as a Texas law failed, as legislative leaders noted Tennessee already has strict laws.

TRUTH IN SENTENCING

A measure expected to lengthen criminal sentences and potentially increase incarceration costs is headed to Lee after his office and criminal justice advocates raised concerns. The truth in sentencing bill would require serving entire sentences for various felonies, which legislative leaders argue ensures justice for victims.

REDISTRICTING

Lee approved new congressional and state legislative maps drawn by GOP lawmakers during their once-a-decade task of redrawing political seats. Left-leaning Nashville was carved into multiple congressional districts as Republicans seek to flip a longstanding Democratic seat.

CONGRESSIONAL RESIDENCY RULES

Amid redistricting, lawmakers passed residency requirements on most U.S. House and Senate candidates, seeking to nudge one or more Republican congressional hopefuls off the ballot. Lee let the bill become law without signing it after the candidate filing deadline, meaning the change won't apply retroactively to qualified candidates. The Tennessee Republican Party has since removed a handful of candidates for not meeting other requirements.

COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS

More limits on COVID-19 safety measures passed this year. They include requiring employers to provide medical or religious exemptions if they require proof of a COVID-19 vaccine  already signed by Lee  and a ban preventing governments and businesses from having COVID-19 policies that treat people with immunity from getting sick differently from vaccinated people. Another bill allows pharmacists to prescribe ivermectin, though medical experts say the anti-parasitic is not an effective COVID-19 treatment.

LGBTQ STUDENTS

Lee has already signed off on adding harsh penalties against public schools that allow transgender athletes to participate in girls sports. Lawmakers also voted to ban transgender athletes from participating in female college sports. However, lawmakers failed to pass a bill to let teachers and districts use the pronoun that a transgender student does not prefer by protecting teachers from employment punishment and schools from civil liability.

SCHOOL LIBRARIES

GOP criticisms of school libraries carried to the last day of session, when lawmakers moved to let the politically appointed state textbook commission remove books from public school libraries statewide. The panel would have veto power when people appeal decisions by local school boards in book removal challenges. Lee proposed, and has already signed, requirements that school libraries post their contents online and regularly review their policies to ensure materials are age-appropriate and suitable.

VOTING ISSUES

Lee signed lawmakers' ban on instant runoff voting, ending the state's legal disputes with the city of Memphis, where voters havent used the method since voting for it in 2008. Separately, lawmakers agreed to set a 2024 deadline to join the vast majority of states with voting systems that include a paper record of every ballot cast.

DELTA 8

Lawmakers failed in efforts to ban or regulate delta-8 THC, a psychoactive chemical cousin of marijuanas main intoxicating ingredient.

PIPELINES

Lawmakers approved a bill that strictly limits the ability of local governments to stop oil and gas pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure projects in their jurisdictions.

HOMELESS CAMPING

Lawmakers approved legislation that threatens felony penalties against homeless people who camp overnight on local government property  including in parks  and misdemeanors for camping around highways any time.

GUNS

Several notable gun measures failed this year, including funding for gun safety and a push to lower the minimum age for carrying a handgun from 21 to 18.

JUNETEENTH

Gov. Lee proposed making a state holiday for Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of U.S. slavery, with funding for the state workforce day off. The majority-white Legislature quietly spiked the bill in a committee.

SHACKLING PREGNANT INMATES

Lawmakers agreed to a long-pushed Democratic proposal to strictly limit the shackling of pregnant inmates.

DACA LICENSING

Lee has signed legislation allowing immigrants who came to the U.S. as young children to become licensed professionals. Those with federally authorized work permits could obtain professional and occupational licenses if they meet licensing requirements.

ANTI-LGBTQ MARRIAGE BILL

Tennessee attracted national attention when Republicans began pushing to create a new marriage contract designed to exclude same-sex couples. The bill was dropped amid constitutional concerns.

POLICE RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT

Lawmakers advanced legislation banning local officials from requiring police officers to live in the county they patrol. Lee has since signed it. Law enforcement officials have argued residency requirements hinder recruitment amid staffing shortages.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Thousands of firefighters battled destructive wildfires in the Southwest as more residents prepared to evacuate Friday into the weekend in northern New Mexico where strong winds and dangerously dry conditions have made the blazes hard to contain.

The biggest fire in the U.S. grew to more than 117 square miles (303 square kilometers) through the afternoon northeast of Santa Fe. Gusty winds prevented any aerial attacks by midmorning and crews lost some of the containment they had established in previous days.

The rapid rate of the spread of the fire was exceeding dire predictions in some areas, incident commander Carl Schwope said Friday night.

"Were in a very dangerous situation. Evacuation statuses are changing as we speak, he warned at a briefing in Las Vegas, New Mexico, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Santa Fe.

More air and ground forces were on the way, he said, to fortify the nearly 1,000 firefighters on the fire lines there and winds that gusted up to 65 mph were beginning to subside as nightfall approached.

There were no immediate reports of any new structures have been lost since the local sheriff confirmed Thursday night at least 166 homes have been destroyed in northeast New Mexicos rural San Miguel County.

But erratic wind shifts in some of the driest conditions the region has seen in years were forecast again Saturday, and authorities were making preparations to evacuate some residents as far north as Taos.

Just getting people out of the way, thats been the mission today, Sheriff Chris Lopez said at the briefing in Las Vegas. Some of the most active fire was heading in the direction of that town but he said the town itself was not in immediate danger.

Fire lines were bolstered outside the rural New Mexico community of Ledoux in efforts to save structures, and they appeared to be holding.

More than 2,000 firefighters were battling fires in Arizona and New Mexico on Friday  about half of those in northeast New Mexico, where a total of more than 187 square miles (484 square kilometers) of mostly timber and brush have been charred.

Red flag warnings for extreme fire danger were in place Friday for nearly all of New Mexico and parts of Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

The fires are burning unusually hot and fast for this time of year, especially in the Southwest, where experts said some timber in the region is drier than kiln-dried wood.

We still have some fire weather to get through tonight, tomorrow and several days afterwards," fire behavior specialist Stewart Turner said at Friday night's briefing in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

It's very important that everybody pays attention to the evacuation orders because this is a very, very serious fire  very dangerous fire behavior out there.

Matthew Probst, Las Vegas-based medical director for the health clinic network El Centro Family Health, said the nearby fire has swept through impoverished communities already frayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Here, you're losing meager homes, but it's everything. It's all they had, said Probst, a coordinator of county health services for wildfire evacuees.

Rural families in the area were caught off guard after heading home from an early evacuation  only to be ambushed by a fast-moving fire last week.

A 79-year-old widow from the tiny community of Sapello left her house and a blue heeler cattle dog for a doctors appointment, with boxes packed for possible evacuation with jewelry and her 1964 wedding photos. Winds kicked up, and police said it was too late to go back for anything.

"They said, No maam, its far too dangerous, said Sonya Berg in a phone interview Friday from an emergency shelter at a nearby middle school.

A close friend says the house burned, but Berg doesn't want to believe it. A neighbor rescued the dog.

Im in denial until I go and see it, said Berg, whose husband passed away in 2019 and was buried outside the home. Hes up there, hes been through the whole thing. Im hoping the gravestone we put up is still there.

In the Jemez Mountains east of Los Alamos, another wildfire spanning 12 square miles (30 square kilometers) crept in the direction of Bandelier National Monument, which closed its backcountry hiking trails as a precaution while central visiting areas remained open.

In northern Arizona, authorities are nearing full containment of a 30 square-mile (77 square-kilometer) blaze that destroyed at least 30 homes near Flagstaff and forced hundreds to evacuate. A top-level national management team turned it back over to the local forest Friday.

Its pretty stable for the most part, said Coconino National Forest spokeswoman Randi Shaffer. Were not seeing any forecasted crazy weather patterns. We have fire crews monitoring, all of our suppression efforts have been holding.

Some residents near another fire 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Prescott havent been allowed back home. Firefighters have about one-third of the 14 square-mile (37-square-kilometer) fires perimeter contained. Lighter winds were expected into the weekend, but low humidity will be a concern, fire officials said.

Associated Press writer Scott Sonner contributed to this report from Reno, Nevada. Attanasio reported from Santa Fe. Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Polish and Bulgarian leaders accused Moscow of using natural gas to blackmail their countries after Russia's state-controlled energy company stopped supplying them with gas Wednesday. European Union leaders echoed those comments and were holding an emergency meeting on the Russian move.

The gas cutoff to Poland and Bulgaria came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that unfriendly countries would need to start paying for gas in rubles, Russia's currency, which Bulgaria and Poland refused to do.

Russian energy giant Gazprom said in a statement that it hadnt received any payments from Poland and Bulgaria since April 1 and was suspending their deliveries starting Wednesday. And if those countries siphon off Russian gas intended for other European customers, Gazprom said deliveries to Europe will be reduced by that amount.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the announcement by Gazprom is yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail.

Europe is not without some leverage in the dispute, since it pays Russia $400 million a day for gas, money Putin would lose with a complete cutoff.

Russia, however, rejected the idea that it was using blackmail while warning it may halt gas supplies to other European customers if they also refuse to switch to paying in rubles.

Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, argued that the Russian demand to switch to paying for gas in rubles resulted from Western actions that froze Russian hard currency assets. He said those were effectively stolen by the West in an unprecedented unfriendly action.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told Poland's parliament that he thinks the suspension was revenge for new sanctions against Russia that Warsaw imposed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Morawiecki called it an attack on Poland and an example of gas imperialism while vowing that Poland would not be cowed by the cutoff. He said the country was safe from an energy crisis thanks to years of efforts to secure gas from other countries.

We will not succumb to Russia's gas blackmail, he told lawmakers, to applause. He also sought to assure citizens that the gas cutoff would not affect Polish households.

Some Poles and Bulgarians welcomed the cutoff for moving them closer to independence from Russian energy.

"I dont know what the results will be for regular citizens like myself, said Nina Rudnicka, a lecturer at Poznan University. But I believe that one should not bow to Russias blackmail. It was the right decision not to change to payment in rubles.

Dobrin Todorov, a resident of Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, said given a choice between freedom and dignity or gas, the answer is clear, in favor of freedom and dignity."

"So we will go through this ordeal. It cannot be compared to the hardship and tribulations that the Ukrainian people are currently suffering, Todorov added.

The new Polish sanctions against Russia, announced Tuesday, targeted 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, including Gazprom. Hours later, Poland said it had received notice that Gazprom was cutting off its gas supplies for failing to pay in Russian rubles. Polands gas company, PGNiG, said the gas supplies from the Yamal pipeline stopped early Wednesday.

Russian gas supplies to both Poland and Bulgaria already were expected to end later this year anyway.

Poland relies on coal for 70% of its energy needs, with gas only making up around 7% of its energy mix. Several years ago, the country opened its first terminal for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, in Swinoujscie, on the Baltic Sea coast. A pipeline from Norway is to due to start operating this year.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, whose government has been cutting many of the country's old ties with Russia, called Gazproms suspension of gas deliveries a gross violation of their contract and blackmail. He vowed to defend the country's interests and support military-technical assistance to Ukraine.

Unfortunately, in the recent past we were treated as Russias fifth column. And there are many political and economic circles that protect Russias interests," he said. We and our party will protect only Bulgarian interests.

In Bulgaria, the main consumers of gas are district heating companies. Bulgarias energy minister said his country can meet the needs of users for at least one month.

Alternative supplies are available, and Bulgaria hopes that alternative routes and supplies will also be secured at the EU level, Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov said.

Russia's move raised wider concerns that other countries could be targeted next as Western countries increase their support for Ukraine amid a war now in its third month.

The Greek government held an emergency meeting Wednesday in Athens. Greece's next scheduled payment to Gazprom is due on May 25, and the government must decide whether it will comply with the demand to pay in rubles.

Greece is ramping up its liquefied natural gas storage capacity, and has contingency plans to switch several industry sectors from gas to diesel as an emergency energy source. It has also reversed a program to reduce domestic coal production.

If European nations decide not to pay in rubles, Russia can sell its oil elsewhere, such as to India and China, because oil primarily moves by ship.

It has less options with natural gas, because the pipeline network that carries gas from Russias huge deposits in northwestern Siberias Yamal Peninsula does not connect with pipelines that run to China. And Russia only has limited facilities to export super-chilled liquefied gas by ship.

Toshkov reported from Bulgaria. Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Jon Gambrell in Lviv, Ukraine, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed.

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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WASHINGTON (AP)  House Democrats vowed to continue investigating consulting giant McKinsey's work with opioid drugmakers after a Wednesday hearing detailed how the firm had advised companies pushing painkillers as well as U.S. health regulators.

The hearing before a House committee is part of an ongoing probe into McKinseys role in the U.S. opioid crisis that has been linked to over 500,000 overdose deaths from both prescription pain medications and illicit drugs like fentanyl.

McKinsey's top executive challenged some of the committee's findings but said the company has overhauled how it does business and no longer works with opioid manufacturers, including OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma.

Ive apologized for our work for Purdue and other opioid manufacturers and we fully recognize it fell short of our standards, said Bob Sternfels in testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. He said the company would continue cooperating with investigators.

Last year the consulting powerhouse agreed to pay $600 million to settle lawsuits over its work advising opioid makers, though it admitted no wrongdoing.

Lawmakers questioned Sternfels for three hours about revelations that his company allowed consultants working for Purdue Pharma to simultaneously advise the Food and Drug Administration, the agency tasked with overseeing drug safety.

McKinsey was advising both the fox and the hen-house  and getting paid by both, said Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. Clearly, McKinsey should not be setting strategy for both drug companies and the FDA.

A preliminary report from the committee found 22 McKinsey consultants who worked for both the FDA and an opioid manufacturer over the span of a decade. The overlapping work included McKinsey staffers advising the FDA on overhauling its drug safety division, according to the committee's review of thousands of company documents.

Meanwhile, McKinsey consultants recommended cash prizes and unrivaled recognition for top OxyContin sales reps to increase Purdue's revenue, according to a 2013 strategy presentation released Wednesday.

Lawmakers heard conflicting accounts of whether McKinseys work helped Purdue avoid tighter FDA regulation.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, testifying remotely, said that her states own investigation into McKinsey uncovered emails recommending Purdue band together with other drugmakers in 2009 to defend against strict treatment by the FDA.

Sternfeld said McKinsey did not share FDA documents or intelligence with Purdue and said claims of information sharing were inaccurate.

He also testified that McKinsey was open with FDA about its pharmaceutical consulting work.

We made very clear that we were working both with the industry and with opioids in particular, Sternfeld said. FDA officials have previously stated they were aware of McKinsey's pharmaceutical consulting.

Maloney and other Democrats repeatedly suggested McKinsey's work may have violated federal contracting rules on disclosing potential conflicts of interest.

On Wednesday, Maloney introduced legislation that would bolster requirements for contractors to disclose potential conflicts. A bipartisan group of Senators previously introduced similar legislation in their chamber.

The committee's Republicans spent most of their allotted time undercutting the relevance of the hearing, noting the vast majority of opioid overdoses are now caused by fentanyl and heroin, not prescription drugs. They urged tighter border security, noting nearly all illicit opioids enter the U.S. through the southern border.

We have a new opioid crisis, folks, and it's not from big pharma in the United States it's from the drug cartels who operate sites in Mexico, said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Florida.

House Democrats spotlighted several examples of McKinsey touting its FDA connections when soliciting consulting business from drugmakers. The company also submitted advice on dealing with the opioid epidemic to members of the Trump administration, according to the report. It's unclear if the information had any effect on federal policy.

For decades, McKinsey has been the preeminent corporate consulting firm, advising many of the world's biggest companies on strategy and operations. The company has also made inroads into government consulting, receiving nearly $1 billion in federal contracts.

The Oversight Committee scrutinized McKinsey's work on three dozen FDA contracts worth more than $65 million, stretching from 2008 to 2021.

At a separate Senate hearing Tuesday, the head of FDA's drug center told lawmakers McKinsey's work dealt with organizational design and did not entail involvement in product regulation." The agency currently has no contracts with McKinsey, she noted, and no new awards are expected while Congress investigates the firm.

The House report did not conclude that McKinsey's FDA consulting resulted in lighter regulation of OxyContin or any other opioids.

For years the FDA has attempted to discourage doctors from overprescribing the drugs, mainly by adding starker warnings to their labeling. Prescriptions have fallen from their peak in 2012, but mainly due to new prescribing limits imposed by state and local governments, insurers and hospital systems.

AP Writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this story from Cherry Hill, N.J.

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LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  Belarus' top independent journalists' organization has been awarded a UNESCO press freedom award.

The Belarusian Association of Journalists has been named as the laureate of the 2022 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize  a $25,000 award for outstanding contributions to the defense or promotion of press freedom especially in the face of danger, UNESCO announced Wednesday.

For twenty-five years, the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Prize has been calling the worlds attention to the bravery of journalists around the world who sacrifice so much in the pursuit of truth and accountability. Once again, we are inspired by their example and reminded of the importance of ensuring the right of journalists everywhere to report freely and safely, Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO's director-general, said in the statement.

BAJ, a non-governmental association of journalists, has operated in Belarus since 1995 and is the country's largest NGO, with over 1,300 members. It has won a number of prestigious awards for standing up for press freedom. The country's Supreme Court ordered it to liquidate last August as part of the government's unprecedented crackdown on dissent that engulfed the ex-Soviet nation following months of mass protests.

The demonstrations broke out in August 2020 after authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko was given a sixth term in office in a presidential election widely seen as rigged. Thousands of protesters were detained, and the authorities clamped down hard on human rights groups and independent media, shutting down news outlets and imprisoning journalists.

The order to liquidate BAJ followed the jailing of some 30 journalists, raids on newspaper offices, blocking the websites of major independent media and closing the PEN Center writers organization that was headed by Nobel literature laureate Svetlana Alexieveich, who herself is a member of BAJ.

This award is dedicated to all those who pay an enormous price for standing up for the principles of independent journalism in Belarus, where the situation with freedom of speech is the worst in all of Europe, BAJ leader Andrei Bastunets told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Torture, beatings, prosecution of independent media and journalists in Belarus have become systemic.

Currently, 24 media workers in Belarus remain behind bars either awaiting trials or serving sentences. Hundreds of Belarusian journalists have faced administrative arrests and raids. Bastunets, like many other Belarus journalists, has left the country following a series of raids and detentions.

The awards ceremony will take place on May 2 in Punta del Este, Uruguay, at the World Press Freedom Day Global Conference.

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PERRY, Ga. (AP)  Georgia is welcoming Sasquatch, or at least the Wisconsin-based meat snack company that has adopted the furry creature as a mascot.

Jack Link's protein snacks announced Tuesday that it will build a $450 million factory in the middle Georgia town of Perry, hiring 800 people after it opens in late 2023. Link Snacks says it is the largest maker of protein snacks worldwide, making beef jerky and other meat snacks sold under its own name and other brands.

Gov. Brian Kemp and members of the Link family who own the Minong, Wisconsin, company, gathered with other officials Tuesday in a 120-acre (50-hectare) pecan orchard in Perry where the factory will be built.

Kemp said it's Georgia's largest economic development project outside metro Atlanta this year.

When I ran for governor I promised to bring opportunities like this one were celebrating today to all parts of our state, especially rural Georgia," said the Republican, who is seeking reelection and has opposition including former U.S. Senator David Perdue in the May 24 GOP primary. Today is the latest fruit of our hard labor to create more jobs and opportunity for hardworking Georgians.

CEO Troy Link, the son of founder Jack Link, said the Georgia plant will be the largest his family's company has ever built.

The Georgia facility is going to ensure that we continue to lead the protein snacking category with great innovation, and continue to grow with our customers, consumers and team members, Link said.

The company's Sasquatch mascot was on hand, part of its longrunning Messin With Sasquatch campaign

Hes been wonderful for our business and we have lots of fun messin with Sasquatch," Link said.

Kevin McAdams, the companys North American president, said Link Snacks considered more than 30 sites nationwide. McAdams said the company is hiring immediately for a plant manager, human relations manager, controller, food safety and quality director and plant engineer.

McAdams said the company also is doubling the size of its factory in Alpena, South Dakota, and adding onto facilities in Minong, Wisconsin, and Underwood, Iowa. Jack Links also has facilities in Germany, New Zealand and Brazil.

Georgia will pay to train company workers, although a value for that incentive wasn't immediately available.

Link Snacks could claim various tax breaks, including an income tax credit allowing it to annually deduct $3,500 per job from state income taxes, up to $14 million over five years, as long as workers make at least $28,000 a year. If Jack Link's doesn't earn enough to owe that much in taxes, the state would give it personal income taxes from worker paychecks to make up the rest. The company could also get local property tax breaks.

State Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson said Jack Link's will add to Georgia's food industry.

We have a fantastic food processing industry that is thriving," Wilson said. "Agriculture continues to be the backbone of the Georgia economy.

Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy.

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged a rapid halt to fighting in Ukraine on Friday and said they will work together to improve humanitarian conditions there.

The Ukraine war must be stopped immediately and we agree to create a conducive situation so that negotiations and a peaceful solution can be reached quickly Widodo said after meeting with Kishida in Jakarta.

Indonesia is Kishidas first stop on an eight-day trip that will also take him to Vietnam, Thailand, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine "shook the foundations of the international order, including in Asia, and it must be strongly condemned, Kishida said.

Kishida and Widodo also discussed Indonesias role as current chair of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations.

We will use Indonesias leadership of the G-20 as a catalyst for a humanitarian response and world economic recovery, Widodo said.

Widodo announced Friday that he has invited both Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G-20 leaders' summit in Bali in November. He said Putin agreed to attend but it was unclear whether it would be in person or virtually. It was not immediately known whether Zelenskyy would attend.

Widodo also said he rejected a request from the Ukrainian leader for weapons from Indonesia.

The mandate of Indonesias Constitution and the principles of our foreign policy prohibit providing arms to other countries, Widodo said. However, we are ready to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

I reiterated the importance of ending the war immediately, he said. I also emphasized that peaceful efforts should continue and Indonesia is ready to contribute to these peaceful efforts, he said in televised remarks.

Indonesia is hoping for additional Japanese investment, especially in energy, cement, agricultural technology and health, and that Japan will make Indonesia an important part of the global supply chain for its industries, Widodo said.

Japan is Indonesias third largest export destination and fifth largest investor. Cooperation between the two countries includes the Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit system and Patimban Port in West Java province.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Dr. Jeffrey Gold, chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, was honored Thursday as the Omaha Press Clubs 168th Face on the Barroom Floor.

A native of New York City, Gold was named UNMCs eighth chancellor in 2014 when he came from Ohio. He also serves as chairman of the board of Nebraska Medicine, UNMCs primary clinical partner.

In 2021, Gold was named provost and executive vice president of the University of Nebraska system. From 2017-2021, he also served as chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

As UNMCs chief executive officer, Gold oversees seven colleges, numerous institutes, a staff and faculty of about 7,000 and 4,300 health professions students. The combined annual economic impact of UNMC/Nebraska Medicines 500-mile campus is estimated to be more than $6 billion.

A cardiothoracic surgeon during his medical career, Gold earned his undergraduate degree from the Cornell University College of Engineering and his medical degree from the Weill Cornell College of Medicine.

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The new CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber said she sees great potential for Omaha to become an even better place for workers, businesses and families.

Veta Jeffery, an economic developer from the St. Louis area, said she was attracted to Omaha by the proven ability of the citys civic and corporate sectors to work together to move the city forward. She wants to continue that.

I think the clincher for me was seeing how well the public and private partnerships are developed and how much has been able to be accomplished, the 53-year-old St. Louis native said Friday after being introduced as the new chamber leader. Its a big deal.

Jeffery brings to the job the unique experience of helping rebuild Ferguson, Missouri, after civil unrest sparked in 2014 by the police shooting in Ferguson of an unarmed 18-year-old Black man.

She replaces David Brown, who announced last year that he was retiring after nearly 20 years in the job.

Jefferys hiring also comes at a critical time in the citys history and development. Omaha, like all other cities across the country, is competing for workers amid a severe nationwide labor shortage.

The city is in the process of remaking its downtown and urban core in an effort to attract more young workers. And the state has just appropriated more than $300 million thats targeted for redevelopment of underserved communities, particularly North and South Omaha.

The hiring of an African American woman to lead the chamber also comes as Omaha business leaders have been emphasizing the need for the city to embrace diversity and inclusion to attract and retain the workers needed to spur future growth.

While Jefferys hiring could be viewed as an example of business leaders commitment to diversity, chamber officials also made it clear Jeffery was simply the best person for the job.

Our committee was 100% unanimous that Veta was the right choice, said Mogens Bay, the retired CEO of Valmont. She stood out from the other candidates, and we found her to be very thoughtful, very committed and just impressive during every step of the search process.

She is a rock star, said Leslie Andersen, chair of the search committee and CEO of Omahas i3 Bank. So the fact that shes a diverse candidate didnt really matter.

But Jeffery said she hopes her hiring does matter to young people, who might be encouraged to aspire for something more. Historically, she said, chambers of commerce, not just in Omaha, but around the country, have not been particularly diverse.

It says Omaha is bravely willing to change, she said. It says Omaha values what all people bring to the table. And it gives us an opportunity to showcase that here.

Jeffery grew up in St. Louis before earning a degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She then embarked on a career in banking, rising through the ranks to senior vice president of community and economic development for Midwest BankCentre in St. Louis.

Then, following the Ferguson protests and unrest in 2014, she was appointed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon as manager of the Office of Community Economic Development for the state. In that position, she brought together public and private stakeholders to rebuild the business community in Ferguson and throughout the St. Louis region.

Jeffery also helped establish workforce development programs to assist underserved communities and helped form a state program that provided internships for disadvantaged college students in Missouri.

Most recently, Jeffery has served as chief diversity officer for St. Louis County. In that position, she helped coordinate the spending of the countys federal COVID-19 recovery dollars.

Andersen, the search committee chair, said Jeffery was first identified as a potential candidate by a national search firm, which reached out to her. But Andersen said she and Carmen Tapio, the CEO of North End Teleservices who also was on the search committee, already were familiar with Jeffery through their involvement with the Federal Reserve Bank.

An initial field of 15 national and local candidates was narrowed to eight, and then to two finalists. Jeffery was formally hired by the chambers board of directors Friday morning.

Andersen said two very unique skills elevated Jeffery above the other candidates.

Jeffery has the ability to think strategically and is able to digest large amounts of data to help form strategic plans for action, Andersen said.

And through her work in Ferguson, she proved her ability to bring together people with disparate interests in a way that productively moved the community forward.

She had to pull together people who didnt want to be in the same room to work through things, Andersen said.

Jeffery said she will work to make Omaha a place where young people will want to stay, as well as to make sure that Omahas businesses are well cared for and can thrive and grow for generations to come.

Jeffery will start work next month. She said shes looking forward to moving her family  including husband Tony and 12-year-old daughter Toni  to Omaha and to getting to know the community better. The couple also have a 21-year-old daughter.

She noted Forbes magazine already ranks Omaha among the nations great places to raise a family.

Families want to be part of something that they feel is growing and thriving, she said. Omaha has all of the right combination of ingredients to continue that.

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NATO chief offers quick admission for Finland, Sweden despite Russia's objection

Xinhua) 08:27, April 29, 2022

Photo taken on April 6, 2022 shows a sculpture and flags at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

The two countries' potential application for NATO membership has been in the spotlight since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as they are both neighbors of Russia. Finland shares a 1,340-km border with Russia.

BRUSSELS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The applications by Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be processed quickly should the Scandinavian countries choose to do so, the military alliance's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday.

"If they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be welcomed with open arms to NATO. Finland and Sweden are our closest partners," Stoltenberg told reporters at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Both Finland and Sweden have long pursued a policy of military non-alignment. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, NATO has failed to win over the two countries several times.

But the two countries have made some changes in their positions in face of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, delivering weapons and ammunition to Ukraine.

People bask in the sun at the stairs of the Helsinki Cathedral in Helsinki, Finland, March 16, 2022. (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua)

"We know that their armed forces meet NATO standards, are interoperable with NATO forces. We train together, we exercise together and we have also worked together with Finland and Sweden in many different missions and operations," Stoltenberg said.

He also addressed the security of Finland and Sweden during the interim period between the two countries' potential applications and the date they become actual members of the organization, saying that "we will be able to find arrangements" so that "no uncertainty" is left.

The two countries' potential application for NATO membership has been in the spotlight since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as they are both neighbors of Russia. Finland shares a 1,340-km border with Russia.

People walk at the inner yard of the Stockholm City Hall after snow in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, April 5, 2022. A snowfall hit Sweden late Monday night, covering buildings with light sparkling veil of snow in the Nordic spring. (Photo by Wei Xuechao/Xinhua)

When answering a question about the prospect of the countries which may join NATO, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin, told reporters earlier this month that further expansion of NATO, including the admission of Finland and Sweden into the alliance, will not contribute to security in Europe.

"In itself, the alliance is rather a tool sharpened for confrontation. This is not an alliance that ensures peace and stability. Further expansion of the alliance, of course, will not bring additional security to the European continent," the Kremlin spokesman said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
3:10 p.m. update

The Save America Rally scheduled for Friday evening has been rescheduled for Sunday evening, a statement from the Donald Trump organization said.

"Thank you to all who waited in line for our Save America Rally tonight in Greenwood, Nebraska," former President Donald Trump said in a prepared release. "Because of severe weather, including the possibility of 60 mph+ wind, hailstorms, and maybe even tornadoes, I will not be coming to Nebraska tonight, but rather, weather permitting, will be there this Sunday night, May 1st."

Trump said in the release that the most important thing "is to keep you safe, and that cannot be done with such a terrible forecast. Thank you to Charles W. Herbster and his wonderful staff for working so professionally with us. See you on Sunday!"

Update, 1:45 p.m.

People planning to attend the Friday rally in Greenwood should check weather apps on their cellphones for information about approaching storms, a National Weather Service meteorologist said Friday afternoon.

The Greenwood area, where former President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at 8 Friday night, is in an area of enhanced risk for storms, said Paul Fajman, a weather service meteorologist based in Valley.

"Anyone who is going to be outdoors where it may take some time to get back to your vehicle should be weather-aware," he said.

The storm front is expected to roll through that area between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., Fajman said, but supercells could develop before that. "It depends on how much daytime heating we have," he said.

Supercells are the least common type of thunderstorm, the weather service said, but they have a high propensity to produce severe weather, including damaging winds, very large hail, and, sometimes, tornadoes.

------------------------

People heading to the Friday evening rally in Greenwood featuring former President Donald Trump should be prepared for "strong, potentially severe" thunderstorms, the National Weather Service said.

Hail, damaging winds and the potential for heavy rain are in the forecast, said Dave Eastlack, a weather service meteorologist based in Valley.

"It could be a recipe for an unpleasant evening," he said.

The former president is scheduled to deliver remarks in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles W. Herbster at 8 p.m. at the I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, which is about 35 miles southwest of Omaha. The program, which also will feature other speakers, is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

Severe weather is expected across much of south-central Nebraska late this afternoon and evening. Most of the storm activity will occur between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m., the weather service said. The main hazard will be damaging wind gusts over 75 mph and large hail in excess of 2 inches in diameter. Tornadoes also are possible, especially between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. The storms will generally move from southwest to northeast at speeds of 40 mph or greater, forecasters said.

When asked Friday morning whether the Herbster campaign was concerned about the forecast or was considering canceling the event, campaign spokeswoman Emily Novotny said, No and no. We are guests at the event. The Herbster campaign wouldnt make any decisions regarding cancellation, she said.

Thursday night into Friday, heavy rains caused flooding north of Columbus, leading to the evacuation of Platte Center and closing a major north-south route, U.S. Highway 81.

Platte County Emergency Manager Tim Hofbauer said Friday morning that the area received more than 5 inches of rain in a short amount of time.

Just north of Columbus, 5 inches was recorded.

"The storm just sat there and churned for about an hour," Hofbauer said.

Two to three feet water streamed down Platte Center's main street overnight but was receding by midmorning. Two creeks, the Elm and Shell, meet in Platte Center, which makes the town flood-prone, he said. Townspeople sandbagged overnight and had started cleanup by Friday morning, he said. About 330 people live in the town.

According to an organizer of the Greenwood rally, parking is available at the venue beginning Friday morning, with on-site handicapped parking spots available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Attendees will be asked to enter I-80 Speedway from 238th Street southeast of the venue. Parking will be near the entrance, northeast of the racetrack, as well as on the tracks infield.

Once parked, guests will be asked to walk to the event entrance on the southwestern corner of the property.

The Secret Service will screen all rallygoers upon entry. A prohibited list of items includes alcoholic beverages; large backpacks, bags or suitcases; chairs; coolers; firearms; noisemakers; umbrellas; weapons; and any other items that may pose a threat to the security of the event as determined by and at the discretion of the security screeners.

An email from the event organizer says those attending are encouraged to wear masks and face coverings during the entry and screening process  areas where 6 feet of social distancing is not possible.

The former presidents appearance in Nebraska comes a week and a half before the May 10 primary election in which Herbster is competing for the GOP nomination for governor.

World-Herald Staff Writers Nancy Gaarder and Sara Gentzler contributed to this report, which also includes material from the Lincoln Journal Star.

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Elon Musk to buy Twitter for $44B and take it private

Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the platform where he promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on a wide range of issues to more than 83 million followers. The outspoken Tesla CEO, who is also the worlds wealthiest person, has said he wanted to buy and privatize Twitter because he thinks its not living up to its potential as a platform for free speech. The risk is that Musk goes too far in his hands off approach, potentially alienating users and advertisers. Shares of Twitter Inc. rose 5% Monday to $51.70 per share, below the $54.20 he offered for the company.

The AP Interview: Kyiv wants UN to seek Mariupol evacuation

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukraines foreign minister is urging U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres to press Russia for an evacuation of the besieged port of Mariupol when he visits Moscow on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press in an interview Monday such a move is really something that the U.N. is capable to do. Mariupol is the seaside city where an estimated 100,000 people are trapped. A contingent of Ukrainian fighters are holding out against Russian forces in a steel mill where hundreds of civilians also are taking shelter. Kuleba also expressed satisfaction with U.S. promises of substantial new aid, but expressed frustration that Kyiv's requests for help take a long time to be fulfilled.

Russia hits faraway targets; diplomat warns of risk of WWIII

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russia has unleashed a string of attacks against rail and fuel facilities deep inside Ukraine in an apparent attempt to thwart Ukrainian efforts to marshal supplies. Meanwhile, Russias top diplomat warned against provoking World War III and said the threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated. The U.S. is moving to rush more weaponry to Ukraine and says the Western allies assistance is making a difference in the 2-month-old war. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. wants to help Ukraine remain independent and also see Russia "weakened to the point where it cant do things like invade Ukraine.

White House: Without funding US will lose COVID treatments

WASHINGTON (AP)  After two years at the front of the line for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, the U.S. could soon have to begin taking a number. The White House is warning that other countries are already moving ahead of the U.S. in putting in their advance orders for the next generation of therapies. The problem is lack of funding. Many in Congress are willing to vote for the billions now needed. But Senate Republicans are demanding that as part of the deal Democrats must agree to extend pandemic-related, Trump-era border restrictions. Unless Congress can break that impasse, the White House says, more Americans will get COVID and die.

Judge finds Donald Trump in contempt in New York legal fight

NEW YORK (AP)  A New York judge has found former President Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to adequately respond to a subpoena issued by the states attorney general as part of a civil investigation into his business dealings. Judge Arthur Engoron on Monday ordered Trump to pay a fine of $10,000 per day. New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, had asked the court to hold Trump in contempt after he missed a March 31 court-imposed deadline to turn over documents. Trump, a Republican, has been fighting James in court over her investigation, which he has called a politically motivated witch hunt. Trump spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

French President Macron reelected: What's happening next?

PARIS (AP)  After winning reelection, French President Emmanuel Macron intends to go back to work straight away. His inauguration is expected by May 13, but he will face a crucial parliamentary election in June where he's likely to struggle to keep his majority. The 44-year-old leader plans to quickly head to Berlin, keeping the tradition that newly elected French presidents make their first trip abroad to Germany to celebrate their friendship after multiple wars. Efforts to try to end the war in Ukraine will top the agenda. Macron may also travel to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On Monday, Macron talked to U.S. President Joe Biden about support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Michigan chief IDs officer who fatally shot Patrick Lyoya

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP)  Grand Rapids, Michigan, police have identified Christopher Schurr as the officer who killed Patrick Lyoya three weeks ago. Lyoya was a Black man and native of Congo who was fatally shot in the back of the head after a struggle with the officer. Grand Rapids Chief Eric Winstrom had declined to name the officer but changed course Monday. Schurr has been a Grand Rapids officer since 2015. He grew up in the area and was a star pole vaulter at Siena Heights, a small Michigan college. In 2014, Schurr told Vaulter Magazine that he was getting married in Kenya because he couldn't afford a wedding celebration and take a separate trip to Africa to build homes. So he was going to do both at the same time.

Melissa Lucio's execution delayed by Texas appeals court

HOUSTON (AP)  A Texas appeals court on Monday delayed the execution of Melissa Lucio amid growing doubts about whether she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter. Lucio's effort to halt her execution has garnered the support of lawmakers, celebrities and even some of the jurors who sentenced her to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a request by Lucios lawyers for a stay so a lower court can review her claims that new evidence would exonerate her. It was not immediately known when the lower court might begin reviewing her case. Lucio had been set for lethal injection on Wednesday for the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah in Harlingen.

Parents sue after death of teen from Florida drop-tower ride

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)  The parents of a 14-year-old boy who fell to his death from a 430-foot drop-tower ride in central Floridas tourist district have sued its owner, manufacturer and landlord, claiming they were negligent and failed to provide a safe amusement ride. The lawsuit was filed Monday by the parents of Tyre Sampson in state court in Orlando. It says that the defendants failed to warn their 6-foot-2-inch, 380-pound son about the risks of going on the ride and didnt provide an appropriate restraint system on the ride. An initial report said ride sensors had been adjusted to double the size of restraint openings on two seats.

Weary of many disasters? UN says worse to come

A new United Nations report says disasters are on the rise and are going to get worse. In the late 20th century, the world had some 90 to 100 disasters per year. Now a new UN report says disasters that range from climate change to COVID-19 are going to jump to about 560 a year by 2030. One scientist likened the trend to multiple illnesses that weaken a body's immune system. He says it's not just the disasters themselves but the accumulated risk, how they add up and ping-pong against each other.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LONDON (AP)  Britains top diplomat called Wednesday for Western allies to send tanks, warplanes and other heavy weapons to Ukraine, saying fears of escalating the war were misplaced and inaction would be the greatest provocation.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said this is a time for courage, not caution among nations helping Ukraine fight Russia's invasion.

Heavy weapons, tanks, airplanes  digging deep into our inventories, ramping up production. We need to do all of this, Truss said during an annual foreign policy speech at Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of London.

NATO nations have supplied Ukraine with military weapons and gear, including missiles and armored vehicles. But they have been reluctant to send fighter planes  despite pleas from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  for fear of escalation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has already accused NATO of effectively waging a proxy war against Russia.

Western officials deny that, saying the conflict is between Russia and Ukraine due to Russias illegal invasion of its neighbor.

Britain has sent 450 million pounds ($565 million) in military aid to Ukraine, including thousands of missiles. But Despite Trusss call for jets, British Prime Minister Boris Johnsons spokesman, Max Blain, said there were no plans for the U.K. to send planes. He did not rule out Britain sending planes to another country, such as Poland, that would then give its own jets to Ukraine, but said there were no specific plans to do so.

Truss said Russias attack on Ukraine must be a wake-up call for international institutions that failed to prevent the invasion.

The architecture that was designed to guarantee peace and prosperity has failed Ukraine, Truss said. The economic and security structures developed after the Second World War and then the Cold War have been bent out of shape so far that they have enabled rather than contained aggression.

Truss called Russian President Vladimir Putin a desperate rogue operator who was ripping up the global order and outfoxing international institutions.

Russia is able to block any effective action in the U.N. Security Council, where it has a veto as a permanent member, she said, adding that the Group of 20 club of wealthy and emerging nations cannot function as an effective economic body while Russia remains at the table.

In response, Truss called for a new focus on military strength, economic security and deeper global alliances among free nations.

After years of declining military spending in many countries, including Britain, she said NATOs goal that countries spend 2% of gross domestic product on defense should be a floor, not a ceiling.

Truss also called for tougher economic sanctions on Russia, saying the West must cut off Russian oil and gas imports once and for all. That would be an easier thing to do for Britain than for many other European nations.

If Putin succeeds, there will be untold further misery across Europe and terrible consequences across the globe, she said. We would never feel safe again. So we must be prepared for the long haul and double down on our support for Ukraine.

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP)  A coyote attacked and seriously injured a girl on Southern California's famed Huntington Beach, police said.

Officers were called to the beach near the Huntington Beach Pier around 9:45 p.m. Thursday and found the girl, police spokesperson Jennifer Carey said in a statement.

She received serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital, authorities said.

The girl was with two women and another small child sitting near the waves when she wandered a mere few feet" and was attacked, state Department of Fish and Wildlife Capt. Patrick Foy said.

The coyote came out of the dark, hit and knocked over the girl and attacked her for 12 seconds before her cry alerted adults and the animal ran off, Foy said.

However, it stayed around, pacing, before finally fleeing, Foy said.

The family did nothing to antagonize the coyote, he added.

Police later shot two coyotes. One was found dead on the sand about a mile (1.6 kilometers) north of the pier Friday morning while the other was spotted Friday afternoon under a mobile home and was euthanized, Foy said.

Officials will check the animals for rabies and will try to determine if their DNA matches to the attack, he said.

Coyotes are found almost everywhere in California, including cities, and authorities have long warned that small children and pets can be at risk. Last year, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife began workshops to help communities deal with coyotes because of an increase in the number conflicts with people.

Foy said coyotes usually are shy and try to avoid humans. He estimated there are only about 10 to 12 attacks per year around the state, mostly involving smaller children but full-grown adults were attacked in a few cases.

Carey said police have conducted increased coyote trapping efforts throughout the city for the past several weeks and asked residents to report coyote sightings.

Huntington Beach, on the Orange County coast, has one of California's classic surf breaks and is known as Surf City USA.

No other information about the girl will be released because she is a juvenile, Carey said.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP)  A former Pennsylvania attorney general who served jail time for leaking grand jury material and lying about it was taken into custody Friday on an alleged probation violation, more than a month after she was charged with drunken driving, officials said.

Kathleen Kane, 55, was behind bars at Montgomery County Correctional Facility outside Philadelphia to await a hearing. No hearing date had been set as of Friday afternoon.

A message was left for her attorney in the drunken driving case.

Once a rising star in Pennsylvania politics, Kane resigned as attorney general after being convicted in 2016 of perjury, obstruction and other counts for leaking secret investigative files to embarrass a rival prosecutor.

Kane was sentenced to 10 to 23 months behind bars, serving her time at the Montgomery County jail outside Philadelphia. She was released in 2019. Her term of probation doesn't end until October 2025.

On March 12, police in Scranton were called to the scene of a two-car crash and said they found Kane behind the wheel of an Audi.

Kane told responding officers she was a designated driver, but surveillance video showed Kane herself had been drinking alcohol at a Scranton restaurant shortly before the crash, according to an affidavit.

Kane had watery, bloodshot eyes and slurred her words  police said she had trouble saying the word designated  and failed a field sobriety test, the documents said.

Kane was charged with drunken driving and careless driving. Four days later, a Montgomery County judge issued a bench warrant for her arrest.

The state's former top prosecutor also faces a May 26 hearing on the drunken driving charge.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Tennessee lawmakers closed out their annual legislative session Thursday, striking a deal that would let a politically appointed panel remove books from public school libraries statewide through a new veto power over local school board decisions.

The Republican-supermajority Legislature also worked out last differences on an education funding formula overhaul sought by Gov. Bill Lee and tougher campaign finance and ethics rules amid a federal investigation that has already seen one House Republican plead guilty and resign.

Those proposals and others head to the Republican governor, concluding a session in which lawmakers pushed further on conservative hot-button issues  targeting transgender athletes, imposing scrutiny over school libraries and blocking COVID-19 safety requirements.

The election-year session began in January.

Advocates of strict scrutiny of the materials in public school libraries said changes were necessary to boost transparency, their calls coming amid a national spike in book challenges and bans. School librarians in particular have become the target of scorn from Republican lawmakers in a push for more oversight of those contents provided to children  especially those touching on racism and LGBTQ issues.

The final bill would give the states textbook commission  all political appointees  ultimate say in an appeals process over whether a book can or can't stay in school libraries. When someone challenges a book, the elected school board makes a ruling. Under the bill, if a parent, student or school worker doesn't like the decision, they could appeal to the textbook commission, whose choice will apply to school libraries statewide.

Republican bill sponsor Rep. Jerry Sexton drew criticism after saying before Wednesday's House passage that any inappropriate book should be burned. He later noted he isn't on the textbook commission and didnt think any book-burning was likely to occur.

Lawmakers negotiated the bill Thursday, backing off from the House's proposed requirement that schools provide the commission a list of library materials to review for possible removals, and settling on putting the commission atop the appeals process.

Several Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the negotiated bill Thursday.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro noted that it doesn't specify how long a removed book stays out of libraries, or becomes eligible for reinstatement.

These are permanent bans on books," Yarbro said. If this had been the law when we started school libraries, our libraries would have about 150 books in them.

Already, the governor proposed and signed legislation that requires school libraries to post their contents online and regularly review their policies to make sure the materials are age-appropriate and suitable for the children.

Librarians have countered that schools already have policies for parents and educators to review school library books. They stress the need for better resources and possibly adding a state library coordinator to promote literacy and education statewide.

Lawmakers also agreed on terms for new campaign finance and ethics requirements.

Politically active nonprofits, ranging from the National Rifle Association to Americans for Prosperity, have been monitoring the proposal closely, concerned it could require revealing their donors.

The backlash drew a response recently from Senate Speaker Randy McNally, who assured that the bill sheds light on spending without censoring free speech or requiring disclosing nonprofit donors.

The version approved Thursday says certain nonprofits must disclose spending totaling at least $5,000 within 60 days of an election on communications that contain a state candidate's name or likeness. Exceptions exist for activities such as lobbying, or communicating with members of their organization or people who register to receive updates.

The wide-ranging bill also requires leaders of political committees to submit proof of identification; makes candidates and officeholders sign disclosures of financial interest under penalty of perjury; and increases reporting requirements in the 10 days before an election for candidates and political committee contributions and spending, due by the next business day.

The changes come after GOP Rep. Robin Smith resigned and then pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud in an alleged political consulting kickback scheme, which implicated former House Speaker Glen Casada and his former chief of staff Cade Cothren. Federal prosecutors allege that three claimed the political firm, Phoenix Solutions, was run by a certain Matthew Phoenix," but in reality it was Cothren under an alias.

Casada, who is not seeking reelection, and Cothren also have been subpoenaed in a state investigation into a separate shadowy political committee. Its treasurer told state regulators she is Cothrens former girlfriend and opened the PAC at Cothrens request, but took no additional action.

Lawmakers also finished work on a new K-12 education funding plan, which would add Tennessee to nearly 40 other states that attach a set amount of money per student.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
In an unusual late-campaign move, ads for Charles W. Herbster temporarily went dark on broadcast and cable TV this week.

The campaign blames an error with wiring money, but political observers say the incident and explanation raise questions.

Herbsters campaign for governor altered TV ad buys across Nebraska on Tuesday. Then, Wednesday, an agency that shares political ad news tweeted that the campaign had gone completely off broadcast and cable TV.

The Herbster campaign said Tuesday that it hadnt canceled anything and placed blame on a money-wiring problem. Wednesday, spokesperson Emily Novotny said that the ads went dark because of a time lapse after the issue was addressed. Rod Edwards, Herbsters deputy campaign manager, declined to offer any more detail on what happened.

Were up on advertising, Edwards said. Were going to be up on advertising for the rest of the campaign. Were not going to discuss internal financial transactions or decisions.

With less than two weeks until the gubernatorial primary and mailed ballots already in many voters hands, experienced political consultants were puzzled by the rare pause.

In a big, contested race like this  you want to avoid leaving the airwaves open to your opponents uncontested  you want to do everything you can to avoid that, said Ryan Horn, president of Omaha-based Bullhorn Communications and a Republican media strategist.

In analyzing Federal Communications Commission filings for about a dozen TV stations across Nebraska, The World-Herald found that the Herbster campaign revised its buys at many of the stations Tuesday.

At Omaha TV station KETV, for example, the campaign canceled spots planned for Wednesday-Saturday, which dropped a roughly $98,000 buy to about $42,000. The next day, it bought more than $7,000 worth of ad time for Thursday-Saturday.

At KOLN in Lincoln, the campaign canceled Wednesday-Saturday spots, dropping a roughly $58,000 buy to about $23,000. Then, Wednesday, it bought just over $5,000 worth in ad time.

A buy at Kearney-based KHGI-TV was revised and went from $15,000 to $6,000, then the campaign bought about $2,000 in ad time the next day.

The World-Herald asked the campaign if money saved from such moves was shifted elsewhere, but Edwards did not give an answer.

Its an indication that it is a campaign that is making very quick changes, trying to find their footing, trying to change their message, Horn said. Its not a campaign thats closing this campaign the way they would have liked to have planned, thats for sure.

Tuesday, the Herbster campaign launched an ad aimed at GOP candidate and University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen, prominent Pillen supporter Gov. Pete Ricketts, and State Sen. Julie Slama, who has accused Herbster of touching her inappropriately at a 2019 political event.

Herbster has maintained that the allegations from Slama and seven unidentified women, reported by the Nebraska Examiner, are a political hit job designed by Pillen and Ricketts. His new ad focuses on that.

Medium Buying tweeted Tuesday about the Herbster campaign canceling ads for Wednesday through Saturday, and then the next day about the campaign going dark on broadcast and cable. (An employee of Medium Buying is listed as State Sen. Brett Lindstroms gubernatorial campaigns buyer on FCC filings.)

What the pause indicates, political consultant Chris Peterson said, is a good question. Peterson said he could think of only one other time it has happened in the last two decades.

The answer would have to be an error or a campaign reassessing how to deploy  finite resources in the closing days of the campaign, he said.

Herbster has largely self-funded his campaign, donating a total of $8.9 million from his own pocket through April 5, the last date included in the latest public report.

Herbster, a Republican megadonor and Conklin Co. CEO, was slated to be a special guest on Friday at a rally hosted by former President Donald Trump in Greenwood. The rally was postponed until Sunday due to severe weather, Trumps Save America organization announced Friday afternoon. Herbster has described himself as the host of the event to The World-Herald.

Edwards said he didnt know anything about the financing for the rally, but he said it had nothing to do with the wire transfer issue.

Sam Fischer, a retired Nebraska-based Republican political consultant who worked on 11 gubernatorial races in seven states, said a wiring issue at this point in the race would be colossal malpractice.

But he did say theres a scenario where the wiring issue is believable: If Herbster were unable to free up enough capital in time for a deadline. Fischer isnt working with any campaign, but he is supporting Lindstrom and has donated money to his campaign.

Asked whether Herbster has enough money available to sustain the campaigns spending habits, Edwards rejected the idea that funding may be running low: The campaign is fully funded through the end of the election, he said, adding, Our message will be getting to Nebraskans loud and clear.

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A poll commissioned by GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Pillen again showed the top three candidates in a dead heat for the Nebraska governors seat.

The survey showed Pillen, a University of Nebraska regent and hog producer, polling at 24%, Conklin CEO Charles W. Herbster at 23% and State Sen. Brett Lindstrom at 20%. Twenty-four percent of surveyed voters were undecided and 7% went with former State Sen. Theresa Thibodeau.

According to a memo from pollster WPA Intelligence, the survey included 505 Republican primary voters who were contacted via phone April 26-28. The polls margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, so the gap among the top candidates fell within the margin of error.

Polling released by Lindstroms and Herbsters campaigns in mid-March already suggested a three-way race, as have more recent polls commissioned by the Lindstrom campaign and a political consultant.

An April 10-12 poll released by Lindstroms campaign showed Lindstrom and Pillen each polling at 27% and Herbster at 23%, with 12% of voters undecided and a margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percentage points.

An April 19-20 poll by Data Targeting for Neilan Strategy Group found Lindstrom polling at 28%, Herbster at 26% and Pillen at 24%, with 16% undecided and a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

Perre Neilan, the political consultant and strategist who owns Neilan Strategy Group, said poll results released by Pillen validate that survey, showing its a three-way race.

Randall Adkins, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said: The takeaway is the same, which is that the race is too close to call.

Adkins said Friday that he expected differences in numbers across recent polls, such as the breakdown of undecided voters, likely could be traced to different organizations using different screening questions to try to figure out whos likely to vote.

Whats gonna matter is whos gonna turn out on Election Day, No. 1, and, No. 2, how the undecided voters break, Adkins said.

The Pillen campaigns release of poll results represents an apparent shift in policy. Pillen, who has been viewed as a front-runner since early on due to a hefty war chest and big-ticket endorsements, told The World-Herald in March that his campaign wasnt releasing internal polling.

Friday, the campaign framed these new results as evidence that Pillen is leading and positioned to win.

Pillen is winning this race because Nebraskans recognize he is the most conservative candidate in the race, Pillen campaign manager Kenny Zoeller said in a statement.

Pat Trueman, spokesperson for Lindstroms campaign, pointed to previous polling from March that the Pillen campaign apparently had shared with donors. The poll also was conducted by WPA Intelligence, with a random sample of 2,000 registered Republicans, via live callers and text messages March 16-21. It showed Herbster with 28%, Pillen with 23%, Lindstrom with 18% and undecided voters at 21%; the memo did not include a margin of error. Trueman argued that this latest poll points to Lindstroms momentum and Pillens inability to grow his vote share despite far outspending Lindstrom.

Herbster campaign manager Ellen Keast said in a statement that the campaign hasnt seen any numbers that agree with the Pillen release. The campaign previously said its policy is not to publicly release specific polling data in the last 30 days of the campaign.

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BLOOMINGTON  Bloomington District 87 has given its okay to a tax abatement plan for the $4 million redevelopment of the CII East building in downtown Bloomington. It also approved a standardized tax incentive agreement for the local enterprise zone.

The District 87 Board of Education held a special meeting Thursday evening to vote on the resolutions.

The CII East agreement would freeze District 87's portion of the property taxes at the 2020 tax year level, ignoring any value added by the redevelopment for 10 years, with an optional two-year extension. The development will hopefully spur further growth in the area, District 87 Superintendent Barry Reilly said.

"I think all of us are collectively pretty excited, he said.

The districts share of the 2020 taxes was $8,617.24. It will continue to receive that amount during the course of the agreement.

The agreement also includes a provision that if more than one District 87 student lives in the building, the abatement is reduced by $4,000. The City of Bloomington would also pay $4,000 to the district per additional student.

The Bloomington City Council approved its part of the agreement on Monday. The developers plan to turn the building, which has stood vacant for years, into a mixed-use residential and commercial building, with first-floor commercial space, and eight apartments and four short-term apartment rentals above. They have formed 102 South East LLC for the project.

They hope the project will attract other development ideas to the downtown area, so they are aiming both the commercial and residential spaces for top-of-market, said Robbie Osenga, one of the developers.

The development would have been impossible without the incentives, he said during Thursday's meeting.

Without the school districts and citys help, theres no way we could make (the development) work the way we wanted it to, he said.

The standardized incentive package, which is separate from the CII East agreement, comes from the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council. It creates a uniform set of rules and a single application process, EDC President Patrick Hoban said Thursday. So far, Hoban has had to work with each of the taxing bodies separately to let them know what incentives might be offered through the enterprise zone.

It includes a five-year abatement plan for non-retail spaces and a three-year abatement plan for retail spaces. It has been in the works for years. Hoban plans to ask McLean County Unit 5, Heartland Community College and Central Illinois Regional Airport for approval next.

Contact Connor Wood at (309)820-3240. Follow Connor on Twitter:@connorkwood

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BLOOMINGTON  A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday to review a renewable energy companys proposal for a solar facility southwest of Bloomington that developers say could power 800 homes a year.

Towanda Solar LLC, owned by California-based Cypress Creek Renewables, is expected to spend about $7 million, with around $4 million invested locally, on the 5-megwatt, 28-acre project on a parcel owned by four residents in Dale Township. The zoning application was submitted April 8.

If the McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals approves the project at its 7 p.m. meeting Tuesday, the full county board would consider the project May 12.

It would be the second solar farm in McLean County, if the project is approved and subsequently receives a building permit to begin construction. It also would be the countys largest, as McLean Countys lone solar farm about 2 miles east of Downs, owned by Moraine Solar LLC, is a 2-megawatt facility.

McLean County Building and Zoning Director Phil Dick said an additional renewable energy company, Breezewood Solar LLC, has submitted a special-use permit to the county. He said that proposal will be heard at the zoning board of appeals June meeting.

The projects are re-proposals of applications submitted after passage of the 2016 Future Energy Jobs Act, which included solar and wind energy development incentives.

The county at one time had at least 18 applications for solar farms in 2018.

Dick said the flurry of special-use permit applications from solar farm companies around 2017 stalled about two years later because the Downs solar project was the only one selected to move forward in a state lottery in 2019.

Even if approved by the county board, Dick said there is no guarantee if or when the proposed project would be constructed.

They still have to get a construction permit to build it, and weve actually had a number of different companies apply for special uses to build (wind and solar) farms and then they expired, so they never built one, Dick said. This one, we dont know for sure whether theyre going to build this one or not, either, until they go for the construction permit.

Construction permits are issued through the building and zoning department and would not require county board approval, Dick added.

McLean County granted Towanda Solar two special use permits in 2018 and 2020 for a 2-megawatt solar energy facility on the same site in Dale Township, but the company never received a building permit.

Developers wrote in the newest proposal that the states Illinois Shines solar program changed under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act to incentivizing 5-megawatt solar farms instead of 2-megawatt facilities.

The landscape for solar development in Illinois is greatly improved due to increasing energy efficiency, decreasing technology costs, and the passing of the CEJA bill (Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in September 2021), wrote Kiera Gavin, an associate developer for Cypress Creek Renewables.

Officials at Cypress Creek Renewables could not be reached for further comment.

Towanda Solar expects the project to generate 21 local construction jobs along with property tax revenue for the county.

The project will be a low-impact development requiring little to no local municipal services, Gavin wrote.

She also said that as part of the Illinois Solar Block program, the power generated from the solar energy facility will serve Illinois residents and nearby communities or industrial subscribers at or below market rates.

The facility would be decommissioned after 40 years in operation.

Construction would include assembling rows of photovoltaic cell modules mounted on posts in the ground.

These rows of modules are referred to as solar arrays mounted on a single axis tracking system, which allows them to follow the sun throughout the day, Gavin wrote. The modules face east in the morning, are horizontal at midday, and face west in the afternoon, and are no more than 12 feet high at max tilt.

Cypress Creek Renewables has invested more than $2.3 billion in solar energy since 2014. It has developed more than 11 gigawatts of solar energy in about 800 projects across 14 states.

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NORMAL  President Joe Biden announced Friday he plans to nominate Normal Mayor Chris Koos to the Amtrak Board of Directors.

Passenger rails have been something that Ive been a fan of for a long time. Its done so much for our community here, Koos said. I early on learned the value of it to a community, so if I can be of help at the national level, Im looking forward to doing that.

Koos previously had been nominated to the board during the Trump Administration but his nomination never made it to the Senate floor for a vote, he said.

Before a vote, Koos said he expects to appear before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation for an interview before his nomination would proceed to a vote.

As a board member, Koos said he would serve in an oversight role concerning policy and budget related to National Railroad Passenger Corporation.

Following the White House announcement, Sen. Dick Durbin said he looks forward to supporting Koos nomination and working alongside him to grow and protect Amtraks national network.

Mayor Koos has been a powerful voice in Illinois transportation sector for years, Durbin said. He understands the importance of passenger rail to communities in Illinois, the Midwest, and across the country, which is why I recommended him for this position.

Contact Kelsey Watznauer at (309) 820-3254. Follow her on Twitter: @kwatznauer.

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CHICAGO  In America's third largest city, it's possible to get a crash course in the world's religions in a journey of just a few miles  from the University of Chicago's majestic, ecumenical Christian Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on Chicago's South Side to the humble Masjid Al-Taqwa, which meets in a converted stable, still under renovation a 15-minute ride to the south.

On Orthodox Christian Easter (April 24), 70 or so passengers took that ride on the Interfaith Trolley, a tour of sacred spaces inspired by this month's convergence of Ramadan, Passover, Easter, Vaisakhi (celebrated by Sikhs), Ridvan (observed by Baha'is) and Ram Navami (a Hindu holiday).

Perhaps more reminiscent of speed-dating than a comparative religion course, the tour made brief stops at five religious sites across southeast Chicago, hearing from a series of faith leaders and lay people from different religious groups.

Sponsored by local faith institutions such as American Islamic College, the Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago Theological Seminary, the Parliament of the World's Religions and the Hyde Park & Kenwood Interfaith Council, the trolley was intended to promote interfaith understanding and cooperation.

"This was a beautiful event, far more beautiful than I expected," said Kim Schultz, coordinator of creative initiatives at the InterReligious Institute, part of Chicago Theological Seminary. "The words shared and the community shared really struck my heart."

"This is an incredible opportunity to come together to educate our communities and shape the public narrative about what it means to live well together amidst our religious and cultural diversity and difference," organizers said in announcing the event.

At the Rockefeller Chapel, Mayher Kaur, the leader of the Sikh Student Association gave an overview of Sikh practices and explained that Sikh gurus worked to overcome India's caste system. A Hindu student told participants about Ram Navami, a Hindu holiday that fell on April 10 that celebrates the birth of Lord Rama, whose story is told in Ramayana. Shradha Jain, a Jain student spoke of her faith's beliefs and the April 14 festival of Mahavir Jayanti, marking the birth of Jainism's founder.

At Ebenezer Baptist Church, Patricia Butts, the church's clerk, recounted the congregation's musical history  Thomas Dorsey, composer of "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," founded an early gospel choir there in the early 1930s before moving to Pilgrim Baptist Church, where the former bluesman was music director for half a century. Meeting in a former synagogue, Ebenezer remains known for its gospel music and its annual performance of Handel's "Messiah."

Butts also told visitors about the church's Easter observances, including the seven last words of Jesus, and about its vibrant and dedicated congregation.

"Our senior deacon is 102 years old and still going strong," she said.

At the Claret Center, which offers "resources for the human journey," passengers learned about the center's offerings of spiritual direction, meditation and acupuncture, then heard a brief meditation from Heiwa no Bushi, a BodhiChristo teacher from North Carolina, whose spiritual teaching merges Buddhism and Christianity. Bushi encouraged his listeners to "love wastefully" rather than filling their minds with worry.

"If you love wastefully, you are living fully," he said.

At KAM Isaiah Israel, a Reform Jewish congregation whose Hyde Park neighbors include President Barack Obama, Rabbi Frederick Reeves explained how the congregation was formed over decades as several Jewish synagogues  one of them the oldest in the state of Illinois  merged, gathering in their current building in the 1920s. He also told visitors about the Jewish observance of Passover, noting that one of its key elements is that it is celebrated at home, meaning every family makes Passover their own.

"If you go to two Seders at two different houses, you'll have two different experiences," he said.

The tour ended up at the Masjid Al-Taqwa, a predominantly Black mosque whose members are renovating their own building after worshipping in rented space for years. Most of the renovation is being done by members of the community.

"You've got to dig deep. And then you have to roll up your sleeves," Imam Tariq El-Amin told his guests.

On the ride back to the Chicago Theological Seminary for an interfaith iftar, Saba Ayman-Nolley, a retired professor and president of the Hyde Park & Kenwood Interfaith Council, gave an overview of the Baha'i celebration of Ridvan and of the interfaith council's charitable work. That work includes food pantries, assistance to the homeless and resettling of refugees.

In a talk interrupted by a sidewalk hip-hop group that began singing about "divine prophecy" while the trolley was stopped at a red light, Ayman-Nolley said that Ridvan celebrated the "springtime awakening of humans," where people can lay down their weapons and embrace a message of love and brotherhood.

Back at the seminary, Timothy Gianotti, president of American Islamic College, gave a brief meditation on the meaning of Ramadan before an interfaith iftar dinner, where he and other Muslims broke their fast as they gathered with those of other faiths.

Ramadan is a time of revelation and a time of disruption, he said, in which Muslims draw near to God by breaking away from the distractions of the world.

"We fast from all the things that are getting in our way," he said. "We fast from our own sense of egocentric centrality in the universe. We fast from the habits of mind and habits of being that get in our way  or in other people's way  in terms of the spiritual life."

Among the passengers on the trolley were Emily Heitzmann, a Lutheran pastor on Chicago's North Side, and her mom, Barbara Heitzmann, who was visiting from Dubuque, Iowa. Emily Heitzmann said the event was a reminder of our common humanity and that people of different faiths still had much in common. Her mom agreed.

"We're all striving for peace, being centered, and holiness," said Barbara Heitzmann, who said she only wished that the visit to each religious site had been longer.

This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press. RNS and AP partner on some religion news content. RNS is solely responsible for this story.

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100 years ago

April 29, 1922: Three law officers, including the Schuyler County sheriff, were shot dead when they went to quell a disturbance among railroad section hands at Frederick, north of Beardstown. Twenty-eight suspects have been arrested. Three others ran off but were caught.

75 years ago

April 29, 1947: Fifteen foreign women  all of them war brides  are enrolled in an American orientation class at BHS, taught by Ronald Lemme. Six more are expected to enroll later. The class is intended to benefit wives who are now applying for U.S. citizenship.

50 years ago

April 29, 1972: Hiram Walker distillery will close its barrel stave plant at Tremont plus four others in Illinois and Wisconsin. Twenty-eight workers will lose their jobs. The staves are shipped to the Peoria distillery, which makes barrels for the storage of Hiram Walker whiskey.

25 years ago

April 29, 1997: The Merna brothers, descendants of the village of Mernas founders, are building a hog confinement operation near there. Some neighbors are trying to stop it but arent sure they can. They cite fears of odors and pollution as their main reasons for opposing the Mernas.

Compiled by Jack Keefe; jkeefe@coldwellhomes.com.
The Japanese government says it is exploring various areas of cooperation to support Ghanas post-COVID-19 economic recovery and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) preparedness.



Miyashita Tadayuki, Deputy Director-General of the Department of African Affairs, Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted that new collaborations and partnerships were necessary in addressing economic and security challenges that confront the world.



Addressing a virtual meeting on March 16, he said the support would be tailor-made to enable Ghana to lead and own her development process.



The meeting forms part of events in preparation for this years Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), a summit-level conference on Africas development initiated by Japan in 1993.



He stated that Agriculture, infrastructure development and COVID vaccine support were some of the priority areas that would be given the needed attention to enhance the countrys growth.



Scheduled for August 27 and 28 and expected to be held in Tunisia, this years event would be the eighth edition of TICAD.



Prior to the TICAD 8, the TICAD Ministerial Meeting would be held online on March 26 and 27.



Mr Tadayuki stated that owing to the considerable socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Africa, Japan was of the view that now was the time to work together internationally.



Through the TICAD8, Japan will strongly support African-led development and aims at setting out a pathway for African development looking ahead to the post-COVID-19 era, he added.



Presently, Japan, he said, was providing support to Ghana and other African countries through three thematic areas such as economy, society and peace and stability.



On the economy, Mr Tadayuki noted that Japan rolled out the African Business Education initiative that aimed at developing 3,000 industrial human resources over six years and promoting the maritime and shipping industries through port infrastructure and provision of shipping equipment.



In the area of society, he said Japan was promoting access to universal health coverage and providing quality education while strengthening governance for peace and stability.



Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Kato Ryuichi highlighted the significant achievements of initiatives undertaken to help Ghana and other African countries bounce back from the effects of COVID-19.



Key among them, he noted, was the support for vaccination to help fight COVID-19 through the provision of cold chain and medical equipment to establish an effective and safe vaccination system.



He further recounted the impact of the Next Innovation with Japan (NINJA) project, which provided support to start-ups that produce innovative business models and innovation that respond to changes in social structure and economic activities.



Mr Ryuichi said deliberations from TICAD 8 would inform JICAs support to Ghana and other countries in building a resilient, inclusive and prosperous continent.

Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh









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AstraZeneca (AZN.L) on Friday beat first-quarter sales and profit expectations, helped by higher than expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine, a product the company has forecast will see a sharp decline over the course of the year.



The vaccine recorded $1.15 billion in sales in the quarter, the majority of which came from initial contracts, but that number eclipsed consensus analyst expectations of $739 million, cited by Credit Suisse.



The shot was AstraZeneca's second best-selling product in 2021 with sales of $3.9 billion.



The company expects sales of its antibody-based COVID-19 treatment, Evusheld, to grow this year, but that will be more than outweighed by an expected decline in sales of the vaccine developed with Oxford University amid growing competition, concerns about its shelf life and side effects. read more



The antibody treatment, which generated $469 million in first-quarter revenue, came in just short of consensus expectations of $480 million.



The company said in February sales of its COVID-19 products are expected to decline by a low-to-mid 20s percentage in 2022, while overall revenues will rise by a high teens percentage, with core earnings up by a mid-to-high 20s percentage.



The London-listed drugmaker maintained those forecasts on Friday, after reporting total revenue of $11.39 billion for the three months ended March 31 and core earnings of $1.89 per share - surpassing consensus expectations of $10.85 billion and $1.70 per share, respectively, Refinitiv IBES data showed.



AstraZeneca's diabetes and heart disease drug, Farxiga, brought in $1 billion in the period. That was well ahead of consensus estimates of $819 million, according to Credit Suisse.



But the company's shares fell by 1% in early trade after sales of its top three oncology drugs - Tagrisso, Imfinzi and Lynparza - missed consensus expectations. Even though COVID-19 levels are beginning to wane, access to cancer diagnoses and treatment has still not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.



Meanwhile, the company pared back its expectations for China, where it has an outsized presence. Last year, the country accounted for about 16% of AstraZeneca's total revenue.



The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said it expected to see sales decline by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2022 in China, in part due to discounts it has agreed to secure a place on China's National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) for various medicines.



The country has also recently put in place COVID lockdowns, which analysts worry could affect sales in the second quarter.













Source: REUTERS









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Two gangsters who stormed a house at Kpogedi-Zongo, near Aflao in the Volta Region and shot a man after their bid to steal three motorbikes failed, were on Wednesday sentenced to a total of 40 years imprisonment by the Aflao Circuit Court.



The convicts are Atitso Korshie, 23 and Wisdom Dzeke, 25.



They pleaded not guilty. However, the court, presided over by Joseph Ofosu, found them guilty of robbery, causing harm and possession of firearms without lawful authority.



Each of them will serve 20 years behind bars in hard labour.



Chief Inspector Bob Wuda, who represented the republic, told the court that the incident took place at about 2:00 a.m. on September 24, 2020.



The prosecution said the two were among four thugs armed with machetes and a pistol who attacked the house that night. The court also heard that the gangsters held four occupants of the house hostage, amidst firing of guns into the roof of the house.



The prosecution said the robbers seized the cellular phones of their hostages, including an amount of GH250.



Arrest



The ensuing noise at the robbery scene attracted neighbours to the house, prompting three of the robbers to flee leaving behind Korshie who was armed with a gun.



It was when the neighbours pounced on Korshie to retrieve the gun from him that he shot at one of the occupants of the house in the thigh, said the prosecution.



The victim was rushed to Saint Anthony at Dzodze where he received treatment, the court was further told.



The prosecution said after Korshie was handed over to the police, he mentioned Dzeke and two others, believed to be Togolese as his accomplices.



The three went into hiding but Dzeke was later arrested following a tip-off.

Source: graphiconline.com









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There is a high prevalence rate of self-medication among Ghanaians because of the high cost of accessing quality healthcare from health facilities, Mr Samuel Boakye Donkor, the Vice President, Private Health Facilities Association of Ghana, said on Thursday.



He noted that government, through the National Health Insurance Scheme, often delayed in the payment of claims to service providers under the Scheme, which made the private health facilities charge patients or clients before rendering services.



In view of that, those who could not afford the payment of the high bills, coupled with the stress involved, stay at home and resort to self-medication and eventually worsening their conditions.



Mr Donkor said this in his contribution to a panel discussion organised alongside the ongoing West Africa Pharma and Healthcare Exhibition in Accra, on the topic: "Healthcare Industry in Africa and Access to Finance".



He bemoaned the lack of access to finance to run private health facilities because most banks were not ready to offer loans to them in view of the perceived high risks in lending to private institutions.



"Nobody wants to lend us money because of the risks but we need to buy new medical equipment, buy medicines, pay our workers, pay taxes and VAT and so on, so how do we run our facilities?," he queried.



Mr Donkor also lamented the outmoded and rigid laws in the health sector that hindered operations in the sector and quality of services rendered.



He cited, for instance, a law that says: "If a medical doctor in a private health facility is taking care of a patient and the cost of the care or service being rendered is too high and can't be paid by the patient, the doctor has to refer the patient to a public health facility....and so if there is no public health facility around the area, should the person die?"...he asked, rhetorically.



Mr Daniel Appiah, the Head of Business and SMEs Financing at the CalBank, in said most health facilities in the country were not well prepared in terms of finances in running their facilities.



"There is poor accounting practices, no well-defined structure for running the health facility, he said.



"Most of the time, the CEO or the Founder of the facility is acting as the accountant, marketing officer, procurement officer, and that there is no successive plan over the ownership of the institution.



He was of the belief that with a well-structured governance system in place, it would be easier for the banks or financial institutions to offer loans to the health facility.



Mr Appiah said although the banks had allocated funds for supporting private health institutions, all applicants were supposed to meet the requirements, which most of them failed.



He called for well-structured governance structures, business plan and successive plan on ownership to enable the facilities to get financial support from the banks.



Mr Thomas James, the Project Director of the West Africa Pharma and Healthcare Exhibition, said in every gap or challenge, there were opportunities to make profit and support humanity, and urged the pharmaceutical companies, exhibitors and participants to take advantage of any challenge and make society a better place.





Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah has expressed utter disappointment in the Special Advisor to President Nana Akufo-Addo, Yaw Osafo-Maafo.



The Governance Lecturer at the Central University was highly diappointed after discovering that Hon. Osafo-Maafo led negotiations regarding CLOGSAG's neutrality allowance.



It's emerged that the neutrality allowance was spearheaded by the Hon. Yaw Osafo-Maafo together with Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei Asare.



This disclosure was made when host of Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo", Kwami Sefa Kayi, affectionately called "Chaiman General", played an audio recording of the Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Dr. Isaac Bampoe Addo, revealing names of the powerful hands that came to the negotiation table.



Reacting to Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo's role in the issue, Dr. Otchere-Ankrah, on Kokrokoo, stated; "I am very disappointed because he is someone I hold [him] in high esteem and I won't hide from that. I'm very, very disappointed that he led this."







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Government is seeking to raise some 3 million as it hosts the 2023 edition of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Book Capital programme.



With Accra winning the bid to host the year-long event in September 2021, Ghana is expected to invest in certain projects and activities that will promote a culture of reading among various demographics of the population.



The event is also intended to promote tourism with a focus on the cultural heritage of a chosen city and the nation under the theme, Reading to Connect Mind for Social Transformation.



These projects and activities are to be partly financed by the government and through other funding components such as sponsorship and grants.



They include the provision of learning infrastructure, promotion of reading culture, book industry development, art and culture promotion, improving access to information as well as championing fundamental human rights.



Accra is the third city in West Africa to host the event after Port Harcourt and Conakry Guinea.



Mrs Mavis Asante, the Distribution Services Manager of the Ghana Books Development Council (GBDC), gave the information at the Commemoration of the World Book and Copyright Day 2023, held under the theme, Reading to Develop Minds.



She noted that Ghana made the first bid to host the event in 2019, which was unsuccessful.



In December 2020, the concept notes for 2023 were put together and the then-mayor, Mohammed Adjei Sowah announced Accras candidature. The bid was submitted at 9 pm on April 15, 2021 she said.



She said that the programme had the objectives of helping the youth develop creative abilities, highlighting the negative effect of substance abuse, sensitising girl-child against teenage pregnancy and raising public awareness of the negative effect of overpopulation caused by rural-urban migration.



Ms Auderey Azoulay, the Director-General of UNESCO, in a speech read on her behalf, said books inspired admiration for different cultures as they helped share ideas and experiences.



Books, as symbols of hope and dialogue, she said, must be defended in solidarity with professionals who disseminated literary heritage and build bridges across continents and cultures.



Authors and publishers, she said, were, however, vulnerable as had been shown with a huge drop in sales and revenue with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.



Despite the importance of books in sustaining social wellbeing, the publishing industry is facing major upheavals, most notably the digital transformation, she said.



Mr Abdourahamane Diallo, UNESCO Country Head, said Ghana had the opportunity of impacting positively the entire sub-region based on the outcomes of projects to be implemented under the programme.



UNESCO will be there to support you and Ghanaian cities are also encouraged to join the UNESCO creative cities next tour as these are cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development, he said.





Source: GNA









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Professor Aaron Michael Ocquaye, the former Speaker of Parliament, has called for reforms in the appointment and removal of judges as provided for in the 1992 Constitution to strengthen the countrys judicial system.



Prof Oquaye said the case of Justice Amua Sekyi gave the country the lesson that where the Executive was bent on removing a Judge, it was easier to do so than meets the eye.



If under Article 146 of the Constitution, the President receives a petition for the removal of a Judge, the President should refer the matter to the Chief Justice (CJ).



If the CJ is of the view that there is a Prima Facie case, the CJ sets up a committee to investigate the complaint. Three Supreme Court Judges, two other persons (not Lawyers nor from the Council of State or parliament), should make a recommendation to the Chief Justice for the suspension of the judge and forwarded to the President for action, he said.



The former Speaker of Parliament was speaking at the launch of Professor Michael Oquaye Centre for Constitutional Studies in Accra organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs, Ghana.



The Centre, established within the Institute will help address the deficit in the countrys Constitution.



The Centre will assist to bring constitutionalism into the country, thus, translate the Constitution to the simplest terms and local languages with illustrations.



It will be taught in schools, churches, mosques and civil society generally, to live by the tenets of the Constitution.



Mike Ocquaye calls for reforms in the appointment and removal of judges

On decentralization, the former Speaker of Parliament recommended that one-third of appointments by the President should be left to women, and that political parties should operate at the local level.



He said all Chief Executives of Districts, Municipality and Metropolis should be elected to wean them off executive control and that District Assemblies elections should be two years away from national elections.



On the appointment of Council of State members, he suggested the need to introduce institutional representation and not allow the President to choose his advisors because the 1992 Constitution gave the President too much power in the appointment of the members.



We need to adopt the recommendation of the Committee of Experts which provided that the Council of State shall aid and counsel the President, the Council of Ministers, Parliament and other organs of State in the performance of their functions under the Constitution or under any other law (Section 3(i)), he said.

J

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has met with the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), Tony Blair, to discuss opportunities for leveraging Ghanas leadership role in digitalization on the African continent to maximize benefits for citizens, local technology firms and businesses.



During the discussions, Dr. Bawumia said Ghana is now set to move on to the next phase of digitalization with the commitment to build on the current digital platforms.



Additionally, he observed that as part of plans of the government, data analytics and artificial intelligence will be used to provide life-impacting solutions for the ordinary Ghanaian.



We are determined that Ghana will not miss out on the fourth industrial revolution, he stated.



The former Prime Minister of UK, attended the meeting at the Jubilee House with a team from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) and Oracle Technologies.

Source: B&FT









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Former United Nations (UN) Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, has condemned countries whose citizens celebrated military takeovers on the African continent.



He explained that the overthrow of elected leaders as seen in the Gambia, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)was a threat to the continents democratic governance as such development crippled the foundation, hence the call for citizens to fight against such negative emergence.



Eight of the fourteen national elections conducted in the region between January 2020 and March 2022 ended with contested outcomes that led to violence in countries such as Benin, Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, and Togo.



The growing unrest around electoral processes certainly raised concerns about future elections in the region, however, elections such as the recent presidential and parliamentary elections in the Gambia give us hope of the possibility of peaceful elections he said.



Dr Chambas said this yesterday in Accra on Tuesday at a two-day stakeholders workshop on the implementation of the Electoral Violence Monitoring, Analysis and Mitigation (ENAM) project.



The project covered 17 electoral processes and important lessons which were carried out in five countries (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Mali and Guinea). It was later extended to five additional countries (Niger, Burkina-Faso, Benin, Ghana and Cote dIvoire).



Participants were representatives from UN, African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), among others.



It was organized by the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP)to dialogue and share experience on achievements, good practices, opportunities and challenges of the project, and as well facilitate similar initiatives with a view to contributing to peaceful elections in the Region.



Dr Chambas said research had shown that Africa was one of the most socially and economically unequal regions, with the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few people.



He said the growing population of unemployed youth prepared the ground for citizen mobilisation and that could turn violent, stressing that this dissatisfaction and frustration were particularly felt by the vulnerable and marginalised population, especially women and the youth.



The Executive Director of WANEP, Dr Chukwuemeka Eze, said the contemporary challenges to elections and democratic governance escalated by election disputes continued to threaten the foundation of democracies.



He said already the African region was compounded by myriads of insecurity which needed the collective efforts of leaders to address.



The Minister for the Interior, Mr Abrose Dery, in a speech read for him, said Ghana had been implementing a National Security Strategy to address threats that were potentially imminent.

Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh









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Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari has issued a warning to diplomats against interference in the forthcoming elections.



The warning was made during an Iftar dinner with diplomats on Thursday at the president's residence in the capital, Abuja.



Presidential elections are scheduled for February 2023.



"As Nigeria goes through this trajectory, I urge our friends in the global community, represented by you the diplomatic corps, to adopt a positive role that reinforces the doctrine of respect for our internal affairs and respect for facts and devoid of preconceived notions and bias," Mr Buhari is quoted as saying in a statement.



He also vowed to crack down on electoral fraud.



"Those planning to rig the forthcoming elections should think twice because I intend to resolutely protect and defend the sacred will of the Nigerian people, to be expressed through the ballot box," he said.



Mr Buhari's second term ends in May 2023 and he is not eligible for re-election.

Source: BBC









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There was fire at a property of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, (SCOAN), in Ikotun, Lagos State.



Confirming the incident, the Head, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Services, Margaret Adeseye, said the fire affected a section.



She said, It is an open place, so, it was the shelter that caught fire. But we were able to curtail it and it did not spread beyond where it started. We have yet to identify the cause of the fire.



The Acting Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, who also confirmed the incident, told newsmen that the fire had been put out.



He said, The incident happened at a building belonging to the late pastor. The late pastor usually went there to relax and meditate. Federal fire service officials moved in to put out the fire.



Reacting, The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) yesterday said it had yet to ascertain the cause of the fire outbreak on Wednesday, at its old site Agodo, Egbe; two kilometres from SCOAN headquarters cathedral.



It said the fire had since been put out and assured the public that a review was ongoing, stating that there was no need for panic or unnecessary speculations.



In a statement, SCOAN said the fire affected a general-purpose store while there were no injuries or lives lost.

Source: Vanguardngr









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We write as solicitors for and on behalf of BC INTERNATIONAL DMCC GHANA LIMITED pursuant to whose instructions we write this letter.



We refer to the above "headlined" publication, which denigrates the reputation of BGC International MCC Ghana Limited as a body corporate and its Directors.



Our candid opinion is that there was a clear misrepresentation of facts in news bulletins as inaccuracies were captured in the various publications.



BGC INTERNATIONAL DMCC GHANA LTD has always conducted its affairs within the ambit of the laws of Ghana and has consistently been guided by statute in its operations and reporting to the Ghana Revenue Authority to Date



We are happy to state that our Client is up-to-date with its tax obligations.



As you will observe, the Chamber of Bullion Traders Ghana (CBTG), the association to which our Client is a member, is seeking legal redress in court regarding withholding tax payments for Mineral exporters.



It is the association's view that the position of GRA does not conform to the then operational framework.



Therefore, our Client is working with the GRA through its Association, CBTD to remedy this anomaly swiftly.



We encourage all media houses to give accurate information to the Public.



The Directors of BGC INTERNATIONAL DMCC GHANA LTD always have and will always administer their Roles and act as required by Standards.



BGC INTERNATION DMCC GH LTD has created a Good Reputation in the mineral exporting Business and will maintain the same always.



We want to assure all stakeholders, partners, and hard-working employees of our Client's commitment to working with all stakeholders to bring finality to the current issues.









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Alexander Akwasi Acquah, a Member of Parliament(MP) for the Akim Oda constituency has rebuked the US Department of State for poking its nose into the affairs of the nation.



"Dont we know what happens in the US? Or you're a big brother so we cant talk about them? We need to come together and expose reports like this; theyre not credible . . . cant we write reports better than this?" he said.



Human Rights report



The US Department of State's human rights report on Ghana has generated some form of controversy in the country.



The lengthy report titled "2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Ghana" according to some critics has painted a negative picture of Ghana's judiciary as it alleged the Judicial officials tend to be corrupt.



The report read; "While the constitution and law provide for an independent judiciary, the judiciary was subject to unlawful influence and corruption. Judicial officials reportedly accepted bribes to expedite or postpone cases, lose records, or issue favorable rulings for the payer of the bribe. A judicial complaints unit within the Ministry of Justice headed by a retired Supreme Court justice addressed complaints from the public, such as unfair treatment by a court or judge, unlawful arrest or detention, missing trial dockets, delayed trials and rendering of judgments, and bribery of judges. The government generally respected court orders."



It also touched on other areas of Ghana's economy, one of such is respect for the integrity of persons.



The US report stated that, "there were a few reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. Offices charged with investigating security force killings include the Special Investigations Branch of the Ghana Armed Forces and the Police Professional Standards Bureau. On June 26, unidentified perpetrators beat #FixTheCountry movement supporter and social activist Ibrahim Kaaka Muhammed in Ejura, Ashanti Region. On June 28, he died in the hospital from his injuries."



Ghana's human rights President



Contributing to a panel discussion on UTV's 'Adekye Nsroma' programme, the Akim Oda MP said Ghana already has a Human rights lawyer and advocate as a President, hence we don't need "a cut and paste report".



"What criteria did they use . . . it looks like they only cut and paste; painting Ghana black, but we know our President is a human rights advocate," he indicated.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has touted Ghana as operating the best democracy in the West African sub-region.



The president pointed out the political successes of the Fourth Republic in arriving at that conclusion.



Among others, he cited the peaceful transfers of power since 1992 and the resort to the courts to deal with major electoral disputes after presidential elections.



We have had five presidents in the history of the 4th Republic, with peaceful transfers of power from a governing to an opposition party on three separate occasions.



"Even when there was disagreement with the outcome of an election, it was the Supreme Court, on two occasions, rather than the streets, that validated its result. We are, arguably, the most stable democracy in West Africa, he added in an address on April 28 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the referendum that birthed the Fourth Republic.



In making a strong case for Ghanaians to protect the democracy that has been nurtured over three decades, he stressed: there are no short-cuts for the progress and prosperity of our country. Only hard work, creativity, innovation, a sense of enterprise and unity in the nation can produce the accelerated economic development that we all yearn for and deserve."



The President also urged the citizenry to consolidate their trust in democracy and remain vigilance given that, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.



I say so because there are some, who for their own parochial and selfish interests, would want to see a return to the dark days of authoritarian rule, simply because, with no respect for the Ghanaian people, they are either unwilling to subject themselves or their vision to the open scrutiny of the Ghanaian people, or because they know they will be rejected by the Ghanaian people and, thus, seek a shortcut to office and power. Let us strengthen our resolve to resist such persons for our own common good, he said.













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A leading member of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Bright Akwetey, has stated that the internal challenges confronting the party are under control.



There is no challenge or problem that cannot be solved. In order to win, we need harmony and togetherness, so we will deal with everything, he said.



Speaking with journalists at a ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of the Founder of the party and Ghanas first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, in Accra last Wednesday, Mr Akwetey said the party would deal with the challenges and come out stronger.



I want to also say that anything going on is a constitutional issue and we will deal with it as such. The revival of the party is paramount to us and in the end, the CPP will stand tall, he said.



Context



The CPP had been embroiled in some confusion after three members of the party, the first Vice-Chairperson, Onzy Nkrumah; the General Secretary, Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah and the partys Youth Organiser, Osei Kofi Acquah, were interdicted by the central committee of the party chaired by its Chairperson, Nana Akosua Frimpomaa Sarpong-Kumankumah.



But a counter-central committee (CC) meeting chaired by Emmanuel Ogbojor, second Vice National Chairperson with seven of the elected executive members present, as well as 11 of the regional chairpersons and chairpersons of other committees of the CPP, overturned that decision.



It also asked Nana Sarpong-Kumankumah to step aside to enable the party to hold a rerun of the election held on August 22, 2020 between her and the first runner-up in the chairmanship race, Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim.



But in a counter statement issued by the partys Council of Elders, it dissociated itself from the meeting and described it as an unlawful meeting.



It said the meeting was an attempt to sow seeds of confusion within the party.





The said meeting, by our reckoning and the constitution of the party, is unlawful, it said in a statement signed by the councils secretary, Islam Subiri Isah.



The statement said the Council of Elders, pursuant to the mandate granted under Article 68 of the CPP constitution, viewed with concern the recent events engaged in by certain members of the CPP.



However, the General Secretary of the CPP, Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah, in a rebuttal of the councils statement, insisted that the said CC meeting was lawful and properly constituted.



Erasing



Mr Akwetey said there were attempts by some unscrupulous people to erase the name of Dr. Nkrumah and his achievements from the history of Ghana.



He said the party would not allow it to happen.



There has been an attempt to erase Dr Nkrumah from history but that will not fly. Why should that happen? The African struggle has not ended. What Dr Nkrumah stood and fought for has not been achieved, so why would we want to take him out of Ghanas history? I will not allow that and the party will not allow that either, he said.



Funeral



On her part, Nana Yaa Jantuah said plans were in place for the party to give Dr Nkrumah a befitting funeral which would take place in November, this year.



"A befitting funeral he did not get; a restless soul which needs to rest is the bane of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah. It is on this premise that the CPP and like-minded people in the diaspora and on the African Continent would organise a befitting funeral for Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, she noted.









Source: graphiconline.com









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A former Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye, has called for reforms in party financing in the countrys democratic dispensation.



He described as dangerous the rise of unbridled financial expenditure in both intra-party competition and national elections and emphasised the need to address the problems of political party financing.



He made the call at the inauguration of the Prof. Mike Oquaye Centre for Constitutional Studies at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra last Tuesday.



Concerns



Prof. Oquaye, who is a constitutional scholar, said areas that needed to be examined included limitations on money to be expended during party primaries since the Constitution required that the internal management of the affairs of political parties should be in accordance with democratic principles.



The reforms, he said, must, therefore, provide against vote-buying.



At the national level, he said the screws must be tightened on the financial accountability of political parties with sanctions provided for and applied.



Third, state funding of political parties needs a reconsideration. The process must be just and equitable to all political parties. But it cannot be a shield of mere survival for parasitic political parties which spring up on the eve of elections only to collect state largesse, he stated.



Prof. Oquaye, who is also a former Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya, said the principles to qualify and all relevant controls must be clearly identified together with appropriate offences and principles.



He explained that the constitutional process must be inextricably linked with good governance and development in the country.



We should seriously re-examine our governance as a people so that wherever a lacuna is found, we tighten the constitutional screws to achieve desired goals, he said.



Citing the membership of MPs as board members of public corporations, he said although no provision specifically provided against that, it is clearly a case of conflict of interest as those who are to hold public corporations accountable are themselves members of the boards of such institutions.



That, he added, flouted the principles of probity and accountability under the Constitution.



To avoid all doubts, a constitutional mandate should be provided to prohibit this. Then no one can blame the President, he stated.



Prof. Oquaye, who is also a former Ghana High Commissioner to India, said constitutionalism must beget good governance; and good governance must manifest, reflect and echo the glory of constitutionalism.



Reforms



He recalled the Constitutional Review Commission set up under late President Prof. John Evans Atta Mills to revisit the Constitution and come out with recommendations for improvement.



Since then, floods of water have flowed under the bridge and this is a call to revisit constitutional issues which touch and concern the republic.



Prof. Oquaye said the exercise proposed was not to rewrite the whole Constitution but to study and recommend areas where appropriate amendments, additions and subtractions may be made to strengthen the process towards democratisation, good governance, the rule of law, equity, justice and development in the republic.









Source: graphiconline.com









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A former New Patriotic Party(NPP) Parliamentary aspirant for Subin constituency, Villey Acheampong, has vehemently denied defrauding a businessman of GHc 700,000 in the sale of a house to the latter.



Defraud By Pretence



The businessman named Solomon Kwabi, a resident at Teshie in the Greater Accra Region, had expressed interest in buying a six-bedroom house displayed by the accused person, Valley Acheampong, selling at GHc 820,000.



Solomon Kwabi is said to have paid an upfront of GHc 700,000 to Villey Acheampong and, afterward, requested the documents of the house to be made available to him, then he adds the remaining amount to complete his purchase of the house.



But, according to the complainant, Mr. Acheampong failed to hand over the documents, so called for a refund of his money leading to a legal battle with the leaser.



The complainant, Solomon Kwabi, reportedly filed a case with the Accra Circuit Court and Villey Acheampong was arrested and arraigned before the court on a charge of defrauding by pretence.



A publication on radiogoldlive.com dated April 28, 2022 also indicated that Villey Acheampong is currently in Police custody for failing to meet a GHc 700,000 bail conditions.



"In Court on Wednesday, April 27, the prosecutor ASP E. Nyamekye told the Court that, the Accused is still in custody because he has not met his bail conditions . . . counsel for the accused person, Lawyer Simon Animeley wanted a bail variation. But, the court said, he should apply formally to the High Court if he wants bail variation for his client. The case has been adjourned to May 19, 2022, for a case management conference," the publication stated.



Rejoinder



Setting the record straight, Villey Acheampong disclosed that all that has been published about him is an absolute falsehood.



According to him, he wasn't given the opportunity to share his side of the story as his accuser hastily hopped to the media to make claims against him.



In an interview with Peacefmonline.com to feed the general public with the factual details of the issue, Mr. Acheampong stated categorically that he hasn't defrauded any person and that the truth is he indeed offered a house on sale to Mr. Kwabi for the said amount.



He explained that he offered the house for GHc 900,000 but after Solomon Kwabi paid GHc 720,000, he made a request for the house documents stating that the agreed amount is GHc 820,000 instead of the initial price of GHc 900,000.



A misunderstanding broke out between him and the buyer and after back and forth arguments, the latter called for refund of his money of which Mr. Acheampong agreed to pay back the amount.



He admits it was an honest business gone bad but what is shocking to him is media reports purporting he is a fraudster.



Mr. Acheampong stressed he has no intention of defrauding nor keeping the money to himself.



To him, his accuser has resorted to character assassination in attempt to debase his reputation, hence using the media to peddle lies about him.



"We did business. Misunderstanding broke up about the price we bargained and he asked for refund. After 3 years of installment payment", an almost teary Villey Acheampong said and showed Whatsapp chats proving him refunding the money to the complainant, Solomon Kwabi.



In a separate interview on Purefmonline.com, the accused stated; "I'm a real estate developer, sold a proprety to a friend way back in 2019 for which he has been paying in instalments. Suddenly, in 2022, he declined interest in the property and requested his money. I informed him to exercise patience while I sell the property and pay back. Before then, I had paid part of an amount he requested. The next thing I knew the matter was in court. Before the suit, he had early on requested for GHC 20k which I paid. After, I gave him 50000 cedis in court the same day."



"Why would anyone want to tow this line just to disgrace a fellow?...Where, in this case, do I stand to defraud?", he queried, adding "it's my property and not stolen property and it's not as if I have gone into hiding".



He also emphasized it is untrue that he is in Police custody for failing to meet bail conditions.



"Look at this publication that was made yesterday. Now, they say I have been denied bail and I'm still in Police custody whereas I have been talking with you since last week and even this morning. So, why will these people keep saying all these lies?'', Valley Acheampong wondered as he continued to render his account to Peacefmonline.com.



Mr. Acheampong is therefore calling on the pubic to ignore all publications and rumors of him defrauding someone and asserts he is a genuine person who's unfortunately had a bad transaction like in every normal business deal and is honestly refunding the money to settle this dispute amicably.









Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye, has proposed that Members of Parliament (MPs) should not hold ministerial positions.



According to Prof. Mike Oquaye, MPs playing dual roles fail to be effective in the execution of their parliamentary duties.



Delivering a keynote address at the launch of Prof. Oquaye Centre for Constitutional Studies in Accra on Tuesday, April 26, the former Speaker stated that the appointment of Ministers from Parliament weakens the Legislative House.



"The Presidents powers are legion. He has overwhelming powers of appointment and patronage. He is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Fountain of Mercy, and Fountain of Honor. Particular reference must be made to the legislature where Article 78 (i) mandates that the President should appoint majority of ministers from parliament. The general observation is that this has weakened parliament. MPs look forward to becoming Ministers.



"Those who are not appointed as Ministers once their party is in power feel left out. In some cases, disappointed constituents vote against such MPs at primaries contributing to the huge attrition rate of MPs. The legislative work of parliament suffers because this is the second attraction to an MPs Oversight Responsibility and Accountability. They become ineffective as majority of MPs bend to the Executive praying that MPs fortune will smile on them," he argued.



Prof. Mike Oquaye appealed to the Government of Ghana to revisit the 1979 Constitution and apply its provision that prohibits an MP from becoming a Minister.



He expressed worry that "MPs/Ministers hardly have time for legislative work thus affecting the qualitative performance of Ministers/MPs".



He added; "One tragedy of our system is that although a vote of censure against Ministers is provided for (Article 82- Clause 5), nonetheless, a Vote of Censure cannot remove the minister because the discretion rests with the President whether to remove or not to remove such Minister. Under the 1979 Constitution, no MP could also be a minister. We need to revisit this in order to strengthen the position of the MPs. Also, a Vote of censure would necessarily lead to the removal of a Minister."



About Prof. Oquaye Centre



The Prof. Oquaye Centre for Constitutional Studies has been established by the Institute of Economic Affairs to undertake a thorough study on proposals for review of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.



It aims at broadening the understanding and application of constitutionalism at all levels of governance and daily lives of Ghanaians and translating the Constitution to the simplest terms and local languages to be taught in schools, churches, mosques and civil society.







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Charles Owusu, a former Progressive People's Party (PPP) member, has called on the Ghana Police Service to conduct thorough investigations into the arrest of two men who posed as Police officers at the New Patriotic Party (NPP) constituency elections.



Two men, John Essel Baah and Enoch Kwame Bosompem, clad in Police uniforms were arrested at Okaikoi South constituency during the elections on Thursday, April 28, 2022, creating an impression that they were security personnel.



There were agitations at the voting centre in the constituency after some members alleged that about 400 names had been removed from the register.



Four delegates were reportedly arrested for obstructing the elections.



John Essel Baah and Enoch Kwame Bosompem, according to a Police statement, were spotted at the Okaikoi South Constituency where the voting was taking place but we would like to emphatically state that the two suspects are not Police Officers. Meanwhile, they are in custody as the investigation continues.



We wish to assure the public that they will be taken through the due process of the law, the Police concluded.



Speaking on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', Charles Owusu implored the Police to ensure the necessary punitive action is taken against the suspects.



"I think, by now, National Security should have issued a statement and sacked those people . . . It amazes and scares me that if whatever security organizations they belong to and I'm not sure they are private security, but if they are, the Police investigations must come out for us to see and shouldn't be hidden," he demanded.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Canadas residential school system has had a lasting effect on First Nations communities. Credit: Blake Elliott | Shutterstock

One in three women around the world will experience violence from an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. That is a shocking figure. Even more shocking, though, is the fact that, in 23 countriesfrom the Americas and Africa to Asia and the Pacificit is more like two in three women.

As part of a study of countries with a high prevalence of violence against women, we analyzed data from the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the United Nations and academic sources. We found that countries which were colonized are 50 times more likely to have a high prevalence of intimate-partner violence against women. When a patriarchal society is combined with a history of colonialism, the risk of domestic violence increases.

Postcolonial scholars have been telling us as much for decades. From widespread poverty to racial discrimination and gender inequalities, colonization put in place systems and structures that are often at the root of heightened violence against women.

Colonial policies

Many colonial systems of governance were based on "racializing" the local population: categorizing and marginalizing groups of people according to race or ethnicity. For example, the divisions between Hindus and Muslims in pre-partition India and the racial hierarchy instituted in apartheid South Africa. These divisions have provided the fodder for many of the world's contemporary armed conflicts. Scholars talk about colonial durabilities to describe the way in which colonial histories continue to actively shape the world today.

The 1994 Rwandan genocide is a case in point. Over 800,000 mostly Tutsi people were killed by Hutu extremiststwo groups which were originally racialized by the Belgian colonial government, through the creation of hierarchical and exclusive forms of citizenship. The genocide saw widespread sexual violence used against Tutsi women as a means of literally stripping them of their humanity.

Survivors of the genocide were severely traumatized. Research shows that this trauma increased men's likelihood to use violence against their families and intimate partners. It also reduced women's ability to prevent it.

Many colonial systems of governance also established regulations and legal frameworks that were particularly damaging for women. Despite the fact that both men and women were in positions of leadership in pre-colonial Nigeria, British colonial officials refused to negotiate with female chiefs. They also put in place a system of land ownership that explicitly excluded women.

The legacy of these policies is that women are still far less likely to own land than men in Nigeria. A recent study of national data has shown that women who do not own land are more likely to report domestic violence than those that do. This is because land ownership gives women income and power within a relationship. It also gives them options when they need somewhere to go. Women who have power and alternatives are simply less likely to put up with violence and more likely to leave.

Historical trauma

While people today may not have personally experienced colonialism, they may experience the historical trauma of their communities. Events shared by an entire community or ethnic group can result in trauma being passed on through generations.

Trauma is often defined as a condition that arises from an event in the pastsuch as child abuse, or exposure to a natural disaster. Historical trauma is different. It does not end when the person who experienced the event recovers or passes on. In fact, research shows it is often compounded by the discrimination and oppression experienced by subsequent generations.

Psychiatrist and political philosopher Frantz Fanon first set the stage for understanding the emotional and psychological consequences of historical trauma arising from colonization. In Black Skin White Mask (1967), Fanon argued that the representation of the colonial archetypal hero as white leaves black individuals in postcolonial societies with a desire to be someone else. They are thus robbed of their sense of self, their agency and their decision-making power.

Working with First Nations communities in Canada, women's rights practitioner Karen Max argues that we need to look at how communities understand violence against women as stemming not just from gender inequalities but from the traumatic experiences of men in the community.

In much the same way, the traumatic experiences of previous generations can influence the breakdown of social networks and family attachments within communities. Canada's residential school policy saw First Nations children forcibly removed from their families throughout the 20th century. Research shows the long-term impact on First Nations communities of this policy includes higher rates of domestic violence, emotional detachment and suicide.

A history of colonialism is, of course, not the only driver of violence against women. Other significant factors include social norms that position women as inferior to men and deserving of violence in certain situations. However, our research shows that colonialism makes these other risk factors even worse.

Explore further One in four women experience domestic violence before age 50

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Credit: Harry Vincent/Taronga Conservation Society Australia

Can you tell your cats from your dingoes? Your wallabies from your wallaroos? Then Dingo? Bingo! is your chance to identify dingoes (and other wildlife) in photos and help scientists better understand and manage dingo populations in particular.

An online citizen science project Dingo? Bingo! requests the public's help in detecting dingoes and other animals among images retrieved from a network of camera-traps. Cameras were installed in the Myall Lakes region of NSW, which is home to an important coastal population of dingoes and a long-term study into dingo ecology and management. The Myall Lakes dingo project, supported by the Hermon Slade Foundation and Taronga Conservation Society Australia, aims to develop and test non-lethal management techniques and add to our understanding of dingo behavior and ecology along the way.

Dingoes are an iconic and valuable part of the Australian ecosystem, but where dingoes co-occur with humansbe it campgrounds, towns, or livestock areasthey can also cause issues, and these conflicts are conventionally managed by lethal means. The question is are there non-lethal alternatives for deterring dingoes from these places?

Researchers from UNSW Science and Taronga Conservation Society Australia are testing whether the dingoes' own signals can be used to deter them and invasive predators from particular areas. Dingoes use howls and scent marks to communicate ownership of space, and so by simulating their presence in an area the team hope to be able to deter them from specific areas.

As Dr. Neil Jordan, lead researcher and Senior Lecturer at UNSW, explains, "In some circumstances, living alongside dingoes can be challenging. This project hopes to develop tools and strategies to limit the negative impacts that dingoes have in specific areas, while still allowing them to perform their ecological role as apex predator across the wider landscape."

Part of that ecological role may be suppressing invasive foxes, and as Taronga's Behavioral Biologist and co-lead researcher Dr. Ben Pitcher explains, this is also an important part of the team's work. "There's good evidence from a number of studies that animals retreat from the sound of their predators. As dingoes sometimes kill foxes and cats, we're also testing the idea that these smaller carnivores may avoid areas where they believe dingoes are presentwhere they hear a dingo howl for example."

To test their idea, the team have set up 12 automated speaker systems, playing back dingo howls intermittently through the night. Over 60 remote camera-traps were also positioned around these sites along the dingoes' main thoroughfares: trails and roads. And that's where Dingo? Bingo! comes in.

Sifting through 50,000 images is a tall order for any researcher, and so the team decided to share the load and the joy of participating in this work. Nevertheless, as UNSW Ph.D. student Brendan Alting explains, the team remain active participants themselves, "It's always awesome seeing an unexpected quoll or koala pop up on an image, and so I wouldn't say we've been 100% successful in passing this on entirely to citizen science it's quite addictive!"

Getting started on Dingo? Bingo!, users are notified of the various animal groups they might observe in the photos (bandicoot, horse, reptiles etc.), instructed how to submit their identification, and, finally, which details they might add. Is it a dingo? Bingo!

To ensure they're accurately classified, each photo is displayed to 20 users, and only if there is a high degree of agreement are they classified, with the research team reviewing any debated classifications.

As Dr. Jordan explains, "You'll probably see a number of fox, cat and dingo images on the platform, and this doesn't necessarily mean that the experiment hasn't worked. To properly test for any effect of the howls we are also playing back control sounds, including ambient noise, and we'll compare these treatments using the data contributed through "Dingo? Bingo!'"

The entire collection of Dingo? Bingo! photos are now available and ready for public classification, so feel free to dive in immediately and help the research team discover just how effective their deterrents were.

Pending the success of this trial, the team behind Dingo? Bingo! and the Myall Lakes Dingo Project plans on furthering their work on non-lethal management and into dingo behavior and ecology more broadly.

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The schematic diagrams of the atomic structures in the left and right polarization states of NaTi-FTJ. Credit: Xiao Wei

Recently, in a paper published in Physical Review Applied, a research team from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) studied the interfacial control of transport properties of perovskite oxide ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) and proposed a new scheme to achieve a giant tunneling electroresistance (TER) in FTJs.

According to Zheng Xiaohong, leader of the team, a TER ratio of up to 105 % was obtained by introducing a negative polar atomic layer at one of the interfaces of the symmetric Pt/BaTiO 3 /Pt FTJ.

FTJ is a tunnel junction in which a thin ferroelectric film is sandwiched between two metal electrodes. The resistance is highly dependent on the polarization direction of the ferroelectric barrier. Two greatly different states with high and low resistances respectively can be obtained by reversing the polarization direction with an external electrical field.

FTJs have important applications in non-volatile random access memories. With advantages of high data storage density, fast read/write speed and low power consumption, they have attracted extensive research interest as memory elements. The difference between the high and low resistance states is usually characterized by TER ratio. Therefore, how to obtain a high TER ratio is always one of the key issues in the study of FTJs.

In this research, scientists proposed a new scheme to realize giant TER ratios by introducing a negative polar atomic layer at one interface of the FTJ.

The k-averaged transmission and layer-resolved density of states of two polarization states of NaTi-FTJ. Credit: Xiao Wei

In the symmetric Pt/BaTiO 3 /Pt FTJ, a negative NaO 2 or LiO 2 interface is formed by replacing Ti with Na or Li atoms at the right interface of Pt/BaTiO 3 /Pt tunnel junction. Then a 105 % TER ratio was achieved due to this additional NaO 2 or LiO 2 layer.

The mechanism is rooted in the great difference in the potential change in the ferroelectric barrier arising from the negative polar interface in the two polarized states.

When the ferroelectric barrier is left polarized, the bands of the barrier at each atomic layer increase from left to right. Meanwhile, due to Coulomb repulsion, the negatively charged NaO 2 or LiO 2 interface further pushes up the bands of the barrier, and near the right interface region, the valence band maximum (VBM) rises above the Fermi energy, leading to partial metallization.

In the right polarization state, although the Coulomb repulsion at the NaO 2 or LiO 2 interface still exists, the band of the ferroelectric barrier itself decreases from left to right. Due to the cancelation between them, the valence band distribution in the whole barrier is relatively flat and the VBM is always below the Fermi energy, without the occurrence of partial metallization. The occurrence and disappearance of partial metallization in the two polarization states change the effective barrier width significantly and lead to the low and high resistance states, with a giant TER ratio achieved subsequently.

The study indicates that a negatively charged polar interface based on interfacial substitution is a feasible scheme to achieve large TER ratio in FTJs and provide important reference for the design of high-performance FTJs.

Explore further Doubling data density

More information: Wei Xiao et al, Giant Tunneling Electroresistance Induced by Interfacial Doping in Pt/BaTiO3/Pt Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions, Physical Review Applied (2022). Wei Xiao et al, Giant Tunneling Electroresistance Induced by Interfacial Doping in Pt/BaTiO3/Pt Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions,(2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.17.044001

Provided by Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences
A dust storm in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. Dust storms can help cool the air by blocking the sun, according to Ranjit Devraj. Credit: Tarunpant (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_dust_storm_blots_out_the_sun,_Gurgaon,Haryana,India.jpg), CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)

Dust storms are unpleasant but they appear to be the only relief on the horizon for people in northern India sweltering under temperatures that have already crossed 44 degrees Celsius and are expected to climb higher as summer progresses.

"We are expecting dust storms after Friday (29 April) and that should bring some respite from the present hot spell starting 1 May," Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, a scientist specializing in heatwaves at the India Meteorological Department, tells SciDev.Net.

There are those who say that dust may be a remedy worse than heat, given that grit getting into the eyes and nose can cause intense irritation and discomfort. Dust particles smaller than 10 microns can enter the respiratory tract and trigger asthma, rhinitis and even pneumonia since microbes ride on them. At 2.5 microns dust becomes "respirable" and passes into the bloodstream via lung capillaries.

Such are the vagaries of climate and weather in Northern India (including Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh and home to a billion people) that instead of enjoying the pleasant spring that normally follows winter, people are reduced to wishing for a dust storm to deliver them from the miseries of unseasonal heat.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a virtual conference of the heads of provincial governments to warn them of rising temperatures "much earlier than usual" and asked them to take measures to mitigate impacts.

March, when spring should have been in the air, turned out to be the hottest in the meteorological office's 122 years of functioning, with hot winds blowing in through April. Dust storms, though, are dense enough to block the sun's rays and are often accompanied by rain, bringing about rapid cooling.

Jenamani was, however, optimistic that, though spring has played truant, summer temperatures will prove to be normal. "We are prepared for heatwave conditions at the meteorological department and advise that only normal precautions need be takenas with every summer."

According to Jenamani local factorssuch as the "western disturbances" that normally brings in rain from the Mediterranean during Marchwere scanty this year. The other phenomenon he mentioned was "anti-cyclones" in the desert state of Rajasthan that bring hot, dry weather caused by high pressure systems in the atmosphere.

Other scientists such as Roxy Mathew Koll at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, prefer to blame global warming. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's sixth assessment report said that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land and caused widespread, rapid changes.

The present concern is the impact on wheat crops sown in winter and being harvested, especially in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. Farmers in these states are already reporting a 20 to 40 percent drop in grain size and overall yield by weight. That isn't good news for India's farming-dependent economy.

In February, the government had forecast a bumper 111.32 million-ton wheat harvest this year and planned to increase exports of the grain to make up for losses caused by the war in Ukrainea major wheat producer.

India's commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, announced last week that India would be exporting anywhere between 10 and 15 million tons of wheat this year. On average, India produces around 100 million tons of wheat annually, but much of it is consumed locally.

Will such bumper harvests that keep India's granaries overflowing continue? That will depend on whether this year's heatwaves were actually caused by global warming or were just a freak occurrencethe jury is out on that.

Provided by SciDev.Net
A farmer harvests wheat on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Thursday, April 28, 2022. India is in the throes of a record-shattering heat wave that is stunting wheat production. Wheat is very sensitive to heat, especially during the final stage when its kernels mature and ripen. Indian farmers time their planting so that this stage coincides with India's usually cooler spring. But the heat in March, the hottest in India since records first started being kept in 1901, stunted crops. Credit: AP Photo/Channi Anand

An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Gigantic landfills in India's capital New Delhi have caught fire in recent weeks. Schools in eastern Indian state Odisha have been shut for a week and in neighboring West Bengal, schools are stocking up on oral rehydration salts for kids. On Tuesday, Rajgarh, a city of over 1.5 million people in central India, was the country's hottest, with daytime temperatures peaking at 46.5 degrees Celsius (114.08 Fahrenheit). Temperatures breached the 45 C (113 F) mark in nine other cities.

But it was the heat in Marchthe hottest in India since records first started being kept in 1901that stunted crops. Wheat is very sensitive to heat, especially during the final stage when its kernels mature and ripen. Indian farmers time their planting so that this stage coincides with India's usually cooler spring.

Climate change has made India's heat wave hotter, said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the Imperial College of London. She said that before human activities increased global temperatures, heat waves like this year's would have struck India once in about half a century.

A woman harvests wheat on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Thursday, April 28, 2022. An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia's war in Ukraine. Credit: AP Photo/Channi Anand

"But now it is a much more common eventwe can expect such high temperatures about once in every four years," she said.

India's vulnerability to extreme heat increased 15% from 1990 to 2019, according to a 2021 report by the medical journal The Lancet. It is among the top five countries where vulnerable people, like the old and the poor, have the highest exposure to heat. It and Brazil have the the highest heat-related mortality in the world, the report said.

Farm workers like Baldev Singh are among the most vulnerable. Singh, a farmer in Sangrur in northern India's Punjab state, watched his crop shrivel before his eyes as an usually cool spring quickly shifted to unrelenting heat. He lost about a fifth of his yield. Others lost more.

"I am afraid the worst is yet to come," Singh said.

Punjab is India's "grain bowl" and the government has encouraged cultivation of wheat and rice here since the 1960s. It is typically the biggest contributor to India's national reserves and the government had hoped to buy about a third of this year's stock from the region. But government assessments predict lower yields this year, and Devinder Sharma, an agriculture policy expert in northern Chandigarh city. said he expected to get 25% less.

Workers spray pesticide on wheat crop in Ranish Kalan village of Moga district in the northern Indian state of Punjab on March 13, 2021. India is in the throes of a record-shattering heat wave that is stunting wheat production. Punjab is India's grain bowl" and the government has encouraged cultivation of wheat and rice here since the 1960s. Government assessments predict lower yields this year, and Devinder Sharma, an agriculture policy expert in northern Chandigarh city. said he expected to get 25% less. Credit: AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File

The story is the same in other major wheat-producing states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Overall, India purchased over 43 million metric tons (47.3 million U.S. tons) of wheat in 2021. Sharma estimates it will instead get 20% to nearly 50% less.

Even though it is the world's second-largest producer of wheat, India exports only a small fraction of its harvest. It had been looking to capitalize on the global disruption to wheat supplies from Russia's war in Ukraine and find new markets for its wheat in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

That looks uncertain given the tricky balance the government must maintain between demand and supply. It needs about 25 million tons (27.5 million U.S. tons) of wheat for the vast food welfare program that usually feeds more than 80 million people.

Before the pandemic, India had vast stocks that far exceeded its domestic needsa buffer against the risk of famine.

An Indian farmer carries wheat crop harvested from a field on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Thursday, April 28, 2022. An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia's war in Ukraine. Credit: AP Photo/Channi Anand

A laborer seals sacks filled with wheat in Gurdaspur, in the northern Indian state of Punjab on April 30, 2014. India is in the throes of a record-shattering heat wave that is stunting wheat production. Lower yields likely mean the government will buy less wheat for its reserves this year than last. Since the pandemic struck, demand has surged under new schemes that have strained India's vast buffers against hunger. Credit: AP Photo/Channi Anand, File

A woman sorts wheat harvested on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Thursday, April 28, 2022. India is in the throes of a record-shattering heat wave that is stunting wheat production. Climate change has made Indias heat wave hotter, said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the Imperial College of London. She said that before human activities increased global temperatures, heat waves like this year's would have struck India once in about half a century. Credit: AP Photo/Channi Anand

A farmer harvests wheat on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Thursday, April 28, 2022. India is in the throes of a record-shattering heat wave that is stunting wheat production. Indian farmers time their planting so that the final stage when its kernels mature and ripen coincides with India's usually cooler spring. But the heat in March, the hottest in India since records first started being kept in 1901, stunted crops. Credit: AP Photo/Channi Anand

Those reserves have been strained, Sharma said, by distribution of free grain during the pandemic to about 800 million peoplevulnerable groups like migrant workers. The program was extended until September but it's unclear if it will continue beyond then.

"We are no longer with that kind of a surplus . . . with exports now picking up, there would be a lot of pressure on the domestic availability of wheat," Sharma said.

India's federal agriculture and commerce ministries didn't respond to questions sent to them via email.

Beyond India, other countries are also grappling with poor harvests that hinder their ability to help offset the potential shortfall of supplies from Russia and Ukraine, normally the world's largest and fifth-largest exporters of wheat.

China's agriculture minister, Tang Renjian, said last month that the winter wheat harvest was likely to be poor, hindered by flooding and by delays in planting.

Explore further India's northwest reels under unusual early heat wave

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Public primary schools were created by states to reinforce obedience among the masses and maintain social order, rather than serve as a tool for upward social mobility, suggests a study from the University of California San Diego.

The study in the journal American Political Science Review finds historical patterns from 1828 to 2015, across many countries, of education reforms, including the rise of mandatory primary schooling itself, being implemented after instances of social unrest. The research also sheds light on the current controversy in the U.S. over teaching critical race theory.

"The key prediction of the research is that when there are periods of internal conflict, states will introduce education reform that is designed to indoctrinate people to accept the status quo," said the study's author Agustina S. Paglayan, a UC San Diego assistant professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Political Science/School of Social Sciences and the School of Global Policy and Strategy.

Paglayan added that while some could interpret this as evidence that states were trying to solve people's economic woes by investing in education after violent rebellions, historical documents tell a different story.

"My research reveals violence can heighten national elites' anxiety about the masses' moral character and the state's ability to maintain social order. In this context, public education systems were created and expanded to teach obedience," Paglayan said.

A recent example in the U.S. of the government turning to education reform after encountering resistance is when former President Donald J. Trump created The 1776 Commission after the widespread Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. The commission was charged with promoting "patriotic education," Paglayan said, to supposedly unite Americans.

While the commission was eliminated on the first day President Joseph R. Biden took office, its recommendations continue to shape education reform efforts in many states, Paglayan says, pointing to a wave of different state bills that ban public schools from teaching about systemic racism.

The focus of Paglayan's study is on non-democracies in Europe and Latin America; however, it includes evidence dating back to the late 18th century that democracies, including the U.S., used primary education as a policy tool to prevent future rebellion and promote long-term order.

Paglayan spent seven years conducting the study. Her findings are based on quantitative data from 40 different countries that include school enrollment numbers and, for a subset of countries, the numbers of schools created and the levels of education expenditures. She combined these data with qualitative evidence based on the language found in school textbooks and curricula, plus the content of parliamentary debates, as well as politicians' speeches, letters and other political writings.

She cites a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison as evidence that the U.S. looked to primary schools after a period of insurrection that threatened established institutions.

"After several violent uprisings in the late 18th century, such as Shays' Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion, politicians became increasingly interested in education. Soon after Shays' Rebellion, Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison relaying that it should be taught in schools that violence is an illegitimate way for citizens to express discontent and that it should be drilled into them to express it by voting," Paglayan said.

The research explains why primary education systems precede the rise of modern democracy and were first created by non-democratic regimes.

For example, absolutist Prussia was among the first countries in the world to introduce tax-funded, compulsory primary education. The Prussian education system was conceived as a long-term solution to the problem of social unrest, as revealed by peasant rebellions in the 1740s-1750s. Paglayan documents several cases where other countries were inspired by Prussia's education system, including the U.S.

She also finds of patterns of schools becoming compulsory in many countries after parents resisted sending their children to school to "shape their moral character" at a time when children were often needed at home to provide labor.

She points out that during most of the history of public schooling, secondary schools and universities were reserved for the upper classes; however, through primary education, states could easily influence the masses' children to respect authority, the state and its laws.

"Children are like sponges," Paglayan said. "Politicians thought that primary schools could shape behavior by instilling fear of punishment for misbehavior, or conversely, by promoting rewards for proper behavior. The mere act of attending school every day, sitting still, not speaking out of turn and following schedules, routines and rituals, like marching in silence from classroom to breakroom, would make individuals internalize from a young age what constituted good manners and civil behavior."

Explore further Insufficient menstrual cycle education provided in UK schools, study finds

More information: AGUSTINA S. PAGLAYAN, Education or Indoctrination? The Violent Origins of Public School Systems in an Era of State-Building, American Political Science Review (2022). Journal information: American Political Science Review AGUSTINA S. PAGLAYAN, Education or Indoctrination? The Violent Origins of Public School Systems in an Era of State-Building,(2022). DOI: 10.1017/S0003055422000247
Commodore Philip Nash, left, of the British Royal Navy, gets a briefing from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist Andrea Farmer on Thursday, April 28, 2022, in Savannah, Ga., about 19 cannons recovered from the Savannah River, that experts suspect came from one or more British ships scuttled in the river during the American Revolution in 1779. Credit: AP Photo/Russ Bynum

A warehouse along the Savannah River is holding historical treasures that evidence suggests remained lost for more than 240 yearsa cache of 19 cannons that researchers suspect came from British ships scuttled to the river bottom during the American Revolution.

The mud- and rust-encrusted guns were discovered by accident. A dredge scooping sediment from the riverbed last year as part of a $973 million deepening of Savannah's busy shipping channel surfaced with one the cannons clasped in its metal jaws. The crew soon dug up two more.

Archaeologists guessed they were possibly leftover relics from a sunken Confederate gunship excavated a few years earlier in the same area, said Andrea Farmer, an archaeologist for the Army Corps of Engineers. But experts for the U.S. Navy found they didn't match any known cannons used in the Civil War. Further research indicates they're likely almost a century older and sank during the buildup to the Revolutionary War's bloody siege of Savannah in 1779.

In a timeframe of just over a year, 19 cannons were hoisted from the same area of the river a few miles downstream from Savannah, where Georgia was founded as the last of Britain's 13 American colonies in 1733.

"They're in remarkably good shape," Farmer said. "Many were buried in clay and covered by silt and debris that kind of protected them."

Now officials with the U.S. and British governments, as well as the state of Georgia, are working together on an agreement to preserve the newly found guns before putting them on display. Commodore Philip Nash of the British Royal Navy, a military attache based in Washington, viewed the artifacts submerged in metal tubs of water during a visit Thursday.

"Some of these pieces are in amazing condition and I'm sure could tell some stories," Nash said.

A cannon encrusted in rust and mud sits inside a warehouse operated by the Army Corps of Engineers in Savannah, Ga., on Thursday, April 28, 2022. Its one of 19 cannons discovered in the Savannah River since last year that experts believe date to the American Revolution, when British ships were scuttled in the river to block colonists allies from reaching Savannah by ship.Credit: AP Photo/Russ Bynum

The cannons are being kept in water to prevent further deterioration until experts can carefully clean them. Meanwhile, researchers are looking for more definitive proof linking the cannons to British ships from the American Revolution.

Farmer said researchers are very confident of the connection. Savannah had been under British occupation for about a year by the fall of 1779, when colonists planned an attack to retake the city with help from French and Haitian allies.

When French ships carrying troops were spotted off the Georgia coast, the British hurried to scuttle at least six ships in the Savannah River downstream from the city to block the French vessels. The land battle that followed was one of the bloodiest of the war. British forces killed nearly 300 colonial fighters and their allies, while wounding hundreds more.

Farmer said researchers suspect the cannons found in the river came from the British ship HMS Savannah and possibly a second ship scuttled at the same time, the HMS Venus. The longer guns appear to match cannons manufactured in France during the mid-1700s, she said. Researchers are looking for ship logs and manifests in hopes of confirming the armaments aboard those ships.

It's also possible the cannons themselves and other artifacts found at the sitepieces of anchors and a portion of a ship's bellonce cleaned might bear markings or other clues to which ship they belonged to. The wood from those ships, Farmer said, decayed long ago or got destroyed by prior dredging projects over a series of decades.

The question of who owns the artifacts gets a little murky. They were found in state waters of Georgia during a dredging project headed by the Army Corps, a U.S. government agency. The British government could make an ownership claim if there's strong evidence the artifacts came from British ships.

Farmer said all of those parties are working on an agreement to preserve the cannons and ultimately have them displayed at the Savannah History Museum, which incorporates the battlefield where the bloodiest fighting occurred during the 1779 siege.

"Everybody wants to keep the artifacts in Savannah," Farmer said, "because that makes the most sense."

Explore further Archaeologists recover cannon from sunken Confederate ship

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
TESS target pixel file image of HD 260655. Credit: Luque et al, 2022

Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have detected two rocky alien worlds orbiting a nearby M dwarf star known as HD 260655. The newly found exoplanets are larger and at least two times more massive than the Earth. The finding is reported in a paper published April 21 on arXiv.org.

TESS is conducting a survey of about 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun with the aim of searching for transiting exoplanets. So far, it has identified over 5,600 candidate exoplanets (TESS Objects of Interest, or TOI), of which 205 have been confirmed so far.

Now, a team of astronomers led by Rafael Luque of the University of Chicago confirmed another two planets monitored by TESS. They report that transit signals have been identified in the light curve of the bright M dwarf HD 260655 (or TOI-4599). The planetary nature of these signals was confirmed by archival and new precise radial velocity (RV) measurements.

"This work presents the discovery and characterization of a multiplanetary system orbiting the nearby M dwarf HD 260655. Transit observations from TESS detected two small planet candidates that were confirmed with independent RV data from the HIRES and CARMENES instruments taken since 1998 and 2016, respectively," the researchers wrote in the paper.

The exoplanet closer to the parent star received designation HD 260655 b. It has a radius of about 1.24 Earth radii and is some 2.14 times more massive than our planet, which yields a density level of 6.2 g/cm3. HD 260655 b orbits its host every 2.77 days, at a distance of around 0.03 AU from it. Its equilibrium temperature was estimated to be 709 K.

The second newly found planet, HD 260655 c, is larger and more massive than its neighbor. The results show that it has a radius of 1.53 Earth radii, while its mass is approximately 3.09 Earth masses. Therefore, the density of this planet was calculated to be 4.7 g/cm3. HD 260655 c is separated from the parent star by 0.047 AU, has an orbital period of 5.7 days, and equilibrium temperature of about 557 K.

The star HD 260655, located some 32.6 light years away, is of spectral type M0 V and is about 56 percent smaller and less massive than the sun. The star has a metallicity level of -0.43 and is estimated to be between two and eight billion years old. HD 260655 is relatively bright (with apparent brightness of 6.7 mag) and its effective temperature is 3,803 K.

Based on the derived densities of the two new alien worlds, the astronomers concluded that they both have rocky composition. However, they noted that while HD 260655 b has a density in perfect agreement with the Earth's, the density of HD 260655 c suggests an internal composition void of iron and fully made of silicates.

Summing up the results, the researchers noted that their discovery makes HD 260655 the fourth closest known multi-transiting planetary system. They added that due to the relatively high apparent brightness of the host star, the two newfound planets would be excellent targets for further atmospheric studies.

Explore further Hot Earth-sized exoplanet detected with TESS

More information: R. Luque et al, The HD 260655 system: Two rocky worlds transiting a bright M dwarf at 10 pc. arXiv:2204.10261v2 [astro-ph.EP], R. Luque et al, The HD 260655 system: Two rocky worlds transiting a bright M dwarf at 10 pc. arXiv:2204.10261v2 [astro-ph.EP], arxiv.org/abs/2204.10261

 2022 Science X Network
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) covers the entire Atlantic Ocean. Warm (near-surface) currents are shown in red, cold deep currents in blue. The small circles show areas with strong eddy activity. The dotted area in the Labrador Sea shows the area with deep convection, where cooled water masses sink to depths of several kilometres. Credit: C. Boning/M. Scheinert, GEOMAR

Is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) slowing down? Is this system of ocean currents, which is so important for our climate, likely to come to a halt in the future? Are the observed variations a natural phenomenon or are they already caused by human-induced climate change? Researchers from various scientific disciplines use a wide range of methods to better understand the gigantic oceanic circulation.

With a new publication in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change, researchers from Kiel contribute to the understanding of changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)also known as the "Gulf Stream System." It is important both for the global climate as well as for climate events in Europe. The authors focus on the question whether human-induced climate change is already slowing down this oceanic circulation. According to the new study, natural variations are still dominant. Improved observation systems could help detect human influences on the current system at an early stage.

Buoy of the PIRATA network in the tropical Atlantic. Credit: Martin Visbeck, GEOMAR

"The AMOC provides Europe with a mild climate and determines seasonal rainfall patterns in many countries around the Atlantic. If it weakens over the long term, this will also affect our weather and climate. Other consequences could be a faster rise in sea levels at some coasts or a reduction in the ocean's ability to take up carbon dioxide and mitigate climate change," Professor Dr. Mojib Latif, Head of the Research Unit: Marine Meteorology at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, explains. "We depend on the AMOC in many waysbut so far, we can only guess how it will develop, and whether and how strongly we humans ourselves will push it towards a tipping point where an unstoppable collapse will take its course."

Using observational data, statistical analyses and model calculations, a team led by Professor Latif has therefore examined changes in the current system over the past one hundred years in greater detail. The results have now been published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change. According to the researchers, part of the North Atlantic is coolinga striking contrast to the majority of ocean regions. All evaluations indicate that since the beginning of the 20th century, natural fluctuations have been the primary reason for this cooling. Nonetheless, the studies indicate that the AMOC has started to slow down in recent decades.

Climate models consistently predict a significant slowing of the current system in the future as carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, the ocean continues to warm, and the melting of the Greenland ice sheet accelerates. "Our results confirm earlier scientific findings. But the question remains how long we will remain in the realm of natural variability and when climate change will take control of the AMOC. Then the trend would only be in the direction of weakening and risks could increase significantly," co-author and GEOMAR meteorologist Dr. Jing Sun points out.

Better observational data are needed to determine the critical limit, the authors conclude. "Systematic and sustained measurements of the changes already taking place across the Atlantic also allows us to say with greater certainty what influence climate change has on the AMOC current system today and in the future," says Professor Dr. Martin Visbeck. The head of the Research Unit Physical Oceanography at GEOMAR is also co-author of the new publication. "At the moment, we do not see any clear signs that the system is slowing down dramaticallyrather, it is fluctuating. But since the latest climate models agree that a significant reduction will occur, we should know how much longer we are on the relatively safe side of natural change."

Explore further Melting ice caps may not shut down ocean current

More information: Mojib Latif et al, Natural variability has dominated Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation since 1900, Nature Climate Change (2022). Journal information: Nature Climate Change Mojib Latif et al, Natural variability has dominated Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation since 1900,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-022-01342-4

Provided by GEOMAR
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

UK and international representatives from civil society and beyond are calling on the UK Government to better support refugees coming from Ukraine, in a report by UCL experts for the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC).

The call comes in the light of growing concerns about the risks of human trafficking and exploitation to refugees, particularly women and children, as they flee the war zone.

The report is based on a rapid evidence-gathering roundtable of over 100 experts from governmental organizations and sectors including law enforcement, healthcare, industry, academia and labor market enforcement, convened by UCL academics and the IASC, Dame Sara Thornton. It identified five main themes of concern and urgent recommendations for the UK Government to improve responses to refugees from Ukraine.

The policy recommendations for the Government include an urgent call to extend support to those at risk of falling prey to trafficking groups and reconsider the visa requirement, or at a minimum, extend access to its Ukraine-specific visa schemes. Provisions should be extended to include Ukrainians who became undocumented prior to 1 January 2022 and are consequently more vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation in the UK.

The report also calls for urgent measures from the Government to support hosts, local authorities and businesses in their responses to Ukrainian refugees. Clear, centralized guidance is needed to support diverse groups, reduce risks of human trafficking and exploitation, improve monitoring and early intervention and support access to justice and aid. There is also a call for the Government to support and fund local authorities to put plans in place to meet Ukrainian refugees' housing needs.

The roundtable identified the UK's response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis as lacking in clarity, resourcing and accountability, while the 'hostile environment' and its legacies creates a difficult climate in which to respond to the crisis.

Conflict is a driver of human trafficking and exploitation, and the fact that the majority of those fleeing Ukraine are women and children caused additional concerns as they are considered to be at higher risk of human trafficking and exploitation. Other groups at particular risk include separated and unaccompanied minors, the elderly, Roma and other minority groups and international students.

The roundtable identified a shortage of helpful official information and guidance for refugees, local authorities, hosts and businesses. As alternative organizations step up to fill this gap, participants warned of information overload, whereby a high volume of decentralized and fragmented material and initiatives can cause confusion and make it harder for refugees to access the support they need.

There were major concerns that the requirement for visas further heightens risks to refugees traveling and those in the UK, and that gaps in safeguarding and oversight in the UK's visa schemes left refugees additionally vulnerable to abuse. The risks of domestic servitude in the Homes for Ukraine scheme were also highlighted, where unclear Government guidance was seen to heighten the risk of exploitative placement conditions. Amid the current housing crisis, participants saw local authorities as likely to struggle to meet the housing needs of refugees from Ukraine who are not provided accommodation under their visas or whose Homes for Ukraine placements break down.

The European Union's visa-free response to the refugees was praised as a vital source of resilience to human trafficking and exploitation. Major concerns for the UK centered on difficulties and delays in getting sanctuary and accessing the labor market, housing and other crucial social infrastructure.

Lead author Dr. Ella Cockbain (UCL Department of Security & Crime Science) says that "there was clear consensus among experts from across different backgrounds that new risks specific to this war are interacting with existing systemic issues in the UK, putting many refugees from Ukraine at heightened risk of human trafficking and exploitationboth on the way to the UK and once here. Policy decisions can make a vital difference between building resilience and providing access to much needed rights and support, and actively creating and exacerbating risks to already marginalized and vulnerable groups."

"Both improved crisis responses and longer-term strategic planning are vital in reducing the risk of refugees from Ukraine being trafficked and exploited in the UK. Simply warning people about human trafficking and modern slavery is not enough, they need to be given safer, better options and access to vital support if things go wrong."

The roundtable participants were from organizations including the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre. The emphasis was on the UK context, within the broader international landscape.

Dame Sara Thornton (Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner) says that "the UK response via the Homes for Ukraine Scheme has demonstrated the public's willingness to assist and support those who have been forcibly displaced. As this scheme and other initiatives progress it is vitally important that we put systematic measures in place to ensure that the risks of exploitation do not become a reality. The immediate response is important, but we also need to think about the long term. What we must do now is put in place systematic prevention and protection measures to ensure the risks of trafficking and exploitation do not become a reality. I have been pleased to support this important work, which I hope will inform both the immediate and long-term response. It is also vitally important that the learning extends to future humanitarian crises."

Roundtable participant Dr. Claire Healy (UNODC Research and Trend Analysis Branch) says that "we have the evidence on risks of human trafficking in countries affected by conflict and among people fleeing conflict, so we can act now to prevent victimization of both Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians. Access to basic humanitarian needs, legal entry and legal status in countries of refuge, work for adults and education for children, can significantly reduce people's vulnerability to trafficking in persons."

In the longer term, the report calls on the Home Office to work with civil society and other statutory agencies to plan responses to future wars and mass displacements, learning from both good practice and shortcomings in responses to the Ukraine crisis and other wars, such as those in Afghanistan and Syria.

Explore further Thinking of welcoming a Ukrainian refugee into your home? Our research can help you be a good host
Lilly Marsh and her husband moved from Indiana to Queensbury in 2016 and discovered, after-the-fact, a thriving market for her career as a weaver.

Ive been a weaver for 30 years, said Marsh, who has a Ph.D. from Purdue University in American Studies, specializing in using the fiber and textile industry as a community development tool.

Marsh weaves locally produced fiber into garments, scarves and blankets for farmers to sell or for wholesale customers.

She said that she has carved out a niche in a multi-faceted industry.

My goal is to produce middle-class, sort of middle-brow, garments that people will actually wear instead of giving as wedding presents, she said.

Marsh said there is a strong network locally between fiber raisers and growers, others who card, dye and spin fiber and those who manufacture clothing, yet there is plenty of room for the industry to grow.

Legislation that Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, is spearheading to stimulate the textile industry is making quick progress.

New York Textile Act

Woerner introduced the New York Textile Act  A 9649  on March 28, and the Assembly Economic Development Committee passed the legislation on Tuesday, moving it along to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee to consider, the last step before a vote of the full Assembly.

Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-Saugerties, chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, introduced Senate companion legislation.

Industry trends show an increasing demand for sustainably produced garments made from fiber of sheep, goats and alpaca, or grown from plants such as flax and hemp, Woerner said.

We certainly have seen the consumer preference, she said.

Its no different than the local-foods movement, said Mary Jeanne Packer, owner of Battenkill Fibers, a mill in Greenwich that employs 17 people spinning locally produced fiber into yarn.

Packer, who started the plant in 2009, said demand started to pick up around 2015, and just really exploded during the pandemic.

One reason was because people staying at home took up knitting and weaving as hobbies, and another was that textile manufacturers had difficulty importing yarn from foreign countries.

The legislation would open state economic development incentives and state Department of Agriculture marketing and technical assistance programs to the textile industry, with a goal of attracting textile production and manufacturing operations to the Hudson Valley and lower Adirondacks, which, in turn, would increase demand for locally raised or grown fiber.

Scouring facilities

Packer, of Battenkill Fibers, said she already is collaborating with the Hudson Valley Textile Project to develop a fiber scouring facility locally, possibly at either Greenwich or Schuylerville.

Scouring is a process of repeatedly washing and squeezing fiber to remove dirt and impurities, using equipment similar to an oversized ringer washing machine.

The closest scouring facility now is in South Carolina, and trucking local fiber there and back has become cost-prohibitive with high fuel prices.

This is just not smart of be hauling wool there and back, Packer said.

A regional dye house would also be helpful, she said.

A dye house in Pennsylvania that many local producers were using was recently flooded, and it is expected it will not reopen, said Marsh, the Queensbury weaver.

Another need is for a local fiber warehouse, where fiber could be stockpiled as it is produced to fill large orders, as needed.

Textile company production schedules, which are unpredictable, often have a short window of time to fill.

Without a local warehouse, local suppliers have to scamper from farm to farm to fill an order, a chaotic, inefficient process, Packer said.

Textile center

Ideally, if Woerners legislation passes, it would lead to developing a local textile center, which would house one or more of these type operations and provide space for commercial-scale weavers, Packer said.

Woerner said fiber farming can be a vital part of keeping agricultural land from being redeveloped, as traditional dairy farms struggle to survive.

They are value-added opportunities that keep the land in production, she said. Its a growing sector and one that we are really ready to take a part in.

There is plenty of untapped opportunity for those who are willing to work hard, said Faith Perkins, co-owner of Quarry Ridge Alpacas in Salem.

There used to be six or seven alpaca raisers in the area, and now there are two, said Perkins, who raises alpacas, spins the fiber into yarn, dyes it, and knits and crochets it into garments.

She sells yarn and garments at a shop on her farm and at fiber festivals.

It requires someone to do the work that is involved, not just to love cute animals, said Perkins, who sheared 13 alpacas on Tuesday. Alpacas are raised for a purpose, and that is to make use of the fibers.

No new spending

The legislation has no fiscal impact, because it does not establish any new state spending.

It merely revises language of existing laws or parameters of existing programs to incorporate the textile industry.

Woerner said local fiber farmers now sell fiber to manufacturers as far away as Montana and Georgia.

Officials could offer incentives to those manufacturers to open additional manufacturing plants in New York.

Thats really the goal  to say, You love our fiber. Come, be close to it, she said.

Officials also would promote the use of local fiber to the New York City fashion industry and provide training on the states procurement process.

Glove-knitting companies, for example, would be notified when the state Department of Environmental Conservation is planning to buy gloves for forest rangers, and the companies would be instructed how to make a proposal, Woerner explained.

Secondary benefits

Developing the textile industry has secondary benefits.

The goats and the sheep, they are not just an important part of the economy, but a tourism draw, as well, said Laura Osgood, director of economic development for Washington County.

There are environmental benefits, Woerner said.

Hemp, like Christmas trees, takes in more carbon dioxide than it produces, she said.

Economic development incentives and promotion are important, but there is another challenge, Packer said.

The textile industry, like most other industries, faces a labor shortage.

Packer suggested that local school districts develop a textile industry STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum.

Another option is to retrain workers who no longer have jobs in the paper industry.

Its very similar to the paper industry  a lot of gears turning, she said.

Maury Thompson covered local government and politics for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He continues to follow regional politics as a freelance writer.

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Two New York men have pleaded guilty to discharging chemical spray at police officers inside the U.S. Capitol during the January 2021 insurrection. Cody Mattice and James Mault entered their pleas before a federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday. Each faces between three and four years in prison after pleading guilty to felony charges. Sentencing is scheduled for July 15. Mattice and Mault are both from the Rochester area and were indicted in October. Mault was arrested in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he had been stationed with the U.S. Army. Mattice was arrested at his home in Hilton, New York.
ATLANTIC CITY  A union representing casino dealers is calling on New Jersey lawmakers to prohibit smoking in the resorts casinos.

The United Auto Workers wrote earlier this week to state legislators asking them to hold hearings on a bill that would close a loophole in state law that leaves casinos as virtually the only indoor workplace where smoking is permitted. The letter was made public Thursday.

Our members include dealers who sit inches away from patrons who blow smoke directly into their face for eight hours a day, every single day, read the letter on behalf of workers at Caesars, Ballys and Tropicana. It is simply unacceptable knowing what we know about the dangers of secondhand smoke. No worker in the state of NJ should be forced to breathe cancer-causing chemicals every single day.

For nearly two years, a group of Atlantic City dealers has been pushing lawmakers to prohibit smoking in the casinos.

But the casinos trade group, The Casino Association of New Jersey, says doing so would place the casinos at a competitive disadvantage in the crowded northeast casino market, particularly when seven of the nine casinos have not exceeded the level of gross operating profit they enjoyed before the pandemic hit.

The casino association commissioned a report in February predicting that a smoking ban would cost jobs and revenue. But casino workers strongly disputed those projections and said the report did not take into account the possibility that gamblers put off by a smoking ban might return in subsequent years as they adjust to the new smoke-free situation.

Atlantic City revelers celebrate 420 on eve of cannabis legal sales ATLANTIC CITY  Come Thursday, people will be able to buy recreational cannabis in the state

The move by the UAW is also significant in that it shows a split between the two major casino workers unions in Atlantic City. In a letter sent earlier this month to state Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite Here casino workers union, urged lawmakers not to pass a smoking ban.

A smoking ban would mean lost jobs for our union and throughout the state, and lost tax revenues and less money for senior programs, said McDevitt, whose union represents workers engaged in other casino-related jobs.

The UAW rejected what it called the scare tactics employed by the casinos, adding nothing is scarier than the health risks of being repeatedly exposed to secondhand smoke.

Bills that would eliminate the casino exemption from the states 16-year-old indoor smoking law are pending in the state Assembly and Senate. But neither has yet had a committee hearing, a necessary first step before a bill can move forward in the state Legislature.

The bills enjoy wide bipartisan backing, and the UAW said, We are certain they will pass.

We will not stand idly by and watch our members choose between their health and their job, said the letter. We all have a right to breathe clean air at our workplaces.
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LOWER TOWNSHIP  Lower Cape May Regional High School hopes the community will help propel its students shoe designs into the Vans Custom Culture Competitions top-five bracket.

This competition means the world to my students, Lower Cape art teacher Carly Crisanti said. Having a high-profile, cool company like Vans not only recognize the importance of what we do but encourage it is so wonderful. Students come to me each year asking about the Vans competition, eager to participate.

This is the second consecutive year the high school has made the competitions top 50. Its hoping the community will rally around its students and their design, voting for them before the May 6 deadline to become one of 250 schools competing for a $50,000 top prize.

Lower Cape says it would like to use the money, if it were to win it, to purchase additional supplies and technology, like printers and tablets. Those, school officials said, would help the art program expand its offerings to include digital art activities, exposing students to 21 century artistry like animation and graphic design.

Its an opportunity to create a team of artists who come together for one purpose, senior Mya Salasin said. We make these shoes each year and collaborate. Winning the money would mean so much to our small school and help us to expand our art program.

Vans challenged schools in this years competition to honor Paul Van Doren, the companys co-founder, with their designs. The design represents action sports, art, music and street culture, Lower Cape said.

South Jersey drought free for first time in 7 weeks A soaking noreaster Monday night and additional rain late last week did enough to recharge 

Their submission featured a pair of shoes with different colors and designs. One, with black and white checkered paint, is used as a skateboard ramps backbone. The other is a multicolor shoe, with flowers painted on it, resting on top of a wave to symbolize surfing.

Being in a shore community also gave the students an idea for the competitions bonus challenge.

The students, some of whom are not art students, chose to help their local environment through a beach cleanup. Using collected trash, such as bottle caps, cardboard and paper, they assembled an Atlantic horseshoe crab.

This year the interest expanded beyond just the students enrolled in my class, Crisanti said. One of our big contributors this year isnt an art student, but a culinary student. Thats what this competition does; it pushes students to embrace their creativity.

Horseshoe crabs, often found by Jersey Shore locals and visitors in summer, have been subject to overfishing and environmental stressors. Theyre often found dead on the sand, having been flipped over onto their shells and unable to correct themselves, Lower Cape said.

The students wanted to clean up their local beaches while raising awareness of the animal for non-shore communities across the country.

I feel very strongly about taking care of our planet and our environment, so I loved the sustainability bonus challenge, senior Isabella Menzano said. I went to the beach and picked up trash and debris for us to use in our construction. We used these supplies to make our Hometown Pride shoes into a horseshoe crab.

Contact Eric Conklin: 609-272-7261 econklin@pressofac.com Twitter @ACPressConklin

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MAURICE RIVER TOWNSHIP  Southern State Prison is set to close this year, state and local officials confirmed Wednesday.

The state Department of Corrections is using the word consolidation. Southern State Correctional Facility Compound A and Compound B are being consolidated into Bayside, Maurice River Township Mayor Ken Whildin said.

A Department of Corrections spokesman said the department did not expect any job losses from the consolidation.

A drop in the number of inmates in New Jersey and the deteriorating condition of the prison were both cited as reasons for the planned closure.

Southern State and Bayside State Prison are next to each other, forming a sprawling prison complex off Route 47.

Southern State is in the Delmont section of the township, with Bayside in the adjoining Leesburg section. There is also a minimum security section known as the farm, where prisoners work on a dairy, which Whildin said will also be consolidated.

Southern State can hold more than 2,000 inmates. The two prisons combined employ about 1,500 people, including guards and civilian employees, Whildin said, a big number in this mostly rural community.

Its going to have a significant impact on the few small businesses that we have, Whildin said, with fewer prison employees grabbing morning coffee or lunch from a nearby diner. We have very few jobs here other than the prison.

Whildin is a retired corrections officer who worked at both Southern State and Bayside. He said the consolidation is set to be completed by summer.

New Jersey Department of Corrections spokesman Dan Sperrazza confirmed that consolidation is under consideration.

"Department of Corrections is currently evaluating the possible consolidation of units at Southern State Correctional Facility and Bayside State Prison," he said Thursday in an emailed response to a request for comment. "This potential consolidation is due to a number of factors including the decline in the incarcerated population, the deteriorating infrastructure at both facilities, and a staffing shortage in the southern region.

"We do not anticipate the elimination of any jobs resulting from any consolidations," Sperrazza continued.

The state Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon, but state Sen. Michael Testa confirmed the consolidation plans.

Southern State is going to be consolidated, mostly with Bayside, and some of the pods are going to close completely, Testa said Wednesday. He said he has been getting information in dribs and drabs but confirmed Whildins account.

Im very concerned about potential job loss, Testa said.

He said he has sought to make sure corrections officers are offered positions either at Bayside or at South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton.

Army Corps dredging could make a big difference on Maurice River MAURICE RIVER TOWNSHIP  On a sunny Sunday morning at Anchor Marina on the Maurice River, Bo

Both men, and other sources, said the facilities at Southern State are in dire need of repairs. Testa said he did not have an exact estimate but said the facility needs tens of millions of dollars worth of work.

They have trailers there that are essentially falling apart. There are structural and infrastructure issues at the current Southern State facility, Testa said.

At one point, the prisons used not only temporary trailers to house inmates but also canvas tents lined up on fields, surrounded by tall fences. The tents are long gone, Whildin said, but the trailers remain.

A report from the Department of Corrections indicates there are 1,878 prisoners in Southern State, with a little more than 2,000 at Bayside, including at the farm. But those numbers are down, according to Testa and Whildin.

There simply, from what Im being told, arent enough prisoners to keep them open, Testa said.

He cited an early release program enacted by Gov. Phil Murphys administration, in which more than 6,600 people were released in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the prison population.

The move won praise from some quarters. The Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit advocacy group, reported that New Jersey prisons were operating over capacity and had the largest reduction in prison population of all 50 states in response to the pandemic, with the second highest vaccination rate.

The Public Health Emergency Credits Law took effect in November 2020, allowing someone with less than a year left in prison to get out up to eight months early.

Representatives of the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union stated that before the releases, New Jersey had the worst death rate from COVID-19 in prisons.

At its heart, the Public Health Emergency Credits Law is not a pandemic policy, its a policy about humanity, Amol Sinha, the state ACLUs executive director, said in a statement in March. Its a policy recognizing that no one, including incarcerated people and their families, deserves gratuitous suffering.

Testa, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, believes it was bad policy and blames the Murphy administration for making New Jersey less safe, comparing the early releases to throwing gasoline on a blazing fire.

He said his constituents want to see a plan to reduce crime.

State officials report 2 additional South Jersey prison inmate COVID-19 deaths BRIDGETON  Two more inmates at a South Jersey prison have died from COVID-19 as cases at fa

In March, while the ACLU praised the early release, Testa suggested it could be part of a larger plan to permanently reduce New Jerseys prison capacity.

Weve already seen the proof that it was a tragic mistake for Governor Murphy to free masses of dangerous prisoners back into our communities, Testa said in a statement released at the time. It would be another mistake for the Murphy administration to permanently eliminate the cells and prisons well need when Murphys misfits are incarcerated again, which is inevitable.

Union leaders at the prisons have been informed of the consolidation plan, Testa said. He added that Victoria Kuhn, acting commissioner of the Department of Corrections, has been responsive to his questions.

Some of what she tells me, Im not happy with, he said.

Whildin said it took him several attempts to finally speak with someone at the Department of Corrections. When he did, he said, the person was sympathetic to his concerns and informative, but made it sound like there was little chance of changing the plan.

But he said there has been no official communication with the township.

We were contacted by folks who worked there. The Department of Corrections has never reached out to the local officials to have any conversation about this, Whildin said.

Southern State was built in 1983. Bayside is the older of the two, dating to 1977. According to Whildin, the township welcomed the prisons because of the jobs they would bring.

"Department of Corrections is currently evaluating the possible consolidation of units at Southern State Correctional Facility and Bayside State Prison. This potential consolidation is due to a number of factors including the decline in the incarcerated population, the deteriorating infrastructure at both facilities, and a staffing shortage in the southern region.

We do not anticipate the elimination of any jobs resulting from any consolidations."

Dan Sperrazza, Executive Director

Contact Bill Barlow: 609-272-7290 bbarlow@pressofac.com Twitter @jerseynews_bill

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PLEASANTVILLE  The city is expressing concern that planned state environmental policies designed to stem the damage caused by flooding and global warming could dampen much needed economic development.

City Council passed a resolution April 18 opposing the states planned Protection Against Climate Threats, or PACT, regulations. The resolution said new property-elevation requirements in the regulations would be both prohibitively expensive and in many cases infeasible.

Pleasantville and other municipalities that have expressed opposition to the regulations wanted the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to be more cognizant of their concerns, city Administrator Linda Peyton said.

The PACT communities would like to be at the table and be in conversation with NJDEP as these regulations come out, so that we can make sure it doesnt have a negative impact on our communities, Peyton said.

The resolution specifically raised concerns over the requirement that new and substantially renovated homes be elevated an additional 5 feet, with 5 feet of freeboard above the base-flood elevation in the flood zone.

It also argued the DEP had not discussed the magnitude of the economic impact on residents or how to ameliorate any negative impacts on vulnerable communities.

DEPs bad science would regulate much of NJ as a flood zone, by Ray Cantor We all want public policies to follow the science. From COVID-19 restrictions and vaccinat

Gov. Phil Murphy issued an executive order in 2020 mandating the DEP establish PACT regulations. The new regulatory regime would be meant to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions that drive global warming while making the state more able to withstand global warmings consequences. The order asked that the DEP devise these new regulations sometime this year.

The Murphy administration laid out the threat of global warming to communities along the Jersey Shore in its 2021 Climate Change Resilience Strategy. It encourages coastal communities to use proactive planning to prepare for rising sea levels and higher risks of severe storms. It also prioritizes the use of state funds to protect socially vulnerable populations.

The science of climate change is clear, Murphy said in an Oct. 12 letter appended to the 2021 strategy. The circumstances demand that we act with concerted urgency to promote and secure a more climate resilient future for New Jersey.

Pleasantvilles resolution maintained the state is looking at too long of a time frame, 50 years beyond the 20- to 30-year periods considered by city master plans. It also asked that the state flooding forecasts be subject to additional peer review prior to issuance of new environmental rules, as well as an independent economic analysis, citing a February 2021 op-ed piece in The Press of Atlantic City that questioned the DEPs planned regulations.

It also argued the DEP regulations should be backed by additional state legislation.

Councilwoman Joanne Famularo, while voting in the affirmative, expressed concern about the resolution in light of the growing threat from flooding and intense storms.

Wind power, public safety building top issues at Ocean City Council debate OCEAN CITY  For some questions put to the six candidates for three at-large seats on City C

We talk about 100-year storms all the time, and 100-year storms are reoccurring, Famularo said. Whens the next (Superstorm) Sandy? It could be 10 years, it could be five years or it could be 80, but we need more discussion on it.

Peyton said the resolution would not work against any environmental concerns the council may have but would allow the city to voice its concerns to the state.

Contact Chris Doyle cdoyle@pressofac.com

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Almost two-thirds of New Jerseyans support banning smoking in casinos, according to a Stockton University public health poll released Friday.

The statewide poll of 640 respondents also found that South Jersey respondents were more likely than those from Central or North Jersey to report their towns have problems with drug addiction and homelessness.

South Jersey counties consistently rank at the bottom in New Jersey for health measures by groups like the Association for Children in New Jersey in their annual Kids Count reports.

The poll considered South Jersey counties to include Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester and Camden counties.

Central Jersey was considered to include Burlington, Ocean, Monmouth, Middlesex and Mercer counties; and North Jersey Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren counties.

The findings on smoking in casinos bolster legislative attempts to close the loophole in state law that allows indoor smoking only in casinos and simulcasting facilities in the state.

Atlantic City dealers' union backs casino smoking ban A union representing Atlantic City casino dealers is calling on New Jersey lawmakers to prohibit smoking in the resorts casinos. The United Auto Workers wants state legislators to hold hearings on a bill that would close a loophole in state law that leaves casinos as virtually the only indoor workplace where smoking is permitted. The union says its members endure having secondhand smoke blown in their faces for eight hours at a time. The casinos say banning smoking would cost them revenue and lead to layoffs. Bills to end the casino smoking exemption are pending in the state Assembly and Senate.

Bills that would eliminate the casino exemption from the states 16-year-old indoor smoking law are pending in the state Assembly and Senate, where they have bipartisan support. But neither has had a committee hearing, a necessary first step before a bill can move forward in the state Legislature.

The Casino Association of New Jersey, the industry trade group, opposes banning smoking, saying casinos would lose some of their best customers.

The poll was conducted by the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University.

There were regional differences on casino smoking as well.

Fewer respondents in South Jersey (59%) supported the casino smoking ban than in North Jersey, where 66% supported it, said Hughes Center Research Associate Alyssa Maurice.

Statewide, 62% supported prohibiting smoking on casino floors, while 31% opposed the proposal and 6% were unsure.

Atlantic City casino workers feel smoking ban is in reach Atlantic City casino workers feel they are closer than ever to getting a law passed that would ban smoking in the gambling halls. Tuesday was the 16th anniversary of a New Jersey law that banned smoking almost everywhere indoors, except in casinos. About 250 casino workers held a rally in a waterfront park to call on the state Legislature to pass a bill that already has many co-sponsors in both parties. The casino industry and the main casino workers labor union oppose the bill, saying it will lead to job losses and revenue declines. No vote has yet been scheduled.

On the mental health front, 58% of those polled said they or someone close to them has mental health problems, and of those almost 70% said the problems have gotten worse during the coronavirus pandemic.

The public is confirming what experts have been saying about the pandemic, that mental health has taken a beating as we try to manage the coronavirus, said John Froonjian, director of the Hughes Center. The pandemic has increased stress levels on multiple fronts: economic, social, employment, health care, schooling, loss of loved ones. It all takes a toll.

Nearly four in 10 (39%) poll respondents said they or someone they know personally has been affected by the opioid crisis. More than one in three (35%) characterize drug addiction as a big problem in their community, and 40% said it is a minor problem where they live.

In a state of 9 million people, thats a lot of suffering, Froonjian said.

South Jersey showed the highest rate of respondents impacted by the opioid crisis (46%) and the highest rate of respondents who said addiction is a big problem where they live (43%). The rate was 30% and 34% for Central and North Jersey, respectively.

On mental health treatment, 36% agreed strongly or somewhat that treatment options in New Jersey are adequate and affordable, but 40% disagreed. One in four (24%) were not sure how to rate treatment services.

For addiction treatment services, 36% agreed the states options are adequate and affordable, while 33% disagreed and 31% were unsure.

Nearly one in three South Jersey residents (32%) said homelessness is a big problem where they live, while 24% of North and 16% of Central Jersey residents said the same. A plurality of those in both the North and Central regions (40% and 42%, respectively) said it was not a problem at all, while only 27% of those in the southernmost counties agreed.

Full results of the poll are on the Hughes Center website, stockton.edu/hughes-center.

The poll of New Jersey adults was conducted from April 4 to 13. Live interviewers who were mostly Stockton University students called cellphones and landlines from the Stockton campus.

Opinion Services supplemented a portion of the fieldwork. Overall, 88% of interviews were conducted on cellphones and 12% on landline phones. A total of 640 New Jersey adult residents were interviewed.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-841-2895 mpost@pressofac.com

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Davenport Police Department Chief Paul Sikorski plans to retire in late August, according to the city of Davenport.

Sikorski's last day is scheduled for Aug. 29, a city news release issued Thursday states.

Sikorski is a 34-year veteran of the Davenport police. He was hired in 1988. He became the chief in 2016.

Sikorski has been part of all of the departments divisions, the release states. His jobs have included:

24 years on the Emergency Services Team.

14 years in the special operations and investigation divisions, where he served in the Detective Bureau, Gang and Vice/Narcotics units, and was a supervisor in the Covert Unit of the Tactical Operations Bureau.

Serving as the departments interagency coordinator for other police agencies, including the Metropolitan Enforcement Group, the Iowa Department of Narcotics Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Sikorski has a bachelors degree in criminology from the University of Northern Iowa and a masters degree in law enforcement justice administration from Western Illinois University. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy.

As chief, Sikorski has advocated for partnerships between the police and community groups to address public safety issues, the release states.

He has been a supporter of the Youth Assessment Program  meant to help families before a youth gets involved in the judicial system, the release states. He also helped create the Scott County Law Enforcement Community Partnership, designed to support and strengthen positive relationships between police and their communities in the Iowa Quad-Cities.

Replacing Sikorski will involve a national recruitment search that is scheduled to begin in May, according to the news release. Davenport hopes to have the new police chief identified before Sikorski retires.

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The promise of a warm spring evening in Davenport's East Village was shattered Thursday by a brazen assault and attempted robbery of a Wide River Winery employee.

Eric Sergesketter owns a business near the winery, 1128 Mound St. He said at around 5:30 p.m. one of his workers told him something was going on at the winery.

They heard a woman screaming and saw she was bleeding. Davenport police later identified the woman as a winery employee. And according to police investigators, two people attacked the woman  Christopher Lavelle Mitchell, 35, and Emilee Rose Haberling, 20.

Mitchell and Haberling are charged with one count each of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree robbery.

Sergesketter saw the end of what police later alleged was a violent attack punctuated by Mitchell threatening to rape, stab and kill the winery employee.

"(The winery employee) was able to escape the attack," Sergesketter said. "She got bloodied pretty good. She had blood dripping down her face and neck. By the time I got outside, we ran over there and already there was an officer with her."

"The good thing about this is she was able to get out of it. She was still walking, talking and breathing."

"Our friend showed amazing courage, strength and fast-thinking during this attack," the winery posted on social media. "We are supporting her recovery as much as we know how, and piecing together a plan to enhance security measures and reopen ... we are heartbroken for our employee and community today."

Affidavits filed Davenport Cpl. Bryant Wayland indicated the police were sent to the scene at 5:35 p.m.

Wayland said Mitchell and Haberling entered the winery and punched the employee in the face. Her head was slammed against the ground and she was dragged by her hair to the cash register. Mitchell took money from the drawer.

The violence did not end when Mitchell had the money.

According to the affidavits, Mitchell and Haberling made the employee crawl on her hands and knees and held her by her hair while they punched her in the head and slammed her head into the floor.

Mitchell choked her with both hands and stopped her from breathing at various times. Haberling took the employee's cell phone and smashed it on the ground, preventing her from calling 911.

Mitchell demanded the employee tell him where the winery's camera surveillance system and video recordings were located. The employee told police she heard Mitchell tell Haberling he was giving her a knife and said, "If she tries to get away, stab her."

The employee said Haberling and Mitchell moved her throughout the business as the assault continued.

While Mitchell checked for the surveillance system, Haberling held the employee on the ground, affidavits said. Mitchell returned and said "Ill rape you, Ill kill you, Ill do what I want, I have a knife." Before he left again, he gave Haberling a knife and told her to stab the employee.

The employee told police she threw a chair to escape the winery and Mitchell and Haberling followed her. They pulled her back in the building, but she was able to get away as she heard police sirens nearing the scene.

Mitchell and Haberling retreated to inside the winery and were quickly located, police said, but were uncooperative and resisted arrest. Physical force, including a taser, was used to make the arrests.

Officers found about $317 in Mitchell's sweatshirt pocket with some of the money wrapped in money bands and consistent with the amount stolen during the robbery. Both suspects refused to identify themselves.

The employee was transported to a hospital with injuries that included bruising to both eyes, a cut on her tongue, a left orbital fracture and a broken clavicle, bleeding and bruising to the right side of her face.

Sergesketter said the attack shocked the entire East Village.

"  this happened in broad daylight, and in a nice part of town," he said. "Everyone was enjoying a nice casual Thursday evening and suddenly this happens."

Both Mitchell  on parole in Iowa until 2025 for robbery convictions  and Haberling face life sentences in prison, if convicted.

First-degree kidnapping under Iowa law carries a mandatory life sentence in prison, while first-degree robbery carries a mandatory 25-year prison sentence  70%, or 17 years, must be served before parole can be granted.

Haberling also is charged with first-degree theft, which carries a prison sentence of 10 years, and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing 911 communications.

The pair also is charged with misdemeanor harassment of public officials and interference with official acts.

Mitchell is on parole until Feb. 28, 2025, according to Iowa Department of Corrections electronic records. The new charges come just about four months after he was released from prison.

On Jan. 22, 2004, Mitchell was sentenced to two years on deferred judgment and two years probation after pleading guilty to three counts of third-degree burglary with one of those occurring on May 5, 2003, and the other two on Oct. 29, 2003. He also had pleaded guilty to a charge of operating a vehicle without the owner's consent.

He violated his probation and was sentenced to five years in prison for the burglary convictions and two years in prison on the other charge. The sentences were to run concurrently.

He was paroled on April 27, 2006.

On May 12, 2006, Davenport police arrested Mitchell on two counts of first-degree robbery. In both cases, he pleaded guilty to the lesser included charge of second-degree robbery.

His parole in the earlier case was revoked and he was sentenced to prison for the robberies.

Mitchell was placed on work release Dec. 16, and on parole March 2.

In their applications for a court-appointed attorney, Mitchell listed his address as being in Des Moines, while Haberling listed no home town.

They are both being held without bond in Scott County Jail.

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Scott County Democrats attempted to pick a political fight with U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Ottumwa, earlier this week after a tweet from her campaign manager showed volunteers holding signs while framing the flag of a prominent anti-government paramilitary group.

The 2nd Congressional District U.S. House was decided for Miller-Meeks by a six-vote margin, suggesting the campaign rhetoric could get heated as the election season draws near.

The posting and re-posting on Twitter started roughly 10 days ago when Miller-Meeks campaign manager Elliott Husbands tweeted two photos taken inside the headquarters of the Muscatine Republicans. One of those photos showed two men holding Miller-Meeks campaign signs. The men stood on each side of a Three-Percenters flag  a U.S. flag with the Roman numeral III in the blue field usually reserved for the stars.

A traditional Betsy Ross 1776 flag also is prominent in the background. The use of 1776 imagery on flags and window stickers was first popularized by right-wing radio host Alex Jones and has been used extensively by a range of militia groups. It was routinely seen at anti-masking and COVID-19 vaccination mandate protests across the country, as well as during the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol building.

Miller-Meeks retweeted the post on her personal Twitter feed, then deleted it  but not before the Scott County Democrats posted the pictures and wrote the representative "  retweeted this image of flags for white supremacy & anti-government militias."

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also used the photo as the lead of a press release that attempted to link Miller-Meeks as sympathetic to the Three-Percenters cause.

Scott County Democratic Chair Matt Trimble was even more explicit in his criticism of Miller-Meeks and her campaign.

"(Miller-Meeks) is standing in a room of a house filled with gas and she has lit a match," Trimble said. "That's what is so concerning for her constituents. They have to be terrified that she is allowing insurrectionists to be the face of her campaign."

Trimble suggested that even though Miller-Meeks deleted her repost of the tweet, she sent a message to some supporters.

"She was clearly signaling to like-minded people," Trimble said. "I think this is just another example of how fringe and radical some of the Republicans have become."

When reached for comment about the accusations made by the Scott County Democrats, Husbands said he "  didn't really think this is a story."

"We handed out 1,500 yard signs to campaign volunteers in 20 counties," Husbands added. "And that is my only comment."

Fred Grunder, the chairman of the Muscatine Republicans, did react to the charges against Miller-Meeks. He said the Scott County Democrats were signaling to its base.

"Every time the Democrats disagree with something or someone they use the words 'racist' and 'bigot'. It's gotten to the point where those two words don't mean anything," Grunder said. "There are a lot of fringe groups in both parties."

"One of the biggest terror groups is the BLM (Black Lives Matter)," he alleged. "They destroyed this country two years ago, and no one seems to care. There were no consequences for what they did."

Grunder said he "had no idea" the Three-Percenters flag was among those displayed in the offices of the Muscatine Republicans.

"Look, there are a lot of flags in that room. There's probably a Trump flag, and I know there's a Blue-Line flag. There are flags from every branch of the military," Grunder said. "And I have no problem with the 1776 flag. That's about the revolution that created this country."

The Three-Percenters were founded in 2008 and initially attracted a membership dominated by military veterans, as well as retired and active-duty police officers. While many joined in reaction to perceived policies aimed at limiting the Second Amendment, the Three-Percenters became vocal supporters of President Donald Trump.

The Southern Poverty Law Center noted that while many Three-Percenters are not overtly white supremacist, a number of local groups across the country were involved in violence against Muslim-Americans. Most local Three-Percenter groups carry firearms to rallies and protest.

Three-Percenter groups took an active role during the Jan. 6 riots. Many members have moved on to attending local school board meetings to speak out against the supposed "teaching of critical race theory" in public schools.

Husbands and Grunder said Miller-Meeks had never supported any Three-Percenter group. By the end of the week, the Iowa's 2nd Congressional District had two distinct camps: those who believe Miller-Meeks was signaling to a fringe, reactionary portion of her base, and her supporters who claimed an innocent photo of campaign volunteers was being used to smear her.

According to Dr. William W. Parsons, chair of the Department of Political Science and Leadership Studies at Saint Ambrose University, no one should be surprised by the Twitter fight.

"Dog-whistling is nothing new in American politics. It dates back all the way to the founding. In some ways, the comments politicians said about each other back then were often worse than things said today," Parsons said. "For instance, Thomas Jefferson was maligned for mocking Christianity and people were told to hide or bury their bibles for fear the new president would confiscate them.

"The difference today is the ability of these sorts of political tactics to go viral. In a matter of minutes, images reach hundreds of thousands if not millions. Today, we have a sense that such political behavior is more impactful than ever before. There is no doubt that there is less discussion going on in society today than historically."

Parsons offered an image of modern political discourse.

"It is also the case today that political opinion exists primarily in bubbles. People only want to talk to those who have the same opinion. The internet and social media is a major factor in perpetuating this pattern," Parsons said. "I have no solution to this phenomenon other than to tell people to actively seek out multiple sources and opinions and not be comfortable in their bubble."

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DAVENPORT  Joshua Scott Peters, 36, of Davenport, who allegedly crashed a stolen SUV into the Mississippi River, killing an elderly man with disabilities, had recently been released from jail and served time after pleading guilty to a charge of voluntary absence from custody.

According to court documents, Peters pleaded guilty in Scott County Court to voluntary absence from custody  walking away from the Davenport Residential Corrections Facility  on June 2, 2021. He was sentenced to 365 days in the Scott County Jail with credit for time served, but probation was denied. Davenport Residential Corrections Facility placed him on escape status on April 12, 2021. An arrest warrant was issued and served on April 14, 2021.

This was not the first time Peters was a fugitive. The court records show Rock Island County listed him as a fugitive on Aug. 31, 2020, but Illinois declined to extradite him and the case was closed.

Peters was charged with a parole violation on Feb. 10, 2021. He was discharged from the Center for Alcohol and Drug Services on Dec. 29, 2020, and failed to give his parole officer his forwarding address, and failed to report Bettendorf Police Department gave him notice to appear in court. The last entry in the file was March 1, 2021, when a lawyer was appointed to represent him.

Peters has been cited repeatedly for driving while barred, with the latest being April 13, 2021, and given notice of past due court fines and costs on Aug. 1, 2021. He owes Scott County $983.25.

His criminal record in Iowa dates back to 2003, according to court documents.

He was arrested by the Muscatine County Sheriffs office on April 22, charged with homicide by vehicle  operating under the influence, a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison; leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison; first-degree theft, a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison; and driving while barred.

The Muscatine County Sheriffs Department said deputies responded to Fairport State Recreation Area, 3284 Highway 22, for a missing person and stolen vehicle report. Deputies had been to the campground earlier in the evening for a disturbance they were unable to locate. Deputies met with the wife and daughter of William A. Talbot, 71, of Davenport, who reported their blue 2016 Chevrolet Equinox had been stolen with Talbot inside. The family claimed they didn't know who stole the vehicle, but deputies learned Peters and the Talbots arrived together at the campground the previous evening and Peters ingested meth after arriving.

Peters and several unidentified people were involved in an altercation later in the evening, according to the Sheriff's Department. Peters fled in the SUV, and Talbot was unable to escape from the vehicle. Peters drove erratically at a high rate of speed, leaving the roadway and striking a road sign before driving about 255 feet off the roadway into the Mississippi River. Peters escaped the sinking vehicle, Talbot did not, according to the law enforcement reports. Talbots body inside was recovered in the SUV by Muscatine County Search and Rescue later that morning.

As deputies interviewed Talbots wife and daughter, they received a report of homeowners holding a man, later identified as Peters, at gunpoint in Montpelier.

Peters admitted to using meth.

Attorney Miguel Puentes later withdrew as Peters appointed defense attorney, citing a temporary overload in cases. On April 22, attorney Jeff Powell was appointed to represent Peters. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday unless Peters waives the hearing or the county attorney files trial information. He remains in the Muscatine County Jail in lieu of a $500,000 cash-only bond.

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[](200541):2022 20220430 00:38:18  ::2022

::2022 Stock Code: 000541, 200541 Stock Name: FSL, FSL-B Announcement No. 2022-037

FOSHAN ELECTRICAL AND LIGHTING CO., LTD.

FIRST QUARTERLY REPORT 2022

Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Company) and all the members of the Companys Board of Directors hereby guarantee that the contents of this Report are true, accurate and complete and free of any misrepresentations, misleading statements or material omissions.



Important Notes:

1. The Board of Directors, the Supervisory Committee as well as the directors, supervisors and senior

management of the Company hereby guarantee that the contents of this Report are true, accurate and complete and

free of any misrepresentations, misleading statements or material omissions, and collectively and individually

accept legal responsibility for such contents.

2. The Companys legal representative, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and person-in-charge of the Companys

accounting organ (equivalent to accounting manager) hereby guarantee that the financial statements carried in this

Report are true, accurate and complete.

3. Indicate whether the financial statements in this Report have been audited by an independent auditor.

Yes  No

I Key Financial Information

(I) Key Accounting Data and Financial Indicators

Indicate whether there is any retrospectively restated datum in the table below.  Yes  No

Reason

Business Combination under the same control



Q1 2022 Q1 2021 YoY change (%) Before Restated Restated Operating revenue (RMB) 2,007,637,120.85 825,678,013.99 1,597,135,618.67 25.70% Net profit attributable to the listed companys shareholders (RMB) 61,365,477.84 42,203,399.57 49,686,820.13 23.50% Net profit attributable to the listed companys shareholders before exceptional gains and losses (RMB) 55,625,535.40 39,266,019.69 38,897,030.57 43.01% Net cash generated from/used in operating activities (RMB) -66,973,529.90 48,558,082.07 177,346,228.84 -137.76% Basic earnings per share (RMB/share) 0.0455 0.0313 0.0368 23.64% Diluted earnings per share (RMB/share) 0.0451 0.0310 0.0365 23.56% Weighted average return on equity (%) 0.96% 0.71% 0.70% 0.26% 31 March 2022 31 December 2021 Change (%) Before Restated Restated Total assets (RMB) 14,585,911,497.05 9,699,592,528.61 16,317,843,693.4 7 -10.61% Equity attributable to the listed companys shareholders (RMB) 5,279,883,210.93 5,800,558,588.34 6,986,502,976.72 -24.43% The Company has completed in February 2022 the major asset restructuring involving the acquisition of a 21.32%

stake held by Rising Group and its acting-in-concert parties in NationStar Optoelectronics. NationStar

Optoelectronics has been included in the Companys consolidated financial statements since Q1 2022, with

retrospective adjustments to relevant financial statement data. For further information, see Part III Other

Significant Events.

(II) Exceptional Gains and Losses

 Applicable  Not applicable

Unit: RMB



Item Q1 2022 Note Gain or loss on disposal of non-current assets (inclusive of impairment allowance write-offs) -844,105.28 Government grants through profit or loss (exclusive of government grants given in the Companys ordinary course of business at fixed quotas or amounts as per the governments uniform standards) 9,809,386.37 Capital occupation charges on non-financial enterprises that are recognized in profit or loss 107,475.42 Current net profit or loss of subsidiaries acquired in business combination under the same control from period-beginning to combination date 9,568,639.83 Gain or loss on fair-value changes on held-for-trading financial assets and liabilities & income from disposal of held-for-trading financial assets and liabilities and available-for-sale financial assets (exclusive of the effective portion of hedges that arise in the Companys ordinary course of business) -51,120.18 Non-operating income and expense other than the above 6,793,562.20 Less: Income tax effects 2,127,297.17 Non-controlling interests effects (net of tax) 17,516,598.75 Total 5,739,942.44 -- Other items that meet the definition of exceptional gain/loss:  Applicable  Not applicable

No such cases in the Reporting Period.

Explanation of why the Company reclassifies as recurrent an exceptional gain/loss item listed in the Explanatory

Announcement No. 1 on Information Disclosure for Companies Offering Their Securities to the PublicExceptional Gain/Loss Items:

 Applicable  Not applicable

No such cases in the Reporting Period.

(III) Changes in Key Financial Statement Line Items and Explanation of why  Applicable  Not applicable

Unit: RMB

Item Q1 2022/31 March 2022 Q1 2021/31 December 2021 Change (%) Explanation of why Held-for-trading financial assets 38,002,484.97 348,248,125.61 -89.09% Redemption of wealth management products upon maturity in the current period Investments in other equity instruments 1,012,567,733.98 1,504,980,024.07 -32.72% Sale of some shares held in Gotion High-tech and Xiamen Bank in the current period Other non-current assets 49,231,754.15 499,349,770.41 -90.14% The combination of NationStar Optoelectronics, which was under common control with the Company, was completed in the current period, and the prepayment for equity transfer made in the prior period was carried forward. Held-for-trading financial liabilities 0.00 9,367.37 -100.00% Settlement of forward forex settlement contracts by subsidiary NationStar Optoelectronics upon maturity Current portion of non-current liabilities 17,987,013.12 27,600,186.15 -34.83% Settlement of the current portion of long-term payables in the current period Long-term borrowings 382,059,351.98 0.00 N/A New long-term borrowings in the current period Other non-current liabilities 42,947.02 22,653.46 89.58% Increased liabilities of subsidiary to be liquidated and de-registered Capital reserves 7,245,971.54 994,114,567.16 -99.27% Combination of NationStar Optoelectronics under common control in the current period Inventory shares 82,165,144.15 250,600,874.54 -67.21% Retirement of inventory shares in the current period Other comprehensive income 624,427,095.07 982,972,358.89 -36.48% Sale of some shares held in Gotion High-tech and Xiamen Bank and changes in the fair value of shares held in other listed companies in the current period Surplus reserves 86,780,516.19 741,353,347.96 -88.29% Combination of NationStar Optoelectronics under common control and retirement of inventory shares in the current period, resulting in a charge to surplus reserves Administrative expense 88,756,726.29 67,059,565.47 32.36% R&D expense 93,247,258.25 66,479,525.38 40.26% The acquisition of subsidiary Nanning Liaowang not under common control in Q3 2021 resulted in a year-on-year increase in R&D expense. Finance costs -3,599,320.28 -5,164,360.40 30.30% The acquisition of subsidiary Nanning Liaowang not under common control in Q3 2021 resulted in a year-on-year increase in finance costs. Return on investment 2,358,344.69 10,099,728.12 -76.65% Decreased gains on wealth management and on forward forex settlement contracts Share of profit of associates and joint ventures 205,973.61 75,266.51 173.66% Increase in net profits of associates attributable to owners of the Company as the parent in the current period Gain on changes in fair value -117,369.16 -6,307,003.86 98.14% Changes in the fair value of forward forex settlement contracts as a result of exchange rate fluctuations Credit impairment loss (- for loss) 1,535,633.17 4,839,518.06 -68.27% Decrease in reversed portions of expected credit losses Asset impairment loss (- for loss) 359,227.61 -2,289,750.64 115.69% Decreased inventory valuation allowances Asset disposal income -922,171.71 149,664.05 -716.16% Asset disposal loss of subsidiary Nanning Liaowang in the current period Non-operating income 8,407,881.53 1,729,440.89 386.16% Carry forwards of payables of subsidiary NationStar Optoelectronics that it does not need to pay in the current period Non-operating expense 1,483,292.62 709,988.48 108.92% Written-off irrecoverable receivables of subsidiary NationStar Optoelectronics in the current period Other comprehensive income, net of tax -257,827,934.62 -468,669,992.98 44.99% Decreased amount of changes in the fair value of investments in other equity instruments in the current period Other comprehensive income, net of tax attributable to owners of the Company as the parent -257,628,039.63 -468,669,992.98 45.03% Decreased amount of changes in the fair value of investments in other equity instruments in the current period Differences arising from the translation of foreign currency-denominated -149,253.20 -53,508.08 -178.94% Fluctuations of the RMB against foreign currencies financial statements Total comprehensive income -173,581,628.40 -388,640,665.68 55.34% Decreased amount of changes in the fair value of investments in other equity instruments in the current period Net cash generated from/used in operating activities -66,973,529.90 177,346,228.84 -137.76% Affected by the market environment, payment collection did not keep pace with revenue growth, and subsidiary saw a temporary increase in notes payable that were due Net cash generated from/used in investing activities 346,591,821.27 182,019,427.90 90.41% Sale of some shares held in Gotion High-tech and Xiamen Bank, redemption of certain wealth management products, and increased investing cash inflows in the current period Net cash generated from/used in financing activities -643,608,461.61 -196,837,957.75 -226.97% Payment for the acquisition of equity interests in subsidiary NationStar Optoelectronics under common control, and increased cash used in other financing activities in the current period Net increase in cash and cash equivalents -365,970,645.23 155,848,382.84 -334.82% Decreased net cash generated from financing activities in the current period

II Shareholder Information

(I) Numbers of Ordinary Shareholders and Preference Shareholders with Resumed Voting Rights as well

as Holdings of Top 10 Shareholders

Unit: share



Number of ordinary shareholders 68,934 Number of preference shareholders with resumed voting rights (if any) 0 Top 10 shareholders Name of shareholder Nature of shareholder Shareholding percentage Total shares held Restricted shares held Shares in pledge, marked or frozen Status Shares Hong Kong Wah Shing Holding Company Limited Foreign corporation 13.84% 188,496,430 In pledge 92,363,251 Prosperity Lamps & Components Limited Foreign corporation 10.79% 146,934,857 Guangdong Electronics Information Industry Group Ltd. State-owned corporation 9.01% 122,694,246 In pledge 32,532,815 Guangdong Rising Holdings Group Co., Ltd. State-owned corporation 6.10% 83,130,898 Essence International Securities (Hong Kong) Limited Foreign corporation 2.65% 36,095,759 Central Huijin Asset Management Co., Ltd. State-owned corporation 2.43% 33,161,800 Rising Investment Development Limited Foreign corporation 1.87% 25,482,252 China Merchants Securities (HK) Co., Limited State-owned corporation 1.06% 14,448,307 Zhuang Jianyi Foreign individual 0.87% 11,903,509 8,927,632 DBS VICKERS (HONG KONG) LTD A/C CLIENTS Foreign corporation 0.72% 9,744,456 Top 10 unrestricted shareholders Name of shareholder Unrestricted shares held Shares by class Class Shares Hong Kong Wah Shing Holding Company Limited 188,496,430 RMB-denominate d ordinary share 188,496,430 Prosperity Lamps & Components Limited 146,934,857 RMB-denominate d ordinary share 146,934,857 Guangdong Electronics Information Industry Group Ltd. 122,694,246 RMB-denominate d ordinary share 122,694,246 Guangdong Rising Holdings Group Co., Ltd. 83,130,898 RMB-denominate d ordinary share 83,130,898 Essence International Securities (Hong Kong) Limited 36,095,759 Domestically listed foreign share 36,095,759 Central Huijin Asset Management Co., Ltd. 33,161,800 RMB-denominate d ordinary share 33,161,800 Rising Investment Development Limited 25,482,252 Domestically listed foreign share 25,482,252 China Merchants Securities (HK) Co., Limited 14,448,307 Domestically listed foreign share 14,448,307 DBS VICKERS (HONG KONG) LTD A/C CLIENTS 9,744,456 Domestically listed foreign share 9,744,456 Zhang Shaowu 9,600,050 RMB-denominate d ordinary share 9,600,050 Related or acting-in-concert parties among the shareholders above Among the top 10 shareholders, Hong Kong Wah Shing Holding Company Limited, Guangdong Electronics Information Industry Group Ltd., Guangdong Rising Holdings Group Co., Ltd. and Rising Investment Development Limited are acting-in-concert parties; Prosperity Lamps & Components Limited and Zhuang Jianyi are acting-in-concert parties. Apart from that, it is unknown whether there is among the top 10 shareholders any other related parties or acting-in-concert parties as defined in the Administrative Measures for the Acquisition of Listed Companies. Top 10 shareholders involved in securities margin trading (if any) None (II) Number of Preference Shareholders and Shareholdings of Top 10 of Them  Applicable  Not applicable

III Other Significant Events

 Applicable  Not applicable

Major asset restructuring

The Company held the 19th meeting of the ninth Board of Directors and the Third Extraordinary General Meeting

of Shareholders for the year 2021 on 27 October 2021 and 31 December 2021, respectively, where the Report

on Major Asset Purchase and Related Party Trading of Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (Draft) and Its

Summary and other proposals related to this trading was deliberated and adopted. It was agreed that the

Company will purchase, at the price of RMB1.517 billion in cash, a 21.32% interest held by Rising Group and its

acting-in-concert parties in NationStar Optoelectronics. As of February 2022, the ownership transfer had been

completed with respect to the aforesaid interest, and the Company had paid the consideration in full. Currently,

the Company and its subsidiaries combined hold 132,819,895 shares (or 21.48%) of NationStar Optoelectronics,

making the Company the controlling shareholder of NationStar Optoelectronics. IV Quarterly Financial Statements

(I) Financial Statements

1. Consolidated Balance Sheet

Prepared by Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd.

31 March 2022

Unit: RMB



Item 31 March 2022 31 December 2021 Current assets: Monetary assets 1,996,959,167.54 2,381,911,655.35 Settlement reserve Loans to other banks and financial institutions Held-for-trading financial assets 38,002,484.97 348,248,125.61 Derivative financial assets Notes receivable 1,636,389,991.11 1,690,356,491.64 Accounts receivable 1,991,787,128.55 1,981,538,844.26 Receivables financing Prepayments 36,321,627.40 33,474,104.32 Premiums receivable Reinsurance receivables Receivable reinsurance contract reserve Other receivables 35,853,259.72 37,523,072.02 Including: Interest receivable Dividends receivable Financial assets purchased under resale agreements Inventories 1,916,877,565.13 1,969,998,988.39 Contract assets 8,405,027.40 8,561,303.10 Assets held for sale 17,147,339.84 23,831,992.10 Current portion of non-current assets Other current assets 111,354,670.74 125,675,148.17 Total current assets 7,789,098,262.40 8,601,119,724.96 Non-current assets: Loans and advances to customers Debt investments Other debt investments Long-term receivables Long-term equity investments 179,670,706.20 181,545,123.09 Investments in other equity instruments 1,012,567,733.98 1,504,980,024.07 Other non-current financial assets Investment property 42,756,539.86 43,347,824.34 Fixed assets 3,400,863,263.37 3,360,339,910.95 Construction in progress 1,058,873,682.22 1,087,261,052.63 Productive living assets Oil and gas assets Right-of-use assets 13,028,781.64 14,126,206.08 Intangible assets 366,390,400.40 368,954,162.34 Development costs Goodwill 421,831,593.46 421,831,593.46 Long-term prepaid expense 172,577,767.99 152,726,512.56 Deferred income tax assets 79,021,011.38 82,261,788.58 Other non-current assets 49,231,754.15 499,349,770.41 Total non-current assets 6,796,813,234.65 7,716,723,968.51 Total assets 14,585,911,497.05 16,317,843,693.47 Current liabilities: Short-term borrowings 218,644,268.04 226,779,997.01 Borrowings from the central bank Loans from other banks and financial institutions Held-for-trading financial liabilities 9,367.37 Derivative financial liabilities Notes payable 2,161,498,264.93 2,067,111,789.71 Accounts payable 2,067,697,706.99 2,429,896,658.92 Advances from customers 6,581,268.72 8,106,923.79 Contract liabilities 139,803,498.18 140,228,127.84 Financial assets sold under repurchase agreements Customer deposits and deposits from other banks and financial institutions Payables for acting trading of securities Payables for underwriting of securities Employee benefits payable 121,687,191.74 167,784,089.64 Taxes and levies payable 88,296,191.55 90,981,474.60 Other payables 307,946,824.83 333,128,771.81 Including: Interest payable Dividends payable 15,646.07 15,646.07 Fees and commissions payable Reinsurance payables Liabilities directly associated with assets held for sale Current portion of non-current liabilities 17,987,013.12 27,600,186.15 Other current liabilities 9,450,819.76 10,577,082.29 Total current liabilities 5,139,593,047.86 5,502,204,469.13 Non-current liabilities: Insurance contract reserve Long-term borrowings 382,059,351.98 Bonds payable Including: Preference shares Perpetual bonds Lease liabilities 7,884,172.07 8,065,560.58 Long-term payables Long-term employee benefits payable Provisions 18,197,014.96 17,418,343.01 Deferred income 115,558,797.03 116,761,570.35 Deferred income tax liabilities 220,057,603.80 280,172,789.59 Other non-current liabilities 42,947.02 22,653.46 Total non-current liabilities 743,799,886.86 422,440,916.99 Total liabilities 5,883,392,934.72 5,924,645,386.12 Owners equity: Share capital 1,361,994,647.00 1,399,346,154.00 Other equity instruments Including: Preference shares Perpetual bonds Capital reserves 7,245,971.54 994,114,567.16 Less: Treasury stock 82,165,144.15 250,600,874.54 Other comprehensive income 624,427,095.07 982,972,358.89 Specific reserve Surplus reserves 86,780,516.19 741,353,347.96 General reserve Retained earnings 3,281,600,125.28 3,119,317,423.25 Total equity attributable to owners of the Company as the parent 5,279,883,210.93 6,986,502,976.72 Non-controlling interests 3,422,635,351.40 3,406,695,330.63 Total owners equity 8,702,518,562.33 10,393,198,307.35 Total liabilities and owners equity 14,585,911,497.05 16,317,843,693.47 Legal representative: Wu Shenghui Chief Financial Officer: Tang Qionglan

Person-in-charge of the Companys accounting organ: Liang Yuefei 2. Consolidated Income Statement

Unit: RMB



Item Q1 2022 Q1 2021 1. Revenues 2,007,637,120.85 1,597,135,618.67 Including: Operating revenue 2,007,637,120.85 1,597,135,618.67 Interest income Insurance premium income Fee and commission income 2. Costs and expenses 1,933,034,742.64 1,521,417,501.80 Including: Cost of sales 1,689,051,565.35 1,338,712,171.87 Interest expense Fee and commission expense Surrenders Net insurance claims paid Net amount provided as insurance contract reserve Expenditure on policy dividends Reinsurance premium expense Taxes and levies 12,487,779.56 11,682,431.52 Selling expense 53,090,733.47 42,648,167.96 Administrative expense 88,756,726.29 67,059,565.47 R&D expense 93,247,258.25 66,479,525.38 Finance costs -3,599,320.28 -5,164,360.40 Including: Interest expense 1,683,660.53 1,539,303.45 Interest income 6,445,092.41 6,776,539.63 Add: Other income 16,827,946.09 16,362,324.86 Return on investment (- for loss) 2,358,344.69 10,099,728.12 Including: Share of profit or loss of joint ventures and associates 205,973.61 75,266.51 Income from the derecognition of financial assets at amortized cost (- for loss) Exchange gain (- for loss) Net gain on exposure hedges (- for loss) Gain on changes in fair value (- for loss) -117,369.16 -6,307,003.86 Credit impairment loss (- for loss) 1,535,633.17 4,839,518.06 Asset impairment loss (- for loss) 359,227.61 -2,289,750.64 Asset disposal income (- for loss) -922,171.71 149,664.05 3. Operating profit (- for loss) 94,643,988.90 98,572,597.46 Add: Non-operating income 8,407,881.53 1,729,440.89 Less: Non-operating expense 1,483,292.62 709,988.48 4. Profit before tax (- for loss) 101,568,577.81 99,592,049.87 Less: Income tax expense 17,322,271.59 19,562,722.57 5. Net profit (- for net loss) 84,246,306.22 80,029,327.30 5.1 By operating continuity 5.1.1 Net profit from continuing operations (- for net loss) 84,246,306.22 80,029,327.30 5.1.2 Net profit from discontinued operations (- for net loss) 5.2 By ownership 5.2.1 Net profit attributable to owners of the Company as the parent 61,365,477.84 49,686,820.13 5.2.1 Net profit attributable to non-controlling interests 22,880,828.38 30,342,507.17 6. Other comprehensive income, net of tax -257,827,934.62 -468,669,992.98 Attributable to owners of the Company as the parent -257,628,039.63 -468,669,992.98 6.1 Items that will not be reclassified to profit or loss -257,478,786.43 -468,616,484.90 6.1.1 Changes caused by remeasurements on defined benefit schemes 6.1.2 Other comprehensive income that will not be reclassified to profit or loss under the equity method 6.1.3 Changes in the fair value of investments in other equity instruments -257,478,786.43 -468,616,484.90 6.1.4 Changes in the fair value arising from changes in own credit risk 6.1.5 Other 6.2 Items that will be reclassified to profit or loss -149,253.20 -53,508.08 6.2.1 Other comprehensive income that will be reclassified to profit or loss under the equity method 6.2.2 Changes in the fair value of other debt investments 6.2.3 Other comprehensive income arising from the reclassification of financial assets 6.2.4 Credit impairment allowance for other debt investments 6.2.5 Reserve for cash flow hedges 6.2.6 Differences arising from the translation of foreign currency-denominated financial statements -149,253.20 -53,508.08 6.2.7 Other Attributable to non-controlling interests -199,894.99 7. Total comprehensive income -173,581,628.40 -388,640,665.68 Attributable to owners of the Company as the parent -196,262,561.79 -418,983,172.85 Attributable to non-controlling interests 22,680,933.39 30,342,507.17 8. Earnings per share 8.1 Basic earnings per share 0.0455 0.0368 8.2 Diluted earnings per share 0.0451 0.0365 Where business combinations under common control occurred in the current period, the net profit achieved by the acquirees before

the combinations was RMB9,568,639.83, with the amount for the same period of last year being RMB36,112,235.51.

Legal representative: Wu Shenghui Chief Financial Officer: Tang Qionglan

Person-in-charge of the Companys accounting organ: Liang Yuefei 3. Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

Unit: RMB



Item Q1 2022 Q1 2021 1. Cash flows from operating activities: Proceeds from sale of commodities and rendering of services 1,830,797,470.99 1,868,484,526.19 Net increase in customer deposits and deposits from other banks and financial institutions Net increase in borrowings from the central bank Net increase in loans from other financial institutions Premiums received on original insurance contracts Net proceeds from reinsurance Net increase in deposits and investments of policy holders Interest, fees and commissions received Net increase in loans from other banks and financial institutions Net increase in proceeds from repurchase transactions Net proceeds from acting trading of securities Tax and levy rebates 61,511,509.10 39,454,647.40 Cash generated from other operating activities 70,289,864.52 34,840,406.96 Subtotal of cash generated from operating activities 1,962,598,844.61 1,942,779,580.55 Payments for commodities and services 1,487,044,793.37 1,267,954,848.11 Net increase in loans and advances to customers Net increase in deposits in the central bank and other banks and financial institutions Payments for claims on original insurance contracts Net increase in loans to other banks and financial institutions Interest, fees and commissions paid Policy dividends paid Cash paid to and for employees 376,350,807.56 330,330,480.86 Taxes and levies paid 85,635,866.00 61,433,057.24 Cash used in other operating activities 80,540,907.58 105,714,965.50 Subtotal of cash used in operating activities 2,029,572,374.51 1,765,433,351.71 Net cash generated from/used in operating activities -66,973,529.90 177,346,228.84 2. Cash flows from investing activities: Proceeds from disinvestment 502,992,240.66 262,961,416.90 Return on investment 4,392,035.26 8,330,652.29 Net proceeds from the disposal of fixed assets, intangible assets and other long-lived assets 42,419.45 41,885.78 Net proceeds from the disposal of subsidiaries and other business units Cash generated from other investing activities Subtotal of cash generated from investing activities 507,426,695.37 271,333,954.97 Payments for the acquisition of fixed assets, intangible assets and other long-lived assets 119,139,110.79 69,314,527.07 Payments for investments 41,695,763.31 20,000,000.00 Net increase in pledged loans granted Net payments for the acquisition of subsidiaries and other business units Cash used in other investing activities Subtotal of cash used in investing activities 160,834,874.10 89,314,527.07 Net cash generated from/used in investing activities 346,591,821.27 182,019,427.90 3. Cash flows from financing activities: Capital contributions received Including: Capital contributions by non-controlling interests to subsidiaries Borrowings received 432,336,000.00 Cash generated from other financing activities 51,224,394.37 12,412,698.08 Subtotal of cash generated from financing activities 483,560,394.37 12,412,698.08 Repayment of borrowings 64,505,000.00 Interest and dividends paid 662,643.49 Including: Dividends paid by subsidiaries to non-controlling interests Cash used in other financing activities 1,062,001,212.49 209,250,655.83 Subtotal of cash used in financing activities 1,127,168,855.98 209,250,655.83 Net cash generated from/used in financing activities -643,608,461.61 -196,837,957.75 4. Effect of foreign exchange rates changes on cash and cash equivalents -1,980,474.99 -6,679,316.15 5. Net increase in cash and cash equivalents -365,970,645.23 155,848,382.84 Add: Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of the period 1,886,894,463.37 1,325,464,361.36 6. Cash and cash equivalents, end of the period 1,520,923,818.14 1,481,312,744.20 Person-in-charge of the Companys accounting organ: Liang Yuefei (II) Independent Auditors Report

Indicate by tick mark whether the financial statements above have been audited by an independent auditor.

Yes  No

These financial statements have not been audited by such an auditor.



The Board of Directors Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd.

29 April 2022



 Stock Code: 000541, 200541 Stock Name: FSL, FSL-B Announcement No. 2022-037FOSHAN ELECTRICAL AND LIGHTING CO., LTD.FIRST QUARTERLY REPORT 2022Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Company) and all the members of the Companys Board of Directors hereby guarantee that the contents of this Report are true, accurate and complete and free of any misrepresentations, misleading statements or material omissions.Important Notes:1. The Board of Directors, the Supervisory Committee as well as the directors, supervisors and seniormanagement of the Company hereby guarantee that the contents of this Report are true, accurate and complete andfree of any misrepresentations, misleading statements or material omissions, and collectively and individuallyaccept legal responsibility for such contents.2. The Companys legal representative, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and person-in-charge of the Companysaccounting organ (equivalent to accounting manager) hereby guarantee that the financial statements carried in thisReport are true, accurate and complete.3. Indicate whether the financial statements in this Report have been audited by an independent auditor.Yes  NoI Key Financial Information(I) Key Accounting Data and Financial IndicatorsIndicate whether there is any retrospectively restated datum in the table below.  Yes  NoReasonBusiness Combination under the same controlThe Company has completed in February 2022 the major asset restructuring involving the acquisition of a 21.32%stake held by Rising Group and its acting-in-concert parties in NationStar Optoelectronics. NationStarOptoelectronics has been included in the Companys consolidated financial statements since Q1 2022, withretrospective adjustments to relevant financial statement data. For further information, see Part III OtherSignificant Events.(II) Exceptional Gains and Losses Applicable  Not applicableUnit: RMBOther items that meet the definition of exceptional gain/loss:  Applicable  Not applicableNo such cases in the Reporting Period.Explanation of why the Company reclassifies as recurrent an exceptional gain/loss item listed in the ExplanatoryAnnouncement No. 1 on Information Disclosure for Companies Offering Their Securities to the PublicExceptional Gain/Loss Items: Applicable  Not applicableNo such cases in the Reporting Period.(III) Changes in Key Financial Statement Line Items and Explanation of why  Applicable  Not applicableUnit: RMBII Shareholder Information(I) Numbers of Ordinary Shareholders and Preference Shareholders with Resumed Voting Rights as wellas Holdings of Top 10 ShareholdersUnit: share(II) Number of Preference Shareholders and Shareholdings of Top 10 of Them  Applicable  Not applicableIII Other Significant Events Applicable  Not applicableMajor asset restructuringThe Company held the 19th meeting of the ninth Board of Directors and the Third Extraordinary General Meetingof Shareholders for the year 2021 on 27 October 2021 and 31 December 2021, respectively, where the Reporton Major Asset Purchase and Related Party Trading of Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (Draft) and ItsSummary and other proposals related to this trading was deliberated and adopted. It was agreed that theCompany will purchase, at the price of RMB1.517 billion in cash, a 21.32% interest held by Rising Group and itsacting-in-concert parties in NationStar Optoelectronics. As of February 2022, the ownership transfer had beencompleted with respect to the aforesaid interest, and the Company had paid the consideration in full. Currently,the Company and its subsidiaries combined hold 132,819,895 shares (or 21.48%) of NationStar Optoelectronics,making the Company the controlling shareholder of NationStar Optoelectronics. IV Quarterly Financial Statements(I) Financial Statements1. Consolidated Balance SheetPrepared by Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd.31 March 2022Unit: RMBLegal representative: Wu Shenghui Chief Financial Officer: Tang QionglanPerson-in-charge of the Companys accounting organ: Liang Yuefei 2. Consolidated Income StatementUnit: RMBWhere business combinations under common control occurred in the current period, the net profit achieved by the acquirees beforethe combinations was RMB9,568,639.83, with the amount for the same period of last year being RMB36,112,235.51.Legal representative: Wu Shenghui Chief Financial Officer: Tang QionglanPerson-in-charge of the Companys accounting organ: Liang Yuefei 3. Consolidated Cash Flow StatementUnit: RMBPerson-in-charge of the Companys accounting organ: Liang Yuefei (II) Independent Auditors ReportIndicate by tick mark whether the financial statements above have been audited by an independent auditor.Yes  NoThese financial statements have not been audited by such an auditor.The Board of Directors Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd.29 April 2022
CAMBRIDGE  An Atkinson man pleaded guilty Thursday in Henry County Circuit Court to Class X felony battery after cutting a girl repeatedly with a box cutter.

Shane B. Nordstrom, 42, entered the guilty plea on the day of his jury trial was to begin.

The negotiated plea agreement was for six years in prison and three years mandatory supervised release. He will have to serve 85% of the prison time, and he was ordered to register under the Violent Offender Against Youth registry on his release. He got credit for 449 days served in the Henry County Jail.

The original four counts of Class 2 felony aggravated criminal sexual abuse and one count Class 4 felony criminal sexual abuse were dismissed.

Judge Terry Patton accepted the plea agreement.

During a preliminary hearing in November, Special Agent Jarod Johnson of the Illinois State Police testified a woman indicated Nordstrom would take a box cutter or razor and cut her genital area when she was a minor. He did this multiple times and would later come back to see how it was healing. Incidents took place between Jan. 1, 2012, and July 13, 2016.

According to the amended battery charge, Nordstrom used a box cutter or blade to cut the genital area of the minor, causing permanent scars.

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The promise of a warm spring evening in Davenport's East Village was shattered Thursday by a brazen assault and attempted robbery of a Wide River Winery employee.

Eric Sergesketter owns a business near the winery, 1128 Mound St. He said at around 5:30 p.m. one of his workers told him something was going on at the winery.

They heard a woman screaming and saw she was bleeding. Davenport police later identified the woman as a winery employee. And according to police investigators, two people attacked the woman  Christopher Lavelle Mitchell, 35, and Emilee Rose Haberling, 20.

Mitchell and Haberling are charged with one count each of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree robbery.

Sergesketter saw the end of what police later alleged was a violent attack punctuated by Mitchell threatening to rape, stab and kill the winery employee.

"(The winery employee) was able to escape the attack," Sergesketter said. "She got bloodied pretty good. She had blood dripping down her face and neck. By the time I got outside, we ran over there and already there was an officer with her."

"The good thing about this is she was able to get out of it. She was still walking, talking and breathing."

"Our friend showed amazing courage, strength and fast-thinking during this attack," the winery posted on social media. "We are supporting her recovery as much as we know how, and piecing together a plan to enhance security measures and reopen ... we are heartbroken for our employee and community today."

Affidavits filed Davenport Cpl. Bryant Wayland indicated the police were sent to the scene at 5:35 p.m.

Wayland said Mitchell and Haberling entered the winery and punched the employee in the face. Her head was slammed against the ground and she was dragged by her hair to the cash register. Mitchell took money from the drawer.

The violence did not end when Mitchell had the money.

According to the affidavits, Mitchell and Haberling made the employee crawl on her hands and knees and held her by her hair while they punched her in the head and slammed her head into the floor.

Mitchell choked her with both hands and stopped her from breathing at various times. Haberling took the employee's cell phone and smashed it on the ground, preventing her from calling 911.

Mitchell demanded the employee tell him where the winery's camera surveillance system and video recordings were located. The employee told police she heard Mitchell tell Haberling he was giving her a knife and said, "If she tries to get away, stab her."

The employee said Haberling and Mitchell moved her throughout the business as the assault continued.

While Mitchell checked for the surveillance system, Haberling held the employee on the ground, affidavits said. Mitchell returned and said "Ill rape you, Ill kill you, Ill do what I want, I have a knife." Before he left again, he gave Haberling a knife and told her to stab the employee.

The employee told police she threw a chair to escape the winery and Mitchell and Haberling followed her. They pulled her back in the building, but she was able to get away as she heard police sirens nearing the scene.

Mitchell and Haberling retreated to inside the winery and were quickly located, police said, but were uncooperative and resisted arrest. Physical force, including a taser, was used to make the arrests.

Officers found about $317 in Mitchell's sweatshirt pocket with some of the money wrapped in money bands and consistent with the amount stolen during the robbery. Both suspects refused to identify themselves.

The employee was transported to a hospital with injuries that included bruising to both eyes, a cut on her tongue, a left orbital fracture and a broken clavicle, bleeding and bruising to the right side of her face.

Sergesketter said the attack shocked the entire East Village.

"  this happened in broad daylight, and in a nice part of town," he said. "Everyone was enjoying a nice casual Thursday evening and suddenly this happens."

Both Mitchell  on parole in Iowa until 2025 for robbery convictions  and Haberling face life sentences in prison, if convicted.

First-degree kidnapping under Iowa law carries a mandatory life sentence in prison, while first-degree robbery carries a mandatory 25-year prison sentence  70%, or 17 years, must be served before parole can be granted.

Haberling also is charged with first-degree theft, which carries a prison sentence of 10 years, and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing 911 communications.

The pair also is charged with misdemeanor harassment of public officials and interference with official acts.

Mitchell is on parole until Feb. 28, 2025, according to Iowa Department of Corrections electronic records. The new charges come just about four months after he was released from prison.

On Jan. 22, 2004, Mitchell was sentenced to two years on deferred judgment and two years probation after pleading guilty to three counts of third-degree burglary with one of those occurring on May 5, 2003, and the other two on Oct. 29, 2003. He also had pleaded guilty to a charge of operating a vehicle without the owner's consent.

He violated his probation and was sentenced to five years in prison for the burglary convictions and two years in prison on the other charge. The sentences were to run concurrently.

He was paroled on April 27, 2006.

On May 12, 2006, Davenport police arrested Mitchell on two counts of first-degree robbery. In both cases, he pleaded guilty to the lesser included charge of second-degree robbery.

His parole in the earlier case was revoked and he was sentenced to prison for the robberies.

Mitchell was placed on work release Dec. 16, and on parole March 2.

In their applications for a court-appointed attorney, Mitchell listed his address as being in Des Moines, while Haberling listed no home town.

They are both being held without bond in Scott County Jail.

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A man on parole in Iowa until 2025 for robbery convictions and a woman are facing a life sentence in prison after they were charged Thursday night with robbing the Wide River Winery and beating the female employee around 5:30 p.m. that evening.

The winery is located at 1128 Mound St. in the Village of East Davenport.

Christopher Lavelle Mitchell, 35, and Emilee Rose Haberling, 20, are charged with one count each of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree robbery.

First-degree kidnapping under Iowa law carries a mandatory life sentence in prison, while first-degree robbery carries a mandatory 25-year prison sentence, 70%, or 17 years, must be served before parole can be granted.

Haberling also is charged with first-degree theft, which carries a prison sentence of 10 years, and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing 911 communications.

Each also is charged with misdemeanor harassment of public officials and interference with official acts.

Eric Sergesketter, who owns a nearby establishment, said one of his workers told him that something was going on at the winery.

They could hear the woman screaming and could see that she was bleeding.

"She was able to escape the attack," he said. "She got bloodied pretty good. She had blood dripping down her face and neck. By the time I got outside, we ran over there and already there was an officer with her. "

Mitchell and Haberling may be the ones who smashed one of the windows of the winery recently in order to burglarize the place, Sergesketter said. However, the alarms sounded and they took off.

"The good thing about this is she was able to get out of it," he said. "She was still walking, talking, and breathing.

"But the fact that this happened in broad daylight, and in a nice part of town," he added. "Everyone was enjoying a nice casual Thursday evening and suddenly this happens."

Mitchell is on parole until February 28, 2025, according to Iowa Department of Corrections electronic records. The new charges come just about four months after he was released from prison.

On Jan. 22, 2004, Mitchell was sentenced to two years on deferred judgment and two years probation after pleading guilty to three counts of third-degree burglary with one of those occurring on May 5, 2003, and the other two on Oct. 29, 2003. He also had pleaded guilty to a charge of operating a vehicle without the owner's consent.

He violated his probation and was sentenced to five years in prison for the burglary convictions and two years in prison on the other charge. The sentences were to run concurrently.

He was paroled on April 27, 2006.

On May 12, 2006, Davenport police arrested Mitchell on two counts of first-degree robbery. In both cases, he pleaded guilty to the lesser included charge of second-degree robbery.

His parole in the earlier case was revoked and he was sentenced to prison for the robberies.

Mitchell was placed on work release on Dec. 16, and on parole on March 2.

They are both being held without bond in Scott County Jail.

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Astute individuals read information from multiple sources, research material up one side and down the other and develop their own opinions versus being lemmings to the dictum of others. A news source that is gaining more attention as political divisiveness becomes apparent is "Think Tanks".

Think tanks broker ideas on topics such as social policy, politics, economics and culture. Americas oldest think tank was founded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1910; today we have about 2,000 think tanks.

Most people perceive think tanks to be non-governmental organizations but research reveals the majority are associated with political parties where most of their funding comes from wealthy individuals and  to a lesser degree  corporations. Rarely, if ever, does a think tank voluntarily announce their political persuasion. Theres the rub.

Think tanks as well as political parties can unduly take a persons thinking, values, beliefs and actions down a deep and dark rabbit hole. And, when the two join forces, being duped can occur.

The media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting reveals 37% of think tank citations are conservative, 16% liberal and 47% non-partisan (The incredible shrinking think tank, Dec. 2020).

Georgetown University notes (Apr. 7) some of the more conservative-based think tanks include The Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, Hoover Institution, Cato Institute and Hudson Institute. The Koch brothers are contributors to the Cato Institute and Hudson Institute plus ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), which many Republican legislators copy as their model legislation when making bills (e.g., voter suppression laws, stand-your-ground gun legislation, anti-LGBTQ, private school vouchers, etc.).

Some liberal think tanks are Center for American Progress, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Human Rights Watch, Inter-American Dialogue and Economic Policy Institute. George Soros  Forbes called him the most generous giver  is among many contributors to the Human Rights Watch.

The most reliable, highly factual, least biased and non-partisan think tanks people ought to trust include The Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, National Bureau of Economic Research, RAND Corporation and Pew Research Center (Media Bias/Fact Check, 2020).

What effect have bias-based think tanks created for Democrats, Republicans and America?

Matt Grossman of Michigan State University and David Hopkins of Boston College assert that since the 1950s Republicans have been hostile to journalists by thinking their reporting is tainted with a liberal bias. Hence, the GOP created and/or supported alternative sources to promote their conservative perspectives: talk radio (e.g., Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, etc.), Fox News and The Heritage Foundation think tank (Scholars Strategy Network, Oct. 13, 2017).

Grossman and Hopkins state no parallel to the conservative media and think tank apparatus currently exists on the American left. Lets be candid here. The Heritage Foundation, Fox News and other Republican operatives (e.g., Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection deniers, QAnon, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, the Big Lie advocates, etc.) rule the roost in dishing out disinformation and misinformation. Americans are being hoodwinked with falsehoods of information from multiple sources.

Unless the public wakes up to the reality of purposefully tainted news reporting and politically-driven think tank ideas, its safe to say America will soon  if not already  turn more away from a democracy and into an authoritarian, populist and dictatorial country.

The marketing concept of caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) also applies to the propaganda spewed by politically-based think tanks and political parties. Remember, toxins upstream eventually make their way downstream. Be very cautious of what political operative toxins you are consuming; they may destroy America as we know it.

Steve Corbin is a former professor of emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.

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Attacking waste, fraud and abuse is a common promise made by both parties, but too often forgotten after the campaigning is over. On the touchy issue of student loan debt forgiveness, President Joe Biden can hardly afford to forget.

On the one hand, everyone knows that debt from student loans is raging out of control. On the other, Democrats dont want to further compound their popularity problems by forgiving Ivy League tuition for elite big spenders while dinging those who chose to live within their means at college, or who made the decision to choose a cheaper state school to avoid going into debt, even if they were accepted at more expensive institutions.

Democrats go down that path at their peril. Ordinary, middle-class Americans proud of their Big Ten or stellar regional university education will scream unfairness. And they will be fully justified in doing so.

Smarter then, for the Biden administration to take on the horrors of waste, fraud and abuse as a pathway out of a long-running political and financial dilemma.

Of course, loans to help students attend college have always been more popular than the pesky subsequent need to pay them back. Biden, who campaigned on promises of relief from crushing student loan debt, has extended the pandemic-driven student loan payment moratorium four times since he took office, with the last one due to end Aug. 31, leaving up in the air whether and how it might be extended again.

In the meantime, the president rightly has resisted pressure from his partys progressive wing to grant wholesale student loan forgiveness. Instead, his administration has taken a series of actions to bring relief under existing programs without letting borrowers completely off the hook in paying back their loans.

The latest moves in this piecemeal approach were announced Tuesday by the Department of Education. In general, they aim to make it easier for federal student loan borrowers to receive forgiveness to which they may already be entitled under existing public service loans and income-driven repayment (IDR) programs that plainly have failed the low-income borrowers they were intended to help.

Among other moves, the Education Department says it will retroactively help millions of federal student loan borrowers who have been hurt and held back by its flawed IDR plans, calling the plans long-running mismanagement inexcusable.

That fix is overdue. The changes follow calls last week by Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio for the department to investigate mismanagement of the IDR program and to provide borrowers with debt relief.

And, as weve noted on this page before, those conservatives who feel understandably queasy about any student loan forgiveness ought to bear in mind that some rapacious for-profit colleges are notorious when it comes to saddling students with debt unlikely ever to be repaid.

The lawmakers letter cited a recent report from NPR that found that very few borrowers were able to get the loan forgiveness they were promised by the debt repayment program.

Last year, the administration temporarily expanded eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program until Oct. 31, 2022. So far, the Department of Education has identified more than 113,000 borrowers with about $6.8 billion in loans who are eligible for student debt cancellation due to the waiver.

In the area of more blatant fraud or abuse, the administration announced a new effort to reduce a backlog of forgiveness claims filed under a policy to enable students who were defrauded by their colleges to seek federal debt relief.

Under that policy, the Biden administration has canceled about $2 billion in debt held by more than 105,000 individuals who attended for-profit colleges and another $1.2 billion for borrowers who attended ITT Technical Institutes before they closed.

The department also improved efforts to reach borrowers eligible for debt relief because of permanent disabilities, canceling $7.8 billion for more than 400,000 borrowers.

Among other efforts and repairs, the department announced measures to protect students and taxpayers from predatory or low-value colleges. The department has restored the Federal Student Aids enforcement office. Altogether, the new actions are expected to bring more than 3.6 million borrowers at least three years closer to receiving forgiveness through the departments income-driven repayment program.

Sure, correcting and streamlining the flawed college loan system doesnt come close to ending the debate. Loan forgiveness sounds a lot like another government giveaway, especially to those who have worked hard to pay off their loans without assistance.

There is a middle ground here that respects all sides. Student loans should not be a life sentence, yet for many they have been. Some parents even find they cant help their own children much because theyre still paying off student loans of their own.

Debt relief wont put a lid on rising tuition costs. Quite the contrary, it tends to take even more pressure off colleges and universities to provide other forms of aid to help their students.

A big part of this problem flows from the bloated rosters of administrators, associate deans, equity officers and other middle-managers and bloviators at the nations universities. These highly paid bureaucrats and paper pushers are far more to blame for the rising cost of college tuition than anyone actually teaching classes. We dont want to have to pay their salaries by encouraging tuition creep through debt forgiveness.

That said, no one can deny the value of a college diploma in todays economy and job market for those who have the initiative and perseverance to pursue one. The government has an important role to play in helping those students to achieve their dreams, certainly without waste, fraud or abuse.

Where there has been abuse, or unreasonable actions on the part of predatory institutions, there should be forgiveness. Where there is public service on the part of the graduate, there should be forgiveness, too.

But those who chose to live large while pursuing an elite and perhaps impractical degree? The piper must be paid. Fairness demands no less.

This editorial first appeared in the Chicago Tribune.

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South Dakotas political landscape will enter uncharted territory over the next two months as uncertainty over the Attorney Generals Office tests party loyalties and candidate qualifications heading into the Republican state convention June 23-25 in Watertown.

The question of who will serve as the states chief law enforcement official hangs in the balance.

Impeached and suspended Jason Ravnsborg is working behind the scenes to build delegate support while also preparing for his Senate trial, to be held just days before the GOP convention.

Former two-term Attorney General Marty Jackley has returned to the campaign trail to give the GOP an alternative to the embattled Ravnsborg, forming a political alliance with Gov. Kristi Noem to bolster his case among law enforcement officials and party leaders.

Democratic Party Chairman Randy Seiler, a career prosecutor and former U.S. Attorney who lost to Ravnsborg in the 2018 general election, has told South Dakota News Watch he will run for Attorney General again  but only on one condition.

I wont run against Jackley, Seiler said. But if Jason emerges as the Republican nominee, I will run.

Candidates for attorney general are decided not by voters in the June 7 primary but by delegates at the convention two weeks later, a process that allows political alliances to loom as large as legal credentials or, in Ravnsborgs case, being the subject of a high-profile criminal investigation.

That creates an interesting timeline, with Ravnsborgs impeachment trial set to begin June 21. If hes convicted by a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate, the 46-year-old Iowa native will be removed from office and disqualified to hold any office of trust or profit under the state, according to state law.

Anything short of a conviction, however, means he can run again. Ravnsborg has been contacting delegates trying to fend off a challenge from Jackley, who entered the race in March 2021 and has the support of not just Noem but former attorneys general such as Roger Tellinghuisen and Mark Barnett.

I would say circumstances caused my phone to ring and email to buzz fairly extensively, said Jackley, a 51-year-old Sturgis native who would become the first attorney general in state history to return to the office in non-consecutive terms.

Most political observers see Jackley as a clear favorite, with the understanding that strange things can still happen at the convention.

Jim Gilkerson, a party delegate who is chairman of the Brookings County Republicans, said he will support Jackley because of frustration over Ravnsborgs legal troubles and the way he has handled them.

Ravnsborg did not respond to an interview request for this story made through his spokesman, Mike Deaver.

I really like Jason  hes a personal friend of mine, Gilkerson said. But I dont think its going to work for him to be attorney general after the problems weve had. I dont know how you have something that serious happen and continue, or even want to continue, in that job.

Thats been a quandary for South Dakota Republicans ever since Ravnsborg struck and killed a pedestrian with his car on a highway west of Highmore on Sept. 12, 2020, setting off 19 months of legal and political controversy, including power struggles within the states dominant political party.

Noem pushed for Ravnsborgs resignation, who pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and avoided jail time for the crash that killed Joe Boever. Ravnsborg accused Noem of a conflict of interest and seeking more control of the Attorney Generals office. Their feud served as a backdrop to the impeachment process, with House members voting 36-31 against Ravnsborg.

In Ravnsborgs absence, the office is being run by Chief Deputy Attorney General Charlie McGuigan, a veteran prosecutor who can start the process of restoring trust and confidence in the office, according to Seiler.

For the criminal justice system to operate efficiently and effectively, it needs the confidence and trust of the public, Seiler said. By not stepping down and continuing to work while being the subject of an investigation, Jason put his own political career and ambitions ahead of the obligations and responsibilities of the Attorney Generals Office.

Concerns about political machinations outweighing legal experience emerged within the party during Ravnsborgs 2018 campaign. His primary credentials consisted of serving as part-time deputy states attorney in Union County  a role that did not include lead trial work  and as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Ravnsborgs opponents at the 2018 convention in Pierre were Lawrence County States Attorney John Fitzgerald and Fall River County States Attorney Lance Russell, whose state legislative experience included chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee.

My analysis was that I didnt think Jason had ever tried a jury trial, and at the end of the day, I thought I had a good chance, and that John had a good chance because of our experience, Russell said. I must say I was surprised that neither one of us did better than we did. I thought the delegates might put a little more stock in experience.

Each county can be represented at the convention by its party chairman, vice chairman, secretary and treasurer, as well as committeeman and committeewoman. As many as three at-large delegates can be elected in the primary. Precinct committee members can also serve, meaning there are about 2,000 potential statewide delegates.

Ravnsborg, who raised more money than his GOP opponents in 2018, picked up 47% of delegate votes in the first round (in which Fitzgerald was eliminated) and 63% in a head-to-head matchup with Russell to secure the nomination.

I have to give credit where credit is due, Russell said. Jason ran circles around me in terms of contacts he had with precinct committee people and party leadership, and I think hes trying to do the same thing this time around. Do I think he can beat Jackley? Thats probably unlikely. But Marty should be making as many contacts as he can.

In his acceptance speech at the 2018 convention, Ravnsborg pledged to be a man for all the people and urged party officials to be united for his cause. But questions about his qualifications lingered into the general election against Seiler, a career prosecutor who served as U.S. Attorney in Sioux Falls from 2015-17.

No Democrat has been elected attorney general in South Dakota since Kermit Sande in 1972, but two Republicans who held the office  Mark Meierhenry and Tellinghuisen  crossed party lines to endorse Seiler in 2018.

I was looking at it purely from a non-political standpoint, Tellinghuisen said, who served as attorney general from 1987-91 and now works in private practice in Rapid City. I thought Randy had far greater experience as a prosecutor than Ravnsborg, and it was better to have someone with that background in the position.

Ravnsborg received 55% of the vote to defeat Seiler, taking office in January 2019. The fatal crash came less than 20 months later, and Tellinghuisen is careful to separate Ravnsborgs job performance before the incident from the tumult that followed.

I believe that the events that led us to this point had little or nothing to do with the actual performance or duties of the attorney general, Tellinghuisen said. Whether or not these events have undermined public confidence in the office, I think thats a fair question.

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Republican John Carley has announced that he is running for state Senate in District 29, which encompasses most of Meade County.

Carley will face Beka Zerbst and current Rep. Dean Wink for the Senate seat in the June 7 Republican primary. Incumbent Sen. Gary Cammack is term-limited in the Senate, and is seeking office in the House of Representatives. There are no Democratic candidates for the District 34 Senate seat.

Carley said South Dakota has been a refuge for freedom, yet after looking up the voting records of local legislators, he said he was "shocked" at how South Dakota's red state" reputation is being governed by many blue legislators with an R after their name. He said he decided to run for Senate "to maintain conservative South Dakota values and stand against the erosion of our liberty."

Being a representative of the people has never been a goal of mine but I would feel privileged to be given the responsibility, and take it very seriously," he said in a submitted campaign statement.

Carley said his main issues for running are Constitutional liberty, cutting spending and taxes, and cherishing family values.

He is a businessman in Meade County, and along with his five children Carley said he enjoys learning about life through activities like hiking the Badlands, assisting in cow branding with neighbors, volunteering in church activities and working hard. Carley has been married to his wife for 22 years.

He said he would be a true conservative voice for District 29 voters and taxpayers.

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24-year-old Tarriah Provost will serve eight years in a federal prison for supplying a 16-year-old boy with fentanyl.

Louis Sandoval, of Porcupine, died of an overdose on Dec. 2, 2020. An autopsy found fentanyl in his system, which Provost admitted to giving him. Provost pleaded guilty to conspiracy with intent to distribute a controlled substance as part of a plea deal.

Provost's sentencing hearing in a Rapid City federal courtroom was emotional. Her aunt and mother attended to support her, but did not make statements during the sentencing. They cried throughout the hearing and upon Judge Jeffery Viken delivering the sentence. Provost could also be seen wiping away tears throughout the hearing.

Addressing the court herself, Provost thanked her mother and aunt, her lawyer, the prosecutor and everybody whos here for justice.

I want people to know it could be anybody, she said. I take responsibility for myself. At the time, all I was thinking of was the drug and how it made me feel better. I didnt know this could happen to him (Sandoval).

Provost said Sandoval was like a little brother to her and she wouldnt have given him the pill if she thought it would kill him. She spoke of her three-year-old son, who told her over the phone recently that he wanted to go to her house.

Provost cried as she said, home isnt there anymore, and everything is gone because of my addiction, and thats my fault. She asked the judge to, make the best decision for all of us.

Through their statements, Provost and her attorney told the story of how her life deteriorated through her addiction.

A Gates Millennium Scholarship winner, Provost attended the University of Colorado Boulder in 2015, majoring in ethnic studies. After dropping out  something her lawyer said is her biggest regret  she returned to Pine Ridge and had her son.

Provost worked for the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporations Lakota Language & Education Initiative, which seeks to acquire, preserve and protect our language and lifeways, according to the Thunder Valley CDC website. Provost told the judge she started teaching her son the Lakota language when he was four months old. She also worked on the Pine Ridge Reservation with the Get Out The Vote organization to increase Native American voter participation.

According to her defense attorney, Jennifer Albertson, the young womans life shifted after she was prescribed oxycodone. Provost was in a car accident in November 2019 and had to undergo surgery in May 2021, after which she was prescribed the medication.

Albertson said when Provost was receiving the pills legally, Donna Garnette  another defendant in the case and the person Provost bought pills from  saw an opportunity because she had a source of income.

When she started purchasing the pills, Provost said she didnt know they had fentanyl.

(I) thought it was a stronger oxycodone, she said.

Albertson characterized Provost as someone who had an oxy habit and didnt go over there with any malice when she supplied Sandoval with a fentanyl pill. Albertson asked the judge to consider a sentence well below the federal sentencing guidelines, which were between 14 years and 17.5 years and a $40,000 to $1,000,000 fine.

Viken said at the beginning of the hearing that he would not be pursuing a fine, which is aimed at king pins. The judge also made clear that its not the addiction that is being punished, but the criminal behavior that resulted. Viken said that Provosts history was stellar until her addiction started, and described her as highly intelligent and articulate.

He said the federal guidelines starting at 14 years in prison were too severe for this particular case. He recommended that Provost apply to participate in an intensive substance abuse treatment program while in prison.

Provost will also be under supervised release for three years after her sentence. She will be required to stay sober and to be subject to random screenings.

Dont give up on yourself, Viken said. Relapse does not mean prison, it means therapy.

Provost pleaded guilty to intent to distribute as part of a plea deal for more serious charges  conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death, and distribution of a controlled substance to an individual under 21. Four others  Donna Garnette, Kelly Grass, Jesse Grass, and Kimberly Janis  took the same plea deal as Provost for their involvement in the transportation and sale of pills.

Viken sentenced Kelly Grass on April 4 to 57 months imprisonment and three years supervised release. Jesse Grass does not have a sentencing date yet. Janiss sentencing date is scheduled for May 16. Garnettes sentencing date is set for June 22.

 Contact Shalom Baer Gee at sgee@rapidcityjournal.com 

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A Pennsylvania man arrested after a sex sting operation during the 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was sentenced this month to 10 years in federal prison and five years of supervised release for enticement of a minor using the internet.

Kevin Clements was 22 at the time of his arrest. He is one of eight arrested during a multi-agency, six-day operation focused on sex crimes against minors during the 2020 rally.

Federal Judge Jeffrey Viken sentenced Clements on April 1 at the federal courthouse in Rapid City. Clements was originally charged with attempted commercial sex trafficking of a minor, but he accepted a plea deal for the lesser charge of enticement of a minor using the internet.

U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, South Dakotas Division of Criminal Investigation and Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force coordinated to execute the sting. The Rapid City Police Department and Pennington County Sheriffs Office also participated in the operation.

Agents posed as children on the internet and arranged separate meet-ups with the eight men, who were then arrested. Court documents show that all the men knew they were speaking to minors, although no actual minors participated in the operation. The agent's personas ranged from 13- to 15-year-olds.

Over six days in August 2020, Clements interacted with DCI agents through an internet application. Clements was under the impression he was speaking to a 13-year-old girl and went on to negotiate to engage in sexual acts with her.

The DCI agent told Clements he would have to meet with her pimp before the interaction could take place. Clements agreed and arrived at an agreed upon location on his motorcycle and pulled up to the side of a vehicle where an undercover agent spoke with him.

Clements confirmed he was there to engage in sexual acts with the 13-year-old for $100. Other law enforcement agents arrived on the scene upon the undercover agents signal.

After trying to flee on his motorcycle, Clements fought agents, attempted to retrieve a gun from his vest and continued to physically fight agents until he was tasered.

Of the seven other men arrested during the sting, four have been sentenced, two are awaiting sentencing and ones sentencing date has not been set. Six of the eight men arrested were local to the Rapid City area.

Robert Goodwill Jr., 20, of Rapid City, will be sentenced June 22 in Rapid City. Goodwill pleaded guilty to attempted possession of child pornography as part of a plea deal. He is facing a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both, and five years to life of supervised release. Court documents show that Goodwill corresponded with multiple agents posing as underage children.

Travis McDonald, 28, of Rapid City, pleaded guilty to attempted receipt of child pornography as part of a plea deal. He faces a mandatory minimum five-year sentence to a maximum of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both, and from five years to life of supervised release. Law enforcement said multiple images of pornography as well as artifacts referencing young pornography were found on his phone after his arrest. McDonald will be sentenced July 15.

One Rapid City defendant, Darren Harrison, 25, had THC wax on his person when law enforcement arrested him. Court documents state Harrison asked if the arrest was for the THC. An officer stated, Yes, this is a drug bust to which Harrison replied, Oh, I thought this was an underage bust.

Harrison was sentenced to two years in prison and five years of supervised release on July 22, 2021 for attempted possession of child pornography. He pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal.

A federal judge sentence William Riley, 60, of Sturgis, to six years in prison and five years of supervised release on Nov. 22, 2021 for attempted receipt of child pornography. He pleaded guilty to the charge as part of a plea deal. Riley thought he was speaking to a 15-year-old and acknowledged "being her grandfather's age," court documents say.

Michael Hudson, 32, of Rapid City, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted possession of child pornography as part of a plea deal. He was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and five years supervised release on Feb. 4. Court documents show that Hudson offered to pay for sex with a minor using alcohol rather than cash as payment.

Previously convicted sex offender Christopher Truax, 33, of Rapid City, arrived at a location in Rapid City to meet with a minor when law enforcement met him. He arrived in a van that contained a bed, a firearm, "many knives," a penis pump and several condoms.

Cody Hopkins, 22, of Claysville, Pennsylvania, allegedly told an agent posing as a 13-year-old that the age didn't bother him, "As long as it stays between me and you." Hopkins is scheduled for jury trial Aug. 24, and the plea deal deadline is Aug. 10. He is charged with attempted enticement of a minor using the internet and is maintaining his not guilty plea.

The ages listed above are the ages of the individuals at the time of their arrests.

 Contact Shalom Baer Gee at sgee@rapidcityjournal.com 

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Shawn Klosterman wanted more for himself than what awaited him in the Rapid City area in 1996.

The Douglas High School senior, who was working at the local Walmart as a cashier, knew his single mother couldnt afford to send him to college, he had not applied for many scholarships, and his time in track and cross country werent enough to take him to college.

With both of his grandfathers having been in the military and hearing them speak of their service proudly, Klosterman and a friend decided to join the service.

About 26 years later after a planned three-year enlistment, Klosterman has worked up to the rank of command sergeant major in the Military Police Corps of the United States Army. He returned to Rapid City earlier this week as part of the Armys recruiting initiative.

I really enjoy coming home and this is my home, itll always be my home, Klosterman said in a Tuesday interview. I definitely have great ties to the community. If they could see a young kid coming out of school in 1996 kind of not knowing where he was going to go to having influence on how to shape an organization of as many of 30,000 people, they could do it too.

Klosterman moved with his mom to Rapid City from Billings, Montana, when he was in the third grade. He said his grandparents lived in the area, so he grew up going to Robbinsdale, Knollwood and Vandenberg, and then St. Thomas More and eventually Douglas High School for his sophomore through senior years.

At Douglas, he ran in track, cross country, and even won the Spirit of Six award as a cheerleader. His senior year, he moved in with his grandparents. His moms father had served in Desert Storm and his dads father served in the Korean War, both of which played a big role in why he joined the military.

Klosterman said through his service, he got to see where his grandparents were first stationed in El Paso, Texas, which is also where his mom was born.

That community of service is really what sold me, knowing the resources, seeing the amount of people that my grandparents had as friends, and that connection that they kept throughout their service, he said. It just seemed like a big family to me, and I knew my family was important.

"I kind of wanted to see what was out there in life outside of Rapid, and I knew I was going to step into another family organization when I joined the service."

Klosterman said he originally intended to do his three years and get out of the Army. His first duty assignment was at Fort Lewis, Washington, now Joint Base Lewis-McChord. He then went on a short tour to South Korea at Camp Greaves.

He said that duty station is probably the best hes been in with a tight-knit family.

It was challenging to be away from home and family, Klosterman said, but being with hundreds of people in the same position helped grow their bonds.

Klosterman said he was able to get pieces of the fence line at the 50th anniversary of the Korean War and give it to his grandfather.

His decision to re-enlist, though, came after his first child was born.

I didnt want to transition out, figure out how to get (life) going and then figure out my next career move with a young kid, so the Army provided me valuable resources again, Klosterman said. I think we only paid $37 for the birth of my kid, and that was just for some food that we ate in the hospital.

He later served at Guantanamo Bay and was stationed in Germany, Iraq and Afghanistan. Klosterman said over time, hes been able to see the changes in technology, which made it easier to communicate with his family. However, he said it can still be challenging.

Klosterman said hes also been able to receive an associates degree in criminal justice, a bachelors degree in liberal arts and a masters degree in management organizational leadership.

He said the military has career development paths for each soldier and each branch, including college. He said his cousin, who lives in Sturgis, did the math and said it would likely cost a civilian $160,000 for all of those degrees  while Klosterman paid less than $1,000. He also said now hes able to send two of his kids to school through the post 9-11 GI Bill.

Klosterman said his mom was a little apprehensive of him joining the military at first, but now she and the rest of his family are proud of what hes done and accomplished.

I always say its not about me, but it starts with me, he said. The service isn't about me, its about this nation and the defense of my country, but its nice to see a smile on my sisters face and my moms face.

 Contact Siandhara Bonnet at siandhara.bonnet@rapidcityjournal.com 

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Since the candidates for sheriff are elected, not appointed, it would be nice to have them participate in an open debate on the issues.

The Journal's Editorial Board said they "look forward to the day when people with a right to free speech dont use that right to express or condone racism." The same should be said for some people who submit their Two Cents to this column.

Racism will continue to be an issue in Rapid City as long as far-right people and groups in the city proudly support it.

Kudos to the construction workers who are working on our roads and bridges. We dont enjoy the process much, but we sure appreciate the improved roads and safer bridges when theyre done. Thank you for working in all kinds of weather to make our roads better and safer.

The 270,000+ members of the American Medical Association (medical doctors) and 47 state medical associations, do not support medical cannabis. As degreed scientists, they know the research is not there to prove it is effective for the ailments those who expect to make huge profits promote.

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Four Stevensville 11-year-olds held a bake sale and raised over $1,000 to benefit children in Ukraine who have been impacted and displaced by the attacks in their country.

Fifth-grade student Sloane Shourd coordinated the event with her friends out of concern for youth on the other side of the world.

Last year, the Shourd family hosted a foreign exchange student who lives in Czechia (Czech Republic), near Ukraine, and has kept in touch.

She has been saying she can hear the bomb siren going off in Warsaw, Poland, said Jessica Shourd, Sloans mother. Our foreign exchange student also communicated that folks are pretty uneasy in that part of Europe. Sloane decided she must do something. So, she did.

First, Sloane used her debit card to send $10 from her bank account to UNICEF Ukraine.

Then she thought up the idea of having a bake sale.

My grandmother had a very kind heart, Sloane Shourd said. I knew that if she were still alive, she would be talking about the war. I felt like it was the right thing to do.

She talked with three of her friends Jacqueline Grant, Natalie Offerdahl and Michelle Roebke who immediately agreed to help.

It all started when we heard about the war in Ukraine, Sloane Shourd said. We all wore yellow and blue. We painted Ukraine flags on our faces together.

The girls held a planning session where they thought up their bake sale project, created blue and yellow flier and posters, decorated them with sunflowers, decided who would bake what and set prices. They posted their flier on Facebook and walked Main Street in Stevensville asking all businesses to post their printed flier and posters. On April 1 they held a bake sale in front of Valley Drug during a Stevensville First Friday event.

Jessica Shourd said she was impressed with the dedication of the girls and the success of the bake sale.

People donated money for the cause, bought most of the baked goods and communicated how proud they were of these kids for holding a bake sale to raise money for children in Ukraine, she said. [The girls] received cash, check, Venmo, Paypal, and even used a Square credit card reader. These four fifth grade girls raised $1,092.50 to donate to UNICEF Ukraine.

Sloane Shourd said the hard work was important.

I wouldnt have been able to do this if I hadnt learned about it through goods and services day at school, she said. The bake sale was a fun project especially spending time with my friends. Special thanks to Gwen, Mason, Carter, and Ava who helped us sell baked goods.

Michelle Roebke said she was glad to be part of the process.

I was happy because we raised almost $1,100 for the kids in Ukraine, she said. It made me feel good to be part of that.

Natalie Offerdahl also said she felt good to help the children of Ukraine.

They deserve as much of a chance as we do to live a happy life, she said. We decided we will do whatever we can to help. It was fun to experience baking, being there and interacting with so many people that wanted to help but didnt know how.

Jessica Shourd said she is proud of her daughter, her friends and the community.

I couldnt be more proud of my child and the community of folks who have helped raise and teach her, including her school teachers through the years that gave her what she needed to pull this off.

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Where in the world is Caleb Shriver? That is the million-dollar question many Richmond foodies have been asking since the Dutch & Company chef mysteriously vanished from the dining scene in December 2020.

After he and his wife, Michelle, turned off the lights at their fabled Church Hill restaurant at the height of the pandemic, a restaurant revered for its craftsmanlike approach to fine dining, Shriver spent a reclusive three months in Iceland, apprenticing at Reykjaviks Michelin-starred Dill.

But after wandering abroad, Shriver is finally back in town  and ready to throw the greatest pasta party ever with longtime pal Billy Fallen. The two had previously worked together at eateries owned by Fallen and his family.

A local dining legend himself, Fallen built an empire out of all-things bread and pizza, with his Billy Bread and Billy Pie brands.

My wife said you need, like, carb king on your license plate or something, Fallen says laughing. I dont even eat that many carbs, so its kind of funny.

His new venture with Shriver, Billy Pasta, an offshoot of Fallens other labels, aims to conquer yet another carb.

With support from Rick Hood, owner of Ellwood Thompsons grocery store, the pair are collaborating on a line of fresh, artisan pastas. Their five pasta varieties will be sold by Ellwood Thompsons and other retail stores that already carry Fallens products, stretching from northwestern to southeastern Virginia.

Billy Pastas sophisticated production process, overseen by seasoned pastaiolo Tony Aprea in Williamsburg, will capture all the intricacies of texture and flavor that only bronze-die extrusion, richly colored egg yolks and high-grade flours can achieve.

In addition to retail, Shriver and Fallen plan to deploy their new product line as a blank canvas for dishes theyll feature at a made-to-order pasta counter, debuting in the spring at Ellwood Thompsons as well. Paired with sauces inspired by ingredients directly sourced from the produce section, these dishes promise to form a true synergy with Ellwood Thompsons local, farm-focused ethos.

Especially opening this on the advent of spring and summer growing season, were really going to have some good creative outlets there, says Fallen, rattling off the glorious bounties of garlic, kale, broccoli rabe and other seasonal produce hed love to incorporate into the rotating menu.

Among the pasta bar offerings will be a meaty Bolognese armed with a secret ingredient: chicken livers. (Herbivores need not despair, a liverless veggie version will also be available.) Shriver also hopes to give customers the option of accessorizing dishes with crunchy toppings like saffron breadcrumbs or Fallens favorite, spicy chili crisp.

The pasta bar will have grab-and-go items on hand, too, such as prepared pasta salads and reheatable lasagnas. And if all goes well, they hope to augment Billy Pastas retail line with ready-made frozen pasta products that can also be enjoyed at home.

I always knew that I would go back into cooking. But I wanted it to be right, says Shriver. Everything about this opportunity just kind of made sense to me.

Shriver is especially excited to have a chance to undertake something so radically different from what hed been doing at Dutch.

Apart from the occasional pasta dish, I never really delved deeply into Italian cuisine, he says. So, Im definitely going down the rabbit hole now  Its a new kind of rabbit hole to go down and see what I can get from it and what I can give to it.
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Business journalist and author Emma Johnson has been plugged into the world of single mothers for a decade since launching her website, Wealthysinglemommy.com.

At the outset of the pandemic, she saw right away that single moms were struggling: job loss, illness, caring for their children.

The one thing most of them needed right at that moment, she learned, was cash.

So, each month she started giving $500, no-strings-attached grants to single mothers. In all, over the past two years, shes awarded 60 of the Single Mom Stimulus Grants, as she calls them, totaling $30,000. (To account for the number of grants being well over the number of months of the pandemic, Johnson says the grant project began as a weekly giveaway before moving to monthly, and she also added grants when readers began sending her donations to distribute, which she added on top of her usual grants.)

The only qualifications are that you are a single mom, and as Johnson writes on her website, You need the money right now.

More than 50,000 people have applied for the grants on her website.

Her motivation to do this?

Honestly, I was so grateful for all my blessings, said Johnson, a mother of two who was able to leave her home in Queens, N.Y., when New York City became ground zero at the beginning of the pandemic and retreat to a place her partner had in the Poconos. I have a business thats always been remote ... and my business was doing well. I was just so overwhelmed with gratitude in this dark time.

And I happened to have this business where Im interacting with so many parents on the other end of the story, where they were relying on service jobs, managing child care ... and having to make really, really hard decisions. So, I felt very compelled to do something, and this was easy.

People want money. They want cash. They know what they need. They know what theyre going to spend it on, and I can do it really easily. Literally, it is one second on PayPal, and it helps them out.

Johnson eventually returned to her home in the Astoria section of Queens, a neighborhood where she had lived for 18 years, but not for long. She was looking for a smaller community, someplace where she could get involved, live in the city, ride her bike.

I was just up for adventure, she said. Probably like a lot of cliche pandemic stories: time to roll, where am I going to go?

Her partner agreed to move to a new place, as did her ex-husband and his wife; everyone has jobs that can be performed remotely. As unusual as that might sound, Johnson is a big proponent of shared parental responsibilities, even after divorce, and is the founder of an organization called Moms for Shared Parenting and frequently speaks on gender issues, including at the United Nations Summit for Gender Equality.

We really have to equalize parenting, said Johnson, whose two children are now in middle school.

They settled on Richmond, and they relocated here last summer. Shes not regretted the move.

Definitely a great choice, she said. People are very welcoming.

In 2012, Johnson launched www.wealthysinglemommy.com, which was born, she said, out of my grief. She was divorced with two young children, with the personal experience of having been raised by a single mother. The grief of being a single mother? I had bought into this stereotype that single moms are always poor and single moms are always lonely and no nice guys are ever going to want to be with a single mom, she said.

But then, in that moment, she took stock of her situation: She had an education, a career and a Rolodex, and she was living in a city with all of these opportunities. She determined to just figure this out, and she did.

It was so exciting to me, she said. I started making money. I had a lot of fun dating. My kids were doing well. I thought, This is pretty great.

It was like I overcame my greatest fear.

The wealthy in her websites name is a nod to her background in financial reporting, an interest that she thinks derived from growing up in a household without a lot of money, as well as the often under-appreciated potential of single mothers. Her goal, she says, is to help single moms with advice about career, money, parenting and relationships, among other things.

She also is the author of The Kickass Single Mom: Be Financially Independent, Discover Your Sexiest Self, and Raise Fabulous, Happy Children. Another book is in the works.
Frustrations are running high days after the Richmond School Board rejected a rezoning plan to alleviate crowding at River City Middle School, a South Side building bursting at the seams.

A city councilman held a news conference Thursday calling for action to alleviate the overcrowding, while the four School Board members who voted for the rezoning plan released a statement in an effort to set the facts straight.

Another School Board member took to Facebook to criticize a lack of rezoning options.

And on Thursday evening, parents and community members gathered across the street from Maymont at the Carillon Shelter to discuss shared frustrations centered on the School Board.

The board on Monday voted down the River City Middle rezoning committees recommendation, 5-4. Those who voted against the plan expressed concerns about the impact to open enrollment and claimed the committee created only one proposal.

While the School Board voted down the plan this week, the rezoning issue is back on the agenda at this coming Mondays meeting. District 5 School Board member Stephanie Rizzi asked that additional information regarding the rezoning be presented then.

Though it was built for up to 1,500 students, River City Middle opened in September with 1,626 students. Enrollment at the school on Hull Street Road is projected to grow to 1,740 students by the 2024-25 academic year.

It is unconscionable for us to open up River City next year with 1,600 students, said Superintendent Jason Kamras as he held back tears during Mondays School Board work session. It will be dangerous, and it will be a dereliction of our collective duty to our children.

The River City Middle rezoning committee began meeting in December to tackle the buildings dramatic overcrowding. The committees recommendation, affirmed by the superintendents administration, looked to move 453 students from River City to three other middle schools: Lucille Brown, James H. Binford and Thomas C. Boushall.

According to the proposal, if changes were made for the upcoming school year, River Citys capacity would drop to 78%, Lucille Browns capacity would become 76%, and Binford and Boushall would both sit at 74% capacity.

I do not believe given where we are now in the school year, that there is any other alternative that can be created that will meet the boards objectives, Kamras said Monday night.

Richmond School Board Vice Chair Kenya Gibson criticized the committee in a Wednesday Facebook post for presenting a single rezoning option, stating options are the norm with rezoning.

The School Board, according to Gibson, could not reach a rezoning decision without a corresponding budget and transportation plans. Those operational requirements are necessary in the decision-making process when the district in question has limited resources, Gibson said.

Without question, it is unacceptable for River City Middle School to remain overcrowded. This must be addressed for the upcoming school year, wrote Gibson, who represents the 3rd District.

On Wednesday, School Board members Cheryl Burke (7th District), Liz Doerr (1st District), Nicole Jones (9th District) and Dawn Page (8th District), who voted Monday night in favor of the rezoning plan, issued a joint statement regarding the 5-4 vote.

The school board prioritized school choice that advantages white and affluent families over the safety and security of Black and Brown students on the southside, the statement reads.

The South Side majority-minority school has a population of 48.1% Black students, 47.4% Hispanic students, 2.1% white students, 1.2% students of multiple races, 1% of Asian students, 0.2% American Indian students and 0.1% Native Hawaiian students, according to September enrollment numbers.

The choice made by five school board member colleagues on Monday effectively abandons 400+ children overcrowding in River City in order to preserve ~40 open enrollment spaces in one of the better-resources schools [Binford] in the district, said the statement, calling it a clear dereliction of that duty we have to make hard choices.

Binford Principal Melissa Rickey expressed support during Mondays School Board public comment period for welcoming River City students into her school next fall.

The principals of all four middle schools affected by the plan were in favor of the rezoning, according to the Wednesday statement.

During public comment ahead of Mondays vote, River City Middle Principal Jacquelyn Murphy-Braxton asked the board to think of students in the overcrowded school.

Please consider the 1,525 students who have never been in school with more than 800 students before, the 510 eighth-graders who have never had this many classmates, the 509 seventh-graders who cant eat lunch with their 508 classmates, the 509 sixth-graders who have more students in their class than were in their elementary school, the 469 ESL [English as a Second Language] students, the 82 newcomers who are learning a new country and culture and experiencing culture shock on another level [and] the 176 exceptional education students who share one compliance coordinator.

City Council member Michael Jones, whose 9th District includes the school, held a news conference Thursday morning in River Citys parking lot.

The families, teachers and staff of River City Middle have been desperately begging for help, Jones said. What message is the School Board sending to the children and the community of South Side? That they must settle for less than optimal learning environments in an overcrowded school?

As Jones spoke Thursday morning, a small group of Richmond Public School parents and community members stood behind him. Jones, who sits on the River City rezoning committee; Council Vice President Ellen Robertson of the 6th District; Richmond NAACP President J.J. Minor; and Pastor Robert Winfree of New Life Deliverance Tabernacle were in attendance.

Jones spoke Thursday morning.

We are tired. And I said this on Monday, to literally deny a proposal that eliminates and alleviates pressure for a school that is overcrowded, that affects Black and brown students, that we all know the violence is in an uproar right now  it is a safety issue now, she said.

On the issue of open enrollment, Jones said parents who are taking those open seats to avoid sending their child to their neighborhood school need to stop.

Through tears on Thursday morning, Becca DuVal, a rising Binford parent, voiced support for River City students to take the 40 seats at Binford.

We should not shy away from equitable education, DuVal said. Enough is enough. Lets do something about it.

Tisha Erby, a Richmond Public Schools parent who has two children at River City, wants children to be moved out of the overcrowded middle school. Erby said that because of the schools excessive number of students, teachers are left to teach in hallways, the cafeteria, the gym and the auditorium.

River City is doing their job. ... They are doing everything they can to put these kids first, to keep these kids safe, but they need help, Erby said in an interview Thursday morning.

As I feel and see, there are too many kids, she said. The teachers are tired.
Et tu, Don Scott?

That thought must have crossed Eileen Filler-Corns mind when Scott, a junior legislator and tormentor of Gov. Glenn Youngkin she rewarded with a prized committee assignment and a slot in the Democratic leadership, emerged as the face and voice of the revolt in which she was dumped by a slender vote as party boss in the House of Delegates.

Filler-Corns decline and fall was sudden and dramatic. It should not have been unexpected.

Indeed, Filler-Corn, herself, apparently was hearing firsthand troubling predictions from the field ahead of last Novembers disaster. Its said these worries were waved off by the House Democratic Caucus director and pollster, both of whom Filler-Corns critics wanted fired as a part of a post-election reset. They were saved by Filler-Corn.

After 10 years in Richmond, Filler-Corn became in 2020 Speaker of the House, the first woman and Jew to hold the all-powerful position. The Republican take-back cost her the speakership after two years. On the Sunday after the November election, Filler-Corn was picked by Democrats as minority leader, from which they removed her this past Wednesday.

At that tense post-election meeting at a Henrico union hall, there were complaints Filler-Corn should have steered to imperiled candidates some of the nearly $1 million still in her treasury on Nov. 2. Democrats also selected Scott as the caucus liaison to voter blocs on which the party depends.

They include minorities, the young and labor whose numbers were insufficient to prevent losses in party strongholds: Hampton Roads and Outer Northern Virginia. Their votes will count even more in the next House election  in 2023; maybe this year, if a federal court orders it  when Democrats aim to restore their majority.

The felling of Filler-Corn was not just regime change. It was intraparty cannibalism, the timing of which was fortuitous for Youngkin. It was a welcome distraction from his setbacks at the spring session of the General Assembly. And it was a sharp contrast with the campaign-like splash the following day marking his first 100 days as governor cum national wannabe.

Filler-Corns downfall has generational and ideological dimensions, having been carried out largely by younger Democrats elected in 2017, when the party surprised itself and nearly snatched the House, and those who won in 2019, when the chamber tipped blue for the first time since 1997.

In both elections, Democratic gains had a lot to do with externals, most notably revulsion over Donald Trump. But distaste for him in a state Democrats have carried for the presidency since 2008 was exceeded by anger over Joe Biden that spurred the record Republican turnout that helped Youngkin to a narrow win over a Democratic retread, Terry McAuliffe.

Though Democrats, too, hit a new high on turnout, McAuliffes one-note campaign  Youngkin as Trump in a fleece vest  did little to inspire a COVID-19-anxious electorate, hobbling the partys down-ticket legislative candidates in such must-win localities as Virginia Beach and Newport News. Races there were decided by about 100 votes.

The House Democratic newbies, Scott, among them, are unapologetically liberal  progressives, in the parlance of the times. Filler-Corn represents an older ilk of Democrat that is no less liberal but more pragmatic. This approach is reinforced by two decades in the minority, when Democrats could mope about, but rarely make, public policy.

Having toppled their floor leader  Filler-Corns adversaries quietly began scheming in early April, amid worries her proposed $50 fuel tax rebate lacked the pizzazz of Youngkins idea to do away with the 26.2-cents-per-gallon levy altogether for three months  House Democrats now find themselves leaderless.

A trial lawyer selected by Filler-Corn for the Labor and Commerce Committee, an assignment that makes for easy fundraising, Scott promptly declared his candidacy. That the votes were there to get rid of Filler-Corn but not necessarily to elect Scott indicates the Democratic caucus is not only divided, its adrift  at the wrong time: the run-up to an election.

So watch for other candidates: Charniele Herring, Marcus Simon and Rip Sullivan, all previously deputies to Filler-Corn and, as she is, from Northern Virginia. From the start, the geocentric nature of Filler-Corns leadership team was off-putting to downstate Democratic delegates, a signal that somehow the rest of Virginia didnt count.

RoVa resentment for NoVa might compel one of the few western Virginia Democrats, Sam Rasoul of Roanoke, to run for House leader. Though his district is mostly urban and suburban, Rasoul, an unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor in 2021, comports himself as a dirt-road Democrat, attentive of the Republican-leaning countryside.

While this is all uber insider stuff, these intrigues cant be overlooked. They can dramatically alter the tone and arc of legislative politics. In 2007, the last time a minority leader was jettisoned, House Democrats  having replaced Frank Hall of Richmond with Ward Armstrong of Henry  became far more aggressive.

Even close calls can make a difference. David Toscano of Charlottesville, briefly targeted by Northern Virginia malcontents, stepped up his game as House Democratic leader after the party nearly won a majority in 2017. That year, control of the House was decided for Republicans on a drawing that settled a tied election in Newport News.

Redistricting also contributed to House Democratic discomfort with Filler-Corn. To hold her support in Northern Virginia and win over Black lawmakers, such as Scott, she came out against a redistricting overhaul measure in 2020 most Democrats had previously favored.

Opponents wanted her to use her procedural powers as speaker to kill the legislation, keeping it off that years ballot, because they feared largely stripping the General Assembly of its mapmaking authority would threaten Democratic control, only restored to the House and Virginia Senate in 2019.

For Filler-Corn, burying the proposal was a bridge too far.

It would pass with fewer than 10 Democratic votes in the House  including those of coup-plotters Sally Hudson of Charlottesville and Dan Helmer of Fairfax  and was overwhelmingly approved by voters, leading to Virginia Supreme Court-drawn districts in which dozens of incumbents are paired. Among them: Filler-Corn and fellow Democrat Kathy Tran.

Their impasse over who might move and who should run may have been broken with Filler-Corns removal as floor leader. Denied that credential  and having lost the speakership  the urgency of Filler-Corns re-election, particularly in a new district that has a small slice of her old one, is likely diminished.

No wonder Filler-Corn let it be known shes considering running for governor in 2024.

She shouldnt get her hopes up.

Just ask the former Republican speaker who was stripped of the post in the 2019 party flip and then lost the gubernatorial nomination to Glenn Youngkin: Kirk Cox.

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter, @RTDSchapiro. Listen to his analysis 7:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. Friday on Radio IQ, 89.7 FM in Richmond and 89.1 FM in Roanoke, and in Norfolk on WHRV, 89.5 FM.
CHARLOTTESVILLE  The mother of a former womens lacrosse player at the University of Virginia broke into tears during her testimony Thursday as she described the moment when she learned her daughter was dead.

Sharon Love said she thought at first that her daughter had been in a traffic accident, adding that she never thought Yeardley Love would be murdered, WVIR reported.

Love, the administrator of her daughters estate, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against George Huguely V, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2010 killing of Yeardley Love, his on-again, off-again girlfriend.

Huguely, who also played lacrosse at UVA, took the stand Wednesday in his only day inside the Charlottesville courtroom.

The lawsuit seeks $29.5 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

Yeardleys sister and brother-in-law also testified Thursday. Lexie Love Hodges said that when she got the call of her sisters death, she thought, Thats it? Ill never see her again? and said that when she first met Huguely, she thought he was sloppy.

Lexies husband, Jamison Hodges, said it was nonstop bawling in the days after Yeardleys death.

Members of the jury also became emotional as they listened to the testimony.
The Tazewell County Sheriffs Office has charged a Roanoke police officer with injuring another persons reputation in connection with a Facebook blog called The Down & Dirty News of Southwest Virginia.

Larry K. Kenny Bowman has been charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor: combining to injure others in their reputation, trade, business or profession.

Tazewell Countys Chief Deputy Harold Heatley said the misdemeanor was served in Tazewell because the person who claims to have been harmed by Bowmans social posts resides in that county.

Heatley said the Facebook page has been taken down, but a page with the same name was accessible on Facebook Thursday morning. A pinned post from July 2020 says the blog was designed to publish satire.

Lately the news pages you regularly see on Facebook pick and choose what they want you to see and how they want you to see it. Most without ever siting [sic] their sources or checking facts. Even real newspapers in our area do this, presenting their opinions as news, the pinned post says. At least with this page youll be aware that the posts are s---.

But another post also dated July 2020 says the blogger behind the scenes was publishing opinions that had been cherry picked from stolen articles.

I discovered that I can steal peoples articles and call myself a news page on Facebook, the post reads. People must really love me, since I get so many clicks.

Bowman received regional attention seven years ago for his social media activity. In April 2015, he shared a video on YouTube in which he stopped his children in their toy truck for being too cute.

The video went viral. As of Thursday, it had nearly 1.4 million views, and Bowmans YouTube channel had 1,120 subscribers.

Heatley said the Tazewell County departments investigation of Bowmans Facebook activity is ongoing.

We are cooperating with the Roanoke City Police Department Internal Affairs Division, the chief deputy said.

The Roanoke police department said it is aware of the allegations made against Bowman, one of its employees.

We will conduct an internal investigation, the department said in an email Thursday. As this is a personnel matter, we will not be making any comments as to the status of the employee.

Bowman could not be reached for comment on Friday.

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Standing in front of a Roanoke jury, Tommy Strelka grasped a dollar bill in one hand and a blaze-orange safety vest in the other.

Money over safety, the attorney said, holding the cash above the vest. Production over safety. Thats the Apco way. Thats what they do.

It was closing arguments in the case of Strelkas client, Ocal Bubba Smith, a former line worker for Appalachian Power Co. who claimed in a lawsuit that he was fired for repeatedly voicing concerns about unsafe working conditions that he and his co-workers faced.

Late Thursday, the jury found in Smiths favor  awarding him $2.3 million in lost wages and other damages.

The verdict came about 10 p.m. on the third day of a trial in Roanoke Circuit Court, where Appalachians position that safety is paramount was pitted against Smiths contention that rules meant to protect workers were often overlooked in the pursuit of profit.

As a line mechanic, Smith was paid $39.80 a hour to maintain and repair high-voltage power lines, a dangerous job that included venturing out in bad weather to either climb poles or work high above the ground in buckets elevated from trucks.

In testimony, he outlined a series of complaints he made over the years: That workers were required to use bucket trucks during high winds, that protective gear was not always worn, that warning signs were not put up when heavy equipment was parked on public roads, and that line mechanics could have been electrocuted due to failures to follow safety rules that govern the handling of power lines.

There was no evidence presented that anyone was injured.

However, an investigation by the Virginia Department of Labor found several violations. In 2018  less than a year before Smith was fired  Appalachian was fined $33,715 for not following regulations.

Ex-Appalachian Power linesman voices wrongful termination claim in Roanoke court Ocal Bubba Smith contends his workplace safety violations were ignored, while the utility's attorney said he was fired after a "mean spirited" crusade by the veteran linesman "warped his mind."

Circuit Judge David Carson did not allow the jury to hear about the violations, ruling before the trial began that there was not a sufficient link between them and Smiths complaints.

Smith made the allegations anonymously, and the Department of Labor would not reveal the source. There were conflicting accounts about whether Appalachian knew that Smith was the whistleblower in those cases.

But there was little doubt that he raised safety issues early and often during his 17 years with the utility.

All I wanted to do is do the job by the rules, Smith testified. But as he voiced concerns to everyone from his immediate supervisor up to the president of Appalachian, nobody listened to me, he told the jury.

Going up the chain, no nobody listened.

One of the Department of Labors investigations was into an electrical flash that occurred in 2017 when Appalachian crews were removing a temporary line next to a bridge under construction in Wythe County.

The power line had not been de-energized, and when it was taken down it came into contact with a wire fence, according to the investigation report, which is included in court records.

Violations included a failure to perform a job briefing before work began, not following procedures for dealing with energized lines and a lack of temporary traffic control in the work area.

The inspector wrote that, in general, Appalachians safety manual was stellar and in compliance with state and federal regulations.

However, upon interviewing employees, there appears to be an issue with one particular supervisor in that there is a push to get work done, the report read.

If someone feels that it is unsafe and speaks out in an attempt to stop work, the [supervisor] will ask the employee if he is refusing work; thus creating intimidation and the employee will continue to work unsafely so as not to be written up for insubordination, the inspector wrote.

Although that incident was not part of the evidence presented to the jury, Appalachian officials testified that the utility puts safety first and has a number of programs to ensure that rules are followed.

This is an unforgiving business, Appalachian President and Chief Operating Officer Chris Beam told the jury. The work that we do, there is no room for error. One mistake we make could be deadly for the employees, the public, or both.

Company officials testified that investigations by in-house departments were conducted into Smiths complaints, and that they were not found to be valid.

Safety is drilled into every operation the company does, one supervisor told the jury.

Over time, Appalachian officials said, Smith became increasingly aggressive and began to conduct covert investigations, photographing his co-workers not wearing hard hats or committing other violations that he reported to management.

Tom Winn, a Roanoke attorney who represented Appalachian, that some workers became so concerned about Smiths vicious and mean-spirited safety crusade that they requested to be transferred and asked if they needed legal representation.

Bubba Smith lost his job because he could simply not let things go, Winn said in his closing arguments.

In the end, Smith was not fired for performance issues  his job reviews were consistently good and he had never been previously disciplined  but rather because his conduct had gotten out of hand in the view of management.

You could probably say it was work environment harassment, maybe even intimidation, Beam said when pressed by Strelka for the reasons for the termination.

Was there a concern that Smith might become violent? the attorney asked.

I have no idea, Beam responded. But I couldnt afford to find that out. You cant wait until something happens and then say I should have done something about that. 

While management seemed to have problems with Smith, his attorney argued, his co-workers described him as a team player who was genuinely concerned about workplace safety.

This man tried for years to fix what was going on at Apco, Strelka told the jury.

Smiths lawsuit included two claims. The first was that he was illegally fired for engaging in a protected act, that being raising safety concerns. A second assertion was that after he was fired, Appalachian banned him from working on its property, making it all but impossible to find a similar job with other companies that performed subcontracting work on power lines. Testimony showed that Appalachian reported him to a company that he worked for following his termination in March 2019.

The jury awarded $1.27 million on the first claim, and another $672,000 on the second. It also allowed for pre-judgment interest of 6% to be collected, bringing the total verdict to approximately $2.3 million.

Strelka, whose Roanoke law firm represents employees in labor disputes, said the case was unusual for the size of the verdict and for Appalachians absolute hubris in responding to the lawsuit.

The defendant is not used to anyone pushing back against them, he said.

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Elon Musk is buying out Twitter and much like the days of the Trump victory in Washington, followers are already announcing plans to move to Canada in what is likely a symbolic gesture of frustration and fear over what is to come.

Following Twitters acceptance of Musks $44-billion acquisition bid for free speech, some high-profile accounts reported losing thousands of followers, while those of the political right gained significantly.

Nonetheless, former U.S. President Donald Trump, banned from the platform in early 2021, is still holding a grudge.

Musk, who rarely holds back on his Twitter thoughts, said that central to his vision for the platform was for it to be an inclusive arena for free speech hoping that even his "worst critics" will stay on the platform "because that is what free speech means".

However, hashtags such as #LeaveTwitter and #GoodByeTwitter were trending following the Musk announcement.

Former U.S. President Obama, who has more than 131 million followers on the platform, lost 300,000 of them nearly overnight. Even the Auschwitz Memorial Twitter account said it lost 35,000 followers.

Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, gun control activist David Hogg and others all lost some tens of thousands of followers. The only outlier on this side of the fence was U.S. President Joe Biden, who saw a 26,000-increase in followers.

Elsewhere, there were plenty of gains, suggesting an overnight shift in the Twitterscape.



Controversial Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene gained nearly 100,000 to her official congressional Twitter account. Her personal account was permanently suspended earlier this year for spreading Covid-19 misinformation.

Other conservatives such as Ted Cruz, Newt Gingrich, and Laura Ingraham, also gained followers. USA Today tracked that some 72% of the Republican accounts gained Twitter followers just on Monday.

Elsewhere, Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist, also gained about 90,000 followers.

Donald Trump Jr. gained nearly 120,000 new followers but his father announced that he would not be returning to the platform after he was banned following the January 6th Capitol riot over concerns he would use the platform to incite further violence.

Instead, Trump said he was sticking to his own app, TRUTH Social, the Trump Media & Technology Group Twitter clone, which was formally launched last month.

Twitter is becoming very boring. Theyve gotten rid of a lot of good voices on Twitter, a lot of their conservative voices, Donald Trump told Fox News.. I hope Elon buys Twitter because hell make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH.

Conservatives have long complained that major social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube show bias against the right. In the last couple of years, dozens of former administration officials, conservative commentators and journalists were banned from social media.

Those include former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, rightwing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, rightwing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, and others. A Pew Research Center 2020 survey found that 90% of Republicans believed views were being censored.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who was banned from the platform last month for violating the platform's rules for hateful content, returned to Twitter hours after Musk's deal was finalized with the post Were back.

For those who left Twitter or are planning to follow Musks move, presuming that they will move to some other platform, it is not going to be that easy. Twitter has more than 436 million users. Discord, with its 300 million users, is the closest to it. Others are Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, CounterSocial, and others. Mastodon, a Twitter clone with only 670,000 users, reported an influx of approx. 41,287 users after Musks acquisition.
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Dennis Beaver Practices law in Bakersfield and welcomes comments and questions from readers, which may be faxed to (661) 323-7993, or e-mailed to Lagombeaver1@Gmail.com. Also, visit dennisbeaver.com.
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" " Forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu discusses a diagram of his autopsy of Stephon Clark who was killed by two Sacramento police officers in 2018. Clark's family requested an independent autopsy. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

To hear the alleged witnesses tell it, Peter Howseley had been fatally assaulted. The year was 1690 and Howseley was a Londoner who perished under contentious circumstances. Some urbanites swore they saw two men bludgeoning him over the head with a sword and a cane. He reportedly died from his injuries less than a month later.

Ordinarily, this kind of testimony would be damning. However, when a team of doctors and surgeons were told to examine Howsley's skull, they found no evidence of cranial trauma. Instead, the experts concluded that his death was natural and "nonviolent."

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Autopsies have been around since ancient times, but in Howseley's day, they were still relatively uncommon. After three centuries of medical progress however, they became routine procedures in many parts of the world.

In the United States, inspecting dead bodies to (hopefully) figure out how their owners died is the domain of forensic pathologists, medical examiners and coroners. Movie makers love to dramatize the work in gory scenes replete with blood-soaked bullet removals. Yet there are aspects of posthumous examinations that don't appear on the silver screen very often.

Autopsies involve unglamorous chores like poop extraction  a task that doesn't exactly make for great cinema. And you might be shocked to learn just how much they can cost, especially when Uncle Sam won't pick up the tab. From twice-dissected bodies to incriminating french fries, here are some lesser-known facts about autopsies.
" " Goosebumps can be triggered in humans by many different experiences, including but not only, cold temperatures. maik555/Shutterstock

Goosebumps, chills, heebie-jeebies  whatever you call them  are an oddly pleasant sensation that most of us experience when cold, overcome with emotion or are sexually aroused. They cause small puckers to form on our flesh (reminiscent of a plucked goose) and send chills down our spines.

But have you ever stopped to wonder why you get goosebumps? The answer is strangely primal.

"Goosebumps are very old evolutionarily," says Dr. Keith W. Roach, an internal medicine doctor and associate professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He's also the author of "To Your Good Health," a medical advice column syndicated in more than 150 newspapers.

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What Are Goosebumps?

Goosebumps are the result of piloerection, a temporary raising of the hairs on the surface of the skin that occurs when the piloerector muscles contract. These tiny muscles are attached to the individual follicles from which each hair arises. Piloerection is a voluntary response directed by the sympathetic nervous system (the one that triggers the "fight or flight" response), and is elicited by cold, fear or a startling experience.

Goosebumps have two functions that serve little purpose to less hairy, modern-day humans. "One is to keep us warm, which they don't do a very good job at on humans because we're not furry," Roach says.

For example, cold weather can trigger piloerection in mammals  as well as birds  causing their hair (or feathers) to stand up and then reset. This action creates a layer of air underneath the animal's fur that helps insulate their bodies from the cold temperatures.

Piloerection also occurs when animals perceive a threat is near. In this situation, when the piloerector muscles contract and cause the hair to rise, it creates a "fluffed up" appearance that makes the animal seem larger and may help deter an attack by other animals. Think: Halloween cat. So really, piloerection  or goosebumps  serve no real purpose in humans since we evolved to less hairy creatures.

" " Goosebumps, or piloerection, is a reaction in animals that causes their fur to stand on end. It signals they're frightened and perceive a threat is nearby. Photo by Rafa Elias/Getty Images

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Goosebumps, Music and Our Emotions

Humans can also get goosebumps during moments of strong emotional experiences "and what's very interesting," Roach adds, "music and film are some of the ways that elicit emotional goosebumps."

Roach cites a January 2011 study published in Biological Psychology in which researchers measured subjective chills (similar to shivers down the spine) and visible piloerection in a group of volunteers as they listened to music and watched movies. The results were fascinating. Celine Dion's blockbuster hit "My Heart Will Go On," ranked a chill ratio ("shivers down the spine" effect) of 50 percent and a piloerection ratio (goosebumps on the skin) of 14 percent compared to Prince's "Purple Rain," which scored a 100 percent chill ratio and a 50 percent piloerection ratio.

What does music have to do with goosebumps? Enter Mitchell Colver, an instructor of special topics at Utah State University. Colver holds a bachelor's degree in music and psychology and, as a graduate student at Eastern Washington University in 2010, conducted a research study on the type of people most likely to get goosebumps. (See sidebar for more information.) The study was published in the March 2015 issue of Psychology of Music and became a viral sensation. It also made Colver one of the leading authorities on goosebumps.

"To better understand goosebumps, you have to understand that you have two brains  the emotional brain and the thinking brain  and they respond differently to things going on around you," he says.

The emotional brain is primal. Like a bunny in the forest, it is constantly looking out for threats and, when it finds one, the brain triggers an automatic physiological reaction, known as the fight-or-flight response. Since it triggers a survival response, the emotional brain activates immediately when it perceives danger, overriding the thinking brain.

When it comes to surprises, Colver references David Huron, author of Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation: "To your emotional brain, there's no such thing as a pleasant surprise."

"So, when there are sounds in the environment, including musical sounds, the emotional brain doesn't process it as music. It hears a person scream. It hears a high violin in a certain frequency and thinks it's a threatening noise," Colver says.

In terms of music, passages that include unexpected harmonies or sudden changes in volume can trigger chills because they "violate" the listener's expectations, essentially convincing the brain that something is going wrong.

Seconds later, however, the thinking brain chimes in and does a cognitive reappraisal of the situation. It recognizes the high notes as music, interprets it as nonthreatening, and shuts down the emotional brain and the goosebumps fade away. This "violation of expectations" lends itself to what Colver refers to as "aesthetic tension"  the buildup of tension caused by the emotional brain's reaction to a perceived threat followed by a release of that tension when the thinking brain recognizes the stimuli as pleasant, and signals the "all-clear."

" " Listening to music has the ability to elicit strong emotions in humans. It also triggers things in our brains that cause goosebumps, but the reason why is super primal. Hello World/Getty Images

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Is it Fear or is it Pleasure?

Remember the rabbit in the forest? In the animal kingdom, once a perceived threat is gone, the bunny returns to grazing. "But when we humans cognitively reappraise something as aesthetic beauty [rather than a true threat], we get a dopamine hit," Colver says. Dopamine is the body's "feel good" hormone. "And that's why, for humans, goosebumps are pleasurable."

The phenomenon of getting pleasurable goosebumps while listening to music actually has its own name  frisson, a French word meaning "aesthetic chill." Some researchers call it a "skin orgasm." And that makes perfect sense to Colver.

"We know that dopamine is flooding the same place of the brain that is flooded when a person orgasms. So, the fact that it's called skin orgasm is scientifically appropriate. When you think about it, an orgasm is a release following a great deal of tension," he says. "I don't think a lot of people realize that the joy of tension is the release. And great music creates and resolves psychological tension."

Speaking of sex, what about goosebumps that arise from touch such as tickling or during a sexual encounter? Are those reactions based in fear? Colver believes so.

"Remember, there's no such thing as a pleasant surprise," he says. Goosebumps that are elicited from touch or tickling often involve body parts that are usually covered or protected, putting us in a vulnerable position and triggering an immediate response from the emotional brain. This, of course, is followed by the thinking brain's reassessment and, if you're lucky, a good dose of dopamine to boot.

Now That's Chilling According to Colver, about two-thirds of people get goosebumps and the remaining one-third do not. One possible explanation is their personalities. Colver has found that people who are classified as being "open to experience"  one of the Big Five Personality Traits  are more likely to get goosebumps than people who are less open to experience. The reason? They're more apt to have a more deeply emotional reaction to new experiences.
DARLINGTON, S.C.  At no point were any students at Mayo High School for Math, Science and Technology in any danger, nor was the school threatened, during a Wednesday shooting in the area of Edwards Avenue in Darlington.

Wednesday afternoon, approximately 2:27 p.m. we received a call of shots fired in the area of Edwards Avenue, about a block to a block and a half away from Mayo School, Darlington Police Chief Kelvin Washington said in a Friday afternoon press conference. We responded to the area but were unable to locate any suspects. The case is still under investigation by our office as well as the sheriffs office.

There was no SRO [school resource officer] at the school at the time, mainly because were short on personnel, Washington said.

During incidents in which the city cannot provide an SRO for a school, Washington said, patrol routines are adjusted to make sure an officer is near the school.

That nearness  also about a block and a half away  was why an officer was able to quickly respond to the area, Washington said.

That school, as well as all of our schools, are safe and the children are safe, he said.

And Mayo is not one of the schools he expects to be a problem.

The students at Mayo are the high academic achievers within the Darlington County School District. Those are kids who are not trouble markers. Youre not going to have problems at that school, Washington said.

The chief said he is in the process of meeting with the city manager to take steps  like increasing pay  to resolve the staffing situation.

With two open positions, two officers on leave, several officers who havent yet been to the academy and several who are in the academy  and one who graduated from the academy Friday  the department is down about 20% in qualified patrol officers.

The fix wont be quick, he said. Between mandatory training and time at the academy it can take six to eight months to get an officer to be effective on patrol.

Washington said he is working with Darlington County Sheriff James Hudson to make sure that, for the remainder of the year, there is a law enforcement presence at Mayo.

Washington said his agency is also working to find out who fired the shots near the school and is looking for the community to lend a hand.

We just want to get the information. Were just interested in who gives us the information; we just want the information to get these folks off the streets, Washington said. Our job is to make sure we provide our community and our residents with a safe, comfortable and secure environment.
SIOUX CENTER -- Before the semester comes to a close, Dordt University's music department is hosting three concerts over the next week.

According to a press release, the slate starts with the Fourth Avenue Jazz concert held on Tuesday, May 3, at 8 p.m., in the B.J. Haan Auditorium. Then, on Friday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m., the same venue will play host to the Choral Ensembles Concert. Finally, the following night, also at 7:30 p.m., Dordt instrumental ensembles are performing the final concert of the year.

For the last show, the press release states: "The concert will feature the Campus-Community Band, Chamber Orchestra, and Wind Symphony. They will be joined by guest conductor Maestro Michael Johner. Maestro Johner joins us from Rottenburg, Germany where he is the principal conductor of numerous ensembles."

The Friday event will include the Bella Voce women's chorus, the Dordt men's chorus, Chorale and the concert choir performing a mix of modern works, international tunes and faith songs. Tuesday night is all about jazz in its many forms.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  The Oklahoma House gave final approval Thursday to a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.

The bill approved by the GOP-led House without discussion or debate now heads to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it within days. The assault on abortion rights is one of several culture-war issues conservatives in GOP-led states have embraced, like restricting LGBTQ rights, that drive the party's base in an election year.

A coalition of Oklahoma abortion providers and abortion rights advocates immediately filed separate legal challenges in state court to both the Texas-style ban and a separate bill Stitt signed earlier this month to make abortion a felony. Legal experts say it's likely both measures could be temporarily halted before they take effect.

House members also voted Thursday to adopt new language prohibiting transgender students from using school restrooms that match their gender identity and requiring parental notification ahead of any classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity.

They're all concerned about their elections coming up and making sure they have something they can put on a postcard to talk about," said Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Midwest City.

The abortion bill, dubbed the Oklahoma Heartbeat Act, prohibits the procedure once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy. A similar bill approved in Texas last year led to a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would allow private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas' ban. Idaho's governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state's Supreme Court.

Although Stitt already signed a bill this year to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, that measure is not set to take effect until this summer. But the ban approved by the House on a 68-12 vote Thursday has an emergency provision that allows it to take effect immediately after the governor signs it.

Abortion providers say it will immediately end most abortions in Oklahoma unless a court intervenes.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has repeatedly found that the state legislatures extreme attempts to restrict abortion are unconstitutional, and these bans are some of the most extreme yet, Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement.

A separate bill that uses the Texas-style enforcement mechanism to ban all abortions, not just after cardiac activity is detected, passed the Senate on Thursday and heads to the House for consideration. The bills are among more than a half-dozen anti-abortion measures introduced in the Legislature this year.

We are more concerned at this point about these Texas-style bans because they have, at least recently, been able to continue and remain in effect, said Emily Wales, interim president and CEO at Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates two abortion clinics in Oklahoma. We do intend to challenge those if theyre passed, but because of the emergency clause provisions, there would be at least some period of time when we could not offer care.

Before the Texas ban took effect last year, about 40 women from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, according to data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. That number jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October, the agency reported.

Were serving as many Texans as Oklahomans right now, in some cases more Texans than Oklahomans, Wales said.

Tony Lauinger, the chairman of Oklahomans for Life and a longtime anti-abortion advocate in the state, said he's optimistic the measure will be deemed constitutional.

Its identical to the bill that was enacted by the Texas Legislature last year, and that bill has passed muster with the United States Supreme Court," Lauinger said. We are hopeful that this bill will save the lives of more unborn children here in Oklahoma as well."

This story has been corrected to indicate the bill targets cardiac activity in the embryo, not fetus.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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John Roberts is heading a Supreme Court in crisis. The chief justice has already ordered an investigation into the unprecedented leak this week of a draft of a major abortion opinion. What comes next could further test Roberts leadership of a court. The addition of three conservative justices during Donald Trumps presidency means there are now five conservative justices to Roberts right who no longer need his vote, and perhaps his moderating influence, to prevail in a case. The abortion decision could be another example of that, with the courts other conservatives prepared to go further than Roberts. He's said repeatedly that he prefers decisions where the court comes to a broad agreement on narrow grounds.
Isidro Jaramillo, 41, pleaded guilty in November in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He was sentenced to 250 months in prison.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Jaramillo started selling approximately 40 pounds of meth per month in the Sioux City area in 2019. By December 2019, he stored more than 2 pounds of cocaine, 68 pounds of marijuana, and 28 pounds of meth in a co-conspirators basement and coordinated the sale of the drugs, which originated from Mexico. In March 2021, Jaramillo sold 6 pounds of meth to an undercover law enforcement officer for $10,000. During a subsequent search of Jaramillos home, agents located approximately 3 pounds of meth and the $10,000 used to buy the 6 pounds of meth.
SIOUX CITY -- Automobile enthusiasts of every kind have a chance to indulge themselves this coming week.

On Wednesday, May 4, from 4 to 8 p.m., the Western Iowa Tech Community College automotive programs are hosting their 12th annual "Show and Shine Car Show" in the campus' Parking Lot 4. According to a press release, community members are encouraged to bring their car or motorcycle as well.

"All makes and models are welcome," the release said.

Those who attend the show can also check out what projects the WITCC automotive students have worked on over the course of the year.

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SIOUX CITY -- The smile on Col. Sonya Morrison's face came easy as she greeted guests to a Chamber of Commerce function Thursday afternoon at the 185th Air Base.

Hours earlier, she was informed she would be the next wing commander at the Sioux City-based 185th Air Refueling Wing, Iowa Air National Guard.

Her two previous commanders said Morrison's smile likely would have been just as wide if it were an ordinary day. Both said her outgoing, upbeat attitude will be an asset when she takes over command of the unit later this summer.

"She has all the right experience and all the right sight pictures for where we're going. Her ability to get out and connect with the community support and the National Guard are excellent," said Col. Mark Muckey, the current wing commander, who has been selected as the Deputy Adjutant General for Air for the Iowa National Guard at Camp Dodge in Des Moines.

A formal change of command ceremony is tentatively planned in August.

An Osceola, Iowa, native, Morrison has served as vice wing commander since May. She will be the unit's 15th wing commander and the first woman to hold the position.

Morrison said she's been the first woman to hold many of the positions she's filled in her career, so she wasn't sure how to respond to being the 185th's first female wing commander.

"I just look at it as I do my job and do what I need to do and serve the Air Force," she said. "I hope I can carry that forward. As a pilot in the Air Force, this is the position everyone should aspire to. I'm just amazed and honored to step into this role."

According to her biography, Morrison received her commission through the Army ROTC program after graduating from the University of Northern Iowa in 1999. She trained as a helicopter pilot with the Iowa Army National Guard and moved to the Air National Guard in 2005, training as an F-16 fighter pilot with the 132nd Fighter Wing in Des Moines before becoming a pilot with the 185th.

She previously served as the 185th Support Group commander and as the state director of staff at the Joint Forces Headquarters at Camp Dodge and flew remotely piloted aircraft at the 132nd Wing in Des Moines.

Brig. Gen. Larry Christensen, the 185th commander from 2014 to early 2019 said Morrison's variety of military experiences will benefit her and the 185th.

"She's very approachable and very concerned to make sure she takes care of the mission," Christensen said. "I think she's going to do a great job."

Muckey will leave Sioux City for Des Moines, where he will oversee Iowa's two Air National Guard wings, among other duties. The job will allow the Sioux City native to maintain contact with friends at the 185th and in the community while returning for weekend drills.

"Being back at the 185th was a phenomenal experience," said Muckey, who had been away from Sioux City for 30 years before assuming command of the unit. "I was in no rush to be done, but when the general says he needs you elsewhere, I'm excited to do a new job."

Muckey will be promoted to brigadier general in coming months.

Thursday's announcements also included a homecoming of sorts for Col. Stephanie Samenus, a longtime member of the 185th who left in June after accepting a position as the chief of human capital at the newly formed NGB-Space Operations with the National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Samenus will be returning to Iowa in December to replace Christensen as the Chief of Staff -- Air at the Iowa National Guard headquarters at Camp Dodge. She also will be promoted to brigadier general.

"Iowa's home," said Samenus, who was the 185th's vice wing commander before her promotion last summer. "This is a chance to serve not only Sioux City, but Des Moines and the whole state of Iowa."

Christensen will retire in December after 35 years of service in the Guard.

"It's been a great career," said Christensen, who grew up two miles south of the 185th base. "I can't emphasize enough how lucky I was to find the Guard."

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP)  As people in a packed courtroom wept, Lucy Henning talked about her own guilt at the death of her father, Alan Henning, who was tortured and beheaded by the Islamic State a decade ago.

If I weren't a moody teenager, maybe he wouldn't have gone, she said through tears at Friday's sentencing hearing for Alexanda Kotey, one of two British nationals  known as the Beatles by their captives  who was convicted in U.S. District Court in Alexandria for their roles in the hostage-taking scheme, which took two dozen Westerners as prisoners and resulted in the death of four Americans.

Lucy said she has many questions about her father that remain unanswered: Did he want to send us a message? Was he mad that we didnt get him out? Was he buried or cremated? Or was he just left there?

Kotey was sentenced to life in prison Friday. The sentence was a foregone conclusion under the plea deal he entered last year. El Shafee Elsheikh, the second British national, will be formally sentenced in August and will also receive a life term. The death penalty was not an option under the terms of the agreement that allowed their extradition to the U.S.

Kotey was specifically charged with conspiring in the kidnapping and deaths of four Americans  journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig. Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were all beheaded. Mueller was tortured and raped by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi before she was killed. British aid workers Henning and David Haines were also killed by beheading by the Islamic State.

About a dozen family members and survivors spoke at Friday's hearing. Kayla Mueller's father, Carl Mueller, said that during the ordeal, I lost my faith in God, and I lost my faith in our government. My government left her there for 18 months. They would not allow us to negotiate.

He said the trial and prosecution of the Elsheikh and Kotey restored his faith in government, prompting tears from Judge T.S. Ellis III.

Kayla's mother, Marsha Mueller, said she and her husband are still desperate for the truth about her daughter's death. Unlike the other three Americans, whose beheading deaths were recorded on video and spread across the internet, Kayla's death remains something of a mystery. The Islamic State said she was killed in a Jordanian air strike  the U.S. government believes she was killed by ISIS.

I am thankful for each shred of truth, no matter how painful it is to hear, she said. We will continue to search for our daughter's remains.

Throughout the victim impact statements, Kotey made eye contact with the victims, while Elsheikh looked away or kept his eyes closed. His apparent indifference to the victims' words drew the ire of Sotloff's mother, Shirley Sotloff, who demanded Elsheikh look at her while she spoke.

We are forever broken by the loss of our beloved son and defined as the people from a horror movie. she said, referencing the beheading videos that circulated around the globe.

Kotey declined to speak at Friday's hearing, referencing instead a 25-page letter he wrote to the court in advance of sentencing. The letter describes his conversion to Islam at age 19 and expresses some ambivalence about his actions, while also justifying brutality as a response to Western foreign policy.

In retrospect I can say that, throughout our endeavors, there were actions we took that demanded moral compromises, he wrote.

While Elsheikh was not sentenced, the judge ordered him to attend Fridays hearing so victims would not have to travel to two separate sentencings to say their peace.

Kotey and Elsheikh were captured in Syria in 2018 and brought to Virginia in 2020 to stand trial in federal court. A third Beatle, Mohammed Emwazi, also known as Jihadi John, who carried out the beheadings, was killed in a 2015 drone strike.

The only issue of consequence to be decided at Friday's hearing was whether the judge would recommend a prison other than the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, for Kotey to serve his term. His lawyers said that unless the judge recommends otherwise, Kotey will almost certainly be sent there.

Ellis acknowledged that the conditions at Florence are more severe than at other prisons, but he declined to make a recommendation, saying it should be left to the judgment of the Bureau of Prisons.

Regardless of where is sent, Kotey will be one of about 50 inmates in the prison system subject to special administrative measures that severely restrict his ability to communicate with other inmates or the outside world.

The terms of his plea agreement, though, require the U.S. government transfer Kotey to the custody of Great Britain if it agrees to take him and imprison him for the rest of his life. The deal also requires Kotey to meet with any victims' family members who request it.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Here's some of today's trending topics for April 28.

Elon Musk and Amber Heard/ACLU

Amber Heard pushed to have details of her marriage with fellow actor Johnny Depp included in an op-ed piece that she wrote about domestic violence, even though her lawyers wanted those passages removed from the article, which is now the subject of a libel lawsuit, according to evidence introduced Thursday at the trial.

Jurors in the libel lawsuit Depp filed against Heard heard testimony Thursday from Terence Dougherty, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. It was the ACLU that drafted the article under Heard's name, reflecting her role as an ACLU ambassador on gender violence issues.

Heard texted her agent Christian Carino in 2017 professing sadness about her breakup with Musk. Carino seemed incredulous, and texted in response to Heard, You told me a thousand times you were just filling space. Read more on this wild case here:

Doctor Strange actress Zara Phythian

Martial artist and actress Zara Phythian, who acted alongside Benedict Cumberbatch in the 2016 Marvel Studios film Dr. Strange, reportedly stands accused of grooming and participating in sex acts with a girl who was 13 years old at the time.

The BBC reports that a British court heard Phythian, 36, and her now 59-year-old husband Victor Marke, allegedly had a sexual relationship with the alleged victim that began in 2005 and continued in 2008. Phythian and Marke, also a martial arts practitioner, married in 2015. Get more info here:

FDA's ban on menthol

The U.S. government on Thursday released its long-awaited plan to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, citing the toll on Black smokers and young people.

The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit, said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, in a statement.

He added that the ban would also be an important step to advance health equity by reducing disparities in tobacco-related diseases. Get the scoop here:

***

Get more news on trending topics here:

Amanda Bynes

'Rust' shooting victim Halyna Hutchins

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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)  Alaska House Republicans have removed Rep. David Eastman from their caucus, the minority leader said Friday, citing tensions with the Wasilla Republican that have built over time.

Eastman also was removed from two committees  the House Rules Committee and as an alternate on a legislative ethics committee  during House floor votes on Friday in which he and Republican Rep. Christopher Kurka were the lone dissenters.

Eastman's removal from the caucus and those committees came with less than three weeks left in the regular legislative session that began in January.

Minority Leader Cathy Tilton told reporters that informal polling of her caucus' members showed more than two thirds of them agreed to Eastman's removal from the group. The caucus had 18 members before his removal.

Tilton, also a Wasilla Republican, said Eastman's actions have caused disruption and threaten the cohesion of the caucus.

She said he has become more of a distraction from the caucus' ability to advance its policy agenda.

Tilton said Eastman can represent his constituents in any manner he deems appropriate. She said she could not point to any one incident that prompted the action to remove him from the caucus but said there was a buildup of things over time.

Eastmans style has at times alienated and frustrated members of his own party, some of whom said his unpredictability had cost Republicans a shot at organizing a majority to control the House in 2019 and 2020 and had campaigned for Eastman's Republican primary challenger in 2020.

Eastman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on his removal from caucus.

On the House floor, he asked for an explanation for why he was being removed from the caucus and from committees.

Tilton said the caucus had a discussion during which Eastman had the opportunity to address colleagues.

Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe of Big Lake said Eastman was well aware of the reasons and dismissed any suggestion that it was about specific votes, noting caucus members can vote however they choose.

Kurka said he condemned the efforts to remove Eastman from committees, calling the process unfair.

A meeting Friday by the panel that handles committee assignments was not publicly noticed in advance online.

Eastman retained his membership on other committees.

Eastman, in a floor speech, said it is important for caucus members and constituents to know what are the lines that we are drawing."

So I again ask the question, why was I punished today by removal from the caucus?" he said, adding later: If were going to draw the line and say that the line is here and you have to meet this requirement, I think it's important and fair not just that members know ... but also that the public knows.

Tilton told reporters that minority Republicans put their political capital behind Eastman earlier in the session when there was an attempt to remove him from committees over his affiliation with the far-right organization Oath Keepers.

A leader of the Oath Keepers and other members or associates have been charged with seditious conspiracy related to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Eastman has said he did not condone the storming of the Capitol.

Tilton and Rep. Laddie Shaw, the minority members on the panel that deals with committee assignments, voted against a proposal to strip Eastman's assignments over the Oath Keepers affiliation. The matter, when brought to the House floor, was tabled and never brought to a vote.

Tilton at that time said it was a slippery slope for the Legislature to make determinations about a persons involvement in an organization.

Shaw said he didn't think it was a mistake to stand by Eastman during that debate.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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NATO should protect Taiwan? UK Foreign Secretary in imperial dream again

By Global Times editorial (Global Times) 08:45, April 29, 2022

Liz Truss, UK Foreign Secretary, delivered what the Financial Times described as a "hawkish set-piece" speech at a banquet in London on Wednesday. Her target was China. She said "NATO must have a global outlook," and "needs to preempt threats in the Indo-Pacific." Then she bluntly pointed out that they "must ensure that democracies like Taiwan are able to defend themselves." It's fair to say that Truss' remarks are the most blatant and ambitious statements among those made by US and Western politicians for a while about "the globalization of NATO."

It's reported that Truss' remarks came as NATO members were discussing the bloc's new "strategic concept." There is a fierce debate among NATO countries over how much emphasis should be placed on the "security threat" posed by China in the Indo-Pacific region. On the same day, the US Indo-Pacific Commander said that NATO is a "pretty good model" for the Indo-Pacific region, for those nations that value freedom. People have become very familiar with such pattern of the US and the UK echoing each other.

Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, some politicians in the US and the West have been constantly distorting facts, deliberately linking the Russia-Ukraine conflict to the Taiwan question in an attempt to play the "Taiwan card" to contain China. Truss took advantage of the Ukraine crisis to hype the "China threat" as early as before the conflict broke out. She "warned" that China could use the Russia-Ukraine conflict as an opportunity to launch aggression of its own in the Indo-Pacific. Even former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating harshly criticized her as being "demented" and suffering "illusions of grandeur."

There is indeed frenzy in British foreign policy right now because of the Ukraine crisis. The UK, which has already left the EU and has a "special relationship" with the US, thinks it has a more flexible position than the US and the EU, and often parrots words very "conscientiously," saying and doing things that are inconvenient for Washington and at times being even more aggressive. Some politicians in London now increasingly see this as a source of uniqueness and superiority. The more they do this, the more they seem to feel the lingering warmth of the UK's prior status as "The Empire on which the sun never set."

Although after Brexit, the UK sees "Global Britain" as its strategic goal, hoping that the UK can become a leading country across the world. But over the years, the so-called Global Britain only seems to cling more tightly to the US. Truss claimed she would become the "modern-day Thatcher," but she only looks like the head of the US State Department's London office. Since taking office as the UK Foreign Secretary, Truss has pointed her fingers at China on almost all major China-related issues, including the Taiwan question and Hong Kong and Xinjiang issues. She has followed Washington's lead. And the pragmatism of diplomacy that the British used to talk about has increasingly descended into opportunism and radicalism. In Washington's redeployment of the global system, the UK is increasingly willing to be a "pebble."

Last July, the UK sent its Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier to the South China Sea, but it needed fighter jets and warships from Italy to make a fleet. In late March, during Truss' visit to India, she tried to persuade India not to buy Russian oil, but Indian's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar defended India's purchase of discounted Russian oil. "If you look at the major buyers of oil and gas from Russia, I think you'll find most of them are in Europe," Jaishankar said, refusing the unreasonable demand of the UK.

Even as their own strengths continued to decline, some British and American politicians began to fantasize about "mind control" - namely to re-establish the global "superiority" of Anglo-Saxon civilization. Truss herself does not hide this, calling on Britain in a speech last year to stop the guilt about colonial history and instead be proud of its identity and status. This is why it is not surprising that although UK politicians have recently taken turns to win over India, emphasizing the special relationship between the UK and India and praising India with all kinds of nice words, the domestic response to this in India has been mediocre. Indians say that the UK still adopts a colonial mentality toward India.

In fact, India is hardly the only country that has seen through this. More and more countries have recognized the nature of a series of small-circle activities carried out by the UK and the US in the name of the so-called common values and the culture that prioritizes Anglo Saxons. Truss and her ilk attempt to bring NATO to Asia and try to destabilize the Pacific, but they are doomed to fail. Treating China as a "systemic competitor" is also definitely a big misjudgment in the "Global Britain" strategy.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
A 22-year-old Omaha man fatally shot Easter Sunday night near 60th Street and Ames Avenue had a rainbow of friends, his mother said.

Eltio M. Tio Plater Jr. was shot shortly before 11 p.m. April 17 near a convenience store at 4219 N. 60th St. He was taken to Immanuel Medical Center by a private vehicle before being transferred to Creighton University Medical Center-Bergan Mercy, where he was pronounced dead 2 hours later.

His mother, Alicia Plater of Omaha, said her son had never been in trouble and was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A review of Nebraska judicial records found no charges against him.

He had a rainbow of friends, his mother said. Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, it didnt matter to him. He literally was a free spirit who loved everyone unconditionally.

A funeral service will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at Zion Baptist Church, 2215 Grant St. An online fundraiser has been established in Platers name to help his family with expenses.

Plater, who attended Northwest High and was a 2018 graduate of Benson High, was the father of a 5-month-old girl. He loved to cook, his mother said, and recently began applying to attend culinary classes at Metro Community College.

Cooking was his way of giving back, his mother said. He loved to cook for special events like birthdays. He really liked making sushi and authentic tacos.

Alicia Plater, who works as a traveling nurse, said her son was always willing to accompany her on an out-of-town work trip. She recalled a time in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when Tio arrived to help her make the drive back to Omaha.

We had some clothes that we wanted to donate to a homeless shelter before we left town, she said. We got to the shelter and there was a homeless man laying on the sidewalk, looking very cold. Tio jumped out of the car with a coat to cover him up, and that man looked shocked. But that was the kind of son I had.

Jennifer Dalbey, who taught Plater when he attended Northwest High, said he was a good student.

My heart breaks for all of Tios family and friends, which I am sure there are many, Dalbey said. His smile, his wit and his charm lit up the classroom.

An Omaha police spokesman said Platers slaying is still a very active investigation.

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DAVENPORT  Joshua Scott Peters, 36, of Davenport, who allegedly crashed a stolen SUV into the Mississippi River, killing an elderly man with disabilities, had recently been released from jail. served time after pleading guilty to a charge of voluntary absence from custody.

According to court documents, Peters pleaded guilty in Scott County Court to voluntary absence from custody  walking away from the Davenport Residential Corrections Facility  on June 2, 2021. He was sentenced to 365 days in the Scott County Jail with credit for time served, but probation was denied. Davenport Residential Corrections Facility placed him on escape status on April 12, 2021. An arrest warrant was issued and served on April 14, 2021.

This was not the first time Peters was a fugitive. The court records show Rock Island County listed him as a fugitive on Aug. 31, 2020, but Illinois declined to extradite him and the case was closed.

Peters was charged with a parole violation on Feb. 10, 2021. He was discharged from the Center for Alcohol and Drug Services on Dec. 29, 2020, and failed to give his parole officer his forwarding address, and failed to report Bettendorf Police Department gave him notice to appear in court. The last entry in the file was March 1, 2021, when a lawyer was appointed to represent him.

Peters has been cited repeatedly for driving while barred, with the latest being April 13, 2021, and given notice of past due court fines and costs on Aug. 1, 2021. He owes Scott County $983.25.

His criminal record in Iowa dates back to 2003, according to court documents.

He was arrested by the Muscatine County Sheriffs office on April 22, charged with homicide by vehicle  operating under the influence, a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison; leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison; first-degree theft, a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison; and driving while barred.

The Muscatine County Sheriffs Department said deputies responded to Fairport State Recreation Area, 3284 Highway 22, for a missing person and stolen vehicle report. Deputies had been to the campground earlier in the evening for a disturbance they were unable to locate. Deputies met with the wife and daughter of William A. Talbot, 71, of Davenport, who reported their blue 2016 Chevrolet Equinox had been stolen with Talbot inside. The family claimed they didn't know who stole the vehicle, but deputies learned Peters and the Talbots arrived together at the campground the previous evening and Peters ingested meth after arriving.

Peters and several unidentified people were involved in an altercation later in the evening, according to the Sheriff's Department. Peters fled in the SUV, and Talbot was unable to escape from the vehicle. Peters drove erratically at a high rate of speed, leaving the roadway and striking a road sign before driving about 255 feet off the roadway into the Mississippi River. Peters escaped the sinking vehicle, Talbot did not, according to the law enforcement reports. Talbots body inside was recovered in the SUV by Muscatine County Search and Rescue later that morning.

As deputies interviewed Talbots wife and daughter, they received a report of homeowners holding a man, later identified as Peters, at gunpoint in Montpelier.

Peters admitted to using meth.

Attorney Miguel Puentes later withdrew as Peters appointed defense attorney, citing a temporary overload in cases. On April 22, attorney Jeff Powell was appointed to represent Peters. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday unless Peters waives the hearing or the county attorney files trial information. He remains in the Muscatine County Jail in lieu of a $500,000 cash-only bond.

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OMAHA -- The cruel news must have hit hard in Ethel Penticos household during that bleak Christmas season of 1941.

The Lexington widow had lost her husband, Sherman, the previous year at age 66.

Now, the Navy Department regretted to inform her that her youngest son, Seaman 2nd Class Walter Ray Pentico, had gone missing from the battleship USS Oklahoma in the shocking Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7.

He was 17.

The Navy declared him dead several months later, but his remains were never identified, like those of 394 of the 429 USS Oklahoma sailors who died at Pearl Harbor.

Their commingled bones, recovered from the battleships hull during salvage operations, were buried for decades in graves marked Unknowns, USS Oklahoma, Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 at Honolulus National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Now, more than 80 years later, Penticos remains have been identified through the efforts of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency at its Offutt Air Force Base laboratory.

His descendants have decided to return his bones to a grave in the same Hawaii cemetery  this time, with his name on the headstone. The burial service, with long-delayed military honors, will take place Friday.

Penticos relatives requested privacy through a Navy casualty assistance officer.

Pentico was born March 31, 1924, in Overton, the youngest of four children. His family moved to nearby Lexington when he was 2.

Growing up, he attended Lexington public schools and was a member of the Southern Mission Church, according to an obituary in the Lexington Clipper-Herald.

Just a few days after his 17th birthday, Pentico joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression-era program in which young men were hired to provide manual labor on public infrastructure projects.

He enlisted in the Navy July 7, 1941, and was assigned that fall to the Oklahoma, a World War I-era battleship, just as the ship was leaving drydock on the West Coast to return to duty in Hawaii.

The Oklahoma was moored on Pearl Harbors Battleship Row when Japanese bombers launched the surprise attack on Dec. 7, a Sunday morning. At least five torpedoes, and possibly as many as eight, struck the ship on the port side. It rolled and capsized in minutes, trapping about one-third of its crew below decks.

The Oklahoma was salvaged in 1942-43, and the oil-soaked remains buried in two local Hawaiian cemeteries. After the war, the remains were exhumed and efforts were made to identify them. Those efforts failed, and they were reburied.

In 2015, after years of lobbying by USS Oklahoma survivors, the remains were disinterred and shipped to the accounting agencys new lab at Offutt.

Over the next six years, the labs anthropologists, working with the Armed Forces DNA Laboratory in Delaware, accounted for 361 of the 394 previously unidentified Oklahoma sailors.

The project wrapped up in June 2021 with a ceremony at the Lincoln Airport. The unidentifiable remains were reburied in Hawaii on the 80th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.

Pentico was among the last to be identified in February 2021, but none of his close relatives survived. Ethel Pentico had died in 1944. His two brothers, George and Charles, both served in the Army during World War II. George died in 1980, at age 72, and Charles died in 1997, at 74. A sister, Blanche Richardson, born in 1916, also is deceased.

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A man on parole in Iowa until 2025 for robbery convictions and a woman are facing a life sentence in prison after they were charged Thursday night with robbing the Wide River Winery and beating the female employee around 5:30 p.m. that evening.

The winery is located at 1128 Mound St. in the Village of East Davenport.

Christopher Lavelle Mitchell, 35, and Emilee Rose Haberling, 20, are charged with one count each of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree robbery.

First-degree kidnapping under Iowa law carries a mandatory life sentence in prison, while first-degree robbery carries a mandatory 25-year prison sentence, 70%, or 17 years, must be served before parole can be granted.

Haberling also is charged with first-degree theft, which carries a prison sentence of 10 years, and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing 911 communications.

Each also is charged with misdemeanor harassment of public officials and interference with official acts.

Eric Sergesketter, who owns a nearby establishment, said one of his workers told him that something was going on at the winery.

They could hear the woman screaming and could see that she was bleeding.

"She was able to escape the attack," he said. "She got bloodied pretty good. She had blood dripping down her face and neck. By the time I got outside, we ran over there and already there was an officer with her. "

Mitchell and Haberling may be the ones who smashed one of the windows of the winery recently in order to burglarize the place, Sergesketter said. However, the alarms sounded and they took off.

"The good thing about this is she was able to get out of it," he said. "She was still walking, talking, and breathing.

"But the fact that this happened in broad daylight, and in a nice part of town," he added. "Everyone was enjoying a nice casual Thursday evening and suddenly this happens."

Mitchell is on parole until February 28, 2025, according to Iowa Department of Corrections electronic records. The new charges come just about four months after he was released from prison.

On Jan. 22, 2004, Mitchell was sentenced to two years on deferred judgment and two years probation after pleading guilty to three counts of third-degree burglary with one of those occurring on May 5, 2003, and the other two on Oct. 29, 2003. He also had pleaded guilty to a charge of operating a vehicle without the owner's consent.

He violated his probation and was sentenced to five years in prison for the burglary convictions and two years in prison on the other charge. The sentences were to run concurrently.

He was paroled on April 27, 2006.

On May 12, 2006, Davenport police arrested Mitchell on two counts of first-degree robbery. In both cases, he pleaded guilty to the lesser included charge of second-degree robbery.

His parole in the earlier case was revoked and he was sentenced to prison for the robberies.

Mitchell was placed on work release on Dec. 16, and on parole on March 2.

They are both being held without bond in Scott County Jail.

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The serial killer thriller has always been a sketchy genre, hovering in the disreputable margin between murder mystery and horror. Real-life serial killers are sordid figures, typically social isolates with low IQs, but in the fantasyland of fiction, theyre freaky, sadistic geniuses like Hannibal Lecter, suitable opponents for the improbably clever detectives who chase them. A long-standing complaint about the cultural obsession with these murderers is that the attention they attract overshadows their victimsoften womenwho serve as anonymous props for the killers terrifying satanic glamour. The more average and relatable the victims are, the scarier the killer is, because the audience can easily imagine falling victim themselvesbut the more, also, the murderer becomes the star of the show.

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Lauren Beukes 2013 novel The Shining Girls found an ingenious solution to this conundrum, even if that solution doesnt figure in the high-concept pitch for the book or the new miniseries based on it: a time-traveling serial killer. In Beukes novel, the murderer is a seedy nonentity named Harper Curtis, originally a Depression-era drifter with a violent past but no particular talent for bloodshed. Harper stumbles upon an evil row house in Chicago. Inside he finds your classic murder board with the names of young women on it, written, mystifyingly, in his own hand. Soon he learns that the house will allow him to travel within a set range of decades, provided he feeds its malevolent spirit with killings. Kirby, the novels heroine, becomes one of Harpers victims in 1989, but she survives the attack and thereafter devotes her life to hunting him down.

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The Apple TV+ adaptation, created and written by producer Silka Luisa, doubles down on the high-concept aspect, nearly jettisoning what made the novel truly brilliant and innovative. Elizabeth Moss Kirby is a woman barely holding herself together because at any moment her entire life could change. Sometimes she lives by herself and has a cat named Grendel; then suddenly shes living with her aging rock n roller mom (Amy Brenneman) in the same apartment building but a different unit and Grendel is a dog. Sometimes shes married to a protective photographer (Chris Chalk). Sometimes she has short, frumpy hair, a shapeless wardrobe, and works as a researcher for a newspaper. (The main action is set in the early 1990s, when papers kept clipping files in a department called the morgue.) Sometimes shes a reporter with a stylish haircut, makeup, and low-cut blouses that reveal the top of the scar Harper (Jamie Bell) left on her abdomen. In every version of her life, Kirby keeps a notebook filled with the basic information about herself that she needs to function, but the unpredictable shifts leave her backfooted much of the time. Her only constant is her desire to catch Harper, whose face she has never even seen.

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The adaptation transforms Beukes tribute to female talent into a grim portrait of trauma.

The viewer will quickly catch on that Harper is constantly traveling into the past, changing big or little things that alter the timeline in major and minor ways. Much of the eight episodes of the miniseries is taken up with Kirbys search for him, aided by Dan (Wagner Moura) an alcoholic reporter whom she convinces that a serial killer is at work. But Kirby mostly keeps the bizarre changes in her life to herself, and what she makes of them isnt always clear. Perhaps Kirby thinks shes mentally ill or emotionally disturbed, which is certainly what her husband assumes when she tries to confide in him. Eventually she figures it out, but this adaptation is enigmatic about when and how. The anachronistic items Harper leaves behind with each corpse are a major tipoff. The dizzying timeline switches arent an element of the novel, and they turn the adaptation into the sort of complicated puzzle series that inspires dozens of YouTube videos titled Shining Girls Ending Explained.

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Beukes was up to something different, and you can still detect her deeper concept for this story in the miniseries. Theres a scene where Harper tricks a young woman into entering the backroom of a convenience store and seems about to harm her, when he suddenly desists and lets her go. Why would I follow you any further? he says scornfully. You cant even find a door. And then theres the title itself, which suggests that theres something special about Harpers victims, even if the miniseries never gets around to explaining what. As Beukes novel conceived them, his victims are shining girls, women of unusual potential. One is a Black Rosie the Riveter integrating a steelworks in World War II. Another is part of the Jane Collective, an underground feminist movement during the late 60s and early 70s that helped women obtain abortions when they were illegal. Another is a gifted transgender architect. The mini-portraits Beukes creates of these women really do shine, each character a person as interesting and three-dimensional as Harper is banal and flattened. The Shining Girls is that rare serial killer thriller in which the victims out-glow the killer, but none of these rich stories makes it into the miniseries.

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Instead, the adaptation transforms Beukes tribute to female talent into a grim portrait of trauma. Harpers assault literally unmakes Kirby, turning her into a woman who doesnt, who cant, know herself. Moss performance is both fierce and fragile, but its basically two notes: glowering rage and wide-eyed obsession teetering on the verge of unhinged. Occasional flashbacks to Kirbys life before the attack give some sense of who she might have become, but there seems no way for her to get back a shred of that former self. (The miniseries also ends on a much bleaker note than the novel did.)

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I suppose a case could be made for this approach if you see The Shining Girls as being Kirbys story alone, but the novel is more than that. In a scene from the miniseries, Kirby and Dan pore over police records and crime photos, looking for other victims of Harper. The screen is given over to a lightning-fast sequence of dozens of still images, each featuring a broken, lifeless female body. Its a bitter testament to the losses caused by male violence over the decades, but these corpses remain largely anonymous, and the miniseries doesnt devote much time to Harpers other victims, apart from an astronomer in Kirbys own era who talks a lot of nonsense about entangled particles by way of a metaphysical explanation of whats going on. This makes for a serviceable supernatural thriller, but this reader, for one, cant help mourning the loss of all those shining girls.
Last week, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said in an interview that she believed Satan was controlling the Catholic Church. Its not unusual for Greene to make inflammatory comments, but this case was different. Her remark kicked off a fight between her ultraconservative Catholic allies and other deeply conservative Catholics, complete with name-calling: grifter, craven enabler, disgrace, whore.

But theres more to the story than Greene simply saying something offensive. The controversy revealed something bigger about the American Catholic Church. So whats happening here?

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It started on April 21, when Greene spoke with the right-wing Catholic publication Church Militant. (Church Militant is known to be so extreme that the Detroit Archdiocese where it is based has tried to ban it from using the word Catholic.) It was the day before she appeared in court for a lawsuit seeking to disqualify her from reelection because of her role in the Capitol insurrection. She sat down with the sites founder, Michael Voris, for an hourlong interview discussing her views of Democrats, the media, gender politics, abortion, and other familiar topics.

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Voris asked her if it was two-faced for the Catholic left to claim to love families but also help undocumented immigrants settle in the country. What it is is its Satans controlling the church, she said. The church is not doing its job. Its not adhering to the teachings of Christ.

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She continued her answer by mocking the Catholic charities that support refugees:

What theyre doing by saying, Oh, we have to love these people and take care of these migrants and love another, what were doing is loving one anotheryes, were supposed to love one another, but their definition of what love one another means means destroying our laws. It means completely perverting what our Constitution says. It means taking unreal advantage of the American taxpayer, and it means pushing a globalist policy on the American people and forcing America to become something that we are not supposed to be. The true meaning of loving one another and loving others means you also have to uphold the law and uphold the rules.

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She went on to talk about her disgust for foreign aid and echoed a Fox News talking point about Catholic Charities, a network of nonprofits operated at the local level under the oversight of a bishop. She blasted the bishops for not being stricter when it came to undocumented immigrants and their financial cost to taxpayers.

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Church Militant ran the interview on Monday, under the headline Marjorie for Pope. It might have flown under the radar, but later that day, the account Right Wing Watch tweeted out a clip. On Wednesday morning, Salon published an article about the interview.

That afternoon, a third party joined the drama. Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, an ultraconservative organization dedicated to pushing back against perceived attacks on Catholicism, put out a statement condemning Greenes remarks about Catholic Charities. She had plenty of opportunities to make rational criticisms of the agency, but instead she slandered the entire Catholic Church, he said. Satan is controlling the Catholic Church? She needs to apologize to Catholics immediately. She is a disgrace.

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Less than an hour later, Greene responded with a lengthy statement calling on Donohue to apologize. He doesnt know this, but I am a cradle Catholic, she said. I stopped attending Catholic Mass when I became a mother, because I realized that I could not trust the Church leadership to protect my children from pedophiles, and that they harbored monsters even in their own ranks.

She clarified that she had not meant all Catholics were controlled by Satan: Its the church leadership I was referring to when I invoked the Devil, she said. Just so were clear, bishops, when I said controlled by Satan, I wasnt talking about the Catholic Church. I was talking about you.

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She also targeted Donohue personally. Until the people running the Catholic Church stop abusing children and stop covering up the abuse of children, I will continue to hold them to account, she said. And Ill keep naming and shaming the craven enablers who write their press releases, too. Donohue, she said, had done nothing to address the problems of the clergy. If you think Im exaggerating, Donohue breezily claimed on television recently that the abuse crisis in the church was over, she said. (This claim is true. She likely learned this from Church Militants outraged coverage of the claim.)

Greene did a second interview with Church Militant on Wednesday night, elaborating on the fear that Catholic parents feel and the frustration untold numbers of Catholics have experienced upon learning their tithes went toward legal defenses of abuser priests. The story I have to tell is the story of many faithful Catholics, she said.

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The whole ugly saga started with a comment about immigration, but the larger significance came in the later back-and-forth. It shows how the sex abuse crisis has splintered the different Catholic campsto the point that extremely conservative Catholics are publicly sparring with each other.

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Greenes comments, when separated from the most inflammatory points, make a legitimate claim that many reform-minded Catholics would agree with: that too many Catholics fail to see just how deeply rooted the issues are that created the sex abuse crisis. But her full comments, including a remark that the faithful deserve  bishops who dont smear and punish good priests for being too Catholic,  are telling. In them, she signals an alliance with the conservative camp that believes the sex abuse crisis is a result of moral degradation and liberal permissiveness in the church, in addition to structural problems. (More progressive Catholics tend to argue that the crisis is a result of power abuses.)

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Voris, the Church Militant founder, seized on these statements to support his own more extreme stance: He falsely blames the sex abuse crisis on the large number of gay priests. For many conservative Catholics, the way to resolve the sex abuse crisis is to purge the church of gay men and lead from the top with a certain moral clarity that they believe Pope Francis is lacking. For them, the sex abuse crisis energizes their campaign to reform the Church into a more militantly conservative institution. And talk of satanic influence isnt particularly alien to Voris and his online community, either. Many ultraconservative Catholics who chafe under Francis papacy have adopted QAnon-style conspiracy theories about church infiltration to explain the actions from the Vatican; to Voris, Greenes comments about Satan simply support his story of a corrupted church in need of an overhaul.

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Donohue represents a different conservative response: defensiveness. He may share Voris and Greenes culture war politics, but he is more old-school in his ideas about persecution and inclined to see the sex abuse claims as an external attack from the liberal media and other progressively minded parties. Donohue is a reliable Trump supporter who thinks that the sex abuse crisis was a homosexual problem, but he also insists its overblown and that the church has been unfairly maligned. To Donohue, who is 74, any talk of satanic influences in the church is more likely to smack of older bigotries, rather than newer, thrilling conspiracy theories. Greene is not a practicing Catholic, and to Donohue, that makes any criticism from herespecially talk of satanic mattersautomatically anti-Catholic prejudice rather than valid criticism.

Greene may not have known what kind of fight she walked into when she sat down with Voris. This feud between an evangelical congresswoman, a conservative Catholic religious rights group, and a fringe Catholic news site was messyand revealing, when it comes to just how fractured the Catholic right has become.

For more on how Marjorie Taylor Greenes public statements may be affecting her reelection prospects, listen to this recent episode of What Next.
More than 97 percent of people convicted of a crime plead guilty in this country, often in exchange for a favorable sentencing recommendation or the dismissal of some other criminal charges. But even when prosecutors wont offer much in return, most defendants are eager to plead guilty because defendants who go to trial and get convicted receive significantly longer sentences. These long post-trial sentences give prosecutors enormous power at plea bargaining.

One small check on that power resides with judges, who have the ability to reject plea bargains. This isnt a power that they use very often. But occasionally we see judges tell the parties that they will not accept a plea agreement, such as when earlier this year a federal judge rejected the plea bargain that the federal government had reached with Travis McMichael and Gregory McMichael, the men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery. (Arberys family had objected to the deal as too lenient.)

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In a case decided on Tuesday, though, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit significantly limited the ability of judges to reject plea bargains, broadening the power of prosecutors beyond its already expansive reach. The case arose out of a prosecution of a defendant in Detroit who had been charged with drug and gun crimes that carried a combined mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison. The U.S. Attorneys Office in Detroit has adopted a policy of requiring all defendants to waive their right to appeal and post-conviction review. So when the prosecutor and defense attorney told the trial judge that they were engaged in plea bargain negotiations, the judge told the lawyers that it is his practice not to accept plea bargains that include these waivers, and that he would reject the plea bargain if it contained such a waiver.

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The parties negotiated a plea agreement that dismissed some of the charges, reducing the mandatory minimum sentence to 10 years in prison. But the agreement included an appeal waiver, and so the judge rejected it.

In an opinion on the matter, the judge expressed concern that the waivers would prevent any judicial oversight of prosecutorial misconduct in the plea bargaining process, and that it would prevent the court of appeals from correcting any errors that the judge himself might make in sentencing the defendant. The judge also expressed concern that these types of waivers interfere with the development of criminal law more generally as part of the normal appellate process. Finally, the judge noted that the government had failed to offer any decent reason an appeal waiver was necessary in the case.

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In striking down the trial judges ruling, the appellate judges gave two reasons for siding with the government. First, they said that the trial judge impermissibly participated in the parties plea negotiations by stating that he would not accept a plea bargain with an appeal waiver. While judges are prohibited from participating in plea bargain discussions, the reason is to prevent defendants from feeling pressured to plead guilty. If a judge participates in the plea bargaining discussion, the rules of criminal procedure notes explain, that might lead the defendant to believe that he would not receive a fair trial or that the judge might impose a substantially longer or even maximum sentence if the defendant ultimately refused the plea bargain and proceeded to trial.

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In this case, though, the judge wasnt creating any pressure on the defendant to plead guilty. He was telling the prosecutor not to include a term that would be against the defendants interests. As a factual matter, the judge was not participating in the plea bargain discussions of the parties, but he also wasnt creating the sort of pressure that the rule is meant to prevent.

The second reason the 6th Circuit gave for overruling the trial judge is even worse. The appellate court said that a judge may only reject a plea bargain for case-specific reasons. In other words, the judge must be able to point to some specific fact that made the plea agreement unacceptable in this particular case; it cannot rely on reasons that apply more generally to a large number of cases.

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Not only does this explanation find zero support in the rules of criminal procedure, but it also makes no sense: It would prohibit judges from rejecting agreements with terms that are universally unjust, limiting the power to the rejection of terms that might pass muster in certain circumstances. Imagine, for example, a plea agreement that required the defendant to burn the word criminal into his forehead in return for a favorable sentencing recommendation from the prosecutor. A judge should obviously reject that plea agreement, not because there is something about that particular defendant that makes the plea bargain inappropriate, but rather because the government should never be able to require a defendant to disfigure him- or herself. But according to the 6th Circuit, a judge could only reject that plea bargain if she can articulate some reason this particular defendant (rather than all defendants) should not suffer that indignity.

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It is ironic that the appellate judges faulted the trial judge for adopting a categorical rule about appeal waivers because the trial judge adopted this rule in response to a blanket policy from federal prosecutors. Indeed, the trial court asked the government why such a waiver was justified for this defendant in this casea question that the prosecutor failed to answer. But the 6th Circuit apparently requires an individualized assessment in plea bargaining only from judges, not prosecutors.

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It is clear that the 6th Circuitwhich invoked the separation of powers and stated that trial judges must exercise their power to reject plea bargains with due regard to prosecutorial prerogativeswants to give more power to prosecutors. But giving prosecutors the power to unilaterally demand lopsided plea bargaining terms and curtailing the power of judges to reject those bargains doesnt separate powers; it concentrates power in the hands of prosecutors. Limiting the ability of judges to reject plea bargainsespecially plea bargains that are unfavorable to defendantsnot only weakens judges ability to serve as a check on prosecutorial power, but it also infringes on the constitutional power of judges as the officials tasked with entering judgments.

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Indeed, plea bargaining itself interferes with the separation of powers. Perhaps that is why American judges were so critical of the practice until the early 20th century. Historically, a number of state supreme courts prohibited plea bargaining, and the U.S. Supreme Court was quite hostile to the practice. In an 1878 case, the Supreme Court refused to enforce the terms of a plea bargain that allowed defendants to avoid the seizure of their property in return for pleading guilty. When the government later decided to seize the property anyway, the court let the seizure go forward, saying that the prosecutor had no authority to enter into the plea agreement.

The Supreme Court only recognized the constitutionality of plea bargaining in the 1970s. Since then, our countrys prison population has skyrocketed and criminal trials have all but disappeared. As I explain at great length in my new book, plea bargaining has warped the fabric of the criminal justice system. It gives prosecutors enormous leverage over defendants, and it allows them to be the sole arbiters of what is fair and just. This opinion not only accepts that status quo, but it makes things even worse.
The war between Russia and Ukraine is swiftly evolving into a war between Russia and NATO. In one respect, this is good: It gives Ukraine a higher chance of repelling Moscows invasion and even winning. In another respect, it is risky: The wider the war spreads, and the more Russia seems to be losing, the more compelled Vladimir Putin may feel to lash out with extreme violence.

This shift in the Wests approach to the war was first signaled on Monday, when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the United States goals in the war were not only to protect Ukraine as a democratic, sovereign country but also to weaken Russia as a military power. This has been obvious for some time, but even some U.S. officials were surprised to hear Austin express the fact so explicitly.

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A few days later, Austin hosted a meeting of defense officials from 40 nations, as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, at Ramstein Air Base, headquarters of NATO Air Command, in Germany, to coordinate military assistance to Ukraine. The meeting prompted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to complain, NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.

Back in February, on the day he invaded Ukraine, Putin warned that whoever tries to hinder us will face consequences that you have never faced in your historywhich many took, reasonably, as a threat to use nuclear weapons. Putin later said he would regard direct NATO intervention as a threat to Russia, triggering those same consequences.

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For that reason, President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have stopped short of sending their own troops or mounting a no-fly zone with their own planes, noting that doing so would mean declaring war on Russia, which could set off World War III. In the first several weeks of the war, these leaders also declined to send Ukraine heavy weapons, including howitzers and artillery shells that, if fired from eastern Ukraine, could hit Russian territory.

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In recent days, the Western nations have relaxed the limits on heavy weapons. Even the German parliamentwhich, for historical reasons, has steered clear of any sort of intervention in foreign wars, until two months agovoted overwhelmingly to send Ukraine heavy weapons; earlier, the German chancellor boosted his countrys defense budget by extravagant sums.

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On Thursday, Biden asked Congress for another $33 billion in aid to Ukrainetwo-thirds of it for military assistance, enough to keep the fight going for another five months. This is on top of the $13.6 billion Biden requested just two months ago. To put this in perspective, the total sum slightly exceeds the $40 billion that the U.S. spent on average each year to support its own 20-year war in Afghanistan.

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Biden also invoked the World War IIera Lend-Lease Act to speed up the transfer of weapons from the U.S. militarys stockpile. That legislation authorized the lending of military equipment to foreign countries whose defense the president deems vital to the defense of the United States.

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There it is, then, in Bidens own proclamation: The defense of Ukraine is vital to the defense of the United States.

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Perhaps in response to this surge in U.S. and NATO assistancethough also no doubt to step up his own armys dreadful performancePutin is moving closer to viewing the conflict not merely as a special military operation against Ukraine, which he has dismissed as a mythical country, but a full-fledged war against a global superpower. On Wednesday, he appointed Valery Gerasimov, the Russian chief of the general staff, to take command of the offensive in eastern Ukraine.

This doesnt necessarily mean the Russian army will suddenly snap tochiefs of staff, even one as celebrated as Gerasimov, dont necessarily have operational expertisebut it does signify that Putin has reassessed the nature of the war and elevated its stakes.

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Nor is Putin conceding any ground to Ukraine, despite the recent retreat of Russian troops from the area around Kyiv. Though the fighting is now focused in the countrys eastern region of Donbas, where both sides are exchanging fierce artillery fire, Russia fired two cruise missiles at Kyiv just hours after U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited the capital and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The timing of the missile attackwhich few see as mere coincidencesuggests that Putin regards the United Nations as another outside institution arrayed against his motherland. Whether or not he really believes this, it plays into his domestic political campaign to purge all Western influences from Russiaand to present the war in Ukraine, which he depicts as a hellhole led by Nazis, as one front in this campaign.

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The intensifying barrages and the increasingly demonizing rhetoric make it hard to imagine a cease-fire or meaningful peace talks emerging anytime soon.

One unexpected event this week did provide some reason to feel a bit less pessimistic, however. On Wednesday, the United States and Russia carried out an elaborately planned prisoner exchange. Trevor Reed, a U.S. Marine veteran, was released from a Moscow prison where hed been serving three years of a long sentence for assaulting an officer. Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot, was released from a federal prison where hed been serving a 20-year sentence for drug smuggling. Just like in a scene from a movie, two planesone American, one Russianpulled up side by side on a runway in Turkey; each prisoner got out of his plane, walked a few yards, and got into the other plane.

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As the Associated Press noted, the prisoner swap would have been a notable diplomatic maneuver even in times of peace, much less at a time when the war in Ukraine has driven relations with the U.S. to their lowest point in decades. There are no signs that fruitful diplomacy on this one relatively small matter might translate to similar successes on the scale of war and peace. In fact, Biden, while trumpeting the prisoner swap, discouraged anyone mulling such implications. Still, the Reed-Yaroshenko trade indicates that diplomatic relationscivil contact between U.S. and Russian officialsdo still exist on some level.

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It is not inconceivable that Putin, seeing the war as a titanic struggle with the United States, might feel emboldened to dangle a peace feeler to Washington, if he ever feels like stopping the war at all. He may well feel more dignified negotiating with the president of the United States than he would with the president of Ukraine. Whether its in anyones interest to let him feel more dignified is another question. But if the war spirals out of control and seems on the verge of escalating to new, more far-flung horrors, doing so might be better than the alternative.
COVID-19 cases are relatively low across the country, with even fewer people being hospitalized and dying. But the situation remains uncertain. In the past, new variants have caused sharp surges in the U.S. with little warning, and case numbers usually lag behind when a person was actually infected by one or two weeks. With the popularity of at-home tests, many cases are never even reported to public health officials. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also loosened many guidelines related to COVID-19, including no longer urging most people to wear masks. Instead, its new color-based Community Levels system is focused on determining whether the virus is overwhelming hospitals. Thats useful information, but its a poor indicator of community spread, as hospitalizations tend to lag even further behind transmission trends than case data. So how can we know a surge is coming before it tears through communities?

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The answer may lie in testing wastewaterwhat goes down the sink and bathtub drain, comes out of dishwashers and washing machines, and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater from your toilet includes sewage, which can contain bacteria and viruses. Wastewater testing has been used to track COVID-19 since nearly the beginning of the pandemic, but the idea goes back decades: In the 1940s, U.S. scientists started using it to track and contain polio and other viral disease like typhoid, and it continues to be used to track polio.

It may seem that wastewater is a strange place to look for SARS-CoV-2, since we think of COVID as mainly a respiratory virus. However, most people infected with COVID-19 shed virus in their stools, no matter the severity of infection. It happens even if they dont have gastrointestinal symptoms, or even any symptoms at all, said Shangxin Yang, the assistant medical director of the clinical microbiology laboratory at the University of California Los Angeles.

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Wastewater can be tested in a number of different ways. According to the CDC, water collected from a wastewater treatment plant or from other wastewater sources like manholes can be used. Because of how wastewater is pooled, sampling collects data from an entire area or community, much more so than even regular periodic rapid or PCR testing. After all, you arent likely to opt out of using your toilet.

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With more people testing themselves at home and not reporting cases to public health authorities (even if they wanted to, theres rarely a way), wastewater testing can provide the broad, population-based data the clinical testing could be missing. Though not without its limitations, wastewater testing is invaluable in helping to show virus transmission in real time, say experts, and will likely be an increasingly important part of monitoring the pandemic going forward.

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Although it may be increasingly useful as other COVID monitoring falls by the wayside, wastewater testing been used since the very beginning of the pandemic. Cambridge-based wastewater epidemiology company Biobot started testing wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 in March 2020. In May 2020, Rolf Halden, the founding director of the Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering at Arizona State University, led the ASU team that, together with the city of Tempe, Arizona, created the worlds first open access online dashboard that displayed data on SARS-CoV-2 informed by analysis of city wastewater. (Disclosure: ASU is a partner with Slate and New America in Future Tense.) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched its National Wastewater Surveillance System in September 2020.

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Wastewater testings ability to provide effective early warnings has already been used to guide public health practice and policy. For instance, the early testing of the city of Clemsons wastewater in summer 2020 was so influential in convincing the city council to impose a mask mandate that it is specifically referenced in the official mandate ordinance, said David Freedman, professor and department chair in the department of environmental engineering and earth sciences at Clemson University. According to Halden, wastewater testing in Tempe and surrounding areas led to identifying a previously undocumented virus hotspot in the neighboring town of Guadalupe, which is home to a large number of Native American and Latino residents who often did not have access to tests. Tempe partnered with Guadalupe to mount an effective public health response that caused cases to fall sharply. I think that that is a strategy that becomes more and more prevalent, and rightly so, said Halden.

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Wastewaters going to provide us information about whats actually happening on the ground, said Freedman. If used effectively, wastewater testing data could influence future policy in similar ways. Freedman imagines that an increasing viral concentration in wastewater could trigger public health measures, like increased testing and masking. Recently, some places, like the city of Philadelphia and several universities, have even reinstated mask mandates in response to rising case numbers (though Philadelphia quickly dropped its mandate again). Wastewater testing could allow for these changes even earlier in a surge.

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According to the CDC, 80 percent of households in the United States have their wastewater go to a municipal treatment plant, which it can reach in a matter of hours. Testing wastewater can therefore track the virus in almost real time. Infected people often start shedding virus days before they have any symptoms, if they develop symptoms at all. Collected wastewater can carry COVID before the person who shed it even knows they are sick. That means that wastewater testing can serve as a very effective early warning system, said Freedman, helping to alert public health officials of future surges or ascendant variants.

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That early shedding is the biological characteristic of COVID [that] actually makes wastewater testing effectively a good way of solving how the virus evolves and how the virus spreads in the community, he said.

Another advantage to wastewater testing is that its passive, said Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health who writes the newsletter Your Local Epidemiologist. Youre captured irrespective of your testing behavior, she said. With wastewater testing, said Jetelina, as long as you flush your toilet, your data is picked up.

But like any technology, wastewater testing has its limitations. Depending on the wastewater collection method, samples can be diluted by different amounts by stormwater, or street runoff. That makes it difficult to judge what different virus concentrations in wastewater really mean, though following trends is still useful. Scientists have also been surprised to find variants in wastewater that have never been found in clinical testing samples, said Yang, leaving some to suspect that the virus data comes from infected animals in the area. Wastewater also cant tell scientists anything about the potential severity of an upcoming surge, whether a new variant is particularly harsh or mild, only that people are becoming infected, said Yang.

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Wastewater testing still has a ways to go before it could serve as a robust early warning system for COVID-19 in the U.S., not to mention other parts of the world. Many places dont have a system in place to test wastewater, and some dont have municipal wastewater treatment systems at all. But as we move into what some people hope might be a new stage of the pandemic, wastewater testing might help us stay ahead of COVID-19. It could even help us address other challenges in public health, from the opioid crisis to future disease outbreaks, said Halden. Testing wastewater is a relatively simple technical project, and its been scaled up for COVID.

It is clear that wastewater testing is here to stay and probably will outlive the pandemic, he said.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
President Biden came into office promising to restore the role of science in government after the Trump administrations rocky relationship with scientific advice. (You might remember an incident involving a hurricane forecast and a Sharpie.) A key tool for the White House to implement its ambitious science-related agenda is the Office of Science and Technology Policy, or OSTPa relatively small outfit that oversees policies about science, including budget requests for agencies that conduct science and the coordination of major scientific endeavors across the federal government. Since Biden took office, OSTP has taken on a variety of sorely needed priorities, including reinvigorating government processes for scientific integrity, future pandemic preparedness, and exploring what artificial intelligence means for human rights. But these good causes have been overshadowed by controversies over OSTPs leadership.

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Politico recently broke a story about billionaire and former Google CEO Eric Schmidts close ties to the Biden administrations OSTP. A whistleblower pointed to potential ethics conflicts in the interactions of Schmidts philanthropy, Schmidt Futures, with OSTPspecifically the organizations funding for travel, fellows, and the close work of an unpaid White House consultant who worked for Schmidt Futures. Schmidt Futures denied any wrongdoing, pointing out that OSTP has long relied on recruiting external experts to guide science policy making, an arrangement that allows the federal government to bring in technical expertise quickly. This follows the resignation of Bidens science adviser and director of OSTP, Eric Lander, who also had close ties to Schmidt, after the same whistleblower accused Lander of creating a toxic work environment. Thats a lot of controversy befalling an office that normally stays out of the news cycle.

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Now Biden must consider who should serve in the director role, a position that has always been filled by a scientistusually a physicist. The idea seems simple: A scientist who has conducted big-ticket research knows how best to oversee science policy and advise the president on science issues. But as Landers situation showed, this resulted in OSTP taking on some of the problems that plague academia, like toxic work environments driven by hyper competition for funding and unyielding demands to publish, at the expense of high-level policy making and public service. The controversy surrounding Schmidts influence shows the difficulties a more tech-centered leader might encounternamely that big tech is inseparable in the minds of the public and critics from big time lobbying. Maybe its time the White House put someone from a very different background in charge.

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Since its creation in 1976, the job responsibilities for the head of OSTP have varied with each administration, as science policy expert Roger Pielke Jr. noted in a recent analysis. The director of the office has traditionally filled two roles: one focused on science for policy and one on policy for science. The first is about informing the president on issues where science and technology are important to decision making. Science and tech are wound up in nearly every major policy concern today, and scientific expertise and advice are diffused throughout many agencies and advisory bodies. For example, George Keyworth II, science adviser to President Reagan, focused much of his time providing advice about a variety of defense technologies, such as nascent stealth technologies and missile defense systems.

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The second role is about documenting and generating policy that informs the various agencies that conduct research, for example, by laying out budgetary priorities for research agencies. While not nearly as influential as the Office of Management and Budget, OSTP nonetheless plays an important (and unique) role as an advocate for science and technology programs in the federal budget process. In Bidens first year in office, a memo from OSTP laid out pandemic preparedness, advancing manufacturing, cyber security, and climate technologies as key administration priorities that federal agencies should use to craft their budget requests. Back in 2008, one commentator noted the importance of the mundane bureaucratic roles of OSTP as much more materially important than the title of Assistant to the President.

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Of course a renowned scientist or tech guru could run OSTP but they may overlook important qualities of todays science and tech challenges, namely that many of these challenges are about more than just science and tech. Climate change, artificial intelligence, scientific integrity, and pandemic preparedness permeate our social world and thus are inseparable from the eccentricities, wonders, and wickedness that come with human institutions. Yet the tech sector and academia have a tendency to view science and technology as solutions. Beating China in the AI racean oft cited rationale for further federal investment in AI R&Dsounds great but avoids questions about AIs potential implications. Likewise, science advocates almost always see growth in the federal science budget as a positive development, despite the clear institutional challenges presented by rapid growth in research budgets, such as a dependence on graduate student labor resulting in ever more scientists competing for limited university professor positions. OSTP could benefit from leadership with a critical perspective of the role science and tech play in our social world and who might better navigate where science can help and where other policy mechanisms are better suited.

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To his credit, Biden seems to recognize the need to think about science and tech more broadly. At the outset of his administration, he appointed Alondra Nelson, an accomplished scholar of the ways social phenomena like race and inequality interact with science, as deputy director for science and society at OSTP. Throughout her career, Nelson has pointed to the ways that science and tech leave some behind or directly causes cruelty and harm. Since Landers resigned, Nelson has been performing the duties of director of OSTP. In a new arrangement for the White House, Biden chose to separate the science adviser role from the director of OSTP role, with Nelson leading OSTP and Francis Collins, former director of NIH, serving as science advisor. Some science commentators have argued that Nelson should be appointed the director. I personally find arguments for appointing Nelson compelling, but if for some reason the administration doesnt, theres another trait they should look for in an appointee: some political experience.

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As mentioned above, a key role of OSTP is guiding science-related budget requests. The federal budget process requires political jockeying to get priorities into presidential budget requests and congressional appropriations. In shepherding the creation of new research entities, OSTP must navigate competing interests from within and outside of the federal government about where such entities should live or who they report to, as has happened around the new Advanced Research Projects Agency Health. Controversies, and the avoidance of them, involve political intuition about what fights are (and arent) worth fighting to advance the administrations priorities. A good deal of political knowhow would go a long way dealing with these challenges.

Finally, the director of OSTP should an appreciation for what people actually like about science and government. As a colleague recently remarked to me, trading the influence of the fossil fuel industry in the Trump administration for the influence of the tech industry flies in the face of efforts to bring promote scientific or government integrity.

Todays science and tech issues are at least as much about good governance, responsibility, and the public good as they are about beating China in a race to develop the best AI. We should look beyond the science and technology for leadership on 21st century science policy challenges.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Betty Robinson, 62, left, and Patience Okanu, 65, depart the Whole Foods in Chicago's Englewood on April 29, 2022, after hearing of its closing. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Six years ago Whole Foods Market opened a store with much fanfare in Englewood, an area that had few other groceries at the time. Lines of customers, many of them clutching Whole Foods tote bags, stretched out the door on opening day. Live music filled the air.

On Friday, the Englewood location and a store in the DePaul University Welcome Center appeared on a list of six Whole Foods sites across the country slated for closure.

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Local activists said the Englewood stores 2016 opening had been a source of hope, and now they feel betrayed.

Limiting access to fresh and healthy food is food apartheid, said Asiaha Butler, president of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood. So, to have these things swiped away and not even have any notice so we could be somewhat engaged is a real blow to the community, and many people are just devastated.

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The Englewood location, at 832 W. 63rd St., will close in the coming months. The DePaul location at 959 W. Fullerton Ave. is expected to close by May 6. Whole Foods would not disclose how many employees work at the two stores, but said it will work with those who are affected to find positions at other locations.

Four other Whole Foods stores  in Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama; Tarzana, California; and Brookline, Massachusetts  will also close, a Whole Foods spokesperson confirmed. Whole Foods has more than 530 locations nationwide, including 12 in the Chicago area.

As we continue to position Whole Foods Market for long-term success, we regularly evaluate the performance and growth potential of each of our stores, and we have made the difficult decision to close six stores, a Whole Food spokesperson said in a statement.

It does come down to a financial decision at the end of the day, said Amanda Lai, consulting senior manager with the Chicago-based retail consultancy McMillanDoolittle. Lai pointed to Whole Foods tendency to target higher-income shoppers, which she said may have affected the Englewood stores financial performance.

While its disappointing, both of those stores probably had a few factors working against them, Lai said.

The DePaul location, Lai said, had operated as a dark store during the height of the pandemic, meaning employees were fulfilling online orders from the store but customers could not shop there in person. The DePaul location is also fairly small, Lai said, and is not far from the Whole Foods in the Goose Island neighborhood, which is one of the companys highest-performing locations in the country.

Lai also pointed to an almost 66,000-square-foot Whole Foods location that opened earlier this week in the Near North neighborhood at 3 W. Chicago Ave. The opening of that store likely contributed to the companys decision to close the Englewood and DePaul stores, she said.

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement that the store closures are disappointing, but she pledged to work to repurpose these locations in a way that continues to serve the community and support the surrounding businesses. We as a city will continue to work hard to close food deserts that meet community needs with community at the table.

For Chicago, bringing a high-end grocer to one of the citys most economically challenged neighborhoods marked a moment of potential change. But the Englewood stores closing is a painful example of how difficult it can be to transform a neighborhood, even with major investments.

Then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel worked with Whole Foods to open the store in 2016, spending more than $10 million in tax dollars to make it happen. The store anchored the Englewood Square development, and at the time it opened it was one of just a handful of Whole Foods sites nationwide situated in an impoverished neighborhood.

Now its all about the bottom line, Butler said. I know just how much work was put into it, so its a real slap in the face for the Englewood groups that worked so hard to make this our communitys store. If theres one mistake we made, its that we didnt get an official community benefits agreement in writing. We went off the trust we had in Whole Foods, and now we are where we are.

Even without Whole Foods, Englewood isnt quite the food desert it was in the past. It now has an Aldi about two blocks to the east, where many residents were more comfortable shopping, Butler said. Whole Foods may have been hurt by its upscale reputation, though its Englewood prices were lower than those in wealthier neighborhoods, she said.

My Sunday routine is to first walk to Aldi and then Whole Foods, but some people said what they had heard about Whole Foods was that it was too expensive, Butler said.

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In March, with the help of a city grant, Inner-City Muslim Action Network opened Go Green Community Fresh Market a half-mile west of Englewood Square. It stocks a range of healthy food options in easy walking distance for neighborhood residents, and even though the small corner store cant fully replace a major operation like Whole Foods, it does give Butler hope.

Maybe we dont have to depend on big-box stores that are only looking at their bottom lines when they come into communities like Englewood, she said.

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On Friday, shoppers at the Englewood location lamented the grocery stores impending departure.

Oh man, that breaks my heart, said Napolean Harding, a frequent customer. Its close, its convenient, and I know where everything is in all the aisles.

Harding comes to the Englewood Whole Foods two to three times a week because he works in a clinic nearby.

As a vegetarian, I love the options this supermarket has, and its even cheaper than other Whole Foods in the city because they sell some local products, Harding said. I was very looking forward to the wine tasting events they were doing before the pandemic. Man, Im very sad now.

Patience Okanu, 65, another frequent customer who has been shopping in the store since it opened six years ago, was not surprised it was closing.

This business wants to make money, but theyre not going to make money in this neighborhood because the people here dont have the income, Okanu said.

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Okanu said the Englewood store is one of the few places in the area selling healthy food.

Across town at the Whole Foods at DePaul, shoppers said news of the closure was disappointing.

DePaul sophomore Emily Anschuetc visits the store at least once a week for essentials and produce.

On Friday, she and Nick Hall, also a sophomore, were getting food to prepare dinner together. Hall lives across the street from the grocery store and visits at least twice a week, often stopping by for ready-to eat meals like pizza or their carrot cake, he said.

Id like to see it become a Trader Joes, Hall said. Anschuetc agreed.

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Neither of them has a car, and Anschuetc said she doesnt know of any other grocery stores within walking distance from the university.

Whole Foods isnt the first big grocery chain to leave a majority-Black Chicago neighborhood. In 2018, Target abandoned two South Side stores, generating a frenzy of criticism from local aldermen and community groups.

Ald. Roderick Sawyer, the City Councils Black Caucus chair at the time, criticized the company for shuttering Targets on the South Side while the chain is putting finishing touches on two new stores on the North Side, in Logan Square and Rogers Park, both of which already have nearby Target stores.

In a statement at the time, Sawyer urged Target to reconsider what he described as a racially imbalanced policy of development and investment.

The Minneapolis-based chain did not reconsider.

Earlier this year, after Aldi abandoned a location in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, aldermen authorized Lightfoot to buy the shuttered property for $700,000. So far, the city has not announced a replacement for the Aldi.

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The move to shut down Whole Foods Englewood comes at a particularly sensitive time for Chicago, which is struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and 2020s civil unrest. At a recent City Club appearance, Lightfoot sought to counter what she called a false narrative that the city is headed in the wrong direction.

In 2021 alone, Lightfoot said, 173 companies made pro-Chicago decisions by moving to the city from other places or substantially expanding their footprint. She has also touted her administrations efforts to attract business investment on South and West Side corridors similar to the Whole Foods location.

Whole Foods move to leave is a big symbolic blow to those efforts, however, and a sign of how much work the city still needs to do to rebuild long disinvested neighborhoods.

At the Englewood store on Friday, Betty Robinson wondered what might replace the Whole Foods when it closed.

Even though the prices are high, you come here and you can get food. At least it makes this area not a food desert, Robinson said. It puts some damage in the community if they dont have a store.  Id rather have something than nothing at all.

Stephanie Casanova contributed.
ELA is ready to look at circulation mobility with people heading where the economy needs them.

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EUs new agency, the European Labour Authority, officially moved to its Bratislava premises in late 2021, after multiple Covid waves had swept across the EU.

This move, as well as the war in Ukraine, resulted in a number of challenges to the EUs labour market, as well as new tasks for the European Labour Authority (ELA). The Slovak Spectator spoke about them with its executive director, COSMIN BOIANGIU.

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Cosmin Boiangiu is the executive director of the European Labour Authority. He is a Romanian career diplomat with expertise in EU affairs and multilateral diplomacy, security and strategic policies, development, NATO and the UN. He represented Romania at the UN and NATO. In 2016-2020 he served as deputy permanent representative of Romania to the EU and representative to the Committee of Permanent Representatives I. Prior to that, he served four years as Romanias ambassador to Slovenia. He is a Knight of the National Order of Faithful Service (2019) for distinguished contribution to the success of Romanias Presidency of the EU Council.

On the day the ELA premises opened in Bratislava in November 2021, you said that there were plenty of opportunities and challenges lying ahead. Could you specify to someone who is not familiar with the ELAs role what these are, and which have you already addressed?

At that time, I had referred to opportunities and challenges for the ELA as a newly established organisation. Our mandate is very important but also very generous. It revolves around labour mobility in Europe. Our role is to make it better, smoother, and to allow people and companies to fully benefit from their status as EU citizens.

I referred to freedom of movement, of people and companies, or the ability to live, work or do business in any country of their choice, which is one of the main freedoms of the European single market. The ELA was created to enable people and companies to fully benefit from this freedom, which is fundamental for the EU.

Our role is to facilitate labour mobility, to support accessible, informed and attractive mobility, clear and user-friendly information on one side for companies, the rules they need to respect, how they can benefit from the workforce of another country and compliance with rules in place. For citizens: to advise them about their rights, on how to avoid discrimination in another country, how to have equal conditions with locals and how to find and apply for relevant jobs elsewhere in Europe.

Mobility is now increasing constantly despite some setbacks, at a slower pace because of the pandemic, and thats why I say there is a lot of work for the ELA to be done in the coming years.
The scheme should last three months and aims to make money more readily available to the displaced persons in need.

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International organisations will take over the provision of financial assistance to refugees in need in Slovakia as of May 1. Vulnerable groups and individuals with special needs should thus gain better and faster access to financial aid, according to the Labour Ministry.

Tens of thousands of refugees have arrived in Slovakia since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Slovak government took measures to open up the national system of assistance to people in material need, providing them with the respective allowance. Now, a group of international organisations will take over for three months.

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The groups involved are the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Slovak Red Cross with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). They have signed a memorandum with the Slovak government and will pay the financial support to the refugees.

"I am grateful for this form of cooperation and solidarity that is, obviously, good news also for our state budget," Labour Minister Milan Krajniak said.

The joint support by all the organisations will cover approximately 26,000 households: those who have already applied for financial assistance in Slovakia, plus those who have not yet applied for it. The list of those already receiving material assistance in Slovakia will be provided by the Ministry of Labor directly to UNHCR, the Ukrainian language news website Novyny reported.

Slovak social benefits are paid a few weeks after the end of the month for which the support has been granted. The financial aid from international organisations is expected to be paid out faster, in the same month as the application is submitted, according to Novyny.

The specific amount of financial assistance for one month will be 80 for each adult, 60 for each child aged 3 to 18, and 160 for each child under 3 years. The maximum amount of support per family is limited to 380 per month.

In April 2022, the Labour Ministry paid such allowances to 16,560 recipients from Ukraine, amounting to 2.2 million.

UNICEF and IOM will also support about 500 children with disabilities and about 400 adults with disabilities over the next three months by helping people (usually their relatives) who care for them. The amount of financial assistance provided to each guardian is set at 508 per month.

Registration will be possible in individual organisations and will be coordinated, to avoid duplication.
Slovak PM will appear on BBC soon. Shops will be closed on Sunday.

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Good afternoon. The Friday, April 29 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

Parliament's lengthy proceedings about Fico's custody could mean it won't happen

Robert Fico (Source: TASR)

The parliamentary session to decide whether to allow the detention of opposition leader Robert Fico is still continuing.

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The length of the procedure in parliament may mean that there is ultimately little reason to detain the Smer chairman, who faces serious criminal charges. It's now more than a week since Fico was charged, but MPs are yet to vote.

The process in parliament is not expected to conclude before next week, meaning it will have been two weeks since the prosecution started.

"Collusive" custody, intended to prevent the accused from interfering with witnesses, was requested in Ficos' case by Ladislav Masar, prosecutor of the Special Prosecutors Office.

If key witnesses have been interrogated, a judge might not see a reason for collusive custody to prevent [the charged person] from influencing the witnesses, said former prosecutor and attorney Eva Misikova.

European labour market shortages addressed by ELA

Cosmin Boiangiu, executive director of the European Labour Authority (Source: Courtesy of the European Labour Authority)

The EUs new European Labour Authority (ELA) officially moved into its Bratislava premises in late 2021, after multiple Covid waves had swept across the EU.

This pandemic, as well as the war in Ukraine, has resulted in a number of challenges to the EUs labour market, as well as new tasks for the ELA. The Slovak Spectator spoke about them with its executive director, Cosmin Boiangiu.

The ELA is supposed to ensure that everyone in the EU enjoys equal access to the labour market of each country, without any discrimination. The European body cooperates mostly with national authorities, which then advise their citizens.

"If you are aware of your rights and opportunities, you are less likely to be abused," said Boiangiu.

For job-seekers and those who would like to hire within the EU, there is a portal, Eures, which connects people in the EU and also some non-EU countries.

Eures objective is to facilitate the free movement of workers within the European Economic Area, said Boiangiu.

If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription. Thank you.

Photo of the day

Four hundred years after the Hungarian coronation crown was kept safe in Trencin for three months  a story unknown to most people in Slovakia  local jewellers are working on a replica to mark the anniversary.

A replica of the Hungarian coronation crown will be exhibited at Trencin Castle in the summer. (Source: TASR)

Feature story for today

Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda has big plans in Bratislava. For now, they are linked not to the development of new medicines, but to information technology.

Japanese pharmaceutical company taps IT expertise potential of Slovakia Read more

In other news

Shops will be closed on Sunday, May 1 , which is a national holiday in Slovakia. During the holiday most shops must close, the exceptions being petrol stations, shops at airports and railway stations, pharmacies, and shops where the owner, not employees, serves customers. Pubs and restaurants can open normally.

, which is a national holiday in Slovakia. During the holiday most shops must close, the exceptions being petrol stations, shops at airports and railway stations, pharmacies, and shops where the owner, not employees, serves customers. Pubs and restaurants can open normally. President Zuzana Caputova has approved a judicial reform that was the last step to make Slovakia eligible to ask for its first payment from the EU's recovery and resilience plan. Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) wrote on Facebook that Slovakia is asking for almost 460 million.

from the EU's recovery and resilience plan. Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) wrote on Facebook that Slovakia is asking for almost 460 million. Poland stands ready to protect Slovakia's airspace once Slovakia decides to ground its MiG-29 fighter jets , Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad (OLaNO) announced at a press conference with his Polish counterpart Maruisz Baszczak. Poland will protect Slovak skies until a new squadron of US F-16 fighter jets are delivered to Slovakia. That is expected to happen in the first half of 2024.

, Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad (OLaNO) announced at a press conference with his Polish counterpart Maruisz Baszczak. Poland will protect Slovak skies until a new squadron of US F-16 fighter jets are delivered to Slovakia. That is expected to happen in the first half of 2024. International organisations will take over the payment of financial assistance to refugees in Slovakia as of May 1 . Vulnerable groups and individuals with special needs should thus gain better and faster access to financial aid, according to the Labour Ministry.

. Vulnerable groups and individuals with special needs should thus gain better and faster access to financial aid, according to the Labour Ministry. 926 people were newly diagnosed as Covid-positive out of 4,524 PCR tests performed on Thursday . There are 823 people with Covid in Slovak hospitals, and 12 more deaths from the disease were reported on Thursday. The vaccination rate stands at 51.29 percent, 2,821,078 people have received a first dose of the vaccine. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here.

. There are 823 people with Covid in Slovak hospitals, and 12 more deaths from the disease were reported on Thursday. The vaccination rate stands at 51.29 percent, 2,821,078 people have received a first dose of the vaccine. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here. Prime Minister Eduard Heger gave an interview to the BBC's HARDTalk programme. He spoke to Stephen Sackur about the potential gas supply crisis and the situation in Ukraine. The interview is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC World TV on Monday.

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If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
NEW YORK  Whether its the humblest high-school production or a starry Broadway affair with an actor best known for playing James Bond, tricky old Macbeth always presents one confounding problem above all others: Whats the through line?

Lets first stipulate that tragedy, people oft forget, is not so much about flaws or sadness but about the human experience of chaos. In all his great tragic plays, William Shakespeare threw horror after horror, temptation after temptation, consequence after consequence at his central characters. Most of the time, the actors job is just to react as losses mount and things inevitably get worse. Just as they often do in life.

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No problem there: Craig knows all about Macbeths military background and how to be shaken and very much stirred. The British movie star is a stellar stage actor, not to mention a man with a muscular body that looks hard enough to the touch to rival any tree trunk of Burnham Wood.

Eboni Flowers, Bobbi MacKenzie, Phillip James Brannon, Maria Dizzia and Daniel Craig in "Macbeth" at the Longacre Theatre in New York. (Joan Marcus/Joan Marcus)

In a whole succession of scenes, Craig plays with the idea of exterior calm and interior trauma, meditating perhaps on so-called toxic masculinity or male repression, or just on how to deal with what the heck is happening now, as the twisted sisters prophecy of toil and trouble bites him right in the seat of his own ambition. Its delicious to watch, as is Craigs enigmatic co-star Ruth Negga, playing Lady M., a mercurial, proactive character whose belated discovery of a conscience comes too little, too late for anyones good. Even her own.

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So director Sam Gold, who is charge of this seasons big Broadway Shakespeare at the Longacre Theatre, manages to forge some very cool, and hot, individual scenes.

But Macbeth is so full of cynical aphorisms and sardonic observations, it offers something for virtually every human occasion, or every directorial direction. Even though this new production clearly has the aim of stripped-down simplicity, it seems to fly whichever way the Midtown breeze happens to be blowing.

We start with the minimalist rehearsal-room look thats always more popular with artists than with Broadway audiences paying a three-figure ticket price.

Daniel Craig and cast in "Macbeth" at the Longacre Theatre in New York. (Joan Marcus/Joan Marcus)

At the top of the show, the fine Chicago actor Michael Patrick Thornton comes out and says, in essence, its Wednesday night, people, or whenever, and here we all are and this is what happens in the show. And there are other such little digressions to come, as Gold plays with the idea that the actors are, in fact, playing both outer and inner characters, the Shakespearean events set off by concerns residing in an outer frame.

Ive no problem with adding text or making an effort to help an audience follow the events of the play, but the issue here is that those modern speeches dont feel organic to the rest of the show; rather, they feel added at the last minute as if some producer had shown up during previews and pointed out to the company that their work was very internalized and thus really hard for folks to follow.

Better, surely, to concentrate on the narrative clues within the play itself. Macbeth really is not that complicated, especially if you have superb actors like Craig and Negga on deck (not to mention the likes of Phillip James Brannon, Lizzy Brooks, Amber Gray and Grantham Coleman and the rest of a very interesting ensemble, some playing more than one character). The play is all about the warring factions of ambition and guilt; no different, really, from what keeps most of us awake at nights, even if we dont have witches to freak us out.

This is why this play always works so well with an, ahem, older actor playing the man himself: Craig, 54, has been there, seen that, done that: its easy to believe that he now understands that the quest for absolute victory is rarely the best course. Craig, of course, is this productions great, mostly unused asset.

Danny Wolohan, Michael Patrick Thornton and Daniel Craig in "Macbeth" at the Longacre Theatre in New York. (Joan Marcus/Joan Marcus)

Golds production simply lacks narrative drive. You cannot get fully invested in an evening spent pondering Macbeths narrative psyche if you dont comprehend the world. The Gold outer play is trackable to a point (by the end, it seems like this troupe of actors are actually refugees from somewhere, passing the time in limbo), but he is so busy setting the play off at a remove, in building a competing absurdist narrative, he forgets at times to actually do the play, or so it feels. And since Christine Jones set offers few geographic, chronological or even situational clues, that compounds the issue. Macbeth is plenty for an audience, all by itself.

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Gold has one of the American theaters smartest minds and hell be back. But this one just doesnt hold together, formidable assembled talented notwithstanding.

Macbeth plays on Broadway through July 10 at the Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St., New York; macbethbroadway.com

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Illinois top education official urged schools to stop working with police to ticket students for misbehavior, hours after an investigation by the Tribune and ProPublica revealed that schools across the state were evading laws designed to prohibit the fining of students.

In a strongly worded plea sent to officials across Illinois, State Superintendent of Education Carmen Ayala said the costly fines associated with the tickets can be immensely harmful to families, and theres no evidence they improve students behavior. School officials who refer students to police for ticketing have abdicated their responsibility for student discipline to local law enforcement, she wrote Thursday, the day the investigation The Price Kids Pay was published.

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This investigation is a collaboration between ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune. Subscribe to the Chicago Tribune

If your district/schools are engaging in this practice, I implore you to immediately stop and consider both the cost and the consequences of these fines, Ayala wrote. She highlighted that sentence in bold type in an 800-word email to superintendents and principals.

The Illinois State Board of Education intends to survey school districts to learn more about their disciplinary practices, Ayala wrote. She also warned that the state board will investigate noncompliance with state law, where appropriate, and work with lawmakers to close loopholes in state law.

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On Friday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the Tribune-ProPublica report was something we immediately jumped on and conversations with legislators were already underway.

We want to see what exactly is going to be required in order to make sure that this doesnt happen anywhere in the state of Illinois, Pritzker said. I would bet that youre going to see legislation about this.

State Superintendent of Education Carmen Ayala (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

In The Price Kids Pay, ProPublica and the Tribune reported that local police are issuing thousands of tickets a year to students for violations of municipal laws, often for misconduct as minor as littering or vaping. Each ticket can come with hundreds of dollars in fines or fees, forcing many families into burdensome payment plans that can eat up paychecks.

Failure to pay can have lasting and severe implications. Some communities send debt from school tickets to collection agencies and warn of wage garnishment, liens and loss of driving privileges if the debt is not paid. Other municipalities have used a program available through the state comptrollers office to deduct money from individuals tax refunds and payroll checks.

[ Read the investigation "The Price Kids Pay" ]

The only consequences of the tickets are to impose a financial burden on already struggling families and to make students feel even less cared for, less welcome, and less included at school, which in turn leads to more antisocial and defiant behavior, Ayala wrote in her letter.

An Illinois law passed in 2015 prohibits schools from using fines to discipline students. Instead, the investigation found, schools have been referring students to police, who then write costly tickets  taking advantage of what Ayala referred to as a loophole in the law. Students received more than 11,800 tickets for school misbehavior in the last three school years, reporters found.

Another law, dating to 2019, directly bans schools from reporting truant students to authorities so the students can be ticketed. But the investigation identified about 40 schools or districts that have been referring students to police for truancy.

[ Do police issue tickets in your school district? Find out here ]

The investigation found that students were issued tickets most frequently for possession of vaping devices or cannabis, disorderly conduct, fighting and truancy. But police also wrote tickets for such offenses as littering, being disruptive and property damage  for breaking a soap dish in a school bathroom, for example. The investigation focused on high schools but found that children 12 and under also had been ticketed in some K-12 districts.

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The investigation examined 199 school districts and identified ticketing of students in 141 of them. To understand the frequency and impact of ticketing in schools, reporters filed 500 Freedom of Information Act requests to districts and police departments and attended more than 50 hearing dates in courts and municipalities across the state.

So many students get ticketed in some cities and towns that students make up the majority of people attending their municipal hearings for ordinance violations. The hearings are usually held during the day, forcing students to miss school. Ayala noted that ticketing students for truancy may actually worsen student attendance.

In her letter, Ayala wrote that while some people who did not grow up poor may not understand the impact of a $250 fine, it can force people to choose between paying for groceries, buying gas to get to work or paying the heating bill.

For the more than 50 percent of our students and families in Illinois who qualify as low-income, paying $250 for a fine means the lights in the house will literally shut off, mom and dad will have no fuel to get to work, or there will be no hot meals on the table, she wrote. Even a $40 fine has a tangible impact on the safety, security and wellbeing of an entire family.

Pritzker said issuing fines to students who are in our K-12 system is not helpful.  It doesnt help, it doesnt change, the behavior, and it just puts families at risk.

Coming next week: Racial disparities in ticketing

[ Read more on how we reported "The Price Kids Pay" ]

In guidance issued last month, the state board of education and Attorney General Kwame Raoul urged schools to reevaluate punitive disciplinary policies such as suspensions; the guidance did not address police citations.

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The state board also has been working with educators in about a half-dozen school districts this year on more positive behavioral interventions for students. Through the boards Partnership for Disciplinary Equity in conjunction with several universities, funded with $2 million in federal pandemic relief funds, K-12 educators are learning about restorative justice practices and other techniques that emphasize resolving conflicts with discussion and problem-solving.

The legislators behind the 2015 law prohibiting schools from fining students have said they were troubled to learn from the Tribune and ProPublica that police were issuing costly tickets to children at school. The current House speaker, Emanuel Chris Welch, who was a sponsor of the legislation, said the General Assembly should revisit the law in light of the investigations findings.

Smith Richards is a Tribune reporter. Cohen is a Chicago-based reporter for ProPublica. Tribune reporter Dan Petrella contributed to this story.

jrichards@chicagotribune.com
Twelve Panhandle high schools brought a total of 749 students to the Western Nebraska Community College for a full day of music Thursday, April 21. Students competed in various small and large, vocal and instrumental performances at the annual District Music Contest.

The contest is less competitive between schools and more self-competitive, as the main goal of the contest is for students to learn and grow in their musical talents.

They get written comments from the judge, and the judges are all professional musicians, site coordinator Nathaniel Johnson, the instrumental instructor at WNCC, said. Theyll get a score; the score is not really that big a deal. Everybody wants a one (the best rating), but really, its the comments that are going to (help them) get better, and the comments are always very encouraging: Hey, you might want to work on intonation, rather than Thats out of tune. Fix it, because we all want them to do well.

Many band and vocal instructors said they were pleased with the way their students performed Thursday.

Gering chorus students might have had the toughest day ahead of them going into District Music Contest simply because they would also be opening their musical Bye Bye Birdie that same night. Still, chorus director Shelly Muggli said her students did really well for what they still had ahead of them.

We didnt take as many groups as I normally do. We took all my big groups, but we normally have solos and small groups that we do a little more of, but with musical, all my kids that normally do it are in musical and theyre exhausted, and we just didnt have time to get all done, Muggli said. But the groups that are here, its been top notch.

I couldnt have asked for better performances. The kids have been fabulous. They put it all out there. Theyre exhausted, but they put it all out there, and its been really, really great today.

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Theatrical students at Western Nebraska Community College will show off their directing and stage managing abilities this weekend as students in the Scripts and Performance class put on their one act shows Friday, April 29 to Sunday, May 1.

Four one act plays between 10 and 20 minutes long and directed by students will take the Judy Chaloupka Theater stage. Two plays will be comedies, while the other two will be more serious.

As a class we had an overall theme as to what our plays should be about, student John Plasencio said. False hope is the theme.

Plasencio is the stage manager for the play Death of a Gerbil by Dewan and Claire Demmer, with classmate Japheth Frey directing. Their play is a comedy about a man who dies, but once he gets to the pearly gates finds out that someone up there lost his paperwork.

It was just sort of a bizarre idea that I just fell in love with, Frey said.

The other comedy in the lineup is Sure Thing by David Ives, which is about a man and a woman who repeatedly get do-over chances to impress each other. Student Caiden Heramb is directing it with Dylan Gardner stage managing. Both Heramb and Gardner said theyve enjoyed putting the short, but entertaining show together.

Its been pretty smooth working with Caiden, Gardner said. I think everything that he has said to the actors, theyve understood and been able to take in, and its been pretty easy to keep track of all the notes and keep everyone on schedule.

Each show features a small cast of students  some of whom are also part of the leadership team in charge of one of the plays. While Gardner is acting in the two dramas, Heramb will be in the other comedy and a drama. Both Gardner and Heramb, along with Plasencio, are also designers for all four shows.

We are all designers of the show, too, Gardner said. Im doing set, Caidens doing lights and Johns doing costumes.

Jokingly, Heramb added, Were greedy that way.

The drama that Heramb will be acting in is called Shadowland by David Poyer, which is being directed by Gabrielle Contreras with Joshua Boston as stage manager. Boston said that the play is more about a tragic story.

We see a middle-aged woman kind of going through what appears to be something like purgatory, he said. In some way, she has been detained, and each time she revisits a memory, it is becoming more and more decrepit with each passing in time.

Being stage manager, Boston said hes gotten to appreciate the behind-the-scenes part of a show a lot more.

Now you get to see the bigger picture being painted from a different angle, he said.

The other drama that will take the stage is called Waiting for John by Spencer Rowley, which is being directed by Adrianna Casias with theater instructor Violette Briggs helping out with stage managing.

Casias said her play is a sad one that she hopes gets the audience bawling.

I want to share the importance of the story, the meaning, and I do want them to feel the emotions that are happening on stage and connect in that way, she said. Its a serious, sad one with a twist  and the twist I hope makes everybody cry.

She also said that its been a learning experience as a director directing individuals who might not have the same theater experience as she does.

Theres Kate (Fraser), and she plays Edith, and shes not a theater major. This is her first time, I believe, doing theater work like this, Casias said. So, directing her, its also a learning experience for me to go easy on her and not say all these terms that Ive been knowing forever.

Briggs said the goal of the class is to help the students understand both sides of theater  on stage and backstage  and that is exactly what the students have been learning through their hands-on experiences.

The idea was instead of merely having some sort of book understanding of how you take a script all the way through to performance is to actually experience that, Briggs said. You gain something by learning how a director thinks, and as a director, you gain something from being an actor, because you understand how an actor will interpret a direction. So, theyve all really, I think, expanded their understanding of the whole process of production.

Overall, the students said they are ready to show the public all the work theyve been doing over the last few weeks and are excited about the outcome of the entire show.

As a class, we just made a really beautiful project, Heramb said. Im really proud of everyone for coming together and doing that. It was really sick.

The spring one-act plays will be performed Friday, April 29, and Saturday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 1, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 per person for general admission; $5 per person for students, seniors, and military; and $3 per person for groups of 10 or more.

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The streets of Gering will soon look a lot more colorful when the Color Dash 5K race returns on Saturday, June 4.

The fifth annual Color Dash will start and end at the Five Rocks Amphitheater and wind throughout Gering. It is organized by the United Way of Western Nebraska and presented by Riverstone Bank.

We are super excited we get to have a full-on Color Dash again this year. Were very psyched about it, Jill Allen, special events coordinator for United Way of Western Nebraska, said at a press conference Thursday.

The Color Dash is non-competitive and open to runners of all fitness and experience levels.

As they run or walk through the streets of Gering, participants will be periodically sprayed with colored, cornstarch-based paint that is non-toxic and biodegradable. They can then attend a color dance party with live music at the end of the race.

The Color Dash had been put on pause during the bulk of the coronavirus pandemic. The United Way of Western Nebraska had hosted a virtual event last year, but this will be the first in-person dash since 2019.

Becca Pierce, Riverstone Banks director of marketing, said, Were so excited that we get to be back in the community this year ... were so pleased that were actually being able to be back at Five Rocks Amphitheater with the community doing this run again.

She described the Color Dash as one of the funnest events that we do and invited participants to bring along their families.

During the race, different businesses have sponsored "splash centers" where volunteers splash the paint on runners, and other businesses have sponsored pit stops where runners can get food and drink.

Registration is open at the United Way of Western Nebraska website, uwwn.org, or on its Facebook page. It costs $25 for adults 17 and older and $20 for children ages 6-16. Children 5 years old and younger can be registered for free.

Each participant age 6 or older will receive their choice of a T-shirt or a tank top and a race bag containing sunglasses, a bandanna and paint.

The early registration deadline to guarantee a shirt and race bag is Wednesday, May 25. Only 1,000 entrants will be accepted.

Race packets and maps can be picked up at the Riverstone Bank location at 2002 Broadway in Scottsbluff on June 3, the day before the race.

We hope everyone joins in with us this year, Allen said.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to humiliate the United Nations by raining missiles on Kyiv during a visit to the city by the U.N. chief, a deadly attack that shattered weeks of relative calm in the capital.

Ukraines forces, meanwhile, fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, Zelenskyy reported. And U.N.-backed efforts to arrange safe passage for residents trapped in the ruins of Mariupol continued. Numerous previous attempts to evacuate civilians have fallen through.

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Russia pounded targets all over Ukraine on Thursday, hitting a residential high-rise and another building in Kyiv just as life seemed to be getting a little closer to normal. U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said one of its journalists was killed.

Separately, a former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, relatives said in what would be the wars first known death of an American in combat. The U.S. has not confirmed the report. At least two other foreigners fighting on the Ukrainian side, one from Britain and the other from Denmark, have also been killed.

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In an apparent reference to the attack in Kyiv, Russias military said it had destroyed production buildings at the Artem defense factory.

The bombardment came barely an hour after Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who toured some of the destruction in and around Kyiv and condemned attacks on civilians.

This says a lot about Russias true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the U.N. and everything the organization represents, Zelenskyy said late Thursday in his nightly video address to the nation. Therefore, it requires a correspondingly powerful response.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was Russian President Vladimir Putins way of giving his middle finger to Guterres.

Firefighters try to put out a fire following an explosion in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 28, 2022. (Emilio Morenatti/AP)

The strikes were the boldest Russian attack on the capital since Moscows forces retreated weeks ago following their failure to take the city. Russia is now pushing into the Donbas, the countrys eastern industrial region, which the Kremlin says is its main objective.

Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst and head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said the Kyiv attack carried a message: Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure.

Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east also have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.

But so far, Russias troops and the separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains, and Britains Defense Ministry said those have been achieved at significant cost to the Kremlins forces.

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One aim of Guterres visit was to secure the evacuation of people from the gutted southern port of Mariupol, including a shattered steelworks where an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders and 1,000 civilians were holed up in the last major stronghold of resistance in the city.

The Soviet-era steel plant has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more dire after the Russians dropped bunker busters and other bombs.

Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse, said Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko. They are begging to get saved, he said, adding: There, its not a matter of days, its a matter of hours.

About 100,000 people are believed trapped in the city with little water, food, heat or electricity. Ukraine has blamed the failure of previous evacuation attempts on continued Russian shelling.

This time, we hope theres a slight touch of humanity in the enemy, Boichenko said.

Two towns in central Ukraines Dnipropetrovsk region were hit by Russian rockets on Friday, the regional governor said. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.

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Sirens, artillery fire and explosions could be heard from Kramatorsk to Sloviansk, two cities about 18 kilometers (11 miles) apart in the Donbas. Columns of smoke rose from the Sloviansk area and neighboring cities. At least one person was reported wounded in the shelling.

The governor of Russias Kursk region said that a border post came under mortar fire from Ukraine and that Russian border forces returned fire. He said there were no casualties on the Russian side.

Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, she said, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it.

The Marine Corps said Cancel served four years but was given a bad-conduct discharge and sentenced to five months confinement for violating orders. No details on the offense were given.

In the wake of Thursdays missile attack in Kyiv, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said the body of Vira Hyrych, a journalist who lived in one of the buildings, was found in the rubble. Ten people were wounded, at least one who lost a leg, according to emergency officials.

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Radio Free Europe President Jamie Fly said the organization was shocked and angered by the senseless nature of her death at home in a country and city she loved.

Kyiv had been relatively unscathed in recent weeks, and cafes and other businesses have started to reopen, while a growing numbers of people have been out and about, enjoying the spring weather.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are cracking down on people accused of helping Russian troops. In the Kharkiv region alone, nearly 400 people have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted after Russias Feb. 24 invasion.

In Russia, the international sanctions imposed on the Kremlin over the invasion are squeezing the country. The Russian Central Bank said Russias economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year, and the outlook is extremely uncertain.

The terrible human cost of the war, which has driven more than 11 million Ukrainians from their homes, continues to climb.

In Lyman, a town in the Donbas, shells rained on Tatiana Matsegoras home this week. Matsegoras 14-year-old grandson, Igor, was pronounced dead after rescue workers drove him to the hospital. Her daughter was in serious condition, and her son-in-law was also killed.

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Grandma, will I live? she said Igor asked her when they were in the basement, waiting for help. I said that he would live. But look what happened: I betrayed him.

Associated Press journalists Jon Gambrell and Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, Yesica Fisch in Sloviansk, and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.
CHIPPEWA FALLS  A 14-year-old boy accused of killing a 10-year-old Wisconsin girl knew the girl and planned the attack, knocking her down and choking her before sexually assaulting her, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

The body of Illiana Lily Peters was found Monday along a walking trail just a day after she went missing while returning home from an aunts house a few blocks away, sparking anxiety in her small western Wisconsin community before the teenagers arrest Tuesday.

The boy, identified only by his initials, appeared in adult court in Chippewa County by video from a juvenile detention center. Judge Benjamin Lane agreed to District Attorney Wade Newells request for $1 million cash bond.

Lane said the high bond was necessary to protect the community given the teens statements regarding his intentions and his statements regarding that when he did get off the trail, he punched the victim in the stomach, knocked her to the ground, essentially strangled her, hit her with a stick, before strangling her to the point of death  before he then sexually assaulted her, Newell told the judge at the bond hearing.

The teen made statements that his intention was to rape and kill the victim from the get-go, Newell said.

The defense had argued for $100,000 cash bond.

The judge sealed the criminal complaint, but Newell said after the hearing that the boy is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual assault of a child under age 13 resulting in great bodily harm.

Wisconsin law generally calls for juveniles age 10 and up to be prosecuted as adults when they are charged with first-degree intentional homicide. The judge set a May 5 status hearing in the case.

Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matthew Kelm announced the arrest of the suspect Tuesday evening, after police earlier executed a search warrant at the home of Lilys aunt and the last place the girl was seen before she disappeared. Kelm said police got more than 200 tips, calling them critical to the investigation.

While nothing will bring Lily Peters back or change what happened, we are very grateful to be able to deliver this news for the family and for the community, Kelm said.

People in the town of about 13,000 left drawings, flowers, candles and stuffed animals at Lilys elementary school and on a downtown bridge to remember the girl, with some residents dressing in purple to honor her. Chelsea Torgerson said she kept her daughter home from school Tuesday, before the arrest was announced, just for my own peace of mind.

I know these things happen in the world every day, but this is just so close, she told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Torgersons daughter, 8-year-old Ava Johnson, attends Parkview Elementary School  the same school where Lily was a fourth-grader.

Its every parents worst nightmare, Torgerson said.

One resident has started an online petition on Change.org to create what he called a Lily Alert for cases that dont qualify for traditional Amber Alerts. Currently, Amber Alerts may be issued only if a child is 17 or younger and thought to be in danger of serious bodily harm or death.

Any parent would agree that when a child is missing, even for a short amount of time, and they need help then help should be sent, resident Eric Henry said in the petition. The community is devastated and rallied to start a search group for the missing child. We can do better as a community and must be proactive. We need an alert with less regulations around it so we can respond quicker to missing children.

The petition had more than 56,000 signatures as of Wednesday night.

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With the lifting of a flag, the families of two Nebraskans killed in Iraq 15 years ago to the date unveiled memorial bricks meant to cement their service and sacrifice, as well as that of 49 others.

All 51 who were honored during the dedication ceremony at Omahas Memorial Park on Saturday served in the 73rd Cavalry Regiment and died while fighting in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 100 people, including nearly two dozen Gold Star families, were present for the ceremony and unveiling.

William J. Gainey told the crowd that he has heard the words they will not be forgotten many times throughout his life. The retired first senior enlisted adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the memorial bricks will help ensure that promise is kept.

Any time somebody reads their names on that beautiful memorial, they are remembered, Gainey said. They will never be forgotten.

Those in attendance included the families of 1st Lt. Kevin Gaspers of Hastings and Staff Sgt. Ken Locker Jr. of Burwell. Both men were among nine soldiers from the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment killed in an attack by al-Qaida-linked terrorists on April 23, 2007.

For Pam Gaspers, Kevins mother and one of the family members who helped unveil the memorial bricks, time has helped ease the horrible pain felt immediately following her sons death. Some of that emotional space has been filled with pride in her son and his selfless desire to make the world a better place. It doesnt replace the loss, but it makes it more bearable.

One aspect that has remained largely unchanged, Pam Gaspers said, is the support for their family.

When the incident happened, the outpouring that we had in our community was wonderful. Everyone rallied around us  they really did, she said. And to still have this outpouring, it means a lot to us.

The fact that Saturdays ceremony occurred on the 15th anniversary of the deadly attack in Iraq was entirely coincidence.

Its a day that Mary Jo Yager and her children typically spend locked up at home. Its the day Yager lost her husband and her children lost their father, Ken Locker Jr.

Though difficult, Yager said it was important to come out so that her children could see that their fathers service mattered to many people. The memorial brick bearing Lockers name will provide the children with yet another connection to their father and his service  another place to go and see his name, Yager said.

Its nice seeing their dad and others are not forgotten, she said.

Omaha made a sensible location because of the Heartland Airborne Memorial, which was relocated to Memorial Park from its original home at Heartland of America Park near the Missouri River. The 73rd is part of the Armys famed 82nd Airborne Division, and the bricks commemorating the 73rds fallen soldiers are around the base of the Airborne memorial.

Retired 1st Sgt. Dan Falcon, president of the Heartland Airborne Memorial Association, said Saturdays event was about more than a new addition to the memorial. It was, as much as anything else, about honoring the families of the fallen.

Thats why we went out of our way to do everything possible to make it a special event, Falcon said. We want to honor them.

Gov. Pete Ricketts thanked the Gold Star families in attendance Saturday.

Our Gold Star families have lost something we can never replace, Ricketts said. But by being here, we can help them mend and let them know we will never forget the sacrifices their loved ones and they have made for us and what they have done for this country.

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From a free legal clinic to assistance for veterans to meals for service heroes, a special event next Monday will celebrate the role of this countrys legal system in society.

Hosted by Southwest Virginia Legal Aid Society (SVLAS), Law Day will be marked in Marion, Lebanon, Abingdon, and Tazewell on Monday, May 2, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Law Day, which is commemorated annually on May 1, is a national event designed, according to the American Bar Association, to celebrate the role of law in our society and to cultivate a deeper understanding of the legal profession.

Bruce Russell, a Washington County attorney who serves on the SVLAS board, first launched commemorations in Lebanon and Abingdon. Gary Cody, SVLAS Director of Development, said this year the agency is working with Russell to expand the regions activities.

Throughout the day, Cody said, SVLAS wants to recognize those who help protect and defend the U.S. Constitution and the country. He noted that free meals will be available in Marion (227 West Cherry St.) and Lebanon (29 East Main St.) for service heroes, which include active duty military, veterans, law enforcement, health-care workers and senior citizens.

Also in Marion, Tazewell, and Lebanon, private attorneys will conduct a free legal advice clinic for members of the public and students.

Blood drives will take place at all four locations. In Marion, the American Red Cross will host a drive, and appointments can be made at www.redcrossblood.org or calling 1-800-RED-CROSS. In the other three locations, Marsh Regional Blood Center will conduct the drives. Appointments can be made by calling 423-652-0014.

The days activities are getting the support of the Virginia State Bar. Its president, Jay Myerson, will speak at 1 p.m. in Marion and 3 p.m. in Lebanon. His remarks will be open to the public.

Myerson, of Reston, founded The Myerson Law Group, P.C., and supervises a domestic, criminal, and civil litigation practice in Fairfax County. A graduate of Georgetown University and Georgetown Law School, Myerson is a Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation and has been a member of the Fairfax Law Foundations Board of Directors since 2012.

Myerson plans to address the Rule of Law as the glue that binds our diverse country together and how Virginias lawyers have a special legacy by virtue of the prominent role played by Virginians, especially Virginias attorney, in crafting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights so as to protect the Rule of Law, and subsequent Virginia attorneys roles in protecting those rights for all.

Myerson is expected to call on all attorneys in Virginia to reflect on how they model those values, particularly since June 2023 will be the 235th anniversary of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

He has served on Virginia State Bar Council and several Bar committees. He is a past president of the Fairfax Bar Association, has served in the American Bar Associations House of Delegates, and is a past president of the George Mason American Inn of Court.

Additionally, live continuing legal education will be presented live on-site in Abingdon and simulcast to the other locations at 1 p.m. Boston University Professor John Woodward, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, will address Presidential Powers and National Security When The President Takes Extreme Measures During Wartime. This class is offered to all Virginia attorneys at no cost, with an optional donation to support the Special Olympics 2022 USA Games. Members of the public and students are also invited to attend.

Vendors that can provide assistance to veterans, senior citizens, and others will also be on site. In Marion, they include Ds Street Grub food truck , Anthem Healthkeepers Plus, the Department of Veteran Services, People, Inc. Mt. Rogers Veterans Navigator, and the National Guard.

Helping sponsor Law Day in Southwest Virginia are the Russell County Bar (founding and organizing sponsor), Anthem HealthKeepers Plus, SWVA Legal Aid, Tazewell County Bar, Washington County Bar, City of Bristol Bar, Buchanan County Bar, the 28th District Criminal Defense Bar, the Virginia Mountain/Valley Lawyers Alliance (VMVLA), students from the Appalachian School of Law, Marsh Blood Services, and the Virginia American Red Cross.

For more information, visit https://www.bhr2law.com/law-day-2022 or www.svlas.org.

To learn more about Law Day, visit https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/law-day/.
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.

Taking a vehicle  Woodland officers Wednesday arrested Madison Mitchell Boe, 27, of Shelton, Washington, on suspicion of taking a vehicle without permission.

Theft  Longview officers Wednesday arrested Mistee Marie Crucius, 35, of Longview, on suspicion of second-degree attempted theft and third-degree theft.

Theft  Longview officers Wednesday arrested Krissy Nichole Kelsaw, 38, of Longview, on suspicion of first-degree theft, hit and run involving an unattended vehicle and driving while license is suspended in the third degree.

Fraud  A person in Longview Wednesday reported a man trying to cash a $4,328 check off an account closed due to fraud.

Assaults

1700 block of Spirt Lake Memorial Highway, Castle Rock. Wednesday.

2200 block of 34th Avenue, Longview. Wednesday. Report of assault occurring Saturday.

32nd Avenue and Michigan Street, Longview. Wednesday.

2600 block of 30th Avenue, Longview. Wednesday. Report of a 7-year-old being assaulted by middle school-age kids.

Stolen vehicle

2900 block of Lilac Street, Longview. Wednesday. Report of blue and white 2008 Roketa moped stolen. Washington 0A8047.

Thefts

100 block of Studebaker Spur 2 and Studebaker Place, Castle Rock. Wednesday.

700 block of Hazel Dell Road, Castle Rock. Wednesday. Report of money stolen.

200 block of Pine Street, Kelso. Wednesday. Report of Murray go-kart stolen.

500 block of Seventh Avenue, Longview. Wednesday. Report of man shoplifting $40 worth of items.

900 block of Ocean Beach Highway, Longview. Wednesday. Repot of an employee possibly stealing money.

700 block of Third Avenue, Longview. Wednesday. Report of tools stolen.

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KALAMA  Law enforcement agents are looking for a possibly armed man they say drove the wrong way on the highway and rammed a deputy driving a patrol vehicle Thursday night near Kalama.

Deputies also suspect Cody J. Lindsay, 32, stole a truck early Friday.

A witness told police Lindsay had a handgun and made threats towards law enforcement, the Sheriffs Office says. Deputies suggest calling 911 if Lindsay is seen and not to approach him.

Friday

Cowlitz County deputies say around 8:30 a.m. Friday Lindsay may have stolen a red Dodge Ram truck with the Washington license plate B59435 in the 1000 block of Kalama River Road.

Witnesses and security video show the truck headed toward I-5 and may have a broken passenger window, the Sheriffs Office reports.

Lindsay allegedly fled on foot to a wooded area off Kalama River Road the night before after reportedly eluding police. He wasnt located using the regional SWAT team, a drone or K-9 Thursday night, according to the Sheriffs Office.

Thursday

A Kalama officer Thursday first spotted Lindsay driving recklessly in the city, then entering the freeway going the wrong direction, the Sheriffs Office reports.

A Cowlitz County deputy said Lindsay intentionally rammed the deputys vehicle while the deputy was attempting to pull him over on eastbound Kalama River Road after exiting the freeway, the Sheriffs Office says. The deputy was not injured.

Cowlitz County Undersheriff Dave Handy said the deputy was able to pin the suspects vehicle to a guardrail with his own vehicle to stop the suspect. However, Lindsay fled on foot into the woods and wasnt located.

The department says Lindsay is wanted on suspicion of first-degree assault, possession of a stolen vehicle, obstructing, felony eluding and reckless driving.

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Every day is different in Jill Whitrights counseling office.

Whitright has spent about 20 years as a Mount Solo Middle School counselor, responding to an array of student needs. Sometimes she coordinates parent-teacher conferences. Sometimes she lends an ear to a student struggling emotionally or academically, or both.

Often, her job revolves around connecting students to mental and behavioral health services.

After two years of remote and hybrid learning, students are feeling stressed and depressed. Destigmatizing therapy, recruiting mental health specialists and state legislation is helping local schools reconsider how they can approach rising mental health concerns.

This is an age where theyre all kind of trying to figure out where they fit in and how they self-identify, how to handle peer-conflict, how to deal with making friends, keeping friends, Whitright said. Those are things that counselors  for elementary, middle and high school  were all trying to support kids in.

Mental health by the numbers

Reports of depression, isolation and anxiety in students is not a new phenomenon, Whitright said.

However, more students tell Whitright they feel anxious, sad or isolated since before the pandemic.

County and state data reflect this.

Cowlitz County results from the 2021 Washington Health Care Authoritys youth health survey reported 40% of eighth- and 10th-graders felt so consistently sad or hopeless in the last two weeks that they quit hobbies, and 20% of 10th-graders considered suicide.

The Longview School District also reported more students are seeing third-party health providers as compared to last year, according to Karen Joy, the districts special education director.

Joy presented a mental health report to the Longview School Board Monday night showing 395 students were receiving mental health services in the 2021-22 school year, up from 243 during 2020-21.

A number of factors likely contributed to this uptick, Joy said.

In 2020, students were at home and probably less likely to see their school guidance counselors, who are most often the ones to refer them to outside providers.

The district contracts with agencies to help meet the need, as clinics and schools have struggled with staffing shortages and a high turnover rate, Joy said.

Until January, CORE Health, the largest outside provider for Longview students, had no one on board to see students, Joy said.

We have grown this year, but were not quite there yet, Joy said.

Longview Schools Superintendent Dan Zorn said prior to the pandemic, the district started hiring more nurses and counselors, and he said he considers the districts mental health team well-staffed. Every school has at least one counselor, and they are looking to hire more.

During this past legislative session, state lawmakers signed a law encouraging schools to hire more psychologists, nurses and counselors, said Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver. The bill earmarks money for districts to either hire more specialists in schools or contract with more local providers.

However, recruitment is tough for small rural school districts who are seeing fewer applicants for these positions.

The pool is even more shallow than it was before, Zorn said.

Connecting students to services

Mental health treatment also can be expensive. According to SimplePractice, a management site for mental health professionals, a typical psychotherapy session can cost $100 to $200 before insurance.

Most of the providers for Longview students accept Medicaid, but Whitright said it can be tough navigating private insurance policies that may not cover a students treatment.

Whitright said students also face stigmas about therapy.

I think at this age theyre nervous about, Who will I meet with? What are they like?  Whitright said. Im trying to work with them on understanding there are times where we all need support and its not anything to feel bad or embarrassed about.

Transportation options also can prevent them from getting treatment even after they are referred, Joy said.

Some arent always showing up, Joy said. Unfortunately, the students that require the most therapy are the ones more likely to miss school, so were doing everything we can to try to see them.

Students before the pandemic regularly dealt with grief and unstable home lives that counselors could first address at school, Whitright said.

COVID-19 seemed to amplify those feelings, Whitright said. Some children lost their parents or other family members. Some parents lost their jobs.

At the elementary level we are seeing more fears about death and dying, Wallace Elementary School counselor Lavern Dollarhyde wrote in an email to The Daily News. When a family member is sick, the fears are exponential.

Sue Tinney, Kelso School Districts youth and family support coordinator, wrote in an email to The Daily News that students experienced changes at home because of COVID-19, negative influences of social media and the general uncertainty of being a teenager.

Some students did not learn well in the online environment, which has caused additional anxiety for some when they returned to in-person learning, Tinney wrote via email.

Stonier said remote learning also challenged usual safeguards schools have to identify students who are at-risk or face abuse at home.

Much of the time, people who first hear and see these behaviors in kids are the ones who are there with them every day, Stonier said. A lot of our mandatory reporters were not having contact with the kids we normally would have.

Children who were fourth-graders when the pandemic hit are now entering middle school in a setting they were largely kept from for two years, Zorn said. When they came back, they had to relearn how to interact with their peers in a classroom.

As a system what were trying to do is help our kids regain those skills, Zorn said. In a lot of respects, discipline is easy. Whats hard is changing behaviors.

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LONGVIEW  In 2019, Washington created one of the most generous college financial aid programs in the country. Compared with a program it replaced, the Washington College Grant allowed many more students to qualify for free or subsidized tuition. No longer would eligible students be denied aid because of caps tied to limited funds.

By all rights, the state's colleges should have seen a rush of applicants. Instead, enrollment plummeted.

Community and technical colleges experienced a combined 24% drop between fall 2019 and fall 2021. Public four-year institutions saw a collective drop in undergraduates of nearly 7% during that time period, with some schools' losses double or even triple that. Roughly 60,000 fewer students, in all, enrolled.

What happened, of course, was COVID-19, though education leaders are still untangling the reasons the pandemic kept students away. As colleges scramble for ways to boost their numbers, they are facing hard truths about higher education in this state  namely, lukewarm enthusiasm and a gender gap that has women outnumbering men at virtually every institution. At Lower Columbia College in Longview, for instance, the share of male students fell from 31% to 28% during the first year of the pandemic.

"We were a little stunned," said Lower Columbia President Chris Bailey.

The pandemic-caused drop in college enrollment is happening at universities across the nation, and so too is the gender gap, although it began developing decades before COVID showed up. Yet, Washington's issues with college seem to run deeper.

"We didn't have a college-going culture to begin with, and the pandemic has made it worse," said Paul Francis, executive director of Council of Presidents, which represents Washington's five public universities and The Evergreen State College.

While for years Seattle has prided itself on being one of the most educated cities in the country, many credentialed residents hail from elsewhere. The state as a whole sends fewer high school graduates to college than the national average, with Washington's rate, 60% of students within a year of leaving high school, falling about 6 percentage points short.

Before the pandemic, enrollment had grown slightly at Washington's four-year institutions over the past decade. But the state's 34 community and technical colleges  whose enrollment tends to rise when the economy is bad, as laid-off workers go back to school, and fall when good  have seen a steady decline since 2010, when the last recession started to wane.

"There are very serious long-term negative impacts," said Michael Meotti, executive director of the Washington Student Achievement Council, a state agency that works to increase educational achievement. There's ample evidence, he said, that college-educated workers earn more and withstand economic downturns better.

Within 14 years after graduating from high school, those who get a bachelor's degree or higher earn on average $24,000 more a year than those who don't, according to state data. An associate degree or career certificate offers a $4,000 bump.

There's not a clear understanding of what's behind Washington's lackluster college attendance, nor the gender gap. "The challenge around men is something that the entire higher education community is trying to figure out," said Jan Yoshiwara, executive director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

Theories abound, tapping into the state's blue-collar roots, notions of masculinity and changing ideas about college in the internet age. That's apart from oft-heard complaints about the spiraling college costs and student debt, and a conservative critique of campuses as bastions of snowflake liberalism.

The Washington Roundtable, a business group, is launching a study to get to the bottom of what's going on, said its vice president, Neil Strege.

Certainly, college is not for everyone, and many essential jobs don't require higher education, as the pandemic has shown. Some of them pay better than ever amid the current labor shortage. Even as male college attendance declines, men still earn more on average than women and hold more positions of power.

Other jobs do require college, but should they? Some argue that college has become an unquestioned and unnecessary sorting mechanism.

Strege looks at the here and now, or at least the near future. The Roundtable estimates 70% of a projected 373,000 new jobs in Washington over the next five years will require some form of postsecondary education, whether it be a B.A. or trade industry certification.

Amazon, Microsoft and other big local employers can import talent from elsewhere in the country and world, as they have been doing. Still, Strege said: "Our business people, they live here, they're operating their businesses here, they're raising their families here. They want Washington students to have an opportunity for those jobs."

'Everybody seems to be hiring'

The meteoric rise of high-tech can make people forget which industries long dominated the state: timber, agriculture, Boeing-based aerospace manufacturing, businesses linked to the port. "The state of Washington is historically a working class place," said Margaret O'Mara, a University of Washington historian who studies labor and the economy. Heavily unionized, workers could earn a good living straight out of high school.

"There's still a very significant chunk of our workforce that is doing blue-collar work," she added. High-tech has even contributed to it, its surge of transplanted workers fueling a construction boom.

During the pandemic, work seemed more essential than college for some. "I need to help support my family," Francisco Ramos said he heard at several Seattle high schools where he works as an outreach specialist for the Seattle Promise program, offering two years of free community college tuition and mentorship to all of the seniors graduating from the city's public schools.

Parents or other family members have been laid off. They have gotten sick. The economic fallout especially affects the population served by community and technical colleges, which is lower income and more diverse than four-year institutions, said Yoshiwara, of the system's board.

But Francis, of the Council of Presidents, said he believes that economic reality has also driven enrollment declines at four-year schools  particularly because the pandemic has hyper-charged the job market for those without college degrees.

"Everybody seems to be hiring and nobody can get the workers," said Brian Wood, director of support services for Nippon Dynawave Packaging, a large paper mill on Industrial Way in Longview, which lies along the Columbia River bordering Oregon. Behind Wood were factory stacks sending steam into the sky, part of the landscape along Industrial Way, along with other mills, piles of logs and "now hiring" signs.

Trucking companies, desperate for drivers, are advertising jobs paying $85,000, noted Bailey, of Lower Columbia College (though most truck drivers earn far less, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The school is trying to capitalize on the demand by expanding a commercial driver's program. It is also trying to get the message out that even some blue-collar jobs now require computer and other skills that colleges teach, skills that can increase long-term earning power and options.

That brought Edwar Guzman to Lower Columbia, whose campus of brick buildings sprawls across 39 acres. The 19-year-old said he's in a program teaching him how to repair high-end, computerized cars. "I wanted more knowledge to get more money," he said, estimating he can earn up to $40 an hour after he graduates, twice as much as he would earn straight out of high school.

In the past few years, Lower Columbia outreach workers have developed close relationships with high school counselors and regularly visit classes, focusing on "dual credit" courses allowing high school students free college credit.

"Does anyone know how many credits they get for this class?" Alyssa Wittrock asked students in an early childhood education class one Friday. Fifteen college credits, she told them, a quarter's worth. If they go on to college, they've just saved themselves three months and roughly $1,400.

An automotive class is up next. All the students are young men, many of whom take several trade classes a day in a large work space where construction of a car in the style of a 1923 Model T is currently underway.

"Come to LCC. Join the automotive program," Wittrock urged students. Or go to another college, she said, trying to encourage higher education in general.

Afterward, Joshua Hilker, a senior who is president of the school's auto and welding club, said he is still leaning toward going into carpentry straight from high school. "They make good money and it's decently easy," he said, estimating he could earn up to $34 an hour within a year and a half.

His friend Sean Barton, another senior, said he plans to see what the working world has to offer. In a year, he might go to college to study engineering. But careers that didn't require college could be rewarding as well, he said.

"If you go to work for someone else, you're going to work yourself to death," Barton said of manual labor. The trick, he said, is to start your own business, to take things into your own hands.

School as "unmanly"

Judging by the numbers, more men than women clearly seem to think they can make it without college. The degree of gender lopsidedness varies by school.

At the UW, men comprise 46% of all undergraduates and just 40% of this year's freshman class on the Seattle campus. The percentage of men is even lower at The Evergreen State College, 39%.

At community and technical colleges, men make up 42% of students system-wide (excluding students whose gender was not reported or who didn't identify as men or women)  and 35% or lower at six schools, including Highline College, Tacoma Community College and Lower Columbia College.

One way to explain the college gender gap is to look at who's traditionally held the highest-paying blue-collar jobs: men, particularly white men. Women haven't had the same kind of access to those jobs, observed Meotti, of the Achievement Council. The equivalent type of jobs women have pursued, such as a health care technician position, usually require some kind of credentialing, he said.

College is now less exclusive than it was in the days when white men dominated, perhaps contributing to its societal depreciation, UW historian O'Mara speculated. A converse principle also holds, she noted. Consider: Computer programming, originally the domain of women, wasn't considered worthy of huge salaries and prestige until men got involved.

Edward Morris, a University of Kentucky sociologist, talked to a lot of male high school students for a 2012 book on gender and education. "A lot of them just experienced what was required in school as being unmanly," he said, most noticeably among young men whose parents were low-income or had not been to college.

Reading, homework, Morris said, "all that type of stuff was associated with inert activities. Whereas doing something like building a shed, that was something seen as useful"  as were science-related fields, which may help explain men's preferences when they do attend college.

The vast majority of teachers are women, which also may have something to do with male views of education, Morris allowed.

He sees another factor as influential: the traditional image of men as risk-takers. "Breaking rules is something that is seen as kind of demonstrating masculinity," Morris said. That could be getting in trouble at school, refusing to wear a motorcycle helmet or smoking in the face of countless health warnings. Or it could be circumventing college and striking out on your own.

Internet culture has stoked the allure of risk-taking. "You don't need to have a piece of paper to make money  you know, that kind of idea is now being pushed, especially among young people," said 19-year-old Zaidaan Shibuya. On social media, one can find out about various moneymaking "side hustles," as he and two of his housemates called them, and they have dabbled in them.

Still, they had decided to enroll in Seattle Central College, in part because higher education was important to their immigrant parents. "We came to this country for you to receive a higher education and become something," Salih Mamme said, expressing the view of his parents, who came from Ethiopia. Mamme was upset when he had to drop out of Seattle Central recently for financial reasons.

The three debated whether they could get a job in their field  computer science  without a college education. Maybe they could do a six-month coding boot camp, Shibuya said. However "Companies that are paying you six figures-plus, they still want a degree," he said, and he plans to go on to a four-year school.

None was troubled by being outnumbered by women on campus, not even a fourth housemate in a Seattle Central nursing program, where the gender ratio skews especially female. That housemate, Spencer Kneass, said he paid more attention to age; many of his classmates are in their 30s.

The other three hadn't really noticed the overall gender ratio because their computer science classes are mostly men, reflecting the different paths many men and women take once in college.

"Now that you mention it," said Abdikarim Salah, thinking about who he comes across outside of his classes, "I do see more women."

Copyright 2022 Tribune Content Agency.

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A woman was left dead in a West Side alley with her two youngest children huddled next to her on Dec. 30, 1976. Another mother and her 7-year-old child died July 2, 1981, after being strangled in their West Side apartment.

They are two of the Chicago Police Departments hundreds of cold cases, and the first to be featured in a new series the department is launching in an attempt to find answers and closure.

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Starting Monday, CPD will begin releasing an in-house produced series on its social media channel. The first two episodes  featuring the homicide of Elizabeth Dunlap and the double homicide of Lizzie and Lucretia Lee  are around eight minutes and include emotional interviews with the then-children who were left behind.

The Chicago Police Department is releasing an in-house produced series on its social media channel to help find answers to a series of cold cases. (Chicago Police Department)

Police superintendent David Brown said the first goal of the videos is to try to solve the cases, and the second is to change the perception that the department doesnt treat all investigations the same based on who the victim is or where they lived.

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Brown said the idea for the video series came after he and Mayor Lori Lightfoot were discussing clearance rates.

That led to cold case discussions about how even the older cases are important to solve, he said. But also the old cases are important to deal with the perceptions that these stories are told from generation to generation to generation in the community  that the Chicago Police Department doesnt treat our cases in various communities the same as they treat other cases.

The series didnt have a separate budget because it was all made internally, a police spokesperson said. Segments will be released on a weekly basis, and six videos have been finalized so far.

Starting the series with two Black women who were mothers on the West Side was purposeful to highlight violence against women, Brown said.

The children of Elizabeth Dunlap, Tara, age 4, looks at her sister, Tenille, 6 weeks, at Loyola University Hospital on Jan. 4, 1977, where they were recovering from exposure after they were found huddled next to their mother's body the previous week. (Hardy Wieting / Chicago Tribune)

Elizabeth Dunlap was beaten and found dead in an alley on Chicago's West Side in freezing weather on Dec. 30, 1976. Her children Tara, 4, and 6-week-old Tenille were found huddled next to her and taken to Loyola University Hospital. (Family photo)

In the video about Elizabeth Dunlap, her daughter Tara King Dunlap describes how she remembers being 4 years old in the car of a strange man who had offered her mother and her little sister a ride, and her mother telling him multiple times, Youre going the wrong way before he pulled over and took her mother out the car.

Tara said she later learned what he had done to her mother before he took her and her sister out of the car, taking their shoes, socks, coat, hat and gloves, and leaving them on either side of their motionless mother on the snowy ground.

In the video about Lizzie and Lucretia Lee, Osmond Malcom said he was only 2 when he remembers his 4-year-old sister, Nicole Lee, telling him to be quiet under the bathroom sink where they were placed before the slaying of their sister and mother. When they came out of the bathroom, they found their sister Lucretia unconscious, and police later found their mother in a closet.

When picking what cases to cover, family approval and participation were important, Brown said. They also worked to highlight a range of demographics in the victims in the cases.

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In the video about Lizzie and Lucretia Lee, Osmond Malcom said he was only 2 years old when he remembers his 4-year-old sister, Nicole Lee, telling him to be quiet under the bathroom sink where they were placed before their sister and mother were killed. (Chicago Police Department)

CPD defines a case as cold when detectives run out of leads, Brown said, as opposed to on a set time frame.

Deputy Chief of Detectives Rahman Muhammad said each of the five police areas has six to eight detectives assigned to cold-case teams, and each detective has 10 to 12 cases. Each area was tasked with supplying cases that they thought would be good for the video series. After that, family liaisons approached the families to see who would be interested in participating.

Muhammad said police told the families that they still want to continue working on their loved ones case and that they havent forgotten, but that they had hit a brick wall with their investigation.

We wanted to jump-start the investigation, and by doing that, we wanted to highlight and put out there into the public sphere the case itself, and hope with (the familys) participation, which was definitely hugely important, because when you see these videos, and you see the pain, suffering and grief that they still have  it was still like it was yesterday, Muhammad said.

Brown said the timing of the videos was right because the department is trying to make wholesale improvements in the bureau of detectives, but specifically in the violent crime units. At the highest point, there were 1,300 detectives at CPD; but in recent years the budget has included 1,100 detectives.

We want to get back to 1,300 detectives, he said. The timing of all of what were doing is in context with were really trying to improve our detective bureau by putting in some best practices thats really highlighting getting the case flow per detective low, so this cold case series is part of a bigger effort.

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pfry@chicagotribune.com
A large-scale plan to develop the center at Coldwater Ridge for education, recreation and tourism activities moved forward Wednesday when the Forest Service issued the Mount St. Helens Institute a 30-year operating permit for the site.

We look forward to working with our federal partners and the communities we serve to improve facilities and expand access to the outdoors, said Ray Yurkewycz, Mount St. Helens Institute executive director, in a press release. This is an opportunity to connect people from near and far with the volcanos unique cultural and natural history.

Upper section of SR 504 opens early, Mount St. Helens visitors centers plan later reopenings People looking for a better view of Mount St. Helens can now drive to the top of Spirit Lake Memorial Highway, after it reopened for the seaso

The Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center, near Coldwater Lake west of Johnston Ridge, was built in 1993 and closed to the pubic in 2007. The Mount St. Helens Institute partnered with the Forest Service and began offering some youth education programs and public events at the site in 2011.

The institute, a nonprofit founded in 1996, provides youth education programs, field seminars and guided exploration around the volcano.

The institute wants to develop the Coldwater site into the Mount St. Helens Lodge & Education Center, with lodges, cabins, campgrounds and facility renovations.

The changes would expand outdoor education opportunities for kindergarten through 12th-grade students, allowing the institute to host 5,000 to 6,000 of them annually for overnight outdoor school experiences, according to the press release.

Teaching science with Mount St. Helens Editors note: This is the seventh story in our ongoing series marking the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 198

It also would provide new amenities and overnight accommodations for monument visitors. These investments would support the local economy by increasing visitor access to Mount St. Helens, creating jobs, and generating more tax revenues for the county and state, the press release states.

The institute has created a master plan with Hennebery Eddy Architects and is conducting fundraising and feasibility assessments, and pursing private, state and federal funding for the project.

The Cowlitz County commissioners in late March sent a letter of support for the project.

Should Spirit Lake be opened to fishing, boating? Editors note: This is the eighth story in our ongoing series marking the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980

Partnerships such as this strengthen our conservation education programming while benefitting local communities. said Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Ranger Rebecca Hoffman, The Forests decision to issue these 30-year operating permits to Mount St. Helens Institute is a result of our confidence in the Institutes vision and due diligence.

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The Longview City Council wants to hear more from the public before they vote to expand the options for Accessory Dwelling Units to be built citywide.

The council unanimously voted Thursday night to hold a workshop and a public hearing over the next few months before holding a final vote on proposed ADU regulations brought forward by the Planning Commission.

Council members peppered city planner Adam Trimble with questions about the effects of the new rules. Many of the questions focused on how expanding the accessory dwelling options would affect parking throughout Longview and whether or not the proposed rules would allow for manufactured homes and tiny homes.

If we are truly going to confront our housing emergency and our housing crisis, I think we need to make this ordinance we adopt as open as possible to anyone who has the ability to build this, councilor Spencer Boudreau said.

The proposal brought to City Council largely focused on making more single-family homes eligible to build detached units on their property. One of the largest changes would be eliminating the minimum lot size requirement, which currently only allows detached units on lots of at least 10,000 square feet.

Trimble said he is getting more frequent calls from residents about the potential for ADUs and the lot size is a common reason for many applications to be denied.

(Were) making eligibility for a lot more places, but also building in some safeguards and protections for the character of the existing neighborhood, Trimble said.

In the current proposal, detached ADUs have to be at least 300 square feet and can be up to either 1,500 square feet or 60% of the main homes size, whichever is smaller. Manufactured homes that fit in the size range will need to have a permanent foundation and fit with the look of the main home. Detached units will need to meet guidelines for privacy, landscaping and design.

This is aspirational, councilor Hillary Strobel said. With the issues like the parking this isnt going to work for a lot of people, but youre trying to figure out how to make it work for as many people as possible.

One change with the proposal would allow homeowners not to add a third parking space on site if street parking is available in front of the home. Councilor Mike Wallin said that exception just looks at whether street parking is legal, not if spaces are actually available nearby during the day, which could further overcrowd some streets.

Wallin pushed back on a separate parking rule for attached ADUs that would remove driveways leading to converted garages that no longer looked like garages.

But why do we want to eliminate off-street parking  albeit not covered, albeit not leading to a new fancy garage, but its just open on-site parking? Wallin said.

The planning commission held four workshops and a public open house as it prepared the new rules for the Ciy Council. Trimble said the commission only received a handful of comments during the months-long process.

Dates for the City Council workshop and public hearing have not been set.

Other City Council actions

The Longview City Council directed staff to look into hiring a full-time liaison to the citys unhoused residents.

Strobel brought up the idea during her report to the council. She and councilor Ruth Kendall said the outreach coordinator would be a stop-gap measure to improve conditions for people at the Alabama Street campsite while the city and Cowlitz County worked toward a hosted site.

I think theres a lot of value in having someone thats working for us, that is able to address things as they are happening, Strobel said.

The liaison would serve a similar role Cowlitz Family Health Center staff played in September while the Alabama Street campsite was temporarily moved and cleaned. City staff will update the council with more details about the potential role during the retreat Tuesday.

The council voted 5-2 to allow Housing Opportunities of Southwest Washington to move $88,000 from a veterans housing development to its rental assistance program. Wallin and Boudreau voted against it, with Wallin saying the money would be better spent on projects that would build more housing.

The council approved an ordinance rescheduling future council meetings to a 6 p.m. start time and to Tuesdays in July and August and an ordinance clarifying the exemptions for fireworks and loud noises to take place at night during permitted special events.

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New research found that Earth's atmosphere contributed to some water on the moon! Know what else it found.

NASA is planning to send a crew of astronauts in this decade. The project will be initiated by the Artemis I mission this year. In the first phase, Artemis I will bring an un-crewed flight test to build a foundation for human deep space exploration  basically to extend permanent human presence all the way to the Moon. And the key to NASA's Artemis project is finding water on the surface of the moon! That is the most essential substance required for humanity to survive. And this new research can add valuable information for the future projects linked to the Moon. What is more, it has been suggested, there might be quite lot of water on the moon and the source of some of that is none other than Earth itself!

Research led by University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has suggested that the Hydrogen and oxygen ions releasing from Earth's upper atmosphere and merging with the moon can be one of the sources of the lunar water and ice. "Our Moon periodically moves through the magnetic tail of the Earth that contains terrestrial ions of hydrogen and oxygen. A possible density contrast might have been discovered that could be consistent with the presence of a water phase of potential terrestrial origin," the report mentions.

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How scientists find the relation between Earths atmosphere and Moon water

According to the latest research, the moon's polar regions could contain up to 3,500 cubic kilometres (840 cubic miles) of surface permafrost or underground liquid water formed by ions that escaped Earth's atmosphere. That's about the same size as Lake Huron in North America, the world's eighth-largest lake. The amount was calculated using the smallest area model of 1 percent of Earth's atmospheric escape reaching the moon.

However, the majority of the water on the surface of the moon is believed to have been deposited by colliding asteroids and comets, while solar wind is also said to be the source of some lunar water.

Scientists suggest that hydrogen and oxygen ions are driven into the moon when it passes through the bottom of the Earth's magnetosphere, which is the teardrop-shaped bubble created by Earth's magnetic field that protects the planet from much of the continual stream of charged solar particles.
The first solar eclipse of the year 2022 will be coinciding with the Black Moon. Know why it is called Black Moon.

The first solar eclipse of the year is all set to take place on Saturday, April 30. The celestial event will coincide with the second new moon of the month, also known as the Black Moon. Solar eclipses occur when the moon comes in between the Sun, and Earth casting a shadow on our planet. This year, the phenomenon will be a partial eclipse as the moon will partially block the sun. According to NASA, the eclipse will be visible over parts of South America as well as from Chile, Argentina, most of Uruguay, western Paraguay, southwestern Bolivia, southeastern Peru, and a small area of southwestern Brazil.

It will also be visible in Antarctica, and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Those who wouldnt be able to view the Black Moon can watch the live stream of the celestial sight on an India-based space YouTube channel Gyaan ki gareebi Live. Know why solar eclipse takes place and what does black moon mean.

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Why does a solar eclipse take place?

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, casting its shadows on the earth. However, a partial solar eclipse occurs when the Moon blocks only a portion of the Sun's disc, cutting a circular chunk out of it.

According to NASA, the upcoming eclipse will block out nearly 65% of the Sun at its peak.

What is Black Moon?

Like the Blood Moon and Blue Moon, there's no clear definition of the origin of the Black Moon's name. The Old Farmer's Almanac suggests that every new moon is a Black Moon because on every new moon day, only the moon's dark or black side is "visible" from earth. Black Moons are called rare as they typically occur about every 32 months i.e, in every two to three years.

Solar eclipse timing on April 30

The partial solar eclipse will be visible at 12:15 am. The eclipse will be visible in most of the places at 2:11 am. The eclipse will end at 4:07 am.
NASA reported a giant and very loud fireball which was seen across the sky over Mississippi in the US. Local residents were shocked whether it was an asteroid strike or an alien attack. Check out what it really was that flew over Earth.

NASA: In a strange incident, more than 30 eyewitnesses reported seeing a fireball in the sky above Earth. This was in the early morning of Wednesday, April 27 in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Loud booms were soon heard afterwards. According to the witnesses a loud and gigantic fireball was seen moving across the sky. The object left a trail of light, dust and very loud booming noise in its wake. NASA scientists later confirmed that the mysterious object witnessed by people was an asteroid! Not an entire asteroid, however, but merely a part of it. Check out how this object suddenly appeared into the sky and what happened in the aftermath.

NASA: A giant fireball shaped asteroid was seen in the sky

According to NASA, the object was a bolide (technical term for a large meteorite) and is believed to be a broken part of a larger asteroid. The bolide was observed to be around one foot wide and weighing around 90 pounds. It was moving at a speed of 55,000 miles per hour. In a post, the American space agency shared details about this space rock.

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Approximately 22,000 miles out in space, NOAAs Geostationary Lightning Mappers (GLM) onboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) 16 and 17 detected several bright flashes associated with the fragmentation of this bolide, or exceptionally bright meteor, which was first spotted 54 miles above the Mississippi River near the Mississippi town of Alcorn, the post stated.

The broken piece of asteroid eventually disintegrated about 34 miles above a marshy land in Louisiana.

The fragmentation of this fireball generated an energy equivalent of 3 tons of TNT (trinitrotoluene), which created shock waves that propagated to the ground, producing the booms and vibrations felt by people in the area, NASA added. For reference, that is 10 times as bright as the Moon.

Bill Cooke, lead of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama found it surprising that more people did not report witnessing such a bright object given how clear the sky was. It was reported that most people just heard the loud sounds but didnt really witness the meteor movement.
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) has lauded the drone industry in Malaysia as being able to create up to 100,000 employment opportunities in our country. Its minister, Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said that by 2030, the industry will be worth RM50 billion in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He further clarified that MOSTI through a collaboration with the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) will spearhead the development of the local drone technology (DroneTech) industry. So far, over 200 drone technology companies have been identified in Malaysia.

As reported by Bernama, Dr Adham also revealed that 25 drone technology applications had been approved over the past 18 months through the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox. All the companies involved received support in terms of financing for commercialisation, regulatory assistance and market development in the agriculture, forestry, smart cities and transportation sectors.

The MOSTI minister explained that the ministry is aiming to make Malaysia among the top-10 countries worldwide in drone preparedness (regulation) and drone usage (market) by 2030. Furthermore, the collaboration with MRANTI is aimed at developing five DroneTech champions of international standards.

Among the focus areas for intensive drone development in Malaysia would be:

Agricultural

Logistics

Creative media and recreational sectors

Environmental conservation

Defence and maritime

Disease control

Disaster mitigation and relief

Real estate planning and construction

Energy

Dr Adham also revealed that discussion were actively being held with the Transport Ministry, International Trade and Industry Ministry as well as other bodies involved in the aviation sector. These include the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (JUPEM).

The discussions were meant to improve the drone flight permit application process. Among other things, permits may be required for recreational, industrial or other purposes.

What do you guys think of the prospect of the drone industry in Malaysia? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below and stay tuned to TechNave for the latest trending tech news.
A woman walks past the logo for Google at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Nov. 5, 2018. Google said Friday, April 29, 2022 it will let people request that additional types of information such as personal contact information like phone numbers, email and physical addresses be removed from search results. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File

Google has expanded options for keeping personal information private from online searches.

The company said earlier this week that it will let people request that more types of content such as personal contact information like phone numbers, email and physical addresses be removed from search results.

The new policy also allows the removal of other information that may pose a risk for identity theft, such as confidential log-in credentials.

The company said in a statement that open access to information is vital, "but so is empowering people with the tools they need to protect themselves and keep their sensitive, personally identifiable information private."

"Privacy and online safety go hand in hand. And when you're using the internet, it's important to have control over how your sensitive, personally identifiable information can be found," it said.

Google Search earlier had permitted people to request that highly personal content that could cause direct harm be removed. That includes information removed due to doxxing and personal details like bank account or credit card numbers that could be used for fraud.

But information increasingly pops up in unexpected places and is used in new ways, so policies need to evolve, the company said.

Having personal contact information openly available online also can pose a threat and Google said it had received requests for the option to remove that content, too.

It said that when it receives such requests it will study all the content on the web page to avoid limiting availability of useful information or of content on the public record on government or other official websites.

"It's important to remember that removing content from Google Search won't remove it from the internet, which is why you may wish to contact the hosting site directly, if you're comfortable doing so," it said.

Explore further New Google tool makes it easier for minors to remove images of themselves from search results

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Miami-Dade County is upping its commitment to shore power at PortMiami, a technological upgrade that allows ships to plug into the local grid at port instead of continuing to burn fueland spew water and air pollutionin downtown Miami.

Last year, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava committed the county to build one shore power hookup at the Carnival terminal by fall 2023.

Now, PortMiami Director Hydi Webb told the Miami Herald, those ambitions have expanded. The county is now aiming to build five shore power hookups at PortMiami that will allow three ships to be plugged in simultaneously.

"We are going to be the first port on the eastern coast that will be able to plug in multiple ships at the same time," Webb said. "We are extremely excited about bringing shore power to the port."

The new shore power hookups will be installed at five terminals: Carnival Cruise Line, MSC, Norwegian Cruise Line, Virgin and Royal Caribbean.

Becky Hope, head of sustainability for the Port, said the design work is done and the county plans to look for bidders this summer.

"Our priority and the mayor's priority is to have this open and operating by winter 2023," she said. "We're really in an all-out effort to get this done."

The county first announced plans to build shore power at PortMiami last year after a Miami Herald report detailed how Miami-Dade County had pledged to install the technology for a decade but hadn't followed through. The Herald analysis also found that more than a dozen shore-power-enabled ships had visited PortMiami hundreds of times in recent years, mirroring a trend in the shipping industry.

In a major announcement at a Miami shipping conference this week, the global industry group for cruising, Cruise Lines International Association, committed to having all of its cruise ships shore-power enabled by 2035.

'The industry is invested'

All five brands involved in the PortMiami project say they will have ships with shore power technology. Carnival says it's converting one ship to be shore-power capable and that it expects to have at least two ships scheduled to regularly call in PortMiami by the time shore power is up and running. Royal Caribbean has eight ships with shore power and Norwegian has nine. MSC says all of its ships built after 2017 have shore power capabilities, a grand total of seven. Newcomer Virgin Voyages' ship is shore-power capable, along with its three ships that are still being built.

"MSC is investing a huge amount in Miami," Pierfrancesco Vago, the former CEO and current chairman of MSC Cruises, a Geneva-based brand that is building a new terminal at PortMiami, which will be the largest cruise terminal in the country when its done in fall 2023. "Our investment is long term, so that's why we're investing in shore power. From the political side, the county is very much at the table and then I'm going that direction."

One unsettled aspect of this plan: the cost.

Estimates for installing shore power at the Carnival terminal alone topped $10 million$2 million of which was from an EPA grant and the rest from Miami-Dade. Hope confirmed that the county has a back-of-the-envelope calculation for the expanded project but declined to share it with the Miami Herald.

While the land-based part of the technology is largely up to governments, Vago, the chairman of MSC, said the company is willing to spend on the project.

"It's not a question of money at MSC," Vago said. "The industry is invested to ensure there will be this technology."

PortMiami is one of the biggest moneymakers in the county, bringing in north of $300 million in revenue every year. In the last decade, Miami-Dade has spent more than $700 million to build five new cruise terminals and given $2 million to $9 million rewards to cruise lines that bring in lots of passengers.

A powerful tool to slash emissions

Most cruise ships run on heavy fuel oil, among the dirtiest sources of energy in the world. Even after a run through onboard air filters, the fumes contain chemicals toxic to human health, as well as greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Miami's famous offshore breezes largely do away with human health risks, but the carbon dioxide emissions still linger in the atmosphere. They also add up.

While Miami-Dade does not single out the Port's emissions in its Climate Action Strategy, an EPA shore power calculator estimated it produces about the same carbon emissions as a city the size of Pinecrest, about 7,000 homes.

The county wants to slash PortMiami emissions 25% by 2030, and shore power could be the biggest step toward that goal. That same EPA calculator suggested that if all ships at PortMiami switched to shore power it could cut carbon dioxide emissions 35%.

Dan Hubbell, shipping emissions campaign manager for Ocean Conservancy, said cruise ships are uniquely suited for seeing the biggest results from shore power since they spend so much time docked at port with their engines on. He said cruise ships use about half their fuel sitting at port, when they could be connected to a cleaner power grid instead.

"It's one of those things where there really is no good excuse not to be installing shore power anywhere and everywhere right now," Hubbell said. "It's a net good."

However, Hubbell cautioned that shore power alone wasn't the solution to the shipping industry's giant carbon footprint. The industry has been exploring solutions like alternate fuels and more efficient designs to help slim down emissions.

"[Shore power ]is not necessarily going to be 'oh whoa we fixed it', but in this sector arguably we should have been looking at this a decade ago," he said. "If we could get a lot of ships plugging in the 2020s that sets us up nicely for the next step."

Port Everglades explores shore power

PortMiami's closest competitor, Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, also recently announced it will pay Florida Power & Light $495,000 to explore adding shore power to their eight cruise ship berths and identify what kind of upgrades the port's electricity grid substation will need to support the extra energy. A 2017 EPA report suggested that switching to shore power could cut carbon emissions 20% at Port Everglades, by far the most effective strategy.

"One of the great topics today is how do we as an industry limit our carbon footprint and become more environmentally sensitive?," Jonathan Daniels, the port director at Port Everglades, said.

Daniels said the port didn't have a timeline for completion yet, but they hope to first get shore power hookups in three berths, one for each line they serve: Royal Caribbean, Carnival Corporation and Disney Cruise Line. He said that after they got a better idea of the cost of the project from the FPL study, they would apply for federal and state grants that are designated for building more sustainable ports.

"We're looking at the fact that not only are we a part of the environment, but that the environment is a part of what we do every day," he said, noting that when the port first began looking into shore power in 2008, ships were seldom equipped with shore power hookups.

"Guess what? The future is here," he said. "It's time for us, as well as other ports, to truly look at the strategy to implement shore power."

Explore further Should ships in India switch to shore power?

2022 Miami Herald.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Politecnico di Milano-PoliMOVE broke the world speed record for a fully autonomous car on a straight. Credit: Politecnico Milano

192.2 mph/309.3 kph... never before has a car driven by artificial intelligence alone been this fast.

On 27 April on the straight of the Space Shuttle airstrip at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, the car created by the Politecnico di Milano-PoliMOVE broke the world speed record for a fully autonomous car on a straight (the previous record held by Roborace was 175.49 mph/282.42 kph). The Politecnico Team had already achieved the record on 26 April but decided to raise the bar and improve its performance. On 27 April, PoliMOVE's car beat its own record to reach an incredible speed of 192.2 mph/309.3 kph, smashing through the "wall" of 186.4 mph/300 kph.

The speed of 192.2 mph/309.3 kph was obtained as an average of over 1 km in two consecutive attempts in opposite directions (to eliminate the effects of the wind). The Politecnico was the only team to attempt this, thanks to their victory in Las Vegas in the Indy Autonomous Challenge. In a few days, the team will attempt to replicate the feat on the Atlanta circuit, this time on a race track and not on a straight.

"We saw what the future holds for autonomous vehicles and credit goes to the entire PoliMOVE team, especially Dr. Brandon Dixon of the University of Alabama," said Prof. Sergio Savaresi, team lead of Politecnico di Milano.

"We were running a car operating on algorithms alone, where precision is paramount, and any small prediction error could have created a completely different outcome. This test run was exhilarating, and we are thrilled with the world record, but we're also excited by the fact that this data will be made available to all, and the industry will benefit from our work and learnings."

Credit: Indy Autonomous Challenge

PoliMOVE is part of the Politecnico research group mOve, led by Professor Sergio Savaresi, which has been studying for 20 years automatic controls in all types of land vehicles: from electric bicycles to cars and even tractors. On 7 January 2022, the PoliMOVE team from the Politecnico di Milano won the Indy Autonomous Challenge in Las Vegas, the first head-to-head race between cars driven by artificial intelligence, where PoliMOVE reached the track speed record of 172.9 mph/278.4 kph. The competitors included teams from some of the best universities in the world. All the teams raced with the same vehicle, the Dallara AV-21; the added value was the work of the individual teams.

Explore further 150 mph without a driver: Indy autonomous cars gear up for race

Provided by Politecnico Milano
A man riding a scooter died after colliding with a truck in the South Austin neighborhood Thursday afternoon.

At about 2:15 p.m., the unidentified 35-year-old was westbound on Erie Street when he entered the intersection at Cicero Avenue and crashed into a truck that was southbound on Cicero, Chicago police said in a media notification.

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The man was pronounced dead at 2:46 p.m. at Stroger Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiners office. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday.

Police continue to investigate and no citations have been issued.
DIY SOS is back with a brand new series on BBC One with Nick Knowles returning as host.

Nick is back at the helm for six new episodes after Rhod Gilbert took charge for last year's one-off Children In Need special.

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As always, the team will travel the length and breadth of the country, along with some amazing volunteers, trades, and local suppliers, to create life-changing transformations, designed to improve the lives of people that need it the most.

DIY SOS begins on Tuesday, 10 May 2022 at 8PM on BBC One and iPlayer.

A teaser for the new series shares: "Nick and the team transform the home of midwife Lindsey and her four children who were left with an uninhabitable house after the sudden and tragic death of husband Shaun, and they complete a build for Jordan, a remarkable teenager with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, who has raised huge sums of money for charity.

"The series also includes two incredible community builds in Southmead and Stoke which will serve hundreds of people of all age groups for years to come."

Nick Knowles, DIY SOS Presenter said: Im so excited we are bringing a series of brand new episodes to air which were filmed before, during and after the pandemic. You can expect the usual camaraderie with lots of emotion and laughter.

"So many people turned out to help communities and families in need despite their own challenges and suppliers have been so generous  Its been really life affirming.

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"DIY SOS has always been about helping each other which for me was also the story of lockdown, so this is a celebration of peoples fortitude and generosity.

"We live in a hugely generous society and its good to be reminded of that in amongst all the bad news weve all had to endure.

Paolo Proto, Executive Producer for BBC Studios DIY SOS, added: The last two years have been incredibly hard for the whole country which makes the selfless acts of the volunteers and trades that turn up and work on a DIY SOS build even more amazing.

"Im immensely proud of the DIY SOS team and the wonderful communities who came together to create positive change.

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"As always, people are at the heart of everything we do, so were really championing ordinary people doing extraordinary things across the UK.

DIY SOS will air on BBC One and iPlayer from 10 May.
Derry Girls' third and final series will come to an end with a special extended episode.

The hour-long instalment is titled The Agreement and will air on Wednesday, 18 May at 9PM following the last regular episode on Tuesday, 17 May.

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A synopsis shares: "For this special instalment we return to Derry one year later as the gang prepare for their final year of school.

"Its the week of the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement and its timing couldnt be any worse as the highlight of the year, Erin and Orlas joint 18th birthday party, threatens to be overshadowed.

"While the family try to get their heads around the possible outcomes of the vote, the gang realise that they may not be ready for what the future holds."

Show creator Lisa McGee, said of the episode: Like all the very best 90s bands, I couldnt resist ending our farewell tour with an encore for our loyal fans. Im delighted to say well be returning for one extended special  airing in the same week as our final episode.

The special deals with the historic and momentous Good Friday Agreement vote, which coincides with the gangs coming of age, they enter adulthood as Northern Ireland embarks on a new future.

Im so proud of this show and of our incredible cast and crew and everything weve achieved over the past 5 years. What a journey its been.

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"Im so grateful Channel 4 gave me the space to end the stories of these characters that mean so much to me with this special. I really hope fans love it as much as I do.

She added: Derry people arent great at saying goodbye so I will instead use one of our native expressions Thats us away now, Love Lisa McGee, always a Derry Girl.

For now Derry Girls' final series continues Tuesday nights at 9PM on Channel 4.

You can catch up with past episodes and series online now via the All 4 player here.

It was announced in 2021 the show would bow out after three series.

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"It was always the plan to say goodbye after three series," creator McGee said in a statement at the time.

She teased: "Who knows if Erin, Clare, Orla, Michelle and James will return in some other guise someday, but for now this is it for us and we're excited to start filming this series with our incredible cast and crew to hopefully take our loyal fans on one last adventure."
Wheelock School House, built in 1908, will be designated a Recorded Texas Historical Landmark on Saturday. A dedication will be held at 10 a.m., hosted by the Friends of the Wheelock School House and the Robertson County Historical Commission.

Located in Robertson County, the building served as a school until it was consolidated with Franklin schools around 1949. Today it serves as a community center that hosts parades, barbecues, family reunions, a quilt show, wedding receptions and Fourth of July celebrations, said Kathy Hedrick, Friends of the Wheelock School House vice president.

The Wheelock School was awarded the historical marker in 2019, but a slight error in its history required the marker to be corrected and remade. Hedrick said the marker was further delayed by COVID-19 and the Texas historical marker company going out of business.

Finally our marker got made and were able to have a celebration, Hedrick said. It just means the world to us, and its going to be very, very helpful to have that designation as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark when we file for grants to keep restoring the building.

State Representative Kyle Kacal will present a proclamation from his office along with a flag that has flown over the Texas State Capitol. Proclamations will be presented by Robertson County Judge Charles Ellison and Franklin Mayor Molly Hedrick.

Molly Hedrick, who grew up in Wheelock about a quarter-mile from the school, said it holds a special place in her heart and she suspects everybody in and around the Wheelock area has been to the school for one reason or another.

Thats a distinction that is well deserved by the schoolhouse, Molly Hedrick said. It preserves our history and it has been an integral part of the community. Its dedication as a historical monument is due really to the tremendous work of the Friends of the Wheelock School House.

Members of The Friends of the Wheelock School House have focused on restoring the building since 2016 and have previously been awarded two Texas Preservation Trust fund matching grants, Kathy Hedrick said. Restoration efforts included restoring all 52 windows, fixing the foundation, water leak prevention, repairs of upstairs dormers, a new roof and the recent rewiring of the bottom floor, Kathy Hedrick said.

Weve been able to get some help from Robertson County through the use of funds for preservation and restoration, Kathy Hedrick said. Then donations from people in the community and fundraising efforts helped us raise the money that we needed.

A historic architect was required to help restore the building. Kathy Hedrick said they lucked out when Priya Jain, a Texas A&M architecture professor and Center for Heritage Conservation associate director, moved from Boston to Texas. While in Boston, Jain had worked on historic buildings and windows.

We just cold called them and started talking to people there and she came out and met with us, Kathy Hedrick said. Weve had a wonderful relationship ever since; they have just been awesome to work with.

Jain said the Texas A&Ms College of Architectures Center for Heritage Conservation partnership with the Wheelock school was a win-win situation. The partnership has provided A&M students with the opportunity to do real-life work while also providing the Wheelock school with a comprehensive assessment to apply for grants and repairs, Jain said.

In terms of the historical marker, I think that has really been on Kathy (Hedrick) and the rest of the group, Jain said. They have really taken the trouble to not just do the work thats easiest to do, but theyre really trying to protect and preserve the history of the place.

Historic places such as the school are not frozen in place and while they can be read about in books having the ability to see them is amazing sight, Jain said. The fact that the building is not only still used, but that it has a deep connection to the community makes preservation and restoration important, Jain said.

Its a historic building and theres value to it from that aspect, he said, but to me its also the fact that it continues to be a part of the community, and in some ways the things happening there now are going to make a case why it should be preserved 50 years from now.

Kathy Hedrick said there are many people in the Wheelock community that have connections to the school whether they had parents or grandparents who attended or in her case through their spouses family.

One of the things that were doing right now is were trying to interview all of the former living students of the Wheelock School House, Kathy Hedrick said. Every time we go out to interview someone we learn something new about the school and how it ran. Its been one of my favorite things to do recently.

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DNIPRO, Ukraine  Ending days of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital, Russia on Thursday bombarded Kyiv  even as the head of the United Nations visited and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  while also ramping up attacks along the besieged countrys eastern front, Ukrainian officials said.

The attacks came as President Joe Biden announced he was seeking $33 billion in additional military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and also sought congressional approval to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs who support Russian President Vladimir Putin and use the funds to help Ukraine.

The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is more costly, Biden said in announcing the new package to be spent over the next five months.

Thursdays missile attacks on Kyiv hit an apartment building, injuring several people and killing at least one, city officials said. The explosions came as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was winding up a day of meetings in the capital with Zelenskyy and others to discuss the evacuation of civilians from the nearly obliterated southern port city of Mariupol, among other issues.

Guterres and his team were uninjured, the U.N. said. He also inspected the sites of suspected atrocities committed by Russian forces and denounced the evil of the Kremlin-ordered invasion.

I must say what I feel, Guterres said as he toured the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha and Borodyanka, occupied by Russian forces that left behind destruction and death when they eventually retreated. I imagined my family in one of those houses that is now destroyed and black. I see my granddaughters running away in panic, part of the family eventually killed.

So, the war is an absurdity in the 21st century. The war is evil.

His visit to the Ukrainian capital came two days after meeting with Putin in Moscow and reaching an agreement in principle on evacuations for civilians trapped in a vast steel plant in Mariupol. Ukraine has not confirmed any new evacuations from the city, which Russia has otherwise largely overtaken.

As the war raged on Thursday, Ukraine said it intercepted attacks along a 300-mile battlefront skirting the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, while Russias Defense Ministry made unverified claims that it had struck overnight at military targets in Barvinkove and Ivanivka, settlements in the Kharkiv region, which has been the site of near-constant shelling over more than two months of war.

In the region, known as the Donbas, Russian forces are making slow and uneven but incremental progress, a senior U.S. Defense Department official said Thursday.

There has been continued pushback by the Ukrainians since, so theres a lot of, still, back-and-forth in the Donbas in terms of territory gained and/or lost by, frankly, both sides, the official said, briefing reporters in Washington on condition of anonymity.

The growing Russian assaults, now shifted away from Kyiv as Moscow tries to secure a large area across southern and eastern Ukraine, came as hostilities reached new levels not only on the battlefield but also diplomatically.

Russia, under economic sanctions by dozens of nations and facing a U.S.-led partnership of more than 40 countries that vowed this week to increase arms supplies to Ukraine, has suggested it may cut off gas exports to more states after suspending shipments to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday.

In an overnight address, Zelenskyy echoed cries of Russian blackmail against European nations, which together with the U.S. have sent billions of dollars of weaponry and aid to humanitarian groups and front-line fighters to Ukraine.

Moscow is just waiting for the moment when one or another trade area can be used to blackmail Europeans politically, or to strengthen Russias military machine, which sees a united Europe as a target, Zelenskyy said.

Meanwhile, the death toll  estimated in the tens of thousands between civilian and military losses  continued to climb.

The regional governor in Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said Thursday that four people were killed in strikes over the previous day, including an 85-year-old who died after a hospital was hit in Severodonetsk. Writing on the messaging app Telegram, he said dozens of residents had fled the towns of Lysychansk and Popasna in the last day.

In Donetsk, regional military administration leader Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram that 27 houses in the village of Lastochkine were destroyed in the latest attacks. Kyrylenko did not list any casualties.

Despite the fighting, some parts of Ukraine, in particular central and western areas, have maintained a relative sense of normality amid air-raid sirens as residents remain on alert of war.

In Dnipro, in central Ukraine, the business of everyday life appeared to continue Thursday without much disruption. The streets were full of cars, pedestrians walked through the parks to get to their workplaces, and trams and buses operated normally. Outside the city, where the buildings give way to farmland, tractors dug fresh furrows in fields covered with Ukraines characteristic black soil, while other workers prepared the land for the coming harvest.

Fears of the war spilling beyond Ukraines borders have increased.

Strikes were reported this week in Transnistria, a pro-Russia breakaway region in Moldova, also known as Trans-Dniester, thats northwest of the Ukrainian city of Odesa. The Transnistria government, which has thousands of Russian troops stationed on its soil, has accused Ukraine of being behind the aggression. Ukraine has said the explosions, which hit the territorial capital of Tiraspol, were a planned provocation by Russia.

Ukraine also has shied away from taking responsibility for a handful of attacks across its eastern border on Russian targets while proclaiming that it has the right to strike on its adversarys soil if necessary.

Ukraine will defend itself in any way, including strikes on the warehouses and bases of the killers in Russia, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said in a tweet.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said attacks within Russia cannot remain without answer and would be met with harsh response.

Zakharova also suggested that Kyiv  which a bevy of international leaders, including the U.S. secretaries of state and defense, have recently visited, and where the U.S. said it would reestablish its embassy  would again become a target.

Advisers from Western countries staying in Ukraines decision-making centers will not necessarily be a problem for Russias response measures. We do not advise to continue trying our patience, she said.

The war, which has sent more than 5 million Ukrainians fleeing into neighboring nations and left more than 8 million internally displaced, also has rocked natural gas prices in Europe. Russia, the worlds second-largest gas producer, supplies a sizable share of Europes gas and was scheduled to substantially increase those shipments before it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The U.S. imposed a ban on Russian oil and gas last month, but the issue has been more contentious in European nations such as Germany that heavily depend on Russian natural gas.

According to a new World Bank report, the war is likely to have long-term effects on energy costs and wheat prices, as Russia and Ukraine are major producers of the grain.

In a tweet Thursday, Podolyak called on nations to further isolate Russia through energy bans.

Its a matter of time before an embargo on Russia energy will be imposed. Refusal of oil is not only about moral responsibility, but also about calculation: Russia has ceased to be a reliable and predictable partner in the eyes of the world, so the world cant afford to depend on it, he said.

Switching to alternative supply channels quickly will be expensive, but not as expensive as not doing so. In the medium term, Moscow will face total economic and political isolation. As a result, poverty, the scale of which Russia has not seen yet.
Its been about six months since Boones Mill turned its water and wastewater utility system over to the Western Virginia Water Authority, and B.T. Fitzpatrick, town manager, said its already proven to be one of the best decisions the town council has ever made.

Fitzpatrick said water and sewer bills have dropped for a majority of town residents following the systems acquisition by the water authority.

It depended on whether they were sewer only, water only or water and sewer, Fitzpatrick said. ...We had in town customers and we had out of town customers and the out of town customers were paying a flat fee of $20 plus whatever they were using, because they were outside the town. Theyve seen significant reduction  thats $20 off their bills automatically.

That, coupled with the switch to the authoritys water and sewer rates, are the reasons customer bills may be lower. Also a factor in the acquisition was the cost incurred by the town to run its own water and wastewater systems.

The town didnt have enough customers to cover the cost of operating the system. It had gotten so expensive to continue to operate we were losing money for the past five years, Fitzpatrick said at an April 20 comprehensive planning input meeting.

Fitzpatrick said the town was losing between $35,000 and $40,000 annually.

The water authority officially acquired the towns system on Nov. 1, but the authority had been operating the system for the town since July 2018.

We immediately started receiving comments about how much better the quality of the water was, how much more dependable it was. We had I think five different sewer collapses that were fixed, Fitzpatrick said. As council got to see how well the authority was doing in maintaining and managing the system...council finally decided to sell the system.

Fitzpatrick said the acquisition allowed the town to eliminate nearly $500,000 in debt service, freeing up enough money for a capital improvement budget.

Weve never had that before, Fitzpatrick said.

The path taken by Boones Mill may have appeal for other localities.

The town of Vinton in Roanoke County is on track to hand its water system over to the authority on July 1. At its Thursday, April 21 meeting, the water authority board approved a resolution to acquire Vintons system.

This is the biggest merger or acquisition weve ever done, Michael McEvoy, water authority executive director, said during the April 21 board meeting. Were increasing our customer base by 8.5%.

Boones Mill and Vinton arent the first to opt for acquisition. According to information on the water authoritys website, it added Franklin and Botetourt counties in 2009 and 2015, respectively, and currently contracts to operate systems in the town of Fincastle in Botetourt County.

In 2004, the city of Roanoke and Roanoke County consolidated their water and wastewater operations, forming the water authority. Based in Roanoke, the water authority is funded by ratepayers.

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Phoebe Needles will host its Annual Spring Gathering on Saturday which also will serve as a celebration for the centers 120th anniversary. The festivities start at 11:30 a.m. with bluegrass music and will be followed at 12:30 p.m. with a free pulled pork lunch with all the fixings. There will also be a silent auction, games/activities for children and youth, facility tours and more.

Unique Sounds of Mountains, Larry Sigmon and Susan Blankenship, will play at 11:30 a.m. and The Comptons will play at 1:30 p.m.

The silent auction items may be viewed and bid on at 32auctions.com with final bids accepted until about lunch time at the gathering. Items include: quilts, household items, jewelry, gift baskets, gift cards, art work, craft items, books, home decor and more.

All proceeds and donations will go to the 2022 Summer Camp Program. John Heck, camp director, said the summer camping program will be back in full swing this summer.

There are day camps, week-long camps, camps for elementary through high school youth and even a camp for senior citizens. Camps will run from June 10-July 23 and will feature the all-around camp experience as well as camps focused on outdoor expedition, rock climbing, nature, outreach, art and swimming. A short What does Camp Look Like? video is featured on Phoebe Needles website.

Heck said the camps international college-aged counselors include counselors from Turkey, Scotland, Ireland, England and Mexico.

The Phoebe Needles Center got its start in 1902 with the original school building and church on about an acre of land which had been donated. The center has since grown to about 80 acres with the summer camping program established in 1998 by Heck.

The proceeds and donations from the Spring Gathering are needed to help provide financial assistance for campers. Heck said, It has been the historic mission of Phoebe Needles to provide an opportunity for young people to participate in programs without respect for their ability to pay and our board of directors has extended that to include our summer camp program as well.

Bob Pohlad, president of Phoebe Needles Board of Directors, expressed his gratitude for the community support for Phoebe Needles. He said there has been an outpouring of more than 100 items donated for the silent auction. This shows how many people really appreciate what Phoebe Needles represents.

The free food, fun and festivities for the Annual Spring Gathering will be held at the Phoebe Needles Center located at 732 Turners Creek Road, Callaway, VA 24067.
China-linked adversaries have been attributed to an ongoing onslaught against Indian power grid organizations, one year after a concerted campaign targeting critical infrastructure in the country came to light.

Most of the intrusions involved a modular backdoor named ShadowPad, according to Recorded Future's Insikt Group, a sophisticated remote access trojan which has been dubbed a "masterpiece of privately sold malware in Chinese espionage."

"ShadowPad continues to be employed by an ever-increasing number of People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Ministry of State Security (MSS)-linked groups, with its origins linked to known MSS contractors first using the tool in their own operations and later likely acting as a digital quartermaster," the researchers said.

The goal of the sustained campaign, the cybersecurity company said, is to facilitate intelligence gathering pertaining to critical infrastructure systems in preparation for future contingency operations. The targeting is believed to have commenced in September 2021.

The attacks took aim at seven State Load Despatch Centres (SDLCs) located primarily in Northern India, in particular those close to the disputed India-China border in Ladakh, with one of the targets victimized in a similar attack disclosed in February 2021 and attributed to the RedEcho group.

The 2021 RedEcho attacks involved the compromise of 10 distinct Indian power sector organizations, including six of the country's regional and state load despatch centres (RLDC), two ports, a nation power plant, and a substation.

Recorded Future linked the latest set of malicious activities to an emerging threat cluster it's tracking under the moniker Threat Activity Group 38 aka TAG-38 (similar to the UNC#### and DEV-#### designations given by Mandiant and Microsoft), citing "notable distinctions" from that of the previously identified RedEcho TTPs.

In addition to attacking power grid assets, TAG-38 impacted a national emergency response system and the Indian subsidiary of a multinational logistics company.

Although the initial infection vector used to breach the networks is unknown, the ShadowPad malware on the host systems were commandeered by means of a network of infected internet-facing DVR/IP camera devices geolocated in Taiwan and South Korea.

"The use of ShadowPad across Chinese activity groups continues to grow over time, with new clusters of activity regularly identified using the backdoor as well as continued adoption by previously tracked clusters," the researchers said, adding it's monitoring at least 10 distinct groups with access to the malware.

Following the disclosure, India's Union Power Minister R. K. Singh characterized the intrusions as unsuccessful "probing attempts" at hacking which happened in January and February, and that the government is constantly reviewing its cybersecurity mechanisms to bolster defenses.

China, for its part, reiterated that it "firmly opposes and combats all forms of cyber attacks" and that "cybersecurity is a common challenge facing all countries that should be jointly addressed through dialogue and cooperation."

"Recently, Chinese cybersecurity companies released a series of reports, revealing that the U.S. government launched cyber attacks on many countries around the world, including China, seriously jeopardizing the security of critical infrastructure of these countries," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, said.

"It is worth noting that many of U.S. allies or countries with which it cooperates on cybersecurity are also victims of U.S. cyber attacks. We believe that the international community, especially China's neighboring countries, will keep their eyes wide open and make their own judgment on the true intentions of the U.S. side."
Cloudflare on Wednesday disclosed that it acted to mitigate a 15.3 million request-per-second (RPS) distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. The web infrastructure and website security company called it one of the "largest HTTPS DDoS attacks on record."

"HTTPS DDoS attacks are more expensive in terms of required computational resources because of the higher cost of establishing a secure TLS encrypted connection," Cloudflare's Omer Yoachimik and Julien Desgats said. "Therefore it costs the attacker more to launch the attack, and for the victim to mitigate it."

The volumetric DDoS attack is said to have lasted less than 15 seconds and targeted an unnamed Cloudflare customer operating a crypto launchpad.

Volumetric DDoS attacks are designed to overwhelm a target network/service with significantly high volumes of malicious traffic, which typically originate from a botnet under a threat actor's control.

Cloudflare said the latest attack was launched from a botnet consisting of roughly 6,000 unique compromised devices, with 15% of the attack traffic emanating from Indonesia, followed by Russia, Brazil, India, Colombia, and the U.S.

"What's interesting is that the attack mostly came from data centers," Yoachimik and Desgats noted. "We're seeing a big move from residential network Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to cloud compute ISPs."

Record-setting DDoS attacks have become increasingly common in recent months. In August 2021, Cloudflare disclosed what it characterized as the largest application-layer attack ever seen, and, earlier this year, Microsoft revealed that it had prevented multiple DDoS attacks that crossed 2.4 terabits per second (Tbps).

In addition, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky revealed this week that the number of DDoS attacks hit an all-time high in the first quarter of 2022, jumping 4.5 times year-over-year, largely driven by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The DDoS attack landscape in Q1 was strongly influenced by the geopolitical situation: since the end of February, we have seen a surge in hacktivist activity and the emergence of a large number of spontaneous botnets that users connected to voluntarily," the Russian company said.
After the Russian attack upended the daily lives of millions of Ukrainians, including college students, DePaul University partnered with Ukrainian Catholic University and other higher education institutions in the region to enroll more than 100 Ukrainian college students in the Chicago universitys online courses this spring quarter.

Here, they share what life is like continuing their studies amid the conflict.

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Missile strikes in Lviv knock out electricity, prompt students to seek cover. We are all fine, just shocked and scared.

May 6: When Russian missiles struck several power plants in Lviv, Ukraine, earlier this week, college student Marta Haiduchok aimed her cellphone camera out the window of her familys apartment as the evening sky was enveloped with smoke.

There were a lot of explosions, and some were not far away from my house, so we heard those clearly and saw fires, said Haiduchok, 20, a student at Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, and one of more than 100 Ukrainian college students who are Zooming into online classes at DePaul this month.

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My mom and sister were outside, so they saw rockets in the sky and ran to the basement immediately, Haiduchok, said.

I was in my DePaul class ... as soon as I heard the explosions outside, I left the Zoom meeting and went to the basement as well, Haiduchok said.

While the missile strikes in Lviv knocked out electricity in some areas, on Wednesday night, Haiduchok said power had been mostly restored.

We are all fine, just shocked and scared, Haiduchok said. My sister felt super bad, she is only 12, so she cried a lot in the basement, but everything seems to be calmer, she said.

College student Sofiia Kekukh, 18, a student at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, who is also enrolled in online classes at DePaul, recently completed a video project that captures a slice of life during wartime in this hauntingly beautiful city in western Ukraine, around 30 miles from Poland.

The video opens with Kekukh standing in one of the citys historic squares, smiling behind oversized sunglasses and proclaiming: Hey everyone! Today Im going to show you Lviv, and you can hear all of the sounds of this wonderful city, so lets enjoy it together.

The video fades out to the sound of air sirens.

kcullotta@chicagotribune.com

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Ukrainian students studying online with DePaul take shelter as air raid sirens wail. It is safer behind two walls.

April 29: College student Marta Haiduchok was grateful for the silence as she walked from her apartment in Lviv, Ukraine, to meet up with classmates at the Ukrainian Catholic University library.

It gave me so much joy.  I was super scared to go there, because I had anxiety based on the idea that the air siren will catch me while I would be on my way, said Haiduchok, one of 100 Ukrainian students enrolled in DePaul Universitys virtual classrooms.

But the university has shelters so everything was fine and I came back home before the siren, Haiduchok said via text messages to the Chicago Tribune.

But Haiduchoks reprieve from the Russian invasion and devastating war was fleeting, and by 8 p.m. last Thursday Ukrainian time, the air raid sirens in Lviv were wailing and Haiduchok was behind a laptop in a corridor of her familys apartment in western Ukraine, about 40 miles from Poland.

It is safer behind two walls, Haiduchok said, adding: Im in the class right now, and dont want to miss it.

Sofiia Kekukh, 18, a student at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, who is also enrolled in online classes at DePaul, said via text messages with the Tribune that last weekend was her first Easter without my parents.

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I strongly believe in my nation, in our people. This brings me hope and a little bit of peace, said Kekukh, who is studying from temporary housing at an apartment in Lviv, where she arrived recently after she and her parents abruptly left their home in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, in February.

Its difficult to talk about joy right now. My parents, grandparents, relatives, boyfriend and friends are alive and safe. Its (what is) most important for me, Kekukh said. My flat isnt damaged and destroyed. Im glad about it. We celebrated Easter a little. It was dangerous to go by transport to another region because of possible provocations and danger.

Dmytro Sherengovsky, Ukrainian Catholic Universitys vice-rector for academic affairs and internationalization, said recently via a FaceTime interview with the Tribune that following nearly two years of online instruction, the winter quarter at the university began in person, but was upended by the Russian invasion in February.

We lost about a week, but we quickly decided to take a service learning approach, teaching our students how to do practical things while serving the community, Sherengovsky said.

In our case, we asked, what can we do to help? So our students are doing volunteer work, like providing psychological help, sheltering and helping people with disabilities, Sherengovsky said, describing a few of the hands-on student projects taking place across Lviv.

While the universitys 2,100 students were also able to continue their programs through online courses at the university, Sherengovsky said the service learning projects are likely to provide students with experiences that will prove more valuable than traditional lessons learned in the classroom.

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And then, suddenly, the FaceTime chat with Sherengovsky was halted by a keening sound bursting from his smartphone.

The alarms are going off, I need to go to shelter, Sherengovsky said, before adding: It means theyve sighted missiles, but I can still probably talk for eight more minutes.

Im not scared, but I was scared during the first days, Sherengovsky said. Then your psychology adjusts a little bit, and while its definitely not typical, after a number of them, it is a routine.

Ukrainian Catholic University student Oksana Sadova joins professor Clara Orban's Italian class at DePaul University in Chicago via Zoom on April 13, 2022. More than 100 Ukrainian Catholic University students whose studies were interrupted by the war recently joined 42 online classes offered by DePaul. Their university in Lviv, 40 miles from the Polish border, is operating at a reduced capacity due to faculty who have left to help their families and contribute to the war effort. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Ukrainian college students upended by war enroll in online classes at DePaul: My studies are helping me do my best to forget everything thats going on

April 14: When the air raid sirens began wailing at 4 a.m. in Lviv, Ukraine, college student Marta Haiduchok began her day seeking shelter in the basement of her apartment building.

More than 12 hours later, Haiduchok, 20, was Zooming in to her online classes at DePaul University, where she is one of 100 Ukrainian students learning alongside their American classmates in the Chicago universitys virtual classrooms.

When the war first started I was super anxious all of the time, and it was hard to concentrate. But in my case, Im putting so much into my education, my studies are helping me do my best to forget everything thats going on, Haiduchok said via a FaceTime interview with the Tribune from her home in Lviv, located in western Ukraine about 40 miles from Poland.

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After learning many Ukrainian students and their families were displaced from their homes, and universities across the country were operating at reduced capacity, DePaul reached out to professors who were scheduled to teach online courses for the spring quarter, asking for volunteers interested in welcoming Ukrainian students to Zoom in to their virtual classrooms.

Given the eight-hour time difference with Chicago, Ukrainian students were invited to enroll in online courses offered early in the day to allow for synchronized instruction as much as possible, Besana said.

War is no longer an abstract concept for our DePaul students, because now, they know classmates like Marta and Sofiia, which is really powerful, Besana said.

>>> Read more here

kcullotta@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kcullotta
Tanika Beacham, who allegedly stole a partial truckload of tortillas from La Mexicana Tortilla Factory in Grand Island April 6, had her case bound over to Hall County District Court on Thursday.

Beacham, 24, is charged with theft by receiving stolen property worth $5,000 or more, operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest and first-offense willful reckless driving. The latter charge is a misdemeanor; the first two are felonies.

Beacham was arrested following a pursuit on Interstate 80. Heading east, she was driving a 26-foot Penske box truck that contained three pallets of tortillas.

The truck was being loaded early on April 6 at the Grand Island tortilla factory when it was taken. Beacham allegedly drove away in the truck during a break in during the loading process.

State Trooper Zachary Lorang, the only person to testify at Thursdays preliminary hearing, said he was alerted at 8:20 a.m. that day that Kearney police were attempting to pull over the box truck. Lorang drove into Buffalo County, where he saw the vehicle near the Gibbon interchange being pursued by a Buffalo County deputy.

Lorang said the truck was not speeding, rather maintaining a rate of about 70 mph. But Beacham drove recklessly, swerving all over the road, he said. The vehicle came to a stop at the Alad interchange after stop sticks were deployed.

When Lorang spoke to Beacham, she said she was 38 weeks pregnant. She was transported by ambulance to CHI St. Francis.

The vehicle, Lorang said, had a value of $42,000. He also said a letter on the license plate was covered up to avoid identification.

Defense attorney Mark Porto did not argue the matter of theft. But he said the evidence did not show Beacham was guilty of willful reckless driving. She might have been careless, he said, but not willfully reckless.

Hall County Court Judge Arthur Wetzel ruled that the state met its burden of proof sufficiently to send Beachams case over to district court on both felony charges. He scheduled a district court appearance for 9 a.m. May 17.

Porto asked Wetzel that Beachams bond be reduced from $50,000 to perhaps $10,000. Beacham lives in Lincoln, but previously resided in Burwell, he said. She has three kids and was working at Shoemakers Travel Center in Lincoln, Porto said. Beacham has had no prior convictions for felonies, he said, although she has been guilty of failing to appear.

Prosecutor Christopher Harroun asked Wetzel to keep the bond amount at $50,000. Beacham, he noted, has had more than 16 warrants for her arrest in the last five years.

Wetzel kept the bond at its current level, saying that Beacham has been charged multiple times with failing to appear in court.

Beacham, who appeared on video from the Hall County Jail, did not speak during the preliminary hearing. Its unknown if she has given birth.

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A program Wednesday night honored 19 Grand Island High School seniors who are on their way to having their college educations paid for, most of them at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The senior showcase and recognition reception, held at the Bosselman Conference Center, honored GISH students who are graduating from the Nebraska College Preparatory Academy.

In its 16th year, a total of 83 GISH students have been accepted into the academy. GISH is one of four high schools in the state involved with academy.

The program launched in 2006, is funded primarily through grants and charitable contributions. and is operated by UNL.

Students are selected for the program in the eighth grade and continue through high school. If those students complete the four-year preparatory requirements, they are eligible for the financial promise that covers their full cost of attendance to the university, said Moises Padilla, director of the academy.

The financial reward for each student is about $24,000 a year including room and board, Padilla said.

Wednesdays program celebrated the students who have completed four years in the program.

The purpose of the program, Padilla said, is to identify academically talented students in the eighth grade who are first-generation, and who meet income requirements.

Being first-generation students means that neither of their parents has earned a bachelors degree. They are part of the first generation in their families to pursue a four-year degree, Padilla said.

The program is an innovative college access program that assists accepted students on their path to college and future careers. The program prepares the students for college and when they get to college we support their success, Padilla said.

NCPA staff members want those students to graduate from college and to get their diplomas with little to no debt, he said. Many of them will return to Grand Island, and NCPA wants them to have the financial freedom to start a business or do whatever they want to do, Padilla said.

Amy Goodburn of UNL said from the universitys perspective, the academy is one of our gems in terms of providing access and opportunity. Goodburn, who attended the ceremony, is a senior associate vice chancellor and dean of undergraduate education at UNL.

She pointed out that the NCPA students from the four high schools come together at UNL. Padillas team helps support them through their four years on their way to graduation, Goodburn said.

Seventeen of the 19 GISH seniors will attend UNL. One member of the group, Anne Martinez, will attend Haverford College in Pennsylvania, where her education will be paid for through another scholarship, called QuestBridge.

The other member of the group will attend Central Community College in Grand Island. She will receive academy benefits if she transfers to UNL, Padilla said.

Before the reception, GISH students were displaying posters theyd made, which is the programs last requirement. During the event, a number of teachers and students were honored.

Tom Reisdorph of State Farm, a longtime supporter of the program, presented a $10,000 check. That money goes to the academys summer programming.

The other Nebraska high schools in the program are Omaha North, Omaha South and Winnebago.

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LB840 goes before Grand Island voters for renewal this year.

The Local Option Municipal Economic Development Act is the primary incentive offered by Grand Island Area Economic Development Corporation and uses sales tax dollars to provide direct cash payments to local companies.

With its renewal, two new areas of local development are being proposed by the city for businesses to qualify for the funds.

To qualify, businesses must be involved in these areas: manufacturing articles of commerce; conducting research and development; processing, storing, transporting or sale of goods or commodities sold or traded in interstate commerce; sales of services in interstate commerce; headquarter facilities relating to such activities; telecommunications activities; tourism-related activities; and production of films.

The Nebraska Legislature approved two new areas this year: Construction or rehabilitation of housing; and early childhood care and education programs.

We listen to our business partners. Workforce, housing and childcare. Those are true needs, said Dave Taylor, GIAEDC President at a Grand Island City Council work session Tuesday. To continue to grow, we think its imperative for our community that we have these in place so we can continue to recruit people, places and things for Grand Island.

GIAEDC did not include retail as a new qualifying business, though it was also approved by the Legislature this year. The GIAEDC board believes that sector will take care of itself, Taylor said.

Council Member Mitch Nickerson said the focus of housing over creating jobs gives him heartburn.

If we cut off potential folks who want to come in because were now focusing on housing, we are losing potential jobs, he said Tuesday. We have a place for the employees to live, but we dont have a business to bring employees in. Its going to be a balancing act.

A draft version of the LB840 renewal plan was presented to council members and discussed during the work session.

According to statute, a public hearing will be held on the renewal plan on May 10, said Jerry Janulewicz, city administrator.

On May 10 we would also ask the council to adopt a resolution approving the program and directing placement of the question on the ballot for the November 2022 election, he said. If that is a favorable vote from the public, the city council would be asked to adopt an ordinance establishing the plan for the next 10 years.

LB840 was adopted by Legislature in 1991 and adopted in Grand Island in 2002. The first 10-year plan took effect in 2003. It was renewed by voters in 2012 for an additional 10 years, and is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2023.

Decisions about the funds are overseen by the Citizens Advisory Review Committee.

The fund has a current balance of about $1.8 million, Taylor said, with investments going to Amur Equipment Finance, Zabuni Specialty Coffee, GIX Logistics and Hornady Manufacturing, among others.

With the renewal, Taylor asked council to dedicate $950,000 annually to the program. Its an increase from the current $750,000 annual commitment. Of the proposed amount, $525,000 would go into incentives for recruiting businesses, and $425,000 would go toward operations.

We anticipate using that for community betterment, our housing, marketing of Grand Island and our entrepreneurial outreach that were pushing forward with from a sophomore level in high school up to adults, said Taylor.

Beth Frerichs, of the Committee for a Prosperous Grand Island, which supports the GIAEDC, advocated for renewing LB840 to help support business development in Grand Island.

These funds are critical to how we continue to develop and attract new businesses, which then also attracts new talent to our area, she said. Without these funds, with our neighboring communities having these resources, we will likely be left behind and there will be a hole in our community we wont be able to fill easily.

A public hearing on LB840 will be held during the regular Grand Island City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 10, at 7 p.m., at 100 E. First St. in Grand Island.

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The 33rd running of the Bosselman Pump and Pantry/Gus Fonner Stakes attracted a field of six for Saturdays $75,000 race.

Intrepid Heart, trained by Joe Hawley and owned by Jesse Jakubowski and Roger Morse, is the morning-line favorite at 7-5 for the 1 1-16th mile race. The 6-year-old gelding, who was bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, has eight wins in 23 career starts with earnings of $408,482.

Intrepid Heart finished third in the 2019 G3 Peter Pan Stakes and was eighth in the Belmont Stakes.

Intrepid Heart will be ridden by veteran jockey Ken Tohill, who enters Fridays eight-race card with 3,998 career wins.

Fonner Parks leading trainer Isai Gonzalez has two entered. Its a Wrap, ridden by Fonners leading jockey Kevin Roman, is 9-5 on the morning line. Its a Wrap has three wins in three starts at Fonner, including a 6 1-2 length win in the Dowd Mile on April 9.

Hes run three times and hes won all of them, Gonzalez said. We didnt know if we would run him in the Bosselman before we came here. After the way he ran we decided to give it a shot in the big race.

Its a Wrap has the speed to go out fast, but in winning a six-furlong race at Fonner in his first out here he showed he can come from behind.

I dont know whats going to happen, Gonzalez said. When he ran six furlongs he came off the pace. Then when he ran a mile he went to the lead so he kind of surprised me a little bit. In the past before we got him when he ran route races he always took the lead.

Gonzalez will also send

Stephens Answer to the post with jockey Scott Bethke aboard. Stephens Answer, a 9-year-old Maryland-bred gelding, won three straight races at Delta Downs after Gonzalez claimed him for $10,000 on Dec. 8. He has 17 wins in 68 career starts with earnings of $356,784.

Hes a nice horse, Gonzalez said. Hes won a lot of races. We did some good at Delta with him. At some point we thought he was a little bit better than Its a Wrap. Weve had better luck lately with Its a Wrap, but Stephens Answer is a nice horse.

There were 30 horses nominated for the Bosselman. Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak said some of them may not have wanted to go against the competition that was already here.

We had terrific response with our nominations to the race, but having a bear of a local horse (Its a Wrap) and an accomplished ship-in horse (Intrepid Heart) who has been on the grounds for 10 days has caused for a light field, Kotulak said. The local guys who pooled their money to buy a horse to win the Bosselman Gus Fonner stakes are looking pretty good right now with their Intrepid Heart as the 7-5 morning-line favorite.

Convention, owned and trained by Greg Lebsock and ridden by veteran jockey Jake Olesiak, is 7-2. Convention has been running at Sunland Park, New Mexico.

Ive watched the Bosselman over the years, and its just a nice race, Lebsock said. Im very grateful to participate and try to get a chunk of it and see what we can do.

Wrath, trained by Gilbert Ecoffey and ridden by Bryan McNeil, is 8-1. Hold Tight, ridden by Adrian Ramos and trained by Stetson Mitchell, is 12-1.

Lebsack is hoping the race sets up well for his horse.

That horse of Gonzalezs has some speed, Lebsock said. If two or three of them are out there maybe wing dinging it, we can sit right behind them and come run them down and catch them.

There is a possibility of rain in the Grand Island area Friday and into Saturday. Gonzalez isnt too concerned about a muddy track.

Its a Wrap likes the mud, Gonzalez said. If we got some rain that would only help a little bit. I dont think it will be a problem for us if it rains.
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I began writing about retired Lake Lavon crappie guide Billy Kilpatrick a quarter century ago when he first began his almost quarter century guiding career on Lake Lavon. I first fished with guide Brandon Sargent this past fall at Lake Ray Hubbard. This week, I was honored to join both guides on Lake Lavon for some springtime shallow water crappie fishing. Our goal was for me to get some footage for A Sportsmans Life TV show for Carbon TV and for the two guides to talk shop.. This was the first time for the guides to meet and they, as I expected, became fast friends.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to bolster his nuclear forces at maximum speed and threatened to use them if provoked in a speech he delivered during a military parade that featured powerful weapons systems targeting the United States and its allies, state media reported Tuesday.

His remarks suggest he will continue provocative weapons tests in a pressure campaign to wrest concessions from the U.S. and other rivals. The parade Monday night was to mark the 90th anniversary of North Koreas army  the backbone of the Kim familys authoritarian rule  and comes as the country faces an economy battered by pandemic-related difficulties, punishing U.S.-led sanctions and its own mismanagement.

We will continue to implement measures aimed at strengthening and developing our countrys nuclear forces at the maximum speed, Kim told his troops and the crowd gathered for the parade at a Pyongyang plaza, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The fundamental mission of our nuclear forces is to deter war, but if an undesirable situation emerges on our land, our nuclear forces cannot be limited to a single mission of preventing war, Kim said. If any forces, regardless of who they are, try to infringe upon our fundamental interests, our nuclear forces will have no choice but to absolutely carry out its unexpected second mission.

The parade featured marching troops shouting hurrah! and an array of modern weapons including missiles potentially capable of reaching the U.S. homeland as well as shorter-range missiles that can be fired from land vehicles or submarines and threaten South Korea and Japan.

One of the weapons showcased at the brightly illuminated Kim Il Sung Squar,e named after Kims late grandfather and state founder, was North Koreas biggest, newly built intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-17.

North Korea claimed to have test-fired that missile last month in its first full-range ICBM liftoff in more that four years. South Korea disputed that, saying North Korea launched a smaller, existing Hwasong-15 ICBM following a failed launch of the Hwasong-17. Despite the outside doubts, the missile fired on March 24 flew longer and higher than any other missile North Korea has launched, demonstrating potential ability to reach deep into the U.S. mainland.

KCNA said spectators at the parade raised loud cheers when they saw the Hwasong-17, which it said showed the absolute power of Juche (self-reliance), Korea and the strategic position of our republic to the world.

North Korea often commemorates key state anniversaries with huge fanfare to boost an internal unity. Tuesdays KCNA dispatch praised Kim for accomplishing "the historic great cause of completing the nuclear forces by making a long journey of patriotic devotion with a death-defying will in order to make sure that the people would eternally enjoy happiness free from the horrors of war generation after generation.

Kim has also been reviving nuclear brinkmanship aimed at forcing the United States to accept North Korea as a nuclear power and to remove crippling economic sanctions. Analysts say North Korea is exploiting a favorable environment to push forward its weapons program as the U.N. Security Council remains divided over Russias war in Ukraine.

Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have been stalled since 2019 because of disagreements over the potential easing of U.S.-led sanctions in exchange for North Korean disarmament steps. Kim has stuck to his goals of simultaneously developing nuclear weapons and the countrys dismal economy in the face of international pressure and has shown no willingness to fully surrender a nuclear arsenal he sees as his biggest guarantee of survival.

North Korea has conducted 13 rounds of weapons tests this year, including its claimed launch of the Hwasong-19. There are also signs North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that was last active in 2017, possibly in preparation for exploding a nuclear device.

In 2017, North Korea claimed to have acquired an ability to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland after a torrid run of nuclear and missile tests. The North had halted such high-profile tests before it entered the now-dormant diplomacy with the United States.

The North has spent much of the past three years focusing on expanding its short-range arsenal targeting South Korea as nuclear negotiations with the United States stalled.

Kims aggressive military push could also be motivated by domestic politics since he doesnt otherwise have significant accomplishments to show to his people as he marks a decade in power. He failed to win badly needed sanctions relief from his diplomacy with then-President Donald Trump, and the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed further shocks to the countrys broken economy, forcing him to acknowledge last year that North Korea was facing its  worst-ever situation.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
CARTERVILLE  Each year, the Poshard Foundation for Abused Children gives grants during Child Abuse Awareness Month to local organizations.

We all know child abuse is not ending, Jo Poshard said. We need to speak about child abuse throughout the year. We know it is a very big problem right here at home.

Funds from the Poshard Foundation are earmarked for things that help children lead more normal lives, but often have no other source for funding.

We have used the word normalize in the past. We want these kids to have as normal lives as possible, Jo Poshard said.

Some of the things they have funded include: recreational activities and supplies, after-school tutoring, car seats, dental care, play therapy, summer camps, items for a courage cabinet, beds, art supplies and more.

Jo Poshard said the organizations help create a safety net for children throughout the region.

Mallory Bollinger of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois in Marion said they will create a second visitation room at their facility.

Bollinger, who works with foster families, added that some foster children need a place to visit with their biological parents while they are living apart from one another. They want to create a comfortable home-like for families to visit.

The money will go toward counseling and wellness center. It will allow us to provide two therapists and training to serve youth in our communities, Tunezia Badger of Spero Family Services in Marion and Mount Vernon, said.

She added that the Poshard Foundation has funded Spero for years.

Stress and Trauma Treatment Center Inc. of Eldorado and Carbondale will use money from the Poshard Foundation to create a youth employment program.

Matt Buckman, director of the Stress and Trauma Treatment Center, said teens will receive vocational training, pay, and learn about budgeting and how to balance a budget. They may even be put to work at the centers new Carbondale location.

The new location, at 301 S. Wall St. in Carbondale, opened April 1. Buckman said the building is still undergoing some renovations.

Bollinger said sometimes children receive services from more than one organization. They may use their new room for family visits, then receive counseling from the Stress and Trauma Treatment Center and go to summer camp at the Boys and Girls Club of Southern Illinois. The funding is multiplied in the lives of children.

Jo and Glenn Poshard also thanked John A. Logan College for providing office space for the foundation. This allows the foundation to use 98% of donated funds to benefit children.

Dr. Kirk Overstreet, president of John A. Logan College, spoke during the event.

We are proud and humbled to host the Poshard Foundation, Overstreet said. I look forward to having the Poshard Foundation on campus for many years.

Other groups receiving money from the Poshard Foundation, included:

Arrowleaf in Vienna; Baptist Childrens Home and Family Services, Carmi; Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Illinois; Cairo Womens Shelter; Caritas Family Solutions, Carterville and Mount Vernon; CASA in Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Marion, Saline and Williamson counties; Centerstone; Childrens Home and Aid, Herrin; Childrens Medical and Mental Health Resource Network, Anna; Foster Family Resource Center of Southern Illinois, Carbondale; Franklin-Williamson Child Advocacy Center, Herrin; Healthy Families Illinois  Shawnee Health Service, Carterville; Hoyleton Youth & Family Services; Lutheran Social Services of Illinois Prison and Family Ministry, Marion; Perry-Jackson Child Advocacy Center, Pinckneyville; Pregnancy Matters, Carbondale and Marion; Southern Illinois Coalition for the Homeless, Marion; Survivor Empowerment Center (formerly The Womens Center, Carbondale); The Amy Center, Mount Vernon; The Guardian Center, Carmi; The Nights Shield, West Frankfort; and Two Rivers Child Advocacy Center, Anna.

For more information about the Poshard Foundation for Abused Children, visit www.poshardfoundation.org. Donations can be made online.

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Former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak, center, walks with attorney Michael Monico, far right, as they exit the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago on Nov. 22, 2016. Vrdolyak was arraigned in federal court on charges he improperly shared in millions of dollars from the $9 billion tobacco settlement in Illinois with a lawyer who failed to pay taxes on his cut. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak has been released early from federal prison after serving about five months of his 18-month sentence for a tax-related conviction.

Vrdolyak, 84, had been housed at the federal medical prison in Rochester, Minnesota, since late November. As of Friday, his location was listed on the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website at a halfway house in Downers Grove.

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Given Vrdolyaks age and ill health, its likely hes serving out the rest of his sentence on some form of home detention, though still under the jurisdiction of the prison bureau. His sentence is scheduled to conclude in March 2023.

A BOP spokesperson could not immediately be reached Friday, and Vrdolyaks attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

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Vrdolyak, a former Chicago political powerhouse and twice-convicted felon, reported to prison on Nov. 30 to begin serving his sentence stemming from millions of dollars in legal fees he and a colleague reaped in the states massive settlement with the tobacco companies in the 1990s.

In January, just a few weeks after his arrival, Vrdolyaks attorneys filed an emergency petition asking U.S. District Judge Robert Dow to order his release, citing the former aldermans advanced age, rapidly declining health and susceptibility to the surging omicron variant of COVID-19.

Prosecutors objected, saying that Vrdolyak was receiving top-notch medical care in prison and that efforts to win release, which began with a request to the Bureau of Prisons the day after he reported, showed a remarkable display of white collar criminal privilege.

The government has no doubt that prison life is tough on the defendant and his family, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu wrote in a filing in January. But time in prison is not meant to be a walk in the park.

In denying early release in March, Dow noted that Vrdolyak would be eligible to petition the Bureau of Prisons for release to home confinement once hed completed 25% of his sentence, which would have been mid-April.

Vrdolyak pleaded guilty in March 2019 to a tax charge alleging he obstructed an IRS investigation into payments to and from his friend and associate Daniel Soso related to the states $9.3 billion settlement with tobacco companies in the late 1990s.

In asking for prison time, prosecutors said Vrdolyak had been paid at least $12 million in fees stemming from the settlement even though he did no legal work on the case and hid his involvement from the Illinois attorney general.

Vrdolyaks lawyers argued that his cut from the tobacco deal was a legitimately earned consulting fee paid by a law firm that had sought his expertise and assistance.

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Soso, 70, a lawyer and former Chicago cop, pleaded guilty in 2019 to one count of income tax evasion for failing to report more than $3 million in income in the deal. He was sentenced in March 2020 to two years in prison.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
The academic achievements of more than 1,800 Southern Illinois University Carbondale students will be celebrated during spring 2022 commencement exercises May 6-7.

Festivities start with the SIU School of Law commencement on Friday, May 6, at Shryock Auditorium. On Saturday, May 7, Banterra Center will hold two commencement ceremonies.

As of April 22, there are 1,834 candidates for degrees, including 1,208 candidates for bachelors degrees, 392 candidates for masters degrees, 113 candidates for doctoral degrees, 72 law degree candidates and 49 candidates for associate degrees.

Commencement is a celebration of Salukis drive, hard work, persistence and imagination of a better world and their role in it, said Chancellor Austin A. Lane. Were proud and excited to honor them for reaching this milestone.

There is no ticketing for guests, and guest seating for all of the ceremonies is on a first-come, first-served basis. Ceremonies will be compliant with campus and state pandemic safety protocols in place at the time.

The ceremonies will also be livestreamed at commencement.siu.edu/videos.

Here is the ceremony schedule and honorary degree and distinguished service award recipients where applicable.

Friday, May 6

1 p.m.  SIU School of Law. Carolyn B. Smoot, retired First Judicial Circuit Court judge, is the keynote speaker.

Saturday, May 7

9 a.m.  College of Agricultural, Life, and Physical Sciences; College of Health and Human Sciences; SIU School of Medicine (SOM Ph.D. and masters degrees only).

Carolyn Taft Grosboll, a two-degree SIU Carbondale alumna and recently retired clerk of the Illinois Supreme Court, will receive a Distinguished Service Award.

1:30 p.m.  College of Arts and Media; College of Business and Analytics; College of Engineering, Computing, Technology, and Mathematics; College of Liberal Arts; School of Education.

Richard Hunt, considered perhaps the most important living contemporary sculptor in the United States who was a visiting artist at SIU Carbondale in 1969 and had a one-person show in 1970 in University Museums Mitchell Gallery, will receive an honorary Doctor of Public Arts degree.

Cho-Yee To, an emeritus professor at the University of Michigan and 1967 SIU Carbondale doctoral graduate in education, will receive an honorary Doctor of Educational Leadership degree.

Roland Burris, a 1959 SIU Carbondale graduate in political science and former Illinois attorney general who became only the sixth African American to serve in the U.S. Senate and the only SIU graduate to hold that seat, will receive a Distinguished Service Award.

John S. Jackson III, now a visiting professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, has served the university for more than 50 years in numerous roles including faculty member, dean, provost and vice chancellor, and interim chancellor, will receive a Distinguished Service Award.

SIU to award four posthumous degrees

The university will award four posthumous degrees during May 7 ceremonies. The student, degree, and commencement ceremony time are:

Joseph A. Ermel, Bachelor of Science in aviation flight, 9 a.m. ceremony for College of Health and Human Sciences.

Alexander Thomas Sgueglia, Bachelor of Science in aviation technologies, 9 a.m. ceremony for College of Health and Human Sciences.

John Jones, Bachelor of Science in information technology, 1:30 p.m. ceremony for the College of Engineering, Computing, Technology, and Mathematics.

Jacob Jurinek, Bachelor of Science in journalism, 1:30 p.m. ceremony for the College of Arts and Media.

Medallions, honor cords and veterans cords reflect achievement

A total of 505 students who are participating in commencement exercises will wear special medallions and honor cords during the ceremonies that reflect significant academic achievement.

Among the 505 students earning recognition:

247 will receive cum laude distinction, signifying a cumulative GPA of 3.5 to 3.749.

138 will receive magna cum laude distinction, signifying a cumulative GPA of 3.75 to 3.899.

115 students will receive summa cum laude distinction, carrying a cumulative GPA of 3.9 to 4.0.

80 University Honors Program students will receive a certificate for completing 18 honors credit hours while maintaining a 3.3 GPA; three of those students also completed a 3-credit thesis

11 Saluki student-athletes will earn Latin honors, and one student athlete will also receive an honors program certificate.

In addition, graduating students in active military service or military veterans will wear red, white and blue cords provided by the university in recognition of their sacrifice, commitment and service to our country.

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CARBONDALE  The Southern Illinois Irish Festival is returning following a five-year hiatus.

The Art, Music, Education and Ethnic Awareness non-profit will once again hold its Irish Festival in Carbondale this coming Saturday.

The festival originally started as a project by Charles Fanning in 1997, Carbondale Councilmember Tom Grant said.

Fanning was the director of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale Irish and Irish Immigration Studies Program who wanted to celebrate Irish music.

The festival began as a project to celebrate Irish American music, Grant said. It wasn't originally billed as a festival, but a Friday and Saturday night concert. The following year, it was turned into an outdoor festival. The Southern Illinois Irish Festival has seen many changes in the past years. Yet, the festival has shown endurance within the community, bringing crowds of 1,000 to 4,000 people each year.

The festival was last held in 2017 in Walker's Bluff, Grant said.

However, despite similar festivals being held all over the world, the non-profit considered ending the project.

Irish Festivals happen all throughout the world, Grant said. The longest-running festival of this kind is the Puck Fair in Killorglin, County Kerry, Ireland which can trace its origins back to 1613. The organization was considering disbanding and closing the non-profit 501(c)3 but people were still asking 'What happened to the Irish Festival?' It's a great way to bring people together in the spirit of peace and harmony.

The event has changed since its original inception.

Rather than being a multi-day event, the festival will only last one day this year.

It will be held on Saturday, April 30, in Turley Park from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and it will include music, arts, crafts and a wide variety of food.

Overall, Grant believes the festival is just the start of a new string of events that could bring greater inclusion to Carbondale.

In a diverse community such as Carbondale, it only makes sense to try and use the organization to promote the rich and varied cultural traditions that exist in Carbondale, Grant said. We are hopeful to create a Dia De Los Muertos Celebration (Day of the Dead) that gives homage to those who have gone before us. A Diwali celebration (festival of lights) and other festivals (perhaps Juneteenth, dragon boat races, the Chinese new year, etc) as a way to learn from and about one another that promotes tourism and respect for each other as neighbors and human beings.

For more information on the Southern Illinois Irish Festival go to https://www.facebook.com/Southern.Illinois.Irish.Festival.

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GARY  Xoey Glenn, 3, was a star, a beautiful child with a great spirit who could carry on a conversation with an adult despite her tender age, her father said.

Nothing will help Marcus Upshaw understand why Xoey died from what police say was abuse and torture at the hands of her mother and the mother's boyfriend, he said.

"We all want to know why, but there's no explanation to why," said Upshaw, who spoke to The Times this week during a phone conversation that included his mother, Jennifer R. Williams, and sister Tavie Williams.

Upshaw knows how it feels to lose a child.

He lost his 10-year-old daughter A'mari Upshaw in December 2018 to the rare blood disorder hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or HLH.

"Losing one was enough," he said. "But losing this one. This has opened up a whole different type of wound."

According to court records, Xoey Glenn was beaten, blindfolded, bound and forced to stand in a closet for nearly three hours April 12 by her mother Tiarra Glenn, 28, of Gary, and her mother's boyfriend, Devan L. Allen, 29, of East Chicago.

At one point, Xoey began hyperventilating while a scarf was tied around her head, so Glenn and Allen pulled the scarf up from her mouth and attempted to force her to drink water, Glenn told police.

After Xoey fell unconscious and urinated and defecated on herself, Glenn changed her clothes, cleaned the house and waited 20 minutes to call 911, records allege.

Xoey died April 15 from multiple blunt force injuries as a result of child abuse, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Glenn has pleaded not guilty to murder, five counts of battery and three counts of neglect. Allen was arrested in Lynwood and has not yet been extradited to Lake County, according to police and court records.

While he wasn't initially asked to give permission for Xoey's organs to be donated, Upshaw came to accept the decision, he said.

Through Gift of Hope, Xoey's heart was donated to a 7-month-old boy, her liver went to an 8-year-old boy, one of her kidneys was given to a man in his 50s and her other kidney went to a woman in her 40s.

"I was happy my daughter was able to live on through those four people," Upshaw said.

Jennifer R. Williams said he hopes her family gets meet the recipients one day.

"Yes, (Xoey) is gone from the body. She lives in the heavenly realm," Williams said. "But her earthly organs are helping someone else to live."

A family in shock

Upshaw said he was shocked and traumatized after Glenn's relative called him and said Xoey was being flown to University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital.

Upshaw said Glenn was pregnant with Xoey but they had separated in mid-2018, when he left Indiana to be with A'mari while she received treatment in Arizona. He donated bone marrow in July 2018 for a transplant for A'mari and lived in the hospital with her for months.

Upshaw said he and Glenn were estranged at times, but during the past year she had allowed him to regularly FaceTime with their daughters Xoey and Xaria, 6.

During one of their last calls, the girls were playing and Upshaw talked to them about moving to Arizona, he said.

"I visually spoke to them, and I didn't see no signs of neglect or them being in danger," Upshaw said.

Glenn suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and has had several joint replacement surgeries. If she had asked for help, Upshaw or his sister would have been there in a heartbeat, he said.

Tavie Williams said she and her sister had been trying for years to spend more time with Xaria and Xoey, but Glenn's family pushed them away.

"I told Tiarra, if you need anything, I am here," Williams said. "I can get them every weekend."

Glenn allowed Williams to take the children for a weekend when Xoey was about 5 months old, but she became estranged from her nieces after that. She didn't push the issue, because Glenn eventually began allowing Upshaw to talk to his daughters, she said.

In a way, losing Xoey feels like watching a Lifetime movie or reading news about another family, Williams said.

"My mom raised us to love one another. Our friends, if they needed somewhere to stay, they could come to our house," she said. "We weren't raised like that."

Glenn lived with both Tavie Williams and her mother, Jennifer R. Williams, at various times in Gary, so she knew she could lean on them, they said.

"We're still a family of love," said the elder Williams, who relocated to Arizona with Upshaw. "I'm not angry. All I have is disbelief."

A different kind of pain

Family members said they're still trying to process what happened.

"I just tell myself to breath every day, because it's like all that has escaped me," Jennifer R. Williams said. "I'm weary. I feel like I forgot how to pray, but I know God is my strength."

She's grateful for the moments when she was allowed to be Xoey's grandma, but her family's deepest pain is knowing they were trying to bring Xoey and Xaria to Arizona and now Xoey is gone.

"Child abuse is unheard of, but torture, I can't even grasp that," she said.

She was Upshaw's strength when A'mari died, but now Upshaw is her strength, she said.

"I'm proud of him in both situations," she said. "It's a different walk. It's me and him again. This time, this takes the strength of his brothers and sisters."

Upshaw said he flew to Chicago immediately after learning Xoey was hospitalized and went before a judge April 13 to get custody of his daughters.

Xaria is now with him, his mother and several of his siblings in Arizona, and they plan to seek counseling to help her process the trauma she endured  the extent of which has not yet been fully revealed.

When Upshaw asked the 6-year-old how she felt about being with him, she replied cheerfully: "I feel good."

But family members have noticed she wants to watch YouTube videos about CPR and helping people when they pass out, and she asks for permission to do everyday things like use the bathroom.

Upshaw and his mother said they're staying strong for Xaria.

"We still laugh," Jennifer R. Williams said. "But when we all sit down, it still comes to the table. We're trying to put together the pieces of this."

Before A'mari's death, the family started a foundation called Unicorns for A'mari to raise money for her medical expenses.

Now, they tell Xaria her little sister is "up there running with the other unicorn," Jennifer R. Williams said.

"I just say Xoey is with your big sister."

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COLUMBIA  With the revival of earmarks after a decades long pause brought on by high-profile abuses linked to corruption, U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn says he hopes that his colleagues in both chambers see the renewed process as more transparent and accountable, to the benefit of all constituents regardless of party.

Theres nothing political about serving people and getting the greatness of this country accessible and affordable to everybody, the No. 3 House Democrat told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "The things that are great in this country are too expensive for low-income, poor people, and they cant have access to it in rural communities. That, to me, is sinful.

Clyburn's comments came as the window for the next fiscal year closes on the requests, which are solicited by members via online portals, then submitted to relevant appropriations committees for consideration.

The once-popular practice of member-directed funding requests  often called pork barrel spending, because lawmakers would divert funds to pet projects in their states  was banished from Congress a decade ago. Critics thought too many projects went to a handful of powerful lawmakers and fostered a pay to play culture in which campaign contributions were often solicited from lobbyists and others.

Now, rebranded as community project funding, the process has returned, as lawmakers in both parties grew frustrated by their inability to shape spending legislation.

On that point, Clyburn said no one is better suited to know a districts needs than the member representing it.

Nobody out in California gives a hoot about the little town of Santee, South Carolina, or those communities in Calhoun County, Orangeburg County, Bamberg County, Colleton County, Clyburn said, of the rural areas he represents that have benefited from one of his projects, the Lake Marion Regional Water Agency.

The new arrangement has more guardrails than in the past, requiring members to submit certification that neither they nor their immediate families have financial interests in projects they request. Its supporters promote the framework's transparency, although Clyburn acknowledged an ingrained potential for problems.

I dont care what you do with a system: Somebody will attempt to abuse it, Clyburn said. Be transparent, but thats not going to stop people who think they can work around the system.

Thousands of the first earmarks in a decade are sprinkled throughout the governmentwide $1.5 trillion bill recently signed by President Joe Biden. According to an Associated Press examination of items attributed to specific lawmakers in legislative documents, the bill includes nearly 5,000 such projects, worth $9.7 billion.

Among them are $41 million for Clyburns projects, which include rural water infrastructure efforts, crime-reduction initiatives and small-business development, benefits for largely rural, low-income areas of his district he argued would be disadvantaged without earmark opportunities

Theres not a single earmark that I have ever requested that I would not be pleased with it being on street corners in neon lights, because what I was trying to do was respond to the wishes of people in those communities, he said.

Most House Democrats requested projects for this years bill, compared with about half of Republicans. In the 50-50 Senate, the items were sought by 46 Democrats and their two allied independents, but just 16 Republicans, according to APs review.

Breaking with more than 100 congressional Republicans, who refused to earmark as a matter of principle, the bill also includes millions in requests from U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the only other member of South Carolinas delegation to submit projects.

Many in the GOP remain outspoken against earmarks. Rep. Ralph Norman, Grahams fellow South Carolina Republican, has several times introduced a ban on the practice, saying last year that the way we appropriate federal dollars has deteriorated into a national disgrace" and warning an earmark revival is sure to lead to more corruption and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars.

To Clyburn, the undertaking's benefits should be straightforward  and apolitical.

If you believe in making this countrys greatness accessible and affordable for all of its citizens, then thats all it is," he said. But if youre more interested in making a headline  which is what some of my Republican friends seem to be interested in  than making headway, I dont know if I can talk to you.

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An 18-year-old Cayce man is accused of forcing a 15-year-old girl to have sex with him. Now shes pregnant.

Allen Richard Chavis III is facing one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

According to an Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office arrest warrant, the alleged incident happened on March 9 in Orangeburg County.

During the alleged incident, the 15-year-old, said no, stop and physically assaulted Chavis, the warrant states.

She allegedly punched him and he ran from the scene, according to the incident report.

Chavis and the 15-year-old girl knew each other, the report said.

The suspect appeared before Orangeburg County Magistrate Valerie Lawrence on Thursday afternoon.

During his bond hearing, Chavis shook his head from side to side as Inv. Andy Hayes presented the allegations.

Sheriffs office victims advocate Amy Rinkenberger told the court that the 15-year-old went to the hospital after the incident due to air leaking from her lungs.

Rinkenberger said the 15-year-old is in fear and very much terrified of Chavis.

Lawrence set Chavis bond at $15,000 cash or surety. She stipulated that if he posts bond, he must wear a GPS monitor while he awaits his trial.

She also ordered him not to have any contact with the 15-year-old or her family.

If convicted, Chavis faces up to 20 years in prison.

Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD

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A health care training school is coming to Orangeburg.

The LaTrice D. Ferguson School of Nursing Assistants is opening at 948 Dantlzer St.

Enrollment starts May 2 and classes are scheduled to begin June 6.

A ribbon-cutting and meet-and-greet are set for Monday, May 9.

Office hours will be Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The course is seven weeks, during which students meet twice a week.

"I have a school already in Walterboro," CEO and Program Director Ernestine Ferguson said. "Several students come from Orangeburg and Columbia down to Walterboro. I needed to come here."

Asheara Roberson travels from Denmark to Walterboro and has been with the program for a year.

"As long as you are on track, doing your work and getting your things done, you will definitely have your certification lined up in a row in less than a year," she said. "It is super fast-paced and fast-tracked. You are in and you are out."

Roberson said she is in the process of becoming a patient care technician.

Currently, the school has 24 students enrolled with about eight already expressing an interest in enrolling at the Orangeburg office.

"We have a fast track," Ferguson said.

The school, with the motto "Making Dreams Come True," offers a number of health care courses: nursing assistant, phlebotomy technician, patient care technician, medication technician, medical clinical assistant, EKG technician, Basic Life Support/CPR Certification. Online courses are available in medical billing and coding and medical administrative assistant.

"We work hard for our students," Ferguson said.

The school, which is a national and state in-facility testing and certification site, touts its small classroom setting, daily constructive feedback, hands-on demonstrations and opportunities for professional development and leadership.

The school has two classrooms as well as a practice lab for clinical learning. The school has three instructors and two front desk staff.

Programs are licensed and state-approved and accredited by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.

The Regional Medical Center Vice President of Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer Karrie Powell expressed her excitement to be able to partner with the school in helping to grow nursing staff.

"We have made great improvements in staffing but still need additional caregivers at both RMC and in the state of South Carolina," Powell said. "We welcome students and have created specific programs designed to ensure they have a good experience and gain vital knowledge they need to deliver excellent care. RMC has experienced a tremendous year and our quality has improved tremendously over the last year. We are investing and caring for the people who care for the people."

Ferguson opened the school six years ago in Walterboro in honor of her daughter LaTrice Davonna Ferguson, who was dedicated to the service of others. LaTrice died March 1, 2015, at the age of 24.

Ferguson owns the school with her husband, Donald.

For more information about the school, call 803-997-2022 or 843-782-4646 or by email at ldfsnada@gmail.com. The website is: https://ldfschoolcna.wixsite.com/walterboro

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The Regional Medical Centers Bowman medical clinic renovations have been completed with an open house scheduled for the middle of May.

We are really excited, RMC Vice President of Operations Sabrina Robinson told RMC trustees at the board's April meeting. We will plant our flag in Bowman.

RMC Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Lisa Etheridge will serve as the provider of the clinic upon the retirement of Dr. Anna Price. Etheridge has been with RMC for the past three years.

Etheridge will staff the facility three days a week and a licensed practical nurse or a medical office assistant will be on site five days per week.

The specific days the clinic will be open have not been determined, Robinson said. The hours of the clinic will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The medical clinic is located at 106 Causeway Court.

The primary care service is the first presence for RMC in Bowman.

"If we didn't take the location over, the residents of Bowman would not have any local primary care," Robinson said.

Robinson said having the clinic in Bowman means continued health care access for residents in that area of the county, as well as potential ancillary revenue to the hospital.

The RMC has upgraded the facility by painting and putting in new flooring. The work was done by the hospital's engineering department.

Board Chair the Rev. Dr. Caesar Richburg said he is excited about "our path going forward."

Trustees also unanimously voted to approve a marketing plan as part of a rebranding effort. The effort will be led by the hospital's strategy department.

"That means this has been cascaded from the top down," Richburg said. "It is a total buy-in from the governance group here at the hospital."

"We thought we need to rebrand the hospital with emphasis on sharing our patient experience stories and really emphasizing our quality-of-care successes," RMC President David Southerland said following the meeting. "Health care is transitioning from being a fee-for-service base reimbursement to what we call a value-based model. A value-based model means that we will get reimbursed on a future basis on our quality. We are really having to focus on our quality."

The hospital's strategy committee will be responsible for leading the marketing and rebranding effort. Southerland said once an overall rebranding plan is finalized, it will be shared with the public.

The rebranding effort comes on the heels of RMC getting reaccredited and the gold seal of approval awarded by The Joint Commission in March.

The accreditation demonstrates the hospital's continuous compliance with its performance standards. The gold seal is a symbol of quality that reflects a health care organizations commitment to providing safe and quality patient care, according to the Commission.

Accreditation is a three-year award.

In other matters, Interim RMC Chief Financial Officer Dennis Pettigrew said financially there were "a number of positive stories" for the month of March.

I think we have had some less positive in the past three or four months," he said. "Things are better."

Pettigrew said RMC had 769 acute discharges for the month of March. That is up about 30% from the same month last year.

That is the second highest discharge month we have had in the last 15, Pettigrew said.

He said the length of stay has also decreased to about 3.8 days from five days as compared to March 2021.

That is a positive pickup, Pettigrew said. A lot of that is Medicare. Medicare pays us on a case rate. When the length of stay goes down, we get paid the same amount if we manage our expenses.

The hospital was up on inpatient surgeries to about 136 compared to 132 last year and was down on outpatient surgery cases by about 27% compared to year ago.

Total surgery cases were up by about 7% to 866 cases as compared to 813 last year March, Pettigrew said.

This is the highest amount we had in the past 15 months, Pettigrew said. That is a good story when you look at surgeries. Obviously, that drives a lot of the revenue streams.

Pettigrew said contract labor was 40 for the month as compared to 90 last year, which is a positive as contact labor is expensive.

Salaries were above last year, Pettigrew said. We have adjusted compensation for employees to be competitive in the market. We have a smaller number of people but they are being paid appropriately for our types of service. We are comparable to Columbia and Charleston.

Pettigrew said charges for the month of March were $63.7 million compared to March 2021 $67.7 million, or a 5.9% decrease.

The trending is getting better. We are not where we would like to be, but this is a positive month and we think March sets a nice tone going into the second half of this fiscal year, Pettigrew said.

Despite several positive trends, the hospital still has some financial challenges.

For the entire hospital system, which includes the hospitals six primary care practices, there was a loss for the month of March of about $1.2 million, which includes non-operating income.

The loss could have been worse. The RMC did receive about $1 million in COVID relief funds for the month.

Year-to-date the hospital has lost $18.5 million, but thanks to about $10.9 million in COVID relief, the hospital has seen a loss of about $9.4 million.

The hospital's fiscal year begins October 1.

In other business:

It was noted the RMC recently passed an inspection of its facilities by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Trustees entered into closed session to receive the president's and community works reports and a number of updates to include from its Edisto Regional Health Services, Trustee Development, strategic planning (hospital projects), quality care, and its residency program partnership with the Family Health Center.

Other items discussed in closed session were the hospital's current legal matter related to the ambulatory surgery center/certificate of need process in light of statewide efforts to repeal the CON process; its compliance report, personnel performance review, financial report, revenue cycle, medical staff as well as a Chief Nursing Officer and Management Oversight Committee reports.

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South Carolina State Universitys board of trustees has selected Interim President Alexander Conyers as the institutions 13th president.

The announcement came during special called meeting held via teleconference on Thursday. The board met in executive session for nearly two hours before returning to make their decision.

This is our time. I am a man of faith, and I am certain that President Conyers has been chosen to lead this university for such a time as this. Alexander Conyers is the righteous way for S.C. State, board Chairman Rodney Jenkins said.

Now we cannot take our feet off of the gas. Because of his leadership over the past nine months, this university has already begun its ascension as the first choice for men and women who desire to receive undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in their chosen career fields, Jenkins said.

The board's presidential search committee voted unanimously to recommend Conyers, an S.C. State alumnus, as president following their meeting on April 21.

The trustees who were available for Thursdays full meeting also voted unanimously for Conyers.

Conyers, a retired U.S. Army colonel, was named vice president for strategic alliances and initiatives at S.C. State in April 2021.

He became acting president in July 2021 after former president James Clark was ousted. Conyers was named interim president in August.

Jenkins said, This board and President Conyers continue to have the support of our state and local lawmakers, corporate and business partners, and most important, the approval and support of our faculty, staff and students. With this level of buy-in, we cant help but to succeed.

I say thank you to this board for being bold and for making the decision that will provide this university with a sustainable leader who is capable of going the distance for S.C. State. Thank you to all of our stakeholders who raised their voices and let us know what and who they believed was the right person for the job. Your feedback continues to be valuable as we pave the way forward.

Former S.C. State president Dr. Leroy Davis, who is an alumnus, said he wishes the university - and Conyers - well.

I trust that the university will be in good hands with Mr. Conyers. I haven't really had opportunities to converse with him yet, but I wish him the very best. I just wish that the university continues to prosper and grow and take advantage of opportunities as they avail themselves, Davis said.

People need to support the university's growth and development in any way they can, while letting the board handle the leadership issues, he said.

Davis noted that everyone's top priority should be whatever is best for the students.

That's the bottom line  to do all that we can to ensure that this generation of students is competitive and can represent the values that we hold very dearly as alumni of South Carolina State University," he said.

Davis said the university has made strides.

I try to support the university myself where I possibly can. They have certainly been much more aggressive in their fundraising, and I think that's a positive thing. I see positive things happening at the university, and I want to do all that I can personally to make sure that I am supportive of my alma mater," Davis said.

State Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, said, I think Col. Conyers would make an excellent choice. Govans also an alumnus.

Conyers has the right leadership skill set, great rapport with the alumni and public and interacts well with members of the South Carolina General Assembly, Govan said.

State Sen. Vernon Stephens, D-Bowman, said, I truly respect the boards decision. Hes also an S.C. State alumnus.

I think since Interim President Conyers has been there at the institution, he, along with the board, has blazed a path that I personally feel will bring South Carolina State back to some facsimile of the greatness that weve required and weve retained for decades, Stephens said.

He continued, Reaching out to bring students in from across the United States and around the globe, the institution has done tremendously in that arena of marketing itself. ... Marketing South Carolina State University is going to be one of the ways by which the institution becomes a vital part of the community and the state of South Carolina, as well.

Stephens said he applauds the board for its bold jump in naming Conyers president.

Mr. Conyers has done great in my opinion. I just see us building upon that. He has made some inroads into the South Carolina General Assembly. He has made inroads into other states and business partners. So I see this as a great opportunity for the institution to continue to come back to its roots, he said.

Stephens continued, Im very proud. As an alumnus, I am ecstatic that we have come to this point and that we can look positively to the future. Its amazing what hes done in that short period of time, from bringing kids back who only owed a couple hundred dollars, and using some of those funds that we got from the feds to offset those kids tuition and bring them back to the institution.

State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, said she, too, wishes Conyers well and hopes that he is successful in his role as president.

I wish Mr. Conyers well and look forward to working with him as I have with all of the previous presidents to move South Carolina State forward. I am hopeful that he will surround himself with a very strong team academically to ensure the success of his administration, Cobb-Hunter said.

If hes able to assemble a strong leadership team with experience in higher education, then he should be quite successful, she said.

Helen Corbett-Brandyburg, a member of the alumni associations Atlanta chapter, believes it is Conyers time to lead.

His career in the military, his career after becoming a civilian, has shown that hes not only a success when hes talking military talk, but hes a success when he starts working outside of the military. I believe that hell be a success in whatever he does, she said.

Conyers retired in 2016 after 28 years in the U.S. Army.

He rose from private to colonel as the leader of the Armys largest military police brigade. He led over 3,600 soldiers and civilians across four military installations: Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Stewart, Georgia; Fort Campbell, Kentucky and Fort Drum, New York. He was also responsible for the safety of the Fort Bragg community, with a population of over 100,000 personnel.

Before joining S.C. State, he worked in Washington, D.C., in the Senior Executive Service as the deputy assistant secretary of the Army. In that capacity, he led the Army Review Boards Agency, which serves as the highest administrative level for review and appeal of personnel actions taken by lower levels of the Army.

Conyers previously served as a member of the SCSU Board of Visitors, chairman of the Student Relations Committee for the SCSU National Alumni Association and a member of the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee. He was featured as a 2016 honoree on the Stellar Alumni Calendar.

He has also been inducted into SCSU ROTC Hall of Fame and served as the president of the Washington, D.C., Chapter of the National Alumni Association.

A Manning native, Conyers holds a bachelors degree in criminal justice from S.C. State, a masters degree in corrections from the University of South Carolina and a masters degree in public administration from Troy University.

He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and The University of North Carolinas Leadership, Excellence and Development program. He is a member of several professional associations, including the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education, and a former adjunct professor at Upper Iowa University.

Contact the writer: dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5534. Follow "Good News with Gleaton" on Twitter at @DionneTandD.

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The Colonial Cafe has been a part of the Naperville Plaza shopping center at Washington Street and Gartner Road since 1983. (Erin Hegarty / Naperville Sun)

As recent sales show, theres still plenty of life left in the citys first neighbor shopping center, which turns 60 this year.

The 115,000-square-foot Naperville Plaza at Washington Street and Gartner Road sold for $52 million this year to Jacksonville, Florida-based real estate investment trust Regency Centers.

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The transaction comes a little more than a year after Northpond Acquisitions bought property in December 2020 for $36.5 million.

Built in 1961 by Harold Moser, the property today is anchored by Caseys Foods and Trader Joes grocery stores and longtime Naperville retailer Oswalds Pharmacy.

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Grocery-anchored shopping centers are a core component of our business and Naperville Plaza was chosen because its one of the most compelling shopping centers in Chicagoland, Nick Koglin, a Regency vice president, said in a statement.

Weve long been intrigued by the prospect of acquiring this center and are excited about the opportunity to selectively enhance what is already good to make it great, Koglin said.

The shopping center is located on an exceptional piece of real estate, he said, and has a diverse array of local, regional and national tenants and long-standing performance history.

When businesses come to the plaza, they tend to stay.

The average tenure of the centers 27 tenants is 21.6 years, according to real estate listings.

Among the old-timers is the Colonial Cafe, which has been around since 1983, when the cafes owners converted the former Hobnail Restaurant.

Of the two anchor grocers, Caseys Foods opened in 1991 and Trader Joes in 2002.

While Oswalds Pharmacy has been a Naperville staple for more than 140 years, it moved to the Naperville Plaza in 2004.

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Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico said though hes seen housing prices skyrocket in the past few years, the Naperville Plaza sale is pretty remarkable.

Naperville is certainly at the front edge of the pack commercially, he said.

The city has received a fair amount of acknowledgment nationwide as a place to invest for small business and a place to raise a family, the mayor said. It certainly helps to support and bring confidence with investors in our area, he said.

Naperville is pretty lucky to have economic engines such as Edward Hospital, North Central College, the car dealer district and the corporate corridor, Chirico added.

These are all in and of themselves really strong job creators and tech space, he said.

And though the college and the hospital are nonprofits, they still have a lot of economic impact with the people who live and spend their money at neighborhood shopping centers like Naperville Plaza, Chirico said.

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The center has two open spaces available for renters: a 3,730-square-foot area between Trader Joes and Oswalds Pharmacy and 1,000 square feet on a corner near Gardner Road, according to Regency Centers website.

Other tenants include a Firestone auto shop, Sherwin-Williams paint store, Orangetheory Fitness, Busey Bank, Impact Physical Therapy, Celidan Creations, Eye World, Succulent Seafood, Decca Spice Lounge, Roccos Pizza, Healthy Bread 4U, Krisers Natural Pet, Shuckin Shack fish market, Fantastic Sams, Weight Watchers, Jimmy Johns, YogaSix, Naperville Smiles Dental, Deka Lash and Empress Nails.

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JACKSON  Crowds had started to form at Albertsons where Cindy Dahlin was trying to run errands last week.

I couldnt even get to my car because everybody in the lobby and the sidewalk was just talking about Did you open your letter? Dont go home and get your mail. Its going to ruin your day. 

The letters causing the panic were Teton County property value assessments.

True to Assessor Melissa Shinkles word, estimated property taxes had increased by an average of 30% to 50%.

That jump is attributable to high assessed values, which are calculated in different neighborhoods from the record-setting local real estate sales of 2021. The assessed values are multiplied by a number of mills to assess property taxes. The state sets the vast majority of the mills, with counties able to decide up to 12 mills. In 2021, the Teton County Board of County Commissioners approved 7.39 mills out of the 12 theyre authorized to levy.

Dahlin saw her tax estimate go from just under $6,000 to nearly $10,000.

That left Dahlin and her husband, Jeff, who has retired from the Post Office, with some big questions.

Should they move? That would mean leaving their six grown children and six grandkids who live here.

Could they find more work? Two days before Dahlin, 68, got her letter, shed told her employer at the Presbyterian Church that shed need to go part-time this summer to help rehab her recent knee replacement.

Should they raise the rent on the unit above the garage? Dahlin did raise rent by $100 a month to $1,200. That still left about an additional $250 to find.

What about buying a camper to park in their kids backyards for a few months at a time?

Thats still just a joke Dahlin makes to her kids. Four of them are teachers, she said, and their tables wouldnt be big enough.

Ultimately, Dahlin said, she and Jeff will do what they must to stay, but theyre not looking forward to it.

I really dont want to work full time. But what happens if I need to work full time? she said. Just do this till youre 95 and drop dead?

Since receiving their tax estimates, Dan and Suzanne Marino have been asking the same questions as Dahlin from the perspective of landlords.

The Marinos have spent the 40 years theyve been in the valley running small businesses, employing hundreds of workers.

When Suzanne desperately needed employees to work in Cadillac Grille  now Local restaurant and bar on Town Square  she would not only offer night-of cash payment and New York steak dinners, but housing wherever people could fit.

Ive had employees living at my house throughout the years. I had employees living on the deck behind the Cadillac. I had employees living in the basement, Suzanne said.

The Cadillac Grille closed in 2012. But Suzanne still fills out the paperwork every year to verify that the tenants in the condo they purchased for the workforce meet deed-restriction rules.

As landlords, Dan and Suzanne say theyve voluntarily rent-controlled their unit as long as theyve had it. During a few months of the pandemic, they forgave rent payments that didnt show.

And though theyve been fighting the same housing issues for decades, they are losing their ability to help, they say, against an estimated 38% property tax increase this year after a 25% increase last year.

Thats on top of rising HOA charges, replacing appliances, and rising labor costs.

After running Jackson Hole Buffalo Meat Co., and the popular eateries Cadillac Grille and Lift, the couple retired to Alpine in Lincoln County. Their income is solely rent and Social Security.

In order to continue supporting the local workforce, theyve placed another offer on a condo in town, an investment Suzanne says her brother, a land developer, has calculated to yield about a 2.5% return. But after opening their property tax envelope, knowing that burden will be passed along to the renter, theyre reconsidering all their options.

After her decades in Jackson Hole, Suzanne said she cant wrap her mind around renting to someone outside the local workforce.

But there are no incentives to do so, they say, and theyll end up passing costs to the very people they want to help.

We are totally for workforce in Teton County, Dan said, but we cant lose money doing it. We have to survive, too.

Nancy Brumsted also wondered what the property tax increases would mean for the community.

You just kind of wonder whats going to happen to Jackson, Nancy Brumsted said, Is it just going to be Disneyland? Or is it going to be a real place?

Nancy and her husband, Alan, performed creative maneuvers like picking up weekend and summer jobs to get a foothold in the Jackson housing market decades ago and refinancing to lower their monthly house payment.

The fixer-upper they bought 25 years ago off South Park Loop Road has seen tax increases of 337%, according to Alans calculations, in the last four years alone.

What progress they might have made by refinancing, Brumsted said, was completely wiped out by property tax increases.

Theyll have to come up with an extra $242 a month, she said, and theyre on fixed income supplemented by Nancys violin lessons.

Theyre both retired school district teachers  Alan now serves on the school board  so they understand that 75% of their property tax money goes to education.

Thats great that schools benefit, Brumsted said. Were not against paying taxes  [but] every year is completely ruining us. Its completely ironic.

For one Teton County renter, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of losing his housing prematurely, theres less uncertainty about what property tax increases will mean for his future. Hes already on Zillow, he said.

The renter has worked on and off in Teton County for nine years, living with his girlfriend for the last four years in a room they found via social media. Theres a communal kitchen upstairs, shared by renters in another two rooms, and rent is now $1,700 a month.

The landlord also lives with them and this year, the landlord sent out the property tax assessment letter in a group text.

The renter got the group text with the other tenants  a picture of the property assessment, with the new assessed value, the change since last year, and the new rent starting May 1. That amounted to $800 more a month split among the three rooms.

Sure, that was blunt, but the renter wasnt surprised.

Like what did we really expect was going to happen when there wasnt necessarily a deep inventory for rental properties to begin with? he said.

In his early thirties, the renter has worked in hospitality and retail with a second job at Grand Teton National Park during the summer, making the instability work. But seeing the text this year, he said, was an inflection point.

His month-to-month leases might be more of a blessing this time around than a curse as he looks for a new place.

And though hes hoping to start over in someplace more stable, unlike people on fixed income or with close families, the renter still had big questions:

You can contest if the American Dream is dead or alive, he said, but like, if you dont give people that opportunity, what do you really call it?

For the first time since 2019, Wyoming lawmakers funded the Property Tax Refund Program.

You can qualify for a refund up to 50% of the property tax you paid in 2021 if you meet the following criteria:

Youve been a Wyoming resident for the past five years, have a household income in Teton County of $73,658 or less and your personal assets do not exceed $133,651 per adult household member.

In other words, if you own other real estate, bank accounts and investments, they cannot value in excess of $133,651 per adult household member. However, you may exclude the value of your home, a car for each adult household member, and any retirement accounts like IRAs, 401k plans and Medical Savings.

The filing deadline is June 6.

More information can be found at TetonCountyWy.gov/440/Property-Tax-Refund-Program or by calling the Treasurers office at 307-733-4770.

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While the blaze raged, crews watched the neighborhood behind the burning building to make sure embers flying off the fire wouldnt land and catch on other homes.

Thankfully, none did, and the fire didnt spread. But Mills Fire Chief Wil Gay said that if the fire had happened at a warmer time, crews would have likely been facing a lot more trouble.

We watched a video of that ember shower, he said. Yeah, it would have been very interesting in the middle of summer.

And with lighter-than-average precipitation and an ongoing drought forecast for the coming months, this summer is shaping up to be another scorcher.

Drought conditions mean drier grass and brush on the ground, which can catch fire easily. Wyomings high winds dont help. Colorados Marshall Fire in December was a harsh reminder that when things are dry, a fire can accelerate uncontrollably  anywhere and at any time. Even a trailer dragging chains on a hot paved road or a shard of broken glass catching the sun at just the right angle might be the spark.

A lot of it comes down to having the perfect conditions for it to happen, Gay said. A hundred times, it could not happen, but its going to be that one time where you have 50 mph winds, and off to the races you go.

But you dont have to leave the safety of your home and your land up entirely to chance  theres plenty you can do to prepare for fire season, no matter where you live.

***

Wyoming got lucky last summer. It couldnt escape the heat and drought that hung heavy over the Mountain West, but was spared the extreme devastation that wildfires inflicted in Colorado, Montana and other nearby states.

Wildfires, intensified by climate change, burned 53,496 acres in Wyoming in 2021, according to the National Interagency Fire Centers annual report, compared with 279,243 acres in 2018, 41,857 acres in 2019  the least dry of the last four years  and 339,783 acres in 2020.

The first few months of 2022 again brought worryingly little precipitation to Wyoming. Then April dumped above-average rain and snow on much of the state, including Natrona County.

Which is good, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture Hydrologist Jim Fahey, because that sets the fire danger back a few more weeks through the summer.

But there is a caveat. Wetter springs produce more vegetation, which can become additional kindling when it dries.

All that water increased moisture in parched soils and restored mountains rapidly dwindling snowpack to near-normal  and in a few places, even above-normal  levels across Wyoming. Wetter soils, Fahey said, are less likely to burn. And increased snowpack prolongs snowmelt further into the summer, decreasing fire risk.

But all bets are off if we warm up too fast, he said, and a runoff occurs too early, and we dont have any pretty beneficial precipitation in June. Like what occurred last year.

Thats basically what forecasts say Wyoming is in for: Another hot, dry, dangerous fire season. Even after Aprils precipitation, the drought that started in 2020 remains Wyomings worst in nearly a decade. The entire state has been classified since September as abnormally dry or worse by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Still, Fahey said, the cooler and wetter it is this spring, the better off the state will be come summer.

***

The remoteness treasured by so many in Wyoming leaves its communities uniquely vulnerable to wildfires. When the state is most susceptible, just about everyone is at risk.

Wyoming is home to the highest share of people in any state  82.2%  living in the fire-prone wildland-urban interface, defined by the U.S. Fire Administration as the zone of transition between unoccupied land and human development, where manmade structures meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels.

The designation doesnt necessarily mean fires are likely, but refers to the type of place where residents have to stay vigilant in the summer, especially on the hottest, driest, windiest days.

Everywhere in Wyoming is urban interface, said Cody Parke, training lieutenant for Evansville Fire. We have it in the middle of the city in some places.

When an individual structure goes up in flames, firefighters do whatever they can to salvage it. But wildland fires are kind of a whole different beast, Parke said. As soon as a house starts to burn, even if it couldve been saved under normal circumstances, it may already be too far gone.

In those situations, protective measures can make the difference  like they did during the Cole Creek Fire, which burned 10,000 acres and 14 homes in rural Evansville in 2015.

The houses (where) their properties were clean, they survived, said Evansville Fire Captain Dan Coursen. The houses that had stuff piled up around them, that fire burned them down.

***

Protecting your community starts at home, and local officials say the most important factor in preventing house fires is awareness.

Casper Deputy Fire Chief Devin Garvin said some of the most common causes of house fires in the Casper area are unattended cooking and smoking materials not being disposed properly.

Being more aware can mean refraining from going on your phone while somethings on the stove, or making sure your cigarette is totally out  cold to the touch  before you let it out of your sight.

Garvin said hes seen multiple fires started by a cigarette catching on dead grass or leaves, then breaching into homes.

Weve had quite a few families actually displaced from those fires, Garvin said.

It also means keeping an eye on any power sources or cords youre using  even a charging laptop can heat up enough to catch if the conditions are right, Gay said.

In the winter, fire crews see plenty of buildings catch fire from overheated space heaters, clogged chimneys and still-hot fireplace ashes.

Matt Gacke, a marshal and investigator with the Natrona County Fire Protection District, said they tend to see more structure fires in the winter than the summer.

But structure fires still happen in the warmer months, coinciding with the more active wildland and grass fire season.

Instead of chimneys and space heaters, Gacke said, investigators find summer fires often start from dropped cigarettes, lightning storms, dragging chains throwing sparks off the road or people welding near tall, dry grasses. Fireworks, which are illegal in Natrona County but allowed in other parts of the state, can also set off grass fires.

Fire is a tool, not a toy, Garvin said.

Most of the time, structure and wildland fires dont mix, Gacke said. But sparks flung from a house fire are most likely to catch and spread in the summer. And in wildland-urban interface like western Natrona County and rural Evansville, where houses are interspersed with grassland, wildfires can consume the structures in their path.

***

Here are some steps you can take to minimize your own risk.

Inside the house

Smoke detectors  working, regularly tested ones  are essential: In the living room, the hallways and every bedroom. Local fire departments can help supply residents with the number of detectors they need.

Garvin also recommends installing carbon monoxide detectors, particularly in homes that use natural gas appliances or have attached garages. Those are also often available from fire departments.

Another key way to decrease the chance of fire starting is by keeping an eye on heat sources in all forms.

Space heaters, for example, should be at least three feet away from anything that can catch fire  including curtains, clothing, papers and furniture. While newer models have a tip-over switch that turns off if the heater is knocked over, most older ones will keep heating even if theyre face-down.

Garvin says he recommends people opt for wax warmers instead of candles, but says to keep an eye on the flame if you do light one in your home.

While cooking, dont leave a hot stove unattended and remember to turn off the oven before you leave your house. If you do have to walk away from the kitchen while cooking, Garvin recommends taking something like a spatula or pot holder with you as a reminder to go right back.

When you go to bed, officials recommend closing your bedroom door. In case of a fire, a closed door can keep flames at bay.

If you use a fireplace, make sure to store ashes in a closed metal can to ensure theyre completely out and so that wind cant pick up and carry them. And clean your chimney regularly so it gets enough ventilation; if you dont have a brush, Casper fire stations can lend you one.

Meanwhile, those who use oxygen at home can request a thermal fuse device that stops any fire detected in and around the tubes. Garvin said installing those devices is especially crucial for those who smoke, but can save anyones life in case of a fire. Thanks to a state program, you can either contact your local fire department or use an online form to order one for free.

Outside the house

Many of the houses that burn down during wildfires survive the main flame front, then succumb to embers after firefighters have moved on. We go off to fight the head of the fire, Parke said, and then theres nobody back here to pay attention to these houses.

Fire officials encourage clearing a defensible space around your home to prevent fire from catching  basically, mowing your lawn, clearing away dead leaves and other debris and trimming overhanging branches away from the house, porch, deck and ground. The space beneath your deck or porch should also be clear of anything that might catch fire, including tumbleweeds.

Once youve raked that all up, you can take your yard waste to the landfill and compost it for free.

For added security, Evansville Fire advises replacing flammable materials, like mulch, with crushed stone or gravel immediately beside the house and regularly inspecting and repairing shingles and roof tiles  and screening in roof and attic vents  to keep embers from finding their way in.

And to prevent a fire from starting on your property, if you have a fire pit or light any kind of fire on your property, make sure to put it out completely before leaving it or going to bed. Those pits should also have a spark arrestor, or a mesh screen that goes on top to capture live embers.

The same goes for campfires, which officials say you should only be burning in the first place when winds are below 15 mph and theres no burn ban in the area. Dont throw in trash or other things that dont belong in an open fire, especially pressurized items like spray paint or adhesive cans.

Firewood stored outdoors should be kept some distance from the house, especially in the summer.

And if you smoke (even outside), make sure to put your butts out completely and leave them in a fire-safe container. Garvin recommends a glass jar with water, or a metal can with a lid to keep oxygen out.

Avoid using something that can melt or catch fire, like a plastic bucket, a trash can with contents that might ignite or a flower pot with any organic material inside.

If it happens

Your family should talk about the possibility of a fire in your home and make a plan, including where to meet once you get outside  a neighbors house, a nearby street corner or another landmark you can all remember. That way, when firefighters arrive, you can tell them whether anyone is still inside.

If a fire does start in another part of the house, feel your door before opening it. If its hot, try to stuff towels or clothing against the bottom and use a window to get out (and practice exiting through windows beforehand, especially if you have kids). Even if you cant get out through the window, Garvin says you should go to it and yell, scream and make as much noise as possible so crews can find you more easily.

Or, if you are able to exit through your door, close it and any other doors you go through on your way out of the house to limit the amount of oxygen moving through. Fire officials say you should leave as quickly as possible, forget about saving that old family photo album and refrain from going back to look for a pet.

And, Garvin said, call 911 no matter how small you think the fire is  even if its a minor flame you can put out with water or a fire extinguisher. Professionals can look for remaining hot spots and make sure its safe to go back inside.

Officials recommend many of the same precautions for wildfires, including identifying safe ways out of the neighborhood, developing and practicing an emergency action plan for all people, pets and livestock and setting a safe meeting place. Its also a good idea to review your insurance coverage every year and maintain a home inventory that can help you settle claims more quickly.

If theres time before you evacuate, you should shut inside doors to limit oxygen flow, secure outer doors and windows to minimize embers ability to catch and remove anything flammable from near the house.

Sometimes, those small actions can determine whether a house survives.

We triage the house, Coursen said. Literally, well come in, look at the property, look at the stuff around that house. And if we tag it a red, its a no-save type thing. If we tag it a yellow or green, then we might be able to go in there, throw some stuff away from the house and save it. Green, it should be able to stand alone.

But no house is worth risking your own safety. If you feel unsafe, evacuate  even if you havent been ordered to leave just yet.

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SHERIDAN  Montana and Wyoming state officials have been in communication daily since Montana officials made an April 1 call on the Tongue River and its tributaries to fill the states Tongue River Reservoir.

Wyoming State Engineer Brandon Gebhart said the states are regularly reevaluating the need for the call, especially in light of snow and other precipitation arriving since April 1. However, he said neither state is rushing to lift the call.

We realize that the recent storms have maybe changed the hydrologic conditions, Gebhart said. (Montana officials) are actively working right now to reevaluate their process with this new information to see how or if that impacts them lifting the call The one thing were being cautious about is that we dont want to lift the call just to reinstate the call at a later date.

The Tongue River basin has been experiencing drought conditions over the past year with below average winter snowpack and streamflow conditions, which led to Montanas call, said Division II Water Superintendent David Schroeder. Montanas reservoir needs roughly 27,800 acre feet of water from the Tongue River basin to be filled, Schroeder said.

Until the reservoir is filled  or the call is lifted by Montana  filling the reservoir will become the second priority for the water of the Tongue River and its tributaries. First priority will be all pre-1950 water rights in Wyoming. All post-1950 water rights in Wyoming will be regulated off or prevented from turning on until Montanas call is completed, Schroeder said.

Schroeder said he didnt expect the call to have a significant impact on landowners with post-1950 rights given how early the call was happening in the irrigation season.

A call on a river or drainage system is a legal mechanism to order water conservation actions to help ensure minimum, legally required flows to users with senior water rights  typically for irrigation. In the event of a potential water shortage, those with junior rights  post-1950 Wyoming water rights holders, in this case  can be ordered to forgo diverting water to help ensure senior-rights holders downstream  Montana in this case  get their full allotment.

Montana made its call through the Yellowstone River Compact  an interstate agreement entered into by Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota in 1950. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the compact was created to provide for an equitable division of the waters of the Yellowstone River and its tributaries, while encouraging the beneficial development and use of the basins waters and furthering intergovernmental cooperation.

This is not the first time Montana has made a call on the Tongue River under the compact  it happened most recently in 2015 and 2016, Schroeder said. However, this is the first time a call has been made since the resolution of Montana vs. Wyoming, a U.S. Supreme Court case that stretched on for 11 years between 2007 and 2018.

In the case, Montana argued Wyoming violated the Yellowstone River Compact by permitting citizens to employ more efficient irrigation systems, causing Montana to receive less runoff water than the state had originally received. The court found Wyoming had violated the compact in two of the years claimed by Montana  2005 and 2006 and Wyoming was ordered to pay more than $67,000 in damages to Montana.

Included in the final judgment was a decree outlining how the call process should work in the future. These rules are being followed by both states in the current call, said Chris Brown, senior assistant attorney general for the state of Wyoming.

The last call was in 2016, and when that call was made, the tools in the decree had not been established at that point, Gebhart said. So I think we have much more guidance and knowledge of how were going to handle calls going into the future.

Gebhart noted the years-long litigation created tension between the two states, and departmental turnover led to a loss of institutional knowledge in both states. Despite that, Gebhart said his office is dedicated to keeping open lines of communication with Montana and to honor the spirit of the compact.

Weve committed to working more closely together, and I think thats the first step to making this whole process better, Gebhart said.

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Respect small states, practice true multilateralism: Chinese envoy

Xinhua) 08:48, April 29, 2022

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China's permanent representative to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, on Thursday called for respect for small states and the pursuit of true multilateralism.

"In the face of various challenges and crises, we must stay committed to equality of all states regardless of their size, safeguard the authority and universal application of international law, and practice true multilateralism," he told a high-level roundtable on small states, multilateralism and international law.

The grave challenges for peace and development, intertwined with uncertainties and instabilities, are posing enormous pressure on countries, especially small states. In times of crisis, it is more important to realize that humanity belongs to a community with a shared future, he said.

"To address the challenges, we must stay committed to true multilateralism. If the current geopolitical conflict tells us anything, it is that true multilateralism has nothing to do with group politics, small cliques, bloc confrontation, or a new Cold War," he said.

"True multilateralism is about safeguarding the international system with the United Nations at its core. The purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be upheld. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected. The rights of all countries to independently choose their social systems and development paths should be protected. And the legitimate security concerns of all parties should be guaranteed," Zhang said.

Despite their differences in size, strength and wealth, all states are equal members of the international community. This is a founding mission of the United Nations and the essence of multilateralism and international law. However, hegemony and power politics still exist. There is still a long way to go for democracy in international relations, he said.

"All too often, we see some countries, on certain occasions, say they respect the rights of other countries to choose their cooperation partners. Yet on other occasions, they make irresponsible slanders about other countries' normal interactions with third countries. It is unfair and unreasonable to ignore or even harm the interests of small states and force them to choose sides. This must be corrected through greater democracy in international relations," Chinese envoy said.

He stressed the importance of staying committed to the integrity and unity of international law.

International rules should be made with joint participation, and should be applied universally and impartially without exception. There shall be no double standards in applying international law, he said.

No country should abide by international law only when it suits its interests, and abandon it otherwise. International rules should not be made out of the will of a few countries and be forced on other. There is only one set of rules: the basic norms governing international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. All countries should follow these rules in good faith and together protect them, he said.

China's foreign policy has always been about equality. China is a true friend of small and medium-sized countries, and has always stood together with them. Small states make up the vast majority of the 193 UN members. They know exactly whether the multilateral governance system is fair or not. And they play an important role in climate response, sustainable development, and international rule of law. Therefore, in the work of the United Nations, the voices of small states must be heard, and their demands must be taken seriously, he said.

China stands ready to work with various countries to unite under the UN banner, uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, seek mutual respect, mutual benefit and common development, and safeguard the authority and effectiveness of multilateralism and international law, so as to jointly safeguard world peace and tranquility, said Zhang.

The high-level roundtable was hosted by the Permanent Mission of Singapore in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Forum of Small States, which serves as an important platform for small states to discuss issues of common concern, exchange views and coordinate positions. The forum currently has over 100 members.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
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Lightning doesnt strike in the same place twice LIGHTNING DOESN'T STRIKE IN THE SAME PLACE TWICE | Lightning does strike the same place twice  Roy C. Sullivan knew that much. The late Virginia man holds the Guinness World Record for most lightning strikes survived: seven. Tall buildings and other architectural beasts are known to have been struck by lightning on multiple occasions. The Empire State Building in New York alone boasts an average of 23 lightning strikes a year. In 2019, researchers for the first time observed lightning needles. These 300-feet-long and 15-feet-wide needles carry undischarged electricity back up to clouds, in turn creating more lightning bolts in a single flash. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
THE Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) is urging women in abusive relationships to leave at the first sign of trouble.

The advice comes from the head of the TTPS Gender-Based Violence Unit (GBVU) Senior Supt Clair Guy-Alleyne, who spoke with the Express yesterday following the deaths of Kester Williams and his wife, Sharsa Alfonso-David, at Hibiscus Drive in Edinburgh 500 on Saturday morning.
This is a screenshot from a video captured by a motorist of the driver fleeing as an attempt is made to stop him.
Ms. Natasha Barrow, Permanent Secretary, Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs and Professor Prakash Persad, President, UTT, signing the Memorandum of Understanding between both parties.
The race among Republicans who want to be the states next schools chief could come down to whether voters believe the education system in Arizona is properly funded.

During a debate aired this past week by KAET-TV, the Phoenix PBS affiliate, business owner and Scottsdale resident Shiry Sapir said she sees no reason to put more taxpayer dollars into K-12 education.

While state funding this year is about $6,600 per student according to legislative budget reports, Sapir said that reaches $14,000 when federal and local dollars are added in.

You can go to some religious schools or charter schools at a fraction of that, she said. Theres no business in the world that thrives when you throw good money after bad.

But Phoenix resident Tom Horne, who served as superintendent of public instruction from 2003 through 2010, said he disagrees.

Maybe its unusual for a conservative Republican, he said. But I think we need more resources in our schools as long as theres accountability making sure those resources achieve academic results and to be sure that the money is used for teacher salaries and smaller class size.

State Rep. Michelle Udall of Mesa, who is pushing legislation to revamp school funding, said she falls somewhere in the middle.

I think there are some areas where were spending enough and other areas where we need some targeted increases, she said. For example, Udall said, the amount of money the state puts into special education programs does not even cover the services that schools are required to provide.

She also said teachers should be paid more. But Udall said she believes that some of the problem of getting dollars into their pockets lies not with the state but with local school boards who have been using some of the money allocated by the state, including for a 20% average salary increase, for other priorities.

Horne said his 24 years of experience on the board of the Paradise Valley Unified School District convinces him that there are ways to spend less on administration and more in the classroom.

Whats being taught in AZ schools

The debate, sponsored by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, found much greater area of agreement among the candidates on the question of what is being taught in traditional public schools. And much of that is over the teaching of what has been called critical race theory.

Their understandings of exactly what that includes differ among the candidates. But they agreed that schools should not be teaching students that their race matters.

Critical race theory is really a way of looking at history as every decision they made was based on racism, said Udall.

The problem with that is when we start teaching our children, our teachers, to see race first, then they see race first, she said. But race, Udall said, is not always the motivating factor.

Definitely, our country was not founded to perpetuate racism, she said.

That goes to a point Horne made as he discussed the 1619 Project, the New York Times series looking at the history of America from when slaves were first brought here. One conclusion is that at least part of the reason the Revolutionary War was fought was to preserve slavery in the colonies.

Theres not one scrap of paper from the period that would support that, he said. Its a complete fabrication.

Sapir said it comes down to teaching all the facts.

Yes, there was slavery in America, she said. But if you taught children that there was also the Civil War, they will not tear down statues of Lincoln because theyll understand he was actually leading the movement to abolish slavery and he actually took a shot to his head for that. But the reason our children tear those statues down is because somebodys not teaching them the facts.

That led moderator Ted Simons to question whether there were a lot of statues of Lincoln being torn down.

Not really, Sapir acknowledged. But there are a lot of others.

The issue of critical race theory is only part of what Sapir said is wrong with what is being taught in Arizona schools.

Weve been seeing since COVID the oversexualizing and grooming of our children rampant around our state, she said.

Pushed for a definition, Sapir said grooming is conditioning a child to accept things that they otherwise would not accept as normal, such as sexual conversations with adults.

Udall said grooming is rare in Arizona schools.

But there are cases that weve seen it happening, she said, defining it as preparing them to receive sexual advances from adults.

And Horne chimed in with a story from a neighbor who said her young son was acting like a ballerina. The story, he said, is the students picked out Skittles and, depending on the color they got, they had to play the role of being gay or transgender.

That has no business in our schools, he said, saying he believes it fits within the definition of grooming.

Vouchers for private schools

All three say they support providing vouchers of public funds to parents to be able to send their children to private and parochial schools.

Public schools will perform better if they have competition, said Sapir.

Udall angered members of her own party last year when she  along with two other Republicans  refused to support what could be a massive expansion of who would be eligible.

During the debate, however, she said she does support vouchers in a limited way.

But it does require accountability, Udall said.

She compared it to when Arizona first legalized charter schools about three decades ago.

These are technically public schools and they get state funds, but they can be operated by private organizations, even on a for-profit basis.

Charters took off like wildfire, Udall said.

Some of them were great and some of them were really bad and really took advantage of parents and children, she said. Rather than ensuring they got a good education, some of them took the money and ran.

Now, Udall said, charter schools are regulated and can be closed if theyre not performing, she said, suggesting that some similar oversight would be appropriate if public and private schools are getting state dollars.

The survivor of the Aug. 2 GOP primary will face off against incumbent Kathy Hoffman who is unopposed in the Democratic race.

On Twitter: @azcapmedia

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A Tucson-based startup is one of two finalists in an international competition to push development of new technologies to reuse mine tailings  leftover material from mining operations.

Auxilium Technology Group, founded by entrepreneur and chemist Abraham Jalbout and three University of Arizona faculty members, won a $300,000 award to build a demonstration plant to produce an insulated foam product from mine tailings as part of a technology challenge sponsored by Australian mining giant BHP.

Last year, Auxilium was among 10 companies and academic research groups picked to move on to the laboratory stage of the BHP Tailings Challenge, from an initial field of 154 applicants from 19 countries.

On April 20, BHP held a demo day event at which the company was expected to pick three winners to move forward with prototype processing plants.

Instead, BHP chose two  Tucsons Auxilium and Americas Tailings Inc., a Colorado-based company that has developed a system to turn mine tailings into fertilizer products.

One or both of the finalists will be in line for a final challenge prize of $8.6 million to implement an on-site industrial pilot plant, with the goal of entering into a commercial agreement with a third party that will use its tailings as raw material to produce marketable products.

For the next stage, Auxilium is finalizing plans to build a pilot tailings processing plant for the challenge at the UA-owned San Xavier Underground Mining Laboratory west of Sahuarita, Jalbout said.

Jalbout said he was confident his team had a winning technology but faced other, well-funded challengers including some international academic and business consortia.

I think were all confident about the work were doing, and I think what really helped was having a strong business case, as well as the technical case, he said.

Jalbout launched Auxilium in 2020 with three UA faculty members who developed the tailings tech: associate professor Moe Momayez, interim head of the Department of Mining and Geological Engineering; Jaeheon Lee, an associate professor of mining and geological engineering; and Dominic Gervasio, associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering.

The company licensed from the UA three mining inventions by the UA co-founders  a highly efficient leaching process that replaces highly toxic cyanide used to extract gold from ore; a system of floating panels to cover tailings ponds and save water; and a spray-on thermal insulating material made with mine tailings.

Jalbout said mining companies like BHP are eager to find solutions to the problem of mounting tailings, which are costly to store and are regulated under environmental laws because they contain hazardous heavy metals that can pollute the air and water.

Phoenix-based miner Freeport McMoRan, which has been fined for air-quality violations prompted by tailings dust blowing from its Sierrita Mine near Green Valley, sponsored Auxiliums entry into the UAs tech incubator, the UA Center for Innovation, in 2020.

Jalbout said the pilot plant at San Xavier will be able to process a ton of tailings per day, compared with about 20 kilograms or about 44 pounds of material used in the lab demo.

With its processes, Auxilium can extract valuable industrial chemicals such as sulfuric acid and ferric sulfate from tailings, along with remaining metals of value, such as copper, molybdenum and gold, using its high-efficiency extraction process invented by Lee, Jalbout said.

After removing water from the tailings, the final process invented by Momayez is used to turn the stripped tailings into an insulating geofoam that can be sprayed on or applied in sheets to block heat from rock walls from working areas in underground mines.

Besides saving money on mine cooling, the material could be used in the construction industry, Jalbout said.

Looking ahead, if it wins the challenge, Auxilium may work with BHP to install its tailings-processing plants at the companys mines, which include large copper-mining operations in Chile and coal, nickel and iron ore mines in Australia.

BHP also is partnered with Rio Tinto Group to develop the controversial Resolution copper mine near Superior, Arizona.

Jalbout said going forward, Auxilium could partner with mining companies to build its processing plants at mining sites, or with companies that already process mine waste.

The company already has been working with Metso:Outotec, a major supplier of mining and industrial equipment based in Helsinki, Finland, to prove its concept for the BHP Tailings Challenge, he said.

Contact senior reporter David Wichner at dwichner@tucson.com or 520-573-4181. On Twitter: @dwichner. On Facebook: Facebook.com/DailyStarBiz

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As the economic cooperation between China and Ghana continues to grow, more and more Ghanaian students in remote areas are poised for their future with the Chinese language.

For most of the time, Ghanaian students at the Confucius Institute of the University of Cape Coast, west of Ghana, immersed themselves in the learning of the Chinese language and traditional Chinese culture, from lion dance to crosstalk in class.

Charles Delali Adegah, an indigene in his mid-thirties, who has studied Chinese language and culture to master's degree level and teaches at the Confucius Institute, told Xinhua that he found joy and prospects in learning the language.

"Because I studied Chinese, I got the chance to study in China totally for free. When I finished my first degree, I spent a year abroad, and when I returned, I was hired as a translator by a variety of companies. Currently, after completing my Master's degree, I had this offer to come and teach at the Confucius Institute at the University of Cape Coast, " he said.

The Confucius Institute teacher recounted how he struggled through his elementary and secondary education because of financial challenges and urged Ghanaian students in tertiary institutions to take the opportunity to study the Chinese language because of its prospects.

"We all know that many companies in Ghana are Chinese-oriented and, with a background in Chinese, it is easy to enter these companies. So, I will say, if you get the chance to study Chinese, you have to seize the opportunity and learn it well, "Adegah added.

"When I first started learning the language, it was difficult, but as I progressed, I realized that there are a number of companies here in Ghana that would like to employ Ghanaians who speak Chinese. Now I have the prospect of traveling to China and furthering my studies there, " said Belinda Koomson, a student at the University of Cape Coast in her early twenties, who has also been studying Chinese and culture for the past three years to the intermediate level.

The final year university student further emphasized that the bridge between China and Ghana has been laid, hence making it necessary for Ghanaians to learn the Chinese language.

"The Chinese have come to learn our language, so it's also best for us to learn their language in order to communicate with them so that we can work in harmony," said Belinda.

Tang Hong, President of the Ghana Association of Chinese Societies and the Ghana-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, urged Ghanaian students to study Chinese because of the many doors that it opens to people.

"The Chinese language is very deep and beautiful. If you know the Chinese language, you can talk to a huge population in the world," said Tang.

According to Ou Yamei, Chinese director of the dean, the institute has rolled out a variety of courses, including Chinese martial arts, handicrafts, calligraphy, songs, and dances.

The Institute, established in February 2016, has seen many locals who made a difference in their lives after the study of the Chinese language, Ou said.

"We will strive to improve our teaching and provide high-quality lessons to our students to cater to their increasing needs," said Ou.
An Arizona man was found guilty of attempting to smuggle $204,080 in United States currency into Mexico by a federal jury in Tucson on Wednesday.

On April 18, 61-year-old Charles Robert Wright, the owner of a Winnebago Adventurer, attempted to leave the U.S. through the Lukeville Port of Entry, a news release from U.S. Attorneys Office District of Arizona said.

During the outbound inspection, Wright denied transporting over $10,000 in the Winnebago, but an X-ray showed abnormalities in the roof, the news release said. Customs and Border Protection Officers conducted a search of the vehicle and found a non-factory compartment that contained two plastic bags of U.S. currency, which was folded and rubber-banded together.

Officers also found 10 additional individually wrapped cellophane packages that contained U.S. currency, the news release said.

Wrights sentencing is set for July 6 before U.S. District Judge Rosemary Marquez.

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PHOENIX  A lawsuit filed by Attorney General Mark Brnovich is largely an effort to get traction for his bid for U.S. Senate, an attorney for Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said Thursday.

Roopali Desai pointed out in new court filings that Brnovich waited four months after objecting to what Hobbs did and did not put in a new Election Procedures Manual before filing suit. In the meantime, she said, counties already are preparing for upcoming elections using the procedures in the prior manual, the one that Brnovich claims is no longer valid.

More telling, Desai told Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper, Brnovich joined with the Yavapai County Republican Committee in bringing the claim  and then touted the lawsuit on the Twitter account he is using in his Senate race.

And she noted that some of the items that Brnovich now finds objectionable actually were approved by his office for inclusion in the 2019 manual.

The AGs shameless use of his official office for his own political gain is nothing new, but should not go unnoticed, Desai said in asking Napper to dismiss the lawsuit. He certainly shouldnt be allowed to use the judiciary to carry out his political agenda.

There was no immediate response from Brnovich.

Whether Napper throws out the case has implications beyond Brnovichs race for Senate and Hobbs bid to become the Democratic nominee for governor. It also could determine the balance of power among the top three state elected officials  the governor has a role in all this  and who gets the last word if theres a dispute.

At issue is a requirement in state law for the secretary of state to prepare a new Election Procedures Manual every two years ahead of statewide elections.

The manual provides guidance to county officials on some of the nuts-and-bolts issues of running elections, ranging from the process of voter registration to certification of election equipment and how initiative measures should be worded on ballots.

That law also requires the secretary of state to submit the manual to the attorney general and the governor on Oct. 1 of the year before the general election, with issuance by Dec. 31.

Desai said Hobbs met the Oct. 1 deadline.

But what happened, she said, is Brnovich insisted on numerous changes, some of which Hobbs agreed to and others which she did not. And then, Desai said, Brnovich did nothing for four months.

Now, as his own U.S. Senate primary nears and his base has criticized him for not taking more aggressive actions against election administrators, he teamed up with his own political party to sue the secretary on the taxpayers dime and tout it for his official campaign, Desai told the judge.

In the end, his obvious political motives help explain the absurdity of plaintiffs claims, she said.

But Desai said there are larger issues beyond what she said is the politics of the lawsuit. She said that what Brnovich wants is the power to tell Hobbs  another statewide official and the one charged with election administration  what rules she has to enact.

Compelling the secretary  or any constitutionally created state officer of the executive department  to blindly abide by the AGs commands would usher in a totalitarian regime in place of ordered democracy, Desai said.

She said its even more complex than that, pointing out that, based on Brnovichs logic, the governor also would have veto power over the manual. And if the governor disagreed with the attorney general, Desai said, that would create chaos as courts try to figure out whose views prevail.

Even leaving the governor out of it, she told Napper that the nature of the spat is reason enough for him to send Brnovich packing.

Plaintiffs ask the court to referee a political dispute between two officials in the executive branch and force one officials policy decisions on the other, Desai said. This is not the courts role, and opening the courtroom doors to these kinds of dispute would put courts in the middle of every policy disagreement between elected officials.

Then theres the question of that four-month delay.

Counties are in the middle of preparing for the Aug. 2, 2022 primary election using the 2019 Election Procedures Manual, Desai said, the one she said remains in force because Brnovich has not approved the new one. Upending the process now in the middle of an election year would wreak havoc on our election systems.

In fact, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who is a Republican, filed an affidavit saying that he already used the 2019 manual to run a Tempe city election in March and is preparing to use it again next month for a local election in Litchfield Park.

We are also well underway in preparing for the statewide primary election on Aug. 2, he wrote.

Any material changes to the EPS at this point in the election year would be very disruptive to the administration of the August and November elections, Richer said. Shifting procedures and resources at this time would be very challenging.

Similar sentiments came from Gabriella Cazares-Kelly, the Pima County recorder, who is a Democrat.

Desai also told the judge that Brnovichs claim that hes entitled to sue Hobbs for failing to produce a manual acceptable to him by the Dec. 31 deadline is a bit of selective memory.

She noted that Republican Michelle Reagan, who held the office before Hobbs, never submitted a new manual at any time during her four years in office. Yet Desai said Brnovich, who was attorney general at that time, too, never raised the issue.

On Twitter: @azcapmedia

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Two long-serving judges at Pima County Justice Court will not be running for reelection and will be replaced by non-attorneys.

Justice of the Peace Susan Bacal has been on the bench since 1998. Challenged months ago by fellow Democrat Kristel Foster, she considered running for reelection but in the end did not turn in signatures to get on the ballot.

Neither did Justice of the Peace Adam Watters, who filed in January to run for his third four-year term but did not submit petition signatures. Outgoing state Sen. Victoria Steele is the only candidate for that seat.

Bacal said Thursday she had gone back and forth for months on whether to run for reelection, in part in consideration of her brother Rick Bacals possible interest in the seat.

My initial plan was, If my brother runs, I wont; If my brother doesnt run, I will,  she said.

Then the Pima County of Supervisors approved a plan by former County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry to eliminate one Justice of the Peace precinct and remap the remaining ones. Rick Bacals neighborhood went into a different precinct than the one his sister represents.

Bacal submitted a statement of interest late in March but ultimately decided not to follow through with a run against challenger Foster.

Running for office makes me a political official whether I want to or not, she said. Thats the only part of the job I dont like.

Foster works as a teacher trainer at Sunnyside Unified School District and served two terms on the Tucson Unified School District board. She said one of the motivations for her challenge was the eviction of fellow Sunnyside teacher Emilio Bustamante during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bacal ordered the eviction of Bustamante, which was covered in a detailed Arizona Daily Star story, published in September 2020, describing how he taught classes remotely while homeless. Foster garnered enough support to make herself comfortable she could win, she said, and she filed her statement of interest on Dec. 6, 2021.

In the end, Bacal said, both an appellate ruling and a decision by the states Commission on Judicial Conduct backed her decision. Still, she acknowledged, it was a bad situation with a worse ending  last year, Bustamante died unexpectedly.

I feel heartbroken for his family because he died, she said. I dont feel Im the cause of that, but its still tragic.

Part of being a judge is making those hard calls, Bacal added.

While Bacal is an attorney, Foster is not. It is not a requirement that justices of the peace be attorneys, but, Bacal said I really think its important to have legal experience.

Its a common feeling among attorneys, but increasingly, nonlawyers are winning seats on the bench. Current justices of the peace Charlene Pesquiera, Vince Roberts and Ray Carroll are not lawyers.

Watters is an attorney and Republican but will be replaced by Steele, who is a Democrat and not an attorney. Watters became the subject of controversy after Feb. 14, 2021, when he fired a gun at the ground near a man who he suspected of stalking his family.

The man, Fei Qin, later was convicted of stalking, and soon after his sentencing in January, Watters filed to run for election, but ultimately did not submit signatures.

QAnon guru Rob Watkins' first debate performance in his run for Congress was a complete and total dud.

https://t.co/AN8XziJsC9  The Daily Dot (@dailydot) April 28, 2022

- Tim Steller

Watkins bad night

Ron Watkins may be a great communicator when he uses a keyboard, but the figure who helped the QAnon conspiracy theory catch fire during the pandemic proved himself a weak debater during a Clean Elections event Wednesday night.

Watkins, a newcomer to Arizona, is running for the Republican nomination for Congress in the new Congressional District 2, which covers much of Pinal County, eastern and northern Arizona. Hes best known for running the internet message board where posts were made by a character calling himself Q and claiming vast pedophile conspiracy existed that President Donald Trump was secretly shutting down.

Asked about the United States supplying military aid to Ukraine, Watkins said, I support military aid to Ukraine, but I want to say we would not even be in Ukraine if President Biden did not shut down the Keystone Pipeline on the first day.

This was a reference to a controversial oil pipeline running from Canada through the Dakotas. After Watkins made a convoluted explanation of the supposed connection between the pipeline and Ukraine, fellow candidate Walter Blackman disentangled the two issues.

Hes right. I made a mistake, Watkins responded.

That wasnt necessarily the worst moment, though. In a passage that went viral online, Watkins seemed to lose his words as he concluded his opening statement.

And I will make sure that your ... rights ... are ... are kept, Watkins said, lifting his fist as he struggled for words.

- Tim Steller

Lieberman seeks spark

Trailing badly in the polls, Democrat Aaron Lieberman is going all-in with a bid to finally light a fire to his campaign.

Lieberman is launching a new TV commercial, complete with a burning dumpster he said represents Arizona politics, attacking not just Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is leading the pack in the Democratic primary, but also Republican Kari Lake, the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for governor who so far is polling ahead of others.

Lieberman is betting heavily on the effectiveness of the commercial: He is allocating $500,000 of the $760,000 he recently reported having left on hand to get the message out statewide.

He starts by launching an attack on Lake for appearing at rallies with Nazi sympathizers.

But Lieberman said the worry for the Democrats  his target audience  is that Lake is still polling better than Hobbs who two federal juries have found guilty of racial discrimination.

That refers to federal court findings that Senate staffer Talonya Adams, who is black, was discriminated against by Hobbs who, at the time, was the Senate minority leader. Jurors awarded Adams $2.7 million, though that was reduced because federal civil rights laws limit damages in discrimination cases to no more than $300,000.

And the not-so-subtle bottom line in the ad is that Lieberman calls himself the only Democrat who can win in November.

- Howard Fischer

+3 +3 +3 +3

Contact columnist Tim Steller at tsteller@tucson.com or 520-807-7789. On Twitter: @senyorreporter

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BOISE, Idaho (AP)  A former Idaho lawmaker was convicted Friday of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial in which the young woman fled the witness stand during testimony, saying "I can't do this."

The intern told a Statehouse supervisor that Aaron von Ehlinger raped her at his apartment after the two had dinner at a Boise restaurant in March 2021. He said the sex was consensual.

At the time, von Ehlinger was a Republican state representative from Lewiston, but he later resigned.

Von Ehlinger, 39, was found guilty Friday of rape. He was found not guilty of sexual penetration with a foreign object.

Afterward, 4th District Judge Michael Reardon told the jury: "This has been an unusual case attended by many unexpected circumstances, but I appreciate your attention ... and hard work."

A felony rape conviction carries a minimum sentence of one year in prison in Idaho. The maximum penalty can be as high as life in prison, at the judge's discretion. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 28.

Von Ehlinger sat calmly as the verdict was read, as he has throughout the trial.

As he was remanded into custody and handcuffed, he talked quietly with his attorney who removed items from von Ehlinger's pockets.

The prosecution remained stoic as they left the courtroom, but once they reached a lower floor they stopped to briefly celebrate the verdict together.

Von Ehlinger's attorney, Jon Cox, could not be immediately reached for comment after the trial.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, and has referred to the woman in this case as "Jane Doe" at her request.

In a press conference, Ada County Prosecuting Attorney Jan Bennetts thanked the jury, investigators and the prosecutors that handled the case against von Ehlinger.

"Last but not least it took an incredible amount of courage for the victim in this case, Jane Doe, to come forward," Bennetts said. "I want to acknowledge the courage that she took in coming forward."

Doe testified on the second day of the trial. She haltingly described the moments the alleged assault began, before abruptly leaving the witness stand.

"He tried to put his fingers between my legs and I closed my knees," Doe said.

At that, she stood up.

"I can't do this," she said, quickly walking out of the courtroom.

The judge gave the prosecuting attorneys 10 minutes to find her to determine if she would return and resume her testimony.

When she did not, the judge told the jurors they had to "strike (Doe's testimony) from your minds as if it never happened," because the defense could not cross-examine her.

During the press conference, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katelyn Farley said the moment Doe left the trial was "heart-wrenching," but said she and deputy prosecutor Whitney Welsh had prepared for trial knowing that Doe may not be able to testify.

"I think it's important that she decided to walk in the room, and she also decided to walk out  those were her choices," Welsh said.

During his testimony Thursday, von Ehlinger often spoke in a clear, loud voice directly to jurors, saying he and Doe decided to return to his apartment to "hang out" after eating at a fancy Boise restaurant. Then they began making out on the couch, he said.

"Things were going well, and I asked (Doe) if she would like to move to the bedroom," von Ehlinger said. "She said 'Sure.' We got up, held hands and walked into the bedroom."

Deliberations stretched for seven hours until nearly 8 p.m. Thursday before the jury decided to break for the evening. At one point, the judge summoned the attorneys to his chambers because the jury asked a question. No details were made public about the jury's inquiry.

When the allegations became public  largely because of the legislative ethics investigation  Doe faced unrelenting harassment from some of von Ehlinger's supporters. Her name, photo and personal details about her life were repeatedly publicized in "doxxing" incidents. One of the people who frequently harassed her was in the courthouse to attend the trial, but law enforcement banned the man from the floor where the case was being heard.

During closing arguments, Farley told jurors that the case was about "power in the wrong hands" used to the "great devastation" of Doe. Von Ehlinger had social, political and physical power over the petite intern, Farley said.

"He used that power to rape and forcibly penetrate her," Farley said, pointing at von Ehlinger. Doe resisted in several ways, she said, highlighting the testimony of law enforcement investigators and a nurse sexual assault examiner who interviewed Doe after the alleged assault.

"Words show lack of consent. Excuses of 'Why this shouldn't happen,' show lack of consent. Yanking your head back and getting an injury shows lack of consent," Farley said.

But von Ehlinger's defense attorney told jurors the prosecution's case was made up of "red herrings," and said von Ehlinger was a credible person who willingly took the stand to share his side of the story.

Earlier this week, jurors heard from investigators and a nurse who performed a rape exam. They testified that Doe reported being pinned down while von Ehlinger forced her to perform oral sex, and that she knew he frequently carried a handgun and had placed it on a dresser near the bed at the time of the assault. A nurse also testified that Doe had a "goose egg" on the back of her head from striking the wall or a headboard while trying to jerk her head away from von Ehlinger's grip.

Todays top pics: Switzerland Glacier Race and more

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)  A man accused of shooting at a Louisville mayoral candidate will remain in custody while a federal judge considers his case after a detention hearing Thursday.

Western District of Kentucky Judge Benjamin Beaton said he will issue a written ruling sometime next week. A federal magistrate judge had granted Quintez Browns release to home incarceration, but prosecutors appealed.

At a detainment hearing on April 15, prosecutors alleged that Brown wanted to kill candidate Craig Greenberg to prevent him from winning the upcoming mayoral election, citing Browns internet search history, text messages and online posts around the time of the February shooting.

They also accused Brown of visiting the politicians home the day before the attack but leaving after the gun he brought with him jammed. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Gregory insisted that if released, Brown posed a risk of fleeing and could be a danger to the community.

Brown's attorneys pointed to the fact that Brown had been on home incarceration for weeks without any issues before his federal arrest. They also asked the judge to consider the impact of Brown's mental health treatment since the incident.

Brown faces federal charges of interfering with a federally protected right, and using and discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence by shooting at and attempting to kill a candidate for elective office.

Greenberg, a Democrat, said he was at his campaign headquarters Feb. 14 with four colleagues when a man appeared in the doorway and began firing multiple rounds. He was not hit by the gunfire but said a bullet grazed his sweater. One staffer managed to shut the door, which they barricaded with tables and desks, and the shooter fled.

If convicted of all federal charges, Brown faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and maximum of life in prison in addition to any sentence he receives on state charges of attempted murder and wanton endangerment.

He has pleaded not guilty in state and federal court.

Patrick Renn, one of Browns lawyers, said Thursday that the judge seemed very thoughtful, very deliberate with the way that he was going about deciding" whether or not Brown would return to home incarceration.

The fact that he is going to take time is actually, I think, in our favor because when you look at all the evidence in this case, under the statute that hes required to follow, that he, too, is going to make a ruling that Mr. Brown should be released," he added.

Brown was placed on home incarceration just days after the shooting. He was fitted with a GPS ankle monitor after a group called the Louisville Community Bail Fund paid the $100,000 cash bond.

His release to home incarceration drew bipartisan criticism, including from Greenberg, who said it was nearly impossible to believe that someone can attempt murder on Monday and walk out of jail on Wednesday.

Before the incident, 22-year-old Brown was known to the community as a social justice activist who was running as an independent for Louisvilles metro council.

Hudspeth Blackburn is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)  A man who pleaded guilty this month to killing a pregnant Florida teenager a decade ago has been sentenced to 40 years in prison after sending authorities to dig up a field in rural Alabama in a fruitless search for her body.

Jacobee Flowers, 34, would have received a lighter sentence of 25 years in prison if the remains of Morgan Martin, 17, had been found, the Tampa Bay Times reported. He had told authorities in Pike County, Alabama, where to look in their unsuccessful search earlier this month.

Flowers, the father of Martin's unborn child, was taken into custody on Tuesday, and apologized for his actions during his sentencing on Thursday.

I want you all to know that I am a human being. Im not a monster, despite what you may think, he said. Theres not a day that goes by, in the last 10 years, that I havent felt the deepest level of regret.

Leah Martin, the teen's mother, wasn't receptive.

I hope that every day that you sleep, you have to see her, the teen's mother, Leah Martin, shouted at Flowers in court Thursday. Do you understand me? I hope you see her face and the child that you killed. You didnt only kill my child, you killed your own.

Court records show Martin left home one night in 2012 to speak to Flowers and never returned.

For years, her disappearance was classified as a missing persons case, and Flowers was listed as a person of interest. Eventually, it was assigned to a cold case squad that found evidence linking Flowers to her killing  even though Martin's body had not been found.

In 2016 a grand jury indicted Flowers, who was in state custody on unrelated charges at the time, on a first-degree murder charge in the teen's death. Six years passed before he pleaded guilty this month to a lesser charge of second-degree murder.

Flowers said Martin's body was buried in a field in Alabama, and as part of the April 1 plea agreement, he promised to help authorities recover it in exchange for a lighter sentence.

According to court records, text messages from 2012 showed a strained relationship, with Flowers begging Martin to abort the pregnancy because having the baby could affect his existing relationship with another woman. Then 24, he was also worried about charges for having sex with a minor, officials said.

Martin decided to continue the pregnancy, choosing JaLeah as her baby girls name, the newspaper reported.

Detectives on the cold-case squad obtained cellphone tower records to track Flowers movements the night Martin disappeared. Records show he drove around her home and then went to his home before heading to a restaurant where he worked the closing shift.

He also visited the mother of two of his children before going back to the restaurant. He then drove throughout Tampa Bay before returning to St. Petersburg.

It was not clear why authorities believed Martin's remains are in Alabama.

After Flowers pleaded guilty, he spoke with investigators in Alabama over a video chat and pointed them toward a specific location, Pike County Sheriffs Office Lt. Troy Johnson told WTSP in Tampa.

Investigators there used ground-penetrating radar to search, and also brought in a backhoe to dig more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) deep during a week-long search that came up empty.

Unfortunately, whether it was because of the many years that have gone by or because of the lack of the reliability of the information that we got, we just werent able to find what we are looking for, St. Petersburg police spokeswoman Yolanda Fernandez told WTSP.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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It's not your imagination. Political discourse on Twitter really has grown meaner in recent years, according to a new study.

The research, published Thursday in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, found that the level of incivility in tweets by members of Congress increased by 23% between 2009 and 2019  a change the study's authors attribute in part to how Twitter's "like" and "retweet" buttons reinforce the spread of toxic content.

Its findings mark "the first robust evidence that incivility is rising among American politicians on Twitter," wrote the study's authors, hailing from several U.S. and Canadian universities.

Researchers examined 1.3 million tweets from official congressional accounts between 2009 and 2019. To quantify the levels of incivility, they used artificial intelligence to analyze the messages and assign a toxicity score from 0 to 100, reflecting the likelihood that someone would consider the text to be rude or disrespectful.

The analysis classified a 2009 tweet by then-Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., with a high incivility score of 45.1 for accusing a rival of "going AWOL" from his congressional post. And a 2019 tweet by Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla.  which said another politician was "endorsing infanticide & proudly doing it!"  scored at 47.6.

To some degree, the increasingly antagonistic tone is due to more civil members of Congress being replaced by less civil ones, the study says. But the findings attribute more of the shift to members themselves changing over time and posting more provocative tweets.

The increase in incivility was most pronounced among liberal Democrats, especially in the first half of President Donald Trump's term.

"They were much more likely to be reacting negatively to Donald Trump  both his behaviors and his tweets," said Robb Willer, a co-author and director of the Polarization and Social Change Lab at Stanford University.

The study analyzed tweets during President Barack Obama's two terms and the first two years of Trump's presidency. (The sample did not include posts from the contentious 2020 election or the start of President Biden's term.)

The analysis also evaluated Obama's and Trump's tweets. Obama's posts had an average incivility score of 13.4 that remained fairly steady over his two terms. In Trump's first year, his score was 18.8 and it climbed to 23.0 by 2019.

The study didn't place any moral judgments on Twitter incivility, Willer said. People sending harshly worded tweets "might have all sorts of explanations that might be morally well-founded and valid for why they engaged in the speech they did."

Whatever the motivation, the more toxic tweets stand out in Twitter's crowded online platform. The average congressional tweets were not especially uncivil, with relatively low scores. But the tweets with higher toxicity scores tended to get much more attention, via retweets and likes, which increase the public's exposures to such messages and makes incivility seem more prominent than it actually is, according to the study.

The study's results indicate "the people running these accounts are learning from these metrics they can see and doing more of whatever gets likes and retweets," Willer said.

But, as the common Twitter disclaimer goes, retweets and likes don't equal endorsement. People may retweet a message to draw attention to content they dislike, for example. Willer said their research indicated that users are largely not fond of toxic tweets, despite appearances to the contrary.

"There's a possibility here that the Twitter platform, with its pretty spare metrics, may be misleading people that certain tweets are more popular with people ... than they really are," Willer said.

Just as congressional Twitter feeds have grown more toxic, so have the tweets of the general population, the authors said, based on a rough sample of civilian posts.

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., one of the most prolific tweeters of California's congressional delegation, said he wasn't surprised to hear that incivility has grown on the platform  which he blamed partially on anonymous users and bots. His own feed has plenty of pointed messages to Republicans, often delivered with dry humor, as well as standard fare highlighting his work in Congress.

After 13 years on the platform, Lieu said it's still hard to predict what will take off in the Twittersphere.

"Sometimes I'll write what I think is an amazing tweet about a very important policy point and get only a few" likes or retweets, he said. But an evening observation that scotch and peanut butter make a tasty combination will yield "astronomical" engagement.

One consistent factor for a viral tweet: Trump.

"What I've found is in the last five years, when the former president would say something stupid or say something false, and I responded to that, that would get higher engagement," Lieu said. "If the former president is going to say 27 false things a week, I'm going to try to highlight all 27 false things he said."

While Twitter has not been seen as a hub of civility for some time, some on the platform expressed fears this week that the tone may worsen now that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is set to take the reins. Musk says Twitter's current system of content moderation clamps down on speech. He has said he wants fewer restrictions on what can and cannot be posted, although he has not given many specifics; users have warned that loosening the rules could lead to upticks in harassment, abuse or pornographic images.

Republicans, meanwhile, have celebrated Musk's takeover, anticipating he will lift moderation that they see as silencing their views. Among other issues, they object to Trump and other prominent right-wing politicians being blocked or suspended from the site. And Twitter's fact-checking of false claims of election fraud and COVID-19 misinformation has had a disproportionate affect on right-leaning accounts.

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For the first time in China, people will be able to get a taxi ride without anyone behind the wheel.

Baidu and autonomous driving startup Pony.ai announced Thursday that they had won the country's first permits to provide robotaxi ride-hailing services to the public. The permits do not require an operator to sit in the driver's seat.

The services were introduced in Beijing on Thursday, and allow passengers to call for taxis using each company's respective apps during daylight hours.

For now, each company will be restricted to a designated area of 23 square miles, and they will have to keep an operator in the front passenger seat to take over in case of emergencies. Currently, the programs are being offered for free to riders.

The announcement marks a big step forward for self-driving technology in the world's largest car market.

Baidu is best known for its search engine but it also owns the largest autonomous driving fleet in China. It said it would start off with 10 vehicles under the program and add 30 more later.

Pony.ai, a fast-growing startup that was founded by former Baidu engineers in Fremont, California, said that as many as 300,000 residents in Beijing would be able to try out the experience. The company is backed by automakers including Toyota, and was last valued at $8.5 billion.

China has become an important testing ground for autonomous vehicles, with a small pool of ambitious companies routinely notching new records on various fronts, such as removing the safety driver, opening up their services publicly or operating on public roads, and the number of miles their vehicles have been tested.

Baidu had previously been allowed to offer ride-hailing services in autonomous vehicles in several cities, including Beijing, though a human was still required to stay in the driver's seat.

AutoX, another Chinese startup backed by Alibaba, also rolled out fully driverless robotaxis on public roads in Shenzhen in 2020, though that initiative could not accept regular passengers.

The-CNN-Wire

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PHOENIX  An organization with liberal leanings is making a last-ditch effort to keep three candidates allegedly involved in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol off the ballot in Arizona.

The trial judge got it wrong last week when he concluded he has no legal right to keep Reublicans Mark Finchem, Andy Biggs or Paul Gosar off the ballot regardless of whatever they may have done that day and in the days and weeks leading up to people storming the Capitol to try to block certification of the 2020 election results, James Barton, the attorney for Free Speech for People said in new filings with the state Supreme Court.

Arizona law specifically permits anyone to challenge a candidate for any reason relating to the qualification for the office sought as prescribed by law, Barton told the justices. And he cited a 2010 ruling by the state Supreme Court which said this includes whether a candidate does not meet the statutory or constitutional requirements for the office sought.

That list, Barton said, includes the requirements in the U.S. Constitution. He said it applies to a provision of the 14th Amendment, passed in the wake of the Civil War, which denies both federal and legislative office to anyone who shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.

And Barton said there can be no question about whether what happened that day  activities he said the trio were involved in at least in planning  fits the definition of an insurrection. He pointed out that Congress itself called it that when it awarded congressional gold medals to Capitol police who protected the U.S. Capitol  from a mob of insurrectionists.

The high court will get the last word on whether Finchem can be a candidate for secretary of state or whether Biggs and Gosar can seek another two-year term in the U.S. House.

Much of what Barton says in the new filing with the Supreme Court is a repeat of what he told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury.

He said Finchem coordinated with others to advance a scheme orchestrated by Donald Trump to introduce a slate of false electors who would vote for the president and not Joe Biden as the election results in their states required. Barton said that Finchem then went to Washington the week of Jan. 6 to bring that plan to fruition, and that he raced from the planned rally near the White House to the Capitol after he heard it was being stormed.

He knew he was racing toward an unlawful act, Barton said. Instead of turning back, he joined the crowd as it breached the Capitol building, took a photo of the crowd, and posted the photo online with words of encouragement.

And he said that Biggs and Gosar helped plan the rally and promoted a plan to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 vote. Finchem and Biggs have said nothing they did disqualifies them from running for office.

What is new is his claim is saying that Coury was wrong when he concluded that courts can remove someone from the ballot only if that person does not meet the qualifications set by state law. And Coury said thats doubly true for Gosar and Biggs, saying only Congress can decide the qualifications of their members.

There is nothing novel about the proposition that states can disqualify candidates for public office, including federal office, on the basis that they fail to meet applicable constitutional requirements, Barton wrote.

For example, he cited a 2012 federal appellate court ruling that Colorado was permitted to exclude a candidate from the ballot for the presidential election because he was a naturalized citizen and not a natural born citizen as the U.S. Constitution requires.

A states legitimate interest in protecting the integrity and practical functioning of the political process permits it to exclude from the ballot candidates who are constitutionally prohibited from assuming office, wrote then-Judge Neil Gorsuch who has since been tapped for the U.S. Supreme Court.

And in 2014 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded California could refuse to place the name of a 27-year-old candidate on the presidential ballot as the U.S. Constitution says the chief executive must be at least 35.

Barton said the constitutional provision about those who participate in insurrection is no different. Nor does he believe it runs afoul of the ability of Congress to determine who is qualified to serve  once they are elected.

He also urged the justices to reject the claim that an 1872 federal law granting amnesty from the 14th Amendment disqualification clause to those who fought for the Confederacy also means that Congress meant that to apply prospectively to acts of insurrection in the future.

Barton said that a federal court in Georgia rejected identical arguments presented by Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who is fighting a similar effort there to keep her off the 2022 ballot.

The justices have said they will decide the issue without a formal hearing.

Howard Fischer is a veteran journalist who has been reporting since 1970 and covering state politics and the Legislature since 1982. Follow him on Twitter at @azcapmedia or email azcapmedia@gmail.com .

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This month we have invited a slate of promising and enthusiastic GOP candidates for the Arizona State Legislature (four out five running for the House and one for the Senate). Here is the list of candidates and a short summation of their platforms:

Kirk Fiehler, a Pinal County Precinct Committeemen, is running for one of two seats in the House of Representatives from District 17. Mr. Fiehler will fight for policies that promote economic growth and prosperity. He will also fight to secure our border and illegal immigration, and defend our constitutional freedoms.

Rachel Jones is running for the House of Representatives and represents District 17. Ms. Jones is married to a border patrol agent and is a strong supporter of securing the border and is a mother of five children, three of whom are adopted and supports right to life. She is also running to restore Arizona values, which means lower taxes, the right to bear arms, and small government. She also supports congressional term limits.

Cory McGarr, from District 17, is running for a seat in the House of Representatives. He is a rock solid defender of the Second Amendment and supports congressional term limits. He also wants to fix the broken election system, and eliminate fraud.

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Anna Orth is a candidate for the House of Representatives from District 17 and pledges to support congressional term limits; work to clean up the election process; support securing the border; and defend Arizonas right to school choice.

Justine Wadsack, from District 17, is running for a seat in the State Senate. Ms. Wadsack will fight to defend the ballot box; defend the constitution; and defend our medical freedom. She also will defend the unborn, our border, and our families.

We look forward to meeting these candidates and to hear their talks, so we urge everyone to attend our next meeting on Friday, May 20, at 10 am in the HOA-1 Clubhouse, downstairs in the Coyote Room. Please support our candidates! For further information, please contact Mandy Rowe at merowe@hotmail.com.
You are here: China

A language service team was established in Beijing Thursday, offering aid on dialects, foreign languages, and sign language in urgent situations.

The National Language Service Corps of China was jointly launched by 29 partners, including the Beijing Language and Culture University.

The need for such a service was raised when medical workers from other parts of China were sent to Hubei and had problems understanding local dialects.

A digital reference for Mandarin-Hubei dialects translation was widely welcomed at that time.

More such references and information technology products will be the focus of next-stage work, said China's Vice Minister of Education, Tian Xuejun.
Three hundred people gathered in the MountainView Ballroom on Thursday, March 1 for their annual celebration, which had been postponed from its original date on Monday, January 31 because of the recent COVID spike.

They were joined by special guests Kathy Hoffman, Arizona Superintendent for Public Instruction; Sandra Kennedy, Commissioner for the Arizona Corporation Commission; Anna Tovar, Commissioner of the Arizona Corporation Commission; and David Fitzsimmons, nationally syndicated cartoonist and columnist for the Arizona Star. The featured speaker was Frank Figliuzzi, former Assistant Director for the FBIs counterterrorism and now security analyst for NBC and MSNBC.

The festivities commenced with the playing of our national anthem followed by the Ukrainian national anthem. Mike Nickerson, our Club Chair, who served as Master of Ceremonies, then asked the crowd for one minute of silence to remember the lives that have been lost and the families that have been impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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After hearing remarks from each special guest, Mr. Figliuzzi addressed the group with an inspiring account of how any organization can achieve individual and corporate excellence. He referred to the field-tested playbook the FBI uses for unlocking individual and organizational excellence. Drawing from his book, The FBI Way, and interspersing stories from his own career, he emphasized that training and following core values clarify an organizations meaning and purpose and sets expectations for everyone in its service. This preserves the organizations values against all threats, internal and external. Individuals, companies, schools, teams, or any group seeking excellence will be well served if they establish and adhere to clear core values.

After a period of questions and answers, the group disbanded to reflect and enjoy one anothers company. We thank Mr. Figliuzzi, our special guests and the MountainView staff for a wholly enjoyable and informative evening.
SaddleBrookes World War II Roundtables motto is, We discuss all aspects of World War II. The most vicious and costly war in human history in terms of blood and treasure will provide students of that conflict with material seemingly forever. In April, the Roundtable concluded its fifth season presenting topics on the war that was fought on all continents except Antarctica.

Chris Wilson spoke on Russiaa enormous contribution to the war. Estimates on Russian war deaths range as high as 20 million. Chris lives in nearby Oro Valley.

The following presenters are all SaddleBrooke Residents.

The Japanese invasion of China and Japans experimentation with bio-weapons on Chinese citizens by Dr Wally Warpaha cast light on a little known aspect of the war. Many of their experiments on innocent citizens paralleled those of their allies, the Nazis.

The Battle of Britain and Operation Sealion, Germanys code name for the invasion of England, was the subject of Paul Belangers talk. Pauls hypothesis was that Hitler never was serious about invading England.

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Former president of the Roundtable Mark Schwartz spoke on the development of close air support in WW II as the need to protect ground troops with air power was complicated by differences of opinion between the armys ground and air forces.

Political matters kept the U.S. out of the war until the attack on Pearl Harbor but President Roosevelt declared America the arsenal of democracy and committed our country to supplying Britain and Russia with material to carry on the battle. Trucks, Jeeps, weapons, clothing, shoes and food were sent by boat loads to our allies and the effort would probably have failed had not Henry Kaiser risen to the challenge and developed production techniques to turn out liberty ships at the rate of three ships every two days between 1941-1945. That presentation was by Bruce Rogers.

Steve Reggentin has made more presentations to the Roundtable than any other speaker. Steve went through all of the machinations of the battle of Midway Island: The feints and thrusts of the opposing navies, the breaking of the Japanese naval code, the effect of the Doolittle Raid on Japans perceived vulnerability, and the inability of the Japanese wartime economy to match the production capacity of the United States.

The Roundtable will be back in the fall with a full lineup of wonderful speakers and topics. We are all very proud of the Roundtable, which has grown from a half-dozen folks literally sitting around a round table discussing the war to meetings with over one-hundred SaddleBrooke attendees. To keep up with our activities, be sure to get on our email list. Send an email to sreggentin@gmail.com to be included.
Get to Know Your Neighbors: Hans and Kari Mueller

The paths we each take are influenced by many different factors  family, career, curiosity and relationships. Hans and Kari Mueller are relatively new snowbirds in SaddleBrooke. They come to us from California, Mexico and Washington State. We are what you would call climate freaks. said Hans. They travel light and enjoy the outdoors  they spend their time where the weather best suites their interests throughout the year.

Back in the Beginning

Kari was born in Norway and spent her childhood in an area south of Oslo near the water. Kari says, It is the Pearl of Norway, the Banana Belt. In the Summer, it is sunlight all night.

And Hans was born in Frankfurt, Poland about 20-miles from the Iron Curtain. Hans was a small child living in the very part of the world where Hitler invaded Poland starting WWII. His family then lived in Germany in the small village of Wolfenbuttel  near Hanover. Hans described, there are two cities named Frankfurt in Germany because Germany invaded and took control of Frankfurt, Poland.

Growing up in Europe, they each speak several languages  including German, English, Norwegian, Spanish  and a bit of French. This serves them well as they travel. Hans and Kari both enjoy the outdoors. Hans shared of his early explorations. In the summer, I went up to the Polar Circle backpacking for the summer. I was 21-years-old, traveling alone through Sweden and Norway. At times, I traded labor for lodging and food  bringing in hay for the farmers in exchange for a place to sleep and food to eat. I remember waking up one morning in a TP made of reindeer skin, and when I looked out in the field I was surrounded by hundreds of wild reindeer!

Immigration from Europe to North America

In the mid-1960s, the United States required immigrants to have a sponsor to come into the country. However, Canada needed skilled workers and about 80,000 immigrants per month were coming to Canada. Seeing the opportunity in 1965, Hans immigrated to Toronto. And in 1966, Kari arrived in Toronto from Norway.

Hans and Kari went on a two-month road trip from Toronto to Arizona. Kari was into horseback riding at the time. Arizona has a lot to offer, said Kari. Little did they know they would return several decades later.

As the self-described climate freaks  they headed west. The weather pattern in Toronto is a north-south pattern, not a place we wanted to stay. Kari made her way to Vancouver, Canada and Hans found a job in San Francisco, California. In 1967 the two of them were married.

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Exploring

Hans and Kari have lived many places over the years  most of them along the western coast. Their primary residence is currently Anselmo, California, north of San Francisco. When I met them, they were visiting friends Tina & Frank who live in SaddleBrooke. They really liked our community full of active people with a positive outlook.

Hans and I had decided we were going to sell our home in Chacala, Mexico, on the ocean north of Puerto Vallarta, said Kari. And Hans chimed in, We came to SaddleBrooke to say hello to our friends. Sooner or later, you start to look at real estate.

After seeing several homes, a villa came on the market with a stipulation that the sellers be allowed to rent back for at least a year. We werent in a hurry  so it was a perfect match, said Hans. It was December, and they were already renting in SaddleBrooke. Hans and Kari bought the villa and became landlords to the previous owners  now tenants.

When the weather gets hot  Hans and Kari head north like the rest of the snowbirds. They enjoy living on their boat in the San Juan Islands. Their hub is Anacortes, Washington  a fishing town and boating center  where they can also take a ferry to Canada. And this spring they are excited to visit family and friends in Europe!

Getting Settled

It was interesting to hear about the sale of their home in Chacala. Kari smiles, Selling in Mexico was very involved  not as easy as in the states. Taxes are very different there  those that are not locals will pay 20 to 30 percent taxes on the value of the home. Locals only pay 10 to 15 percent.

After a year of renting their villa, Hans and Kari decided they would like a bit more space for themselves  especially in the back yard. We visited in the fall and discussed what they wanted when they returned the first of the year. We found the perfect home and as you would expect  their villa sold with no problem at all. T hey bought a Laredo floor plan in Unit 24 and are enjoying the back yard that they did not have at their villa.

We went down to the University of Arizona science department to see all the exploration of the sky - I find that fascinating, offered Kari. They enjoy living near a university  similar to Anselmo, California. Hans and Kari keep themselves busy hiking, biking, swimming and yoga at the fitness center. In addition, Kari enjoys painting. It is always a pleasure spending time together and hearing their stories!

Helen Graham is a member of the Long Realty 1926 Circle of Excellence  ranking in the top 5 percent of agents nationwide. Whether buying or selling, Helen handles all the details  specializing in fabulous service and happy clients. Reach Helen at Helen@theIDEALhabitat.com or at (303) 902-6633. Her website is HelenG.LongRealty.com.
The wine industry is one of several professions where women hold disproportionately fewer seats at the table than men. While every aspect of this business remains a male dominated environment, the culture is slowly changing. In company ownership, vineyard management and winemaking, women are slowly assuming more leadership roles and having great success in the process. In this and subsequent articles I would like to showcase a few examples of women who are making their mark in the wine world.

Many women in the wine world ply their trade in relative anonymity, working behind the scenes in the vineyards, wineries or the business aspect of the profession. The subject of this months Women in Wine series could arguably be called the face of Tannat in North America. Tannat is a minor wine grape indigenous to southwest region of France, but after vine cuttings were imported in the 1870s, Tannat has developed into the national red wine grape of Uruguay. Most people wouldnt think of this South American country as a source for fine wine, but this is a misconception that Mele Sosa is working to change.

Mele is the North American brand ambassador for Bodega Garzon, a well-respected wine producer in Uruguay. Traveling through the United States and Canada, Mele champions Tannat and other wines produced by Bodega Garzon through press interviews as well as wine festivals, dinners and trade events. With a formal education in viticulture and oenology, and stints as an assistant winemaker at Vina Santa Carolina in Chile, as well as Spring Mountain Winery in Napa Valley, Mele has the credentials to proficiently represent the brand.

The love of nature and the outdoors, as well as the prominence of agriculture in Uruguay drew Mele into the wine industry as a career path. She was also attracted to the creative and artistic aspects of winemaking as it presented Mele the "ability to express (her) self through colors and textures, while bringing what nature offers to its fullest expression. After several years in the vineyards and wineries Mele sought out a different avenue for her talents. Im basically a social person and being a winemaker can be pretty lonely at times. She said that she enjoys the ability to educate people about wine as it is a different way to channel her creative spirit.

Establishing a career in the wine business within the traditional, patriarchal culture of Latin America has not been easy. It was a real challenge to be taken seriously, but Im proud to be a woman in what has been considered a mans business. Mele believes that women should embrace their nature and roles both in the family and the workplace. She remains hopeful though and takes every opportunity to speak up for women, for herself, for equality and a better world. Conditions are changing; we are becoming more respected for our abilities, and we just need to keep finding creative ways to make our voices heard.

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When speaking of the wines of Uruguay and particularly Bodega Garzon, Meles voice becomes filled with energy. She takes great pride in her role as a brand ambassador, representing her country and its growing wine industry. Whether describing how the free draining, decomposed granite soil contributes to the wines crisp acidity or the fact that Bodega Garzon was the first LEEDS certified, 100 percent sustainable winery outside of the United States, you can sense her passion.

As for the future, Mele would like to return to winemaking at some point. Recently becoming an empty nester affords Mele and her husband the ability to spend more time in her native country; potentially working at the winery for part of the year, while spending the other part traveling across North America, meeting with fellow wine lovers and sharing her love for Bodega Garzon and the wines of Uruguay.

The wines of Bodega Garzon can been found in retail shops nationwide. Their reserve Tannat has received high praise from critics and is extremely affordable. It is a muscular wine, but with a vibrancy and elegance that rivals better known French reds. The winery produces several other exceptionally well-made wines as well, including a stellar red blend, crisp Alberino and flavorful rose of Pinot Noir. These are wines worth seeking out in that they provide the consumer with the ability to branch out, trying wines from one of the worlds emerging regions and besides, theyre delicious. I have little doubt that Mele would agree. More information about Bodega Garzon, including a directory of retailers in the US, can be found at their website at Bodegagarzon.com.

Salute

Tom Oetinger holds an advanced certification in wine & spirits from the WSET in London, England. He is available to assist you with your wine events or answer your wine questions. Tom also offers a free email service, recommending high quality, good value wines available locally. Contact / subscribe at tjo1913@gmail.com.
So  you say you want a revolution? You might want to reconsider, especially when Marie Antoinette is defining the term.

In one of the few moments when the former Queen of France is left to her own devices in Lauren Gundersons play The Revolutionists, Marie considers one of the definitions of the word revolution  namely, the progressive motion of a body around an axis so that any line of the body parallel to the axis returns to its original position.

In other words, no matter how hard one might try to change the world, all that effort seems to result in things remaining basically the same, only with different people calling the shots and presiding over the executions.

And executions are very much on the minds of the four women portrayed in The Revolutionists, being presented by World Stage Theater Company. A working example of what some called The Patriotic Shortener presides over the set, and the whisper and whack of its plummeting blade punctuates several scenes in the course of the play.

Gundersons darkly comic play is a fantasia about four women who were deeply involved in the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror that followed. Olympe De Gouges (Kelly McEver) is a writer, trying to fashion a play to galvanize audiences into action, to create a better society that would, for women, include equality, liberty and divorce  just as long as she can remain comfortably ensconced behind her writing desk.

Her work, however, keeps getting interrupted, by the likes of Charlotte Corday (Meagan Mulgrew), who is determined to dispatch Jean-Paul Marat, whose journalistic rhetoric has led to the deaths of thousands. Corday wants De Gouges to craft her a suitable stunning speech to spout as she stabs her victim in his bath.

Marie Antoinette (Amanda Nichols), on the other hand, would rather De Gouges rewrite recent history, with a play that shows her in a more favorable light, as someone more intelligent and aware than the somewhat flighty figure shes usually taken to be.

The third interloper is Marianne Angele (Mecca Beard), a native of Haiti who has been an activist against slavery, and has some ideas for pamphlets on that subject that she wants her friend De Gouges to help her write.

The Revolutionists has a good deal of fun with theatrical tropes, in a meta-theatrical way (De Gouges idea about turning her play into a musical are shot down because no one would watch a musical about a French revolution). The rapid-fire dialogue is often witty, although the snappy patter stretches into more serious territory, as fate inexorably proves the truth of Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karrs quip, Plus ca change, plus cest la meme chose (The more things change, the more they stay the same).

The cast handles this volatile material well, from Nichols deliciously vapid and vixenish Marie (Kim Li plays the role for some performances), Mulgrews wild-eyed would-be assassin Charlotte, and McEvers tartly tempestuous De Gouges. Beard, who took over the Marianne role at the last minute, performed with script in hand, but for most of the evening she hardly consulted it.

Like the other three, she was fully committed to the character  just as these characters are committed to doing what they think is right, whether for their country or just for themselves.

Zero Steiert guided the performers with a sensitive, and ultimately invisible, hand. Adam-Bobby Farman designed the costumes that brought some period flair to the relatively sparse set.

The Revolutionists continues with performances through May 1 at the Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St. For tickets: 918-596-7111, tulsapac.com.

Tulsa World Scene podcast: An epic slice of Oak Ridge Boys lore

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Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam on Thursday stressed that the HKSAR government will not let its guard down in fighting COVID-19 despite dwindling infections in the global financial hub.

Leveraging the full support of the central government, the HKSAR government has enhanced its anti-pandemic capability on all fronts, she said in an online article.

"This, together with the full cooperation of various sectors in society, has led to gradual stabilization of the fifth wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong ... enabling the HKSAR government to adjust various restrictive measures in phases from late April as planned to get society back to normal in an orderly manner," she said.

The HKSAR government will steadfastly take forward the strategies of "guarding against the importation of cases and the resurgence of local infections," according to the article.

On Thursday, Hong Kong registered 206 new COVID-19 cases by nucleic acid tests, and 207 additional positive cases through self-reported antigen rapid tests, official data showed.
Oklahoma is getting a grip on the states cannabis sector and will have an even firmer grasp if legislation pending this session makes it into law, two knowledgeable officials told the Tulsa Regional Chamber on Friday morning.

A lot has changed since August, Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority Executive Director Adria Berry said, referring to the date she was appointed to the position. We did need to step up  and weve stepped up tremendously in a very short period of time.

From August 2021 to today, weve doubled our staff, from 100 to 200. The purpose of that is to have inspectors in the field across the state. We didnt have that before. We didnt have nearly enough inspectors to go and have eyes on every licensee.

The combination of more inspectors and a seed-to-sale program that tracks individual plants will help the state control illegal activity in the sector and better monitor overall production.

When I came into this job, a lot of people were angry because we had not done our job, Berry said. I know there is a lot to clean up. Its going to take some time. But were absolutely doing it.

Until recently, Oklahoma had more than 8,000 licensed medical marijuana growing operations, far more than any other state and growing far more than was being legally consumed by Oklahomans. Authorities soon learned that the broad framework put in place when voters legalized medical marijuana in 2018 made Oklahoma a haven for illegal operations.

Listening to the industry, the industry wants to be regulated, said state Rep. T.J. Marti, R-Broken Arrow, chairman of the House Alcohol, Tobacco and Controlled Substance Committee. A lot of people have investments in the industry, and the industry is struggling. It may not look like it from the outside, but inside, the industry is struggling.

Marti said the proliferation of relatively unfettered medical marijuana businesses has caused the price of the product to go from $3,000 per pound to as little as $400.

Compared to other states, we give marijuana away in Oklahoma, said Marti. Were the cheapest by far. Joints are $1. Its a joke.  Growers arent making money.

Among steps under consideration during the current legislative session are splitting the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority from the State Health Department to create an independent agency; steep fee increases, especially for large growing operations; and required prepackaging for all retail sales.

All face opposition from various interests, but Berry and Marti said there is broad support for reform. Berry said the number of grow licenses is declining and that an equilibrium will be reached at some point.

It has to, Berry said. Thats the way the free market works. With the free market approach and us able to regulate better, we going to see (fewer business).  In reality, it would probably only take a few of these large grows to supply the entire state.

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PRYOR  Mayes County commissioners voted 2-1 Thursday to approve a resolution establishing a $300 million tax increment financing district within MidAmerica Industrial Park.

The 12-year TIF would cover 588 acres inside the 8,900-acre industrial park.

State and Mayes County officials hope the incentive will help land what they have said would be the largest economic development project in Oklahoma history.

Government officials have declined to name the company, citing a confidentiality agreement, but it has been widely reported to be Panasonic.

The company has signed contracts with Tesla and Canoo  which is building its own facility at MidAmerica  to provide electric batteries for their vehicles.

The development would lead to the creation of up to 6,000 new direct jobs, 1,200 indirect jobs, 16,000 new housing units and a population increase of 18,000, according to the project plan.

TIFs allow governmental entities to use a portion of property taxes generated within the district to invest in the districts infrastructure, providing an incentive for private investment.

The terms of the TIF approved Thursday call for the manufacturer, labeled Project Ocean, to receive $100 million, and MidAmerica would receive $50 million to fund infrastructure needs.

The remaining $150 million would go to schools, a vo-tech and other local entities that rely on property taxes to fund their operations.

County Commissioners Darrell Yoder and Ryan Ball voted in favor of establishing the TIF; Commissioner Matt Swift voted against it.

Swift said he had several reasons for voting no, including his desire to ensure that community members who opposed the project were represented.

I do know there is a bunch of people that is not for it, he said.

Swift said hes also concerned that the TIF doesnt provide enough money to the county government to compensate for the services it will be expected to provide as the community grows.

County general funds is a really, really small amount of money, Swift said.

Yoder said voting for the TIF was a no-brainer. He noted that Mayes Countys population declined in the last 10 years and that the TIF would help turn that trend around.

This was an incentive to show that Mayes County wants them here, for me, Yoder said. We are extending the olive branch  we want you.

MidAmerica CEO Dave Stewart said its important for the public to understand that if Pryor lands the project, the facility would not open its doors for at least three or four years. Planning is already underway to address the infrastructure, housing and other needs Pryor and surrounding communities will have to address, Stewart said.

There is time for us to prepare, and we are not starting from ground zero, Stewart said.

Gov. Kevin Stitt said Tuesday that the TIF had to be approved if the state was to have any chance of landing Project Ocean.

Stitt signed House Bill 4455 on Monday that would provide up to $698 million for the project in rebates based on capital investment and job creation.

Oklahoma is competing with Kansas for the plant.

The company is expected to make its decision within 30 to 60 days.

Video: Governor seek economic incentives to land largest factory investment in state history.

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Gov. Kevin Stitt reversed course late Thursday, denying parole for Tulsas notorious Crossbow Killer.

Jimmie Dean Stohler, 69, was mere hours from being eligible for early release from a life sentence for the January 1982 murder of 30-year-old Michele Rae Powers in front of her Cherry Street apartment.

In a letter timestamped at 5:33 p.m., Stitts general counsel Trevor Pemberton wrote the director of Oklahomas Pardon and Parole Board that the governor had been provided by the Tulsa County district attorney with material information regarding Jimmie D. Stohler that was not previously available to this office.

Based on the new information, Jimmie D. Stohlers application for parole is being denied.

Stitt initially signed off on Stohlers parole certificate April 22 after the Pardon and Parole Board voted unanimously in March to recommend his early release.

But local prosecutors and Powers nearest living relative who had vehemently opposed parole learned Stohler was scheduled to be let out as early as Friday morning when contacted by the Tulsa World on Tuesday evening.

After news of Stitts reversal, Tulsa County DA Steve Kunzweiler revealed his office had made one last-ditch attempt on Thursday to stop Stohlers release by contacting Stitts office.

We gave them all the information they needed to understand, Kunzweiler said. We reiterated to the governor what our position was with the Pardon and Parole Board  we protested it because it is one of Tulsas most notorious and horrific murders. Im gratified that the governors office has seen fit not to grant him release.

Apparently, the Pardon and Parole Boards documentation indicated that another suspect in the case had been solicited to do the killing for Stohler.

But on Thursday, local prosecutors sent the governors office a letter stating:

The only evidence that suggests (the other suspect) is the actual killer is Mr. Stohlers (own) testimony. Objectively, Mr. Stohler is the person who had the motive, had been discussing it for a year, had purchased the crossbow and the poison tipped arrows, and fled the State for months after learning he was becoming a suspect.

Kunzweiler told the Tulsa World that getting the matter clarified in time would not have happened without the media companys reporting on the parole on Wednesday.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, he told the World Thursday evening.

Powers had been locked in a child custody dispute for several years with her ex-boyfriend and Stohlers best friend, Robert Doss.

Doss was a Tulsa police officer at the time and Stohler was a former officer who had left the Tulsa Police Department after a series of discipline-related suspensions and pay cuts.

Stohler reportedly admitted to police that he previously planned to kill Powers with a revolver or a knife.

Shortly after Powers scored a victory in the child custody case with Doss, she was ambushed by masked men in the parking lot of her apartment building while leaving for her overnight shift as a respiratory therapist at a nearby Tulsa hospital.

She languished in the hospital, dying six days after the attack, leaving behind her then 4-year-old son.

Doss was also charged with plotting the murder but was acquitted, and no one other than Stohler was ever convicted in the case.

Powers twin sister, Rochelle Ruth, told the Tulsa World on Thursday evening that news of Stitts about-face had her in a state of shock after she had been emotionally bracing for Stohlers release.

I just cant even believe this. I am so thankful, Ruth said. I dont know what type of retaliation he might have over this, but Im just so thankful. It was a God thing. It really was.

Ruth, who lives in Henryetta, said she had been pleading with God for some kind of divine intervention.

I looked up in the sky today and you know how you look for shapes? I seen this face up there. It was just like a face of a man with a beard  but I could see a crown on top. I just prayed: I pray that you can do something, Ruth said.

Then she added: I am just almost in shock. I do feel like a big weight has been lifted off of me. You were the very first and you guys getting this out there made a big impact  and I think the political pressure was on Stitt.

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Rumblings in the online world seem to point toward yet another social media mass exit.

You might remember how folks said they were going to leave Facebook after whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed how the social media giants algorithms encouraged incendiary, divisive and misleading content.

Others grew angry after numerous social media platforms introduced stricter moderation. Fact-checking, suspensions and bans drew praise in some circles but loud protests in others.

Threats to move into new, unmoderated platforms abounded, but for the most part people havent left for greener, unmoderated pastures. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others still claim hundreds of millions of users or more.

But in the past few weeks, new grumblings have surfaced, focused solely on Twitter. Billionaire Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is buying the platform, vowing to take the company private, and lifting some of the content restrictions put in place after the 2020 U.S. elections.

Conservatives have cheered. Fox News talk show host Tucker Carlson announced Were back in a tweet Monday after remaining silent for weeks. Hed steered clear because he refused to take down a tweet that was flagged by Twitter.

Although former President Donald Trump says he has no plans to rejoin the site (he was deplatformed on Twitter and other sites following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot), he has plenty of fans who hope he changes his mind.

Other accounts, like that of the Babylon Bee (at first an evangelical knockoff of satire site The Onion, but later devolved into something more akin to right-wing sarcasm) would likely be free to post whatever it wished under Musks self-described free-speech absolutism.

Obviously theres another side of this coin, reflected in the mass-exodus threat: those who fear a return of hate speech, incendiary comments and so forth. Twitter has always been a place where sharp elbows reign, but at times has degenerated into harassment, bullying and even threats.

And thats the crux of the matter. Is hate speech also protected speech? Numerous lawsuits have upheld Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi rallies as protected speech under the First Amendment, yet those same protections against government censorship dont apply when a corporation sets the rules on what sort of engagement is allowed.

And thats where Musks words have been deeply scrutinized. Were left with the question: In his world of free-speech absolutism, is there anything out of bounds?

Should his $44 billion purchase of Twitter go through, he said he plans to take the company private. That will allow him, and not a corporate board representing a legion of shareholders, to set the rules.

Just how does he view the platform hes buying?

Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy, Musk tweeted recently.

In other tweets, hes said this:

By free speech, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.

Fair enough. Based on these words, Im going to go with two assumptions. First, he means what he says. Expect looser moderation and an environment thats closer to the anything-goes days of Twitters early years. Second, it may evolve over time as he becomes more familiar with the ins and outs of the business.

Musks purchase might push people out of the Twitterverse, and I get it. I plan to stay, but others might feel its not worth it anymore.

But I do have other, more serious questions that I hope the worlds richest man (hes worth more than a quarter of a trillion dollars) considers.

What will he do with disinformation?

This is a serious subject to me, and one I tackled at length in November. Twitter is a great place to have discussions with like-minded people on subjects that interest you, but it also became fertile ground for the Islamic State group, the Russian military and QAnon conspiracy theorists.

ISIS used the platform to find new recruits and spread extremist ideologies. Russias Internet Service Agency was responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committees servers and conducted disinformation campaigns that had real  and sometimes violent  consequences.

QAnon got enough people so wound up over fake conspiracies that thousands of its adherents violently stormed the U.S. Capitol while Congress was certifying the 2020 presidential election. People died over lies spread online on Twitter and elsewhere.

These are real  and destructive  developments that were enabled by lax social media moderation, and were still paying the price for that. Disinformation about COVID-19 and its vaccines has led to hundreds of thousands of excess American deaths during the pandemic. Partisan walls, already high 10 years ago, are nearly impassable barriers now.

How will Musk handle this? Will he treat disinformation campaigns as free speech, even if it helps tear societies apart? Or will he reconsider?

Musk has promised to do more to verify users authenticity (he wants to cut down on the number of bots on Twitter, which would be useful in combatting disinformation), eradicate spam and make the platforms algorithms open source.

Presumably, that would make Twitter more transparent and authentic. But the question remains about what will be monitored and what wont.

Our concerns are not new, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki was quoted as saying by Reuters. The president has long talked about his concerns about the power of social media platforms, including Twitter and others, to spread misinformation.

Musks response seems to be that a healthy free society must allow the freest of speech. I lean toward that, too, but also recognize that free speech remains healthy as long as its done in good faith.

When hundreds, thousands, or even millions can be moved toward a destructive path based on believable lies, democracy can die. And when democracy dies, so do those cherished freedoms, including free speech.

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Masterise Group on Wednesday announced Build A Better Future  its long-term corporate social responsibility (CSR) program in Vietnam which consists of progressive initiatives and practical values for the community.

After its previous CSR efforts, Build A Better Future is a crucial step that follows the groups road map for sustainability.

Small things can make a big difference, said Jason Turnbull, Deputy Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Masterise Homes.

In this strategic program, we are gradually taking our small but effective first steps in collaboration with like-minded partners to enhance the living quality for Vietnamese people and contribute to building a sustainable community as the long-standing commitment at Masterise Group.

Targeting to tackle the urgent local challenges, Build A Better Future activities are designed toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The program aims to develop initiatives, practical solutions, and actions to enhance the living environment and elevate Vietnams prosperity and development through a solid strategic three-pronged approach: Environment  Education  Humanitarian Aid.

The first approach is to concentrate on providing a sustainable Living Environment by developing resilient infrastructure and promoting inclusive and sustainable values.

As a world-class real estate developer in Vietnam, Masterise Group creates prestigious, exquisite international quality developments, as well as smart, sustainable cities and communities.

In addition, the group joins hands with local authorities in developing infrastructure works providing services to address the specific needs of the rural communities.

Education  the programs second approach  is also a prioritized criterion in the corporations past CSR activities.

To build a better future in Vietnam, Masterise Group sets goals to enhance the quality of education and raise social awareness, ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Thirdly, to deliver Humanitarian Aid, the group is committed to accompanying, enabling, and connecting communities as they grapple with complex challenges like natural disasters and epidemics.

This one not only works toward SDGs but also responds to the governments motto No One Left Behind for Vietnams growth path.

As a part of the program, Masterise Group announces a long-term strategic partnership with UNICEF Vietnam for the 2022-24 period in the Innovation For Children project.

The project comprises innovations to enhance the living environment and education for future generations through expected movements: introducing and testing innovative education technology to address learning poverty; children and adolescent-led innovation in schools; mainstream climate-resilient aspects by testing and scaling up the climate-resilient Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) program; drawing lessons learned from the testing of and advocating for large-scale adoption of practical innovations for regions that face similar situations.

Jason Turnbull (L), Deputy Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Masterise Homes, signs a partnership deal with Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative to Vietnam.

Further information will be announced by Masterise Group and partners in the near future.

By supporting these key priorities through its CSR plan, Masterise Group contributes toward achievement of the SDGs, said Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative to Vietnam.

Heeding the call to engage more actively with the private sector, we celebrate Masterise Groups support as an example of the important role that can be played to improve the development outcomes for children, to contribute to prosperity of the country in the future, and to actively tackle the challenges of climate change.

Build A Better Future is also a long-term partner of Room to Read in the Girls Education Program  an effort to eliminate discrimination in education.

Through this program, not only does Masterise Group support girls in difficult circumstances to complete their schooling years, but the company also collaborates with Room to Read and others to organize classes of life skills education, while providing counseling and mental support to empower them to shape their future.

Masterise Group will announce more information about the progressive and comprehensive initiatives under the Build A Better Future program on a larger scale from south to north, fulfilling the commitment to enhance the quality of life in Vietnam through developing resilient, sustainable cities and communities for future generations.
With Tan Phu District stealing the limelight amid the growing 'Hub & Spoke' model for offices, the current market for office space in Ho Chi Minh City is changing rapidly, said a statement recently released by Savills Vietnam.

It is no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed all aspects of peoples lives, perhaps no aspect more than their working lives.

Hybrid working is no longer a nice-to-have for many people across the world, now it is a must-have.

Employers have to adapt and so have those in the commercial real estate sector.

The situation in Vietnam is no different, with co-working office supply growing six percent year on year in 2020 and three percent in 2021, said the property service provider.

While these statistics indicate growth is slowing, the changes the pandemic has brought will not go away anytime soon.

Co-working is here to stay and Savills Vietnam predicts demand for this type of office space to grow this year, based on Vietnams positive economic outlook for 2022.

Employees now need more than just a desk, they need an office that adds value.

From this, there has been a new trend called Hub & Spoke, which combines a satellite office model with a core office model.

Together with the growing hybrid workplace trend after the lockdowns, companies are starting to offer employees a flexibility never-before seen

By doing so, employers are prioritizing efficiency and productivity in a modern sense.

The post-lockdown market is resilient with high demand and low supply," said Tu Thi Hong An, Savills Vietnams commercial leasing director in Ho Chi Minh City.

"Hybrid offices are becoming increasingly popular, and now are a viable and cost-effective solution.

Tenants from the IT sector are the most active, seeking offices across all grades.

"Despite a supply shortage, rents are unlikely to further increase as small office absorption is slowing down.

With these new trends, it is expected that there will be a strong push for companies to build satellite offices around the city to cater to their workforce.

Offices will be designed to be more spacious and offer modern amenities without the expensive prices in the citys central business district (CBD).

However, as with many large cities around the world, the southern citys CBD is packed. Space for anything comes at a premium in this bustling metropolis, and it is the same in the office market.

With a land area of 16 square kilometers and a population in excess of 485,000, Tan Phu is in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City and a short drive from the key industrial areas of Binh Duong Province.

The district has room for spacious offices with the clean and beautiful modern facilities that the modern business must have to keep employees happy and productive.

Oliver Brazier, director of a high-class office building, stressed that Tan Phu is a new and exciting hub for the world of offices in Ho Chi Minh City because it is not overly crowded with office buildings.

However, if you look at the statistics about population, infrastructure, and the connectivity with other office spaces, it shows the potential of this area, Brazier said.

With lower costs and a bustling population, Tan Phu is perfect for a young and dynamic workforce in diverse industries such as IT, engineering, e-commerce and creative fields such as design."

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Amsterdam's Schiphol airport has asked airlines to cancel flights over the weekend to avoid chaos due to overcrowding at Europe's third busiest airport, it said on Thursday.

The airport said it had taken the action due to staff shortages. An unannounced strike among baggage handlers aggravated major delays and cancellations at the airport on April 23.

Schiphol said in an email to Reuters it had "asked airlines to reduce the number of local departing passengers this weekend by cancelling bookings, and not accepting new bookings from Schiphol in the period from 2 to 8 May."

"This is an annoying but necessary measure to reduce the number of passengers," it said.

The airport said it advised travelers to contact their airlines for information on specific flights.

Schiphol was not available for further comment on how many flights would be affected.

Dutch news agency ANP reported that KLM, the Dutch arm of airline Air France-KLM, expected to cancel several flights on Friday.

KLM could not immediately be reached for comment late on Thursday.
What you need to know today in Vietnam:

Society

-- It is forecast to rain all over Vietnam this holiday weekend, according to the national weather service.

-- A fireworks display will be held in Ho Chi Minh City from 9:00 pm to 9:15 pm to celebrate Reunification Day on Saturday.

-- Authorities have detected 34 instances of laser beams aimed at airplanes taking off and landing at Tan Son Nhat International in Ho Chi Minh City from 2021 till now so they will tighten measures to ensure aviation safety during the ongoing holiday travel craze.

-- A court in southern Dong Nai Province sentenced on Thursday Pham Phu Cuong, 33, to death for dealing in drugs.

-- Ho Con Rua (Turtle Lake), a landmark in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City started being revamped on Friday, with the sidewalks around it to be renovated first and the core to follow suit later. The whole facelift, set to be finished by September 2, is estimated to cost VND15 billion (US$653,324).

Business

-- Vietnam's Masan Group said it was planning to list its retail arm The Crown X on the stock exchange of New York, Hong Kong, Singapore or Vietnam.

Lifestyle

-- Vietnam's bun bo hue (Hue-style noodle soup) has been included in the lunch menu for students at 35 elementary and middle schools in Saijo, a city in Ehime Prefecture, Japan from this month, according to Fuji News Network.

Sports

-- Vietnam's grandmaster Le Quang Liem finished second at the Oslo Esports Cup with 13 points after defeating the Netherlands' Jorden Van Foreest in the last match on Friday. Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the cup with 14 points following his last round victory over Canadian chess player Eric Hansen.

World News

-- "Shanghai's heavy-handed COVID-19 lockdown is driving scores of foreign residents to flee the commercial centre, denting the appeal of mainland China's most cosmopolitan city and prompting others to rethink their futures in the metropolis," Reuters reported.

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About 215 million people aged 60 and above, or 81.44 percent of the age group, have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 on the Chinese mainland, a health official said Thursday.

Nearly 160 million of them also got a booster shot, said Wu Liangyou, deputy head of the disease control and prevention division of the National Health Commission (NHC), at a press conference, noting that the vaccination speed for the age group is accelerating.

So far, 1.25 billion Chinese people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, accounting for 88.62 percent of the total population, data from the NHC shows.
Rains will likely continue across Vietnam during the coming holidays this weekend, under the influence of a combination of cold air and a low-pressure system strengthened offshore, the central weather agency has forecast.

The rainy weather pattern starting on Friday morning may go on during Reunification Day (April 30) and International Workers' Day (May 1), as the cold air mass is moving southward while the low-pressure system in the East Vietnam Sea may turn into a tropical depression, the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting said on Friday.

As of Saturday night, the cold air will affect the northern mountainous area before expanding its impacts to other localities southward.

From Friday evening through Sunday, the northern region will have moderate to heavy rains together with thunderstorms and rainfall ranging from 40 to 100 millimeters, according to the center.

In the area from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien-Hue Provinces, north-central Vietnam, precipitation will fluctuate from 50 to 120 millimeters, accompanied by whirlwinds, lightning, hail, and squalls.

From Friday through Tuesday, rains at 50 to over 100 millimeters, together with powerful winds, will slash a large region from Da Nang through Binh Thuan and from the Central Highlands to southern localities.

Flash floods and landslides may occur in mountainous areas while flooding is likely to hit low-lying locales, the center warned.

Cold weather will cover the northern and north-central localities from Sunday with prevailing temperatures of 18 to 21 degrees Celsius, which will be lower in mountainous regions.

From early Sunday morning, the Gulf of Tonkin will have strong winds of 49 to 61 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 74 kilometers per hour.

Sea wave heights will reach four to six meters in the northern part of the East Vietnam Sea and two to four meters in the waters off the central region from Quang Tri to Quang Ngai Provinces.

During the holidays, which last from Saturday to Tuesday, travelers to southern islands including Phu Quoc and Nam Du off Kien Giang Province will be less affected by the weather conditions but should watch out for strong gusts, said Le Dinh Quyet, deputy head of the Forecasting Department under the Southern Region Hydro-meteorological Station.

Meanwhile, many islands off the south-central region, such as Phu Quy of Binh Thuan Province and those of Khanh Hoa Province, will have bad weather due to the direct influence of the low pressure that is likely to get stronger, Quyet warned.

The same dangerous weather conditions will also be seen in the waters around islands and archipelagos in the northern region, Quyet said, adding that everybody should generally be prudent when taking sea tours.

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A 33-year-old man from Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam has been handed a capital punishment sentence for trading more than three kilograms of drugs between March and June last year.

The provincial Peoples Court sentenced Pham Phu Cuong, 33, to death for illicitly buying and selling narcotics during a trial on Thursday.

Nguyen Trung Hieu, 25, Tran Cong Quoc Anh, 33, and Tran Le Dung, 24, were handed a life sentence, while Doan Thanh Hieu, 23, Tran Dang Quoc Duy, 23, and Duong Chi Hai, 33, were jailed for 10 to 20 years for similar offenses.

Le Anh Dung, 40, received a 13-year prison term for the illegal possession of drugs.

From March to June 2021, Cuong bought over 3.1 kilograms of narcotics costing more than VND1 billion (US$43,500) from a man named Ty and another man named Dang Xuan Anh, the indictment showed.

Cuong then divided the drugs into small packages for his personal use as well as to sell to other addicts.

Quoc Anh, Thanh Hieu, Trung Hieu, and Tran Le Dung were in charge of delivering the products and fetching the money from buyers.

Hai and Le Anh Dung purchased the stimulant from Cuongs gang and resold it to other users.

On June 4 the same year, Cuong ordered more than 660 grams of narcotics from Ty and sent Duy to meet the man and carry out the transaction.

Duy was caught storing the drugs at his home following the purchase.

Officers later expanded their investigation and arrested other suspects.

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Vietnams bun bo hue (Hue-style beef noodle soup) has been included in the lunch menu for students at 35 elementary and middle schools in Saijo, a city in Ehime Prefecture, Japan from this month, according to Fuji News Network (FNN).

The goal of this effort is to promote an understanding of Vietnam to children in Saijo.

I find this dish very tasty though a bit spicy, said a student in the FNN report.

The noodles are soft and delicious like udon noodles, but the soup is orange and its taste is also very different from Japanese dishes, another child said, adding that was the first time they got to try Vietnamese food and they looked forward to visiting Hue City in central Vietnam -- the hometown of the soup.

This screenshot captured from an NHK report shows a bowl of Vietnams 'bun bo Hue' served for lunch at a school in Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan.

Toshihisa Tamai, Saijo mayor, visited a grade-four class at Saijo Elementary School on April 26 to introduce students there about Hue City, which established friendly relations with the Japanese city in 2018, according to NHK public television.

Bun bo Hue is a specialty containing rice vermicelli and beef of Hue, a former citadel in central Vietnam, where it was invented.

A student eats Vietnams 'bun bo Hue' for lunch at a school in Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. Photo: Ehime Asahi Television

The broth requires both pig and beef bones to be boiled with a generous dose of lemongrass, sugar, annatto, and shrimp paste.

When served, the dish is garnished with a tangle of vegetables like lime, scallions, cilantro, banana blossoms, mint, basil, Vietnamese coriander, and water morning glory.

A bowl of Vietnams 'bun bo Hue.' Photo: Tuoi Tre

In 2016, late American chef, author, travel documentarian, and television personality Anthony Bourdain called the Hue-style beef noodle soup the greatest soup in the world.

In addition to bun bo Hue, Saijo children are set to have Austrian and Chinese food for lunch in May and September, respectively, as the Japanese city also established friendly relationships with Seeboden Town in Austria and Baoding City in China.

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Walkley-winning ABC journalist Sarah Ferguson has been named as the next host of 7:30, succeeding Leigh Sales from July.

Ferguson will return from her role as a special Washington Correspondent which she commenced in 2020, after plans for a Beijing posting were set back.

Im delighted to take on the presenter role at 7.30. Led by Leigh and Laura, the 7.30 team has created a powerhouse program, she said.

These are challenging times nationally and internationally, scrutiny of power is at a premium, but I have also witnessed in the US the destructive force of rancorous political division.

On a brighter note, I expect to enjoy the role hugely, interviewing is one of the true thrills of journalism. Working in collaboration with the inimitable Laura Tingle is irresistible.

David Anderson, ABC Managing Director: said, ABC audiences know and respect Sarah for her years of investigative journalism and insightful reporting and as a foreign correspondent. Her work has set an unparalleled standard, not only in Australian journalism but internationally, as evidenced by her recent reporting from Ukraine.

Sarah is an exceptional appointment to take over 7.30 hosting duties from Leigh, alongside an outstanding team. 7.30 has been Australias premier daily current affairs program for decades and that will continue with Sarah at the helm.

Justin Stevens, ABC Director, News: said, Sarah Ferguson is one of this countrys most formidable and experienced journalists. She is a forensic investigative journalist, a gifted storyteller and a truly fearsome interviewer.

Were incredibly fortunate with the depth of talent we have at the ABC. Leigh Sales has done a superb job anchoring 7.30 for the past 12 years and to have someone of the calibre of Sarah Ferguson to take up the baton, working alongside Laura Tingle and the rest of the talented 7.30 team, is terrific news for audiences.

The nightly role 7.30 plays in holding to account those in power is a key part of the democratic process and Sarah, along with the rest of the team, will ensure we continue the programs proud history of delivering agenda-setting public affairs journalism.

Ferguson joined the ABC in 2008 to work on Four Corners and went on to win three Walkleys for her work on the program, including the 2011 Gold Walkley for A Bloody Business, an expose of Australias live cattle trade. Her other awards include four Logies for Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, the Melbourne Press Club Gold Quill, the George Munster Award and the Queensland Premiers Literary Award.

She also presented acclaimed documentaries The Killing Season, Hitting Home and Revelation and recently covered stories on FOX and the Big Lie, Ukraine War and Mexico Citys first Femicide Unit.

Ferguson began her journalism career in newspapers in the UK before moving to France, where she worked as a freelancer for British and French broadcasters, and later to Washington DC. In Australia she worked for SBS programs Dateline and Insight as both producer and reporter. She then spent four years on Nines Sunday program.

In 2014 Ferguson also presented 7:30.

Leigh Sales announced she was departing after nearly 12 years in the role, citing change, family and the pressures of the role, but is remaining with ABC.

7.30 is an incredibly important program and I welcome handing the reins to a journalist of Sarahs rigour vand experience. I look forward to finishing up and joining the viewers of Australia to see where she takes it next, said Sales.

Ferguson added, On Leighs departure, Id like to say that her diligence and skill have made an enormous contribution to Australian journalism. What you dont see in her calm studio presence is the huge amount of work she does in preparation. It will be a pleasure to take over from such a pro.
Aerial photo taken on Nov. 25, 2021 shows the scenery of Lixiang Lake National Wetland Park in Nanchuan District, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has made resolute efforts to strengthen environmental protection over the past 50 years following the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu said Thursday.

Huang made the remarks while addressing the Stockholm+50 stakeholder consultation in China via video. The ongoing event, co-organized by the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme, takes place from April 27 to 29 in Beijing.

It is a part of the Stockholm+50 international meeting to be held in early June in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Declaration, which was adopted at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.

Hailing the conference as a landmark of joint environmental protection efforts among people around the world, Huang noted that China has put environmental protection high on its agenda since then and made notable progress in resources conservation, sustainable development and international governance.

As the country advanced transformation and upgrading of economic, energy and industrial structures, strategic emerging industries related to energy-saving and environmental protection have grown rapidly and become pillars of the economy.

China is a world leader in using renewable energy resources, with installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, photovoltaic and other non-fossil energy topping 1.1 billion kilowatts. It is also one of the fastest countries worldwide to reduce energy consumption intensity, Huang added.

He also underlined continuous improvements in China's ecological environment. In 2021, the average concentration of PM2.5 in cities at or above the prefecture level decreased by 34.8 percent from 2015, while the proportion of surface water with good quality and forest coverage rate reached 84.9 percent and 23.04 percent, respectively, he said.

China has revised over 30 laws and regulations and released dozens of reform plans related to ecological and environmental protection. It has also facilitated the implementation of international environmental agreements, proposed carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, and assisted developing countries in green growth.

The country will keep making efforts to promote green and low-carbon development and contribute to global cooperation on environmental protection, Huang said.
By Janaya Thompson

The continent of Africa is filled with resources that have been sought after by the most powerful countries around the world for decades. It is a hunt that marked the colonization of Africa by European countries, which is critical to understanding the present condition of the African continent and its people.

This year I have taken two courses on Africa, 19th century African history and Human Rights and Development in Africa and attended UDs Global Voices Symposium, Africa in our Century from 1-2 March 2022. Personally, I have a deep infatuation with the continent of Africa. While Ive grown up in Northeastern Ohio and lived in Dayton Ohio for the past 10 years, Africa is where most of my ancestors came from. Yet, I have no connection to it at all which propels me to try to find my own connection to the place and people. The experiences of reading and taking courses on the subject have given me new insights which I share here.

In the U.S., we often consider African countries as underdeveloped. I believe the true culprit of Africas underdevelopment is the ghost of colonialism that lingers throughout the African continent. Because of this, I dont view Africa as underdeveloped but rather as just slightly behind through no fault of the people. It's time that our view of Africa changed.

Africa is changing!

Since 2017, the Global Voices Symposium has aimed to create global awareness and promote global engagement. This years symposium focused on Africa in Our Century with five thought-provoking sessions, including a student session on their perspectives on global education and impact. The event was hosted and planned by UD faculty with expertise in African history and contemporary culture. The symposium examined the growing importance of the African continent for our present and future.

One of the first speakers of the Global Voices symposium was our Alumni Chair in Humanities and professor Dr. Julius Amin who focused his presentation on China's Involvement in Africa. I was struck by the map Dr. Amin showed which displays the difference between the GDPs of Africa and China in 1980 and 2016. In 1980, the GDP of almost every African country was higher than Chinas GDP, but the map of 2016 was completely flipped, wherein Chinas GDP was higher than nearly every African country. What made this shift over the last 40 years?

In the keynote address, Unlocking Africas potential in a time of competition between rising and global powers, Professor Landry Signe clearly articulated a new narrative that showcases the changing dynamics of Africa. He noted the significant shift in global opinion about Africa in the last 20 years. As an example, Dr. Signe used an article published by The Economist back in 2000 which read The Hopeless Continent, referring to Africa. By 2011, however, the Economist had changed its tune characterizing the continent with the title Africa Rising.'' So, what has changed? Dr. Signe detailed why people may be beginning to change the way they see Africa. For example, the amount of consumer spending in Africa has significantly increased, with no signs of stopping. A rise in urbanization has also been seen in recent years as countries in Africa have seen an extremely fast, growing trend of increasing population in cities. Industrialization has also happened very quickly despite the need for more advanced technology and infrastructure. These are essential development steps that help bring African countries up to speed with the rest of the world. Africa is beginning to compete with global powers through urbanization, industrialization, technological advancements, and the overall increase of GDP in African countries.

My perception of Africa

What I take away from learning about African history and today is the challenge to our way of thinking and the negative perceptions of Africa in the U.S. These are not just attitudes or views. In what Chimamanda Adichie calls the single story, this perspective has slowed down Africas development. While some people blame the underdevelopment of African countries on its peoples own doing, I believe that this stems from the legacy of colonialism. While not pretending that conflicts and problems did not happen in Africa prior to colonialism, the effects of colonialism have exacerbated the continents challenges to date. The post-colonial perspective of Africa is one-dimensional and continues to view the continent only through the lenses of war, poverty, deprivation, disease, and corruption. Instead of helping Africa move forward, colonialism has led to exploitation where most of the continents resources are exported, while essential goods are foreign imported. We should question why coastal countries in Africa need imports of seafood from across the world or why a country like the Democratic Republic of Congo has almost no access to the precious mineral, coltan, which is found on its own territory?

And these dynamics extend not only to past colonialism. I also think that much of the rapid development of China is largely due to the growth of Chinas economic presence in Africa, which is associated with securing the continents natural resources. I struggle to understand how countries today outside of Africa can take whatever resources they need to advance their societies, while African countries are left with little. This is despite the fact that while the majority of countries in Africa are considered to be developing countries, they have an abundance of resources that make countries outside of the continent some of the richest countries in the world. How is that fair? It was pointed out that Chinas involvement might not be mutually beneficial to Africa though there continue to be polarizing debates about the benefits of Chinas involvement and its role in the underdevelopment in Africa.

Personally, I came to the conclusion that global competition around Africa is due to the fact that African countries are beginning to catch up to the foreign countries that once exploited them. The reckoning is coming, and any prospect of lack of access to Africas resources scares most, if not all, of the global superpowers.

In sum, I have realized the need to critically engage with the perceptions of Africa in my society that have been largely driven by Western media and reinforce negative stereotypes of the continent. While serious problems need to be tackled in Africa, we also must recognize the tremendous advances being made. In my opinion, Africas potential has already been unlocked. From outside the continent, I ask of my community, how do we actively support the creation of positive narratives about Africa?

Janaya is a senior human rights major from Dayton, Ohio. She has a passion for helping ensure the rights of people specifically from marginalized groups such as the LGBTQ+ community as well as the Black community. At the Human Rights Center, Janaya is a new intern with the Marketing and Communications team and through this internship she hopes to gain more experience that will help in her future endeavors.
(Bloomberg) -- Vedanta Ltd. will issue 117.1 billion rupees ($1.5 billion) of dividends to shareholders, triggering a rally in the bonds of its parent that will use the income to pay down debt.

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Vedanta will pay a dividend of 31.50 rupees a share to investors, it said in an exchange filing Thursday. That will provide some relief to its parent Vedanta Resources Ltd., which faces a wall of maturities, beginning with a $1 billion note due in July.

Separately, Vedanta Resources announced a tender offer to buy back as much as $500 million of its dollar notes due in July, it said in an exchange notice in Singapore. The company said it will use about half the $1 billion it receives as dividend from the Indian unit.

The parent firms dollar bonds rose the most in six weeks Friday, with the notes maturing in July hitting the highest level since October, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.

Billionaire Anil Agarwals Mumbai-listed company paid out about $2.2 billion to shareholders in the year ended March. S&P Global Ratings had flagged last month that dividends from Vedanta Ltd., which is 70%-owned by its London-based parent, will likely contribute to a large part of Vedanta Resources debt servicing as refinancing over the next six months becomes more challenging.

If the past is an indication, looking at the profitability, one may expect that dividend will remain high, Ajay Goel, acting chief financial officer, said in a post-earnings call. It will help the parent cut debt by $4 billion over the next three years, he said.

Reduction of the parents debt will be front loaded, with at least $1 billion coming this fiscal year, Sunil Duggal, Chief Executive Officer of Vedanta Ltd., said on another post-earnings call Thursday.

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Net Income Falls

Meanwhile, group net income dropped nearly 10% from a year earlier to 58 billion rupees in the January-to-March period, the Indian unit said. That would be the first year-on-year decline in profit since the quarter ended September 2020. It also missed analysts estimate.

Industries across the world have been grappling with higher energy and commodity costs that have been exacerbated by Russias war in Ukraine as supply chains get upended. Locally, Indian mills are finding it difficult to secure thermal coal supplies, especially aluminum producers, as the government diverts the fuel to the power sector.

Shares of Vedanta rose 1.6% in Mumbai Friday, extending the years gains to nearly 23%. Analysts have 13 buy recommendations on the company, 3 holds and 2 sells, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

(Updates with parent firms bond rally and comment from CEO)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
LONDON, March 31, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a-" (Excellent) of Kuwait Insurance Company S.A.K.P. (KIC) (Kuwait). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect KICs balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

KICs balance sheet strength is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). Further supporting the balance sheet strength assessment is KICs consistent internal capital generation and prudent reserving practices. Offsetting factors include the companys high-risk investment strategy with a concentration to equity holdings, which exposes its capital position to potential volatility, and the companys elevated dependence on reinsurance, although the associated counterparty risk is partially mitigated by the use of a panel of financially sound reinsurers.

KICs strong operating performance is demonstrated by a five-year (2017-2021) weighted average return-on-equity ratio of 10.9%, and is driven by the companys solid technical results. Non-life underwriting profitability has been strong, with combined ratios below 90% in each of the past five years, and growing life operations have positively contributed to earnings since 2018. Investment performance supports overall earnings with a five-year (2017-2021) net investment return (excluding gains and losses) of 3.5%. However, KICs investment returns remain subject to volatility from regional equity market performance.

KIC holds a well-established position within its domestic insurance market of Kuwait, from which it sources all its premium. In 2021, KIC generated gross written premium of KD 46.9 million (USD 155.4 million), compared with KD 38.1 million in 2020. The company has good product diversification, offering a comprehensive range of non-life, life and takaful products, and maintains a strong presence in corporate business lines, including general accident and property. KICs near term business plan includes geographic expansion, and establishing operations in Egypts life insurance market. Although projected to be at a small scale relative to its domestic business, KICs regional expansion presents operational and execution risks.

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This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2022 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005810/en/

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Analysis-Musk's Twitter free speech promise may be tested in Middle East A blogger and social media specialist, Hera Shabbir checks her social media accounts on her smart phone in Manama, Bahrain

By Andrew Mills and Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI (Reuters) - Twitter buyer Elon Musk calls himself a free speech absolutist, but that could be put to the test in the Middle East where critics say authoritarian governments use the platform to track opponents and spread disinformation.

In a region where the local media is often controlled by the state, millions of people rely on social media platforms to follow news and express their opinions.

Both Twitter and Facebook showed their potential to influence real-life events during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, when they played an outsize role in social upheaval.

But many democratic gains were reversed, partly because governments could follow the activities of opponents on social media sites and make arrests if they were criticised.

Marc Owen Jones, author of the forthcoming Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East and a assistant professor of Middle East Studies at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar, said Twitter had been co-opted by some countries which use it to disseminate propaganda and intimidate activists.

"Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter will simply aggravate the problems we see in the region. It will increase the likelihood that Twitter will be exploited as a tool of surveillance and repression," he said.

"His 'anything goes' ideology will play into the hands of authoritarian states to just manipulate Twitter to create fake accounts and to intimidate others under the guise of free speech."

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how it might deal with Middle Eastern governments' use of the platform and what it might do to protect critics expressing their views on social media.

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter Inc for $44 billion cash on Monday, a transaction that will give him control of the social media platform and turn the group from a publicly-listed company into a private one.

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"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk said in a statement on Monday.

THOUSANDS OF ACCOUNTS REMOVED

Some political activists expect Musk's leadership will mean less moderation and the reinstatement of banned individuals, including former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Musk has also advocated user-friendly tweaks to the service, such as an edit button and defeating "spam bots" that send overwhelming amounts of unwanted tweets.

In 2020, Twitter took down thousands of accounts linked to Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Serbia for either taking directions from the governments or promoting pro-government content.

The year before, Twitter said it had removed nearly 6,000 accounts for being part of a state-backed information operation originating in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab monarchies do not tolerate dissent or public criticism and ban political parties and protests. They and other Arab states use criminal laws, in combination with cybercrime laws, to limit expression online.

Officials in Saudi Arabia and Egypt did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the takedowns in 2019 and 2020 or accusations that they manipulate social media and use platforms to monitor critics.

Abdullah Alaoudh, director of research for the Gulf region at DAWN (Democracy for the Arab World Now), is familiar with the consequences of using Twitter in Saudi Arabia.

He is the son of prominent Saudi Islamist preacher Salman Alodah, who is one of dozens of clerics, activists and intellectuals arrested in the kingdom since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman rose to power in 2017.

Alodah, who had a large social media following, was arrested in September 2017 at his home a few hours after he posted on Twitter urging Qatar and Saudi Arabia to end a diplomatic row, having previously criticised Riyadh over human rights.

"Twitter should be harder to infiltrate," said Alaoudh, referring to a case in which the U.S. Justice Department in 2019 charged two former Twitter employees and a third man from Saudi Arabia of spying for the kingdom by digging up private user data.

Maryam Al-Khawaja, a Bahraini activist who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States and whose father is serving a life sentence for his role in Bahrain's pro-democracy movement, said Twitter was an effective tool during the 2011 uprising.

But she said it quickly became a site where people were targeted.

"Twitter was already rife with harassment issues, and this will only escalate."

BANNED IN IRAN

Egyptian authorities have prosecuted activists for social media posts, including human rights defender Hossam Bahgat, who was fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds after accusing the election commission on Twitter of fraud in 2021.

Amnesty International said Twitter has a responsibility to protect the right to live free from discrimination and violence.

Twitter and Facebook have been banned in Iran since 2009 anti-government protests, but millions of Iranians have found ways to bypass state restrictions.

Many Iranian leaders, from the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to lawmakers, have emerged on Twitter despite the ban, with most having multiple accounts in different languages.

Freelance Iranian journalist Mohammmad Mosaed was detained in 2019 after tweeting about an internet shutdown during anti-government protests over a rise in fuel prices.

"Knock knock! Hello Free World! I used 42 different (proxy sites) to write this! Millions of Iranians don't have internet. Can you hear us?" he tweeted.

He was detained for two weeks. A few months later he was arrested again by the Revolutionary Guards for criticising Iran, the Committee to Protect Journalists, an NGO that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists, said.

Iran's judiciary did not immediately respond to questions about his case.

Meir Javedanfar, Iranian politics lecturer at Reichman University in Israel, said Twitter should introduce technology that enables Iranians to access the platform without being caught by Iranian authorities.

"Otherwise, no one in Iran really cares who owns Twitter. It makes little difference to them."

(Additional reporting by Andrew Mills, Parisa Hafezi, John Davison, Ali Kucukgocmen, Aziz al-Yaakoubi, Maya Gebeily, Maayan Lubell and Dan Williams, and Hyun Joo in San Francisco; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Jane Merriman)
MCPHY ENERGY SA

La Motte-Fanjas, April 29, 2022  9:00 am CEST  McPhy (Euronext Paris, C Compartment: MCPHY, FR0011742329), a specialist in zero-carbon hydrogen production and distribution equipment (electrolyzers and recharging stations), announces today having made available to the public and filed with the Autorite des marches financiers, on 28 April 2022, its 2021 Universal Registration Document, under number D.22-0381.

This Universal Registration Document includes in particular:

The annual Financial Report for 2021;

The management report ;

The Board of Directors' report on corporate governance;

The reports of the Statutory Auditors and their fees.

The presentation of the agenda and resolutions of the Annual General Meeting of 19 May, 2022, is included in the report of the Board of Directors to the General Meeting which is available on the company's website.

The Universal Registration Document is available free to the public at the Company's registered office, 1115, route de Saint-Thomas, 26190 La Motte-Fanjas, upon request and may also be consulted on the websites of the AMF ( www.amf-france.org ) or the Company ( www.mcphy.com/en ).

Upcoming of financial communication events:

Annual General Meeting on May 19, 2022

Publication of half-yearly results on July 28, 2022 after market close

About McPhy

Specialized in hydrogen production and distribution equipment, McPhy is contributing to the global deployment of zero-carbon hydrogen as a solution for energy transition. With its complete range of products dedicated to the industrial, mobility and energy sectors, McPhy offers its customers turnkey solutions adapted to their applications in industrial raw material supply, recharging of fuel cell electric vehicles or storage and recovery of electricity surplus based on renewable sources. As designer, manufacturer and integrator of hydrogen equipment since 2008, McPhy has three development, engineering and production centers in Europe (France, Italy, Germany). Its international subsidiaries provide broad commercial coverage for its innovative hydrogen solutions. McPhy is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment C, ISIN code: FR0011742329, MCPHY).

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To learn more: www.mcphy.com



McPhy is eligible PEA-PME

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High in the north Atlantic, nestled between Iceland and Norway, lie the moss-covered basalt cliffs of the Faroe Islands: a fishing archipelago and the perfect setting for Viaplays new original series Trom. Based on Faroese writer Jogvan Isaksens bestselling crime novels, and adapted for screen by creator and head writer Torfinnur Jakupsson and Donna Sharpe, Trom is a six-episode Nordic Noir produced and distributed by Denmarks REinvent Studios in co-production with Faroe Islands-based Kyk Pictures, Icelands Truenorth and Germanys ZDF/Arte.

In what has signalled a breakthrough for many Scandinavian series, the BBC acquired Trom in a deal announced just before the series premiere at Februarys Berlinale Series Market Selects.

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Co-directed by Kasper Barfoed (The Chestnut Man), Davi Oskar Olafsson (The Valhalla Murders), and Peter Ahlen, Trom follows rogue journalist Hannis Martinsson, played by Ulrich Thomsen (The New Pope). When Hannis receives an ominous message from his estranged daughter Sonja, he must return home to the Faroe Islands and wade into the darkened waters of his past to solve the mystery.

The series is the first set in the frigid Faroe Islands, and the setting looms as a stark warning of danger to come. Scored with musical nodding to the history of the Faroes, Trom is forward-paced with constant plot hooks and a pulsing electronic score.

Variety sat down with screenwriter Jakupsson to talk about the Faroese series.

How did this project come to be? What led you to want to make Trom?

Jakupsson: I think Ive always been fascinated by the genre of crime because I grew up in a very safe place with very little crime, so that whole world in a sense brought a bit of excitement into my more mundane everyday life in the Faroes. Then came the books by Jogvan Isaksen, which did the unthinkable of introducing murder in my hometown.

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I was around 16 when I first sort of manifested the idea of turning the books into a series. I was talking to a friend of mine on a coffee break at the local fish factory, looking up at the mountain top, where the first murder in the first book occurs. But it wasnt until years later, when I was working in London and about to turn 30 and seeing all these other great shows being made, that I decided to pack my bags to try and turn this old dream into a reality. Our national broadcaster was founded the same year I was born, but no such Faroese series had ever been produced. So I decided to take it upon myself to try and get it off the ground.

Can you speak about the challenge of adaptation and specifically Jogvan Isaksens crime novels?

Jakupsson: One of the first things we talked about was that I needed creative freedom to adapt the books as I wanted. The first book is from 1990, so quite a few things had to be updated and tweaked to make it feel like a contemporary show, including combining characters and giving them a background that maybe doesnt exist in the books and taking a closer look at the relationship between characters. One of the big decisions I made early on was also not to use voiceover whereas, in the books, youre getting an insight into what Hannis is thinking all the time. So the series is told differently in that sense. Hannis is a much more guarded character, and we leave plenty more good stuff to be revealed.

What drew you to the Faroe Islands as a setting for the events of Trom?

Jakupsson: Ive always liked those stories that have a very strong sense of place, and the Faroes are a big character in both the books and the series. This mysterious, beautiful but also brutal place, isolated from the rest of the world. The small town community and the culture that comes with that. The culture of silence both as a survival mechanism but also something that can slowly kill you. I also wanted the nature and environment of the Faroes itself to form our characters as much as the other way around, which is where the bigger political topics come into the crime story through the characters we put up against each other.

Can you discuss how you approached the music for the show? It seems very important in this series.

Jakupsson: Im a musician too, so during the writing process, I always think in sound as well as images. I got my brother in on doing the music for the show that also draws on the cultural heritage of the Faroes. For example, the main theme song, where we used kvi as inspiration  a traditional style of ballad singing and chain dancing from the Middle Ages that has only really survived in the Faroes  using rhythms and melodies from there. I wanted to make sure that the original music and the soundtrack set a Faroese tone for the show as much as the visuals. In this sense, to introduce the Faroes to a broader audience in more ways than one.

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Guyana's president has called for an apology from the UK over its role in the transatlantic slave trade after meeting Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Speaking to Sky News, Irfaan Ali explained that a decision calling for reparations over "one of the greatest atrocities in human history" must be taken by all Caribbean nations.

"That suffering was not only immense, it was generational. And a lot of wealth was derived from the suffering," President Ali said.

His comments come after the Earl and Countess of Wessex visited the Caribbean, where they faced anti-colonial protesters who demanded apologies and reparations for UK's participation in the slave trade.

Although politicians and royals have acknowledged the "atrocities" they have yet to apologise.

President Ali says this needs to be addressed and he believes "the conversation is getting closer to an apology".

"Not a simple apology, it has to have great depth and meaning. But in my view and looking at the last announcements, I think they're heading closer to that position," he said.

The president explained that his optimism comes from the continued work of CARICOM, an intergovernmental organisation that represents the interests of the Caribbean - as well as collectively calling for reparations.

"We have established a committee in the region itself that is looking at this because we understand that the region needs to have a common position," he said.

He added that it's better if the Caribbean countries unite in order "advance the process".

By the end of the Wessex tour, Antigua and Barbuda as well as Saint Kitts and Nevis, declared their intention to distance themselves from the British monarchy.

It comes as Jamaica and Belize expressed a similar interest when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited a few weeks before.

Guyana was among one of the first Caribbean countries to become a republic in the 1970s, and Mr Ali said sometimes change is for the best.

Story continues

"The colonial past is part of the history now that makes up these countries, all our countries. We can not distance ourselves from history," he said.

He added that more countries are "moving to Republic to demonstrate their full independence" and deciding to "walk on a new path".

However, President Ali explained that the intention is not to completely cut all ties - but to be treated as "equals".

In the future, he said he wants a "stronger relationship" between CARICOM and the UK, and hopes Britain will pay more attention by "working with the small island developing states."

"There is a recognition that there needs to be a re-set of the relationship in a way that gives more prominence to the Caribbean, Guyana, and the UK," he said. "And that is happening, that is a work in progress."

President Ali meets Boris Johnson to discuss UK investments

While relations between some Caribbean countries and the UK have come under strain, Mr Ali is still hoping to strengthen his partnership with the UK.

Earlier this week, the president met Boris Johnson to discuss ways in which the UK can invest in his country.

He explained that despite recently discovering huge amounts of offshore gas and oil, investment in the country is vital.

"Revenues from oil and gas are not transformational if it is not utilised to create transformation, and the transformation we want to create must begin with the people," the president said.

He explained that Guyana's economy should become multifaceted, and thinks this is where UK investment may come in.

"The transformation that's taking place in Guyana requires a lot of investment, it requires a lot of new technology, and the UK has now been dynamically pursuing those opportunities," President Ali explained.

He described the meeting held with Mr Johnson as "excellent", adding that they discussed a range of issues such as climate change, energy security, and forest management.
Trucks with palm oil fresh fruit bunches are parked in a queue at a palm oil factory in Siak regency

By Rajendra Jadhav

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indonesia's wider palm oil export ban has trapped at least 290,000 tonnes of the edible oil meant to be headed to India at ports and oil mills in the world's top producer, four industry officials told Reuters on Thursday.

The disruption in shipments after Indonesia widened its export ban to include crude and refined palm oil will create a vegetable oil shortage in top importer India, the officials said. Second-biggest exporter Malaysia is already struggling to meet higher demand levels and is asking for near record prices for prompt shipments, they said.

"Our vessel of 16,000 tonnes is stuck at Kumai port in Indonesia," said Pradeep Chowdhry, managing director of Gemini Edibles & Fats India Pvt Ltd, which buys around 30,000 tonnes of Indonesian palm oil every month.

"We don't know when Indonesia will lift the ban, and stuck shipments will be delivered."

India is the world's biggest importer of palm oil and relies on Indonesia for nearly half of the 700,000 tonnes it takes in every month.

Buyers are now rushing to make purchases from Malaysia, but Kuala Lumpur cannot fill the demand, said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm.

Malaysian sellers are obliged to meet their old commitments and cannot provide palm oil for prompt shipments, he said.

Palm oil - used in everything from cakes and frying fats to cosmetics and cleaning products - accounts for nearly 60% of global vegetable oil shipments, and top producer Indonesia accounts for around a third of all vegetable oil exports.

DOUBLE WHAMMY

India meets nearly two-third of its vegetable oil demand from imports. New Delhi was banking on palm oil after sunflower oil supplies from top exporter Ukraine were halted because of what Russia calls its "special operation" in the country.

Palm oil was trading at a hefty discount to soyoil and sunflower oil earlier this month, and this prompted Indian buyers to increase palm oil purchases for loading in May, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

Story continues

"That quantity is now stuck because of Indonesia's surprise move," he said.

Black Sea countries account for 60% of world sunflower oil output and 76% of exports, while Indonesia and Malaysia account for the bulk of global palm oil shipments. Argentina, Brazil and the United States are key soyoil suppliers.

"There would be shortage in the market. There is no way to increase supplies," said Govindbhai Patel, managing director of trading firm G.G. Patel & Nikhil Research Company.

Limited supplies amid robust demand next month because of weddings and festivals could lift prices in India, Patel said.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Tom Hogue)
Emmanuel Macron will stay at the Elysee Palace for another term of five years. The April 24 presidential election witnessed him win against his political opponent Marine Le Pen. His victory was clear but not as easy as it had been in 2017. In particular, Macron's percentage decreased from 66.1% to 58.8%, while in contrast, that of Le Pen increased from 33.9% to 41.4%. In terms of the number of voters, around 2 million people apparently did not trust the French president this time. For her part, Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally (Rassemblement National), managed to gather approximately 2.3 million more supporters than five years ago.



Despite those gains, the result was unsurprising. Macron's main advantage has been his centrist and pro-EU stance against a politician who belongs to the far-right political spectrum and would be keen on reconsidering the position of France within the EU and NATO. The majority of French citizens are not prepared for such a tectonic political change, although the rise of Le Pen's performance is certainly remarkable.

Another parameter from the presidential election worth mentioning is the high percentage of abstention, which reached 28%, the highest number since 1969. The number of French citizens who did not go to the polls last Sunday was 13,656,109 compared to 12,101,366 in the second round of the presidential election of 2017. More importantly, it was younger voters who showed indifference toward both Macron or Le Pen at the polling stations. This mirrors a typical attitude among the younger generation in recent years, not only in France but also in other member-states of the European Union.

Additionally, French society demonstrated signs of economic and labor division. According to IPSOS, a polling company that conducted a detailed survey of how citizens voted in the second round, Macron's supporters principally included professionals, executives, the retired, the rich, and well-educated people. On the contrary, Le Pen relied mostly on the working class, unemployed, poorer, and less educated persons. According to IPSOS data, however, Macron was the winner across all age categories, with the exception of those between 50 and 59 years old. One possible reason is that citizens of that age range felt threatened by pension reform plans and the proposed increase of the retirement age to 65.

Macron's success distinguishes him from his two predecessors, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, who failed to win re-election in 2012 and 2017, respectively. The political scene in France during his leadership is also different in comparison to the period prior. That is because traditional political parties, namely the Republicans and the Socialists, have almost completely lost their power. In parallel with Macron and Le Pen, veteran leftist politician Jean-Luc Melenchon is garnering a significant part of the electorate. Melenchon was close to entering the second round of the presidential election but lost to Le Pen with a small difference on April 10 (21.15% to 23.15%).

Macron's domestic task in the next five years will be tough and challenging. Economic problems for ordinary citizens and the pandemic ought to be his focus. Also, his reform agenda that clashed with the "Yellow Jackets" movement in 2018 and was later abandoned due to the spread of the coronavirus needs to be re-energized in the medium-term. The realization of future policies will, inter alia, depend on the result of the parliamentary elections this June. If Macron preserves the majority, things will be simplified for his government. If not, he will need to find a way forward on the grounds of the so-called cohabitation, the necessary symbiosis between a president and a parliamentary majority with a different ideology. In less than six weeks, French citizens will decide whether to authorize the French president to uninterruptedly implement his agenda or to set certain obstacles to impede its progress.

George N. Tzogopoulos is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/GeorgeNTzogopoulos.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.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Archive)

The crisis in Ukraine must be the catalyst for an overhaul to the Wests approach to international security, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said.

In a keynote foreign policy speech, Ms Truss said the UK needed to strengthen its military while building alliances with free nations around the world, using their economic power to deter aggressors who do not play by the rules.

She said the G7 group of leading industrialised nations should act as an economic Nato defending collective prosperity, while the Western military alliance must be prepared to open its doors to countries such as Finland and Sweden.

Speaking at the Mansion House in the City of London, Ms Truss singled out China, which has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, while increasing imports from Russia and commenting on who should or shouldnt be a Nato member.

China is not impervious. They will not continue to rise if they do not play by the rules

Liz Truss

China is not impervious. They will not continue to rise if they do not play by the rules, she said.

China needs trade with the G7. We represent around half of the global economy. And we have choices.

We have shown with Russia the kind of choices that were prepared to make when international rules are violated.

Ms Truss said the international architecture intended to guarantee peace and prosperity had failed Ukraine in the face of an attack by a desperate rogue operator, in the shape of Vladimir Putin, with no interest in international norms.

Russia is able to block any effective action in the UN Security Council. Putin sees his veto as a green light to barbarism, she said.

Liz Truss said the invasion of Ukraine must be a catalyst for wider change (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Wire)

In the short term, she said Western allies must double down on support for the government in Kyiv, providing the heavy weaponry it needs to push Russia out of the whole of Ukraine.

At the same time, she said the events of the past months must be a catalyst for wider change.

Now we need a new approach, one that melds hard security and economic security, one that builds stronger global alliances and where free nations are more assertive and self-confident, one that recognises geopolitics is back, she said.

Story continues

At home, she said that should mean an increase in defence spending with the Nato minimum of 2% of national income a floor not a ceiling.

Access to the global economy must depend on playing by the rules. There can be no more free passes

Liz Truss

At the same time, the UK needed to build a series of strong partnerships with like-minded countries around the world in a network of liberty.

In Europe, Finland and Sweden should, if they choose to join Nato, be integrated into the alliance as soon as possible, while states like Moldova and Georgia  which are not Nato members  should have the means to maintain their sovereignty and freedom.

Nato, which has traditionally been focused on the defence of Europe, needed to adopt a global outlook, working with allies like Japan and Australia to ensure the Pacific is protected and democracies like Taiwan are able to defend themselves.

Ms Truss said they had to be prepared to stand up to aggressors who try to exploit their economic power as a tool of foreign policy to exert control and to coerce others.

Access to the global economy must depend on playing by the rules. There can be no more free passes, she said.

We are showing this with the Russia-Ukraine conflict  Russias pass has been rescinded.

The G7 should act as an economic Nato, collectively defending our prosperity. If the economy of a partner is being targeted by an aggressive regime we should act to support them. All for one and one for all.
Around 8,000 British soldiers are due to be sent to eastern Europe to take part in military exercises designed to combat Russian aggression.

The deployment - which is one of the largest to take place since the Cold War - will see troops placed in countries from Finland to North Macedonia.

Dozens of tanks and more than 100 armoured fighting vehicles will also be sent to the locations this summer under plans that have been bolstered since the war in Ukraine began.

Live updates on Ukraine war as Russia bombards Kyiv during UN chief visit

The armed forces will be joined by tens of thousands of troops from NATO and Joint Expeditionary Force allies, which include the likes of Denmark, Iceland and Norway.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the planned exercises will improve the ability of UK and Finnish troops to work alongside each other, "deterring Russian aggression in Scandinavia and the Baltic states".

Key developments:

Ukraine names 10 Russian soldiers suspected of human rights abuses

Biden to ask Congress for additional $33bn to help Ukraine

Russian forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a pro-Ukraine rally in Kherson

Tributes paid to former British soldier killed in Ukraine

Russia accused of preventing wounded Ukrainian soldiers from being evacuated from steel plant

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the move will show "solidarity and strength".

"The security of Europe has never been more important. These exercises will see our troops join forces with allies and partners across NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force in a show of solidarity and strength in one of the largest shared deployments since the Cold War," he said.

"Operating across Europe, the British Army will stand alongside partners, combining our capabilities and shared values, promoting peace and security."

Read more: The city that's been attacked since day one where defiant residents hide underground

The UK deployment is expected to build to a peak of around 8,000 personnel operating in mainland Europe between April and June.

Story continues

Some of the exercises are set to involve parachute drops, helicopter-borne air assaults Challenger 2 tanks.

The drills aim to "showcase the scale and significance of the British Army's contribution to the defence of Europe", the MoD added.

Troops from B Squadron of the Queen's Royal Hussars have deployed to Finland this week to take part in an exercise, while in May the Royal Welsh Battlegroup and the Royal Tank Regiment will conduct an exercise on the Estonia-Latvia border.

Also in May, 1,000 soldiers from the King's Royal Hussars Battlegroup and C Squadron of the Light Dragoons will be deployed for exercises in Poland, supported by 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade operating from the UK and bases in Europe.

Another exercise which began this week sees elements of 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team and 1 Aviation Brigade Combat Team deployed in North Macedonia.

Commander Field Army Lieutenant General Ralph Wooddisse explained: "The UK makes a significant contribution to the defence of Europe and the deterrence of Russian aggression. The British Army's series of exercises is fundamental to both.

"The scale of the deployment, coupled with the professionalism, training and agility of the British Army, will deter aggression at a scale not seen in Europe this century."

Exercises alongside American troops are also taking place in Poland.

Ukrainian capital comes under attack after meeting between Zelenskyy and UN secretary-general

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv has continued to come under fire, with at least one person killed and several others injured during a strike on Thursday night.

Rescue officials said some civilians were trapped beneath rubble after the Russian attack, which came shortly after a meeting between Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Subscribe to Ukraine War Diaries on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Spreaker

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Shevchenkivskyi district, in the northwestern part of the city, was hit twice, causing fires in at least two high-rise buildings.

Explosions have also been reported in Chernihiv, which is near the border with Belarus, and Fastiv, in the central part of the country.

Ukrainian authorities also reported intense Russian fire in the Donbas - the eastern industrial heartland that has become a key target for Russia.

Earlier on Thursday, a Ukrainian military official said Russian forces were "exerting intense fire" as they continued the second phase of their invasion.

Former British soldier killed in Ukraine as second Briton reported missing

It comes after a British military veteran was reported to have been killed in Ukraine while fighting Russian forces.

Tributes have been paid to 36-year-old Scott Sibley, who is the first British national confirmed to have died in the war.

A second British man, who Sky News has chosen not to name, has been reported as missing in Ukraine after travelling there to fight.

At the beginning of the war, Ukraine's government urged volunteers from across the world to come and help support its armed forces as they took on Russia's invasion.
The fourth and final flight of 1,100 FPS Main Event is slated to begin at 7 p.m. local time at the PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino. Flight 1d was originally expected to start at 6 p.m. but has been pushed back by one hour in order to make room in the tournament areas due to larger than expected fields.

There are currently around 1,500 total entries through the first three flights, with registration still open for Day 1c. There were 55 players who bagged chips on Day 1a and another 41 advancing through Day 1b. Those that fortunate to make it through to Day 2 on April 30 will all be guaranteed a min-cash, the prize amount still to be determined. Either way, the eventual winner will be walking away with a nice payday as the prizepool has already surpassed the 1.5 million mark.

Because of the late start time for Day 1d and the quick turnaround time for Day 2, the final flight will be played as a turbo format with just 20-minute blind levels. Each player will be given a starting stack of 30,000 chips with the blinds starting at 100/100 and a 100 big blind ante.

There will be 15-minute breaks after every five levels with no dinner break taking place. Late registration for this event will officially be closed at the end of level 10. The players will continue throughout the night until just 15% of the field remains and the money bubble is burst. Day 2 will kick off at 12 p.m. noon tomorrow with the champion being crowned on Day 4.

The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the tournament floor to bring you all of the live updates throughout the event, en route to crowning an eventual champion.
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Thursday said that international rules should be the norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, not the ones defined by a certain clique or bloc.



Wang made the comment at a press briefing after British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss criticized China for not condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine, saying that China's failure to play by global rules would cut short its rise as a superpower.

Noting Liz Truss has also mentioned NATO in her speech, Wang said that as a product of the Cold War and the world's largest military alliance, NATO should have made necessary adjustments in accordance with the changing times since the Cold War was long over.

However, Wang said, NATO has long clung to the old security concept, engaged in bloc confrontation and become a tool for certain countries to seek hegemony, and constantly created confrontation and disturbances.

NATO demands that other countries abide by the basic norms of international relations, yet has wantonly waged wars and dropped bombs in sovereign states, killing and displacing innocent civilians, he added.

Wang pointed out that NATO has in recent years come to the Asia-Pacific region to throw its weight around and stir up conflicts as a military organization in the North Atlantic, and the impact of NATO's eastward expansion on the long-term peace and stability of Europe is worth reflecting upon.

"NATO has messed up Europe. Is it now trying to mess up the Asia-Pacific and even the world? " he said.

He also reiterated that China's position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and clear. "We always make independent judgments based on the merits of each matter," he said.
The McLennan County Elections Office has already received more than 1,200 mail-in ballots for the May 7 city and school board elections, nearly ten times the number of mail-in ballots cast in last years spring elections. Early in-person voting will run Monday through Saturday and May 2-3, and mail-in ballots have to be back to the elections office by Election Day.

One of the McLennan Countys most popular polling places, at the First Assembly of God church on Bosque Boulevard, will not be in use for early voting or on Election Day. The West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd., will take its place. It is a little less than a mile away from the church.

The May 7 election will feature contested city council races in Waco, Woodway, McGregor and Lorena; school board races in Waco, La Vega and Lorena school districts; sales tax reauthorization in Bellmead; a $39 million bond election for a new elementary school in Connally ISD and two state constitutional amendments. Every eligible voter in the state has at least the constitutional amendments to weigh in on.

The county will conduct elections for each entity except Connally ISD, which will hold its own election. Connally voters will have to go to separate locations to vote on both the school bond and the constitutional amendments.

For the county-conducted elections, early voting will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday; and open again from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 2-3.

All eligible voters can cast an early in-person ballot at any of the five early polling places:

McLennan County Elections Administration Office, 214 N. Fourth St., Suite 300

Robinson Community Center, 106 W. Lyndale Ave.

Waco Multipurpose Community Center, 1020 Elm Ave.

West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd.

Hewitt City Hall, 200 Patriot Court.

For the Connally ISD bond election, early voting will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; closed Saturday and Sunday; and open again from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 2 and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 3.

The polling place for Connally ISD is the Board Room in the Connally ISD Administration Building, 200 Cadet Way.

County Elections Administrator Jared Goldsmith said 2,996 people had requested mail-in ballots for the May elections conducted by the county with 1,203 ballots mailed in by Friday. A signature verification committee will start reviewing ballots Monday, and voters whose ballots are rejected will be notified and given an opportunity to correct the issue. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot for the May 7 election is 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Last year, the county elections office received only 124 mail-in ballots, but Goldsmith said demand for mail-in ballots tends to be higher in even-numbered years with state primaries, even though primaries are typically held separately. In 2018, the county received 467 mail-in ballots for the May elections.

The May 2020 elections were moved to November 2020 because of COVID-19 concerns, and the county received 10,794 mail-in ballots for that election, pointing to the vastly lower turnout for May elections.

Overall, Waco ISD saw 57.1% of its 52,981 eligible voters turn out in November 2020, compared to just 5.1% of the 50,847 eligible in May last year, and 2.4% of the 8,058 eligible in May 2018. The eligibility number was lower in 2018 because only one Waco ISD board district had a contested race on the ballot, while the other years had an at-large race.

The city of Waco saw 61.5% of its 71,653 eligible voters turn out in November 2020, compared to just 11.4% of the 20,652 eligible in May last year, and 5.6% of the 10,993 eligible in May 2018. Like Waco ISD, the eligibility number varies based on the voting population of the districts whose representatives are up for election.

This year in Waco, the May 7 election will have city council races for District 1 and the unexpired term of the District 2 seat.

District 1 incumbent Andrea Barefield is seeking reelection against challengers Russell Rhodes and Epharm Herring while District 2 incumbent Alice Rodriguez is seeking election against challengers Tiffany Vidana and Armando Arvizu.

Waco ISD will have board races for the District 4 seat and the unexpired term for one of its at-large seats.

Hope Balfa-Mustakim and Jonathan Grant are running for the District 4 seat, and Marlon Jones and Angelo Ochoa are running for the at-large seat.

The two statewide constitutional amendments would reduce the school property tax burden for some homeowners. Proposition 1 would reduce school taxes on the primary residences of elderly or disabled homeowners.

Proposition 2 would expand the homestead exemption for school taxes from $25,000 to $40,000, meaning most homeowners would pay less in school taxes on their primary residence. According to reporting by The Texas Tribune, the author of Proposition 2 said it would knock $176 off the annual tax bill for the average homeowner.

The state plans to provide additional funding to school districts to make up for the lost local revenue, which would cost $600 million annually for Proposition 2 and $744 million between 2024 and 2026 for Proposition 1, according to The Texas Tribune.
An upcoming fundraising event to support a new penguin exhibit at Cameron Park Zoo has already brought in $300,000, and officials are continuing the push as architects get started on designs.

McLennan County voters approved a $14.5 million bond package in 2019 to build the penguin exhibit, a new education and veterinary center, a hoofstock barn and to renovate other buildings. Since officials estimated project costs and voters approved the bond, the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors have driven up construction costs, said Terri Cox, director of the Cameron Park Zoological and Botanical Society. That became apparent when bids for the first of the bond-funded projects, the new hoofstock barn, came in about twice as high as the $375,000 projection.

Its so hard to pinpoint additional funding because the cost of everything changes so quickly, Cox said. The county, the city and the society have been in discussions, and we are all aware well probably need to raise more funds for all of these projects.

The zoological society will throw a Penguin Palooza on June 4, a cocktail and dinner party similar to a celebration of the zoos 25th anniversary that the society threw in 2018. The 2018 event raised $220,000 for the penguin exhibit, and this years event has brought in $300,000 so far, Cox said. Admission costs $2,500 per couple and host tickets cost $5,000 per couple. The Ice House Band will perform during the event.

Cox said the zoological society also expects to receive a large donation during the event.

We are working very hard to raise funds for both the penguin exhibit and the education and veterinary hospital, and doing a great job of it right now because we have so much community support, Cox said.

Once complete, the exhibit will be home to at least 30 black-footed South African penguins, an endangered warm weather species threatened by over-fishing of their prey, oil spills, and humans harvesting material from their nest sites for fertilizer, according to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Cox said zoo staff members will travel to South Africa in July to see the animals in their natural habitat, but she and Zoo Director Johnny Binder will stay stateside and continue working on the exhibits design.

The Waco City Council approved a $740,000 architectural contract April 5 with Torre Design Consortium for the penguin exhibit. Cox said zoo officials have not met with the architects yet, and it is not clear how much construction will cost.

The habitat will include pool areas outside where guests can see the birds and another inside pool, nesting areas and a quarantining facility. Zookeepers will perform demonstrations and presentations about the penguins on a stage in the exhibit.

The bid includes a new family restroom, kiosk and second exhibit featuring black-footed cats near the penguin exhibit.

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OMAHA -- Sen. Justin Wayne said he had fun working to pass LB1024 to fund recovery efforts in underserved areas of Omaha. Now that the bill has passed, he's a bit nervous.

"The real work begins now," Wayne said at a news conference Thursday.

The Omaha senator, along with Gov. Pete Ricketts, several other lawmakers and dozens of local officials, gathered at Metropolitan Community College's Fort Omaha campus to celebrate the passage of LB1024. Ricketts described the bill as "landmark legislation" that will have a "generational impact" in the years to come.

The bill devotes $335 million to underserved areas of the state, particularly in North and South Omaha, but also to some low-income areas of Lincoln and rural Nebraska. Ricketts said some of the recovery efforts will include affordable housing, infrastructure investments, crime prevention, financial literacy and education.

Wayne said this is the first time in state history that North and South Omaha have had this level of funding dedicated to them and now the pressure is on to produce results.

"We'll never get an opportunity like this again if we don't use these dollars wisely," Wayne said.

A committee of seven lawmakers has already formed to plan the recovery efforts. On the committee is Wayne, along with Sens. Mike Hilgers of Lincoln, Terrell McKinney of Omaha, Tony Vargas of Omaha, Mike McDonnell of Omaha, Brett Lindstrom of Omaha and Anna Wishart of Lincoln.

A legislative staffer confirmed the committee has already met once near the end of the legislative session. First on the committee's to-do list is to approve a request for proposal, or RFP, which will allocate about $135 million of the funding outlined in LB1024.

Although no specific projects have been solidified so far, Wayne previously said a top priority will be hiring a master developer, which will likely take the form of a contractor who oversees the major development projects in the area.

Adm. Osie Combs, president of the manufacturing company Pacific Engineering Inc., said he plans to contribute to the recovery efforts by expanding a business park in North Omaha to house a facility for his business. Pacific Engineering currently operates out of a 75,000-square-foot facility in Lincoln, with about 30 employees. Combs said he hopes to bring on 50 to 100 new employees through this expansion, primarily hiring people from the Omaha area.

"We take it to the people," Combs said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pacific Engineering built pods that served as temporary testing sites. Combs said those pods can be repurposed to serve different recovery effort needs, such emergency shelters or affordable housing.
 Flash

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng on Thursday defended the signing of the inter-governmental framework agreement on security cooperation between China and Solomon Islands as a right of two sovereign states.

He also denounced Australia's accusation against the agreement as an infringement of other countries' sovereignty and own affairs as well as international rules.

The China-Solomon Islands agreement is normal cooperation in law enforcement and security, and consistent with international law and international customary practices, Xie said when addressing the unveiling ceremony of the China-Pacific Island Countries (PICs) Climate Action Cooperation Center via video link.

He said the security cooperation between the two countries is open and transparent, and does not target at any third party. It proceeds in parallel with Solomon Islands' existing cooperation with other partners and regional mechanisms, and conforms to the common interests of Solomon Islands and the South Pacific region.

Such a cooperation is fundamentally different from some countries' actions of forming exclusive cliques, engaging in underhand maneuvers, creating military blocs, triggering arms race, aggravating the risk of nuclear proliferation, provoking confrontation and leading to regional tensions, he said.

"With what right can these countries tell China and Solomon Islands what to do? With what right can Australia draw a red line for Solomon Islands and China that are thousands of miles away from it? Isn't this an infringement of other countries' sovereignty, interference in other countries' internal affairs and violation of international rules?" Xie said.

The actions of slandering, discrediting and intimidating expose those countries' obsession with colonization, brazen coercive diplomacy, and desperate attempts to control Pacific Island countries and assert their so-called "sphere of influence", he said.

"The Pacific is home to all countries of the region, not a backyard or territory of anyone; it should be a stage of international cooperation, not an arena for geopolitical games," Xie said.

The exchanges and cooperation between China and PICs are in line with the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, and are based on equal-footed consultation and mutual benefit for common development, he said.

The vice minister said that climate change is a common challenge facing humanity, and that China understands the special challenges PICs face in addressing climate change.

The China-Pacific Island Countries Climate Action Cooperation Center is to carry out demonstration project cooperation with PICs, share the experience in and practice of green and low-carbon development, work together to respond to the challenge of climate change, and help PICs achieve sustainable development, he said.

China is ready to work with PICs, upholding the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, to keep improving the cooperation center and ensure that it will grow bigger and stronger and deliver results, he said.
RACINE  My daughter was scared every day."

Brittany Booker's father said she would get out of her car, run until she was inside her house, then quickly lock the door.

Booker, the mother to six children, was killed Sunday, the victim of violent crime. The primary suspect, Terry L. Jackson Jr., remains at large and is being sought by local authorities along with the U.S. Marshals. Jackson allegedly attacked Booker and another woman in February, but has since eluded arrest.

Friends and loved ones gathered at Tyler Domer Community Center Wednesday evening to remember her. "Stop the Violence Rally and Prayer Vigil" was organized by Restoration Ministries at the request of the Booker family to bring awareness to the increase in violence, including domestic violence, to encourage victims to seek help, and to support the efforts by law enforcement to get justice for Booker.

Sylvia Bennet Stone, the national director of Voices of Black Mothers United, addressed the crowd. Its going to take all of us working together to bring change. And change takes all of us.

Voices of Black Mothers United is a national movement led by the Woodson Center, which is based in Washington D.C. but with a presence in 22 states with thousands of black mothers who have lost children to violence.

We decided to turn our pain into purpose, and come to communities like this, to make a difference, and find some solutions, she said.

Nakeyda Haymer, local representative for Voices of Black Mothers United, encouraged the black community to come together and be a model for other cities in reducing violence.

Remembering

Leonard Larry, Booker's father, told the Journal Times that his daughter was living in fear for her life.

Booker and her friend were attacked on Feb. 22 and both were seriously injured; Jackson is the suspect in that attack, in which he allegedly used a hammer and nearly killed the two women. Bookers friend had a previous relationship with Jackson.

As of Thursday, Jackson was still on the lam and three different women have been arrested for allegedly helping him elude the police.

Larry said his daughter told him, I feel most safe when youre here.

She knew no one would bother her if I was there, he added.

Bookers six children are now living with her family.

They will be taken care of, Larry said.

Investigation

Larry has been outspoken in his criticism of the investigation following the Feb. 22 attack on Booker and her friend.

I did not get any support from the police, he said. If I did, we would not be here.

He claimed the investigation was passed around to multiple detectives who did not call Bookers family and keep them in the loop as to the investigation.

RPD Sgt. Kristi Wilcox told the Racine County Eye on Monday We did conduct a manhunt for a month, but we did not alert the public because doing so might have placed a number of people in harms way unnecessarily ... The situation with him is very serious and has been, and (Jacksons) efforts to escape capture made it difficult to apprehend him.

When asked what justice for his daughter looked like, Larry said, Bring this dude to jail.

Activism

Kelly Scroggins-Powell, of the Racine Women for Racial Justice, encouraged those in attendance to become active in the community.

People often become upset about issues, including how policing is carried out, but the governing policies are discussed and enacted at meetings that people do not attend.

Where are we? she asked.

Folks sometimes do not know who their alderman are or when meetings are taken place, Scroggins-Powell said. By becoming a member of a larger organization, they can learn about local government. She encouraged people to sign up and to get involved.
CEDAR FALLS  A century-old house is getting refurbished with the help of high school students learning construction skills.

The 14-member crew started doing carpentry work earlier this year inside 913 Bluff St., a 1,200-square-foot two-story house built in 1920 and owned by Habitat for Humanity.

They are enrolled in CAPS Industries, Cedar Falls High Schools newest Center for Advanced Professional Studies strand. On Thursday, the students and instructor Dave Grund showed community members their progress during an open house.

Weve done a lot of framing work, said senior Graham Fry, also noting efforts to shore-up or rebuild joists and soffits. Insulation has been installed between exterior wall studs, as well, and the students are doing drywall next.

Work on the house started with another group of eight students in the fall, when the program began as the sixth Cedar Falls CAPS strand. They gutted the house and did some of the framing before the semester-long course ended.

This semester, students finished the staircases to the basement and upstairs. On the second floor, they framed doorways and added plywood layers onto some existing studs to make them flush with the surrounding studs. They installed fire blocks behind where the drywall will be located, nailing a series of two-by-fours to the sloping roof.

We had to do a lot of improvements bringing it up to code, said senior Donnie Melton.

On the first floor, the house has a living room, dining room, kitchen, mud room, and half bathroom with washer/dryer hookups. On the second floor, it has three bedrooms and a bathroom.

Grund, who also works as an industrial technology teacher at Peet Junior High School, said students typically spend their class periods on Mondays and Tuesdays at Plumb Tech, a mechanical contractor in Waterloo. CAPS programs partner with businesses to have classroom space outside of the school.

He said students worked on carpentry skills in a lab setting at Plumb Tech and then put what they learned into practice at the house. During the last weeks of school, they will start the drywall but arent expected to finish it before spending time at other Habitat for Humanity work sites to learn more about what the organization does.

Habitat volunteers will finish up renovation work at the house. Unlike other remodeling projects and the new houses they build, this wont be a house for a client. Instead, it will be sold and is expected to be on the market by June.

Melton noted that he had some building experiences at home working with family members, but the class has taught him a lot.

For me personally, there was a lot to learn, he said. CAPS Industries helped him with applying my knowledge that I had.

Jasiah Clark, who is also a senior, learned how to lay out a wall with studs placed every 16 inches and then nail it all together. He was also taught how to measure and cut the insulation they installed between the studs on the exterior walls. He enjoyed learning the construction skills.

It was new. Id never done it before, he said.

I think it was overwhelming at first, senior Falah Alshekhahmed said of being on a construction job. But he soon got used to the workplace demands. I picked up things pretty easily.

Those kinds of experiences are important to what Grund is trying to accomplish in CAPS Industries. The skills theyre learning have already gotten some students to look at the construction trades, where a number are planning to start jobs or do internships this summer.

The goal is exposure into the trades to maybe offer career paths, he said.

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CEDAR FALLS  An indoor swimming pool complex planned at the new Cedar Falls High School has been awarded a $100,000 Large Match Grant by the Wellmark Foundation.

Boosters of the natatorium project have just under four months to raise the matching dollars, so theyre calling on the community to step up and donate.

Getting recognition from the highly respected Wellmark organization is impactful for the project, said Traci Mallaro, co-chairwoman of Jump In, a group representing the recreational and competitive swim community thats involved in fundraising for the project. Wellmark provides health insurance coverage to hundreds and thousands of Iowans including a large number in the Cedar Valley and has a long history of investing in the health and well-being of Iowans.

The Wellmark Foundation supports promising projects across the state that promote health and fitness, according to a news release. The Wellmark grant is contingent upon the project securing the required dollar-for-dollar match.

Importantly, this means donations received up to $100,000 prior to August 17 will be matched 100% by Wellmark Foundation, noted Mallaro. If you want to donate, now is the perfect time as these contributions will be doubled.

Supporters say the natatorium  another term for an indoor pool complex  will be a significant quality of life enhancement in the Cedar Valley.

The $16.4 million project is a collaboration between the Cedar Falls School District, city of Cedar Falls and community. The district and city will fund $13.1 million of the estimated construction cost, with the remaining $3.3 million raised through private donations. The school site is located on nearly 70 acres north of West 27th Street and west of PE Center Drive.

Currently, the pools at Peet and Holmes junior high schools have district and community uses. But, at 44 years old, they wont be further updated and would be replaced by the new complex. As a result, building the natatorium will enhance current capacity and mitigate risks of discontinuing or reducing public aquatics programming due the expected closure of the Peet pool in 2024.

Mallaro said the project has received a huge amount of support from the community with pledges of about $2.4 million secured from nearly 200 donors. That leaves $920,000 more to fundraise.

Most of it is individuals, but there definitely are some foundations that gave generous amounts, she said of the money raised so far. Individuals have given donations ranging from $50 all the way up to $500,000. Its everybody doing what they can to be a part of it.

The matching community donations spurred by the Wellmark Foundation grant will help to close the remaining gap.

Community contributions are key to making this project happen, said Lorelei Redfern, another Jump In co-chairwoman. Please join us and the Wellmark Foundation to bring this incredible long-term recreational asset to our community.

The new natatorium will feature two pools in one building. One pool will feature 10 lanes in a 25-yard by 25-meter, deep-water competition pool. The second pool will be a four-lane, 25-yard pool of a shallower depth with separate temperature controls for teaching and therapeutic use.

Officials are aiming to have the pool facility open when the high school does, in the fall of 2024. The complex will have its own entrance and parking lot, allowing for community use of the pool even during the day when school is in session  which will dramatically increase its availability to the general public.

Go online to thecfpool.com to get more information and learn how to contribute.

Architectural drawings of the planned new Cedar Falls High School contributed Cedar Falls High School aerial drawing An architect's drawing shows a view of the planned Cedar Falls High School with a pool addition that boosters are currently fundraising for. site-plan-this The Cedar Falls High School site plan was presented to the Cedar Falls Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday. contributed New CFHS exterior entryway An architect's drawing showing the front of the planned new Cedar Falls High School. contributed New CFHS entryway and lobby An architect's drawing showing the entryway and lobby of the planned new Cedar Falls High School. contributed New CFHS learning studio An architect's drawing of a classroom, or "learning studio," in the new Cedar Falls High School. contributed New CFHS commons exterior An architect's drawing of the back exterior wall of the commons area at the planned new Cedar Falls High School. contributed New CFHS co-learning studio An architect's drawing of a "co-learning studio" in the planned new Cedar Falls High School. These flexible breakout spaces will be outside of 030720ho-cf-school-working-space A photo rendering from Invision Architecture in Waterloo shows a collaborative working space planned in the new Cedar Falls High School set to contributed New CFHS commons interior An architect's drawing of the commons area at the planned new Cedar Falls High School. contributed New CFHS gymnasium An architect's drawing of the gymnasium in the planned new Cedar Falls High School. contributed New CFHS learning wing An architect's drawing of the entryway to the "learning wing," or classroom area, of the planned new Cedar Falls High School. contributed New CFHS main corridor An architect's drawing of the main corridor at the planned new Cedar Falls High School. contributed New CFHS office An architect's drawing of the office at the planned new Cedar Falls High School. contributed Cedar Falls High School pool drawing An architect's drawing shows a view of a future pool planned for the new Cedar Falls High School. 030720ho-cf-school-front-entrance This rendering from Invision Architecture shows the planned front entrance of the new Cedar Falls High School building. 030720ho-cf-schools-lunchroon This rendering from Invision Architecture shows the planned lunchroom, now called a commons area, in the new Cedar Falls High School. Artist rendering of solar panels on new Cedar Falls High School An artist rendering of possible placement of solar panels on the roof of the new Cedar Falls High School were presented at the Cedar Falls Uti

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WAVERLY  This month, the Bremer County Assessors Office, with the assistance of Cedar Rapids-based Vanguard Appraisal Inc., kicked off the process for reappraising all properties in its cities.

Market shifts, renovations or overall dilapidation may cause a propertys value to swing. And those values, in addition to the municipal-set levy and the state-set rollbacks, impact how much an owner pays in city, school and county property taxes.

Revaluation is a big undertaking, said Assessor Aaron Betts, and it hasnt happened since 2002 for commercial or industrial properties and 2006 for residential properties.

Our goal is to provide fair, equitable assessments for all properties, said Betts. We need to make sure we account for improvements, or houses where there was a lack of upkeep, or may have a newly finished basement.

Owners can appeal if they feel the value is either not equitable or more than the market value. Notices of estimated market value will be sent soon after the process wraps up in early 2024 and new values will be effective for taxes due the fall of 2025 and spring 2026.

Part of the procedure involves the office notifying property owners of when they can expect a visit from a Vanguard inspector.

Commercial/industrial and multi-residential owners already were notified across the county, and those inspections started Monday in Waverly, said Betts. Waverly homeowners will be the next to get the notice, and its undetermined at this point the order of cities to follow.

Waterloo school board extends bus contract, hopes to attract more drivers The one-year extension with Durham School Services boosts expenses for the district by 6.6% mostly to increase wages for bus drivers.

When visiting a property, likely between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on a weekday, inspectors will review and collect exterior information, such as measurements, type of construction, age of structure and physical condition, as well as interior condition and the type and amount of finish.

If an owner is not present, an external review will be done. A door hanger will be left after the second attempt letting people know how they can assist with listing the interior of their property.

The Assessors Office said new market values will be estimated for every home, regardless of owner participation.

The Bremer County Conference Board, made up of officials from the three taxing bodies, approved an estimated $1.3 million contract with Vanguard for its services, said Betts. But the planning and budgeting for it began about a decade ago.

A complete sales analysis, a study of local construction costs and economic conditions will also be used in addition to the data from the collectors inspection to arrive at a value.

If having any questions or concerns regarding the reappraisal project, the Assessors Office can be reached at: (319)-352-0145.

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NEW YORK (AP)  Meaningful changes could be implemented within days at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex, the head of New York Citys jails told a federal judge Tuesday.

The city has insisted that years of failed reforms could be overcome without the court taking control of the nations second-largest jail system.

You will see change, Department of Correction Commissioner Louis Molina promised Judge Laura Taylor Swain.

Molina said hes in alignment with recommendations from Steve Martin, a monitor tasked with reporting on changes that are needed at a jail system which includes Rikers Island, where about 5,500 inmates are held.

In a recent report, Martin said about 30% of the workforce at the jails was not coming to work or not available to work with inmates. On Tuesday, he said of Molina: Every time Ive called on the commissioner for a remedy or attention, he has stepped up.

I dont need to wait three weeks to take some actions, Molina said, promising some changes would occur within days.

Sixteen inmates died at Rikers last year, and three have died so far in 2022.

Molina spoke after he was ordered to appear by the judge after she received a scathing letter about the jails from prosecutors, who suggested Molina appear before the court as they warned that court oversight of the jail system might be necessary.

We remain alarmed by the extraordinary level of violence and disorder at the jails and the ongoing imminent risk of harm that inmates and correction officers face every day, prosecutors wrote. The jails are in a state of crisis, inmates and staff are being seriously injured, and action is desperately needed now.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Powell noted at Tuesdays electronically held hearing that city officials had repeatedly promised there would be reforms that never materialized, as officials constantly sought new deadlines for planned improvements that would then be found to be blocked by local laws or regulations.

We cant agree to continue to hit the reset button, he said.

Powell said there might be alternatives to the appointment of a receiver who would essentially take control of the jails. He said one improvement would be for a judge to order the removal of legal impediments, such as a clause in the contract with workers that requires unlimited sick leave.

He said prosecutors dont doubt the commissioners dedication, but he said the government was giving serious consideration to the appointment of a receiver.

In a statement last week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Molina is laying the groundwork for long-term change.

This story has been updated to delete quotes that had been attributed to attorney Hayley Horowitz. Horowitz didnt participate in the court hearing and The Associated Press couldnt immediately identify the lawyer who told the judge inmates werent allowed out of cells due to a lack of guards, and who called receivership of the jail a meaningful possibility.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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WILLIAMSBURG, Va.  John Hinckley Jr., the man behind the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, plans to kick-off a solo music tour with shows in New York and Chicago this July.

Hinckley, who lives in the gated community Kingsmill near Williamsburg, is expected to be released from all court-imposed conditions in mid-June. His first action as a free man will be to hit the road performing in what he's calling his Redemption Tour. His first scheduled show for July 8 at a Brooklyn hotel is sold out.

In 2020, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley may showcase his artwork, writings and music publicly under his own name rather than anonymously, as he had in the past.

Keep scrolling for photos of Hinckley through the years

Since then, Hinckley, known to play guitar as a part of his music therapy, has recorded and published over 30 songs on Spotify as well as on his YouTube page. To date, he has uploaded nearly 40 videos in the past year, accumulating over 26,000 subscribers and a total of 860,000 views.

In one of his latest videos, Hinckley announced the launch of his own record label, in which he intends to record 14 of his original songs to release as an album as well as introduce other artists' music.

"I'd like to say that I am starting a record label, it's called Emporia Records," Hinckley said in the YouTube video. "I'm also going to be bringing up music by other people, music that I think needs to be heard."

Hinckley also had shows booked in Hamden, Connecticut, on July 16, and in Chicago on July 23, but on Wednesday, the Connecticut venue announced on its Facebook page that the show was cancelled.

In 1981, two months after Reagan's inauguration, Hinckley wounded Reagan, Washington, D.C., police officer Thomas Delahanty and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy. The shooting also paralyzed Reagan press secretary James Brady, who died in 2014.

Hinckley was reportedly seeking fame in order to impress actress Jodie Foster, whom he had stalked for several months by writing her poems, letters and even calling her home.

Hinckley, who was 25 at the time of the shooting, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a federal court and remained under institutional psychiatric care for 30 years. Some restrictions were gradually loosened over the years.

In 2016, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley be released from the hospital to live with his mother, Jo Ann Hinckley, full-time in Williamsburg. He was required to follow a series of conditions: not drink alcohol, not possess any firearms, ammunition, other weapons or memorabilia of Jodie Foster; not contact Reagan's family, Brady's family, Foster, Foster's family or Foster's agent; not watch or listen to violent movies or television; not speak to the press; not visit present or past homes of the current or former presidents, including grave sites; and not erase his computer's web browser.

Following the death of Hinckley's mother in July 2021, a federal judge approved Hinckley's unconditional release starting in June. As of then, Hinckley, now 66, will no longer have to meet any of the conditions.

(c)2022 The Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, Va.) Visit The Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, Va.) at www.vagazette.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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DES MOINES (AP)  Governors from eight Midwest states asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday for a permanent waiver that will allow each state to continue selling ethanol-blended gas year-round without restriction.

The EPAs decision last week to suspend restrictions of summer sales of the lower-carbon, lower-cost E15 gasoline is temporary and only applies to the 2022 summer driving season.

E15 is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of concerns that it adds to smog in high temperatures.

The bipartisan group of governors from Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin sent a joint letter to EPA Administrator Michael Reagan formally requesting the waiver.

This letter sends the clear message that renewable fuels are the immediate solution to high gas prices, lower emissions, and restoring our energy independence, and we are proud to stand up and take this historic action, said Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The Renewable Fuels Association, which promotes use of ethanol, embraced the states action.

These governors should be applauded for pursuing a simple regulatory solution that will allow consumers in their states to benefit from E15s lower cost and lower emissions 365 days a year, said Geoff Cooper, the associations president and CEO. Once this notification is approved by EPA, it will mean lower pump prices for drivers in these eight states, lower tailpipe pollution, a more secure energy supply, and a more vibrant rural economy.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden traveled to corn-rich Iowa to announce that his administration will temporarily allow E15 gas, which is blended with 15% ethanol, to be sold this summer to help ease gas prices.

Biden administration officials said the action will save drivers an average of 10 cents per gallon based on current prices, but at just 2,300 gas stations out of the nations more than 100,000. The affected stations are mostly in the Midwest and the South, including Texas, according to industry groups.

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Abby Finkenauers U.S. Senate campaign received an endorsement Thursday from one of Iowas largest unions, which in doing so noted it typically does not endorse in primary campaigns.

The Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, endorsed Finkenauer, who is one of three Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in Iowa, according to a news release from the Finkenauer campaign.

The Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, is a state federation of 520 unions that represent more than 50,000 Iowa workers.

Finkenauer, a former congresswoman and state lawmaker from Cedar Rapids, faces in Iowas Democratic U.S. Senate primary Mike Franken, a U.S. Navy veteran from Sioux City, and Glenn Hurst, a physician from Minden.

The Republican incumbent is longtime U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who also faces a primary challenge from Jim Carlin, an attorney and state legislator from Sioux City.

Abby grew up in a union home, and her passion fighting for better wages, lower costs, and real worker voice has been clear since she first stepped up to serve Iowans, Iowa Federation of Labor president Charlie Wishman said in the news release. In Washington, Abby delivered ... but so much of Abbys great work in Washington was stalled and blocked by Senator Grassley and his allies, who have been undermining workers rights for decades. We need a new voice fighting for our members in the U.S. Senate, and Abby Finkenauer is the candidate that can defeat Senator Grassley and deliver for working people all across Iowa.

Iowas primary election is June 7.

INCUMBENT TARGETED: A conservative political action group has endorsed another round of Republican legislators, and among them is an incumbent facing a primary challenge.

Americans for Prosperity made six new endorsements, including the primary challenger to Rep. Jon Thorup, an Iowa State trooper from Knoxville.

The group is instead endorsing Barb Kniff-McCulla, a business owner from Pella.

A news release from Americans for Prosperity states Kniff-McCulla would support taxpayer-funded scholarships toward private school tuition. Thorup has said he will not vote for that proposed legislation in the House this year.

Americans for Prosperity also endorsed in other Iowa Republican legislative primary races, supporting incumbent Reps. Matt Windschitl (House District 15), Skyler Wheeler (HD 4) and Eddie Andrews (HD 43), as well as Mark Thompson (HD 56) and Kerry Gruenhagen (Senate District 41) in open-seat races.

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Abby Finkenauer and Mike Franken will participate in a pair of televised debates in the Democratic primary in Iowas 2022 U.S. Senate campaign.

The first debate is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 7 and will be broadcast by four Iowa TV stations: KCCI-TV in Des Moines, KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, KTIV-TV in Sioux City, and KWQC-TV in Davenport.

The second debate is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 19 and will be broadcast statewide by Iowa PBS.

Both debates are scheduled for one hour.

Three Democrats are running in Iowas U.S. Senate election: Finkenauer, a former congresswoman and state legislator from Cedar Rapids; Franken, a U.S. Navy veteran from Sioux City; and Glenn Hurst, a physician from Minden.

Iowas primary election is June 7.

FRANKEN PLEDGE: Mike Franken, one of three Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in Iowa, has pledged to reject donations from corporate and super PACs.

Political Action Committees, or PACs, can raise unlimited sums of money, and although they cannot work with a candidate or campaign, they can advertise on behalf of or against a candidate.

Franken is a U.S. Navy veteran from Sioux City. His Democratic primary opponents are Abby Finkenauer, a former congresswoman and state legislator from Cedar Rapids; and Glenn Hurst, a physician from Minden.

I believe that Super PACs in particular, have no business in this primary election, Franken said in a statement released by his campaign. He added later, We cannot allow special interests and dark money to rig this primary election. I call on my primary opponents to refuse corporate and Super PAC money in this election; our democracy depends on it.

FRANKEN ENDORSED: Bonnie Campbell, Iowas first female attorney general, endorsed Mike Frankens U.S. Senate campaign.

Campbell also served as the first director of the Violence Against Women Office in the U.S. Justice Department.

This moment in history calls for a leader like Mike Franken who knows the value of hard work, who has decades of critical experience defending our democracy, and who will stand up and advocate for all Iowans, Campbell said in a statement issued by the Franken campaign. Mike will continue to fight for justice, equality, and he will build a brighter future for Iowa.

Franken, a U.S. Navy veteran from Sioux City, is one of three Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in Iowa. The others are Abby Finkenauer, a former congresswoman and state legislator from Cedar Rapids; and Glenn Hurst, a physician from Minden.

LABOR ENDORSES MATHIS: The Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, endorsed Liz Mathis in the 2nd Congressional District campaign.

Mathis, a state legislator and former TV journalist from Hiawatha, is the only Democrat running in Eastern Iowas 2nd District. She will face Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, also a former state legislator and TV journalist.

Liz Mathis has been one of Iowa workers strongest advocates during her time in the state Senate, Charlie Wishman, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, said in a news release from the Mathis campaign. Whether it was standing on the front lines to protect public sector employees right to bargain, her consistent pro-worker voting record, or joining UAW members as they fought for a fair contract, Liz has always had our backs.

The Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, is a state federation of 520 unions that represent more than 50,000 Iowa workers.

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 Flash

A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday called the United States the true creator of bio-crises and urged the country to clarify its bio-military activities.



Noting that biological weapons are weapons of mass destruction, Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, said that the recently uncovered bio-military activities conducted by the United States in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) have become a source of concern for members of the international community, including China.

"The Chinese side believes that this is a major security issue, which the U.S. side must clarify," Tan said.

The United States is the true maker of bio-crises, the spokesperson said, referencing solid evidence of the U.S. military using germ weapons in the Korean Peninsula, including the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's area bordering China, in the 1950s, a fact that American historians have admitted in public. He also cited the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange, during the Vietnam War, causing irreversible harm to the people and environment of Vietnam.

The United States is the only country in the world that has ever used weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, against other countries, Tan said.

"There is a growing number of realistic questions that can't be evaded," the spokesperson said, pointing out that the United States has revealed that it has 336 bio-labs in 30 countries.

According to the U.S. side, biological research facilities have been established in Ukraine supported by the United States and the United States has worked with the Ukrainians to prevent the research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces, Tan said.

The spokesperson said the people of the world have the right to ask questions of the United States. What is the relationship between the U.S. Department of Defense and the overseas biological laboratories of the United States? If the U.S. labs in Ukraine are only for scientific research purposes, why is the U.S. Department of Defense so deeply involved? Why have rare-disease outbreaks often occurred in the areas where the U.S. military's overseas biological laboratories are located?

He said that the United States must give clear answers to the aforementioned questions, which it cannot evade.

"Bio-military activities are a matter concerning international peace and security, and the security interests of all countries," Tan said.

"As a country that was once a victim of biological weapons, China solemnly demands that the U.S. side take a responsible attitude, seriously face the concerns and questions from the international community, make comprehensive and detailed clarifications on its bio-military activities, and accept multilateral verification," the spokesperson said.
JOHNSTON  U.S. Senate candidate Abby Finkenauers criticisms of a state judge whose ruling would have knocked her off the ballot were not appropriate, fellow Democrat and Iowa State Suditor Rob Sand said Thursday.

Sand said he called Finkenauer at the time to convey his feelings.

Sand, a lawyer by tradewho previously worked in the Iowa Attorney Generals Office, said he is proud of the state court system and defended the judge who ruled against Finkenauer.

That judge did his job, Sand said Thursday for this weekends episode of Iowa Press on Iowa PBS. He worked all weekend to get that report issued on a Sunday night in order to give whoever was going to be the losing party a chance to appeal. And its a well-respected judge.

Iowa Republicans challenged some signatures on Finkenauers candidate paperwork, threatening her status on the ballot for Iowas 2022 elections. A state panel in a split vote ruled in Finkenauers favor, but Republicans appealed to the courts, and state judge Scott Beattie overturned the panels decision, effectively kicking Finkenauer off the ballot.

Finkenauer challenged the judges ruling, and the Iowa Supreme Court ruled unanimously in her favor. The former congresswoman and state legislator from Cedar Rapids will remain on the ballot as one of three Democrats running in Iowas U.S. Senate campaign.

Before the Supreme Court reversed Beatties decision, Finkenauer called the lower courts ruling partisan, misguided, outrageous and a gift to Republicans.

Republicans criticized Finkenauers comments at the time.

Sand said judges have political views, but that he believes Iowas court system prevents those views from impacting court rulings.

Judges, theyre human beings. They have their political views, Sand said. But we have a very good system in Iowa that sorts out the people who want to go in there and be political. And so what we end up with is a body of judges who do a good job of applying the facts to the law.

Sand said most people in the legal community agree with his views on Finkenauers comments. Sand also credited Finkenauer for pulling back on her criticism after he spoke to her.

To Abbys credit  when this was happening I called her and I told her how I felt about it. She and I have known each other for four years now. We have a pretty good relationship. I told her what I thought, Sand said. And to her credit, she said, Thank you for this. Were going to step back some of this and tone some of this down.

In a recent interview on WHO-TV in Des Moines, Democratic U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, when asked about Finkenauers criticism of the judge, said it was something she probably  wouldnt do.

Im not going to presume how a judge made their decision since Im not a judge and dont have that legal background, Axne said on WHO-TV. Im not going to wade into why Abby may have said one thing or another. I hope we can rely on our judges to do the right thing.

The Finkenauer campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The other Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in Iowa are Mike Franken, a U.S. Navy veteran from Sioux City; and Glenn Hurst, a physician from Minden.

The Republican incumbent is longtime U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley. He faces a primary challenge from Jim Carlin, a lawyer and state senator from Sioux City.

Iowas primary election is June 7.

Iowa Press can be seen at 7:30 p.m. Friday and noon Sunday on Iowa PBS and online at iowapbs.org.

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American killed fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in Ukraine.

An American citizen, Willy Joseph Cancel, was killed in Ukraine. Cancel, a former US Marine, according to his mother, signed up to work for the private military contracting company on top of his full-time job as a corrections officer in Tennessee.

If somebody knows more information share it in the comments.

Cancel got cancelled in wars that have nothing to do with him and in which he wont receive an special status. He died for Elesky to get more cocaineShame

Mercenary

WtR
Got a perfect world back home and everyone has everything so perfect that we have money to waste

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters)  President Joe Biden asked Congress for $33 billion to support Ukraine  a dramatic escalation of U.S. funding for the war with Russia  and the Ukrainian president pleaded with lawmakers to give the request a swift approval.

Source: Biden seeks $33 billion war chest to support Ukraine, Zelenskiy wants quick approval | Reuters

Remember, you dont matter and will like it, or not.what a world we have allowed it to become and we can stop this in a heartbeat or after all our heartbeats stop for sure, then it is just the day of reckoning

Got a perfect world back home and everyone has everything so perfect that we have money to waste

Lets waste

WtR
Seriously why is he there? He found religion, after finding he was in a real war, with serious trained opponents

 Interview of British mercenary Andrew Hill who was fighting in Ukraine

 Andrew Hill laid down his arms and surrendered to Russian servicemen in Nikolaev Region.

 His mercenary group was defeated and he was wounded.

#MoD #Russia #Ukraine

@mod_russia_enjoy

WtR
 This is not a government problem.

The Moldovan president blames Gazprom for gas prices. And the government is not to blame.

The government is not to blame for the failure of the audit on the historical debt of Moldova.

The government is not to blame for late payments.

The government is not to blame that the President and Prime Minister of Moldova refused to participate in negotiations with the Russian Federation on gas.

The government is not to blame for signing a contract with Gazprom.

Bonus. Sandu is not to blame for participating in the anti-Russian Crimean Platform in Kiev.

The purchase price for Moldova increased in April to $1,193 per thousand cubic meters.

And it could have been no higher than $250 if Moldova had extended the contract on the terms of 2019.

Gazprom and the thirst for profit are to blame. Yes, yes.

WtR
US Hints At Military Intervention Over Chinas Solomon Islands Military Fears

US State Department official Daniel Kritenbrink has said the US would very naturally respond to concerns from any future build-up of Chinese presence in the Indo-Pacific region after Beijing signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands.

A US delegation was sent to the Solomon Islands  where it plans to open an embassy  where they were told by PM Manasseh Sogavare no military base would in fact be built by China in his country.

One regional advisor told the Guardian there are fears Sogavare will welcome a Chinese military presence to support his power.

Subscribe to RT t.me/rtnews

WtR
China, Oman vow to promote strategic partnership, military cooperation

Xinhua) 09:11, April 29, 2022

MUSCAT, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Senior officials from China and Oman pledged on Thursday to further promote their strategic partnership and boost military cooperation.

They made the pledge during a meeting between Omani Deputy Prime Minister for Defense Affairs Sayyid Shihab bin Tarik Al Said and visiting Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe in Muscat, capital of Oman.

Noting that Oman and China enjoy a long history of friendly exchanges, Shihab bin Tarik hailed the fruitful results of the Oman-China cooperation achieved in recent years in economy, trade, energy and other areas, adding that he believed that Wei's visit would further promote the bilateral strategic partnership.

Oman, which pursues a foreign policy of developing friendly relations with all countries and is keenly aware of the complex factors behind many hotspot issues in the region, expected China to play a bigger role in regional and international affairs, the Omani official said.

He lauded the two militaries for having carried out practical cooperation in equipment and personnel training in recent years, while calling for expanding the areas of cooperation so as to further push forward the bilateral military ties.

For his part, the Chinese defense minister said that China is Oman's sole strategic partner, which fully demonstrates the uniqueness of the China-Oman relations.

Under the guidance and care of their heads of state, China and Oman have witnessed a continuous and in-depth development in their bilateral relations, said Wei, while highlighting China's support for Oman in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence, and social stability.

He also raised concerns about the interference from certain major countries in Middle Eastern affairs, which jeopardizes the stability and security in the region.

China appreciates Oman's unique and positive role in promoting the political settlement of regional issues, said Wei, adding that China stands ready to work with Oman to enrich the bilateral strategic partnership and expand friendly cooperation in all areas.

Calling the Omani military an important cooperative partner of the Chinese military, Wei said that the Chinese military is willing to work with its Omani counterpart to raise the level of cooperation in joint drills, military technology, logistics support, and personnel training.

Also on Thursday, Wei held meetings with Omani Minister of the Royal Office Sultan bin Mohammed al Nomani and Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad al-Busaidi, during which the two sides had in-depth exchange of views on the regional and international security situations, bilateral military ties, and the Ukraine issue.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
 Flash

Radiation levels at the exclusion zone of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which Russian forces had controlled for weeks before withdrawing in late March, have remained within the safe range, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Thursday.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi headed a mission to the Chernobyl plant earlier this week to deliver equipment, conduct radiological assessments and restore safeguards monitoring systems.

Grossi told a news conference in Vienna on Thursday after returning from Ukraine that the IAEA staff had measured the radiation levels at an area of the Chernobyl's exclusion zone, where some excavation work had "presumably" been conducted by Russian forces.

According to data provided by the IAEA chief, the radiation dose level in the excavation area was 6.5 millisieverts per year, higher than the 1.6 millisieverts at nearby roads but well below the limit of 20 millisieverts that is considered safe for workers in areas exposed to radiation.

"There was an increase (in radiation levels) but this increase is still significantly below the authorized levels for workers in an environment with this type of radiation," Grossi said.

Grossi added that the IAEA staff are still working to repair the safeguards monitoring systems at the Chernobyl.

The Chernobyl plant, some 110 km north of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, suffered one of the worst nuclear accidents in human history on April 26, 1986. Russian forces had been in control of the Chernobyl plant for five weeks before withdrawing on March 31, according to the IAEA.

At Thursday's news conference, Grossi also expressed concern about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant, which is still under Russian control.

"Zaporizhzhia is at the top of my list of concerns when it comes to the situation of the nuclear facilities in Ukraine," he said, adding that he had been in talks with both Ukrainian and Russian authorities to ensure the facility's safety.
There are so many great rivers, lakes, and ponds to escape to in Northern California, but these hidden gems stand out beyond the rest.



Jump from cliffs into waterfall-fed pools. Lie out on boulders to warm up after a cool dunk. Sip (at your own risk!) crystal clear water from mountain runoff. These swimming holes are perfect for a summer day trip or camping excursion.

(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Project)

Richardson Grove Swimming Hole



Richardson Grove is one of Humboldt County's beloved redwood state parks. During hot summer months, visitors' attention will likely be drawn beyond the shade of the giant redwood trees toward the South Fork of the Eel River, where a stretch of tranquil swimming holes and beaches offers respite from the heat.

Richardson Grove's main swimming hole is located across from a jumping rock with a deep pool below. Jumping options range from 5 to 20 feet in height. Shade is limited, so bring a beach umbrella.



Parking and camping are available.





(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Project)

Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area Swimming Hole



The emerald waters of the South Fork of the Eel River serpentine through a redwood landscape at Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area (SRA) in northern Mendocino County. A beautiful, albeit hot, summertime destination, Standish Hickey is home to an enticing swimming hole that will help alleviate that midday summer heat. The swimming hole has a large pool deep enough for rock jumping and a family-friendly sandy beach. Beyond the main pool, other shallow pools both upstream and downstream offer additional swimming options.



The swimming hole is accessed by driving down into the river canyon from the Standish-Hickey SRA entrance, and parking is at the day-use area adjacent to Redwood Campground. A quarter-mile walk across the river plain and a seasonal footbridge brings you to the swimming hole. Despite the tall redwoods surrounding the river, there is limited shade at the swimming hole, so plan to bring an umbrella.



Parking and camping are available.

*Update: The Redwood Campground is currently. For additional camping options, visit parks.ca.gov.

(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Project)

Upper Falls, McCloud River



Known best as an overlook/picnic area along the McCloud River Three Falls Hike, Upper Falls offers a quieter, more sheltered swimming hole compared to its waterfall counterparts downstream at Middle and Lower Falls (see below).

While the waterfall itself isn't all that impressive in terms of height, the falls and pool below sit within a deep basalt rimmed bowl. Given it's depth, the swimming hole is in the shade for part of the day, and with the chilly spring-fed water of the McCloud River, Upper Falls is best enjoyed during the peak summer heat.





(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Project)

Middle Falls, McCloud River

Located a mile upstream from Lower Falls, Middle Falls is the second in a trio of waterfalls referred to as McCloud Falls, on the Upper McCloud River running southeast of Mount Shasta. Larger than both Lower and Upper Falls in drop and breadth, Middle Falls is an incredibly scenic 40-foot waterfall with a curtain-like appearance.

While less popular than Lower Falls, perhaps because it's slightly less accessible, Middle Falls also provides an inviting pool and swimming hole. The pool is accessed by walking a quarter-mile path from the parking area and overlook down to the river. A bit of scrambling over basalt boulders is required. The spring-fed water of the McCloud River is certainly chilly, but it is inviting and refreshing on hot summer days.







(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Project)

Lower Falls, McCloud River



Lower Falls swimming hole area is concentrated around the falls itself, which drops approximately 15 feet into a pool below. The surrounding bedrock is popular for jumping with heights ranging between 10 and 20 feet. A wooden jumping platform has been constructed on the accessible edge of the pool.

Lower Falls sees quite a bit of traffic. It's adjacent to Fowler's Campground, serves as the trailhead for the McCloud River Three Falls hike, and offers a day-use picnic area.





(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Project)

Potem Falls



Nature couldn't have designed Potem Falls better. A hidden gem of the greater Redding area, Potem Falls offers the perfect respite from Shasta County's scorching summer heat. Potem is a beautiful watershed to experience any time of year, but summer is when Potem is at its best, with a postcard-worthy pool at the base of a sheer 70-foot waterfall.



Those seeking to escape the heat will enjoy swimming out and around the waterfall's veil crashing down into the pool, and the rope swing provides Tarzan-like aerialists with a pendulum toward the pool's center. Perhaps the only downside to Potem Falls is the limited amount of lounging spaces on the surrounding rocks and the sunning real estate fills up pretty quickly.





(Gina Teichert, via Outdoor Project)

Lake Anza

Lake Anza is a man-made, freshwater lake in Tilden Regional Park. Families looking to escape the heat (or fog) make the short trip into the Berkeley Hills for supervised swimming and the sandy beach.

Swimming within the buoyed area is monitored by lifeguards daily in the summer months and on weekends only in fall and spring. The swim facility is closed from November through April.

Runoff from the nearby watershed can boost bacteria levels in the rainy season. It's a good idea to verify water quality before swimming any time of year. Weekly test results can be found at the East Bay Regional Parks website.





(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Project)

Oregon Creek Day Use Area



If you find the Highway 49 Crossing swimming hole a bit too crowded or you're simply looking for a quieter scene, head down the Golden Chain Highway another few miles to the Oregon Creek Day Use Area. Here, a lesser known swimming hole awaits.

The day-use area provides access to the confluence of the Oregon Creek tributary and the Middle Yuba River. Both sides of the creek have shaded, sandy beaches, and slightly upriver you'll find small cascades and inviting granite slabs that are perfect for sun worshippers.

The Oregon Creek Covered Bridge provides walking access between the parking area directly off Highway 49 and the main day-use area parking lot.

For the latest conditions, visit fs.usda.gov.

(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Project)

Highway 49 Crossing



Polished, house-size granite boulders and enticing emerald pools are what you'll find at the Highway 49 Crossing, a scenic and accessible stretch along the South Yuba River.



This popular swimming hole welcomes visitors who want to escape the summer heat in the Sierra foothills. Making four crossings within South Yuba River State Park, Highway 49 explores California's Gold Country and historic mining communities. One can easily imagine miners panning for gold in the rugged river canyon. In fact, you just may see gold panning in action, as it is still practiced in the area by hobbyists and tourists alike.







(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Project)

North Fork Falls



Located on the North Fork of the American River, North Fork Falls is a secluded and picturesque stretch of tributary on the western slope of the Sierra. Here, tucked under the limbs of an evergreen forest, a series of refreshing pools and cascading waterfalls await.

Those in search of a thrilling way to cool off will find cliff jumps ranging in height from 10 to 25 feet, where millennia of winter snowmelt has carved away the granite and left beautiful cascades. A waterfall at the upper pool offers the largest jump; shorter options are available at the lower pool. While the upper pool requires a scramble up rocks to access, the lower pools are family friendly and easily reachable from the trail.







(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Projects)

D.L. Bliss State Park



Lying just north of Emerald Bay State Park, D.L. Bliss State Park is another destination highlight along Lake Tahoe's southwestern shoreline. Together the two state parks boast more than six miles of shore. Named after Duane Leroy Bliss, a timber and mining tycoon of the 19th century, D.L. Bliss welcomes campers, beachgoers, and hikers to this scenic stretch of Tahoe shoreline.

Typically open from May through September, D.L. Bliss caters to summer visitors with the beaches and clear waters of Calawee Cove and Lester Beach. With easy access from both the campground and day use parking area, both beaches are well suited for families and for launching boats.







(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Project)

Emerald Bay State Park



Emerald Bay and its namesake state park are tucked into the southwest corner of Lake Tahoe. The long bay's shimmering waters beckon boaters, swimmers and hikers to explore. Adding to the natural beauty, Emerald Bay is surrounded by glacially carved granite peaks that rise steeply from the water's edge. Emerald Bay State Park is well known as the home of Vikingsholm, an impressive historic Scandinavian mansion-turned-museum, and the bay houses the only actual island found in Lake Tahoe.

While Emerald Bay is accessible from May through September, you'll have to work just a bit to access park amenities. Most visitors walk a mile-long trail down to the main beach area at Vikingsholm or boat-in from elsewhere on the lake. The state park can also be reached via the Rubicon Trail from D.L. Bliss State Park, a contiguous park located to the north of Emerald Bay.







(Aron Bosworth, via Outdoor Project)

Meeks Bay Beach



With its white, sandy beach and cobalt waters, Meeks Bay Beach sits right up there with Sugar Pine Point and D.L. Bliss State Parks as one of Tahoe's West Shore standouts. A fine place to spend a warm summer day, horseshoe-shaped Meeks Bay draws campers, swimmers, and beachgoers to enjoy the clear waters and recreational opportunities found in the area.

Located adjacent to Meeks Bay Campground, the day-use beach offers easy access for launching watercraft such as stand-up paddleboards and kayaks. Summer weekends and holidays often bring a crowd, but the broad beach provides plenty of room to find your own lakeside oasis. And if a break from that intense Lake Tahoe summer sun is in order, shaded picnic areas equipped with charcoal grills are located behind the beach.





Caution! Be Safe.

Swimming holes and cliff jumping can be extremely dangerous and unpredictable outdoor activities that pose significant risks to health and personal safety. Changing water levels, unseen rocks, and river bottoms that have shifted with currents and seasonal weather can turn a well-known jumping area into a serious hazard. Prior to engaging in these activities, extensively scout the current conditions, and understand the risks involved with serious injury and the logistical challenges of evacuation from the water. Make safe decisions.
Thomas Brennan

A new chance to serve 

Upon returning home, Brennan recalls pushing his wife and daughter away, disengaging and falling into a drinking habit. I needed to accept the fact that I was never going to get over what I went through. Combat is loud, chaotic, fear, anger, sadness. Its got all the emotions, he said.

As a result, he started therapy but didnt know where to begin. Due to his brain injury, he was struggling to put words together verbally, so his therapist recommended writing down his thoughts. From there he just started writing and writing. Eventually, he wrote a thank-you letter to OReilly for his photos and to tell him how much the images helped him recover in therapy. 

Brennan sent the note to a New York Times editor whom OReilly had worked with while embedded in Afghanistan. They had exchanged messages the year prior when fact-checking OReillys account. Brennan was hoping simply to get some grammar help before sending the letter to OReilly. But, just a few hours later, the editor asked if The New York Times could publish the piece he submitted.

Although journalism was never on Brennans radar, he recognized through this process the need for reporting that bridges the military and civilian divide. So, in 2014, he attended Columbia Universitys Graduate School of Journalism, where he developed his plan for the War Horse and raised money online to make his dream a reality.

Today, the publication has won top industry awards and has most recently covered burn pits, toxic exposure, the criminal justice system, gender issues in uniform and health care, and has served as a vehicle for first-person reflections, representing all eras of service. 

The militarys job is to win our wars. And if we can help hold people accountable in a way that makes sure that our experiment and democracy survives, thats what I see our mission as. Thats what drives me. Journalism is another opportunity to serve, Brennan said.

This is the seventh episode from AARP Studios new documentary series Reporting for Duty. Each month you can expect a new inspirational story about veterans and military families at YouTube.com/aarp.

Aaron Kassraie writes about issues important to military veterans and their families for AARP. He also serves as a general assignment reporter. Kassraie previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for the Kuwait News Agencys Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA Today and Al Jazeera English. 
 Flash

The applications by Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be processed quickly should the Scandinavian countries choose to do so, the military alliance's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday.



"If they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be welcomed with open arms to NATO. Finland and Sweden are our closest partners," Stoltenberg told reporters at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Both Finland and Sweden have long pursued a policy of military non-alignment. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, NATO has failed to win over the two countries several times.

But the two countries have made some changes in their positions in face of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, delivering weapons and ammunition to Ukraine.

"We know that their armed forces meet NATO standards, are interoperable with NATO forces. We train together, we exercise together and we have also worked together with Finland and Sweden in many different missions and operations," Stoltenberg said.

He also addressed the security of Finland and Sweden during the interim period between the two countries' potential applications and the date they become actual members of the organization, saying that "we will be able to find arrangements" so that "no uncertainty" is left.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said during her visit to Greece on Thursday that Finland's decision on its membership in NATO would be taken very soon.

"The parliament and the government of Finland together with the President will assess all implications of the new security situation and will have to consider the question of whether to apply for membership of NATO," Marin said in a joint statement after talks with her Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The two countries' potential application for NATO membership has been in the spotlight since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as they are both neighbors of Russia. Finland shares a 1,340-km border with Russia.

When answering a question about the prospect of the countries which may join NATO, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin, told reporters earlier this month that further expansion of NATO, including the admission of Finland and Sweden into the alliance, will not contribute to security in Europe.

"In itself, the alliance is rather a tool sharpened for confrontation. This is not an alliance that ensures peace and stability. Further expansion of the alliance, of course, will not bring additional security to the European continent," the Kremlin spokesman said.


Quarterly Activities Report

Sydney, April 29, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Board of BetMakers Technology Group Ltd ( ASX:BET ) ( OTCMKTS:TPBTF ) is pleased to release its Quarterly Cash Flow Statement and Quarterly Activities Report for Q3 FY22, the quarter ending 31 March 2022.The $21.6mil in reported cash receipts from customers in Q3 FY22 highlights the continued strong performance of the existing business with YTD cash receipts for the 9 months of $67.2mil.Net cash used in operating activities for the quarter was $2.9mil, which includes approximately $2.5mil in payments not directly related to the period (see below for further detail).BetMakers Chief Executive Officer Todd Buckingham said:"We are very pleased with the performance of the Company during the first 3 months of 2022, during which time we have also focused on securing the right people and resources to deliver on our strategy. The Company continues to pursue a number of opportunities, and is working hard to ensure it has the right resources in place to deliver on these opportunities.After significant investment in the US market over the past 3 years, the recruitment of Christian Stuart as CEO of North America is a significant appointment for the Company.Christian has held executive leadership positions within the US gaming industry and his addition to the BetMakers executive team bolsters US operations and strategy.As another significant milestone in our US strategy, the Company signed an amended and restated fixed odds and data distribution deal with Darby Development LLC, the operator of Monmouth Park racetrack, and the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horseman Association. The parties agreed to extend the term for BetMakers to be the exclusive provider to deliver and manage fixed odds betting on thoroughbred horse racing into New Jersey from the initial period of 10 years to a new contracted term of 15 years."*To view the full Quarterly Report, please visit:About Betmakers Technology Group Ltd

Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX:BET) (OTCMKTS:TPBTF) is an ASX-listed holding company and a global provider of online wagering products and services to both wholesale and retail markets through its various wholly owned subsidiaries. The Company operates a retail wagering business, offering consumers wagering, fantasy tournament and content products and services.


Quarterly Activities Report

Sydney, April 29, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Empire Energy Group Limited ( ASX:EEG ) ( OTCMKTS:EEGUF ) continues to prepare for the hydraulic stimulation and extended production testing ("EPT") of Carpentaria-2H ("C-2H") to commence late Q2 2022. The timing has been affected by current global supply chain issues particularly shipping cargo movements out of China.As previously announced, the C-2H well was drilled during Q4 2021, reaching a Total Measured Depth of 3,150 metres, including a 1,345-metre horizontal section within a 10 metre Velkerri intra B Shale stratigraphic target window. The B Shale was selected for horizontal drilling following the successful production testing of the vertical Carpentaria-1 ("C-1") and petrophysics from the vertical hole sections of the C-1 and C-2H wells.All regulatory approvals are in place for the commencement of hydraulic stimulation and production testing at C-2H. Baseline water testing, civil works, and equipment mobilisation are ongoing in preparation for stimulation and production testing operations.Q1 2022 Highlights- Substantial increase in resources independently assessed by Netherland, Sewell & Associates ("NSAI") for EP187 included:o 1,402% increase in 3C Contingent Resources from 86 BCF to 1,292 BCF;o 866% increase in 2C Contingent Resources from 41 BCF to 396 BCF;o Maiden 1C Contingent Resources of 81 BCF; ando 23% increase in best estimate P(50) Prospective Resources to ~4.3 TCF following identification of improved prospectivity across the block- Regulatory approvals for 2D seismic acquisition and drilling, hydraulic stimulation and flow testing of up to six horizontal wells on six well pads in the Western Beetaloo (EP167 / EP168) under consideration by the Northern Territory Government- Empire executed three replacement grant agreements with the Australian Government under the Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program for total grant funding of up to $19.4 million. After the end of the Quarter, AusIndustry advised Empire that the first progress payments totalling $2.9 million had been approved. Payment was not received during the March Quarter but is expected to be received soon.- Multi-year high gas prices in the United States are resulting in strong cash flow generation from our Appalachian gas assets- Empire continues to prepare for the hydraulic stimulation and extended production testing of Carpentaria-2H to commence late Q2 2022- Cash at the end of the quarter was $16.6 millionComments from Managing Director Alex Underwood:"We have had another successful Quarter characterized by a substantial increase in our Northern Territory resource base, advanced preparations for the upcoming fracture stimulation of Carpentaria-2H utilizing leading expertise both in Australia and the US, and strong gas prices supporting a material improvement in the financial performance of our US business.US gas prices are their highest since October 2008, 150% higher than a year ago, and LNG prices in Europe and Asia are near record highs, caused by the war in Ukraine and underinvestment in new gas supply in recent years.It is now, and for decades to come will remain, critical for the energy security of Australia and the broader region that we maintain plentiful supplies of responsibly sourced gas.The Beetaloo Sub-basin, which is by far the largest undeveloped gas resource onshore Australia, will play an important role in achieving this objective.The upcoming drilling season, with multiple fracture stimulated horizontals planned by other operators and our imminent horizontal fracture stimulation and flow test of the recently drilled Carpentaria-2H well, will be key to moving the basin into development and production."*To view the full Quarterly Report, please visit:About Empire Energy Group Ltd

Empire Energy (ASX:EEG) (OTCMKTS:EEGUF) holds over 14.5 million acres of highly prospective exploration tenements in the McArthur and Beetaloo Basins, Northern Territory. Work undertaken by the Company since 2010 demonstrates that the Eastern depositional Trough of the McArthur Basin, of which the Company holds 80% has very considerable conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon potential. The Beetaloo sub-Basin, in which Empire holds a substantial position, has independently assessed world class hydrocarbon volumes in place with a major ramp up in industry activity underway to appraise substantial discoveries already made by major Australian oil and gas operators.

Empire Energy is an experienced conventional oil and gas producer with operations in the Appalachia region (New York and Pennsylvania). Empire has been successfully developing and producing oil and gas since 2006.
Ben E. Keith Co.s multi-million dollar facility, first announced in 2019, officially opened its doors on Wednesday.

Located at 601 Ben E. Keith NW, the facility spans 274,000 square feet and includes regional offices and a distribution center, according to Todd Hickam, Ben E. Keiths New Mexico division general manager. But as the company expands in the future, so too can the facility  which, according to Hickam, can cap out at 612,000 square feet. Though a groundbreaking took place Wednesday, the facility had originally opened in March 2021, Hickam added.

Its the most technologically advanced distribution warehouse in the southwest, Hickam said. We have a couple of automated aisles that actually employ more employees than the old aisles but it allows us to provide more products for our customers.

The facility came together after years of planning an expansion  Hickam said the growth of the company outpaced the former facility  before Ben E. Keith was approved for an $80 million industrial revenue bond by Bernalillo County in October 2018. The company had purchased the land, a 50.2-acre parcel off Gallatin Place NW, in 2017 to build its facility on.

Hickam previously told the Journal the property made the most logistical sense for shipping purposes considering its proximity to the highway. Hickam said the move to a new, larger facility has led to the company shipping 300% more product than it did in its previous 63,000-square-foot facility off Broadway Boulevard SE.

The new Ben E. Keith facility includes freezer space that alone is larger than the companys former headquarters, Hickam said, as well as 40 total dock doors to speed up loading and unloading trucks, a modern test kitchen and an open-plan office with more space for collaboration. Hickam said one of the meeting rooms in the facility can hold 138 employees at one time and is outfitted with Microsoft Teams to adapt to the more modern work environment.

Our entire facility at the Broadway location could have fit in our current freezer and still had 20,000 square feet left, Hickam said. Theres about 12 rooms within the facility that have that technology to where the people sitting in the room will be on the same camera, if you will, for a video conference that allows us to be able to do those type of things.

Ben E. Keith primarily deals with food and beverage distribution across the state and in bordering regions, such as El Paso and southern Colorado. The company first made the move to New Mexico in 1991 when it had purchased ABC Produce Distributors.

Ben E. Keith has added an additional 100 employees since the expansion, bringing the total employee count to 204, Hickam said. The IRB agreement had stated up to 93 jobs would be added through the expansion.

Started in 1906, Ben E. Keith, whose headquarters are in Texas, has a presence in 17 states with eight divisions spread across the country. It most recently opened another distribution facility  this one in Alabama  that also spans 400,000 square feet. The company also recently acquired Florida Food Service Inc. for an undisclosed price.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  Legislators plunged into a rather personal debate Thursday over how to teach New Mexico students about race and inequity as they traded family stories of discrimination and poverty.

They spoke of interracial marriage, the removal of Indigenous children from their communities, and pride in Spanish language and culture  often in testy exchanges over how to accurately present New Mexico history.

The debate was touched off by a staff presentation on new academic standards going into effect next year.

Republicans repeatedly questioned whether administrators in the Public Education Department had tried to inject elements of critical race theory into the curriculum  a contention the department flatly disputed.

Democrats, in turn, suggested Republicans wanted to sanitize history.

Sen. Harold Pope Jr., an Albuquerque Democrat and the first African American elected to the state Senate, said he was ashamed of some of the discussion. Its hurtful, he said, to hear legislators downplay the legacy of slavery and suggest racial conflict was confined to the past.

Im really disgusted by the political posturing on this, he said.

House Minority Whip Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, said no one objects to teaching students about history  the good and the bad. But the curriculum, he said, shouldnt ignore the progress thats been made just because of things that happened years and years ago that nobody in the room had anything to do with.

Students, Montoya said, shouldnt be made to feel guilty or angry over past mistreatment.

If were going to teach this to children, if were going to teach them things are stacked against you, he said, I think thats a disservice.

Stronger

The updated social studies standards were crafted over the past year with input from teachers, parents and others.

They touch on Spanish colonization, inequity in the history of the United States, and the removal and return of Indigenous people in New Mexico.

But districts and charter schools, officials said, are free to craft the specific curriculum and choose the instructional materials that best fit their community.

At 105 pages, the standards cover financial literacy and a host of other topics that attracted little attention in Thursdays hearing of the Legislative Education Study Committee, a bipartisan panel of state lawmakers.

Gwen Perea Warniment, a deputy secretary of public education, characterized the standards as an honest, apolitical attempt to boost academic standards and provide a culturally appropriate curriculum to students from all backgrounds.

Its appropriate, she said, for students, at an appropriate age, to learn that the arrival of conquistadors came with both destruction and creation.

It can be an insult to our students and our families to say they cannot handle these truths, Perea Warniment said. We believe they are stronger than that.

The standards hadnt been updated since 2009, she said.

The changes, Perea Warniment said, are partly a response to a 2018 court ruling that found New Mexico had failed to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially English language learners and Native Americans.

Full implementation of the new standards is set for the 2023-24 school year.

Personal stories

Lawmakers responded to the presentation with their own personal stories.

State Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, described what it was like to go to class as a child and feel encouraged to idolize such historical figures as Christopher Columbus  with no mention at school of Pope, leader of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt.

Lente pushed back on the notion that racial conflict was a thing of the past. He said he was called a dirty Indian and a savage three years ago after presenting legislation to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.

Students, Lente said, deserve an accurate accounting of state history.

You should be given the opportunity to learn about the place you call home, he said, or the place my people have called home since time immemorial.

Montoya, the Republican whip, described the success of his own parents, who he said had little education, but went on to run a number of small businesses.

They didnt have equity, he said. What they had was a belief that the situation they were in today wasnt the end of the story.

The presentation and debate lasted about two hours.

No one proposed legislation or official action on the issue.

Five Republican legislators earlier this year proposed a bill seeking to prohibit the teaching of certain concepts  such as that social problems are created by racist societal structures or systems  but it died without action.

It isnt clear whether the bill would have affected the social studies standards. Perea Warniment said critical race theory isnt part of the standards.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  State Rep. Georgene Louis agreed to pay New Mexicos ethics commission $250 as part of a settlement after her drunken driving arrest in February.

The State Ethics Commission, an independent government agency, made the announcement Thursday.

The payment of $250 represents the maximum allowable fine under the relevant part of the Governmental Conduct Act, the agency said.

In exchange, the commission agreed not to seek a civil enforcement action against Louis, accusing her of violating the act.

The commission said it had concluded Louis violated the act by seeking favorable treatment from officers during her Feb. 13 arrest, when she mentioned her legislative office and displayed her legislative license plate.

Louis, a Democrat who represents part of the West Side of Albuquerque, pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated DWI.

She has apologized and announced she wont run for reelection this year.

Police videos from her traffic stop show her telling an officer that she had been at a Super Bowl party at a friends house.

I havent had much sleep, Louis said in the video. Im a legislator, we havent had much sleep.

The State Ethics Commission said Louis violated the law by referring to her legislative office in an attempt either to get favorable treatment or to persuade the officer that her appearance was the result of fatigue from legislative service, not alcohol.

The Governmental Conduct Act requires legislators to use the resources of public office only to advance the public interest and not to obtain personal benefits or pursue private interests.

The ethics commission made the settlement demand to Louis earlier this month.

In recent years, New Mexico has witnessed elected officials refer to their elected office to pursue a private interest during a law enforcement investigation into their conduct, Jeremy Farris, executive director of the ethics commission, said in a news release. The Governmental Conduct Act prohibits such use of the powers and resources of public office. The State Ethics Commission will make every effort to enforce that prohibition.

The Journal wasnt immediately able to reach Louis on Thursday.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

For Felix Otero, help accessing early child care means money freed up for clothes and camping trips with his 6-year-old daughter.

Otero is a single father and a service manager at the Big O Tires up the street from the East Gate Kids Learning Center, where his daughter has gone for the past couple of months.

I just need some help  for my daughter and I to be able to push further into the future, he said.

Roughly 20,000 additional New Mexico families such as Oteros will qualify for free child care under a new initiative announced by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday.

Elizabeth Groginsky, Cabinet Secretary for Early Childhood Education, said the expanded free child care will now benefit more than 30,000 families who are breathing a sigh of relief.

Families with incomes placing them at or below 400% of the federal poverty line  a family of four earning up to $111,000 per year, for example  will now be eligible for waived copayments on child care beginning Sunday, the governor said. The governors press secretary, Nora Meyers Sackett, said that just over 10,000 families were eligible for the current copayment waiver as of Feb. 28.

More families will have free access to five-star, world-class, high-quality child care, Lujan Grisham said. That is the road to a universal child care system.  Our families deserve every bit of support, they are remarkable and resilient. And child care should be free.

Wide-eyed preschoolers sat restlessly at the foot of the stage the governor spoke from. Even she acknowledged they were obviously wondering what all the fuss was about.

Lujan Grisham also pledged $10 million in funding for supply-building grants to expand the availability of child care in communities where it is needed most. Her office added in a news release that the funds would add capacity for up to 800 more children statewide.

Both the free child care expansion and the grants, Sackett said, will be funded for the next year with federal money the state received from the American Rescue Plan Act. Roughly $300 million in federal stimulus dollars was set aside in part to cover a previous child care expansion.

The Early Childhood Education & Care Department, according to the release, will launch the program in the coming weeks. Child care providers and employers will be able to submit proposals to compete for the grants.

The departments scholarship program, Groginsky said in a third announcement, will also be used to fund $2,000 per-semester stipends for professionals currently enrolled in early-childhood degree programs at New Mexico colleges or universities.

The department said its current scholarship program will transition into the new stipend program. Most of the 825 professionals currently enrolled will benefit from the stipend program, which can be used for living and transportation costs.

The copayment waiver announcement came after a July 2021 eligibility expansion, allowing families 400% above the poverty line to qualify for the states child care assistance program. Previously, only families 200% above the poverty line qualified for waived copayments.

Im grateful that Im getting help from the waivers and the (ECECD), Otero said.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  New Mexico has secured dismissal of one of the longest running lawsuits of its kind, ending 35 years of litigation over the care of people with developmental disabilities.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar issued a 75-page opinion this week granting New Mexicos motion to dismiss.

The constitutional violations that existed at the outset of the lawsuit in 1987 had been rectified, he ruled, and the parties had crafted a durable remedy to protect the rights of people covered by the case.

The dismissal comes about three years after the state agreed to settle the case by eliminating a backlog of overdue investigations into abuse and neglect of individuals with developmental disabilities, among a host of other requirements.

The state had to show it met the requirements of the settlement to win dismissal of the suit  a point of contention by parties in the case.

But Robbenhaar granted dismissal Wednesday.

The defendants, he said, have demonstrated a clear intent to safeguard in the long-term the constitutional and statutory rights of people with developmental disabilities.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the dismissal Thursday. Ending the complex, costly litigation has been a priority, she said, since she took office in 2019.

While it is remarkably gratifying to finally reach closure in such long-running litigation, she said, the true winners in this case are the vulnerable New Mexicans and their families who are finally receiving the support they deserve. This issue is one thats close to my heart.

The class-action lawsuit centers on state services for people with developmental disabilities. In 1990, a federal judge ruled that New Mexico was violating the constitutional rights of people housed in state-run institutions, where they endured inhumane treatment.

The state later closed institutions and moved to provide services to people in group homes and other less restrictive settings.

In his ruling, Robbenhaar said retired Senior U.S. District Judge James Parker and U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Molzen deserved credit for helping resolve the case.

He also acknowledged the work of families and attorneys on all sides.

Ultimately, New Mexico is better off because of this lawsuit, Robbenhaar said, and the Court commends the parties, the many lawyers, and the countless individuals who have worked behind the scenes to create the system now in place.

The litigation has been known as the Jackson lawsuit, named for lead plaintiff Walter Stephen Jackson.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexico State Police says an officer was unknowingly dealing with a North Carolina homicide suspect when the roadside encounter exploded into an attack, gunfire and a prolonged fight that left the suspect dead earlier this month near Prewitt.

Officer Ray Wilson, a State Police spokesman, said Officer Corey Newman fired at least one shot at 26-year-old Oliver Ashley Toledo Saldivar, striking him, before the men got into a tussle along Interstate 40 on April 14.

He said Saldivar bit the officer, tried to grab his gun and drew his own firearm before a passing trucker helped the officer subdue Saldivar, who died at the scene from the gunshot wound.

Newman suffered injuries from bites to the back of his left arm and was placed on standard administrative leave afterward. He has been with State Police for four years.

The New Mexico State Police acts solely as fact finders in its cases and does not determine whether the actions of an officer were justified in these types of matters, he said. That decision rests with the district attorneys office.

The Durham Police Department did not immediately respond to requests Thursday for details of the homicide in which Saldivar was a suspect.

Wilson said the incident in New Mexico began around noon when Newman responded to a report of a man slumped over the wheel on I-40 near milepost 64 in McKinley County. He said Saldivar, of North Carolina, got out of the car and locked the doors.

The spokesman said that, unbeknownst to the officer, Saldivar was the suspect in an April 12 homicide in Durham. He said Saldivar walked to Newmans patrol vehicle and reached for a black object in his jacket pocket. Newman drew his gun and Saldivar tackled him.

During the attack, he said, the officer fired at least one shot from his duty weapon, striking Saldivar.

Wilson said Saldivar tried to grab Newmans gun, bit his arm and pulled his own gun out. He said Saldivar was trying to load a round into the chamber when Newman wrestled the gun away and threw it to the side.

Wilson said the driver of a passing tractor-trailer stopped to help the officer, threw Saldivars gun out of reach and helped Newman detain him. Newman called for an ambulance, but Saldivar died at the scene.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2494035/state-police-detail-fatal-shooting-of-nc-homicide-suspect.htm>_WebHeadline>https://www.abqjournal.com/2494035/state-police-detail-fatal-shooting-of-nc-homicide-suspect.html
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexico State Police released the name of the officer shot and injured following a pursuit in the East Mountains.

Officer Dusty Francisco, a State Police spokesman, said Lt. Jeremy Vaughan sustained non-life threatening injuries in the Feb. 11 shootout with Caleb Elledge, 24, near the Sedillo Hill overpass.

Vaughan, who has been with State Police for 19 years, was later released from the hospital.

Elledge and his girlfriend, Alanna Martinez, 22, were arrested and charged with several felonies in connection with the case.

Francisco said the incident started when Vaughan stopped to get gas at the Mr. Gas Mart on N.M. 333 in Edgewood around 8:15 a.m. He said a store clerk told Vaughan a woman had briefly locked herself in the bathroom and left drug paraphernalia behind.

Francisco said Vaughan found the woman, Martinez, and Elledge in a Cadillac in front of the business and Elledge rammed the lieutenants vehicle before driving away. He said Vaughan chased the pair down N.M. 333 and used a pursuit intervention maneuver to stop their vehicle at the Sedillo Hill overpass.

Francisco said Elledge got out of the car and fired at Vaughan several times, hitting him. He said Vaughan fired back as the pair escaped on foot.

Elledge and Martinez were later arrested at the home of Elledges relative in McIntosh.

Elledge is facing charges of assault on a peace officer, aggravated battery on a peace officer and other felonies in the incident. Martinez was charged with harboring or aiding a felon.
KYIV, Ukraine  The United Nations doggedly sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol on Friday, while Ukraine accused Russia of showing its contempt for the world organization by bombing Kyiv when the U.N. leader was visiting the capital.

The mayor of Mariupol said the situation inside the steel plant that has become the southern port citys last stronghold is dire, and citizens are begging to get saved. Mayor Vadym Boichenko added: There, its not a matter of days. Its a matter of hours.

Ukraines forces, meanwhile, fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the countrys industrial Donbas region. Artillery fire, sirens and explosions could be heard in some cities. And a senior U.S. defense official said the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of Ukrainian resistance.

In other developments:

 A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, his family said in what would be the wars first known death of an American in combat. The U.S. has not confirmed the report.

 Ukrainian forces are cracking down on people accused of helping Russian troops. In the Kharkiv region alone, nearly 400 have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted after Moscows Feb. 24 invasion.

 The international sanctions imposed on the Kremlin over the war are squeezing the country. The Russian Central Bank said Russias economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year, and the outlook is extremely uncertain.

On Thursday, Moscows forces launched a missile attack on a residential high-rise and another building in Kyiv, shattering weeks of relative calm in the capital following Russias retreat from the region early this month.

U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said one of its journalists, Vira Hyrych, was killed in the bombardment. Ten people were wounded, one of them losing a leg, authorities said.

The missile strike came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

This says a lot about Russias true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the U.N. and everything the organization represents, Zelenskyy said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was Russian President Vladimir Putins way of giving his middle finger to Guterres.

In an apparent reference to the Kyiv bombing, Russias military said it had destroyed production buildings at the Artem defense factory.

The missile strike came just as life in Kyiv seemed to be getting back a little closer to normal, with cafes and other businesses starting to reopen and growing numbers of people going out to enjoy the arrival of spring.

Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst and head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said the attack carried a message: Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure.

Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east also have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.

But so far, Russias troops and the separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains.

The U.S. believes the Russians are at least several days behind where they wanted to be as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east, said the senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the American militarys assessment.

As Russian troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been slow and uneven and certainly not decisive, the official said.

In the bombed-out city of Mariupol, around 100,000 people were believed trapped with little food, water or medicine. An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders and 1,000 civilians were holed up at the Azovstal steel plant.

The Soviet-era steel plant has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more dire after the Russians dropped bunker busters and other bombs.

Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse, said Boichenko, the mayor.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said the organization was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv to create safe passage.

This time, we hope theres a slight touch of humanity in the enemy, the mayor said. Ukraine has blamed the failure of numerous previous evacuation attempts on continued Russian shelling.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that the real problem is that humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals. Moscow has repeatedly claimed right-wing Ukrainians are thwarting evacuation efforts and using civilians as human shields.

Also Friday, two towns in central Ukraines Dnipropetrovsk region were hit by Russian rockets, the regional governor said. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.

Fighting could be heard from Kramatorsk to Sloviansk, two cities about 18 kilometers (11 miles) apart in the Donbas. Columns of smoke rose from the Sloviansk area and neighboring cities. At least one person was reported wounded in the shelling.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.

The constant attacks show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people, he said.

If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones, as they did with Mariupol.

The governor of Russias Kursk region said that a border post came under mortar attack from Ukraine and that Russian border forces returned fire. He said there were no casualties on the Russian side.

In the village of Ruska Lozava, near Kharkiv, hundreds of people were evacuated after Ukrainian forces retook the city from Russian occupiers, according to the regional governor. Those who fled to Kharkiv spoke of dire conditions under the Russians, with little water or food and no electricity.

We were hiding in the basement. It was horror. The basement was shaking from the explosions. We were screaming, we were crying and we were praying to God, said Ludmila Bocharnikova.

A video posted by Ukraines Azov battalion showed troops raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the government building in the center of the village, though fighting continued on the outskirts.

Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, she said, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it.

The Marine Corps said Cancel served four years but was given a bad-conduct discharge and sentenced to five months confinement for violating orders. No details on the offense were given.

At least two other foreigners fighting on the Ukrainian side, one from Britain and the other from Denmark, have also been killed.

___

Associated Press journalists Jon Gambrell and Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, Yesica Fisch in Sloviansk, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.

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Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
WASHINGTON  A senior U.S. defense official said Friday the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of the Ukrainian resistance.

We also assess that because of this slow and uneven progress, again, without perfect knowledge of every aspect of the Russian plan, we do believe and assess that they are behind schedule in what they were trying to accomplish in the Donbas, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. militarys assessment.

He said the U.S. believes the Russians are at least several days behind where they wanted to be as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east.

As the troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been slow and uneven, and certainly not decisive in any, in any event, the official said.

 By Lolita C. Baldor

___

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Ukraine cracks down on anyone suspected of aiding Russian troops

 A former U.S. Marine became the first known American to die fighting for Ukraine

 Ukraine slams Kyiv attack amid new Mariupol rescue effort

 Ukraine says Russian offensive in east picks up momentum

 NATO chief says Finland, Sweden could join quite quickly

Follow all AP stories on Russias war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

___

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.

The constant brutal bombardments, the constant Russian strikes on infrastructure and residential areas show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people. Therefore, the defense of our land, the defense of our people, is literally a fight for life, he said late Friday in his nightly video address to the nation.

He said the cities and towns of the Donbas will survive only if Ukraine remains standing. If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones. As they did with Mariupol.

Zelenskyy said Mariupol, once one of the most developed cities in the region, was now a Russian concentration camp among the ruins.

In Kharkiv, a major city to the north, the situation was brutal but Ukrainian troops and intelligence agents have had important tactical successes, he said without elaborating.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said about 20% of the citys residential buildings have been so badly damaged that it will be impossible to restore them.

Zelenskyy said rescuers were still going through the rubble in Kyiv after Thursdays missile strikes. He expressed his condolences to the family of Vira Hyrych, who was killed in the bombardment. He said she was the 23rd journalist killed in the war.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appears to have dismissed the need for the United Nations to help secure humanitarian corridors out of Ukraines besieged cities, striking a tough line a day after the U.N. chief toured war-wracked Kyiv with that very aim.

As an interviewer at Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV tried to ask Lavrov about U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians, Lavrov cut him off.

There is no need. I know, I know, an irritated Lavrov said. There is no need for anybody to provide help to open humanitarian corridors. There is only one problem  humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals, he said.

We appreciate the interest of the secretary-general to be helpful, he added. (We have) explained  what is the mechanism for them to monitor how the humanitarian corridors are announced.

During the hourlong interview, Lavrov also accused the West of sabotaging Russias peace talks with Ukraine. He claimed that thorny negotiations in Istanbul last month had been progressing on issues of Russian territorial claims and security guarantees until Ukrainian diplomats backtracked at the behest of the West.

We are stuck because of their desire to play games all the time, Lavrov said. Because of the instructions they get Washington, from London, from some other capitals, not to accelerate the negotiations.

When asked about the risks of war spilling into neighboring Moldova after a series of explosions rattled a breakaway border region within the country, Lavrov struck an ominous tone.

Moldova should worry about their own future, he said. Because theyre being pulled into NATO.

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KHARKIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian authorities are cracking down on anyone suspected of aiding Russian troops under laws enacted by Ukraines parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Feb. 24 invasion.

Offenders face up to 15 years in prison for acts of collaborating with the invaders or showing public support for them.

Not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion, and pro-Moscow sentiment is more common among Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east.

Although the Zelenskyy government has broad support, even among many Russian speakers, not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion. Support for Moscow is more common among some Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east. An eight-year conflict there between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces had killed over 14,000 people even before this years invasion.

Some businessmen, civic and state officials and members of the military are among those who have gone over to the Russian side, and Ukraines State Bureau of Investigations said more than 200 criminal cases on collaboration have been opened. Zelenskyy has even stripped two SBU generals of their rank, accusing them of treason.

A registry of collaborators is being compiled and will be released to the public, said Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraines Security Council. He refused to say how many people have been targeted nationwide.

With martial law in place, authorities have banned 11 pro-Russian political parties, including the largest one that had 25 seats in the 450-member parliament  the Opposition Platform For Life, which was founded by Viktor Medvedchuk, a jailed oligarch with close ties to Putin.

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KHARKIV, Ukraine  Hundreds of people have been evacuated to Kharkiv from the nearby village of Ruska Lozava that had been under Russian occupation for more than a month.

Almost half the village has escaped on buses, in shrapnel-ridden cars or on foot after fierce battles saw Russian troops pushed back and Ukrainian forces take full control of the village, according to the Kharkiv regional governor.

A video posted by the Azov battalion shows troops raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the government building in the center of the village although fighting continues on the outskirts.

Upon arrival to Kharkiv less than 12 miles (20 kilometers) away, those who fled have described to Associated Press reporters the dire conditions they faced while living in basements with little water and food and no electricity.

We were hiding in the basement, it was horror. The basement was shaking from the explosions, we were screaming, we were crying and we were praying to god, said Ludmila Bocharnikova.

___

WASHINGTON  A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, according to his relatives, making his the first known death of an American citizen while fighting in the war against Russia.

Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN. Cancel joined the Marines after graduating from Newburgh Free Academy in New York and served from 2017-21. He more recently worked as a corrections officer in Tennessee.

Cabrera said her son signed up to work with the private military contractor shortly before fighting began in Ukraine on Feb. 24 and that he agreed to go to Ukraine. She said he flew to Poland on March 12, entered Ukraine shortly thereafter and had been fighting alongside men from a number of countries.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it, she said.

Cabrera said her sons body hasnt been recovered.

Cancel had also served as a volunteer firefighter in New York and leaves behind a wife and 7-month-old son, according to an online fundraising page set up by a man identifying himself as Cancels father. Cancels wife received the call informing her of his death on Tuesday, the page said.

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KYIV, Ukraine  A leading Ukrainian political analyst says Russias missile strike on Kyiv signaled its intention to keep fighting despite international efforts to mediate an end to the hostilities.

Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said Thursdays strike on Kyiv while U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting the city indicated Moscows intention to press its attack.

Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure, Fesenko told The Associated Press.

With this missile strike, the Kremlin is sending a warning to all international structures and organizations trying to influence or contain Russias aggressive military plans, Fesenko noted. While Russia has so far failed to score any significant gains in Ukraine, it intends to continue its offensive and keep striking cities with missiles.

The attack reportedly killed at least one person and wounded at least 10 others, and was the first on Kyiv since Russia refocused its efforts on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Guterres and his team were not injured.

___

LVIV, Ukraine  The mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol says those hiding at a massive steel mill are running out of food, water and medicine.

Vadym Boichenko described the situation at the Avozstal steel plant as dire. The steel mill is the last position held by Ukrainian fighters, who also are with civilians.

The Soviet-era facility has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more extreme after the Russians dropped a series of so-called bunker buster bombs and unguided munitions.

Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse, Boichenko said, according to a translator. They are begging to get saved.

He added: There, its not a matter of days, its a matter of hours.

Boichenko said he hoped a cease-fire would allow those inside the steel mill to safely leave. Russia earlier offered a truce that was rejected by Ukrainians, who said Moscow previously broke other agreements.

We hope theres a slight touch of humanity in the enemy, the mayor said.

Boichenko spoke Friday in a government-organized video conference.

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MOSCOW  The head of the Russian Central Bank says the outlook is extremely uncertain as the countrys economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year.

International sanctions and falling consumer demand are squeezing the economy as inflation rises.

The Central Bank cut its key interest rate from 17% to 14% on Friday and predicted the economy would shrink by between 8% and 10% this year.

The current situation is extremely uncertain. Simultaneously, supply trends and the factors driving aggregate demand are also changing dramatically, Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina said.

The Central Bank said annual inflation was 17.6% as of April 22 and forecast it would rise to between 18% and 23% by the end of the year.

After a temporary surge, consumer demand is decreasing in real terms, accompanied by a rise in households propensity to save. The decline in imports due to the introduction of external trade and financial restrictions is outstripping the decline in exports, the Central Bank said in a statement.

Despite the gradual change in the country and commodity structure of exports and imports as new suppliers and sales markets emerge, businesses are experiencing considerable difficulties in production and logistics.

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WARSAW, Poland  Ukraines first lady, Olena Zelenska, said the war hasnt changed her husband and has only revealed his qualities to the world, including his determination to prevail.

Zelenska, speaking in an interview with the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita published Friday, also said she has not seen her husband President Volodymr Zelenskyy since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Since Feb. 24, I have been seeing my husband just like you  on TV and on video tapes of his speeches, she said.

She accused Russia of trying to carry out a genocide against the Ukrainian people and expressed her sympathy with all those who have been forced to flee their homes.

I wish I could hug each of them. It is easy to imagine the difficult path they went through, escaping from basements or bunkers in Mariupol, from firing from Kharkiv, from the occupied Kyiv region, and even from Lviv or Odesa, which were also under fire from Russian missiles, she said.

The newspaper, making clear that it interviewed Zelenska remotely and not revealing her location, asked her if the war had changed her husband.

The war has not changed him, she replied. He has always been a man you can rely on. A man who will never fail. Who will hold out until the end. Its just that now the whole world has seen what may not have been clear to everyone before.

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LONDON  Tens of thousands of troops from NATO and other north Atlantic nations will take part in a series of military exercises across Europe in the coming weeks as western countries seek to deter Russian aggression.

The exercises, backed by aircraft, tanks, artillery and armored assault vehicles, will take place in Finland, Poland, North Macedonia and along the Estonian-Latvian border. They will include troops from NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force, which includes non-NATO members Finland and Sweden.

The scale of the deployment, coupled with the professionalism, training and agility of the British Army, will deter aggression at a scale not seen in Europe this century, Lt. Gen. Ralph Wooddisse, commander of the U.K.s field army, said in a statement.

The deployments will begin this week in Finland, where troops from the U.S., Britain, Estonia and Latvia will participate in Exercise Arrow to improve their ability to work alongside Finnish forces.

Also this week, some 4,500 troops will take part in Exercise Swift Response, which will include parachute drops and helicopter-borne assaults in North Macedonia. The operation will include forces from U.S., Britain, Albania, France and Italy.

Next month, 18,000 NATO troops, including forces from Britain, France and Denmark, will take part in Exercise Hedgehog along the Estonia-Latvia border.

In late May, about 1,000 British soldiers will join troops from 11 other nations for Exercise Defender in Poland.

The security of Europe has never been more important, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said. These exercises will see our troops join forces with allies and partners across NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force in a show of solidarity and strength in one of the largest shared deployments since the Cold War.

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The US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty says one of its journalists was killed by a Russian missile strike on Ukraines capital, Kyiv, Thursday night.

Vira Hyrych died when the building she lived in was hit and her body was found in the buildings rubble Friday, Radio Free Europe said. Hyrych had worked for the broadcasters Ukrainian-language service since 2018, Radio Free Europe said in a statement.

Ten people were wounded in the attack, including at least one who lost a leg, according to Ukraines emergency services.

Describing the attack, Russia says it destroyed production buildings at a defense factory in Kyiv. Russia used high-precision, long-range weaponry to hit the Artem factory in the Ukrainian capital, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday.

The spokesman appeared to be referring to strikes on Kyiv that took place on Thursday evening, shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said cruise missiles were used in the attack and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and four hospitalized when a residential building was hit.

Konashenkov also said Russia had destroyed a missile launch site that Ukraine had used to strike the Russia-held Ukrainian city of Kherson.

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LVIV, Ukraine  A British aid group says it believes two Britons have been abducted by Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine.

The British Foreign Office said it is urgently seeking more information about the two mens case.

Dominik Byrne, the co-founder and chief operating officer of the Presidium Network, told the AP on Friday that the men were last heard from on Monday.

Byrne said the men were taken while trying to carry out an independent evacuation in Dniprorudne, near the city of Zaporizhzhia, some 470 kilometers (290 miles) southeast of Kyiv.

Byrne said the family that the two men had been trying to evacuate later were interrogated by Russian forces, who asked them about the British spies. Bryne said the family later escaped to Poland.

Byrne identified the men as Paul Urey and Dylan Healy. He said they had been operating on their own in the war zone and hadnt been associated with any aid group.

The British Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia hasnt acknowledged taking the men.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark  A 25-year-old Dane was allegedly killed in Mykolajiv on April 26 while fighting with the International Legion Ukraine, a unit for foreigners who want to join the fight against Russia, according to Danish broadcaster TV2. The mans name was not given.

In a statement to Danish media, the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen said it could not confirm the report and was in contact with Ukrainian authorities.

It may therefore take time before the details are clarified because the war creates extremely difficult conditions, the statement read.

The Jyllands-Posten daily, one of Denmarks largest newspapers, said up to 100 Danes have traveled to Ukraine to fight Russia, citing Ukraines Embassy in Denmark.

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LVIV, Ukraine  The British Defense Ministry says Russias focus in its war on Ukraine remains the Donbas region.

In an update Friday, the British military said heavy fighting had been seen around Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. The British said they believe Russia is trying to attempt an advance south from Izium toward Slovyansk.

The British military said in a tweet: Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces.

The British military has been offering daily public reports on the fighting since the start of the war in February.
A 22-year-old former U.S. Marine was killed alongside Ukrainian forces in the war with Russia, his relatives told news outlets, in the first known death of an American citizen fighting in Ukraine.

Willy Joseph Cancel was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN. Cancel had recently worked as a corrections officer in Tennessee and previously served in the Marines from 2017 to 2021, joining the Corps the same year he graduated from high school.

Cabrera said her son had signed up to work with the private military contractor shortly before fighting began in Ukraine on Feb. 24. She told CNN he agreed to go to Ukraine.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it, she said.

Cancel had volunteered with his local fire department in New York as a high school student, and he had a 7-month-old son, according to an online fundraising page set up by a man identifying himself as his father.

The U.S. government said it had seen reports about the death but did not have official confirmation, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

Its very sad. He left a little baby behind, President Joe Biden said.

Psaki reiterated warnings against U.S. citizens traveling to Ukraine.

We know people want to help, but we do encourage Americans to find other ways to do so rather than traveling to Ukraine to fight there, she said. It is a war zone.

The State Department also said it was aware of the reports and was closely monitoring the situation, but could not comment further due to privacy considerations. It, too, urged U.S. citizens not to go to Ukraine.

Cabrera said her sons body has not been found.

They are trying, the men that were with him, but it was either grab his body or get killed, but we would love for him to come back to us, she said.

She said her son flew to Poland on March 12 and entered Ukraine shortly after, to fight alongside men from a number of countries.

A roommate who lived with Cancel in Kentucky in the months before he left for Ukraine said he became interested in going to help shortly after the war began.

Right around when it was getting serious was when he said he wanted to go, 21-year-old Triston Mannahan said. He felt obligated because that (the war) was wrong and he wanted to help.

Mannahan said Cancel packed his things over a couple of days in mid-March and left for Europe.

Hes really brave, Mannahan said. Thats what he wanted to do.

The fundraising page said Cancels wife got a call Tuesday informing her of his death. The father wrote that Cancel decided to go to Ukraine because he wanted to defend innocent people.

Cancel graduated from Newburgh Free Academy in New York in 2017, the school district said. An instructor who mentored him in the Air Force Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, Master Sgt. Christian Granda, said he was a dedicated cadet who served our community well and joined the Marines right after high school.

Cancel worked at a private prison in Tennessee from May 2021 until January, said Matthew Davio, a spokesman for the private prison company CoreCivic. The Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, a medium security facility, is about an hour northeast of Nashville.

As a correctional officer, Mr. Cancel served his state and his community by helping maintain a safe, secure environment where inmates can participate in life-changing reentry programs, Davio said in a statement.

While in the Marines, Cancel served as a rifleman and was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was given a bad conduct discharge after he was convicted of violating a lawful general order, Marine Corps spokesperson Maj. Jim Stenger said.

He had no war zone deployments, Stenger said. No other details on the bad conduct conviction were provided.

Cancels widow, Brittany Cancel, told Fox News that she sees her husband as a hero.

My husband did die in Ukraine, Brittany Cancel said. He went there wanting to help people, he had always felt that that was his main mission in life.

She said her husband aspired to be a police officer or firefighter.

He had dreams and aspirations of being a police officer or joining FDNY, she told Fox. Naturally when he found out about what was happening in Ukraine, he was eager to volunteer.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are believed to have been killed in the war. Other noncombatants from the U.S. have been killed, including a documentary filmmaker who was slain when his vehicle came under fire at a checkpoint and a man killed while he was waiting in a bread line.

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Drew reported form Durham, North Carolina. Contributing were AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington and Associated Press writers Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Allen G. Breed in Hubert, North Carolina; Kristin Hall in Murray, Kentucky; Karen Matthews in New York; and Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky.
Steve Boaldin lives the cowboy life.

His days are full of back-breaking physical work.

Boaldin is also an artist and hes found a way to weave the two together in a way that helps him bring awareness to the importance of cowboy culture.

Heis the focus of the documentary, Art of a Cowboy, which is screening at Mitchell Theaters in Taos, Los Lunas and Espanola beginning Friday, April 29 through Thursday, May 5.

The documentary is done by El Paso-based filmmaker Chris Hanna.

We started the TV series about six years ago, Boaldin says. It started as an idea of going out to ranches across the country. I was doing the research and it all evolved from there.

Boaldin and Hanna shot 11, 30-minute episodes that aired on the local PBS station.

Chris has done an amazing job at editing my life story, Boaldin says. It turned out to be something that captures the passion for the ranch life. It has also served as a passion for my art.

A true old-school cowboy, Boaldin combines his passion for working cattle, rodeoing and breaking horses with his other passion  art.

Raised on a farm and ranch in southwest Kansas, the cowboy way of life is nothing new to Boaldin whose background gives him the ability to work with cowboys while capturing their world with photos and drawings.

He then takes his drawings and photos in his studio to create cowboy-themed fine art including oil paintings.

Hanna wanted to incorporate more of Boaldins upbringing.

Pre-production began in October 2020, with filming starting in April 2021.

The documentary has already been shown at various Alamo Drafhouses in Texas and Mitchell Theaters is showing it at seven of their theaters in six states.

Hanna, Boaldin and sound designer Nina Hedberg will be in attendance to show some of Boaldins art and take questions from the audience after the screening in New Mexico on:

 7 p.m. Sunday, May 1, at Storyteller 7 Cinema in Taos.

 7 p.m. Monday, May 2, at Starlight 8 Cinema in Los Lunas.

 7:10 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, at Dreamcatcher 10 Cinema in Espanola.

For times and to purchase tickets, go to mitchelltheaters.com.

The three New Mexico Q&A events is a return to New Mexico for Hanna.

I went to school in New Mexico and got my BFA in film, Hanna says. I spent six years of my life there and I have worked a lot in New Mexico. Its special to come back with this film because I hope it makes an impact in the community.

Boaldin says the Q&A sessions during the screenings are special because it gives him an opportunity to expand on his story.

I want to stand up for the American rancher, Boaldin says. I want them to see an honest story about themselves. This platform gives us so much more reach to make a statement on how important cowboy culture is in the country.

Hanna says American ranching is not only important but its the foundation that the country was built on.

Through they years, more and more ranchers havent been able to keep it going, Hanna says. The film is a way to bring awareness.
What does the future of work look like? And how can leadership at companies across the spectrum find ways to advance and adapt to the ever-changing workplace?

Embracing technology and careful talent development strategy are some answers to overcome hurdles businesses are facing, according to John Bell, who is president and chief strategy officer of NextNow Digital.

Bell presented his findings to business leaders from across the state at the Economic Forum of Albuquerque on Wednesday.

Bell, before NextNow Digital, helped lead the digital marketing transformation of Travelers Insurance, a Dow 30 company, and was a global managing director with Ogilvy, where he guided global businesses such as Ford Motor Co. and American Express on how to use social media to build a brand.

Bell has identified five near-term realities that will affect businesses and which he said are woven together by two things: digital transformation and leadership.

We have a real chance to be bold  to redesign work in a way that is more humane and future-proofed. So be prepared to be courageous, experimental and take risks, said Bell, citing the London Business School professor Lynda Gratton.

Designing collaboration

Bell said when he thinks about designing a concept to foster collaboration, he thinks of it in three different kinds of buckets.

The first bucket, he says, is methodology  in other words, using proven methods of productive collaboration.

Another way of approaching collaboration, Bell said, is through augmented spaces. By this, he means creating work spaces that make employees more productive.

Digital tools, too, can help kickstart collaboration, he said.

And its about digital tools and testing and adopting those right tools that actually make for great online and offline collaboration at the same time  not either or but both, Bell said.

Though many people use these tools already  Miro and Zoom  Bell said they can help kickstart collaboration in a hybrid environment.

Frictionless onboarding

A second near-term goal, Bell said, is frictionless onboarding. What does that mean?

Its about accelerating new hire time productivity, which has a monetary value for all businesses. Its about communicating and demonstrating culture to a group thats distributed  that may never have come into the office, depending on when they were hired, Bell said. And also, its about engaging top talent and subject matter experts inside the company to train and nurture and mentor those newcomers.

Bell cited the use of PlusPlus  an onboarding tool used by Netflix  and how that product has streamlined the hiring process for the streaming company.

Cultivating talent

Developing talent is important because the deficit of workers is expected to grow even larger in the next decade, Bell said, adding that the best hires arent necessarily those who check off all the boxes.

For me, its about choosing wisely  hiring people with the right temperament and the willingness to learn, Bell said. Because we can put them in a position as an employee to always be learning.

But how can you retain and train talent?

Bell pointed to Salesforce Trailhead, which is a platform that helps with training and certification of employees in sales, data and marketing. On a more local level, CNM Ingenuity the nonprofit arm of Central New Mexico that specializes in job training  has helped train the local workforce in a variety of skills in partnership with Job Training Albuquerque, Bell said.

In just two-to-three years, theyve produced 204 jobs, skilled up to 187 employees and added over $9 million of annual wage-earning power locally, Bell said.

Augmented labor

Have you heard of those Dominos self-driving delivery robots in select cities? Well, dont be afraid that theyre taking away jobs from the workforce.

Bell said companies should embrace augmented labor  which includes stuff like Microsofts HoloLens that the company has equipped line workers with to deliver instructions on the assembly line  because it can help in giving them extra tools and data to simplify and empower them to do more and provide more value in their business.

Diversity and inclusion mandate

Bell said many companies tend to have diversity and inclusion initiatives embedded in them, either formally or informally.

Bell said a DEI mandate has become a top priority for companies because the next generation of employees want a just workplace, Bell said.

He cited data from McKinsey & Company, a management consulting business, that shows women typically deal with microaggressions more than men  from being interrupted to having judgement questioned.

There are tools to track biases in diversity, Bell said. For instance, Textio and Workhuman are tools that track biases in written text.
Albuquerque police arrested a Texas trucker who allegedly drove off after he fatally struck a man Thursday afternoon on East Central.

John Gwinn, 55, is charged with vehicular homicide, methamphetamine possession and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.

An officer determined Gwinn was impaired at the time of the crash and found a bag of meth in his pocket, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

He is going to have to get a public defender because he doesnt have a nickel to his name, his mother Doris Doty told the Journal.

Police responded around 1 p.m. to the crash at Tramway and Central and found the pedestrian  who wasnt identified by police  fatally injured. Witnesses said the driver of a semitractor-trailer hit the man, pulled into a gas station, looked over the damage to the truck and drove away.

Officers pulled over the truck near Wyoming and Central and took the driver, Gwinn, into custody for questioning, according to court records. Police found Gwinn had just picked up a woman in the area but she had no part in the collision.

Police said Gwinn appeared drowsy as he was mumbling and difficult to understand. He told police he didnt know he hit anything and had just come from a truck stop.

Officers found methamphetamine in his pocket and determined after a sobriety tests that he was impaired by a central nervous system stimulant and unable to drive safely, according to court records. Police said Gwinn had a green light when he struck the man who had been crossing the street.
TBWA INDIA has appointed Amit Kekre to the role of chief strategy officer, with immediate effect. Amit joins TBWA from DDB Mudra Group, replacing Satish Krishnamurthy.

Said Govind Pandey, chief executive officer at TBWAIndia on Amits appointment: Amit is an exceptional leader and an impressive strategist. His ambition to discover and understand goes well beyond the books, tools and processes.

Amit will be responsible for developing and executing an elevated strategic approach across our planning department, while working closely with the agencys portfolio of brands.

At DDB Mudra, Amit played a pivotal role in DDBs emergence as one of the most effective agencies, consistently ranking in the TOP 3 Effie winning agencies in India. He also led marketing, brand and business strategies for the groups clients - Diageo, Pepsi, Unilever, Future Group, Godrej, naming a few.

Beyond leading business and brand strategy, Amit championed the groups diversity agenda - and has been pivotal in establishing diversity as a key strategic growth capability for the group. He is the chairperson for the India chapter of Open Pride, Omnicoms ERG for LGBTIQ+ community at workplace and will continue to lead these chapters from TBWA.

Amits experience covers categories as diverse as FMCG, Food and Beverage, Fashion and Lifestyle, Automotive, across a variety of countries and cultures, which go a long way in taking the collaborative partnership across planning, creative and business management, to the next level. With 23 years of industry experience, Amit has worked with agencies across the world, chiefly Lowe, JWT, Ogilvy, Grey, McCann in India, Malaysia and Australia.

A Microbiology graduate with a post graduate degree in Communications, Amit also received education in Gender and Sexuality studies, from the University of Amsterdam. He believes his true education and experience has come from his voyeuristic eye on culture, an insatiable hunger for travel, his side hustle as a fashion designer, and last but not the least, from his fondness for uncomfortable questions.

Joining TBWA, Amit said; We live in times when the question of growth cannot afford to be linear, it must be discontinuous. So must be the ways to achieve it, we need a fundamental shake up from comfort zones  of how we see our brands, our businesses, the consumers they serve and the world they (must) create. No better place than TBWA, the @DISRUPTION company to make this happen.
CredAvenue, Indias largest debt marketplace, today announced it has acquired a majority stake in Corpository  a full-stack corporate credit underwriting company at a valuation of INR 100 Cr. With this acquisition, all lenders on CredAvenues platform will be able to evaluate and make lending decisions on the platform itself, thus significantly reducing the overall time for the lending process.

This is the second acquisition by CredAvenue within months of announcing a majority stake in Spocto, the global leader in digital collections  showcasing the rapid strides CredAvenue is making toward becoming the leading global debt marketplace that caters to every stage of the lending lifecycle.

Corpositorys solution would also help ensure that the lenders stay updated on the developments at the borrowers end.

Corpositorys SaaS-based products help evaluate, underwrite and monitor corporate credits using publicly available data from 50+ sources such as the MCA, credit ratings, GST filings, and litigation data, among other things. Today, the company provides credit intelligence on more than 2.5 million Indian companies, including RBI-compliant alerts for portfolio monitoring, credit life cycle solutions to lenders, and predictive analytics. Founded in 2016, it uses end-to-end automation to generate insights via technologies such as  optical character recognition (OCR), machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), pattern recognition and robotic process automation (RPA), among others.

CredAvenue will acquire the majority stake through a combination of primary investment and secondary purchase from existing shareholders.

Speaking on the occasion, Gaurav Kumar, Founder and CEO, CredAvenue, said, We aim to continue on the growth path in the debt space and sharpen the processes for ease of use through technology. We are a lender-first platform and are looking at leveraging the strengths of Corpositorys SaaS-based platform to help lenders stay ahead of the curve by enabling them to evaluate and underwrite a company from within the platform seamlessly. Corpositorys underwriting solution drastically cuts down the time needed to make a lending decision and also ensures that the lender stays on top of the developments at the borrowers end at every point in time.

Corpository Co-founder Aniket Shah said, CredAvenue is a perfect partner in growth for us. With this, CredAvenue has opened a great channel for us to reach out to the lending ecosystem and transform credit-based decision making through solid, data-based insights. This partnership will not only bring in access to growth capital but will fast track our product roadmap to become the most holistic Credit Risk evaluation & monitoring platform.
This Sunday, &Flix brings Laughter Day Special, a day filled with fun and comedy. On Sunday, the May 1st, the Laughter Day Special will surely tickle the funny bones of the audiences and make them enjoy the day like no other! The line up includes I Spy, Just Go with it, National Security, Click (2006), The Other Guys, Zombieland, Peter Rabbit 2 and Pineapple Express.

Directed by Will Gluck, the adventure comedy, Peter Rabbit 2 is highly loved by people. The movie is based on the story of Peter who is bored of his family and the married couple, Thomas and Bea. He decides to take a break from all of them and runs off to the big city and gets caught by animal catchers. On the other hand, Peters disappearance causes a lot of chaos in the family. Apart from Peter Rabbit 2, the Flix Laughter Day Special will also feature Just go with it. The romantic comedy is a story of a plastic surgeon, who convinces his loyal assistant to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife on a weekend trip to Hawaii. It is to cover up for a careless lie he told to his much-younger girlfriend.

Gear up for a comedy dhamaka on this Sunday starting at 9:00 AM only on &Flix
Over 4500 employees of GO FIRST (formerly known as GoAir) were in for a gala time today at the special screening of Bollywood movie Runway 34 at INOX cinemas across 18 cities of India. The movie featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh in lead roles was screened as a part of the companys employee engagement program. Ajay Devgn, along with co-actor Rakul Preet Singh made a special appearance at INOX Megaplex at Inorbit Mall for the Mumbai screening and delighted employees with their charisma and wit.

The screening was an extension of GO FIRSTs commitment towards the wellbeing of its employees who form the cornerstone of its service excellence. Runway 34 is a story about Captain Vikrant Khanna, a flying prodigy, played by Ajay Devgn, who was determined to save the lives of 150 people when things went awry 35,000 feet above the sea level. Followed by an official investigation to determine, what and how things unravelled, this edge of the seat thriller tells the story of what happened on that fateful morning inside the cockpit and outside of it, what triggered the incident and what followed thereafter.

Speaking on the development, Kaushik Khona, Chief Executive Officer, GO FIRST said, The movie is based on a landmark event in Indian aviation, and we are delighted to have it screened for our employees, over the first weekend, and what better place than INOX cinemas across the country to carry out this innovative employee engagement activity. Our employees are the driving fuel of our business, and their wellbeing is our primary focus. Past two years have been very stressful and with this initiative we want our employees to unwind and relax. We thank Mr. Devgn and Ms. Rakul Preet Singh for taking out time to come and meet us; and we wish the movie to be a grand success.

Commenting on the initiative, Capt. Rajit Ranjan, Vice President, Flight Operations, said, Based on aviation, Runway 34 depicts a near disastrous aviation mishap in recent times. The movie depicts how the pilot manages to save the passengers and aircraft in a complex situation. Outstanding performance by the actors, thrill and drama makes the movie very engaging.

Jackie Liu, Sr. Cabin Crew, GO FIRST present at the screening in Mumbai said, It was inspiring to see a movie made on a situation that our fraternity has witnessed. The screening was a welcome break and seeing Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh right in front of me was quite enthralling.

Anand Vishal, Chief Sales and Revenue Officer, INOX Leisure Ltd added, It is indeed a privilege for us to screen Runway 34, an aviation-based thriller for audience who belong to the aviation industry. I am sure that the captivating cinema experience has complemented the gripping storyline of the movie, and offered a marvellous outing for all the GO FIRST employees across the country. We are grateful to Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh for making a special appearance for the screening today at our cinema. The screening has added strength to our partnership with GO FIRST.

GO FIRST is committed to its employees welfare and has taken several initiatives in the past as well. During COVID, it ensured that all employees and their families were vaccinated. In fact, GO FIRST is one of the first airlines in India to start the vaccination process for its employees.
Over the last couple of years, Design has become an integral element of Lenskarts DNA. As a leading player in eyewear retail, the brand has been consistently challenging itself and delivering customer driven results. Lenskart has one of the highest new product introduction rates globally. They are extremely sensitive to launching the latest eyewear fashion in Lenskart, before it is launched anywhere else. There is a dedicated trend research team that works on understanding the latest fashion trends in not just eyewear, but overall fashion categories like apparel, footwear, beauty, etc.

The new fashion collections that Lenskart designs and launches for its consumers uses fashion forecasting intelligence and ensures that the consumers are flaunting only the latest.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully as part of the Marketing Minds column, Aanchal Jain, Head of Brand & Consumer Experience, Lenskart Solutions, speaks at length about the setting up of the Lenskart Global Design Studio, evolution of eyewear as a fashion statement, converting Lenskart into an omni-experience brand, and more.

Wearing a stylish eyewear design is a fashion statement. What role is Lenskarts Global Design studio going to play to uplift the customer experience to meet the global experience both in services and its product offerings?

Lenskart has four different Design Studios, which bring alive the fashion experience in eyewear for the consumers.

Eyewear Design Studio - Lenskart has one of the best eyewear design studios globally. The studio designs bespoke collections in different materials, detailing and colors. Brand and communication Design Studio - This studio has multidisciplinary designers who design the entire fashion experience for every new collection launch across consumer interfaces - online, store, packaging, media etc. Fashion Studio - This is a team of highly skilled fashion art directors, photographers and producers who produce new collection campaigns. Editorial design - This is a team of fashion writers and editors who craft the story of each collection to bring alive its inspiration and fashion impact.

All four Design Studios collaborate and bring alive over 50 unique eyewear collections annually for consumers globally to enjoy the best of eyewear fashion.

There is a different experience when you shop for your eyewear offline. In your new design thinking, how are you planning to deliver that unique experience to your customers while buying a pair of spectacles?

Lenskart is an omnichannel experience brand, and executing an omnichannel strategy to the T blurs the lines that differentiate the physical from the digital operations. We collect permissible data at different touchpoints, analyse them and leverage the gathered insights for offering a superior consumer experience.

At all our stores, we provide our customers with information on our latest collections through curated videos. We also make sure that the newest products are called out in the store visual merchandising and the staff is equipped with all the necessary info to help our consumers make the final choice.

Another fascinating feature is our AR 3D Try On, which detects the users face shape and suggests a range of specially selected frames, sunglasses or spectacles. By capturing the consumers face from multiple angles, the suggested range of frames are aligned impeccably and give a real time experience before the final purchase.

So, while we keep innovating to deliver better results, we ensure that each feature complements the other to make the consumers journey smoother.

What kind of technology do you plan to introduce for customers to navigate through your platform easily and will have a great shopping and satisfying experience?

Lenskart has always introduced breakthrough technologies to ensure eyewear consumers globally enjoy eyewear in newer and more meaningful ways.

The brand has recently introduced AR (Augmented Reality)  both online and offline. It is a fantastic recommendation engine which shows both, best looking and best fitting frames on your face.

The platforms also curate stylised experiences where on-trend collections are introduced continually.

Overarchingly, we are making the entire web experience design first in the following ways:

Constantly engaging with design and editorial teams to create new experiences

Ensuring great creative and editorial experience for each and every aspect of the consumer experience in app and desktop

Collaborating with the online business teams and UI/UX teams to meet the experience goals measured through metrics like CTR, Conversion, Time Spent etc.

Collaborate with UI/UX team to launch complex interfaces

Plan and implement promo campaigns with the design and editorial team

Work closely with external partners to deliver on prompt and time sensitive project / campaign requirements

When Lenskart was launched, it was seen as a convenient e-commerce platform for eyewear purchasing at affordable pricing. With the focus now on creating an experience through design, how do you plan to add value to your brand for people to keep visiting you?

When we launched in the market, eyewear was widely recognised as a practical essential. But Lenskart is today re-imagining eyewear as a lifestyle choice. In a world where expression is hyper-linked with how you present yourself, what you wear, eyewear becomes a tool to explore many versions of yourself.

Lenskart envisions to be a fashion-forward brand, supporting everybodys style explorations. With constantly analyzing trends, demand and evolving motivators of the audience, we deliver on a holistic approach to a fashion brand experience. Then may it be launching collections in eyewear or sister brand collabs, we are always a step ahead.

Another important factor for us is the access to eyewear. People trust us for the convenience of getting quality eyewear in unimagined ways. We started off as a digital first e-commerce platform, but we have expanded to an omnichannel experience, where at no point of time does one feel limited by price, style or ways to get the perfect pair at their doorstep. We are constantly bettering our app and AR experience for any customer to try more than 10,000+ styles from the comfort of their home. Services like Home Try On and Full Service Optometry at stores have been introduced to enhance the experience every step of the way.

As a brand, what is going to be your next big milestone for Lenskart? How do you plan to evolve yourself as a brand in a category where fashion and lifestyle trends keep changing rapidly?

Lenskart has one of the highest new product introduction rates globally. We are extremely sensitive to launching the latest eyewear fashion in Lenskart, before its launched anywhere else. There is a dedicated trend research team that works on understanding the latest fashion trends in not just eyewear, but overall fashion categories like apparel, footwear, beauty, etc. There is a dedicated consumer insights team which studies the larger socio cultural changes that will impact fashion.

The new fashion collections that Lenskart designs and launches for its consumers uses fashion forecasting intelligence and ensures that the consumers are flaunting only the latest.

How do you plan to blend your online and offline experience for customers and bring in that synergy when people shop at Lenskart and go back with one great feeling?

Lenskart is an omni-experience brand, and we are working towards making each consumer touchpoint as standardised as possible. We want eyewear consumers to globally enjoy seamless shopping experiences, no matter where and when they interact with our brand.

There are several privileges that Lenskart consumers enjoy, each of which is designed to make their experience smooth.
Travelxp, the worlds leading travel channel*, and travel content provider announces season 2 of The Gypsies in association with Maharashtra Tourism. The exclusive travel show, conceptualized with the aim to promote Maharashtra as an adventure tourist destination, will feature international TV presenter, Reanne Brown and leading Indian host and TV actress, Krissann Barretto.



Building on the success of season 1 of The Gypsies, this new series is shot across some of Maharashtra's most exciting, picturesque locations. From trekking across Kalsubai Peak, the highest point in Maharashtra, to devouring some delicious homemade Kolhapuri food. From bungee Jumping in Kusgaon, Pune to relaxing on Guhagarh beach, the show captures the fearless duo as they leave no stone unturned in rediscovering the very best adventure experiences Maharashtra has to offer.



Produced by Travelxp, the exclusive 12-episode show, divided into 9 episodes and 4 mini- episodes will be telecast from April 30th, 2022 across the Travelxp TV channel network and OTT platform. The show will further offer Maharashtra Tourism access to its core target audience of travel enthusiasts across thes channels network.



Principal Secretary, Tourism, Ms. Valsa Nair Singh adds, There is huge potential for adventure tourism in the state. Through key partnerships like this, we look to persuade aspiring travelers across the country to experience the unexplored adventure destinations in the state. This collaboration with Travelxp perfectly showcases Maharashtra in a way that has never been seen before



Mr. Altaf Ladak, Regional Head, Sales, Travelxp 4K HD, says, We are delighted to showcase the adventure offerings of Maharashtra to aspiring travelers across the country through the power of 4K HDR content. In a period where travel is witnessing a resurgence, this strategic association will allow Travelxp to be at the heart of positioning Maharashtra as one of the most attractive adventure destinations for tourists.



The strategic association will enable Maharashtra Tourism to showcase its unexplored destinations and influence a wider audience to experience adventure tourism within the state.
After her power-packed performance in Tiger Shroffs Casanova Acoustic version last year, independent artist Raveena Mehta is back with yet another masterpiece, Tere Liye, which she has sung and composed herself. Having amalgamated Hindi, Punjabi, and English lyrics in a melodic composition on a trap/soul beat, this song has all the qualities that make it a classic R&B urban Desi mood-setter.

Raveena Mehta speaks fondly about her upcoming release, what it means to her, and the origin of the idea. She says, Tere Liye speaks about longing, love, and uncertainty in the early stages of a relationship from a female perspective. The concept of this song came up in an Airbnb in New York around early 2021. I had just come back from a very inspiring studio session with some contemporaries and south Asian urban artists, this inspiration led me to finally explore an urban R&B sound with Hindi & Punjabi vocals.

Raveena has been celebrated and appreciated for her innovative videos in different parts of the world; and this time, Tere Liye was shot at the iconic One Hotel South Beach Miami as well as Design District Miami, adding to the urban feel of the song. Apart from their musical and artistic talent, Raveena has also directed a number of her music videos; Tere Liye being one of them! It is rare to find artists who are as multifaceted and we just cant get enough of her!

Raveena adds, It is very exciting for me to release a song like Tere Liye and showcase aspects of my artistry and sound that havent been heard before. As an artist, I greatly appreciate the process and believe we are constantly evolving and growing; for me, Tere Liye captures a moment from my process that I am excited to share with my audiences.

Raveena is well known for her song with Tiger Shroff and her fans and audiences have been eagerly awaiting her single - and its finally here. Tere Liye releases on April 29th, 2022 across all streaming platforms. The music video will be available on Raveenas YouTube channel.
Twitter Inc. has reported revenue of $1.20 billion for the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 16% year-over-year, or 19% on a constant currency basis, reflecting headwinds associated with the war in Ukraine. When excluding MoPub and MoPub Acquire, the year-over-year growth was 22%.

As is known, Tesla boss Elon Musk earlier this week sealed a deal to acquire Twitter for $44 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and completion of regulatory review and Twitters stockholder approval. The transaction, which is expected to close in 2022, has been approved by the board of directors of Twitter.

Twitters advertising revenue totaled $1.11 billion, an increase of 23%, or 26% on a constant currency basis. On the other hand, subscription and other revenue saw a decline of 31% year-over-year, or a decrease of 5% year-over-year when excluding MoPub from the year ago period, totalling $94 million.

Costs and expenses increased by 35% year-over-year, totalling $1.33 billion. This resulted in an operating loss of $128 million and -11% operating margin, compared to an operating income of $52 million or 5% operating margin in the same period of the previous year.

Net income stood at $513 million, representing a net margin of 43% and diluted EPS of $0.61. Net income of $513 million includes a pre-tax gain of $970 million from the sale of MoPub for $1.05 billion and income taxes related to the gain of $331 million. This compares to net income of $68 million, a net margin of 7% and diluted EPS of $0.08 in the same period of the previous year.

Net cash provided by operating activities in the quarter was $126 million, compared to $390 million in the same period last year. Capital expenditures totaled $161 million, compared to $179 million in the same period last year.

Average monetisable daily active usage (mDAU) was 229.0 million for Q1, up 15.9% compared to Q1 of 2021. Average US mDAU stood at 39.6 million for Q1, up 6.4% compared to Q1 of the prior year, while average international mDAU for Q1 was reported at 189.4 million, up 18.1% compared to Q1 of 2021.
Late onset autism, (starting in the 2nd year), was almost unheard of in the `50s, `60s, and `70s; today such cases outnumber early onset cases 5 to 1, the increase paralleling the increase in required vaccines. Thousands of parents report - and demonstrate with home videos -- that their children were normal and responsive until suffering an adverse vaccine reaction. (The Autism Research Institute has been tracking such autism-related vaccination reactions since 1967.) Mercury, one of the most toxic substances known, is used as a preservative in many vaccines. Some infants have had 125 times the maximum allowable limit of mercury injected directly into their bloodstreams, in one day, in vaccines. (People vary enormously in their sensitivity to mercury, because certain genes predispose to mercury sensitivity. The highly-touted New England Journal of Medicine Danish study failed to mention the very convenient fact that none of the Danish children had prior exposure to mercury, since Denmark, unlike the U.S. had, banned mercury from childhood vaccines in 1992, the year before the birth year of the children in the study.) There are numerous scientific studies showing large differences in clinical laboratory measures of blood, urine and biopsies which compare autistic children with normal controls. Such findings, pointing directly to vaccines as the cause of the group differences, are conveniently overlooked by those attempting to conceal the strong connection between the autism epidemic and excessive use of unsafe vaccines. The truth must - and will - emerge. It is long overdue. Bernard Rimland, Ph.D. Director, Autism Research Institute Editor, Autism Research Review International Founder, Autism Society of America I received that statement in an email from Dr. Rimland. I had never met him personally but he had read a post from me as many of us, parents, were in yahoo groups back in the late 90's and into the new millennium. We were searching for answers on how to help our very sick kids who had been diagnosed with the DSM word  AUTISM. I had shared how my daughter, Megan, born in 1993, had begun to speak and then gradually stopped before her 2nd birthday. She also had many illnesses and behavioral changes: throwing up, diarrhea, rashes, fevers, banging her head, no eye contact, appeared deaf, happy to sad, outgoing to shy, began obsessive behaviors and then -- was gone  but to the doctors - it was simply an autism diagnosis.

On July 14, 2003, Dr. Bernard Rimland , the man who changed the paradigm of autism, from the archaic and psychiatric, refrigerator families to instead children, who regressed into a medically treatable neurobehavioral illness -- wrote these words: July 14, 2003 STATEMENT BY BERNARD RIMLAND, PH.D. Director, Autism Research Institute Editor, Autism Research Review International Founder, Autism Society of America THE AUTISM EPIDEMIC IS REAL, AND EXCESSIVE VACCINATIONS ARE THE CAUSE The vaccine manufacturers, the Center for Disease Control, the FDA, and the various medical associations have failed miserably in their duty to protect our children. Rather than acknowledge their role in creating the immense, catastrophic rise in autism, these organizations have resorted to denial and obfuscation. They stand to lose their credibility, and billions of dollars in liability suits will soon reach the courts. As a full-time professional research scientist for 50 years, and as a researcher in the field of autism for 45 years, I have been shocked and chagrined by the medical establishment's ongoing efforts to trivialize the solid and compelling evidence that faulty vaccination policies are the root cause of the epidemic. There are many consistent lines of evidence implicating vaccines, and no even marginally plausible alternative hypotheses. As the number of childhood vaccines has increased 700%, from 3 in the `70s to 22 in 2000, the prevalence of autism has also showed a parallel increase of 700%.

She became a crying child who treated us like strangers  all of this after vaccine, after vaccine, but then horribly after her MMR vaccine. Her sensory system was on overload and she kept her fingers in her ears constantly to dull the noises of the world. We were to eventually find out that Meg had some GI issues that I thought would be easy to fix and get her back to the happy child she had been. Testing showed that Meg had in her stool, excessive Candida - yeast overgrowth; an intestinal protozoan parasite infection, Giardia lamblia; and another parasite infection, Blastocystis hominis. It would take 18 months to see any improvement in her health, but little did I know that those infections and many more to come would be the horror of Megans autism diagnosis, as well as its epicenter. She was soon to become a victim to constant Strep and Clostridial infections accompanied by bizarre behaviors. Her immune system became worse and worse  seizures appeared at age sixteen and then an autoimmune diagnosis at eighteen. Autism for us was not a gift of super skills or deficit social issues but a life and death tightrope, as infections and a sick immune system ruled Megs world.

Bernie Rimland called me one evening in that July of 2003 and asked if I would attach his statement to any letters/emails that I might send out regarding Megan. I was grateful for that call and told him I would gladly help spread his statement. I thanked him for all that he had done and was continuing to do for so many ill children. Bernie died three years later but not before he made it clear that his research and contact with thousands of families showed that there was a connection to vaccinations and autism.



In 2002, a year before the above Rimland statement was born, this comprehensive article from Dr. Rimland and Dr. Woody McGinnis was published. Many connections that we now see more clearly today, in 2013, were brought to light by these two observant researchers over ten years ago:



"Vaccines and Autism"

Laboratory medicine> september 2002> number 9> volume 33

Bernard Rimland, PhD, Woody McGinnis, MD

Autism Research Institute, San Diego, CA



Excerpt-

"This paper examines the autistic immune profile and the possible role of vaccines in autism.



"Vaccinations may be one of the triggers for autism. Substantial data demonstrate immune abnormality in many autistic children consistent with impaired resistance to infection, activation of inflammatory response, and autoimmunity. Impaired resistance may predispose to vaccine injury in autism."



"Impaired resistance to infection and autoimmune diathesis may provide fertile ground for vaccine injury, and these conditions may exist prior to both vaccination and the onset of autism.....Intravenous immunoglobulin treatments have benefited autistic children both with and without IgG subclass deficiency, perhaps by countering infections or autoimmune processes.4"



"We postulate that thimerosal in vaccines may cause direct neurotoxic, immunodepressive, and autoimmune injury resulting in either early-onset or regressed autism. Further, we submit that

MMR (usually at 15 months) may result in chronic infection of the gut by vaccinial measles, and trigger regressed autism.....Autoimmune injury to both gut and brain is suggested in autism."



"Either the poor immunity seen in children with more severe recognized reactions to vaccines is an antecedent marker for such reactions, or immune impairment follows vaccination. Neither possibility is comforting when we know that immune impairment of autistic children exists after vaccination."



"The profile of immune depression in mercury exposure parallels specific abnormalities in many autistic children... We hypothesize that increased risk of chronic measles infection complicating MMR in a subgroup of children with common variable immunodeficiency or selective deficits, particularly if these immune deficits are superimposed on subclinical nutritional deficiencies or other vulnerabilities. Recognition of such a vaccine-injured subset of children would be more difficult if the infection is latent, or in the case of a neurobehavioral syndrome such as autism, outside the brain"...



"In many respects, the autistic immune profile fits the diagnostic category of common variable immunodeficiency (CVID)... Autism may very well be nature's way of demonstrating a subgroup of CVID children vulnerable to vaccine injury. Current official vaccination guidelines do not exclude CVID children from usual vaccination, but we think this needs refinement. We call for well-funded prospective studies by individuals without conflicts of interest to determine immune, autoimmune, gastrointestinal, and long-term neurobehavioral effects of vaccination, particularly in relation to immune, gut, and nutritional status before and after vaccination..."



"Development of screening methods for deferral of vaccines in at-risk children is a worthy goal."



"Long-term prospective studies of the behavioral and neurodevelopmental effects of vaccination do not exist."



There has been more research since 2003 on the neurodevelopmental effects of vaccination. I'll list some here and appreciate anymore papers, studies, articles, thoughts and opinions any of you can add that reflect what Bernie Rimland questioned regarding vaccines, autism, regression and immune abnormalities. Those questions would be  What are the subtle and acute mechanisms that can cause kids to regress into autism? Can we develop screening methods to determine which babies should not be vaccinated? Which immune treatments will help children diagnosed with autism? Can regression be stopped before an autism diagnosis?



Hepatitis B triple series vaccine and developmental disability in US children aged 19 years





"This study found statistically significant evidence to suggest that boys in United States who were vaccinated with the triple series Hepatitis B vaccine, during the time period in which vaccines were manufactured with thimerosal, were more susceptible to developmental disability than were unvaccinated boys."



HEPATITIS B VACCINATION OF MALE NEONATES AND AUTISM DIAGNOSIS, NHIS 19972002



"Findings suggest that U.S. male neonates vaccinated with the hepatitis B vaccine prior to 1999 (from vaccination record) had a threefold higher risk for parental report of autism diagnosis compared to boys not vaccinated as neonates during that same time period."

Home Videos Show Autism Starts Later in Some

"Home videos of children's birthday parties may validate what many parents of autistic children have suspected in retrospect: Children who seemed normal in their first year of life may regress and develop symptoms of autism by their second birthday...."Once again, this study provides an important lesson that parents are good reporters on what is happening with their children,"

Italian Court Rules MMR Vaccine Caused Autism: US Media Blacks Out Story

Valentino Bocca was given the MMR vaccine when he was 15 months old in 2004. The family has stated that immediately after the jab their son began showing signs of serious discomfort. The Bocca family decided to act and took the case to court. Judges determined the vaccine did cause the autism after new evidence was presented and awarded the Bocca family 174,000 euro (140,000) after the Italian Health Ministry conceded the MMR vaccine caused autism in their nine-year-old son Valentino. After the ruling, Italian lawyers began examining around 100 similar cases which they believe could lead to more families pursuing court cases

Developmental Regression and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in a Child With Autism

"Within 48 hours after immunizations to diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis; Haemophilus influenzae B; measles, mumps, and rubella; polio; and varicella (Varivax), the patient developed a fever to 38.9C, inconsolable crying, irritability, and lethargy and refused to walk. Four days later, the patient was waking up multiple times in the night, having episodes of opistho-tonus, and could no longer normally climb stairs. Instead, she crawled up and down the stairs. Low-grade intermittent fever was noted for the next 12 days. Ten days following immunization, the patient developed a generalized erythematous macular rash beginning in the abdomen. The patients pediatrician diagnosed this as due to varicella vaccination. For 3 months, the patient was irritable and increasingly less responsive verbally, after which the patients family noted clear autistic behaviors, such as spinning, gaze avoidance, disrupted sleep/wake cycle, and perseveration on specific television programs. All expressive language was lost by 22 months."

"The results of this study suggest that ethylmercury is a mitochondrial toxin in human astrocytes. We believe that this finding is important, particularly since the number of diseases in which mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated are rapidly increasing."

"Vaccines, in several reports were found to be temporally followed by a new onset of autoimmune diseases. The same mechanisms that act in infectious invasion of the host, apply equally to the host response to vaccination."

Thank you, Dr. Rimland for your pioneering investigations, research and passion in helping so many children. We will continue blazing your trail.

Teresa Conrick is Contributing Editor to Age of Autism.
Seeking SPONSORS for Ukrainian families arriving in Vermont. A dear friend and colleague Dr Theresa Cianciolo is purchasing a former hospital in Northern Vermont to create a "refugee" center. Theresa owns a home in Kyiv, she moved her family there to continue her work with orphans and children with special needs. She returned in February, as the war was imminent. Now the work is coming HERE to the USA. Sponsorship is primarily for the paperwork required.



Please email Kim at AutismAges@gmail.com or Agape4Ukraine@gmail.com if you think you might be interested. Thank you. XOX
It is dispiriting to acknowledge that the virus of antisemitism survives, has been increasing, and cannot be stamped out completely. The sad conclusion, from recent studies, is that antisemitism, a malignant form of racism, still infects populations throughout the world, in spite of efforts by official and non-official bodies to confront bigots and to inoculate people against the disease. The antisemitism is global: murders in synagogues in Pittsburgh and in Sweden, attacks on kosher restaurants in Paris, physical violence against civilians in the streets of London and New York.

What has become increasingly distressing is the availability and prominence of social media companies to provide opportunities for antisemitic expressions from their platforms, and for hostile obsession with and hostility towards the State of Israel. The issue has in recent years become more troublesome. Antisemitism has been openly and commonly expressed by individuals and groups of all kinds: general racists; far-right and neo-Nazis open, believers in the perpetuation of Adolf Hitler, and direct in their hatred of Jews; far-left, Marxists, and post-colonialists, critical of Israeli policies but using antisemitic stereotypes; radical Islamists; and pro-Palestinians .

What is now evident and needs more attention by officials is the propounding of antisemitism by bigots using the dark web, the invisible part of the internet available only through special software. The dark web, with programs and sites that have provided platforms for antisemitism allows almost complete anonymity and invisibility and thus shelters extremists who cannot be prosecuted or forbidden in any way. It provides an opportunity to spread extremism. It is very much larger than the surface web, and more dangerous. The extent of its antisemitic activity is difficult to penetrate.

Antisemites, as well as pro-Palestinian groups and some international organizations, supposedly concerned to promote and protect human rights, have in recent weeks been particularly malicious in presenting a false equation. Despite the horror of the activities of Vladimir Putin their priority has been their obsession with the State of Israel. They are annoyed that more attention is being paid to the Russian aggression against Ukraine than to the evils of Israel. For them, the relentless bombardment and killings of civilians, and the plight of millions of Ukrainian refugees should have attracted less attention than the evils of Israel.

The findings of the new study presented in the report of the Center for Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, based on information from around the world, are disturbing. The study indicates a dramatic increase in the number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S., the UK, Canada, and other countries. The increase stems from four different sources. First, the protagonists do not come from a single ideology or belief system but may come from either the far-right and the far-left political movements. Secondly, the increase in manifested in social networks, which in alarming fashion spread the disease. Thirdly, conspiracy theories of the impact of Jews have thrived during the lockdowns due to the pandemic that have kept people at home. A main theory is that Covid-19 was engineered and spread by Jews and by Israel for financial and other reasons. A fourth reason is the pro-Palestinian animosity and the antisemitic incidents connected with the continuing conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists in Gaza. It is noticeable, according to UN figures, there was a surge in incidents in May 2021 when 261 people were killed in Gaza and 14 in Israel.

It is also apparent that antisemitic utterances and incidents emanate from different types of personalities, from the envious for religious or economic reasons or simply bigoted prejudice, from white supremacy groups, the Goyim Defense League, from minorities resenting the prominence of Jews, from those swallowing false images and stereotypes of Jews, from fashionable persons in the media, theatrical and film professions and sports. Ignorance is the spur to the animosity of these bigots.

It is important to survey the dramatic rise of antisemitism in some countries.

In the U.S., the number of antisemitic incidents reached an all-time high, a total of 2,717 incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism, an increase of 34% from previous year. The Anti-Defamation League, ADL, states this is the largest number on record since it began keeping records in 1979.

The number of anti-Jewish hate crimes recorded in New York and Los Angeles, was almost double that of the previous years. Antisemitic protests took place in a number of U.S. cities, and Jews, one of whom was the chaplain, a Jew, of the NYPD, were physically beaten in the streets.

The NYPD recorded 214 crimes (126 in 2020), and the LAPD recorded 79 (40 in 2020). According to the survey of the American Jewish Committee, AJC, 2.6% of American Jews said they had been the victims of antisemitic physical attacks in the previous five years. The Anti-Defamation League, ADL, recorded a significant increase in white supremacist antisemitic propaganda.

In France, the number of antisemitic incidents increased by almost 75%. Surveys record 589 incidents in 2021. In the UK the Community Service Trust recorded 2,255 antisemitic incidents in 2021, an increase of 34%, and a rise of 78% in physical assails against Jews. In Canada, fourth largest Jewish community in the world, reports are that a 40 year record has been set in assaults, 61 in May 2021, against Jews. In Germany, there was an increase of 29% of antisemitic incidents, 3,028 in all.

Graphic credit: Quinn Dombrowsk CC BY-SA 2.0 license
In case you were wondering why all views contrary to the Official Narrative have been canceled, it's because of the Asch Conformity Experiment.

We have just gone through a nationwide, and actually a worldwide, Asch Conformity Experiment. As implied, the goal of the experiment was not to get to the truth. It was to get conformity. Only conformity is allowed.

Asch showed that people will actually believe things that they know to be false if they think everybody else believes those things. That is the point of the COVID nightmare experiment we just lived though. You must believe:

COVID is hugely riskier than it actually was, so any actions are justified.

Vaccines are your only hope, even though the technology has never worked.

Vaccines are safe and effective, although they were tested for only a few months.

The unvaxxed are subhuman murderers, to be shunned and even left to die.

Not wearing a known-to-be-useless mask is a sign of relentless selfishness.

Children, who are at almost no risk, must be vaxxed, or they will kill Granny.

None of these makes sense. However, no dissent can be allowed because the Asch Conformity Experiment showed that if one person stands up to the narrative, it is easier for the second one to dissent. Then another and another stand up, and then control is lost.

That is why every dissenting voice must be silenced. If one person cries, "The Emperor has no clothes," people will see the naked truth. And that can't be allowed.

What is the Asch Experiment?

The Asch Experiment, conducted by Solomon Asch, found out that most people, when seeing a "consensus" of participants agreeing on something that is fairly obviously false, actually ends up agreeing with those false opinions just because everyone else seems to think so.

Here's more, via Wikipedia:

The critical element of the experiment was that eight college students were included in an experiment where seven of them were actors and one was actually the real subject. The seven actors would go first and agree to a falsehood that was obvious to the real subject.

Even knowing that the others were agreeing to something the real subject didn't believe, an incredibly large number of the subjects went along with the falsehood.

Overall, 75% of participants gave at least one incorrect answer out of the 12 critical trials. In his opinion regarding the study results, Asch put it this way: "That intelligent, well-meaning, young people are willing to call white black is a matter of concern."

Getting people to believe known falsehoods (white is black) is a pretty strong psychological tool. It is also very dangerous.

Equally critical is what happened if there was any dissent.

In studies that had one actor give correct responses to the questions, only 5% of the participants continued to answer with the majority.

As Asch showed, if only one person stands up, the sheep aren't sheep anymore.

Constant bombardment of the narrative from every direction was critical. If only a few cracks in the wall develops, or even one, it all falls apart. To ensure conformity, all sources must push the same narrative. And they did. Since all followed along, it also means they (Big Media/Big Pharma/Big Government/Big Business) were all in on the scam. They created the appearance that everyone else believed the lie, and great masses went along with it.

If you think this is some esoteric thought experiment, try Googling some thought counter to the narrative. Google knows that if the first three search items are positive (such as Hillary is great) or negative (Trump sucks), a high percentage of their users will adopt that position  often without even reading the articles. Thank you, Mr. Asch.

I was giving a speech on artificial intelligence to a major university graduate computer program with a Google representative as another speaker. Not so surprisingly, the Google exec didn't address this issue.

If you are wondering why Barack Obama (lie of the year recipient) and Hillary (of the disappearing email fame) are out pushing more censorship, one person telling the truth is too dangerous. Thank you, Mr. Asch.

That is why no dissent by the heroes of the resistance, such as Drs. Malone, McCullough, Koury, Urso, Cole, and Alexander; the Barrington great three; and the incomparable RFK Jr., was allowed. They were censored and vilified not because what they said wasn't true. It wasn't the facts. It was the acts.

The old adage "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down" is true, and all of the heroes mentioned have been hammered. But you don't even need to hammer down any nails, if you don't let any stick up in the first place. Again, no dissent is allowed.

So now we know. The whole COVID narrative has been an Asch Conformity Experiment. So has been the climate scam, the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, and the Critical Race theory hustle...Ukraine...

So here's the question for America. Are we going to be governed by continuing Asch Conformity Experiments, or are we going to be free to think our own thoughts? Are we going to be an Asch Nation? That is the question, and the only question, and the one question that destroys the narrative.

Fortunately, while Mr. Asch showed the devil how to march us into hell, he also showed us how to avoid that fate. One voice can have a huge impact on freeing others to see the truth. It is not coincidental that "ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."

If you don't think one man can make a difference, let me quote from Thomas Fleming's Liberty! On December 30, 1776, George Washington was going to lose most of his army as their enlistments were up. He pleaded with them to stay only another six weeks.

He admitted they had done "all I asked of you and more than could be reasonably expected." But now their country's future was at stake. Every man who would stay and serve  step forward now. The regimental drums rolled. Not a man moved. Washington rode down the line, asking, even pleading with them to stay. Friends exchanged glances. The total sincerity, the absolute commitment of the man before them reached deep into their souls. The drums beat again. One man stepped forward, then another. "I will stay if you will," said a man to a friend beside him. In a few minutes everyone except the invalids volunteered.

They went on to win the battle of Princeton, the War for Independence, and your freedom.

Tell all your friends, before it is too late. One dissenter can have a huge impact on getting the truth out. Step up. History is calling. You can make all the difference.

For showing us the way out of the pit you have led us into, we really do thank you, Mr. Asch.

Image: qimono via Pixabay, Pixabay License.
"Don't doubt me," he would say. Rush often said he could read the stitches on a fast ball. He was the most politically prescient person in public life for 33 years before he died more than a year ago. American conservatives mourned his passing because he was almost always right, 99.7% of the time according to an unbiased opinion auditing firm.

We relied on Rush for our daily briefing of leftist outrages and how to combat them. The trust Rush had built up among his audience was so massive, so devoted, and so unparalleled in modern communications, that his radio audience on any given day was upwards of 43 million in a three-hour time slot. There is no one today as accurate as Rush at a time when media accuracy is at an all-time low. We miss him.

Rush would have plenty to say today. Among those things would be warnings about what the Left is really trying to do behind our backs as well as under our noses. Thirty years ago, he warned that the Left would use global warming and climate change as vectors to control all facets of our lives including what we eat, drive, learn, read, hear, and the houses we will be permitted to live in. He was proved right; that is exactly what the Left is doing.

He warned that they would go so far off the socialist deep end that America would fracture and not be able to tolerate it without falling apart. He said:

"I actually think that we're trending toward secession. There cannot be a peaceful coexistence of two completely different theories of life, theories of government, theories of how we manage our affairs. We can't be in this dire a conflict without something giving somewhere along the way. I know that there's a sizable and growing sentiment for people who believe that that is where we're headed whether we want to or not. Whether we want to go there or not."

So far, the voices against secession prevail, but for how long? And should they? Rush has a point: How can a body survive when it is comprised of conservatives from the waist up and of liberals from the waist down?

If Rush were alive, he would be sending up flares to warn Americans about the dangerous road ahead if we keep on as we have been. He would have warned against CRT and would have prophesied that CRT was only the beginning shot of white slavery and reparations under different names.

He would have warned against the powers inherent in unelected agencies and departments in the government, noting that they have more power than Congress.

He would have warned (again) of the border crisis, predicting that if our borders remain open, Democrats will give illegal immigrants your tax money in the form of welfare to assure that immigrants vote for Democrats in perpetuity. (That tactic may just be backfiring; we don't know yet.)

He would have warned against the biased media domination of political matters and the technological dominance of one company: Apple.

He would have warned against Obama:

The country will survive Obama, but it cannot survive the abject ignorance that elected him.

My guess is that he would have reiterated this warning to apply to Joe Biden.

He would have warned us against any gun control restrictions whatsoever:

You know why there's a Second Amendment? In case the government fails to follow the first one.

He would have warned against group identity:

It's the first thing liberals notice about people is what group are you in! "What group do I put you in? Are you a woman? Are you lesbian? Are you straight? Are you Native American? Are you African-American? Are you a mix? What are you?" That's how they see people, because that then identifies the victim status they hold. Victims of what? Victims of America! All these people are victims of America, "the white, patriarchal majority." They're all victims of America, as the left sees them.

He would have warned us against RINOs:

"Our problem is the fact that there are just so many RINOs, so many Republicans in the Washington establishment who will do anything to maintain their membership in the establishment because of the perks and the opportunities that are presented for their kids and so forth."

He would have warned us against a Democrat administration:

What do you think the Democrat Party is? It's clear as a bell they have no desire to enhance your life -- they're taking jobs away from you. This is what Biden and his administration are hellbent on doing. They want you to become dependent on them, a ward of the state. You're not supposed to have enough power to oppose them. Odds are, there are a lot of people who voted for Biden who had no idea what he's going to do and what's yet to come, and that's why I say they're going to overstep -- and it isn't going to take them long, and it isn't going to be pretty when all kinds of people are going to start to figure it out.

Once again, Rush was right. First, that "people are going to start to figure it out," and they have, in spades. We're much wiser now, including many blushing people who voted for Biden. But Rush is gone now and his value to American conservatism will not be equaled in this lifetime.

We have quite a few powerful conservative media voices trying to develop, enhance and promote conservatism. They are wildly successful, too. Charlie Kirk, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Dinesh D'Souza, Dennis Prager, Michael Knowles, Dan Bongino, Kurt Schlichter, Dave Rubin and many, many others are picking up Rush's torch. And that's just media. News and politics have their own stable of serious conservatives too, so the war is certainly not anywhere close to being lost. We have a bright future ahead of us if we can reverse some of the economic, cultural, and national damage done by this administration.

Image: Gage Skidmore
On April 20, cyber-agencies from the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom put out a joint cyber-security advisory warning entities in their respective nations that because of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the world has a heightened risk of "malicious cyber-activity." It is now believed that there will likely be a Russian-initiated offensive directed at Ukraine's allies, in particular those responsible for levying the sanctions that have been catastrophic to the Russian economy.

These dangers that are currently posed are not limited to attacks from state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat Groups (APTs), however. According to the advisory, several Russian non-government-affiliated hacking gangs have "recently publicly pledged support for the Russian government."

Some of these groups have also threatened to initiate cyber-attacks against government and private organizations that may have provided materiel support to Ukraine over the past couple of months. And since the outbreak of war, there have already been countless disruptive attacks against Ukrainian websites. Some of these attacks are believed to be carried out by sympathizers of the Russian military offensive.

These attacks have served to supplement Russian government efforts, as recent Russian hacks have included distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in addition to malware and ransomware attacks against the Ukraine government and its domestic infrastructure.

These new dangers that agencies like America's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warn of arrive just as lobbying groups for several powerful financial-sector entities that are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are butting heads with corporate board members regarding implementation of new cyber-security reporting requirements for any SEC-regulated entity.

"The SEC's actions in the past year, paired with recently released rules, draw a line under the critical role of management and boards in protecting not just investors and customers, but also the sound functioning of American business," according to Friso van der Oord, senior V.P. at the National Association of Corporate Directors.

The lobbyists for the financial sector instead favor newly proposed reporting protocols that come as part of the Cyber-Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022, which was created by CISA and passed in March of this year as part of a larger omnibus bill. The act will require infrastructure entities, which may include financial services companies, energy, and other critical businesses, to report virtually all cyber-security incidents or ransoms paid to the government.

The changes brought forth by the act will not be immediately instituted, however, as, according to the text of the Cyber-Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022, CISA has 24 months after the bill's passage in March of this year to create proposed rules on what constitutes reportable offenses, and then another 18 months after proposal of said rule to then define the final rule. So, in plain language, it means that the act's final thresholds for incident reporting will likely not be completely defined for over three years, as currently written.

Despite the act's current language, and because of the global instability caused by the ongoing war, CISA may modify the act to move incident reporting rules along more quickly during what it expected to be a period of increased hacking that is already under way, with hacks including the Russian-based Hermetic Wiper attacks having already devastated hundreds of organizations in Ukraine, with its ability to wipe out data on Windows computers.

The last twelve months have seen hacking episodes explode in the U.S., with the Colonial Pipeline and JBS Foods cyber-attacks grabbing major headlines. Now CISA, as well as lateral groups globally, expect the rest of 2022 to be even more damaging. If the current Ukraine conflict eventually has a larger role for the U.S. and NATO to play, this situation can easily develop into a Third World War punctuated by hacking at an unprecedented level. Will Joe Biden's Executive Branch be up to that task?

Julio Rivera is a business and political strategist, the editorial director for Reactionary Times, and a political commentator and columnist. His writing, which is focused on cyber-security and politics, has been published by numerous websites, and he is regularly seen on national and international news programming.
On April 26, Georgetown University hosted a talk by Mohammed El-Kurd, who has said Jews have an "unquenchable thirst for Palestinian blood" and other viciously antisemitic statements. World Israel News reports:

Mohammed El-Kurd, a media personality who has repeatedly accused Israel of harvesting and trafficking organs from Palestinians and described Zionists as "sadistic, barbaric Neo-Nazi pigs" was invited by Georgetown Law's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. News of El-Kurd's talk sparked a response from the NGOs StopAntisemitism and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which urged the university to intervene and disinvite him. "Administrations like Georgetown's state they're against antisemitism yet allow Jew haters like Mohammed El-Kurd to freely spread hatred against Jews on their campuses," StopAntisemitism wrote on its twitter account on Monday. "Enough is enough  cancel El-Kurd's speech ASAP!" "Mohammed El-Kurd has a long, ugly history of antisemitic incitement & conspiratorial rhetoric that goes far beyond reasoned criticism of Israel," the ADL's CEO Jonathan Greenblat tweeted. "Outrageous & indefensible that @GeorgetownLaw invited him to bring his hate to their campus."

The university brushed aside these concerns, claiming to be on the side of free speech.

During a meeting with Jewish students concerned about El-Kurd's campus appearance, Georgetown Law's dean said that the university prioritizes free speech. "We allow a huge amount of latitude even where speech is deeply offensive to some members of the community, some or even many," Dean Mitch Bailin is heard saying in an audio recording of the meeting obtained by the National Review. "Those are things that we think are important to educational values, to promoting free speech, to promoting a free discussion of ideas, even if those ideas are deeply, deeply offensive."

If that were true, I'd be all for Georgetown's position. I am a free speech advocate and would hope others could present critiques of El-Kurd without disruption and with the support of the university. But the problem is that the school has no such commitment. Consider this from the New York Times, dated January 31, 2022:

Georgetown Suspends Lecturer Who Criticized Vow to Put Black Woman on Court

Ilya Shapiro has apologized after tweeting that President Biden was poised to nominate not "the objectively best pick," but a "lesser" Black woman to the Supreme Court.

It is self-evident that the university is employing a double-standard in which the sensitivities of Jews rank below those of other groups. That is a classic indicator of antisemitism. Dean Bailin is not upholding the truth.

Hat tip: Shirley Lewis.

Photo credit: Instagram via World Israel News.
The Maryland General Assembly recently voted to override Governor Larry Hogan's veto to enact access to abortion and paid leave into law. The vote in the House of Delegates was 90 to 46 and the Senate 29 to 15.

The Abortion Care Access Act expands who can commit abortion procedures to include midwives, nurse practitioners, and doctor assistants. It also allocates $3.5 million to fund and train health care providers to promote abortion. Most insurance providers will be required to cover abortions at no expense.

Maryland's Department of Health will be required to partner with a nonprofit organization to oversee and organize grants for abortion programs at a minimum of two local community centers. Abortions will not be required to have a deductible or co-payment plan, as the law will require abortions to be covered under state policy.

A study by the Guttmacher Institute, a think-tank associated with Planned Parenthood, reported that 36 states have laws that ensure that abortions must be performed by a licensed medical doctor. Fourteen other states and Washington, D.C. do not require a licensed doctor. Maryland will be included in that list.

The law will determine viability as likelihood that a baby can survive outside the mother's womb, according to the judgment of the health clinic.

The president of Maryland Right to Life, Laura Bogley, said, "Abortion activists in the Maryland Democrat Caucuses are no longer pretending that they want abortion to be safe, legal and rare. They only care that abortion is legal and lucrative." She told the Catholic News Agency, "So the question for Maryland voters is why should we be forced to pay for abortions under Medicaid or through higher health insurance premiums?"

Republican politicians in Maryland have criticized the bill, especially the allocation of $3.5 million to the state's budget for abortion procedures. House minority whip Haven Shoemaker remarked that the bill is "the most radical expansion of abortion in Maryland's history in a state that already has some of the most liberal abortion laws in the country."

The majority of medical cases will not allow an unwed minor to get an abortion without parental consent, but one exception is if the minor is living on her own. Another is if the abortionist determines that the child would suffer harm after informing a parent.

Governor Larry Hogan, a mildly pro-abortion Republican, refused to sign the bill into law due to how extreme it is. Hogan penned a letter stating that this bill "endangers the health and lives of women by allowing non-physicians to perform abortions" and "risks lowering the high standard of reproductive health care services received by women in Maryland." Hogan ended by saying, "The only impact that this bill would have on women's reproductive rights would be to set back standards for women's health care and safety."

The Washington Post editorial board praised the new law, calling it "a significant step to increase access to abortion statewide."

The American Board of Medical Specialties concludes that abortions committed late-term make for a convoluted medical procedure and that two years of additional training should be required. Non-doctor abortions pose harm to a woman's health. To become a licensed OB-GYN, you must graduate from a four-year medical school and then a four-year postgraduate program.

The American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNs (AAPLOG) produced a statement on non-physicians performing abortions, stating, "This will lead to more adverse outcomes in women who have entrusted their health to the abortionist's care." Furthermore, "most physicians enter the medical profession to become healers, not killers."

The Abortion Care Access Act will officially become law on July 1. This is around the time when the Supreme Court will decide whether to strike down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 legal decision that made abortion legal in all 50 states.

Image: Nogwater via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped).
Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the Biden administration's oiliest, slipperiest, most mendacious Cabinet member, was put through the congressional wringer Wednesday and Thursday, over his "turnstile" border policies, as he well should have been.

He put on the same bee ess show in a hearing before Congress, apparently to seek a bigger budget, handing out the usual tropes that have followed from his earlier claims that there is no crisis at the border: the border is under "operational control." He's just doing what the law tells him. He's not dumping unvetted illegals from 157 nations throughout the country in the dead of night; he's pursuing "alternatives to incarceration." It's the fault of the "broken" immigration system that he won't enforce the law. And he's proud of the job he's doing. Oh, and Trump did it.

His consistent denials of any problem at all at the border are why he's drawn so much ire from Congress even as he seeks more money for his do-nothing department. Biden's plans for dropping the Title 42 basis for instant expulsion on COVID pandemic grounds is forecast to attract as many as 18,000 new illegals into the U.S. per day, up from the current record 7,000 or so. His solution is more agents, more resources, more money  to create more turnstiles to get the unvetted illegals into the interior of the country faster, before anyone can complain. And since nobody except for the worst alien criminals ever gets deported, even with 1.2 million judicial final deportation orders outstanding, that's a non-issue, too.

The news reports about this have been disjointed, and many, such as this one from The Hill, have brimmed with open-borders bias, which obscured how important this microscope to Mayorkas from Congress really was.

The other clouding factor is that as good as many of the GOP congressional members were  Jim Jordan, Josh Hawley, Chip Roy, et al  they undercut themselves by interrupting Mayorkas all the time, inadvertently denying the rest of us the opportunity to watch Mayorkas hang himself by laying out his open borders agenda. This had the unwelcome side-effect of making Mayorkas look calm and reasonable, when it's Mayorkas who's the one working like a wild man to negate U.S. border law, rather than the Congress members.

That said, the best performance was from Rep. Matt Gaetz (honorable mention: Burgess Owens), who clearly understood the scope of the border crisis and did allow Mayorkas some space to reveal how bad he is:

 @RepMattGaetz 



Secretary Mayorkas ADMITS that illegal immigrants that he released will commit crimes against Americans. pic.twitter.com/96wPcUQ4pH  House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) April 28, 2022

According to Breitbart News, it began like this:

"1.2 million people are un-detained, free, roaming about the country," Gaetz began. "They've gone before a judge. A judge has issued a final order of removal. How many ICE agents do you need to deport them?" Mayorkas repeatedly indicated during the heated four-hour hearing that Congress needed to pass immigration reform to help correct the ongoing border crisis. In response to Gaetz's question, Mayorkas repeated that message, saying, "Congressman, I think what we need is legislation to fix a broken immigration system" ICE, however, does not rely on Congress to carry out deportations of those who have gone before a judge and received final orders of removal, Gaetz noted, re-asking if Mayorkas planned to remove the 1.2 million. Mayorkas did not answer the question and instead indicated "resources" were impeding his ability to carry out deportations. Gaetz then asked, "How much money do you need to deport all of them? How much money? How many agents to deport the 1.2 million who a judge has said have no right to be here?" Mayorkas replied, "Congressman, there are a number of questions that your question raises with respect to whether all of those individuals actually have been given due process" Gaetz interrupted the border chief to correct him, saying, "No, no, no, they have. These are the people who have had their due process, ok? And here's the point. You have no plan to remove them. You don't know how many ICE agents it would take and you don't know how much money it would take because you actually don't want to remove them."

Gaetz let him speak, and ratted out Mayorkas's full agenda as a result. We learned that Mayorkas has let terrorists into the country and "lost track" of them. The most telling part was when he asked Mayorkas about the criminal element rolling into the U.S. as a result of the surge, and whether he knew if such people would be committing crimes.

"Undoubtedly," Mayorkas replied, using that calm, oleaginous, avuncular demeanor of his, which is infuriating.

Here he's volunteering American citizens to be "collateral damage," as Gaetz put it, whether they like it or not, victims of illegal aliens on a crime spree, and barely anyone in the mainstream media notices something amiss.

Sure, he pays lip service to the notion of following the law and enforcing the border, but with that "undoubtedly," he reveals himself to be one cold character.

No wonder the Congress members are calling him "traitor" and threatening to impeach him. Anyone with that little regard for lost American lives deserves this kind of label. Nonsensical testimony like Mayorkas's demonstrates just how big the scope of the problem is.

Image: Twitter screen shot.
Republican Texas governor Greg Abbott is rankling Washington, D.C. with his latest plan to combat the crisis at the U.S. southern border.

The governor announced earlier this month that he would be sending busloads of illegal aliens from his state to Washington, D.C. and dropping them off at the U.S. Capitol. The announcement came shortly after the Biden administration decided to end Title 42, which could lead to as many as 500,000 illegal aliens crossing the border each month, according to some estimates.

"We are sending them to the United States capital where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border," Abbott said.

Abbott is correct to place the responsibility for the border crisis right on Congress and Joe Biden's doorstep. The Biden administration has caused a historic crisis at our border with its anti-border policies, and this Congress has aided and abetted them every step of the way.

Unsurprisingly, the move was met with expected screeching and howling from the usual suspects.

Beto O'Rourke, the Democrat who ran for president in 2020 and is challenging Abbott in the governor's race this fall, called it a "stunt," echoing a line from the White House.

"I think it's pretty clear that this is a publicity stunt," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a recent Fox News interview.

While the Biden administration is dismissing Abbott's move as a "stunt" publicly, there is evidence that it is taking it more seriously privately. The Texas Division of Emergency Management, which is overseeing Abbott's initiative, told Fox News recently that the federal government has stopped dropping off illegal aliens in certain overwhelmed towns throughout South Texas. For the past 15 months, Abbott has been looking for answers to the Biden-created border crisis that has rocked his state, and now it appears he's at least found a way to get Washington's attention. Since Biden took office, Texas has largely had to fend off the crisis itself as the federal government has abandoned it.

Over the past year, Texas has been forced to begin construction on its own border wall as the Biden administration spends millions of dollars every day not to erect a physical barrier. Texas has also sent National Guard troops as part of "Operation Lone Star," while receiving assistance from several other states. Now Texas is throwing down the gauntlet, sending illegal aliens directly to the care of the federal government, which invited them into the U.S. in the first place.

Like Texas's previous moves, it is unlikely that dropping off busloads of illegal aliens in front of the Capitol will force a change in national immigration policy. The White House is staffed with too many anti-borders ideologues and beholden to too many anti-borders interest groups to change course now.

Still, Abbott's decision to bus illegal aliens to the nation's capital is the right move that other states should imitate. Some leaders have said that they plan to ship illegal aliens dropped off in their state to Biden's home state of Delaware. Florida governor Ron DeSantis reiterated his plans to do just that in the aftermath of Title 42 coming to an end, and Republican Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Lou Barletta said last year that he will do the same if elected. Busing illegal aliens to Delaware and Washington, D.C. is a trend that should continue to catch on. Since Biden refuses to visit the border to take a firsthand look at the crisis he has created, state leaders are well within their rights to send the crisis straight to his doorstep.

Abbott surely knows that he can't change Biden's mind on immigration, but by sending large numbers of illegal aliens to Washington, D.C., he can force the White House and Congress to directly confront the costs of their inaction. That alone makes this move worth it for Abbott and Texas.

William J. Davis is a communications associate for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.

Image: Screen shot from shareable AP/KVIA video posted on YouTube.
Ever since Elon Musk announced his intentions to buy Twitter, the reaction from liberals has been nothing short of a meltdown.

When Musk actually clinched a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, the meltdown morphed into a full-scale implosion.

The primary cause of the outrage was Musk's pledge to defend free speech:

Most of the anger emanated from the Washington Democrat establishment and spread like wildfire elsewhere.

Musk recently added a caveat to his assertion about free speech, saying it has to be within the realm of the law.

By free speech, I simply mean that which matches the law.



I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.



If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.



Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022

It was hence not a question of if, but when, Washington would respond by using the government to place roadblocks.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified to Congress that a Disinformation Governance Board had recently been set up.

This news comes a week after former President Obama talked at Stanford University about disinformation and even called for censorship of social media.

It was also announced that Nina Jankowicz will head the Department of Homeland Security's Disinformation Governance Board as executive director.

The expectation usually is that such a department would be headed by an individual with a consistent track record of being factual and a proclivity of spotting false information.

But since it is the Biden administration, you must expect the contrary of what is required.

Jankowicz is a fellow at the Wilson Center, where she studied the "intersection of democracy and technology in Central and Eastern Europe." She also wrote books such as How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict and How to Be a Woman Online.

Obviously, there is a pattern here that her recruiters in the Biden administration liked.

The Oxford Dictionary defines disinformation as "a form of propaganda involving the dissemination of false information with the deliberate intent to deceive or mislead."

So how has Jankowicz's record been on combating disinformation?

When stories about Hunter Biden's infamous laptop broke, Jankowicz was among those attempting to dismiss it as disinformation.

She repeated the false claim that former intelligence experts had branded it likely "Russian disinformation."

When she almost conceded that the emails on the laptop could be real, she claimed that it was part of "part of an influence campaign."

Not to mention that the emails dont need to be altered to be part of an influence campaign. Voters deserve that context, not a fairly tale about a laptop repair shop.  Nina Jankowicz  (@wiczipedia) October 22, 2020

She even blamed some Ukrainians for it.

Lots of news yesterday, so initially missed this piece by @shustry casting yet more doubt on the provenance of the NY Post's Hunter Biden story.



In 2019, people in Ukraine were trying to sell access to alleged Biden emails for $5 million. https://t.co/khn5TVrMRW  Nina Jankowicz  (@wiczipedia) October 22, 2020

Last year, she attempted to claim that it was Kremlin disinformation.

Ahead of the election, we saw officials across government downplaying the Russian threat and emphasizing alleged Chinese operations. Recall how China led some public intel assessments. It seems our fears about the Trump admin politicizing intel were borne out.  Nina Jankowicz  (@wiczipedia) March 16, 2021

The suppression and dismissal of the Hunter Biden laptop news story by the Biden campaign, the media, and Big Tech was one of the many ways the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

If that wasn't enough, Jankowicz also promoted the mother of all disinformation: the Clinton campaigncreated Trump-Russia dossier.

To summarize, her record is that she labels information as disinformation and vice versa.

There are only inferences to be drawn that Jankowicz is gullible or dishonest, or blatantly partisan, or perhaps a bit of all. These qualities should have disqualified her from being made head of a disinformation board.

The Biden administration no longer even cares to appear fair or moral.

Equally troubling is that Jankowicz seems to neither understand nor believe in freedom of expression as a right.

DHS head of the Disinformation Governance Board pic.twitter.com/XrWhYaIPF3  Jack Posobiec  (@JackPosobiec) April 27, 2022

So the question that must be asked is, what is the goal behind this dystopian board?

In a democracy, openness is essential. The elected must always make full disclosure about the workings within the government. It is essential to supply not only the name of any government body, but its existential purpose and its authority as well.

Mayorkas was cryptic about powers that would be granted to the board. All he said was that the board would work to "tackle the threat, not only to election security but to our homeland security."

Mayorkas also said they are working "to equip local communities, to identify individuals who very well could be descending into violence by reason of ideologies of hate, false narratives, or other disinformation and misinformation propagated on social media and other platforms."

The goal here perhaps is to retain the liberal bias of Twitter that Musk intends to liberate Twitter from.

The fact that the government is running the board raises questions.

How do they define "disinformation"?

How will they combat "disinformation" on social media? Will they merely order social media firms to label certain posts as disinformation? Will this "disinformation" be suppressed, the way Twitter did to the Hunter laptop story? Will users who spread "disinformation" be suspended? Will the might of the law be used against "disinformation"-spreaders?



The mere presence of a government-run disinformation board may deter some, who just do not want trouble from speaking out, which probably was always the goal.

"Why are conservatives worried? Only those who spread disinformation have a reason to panic!" is what the board members will tell you, hinting that your concerns are proof of your guilt.

So how has the record of the Biden administration been in these matters?

Its treatment of the protesters of Jan. 6 has been sub-human. The blatantly partisan Jan. 6 House Select Committee exists merely to persecute and torment political opponents. Parents who were concerned about their children being indoctrinated with Critical Race Theory were branded domestic terrorists. Also, their myriad purposeless investigations of President Trump exist to prevent him from running in 2024.

Those who are confident about their ideas always welcome debates because opposing perspectives always enrich the mind. The Democrats know that their ideas are deeply flawed, very unpopular, and often bizarre and even dangerous. Hence, the only way to push these ideas is to mandate them and make any questioning of them illegal.

Another possible goal of this Board could be related to the midterms.

The Democrats know they will receive an emphatic shellacking in November. Perhaps the board will take the first step towards challenging the results by claiming the GOP victory was all on the basis of disinformation and hence it is invalid. Rogue Democrat operatives such as Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell will then make the case that Putin took time from the war in Ukraine to help the GOP to amplify the hysteria.

How will the GOP react to all this?

They will make noise during hearings and on Fox News. They can perhaps set up a shadow Disinformation Governance Board where they highlight the myriad falsehoods pushed by the Democrats.

They could begin retrospectively with the Trump-Russia collusion hoax and the suppression and dismissal of the Hunter laptop story. They can then focus on the present and the future. This shadow board may not have any legal authority, but it certainly will be an effective tool in controlling the narrative. When the GOP wins after the midterms, Republicans must make their disinformation board official.

Back to Biden's Disinformation Governance Board  the strongest argument against its existence is that no government has the authority to sit in judgment on the First Amendment rights of its own citizens.

The Democrats are getting more brazen with every passing day.

It is now up to the GOP to aggressively challenge the Democrats and prove to the voters that they are worthy of their trust and votes in November.

Image: Twitter screen shot.
I held my silence following the death on Saturday of Orrin Hatch, the former long-serving Republican senator from Utah. One doesn't rush to speak ill of the dead. And besides, Senator Hatch had some redeeming qualities. He was unfailingly gentlemanly, and on many issues, he was squarely in the same camp as I.

But he was also far from a conservative warrior. He was, in fact, part of the uniparty establishment, and he pulled his punches on many key issues. For a scathing look at Hatch's record, check out Michelle Malkin's essay at Vdare.com:

The unvarnished truth is that Orrin Hatch was an open-borders globalist who served Big Tech oligarchs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce traitors and U.S. government careerists while stabbing American workers and citizens in the back for his entire public life. He was a prototypical wheeler-dealer driven by self-preservation, not by principle. His political wisdom was of the wet-finger-in-the-wind variety, claiming a Reagan conservative mantle during election cycles and then throwing constitutional conservatives under the bus once comfortably back in his well-worn Senate committee seats. Hatch preached "civility" for all his liberal Democrat Senate buddies but attacked grassroots Tea Party conservatives as "nuts." Collegiality only applies to the wealthy and powerful. To wit: Hillary Clinton paid tribute to Hatch by praising his "willingness to find common ground." She reminisced about how "When I was first lady, he worked with me and Ted Kennedy to get SCHIP done; as a fellow Senate colleague, he reached across the aisle to serve Utah and the country." As I've long documented, Hatch became the alcoholic Chappaquiddick swimmer's best Beltway barnacle pal during his 42-year tenure in Washington. Their State Children's Health Insurance Program monstrosity was a health care Trojan Horse for Obamacare that is now a $20 billion-a-year entitlement. Twenty years ago, Hatch and Kennedy were also original open-borders co-sponsors of the illegal alien amnesty for millions of border-crossing invaders known as the "DREAM Act."

There is much more.

Hat tip: John Dale Dunn.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore.
At first, when I heard of Ukrainian strikes into Russian territory, the downsides did not immediately occur to me. Like most Americans, I sympathize with the Ukrainians, who are being devastated by the war Russia has inflicted on them. And with tremendous damage being done to Ukraine, it seemed only fair to hit back at Russia.

But thanks to a Twitter thread unrolled here, I am convinced by the author, Clint Ehrlich, that the strikes into Russia are, in his words, "a great tactic  but a horrible strategy." Mark Wauck excerpted some of the key statements from the thread, which I copy below:

Putin can respond by declaring war on Ukraine, making millions of conscripts available. The conflict would grow to an apocalyptic scale matching WW2. There have already been a series of mysterious fires and explosions inside Russian territory. Many of these involve facilities needed for the war effort. For example, Russia alleges that Ukrainian helicopters blew up an oil-storage depot in Belgorod, Russia. And Ukrainian drones recently penetrated 140 miles into Russian territory. At the same time, blasts at nearby Russian military facilities allegedly killed multiple soldiers. It looks like it may be part of a targeted campaign to strike inside Russia. This campaign is receiving the full support of the West. Britain's Defense Minister said yesterday it was "completely legitimate" for Ukraine to use UK weapons to strike inside Russia. He said "Ukraine needs to strike into its opponent's depth" to win the war. No one can disagree that, when a country is invaded, it has a right to launch counter-attacks. But that does not mean it is *wise* to do so. I fear that Western support for Ukrainian attacks inside Russia will backfire  and may risk the complete destruction of Ukraine. To date, Vladimir Putin has insisted that what is happening in Ukraine is a "special military operation." Because Russia has not declared war, it has not begun a full-scale military mobilization. In effect, it has been fighting with one hand tied behind its back. If combat were restricted to Ukraine's territory, then it would have been politically difficult for Putin to justify placing Russia on a full wartime footing. But cross-border attacks change the political calculus. They make it seem that the Russian homeland is under threat. It may benefit Western readers to imagine a similar scenario playing out inside America. If a U.S. President were losing a foreign war, it would be difficult to justify the draft. But if the enemy started launching attacks inside America, that option could be on the table. Full Russian military mobilization would vastly change the strategic picture inside Ukraine. On paper, Russia has a much larger military, but it has been limited to contracted soldiers. As a result, it has deployed fewer than 200k troops in its non-war "operation." That represents approximately 50% of the 400,000 contract soldiers in Russia's active-duty military. The remaining 600,000 active-duty Russian soldiers are conscripts, whom Russia technically cannot use outside of wartime territorial defense. Because Ukraine initiated a full-scale mobilization of conscripts at the beginning of the conflict, it has enjoyed numerical parity with Russia. Many Western analysts believe that its forces actually outnumber Russians on the ground. However, if Russia begins a full national mobilization, its troops will *vastly* outnumber Ukraine's forces. It not only will gain access to all ~1 million active-duty soldiers, it will be able to call up ~2 million reserves. To be clear, these soldiers would not all be deployed into the Ukrainian theater. Reserves would be largely unfit for combat, and Russia must keep sufficient forces stationed to defend its own vast territory from e.g. China. But the manpower boost would be enormous. Russia may also be willing to deploy a surprising percentage of its conventional military to Ukraine.

Even worse than Putin mobilizing his full military capability is the possibility of using nukes. I am not fully persuaded by Ehrlich's logic here, but given the gravity of a nuclear confrontation, it is worthwhile hearing what he has to say.

This is an under-appreciated aspect of Putin's recent emphasis on Russia's readiness to use nuclear weapons if threatened. The immediate target of Putin's nuclear rhetoric is the West. But the subtext is that *any* potential adversary should be ready to be struck with Russian nukes. That includes China if it were to make territorial incursions into Russia's Far East. From a game-theoretic perspective, President Putin can make his nuclear threats *more* credible by over-deploying Russian forces into Ukraine. If Russia sacrifices its ability to defend its territory conventionally, it effectively *pre-commits* to using nukes.

Back to Russia fully mobilizing:

What we are discussing is, of course, military mobilization on a scale that has not been since World War 2. But the groundwork for such a mobilization is already being laid by the domestic political rhetoric within Russia. Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has argued that the country is now fighting a proxy war against NATO, where Ukraine is simply the battlefield. He says the risk of a "third world war" is now "serious, real. It should not be understated." At the same time, Russia's government has sought to invoke the memory of WW2 to justify the current conflict. This goes beyond merely calling the Ukrainian regime as Nazis. The symbol "Z" has been rebranded as standing for 77 years since the Great Patriotic War. The trillion-dollar question is whether the Russian people will go along with their government's claim that a sequel to World War 2 needs to be fought. So far, it isn't clear that they're ready. But if Ukraine continues attacking inside Russia, that could change quickly. It doesn't matter if Ukraine e.g. limits its attacks to military infrastructure where Russian civilians are unlikely to die. Once the Ukrainian campaign is underway, Russia will easily be able to blame Zelensky's government for *any* explosions or fires on its territory. Too many Western leaders and analysts are patting themselves on the back, imagining that Russia's original war aims can never be accomplished. They are imagining that Kiev is safe and the only question is whether Ukraine will prevail in the Donbas. In reality, Putin still remains determined to delivery victory. And supporting Ukrainian attacks inside Russia gives him the blueprint he needs to reset the war. Once he has a viable political path to call up millions of reserves, why should we assume he won't take it? A fully mobilized Russia would be capable of not just taking the Donbas, but of invading Kiev and seizing all of Ukraine. Putin would position himself as a war-time President equal in status to Stalin  the man who took on NATO in Ukraine and won. Yes, this will entail massive Russian casualties. Yes, it will result in civilian deaths on a horrifying scale. But none of that's a reason to believe it won't happen. It's a reason we should try to *stop* the nightmare scenario, before it becomes real. Before it's too late.

A negotiated peace still likely is within reach  and, given the scale of death and destruction being inflicted on the Ukrainians, ought to be a top priority of our diplomacy.



Damage in Kyiv (YouTube screen grab).

But instead, our leadership seems to want to bleed Russia, with no regard for the human suffering that this strategy necessitates.
Two recent articles in The New York Times indicate that not only is the Times doing its best to keep "Jan. 6" alive as a distraction from the disastrous Biden presidency, but it has concocted an illusory scenario where the "attack" on the Capitol on "Jan. 6" was merely the opening assault of a threat to the country instigated by "far right" Republican lawmakers. These articles suggest, further, that The Times is beneficiary of individuals who have senior GOP members of Congress under surveillance, if not the recipient of audio of phone conversations "obtained" from Republican moles. (Liz Cheney, after all, was among the GOP House members addressed by Kevin McCarthy, January 10 and 11, 2021.) Finally, the articles suggest that House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is either a fool or an agent for the Democrats. The articles appeared in The Times on April 23 and April 27.

The April 23 narrative, "McCarthy Said/Trump Took on/Blame for Riot," is bylined Jonathan Martin, Alexander Burns, and Neil Vigdor.

The April 27 narrative, "McCarthy Raised Alarm/About G.O.P. Colleagues," is attributed to Burns and Martin.

The April 23 story cites "new audio" as the source of the material set forth in the story  that President Trump accepted some blame for "Jan. 6." The April 27 article relates: "Audio recordings of [incendiary] comments [by Republican members of Congress] were obtained in reporting for a forthcoming book, 'This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America's Future.'" (This book is also cited in the April 23 piece.)

Neither article mentions that Burns and Martin are the authors of the book; neither article reveals how Burns and Martin "obtained" the audio of conversations between Mr. McCarthy and select House Republicans that took place on January 10 and 11, 2021.

According to the April 23 story, the "audio" in question "is part of a series of revelations about Republican leaders' private condemnations of Mr. Trump in the days after his supporters stormed the Capitol." The assertion that Donald J. Trump "may have admitted some measure of culpability for the deadly mob" was made, allegedly, in a Jan. 11, 2021 conference call with House Republican leaders. The Times said Mr. McCarthy was dishonest for subsequently denying that he called on President Trump to resign. The April 23 story included the observation that "[t]he book [by Burns and Martin] ... has quickly become an embarrassment and a potential political problem for Mr. McCarthy." (One may wonder that this comment amounts to a blurb to stir sales of the tome among leftists, which would have the two pieces as little more than promotion for anti-GOP propaganda.)

The April 23 contention that a "deadly mob" was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is perhaps the greatest insertion of mendacity yet in the left's "Jan. 6." narrative. The one violent death, of Ashli Babbitt, was the result of shooting by a Capitol policeman. There should be no doubt whatsoever that The New York Times has become an organ for outrageous political propaganda worthy of Pravda in Soviet Union days. This statement, for example, April 27, has not a jot or tittle of newsworthy journalism: in his quest for the speakership, "Mr. McCarthy has spent much of the last year forging a closer political partnership with the far right, showing little public concern that his most extreme colleagues could instigate bloodshed with their overheated or hateful rhetoric."

The foregoing quote is a call to arms, not journalism, I submit. And note how the title of the Burns and Martin book talks not of politics, but "the Battle for American's Future." Republican "leaders" like Kevin McCarthy seem, at best, ignorant that a furious battle is underway  and thus are ready to denounce Republican realists for daring to scan the battlefield. For a leftist, after all, a Republican realist is a "far right extremist."

Now, who taped McCarthy's January 10 and 11, 2021 comments to his leadership group, and how did those remarks reach The New York Times? Republican populists want to know.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Samsung Canada announced [on Monday] the launch of a new premium protection plan for corporate devices - Samsung Care+ for Business.

In light of the pandemic and shift to work-from-home and hybrid work models, corporate devices have been fueling business productivity more than ever before. In fact, todays employees reported that over a third of their workday tasks are now completed on a smartphone. This phenomenon is what prompted Samsung to develop Samsung Care+ for Business, a premium device protection plan providing businesses with the peace of mind of knowing their devices are protected.

Samsung Care+ for Business is a device lifecycle management tool that, in addition to Samsung Knox, provides the complete solution for device management, security, and protection, to maximize business continuity.

Samsung Care+ for Business highlights:

Worry-Free Protection Plan: Protect devices from physical damage and liquid intrusion.[1] The extended up to three-year warranty[2] is fit for the business device life cycle and covers any issues ranging from electrical to mechanical defects  all without a service fee.

Samsung Certified Service: Expert technicians at authorized Samsung service centres will repair devices using genuine Samsung parts, in compliance with Samsung's stringent quality repair standards.

Hassle-Free Process for Claims and Tech Support: No additional costs or documentation are required for repairs. In addition, the free pick-up and delivery and on-site repair service helps save customers time by eliminating visits to the service centre.

Centralized Suite of Solutions for Device Management and Protection: Through the centralized solution Samsung Knox Portal, Samsung Care+ for Business dedicated console allows businesses to manage device deployments and protection coverage in their device fleet, easily track subscriptions and repair status, and access policy information, all on one screen.

The Samsung Care+ for Business is available for purchase in Canada starting today, for all types of businesses. To learn more about this premium protection plan, please visit SamsungKnox.com/Samsung-Care- Plus




Google Search is making a policy change, allowing users to request the removal of more personally identifiable info from the search engine. The companys list of personally identifiable information now includes physical addresses, email, or phone numbers.

The existing list of personally identifiable information mentions government identification or ID numbers in countries like the U.S. (Social Security Number), Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, and China. It now covers bank account or credit card numbers, login credentials, photos of handwritten signatures or ID cards, etc.

The availability of personal contact information online can be jarring  and it can be used in harmful ways, including for unwanted direct contact or even physical harm. And people have given us feedback that they would like the ability to remove this type of information from Search in some cases, Google said (via 9to5Google).

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Google offers a guide on removing personally identifiable information from Search

When a user requests the removal of their personal data from Google Search, the company will ensure the URL wont appear on a search query.

This is typical for content related to confidential IDs, bank accounts, credit card numbers, and similar information, Google clarified. Theres a second scenario for removal requests with the URL not appearing for a search query that contains your name, or other such identifier.

Google offers a detailed guide on removing PII (personally identifiable information) or doxxing content from Search on its page here. Users can also initiate data removal requests from the same page.

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Google Search has a lot of clout, considering that its one of the most popular search engines around. Keeping this in mind, the companys decision to expand the scope of what information can be removed is indeed welcoming.

In related news, Google Search introduced a new personal results feature last year, allowing customers to have their queries autocompleted. Search also began offering results based on the users Google account information.

The second feature is understandably creepy, considering Big Techs years of data misuse. All the users have to do is type my calendar or directions home, and Search will do the rest. Furthermore, Search would also offer recommendations for restaurants and interesting places based on your Google account.
If youre using Google Translate frequently, youll be glad to know that a new, Material You widget has just landed. This widget follows the Material You design language, of course.

This is a huge improvement over what we had before. Up until now, all we could work with was the 11 home screen shortcut, which allowed you to create and launch a specific language pairing.

The new Google Translate widget is quite functional, and it looks modern

This widget is much richer, and much more functional, not to mention that it looks better. The widget has two rows, as you can see in the image below. If it looks familiar, theres a reason for it. Google is offering a similar style with the Google Maps widget.

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Youll note that there are four shortcuts in that second row. Those shortcuts allow you to enter voice, conversation, transcribe, or utilize camera mode, respectively. If you tap on the field to enter text (first row), an app will launch.

The widget is now in line with the Google Translate app, when it comes to the design. The Google Translate app got redesigned last year, and this widget definitely follows in the same footsteps.

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Its not yet available, at least not for everyone

One thing to note is that this widget is not rolling out to everyone, at least not at this moment. The Google Translate v6.34 does not bring it to the table. Google may flip the switch and release it server-side, without an update. On the flip side, its also possible that one of the upcoming updates will do so.

How do we know what it will look like if its not rolling out yet? Well, Google tweeted out the image above, showing us what it will look like. It is expected to land really soon.

Google should offer such redesigns for some other apps that it has on its roster. The company hasnt been specifically fast with that lately. Google did transform some apps, but theres still work to be done. It would be nice to see such widget redesigns across the board as well.
Die vietnamesischen Tierarzte, die sich um die letzten Gallebaren im Land kummern werden 29. April 2022





In den letzten Jahren schulte das Tierarztteam von Animals Asia in unserem Rettungszentrum in Vietnam vier Tierarztpraktikanten darin, die Versorgung der letzten Gallebaren zu ubernehmen, die es im Land noch gibt.

Huong Pham

Ich bin so glucklich, dem Team anzugehoren, das den Barengallefarmen ein Ende macht, und Arbeit machen zu konnen, die ich wirklich gern tue. Ich bin stolz, einer Organisation anzugehoren, die Baren aus den Barengallefarmen in Vietnam befreit und den Tierschutz in Asien verbessert.

Hoffentlich wird es in naher Zukunft in Vietnam keine Baren mehr geben, die auf Barengallefarmen gehalten werden. Und ich hoffe auch, dass die Menschen in Vietnam sich von Produkten abwenden, fur deren Herstellung Baren oder auch andere Wildtiere leiden mussten.

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Ly Mai Han

Ich bin stolz, einem vietnamesischen Team anzugehoren, das zu den fuhrenden in der Welt zahlt und in unserem Heimatland eine gewaltige Veranderung hin zu internationalen Standards bewirkt. Wichtiges Mitglied eines Teams zu sein, das die Hoffnung des Tierschutzes reprasentiert und den Barengallefarmen in Vietnam ein Ende macht, motiviert mich jeden Tag, mein Bestes zu geben.

Thai Le

Wenn ich auf unsere Schulung zuruckschaue, kann ich kaum glauben, wie weit wir es gebracht haben. All meine Kollegen und ich sind sehr gespannt, und wir freuen uns auf den Tag, an dem der erste gerettete Bar im Barenrettungszentrum Bach Ma willkommen geheien wird. Das wird ein denkwurdiger Meilenstein auf der Reise hin zu einem Ende der Barengallefarmen in Vietnam.

Tran Khanh Ngan

Tierarztin im neuen Rettungszentrum von Animals Asia zu werden, macht mich so stolz und aufgeregt, aber auch ein bisschen nervos. Das neue Rettungszentrum wird nur von vietnamesischen Mitarbeitern betrieben. Das ist eine gewaltige Verantwortung und Herausforderung, doch wir wurden vom besten Team geschult, das es je gab, daher bin sich zuversichtlich, dass alle stolz auf uns sein werden.

Als Mensch, dem Wildtiere am Herzen liegen, bin ich so stolz auf mein Land, denn indem sich die vietnamesischen Behorden darum bemuhen, die Barengallefarmen in Vietnam abzuschaffen, zeigen sie ihren Willen, dem illegalen Handel mit Wildtieren ein Ende zu machen. Jetzt zeichnet sich das Bild eines Vietnams ab, das frei von Barengallefarmen ist, und es ist ein wunderschones Bild fur alle Tiere.

Wir konnen es kaum erwarten zu sehen, wie sich diese erstaunlichen jungen Tierarzte auf den Weg machen, um die grote Herausforderung ihres Berufslebens und die grote Herausforderung in der Geschichte von Animals Asia anzugehen, das endgultige Aus fur die Barengallefarmen in Vietnam.

Weiterlesen:

Wir stellen vor: die jungen Tierarzte, die den Tierschutz in Vietnam voranbringen werden
(ANSA) - ROME, APR 29 - Italian energy giant Eni reported on Friday that it's adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) totalled 5.19 billion euros in the first quarter of 2022, up by 300% with respect to the same period last year.

The group's adjusted net profit in the first quarter was 3.27 billion euros, three billion more than in the first three months of 2021.

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi described the quarter, in which Russia invaded Ukraine, was "one of major strategic developments.

"We rapidly reacted to the ongoing challenges of the energy market by leveraging our global upstream and partnerships with producing countries to find alternative and additional supply opportunities for Europe," he continued.

"We have signed important agreements in Algeria, Egypt and the Republic of Congo, while another one was reached in Angola, consolidating our joint operations in the countries and promoting increased gas exports to Italy and Europe in the interest of transitioning to a low carbon economy".

Italy is current trying to wean itself off its reliance on Russian gas.

Around 40% of Italy's gas is currently imported from Russia.

(ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, APR 29 - Italy's COVID-19 Rt transmission number has fallen slightly but the case incidence has risen a tad, according to the latest weekly coronavirus monitoring report of the health ministry and the higher Health Institute (ISS).

It said the Rt number dropped to 0.93 in the April 6-19 period, down from 0.96 in last week's report.

An Rt over 1 indicates the epidemic is in a phase of expansion.

The incidence rose to 699 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 675 in last Friday's report.

The report said the pressure COVID-19 is exerting on Italy's health system had eased a little.

It said the proportion of Italy's intensive-care places occupied by coronavirus sufferers was 3.8% on April 28, down from 4.2% on April 21.

It said the proportion of ordinary-ward hospital places taken up by COVID patients fell from 15.8% to 15.6%. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, APR 29 - An Italian climber who had been missing on Annapurna in Nepal since Thursday has now been located and said he was okay, the Himalayan Times said Friday.

Giampaolo Corona, 49, from Trentino, an Alpine guide and helicopter rescue technician, has scaled several 8,000 metre peaks in Nepal, Pakistan and India.

A search team established a radio contact with him Friday and he was seen descending to Camp Four at 7,400 metres, after going missing about 500 metres further up the Himalayan peak.

"I'm well and for now I don't need any support," Corona reportedly told the search and rescue helicopter pilot. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, APR 29 - Three Luxembourgeois men aged between 20 and 30 ere arrested Friday on suspicion of murdering 46-year-old Italian woman Sonia Di Pinto in a robbery gone wrong in the restaurant she worked in the Luxembourg capital on the night of Easter Sunday.

The three alleged robbers were arrested after police caught them attacking Di PInto on CCTV footage, police said.

The victim was from Petacciato near Campobasso. (ANSA).


PALERMO - There are 214: women, men, small children. They come from countries at war: Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia. They have been trying to reach Europe for years, have made the journey to the Mediterranean several times, and have been intercepted several times by the Libyan or Tunisian coastguards, taken back to Libyan prison camps, where they were tortured and kidnapped, or to Tunisia. where, despite being refugees, they have no rights.

They don't have money, they don't have a home. Some managed to escape from Libya and arrive in Tunisia on foot. For two months they have been protesting in front of the UNHCR headquarters in Tunis, demanding that their rights be recognized.

Telling their stories is the former president and spokesman of Mediterranea Alessandra Sciurba, a university researcher who is in Tunisia for study on the failures of the Tunisian revolution.

"With the war in Ukraine, Europe has understood that it is possible to welcome 4 million refugees in a few weeks without anything bad happening. Because these few thousand people who come from other wars are abandoned on the borders of a Europe that has demonstrated to be different and better? "asks Sciurba who underlines the responsibility of Italy, which has signed agreements and financed the Libyan and Tunisian Coast Guards, ignoring the fate of the refugees intercepted at sea by the authorities of the two North African countries.




Israeli airport panic after family packs unexploded shell Ben Gurion departure hall evacuated Thursday

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, APRIL 29 - Scenes of panic were seen Thursday in the departure hall of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport when an unexploded shell was found in an American family's luggage.



The Times of Israel reported that the family had travelled to the Golan Heights - scene in 1973 of a large battle between Israel and Syria - and that one of the children had found this rusty fragment that they wanted to take home as a souvenir.



On seeing the projectile, the authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of the departure hall, leading to scenes of alarm among passengers.



Some later said that they had been afraid that they were in the presence of another terrorist attack by Palestinians after ones conducted in March and April in several Israeli cities.



One passenger was slightly injured accidentally amid the crush of people trying to flee.



The airport later resumed its activities and the US family was authorised to leave on their family but were required to leave the old piece of artillery behind. (ANSAmed).




China actively promotes environmental protection for half a century: minister

Xinhua) 09:15, April 29, 2022

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China has made resolute efforts to strengthen environmental protection over the past 50 years following the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu said Thursday.

Huang made the remarks while addressing the Stockholm+50 stakeholder consultation in China via video. The ongoing event, co-organized by the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme, takes place from April 27 to 29 in Beijing.

It is a part of the Stockholm+50 international meeting to be held in early June in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Declaration, which was adopted at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.

Hailing the conference as a landmark of joint environmental protection efforts among people around the world, Huang noted that China has put environmental protection high on its agenda since then and made notable progress in resources conservation, sustainable development and international governance.

As the country advanced transformation and upgrading of economic, energy and industrial structures, strategic emerging industries related to energy-saving and environmental protection have grown rapidly and become pillars of the economy.

China is a world leader in using renewable energy resources, with installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, photovoltaic and other non-fossil energy topping 1.1 billion kilowatts. It is also one of the fastest countries worldwide to reduce energy consumption intensity, Huang added.

He also underlined continuous improvements in China's ecological environment. In 2021, the average concentration of PM2.5 in cities at or above the prefecture level decreased by 34.8 percent from 2015, while the proportion of surface water with good quality and forest coverage rate reached 84.9 percent and 23.04 percent, respectively, he said.

China has revised over 30 laws and regulations and released dozens of reform plans related to ecological and environmental protection. It has also facilitated the implementation of international environmental agreements, proposed carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, and assisted developing countries in green growth.

The country will keep making efforts to promote green and low-carbon development and contribute to global cooperation on environmental protection, Huang said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Russia responds with airstrikes to vast ISIS attack in Syria In triangle between Raqqa, Aleppo and Homs

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, APRIL 29 - A wide-ranging attack by Islamic State (ISIS) militants was conducted on Friday in central areas of Syria and Russia responded by carrying out 30 airstrikes on ISIS positions, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).



SOHR reported that the ISIS attack had been launched south of Raqqa on government positions and those of local militias co-opted by Russia in the area.



It added that the Russian airstrikes had been carried out in the same area of the attack against ISIS positions in the triangle between the cities of Homs, Aleppo, and Raqqa in central Syria.



There is no information currently available on casualties. A number of ISIS militants reportedly sustained injuries but the information is not able to be verified independently on the ground. (ANSAmed).




Clashes at al-Aqsa Mosque Complex on last Friday of Ramadan Police say they were attacked by rock-throwing, 12 injured

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, APRIL 29 - Clashes resumed for some hours on Friday between Palestinian protestors and police on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of fasting, Ramadan, at the al-Aqsa Mosque Complex (which Jews refer to as Temple Mount) in Jerusalem.



Israeli police reported that dozens of protestors began to throw rocks and fireworks at police and towards the Wailing Wall below.



This, they said, induced them to enter the al-Aqsa Mosque Complex to disperse the protestors.



The Red Crescent has said that 42 people were injured, of whom 22 were taken to the hospital.



According to media reports, the protestors - many of whom were wearing masks - waved Hamas flags and chanted "We Will Sacrifice Our Lives for Al-Aqsa".



The Israeli police arrested three protestors. (ANSAmed).




TUNIS - After an absence of seven years, a ship from MSC Cruises has returned to Tunis.

Coming from Barcelona and headed for Palermo, MSC Opera arrived on Thursday in the Goulette port with 968 tourists onboard, Tunisia's tourism and crafts minister said.

Welcoming the cruise ship passengers were several institutional representatives that held a ceremony with the exchange of souvenirs to mark the occasion.

A large group of tourists then visited Tunisian archaeological sites.

The tourism ministry announced the arrival of 38 cruise ships in Tunisia in 2022 - a number that is highly likely to increase in the coming years.

Tunisia aims to achieve between 50 and 60% of the revenue it did in the tourism sector in 2019, a benchmark year for the country that saw a revolution in 2011, with over 9 million tourists and revenue equal to 14% of its GDP.




A man admitted to withholding information when being interviewed about killing his son because he could not confront his actions, a court has heard.

Lukasz Czapla is on trial accused of murdering his two-year-old boy, Julius, at his home in Muirhouse, Edinburgh, in November 2020.

The 41-year-old, former IT technician has offered to plead guilty to culpable homicide, but this was not accepted by the Crown.

At a previous hearing, the court heard Czapla told police officers and psychiatrists that he could not remember killing his son days after the toddlers body was found.

A couple of months later, however, the accused then gave a harrowing account of how he killed the boy after claiming to remember more details, according to consultant psychiatrist, Dr Alexander Quinn, who has previously given evidence at the trial.

At the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday, Czapla admitted to initially lying to psychiatrists about what he had done.

Iain McSporran QC, defence, asked the accused: When you initially told them you could not remember, is it because you couldnt remember or because you couldnt face it?

Czapla replied: I didnt want to face it.

McSporran then asked if Czapla was lying, to which he said: Yes, you could say I was lying when I said I couldnt remember.

I couldnt face it.

Reflecting on this, the accused started crying in the dock, adding: It was soul destroying.

Ealier, the court had heard Czapla and his former partner, Patrycja Szczesniak, the mother of Julius, had relationship issues, particularly after their seven-year relationship ended in June 2020.

Mr McSporran asked Czapla if he wanted Julius to die to punish Ms Szczesniak, to which he replied: No.

He was then asked if the killing was due to wickedness against Julius, to which Czapla said: No, I had nothing against Julius, he was the love of my life, he was my best friend.

The accused then broke down in tears in court.

Earlier, the jury heard Czapla lost his father, whom he described as his best friend, at a young age.

He told the court he saw his fathers body, and the death left him with a massive emptiness.

Czapla said he suffered with mental health problems from a young age, and the day Julius was found dead he had tried to kill himself.

When the defence asked if he had any thoughts about his son at the time, he said: I didnt see any point in living and I thought about him (Julius), he relied on me.

I didnt want to leave him alone.

I remember my fathers dead body and I thought Julius will have to see this, too, and so I thought I will have to take him with me.

McSporran asked Czapla to clarify if take him with me meant killing Julius, to which the accused replied: Yes.

Prosecutor Alan Cameron, referring to previous evidence, said a regular memory of Czaplas from November 21 2020, the day of the alleged murder, was his anger towards Ms Szczesniak.

The transcript of a phone call between Czapla and a friend about the evening of the killing was read out in court where the accused said: I was pissed off so much, she was f*****g annoying and wouldnt talk to me.

Several other transcripts were read out which detailed similar accounts of Czapla saying he was rageous about Ms Szczesniaks communication with him.

The court was then shown messages from the night before Julius was found dead during which Ms Szczesniak spoke about a new partner.

Czapla asked if the new partner was more permanent to which Szczesniak said: I wont give you too much details cause that tends to end up badly.

In response, Czapla said he was frustrated at being misunderstood.

Cameron, addressing the accused, said you were angry, rageous, pissed off at her (Szczesniak) refusal to answer your messages and youre drinking and taking tablets, adding, you were looking for a way to get back at her and make her suffer.

Czapla said: No, this is your interpretation of events, I dont agree.

Cameron then added: All the regret you might now have doesnt change what you did and why you did it and that was out of spite, out of nastiness.

Czapla replied: No.

My son was the most important person.

Why would I do something to someone who is the most important to harm someone who is not important?

Earlier, toxicology and police evidence showed that Czapla was intoxicated at the time of Juliuss death, having drunk alcohol and consumed anti-depressant medication.

Czapla denies murdering the toddler in his home in November 2020.

He has pleaded guilty to nine other charges which include dangerous driving, drug possession and having an air weapon.

All evidence, before Lord Beckett, has concluded.
Almost 600 Ukrainian refugees have received visas to come to Northern Ireland.

The total number of refugees who have arrived in the region is not currently known, with many arriving at Dublin Airport and crossing the land border.

However, some 598 visas have been issued to applicants sponsored by Northern Ireland residents under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

The figures, up to April 26, show most (95) visa sponsors are in Belfast, while there are 90 each in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon and Newry, Mourne and Down council areas.

Four centres where refugees can get assistance have been set up in Belfast, Newry, Craigavon and Ballymena.

They include advice on the health service, schools and housing.

The Red Cross are also providing knitted Trauma Teddies for arriving children.

Trauma Teddies are being provided by the Red Cross for children arriving in Northern Ireland from Ukraine (PA)

Some 250 refugees have attended the centres over the last two weeks.

Ian Snowden, head of the Ukrainian Refugee Support Team in Northern Ireland, said there has been a huge response in the region.

He said more than 6,000 people have registered their interest on the Homes for Ukraine website to take in a refugee, which is more than double the regions proportion of the UKs population share for the scheme.

Around 1,000 Ukrainian people have applied to come to Northern Ireland through the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Ian Snowden is head of the Ukrainian Refugee Support Team in Northern Ireland (Rebecca Black/PA)

Mr Snowden said officials believe around 90% of Ukrainian refugees in Northern Ireland have come through Dublin Airport.

As a consequence of that it is very difficult for us to know who has arrived and when they have arrived, he said.

He said there is no upper limit on the number of Ukrainians who could come to Northern Ireland but they expect to receive around 3,000.

But were certainly preparing that the services we provide will be able to cope with much larger numbers, he said.

Oleg Shenkaruk, 45, who moved to Northern Ireland from Ukraine almost 20 years ago, described his upset at seeing scenes from the Russian invasion, saying sometimes he cannot watch it on TV.

He has been helping at the Belfast centre with translation for the new arrivals.

Our main target is to help Ukrainians get settled in Northern Ireland, he said.

People are settling very well, the community has been very welcoming and supportive, offering jobs and different sorts of help.

Its great to be able to help people.

He said that while many of his family are in Northern Ireland, some remain in Ukraine and he talks to them every day.

Some dont want to travel, its a very hard decision to leave to a different country, its not easy, he said.
President Biden, under sustained pressure from powerful Democrats to erase mountains of student debt incurred by college graduates, suggested this week that he would reach a decision on the matter this spring, but ruled out a $50,000 reduction per borrower.

The $50,000 figure, long advocated by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, has faced skepticism from Republicans and some centrist Democrats, who argue sweeping loan forgiveness would benefit the well-off more than the working poor.

As a White House hopeful, Biden called for scrapping $10,000 in federal student loans per borrower, but he has moved cautiously on the issue in his 15 months as president.

President Joe Biden speaks as he meets with small business owners in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, April 28, 2022.





President Joe Biden speaks as he meets with small business owners in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, April 28, 2022. (Susan Walsh/)

Schumer said on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday: I think the president is moving in our direction, adding that his talks with Biden on the issue had been very fruitful over the last little while.

Biden responded to Schumers remarks in a White House news conference one day later, saying, I am considering dealing with some debt reduction. I am not considering $50,000 debt reduction.

The president said he remains in the process of taking a hard look at student debt forgiveness and will have an answer on that in the next couple of weeks.

He did not put a specific number on his plan, nor did he say explicitly whether he was eyeing executive action. But Bloomberg News reported Friday that the Biden administration is considering at least $10,000 in loan forgiveness per borrower through executive decree.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks at a press conference about a plan to relieve $50,000 in debt for federal student loan borrowers in Manhattan, New York on Friday, April 16, 2021.





U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks at a press conference about a plan to relieve $50,000 in debt for federal student loan borrowers in Manhattan, New York on Friday, April 16, 2021. (Barry Williams/)

The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the report.

Biden has repeatedly extended a student loan payment freeze for some 40 million American debtors. This month, he pushed the pause through the end of August.

He also commissioned the Education Department to review whether he has the legal authority to snuff the debt through executive action, bypassing Congress.

In December 2020, Schumer published an op-ed with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, saying that the president has the capacity to make the move, and calling on Biden to do it on Day One of his presidency.

We have proved conclusively to ourselves that its OK, that they can do it, Schumer said in a Manhattan news conference last April. They want to be careful, thats fine, let them keep studying it  but not for too long.

The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said Thursday there had been no conclusion of any process to determine whether Biden has the authority to clear the debt through executive action.

He would be happy to sign a piece of legislation or a bill that came to his desk that canceled $10,000 in student loans, Psaki said in a news conference. Could be more than that. Were looking at that.

Schumer has said Biden knows he has the authority, and should act.

In a statement on Friday, Schumer said millions of Americans have been crushed by student loan debt, greatly impeding their ability to begin careers and build the financial resources needed to rent apartments, buy homes, start families or just simply build their futures.

He suggested that relieving the debt load will also lift New Yorks economy.

Republicans, meanwhile, have cast debt cancellation as a handout for middle-class graduates. Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, tweeted Wednesday that broad loan forgiveness would amount to a bribe.

Other bribe suggestions: Forgive auto loans? Forgive credit card debt? Forgive mortgages? Romney wrote.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the progressive Vermont independent, shot back in his own post that Romney supports bribes in the form of tax cuts for the wealthy and billions in welfare for corporations, but is shocked by the idea that working Americans might get help paying off student debt.
A British terrorist convicted over his role in the torture and killings of Western hostages in Syria is expected to come face to face with his victims families when he is sentenced in a US court today.

Alexanda Amon Kotey, a 38-year-old Islam convert originally from west London, was one of four so-called Islamic State militants nicknamed The Beatles by their captives due to their British accents, who carried out wanton acts of brutality in the mid 2010s.

Kotey may be ordered to spend the rest of his life behind bars when he is sentenced at the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.

He pleaded guilty to a host of charges relating to US victims only, although the families of other murdered hostages, including British humanitarians David Haines and Alan Henning, are expected to read impact statements to the court before sentencing.

Koteys co-defendant, El Shafee Elsheikh, is also expected to be present ahead of his sentencing hearing later in the year after he was convicted this month of his role in the murder plot.

The Beatles victims included British humanitarian David Haines (left) and his brother Mike (Family handout/PA)

The terror cell also comprised ringleader Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, who was killed in a drone strike in 2015, and Aine Davis, who was jailed in Turkey in 2017.

Speaking ahead of the sentencing hearing, Mr Haines brother, Mike Haines from Dundee, said he would relish the opportunity to address the court.

He told the PA news agency: That is the real reason (for) going out to read my impact statement to the court, to draw a line in the sand and say: Yes, you have played a big part in my familys life, you have had a hold on my familys life.

However, now, that stops.

Alexanda Kotey is due to be sentenced over his involvement with The Beatles terror cell (ITV News/PA)

Kotey will be sentenced on eight counts, four counts of hostage taking resulting in death; conspiracy to commit hostage taking resulting in death; conspiracy to murder United States citizens outside of the United States; conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, hostage taking and murder, resulting in death; and conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation resulting in death

Kotey admitted his guilt in September last year, apparently agreeing to fully co-operate with authorities as part of his plea agreement.

He said when he departed the UK he held the belief and understanding that the Islamic concept of armed jihad was a valid and legitimate cause and means by which a Muslim defends his fellow Muslim against injustice.

He admitted his role in capturing hostages and said when his involvement in that came to an end, he worked in ISs recruitment division, as a sniper and in the terror groups English media department.

Kotey was charged in relation to the killings of four US hostages, journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.

He may yet be returned to England to serve part of his sentence, where he is likely to face fresh charges against other victims.
British intelligence is to help Ukrainian war crimes investigators establish the chain of command between leaders in Moscow and Russian commanders on the ground.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said a team of UK war crimes experts will be travelling to Poland early in May to assist as the Ukrainians gather evidence of Russian atrocities on the ground.

They will include experts in conflict-related sexual violence.

Speaking following talks with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Ms Truss said British intelligence would also be assisting in holding the Russian political leadership to account.

(PA Graphics)

This is about collecting a wide range of evidence  witness statements, forensic evidence, video evidence, she said.

We will also use British intelligence to help show the link between what is happening on the front line and the Russian authorities, because it is important that everybody in the chain of command is held to account.

She gave no further details, but the head of the GCHQ spy agency Sir Jeremy Fleming last month suggested they had acquired intelligence that President Vladimir Putins advisers were afraid to tell him what was really happening on the ground.

Meanwhile, Western officials have said the Russian advance in the eastern region of the Donbas  which is part-held by pro-Moscow separatists  was being marked by in indiscriminate use of firepower against civilian target.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine  29 April 2022 Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/94lb8T09GX  #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/Shgw19Ejz0  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) April 29, 2022

There is not a building in some of those villages which is being left intact after these artillery bombardments, one official said.

In its latest intelligence assessment, the UK Ministry of Defence said Russian forces were paying a high price for limited gains of land.

The Battle of Donbas remains Russias main strategic focus, in order to achieve its stated aim of securing control over the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, it said.

Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces.

Western officials said the Russians were at times advancing by as little as 1 kilometre a day.

While the the Ukrainians were also suffering losses in the fighting, officials said they were not on the same scale as those incurred by the Russians and were not having the same impact on morale.

Those losses on Russian forces we assess to be having a significant impact on the will to fight of wider Russian forces but the Ukrainian losses are not affecting the morale of the Ukrainian forces, one official said.
FILE - Willem Dafoe arrives at the premiere of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" at the Regency Village Theater on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021, in Los Angeles. Dafoe is set to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee next month, university officials announced Friday, April 29, 2022. Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP File) (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

MILWAUKEE (AP)  Actor Willem Dafoe is set to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee next month.

University officials announced Friday that Dafoe will receive the doctorate of arts on May 22. Hes slated to speak at the schools two graduation ceremonies that day. Hell receive the degree during the second ceremony of the day.

Dafoe attended UW-Milwaukee in 1973 and 1974 before leaving to become part of Theatre X, an independent experimental theater company. He appeared on stage at UW-Milwaukee in Phaedra and A Moon for the Misbegotten.

Dafoe said in a statement issued by UW-Milwaukee that his time at the university was a very formative and positive experience.

I was young and very unsophisticated, but eager to train and perform," he said. "I was totally involved and spent most nights on a couch in the theatre because I was always working and studying and didnt want to go home.

Dafoe has appeared in more than 100 films, including Platoon and the Spider-Man franchise. He's been nominated four times for an Academy Award for his work in Platoon, Shadow of the Vampire, The Florida Project and At Eternity's Gate. Hes currently appearing in The Northman.

___

This story has been corrected to fix a typographical error in Dafoe's name.
Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins loved ones feel they were victimized yet again when the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office released video of the slain filmmakers final moments of life.

ABC News reports that Hutchins familys attorney Brian Panish sent a letter or protest to Sheriff Adan Mendoza Wednesday demanding images footage related to the 42-year-olds shooting death be removed from the internet, despite whatever trauma seeing such footage may have already done to her friends and family.

Too early to rule out criminal charges for anyone in Rust shooting, sheriff says

The first time Mr. Hutchins saw the disturbing and unsettling video of footage of his dying wife lying on the church floor was on Radar Online, an internet website, Panish claimed.

Halyna Hutchins (left) with her husband, Matthew, and their son Andros.





Halyna Hutchins (left) with her husband, Matthew, and their son Andros.

The attorney claimed the sheriffs office had said it would give the victims husband Matthew Hutchins time to weigh in on what was released to the public in terms of material being used in the investigation of his wifes death, caused by an errant gunshot on-set of the Western she was filming in New Mexico in October.

Panish argued in his letter that not only was the grieving widower not given enough time to review what was at his disposal, but claimed even that arrangement was violated when your office released the materials to the public before releasing the materials to Mr. Hutchins.

From left, Randi McGinn, Brian Panish and Jesse Creed, attorneys for the family of the late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, take part in a news conference on Feb. 15, 2022 in Los Angeles.





From left, Randi McGinn, Brian Panish and Jesse Creed, attorneys for the family of the late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, take part in a news conference on Feb. 15, 2022 in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello/)

Hours of desperate footage connected to the shocking killing went public Monday. That included video of people whod been working on set trying to process what had just happened in the aftermath of a gun being held by the films star and producer Alec Baldwin, discharging, injuring the movies director and leaving Hutchins dead.

ABC said the letter it viewed included Parish expressing concern that footage released by investigators could affect the 9-year-old son Hutchins left behind.

We fear, for example, that this shocking footage of Andros mother dying may be material used by bullies to emotionally abuse him in the future, Panish wrote.

The Bonanza Creek Ranch, where the film "Rust" was being filmed, appears in Santa Fe, N.M. on Oct. 23, 2021.





The Bonanza Creek Ranch, where the film "Rust" was being filmed, appears in Santa Fe, N.M. on Oct. 23, 2021. (Jae C. Hong/)

The Hutchins family lawyer demanded Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office respect the victims loved ones constitutional rights of dignity, privacy, respect, and fairness going forward.

Panish specifically referred to video of Hutchins fighting for her life on a church floor where she was struck down in claiming the damage of publishing that video is irreparable, but taking action to remove it from the internet would end the sheriffs offices complicity in causing further harm.

New Mexico levies $136,793 in fines, the max, in fatal shooting on Rust set last fall

The up-and-coming cinematographer was pronounced dead in a University of New Mexico Hospital trauma center. An investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death are ongoing. Hutchins family filed a civil suit against Baldwin in February. Variety reports that the lawsuit accuses the films producers of participating in reckless, cost-cutting practices.

Officials in New Mexico levied a $136,793 fine against the Rust production team last week. That is the maximum fine for firearms safety failures on set.
After an initial flurry of momentum, efforts to ban members of Congress from trading stocks have slowed as many lawmakers agree on the need to ban trades but haven't settled yet on the details.

Now as concerns mount that time may be running out, a key figure in the talks tells Yahoo Finance that a unity bill could come soon as lawmakers gradually move towards a consensus. In a new interview with Yahoo Finance Presents, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said around a dozen lawmakers are negotiating a draft bill and that a final one will be introduced "at some point in the next few weeks."

If the lawmakers actually deliver a proposal, it would mark a major step forward in the efforts to reform the relationship between lawmakers and Wall Street after a series of scandals in recent years have raised questions over whether lawmakers should trade stocks given their knowledge of non-public information.

Speaking to Yahoo Finance, Gillibrand suggested lawmakers have come closer to agreeing on one of the key issues  how lawmakers can put their money into blind trusts.

We are going to create some provisions for people who come into Congress owning certain portfolios, that they can hold them in blind trust, she said. That's probably going to be the outcome.

She added that cryptocurrency trading would be banned, according to the most recent draft of the unity bill, and for all securities "we would allow people to own what they own, but they would have to put it behind a blind trust."

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is one of the negotiators on a possible bill to ban lawmaker stock trading. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

That approach would be similar to some of the current public proposals. One of the most aggressive plans  from Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ)  allows lawmakers to move an existing asset into a blind trust without divesting it. Kelly himself has noted that he personally has gone further.

Before I was sworn in, I took steps to put my assets in a qualified blind trust, not only can I not make trades, I don't even know what's in there, he told Yahoo Finance in January. The same thing is true for Senator Ossoff.

Some advocates say this distinction is important, arguing a blind trust isnt blind if you know the assets it holds.

Placing individual assets into a qualified blind trust, absent a requirement to sell the original assets, is not a sufficient solution to the conflicts that these assets present, Donald Sherman of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said during a congressional hearing earlier this month.

Other outstanding issues

In addition to the blind trust issue, a range of other provisions remain publicly unresolved.

Some of the bills include the family members of lawmakers in any ban while others dont. For her part, Gillibrand has proposed a ban on active trading be applied to officials like the president, vice president, Supreme Court justices, and senior Federal Reserve officials, a provision not included in some other bills.

It's important that if we do this ban, it's across all layers of government, Gillibrand said this week.

This is not the first push to stop lawmakers from having an unfair advantage in the stock market. In 2012, then-President Barack Obama signed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which required public disclosure of trades within 45 days. Gillibrand helped push for passage then.

Then-President Barack Obama signs the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act in 2012. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)

However, a recent investigation from Insider found that 59 members of Congress have violated the transparency provisions in the STOCK act.

Congress' challenge in reaching a deal this year comes despite public support for a measure to police lawmakers' trades in the wake of recent scandals, including one notable incident where then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) sold stocks soon after a private briefing in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Burr faced a Justice Department investigation that ended without charges.

Time is of the essence

A spokesperson for Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) told Yahoo Finance that the Senator is hopeful a deal can be reached and negotiations are ongoing around all issues, including qualified blind trusts."

"Merkley believes this is a critical issue to take up while the window of opportunity is open, and time is of the essence," the spokesperson said.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) during a hearing this month. (Bonnie Cash-Pool/Getty Images)

Its unclear how many Republicans are involved in the current discussions, but figures like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and other Republicans have voiced support and even released plans for stock trading bans. Still, only a few of the bills have garnered support from a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

And even if a consensus bill is reached, some Republican lawmakers have warned against a knee jerk bill while others  including some Democrats  have also questioned the need for a ban at all.

Ben Werschkul is a writer and producer for Yahoo Finance in Washington, DC.

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Paul Manafort.

The Justice Department is suing former President Donald Trump's onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort over allegations he failed to report interest in foreign bank accounts.

The Justice Department is seeking $2.9 million from Manafort, accusing him of failing to report consulting income from Ukrainian sources that was deposited into accounts he is alleged to have directed to be opened in Cyprus, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the United Kingdom.

According to a civil lawsuit filed Thursday in West Palm Beach, Florida, Manafort conducted consulting work in Ukraine from 2006 to 2014.

The lawsuit alleges that Manafort, who hired an accountant to prepare his federal tax returns, did not report his interest in foreign accounts on his federal income tax returns or through a timely filed Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, known as "FBAR," for 2013 and 2014.

Many of the accounts were opened on his behalf, using nominee shell corporations opened or operated by others without Manaforts name, the lawsuit claims.

The Treasury Department previously sent Manafort a notice about the penalties in July 2020, the lawsuit says.

Manafort, who was sentenced to 47 months in prison on fraud and tax charges in March 2019, was given a full pardon by then-President Donald Trump in December 2020.

The Trump White House alleged prosecutorial overreach in Manaforts case when he was pardoned.

Manafort's lawyer, Jeffrey Neiman, said in a statement Thursday that the Justice Department had sought to "embarrass" his client.

"Todays civil lawsuit seeks a money judgment against Mr. Manafort for simply failing to file a tax form," Neiman wrote in a statement. "Mr. Manafort was aware the Government was going to file the suit because he has tried for months to resolve this civil matter. Nonetheless, the Government insisted on filing this suit simply to embarrass Mr. Manafort."
Ukraines plucky military has so far outboxed the larger and more muscular Russian army that invaded on Feb. 24. Elon Musk may have something to do with it.

The American punditocracy has obsessed over Musks recent deal to purchase Twitter, which might ruin free speech as we know it, or, modestly alter a social-media platform most Americans dont even use. Meanwhile, people have been dying in Ukraineor not dyingbecause of Musks effort to help the underdog Ukrainians with secure communications.

On Feb. 26, two days after the Russian invasion began, a top Ukrainian official asked Elon Musk on Twitter to activate SpaceXs Starlink service in Ukraine. Starlink is a satellite-based high-speed internet service offered by SpaceX, where Musk is CEO, for people who dont have access to wired internet. Airlines may adopt it for in-flight Wi-Fi. SpaceX rockets have so far deployed about 2,400 Starlink satellites, with the goal of ultimately fielding 42,000 satellites that can provide internet service in most inhabited parts of the world.

Musk responded in less than 24 hours, saying Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. That was step one. Starlink requires ground terminals, small dishes that connect with the satellites. Those began arriving within two days, according to another tweet by the minister who asked Musk for them. Its not clear how they got there, though European employees at Tesla, where Musk is also CEO, may have helped with deliveries. The U.S. government is now involved, and there may be 5,000 ground units in Ukraine, or more, with each unit functioning like a router than can handle many users.

Starlink is now providing internet service for Ukrainian civilians in areas where Russians have cut off communications. Ukrainian fighters are using it tooand some say the service is helping them beat the Russians. Writer David Patrikarakos of Unherd interviewed one soldier in eastern Ukraine who said, Starlink is what changed the war in Ukraine's favor. Russia went out of its way to blow up all our comms. Now they can't. Starlink works under Katyusha fire, under artillery fire. It even works in Mariupol."

'A tangible difference on the battlefield'

Western analysts agree that Starlink is helping the Ukrainians punch above their weight.

The Russians, for all the mistakes theyve made, theyre an electronic warfare superpower, says Air Force Lt. Col. Tyson Wetzel, a military fellow at the Atlantic Council. Theyre excellent at jamming communications. We havent seen as much effect as we thought on the Ukrainians, and I think Starlink is playing a big role in that. The tactics theyre using, that coordination is probably happening on Starlink. It has made a tangible difference on the battlefield.

[Follow Rick Newman on Twitter, sign up for his newsletter or send in your thoughts.]

Ground combat units normally communicate in a variety of ways that can leave them vulnerable. Fiber-optic lines are hard to jam or tap, but also difficult or impossible to lay in a chaotic combat environment, where they can be destroyed. Radios are susceptible to jamming, and the more distance between them, the less effective they are. Combat units using remote weapons such as drones need to sustain communication links with those systems, also susceptible to jamming. The U.S. military has sophisticated systems to withstand all this, but the Ukrainians dont.

SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks on a screen during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

Ukraines military isnt detailing how its using Starlink, but it may be for all of those things: Rapid battlefield communication that allows quick maneuvering, targeting, troop coordination, and secure, real-time connectivity between front-line units and distant HQs. Ukrainian troops physically cut off in the besieged port city of Mariupol have still been able to post social-media messages and communicate with leadership in Kyiv, probably via Starlink.

The Russians have caught on. Theyve apparently tried to jam Starlink, with little or no success. Musk referred to this elliptically in a March 4 tweet, then said the next day, Some Starlink terminals near conflict areas were being jammed for several hours at a time. Our latest software update bypasses the jamming.

On March 25, Musk said, Starlink, at least so far, has resisted all hacking & jamming attempts.

Dave Tremper, a Pentagon official overseeing electronic warfare, was impressed. The way Starlink was able to upgrade when a threat showed up, we need to be able to have that agility, Tremper said at a conference on April 20.

The cat-and-mouse game is far from over. While Starlink ground units provide fast and secure communications, they also emit a detectable radio signature, plus they need to be used outdoors where overhead reconnaissance could find them. Musks advice: Turn on Starlink only when needed, place antenna as far away from people as possible, and power the unit with solar panels + battery pack instead of a generator, to eliminate heat and smoke giveaways.

SpaceX has developed Starlink as a civilian system to provide internet service in rural areas and underserved parts of the worldnot as military technology. But its use in a shooting war makes it an obvious and perhaps legitimate target for the Russians, like any other piece of command-and-control hardware.

Musk himself has said the probability of Russians attacking Starlink terminals in Ukraine is high. There's the more fraught question of whether Russia might ever attack the satellites that form the backbone of the system. Russia has tested anti-satellite weapons, which the United States most likely has, too, despite a U.S. ban on testing. But with thousands of satellites scheduled for the Starlink system, it may be impossible to shut down. Whatever happens in Ukraine, Musk now straddles yet another frontier, where the civilian and military use of space meet. Expect to see more about it, on Twitter.

Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman. You can also send confidential tips.

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Six months ago, Facebook changed its name to Meta (FB) ostensibly to reflect its focus on the virtual reality spaces known as the metaverse. The announcement was simultaneously important and strange, echoing another tech giants name change  Googles 2015 move to rename itself Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL).

Its difficult to tell if Metas name change has been embraced by the public or, for that matter, if Alphabets has. Even as Im writing this, it feels weird to refer to Facebook or Google by anything other than the names Ive grown so used to seeing on my laptop and smartphone screens.

So, why would a company go against the linguistic grain in the first place?

There are a few basic reasons a big-name company would enforce a name swap. Sometimes, the current name doesnt really make sense for the direction the companys moving in, or it's looking to shed the baggage associated with its current name, said Patti Williams, a marketing professor and vice dean of executive education at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

Sometimes the name itself just gets a little bit outdated, she said. Sometimes there's just a lot of baggage with an existing name, in a way that the firm may want to lose some of what comes with that baggage.

Beyond Facebook and Google, a wide range of companies have changed names in recent years. Last year, payments company Square became Block (SQ) and, in 2016, Snapchat became Snap (SNAP). In 2017, Tesla (TSLA) even dropped the "Motors" from its name. There have also been some notable name changes in consumer space within the five years, including Restoration Hardware's rebrand to RH (RH), and Weight Watchers' move to become WW.

For Facebook, the context in which its name changed was contentious. Facebook said it would become Meta in October 2021, the same month whistleblower Frances Haugen's bombshell interviews hit the news. Haugen, a former employee, contended that Facebook knew the extent to which its platforms were used to spread misinformation and hate, and chose to do nothing, kicking off a firestorm for the company.

'Negative associations with Facebook'

To this end, Williams believes the Meta-Facebook change was in large part to offset the negative press spurred by Haugen's revelations. Renee Richardson Gosline, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology lecturer in management science, agrees.

The metaverse feels ostensibly very cutting-edge, but it still feels very social media-related, of that same ilk, said Gosline. It remains to be seen how closely Meta hews to what Facebook does and if they continue to play in the same sandbox, its not going to be easy for them to disassociate from the negative associations with Facebook.

The Meta era overall hasnt been great for the companys stock so far, and the name change announcement video in particular, at the time, inspired jokes and criticism. The video  which is more than an hour long  featured CEO Mark Zuckerberg introducing the companys take on the metaverse. Its highly produced, with gorgeous graphics and no acknowledgment of Haugen's allegations, or the accompanying PR crisis.

There were definitely intense reactions, said Gosline. The reactions that were negative come back to the fact that all the bells-and-whistles came off to a lot of people as 'Wizard of Oz'-ish, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain or, in this case, the problems revealed by the whistleblower [Haugen].

That said, Meta's stock has seen good news recently  shares soared in the aftermath of this week's earnings, which weren't impressive on the surface, but revealed vital user growth on Facebook app.

Diversifying risk

For all the hullabaloo surrounding a giant corporate name change, theres another compelling incentive for a company like Facebook or Google to change its name  theyre victims of their own success. What started out as one iconic product became an empire of brands, some of which arent tied to that original product at all.

This is a key parallel between Google and Facebook: both companies started with a singular, successful product and then grew, both organically and through acquisitions, said Barbara Kahn, a marketing professor who, like Williams, is at Wharton. Each newly acquired product, from Instagram to WhatsApp, came in with its own brand name and reputation.

Being known as Facebook or Google is really limiting when what you really are is a house of brands, said Kahn.

Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing entitled 'Protecting Kids Online: Testimony from a Facebook Whistleblower' on Capitol Hill, in Washington, U.S., October 5, 2021. Jabin Botsford/Pool via REUTERS

A house of brands owns a variety of different brands and businesses, and the parent companys stamp on that brand isnt necessarily visible  in changing their monikers, thats what both Google and Facebook sought to be. The reverse is called branded house, like Disney (DIS), where the parent companys brand name supports all of the other products in the portfolio.

The house of brands approach prevents "contamination between brands, diversifying risk, Kahn told Yahoo Finance.

Consumers are absolutely able to separate brands from their parent companies, said Gosline.

You may have a problem with Amazon (AMZN), but you still listen to Audible, or shop at Whole Foods, so this kind of brand separation is very valuable, she said.

I absolutely feel this way. I wont buy books on Amazon, but I love Audible. I use Instagram regularly, but havent had a Facebook profile in years.

It seems like Im not the only one. I asked my friend, Amanda Cifone, if she feels like Facebook and Instagram are connected, and heres what she said: Other than the little Meta sign-off on the bottom as the app is loading, they don't feel connected to me.

Cifone distinctly prefers Instagram to Facebook.

I feel like I see a lot less crazy on Instagram, she said. Its a visually driven platform, [so] I tend to follow more artists and brands rather than everyone I know, she said.

The reverse can also be true.

I wouldnt say Im a fan of either Facebook or Instagram; my use of both has waned over the past couple of years, said Kristin Faulder, principal at communications firm Heurisay. That said, my use of  and even satisfaction with  Facebook is slightly higher than IG. The reason: while all social media platforms tend to feel, well, shallow, I feel there are more interesting conversations, discussions and nuances that happen on Facebook.

Audience matters

Whether a name change is adopted is deeply tied to the audience that the change is geared towards. That audience doesn't have to be consumers; it can also be competitors, or investors.

I think [Facebook's] certainly trying to say that the name change is because theres a shift in strategy and not because of negative baggage, but I suspect both things are actually true, said Williams.

So, theyre trying to claim the metaverse," Williams added. "In choosing that word, theyre speaking really more to their competitors than consumers, saying that theyre going to invest, double-down Its an effort to squarely send a strong competitive message about the companys future.

Gosline agrees the choice of Meta reflects a clear effort to gain first-mover advantage in that space.

Likewise, Googles switch to Alphabet is about communicating that Google is bigger than search, or even Google-branded products.

They're also speaking mostly to the financial market, saying, When you think of us as an entity, you should be giving us credit for all the other things that we have in our portfolio, said Williams. I see the change as really directed towards investors for investors, and they expect most people are never going to call them Alphabet.

For its part, Meta's probably going to need to do more for the name change to fully settle into the public consciousness, according to Gosline.

I dont think the metaverse on its own is sufficient to break the negative associations people currently have with Facebook, she added.

Ultimately, name changes sometimes work, and other times never quite take. For instance, Altria (MO), the holding company whose divisions include tobacco group Philip Morris USA, has never fully shed the negative sheen associated with brands it owns like Marlboro. But time and good works can do wonders.

If you change your name and do good things with it, I think repositioning and new values can take, but its never a guarantee, said Kahn.

Allie Garfinkle is a senior tech reporter at Yahoo Finance. Find her on twitter @agarfinks.

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California and 15 states that want the U.S. Postal Service to electrify its mail delivery vehicles are suing to halt purchases of thousands of gas-powered trucks as the agency modernizes its delivery fleet.

Three separate lawsuits, filed Thursday by the states and environmental groups in New York and California, ask judges to order a more thorough environmental review before the Postal Service moves forward with the next-generation delivery vehicle program.

Plaintiffs contend that purchases of fossil fuel-powered delivery vehicles will cause environmental harm for decades to come. The lawsuits could further delay the Postal Services efforts to replace the ubiquitous delivery trucks that went into service between 1987 and 1994.

Louis DeJoys gas-guzzling fleet guarantees decades of pollution with every postcard and package, said Scott Hochberg, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, referring to the postmaster general.

Attorneys general from 16 states  14 of which have Democratic governors  sued in San Francisco. A separate lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice, CleanAirNow KC and Sierra Club was filed in the same venue. Another was filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and United Auto Workers in New York.

All three of them target the environmental review underpinning the Postal Service's planned purchase of up to 165,000 next-generation delivery vehicles over the next decade.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said its key to stop the process before its too late.

Once this purchase goes through, well be stuck with more than 100,000 new gas-guzzling vehicles on neighborhood streets, serving homes across our state and across the country, for the next 30 years. There wont be a reset button, he said.

The Postal Service defended the process it followed under DeJoy, a wealthy former logistics executive and Republican donor who was appointed by a board of governors controlled by then-President Donald Trump.

The Postal Service conducted a robust and thorough review and fully complied with all of our obligations under (the National Environmental Policy Act), spokesperson Kim Frum said Thursday in an email.

The Postal Service contract calls for 10% of the new vehicles to be electric but the Postal Service contends more electric vehicles can be purchased based on financial outlook and strategic considerations.

The percentage of battery-electric vehicles was doubled  to 20%  in the initial $2.98 billion order for 50,000 vehicles.

Environmental advocates contend the Postal Service's environmental review was inadequate and flawed, and that the contract represented a missed opportunity to electrify the fleet and reduce emissions.

The review process was so rickety and riddled with error that it failed to meet the basic standards of the National Environmental Policy Act, said Adrian Martinez, senior attorney on Earthjustice's Right to Zero campaign.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said the Postal Service used fatally flawed decision-making that led to an outcome that was fiscally and environmentally irresponsible. New York is among the plaintiffs.

If the parties cant agree on a settlement, the lawsuit could drag on for months, possibly into next year, if there are appeals, said University of Richmond School of Law professor Carl Tobias.

The new gasoline-powered vehicles would get 14.7 miles per gallon (23.7 kilometers per gallon) without air conditioning, compared to 8.4 mpg (13.5 kpg) for the older vehicles, the Postal Service said.

All told, the Postal Services fleet includes 190,000 local delivery vehicles. More than 141,000 of those are the old models that lack safety features like air bags, anti-lock brakes and backup cameras.

The new vehicles are taller to make it easier for postal carriers to grab packages and parcels that make up a greater share of volume. They also have improved ergonomics and climate control.

The states that sued are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District in California, District of Columbia and city of New York joined that lawsuit, as well.

___

Sharp reported from Portland, Maine.
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in front of a mountain background

Oscar Mayer

According to the Oscar Mayer website, on Thursday, its six Wienermobiles will be making appearances in Cleveland, Miami, Philadelphia, at two Walmarts in Texas, and in Chino, California, The rest of the month is equally as busy, as the iconic fiberglass hot dogs roll into every time zone in the continental United States.

But the Madison, Wisconsin-based company is willing to let one of those Wienermobiles make a detour to drive some lucky high school student (and three of their friends) to their prom. That's right: while everyone else rolls up in a rented limo or in whatever car they borrowed from their parents, some absolute legend is going to have the opportunity to be the King or Queen of the Wienermobile, at least for one night.

If you know a high schooler who'd be into this idea (or if you're 17 or 18 years old and are enthusiastically nodding your head), they can enter to win the ultimate prom night ride by making an original 60-second-or-less video for Instagram or TikTok, and posting it with the hashtags #OscarTakeMeToProm and #contest.

In the video, the contest entrants should explain why they should be chosen for the Wienermobile to drive them to prom, and they should include the details about where and when their prom is taking place. All submissions must be received by Oscar Mayer by 12:00 p.m. CST on Tuesday, May 3 (and yes, entrants may submit more than one video).

According to the contest's fine print, the independent judges will review the entries between May 3 and May 6, and they will be evaluated on their creativity and originality, and by how well each video "fits within the Oscar Mayer brand theme" and is "a fun expression of the challenge." The winning entry (or entries) will be notified by the official @OscarMayer account on Instagram or TikTok.

This isn't the first time that Oscar Mayer has made the Wienermobile available for special occasions: in late 2020, the company started allowing couples to request the Wienermobile's presence for their wedding proposals.

According to a spokesperson for Oscar Mayer, the company got the idea after one of their own Wienermobile drivers (or a "Hotdogger" in Oscar-speak) proposed to his own girlfriend in front of the unmistakable vehicle. "We wanted to extend this to our fans so everyone can have the opportunity of a 27-foot hot dog on wheels present during such an important life moment," Nick Guerten told Food & Wine at the time.

Who knows? Maybe one of the couples who take the Wienermobile to prom will eventually call it back for their eventual wedding proposal. Now that's a storyline worthy of its own hashtag.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is considering looking to delay the long-planned closure of Diablo Canyon, California's last nuclear power plant. (Joe Johnston / San Luis Obispo Tribune)

With the threat of power shortages looming and the climate crisis worsening, Gov. Gavin Newsom may attempt to delay the long-planned closure of California's largest electricity source: the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant.

Newsom told the L.A. Times editorial board Thursday that the state would seek out a share of $6 billion in federal funds meant to rescue nuclear reactors facing closure, money the Biden administration announced this month. Diablo Canyon owner Pacific Gas & Electric is preparing to shutter the plant  which generated 6% of the state's power last year  by 2025.

"The requirement is by May 19 to submit an application, or you miss the opportunity to draw down any federal funds if you want to extend the life of that plant," Newsom said. "We would be remiss not to put that on the table as an option."

He said state officials could decide later whether to pursue that option. And a spokesperson for the governor clarified that Newsom still wants to see the facility shut down long term. It's been six years since PG&E agreed to close the plant near San Luis Obispo, rather than invest in expensive environmental and earthquake-safety upgrades.

But Newsom's willingness to consider a short-term reprieve reflects a shift in the politics of nuclear power after decades of public opposition fueled by high-profile disasters such as Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, as well as the Cold War.

Nuclear plants are America's largest source of climate-friendly power, generating 19% of the country's electricity last year. That's almost as much as solar panels, wind turbines, hydropower dams and all other zero-carbon energy sources combined.

A recent UC Berkeley poll co-sponsored by The Times found that 44% of California voters support building more nuclear reactors in in the Golden State, with 37% opposed and 19% undecided  a significant change from the 1980s and 1990s.

The poll also found that 39% of voters oppose shutting down Diablo Canyon, with 33% supporting closure and 28% unsure.

Pacific Gas & Electric's Diablo Canyon nuclear plant is California's largest electricity source. (Michael A. Mariant / Associated Press)

Nuclear supporters say closing plants such as Diablo would make it far more difficult to achieve President Biden's goal of 100% clean energy by 2035, and to mostly eliminate planet-warming emissions by midcentury  which is necessary to avert the worst impacts of climate change, including more dangerous heat waves, wildfires and floods, according to scientists.

Nuclear plants can produce power around the clock. The stunning growth of lithium-ion battery storage has made it easier and cheaper for solar panels and wind turbines to do the same, but those renewables still play much less of a role when the sun isn't shining and wind isn't blowing, at least for now.

The U.S. Commerce Department, meanwhile, is considering tariffs on imported solar panels, which could hinder construction of clean energy projects that California is counting on to avoid blackouts the next few summers, as Diablo and several gas-fired power plants shut down. Newsom said in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo this week that her department's tariff inquiry has delayed at least 4,350 megawatts of solar-plus-storage projects  about twice the capacity of Diablo Canyon.

He urged Raimondo to "take immediate action to resolve this issue as soon as possible."

"This Department of Commerce tariff issue is one of the biggest stories in the country," Newsom told The Times' editorial board. "Looking at retroactive 250% tariffs for everything coming out of Malaysia or Vietnam, and Taiwan, elsewhere  this is serious."

The governor said he's been thinking about keeping Diablo open longer since August 2020, when California's main electric grid operator was forced to implement rolling blackouts during an intense heat wave. Temperatures stayed high after sundown, leaving the state without enough electricity to keep air conditioners humming after solar farms stopped producing.

A few hundred thousand homes and businesses lost power over two evenings, none of them for longer than 2 hours at a time, officials said. The state only narrowly avoided more power shortfalls during another heat storm a few weeks later, highlighting the fragility of an electric grid undergoing a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Newsom spokesperson Anthony York said the governor's decision to reconsider Diablo Canyon's closure timeline was driven by projections of possible power shortages in the next few years. Those projections, he said, came from the California Independent System Operator, which oversees the electric grid for most of the state.

Anne Gonzales, a spokesperson for the grid operator, couldn't immediately provide the projections. She said in an email that the agency supports "considering and exploring all options" for keeping the lights on, as doing so gets harder due to climate impacts including more extreme heat waves, more aggressive wildfires and hydropower supplies diminished by drought.

Newsom told the editorial board that reliable electricity is "profoundly important." He also acknowledged the growing number of scientists, activists and former U.S. energy secretaries who have pressed him to rescue Diablo for climate reasons.

"Some would say it's the righteous and right climate decision," Newsom said.

Extending the plant's closure deadline  PG&E is on track to shutter the first reactor in 2024, and the second in 2025  wouldn't be easy even with funding from the Biden administration. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission would need to hurry to renew Diablo's operating license. Newsom suggested several state agencies would need to be involved, too  as well as the Legislature, which last year declined to even give a committee vote to a bill designed to keep Diablo Canyon open.

For Newsom to extend Diablo's life, he would also need PG&E's cooperation in applying for federal funds. The company committed to closing the plant in 2016, when it struck a deal with environmental groups and its own union workforce to get out of the nuclear business  a decision that was eventually endorsed by regulators and lawmakers.

Asked whether PG&E is open to changing course on Diablo, spokesperson Lynsey Paulo said in an email that the company is "always open to considering all options to ensure continued safe, reliable, and clean energy delivery to our customers."

"PG&E is committed to Californias clean energy future, and as a regulated utility, we are required to follow the energy policies of the state," Paulo said.

Newsom said he's asked PG&E to consider what it would take to keep Diablo Canyon open longer, including the possible role of federal funds.

"Based on the conversations we've been having with PG&E, it's not their happy place," he said.

An aerial view of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. (Mark Ralston / AFP/Getty Images)

The company declined to comment on how federal funds might be used to Diablo's benefit. State officials have previously told The Times that operating Diablo past 2025 would require billions of dollars of upgrades to comply with earthquake safety rules, and with environmental regulations governing the use of ocean water for power-plant cooling.

To Ralph Cavanagh  co-director of the clean energy program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and a key architect of the 2016 deal to shut down Diablo Canyon  applying for federal funds would be a fool's errand.

Cavanagh said it's his understanding that only certain types of power companies with specific economic challenges are eligible for the nuclear funding, and PG&E isn't one of them. The infrastructure bill approved by Congress last year  which set aside the money Newsom is interested in seeking  says funds are only available to nuclear plants that compete in a "competitive electricity market," which Diablo Canyon does not.

York, Newsom's spokesperson, acknowledged in a text message that there's "some question about whether Diablo is eligible" for the federal money, and that "PG&E would need to talk to" the federal Energy Department to get more clarity.

Cavanagh also said solar, storage and other clean energy resources could replace Diablo cheaply and reliably, as envisioned in the 2016 deal. As for the supply chain and tariff issues that have slowed solar and battery storage projects, he pointed out that both of Diablo's reactors will still be online through summer 2024, with the second sticking around until August 2025.

"We have time to get our arms around that," he said.

While NRDC supports keeping some nuclear plants operating where safety risks are lower, the technology's fiercest critics argue nuclear is fundamentally unsafe. They consider Diablo Canyon especially risky because it's near several seismic fault lines along California's Central Coast. As far back as the 1970s  when then-Gov. Jerry Brown protested the plant's construction  Diablo has stirred fears of an earthquake-driven meltdown spreading deadly radiation across the state.

Nuclear waste is another concern. In the absence of a permanent underground storage repository for spent fuel, radioactive waste is piling up at power plants across the country, including the shuttered San Onofre facility along the coast in San Diego County.

Nuclear waste canisters near the Pacific shoreline at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Rescuing Diablo Canyon is far from California's only option for averting blackouts.

There are many other steps the state might take  and in many cases is actively taking  to keep the lights on after sundown the next few summers, such as adding batteries to the grid, paying homes to use less energy and coordinating electricity supplies more closely with other Western states. Longer-term options include investing in geothermal energy and offshore wind.

Newsom told The Times' editorial board he plans to announce a "resilience fund" in next month's update to his annual budget proposal, to pay for projects that would help avoid rolling blackouts the next few years.

But the governor also thinks keeping Diablo Canyon around at least a little while longer is worth considering, despite the political backlash it might provoke. He pointed to modeling by the state's Public Utilities Commission and Independent System Operator showing that worsening heat waves  fueled by climate change  are making it harder to keeps the light on.

"We threw out the old playbook. We're going to worst-case scenario," he said. "We are being very sober."

Supporting nuclear is a key climate priority for the Biden administration. But federal officials hadn't seemed optimistic PG&E would apply for a share of the Energy Department's $6-billion nuclear bailout fund. During a visit to Southern California last week, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters she's "not sure that the community [around] Diablo Canyon is on board yet."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
President Joe Biden shakes hands with 2022 National Teacher of the Year Kurt Russell during the 2022 National and State Teachers of the Year event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden congratulated the 2022 national teacher of the year on Wednesday by offering a deeply personal story saluting school leaders who helped him overcome a serious childhood stutter decades before he had White House aspirations.

I wonder how I got here. I got here because of my parents and my teachers, Biden said in a long, heart-felt deviation from his prepared remarks during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. That idea is exemplified by the national teacher of the year.

The president and first lady Jill Biden, who continues to teach English at a community college in suburban Washington, cheered Ohio history teacher Kurt Russell, the 2022 national teacher of the year, and finalists for the award who gathered from each state.

Teaching is not what Jill does, its who she is, like most of you, the president said, before telling the crowd about his problem as a child speaking  especially in class or otherwise publicly  when I stuttered, everyone thinks you're stupid. Totally incompetent.

Biden has talked openly about battling a childhood stutter in the past, including while running for president in 2020. But he stressed on Wednesday the importance of teachers in helping him with that effort.

I have teachers, I can name the ones through grade school, high school, even college, the president said. I didn't really beat my stutter  and still occasionally I do (stutter)  until I took a speech debate class in college just to force myself to be able to stand up."

Biden recalled being an adjunct law professor and said he once made extra money as a substitute teacher, drawing laughs by sternly admonishing the crowd, you should be nicer to them. He called for increasing teacher pay  a position that draws broad bipartisan support even if following through on raises don't often materialize in many parts of the country.

The president also got political, decrying Republican-led efforts in some states to restrict some books taught in classrooms or available in school libraries after some parents objected to subject matter they saw as too sexually explicit or overly politically correct.

Today, there are too many politicians trying to score political points banning books, Biden said. All because it doesnt fit somebodys political agenda. He added of teachers, "We have got to stop making them the target of the culture wars.

Russell summed up his profession by saying, Each student needs a champion, no matter what the circumstance are.

That echoed the sentiments of the first lady, who said of great teachers, its not the curriculum or the classroom tactics, its that smile that tells students that they dont have to be afraid to answer out loud.

Its the calm in your voice that can still the wild horses running through their hearts," she added. Its the way that you know that, sometimes, Im fine means everything is wrong.

When Jill Biden talked about teachers changing lives student by student, her voice began to crack, before she laughed and said Now I'm getting emotional.

___

Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
There was a heated battle of wits between two of the GOPs most performative congresswomen. Fortunately, neither combatant was armed.

Politico reports that Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert got into a spirited debate last month just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. The spat was said to have been over Greenes speech at a February event with White Supremacist ties that drew negative attention to their shared political party. Boebert, no stranger to bigoted rhetoric, apparently took exception to her colleagues appearance at that event.

U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert (left) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene scream "Build the Wall" as U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address on March 1, 2022.





U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert (left) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene scream "Build the Wall" as U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address on March 1, 2022. (EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/)

The confrontation between the women is said to have taken place last month at a gathering of the House Freedom Caucus, where at least one onlooker feared things may have turned violent had a caucus board member not intervened.

Both women are conspiracy obsessed gun enthusiasts. Greene once suggested lasers fired from space may have been responsible for wildfires in California.

Americans most confident in spotting Fake News may be the most vulnerable to it

Politico said its report was backed by three people with ties to the event. The political site claims that Boebert, detests being linked to Greene, who is seen as less of a team player among congressional conservatives.

The pair were very much on the same page during President Bidens State of the Union address, where they stood side-by-side shouting out commentary as though they were attending a rodeo.

Upon hearing about Greenes appearance at the toxic far right-wing rally earlier in the year, moderate Republican senator Mitt Romney of Utah said he was reminded of a scene from the Western classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when one character said, Ive got morons on my team.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema waves during the Kaunda Day celebration in Lusaka, Zambia, on April 28, 2022. Zambians on Thursday marked the inaugural Kaunda Day in honor of the country's founding leader Kenneth Kaunda with a call to promote the value of unity that he espoused. (Photo by Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua)

LUSAKA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Zambians on Thursday marked the inaugural Kaunda Day in honor of the country's founding leader Kenneth Kaunda with a call to promote the value of unity that he espoused.

Former President Edgar Lungu declared April 28, the day Kaunda was born, as a public holiday during Kaunda's funeral last year to remember the sacrifices he and other freedom fighters made to free the country from colonialism.

Kaunda ruled Zambia from 1964 when the country got its independence to 1991. He died on June 17, 2021.

The event was marked by various activities, including the launch of a cleaning exercise in the central business district of Lusaka, the country's capital, by President Hakainde Hichilema, and the opening of the Kenneth Kaunda Temporal Exhibition at the Lusaka Museum by Vice-President Mutale Nalumango.

Hichilema, who participated in the clearing of the garbage, said it was important to emulate the life of Kaunda which included hard work and service to the people.

He said Kaunda was a special person not only to Zambia and the region but to the rest of the world, adding that he offered himself for the service of the people from a young age. He said the unity Kaunda promoted during his 27-year reign must be emulated by all citizens, adding that anything that promotes disunity must be frowned upon.

According to him, Kaunda espoused a humane spirit that must be carried forward by the current and future generations.

The Zambian president said there was a need to inculcate the spirit of keeping the environment clean which needs to be localized and promoting a culture of cleanliness, and a clean environment will go a long way in lessening the disease burden in the country.

"We must clean our surroundings; we must be orderly and raise our children in a clean environment so that when they grow up they can understand that dirty surroundings are not good," he said. 

People take part in a cleaning activity on the Kaunda Day in Lusaka, Zambia, on April 28, 2022. Zambians on Thursday marked the inaugural Kaunda Day in honor of the country's founding leader Kenneth Kaunda with a call to promote the value of unity that he espoused. (Photo by Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua)

Soldiers take part in a cleaning activity on the Kaunda Day in Lusaka, Zambia, on April 28, 2022. Zambians on Thursday marked the inaugural Kaunda Day in honor of the country's founding leader Kenneth Kaunda with a call to promote the value of unity that he espoused. (Photo by Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua)
Far from the war's front lines, central and western Ukraine were on high alert Friday after Russian missiles rained down on the capital, Kyiv, killing at least one person and shattering a relative return to calm that had seen the United Nations chief visiting mass graves on the city's outskirts.

In a video address overnight, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the aerial attack Thursday near the center of Kyiv after his meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was a sign of "Russias true attitude to global institutions" and would provoke "a strong response."

"We still have to drive the occupiers out," Zelensky said, citing recent bombings in Kyiv and Fastiv, southwest of the capital, as well as Odesa, a strategic port city on the Black Sea that has increasingly become a target of missiles, including one this week that struck a major bridge and railway link.

The shifting state of affairs in Ukraine  where Russia had telegraphed its intention to focus on the eastern Donbas region claimed by pro-Moscow separatists yet has continued to assault parts of the country's west and center  prompted the U.S., Britain and other NATO members to add troops around Ukraine and pledge billions of additional dollars in humanitarian and military aid through the summer.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday in Kyiv. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office)

"We need to be prepared for the long term," Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said late Thursday after President Biden announced that he would ask Congress to approve $33 billion in new aid to Kyiv. "There is absolutely the possibility that this war will drag on and last for months and years."

The British government said Friday that it would dispatch 8,000 troops over the summer to Eastern Europe for extended exercises to deter Russian aggression. The deployment is among the largest by the nation since the Cold War and will include training with thousands of troops from NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force, an alliance that includes Finland and Sweden, two non-NATO nations that this week were told their membership would be fast-tracked if they petitioned to join.

Britain also said Friday that it would send war crimes investigators to Ukraine, following reports of rape by Russian troops, the discovery of mass graves outside Kyiv and reports of additional mass burials outside Mariupol, a heavily bombarded southern city under near-total Russian control.

"Russia has brought barbarity to Ukraine and committed vile atrocities, including against women. British expertise will help uncover the truth and hold [Russian President Vladimir] Putins regime to account for its actions. Justice will be done," said British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

On Friday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said Putin had accepted an invitation to participate in the G-20 summit planned for fall in Bali. Indonesia is the current chair of the Group of 20 nations.

"Indonesia wants to unite the G-20. Don't let there be a split. Peace and stability are the keys to the recovery and development of the world economy, Widodo said in a statement.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby grew emotional while speaking to reporters Friday about the war, in which Ukrainian civilians have been killed by Russian forces overseen by Putin.

"It's difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that," Kirby said. "I can't talk to his psychology, but I think we can all speak to his depravity."

As Kyiv cleaned up after missiles hit a commercial and residential neighborhood northwest of the presidential office, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that a body had been recovered from the rubble.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a U.S.-funded news organization, said one of its workers, Vira Hyrych, was killed.

A former U.S. Marine from Tennessee has also died in the conflict while fighting in Ukraine with a military contracting company, his family told CNN.

"He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for," Rebecca Cabrera said of her 22-year-old son, Willy Joseph Cancel.

In Mariupol, where 600 people  a mix of military and civilians  were surrounded by Russians in a vast steelworks that is Ukraine's last holdout in the once-thriving city, another attempt at an evacuation was announced Friday, authorities said. Several previous attempts to transport Ukrainians out of the Azovstal plant, including Russian offers to allow safe passage, have not materialized.

Speaking at a video news conference, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said that "if Mariupol is hell, Azovstal is worse." He said those trapped were "begging to be saved.

Cleanup crews work Friday at the site of an explosion in Kyiv, which has come under fresh attack from Russian forces. (Emilio Morenatti / Associated Press)

Boychenko said his city was "destroyed" but denied that it had fallen to Russia.

"Mariupol is holding, he said.

Fighting continued to rage in the east, along a 300-mile battlefront in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where Ukrainians and Russians have traded increasingly heavy fire for weeks as locally organized humanitarian efforts distribute basic supplies to fleeing populations.

In Sumy, near the Russia border, officials said there were multiple rounds of shelling Friday morning but did not report deaths or injuries.

In Russia, authorities reported shelling in the border regions of Kursk and Bryansk and blamed fire from Ukraine. Kyiv did not claim responsibility for the shelling, but an advisor to Zelensky said this week that Ukraine reserved the right to hit "warehouses and bases of the killers in Russia"  an assertion that U.S. and British leaders have echoed.

West of the front lines, in Dnipro, Ukrainian fighter jets flew over farmlands Friday as workers planted zucchini and cabbage. Air-raid sirens went off regularly in city, where buses and everyday life seemed to go on without great interruption.

Sirens also sounded overnight in Lviv, the western city near the Polish border that has become a major transit point for millions of refugees, though no explosions could be heard. In the morning, the streets were full of traffic, and people clustered at coffee kiosks.

The Lviv area, which has been mostly spared from violence but has seen a few deadly missile attacks since March, is now home to 335,000 internally displaced Ukrainians, Governor Maksym Kozytsky said Friday on Telegram. Overall, more than 8 million Ukrainians have been displaced within the country's borders, and upward of 5 million have fled abroad.

In his Telegram message, Kozytsky urged residents to stay calm. "Have a nice day everyone! Everything will be fine," he said.

In Odesa, near the Moldova border, locals said their sense of safety had been punctured in recent days after attacks severed the Zatoka bridge, a vital road and railway connection. Officials said three missiles were shot down overnight in the area.

The attacks  along with increased fears of the war extending to Transnistria (also known as Trans-Dniester), a breakaway Russia-backed region sandwiched between Odesa and Moldova  left many people feeling tense, said Vladislav Davidzon, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council who is originally from Odesa and lives there intermittently.

Davidzon added that the local government had scheduled a full-day curfew for Monday, the anniversary of 2014 clashes between pro-Ukraine and pro-Russia activists. Commemorative rallies are held each year.

"The city authorities are trying their best to make sure the situation doesn't explode," he said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports of the death of Cancel, the former Marine, but had no comment because of privacy considerations.

Cabrera, Cancel's mother, told CNN that her son had flown to Poland on March 12, then crossed into Ukraine. He was killed Monday, she said.

They havent found his body. They are trying, the men that were with him, but it was either grab his body or get killed," Cabrera said. "We would love for him to come back to us.

King reported from Lviv, Bulos from Odesa and Kaleem from London. Times staff writers Carolyn Cole in Dnipro, Ukraine, and Kurtis Lee in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
KYIV, Ukraine  The passenger train from Kyiv to Sumy was running Thursday morning with just a six-minute delay. The 200-mile route crosses territory scarred by more than two months of ground battles and aerial bombardment since Russias invasion began.

Despite what appear to be concerted efforts by the Russian military this week to disable the vital Ukrainian rail network, this journey and dozens of others are providing a crucial means of military support and civilian escape through the country.

Rail also acts as a symbol of Ukraines defiance and the limits of Russias military power. After cities and towns were reduced to rubble, with thousands killed, the trains are still running.

Ukraine has one of the largest rail networks in the world, with 12,400 miles of track. Rail is one of the countrys largest employers, with more than 260,000 staff members.

Before the war, it played a minor role in Ukraines agriculture and mining industries, but it has become a crutch for commodity industries as Russia maintains a blockade on the Black Sea. The movement of grain now is essential to maintain the countrys reputation as Europes breadbasket.

But the trains are no longer just for commodities and long journeys, as the network now moves military ordnance, refugees and humanitarian aid. Increasingly, it is transporting families back to areas previously held by Russian troops.

It delivers foreign leaders, too: Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Kyiv on Sunday, arriving by train from Poland, as have several other Western officials.

Lviv Ukraine with Phil McCausland (Brendan Hoffman for NBC News)

Rail has played a pivotal role for both sides of the war, and it may help explain the failure of Russian forces to win control of the country. Russia was unable to fully use the railways in the early stages of the invasion, experts say, leading to logistical problems and images of Russian trucks stuck in winter mud.

The railways have played a massively important role in the conflict so far, insofar as its the way the Russian motorized ground forces move their troops around, said Emily Ferris, a Russia expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London. All of the problems theyve had in the north are because they werent able to control the logistical hubs.

Until recently, Russian forces had stopped short of targeting railway infrastructure in Ukraine in the hope they would take control of it themselves, said Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, the CEO of Ukrainian Railways passenger trains business.

The Russian military depends heavily on rail logistics, and one of the reasons why theyre rather inefficient is the fact that they dont have reliable supply lines at the moment, he said.

Seemingly unable to take control of the rail network, Russia instead now appears to be intent on trying to disable it.

Two weeks back, it appears that there were more and more deliberate attacks on rail infrastructure, Pertsovskyi said.

Missiles rained down on five Ukrainian train stations and regional railway hubs Monday night, mostly in western and central areas, killing a railway worker and wounding four others, the Ukrainian rail authority said. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a briefing Monday that the railway station attacks were designed to stop the shipment of foreign weapons and military equipment to Ukrainian troops in the eastern Donbas region.

TOPSHOT-GERMANY-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT-AID-RAIL (John MacDougall / AFP via Getty Images)

Its there that Russian forces are now focused, with a crucial battle for eastern Ukraine that could be decided by Kyivs ability to mobilize equipment and weapons  much of which is being sent by allies to aid the defensive stand  by road and rail.

Russia wants to stop the inbound military aid from Western countries that are beginning to resupply the Ukrainians, said Gen. Philip Breedlove, a retired four-star Air Force general and former supreme allied commander of NATO, speaking by phone from Florida.

But thats not the whole story.

Its also just another step in Russias ongoing war against the Ukrainian civilian population, on innocents, said Breedlove, now the chair of the Frontier Europe Initiative at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.

I believe the Russians are attacking, on purpose, civilian structures that move people around and protect people, he said. They want Ukrainians to lose confidence in the civilian transportation infrastructure.

The Russians are scattering these little attacks around to keep killing a few people in this town, kill a few people in that town, kill a few people over here, to maintain pressure and civilian fear, Breedlove said.

Other experts agree that the airstrikes on railway targets also underscore the slow progress of Russias campaign and signal that the conflict has entered a dangerous new phase. Perhaps the first glimpse of that was the deadly attack on a train station in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region on April 8, in which at least 30 people died and 100 others were injured, Ukrainian officials said.

TOPSHOT-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT (Anatolii Stepanov / AFP via Getty Images)

In general, its part of a wider pattern to target Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians and to degrade their physical capacity to resist but also their morale  which doesnt seem to be working, said Ruth Deyermond, an expert in Russian security policy at Kings College London.

Once it became clear that the Russian army wasnt going to walk in and take Kyiv or Kharkiv or other cities, they moved to the second phase, which was trying to reduce parts of Ukraine to rubble, exactly as they did in Chechnya in the 1990s  its part of a long-standing pattern, she said.

So far, every time a railroad is damaged, it just keeps getting repaired.

In some cases, Pertsovskyi said, damaged train lines can be fixed in a few hours. Destroyed or damaged bridges are harder to address, but the bottom line is that even though the attacks are constant and intensifying, we still are able to run the system, he said.

Actually destroying the rail infrastructure, he said, is not an easy task, because the system is quite reliable.

Damage caused by shelling close to the train station in Lviv this month. (@lesiavasylenko / Twitter)

The railway system Russia has relied upon may not have proven so resilient.

Satellite pictures showed trains laden with military hardware making their way to the Ukrainian border in the weeks of buildup to the invasion  including through Belarus.

But the rail link from Belarus to Ukraine was severed, the head of the Ukrainian rail network said in March, leaving Russian forces even more reliant on their limited number of trucks, which were prime targets for small-scale ambush attacks, Ferris said.

Controlling the railways is key here, she said. The Ukrainians know that, and they tried quite hard when they saw Russian advances on certain cities and villages  to bomb things like the bridges and cut off rail connections to stop the Russians where they were.

The next logical step for Russias plan to create a corridor across Ukraines south is to take the Black Sea port of Odesa. A bridge linking the region with the rest of Ukraine and neighboring Romania was shelled twice this week, a possible effort to cut it off from military supplies.

But as in the north, Russian forces may find victory here easier said than done.

The Russian army has done very badly and suffered tremendous losses, Deyermond said. Now theyre talking about the south and Donbas  but even there its very hard to see how they have the capacity to do that.

Will they make significant military gains? she said. Possibly, but are they going to be able to hold them? That seems much less likely.

Phil McCausland reported from Kyiv, and Patrick Smith reported from London.
Gerardo Mixcoatl, Rutilia Martinez, and Alberta Mendez, right, maintenance workers at Union Station, say they have been attacked by homeless people while working at the station in downtown Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Janitor Gerardo Mixcoatl heard the cry as he was preparing to sweep and refill the toilet paper in a men's room stall at Union Station.

"Gerardo, Gerardo, help me," screamed Maria. The two often worked in pairs for safety, and she had just entered the women's bathroom when she felt a blow on the back of her neck. As she turned, a homeless woman pushed her to the floor and hit her repeatedly with a mallet, according to court records.

Mixcoatl dashed into the bathroom and yelled "Stop!" The woman struck him and ran off.

The attack last April, just days after Hollywood celebrated the Academy Awards at the historic station, was one of 235 assault and battery cases the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has documented between the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and February. In the first two months of this year, violent crime at the station has shot up 94% over the same period last year, and property crime has doubled.

But Mixcoatl and half a dozen others who work at Union Station say the danger is even worse than the official statisticsreflect. Open nearly 24 hours a day, the Art Deco rail station has become a haven for homeless people, some of whom exhibit erratic or violent behavior that workers say keeps them constantly on guard for their safety.

A security guard stands at the front entrance of Union Station. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

We are scared. We are frustrated. Everyday something happens, Mixcoatl said. We dont know if we are going to return home to see our children.

The low-wage workers of the transit hub say that some homeless people use the bathrooms to take showers, do drugs or have sex, that they urinate and defecate in the corridors, taunt servers, hurl items, and openly steal. A shoeshiner said they have thrown things at him at least three times in the past six months.

Nineteen of the 21 janitors working at Union Station report being threatened or assaulted while doing their job, according to Alejandra Valles, chief of staff of the SEIU United Service Workers West. The union is preparing a labor grievance and has enlisted Cornell University to help examine conditions at the transit hub.

Some workers say the situation has become unbearable.

"A lot of people that have been here have quit or are planning to quit because of being exposed to the constant verbal abuse," said Rene Herrera, one of the managers at the deli Trimana.

Not long ago, a man off the street threw a rock into the store, smashing the glass walls.

A janitor cleans the food court area in Union Station. Nineteen of the 21 janitors working at the station reported being threatened or assaulted while doing their job. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

"Imagine if that rock would have gotten inside. The window broke at the same side where customers are in line," he said. "Imagine if there would have been a lady there, a little kid in the way of that rock. It would have been a lot worse."

Earlier this year, a mentally ill person attacked Sandra Shells, 70, an emergency-room nurse and avid transit user, near a bus stop across the street from Union Station. She was slapped and pushed in an unprovoked attack, and fell and hit her head, according to authorities. She died of her injuries.

Unlike other parts of Metro's sprawling rail and bus system, there is no law enforcement contracted to patrol the 38-acre Union Station at all hours of the day.

While Metro owns the station, the property is overseen by a joint management council consisting of Amtrak, Metro and Metrolink, which has relied on an informal security agreement with the Los Angeles Police Department that is more geared to terrorist attacks or other major incidents.

The LAPD's Transit Services Bureau did not regularly respond to routine crime calls until May, when crime was spiking and it began doing daytime foot patrols outside of its contract. Those patrols now extend from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., with two or four officers on site at a time.

"We're going to be the best partners that we can be," said Donald Graham, Deputy Chief of the Transit Services Bureau. "But at the end of the day, we are a contracted service, we perform the duties that the contract asks us to perform."

Most of the night, only private security guards are on site. Up to a few weeks ago, they worked three shifts throughout the day, were unarmed and trained only to "observe and report" potential crimes. Metro officials say they have since added guards with mace, batons and handcuffs intended to "de-escalate" situations.

But those efforts have not allayed workers' fears.

Travelers make their way through Union Station. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

Albertha Mendez, a janitor, feigned that she was ignoring a homeless man who was threatening to rape and kill her as she tried to keep track of him over the sound of the wax machine she was motoring over the tile floors. Suddenly, the man grabbed her hair from behind.

He smashed her head on the top of the machine and fled as security arrived. Guards eventually detained him. She still has the video on her phone of him cursing at her as he sat on the floor surrounded by the guards. A few days later, she saw him walking around the station again.

"The security does nothing. They only watch," she said. "We don't have protection. There is no support for us."

She's afraid to fight back, because she doesn't want to get fired for hurting anyone. Mendez has worked for the janitorial company for 18 years and rents a two-bedroom house with her son in Whittier. "I am a single mother, this is my only work. My family depends on me," she said. "If something happens to me, my family will be without. I feel impotent, because I can't do anything."

Despite the somber conditions, Metro still has high hopes for Union Station, the largest transit hub West of the Mississippi, which drew 100,000 travelers daily before the pandemic. The agency purchased the national landmark, built in 1939, for $75 million in 2011 and has put more than $27 million into renovations, including adding air conditioning and restoring the wide leather seats in the waiting area. The station serves Amtrak, Metrolink, and Metro's buses, subway and light rail lines, and would be a stop for the California High Speed Rail line.

People set in a courtyard where homeless people typically gather at Union Station. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

Holly Rockwell, a senior executive officer at Metro, acknowledged security "gaps," but said the property's problems are reflective of higher crime across the city.

"Everywhere around the county, crime is increasing, and and Union Station has not been exempt from that," Rockwell said.

Morlin Asset Management, the contractor overseeing day-to-day operations at the facility, declined to comment.

In Los Angeles this year, through the middle of March, violent crime was up 7 percent and property crimes rose 10 percent compared with the previous period. Throughout the Metro system, violent crimes have similarly jumped 7 percent, and property crimes rose 26 percent, for the first two months of this year, the most recent statistics available.The issue isn't unique to Los Angeles; transit agencies across the country are grappling with higher crime rates and more homeless people on the systems, even as they are trying to bring riders back.

Metro is considering more aggressive measures, including contracting with the LAPD to lock in patrols and services. But the situation raises larger questions about how Metro will police its facilities in the post-pandemic transition.

Ridership cratered as much as 70% during the height of the pandemic. The system became a refuge for unhoused people who often lack access to addiction or mental health services. The agency has poured millions of dollars into getting homeless individuals into shelter, but many loiter at terminals like Union Station. It is one of the few public places with bathrooms that is open all night downtown. It sits about a mile from Skid Row, across from encampments on overpasses above the 101 Freeway.

Metro's contract with law enforcement agencies across its system runs through the end of the year.

Alfonso Directo Jr., advocacy manager at the Alliance for Community Transit-Los Angeles, a social justice coalition, has been pushing to reduce the number of law enforcement officers. He and other advocates are calling for the agency to spend less money on police services and more on social service workers for homeless people and amenities such as bathrooms that serve the largely low-income riders.

"We need to do a lot to separate the issues of homelessness and safety," Directo said. "As people encounter mental health issues, we should also be addressing it with mental health service provision, with ... therapists [and] social workers to support people rather than punish people."

Social justice activists say police in communities around transit stations can respond to calls as they would to any other property and don't need a special contract. They say enforcement on the system disproportionately affects Black riders, something reflected by Metro's own statistics: Black riders received 53% of fare-evasion tickets in 2020 even though they were only 16% of the riders. Adding more officers and ticketing passengers for smoking drugs or evading fares, Directo said, could just exacerbate an already racially lopsided enforcement approach.

Graham, the LAPD deputy chief and its former homeless coordinator, said he would like to see the department work more closely with social services to have real-time diversion.

"If somebody is accused of shoplifting, and it's shoplifting food because they're hungry, we should be able to transport that person not to jail, but to someplace with a service provider that can provide them with a meal," he said.

On a recent Friday, Trimana was filled with customers. A group of tourists headed toward the information booth, and a boy wearing a face mask was chasing after his mother. A homeless woman stared blankly in front of the store, not moving. The station was bustling, with no sign of trouble.

But Chris Nordstrom, part owner of Traxx, said the workers are constantly faced with confrontations. Last week, a man swung a broken bottle at him, he said.

"I got the head of security to come down. And all he said was, 'Well, I guess you could call the cops but they're just gonna process them and then an hour later, he's gonna come back," Nordstrom recounted. "I said, 'Well, can't you just make sure he doesn't come into the station? And he said, 'Well, you know, there are a lot of people that that look like this guy. So we don't know who he is. So they'll probably come back.' "

He did, the next day  "fortunately not with a bottle," Nordstrom said.

Marco Ramirez, who shines shoes at Union Station, said he's been attacked twice by a man who threw coffee at him, once after he stepped in because the man was harassing a deaf woman.

The litany of small and large threats infuriates Alejandra Valles, chief of staff for the United Service Workers West, which represent the janitors who work at Union Station.

"I want everyone to stop being politically correct. Talk to the workers, ask them what they think, and that's the way you serve our community," she said. "What we believe is that somebody should have the right to go to work and walk out alive."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
As the extreme drought gripping the American West enters its third year, water levels in Lake Mead, the largest man-made reservoir in the U.S., which supplies water to tens of millions of people, are at their lowest since the construction of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s.

During the past month, the water level in Lake Mead has continued to plummet, leaving it at roughly 30% of capacity and exposing the top of an old intake valve. At maximum capacity, the lake sits at 1,299 feet above sea level. On Wednesday it was measured 244 feet below that, at 1,055 feet above sea level.

On the same day, as a result of the lakes falling water level, the Southern Nevada Water Authority activated a new low-lake-level pumping station completed in April so the state will continue to be able to supply residents with water.

The sun sets on Lake Mead, where water levels have declined to lows not seen since the reservoir was filled after the construction of Hoover Dam, on April 16. (Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

"It's the worst it's ever been," Colby Pellegrino, deputy general manager of resources of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week regarding the ongoing drought.

This week, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California issued restrictions on roughly 6 million customers that are set to begin on June 1 due to water shortages in Lake Mead and the Colorado River. The restrictions prohibit residents from watering lawns and plants more than one day per week.

As Yahoo News reported, the federal government declared its first-ever water shortage for the Colorado River in mid-August of last year, triggering cuts to the amount of water Arizona was able to draw from it. Since then, the situation has only gotten worse, with water levels dwindling at Lake Powell, another major reservoir on the Colorado River.

Last week, seven Western states that rely on the Colorado River for water agreed with a recommendation by the Department of the Interior requesting that they implement conservation measures like the ones put in place in Southern California. While states like Washington saw sufficient rainfall this winter to alleviate drought conditions, portions of states like Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado continue to experience extreme drought.

Another view of the low water level in Lake Mead. (Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

"Not only is this drought continuing to chug along, it's proceeding at as full-steam pace as it ever has been," Parker Williams, a climate scientist at UCLA, told National Geographic.

Williams is an author of a new study published in Nature Climate Change that shows that warmer temperatures linked to excess greenhouse gas emissions have made the Western drought 40% more severe, and that the current drought will likely drag on through 2030.

With the drought expected to continue worsening as temperatures rise, water levels in Lake Mead are expected fall even further. The danger, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, is that if the lake's elevation falls below 895 feet, the "Hoover Dam can no longer release water downstream to California, Arizona, and Mexico."
LONDON  After reviewing satellite images of a key port in Crimea, the U.S. Naval Institute assessed that Moscow had deployed trained dolphins to protect a naval base in the Black Sea from potential Ukrainian attacks. Submarine analyst H.I. Sutton said two transportable dolphin pens were moved into Sevastopol harbor in February, the same month Russia invaded Ukraine. The mammals, according to the analyst, may be used to prevent enemy divers from infiltrating the harbor and sabotaging Russian warships.

A satellite image on Friday shows dolphin pens that have been placed at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay, Crimea. (Satellite image 2022 Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters)

Has Russia used marine mammals for military purposes before?

According to the Moscow Times, Russia has been training sea mammals since the Soviet era. In the late 1960s, the Soviet Union used the port of Sevastopol as a base to train dolphins and whales to engage in activities like searching for mines and planting explosives, and its also believed that the Soviets trained the sea creatures to kill underwater targets. However, this program was thought to have been neglected when the Soviet Union fell in the 1990s. In 2012, Russia denied a report that claimed it was developing a military training program for dolphins to attack enemy divers with weapons attached to their heads.

A trainer works with a dolphin that used to belong to a top-secret division of the Soviet Navy in the military port of Sevastopol. (Reuters)

Before Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, the aquarium in Sevastopol  which at that time was part of Ukraine  had been training dolphins to swim with children with special needs and had been used in various therapy sessions. However, after the region was seized by Kremlin-led forces, one worker at the aquarium told the state-owned Russian news outlet RIA Novosti that the dolphins and seals were once again receiving military training. The employee reportedly said engineers had been working to develop the program, which would use sea mammals to find sunken objects and enemy divers using their sonar communications systems.

Viktor Baranets, a Russian reserve colonel, confirmed to a Russian broadcaster in 2019: "We have military dolphins for combat roles; we don't cover that up.

A member of the Ukrainian military trains a marine mammal in the Crimean Peninsula in 1992. (Wojtek Laski/Getty Images)

"In Sevastopol we have a center for military dolphins, trained to solve various tasks, from analyzing the seabed to protecting a stretch of water, killing foreign divers, attaching mines to the hulls of foreign ships.

In 2016, the Russian Defense Ministry purchased five bottlenose dolphins. The mammals were bought for $26,000  $5,200 each  and it was not disclosed what their role would be.

Two years later, a report by the Russian TV station Zvezda, owned by the Ministry of Defense, revealed that the navy had been training beluga whales, dolphins and seals in the Arctic waters, the Guardian reported. The report stated that belugas had been dropped from the program when they began to get sick after swimming for long periods in the freezing waters, according to the Siberian Times.

A dolphin plays with a ball during a training session in the dolphinarium in Sevastopol in 2014. (Sergei Ilnitsky/EFE/EPA/ZUMA Press)

But it appeared belugas had not been dropped by the Russian navy when, in 2019, a beluga was found off the coast of Norway. The whale, which was wearing a harness with a pouch to hold a GoPro that was inscribed with the words Equipment of St. Petersburg, was spotted by fishermen after it began harassing their boats. Marine experts believed the strange behavior of the beluga was due to its possible military training.

If this whale comes from Russia, and there is great reason to believe it, then it is not Russian scientists but rather the navy that has done this, Martin Biuw, of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway, told the Guardian.

But Baranets shot down the belugas link to Russia, saying at the time: If we were using this animal for spying, do you really think wed attach a mobile phone number with the message Please call this number?

Have other countries done the same?

A bottlenose dolphin leaps out of the water while in training for mine clearing in the Arabian Gulf in 2003. (Brien Aho/U.S. Navy via Reuters)

There are two known military dolphin training facilities in the world, one in Sevastopol and the other at the NIWC Pacific, or the Naval Information Warfare Center, in San Diego. The U.S. Navy has been training dolphins and sea lions since the Vietnam War. In 1969, an experimental Navy project called Project Deep Ops saw two killer whales and a pilot whale trained to retrieve objects lost in the ocean that were inaccessible to machines and divers. Animals such as California sea lions and bottlenose dolphins have been used to detect mines on the seafloor.

Why use dolphins, sea lions and whales?

A marine mammal is fitted with a cage and instrument during training to search for mines and saboteurs in the Crimean Peninsula in 1992. (Wojtek Laski/ Getty Images)

There are a number of reasons why sea mammals such as dolphins, sea lions and whales would be used for military purposes. Due to their sonar communication systems and their ability to dive deep, the animals are far more effective than any recent technology.

Its not surprising that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin of all people would think that dolphins are a weapon of war, Andrew Lambert, a professor of naval history at Kings College London, told NBC News. Like so much of what were seeing in Ukraine, its the Soviet Unions work being reenacted by the current Russian government. He added about the dolphins: This is their world, and theyre going to find you underwater very, very quickly.

_____

How are Ukrainian forces taking out so many Russian tanks? Use this embed to learn about some of the weapons systems the U.S. is sending to the Ukrainian army.
As of this writing, over 5 million Ukrainians have moved abroad to escape the Russian onslaught, according to the United Nations.

That includes Holocaust survivors who have now moved to Israel.

RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES

In new information shared with Fox News Digital on Thursday, April 28, 2022, Yael Eckstein, president and CEO of The Fellowship of Christians and Jews, said, "Since the beginning of this crisis, thanks to the generosity of our donors, weve been able to bring over 2,600 [immigrants] from Ukraine to Israel and help several thousand more evacuate the war zone and find safety at our shelters in Chisinau."

She added, "It is crystal clear that the dedicated Christian friends of The Fellowship are literally saving lives every single day."

She said she is "more thankful than I ever have been for the generosity that makes these rescue operations possible, since Jewish populations in Ukraine are now in greater danger than theyve been at any time since World War II."

Some of the following people know that all too well.

Valerie Bendersky was a mere 7 years old when he fled to Kazakhstan to escape the Nazi invasion of Ukraine.

Now, nearly 80 years later, he's left his homeland once again, this time because of the Russian forces' invasion of his country.

Bendersky is one of nearly 300 Jewish Holocaust survivors from Ukraine who have been granted refuge in Israel, ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine more than 60 days ago.

"I have lived through two tragedies," the 85-year-old told Reuters, speaking from Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv.

Ukrainian families wait to board a train at Kramatorsk central station as they flee the eastern city of Kramatorsk, in the Donbas region, in early April. Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images

"I was fleeing from Hitler then. Now I have fled from Putin. Naturally, it is hard," he also said.

Before February 2022, most Ukrainian Jews believed their days of suffering were over, Eckstein recently told Fox News Digital ahead of the start of Passover this year.

Now, she said, "a time similar to the very first Passover is taking place in Ukraine."

Many thousands of Jewish people, "including some Holocaust survivors, are fleeing oppression [from Russia's forces] and [are] praying for Gods miraculous deliverance," Eckstein shared recently.

Passover, which commemorates the Jewish people's escape from slavery in Egypt, typically lasts 7 days.

But in Ukraine this year, said Eckstein, the Passover remembrance was "anything but festive" for all those desperately trying to flee their war-torn country with their lives and whatever possessions they could manage to take with them.

Becoming a refugee is especially hard for elderly people who thought they would never, ever see war again.

"I said to myself: 'Oh my God, what a nightmare! Here we go again with the war, bombings, evacuation, leaving your home behind, not being sure if youll stay alive or not'," 100-year-old Dova Govergeviz told Reuters.

Hailing from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, she was in her 20s when she had to abandon her home for the first time with her mother. Then, she took shelter hundreds of miles to the east in Uzbekistan until the end of World War II.

A STORY OF HOPE AMID THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

"We knew that we had an enemy [back then]  Hitler. Hitler and Germany had attacked our country. But now it turns out to be that were fighting against the country that we used to call our 'elder brother'," she said, referring, of course, to Russia.

When the invasion started, Govergeviz initially locked herself in her house, all alone, before deciding that she wanted to immigrate to Israel and stay there for the rest of her life. She believed it to be the safest place for Jews.

UKRAINIAN FAMILY FACES HEARTBREAK AS FATHER MUST SEND SON AWAY FROM HARM

Some 161,400 Holocaust survivors and victims of anti-Semitism during the Nazi era live in Israel. The country commemorated the six million victims of the Holocaust on Thursday of this week, with sirens sounding for two minutes.

Govergeviz is now staying in a care home in the coastal town of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv.

Her journey was organized by Zaka, an Israeli emergency rescue and recovery group, while Bendersky was flown there by the Jewish Agency, which provides "aliyah," or "ascent," to Israel for Jews around the world.

Bendersky had to flee his home in Kharkiv in a hurry, given that this eastern Ukrainian city was coming under repeated shell fire.

"I left everything back there, even my glasses," he said.

Bendersky hopes that the West ultimately will force the Russian invading forces to leave Ukraine. "Can't they let us live out our lives peacefully?" he said.

Reuters contributed reporting to this article.
Journalist Hizbullah Khan has captured images of women trapped in cages and fighting for food in his home of Afghanistan.

"Currently, the Taliban are using women's rights for their bargaining," Khan said.

He calls it a glimpse of everyday life since the Taliban's takeover last fall.

"They don't have any source to feed their children, to feed themselves, so the economic crisis is unprecedented," Khan said.

There's a nationwide hunger crisis, with women taking the brunt. According to the U.N., 100% of female-led households aren't getting enough to eat.

Many women are now unable to work; female employment in the country is expected to drop to 28% or lower this year.

"A lot of women are breadwinners to their families, and depriving them of their right to work will also deprive a whole family of their right to eat, their right to survive," Aisha Khurram said.

Khurram is a United Nations youth representative and college student in Berlin, Germany. She fled her home in Afghanistan to continue her studies.

"I left the day when the Kabul airport was attacked," Khurram said. "At that night, I left by road, and I crossed through each provinces, and it took me two days and two nights."

The women that remain have been denied basic rights, including education.

The Taliban has walked back a promise to allow all girls beyond sixth grade to return to school in March, citing a lack of space to keep genders separate.

According to a report from the Afghanistan Analyst Network, what exists now is spotty, with girls in some provinces back in the classroom, but not all.

"In most rural parts of the countries, what made young people be easily recruited by insurgent groups was the lack of education and job opportunities," Khurram said.

In March, the U.S. joined a host of nations pledging $204 million in additional humanitarian aid while calling for women's right to learn.

However, a report from U.N. advisers blames the humanitarian crisis partly on the U.S. for withholding billions of dollars in assets  something the State Department calls inaccurate.

"They say if you educate a man, you're just educating a person, but if you're educating a woman, you're educating the family and possibly a generation," Wazhma Ayoubi said.

Ayoubi is an Afghan native, activist and entrepreneur who uses her textile company to employ women in the country while living abroad.

"I'm also working with a group of friends to build an online school so that the women and girls that cannot go to school, they could attend school online and we have these classes for them," Ayoubi said.

She isn't alone  other activists are spreading education to women, despite the risk.

But there are threats for men's education, too. Schools with large Hazara Muslim populations have been the target of bombings, killing dozens last week alone.

"Hazaras are being killed while they're worshiping, while they're praying, and they're just an ethnic minority, very peaceful people," Ayoubi said. "They don't deserve this."

Activists inside the country are losing another battle  the war of words.

Khan uses social media to get the word out, but it's risky.

"If you record the brutal policies of the Taliban, the Taliban will find you, they will capture you, then they will torture you and then they will kill you," Khan said.

World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently addressed the lack of international attention.

"All attention to Ukraine is very important, of course, because it affects the whole world, but even a fraction of it is not being given to Tigrey, Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and the rest," Ghebreyesus said.

Khan says he doesn't blame the West; he blames the Taliban. But he is frustrated, saying he feels abandoned by fellow journalists.

"They are living in the hell, and they they have the power to take out these from people the hell," Khan said.

Khurram says while she misses her native land, being abroad does give her the freedom to speak.

"I cannot stay silent, and I owe that country that gave me so much, that made me who I am today," Khurram said.

She is one part of a new generation that has tasted democracy and won't let go.
Police have started digging in a remote area of the Argyll countryside in the hunt for the remains of a woman who was tortured and killed more than a decade ago.

Lynda Spence, 27, was murdered in 2011. Her killers were convicted but her remains have never been found.

Forensic officers began scouring an area near Dunoon, in March, in the search for her body.

Police Scotland said that a detailed assessment of the site has been completed and have began digging to search for further evidence.

Lynda Spence was murdered in 2011 but her remains have never been found (Crown Office/PA)

Detective Superintendent Suzanne Chow said: A detailed assessment of the location has been completed and we have now commenced digging to further explore the site for potential evidence.

This will be an extremely detailed operation, involving specialist search teams from Police Scotland, forensic scientists and soil experts from across the United Kingdom.

The family of Lynda Spence are being kept updated as efforts to establish if her remains are within this area continue.

I would ask anyone with information to please come forward and speak to officers.

Det Supt Suzanne Chow at the scene of the digging at Auchenbreck near Dunoon, Argyll (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Colin Coats and Philip Wade were found guilty of abducting, torturing and murdering Ms Spence in 2013.

Prosecutors have not been able to determine how she was killed, but Coats boasted to a cellmate that he smothered her, cut off her head and burnt her remains in a furnace.

During the trial, the court heard that Ms Spence and Coats were involved in a land deal at Stansted Airport that had been organised by her.

She convinced a Glasgow printer to create fake Danish government bonds, which were supposedly worth millions, but were worth nothing at all.

Colin Coats (left) and Philip Wade were convicted in 2013 of murdering businesswoman Lynda Spence (Crown Office/PA)

Coats and Wade lured her from her flat in Glasgow and she was driven to a property in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire.

They taped her to a chair and tortured her on a daily basis for two weeks.

Coats was jailed for a minimum of 33 years while Wade was ordered to spend at least 30 years behind bars.

Lord Pentland said Coats was the prime mover behind the kidnapping and he was convinced of his devious and cruel personality.
The UK is sending war crimes experts to help Ukraine with its investigations into atrocities committed by Russian invaders, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has announced.

It comes after the death of a British military veteran in Ukraine and as the Foreign Office urgently seeks more information following reports of two British humanitarian workers being detained by Russian forces in the country.

The Foreign Office said the team of experts, due to arrive in neighbouring Poland in early May, will support the Ukrainian government in gathering evidence and prosecuting war crimes and will include experts in conflict-related sexual violence.

Great to see my friend @WBHoekstra in The Hague. We discussed: the importance of standing up to aggressors imposing further sanctions on Russia strengthening NATO  pic.twitter.com/NK69NI1iv6  Liz Truss (@trussliz) April 28, 2022

Ms Truss said: Russia has brought barbarity to Ukraine and committed vile atrocities, including against women.

British expertise will help uncover the truth and hold (Russian President Vladimir) Putins regime to account for its actions. Justice will be done.

Ms Truss is on Friday meeting in The Hague with the president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has opened a probe into alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Moscow does not recognise the authority of the ICC, presenting obvious difficulties.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence said Russia is paying a high price for limited gains of land in Ukraines east.

The Battle of Donbas remains Russias main strategic focus, in order to achieve its stated aim of securing control over the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the department said in its latest intelligence update.

Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine  29 April 2022 Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/94lb8T09GX  #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/Shgw19Ejz0  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) April 29, 2022

The two British civilians held in Ukraine were working as humanitarian aid volunteers when they were captured by the Russian military on Monday at a checkpoint south of the city of Zaporizhzhia in the south-east of the country, according to the UK non-profit organisation Presidium Network.

International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan told Sky News: The Foreign Office is doing all it can to support and identify these two people.

Tributes were paid to British military veteran Scott Sibley, reportedly fighting in support of Ukrainian forces, after the Foreign Office confirmed a British national has died in Ukraine and another is missing without identifying the pair.

The families of both are being supported, a spokesman said, declining to give names or further details.

Fundraisers have received donations of more than 10,000 for the veterans family, with Craig Grant writing on one Gofundme page: To me he was a friend like no other and the bravest person Ive had the pleasure to have known, he was as good as a brother to me.

Tributes were also left on the Logistic Support Squadron Facebook page, where a picture was posted alongside the comment: This week the Sqn has lost a former serving soldier. A man that showed Commando spirit until the end. RIP. Scott Sibley.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss initially said she would support UK nationals who chose to fight for Ukraine (Victoria Jones/PA)

A small number of serving British personnel are believed to have gone absent without leave to join the resistance against the Russian invasion, while veterans and Britons without combat experience are thought to have also travelled to Ukraine.

There was initially confusion on the Governments position after Ms Truss, in comments during an interview to the BBC on February 26, said she would absolutely support UK nationals who chose to fight for Ukraine.

However, she later rowed back on those comments, insisting she had been expressing support for the Ukrainian cause in her remarks and that there are better ways to contribute to the countrys defence.

Ms Trevelyan said Mr Sibleys death was terribly sad but denied that Ms Truss comments had caused confusion.

She told Times Radio: Terribly, terribly sad news to hear

The Foreign Office are working closely with authorities in Ukraine and indeed supporting the family.

But the Government was clear that the travel advice was: do not go to Ukraine.

It was clear and it was reiterated many times.

Meanwhile, around 8,000 British Army troops are to take part in exercises across eastern Europe to combat Russian aggression in one of the largest deployments since the Cold War.

Dozens of tanks will be deployed to countries ranging from Finland to North Macedonia this summer under plans that have been enhanced since the invasion of Ukraine.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the show of solidarity and strength will see UK service personnel joining with Nato allies and those from the Joint Expeditionary Force alliance, which includes Finland and Sweden, for the exercises.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (C) visits the town of Borodyanka outside Kiev, Ukraine, April 28, 2022. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments regarding the conflict between Russia and Ukraine:

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday visited the town of Borodyanka outside Kiev, which was affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Twitter.

Guterres arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after visiting Moscow on Tuesday.

Osnat Lubrani, the UN resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, said Thursday that she was heading to the Zaporizhzhia city in southern Ukraine to prepare for an evacuation from Mariupol at the request of Guterres.

- - - -

The applications by Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be processed quickly should the Scandinavian countries choose to do so, the military alliance's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday.

"If they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be welcomed with open arms to NATO. Finland and Sweden are our closest partners," Stoltenberg told reporters at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Both Finland and Sweden have long pursued a policy of military non-alignment. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, NATO has failed to win over the two countries several times.

But the two countries have made some changes in their positions in face of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, delivering weapons and ammunition to Ukraine.

- - - -

Kiev is willing to seize Russian assets to finance Ukraine's post-conflict recovery, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Thursday.

"The funds of the Russian government and oligarchs will be one of the main sources for filling the Fund for the Reconstruction of our country," Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine is in talks with the countries of the Group of Seven over the seizure of Russia's assets, Shmyhal said, adding that Canada has already prepared legislation for such actions.

- - - -

Ukraine and Russia on Thursday conducted their seventh prisoner exchange since the start of the conflict, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Forty-five people, including twelve civilians held by the Russian forces, were released as the result of the swap, Vereshchuk said on Telegram.

Out of the thirty-three Ukrainian troops released under the swap, there were 13 officers and 20 soldiers, she said.

- - - -

The German Bundestag, lower house of Parliament, on Thursday voted to provide "comprehensive support for Ukraine," allowing the delivery of heavy weapons to the country.

A corresponding proposal, which was passed by a vote of 586 to 100, allows the "supply of effective, including heavy, weapons and complex systems" to Ukraine. Deliveries were also to be accelerated.

However, Germany's government was also urged to "support all efforts by the Ukrainian government to reach a cease-fire in direct negotiations with the Russian leadership," according to a Bundestag statement. 
JUBA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's ceasefire is increasingly under pressure due to ongoing hostilities in the oil-rich regions of Unity and Upper Nile, the country's ceasefire monitors warned Thursday.

Asrat Denero Amad, the chairperson for Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) warned that the ceasefire is now under threat due to clashes between the splinter factions of the main opposition party Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army-in Opposition.

"Pertaining to the very critical issues of permanent ceasefire, there is concern that the ceasefire is under pressure and could be fracturing. There is tension in Unity state since Mirmir cantonment site was overrun on Feb. 11 by Kitgwang elements and armed youth," said Amad during the meeting of the Revitalized Joint Monitoring Evaluation Commission in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

The ceasefire signed in December 2017 between the SPLM/A-IO led by now First Vice President Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir has been largely holding despite isolated clashes in some remote areas.

The Kitgwang faction is a splinter group of SPLM/A-IO led by Machar's former chief of general staff Simon Gatwech Dual. It split from the main opposition in August 2021, while accusing Machar of nepotism and weakening its hand in the transitional unity government formed in February 2020.

The parties, despite recently forming the unified command structure, are still yet to graduate the 83,000 unified forces to take charge of the transitional period that ends by April 2023.

"Regarding the implementation of the pre-transitional tasks, the agreement on the unification of forces' high command calls for the Joint Defense Board (JDB) to complete the arrangements for graduation and deployment of forces within two months of the agreement," said Amad.

The unified forces are supposed to be made up of the national army, intelligence service, police, prisons and wildlife forces. 
YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Defense of Armenia Suren Papikyan visited the military units located in the southern direction of the Republic, the ministry said in a news release.

The minister got acquainted with the conditions in the military positions and talked to the position-holder servicemen. Commander of the unit, Major-General Artak Budaghyan presented the ongoing works on strengthening the frontline.

During the visit the Defense Minister also met with personnel who are included in the three-month military trainings. The minister thanked them for the active participation to the defense of the Homeland.

Based on the results of the visit the Defense Minister gave concrete instructions and tasks to the commanders of the military units to solve the registered shortcomings in a short period of time.
YEREVAN, 29 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 29 April, USD exchange rate down by 3.41 drams to 453.26 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.41 drams to 478.91 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.08 drams to 6.40 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.46 drams to 569.79 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 167.40 drams to 27520.44 drams. Silver price down by 9.52 drams to 337.50 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.
YEREVAN, 29 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The UN Security Council will discuss in the upcoming week the situation in Ukraine, including the visit of Secretary General Antonio Guterres to Kyiv, ARMENPRESS reports, the permanent representative of the United Kingdom to the UN Barbara Woodward said.



The peace efforts are in the framework of the mandate of the Secretary General, and our obligation is to support them as member of the UN Security Council. We will have an opportunity next week to discuss this very important issue and the visit of the UN Secretary General under the Presidency of the United States, she announced.
YEREVAN, 29 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The meeting of Heads of State and governments of NATO member states will last three days instead of previously traditional two days, ARMENPRESS reports reads the message issued by the NATO.



Spain will host the summit of NATO on June 28, 29, 30 of 2022, the message says.
People stand near the site of a blast in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, April 29, 2022.

At least nine civilians were killed and 13 others wounded in twin blasts on Thursday in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province, provincial police spokesman confirmed. (Photo by Kawa Bashart/Xinhua)

ISLAMABAD, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan strongly condemned terrorist attacks in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province, causing loss of precious Afghan lives and injuring many others, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

"The government and people of Pakistan extend their sympathies, support and solidarity to the people of Afghanistan and particularly with the bereaved families," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

At least nine civilians were killed and 13 others wounded in twin blasts on Thursday in Mazar-i-Sharif, a provincial police spokesman confirmed.

"We believe these heinous acts of terrorism against innocent Afghans are aimed at weakening the resolve of the Afghan nation in pursuit of peace, stability and progress," the foreign ministry said.

Pakistan urged the international community to extend all possible support and assistance to Afghanistan in combating terrorism and overcoming these challenges, it added. 

A wounded man receives medical treatment at a local hospital after a blast in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, April 29, 2022.

At least nine civilians were killed and 13 others wounded in twin blasts on Thursday in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province, provincial police spokesman confirmed. (Photo by Kawa Bashart/Xinhua)

Photo taken on April 29, 2022 shows broken windows near the site of a blast in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan.

At least nine civilians were killed and 13 others wounded in twin blasts on Thursday in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province, provincial police spokesman confirmed. (Photo by Kawa Bashart/Xinhua)
YEREVAN, 29 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. Why should Kosovo or other internationally unrecognized countries benefit from the international mechanism of salvation and compensation, but not Artsakh?, ARMENPRESS reports State Minister of the Artsakh Republic Artak Beglaryan voiced this rhetorical question on his "Telegram" channel.

"It was a pleasure to hear Russian President Vladimir Putin talk to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion on Kosovo. Undoubtedly, this was a precedent for the peoples who live under the existential threat, fight for their right to self-determination, among which the indigenous people of Artsakh are in the forefront.

Needless to bring proofs of the genocidal policies against the Armenians of Artsakh over the decades, including the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Azerbaijan and Artsakh, deportation, destruction of cultural heritage, systemic policies of anti-Armenianism, and a number of other existential threats, as evidenced by the decision of the UN International Court of Justice, as well as similar documented facts of many other international organizations.

And now the rhetorical question is why Kosovo or other internationally unrecognized countries should benefit from this international mechanism of salvation and compensation, and Artsakh, which meets all the standards of international law, no. We should not forget the many cases when the international community did not fulfill its preventive responsibilities, as a result of which different peoples were subjected to genocide," Beglaryan wrote.
YEREVAN, 29 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. Restrictions on entry to Russia for Armenian citizens will be lifted on May 16, ARMENPRESS reports, citing TASS, the journalists were informed about this in the operative headquarters of the fight against coronavirus.

In particular, it was decided that restrictions on the entry of the citizens of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan to Russia, as well as the citizens of Russia to those countries will be lifted.

According to the headquarters, the restrictions on regular and charter flights from Russian airports to Ecuador will also be lifted from May 16.
YEREVAN, 29 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. EU member states may agree to step-by-step renouncing Russian oil next week as part of a new package of sanctions, ARMENPRESS reports The New York Times informs, citing its sources.

According to the newspaper, the ambassadors of the EU member states will meet on May 4 to discuss the draft, which is expected to be approved by the end of the week.
This has been one of the hottest months in recent history, and I am not talking about the heatstroke inducing temperature alone!

I am writing this column to wish everyone Id Mubarak! This has been one of the hottest months in recent history, and I am not talking about the heatstroke inducing temperature alone! Most of our Muslim brethren have observed the holy month of Ramzan, keeping rozas and praying for peace. Its been a tough April for multiple reasons. One of my closest friends, along with her husband, have just about pulled through, after suffering a series of serious medical setbacks. Its Allahs shukr that we are alive, they said, back in their home after a prolonged period of hospitalisation. Their devoted children did not leave either parent unattended for even a single minute. Now the whole family is looking forward to celebrating Id-ul Fitr, especially the grandchildren. As always, I will be receiving something special from their home  a tradition that has remained unbroken for decades. I am a member of their extended family, just as they are of mine.

If only more stories could be like this one. Over a posh Italian dinner, I had tears in my eyes when I thought of the tremendous hardship my dear friends had gone through, struggling for their respective lives in two separate hospitals. A person at the table said: Oh but all your friends represent the Muslim elite. My problem is with the other Muslims. On seeing my horrified expression, there was a quick rephrasing of what had been said, but the meaning remained the same. Considering this person is an American passport holder, the arrogant and offensive remark disturbed me sufficiently to argue back. Big mistake! Consider this comment: Muslims in India dont behave like they belong here. Had this person conducted a survey? Researched the subject? Spoken to Muslims about what exactly they feel about their country  India  that is as much theirs as it is mine? The conversation had begun to get toxic. I reminded this same person it was her Muslim driver who had rushed to help her at 6.30 am when she had suffered a fall and there was nobody else around. He had steadfastly stood by her during her own medical emergency. He is a poor man. An honourable man. And a proud Muslim.

Hes an exception, she said flatly. With a snigger she trotted out that rubbishy cliche  you must have heard it a zillion times  Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslim. I felt deeply ashamed to be at the same table, but didnt want to embarrass our host or create a scene.

The same day I had talked to a non-elite Muslim, who had shared some great news with me  his daughter had passed a tough, competitive exam and been recruited by a top international firm. He himself was a semi-literate person, a trader, who had invested every extra rupee to educate his children. The odds were daunting they remain daunting. As the politically-motivated hijab row debates carry on, not for a moment is anyone bothering to even think how challenging it is for Muslim girls to get the same educational platforms as their Hindu sisters. When these opportunities are given, so many young girls shine and go on to build strong careers. That is the way forward the only way. But going by the sly, subversive and dangerous tactics creeping into the system, it appears as if political parties want to further isolate and marginalise the next generation of Muslims  both boys and girls. The millennials have already faced the heat and battled prejudice. Indias Muslims are being systematically pushed out of the mainstream, but nobody dares to talk about it, fearing retribution.

I have been called a Pakistani agent often enough, and accused of being on the payroll of dodgy Pakistanis politicians. I receive hate mail, death threats and face abuse each time I post something positive about Muslims, or even wish Id Mubarak on social media platforms (I wish Happy Diwali and Merry Christmas too). So far, such greetings are not considered crimes. Emphasis: So far! Because we still call ourselves a secular nation, according to our Constitution. It should be changed  I hear people say bluntly. After all, we are the majority  India should declare itself a Hindu nation. Then let the Muslims figure what they want to do  stay or leave. About time they knew their place. How glibly these words roll out. Like its as simple a decision as booking a ticket to Disneyland or staying behind to deal with hatred.

People also talk casually about the violent Muslim as if its a part of the DNA of every Muslim, no matter which part of the world he or she comes from. What about violent Hindus? I counter, citing recent examples. Its always a reaction we never attack. We retaliate. These are people one has grown up with talking like despicable bigots. My daughter was asked in all seriousness: Will your mom allow you to marry a Muslim? What a question! As bad as asking: Will your mom allow you to marry an alien? The lady asking it is neither a Muslim nor a Hindu. Shes Sikh. Why didnt she ask: Will your mother be okay if you married a Sikh? Because, so far, the Sikhs have not been demonised the way the Muslims have been. But who knows what may happen down the line?

Another self-declared scholar talked about Yogi Adityanath and how well he is handling his state after winning the last Assembly election. He is firm and means business. The Muslims in Uttar Pradesh have got the message loud and clear  behave, or else. Frankly, theres no other way. Bulldozer justice does not require justification. Its enough to accuse someone  of throwing a stone at a Hindu procession. A militant procession with men brandishing swords and pistols. Such a shame that Arvind Kejriwal began spinning the Rohingyas and Bangladeshi refugees yarn after the riots in Delhis Jahangirpuri. Someone threw a stone and showed disrespect. That someone has to be a Muslim! Bring on the bulldozers and teach them a lesson.

Rewriting the history books is the easy part. Rewriting culture can be a lot more challenging!
by Alessandra De Poli

This year heatwaves began in March. Extreme heat makes working in the middle of the day impossible. Deaths are on the rise, but the government has little data to deal with the situation. In cities, the effects are mitigated by air conditioning, but the latter is part of the problem.

Milan (AsiaNews)  Last month India reported the highest temperatures since the Indian Meteorological Department began monitoring data 122 years ago.

This year, heat waves, typical of the summer season, began in March due to climate change, which is already affecting a large part of the Indian population, in particular workers.

In some cities, temperatures have reached 44 degrees Celsius.

A report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in February warned that India was vulnerable to extreme heat.

If the earth's average global temperature rises by 1.5 Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, Kolkata could experience stifling hot weather at least once a year like it did in 2015 when thousands of people died across the country.

For humans, the danger increases when extreme temperatures are associated with high humidity, inhibiting the bodys natural ability to lower its temperature through perspiration.

To measure the impact of these factors, wet-bulb temperatures[*] are used, which record the reading of a thermometer wrapped in a wet cloth.

Two days ago, West Bengal and Odisha saw wet bulb temperatures reach 29 degrees; if the wet-bulb temperature exceeds 35 degrees, humans can only survive a few hours outdoors.

Deaths related to extreme heat have increased significantly in the past few years.

In 2015, 2,400 people died from excess heat in India. Government data indicate that at least 6,000 people died between 2010 and 2019.

Experts note that such figures are an underestimation.

Heat is especially a problem for outdoor workers in cities (where concrete traps heat), the homeless who sleep outdoors, as well as farmers and those who live in rural areas where the roofs of buildings are often made of sheet metal.

The poorest groups in society suffer the most devastating effects because they have fewer resources to cool off or do not have the opportunity to work indoors.

The economy is equally very sensitive to extreme heat. Many workers, such as rickshaw drivers, say they cannot work after 10 am and are forced to stop to resume in the evening, when temperatures drop.

In 2019, local authorities in Bihar imposed a ban on construction from 11 to 16 during the summer season in an attempt to protect workers in this sector.

According to a study by the International Labour Organisation by 2030 India risks losing 5.8 per cent of its working hours, equal to 34 million full-time jobs.

In 2017 India lost 75 billion labour hours, 80 per cent in agriculture, this in a country where unemployment is already a serious issue for the authorities.

The government response is considered inadequate by many, although some effective measures have been taken in recent years, such as awareness campaigns and early warnings ahead of impending heatwaves.

Scientists warn however that since temperatures will rise even more, more investment is needed to ensure adaptability and climate resilience.

Despite declarations of intent made at COP26 in Glasgow, the Indian government lacks not only the necessary data to tackle the problem, but has cut the budget of the Ministry of the Environment for 2021-2022.

Some studies point out that most deaths from extreme heat occur in Indias rural areas, a sign that adequate socio-economic adaptation to high temperatures could reduce the threat.

Yet, excessive use of air conditioners could aggravate the problem if the energy used to power them does not come from renewable sources.

At present, 80 per cent of Indias electricity is still generated by fossil fuels, the main contributor to climate change.

[*] Wet bulb temperature is the lowest temperature to which air can be cooled by the evaporation of water into the air at a constant pressure.
European companies are buying Sinopec's surpluses. Despite its quasi-ally status with Russia, China is helping the EU reduce its dependence on Russian gas. Surging prices, not politics, are behind this trend. Meanwhile, China-EU trade is up.

Beijing (AsiaNews)  Chinese energy giant Sinopec has sold excess quantities of imported Russian liquefied natural gas to its European clients.

This seems to run against China's special partnership with Russia, since the European Union is looking for new energy suppliers to replace Russian fossil fuels.

The EU is currently evaluating how to end gas and oil imports from Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

Sinopec yesterday reported that its gas sales to Europe are based only on market considerations, not politics.

The surge in price and higher stockpiles due to reduced demand following winter have encouraged resale.

Last year, almost half of China's domestic natural gas consumption came from imports.

LNG made up about two-thirds of natural gas imports, roughly 40 per cent of that from Australia and 10 per cent from the United States.

China has not followed the West and imposed sanctions on Russia for its aggression of Ukraine; in fact, it plans to boost its imports of Russian gas.

The United States and the European Union have warned China not to financially support Russia and undermine their sanctions.

Despite the official rhetoric of neutrality and understanding vis-a-vis Russias position, Chinas support for Putin appears a bit lukewarm.

Current LNG imports from Russia are in line with last year's with 321,380 tonnes in March, 400,000 in February and 264,000 in January.

Many analysts believe that interdependence with US and EU markets is pushing China to avoid openly helping Russia.

Chinese leaders are seeking a point of equilibrium between their countrys close relationship with Moscow and trade with the United States and European Union.

Together, the United States and the European Union account for more than a quarter of China's global trade, while the Russias share is just 2.4 per cent.

Just yesterday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce reported that in the first quarter of this year bilateral trade with the European Union grew by 12.2 per cent, reaching US$ 205.9 billion.
by Guido Alberto Casanova

A few days before taking office, the outgoing parliament is expected to vote on a law limiting the powers of the attorney general, the post held until a few months ago by the new president. In the background is the fear that the new political course will rekindle the cycle of judicial investigations. But conservatives are appealing to the Constitutional Court.

Seoul (AsiaNews) - There is great confusion in Seoul, where in recent weeks politics has been in turmoil. Not only because of the imminent inauguration on May 10 of conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol, but also because of the heated debate that has generated the justice reform project. The proposal, formulated by outgoing President Moon Jae-in's Democratic Party, is now in parliament and could be approved as early as Tuesday, May 3.

Although the project to reduce the powers of the attorney general was a dream in the drawer long guarded by the current Democratic administration, Yoon's presidential election victory last March 9 greatly accelerated events.

In South Korea the office of the Attorney General traditionally plays a very important role in the public life of the country. On the contrary, in many occasions it has been pointed out as an undue influence in South Korean politics: only during the last five years two former presidents have been indicted and some ministers have ended up in the prosecutor's sights. Now that Moon is preparing to leave the presidency, Democrats fear that the new conservative political course could reignite the cycle of judicial investigations, which characterizes the political conflict in Seoul, and bring to jail some members of the democratic government. Yoon himself has said he favors a corruption trial against Moon and the Democrats' presidential candidate, Lee Jae-myung.

In fact, the Democrats' proposed reform would gradually strip the attorney general of his investigative powers. After weeks of controversy, Democrats and conservatives had reached an agreement last Friday to allow the Attorney General to still conduct investigations into corruption and economic crimes until a new agency relieves him of his duties. However, over the weekend, the Conservative Party reversed itself, defeating the compromise just reached also in view of some polls that indicated public opposition to the reform.

The Democratic Party, however, decided to continue on its way, bringing the two amendments that constitute the reform to parliament. Faced with a solid democratic majority (171 seats out of 300), the conservative opposition resorted to speeches by their MPs. However, the majority has adopted a procedural stratagem to close the debate and circumvent the filibuster: the first amendment will be voted on without debate on Saturday 30 April and the second will be voted on Tuesday 3 May. If all goes according to plan, on Tuesday the reform approved by the parliament could arrive on Moon's table for promulgation less than a week before Yoon takes office, who would instead apply his veto.

The conservatives are aware that they cannot win the parliamentary battle and have already begun to move on other fronts. On Wednesday the conservatives announced that they have submitted a request to the Constitutional Court to suspend the reform due to procedural irregularities during parliamentary approval. Similar action has also been taken by the U.S. Attorney's office, which has already begun preparing its own task force to oppose the reform.

The diatribe between President Yoon's conservatives and the Democratic-majority parliament leaves few glimmers of political cooperation in a country as divided as South Korea is today. Justice reform will reveal what level of political confrontation is taking place in Seoul.
Activist NGOs denounce the increasing and "alarming" use of capital punishment (at least 333 compared to 267 cases in the previous year), an "inhuman practice". 17 women hanged (there were nine in 2020). Two were minors at the time of the crime. Ethnic minorities, especially Baluchis, targeted.

Tehran (AsiaNews) - Following the election of ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi, last June when he succeeded the moderate Hassan Rouhani at the helm of Iran, the use of the death penalty has registered an "alarming" acceleration, with an increase of 25% recorded in 2021.

Two pro-human rights activist associations, French and Norwegian, report that there is a five-fold increase (compared to 2020) for crimes related to drug trafficking (126). And, even more striking, with a peak in executions of women (almost doubled) for a country that last year was already first in the world for executed in relation to the population.

According to data released by Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Together Against the Death Penalty (ECMPM), in the Islamic Republic has increased the use of the executioner, in some cases "means of repression" to counter "the many opponents. In a joint note released yesterday, the two NGOs say that the main cause of the death sentence is the crime of murder, but also increases the use of capital punishment for crimes related to drug trafficking.

In 2021 at least 333 prisoners will be executed, an increase of 25% over the previous year (267). The greatest acceleration, activists point out, "occurred following the election" of Raisi "and have doubled in the second half" of last year "when compared with the first half" of 2021. In particular, there is a figure that makes you think: last year ended up in the hands of the executioner at least 17 women, compared to nine in 2020, in addition to two people who were still minors at the time of the crime.

Of the 17 women killed by hanging, 12 were executed for murder. Of particular concern are the executions of women convicted of murdering their spouses, from whom they suffered domestic violence, including severe violence. In addition, Iranian law encourages those who denounce - be they the family of the victim or of the convicted person if the crime concerns a relative - to participate in person in the executions. NGOs cite the case of Maryam Karimi, sentenced for killing her violent husband who refused to grant her a divorce. In March 2021, it was Karimi's own daughter who carried out the capital punishment.

As for executions for drug offenses, there are a hundred more than the 25 in 2020. There has also been an escalation in the area of ethnic minorities, with 21% of people hanged being ethnic Baluchi, although the percentage of the total population is between 2 and 6%. The report also denounces the "systematic" use of physical and psychological torture in prisons as a method of "extorting confessions" that will then be used as the basis for death sentences. In addition to this, there are cases of suspicious deaths in prison as a result of torture or refusal of adequate treatment, the vast majority of which go unpunished.

In the face of systematic use, public opinion seems to be increasingly opposed to the death penalty, while "diva" [payment of a sum of money to family members in exchange for life] and forgiveness are gaining more admirers than ever before. The "inhuman" practice of punishing with death another death, emphasizes the director Ihr Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, "is no longer so popular among Iranians," but it remains used by the authorities to "spread fear and make citizens accomplices of their brutality and violence. Hence the final appeal [also in vain] of the two NGOs to include the issue of human rights in the negotiations on the nuclear issue (JCPOA).
Security personnel inspect the blast site of the terrorist attack inside a university in Karachi, Pakistan, April 26, 2022. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Friday said that fighting terrorism is a shared responsibility of the international community, calling for coordination and cooperation to combat terrorism.

Zhao made the remarks at a regular press briefing when asked to comment on the UN Security Council on Thursday condemning the terrorist attack in the University of Karachi in Pakistan, which claimed the lives of three Chinese nationals and one Pakistani and left several people injured.

A press statement from the council expressed deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to the governments of Pakistan and China, while underlining the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.

The statement also urged all states to actively cooperate with the governments of Pakistan and China, as well as all other relevant authorities in this effort.

Zhao said the press statement reflects the strong indignation and severe condemnation of the terrorist act by the international community.

"Justice will not be absent, and evil acts will be severely punished," Zhao said, emphasizing that terrorism is a common enemy of all mankind, and combating terrorism is the shared responsibility of the international community.

He called on all parties to strengthen coordination and cooperation, take all possible measures to combat terrorism, and jointly maintain world peace and tranquility. 
by Vladimir Rozanskij

The separatist territory has no interest in joining Russia. However, the main political, economic and military decisions are made in Moscow. Transnistria has no facilities to support an attack on Odessa, Ukraine. The Moldovans are not meddling and are aiming for neutrality.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - In Transnistria, a Moldovan separatist strip on the border with Ukraine, there are two types of Russian armed forces: the so-called "peacekeepers", about 500 people deployed alongside Moldovan soldiers and observers from various countries, and the "limited group of troops" that protects Russian military depots in the village of Kolbasna. This is what Moldova's former defense minister Anatol Salar tells Currentime.tv, according to which there are more than 2,200 soldiers in the second group.

The site also interviewed the former deputy premier of Transnistria for Integration in Moldova, Aleksandr Flenka, who explained how the disputed territory differs from the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in the Donbass, and why Russia has no interest in reuniting this territory with itself. This is firstly because of the lack of a common border with Russia, and secondly because the Tiraspol leadership has long since achieved its goals, well before the war in Ukraine: "They already have free gas supplies from Russia, and a flourishing smuggling trade in all directions."

Russian gas is used to produce energy to be sold "in black" to Moldova, which has been earning good money in dollars for 30 years, and there is no interest in integration with Russia, nor in international recognition of the republic, which would imply obligations and controls of all kinds. No intention either of triggering an armed conflict with Ukraine.

When asked about the actual independence of the Transnistrian leadership from Moscow, Flenka explains that "in daily decisions and ordinary administration there is enough freedom; of course the dependence is felt at the political, economic and military level". Otherwise, Flenka adds, the so-called president Vadim Krasnoselskij and the so-called foreign minister Vitalij Ignatev, along with a large caste of officials, "live quietly, being in possession of both Russian and Ukrainian passports, and many also have Moldovan ones."

The only fact in common with the Donbass is the creation of the separatist republic, which took place with the support of Russia according to a classic pattern, also seen in Abkhazia and South Ossetia with respect to Georgia, but each of these territories has its own particular history.

Moscow's lever of control remains the gas supply, which in these days is closing for several countries, and could also affect Transnistria if the shipment to Moldova is suspended, from which the separatist territory illegally removes the quota of its interest. On the other hand, if they were left without gas, the inhabitants of Transnistria would be even less inclined to fight for the Russians.

Actually, the Russians also pay the pensions of Transnistrian citizens, which are provided by the Moscow municipality together with other social benefits. In any case, a Russian attack on Odessa from the West would be economically untenable for the facilities in Tiraspol, which has military technology dating back to the Soviet period, and Russia cannot transport anything without going through Ukraine or Moldova. "There are 20,000 tons of military stockpiles in the Russian depots anyway, and even if half of them worked, it would still be a significant threat," Flenka notes, "but it would not be easy to get this arsenal back on track."

In Transnistria there is also a military airport, maintained for 30 years at a minimum level of efficiency, where even landing at night is impossible, yet in recent days night explosions have been heard there.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu has indicated Tiraspol airport as a high-risk military target, but Chisinau does not have the strength to impose anything, and will continue to maintain its neutrality by working through diplomatic channels in all senses: with Romania, the European Union, Ukraine and Russia itself.

Transnistria, perhaps the darkest corner of the entire continent, remains an arrow pointed at the heart of Europe.
Today's headlines: May Day tourism hit in China by lockdowns for Covid; Two people arrested in South Korea for spying for the North; Opposition party leader detained in Cambodia; Iran builds underground nuclear centrifuge facility; Sanctions hit Russian airlines.

INDIA

Indian wheat exports are booming after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the consequent drop in exports from the two countries in conflict. Thanks to a series of agreements signed in February and March, India exported 7.9 million tons in the fiscal year that ended in March, a 275 percent jump over the previous year.

CHINA

Various lockdowns and anti-Covid controls in the country will limit travel during the five-day May 1 vacation. The Ministry of Transportation expects 100 million departures, a 62% drop from last year.

SOUTH KOREA.

South Korean police revealed today that they have arrested two people, including an army captain, for spying for North Korea. Those arrested allegedly sold military secrets to Pyongyang in exchange for a cryptocurrency payment.

CAMBODIA

Cambodian authorities yesterday arrested Seam Pluk, leader of the National Heart Party, an opposition force to Premier Hun Sen's regime. The charge against him is that he forged documents to participate in local elections in June. He is also accused of ties to the CNRP, the main opposition formation before its ban in 2017.

IRAN

The Islamic Republic has built an underground facility in Natanz to produce centrifuges needed to enrich uranium, which is used in nuclear power. The move appears to be an attempt to protect the facility from possible outside attacks.

RUSSIA-CENTRALASIA-CAUCASUS

The Russian airline "Uralskye Aviolinii" has suspended all flights to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, making travel between these countries very difficult, without explanation. This is evidently a consequence of the sanctions, as the aircraft in question are Airbus A320s, whose maintenance is currently impossible due to lack of spare parts.

RUSSIA

The young Vera Kotova, resident of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, was arrested for "discrediting the army". She had traced in the snow the writing "No to war!", in front of the monument to Lenin in the city park. However, the judge did not confirm the arrest, releasing the girl without a fine.
The Oklahoma House has given final approval to a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy
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Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta pays respect to the late President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya, April 29, 2022. (Photo by Fred Mutune/Xinhua)

African leaders on Friday paid tribute to Kenya's late former President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass in the capital Nairobi.



NAIROBI, April 29 (Xinhua) -- African leaders on Friday paid tribute to Kenya's former President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass in the capital Nairobi.

President Kibaki died aged 90 on April 22 after a long illness, ushering the east African nation into a period of mourning.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ethiopia's President Sahle-Work Zewde and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, alongside representatives of Heads of States from Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi, joined Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta at the ceremony.

In his tribute, Ramaphosa said the late Kibaki would be remembered for the leadership that he demonstrated not only in Kenya but also in the African continent.

Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers escort a gun carriage carrying the coffin of the late President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya, April 29, 2022. (Photo by John Okoyo/Xinhua)

"He was a great statesman. We drew a lot of lessons on the way in which he led the people of Kenya and we will forever remember how great he was," said Ramaphosa.

The president said Kenya and South Africa have strong ties that would continue to be strengthened in times of happiness and grief.

"Our country was saddened by the news of the passing of Kibaki; we are here to extend and pay our last respects and send condolences to all Kenyans. We feel the pain and anguish that you are all going through but at the same time we all believe that you are collectively here to celebrate the life of a great statesman," he said.

President Zewde said Kibaki was a true friend of Ethiopia before and after his assumption of the presidency.

"During his tenure, Ethiopia and Kenya made significant strides towards improving our long-standing relationship. He laid the foundation for the signing of several agreements, including the ones for Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (Lapsset) and Moyale one-stop border post," said Zewde.

She added that during Kibaki's time, Kenya and Ethiopia worked together for the signing of the South Sudan Peace Accord.

President Kiir said Kibaki worked harder to ensure South Sudan got freedom and independence.

"The peace accord of South Sudan was signed here in Nairobi during the tenure of President Mwai Kibaki. In his honour, our country's flag is flying at half-mast," he said.

Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers escort a gun carriage carrying the coffin of the late President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass along a highway in Nairobi, Kenya, April 29, 2022. (Photo by John Okoyo/Xinhua)

President Kenyatta, their host, termed Kibaki as one of the greatest African statesmen of his time.

"We congregate today to honor one of the founding fathers of our beloved nation; we are here not only to mourn the death of Mwai Kibaki but also to celebrate a magnificent life. Kibaki the man had an incredible gift of tolerance, had the ability to take in pressure and pain, without showing distress," he said.

He observed that Kibaki laid the foundation upon which Kenya's economic development and nationhood has been built.

"Kibaki understood that a leader who does not lead himself will be driven by his difficulties rather than his vision; he will give in to the pressure of crowds and will be pushed to make popular choices that please the crowds," he said.

He noted that Kibaki converted his political misfortunes after the 2008 post-election violence into a constitutional process.

Kibaki will be buried on Saturday in Nyeri, central Kenya. 
Jackie Gleason was known for his fear of flying. He was using planes regularly, but one incident left him unable to feel comfortable in the air. The actor was traveling to New York when two of the planes engines shut down. The pilots were forced to land as soon as possible, and it was a rough ride until they reached Tulsa Airport in Oklahoma and stopped with no one being seriously injured.From that moment forward, Gleason preferred cars and trains. He didnt want to board the next flight to New York. The actor was so keen on avoiding air travel that he ended up borrowing money from a stranger to finish the trip. Of course, the man was repaid in due course.His love for cars was something the public knew about the actor. He even shared this little passion with President Nixon, but it was happening far from the public eye. The two also enjoyed talking about unidentified flying objects (UFOs). They got quite close thanks to Gleasons charisma and popularity, but also because of the Long John Nebel radio show that focused on this topic almost every day. It was run by The Great One, the nickname the actor got from the public and accepted with no hesitation.Jackie Gleasons rise within the Hollywood ranks meant he was ready to spend more on cars he liked. Maybe it was a way of coping with the fact that he never got an Emmy, even though he was successful. The star of The Honeymooners TV series owned models like a 1968 Lincoln Continental Lehmann-Peterson limo or a tailor-made 1978 Lincoln Continental that signaled the mans interest in custom, American-made luxury vehicles.One of his last orders was a Cadillac Gucci Limousine.The Warren-based Manufacturer started a collaboration with the Italian fashion house before the 1980s happened. The Seville Gucci Edition, for example, got quite popular among the well-known and rich Americans of that period. But Gleason wanted something special, a long-wheelbase car with the proper amenities that was only his and no one elses.Cadillac listened, asked the actor for almost $100,000 in 1984 (that would amount to $276,000 in 2022), discussed the project with Gucci, and delivered a one-off that met all the criteria. It had everything the actor wanted: style, impressive looks, branding from the Italian fashion house, a fridge, TV, and top-level comfort.Unfortunately, Gleason never took delivery of the 1984 Stretch Fleetwood Limo Gucci . Yes, that was the cars official name after Cadillac took care of the whole conversion. The V8-powered vehicle sat on the showroom floor for a couple of months, then it was bought by a gas station owner and taken to an undisclosed location where it spent most of its life. It was discovered last year by some passionate people, and they used it for a couple of private events, but the car surfaced in the online world recently. Now it can be seen by almost anyone thats interested.Unfortunately, there are no proper, verifiable photos available that can show the car being stored away somewhere and collecting dust. We're going to have to take the new owner's word for it, even if he says the Gucci Caddy still has "the original oil" in it.Gleasons custom limo was bought by a Miami businessman. His focus is modifying cars and trucks. The man explains that the car is in mint condition. The only thing that was replaced was the battery. It even has the dealership stickers that show when servicing was done and the original tires. The literature is intact, and nothing looks broken on the inside or the outside of the Cadillac. Thats also one of the reasons why this car is precious. Spare parts are nowhere to be found, as neither Gucci nor Cadillac kept track of it.The 1-of-1 Gucci limo has 5,000 on the odometer. It took Cadillac two years to make it with the help of the fashion house, and here it is, after 38 years, looking like it just left the factory. The video down below shows the vehicle runs properly and looks like it fits the Miami scenery. The new owner decided to fit new wheels on the car. Well let you be the judge of that.If you're planning to visit Fayetteville, Georgia, in late May, then you'll have a chance to see this special, unique limo. It will join the Promise Land Car&Bike Show.
The successes achieved with the Apollo program, or the Space Shuttle, or with the many pieces of hardware sent over to neighboring Mars would have not been possible though, without a long list of failures. Failures, and concepts that never came to be.As we speak, NASA is trying to figure out what is wrong with the Space Launch System (SLS), so that the rocket could take its rightful place as the enabler for the new Moon exploration program, Artemis. But even before the SLS came to be, America was envisioning a rocket that could become an alternative to the Space Shuttle.Penned in the 1990s, the idea was named National Launch System (or New Launch System), and at the request of that eras administration, NASA, Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas were asked to perform a case study for such hardware. The idea for the National Launch System (NLS) quickly grew into a family of vehicles, ranging from the small NLS-1 to the massive heavy-lift rockets at the other end of the spectrum.As you might have guessed, making an entire family of vehicles was not to be cheap, and that meant that by 1993 the program was canceled. The NLS, not a single one of them, never got to fly, and America was deprived of what would have probably been a very successful line of space vehicles.It never flew until now, that is, as thanks to an animation specialist called Hazegrayart , a heavy-lift version of it was brought to life in a four-minute-long clip, which is available below this text.
Scuderia Ferrari published a photo on Facebook and told everyone that goldfish bowls are what they call F1-75s sidepods. Then the brand asked the Tifosi to share their own ideas regarding the name of this component. As you may have guessed already, a lot of people didnt lose any time in being creative.Among the best nicknames for Ferraris F1 cars sidepods, we find a fast pizza holder, Helix Pods, Love Handles, Pegasus wings, Magic mounds, Water slides, Pasta strainers, and Gliders of the fury.Somebody even went a little bit further and said the sidepods are somebody got their aero right this year and its not Mercedes.Wed call them Fury slices, but it doesnt sound very good when you look at how well behaved are both Ferrari drivers. Leclerc and Sainz are avoiding any controversies  for now. This might bode well with their target which is to win the 23-race 2022 F1 season.Ferraris F1 2022 season is shaping up to be at least good, if not great. Fans are incredibly happy with how things started, but they keep wanting more from the Italians. Someone even said that for the Scuderia nothing is imPODSible this year, which we tend to agree with.Ferrari F1s Charles Leclerc is still first and has 86 points in total, 27 more than Red Bulls Verstappen thats currently in second place in the F1 drivers ranking.In the Constructors Standings, however, things are different. Red Bull is just 11 points behind Ferrari.With the Miami Grand Prix just around the corner, Formula 1 couldnt be more exciting. Everything is still on the table. Max Verstappen could catch up with Charles Leclerc, while George Russell has a real chance at finishing on the podium at the end of the year.But let's wait and see what Ferrari can do with their F1-75 marvel.
Once outside the Earths atmosphere, astronauts have to withstand incredible levels of radiation. According to DLR (The German Aerospace Institute), the Orion capsule that will be flown to the Moon this summer will be exposed to an even harsher radiation environment than the crew on the ISS (International Space Station) because it will be outside the Earths magnetic field. In order to find the best ways of protecting future female astronauts from this radiation, these two human-like mannequins will be sent to space for a scientific test.They are called Helga and Zohar. One of them will fly unprotected, while the other one will wear a special protection vest developed by AstroRad. This will allow scientists to gather and compare two different sets of data so that they can evaluate the vests efficiency.Resembling two female torsos, Helga and Zohar are 90 cm tall (almost three feet) and weigh 36 kg (79 lb). But they are far from ordinary mannequins. Not only are they equipped with 10,000 passive sensors and 34 active radiation detectors, but the materials that were used to create them mimic the bones, soft tissues, and organs of an adult woman.Helga and Zohar were developed as part of the MARE experiment, led by DLR, and conducted together with NASA, Lockheed Martin, the Israeli Space Agency (ISA), and StemRad, the creator of the special protection vest. This is considered the largest experiment ever made for studying radiation exposure related to astronauts outside the low-Earth orbit.The two pioneering mannequins have arrived at NASAs Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the upcoming launch . According to DLR, Helga and Zohar will be installed in the Orion capsule around one month prior to the summer launch, ready for the historical experiment.
NHTSA

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

EV

On December 21, 2021,) announced a recall that involved 119,009 units of the Model S produced from 2014 until 2021. An assembly error was pointed out as the issue cause, which could make the frunk lid open without warning while themoves.We warned our readers that the same recall was communicated to European authorities on January 4. However, it first emerged on Rappel Conso and was reported by multiple French sites, such as Le Parisien , and Le Figaro . At that time, Rappel Conso said the issue affected the Model S and the Model 3. The defect was also described on Safety Gate. Heres the original text:At high speeds, the air inlet between the bonnet and the radiator grill causes vibrations in the hood. This can result in stress fractures along the bonnet latch striker and its separation from the bonnet, causing the bonnet to open. This obstructs the drivers view, increasing the risk of an accident.We contacted European authorities to make sure it was the same recall and confirmed the information. The problem is that the cause was different, and it also involved the Model 3. When we tried to check the Safety Gate alert A12/00582/22 , it was not online. At the URL that had it, this message was displayed:At the request of the notifying authority, the notification A12/00582/22 has been updated with additional information on the model and Risk description.On the Rappel Conso page that informed the same issue, the message is that there is no recall available in that category, whatever that means. If you search for Tesla recalls on the French website, a new page now points to the Safety Gate alert A12/00582/22, which has this description for the problem:On some Model S vehicles, the latch assembly of the front hood may be aligned too far rearward. While this alignment does not impact latching of the primary latch with the hood striker, it may prevent latching of the secondary latch. If the primary latch is inadvertently released and the secondary latch is not engaged, the hood may open without warning and obstruct the drivers visibility, increasing the risk of a crash. If the primary latch is inadvertently released, the driver will receive an alert on the user interface.Thats a very similar explanation to that provided by the NHTSA. This time, the alert A12/00582/22 does not include the Model 3. The notification country is the one responsible for the information. In this case, it was France.If that were an error from French authorities, we wonder why the defect described by it is also related to the frunk latch. If it were a mistake from Tesla , we must ask why it included the Model 3 in the Safety Gate report and why the reason for the problem was different than the one presented to American authorities.Occams razor may be suitable here, and the only reason for all this mess can be a simple error. However, all the loose ends require a more comprehensive investigation, even if just to say they are indeed just fruits of a blunder.Apart from trying to obtain information from French authorities, we need to know if any Tesla Model 3 ever had the frunk lid opening while in movement and how the car frunk strikers were after that. If you know about any cases, please share them with us.
Imagine what life looked like back in the 1940s. Everyone minded their business in the U.S., while Europe was engulfed in another armed fight. The Germans were really keen on expanding their borders by force, even though nobody really welcomed them and their ideology.Some belligerent nations asked the U.S. for help, but America wasnt ready to sacrifice its soldiers for the mess Europeans did. They kept enabling the crazy Austria-born man that, in the end, led Germany into a second defeat that was going to split the country in two  a reality that can be seen and felt even today. Hitlers vanity and desire for useless greatness was a major mistake that stopped European development for at least another decade. Millions died. Cities were ruined. Lives were destroyed.In what can be safely called a very unlikely scenario, Europeans will have to be eternally grateful to the Japanese. Their zero-logic strategy to attack Pearl Harbor was what got the U.S. involved for real in the Second World War (WW2). Even though Americans were providing weapons to countries like Great Britain, Portugal, and even France through Spain, they initially didn't want to sacrifice soldiers in another part of the world.Furthermore, the U.S. was doing pretty well, thanks to its partners. Democratic nations asked for help, and America delivered, but not for free. Help came at a cost. Thats why companies like Chrysler or Ford did very well.For example, the British were using Chrysler M3 Grant tanks to fight the Italians and the Germans. Unfortunately for the model we have seen for sale on BaT , the M4A4 Sherman wasnt picked by the U.S. for the military to use overseas like its M3 Grant counterpart. Even though it provided better suspension, a simpler, tougher hull, and improved soft ground traction, it didnt make the cut. Still, there were 7,499 made in total. The U.S. military, however, used it mainly for training, while the British called it the Sherman V and put it to some work.Now some models are being made available to civilians that want to have fun experiencing the life of a soldier in WW2. However, you have to adhere to a special set of rules as a tank owner. These vehicles aren't street-legal, but local authorities allow their presence on the public roads for refueling or parades.This 1943 Chrysler M4A4 Sherman Tank, according to the owner, has been recovered from the British. It has seen the UK, Ireland, France, and is now in the U.S. The military vehicle was donated to the Museum of the American G.I. of College Station, Texas, in 2019.It uses an 18-liter Ford V8 thats connected to a five-speed manual gearbox. The engine was sourced from the M4A3 predecessor. The tank has been restored to look like its returned unscathed from the battleground with all the correct markings. The current owner also paid for rebuilding the air cleaners and serviced the electrical and cooling systems.Furthermore, this one comes with armor plating, pioneer tools, the main gun thats been demilitarized, and a replica roof-mounted machine gun. The turret works! It was verified before the tank went online.The Chrysler tank also has the correct serial numbers that match Chrysler s database.Bidders joked about this tank being the perfect cure for modern-day rush hour traffic, while potential buyers already started the offers going. It currently sits at a price of $2,000. The owner chose to have a reserve set, so dont expect it to get away for cheap.Before you decide to join in on the fun, just remember theres no need to get registration or a title for tanks. Now watch the video down below and make up your own mind about it.
The C-code Mustang , which was fitted with a 289 (4.7-liter) 2-barrel rated at 200 horsepower, was the most common version for the model year 1967. The 4-barrel sibling with 225 horsepower was installed on the A-code cars, while the K-code Mustang rolled off the assembly lines with the same 289, this time in the HiPo variant and with 271 horsepower.The top engine option for the 67 Ford Mustang was the 390 (6.4-liter) V8, which thanks to a 4-barrel carburetor developed 320 horsepower on S-code models.The 1967 Ford Mustang you see here is a C-code still boasting the original Nightmist Blue paint. Paired with a blue vinyl interior, the car still looks pretty cool, despite its obvious project car condition that requires a ton of fixes.Still coming with all 3 VIN numbers and solid frame rails, this convertible is a challenging project, theres no doubt about it. The floor, for example, requires particular attention, and based on the provided photos, some parts are missing as well, including the rear seats.eBay seller logisticnorth says the car obviously isnt running, and to be honest, this isnt necessarily a surprise given the car has most likely been sitting for a long time.The restoration isnt necessarily aimed at the faint of heart, but without a doubt, this Mustang is totally worth a second chance, especially given the color combination.However, the car isnt selling as cheap as youd expect, as the owner wants to get nearly $8,000 for it. The best way to figure out if the car is worth this kind of money is to head over to Denton, Maryland and inspect this beautiful 1967 Mustang in person.
I want to say that the agenda of peace is not an agenda of defeat, he told Arayik Harutiunian, the Karabakh president, and other senior Karabakh officials. The agenda of peace is an agenda of overcoming the horrors of war and the difficulties that followed the war and guaranteeing the security, rights and future of the people.

It was Pashinians first face-to-face meeting with the Karabakh leaders since his April 13 speech in the Armenian parliament which caused an outcry in Armenia and Karabakh.

Addressing the parliament, Pashinian said that the international community is pressing Armenia to lower a bit the bar on the question of Nagorno-Karabakhs status and recognize Azerbaijans territorial integrity. He signaled Yerevans intention to make such concessions to Baku.

Armenian opposition leaders portrayed the speech as further proof that Pashinian has agreed to Azerbaijani control over Karabakh.

The authorities in Stepanakert also deplored it. In a resolution, the Karabakh parliament demanded that the Armenian authorities abandon their current disastrous position.

Earlier this week, Harutiunian claimed to have received assurances from Pashinian that Yerevan will not back any agreements on the territorys status unacceptable to the Karabakh Armenians.

Pashinian said in this regard on Thursday that he will not cut any peace deals with Azerbaijan without consulting with the Karabakh leadership.

Harutiunian confirmed his support for the agenda of peace. But he also stressed: On the other hand, I want to make clear that we see no way of deviating from our right to self-determination.

Pashinian made no mention of that right in his opening remarks publicized by his press office. He again did not specify Karabakhs future status acceptable to Yerevan. He reiterated instead that the people of Karabakh must be able to continue to live in the disputed territory and consider themselves Armenians.

This is the agenda which we must jointly advance. I am convinced that we are moving in the right direction, and I am happy when the Artsakh authorities share that conviction, added the Armenian premier.

The meeting with Harutiunian and other Karabakh officials came amid intensifying opposition demonstrations in Yerevan sparked by Pashinians Karabakh discourse. Armenias leading opposition groups are trying to force Pashinian to resign.
Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers escort a gun carriage carrying the coffin of the late President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya, April 29, 2022. African leaders on Friday paid tribute to Kenya's former President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass in the capital Nairobi. (Photo by John Okoyo/Xinhua)

NAIROBI, April 29 (Xinhua) -- African leaders on Friday paid tribute to Kenya's former President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass in the capital Nairobi.

President Kibaki died aged 90 on April 22 after a long illness, ushering the east African nation into a period of mourning.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ethiopia's President Sahle-Work Zewde and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, alongside representatives of Heads of States from Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi, joined Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta at the ceremony.

In his tribute, Ramaphosa said the late Kibaki would be remembered for the leadership that he demonstrated not only in Kenya but also in the African continent.

"He was a great statesman. We drew a lot of lessons on the way in which he led the people of Kenya and we will forever remember how great he was," said Ramaphosa.

The president said Kenya and South Africa have strong ties that would continue to be strengthened in times of happiness and grief.

"Our country was saddened by the news of the passing of Kibaki; we are here to extend and pay our last respects and send condolences to all Kenyans. We feel the pain and anguish that you are all going through but at the same time we all believe that you are collectively here to celebrate the life of a great statesman," he said.

President Zewde said Kibaki was a true friend of Ethiopia before and after his assumption of the presidency.

"During his tenure, Ethiopia and Kenya made significant strides towards improving our long-standing relationship. He laid the foundation for the signing of several agreements, including the ones for Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (Lapsset) and Moyale one-stop border post," said Zewde.

She added that during Kibaki's time, Kenya and Ethiopia worked together for the signing of the South Sudan Peace Accord.

President Kiir said Kibaki worked harder to ensure South Sudan got freedom and independence.

"The peace accord of South Sudan was signed here in Nairobi during the tenure of President Mwai Kibaki. In his honour, our country's flag is flying at half-mast," he said.

President Kenyatta, their host, termed Kibaki as one of the greatest African statesmen of his time.

"We congregate today to honor one of the founding fathers of our beloved nation; we are here not only to mourn the death of Mwai Kibaki but also to celebrate a magnificent life. Kibaki the man had an incredible gift of tolerance, had the ability to take in pressure and pain, without showing distress," he said.

He observed that Kibaki laid the foundation upon which Kenya's economic development and nationhood has been built.

"Kibaki understood that a leader who does not lead himself will be driven by his difficulties rather than his vision; he will give in to the pressure of crowds and will be pushed to make popular choices that please the crowds," he said.

He noted that Kibaki converted his political misfortunes after the 2008 post-election violence into a constitutional process.

Kibaki will be buried on Saturday in Nyeri, central Kenya. 

Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers escort a gun carriage carrying the coffin of the late President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass along a highway in Nairobi, Kenya, April 29, 2022. African leaders on Friday paid tribute to Kenya's former President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass in the capital Nairobi. (Photo by John Okoyo/Xinhua)

Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers escort a gun carriage carrying the coffin of the late President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya, April 29, 2022. African leaders on Friday paid tribute to Kenya's former President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass in the capital Nairobi. (Photo by John Okoyo/Xinhua)

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta pays respect to the late President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya, April 29, 2022. African leaders on Friday paid tribute to Kenya's former President Mwai Kibaki during a requiem mass in the capital Nairobi. (Photo by Fred Mutune/Xinhua)
The ministry said Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan accepted the proposal in a phone call with Lavrov. Mirzoyan, Lavrov and Azerbaijans Jeyhun Bayramov would hold the talks on the sidelines of a meeting of top diplomats of ex-Soviet states that will be held in Tajikistan on May 13, it added in a statement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry did not mention the proposed talks in its readout of the phone call. It said Lavrov discussed with Mirzoyan the creation of an Armenian-Azerbaijani commission on demarcating the border between the two South Caucasus states. They also exchanged views on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty sought by Baku.

Mirzoyan and Bayramov discussed these issues on Monday in what was their second phone call in two weeks. The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the two sides will soon hold a meeting regarding the commission on border demarcation.

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian first agreed to form such a body during their trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last November. However, it was not set up in the following months.

Aliyev and Pashinian pledged to form the commission before the end of this month when they met in Brussels on April 6 for talks in Brussels hosted by European Council President Charles Michel. The latter said they also plan to move rapidly towards negotiating the peace treaty.

Russia responded by accusing the European Union and the United States of trying to hijack Russian efforts to broker peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan as part of the ongoing geopolitical standoff over Ukraine.

Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed Russias key role in the peace process in a joint declaration issued after their April 19 talks outside Moscow.

Michel phoned the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders a few days later. He said afterwards that the EU remains committed to supporting Armenia and Azerbaijan in their dialogue.

The secretary of Armenias Security Council, Armen Grigorian, announced on Friday that he will meet again with Aliyevs top foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, in Brussels on May 2.

Aliyev revealed plans for such talks earlier in the day. He praised the EUs honest role in the peace process.
Virginia Santos is the development director for the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Co-patroness of the Unborn.
YAOUNDE, April 29 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was killed early Friday when terror group Boko Haram raided a locality in Cameroon's Far North region, according to local and security sources.

Militants of the group invaded Tourou locality of the Mayo-Tsanaga division of the region at 5 a.m. when villagers were still asleep, shot a 40-year-old man and looted property, several locals said.

"After that they left, promising to come back and attack the civilians again," a military officer who asked not to be named told Xinhua.

Since the beginning of the week, the militants have killed at least three civilians in the locality, according to security reports.

Tourou was the epicenter of Boko Haram insurgency in 2014 when the terror group began raids in the region.

In June 2014, a group of at least 200 Boko Haram fighters invaded the locality but the army repelled and killed 118 of the fighters, the bloodiest battle of the insurgency in Cameroon, according to the army. 
Emma did excellent work across the board, particularly on her research paper, which focused on the decision of South Koreas President Moon Jae-in to accede to North Koreas requests to prevent anti-NK activists in the South from trying to send information to North Koreans. More than most students, she really dug into the resources available to her to gain an understanding of the issue.



Krause, for whom Story worked as a research assistant on his Political Violence Project, added his praise. Emma is an incredibly intelligent and hard-working student. She has conducted valuable research with me on polarization and extremism in the United States, the international relations of the Middle East, and the politics of post-war governments. Her work has contributed to peer-reviewed articles, policy memos, and two book projects. She is a worthy recipient of the Truman Scholarship, which I know will further her already deep commitment to public service.



Story also is grateful to those who helped her cultivate an interest in politics and government early on, especially her father, with whom she enjoyed dinner table talks about news and current events. As a high school student fascinated by her states gubernatorial race, she convinced him to drive her to a candidates debate taking place in their hometown. Too young to vote in the election, she volunteered for one of the candidates (I loved it).



During the 2018 midterm electionswhich occurred during her senior year of high schoolshe knocked on more than 10,000 doors and became the youngest field organizer on her campaign team. The summer before college, she embarked on what was essentially an independent study, observing local judges at work and talking with them about the cases they adjudicated.



Experiences such as her Senate internship, and the opportunity to further her study of slave laboran issue she explored in her Managing for Social Impact classeshave deepened Storys respect for the political process, imperfect and messy though it may be sometimes, especially in this volatile day and age.



I continue to believe that, difficult as it might be to have political conversations, she said, you need to show compassion and tolerance, and listen to different perspectives. In the past, weve been able to come together as a nation and move forward past our disagreements; thats what we need to do now, even just on a person-by-person basis.

Sean Smith | University Communications | April 2022


The city of Beaumont could soon see five new tenants.

The City Council earlier this week approved specific use permits for the organizations and businesses that want to set up in city limits.

Heres a bit about each:

Type: Religious Organization

Name: The Sikh Center of Southeast Texas

Hours: The center will be open on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., on holidays and occasionally during the week.

This is a religious organization requesting a place of worship at 1610 S. Major Drive. On April 18, 2022, the planning commission voted unanimously to recommend approving the permit with one condition  that landscaping meet city ordinance requirements. The city government administration recommended approval, and the motion passed unanimously.

Type: Gas station and convenience store

Name: Roadway Stores

Hours: The location will be open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7:00 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday.

An unnamed gas station and convenience store with a deli is planning to move into the space on 4050 Magnolia Ave.

The owner plans for the grocery and food section to have a variety of goods for community members. The 9,000 square-foot facility will include a laundromat and include a small space that could become a fast-food restaurant, retail store or a barber shop.

Last October, a 6,000 square-foot version was approved by the council, and the prospective owner was told that a larger building would be welcome.

Type: Brewpub

Name: Buckstin Brewing Co.

Hours: The establishment would be open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from noon to 9 p.m.

An entrepreneur is hoping to put a brewpub at 6280 Phelan Blvd.

The building would be split in two for a brewery and a full-kitchen, family-friendly restaurant.

The owner has been in the business before  shes been operating the brewpub and restaurant in Nederland.

Type: Drinking Place

Name: The Dirty Daiquiri

Hours: The business will be open Sunday from noon to 10 p.m., Monday through Wednesday from 2 to 10 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday from noon to midnight.

At 10425 Eastex Freeway, a daiquiri is looking to set up shop.

The owner plans to make the establishment family-friendly and include non-alcoholic drink options.

It will include a drive-thru window with to-go daiquiris, as well as an outdoor patio for games, karaoke and live music. The owners also hope to have an event space available for rent.

Because the business is planning to operate so near to housing, an 8-foot sound barrier is required to protect residents from loud music.

Type: Commercial strip center

Name: Unknown

A commercial strip center is planned for 2855 N. Major Drive. It will include a laundromat, retail businesses and office space. There will be 12 spaces for lease.

Drainage will be provided by the Texas Department of Transportation, according to the developer, and a six-foot-wide landscaped strip and sidewalk will be added along Major Drive.
China, Africa should jointly explore democratic paths suited to national conditions, say African lawmakers

Xinhua) 09:18, April 29, 2022

YAOUNDE, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China held a two-day virtual seminar on Tuesday and Wednesday with 22 Francophone countries in Africa under the theme "Exploration and Practice of Democracy in the Legislatures of China and Africa."

The African representatives praised China-Africa cooperation, recognized the advantages of China's whole-process people's democracy, and expressed belief that China and Africa should jointly explore democratic paths suited to their national conditions so as to make contributions to improving people's well-being and promoting the democratization of international relations.

Pape Biram Toure, chairman of the committee for foreign affairs, Senegalese abroad and African integration of the National Assembly of Senegal, said that the seminar provided a platform for African and Chinese lawmakers to "further strengthen their cooperation already very dynamic."

Konan Rene, a member at the National Assembly of Cote d'Ivoire, said "through this seminar, China allowed us to understand what is happening in China, and what we can learn from China."

Mahamat Mouhsine Adam, president of the foreign affairs and international cooperation committee of Chad's transitional council, said "democracy in China is a whole-process democracy where all major legislative decisions are made only after democratic deliberations and thorough procedures to ensure sound and democratic decision-making. This, in my opinion, is one of the best forms of democracy."

Joseph Mbossa, president of the China-Congo friendship committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of the Congo, said the seminar allowed the Congolese lawmakers to benefit from the experiences of others, to better serve the interests of the Congolese people.

Memounatou Ibrahima, 2nd vice president of Togo's National Assembly, said the seminar was conducive to the building of a Chinese-African community of a shared future, as "it calls for a new vision of friendship between the peoples of China and Africa."

Theodore Datouo, vice president of Cameroon's National Assembly, said "Chinese model of democracy is indeed good, and we will learn from it," adding that the diversity of democracy should be encouraged, which is necessary for world peace and mutual understanding.

Boris Wada, a member of the Gabon-China friendship committee at Gabon's National Assembly, said the whole-process people's democracy suits China's national condition, and the system truly represents the Chinese people's voices, which has offered experience for other countries to learn from.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
MANILA, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in Metro Manila will remain at the lowest level from May 1 to 15 as the transmission and hospitalization rate remain low in the capital region, the acting presidential spokesperson said Friday.

Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the interagency coronavirus task force approved placing Metro Manila and several areas under alert level 1 until May 15. He said other areas not included in alert level 1 will be under alert level 2.

Over 65.7 million Filipinos will go to polling stations on May 9 to elect a new president, a new vice president, 12 of the 24-seat Senate, and members of the House of Representatives.

On Thursday, the Commission on Elections said the national and local elections will push through despite detecting the first known case of Omicron sub-variant B.2.12.

However, the Department of Health strongly dissuades voters who tested positive for COVID-19 not to go out and isolate.

The health department reported 193 coronavirus infections on Thursday. The Philippines now has over 3.68 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 60,267 deaths. 
Entergy Texas, Inc. recently named new regulatory affairs leaders. Ryland Ramos has been named vice president of regulatory affairs, and Erika Garcia will serve as director. Both will oversee the companys engagement with the Public Utility Commission of Texas and other key stakeholders.

Ryland brings industry background and a keen understanding of the needs of Southeast Texas, said Eli Viamontes, president and CEO of Entergy Texas. As we continue our work to meet our customers needs, Ryland will be instrumental in creating outcomes that benefit our customers and communities.

Ramos most recently worked as an energy policy advisor to Gov. Greg Abbott.

He also served as the governors designee to the Texas Cybersecurity Council and the Texas Electric Grid Security Council. Before joining the governors office, he worked in public and regulatory affairs for Entergy Texas. During his tenure with the company, Ramos played an essential role in helping the company advocate on policy to support Entergy Texas efforts to invest billions in new infrastructure to provide more reliable and affordable service to customers.

Garcia previously served as senior counsel for Entergy Texas, helping advance key regulatory filings before the PUCT that will help modernize the companys system and improve service for customers. She has significant experience in the industry, previously representing electric utilities before the PUCT and the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission and serving as a staff attorney for the legal division of the PUCT.

Entergy Texas plans to invest more than $2.4 billion over the next three years to create a more reliable and resilient system. Last year, Entergy Texas filed a request for approval of the Orange County Advanced Power Station, a 1,215-megawatt, dual-fuel combined cycle facility powered by hydrogen and natural gas. The project is under review with the PUCT.

Texas AgriForestry Small Farmers and Ranchers (TASFR) has announced a new partnership with Brigham Young University regarding agriculture survey impact analysis as a part of the Texas Catchafire Program. This program provides non-profit organizations with capacity building along with strategic planning. TASFRs service area includes Southeast and East Texas.

Igalious Ike Mills, Executive Director said, We are excited about this partnership with Brigham Young University. Capacity building is a critical part of developing our organization.

Eva Witesman, Director of the BYU GoodMeasure Program added, We have been excited about our partnership with TASFR in part because we can use our tools and skills in service of an important and complex issue. The challenges of historically disadvantaged farmers and ranchers involves public, private, and non-profit entities. The opportunity to contribute to the evaluation of programs designed to address the challenges faced by farmers and ranchers in Texas allows us, in our own small way, to be part of the solution.

A physician at CHRISTUS Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth hospital recently surgically implanted three CardioMEMS devices in three patients with congestive heart failure, the first health care organization to offer this procedure in Southeast Texas.

The tiny device, which is implanted into the pulmonary artery, optimizes therapy for both systolic and diastolic congestive heart failure by monitoring fluid status.

It alerts a patients cardiologist of an abnormal fluid level before the patient begins to experience symptoms, which can sometimes take weeks.

The device is designed to aid physicians in preventing worsening heart failure with early intervention using that data.

It has been proven in clinical trials to decrease hospitalizations and prevent re-hospitalizations due to congestive heart failure complications.

This is a huge milestone for patients with any type of congestive heart failure and for Southeast Texas health care as a whole, said Timothy Colgan, M.D. It allows us to get on top of any potential issues sooner. We can make adjustments to a patients diuretics or bring them into the office to be seen before it becomes a problem that requires a hospital stay.

The CardioMEMS device collects and sends data to a patients doctor daily.

The patient lies down on a specially equipped pillow and the information is collected. Its then automatically inputted into the health care providers system, where medical staff can see the data in real time.

Do you have a news item like this that your customers or clients need to hear about? A new manager or owner, a major change in your operations? Send it to Opinions@BeaumontEnterprise.com so we can spread the word!
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (center) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (second from left) attend a joint news conference after a Normandy-format summit in Paris, Dec. 9, 2019.

Indonesia has asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be a guest at the G-20 summit, President Joko Jokowi Widodo said Friday, belatedly confirming an invitation to the war-torn European nations leader that the United States had urged him to extend.

The Indonesian president also said that Vladimir Putin, the leader of G-20 member Russia whose military invaded Ukraine in February, had agreed to attend the same summit in Bali in mid-November, although the Kremlin had not confirmed his participation. Indonesia hold this years presidency of the grouping of the worlds top 20 economies.

We know that the G-20 plays the role of catalyst in the global economic recovery and the two things are affecting the global economic recovery in a major way: COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, Jokowi said in a speech broadcast on YouTube.

It is in this context that I invited President Zelenskyy to attend the G-20 summit, he said of his call Wednesday with the Ukrainian president.

Meanwhile in Washington on Friday, the Pentagons press secretary said that Putin absolutely shouldnt be welcomed at the G-20 summit.

He isolated Russia by his own actions and should continue to be isolated by the international community... still continue to suffer the consequences of his actions in Ukraine, John Kirby told CNN.

A day earlier, when asked whether President Joe Biden would attend the G-20 summit were Putin to attend as well, a White House spokeswoman indicated that a decision had yet to be made.

[T]he President has been clear about his view: This shouldnt be business as usual, and that Russia should not be a part of this, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

But, again, [the G-20 summit] six months away; we dont even have confirmation of these reports [about Putins attendance]. So Im certainly not going to get into a hypothetical in this case.

Southeast Asia analyst Derek J. Grossman said Indonesias invitation to Ukraine reflected its stated foreign policy.

The nonaligned path in action, the senior defense analyst at the Rand Corp., a U.S. think-tank, said on Twitter.

Ukraine is not a G-20 member, but Indonesia, as the holder of the groups presidency, can invite leaders of non-member countries as guests. Zelenskyy on Wednesday pre-empted Indonesia by announcing via Twitter that Jokowi had invited him to the summit.

His attendance at the G-20 summit would depend mainly on the situation in the battlefield, Vysotskyi Taras, a senior Ukrainian government official, was quoted by Reuters as saying on Thursday.

War must be stopped immediately

Jokowi, however, said he had turned down a request by Zelenskyy that Indonesia send weapons to Ukraine.

I reaffirmed [to Zelenskyy] that in line with our constitution and our independent and active foreign policy, we cannot send arms support to other countries, but we are prepared to send humanitarian aid, Jokowi said.

The Indonesian leader also said he had called for an end to the war, in his telephone conversation with Putin on Thursday.

It should be underlined that the war must be stopped immediately and peace negotiations be given a chance. Indonesia is ready to contribute to achieving that goal, Jokowi said.

President Putin expressed gratitude for the invitation to the G-20 summit and said that he would attend, he added.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would prepare for the summit but did not say whether Putin would go to Bali.

Putin wished success for the Indonesian G-20 presidency and assured that Russia will do everything necessary and everything possible to contribute to it, Peskov was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency TASS.

But, Peskov said, it is premature to talk about any other modalities of our participation.

Last month, President Biden said Ukraine should be able to participate in the G-20 summit, if the grouping did not expel Russia, the country that invaded its smaller neighbor and former Soviet socialist republic next-door on Feb. 24.

Washington went a step farther on April 6, saying that it would boycott some of the groups meetings if Russian officials attended, which it then did later in the month.

On April 20, several nations, including Ukraine and the United States, walked out when Russian officials addressed a G-20 meeting convened by Indonesia in Washington. Indonesia had invited all members, including Russia, to attend the groups meeting of finance ministers and central bank chiefs that day.

Shailaja Neelakantan in Washington contributed to this report.
Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo (right) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (second from left) walk during their meeting at the Bogor Presidential Palace in West Java, Indonesia, April 29, 2022.

Japans leader made a veiled but strong statement against Chinese assertiveness as he met Indonesias president on Friday at the start of a trip to Southeast Asia and Europe to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific and rally a regional response to the Ukrainian crisis.

Tokyo is also considering giving Indonesia patrol boats so its coast guard could strengthen maritime security, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, amid Chinese pressure on Jakarta over its oil and gas drilling operations in its own exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.

I expressed a strong sense of protest against efforts to change the status quo unilaterally and economic pressures in the East China Sea and South China Sea, Kishida said, after meeting with President Joko Jokowi Widodo in Jakarta.

The Japanese premiers remarks were a pointed reference to concern over Chinese activities in the region.

Kishidas eight-day tour will see him visiting strategic ASEAN partners, including Vietnam and Thailand.

The prime minister will then proceed to Europe, with stops in Italy and the United Kingdom, both members of the G7 grouping of industrialized countries that also comprises Japan.

Before embarking from Tokyo on his trip, Kishida said at the airport that he would like to exchange frank opinions on the situation in Ukraine with each of the leaders and confirm their cooperation.

Indonesia is host of this years Group of 20 summit in November, an engagement that has placed Jakarta in a diplomatic bind, amid opposition to the participation of Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine and alleged war crimes there.

On Friday, Jokowi confirmed that Indonesia had invited Ukraines president as a guest to the G-20 summit in Bali and that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would also attend.

Kishida said he and Jokowi exchanged views openly on the Russian invasion, which is a clear violation of international law and which we say has shaken the foundations of the international order, including Asia, and must be strongly condemned.

Keeping in mind the U.N. resolutions agreed upon by the two countries, I and the president discussed this issue. We have one understanding that a military attack on Ukraine is unacceptable. In any area, sovereignty and territorial integrity should not be interfered with by military force or intimidation, the Japanese leader said.

Jokowi, for his part, called for all countries to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Ukraine war must be stopped immediately, he said.

A regional reluctance to take sides

The war in Ukraine has been a divisive issue among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

Across the region there is a reluctance to take sides and an ambivalence about the concert of democracies lining up in support of Ukraine, said Jeff Kingston, a professor and director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo.

Most Southeast Asian countries  Singapore being an exception  have been hesitant to condemn Russia or join international sanctions against Moscow. Japan hopes to consolidate their responses during the prime ministers visit.

Kishida will [also] seek to gain understanding of what is at stake and the potential implications for Asia in terms of Chinas hegemonic aspirations, Kingston said.

Chinas increasing assertiveness in the East China and South China seas will be high on the agenda, and Kishida said he would discuss with Southeast Asian leaders further cooperation toward realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific, and maintaining peace and order.

Stops in Hanoi, Bangkok

In Vietnam, where Kishida will spend less than 24 hours over the weekend, he will meet with both the Vietnamese prime minister and president.

Bilateral talks will focus on post-COVID-19 and security cooperation, Vietnamese media said. Vietnam shares interests with Japan in safeguarding maritime security in the South China Sea where China holds expansive claims and has been militarizing reclaimed islands.

In Thailand, Kishida will hold talks with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha. Thailand is the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit in November.

Bangkok and Tokyo are celebrating the 135th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, and the two sides are seeking to sign an agreement on the transfer of defense equipment and technology to strengthen cooperation in the security field, according to the Bangkok Post.

Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said it would be the first official visit of a Japanese prime minister to Thailand since 2013.

In March, Kishida visited India and Cambodia, his first bilateral trips since taking office in October 2021.

Later in May, he will host a visit by U.S. President Joe Biden and a summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad.

The White House announced on Wednesday that President Biden would visit South Korea and Japan May 20-24 to advance a commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and to U.S. treaty alliances with the two countries.

The trip will be Bidens first one to Asia as president.

In Tokyo, President Biden will also meet with the leaders of the Quad grouping of Australia, Japan, India, and the United States, the statement said without disclosing the date.

The Quad is widely seen as countering Chinas weight in the region.

China has been sneering at the formation of the Quad, calling it one of the exclusive cliques detrimental to mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries.

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministrys spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the Quad is steeped in the obsolete Cold War and zero sum mentality and reeks of military confrontation.

It runs counter to the trend of the times and is doomed to be rejected, he said.

Dandy Koswaraputra in Jakarta contributed to this report.
A mannequin dressed as a sniper is placed beside a sign for the Islamic State-aligned militant Maute Group near a military checkpoint at an abandoned neighborhood during an ongoing clean-up of Marawi city in southern Philippines, Oct. 19, 2017.

Five suspected pro-Islamic State militants and a soldier were killed in a gunbattle when government forces stormed the extremists jungle camp in the southern Philippines, the military said Friday.

The clash that took place on Thursday outside the remote town of Butig in Lanao del Sur province was the deadliest during the holy month of Ramadan involving suspected Islamic militants. Ramadan in the Philippines ends on Sunday evening.

Five members of the Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group were killed, said Brig. Gen. Jose Maria Cuerpo II, commander of the 103rd Infantry Brigade, adding that a soldier was killed and a second was injured during the intense ground and air attacks.

Daulah Islamiyah means Islamic State in the local language. The group has members from several Filipino militant factions including the Maute Group fighting out of Lanao.

Cuerpo said the troops launched the operation following reports from residents weeks ago about the presence of armed men in the mountainous part of the village of Ragayan. Those complaints corroborated intelligence reports about an alleged terror group stockpiling construction materials and food supplies in the area.

The encounter is proof that the terrorists are out to disrupt the peace whenever they are capable, Cuerpo told reporters.

It is for this reason that the Army is aggressive in its counter-terrorism operations. We will never let them succeed. Despite the unfortunate loss of one of our brothers-in-arms, we will never abandon the fight against terrorists wherever they may be.

In May 2017, Maute group leaders and others launched the siege of Marawi, the capital of Lanao del Sur, joined by militants from the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The attack lasted five months and as many as 1,200 militants, troops, and civilians were killed before the military, supported by foreign intelligence, regained control of the southern Philippine city.

Five years later, some areas of Marawi continue to remain inaccessible because of unexploded ordnance that has yet to be removed. Thousands of citizens remain in transitional centers.

Four-hour clash

Local battalion commander Lt. Col. Romulus Rabara, who led the assault on Thursday, said about 40 members of the Maute Group were present in the area, precipitating a four-hour gunbattle.

Troops attacked with rounds of heavy artillery, Rabara said Friday, adding that Air Force attack helicopters provided air support to the ground offensive.

Rabara told reporters he believed other enemy fighters could have been injured, based on radio monitoring on the ground.

After the clash, troops recovered four high-powered firearms, including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, ammunition, and improvised landmine and other materials.

Since January across the southern Philippines, troops have killed nearly 70 Daulah Islamiyah militants, 109 Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and 49 Abu Sayyaf extremists, according to military records.

BIFF is a breakaway of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a former separatist group that signed a peace deal with the government and heads a transitional government in a Muslim autonomous region in the south. Abu Sayyaf is known for kidnappings, beheadings and bomb attacks. One of its factions is allied with the Islamic State.

A large Muslim minority lives in the southern part of the Philippines, Asias only predominantly Catholic nation.

Jeoffrey Maitem contributed in Cotabato, Philippines, contributed to this report.
People stand outside the hospital where wounded people receive treatment after an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 29, 2022. At least 10 people were killed and 20 others wounded after an explosion ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday, officials and eyewitnesses said. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

KABUL, April 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed and 20 others wounded after an explosion ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday, officials and eyewitnesses said.

"The initial reports found that 10 people were killed and 20 wounded. The number of the killed and wounded may change as the casualties were transported to multiple hospitals," Abdul Nafeh, a spokesman of the Interior Ministry, told Xinhua.

"The blast occurred roughly at 3:45 p.m. (local time), more than one hour after Friday prayers. The worshippers in Khalifa Sahib Mosque in Sera-e-Allawoddin area of Karta-e-Sah locality were the apparent target of the blast. The nature of the blast has not been determined. It could be a suicide bomb blast," witness Mohammad Bashir told Xinhua.

The attack came when a group of worshippers were making a ritual prayer in observing the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The neighborhood is located in Police District 6 in the western part of the city.

The Taliban security forces have cordoned off the area for precautionary measures.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

In recent weeks the war-torn country has been hit by a series of terror attacks reportedly staged by militants of the Islamic State (IS) group opposing Afghanistan's Taliban-led caretaker government.

Two explosions targeting two buses in northern Mazar-i-Sharif city left 11 people dead and 17 others wounded on Thursday evening, the Tolo News TV reported.

According to the report, the IS group claimed responsibility for the Mazar-i-Sharif blasts. 

A security member stands guard near an explosion site in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 29, 2022. At least 10 people were killed and 20 others wounded after an explosion ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday, officials and eyewitnesses said. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

People send an injured man to a hospital after an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 29, 2022. At least 10 people were killed and 20 others wounded after an explosion ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday, officials and eyewitnesses said. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
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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.
Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.
by Hayati Nupus

JAKARTA, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The rising price of instant noodles is not a problem for Maria Ulfa, an employee at a private company in Indonesia's capital Jakarta.

At the moment, she worried that instant noodles might get scarce, and she would not be able to get them due to the impact of the ongoing Ukraine crisis.

"I can't imagine how bleak my life would be without instant noodles, without its tantalizing aroma and delicious broth," Ulfa, who eats instant noodles almost every day, told Xinhua.

Ukraine is one of the world's biggest exporters of wheat, from which instant noodles are made. The shipping of wheat from Ukraine to the rest of the world, including Indonesia, has been hampered recently due to its military conflict with Russia.

"Since January there has been no import of wheat from Ukraine. There are still 1,200 tons of Indonesian orders that have not been shipped," said Chairman of the Indonesian Wheat Flour Producers Association (Aptindo) Franciscus Welirang, who is also director of PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk that produces Indomie instant noodles and oversees flour company PT Bogasari Flour Mills.

Wheat-based food producers in Indonesia are looking for alternative suppliers due to limited stock of wheat, Welirang said.

Aptindo noted that Indonesia imported a total of 11.5 million tons of wheat from various countries last year, including 3 million tons for producing wheat flour.

Australia is Indonesia's main source of wheat, which is relatively expensive, but logistics costs are lower as the continent is geographically closer to the archipelago.

Other sources of wheat for Indonesia are Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, India, the United States, Canada and Ukraine.

Due to crop failures in Australia in 2019, as well as in Canada, the United States, and Russia from 2020 to 2021, Indonesia has been importing about 3 million tons of wheat annually from Ukraine.

"At that time the price of wheat in Ukraine was cheaper, but since last August its wheat price has become higher," Welirang said.

Crop failures in various countries have triggered rising wheat prices in the global market, exacerbated by high logistics costs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Welirang added.

Bogasari needs about 4 million tons of wheat annually to produce flour.

However, Welirang remains optimistic that there are many ways to supply wheat to Indonesia, as he saw a ray of hope in India where wheat harvests are increasing, and Argentina where wheat farming conditions are improving.

Executive Director of Aptindo Ratna Loppies expressed her optimism that despite the rising prices, wheat flour sales in Indonesia increased 1.2 percent in the first quarter of this year to 2.26 million tons.

"Indonesian people like products made from flour such as bread, noodles, and fried cakes," said Loppies.

Loppies added that currently wheat flour entrepreneurs in Indonesia have shifted their orders to India, the United States and Australia for the time being, hoping that the Ukraine crisis could end soon and world trade could go back to normal. 
On Friday, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming the number of votes for French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen decreased from 14.4 million during a live count to 13.3 million when her defeat was declared.
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On Friday, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming a recent outbreak of unexplained hepatitis cases among children is being caused by the adenovirus vector used in some COVID-19 vaccines, including the Johnson & Johnson shot.
Business writer

Tony Dobrowolski's main focus is on business reporting. He came to The Eagle in 1992 after previously working for newspapers in Connecticut and Montreal. He can be reached at tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6224.
Michelle Lopez, the executive director of the Berkshire Immigrant Center in Pittsfield, will speak when Berkshire Business and Professional Women holds its monthly meeting Monday via Zoom.
Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989.
Hungarian President Janos Ader (R) and Prime Minister Viktor Orban speak to the media at a press conference in Budapest, Hungary, April 29, 2022. Hungarian President Janos Ader has asked Viktor Orban, the prime ministerial candidate of the Fidesz-KDNP coalition that won the parliamentary election on April 3, to form a new government. Orban accepted Ader's invitation here on Friday morning. Ader and Orban made a short joint press declaration after their meeting in the Sandor Palace. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

BUDAPEST, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian President Janos Ader has asked Viktor Orban, the prime ministerial candidate of the Fidesz-KDNP coalition that won the parliamentary election on April 3, to form a new government.

Orban accepted Ader's invitation here on Friday morning. Ader and Orban made a short joint press declaration after their meeting in the Sandor Palace.

"The result of the election, the decision of the voters is clear and unambiguous: the election was legal, constitutional, free and democratic, and the legitimacy of neither the new Parliament nor the new government cannot be questioned," Ader underlined.

He said he will also propose to the new Parliament to elect Orban as prime minister at its inaugural session on Monday.

"A decade of dangers lies ahead," Orban said.

"There are rising prices throughout Europe, signs of a serious energy crisis and these elements mean suffering for the European economies," he said, warning that the European Union has not even emerged from the problems caused by the pandemic.

"Although the new government is not formed yet, the outgoing cabinet has already made decisions in recent days that follow the same principle, namely the need to protect Hungary in a decade full of dangers," Orban underlined, referring to the recent extension of the price caps on fuel and staple food.

He concluded by saying that preparations were underway to form his new cabinet, but could not yet reveal details on its composition. 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks to the media at a press conference in Budapest, Hungary, April 29, 2022. Hungarian President Janos Ader has asked Viktor Orban, the prime ministerial candidate of the Fidesz-KDNP coalition that won the parliamentary election on April 3, to form a new government. Orban accepted Ader's invitation here on Friday morning. Ader and Orban made a short joint press declaration after their meeting in the Sandor Palace. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

Hungarian President Janos Ader (R) and Prime Minister Viktor Orban shake hands at a press conference in Budapest, Hungary, April 29, 2022. Hungarian President Janos Ader has asked Viktor Orban, the prime ministerial candidate of the Fidesz-KDNP coalition that won the parliamentary election on April 3, to form a new government. Orban accepted Ader's invitation here on Friday morning. Ader and Orban made a short joint press declaration after their meeting in the Sandor Palace. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

Hungarian President Janos Ader (R) and Prime Minister Viktor Orban speak to the media at a press conference in Budapest, Hungary, April 29, 2022. Hungarian President Janos Ader has asked Viktor Orban, the prime ministerial candidate of the Fidesz-KDNP coalition that won the parliamentary election on April 3, to form a new government. Orban accepted Ader's invitation here on Friday morning. Ader and Orban made a short joint press declaration after their meeting in the Sandor Palace. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)
LEE  The Berkshire District Attorney's Office confirmed on Friday that foul play is not suspected in the death of a Lenox woman who went missing on Wednesday.

Krisann Rufo, 52, was reported missing early Wednesday morning by her family. The search drew dozens of first responders to the October Mountain State Forest.

Her body was located that evening by the Massachusetts State Police Special Emergency Response Team in a wooded area off of Schermerhorn Road in Lee, according to Andy McKeever, a spokesperson for the DA's Office.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause and manner of death, he said.

The evidence thus far is consistent with suicide, and no foul play is suspected, he said.

Involved in the search for the missing woman was Lenox Police, Lee Police, Lenox Fire and Rescue, state police, Massachusetts Environmental Police and the Berkshire County Sheriffs Office.

The incident is unrelated to the ongoing search in South Lee for Meghan Marohn, a high school teacher from Delmar, N.Y., who has been missing for about a month.
Scott Stafford has been a reporter, photographer, and editor at a variety of publications, including the Dallas Morning News and The Berkshire Eagle.
Fairfields Dairy Farm in Williamstown will receive a $500,000 state grant to help convert to an automatic milking system.
Kurt Vonnegut's reply to the author, part of a 1988 exchange wherein the columnist Dalton Delan asked the legendary "Slaughterhouse-Five" writer to reflect on the horrors of wartime atrocities.
Staten Island-based Amazon.com distribution center employees celebrate earlier this month after winning the right to unionize. It was the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant's history.
Bags of fertilizer sit at the Port of Mykolaiv in Ukraine on Feb. 14. As the world becomes a more dangerous place, things we take for granted, like large-scale trade in food, may be far more vulnerable than anyone realized, writes New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
Statement of Orthodox Christian Laity on the Invasion of Ukraine NEWS PROVIDED BY

Orthodox Christian Laity

April 28, 2022



WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 28, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following is submitted by George D. Karcazes, Secretary, Orthodox Christian Laity: The Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) denounces the horrific and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military under the orders of President Putin and the attempt to bestow religious legitimacy to the war by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.



The indiscriminate and unjustifiable bombing of innocent civilian population centers including schools and hospitals, the rapes, mass executions and war crimes committed by Russian soldiers have shocked the entire world. Millions have been forced to flee their homes as refugees from a brutal war in which Orthodox Christians have been ordered by their political and religious leaders to kill other Orthodox Christians.



In 1917, Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow, formerly Bishop of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska and Archbishop of North America, in response to the actions of the Bolshevik government, stated: "...free the imprisoned, cease the bloodshed, violence, destruction, persecution of the faith...Otherwise you will have to answer for all the righteous blood shed by you (Luke 11.51), and you who have taken the sword will perish by the sword (Matt. 26.52)." Because of his continuous opposition to government policies to restrict and infiltrate the Church, the Bolsheviks martyred Patriarch Tikhon in 1925.



We call upon Patriarch Kirill and all faithful Orthodox Christians in Russia to follow the courageous example of St. Tikhon and other martyrs of Orthodoxy by demanding an immediate end to the killing and destruction of their brothers and sisters in Ukraine. Let us pray that they will use every means at their disposal to swiftly turn the swords into plowshares by opposing persistently and unequivocally the dehumanizing violence and destruction in Ukraine.



May our risen Lord Jesus Christ during these forty days following the celebration of the Resurrection by Orthodox Christians globally, move hearts, minds and mountains to end the bloodshed and destruction in Ukraine and bring lasting peace before Pentecost. OCL is a 35-year old 501(c)(3) educational ministry advocating for the administrative unity, accountability, transparency and conciliar governance of all Orthodox Christian jurisdictions in America as one local, autocephalous Church.



SOURCE Orthodox Christian Laity



CONTACT: David Oancea, Executive Director, 517-795-7784



Related Links



ocl.org



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Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of Gods mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God- this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what Gods will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2

Relevant to our currently daily lives, Paul practically instructed the Romans how to dedicate their lives as living sacrifices to God. Christ made a way for us to accomplish a closeness with God and forgiveness for our sins that was impossible before He descended from heaven. His life, death, and resurrection broke the curse of since which blocks us from the presence of God. In Christ, we are ushered into an intimate relationship with God, who in His great mercy sent His one and only Son to die for us while we were still sinners. Out of a gratitude we cannot fully express on this earth, we dedicate our daily lives to honor and bring glory to God.

What Does Romans 12 Mean by 'Living Sacrifice'?

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4

We no longer need to bring animal sacrifices to an altar, because of Christs once for all sacrifice for us. Unlike dead animal sacrifices, Christians must live to serve God constantly, Michael Vanlaningham explains, Rather than be shaped to look like the world, the Christians mind is to be renewed in order to appreciate the importance and benefits of Gods will as revealed in His Word" (Moody Bible Commentary). Gods mercy rains down upon us when we embrace Jesus Christ as our Savior. We die to ourselves in order to live for Him. His supernatural love and forgiveness flow through us we follow Him. This is the picture of a living sacrifice. Our lives worship God before we even lift a hand in the air to sing His praise when we live each day as a living sacrifice. We do this by ensuring we are right with God, through Christ, and in our response to God. Before you think that the Christian life has everything to do with being merciful to people, John Piper explains on desiringGod.org, realize that it has everything to do with being worshipful toward God.

The first eleven chapters of Pauls letter to the Romans tell of the mercy of God. In Chapter 12, he tells them how to live their new lives in Christ. Untangling legalistic laws and religious rules to narrow the life of a Christ follower down to becoming the living sacrifice in gratitude of Gods saving grace through His Son. Paul goes into detail to show that Jesus Christ is to be Lord of every area of life, the NIV Study Bible explains.

How Is This Our True and Proper Worship according to Paul?

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? James 2:14

God created each and every one of us. His plan to save us from the curse of sin has been in place since the beginning. God is intentional and purposeful. Our very lives are meant to bring glory and honor to God. We are made in His image. True and proper worship to the One True God is submitting our selves daily as a living sacrifice. It means putting our agenda down and picking up His good will for our lives.

No-one will ever be able to live up to the holy standard required to stand in the presence of God. Christ lived the perfect life none of us could, and He choose willingly to sacrifice it for our forgiveness. Faith expresses itself in obedience, the NIV Study Bible explains, Obedient service- the liturgy of life. Without salvation in Christ, the consequence for our sins is death. New life in Christ allows us to confess and repent of our sins. We become a living sacrifice, in that our very lives worship our God who reached down to save us. Gods mercy means His pity, compassion, and kindness toward people, Dawn Wilson defines, His mercy shows up in the believers life at salvation, and then God continues to show mercy in forgiveness. in view of Gods mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God- this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1

What Are the Characteristics of a Living Sacrifice?

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16

Paul wrote not to conform to the pattern of this world. When discussing what her word of the year was, my daughter proposed self-love. A word our world very much applauds, I knew her intention wasnt to focus on vanity amongst other synonyms of the word. Her true intention is to reflect the peace of Christ in her heart, and to believe the truths God says about her, over the lies of the world. Our enemy and the cursed sin-soaked world we live in is deceitful. When we are in Christ, Gods love flows through our lives. Our behavior reflects the fact we know the difference between self-love and a living sacrifice. Christ died so we would live our lives to the full. When we believe condemning lies its impossible to live fully for God.

Christ gave himself for us, and we are to respond by giving ourselves to him, Dr. R.C. Sproul explains, We give ourselves to thank and serve him. A living sacrifice means believing who God says we are and what He has promised for us. This is where our confidence comes from, and our lives will radiate Gods presence and mercy when we embrace our confidence in Him. Paul calls for a renewal of our minds, and Scripture reminds us to take our thoughts captive. Spiritual (logikos, from which the Eng. word logical is derived) means rational, reasonable, that which is carefully thought out, Michael Vanlaningham explains (Moody Bible Commentary). Constantly and consistently, in prayer and Gods Word, our minds develop a godly wisdom and perspective that allows us to see His hand on our lives and His love to radiate through us and onto others.

Throughout the entirety of our lives, through the process of sanctification, we are being made holy like Christ. Involvement of the heart, mind, will and life- the whole of what creatures such as human beings are and do (NIV Study Bible). It is a lifetime of days we choose to drop our agenda, refuse to believe lies about who we are not, and embrace the full life we have in Christ to walk out Gods agenda for us in His Kingdom.

Why Are Sacrifice and Consecration Important in the Bible?

the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, Galatians 1:3b-4

Transformation is a life-long process. Sacrifice is synonymous with surrender. When we are baptized in Christ, we die to our old selves, and embrace new life, sacrificing what we selfishly want to gain and achieve in life for Gods greater purpose. Daily, we sacrifice our lives in submission to Gods will for us, continually dedicating ourselves to His purpose. Do not love the world or anything in the world, John wrote, If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them (1 John 2:15).

Consecration means to dedicate our lives to God. Idols are anything that creep up and attempt to take the place of God as first and foremost in our lives. We have to be diligent about asking God to search our hearts for distractions and preoccupations that take away from our focus on Him and His agenda for each of our days/lives. Sacrifice and consecration are important because of Jesus. He sacrificed His life for us, once for all. He was consecrated to the will of His Father. He choose to give His life, freely. When He rose again, death was defeated and freedom from the consequence of death for sin was made possible. He literally made a way, and we as Christ followers dedicate our lives to the way He made for us to come into the presence of God. Today, and everyday here on earth and onto eternity, we get to live our lives in a way that worships God before we every lift a hand in the air to sing His praise. This is what it means to be a living sacrifice. To understand who Jesus is, what He sacrificed for us, and what that means for us now and onto eternity. Our hope, here on earth and eternally, is in Him.

The call to be a living sacrifice is a difficult daily process, but life within the love of Christ overflows with the supernatural peace and joy of abiding in and obeying our Father in Heaven. Everyday is purposed to bring glory to God. No improvement can be made upon the will of God (NIV Study Bible). When we understand what it means to worship God as living sacrifices, we get to embrace the fullness of His will for our lives.

Sources:

NIV Study Bible, Zondervan, 2008.

Moody Bible Commentary, Moody Publishers Chicago, 2014.

Further Reading:

What Does it Mean to Be a Living Sacrifice and How Do I Be One?

Being a Living Sacrifice Not a Cutting Sacrifice

Photo credit: GettyImages/Wenping-Zheng

Meg writes about everyday life within the love of Christ as a freelance writer, blogger at Sunny&80, and author of  Friends with Everyone, Friendship within the Love of Christ, Surface, Unlocking the Gift of Sensitivity, and Glory Up, The Everyday Pursuit of Praise, and Home, Finding Our Identity in Christ. She earned a Marketing/PR degree from Ashland University, but stepped out of the business world to stay at home and raise her two daughters which led her to pursue her passion to write. A member of Faith Church in Sandusky, OH, she serves as Communications Director, and leads Bible studies for women and teen girls. Meg is a Cleveland native and lifelong Browns fan, living by the shore of Lake Erie in Northern Ohio with her husband, two daughters and golden doodle.

This article is part of our larger resource library of popular Bible verse phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy to read articles that answer your questions about the meaning, origin, and history of specific verses within Scripture's context. It is our hope that these will help you better understand the meaning and purpose of God's Word in relation to your life today.

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Indian biopharma industry HITS Rs 33K Cr WITH 13% GROWTH in 2020-21

Amidst the pandemic, the Indian Biopharma Industry, with over 300 companies, has witnessed a good growth of 13 percent, 2 percent less than the previous years 15 percent growth rate. This growth was largely driven by the performance of the Indian biopharma companies which have done very well as against multinational companies. As a result, the Indian Biopharma Industry has crossed the Rs 33,000 crore mark for the year 2020-21 over the previous years figure of Rs 29,176 crore. The Indian Biopharma industry, comprising hormones, insulin, blood products, and vaccines recorded a sales revenue of Rs 33,067 crore for the year 2020-21.
Two enterprising Southern African entrepreneurs have established Invest Southern Africa Forum (ISAF) and secured an initial $10m in international funding for emerging African businesses.

Source: Supplied. Regto David, Invest Southern Africa Forum chairperson.

ISAF investment conference

Creating real economic opportunities

Frustrated by the impact of Covid on local economies, disruptions to supply chains and funding delays from formal quarters, Johannesburg-raised Tessa Pule, ISAF chief operations officer and award-winning Namibian entrepreneur Regto David, the organisation's chairperson have combined their resources and networks to assist Southern African entrepreneurs to secure funding for their businesses.Covid's impact particularly on SADC countries was particularly disruptive. As a region we have always enjoyed high consumer ratings. However, during the pandemic, goods that were previously easily imported, were no longer available. The effect of this on entrepreneurs and employment levels was devastating,In South Africa alone, Statistics South Africa has reported that just under a million citizens have lost their jobs within a nine-month period from the third quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021.This caused us to reassess our dependence on outside trading partners and to explore the regions capacity to develop its own produce and goods, Pule said.We believe that as a region with enormous skills and talent, we are more than able to produce and manufacture all that we consume and use, with capacity to spare to export to other destinations in need, David said.Thus, the Investment South African Forum (ISAF) was born.An investment conference is being held at the Sandton Convention Centre between May 11 and 13, where the focus will be on unpacking the effects of Covid-19 on SADC businesses and entrepreneurs, as well as exploring new investment opportunities.There has never been a more opportune time to participate and redefine the Southern African economy, Pule said.The conference is an ideal meeting ground for investors looking to enter the SADC region as well as for African entrepreneurs who need investment for critical expansion, she added.A conference highlight will be the award of $10m to respective African businesses in green energy, ICT and financial services, manufacturing, agriculture and mining, healthcare, tourism, and arts and culture.At the time of going to press, more than 80 African companies have signed up to pitch. David and Pule aim to at least double that.Businesses we have secured currently have combined annual turnovers of $8m and employ more than 1000 African citizens. Our funding aim is to enable them to take their businesses to the next level. It's time to recover and rebuild, David said.In so doing, we want to create real economic opportunities in Africa and assist in creating over 100,000 work opportunities. We also want to create new trading ecosystems and stimulate doing business beyond borders. This will benefit not only entrepreneurs but Governments and private companies alike.Commenting on the investment climate in Africa, David said: There are international investors keen to invest directly in emerging businesses throughout the region.During our travels within SADC we have been impressed by the presence of entrepreneurs who make things happen, despite sometimes unfavourable macro-political climates, he added.In the plethora of bad news surrounding the continent, I think we forget that Africa is an awakening giant with an estimated combined gross domestic product of around $3.4tn with around 40% of its population aged 15 years and younger."There are established entrepreneurs throughout the continent and within the SADAC region making tremendous success of their ventures. We want to give them airtime and the opportunity to amplify the great business that they are already doing, David concluded.
On 30 March 2022, the minister of mineral resources and energy published the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Policy 2022 (ASM Policy) and the Mine Community Resettlement Guidelines 2022. Although they do not directly mention ESG, both policy documents illustrate the desired integration of ESG standards in the mining sector.

Nomsa Mbere, partner at Webber Wentzel

The ASM Policy

The extent to which ASM permits are capped, e.g., mining permits are limited to a five-hectare area, but the ASM Policy does not cap ASM permits. This could lead to an abuse of the system where holders of these ASM permits use them as a "back door" to obtain less onerous rights over large tracts of land. This concern is bolstered by the "graduation" principle in the ASM Policy;



A dual licensing method, where the existing "first come, first served" system will co-exist with an invitation system. This is not in itself problematic. However, the criteria for this invitation system remains unclear;



ASM operators and large-scale operators are encouraged to co-exist through the use of instruments such as Tributing Agreements. These Tributing Agreements appear to be similar to a lease and may need further review to ensure they provide

Equitable terms for the ASM operators and large-scale operations;



Given that ASM currently falls outside the legislation governing mining in South Africa, all the statutory obligations which lead to the suspension and cancellation of a right are in the governing legislation (the MPRDA) and there is a danger that large-scale operators with Tributing Agreements over their mining areas could be held accountable for damage and loss which they did not cause. It is not clear whether these Tributing Agreements are provided for under South African law and whether they would require the consent of the minister in terms of Section 11 of the MPRDA;



The policy empowers the minister to designate certain areas for ASM. It is unclear whether this means that those areas would still be available for larger-scale mining, and whether existing mining rights on those areas will be considered; and



The ASM Policy contemplates that ASMs will have access to historic residues and stockpiles, but the MPRDA and common law limits the ministers jurisdiction over stockpiles created before the MPRDA came into effect. In practice, those dumps have common law owners, and this could present an awkward situation for ASM permit holders where a permit is being allocated over a dump which is not regulated by the MPRDA.

Jaqui Pinto, senior associate at Webber Wentzel

The Resettlement Guidelines

Practical challenges

Conclusion

The regulator is attempting to provide mining companies, junior miners, and other smaller entrants into the mining sector with guidelines and tools on ASM and resettlement of mine communities to assist them to fulfil their ESG obligations.Currently, mining laws in South Africa do not regulate ASM as a discrete form of mining. Instead, a mining permit which is less onerous than a mining right can be obtained, but ASM miners still struggle to meet its requirements.The ASM Policy aims to create a formal ASM industry that can operate in a sustainable manner and contribute to the economy, and it also aims to deter illegal mining. The ASM Policy is very similar to that published for public comment on 5 May 2021. It goes further than Section 27 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 2002 (MPRDA) which deals with mining permits and does not specifically address ASM. In the ASM Policy, the DMRE has opted to create a new system by introducing new permits. Consequently, legislative changes will be needed to enable the implementation of the ASM Policy.Notably, the ASM Policy introduces formal definitions for artisanal and small-scale mining, setting out monetary thresholds to differentiate between artisanal (maximum of R1m) and small-scale (maximum R10m) miners. It also distinguishes between illegal mining, which is a criminal activity, and ASM, for which an ASM permit is required.Policies promoting the growth, sustainability, and development of the ASM industry are welcomed to untap the development potential in this unregulated field, but the following points need further consideration:The ASM Policy does, however, introduce positive changes. It provides structure to the ASM industry and as it becomes formalised and pays taxes, the ASM industry will be able to contribute to poverty alleviation and economic growth. Another positive aspect of this document, which differs from the circulated draft, is that ASM may mostly be limited to surface and opencast mining. Since underground operations are by nature more dangerous and capital-intensive, this is a welcome approach.Unlike many other industries, mining is site-specific and the physical and economic displacement of persons, or a community is sometimes an unavoidable part of the exploration and mining of mineral resources. Resettlement for mining is not a new phenomenon. It is a global issue which has attracted the attention of international bodies such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), both of which have published guidance documents.The Resettlement Guidelines outline the process for applicants and holders of prospecting and mining rights or mining permits to follow when their operations require the physical resettlement of landowners, lawful occupiers, holders of informal land rights and mine and host communities. It also applies to both new operations and existing mines that are expanding and is intended to apply throughout the lifecycle of the operation, whenever resettlement is necessary.The Resettlement Guidelines propose meaningful consultation (as defined) with all interested and affected parties (including traditional authorities, land claimants, non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, and the local municipality), followed by a Resettlement Plan, Resettlement Action Plan, and Resettlement Agreement. Once it has been signed, the Resettlement Agreement must be submitted to the DMRE. Very importantly, the Resettlement Guideline envisages that mining cannot commence until the Resettlement Agreement is concluded, which contradicts the MPRDA and fails to take into account the rights and obligations which holders of rights have to commence mining operations.Another important issue which may be encountered in implementing the Resettlement Guidelines is that there are practical challenges in determining who constitutes a community and how to obtain the requisite consent for such an agreement, especially when there are factions within community groups. Clearer direction on how to obtain valid consents and what constitutes a "community" are needed.The Resettlement Guidelines explicitly state that any compensation must be clearly distinguished from other obligations that miners may have (set out in its Social and Labour Plans).While both of these documents represent progress in the social sphere of mining, they need more refinement to address some of the issues we have raised. Importantly, their adoption requires statutory amendments and alignment to streamline them and provide for the processes they contemplate.
Given that food insecurity was already rising before the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russian conflict in February this year, the problem is likely to be further exacerbated in the coming months - both locally and globally.

Access to food

Pressure on nutrition programmes

This is likely to push millions more around the globe into food insecurity, putting additional pressure on nutrition programmes and potentially erasing many of the gains these have made over the past few decades.According to Tiger Brands Foundation operations manager Karl Muller, the war is already having a noticeable impact on food price inflation in many emerging markets and developing economies and the effect will be most severely felt by the poorest and most vulnerable communities,.Weve already seen how the high price of oil  a direct consequence of the conflict  is already having a negative impact on the price of food in South Africa. At the same time, data shows that underprivileged households spend a much higher proportion, about three times as much, of their total income on food as non-poor household. The current situation is therefore to likely put additional pressure on the poor, Muller says.Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, crude oil prices soared to a 14-year high. It is important to remember that the energy price dynamics affect food prices through various channels, as fuel is an important input for agricultural production. Thus, increasing fuel costs have a direct effect on farmgate prices.He notes that with energy being necessary for food processing, high prices further add to the cost of households diets, while higher fuel prices also result in increasing transport costs, which can further add to the upward pressure on the cost of importing food and transporting it to distribution points.Ukraine and Russia account for 29% of global wheat exports and 62% of sunflower oil exports, and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) notes that the main expected effect of the conflict on global food security comes through the impact on global grain and energy markets. International food and fuel prices have increased sharply since the onset of the conflict, which will ultimately affect local food prices and, as a result, access to food.This is particularly alarming in the South African context, explains Muller, given that poor consumers in South Africa spend a large part of their food budget on bread and cereals (32%), meat (21%), and vegetables (13%), followed by dairy (8%) and beverages (7%). These figures were released by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) in March 2020.Unfortunately, South African consumers are likely to be profoundly impacted by the European conflict, as the country is a net importer of wheat, sourcing about 30% of our wheat imports from Ukraine and Russia, according to figures from the BFAP. It is, therefore, predicted that supply chain constraints will have a ripple effect on staple food in South Africa, Muller points out.In the wake of the situation, the South African government recently assured citizens that there was no need to panic about any impending food shortages, as there are currently enough supplies locally. South Africa is said to have benefitted from good harvests of a range of crops and fruits and has already imported a large share of products that the country is dependent on, such as wheat and rice.However, a major global concern is that the Ukraine-Russia war could also put additional pressure on nutrition programmes, in some cases potentially undoing much of the progress in the area of hunger eradication.The WFP is currently feeding 138 million people in more than 80 countries, including Ethiopia, South Sudan and Nigeria. It is now estimated that as many as 13 million more people worldwide will be pushed into food insecurity as a result of Russias invasion of Ukraine.Muller adds that this also remains a huge concern for South Africa, where millions of the most vulnerable rely on nutrition programmes as a means to survive and as their only source of proper nutrition. Steeper food prices and less access to food is likely to put a lot of pressure on nutrition programmes.The war might have the consequence of slowing down, in some instances even setting back, decades of gains made by nutrition programmes around the country and perhaps around the world, particularly those that aim to provide nourishment to vulnerable learners, Muller says.
NEWS PROVIDED BY

Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

April 29, 2022



NEW YORK, April 29, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the fallout from our dispute with Marjorie Taylor Greene:

We are delighted with all the kind comments we have received from Catholics, clergy and lay alike, about our denunciation of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Anyone who says the Catholic Church, or its leadership, is run by Satan is a bigot.

But we have our critics, too. There are those who hate the Catholic Church and therefore object to our comments about her. I am not interested in addressing these peoplethey are haters. I am interested in addressing those who don't seem to know what we do.

Our primary mission is to combat anti-Catholicism. Secondly, we are strongly committed to religious liberty. These twin issues cover most of what we do. As a sociologist, I also write about issues that bear on the contours of our culture. After all, the Catholic Church does not exist independent of the dominant culture. Indeed, it is very much a part of it. This explains why we track the cultural currents of the day: they are bound to affect the Church.

We are not a wing of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, and we certainly are not in business to serve either of them. If we go after Democrats more than Republicansand we doit is because secularists tend to be Democrats and the more militant among them tend to be anti-Catholic.

We are not a wing of the Catholic hierarchy. We are quite independent of them. To be sure, we are not some renegade Catholic organizationwe are listed in the Official Catholic Directory as a bona fide Catholic entity. Just as the bishops don't tell us what to do, we don't tell the bishops what to do. We have neither the authority nor the will to do so. We know our place.

We do not go after critics of the Catholic Church who are upset with a particular public policy that it embraces. They have every right to do so. We only get involved when criticism spills into invective, into boilerplate, taking shots below the belt. We also object to those who make sweeping condemnations of the clergy, blaming all priests and bishops for the miscreant behavior of some. Those are the marks of a bigot.

It must also be said that we object to non-Catholics criticizing the doctrinal prerogatives of the Church: they have no more business doing so than Catholics have a right to criticize the internal strictures of another religion. Fairly criticizing the Church for its position on abortion is one thing; criticizing its teaching on priestly celibacy is another.

Most Catholics, Jews, Muslims and Protestants are good people. But there are some within each group that are intolerant of Catholicism. Among the first two, it is the militant secularists within their ranks that are a problem; among the latter two, it is their extreme interpretation of their religion that is the problem.

Angry ex-Catholics and militant secularists within the Jewish community are consumed with hostility over the Churchs sexual ethics. Practicing Catholics and observant Jews are not the problemit is those who have lost their way.

When radical Muslims lash out at Catholics, it is usually the result of some twisted understanding of their own religion. Similarly, there is a strain of anti-Catholicism among Protestants, more commonly exhibited by extremists within the evangelical community.

Marjorie Taylor Greene belongs to two of these groups: she is an angry ex-Catholic and an extreme evangelical.

We do not give Republican pro-life politicians a break when they make patently anti-Catholic remarks and refuse to apologize. We denounce them. We don't cut corners for them because to do so would violate our mission. It is up to Republicans to get bigots like Greene into linedon't ever expect us to give anti-Catholics a break, no matter what their voting record is.
This years provincial budget emphasizes recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with a special interest in boosting the health-care system and economy, Manitobas premier told Brandon business leaders Thursday.

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This years provincial budget emphasizes recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with a special interest in boosting the health-care system and economy, Manitobas premier told Brandon business leaders Thursday.

Heather Stefanson was at the Keystone Centre to reiterate components of the 2022 Manitoba budget during the Brandon Chamber of Commerces monthly luncheon.

Its the second consecutive week Stefanson has delivered remarks to an audience at the Keystone Centre after appearing last week at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities spring convention to highlight grant funding for sustainable projects.

During her visit last week, Stefanson highlighted the doubled funding for the Building Sustainable Communities grant initiative, from which nine Brandon programs will receive money this year. No details on those programs were provided Thursday, but the premier said announcements would come from her cabinet colleagues "in the next short while."

She told assembled guests from the business community that Manitobas economy is rebounding with rising employment, retail sales, manufacturing sales and farm receipts, and its thanks to people like them.

After Stefanson delivered her speech, Brandon Chamber of Commerce president Barry Cooper took a seat next to the premier for a brief question-and-answer session.

In response to a question about the new economic development secretariat the premier is chairing, Stefanson said it was something that existed in the 1990s and is being brought back to emphasize economic development.

"That will be throughout all of Manitoba, looking at a whole province approach for the different sectors of our economy," Stefanson said.

One of the keys to economic development especially when there have been recent labour shortages, she said, is getting immigration back on track and helping workers coming from outside Canada to obtain their credentials so they can work in their field when they arrive.

Given the location of the event, Cooper asked Stefanson a question near and dear to the Keystone Centre: when will the province come to a permanent, predictable funding agreement with the facility?

COLIN SLARK/THE BRANDON SUN Premier Heather Stefanson speaks with audience members at the Brandon Chamber of Commerces luncheon on Thursday before delivering a state of the province address.

"How do we get to the point where we can have stable, consistent funding they can count on and is not just year-by-year?" Cooper asked.

On the issue of aligning programming at post-secondary institutions with the needs of the job market, Stefanson said the government wants to hear what industries and communities need so they can move things in that direction.

Both then and during a scrum held afterward, she identified the Building Sustainable Communities grant program as something the Keystone Centre could take advantage of and said a collaborative approach is necessary, but didnt discuss the creation of any kind of long-term deal.

Earlier in the afternoon, the premier highlighted the provincial government retiring $2.9 million of Keystone Centre debt as an example of its support for the facility.

It has been two consecutive weeks where southern Manitoba has encountered severe weather events, with Environment Canada predicting another Colorado low this weekend.

According to Stefanson, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk has been in communication with Westman communities to help them prepare and get through any flooding that occurs.

Also present at the event was St. Vital MLA Jamie Moses, the NDPs critic for advanced education and economic development. After Stefansons speech, he said this years budget lacks a vision for the future.

"Were continuing to see underfunding in health care, a surgical backlog list that not only grows in number but grows in wait time lengths and in addition to that, when it comes to economic development, were not seeing the kinds of infrastructure investments that businesses need and are relying on," Moses said.

"When it comes to municipalities, their fundings are getting frozen, they cant work on those infrastructure investments, even the roads that I drove on to get to the Keystone Centre today have potholes in them."

The next luncheon is on May 12, when Mayor Rick Chrest will follow the premier by giving a state of the city address. The event will be held at the UCT Pavilion at the Keystone Centre.

After being postponed due to a blizzard earlier this month, the chambers annual awards gala will take place on May 18, also at the Keystone Centre.

 cslark@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ColinSlark
Manitobas Red River Valley is bracing for what could be its worst spring flood since 1997, with dozens of rural homes likely to be evacuated and roads to become submerged.

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Manitobas Red River Valley is bracing for what could be its worst spring flood since 1997, with dozens of rural homes likely to be evacuated and roads to become submerged.

Provincial officials arent panicking because, they say, communities and individual properties in the flood zone are protected against the projected peak thanks to improvements made since the devastating Flood of the Century 25 years ago.

The outlook for Westman isnt as severe. Although provincial officials said Friday that some low-lying areas around the Assiniboine River are expected to see flooding, no structures are expected to be threatened at this point.

A flood warning remains in place along the Assiniboine from St. Lazare to Brandon, with water levels rising due to local runoff and tributary inflows.

Provincial officials are operating the Shellmouth Dam to reduce the risk of flooding while maintaining storage capacity for the water supply.

Along the Souris River, moderate flooding is expected between the border with the United States along to Wawanesa.

At a news conference, Fisaha Unduche, executive director of hydrologic forecasting and water management for Manitoba, said this weekends Colorado low weather system could propel peak flows past those of the 2009 flood, which was the largest since 1997.

He said peak levels along the Red are expected in Emerson around May 7-9, and they could stay within the valley until May 14.

Four weather systems packed with rain and/or snow have hit the province this month, and this weekends Colorado low could bring an additional 30 to 80 millimetres of precipitation to southern Manitoba, said Unduche.

Water levels are rising on many rivers or tributaries, and many municipalities have been dealing with overland flooding caused by last weekends Colorado low, which dumped more than 70 millimetres of precipitation in some places.

Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a rainfall warning for much of southern Manitoba, including Brandon, and parts of northwestern Ontario on Friday predicting 20 to 50 millimetres of rain for the subsequent 24 to 36 hours.

Like last weekends storm, some areas could receive embedded thunderstorms as part of the system.

Provincial crews were prepared to close Highway 75 on the north side of Morris as early as Friday to seal that section of the towns ring dike to protect it from the rising Red.

 Winnipeg Free Press, with files from The Brandon Sun
SHILO  On Thursday morning, dozens of kids from Ecole OKelly School and Ecole La Source lined up outside in anticipation of Teal Up Day, a celebration recognizing military children across the country all started by an initiative in the community.

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SHILO  On Thursday morning, dozens of kids from Ecole OKelly School and Ecole La Source lined up outside in anticipation of Teal Up Day, a celebration recognizing military children across the country all started by an initiative in the community.

Despite the brief snow flurries and cold wind, military children in Shilo cheered with excitement as organizers from the Shilo Military Family Resource Centre (MFRC) arranged for a big parade filled with different military service vehicles and a walk with military families who live at the base.

With April marking the month of the military child, Shannon Chapman, the youth programs co-ordinator for MFRC, and Stephanie Laviolette, the former youth programs facilitator for MFRC, said the feeling in the air and emotion from the community was overwhelming.

"You can totally feel the energy difference this year with everyone being able to be outside and see the support they have in the community as well," Laviolette said.

Chapman said with COVID-19 restrictions easing up, it has been very refreshing to be able to host and organize some bigger events in the community. Last year, the two went to each school and met with each classroom individually outside to describe the message behind Teal Up Day.

"Were able to do some big events for the kids, and they actually get to see the impact and we get to see the impact, which is completely different from last year," Chapman said.

"That feeling alone was worth it."

Laviolette, who made the trip over with her family from Ontario for the day, was instrumental in getting the idea off the ground last year.

After taking inspiration from Purple Up, a day that celebrates the children of United States military families on April 15, Laviolette said it was time to create a colour and day that recognized the hardships military children face in Canada.

She chose the colour teal while brainstorming different options, trying to encompass blue for the air force, green for the army and a combination of blue and white for the navy. The closest result to that combination was teal, and the idea was born.

"It had to be done," Laviolette said with enthusiasm.

On the fences of each schoolyard on the base, teal streamers flew in the wind as each child wore their teal-coloured shirt with pride.

Before the first police cruiser passed by, children were anxiously waiting for each service vehicle to honk their horn and they would not be disappointed as three fire trucks, a couple of semi-trucks and a large military transport truck saluted everyone in attendance.

Children from the Early Learning and Childcare Centre and Les Amis De La Source also took part in the parade from the base.

JOSEPH BERNACKI/THE BRANDON) SUN Several military families who currently live at CFB Shilo took part in the Teal Up Day parade, making their way across the base to Ecole OKelly School, where they received a huge outpouring of cheer and applause from dozens of kids.

As previously reported by the Sun, Chapman said she was beyond excited to recruit 26 other MFRC locations across the country to celebrate April 28 as Teal Up Day at different levels of participation.

She was able to reach out to co-ordinators in Winnipeg, Moose Jaw, Edmonton, Petawawa, Halifax and other facilities, some of which also arranged for special activities similar to the Shilo parade and evening barbecue. The two were thrilled to see the original local initiative catch attention at a national level.

"We wanted Canadian military children to have their own special celebration," Chapman said.

Laviolette shares a strong connection with the military, as she has continued to raise three children with her husband, a retired officer.

Her family lived in Shilo for 12 years, and she described the challenges her children and those around her experienced over the past decade. Often, it was the fear of the unknown that caused her family stress in that work environment.

"You just never know where the day is going to go, where the month is going to go, where the year is going to go," Laviolette said.

"For your own children and my own children, they had friends all over Canada. They have started from kindergarten to the age they are now, their friends come and go. The military community, the Shilo MFRC becomes your family."

She described the one constant element during that time was making close relationships with other military families and their children making friends, but knew those relationships could be temporary.

With most relatives of family living far away from the base, its the people around Shilo who became extensions of family for her and her children.

"Its very diverse and things are always changing, its not the same.

"We live now in a small town [in Ontario] and theres nobody in the military and its a completely different culture."

Chapman said that feeling of being uprooted and having to make new friends really inspired their idea behind showing the resiliency military children in the country continue to display.

"The most amazing thing about seeing Teal Up go national is that children know no matter where they go, they are not alone," Chapman said.

"That impact alone speaks a thousand words."

Later on this year, Chapman is looking forward to being able to offer more cooking programming, arts and crafts and summer field trips to the children at the base and is delighted to have more involvement from the Shilo community.

 jbernacki@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @JosephBernacki
Following concerns raised by residents in southwest Brandon in 2021 and earlier this year, the city is looking for a firm to complete a traffic impact study for the area.

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FILE A traffic study will examine patterns in southwest Brandon.

Following concerns raised by residents in southwest Brandon in 2021 and earlier this year, the city is looking for a firm to complete a traffic impact study for the area.

At a Linden Lanes ward meeting last year, residents told Coun. Shawn Berry they were worried the speed and amount of traffic could lead to someone getting hurt or killed in the neighbourhood, especially along Durum Drive.

Previous traffic studies initiated by the city found the traffic along the street was not above average, but Berry convinced his council colleagues to implement a one-year pilot project to lower the speed limit on Durum Drive by 10 kilometres an hour starting at the beginning of this year.

A subsequent proposal by Berry to make Aberdeen Avenue a one-way street so that traffic could leave but not enter the neighbourhood went to a public hearing, but was ultimately defeated by council after residents expressed worry over the knock-on impact of diverting traffic and lengthier commutes for those living closest to where the streets direction would be changed.

On Tuesday, the city posted a request for proposals to look for companies interested in providing consulting services for a new traffic impact study for the southwest.

Streets in the southwest being examined as part of the study are Richmond Avenue, 34th Street, Aberdeen Avenue, Durum Drive, 26th Street, Patricia Avenue and 18th Street.

According to a document attached to the request for proposals, the area being studied "has seen the highest concentration of land-use, development and building permit applications" over the past 10 years.

With that growth expected to continue, the goal of the study is to develop road improvements to guide the development of existing and planned arterial traffic networks.

The winning bidder will be expected to take into account intersection and road segment classifications, a timeline for implementing improvements, safety, transit, emergency services, rights-of-way, a geometric analysis of intersections needing improvement and the serviceability for various land uses in the affected area.

Theyll also need to study possible traffic-calming measures and incorporate already-identified capital road improvements like upgraded intersections, new street construction and an expansion of trail systems.

An additional attached document, a traffic analysis of the intersection of Maryland Avenue and 26th Street prepared by WSP Canada, states the city and the developer of the Bellafield subdivision have made several attempts to acquire the land needed to build a roundabout there, but has been forced to determine another solution after not finding any success.

For the traffic-calming aspect, the city asks bidders to keep Vision Zero ideology in mind. Vision Zero is a traffic philosophy that looks at creating road systems that eliminate injuries and fatalities.

A contract is expected to be issued for the project by June 15 with the final report expected to be delivered on Sept. 15. Applications for the tender end on June 10 at 5 p.m.

 cslark@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ColinSlark
Send us a picture or Instagram one of Good Weekend in your life, using the hashtag #goodweekendmag. We choose one each week to publish here and in print.

Frisky business

Sexologist Chantelle Otten [April 16] should be applauded for promoting a body of therapy long maligned and treated as a punchline and for promoting sexual pleasure for women above and beyond mere sexual health. However, Im not certain Otten is the best candidate to represent the field. Admitting she cheated on exams in year 12, lied to early clients about the extent of her practice and adopted a Fake it till you make it attitude are concerning behaviours for a medical professional. Sex positivity isnt exactly new and ground-breaking as a movement, while the article only gently skates over more relevant controversies: body alteration, the ubiquity of pornography and the commodification of sexual medication. Id be interested to see more coverage of the leaders in the field who are providing answers to those questions.

Lucy Lester

Bronte, NSW

Karen Martinis Yoghurt-crusted cauliflower. Credit:@bilgolabites

Charlotte Otten complains about the online censorship perpetuating the stigmas that sex and the LGBTQI community are not okay. Many churches have problems with the body and sexuality as shown by a diversity of teachings on marriage, celibacy, birth control, abortion, homosexuality and assisted dying. Varying beliefs about our bodies are reminders that Australia is a multicultural and multifaith society.

James Moore

Kogarah, NSW
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size The National Disability Insurance Scheme changed Penny Mannings life. It meant the 25-year-old, who has the most severe form of cerebral palsy, could afford the helpers and equipment to graduate from high school, sell Pennys Doggy Treats  a peanut butter and honey treat taste-tested by her Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Princess  and co-author an upcoming academic paper on supporting families of children with a disability. It also meant that three years ago, she could move into her own unit in Geelong, something that would have been an impossible dream before the NDIS. I am able to live my own life and not have to rely on my parents, she says via a communication device funded by the scheme. But now Manning is scared her independence is in jeopardy. Penny Manning (right) joins a protest in support of the NDIS in Geelong in March. Credit:Justin McManus Her mother, Elizabeth Manning, says Pennys latest NDIS plan slashed funding for her support workers.

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The National Disability Insurance Agency says Penny continues to receive a significant amount of money. But Elizabeth says the new plan had errors, including that Penny lived with someone else. When you ask me what will happen, the answer is I dont know, because what they are currently doing cant work, Elizabeth says wearily. We have to go for an internal review and if thats not successful, we will have to go to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. More costs, more stress, more waste, more cost to taxpayers to try and squash us, and more exhausting rage. This year will mark the 10th anniversary of Julia Gillards introduction of the NDIS Bill  the greatest social reform since Medicare  into parliament. The scheme was designed to transform the lives of people with disabilities and their families by providing a nationwide system of care with enough funding to provide tailored, individual support. But some argue the scheme has lost its way. In recent months, there has been a series of horror stories about individual packages being slashed, a 400 per cent increase in complaints about NDIS plans to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, and the National Disability Insurance Agency spending tens of millions of dollars fighting its clients. All this comes in the context of serious concerns about whether it is financially sustainable amid eye-watering forecasts  which have been questioned by some experts and states  that its annual cost will reach $60 billion by the end of the decade.

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The issue was thrust into the election spotlight when Catherine Yeoman, whose four-year-old son, Ethan, has autism, told the prime minister during the leaders debate that Ethans plan had been cut by 30 per cent. What, she wanted to know, would the Coalition do with the NDIS? Loading NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds told The Age the Morrison government continued to fully fund the scheme as an essential service that more than half-a-million Australians relied on. There are no cuts to the NDIS, Reynolds said, pointing to a record investment of $157.8 billion over four years in the March budget. But last year, Reynolds warned the NDIS faced serious sustainability issues, saying there was no single lever to pull to place the scheme on a sustainable long-term growth trajectory. The latest NDIS quarterly report shows the average plan size dropped by 3.8 per cent in 2021, which many disability advocates saw as confirmation that the government was seeking to rein in costs by reducing individual plans. It is completely consistent across all states and territories, this experience where lots of people have had their plans cut, says Mary Mallett, CEO of the Disability Advocacy Network Australia.

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The National Disability Insurance Agency insists there is no directive to cut individual plans. Reynolds says the slight decrease in average plan size reflects a changing mix of participants, with an increase in children  who generally have smaller packages  and fewer people receiving the more expensive Supported Independent Living funding. The average plan size had been growing consistently until last year. It rose from $60,100 in 2018 to $71,200 in 2020 before dropping to $68,500 last year. Professor Bruce Bonyhady, a former chair of the National Disability Insurance Agency, says there are legitimate reasons for some reductions to individuals packages, such as a participants condition improving. But when I see what is happening to some peoples plans, it could only be because of a short-term [cost-]cutting approach. Bonyhady points to a spike in complaints about NDIS plans and access to the scheme made to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in the December quarter of last year. Even if you havent had your plan cut, there is this fear of most participants now about what might happen at the next plan review. Its not healthy, its not what it was meant to be. A core promise of the NDIS was certainty.

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In 2017, the Productivity Commission estimated the NDIS would cost $22 billion in 2019-20, the first full year of operation, with about 475,000 people receiving individual support. But the cost has grown to $29.2 billion this financial year, with 500,000 Australians now receiving support. Last year, the government commissioned a report by independent actuarial firm Taylor Fry to examine what was driving up costs. The report pointed to more participants entering the scheme than had been projected. At the same time, fewer children than anticipated had left the scheme after receiving early intervention therapies. Disability advocate El Gibbs says the lack of other disability supports means that pressure to access the NDIS will persist. Loading The 2017 Productivity Commission report recommended increased funding for the 4 million Australians with disabilities who do not receive individual NDIS funding, on what is known as Tier Two. There is an urgent need to develop the original Tier Two of the NDIS, Gibbs says. Few know the NDIS better than veteran disability advocate and quadriplegic wheelchair user Dougie Herd.

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Common prescription medicines including asthma preventers and many contraceptive pills would be $10 cheaper per script from next year under a Coalition election promise to tackle cost-of-living pressure for millions of Australians.

In a pitch to middle Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison will say on Saturday that 19 million Australians who do not have concession cards will benefit from cheaper subsidised medications if his government wins the May 21 election.

Scott Morrison says the Coalition is winding back the clock on the cost of medications, reducing the cost per script to 2008 prices. Credit:James Brickwood

The Coalition had previously scrapped plans to announce a $10 reduction to the co-payment in the March budget, forcing two government ministers to ask Hansard to delete references to the plan from speeches to parliament.

Responding to pressure from the powerful pharmacy lobby group to slash script co-payments earlier in the campaign, Health Minister Greg Hunt said such a move would increase costs for some.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has suggested Manasseh Sogavare is parroting Chinas talking points after the Solomon Islands leader accused Australia of blindsiding him over the announcement of the AUKUS security pact and refusing to protect the Chinese-built infrastructure during last years riots in the country.

Sogavares outburst in parliament on Friday sparked Morrison to defend his handling of the AUKUS agreement with Britain and the United States, saying he spoke to the Solomons prime minister the day after the announcement and no issues were raised at that time in that discussion.

Manasseh Sogavare, Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, crticised Australias lack of consultation over the AUKUS agreement. Credit:AP

But obviously, as time goes on and new relationships are entered into, theres obviously been some... other influences in the perspective taken by the Solomon Islands prime minister, Morrison said.

Asked if Sogavare was parroting Chinas rhetoric, Morrison said: theres a remarkable similarity.
On hospitals and healthcare, meanwhile, the major parties circle the elephant in the room. The pandemic has put the public hospital system under so much strain that patients can be kept in an ambulance outside an emergency department when they should be getting help. Morrisons answer on health this week was to speak about $300 million for rural health, including $66 million for MRI scanners in the regions, while Albanese promises $135 million for 50 urgent care clinics. Yet the health program director at the Grattan Institute, Stephen Duckett, says hospitals need immense help to get them out of the pandemic over the next two years. He suggests a temporary extension in the 50:50 cost-sharing between the federal and state governments on growth funding for hospitals, rather than the federal plan to leave 55 per cent to the states. He also backs the temporary removal of the federal governments 6.5 per cent cap on the increase in its payments to states. Hospitals are stretched because of the pandemic. Credit:Anna Kucera Where is the debate on this? Labor has fought hard on hospital funding in the past but seems wary of doing so now. The reason, Labor people admit, is money. Giving the states everything they want over four years would cost $20.5 billion, which is too much when Albanese wants to avoid being branded as a big spender who will lift taxes. Even so, this suggests Ducketts temporary boost could be done at a lower cost  if Albanese wants to pick the fight. At least there are modest health proposals. On university funding there is silence. The Coalition does not hide its disdain for higher education, after cutting universities out of the JobKeeper scheme and cancelling research funding when it does not like the subject matter. Yet Labor is quiet about funding for higher education.

Neither side offers a significant boost to this sector even though Peter Hurley, an education policy fellow at the Mitchell Institute, estimates university revenue has fallen by $2.2 billion and there is worse to come. Labor promises 20,000 more university places but its emphasis is on 465,000 fee-free places at TAFE. The Greens have filled the policy gap with a call to scrap student debts and end university fees  in other words, going too far in a policy arena where others are not going anywhere at all. We have a shortage of workers, not jobs. Credit:Oscar Colman Theres another issue that is essential but mostly ignored: migration. The campaign rhetoric about job creation is at odds with reality when the immediate issue is the shortage of workers, not jobs. Whether the shortage is in aged care or in tech, the government will have to adjust policy after May 21 to bring in more migrants. While the budget assumes this increase, neither side is talking about how it will happen. Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary in the Department of Immigration, says the program to bring in skilled workers is now a mess under the 482 visa, which replaced the 457 visa a few years ago. We are now slower, more expensive and more bureaucratic on the most important visa, for the economy, that there is, he says. That must change.

Loading Which side of politics would be brave enough to venture into this field? The orthodox approach is to avoid talking about migration during an election campaign  remember the big Australia vision that Kevin Rudd endorsed and Julia Gillard reversed in 2010  but the debate is not about a population target. Some in Labor see it as an economic challenge and believe they can fill a Coalition policy vacuum. I believe we are at our best when we are boldest, said Tony Blair when he led Labour to three election victories in Britain. Yet boldness is in short supply in Australia in 2022. The campaign began with a focus on the cost of living and has ventured into disputes over the economy, climate change and national security. Yet it is running out of big arguments over big ideas. This is because Morrison and Albanese are both playing it safe. Neither side has thrown a bold idea into this contest since the week of the budget  even when Labor could certainly do so without going so far as its tax agenda from the last campaign. The incredible timidity of this campaign works in Morrisons favour because he is asking voters to stick with the devil they know. He can survive as a result of the sheer inertia of an electorate that does not find a good reason to make a switch.
In the ruined southern port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian fighters holed up in the steel plant that represents the last pocket of resistance said concentrated bombing killed and wounded more people. And authorities warned that a lack of safe drinking water inside the city could lead to outbreaks of deadly diseases such as cholera and dysentery. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visits the war damaged Irpinsky Lipky residential complex in Irpin. Credit:John Moore/Getty Images In Zaporizhzhia, a crucial way station for tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Mariupol, an 11-year-old boy was among at least three people wounded in a rocket attack that authorities said was the first to hit a residential area in the southern city since the war began. Shards of glass cut the boys leg to the bone. Vadym Vodostoyev, the boys father, said: It just takes one second and youre left with nothing. The fresh attacks came as Guterres surveyed the destruction in small towns outside the capital that saw some of the worst horrors of the first onslaught of the war. He condemned the atrocities committed in towns like Bucha, where evidence of mass killings of civilians was found after Russia withdrew in early April in the face of unexpectedly stiff resistance.

Wherever there is a war, the highest price is paid by civilians, the UN chief lamented. In the attack on Kyiv, explosions shook the city and flames poured out the windows of the residential high-rise and another building. The capital had been relatively unscathed in recent weeks since Moscow refocused its efforts on the Donbas. Loading The explosions in northwestern Kyivs Shevchenkivsky district came as residents have been increasingly returning to the city. Cafes and other businesses have reopened, and a growing numbers of people have been out and about, enjoying the spring weather. It was not immediately clear how far the attack was from Guterres.

Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Several journalists have been killed in the war, now in its third month. Also, both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone. Western officials say the Kremlins apparent goal is to take the Donbas by encircling and crushing Ukrainian forces from the north, south and east. But so far, Russias troops and their allied separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains  a senior US defence official described them as covering several kilometres a day  taking several small towns as they try to advance in relatively small groups against staunch Ukrainian resistance.

As of Thursday, Russia had launched about 1900 missiles into Ukraine  the vast majority fired from outside Ukraines borders, the US official said. Most are strikes on Mariupol and the Donbas. Britains Defence Ministry said Friday that the limited Russian territorial gains have been achieved at significant cost to their forces. It said that Russia was apparently trying to attempt an advance south from Izium toward Slovyansk. Russian military units were mauled in the abortive bid to storm Kyiv and had to regroup and refit. Some analysts say the delay in launching a full-fledged offensive may reflect a decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to wait until his forces are ready for a decisive battle, instead of rushing in and risking another failure that could shake his rule amid worsening economic conditions at home because of Western sanctions. Loading Many observers suspect Putin wants to be able to claim a big victory in the east by Victory Day, on May 9, one of the proudest holidays on the Russian calendar, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II.

As Russia presses its offensive, civilians again bear the brunt. Its not just scary. Its when your stomach contracts from pain, said Kharkiv resident Tatiana Pirogova. When they shoot during the day, its still OK, but when the evening comes, I cant describe how scary it is. Ukraines military said that Russian troops were subjecting several places in the Donbas to intense fire and that over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces had repelled six attacks in the region. Four civilians were killed in heavy shelling of residential areas in the Luhansk region of the Donbas, according to the regional governor. Clothes hung in a closet of a destroyed house after a Russian rocket, hit by Ukraines anti-aircraft system, stroke in a residencial area in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Thursday, April 28, 2022. Credit:Francisco Seco

Columns of smoke could be seen rising at different points across the Donetsk region of the Donbas, and artillery and sirens were heard on and off. Many of the Russian troops who were in Mariupol have been leaving and moving to the northwest, the U.S. defence official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. military assessment, didnt have exact figures but said a significant number of the roughly one dozen battalion tactical groups that were in the city were moving out. In Mariupol, video posted online by Ukraines Azov Regiment inside the steel plant showed people combing through the rubble to remove the dead and help the wounded. The regiment said the Russians hit an improvised underground hospital and its surgery room, killing an unspecified number of people. The video couldnt be independently verified. Loading An estimated 100,000 people remained trapped in Mariupol.
Kabul: A powerful explosion has ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul, killing at least 50 people and wounding as many as 80, a Taliban spokesman has confirmed.

Hundreds of worshippers had gathered for prayers on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramdan and the Khalifa Aga Gul Jan Mosque was packed, said local residents, fearing the casualty toll could rise further.

An Afghan blood-stained worshiper walks around the mosque where the explosion took place, in Kabul. Credit:AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi

The Taliban-appointed interior ministry spokesman, Mohammad Nafi Takor, could not provide more details and Taliban security men cordoned off the area. The source of the explosion was not immediately known and no one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Initially, at least 20 were reported wounded but Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the Taliban-appointed Kabul police chief, later raised the number to as many as 30.
Hong Kong: Outbound travel alert to be lifted

The Government today announced that from May 1, it will lift the Outbound Travel Alert issued for COVID-19 on all overseas countries/territories, which has been in effect since March 17, 2020.

It said the decision was made due to the relatively lower risk of travelling overseas.

The epidemic situation in overseas countries/territories with frequent traffic with Hong Kong has generally been on a downward trend, while citizens returning to Hong Kong must be fully vaccinated, the Government explained.

Meanwhile, to continue to control the overall volume of inbound traffic and reduce the importation risk, the Government will implement stringent measures to guard against the importation of cases and limit the number of designated quarantine hotels. Relevant boarding, quarantine and testing requirements are still in force.

Additionally, as the pandemic situation remains, the Department of Health advises citizens to avoid non-essential travel outside Hong Kong. If travel is unavoidable, they should pay close attention to the latest COVID-19 situation at the destination as well as the department's travel health advice to protect their own health.

This story has been published on: 2022-04-29. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Over 1,400 businessmen attend China-ASEAN Expo online event

Xinhua) 09:19, April 29, 2022

NANNING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,400 businessmen at home and abroad attended a cross-border e-commerce video exchange meeting held on the China-ASEAN Expo platform online on Thursday, said the organizers.

The conference aims to help enterprises and products from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to enter the Chinese market through a cross-border e-commerce channel.

The enterprises from ASEAN countries showed strong interest in cross-border e-commerce, and representatives from JD.com and other Chinese enterprises exchanged views with them on customs clearance, taxation, financial policies and market conditions.

Since the first China-ASEAN Expo was held in 2004, the event has actively built a platform for ASEAN enterprises to enter the Chinese market.

More exchange activities will be held this year to help ASEAN enterprises explore the Chinese market, said Liang Weiyi, an official with the expo secretariat.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Back in black for FY22, state-run Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) has chalked out growth plans by not just tapping deeper into its mining business but also foraying into rare earth elements (REE) mining.

The mining company has roped in the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for its strategic transformation, apart from McKinsey & Co. for the development of REE assets, said Roopwant Singh, IAS, Managing Director, .

" has delivered its best-ever annual results over the last five years and is the second-best in the company's entire life so far. Over the next few years, our focus will be to realise more and more world-class value-added products using the latest technologies & equipment. We have partnered with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for strategic transformation; McKinsey & Co for the development of REE Assets; AT Kearney for the transformation of Thermal Power Project, and Deloitte to fast-track the six new mining projects," said Singh.

Recently, announced its annual and quarterly financial results where the company registered a net profit of Rs 405 crore in financial year (FY) 2021-22 as against a net loss of Rs 35 crore in FY'21. Its total consolidated income grew by 93 per cent to Rs 2,889 crore for FY22, up from Rs 1,496 crore in the previous fiscal year 2020-21.

From progressively contracting in the last five years to a whopping 232 per cent jump in its production for FY22 at its Bhavnagar mines to clock 1.64 million metric tonnes, up from 492,000 metric tonnes in FY21. In the month of March alone, GMDC's lignite production was 910,000 metric tonnes, the highest for March over the last four years.

"We have not only onboarded more customers and treated them well but also improved our pricing. Our long term customers have gone up to 600. We have prepared a roadmap for FY23 and beyond for which we have onboarded BCG to help take bigger strategic calls. We also plan to bring out some of our power projects which are currently in the red with the help of McKinsey & Co," Singh told Business Standard.

Without divulging further details, Singh also stated that the company was looking to foray into more value added products as well as long term mining opportunities such as REE for which GMDC is working on a strategy with its consulting partners.

"There has been a global shift in solid fuels. Hence, customers, especially SMEs fall back on known solid fuels like lignite which is half the price of imported coal. Currently, 86 per cent of our revenues comes from lignite which we are going to deepen in the coming years while developing new avenues," Singh said, while adding that the company had set a capital expenditure (capex) of Rs 670 crore for FY23 to execute its plans.

Meanwhile, the company is also working on six new mining projects, of which three are coming up in Kutch while rest in South Gujarat.
Indian investigators seized data and documents from top sellers on .com Inc's and Flipkart's marketplaces in a second day of raids on Friday over suspected competition law violations, sources with direct knowledge told Reuters.

The (CCI) started early on Thursday raiding two top domestic sellers on Amazon's platform - Cloudtail and Appario - as well as some sellers on Walmart's Flipkart, following allegations the sellers and marketplaces had breached competition law.

The raids relate to an investigation the CCI ordered in January 2020 in which and face allegations of promoting preferred sellers on their websites and giving priority to listings of some sellers, Reuters has reported.

On Friday, CCI investigators were collecting emails, documents and data from computers, after questioning several officials of the seller companies, said two of the sources.

The CCI officers "are collecting relevant evidence for the investigation", said the first source, who added that data from mobile phones - such as WhatsApp chats - was also seized.

The watchdog does not make details of its raids public.

The CCI, and did not respond to a request for comment. Cloudtail and Appario, in which Amazon holds an indirect equity stake, also did not respond.

The raids follow a Reuters investigation last year which was based on Amazon internal documents and showed the company gave preferential treatment for years to a small group of sellers on its platform, including Cloudtail, and used them to bypass Indian laws.

It showed Amazon for years helped these sellers with discounted fees, among other advantages. Amazon has denied any wrongdoing. The CCI last year told an Indian court the Reuters report corroborated evidence it had against Amazon.

A second source with direct knowledge said CCI's officers were trying to find details of top sellers operating on Amazon and for the period 2016-2020.

The second and a third source said CCI officers on Thursday asked Cloudtail's CEO to come to the office in Bengaluru city as it was being raided and answer questions.

Indian retailers, key supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have long contended that Amazon and Flipkart's platforms benefit a few big sellers who get special advantages. The say they comply with all Indian laws.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Mark Potter)

(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.)
A spate of high-profile battery fires is undermining India's bid to become a leader in electric vehicles, particularly in the ubiquitous two-wheelers that ply the country's traffic-clogged roads.

Social media is awash with videos of battery-powered scooters in flames. Last month, a father and daughter died from smoke inhalation after their brand-new bike from Okinawa Autotech Pvt caught fire while it was charging overnight at home. In another video, an Electric Mobility Pvt scooter burns in Pune in the countrys west, while in another, some 40 two-wheelers made by Jitendra EV go up in smoke as they are transported in a container.

The incidents have, not surprisingly, made many Indians wary of  the number of people who said they wouldnt buy an electric scooter due to safety and performance concerns jumped eightfold to 17 per cent in the seven months through March, a survey of around 11,500 consumers conducted by LocalCircles showed. Just 2 per cent of people are likely to buy an electric scooter in the coming six months, it found.

Theyre also coming just as India, the worlds third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is trying to get more on its roads. Already many consumers are reluctant to make the switch from combustion engine cars and motorcycles due to EVs high upfront cost and the countrys lack of charging stations, making it increasingly difficult for India to catch up with places like China and the U.S. that have made meaningful progress toward electrifying their transport fleets. About 77 per cent of annual passenger vehicle sales in China will be electric by 2040, versus just 53 per cent in India, BloombergNEF data show.

When I hear of such incidents, I wonder why I should go for an electric vehicle. Id rather buy a new gasoline one, said Santhosh Kumar, who has an electric bike himself but regards it now with a degree of caution. I want to be part of the EV revolution and stop pollution but nothing is more important than the safety of my family and kids, the 36-year-old from Chennai said.

The fires have also sparked debate about Indias dependency on imported auto parts that are then assembled locally. The concern is the resulting electric scooters arent designed from the ground up for the nations extreme climate  temperatures routinely soar to 48 degrees Celsius in the capital New Delhi  or its infrastructure. Indias roads are notoriously potholed, causing all sorts of suspension problems. India currently imports most of its EV components from China, depriving automakers of full control over the quality and reliability of their products.

Indias nascent EV market is also flooded with startups that have rushed electric scooters to market and not all of them are going through the necessary rigor of testing under a wide variety of weather conditions, according to Rahul Mishra, a partner at management consultancy firm Kearney. Pressures of meeting investor expectations, the need to reduce time to market and managing stakeholder perceptions mean some havent fully built capabilities in product development, manufacturing, sales and after-sales, and so are struggling to demonstrate the same level of maturity as established automakers, he said.

Coming out with a prototype is one thing but selling it in the market at a commercial scale like an established automaker is a completely different ballgame, Mishra said, adding that established carmakers and startups alike need to consistently demonstrate that safety is non-negotiable when it comes to EVs.

Ola, which has pledged to build the worlds biggest scooter factory, follows very high regulatory standards and is examining the cause of the accidents, founder Bhavish Aggarwal said. Bengaluru-based Ola, backed by SoftBank Group Corp., said last week it will recall a batch of 1,441 scooters following an investigation into the vehicle fires.

Okinawa said in a statement to Bloomberg that it had recalled 3,215 units of its PraisePro electric scooters to fix battery-related issues, noting that the company complies with all testing standards set by the government. The scooters will be checked for loose battery connectors and repaired for free at dealerships, it said. Okinawa, Indias second-biggest electric two-wheeler maker by market share, blamed the fire on user negligence, saying the blaze was due to a short circuit that resulted from improper charging.

Jitendra EV didnt respond to emails seeking comment. Pure EV, another company whose scooter was captured on video with thick plumes of gray and white smoke shooting from its rear, also didnt respond to requests for comment.

The accidents have at least ushered in some reforms to Indias budding EV industry. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has pledged to adopt new standards to tackle the fires, which are likely caused due to thermal inefficiencies in lithium-ion batteries and exacerbated by hot weather. EVs should only be certified after they clear a revised testing system for battery packs and cells, he said earlier this week. In the meantime, automakers should be cautious with the cells theyre using and recall products if they discover manufacturing defects.

The widely reported fires may also force some industry rationalization with only higher quality startups surviving, according to Mitul Shah, an analyst at Reliance Securities Ltd. While legacy automakers know the importance of making a product foolproof upfront, younger dont realize its difficult to regain lost brand image because consumers dont always give second chances, he said.

To be sure, India isnt the only market to have experienced battery fires. Inc. cars have come under scrutiny in China after crashes damaged the batteries of several and General Motors Co. recalled a whole lot of Chevrolet Bolts after some went up in flames while parked in garages or driveways.

In China, authorities announced a new standard for battery two-wheeler models that will see tens of millions of non-compliant vehicles phased out by 2025, Gogoro Inc. Chief Executive Officer Horace Luke said. Gogoro is a Taiwanese electric scooter startup that earlier this year announced a tie up with Foxconn to expand in Indonesia. The Indian government should incentivize startups to focus on battery R&D, which requires a higher degree of human capital to meet a higher safety bar, he said.

The technology development and management of batteries needs to be taken very seriously, Luke said. Its important to understand that not all EVs or batteries are the same and when shortcuts are taken in their development, consumers can be exposed to potential unmitigated safety issues.

But faced with a market potential the size of India, a country of some 1.4 billion where around 231,000 electric scooters were sold in the 12 months through March, that may be easier said than done.

In a fast growing market, the temptation to launch early without a mature product is very strong, said Ravneet Phokela, the chief business officer of Ather Energy Pvt, another electric scooter startup whose bikes havent been documented in any fires yet. Blazes can erupt from the faulty packaging of cells and badly engineered thermal management systems, which are responsible for dissipating heat, he said. Its a dangerous temptation to give in to.
Boom Motors, the Coimbatore-based electric two-wheeler manufacturer is recalling its e-bike Corbett within days after a fatal accident. It also became the first E-two wheeler maker to halt production temporarily after the government order. Meanwhile, taking a serious note of the fire incidents which have become recurrent since the onset of the summers, the government has come down heavily on the e-two wheeler manufacturers. In a virtual meeting that were attended by over top 50 officials from representing various two-wheeler manufacturers, Giridhar Aramane, secretary, ministry of road transport and heavy industries (MoRTH) ordered asked manufacturers to quickly recall the faulty batches of vehicles on their own or be ready to face serious consequences for hiding any incident of fire or delay, according to a company official who attended the meet. During the half an hour long meeting, Aramane quoted provision of the Motor Vehicle Act, which empowers the government to take strict action against manufacturers for causing harm to people and public property. He said none will be spared for compromising on passenger safety, said the official citing the secretary. Boom will be the fourth company to recall its e-two wheeler model involved in fire incidents, after Okinawa, PureEV and Ola Electric. Gurugram-based Okinawa Autotech had recalled 3,215 vehicles and Hyderabad-based-Power Using Renewable Energy (PURE) EV another 2,000 early this month. Later, Ola Electric recalled 1,441 S1 Pro scooters, in a specific batch. Last week, a 40-year-old man was killed and three others injured in Nizamabad after a fire incident in which a Boom Motors' bike was involved. All the EV manufacturers have been ordered to send the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and testing norms for quality check on batteries and other equipment in the next couple of weeks, in addition to stepping up focus on research and development. In addition to small, marginal players who are operating with a minimal staff, the secretary also pulled up large scale manufacturers for taking shortcuts and rolling out half-baked products and then not being pro-active in recalling faulty vehicles. If it doesnt stop there will be a harsh punishment for those who fail to comply and the manufacturer concerned can even face permanent closure, Aramane warned the e-two wheeler makers. The MoRTH secretary also suggested that the manufacturers that have seen fire incidents should refrain from new launches for the time being. He particularly emphasised that there shouldnt be any repeat incidents. So far at least eight incidents of EV fires have been reported in just over a months time. The first such incident happened in Vellore when a 49-year-old man and his daughter died after their electric scooter reportedly caught fire on March 25. The reported incidents included three Pure EV, two of Okinawa models, one from Ola, another from Boom Motors' and around 20 involving models from Jitendra Electric Vehicles. Meanwhile, the government is going to come up with CMVR (central motor vehicle regulation) standards for EVs, it will be notified in three months. The meeting was also attended by officials from Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and CMVR.
Sovereign wealth funds from Norway, Singapore and Abu Dhabi have committed to be anchor investors in the initial public offering of Life Insurance Corporation of India, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Norges Bank Investment Management, Pte and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will be among the anchor names due to be announced Monday, the people said, asking not to be identified before an official announcement.

Representatives for ADIA, LIC and Norways wealth fund declined to comment. A message and call to werent immediately answered outside of business hours in Singapore Thursday. An Indian Finance Ministry spokesperson couldnt be reached for comment.

LICs IPO, which had previously been touted as Indias Aramco moment in reference to Gulf oil giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co.s $29.4 billion listing in 2019, will test the depth of Indias capital market. While Prime Minister Narendra Modis government has slashed its fundraise goal by 60% -- as the war in Ukraine eroded investor appetite -- the offering will still be the nations biggest.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says:

The low valuation multiple of Indias largest state-owned life insurer, Life Insurance Corporation, and a reduced offer size could allow its listing to attract decent bids... The lower valuation vs. smaller listed peers is within our expectation due to LICs lagging new-business margin, less diversified products and fewer sales channels. - Steven Lam, analyst, and Nitin Chanduka, strategist

The aims to raise as much as 210 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) by pricing shares between 902 rupees to 949 rupees each. Firms in India have raised about $1.1 billion through IPOs this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Thats less than half of the nearly $3 billion raised in the same period in 2021.

The offering runs May 4-9 for other investors.
Prime Minister on Friday said India is headed for a robust economy and the country's consumption of semi-conductors is expected to cross USD 110 billion by 2030 and has the world's fastest growing start-up eco-system.

He said India is set to lead the next technology revolution and investments are being made in developing capabilities in 5G among other things.

"We are paving the way for India to lead the next technology revolution. We are on our way to connect six hundred thousand villages with broadband. We are investing in developing capabilities in 5G, Internet of Things and clean energy technologies," Modi said at the inaugural session of the Semicon India-2022 conference here.

"India's own consumption of semi-conductors is expected to cross USD 80 billion by 2026 and USD 110 billion by 2030," he added.

Speaking about the economic health of the country, the Prime Minister said India is headed for robust economic growth with the world's fastest growing startup eco-system where new unicorns are coming up every few weeks.

Modi called upon the industry to establish India as one of the key partners in global semi-conductor supply chains and work in this direction based on the principle of hi-tech, high quality and high reliability.

Citing reasons for India to become an attractive investment destination for semi-conductor technologies, Modi said, "We are building the digital infrastructure to connect over 1.3 billion Indians and the UPI is the world's most efficient payment infrastructure today."



Modi also said the country is using digital technology to transform lives in all sectors of governance from health and welfare to inclusion and empowerment.

The Prime Minister also underlined that the country is investing heavily in skilling and training young Indians for the needs of the 21st century.

"We have an exceptional semi-conductor design talent pool which makes up to 20 per cent of the world's semiconductor design engineers," Modi said.

The Prime Minister also apprised the audience that the government has undertaken several measures towards transforming the Indian manufacturing sector.

"At a time when humanity was fighting a once in a century pandemic, India was not only improving the health of our people but also the health of our economy," he added.

Modi said the previous government was like a 'Not Gate' whereas the role of the government should be like 'And Gate'.

"In earlier times, industries were ready to do their work but the government was like a ''Not Gate''. When any input flows into the ''Not Gate'', it gets negated," he added.

The Prime Minister was using the popular terms of 'Not Gate' and 'And Gate' used in the .

Modi said there were many needless compliances and no ease of doing business in the past.

"But, we understand that the government must be like the ''And Gate''. While the industry works hard, the government must work even harder," the Prime Minister explained.

According to him, the government has undertaken wide-ranging reforms for improving ease of doing business in India.

In this connection, he recalled that the government has abolished more than 25,000 compliances and gave push towards auto-renewal of licences.

Modi pointed out that digitisation is also bringing speed and transparency to the regulatory framework.

(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.)
Emphasising that the is just entering the growth phase, Union civil aviation minister has said the time is ripe for participation in the largest possible manner in the sector and hoped that the number of fliers will touch 100 million this year.

Scindia, who arrived here on the first leg of his visit to North America, also said that capacity building at airports is underway to ensure that there are no bottlenecks in the coming years.

After remaining suspended for two years due to the coronavirus pandemic, scheduled international flights to and from India resumed on March 27, with 100 per cent capacity.

As on date, there were close to about 3,500 flights between Indian and foreign carriers into India, the minister said.

"For a country of 1.3 billion people, the fact that you have 144 million passengers, means that your penetration level even now is only 8 per cent. So that tells you the potential in the years to come," he said.

Responding to a question by PTI during an interactive session held at the Consulate General of India in New York on Thursday, Scindia said, "I think the time is ripe for participation in probably the largest possible manner in the area of civil aviation and I think all international airlines can sense the opportunity and potential" in India.

The minister began his engagements with discussions with New York-based technology-powered, global air mobility platform Blade.

Later in the day, he interacted with members of the Indian diaspora during a session and reception hosted by Consul General of New York Randhir Jaiswal.

During the interactive session, Scindia outlined the growth plans for India's civil aviation industry and also spoke about the safe evacuation of nearly 22,000 students from Ukraine through 'Operation Ganga', following Russia's invasion of the country.

"We had 144 million fliers in India, pre-COVID in the years 2018-19. And our closest competition is the first and second AC of the Indian railways.

"I'm looking at a number of close to closing this year at about 100 million, up from about 50 million in COVID years. And I see us reaching almost about 400 million by 2030. So, that's the potential we are looking at," Scindia said.

Noting that capacity building at India's airports is underway to ensure there is no bottleneck in the next two-three years, Scindia said, "I look at a huge participation of the airline majors not only in terms of flights coming in but also in terms of building our airports" and cited the example of Zurich airport developing the Noida International airport in Jewar, around 70 kilometres from New Delhi.

He said more and more of such collaboration will happen in the years to come, along with capacity building by India's domestic players themselves.

"So I see this sector growing tremendously and also all the analogous sectors of the ecosystem, including manufacturing for aircrafts in India," Scindia said, adding that the thrust is not only on the 777s, and 787 Dreamliners but also on last-mile connectivity.

Citing the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik), he said that Prime Minister Modi has done the greatest service to transportation in India by democratising civil aviation.

All the majors in aviation, including Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, are now manufacturing in the country and the fuselage of the Apache helicopters are made in India. There is a tremendous amount of manufacturing happening in India, he highlighted.

According to him, the sector was in its nascency for a long period of time.

Referring to an economic paradigm, he said every industry goes through an 'S' shaped curve, where the bottom half of the 'S' is when the industry is in its nascency, the middle part of the 'S' is when the industry is in the growth phase and the top part of the 'S' is when the industry is attaining maturing.

" is between the nascency phase and the growth phase, just entering the growth phase. So no pun intended but the sky is the limit," the minister said.

Stressing the importance of green energy, Scindia said he was looking at Sustainable Aviation Fuel as a substitute for Air Turbine Fuel as well as at the ambitious target of becoming net zero by 2070 and adding 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030.

"Our outlook is not an outlook for India alone. It's an outlook for the region. It's an outlook for the world," in line with the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, he said. and pointed out that it was important to be looking at tackling emissions of airplanes.

"Civil aviation as a sector globally only composes hardly 2 per cent of global CO2 emissions. But nevertheless, we need to act responsibly as a sector and therefore, within civil aviation, we're looking at sustainable aviation fuel as a substitute for ATF," he added.

In this regard, he said the two main hurdles of storage and logistics are being addressed.

It has also been decided that by 2024 end, about 96 airports of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) would operate on 100 per cent renewable energy. Also in the works is a carbon mapping exercise for airports and building a green plan going forward, Scindia said.

On India-US ties, Scindia said he believes that bilateral relations have taken extremely deep roots, especially in the last seven-eight years. "It has turned into a very comprehensive, strategic relationship" under the Modi government.

(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 Kolkata Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Friday admitted a petition to start an insolvency process against Company Limited, the troubled engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company of the Khaitan-owned Williamson Magor Group.

Sources in the group confirmed that the petition for insolvency had been admitted but indicated that options for resolution were still being looked at. The order was yet to be uploaded till late evening.

The petition for insolvency had been moved by Bank of India, the lead bank. Ankur Singhi, Senior Partner, S K Singhi & Co. LLP, advocate for Bank of India, said, the admitted the Bank of India petition today for commencement of CIRP (corporate insolvency resolution process) in McNally Bharat.

Bank of India had moved a petition for CIRP against McNally Bharat in 2020. The resolution plans submitted by the company to the lenders during the pendency of the petition was rejected, said Singhi.

A filing with the stock exchanges by McNally earlier in the month had mentioned that the total financial indebtedness of the listed entities including short-term and long-term debt, as on March 31, was Rs 2,067.49 crore.

McNally had been pursuing a resolution outside the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) framework for some time. According to the companys notes to December quarter results, the lenders had done a techno economic viability (TEV) study of the resolution plan.

However, an order dated March 30, mentioned that the committee of lenders had communicated to the corporate debtor (McNally) that the resolution plan submitted by it to resolve the insolvency outside the IBC framework was not acceptable to the lenders.

Trying to save McNally had proved costly for the Khaitans. The group wanted to avoid default, so when a downturn in the EPC industry spiralled, loans and advances were made by group  Eveready Industries India, a market leader in dry cell battery and McLeod Russel India, the countrys largest bulk tea producer.

For McLeod, which worked its way out of last year after a settlement with a financial creditor, a resolution under RBIs June 7, 2019 circular is in the works with bankers.

Support to McNally was also extended by pledging promoter shares in the two to borrow funds for McNally. As pledged shares were called in by borrowers, the Khaitan holding slipped in its crown jewels  Eveready and McLeod.

In Eveready, as of December, promoter holding stood at 4.84 per cent as of December. The Burmans  looking to take control of Eveready  are at 20.96 per cent. In McLeod, promoter holding as of March 2022, was at 6.25 per cent.
British energy major on Friday said its subsidiary Overseas Investments have signed an agreement with buyout firm to acquire the Indian platform Sprng Energy for $1.55 billion (Rs 11,800 crore).

Sprng Energy, an Energy 4 fund investment, supplies solar and wind power to electricity distribution in India. It has 2.9 gigawatts-peak (GWp) of solar and wind energy assets in its portfolio, with 7.5 GWp of projects in the pipeline.

More importantly, the deal will help triple its capacity in operation, which currently stands at 1 GW, as it seeks to become a net-zero emissions company by 2050.

"This deal positions Shell as one of the first movers in building a truly integrated energy transition business in India," Wael Sawan, director of Shells integrated gas, renewables and energy solutions division, said. It will enable Shell to become a leader across the power value chain in a rapidly growing market," he added.

Under the deal, Shell will acquire Solenergi Power Private Ltd, the direct shareholder of Sprng Energy, which was set up in 2017 with a seed asset of 330 megawatts-peak. In five years, was able to scale up the platform thanks to hands-on operational experience, it said.

We look forward to creating more Sprngs with our latest fund, Actis Energy 5, said Lucy Heintz, partner, head of energy infrastructure at Actis. Actis Energy 5, whose closure was announced in October 2021, has $6 billion of investable capital.

Bank of America advised Actis on the deal, while Standard Chartered was the investment banker to Shell. The transaction is pending regulatory approval and is expected to close later this year.
has signed a Securities Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Compagnie Plastic Omnium SE of France to divest its four-wheeler lighting systems operations in the Americas and Europe, the Aurangabad-based company said in a statement.

The Euro 600 million (Rs 4,836 crore) transaction will see Varroc divesting its lighting System operations in the US, Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Turkey, and Morocco.

Varroc Lighting System had been a drag for the company for a few quarters now, and weighed on Varroc Engineerings performance in the third quarter of FY22. During the quarter, a two per cent increase in India business was offset by 15 per cent decline in VLS.

Following the announcement, the company's shares rose touching an upper circuit. It closed at Rs 444.90, up 7.95 per cent on the BSE.

The companys consolidated net debt of Rs 2,604 crore at the end of December 2021, down from Rs 3,010 crore the previous quarter.

It is not clear whether the deal is an all-cash deal.

But assuming it is one, it would help the company wipe out the debt and still leave it with cash of Rs 2,236 crore which could in turn bump up the valuation, said an analyst at a domestic brokerage.

The move, said the company in the statement, is part of the larger strategy to transform Varroc into a high-tech company and focus on the existing growth of electronics, connectivity, electric vehicles (EVs) product lines and the two-wheeler segment globally, it said.

This will help the company to align its resources with the high value and high growth primary markets in China, India, and the two-wheeler sector globally, it added.

Varroc will also continue to operate its China JV and other international two-wheeler businesses in countries like Italy and Vietnam and global electronics businesses in Poland and Romania. The company is retaining its four-wheeler lighting operations in Asia.

Our immediate goal is to be future-ready with continued profitable growth in emerging sectors like the EV and high technology electronics, Tarang Jain, chairman and managing director of said in the statement. The of the companys passenger car lighting operations in the Americas and Europe will be a win-win deal for Varroc and Plastic Omnium, said Jain.

It would help the company unlock great value for all its shareholders, employees, and business partners as it plans for our next level of growth in the fastest-growing economies and auto sectors in the world, Jain said in the statement.

Varroc Lighting Systems is a strategic addition to our business that will provide us with an extensive lighting product portfolio, said Laurent Favre, Chief Executive Officer of Plastic Omnium.

With the Indian automobile sector, including 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, and passenger car segment, poised to grow at 10-12 per cent CAGR over the next 4-5 years, and with emerging alternative technologies in electric vehicle (EV) mobility, Varroc will be investing in operations and R&D to enhance its shareholders value by creating a robust and financially strong operation, ensuring higher return on investments, the company said.

Rothschild & Co acted as the exclusive financial advisor to VEL on the transaction.
Vedanta Ltd. will issue Rs 11,710 crore ($1.5 billion) of dividends to shareholders, triggering a rally in the bonds of its parent that will use the income to pay down debt.



Vedanta will pay a of Rs 31.50 a share to investors, it said in an exchange filing Thursday. That will provide some relief to its parent Ltd., which faces a wall of maturities, beginning with a $1 billion note due in July.

Separately, announced a tender offer to buy back as much as $500 million of its dollar notes due in July, it said in an exchange notice in Singapore. The company said it will use about half the $1 billion it receives as from the Indian unit.

The parent firms dollar bonds rose the most in six weeks Friday, with the notes maturing in July hitting the highest level since October, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.

Billionaire Anil Agarwals Mumbai-listed company paid out about $2.2 billion to shareholders in the year ended March. S&P Global Ratings had flagged last month that dividends from Vedanta Ltd., which is 70%-owned by its London-based parent, will likely contribute to a large part of Vedanta Resources debt servicing as refinancing over the next six months becomes more challenging.

If the past is an indication, looking at the profitability, one may expect that will remain high, Ajay Goel, acting chief financial officer, said in a post-earnings call. It will help the parent cut debt by $4 billion over the next three years, he said.

Reduction of the parents debt will be front loaded, with at least $1 billion coming this fiscal year, Sunil Duggal, Chief Executive Officer of Vedanta Ltd., said on another post-earnings call Thursday.

Net Income Falls

Meanwhile, group net income dropped nearly 10% from a year earlier to 58 billion rupees in the January-to-March period, the Indian unit said. That would be the first year-on-year decline in profit since the quarter ended September 2020. It also missed analysts estimate.

Industries across the world have been grappling with higher energy and commodity costs that have been exacerbated by Russias war in Ukraine as supply chains get upended. Locally, Indian mills are finding it difficult to secure thermal coal supplies, especially aluminum producers, as the government diverts the fuel to the power sector.

Shares of Vedanta rose 1.6% in Mumbai Friday, extending the years gains to nearly 23%. Analysts have 13 buy recommendations on the company, 3 holds and 2 sells, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Key Numbers

Sales advanced 41% to 393.4 billion rupees, while expenses rose nearly 33%, with material and power costs rising more than 50% year-on-year.



The companys net debt fell nearly 24% to 209.79 billion rupees as of March 31 from a quarter earlier.



Vedanta will spend $2 billion on projects across key businesses.



Vedantas aluminum output rose 8% from a year earlier during the quarter, and steel output increased by 3%, while oil and gas production fell 7% and power sales declined 16%.



Unit Hindustan Zinc Ltd. last week reported an 18% year-on-year growth in quarterly profit but missed estimates.
The railways has cancelled 42 passenger trains so far to facilitate coal freight movement in the wake of a in various parts of the country, causing inconvenience to people travelling to and from coal producing states such as Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

The South East Central Railway (SECR) division that covers the coal producing regions has cancelled 34 passenger trains, while the Northern Railways (NR), the division that receives coal for many power stations in the north, has cancelled eight trains.

The Central Electricity Authority's (CEA) daily coal stock report states that 56 of 165 thermal power stations are left with 10 per cent or less coal, and at least 26 have less than five per cent stock left. India's 70 percent electricity demand is fulfilled through coal.

Some passengers services under the SECR like the Bilaspur-Bhopal train, which was suspended in March 28, will now remain in this status till May 3, while the MEMU between Maharashtra's Gondia and Odihsa's Jharsuguda stands cancelled from April 24 to May 23 and the Dongargarh-Raipur MEMU in Chhattisgarh from April 11 to May 24, according to official data.

While the SECR has cancelled 22 mail or express trains and 12 passenger trains, the Northern Railways has cancelled four mail or express trains, and as many passenger services.

Following the cancellations, the railways has raised the average daily loading of coal rakes to over 400 a day, the highest in the past five years, the data stated.

Railway officials said that the transporter has put 533 rakes for coal duty a day, 53 more than what was put into service last year. On Thursday, 1.62 million tonnes of coal was loaded in 427 rakes.

Few days ago, the cancellations resulted in massive protests in Chhattisgarh, which falls in the SECR division, with Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel speaking to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, resulting in restoration of around six trains.

State Congress chief Mohan Markam had staged a protest outside the office of the divisional railway manager of SECR's Raipur division over the cancellations.

Officials in the know said that people are facing inconvenience and cited that the cancellation of trains like the Hatia-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Superfast Express had come as a big blow to cancer patients, who book tickets months in advance to go to Mumbai for treatment.

There has been no official comment from the railway ministry on either the suspension or cancellation of services.

Officials said that in total, the railways has cancelled 753 trips -- 363 of mail or express trains and 390 of passenger trains -- in the SCER and the NR railway zones.

To ensure transparency in supply, the railways has also imposed loading restrictions for rails and parcels on select routes.

(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.)
was clamped Friday evening after four people were injured when two groups clashed over an anti-Khalistan march in this city, hurling stones at each other. Police opened fire in the air to bring the situation under control.

The will be enforced between 7 pm Friday and 6 am Saturday in Patiala district, authorities said. Essential services were exempted.

Hours later, police arrested Harish Singla, working president of a group called "Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray)" for taking out the procession without permission and instigating violence.

The clash took place outside the Kali Mata temple after Singla's group had begun the "Khalistan Murdabad March" from the nearby Arya Samaj Chowk.

Some Sikh activists, including Nihangs, who had initially gathered at Dukh Niwaran Sahib Gurdwara, marched towards the temple, a few of them seen brandishing swords. Their procession too did not have permission from the authorities, officials said.

Near the temple, the two groups came face to face and hurled stones at each other, police said. The temple gates were locked and police deployed in large numbers to prevent the violence from spreading further in the city, officials said.

Harish Singla said the march was organised as a reply to the announcement by the Sikhs for Justice to mark April 29 as the foundation day of Khalistan. The banned group based overseas is headed by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

Two of the four people injured in the violence are policemen. Their condition is stable, police said. They have registered a case over the violence.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann summoned a high-level meeting of officers after the clash. The CM later said he has ordered a probe into the clash and given strict instructions that not a single culprit is spared.

"Anti- forces will not be allowed to disturb Punjab's peace at any cost," he said.

"The incident of in Patiala is deeply unfortunate, he tweeted. We are closely monitoring the situation and will not let anyone create disturbance in the state."



A few hours after the clash, Patiala Inspector General of Police Rakesh Agarwal told reporters that the situation was under control.

"We have called force from outside. A peace committee meeting has been called by the Deputy Commissioner on Saturday," he said.

He said the incident took place because of rumours spread by some some mischievous elements.

We have controlled the situation. We are also conducting a flag march in Patiala city," he added.

Patiala Deputy Commissioner-cum District Magistrate Sakshi Sawhney said, We appeal to all to maintain calm and not to lend credence to any rumours."



Several Punjab ministers and MLAs expressed concern over the violence.

"I strongly condemn the that took place in Patiala today. Appealing to all sections of society to follow the path of peace and humanity," Punjab's Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said.

But the new AAP government came under flak from the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress over the worsening law and order situation.

"Complete anarchy in the state, Leader of the Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa tweeted.

It's high time that the Punjab CM gets his house in order. Law & order has collapsed in the past one month with one incident after the other taking place in the state, the Congress leader 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.)
Environment Minister on Friday said the city government will assist startups providing alternatives to single-use to the best of its potential.

A mass movement is required to create awareness against single-use items, he said.

"The government will assist startups offering alternatives to single-use plastic, for which an action plan has been prepared. The city government has drawn up a framework for adopting several alternative models," the minister said.

He was addressing a training programme on 'Single-Use and Plastic Waste Management' organised in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Rai said plastic forks, straws, polythene, plastic glasses, and other single-use plastics that cannot be reused are discarded and in such a situation, adequate information is needed for the effective management of plastic waste, not only for those who produce it but also for those who pick it up and manage it.

This UNEP training programme will provide better information to the people working in this field. Also, it will be easier to adopt the legal process related to it," he 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.)
EU special representative for human rights Eamon Gilmore said on Friday that in his meetings with the Indian government he has discussed issues such as the use of sedition and anti-terrorism laws, condition of minorities, communal violence and the situation in .

Gilmore also said that in his meeting with members of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) during his India visit, the panel's role in relation to Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), detentions, bail, sedition and anti-terrorism laws, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), minorities and individual cases, was discussed.

An EU delegation, including Gilmore and EU Ambassador to India Ugo Astuto, called on Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in Delhi on Thursday, a day after it met NHRC chairperson Justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra and other members of the panel.

"At meetings with Government, including @naqvimukhtar, Minister for Minorities, I discussed FCRA, use of sedition and anti-terrorism laws, detentions, the situation of minorities, communal violence, situation in Jammu Kashmir, and individual cases," Gilmore tweeted, tagging Naqvi's tweet on their meeting.

On his meeting with NHRC, he thanked the panel for the meeting, at which, he said the NHRC's role in relation to FCRA, detentions, bail, sedition and anti-terrorism laws, UAPA, minorities and individual cases, was discussed.

According to sources in the Minority Affairs Ministry, Naqvi told the delegation that constitutional and religious rights of every section are absolutely safe in India but "nobody has the right to indulge in forceful and fraudulent religious conversion".

Naqvi is also learnt to have told the delegation that "not a single major communal riot has taken place in India since 2014", but there were some conspiracies to "give communal colour" to isolated criminal incidents.

The minister told the delegation that some people have been constantly trying to "defame" Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India as a part of a "conspiracy", the sources said.

He said that sometimes they write letters, while at other times they raise the "bogey of Islamophobia", according to the sources.

Naqvi also emphasised that the Modi government has given scholarships to over five crore minority students in the last eight years.

He also told the delegation that the percentage of minorities in central government jobs has significantly increased to above 10 per cent.

The sources said the minister told the delegation that terrorist organisations such as al-Qaeda and ISIS may have been successful in their "nefarious designs" in Europe and other countries but they never succeeded in India.

This is only because of India's strength of cultural co-existence and unity in diversity, he said, according to the sources.

Naqvi tweeted Thursday that he apprised the EU delegation of the effective results of welfare programmes being carried out by the Modi government for the socio-economic-educational empowerment of all sections of the society, including minorities.

(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.)
of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana on Friday said 126 have been filled in various high courts in less than a year and he expects 50 more appointments.

The was speaking at the 39th Chief Justices' Conference, taking place after a gap of six years.

Justice Ramana said: "Due to our collective efforts, we could fill 126 in various High Courts, in less than a year. We are expecting 50 more appointments. This remarkable feat could be achieved because of your wholehearted co-operation and commitment to the institution".

He urged the chief justices of high courts, which are still having a number of vacancies, to forward the names for elevation at the earliest. The CJI pointed out that in the past one year, nine judges were appointed to the apex court and 10 new for high courts, and thanked the other judges in the collegium for their cooperation.

He added, "I have also requested all of you, in our very first online interaction, to expedite the process of recommending names for elevation to High Courts, with an emphasis on social diversity. I am happy to note that the response from some of the High Courts has been extremely encouraging."

The aim of the conference is to discuss and identify the problems that are affecting the administration of justice. "All of you have rich experience of more than ten years as Judges. You will be able to analyse the subjects objectively and make constructive suggestions. With your free and frank views on the subjects being discussed, we will certainly be able to arrive at meaningful conclusions," he added.

This conference will be followed by a joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices at Vigyan Bhawan on April 30. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the event.

Justice Ramana said: "Our conclusions and resolutions from today will form the basis of deliberations in the joint conference tomorrow. We will take these up with the government, and attempt to build consensus around the same".

Following major issues will be deliberated upon in the Chief Justices' Conference 2022: strengthening of the network and connectivity of all courts complexes pan India on priority basis; human resources/personnel policy; infrastructure and capacity building; institutional and legal reforms; and, appointment of judges.

--IANS

ss/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.)
A total of 171 COVID-19 cases reported from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras till now, informed Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan on Thursday.

The Health Secretary informed that has not been closed as of now, however, the government along with campus authorities are trying their best to ensure that the COVID cluster does not spread to the other places from the university.

"Total 171 Covid19 cases detected in IIT-Madras campus till now," Radhakrishnan said in a briefing yesterday.

Further, he said, "Few more cases have been reported in . These all are part of our saturation test. There is nothing to panic about. We have not closed the institution. We are ensuring that the cluster doesn't spread to other places."

Meanwhile, the authorities have asked people to get themselves tested in case they observe any COVID-19-related symptoms and advised everyone to wear masks, maintain social distancing, and practice all COVID-19 safety protocols.

Earlier on Wednesday, IIT Madras had 111 COVID-19 positive cases in the campus, according to the health department.

(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.)
Security arrangements have been beefed up in the violence-hit Jahangirpuri area ahead of 'namaz' on the last Jumma before Eid, police said on Friday.

Adequate security arrangements have been placed in the area and sufficient security personnel have been deployed," Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Usha Rangnani said.

Hindu and Muslim groups had clashed with each other during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in the northwest area on April 16, leaving eight police personnel and a local resident injured.

According to police, there was stone-pelting and arson during the clashes and some vehicles were also torched.

Akbar, who owns a mobile repair shop in C-Block of Jahangirpuri, said, "Yesterday, we were allowed to open shops, but today again we are not allowed to enter the barricaded area."



A senior police officer said that they have not given any direction to close the shops in the area.

"The namaz is going on in the area. The shops are also opened here. We have not asked anyone to close the shop, if they have closed it by themselves, then we have no role in it," the officer said.

On Sunday, a 'Tiranga Yatra' was taken out by Hindu and Muslim residents of the area to give a message of peace and harmony even as the roads leading to the mosque near which the riots broke out remain closed for movement.

The march was carried out in C block area -- the epicentre of the clashes -- amid a heavy security presence.

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The relationship is based on a genuine concern for each other's welfare and interests, External Affairs Minister said here on Friday, asserting that New Delhi's development cooperation paradigm with the Himalayan nation is unique, prompted by moral principles and emotional bonds.

Jaishankar, who is here on an official visit at the invitation of his Bhutanese counterpart Lyonpo Tandi Dorji, is Bhutan's first high-level visitor from abroad since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country in March 2020.

In his remarks at the handing over ceremony for the 12th consignment of medical supplies and e-inaugurations here, the external affairs minister congratulated the Bhutanese government and its people on their success in the fight against COVID-19 in the past two years, the External Affairs Ministry (EAM) said in a statement.

This has been a difficult journey for all of us. I think it is a testimony to our friendship that we have displayed the kind of solidarity that we have done in these times, Jaishankar said.

It is a matter of great satisfaction as well that the bilateral cooperation has continued to flourish even during the difficult period, he said.

Our relationship is based on a genuine concern for each other's welfare and interests.

India's development cooperation paradigm is unique, prompted as much by economic impulse as by moral principles and emotional bonds, the external affairs minister said.

Given the long-standing ties and special bilateral partnership, Bhutan was the natural choice to be the first country to receive the Covishield vaccines under our Vaccine Maitri Initiative, he said.

Jaishankar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often emphasised that Bhutan being a close friend and a privileged neighbour, the friendly people of Bhutan enjoy a special place in the hearts and minds of Indians. This relationship, rooted in history and yet forward looking, always delivers.

I am happy that our traditional relations have grown in new sectors since the Prime Minister's visit in 2019, in keeping with the wishes and aspirations of the Bhutanese people, he said.

In this vein, financial connectivity has touched new heights through the launch of the RuPay card and the BHIM app; our two countries are collaborating closely on STEM through regular placement of Bhutanese youth in our IITs.

We have successfully linked up the Start-Up systems of our two countries via structured workshops; through the National Knowledge Network & the Druk-REN connection and the e-Library project, we have opened up new vistas of education and knowledge sharing between our two countries. I am also pleased to share that the INDIA BHUTAN-SAT is due to launch into space shortly, Jaishankar said.

He joined his Bhutanese counterpart Lyonpo Tandi Dorji in the inauguration of three projects.

We will continue to stand resolutely by your side through a post COVID sustainable recovery which is your current focus, the external affairs minister said.

All visits to Thimphu and to Bhutan are always memorable, but I think this one has a very special sense.

I will return with a great sense of satisfaction that our partnership is as solid as it is special, that it always delivers results, especially in face of daunting challenges as we have experienced in the last two years and above all it responds to the wishes, aspirations and priorities of the people of Bhutan, Jaishankar added.

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is facing its worst electricity shortage in more than six years just as scorching temperatures force early closures of schools and send people indoors.

Extreme heat parched large swathes of South Asia this week after India's hottest March on record, prompting Prime Minister to warn of rising fire risks as the country heats up too much too soon.

In the capital New Delhi, temperatures have soared past 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for several days and are forecast to linger around 44C until Sunday, with peak summer heat still to come before cooling monsoon rains arrive in June.

Maximum temperatures recorded in six districts in West Bengal were at least five degree Celsius above normal, weather officials said, with the lack of rains in state capital adding to its worries.

People in Odisha state in the east set up stalls at prominent public places to offer water to those passing by. Its neighbour West Bengal has announced summer school breaks from next week, days ahead of schedule.

Health officials in the western state of Gujarat made arrangements to tackle a potential spike in patients.

"We have issued an advisory to hospitals to set up special wards for heat stroke and other heat-related diseases due to the rise in temperatures," Gujarat's health secretary Manoj Aggarwal told Reuters.

In the northwest, Rajasthan has scheduled four hours of for factories, making it at least the third state to disrupt industrial activity to manage surging power demand.

"In view of the present power crisis, .. it has been decided to impose scheduled cuts," a state utility said.

Industrial disruption and widespread are bad news for corporate India, as economic activity has just started to pick up after months of stagnation amid coronavirus lockdowns.

are expected to worsen in the coming days as the heatwaves and a pickup in economic activity are seen increasing electricity demand at the fastest pace in nearly four decades.

The unprecedented heat puts millions of blue-collar workers, including construction and farm labourers and those working on factory shop floors, at great risk. Sunstrokes have claimed thousands of Indian lives over the years.

"Most of India's population is rural, without access to air conditioning and cooling stations," said Arpita Mondal, hydroclimatologist at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

Daily wage earners and those in urban slums are among the most vulnerable to heat, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, since cities tend to be warmer than rural areas due to the heat trapping effect of buildings and other factors.

In addition to power cuts for factories, Rajasthan imposed four-hour power cuts for rural regions, exposing thousands of families in the desert state to extreme temperatures.

SOARING POWER DEMAND

The leap in power demand has left scrambling for coal, the dominant fuel used in electricity generation in the country. Coal inventories are at the lowest pre-summer levels in at least nine years.

Peak-power demand in surged to a record high on Thursday, and is seen rising by as much as 8% next month, the power ministry said. India's weather office has warned of hotter weather in the coming days.

A shortage of trains to transport coal is exacerbating a fuel supply crisis. India's power secretary said this week that train availability was 6% lower than required.

Electricity supply fell short of demand by 1.88 billion units, or 1.6%, during the first 27 days of April, the worst monthly shortfall in over six years, according to a Reuters analysis of data from the federal grid regulator POSOCO.

Power cuts in five states, including Rajasthan and Haryana in the north and Andhra Pradesh in the south, were the worst in over six years, the data POSOCO showed.

With power cuts showing an increasing trend, April shortages could exceed the large cuts implemented in January 2016 during a previous shortfall in power supply.

Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh states restricted industrial activity this month as household air conditioning demand peaked.

India last faced a big power crisis in October but the situation this month is far more widespread, with more than half of the country facing more power cuts than in October.

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TMC MP Thursday asked people in her constituency to inform her if anyone tries to extort money using the name of the ruling party.

Moitra, the Trinamool Congress MP from Krishnanagar, also urged people to come forward and break the nexus of corruption without any fear.

Our honourable chief minister has repeatedly said that any kind of extortion by using the name and position of the party would not be tolerated. If anyone in the name of giving jobs tries to extort money, please lodge a complaint in writing to the police or at my office, she wrote on her Facebook page.

There is no need to be afraid of anyone, no matter how influential the person is; the law will take its own course. So please come forward and let us break this nexus of corruption, she said.

Her comments came a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered the police department to take action against those accused of extortion and fleecing people, without considering their political affiliation.

Reacting to Moitra's remarks, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said the comments only reflect the deep rot in the TMC.

Earlier, too, TMC leaders have made such statements, but those did not yield any result, he said.

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Chief Minister on Thursday urged investors from to take advantage of the incentives being offered by the state government in the industrial sector.

The Chief Minister said that fulfills all the prerequisites to become the new IT hub and industrialists from should utilize the opportunity to help both the regions flourish together.

Addressing the Digital IT Business Summit 2022 in Agartala, Deb said, " government is working on a priority basis to promote the IT sector in the state. Bangladesh can invest here in Data Centers which will help the country in strengthening its service sectors like banking."

"The government has given a lot of relaxations for investors such as 50 per cent rebate in electricity, rebate in GST for five years, reduced electricity prices for commercial use and 24 hours uninterrupted supply of electricity -- a must for any industrial park or area."

Apart from that, Deb said, Tripura has a high-speed internet gateway with Chittagong. All the necessary steps are being undertaken from the end of the state government to ensure ease of doing business, he added.

According to Deb, several companies from abroad have shown interest in setting up their ventures in Tripura.

"An American company has arrived here. They have started their initial work at an IT building. We are looking after all the logistic matters. Today, we have railway connectivity across the country. Kisan trains are carrying state grown products at subsidized prices to markets, railway connectivity has been extended up to Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhi, Deoghar and recently Jammu Express has agreed to run a train on a trial basis," he said.

Speaking about Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's approach towards Tripura, he said, "For the COVID pandemic, several projects that were in the planning stage did not see any progress. I have spoken to Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina on a number of occasions. She assured me to open the Cox Bazar international airport for Tripura-bound flights. Besides, we are also working wholeheartedly to develop another airport at Kailashahar."

Chief Minister Deb mentioned that the Kailashahar airport was non-functional for several years and he has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to transform it into a big-ticket airport. Works are in the primary stage pertaining to the project. The new airport will be opened at a plot of 500 acres of land and Rs 500 crore will be spent on the project.

Deb further informed that he had also written a letter to Prime Minister Modi seeking direct flights in Agartala-Chittagong, Agartala-Dhaka and Agartala-Bangkok routes as soon as possible.

Deb emphasised that once North Eastern states start using Chittagong port for the import of goods, Bangladesh will be immensely benefited as only rice and wheat exports will give Rs 5,000 crore duty to Bangladesh.

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Live news updates: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has agreed to form an all-party government under a new Prime Minister in Sri Lanka, local website Newswire reported citing a former ally.

Rajapaksa shared the decision during a meeting with parties who quit the government to protest against economic policies, the report cited Maithripala Sirisena of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party as saying. Rajapaksa will discuss the matter with other parties, lawmaker Weerasumana Weerasingha told the website.

Punjabs Patiala district put under under curfew till Saturday morning after two groups clashed over an anti-Khalistan march on Friday. Two people were imjured in the fight and police fired in the air.
on Friday reported 93 COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 10,59,728, while the death toll remained unchanged at 19,562, a civic official said.

Incidentally, it was the second consecutive day when the addition to the tally was less than 100, as the metropolis had seen 90 cases on Thursday, while the figures for Tuesday and Wednesday were 102 and 112 respectively, he pointed out.

Of the 93 new cases, 91 were asymptomatic, while the two admitted in hospitals did not need oxygen support, the civic official added.

So far, 10,39,579 persons have been discharged post recovery, including 68 during the day, leaving the country's financial capital with 562 active cases, he said.

Only 17 of the 26,044 hospital beds earmarked for COVID-19 treatment are currently occupied, the official added.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation data showed the recovery rate was 98 per cent, the positivity rate stood at 0.010 per cent, while the caseload doubling time was 9,153 days.

It also revealed the overall growth rate of cases between April 23 and 28 was 0.007 per cent, and that the city did not have containment zones or sealed buildings.

With 8,829 samples being examined in the last 24 hours, the overall number of tests in the metropolis went up to 1,68,85,446, as per civic data.

Incidentally, on Thursday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, while speaking at an event in the BEST headquarters here, had asked people to continue wearing masks in view of rise in cases.

had seen a record 20,971 cases on January 7 this year, while the highest number of deaths was witnessed on May 1 last year.

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Following the recovery of heroin worth over Rs 100 crore and other narcotic substances and Rs 30 lakh cash from a residential flat in southeast Delhi's Shaheen Bagh on Thursday, the (NCB) has raised the possibility of narco-terrorism module in the case.

Speaking to ANI, Director-General of NCB, SN Pradhan said, "There is every possibility of narco-terrorism module. The network is connected to Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East. So there is every chance that there may be a narco-terrorism module. However, it is subject to investigation. The operation will go on all night today and there will be arrests."

"This has been going on for several days. More people are involved in this case. We have been trying to catch the entire network. Pakistani nationals were caught in an operation a few days ago. Further, people were caught from Muzaffarnagar and Kairana in an ATS raid. During the investigation, the case of Shaheen Bagh's apartment came to the fore. Not only heroin was being imported, but heroin was being made from opium at the apartment," said the NCB chief.

He said the situation in Afghanistan is such that earlier opium was cultivated under the auspices of the Taliban. He mentioned that all the attempt is being made to capture the big market like India. The money acquired from heroin sold in India was being sent to Dubai through hawala.

"Recently, Afghanistan's Taliban government announced a ban on cultivation. But in anticipation of the ban, there seems to be a rise in exports and illegal trafficking outside. There is demand in the Indian market. It is a huge market," Pradhan stated.

He said heroin was earlier smuggled from Afghanistan through South Africa and Sri Lanka.

"These syndicates have been smuggling goods to India via maritime as well as land border routes wherein heroin was smuggled in alongside various goods. Heroin is smuggled to India concealed in liquorice, truck tyres, etc. Heroin was later extracted from those goods by Indian counterparts with the help of some Afghan nationals," said the DG, NCB.

He emphasized that an international network of law enforcement agencies will have to be created to eliminate the international network of drugs.

In one of the biggest recent narcotics seizures, the NCB, Delhi Unit on Thursday busted an India-Afghanistan drug syndicate and recovered 50 kilograms of heroin worth over Rs 100 crore from a flat in southeast Delhi's Jamia Nagar, Shaheen Bagh.

One person was arrested in this case. Along with the contraband, Rs 30 lakh of cash and 47 kilograms of some other narcotics substance, concealed in a tree trunk- yet to be identified, were also recovered.

The NCB and agencies concerned are now probing if the hawala money was for any other illegal purposes. In connection with the recovered narcotics to the massive recent drug haul in Kandla is also being looked into, sources said.

NCB Deputy Director General (operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh said that the probe so far has revealed an India-Afghan syndicate is based in Delhi and neighbouring states.

He said these syndicates have expertise in manufacturing and adulterating heroin locally.

"We received input from a liable source that a huge amount of heroin is stored in an apartment in Shaheen Bagh. Our team searched the apartment to recover 50 kg of heroin, 47kg of suspected narcotics, Rs 30 lakhs in cash and a note-counting machine. They smuggle it from abroad and manufacture it here. The supply is to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP, Uttarakhand via sea route and land border that is Attari-Wagah border. They also mix it with legal goods being imported from Afghanistan and Pakistan," Singh said.

He said many people of the network have been identified and searches are underway at various locations in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

He further said that the drugs were kept in backpacks and jute bags and were wrapped in packets of e-commerce companies.

"This is one of the biggest narcotics seizures in Delhi, that too from a residential area, in the recent past. Another 47 kg of "suspected" narcotics were also seized from the premises and has been sent to a laboratory for testing," Singh said.

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Prime Minister on Friday said that 'New India' is scaling new dimensions, and leaving its mark on the whole world.

The Prime Minister on Friday hosted a Sikh delegation at his official residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, here.

The group included people from different walks of life. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri was among those present on the occasion.

Reiterating his appreciation for the mood of 'New India', the Prime Minister said: "New India is scaling new dimensions and is leaving its mark on the whole world. The period of Corona epidemic is the biggest example of this. At the beginning of the epidemic, people with an old mind-set were expressing concerns about India. But now, people are giving the example of India for its handling of the pandemic."

"Earlier, concerns were being voiced over the enormity of the population of India and many were doubtful about vaccines for Indians. But today, India has emerged as the biggest vaccine maker. You will also be proud to hear that 99 per cent of the vaccination has been done through our own 'Made in India' vaccines," he said.

The Prime Minister noted in this difficult period, India has emerged as one of the world's largest start-up eco-systems.

"The number of our unicorns is constantly increasing. This growing stature and credibility of India provides maximum satisfaction and pride to our diaspora," he said.

Talking about the Indian diaspora, Modi said: "I have always considered our Indian diaspora as Rashtrdoot of India. All of you are the strong voice and lofty identity of Maa Bharati abroad.Even diaspora feels proud about the strides of growth that India is taking. Wherever we are in the world, 'India First' needs to be our primary faith."

On the occasion, the Prime Minister recalled his long association with the Sikh community.

"Going to Gurdwaras, spending time in 'sewa', getting langar, staying at the homes of Sikh families has been a part of my life. The feet of Sikh saints keep falling from time to time in the Prime Minister's residence here. I keep getting the good fortune of their company," Modi said.The Prime Minister also recalled his visits to the places of Sikh heritage all over the world during his visits abroad.

"Our Gurus have taught us courage and service. The people of India have gone to different parts of the world without any resources and achieved success through their labour. This is the spirit of New India today too," he said.

Bowing to the great contribution and sacrifices of the Sikh Gurus, the Prime Minister recalled how Guru Nanak Dev ji awakened the consciousness of the entire nation and brought the nation out of darkness and took it on the path of light.

"The Gurus travelled all over India and everywhere there are their signs and inspirations. They are revered and there is faith in them everywhere. The feet of Gurus sanctified this great land and inspired its people. Sikh tradition is a living tradition of 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat'," the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister expressed the county's gratitude for Sikh Community's contribution during the freedom struggle and after Independence. He said the "Sikh community is synonymous with the courage, prowess and hard work of the country".

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India on Thursday slammed Pakistan's remarks on the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's to and said Islamabad has no locus standi to comment on the matters pertaining to the union territory.

Answering queries about Pakistan's remarks during the regular media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the reception that the Prime Minister got and the changes that have happened on the ground in the union territory is a very clear answer to any questions that may have been raised about the visit.

He also took a dig at Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif terming the visit as "staged." ,

"I don't understand the word staged. It seems to indicate the visit did not take place and we are trying to show that it did," he said.

"I think it's pretty clear that the reception that he (PM Modi) got and the visuals that you saw and the development projects that he inaugurated and the changes that have happened on the ground is a very clear answer to any questions that may be raised about Prime Minister's visit about it. In any case, I think Pakistan has no locus to talk about...it from its perspective on what's happening in but I answered in the context of if somebody is questioning the visit itself," he added.

PM Modi visited on Sunday to participate in the celebration of National Panchayati Raj Day and addressed all the gram sabhas across the country.

It was his first major visit to Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. He inaugurated and laid the foundation of multiple development initiatives worth Rs 20,000 crore in the union territory.

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Prime Minister will be hosting a Sikh delegation on Friday evening.

The group will have people from different walks of life. In a tweet, Prime Minister Modi said: "This evening, I will be hosting a Sikh delegation at my residence. The group includes people from different walks of life. I will also be addressing the gathering at around 5:30 PM. Do watch".

Last month, Prime Minister Modi had met a delegation of leading Sikh intellectual voices from across the country at his official residence here.

The meeting witnessed a free-wheeling interaction by the Prime Minister with the delegation on diverse topics like farmers' welfare, youth empowerment, drug-free society, National Educational Policy, skilling, employment, technology and Punjab's overall development trajectory.

The representatives appreciated the continuous and multiple steps taken by the Prime Minister for the betterment of .

In February, Prime Minister Modi had hosted prominent from across the county.

--IANS

ssb/shb/

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Several people from West Bengal, who lost their family members allegedly in the post-poll violence last year, took out a candle light tribute march from Patiala House Court to Tilak Marg here on Friday, demanding justice.

A demonstration was also staged at India Gate, where the families raised slogans, Save and We want President's Rule in Bengal.

Speaking to PTI, one of the family members of a victim, Biswajit Sarkar said his brother was murdered brutally on the day election results were declared in the state.

I don't know whether even we will remain alive after we go back to after this protest. My brother was only 35 years old. He was killed just because he was a BJP worker. President's Rule should be imposed in West Bengal, Sarkar alleged.

Sumitra Mandal, a resident of West Bengal's Shyamnagar said her mother-in-law was "murdered" on May 2 last year, the day the Assembly election results were declared.

They killed my mother-in-law... She was beaten up with sticks by Trinamool Congress workers right outside our house, Mandal alleged.

Large scale violence was reported in the state after the election results were declared. Those cases were handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the Calcutta High Court in August.

Another resident, Bisheshwari Bagchi claimed that her brother-in-law was killed.

She said, I have come here from West Bengal to seek justice for my family. My brother-in-law was murdered after the election results were declared.

Advocate Kabir Shankar Bose, who organised the candle light march in the national capital, said they demand President's Rule in West Bengal.

We are raising our voice for the families of the victims and we demand President's Rule... The law and order situation in the state has deteriorated. We want the Bengal government to stop the violence and let people live in harmony, Bose said.

A delegation of 10 lawyers from West Bengal met President Ram Nath Kovind earlier in the day and handed him a memorandum, demanding justice for the families of the victims.

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With an aim to empower homegrown semiconductor startups, chipmaker India will collaborate with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's (MeitY) Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), a statement said on Friday.

The collaboration will support a group of promising semiconductor design startups, as a part of the government and the industry's ongoing efforts to encourage innovation in the semiconductor space in India.

"There is a huge opportunity for Indian semiconductor startups due to the incentives provided by the Government," Rajen Vagadia, VP and President of India & SAARC, said in a statement.

" India is committed to helping semiconductor design startups capitalise on India's design and engineering talent to drive innovations that will power the intelligent, connected future we foresee, not only for India but the world," he added.

Qualcomm India plans to initiate and conduct the Qualcomm Semiconductor Mentorship Programme 2022 for select startups from the semiconductor space in India, with intent to provide and facilitate mentorship, technical training, and industry outreach.

Under this collaboration, C-DAC and Qualcomm India intend to work towards nurturing technical advancements and intellectual-property-driven innovation and product development required for semiconductor design in the Indian ecosystem.

It is also planning to work towards help reduce risks in innovation, accelerate the pace of business development, and develop soft skills and knowledge base of Indian startups engaged in semiconductor design.

Qualcomm India will shortlist up to 10 Indian semiconductor startups. Each shortlisted startup will be paired with a Qualcomm India leader for mentorship on product planning and development. The startup and the mentor will meet periodically either in person or through online meetings.

"The is crucial for the growth of many other industries. We encourage Indian startups to come forward and meet the current and projected domestic demand for semiconductors with the support of Government-led programmes such as Make in India' and the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme," said E. Magesh, Director-General C-DAC.

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Advocating peace in the society, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said violence does not benefit anybody and stressed the need to bring together all communities to preserve humanity.

He said this in the backdrop of recent between different groups in several parts of the country.

Addressing an event on Thursday evening in Amravati, Bhagwat said, "Violence does not benefit anybody. The society to which violence is dear is now counting its last days. We should forever be non-violent and peace-loving. For this, it is essential to bring together all communities and preserve humanity."

Bhagwat further said, "We all should follow the path of Ahimsa to safeguard humanity. This path should be given the topmost priority."

He also underlined the need for establishing a Sindhi university in the country to ensure the survival of the Sindhi language and culture. The chief said India is a multi-lingual country and each language has its own importance.

Bhagwat was speaking as a Chief Guest at the 'Gaddinashini' programme (ceremony to assume religious seat) of Sai Rajeshlal Mordiya, the great grandson of Sant Kanwarram, at Kanwarram Dham on Bhankheda Road near here in Maharashtra.

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Coming to the rescue of students of foreign universities who faced difficulties due to the Ukraine crisis and COVID, the Friday directed the Medical Commission (NMC) to frame a scheme in two months permitting students to complete clinical training in medical colleges here.

The top court, which was hearing an appeal of the NMC against a Madras High Court order asking it to provisionally register graduate of a Chinese University, however, was of the view that there was nothing wrong in denying the provisional registration as without practical training, there cannot be any Doctor who is expected to take care of the citizens of the country.

A bench of justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian said, No doubt, the pandemic has thrown new challenges to the entire world including the students but granting provisional registration to complete an internship to a student who has not undergone clinical training would be compromising with the health of the citizens of any country and the health infrastructure at large.

However, the top court took note of the plight of the student who could not complete the clinical training physically in the Chinese institute due to the pandemic situation and said that talent should not be allowed to be wasted and services should be used to augment health infrastructure in the country.

We therefore direct to frame a scheme as a one time measure within two months to allow the student and such similarly situated students who have not actually completed clinical training to undergo clinical training in India in the medical colleges which may be identified by the appellant for a limited duration as may be specified by the appellant, on such charges which the appellant determines, Justice Gupta, writing the judgement, said.

The 18-page verdict said that it shall be open to the NMC, the successor organisation of MCI and which supervises medical education in the country, to test such students in the manner within the next one month, that it considers appropriate to satisfy that they are sufficiently trained to be provisionally registered to complete an internship for 12 months.

The verdict examined the question of whether the degree granted by a foreign institute even in respect of clinical training is binding on the NMC and the student has to be provisionally registered.

We find that the appellant (NMC) is not bound to grant provisional registration to the student who has not completed the entire duration of the course from the Foreign Institute including the clinical training, it said, adding that without practical training, there cannot be any doctor and the decision of not to grant provisional registration cannot be said to be arbitrary.

The bench was very critical of the submission of students like Pooja Thandu Naresh, who was granted an MBBS degree by Qingdao University, Faculty of Medicine, China, that certain similarly placed people have been granted provisional registration.

This will not confer any right with the student to claim provisional registration so as to undergo the internship. There cannot be any equality in illegality, the bench said.

The medical body had filed the appeal against the orders of July 29 and September 29, 2021, of the high court in the petitions, filed for quashing the circulars issued by the Tamil Nadu Medical Council asking the student to undergo two months of compulsory rotatory residential internship, followed by one year of internship before granting permanent registration under the Indian Medical Council Act, now repealed by the Medical Commission Act, 2019.

The bench found force with the submissions of the NMC that in terms of the statutory regulations, the student has to study the medical course in the same institute located abroad for the entire duration.

However, the fact remains that the students were permitted to undergo medical courses abroad and that they have completed their curriculum according to the certificate granted by such Foreign Institute. Therefore, such resources cannot be permitted to be wasted which will affect the lives of young students, who had taken admission in the foreign Institutes as part of their career prospects, it said.

Therefore, the services of the students should be used to augment the health infrastructure in the country, and thus, it would be necessary that the students undergo actual clinical training of such duration and at such institutes which are identified by the NMC and on such terms and conditions, including the charges for imparting such training, as may be notified by the medical body, it said.

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From refrigerators to washing machines to sarees, had seen various local trusts and associations lining up sops to bring more people to (Covid-19) vaccination centres in the state. However, despite all the efforts, some 4.3 million people are yet to take the first dose of the vaccine and nearly 13 million people - the second dose.

As cases rise, the state government is once again trying to underatke a door-to-door campaign, meeting the people directly, calling them over phones and sending sms alerts. After witnessing vaccine reluctance, several trusts and social organisations had offered freebies during the first leg of vaccination in the state. The state is also planning to conduct a mega vaccination drive across 100,000 centres on May 8.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) had emerged as a covid cluster, with as many as 171 Covid cases reported so far, with nearly 6,650 samples taken for tests so far.

The state government is of the view that instead of forcing people to get vaccinated or giving anyone sops, it will now focus on creating awareness. Despite several efforts people are not coming for vaccinations. We are going to their homes and requesting them to take vaccines. They should know that this is to protect their own life, said Dr TS Selvavinayagam, director, Public Health.

What is even more worrying for the state is the vaccine reluctance in frontline workers and senior citizens. Among frontline workers, only 46 per cent have taken both the doses, while only 64 per cent of health sector workers have taken the same, despite being the most vulnerable. Among senior citizens too, only 58 per cent have taken both the doses. We can only request them to get vaccinated. We had conducted vaccination drives almost every week, Selvavinayagam added.

The number of fresh cases in the state declined to 73 in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of active cases to 488, compared to 77 fresh cases and 488 active cases on Wednesday. It was on April 20 that a cluster was reported at IIT-M with 12 students testing positive.
The Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution urging the Centre to positively consider the state government's request to immediately dispatch food and life-saving medicines to the economic-crisis hit as Chief Minister M K Stalin stressed on the need for the state to extend humanitarian aid to the island republic on time.

The resolution, piloted by Stalin, was unanimously passed by the House, including the opposition AIADMK and the BJP. Interestingly, apart from extending support to the government resolution, Deputy Leader of the Opposition AIADMK O Panneerselvam pledged Rs 50 lakh in his personal capacity, to be extended as aid to Sri Lankan Tamils.

"We can't see the development in as the neighbouring country's internal issue. We need to extend aid humanitarian aid...help should be prompt, on time," the Chief Minister said moving the resolution.

Recalling his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month on the issue, Stalin said he followed it up with the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar but there has been no response from the Centre so far. "Hence, I have been constrained to move this resolution," he said.

Referring to the DMK's long-standing commitment for the Ealam Tamils, Stalin said said "it is the stand of this government that we should now extend" a humanitarian assistance.

The state government has decided to provide 40,000 tonnes of rice, 137 types of life-saving drugs and 500 tonnes of milk powder for children, all valued at an estimated Rs 123 crore.

"We are in a position to provide these. The state government cannot supply them directly. It has to be done with the approval of the Union government and disbursed through the Indian embassy in . I had placed a request (on the subject) with the Government of India soon after the crisis in Sri Lanka," Stalin said.

Referring to a couplet from Tamil classic Thirukkural that talks about the hand of friendship reaching out to someone at the right time, Stalin said the help should be based on humanitarian concerns and timely.

"A timely help is true help. To make our voice reach the union government, such a resolution has to be adopted," he said.

In the resolution piloted by Stalin, the government said there has been no "clear reply" from the Centre on Tamil Nadu's proposal to send the aid to Sri Lanka.

"The government of has addressed the government of India to permit the state government to send essential commodities including rice, pulses and milk products and life saving medicines to the people of Sri Lanka who are now suffering due to the severe there. But so far no clear reply has been received from the government of India in this regard," the resolution said.

"Hence, the House resolves to urge the central government to positively consider the request of the government immediately to send food and other essential commodities including life saving medicines from Tamil Nadu to the people of Sri Lanka, who are facing severe hardships," the resolution added.

The resolution stated "this House insists the Union government to accede to Tamil Nadu government's request and make arrangements and give due permission to send food and essential items," to the affected Lankan citizens.

Stalin said though he had initially announced to help Ealam Tamils, various leaders from the community in Sri Lanka and groups had insisted that the aid be not confined only to the Tamils and that the assistance should be for all of Sri Lankan citizens, "which moved me."

"I could not control my emotions on hearing this. This is Tamil culture," he said.

Stalin also talked about steep prices in the country, the lingering queues for petroleum products and the grim power situation in Sri Lanka.

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India's largest carmaker on Friday posted a 58 per cent rise in fourth-quarter net profit at Rs 1,839 crore. PM at the SemiconIndia Conference said that he aims to make India a hub for semiconductors for the world in the coming years. Read more on these in our top headlines.



Maruti consolidated Q4 net up 58% to Rs 1,839 cr despite sales dip

India's largest carmaker, India Ltd, reported a 58% rise in fourth-quarter net profit on Friday, of Rs 1,839 crore. Thr firm had reported a net profit of Rs 1,166 crore in the corresponding period last year. Total vehicle sales in the quarter under review stood at 488,830 units, lower by 0.7 per cent from the same period previous year. Read more

Aim to make India a global hub for semiconductors: PM Modi

Prime Minister on Friday at the SemiconIndia Conference 2022 in Bengaluru said he was looking forward to practical suggestions from the tech industry and other stakeholders about how one can move towards an India that is a hub for semiconductors for the world in the coming years. Read more

Q4 consolidated net profit rises 4% to Rs 3,087 crore

IT major on Friday reported a 4 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 3,087.30 crore for the quarter ended March, from Rs 2,972.30 crore posted in the same quarter last year. reported an attrition rate at 23.8 per cent. Read more

US stocks are likely to be hit by a wave of redemptions, warns Chris Wood

US equities are likely to be hit by a 'wave of redemptions' as the US Federal Reserve (US Fed) tightens its monetary policy and winds down its bond-buying program, warned Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies in his latest note to investors, GREED & fear. Read more



President agrees to remove brother as Sri Lankan PM: Lawmaker

Sri Lanka's president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has agreed to replace his older brother Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister in a proposed interim government to solve a political impasse caused by the country's worst economic crisis in decades, a prominent lawmaker said. Read more
Chief Minister on Thursday said that medical students who had returned from war-ravaged Ukraine have been admitted to various medical colleges of the state.

Engineering students who were forced to come back home because of the war were also accommodated at private colleges in the state.

Banerjee said, "Altogether 422 students have returned from Ukraine to the state risking their career. We had asked the Centre to allow us to accommodate them at different colleges. But the Centre said they cannot help them. They are asking the students to go to Poland and Hungary. How can they spend so much money again?



Of the 422 returnees from Ukraine, 409 are MBBS students, three are in a dental course and one is pursuing veterinary course. While six are engineering students, three are labourers.

"The six engineering students have been offered seats in private colleges. Two of them have joined the course while others are in the process of joining," she told reporters.

"One of the three dental students, who has completed his studies, will be doing an internship at a government dental college while the remaining two will be allowed in practical classes at the same college," she said.

Out of the three workers, two have been appointed on casual basis at a district magistrate's office while the third one has got a job and moved to Dubai, the CM said.

Banerjee said that the veterinary student has been provided admission at the University of Animal & Fishery Sciences.

"A total of 23 sixth year medical students will be allowed to undergo internship at government medical colleges as per norms. At least 135 students -- 43 fifth year and the rest fourth year -- will be allowed to undertake Observing seat at different medical colleges," she said.

As many as 172 third year and second year medical students will be allowed to attend practical classes, Banerjee said.

She said that 78 first year students who are qualified for the 2021 session would be allowed for counselling immediately at "our private medical colleges against management quota seats for fresh admission. Colleges have been requested to offer concession in fees charged for these students", she added.

Banerjee had on March 16 wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to accommodate the medical students who returned from Ukraine in Indian colleges shortly after interacting with them in the city.

She had urged Modi to relax norms for them as it is an "extraordinary situation".

In her letter to the prime minister, she had put forth several suggestions including allowing eligible students to undergo internships in government medical colleges.

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India has asked state-run energy companies to evaluate the possibility of buying European oil major BP's stake in sanctions-hit Russian firm Rosneft, two people familiar with the matter said.

BP has announced it is abandoning its 19.75% stake in Rosneft.

The oil ministry last week conveyed its intent to ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petro Resources Ltd (BPRL), Hindustan Pertoleum's subsidiary Prize Petroleum Ltd, Oil India Ltd and GAIL (India) Ltd, the sources said.

Indian companies and the oil ministry did not respond to Reuters emails seeking comment.

While Western nations have imposed sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, India has not explicitly condemned Moscow's actions there.

The world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, India imports about 85% of its 5 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil needs.

The call on Indian companies to explore buying the stake in Rosneft came after BP CEO Bernard Looney met Indian oil minister in March.

BP declined to comment.

Oil ministry also asked OVL, the overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, to consider buying a 30% stake held by Exxon Mobile Corp, in the Sakhalin 1 project in Russia's Far East. Exxon is the operator of the project.

OVL already holds a 20% stake in the project.

Exxon said on March 1 it would exit about $4 billion in assets and discontinue all its Russia operations, including Sakhalin 1.

OVL also holds 26% stake in Vankorneft, owner of the Venkor field in the West Siberian Basin.

Separately, a consortium of Oil India, IOC, and BPRL, the exploration arm of state refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp, holds a 23.9% stake in Vankorneft and a 29.9% stake in Taas-Yuryakh in east Siberia.

One of the sources said Indian companies hope to get stakes in Russian assets at discounted rates given the risk involved, dubbing the potential transactions "distress sales".

A second source said Indian companies needed to study the impact of sanctions on potential investments and yet to start a process of due diligence.

"The fear is that this investment could get stuck in Russia as sanctions might bar us from bringing equity oil and gas to India."

"Our effort has been to see how we can stabilise economic transactions, economic engagements with Russia in the current context ... There are of course constraints, there are sanctions by some countries, and we will have to kind of work through that," India's foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a conference.

Exxon said on Wednesday its Russian unit Exxon Neftegas Ltd has declared force majeure for its Sakhalin-1 operations due to sanctions on Russia that have made it increasingly difficult to ship crude to customers.

(Additional reporting by Krishna N. Das and Ron Bousso; editing by David Evans)

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By Munsif Vengattil and Akash Sriram

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India will provide support for companies looking to invest in manufacturing, Prime Minister said on Friday, as the South Asian nation sets its sights on becoming a key player in the global supply chain for chips.

Even as more firms and countries seek to ensure access to the chips at the core of critical technologies such as 5G, and others of the future, the bulk of the world's chip output is limited to places such as Taiwan and the United States.

"We have shown that India means business, now it is over to you," Modi told the country's first conference in the southern tech hub of Bengaluru, reiterating his government's support for the industry.

The Indian market, worth $15 billion in 2020, is estimated to reach $63 billion by 2026, the government says.

A $10-billion plan to attract semiconductor and display makers has drawn applications from companies such as a joint venture between Indian conglomerate Vedanta and Taiwan's Foxconn, and Singapore's IGSS Ventures.

Part of the government's efforts to attract big ticket investments, the three-day meeting has drawn executives of tech giants Intel, TSMC and Micron Technology Inc.

In the race to become India's first chip maker, Vedanta is seeking incentives such as 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of free land, as part of its $20-billion foray into semiconductors and displays.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Abhirup Roy; Writing by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Public sector miner Coal India has reported an increase of 27.2 per cent in its output in April 2022 as compared to the year-ago period, said on Friday.

The despatch of coal also improved by 5.8 per cent year-on-year in April 2022.

"Coal production by Coal India Ltd (CIL) has increased by 27.2 per cent in April 2022 as compared to same period of last year and coal despatch has increased by 5.8 per cent," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also informed that CIL has a coal stock of 56.7 MT at present. While the stock at Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is at 4.3 MT, captive coal blocks have about 2.3 MT of stock.

"Thus, sufficient coal stock with coal companies is available," it added.

The coal stock at good shed sidings, washery sidings and port is about 4.7 MT and it is ready to be moved to power plants immediately, the statement said.

Besides, around 2 MT of coal stock is also available at the CIL sidings. The Indian Railways is fully geared to move this stock to power generation companies across the country.

"CIL has offered 5.75 MT coal to the state/central gencos and 5.3 MT of this coal has been agreed to be booked by the gencos," it said.

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is keen to add 3-5 destinations in India as it eyes higher traffic from countries. refers to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Ethiopian Airlines, the largest carrier in Africa, is allowed to operate 35 flights per week to Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai.

The airline is starting thrice weekly flights to Chennai from July 2 and will deploy Boeing 787 aircraft on its four weekly Addis Ababa-Bengaluru flights. Similarly, Mumbai and Delhi will have two daily flights from mid-June, up from the current single daily operation.

would like to add 3-5 destinations in India and increase the number of flights, the airline's Chief Commercial Officer Lemma Yadecha said on Thursday. "Discussions are ongoing between the civil aviation authorities of Ethiopia and India in that regard," he added.

began its flights to Delhi in 1966, while flights to Mumbai started in 1971.

Around 65-70 per cent of passengers from India travel onward from Addis Ababa to other destinations within Africa.

" countries are our focus markets. With our geographical advantage we are carrying a large number of passengers and cargo between India and South Africa/Brazil and also between China and Latin America. We are also carrying traffic from Russia to Africa. Traffic from Russia has not decreased despite the war," Yadecha said.

At present Air India is the only Indian carrier which flies to Africa. Air India flies from Delhi and Mumbai to Nairobi in Kenya.
Indian refiners are negotiating a six-month oil deal with Russia to import millions of barrels per month, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter said, as the world's third largest importer seeks more Russian crude despite Western sanctions.

India has already bought more than twice as much crude from Russia in the two months since its invasion of Ukraine on Feb.

24 as it did in the whole of 2021, according to Reuters calculations. Russia calls the attack a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine.

Western sanctions against Russia have prompted many oil importers to shun trade with Moscow, pushing spot prices for Russian crude into record discounts against other grades.

Rosneft is in talks with Indian and Chinese companies about supply deals after the company lost Western term buyers, two sources said.

While New Delhi has called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, it has not explicitly condemned Moscow's actions.

That provided Indian refiners, which rarely used to buy Russian oil, an opportunity to snap up low-priced crude.

India's top refiner Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp are negotiating the deal with Russia's Rosneft, the sources said.

IOC is negotiating a deal to import 6 million barrels of oil per month with an option to buy another 3 million barrels, they said.

BPCL and HPCL are looking for monthly imports of 4 million barrels and 3 million barrels, respectively, the sources said.

The companies are looking for supply from June, they said, adding Rosneft could deliver oil through non-sanctioned intermediaries and trading companies based in countries that have not announced sanctions against Moscow.

One of the sources said that the volume and tenure of the deals could change depending on the discounts offered by Rosneft and the impact of sanctions.

The Indian refiners did not respond to Reuters' emails seeking comments, while no immediate comment was available from Rosneft.

Since the Ukraine crisis, Indian refiners have been buying Russian oil from global trading companies on a delivered basis, with traders arranging for shipping and insurance.

However, global traders Vitol and Trafigura are winding down Russian oil purchases as EU sanctions will take effect from May 15.

India has also run into shipping issues recently with Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) struggling to find vessels to load crude from its Sakhalin-1 operations in Russia.

India imports more than 85% of its crude oil needs at 5 million barrels per day (bpd).

Defending India's oil imports from Russia, oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri last week said that the purchases represent a fraction of India's overall annual needs and the government does not intervene in companies' import deals.

New Delhi has also asked its state-run energy companies to evaluate the possibility of buying European oil major BP's stake in sanctions-hit Russian firm Rosneft, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Washington has said it does not object to New Delhi buying Russian oil below market rates, but has warned against a steep rise in imports as that could hamper the U.S. response to the war in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; editing by Florence Tan and Jason Neely)

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Healthy economic activity and budgetary support from the government would lift the by 200-300 basis points to 11-12% in the current fiscal ( FY23), according to CRISIL.

Krishnan Sitaraman, Deputy Chief Ratings Officer, CRISIL Ratings, The biggest difference we expect this fiscal is the upshift in the corporate credit growth trajectory; we see it doubling to 8-9 per cent.". The Union Budget pegs public capex outlay at around Rs 7.5 trillion, a significant rise over last fiscal, with sharp focus on public infrastructure.

The downstream impact of this on core sectors, along with the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme announced for 13 key sectors, will be the drivers. Sectors that should see the maximum growth, given their industry dynamics, include metals and metal products, chemicals, engineering and construction, rating agency said.

This is in sharp contrast to recent years when corporate credit, which accounts for 40 per cent of bank credit, grew very slowly. It even dipped into negative territory in fiscal 2021 as capex remained muted and chary of lending following asset-quality challenges, CRISIL said.

The estimate factored a forecast of over seven per cent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) this fiscal.

Bank credit to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) could grow 12-14% this fiscal, riding on the multiplier effect from some pick-up in capex. This segment had seen higher credit growth in the past few quarters because of government guarantee backed emergency credit .

MSMEs are expected to play an important role in the governments Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, and will also benefit from the flow-through impact of schemes such as the PLI.

Home loans, which form the largest chunk of retail lending, will be a major driver of credit with residential purchases expected to continue at a solid clip this fiscal. At the same time, unsecured lending will also see some surge as lenders continue to find this segment attractive on a risk-adjusted return basis. Overall, the retail book growth will remain steady at 14-15% this fiscal.

Agriculture credit growth, estimated at 9-10 per cent in the last fiscal on the back of a decent monsoon and a good harvest, is seen steady, with monsoon expected to be normal once again this fiscal, CRISIL added.
The US is engaging with over the issue of Ukraine and this will continue at the summit when President Joe Biden meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Japan next month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has indicated.

"We have had a number of engagements, as you know, with leaders in about our approach to supporting the Ukrainians in this war, whether that is sanctions and the enormous sanctions package we've put in place or, of course, the assistance we've provided. We will convey the same sentiments in this meeting," Psaki said on Thursday.

She was responding to a question on the summit in Japan in May and how the issue of Ukraine would be raised or discussed.

Her comments came amid increasing Western pressure on to limit its economic ties with Russia and oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

India has not yet publicly condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine and has been pressing for the resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.

The comprises Japan, India, Australia and the . The White House announced on Wednesday that President Biden will be meeting Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the Quad Summit in Japan.

Though the date of the Quad Summit has not be announced, the Japanese media has reported that it could be held on May 24.

"This meeting is several weeks away, so a lot can certainly happen. And as you know, other members of Quad have also been vital partners and supporters of the Ukrainians' effort to fight the war, including Japan," Psaki told reporters.

"I mean, Japan just as an example has not only provided a range of assistance, but they've also agreed to divert some of the LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) resources to help Europe. So there's a number of steps they have also taken that will be a part of the discussion, she said.

"And certainly, the President will provide an update on what we're doing and where things stand at that point in time," Psaki said.

"We're just not quite there on previewing the agenda yet," she added.

In New Delhi, India on Thursday once again said its objective has been to stabilise its economic engagement with Russia and that an inter-ministerial group is looking at resolving issues relating to payment mechanisms with Moscow.

Replying to a question at a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said there is a possibility that the Western sanctions against Russia might impact India and the inter-ministerial group is looking into the issue.

"Our objective has been to see how (we) can stabilise the economic transactions or economic engagement that we are doing with Russia in the current context," he said.

Bagchi said an inter-ministerial group led by the Finance Ministry is looking at the payment mechanisms.

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forecast bigger problems as Covid-19 lockdowns snarl production and demand in China, the war in Ukraine dents sales and growth slows in services, which the iPhone maker sees as its engine for expansion.

Shares were slightly down in early Friday trade, hours after executives laid out their glum outlook on a conference call. The news outweighed record profit and sales for Apples fiscal second quarter, which ended in March.

Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri warned in an interview that the war in Ukraine, which led to stop sales in Russia, would cut sales more deeply in the fiscal third quarter. He told analysts on the call that supply-chain issues would hurt sales in the quarter by $4 billion to $8 billion, substantially larger than the hit in the second quarter.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said almost all of the Chinese factories doing final assembly of products had restarted after recent Covid shutdowns, but the company is not forecasting when the chips shortage, mostly affecting older products, would end.

Apples overall second-quarter revenue was $97.3 billion, up 8.6 per cent from last year and higher than analysts average estimate of $93.89 billion, according to Refinitiv data. Profit was $25 billion, or $1.52 per share and topped analysts forecast of $23.2 billion and $1.43.
AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine still has a role to play in the fight against the pandemic, even as sales slow and the company charges more in some places, CEO Pascal Soriot said on Friday, the latest drugmaker to warn about a global supply glut.

The comments come after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter profit and sales driven by the vaccine, its second bestseller last year raking in $3.9 billion. It also confirmed its forecast that 2022 sales of the shot would fall.

The vaccine, branded as Vaxzevria and Covishield, has struggled to compete with rivals made by Pfizer and Moderna using mRNA technology, and has hit setbacks with production, rare side-effects and relatively limited shelf life. Approval in the United States has been delayed.

Soriot said the shot, which was seen early in the pandemic as the inoculation of choice for low-income countries, should remain relevant because it's easy to administer and distribute.

Volume will ease, though, because people will probably only need one booster.

"We are no longer in a period of scarcity of vaccine supply - we have oversupply everywhere around the world. So what is out there needs to be used and then of course we'll be able to get a better sense for reordering," he said on a media call.

Rival Johnson & Johnson this month pulled its sales forecast for its COVID-19 vaccine, blaming oversupply on hesitancy in developing countries.

So far, 2.9 billion shots of the vaccine have been delivered globally.

In the first quarter, the company recorded $1.15 billion in sales for the product, the majority of which came from initial contracts, but that number eclipsed analysts' consensus forecast of $739 million, cited by Credit Suisse.

AstraZeneca's shares were down 0.6% in early afternoon trading, underperfoming London's blue-chip index.

The company has started earning a modest profit on the vaccine, which was initially sold at-cost, but it will continue selling in low-income countries on a non-profit basis.

Apart from the vaccine, also has a COVID-19 treatment, Evusheld, which has been authorised in many regions including the United States, United Kingdom and European Union for preventing infections in people whose immune system is too weak to respond to vaccines.

The drug generated $469 million in first-quarter revenue, below the consensus forecast of $480 million, cited by Credit Suisse.

Access to the drug in the United States has been limited by logistical bottlenecks that are being addressed, Soriot said, adding Britain was one of the few developed countries that has not ordered Evusheld.

"It's a sad situation, quite frankly, because people who are immunocompromised are really suffering from the COVID crisis."

CANCER

- which unveiled plans to open an R&D centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts designed to serve as the new headquarters for rare disease unit Alexion, which it bought last summer - relies on cancer drugs for about a third of its total product sales.

Even though COVID-19 levels are beginning to wane, access to cancer diagnoses and treatment has still not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Things should normalise over the next few months, Soriot predicted.

Meanwhile, the company pared back its expectations for China, which accounted for about 16% of total revenue last year.

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said it expected sales there to decline by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2022, largely due to the impact of a programme designed to bring down the prices of off-patent drugs in the country.

"The future for China, we believe is still very strong and we expect to return to growth in the next couple of years," Soriot said, cautioning that lockdowns in China this year could hurt the uptake of cancer and other drugs.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Natalie Grover in London

Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)

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Inc Chief Executive Officer sold $8.5 billion worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker, U.S. securities filings showed, in sales likely aimed at helping finance his planned purchase of Twitter Inc.

Musk said in a tweet on Thursday that there are "no further TSLA sales planned after today". He sold about 9.6 million shares this week, according to the filings on Thursday and Friday, equating to 5.6% of his stake in the company.

The sale came after Musk on Monday clinched a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion cash in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world's richest person. Musk's net worth is $268 billion, according to Forbes.

As part of the deal, Musk said he would provide a $21 billion equity commitment.

It is not clear how he will cover the remaining $17 billion of equity financing. Musk holds a 43.61% stake in unlisted rocket company SpaceX that is reportedly valued at $100 billion.

Musk has been looking for partners to reduce his equity contribution to the deal, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that it is far from certain such a partner will emerge.

This is his first stock sale since he offloaded $16.4 billion worth of shares in November and December after polling Twitter users about selling 10% of his stake in the electric car maker.

Musk said on Twitter that he would pay more than $11 billion in taxes in 2021 due to his exercise of stock options set to expire this year.

Some traders have fretted this week that Musk may not have enough money sitting around to fund his $21 billion cash contribution and could walk away from the deal, weighing on Twitter shares.

shares have fallen nearly 20% since Musk disclosed his over 9% stake in Twitter on April 4. Investors have expressed concern that Musk may have to sell Tesla shares to fund his equity contribution to the takeover offer.

As part of the Twitter deal, Musk also took out a $12.5 billion margin loan tied to his Tesla stock. He had already borrowed against around half of his Tesla shares.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco, Akriti Sharma and Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Jamie Freed and Anil D'Silva)

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Turkish President and Russian President discussed the swap of a Russian pilot and a former US marine in Turkey through a phone call, said the Turkish presidential office.

According to the office's statement on Thursday, the exchange of Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko and American citizen and former marine Trevor Reed took place on Wednesday under the coordination and supervision of the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation.

Erdogan said in the statement that coordination and close dialogue between intelligence units should be continued to prevent humanitarian tragedies and ensure the establishment of an environment of stability, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to a brief statement issued by the Kremlin, Putin in the phone call thanked the Turkish President for swap at the Ankara airport.

According to previous reports, Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in 2010 on drug smuggling charges and extradited to the United States to serve a 20-year prison term.

Turkey's English newspaper Daily Sabah said Reed was detained in Russia in 2019 on charges of attacking police officers in Moscow and convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison.

The leaders also discussed the humanitarian issue in Ukraine, particularly taking into account the results of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' recent visit to Moscow, the Kremlin said.

A round of face-to-face talks between Russia and Ukraine was held in Istanbul in March. Erdogan has repeatedly said Turkey is ready to take the necessary initiative to end the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.

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A former general in the Afghan army says he and many other soldiers and politicians from the previous administration are preparing to launch a new war against the incumbent regime in the country.

Speaking for the first time about the plans, Lt Gen Sami Sadat told the BBC that eight months of rule has convinced many Afghans that military action is the only way forward.

He said operations could begin next month after Eid, when he plans to return to .

The took control of the country in a rapid offensive last August.

The hard-line Islamists swept across the country in just 10 days, as the last US-led NATO forces left following a 20-year military campaign.

Lt Gen Sadat said that he and the would "do anything and everything in our powers to make sure is freed from the Taliban and a democratic system is re-established".

"Until we get our freedom, until we get our free will, we will continue to fight," he told the BBC, while refusing to declare a specific timeline.

The general underscored how the Taliban had been reintroducing increasingly harsh rule, including severe restrictions on the rights of women and girls, adding it was time to stop their authoritarian order and start a new chapter.

"What we see in in eight months of Taliban rule has been nothing but more religious restrictions, misquotation, misinterpretation and misuse of the scripts from the Holy Quran for political purposes," he told the BBC.

He initially planned to give the Taliban 12 months to see if they would change, he said.

"Unfortunately, every day you wake up the Taliban have had something new to do -- torturing people, killing, disappearances, food shortages, child malnutrition."

Lt Gen Sadat said he received hundreds of messages daily from Afghans asking him what he was going to do about it.

--IANS

san/ksk/

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Richard Olson, a former US Ambassador to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, has pleaded guilty to undisclosed lobbying for Qatar while still in service and soon after his retirement, a media report said citing court records.

He is also accused of accepting a lavish trip to Qatar while still serving as the US envoy to Pakistan, said the Dawn news report.

"I wish to plead guilty to the offences charged, to waive trial in the Central District of California, and to dispose of the case in the District of Columbia in which I am present," he wrote in a consent letter submitted by his lawyer.

Olson, who has also served as US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was charged in the federal court over violation of a restriction on lobbying for a foreign country while in service and within a year after retirement, Dawn reported.

Olson has been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award and the Secretary of Defence Exceptional Civilian Service Award, and is a three times recipient of the State Department's Superior Honor Award.

He lived in Virginia after his retirement and was a regular on South Asian affairs at Washington's think tanks where he often appreciated Pakistan's efforts to contain terrorism.

Former US President Barack Obama sent Olson to Pakistan in 2012 when the then Ambassador, Cameron Munter, resigned after the 2011 raid in Abbottabad that led to the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden.

Munter was apparently not consulted before the raid but strained relations with Pakistan as Islamabad was informed about it later.

Olson presented his credentials to the President Asif Ali Zardari on October 31, 2012, and served in Pakistan till October 27, 2015.

The charges against Olson include courting foreign work while in office and using his political influence to advance Qatari interests in Washington after his retirement, Dawn reported.

The US Justice Department has also charged him with making false statements in ethics paperwork and violating laws restricting foreign lobbying by former federal officials, both misdemeanors.

--IANS

san/ksk/

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PRI GEN INT .KYIV FGN77 UKRAINE-LD EXPLOSIONS Explosions rock Kyiv again as Russians rain fire on Ukraine Kyiv, Apr 28 (AP) (AP) Russia pounded a wide area of Ukraine on Thursday, including Kyiv, bombarding the city during a visit by the head of the in the boldest attack on the capital since Moscow's forces retreated weeks ago. At least one person was killed and several were injured in the attack on Kyiv, including some who were trapped in the rubble after two buildings were hit, rescue officials said. The attack happened barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres, who said Ukraine has become an epicenter of unbearable heartache and pain. A spokesperson said Guterres and his team were safe. Meanwhile, explosions were reported across the country, in Polinne in the west of the country, Chernihiv near the border with Belarus, and in Fastiv, a large railway hub southwest of the capital. The mayor of Odesa in southern Ukraine said rockets were intercepted by air defenses. Ukrainian authorities also reported intense Russian fire in the Donbas the eastern industrial heartland that the Kremlin is bent on capturing and near Kharkiv, a northeastern city outside the Donbas that is seen as key to the offensive. In the ruined southern port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian fighters holed up in the steel plant that represents the last pocket of resistance said concentrated bombing overnight killed and wounded more people. And authorities warned that a lack of safe drinking water inside the city could lead to outbreaks of deadly diseases. The fresh attacks came as Guterres surveyed the destruction in small towns outside the capital that saw some of the worst horrors of the first onslaught of the war. Guterres condemned the atrocities committed in towns like Bucha, where evidence of mass killings of civilians was found after Russia retreated in the face of unexpectedly stiff resistance. Wherever there is a war, the highest price is paid by civilians, Guterres lamented, reiterating the importance of investigating alleged war crimes. Separately, Ukraine's prosecutor accused 10 Russian soldiers, including a general, of being involved in the torture of peaceful people in Bucha. Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova did not say her office had filed criminal charges, and she appealed to the public to help assemble evidence. Russia denies it targets civilians. Shortly after Zelenskyy and Guterres held a news conference, explosions shook Kyiv, and flames poured out of windows in at least two buildings including one residential building in the capital, which has been relatively unscathed in recent weeks. Plumes of smoke could be seen over the city. The explosions came as Kyiv residents have been increasingly returning to the city. Cafes and other businesses have reopened, and a growing numbers of people have been out and about, enjoying the spring weather. The attack happened in the Shevchenkivsky district, in northwest Kyiv, according to the mayor. I was shocked to be informed that two rockets have exploded in the city where I am, Guterres was quoted as telling the BBC. "So this is a dramatic war and we absolutely need to end this war and we absolutely need to have a solution for this war. Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Several journalists have been killed in the war, now in its third month. Also, both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone. Western officials say the Kremlin's apparent goal is to take the Donbas by encircling and crushing Ukrainian forces from the north, south and east. But so far, Russia's troops and their allied separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains, taking several small towns as they try to advance in relatively small groups against staunch Ukrainian resistance. Russian military units were mauled in the abortive bid to storm Kyiv and had to regroup and refit. Some analysts say the delay in launching a full-fledged offensive may reflect Putin's decision to wait until his forces are ready for a decisive battle rather than rushing in and risking another failure that could shake his rule amid worsening economic conditions at home because of Western sanctions. Many observers expect Putin will try to claim a big victory in the east by Victory Day, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II. Putin, like many of his predecessors, often uses patriotic Russian holidays and anniversaries to make announcements, appeal for solidarity or show off his nation's strength. In March, he appeared at a Moscow stadium at a rally marking the eighth anniversary of Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, and used the event to build support for the war. As Russia presses its offensive, civilians again bear the brunt. It's not just scary. It's when your stomach contracts from pain, said Kharkiv resident Tatiana Pirogova. When they shoot during the day, it's still OK, but when the evening comes, I can't describe how scary it is. Ukraine's military said that Russian troops were subjecting several places in the Donbas to intense fire and that over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces had repelled six attacks in the region. Four civilians were killed in heavy shelling of residential areas in the Luhansk region of the Donbas, according to the regional governor. Columns of smoke could be seen rising at different points across the Donetsk region of the Donbas, and artillery and sirens were heard on and off. In Zaporizhzhia, a crucial waypoint for tens of thousands of people fleeing Mariupol, an 11-year-old boy was among at least three people wounded in a rocket attack that authorities said was the first to hit a residential area in this southern city since the war began. Shards of glass cut the boy's leg down to the bone. Vadym Vodostoyev, the boy's father, said: It just takes one second and you're left with nothing." Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press also showed evidence of intense Russian fire on Mariupol in recent days. A video posted online by Ukraine's Azov Regiment inside the steel plant showed people combing through the rubble to remove the dead and help the wounded. The regiment said the Russians hit an improvised underground hospital and its surgery room, killing an unspecified number of people. The video couldn't be independently verified. Hundreds of thousands of Mariupol's residents have fled. Authorities said the estimated 100,000 who remain run the risk of diseases like cholera and dysentery. Deadly epidemics may break out in the city due to the lack of centralized water supply and sewers, the council said on the messaging app Telegram. It reported bodies decomposing under the rubble and a catastrophic shortage of drinking water and food. Russia, meanwhile, said a city under its control in the south came under fire. In what may have been a Ukrainian counterattack, a series of explosions boomed near the television tower late Wednesday in Kherson, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early in the war. The blasts at least temporarily knocked Russian channels off the air. Loud bangs were reported in Russia's Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, but there was no immediate explanation. In recent days, fuel and ammunition sites on Russian soil have been hit with explosions and fires, and suspicion has fallen on Ukraine. Ukraine has urged its allies to send even more military equipment to fend off the Russians. U.S. President Joe Biden plans to ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to help Ukraine. (AP) AMS AMS 04290042 NNNN

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The German Bundestag, or lower house of Parliament, has voted to provide "comprehensive support for Ukraine", allowing the delivery of heavy weapons to the war-torn nation.

A corresponding proposal, which was passed on Thursday by a vote of 586 to 100, allows the "supply of effective, including heavy, weapons and complex systems" to Ukraine, reports Xinhua news agency.

Deliveries were also to be accelerated.

However, was also urged to "support all efforts by the Ukrainian government to reach a cease-fire in direct negotiations with the Russian leadership", according to a Bundestag statement.

Parliamentary groups of the governing parties Social Democratic Party, the Green Party, and Free Democratic Party as well as the opposition CDU/CSU union submitted the proposal after resolving initial disagreements.

Ahead of the vote, the right-wing Alternative for and the Left Party declared to vote against the proposal due to concerns about a possible escalation of the Russia- conflict.

On Tuesday, Minister of Defence Christine Lambrecht confirmed that would supply Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to and provide training for the country's soldiers.

--IANS

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Mexico's government on Thursday proposed a dramatic overhaul of the nation's electoral system and the agency that oversees it one of the country's most trusted institutions. It would reduce the size of Congress and state legislatures while having the federal elections board chosen by voters, potentially adding a higher degree of to what has been an independent body.

The proposal also would reduce federal funding of political parties and spending on elections in general a repeated target of President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, who has often feuded with the National Electoral Institute.

The proposals presented by Lpez Obrador and several members of his Cabinet would create a new federal elections authority to replace the institute, as well as eliminating similar state-level bodies.

There is no intention of imposing a single party, Lpez Obrador said. What we want is that there is a true democracy in the country and that electoral frauds end ... to leave a true democratic state established.

But the path for what will surely be a controversial reform package would be difficult. Lpez Obrador's party and its allies do not have the two-thirds majority in Congress required to make constitutional changes. The main opposition parties have already said they oppose such changes.

Another major constitutional reform proposed by the president, to shake up the energy sector, fell well short of the votes needed last week.

Lpez Obrador appeared to acknowledge that the proposed reforms are unlikely to pass. He called on the Congress to study each element of the proposal, make the public aware and then decide. He said it was his responsibility to present it even if it's not approved.

Even if Lpez Obrador is unable to pass his constitutional reform, he could again cut funding to the electoral institute in his next budget, which could put the 2024 presidential elections at risk.

Lpez Obrador has spent decades battling electoral authorities. He considers himself a victim of electoral fraud on multiple occasions, though it was the National Electoral Institute that confirmed his landslide presidential victory in 2018.

The proposals would reduce the number of legislators in the lower chamber of Congress from 500 to 300 and senators from 128 to 96 by eliminating at-large lawmakers. Those are not directly elected by voters, but appear on party lists and get seats based on their party's proportion of the vote.

Political parties would only receive public funding during campaigns rather than yearly, as they do now. Rules against officials and agencies promoting their programs during campaign seasons would be eased. Currently, even many government websites are inactivated during campaigns.

Lpez Obrador's administration argues that the changes would save $1.2 billion and allow citizens to select honest people to run elections.

Georgina de la Fuente, a member of the Latin American Political Reform Observatory, termed the proposals very unfortunate and said they represented important setbacks in some areas. There are things that could be perfected, she said, but there are a lot of good practices that work and work well.

Lorenzo Crdova, the president of the National Electoral Institute, said as much in an interview with Nexos magazine that he shared Thursday via Twitter. He said there are things that can be improved like reducing the money given to political parties and implementing electronic voting, but stressed there must be consensus among the parties or there will be mistrust.

De la Fuente said moving toward a centralized election system not only goes against trends, but contradicts the executive's objective to make elections cheaper, because eliminating state level electoral bodies will only transfer the costs, not eliminate them.

The idea of a popular vote for election officials has been panned before by academics. They contend the people in those positions must be experts and having them voted in could lead to political bias in the way elections are run.

To think that an electorate so varied and so uninformed would have the ability to select electoral council members and magistrates is pure demagogy and pretense, said Clara Jusidman, founder of the nongovernmental organization Citizen Initiative and Social Development. She said those in power would steer their supporters to vote for who they wanted.

Several of the proposals would undo or loosen reforms that helped break free of the single-party domination that lasted from 1929 to 2000.

The at-large legislators were created to give smaller parties representation in Congress initially largely symbolic -- at a time when the Institutional Revolutionary Party had an iron grip on elections and rarely recognized any opposition victories.

The independent electoral agency was created by a series of reforms in the 1990s following public outcry over alleged fraud in the 1988 presidential election, which like earlier votes had been run by the federal Interior Department. That helped lead to an opposition party victory in the 2000 presidential election.

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The British Defence Ministry says Russia's focus in its war on Ukraine remains the Donbas region.

In an update Friday, the British military said heavy fighting had been seen around Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. The British said they believe Russia is trying to attempt an advance south from Izium toward Slovyansk.

The British military said in a tweet: Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces.

The British military has been offering daily public reports on the fighting since the start of the war in February.

___



Kyiv: Russia pounded targets from practically one end of Ukraine to the other Thursday, including Kyiv, bombarding the city while the head of the United Nations was visiting in the boldest attack on the capital since Moscow's forces retreated weeks ago.

Ukrainian emergency services said 10 people were wounded when a Russian missile hit a 25-story apartment building in Kyiv on Thursday evening and set off a fire, which partially destroyed the first and second floors.

The bombardment came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said Ukraine has become an epicentre of unbearable heartache and pain.

A spokesperson said Guterres and his team were safe.

Meanwhile, explosions were reported across the country - in Polonne in the west, Chernihiv near the border with Belarus, and Fastiv, a large railway hub southwest of the capital.

The mayor of Odesa, in southern Ukraine, said rockets were intercepted by air defences.

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Indonesia's President Joko Widodo says that both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President have agreed to attend the G20 summit to be held in Bali in November.

Widodo, the current chair of the G20 group, made the remarks in a televised statement on Friday in which he said that he had telephone conversations this week with Zelenskyy and Putin.

He said he urged both leaders of Ukraine and Russia to end the war through negotiations.

I reiterated the importance of ending the war immediately, he said.

I also emphasised that peaceful efforts should continue and Indonesia is ready to contribute to these peaceful efforts.

He said that he invited Putin and Zelenskyy to the G20 summit as the war in Ukraine has a major impact on the global economy.

We understand that the G20 plays the catalyst role in the recovery of the global economy, Widodo said.

Widodo said that he has rejected the Ukrainian leader's request for arms but instead will send humanitarian aid.

The mandate of Indonesia's constitution and the principles of our foreign policy prohibit us from providing arms assistance to other countries, Widodo said.

However, we are ready to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

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says it destroyed production buildings at a defence factory in Kyiv.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Friday that used high-precision, long-range weaponry to hit the Artem factory in the Ukrainian capital.

Konashenkov appeared to be referring to strikes on Kyiv that took place on Thursday evening, shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said cruise missiles were used in the attack and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and four hospitalised when a residential building was hit.

Konashenkov also said had destroyed a missile launch site that Ukraine had used to strike the Russia-held Ukrainian city of Kherson.

___



Stockholm: The Swedish capital will rename part of a park near the Russian Embassy to Fria Ukrainas plats (Swedish for Free Ukraine Square) to show Stockholm's solidarity with the Ukrainian people, the mayor said Friday.

Stockholm's planning department has decided to rename part of Mariebergspark, with the Stockholm mayor Anna Konig Jerlmyr calling it on Facebook an important mark l against the actions of the Russian regime.

Several European cities have renamed streets. One of the first was Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where a quiet alley where the Russian Embassy in the Lithuanian capital is located, changed its name to Heroes of Ukraine street in March.

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Copenhagen: A 25-year-old Dane was allegedly killed in Mykolajiv on April 26 while fighting with the Legion Ukraine, a unit for foreigners who want to join the fight against Russia, according to Danish broadcaster TV2. The man's name was not given.

In a statement to Danish media, the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen said it could not confirm the report and was in contact with Ukrainian authorities.

It may therefore take time before the details are clarified because the war creates extremely difficult conditions, the statement read.

The Jyllands-Posten daily, one of Denmark's largest newspapers, said up to 100 Danes have travelled to Ukraine to fight Russia, citing Ukraine's Embassy in Denmark.

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Hundreds of trade unions in have been staging a nationwide protest over the mishandling of the ongoing economic crisis in the country and have called for the immediate resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The work at many state and private institutions was disrupted on Thursday due to the strikes launched by nearly a thousand trade unions demanding the resignation of the President and the government, Colombo Page reported.

A protest march that started from the Fort Railway Station with the participation of several trade unions proceeded to the Galle Face People's Struggle Grounds with protesters chanting slogans against the government.

According to reports, more than a thousand protests were held in several major cities around the country. Protests were reported from several towns and cities, including, Matara, Kurunegala, Kandy, Anuradhapura, Chilaw, Kegalle and Gampaha, as well as Katunayake and Koggala.

Large crowds were seen protesting particularly in Matara, Kurunegala, Kandy and Anuradhapura, which have been the centres of protests.

Ravi Kumudesh, the co-convener of the trade unions and mass organizations who joined the protest, said that if the government does not listen to the voice of the people, "a continuous trade union action will be taken in another seven days."

Many schools in the island were closed as teachers and principals too joined the mass strike. Even the officers of the Administrative Services (SLAS) joined the strike, the report said.

Businesses in Pettah and other parts of the island remained closed. Private bus and train services were also significantly reduced due to bus and train workers supporting the strike.

is facing one of its worst economic crises resulting in widespread protests against the Rajapaksa family leaders, including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and PM Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The recession is attributed to foreign exchange shortages caused by a fall in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as reckless economic policies, which have resulted in people facing an acute scarcity of food and basic necessities, heating fuel, and gas.

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Many people believe that India's first PM made a blunder when he recognised China's sovereignty over but he did what he thought was best for his country, said the president of the Tibetan government in exile.

However, Central Tibetan Administration president Penpa Tsering told reporters here that he thinks India has changed its stance over the issue after 2014.

Tsering is here to meet top officials of the Biden Administration and members of the US Congress.

Responding to a question, he said Nehru's decisions over were due to his own world vision and he had "too much faith and confidence in China".

"I don't blame only Pandit Nehru for doing that. We understand that the national interest comes first for every nation and he did what he thought was best for India at that time," Tsering said, adding that not only India, several other counties too conceded China's sovereignty over .

"With the benefit of hindsight, now many think that Pandit Nehru made a blunder. In fact, he trusted so much that when invaded India in 1962, some believe that he was so hurt that it's one of the reasons for his death," he said.

However, Penpa Tsering told reporters that things changed in India since 2014.

"I think India has changed his policy by not repeating that Tibet is part of PRC (People's Republic of China) because India's position is that India has to abide by the one policy, then China also has to abide by one India policy regarding Kashmir," said Tsering.

Alluding to the Chinese aggression in Doklam and Galwan, he claimed, "When the Chinese foreign minister came (to India) a few months ago, it was more like a transit visit."



"Nothing came out of that visit. That itself shows India's policy towards Tibet and China," he added.

In Washington DC, Tsering has so far met House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Uzra Zeya, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights; and Kurt Campbell, top Biden Adviser on Indo-Pacific.

Even though Ukraine is the global hot spot now due to the Russian invasion, the Biden Administration has not forgotten Tibet, he said urging the White House and the Congress to help create a global coalition against China and challenge its narrative over Tibet.

"Tibet has never been part of China," he said, adding that he sees a fresh impetus from the Biden Administration on Tibet.

"There is likely to be more engagement on the issue of Tibet and several bills are in the pipeline in the Congress on the Tibetan issue. The Tibet policy of the Biden Administration is more pronounced," he noted.

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The Opposition parties in the have questioned in Parliament Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to visit a British-owned bulldozer factory in Gujarat during his visit to India last week.

A number of Labour Party MPs, including Indian-origin Nadia Whittome, questioned Johnson's visit to the JCB factory in Halol despite the use of some of the company's equipment in the controversial demolition of properties in north-west Delhi in the wake of recent communal clashes in Jahangirpuri.

The factory visit had created a stir across social media, pointing to the use of JCB equipment in the Municipal Coropration of Delhi's anti-encroachment drive in Delhi, an issue referred to the courts.

During an Urgent Question tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday by the Scottish National Party (SNP) member of Parliament, Ian Blackford, the Opposition raised cries of where is he? after a junior minister was left to answer questions on the topic of Prime Minister's Visit to India.

Vicky Ford, the Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), was deputed on behalf of the government and said the visit would supercharge the India-India trading relationship and that the issue of human rights is regarded as equally important.

We do not pursue trade at the exclusion of human rights, said Ford.

We regard both as an important part of a deep, mature and wide-ranging relationship with our partners. The partnership with India is very important for both our countries, she said.

"If we have concerns, we raise them directly with the Government of India. Our network of deputy high commissions will continue to follow the reports closely, while also recognising that it is a matter for India, Ford said.

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The UK will deploy a team of war crimes experts to support with investigations into Russian actions in the ongoing conflict, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced on Friday.

The specialist team will assist the Ukrainian government as they gather evidence and prosecute war crimes and will include experts in conflict-related sexual violence. They will arrive in Poland in early May and meet partners, NGOs, refugees and the Ukrainian government to scope out the assistance they can provide.

has brought barbarity to and committed vile atrocities, including against women. British expertise will help uncover the truth and hold Putin's regime to account for its actions. Justice will be done, Truss said.

The move comes as the Cabinet minister travels to The Hague on Friday for talks with Criminal Court (ICC) President Judge Piotr Hofmanski at the court, where she will reaffirm the UK's full support for the investigation and prosecution of war crimes and the use of sexual violence not just in the conflict in but around the world.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) visit follows Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab's visit to The Hague last month to offer practical support to the court for investigating and prosecuting and the report produced under the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Moscow Mechanism, which found credible evidence of torture, rape, the killing of civilians and the forced deportation of more than half a million people in Ukraine.

While in The Hague, Truss will meet her Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra for talks on working together with the Netherlands on holding to account, including their work through the Joint Expeditionary Force and NATO.

The FCDO said the UK supports the work of the ICC and is providing GBP 1 million of additional funding to help the ICC to have an improved system to store evidence submitted in relation to the Office of the Prosecutor's (OTP) investigations.

The UK sees itself as a "leading country donor" to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, committing nearly GBP 400 million of aid for urgent economic and humanitarian support to Ukraine since the conflict began in February.

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acknowledged on Friday it was taking heavy losses in Russia's assault in the east, but said Russia's losses were even worse, as U.S. President Joe Biden called on Congress to send as much as $33 billion to help Kyiv withstand the attack.

The body of a journalist from U.S.-backed broadcaster Radio Liberty was found in rubble in the Ukrainian capital, killed in a Russian missile attack during a visit by the U.N. secretary-general.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised Biden's offer of help, which amounts to nearly 10 times the aid Washington has sent so far since the war began on Feb. 24.

Having failed in an assault on Kyiv in the north of last month, Russia is now trying to fully capture two eastern provinces known as Donbas.

has acknowledged losing control of some towns and villages there since the assault began last week, but says Moscow's gains have come at a massive cost to a Russian force already worn down from its earlier defeat near the capital.

"We have serious losses but the Russians' losses are much much bigger...They have colossal losses," presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said, without elaborating. Western officials said Russia had been suffering fewer casualties after narrowing the scale of its invasion but numbers were still "quite high".

Zelenskiy's office said Russia was pounding the entire front line in the eastern Donetsk region with rockets, artillery, mortar bombs and aircraft. The Ukrainian general staff said Russia was shelling positions along the line of contact to prevent the Ukrainians from regrouping.

A U.S. official said the Russian offensive in Donbas appeared to be beind schedule.

By pledging tens of billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine, Biden has dramatically increased U.S. involvement in the conflict. The United States and its allies are now sending heavy weapons including artillery, with what Washington says is an aim not just to repel Russia's attack but to weaken its armed forces so it cannot menace its neighbours again.

"We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom," Biden said. "The cost of this fight - it's not cheap - but caving to aggression is going to be more costly." Zelenskiy tweeted: "Thank you @POTUS and the American people for their leadership in supporting Ukraine in our fight against Russian aggression. We defend common values - democracy and freedom. We appreciate the help. Today it is needed more than ever!"

While the proposed U.S. aid amounts to more than 20 percent of Ukraine's 2020 GDP, the World Bank estimates the war will cut more than 45 percent off Ukrainian GDP this year and hit growth elsewhere around the world. Some of Russia's neighbours say they fear Moscow could target them next.

Russia has said the arrival of Western arms into Ukraine means it is now fighting a "proxy war" against NATO. President threatened unspecified retaliation this week, while his foreign minister warned of a threat of nuclear war.

JOURNALIST FOUND IN RUBBLE

Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) said the body of producer Vira Hyrych had been found on Friday morning after Thursday's missile attack destroyed the bottom two floors of a residential building. It said Hyrych had worked for Radio Liberty since 2018.

"She was going to bed when a Russian ballistic missile hit her apartment in central Kyiv. Russia's barbarism is incomprehensible," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said. "We call on media organizations to condemn the murder of Vira and all other innocent Ukrainians."

Russia's defence ministry said its forces had destroyed the production facilities of a rocket plant in Kyiv with high precision long-range missiles.

U.S.-funded RFE/RL, which has covered the former Soviet Union since the Cold War, is one of the main remaining Russian-language sources for news outside Kremlin control, since Moscow effectively shut all independent media following its invasion.

"Kyiv is still a dangerous place and Kyiv is still the target of Russians, of course. The capital of Ukraine is the goal and they want to occupy it," Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, supervising the cleanup in the rubble-strewn street before the body was found.

The missiles hit the capital during a visit on Thursday by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov called it "an attack on the security of the Secretary-General and on world security".

In Donbas, Britain said fighting had been particularly heavy around the cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk, the main part of the region that Russia is still trying to capture, with an attempted advance south from Russian-held Izium towards Sloviansk.

"Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces," the British defence ministry said in an update.

The bloodiest fighting and worst humanitarian catastrophe of the war have been in Mariupol, an eastern port reduced to a wasteland by two months of Russian bombardment and siege.

Ukraine says 100,000 civilians remain in the city, which is mostly occupied by Russia. Hundreds of civilians are holed up with last remaining defenders in bunkers beneath a huge steel works.

Zelenskiy's office said an operation was planned on Friday to get civilians out of the plant, giving no details.

In parts of Mariupol now held by Russian troops, emergency workers were gathering up bodies from the streets. Residents among the blasted ruins recounted the horror they had survived.

"We were hungry, the child was crying when the Grad (multiple rocket launcher) shells were striking near the house.

We were thinking, this is it, the end. It can't be described," Viktoria Nikolayeva, 54, who survived the battle with her family in a basement, told Reuters, weeping.

"It was a massacre," said Vitaliy Kudasov, 71. "It was the scariest thing when the shells were flying overhead. Shells, rounds and all such, you couldn't survive it. And yet we did."

(Additional reporting from Russian-held Mariupol, Writing by Peter Graff, Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Ukraine's leader accused Russia of trying to humiliate the United Nations by raining missiles on Kyiv during a visit by Secretary-General Antnio Guterres, an attack that shattered the capital's tentative return to normality as the focus of the war moved east.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine's forces were holding off Russia's attempted advance in the south and east, as efforts continued to secure safe passage for residents trapped in Mariupol, which has been largely reduced to rubble in a 2-month-long siege.

Russia pounded targets all over Ukraine on Thursday, including the attack on Kyiv that struck a residential high-rise and another building. U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said its journalist Vira Hyrych, who lives in one of the buildings hit, died. Her body was found in the rubble on Friday.

Ten people were wounded in the attack, including at least one who lost a leg, according to Ukraine's emergency services.

In an apparent reference to the same strike, Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday that it had destroyed production buildings at the Artem defense factory in Kyiv.

The attack on Kyiv came barely an hour after Zelenskyy held a news conference with Guterres, who toured some of the destruction in and around Kyiv and condemned attacks on civilians during his visit.

This says a lot about Russia's true attitude towards global institutions, about attempts of Russian authorities to humiliate the U.N. and everything that the organization represents, Zelenskyy said in an overnight video address to the nation. "Therefore, it requires corresponding powerful reaction.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko derided the attack as equivalent to Russian President showing Guterres his middle finger.

The strikes were the boldest Russian bombardment of the capital since Moscow's forces retreated weeks ago following their failure to take the city in what they hoped would be a lightning offensive. Instead, stiff Ukrainian resistance, bolstered by Western arms, stalled Putin's advance and forced his troops to pull back to regroup.

Some have now started to push into the country's eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas, which now says is its focus. Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east also have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.

But so far, Russia's troops and the separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains, and Britain's Defense Ministry said Friday that those have been achieved at significant cost to Russia's forces.

One aim of Guterres' visit was to secure the evacuation of people from the ruined southern port city of Mariupol, including a shattered steelworks where Ukrainian defenders are holed up and hundreds of civilians are also sheltering, Previous evacuation attempts have collapsed.

I cannot confirm the exact details of the operation to make sure it is done with safety for our people and for civilians stranded in Mariupol said Saviano Abreu, a spokesperson for the U.N.'s humanitarian office.

An official in Zelenskyy's office said negotiations were underway with U.N. mediation, and did not rule out an evacuation of the plant happening Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Mariupol has seen some of the most dramatic suffering of the war. Under siege since the early days of the invasion, many of its residents became trapped with scarce access to food, water, medicine or electricity.

An estimated 100,000 people are believed to still be in the city, and the city council warned Thursday that a lack of safe drinking water or a working sewer system could lead to outbreaks of deadly diseases such as cholera and dysentery. It added that bodies lay decaying under the rubble.

Russian forces largely control the city, but some 2,000 Ukrainian fighters are holed up at the steel plant, the last known pocket of resistance. About 1,000 civilians are with them, and the fighters said recent concentrated bombings killed and wounded people.

Video posted online by Ukraine's Azov Regiment inside the steel plant showed people combing through the rubble to remove the dead and help the wounded. The regiment said the Russians hit an improvised underground hospital and its operating room, killing an unspecified number of people. The video couldn't be independently verified.

Russia's invasion of its neighbor on Feb. 24 upended the post-Cold War security order. Putin, long irked by NATO's expansion to eastern Europe, says the operation seeks the demilitarization of Ukraine, aims to protect people in the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas and ensure Russia's own security. One of Moscow's demands has been that Ukraine drop its bid to join the western NATO alliance.

Ukraine and the West say it was an unprovoked and illegal invasion launched to topple the government in Kyiv.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote Friday on Twitter that a security vacuum had led to the war.

We have then been knocking on NATO's door, but it never opened, he wrote. The world owes Ukraine security, and we ask states to decide which security guarantees they are ready to provide.

A day after Russia pounded a wide area of Ukraine, the governor of Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko, said two towns there were hit by Russian Grad rockets on Friday. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage. Separately, the governor of Russia's Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said that a border post came under mortar fire from Ukraine and that Russian border forces returned fire. He said there were no casualties on the Russian side.

Thursday's explosions in northwestern Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district shook the city and flames poured out the windows of the residential high-rise and another building. The capital had been relatively unscathed in recent weeks, and cafes and other businesses have started to reopen, while a growing numbers of people have been out and about, enjoying the spring weather.

The terrible human cost of the war, which has driven more than 11 million Ukrainians from their homes, continues to climb.

In Lyman, a town in Donetsk where Russian forces are reportedly trying to advance as part of their Donbas push, shells rained on Tatiana Maksagory's home this week, devastating her family.

Maksagory's 14-year-old grandson, Igor, was declared dead after emergency services drove him to the hospital. Her daughter was in serious condition and her son-in-law was also killed.

Grandma, will I live? she said Igor asked her when they were in the basement waiting for help. I said that he would live. But look what happened, I betrayed 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.)
The U.N. General Assembly will vote on May 11 on a country to replace Russia on the world organization's leading human rights body following its suspension over allegations of horrific rights violations by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

Assembly spokeswoman Paulina Kubiak said Thursday that the Czech Republic was the only candidate for the seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council. Seats on the Geneva-based council are divided among regional groups and a replacement for Russia has to come from an East European country.

After the General Assembly suspended Russia, its deputy ambassador Gennady Kuzmin told U.N. members that Russia withdrew from the Human Rights Council before the vote. Council spokesman Rolando Gomez said that by withdrawing, Russia avoided being deprived of observer status at the rights body.

Since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Russia has lost its spot on multiple U.N. bodies, including the executive boards of UN Women and the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, the Committee on Non-governmental Organisations and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Russia was also suspended this week from the World Tourism Organisation.

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US President has requested that Congress appropriate $33 billion to help Ukraine defend itself from the ongoing military operation by Russia.

Delivering remarks from the White House, Biden on Thursday elaborated on how the newly proposed supplemental funding will be used. Of the $33-billion sum, according to a fact sheet by the White House, $20.4 billion will be military and security assistance to Kiev, $8.5 billion will be spent in economic assistance for the Ukrainian government and people, and $3 billion will be allocated for additional humanitarian assistance and food security funding, and targeted funding to address economic disruptions caused by the war.

"It's critical this funding gets approved and approved as quickly as possible," the President said.

Biden also proposed legislation to hold Russian oligarchs accountable for their alleged role in supporting the military operation. One of the aims of the proposed legislation is to improve the United States' ability to use forfeited oligarch funds to remediate harms caused to Ukraine by Russia's military operation, said a separate fact sheet by the White House detailing the proposal, Xinhua news agency reported.

In an effort to assuage speculations over the possible use of nuclear weapons as the hostility between Russia and Western powers shows no sign of abating, the President added "no one should be making idle comments about the use of nuclear weapons or the possibility of the need to use them."

He criticised Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for making "irresponsible" remarks earlier this week on the prospect of a nuclear conflict.

Lavrov told Russian media in an interview broadcast on Russian TV on Monday that preventing nuclear war is Moscow's "key position on which we base everything. The risks now are considerable."

He added: "I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it."

--IANs

int/khz/

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The United States does not believe that there is a threat of Russia using nuclear weapons despite a recent escalation in Moscow's rhetoric, a senior U.S. defense official said on Friday.

"We continue to monitor their nuclear capabilities every day the best we can and we do not assess that there is a threat of the use of nuclear weapons and no threat to NATO territory," the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday the West should not underestimate the elevated risks of nuclear conflict over .

Russia said earlier this month that it plans to deploy its newly tested Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, capable of mounting nuclear strikes against the United States, by autumn.

Western concern at the risk of nuclear war increased after President Vladimir Putin launched Russia's invasion of on Feb. 24 with a speech in which he pointedly referred to Moscow's nuclear forces and warned that any attempt to get in Russia's way "will lead you to such consequences that you have never encountered in your history."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this week he did not expect any further Russian military failures in to push Putin into using tactical nuclear weapons there, saying the Russian leader had room to manoeuvre and end the conflict.

Earlier this month CIA Director William Burns said the threat of Russia potentially using tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine could not be taken lightly, but that the CIA has not seen a lot of practical evidence reinforcing that concern.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble and forced over 5 million people to flee abroad. Moscow calls its action a "special operation" to demilitarise its neighbour.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart Editing by Frances Kerry)

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US President will raise the issue of a unified response against in the upcoming summit in Toyko next month and will provide an update on the steps Washington is taking to help Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict, the White House said on Thursday.

This comes as announced a summit of leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) nations in Tokyo on May 24.

Answering a question about whether Biden will raise the issue of a unified response to Russia, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, "We will convey the same sentiments in this meeting." "Now, this meeting is several weeks away, so a lot can certainly happen," said Psaki, adding that "certainly, the President will provide an update on what we're doing and where things stand at that point in time."

Biden will visit South Korea and on May 20-24 to boost cooperation between the US and the two nations, the White House announced on Wednesday.

In Tokyo, Biden will also meet with the leaders of the grouping of Australia, Japan, India, and the .

"We look forward to having further details to share about this trip soon," the White House said.

In September last year, Biden had hosted Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and then Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga at the White House for the first-ever in-person Leaders' Summit of the .

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The proposed maiden public offer by state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LICI) has received interests from more than 25 both foreign and domestic, an official said here on Friday.

The government plans to dilute 3.5 per cent of its stake in to raise Rs 21,000 crore from the market next month.

During the formation of in 1956, the government had infused Rs 5 crore as seed capital.

An official of one of the lead managers said 50 per cent of the offer is reserved for QIPs, including .

He said 35 per cent is being reserved for retail investors, 15 per cent for high networth individuals and ten per cent for policy holders.

The anchor book will be opened on May 2, he said.

Thirty per cent of the portion reserved for QIPs is reserved for anchor investors, he said.

Managing Director Siddhartha Mohanty told reporters here that even after the IPO, the government's sovereign cover will continue under Section 37 of the LIC Act.

He said the government shareholding in LIC will not fall below 51 per cent.

To a query, he said "the government did not go for additional issue of shares by LIC but instead opted for dilution as the corporation is cash rich with healthy solvency".

Mohanty said the Centre, in the last two years, had not taken dividend and ploughed back Rs 5,600 crore to the life insurer.

Post IPO, LIC will be run by a professional board with nine independent directors who have been already inducted.

Mohanty said the post of chairman will be in place till 2024, and then replaced by MD and CEO.

With the largest market leadership in the life insurance market in India, it has Rs 40 lakh crore as assets under management (AUM) and reserves of Rs 30 lakh crore.

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Shares of froze 20 per cent upper circuit at Rs 494.60 and hit 52-week high on the BSE. The spike comes after the company signed a Securities Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Compagnie Plastic Omnium SE of France for of 4-wheeler lighting business of the company in US and Europe.

The stock of auto components and equipments maker surpassed its previous high of Rs 458.30 that it had touched on January 14, 2022. Till 09:24 AM; a combined 570,000 equity shares changed hands with 1.32 million shares as pending buy orders on the NSE and BSE.

"The is a part of the companys strategy to align its resources with the high value and high growth primary in China, India, and the two-wheeler sector globally," said the company.

The Euro 600 million transaction will see Varroc divesting its lighting system operations in the USA, Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Turkey, and Morocco.

Varroc will also continue to operate its China JV and other international 2-wheeler businesses in countries like Italy and Vietnam and global electronic businesses in Poland and Romania. Meanwhile, the company is retaining its 4-wheeler lighting operations in Asia.

"The planned of Varrocs 4-wheeler lighting systems businesses in the US and Europe will ensure enhanced shareholders value, sustainable growth, and further development of its R&D facilities and engineering capabilities," the company added.

In a bid to transform itself into a high-tech company and focus on the existing growth of electronics, connectivity, electrical vehicles (EVs) product lines and the 2-wheeler segment globally, the company will divest its 4-wheeler lighting systems operations in the US and Europe.

"With the Indian automobile sector, including 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, and passenger car segment, poised to grow at 10-12 per cent CAGR over the next 4-5 years, and with emerging alternative technologies in EV mobility, Varroc will be investing in operations and R&D to enhance its shareholders value by creating a robust and financially strong operation, ensuring higher return on investments," the company said.
Ambuja Cement lost 0.56% to Rs 381.40 after the company reported 25.5% decline in standalone net profit to Rs 495 crore in Q1 CY2022 over Q1 CY2021.

Net sales rose by 7.7% to Rs 3,855 crore in Q1 CY2022 from Rs 3,579 crore in Q1 CY2021. The company's sales volumes grew by 4.2% YoY to 7.5 million tons and realizations improved by 4.1% YoY to Rs 5,149 per ton in Q1 CY2022.

Total expenses increased by 18.5% to Rs 3307.67 crore in Q1 CY2022 over Q1 CY2021. Freight cost per ton declined 5% year-on-year (YoY) supported by logistics efficiencies. Despite this gain, total operating cost per ton rose by 15%, due to increased fuel costs.

Profit before tax in Q1 CY2022 stood at Rs 654 crore, down by 26.2% from Rs 886 crore in Q1 CY2021.

EBITDA declined by 19.1% to Rs 790 crore in Q1 CY2022 from Rs 977 crore posted in Q1 CY2021. EBITDA margin was 20.5% in Q1 CY2022 as against 27.3% in Q1 CY2021.

The cement maker's consolidated net profit contracted by 30.4% to Rs 659 crore despite a 1.8% rise in net sales to Rs 7,754 in Q1 CY2022 over Q1 CY2021.

Neeraj Akhoury, CEO, Holcim India and MD & chief executive officer (CFO), Ambuja Cements said, "The India Strategy 2025 for both Ambuja and ACC is under execution. Under this plan we will realise industry leading position in cost excellence, asset optimization and sustainability.

Ambuja has recorded robust top line growth of 8%. Our market focused strategies are driving this performance.

The ongoing and new investments in the waste heat recovery systems approved by the board will support our efficiency initiatives and lead to the delivery of our sustainability goals."

The company's board has approved the appointment of Arun Kumar Anand as a non- executive non-independent director representing LIC on the board of Ambuja Cements w.e.f from 28 April 2022. Arun Kumar Anand is currently the executive director (investment operations) at LIC.

The board has also approved the appointment of Mario Gross as a non-executive non-independent director representing Holcim on the board of the company w.e.f 30 April 2022. Mario Gross is currently the chief procurement officer of the Holcim Group.

Ambuja Cements is one of the leading cement companies in India. It is part of the Holcim Group, a global leader in building materials and solutions and active in four business segments: cement, aggregates, ready-mix concrete and solutions & products.

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A bout of volatility was witnessed as key indices pared early gains in morning trade. The Nifty fell below the 17,300 mark. Pharma and realty shares rallied while media shares corrected for the second day. Positive global cues boosted sentiment.

At 10:26 IST, the barometer index, S&P BSE Sensex gained 181.47 points or 0.32% at 57,702.84. The Nifty 50 index rose 47.1 points or 0.27% at 17,292.65.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.38% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.14%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1,701 shares rose while 1362 shares fell. A total of 114 shares were unchanged.

Results Today:

Wipro (down 1.41%), Ultratech Cement (up 0.40%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.05%) and IndusInd Bank (up 0.86%) are three Nifty 50 companies that will announce their results today.

Tata Chemicals, SBI Cards and Payment Services, Shriram City Union Finance, Can Fin Homes, Gillette India, GNA Axles, L&T Finance Holdings, Solara Active Pharma Sciences, Sonata Software, Star Health and Allied Insurance Company, Supreme Industries, Tanla Platforms and Thyrocare Technologies are some of the other companies that will announce their results today.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index gained 0.57% to 13,556.25, rising for second trading session. The pharmaceutical index rallied 1.48% in two days.

Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries (up 2.26%), Dr Reddys Laboratories (up 1.67%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 1.22%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 1.09%) and Lupin (up 1.03%) were the top gainers. Among the other gainers were Zydus Lifesciences (up 1%), Pfizer (up 0.6%) and Alkem Laboratories (up 0.37%).

Biocon fell 0.45%.

The drug maker reported a 6% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 239 crore on a 31% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 2,409 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21. On the segmental front, revenue from Generics was Rs 717 crore (up 26% YoY), Biosimilars revenue was Rs 982 crore (up 48% YoY), Novel Biologics revenue was Rs 12 crore and revenue from Research services was Rs 758 crore (up 15% YoY). Gross R&D spend increased by 70% YoY to Rs 232 crore. EBITDA rose by 3% to Rs 659 crore in Q4 FY22 from Rs 641 crore in Q4 FY21. EBITDA margins were at 27% in Q4 FY22 as against 31% in Q4 FY21.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Varroc Engineering (VEL) hit an upper circuit limit of 20% at Rs 494.60 after the company said it will divest its 4-wheeler lighting system operations in the Americas and Europe to France's Compagnie Plastic Omnium SE for 600 million euros. The transaction will see VEL divesting its lighting System operations in the USA, Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Turkey, and Morocco. VEL aims to transform itself into a high-tech company and focus on the existing growth of electronics, connectivity, electrical vehicles (EVs) product lines and the 2-wheeler segment globally.

Jindal Poly Films (JPFL) advanced 3.23% to Rs 1155 after the company said that Jindal Polypack, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, entered into an agreement to acquire 100% shareholding of SMI Coated Products. SMI Coated Products is engaged in the manufacturing of pressure sensitive labels which are used in multiple industries such as lubricants, pharma, FMCG etc. The company had recorded a turnover of Rs 273 crore in FY2020-21. The acquisition would augment JPFL's existing growth plans resulting in forward integration by expanding into downstream product segment i.e. labels and related products.

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To retain its 4-wheeler lighting operations in Asia.

Varroc Engineering has signed a Securities Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Compagnie Plastic Omnium SE of France to divest its 4-wheeler lighting systems operations in the Americas and Europe. The divestment is part of VEL's (Varroc) strategy to align its resources with the high value and high growth primary markets in China, India, and the two-wheeler sector globally.

The Euro 600 million transaction will see Varroc divesting its lighting System operations in the USA, Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Turkey, and Morocco.

Varroc will also continue to operate its China JV and other international 2-wheeler businesses in countries like Italy and Vietnam and global electronics businesses in Poland and Romania. The company is retaining its 4-wheeler lighting operations in Asia.

The planned divestment of Varroc's 4-wheeler lighting systems businesses in the Americas and Europe will ensure enhanced shareholders' value, sustainable growth, and further development of its R&D facilities and engineering capabilities.

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In the last two weeks the DMK government of Tamil Nadu has started following the West Bengal government's example: it has begun to precipitate a very old issue, namely, the rights of the states vis-a-vis the Centre. First, it demanded rent for the use of the states' land for airports.

Then, it passed a law that takes away the power of the governor to appoint vice-chancellors in the state's universities. Independently, the Supreme Court has also admonished Tamil Nadu's governor  who, constitutionally, is an agent of the central government  to stop ...
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a party that moves in the right direction with the right ideology, taking the country forward, the party's national president JP Nadda said on Friday.

He further said that anyone who wants to compete with the will have to toil for 50 to 60 years.

While addressing a party program in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, Nadda said that BJP's ideology is gaining global recognition, adding that the is a party that moves in the right direction with the right ideology, taking the country forward.

"Anyone who wants to compete with our party will have to toil for 50-60 years. Our ideology is gaining global recognition... is a party that moves in the right direction with the right ideology, and a party that will take the country forward," he said.

Nadda recieved a warm welcome from party workers on his arrival in .

Responding to this BJP national president said, "This welcome is not for me, it is for the idealogy of the BJP. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP's ideology is not only getting recognition in India but also in the world."

After the program, Nadda along with state Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel visited Sabarmati Ashram where he paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and tried his hands at the 'charkha' (spinning wheel).

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Accusing the BJP of creating hatred against Muslims in the country, AIMIM (All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen) chief on Friday alleged that the saffron party and Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre have declared a war against them.

Owaisi asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop the incidents of hatred, saying it is weakening the country.

"In our country, BJP has created a storm of hatred against Muslims. Muslims don't lose patience and courage. Fight this oppression by being within the Constitution, said the AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP.

Addressing 'Jalse Yaum-Ul-Quran' on the Mecca Masjid premises here on the occasion of Jumat Ul-Vida (last Friday of Ramzan), Owaisi said, "The BJP wants to put so much pressure on Muslims, and hurt them so they will eventually take to arms..."



"We want to tell the Prime Minister to stop this hatred. This is weakening the country. Your party and your government/regime have declared a war against Indian Muslims, Owaisi alleged, saying, We are respectable citizens of this country. Our lives also matter.

Referring to the bulldozer row, Owaisi said houses of Muslims were demolished in Khargone city and Sendhwa in Madhya Pradesh. Calls are given to boycott Muslims and not to buy from their shops. Recently, in Haryana, those calling themselves 'gau rakshaks' (cow vigilantes) grabbed the beard of an elderly person and thrashed him. Similarly, another person was taken away from his house, alleging that he'd slaughtered a cow and he was thrashed, too, he said.

"We know several incidents are happening in our country. I get several phone calls and people tell me, Asaduddin Owaisi, our houses and shops are being demolished. We are being destroyed...some say they are scared and some others are saying they are worried. I am telling you there is no need to panic...be courageous," Owaisi said.

Owaisi, who also got emotional during his address, told Muslims not to lose hope and courage.

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Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai who is under pressure to expand or rejig his cabinet at the earliest, ahead of the Assembly polls next year, on Friday said he would try to discuss in this regard with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is scheduled to visit the city on May 3.

The Chief Minister who is travelling to Delhi tonight on an official visit said he will not be meeting the party high command during the tour.

"I have taken note of the sentiments made by them (MLAs) and have conveyed them to the high command, who said a decision will be taken at the appropriate time. Most probably is scheduled to visit Bengaluru on May 3, I will use the opportunity then (to discuss about the cabinet)," he said in response to a question on the demand from legislators to expand the cabinet ahead of polls.

Speaking to reporters here, Bommai said he is leaving for Delhi tonight to attend a conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of all states, and will be attending a dinner hosted by Prime Minister in the evening, and will be traveling back to Bengaluru early Sunday, so will not be meeting any central Ministers or the party president during the visit.

Shah is scheduled to visit Bengaluru on May 3 to take part in the valedictory function of 'Khelo India' University Games here.

With polls scheduled next year, there is pressure mounting on the CM to expand or rejig his cabinet soon, after the recent Assembly elections in five states.

With the cabinet exercise taking time, voices of discontent seem to be brewing within the ruling BJP, as party MLA M P Renukacharya on Wednesday had openly expressed displeasure about the delay and working of few ministers.

The MLA, who is also the Chief Minister's political secretary, said several party legislators are of a similar opinion and they feel that if new faces are inducted into the cabinet, they would work aggressively and bring a good name to the BJP and the government ahead of the 2023 assembly polls.

Bommai has been maintaining that he is awaiting for a direction from BJP central leadership to carry out the cabinet exercise.

There are currently five positions vacant in the state cabinet, that has 29 ministers including the Chief Minister, against the sanctioned strength of 34.

Some legislators have even been advocating a Gujarat-like overhaul of the Cabinet soon, to make way for new faces, ahead of the Assembly elections.

The cabinet exercise will be crucial ahead of the Assembly elections, in which the saffron party aims to return to power once again, and has set a target of winning a minimum of 150 seats in the 225-member House.

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After the resignation of as Leader of the opposition in the Assembly, the is gearing up to implement 'One Man One Post' rule at the AICC and state level after the 'Chintan Shivir'.

Several leaders holding dual charge will face the heat in due course, sources said, adding that the party wants the state unit to be more vibrant in its performance and actively involve in political activities. The person with dual or more charges will be given one assignment at a time.

Currently, leaders like Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Mukul Wasnik hold more than one charge.

holds the charge of Floor Leader in the Lok Sabha and West Bengal party president, while Randeep Singh Surjewala is the party's Karnataka General Secretary and in charge who heads the party's communication department. Mukul Wasnik is party general secretary and secretary of Election Committee(CEC).

Meanwhile, veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath, on Thursday resigned from the post of LoP in the state Assembly.

Congress President has accepted his resignation and appointed Govind Singh in his place.

Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal wrote to on Thursday, saying: "This is to inform you that the Congress President has accepted your resignation from the post of Leader, Congress Legislature Party, Madhya Pradesh, with immediate effect. The party wholeheartedly appreciates your contribution as the CLP Leader, ."

was holding the posts of leader of opposition and state Congress President. Now he is only the chief of the state unit of the party.

The veteran leader said that he had already made up his mind to give up one of the two posts, but the party had asked him to continue working on both positions.

He has been the target of the BJP for the last few days for the dual posts he held with the saffron party continuously raising questions on his responsibilities.

--IANS

miz/shb/

(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.)
BSP supremo on Friday mocked (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav's assertion that he wanted her to become the prime minister and wondered how someone who could not fulfil his own dream of becoming the chief minister will manage to realise the aspirations of others.

Reacting to Yadav's statement that he wanted her to become the prime minister and that the SP had forged an alliance with the (BSP) for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls for this, Mayawati, in a tweet in Hindi, said, "When the SP chief could not fulfil his own dream of becoming the chief minister (of Uttar Pradesh) even after securing the votes of Muslims and Yadavs and forming an alliance with several parties, how can he fulfil the dream of others to become the prime minister."



In a related tweet, the former chief minister wondered how a party that managed to win only five seats in in the last Lok Sabha polls despite stitching up an alliance with the BSP will make her the prime minister.

"Therefore, they need to stop making such childish statements," she added.

The BSP and the SP contested the 2019 general election in an alliance but parted ways subsequently and have regularly hit out at each other since then.

In another tweet, the BSP president, who on Thursday said she never aspired to become the president but would rather prefer becoming the prime minister or the chief minister of to realise her goals for uplifting the downtrodden, said, "Irrespective of whether I become the chief minister or the prime minister in the future, I can never become the president of the country in the interest of the weaker and neglected sections. Therefore, the SP's dream of having its own chief minister in Uttar Pradesh will never be fulfilled."



Replying to reporters' questions on Thursday about Mayawati's aspiration to become the prime minister, Yadav had said, "I am happy with it (the statement). I also wanted that. Last time (in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls), the alliance (with BSP) was forged for this. Had the alliance continued, people of the Bahujan Samaj, the BSP and those who follow the principles of BR Ambedkar would have seen who would become the prime minister."Earlier in the day, had said, "I have not spent my life in comfort and have struggled to work on the path shown by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram to ensure that their followers and the downtrodden stand on their feet. Everyone knows that this can be done not by becoming the president, but by becoming the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and the prime minister of the country."In Mainpuri on Wednesday, Yadav had alleged that the BSP had transferred its votes to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in this year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls and now, it will be interesting to see whether the saffron party makes the president or not in return.

(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.)
Attorney General on Friday called for drastic measures to clear the huge pendency of cases and restore people's faith in the justice delivery system.

He said there are 40 million cases in the trial courts, while the high courts have 4.2 million civil cases and 1.6 million criminal cases.

"How is this that the justice delivery system has deteriorated to this extent? Something drastic has to be done," he said.

The question is with an average pendency of eight years in the trails courts and another eight years in the high courts, how would a litigant have confidence in the justice delivery system? Venugopal posed.

He also called for ensuring that an accused is not kept in jail during the trial for a period which may be awarded upon conviction.

The attorney general asked that if an undertrial, who has been in jail for the same number of years before he is convicted, wants to rake recourse for his human rights who should he go against?



"According to me it should be against the Government of India, states as well as the judicial system itself," he said at a reception held by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to honour Chief Justice of India N V Ramana and chief justices and acting chief justices of 25 high courts.

Venugopal also said that vacancies in the judiciary was a major issue and lawyers, judges and the state will have to get together to see what was possible.

SCBA president and senior advocate Vikas Singh said a large number of cases are pending for over 30 years.

He highlighted that jail inmates, 76 per cent of whom are undertrials, are poor people who cannot afford the means and hence rot in prison.

He also said that while judges have assumed power to appoint judges under the collegium system, which "comes with huge responsibility", they must form a search committee to look for suitable candidates, wherever they are.

"If the quality of judges does not improve, we as a democracy will give a wrong signal to the entire world," Singh said.

"I have no quarrel with the collegium system but when you assume the power to appoint judges it comes with huge responsibility and you look at names wherever they are. They can be in HC, a trial court or even in law firms," he said.

Singh said that last year the SCBA had suggested the CJI Ramana for appointment of Supreme Court lawyers as the judges in high courts, to which he agreed.

"We formed a search committee and recommended names. But why do we have to form this committee, why cannot the chief justices of High Courts form their own committee and find out who are eligible.

"It is the responsibility of the chief justices of High Courts to find out who practices in Supreme Court and who are doing well... Why cannot lady lawyers practising in Supreme Court be elevated in high courts," he asked.

The chief justices of all the 25 high courts are gathered in the capital for the 39th chief justices' conference, being held after a gap of six years.

The conference will be followed by a joint conference of the chief ministers and the chief justices at the Vigyan Bhawan here on Saturday, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(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.)
Roiled by domestic shortage of edible oils and protests over it in the run up to Eid, Indonesia has put a halt on export of palm oil -- the mainstay of its economy. Its ripples will soon be felt in India, which imports almost half of its palm oil from there. Prices of edible oils will be on boil. And combined with an increased fertilizer subsidy bill, soaring fuel prices and coal shortage, it may widen the country's current account deficit. India Inc is also facing the heat. Rise in prices of commodities and disruption in the supply chain is increasingly eating into its profit margin. In an interview with Business Standards Arup Roychoudhury, CII president and global CEO and MD of Tata Steel, TV Narendran, tells why he believes that it may not derail the growth in the long term. Meanwhile, contact-sensitive sectors like hotel and airline industry and cinemas have been seeing an impressive turnaround for quite some time as the economy emerged from Covid-19 induced lockdowns.

But the recent uptick in cases across the country are worrying the industry again. After the markets, let us turn to personal finance. It is often said that your scores are a reflection of your abilities. And you just cannot outrun them. While the college scorecard in a way helps you land a job, there is another score that helps you later -- to tide over the financial challenges. So when you turn to a lender for a loan or a credit card, the lender falls back on your to know more about your credit history. Delve into the details of and more in this episode of the podcast.
India on Thursday reported 3,303 fresh Covid-19 cases, the most in over a month, as infections continue to increase across countries led by the spread of the new Omicron XE sub-variant. With the uptick in cases, risks of a possible fourth wave and subsequent lockdowns continue to linger. But, market analysts believe the outlook for relevant sectors remains strong as the current situation is not alarming. According to Sachin Shah, Fund Manager, Emkay Investment Managers, the recent spurt in Covid cases is not serious. He is bullish on sectors that are part of the reopening. He says most companies are now running at full capacity and high occupancy, and consumer sentiment continues to be strong. From the pack, stocks of hotel companies such as Lemon Tree, Restaurant Brands Asia, Mahindra Holidays and Taj GKV have gained 4 to 14% so far this month as occupancy levels are healthy with wider vaccination coverage and ease in restrictions. Rating agency CRISIL expects a sustained recovery to result in a gradual improvement in the hospitality sectors financial leverage over the medium term. Strong pent-up demand for leisure travel, opening up of international and corporate travel, and wide vaccination coverage should catapult the revenue of the Indian hotel industry by 45% from a decadal low last fiscal, and almost match the pre-pandemic levels, reports CRISIL. The agency further expects rebound in revenue and leaner cost structures to drive up operating profitability of the sector by 200-400 bps points this financial year vs FY2020. Apart from hotels, analysts are also upbeat on quick-service restaurants that have seen robust sales recovery in the last few months. Recent channel checks by brokerage Motilal Oswal indicated strong sales growth momentum for quick-service restaurants across all brands, similar to trends in February and March. Reversal of restrictions continues to boost mobility, contributing to the healthy recovery in dine-in for both high-street as well as mall outlets.

Dine-in players are doing better, as expected, while delivery has not only sustained at much higher levels than pre-Covid but has also received a sequential fillip in April, reads a Motilal Oswal note. That said, a trend of revenge travelling is also being seen across the board, which has improved prospects for airline companies as well. As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, around 1.06 crore domestic passengers travelled by air in March, nearly 38% up from February. The passenger load factor, which means occupancy rates, was also above 80% for all domestic private carriers during the month. Gaurang Shah, Vice-President, Geojit Financial Services, says he is bullish on Indigo from aviation and PVR from multiplex sectors. Airlines are passing on high ATF costs to consumers, he says. Inclination for binge travel is visible in high occupancy rates, while multiplexes across all cities are seeing better realisations, he says. Therefore, the outlook for contact-intensive sectors remains robust as the economic impact of each Covid-wave has been milder than earlier. However, the Street will monitor Q4 results of related companies in the days ahead to have a better understanding of the earnings recovery. Meanwhile, on Friday, big corporate names are slated to release their March quarter results including Maruti, Wipro, IndusInd Bank, SBI Cards, Ultratech Cement and Tata Chemicals. In addition, investors will closely monitor the US personal consumer expenditures index, and other global cues for market direction.
Carbon market update (March 2022)

Trading volume in Chinas national carbon emissions allowance (CEA) market continued to subside from Decembers high of 135.6 million tons to a monthly total volume of 708,554 tons, the lowest since the launch of trading in July.

Block trades were absent for most of the month with activities on only three of the 23 trading days, but still accounting for 76.3% of the monthly total volume.

According to some market observers, covered entities have been mostly waiting for the trading scheme regulator, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), to announce its CEA distribution plan for the current compliance cycle, which will allow the entities to budget their CEA for the year, including trading needs. The pandemic lockdowns in Shanghai since March may have also contributed to the lack of activity in the market.

Market prices held up well amid the low volumes, with open market transactions closing March at 58.55 yuan ($9.20) per ton, up 1.4% from a month earlier.

Daily prices for both trade types fluctuated in a narrow range, showing little volatility. The March monthly volume-weighted average price for all trades was at 56.41 yuan per ton, down 2.3% from February, pulled down by a steeper 3.2% decrease in the average block trade price.

Policy update

 The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly published the Mid- and Long-Term Development Plan for the Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035).

The plan was released on March 23. It establishes the governments position that hydrogen-based energy is a key new strategic industry and a new growth point for building a green low-carbon industrial regime. The plan has set the following stage goals for the hydrogen industry:

 By 2025, the number of fuel-cell vehicles in use will reach about 50,000 units, a batch of hydrogen-fueling stations will be built, hydrogen produced with renewable energy will reach 100,000 tons to 200,000 tons per year, and carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced 1 million to 2 million tons per year (as a result of hydrogen energy use).

 By 2030, relatively comprehensive systems of clean energy-based hydrogen production will be formed, which will lend strong support to the carbon peaking goal.

 By 2035, a diverse application ecosystem of hydrogen energy will be established, and the proportion of hydrogen production with renewable energy in terminal energy consumption will be increased significantly.

Market news

 The MEE issued a notice on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting.

On March 15, the MEE notified provincial-level environmental agencies that they should require key power generation entities to submit their 2021 annual GHG emissions reports by March 31.

These entities are so-called key emitters whose GHG emissions were at or greater than 26,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (or comprehensive energy consumption greater than 10,000 tons of standard coal) in either 2020 or 2021. This 26,000-ton emission threshold was used to identify currently covered entities by the national CEA trading scheme.

The notice requires provincial-level environmental agencies to take the lead in verifying the reports, although third-party verification service firms can be contracted. The completion date for the verification is June 30.

The notice also requires GHG emitting entities in seven non-power generation industrial sectors to submit their 2021 GHG emissions reports and supporting documents by Sept. 30. Again, the threshold of 26,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in either 2020 or 2021 is used for entities in these seven sectors: petrochemicals, chemicals, building materials, steel, nonferrous metals, paper and civil aviation. The verification of reports from these entities is set to be completed by Dec. 31.

 The MEE exposed irregularities in data quality control by third-party service providers in the national CEA market.

In a press conference on March 30, MEE spokesperson Liu Youbin stated that the MEE led inspection missions to 47 cities during the last three months of 2021, which focused on the quality of the mandatory carbon emissions reports submitted by covered entities in relation to CEA compliance. The inspections revealed a number of prominent rule violations. In particular, several third-party service providers (e.g., technical consultants and data verifiers) were found to have either forged emissions data for covered entities or neglected verifying the reported data.

Liu indicated that the MEE is actively working with the Ministry of Justice to issue the Interim Regulation for the Management of Carbon Emissions Trading, to replace the Administrative Measures for Carbon Emission Trading (Trial), the current regulatory basis for the national CEA market. The interim regulation will have a much stronger legal basis, equivalent in authority to a law passed by the National Peoples Congress, the nations top legislative body. With the interim regulation, more detailed requirements can be set for service providers and stiffer penalties can be imposed for violating the requirements.

Carbon news

 China 2021 GDP carbon intensity was lowered by 3.8% from 2020.

On Feb. 28, the National Bureau of Statistics published the 2021 National Economic and Social Development Statistics Bulletin. Chinas GDP grew 8.1% from 2020 while carbon emissions per 10,000 yuan GDP decreased by 3.8%. As a binding goal of Chinas dual-carbon strategy, the Chinese government has pledged to reduce its GDP-based carbon intensity by 18% by 2025 from 2020 levels.

The bulletin said that total energy consumption increased by 5.2%, supported by a 4.6% increase in coal consumption, 4.1% increase in crude oil consumption, 12.5% increase in natural gas consumption, as well as a 10.3% increase in electricity consumption. Clean energy (including natural gas, and hydro, nuclear, wind, and solar power) accounted for 25.5% of the total energy consumption, up 1.2 percentage points from 2020.

Bai Bo is executive chairman and co-founder of the Singapore-based MetaVerse Green Exchange.

The analysis and opinions expressed in third-part articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Caixin.

Contact editors Lin Jinbing (jinbinglin@caixin.com) and Bertrand Teo (bertrandteo@caixin.com)

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Switzerland, known for its neutral status in foreign relations for over two centuries, has recently come under spotlight after it sided with the European Union in imposing sanctions against Moscow and its leaders over the Ukraine war.

That move has triggered questions about the future of the countrys policy of neutrality. In an interview with Caixin, Swiss Ambassador to China Bernardino Regazzoni said neutrality doesnt mean indifference, and that a neutral state has the right to choose political positions and can stand up for universal values.
Crime rates on U.S. public transport increase: media

Xinhua) 09:25, April 29, 2022

NEW YORK, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Crime rates on trains and buses have been jumping in some U.S. big cities, causing an obstacle for the business hubs to return to "prepandemic life," The New York Times has reported.

"Just as a number of major cities are trying to lure people back to formerly bustling downtowns, leaders are confronting transit crime rates that have risen over prepandemic levels in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Philadelphia and Los Angeles," the report said earlier this week.

The problems of "violent assaults, muggings and stabbings" on public transport have grabbed the headlines of several U.S. news outlets, the report added.

Jamie Gauthier, a city council member in Philadelphia, was quoted by the media as saying that the growing transit crime rate is part of a broader trend of soaring crime and violence across the city.

"We have an opioid epidemic, and we have a housing crisis," Gauthier said. "So the things that we've been seeing in the city, writ large, have also migrated into our public transit system."

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Studio Colorido has some of Japans finest animation creators who have been producing best-in-class original animated features over the last 10 years, said Netflixs director of Japan content Yuji Yamano in an in-house interview published by the company. At Netflix, we place a premium on authentic material for our core fans as well as to draw in new viewers. This partnership extends our growing film slate in Japan, and also adds to our collection of more lean-back and family-friendly stories.

Studio Colorido president Koji Yamamoto added: A Whisker Away gave us the opportunity to see a business model where streaming and theater release could co-exist. Our first premiere on Netflix also broke the mindset that a Japanese film would be well-received only in certain countries. For us, it was exciting to discover a new segment of viewers, beyond core anime fans.

Netflix and Coloridos relationship was born from the pandemic. In 2020, the theatrical release for A Whisker Away was postponed several times. So, the Colorido team opted instead to send the film to streaming. The film proved a hit, charting on Netflixs Top 10 film lists in more than 30 countries.

The Netflix-Colorido origin story does not, however, mean that Netflixs Colorido co-produced films wont get theatrical releases in the future. Yamano explained that Netflix will consider theatrical windows for other upcoming co-productions as well.

The first example of that will be Drifting Home, which will premiere on Netflix and in theaters on the same day, he pointed out.

Whether or not that model will be implemented in other territories, and whether any 100% Netflix-produced titles could get theatrical runs, remains to be seen.
Last year, Reallusion announced the 2021 iClone Lip Sync Animation Contest to highlight and challenge talented 3d artists to present a dynamic 3d animation which showcased not just lip-sync animation, but also cohesive vocal and facial animation. These creations would have to incorporate all aspects of modeling, texture work, and animation in order to catch the eye of the judges.

The result was a bevy of incredible 3d animation and art pieces created with the help of Reallusions iClone program. Among the standouts was one piece which recaptured the alluring elegance of Who Framed Roger Rabbits Jessica Rabbit. The 3d animation, created using the iClone pipeline, wowed the judges and earned artist Jasper Hesseling 2nd place in the competition.

Contest and Deadlines

Based in Utrecht, Netherlands, Hesseling, better known as Mayonnaise, entered the iClone Lip-Sync Contest inspired by an iconic scene from one of his favorite films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. An all-around 3d artist with years of experience in modeling, texturing, animation, and design, Hesseling is no stranger to the world of 3d art. With a two-week deadline, the veteran animator set out to use iClone to recapture the iconic image and animation of Jessica Rabbit.

Building the Legend

A daunting task for any artist, this project required a ground-up rebuild of the model, her body animations, as well as accurate lip-syncing and facial animation. Utilizing the numerous tools offered by the iClone suite, Jasper would hit the ground running and experience how quickly the 3D model and animations would come to life.

As with any 3d model project, the first step was to create the basic model itself. Using a mesh from CC3+ (Character Creator 3), Hesseling was able to quickly build and design the base model. One benefit of using CC3+ was that the model created could not only be easily sculpted and refined to be exactly what he needed, but it was already rigged for animation and could be implemented with ARKit. This cut down significantly on the amount of time needed as the rigging was already done, and allowed Hesseling to focus on the model, creating the necessary details to match the characters well-established look.

With the model done, it was time to define her hair and begin facial details. Much of this was made easy using iClones fluid pipeline, as it integrates seamlessly with ZBrushs real-time hair sculpting tools. With a load of presets and infinite ways to begin molding and modifying them to fit his needs, Hesseling was able to not only recreate the look, but have the animation set and squared to his liking. This removed much of the headache that can come from modeling hair for animated characters.

One of the most memorable pieces of the Jessica Rabbit character is her unforgettable red dress. With the many difficulties that can arise from using even prebuilt clothes, the task of creating custom cloth with physics that can be tailored for Jessicas figure proved quite a challenge. With the versatility offered by iClone, Hesseling was able to seamlessly utilize Character Creator, Zbrush, Substance Painter, and Cinema 4D to begin bringing to life. Hesseling started by exporting the model to Cinema 4D and creating and designing the cloth.

He then moved the model back into iClone and used its built in physics behavior to implement weight maps and collision meshes for the model and her clothes. He was also able to utilize Substance Painters real-time texturing tools to ensure that the dress looked perfect alongside the model. From one program to another, Hesseling was able to create a dynamic model, fully rigged and ready to be animated with full physics, which could be imported for post-production.

Breathing Life into the Model

As the two-week deadline approached, Hesseling moved on to the final step of the pipeline, animation. Traditionally this would be an incredibly time-consuming task if using the wrong tools, as each keyframe and rigging point must be painstakingly managed, not to mention the facial animation and the lip-syncing. However, iClones versatility streamlined and cut down on the tedium with quality of life tools that made the process as painless as possible.

iClone was really nice to work with because it automates so much and just in the right way so you dont lose control.  Jasper Hesseling

Using the lip-syncing software available within iClone, Hesseling was able to automate much of the process and focus on fine-tuning smaller details of facial animation. Even without a clean audio track to import for the program to use, Hesseling was able to fine-tune the automated lip-sync to match exactly what he needed, and then detail the facial animation to match his vision. All of this was also made easier with iClones real-time animation previews that allowed him to make on the fly adjustments to every aspect of the models animation.

With those steps wrapped up, all that was left was a fast iClone rendering export into Adobe After Effects, where Hesseling dubbed the soundtrack, added lighting effects, and put the final touches on the scene.

The Man Behind the Rabbit

I had a blast working on this piece with the lip-sync tools in iClone. I have still much to discover but Ive already learned a lot.  Jasper Hesseling

Having finished second in the iClone Lip Sync Animation Contest, the results of Hesselings effort speak for itself in an incredible recreation of Jessica Rabbits song and dance number that not only demonstrates his own expertise, but the fluidity and flexibility of the programs he used. This was a project that truly demonstrated the ability of the artist.

Follow Hesselings work:

Learn more about Character Creator and iClone, and be on the lookout for Hesselings future work as he continues his exploration of the realm of 3d animation. With exciting new projects, including the digital recreation of Keith Whitfield of the University of Nevada, Hesselings future in the world of 3d animation looks likely to make a major impact.
Re. ChildCare BC New Spaces Fund provides $3 million to Kelowna airport YMCA childcare facility (Castanet, April 28)

This is great news for all the parents who work in the area of the Kelowna airporta new child care facility to open in the spring of 2023. Awesome!

I have (a few) questions.

How is it going to work? Does the government not realize it takes two years for staff to obtain the government-mandated education to work at a child care facility?

Will it get the staff it needs by changing the rules for this location to make the government look good to the general public? Or will staff who are currently working in other facilities leave their current jobs to take new jobs (there), if the pay is better, thus leaving their (previous) facility short-staffed and or on the verge of having to close because of no staff.

When will the government realize it needs to put money into the education of new staff to work to accommodate all the new spaces being introduced? The government should help fund these students while they are attending the two-year program at an accredited college, so they are trained to take care of your children.

Before you jump to enrol your child in this new facility, first ask to see the credentials of the staff.

It seems the government's child-care licensing department has different rules for each facility when all facilities should all be ruled the same.

Karla Longacre
Photo: Contributed

A Surrey man who has four children by prostitutes and three with his wife will spend three and a half years in prison for sexual assault and forcible confinement, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled.

The ruling, handed down April 8 but released Thursday, found Floyd Broxton Peart guilty of sexual assault in an offence that dates to March 5, 2017.

The sexual assault was accompanied by physical violence, and verbal intimidation and degradation, said Justice Veronica Jackson in the ruling.

Glacier Media has chosen not to publish disturbing details of the offence found in the court ruling.

In a victim impact statement to the court, the assaulted woman said she experienced physical pain throughout her body in the wake of the sexual assault. She had trouble sleeping and suffered from nightmares. Emotionally, she has lost her ability to trust people and finds herself jumping or jerking when men touch her. The statement also said her sense of self-worth has suffered.

No words I can offer, or sentence I can impose, will undo the physical and emotional harm suffered by A.B., Jackson wrote, using the woman's initials.

Peart had three children with his wife and four children with four different women described by Peart as working girls, according to the ruling.

Mr. Peart is in significant arrears of his child support obligations, Jackson said.

Peart has already been convicted of 46 crimes, including possession of goods obtained by crime over $5,000, theft under $5,000, a domestic assault, assault with a weapon, uttering threats, breach of court orders, controlled substances, drug trafficking in a controlled substance, breaking and entering and living on the avails of prostitution.

Jackson sentenced Peart to three and a half years for the sexual assault and 12 months to be served concurrently for the forcible confinement.

The Crown sought four years' imprisonment for the sexual assault and one year of imprisonment for the forcible confinement to be served concurrently.

Defence counsel submitted that a fit sentence for the sexual assault was between two years less a day and three and a half years.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Family and friends are planning a vigil tonight for a 16-year-old boy who died after being attacked while waiting for a bus outside an Edmonton high school.

Monica Binns says anyone will be welcome to bring a candle to the gathering for her cousin Karanveer Sahota, who died a week after being stabbed in the chest near McNally High School on April 8.

Police have charged six boys and one girl between the ages of 14 and 17 with second-degree murder.

All seven are out on bail and are to appear in court in May.

Police Supt. Shane Perka has said the youths had a history of disagreeing with each other, but there are no indications the assault on Sahota was gang-related.

The Edmonton Police Service said in a statement Thursday that it understands Sahota's death continues to weigh heavily on many students, families and the community, and warned about misinformation circulating about the assault.

"Unfortunately, the EPS has received reports about members of the public publishing the names of accused and witnesses on the internet that they believe are involved in the McNally High School homicide investigation/prosecution," police spokeswoman Cheryl Sheppard said in the statement.

"While we recognize that this continues to be a difficult time, the EPS must point out that publishing the identity of any accused and witnesses in such matters is a criminal offence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act," she said.

"We ask that anyone who has published identifying material of this nature to delete/remove it immediately."

A GoFundMe for Sahota's father, mother and 13-year-old sister has raised more than $255,000.

A petition calling for the accused to be sentenced, if convicted, as adults has been circulating on multiple online community groups and has attracted more than 11,000 signatures.

Binns echoed the demand on behalf of Sahota's family in a statement.

"If Karanveers case needs to set new laws to adequately serve justice, then so be it."
Photo: Google Street View

The Department of National Defence says it's investigating a "fatal incident" involving a vehicle at the Royal Military College campus in Kingston, Ont.

It says the incident occurred around 2 a.m. this morning at Point Frederick.

Government officials didn't specify how many people were involved in the incident, saying next-of-kin notifications are still ongoing.

The department says the loss is felt across the Royal Military College community.

The Royal Military College campus is located on Point Frederick peninsula, where Lake Ontario meets the St. Lawrence River in Kingston.

More coming.
Photo: The Canadian Press Former Idaho state Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger testifies on his own behalf during day three of his rape trial at the Ada County Courthouse, Thursday, April 28, 2022,.

A former Idaho lawmaker was convicted Friday of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial in which the young woman fled the witness stand during testimony, saying I cant do this.

The intern told a Statehouse supervisor that Aaron von Ehlinger raped her at his apartment after the two had dinner at a Boise restaurant in March 2021. He said the sex was consensual.

At the time, von Ehlinger was a state representative from Lewiston, but he later resigned.

Von Ehlinger, 39, was found guilty Friday of rape. He was found not guilty of sexual penetration with a foreign object.

Sentencing has been scheduled for July 28.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, and has referred to the woman in this case as Jane Doe at her request.

Doe haltingly described the moments the alleged assault began, before abruptly leaving the witness stand.

He tried to put his fingers between my legs and I closed my knees, Doe said.

At that, she stood up.

I cant do this, she said, quickly walking out of the courtroom.

The judge gave the prosecuting attorneys 10 minutes to find her to determine if she would return and resume her testimony.

When she did not, the judge told the jurors they had to strike (Does testimony) from your minds as if it never happened, because the defense could not cross-examine her.

During his testimony Thursday, von Ehlinger often spoke in a clear, loud voice directly to jurors, saying he and Doe decided to return to his apartment to hang out after eating at a fancy Boise restaurant. Then they began making out on the couch, he said.

Things were going well, and I asked (Doe) if she would like to move to the bedroom, von Ehlinger said. She said Sure. We got up, held hands and walked into the bedroom.

Deliberations stretched for seven hours until nearly 8 p.m. Thursday before the jury decided to break for the evening. At one point, the judge summoned the attorneys to his chambers because the jury asked a question. No details were made public about the jury's inquiry.

When the allegations became public  largely because of the legislative ethics investigation  Doe faced unrelenting harassment from some of von Ehlinger's supporters. Her name, photo and personal details about her life were repeatedly publicized in doxxing incidents. One of the people who frequently harassed her was in the courthouse to attend the trial, but law enforcement banned the man from the floor where where case was being heard.

During closing arguments, Ada County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katelyn Farley told jurors that the case was about power in the wrong hands" used to the great devastation of Doe. Von Ehlinger had social, political and physical power over the petite intern, Farley said.

He used that power to rape and forcibly penetrate her, Farley said, pointing at von Ehlinger. Doe resisted in several ways, she said, highlighting the testimony of law enforcement investigators and a nurse sexual assault examiner who interviewed Doe after the alleged assault.

Words show lack of consent. Excuses of Why this shouldnt happen,' show lack of consent. Yanking your head back and getting an injury shows lack of consent, Farley said.

But von Ehlinger's defense attorney Jon Cox told jurors the prosecution's case was made up of red herrings, and said von Ehlinger was a credible person who willingly took the stand to share his side of the story.

Earlier this week, jurors heard from investigators and a nurse who performed a rape exam. They testified that Doe reported being pinned down while von Ehlinger forced her to perform oral sex, and that she knew he frequently carried a handgun and had placed it on a dresser near the bed at the time of the assault. A nurse also testified that Doe had a goose egg on the back of her head from striking the wall or a headboard while trying to jerk her head away from von Ehlinger's grip.
Photo: Nelson Bennett Ray Ferris of West Fraser Timber, right, and Don Kayne, CEO of Canfor, discuss challenges to forest sector in B.C. at COFI conference.

In a discussion with the CEOs of two of Canadas largest forestry companies, one might have expected to hear a lot of criticism of the John Horgan governments forestry polies, which include removing large amounts of old growth from the timber harvest land base, and tenure reform aimed at reducing the amount of tenure held by the largest companies.

And while the CEOs of Canfor Corp. (TSX:CFP) and Wester Fraser Timber Co. (TSX,NYSE:WFG) did touch on those issues in a session at the Council of Forest Industries (COFI) conference Thursday, West Fraser Timber president Ray Ferris identified transportation as one of his companys  and indeed the industrys -- biggest concerns.

I think its the biggest crisis we have in British Columbia that isnt getting any airtime, said West Fraser Timber CEO Ray Ferris.

Pulp mills have shut down. And it has a huge impact on our customers. Our customers arent sure if were going to be able to ship our products.

The damage done to railway tracks in the floods of November only aggravated what was already becoming a serious transportations logistics problem, Ferris said.

This has been a long-term, steady erosion of our capacity to ship, Ferris said. Theres no more trucks getting into the system, so we are absolutely dependent on rail. If you look at the last five or six years -- notwithstanding significant weather events -- its continued to be not just a seasonal issue. Its become more of a structural issue.

When people start thinking about reinvesting back in Western Canada, specifically B.C., we have to have confidence that we have a transportation system thats reliable, and will withstand increases in capacity and the impacts of climate change.

One other challenge forestry companies face in B.C. is aboriginal rights, and the provincial governments efforts to address reconciliation. Many forestry companies have been addressing those issues themselves by forming partnerships with First Nations.

John Mohammed, president of A&A Trading Ltd., a logging company, said his company has been doing that for nearly 20 years.

He welcomed an announcement earlier this week that the provincial government will boost forestry revenues to First Nations from three to five per cent to up to 10%.

Revenue sharing is part of reconciliation, he said.

He criticized the governments old growth protection plans, saying the government had clearly failed to properly consult First Nations on the issue. While some have accepted the governments plan to protect more old growth from logging, some are rejecting the plan.

There are concerns over a lack of investment in B.C. by forestry companies like Canfor and West Fraser, which have been investing billions to buy mills and timber rights outside of B.C., including the U.S. and Europe.

Ferris talked about the grand bargain that had been struck between government and industry many years ago -- the bargain being that forestry companies would get access to Crown timber in exchange for investments in sawmills and pulp mills that provide jobs.

The government is now rewriting the terms of that grand bargain, he said.

That new bargain thats being written, I would say many of us in this room probably feel that were really not part of that discussion. Its creating a lot of uncertainty.

From the governments perspective, the largest tenure holders in B.C. are making some record profits on high lumber prices, but investing more in other parts of North America now, and even Europe, while shutting down sawmills in B.C.

From the industrys perspective, their access to affordable Crown timber is shrinking, due in part to a range of government policies, and its becoming prohibitively expensive to operate in B.C.

West Fraser, for example, invested $600 million to retool mills to handle pine beetle kill and fire damage, Ferris said.

What we didnt see coming was a policy wave that was not about fire, he said.

We need to be re-investing back in this province, but with that you need certainty. You need to know youre going to be able to access the fibre at a reasonable cost.

"Were benefitting fromextremely high commodity prices, but were operating in a province that has some of the highest costs in North America. Its not going to end well.

As for global shifts in wood markets, due to the sanctioning of Russiaa, which is a major lumber producer, Canfor CEO Don Kayne said that, while China may take some Russian lumber that previously went to European buyers, he said even China's customers may still demand to see chain of custody verification, with Russian wood products becoming tainted.

"We believe there's going to be quite a significant change over time in trade flows," Kayne said.
Photo: pixabay

In a rare instance of unity between Canadas federal Conservatives and Liberals, both parties are taking a group of complainants to court over a decision by British Columbias privacy commissioner finding that provincial privacy legislation applies to federal political parties.

In separate petitions filed in BC Supreme Court on April 11 and April 12, the Conservative Party of Canada and Liberal Party of Canada seek to quash a decision by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) finding that British Columbias Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) applies to federal political parties. On the heels of that decision, the OPIC found it can investigate the privacy policies and practices of all of Canadas federal political parties.

According to the Liberal Partys petition, the PIPA is constitutionally inapplicable and inoperative when applied to federal parties based on interjurisdictional immunity and paramountcy. The party claims its use, collection, and disclosure of personal information of voters falls under the Canada Elections Act. In addition, it claims Parliament delegated exclusive oversight of federal parties privacy practices to the countrys chief electoral officer.

The Decision places no limits on provinces regulation of federal political parties, treating them like any other unincorporated association, the Liberal Party claims. The Decision creates an impractical patchwork of rules, regimes and regulations in which the rights of voters and obligation of federal political parties are determined by a different privacy regulator in each province or territory.

The Conservative Party, in its petition, claims it has a formal privacy policy that has been approved by Canadas chief electoral officer.

The Conservative Party does not sell, barter, trade, or lease its donor or supporter lists, the partys petition states. As a federal political party, the Conservative Party shares personal information with local riding associations, candidates, nomination contestants or leadership candidates for the purposes of communicating with those persons.

The court petitions were spurred by a trio of complaints filed in B.C. in August 2019. The Conservative Partys petition says that three B.C. residents sought access to their personal information held by the countrys six largest parties including the Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats, Greens, Bloc Quebecois and the Peoples Party of Canada.

The Conservatives, despite not being bound by PIPA, provided the trio with their information, according to the petition. But the complainants told the privacy commissioner in December 2019 that the parties responses were inadequate, leading to the OIPC assigning an investigator a few months later. The investigator informed the Conservatives of their inquiry but didnt mention the issue of jurisdiction. The OIPC simply assumed PIPA applied, the party claims.

When the matter went to a hearing, the Conservatives claim, the procedure was unfair to federal parties since it was predetermined in favour of finding provincial privacy legislation applied to parties as it does to organizations.

Parliament has considered the privacy rules governing federal political parties several times over the past two decades and has consistently chosen not to subject them to more general privacy legislation, having recognized that federal political parties perform an essential role in Canadas democracy and their special needs regarding access to the electorate, the Liberal Partys petition states.

Both the Liberals and Conservatives seek to quash the privacy commissioners decision, and also want a declaration that the PIPA does not apply to them and all other federal political parties.

The petitions factual bases have not been tested in court and no responses to the cases had been filed by press time.
Photo: The Canadian Press Five-year-old Emma Palmer receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a "Kids and Families Vaccine Clinic" operated by Black Creek Community Health Centre and hosted by Jane and Finch Early ON child and Family Centre in the Jane and Finch Mall in Toronto on Thursday, January 13, 2022. Health Canada is reviewing the first application to authorize a COVID-19 vaccine for very young children.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

The first COVID-19 vaccine for infants and very young children is now under review by Health Canada.

Moderna Canada President Patricia Gauthier said Friday the company sent an application to the Canadian vaccine regulator late Thursday for a vaccine to protect children between six months and five years old.

"It's now in the hands of Health Canada," she said at an event in Montreal where the company announced plans to build a vaccine production plant.

Health Canada authorized Moderna's Spikevax vaccine for adults in December 2020, for teenagers in August 2021 and for children ages six to 11 in March.

There is no vaccine authorized for children younger than five. Pfizer-BioNTech's Comirnaty vaccine can be used on children as young as five but its version for younger children was delayed because two doses didn't produce a strong enough immune response.

Data from adding a third dose is expected in May.

Moderna applied for approval of the vaccine for young children in the United States Thursday. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Friday said it would consider applications from both Moderna and Pfizer together possibly as early as June 8 and as late as June 22.

Dr. Supriya Sharma, the chief medical adviser at Health Canada who oversees the vaccine authorization file, said in an interview that she can't put a timeline on the Moderna review because they've only had the submission since late Thursday night.

She said the application will be analyzed using the same risk-benefit approach applied to vaccines authorized for older age groups.

"We're still looking at the same components," she said. "So it's safety, efficacy and quality. It's the same types of components that we get for the submission, and we're really looking at benefits outweighing the risks."

It took Health Canada almost three months to authorize the Moderna vaccine for adolescents, and almost four months for children ages six to 11.

Moderna said a trial of 6,700 children determined the vaccine was safe and produced a similar antibody response to the one that is seen in adults.

A single dose for children under six is 25 micrograms  one-quarter of the size given to adults and teenagers and half the size used for children ages six to 11.

The application is for the vaccine to be given in two doses, four weeks apart.

The trial took place mainly during the wave of the Omicron variant and the vaccine was less effective at preventing infection in kids than previous trials in adults.

The effectiveness of the vaccine against infection in adults also dropped during the Omicron wave, though the shot maintained excellent protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death.

The company said the vaccine was 51 per cent effective at preventing symptoms in children six months to two years old and 37 per cent effective against symptoms in children two to five years old. It said those are similar results to what was seen in effectiveness against Omicron for adults.

Because children have very low rates of serious illness due to COVID-19, the trial could not determine the impact on preventing serious illness.

Sharma said it's true the risk of serious illness for young kids is low but "it's not nothing," which plays into the risk-benefit analysis. About two per cent of the Canadians hospitalized with COVID-19 are under the age of 11 and some 25 children under 11 have died.

Fourteen of those deaths have taken place since Omicron became dominant and infection rates soared.

Officially, more than 385,000 kids under 11 have tested positive for COVID-19, and almost half of those are since Omicron arrived in Canada at the end of November.

However, most provinces stopped testing children widely for COVID-19 after the December holidays. Infection rates in recent months are believed to be 10 to 25 times higher than recorded since then.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control in the United States recently reported an estimated 75 per cent of American children had been infected with COVID-19 by the end of February.

Yukon pediatrician Dr. Katharine Smart, the president of the Canadian Medical Association, also said you can't look at the risk for kids by comparing it to the risk for adults.

She said COVID-19 poses different risks to many age groups, and you have to look specifically at what is happening with young children. On that front, she said COVID-19 is one of the biggest disease risks facing kids right now.

"The message that's important for parents to understand is given right now how infectious Omicron is and how rapidly it's spreading, your child will encounter Omicron," she said. "It's just a matter of when. So the decision, I think, for a parent is: Do you want them to encounter Omicron vaccinated or unvaccinated? Because they are going to encounter it."

Nationally, 40 per cent of children between five and 11 are fully vaccinated, as are 84 per cent of kids and teens between 12 and 17 and 88 per cent of everyone over the age of 18.
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, who is visiting Bhutan, held talks with the Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering on Friday and discussed the current global scenario along with the bilateral cooperations between the two countries.

During the talks, Jaishankar informed the Prime Minister on the progress in the bilateral cooperation and development partnership. He arrived in Bhutan on an official visit on Friday.

Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar wrote, "Pleased to call on @PMBhutan Lotay Tshering. Exchanged views on current global and regional developments that impact us all. Apprised him of the progress in our bilateral cooperation, including our development partnership."

Before the visit, he said that he was looking forward to a productive trip and enhancing bilateral cooperation between India and Bhutan. "Delighted to be back in Bhutan. Good to see @FMBhutan Tandi Dorji. Look forward to a productive visit," Jaishankar tweeted.

He also shared photographs of his arrival here. Jaishankar is in Bhutan at the invitation of his Bhutanese counterpart Lyonpo Tandi Dorji, as per an official statement by India's External Affairs Ministry (MEA).

India and Bhutan share a unique and time-tested bilateral relationship, characterized by utmost trust, goodwill and mutual understanding, said the statement. Jaishankar is the Bhutan's first high-level visitor from abroad since March 2020. During the visit, the two sides will discuss all issues of mutual interest, including the upcoming high-level exchanges, economic development and hydro-power cooperation.

Jaishankar arrived in Dhaka, kicking off his three-day visit to Bangladesh and Bhutan from April 28-30. Notably, this is Jaishankar's first visit to Bangladesh since March 2021.

In Dhaka, Jaishankar called on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during his official visit to the country and also conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation to her to visit India later this year. EAM Jaishankar also exchanged views with the Bangladesh PM on bilateral, regional, and international issues of mutual interest.

Jaishankar also met his counterpart, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, AK Abdul Momen and extended him an invitation to attend the next meeting of the Joint Consultative Commission to be held in India prior to the visit of PM Hasina.

(ANI)
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Chile for cooperation in the disability sector. The MoU aims to encourage cooperation between India's Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and Chile's government through joint initiatives in the disabilities sector. It will strengthen bilateral ties between India and Chile, an official release said.

A joint Letter of Intent (LoI) was signed earlier between the countries expressing a desire for cooperation in the disability sector, especially in the areas of information sharing, cooperation in assistive device technology, development of projects of mutual interest in the disability sector, early identification and prevention of disability and exchange of experts, academicians and other administrative staff.

The MoU provides the mechanism for funding to cover expenses for the activities under it, the release said, adding that the expenses for such activities will be mutually decided by both the governments on a case to case basis subject to the availability of funds and resources.

The releases said that relations between India and Chile are warm and friendly based on a commonality of views on a wide range of issues.

The year 2019-20 marked the 70th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Bilateral relations have strengthened over the years with the exchange of high-level visits, which include two visits of the President of Chile in 2005 and 2009.

(ANI)

Also Read: Sri Lankan President says he's ready to establish all-party govt
A judge has denied Ant Anstead's emergency request for full custody of his two-year-old son.

The 'Wheeler Dealers' host filed an emergency order seeking sole legal custody over Hudson but a Superior Court judge in Orange County, California denied the request because the 43-year-old star failed to prove there were critical circumstances concerning the child and didn't give his ex-wife, the toddler's mother Christina Hall, enough notice.

A hearing has now been set set for June 28, which will allow both Ant and Christina to appear and present arguments over whether there should be a change to the custody arrangement.

If the order had been granted, Christina would only receive visitation rights and would not legally have to be consulted in any major decisions relating to the youngster's care.

The star claimed he has been the "primary parent" to Hudson and alleged 38-year-old Christina - who also has Taylor, 11, and Brayden, six, with ex-husband Tarek El Moussa - has spent an "average of nine full days each month over the last 20 months and an average of seven full days per month in 2022" and so asked for her to be given a "regular" custody schedule of "alternating weekends" from 6 May 2022, "in California only, and except for vacations."

Documents obtained by People magazine stated: "This will allow Christina's time to be stepped-up over the next several months to match the schedule she has with her other children."

Christina has been left "deeply saddened" by the move and insisted Ant - who is dating Renee Zellweger and is also dad to Amelie,18, and Archie, 15, from his marriage to Louise Storey - should have handled the matter privately.

She said: "What Ant is doing deeply saddens me. If this was really about Hudson, as he says, this should have been handled privately with a private judge or mediation, as myself and my attorney have suggested.

"I have had my share of ups and downs but I am a good mom and I love my children with all my heart and I will always protect them."

The pair's divorce was settled last July almost a year after their split and the pair were given joint legal and physical custody of their little boy.

Ant previously insisted the couple were able to co-parent amicably.

He said last year: "There's never been a scenario where I've asked for him and not had him and vice versa."

Christina - who recently married Josh Hall after a year of dating - echoed his sentiment.

She has said: "The kids come first for all of us. That's how it will always be."
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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released its annual Crime on Campus publication, detailing the volume and nature of crime on Tennessees college and university campuses.

The report compiles data submitted to TBI through the states Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS).

Among the reports findings:

Crime reported as having occurred on Tennessee college and university campuses decreased 4% from 2020 to 2021 and decreased 32.5% overall since 2018.

In 2021, Larceny/Theft offenses accounted for 28.5% of reported offenses.

Assault offenses reported on college and university campuses increased 18.7% year-to-year, from 412 incidents in 2020 to 489 in 2021.

Reported Drug/Narcotic violations decreased 14.7% from 2020 to 2021.

This report will hopefully assist law enforcement, institution administrators, and government officials in planning their efforts to fight crime and continue to create an awareness that crime exists as a threat in our communities, said TBI Director David Rausch. The threats to society by criminal activity must be addressed by efforts from all law-abiding citizens, as well as law enforcement agencies.



In accordance to federal guidelines, the TBI strongly discourages the use of its published crime data to compare one entity or jurisdiction to another. It is far more appropriate, in the TBIs assessment, to compare an entitys statistics over time.

The full report is available for review on the TBIs website, at tbi.pub/reports.
Police were called to Ohls Avenue where there was an intoxicated woman sitting on the ground in the front doorway. After speaking with her and a man, it was discovered that the two were in a verbal argument over her wanting the door open and him wanting it closed. Police calmed down both and they agreed to separate for the night.

* * *

An officer responded to a broken down truck on I-24 eastbound and found it was in the second lane blocking traffic. The truck was owned by First Fleet and was having engine trouble and unable to move out of the roadway. The driver called for his own wrecker. Doug Yates Towing arrived shortly and removed the truck from the roadway.

* * *

While on patrol, an officer spotted a white truck parked alongside a construction waste dumpster at 301 Manufacturers Road. There was a white male rummaging through the dumpster. He told the officer he scraps stainless steel and copper. A plain-view search of his truck didn't render any suspicious materials or tools used in the theft of metals. A black and green spray-painted mountain bike was mounted to the rear of the truck, but did not match the description of recent bike thefts. The man had a non-extradition traffic warrant out of Georgia, a revoked driver's license, and the tag displayed on the truck returned to a Nissan, however he was not in actual physical control of the truck. He was verbally warned about the discrepancies, as well as catalytic converter theft laws.

* * *

A woman told police she was traveling southbound on Highway 27 and passed the Signal Mountain Boulevard exit when a big object hit her front windshield. This caused her windshield to be significantly damaged. The estimated damage is $500. Due to it being a safety hazard the woman requested a tow. Her car was towed by Cains Wrecker to Cherokee Boulevard. The woman had no injures and didn't need EMS.

* * *



A woman who lives on East 50th told police someone has been causing damage to the abandoned house next door to hers. A window and fence have been damaged. Police observed the house to be dilapidated, and it is hard to tell if any damage has occurred recently. An owner for the house couldn't be identified. There were numerous court notices on the front door, but no contact information.

* * *

A woman called police and said her employer's American Express credit card had been stolen and was used at JC Penny's at Hamilton Place for $2,725. Her credit cards were also stolen and her Chase credit card was used at Best Buy to make two charges of $1,420.48 each. Her Truist credit card was used at Best Buy in Hixson and was charged $786.32. She said the person tried to use the card again at JC Penny's for over $4,000 but that charge was declined.

* * *

A woman on Standifer Gap Road told police there were 19 transactions for Door Dash and two transactions for Amazon on her TVFCU debit card that were not made by her. The funds will be returned to her account, which makes TVFCU the victim.

* * *

A man at the Motel 6 at 5505 Brainerd Road told police sometime during the night his Troybuilt red generator were stolen out of the bed of his F-150. His wife looked outside the door and noticed a white male, (5'10", 150 pounds, red hair, in his 30s) standing beside the F-150. Next, she noticed the man driving away in a tan Ford SUV and believed that the blue straps used to secure the generator were hanging out of the vehicle. Police told the victim to contact dispatch if he noticed the suspected thief hanging around the motel.

* * *

Police observed an abandoned vehicle in the shoulder of the 5300 block of Mountain Creek Road. An officer then approached the vehicle, a Chevrolet SUV bearing TN tag, and observed that the vehicle was unoccupied. He placed an abandoned vehicle sticker on the vehicle and left the scene.

* * *

A disorder was reported on Wilcox Boulevard. Police spoke with a woman who said that she was upset because her caretaker would not take her to her sister's house. She said that she just needed someone to vent to about the situation. The woman returned inside the home without issue.

* * *

A man at a business at 7601 E. Brainerd Road told police there was a homeless camp behind the business and he wanted them removed. Officers walked through the homeless camp and did not encounter anyone. There was a large amount of trash at this location. Officers will attempt to make contact again at a later time.

* * *

A woman told police she was driving east on Brainerd Road when she got cut off by a vehicle merging onto her lane. She said the driver threw a water bottle at her so she decided to call 911. When the officer asked her if she would want to press charges if police found the vehicle she refused.
The Peoples Convoy Official-Tennessee has been working to set up overpasses to be filled for a Convoy going from Chattanooga this Saturday morning for a meet up from other various cities in Tennessee.

A group leaving from Chattanooga is scheduled for a meet up with other convoys in Baxter, Tn,, then traveling all together to Lebanon, Tn. for a rally and then to the state capital in Nashville to slow roll several times.



The Chattanooga convoy will arrive at the Northgate Shopping Mall in the old Sears parking lot at 8 a.m. Saturday morning and depart for Baxter at 9 a.m. Those meeting in Chattanooga are coming from different cities in the area, including Cleveland and others south of Cleveland. People will be jumping in from various areas along the route.

Convoys coming from Memphis, Murfreesboro and Nashville will meet up in Lebanon before convoying around the capital.



"We do this for freedom, reminding DC and all state officials that they work for us," officials said.
Does anyone beside me ever stop and wonder what has happened to the time? It was 50 years ago that I received orders for Vietnam. I was a new father, Amy was three months old and I spent a lot of time thinking about those rice paddies thousands of miles away from Chattanooga.



I remember the day like it was yesterday. I kissed my precious daughter and wife goodbye and left Lovell Field wondering what was ahead and would I ever return home alive. Before leaving my last duty station, Fort Jackson, SC, I had talks with several of my buddies who had just returned from Southeast Asia, and their stories were mixed. Young soldiers were coming home in body bags; a few of them were my friends from high school.



The flight across the country took several hours and I finally arrived at Oakland, Ca. While there I got to go see the Oakland As and meet Gene Autry. Then came news I still find hard to believe. Some of us were being diverted to various other U.S. installations, and my next stop would be Germany.



Ive told this story before, but to my surprise I ended up at the American Forces Network, Frankfurt West Germany. I remember it was a Tuesday and I was greeted by SSG Joe Maggard, who was from the Tri-Cities, upper East Tennessee. He didnt hear my tape or anything, just told me Id go on the air the following Monday because the person doing the morning country show was rotating back to the states. I was still in shock. I was getting a program on a network with the potential of reaching 21,000,000 people.



The show Town and Country was heard all over Europe. The program was aimed at our troops and their families, but as I quickly found out, there were a lot of country music fans on the continent. I received mail from listeners in England, France, Belgium, Germany and even one from East Germany. When the Russians didnt jam the station, they heard the program over AFN Berlin.



I remember sending my longtime friend, Hamilton County Executive Dalton Roberts, a tape of one of my programs. He wrote back saying how much he enjoyed the show and thanked me for playing Nat Stuckeys Dont Pay the Ransom, a song hed written. We stayed in touch until I got home.



Chattanooga broadcaster Jerry Lingerfelt was also a pen pal. Hed worked at WDXB, and by this time was general manager of WDEF, then WGOW  WYNQ. Jerry told me the only other broadcaster he knew that was on the American Forces Network was Dick Davis, who had done the evening shift at WDEF for several years. I still have a letter Jerry sent me.



Being on the air every day at the network came with responsibility. My superiors gave me very little guidance on the music or structure of the show, but were always pointing out small ways I could improve.



There was one point from Program Director Bud Miller Ill never forget, Guys always come out of the news with a fast song. Mr. Miller said, News is depressing and the music need to be something to change ones mood. Mr. Miller, who introduced my program every day, was hardworking and one of the best broadcasters Ive ever met. I learned so much from him.



Another memory Ill never forget is my 30-second conversation with Glen Campbell. He and Anne Murray were in the studio for an interview with Niteside Host Chris Davala. As I rounded the corner in the hallway, I came face to face with Campbell. He spoke, first commenting on my German name. I then took the liberty to ask Campbell his favorite song to do on stage. He responded, "Its not really a song, but I like to do the narration 'Friends' from my 'Galveston' album." Campbell penned the lyrics. He said, The words say mountains. Then he said, Nice meeting you. and walked into the studio for the interview with Davala. Campbell and Murray were in Europe for several appearances. AFNE Parks Seward made a picture of the couple and gave us copies.



Ive lost touch with most of the professionals I worked with at AFNE. Many of them have died, but because of Facebook Ive been able to reconnect with a few and share memories.



Ill always believe it was my mother's and grandmother's prayers that landed me that military assignment. It definitely was a high point of my nearly 55 years in broadcasting.
Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union is celebrating National Small Business Week by opening applications for the Fifth Annual Idea Leap Grant. Small businesses in the Tennessee Valley can vie to win one of five grants, totaling $100,000/



Businesses in TVFCUs 13-county service area that have been in operation for at least one year and have fewer than 25 employees are eligible to apply for their chance at winning one of five grants  grand prize: $50,000, first place: $20,000 and three runners-up: $10,000. Full rules and the application are available at tvfcu.com/IdeaLeapGrant.



We are excited to celebrate the Fifth Annual Idea Leap Grant Initiative by giving away a total of $100,000 in grants, said Tommy Nix, vice president of business and commercial services at TVFCU. Through the Idea Leap Initiative, we have funded more than $4.2 million in loans to emerging and early-stage businesses to more than 175 small businesses. We have awarded more than $200,000 in Idea Leap Grants. And as a thank you to our independent panel of judges, we have awarded more than $15,000 in Idea Leap scholarships to two area technical assistance providers to help people learn more about how to achieve their small business dreams.

The Idea Leap Grant application is open from Monday, May 2, until 5 p.m. on Friday, June 3. An independent panel of judges from across the community will review the applications. This years judging panel is led by Dionne Jenkins, vice president of diversity and inclusion at Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union.



Judges include:

- Vickye Bone, vice president, Urban League of Greater Chattanooga;

- Lisa Dotson, executive director, Main Street Athens and associate director at The LITE House;

- Chuck Fisher, partner/director, Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison, P.C.;

- Emily Gilliam, credit analyst, Brightbridge Capital;

- Sarah Mattson, small business specialist, TSBDC, Chattanooga;

- Ann Zack, small business specialist, TSBDC, Cleveland; and

- Briana Garza, owner, Chatt Taste Food Tours, and 2021 Idea Leap Grant winner & 2022 celebrity judge.



The panel will announce the 20 quarterfinalists in early July, which will be whittled down to ten semifinalists in late August.

"Well need the communitys help to name one of the top five finalists through the Peoples Choice Award text voting campaign," officials said.

The five finalists will then pitch their grant request during Startup Week Chattanooga on Tuesday, Oct. 18.
Nine employees of East Ridge were given letters of commendation on Thursday night for dedication and commitment to the well being of the citizens of East Ridge. On the night of March 30, firefighters and police officers responded to an apartment fire at 3725 Fountain Ave. and saved nine lives, it was stated. Fire Chief Mike Williams said that saving nine people during one incident is outstanding and does not often happen. He awarded a letter of commendation to eight fire fighters and two police officers.

They are Battalion Chief Billy Quintrell, Capt. Chris Peters, Lt. James Burkart, Engineers Bryan Dean, Ronnie Crawford, Josh Williams and Tyler Ezell and fire fighter Jaxon Albright. The Police Officers that were honored are Tyler Davis and Jonah Goddard. Mayor Brian Williams presented each with a challenge coin from the city.

An amendment of the East Ridge fire code passed on the final reading at the meeting, which now prohibits open flame cooking devices to be stored or used on combustible apartment balconies.

The police department is making plans to increase its reserve officer program, said Assistant Chief Clint Uselton. With the councils approval Thursday night to purchase eight additional Motorola portable radios, there will be enough for the new reserves and one extra. The cost is $37,239 to buy eight of the radios that are carried by officers on their belts.

The police department will be conducting two upcoming community events. This coming Saturday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., police will hold a Drug Take-Back Day at Walgreens on Ringgold Road. And on May 14, the department will have Spring into Safety at the Camp Jordan Arena parking lot. The police will promote seat belt use, hold controlled crashes, demonstrate effects of drunk driving and have fire and police vehicles on display for kids to get into. The East Ridge Animal Shelter will also have an adoption day.

The city is hoping to make transportation improvements and will be applying for state funding to help with the cost. City Manager Chris Dorsey said that if the projects are selected, the state of Tennessee would pay 80 percent of the cost and East Ridge would be responsible for just 20 percent. The council members committed to provide the required 20 percent match if the projects are chosen. Each is only in the preliminary application phase.

One of these projects would create a traffic calming solution at the intersection of South Seminole and Bennett Roads. Another, Spring Creek Phase I project, would alleviate traffic that stacks up from the elementary school to Ringgold Road. Spring Creek Phase II would widen the road from Spring Creek Elementary School to Parkridge East Hospital. The fourth traffic project would widen South Mack Smith Road from the state line where traffic now backs up to Ringgold Road.

All of these projects are in the preliminary planning stages he said, but if they are accepted, the total cost would be $6,284,500 and East Ridge would only be responsible for paying $1,256,000 of that.

Mr. Dorsey also updated the council on the citys plan for patch paving for which they previously approved spending a half million if it is feasible. A thorough analysis has been finished which rated the citys streets from worst to best. It is now being determined if it will be possible and more efficient to combine certain streets that need work in order to take advantage of where road equipment will be placed.

The city has agreed to renew a contract with TDOT for mowing services at the I-75, Exit 1 interchange. Although East Ridge will be paid $8,820 to mow the area six times during the year, the council was told it does not cover the actual cost. The city prefers to do the work and keep the interchange at the entrance to the city looking better than if TDOT did the maintenance which would include mowing only a few times.

A zoning change for an existing duplex at 1200 South Seminole Dr. was approved on the first reading. A second will be needed before the new zoning takes effect. Pastor Nathan Garamy of the Freedom Church Assembly of God previously received a recommendation from the East Ridge Planning Commission, for a zoning change from R-1 Residential to R-2 Residential Duplex. The building that has always been a duplex, is owned by the church and is on church property. The church ultimately wishes to use it for a short-term rental. Because it would not be owner occupied, the use for a short-term rental will have to be approved by the city county at a future meeting.

On the second and last reading an ordinance passed to extend construction deadlines for the owners of the two new package stores that are being built in East Ridge. They will each have two, three-month extensions of the deadline if needed. The delays have been caused by labor and supply chain shortages.

Another ordinance was amended to allow East Ridge city judges to live in Hamilton County outside of the city. Another condition is that the judge cannot hold any other non-judicial federal, county, state of municipal elected office.

Two city amenities have been added to the parks and playgrounds in East Ridge. A new dog park behind city hall has opened and is already being used quite a bit, said City Manager Dorsey. Playground equipment for the dogs has been ordered and is expected to be received in June.

The Splash Pad is in the process of being fenced now and some finishing details are being completed. Plans are to open it to the public around Memorial Day.

In preparation for elections on May 5 the city held a lottery for spots around the poling places where candidates can locate tents. Mr. Dorsey said six places have been reserved and the ones that are left will be available on a first come first serve basis.

Mayor Williams informed the council and those present at the meeting that officials in East Ridge have requested $1 million from Hamilton County to help with the cost of constructing entrances into what is referred to as the Gateway. He said he is optimistic that Hamilton County will partner with the city with financial assistance. The Hamilton County Commission will vote on the money for East Ridge at next Wednesdays commission meeting.
The White Lotus was one of the buzziest shows of Summer 2021. Now, fans of HBOs comedy-drama are chomping at the bit for the sophomore season. Jennifer Coolidge, who gave a standout performance in Season 1, will reprise her role in the upcoming season. However, the cast of The White Lotus Season 2 also features other recognizable names like Aubrey Plaza and Theo James.

The White Lotus Season 2 actor Aubrey Plaza | Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

How many episodes will The White Lotus Season 2 have?

Of course, the cast isnt the only thing that will make The White Lotus Season 2 a new experience for fans. The sophomore season is one episode longer than the first. Deadline announced that fans would have seven episodes to sink their teeth into this time around. Plazas season is also being shot in a dramatically different locale. While the first season was shot in Hawaii at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, the second is currently being filmed in Italy.

Where is The White Lotus Season 2 being filmed?

The White Lotus Season 2 is being shot in Sicily at San Domenico Palace. The show has taken over the Four Seasons hotel, which was converted from a convent. With rooms starting at around $1,000 per night, the hotel is sure to deliver on the luxurious location that fans have come to expect from the show. Panoramic views and an infinity pool atop a cliff will make for a stunning playground for Plaza and the rest of the cast.

RELATED: The White Lotus Director Calls Sydney Sweeney A Little Scene Stealer

Aubrey Plaza gets candid about shooting the HBO show on location in Italy

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Plaza explained how a new location will help The White Lotus Season 2 feel like a completely new experience for viewers. Its cool how the location informs the show, the Parks and Recreation alum shared. Sicily is such a culturally rich place. I mean, theres a literal volcano that has erupted since weve been here. Its a very charged environment. Its going to feel like that.

Who does Plaza play in The White Lotus Season 2?

In the aforementioned interview, Plaza also revealed a bit more about her character. In the series, the Happiest Season star portrays Harper Spiller. Harper finds herself in Italy on vacation with her husband, Ethan, and another married couple, Cameron and Daphne Babcock. Most of Plazas scenes center around her little quartet. However, fans can look forward to a few moments where she and Coolidge share the screen.

Just finished EMILY THE CRIMINAL and I only have one question.



 Ash, Sundance first-timer



Bonus points is you answer with your favorite @evilhag reaction. pic.twitter.com/sBXBP1daRA  SundanceFilmFestival (@sundancefest) January 25, 2022

RELATED: Parks and Rec: Aubrey Plaza Revealed That April Was Written for Her

I do, Plaza revealed when asked if she had any scenes with Coolidge in The White Lotus Season 2. I do. I do. I believe I do. But most of my story is a separate story. I play a woman whos married and were on vacation with another couple. Our story exists with our little foursome, but there are moments when some of the characters overlap, like in the first season.

The actor is making herself right at home at San Domenico Palace

Plaza is certainly excited to be on location working on the show. She shared that the cast and crew had taken over the entire hotel and the energy on set is palpable. But before she could get into character, she had to figure out the hotels lighting. According to the actor, hotels have strange lighting, which shes sensitive to.

For the Holy Grail issue, cover star @evilhagyou know, the sharp, sarcastic, enchanting woman of our collective dreams whos filming #TheWhiteLotus and promoting new movieslets us in as she plots her next move. Read it here: https://t.co/SKa23rZ7NE pic.twitter.com/xDVTow6dS2  Cosmopolitan (@Cosmopolitan) April 26, 2022

Its always too bright, Plaza admitted. In fact, I bought two lamps in town today. I think the hotel thinks Im insane. I probably could have asked them for a lamp. Im basically setting up an apartment in here, just trying to create an atmosphere. I saged.

RELATED: Parks and Rec Creator Says Aubrey Plaza Made Him More Uncomfortable Than Ive Ever Been
People around the world have been weighing in on Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussexs relationship since they began dating. Now, former U.S. President Donald Trump is giving his thoughts on the royal couple.

Donald Trump thinks Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should be stripped of their titles

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Trump claimed Harry is being led around by his nose by Meghan. Harry is whipped, Trump said. Harry is whipped like no other person I think Ive seen.

Im not a fan of Meghan, he continued. Im not a fan and I wasnt right from the beginning. I think poor Harry is being led around by his nose. And I think hes an embarrassment. And I think she spoke badly of the royal family but in particular the Queen.

Trump met Queen Elizabeth while he was serving as president and says they got along very well: She liked me and I liked her.

The former president also said he thinks Harry and Meghan should lose their royal titles because of their behavior toward the royal family.

I would [take their titles away], he said. The only thing I disagree with the Queen on probably one of the only things ever is that I think she would have said, If thats your choice, fine. But you now longer have titles. You know?

I think that [Harry] has been so disrespectful to the country, and [the UK is] a great country, Trump continued. I own a lot of things there.

Donald Trump thinks Prince Harry and Meghans marriage will end bad

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Karwai Tang/WireImage

Trump also gave his thoughts on the state of Harry and Meghans marriage, saying he thinks it wont last because of the stress they both have endured due to their exile from Harrys native United Kingdom.

So, I want to know whats going to happen when Harry decides hes had enough of being bossed around, he mused. Or maybe when she decides that she likes some other guy better. I want to know whats going to happen when it ends, OK?

I do [think the relationship will end], Trump concluded. Ive been a very good predictor, as you know. I predicted almost everything. Itll end and itll end bad. And I wonder if Harrys gonna go back on his hands and knees, back into the beautiful city of London and say, Please. You know, I think Harry has been led down a path.

Meghan Markle refused to meet Donald Trump in 2019

Meghan Markle | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Trumps feelings about Meghan might be because of a more personal reason. When he traveled to England to meet with the royal family in 2019, she was noticeably absent from the events.

Some pointed to the fact that she was technically still on maternity leave after giving birth to her first child, Archie. Others thought it was probably due to the fact that Meghan had previously made it clear she disagreed with Trumps politics. In 2016, she even went so far as to say she might move to Canada after he was elected president.

While there are many rumors about Harry and Meghans marriage, Trumps comments on the pair seem unfounded; they appear to be enjoying their time away from the life of the royal family.

RELATED: Donald Trump Invited Meghan Markle to One of His Golf Courses Before She Joined the Royal Family
Actor John Wayne loved both land and sea. However, he took his love for the water to another level when he purchased a boat that he spent a lot of time on. The Wayne houseboat is a beautiful piece of history that fans continue to admire long after the actors death. Heres a look inside of Wild Goose.

John Wayne owned a WWII houseboat called Wild Goose

John Wayne | REPORTERS ASSOCIES/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

The Daze with Jordan the Lion YouTube channel takes viewers on a tour inside of the Wayne houseboat. The actor spent a lot of time on the houseboat and owned it for 18 years. However, he sold it shortly before he died in 1979. Jordan explained that Wayne had some of his favorite moments of all time on the Wild Goose. He even convalesced on the boat after he knew that he was going to die.

The Wayne houseboat was a decommissioned World War II Naval minesweeper. However, he wasnt the original owner. Billionaire Max Wyman purchased the boat, but he wanted to sell it when he grew tired of it. Wayne purchased it off his hands and had to have the ceilings raised to accommodate his height without bumping his head.

Jordan explained that Wayne spent time in between his movie sets on the Wild Goose houseboat. Wyman gave the ship the name Wild Goose II, but the actor decided to simply drop the two off the name.

The entrance, bar area, and Bridge room areas

One of John Wayne's favorite places to be was on his restored WW2 Minesweeper, the Wild Goose Pictured here is the Wild Goose & a similar Minesweeper to give you an idea of what the Wild Goose originally looked like pic.twitter.com/hhmNOMbRVB  John Wayne Official (@JohnDukeWayne) May 11, 2018

Jordan pointed out a plaque staring at him in the face the moment he stepped foot on the Wayne houseboat with the name Wild Goose printed on it. Theres a sign next to it that reads National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior, marking it a place of significance.

The host shared that Waynes Wild Goose now occasionally operates as a location for guests to enjoy dinner cruises. The ship will take folks on the route that Wayne took around Newport Beach.

Wild Goose has gorgeous wood detail around the entire houseboat, but this is particularly apparent in the bar area. This is where the Duke enjoyed spending time having a few drinks served by a bartender.

Next, Jordan took his viewers to one of Waynes favorite rooms, which is where he would play Bridge. In the actors later years, he didnt always have the strength to go upstairs, so he would rest on the couch in that room. There is a battleship mural above the resting area, which the actor had commissioned by an art director from one of the movie studios.

Wayne kept as much of the Wild Goose houseboat intact with naval requirements as possible. There are pictures of the actor that line the walls, although most of them werent originally on the walls. Wayne preferred having photographs of his family, but his movie posters and other images of him were added after his death. However, viewers can see paintings that were pained by his third wife, Pilar.

The John Wayne kitchen, engine room, and bathroom

Some photos from the John Wayne archive of the Duke enjoying winter on the Wild Goose. The second photo shows the crew breaking off chunks of ice from a glacier so they could use it in their cocktails on the boat pic.twitter.com/02vZnZlCXX  John Wayne Official (@JohnDukeWayne) December 19, 2018

Jordan went to the other side of the boat to take a quick look at the kitchen, where the Duke had meals prepared for him. Next, he went into the engine room. The host explained that the ships engine was originally a locomotive or train engine that they repurposed when the military had the ship. The ladder at the end of the room leads to the bar area.

The host exited the engine room to head to the second level of the ship, using gold-detailed stairs to get there. He explored a second Bride room, where guests can purchase Wayne and Wild Goose merchandise. Jordan explained that the Wayne houseboats captain is still alive and participates in the dinner cruises.

This second Bridge room hosts the Dukes book collection, as he was an avid reader. Leopard-skin-printed chairs sit around tables. However, the Wild Goose houseboat looked a little bit different when Wayne owned it. The area was an open back deck that gave incredible panoramic views. More wood carvings line the room.

Jordan finished this section in the bathroom attached to the second Bridge room. It has gold finishes that tie in with the rest of the houseboat.

The Dukes and his kids bedrooms

On set, on The Wild Goose, or on the beach, you could always catch Duke playing chess!  Would you be able to beat John Wayne in a game of chess? pic.twitter.com/wfLn19tP2m  John Wayne Official (@JohnDukeWayne) January 12, 2019

Jordans next section included Waynes kids room, which is where Ethan and Aissa would stay. The room has small bunk beds perfect for young children. However, the Duke would lock the door from the outside at night, so that they wouldnt wander out and fall overboard. The children would have to pass through their fathers room to access the outside.

Next, the Wayne houseboat bedroom remains entirely intact. The bed and the chairs are the same ones that the Duke owned. The bedsheets have beautiful gold accents to them. Above the bed, there is another battleship mural reminiscent of the one in the first Bridge room.

There is a bathroom attached to the bedroom with an image of the Wild Goose and a bamboo mirror on the wall.

Pilothouse and the third level

One of John Wayne's favorite activities was fishing off the deck of the Wild Goose Where is your favorite place to fish? pic.twitter.com/Ev4WCIYdHF  John Wayne Official (@JohnDukeWayne) May 9, 2019

In the final segment of the video, Jordan took a look at the anchor and where Wayne had his final interview with Barbara Walters standing at the front. He explained that the actor wore a wig when he had company for an interview. Otherwise, he never wore it.

Jordan brought viewers to the pilothouse, where Wayne was very particular regarding his Wild Goose houseboat. He was truly the captain of the ship, as he didnt permit anyone else to touch the brass on the wheel. The wooden paneling is all-new, but most of the devices are original. Theres a small sleeping area beneath the pilothouse.

The final portion of the Wayne houseboat tour is on the third level, which is where dinner guests can enjoy their food while overlooking the beautiful scenery. This wasnt originally there, but the bar area is where Wayne did his weightlifting.

RELATED: Inside John Waynes Newport Beach Home He Sure as Hell Couldnt Afford Later
John Lennon revealed The Beatles Love Me Do was one of the first songs he wrote with Paul McCartney. He revealed Paul started writing the song when he was very young. Subsequently, John explained why singing Love Me Do was initially traumatic. Interestingly, the song became a hit in multiple decades.

The Beatles John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr | Bettmann / Contributor

John Lennon said he and Paul McCartney took years to finish The Beatles Love Me Do

According to the book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, John discussed Love Me Do in 1972. Love Me Do is one of the first ones we wrote ourselves, you know, he recalled. Paul started writing that when he must have been about 15. We finished it up over the years and recorded it.

John felt the song was daring. It was the first one wed sort of dared do of our own, he said. Because we were doing such great numbers of other people.

RELATED: The Beatles: John Lennon Said Paul McCartney and George Harrison Overshadowed Him on This Song

John Lennon said The Beatles were more comfortable playing songs by Ray Charles and Little Richard

John was asked if The Beatles making a song of their own was a big event. Yeah, yeah, he said. That started later in our life, around Liverpool and Hamburg, when we started introducing our own numbers. It was quite a traumatic thing because we were doing such great numbers, you know, of other people. Ray Charles and [Little] Richard and all them.

John commented on this transition. It was kind of a hard thing to come in and suddenly start singing Love Me Do,' he said. We all thought our numbers were a bit wet, you know. But we gradually broke that down and decided to try em.

RELATED: John Lennons Son Named His 2 Favorite Beatles Songs Even Though He Hates Being Asked About That

The way Love Me Do performed on the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

Love Me Do became a success. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for one week. Love Me Do spent a total of 14 weeks on the chart. Love Me Do appeared on The Beatles compilation album 1. The album was No. 1 for eight of its whopping 517 weeks on the Billboard 200.

According to The Official Charts Company, Love Me Do became a hit in the United Kingdom three times. In 1962, the song hit No. 17 and stayed on the chart for 18 weeks. In 1982, the song peaked at No. 4 and remained on the chart for seven weeks. Love Me Do became a hit for a final time in 1992. Then, it hit No. 53 for one week.

Meanwhile, 1 became a huge hit in the U.K. It was No. 1 for nine weeks. The compilation remained on the chart for 364 weeks in total.

Love Me Do was a huge hit  even if The Beatles didnt initially want to play it.

RELATED: The Beatles: John Lennon and Paul McCartney Used These 2 Words in Their Song Titles and Lyrics to Connect to Fans
In the trial of Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard, Heards abuse op-ed in The Washington Post is under scrutiny by the court. Thats the essay at the heart of the trial  the one Depp says ruined his career. And it turns out Heard had professional help in all aspects of the conception, preparation, drafting, and publication of that piece.

Amber Heards op-ed as evidence | Michael Reynolds/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

The ACLU assisted in all aspects of Amber Heards abuse op-ed

To the surprise of some observers, Heards relationship with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) came under the spotlight in the defamation trial. Chief operating officer Terence Dougherty revealed that professionals within the ACLUs communications department assisted in Heards op-ed published in The Washington Post.

The Post credited Heard as the writer, as it was allegedly about her perspective. But the Director of Artistic Engagement, Jessica White, and the communications department of the ACLU got involved in all aspects of the conception, preparation, drafting, and publication of Heards essay, Dougherty claimed.

He said the Aquaman actor worked with her lawyers and the ACLU to build the debatably career-ending essay. The ACLU hoped to capitalize on the interest in her from the movie and use it to bring attention to important issues, such as domestic violence.

Amber Heard donated $1.3 million to the ACLU after they assisted in the abuse op-ed

In the video deposition of the #ACLU's COO and general counsel, an email revealed that #AmberHeard wanted to include that she filed a restraining order against #JohnnyDepp in her 2018 Washington Post op-ed. @LawCrimeNetwork pic.twitter.com/GrbUCu39F0  Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) April 28, 2022

Dougherty also testified about the $3.5 million pledge Heard made to the ACLU from her divorce settlement. A crop of headlines emerged in 2018 suggesting Heard had donated large sums to charity. And thats what shed promised to do with the divorce money.

But it turns out she only paid part of the ACLUs promised donation. And the first $100,000 came in the form of a check directly from Depps legal team, Dougherty said.

So far, Heard has paid $1.3 million. She agreed to pay toward the $3.5 million total yearly for 10 years. But Dougherty said she hasnt paid a yearly installment since 2019. And when the ACLU reached out about her commitment, she said she was having financial troubles.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Heard currently has an $8 million net worth.

Amber Heard wanted to wear the pants in the relationship with Johnny Depp despite claims made in her op-ed, his bodyguard said

"I can see that Amber wanted to wear the pants in this relationship": A bodyguard for #JohnnyDepp described #AmberHeard's behavior during her relationship with Depp. @LawCrimeNetwork pic.twitter.com/axduaRdX6F  Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) April 28, 2022

Some of the Edward Scissorhands stars associates have also testified, like his bodyguard, Malcolm Connolly. He said it was great to see [Depp] happy again in the honeymoon phase of his relationship with Heard. But according to him, Things started to change. Amber started to change.

He said she got a bit more feisty [and] demanding, before concluding, I could see that she wanted to wear the pants in this relationship. That was pretty obvious.

That bodyguard also denied a story about him having arrived to Depps home in Australia to find the actor trying to urinate in the foyer. I think I would remember Mr. Depps penis, he said assuredly to laughter from the courtroom.

Another of Depps bodyguards said Heard talked to him about the famous feces incident in April 2016. He testified she told him it was a horrible practical joke gone wrong. More recently, Heard said the foul joke was played on Depp by her dogs.

How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.

RELATED: Elon Musk Responds to Threesome Rumor Involving Amber Heard and Cara Delevingne
Even after stepping down from his duties, having his titles stripped, and settling out of court with his sexual assault accuser, the royals havent cut ties with Prince Andrew. But according to a new book, if Prince William had his way Andrew would be banished from the family now.

Here are the claims being made in a new book about what the future king reportedly told other royals to do when it came to anything pertaining to his uncle.

Prince William and Prince Andrew standing next to each other after a church service | Hannah McKay  WPA Pool /Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth tapped Prince Andrew for public moment despite bad press

In January, prior to Andrew reaching a settlement with Virginia Guiffre, Queen Elizabeth II took away his military affiliations and remaining patronages.

Buckingham Palace released a statement that read: With the queens approval and agreement, The Duke of Yorks military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the queen.

But just a few months later in a surprising move, the monarch had her second oldest son accompany her to her seat for Prince Philips memorial service. That left many members of the public scratching their heads. However, after the queens reign ends the Duke of York wont be in the royal spotlight anymore, especially if Prince William has anything to say about it.

Prince William reportedly wants Andrew banished from the royal family

The Express noted that claims about the Duke of Cambridges position on Prince Andrew come from Robert Jobsons new book titled William at 40: The Making of a Modern Monarch.

A source told Jobson: The decision over the Duke of York was very difficult for the queen and the Prince of Wales. They were obviously closer to Andrew than his nephew but William could evaluate just how damaging his uncle was to the long-term future of the monarchy.

Jobson added that William was able to take the emotion out of the situation. 

The book also claims that when Andrews court case progressed to the point of a potential trial William went straight to the queen to explain calmly and clearly that Andrews role in the royal family had become untenable.

Jonson wrote that another source told him that there will be no public role or comeback for [Andrew] if the Duke of Cambridge has any input on the matter  and let me assure you, he does. He should be banished, as far as Prince William is concerned.

Prince William was asked about Prince Andrew at the end of a visit he and Kate made to the @FoundlingMuseum in London.

Do you support Prince Andrew? a reporter asked the Duke of Cambridge.

The response was about as detailed as Prince Charles on Friday (zero). https://t.co/zZ53gmdnv4 pic.twitter.com/7KYbogfwoZ  Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) January 19, 2022

Prince Andrew lost another title recently

Prince Andrew lost another ceremonial honor recently when the council in the city of York voted unanimously to withdraw the princes freedom of the city.

The decision was made on April 27 and York City Councilor Darryl Smalley stated that the city was following the example set by Queen Elizabeth in removing the dukes honorary titles.

She saw that it was doing serious reputational damage to those military institutions and charities and so stepped in to remove him from those positions, Smalley said according to the Associated Press. We believe very strongly, and many residents agree with us, that we should be removing all links between our city and Prince Andrew.

RELATED: Royal Author Believes Questions About Prince Andrew Were Off-Limits During Prince Harry and Meghan Markles Interview With Oprah
On March 25, music legends Foo Fighters announced the death of their drummer, Taylor Hawkins. Shortly after the group canceled their upcoming tour dates, long-time friends Red Hot Chili Peppers replaced them at the upcoming New Orleans Jazz Festival. However, they wont forget Hawkins during their performance. Chad Smith said Red Hot Chili Peppers is bringing Hawkins wife Alison, and they plan to celebrate the late drummer.

Red Hot Chili Peppers Chad Smith and Foo Fighters Taylor Hawkins | Getty Images

Red Hot Chili Peppers is bringing Taylor Hawkins wife to New Orleans Jazz Festival for a celebration of the drummer

The Californication band wouldnt have been able to replace Foo Fighters at this years New Orleans Jazz Festival without paying tribute to Hawkins. Drummer Chad Smith told Billboard that they have some plans.

Red Hot Chili Peppers is bringing Hakwins wife Alison to the festival, where they will celebrate the late drummer.

Were taking Alison, his wife, with us and its going to be a celebration, Smith said. Thats what she wants. She doesnt want it to be anything other than, Lets celebrate music, lets celebrate our friends, lets celebrate Taylor. This is what he would want and he would be very happy that you guys are playing and he would want it to be nothing but a positive experience.

So were going to do all that and shes going to be part of that and Im very honored that we can do that with her.  Were going to play our hearts out.

RELATED: Taylor Hawkins on the Worst Foo Fighters Song: It Was a Total Cop Out

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith posted a heartbreaking tribute video to Taylor Hawkins

Smith and Hawkins were very close. They cemented their relationship after having a prank war together on tour when Foo Fighters opened for Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1999. Later, Smith and Hawkins became family friends, and Hawkins was even godfather to Smiths son.

Smith was one of the first people to pay tribute to Hawkins following his death. On his Instagram, he posted a heartbreaking tribute video to his friend on April 1.

His essence of his creative energy is out in another universe somewhere and he was able to express that here in his short life, Smith explained to Billboard.

Wherever he is, I feel strongly and believe that he is doing his Taylor Hawkins as only he can. Hes doing that somewhere else and giving that love and life to everybody wherever he is now that he did here. So that gives me a little bit of comfort, but I miss the f*** out of him.

RELATED: Brian May Was Surprised That Taylor Hawkins Was a Huge Queen Fan: He Single-Handedly Made Queen Cool to a New Generation

Foo Fighters have canceled all upcoming tour dates

On March 25, Foo Fighters revealed Hawkins had died.

The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins, the band wrote. His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.

Hawkins played with the band days before on the South America leg of their tour. He was found dead in his hotel room in Bogota, Colombia. Colombian authorities have since released a preliminary toxicology report claiming that Hawkins had 10 substances in his body at the time of his death, including marijuana, opioids, and antidepressants.

Days later, Foo Fighters canceled all their upcoming tour dates.

A statement said, It is with great sadness that Foo Fighters confirm the cancellation of all upcoming tour dates in light of the staggering loss of our brother Taylor Hawkins.

Were sorry for and share in the disappointment that we wont be seeing one another as planned. Instead, lets take this time to grieve, to heal, to pull our loved ones close, and to appreciate all the music and memories weve made together.

With Love, Foo Fighters.

Then, Hawkins was honored at the 2022 Grammy Awards. However, Red Hot Chili Peppers upcoming tribute could resonate with fans more.

RELATED: Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers Are Finally Back With Their Chart Topper Unlimited Love
TL;DR:

Stevie Nicks attended multiple different schools growing up.

She fell in love with the person with whom she shared her first kiss.

The eventual heartbreak inspired her to write songs.

Stevie Nicks has had a number of boyfriends, both in the music industry and outside it. Much earlier in her life, though, she fell deeply in love with someone in high school. She shared her first kiss with him. Though the relationship ended in heartbreak, she explained that it did instill something vital in her.

Stevie Nicks | Paul Natkin/Getty Images

Stevie Nicks moved around a lot when she was young

When Nicks was growing up, her family rarely stayed in one place for long. Her father, Jess, was advancing in his career at Greyhound, something that required frequent relocation. By the time she graduated high school, she had lived in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and California.

This #throwbackthursday, we're blessing your timeline with this shot of a young @StevieNicks!  pic.twitter.com/Kbp0P3GkNR  AXS TV (@AXSTV) March 25, 2022

By the time Nicks had settled in and made friends, the family often had to move again.

Well, we moved  a lot, Nicks said, per the book Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis. So I was always the new girl. I knew I wasnt going to have much time to make friends, so I made friends quickly and I adjusted really well, and when Id say, Im gonna miss my room, my mom would always say, Theres always a better house.

She spoke about her first kiss

By high school, Nicks family was in California. Here, she had her first kiss when she was 15. She explained that her relationship with him went deeper than just a first kiss, though. She fell entirely in love.

I honestly feel that I was as in love with him as I have been in love with anybody else for the rest of my life, she said in an interview for CHUM Radio in 2001, per The Nicks Fix. I mean, that is why I wrote my first song, because I went out with somebody for a month and a half, at fifteen and a half, you know. And totally fell in love with him, and really fell in love with him, and wrote my first song.

Nicks explained that he had previously dated one of her close friends before starting a relationship with her. After some time, he got back together with Nicks friend.

Stevie Nicks said that her first heartbreak prompted her to start writing songs

Nicks was devastated by the split.

I had fallen for this incredible guy, and he ended up going out with my best friend, she said. And they both knew that I was going to be crushed.

She channeled this early heartbreak into the activity that would eventually make her famous: songwriting.

Happy Birthday to Stevie Nicks, who really, if all she ever did was write "Landslide," we'd still be talking about her.

But there's, you know, 3 dozen other songs that any artist would kill to have just one in their catalogue. pic.twitter.com/ynNWzSasVY  Eric Alper (@ThatEricAlper) May 26, 2021

I was totally in tears, sitting on my bed with lots of paper, my guitar, and a pen, and I wrote this song about your basic sixteen-year-old love affair thing that I was now going through.

Though she was upset, she found a new, creative love after finishing the song.

I finished that song, hysterically crying. And I was hooked, she explained. When I played my own song later that night, I knew  from that second on  that I was not going to sing a lot of other peoples songs. I was going to write my own.

RELATED: Stevie Nicks Laid Out the Minimum Requirement to Be Mr. Stevie Nicks
David Harbour plays an intrepid police chief in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. But he doesnt possess the same fearlessness off-camera. The veteran film and TV actor says the ocean terrifies him, with the mysteries of the deep too frightening for him to touch. But as a child of the 80s through and through, Harbour is still an ideal fit for the throwback energy of Stranger Things  even with a fear of the unknown that keeps him onshore.

Stranger Things is the perfect time capsule

David Harbour | Rachel Luna/FilmMagic

Nostalgia has never been more popular, but its rarely done as well as Stranger Things does it. Since first hitting TV screens in 2016, the sci-fi/horror series has taken viewers on a wild, Spielbergian ride through scientific conspiracies and good old-fashioned adolescent mischief. As the resourceful kids of Hawkins, Indiana, use telekinetic powers and travel to other dimensions, the series remains grounded only by movie lore and pop culture references.

And it turns out David Harbour was practically born to be a part of the Stranger Things universe. As he said in a speech at CinemaCon in 2019 (per EW), he grew up on classics like Raiders of the Lost Ark, which he claims he saw more than a dozen times in theaters while escaping the summer heat. Stranger Things isnt just set in the 1980s but also blends a host of famous movies into its plot and tone  borrowing heavily from Raiders of the Lost Ark director Steven Spielberg.

According to BuzzFeed, Harbour even once had a crush on Winona Ryder, one of his Stranger Things co-stars. But while Harbour and Ryder often try to act like the adults in the room in the series, the excellent cast of young actors drives much of the adventuresome spirit of Stranger Things.

Led by Eleven (played by two-time Emmy nominee Millie Bobby Brown), the large gaggle seems glued together by only one golden rule: Display an impressive ability to get in and out of trouble.

David Harbour thinks the ocean is beautifully terrifying

You could easily get the wrong perception of David Harbour by watching him play the burly Chief Hopper in Stranger Things. But while the lawman is brave in the face of danger, the actor is a little more cautious when hes not in front of the camera, especially when it comes to the ocean.

I think its beautiful and magical, but I never go in, Harbour told Womens Health. That deep, dark water, with no understanding of what goes on behind it  I think thats a metaphor for a lot of things.

But Harbour is also drawn to the mysteries of the ocean, again showing his natural fit for Stranger Things.

Im terrified of the unknown, which is a driving force for me. I like this idea that the things that terrify us also draw us in.

Though diving into the ocean might scare him, it doesnt stop him from having a great time on aquatic adventures. In January 2018, Harbour made waves by teaming with Greenpeace on a hilarious mission to dance with penguins in Antarctica.

Greenpeace asked Harbour to get at least 200,000 retweets to turn the dream into a reality. The actor ended up with more than 300,000 retweets on Twitter and followed through on the penguin trip the next month.

Stranger Things Season 4 will hit screens in time for Memorial Day

Its been almost three years since viewers have seen the Hawkins gang in action, but the wait is almost over.

Fittingly, creators Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer let the cat out of the bag with a crumpled typewriter letter, explaining they split Stranger Things Season 4 into two volumes. Following the initial release of volume 1 on May 27, volume 2 will launch on July 1. The Duffer brothers added that the series will wrap after season 5, which doesnt yet have a timetable.

When we last left David Harbour and company at the end of season 3, the world of Stranger Things was completely overturned. There were also plenty of questions about the status of Chief Hopper, who appeared to perish in the final episodes climax but might have teleported to a Russian prison. IMDb confirms Harbour will appear in all nine episodes of the fourth season.

Though part of the fun of Stranger Things is guessing how the pieces fit together, its safe to say only the Duffers know how itll all end.

RELATED: Stranger Things Star David Harbour Says His Soap Opera Gig Was Clearly My Worst Work
The first quarter of 2022 was characterized by significantly higher energy and raw materials prices as well as supply chain disruptions. Nevertheless, we had a very good start to the year 2022, said Dr. Martin Brudermuller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, at the companys virtual Annual Shareholders Meeting this year. BASF had already released preliminary figures on April 11, 2022.

Sales rose by 3.7 billion compared with the first quarter of 2021 to 23.1 billion. Sales growth was mainly driven by higher prices, especially in the Chemicals and Materials segments. Positive currency effects in all segments supported sales performance. Slightly lower sales volumes overall had an offsetting effect. Volumes growth in the Agricultural Solutions, Industrial Solutions, Materials, Nutrition & Care and Chemicals segments could not fully offset the decline in volumes in the Surface Technologies segment.

Income from operations (EBIT) before special items increased by 497 million to 2.8 billion. This was largely attributable to considerable earnings growth in the Chemicals segment. The Industrial Solutions, Materials and Nutrition & Care segments also significantly increased EBIT before special items. The Agricultural Solutions segment recorded slightly higher EBIT before special items. EBIT before special items in the Surface Technologies segment declined considerably, primarily as a result of much weaker demand from the automotive industry.

EBIT rose by 474 million compared with the first quarter of 2021 to 2.8 billion. Net income amounted to 1.2 billion, compared with 1.7 billion in the prior-year quarter. This is due to impairment charges recognized by Wintershall Dea, which BASF included in net income from shareholdings on a proportional basis (72.7 percent) as a special charge of around 1.1 billion. These impairments were triggered by the war in Ukraine and the related political consequences and concerned, in addition to the Nord Stream 2 loan, assets in Russia and in the gas transportation business.

Improved operating cash flow in first quarter 2022

Cash ows from operating activities amounted to minus 290 million, an improvement of 235 million compared with the first quarter of 2021. This increase  despite higher cash tied up in net working capital as a result of higher input costs and the sharp rise in sales  was mainly attributable to the improved operating performance. Free cash ow improved by 88 million to minus 893 million.

Proposed dividend of 3.40 per share

The Board of Executive Directors and the Supervisory Board of BASF SE are proposing a dividend of 3.40 per share for the 2021 business year to the Annual Shareholders Meeting taking place today. Assuming a corresponding resolution is adopted by shareholders, BASF will pay out a total of around 3.1 billion on May 4, 2022. This payment is more than covered by our strong free cash flow of 3.7 billion generated in 2021, said Brudermuller. The ex-dividend date, the day on which the BASF share will trade without the amount of the dividend reflected in the share price, is May 2, 2022.

BASF Group outlook for 2022

The global macroeconomic outlook is currently subject to very high uncertainty. In particular, it is impossible to predict the further development of the war in Ukraine and its impact on the prices and availability of energy and raw materials.

Consequently, BASF is currently maintaining its macroeconomic assumptions for the 2022 business year:

Growth in gross domestic product: 3.8 percent

Growth in industrial production: 3.8 percent

Growth in chemical production: 3.5 percent

Average euro/dollar exchange rate of $1.15 per euro

Average annual oil price (Brent crude) of $75 per barrel

BASF Groups sales and earnings forecast for the 2022 business year, as published in the BASF Report 2021, is being maintained:

Sales of between 74 billion and 77 billion

EBIT before special items of between 6.6 billion and 7.2 billion

Return on capital employed (ROCE) of between 11.4 percent and 12.6 percent

CO 2 emissions of between 19.6 million metric tons and 20.6 million metric tons

The market environment continues to be dominated by an exceptionally high level of uncertainty. Risks may arise from further increases in raw materials prices and new sanctions against Russia, such as a natural gas embargo, or restricted gas supplies from Russia as a result of counter-sanctions. Further risks could arise from the future course of the coronavirus pandemic and longer-lasting or new measures to contain the number of infections, especially in China. Opportunities could arise from continued high margins.
Cherokee Nation citizen and artist Lisa Rutherford was selected for a four-week residency at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In this 2019 photo, Rutherford is completing a twine skirt, which is one of several artistic trades she has in her repertoire.
There has been a burst of research on black holes in recent days. Three scholars from Norway, Brazil, and Canada say theyve found the smoking gun for the quantum structure of black hole horizons in gravitational wave echoes. NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory reports evidence black holes are devouring thousands of stars. And two more scholars from the United Kingdom and the United States have proposed that quantum hair can resolve the black hole paradox first described by theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

According to Reasons to Believe astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink, the new research raises new questions, showing us that the more we learn, the more we realize how much more there is to learn. CT asked him why physics isnt finished and what that can teach Christians who, like the psalmist, consider your heavens, the work of your fingers (Ps. 8:3).

What do black holes tell us about God?

Its not like, Black holes, therefore God. But the theory of the universe that we havethe theory that said black holes should exist before anyone knew to even think about themis predicated on the idea that our universe ought to be understandable. It ought to be coherent. It ought to be the same out in the distant reaches of the universe as it is here.

That points to the Creator. That tells us something about the Creator.

Look at how we get to black holes in the first place. Albert Einstein, back in 1915, recognized that as you move through the universe, from big stuff to small stuff and very fast stuff to very slow stuff, the laws of physics seemed to change. The way electromagnetism behaved was different from the way gravity behaved, and Einstein looked at that and said that doesnt make sense. The laws of physics ought to be the same no matter how you look at them.

It was that philosophical idea that led him to develop his general theory of relativity. And if general relativity is right, then there should be these things called black holes.

The insight or genius of general relatively is that space and time, instead of being abstractions or kind of empty spaces, are now understood as these dynamic quantities. As energy moves through space and time, it actually warps space and time, and they could become so warped that they would rupture. If you get a star thats massive enough, the gravitational pull is so strong that it collapses on itself and thats a black hole. So people started thinking about black holes theoretically and eventually found evidence. We even found that in the center of our galaxy there is this massive black hole.

The connection here is that when we look at creation, we expect to see an orderly, coherent creation. For Einstein, it is a philosophical idea that ultimately derives from the notion that there is a unified order. And thats what you would expect if there is a God who created it.

My basic understanding is that a black hole is a very dense star, a collapsed star, with a gravitational pull so powerful that even light, instead of just shining past, is locked into an orbit. How does that happen?

Take something like the earth. The earth is round because of gravity. Gravity wants to pull everything to the center, so it pulls all the atoms it can reach inward, but the atoms are all negatively charged, so when the atoms get close enough together, the electrons on those atoms repel one another. Gravity pulls them, but electromagnetic force pushes out.

Now imagine we added more mass. It gets a little bigger. But add more and more mass; eventually the gravitational pull would get strong enough it would overcome that electromagnetic force and pull those atoms closer together. Thats a white dwarf.

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Now if you keep adding mass, it will get more gravitational attraction. And eventually you overcome the Pauli exclusion principle that says two electrons cant exist in the same place; youre going to push all the electrons into the protons to make neutrons. Its going to collapse further until youre pushing neutrons together, and that a neutron star.

If you continue to add matter, eventually what will happen is it will collapse down to where all of the mass is concentrated into a point, and there you have a black hole.

Essentially, keep adding mass until theres nothing that can keep it from collapsinguntil theres no volumeand all of the mass is concentrated into this point and the gravitational pull is so strong that even light cant escape. Thats the recipe for making a black hole.

Sometimes when people talk about black holes, theres a kind of reverence. It goes even beyond awe. Why do you think that is?

For me personally, its that black holes are so beyond what I could fathom, so far beyond what I could even comprehend experiencing. Were confronted in a small way with what it would be like to experience something infinitely bigger than us.

When I stand here on the surface of the earth, the gravitational pull on my feet is a little bit larger than the gravitational pull on my head, but its no big deal. But if I were falling feet first into a black hole, the gravitational pull on my feet would become so much larger than whats on my head that it will actually rip every atom apart and the atoms will spiral into the black hole.

If Christianity is correct, one of the things that is true is that we as humans are designed to worship. And when you see things like black holes that are so much bigger and more powerful than us, its a very natural response to be moved to worship.

A lot of people are fascinated by black holes because theyre these weird objects in the universe. But they also present problems for scientists. Why do scientists have to grapple with black holes?

General relativity is an incredibly successful theory. It has passed every experimental test weve thrown at it. Quantum mechanics is the same. Its incredibly good at describing the universe. But when it comes to black holes, theyre giving us different answers. So we need to dig deeper.

Quantum mechanics says that information cannot be destroyed. But general relatively says that a black hole can only have three properties: mass, charge, and spin. Its just the nature of the way black holes work, those are the only three properties.

Say you have a star that is made out of pumpkin pie and youve got a star that is made up of hydrogen. If they each collapse and form a black hole, and they both reduce to mass, spin, and charge, then theyre going to look identical. Does that mean youve lost all the information that could tell you that one was originally made out of hydrogen and the other pumpkin pie?

Stephen Hawking identified this as a big problem in the 1970s. The way were looking at black holes, all this information is getting destroyed, and a fundamental rule of quantum mechanics is you cant destroy information. That information has to be somewhere.

This is where we get the idea of Hawking radiation as a potential solution to this problem.

There was recently a new discoveryIm not sure whether to call it a discovery or an argumentabout Hawking radiation. Can you tell us about that?

There are multiple solutions that have been proposed, but this is a novel one. Its another idea for how Hawking radiation could work. In this study, the scientists are saying a mechanism called quantum hair could explain how the information inside the black hole is connected to the radiation in the quantum state outside the horizon of the gravitational field.

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Basically, if the gravity gives off bits of informationif the information could be encoded in the gravitation, then it could be radiated offand not lost in the black hole. Theoretically, in principle, it seems that the information is there to extract. Because of the way gravity is quantized, its giving off information about the black hole.

If thats right, that leads to a new level of complexity. It would allow us to reconcile this discrepancy in what we know now, and wed be able to explain it, but then it has implications for how things work, and that will open up a whole new set of questions.

Historically, physicists have sometimes talked like theyre almost done. Like were just about to have a complete picture of the physical structure of the universe and there will be nothing more to know. And Christians who promote God of the gaps theories try to hurry that process along. But it doesnt seem like were going to be finished with physics very soon.

Every time we solve one of these big questions and put the answer out there, we run into a whole new set of questions that we didnt know existed! Compare our understanding of the universe now to when Isaac Newton was talking about his theory of gravity. We know so much more about whats going on than we did back then. But there are also so many more questions that we dont have answers to.

Its almost like, the more we learn, the more we realize how much more there is to learn. You can start to see that we will never exhaust this. Were going to be able to study creation forever. There will be new questions that we havent even thought to ask.

And this, again, points to the Creator. Thats where I see a connection to theology. Because that same thing is true about studying Gods revelation and Scripture and God. Weve got a lot of the big picture in place, but there are also new questions and we will never be done. We will never exhaust the subject. That moves me personally to awe and to want to worship.
The Church of Scotlandthe largest Protestant church in the countryis another step closer to allowing its ministers to officiate same-sex weddings.

The majority of the denomination endorsed draft legislation to let clergy marry same-sex couples, with 29 presbyteries in favor and 12 opposed. The proposal will go before its General Assembly gathering in Edinburgh in May for approval.

While clergy will not be required to marry same-sex couples, the move makes the minority who oppose the national churchs involvement in gay marriage worried about further division.

Theres still a continued struggle within the Church of Scotland, Mike Goss, a minister in the presbytery of Angus who opposed the change, told Premier Christian News. The group of folk are called traditionalists, folk who stand by the Bible, were not going away. Were still there.

The traditionalist wing of the church has debated its response to the moves toward affirming same-sex marriage for years. Even as the Presbyterian church prepares to allow the practice, the denominations official stance recognizes the tension.

The Church recognises that there are diverse views on the subject of same-sex marriage, it says. We are committed to ensuring that debates on this subject are held in a spirit of humility and grace, that the tone and tenor of discussions are civil and people are respectful of those who hold opposing views.

Scotland legalized civil partnerships for same-sex couples in 2005 and marriage in 2014. The Church of Scotlandalso known by its Scottish name, Kirkendorsed clergy in same-sex relationships back in 2009 but so far has not allowed ceremonies to take place in its churches.

The Scottish Episcopal Church, another mainline denomination, began allowing same-sex marriage ceremonies in 2017, a year after the Episcopal Church USA. To the south, the Church of England does not officiate same-sex marriages. Last year, the Methodist Church became the largest denomination in Britain to marry same-sex couples.

Nigel Kenny, the Scotland officer for the UK-based Christian Institute, criticized the Church of Scotlands move away from defining marriage as between a man and woman. This is a very sad development in the life of the National Kirk, which has in its constitution a commitment to the Bible as the supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice, he stated.

The trend toward LGBT inclusion among Europes mainline churches, including the Church of Scotland, has corresponded with ongoing membership decline, according to Evangelical Focus.

According to government statistics, half of adults in Scotland report no religious affiliation and just under a quarter (22%) say they belong to the Church of Scotland, which is the national church but is not state run. The report also showed just 2 percent of the population claiming LGBT affiliation.

But church attendance is aging and shrinking. Back in 2002, 12 percent of the Scottish population attended Church of Scotland services; by 2016, it was 7 percent, according to the Scottish Church Census by UK-based Brierley Consultancy. Meanwhile, turnout at Pentecostal churches doubledstanding out as the only tradition to see growth.

Even with the decline among the Church of Scotland, it remains ten times larger than any other Protestant body. The Free Church of Scotland (formed by a schism with the national church in the 19th century) is a smaller evangelical Presbyterian denomination of over 100 congregations and holds to a traditional view of marriage.

Within the Church of Scotland, traditionalists worry that disagreement over same-sex weddings will affect other areas of church life. Faced with continued decline, the church has been reassessing its mission by considering new expressions of church and new approaches to engagement that involve restructuring its presbyteries.

I guess the struggles will be with the continued relationships between congregations and between ministers, Goss said. Were in the middle of a vast process of change that's been called the Presbytery Mission Planning process, and thats going to require a lot of ministers working together, and this is just another spanner in that process, making it harder to know how we work together.
Over 3K accept invitations to Christ at Greg Laurie's Harvest crusade in Idaho

Calling it an event years in the making," California evangelist Greg Laurie drew thousands of people to hear the Gospel at his latest Harvest outreach in Boise, Idaho.

The crowd packed the two-night event held at ExtraMile Arena last Saturday and Sunday, with over 21,000 in attendance and more than 144,000 watching online.

Over 3,000 people responded when Laurie extended the invitation for them to come forward and commit their lives to Christ.

Initially slated for 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic, Boise Harvest involved over 100 local churches and the surrounding Treasure Valley area, partnering and planning for more than three years.

Speaking with The Christian Post, Laurie said some weren't even sure the Harvest event would ever come to Boise.

"This event was different because it had been postponed over two years. We were set and ready to go and COVID hit, and it just kept getting pushed off and pushed off, and perhaps some people in Idaho were not sure we would come at all," he said. "But we had made a commitment, and I saw the great commitment they had made, continuing to ask for it, pray for it, working together over 100 churches. So I thought weve got to go and do this.

And it was without question one of the best crusades weve ever held in our 30-year history.

Since 1990, Harvest Crusades have been held in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Roughly 6.5 million people have attended Lauries crusades in person, and an estimated 600,000 have made professions of faith in Christ through Harvest outreaches.

In 2012, the event was expanded as an annual nationwide simulcast event called Harvest America, broadcasting Harvest events into churches, theaters and living rooms across the country.

Harvest events are designed to be opportunities for Christians to invite family members, coworkers, friends and acquaintances to hear the life-changing message of the Gospel in an environment that is entertaining and non-threatening, according to the program's website.

In 2020, SoCal Harvest was canceled for the first time in over three decades due to the coronavirus pandemic. Harvest resumed in 2021 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, but only as a one-day event.

Laurie, the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship megachurch based in Riverside, compared the extended hiatus to the story of Elijah. God called the Old Testament prophet to walk boldly into the court of King Ahab and speak as a mouthpiece for God. Then the Lord told Elijah to ... basically just wait."

"And sometimes, when God tells us to wait, it doesnt make sense to us," Laurie added. "But the Scripture says He makes all things beautiful in His time."

When COVID hit in 2020, Laurie said it was time to pivot from in-person crusades to what he called a cinematic crusade." Harvest took everything learned from the live event production and put it into something that could be watched on a phone or TV screen.

Laurie also launched "Harvest at Home," the online service which exploded from about 10,000 viewers to about 200,000 viewers as the pandemic raged on.

It reminded me of Romans 8:28  that God can cause all things to work together for good, he said.

The Boise event featured performances from Jeremy Camp, Chris Tomlin, Jordan Feliz, Andy Mineo and the Harvest Worship Band. Laurie presented two messages on what it takes to fulfill a soul and Christ's solution to the problems of fear and the unknown.

So, what is the meaning of life? Laurie asked. It is to know there is a God in Heaven who loves you and has a plan for your life. Why are you here on this earth? To walk with God in a friendship, a relationship, with hope for this life and the afterlife.

He also spoke directly to those in attendance who came as skeptics or even to debate Christians.

No matter what sin you have committed, God will forgive you, Laurie said. Maybe you came here to mock Christians tonight. Maybe you went out of your way to argue with believers. I used to be like that too. I never planned on becoming a Christian when I did.

Laurie shared his testimony of how he came to know Jesus and his life changed forever at the age of 17.

At the end of each night in Boise, Laurie invited attendees to make a public profession of faith as the Harvest Worship Band played.

Thousands rose from their seats and made their way toward the stage as they committed their lives to Christ. They were met by local pastors and volunteers, who were able to lead them in prayer and invite them to a local church community.

During the final invitation, Laurie says the floor was so full that follow-up counselors had to climb up to the third level of the venue to hand out more than 2,500 Bibles.

The success in Boise, Laurie says, has prompted him to seriously consider holding similar outreaches around the country.

"They were just responding to everything so beautifully, and it was just a warm, memorable experience," he told The Christian Post. "And I look forward to going back there again sometime in the future."
New American Academy of Pediatrics guide claims some girls can get erections

A new American Academy of Pediatrics guide created to educate kids about puberty contains language intended to normalize the idea of children identifying as the opposite gender, including a suggestion that some girls can get erections.

The 150-page guide published by the AAP on April 19 is targeted at children ages 9 to 13. Titled "You-ology: A Puberty Guide for Every Body," the book was authored by three physicians, Dr. Kathryn Lowe, Dr. Trish Hutchison and Dr. Melisa Holmes. According to AAP Books, it embraces an inclusive approach that normalizes puberty for all kids.

With this book, were trying to change that language to be more inclusive, Lowe said in an April 23 interview with National Public Radio.

As a pediatrician, Lowes work includes instructing AAP on gender and sexual identity-related issues. In her interview with NPR, the pediatrician noted how schools and books that follow a traditional model for puberty education often teach people that girls menstruate while boys experience erections.

But some girls  for example, transgender girls  might not get their periods, she asserted. They need to understand about erections and those changes in their bodies. So we wanted to fill this void in puberty education so that kids, regardless of their gender, can see themselves in a book and learn about their bodies.

The book uses phrases like for most girls, this happens; for most boys, this happens, an approach Lowe praised as more inclusive. The authors also talked about puberty through fictional cisgender, transgender and non-binary characters, using phrases like most boys and kids like this character to be more gender diverse.

And then a lot of the time we also simply talked about body parts and what happens with ovaries and penises, because thats all completely accurate and is inclusive language also, Lowe said. You dont have to use gendered words.

The books other authors, Holmes and Hutchison, teach classes on puberty. The former is an OB/GYN, while the latter is a pediatrician. The pair are also the co-founders of Girlology, an online community that began in 2003 to provide girls with medically accurate information about their changing bodies.

When we started [teaching puberty classes in 2003], we separated [kids] by gender, Hutchison told NPR. But that was long before there was a better understanding of gender, and the language for it. I think within the last three to five years, its really become [clear that] we need to be more inclusive of everybody.

Hutchison revealed that when the book was in its planning stages a few years ago, the goal was for it to be in every school in the country, so that any kid could pick it up and see themselves and their peers. But she maintained that recent anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ legislation has restricted what types of books are allowed in schools.

There are certain states out there where you cant even say [some] of these words, she stated.

It is possible that Florida House Bill 1557, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last month, is one of the bills that Hutchison was referring to. The Florida law prohibits classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation for children in kindergarten through third grade and requires schools to inform parents about changes in services that could impact their childs well-being.

Critics of the law have called it the Dont Say Gay Bill and derided it as a vehicle for discrimination against LGBT students and staff.

"Regardless of whats going on in state capitals, our jobs are to be pediatricians, and to teach kids about their bodies and how to take care of themselves, Lowe added.

The AAP did not immediately respond to The Christian Posts request for comment.

A 2017 document published by the Christian organization Focus on the Family points to previous research suggesting that most children suffering from gender dysphoria grow out of their gender confusion by the time they reach puberty. The organization cites a 2010 study titled: Desisting and persisting gender dysphoria after childhood: a qualitative follow-up study.

The study was led by Dr. Thomas D. Steensma, a health psychologist with experience in counseling individuals with gender incongruence and supporting them in their medical transition.

However, proponents of allowing children to socially transition at younger ages argue that such findings on desistance trends in children with gender dysphoria are overblown.

But Focus on the Family, a group founded by Christian psychologist Dr. James Dobson, warns that a potential consequence of encouraging children to live as the opposite gender is that those kids may later have increased difficulty being assertive about switching back and explaining to others why they want to live as their biological gender.

The conservative American College of Pediatricians also has warned about the consequences of placing trans-identified children on puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones.

"Currently, there is a vigorous debate among physicians, therapists, and academics regarding what is fast becoming the new treatment standard for [gender dysphoria] in children," the group states on its website. "This new paradigm is rooted in the assumption that GD is innate, but a review of the current literature suggests that this claim is founded upon an unscientific gender ideology and lacks an evidence base."

Focus on the Family believes Christians should "seek to live in grace and truth" and that treatment for children suffering from gender dysphoria "should focus on helping children embrace their God-given biological reality."
Atheist activist demands Fla. school districts ban the Bible for being dangerous,' obscene

A liberal activist who sells sex toys online is getting national attention for calling on Floridas public schools to ban and even burn the Holy Bible over what he says are obscene and harmful passages.

Chaz Stevens of Deerfield Beach, Florida, wrote letters to superintendents in Miami-Dade County Public Schools and other school districts throughout the state asking them to immediately remove the Bible from the classroom, library, and any instructional material in their schools.

The campaign comes weeks after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1467, allowing Florida residents to request the removal of books they find objectionable from school classrooms and libraries. Critics have alleged that the measure stifles the free speech rights of students and faculty on LGBT issues and other matters.

Citing HB 1467, Stevens letter calls not only for the removal of the Bible and the banishment of any book that references it but also calls on education officials to burn what Stevens described as that giant stack of fiction in a pyre worthy of a Viking sendoff.

Stevens presented Jose Dotres, the superintendent of Miami-Dade County Schools, with his objections, including references to verses from the Old and New Testament. He sent a similar letter to Kenneth Savage, the interim superintendent of Lee County Public Schools, indicating that his effort to ban the Bible from public schools extends to the entire state.

In his letter to Dotres, Stevens misquotes Genesis 2:18 as It is not good enough for man to be alone, therefore, encourage one another and build each other up!

The verse written by Stevens actually (and incorrectly) combines Genesis 2:18 with a New Testament verse from Pauls first letter to the Thessalonians, to which Stevens comments: The most troubling of issues for many, as its obvious once we teach little Jimmy and Susie to show empathy for their classmates, theyre one giant step closer to getting their LGBTQ+ freak on.

Genesis 2:18 actually reads: It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 reads, Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, as indeed you are doing.

Stevens letter also takes apparent umbrage with the words of Jesus in a warning of the depravity of the human heart in Matthew 15:19: For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Additionally, the letter cites the Apostle Pauls inspired words in Romans 13:13 as a cause for concern: Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

As the Bible casually references such topics as adultery and fornication  or as I like to think, Date Night Friday Night  do we really want to teach our youth about drunken orgies? Stevens writes.

The context for Matthew 15:19 is when Jesus is teaching His disciples that its not food that defiles a man but rather what comes out of his mouth. Paul, meanwhile, was writing to the church in Rome  where sexual promiscuity was a cultural norm  when he described orgies and drunkenness.

Quoting Gods warning to the Israelites not to participate in bestiality in Leviticus 18:23, Stevens says, one should consider such discussions to be harmful to minors and obscene.

He also linked the Bibles view of slavery  which calls on masters to treat their servants justly and for servants to obey them as they would obey Christ Himself  with critical race theory, saying he was concerned our young white students will read such passages and wake up to civilizations sordid past.

A note on Stevens website says the Bible has been used to justify slavery, homophobia, and wars for centuries and its long past time to ban this dangerous book from our public schools.

Hes asking supporters for donations to his campaign of demanding every single Florida school board banish the Bible.

Stevens identifies himself in his letter to Dotres as an ordained minister for the Church of Mars in California and Florida.

In addition to his activism, Stevens also sells non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of sex toys featuring the names of DeSantis, former President Donald Trump and other political figures on his website.

Last December, he reportedly sent similar objects to DeSantis and other state and local officials who landed on his naughty list.

According to PEN, which characterizes itself as a literary and free expression advocacy organization, Florida had the third-highest number of books banned in schools with 204 across seven districts, coming behind only Pennsylvania and Texas. Its also one of only five states with at least five districts banning books.

Stevens effort to ban the Bible from public schools in Florida follows the enactment of House Bill 1557, a bill that prevents school officials from discussing matters related to sexual orientation and gender identity with students in kindergarten through third grade.

Derisively called the Dont Say Gay bill, critics of HB 1557 claimed that it censored the speech of students and faculty regarding LGBT issues.

Supporters of HB 1557 contend it is a necessary law to support the rights of parents who question the morality of teachers to young children about sexual matters.

Parents rights have been increasingly under assault around the nation, but in Florida we stand up for the rights of parents and the fundamental role they play in the education of their children, DeSantis said in a statement last month.

Parents have every right to be informed about services offered to their child at school, and should be protected from schools using classroom instruction to sexualize their kids as young as 5 years old, he added.
Dont celebrate the decline of mainline churches

The Presbyterian Church (USA)s latest membership drop to under 1.2 million, compared to over 4 million 60 years ago, making it now smaller than the Episcopal Church, is no reason for conservatives to chortle. Yes, liberal Mainline Protestantism is imploding. Yes, its revisionist theology and left-wing politics are blameworthy. But its decline hurts America.



And Evangelicals, plagued with their own problems and demographic challenges, have little room to judge. Mainline Protestantism helped create and sustain America across much of four centuries. Contemporary evangelicalism is mostly a post-WWII phenomenon, many of whose leading congregations are only several decades old. Will it endure as long as Mainline Protestantism?



The query echoes the counterintuitive question about the Roman Empire; Ask not why it fell but how did it last so long and accomplish so much?



Mainline Protestantism began at Jamestown in 1607 where the colonists built the first Anglican church in what would eventually become the United States, foreshadowing the Episcopal Church. In 1620 the Pilgrims built what became the first Congregationalist church, foreshadowing the United Church of Christ. Later settlers of the 1600s built Presbyterian and Lutheran churches, later becoming the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, is credited with founding the first northern Baptist church, father of the American Baptist Church. As latecomers, Methodism in America began in the mid-1700s, foreshadowing United Methodism, and the Stone-Campbellites of the late 1700s foreshadowed the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).



These seven denominations are the seven sisters of Mainline Protestantism, founding most of Americas colleges and universities, guiding the Founding Fathers and subsequent generations of leadership, stewarding Americas economic growth, and chaplaining Americas democracy, crafting Americas spiritual self-understanding, creating the tools of social and political reform, and generating the language of civil religion functioning as Americas default unofficial state church.



Mainline Protestantism peaked in membership and social influence in the 1950s and began its seemingly irreversible decline in the 1960s. The two predecessor bodies of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1965 had over 4.2 million members when Americas population was 40% less than today. Sixty years ago, the seven sisters had 30 million members or nearly one of every six Americans. Today they have about 13 million members or about 1 of every 25 Americans.



By comparison, the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal evangelical denomination, had half a million members 60 years ago and today has 3.2 million, larger than all Mainline denominations except for United Methodism. The Southern Baptist Convention had 10 million members 60 years ago, rose to 16 million, and over the last 20 years has decreased to 14 million.



Why has once predominant Mainline Protestantism imploded so fast? Defenders of the Mainline mostly blame uncontrollable sociological and demographic trends amid growing secularization. Conservatives blame the Mainlines theological liberalism, starting in the seminaries in the early 20th century, deemphasizing the supernatural and evangelism in favor of ethics and social reform. Later in the 20th century, political radicalization estranged Mainline elites from local members.



Theres a caricature by some conservatives that typical Mainline congregations focus on social justice and wokery. In fact, the average local Mainline church remains mostly traditional in worship and includes conservatives and liberals. Mainline pastors, aware of this diversity, are usually careful in the pulpit and avoid controversy. Political activism is usually confined to mostly out of sight national or regional denominational structures. Mainline pulpits rarely include overt heresy, as some conservatives imagine. Instead, they typically focus on generic moral and spiritual themes. But evangelism is rarely a focus. Congregations are typically old and almost entirely white. Perhaps its fair to say Mainline churches are often more focused on affirmation instead of transformation much less salvation. Yet the Gospel is still there, however muted, in the hymns, the liturgy, and hopefully even in the sermons.



When Mainline denominations, at least in their national structures, politically radicalized starting in the 1960s they assumed their cultural leadership in America was unassailable. They had been paramount for two or three centuries, after all. And who would replace them? They had not foreseen the rise of evangelicalism, which they had deemed irrelevant as a branch of discredited fundamentalism. Nor did they expect secularization and marginalization for the institutional Church. Thanks to the endowments and accumulated cultural capital of the past, Mainline denominations even after losing 50% or more of their membership (Presbyterians have lost almost two-thirds) still mostly pretend all is well. Mainline Protestants still worship in often beautiful and historic buildings, prominently located in old downtowns, not terribly concerned that sanctuaries with capacity for many hundreds now include just dozens.



Some evangelicals disdain Mainline Protestants but have not fully considered their own plight and future. Non-racially diverse evangelical denominations are not growing. Denominational loyalties for both conservatives and liberals are dramatically receding. Growing churches tend to be nondenominational, their growth led by dynamic founding pastors, whose successors often cannot sustain the growth. Without the ballast of denominational ties, such churches often divide, decline or implode, sometimes stuck with large and expensive properties. Absent the connectional accountability of denominations, nondenominational congregations sometimes are more susceptible to financial or sexual scandals.



Evangelical churches are themselves sometimes politicized, perhaps even more so than liberal Mainline congregations. Evangelical churches tend to be more politically homogenous than Mainline congregations, so pastors can feel freer to be political from the pulpit. The politics of the Religious Right, although more populist and organic than the more elitist and clergy-driven Religious Left predominating in Mainline Protestantism, has sometimes distracted evangelical congregations and disenchanted some congregants. Evangelicalism has successfully built a subculture, but it has not shaped and led American culture like Mainline Protestantism did across several centuries. Maybe as a mostly contemporary movement, it just has not had enough time. Maybe it is too focused on congregational life to build wider multigenerational institutions. Maybe its suspicions of academia, having seen the secularizing of Mainline schools, prevented its building a more robust intellectual life with influence beyond its own subculture.



Mainline Protestantism built a nation and a society that, by many political and economic measures, is the most successful in history. The whole world, to the extent it benefits from Americas political and economic capital, can thank, at least partly, Mainline Protestantism. Its failures and decline over the last half-century dont negate its unprecedented accomplishments of the previous three centuries.



Mainline denominations like the Presbyterian Church (USA) may no longer exist in 20 years or less. Their remaining beautiful sanctuaries may largely become condominiums, or restaurants, or transfer to new religious entities. But what they achieved across many generations uplifted humanity and will endure eternally. We can learn from their mistakes and their ultimate demise. But we should more importantly also learn from their unparalleled success.

Originally published at Juicy Ecumenism.
What if the 9 Orthodox patriarchates got involved in the Ukraine-Russia war?

Did President Putin have a legitimate, legal, or moral basis for invading Ukraine beginning on Feb. 24, 2022, and going on to date?

Was Putin's aggression against Ukraine as a nation and its people justified under the casus belli laid down by Hugo Grotius in his book, On the Law of War and Peace, in the 16th century? Or was Putin's actions in killing indiscriminately Ukrainian people and razing entire cities in Ukraine morally justified under Thomas Aquinas's philosophy of war?

It is a fact that the Ukrainian government did nothing to invite the genocidal acts of Putin. As for the Freudian rationalizations advanced by Putin and his minions to protect supposedly the Russian people in the occupied territories in the southeast of Ukraine, these are fake and pathological arguments known as self-defense mechanisms to justify their genocide impulses.

International law speaks of a nation's sovereignty to be free in its decisions as long as these activities do not impinge on the rights of other nations. Yet, President Putin has from the start denied the sovereign rights of Ukrainians to choose whether to join NATO and the EU. Putin wants to impose his aggressive instincts on its neighbor Ukraine by usurping its sovereign rights to associate with and seek membership in NATO and the EU. This is brute and raw physical force expressed in the endless bombardments of the civilians, towns, infrastructures, and patrimonies of Ukraine.

Might does not equate with right. It is not because one can do this evil that he/she should do it.

Yet, all these unwarranted destructions happened during the holy days and weeks preceding the religious rituals of the Eastern Orthodox Church. To put it bluntly, Putin's acts are unChristian and pure evil. Whoever supports his war against Ukrainians and the nation of Ukraine is guilty of his immoral, illegal, and unChristian conduct.

Is the Jesus Christ of the Russian Orthodox Church different from the Jesus Christ of the other Christian churches?

Where is the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayes (aka Kirill or Cyril) in this whole debacle? Is he a man of God? In the service of Jesus Christ? Or is he a slave of Putin? Why is it he has not used his religious authority to influence Putin to stop the genocide of the Ukrainian people? Ukrainians are Christian Orthodox, too. Patriarch Kirill has a moral and religious obligation to counsel Putin about Jesus's teaching on love of thy neighbor regardless of the historical fact that the Ukraine Orthodox Church split from the Russian Orthodox Church in October 2018.

History records the prevalence of nine Eastern Orthodox Patriarchates, located in Constantinople (Istanbul), Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Moscow, Georgia, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria. The Patriarchate of Istanbul is considered the primordial Eastern Orthodox Church as it is symbolically referred to as First among Equals.

Should the nine Eastern Orthodox Patriarchates call a Synod to pass judgment or condemnation of Putin for his unchristian violence against the Christian country and people of Ukraine? Should this Synod gather in Istanbul or in Jerusalem, the birthplace of Christianity?

Many of my readers know me for my effective influence in changing the policies, hearts, and minds of the Qatar authorities when they lifted the edicts that persecuted Christians and non-Muslims in Qatar, which existed for 14 centuries. (See my book, The Knight and the Falcon: The Coming of Christianity in Qatar a Muslim Nation ). Religion today as before has a place in politics. Religion is in the DNA of people. It cannot be denied or stifled. That is why international law protects the precept of religious freedom.

In addition to the Synod of the nine Eastern Orthodox Patriarchates, I believe the U.S. State Department should encourage, and if possible, organize a conference on the persecution and genocide of the Ukrainian people, perpetrated by Putin and his immediate cohorts. In the Department of State, there is an office specifically created 10 years after my work in the field of diplomacy and religion, staffed with an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. I believe Ambassador Rashad Hussain could and should organize this conference to add more weight to protect the Ukrainians from annihilation in the hands of Putin.

Ambassador Hussain could organize this conference with the nine Orthodox Patriarchates, and he could invite the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to participate in this endeavor since he is well known to OIC members.

What I am advocating for is a world congress of religious heads to supplement NATO and the EU to intervene to stop the genocide of Ukrainians.
David Platt says churches must invest more in missions to evangelize 3 billion unreached worldwide

Megachurch Pastor David Platt stressed the importance of mission work among communities that have never heard the Gospel, especially the over 3 billion worldwide who are unreached.

Platt spoke about the need for missions during the Together for the Gospel Conference that was held last week at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville.

He opened his remarks by reading multiple biblical passages, including Matthew 28:18-20, which is commonly known as the Great Commission, in which Jesus tells His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Platt also read Romans 15:18-25, in which Paul of Tarsus wrote about how it has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known and that, in keeping with this, he was planning to travel to Spain to introduce the population to the Gospel.

After reading the passages and giving a prayer, Platt discussed a major problem, specifically that over 3 billion people are currently unreached by the Gospel, calling it a Romans 15 Spain-like ignorance of the Name and Gospel of Jesus.

Platt clarified that the term unreached did not simply mean being an unbeliever, but rather it meant that it was a community where the people had no access to the Gospel.

People are just as lost in Kentucky and the places where most all of us live as they are in Yemen, explained Platt. The difference is there are churches in Kentucky and all the places where most of us live. Gospel-preaching churches.

There are more Christians in this room right now than in all of Yemen. And Yemen has 30 million people ... which means that if youre one of those 30 million Yemenis, suffering and starving right now in the middle of civil war, the likelihood is you will be born, you will live, and you will die without ever even meeting a Christian or hearing the Gospel.

As evidence for his statistic, Platt referenced an evangelical research group known as the Joshua Project, which focuses on spreading awareness of the ethnic groups of the world with the smallest number of Christians.

Platt went on to argue that he believed too many churches were practically ignoring the people and places most unreached by the Gospel.

The Church, our churches, are practically ignoring the three billion people who need the Gospel most, he continued, noting that while American Christians give billions of dollars to missions, approximately 99% of missions giving goes to people and places in the world that already have access to the Gospel.

Is there work to be on those places? Absolutely there is  but open your eyes, brothers and sisters. In the name of missions, we are actually ignoring the Great Commission. The specific command Jesus has given us to make disciples among all the peoples of the world.

Platt stressed the need for churches to commit more resources to missions that go to unreached populations, declaring that the number of unreached people is higher today than ever before and will continue to increase until the church decides to change.

If we are not living and dying to make disciples of unreached nations, then we are disobeying the Great Commission and disregarding the goal of God, he declared.

Platt gave some caveats at this point, noting that while not everyone was meant to be a missionary to the unreached, all of us, every person in whom the Spirit of God dwells has been commissioned by God to live and give and work and pray and die with zeal to see disciples made and churches multiplied and the glory of God enjoyed and exalted among all the nations.

Platts remarks were part of the biennial T4G conference. The theme for this years conference was Last Word, as organizers said that this would be the final T4G gathering.

Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and one of the conference organizers, wrote in the official Conference Guide that it was a tremendous privilege to steward these gatherings for the last 16 years.

And we are excited to welcome you one more time to the mix of messages, singing, praying, panels, books, and fellowship that have marked these gatherings, wrote Dever.

Thanks for making this investment in the unity of the Spirit by uniting together in edification based around the truth. May God continue to make it bear fruit to his glory.

In addition to Platt, other speakers for the final conference included Ligon Duncan, chancellor and CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary; John Piper, author and pastor who oversees the theology website DesiringGod.org; Afshin Ziafat, the pastor of Providence Church in Frisco, Texas; and Alistair Begg, senior pastor at Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, among others.
Virginia church leaving UMC over LGBT debate, joining theologically conservative network

A United Methodist Church congregation in Virginia plans to join a theologically conservative alternative to the mainline Protestant denomination due to issues with the UMC's ongoing debate over homosexuality.

Holston View UMC of Weber City, which has over 300 members, recently announced that it is pursuing affiliation with the Global Methodist Church and leaving the UMC.

Meant to be a denomination where theologically conservative United Methodists can join to leave their churchs seemingly endless debate over LGBT issues, the GMC is scheduled to officially launch this Sunday.

A significant issue was incidents of some UMC leaders refusing to enforce Book of Discipline rules banning the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions.

Holston View Pastor Chuck Griffin told The Christian Post on Tuesday that his congregation had not yet left the UMC but rather it was planning to pursue separation once once a clear path develops.

Our church's top administrative board, the Church Leadership Council, voted 10-0 on March 24 to announce our intent, with one person abstaining and one absent, he explained.

We delayed the public announcement until we felt we had fully communicated the decision to church members.

Griffin spoke well of the GMC, referring to the denomination as the obvious continuation of traditional Methodism, which goes back to the 18th century.

The Methodist movement traditionally has treated Scripture as the inspired word of God, emphasizing specific biblical concepts like growing spiritually through regular engagement with God's abundant grace, Griffin told CP.

We expect the GMC will be a place where some lost or poorly practiced traditions of Methodism will be recovered.

The Rev. Tim Jones, director of communications for the Holston Conference, told CP that he was saddened to learn about the congregations plans. He noted that the regional body has a team working to create a fair and thoughtful process for churches to consider disaffiliation in a way that honors our relationships and complies with church law.

Jones also provided CP with a statement from Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett, acknowledging that some of our congregations and clergy are considering withdrawing from The United Methodist Church to become a part of another expression of Methodism such as the Global Methodist Church.

It will sadden us if these churches and clergy discern to withdraw. However, we will send them forth with our blessing to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, she continued.

Over the past few decades, the UMC has weathered increasingly divisive debate over its official stance labeling homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching, including a ban on clergy performing same-sex weddings or being in a same-sex romantic relationship.

Many conservatives within the denomination have taken issue with liberal leadership refusing to enforce the UMC Book of Discipline rules on LGBT issues, leading some to consider leaving the UMC over the debate.

Before the pandemic lockdowns began in early 2020, UMC leaders were planning to consider measures aimed at amicable separation for the denomination, to be voted on at that years General Conference.

However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the churchwide conference was postponed on multiple occasions, which only increased tensions among some liberals and conservatives.

In March, UMC leadership announced that they were once again postponing General Conference, this time to 2024, citing ongoing concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest postponement led organizers of the Global Methodist Church to decide to launch the new denomination on May 1, rather than their previous plan to launch after General Conference approved a separation plan.
City approves church's private school after allegations of stonewalling over religious beliefs

A Massachusetts school district accused of previously stonewalling the creation of a church-affiliated private school over its Christian worldview has agreed to allow the school to open.

The School Committee of Somerville Public Schools approved the creation of the Real Life Learning Center at its regular meeting, which was held virtually on Monday evening.

The private school is a project of Vida Real Church, a congregation largely made up of Hispanic immigrants, which accused the committee of stalling the school's application.

Last month, the First Liberty Institute and the Massachusetts Family Institute sent a letter of concern claiming that the school district was going to reject the application because committee officials disliked the churchs beliefs.

We are grateful that Somerville officials recognized that the government cannot ban a religious school because they disagree with its religious beliefs, said First Liberty attorney Ryan Gardner in a statement Wednesday.

Because of the school boards decision, more families will be able to provide the education they desire for their children.

During a reported Zoom meeting, at least one Somerville official worried that rejecting the churchs application to launch a private school would to legal action.

I think its hard to have to vote for a school that has so many values that I dont agree with, but I see the law is what it is in this case, committee member Ilana Krepchin was quoted as saying in a release from the Massachusets Family Institute. I dont see we have much of an option, and I just have to say this whole process seems a bit nutty.

In late March, First Liberty and Massachusets Family Institute sent their complaint letter to Superintendent Mary E. Skipper and Mayor Katjana Ballantyne.

Despite Vida Reals expressed desire to open RLLC as quickly as possible, the Committee has repeatedly stonewalled Vida Reals efforts to provide private, religious education for its community for over five months now, claimed the letter.

Even more concerning, the Committee has expressed hostility towards Vida Reals religious beliefs, and multiple Committee members have stated that RLLCs desire to create a curriculum consistent with its religious beliefs is grounds for denying its private school application.

Somerville officials denied any wrongdoing. A statement from Superintendent Skipper and School Committee Chair Andre Green was emailed to The Christian Post earlier this month.

The Committee has not yet reached a determination about the RLLC application, and all inquiries from the Committee have been for the purpose of evaluating whether RLLC meets the legal standards for approval, the statement read.

[I]f a private school is approved, the Committee does not engage in ongoing oversight or monitoring of that school; as such, the Committee considers a thorough review process, including a critical evaluation of whether an applicant has proposed and is capable of actually implementing a program that meets state requirements, to be essential to the Committees statutory obligations.
Satanic Temple sues school board for rejecting After School Satan Club

The Satanic Temple has filed a civil suit against a Pennsylvania elementary school only a few days after the district voted down a parents request to create an after-school Satan club for non-religious students.

The Dillsburg-based Northern York County School Board rejected the establishment of an After School Satan Club at the districts Northern Elementary School in an 8-1 vote on April 19. Samantha Groomer, the mother behind the proposal, said she suggested the club as a secular alternative to the Joy El Christian club, which operates in nine of 16 of the countys school districts and offers off-campus activities.

Parents and others gathered at the Pennsylvania school board meeting applauded after the idea for the club was denied, as seen in a clip of the meeting obtained by The York Daily Record. In response, Satanic Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves promised the group would pursue legal action.

Mathew Kezhaya, general counsel for The Satanic Temple, told The Christian Post that the issue being litigated is whether the school board discriminated against the Satan-worshipping group.

Kezhaya alleged that school officials told The Satanic Temple that removing the word Satan from the clubs name would improve its chance of approval. Another issue regarding the groups equal access to government property stems from the superintendent reportedly expressing concern about public backlash."

"This is direct evidence that the government improperly considered the popularity of the club's communicative activity when determining whether the club should be entitled to equal access to government property," Kezhaya told CP.



"The First Amendment prohibits a government from considering the popularity of communicative activity when determining whether to facilitate that communicative activity on equal terms with other, similarly situated, groups."

Some school districts have adopted extracurriculars sponsored by the Satanic Temple, such as the Jane Addams Elementary School in Moline, Illinois. In January, the school received criticism for passing out flyers promoting an After School Satan Club, defending the decision by claiming it does not discriminate against any groups looking to rent its facilities.

Similarly, the Lebanon City School District in Lebanon, Ohio, also faced pushback in January for allowing the Satanic Temple to host an after-school activity for elementary school children.

The After School Satan Club contends that U.S. Supreme Court precedent grants the club the right to hold meetings on public grounds after regular hours.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 in the case of Good News Club v. Milford Central School that schools operate a limited public forum and that, as such, they may not discriminate against religious speech should a religious organization choose to operate an After School Club on their premises.

In its handbook, the After School Satan Club claims to focus on free inquiry and rationalism, the scientific basis for which we know what we know about the world around us. The group also contends that it uses Satan in its title because, to them, the devil is not a supernatural being.

Instead, Satan is a literary figure that represents a metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny over the human mind and spirit, the handbook reads.

It is our goal to provide a fun, intellectually stimulating, and non-proselytizing alternative to current religious after-school clubs being offered in our public schools, which aim to indoctrinate children into their religious view, the handbook continues.

We are not offering any materials or lectures to your child about Satanism; instead, our focus will be on free inquiry and rationalism, bolstering scientific understandings of the natural world, and nurturing your childs already awesome ability to be curious about the wonders around them.

The Satanic Temple and the Northern Elementary School did not immediately respond to The Christian Posts request for comment.
Andrew Cuomo sued over pandemic order placing COVID-19 patients in nursing homes

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is being sued over his pandemic order placing thousands of COVID-19 patients in nursing homes during the pandemic, which critics argue put thousands of elderly individuals at risk.

Daniel Arbeeny, whose 89-year-old father died in April 2020 after developing coronavirus symptoms while at a nursing home in Brooklyn, filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The filing names Cuomo, top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa and former New York State Commissioner of Health Howard A. Zucker as defendants.

This policy of mandatory admission, non-testing and comingling of nursing home residents constituted reckless endangerment by all of the Defendants, the complaint reads, according to The New York Post.

Arbeeny told the outlet that his lawsuit is about holding those in charge accountable for the directive Cuomo issued in March 2020 requiring recovering COVID-19 patients to be transferred to nursing homes.

Wrongful death is wrongful death, whether its the state or not," Arbeeny was quoted as saying. "Its wrong. The government needs to make amends for this."

In June 2021, Arbeeny authored an opinion column with his brother Peter, writing that thousands of grieving families who lost loved ones in nursing homes are seeking the truth about Cuomos ill-fated advisory and subsequent cover-up of the true death toll.

Common sense tells us that nursing homes are the absolute last place that any sensible elected leader should send COVID-positive patients, wrote the Arbeeny brothers.

The governors strategy was to make nursing homes the first and only place to send discharged COVID-19 positive hospital patients, and without PPE. This happened even though not one nursing home was properly equipped to handle COVID-19 patients in March of 2020.

In March 2020 as pandemic lockdowns began, a Cuomo directed approximately 9,000 recovering COVID-19 patients to be transported to hundreds of nursing homes in New York. According to records obtained by The Associated Press, the 9,056 recovering patients sent to nursing homes were 40% higher than what the state health department had previously reported.

Cuomo aide DeRosa told state lawmakers in February 2021 that the administration had withheld data on the states nursing home death toll because they feared that the information would be used against us by federal prosecutors.

Two weeks earlier, New York Attorney General Letitia James published a report stating that the actual death toll of nursing home residents between March and August 2020 could have been twice as high as what the state had reported.

These revelations, combined with multiple allegations of sexual harassment leveled against Cuomo, led to him resigning as governor in August of last year.

Last month, the New York Office of the State Comptroller released an audit that found that Cuomos Health Department misled the public about the data on nursing home deaths and was not transparent in its reporting of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes.

"While the Department's duty is to act solely to promote public health, we determined that, rather than providing accurate and reliable information during a public health emergency, the Department instead conformed its presentation to the Executive's narrative, often presenting data in a manner that misled the public," the report states.

Whether due to the poor-quality data that it was collecting initially or, later, a deliberate decision, for certain periods during the pandemic, the Department understated the number of deaths at nursing homes by as much as 50%, the audit report added.

It was reported earlier this year that the Manhattan District Attorneys Office does not plan to prosecute Cuomo over the temporary COVID-19 nursing home order.

The lawsuit comes as a court in the United Kingdom ruled earlier this week that a government policy to discharge hospital patients to nursing homes in March and April 2020 without testing them for COVID-19 first was illegal because it failed to account for the risk it would pose to older and vulnerable individuals.
Biden tells teachers students are like your kids, 'not somebody elses while at school

President Joe Biden is facing criticism for suggesting to teachers that their students are like your children and not somebody elses when they are in their classrooms at a time when parental rights in education are receiving heightened attention nationwide.

Biden made remarks at the 2022 National and State Teachers of the Year Event in the East Room of the White House Wednesday.

While he spent most of his speech recalling the impact his teachers had on him as a child and highlighting his wife Jills role as a teacher, the president weighed in on what he described as American teachers becoming the target of the culture wars.

Today, there are too many politicians trying to score political points, trying to ban books  even math books, he said. I mean, did you even think  even you younger teachers  did you ever think, that youd be worried about book burnings and banning books, all because it doesnt fit somebodys political agenda? American teachers have dedicated their lives to teaching our children and lifting them up. We got to stop making them the target of the culture wars.

Biden pushed back on the idea that teachers educate someone elses children during the school day, insisting that theyre our children. He described children as the kite strings that literally lift our national ambitions aloft in a literal sense" and reiterated that theyre all our children.

And the reason youre the Teachers of the Year is that you recognize that, Biden said. Theyre not somebody elses children; theyre like yours when theyre in the classroom.

Biden faced pushback as critics believe his implication is that parents relinquish their authority over their children to teachers and school officials when they drop them off at school.

The conservative think tank American Principles Project published a tweet declaring, No, Joe, they are not somebody elses children. They are OUR children.

Joe Biden says to teachers about their students "they are not somebody else's children. They're yours when you're in the classroom."



No, Joe, they are not "somebody else's children."



They are OUR children. pic.twitter.com/A5wW3ytRQk  American Principles ???????? (@approject) April 27, 2022

Oklahomas Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt sent out a similar tweet.

God gave kids to parents  NOT the government," Stitt argued.

God gave kids to parents - NOT the government. https://t.co/EEc4aFlSag  Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) April 28, 2022

The advocacy group Moms for America tweeted, No #POTUS, theyre our children. Every minute of every day. Dont ever forget that.

No #POTUS, theyre our children. Every minute of every day. Dont ever forget that. https://t.co/Na7HnzVeXy  Moms for America (@momsforamerica) April 28, 2022

The fact-checking website PolitiFact accused conservatives and the Republican National Committee of misrepresenting what Biden was trying to say, contending that Biden's inclusion of the word "like" before "yours" changes the meaning of the sentence.

"Biden was saying that the nation's future depends on the successful education of American children  not that children belong to their teachers," the PolitiFact article reads.

"In his speech to teachers, Biden was talking about educators responsibility to their students and urged them to treat kids in the classroom with care, as if they were their own children. He told teachers students were 'like' their own."

Public schools across the nation have faced backlash in recent years from parents who believe the school districts are allowing sexually explicit material in their libraries and incorporating elements of critical race theory as part of the curriculum.

Concerns about the exposure of young children to LGBT ideology, specifically the topics of sexual orientation and gender identity, prompted the state of Florida to enact a law restricting school officials from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation with students in kindergarten through third grade.

Bidens comment about book burnings and banning books likely refers to the Florida Department of Educations rejection of several math textbooks submitted to the states initial adoption list for mathematics instructional materials properly aligned to Floridas Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Standards.

The Florida Department of Education cited the incorporation of prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT as the reason for rejecting 28 of the 132 submitted textbooks.

While 21% of the submitted textbooks were rejected for their inclusion of such topics, 41% of all mathematics textbooks submitted were denied for one reason or another.

An example of an offending textbook provided by the Florida Department of Education features a lesson on adding and subtracting polynomials, accompanied by a problem based on a graph of results from the Race Implicit Association Test.

The graphs demonstrate that conservatives have a moderate level of racial prejudice compared to their very liberal counterparts, who have the lowest level of bias based on responses to a questionnaire. At the same time, the graphs identify Americans older than 65 as having the highest level of racial prejudice.

The doctrine of "in loco parentis," as explained by Encyclopedia Britannica, is when minor children are entrusted by parents to a school" and "parents delegate to the school certain responsibilities for their children, and the school has certain liabilities. Additionally, the school and the teachers take some of the responsibility and some of the authority of the parents.

Over the past year, parents and community members across the United States have descended on school board meetings to accuse teachers and school boards of overstepping their authority.

Several advocacy groups have popped up over the past year, including Parents Defending Education and the 1776 Project PAC, which supports school board candidates opposed to critical race theory and sexually explicit material in the school curriculum.

The issue of education loomed large in last years Virginia gubernatorial election, especially after the Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe said on the debate stage I dont think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.

McAuliffe lost the election to his Republican challenger, Glenn Youngkin. In addition to the Virginia gubernatorial election, several candidates supported by the 1776 Project PAC were victorious in school board elections last fall.
University unlawfully stops Christian students from debating gay marriage: lawsuit

Three Christian college students have sued the University of Idaho for alleged wrongful punishment for expressing traditional views on marriage and sexual ethics on campus.

Students Peter Perlot, Mark Miller and Ryan Alexander of the Christian Legal Society sued the university in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, Central Division on Monday.

The defendants named in the suit include University President C. Scott Green, Dean of Students Brian Eckles, Office of Civil Rights & Investigations Director Erin Agidius and OCRI Deputy Director Lindsay Ewan.

According to the lawsuit, the three students went to an LGBT event on campus seeking to represent a biblical perspective on marriage and sexuality.

When a student approached to ask their views, they offered their perspectives and gave the student a note expressing an interest in continuing the dialogue.

Soon after, however, the Christian students were given no-contact orders from the OCRI, which prohibited them from communicating with the student.

The CLS members did not receive notice that anyone had complained about them and were not given an opportunity to review the allegations against them or defend themselves, according to the suit.

Instead of allowing the students to disagree civilly and respectfully with one another and to discuss these important issues, the University chose instead to censor Plaintiffs.

The students are being represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, a law firm that has argued religious liberty cases at the U.S. Supreme Court on numerous occasions.

ADF Legal Counsel Michael Ross said in a statement released Tuesday that he believed students must be free to discuss and debate the important issues of our day, especially law students who are preparing for a career that requires civil dialogue among differing viewpoints.

Yet the University of Idaho is shutting down Peter, Mark, and Ryan because of their religious beliefs. This is illegal behavior from any government official, and we urge the university officials to right their discriminatory actions immediately, Ross stated.

Jodi Walker, the university's senior communication's director, told The Christian Post that the academic institution cannot discuss pending litigation or specific student cases.

Walker explained that the no-contact order was a supportive measure available to a student under Title IX and that these supportive measures must be enacted when a student requests them.

When a complaint is made that qualifies under Title IX, the university must make the student aware of the supportive measures available, noted Walker.

Walker directed CP to a July 2021 guidance document from the U.S. Department of Education titled Questions and Answers on the Title IX Regulations on Sexual Harassment.

Under the question on supportive measures, the guidance explained that schools have discretion and flexibility to determine which supportive measures are appropriate.

The preamble states that a school must consider each set of unique circumstances to determine what individualized services would be appropriate based on the facts and circumstances of that situation, stated the guidance.
After losing $100 million property case, Fort Worth Episcopalians mull reunion with Texas Diocese

A group of Episcopalians in Texas who lost a legal battle with a breakaway diocese over church property valued at $100 million are considering reuniting with an Episcopal diocese that they originally belonged to in the 19th century.

In February of last year, the Anglican Church in North America secured control of The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth following several years of litigation against The Episcopal Church and the local Episcopalian presence, known as The Episcopal Church of North Texas (ECNTX).

ECNTX and The Episcopal Diocese of Texas released a joint statement last week announcing their plans to consider a reunion of the two local church bodies.

At present, the Diocese of Texas has over 160 congregations and around 72,000 active members, while the ECNTX has 13 congregations and around 5,000 active members.

ECNTX spokesperson Katie Sherrod told The Christian Post that, as a result of the breakaway Anglican group winning the legal battle, we lost all but three of our historic buildings and much of our funds.

While our people are amazingly creative, resilient, and resourceful  for example, our 4Staints Episcopal Food Pantry did not miss one day of food distribution despite having to move  we now face the challenge of rebuilding and planting churches, Sherrod explained.

We need resources and courageous partners who share our values and who understand the gifts we bring to the table. The Episcopal Diocese of Texas is that partner.

Sherrod believed that this reunion will strengthen both of us as we carry the message of God's amazing love for all to this part of Texas.

ECNTX Bishop Scott Mayer and Bishop Andrew Doyle of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas are holding meetings with their respective regional body leaders and others to work out the implementation of the proposed reunification, according to Sherrod.

Both dioceses will eventually call for special meetings of their diocesan conventions, she told CP. Once both conventions approve the reunion, then it has to be agreed to by the bishops and Standing Committees of The Episcopal Church.

In 2008, most of the Fort Worth diocesan leadership voted to leave The Episcopal Church due in part to differences stemming from the denominations increased acceptance of homosexuality.

The leadership decided to join the more theologically conservative ACNA denomination, with litigation ensuing over the dozens of church properties owned by the diocese.

The national church argued that they held the diocesan properties in a trust, while the breakaway leadership argued that amendments to their official documents overruled that trust claim.

Although the Fort Worth Court of Appeals ruled in favor of The Episcopal Church in 2018, the decision was partially reversed in 2020 by the Texas Supreme Court.

In February 2021, the United States Supreme Court refused without comment to hear an appeal in the case, effectively allowing the Texas Supreme Court ruling to remain in effect.

Anglican Bishop Ryan Reed, head of the breakaway Fort Worth Diocese, said in a statement at the time that the court's decision marked "a turning point" for the diocese.

"After directing so many resources to this dispute, we can now put our entire focus on Gospel ministry and Kingdom work," Reed stated last year.

"We are nearing completion on a strategic plan that will keep us focused on sharing the transforming love of Jesus Christ and our mission to equip the saints for the work of ministry."
Divorce papers reveal Lysa TerKeurst's husband spent over $100K on extramarital affair

A recent court filing has shed light on the divorce proceedings between Proverbs 31 Ministries founder Lysa TerKeurst and her husband, Art, including evidence the latter spent over $100,000 of the couples money on an illicit sexual extramarital affair with a woman he met online.

Lysa TerKeurst filed for divorce in December 2021 and publicly announced her decision in January, revealing her husband of nearly three decades had engaged in chosen patterns of behavior that dishonor God and the biblical covenant of marriage. The couple has five adult children together.

In 2017, TerKeurst revealed she would be pursuing a divorce from her husband due to his infidelity and struggles with addiction. At the time, she wrote he had been repeatedly unfaithful to me with a woman he met online and was abusing substances. However, the couple renewed their vows just over a year later after working to restore their marriage.

In her latest divorce announcement, TerKeurst said her husband had "broken" those renewed vows.

In February, Art TerKeurst filed a response to the divorce petition, requesting post-separation support, alimony, an equitable division of property, damages and the rescission of a post-nuptial agreement, Ministry Watch reported.

He claimed that he signed the post-nuptial agreement under duress, at a time when he was suicidal and preparing to enter a treatment facility for alcoholism. Art TerKeurst argued that after he finished treatment for his addictions and the couple renewed their vows, he believed the post-nuptial agreement was invalidated as part of their fresh start.

Though admitting hed engaged in illicit sexual behavior prior to the post-nuptial agreement, he claimed to have been a faithful and dutiful spouse ever since. Seeking post-separation support, Terkeurst said he is actually and substantially dependent upon [his] wife for his maintenance and support, adding the does not possess the financial ability or adequate resources to meet his accustomed standard of living.

But in April, Lysa TerKeurst entered a motion to dismiss Arts counterclaims, a request to compel arbitration and a reply to his allegations, according to Ministry Watch.

In her filing, the ministry leader said her husband freely agreed to the post nuptial agreement and voluntarily withdrew from the alcohol treatment program without completing it. She claimed his allegations of being suicidal were false, and that Art TerKeurst had exhibited narcissistic and sociopathic tendencies over the years.

The Forgiving What You Cant Forget author claimed that the couple maintained completely separate financial accounts pursuant to the post-nuptial agreement even after reconciling, and said that post-separation support and alimony ought to be denied due to her husbands infidelity.

The filing also includes text messages between Art TerKeurst and Mistress X. He allegedly met the woman on the website SugarDaddy.com and spent at least $118,000 of the TerKeursts money on the relationship. Expenses included paying for the mistress to move from Atlanta to Charlotte, North Carolina, and buying her a pre-engagement left hand ring.

In her January divorce announcement, the 52-year-old said shed 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.

In an April Instagram post, the ministry leader shared an update with her followers, reflecting on the moment she said, No more. No more devastation. No more betrayal. No more being lied to. No more.

Sometimes no more means implementing good boundaries that will help hold each person accountable to healthier relational patterns, she wrote.

Sometimes no more means acknowledging a heartbreaking reality that wise counsel has helped you see is no longer sustainable. Both dynamics require that we pursue healing. We need solid truth from Gods word to help guide and direct us. We need a godly professional counselor who is specifically trained to educate, comfort, and challenge us.
New technology challenges old scientific conclusions about historic Christian relic

An Italian scientist and his team claim their research shows the Shroud of Turin, a fabric purported to have been Christs burial garment, may have originated during the time of Jesuss death and resurrection.

Using a new X-ray technique called Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering to examine a sample of the linen, Liberato De Caro of Italys Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council and his colleagues determined in peer-reviewed research the shroud could be around 2,000 years old.

The researchers' findings were published in the international journal Heritage in April.

The Shroud of Turin is preserved at the royal chapel of the cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy, and it depicts the image of a crucified man. Many have questioned the linens authenticity since its emergence in the 14th century. Beginning in the 1980s, the Vatican encouraged scientists to conduct further investigations into its legitimacy.

The National Catholic Reporter reports that the research conducted in X-ray laboratories at the institute in collaboration with Professor G. Fanti of the University of Padua appears to contradict a 1988 carbon-dating study that suggested the fabric was only about 700 years old.

The Shroud of Turin is the most important relic of Christianity. According to Christian tradition, it is the burial shroud that would have wrapped the body of Jesus after his crucifixion, De Caro wrote in an April 13 email interview with The National Catholic Reporter.

The scientist believes that carbon dating, a method of age determination that analyzes radiocarbon decay, is not always reliable with fabric, explaining why the 1988 studys conclusion may be incorrect.

"Fabric samples are usually subject to all kinds of contamination, which cannot always be controlled and completely removed from the dated specimen," he continued.

"If the cleaning procedure of the sample is not thoroughly performed, carbon-14 dating is not reliable," he added. "This may have been the case in 1988, as confirmed by experimental evidence showing that when moving from the periphery towards the center of the sheet, along the longest side, there is a significant increase in carbon-14 (radiocarbon dating)."

De Caro has been investigating the shroud for about 30 years and developing techniques to examine the scale of atoms through X-rays. Three years ago, the scientist and his team developed a new method for dating samples from linen fabrics.

The new dating method, based on a technique called Wide Angle X-ray Scattering, was first tested on linen samples already dated using other techniques, on samples that had nothing to do with the shroud, and then applied to a sample taken from the Shroud of Turin, De Caro told The National Catholic Reporter.

The scientist started researching the Shroud of Turin with his team in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed their work.

The team eventually applied the new X-ray dating technique to the Holy Shroud, sending their findings to Heritage in March. The findings were published in April after a month of preparation and peer review from three independent experts and the journals editor.

The new technique may also have found evidence that the shroud migrated from the Middle East to Europe.

The seven centuries of documented history regarding the Shroud of Turin appear to show it has only ever been located in Europe, leading to further questions regarding its authenticity. But De Caro said an analysis of the shroud showed traces of pollen unique to the ancient region of Palestine trapped in its fibers. The scientist suggested that this means the shroud has spent a significant deal of time in the Middle East and not just Europe.

The Shroud of Turin challenges science, and each new piece of research could clarify part of the complex puzzle this relic represents, De Caro wrote. For example, the Shrouds image has yet to find a definitive explanation from those who have studied it, an explanation shared by the entire scientific community.

It is as if a photographic plate had been imprinted by radiation, he continued. By studying the traces left on the plate, one tries to trace the nature of the radiation and its properties. The same could be done for the Shrouds image.

De Caro stated that this new dating technique is only in its infancy, and whether he uses it to continue studying the Holy Shroud depends on if there are new samples to analyze.

The scientist also expressed a desire to use the technique to examine other relics associated with Jesus, such as the Sudarium of Oviedo and the Veil of Manoppello. The former is a cloth that allegedly was used to cover and clean Jesuss face after his crucifixion, and the latter, also called the Veil of Veronica, is a piece of fabric supposedly imprinted with the face of Christ during his walk to Golgotha.
Students for life of America kicked off TikTok for 'posting life-affirming content'

A pro-life advocacy group active on school campuses nationwide says its TikTok account has been shut down as the debate about censorship on social media is receiving renewed attention while billionaire Elon Musk is set to purchase Twitter.

In a blog post Tuesday, Students for Life of America announced that it was banned from the short-form video platform due to multiple Community Guideline violations. The organization insisted that it did not know for sure what caused TikTok to ban its account and said they received no way to appeal the decision.

In a statement released Wednesday, SFLA President Kristan Hawkins warned, If youre pro-life on TikToks social media platform, you have a target on your back.

"Theres no other explanation why SFLAs account was recently banned for posting life-affirming content while abortion supporters continue to run rampant on the app, Hawkins said. TikTok seems to be practicing corporate viewpoint discrimination.

The Christian Post reached out to TikTok for clarification on how Students for Life's account violated the platform's community guidelines. A response was not immediately received.

Although the exact reason for the account's termination remains uncertain, Students for Life suggests that the final video posted on the account may have played a role.

The video, titled Pro-Choicer Defeated by Simple Logic, showed Hawkins debating a pro-abortion University of Texas at San Antonio student about abortion.

The female protester confronted Hawkins as she addressed university students as part of her The Future is Anti-Abortion speaking tour. The student rejected the premise that life begins at conception, asserting that life begins when you understand living women matter more than potential babies.

Other pro-abortion protesters cheered and applauded the student's statement.

Hawkins asked, If its a potential baby, what is inside of a woman? The student replied by declaring, its a fetus. When Hawkins asked if the fetus is "living," the pro-abortion protesters answered no in unison.

How can it grow if its not living? she responded. When does the fetus become living?

While the pro-abortion student described Hawkins inquiry as a good question, she appeared ready to dismiss the argument before Hawkins jumped in and proclaimed, Yeah, of course, because you dont know it. Because its living.

The two debated which one of them denies science, with the student classifying the assertion that its a child inside of you as anti-science because it is a clump of cells.

Hawkins identified herself as a clump of cells and asked, What makes me different?

That you were born, the student replied.

Hawkins summarized the student's argument as implying anything that is not born is not valuable of life, a characterization the student rejected.

Another student in the audience maintained that the moment life becomes valuable was subjective, which prompted Hawkins to query, When does a child or fetus or clump of cells, whatever you want to call them, when does this clump of cells or fetus become living?

The student responded by saying, When it can sustain its own life. Then, Hawkins sought a definition of sustainability, contending that you cant just have a newborn and they just live on their own.

When the student agreed, Hawkins reiterated that theyre not sustainable" and "need help and assistance to survive.

Hawkins questioned whether a newborn is not worthy of life. Rather than answer the question, the student said that when her mom was in college 30 years ago, "she was protesting the exact same thing that me and these other wonderful women and men on this side have been protesting.

It is a basic human right to have an abortion, to have a choice, the student stated.

Hawkins argued that the reason were still having this discussion is because some people dont want to accept the natural consequences of heterosexual sex being inconvenienced by another human life or want to selfishly choose to end human life in order to have their whims met.

Students for Life of America is not the first pro-life group to face censorship on social media.

The pro-life website Life News reported last week that Twitter locked our account and threatened to permanently ban it for posting a picture of one of the five full-term babies aborted in our nations capital, even though we followed Twitter rules by marking it sensitive.

Twitter accepted Musk's offer to purchase the platform for $44 billion this week. Musk cited concern that the website was failing to live up to its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe.

Musk conducted a poll on his Twitter account last month asking whether Twitter rigorously adhered to the principle that free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Seventy percent of respondents voted no while 30% said yes.

Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.



Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022

Musk elaborated on his plans for the company.

Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated, he said. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans."

Twitter has tremendous potential  I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it, he added.
House Republicans postpone special order hour on the importance of prayer

UPDATE: 4:45 p.m. ET April 28: The special order hour on faith and prayer scheduled for Thursday has been postponed to May 16 after Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., tested positive for COVID-19 Wednesday evening. Allens office reported Thursday that Allen "tested positive for coronavirus on a PCR test during a pre-travel screening for a planned trip overseas." Allen is isolating and has no symptoms.

Original:

WASHINGTON  Nearly three dozen House Republicans are slated to take to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to discuss the importance of faith and prayer as the nation finds itself in the midst of spiritual warfare.

Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., and the House Republican Conference are hosting a special order hour on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday to allow members of Congress to talk about the impact prayer has on their lives.

The special hour order is taking place exactly one week before the May 5 National Day of Prayer, which falls on a day that Congress is not in session. Allen told The Christian Post that Thursdays event will take place after the House finishes with the business of the day" and will be streamed live on C-SPAN.

Special order hours, which usually occur after the legislative business is done for the day, are reserved by the House Democratic Caucus and the House Republican Conference to allow representatives to deliver speeches on topics of their choice.

We have the second hour, the Democrats have the first hour, Allen said. Sometimes, they dont use all their time.

He anticipated the Republicans special order hour would take place in the evening, with the exact time depending on when the House concludes its business and when the Democrats finish with their special order hour.

Allen cited the current national climate as the reason why House Republicans will devote a special order hour to discuss what prayer means to them. He warned this nation is in the midst of spiritual warfare.

The enemys kind of having his way with the culture right now, Allen proclaimed. Were seeing church attendance drop. Were seeing people confused, a lot of people dependent on drugs, alcohol and money.

Allen believes many are embracing drugs, alcohol and money to fill a void in their lives intended to be filled with faith in Jesus Christ.

"We know that emotional healths a problem. We know that a lot of people are without hope. A lot of people dont know who they are or whose they are," Allen said.

Allen, a businessman who has served in Congress since 2015, sees the special order hour as an opportunity to remind Americans of the role Judeo-Christian values played in the founding of the U.S.

He asserts that God set this country apart.

[John] Adams said that our Constitution is for a moral and religious people only and that it will do for no other," the 70-year-old politician said.

Some people take offense to that, but again, the Constitution was written for people of virtue  [and] we have to continue to fight for that, he added. I believe that its time for people of faith to step forward in this country and to make our vote count and to put those very values that our founders put forth in the Constitution on the center stage.

Thursday is not the first time that the House has held a special order hour devoted to talking about prayer, as a similar occasion has taken place every year at least since Allen was first elected to Congress in 2015. But this is the first one that Allen is heading up as chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus.

He noted that the Congressional Prayer Caucus meets at first votes every fly-in day, and we pray for our constituents. We pray for the country, and of course, we send out cards to folks who are in need and express our thoughts and prayers to them. The term fly-in day refers to the first day of the week when Congress is in session, typically a Monday or Tuesday.

A bipartisan group of 54 members from both chambers of Congress and the lieutenant governor of Montana are members of The Congressional Prayer Caucus.

About one-third of the members slated to speak at the special hour order are part of the Congression Prayer Caucus: Reps. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., Tracey Mann, R-Kan., Tim Walberg, R-Mich., Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, Mike Kelly, R-Pa., Brian Babin, R-Texas, Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, Randy Weber, R-Texas and Glenn Grothman, R-Wis.

Other House members scheduled to speak Thursday are Reps. Jerry Carl, R-Ala., Barry Moore, R-Ala., Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Mike Garcia, R-Calif., Scott Franklin, R-Fla., Buddy Carter, R-Ga., Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., Austin Scott, R-Ga., Mary Miller, R-Ill., Pete Stauber, R-Minn., Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., Greg Murphy, R-N.C., David Rouzer, R-N.C., Fred Keller, R-Pa., Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., Michael Cloud, R-Texas, Pat Fallon, R-Texas, John Curtis, R-Utah, Burgess Owens, R-Utah, and Bob Good, R-Va.

Allen said that the discussion of prayer on Capitol Hill extends far beyond the Congressional Prayer Caucus. He said many had been involved in Bible studies in this last session.

He praised a bipartisan Bible study that takes place on Thursday mornings, which helps organize the National Prayer Breakfast each year. Additional Bible studies Allen participates in consist solely of congressional Republicans. But he stressed that members on the other side of the aisle may have their own Bible studies that they participate in.

While Congress will not be in session on May 5 during the 2022 National Day of Prayer, Allen plans to spend much of the day praying.

During the National Day of Prayer, Allen will be with several of his colleagues on a trip to Israel, where he predicts they will pray for the Middle Eastern country and world peace in light of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Allen is concerned that the situation in Ukraine could cause a worldwide famine, adding, Weve got to pray that somehow we can overcome something like that.

Ukraine is the breadbasket of several areas over there," he said. "They produce something like 30% of the wheat. And they dont even have decent fuel to put in their tractors right now.

The congressman believes that with challenges facing the U.S. and the world, perseverance comes "through prayer." He contends that through prayer, God explains his word more clearly." He said it's essential to set aside quiet time to immerse in Gods word.

Allen, the founder of a successful Augusta-based construction company, has a prayer room at his house in his home district and his home in the Washington, D.C. area. His use of the prayer rooms dates back more than two decades when he had a spiritual awakening at 49.

Allens spiritual awakening resulted from his daughters active participation in their churchs youth group, which included mission work. He recalled how his daughter inviting him on a mission with her changed his life. From there, he began to view her as the spiritual leader of our family.

The day that I said OK, Im going to change the way I do things was Aug. 14, 2001, Allen recounted. All I did is say, OK, Jesus is No. 1, family is No. 2, and this business is No. 3.

Shortly after that, Allen said he began to get up at 5 a.m. to spend time studying the Bible in his prayer room. He quickly discovered that he couldnt get enough of it.

Thirteen years after his spiritual awakening, Allen was elected to represent Georgias 12th Congressional District. He maintains that if it werent for my faith, I could not do this."
SC Gov. McMaster signs bill protecting churches from forced closure during pandemics

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has signed a law that prohibits the state from placing greater restrictions on houses of worship than essential services during a state of emergency.

McMaster signed House Bill 3105 into law on Monday, which states that the government may not limit the ability of a religious organization to continue operating and to engage in religious services during a state of emergency to a greater extent than it limits operations or services of other organizations or businesses that provide essential services.

The legislation goes on to say that the state can require a religious organization to comply with neutral health, safety, or occupancy requirements during a state of emergency provided they are applicable to all organizations or businesses providing essential services and do not impose a substantial burden on religious services unless a compelling state interest exists.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a law firm that has represented many churches that sued states over the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown restrictions that were considered unconstitutional, celebrated the news of the South Carolina law being signed.

ADF Legal Counsel Greg Chafuen said in a statement released Tuesday that the First Amendment prohibits the government from treating houses of worship and religious organizations worse than shopping centers, restaurants, or gyms.

This bill takes the modest step of ensuring that officials cannot use a public crisis to discriminate against religious operations in violation of the Constitution, stated Chafuen.

We commend Gov. McMaster and the South Carolina Legislature for taking action to defend religious freedom in South Carolina.

Chiefly sponsored by state Rep. Richard Yow of Chesterfield, HB 3105 passed the South Carolina Legislature earlier this month, with a vote of 39-2 in the Senate and 102-9 in the House.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many state and local governments were accused of treating churches worse than comparable secular entities when issuing lockdown policies aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus.

In November 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo that New York had unfairly singled out certain religious groups in its gathering restrictions.

Members of this Court are not public health experts, and we should respect the judgment of those with special expertise and responsibility in this area. But even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten, concluded the majority.

The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendments guarantee of religious liberty.

Earlier this month, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed a similar law, which exempted houses of worship from specific emergency measures unless such houses have become unsafe to a degree that would justify condemnation in the absence of a state of emergency.
Jemar Tisby chides Grove City College for calling his invitation to speak in chapel 'a mistake'

Jemar Tisby, a well-known Christian author and president of The Witness, a multimedia platform about race, religion, politics and culture, chided leaders of Grove City College in Pennsylvania for calling a decision to allow him to speak in the schools chapel about race in 2020 a mistake.

A special GCC committee comprised mainly of board members of the unaffiliated Christian liberal arts college released a 23-page report on April 13. They defended the college from allegations of mission-drift. The move came after the college was accused in a petition launched by a group of parents and former students of promoting critical race theory.

Grove City College has not changed. It remains a Christ-centered, conservative institution. GCCs Board and president are firmly committed to its historic vision, mission, values, and character, the committee wrote.

In the report, the committee members highlighted the dangers of critical race theory and several reasons the theoretical framework is incompatible with a biblical worldview.

The report also cited what it considers to be several missteps that led to the theorys promotion on campus, including allowing Tisby, whose works include The Color of Compromise and How to Fight Racism, to speak at the chapel.

Most of those in GCC leadership with whom we spoke observed that the Jemar Tisby that we thought we invited in 2019 is not the Jemar Tisby that we heard in 2020 or that we now read about. They allow that, in hindsight, inviting Mr. Tisby to speak in chapel was a mistake, the committee wrote.

And they say that in the future, such speakers should be treated as one of the many guest lecturers that visit campus to teach a class or speak in a lecture hall; inviting anyone to speak in chapel appears to place the Colleges stamp of approval on the speakers message.

Critical race theory is a framework through which some scholars seek to understand how victims of systemic racism are affected by cultural perceptions of race and how they can represent themselves to counter prejudice. Scholarship on the theory, which is mainly taught in law schools, traces racism in America through the legacy of slavery, the civil rights movement and recent events.

In his speech at GCC in October 2020, Tisby urged his audience to join the racial justice movement. His speech came just months after an explosive racial reckoning was triggered worldwide by the killing of African American George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that May.

The morning of the chapel presentation, I made the settled determination not to douse the fire in my bones. Instead I drew inspiration from the Black church tradition and its hallmark of powerful, poetic, and prophetic preaching, Tisby wrote in op-ed on Substack last Friday.

I went on to explain the urgency of the racial justice movement happening in our midst, and the need to address anti-Black police brutality, he added. I spoke of the complicity and compromise with racism that many Christians had displayed in previous eras, and how we as followers of Christ had to make a decision about whether we would stand on the side of justice in our day.

He said that after his speech, students applauded and the majority of those with whom I spoke in the next few moments expressed support.

Tisby wrote that he was surprised that he was branded in the petition from parents and alumni as an outspoken apologist for CRT.

Im an outspoken apologist for CRT? No. I have studied history. Looking at the sordid acts of cowards who called the name of Christ and compromised with racism is what informs my views, he stressed. This group of parents and former students perpetuates the pernicious practice of labeling virtually any language or concept about race and justice as Critical Race Theory.

After reactions from GCC President Paul J. McNulty and faculty members of Grove City College writing a response decrying the college's handling of the outrage from parents, the schools board of trustees formed a committee to review the situation and produced the report released earlier this month.

The entire report reeks of fear and a reactionary posture inimical to the educational mission of a college or university, Tisby said.

The committee cited racial separatism as a bogeyman even as they paid no attention to the racism that Black people and other people of color experience on a daily basis. A level of prejudice that necessitates we form spaces of refreshing and flourishing (hence the entire existence of historically Black churches and denominations), he added.

In reaction to the claim that he had changed his views between 2019 and 2020, Tisby argued that it could be the leaders of the college who changed to appease their audience.

Perhaps it is not I who changed, but the leaders at Grove City College, he wrote. Perhaps the social and political climate of the nation has caused institutions to more clearly declare their allegiances and some, such as Grove City College, have chosen to side with the forces that conserve business-as-usual when it comes to race.
Family of National Guard soldier who gave life to save migrants speak out

The grandparents of the National Guardsman who drowned trying to save two migrants from the Rio Grande said they're not surprised the boy they raised died trying to save someone's life.

Officials confirmed Monday that they had recovered the body of 22-year-old Specialist Bishop Evans, who went missing Friday in Eagle Pass, Texas, after attempting to rescue the two migrants who were illegally crossing into the U.S. and were smuggling drugs.

Evans' family, who live eight hours away from the border in Arlington, Texas, traveled to the Rio Grande to assist in the search. After his body was recovered, they gathered for a Monday press conference to publicly share their grief.

"He wouldn't ask you who you were before he tried to help you. He just wouldn't," his grandmother, Jo Ann Johnson, told WFAA and other local media on Monday. "It doesn't matter your nationality, how you look, your color hair. That's who my baby was."

Evans' grandfather, Dannie Johnson, also remembered his grandson as a caring and exuberant person.

"He would help you in need. He would die for you, he did die. He's going to be missed and always be loved and carried in our hearts," he said. We want to be positive about Bishop, because he was a positive person, and I would like to leave it at that."

Jo Ann Johnson said it was "very tough" not knowing her grandson's fate for days as the search for him continued, adding that it was "hard to withstand." But now that Evans' body has been recovered, his grandparents said they feel they have at least gained some form of closure.

"We can move forward, we can start healing and the family can grieve and then we can move on," Evans's grandmother said.

Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Rangers and Border Patrol agents conducted the search and recovery efforts.

In a statement to Fox News on Sunday, the Texas Military Department said that Texas Rangers confirmed from initial reports that the two migrants Evans attempted to rescue "were involved in illicit transnational narcotics trafficking."

Evans was a field artilleryman assigned to A Battery, 4-133 Field Artillery Regiment in New Braunfels, joining the Texas Army National Guard in May 2019. He returned in the fall of 2020 after he was mobilized to Operation Spartan Shield in Kuwait, a multi-component organization that maintains a U.S. military presence in Southwest Asia.

As The New York Post reported Monday, Evans was stationed in Eagle Pass as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star. The governor launched the initiative in March 2021 to send the Texas National Guard to the border to help quell the massive increase in illegal border crossings under the Biden administration.

According to a March 4 post on Abbott's website, since the program's launch, state troopers and National Guard members have apprehended more than 208,000 migrants and filed more than 11,800 criminal charges, including more than 9,300 felony charges.

The Texas governor released a statement Monday about Evans' death, saying that "National Guard soldiers risk their lives every day to serve and protect others and we are eternally grateful for the way SPC Evans heroically served his state and country."

On Monday evening, Abbott directed that flags be lowered to half-staff in Evans' honor.

In a letter to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Texas Democratic Sen. Roland Gutierrez criticized Abbott's Operation Lone Star initiative and called for an inquest into Evans' death, according to WFAA.

"The death of this young man was highly avoidable and further proves that the Governor is ill-prepared to provide solutions for this issue," Gutierrez stated.

After Evans' body was recovered Monday, Texas Rep. Chip Roy blamed the Biden administration's handling of the border for the guardsmen's death. The congressman also called for the two illegal migrants Evans attempted to rescue to face charges in relation to his death but did not specify the severity of the potential punishment.

"This was a horrible tragedy that was completely avoidable if we actually enforced the laws of the United States," the congressman said in a statement to The New York Post. "This is a national guardsman who died jumping in the river and these people are moving narcotics."

According to federal statistics submitted to a federal court earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security reported 221,303 total encounters at the Southwest Border and 123,304 total expulsions of noncitizens in March.
Parents lawsuit claims school secretly helped kids adopt new gender identities

Two pairs of parents are suing the staff of a Massachusetts middle school for allegedly encouraging their children to adopt new gender identities without their knowledge or consent.

Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri, alongside Jonathan Feliciano and Sandra Salmeron, filed the lawsuit on April 12 in a Massachusetts federal district court with the help of the Child and Parental Rights Campaign and the Massachusetts Family Institute. The organizations help parents navigate issues surrounding gender identity and parental rights.

Several school officials at Baird Middle School are named defendants in the lawsuit, including Interim Superintendent Lisa Nemeth, former Superintendent Todd Gazda, Baird Middle School Principal Stacy Monette, school counselor Marie-Claire Foley and former librarian Jordan Funke.

Ludlow Public Schools Interim Superintendent Lisa Nemeth did not immediately respond to The Christian Posts request for comment.

Foote and Silvestri claim that they were unaware of the transitioning of their young son and daughter, referred to as G.F. and B.F., respectively, in the filing. They say they became aware after their daughters teacher, Bonnie Manchester, told them in December 2020 that their daughter was struggling with her self-esteem. The teacher forwarded the parents an email in which their 11-year-old daughter claimed she was genderqueer," citing her new name and pronouns as he/him.

The parents contacted the school, requesting that the school refrain from discussing the issue with their children and allow them to direct the mental health care of their children.

The complaint states that Foote and Silvestri have sincerely held religious beliefs that human beings are created male or female and that the natural created order regarding human sexuality cannot be changed regardless of individual feelings, beliefs, or discomfort with ones identity, and biological reality, as either male or female.

The parents claim they made it clear they would provide their daughter with the help she needed from a mental health professional, but they believe the school disregarded their instructions.

Foote and Silvestri claim their daughter changed her preferred name at least twice since December 2020 without their knowledge and claim the school continues to address B.F. by whatever iteration of her name she has indicated she prefers despite their request not to do so.

The lawsuit also alleges that the couples son has identified as transgender and requested to be called by a female name, accusing the school of helping him hide this information from his parents.

The lawsuit also describes an assignment given to students in September 2019 by librarian Jordan Funke, which allegedly asked students to create videos of their preferred gender pronouns. B.F. and possibly G.F. participated in the assignment without their parents knowing or consenting to their kids participation.

The other set of parents, Feliciano and Salmeron, claim that they are deliberately hindered from ascertaining whether their children are being secretly counseled about and affirmed in discordant gender identities without their knowledge or consent.

[Efforts] to affirm a discordant student gender identity at school violates parents fundamental rights under the United States and Massachusetts constitutions and violates childrens reciprocal rights to the care and custody of their parents, familial privacy, and integrity, the filing states.

The parents also alleged that the school superintendent at the time, Todd Gazda, publicly referred to opposition to gender transitions as intolerance of LGBTQ people disguised as parental rights. Gazda also reportedly implied that school is the only safe pace for students struggling with gender identity. The plaintiffs pointed out that the School Committee did not refute Gazdas remarks.

The lawsuit accuses Ludlow Public Schools of having a protocol and practice of concealing from parents information related to their childrens gender identity.

Ludlow School Committee Chair James P. Harrington told MassLive that the school district's teachers and staff are looking out for their students' best interests.

Its a slippery slope, he was quoted as saying. We want to support our students the best we can. But we should bring parents to the table, and hope they respond in a loving and supportive way as well.

Bruce Hausknecht, a judicial analyst for the Christian organization Focus on the Family, told The Christian Post that "gender ideology in many of the nations public schools is premised upon secrecy and furthered by school policies that consider parents to be the problem, not the solution."

Hausknecht noted how the secrecy in schools regarding students gender identities has sparked pushback from parents in some states. He cited Floridas Parental Rights in Education Act as an example, a law that requires schools to inform parents about changes in services that could impact their childs well-being.

Hausknect asserted that the situation in Massachusetts is not unique and that parents everywhere must stay vigilant when it comes to protecting their children from the harmful ideologies their schools may be pushing.

It is our primary obligation as parents to 'train up a child in the way he should go...' (Proverbs 22:6 ESV), he wrote. School policies that set schools, not parents, as the final authority are in direct contradiction of that biblical imperative.
'Shooter threat' shuts down Christian school in Pittsburgh; police investigate

A Pittsburgh-area Christian school was closed Thursday due to what officials described as a shooter threat.

Imani Christian Academy, located in the East Hills neighborhood of Pittsburgh, was shut down as police investigated the threat.

According to CBS Pittsburgh, the threat against the private school was made via email Wednesday evening. No specific timing or other details were included, CBS reported.

Testing was scheduled for Thursday but is set to resume Friday, according to the schools website.

The Christian Post's request for comment from Imani Christian Academy was not immediately returned.

Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson Cara Cruz told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that police were contacted late Wednesday night by the school's CEO about the shooting threat.

If the school decides to reopen Friday, Cruz assured police officers would be present to monitor the situation.

Imani Christian Academy has over 150 students ranging from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. The students come from more than a dozen low-income school districts in Allegheny County, according to its Facebook page.

The school began in 1993 as a "faith-based alternative to a grossly under-resourced public school system struggling to serve low-income communities." The school initially grew from an initial roster of 30 students operating out of a single-family home.

The school bills itself as one that provides "educational excellence in a safe, caring, learning, environment free of violence."

Most of Imani's students are "African American inner-city youth," many of whom come from single-parent homes or are raised by a grandparent or guardian. The school seeks to give students "everyday exposure to positive role models" while tailoring "to the unique needs of African American students."

The shooting threat comes over three years after a mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in the nearby Squirrel Hill neighborhood. A 15-minute drive from Imani Christian Academy, 11 people, including the perpetrator, were killed in the October 2018 attack on the synagogue. Meanwhile, seven others were injured.

In December 2021, four students were killed and seven were injured in a shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan. Lawsuits were later filed against Oxford Community Schools, claiming that school staff was negligent by not acting on warning signs displayed by the shooter in the days leading up to the shooting. In February, the school district denied wrongdoing.
The silence of the Church: Solutions (part 2)

Editor's note: This is part 2 of a 2-part series on the Church and speaking about sexuality issues. Part 1 can be read here.



As misinformation related to LGBT topics sweeps rapidly throughout our culture, it seems many churches have gone silent on these issues. Some pastors and Christian leaders are still effectively addressing these topics with both truth and love, but many are not.

Regardless of the reasons for the silence of the Church on LGBT issues, it should not be an option for Christian leaders. People need the help of their churches and Christian schools to navigate the bombardment of cultural deception. Here are some ways Christian leaders can begin breaking the silence:

Ask God to reveal whether or not fear is an underlying factor. Ask God to reveal internal obstacles to addressing these issues. Pray as David did, Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me  (Psalm 139:23-24, ESV). Fear might be a factor, even if there is no conscious awareness of it. As Paul said, For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me (I Corinthians 4:4, ESV). If God reveals fear to be a factor, seek to walk in the fear of God, not the fear of men. Remember Gods words to Israel as they were about to take over enemy territory, Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9, ESV).

Maintain realistic expectations. Gods truths will sometimes be offensive, even when those truths are presented in the most loving ways. Jesus said, If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you (John 15:18-19, ESV). Jesus clearly describes what we can expect. Being hated for the right reasons is part of the Christian life and Christian leadership.

Stay mindful of a shepherds role. In Ezekiel 34:4-6, God describes some of the responsibilities of spiritual leaders: to strengthen the weak, to heal the sick, to bind up the injured, to bring back the wanderer, and to seek out the lost. The leaders of Ezekiels day failed to do that, and God says of His people in verse 5: So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered (ESV). I see this among the younger generation who are deceived by the culture on LGBT issues, they have become food for the wild beasts and no one is seeking to bind them up, heal them or bring them back. They are scattered far from Gods design, and they do not even realize it because they lack shepherding in these areas.

Be specific in your teaching. Mark 6:34 says, speaking of Jesus, When He went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things (ESV). The culture is teaching many things about LGBT topics, but the Church has so much more to say on all of this. Teach what it means to be made in Gods image and why gender is important. Teach about complementarity in marriage and the beauty of Gods design. Teach biblical sexual ethics and the power God gives to live life His way. Teach on the importance of complete surrender to Gods plan, including in areas of sex and gender. Teach that living according to the flesh brings death, but living life in Gods way produces life abundantly.

Train your staff to understand these issues and to respond appropriately. Bring in experts who can explain to your staff some of the risk factors for same-sex attraction and gender confusion, how change happens, and how to minister effectively to this population. Avoid using speakers who emphasize love without truth or truth without love. Beware of those who capitulate to culture and silence truth in a faulty attempt to be perceived as welcoming. Steer clear of authors and speakers who focus solely on earning favor with those outside the Church, at the expense of providing biblical clarity and guidance to those inside the Church.

Invite guest speakers who have expertise in these areas. Expose your congregations and students to Gods perspective through personal testimonies of overcomers. There are many godly men and women with decades of experience in walking in freedom from these struggles. Speakers such as Joe Dallas or Anne Paulk share dynamic testimonies of Gods transforming work in these areas.

I have seen the powerful effects of testimonies. I have a friend, who as a teenager struggled with suicidal thoughts due to having unwanted same-sex attractions. Although she was a Christian, who grew up in a Christian home and attended Christian schools, she did not understand her attractions and did not know how to move forward. Finally, as a student in a Christian college, she heard a guest speaker share a testimony of overcoming lesbianism. My friend says the speakers testimony changed her life. For the first time, she learned she was not born that way, that there were reasons she had same-sex attractions, and that change was possible. That testimony marked the beginning of her journey out of confusion and hopelessness. Today my friend is married to a man and has three beautiful children. Testimonies are powerful. Revelation 12:11 says, And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony  (ESV). People need to hear more testimonies of Gods changing work in these areas.

Promote resources to educate on the specifics of these issues. Let church members or students know about the resources available for understanding these issues more fully. Resources can shed light on important aspects of same-sex attraction and gender confusion and can provide helpful insight to those experiencing these feelings. For example, I have a friend who grew up in a church where he was taught Gods Word, but he agonized over his unwanted same-sex attractions, baffled as to why he had those feelings. For him, simply learning about the cause of his attractions and discovering the process of sanctification were monumental. There are many great Christian books, videos, and other teachings available through Restored Hope Network. Promote these resources by way of church bulletins, e-mails, or other forms of communication.

In addition, schedule a time to show a documentary, such as, In His Image, produced by the American Family Association. This video features experts in theology and culture as well as personal testimonies. Or show a similar video to your congregation or class.

Offer tools for strengthening marriages and families. Family dynamics are an important factor in a childs development. Healthy families are foundational in producing emotionally and spiritually healthy children. Help to build strong marriages and families. Empower parents to connect well with their children and safeguard them from destructive influences. Equip families to thrive in a post-Christian culture.

Keep in mind that Gods perspective on these issues is good news, not bad news. People are longing to hear that God loves them more than they can imagine and that He has a wonderful plan for their lives. Gods design is a good one, and living life according to His design brings true peace and fulfillment. Be confident, rather than apologetic in lovingly sharing Gods life-changing truths.

In summary

Gods Word, not culture, lights our path and guides the way forward. People need Christian leaders who will bring light to the darkness by teaching Gods Word. The world is searching for answers. Many are stumbling around in the darkness, and sadly this includes Christians. In the absence of understanding of what God says on the matter, many Christians are accepting the dominant messages of our culture. And yet, when Christian leaders share Gods truths in love, lives are changed. I pray God will continue to equip and empower His leaders to speak His life-changing truths in love to a world desperate to hear it.
Christian group decries Turkeys life sentence for human rights advocate

A U.S.-based Christian group has criticized Turkey's sentencing of human rights activist Osman Kavala to life imprisonment on charges of purportedly attempting to overthrow the government.

Kavala, a 64-year-old philanthropist and human rights advocate, has called for the protection of non-Muslim cultural sites, the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and the protection of religious minorities, International Christian Concern said in a statement Tuesday.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on Monday after he was convicted of trying to overthrow the government by financing protests in a case that was seen by Western powers as being politically motivated, Reuters reported, adding that seven others got 18 years for aiding an attempt to overthrow the government.



The U.S. State Department called the sentencing deeply troubling and disappointing.

His sentence is being seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdogans defiance of warnings issued by Western countries last year.



We again call on Turkey to release Osman Kavala, in keeping with European Court of Human Rights rulings, as well as to free all others arbitrarily incarcerated, it said in a statement. We remain gravely concerned by the continued judicial harassment of civil society, media, political and business leaders in Turkey, including through prolonged pretrial detention, overly broad claims of support for terrorism, and criminal insult cases.



Authorities first detained Kavala in October 2017, accusing him of involvement in the 2013 Gezi Park protests. In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ruled for Kavalas release. He was acquitted in 2020 of those charges, but the ruling was later overturned and combined with other charges in the 2016 coup attempt.



And now, Kavalas sentencing comes one day after the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, which was committed in the early 1900s by Turkish authorities who remain in aggressive denial regarding these events, International Christian Concern noted.



Osman Kavala has endured multiple hardships because of his human rights activism which only seeks the betterment of Turkeys religious minorities, ICCs President Jeff King said.



His sentencing sends a warning to anyone who wishes to raise awareness about the human rights challenges experienced in Turkey. The timing of this announcement sends a particularly dire warning to the survivors of the Armenian genocide, who only just yesterday experienced multiple pressures from the authorities for commemorating the event, King added.



Kavala continually advocated for more dialogue surrounding the Armenian Genocide, an Ottoman-era genocide that killed and displaced an estimated 2 million Armenian Christians, ICC said. In 2007, following the murder of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink by a Turkish nationalist, Kavala pushed for greater reconciliation between Turks and Armenian Christians.



Last April, when President Joe Biden referred to the mass atrocity perpetuated by Ottoman-era Turkish authorities against Armenian Christians as a genocide, ICC had noted that designation was significant because the Turkish government has failed to take responsibility and has actively denied their role in this, allowing them to pursue genocidal policies against Armenians such as in Nagorno-Karabakh, a conflict that started in the 1980s when the Soviet Union began to fall apart.



The Nagorno-Karabakh region, a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, is recognized internationally as part of Muslim-majority Azerbaijan even though it has a majority Armenian population and is controlled by ethnic Armenians. Turkey supported Azerbaijans aggressions against Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, ICC said at the time.



Azerbaijani troops alongside Turkish-paid Syrian mercenaries invaded the region and took control after a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement in December, ICC added. Evidence of violence against Armenian civilians and destruction of religious sites during this conflict suggests some religious and ethnic hatred toward Armenian Christians still held by many, reminiscent of the genocide over a century ago.



ICCs Advocacy Director Matias Perttula explained that Armenian Christians continue to suffer because of the systematic Ottoman campaign of 1915, and the United States owes it to the Armenian community to stand with them in solidarity by recognizing their suffering.



As heirs to the oldest Christian nation, Armenians are an integral part of the global community of Christians and ought to enjoy freedom from persecution, Perttula added.




Spokesperson blasts U.S. maritime bullying

Xinhua) 09:34, April 29, 2022

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese military spokesperson on Thursday voiced resolute opposition to maritime bullying of the United States.

Tan Kefei, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks at a regular press conference in response to an inquiry related to a recent report of the U.S. defense department on "freedom of navigation."

Under the pretext of "freedom of navigation," the United States has been frequently sending military vessels and aircraft to violate other countries' sovereignty and endanger regional peace, said Tan, calling on relevant nations to jointly oppose such maritime bullying.

Noting that the so-called "freedom of navigation operations" of the United States challenges the international order based on international law, continuously threatening navigation safety and escalating regional tensions, Tan asked the United States to reflect on the number of collisions and casualties caused by such operations.

He also urged the United States to stop its so-called "freedom of navigation operations" and stop issuing such irresponsible reports. The United States should do more to contribute to regional peace and stability, Tan said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
The Red Cross Diamond: one of the rarest stones on Earth

Ahead of its sale in Magnificent Jewels on 11 May, Francois Curiel, chairman of Christies Europe and head of the Luxury department, explains what makes this diamond so special

Between 1915 and 1918, Christies in London held a series of annual charity auctions to benefit the work of the Red Cross, the worlds largest humanitarian network helping people affected by conflict and armed violence. Each auction was held over 10 to 15 days, and included a wealth of objects, from wines and furs to jewellery and porcelain, donated by members of the public in memory of soldiers who had lost their lives. Intense public interest meant that good prices were achieved, and the sales raised a combined total of more than 320,000 (around 13.9 million today). Among the most spectacular lots to be offered was the Red Cross Diamond, a 205-carat canary-yellow, cushion-shaped diamond with a pavilion faceted in the shape of a Maltese cross.

Open a larger version of this image The Red Cross Diamond. A superb coloured diamond. Fancy intense yellow cushion modified brilliant-cut diamond of 205.07 carats. Size/dimensions: 33.83 x 33.80 x 24.91 mm. Estimate: on request. Offered in Magnificent Jewels on 11 May 2022 at Christies in Geneva Open a larger version of this image

The combination of the huge weight, intense yellow colour and the fact that the cross has been faceted inside makes it one of the rarest stones on Earth, explains Francois Curiel, chairman of Christies Europe and head of the Luxury department. On 11 May the stone will be offered at Christies for the third time in just over 100 years, with a significant portion of the sale proceeds benefiting the International Committee of the Red Cross. I am very proud and honoured to be involved in the sale of this diamond, says Curiel, adding that the cause is even more poignant in the midst of current events.

Open a larger version of this image A newspaper report on the sale of the Red Cross Diamond at Christies in April 1918. Photo:  London Illustrated London News Group / Mary Evans Picture Library

The original rough stone, weighing around 375 carats, was unearthed in a De Beers-owned mine in South Africa in 1901. The diamond was first offered for sale by the Diamond Syndicate, now the Diamond Trading Company, on 10 April 1918, in aid of the British Red Cross and the Order of St John, which uses the Maltese cross as its symbol. After a spirited bidding battle in the saleroom, the stone sold to London jeweller S. J. Phillips for a staggering 10,000  the equivalent of about 600,000 today  which was more than triple the starting bid. It made the top price of the sale, which achieved a total of 50,000 (approximately 3 million today). The stone came to Christies again in November 1973, this time in Geneva, and sold for CHF 1.8 million. This is the third occasion on which Christies has presented this extraordinary diamond, says Curiel. It is a tremendous honour.

Open a larger version of this image The Red Cross auctions at Christies in 1918 raised tremendous sums in support of the charitys work. Photo: A. R. Coster / Topical Press Agency / Getty Images

Christies and the Red Cross have a long history of partnership during humanitarian crises. In addition to the auctions held during the First World War, Christies staged the Red Cross Pearls sale in December 1918, to support the treatment and aftercare of the wounded. The sale included 41 necklaces, scarf pins, brooches and rings fashioned from the 3,597 pearls donated to the Red Cross Pearl Appeal by people from all strata of British society. If every pearl is a tear, may this one pearl represent only a tear of laughter, wrote one donor. Another sent a pearl in memory of a pearl beyond all price already given  my only son. People queued around the block to see the jewels during the three-day exhibition at Christies in King Street, with many speculating on the price of the star lot: a necklace of 63 graduated pearls with a rose diamond clasp. Now known as the Red Cross Pearl Necklace, it was bought by a jeweller, Mr Carrington Smith, for 22,000  the equivalent of around 1.3 million today.

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In 2019, Kentucky resident Kevin Berling, who suffers from an anxiety disorder, requested that his employer, Gravity Diagnostics, not throw him an office birthday party due to the stress it would trigger.

According to a lawsuit filed by his attorneys, that request was ignored and the company threw him a surprise party on Aug. 7, 2019 anyway.

Related: 4 Expert-Backed Strategies for Managing Anxiety

As Berling predicted, the event caused a panic attack. He left the lunch party to go to his car, where he texted his manager about how upset he was that his request wasnt taken seriously.

The lawsuit states that Berling "was confronted and criticized" in a meeting the next day by his superiors, which triggered another panic attack and resulted in him being sent home.

On Aug. 11, four days after the birthday party, he received a letter in the mail explaining that he was fired "because of the events of the previous week.

Berlings employers told Kentucky news website Link NKY that Berling was fired for violating a "workplace violence policy" and that they stood by the termination, concerned that he would return to work angry and possibly dangerous to coworkers.

Related: How this Entrepreneur Learned to Cope With Anxiety

Berlings lawyer, Tony Bucher, told WKRC that their concerns about violence were unwarranted, as Berling uses coping techniques to calm his emotions, and the termination was more likely an excuse to get rid of someone perceived as not being a team player. "They started giving him a pretty hard time for his response to the birthday celebration, actually accusing him of stealing his co-workers' joy, Bucher said.

A jury sided with Berling, awarding him $450,000 in damages, including $300,000 for mental anguish.

In a statement after the ruling , Bucher explained, "I think the significance for employers is that they need to understand that they shouldnt make assumptions about individuals with mental-health issues. Kevin was an exceptional employee that went above and beyond for his employer, and if they would have taken a step back it would have been clear that he did not present any danger at all."Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The United Nations doggedly sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol on Friday, while Ukraine accused Russia of showing its contempt for the world organization by bombing Kyiv when the U.N. leader was visiting the capital.

The mayor of Mariupol said the situation inside the steel plant that has become the southern port citys last stronghold is dire, and citizens are begging to get saved." Mayor Vadym Boichenko added: "There, its not a matter of days. Its a matter of hours.

Ukraines forces, meanwhile, fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the country's industrial Donbas region. Artillery fire, sirens and explosions could be heard in some cities. And a senior U.S. defense official said the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of Ukrainian resistance.

In other developments:

 A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, his family said in what would be the wars first known death of an American in combat. The U.S. has not confirmed the report.

 Ukrainian forces are cracking down on people accused of helping Russian troops. In the Kharkiv region alone, nearly 400 have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted after Moscows Feb. 24 invasion.

 The international sanctions imposed on the Kremlin over the war are squeezing the country. The Russian Central Bank said Russias economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year, and the outlook is extremely uncertain.

On Thursday, Moscow's forces launched a missile attack on a residential high-rise and another building in Kyiv, shattering weeks of relative calm in the capital following Russia's retreat from the region early this month.

U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said one of its journalists, Vira Hyrych, was killed in the bombardment. Ten people were wounded, one of them losing a leg, authorities said.

The missile strike came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"This says a lot about Russias true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the U.N. and everything the organization represents, Zelenskyy said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was Russian President Vladimir Putin's way of giving his middle finger" to Guterres.

In an apparent reference to the Kyiv bombing, Russias military said it had destroyed production buildings at the Artem defense factory.

The missile strike came just as life in Kyiv seemed to be getting back a little closer to normal, with cafes and other businesses starting to reopen and growing numbers of people going out to enjoy the arrival of spring.

Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst and head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said the attack carried a message: Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure."

Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east also have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.

But so far, Russias troops and the separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains.

The U.S. believes the Russians are at least several days behind where they wanted to be as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east, said the senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the American militarys assessment.

As Russian troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been slow and uneven and certainly not decisive, the official said.

In the bombed-out city of Mariupol, around 100,000 people were believed trapped with little food, water or medicine. An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders and 1,000 civilians were holed up at the Azovstal steel plant.

The Soviet-era steel plant has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more dire after the Russians dropped bunker busters and other bombs.

Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse, said Boichenko, the mayor.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said the organization was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv to create safe passage.

This time, we hope theres a slight touch of humanity in the enemy, the mayor said. Ukraine has blamed the failure of numerous previous evacuation attempts on continued Russian shelling.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that the real problem is that "humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals. Moscow has repeatedly claimed right-wing Ukrainians are thwarting evacuation efforts and using civilians as human shields.

Also Friday, two towns in central Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region were hit by Russian rockets, the regional governor said. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.

Fighting could be heard from Kramatorsk to Sloviansk, two cities about 18 kilometers (11 miles) apart in the Donbas. Columns of smoke rose from the Sloviansk area and neighboring cities. At least one person was reported wounded in the shelling.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.

The constant attacks show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people, he said.

If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones, as they did with Mariupol.

The governor of Russias Kursk region said that a border post came under mortar attack from Ukraine and that Russian border forces returned fire. He said there were no casualties on the Russian side.

In the village of Ruska Lozava, near Kharkiv, hundreds of people were evacuated after Ukrainian forces retook the city from Russian occupiers, according to the regional governor. Those who fled to Kharkiv spoke of dire conditions under the Russians, with little water or food and no electricity.

We were hiding in the basement. It was horror. The basement was shaking from the explosions. We were screaming, we were crying and we were praying to God, said Ludmila Bocharnikova.

A video posted by Ukraine's Azov battalion showed troops raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the government building in the center of the village, though fighting continued on the outskirts.

Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for," she said, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it.

The Marine Corps said Cancel served four years but was given a bad-conduct discharge and sentenced to five months' confinement for violating orders. No details on the offense were given.

At least two other foreigners fighting on the Ukrainian side, one from Britain and the other from Denmark, have also been killed.

___

Associated Press journalists Jon Gambrell and Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, Yesica Fisch in Sloviansk, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Houston chef Evelyn Garcia made an introspective comment on the ninth episode of this season's "Top Chef" that gets at the heart of why cooking is more than just technical proficiency.

"I feel like as a chef  it's our job to educate [people] about our history and our culture," Garcia said in a confessional.

When a group of talented chefs comes together to compete on a show like "Top Chef,'' it's a given that they will make delicious and beautiful food. Less obvious from a viewer's perspective are the ways food evokes sense memories and a connection to stories that bring the past into the present.

This latest episode brought meaningful food and an important part of Houston history to the forefront.

As a primer to their Elimination challenge, the seven remaining cheftestants were led on a tour of Freedmen's Town in Fourth Ward by Zion Escobar, the executive director of the Houston Freedmen's Town Conservancy.

What is now a small stretch of homes and a park on the site of the former Bethel Church was once a bustling community started by nearly 1,000 formerly enslaved Black Texans. Following June 19, 1865now celebrated as Juneteenthfreed Black families, led by "father of Black Houston" Jack Yates, traveled from plantations south and southwest of Houston and created Freedmens Town.

Over the years, Freedmen's Town became the backbone of Houston's Black community as homes, churches, businesses and restaurants were added. Starting in the 1930s, city development began to encroach on Fourth Ward, despite its importance as a historic and cultural center, to make room for a new City Hall and the Gulf Freeway, among other projects.

In time, more land and buildings would be lost and Black residents would move or be displaced to other parts of Houston.

Today, there's a renewed push to revitalize, preserve and protect Freedmen's Town through the conservancy, and community efforts like the recently established Freedmen's Town Farmers' Market aiming to combat the neighborhood's food desert status.

David Moir/Bravo

"Top Chef" brought a further spotlight to Houston's Black history and present. Flanked by guest judges chefs Dawn Burrell of Houston and Kwame Onwuachi, host Padma Lakshmi asked the cheftestants to create "a dish that speaks to your soul" for a Freedmens Town Conservancy fundraising event at the Bethel Baptist Chapel Church, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. (Those who wish to donate to the conservancy can do so on its website.)

To set the tone for the challenge, before heading off to shop for groceries, the chefs enjoyed a lunch prepared by This Is It Soul Food, a Black-owned Houston institution founded in 1959 known for yams, braised oxtails, chitlins, barbecue ribs and biscuits.



All of the cheftestants channeled their mothers and grandmothers to create their own dishes for the fundraiser.

Jae Jung was crowned the winner for her "Mama Kim's" flaked cod with Korean sweet potatoes, kimchi and shrimp bisque, while Luke Kalpin packed his knives over his dry meatballs.

Hometown chef Garcia chose sopesa fried masa dish with savory toppingsin honor of her grandmother. She made the dough with Maseca and beet puree to give them a stunning magenta color, then topped them with pureed black beans, charred pineapple pico, salsa verde and chorizo made from her mothers recipe.

"Top Chef" alumna Nyesha Arrington was impressed. "That may be a top for me today," she said. Judge Gail Simmons said Garcia "clearly took her roots, this memory, this comfort food and just worked a little bit of chef magic in there." Actor Kendrick Sampson of Issa Rae's HBO show "Insecure," one of many notable guests at the star-studded fundraiser, also praised Garcia's dish as a favorite.

Mayor Sylvester Turner made an appearance, alongside Houston City Councilwoman Abby Kamin. Though viewers didn't get a comment from him about Garcia's dish, he did greet the judges with some words about the importance of the neighborhood.

"I'm just excited to be working with the Freedmen's Town Conservancy to make sure we hold onto it, we restore it, and we breathe life into it," Mayor Turner said.
The pandemic has created more opportunities for remote, self-directed and freelance work than ever. Today, around 10 million Americans say theyre working for themselves in some capacity.

The opportunity to work from anywhere is indeed enticing to many, and it begs an interesting question: If you could work from anywhere, where would it be?

To help you answer that question, we put together a list of the 10 best cities for freelancers in 2022. Our underlying analysis, which used recent metro-area data from the U.S. Census Bureau and state-level data from the Federation of State Tax Administrators, finds signs of relatively affordable rent; these metro areas also seem to have vibrant and growing freelancer cultures, as well as growing demand for goods and services. Heres the list.

TOP 10 METRO AREAS FOR FREELANCERS

1. Greenville-Anderson, S.C.

2. Boise City, Idaho

3. Columbus, Ohio

4. Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa

5. Ogden-Clearfield, Utah

6. Raleigh-Cary, N.C.

7. Worcester, Mass.-Conn.

8. Chattanooga, Tenn.-Ga.

9. Winston-Salem, N.C.

10. Knoxville, Tenn.

KEY FINDINGS

 Many of the top 10 cities for freelancers had relatively low housing costs. According to the Census Bureau data, 51.6% of U.S. renters paid rent that was less than the recommended threshold of 30% of gross monthly income. And some metro areas were well over that average, meaning they had higher proportions of people with relatively feasible rent expenses. Rent can make or break some freelancers. Your number one strategy should be to keep your overhead costs as low as possible when youre starting out, says Lori Martinek, a Los Angeles-based certified mentor for SCORE, which is a national nonprofit that offers free resources to business owners.

 In top cities for freelancers, unemployment was often relatively low and jobs were being added. A good job market and inflow of workers can signal growing demand for goods and services from freelancers. The top 10 metro areas tended to be high performers in these areas, and all saw net increases in the number of people hired there in 2020.

 The size of the self-employed community is notable in many of the top metro areas. Nationally, 5.8% of workers were self-employed in a nonincorporated business , according to 2019 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Several of the metro areas on our list exceeded this percentage, suggesting they had rich, active environments for gig workers, independent contractors and freelancers.

 Minimum state tax rates are relatively low in many of the top cities. Though deductions, credits, filing status options and tax rules make it hard to predict what any freelancers tax burden will be, minimum state income tax rates can hint at whether freelancer tax bills could be higher or lower in certain locations.

DECIDING WHETHER AND WHERE TO MOVE

Moving isnt easy or cheap, so deciding when to take your freelancing life to another town can be tricky. Business experts say to keep three things in mind when contemplating a move.

1. UNDERSTAND THE TAX EFFECTS

The bigger the city, the more it costs to live, says Jonathan Medows, a certified public accountant at Medows CPA in New York City. State income tax brackets and rates vary, and in some places there are even new or extra taxes to consider. Medows hometown of New York City, for example, has a city-level income tax, in addition to state and federal taxes; freelancers moving there may have to consider raising their rates to compensate for the additional tax expense.

2. DONT JUST UPROOT YOUR LIFE

Medows recommends a preview trip. Dip your toes. Go for a couple of weeks. Work there. See if its something thats viable. Movings expensive, and I would do like a pilot trip, he says. That will also give you a chance to gather the tax and licensing information you need.

So number one, get a lay of the land; understand the county, state and local taxes. Number two, understand if you need any business licenses, he says. Number three, see if your good or service that youre offering is subject to sales tax and register for sales tax. Zoning laws should be another consideration, Medows adds.

Once youve moved, go into the local bank and set up your account in person, Martinek says. Go meet the people at the bank, tell them what youre trying to do. And they will put you in touch with other organizations and other small businesses. It happens time and time again, she notes. They want to help you because they want to see your business grow.

3. KNOW WHEN LOCATION IS IMPORTANT  AND WHEN ITS NOT

One of the best things about being a freelancer or an independent contractor is that you literally can live and work anywhere that has a high-speed internet connection, domestically or internationally, Martinek says.

Location cant solve everything, though. The things that location cant fix include, for instance, a lack of a business plan or having a valuable skill or service to offer, Martinek says. Also, certain types of work may only be available in specific areas  freelance camera-work opportunities in areas with a lot of TV and film sets, for example. You can be in the busiest city in the world, but if you cant get any business for what youre doing, then youre in the wrong place, says Medows.

METHODOLOGY

To create the list, NerdWallet pulled data for major U.S. metropolitan areas from the United States Census Bureau. We also pulled state tax rates from the Federation of State Tax Administrators. We weighted the impact of each factor depending on how important we felt that factor would be in the potential financial success of a freelancer. We excluded metro areas for which there was negative or no Job-to-Job Flows Census data.

NerdWallets analysis includes data from the following sources:

 U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey data for the unemployment rate, percentage of people in Census-designated metro areas who identified as self-employed in nonincorporated businesses, and percentage of renters in a Census-designated metro area who spend less than 30% of their household income on rent.

 U.S. Census Q4 2019 and Q4 2020 Job-to-Job Explorer data.

 State tax rates for 2022 from the Federation of State Tax Administrators.

______________________________________

This article was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Tina Orem is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: torem@nerdwallet.com.

RELATED LINKS:

NerdWallet: How much should I spend on rent?

NerdWallet: How to start a business in 13 steps

NerdWallet: Freelancer taxes: A guide for filing with a side hustle

NerdWallet: The 23 most profitable businesses in 2022
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Inside a cavernous stone fortress in downtown Pittsburgh, attorney Robin Frank defends parents at one of their lowest points  when they risk losing their children.

The job is never easy, but in the past she knew what she was up against when squaring off against child protective services in family court. Now, she worries shes fighting something she cant see: an opaque algorithm whose statistical calculations help social workers decide which families should be investigated in the first place.

A lot of people dont know that its even being used, Frank said. Families should have the right to have all of the information in their file.

From Los Angeles to Colorado and throughout Oregon, as child welfare agencies use or consider tools similar to the one in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has identified a number of concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. Related issues have already torpedoed some jurisdictions plans to use predictive models, such as the tool notably dropped by the state of Illinois.

According to new research from a Carnegie Mellon University team obtained exclusively by AP, Alleghenys algorithm in its first years of operation showed a pattern of flagging a disproportionate number of Black children for a mandatory neglect investigation, when compared with white children. The independent researchers, who received data from the county, also found that social workers disagreed with the risk scores the algorithm produced about one-third of the time.

County officials said that social workers can always override the tool, and called the research hypothetical.

Child welfare officials in Allegheny County, the cradle of Mister Rogers TV neighborhood and the icons child-centric innovations, say the cutting-edge tool  which is capturing attention around the country  uses data to support agency workers as they try to protect children from neglect. That nuanced term can include everything from inadequate housing to poor hygiene, but is a different category from physical or sexual abuse, which is investigated separately in Pennsylvania and is not subject to the algorithm.

Workers, whoever they are, shouldnt be asked to make, in a given year, 14, 15, 16,000 of these kinds of decisions with incredibly imperfect information, said Erin Dalton, director of the countys Department of Human Services and a pioneer in implementing the predictive child welfare algorithm.

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This story, supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, is part of an ongoing Associated Press series, Tracked, that investigates the power and consequences of decisions driven by algorithms on peoples everyday lives.

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Critics say it gives a program powered by data mostly collected about poor people an outsized role in deciding families fates, and they warn against local officials growing reliance on artificial intelligence tools.

If the tool had acted on its own to screen in a comparable rate of calls, it would have recommended that two-thirds of Black children be investigated, compared with about half of all other children reported, according to another study published last month and co-authored by a researcher who audited the countys algorithm.

Advocates worry that if similar tools are used in other child welfare systems with minimal or no human interventionakin to how algorithms have been used to make decisions in the criminal justice systemthey could reinforce existing racial disparities in the child welfare system.

Its not decreasing the impact among Black families, said Logan Stapleton, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. On the point of accuracy and disparity, (the county is) making strong statements that I think are misleading.

Because family court hearings are closed to the public and the records are sealed, AP wasnt able to identify first-hand any families who the algorithm recommended be mandatorily investigated for child neglect, nor any cases that resulted in a child being sent to foster care. Families and their attorneys can never be sure of the algorithms role in their lives either because they arent allowed to know the scores.

SAFER, FASTER

Incidents of potential neglect are reported to Allegheny Countys child protection hotline. The reports go through a screening process where the algorithm calculates the childs potential risk and assigns a score. Social workers then use their discretion to decide whether to investigate.

The Allegheny Family Screening Tool is specifically designed to predict the risk that a child will be placed in foster care in the two years after they are investigated. Using a trove of detailed personal data collected from birth, Medicaid, substance abuse, mental health, jail and probation records, among other government data sets, the algorithm calculates a risk score of 1 to 20: The higher the number, the greater the risk.

Given the high stakes  skipping a report of neglect could end with a childs death but scrutinizing a familys life could set them up for separation  the county and developers have suggested their tool can help course correct and make the agencys work more thorough and efficient by weeding out meritless reports so that social workers can focus on children who truly need protection.

The developers have described using such tools as a moral imperative, saying child welfare officials should use whatever they have at their disposal to make sure children arent neglected.

There are children in our communities who need protection, said Emily Putnam-Hornstein, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hills School of Social Work who helped develop the Allegheny tool, speaking at a virtual panel held by New York University in November.

Dalton said algorithms and other predictive technologies also provide a scientific check on call center workers personal biases because they see the risk score when deciding if the case merits an investigation. If the case is escalated, Dalton said the full investigation is carried out by a different social worker who probes in person, decides if the allegations are true and helps determine if the children should be placed in foster care.

CMU researchers found that from August 2016 to May 2018, the tool calculated scores that suggested 32.5% of Black children reported as being neglected should be subject to a mandatory investigation, compared with 20.8% of white children.

In addition, the county confirmed to the AP that for more than two years, a technical glitch in the tool sometimes presented social workers with the wrong scores, either underestimating or overestimating a childs risk. County officials said the problem has since been fixed.

The county didnt challenge the CMU researchers figures, but Dalton said the research paper represented a hypothetical scenario that is so removed from the manner in which this tool has been implemented to support our workforce.

The CMU research found no difference in the percentage of Black families investigated after the algorithm was adopted. The study found the workers were able to reduce this disparity produced by the algorithm.

The county says that social workers are always in the loop and are ultimately responsible for deciding which families are investigated because they can override the algorithm, even if it flags a case for mandatory investigation. Dalton said the tool would never be used on its own in Allegheny, and doubted any county would allow for completely automated decision-making about families lives.

Of course, they could do that, she said. I think that they are less likely to, because it doesnt make any actual sense to do that.

Despite what the county describes as safeguards, one child welfare expert who worked for an Allegheny county contractor says there is still cause for concern.

When you have technology designed by humans, the bias is going to show up in the algorithms, said NicoLee Biddle, who has worked for nearly a decade in child welfare, including as a family therapist and foster care placement specialist in Allegheny County. If they designed a perfect tool, it really doesnt matter, because its designed from very imperfect data systems.

Biddle is a former foster care kid turned therapist, social worker and policy advocate. In 2020, she quit, largely due to her growing frustrations with the child welfare system. She also said officials dismissed her concerns when she asked why families were originally referred for investigation.

We could see the report and that decision, but we were never able to see the actual tool, she said. I would be met with  What does that have to do with now?

In recent years, movements to reshape  or dismantle  child protective services have grown, as generations of dire foster care outcomes have been shown to be rooted in racism.

In a memo last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cited racial disparities at nearly every major decision-making point of the child welfare system, an issue Aysha Schomburg, the associate commissioner of the U.S. Childrens Bureau said leads more than half of all Black children nationwide to be investigated by social workers. Over surveillance leads to mass family separation, Schomburg wrote in a recent blog post.

With discussions about race and equity looming large in child welfare circles, Putnam-Hornstein last fall took part in a roundtable of experts convened by the conservative American Enterprise Institute and co-authored a paper that slammed advocates who believe child welfare systems are inherently racist.

She said she collaborated with the group that suggested there are racial disparities in the incidence of maltreatment because she sees the need for reforms, and believes that the adoption of algorithmic decision aids can help guard against subjectivity and bias.

Some researchers worry that as other government agencies implement similar tools, the algorithms could be allowed to make some decisions on their own.

We know there are many other child welfare agencies that are looking into using risk assessment tools and their decisions about how much fully to automate really vary, said Stapleton. Had Allegheny County used it as a fully automated tool, we would have seen a much higher racial disparity in the proportion of kids who are investigated.

LAB RATS

A decade ago, the developers of Alleghenys tool  Putnam-Hornstein and Rhema Vaithianathan, a professor of health economics at New Zealands Auckland University of Technology  began collaborating on a project to design a predictive risk model for New Zealands child welfare system.

Vaithianathan and colleagues prototyped a new child abuse screening model that proposed using national data to predict the risk that the child protection system would confirm allegations that a child had been mistreated by age 5. The plan was scrapped after documents revealed the Ministry of Social Developments head sharply opposed the project, declaring: These are children, not lab rats.

The minister wasnt the only one concerned. Emily Keddell, a professor of social work at Otago University in New Zealand who analyzed the tool in the peer-reviewed Critical Social Policy journal, found that it would likely have resulted in more Maori families being tagged for investigation, reinforcing existing structural inequalities by contributing to the ongoing stigmatisation of this population.

In response, Vaithianathan said that she and her collaborators are open to community criticism and committed to showing their work, even if jurisdictions decide against it. She added that she has worked extensively with Indigenous Maori researchers.

We encourage agencies to listen to those critical voices and to make leadership decisions themselves, she said.

Vaithianathan and Putnam-Hornstein said they have since expanded their work to at least half a dozen cities and counties across the United States and have explored building tools in Chile and Australia.

Brian Chor, a clinical psychologist and child welfare researcher at the University of Chicagos Chapin Hall, said the pair are respected for confronting ethical and racial concerns in creating the tool. He also said that Pittsburgh was the perfect place to create a model algorithm for other public welfare agencies.

Allegheny County is probably an early adopter where the stars seem to be aligned, where they have the data, Chor said. They have a solid recipe that I think is replicable.

In several public presentations and media interviews, Vaithianathan and Putnam-Hornstein said they want to use public data to help families in need.

Were researchers and were trying to model what good, good approaches look like in this field, Vaithianathan said in an interview. The developers also noted in a document sent to Pennsylvanias Department of Human Services last year that demand for their tools had increased due to the pandemic, as the state weighed a proposal for a statewide tool that would cost $520,000 to develop and implement.

Vaithianathan has said the tool ultimately can help address racial bias, and has pointed to a 2019 Stanford University evaluation commissioned by Allegheny County that suggests it may have had a modest impact on some disparities.

Ive always felt that these are tools that have the opportunity to improve the quality of decision making, Vaithianathan said at a November panel. To the extent that they are used with careful guardrails around them, I think they also offer an opportunity for us to try and address some of those systemic biases.

But when AP asked county officials to address Carnegie Mellons findings on the tools pattern of flagging a disproportionate number of Black children for a mandatory child neglect investigation, Allegheny County questioned the researchers methodology by saying they relied on old data.

The researchers reran the analysis using newer data to address the countys concerns and reached many of the same conclusions.

In response to AP, Allegheny County provided research that acknowledges the tool has not helped with combating disparities in the rates at which Black and white child neglect cases are investigated. A recent unpublished analysis written by the developers themselves determined no statistically significant effect of the algorithm on this disparity.

We dont frame the entire decision-making process around race, though clearly its an important thing that we think about, Dalton said.

Dalton said her team wants to keep improving the tool and is considering new updates, including adding available private insurance data to capture more information about middle class and upper income families, as well as exploring other ways to avoid needless interventions.

Dalton also downplayed the algorithms role in neglect investigations.

If it goes into court, then theres attorneys on both sides and a judge, Dalton said. They have evidence, right?

Chor said Alleghenys tool is applied at the most important point of the child welfare system.

The very front end of child protection decision-making is understandably the most impactful decision that you can make on a childs life, because once you come into contact with the hotline, with an investigator, then your chance of being removed, of course, is increased, Chor said.

The latest version of the tool excludes information about whether a family has received welfare dollars or food stamps, data that was initially included in calculating risk scores. It also stopped predicting whether a child would be reported again to the county in the two years that followed. However, much of the current algorithms design remains the same, according to American Civil Liberties Union researchers who have studied both versions.

The county initially considered including race as a variable in its predictions about a familys relative risk but ultimately decided not to, according to a 2017 document. Critics say even if race is not measured outright, data from government programs used by many communities of color can be a proxy for race. In the document, the developers themselves urged continuing monitoring with regard to racial disparities.

If over a million dollars have been spent creating and maintaining this tool, only for call screeners to disagree with it, for racial disparities to stay essentially level, and for screen-ins to continue at unreasonably high rates, is that the best use of Allegheny Countys resources? asked Kath Xu, an attorney at the ACLU.

Child welfare agencies in at least 26 states and Washington, D.C., have considered using algorithmic tools, and at least 11 have deployed them, according to a recent ACLU white paper by Xu and colleagues.

LITTLE TRANSPARENCY, GROWING INFLUENCE

Family law attorney Frank says shes always worried about the lack of due process and secrecy surrounding Allegheny Countys child welfare algorithm. Some of her clients have asked if the system was surveilling them because they used public assistance or community programs, but she cant answer.

I just dont understand why its something thats kept in secret, Frank said.

Once, Frank recalled, a judge demanded to know a familys score, but the county resisted, claiming it didnt want to influence the legal proceeding with the numbers spat out by the algorithm.

Bruce Noel, who oversees call screeners using Alleghenys tool, said that while the risk score advises their decision on whether to launch an investigation, he is torn about sharing that information with families because of the tools complexity. He added that he is cognizant of the racial disparities in the underlying data, and said his team didnt have much input into development.

Given that our data is drawn from public records and involvement with public systems, we know that our population is going to garner scores that are higher than other demographics, such as white middle class folks who dont have as much involvement with public systems, Noel said.

Dalton said she personally doesnt support giving parents their score because she worries it could discourage people from seeking services when they need them.

I do think there are risks and I want the community to also be on board with  the risks and benefits of transparency, Dalton said.

Other counties using algorithms are taking a different approach. Larimer County, Colorado, home to Fort Collins, is now testing a tool modeled on Alleghenys and plans to share scores with families if it moves forward with the program.

Its their life and their history, said Thad Paul, a manager with the countys Child, Youth & Family Services. We want to minimize the power differential that comes with being involved in child welfare  we just really think it is unethical not to share the score with families.

In the suburbs south of Denver, officials in Douglas County, Colorado, are using a similar tool and say they will share scores with families who request it.

Oregon does not share risk score numbers from its statewide screening tool, which was first implemented in 2018 and inspired by Alleghenys algorithm. The Oregon Department of Human Services  currently preparing to hire its eighth new child welfare director in six years  explored at least four other algorithms while the agency was under scrutiny by a crisis oversight board ordered by the governor.

It recently paused a pilot algorithm built to help decide when foster care children can be reunified with their families. Oregon also explored three other tools  predictive models to assess a childs risk for death and severe injury, whether children should be placed in foster care and if so, where.

For years, California explored data-driven approaches to the statewide child welfare system before abandoning a proposal to use a predictive risk modeling tool Putnam-Hornsteins team developed in 2019. The states Department of Social Services spent $195,273 on a two-year grant to develop the concept.

During the project, the state also explored concerns about how the tool may impact racial equity. These findings resulted in the state ceasing exploration, department spokesman Scott Murray said in an email.

Putnam-Hornsteins team is currently working with one of the nations largest local child welfare systems in Los Angeles County as it pilots a related tool.

The embattled agency is being audited following high-profile child deaths, and is currently seeking a new director after its previous one stepped down late last year. The complex-risk algorithm helps to isolate the highest-risk cases that are being investigated, according to the countys Department of Children and Family Services.

So far, the experiment has been limited to the Belvedere, Lancaster, and Santa Fe Springs offices, the agency said. The tool also has allowed the agency to generate and review reports about cases involving Black children and families who were deemed low-risk, but were still investigated and didnt result in any conclusive or substantiated allegations, the county said.

In the Mojave Desert city of Lancaster, U.S. Census shows 22% of the citys child population is Black. In the first few months that social workers started using the tool, county data shows that Black children were the subject of nearly half of all the investigations flagged for additional scrutiny.

The county did not immediately say why, but said it will decide whether to expand the tool later this year.

Back in Pittsburgh, family law attorney Frank is still trying to untangle how, exactly, the countys algorithm is impacting each client she shepherds through the system.

To find strength on the brutal days, she keeps a birthday calendar for the children shes helped and sends them handwritten cards to remember times when things went right.

Shes still haunted by a case in which she says she heard a social worker discuss a mothers risk score in court around 2018. The case ultimately escalated to foster care, but Frank has never been able to understand how that number influenced the familys outcome.

County officials said they could not imagine how a risk score could end up in court.

Theres no way to prove it  thats the problem, Frank said.

___

Associated Press reporter Camille Fassett contributed to this report.

___

Follow Sally Ho and Garance Burke on Twitter at @_sallyho and @garanceburke.

___

Contact APs global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/
PERRY, Maine (AP)  Police charged two people Friday in the killing of a woman in her home in Perry, officials said.

The Passamaquoddy Pleasant Point Police Department and the Maine State Police arrested Donnell J. Dana and Kailie A. Brackett, both 38, during a traffic stop, officials said.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  Fifty years after his Apollo 16 mission to the moon, retired NASA astronaut Charlie Duke says he's ready for the U.S. to get back to lunar exploration.

Part of that effort, Duke said Friday, will come in the form of the Artemis program, which includes NASAs upcoming flight to the moon using its new Space Launch System rocket. The first of the huge rockets is supposed to blast off without crew later this year, with crewed flights planned subsequently.

With Artemis, NASA is going to be focused on deep space, to the moon and beyond, and Im excited about that, Duke told The Associated Press in an interview in Columbia.

Duke, 86, is one of four surviving moonwalkers from the Apollo program, taking Apollo 16 to the lunar surface in 1972. He has been making the rounds to mark the 50th anniversary of his voyage, recently taking a trip to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to visit his spaceship, which made the next-to-the-last U.S. mission to land on the moon.

The late John Young was first out of the lander and walked on the moon with Duke. Ken Mattingly orbited the moon in the command module, nicknamed Casper.

Duke said he does not begrudge NASA for ending the Apollo program to focus on space shuttles, the international space station and other missions in more remote parts of space. But he looks forward to future missions that build off of what he and others have learned from their time on the moon, which called a great platform for science.

Duke also noted that hes encouraged by the commercial partnerships that have developed around space exploration, like Space X and Blue Origin. Those options, he said, make space available for more people and more science and engineering and unmanned stuff.

That compliment is going to be really important in the future, Duke went on. The more people we get into space, who can see the beauty of the Earth ... its going to affect a lot of people."

On Friday, Duke visited the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, which houses an exhibit full of some of his mementos from the moon, including a space suit, check list and moon rock. A series of placards describe the voyage and also include a flight drawing Duke made as a child on some of his arithmetic work.

Speaking with middle school students from his native Lancaster, South Carolina, Duke's eyes sparkled as he narrated a 16-minute planetarium video of his time on the moon's surface, drawing laughs as he described how easy it was to tumble or drop things in the low-gravity environment.

I just encourage you stick with it in school, to hang in there, and all the best in your careers, as you continue to grow up and mature in life, Duke told the students. I've discovered in my life that, if you keep those antennas up, if you keep focused on your life, and do things that you like to do, and take care of yourself, there are unlimited possibilities.

Asked about his continuing contributions to U.S. space programs, which includes consulting with a company trying to win a contract for a new lunar rover, Duke said he will keep going as long as he's able.

I flunked retirement, Duke said, with a laugh. As long as the Lord is willing and gives me the ability physically to do it, I want to challenge America and challenge the kids to aim high. ... Everybodys not going to listen, but maybe one or two will.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The worst possible moment for bringing Trevor Reed home turned out to be the best.

With U.S.-Russian relations at their lowest point in decades, it seemed an improbable time to hope for the release of Reed, a former Marine detained in Russia for almost three years. Yet this week the Biden administration completed the type of transaction it had earlier seemed resistant to, exchanging Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot and convicted drug trafficker serving a 20-year prison sentence in Connecticut.

A series of events and considerations in the last two months helped facilitate the swap, including escalating concerns over Reed's health, a private Oval Office meeting between his parents and President Joe Biden and a secretive Moscow trip by a former diplomat on the cusp of Russia's war with Ukraine.

All those three forced the White House to make a decision that they hadnt made before," said Mickey Bergman, vice president at the Richardson Center for Global Engagement.

How the war  and the breakdown in U.S.-Russian relations  affected the deal isnt clear. U.S. officials stressed that the negotiations for Reeds release were narrow in scope, focused squarely on the prisoners and not on Russias war and not reflective of any broader diplomatic engagement. But while the timing of the deal was startling, its also clear that the groundwork for it had been laid before the conflict had begun.

I did it, Biden told reporters Wednesday about the deal. I raised it. I raised it three months ago.

Just as the war was about to commence, Bergman and his colleague, Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and ex-New Mexico governor, flew to Moscow on the plane of FedEx chief executive Fred Smith for a meeting with Russian government officials. It was a continuation of negotiations they'd been having for the release of Reed and another jailed American, corporate security executive Paul Whelan.

They left with the contours in place for the one-for-one swap that ultimately took place.

In Texas, Joey and Paula Reed were worrying that Russia's war with Ukraine, and resulting tensions with the U.S., could close off communication channels and prevent any common ground for negotiations. During meetings with administration officials in the last year  including with the Justice Department, which prosecuted Yaroshenko  the couple expressed support for a swap but say they weren't led to think that was a viable option.

They didnt say: Oh, we agree with you, thats a great deal. Thats a good point,'" Paula Reed said in a February interview with The Associated Press. They didnt say anything like that. They just said: We hear you. Thank you very much.'

But weeks into the war, the couple did something that got the White House's attention.

As Biden traveled to Texas to support veterans, the Reeds stood along the motorcade route in hopes of getting meaningful face-time with the president. That didn't happen, though he did speak by phone with the couple. Later that month, they arrived in Washington and stood with signs near the White House, hoping again to meet with the president.

This time, they were invited into the Oval Office for a sit-down with Biden and other administration officials. The White House issued a statement that night reiterating its commitment to getting Reed and Whelan home, an issue that senior officials had raised in private meetings with Russian leaders.

The meeting was a rare bit of presidential access for the family of an American detainee, especially since Biden himself has been less public than his predecessor, Donald Trump, about efforts to get Americans home. Behind the scenes, though, Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were raising the cases with the Russians, and Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, was working on the issue too.

Hovering in the background was Reed's health. In March, Reed told his parents he'd been coughing up blood several times a day, had pain in his lung and a broken rib. Last year, he contracted COVID-19. Even on Wednesday, his parents were taken aback by how thin their son looked during video footage of the transfer. They said they expected that he'd need medical care before resuming his daily life in Texas.

Paula Reed told ABC's Good Morning America that Trevor was getting testing done, and his sister, Taylor, said that his spirits are bright.

Hes telling stories," she said. "Hes flirting with the nurse staff. Its great. Its great to see.

His health issues also alarmed U.S. officials.

That, I think, contributed to really ratcheting up the conversations on this issue, getting to a point where we were able to make this arrangement, getting to a point where we were able to turn to some of the logistics of simply getting it done, a senior administration official told reporters in a background briefing this week.

Separately, a lawyer for Yaroshenko has said his client also suffered from multiple health problems and had earlier tried unsuccessfully to have him freed early from prison on compassionate release grounds because of the pandemic.

Left out of any deal were Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage-related charges that his family says are fabricated, and Brittney Griner, a WNBA star detained in February after Russian authorities said a search of her bag revealed a cannabis derivative.

The Whelan family said in a statement that it was happy about Reed's release but troubled that their loved one wasn't part of it.

Paul has already spent 3 and a quarter years as a Russian hostage, the statement said. Is President Bidens failure to bring Paul home an admission that some cases are too hard to solve? Is the Administrations piecemeal approach picking low-hanging fruit?

Richardson, who has helped facilitate multiple releases of American detainees and hostages in recent years, said the Biden team deserves recognition for authorizing this particular swap at a time when U.S.-Russia relations were so low.

It doesnt matter who gets credit, Richardson said, as long as hostages like Trevor Reed are home.

____

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.etuckerAP
Missing part of his leg after a Russian bombardment, a man lay dazed in a stretcher as civilians helped an EMT bustle him away for treatment. Another sat stunned on a park bench, a strap cinched tightly around his leg just above a long, bloody gash. At a hospital, bandages shrouded a womans shoulder after she underwent surgery for wounds sustained during the shelling of her village.

The arrival of Eastern Orthodox Easter this week brought no respite from war to Ukraine some 60 days into Russias invasion, and the pain and suffering continued to be etched on the faces of the wounded, the bereaved and those fearful for what may yet be to come.
Daniel Truta / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

David Charles Jenkins, from Beaumont, is having his sentence commuted by President Joe Biden, a press release from the White House said. Jenkins was convicted of producing counterfeit access devices and violating his supervised release in Texas, as well as possession of cocaine base with intent to distribute in Louisiana, the release said.

Jenkins was originally sentenced to 151 months of jail time and eight years of supervised release for the possession of cocaine base in November 2011. In January 2015, 24 months of jail time were added for violating his supervised release and 24 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release were added in April 2014 for the production of counterfeit access devices.
President Joe Biden is sending 78 federal prisoners home after using his presidential power to either pardon or commute their convictions and sentences.

Some of those pardoned are from Illinois and Missouri. The information those individuals are as follows:

Abraham W. Bolden, Sr.  Chicago, Illinois

Abraham Bolden is an 86-year-old former U.S. Secret Service agent  the first African American to serve on a presidential detail. In 1964, Mr. Bolden was charged with offenses related to attempting to sell a copy of a Secret Service file. His first trial resulted in a hung jury, and following his conviction at a second trial, even though key witnesses against him admitted to lying at the prosecutors request, Mr. Bolden was denied a new trial and ultimately served several years in federal custody. Mr. Bolden has received numerous honors and awards for his ongoing work to speak out against the racism he faced in the Secret Service, and his courage in challenging injustice.

Odell Givens  Certe, Illinois

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance; possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance (three counts).

Sentence: Imprisonment for 186 months, five-year term of supervised release (December 14, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Rachel Lynn Hanson  Richton Park, Illinois

Offense: Possession of an unspecified quantity of cocaine with intent to distribute (Western District of Michigan).

Sentence: Imprisonment for 151 months, three-year term of supervised release (March 4, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.

Colleen Mossberger  Crest Hill, Illinois

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (June 5, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Brandon Todd Berry  Sikeston, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a substance containing methamphetamine.

Sentence: Imprisonment for 240 months, 10-year term of supervised release (October 19, 2010).

Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

David C. Frazier  St. Louis, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine; possession with intent to distribute a mixture containing cocaine; maintaining a drug involved premises.

Sentence: Imprisonment for 144 months, five-year term of supervised release (May 21, 2014).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Byron James Miller  St. Louis, Missouri

Offense:

1. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine; possession with intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine.

2. Possession with intent to distribute heroin; possession of heroin in a federal prison (District of Central Illinois).

Sentence:

1. 292 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (June 6, 1997); amended to 188 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release (December 17, 2019).

2. 210 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (March 5, 1999).

Prison sentences and terms of supervised release in each case to run consecutively.

Commutation Grant: Sentences commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the consecutive eight and three-year terms of supervised release.

Paul A. Lupercio  Blue Springs, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana and five kilograms or more of cocaine.

Sentence: Imprisonment for 240 months, 10-year term of supervised release (May 8, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

David L. Zouck  Buffalo, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine; distribution of five grams or more of actual methamphetamine (Western District of Missouri).

Sentence: Imprisonment for 132 months, five-year term of supervised release (March 30, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  As a mom and a Christian conservative, Lorissa Sweet found herself increasingly frustrated with Republicans in the Indiana Statehouse who she said were too willing to compromise on such issues as abortion and gun rights.

Then COVID-19 hit, and Sweet says those same legislators who campaigned as conservatives who believe in individual freedom stood by as she was ordered to shut down her dog grooming business. Kids were required to wear masks in school and some employers mandated workers be vaccinated, prompting protests by angry voters.

Now the County Council member from rural northern Indiana is among roughly two dozen liberty candidates running in Tuesday's primary  including challenges to several top-ranking GOP House members and bids for open seats. Both sides say the 23 challenges to sitting GOP lawmakers is unusually high in a state where Republicans control all statewide offices and Democrats have scant legislative influence.

Unlike in other GOP races across the country  including Ohio, which also has a statewide primary on Tuesday  the Indiana legislative contests have focused on state issues, rather than which candidate is closest to former President Donald Trump or has his support. And while it's unclear if the challengers can defeat incumbents backed by Republican leaders' multimillion-dollar campaign fund, they say they are tapping into a deep resentment among voters  and even winning a few seats could nudge the Legislature further to the right.

You just assume when you elect Republican representatives and senators that they're going to reflect your values and do the right thing. And then they didn't, said Sweet, 43, who is facing a far better-funded 20-year incumbent. You get even five of us elected and youre going to turn the tide."

For some of the challengers, the discontent started years before COVID, after Indiana lawmakers and then-Gov. Mike Pence in 2015 approved a religious-freedom law that was quickly criticized as allowing discrimination against gay people. Facing a national backlash and concerns from Indiana business leaders about possible boycotts, lawmakers altered the measure to make clear it cannot be used to discriminate, a change that infuriated some social conservatives.

At the heart of Tuesday's challenges is a conservative group, Liberty Defense, which touts a no-compromise view on issues like the religious objections law, banning all abortions and repealing Indianas red flag law, which allows police to seize guns from people who show warning signs of violence.

During a protest against vaccine mandates at the Indiana Statehouse last September, the group announced a plan to recruit 100 like-minded candidates in 100 days for various offices. Candidates say the group reached its goal in a matter of days, with many challenges growing from protests against the COVID-19 shutdowns and complaints that GOP legislators didn't take action to end Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb's executive orders, including a mask mandate.

Holcomb also enraged social conservatives in March when he vetoed legislation to ban transgender females from girls school sports; the Legislature is expected to override his veto in late May.

Liberty Defense PAC, which is largely funded by conservative individuals, has issued endorsements and promoted the liberty candidates" on social media and elsewhere to stir up voters in what is likely a low-turnout primary since Indiana has no statewide races on the ballot. The PAC made donations in the hundreds of dollars to endorsed candidates, and has helped with mailers and items like hats.

Among the endorsed candidates are two incumbents, Reps. Curt Nisly and John Jacob, who have angered members of their own party with hardline stances, such as repeatedly pushing a complete ban on abortion. Nisly defeated a moderate Republican incumbent in 2014, making him an inspiration to the liberty candidates, his campaign chairwoman said.

Still, defeating incumbents is rarely an easy task, and the challengers are targeting some well known and influential lawmakers, along with some of the House's most conservative members. They have the backing of the House GOP campaign operation, which had raised nearly $3.4 million by end of March and has given over $1 million to candidates for the primary  including those trying to unseat Nisly and Jacob. Liberty Defense PAC had raised a total of about $95,000.

Republican House Speaker Todd Huston said the incumbents can run on a strong record of low taxes and unemployment, along with a strong budget surplus for the state. Legislative leaders decided earlier this year to hold off on major anti-abortion action until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade, but said they will return to a special session to act if the court gives states greater authority to limit it.

We have to live in the practical world of getting things done and we have a lot of accomplishments, Huston said. We feel good.

The liberty candidates are predominantly running in heavily Republican districts, so even primary wins by far-right challengers would likely provide few opportunities for Democrats to dent the GOP's current 71-29 House majority.

If the challengers end up winning legislative seats, Huston said, theyll have to figure out, do they want to be able to get things done or just focus on the things that probably arent practical to get done?

Sweet, who has raised about $27,000 for her campaign, is running against Rep. Dan Leonard, 73, a top Huston lieutenant who had raised about $250,000 as of the end of March  more than half from the House Republican Campaign Committee.

Leonard has drawn the wrath of social conservatives for his frequent role in blocking proposals from Nisly and Jacob  either by raising procedural objections or not taking up bills assigned to the House committee he leads. He says the Liberty Defense candidates have an unrealistic view of what it's like to make laws, and the give-and-take that's sometimes necessary, even in a statehouse where Republicans hold a supermajority.

They want it all or nothing and so consequently what theyre getting is nothing, he said. So why send someone to the Statehouse to get nothing? It doesnt make a lot of sense to me.

Challengers like Brittany Carroll, a family law attorney running for a central Indiana seat, dismiss that argument.

Republicans hold larger legislative majorities in Indiana than in states such as Texas, she noted, yet Indiana lawmakers arent as aggressive in pushing issues such as the Texas ban on abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy. In 2020, Indiana voters supported Trump over Joe Biden by wider margins  57% to 41%  than Trump's victory in Texas or several other GOP-led states.

Indiana could be leading in terms of liberty, like Florida, like Texas, Carroll said.

Carroll also said she is undeterred by the incumbents' fundraising advantages.

No amount of money is going to overcome an angry voter.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP)  The Spokane Valley City Council in eastern Washington in an unusual move has banned newspapers from the City Hall lobby.

The council voted 4-2 this week to prohibit third-party publications from the lobbies of City Hall and the Spokane Valley Police Precinct, The Spokesman-Review reported.

The decision most notably affects free newspapers owned by council member Ben Wick, and one that runs advertisements.

The City Council had previously considered banning newspapers from all public properties, but a multipurpose facility that includes the Spokane Valley Senior Center was exempted.

Mayor Pam Haley and council members Rod Higgins, Arne Woodard and Laura Padden said the ban was necessary, with some arguing the papers cant be on city property because they contain campaign ads and election coverage.

City Attorney Cary Driskell has said allowing the free papers in the City Hall foyer could be construed as a violation of state law.

However, the state agency that oversees Washington disclosure laws and campaign finance said allowing newspapers in the lobby doesnt violate state law.

Kim Bradford, deputy director of the Public Disclosure Commission, said agency staff have reviewed Spokane Valleys third-party publication concerns and concluded the distribution of free newspapers in City Hall is legal. Bradford emphasized the opinion represents staff consensus and isnt a formal ruling.

Council members Tim Hattenburg and Brandi Peetz voted against the newspaper ban.

Peetz said the situation has been a waste of city resources.
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BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP)  The former owner of two Vermont ski resorts was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for his role in a failed plan to build a biotechnology plant using tens of millions of dollars in foreign investors money.

The sentencing of Ariel Quiros, former owner of Jay Peak and Burke Mountain, wraps up the largest fraud case in Vermont history.

During the hearing, prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford that Quiros, 65, kept for himself an estimated $30 million to $37 million that had been intended for the construction of the biotechnology plant in Newport, near the Canadian border.

This project was a fiction from beginning to end, Crawford said during the sentencing hearing.

The financial scandal involving Quiros and two others shook the state and its rural, economically depressed region called the Northeast Kingdom. A fourth man, a businessman in South Korea, remains at large.

Prior to being sentenced, Quiros apologized for his actions.

I deeply regret being involved in this case, Quiros said.

Prosecutors described Quiros, a Miami businessman who now lives in Puerto Rico, as a wheeler-dealer who played a role in the larger scheme.

The crimes could not have occurred without the toxic mix of these three mens strong personalities, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul van de Graaf and Nicole Cate wrote in their sentencing document.

Quiros, former Jay Peak president William Stenger and Quiros adviser William Kelly were indicted in 2019 over the failed plan to build the AnC Bio plant using millions of dollars raised through a visa program that encourages foreigners to invest in job-creating ventures in the U.S. in exchange for a chance to earn permanent residency.

Quiros pleaded guilty in August 2020 to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and the concealment of material information related to the AnC project. Other charges were dropped.

In a news release distributed after the sentencing, prosecutors said that Quiros admitted that he and his co-conspirators misled AnC investors about important information, including how investor money would be used and the timing of the required job creation for the project.

Stenger, of Newport, and Kelly, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, were each sentenced this month to 18 months in prison, with Stenger ordered to pay $250,000 and Kelly to pay $8.3 million in restitution.

Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Quiros to less than the eight-year maximum under the plea deal, based on his cooperation and acceptance of responsibility. The defense had asked for 18 months of home confinement, citing his cooperation, military service and wifes health problems.

Prosecutors said the project was designed to raise $110 million from 220 investors to build and operate the biotechnology facility, according to court records and proceedings. About 170 investors put in at least $500,000 each for a total of about $85 million between 2012 and 2016, but the project was never built, prosecutors said.

Three years before Quiros and Stenger were charged, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and the state of Vermont alleged in 2016 that they took part in a massive eight-year fraudulent scheme. The civil allegations involved misusing more than $200 million of about $400 million raised from foreign investors for various ski area developments through the same visa program in Ponzi-like fashion.

Quiros and Stenger settled civil charges with the SEC, with Quiros surrendering more than $80 million in assets, including the two resorts.

Prosecutors wrote in their sentencing recommendation in the criminal case that Quiros relied on Kelly and Stenger to address details, with Stenger acting as fundraiser and the face of the biotechnology plant project, and Kelly carrying out his wishes and fix problems.

Quiros was more interested in profits than details and perceived that these professionals gave him cover, prosecutors wrote. He wanted the gravy train to keep rolling, if possible, they wrote.

Quiros' lawyer wrote that Quiros has overwhelmingly displayed his contrition and desire to make amends, has taken full responsibility for his conduct and demonstrated remorse substantially.

___

Associated Press writer Wilson Ring in Burlington contributed to this report.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)  Germany has filed a case against Italy at the United Nations' top court in a long running dispute over World War II reparations. The International Court of Justice announced the filing late Friday.

The German case refers back to a previous ruling made by the U.N. court in 2012 in which it confirmed that Germany has legal immunity from being sued in foreign courts by victims of Nazi atrocities. That ruling said that Italys supreme court violated Germanys sovereignty in 2008 by judging that an Italian civilian was entitled to reparations for his deportation to Germany in 1944 to work as a slave laborer.
The new budget Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed sweeps $5 million out of the statewide 911 fund to start up a new number for mental health emergencies, a move the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police says was done without the knowledge of law enforcement groups.

The move is raising concerns by the group about what they say could be negative consequences to local 911 operations around the state.

The budget package lawmakers approved in the early morning hours on the final day of session earlier this month creates the Statewide 988 Trust Fund. The Department of Human Services will use the fund to establish and maintain a suicide prevention and mental health crisis system.

To fund the new 988 program, the budget transfers $5 million from the Statewide 911 Fund.

The latest numbers from the Illinois Comptrollers website shows the Statewide 911 Fund has $81.6 million and is administered by Illinois State Police.

The sweep of $5 million was done without the knowledge of law enforcement, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police said in a statement this week. We are in close communication with the Illinois State Police and others about this to determine what our next best steps will be to protect our 911 centers and to make sure Illinois does not suffer any consequences from the feds by sweeping 911 funds.

Pritzker was asked about the fund sweep this week. Despite signing the budget, he wasn't aware of the exact details.

I cant speak to it specifically, because I havent looked at that, but the 988 number that were establishing and were launching does take an enormous burden off our police, these are for mental health calls, Pritzker said.

The police chiefs are asking the state to postpone the sweep and for lawmakers to amend that provision of the budget when they return to the state capitol after the November election.

The Statewide 911 Fund is derived from surcharges on phone bills consumers pay. The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police said they intended to ask the governor to line-item veto that portion of the budget, but its too late. Reducing the fund could make the state ineligible for federal grants at a time when next generation 911 operations ramp up, the chiefs said.

The 988 number is scheduled to roll out in July. Pritzker defended the creation of a new emergency number focused on mental health emergencies.

That otherwise you would end up with a police officer and sometimes tragedy has resulted from that, Pritzker said. We want to differentiate between a mental health need thats an emergency and a 911 crime-related emergency.
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Thousands of Iranians marched in the capital of Tehran on Friday to mark Quds Day," or Jerusalem Day, a traditional show of support for the Palestinians. It was the first time such marches were held since before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Iran has been marking the day, the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, since the start of its 1979 Islamic Revolution led by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The name Quds Day comes after the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

Demonstrators chanted Death to Israel and Death to America  slogans that have become tradition in mass rallies in Iran since its revolution  and set fire to American, British and Israeli flags.

Iranian state TV later showed a variety of ballistic missiles on display at the rally, describing them as Israel hitters."

Iran does not recognize Israel and supports the Palestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah, militant groups that oppose it. Israel views Iran as its archenemy in the Middle East.

The rallies all headed to Tehran University, where the ceremony ended at Fridays noon prayers. Similar rallies took place in other Iranian cities and towns.

State news agency IRNA quoted a general of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard's expeditionary force, known as the Quds force, as saying that Iran backs all groups ready to fight Israel.

"We support any front that is formed against this criminal regime, and we will support any community that is ready to fight this criminal regime, Gen. Esmail Ghaani said at a speech in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Many high-ranking Iranian officials attended the rally in Tehran, including hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi and the powerful Guard commander, Gen. Mohammad Salami.

Salami warned Israel that it would face a painful response" if it takes any offensive action against Iran. If the slightest act of evil is being taken by you, you know better than me what will befall you, he said.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a speech broadcast live on television condemned unnamed Arab states in the Persian Gulf for normalizing ties with Israel, referring to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

We condemn the treacherous move to normalize relations" with Israel, he said, and reiterated Iran's support for the Palestinian cause.

We have always said this, we have always acted on this, and we have stood by it, Khamenei said.
DENVER (AP)  A jury has awarded nearly $9 million to three families who accused a Colorado fertility doctor of using his own sperm to inseminate three mothers who requested anonymous donors.

The jury reached its decision late Wednesday, finding Dr. Paul B. Jones and his clinic, Women's Health Care of Western Colorado, liable, The Denver Post reported Friday.

A woman who answered a telephone from a reporter at Jones' home said they are not supposed to talk. His lawyers did not return telephone messages or an email seeking comment.

The clinic declined to comment on the decision.

The verdict stems from a 2019 lawsuit brought against Jones and his clinic accusing Jones of using his own sperm in seven artificial inseminations from 1979 to 1985. The children grew up and as adults learned through genealogy services that they had a common connection  Jones.

Some families settled with Jones, said Maia Emmons-Boring, one of those who pursued a trial. The Texas resident learned through a home DNA test more than three years ago that the man she has called her father her whole life was not her genetic relative.

Our goal was never the money, she said. It was to see him in court.

The jury award followed a $5 million judgment against a Vermont doctor last month. The two decisions will set a precedent for fertility fraud cases throughout the country, said Jody Madeira, an Indiana University law professor and fertility fraud expert.

These two verdicts side by side establish that the public rejects this standard, Madeira said. They know that was never the standard of care and they find it grotesque.

The Colorado verdict also came days after state lawmakers introduced a bill to give donor-conceived individuals greater protections.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Kansas will be tightening its rules for adults receiving food assistance even though critics have warned that its new law is so sloppily written that it will apply to thousands more people than supporters intended.

The Republican-controlled Legislature on Thursday overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a GOP bill imposing a new job-training requirement for non-disabled adults. The changes will take effect July 1.

Republicans could overturn Kelly's action on their own because they have more than the two-thirds majorities in both chambers needed to do it. The votes were 86-36 in the House and 29-11 in the Senate, and almost no Democrats supported the override attempt.

GOP lawmakers have long argued that tighter rules for people receiving public assistance, coupled with state-provided job training, moves people from being dependent on the state's help into jobs.

What is the central solution to poverty? Its work, said Republican state Rep. Susan Humphries, of Wichita. "Work is not a punishment, its a blessing. Helping someone move to a place of self sufficiency is as gift to them.

In her veto message earlier this month, Kelly said the measure would unnecessarily burden some 30,000 adults. Republicans have put the number affected at less than half that, or about 12,000 adults.

Republicans said the new law applies only to non-disabled adults from 18 through 49 who do not have children. But Democrats said because of the bill's language, it could apply to both that group and all adults not working at least 30 hours a week.

There already were issues with this bill, Sen. Pat Pettey, a Kansas City Democrat, said Thursday in supporting Kelly's veto. We dont know with this additional language whether that is going that far.

Since July 2021, an average of nearly 199,000 people, including nearly 87,000 children, have received food assistance each month, with an average benefit of $300, according to the state Department for Children and Families.

The state tightened its rules for people receiving cash assistance in 2015 and 2016 under then-Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. Kansas gained national attention in 2015 for adding to state law a list of several dozen items that couldn't be purchased with the state aid, including tattoos, lingerie, concert tickets or sessions with a psychic.

Critics of those changes argued that they mostly kicked needy people off cash assistance and that many of those who obtained jobs still didn't earn enough to escape poverty. Advocates for the poor, social services agencies and food bank operators all said this year's bill simply would result in more struggling families going hungry.

They also argued that the tougher rules would increase bureaucracy, citing estimates that the state would have to spend $3 million to $5 million on additional staffing to enforce the new requirements.

Its punitive in nature," said state Rep. Jason Probst, a Hutchinson Democrat. "We are going to harm people with this if we do this override.

Supporters of the bill countered that the extra state staffing and spending would be an investment in improving poor families' lives.

We do nothing more than allow more people to be able to go to work, have an even better job and allow our employers to hire people who are better trained, said Republican Sen. Beverly Gossage, of Eudora.

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Stafford reported from Liberty, Missouri.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Sri Lankas president has agreed to replace his older brother as prime minister in a proposed interim government to solve a political impasse caused by the countrys worst economic crisis in decades, a prominent lawmaker said Friday.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed that a national council will be appointed to name a new prime minister and Cabinet comprised of all parties in Parliament, lawmaker Maithripala Sirisena said after meeting with the president.

Sirisena, who was president before Rajapaksa, was a governing party lawmaker before defecting earlier this month along with nearly 40 other legislators.

However, Rohan Weliwita, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, said the president has not communicated any intent to remove the prime minister and a decision will be announced if such a step is taken.

Sri Lanka is near bankruptcy and has announced it is suspending payments on its foreign loans until it negotiates a rescue plan with International Monetary Fund. It has to repay $7 billion in foreign debt this year, and $25 billion by 2026. Its foreign reserves stand at less than $1 billion.

The foreign exchange shortage has severely limited imports, forcing people to wait in long lines to buy essentials such as food, fuel, cooking gas and medicine.

President Rajapaksa and his family have dominated nearly every aspect of life in Sri Lanka for most of the last 20 years. Protesters who have crowded the streets since March hold them responsible for the crisis and are demanding that they quit politics.

On Thursday, businesses were closed, teachers absent and public transportation interrupted as Sri Lankans joined a general strike to pressure the president to step down.

Rajapaksa earlier reshuffled his Cabinet and offered a unity government in an attempt to quell the protests, but opposition parties refused to join a government headed by the Rajapaksa brothers.

Both the president and prime minister have held on to their positions, while three other Rajapaksa family members resigned from the Cabinet earlier in April in what appeared an attempt to pacify angry protesters.

The weak, divided opposition has been unable to form a majority and take control of Parliament on its own.
BANGKOK (AP)  Petronas, Malaysias state-owned oil and gas company, announced Friday that it is withdrawing from its participation in Myanmars offshore Yetagun natural gas project.

The company, through two subsidiaries, has held a 40.9% participating interest in the project, Petronas said in an announcement released by its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. It said its partners included Myanma Oil & Gas Enterprise, Myanmars state oil company, with a 20.5% share; Japans Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar) Ltd. with 19.3%; and Thailands PTTEP International Ltd. with 19.3%.
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LAS VEGAS (AP)  A 21-year-old man who shot and paralyzed a Las Vegas police officer during a racial justice protest on the Las Vegas Strip in June 2020 was sentenced Friday to 20 to 50 years in state prison.

The officer, Shay Mikalonis, was 29 when he was shot and now breathes with the help of a ventilator. He and his family were in the courtroom while Edgar Samaniego read a statement saying he doesnt remember the shooting due to his use of drugs and alcohol, KLAS-TV reported.
MANISTEE COUNTY  Manistee County has recorded six new COVID-19 cases and no new death since Friday, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Manistee County has had a total of 2,787 cases of COVID-19 and 73 deaths.

This is an increase of 33 new cases and four new deaths reported since Feb. 28. This total number of cases amounts to less than one case per day as of March 18.

On Nov. 28, 2020, the county recorded 17 new cases in a single day and the same number again on April 12, 2021. On Nov 16, 2021, the county broke that record with 18 cases recorded, according to MDHHS information. On Jan. 11, 2022, Manistee County recorded 24 new cases in one day  the highest total yet.

As of April 6, MDHHS will only provide COVID-19 updates once a week on Wednesdays.

Here are some quick facts from the most recent MDHHS report:

 There have been just over 2.08 million confirmed and probable cases and 35,776 confirmed and probable deaths statewide during the pandemic. MDHHS has updated its COVID-19 reporting to included confirmed and probable cases and deaths, instead of only only confirmed cases and deaths.

This is an increase of 3,215 confirmed and probable cases and an increase of 70 confirmed and probable deaths. MDHHS noted it reported its average number of new confirmed cases at 643 cases per day for five days.

 Grand Traverse County reported 13,533 cases and 199 deaths. This is an increase of 12 new cases with no new deaths.

 Wexford County reported 5,327 cases and 95 deaths. This is an increase of four new cases with no new deaths.

 Benzie County has seen 2,433 cases and 57 deaths. This is an increase of two new cases with no new deaths.

 Lake County has seen 1,541 cases and 34 deaths. This is an increase of one new case with no new deaths.

 Mason County has seen 6,161 cases and 88 deaths. This is an increase of 10 new cases with no new deaths.

Manistee County is considered part of Region 7 for tracking by the state. Region 7 includes Manistee and 17 other counties.

The region has 951 hospital beds, with 604 occupants in hospital beds and 122 in the intensive care unit as of Wednesday.

The region has 26 adults who have had suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the hospital, one on a ventilator and nine adult intensive care unit patients who have been confirmed or suspected to have had COVID-19.

Munson Healthcare Manistee Hospital has no COVID-19 patients, according to the most recent data available from MDHHS.

Manistee County has 62.5% of its population completely vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the states data from April 6, the most recent available data. This is 14,697 out of 23,506 eligible residents, according to 2019 U.S. Census estimates for people 5 years old and older. The county has 64.4% of the population who are considered fully vaccinated with at least one booster shot for those who are eligible. This is 8,833 out of 13,779 eligible residents who are 12 years old and older.

So far, 363 residents in Manistee County aged 5-11 years old have initiated their COVID-19 vaccine, or 24.1 %; this age group has a total population of 1,509. In the 12-15 group, 459 children have initiated the vaccine with 428 completed, or 43% who have had an initiation dose and 40.1% who have completed their vaccinations. There are 1,067 children in this age group.

In Benzie County, about 66.8% of the residents are fully vaccinated.

Parents and guardians can schedule an appointment to vaccinate their children age 5 and over from COVID-19 through DHD#10 at dhd10.org/schedule.

DHD#10 is offering off-site vaccine clinics. Participants do not need an appointment. All clinics will have Pfizer for people 5 and older and most will have Moderna and Johnson & Johnson for those 18 and older.

The health department is also scheduling third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for anyone age 12 or older; you can schedule an appointment at dhd10.org/schedule.

The U.S. has the highest counts globally. India has the second-highest number of cases and Brazil has the second-highest number of deaths.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been about 80 million cases in the United States and 979,610 deaths.

The World Health Organization lists over 492.1 million confirmed cases and about 6.15 million deaths in the world. There have been about 11.2 billion vaccine doses administered worldwide.
CAMBRIDGE, Md. (AP)  Maryland is revisiting the history of Harriet Tubman following Republican Gov. Larry Hogans decision to dedicate 2022 to the renowned Underground Railroad abductor, which many scholars say is an opportunity to inspire young people.

When it comes to the education curriculum, African American history is still marginalized, said Chanel Compton, executive director of the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis. Its just as integral as math and science, and were really not there yet.

According to a national poll conducted by Quinnipiac University in February, 27% of U.S. adults reported learning a full and accurate account of the role of African Americans in the United States, in school, compared with 66% who said their teachings fell short when it came to African American studies.

The U.S. has for decades erased the history of marginalized communities via inaccurate or inadequate education, but advocates efforts to preserve their past have persisted.

For years, historically Black colleges and universities, civil rights activists and African American museums have promoted their stories and contributions to American history, Compton said, and with each new generation were building on that momentum.

The Banneker-Douglass Museum, has seen an uptick in public engagement in person and online, which Compton credits to Hogans March proclamation that 2022 is The Year Of Harriet Tubman.

You see these young students of diverse backgrounds getting involved in social justice movements having discussions around racial equality in the classroom and homes, Compton said. We need to support that as an institution and fill in those gaps.

Historians in Maryland are thrilled to see one of the states  and the nations  most important figures celebrated for her death-defying efforts to lead slaves to freedom. Its long overdue, some say, especially because there are many people who are unfamiliar with Tubmans story.

Born in the early 1820s on the Eastern Shore, Tubman spent her youth as a house servant, enslaved along with her parents and eight siblings on a plantation in Dorchester County. Terrified of seeing her family separated by slave auctions after their master died, Tubman fled to Pennsylvania in 1849 but returned the next year on her first rescue trip to liberate her niece.

Tubman led more than a dozen escape groups to the North by 1860, and historians estimate more than 70 enslaved people found freedom following Tubman along the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, Tubman served the Union Army as a scout, spy and nurse. In her later years and until her death in 1913, Tubman resided in Auburn, New York, where she opened a home to care for the needy and elderly.

Its always interesting as a historian when people dont know about historical figures because we teach about these people all the time, and so we just hope that our students listen in class and have some takeaway, said Tamara Brown, a history professor and director of womens studies at Bowie State.

Catherine Clinton, author of the widely praised 2004 biography Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom, said Tubmans story has been left for too many years on the childrens shelf.

Do we not understand the Underground Railroad and the battle of slavery changed this country and made it a beacon for people coming to the U.S. for freedom and democracy? Clinton said. I also want her to be a blood and flesh person, not a bronze statue.

Id rather have people understand the dilemmas that she faced, especially returning to Maryland, her home, again and again to liberate family members (and) to rescue others from dire situations.

A student-led grassroots movement is seeking to ensure such stories are told. The movement, #DiversifyOurNarrative, encourages schools to incorporate more diverse and anti-racist material in the classroom. Since June 2020, the organization has become involved with more than 800 school districts across the country.

Federal efforts to honor Tubmans accomplishments as a slave-liberator and humanitarian include a push in recent years to put the abolitionists portrait on the $20 bill. In 2016, President Barack Obamas administration proposed replacing the image of Andrew Jackson, a founding father who owned slaves and enacted legislation that was harmful to indigenous people, with that of Harriet Tubman.

The revamped currency is scheduled to be released in 2030, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

Hogan has urged Marylanders to dedicate some of their time to visiting the historical sites tied to Tubmans past such as the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park and Visitor Center in Church Creek.

It is truly inspiring to think about how we can all walk along the same path as she did where she forged her indelible legacy of freedom, but the celebration of her life should not end this week or this month, Hogan said at a March 12 press conference, which coincided with the 200th anniversary of Tubmans birth in Dorchester County as well as the fifth year since the visitor center opened.

Dana Paterra, the manager of the visitor center and state park, said the facility received more attention from the media and tourists after Hogans commencement of the year of Tubman. According to Paterra, more than 1,500 people came to the visitor center the weekend of Hogans announcement despite rainy weather and icy roads.

The message that she leaves behind, her values of faith, family, community and freedom still resonate with people today  and what we want, especially young people, to leave with is that they can make a difference and they can be a powerful source for social justice, Paterra said.

There is still work to be done, according to Ernestine Wyatt, the great-great-great grandniece of Tubman. While she was grateful for Hogans effort, Wyatt hopes the renewed attention for Tubman does not end after this year.

Wyatt has been a vocal advocate for Harriet Tubman Day and continues to fight for an earlier release of the updated $20 bill with Tubman on it. She recently rang the first of 200 bell tolls honoring Tubman and women veterans during the National Bell Festival at Arlington National Cemetery on New Years Day.

How can I extend this, her relevancy, to be able to help other people to do what she did beyond 2022? Wyatt said. I want her to have every year about Harriet and her values, her approach to life, because she was very very successful in helping other people and doing things for this country.

___

This article was provided to The Associated Press by the University of Marylands Capital News Service.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Pakistan's newly elected prime minister was visiting Saudi Arabia Friday on his first foreign trip since taking office, an attempt to boost economic relations with the wealthy, oil-rich kingdom as Pakistan struggles with huge debt, soaring inflation and a worsening energy crisis.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif landed on Thursday in the holy city of Medina, just weeks after political turmoil that rattled Pakistan's fragile democracy and led to the ouster of former Premier Imran Khan.

Sharif professed enthusiasm before his departure, even speaking in Arabic in a video that praised the brotherly kingdom"  a country where he spent years in exile and cultivated close ties with top officials.

Although Sharif sought to leverage his maiden trip to the birthplace of Islam as a diplomatic milestone, the political divisions that have pushed Pakistan to the brink of crisis were on stark display during his three-day visit.

Dozens of Khan's supporters pumped their fists and hurled insults at Sharif, mobbing their political opponent as he visited one of Islam's holiest sites  a rare scene of chaos at the shrine in Medina that drew public anger and condemnation back in Pakistan.

Sharif's trip came at the invitation of the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry reported, in order to advance economic, trade and investment ties and create greater opportunities for the Pakistani workforce in Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom hosts some 2.7 million Pakistanis, more than any other country. Remittances from expat laborers to Pakistan are projected to reach $32 billion this year, according to Pakistan's central bank.

I will have wide-ranging discussions with Saudi leadership, Sharif tweeted, to renew & reaffirm our bonds of brotherhood & friendship.

Sharif is the younger brother of disgraced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif  who, like other powerful family members, has been dogged by accusations of corruption that they have dismissed as politically motivated.

The kingdom is familiar territory for the Sharif political house. After a bloodless military coup ousted the elder Sharif from power in 1999, Saudi Arabia agreed to host the deposed Nawaz Sharif and his family.

A 2008 U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks reported that Shahbaz and Nawaz Sharif retain excellent business and personal relations with the Saudi royal family," adding that "Saudi money reputedly financed the Sharifs parliamentary campaign.

Shahbaz Sharif was accompanied on his visit by a delegation of some 40 people, including officials and family members  a size that prompted sharp criticism from supporters of Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or Pakistan Justice Party, and had Sharif vigorously assuring the public he took a commercial flight at his own expense.

Controversy rose as Sharif visited the mosque of Prophet Muhammad in Medina, part of the smaller umrah pilgrimage that can take place any time of year.

As Sharif's delegation glided through the immaculate courtyard, dozens of Pakistani pilgrims at the mosque could be heard yelling chor! or thief! at the sight of their newly elected prime minister, according to footage widely circulated on social media.

Saudi security guards could be seen attempting to restrain the pilgrims. In one video, a man could be seen tugging the hair of a Pakistani official.

The episode sparked widespread fury in Islamabad on Friday, as the new government condemned the ousted prime minister and his supporters for sowing division.

"This man (Khan) wants to destroy the society, this man has divided the nation, and this man is misguiding youths, said Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, demanding the Saudi government take action against those who accosted Sharif.

These (people) should be deported, so that we can also take action against these violators, Sanaullah added.

There was no comment on the issue from Saudi authorities. The official Saudi Press Agency reported Sharif's evening prayers at the mosque in Medina without further details.

___

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
A Jacksonville resident is now Pilot Internationals district governor for the Midwest.

Karla Stice was installed as 2022-23 Midwest district governor for Pilot in a ceremony Saturday. Her term will begin July 1.

Pilot International is a non-profit volunteer organization with more than 400 clubs across the world. Founded in Macon, Georgia, in 1921, the club was originally for professional women, but expanded to include men and women from all walks of life.

Stice said its mission is to influence positive change in communities throughout the world by coming together in friendship and service.

Pilot does this by focusing on three areas  youth, brain safety and supporting people who care for others. The group has a youth-focused branch called Anchor Club International, which has chapters in schools across the world.

The Midwest district consists of nine clubs spread across Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.

All district governors have a theme for their term, and Stices is Grow with Pilot ... Experience the Fun. She said the theme was meant to emphasize members growing into their experience with Pilot as well as increasing community awareness of the club. Stice said she hopes raising the groups profile would bring in new people, as membership has been on the decline.

Community awareness, I believe, is a big factor in letting our communities know what we do, she said, so hopefully, were going to promote that on a district level highly this year.

Stice also said she wants people to know how fun it was to be a member of Pilot International. She said being part of a service organization like Pilot is not just about giving back to the community, but also about the friendships made along the way.

I can honestly say some of my best friends, I have met through the Jacksonville Pilot club and the Midwest district, she said.

Pilot has contributed to many organizations on the local, district and national levels, ranging from giving 128 bike helmets to Illinois College professor Jeremy Turners Protect the Melon! program to donating to The Salvation Army.

Were all about doing more, caring more, and being more, she said.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  A prominent Polish lawyer who has represented leading political opposition figures and was treated as a suspect in a politically sensitive case was cleared by a court on Friday.

Roman Giertych was targeted by Pegasus spyware in 2019 when he represented Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister and former president of the European Council who today leads Poland's main opposition party, Civic Platform. Giertych also represented other leading opposition politicians.

In 2020, Giertych was detained by Polish authorities and his home was searched in a manner which a Polish court later considered to be unlawful and unjustified.

Prosecutors ordered his arrest, accusing him of laundering enormous sums of money from a publicly traded company, Polnord.

Giertych vehemently denies the claims, and accuses Poland's ruling authorities of trying to ruin him politically.

The District Court in Lublin announced Friday that it was dismissing the prosecutors request for his arrest, upholding the decision of a lower court. The decision is final.

The court argued there were no grounds for his arrest, and said the prosecutor had failed to show evidence backing up its claims that Giertych was guilty of the alleged crimes.

Giertych welcomed the decision, saying he viewed it as an example of rule of law and independent judges resisting populist assaults."

According to reports in Polish media, prosecutors plan to keep investigating Giertych and view the judge who ruled in his case as biased against the country's conservative ruling party, Law and Justice.

From 2006-2007, Giertych was a deputy prime minister and education minister in a conservative government led by Law and Justice. At the time he was the leader of a far-right party, the League of Polish Families, but has since allied himself politically with Tusk and other centrist politicians.
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BEIJING (AP)  Classes suspended. Buildings and communities sealed off. Mass testing of residents. A rush to stock up on food, just in case.

Beijing, China's sprawling capital, is starting to resemble other Chinese cities grappling with the latest wave of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Authorities are moving quickly to try to prevent a massive COVID-19 outbreak that could trigger a citywide lockdown like the one that has paralyzed Shanghai for more than three weeks. The political stakes are high as the ruling Communist Party prepares for a major congress this fall at which President Xi Jinping is seeking a third five-year term to reassert his position as Chinas unquestioned leader.

Xi and the partys main policymaking body, the Politburo, reaffirmed their commitment to a zero-COVID policy on Friday, putting China at odds with much of the world. While many countries are dropping restrictions and trying to live with the virus, China is keeping its international borders largely shut and closing off entire cities to all but essential travel.

The Politburo acknowledged the economic cost of lockdowns, saying efforts must be made to minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Despite the toll on the economy and everyday life, the zero-COVID approach is extolled by the Communist Party as a virtuous display of self-sacrifice under the slogan Persistence is victory. Officials frequently point out Chinas relatively low death toll and have accused the U.S. and other countries of essentially giving up.

Li Bin, a vice minister of Chinas National Health Commission, cited China's vast population and insufficient medical resources.

If the COVID response loosens to let the virus run free, it will definitely lead to a huge number of infections in a short period of time and a large number of severe and mortal cases, Li said at a media briefing Friday.

Shanghai reported 52 more deaths on Thursday, bringing the toll to 337 in its ongoing outbreak. Liang Wannian, the head of Chinas COVID-19 expert team, told the briefing there have been signs of improvement in Shanghai, but the situation remains serious. The city recorded about 15,000 cases on Thursday, accounting for the vast majority nationwide.

Beijings strategy of early testing and isolation appears to be working so far. As of Friday afternoon, 228 cases and no deaths had been reported since the outbreak started a week ago, though the daily number of new cases has creeped up to nearly 50.

I think Beijing can do better than other cities because Beijing is the capital city of China," said community worker Liu Xuan. "And my work is related to virus control and prevention so I feel confident.

A botched response to the Beijing outbreak may not impact Xis plans for a third term, but it could dent the partys reputation and with it, Xis room for maneuver on issues such as personnel appointments, experts said.

Even if Xi Jinping himself is untouchable, a widespread sense of failure and disappointment is bad for a congress year, said Joseph Torigian, a Chinese politics expert at American University in Washington, D.C.

The pomp and circumstance in the run-up and during the meeting would contrast with the frustration, he said.

Liang, the COVID-19 expert team head, said citywide lockdowns can be avoided if early detection, reporting, isolation and treatment are done well. Fighting omicron ... does not necessarily mean locking down the entire city, he said.

What remains unclear is whether the highly contagious variant will breach Beijings defenses, and whether containment measures will be enforced in a way that minimizes disruption to daily life and the work of government and businesses.

Beijing is taking no chances. The government ordered the indefinite closure of schools and three rounds of testing of virtually all the capitals 21 million residents this week. When cases are uncovered, entire buildings and sometime neighborhoods are locked down.

Residents have generally complied with the demands, joining long lines for testing and food, some stretching outside supermarkets this week.

The cautionary tale for Beijing is Shanghai, Chinas largest city, where millions of residents have been under a lockdown for more than three weeks. Food has run low at times and heavy-handed enforcement and a lack of preparation have prompted heavy criticism, despite government efforts to censor it.

Images online have shown residents grappling with police and confronting health workers, kicking at barriers, screaming off their balconies and banging pots and pans to show their frustration.

The lockdown has dealt a blow to the economy at a time when growth was already slowing. The International Monetary Fund has reduced its forecast of Chinese growth this year to 4.4% because of the shutdowns of Shanghai and other industrial centers. That would be down from 8.1% growth last year and below the Communist Partys 5.5% target.

Liang said the short-term pain would be exchanged for long-term returns to normal production, life and economic development. I think this is cost-effective and is also a kind of balance, Liang said.

Yu Changping, a doctor of respiratory medicine at Peoples Hospital of Wuhan University, concurred.

Inconvenience to peoples life or economic impact is the pain we have to suffer and a price we have to pay," Yu said. But if we fail to prevent the spread of the virus, we will suffer heavier losses with larger and broader social and economic impact.

Any shortcomings in the government's response could inspire the citizenry to take matters into their own hands, eroding party control, said June Teufel Dreyer, a Chinese politics specialist at the University of Miami.

Shanghai fell short in areas such as distribution of food and medicine and provisions for the elderly and pets. In response, residents banded together in ad hoc groups to provide relief, a development that the party may have found disturbing,

Will the party-government be able to reimpose control once the feeling of crisis abates? I dont think theyll find it too easy to do so, Dreyer said.

___

Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang and researcher Yu Bing contributed to this report.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler is planning to propose spending $3.9 million to add 28 unarmed public safety specialists to the Police Bureau.

That would bring the total to 62, which is more than three times the current number, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Wheeler said the goal is to free up sworn police to handle higher priority calls.

The Police Bureau is confident it can fill the jobs, noting that 89 people have applied. The additional funding also would cover 14 more vehicles for the public safety specialists.

The specialists handle 33 types of calls, including cold stolen vehicle calls, cold theft calls, calls about recovered stolen vehicles or other property, suspicious subjects, vandalism and non-injury accidents. They also help police with traffic detours, conduct searches for missing persons and attend neighborhood meetings.

Earlier this year, the city budget office recommended an outside evaluation of their work. An evaluation has since found in an average shift, a public safety specialist can save 4.6 hours of patrol officer time through the calls the specialist can handle.

Portland would do well to significantly increase the number of PS3s (public safety specialists), to expand their working hours, and to grow the calls/tasks they are trained and authorized to handle, the review said.

The first public safety specialists were hired in June 2019. They have 200 hours of training during a five-week academy and ride with a field training officer for four to eight weeks.

The mayors request is expected to be released Tuesday as part of his requested city budget for the next fiscal year.
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  A powerful explosion ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday, killing at least 10 people and wounding as many as 30, a Taliban spokesman said.

Hundreds of worshippers had gathered for prayers on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramdan and the Khalifa Aga Gul Jan Mosque was packed, said local residents, fearing the casualty toll could rise further.

The Taliban-appointed interior ministry spokesman, Mohammad Nafi Takor, could not provide more details and Taliban security men cordoned off the area. The source of the explosion was not immediately known and no one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Initially, at least 20 were reported wounded but Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the Taliban-appointed Kabul police chief, later raised the number to as many as 30. The death toll remained at 10, he said and also tweeted that security agencies are investigating the incident.

The explosion was so loud that the neighborhood of the mosque shook from the blast, the residents said, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing for their own safety.

Ambulances raced to the site, driving up to the end of a narrow street in an eastern neighborhood of Kabul to reach the mosque, which belongs to Afghanistans majority Sunni Muslims.

Wahid, an Afghan in his 30s, said he was home when he heard about the blast and rushed to the mosque right away, knowing his brother was there. He recalled the scene of mayhem, the screams and shouts for help. He helped carry the wounded to ambulances.

Everyone was crying and covered in blood, Wahid said. I was told my brother had been hurt."

The Associated Press spoke to Wahid outside the Italian-run EMERGENCY hospital, where he had gone to give blood, but Taliban guards cordoned off the hospital, denying access to everyone but the wounded. He finally found his brother, wounded in the arm and leg.

The hospital, which treats only the war-wounded, tweeted that its staff reported the facility has admitted at least 23 wounded and two who died shortly after the explosion.

Javid, who appeared to be in his late 20s, said he was on his way to the mosque to join his brother and cousin who were already there, when he heard the explosion. He rushed to the scene.

I was so afraid and ran there, he said, adding that he had found both his brother and their cousin, slightly injured and released after treatment. The explosion was so powerful, Javid said the roof of the mosque collapsed.

Wahid and Javid would only give their first names to the AP, fearing for their own safety.

The United Nations condemned the explosion, describing it as heinous and yet another painful blow to the people of Afghanistan who continue to be exposed to unremitting insecurity and violence, according to Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N.'s deputy special representative coordinating humanitarian relief.

It is unconscionable for civilians to be targeted indiscriminately as they go about their daily business, gathering for prayers, going to school or the market, or on their way to work, he said.

The explosion was the latest in a series of such blasts amid relentless attacks across the country. Similar attacks on mosques have recently targeted the country's minority Shiite Muslims and were claimed by the Islamic State group's regional affiliate, known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province or IS-K.

IS has stepped up its attacks across Afghanistan to become the primary enemy of the Taliban since their takeover of the country last August.

Despite Taliban claims to have routed IS from its headquarters in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, the militant group's renewed assaults on mosques, schools and buses underscores the intransigent threat it poses.

Last week, 33 Shiite worshippers died in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, when a bomb struck their mosque and an adjacent religious school. IS has claimed responsibility for that attack.

There are also other militant groups operating in Afghanistan and despite Taliban promises that Afghan territory would not be used to harbor non-Afghan insurgents, militants fighting many of Afghanistan's neighbors have found a safe haven in the country.

The relentless bombings have prompted protests by minority Shiites and have seriously undermined Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers as they transition from insurgency and war to governing and trying to bring security to the war-ravaged nation.

___

Associated Press writers Mohammad Shoaib Amin in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Rahim Faiez in Islamabad contributed to this report.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  Among the scathing findings of an investigation launched after the police killing of George Floyd is that Minneapolis police used covert or bogus social media accounts to monitor Black individuals and groups despite having no clear public safety rationale for doing so.

The report released Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights echoes numerous past revelations that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have  sometimes illegally  secretly surveilled prominent people and communities of color even though they weren't involved in any criminal activity.

Overall, the two-year investigation found that the Minneapolis Police Department engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade, including stopping and arresting Black people at a higher rate than white people, more frequent use of force on people of color and a department culture that tolerated racist language.

Regarding social media, it spotlighted departmental abuses turned up in a review spanning activity between 2010 and 2020.

Officers used covert, or fake accounts to seek and gain access to the online profiles of Black individuals including an unnamed City Council member and a state elected official, the report said, as well as groups such as the Minneapolis NAACP and Urban League. The activity included friend requests, comments on posts, private messages and participation in discussions.

When doing so, officers posed as like-minded individuals and claimed, for example, that they met the targeted person at a prior demonstration or protest, the report said.

The report acknowledged that law enforcement can have legitimate reasons for tracking social media if a clear investigative purpose to advance public safety exists, and if clear procedures and accountability mechanisms are in place.

But Minneapolis police fell well short of those standards, investigators determined, improperly using the accounts to surveil and engage Black individuals, Black organizations, and elected officials unrelated to criminal activity, without a public safety objective.

The report doesnt include enough details to support criminal charges against any specific officers or lawsuits by individuals who were targeted, but some observers say it seems likely the Human Rights Department has other information from the investigation that a lawyer could use to try to build a case.

Spokesman Taylor Putz said the agency was unable to release any information beyond what's in the report because the case is still considered open while it works with the city to address the problems it identified.

Minneapolis police spokesman Howie Padilla said his department was still digesting the document and declined further comment.

Via Twitter, the Minneapolis NAACP expressed dismay over having spent years working with police to try to address problems only for MPD to continue to stall efforts and turn around and surveil us.

Andrew Ferguson, a law professor and expert on police technology and surveillance at American University, said that of the many examples of misconduct outlined in the report, the abuse of social media raises a red flag for all police departments.

What is happening in Minnesota is happening in many jurisdictions, because there are few rules in place and no accountability, Ferguson said. Police rummage through social media without limits, turning our digital lives into sources of surveillance. It might feel less violent than some of the other police misconduct, but it is still violative and wrong.

For Diala Shamas, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, the revelations are echoes of a covert FBI program from the 1950s to early 70s, known as Cointelpro, that illegally conducted surveillance and sabotage against civil rights groups and other organizations, sowing paranoia, distrust and violence. Targets included the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panthers, Malcolm X and many others.

The police actions in Minneapolis, Shamas said, amount to Cointelpro tactics with a modern twist.

Law enforcement agencies across the country have been using social media surveillance for years, however. A 2016 survey by the Urban Institute and the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that 70% of departments mined social networks during investigations.

But the rules governing how they do so are often opaque, vague or not a matter of public record.

In an ongoing study of police policies in U.S. jurisdictions with at least 100,000 people, researchers at the Brennan Center for Justice found just 35 police departments had publicly available policies that in some way addressed the use of social media for collecting information. Of those, 15 had language setting some limits on undercover or covert online activity. But several were vague or set a low bar for authorization, simply requiring supervisor approval.

I would say that very few if any of the policies really gave detailed, robust limitations on the use of undercover accounts, said Rachel Levinson-Waldman, deputy director of the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program.

Police misuse of social media has been uncovered in departments beyond Minneapolis, she noted.

In Tennessee, a lawsuit by the state chapter of the ACLU exposed the use of covert Facebook accounts by Memphis officers to target activists of color and community justice advocates. A federal judge determined that violated a longstanding consent decree barring the department from infringing on activities protected by the First Amendment.

And in California, the Brennan Center obtained records showing that third-party social media monitoring companies had pitched their services to the Los Angeles Police Department, including the ability to create furtive accounts for officers. While the city requires approval for some undercover online activity, Levinson-Waldman said, there are exceptions such as for threat assessments that allow officers to sidestep real oversight or accountability.

Facebook and its parent company warned both departments they had violated terms of service, she added. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all have policies prohibiting the use of their data for surveillance, and Facebooks guidelines for law enforcement specifically prohibit fake accounts.

Shamas, of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said covert surveillance like that practiced in Minneapolis and elsewhere can have serious and chilling effects.

The idea that you dont know that the person youre liaising with is undercover or an informant means youre going to be less likely to explore new ideas for strategies and campaigns, she said, all the things that are important for a democratic society.

___

This story was first published on April 28. It was updated on May 2 to correct that the Brennan Center hasn't finished studying the police department policies in all U.S. jurisdictions with at least 100,000 people.

___

Associated Press reporters Doug Glass in Minneapolis and Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, contributed to this report.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  The federal retrial of a former Arkansas lawmaker accused of bribery and wire fraud has been delayed until later this year.

A federal jury in August had acquitted former state Sen. Gilbert Baker on one count of conspiring to bribe an ex-judge.
In a report published in the journal Nature Thursday, researchers found that climate change will result in thousands of new viruses spread among animal species by 2070, likely to increase the risk of emerging infectious diseases transmitting from animals to humans.

Africa and Asia, which have been hotspots for diseases spreading from animals to humans over several decades, are especially likely to be impacted by this increased transmission.

Cross-species virus spread will happen over 4,000 times among mammals alone if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over the next 50 years, researchers found. Birds and marine animals were not included in the study, but over 3,000 mammal species were.

The number of cross-species viruses increases the risk of spread to humans, although not all viruses will spread to humans or become pandemics as large as the coronavirus. At a media briefing Wednesday, researchers said there was less research about how climate change could influence disease transmission, although previous research has investigated how deforestation and extinction and wildlife trade could lead to animal-human disease spread.

Experts on climate change and infectious disease agreed that a warming planet will likely lead to increased risk for the emergence of new viruses.

"We don't talk about climate a lot in the context of zoonoses," or diseases that can spread from animals to humans, said study co-author Colin Carlson, assistant professor of biology at Georgetown University. "Our study... brings together the two most pressing global crises we have."

Carlson authored the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and said we must cut greenhouse gas and phase out fossil fuels to reduce the risk of infectious disease spread. The latest IPCC report stated how to prevent climate change and found that carbon removal from the atmosphere, for which there exists no current technology, is key.

Another key would be curtailing energy demand, where the total global energy demand collapses in the next few decades, IPCC researchers wrote.

In the report in Nature, researchers suggested at least 15,000 new cross-species viral transmissions are forecast to happen by 2070 if the world warms 2 Celsius, the worst-case scenario under the Paris Agreement. COVID-19 likely originated from animal to human transmission, according to the World Health Organization.

"This is happening," Gregory Albery, co-author of the study and disease ecologist at Georgetown University, said during the news conference. "It is not preventable even in the best case climate change scenarios, and we need to put measures in place to build health infrastructure to protect animal and human populations."
AP

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is heading to West Africa on Saturday to join Muslims marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan and to highlight the impact of the Ukraine war on the African continent, the U.N. announced Friday.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the secretary-general will arrive in Senegal on Saturday evening, travel to Niger on Monday and to Nigeria on Tuesday and then return to New York.
The United Methodist Churchs Council of Bishops, ending a five-day meeting Friday, acknowledged the inevitable breakup of their denomination  a schism that will widen this weekend with the launch of a global movement led by theologically conservative Methodists.

The breakaway denomination, called the Global Methodist Church, will officially exist as of Sunday. Its leaders have been exasperated by liberal churches continued defiance of UMC bans on same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay clergy.

Bishop Thomas Bickerton, who became the Council of Bishops new president Friday, described the launch of the new movement as a sad and sobering reality. Bickerton said he regrets any departure from the UMC and values the denominations diversity of thought.

There is no perfect church, he said. The constant fighting, the vitriolic rhetoric, the punitive behaviors have no place in how we preserve and promote our witness as Christian believers.

He said he prays the infighting will stop and the UMC will rediscover its mission to make disciples for Christ. He urged the UMC, even as it suffers defections, to think of May 1 as its launch day as well.

We are the United Methodist Church not interested in continuing sexism, racism, homophobia, irrelevancy and decline, he said. What we are interested in is a discovery of what God has in mind for us on the horizon as the next expression of who we are as United Methodists.

Bickerton, who heads the UMCs New York City region, succeeded Louisiana-based Cynthia Fierro Harvey as president of the bishops council.

Harvey acknowledged the inevitable splintering of the denomination when she preached April 25 during her final address as the Council of Bishops president, I also realize that it might be time to bless and send our sisters and brothers who cannot remain under the big tent.

A leader of the breakaway movement indicated Sundays launch would take place with little fanfare.

This is the date that we can start receiving churches as they leave the United Methodist Church, and thats going to occur over a considerable amount of time, said the Rev. Keith Boyette, chairman of the new denominations Transitional Leadership Council and a United Methodist minister in Virginia. Itll be more of a rolling celebration.

Its transitional doctrine includes a belief that marriage is between one man and one woman, and clergy must adhere to it  a core point of division in the UMC for decades.

Boyette said he expects some churches and pastors to announce Sunday they are joining the Global Methodist Church. He will be among them.

On May 1, I will no longer be a member of the United Methodist Church, said Boyette, who has already been approved  effective Sunday -- as a clergyperson in the new denomination.

It is easier for clergy to leave the UMC than an entire church, which has to follow a layered process. As a result, Boyette expects the ranks of the Global Methodist Church will grow over time, noting that some who want to join will wait until after the UMC's 2024 General Conference  and the possible passage of a protocol that spells out details for the breakup.

Boyette criticized the actions of some members of the Council of Bishops, including the decision to further delay the General Conference. He suggested some bishops are intentionally blocking churches from using certain processes for exiting the denomination.

Global Methodist Church organizers had originally expected to launch the denomination only after the next General Conference of the UMC. That legislative body is the only one that could approve a tentative agreement  unveiled in 2020 after negotiations between conservatives, liberals and centrists  to allow churches and regional groups to leave the denomination and keep their property.

But the General Conference, originally scheduled for 2020, was already delayed for two straight years by the pandemic. In March, the UMC announced it was pushing off the next gathering yet again  to 2024  due to long delays in the U.S. processing of visa applications. A little more than half of the denominations members are overseas, notably in Africa and the Philippines.

The United Methodist Church claims 6.3 million members in the U.S. and 6.5 million overseas.

Differences over same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy have simmered for years in the UMC, and came to a head in 2019 at a conference in St. Louis where delegates voted 438-384 to strengthen bans on LGBTQ-inclusive practices. Most U.S.-based delegates opposed that plan and favored LGBTQ-friendly options; they were outvoted by U.S. conservatives teamed with most of the delegates from Methodist strongholds in Africa and the Philippines.

In the aftermath of that meeting, many moderate and liberal clergy made clear they would not abide by the bans, and various groups worked on proposals to let the UMC split along theological lines.

___

Associated Press writer Giovanna Dell'Orto contributed to this report.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE, Alaska (AP)  Those wishing to climb North Americas tallest peak got a leg up this week from the U.S. Army.

Aviators from B Company, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment at Fort Wainwright flew two bus-sized CH-47F Chinook helicopters Wednesday to continue the decades-old tradition of helping set up base camp on Denali, a 20,310-foot (6,190 meters) mountain located about 240 miles (386 kilometers) north of Anchorage.
Researchers regularly survey coasts for creatures like sea turtles, marine mammals and endangered bird species. And while they often come across debris while combing the Texas shoreline, lately, creepy dolls seem to be their most popular find.

Mission-Aransas Reserve researchers say that for years now, they've been mysteriously encountering dolls washing ashore on Texas beaches. The reserve documents the most interesting ones on their Facebook page. The creepy castaways are usually in horrific condition, covered in barnacles or missing their limbs, hair and eyes.

One of the group's most recently shared dolls, which had barnacles growing out of its eyes, was on Monday. "Oh boy, a creepy doll. I know a bunch of you weirdos out there like this," says Jace Tunnell, director of the Mission-Aransas Reserve at the University of Texas Marine Institute, in a beachcombing video. "This is some stuff that comes up all the time."

With each social media post, users appear to be more and more intrigued. "Creepy and why are there so many dolls in the ocean? Am I missing something?" one user commented on an April 22 post. "This one looks happy to be found! ... not like some of the others!" another wrote.

Tunnell told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he and his colleagues regularly find the dolls while surveying a 40-mile stretch of beach from north Padre Island to Matagorda Island. "Every day is something new," Tunnell said. "Just when you've found everything that could possibly wash up on shore, something else comes up."

So far, Tunnell told the Star-Telegram that he's collected 30 of the disturbing dolls since he began keeping count. "The creepiest are the ones that have lost all their hair," he said.

The first doll they found was the head of a sex doll. "I posted a picture of it and I didn't realize that's what it was," Tunnel said. "We got a lot of followers on the page after that." Someone later bought the sex doll's head for $35 and the proceeds were donated to a sea turtle rescue program, Tunnell told the Star-Telegram.

But how did the dolls even get there, one might ask? The UT Marine Science Institute found the Texas Coastal Bend region is a "junk magnet."

"Texas coastal bend beaches get 10 times the amount of trash ... than any other beach in the Gulf of Mexico," Tunnel told the Star-Telegram. This is because of a "loop current" that extends from the Yucatan Peninsula to Florida and pushes debris toward the Texas Gulf.

The group also gets a surprising number of people requesting to purchase or take the dolls. Tunnell told the Star-Telegram that he doesn't keep any of the toys out of fear that they could be haunted but he sells them at a yearly fundraising auction. "There's a lot of nightmares out there," he said.
Russia freeing former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed this week renewed hope for some fans for a swift release of WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner. However, one legal expert says Reed's release is actually not a good sign for the Houston native.

Griner has been detained in the country since February after Russian authorities accused her of carrying cannabis oil in her luggage. Another American, Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, also remains imprisoned there on espionage charges he has consistently denied.

Aron Solomon, Esquire Digitals chief legal analyst who has taught at McGill and the University of Pennsylvania, explains that while Griner, Whelan and Reed fall under the category of "political detainees," in order of value to Russia, Griner "is somewhere in the middle."

Whelan, coming from the military intelligence business, is likely the most high profile detainee for Russia, Solomon explains. Because of this, he says hes "not at all hopeful" that Griner would be released quickly.

"I dont think it benefits Russia at this point to either move forward with a criminal case, or certainly to release her. If shes a political detainee, theres probably nothing that Russia wants in exchange for Brittney Griner at this point that the Americans are deeming to be realistic," Solomon says, adding the country could propose an agreement where Griner would not be allowed back into Russia. "Im sure the Russians are asking for a lot more at this point than the Americans are willing to give."

Griners next court date is set for May 19 and her charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. However, Solomon also predicts that the hearing will continue to be pushed back, keeping the athlete in a sort of "perpetual detention."

"Russia, unlike the United States, doesnt have rule of law," Solomon says, adding its also not likely that a decision would be made in time for the upcoming WNBA season. "So basically, the way this is all going to play out is however the leadership wants it to play out. This things going to drag out for as long as Russia wants it to drag it out."

Reed, a discharged marine and University of North Texas student who was visiting Moscow in 2019 when he was arrested, was imprisoned in Russia for nearly three years while Whelan has been there for approximately four years. Griner could also likely be held in the country for the same amount of time or longer, Solomon explains. Part of the reason is why the athlete was taken into custody in the first place, Solomon says.

"At the time that Russia was getting set to invade Ukraine, Im sure Russia looked around and said this is the highest profile American athlete we have in the country," Solomon says. "Knowing that she was out of town for a female qualifying tournament, knowing that shes about to come back in, it was a perfect opportunity for them to detain her at the airport."

There also multiple factors working against Griner that made her an easy target for Russia, Solomon explains. "Shes black, shes tattooed, shes super tall and basically just inherently different," he says.

Many of Griner's supporters, including the WNBA, have preferred to speak under the radar about her case given Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine. Solomon also advises against exposing revealing, personal information about the athlete that could be used against her. However, he says its too late to try to keep the case out of the public spotlight and its more important to keep the case on everyones minds.

I think this needs to stay in the public spotlight or were going to just totally forget that Brittney Griner was taken, Solomon says. "So the WNBA is going to start this season without Brittney Griner. I think every single team should be wearing uniforms that say Griner on them every single game. It's not going to happen."
WFO NEW YORK CITY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 28, 2022

_____

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service New York NY

749 PM EDT Thu Apr 28 2022

Am elevated risk of fire growth and spread continues into this

evening. Northwest winds sustained at 15 to 25 mph with gusts 25

to 30 mph are expected, with relative humidities 20 to 25 percent.

For New York residents, the annual statewide burn ban remains in

effect until May 14. No burn permits are issued.

Listen to NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio or visit our web site at

https://weather.gov/nyc for further details or updates.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
Books for my pleasure, my obsessions, my research, my nostalgia I want to encounter these in print on paper between hard or soft covers. (Representational Image/AFP)

I must go down to the Shulabh again

To the Shulabh Shauchalay

A rupee a pee

Two for a poo

Everything short of a lay.

From The Love Song of J. Alfred Coronanidhi, by Bachchoo

I must confess to a certain backwardness in this thrustingly forward era of the social media, of fantastic forms of communication, of the ability to find out in an instant, by means of a universally transmitted photograph, what a friend ate for dinner or breakfast that very day, etc I confess that I dont do Facefile, Tweettweet, Instapound, Trik Trok or any other of these worldwide obsessions.

On the plus side, I suppose these fantastic, even liberating technologies enable the Russian population to keep in touch with what their fascist government is doing in Ukraine.

Moreover, the present and succeeding generations are able to be in touch with loved ones and friends as never before.

But then there is also the plague of anonymous bullies  are they called Trolleys?  who abuse, threaten and blackmail others through the social media. There are people called influencers whose opinions, tastes and persuasions or example couldnt get me to, shall we say, swap from corn to bran flakes for a single breakfast. Apart from these pretenders who trade on the gullibility of the vain, there are also self-appointed Aristotles who churn out daily gibberish, conceitedly deluding themselves that its philosophy.

My last victims in this diatribe, gentle reader, are those zillions who think others are, or should, be interested in what they ate or a pose of their pet cat or dog. Thats a form  alas universal!  of idleness.

I dont apologise from staying away from all the above, but what I should perhaps feel ambivalent about is the fact that I have never read a book on my computer screen. I think they are called e-books. The reason I mention this is because as a writer of books myself I regularly receive notices from the publishers of my books about how many copies have been sold and what monies they have earned me through the doleful percentages that publishers pay their writers. Recently all these notices of income list the number of e-books that have been sold or downloaded or whatever and what sum of money has been paid into my account as a result.

Should I feel guilty about never having bought a book in the e-book form? I am not averse to reading things on the computer screen. After all, one of my jobs is as an editorial consultant to a very popular Web series platform which regularly sends me scripts in English, Roman Hindi and Devnagari to read. I read these diligently. They are often very interesting, but its work. Books for my pleasure, my obsessions, my research, my nostalgia I want to encounter these in print on paper between hard or soft covers.

Why?

The easy answer is that I grew up with that form in which reading existed. Yes, there is a visceral attachment to books as physical tangible things. It may be attached to the subconscious memory of haunting, in my boyhood, a library in Pune (then Poona) called the Albert Edward Institute. It was a decrepit building on the veranda of which old men gathered every day to read the battened-down free newspapers and to which my friends and I paid a rupee a month to borrow books from the two-rooms-full of neglected dusty shelves  books by Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens and then Zane Grey, Erle Stanley Gardner and someone called Marie Corelli. We read without distinction or any kind of critical discrimination.

When we had money to spare, we would browse the shelves in Manneys bookshop next to the West End cinema in Pune cantonment. The fragrance of gathered books was mildly addictive

But is there another reason, something darker, some unacknowledged fear that the printed book may, as the verbally transmitted epic or the monk-calligraphed parchment did, be supplanted by the ethereal form  and so disappear? In the UK, the bookshop is battling for survival.

Lenin had said that one capitalist swallows another and Waterstones, the big bookstore chain of Britain, has just swallowed Blackwells of Oxford and Heffers of Cambridge, having previously acquired Foyles of London, Hatchards and numerous other not-so-legendary names. It could be interpreted as an inevitable consolidation against the threat from Amazon, which now sells 50 per cent of all books sold in the UK.

Will the cautionary lifting of Covid-19 restrictions bring book buyers back to the bookshops to savour the browsing amongst physical books in preference to tapping their computer keys to be annoyed by recalcitrant websites? There are certainly indications that the return to some kind of normality has affected or restored behavioural patterns.

For instance, in the first three months since the lifting of some Covid-19 restrictions, 1.5 million UK households cancelled their video subscriptions.

Perhaps Waterstones is on to eroding the 50 per cent of book sales that Amazon claims today. I must further confess (You havent turned into a Catholic, have you? Ed) that in the last two years I havent been into a bookshop and have done all my book buying through Amazon.

I do still have a 100 voucher from Daunt Books as a result of some talk I gave there three years ago. Daunt is also owned by Waterstones and though I am not basically in sympathy with monopolies, I now have no option but to haunt Daunt.
An overview of some of the Canadian immigration programs that do not require a job offer.

Do I need a job offer to immigrate to Canada? An overview of some of the Canadian immigration programs that do not require a job offer.

Do I need a job offer to immigrate to Canada? An overview of some of the Canadian immigration programs that do not require a job offer.

Do I need a job offer to immigrate to Canada? An overview of some of the Canadian immigration programs that do not require a job offer. Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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You do not need a job offer to immigrate to Canada. There are a number of immigration programs that you can be eligible for based on your work or study experience.

There are more than 100 economic-class immigration pathways to Canada. That does not include family and refugee-class immigration programs, which do not take job offers or other human capital factors into consideration.

The following is a list of some of the Canadian immigration programs that are open to newcomers who do not already have a job lined up in Canada.

Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration

Express Entry

Express Entry is an application management system for the following immigration programs: the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Canadian Experience Class, and the Federal Skilled Trades Program. Each of these programs have work experience requirements, but it is not required to have a Canadian job offer to be eligible.

Candidates who are eligible for at least one of these programs get a score based on the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), which awards points for factors such as work experience, education, age, and official language ability among others.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invites the highest-scoring Express Entry candidates to apply for Canadian immigration about every two weeks. In July, 2022, IRCC will once again invite FSWP and CEC candidates to apply, after pausing draws to catch up on a pandemic-caused backlog.

Before 2022, Express Entry was the main immigration program. Another major pathway is the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). The PNP allows Canadian provinces and territories to create their own immigration programs. Some of these programs do not require job offers.

The following is an overview of PNP options, listed from most to least populous provinces.

Ontario Human Capital Priorities Stream

Every year, about one-third of all newcomers to Canada go to the province of Ontario. People choose to settle in Ontario because of its employment opportunities, high wages, and diverse population. About 8,000 prospective immigrants receive nominations from Ontario every year.

If you wish to settle in Ontario and do not have a job offer, you may submit an application under the Ontario Express Entry: Human Capital Priorities Stream. This stream allows the province to nominate eligible Express Entry candidates who meet the language, work experience, and other requirements.

A job offer is therefore not required, but you must have an active Express Entry profile and meet requirements set by Ontario such as having work experience in targeted occupations or sectors to be considered and invited to apply in this stream.

BC Skills Immigration International Post-Graduate

If you have a graduate degree in science from an eligible British Columbia institution, you can get Canadian permanent residence without a job offer.

BC science grads may be eligible to apply the Skills ImmigrationInternational Post-Graduate category.

Under this category, the BC government invites immigration candidates who have completed a masters or PhD degree in the following natural, applied, or health sciences programs:

agriculture;

biological and biomedical sciences;

computer and information sciences and support services;

engineering;

engineering technology;

health professions and related clinical sciences;

mathematics and statistics;

natural resources conservation and research; or

physical sciences.

To meet the eligibility for this category, you will need to submit your application to the BC PNP within three years of the date shown on your official transcript.

To be eligible under this stream, you must also be able to demonstrate that you have the intention and ability to live and work in BC. This may be done, for example, by submitting evidence of your previous or current period of residence in the province. You can also send proof of your work, study or family ties to BC. Another way is to submit a description of any steps you have taken to settle permanently, such as finding a job or a place to live, or community involvement.

Candidates applying under this stream do not need to have a profile in the federal Express Entry system to be eligible.

Alberta Express Entry

The Alberta Express Entry Stream does not require applicants to have a job offer.

In order to receive a notification of interest from Alberta under this stream, candidates must create an Express Entry profile and indicate their interest in settling permanently in Alberta.

Here are some of the general eligibility criteria for the Alberta Express Entry Stream.

have a valid Express Entry profile in the IRCC Express Entry system;

have stated an interest to immigrate to Alberta;

work in an occupation that supports Albertas economic development; and

have a minimum CRS score of 300.

Your chances of receiving a Notice of Interest from Alberta may be greater if you :

have a job offer in Alberta or work experience in the province;

are a graduate of a Canadian post-secondary institution; or

have a parent, child, or sibling who is a permanent resident or Canadian citizen living in Alberta.

Saskatchewan Express Entry and Occupations In Demand

Among Saskatchewans various immigration streams, there are two provincial nomination streams that do not require job offers.

The first is the Saskatchewan Express Entry-linked stream, which requires you to have an active profile in the federal Express Entry system in order to apply.

The second is the Saskatchewan Occupation In-Demand stream. This stream is designed to bring skilled workers to fill labour market needs. To be eligible, an applicant must have at least one year of work experience in one of the positions included on Saskatchewans Occupations In-Demand list.

Nova Scotia Labour Market Priorities

Nova Scotia has a wide range of immigration pathways that cater to a variety of candidate profiles. One of these pathways, Nova Scotia Labour Market Priorities stream, is an option for those who would like to move to the province but do not yet have a job offer.

To be eligible for a nomination under this stream you will need to:

have a valid Express Entry profile number;

have stated in your Express Entry profile that you intend to move to Nova Scotia;

have received a Letter of Interest from Nova Scotia;

meet the criteria in effect when you receive the Nova Scotia Letter of Interest (these criteria differ from one invitation round to another);

meet the work experience requirements for the Express Entry stream for which you have qualified (Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class, or Federal Skilled Trades Program);

have the required supporting documents to demonstrate your work experience;

have proof of your immigration status in the country where you currently live; and

be able to show that you have the means to support yourself and your family.

Conclusion

Programs that do not require a job offer allow you to get permanent residency status before you begin your job search, which could make it easier for Canadian employers to hire you.

These are just a few Canadian immigration programs for workers and graduates that do not require a job offer. Find more on the Canadavisa PNP Finder.

Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
As a high school student in Brazil, Laura Sabrosa felt her school lacked the appropriate resources to help jumpstart her desired career in STEM. She had dreams of pursuing a medical degree, but felt lost when trying to get advice or find resources to help her develop the right skills or to navigate the college application process. She applied to become an ambassador of Women in STEM (WiSTEM) and started a chapter at her own school to empower herself and other girls who had an interest in STEM. She later applied for a leadership position in the organization and is now the director of development for WiSTEM.

When I started my club as an ambassador, I was kind of lost of where to start, especially since I live in Brazil. Its a place where theres not much of a STEM community as a whole. Especially in public schools  there are not many resources to encourage girls to pursue STEM, she says.

Laura Sabrosa Women in STEM

After forming her chapter, Sabrosa decided to start by giving underprivileged girls lessons about STEM and by sharing experiments with them. Her WiSTEM chapter would distribute handouts to girls that explained the science behind each experiment. She wanted to lead by example in showing how STEM can be fun and hopefully sparking that interest in young girls. The goal was to ensure that girls felt empowered to pursue a career in STEM and to help them feel that they had someone in their corner rooting for their success.

Since becoming director of development, Sabrosa has worked to expand the program further, bringing in more mentees and mentors to build a strong community of STEM support for girls and women.

WiSTEM: Mentoring young women in STEM

As a global organization dedicated to empowering young women to pursue STEM careers, WiSTEM offers two mentorship programs: one that connects high schoolaged girls with professional or college-aged women who are working in STEM, and another that connects high schoolaged girls from the organizations wide-ranging chapters to give them a sense of community with peers their same age.

Over the past few years, the program has grown rapidly  in 2020 alone WiSTEM added 40 new chapters, with 381 new members in eight new states and four new countries. As the program grows, so does the alumni network, which has become a useful resource for mentoring young girls and women in STEM. WiSTEM hosts a virtual senior panel where Ambassadors and members of every chapter can connect with recent graduates, ask questions, and get advice on college plans and on the experiences of women in STEM careers. Ambasssadors can also connect directly with alumni to network and get advice on running chapters and starting their careers in STEM.

To garner interest in WiSTEM, Sabrosa reached out directly to professors at various universities and to professionals at a range of organizations to spread the word about the program and to find mentors. Now that the program has taken off, WiSTEM is also finding a lot of success on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to draw in mentors and mentees. As more girls complete the year-long mentorship program, theyre starting to see more alumni come back to the program as mentors to support new members.

Connecting mentors and mentees

Mentors are paired with mentees based on interests and background. For example, if a mentee is interested in pursuing a biochemistry degree, WiSTEM will try to pair them with a mentor who is interested in biochemistry or has a related background. The goal is for the mentorship relationship to feel relatively casual, allowing mentees to be comfortable asking questions and learning more about being a woman in STEM.

Mentors and mentees are encouraged to have at least three meetings per month with different goals for each meeting. Goals can be set by the mentee based on what they want to focus on  for example, interview practice, finding work-life balance, career advice, building a resume, or preparing for college applications.

WiSTEM also hosts larger meetings in which guest speakers are invited to discuss topics about STEM and offer additional guidance to members, mentors, and ambassadors.

Mentors and mentees stay in touch through several Slack channels. Theres separate channels for mentors and mentees where they can give feedback and ask questions, and then a channel for everyone to connect. Once the year-long program is completed, alumni are offered numerous opportunities to continue the connections they made during the mentorship process.

WiSTEM also offers a program to connect high school chapter members with one another. For girls who are in a similar position as Sabrosa was  at a school that doesnt prioritize STEM for girls  it helps create valuable connections that can keep girls motivated to stay on the STEM path. These students can come together to create a sense of community and support that they arent able to find in their schools or communities.

Encouraging more female founders

Being a woman in tech can be isolating, but its even worse for female founders in tech  in 2021, only 2% of venture capital in the US was secured by female founders, according to data from Pitchbook. Thats the smallest share of VC funding women have received since 2016 and the second year in a row that the number has decreased. Theres a strong bias in VC funding  women who teamed up with men to raise funding were more successful, securing nearly 16% of available funds in 2021.

Ramona Fellmy Women in STEM

Ramona Fellmy is no stranger to the difficulties women face as founders in the industry  shes the founder of several companies, including Hello Fiv, Hello Barks, and the Give Back Collective. Shes currently a partner and self-employed at Dapp Detroit as a senior project manager and subject matter expert.

Fellmy became a mentor at WiSTEM after hearing about the program through another woman in the tech space who encouraged her to join the organization. She wasnt sure if she would be a good fit because her background isnt as rooted in math or science as others but was reassured that her experience in tech would be valuable to other women in the program.

My experience so far has been practical mentorship, some of the girls just want another outlet, a different prospective, and someone to help with life skills such as organization and stress or anxiety, she says.

She works with students to help them manage their plans and balance their workload to achieve their goals. With students from all walks of life, its important to have mentors from all walks of life, and Fellmy says that is one of the best parts of the program. Members get the opportunity to connect with women who are working in all the vastly different career paths that fall under the STEM umbrella, allowing for unique perspectives and experiences based on everyones individual experience in STEM.

Fellmy hopes to serve as a role model for younger girls and women to look up to and see themselves represented in a space that has primarily been male-dominated. She hopes other female founders will join the mentorship program to encourage more girls to take the leap into entrepreneurship, furthering diversity in the space.

The future of WiSTEM

Founded in 2017, WiSTEM is a relatively new organization, but it has made significant strides in its short 5 years of operation. The ultimate goal is to boost representation in STEM fields at a large scale and to connect and empower girls to pursue interests in STEM from a young age. And its an important mission  currently, women only make up 28% of the STEM workforce, according to a study by the AAUW in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

The same study found that, based on the bulk of current research, there are several social and environmental factors at play that are responsible for the underrepresentation of women in STEM. Much of it can be attributed to a social expectation that girls are naturally worse at STEM subjects than boys, perpetuating negative stereotypes that are then internalized by society, young girls, and educators. These stereotypes can dissuade girls from an interest in STEM from an early age, while boys are encouraged to pursue those subjects.

WiSTEM is working to offset those stereotypes and ingrained social attitudes about girls in STEM. By creating mentorship opportunities for high school students and encouraging girls to follow their passions in STEM at a young age, they are setting the stage for a diverse future workforce. WiSTEM is committed to breaking the stereotypes that keep girls out of STEM careers by empowering girls and young women globally who have an interest in STEM but who cant find the right encouragement or resources in their own communities.

When I joined the WiSTEM community, I was really struggling with the idea of having a role model, especially since I want to pursue a medical degree outside of my own country. Its really rare to find someone who motivates you and says, Sure, go on, do it; I know youll be successful. I joined the program because I really wanted to have that inspiration of people who motivate me to really pursue my dreams, says Sabrosa.
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Lynda Thomas will leave Macmillan Cancer Support, where she is chief executive, at the end of this year.

She has worked at the charity for 20 years, having joined as joint head of media.

In 2011 she became head of fundraising. She then became interim chief executive in November 2014 before being appointed to the role permanently the following year.

She does not plan to take on a new permanent role and plans to focus on her non-executive career.

Mixed emotions

During her time at Macmillan Thomas has led a brand review, doubled fundraising income and was awarded a CBE in 2021.

She said: After more than 20 incredible years with Macmillan, it is with very mixed emotions that I have decided to step down from my role. Leading this inspiring charity has been both an honour and a privilege.



The pandemic has proven that, together with our volunteers, partners and professionals, we are strong, flexible and resilient  and Im so proud of everything we achieved for people with cancer together during these difficult times.

It has also heralded a new era where cancer care and the fundraising environment are evolving. I believe the time is right to hand over to new leadership to take the organisation forward and ensure Macmillan continues to do whatever it takes for people with cancer long into the future.

Richard Murley, chair, paid tribute to her achievements, an said: Lyndas insight, creativity  and great sense of humour  will be much missed by us all.

The board will begin looking for her successor in May.

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On the evening of November 17, @Gidimtenthe Twitter account of the Gidimten Checkpoint, a camp on Wetsuweten land in British Columbiaposted an update to its followers. The Supreme Court of British Columbia had previously granted an injunction to facilitate development of a Coastal GasLink pipeline project on the land, against the wishes of hereditary chiefs and their supporters. Now Royal Canadian Mounted Police had established an exclusion zone ten kilometers from the camp; according to the update, officers were blocking Wetsuweten people, hereditary chiefs, food, medical supplies, and journalists from the site. A video followed; in it, Jennifer Wickham, media coordinator for the Gidimten Checkpoint, is stopped by police, who say that the access road leading to the checkpoint will be shut down for the next two or three days. The next morning, the account reported sightings of RCMP and Coastal GasLink personnel, adding, Will attempt to keep updated on the latest here.

Over the next two days, the Gidimten Checkpoint posted a series of updates as RCMP officers enforced the court injunction. Those posts relayed crowdsourced reports of police actions, photo and video updates from the ground, and requests for solidarity actionsfrom hosting rallies to pressuring pipeline investors to calling provincial and federal government officialsto the accounts twenty-nine thousand followers. Amanda Follett Hosgood, a reporter for The Tyee, an outlet based in British Columbia, wrote on Twitter at the time, If youre not already following @Gidimten this is the best way to get updates

Several people on-site recorded the arrests of land defenders. In one video, police in tactical gear advance upon a group of defenders huddled in song and prayer around a Wetsuweten elder, and arrest them one by one. A voice can be heard yelling, Im media! Im media! Near the videos end, a caption reads, 15 people were arrested including two Wetsuweten elders, 3 Haudenosaunee members, 3 Legal Observers, and one journalist.

Another, shot by Michael Toledano, a filmmaker working on a documentary for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, begins inside a tiny, shed-size cabin, where he and Amber Bracken, a photojournalist for The Narwhal, are with five land defenders. In the footage, police can be seen scouring the camp. Theres a din of shouting, barking, and machinery in the background; then comes the crack of an ax against a door, followed by the sound of a chainsaw as it cuts through the door of the cabin. A rifle is visible through the gap in the door. Get your fucking gun off me! Sleydo, a land defender, says. The rifle stays on the group. And then, one by one, those inside the cabin, including Toledano, are grabbed by police, forced out of the cabin, and arrested. Following his release from custody, Toledano wrote that he would be publishing this footage as soon as possible.

Both videos were released via the Gidimten Checkpoint Twitter account in the days following the arrests. On the morning of November 24, the account posted a two-minute edit of Toledanos footage, along with text offering a longer, unedited clip to news organizations that want access. By days end, video of the arrests led news outlets across Canada and beyond, including the Toronto Star, Democracy Now, and a host of others. The CBC aired nearly seven minutes of film by Toledano, during which Toledano is heard telling a police officer that he is filming a documentary for CBC television. No problem, an officer replies. Youre under arrest.

Gidimten Checkpoint was established in December 2018 by the Gidimten clan, with the support of each of the five Wetsuweten clans. Wetsuweten land defendersa group of people including Wetsuweten citizens, allies from other First Nations, and non-Indigenous supportersare opposed to the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline and want to halt unauthorized incursions and construction on territory that was never legally handed over to Canada. Since the checkpoints establishment, however, ongoing coverage of the Wetsuweten resistance has been hard to come by. The land-defense camps themselves are remote, located off logging roads, with no reliable cell service. Exclusion zones set up by the RCMPtactics that have been challenged in courtfurther limit access to the camps, including for reporters. National media has mainly prioritized coverage of the resistance when conflict flares; local media, which includes a handful of rural town papers owned by one publisher, has on occasion dubbed the land defenders dissidents and, like other outlets around the country, relied on syndicated content from the Canadian Press.

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As it is, newsrooms dont necessarily prioritize sustained, nonviolent opposition in editorial decision-making. The public eye wants violence and destruction, but turns away from our quiet resistance, wrote Anne Spice, a Tlingit sociologist, and Denzel Sutherland-Wilson, a Gitxsan land defender, in the New Inquiry in 2019. People are less interested in our governance systems operating as they should.

Though the lands of the Wetsuweten Nation are uncededa fact recognized by Canadas Supreme Court in a 1997 rulingconflicts between the Wetsuweten and industry, provincial, and federal forces have been unfolding for years. Media coverage was largely reserved for brief moments of arrests and physical engagement. That began to change in February 2020, when RCMP raids on Wetsuweten territory drew national media attention and sparked solidarity movements across the country.

There was this buildup of militarized RCMP that happened, and people could see it, so that gave mainstream media plenty of time to get organized and get reporters out there, Franklin Lopez, an independent filmmaker, says. RCMP officers also detained or turned away several journalists who were present to document Wetsuweten opposition; since then, similar dynamics have played out between law enforcement authorities and journalists at land-defense protests around the country.

Through its social media accounts, the Gidimten Checkpoint alerts newsrooms and others to updates from the ground. A post from October 2020 shows hunting efforts interrupted by encounters with pipeline employees and police; others, from late last year, show the peaceful occupation of a drill-pad site, where a cabin has been constructed, or warn of archaeological sites imperiled by the pipelines path. Such updates may not necessarily spur coverage from the broader Canadian media ecosystem; still, they are often the only lens into the Wetsuweten land-defense community between moments of heightened conflict. (The Gidimten Checkpoint website also includes a Wetsuweten 101 media backgrounder for journalists trying to get up to speed on the struggle.)

The content published by Gidimten Checkpoint comes together from different sources at camp, Wickham says. Some is from trained videographers; some is created by people using cellphone cameras, GoPros, or scrappy camcorders. Once footage is compiled, it goes through a review process, during which a few people handy with editing consult with Wetsuweten leadership on key moments to include. Given time limits on certain platforms, theres pressure to keep video reports concise and hard-hitting. Editing is carried out on-site, in tiny cabins; edited videos are uploaded via satellite internet.

Theres a colossal distance between the Gidimten Checkpoint resources and an extractive industry that has probably millions of dollars in the media budget, Wickham says. (The Coastal GasLink project is valued at $6.6 billion.) The land defenders at Gidimten Checkpoint, she says, are working with cellphones and laptops held together with duct tape.

Neighboring First Nations maintain their own media projects, some in solidarity with their Wetsuweten neighbors. In the town of New Hazelton, a few hours north of Gidimten in Gitxsan Nation territory, Gitxsan allies have set up rail blockades and a community camp. The camp, established on November 18, 2021, has also been raided by the RCMP. In November, officers arrested Denzel Sutherland-Wilson, who coauthored the New Inquiry essay. A land defender was present to record the arrest; in footage, Sutherland-Wilson can be heard yelling that he cant breathe. Footage of the arrest was shared on a Gitxsan account called Gitluuhlumhetxwit Media, which often shares @Gidimtens work and vice versa. Within days, several Canadian news outlets covered Sutherland-Wilsons arrest, embedding the video footage in their stories.

It honestly feels at times like youre fighting an information war, says Kolin Sutherland-Wilson, Denzels brother, a Gitxsan land defender and spokesperson for his wilp. Often documenting on social media is our only avenue for actually telling the stories of what were dealing with.

Kolin, who has been involved in land defenders documentary efforts, taught himself to edit video on Premiere Pro, and has shared work through Gitluuhlumhetxwit Media. Rural communities in British Columbia around Gitxsan and Wetsuweten are served by local papers; several are published by Black Press, whose founder, David Black, years ago met with a provincial press council to discuss his papers editorial policy and his own opposition to a treaty recognizing the Nisgaa Nations rights to its territory, and who once proposed construction of a bitumen refinerya $13.2 billion project necessitating a pipeline like the one Coastal GasLink hopes to buildin Kitimat, on the British Columbian coast. While those papers have covered defenders opposition to the pipeline, including Denzel Sutherland-Wilsons arrest, their publishers previous stances leave Kolin skeptical of their commitment to covering Gitxsan and Wetsuweten sovereignty.

Earlier this year, Hosgood, the Tyee reporter, revealed that security personnel for Coastal GasLink had attempted to turn away journalists covering Gidimten. Three years into the dispute that has made international headlines, seen dozens of people arrested and caused the high-profile three-day detention of two journalists taken into custody at this site in November, the person tasked with enforcing the injunction on behalf of Coastal GasLink appears not to understand its contents, she wrote.

Hosgood is based in Smithersabout an hour and a half by car from the RCMP checkpoints near Gidimten, closer than many other reporters. She has traveled to the site on several occasions; on November 18, she made the trek to the logging road, where, she says, her efforts to gain access were delayed and initially rejected by an RCMP officer. When she was finally escorted up the logging road, it was just in time to see police processing the people they had arrested. She says she spent hours on Twitter refreshing @Gidimten for updates.

They were the best source of information, Hosgood says. Having a video of what took place gives you a starting point: it helps you visualize what happened and determine what questions need to be asked.

Last week, posts from the @Gidimten account detailed a series of recent RCMP visits to the site. Following the posts, Matt Simmonsa journalist for The Narwhal who, like Hosgood, is based in Smitherstraveled to the site to speak with land defenders, narrowly missing a visit by RCMP officers. During times when the conflict between land defenders, industry, and RCMP escalates, the presence of people filming interactions on the ground and sharing them widely helps inform my decision on when I should be physically present to document, Simmons tells CJR via email. Gidimten Checkpoint social media postsespecially video footagehave repeatedly proved useful to my reporting, in that its a relatively easy way to stay informed on ongoing developments, without having to invest a significant amount of time heading out to the location in-person.

Hosgood adds that the information shared via the @Gidimten account and others like it can be crucial in a conflict whose participants dont necessarily share information readily. She says she filed a Freedom of Information Act request to access RCMP body-camera footage from the November arrests, but so far has not heard back. Gidimten and other social media accounts like that are providing information that other sources just dont, she says.

Accounts such as @Gidimten provide some measures of safety and accountability, Wickham, the checkpoint media coordinator, says. They are also the only way, sometimes, to tell the news. Were left with the folks that are actually on the ground, being arrested, and being invaded to document in whatever way theyre able, she says.

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Luke Ottenhof is a freelance writer based in Toronto, Ontario. His work has been published by The Guardian, Globe and Mail, Pitchfork, and CBC.
OWERRI, Nigeria (AP)  Mourners were nowhere to be seen as gravediggers in Nigerias southeast town of Ohaji-Egbema used shovels to place the unidentifiable charred remains of dozens who died in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery into three mass graves.

The bodies had started to decompose after not being claimed by family members at the open water-logged space days after the explosion killed at least 110 people.

Most corpses here cannot be identified, said Marcel Amadioha, chairman of the Ohaji-Egbema local government area where the illegal refinery operated.

The explosion on Friday night was triggered by a fire in the bootleg facility that was tucked away in the Ohaji-Egbema forest, away from the eyes of Nigerias regulatory agencies. Such refineries have become common in the West African nation whose rich crude oil deposit is easily stolen.

Shortly after the explosion, people came from far and near to see if they could find the remains of their loved ones, said Amadioha, chairman of the council area.

On Tuesday, authorities and gravediggers returned to the forest to bury the remains of about 50 people.

Lift it (a human body) and throw it inside before covering  if not it will smell! a local shouted to a gravedigger who gathered remains near a mass grave with his shovel and makeshift stretcher.

Little is known of the refinery which had operated in a part of the forest surrounded by farmlands and palm trees. Residents told The Associated Press that many of those who died had come from various parts of Nigeria to buy the oil.

The refinery site was usually very busy at night, said resident Francis Obi.

There are individuals who buy over 100 drums of crude oil, others buy 200, he said. So, both the people that came here to do labor work, the people who came to buy, the drivers and people who come here for other commercial activities  all of them were trapped (by the explosion).

The anger among the villagers is not just about the deaths but also because a refinery that sustained us is gone, he said, referring to the money the villagers made from the commercial activity surrounding the refinery.

It is a common trend in southern Nigeria, Africas largest producer of crude oil where almost half of its more than 200 million people are living in poverty, according to the latest estimates from the statistics agency.

The local operators of such refineries do so out of frustration at being neglected by the government, said Bright Onyenwoke, a youth leader in Ohaji-Egbema. He said his community lacks social amenities despite being surrounded by at least 27 oil wells managed by international oil companies. So, the means of survival here is hard, he said.

In the quest for survival, such illegal dealings become an easy way out in the oil-rich Niger Delta region where the oil theft is concentrated.

Residents in Ikwere in Rivers state said 10,000 naira ($24) is shared every week between people in the village as benefits from the illegal refinery in the area.

There, dozens of young people are employed for various non-technical works with weekly earnings of about 40,000 naira ($96), he said, adding that the refinery workers have police . (and other) security agencies guarding them.

With no safety protocols, environmental hazards like the fire in Imo state are a regular occurrence at the illegal oil refineries. Back in Ikwere, a resident who only gave his first name as Akachi said two people in his extended family died in fires last year.

There is no control whatsoever on how the illegal refineries are run, said Nnimmo Bassey, a director at the Health of Mother Earth Foundation environmental group. Apart from the fact that the nation is losing revenue, these refineries expose communities to grave health issues.

As the remains of those who died in the Imo explosion were being covered in mass graves half-filled with water, a pastor arrived with a religious group to conduct a prayer session. Earlier, a traditional religion practitioner had come to perform rites over the bodies.

We cannot continue losing our lives unnecessarily for peanuts, said Amadioha, the administrator of Ohaji-Egbema council area. Everything must be done to stop them this time around.

About the photo: Volunteers collect charred bodies of victims of an illegal refinery explosion for a funeral and burial in Imo, southeastern Nigeria, Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Remains of the workers and traders who died when an illegal refinery exploded in southeast Nigeria were gathered and buried Tuesday even as a local official accused security agencies of sabotage in the incident. (AP Photo/Chinedu Asadu)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Safelite AutoGlass has hired lobbyists at statehouses across the country as it seeks legislation that it says will protect consumer safety by ensuring that the sensors and cameras used for advanced driver assistance systems are properly recalibrated after replacement or repair.

The companys efforts led to passage of new laws in Utah and Arizona. As its efforts moved east, however, Safelite butted heads with another group that is offering its own vision about how to safely make repairs: The Auto Glass Safety Council.

AGSC on March 11 sent out an alert to members warning that independent shops that subcontract calibration services could be concerned about bills introduced in state legislatures for Arizona, Maryland and Illinois that address pricing, billing practices and the relationships of auto glass shops with insurers and claims administrators. Safelite supported both measures.

Debra Levy, outgoing president and managing director for AGSC, said unlike Safelite, her organization does not propose legislation that addresses business practices.

The purpose of our legislation is to protect consumers, Levy said. Thats it.

Both AGSC and Safelite succeeded in passing legislation last year.

In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan signed into law House Bill 519, which requires repair shops to comply with standards developed by the AGSC and published by the American National Standards Institute when installing auto glass.

In Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox approved Senate Bill 78, a measure backed by Safelite requiring repair shops that work with ADAS-equipped vehicles to comply with the manufacturers specifications when recalibrating safety devices.

The bill goes much further. It also prohibits repair facilities from charging more than a fair and competitive price for the local market area and prohibits shops from telling consumers that a repair or replacement will be paid for entirely by the customers insurer at no cost to the consumer. Violators are subject to a $500 civil penalty.

Safelite works closely with insurers. The company operates a separate business called Safelite Fulfillment that handles first notices of loss for automobile insurance claimants who seek auto glass repair or replacement.

Being a part of the claims-management process gives Safelite a unique perspective, said government relations manager Scott Zajic.

Weve seen the abuses that occur, he said. For example, repair shops will charge for recalibration services that were not actually performed.

Zajic said operators who field Safelites insurance calls dont direct customers to specific repair facilities if they have their own preference. He acknowledged, however, that some customers do choose Safelite after they are educated about the importance of proper recalibration when windshields are repaired.

We think consumer protection, related to ADAS, is the top priority for our organization, he said.

Arizona became the second state to pass a Safelite-backed auto glass repair bill on April 14, when Gov. Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1410 into law. The measure has many of the same provisions of the Utah law, but lacks the language requiring fair and competitive prices. It does prohibit repair shops from telling consumers their insurer will pay for everything and requires that the customer be given notice if a recalibration was attempted but failed. Also, violators are subject to a $2,500 civil penalty, which Levy said is the highest penalty for a glass repair infraction she has seen in any state.

Safelite attempted to pass a similar bill in Maryland during the legislative session earlier this year. Levy spoke against the measure, Senate Bill 478, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Feb. 9.

She said many of the provisions in the bill, such as a requirement that repair shops provide an estimate before performing any work, will unnecessarily add costs and degrade customer service.

What does anyone giving you an estimate on car repair say before they provide it? Bring the car in,' she said. Its impractical to ask the glass shop to drive the vehicle to a calibrator or dealership with the broken windshield, then bring it back and inform the consumer of the cost.

Patrick Heflin, a regional manager for Glass America, told committee members that Safelites bills will box small, independent shops out of the market.

These government-dictated economic regulations favor insurers and glass companies with market power who are also serving as insurance claim adjusters over smaller regional and local independent shops.

S. 478, introduced by Sen. Chris West, R-Baltimore County, did not pass the Maryland legislature before the session ended, but may be revived next year. A similar measure was also introduced in Illinois but wasnt voted on before the legislature adjourned.

Zajic said Safelite will continue to push for legislation to ensure safe auto glass repairs. Public records show that the company is well prepared. A scan of readily available public documents provides these examples:

In Washington state, Safelite paid a $60,000 fee to lobbyist Melissa M. Gombosky earlier this year.

In New Hampshire, the company has agreed to pay the Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell $35,150 for lobbying, according to a Jan. 26 report.

In Florida, the company paid between $10,000 and $20,000 to Capital City Consulting in 2021.

In Minnesota, Safelite has spent $25,000 annually on lobbyists in each of the three past years.

Levy said her organization may work with Safelite or against it, depending on exactly what is proposed.

There are many places where we coalesce with them and there are areas where we disagree. Its on a case-by-case basis, she said.

About the photo: Photo courtesy of Safelite.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Firefighters have been making significant progress Wednesday on the biggest wildfires burning unusually hot and fast for this time of year in the western United States.

But forecasters from the Southwest to the southern High Plains warned of the return the next two days of the same gusty winds and critical fire conditions that sent wildland blazes racing across the landscape last week.

Some of the nearly 1,000 firefighters battling the biggest fire in drought-stricken New Mexico cut away brush and burned out any extra fuel Wednesday ahead of increased danger forecast Thursday into the weekend.

That allowed crews to dig fire lines around about a third of what has become the largest wildfire burning in the U.S.  now 94 square miles (245 kilometers)  and keep flames from reaching mostly rural homes and ranches that are still in its path northeast of Santa Fe.

Another great day on the fire line, federal fire incident commander Carl Schwope said Wednesday night.

Fire personnel are making great progress, he told residents at a community meeting in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where numerous rural communities in the nearby mountains remain under evacuation orders.

But he quickly emphasized the success could be short-lived because hotter, drier, windier weather should return Thursday and Friday.

This fire still has tremendous potential to move and still has a lot of danger, he said. We have a couple of critical fire days still ahead.

The most critical fire danger remains the next two days across practically the entire state of New Mexico, according to the National Weather Service. The elevated-risk area stretches all the way from Arizonas border with California and Nevada into the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, the service said late Wednesday.

Some light precipitation added moisture to bone dry fuels in the Southwest early this week. But stiffening winds Wednesday likely dried out most of the fine fuels, which are are expected to be borderline critically dry on Thursday, the service said.

San Miguel County Sheriff Chris Lopez said at Wednesday nights briefing about the fires east of Santa Fe that theyre refining evacuation strategies they were forced to quickly implement last week as they review weather modeling of the incoming conditions.

It doesnt mean it will happen but it could happen, just like we saw when this fire blew up, he said. The danger is present and its very real.

Authorities said Wednesday they continue to work on damage assessments but havent been able to access some areas that are still hot and its not yet safe to let some evacuees return to their homes.

We have containment around the fires edge, but theres still stuff thats burning inside and we still have a wind event we are waiting for Friday and Saturday, Lopez said.

We have to make sure that everything is good enough that I can make decision and know youll be safe if we let you back in there, he said..

The Southwest has been bearing the brunt of large fires, with five incident management teams assigned, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

One complex incident management team was overseeing a large fire in southwest Nebraska. More than 200 firefighters in that state were battling a prairie fire that has been burning since last week.

About 65 square miles (168 square kilometers) of mostly grasses and farmland have been blackened near the Kansas line, several homes have been destroyed and at least one person was killed. The fire was about three-quarters contained Wednesday.

In Arizona, crews on Wednesday worked to contain two major wildfires, with firefighters gaining ground on containment of a blaze in the Prescott National Forest after winds on Tuesday pushed the fire outward. Near Flagstaff, crews patrolled burned areas of a different large fire and looked for hot spots amid milder weather.

Nationally, large fires have burned more than 1,688 square miles (4,372 square kilometers) this year, putting the U.S. on track to far outpace the 10-year average.

The pressure on firefighters is not likely to let up anytime soon. Climate outlooks indicate likely below normal precipitation from Texas through the southern Rockies and Great Basin, with above normal temperatures likely across much of the U.S into summer.

Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writers Paul Davenport in Phoenix and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.

About the photo: A pair of Resource Advisors from the Coconino National Forest record data in Division Alpha as they work to determine the severity of Tunnel Fires impact on the Forest. April 21, 2022 near Flagstaff, Ariz. The San Francisco Peaks in the rear show the effects of the 2010 Schultz Fire. (Tom Story/Northern Arizona Type 3 Incident Management Team, via AP)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  The family of a woman killed when a 17-year-old driver crashed his fathers Lamborghini into her car in Los Angeles has reached an $18.85 million settlement in the case, attorneys announced Wednesday.

Monique Munoz, 32, was on her way home from work at a hospital on Feb. 17, 2021, when the Lamborghini SUV driven by Brendan Khuri ran a red light.

Prosecutors said Khuri had been racing another vehicle and swerving in and out lanes at more more than 100 mph (160 kph) just prior to colliding with Munozs car.

Munoz died at the scene of the collision near the Westwood area of Los Angeles.

Khuri pleaded guilty to one count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and was sentenced last September to seven to nine months in a juvenile camp and four months of probation.

Munozs family filed a civil lawsuit in September. The settlement reached this week will help her relatives finally get some closure for this horrific tragedy, said Daniel Ghyczy, an attorney for the family.

It was never about money for the Munoz family, it was about the acknowledgment of Brendan Khuris misconduct that resulted in the death of their only daughter and to ensure that he was held accountable. Todays settlement is a testament to their efforts and is a step closer to justice, Ghyczy said in a statement.

Khuris father, James Khuri, posted a statement on Instagram expressing his condolences to people who knew Munoz and saying he was saddened that nothing could bring her back, KCBS-TV reported.

I hope that the $18.85 million insurance settlement will build a new beginning that will honor her spirit, he said.

The monetary award could ultimately exceed $25 million, attorneys for Munozs family said. During Wednesdays hearing, the judge decided to continue the case to a later date, when the familys total restitution will be determined.

Brendan Khuri had previously been cited for driving at excessive speeds, resulting in the Lamborghini being impounded by the Beverly Hills Police Department. The SUV was returned to the teen by his father within two days, attorneys said. The crash that killed Munoz occurred three months later.

Prior to the fatal crash, Brendan Khuri and his father, James Khuri, frequently posted to social media platforms showing them speeding on surface streets in Los Angeles, attorneys said.

James Khuri was charged with a misdemeanor for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. A hearing in that case is scheduled for June 8.

During the criminal phase of Brendan Khuris case, defense attorney Mark Werksman had asked Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sabina Helton to sentence the teen to probation.

Munozs loved ones said the teen should at least spend some time in a county juvenile camp and argued that a sentence of probation would be an injustice.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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.
A Russian missile attack struck a Zaprozhye Arms Depot that destroyed the west-supplied arms store. Moscow warned the US and its allies not to supply arms to the Neo-Nazis and Supremacist forces attacking civilians. These western arms are allegedly used on non-military targets; Russia warned they would destroy these arms.

Ukraine Arms Depot Struck

As part of its campaign to de-nazify Ukraine as part of Vladimir Putin's goal, Russia's Defense Ministry, a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition sent to Kiev by Western countries was destroyed in southeastern Ukraine last Wednesday, reported RT.

The Ukrainian military set up a depot in the Zaporizhzhia industrial aluminum plant targeted by hypersonic Kalibr missiles launched by the Russian Black Sea fleet.

According to the ministry, the West gave a large cache of foreign weapons and ammunition to arm their proxy war with Russia, reported Fars News.

Overnight, Russian jets bombed 59 Ukrainian military sites as artillery launched 573 strikes against Kiev forces; 18 drones were also shot down, according to the report.

On Monday, Moscow confirmed the devastation of six railway hubs in western Ukraine, alleging the West used them to transport foreign weaponry and military equipment to Ukrainian forces.

Russia has warned the activities of the US, UK, and EU will not stop the war. Their lethal aid will prolong the war and create the worst instability in pursuing their proxy war that will not bring peace to Ukraine.

Warning From Russia

On Tuesday, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated a warning to the US and its allies, stating this shipment in the Zaprozhye Arms Depot is a legitimate target for a Russian missile attack.

Read Also: Volodymyr Zelensky Children: Does the Ukraine President Have Kids?

He added they would be all depots and storage for such weapons of war; this includes western Ukraine, which has become a target. Charging that NATO is at war with Russia via a proxy and arming them, noted Axios. War is war.

On the other hand, NATO members have already equipped Kiev with anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems, military vehicles, howitzers, and other weapons and show no evidence of relenting.

ON MONDAY, the US announced that a 40-country meeting would be convened at its Ramstein airfield in Germany to discuss how to support Kiev in its fight with Moscow further.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin remarked that Washington would do everything to accommodate the needs of Kiev as the short war expected against Russia is taking longer as the Ukrainians are experiencing setbacks. One solution is to send more arms to Ukraine to help Kyiv from losing ground.

Both Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kiev to reassure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the West's support.

Russia launched a war on its neighbor in late February after Ukraine's unwillingness to implement the provisions of the 2014 Minsk agreements and Moscow's eventual recognition of the Donbas republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Kyiv is guilty of not complying with neutrality and has lied that it did not intend to attack the DPR and LPR with aggressive intent.

Targeting the Zaprozhye Arms Depot with a Russian missile attack has lessened the arms Ukrainians could use against civilians in the Donbas. It will be a warning to the West as well.

Relate Article: Switzerland Blocks German Request for Swiss Made Ammunition Destined for Ukraine, Cites Neutral Status in Hostile Conflicts

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China denounces "military threat" statement from Australia

Xinhua) 09:35, April 29, 2022

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday urged some Australian politicians to correct their "China threat" ideology and avoid further damage to China-Australia military relations.

Regarding the development of another country as a security threat, some people in Australia have created and spread groundless fear, said Tan Kefei, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, at a regular press conference in response to recent statements from some Australian politicians.

"Their actions will not only undermine regional security and stability, but also compromise their own images as well," Tan said.

The military cooperation among the United States, Britain and Australia in highly sensitive fields such as nuclear submarines and hypersonic missiles, will aggravate confrontation and challenge peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, Tan said.

"China has serious concerns about this," he said, reiterating that the country always upholds the path of peaceful development and adopts a defense policy that is defensive in nature.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
BBC Europe Correspondent Katya Adler said an oil embargo might come sooner than expected. The delay was due to the French presidential elections before the EU committed to a broad oil ban. But it was not Germany that staggered the decision but France, according to Adler.

EU Oil Embargo Might Backfire on Them

Adler remarked that the EU leaders are thought to have planned to defer putting sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports until after the election not to influence the outcome, reported the Express UK.

In retaliation for Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, European Union member states have contemplated banning Russian oil and gas imports. The sixth tranche of sanctions applied by Brussels will be to cut imports of Russian oil as part of it. But the sanctions will have to be discussed and how they would affect the members concerned, states Reuters.

Some countries that rely substantially on Russian imports, including Germany, Hungary, and Poland, have objected to the decision. Several states, however, have changed their stance in recent days.

Germany's Economy Minister, Robert Habeck, declared on Tuesday that the country's oil embargo was becoming controllable. He added that Berlin hopes to substitute Russian oil with supplies from other suppliers in days.

According to European commentators, EU leaders could be poised to approve such an embargo in the wake of the French presidential election, which may have delayed the move. Adler posted on social media that Germany could end oil imports sooner.

BBC Europe Correspondent Katya Adler stated that the EU will not impose an oil embargo against Russia until after the French presidential election, which is currently looming, noted Around the World journal.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth?

An earlier tweet on April 15 mentioned that Berlin would allow oil sanctions against Moscow. This was before the crucial French elections.

Furthermore, the EU did not want to affect the election with an imminent gas price hike that would follow stopping oil imports; but stressed it's not the French elections. It takes all 27-bloc member to sanction a total ban; changes in Ukraine has prompted Brussels to buy time.

France Elections Delays Oil Embargo

Last week, France's Economy Minister Brune Le Maire called on the EU to emphasize a Russian oil embargo more than a gas restriction, though he admitted that not all of the bloc's members were on board with the move.

He addressed it and claimed that they are attempting to persuade our European allies to cease acquiring Russian oil that gas has been the source of Russia's earnings.

President Emmanuel Macron, who was elected to a second term as France's president last weekend, stated his support for a boycott of Russian oil and coal previously in response to claims of atrocities committed by Russian troops in the town of Bucha earlier this month.

Based on Eurostat data, Russia is Europe's biggest oil supplier, contributing to more than a quarter of EU oil imports in 2020.

However, the EU's senior diplomat, Josep Borrell, dashed hopes that an EU ban was forthcoming on Monday not enough members wanted it.

BBC Europe Correspondent Katya Adler said that an oil embargo could come if all EU members decide on it sooner; all 27 but holdouts are concerned about their impact.

Related Article: German Dependence on Russian Gas Blamed for Upcoming Economic Downturn Due to Increased Pressure To Agree With EU Embargo

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The advanced T-90M Main Battle Tank (MBT) is the newest tank of the Russian Army that is improved in all capabilities.

On April 26, the first footage confirming the deployment of Russian T-90M battle tanks far beyond the country's borders in Ukraine was released.

A potentially significant innovation significantly increases the capability of all previous Russian tanks employed in the battle.

Next Generation Main Battle Tank

The T-14 tank is now in limited service; the T-90M is regarded as the most formidable tank in the Russian Army. It is technologically more than a decade ahead of any other tank in the country's arsenal, reported Military Watch.

About 100 T-90s are in service and will join the Army in early 2020; nevertheless, the lack of T-90s on the frontlines in Ukraine has long been considered an indication that Russia is holding the vehicles back. There is optimism that older platforms, like the T-72B3M, will meet the campaign's objectives.

The T-72B3 and B3M tanks serve as the backbone of the Russian Army's tank units, having an estimated 850 and 550 in service, while vastly superior to Ukraine's own antiquated T-64 and T-72A tanks, noted Army Technology.

According to reports, Russian tanks suffered severe losses due to the high bombardment from US-supplied Javelin anti-tank missiles frequently employed by Ukrainian soldiers.

Despite being an affordable option to the T-14, the T-90survivability, M's situational awareness, mobility, and firepower are superior to earlier Russian tanks.

Plans for the Advanced T-90M MBT Unit

The Russian Army plans to equip 600 T-90M Main Battle Tank (MBT)s in the future, updating 400 older T-90As to this standard and building up to 200 more.

Read Also: Xi Jinping: 5 Things To Know About China's President

While Russia has built thousands of T-90 tanks, almost all have been exported to clients worldwide. They include Vietnam and Turkmenistan to India, Algeria, and Uganda, with the tank being produced in recent years in more significant numbers than all Western tank types combined.

If rumors of T-72B3/B3M underperformance are accurate, Russia could increase T-90M production and possibly even T-14 acquisitions to field more units capable of fighting on more contemporary battlefields.

Other sources have suggested that the T-72B3's effectiveness has been more than adequate but that Russian tactics have been inconsistent at times, mentioned 19FortyFive. The reports of high losses are the outcome of Western or Ukrainian disinformation.

Russian Tanks Advantages

No one knows how Russian tanks are doing in Ukraine, with performance indeterminable.

Improvements to the new Russian MBT are the new2A46M-5 125mm smoothbore gun; better access to the new 3BM-69/70 round with an 800-900mm penetration. More extra like new fire controls, including thermal imaging systems for gunners and commanders.

Improved toughness with the addition of the new Relikt explosive reactive armor and the Afghanit active protection system to keep the tanks alive. Other procedures like better engine and thicker armor to protect ammo inside.

Objectives included in the tank's deployment are to test performance in battle and to see what are the best units for Russia's defense.

The deployment could have included the likelihood of the tank getting captured and examined in the West and being highly survivable against Western anti-tank weapons. It has yet to be determined how well it stands if it is capable as touted; or a match for its western counterparts.

Related Article: Russia Unleash Mi-28NM Havoc Armored Flying Tank for Attacking NATO Ground Force

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Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney urged countries at the United Nations on Wednesday to focus on international justice for war crimes in Ukraine, which she described as a "slaughterhouse" due to its current dire conditions caused by Russian attacks.

"Ukraine is today, a slaughterhouse. Right in the heart of Europe," Clooney told an informal U.N. Security Council meeting organized by France and Albania, as per a clip of her message in a report from The Guardian.

The discussion focused on how Russia will be held accountable for its conduct in Ukraine, where troops have been accused of killing civilians, snatching children, and sexually abusing women.

Clooney is a member of an international legal task team advising Ukraine to ensure Ukrainian victims' justice in national courts and collaborating with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

Amal Clooney @ SC Arria: UNs created because of genocide in Europe. This councils heard so many speeches with that now-hollow refrain: never again. But here we are faced with evidence of crime of aggression, war crimes & crimes against humanity & mounting evidence of genocide pic.twitter.com/mbNzciopBY  Sergiy Kyslytsya (@SergiyKyslytsya) April 28, 2022

Clooney also slammed the UN for disregarding war crimes around the world, claiming that it encouraged Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Here we are, faced with the evidence of crimes of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and mounting evidence each day of the crime of genocide," Clooney said.

Calling UN To Take Action

The lawyer pointed out that "for too long," the world watched "perpetrators of mass human rights abuses," murdering, torturing, and raping without getting punished, according to a report from The Hill. Clooney cited Yemen and Myanmar as examples.

She claims that countries commit war crimes because they assume they'll get away with it.

Clooney believes that the international community must continue to rally behind Ukraine and demand accountability for atrocities so that the matter does not fade away like other wars like what happened in Syria.

The human rights advocate admitted that she is worried that "the resolute action" the world has witnessed in the first 50 days of the Russia-Ukraine war "will turn out to be the high point instead of the starting point of the legal and diplomatic response" from the world.

Clooney added that there is a possibility that the U.N.'s actions would "slowly fade into a predictable pattern."

Read Also: US Satellite Images Reveal Russia Deploying Military Dolphins in the Black Sea; What Are They For?

Meanwhile, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan opened an investigation into Ukraine a week after Russia's February 24 invasion.

Khan said in the UN meeting that "this is a time" for the UN to "mobilize the law and send it into battle."

"Not on the side of Ukraine, against the Russian Federation, or on the side of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, but on the side of humanity," he underscored.

Russia Calls the ICC a "Political Instrument"

Sergey Leonidchenko, a Russian diplomat, branded the ICC as a "political instrument," accusing the United States and the UK of hypocrisy for backing the ICC investigation in Ukraine, having done "everything imaginable" to protect their military.

According to Reuters, the office of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova is gearing up war crimes charges against at least seven Russian army personnel.

Moscow labels its invasion of Ukraine on February 24 a "special military operation" and insists it is not attacking civilians.

The United Nations has launched an investigation into Russia's invasion. While many of its members have supplied aid and weaponry to Ukraine, the UN has decided to denounce the war.

The United States has sent billions of dollars in aid and weapons while penalizing Russian oligarchs and others for their involvement in the conflict.

Related Article: Myanmar's Controversial Decision To Convict Aung San Suu Kyi to 5 Years in Prison For Corruption Draws Ire Internationally

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Low-income people, households, senior citizens, and the disabled get monthly payments from the New York Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Benefits are sent monthly via EBT cards and can be used to purchase qualified foods at authorized shops.

The New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance administers SNAP outside of New York City. SNAP benefits are administered by the Department of Social Services Human Resources Administration in New York City.

SNAP Benefits New York

Food goods purchased with SNAP benefits can be purchased at approved retail establishments and farmers' markets. Enter your PIN and use your EBT card like any other credit or debit card. Non-eligible products will need you to utilize another method of payment.

The only way to find out if your household is qualified for SNAP assistance is to apply, according to the New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. New York's SNAP program can be applied for online at myBenefits.ny.gov, or you can print and send or fax the SNAP application to your local social services department, according to Go Banking Rates.

Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed this on Thursday, stating that the increased food assistance will total $232 million. New York has distributed approximately $696 million in additional benefits since January.

All households, including those that normally get the maximum monthly SNAP payment, are eligible for the emergency assistance bonus. By Friday, April 22, SNAP families in all counties outside of New York City should have received these additional payments. By Friday, April 29, SNAP families in the five-county New York City region should have received their payments, as per News10.

Read Also: President Joe Biden Suggests To Forgive Student Loan Debt; Will You Qualify?

Increased SNAP Benefits in May

Oregon will be allowed to give these emergency benefits in June since the federal government has approved them for May. The emergency benefits, on the other hand, are scheduled to terminate once the federal public health emergency is over.

In addition to their usual SNAP benefits, about 406,000 SNAP households will receive nearly $66 million in additional food assistance in May. On May 11, current SNAP families will get emergency allotments. Households that did not get benefits in the first monthly issuance will receive emergency allotments on May 28 or June 2.

SNAP clients will get these extra payments straight on their EBT cards without taking any action. If you have any questions concerning your SNAP benefits, call the ONE Customer Service Center at 1-800-699-9075.

If you get SNAP benefits and your income or the number of persons in your family has changed, your benefits may be affected. It's critical that ODHS has the most up-to-date information possible, KTVZ reported.

States That Provide Extra Food Stamp

SNAP existed before the pandemic and will continue to benefit families across the United States, but an emergency rate hike was adopted during the pandemic. Even though the national public health emergency concluded on April 16, seven states will extend the emergency higher rate of SNAP payments until May.

The following seven states will continue to offer a greater level of SNAP benefits in May after receiving a waiver:

New Hampshire

New Jersey

North Carolina

Oregon

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Wisconsin

For the time being, the higher rate will be maintained in Washington, D.C. Even so, this is a drop from the 14 states that planned to pay the higher rate for the entire month of April, as per Marca.

Related Article: Missing Stimulus Check: Still Haven't Got Any Payment? You May Be Eligible for a Bigger Paydays Within 6 Weeks!

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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
Otter.ai has been updated for iOS, introducing new tools that move it forward from being a transcription solution toward becoming a work productivity hub. Sam Liang, Otter.ai co-founder and CEO, told me a little about the company's plans.

Otter wants to make distanced working meaningful

We know the pandemic accelerated adoption of remote and hybrid working practices. While this was a visible direction before COVID-19, the need to maintain distance meant even the most refusenik bosses had to support Work from Home (WFH), at least for a while.

It is, of course, true to say that some of these hard-won freedoms have been eroded in some workplaces of late, but remote and hybrid work has seen wider acceptance than ever before. Even Apple, albeit reluctantly, seems to have accepted that staff dont need to be in the office every day of the week.

A recent Topia study claims 94% of employees think they should be able to work from anywhere, so long as they get their work done. With 34% of workers prepared to resign this year if they dont get the flexibility they need, its only a matter of time before employers truly embrace these new workflows. It turns out that most businesses are run by humans, and they need to be heard.

Perhaps inevitably, remote work prompted a huge shift toward virtual and hybrid meetings. Otter claims over 500 million people attend such meetings daily. The company has seen a 400% increase in the number of meeting minutes it' transcribed year-on-year  from 3 billion minutes to 12 billion in the last 12 months.

Even while changing the way we work represents a cultural shift that makes some business leaders uncomfortable, it also enables real advantages to smart companies willing to engage with the trend.

Where we are going

Liang explains:

Before the pandemic, the traditional norms of how meetings were conducted and how businesses were run did not always leverage the skills of everyone and didnt encourage collaboration, he said. We lived in an extroverted world where meetings were dominated by people who could hear and process information, not worry about distractions, and liked to speak up. This type of communication not only was exclusive and lacking accessibility for many professionals, it prevented a lot of valuable productivity and collaboration.

Remote work changed this dynamic. It created a slightly more equal environment in which introverts gained a better chance to be heard. And tools like Otter are yielding additional benefits, such as in accessibility. Hard-of-hearing employees can join a meeting and use Otters real time transcription to follow the conversation in real time.

In this new hybrid work world, more companies are enabling new modalities, meetings, use cases  inherently pushing new tools into the world that empower businesses to leverage all of their talent more and encourage collaboration, the Otter CEO told me.

The impact? Many improvements in work/life balance that give employees the flexibility they need to do their job both in and out the office, asynchronously, when and where they need to be  with the addition of boosted productivity to ice that cake.

Thats the context, so whats new in Otter.ai?

Otter.ai's new tools

The new Otter.ai introduces a series of useful tools to help augment communication using technology  and delivers tools that may optimize those meetings for you.

The Home Feed & Calendar feature, for instance, acts as a central repository of information about your meetings, making it easy to access conversations, highlights of conversations, and any tagged action items.

If you connect your calendar, youll also see any upcoming scheduled meetings and can invite Otter Assistant to join in, capture, and share meeting notes. You can also ask the assistant to attend and capture a meeting on your behalf if you cant make it.

Meeting Gems is another useful tool. These can be generated directly from your meeting by highlighting snippets within the notes. You can use them during the meeting to quickly flag action items or decisions, and then assign, comment, or query those items.

Why this matters

I think most people can remember when in-person meetings became something like vast workplace icebergs looming into your schedule. You'd know that no matter how busy you happened to be, for the entire period of that meeting you'd get nothing done. Youd sit in a meeting room with your teams to listen to the most dominant voices (and the rare and often-ignored quiet ones) and if you were lucky, someone might remember to take notes.

Poorly managed meetings become a colossal waste of time. This kind of meeting etiquette has been forced to change with the advent of the pandemic. Not only did workers quickly find that taking notes was incredibly important for there to be any chance to make meetings effective, but collaboration software providers soon saw the need to integrate with other solutions to make meeting time productive. Zoom Marketplace (where Otter is also available) is an illustration of how that company recognized this.

Liang said Otters primary mission is to make communication productive. Given the root of the solution is AI, he explained: One way of doing that is turning voice conversations into automated actionable insights, he said.

To get some sense of the approach Liangs company is taking, he pointed to Automatic Outlines, another new tool currently in beta with business users. Its a simple but incredibly useful solution to automatically create a meeting summary, so you and your colleagues can easily access a summary of what was discussed.

The final score?

No one ever really needs to leave a meeting without notes again  and you dont even need to be at a meeting to gain insight into what happened.

In my opinion, the steady confluence of all these technologies means remote meetings will soon become more effective than in-person interactions, because the technology has evolved to augment in-meeting communication with tools to support the realization of the intent.

How much it costs

Not all the new features are available to every user. Otter offers four pricing tiers, the Basic free service, Pro ($8.33 per month), Business ($20 per month) and an Enterprise tier, which is negotiated with large clients. Of the new features, Basic users can access Meeting Gems.

Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolics bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
The United States drew ire from Beijing after it sent a guided-missile destroyer through the Taiwan Strait a couple of days ago with China "strongly" opposing the launch and calling the move a threat to peace.

In a statement, the U.S. Navy's Japan-based Seventh Fleet said that the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson (DDG 102) made a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait on Apr. 26. They said that it made its way through international waters in accordance with international law.

U.S. Destroyer in Taiwan Strait

The Navy added that the destroyer's transit through the Taiwan Strait only demonstrated the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The American military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows, officials said.

But on Wednesday, Chinese authorities accused the United States of publicly hyping the event in the area. In a statement, senior colonel Shi Yi, a Chinese military spokesperson, said that the frequent provocations by the U.S. have sent the wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" forces. He argued that the situation has deliberately undermined peace and stability in the region, as per Independent.

It is a regular practice of the United States to send destroyers through the strait but other allies also sometimes send a naval patrol in its place, including France. The waterway in the South China Sea stretches for roughly 180 kilometers and separates China from Taiwan and its outlying islands, all of which are claimed as sovereign territory by Beijing.

Read Also: Solomon Islands PM Plans Expansion of Security Deal With China, Calls Backlash 'Insulting'

On the other hand, the United States considers the Taiwan Strait as international waters and the USS Sampson sailed from north to south through the area. Furthermore, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense confirmed that the American destroyer sailed in the region during its routine patrol.

According to Aljazeera, while the United States does not formally recognize Taiwan, which is a self-ruling democracy also known as the Republic of China, it is one of Taipei's closest international allies. Beijing has expressed that it regards U.S. patrols as a show of support for Taiwan and President Tsai Ing-wen who the mainland labeled as a "separatist."

Supporting Taiwan's Independence

The U.S. government has repeatedly pledged that it would assist Taiwan to defend itself if China were to attack it. Although such promises made by the Americans usually fall short when they try to intervene.

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington remains committed to helping Taiwan against China by building up its asymmetric defense capability. This could ward off any attack that the mainland could conduct on its neighboring region.

The situation comes as the last time that an American warship transited the Taiwan Strait was two months ago. On Feb. 28, USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) transited the region which caused China to accuse the U.S. of assuring Taiwan that it would come to its aid if needed. Another reason why the move was a cause for concern for China was that it occurred during the early days of Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine, USNI reported.



Related Article: US Warns China of Possible Military Action if Beijing Establishes Base in Solomon Islands

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Indian diaspora powerful force of our foreign policy: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla

The Speaker of the House plays a pivotal role in the Indian Parliamentary system. He is part-judge, part-referee, part-conductor of proceedings and can even, on occasion, be asked to assume the role of head of government in certain emergencies.

Indian Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla (left) arriving with HCI Singapore P Kumaran (centre) for the interaction with the Indian community at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore in an event organised by the Indian High Commission. Photo courtesy: Indian High Commission, Singapore

Indian Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was the head of a delegation of MPs on a multi-nation tour of Southeast Asian nations including Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore this month to affirm diplomatic ties and celebrate decades of bilateral relationships.

India and Singapore have a centuries-old history of common traditions, exchange of cultures, trade and friendly relations. The strong bilateral ties of the two countries are based on long standing political, economic and cultural cooperation, Birla said.

In an interaction with the Indian community at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore in an event organised by the Indian High Commission as part of the governments global push to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence, Birla said that in the 75 years of Indias independence, the country has undergone extensive political, social and economic transformation.

Birla, a Lok Sabha Member elected from the constituency of Kota-Bundi in Rajasthan, took office as Lok Sabha Speaker on June 19, 2019. Photo courtesy: Indian High Commission, Singapore

Indias democracy and its democratic institutions have set a perfect example of inclusive growth before the whole world, he said.

Birla, a Lok Sabha Member elected from the constituency of Kota-Bundi in Rajasthan, took office as Lok Sabha Speaker on June 19, 2019. The two-time MP has a Masters of Commerce degree from Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati Vishwavidyalaya and was elected thrice to the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly. He came up through the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) through its youth wing, the Bharatiya Jan Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and has been a career politician.

His choice as the governments candidate for Speaker was unexpected, as the highest post he had held before this was Parliamentary Secretary. Parliamentary experts stated that PM Modi chose him for his service record as an MP and as a debater in the Lok Sabha; by 2019, he had asked 671 questions and taken part in 118 debates.

Soon after his appointment as speaker, Birla said he would be "just and fair... that's the only way to succeed as a speaker".

He added that the Indian diaspora is one of the important powerful forces of Indias Look East Policy.

Birla reached out to Indians abroad to join the country in celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav en masse and asked them to contribute to the overall development of India. Photo courtesy: Indian High Commission, Singapore

At a time when a strong institutional framework exists for constructive dialogue between the two countries and a better understanding has developed between citizens of both the countries due to strong cultural and people to people contact, the Indian diaspora is playing the role of a catalyst to further bridge the gap among countries and improve bilateral relationship, the Speaker said.

He observed that the Indian diasporas active contribution to the comprehensive economic and social development of Singapore has laid the foundation for strong relations between the two countries and urged them, particularly the youth, to join hands for socio-economic transformation in India.

The time has come for the youth to work collectively to bring positive changes in the lives of the people of the motherland. Today we are moving ahead on the path of prosperity, development, and progress with determination, he added.

Birla reached out to Indians abroad to join the country in celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav en masse and asked them to contribute to the overall development of India.

Our democratic system and institutions have set a perfect example of inclusive growth before the whole world. Our democracy is the oldest and most vibrant democracy in the world, he said.

He added that the Indian diaspora is one of the important powerful forces of Indias Look East Policy. Photo: Connected to India

He hailed the spirit of Indian democracy which kept the nation united. Speaking about Indias Look East Policy, Birla said that India has historically shared cultural and spiritual ties with the countries of the eastern region.

We believe in the principle of 'Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam' which means that the whole world is like a family. India has always stood for global peace and stability, he said.

He asked Indians in Singapore to make people aware of the new changes being made in the business sector, industrial sector and service sector of India.

You all are the representatives of your country. Your Karmabhoomi (work land) and Janmabhoomi (Motherland), both should be proud of your actions, Birla said, signing off.

Read more NRI News and India News here
04/29/2022

Photo (c) Peter Zelei Images - Getty Images COVID-19 tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 81,257,934 (81,189,980)

Total U.S. deaths: 993,198 (992,740)

Total global cases: 512,541,971 (511,905,205)

Total global deaths: 6,232,189 (6,229,497)

CDC says the South had the highest COVID-19 death rate

A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the South experienced the highest COVID-19 death rate, suffering the highest percentage of avoidable deaths.

The study shows that starting in the summer of 2020, southern states began recording deaths from the virus at a faster rate than other regions of the country. Researchers attribute the increased deaths to fewer mitigation measures in most southern states.

The study concludes that 62% of avoidable COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. during the pandemic occurred in the South.

Senator calls for research into long COVID

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), the 2016 Democratic vice presidential candidate, is calling for more research into the causes and treatment of whats known as long COVID, which is characterized by the persistence of some symptoms after a patient has recovered from COVID-19. Kaine is very familiar with the condition since he has suffered from it for more than a year.

"I feel like, you drop an Alka-Seltzer in the water and watch it fizz," Kaine told CBS News. "It kind of feels like that; like a fizzing or buzzing nonstop... I can feel it in the tip of my forehead right now. I can feel it in the tops of my legs."

Kaine was one of the first national leaders to be diagnosed with the virus, testing positive in the summer of 2020. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that 23 million Americans may be suffering from long COVID.

Actor Kenneth Tsang dies of COVID-19

Actor Kenneth Tsang has died while in a quarantine hotel in Hong Kong, according to Chinese media. Reports said Tsang was observing seven days of isolation in the hotel after returning from Singapore.

An action movie star, Tsang was best known for his roles in Die Another Day and "The Killer." In 2001, he starred in "Rush Hour 2" along with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. Tsang was 87.

Around the nation
According to the American Civil Liberties Union's general counsel, billionaire Elon Musk appears to have contributed at least $500,000 to ex-girlfriend Amber Heard's gift to the group.

According to Terence Dougherty's audio deposition released during Johnny Depp's defamation prosecution against his ex-wife, Heard never made good on her $3.5 million vow to the ACLU, paying only $350,000.

Elon Musk Pays $300K of Amber Heard's Donation to ACLU

The remaining $1.3 million came from Depp, who contributed $100,000, and a benefactor named Musk, according to Dougherty. Dougherty said that the funds included a $500,000 gift from a Vanguard fund and $350,000 from a Fidelity fund.

In a pre-taped deposition in the lawsuit recorded in December and shown on Thursday, he claimed he believed at least the $500,000 came from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. After her 2016 separation from Depp, Musk, the world's richest man, began dating Heard.

The actor from 'Pirates of the Caribbean' is suing for defamation and seeking $50 million in damages, with the trial in a Fairfax, Virginia, courthouse currently in its 11th day. Musk and actor James Franco were both supposed to testify, but the New York Post announced this week that neither will do so.

Heard's attorneys have informed the court that she intended to pay the money, but that she would need the divorce settlement to pay her legal bills for the time being. Heard made her final gift of $350,000 in December 2018 and has not paid any money since, according to the court.

According to Dougherty, Heard told the group that the money came from her anonymous Fidelity account, but no additional checks were made to ensure it was her money. The court heard that Musk was instrumental in arranging for Heard's gifts to the ACLU, partially because he had previously donated to the organization.

Read Also: NASA's Ingenuity Captures Stunning Otherworldly Photo of Perseverance's Landing Capsule on Mars

ACLU Employee Helps Draft Controversial Op-Ed

The initial draft of the op-ed was written by Robin Shulman, an ACLU communications strategist, in November 2018, a month before the article was published, according to the court. Shulman stated she sought to "gather your fire and rage" and turn it into an op-ed piece in communication to Heard dated November 29, 2018. Dougherty claimed it was about "gender-based violence issues" when asked if he meant fury at Depp.

The ACLU was in charge of placing the op-ed, and Dougherty suggested the New York Times, Washington Post, Teen Vogue, and USA Today as possible destinations, according to Daily Mail. Amber Heard was a women's rights artist ambassador for the ACLU. She revealed her new employment as the Washington Post published her op-ed, which is the subject of Depp's $50 million defamation suit.

Depp's lawyer says that, even though the op-ed did not identify him by name, there was enough of a relationship to harm his image, given her allegations of abuse. Dougherty mentioned the ACLU's role in crafting the op-ed in his deposition. According to an email, as the op-ed was being written, Heard wanted to make a mention to her seeking a restraining order against Depp in 2016, but her attorneys refused. There was no reference given, Deadline reported.

Related Article: Agent Reveals Amber Heard Dated Elon Musk During Reconciliation with Johnny Depp; Police Footage of Domestic Incident Shown in Court

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia introduced a new bill on Thursday that seeks to abolish Section 230, the currently controversial law that provides online platforms with liability protection from what users post on their sites.

The proposed bill, titled the 21st Century Free Speech Act, is Greene's measure that serves as the House companion to a Senate version that Sen. Bill Hagerty introduced last year. The measure would repeal Section 230 and replace it with new language requiring "reasonable, non-discriminatory access to online communications platforms" by labeling them "common carriers."

Online Platform Liability Protection

The Republican's announcement of the bill comes a few days after Tesla CEO Elon Musk completed his aggressive takeover of social media giant Twitter. The billionaire entrepreneur was able to win a bid to purchase the platform at $54.20 per share, causing concern among lefties and right-wingers alike in his quest to make Twitter "politically neutral."

The situation also comes after Greene's personal Twitter account was permanently suspended for violating the social media platform's policies against COVID-1i misinformation earlier this year. The Republican said during a press conference on Thursday that she spent months analyzing various bills that would target Big Tech censorship, as per The Verge.

The move by Greene is seen as largely symbolic as she is a fringe Republican who is known to have supported QAnon conspiracy theories. She has also been stripped of her committee assignments. Furthermore, the bill would most likely face opposition in the Senate even if Republicans retake the majority after the midterm elections.

Read Also: Republicans Want Elon Musk To Free Donald Trump After Twitter Takeover

The bill shows the right's growing desire to regulate social media platforms to their liking. For a long time, Republicans have insisted that Section 230 enables platforms to "censor" conservatives. However, the First Amendment actually provides companies with extensive leeway to moderate views on their services as they deem fit.

According to Protocol, GOP members have repeatedly invoked Section 230 to score political points among their supporters. Many Republican lawmakers and candidates have promised to reform the provision if they take majority power.

Social Media Platform Bias

Probably the most noteworthy Republican that has been made an example of by social media platforms is former President Donald Trump. The businessman was permanently banned from Twitter after the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot that led to his impeachment for allegedly instigating the chaos.

However, the former president was not convicted in the Senate despite every Democrat supported by seven Republicans voting to convict him. In response, tech companies have claimed that the arguments that they are biased against conservatives were unfounded. They noted that right-wing Facebook pages regularly have top-performing posts on the nation's most used platform.

In February, the New York University released a report that found the claims of bias are not backed by evidence. It said that there were no "trustworthy large-scale studies" that have determined that conservative content was being removed for ideological reasons. It also said that there was no proof that searches were being manipulated to favor liberal interests among Americans, The Hill reported.

Related Article: Elon Musk Reveals Plans to Make Twitter "Maximum Fun," Jokes About Buying Coca-Cola Next

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FAIRFIELD  When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, Peter Hinkle said he immediately felt like something needed to be done at the local level to help the citizens of the eastern European country.

And his fellow Falcons at Fairfield Ludlowe High School seem to agree with the launch of an effort to try to raise $20,000 for aid.

(The invasion) is going to be an event, a story, a period in time, that will likely stick with us  especially the young people of my generation for the rest of our lives, said Hinkle, a senior.

He said he and his brother Will wanted to be involved with any fundraising initiative.

Hinkle said the war in Ukraine will shape the way his generation sees the world, adding the humanitarian crisis has come into full view in public discourse, and people should get involved.

Students and staff, as well as the Fairfield Ludlowe community at large, are raising money to support Save the Childrens mission in Ukraine. Save the Children, an international nonprofit based in Fairfield, has been on the ground in Ukraine since 2014, but has expanded aid efforts as the war caused millions of people to become refugees or displaced.

Hinkle said his fellow students at the high school felt equally inspired to do something. From that, he said, multiple fundraisers were born.

Eileen Frankel, a co-adviser for the student government and Spanish teacher at Ludlowe, said students and staff felt the school needed to do something to help after the invasion. She and staff members Katy Moir, Regina Krieger and Didi Bourque helped organize the effort with students.

We had a meeting after school one day, she said. A good group of kids came  different kinds of kids. We had somebody from the school newspaper, somebody from one of the political action groups, somebody from student government. We just started to brainstorm about how we could do something.

The main idea they settled on was a walk-a-thon, which took place throughout most of the day on Thursday. Frankel said the group encouraged teachers to take their classes out to walk the schools track for the walk-a-thon. In the morning, she said, there was an opening ceremony with comments from a student and the schools orchestra played the Ukrainian national anthem.

It was really warm, she said, noting many staff and students came out to support the effort.

Frankel said they collected pledges for that, but also had other fundraisers like a bake sale, a spike ball tournament and people selling bracelets.

We also decided we would create a t-shirt to sell, she said. Layla Aziz, one of our students, created the logo for us. Its the falcon logo that weve used for school before, and its got the Ukrainian flag in its mouth.

Theyre asking for at least a $15 donation for the shirts, leaving at least $10 in profit for each one. Frankel said the group has sold 250 of them so far, adding one person gave $1,000 for a shirt.

The group set the lofty goal of raising $20,000 for Save the Children. As of Thursday afternoon Frankel said they had raised approximately half of that.

She said it was encouraging that a wide variety of students are trying to get involved in the effort.

Its a great Fairfield Ludlowe community effort, she said.

Hinkle said the first meeting only had a few participants, but by the next one more people showed up. Soon enough, he said, the group was taking concrete steps toward action, delegating responsibilities and making plans.

We were just really excited to hit the ground running, he said. After that second meeting, clubs and other students were reaching out to me left and right asking how they could get involved, and taking it upon themselves even, to further the fight.

Frankel said the mission aligns with an ethos called the Falcon Footprint, which aims to help young adults recognize that it is important to leave their footprint on the world, to get involved in the community and to support important causes. She said the younger generation recognizes injustice and the need to change the world.

Although were not going to change and stop the war  and wouldnt it be wonderful if we could  were going to be providing funds, funds that are really needed, she said.

While they might not have raised $20,000 yet, Frankel said there is no reason why the school cant continue fundraising. Hinkle said he is interested in continuing to collect donations, adding he hopes to blow through that goal.

joshua.labella@hearstmediact.com
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP)  A coyote attacked and seriously injured a girl on Southern California's famed Huntington Beach, police said.

Officers were called to the beach near the Huntington Beach Pier around 9:45 p.m. Thursday and found the girl, police spokesperson Jennifer Carey said in a statement.

She received serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital, authorities said.

The girl was with two women and another small child sitting near the waves when she wandered a mere few feet" and was attacked, state Department of Fish and Wildlife Capt. Patrick Foy said.

The coyote came out of the dark, hit and knocked over the girl and attacked her for 12 seconds before her cry alerted adults and the animal ran off, Foy said.

However, it stayed around, pacing, before finally fleeing, Foy said.

The family did nothing to antagonize the coyote, he added.

Police later shot two coyotes. One was found dead on the sand about a mile (1.6 kilometers) north of the pier Friday morning while the other was spotted Friday afternoon under a mobile home and was euthanized, Foy said.

Officials will check the animals for rabies and will try to determine if their DNA matches to the attack, he said.

Coyotes are found almost everywhere in California, including cities, and authorities have long warned that small children and pets can be at risk. Last year, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife began workshops to help communities deal with coyotes because of an increase in the number conflicts with people.

Foy said coyotes usually are shy and try to avoid humans. He estimated there are only about 10 to 12 attacks per year around the state, mostly involving smaller children but full-grown adults were attacked in a few cases.

Carey said police have conducted increased coyote trapping efforts throughout the city for the past several weeks and asked residents to report coyote sightings.

Huntington Beach, on the Orange County coast, has one of California's classic surf breaks and is known as Surf City USA.

No other information about the girl will be released because she is a juvenile, Carey said.
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ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Mountainous and remote, the Greek-Bulgaria border once formed the southern corner of the Iron Curtain. Today, its where the European Union is redrawing the regions energy map to ease its heavy reliance on Russian natural gas.

A new pipeline  built during the COVID-19 pandemic, tested and due to start commercial operation in June  would ensure that large volumes of gas flow between the two countries in both directions to generate electricity, fuel industry and heat homes.

The energy link takes on greater importance following Moscows decision this week to cut off natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria over a demand for payments in rubles stemming from Western sanctions over the war of Ukraine.

The 180-kilometer (110-mile) pipeline project is the first of several planned gas interconnectors that would give eastern European Union members and countries hoping to join the 27-nation bloc access to the global gas market.

In the short term, its Bulgarias backup.

The new pipeline connection, called the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, will give the country access to ports in neighboring Greece that are importing liquefied natural gas, or LNG, and also will bring gas from Azerbaijan through a new pipeline system that ends in Italy.

It's one of many efforts as EU members scramble to edit their energy mixes, with some reverting back to emissions-heavy coal while also planning expanded output from renewables.

Germany, the worlds biggest buyer of Russian energy, is looking to build LNG import terminals that would take years. Italy, another top Russian gas importer, has reached deals with Algeria, Azerbaijan, Angola and Congo for gas supplies.

The European Union wants to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas by two-thirds this year and to eliminate it completely over five years through alternative sources, the use of wind and solar power, and conservation.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is likely to accelerate changes in the EUs long-term strategy as the bloc adapts to energy that is more expensive but also more integrated among member nations, said Simone Tagliapietra, an energy expert at the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel.

Its a new world, he said. And in this new world, its clear that Russia doesnt want to be part of an international order as we think of it.

Tagliapietra added: The strategy  particularly by Germany  over the last 50 years was always one of engaging with Russia on energy. ... But given what we are seeing in Ukraine and given Russias view of international relations, its not the kind of country with which we would like to do business.

EU policymakers argue that while Eastern European members are among the most dependent on Russian gas, the size of their markets makes the problem manageable. Bulgaria imported 90% of its gas from Russia but only consumes 3 billion cubic meters annually  30 times less than lead consumer Germany, according to 2020 data from EU statistics agency Eurostat.

The Greece-Bulgaria pipeline will complement the existing European network, much of which dates to the Soviet era, when Moscow sought badly needed funds for its faltering economy and Western suppliers to help build its pipelines.

The link will run between the northeastern Greek city of Komotini and Stara Zagora, in central Bulgaria, and will give Bulgaria and neighbors with new grid connections access to the expanding global gas market.

That includes a connection with the newly built Trans Adriatic Pipeline, which carries gas from Azerbaijan, and suppliers of liquefied natural gas that arrives by ship, likely to include Qatar, Algeria and the United States.

As many as eight additional interconnectors could be built in Eastern Europe, reaching as far as Ukraine and Austria.

The 240 million-euro ($250 million) pipeline will carry 3 billion cubic meters of gas per year, with an option to be expanded to 5 billion. It received funding from Bulgaria, Greece and the EU, and has strong political support from Brussels and the United States.

On the ground, the project faced multiple holdups because of supply chain snags during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Receiving specialized parts and moving personnel after construction got underway in early 2020 soon became increasingly difficult, said Antonis Mitzalis, executive director of Greek contractor AVAX, which oversaw the project.

Construction of the pipeline finished in early April, he said, while work and testing at two metering stations and software installation are in the final stages.

We had a sequence in mind. But the fact that some materials did not arrive made us rework that sequence, sometimes with a cost effect, Mitzalis said.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis missed a tour of the site last month after contracting COVID-19. He spoke Wednesday with his Bulgarian counterpart, Kiril Petkov, to provide assurances of Greek support.

Bulgaria and Greece will continue to work together for energy security and diversification  of strategic importance for both countries and the region, Petkov later tweeted. We both are confident for the successful completion of the IGB on time. ___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

___ Follow Gatopoulos at https://twitter.com/dgatopoulos
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NEW YORK (AP)  The New York Times has a tradition of letting its work speak for itself, rather than publicly defending its journalism from criticism.

Yet with democracy, truth, and the news business under attack, that's a luxury The Times' incoming executive editor, Joe Kahn, may not be able to afford. Kahn, a managing editor for the past five years, succeeds Dean Baquet on June 14, inheriting the most high-profile job in journalism.

The deliberate, soft-spoken Kahn said he's been thinking about whether The Times' reluctance to speak about its work is still the best approach at a time when people take sides about journalism brands like they do about politics. How Kahn will tackle things differently from his predecessors remains to be seen, but he is open to trying.

Im not sure theres a perfect answer to it, said Kahn, who believes efforts to communicate with readers could be improved. He added: Being able to narrate that to some degree, and bring a broader audience into the investment we're making in quality journalism, I do think (that) is an important part of the job.

News organizations sometimes let marketing teams do the talking, with ad campaigns highlighting their work and why it is done, as CNN did when former President Donald Trump labeled them fake news. Former Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron famously said that the Post was not at war with the Trump administration, we're at work.

That may not be good enough anymore, said Kyle Pope, editor in chief and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review.

Journalists for a long time have taken it as a given that the country and its leaders understood the role they play in a functioning democracy, Pope said. We're at a moment now where you can't take that for granted.

Targeting The Times for criticism has long been a rite of passage for many conservatives. More recently, liberals have stepped up their criticism, most notably by demanding the newspaper more aggressively call out what they see as Republican efforts to subvert democracy,

Kahn said he wants The Times to be dogged in covering voter access, the certification of elections and increased political violence. Reporters and editors dedicated to the topic need to be persistent about focusing attention on the problems, similar to how The Times tracked the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

We can cover these issues really well and assertively without turning ourselves into a partisan news organization, he said.

The Times can point to examples where it has led the way. This past week, Times reporters broke the news of House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy saying he planned to urge Trump to resign following the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection. In June, The Times' painstaking Day of Rage video outlined clearly what happened that day.

Still, some critics on the left believe it too often treats efforts to change voter access laws as a typical political fight when the meaning is much deeper.

Reporting more aggressively, accurately and clearly about threats to democracy is not asking them to become a partisan organization, said Dan Froomkin, editor of the Press Watch media criticism site.

The Post announced in February that it would hire two editors and three reporters to staff a new democracy team to cover these issues, and The Associated Press said last week it would add a new democracy editor to its political staff.

On a sometimes related topic -- disinformation -- Kahn said The Times plans further investment. That was illustrated recently when satellite imagery from Ukraine was used to refute Russian propaganda that civilian killings were staged.

The Times is also writing stories specifically designed to show up in Internet searches when people want to learn the truth about false stories that spread online, like quack COVID treatments.

If you're partisan and want to live in your own information silo, it's really hard to break through to that, Kahn said. But if you are, in my view, like the vast majority of people who hear things and may not believe them, we'll be there to help guide you in those moments.

One trait Kahn has that is not always common in top media executives is that he's open to listening to criticism, wrote Margaret Sullivan, the Post's media columnist. From 2012 to 2016, she was public editor at The Times, where her job was often to convey reader complaints to editors.

The Times discontinued that role in 2017. Although Sullivan doesn't expect that decision to be revisited  and Kahn pointed out that's the publisher's decision, not his  she said in an interview that the thing that's missing is a steady sense of The Times hearing outside voices, outside critics, and responding in real time on a regular basis.

Baquet has tended to respond to individual issues that come up through media interviews.

The Times' decision to appoint an insider as executive editor is typical, but does contrast with the Post choosing AP's Sally Buzbee and Los Angeles Times picking Kevin Merida from ESPN as leaders over the past two years. Part of the reason they went with outsiders, if I'm being honest, is that they're trying to catch up with us, Kahn said.

In announcing Kahn's elevation, Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said it was an affirmation of the Times' direction under Baquet, who had Kahn as his top lieutenant for five years.

The Times has grown from under a million digital subscriptions to nearly 10 million under Baquet. Its footprint has widened, encompassing a popular podcast, The Daily, the Wirecutter product recommendation service, newsletters and a documentary unit that made Controlling Britney Spears. Not everything has gone smoothly  The Times painfully concluded its 2018 podcast Caliphate did not meet journalistic standards  but it has been a remarkable transformation.

Neither The Times, nor he, believes in standing still.
WESTPORT  An Arlington, Va., woman was charged with a DUI and evading responsibility in Westport.

On Dec. 27 around 8:30 p.m., officers were dispatched on report of a hit-and-run accident in the parking lot of a local restaurant. A witness provided police with a description of the suspect car, and police received multiple calls of erratic driving by the same car as in the description, according to a police report.

One person who complained about the erratic driver followed the car into Norwalk, and Norwalk police located the car in a ditch on Cottonwood Chase Road.

Police arrived on the scene and spoke to the driver, identified as 30-year-old Mary Baker. While speaking with Barker, officers detected a strong odor of alcoholic beverage on her breath and asked Baker to perform sobriety tests, which she failed, police said.

Baker was arrested, transported to police headquarters, and released after posting $500 bond. She is scheduled to appear at state Superior Court of Norwalk on Jan. 3.

svaughan@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2638; @SophieCVaughan1
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GREENWICH  The Connecticut Natural Gas Co. is about to lose its lease at a site in central Greenwich and wants to relocate its truck fleet to a marina in Byram.

Not so fast, says the Planning and Zoning Commission, which expressed deep reservations about the plan at its hearing Tuesday.

CNG has been working out of a space at 16 Old Track Road, according to Stephanie Stich, an attorney representing CNG.

The lease is expiring and the property owner is not willing lease again, Stich said, so an extensive search was conducted in Greenwich and Stamford before the company settled on a property at 112 S. Water St. in Byram, which is currently a marina. The proposal calls for CNG to operate its truck fleet at the marina warehouse, as well as to construct a small office building there. Thirty-one employees would work at the site.

The gas company says it has to maintain a facility in Greenwich to provide emergency services, and CNG representatives cited the public-safety issues involved in the plan. The goal is to reach any part of Greenwich with a CNG crew within 20 minutes.

Stich said the company would also improve the look of the marina.

Its going to be much nicer location visually. Right now, its kind of an eyesore, Stich told the commission.

The Ebb Tide marina operation would continue there, according to the application, but boat storage in the warehouse would be discontinued. The property is owned by 112 South Water Street LLC, associated with Laydon Industries.

Planning commissioners, who noted that the town administration has been seeking to diminish commercial and industrial operations in the Byram section of town in favor or water-related and retail businesses, took a dim view of the application.

I am very uncomfortable with this, commission Chairwoman Margarita Alban said. It concerns me to add an industrial-commercial use to a neighborhood where were trying so hard.

Under the plan, CNG is asking the planning commission to approve a commercial operation in the waterfront business zone, which is not currently allowed.

The commissioners questioned whether the CNG could override local zoning and get the approval to operate at the site from the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, the state organization that regulates utilities. Stich, the CNG lawyer, said they believed they could get the necessary approval from PURA through a hardship application. Stich said they went to the planning commission because we want to be good neighbors.

Alban asked the CNG representatives to try one more time to find another site in Greenwich.

The application was adjourned for additional review.
BRANFORD  A new Aldi supermarket, its bright sign and coming soon banners along Route 1, is nearing the last phase of construction and is scheduled to open in June, according to a company spokesperson.

The construction is in its final phases, according to town Building Official Anthony Cinicola.

To date 16 inspections have been done for Aldis. They are ready to insulate and close up the walls from there, Cinicola said. Five inspections, including the final one remain, he said.

Site work began last July for Aldi Grocery Store and a Chase Bank, opposite Interstate 95s Exit 53 ramp.

First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove said the town welcomes Aldi and its neighbor, Chase Bank. The new development benefits the town by growing the tax base, jobs, as well as convenience for the residents, Cosgrove said.

The redevelopment aspect of a site that remained stagnant for a number of years  decades really  to see that repurposed, I think its an overall positive for the town, he added. The long-vacant property formerly was a series of auto dealerships, most recently Branford Mitsubishi.

Residents are eager for the new store to open, as well, he said.

I have heard from a number of residents who look forward to Aldi coming to town  who go to other locations  to have that opportunity right here in Branford, Cosgrove said.

Aldi is a German-owned cousin of Trader Joes known for its low prices, high-quality store brands, no-frills style and growing selection of natural and organic foods. Its U.S. base is in Chicago.

Cosgrove said he was not concerned about the developments impact on traffic. He noted a new turn lane into the project was added in recent months and traffic lights will be timed to accommodate traffic flow into the site. The road work has been completed.

He noted that the state Department of Transportation signed off on the project before town approvals were granted.

However, that section of Route 1 and the I-95 interchange have been troublesome traffic spots in town for years, Cosgrove said.

That section of Route 1 as well as the interchange coming off the highway, that has been something weve been looking to address for a number of years, Cosgrove said.

Cosgrove added, We have had numerous concept plans and continue to engage the DOT to try to get some project which would improve the overall traffic flow of that area.

Certainly outside of this project  its of interest to the town to improve traffic circulation, he said. Cosgrove said he is hopeful the town could get funding for a project with the passage of the $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill, from which the state is slated to receive $6 billion.

Town officials are waiting for more information on how to apply for the funds and how we can access those dollars, Cosgrove said.

We do see there is an opportunity. The town of Branford will certainly make a strong effort to avail themselves of those dollars, he said.

The applicant, at the time of approval, June 4, 2020, was Trumbulls Sound Development.

Owners John J. Maturo, Jr. and Nicole Kovesces sold the property on June 20, 2020, for $2.2 million to HV Retail Development LLC, a Houston-based company established as a business in Connecticut Feb. 16, 2021.

A building permit was issued to HV Retail Development April 15, 2021, for the project that includes a 19,210-square-foot Aldi store and a separate, 3,470-square-foot Chase Bank building on nearly 10 acres.

Chris Daniels, South Windsor Division vice president, said in a release that Aldi stores are purposefully designed for simplicity and efficiency.

A typical store is approximately 12,000 square feet of retail space, making Aldi stores easier to navigate than traditional grocery stores, according to the release.

The consistent size of ALDI stores across the country is intentional, designed to save our shoppers time. Every ALDI has a similar, easy-to-shop layout, so youll always feel like youre shopping at your local store, Daniels said in the release.

For more information, visit aldi.us.
The Biden administration is requesting $33 billion in funds from Congress to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, more than double the $14 billion already approved.

The funds will endure until the end of the fiscal year on September 30, giving Ukraine a more stable assurance of support as the battle continues. President Biden asked Congress to accept his request for security aid as soon as possible on Thursday, saying it came at a critical time for Ukraine's struggle against the Russian incursion.

Biden Asks Congress For $33 Billion in Ukraine Aid

After Russia threatened to stop natural gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria, Biden said the US was working with Korea, Japan, Qatar, and others to help meet those nations' energy import needs. He said that Poland has considerable reserves and that, if necessary, US natural gas exports to Japan and other countries will be diverted to Bulgaria.

He also expressed alarm about recent Russian remarks portraying the fight as one between NATO, the United States, and Russia. According to authorities, the majority of the request is for military and security assistance, totaling $20 billion, to send weapons to Ukraine, refill US arms stocks, and assist other nations in transitioning away from reliance on Russian armaments.

An extra $8.5 billion in economic aid to the Ukrainian government has been asked for, as well as $3 billion in humanitarian and food security funds, including help for Ukrainian refugees and nations that are taking them in, NPR reported.

On Thursday, Biden slammed the language, saying, "No one should be making ideal statements about the use of nuclear weapons," dismissing Russia's criticism of the West's participation in the crisis. "It shows Russia's desperation over their abject failure" to quickly seize Ukraine, Biden added.

Read Also: US Satellite Images Reveal Russia Deploying Military Dolphins in the Black Sea; What Are They For?

POTUS Wants To Seize Russian Oligarchs' Assets in US

One day after Russia turned off gas to Poland and Bulgaria, President Trump stated the US was working with Japan and other partners to offer energy assistance to those nations. By delaying key energy exports, Russia is attempting to intimidate and blackmail Europe, according to Biden.

The extra Ukrainian help was included in a supplementary budget request to Congress that also included a request for $22.5 billion in new emergency money to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The additional Ukrainian assistance was included in a supplemental budget proposal to Congress, which also included a request for $22.5 billion in new emergency funding to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, as per Newsweek via MSN.

High-thermal blankets, medical supplies, emergency health kits, safe drinking water, direct food aid such as wheat and flour, job training, trauma-informed mental health services, and school financing are all part of the humanitarian help. According to Biden, the food money will help to reduce rising expenses in the United States. Ukraine is a major producer of wheat and sunflowers. Because of the conflict, the supply chain has been disrupted, resulting in a price hike.

Biden also wants to sell the luxurious boats and sumptuous homes confiscated from Russian oligarchs by the US government and give the proceeds to Ukraine to aid in the battle against Vladimir Putin's soldiers. On Thursday, the president requested that Congress increase his presidential powers to enable him to do precisely that.

Biden also requested Congress for billions of dollars in more funding to support the Ukrainian military and offer humanitarian aid to the country's displaced people. He also asked lawmakers to make it a crime to knowingly or intentionally possess proceeds directly obtained from corrupt dealings with the Russian government, to double the statute of limitations for foreign money laundering offenses to ten years, and to broaden the definition of "racketeering" in US law to include efforts to evade sanctions, according to Daily Mail.

Related Article: COVID-19 Cases in US: Dr. Anthony Fauci Confirms 'Pandemic Phase' Is Over, But There's No End in Sight

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WESTPORT  A Bedford Middle School teacher has been charged with sexual assault following an investigation into a report that a student had been inappropriately touched in a classroom, police said Thursday.

Arthur Ellis, 72, of Westerly, R.I., was arrested on charges of fourth-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child after he turned himself in at the Westport Police Department, officials said.
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For family law attorney Robin Frank, defending parents at one of their lowest points  when they risk losing their children  has never been easy.

The job is never easy, but in the past she knew what she was up against when squaring off against child protective services in family court. Now, she worries shes fighting something she cant see: an opaque algorithm whose statistical calculations help social workers decide which families should be investigated in the first place.

A lot of people dont know that its even being used, Frank said. Families should have the right to have all of the information in their file.

From Los Angeles to Colorado and throughout Oregon, as child welfare agencies use or consider tools similar to the one in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has identified a number of concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. Related issues have already torpedoed some jurisdictions plans to use predictive models, such as the tool notably dropped by the state of Illinois.

According to new research from a Carnegie Mellon University team obtained exclusively by AP, Alleghenys algorithm in its first years of operation showed a pattern of flagging a disproportionate number of Black children for a mandatory neglect investigation, when compared with white children. The independent researchers, who received data from the county, also found that social workers disagreed with the risk scores the algorithm produced about one-third of the time.

County officials said that social workers can always override the tool, and called the research hypothetical.

Child welfare officials in Allegheny County, the cradle of Mister Rogers TV neighborhood and the icons child-centric innovations, say the cutting-edge tool  which is capturing attention around the country  uses data to support agency workers as they try to protect children from neglect. That nuanced term can include everything from inadequate housing to poor hygiene, but is a different category from physical or sexual abuse, which is investigated separately in Pennsylvania and is not subject to the algorithm.

Workers, whoever they are, shouldnt be asked to make, in a given year, 14, 15, 16,000 of these kinds of decisions with incredibly imperfect information, said Erin Dalton, director of the countys Department of Human Services and a pioneer in implementing the predictive child welfare algorithm.

____

This story, supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, is part of an ongoing Associated Press series, Tracked, that investigates the power and consequences of decisions driven by algorithms on peoples everyday lives.

____

Critics say it gives a program powered by data mostly collected about poor people an outsized role in deciding families fates, and they warn against local officials growing reliance on artificial intelligence tools.

If the tool had acted on its own to screen in a comparable rate of calls, it would have recommended that two-thirds of Black children be investigated, compared with about half of all other children reported, according to another study published last month and co-authored by a researcher who has audited the countys algorithm.

Advocates worry that if similar tools are used in other child welfare systems with minimal or no human intervention  akin to how algorithms have been used to make decisions in the criminal justice system  they could reinforce existing racial disparities in the child welfare system.

Its not decreasing the impact among Black families, said Logan Stapleton, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. On the point of accuracy and disparity, (the county is) making strong statements that I think are misleading.

Because family court hearings are closed to the public and the records are sealed, AP wasnt able to identify first-hand any families who the algorithm recommended be mandatorily investigated for child neglect, nor any cases that resulted in a child being sent to foster care. Families and their attorneys can never be sure of the algorithms role in their lives either because they arent allowed to know the scores.

Child welfare agencies in at least 26 states and Washington, D.C., have considered using algorithmic tools, and at least 11 have deployed them, according to American Civil Liberties Union.

Larimer County, Colorado, home to Fort Collins, is now testing a tool modeled on Alleghenys and plans to share scores with families if it moves forward with the program.

Its their life and their history, said Thad Paul, a manager with the countys Children Youth & Family Services. We want to minimize the power differential that comes with being involved in child welfare  we just really think it is unethical not to share the score with families.

Oregon does not share risk score numbers from its statewide screening tool, which was first implemented in 2018 and was inspired by Alleghenys algorithm. The Oregon Department of Human Services  currently preparing to hire its eighth new child welfare director in six years  explored at least four other algorithms while the agency was under scrutiny by a crisis oversight board ordered by the governor.

It recently paused a pilot algorithm built to help decide when foster care children can be reunified with their families. Oregon also explored three other tools  predictive models to assess a childs risk for death and severe injury, whether children should be placed in foster care and if so, where.

For years, California explored data-driven approaches to the statewide child welfare system before abandoning a proposal to use a predictive risk modeling tool in 2019.

During the project, the state also explored concerns about how the tool may impact racial equity. These findings resulted in the state ceasing exploration, department spokesman Scott Murray said in an email.

Los Angeles County's Department of Children and Family Services is being audited following high-profile child deaths, and is seeking a new director after its previous one stepped down late last year. It's piloting a complex-risk algorithm that helps to isolate the highest-risk cases that are being investigated, the county said.

In the first few months that social workers in the Mojave Desert city of Lancaster started using the tool, however, county data shows that Black children were the subject of nearly half of all the investigations flagged for additional scrutiny, despite making up 22% of the citys child population, according to the U.S. Census.

The county did not immediately say why, but said it will decide whether to expand the tool later this year.

___

Associated Press reporter Camille Fassett contributed to this report.

___

Follow Sally Ho and Garance Burke on Twitter at @_sallyho and @garanceburke.

___

Contact APs global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/
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BEIRUT (AP)  The leader of Lebanons militant Hezbollah group warned Friday that if Israel continues to target Irans presence in the region, Tehran could eventually retaliate by striking deep inside Israel.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallahs warning came in a speech during a ceremony in Beirut marking Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, a traditional show of support for the Palestinians. Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters and officials from allied Palestinian groups attended.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes over the years on targets in Syria  where Iran, like Hezbollah, supports President Bashar Assads forces  but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. It has acknowledged targeting bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Hezbollah, in Syria. Israel says its attacks are against Iranian entrenchment in neighboring Syria.

Hezbollah, one of Irans main arms in the region, was formed in the early 1980s during Lebanons civil war by Iranian officers and Tehran has been arming and funding the group since.

Nasrallahs comments came two days after an Israeli missile strike in Syria killed four Syrian soldiers and wounded others, according to Syrian state media. A Syrian opposition war monitor gave a higher death toll for the early Wednesday strike that hit suburbs of the capital, Damascus, saying it killed six Syrian soldiers and four Iran-backed fighters.

Last month, an Israeli missile attack on Damascus killed two colonels with Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Iran retaliated shortly after by firing surface-to-surface missiles on what it described as an Israeli spy center in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.

The Islamic Republics military stance is developing to a level that if the Israels aggression continues on Iranian presence in the region it might strike at Israel directly, Nasrallah said.

The ceremony, on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, was the first large gathering by Hezbollah since the coronavirus pandemic started.

Nasrallah said Iranian officials now believe that the time when we bring our martyrs and hold funerals for them has ended.

We will avenge our martyrs. This is an important development, Nasrallah said.
NEWTOWN - A federal judge gave Sandy Hook families awaiting defamation damages trials in Connecticut and Texas part of what they wanted on Friday by agreeing to hear their motions first to dismiss Alex Jones bankruptcies as bad faith filings.

But the judge also gave Jones attorneys part of what they wanted - enough breathing room to prepare an unhurried defense of their plan to pay the Sandy Hook families defamation damages Jones owes without putting his conspiracy platform Infowars out of business.

These are really important issues for the families and important for the debtors, Judge Christopher Lopez told a crowd of 60 attorneys and observers during a livestreamed conference in Southern Texas Bankruptcy Court. I get it that no one likes the debtors, but they have a right to defend themselves just like anyone who comes before me.

Although the only action Lopez took was to set hearing dates - the first on arguments to dismiss the bankruptcies of three former Jones-controlled entities on May 27 - both sides were passionate.

One attorney representing parents of two slain Sandy Hook boys whose trials to award damages from defamation cases they won against Jones in Texas have been delayed called Jones 11-hour bankruptcy filings unworthy and abusive.

I cant think of a less worthy purpose for bankruptcy court than the rehabilitation and reorganization of companies that made tens of millions of dollars by lying, said attorney Maxwell Beatty. One of my clients held his son with a bullet hole in his head and Mr. Jones called him a liar.

The father the attorney was referring to is Neil Heslin, whose son was among the 26 first-graders and educators slain in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Heslin and his sons mother, Scarlett Lewis, were scheduled to start their jury trial to determine how much Jones owes them in damages last week.

Attorneys for Jones and the parent company of his broadcast and merchandising enterprise called Free Speech Systems were equally passionate. An attorney for FSS said before Jones filed for emergency bankruptcy protection, he was facing financial deplatforming.

Spending millions of dollars on trials in two locations would consume assets and will not result in economic recovery(because) the plaintiffs all have liability death penalties, said FSS attorney Ray Battaglia. The likely effect of a (jury trial) judgment would be to shut Free Speech Systems down.

While neither Jones nor Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection, they have been preserved from defamation award trials for the time being in Texas and Connecticut, in part to ensure there is enough money to pay the Sandy Hook families when their claims are settled, Battaglia said.

Jones has suffered financially since he called the worst crime in Connecticut history staged, synthetic, manufactured, a giant hoax, and completely fake with actors, paying at least $10 million in legal fees and losing at least $20 million because of the Sandy Hook lawsuits, his representatives said in court.

Jones, whose credibility in the conspiracy theory community was likened by one of his representatives in court to the Coca-Cola brand, did not want to file for bankruptcy himself for fear his product sales would suffer, representatives said in court.

The Sandy Hook families attorneys argued unsuccessfully in court on Friday that every day families wait for the judge to rule on the validity of Jones bankruptcy claims, they are spending money they dont have.

The creditors here are different than regular creditors because they are victims, and right now the victims are spending money, said Beatty, who asked the judge to schedule the dismissal hearing next week. This is incurring fees  on people who have already suffered enough.

Jones lead bankruptcy attorney argued his client deserved equal consideration.

No matter how bad Mr. Jones conduct was, the (bankruptcy) parties are entitled to due process, said attorney Kyung Lee. You have to give us 21 days notice.

The judge gave Jones one month.

I am giving everyone a lot of time because I want everyone to put up their best evidence, Lopez said. I am going to be deliberate and not rush anything, but you are going to get an answer from me really fast.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  A Roman Catholic priest who was accused of sexual abuse of a minor will return to his parish in Topeka after prosecutors decided not to file charges against him, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas announced Friday.

Rev. John Pilcher will return as pastor of Mater Dei Parish immediately, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann said in a news release.
At a time when the US has accused Russia of using internet disruptions as part of its intensifying attacks on Ukraine, the US and 55 other countries made a political commitment on Thursday to advocate for internet standards based on democratic ideals.

The "Declaration for the Future of the Internet" protects human rights, promotes the free flow of information, protects users' privacy, and establishes rules for a growing global digital economy, among other measures to counter what two Biden administration officials described as a dangerous new model of internet policy from countries like Russia and China.

US, Partners Launch Plan for Internet's "Future"

According to the officials, the United States is witnessing a global trend of rising digital authoritarianism, with countries like Russia repressing freedom of expression, censoring independent news sites, interfering with elections, spreading disinformation, and depriving their citizens of other human rights.

Russia has undertaken cyberattacks since invading Ukraine, including a breach into a satellite internet provider's network at the start of the operation. The new endeavor, according to administration officials, is not an attempt to combat cyber warfare. The declaration is a tweaked version of the White House's attempts last year to unite a coalition of democracies around a vision for free and open internet.

Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine are among the countries that have joined the US; but despite the administration's efforts, the project has failed to get backing from some major parties.

India, the world's most populous democracy, has yet to join. Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, and South Africa are all missing from the list. Even New Zealand, a strong US intelligence ally, was not included in an initial list of nations circulated before the announcement, though a senior administration official claimed it had since joined and the list had been revised, according to South China Morning Post.

DFI will also address internet access even though it is "restricted by certain authoritarian governments, and online platforms and digital technologies are increasingly utilized to stifle freedom of speech and deny other human rights and fundamental freedoms," according to officials.

DFI has also been searching at state-sponsored or condoned hostile activity, which they believe is on the rise, citing the spread of disinformation and unlawful damaging content, as well as how ransomware criminality impacts critical infrastructure security and resilience, as per Fox News.

Read Also: Zaprozhye Arms Depot Containing Western Supplied Arms Demolished by Russian Missile Attack

Europe Sounds Alarmed With Russia-China Ties

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted a thorough review of European cities' individual and collective connections with China. Faced with the need to quickly unravel a decades-long reliance on Russian energy, government leaders from Rome to Prague are reconsidering the scope of their economic and political connections with China.

Senior parliamentarians in Berlin are beginning to understand the danger of repeating the error with another authoritarian state, increasing concerns about Germany's standing as Beijing's largest European commercial partner. The logic of the so-called 16+1 forum with China is being questioned again by countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Italy recently enhanced its veto authority over foreign takeovers, a move aimed squarely at China.

At the European Union level, sentiments have deteriorated as a result of Beijing's failure to denounce Russia's incursion and its attempts to undermine the transatlantic solidarity produced by the conflict. On April 1, a virtual EU-China summit took conducted in the backdrop of an increasingly problematic relationship, according to a source familiar with the deliberations.

The EU went into the meetings with the primary goal of urging China to use its clout with Russia to end the slaughter, the source said, adding that there was a real fear that China's ongoing inactivity would have a long-term detrimental impact on EU ties, Straits Times reported.

Related Article: Marjorie Taylor Greene Offers Bill To Abolish Online Platform Liability Protection After Musk's Twitter Takeover

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According to a Bronx court, a gang member who allegedly killed an innocent college student while on probation was released from prison once more, owing to problematic testimony from investigators in his case.

As stated in court papers acquired by The Washington Post, Steven Mendez, 17, was released Tuesday after a judge decided prosecutors and investigators mishandled their case before the grand jury.

Teen Accused of Shooting Student Last Year Released From Jail

As per documents, Supreme Court Justice Naita Semaj determined during grand jury sessions that detectives presented problematic and improper testimony, which prejudiced Mendez and denied him a fair trial. Former Manhattan prosecutor turned criminal defense attorney Mark Bederow termed the decision to release Mendez "nearly unprecedented," calling it "shocking."

The Bronx District Attorney's Office has 45 days from the date of the judgment to re-present its case to a grand jury, which it intends to do, according to a spokeswoman.

Two detectives who investigated the murder described to jurors how they concluded that Mendez, who had been released on probation five months before the Oct. 24, 2021 killing, was the suspected real murderer, according to New York Post.

Haja Kaira, Koma's mother, believes the court is sending the wrong message because crime in New York is up 42% over last year. An NYPD detective erroneously identified Mendez as Koma's killer, according to Judge Semaj-Williams since he "never suggested that he had prior encounters with Mendez sufficient to provide a foundation for identification."

To persuade the jurors, detectives used CCTV footage that did not show the actual incident. They recognized him as someone with a white cloth patch on the back of his jeans at one time.

The court ruled that the same individual they recognized as Mendez did not wear the patch at another time. Furthermore, when reviewing the film, another investigator offered her ideas, conclusions, and characterizations, denying the jury the opportunity to form its own opinion.

Read Also: New York Mercy Flight Air Ambulance Helicopter Crashes During Doomed Training, Leaving 2 People Dead

College Student Was a Victim of Mistaken Identity Case

In a case of mistaken identity, Mendez reportedly shot Koma in the head in the Fordham Heights area in October. Koma attended Manhattan Community College and worked part-time as a delivery driver. His parents came from Sierra Leone and Gambia, respectively.

His family claims that he was never in trouble. His mother Haja told the New York Daily News, "He's not troublesome. He'd go to school, do his little job, you know?"

Semaj-Williams freed Sharif Mitchell, 17, on his recognizance, even though another judge had ordered him detained on a $30,000 bond during his hearing. Mitchell faces attempted murder charges for reportedly opening fire on a subway station and shooting a 19-year-old man four times.

Semaj-Williams has a small kid and a stepson and is married to a prison officer. Her current term, which began on January 1, began on January 1 and will finish in 2035. Williams has been free on bail since late January, suspected of being a gang member. He is accused of criminal possession of a firearm, second-degree assault, and other weapons charges coming from an incident on January 18 in which he allegedly shot Officer Kaseem Pennant while being searched.

New York City's crime rate is up 42% from the previous year. As the city confronts an increase in crime that began during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, shooting victims are up 8.6%. Mayor Eric Adams chastised his Democratic colleagues over the weekend for only supporting Black Lives Matter when officers are involved in the deaths of African-Americans, Daily Mail reported.

Related Article: Lily Peters Case: Police Arrested 14-Year-Old Boy Who Allegedly Strangled, Sexually Assaulted Missing Wisconsin Girl

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After two months of prevarication and excuses, the German government at last agreed this week to send some heavy armour to Ukraine  the kind of military equipment its forces need as they now face the Russian military across a broad front in eastern Ukraine, where big artillery will make a difference.

Better late than never, you might think. Except that the 50 Gepard (German for cheetah) anti-aircraft vehicles it has approved first saw service in the 1960s and, despite several upgrades, havent been part of the German armys arsenal for over a decade.

The defence company that had kept them in storage wanted to send them to Ukraine in February. But Chancellor Olaf Scholz blocked that  until this week, when he finally bowed to pressure from Nato allies and powerful voices inside Germany.

How big a boon the Gepards will be to Ukraines military remains to be seen. Military experts say its a complicated weapon that requires months of training (five months, for example, when the Romanian army acquired it), a constant stream of spare parts  and ammunition from Switzerland, which the Swiss have not yet agreed to send.

After two months of excuses, the German government agreed to send some heavy armour to Ukraine after Chancellor Olaf Scholz (pictured) finally bowed to pressure from Nato allies

No wonder Ukrainians feel Germanys heart is not quite in its efforts to arm them with the weapons it desperately and quickly needs.

Yet its only just over two months since Scholz made an historic speech to the German parliament which was hailed at the time as a watershed. In an address which lasted just under an hour, as Russian armour and troops poured across the border in an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the recently elected chancellor laid waste to Germanys long-standing policy of cosying up to the Kremlin.

He promised billions more for defence to end the hollowing out of Germanys military, support for sanctions against Moscow and even weapons for Ukraine. When he sat down, 16 years of Merkelism  the pro-Russian approach of his predecessor, Angela Merkel  lay in tatters.

It was all the more remarkable coming from a chancellor whose Social Democrat party had always been in the vanguard of rapprochement with Russia  a policy known as Ostpolitik, which dates back to the early 1960s.

Yet in the aftermath of this supposed watershed, Scholz was nowhere to be seen. It was almost as if hed gone into hiding.

Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen and Estonian leader Kaja Kallas (pictured) hardly preside over military superpowers but both have done more, proportionately, to help Ukraine than Germany

Later, we learned that he was personally going through the list of weapons Kyiv was requesting to remove every item of heavy equipment that might make a difference in Ukraines efforts to repel the Russian invasion.

But if Berlin was reluctant to arm Ukraine, it was also in no rush to stop itself funding President Putins war machine.

The German government was adamant that there was no question of it not buying Russian oil and gas, which means billions continue to pour into the Kremlins coffers to pay for the invasion. At one stage Scholz surfaced to say Germany could not go it alone on the supply of heavy weapons, which was a strange excuse since other Nato allies were already sending them to Ukraine.

Sympathetic commentators reminded us that Scholz was in coalition with the Greens, who dabbled in pacifism, and had to accommodate the Left of his own party, which still had a soft spot for Ostpolitik despite Russian barbarities in Ukraine. But the Greens let it be known they were in favour of sending heavy weapons and the Left kept their heads down. Another pathetic excuse bit the dust.

Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Simonyte (left) plans to end Russian gas imports before the year is out, even though it is poorer and far more vulnerable to Russian bullying than Germany. Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen pictured right

Germanys international reputation has taken a terrible battering during this delay and dither. The country has used the 77 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany to become one of the worlds greatest and richest democracies.

But today, across European capitals, admiration has been replaced by exasperation. The loss of political capital in Nato and the European Union is palpable.

Instead of leading from the front, Europes most powerful country is always bringing up the rear.

Die Welt, one of Germanys most respected newspapers, calls Scholzs failure to follow through after his watershed speech as the most dangerous miscalculation in the history of the Federal Republic.

Its a crisis for the whole German political establishment, since all of it  Left, Right and centre plus big business and trade unions  has been implicated in the sorry mess that Germanys long-standing complicity with the Kremlin has become.

Swedish prime minister Magdalena Andersson (left) agreed to send Ukraine  and has already delivered  more than 10,000 anti-tank weapons the moment Russia invaded. Finnish PM Sanna Marin has skilfully steered her historically neutral country towards Nato membership

As perhaps Germanys most egregious Putin puppet, former chancellor Gerhard Schroder, recently confessed: We were all at it for 30 years. As chairman of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, and board director of oil giant Rosneft, he has been filling his boots with Russian energy company treasure for years  and still is.

The German establishment has been more vociferously critical of Brexit Britain than of Putins Russia. Now its paying the price for its Kremlin complicity. Schroders great mate, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is Germanys head of state. His ties with Moscow are so extensive that Kyiv has declared him persona non grata. Ukraines ambassador to Berlin refuses to be in the same room as him.

The contrast between Germanys political leaders and the female leaders who have been dubbed the Five Warrior Women of the North could not be starker  or more refreshing. Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Lithuania are all led by smart, feisty women whove been fiercely critical of Putin from even before the invasion and robustly supportive of Ukraine since.

Christine Lambrecht, Germany's defence minister, hugs Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov during a summit to discuss supplying arms at Ramstein air base today

Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Simonyte plans to end Russian gas imports before the year is out, even though it is poorer and far more vulnerable to Russian bullying than Germany.

Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen and Estonian leader Kaja Kallas hardly preside over military superpowers but both have done more, proportionately, to help Ukraine than Germany.

Swedish prime minister Magdalena Andersson agreed to send Ukraine  and has already delivered  more than 10,000 anti-tank weapons the moment Russia invaded.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a speech at a meeting of advisory council of the Russian parliament in Saint Petersburg in April 2022

Her Finnish counterpart, the youthful Sanna Marin, has skilfully steered her historically neutral country towards Nato membership.

There are now clear majorities in Finland and Sweden for joining Nato. Marin and Andersson will begin the membership process this summer.

When its completed Sweden and Finland will join Denmark and Norway, already Nato members, in being able to deploy 250 state-of-the-art fighter jets between them on Natos northern flank. Sweden will also bring advanced submarine capabilities.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz finally bowed to pressure from Nato allies and powerful voices inside Germany this week and agreed to send some heavy armour to Ukraine

It will be hugely reassuring for the Baltic states. Its a consequence of Putins invasion of Ukraine I doubt he ever foresaw. Its a significant strengthening of Nato defences where it has been vulnerable.

Germany needs to learn from these Warrior Women of the North. Never again has been the German mantra since it escaped from its Nazi past. In the post-war years it has always lived up to that.

But today Russian soldiers are raping and murdering Ukrainians as they reduce their towns and cities to rubble while Germany still buys the Russian oil and gas which pays for Putins barbarous capabilities.

The decision to become increasingly reliant on Russian hydrocarbons was entirely of Germanys own making. It was not forced to go down this route. Important voices at home and abroad warned Germany not to do it. They were ignored. It was a terrible mistake with huge geopolitical consequences that are now tragically unfolding for all to see.

Germany will supply 50 Gepard, German for cheetah, anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine to help in the Russian invasion

Even at the cost of some pain  though nothing to what the Ukrainians are enduring  it is incumbent on Germany that it puts matters right, starting with the extensive arming of Ukraine and the speedy implementation of a Russian oil and gas embargo.

In a sign that it is finally feeling the heat, on Wednesday Berlin dropped its objection to a full Russian oil embargo by the EU as long as it would be given time to find alternatives to Russian supplies.

It was a welcome first step, albeit a begrudging one. Now it must move forward on reducing its dependency on Russian gas. Ukraine and the members of Nato deserve no less.
Daily Mail readers dont need to be told the asylum system is broken. They can see the evidence with their own eyes: evil people-smugglers bringing migrants here illegally in small boats and on lorries; dangerous foreign criminals doing all they can to avoid being deported by putting in last-minute, meritless claims hours before they are due on the plane.

Its been obvious for decades that things need to change. And the British people have made it clear thats how they feel. Thats why I developed the New Plan for Immigration. A fair and firm system is one of the peoples priorities.

To put the whole plan into practice, we needed to change the law. This week, the Nationality and Borders Act completed its passage through Parliament.

The maximum sentence for entering the country illegally will rise from six months to four years. And the smugglers who bring them here can now be sentenced to life in prison. Instead of a maximum sentence of six months, foreign criminals who return to the UK in breach of a deportation order may face up to five years in prison.

Priti Patel hailed the passing by Parliament of a landmark law that she vows will finally fix Britains broken asylum system

The last migrants to arrive at Dover were a total of 263 across seven small boats on April 19 (arrivals pictured on that day)

Asylum reception centres  which are already in place in many European countries  will be used to process claims, rather than hotels. We will open one such centre in Yorkshire.

One of the things that most angers people is that claims take so long. We are taking steps to improve the process, but we also need to stop the number of repeat appeals and judicial reviews  all too often aimed at delaying the removals process and usually without merit.

We can now deliver proper scientific assessment processes to prevent adults from getting away with pretending to be children.

A record 28,395 migrants reached the UK illegally last year in small boats over the Channel, a 200 per cent increase on 2020

Those we are seeking to remove, including foreign national offenders, will be required to present all their claims upfront, rather than raising them at the last minute.

The UK keeps a list of safe countries that respect human rights, to stop people delaying removal by falsely claiming their human rights are at risk. Every EU country is on that list. We will have the power to remove as well as add countries  to ensure the list is reliable.

Countries must co-operate in taking back citizens with no right to be in the UK. Those that dont will risk losing access to our visa system.

For the first time, how a person arrives in the UK will affect the outcome of their claim. Anyone who arrives illegally and has passed through a safe country may be deemed inadmissible.

Home Secretary Priti Patel (above) says the Nationality and Borders Act will crack down on evil people-smugglers facilitating dangerous Channel crossings

A few weeks ago I signed a migration and economic development partnership with Rwanda, which will mean those who make dangerous journeys in small boats, or in the backs of lorries, could have their asylum claim processed in Rwanda. If their claims are accepted, they will be supported to build a new and prosperous life there.

By tackling illegal migration, we will be able to focus our resources on people who genuinely need our help, such as those from Ukraine. The British people have welcomed them warmly, as they have with refugees throughout our history.

For far too long, the public has been branded racist simply for wanting border controls. Yet only by controlling immigration can we do right by those who dont have the money to pay people-smugglers. It also isnt fair on British taxpayers that the broken asylum system costs 1.5billion a year  and nearly 5million a day in hotels.

We have not reached the end of the road to reform. There is no single solution to solve a long-standing problem. There will be opposition in the courts. But we have a New Plan for Immigration that is firm and fair. And the Nationality and Borders Act means we have the law on our side.
After dragging my ass through the High Court for two years, which resulted in a humiliating loss for him and complete vindication for me, I genuinely intended to never talk about Johnny Depp again.

I actually feel sorry for the former Hollywood icon who has become a pathetic excuse of a man.

A human being with so much  all the money in the world, access to the most influential people, children who love him, fans who will stick with him through literally any form of documented and provably bad behaviour, including abuse of a female partner  has become consumed with an overwhelming and uncontrollable desire for revenge at any cost.

Dan Wootton with Amber Heard. His reporting was backed by a November 2020 court ruling

Ruining his ex-wife Amber Heard is his goal, no matter how much it costs, how many lives it destroys and how much it taints his own reputation forever more.

But after watching the vile court case develop in the US over the past couple of weeks, I feel morally compelled to speak out.

Because a completely incorrect narrative is developing that Depp is somehow the victim of cancel culture  a vile trend spreading like a plague through the western world that I deplore and spend my professional life campaigning against.

The suggestion is farcical, given this entire mess is of Depps own making.

If anything, he cancelled himself!

In April 2018, the now infamous column I wrote in my former newspaper The Sun, which referred to the actor as a wife beater in an online headline, was actually about JK Rowlings hypocrisy for backing Depp over Amber while claiming to be a proponent of the #MeToo movement.

While I believed it to be an important piece of work, it would have been soon forgotten if he hadnt insisted on suing me for reporting overwhelming evidence was filed to show Johnny Depp engaged in domestic violence against his wife Amber Heard.

To me, that was indisputable.

And in a November 2020 ruling, Judge Justice Nicol, who sat through 16 days of harrowing evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, including from Depp and Heard themselves, agreed what Id written was substantially true.

Specifically, he found that 12 of the 14 incidents of domestic violence by Depp against Amber had occurred.

In a damning conclusion, Justice Nicol wrote: Taking all the evidence together, I accept that she was the victim of sustained and multiple assaults by Mr Depp in Australia.

He added: I accept her evidence of the nature of the assaults he committed against her. They must have been terrifying.

Crucially, he also rejected claims by Depp that Amber is a gold digger.

So categorical was the verdict that Depp was later denied an appeal and ordered to pay my legal costs.

Any sane individual would have accepted the ruling and attempted to clean up their act and move on with their life, but Depp simply moved the sideshow to the US.

A completely incorrect narrative is developing that Depp is somehow the victim of cancel culture, Wootton writes

Hes suing Amber for an article she wrote in The Washington Post that he says implied he was violent towards her, even though she never included his name in the column.

Depp is banking on celebrity justice because this is a jury trial, where his star power could influence the verdict.

And, once again, completely against her will, Amber is being forced to have the details of a toxic relationship she has long wanted to move on from make international headlines for weeks on end.

But its worse than whats going on inside the courtroom.

Amber is being subjected to inhuman attacks by a group of sick individuals called the Deppheads, who have been on a sustained campaign to discredit her for years.

I know all too well how despicable these keyboard warriors are because they have relentlessly targeted me over the same period.

Just one example of their depravity Ive experienced personally: Depps trolls spread the sick lie that I had been raped by a priest at a neighbouring school to mine in New Zealand, rendering me as sympathetic to Heard because I had been damaged by sexual abuse in my own life.

This sort of online campaign I remain subjected to even now pales into insignificance compared to the torment they unleash on Amber  a young mum facing bankruptcy and career ruin if she loses the case  every single day.

The Depphead cultists, who stalk the courtroom and issue regular death threats, have seen the Aquaman actress forced to increase her personal security.

Depp is banking on celebrity justice because this is a jury trial, where his star power could influence the verdict, writes Wootton (pic)

This trial has been an isolating experience for Amber, whose every facial expression and wardrobe choice is analysed, compared to Depp, who treats his court appearances like a rock concert where hes greeted by giddy fans.

The Deppheads effectively use social media, especially Twitter and TikTok, to brand Heard as crazy, a sentiment they have helped make acceptable.

Amber was even attacked by these trolls online for wearing glasses in court as a sign of narcissism when, in fact, she needs them in order to read.

The Scottish activist Eve Barlow  one of Ambers few champions in the media, who has been supporting her at the trial  correctly believes her friend is being re-traumatised.

She told me: During Depps disastrous libel trial in the UK, the world learned that he promised global humiliation for Amber Heard. By the way the US trial is being depicted in the media, it appears he has fulfilled his promise.

Not only does the media bias continue to be wholly imbalanced in favour of Depp, with notable omissions from press coverage about very damning pieces of evidence against him, the social media landscape is shockingly brutal for Amber, with TikTok and Twitter especially becoming insensitive and over-simplifying platforms prone to spreading disinformation and misogynist hate.

The live broadcast of this trial is highly dehumanising, and has resulted in obsessional nit-picking over Amber's wardrobe every day, and her facial expressions, as she's subjected to disproportionate criticism while Depp sits in court smiling, doodling and laughing with his counsel, backed by an army of vocal Twitter fans who are sat in the public gallery.

It's a very re-traumatizing event, and one that has the power to affect other survivors of abuse.

But its not only Ambers pals who have noticed the horror of what she is being put through again.

Countdown star Rachel Riley, referring to Depps court loss against me, tweeted yesterday: There has already been a judgment (so detailed its 129 pages long) showing Depp to be a monster.

How so many people can help him abuse his victim now is completely sickening. I can only imagine anyone defending him has not read this judgment, and hopes no one else has either. No one in their right mind could defend this man.

On the last day of Depps trial against me in July 2020, Amber pleaded that she just wants to be allowed to move on with her life.

It is Depp who is refusing her that opportunity.

By the way, its laughable to suggest the bloke has been cancelled; he remains the face of Diors Sauvage, which is advertised on billboards everywhere, continues to be cast in movies, and has travelled the world being lauded at a host of film festivals.

The fact Rowling finally dropped him from the Fantastic Beasts franchise was more to do with her embarrassment for her Hollywood hypocrisy, which I first pointed out when I wrote my original column.

Johnny Depp is not a victim of cancel culture; hes a proponent of it.

He tried to cancel me and failed in the London libel courts, and now hes trying to cancel Amber Heard in the US.

Shame on him.
More than six years ago Amber Heard taunted her big baby husband Johnny Depp, urging him to tell the world he was a victim of abuse.

To say he was a husband who got hit by his wife, and see who would believe him. This week in court he held up his right hand and did just that.

Not to swear an oath, but to show the damage to one of his fingers. The actor alleges the top of it was severed after Heard threw a second bottle of vodka at him, after the first one missed.

Its mangled, he said, his small fingers spread out like a starfish, the middle one indeed looking as if a passing crab had nipped off the top.

Following the incident, which took place in Australia in 2015, Depp went predictably Deppesque, using the pumping stump as a handy paint brush, writing in a frenzy on walls and lampshades and mirrors.

When the blood dried up Johnny, who claimed he was in the throes of shock and nervous breakdown, then dipped the stump in some paint and carried on writing; words, words, words.

Today he is not sure what they were, but witnesses at the scene claimed they still made more sense than some paragraphs in culture secretary Nadine Dorries latest novel.

Actor Amber Heard speaks to her legal team during her ex-husband Johnny Depp's defamation trial against her, at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia

And there were drawings, too. One of Miss Heards lawyers suggested Depp had also obscenely defaced an artwork during this creative splurge, which he denied.

Drawing a penis on a painting was not the first thing on my mind, he said, but when is it ever, unless you are a Westminster MP upset because the porn channels have been blocked.

Anyway, Depp suggested, maybe Miss Heard was the real culprit? Everyone looked puzzled. Amber has her faults, but was she really an organ-daubing gorgon?

Perhaps she liked to do this after  no, stop. Let us never speak of the bedsheets again, I beg of you. But no.

On Thursday one of Depps former bodyguards testified that Miss Heard told him the unmentionable incident was a practical joke that had  is this appropriate?  backfired.

Oh my God, this trial. How are any of us going to survive it? After 12 days of evidence in a case expected to run until the end of May, we know more about the marriage of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard than is entirely healthy or wise.

Here they are, these beautiful people whose life together was lived out on a pirates plank of manipulations and petty cruelties.

Two lovebirds tearing the wings off each other amid a fusillade of hurled bottles, cans, cigarette lighters and insults.

They were a golden couple blessed with looks, talent and riches; a couple who should have everything but instead have nothing, not even peace of mind.

Every day they pitch up in Fairfax County Circuit Court ready for showtime; Amber with her buttery hair styled in everything from milkmaid plaits to demure bun.

Johnny with his three-piece suits and resin-framed glasses, rolling his own cigarillos and joshing with the court photographer. No wonder he is chipper.

US actor Johnny Depp watches the jury return following a break during the 50 million US dollar Depp vs Heard defamation trial at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia, on April 28

Earlier in the week a forensic psychologist hired by his team  and who examined Miss Heard for 12 hours  testified that she believed Amber did not have the PTSD she claims is a legacy of her broken marriage.

Even worse, the glamorous Dr Curry said Heard grossly overstated her symptoms. On the objective scale of trauma there is a malingering scale and Amber Heard was in the 98th percentile, meaning she had engaged in heavy dishonesty and gross exaggeration, she said crisply.

Amber got busy scribbling another of her Post-it notes. It was probably something scholarly and important, but I like to imagine it simply said BITCH.

On Thursday, more damage. Heards assiduously cultivated credibility as a philanthropist took a battering when it was claimed she had not, as promised, donated her 5.6million divorce settlement to charity.

She had apparently donated only 1 million  and much of that appeared to have come from her ex-boyfriend, squillionaire Elon Musk.

According to Terence Dougherty, the chief operating officer of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the recipient of Ambers largesse, 400,000 came from a Vanguard fund connected to Musk.

Her contributions dried up by 2019, and Dougherty told the court the ACLU learned that she was having financial difficulties.

Heard looked particularly uncomfortable here, twisting in her chair as if suffering from indigestion. Intriguingly, how does this relate to her sworn witness statement during Depps UK libel trial in 2020?

Giving evidence in July of that year, she said: I remained financially independent of him the whole time we were together and the entire amount of my divorce settlement was donated to charity.

Judge Andrew Nicol, who found against Depp, commented that the donation of the 5.6million to charity is hardly the act one would expect of a golddigger.

Indeed! Back in Virginia, Heards lawyer Elaine Bredehoft got bogged down by muffins (dont ask) and repeatedly asking witnesses  including three policemen and one doorman  if they noticed signs of injury on her client.

When all stated they did not, she quizzed them about the bruises being covered by make-up. Was she wearing concealer? she asked.

Yet since Heard brought divorce proceedings and a restraining order against her husband, why would she want or need to cover visible signs of injury, especially from police officers?

Elsewhere we were given a glimpse of Hollywood power players, with agents, lawyers and managers providing testimony.

Depps former agent Christian Carino, who was once engaged to Lady Gaga, beamed in from his kitchen, looking bored. Business manager Edward White bristled when Heards lawyer tried to make something of his 560 per hour fees.

Oh, the irony. Pot, kettle, black Amex. The personnel crowded into the small court provided a layer cake of life.

Actor Johnny Depp testifies during a hearing in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax on April 20

First there was Depp and Heard, a few wisps of charisma still clinging to each of them. Then their lawyers, as sleek as seals.

After this, the fans and the gogglers in their fleeces and leggings and scrunchies, faces flushed with a queasy kind of excitement.

Outside the court, a young woman called Andrea came with her emotional support llamas every day, with Justice For Johnny signs around their necks.

I thought they would cheer him up, Andrea told the Law & Crime Network. This is what it has come to.

Johnny and Amber have ended up here, in this provincial court in Virginia, unable to hang onto the shreds of whatever it was they once loved about each other. And the things we have heard this week!

They would make a llama blush. A thousand angry Post-it notes wont wash away these sins.

For Johnny Depp, we are at a magical moment in the trial, when the sun balances on the rim of the world and a rosy light descends.

Yesterday his legal team wound up his case. On Monday, Miss Heard will be presenting her side of the story, and the case will take on a different complexion. One that will pull no punches, so to speak. One of a distinctly Amber hue.
This column made a small observation on January 8 about Angela Rayner after I had watched her performing across the dispatch box at Prime Ministers Questions.

No wonder Boris Johnson got in a fluster at this weeks PMQs when confronted by Angela Rayner, standing in for Sir Keir Starmer, I wrote. Wearing a chic dress that showed off her thighs, the Labour Deputy Leader was channelling her inner Sharon Stone. Boris has always had a tendresse for women with basic instincts.

Now, it transpires that about a week later on the booze-fuelled terrace of the Commons, Rayner was seen by at least four MPs joking about her Sharon Stone ploy to disarm the PM. Could it be that she had read my article and was enjoying being portrayed as a sexy politician and compared with a Hollywood star?

On the booze-fuelled terrace of the Commons, Rayner was seen by at least four MPs joking about her Sharon Stone ploy to disarm the PM

Could it be that she had read my article and was enjoying being portrayed as a sexy politician and compared with a Hollywood star?

Angela Raynor was accused of showing off her thighs and rearranging her legs to put Prime Minister Boris Johnson off his stride in the House of Commons

Whatever the case, during a jovial podcast a week later with the comedian Matt Forde, she went on to joke about deliberately crossing and uncrossing her legs and giving the PM a flash  talking in such crude terms they cannot be repeated in a family newspaper.

There is a touch of misogyny in it, she said. Did you see the meme on Sharon Stone like I was doing that in PMQs? (No, none of us did Ange  not until you mentioned it.) Fast forward three months and the woman who revelled in her new sexy Sharon Stone persona is backpedalling furiously while playing the misogyny card for all its worth.

She appeared on ITVs Lorraine show, wearing a modest trouser suit, saying she doesnt want to be judged by what she wears but who she really is, a serious politician. Her claims over the way she says she has been demeaned have launched a tsunami of furious complaints from the woke brigade, claiming that Parliament is full of men who treat women badly.

Having worked there for decades, I know that is not true. The vast majority of male MPs are decent. Yes, there still exists a tiny number of sexist dinosaur MPs, but to tar all men with the same brush is just wrong. Thanks to Rayner, charges of woman-hating are now being thrown about like confetti.

Angela Rayner is a clever and talented politician who doesnt need curly hair extensions and split skirts to pack a punch. Describing her as sexy when she chooses to flash her enviable legs is not misogynistic, its the simple truth.

Madonna and Child

As Madonna, 63, dumps her 28-year-old lover, one does wonder why shes so besotted by much younger men.

Is it some delusion that makes her feel younger? Is it that the Catholic-raised girl is taking the Madonna and child imagery too literally?

Whatever, whats the fun in dating a lad who thinks the Beatles are a species in danger of extinction which he saw on a David Attenborough documentary?

As Madonna, 63, dumps her 28-year-old lover, one does wonder why shes so besotted by much younger men

Sharon's Moving

A sobbing Sharon Osbourne says shes temporarily standing down from her role as the presenter of her show on the new TalkTV station as her husband Ozzy, living in LA, has Covid.

Ill be back she said.

Not likely as only 10,000 people tuned in.

And perhaps not wise for the woman who has had more plastic surgery than the Bride of Wildenstein to launch her show debating the evils of cosmetic surgery. Watching it, I think I saw her lips move . . . once.

Westminster Wars

Surprising that the mild-mannered Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, a humble backbencher who never even held a ministerial job, overstepped his authority demanding the editor of The Mail on Sunday David Dillon present himself to explain Rayner-gate. Give a man a throne and a gavel and it goes to his head  just look at his pipsqueak predecessor John Bercow.

Hero of the week must be whoever filmed Keir Starmer having a beer with at least five people during lockdown, clearly breaking the rules and revealing him as a liar and hypocrite. Never again can Labour attack the Tories over Partygate.

While refusing to cut the hated NI tax or help struggling families, Chancellor Rishi Sunak was walking his dog wearing 600 Prada trainers  costing more than the average full-time worker takes home a week. Little wonder hes now so low in Conservative ratings  even his few remaining fans realise hes stepped in the political dog mess.

A Royal Welcome Back, Ma'am

News to gladden a nations heart; the Queen is again working at Windsor Castle after spending her 96th birthday at Wood Farm cottage, Sandringham, the home she and Philip adored and where she was surrounded by memories of him. A well-earned rest Maam, but were so glad to have you back.

Fergie, still risibly titled the Duchess of York despite divorcing Andrew decades ago, appears at a private-members-only bash in Mayfair wearing handmade blue velvet loafers with one foot inscribed with the words Never Complain and the other Never Explain.

Perhaps she might want to explain why she took 20,000 for advising a Northern Ireland caravan tycoon embroiled in allegations of money laundering on top of a 225,000 separate payment.

Caravans? Has she ever set foot in one?

Jodie Comer at the Virgin TV British Academy Television Awards 2017

Jodie's Killing 'Em

Liverpudlian actress and Killing Eve star Jodie Comer wins rave reviews for her West End debut in Prima Facie after being turned down in her early career due to her lack of formal training and Scouse accent. A hair pin in the eye from Villanelle to all those who underestimated her.

Lets hope the Just Stop Oil morons who glued themselves to service station petrol pumps and smashed them with hammers are superglued into jail cells. Im left wondering how they got around the M25 in the first place. Presumably they walked.

My moggie Teds ears pricked up on hearing that a dogs life expectancy ranges from less than five years for a French bulldog to 12 years for a Jack Russell. A cats life on average is 12 to 18 years without twice-daily walks or poop collecting.

Ever since Rod Stewart first writhed on stage in his leopard skin tights singing Da Ya Think Im Sexy, women have adored him.

And we do more than ever now hes spoken out about what the current shortage of HRT means.

This isnt just a womens problem, we need to recognise it affects husbands, partners, children. Caring about a womans wellbeing through menopause? Now thats damned sexy.

Rod Stewart performing on stage in 1980. Ever since Rod Stewart first writhed on stage in his leopard skin tights singing Da Ya Think Im Sexy, women have adored him

Curious that so many women observing the Depp v Heard trial are on Team Johnny, a man accused of being a wife beater.

Yet now weve discovered that, despite Heard declaring shed donate her 5.6 million divorce settlement to two charities, she has so far only given 280,000 to one of them due to her financial difficulties.

There may be sunken treasure to be found for the Pirates Of The Caribbean stars career, after all.

Curious that so many women observing the Depp v Heard trial are on Team Johnny, a man accused of being a wife beater

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby denounced the Governments Rwanda asylum plan, while Boris mused he was less vociferous in his condemnation of Putin than he was of the policy.

Since the scheme was announced, zero illegals have arrived in the UK, which is about as many people as now attend his churches.

My last feline friend Jim was still purring happily at 25. Despite the smugness of dog owners, in the end its the cats who get the cream.

Mocking Britains stiff upper lip, Prince Harry extols Californias Ill get my therapist to call your therapist mindset in a new podcast on mental health.

He says 99.9 per cent of people on Earth are suffering from some form of loss, trauma or grief and that PTSD should be renamed as Post Traumatic Stress Injury because people will heal more quickly.

Pass the Prozac! If he and Megs ever do come back here, sales of antidepressants will soar.

And not just among the Royal Family.
The cover-up is invariably worse than the lie.

Often the lie is relatively insignificant, while the cover-up grows bigger and bigger.

The Labour Party has finally admitted that its deputy leader, Angela Rayner, was present at an event on April 30 last year when Sir Keir Starmer was filmed enjoying a beer with officials.

Indoor socialising was then banned under Covid laws. When the Mail asked Labour on January 14 this year whether Mrs Rayner had been at the event in Durham, it was emphatically told: Angela wasnt there.

This, we now know, was untrue. Why did Labour mislead this newspaper? It could have been a straightforward error, as party officials maintain.

But if it was a mistake made in good faith, as they assert, why didnt they set the record straight earlier?

Did they deny that Mrs Rayner was there in order to dampen down speculation that there was a full-blown party rather than a break for refreshments during a working session, which is what Sir Keir has claimed?

Keir Starmer was branded an 'absolute hypocrite' for drinking with staff during lockdown

Its not easy to see why the deputy leaders presence made it more of a party than it already was.

More likely, Labour simply wanted to distance Mrs Rayner from her leaders imprudent beer drinking and avoid her getting ensnared in the same controversy. Whatever the explanation, Labour said Angela Rayner wasnt present even though she was.

It is incumbent on journalists to try to find out whether the falsehood was a simple mistake, or whether it conceals something more sinister.

Which brings me to the BBC. I dont at all complain that the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror and Guardian dont appear very interested in this story.

That is their business. But when our powerful public service broadcaster initially virtually ignores today's revelations in the Mail  as it showed little interest when the film of Sir Keir swigging from a beer bottle emerged in January  there is cause for complaint.

The BBC is supposed to be even-handed and impartial. Nearly three weeks ago, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were fined for attending an impromptu birthday party in No.10.

Auntie went into hyper-drive, though the PM hadnt eaten any cake and stayed for less than ten minutes.

The hapless Chancellor had merely wandered into the Cabinet Room slightly early for a meeting.

All right  they broke laws which they had promulgated and so deserved their punishment.

In fact, let me say that I am very far from regarding Partygate as a storm in a tea cup and believe that Boris Johnson still has many serious questions to answer about his conduct and veracity.

Angela Rayner waves at the offices of Redhills, the home of the Durham Miners Association in Durham

Nonetheless, if the BBC can devote countless hours of airtime to the Prime Ministers birthday party, one would hope that it could summon more interest when it is revealed that, contrary to what Labour has previously stated, Angela Rayner was in the same building where Sir Keir Starmer drank his beer.

Yet, at the time of writing, the Beeb has underplayed the story, I believe deliberately. During its three-hour flagship Today programme on Radio 4 today, there was a brief item about the affair just after 6.30am.

Belatedly, the BBCs website did get round to carrying a piece about Labours falsehood, and the story made an appearance, usually low down, on some news bulletins.

A smug Sir Keir Starmer was treated to a soft interview by the Beeb.

Imagine what would happen if The Guardian or Daily Mirror revealed that the Tory Party had wrongly claimed that the Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, hadnt been present at an event at which Boris Johnson had swigged from a beer bottle.

Why, the Beeb would have cleared the decks  and rightly so.

This is yet one more example of the BBCs double standards. Anti-Tory bias is fundamental to its DNA, though its journalists will reach for the smelling salts if ever they are accused of favouring Labour.

Every alleged misdemeanour of Aunties hate figure, Boris Johnson, is examined in exhaustive detail.

By contrast, Labour tends to be indulged, as it was during Tony Blairs first six years of office until the Iraq War, when his lies, and those of his egregious sidekick, Alastair Campbell, became too much even for Auntie to stomach.

Angela Rayner has also received an easy ride this week from the BBC after The Mail on Sunday alleged that she had joked with Tory MPs about crossing and uncrossing her legs to distract Boris Johnson in the Commons.

Her contention that the article was full of desperate, perverted smears was swallowed whole by the Beeb.

Nor has our public service broadcaster shown much, if any, interest in the four Tory MPs who have come forward over recent days to support the account in The Mail on Sunday and contradict Mrs Rayners version of events.

Might it be that the deputy leader of the Labour Party (who, remember, once described Tories as scum) is not entirely straightforward and isnt to be believed automatically whenever she opens her mouth and irrespective of whatever she says?

Why was it so emphatically denied by Labour  and why was the denial subsequently not corrected  that she had been at the same event as Sir Keir Starmer on April 30 last year?

As for the sanctimonious Sir Keir  a man who blithely accuses Boris Johnson of lying  perhaps he would be good enough to tell us when he was first aware that a misleading account of that occasion had been supplied by a Labour Party official.

Furthermore, does he really contend that drinking beer and eating pizza, as he did on that night in Durham, is legally and morally more defensible than what the PM and the Chancellor did  which was not to eat cake?

Sir Keir is fortunate that Durham Police  unlike the Metropolitan Police, who have Boris riggling under their microscope  have a policy of not taking retrospective action against Covid lawbreakers. They should think again.

Richard Holden, a local Tory MP, wrote to the Deputy Chief Constable of Durham, urging him to reopen an investigation into the Labour leaders behaviour and to take a good look at Mrs Rayners.

The Met should also examine allegations that Sir Keir tucked in to chocolate and lemon cakes on his birthday in his office in September 2020, when official Covid rules advised that such parties should not take place if it was difficult to maintain social-distancing.

Needless to say, Labour doesnt intend to throw any light on these puzzling events.

Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner will continue to try to give the preposterous impression that they inhabit a morally superior universe to Boris Johnson. And the BBC, we can be certain, has absolutely no intention of challenging them.
An expectant mother who has lived in three different countries during her pregnancy has opened up about her decision to have her baby in Canada after comparing health care systems.

Katie Quinn, an author and food journalist based in Toronto, spent her first trimester in Italy, her second in the United States, and her third in Canada, where she now resides with her husband.

'Living the global life that we've been fortunate enough to live, we needed to choose where to have our child, so I went about my pregnancy with that decision top of mind,' she wrote in an essay for Insider.

Katie Quinn, an author and food journalist, has lived in three different countries during her pregnancy. She spent her first trimester in Italy, her second in the US, and her third in Canada

She had access to free healthcare in Italy, but she opted to pay for a private gynecologist because the local hospital didn't have an obstetrician on staff

Quinn, who lived in London with her husband at the start of her pregnancy journey, had relocated to a small city in southern Italy with a population of 55,000 a few months before she got pregnant.

As an Italian dual citizen and resident, she had access to free healthcare, but the hospital in her area didn't have an obstetrician on staff. The commute to the next closest hospital was an hour total, and she felt 'the care was transactional at best. '

She opted to pay for a private gynecologist who was friendly and located just a five-minute walk from her apartment. She said she has no regrets about the cost.

'I'd soon learn that paying for a private obstetrician in Italy was downright cost-effective compared to paying for basic prenatal care in the US,' she explained.

Quinn and her husband (pictured in the UK) found themselves confused by what insurance provider they should choose and struggled with in-network options in the US

Quinn explained that her health insurance in the US was 10 times as expensive per month as a single prenatal visit with her private gynecologist in Italy (pictured)

Quinn and her husband were both raised in the US, and they returned home for the second trimester of her pregnancy.

They found themselves confused by what insurance provider they should choose and struggled with in-network options.

They ended up getting health insurance that was 10 times as expensive per month as a single prenatal visit with her private gynecologist in Italy. She also had copays to cover during each of her checkups.

Quinn, who penned the 2021 book 'Cheese, Wine, and Bread: Discovering the Magic of Fermentation in England, Italy, and France,' was in her third trimester when she and her husband relocated to Canada after receiving their visas for a job offer in the country.

They are now living in Toronto, Canada, where she has 'excellent' free health care

The 'Cheese, Wine, and Bread' author, who is nearing her due date, noted that she is self-employed and hasn't paid taxes in Canada long enough to qualify for paid maternity leave

She wasn't signed up with the Canadian health system when she had her first appointment, but she was told that she would be 'taken care of.'

'The medical system in Canada is centralized, universal, and publicly funded,' she wrote. 'By the time I received my health card, it was added to my file, and that was that.

'There has been no exchange of money for the excellent care I've received  standard prenatal checkups and additional ultrasounds  although I'm sure it will be felt when we pay our taxes.'

Quinn, who is nearing her due date, noted that she is self-employed and hasn't paid taxes in Canada long enough to qualify for paid maternity leave.

However, after living in three different countries, she is happy to welcome her first child in her new home.
A woman who has become a social media sensation after sharing a series of videos transforming her appearance has claimed to have received 'death threats' from people accusing her of catfishing.

Charlotte Rough, 18, from Scotland, has racked up over 74,000 TikTok followers from showing how she is able to overhaul her looks using just make-up and wigs.

She admits the backlash from those who disagree with using cosmetics to alter appearance has taken a toll on her mental health despite trying to ignore negative comments.

Speaking to The Mirror, Charlotte told how being accused of being a catfish has affected her saying: 'At the start of the viral videos, it most definitely had a huge toll on my mental health.

Charlotte Rough, 18, (pictured) from Scotland, has gone viral on TikTok after sharing a series of before and after makeup transformations

'I was receiving death threats and thousands of comments that were calling me 'ugly' and 'fat'.

'I have now learned to ignore the comments, and there is more love than hate.'

Charlotte, who has always 'enjoyed' social media, explained that she was watching other people do their makeup on TikTok before trying it for herself.

She said negative commenters often hinted that she can't look good without splurging on thousands of pounds of beauty products.

Charlotte revealed how she was able to overhaul her appearance with makeup and a long brunette wig in one video (pictured)

In one recent video, Charlotte showed a close-up of herself wearing glasses and not wearing makeup before switching up the shape of her face with contouring and drawing attention to her eyes with dramatic eyeliner and false lashes.

Another clip shows the TikToker adding a long brunette wig to complete her transformation.

Charlotte, who views makeup as an 'art form' said she enjoys the beautifying process and wants to grow her social media platforms despite the critics.

'I would love to one day have my own make-up line. I'd love to continue to grow my platforms on both TikTok and Instagram, and would love to continue entertaining others as that's the main reason I do what I do,' Charlotte added.

Charlotte, who claims to have received death threats and cruel comments, said she has learned to ignore the negativity online. Pictured: without makeup

Charlotte said she sees makeup as an 'art form' and wants to grow her social media following across a variety of platforms

Charlotte, who enjoys entertaining others, said she hopes to have her own makeup line in the future

A stream of commenters have gushed about Charlotte's transformation videos while asking her to do tutorials.

One person wrote: 'Beautiful either way. Would love some tips'

'Can you do a nose contour tutorial? Btw you're so gorgeous,' another said.

A third commented: 'Okay first I need to know everything you used to get that lip also, damn! You are an ARTIST.'

A fourth added: 'Beautiful both ways'
An upstate New York Starbucks employee claims that she was denied time off and compensation after incurring second-degree burns on the job  and she suspects it may be retaliation due to her efforts to unionize the store.

Julia, who works at the East Robinson Starbucks location in Buffalo, New York, said that she was recently working a shift supervisor when hot water spilled on her, giving her severe burns.

She claims that she was only able to get a single day off  and had to use vacation time  and has been denied more sick days or compensation for her injury.

According to a GoFundMe page, she and other employees at the store recently filed for a union vote, with Julia serving as a 'vital organizing committee member.'

Her coworkers believe that the store's treatment of Julia is part of a 'campaign' to 'force union leaders to quit.'

Julia, who works at the East Robinson Starbucks location in Buffalo, New York, was recently working a shift supervisor when hot water spilled on her

She suffered second-degree burns on her foot and 'can't even put shoes on'

Julia's story was posted by the TikTok account SBWorkersUnited, which supports Starbucks employees' efforts to unionize.

In the clip, Julia sits at a table in a Starbucks and recounts what happened when she was working as a shift supervisor closing the store last Thursday night.

She said that she noticed a coffee urn that had already been cleaned was being cleaned again, so she went to grab it, not realizing that it was open and full of hot water.

'I spilled hot water all over myself and it burned my foot,' she said. 'I was wearing protective shoes but I still burned my foot and got second-degree burns all over my toes and the whole side of my left foot.'

Despite her injury occurring on the job, she said, 'I had to return to work right away.'

She was only able to call off one day, and was required to use one of her sick days.

What's more, she said, she filed an incident report but has received no compensation, 'nor did my manager reply to me, to my phone call or my text message, regarding my incident.'

'I have not seen her since, or have heard [from] her since it happened,' she said. 'It is now Monday, the next week, and Im still at work, and I still have worked, and my foot has worsened from being at work.

Only one day off was granted and she had to use a sick day; she says she was also denied compensation and her manager hasn't returned her calls

According to her colleagues, her store recently filed for a union vote, with Julia serving as a 'vital organizing committee member.' They believe that the store's treatment of Julia is part of a 'campaign' to 'force union leaders to quit'

'I just need some help, because I have no sick time available left to use, and they're forcing me, basically, to work with the condition I'm in. And I can't even put shoes on,' she said.

Julia's coworkers launched a GoFundMe page for her, writng that Julia was 'denied time off, compensation to properly recover, and any support from management.'

'Our store recently filed for a union vote, with Julia as one of our vital organizing committee members,' they wrote.

'Starbucks has engaged in a very public campaign to try to force union leaders to quit and we believe this treatment of Julia is part of this pattern.

'As Julia's partners, we are asking for public support and assistance to help Julia get the medical attention and time off she needs.'

In New York state, employers are required to pay for insurance for workers' compensation cases. Employees can file claims, which must be paid if the 'employer or insurance carrier agrees that the injury or illness is work-related'  regardless of who was at fault.

DailyMail.com has contacted a Starbucks spokesperson for comment.
Chinese vice FM defends China-Solomon Islands security agreement

Xinhua) 09:35, April 29, 2022

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng on Thursday defended the signing of the inter-governmental framework agreement on security cooperation between China and Solomon Islands as a right of two sovereign states.

He also denounced Australia's accusation against the agreement as an infringement of other countries' sovereignty and own affairs as well as international rules.

The China-Solomon Islands agreement is normal cooperation in law enforcement and security, and consistent with international law and international customary practices, Xie said when addressing the unveiling ceremony of the China-Pacific Island Countries (PICs) Climate Action Cooperation Center via video link.

He said the security cooperation between the two countries is open and transparent, and does not target at any third party. It proceeds in parallel with Solomon Islands' existing cooperation with other partners and regional mechanisms, and conforms to the common interests of Solomon Islands and the South Pacific region.

Such a cooperation is fundamentally different from some countries' actions of forming exclusive cliques, engaging in underhand maneuvers, creating military blocs, triggering arms race, aggravating the risk of nuclear proliferation, provoking confrontation and leading to regional tensions, he said.

"With what right can these countries tell China and Solomon Islands what to do? With what right can Australia draw a red line for Solomon Islands and China that are thousands of miles away from it? Isn't this an infringement of other countries' sovereignty, interference in other countries' internal affairs and violation of international rules?" Xie said.

The actions of slandering, discrediting and intimidating expose those countries' obsession with colonization, brazen coercive diplomacy, and desperate attempts to control Pacific Island countries and assert their so-called "sphere of influence", he said.

"The Pacific is home to all countries of the region, not a backyard or territory of anyone; it should be a stage of international cooperation, not an arena for geopolitical games," Xie said.

The exchanges and cooperation between China and PICs are in line with the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, and are based on equal-footed consultation and mutual benefit for common development, he said.

The vice minister said that climate change is a common challenge facing humanity, and that China understands the special challenges PICs face in addressing climate change.

The China-Pacific Island Countries Climate Action Cooperation Center is to carry out demonstration project cooperation with PICs, share the experience in and practice of green and low-carbon development, work together to respond to the challenge of climate change, and help PICs achieve sustainable development, he said.

China is ready to work with PICs, upholding the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, to keep improving the cooperation center and ensure that it will grow bigger and stronger and deliver results, he said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
President Joe Biden's nominee to chair the Department of Homeland Security's Big Brother-style Disinformation Governance Board has a history of spreading false information online.

Nina Jankowicz, a Wilson Center misinformation fellow, has questioned The Post's findings on Hunter Biden's laptop on many occasions.

President Joe Biden's New Disinformation Czar Get Flagged

Jankowicz mentioned the laptop in a series of live tweets during the presidential debate between Biden and Trump in October 2020. Her post reappeared shortly after she was designated as executive head of the new disinformation bureau on Wednesday, prompting conservatives to call her a leftist radical and question her capacity to recognize fake news.

Jankowicz attempted to dismiss the backlash over her old laptop tweet. However, a Russian disinformation specialist indicated just a week ago that the laptop did not belong to Hunter and that there were several red flags indicating emails found on the computer were legitimate.

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin attacked Jankowicz as a beacon of disinformation for dismissing the laptop, accusing her of furthering the false media narrative with her tweets.

Jankowicz has already lauded Christopher Steele, the author of the bogus Trump-bashing dossier, NewYork Post reported. While speaking to lawmakers on Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas did not reveal any powers that would be handed to the dystopian-sounding board.

He said the board will seek to combat misinformation ahead of the November midterm elections, especially in Hispanic communities. The new board, according to Mayokras, would be focused on preventing the spread of disinformation in minority groups, particularly election misinformation ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

He went on to say that it will concentrate on the most recent wave of disinformation aimed at Spanish-speaking voters. No more information on the specific falsehoods being used against these groups was provided,

"A HUGE emphasis of our work, and indeed, one of the primary reasons the Board was founded, is to preserve the Department's commitment (sic) to defending free speech, privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties," she said, as per Daily Mail.

Read Also: Elon Musk Reveals Plans to Make Twitter "Maximum Fun," Jokes About Buying Coca-Cola Next

Who Is Nina Jankowicz?

Jankowicz is a global fellow at the nonpartisan Wilson Center and an author whose work has focused on misinformation, Russia, and women's online treatment. She researches the nexus of democracy and technology in Central and Eastern Europe, according to the Wilson Center; and during her Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellowship, she served as a strategic communications consultant to the government of Ukraine.

Jankowicz is the author of 'How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict', as well as the newly released 'How to Be a Woman Online: Surviving Abuse and Harassment', and 'How to Fight Back'.

She has written for a variety of publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and others. She has also spoken on television and radio on disinformation as well as Russian and Eastern European affairs.

Jankowicz formerly worked at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, where she oversaw democracy aid projects for Russia and Belarus. She graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service with a master's degree in Russian, Eurasian, and East European studies, according to Newsweek via MSN.

Related Article: Kamala Harris Tests Positive for COVID-19; White House Claims VP Experiences No Symptoms

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A teenager who was kicked out of her family home after dropping out of college to pursue a career on OnlyFans has revealed that she made her first million from her racy photos in just one year  and now her parents live with her.

Faith Lianne, 19, from Florida, has been financially supporting her retired mother and father since she joined the subscription-based social media platform in March 2021 and shot to online fame.

The recent high school graduate was enrolled in college last year, but she decided to leave after the first semester to focus on creating risque OnlyFans content full time, a decision that has made her a millionaire.

'These days, being a graduate seems so bleak with no guarantees that you'll get a successful job,' she told Jam Press. 'I don't come from a wealthy family, and I didn't want to start my life with debt from student loans.'

Faith Lianne, 19, from Florida, has been financially supporting her retired parents since she joined OnlyFans in March 2021 and shot to fame

She was enrolled in college last year, but she decided to leave after the first semester to focus on growing her subscribers on the social media platform

Lianne said her parents were 'extremely upset' when she told them she didn't want to finish her degree because she was focused on creating racy content

Faith said her parents were 'extremely upset' when she sat them down and told them she didn't want to finish her degree because she was focused on growing her OnlyFans following.

'I tried to explain to them that having a degree no longer equates to the success it did when they were younger,' she recalled. 'They gave me an ultimatum: continue studying or not living under their roof.'

The influencer moved in with her brother, Anthony, who later became her manager. She said they are a 'good team' and he 'supports her 100 percent.'

'If it doesn't work out, I can always re-enroll,' she noted.

'They gave me an ultimatum: continue studying or not living under their roof,' she recalled

The influencer moved in with her brother, Anthony, who later became her manager

Lianne said she and her brother are a 'good team' and he 'supports her 100 percent'

In just one year, Lianne has amassed tens of thousands of paid subscribers on OnlyFans and made her first million

Liane's mother, who asked to keep her name anonymous, was initially afraid for her daughter's future when she left school to become a content creator.

'I was devastated when Faith said she was dropping out of college,' the 48-year-old told Jam Press. 'I thought she would have a job not better than a cashier somewhere, as that was my reality when I didn't attend college myself.'

In just one year, Lianne has amassed tens of thousands of paid subscribers and made her first million. She also has 4.8 million followers on Instagram, including celebrities such as Snoop Dogg and Tyga.

With thousands of dollars rolling in every month, she has been able to buy herself everything from designer bags to an $800,000 home, which she spent another $150,000 on customizing.

Liane also has 4.8 million followers on Instagram, including Snoop Dogg and Tyga

With thousands of dollars rolling in every month, she has been able to buy herself everything from designer bags to an $800,000 home, which she spent another $150,000 on customizing

'I also spend about $1,000 every fortnight on new clothes for Instagram or OnlyFans pictures,' she said. 'I never wear the same thing twice'

Lianne spends just three hours a day taking pictures and videos for her page

The model has since made up with her parents, who are now retired and live with her after coming to terms with her lucrative career choice

'I love that OnlyFans has allowed me to afford this lifestyle,' she said. 'I bought a new house for $800,000 and got myself a Rolex, YSL and Gucci purses, and a Louis Vuitton bag.

'I also spend about $1,000 every fortnight on new clothes for Instagram or OnlyFans pictures,' she added. 'I never wear the same thing twice.'

The model has since made up with her parents, who are now retired and live with her after coming to terms with her lucrative career choice.

Unlike most teenagers working long hours for minimum wage, she spends just three hours a day taking pictures and videos for her page.

'The plan is to make this my main line of work for as long as I can,' she said.
What may just be the most exclusive exercise class in the world costs a whopping $75 per group session  and counts Hailey Bieber, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and Ariana Grande as fans.

Forma Pilates is fairly new, having launched informally at the start of the pandemic by owner Liana Levi, 32. But it's quickly become a must-go for many of Hollywood and the modeling world's most gorgeous women, who also pay $500 for private sessions and $650 for house calls.

Yet it's not the sky-high price that's keeping out the masses  in fact, there are plenty of fans eager to hand over their money.

Forma Pilates' classes are invite-only  and despite huge demand, Levi intends to keep it that way.

'I dont cater to the masses, I cater to a demographic,' she told the New York Times.

What may just be the most exclusive exercise class in the world costs a whopping $75 per group session - and has legions of famous fans

Forma Pilates is fairly new, having launched informally at the start of the pandemic by owner Liana Levi, 32 - but it's quickly become a must-go for many of Hollywood and the modeling world's most gorgeous women

Levi is a bit of an overnight success story. Though she has been doing Pilates herself for about 12 years, she only got certified in 2019, and her professional background is in fashion.

'I dont cater to the masses, I cater to a demographic,' Levi said

Prior to opening Forma Pilates, she had worked as a personal shopper and a closet cleaner, and had gigs working for celebrity stylist Cristina Ehrlich and jewelry designer Jacquie Aiche.

But at the start of the pandemic, she bought her first reformer machine. She likes the $9,499 Merrithew's V2 Max Plus, which she called 'the Rolls-Royce of Pilates equipment.'

Soon, she had curious friends and acquaintances asking if they could try the equipment, and she helped them learn it.

'My acquaintances would be like, "Oh, my god, I want to try it,"' she told the Wall Street Journal. '"Your body looks insane; I want to come." It just kind of spread through word of mouth.'

Clients must be accepted via a referral to earn the privilege to pay for classes - and Levi makes everyone pay, even the stars

She started teaching classes during the pandemic, when acquaintances complimented her body and said they wanted to try her reformer machine

'What started out as my own practice and method of strengthening as well as healing my mind during an uncertain and chaotic time, soon turned into a safe heaven for many others,' she said

Soon she was charging for sessions, with more and more people coming to her pool house studio.

'What started out as my own practice and method of strengthening as well as healing my mind during an uncertain and chaotic time, soon turned into a safe heaven for many others,' she told The Daily Front Row.

One day, a friend bought Hailey Bieber to class.

More and more stars have showed up, including Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Ariana Grande, Bella Hadid, Kaia Gerber, Addison Rae, Sara Foster, Cara Delevingne, Adwoa Aboah, Ashley Graham, Rita Ora, Amelia Hamlin, Sofia Richie, and Shanina Shaik.

But not just anyone can come: Clients must be accepted via a referral to earn the privilege to pay for classes  and Levi makes everyone pay, even the stars.

'I wanted to be a boutique style, private studio  referral-based for only elite,' she told the Times. 'I wanted to cater to a specific demographic, I didnt want to compete with all the studios in the area.'

'My acquaintances would be like, "Oh, my god, I want to try it,"' she told the Wall Street Jounal. '"Your body looks insane; I want to come." It just kind of spread through word of mouth'

When the Times pressed her on what, exactly, her demographic was, she would only say: 'not masses'

Levi continued to expand beyond her pool house, opening three studios in Los Angeles and one in New York City. Two more, in New York and Miami, are planned for later this year

When the Times pressed her on what, exactly, her demographic was, she would only say: 'not masses.'

Levi continued to expand beyond her pool house, opening three studios in Los Angeles and one in New York City. Two more, in New York and Miami, are planned for later this year.

'Im trying to be in L.A., New York, Miami, Paris, London  in hot spots where my clients go to,' she told WSJ. 'Im not going to Chicago, Im not going to Atlanta, Im not going to Canada.'

A 55-minute group class with eight people costs a staggering $75, nearly twice as much as SoulCycle's $38 per class and still more than celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson's $45 classes.

Levi, who now has nine other instructors working under her at Forma Fitness, also offers two- to four-person classes for $100 per person, $500 private studio sessions, and $650 house calls.

Star clients include Hailey Bieber (pictured leaving a Forma studio), Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Ariana Grande, Bella Hadid, Kaia Gerber, and Sara Foster

Other clients include Addison Rae (pictured leaving a class), Cara Delevingne, Adwoa Aboah, Ashley Graham, Rita Ora, Amelia Hamlin, and Sofia Richie

Rumer Willis (left) and Lori Harvey (right) are pictured leaving Forma Pilates

Shanina Shaik posted on Instagram last year about her Pilates routine, tagging Forma

The most budget-friendly option is to stream classes online, which requires a $49 per month subscription and $20 charge per session.

For in-person sessions, classes fill up fast.

Sessions led by Levi are especially difficult to get into, and her morning classes are only for her VIP clients. For anyone else to get in, a VIP would have to cancel within 24 hours.

Levi has no trouble describing her own appeal.

'Im young, Im relatable, Im cool,' she said. 'I create personal relationships. A lot of people in the fitness industry aretree-hugging, nature people.'

As for her technique, she focuses on abs and glues with fast transitions  and individualized attention.

Levi uses a $9,499 Merrithew's V2 Max Plus, which she called 'the Rolls-Royce of Pilates equipment'

A 55-minute group class with eight people costs a staggering $75. There are also two- to four-person classes for $100 per person, $500 private studio sessions, and $650 house calls

'I think people have lost interest in doing big group classes especially for Pilates, which is such intricate movements and one inch of adjustment makes a world of difference,' she said.

'The Forma Method differs from other Pilates methods because it is contemporary Pilates with a twist. I focus on creating a flow throughout my sessions, quick and seamless transitions, with little time for breaks.

'Unlike traditional Pilates, I prefer to get straight into a burn, maintain it throughout the session, rather than warm up the body and then finish by cooling down the body,' she told the Daily Front Row.
The Duchess of Cambridge was spotted watching on as her three children played in a horse drawn carriage recently in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

Kate Middleton, 40, appeared relaxed as she watched on while her children Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, four climbed aboard a horse-drawn carriage and could be seen sitting patiently once inside.

Dressed in a casual brown midi dress and white trainers, Kate, who shares her three children with her husband Prince William, 39, appeared to chat to her children as they sat in the carriage in the castle's Quadrangle.

Meanwhile, Princess Eugenie, 32, appeared to be nearby, holding the hand of her son August, one, while he took some toddling steps on the gravel.

The undated clip, which was shared online, also appeared to show other members of the royal family, including Zara and Mike Tindall. It was unclear if their children, Mia, eight, Lena, three, and Lucas, one, were in attendance.

The video footage of members of the Royal Family together at Windsor appears to show Kate Middleton, 40, watching on as her three children ride in a horse drawn carriage

Social media users were delighted to see the footage, which shows numerous members of the Firm casually spending time together at Windsor Castle

As well as Kate Middleton and Princess Eugenie, Zara and Mike Tindall are believed to appear in the footage, holding a baby (right)

So excited!!! The Queen's great grandchildren at Windsor Castle!!! For sure we will have a new portrait for Platinum Jubilee  This will be awesome  pic.twitter.com/oGDnXkVdH6     (@NewsCambridges) April 28, 2022

In the undated footage, it is not clear which of the Queen's other 12 great-grandchildren were present, or whether the Duke of Cambridge was there.

In the front row of the carriage appeared to be two blonde haired children, who could be the Queen's eldest great-grandchildren Savannah and Isla Philips.

Meanwhile Zara and Mike appeared to hold a baby between them as they watched the carriage of children.

Completing the family affair was a black dog, who was seen running around and even underneath the large, ornate carriage.

The Cambridge children, (pictured L-R) Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, four, were filmed playing in a horse-drawn carriage in Windsor Castle's quadrangle as their mother the Duchess of Cambridge (pictured, right) watched on (pictured in April 2020)

Princess Eugenie also appeared to be present in the footage, holding the hand of her one-year-old son August (pictured)

Several of Queen Elizabeth's great-grandchildren were recently filmed playing in a horse-drawn carriage in Windsor Castle's quadrangle (the Queen pictured at Windsor Castle this week)

Social media users seemed delighted by the footage, with some describing it as 'awesome', and 'cute'.

The footage showing royal children in a carriage led others to speculate that the family members were preparing for a public appearance.

This footage of the Cambridge children follows reports that they are set to have a 'starring role' at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations this summer.

According to the Telegraph, the trio are expected to have a 'visible' part in the celebrations to mark the monarch's 70th year on the throne, as part of a 'royal show of force'.

It is thought the young royal siblings will make their debut in the carriage to the Trooping the Colour, and will also likely be seen on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the famous flyover.

The Queen's granddaughter Zara Tindall and her husband Mike also appeared to join the group in the quadrangle, although it was unclear which of their children were in attendance

William was four, the same age of his youngest son Louis, when he had his first carriage ride alongside Princess Diana and the Queen mother at 1988's Trooping of the Colour.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will likely not confirm their children's attendance until the last minute.

While the final plans for the weekend are still being drawn up, it is understood William will be taking the lead on military events, including standing in for Her Majesty reviewing the Trooping of the Colour in a formal inspection the week before the jubilee weekend.

In the front row of the carriage appeared to be two blonde haired children, who could be the Queen's eldest great-grandchildren Savannah and Isla Philips

Meanwhile, Kate will continue her work with early years learning and will help coordinate Superbloom, the project which sees the Tower of London flooded with hundreds of flowers and even a slide.

Elsewhere, Prince Charles will host a bank holiday concert and the Duchess of Cornwall will host a Big Lunch.

Other members of the royal family including Prince Edward, Sophie Wessex, Princess Anne, Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie will make appearances throughout the weekend.

Her Majesty, 96, will undergo less engagements than at previous jubilees due to mobility problems.
Prince Harry's suggestion that he has a 'really special relationship' with his grandmother in a recent US TV interview are likely to prove damaging in helping heal the rift between the Duke of Sussex and the Royal Family, a royal expert has claimed.

Speaking during the latest episode of True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat, commentator Roya Nikkhah described Harry's admission that he still has a close relationship with the Queen, 96, in spite of his controversial 2020 move to California, as likely to be 'incendiary' and 'triggering' for the rest of his family - who 'are around for the Queen all the time'.

Harry, 37, has been accused of 'playing up' his relationship with the Queen to ensure he maintains credibility in America amid the Sussexes' deal with Netflix.

Scroll down for video

During an interview aired on America's Today programme, Prince Harry spoke of his 'really special relationship' with the Queen despite the highly-publicised rift between the Sussexes and the Royal Family

Roya Nikkhah told True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat that Prince Harry's recent comments to the Today programme in the US would be 'triggering' for his family (Pictured: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with Queen Elizabeth II at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London in 2018)

Salt on the wound: Nikkhah claimed that Harry's comments of his long-distance closeness to the Queen might have irked family members who see her more frequently

Speaking to NBC's Today show about his meeting with the Queen earlier this month, the royal said: 'It was great, it was just so nice to see her, she's on great form.

'She's always got a great sense of humour with me and I'm just making sure that she's protected and got the right people around her. Both Meghan and I had tea with her, so it was really nice to catch up with her.'

He also told the show's host, Hoda Kotb, that he continues to have a 'really special relationship' with his grandmother.

Royal expert Nikkhah told The Royal Beat's host Kate Thornton: 'That comment was quite triggering for the rest of his family, who are around the Queen all the time and I'm sure who the Queen does confide in quite a lot.'

She added: 'There is no doubting that those two [the Queen and Prince Harry] have an incredibly special, close relationship.

'But I think to say to an American network, knowing these comments are going to go around the world, and come right back at your family, that the Queen tells Harry things that she feels she cannot tell any other member of her family who see her much more regularly - it just felt quite incendiary.'

Speaking in the latest episode of The Royal Beat, Roya Nikkhah said that Prince Harry would be aware that making such comments on a global platform would 'come back to his family'

The royal commentator added that people might struggle to believe that 'the Queen tells Harry things that she feels she cannot tell any other member of her family'

Prince Harry says the Queen was 'on great form' during recent meeting The Duke Of Sussex says the Queen was 'on great form' during their recent meeting but added he wanted to make sure that she was 'protected' and had 'the right people around her'. He and his wife Meghan visited the monarch and met with the Prince of Wales in Windsor on Thursday, having flown in from their home in the US before travelling on to The Hague in the Netherlands for the Invictus games. It is the first time the couple had been seen together publicly on this side of the Atlantic for two years. Speaking to NBC's Today show about his meeting with the Queen, he said 'Being with her it was great, it was just so nice to see her, she's on great form. 'She's always got a great sense of humour with me and I'm just making sure that she's protected and got the right people around her. Both Meghan and I had tea with her, so it was really nice to catch up with her.' It comes days ahead of the monarch's 96th birthday on Thursday and just over a year after the funeral of her husband the Duke of Edinburgh. Harry said: 'Home for me now, for the time being, is in the States and it feels that way. We've been welcomed with open arms and have such a great community up in Santa Barbara.' The couple moved to Montecito, California, following their decision to step down as senior royals in 2020, saying they wanted a new life of personal and financial freedom Harry flew back from California, without Meghan who was heavily pregnant at the time, to attend his grandfather's funeral in Windsor in April 2021. He also returned to the UK to unveil the statue of his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales on July 1 2021 with his brother the Duke of Cambridge. His full interview with NBC is due to air today. Advertisement

Last week, Investigative journalist and award-winning biographer Tom Bower told MailOnline that he thinks the Duke of Sussex is playing up his relationship with his grandmother to prevent the Palace from dampening the Sussexes' marketing efforts and commercial endeavours beyond the Royal Family.

Bower, who is currently writing a biography on Meghan Markle, said he thinks that 'Harry is hitting out at those standing in the way of promoting the Sussex's self-promotion'.

'To enhance his credibility in America and for Netflix he needs to [play up] a special relationship with the Queen.'

Harry and Meghan chose to step down from their Royal duties to pursue other commercial interests, but the pair are pushing the Royal Family for continued assistance.

Bower's comments come off the back of Harry's latest interview in the US, in which he placed doubt over whether he would attend his grandmother's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in London in June amid the ongoing security row with the UK's Home Office, adding: 'Home for me now is, you know, for the time being, it's in the States. And it feels that way as well.'

The Royal Beat - available on True Royalty TV
The royal family has shared another vintage snap of the Queen as part of its countdown to the Platinum Jubilee weekend in June.

Today's image is a black and white 1988 photo of her Majesty visiting Port Sunlight, a village in Merseyside, to celebrate its 100th birthday.

The photograph marks the latest in the series of images being shared to count down to the Platinum Jubilee, with a photo being shared daily.

With the countdown starting 70 days before the celebrations are set to take place in June, each of the 70 photos represents a year of the monarch's seven-decade reign.

The caption for the image, which garnered more than 11,800 likes in an hour, says: 'The Queen is welcomed by crowds at Port Sunlight in Merseyside during a visit to celebrate the villages 100th birthday.'

This image of Queen Elizabeth, pictured in Merseyside village Port Sunlight in 1988, was shared today by the Royal Family's Instagram account as part of its countdown to the Jubilee

Images from the visit, which were part of the village's 100th birthday celebrations, show Her Majesty meeting locals, including this young girl who gave her a bouquet of flowers

The caption for today's throwback image revealed it was taken during a 1988 royal visit to Merseyside

Port Sunlight is a Merseyside village, founder by soap entrepreneur William Hesketh Lever in 1888, to house workers from his 'Sunlight Soap' factory.

During the 100th birthday visit, which was also attended by the Queen's late husband Prince Philip, she visited a number of the village's buildings and attractions.

Explaining the significance of the countdown, the Instagram caption for today's image read: 'Over the next 70 days, as we countdown to the Platinum Jubilee Celebration Weekend, well be sharing an image a day of The Queen  each representing a year of Her Majestys 70-year long reign.'

Yesterday's image, also a black and white photo, showed the Queen, in her role as the Patron of the Scout Association, meeting some of the 1,000 Scouts who took part in the St George's Day parade at Windsor Castle in 1987.

Then and now: Her Majesty, who is 96-years-old, seen in a photograph taken yesterday at Windsor Castle

Meanwhile the picture from the day before showed the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh joining President Li Xiannian and his wife Jiamei in Tiananmen Square, Beijing in 1986, noting that her Majesty was the first British Monarch to visit mainland China.

Her Majesty, who ascended the throne on February 6, 1952, is the first British royal to reach to reach the Platinum Jubilee.

The historic milestone will be celebrated over a four-day bank holiday weekend, from 2nd -5th June.

To mark the date, public events and community activities will be held, among other celebrations.

Among the pictures shared earlier this week is this image of the Queen meeting scouts who took part in the St George's Day parade at Windsor Castle in 1987

While the final plans for the weekend are still being drawn up, it is understood William will be taking the lead on military events, including standing in for Her Majesty reviewing the Trooping of the Colour in a formal inspection the week before the jubilee weekend.

Her Majesty, 96, will undergo less engagements than at previous jubilees due to mobility problems.

Yesterday, a smiling Queen stood unaided as she held a face-to-face audience with the president of Switzerland at Windsor Castle.

The monarch, who returned from a week-long break at her Sandringham estate yesterday, smiled broadly as she posed for photographs with Ignazio Cassis and his wife Paola in her Oak Room sitting room this morning.

Another image shared this week showed the monarch with her husband Prince Philip joining President Li Xiannian and his wife Jiamei in Tiananmen Square, Beijing in 1986

The Queen stood without her walking stick and was dressed in a blue and grey paisley-style patterned silk dress.

She was wearing her fruit-themed sapphire and diamond grapes brooch, which features a sapphire bow and 16 small diamonds shaped like a bunch of grapes. It was inherited from the Queen Mother.

There were no public engagements for her birthday, but there will be celebrations for her official birthday and Platinum Jubilee in June.

Buckingham Palace spokesman said she is hoping to attend the State Opening of Parliament in less than two weeks' time, on May 10.

Royal aides said confirmation is expected closer to the time or on the day. The Queen, who has experienced mobility issues in recent months, has opened Parliament on all but two occasions during her reign.
A Scottish woman has welcomed a miracle baby after being told she was infertile and in the early stages of menopause at the age of 23.

Chelsea Bannatyne, now 28, from Glasgow, was told the devastating news that she was infertile and in the early stages of menopause in her early twenties.

She said doctors were baffled when they discovered she had fallen pregnant naturally as they thought it was impossible for her.

She welcomed her miracle baby boy, Layke, in June last year, revealing it was a total surprise for Chelsea, and her partner Gary Kerr, 24.

Chelsea Bannatyne, now 28, from Glasgow, Scotland, welcomed her miracle baby boy, Layke, in June last year, after defying the odds and falling pregnant naturally after being told she was infertile when she was 23

The lash technician, pictured during her pregnancy, was told aged 23 she was infertile when she began taking HRT for her menopause-like symptoms

Chelsea, an eyelash technician, added: 'When I found out I was infertile I was in a really bad place.

'My heart ached for the future. I felt like I lost my purpose as a woman, and I didn't know how anyone would want to be with someone that wouldn't be able to give them a family.

'I'd given up all hope. So I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the two lines on the positive pregnancy test.

'When I was in my early twenties, I was having irregular periods and started to feel really anxious.

The mother-of-one got to see her son for the first time during a pregnancy scan and was in disbelief that she was pregnant

'It was like my body was telling me that something wasn't right.

'I was having a chat with my friends who had easily fallen pregnant with their partners after forgetting their pill or even while on contraception.

'I could think of loads of times when I'd forgotten my pill, but I'd never fallen pregnant.

'It suddenly dawned on me how easy it was for my friends to get pregnant.

In her early 20s, after being told she could not conceive a baby of her own, Chelsea said she become obsessed with becoming pregnant

A 3D rendering of Layke's scan during Chelsea's 2021 pregnancy. She welcomed her baby boy in June last year

Early menopause: How a woman's ovaries can stop working prematurely - bringing on symptoms which most experience in their middle-age Most women will go through menopause after 45, mainly in their 50s. But some women might experience irregular periods before then, which is called Early Menopause. This can be triggered naturally if the woman's ovaries stop working prematurely. This is sometimes called premature ovarian failure, or primary ovarian insufficiency. Chromosome abnormalities, autoimmune diseases or certain infections, such as tuberculosis, malaria and mumps  might trigger premature ovarian insufficiency. Cancer treatment such as chemotherapy can also lead women to premature ovarian failure. The symptoms of early menopause are the same as the ones women experience when it settles in their 40s and 50s. They include: hot flushes, night sweats, vaginal dryness and discomfort during sex, difficulty sleeping, low mood or anxiety, reduced sex drive (libido) and problems with memory and concentration. Source: NHS Advertisement

'I hadn't been trying for a baby, but it was playing on my mind so I went to the doctors.'

Chelsea underwent multiple checks to get to the bottom of the problem, but the results were inconclusive.

She was referred to a fertility specialist, where her results revealed her fears.

The mother-of-one said: 'The fact that I was told I couldn't have kids just made me want to be a mum even more.

Chelsea during her baby shower with Layke in Spring 2021. She revealed Gary and her were so shocked by her positive pregnancy test, they did not speak to each other for 48 hours

Chelsea during her pregnancy last year. Doctors told her her menopausal symptoms would come and go, which means she doesn't know if her pregnancy was a one off

Before falling pregnant, the mother-of-one said she had given up on the idea of having a baby (pictured left and right)

'I had low oestrogen levels, so I was on HRT.

'I became obsessed with trying to fall pregnant, I was taking all sorts of tablets from shops that were supposed to help you fall pregnant.

'I was fixated with taking pregnancy tests to check if I was successful, but they were negative every time.

Pictured: Layke in his cot in hospital after coming into his parents' life as a total surprise last year

'And I was due to start IVF treatment until I broke up with my boyfriend at the time.

'During the lockdown of summer 2020, I'd completely given up. I decided to stop thinking about it for a while and enjoy my life.

'I was still young, so I decided I would focus on travelling and making amazing memories.'

She continued: 'I met my partner, Gary, and I told him straight away about my struggles.

'We weren't using any contraception as I thought I couldn't fall pregnant.'

Chelsea said her whole live now revolves around her son and that her world have completely changed

Covered in lipstick for his first Valentine's Day! Chelsea said Lake is 'an amazing baby' and revealed he has 'such a great little character'

On Halloween 2020 and after being together for around five months, Chelsea explained feeling an urge to avoid alcohol.

She had a pregnancy test at home and couldn't resist the temptation of taking it.

Chelsea said: 'I have no idea why I took that test. I just had a weird feeling inside of me.

'I didn't tell Gary I was doing it because I wasn't expecting it to be positive. He was downstairs watching television while I was in the bathroom.

The lash technicians is a doting mother to Layke and said she can't imagine her world without him (pictured together)

Pictured with Layke shortly after his birth last year. The mother-of-one sad Chelsea said Layke is her miracle baby

'When it came back positive I burst into tears. I was crying so much that it actually made me vomit.

'Gary came up to check on me as we were supposed to be going to the cinema, and my make-up was streaming down my face from the tears.

'His face went grey as the colour drained from his face when I told him.

'We were both in total shock. I didn't believe it was real until I saw the baby on the screen and heard the heartbeat.'

Chelsea and her partner Gary were over the moon when they learned she was pregnant, and they now call him 'their little miracle'

Chelsea and Gary raced around supermarkets for more pregnancy tests to check the results were right.

She said they hardly spoke to each other for 48 hours because they were in so much shock.

Chelsea added: 'I contacted the hospital and asked to be seen.

'I told to come in for an early scan because of my problems and they confirmed that I was eight weeks and five days pregnant.

Chelsea said she 'can't believe the fact her son is here' after she had accepted that she would 'never have a baby naturally'

'I'd not been on any contraception for four years and nothing had happened. I couldn't believe it.

'I was terrified because I was not prepared for this moment.

'The doctors eventually said that I have premature temporary menopause. It's almost as if it comes and goes.

'They still don't 100 per cent understand it, which worries me for being able to have kids in the future.

'My pregnancy went well and on 22 June 2021 after an 18-hour labour, I gave birth to our son, Layke.

'I believe that everything happens for a reason. My life has totally changed and my world revolves around my son.

'He's an amazing baby and got such a great little character.

'Layke is our miracle. I just can't believe he is here, after accepting the fact I'd never be able to have a baby naturally.'
Prince Charles put on his military uniform to attend a parade for RAF graduate who didn't get a graduation ceremony in 2020 because of Covid-19 restrictions.

The heir-to-the-throne, 73, headed to RAFC Cranwell this morning, where he met with recent graduates from Cranwell and RAF Halton.

The officers present today graduated with no guests in attendance during the pandemic, due to the health crisis and restrictions put in place.

Charles, who is Marshal of the Royal Air Force, appeared in great spirits as he arrived for the event this morning.

The heir-to-the-throne, 73, headed to RAFC Cranwell this morning, where he met with recent graduates from Cranwell and RAF Halton

This afternoon, the Prince of Wales tweeted from the official @ClarenceHouse account, sharing an image from his own experience at RAFC Cranwell

Decked in his uniform, the Prince of Wales reviewed the officers stood to attention during the event.

He spoke to a few of them for a moment, as they finally got to enjoy their graduation after it was delayed due to Covid-19.

He chatted particularly with some of the recently graduated female RAF officers present today.

It has been a particularly busy week for Charles, who attended multiple events in London yesterday.

Decked in his uniform, the Prince of Wales reviewed the officers stood to attention during the event

Charles, who is Marshal of the Royal Air Force, appeared in great spirit as he arrived for the event this morning

He attended a parade for RAF graduates who didn't get a graduation ceremony in 2020 because of Covid-19 restrictions

The Prince of Wales and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall, 74, visited the iconic newsroom to mark the 90th anniversary of the BBC World Service in the morning.

The couple met with the World Service staff and learned how they are maintaining operations across Ukraine, Russia and Afghanistan in order to provide first-hand reports of these zones of conflicts.

As they met with Sana Safi, a Senior Presenter at BBC Afghanistan, Charles joked he was going to 'ruin her programme.'

Charles stopped and spoke to a few of the graduates for a few moments before the ceremony began

He chatted particularly with some of the recently graduated female RAF officers present today

The Prince of Wales looked smart in his Royal Navy commander's full dress uniform which donned many service medals

He donned the uniform to honour the military personnel in attendance as he also served in the Royal Air Force and and Royal Navy for many years

The officers present today graduated with no guests in attendance during the pandemic, due to the health crisis and restrictions put in place

The Prince of Wales saluted the graduates as they marched passed the podium during the ceremony

Sana politely replied he wouldn't, and went on to explain her programme would air later in the day.

She then went on to talk the couple through the rundown of her show, and gave them a demonstration, introducing the programme in Arabic for the camera.

After meeting with Sana, Charles and Camilla went on to tour the World's Service newsroom, where they met with staff, journalists and news producers.

After the visit, Charles travelled to the West London Welcome community centre to meet its staff and beneficiaries.
As the first Monday of May approaches - Anna Wintour is hard at work preparing for the highly anticipated Met Gala.

The annual star-studded ball, which is set to take place on Monday, May 2, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, has become one of the most talked about and coveted events.

Branded by some as the biggest night in fashion, the high-profile fundraising gala has been hosted by Vogue's editor-in-chief Wintour, 72, for nearly 30 years now, and it marks the opening of the Costume Institute's annual fashion exhibit on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Each year, on the first Monday of May, Hollywood's biggest celebrities stomp the red carpet in their most extravagant and lavish outfits, many of which are compulsively talked about by the public.

As the first Monday of May approaches - Anna Wintour is hard at work preparing for the highly anticipated Met Gala. She is pictured at the event in 2014

The annual star-studded ball, which is set to take place on Monday, May 2, has become one of the most talked about and coveted events. Beyonce (left), Zendaya (center), and Cardi B (right) are pictured at the Met Gala over the years

But what goes into making the stylish celebration perfect? A biographer - who is gearing up to release a book about Wintour - has shared an inside look at the magazine editor's intense planning leading up to the big day

People from all around the world excitedly wait for the red carpet photos to hit the web, while the stars all try to outdo each other with their looks.

One year, Katy Perry wore a dress shaped like a chandelier - complete with fake candles and an enormous head piece - while Lady Gaga donned a pink gown which had 25-foot train attached to it.

But what goes into making the stylish celebration perfect? A biographer - who is gearing up to release a book about Wintour, called Anna: The Biography, on May 3 - has shared an inside look at the magazine editor's intense planning leading up to the big day.

Author Amy Odell spoke with various Met staffers and other people who have worked with Wintour, and according to the writer, Wintour doesn't learn Met staff names - but instead, she simply calls them 'you' - tries to hide artifacts from the museum that she finds 'ugly,' and keeps a list of those who are 'in' and 'out.'

Former Met Gala planner Stephanie Winston Wolkoff described Wintour as 'militant' during the weeks leading up the gala, while chatting with Odell for the upcoming biography, as revealed in an excerpt by Time Magazine.

Wolkoff is no stranger to going up against powerful former bosses, as she is the former senior advisor to first lady Melania Trump.

In 2020, she published a tell-all book, entitled Melania and Me, where she candidly spoke about the rise and fall of her friendship with former president Donald Trump's wife.

In the book, Wolkoff revealed that Melania turned down a Vogue photoshoot because she wasn't guaranteed the cover, making her the only First Lady in recent history not to be featured in the fashion bible during her time in the White House.

It was widely believed that Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour had snubbed Mrs. Trump by not asking her to be featured in the magazine, but Wolkoff insisted that wasn't the case in the book.

Branded by some as the biggest night in fashion, the high-profile fundraising gala has been hosted by Vogue's editor-in-chief Wintour, 72, for nearly 30 years now. She is pictured at the Met Gala in 2007

According to author Amy Odell, Wintour doesn't learn Met staff names - but instead, she often just points at the staff member and addresses them as 'you.' She is pictured at the Met in 2018

Another of Wintour's staff members, whose name was not included, told Odell that planning for the event starts in early fall, and that meetings are held at the Met every four to six weeks.

Former Met Gala planner Stephanie Winston Wolkoff described Wintour as 'militant' during the weeks leading up the gala

Despite the museum allegedly pushing to lower the cost of the event, the staff member claimed that Wintour wants the glamorous soiree to be bigger and better every year - using 4,000 pound floral arrangements at last year's Gala, for example.

The anonymous employee claimed that Wintour never learns the Met staff members' names, despite working with them for many years now. They claimed she often just points at the staff member and addresses them as 'you,' or simply gets their names wrong.

'Her directives have often been so absurd the Met team just laughs them off,' Odell reported.

Two other people close to Wintour recalled a time that she asked the Met to cover up the historical Temple of Dendur - a Roman Egyptian temple built in 15 B.C. which is on display at the museum - because she felt it didn't look good, and when they didn't agree, she decided to build a stage in front of it so that the guests wouldn't see it.

Others said the editor tries to hide artifacts from the museum that she finds 'ugly,' and keeps a list of those who are 'in' and those who are 'out'

During the party, Wolkoff explained that Wintour wants Vogue staff to know every single detail about each celebrity's arrival. Rihanna (left) and Pete Davidson (right) are pictured at the Gala

When it comes to the outfits, Wintour encourages guests to wear over-the-top looks. Longtime friend of Wintour's, Lisa Love, explained, 'She loves a dress-up party.' Kim Kardashian is pictured at the Met Gala in 2019

During the party, Wolkoff explained that Wintour wants Vogue staff to know every single detail about each celebrity's arrival - including when they're going to get there (every star has their own prearranged time), what car they're going to come in, and what they're wearing.

Wintour reportedly pays attention to every single detail throughout the night. Former director of Vogue and longtime friend of Wintour's, Lisa Love, recalled the executive asking her during the 2019 Met Gala, 'Can you please tell [Kim Kardashian] to sit down?' when she noticed that the reality star was standing throughout the dinner.

It turns out, Kardashian physically couldn't take a seat due to how tight her custom, latex Thierry Mugler dress was.

When it comes to the outfits, Wintour encourages guests to wear over-the-top looks.

'Its that English part of her. She loves a dress-up party,' explained Love.

According to Odell, Wintour controls every aspect of the guest list, and decides who is 'in' and who is 'out.'

The 'out' list includes Paris and Nicole Hilton, 'low-performing artists,' and any planners who angered her throughout the process.

As for the 'in' list, Odell stated that anyone whose 'success, power, creativity, and beauty is undeniable' is allowed to attend.

Each year, on the first Monday of May, Hollywood's biggest celebrities stomp the red carpet in their most extravagant and lavish outfits. Cardi B is pictured at the event in 2019

People from all around the world excitedly wait for the red carpet photos to hit the web, while the stars all try to outdo each other with their looks. Blake Lively (left), Ariana Grande (center), and Kendall Jenner (right) are pictured at the event over the years

According to Odell, Wintour controls every aspect of the guest list, and decides who is allowed 'in' and who is 'out.' Lady Gaga is pictured at the Met Gala in 2019

'A night of excess and exhibition, the Met Gala is where Wintour flaunts her dominance over an industry thats predicated on the understanding that there is an in and an out,"' she explained.

'Wintours longevity as a fashion mega-influencer in a business that is fickle by design is unmatched, and the Met Gala is the ultimate manifestation of her power.'

Despite the museum allegedly pushing to lower the cost of the event, a staff member claimed that Wintour wants the glamorous soiree to be bigger and better every year. Katy Perry is pictured at the Met Gala in 2019

Some begin as 'in' and get moved to 'out' - like the late Andre Leon Talley, who worked with her at Vogue for many years, but later claimed their relationship left him with 'emotional and psychological scars.'

Others weren't allowed to come at first, but later made the list - like Kardashian, who has attended every year since 2013.

And her decision on whether you're 'in' or 'out' extends further than the party. According to Love, once you're on Wintour's bad side, you don't stand a chance of making your way back into her inner circle.

'If you get frozen by her, thats it. Shes a Scorpio, youre done. Its that cold,' she said.

The Met Gala was first established in 1948 as a way to raise money for the newly-founded Costume Institute.

Wintour, who is also Conde Nasts global chief content officer, has been hosting it since 1995.

'Anna has been in the public eye for 30 years, speaks regularly about her life and work, and yet she has often found herself in a position in which others claim to be telling her story,' a spokesperson for Vogue told Time in response to the upcoming book, which was written without her participation.

Back in 2016, a movie documenting the preparations for the 2015 Met Gala, entitled First Monday in May, was released. A still from the flick is pictured

Following Wintour through the meticulous planning process, as well as the party itself, The First Monday in May shed a light on the drama that goes on behind-the-scenes when getting ready for such a star-studded event

As cameras followed Wintour working out the details of what she described as the 'biggest' exhibit they'd ever done, viewers got to see her create the guest list and the seating chart

Back in 2016, a movie documenting the preparations for the 2015 Met Gala, entitled First Monday in May, was released.

Following Wintour through the meticulous planning process, as well as the party itself, The First Monday in May shed a light on the drama that goes on behind-the-scenes when getting ready for such a star-studded event.

It showed staffers frantically fretting over Rihanna's sky-high asking price to perform, Wintour demanding that a certain mystery guest not be on his cell phone the whole night, and both the Vogue boss and the museum exhibit's curator Andrew Bolton worrying that the China-themed show would come off as racist or kitschy, looking more like a Chinese restaurant than a glamorous A-list event.

'This show is meant to be controversial, but I'm not afraid of controversy,' said Bolton in the flick, before adding that they still had to avoid anything that could be interpreted as racist.

'Andrew is a real visionary,' Wintour added. 'It's rare to find someone so creative that they change the way you look at art.'

As cameras followed Wintour working out the details of what she described as the 'biggest' exhibit they'd ever done, viewers got to see the show - which brought 800,000 visitors to the Met that summer - coming together, including the creation of the guest list and the seating chart.

However, after the film came out, Wintour slammed filmmaker Andrew Rossi for making her look like 'a fool' in the documentary.

'I have learned that documentary makers are incredibly sneaky people,' she said during an appearance on the Today Show.

'[They are] very elegant, very kind, and very low key. They just follow you around until you make a complete fool of yourself and say something you deeply regret.'
You know it's a seller's market when even a house seemingly haunted by a masked mass murderer might be snapped up at any minute.

In Carlinville, Illinois, Danielle Sullivan, 40, and her husband Owen, 53, have listed their four-bedroom, four-bathroom house for $169,000  but photos appear to feature a terrifying houseguest.

While many of the images look perfectly normal, showing off the 2,750-square-foot home's best features, a few include a knife-wielding man dressed in all black with a Michael Myers face mask lurking in the background.

The clever listing has quickly gone viral, earning attention on social media from accounts like Zillow Gone Wild  but Danielle promises that despite a cameo from one of Hollywood's most famous serial killers, the house is actually a warm place that's perfect for a family.

'I will say that that house was filled with love. There were no scary things. The house itself does not come with a serial killer,' she told DailyMail.com.

A four-bedroom, four-bathroom house in Carlinville, Illinois, hit the market for $169,000 earlier this week

While many of the images look perfectly normal, showing off the 2,750-square-foot home's best features, a few include a knife-wielding man dressed in all black

He wears a Michael Myers face mask and lurks in rooms around the house

Danielle Sullivan, 40, and her husband Owen, 53, listed the property with the funny photos

Their Michael Myers is played by their 16-year-old son, Cole, who had worn the mask at his mother's suggestion as a way to scare his dad, who was working in the basement

Danielle says that the house, located on E. Hoehn St., was the first home she and Owen shared as a married couple, and it's where they raised their kids.

Several years ago, they moved a few blocks away to a house that is, appropriately, on Elm Street  and while Owen was recently fixing up this house to be sold, Danielle had an idea.

She turned to her 16-year-old son, Cole, and said, 'Why don't you put on you Michael Myers costume and we'll go over and scare dad?'

When they got there, Owen was in the basement cleaning the floor when Cole stood at the top of the stairs, leering down.

'He looked up and there was Cole, just standing there, being creepy,' she said.

Danielle says that the house, located on E. Hoehn St., was the first home she and Owen shared as a married couple, and it's where they raised their kids

Danielle told DailyMail.com she loves Halloween, and her whole family dresses up together every year - so they have plenty of costumes and masks at home

On the day the photos were taken, she said to Cole, 'Why don't you put on you Michael Myers costume and we'll go over and scare dad?'

The listing has earned a lot of attention since it was shared on social media accounts like Zillow Gone Wild

'Anyone who knows me know this listing is typical of my personality,' said Danielle

The Sullivans listed the home for sale on April 15, writing: 'This home is PERFECT for a young or growing family, and was designed with that in mind'

Michael Myers featured in 2007's Halloween

At that moment, Danielle, who is a professional photographer, realized that this might make for funny photos when they listed the house.

'I just thought, what the heck,' she said, adding: 'Anyone who knows me know this listing is typical of my personality.'

Cole was game, agreeing to stand for creepy photos in corners, behind a curtain, and even on the toilet.

The Sullivans listed the home for sale on April 15, writing: 'This home is PERFECT for a young or growing family, and was designed with that in mind.'

'The Kitchen has french doors leading to the backyard, matching appliances, a large center island, a custom pantry cabinet around the refrigerator, and gorgeous crown molding.

'The dining room has french doors leading to a side-deck and the room opens to the living room with original pocket doors in between the rooms.

The description of the listing is otherwise normal and doesn't reference Halloween

'I'm kind of known around our local area as the queen of Halloween,' Danielle said

Cole posed around the home holding a plastic knife, hiding behind doors and curtains

The house also had a '"secret room" that kids LOVE' between the upstairs bedrooms, a large back deck, two asphalt driveways, outdoor play area, fenced backyard, and a detached garage

'The Master bedroom has a large walk-in closet and a full bathroom with jacuzzi tub/shower combo.'

The house also had a 'small "secret room" that kids LOVE' between the two upstairs bedrooms, a large back deck, two asphalt driveways, outdoor play area, fenced backyard, and a detached garage.

Meanwhile, the Sullivans currently embrace all things Halloween at their Elm Street home and dress up as a family for the holiday every October.

'I'm kind of known around our local area as the queen of Halloween,' Danielle said.

Every year starting October 1, she turns their house into a monster, with creepy fanged teeth and eyes over the windows.

'I don't just love Halloween, I live Halloween,' she said.

The Sullivans currently live a few blocks away on a house on Elm Street - which they go all-out decorating every October and are known to have a lot of trick-or-treaters

They family dresses up for Halloween together every year and have a lot of costumes in their house

Danielle (left with husband Owen) said: 'My monster house is pretty epic. I'm so proud of that'

'I don't just love Halloween, I live Halloween,' Danielle said

The Sullivans also have a 12-foot skeleton that stays in the yard year-round, getting dressed up for different holidays. It is currently outfitted for Cinco de Mayo

In addition to the monster decorations, the Sullivans also have animatronic characters like Beetlejuice on their lawn, and locals go out of their way to visit her home on Halloween  with 550 trick-or-treaters coming last year alone.

They also do a special scary night, where instead of animatronic characters they have real people in costumes in front of the house, chasing kids around.

'It's a whole production,' she said. 'My monster house is pretty epic. I'm so proud of that.'

And the fun doesn't stop on Halloween: The Sullivans also have a 12-foot skeleton that stays in the yard year-round, getting dressed up for different holidays. It is currently outfitted for Cinco de Mayo.

The house is so popular that Danielle documents it on TikTok at @elmstreetmonsterhouse, where she has nearly 23,000 followers.
Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi appeared relaxed as they chatted with Prince Carl Philip of Sweden in an unseen clip from a dyslexia conference in Stockholm this week.

The Queen's granddaughter, 33, appeared in a video on the Swedish royals Instagram page, in a clip which was taken at the Royal Palace for the The World Dyslexia Assembly on Thursday.

The royal cut an elegant figure in a mid-length black and blue floral gown by designer Zimmermann.

In the short video Prince Carl Philip takes to a podium to speak to a crowd of people saying: 'As many of you might know I am dyslexic, I know some of the challenges that children and young people with dyslexia have to face but this is the thing, while I have had some struggles I have been fortunate enough to have received some help.

Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi appeared relaxed as they chatted with Prince Carl Philip of Sweden in an unseen clip from a dyslexia conference in Stockholm this week

The Queen's granddaughter, 33, appeared in a video on the Swedish royals Instagram page from the Royal Palace for the The World Dyslexia Assembly on Thursday

'To be met with knowledge and understanding and to be included, unfortunately this isn't the case for all children.'

The video was accompanied by the caption: 'Yesterday, the Queen, Prince Carl Philip, Princess Sofia, Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi participated in the World Dyslexia Assembly Sweden.

'The purpose of the international symposium was to increase knowledge about and nuance the image of dyslexia.

'The World Dyslexia Assembly was organized by @prinsparetsstiftelse in collaboration with the British organization @madebydyslexia, for which Princess Beatrice is an ambassador.

In the video, Prince Carl Philip spoke of the challenges he has faced as a person who has dyslexia

'During the day, international and national actors from the education sector, business and the research world gathered. From the Swedish government, the Minister of Education participated.'

Beatrice was herself diagnosed with the learning difficulty, which can affect reading, writing and spelling, when she was seven and has previously referred to the condition as a 'gift.'

The occasion marked a rare joint public outing for the royal's husband Edoardo, who also has the condition.

Beatrice joined a group which included Eric Adams Mayor of New York and Sir Richard Branson to call for systemic change to empower Dyslexic Thinking in every school and workplace.

Princess Beatrice was joined by her husband Edoardo in Stockholm earlier this week as they met with Queen Silvia of Sweden as well as Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia to discuss dyslexia

Princess Beatrice (pictured) appeared in high spirits at the event, wearing her auburn locks in loose waves

The Duke of York's daughter was among the speakers at the panel for the World Dyslexia Assembly at the Royal Palace earlier this week

It is the first World Dyslexia Assembly at the Swedish Royal Palace and came in partnership with the Prince Couple's Foundation, Prinsparet Stiftelse, and is supported by Microsoft.

The World Dyslexia Assembly aims to create systemic change in how the world perceives, defines and supports dyslexia by bringing together sovereign leaders, governments, iconic brands and the most powerful changemakers.

Made By Dyslexia's mission is to train every teacher and help every workplace to spot, support and empower every dyslexic mind. This mission is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and they aim to achieve this by 2030.

Princess Beatrice's 'gift': The common learning difficulty that impacts 1 in 10 people in the UK Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling. It's a specific learning difficulty, which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing. Unlike a learning disability, intelligence isn't affected. It's estimated up to 1 in every 10 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia. Dyslexia is a lifelong problem that can present challenges on a daily basis, but support is available to improve reading and writing skills and help those with the problem be successful at school and work. Signs of dyslexia usually become apparent when a child starts school and begins to focus more on learning how to read and write. A person with dyslexia may: read and write very slowly

confuse the order of letters in words

put letters the wrong way round (such as writing 'b' instead of 'd')

have poor or inconsistent spelling

understand information when told verbally, but have difficulty with information that's written down

find it hard to carry out a sequence of directions

struggle with planning and organisation But people with dyslexia often have good skills in other areas, such as creative thinking and problem solving. Advertisement

The Assembly was hosted by Robyn Curnow, CNN News Anchor, who is dyslexic herself.

She hosted the panel discussions on how to empower Dyslexic Thinking in the workplace and in education from global leaders including Microsoft, HSBC, Meta, Randstad Sourceright, International Dyslexia Association, Millfield School and many successful dyslexics including Space Scientist, Maggie Aderin-Pocock who explained how their Dyslexic Thinking has helped them to succeed.

The Assembly closed with the handing over of the Made By Dyslexia torch of global change to Eric Adams, Mayor of New York, who will host the next World Dyslexia Assembly in New York City in Spring 2023.

New York Mayor, Eric Adams, is dyslexic, and passionate about creating equality in all New York City schools.

HRH Prince Carl Philip of Sweden said: 'Through the Prince Couple's Foundation, Princess Sofia and I wish to do our part to contribute to an inclusive society; a society that enables each individual to reach their full potential.

'Our wish is that the Assembly contributes to new conversations, new collaborations and new solutions that contribute to supporting every child and youth in being themselves.'

Meanwhile Kate Griggs, CEO of Made By Dyslexia, said: 'The World Dyslexia Assembly is building the ultimate alliance of game-changers across the globe and includes sovereign leaders, governments, iconic brands and powerful changemakers, all who share our passion to create systemic change to level the playing field and help to create school systems where every dyslexic child thrives and to empower workplaces where every dyslexic adult can flourish.'

Sir Richard Branson said: 'Dyslexic Thinking Skills are the very skills that foster innovators and entrepreneurs.

'Imagination and innovation will help us find solutions to the big problems that we face.

'That's why we must help governments and organisations all around the world to realise this too, and why it's vital we all work together to empower Dyslexic Thinking in every school and every workplace

'The World Dyslexia Assembly is creating a global movement that will help us do just that.'

Princess Beatrice has previously spoken movingly about her experience of dyslexia.

Beatrice was joined by her husband Edo at the event, where she spoke alongside Prince Carl Philip and his wife Princess Sofia

Speaking to Hello! magazine, she referred to it as a 'gift' because she feels it has offered her different skills in life, saying: 'I think that having dyslexia and reflecting on where I am right now in my career path, and also as an older person looking back, it definitely has allowed me to look at things in a new way and come up with solutions.'

Her words echo the title of Ron Davis' 1994 book The Gift of Dyslexia, which became an immediate best-seller and became a bible for people with dyslexia and parents of children with dyslexia.

The princess also revealed in the interview that he also has the condition.

The Duke and Duchess of York's daughter said that 'if any child, any bonus son, or future babies that are on their way, are lucky enough to be diagnosed with dyslexia, I feel incredibly grateful to have tools such as the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity [that she's patron of] to be able to tap into, to give them that extra support.'

Beatrice said she considered herself lucky to have dyslexia, saying: 'I think that having dyslexia and reflecting on where I am right now in my career path, and also as an older person looking back, it definitely has allowed me to look at things in a new way and come up with solutions.

'I always describe it like being able to think in a circle. Yes, my spelling is appalling, and I wish that I could do something about that.

'But luckily, spellcheck has sorted that out for me.'

Beatrice added: 'I think life is about the moments, it's the challenges that make you. Of course, I would never want there to be any difficult situations.

'But I feel like if we're able to embrace some of the tools that we have from the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity and other organisations, then I feel very, very lucky that we can have this conversation.'
Hunter Biden is once again making headlines with his involvement with Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma and his failure to pay all his taxes which has been a focus of an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice as per a The New York Times report. According to a Vox article. He is also being investigated for acting as an unregistered foreign agent and for money laundering.

Robert Hunter Biden is the second son of United States President Joe Biden. He was born on February 4, 1970, in Delaware.

Early Life And Career

In 1972, he was involved in a car crash with his mother, Neilia Biden, older brother Beau and younger sister Naomi, who was 13-month old at that time. Hunter and Beau sustained injuries but survived the accident, but unfortunately, their mother and sister died.

Both brothers were hospitalized for several months. Jill Jacobs became their stepmother in 1977 after Hunter and Beau persuaded Joe Biden to remarry.

Biden attended Georgetown University before receiving his Doctor of Law degree from Yale University. Afterward, he chose to join the United States Navy Reserve. But eventually, he was discharged because he failed a drug test, according to an article on Wealthy Gorilla.

Hunter Biden is a lawyer and a painter, among other things. He is also a fund investor. He was formerly employed as a banker and lobbyist.

He was a founding member of BHR Partners' board of directors. It was a board member of Burisma Holdings, one of Ukraine's largest private natural gas companies.

In 1996, Biden worked for the Delaware bank MBNA, earning a $100,000 annual salary. In 2001, he chose to leave MBNA and start his lobbying firm.

He worked as a consultant with MBNA from 2001 to 2005. According to a report by CBS News, they paid his consulting firm millions of dollars. Around the same time, his father was the State's senior senator, and his brother was appointed Attorney General of Delaware.

Read Also: President Joe Biden Seeks Additional $33 Billion in Military, Humanitarian Aid for Ukraine, Proposes Legislation To Seize Russian Oligarchs' Assets

From 2006 until 2009, he became Vice-Chairman of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. Biden is a co-founder of Rosemont Seneca Partners, a consultancy firm. He served on the board of Burisma Holdings from 2014 until 2019.

Hunter Biden and his uncle James Biden (President Joe Biden's younger brother) bought Paradigm Global Advisors, a hedge firm, in 2006. They used an $8.1 million promissory note to purchase the company. As per a Go Banking Rates article, Hunter and James were not exceptionally successful investors throughout their five years at the firm.

How Much Is Hunter Biden's 2022 Net Worth?

Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian company, from 2014 until 2019. During his term on the Burisma Board of Directors, he reportedly earned $50,000 each month. Hunter is said to have profited between $850,000 and $3 million as a member of the Burisma Board of Directors.

Moreover, Biden is an art enthusiast who manages his studio in Malibu. It features four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and an open design.

Hunter Biden has been a well-paid consultant at various periods in his career, earning millions of dollars over the years.

Hunter Biden's net worth in 2022 is estimated to be around $1 million, as reported by Celebrity Net Worth.

Related Article: Joe Biden Children: Who Are the POTUS' Kids? Does He Have a Daughter?

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A New York mother has welcomed her third set of natural twins, making her and her husband parents of 10.

Kimberly Alarcon, 37, gave birth to her fraternal twin daughters, Kenzy and Kenzley, via her first cesarean section at Westchester Medical Center on Monday. The odds of having three sets of spontaneous twins is about 1 in 200,000, according to Today.

'Our home is full of love,' she told the outlet. 'We have good days, we have bad days, just like any other family. We just take it one day at a time.'

Kimberly Alarcon, 37, gave birth to her third consecutive set of twins, Kenzy and Kenzley, via cesarean section at Westchester Medical Center on Monday

The odds of having three sets of spontaneous twins is about 1 in 200,000, according to Today

Alacron had three individual children before she became pregnant with her first set of twins,' News 12 reported. Three years later, she had another set.

In 2021, she learned she was expecting triplets, but she miscarried one of the babies early in her pregnancy and gave birth to another set of twins, Kenzy and Kenzley.

She and her husband, John, are also raising one of their nephews, and now have a total of 10 children following their latest arrivals.

The couple's youngest twins join Brittney, 17, Sarah, 13, Hunter, 10, Zachary, 6, Zoey, 6, Olivia, 4, Oliver, 4, and King, 3.

Alacron is no stranger to having a full house. Her mother had a total of 18 children  10 biological and eight adopted. She told Today that they also had friends coming over to their home all of the time when she was growing up.

Alacron and her husband, John, had three individual children before they welcomed their first set of twins, Zachary and Zoey, who are now 6

Four-year-old Olivia and Oliver, the couple's second set of twins, were born three years later

In 2021, Alacron learned she was expecting triplets, but she miscarried one of the babies early in her pregnancy and gave birth to her third set of twins, Kenzy and Kenzley

'Sometimes we had 30 kids over at once,' she recalled.

The mom has continued the tradition of having a house full of kids with her detective husband, who grew up with one brother and always wanted a big family.

Being over the age of 30, being taller or heavier, and having a family history of twins on the mother's side are all factors that increase the odds of having twins without fertility drugs, according to Medical News Today.

'But three sets of twins back-to-back without medication or any intervention is highly unusual,' Dr. Angela Silber, chief of maternal fetal medicine at Westchester Medical Center, told Today. 'Its pretty incredible.'

Alacron introduced her newborn daughters on Instagram on Thursday, the day the family was slated to leave the hospital. She shared a sweet photo of the girls fast asleep on a hospital bed wearing matching peach onesies.

Alacron's mother had 10 biological children and adopted eight more, so she is used to having a full house. Her husband, John, always wanted a big family

The couple's eldest child, Brittney, is a 17-year-old college student

Their second oldest daughter, Sarah, is 13 (left), while their first son, Hunter, is 10 (right)

Alacron and her husband are also raising one of their nephews, 3-year-old King, and now have a total of 10 children following their latest arrivals

'They are our last addition and made our tribe a solid 10. They were born 4/25/22,' she wrote. 'My very first cesarean. They were breached and it was a difficult pregnancy but thank God that we made it.'

The mom shared that Kenzy is older by three minutes, and she weighed 4 pounds, 15 ounces when she was born. Her little sister, Kenzley, was slightly heavier at 5 pounds, 9 ounces.

'Kenzy and Kenzley started their journey as a trio but unfortunately while at the doctor's office I miscarried who I believe was my boy Kent,' she continued. 'God gives us what he knows we can handle so yes we will love him and remember him.'

Alacron's daughters are only four days old, but she shared that they are already developing their own personalities.

'So far Kenzy is our milk guzzler,' she said. 'She plays no games with her feedings while Kenzley is taking her place as the youngest and baby of our tribe.'

Alacron added that Kenzley is 'too serious' and their 'little spoiled girl,' explaining: '[She] loves to be held at such a young age even while she's asleep.'
Comedienne Francine Lewis has barely slept in the tumultuous nine days since she accused her sweetest, loveliest husband Joel Ryan of cheating on her with his friends partner on live television.

She had not intended to speak publicly about his shattering (her word) betrayal, but, as she says, it just came out.

When people feel betrayed and hurt, they can do so many things in anger. I could have thrown all his clothes out the window. I could have burned them all. I could have smashed up his van. I could have done so many things  but thats what I did.

It was so raw. I hadnt known of his betrayal for 24 hours when I did that interview.

She had been invited onto GB News to discuss fraud when she made the shock announcement about her marriage.

After telling the presenters her husband had introduced her to a fake stock broker company in 2018  through which she subsequently lost 90,000  she revealed her belief that he had also cheated on her.

At the end of the segment, she said: Theres so many scams going on all the time, but you know whats ironic? I stuck with my husband through this whole thing and last night I found out he was cheating on me with his friends girlfriend, she said.

Hosts Patrick Christys and Inaya Folarin Iman were left open-mouthed by the unscheduled disclosure.

I was in shock. Weve been married for 17 years and together for 22. Weve got two beautiful children.

'Joels the loveliest  the sweetest  father and husband. You start to wonder: Did I ever know this man? Who is he?

Everyone would say: Hes so in love with you. Thats all I used to get told. He adores you. So, this is unbelievable.

Comedienne Francine Lewis has barely slept in the tumultuous nine days since she accused her sweetest, loveliest husband Joel Ryan of cheating on her with his friends partner on live television

Francines eyes widen part in disbelief but mostly in the sort of raw pain that robs your days of peace and your nights of sleep.

She and Joel, 43, who runs a construction company, have not spent a night together since the revelation that rocked their marriage.

Its so raw still. I havent been able to even look at his face. Theres so much we need to talk about. We have children. We have a home. But I cant.

Im still waking up in the middle of the night feeling sick. My stomach starts to go tight. I take a deep breath and think: God, is this really happening? I have to keep questioning it because it feels like in one second my whole life is changed  shattered.

Francine, a pretty, glossy-haired woman with the tiniest of waists and a huge heart, was with Joel cleaning out their garage the afternoon before her TV appearance when she received the Instagram message from his friend that turned her world on its head.

Joel came home early on Wednesday. He didnt look upset. He didnt look disturbed. His friend had seen the messages his girlfriend had sent him.

At 2pm on the Thursday, I got a message on Instagram saying: [The friend] wants to send you a message. I read it. It just said: Our partners are sleeping together, then four messages came through of screenshots of the text messages hed sent her.

I said: Youve been shagging. Im not mentioning her name. Im not giving her the publicity. He went as white as a ghost and said: No, no, youve got it wrong. I ran  Im telling you ran  out. I was screaming, calling him every name.

I got my keys and called my sister. She thought someone had died. I was shaking. I was in such a bad way. I thought I was going to collapse.

Francine dabs at her eye with her finger. Tears are never far away. Do you know, I was only saying a few weeks ago, Ive never had my heart broken? Some girlfriends were talking about heartbreak.

Francine concedes that their marriage wasnt always perfect and is trying to be fair. Id go upstairs, sit in my room and watch what he called my rubbish TV  the Kardashians'.

'I said: Ive never, ever experienced that. I hadnt  until now. She snorts a sort of little, bleak laugh.

Francine, 47, is, as she says, the impressionist, the funny girl who became something of a poster girl for women of a certain age when, after stepping back from a promising showbusiness career to be a full-time mother, she returned to the stage to win the semi-final of Britains Got Talent nine years ago.

She says her job is to make people laugh and rarely, if ever, speaks about her private life.

Talking about her unexpected revelation on GB News, she says: Because I was part of this campaign, I had told the story over and over and over again so I would just go through it but, as I was going through the motions, I could actually hear in my voice I wasnt speaking about my husband in a nice way.

My tone started to get angry  kind of blaming him. The anger grew and I suddenly wanted to tell everyone what had happened.

My mum begged me that morning not to do do the show because I hadnt slept all night. But Ive been in the industry since I was young. People now  young influencers and reality stars  will turn up late for jobs or cancel if theyre going through personal stuff, but Im a pro.

In hindsight, I shouldnt have done that appearance. I regret it for my children  my daughter  because shes found it very tough to deal with. Im sorry if I embarrassed them.

It was the wrong thing to do for my children  not for Joel.

Francine, a pretty, glossy-haired woman with the tiniest of waists and a huge heart, was with Joel cleaning out their garage the afternoon before her TV appearance (above) when she received the Instagram message from his friend that turned her world on its head

The star - who made the original claims live on Friday's GB News - discussed how her 'life changed in a split second' in a lengthy social media post

Her husband texted her the moment she finished the interview. He said: Ive watched it and Im gutted, she says. I just texted back: Well, Im devastated by what I had to see yesterday.

She pushes her hair over her shoulder as goodness knows how many conflicting emotions pass across her face. Im not going to blame myself for doing what I did. It was never intentional. After the show, everyone came and hugged me and just said: Oh my God, Im so sorry. We didnt know. Youre a trooper coming on today.

Then all the messages started coming in. I cant explain to you how thrilling it was to hear from people about their stories. They wanted to talk to me because I showed raw emotion.

A lot of people who have been through this will talk to the Press or whatever six months after the affair happened  once theyve worked through it or managed to reconcile.

Because of the emotion I showed, people were telling me things like when it happened to them they got arrested because they went crazy or they wanted to kill their partner  dreadful stories.

You have to understand when people have been betrayed, we do things through anger, shock and then think: Am I weird? Am I crazy? No youre not. Youre just hurting.

Francines mind skips direction for the umpteenth time during this emotionally taut interview.

One of the reasons Im doing this is because, although Ive said Joels cheated on me, I also want to clear his name, she says.

Hes been called a love rat  a cheating husband. Ive obviously had time to think and I dont feel thats entirely fair. Whether he and this woman have met or not, Ill never know. But it certainly wasnt a long-term affair and hes certainly never done it  to my knowledge  before this.

Francine concedes that their marriage wasnt always perfect and is trying to be fair. Id go upstairs, sit in my room and watch what he called my rubbish TV  the Kardashians.

He watches all these documentaries, she says.

Francine is staying with her cousin when we speak. She and Joel have been spending a few days each at the five-bedroom family home in Cuffley, Hertfordshire, with the children, but never together

You know what its like when youve got teenage kids. Things change. I think we were both changing. He became a lot more moody and opinionated and was spending more time on the phone. He wasnt the sweet, lovely husband Id had in the beginning, but we always had passion. I suppose we carried on like married couples do. We...

She stops mid-sentence and looks startled as something occurs to her.

Can you believe two weeks ago we were away on a mini Easter break? It was spontaneous and I love spontaneous.

Joel suddenly said: Lets just go away. Lets go tonight. We had three days away starting off in a beautiful spa hotel and ending up in Oxford. It was amazing. We had a real giggle. I remember saying to him the morning he went back to work: I dont want you to go.

I was just hugging him, saying: I had the best time. He said: I dont want to leave you either.

Id never have guessed that a few weeks earlier he was texting that woman. Her face hardens.

When I read the texts hed sent her [in March] I wanted to throw up. I dont want to reveal what was in them  thats not fair on my children  but lets just say they were enough for me to want to end my marriage. There was intimate conversation and there were also deleted texts from him so I can only imagine what was sent.

What I read wasnt a friendship, lets put it that way. I have no proof that anything ever happened between them, but the messages made me feel I could no longer trust this man. The wanting each other was there and that was enough for me to feel the betrayal and the hurt.

Theres nothing worse than seeing something in black and white, something... Again, her words are lost in tears.

When I got back to the house that day, I went straight upstairs. I was just distraught. He was sending me texts telling me how sorry he was and how much he loved me. I was crying. He was in a bad way too. I didnt want him to do anything stupid, so I sent my daughter down and said: Stay with Dad. Watch him through the night.

She did, bless her. My son stayed with me. I didnt sleep. I just cried all night. In the early hours he was telling me on text how much he loved me, how sorry he was and that I was his life. He said he knew how wrong he was. He owned it.

He was distraught. I wouldnt answer. The next morning he came to my dressing room to try to talk to me. I just couldnt look at him. I was holding my hands over my eyes.

Francine, 47, is, as she says, the impressionist, the funny girl who became something of a poster girl for women of a certain age when, after stepping back from a promising showbusiness career to be a full-time mother, she returned to the stage to win the semi-final of Britains Got Talent (above) nine years ago

She covers her face with her hands to demonstrate. When she removes them, her eyes flash with fury as I ask if shes confronted the woman involved.

I dont want to have anything to do with that woman, she says. I dont want to speak to her. I dont want to see her. Shes nothing to me.

What sort of woman does that? Its absolutely disgusting. I just think women like that have no shame. Its him Im really angry with and I have every right to feel that way. Im not a crazy woman or a woman who would go crazy over nothing.

Francine is staying with her cousin when we speak.

She and Joel have been spending a few days each at the five-bedroom family home in Cuffley, Hertfordshire, with the children, but never together.

The last time she returned there after a few days respite at a spa hotel with her son, he had filled the house with chocolates, flowers and little love notes.

That got me, she says.

For a minute, I forgot everything. I want to hug him  just wanted him to be there with me. I get moments like that a lot. I hate seeing him sad but, when I feel like that, I have to think: Fran, get back to reality. Thats what he was doing.

In the beginning, I wanted to see a lawyer and get a divorce. Now, Ive said to him Im willing to see a therapist with him.

First we need to sit down and talk this weekend. There are a lot of questions and a lot of things that need to be changed in our marriage. He needs to come off his phone. Weve got to make time for each other  date more. We lost the romance.

But then I start feeling very anxious because I cant bear the thought of living in the house with him. If he can lie about these things what else has he been lying about? The man I married was an honest, loving, sweet guy.

My disappointment with him is he should have said: Im not happy instead of doing this to me. In my heart I dont know if Ill ever love anyone like I loved him and I dont know how I would feel to see him with someone else.

But then Im now asking myself would I trust anyone ever again? Thats the big question. I dont know the answer. Its crazy. Crazy. How can your life change like this in a second? How?

Its a question women - and men - have asked themselves time and again. There is never an easy answer.
On Thursday, April 28, The New York Public Library hosted its 40th annual Library Lunch.

The elegant affair raises money to support the Librarys mission to inspire lifelong learning, advance knowledge, and strengthen communities.

New York notables, including actress Candice Bergen, American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Isabella Boylston, and The New Yorker's David Remnick gathered under the iconic glass dome of the Celeste Bartos Forum in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building for lunch and a program.

On Thursday, April 28, the New York Public Library hosted its 40th annual Library Lunch

New York notables, including actress Candice Bergen, ABT ballerina Isabella Boylston and The New Yorker's David Remnick gathered under the iconic glass dome of the Celeste Bartos Forum in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building for lunch and a program

The elegant affair raises money to support the Librarys mission to inspire lifelong learning, advance knowledge, and strengthen communities

The New York Public Library President & CEO Tony Marx spoke about The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, one of the Librarys renowned research libraries.

The library houses one of the world's most extensive research collections in the fields of theatre, film, dance, music, and recorded sound, as well as a wide array of circulating and reference materials, used by scholars, writers, artists and students every day.

The lunch raises critical funds for the world-renowned collections, ensuring that they remain freely available to all.

For many, access to the primary source materials and the great librarians and curators who steward them forever changes their work.

Marx called the branch, a lifeline for creative community here in New York.

The New York Public Library President & CEO Tony Marx (left) and Event Co-Chair and Benefactor of the Library for the Performing Arts Barbara Fleischman (right) spoke about the library's importance

Jennifer Schantz, Executive Director of the Library for the Performing Arts, took the stage sharing more about what the Library for the Performing Arts means to not only the creative community, but New York City as a whole

Jennifer Schantz, Executive Director of the Library for the Performing Arts, then took the stage sharing more about what the Library for the Performing Arts means to not only the creative community, but New York City as a whole.

Event Co-Chair and Benefactor of the Library for the Performing Arts Barbara Fleischman called the Library a 'unique and special institution.'

She spoke about the Librarys unique assortment of pieces ranging from Rodgers and Hammerstein, to Yo-Yo Ma, and Barbra Streisand.

Tables were dressed in printed tablecloths and decorated with books and lush centerpieces of colorful flowers

Tables were dressed in printed tablecloths and decorated with books and lush centerpieces of colorful flowers.

This years lunch was co-chaired by Abigail Baratta, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos, Barbara G. Fleischman, Louise Grunwald, Zibby Owens, Daisy Prince, David Remnick, Deborah Goodrich Royce and Nanar Yoseloff.

Iconic British luxury brand Asprey, a partner for over 10 years, generously sponsored the event, which has once again been presented with Literary Partner The New Yorker.

Lunch was followed by a captivating discussion focused on the performing arts, titled Back Onstage: Inspiration and Creation

The panel featured Grammy and Tony Award winner Andre De Shields, Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theatre Isabella Boylston, and Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award Winner Tony Kushner, in conversation with The New Yorker editor David Remnick

Lunch was followed by a captivating discussion focused on the performing arts, titled Back Onstage: Inspiration and Creation, featuring Grammy and Tony Award winner Andre De Shields, Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theatre Isabella Boylston, and Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award Winner Tony Kushner, in conversation with The New Yorker editor David Remnick.

The speakers opened up about how the pandemic affected each of them as it relates to their creative work with Andre De Shields noting of Broadways shutdown, 'the world of theater may exist inside those buildings, but my theater exists inside me,' he said.

Isabella spoke of the very successful Instagram Live dance class series she started to connect with her followers, alongside fellow American Ballet Theatre principal dancer (and her best friend) James Whiteside, while Kushner shared of the film work he kept busy with writing.

The discussion then explored how the pandemic has changed each individuals work and ended on a high note with each speaker sharing their interpretation of inspiration and how they get inspired.
Aldi Australia is set to release an affordable $49.99 smartwatch as part of the retailer's Special Buys catalogue on Wednesday, May 4, ahead of Mother's Day.

The device can track your steps, activity, heart rate, sleep and blood pressure in real time similar to gadgets that will often set you back hundreds of dollars.

Shoppers can also check the weather forecast, receive message and call notifications from their smartphones via Bluetooth, and control their music.

Aldi Australia is set to sell a remarkably affordable $49.99 smartwatch that will rival big tech brands such as Apple and Fitbit

The watch includes many of the features one would expect with regular trackers, including multi-sports tracking, and a wireless connection.

Aldi's smart watch is also water-resistant and designed to endure through strenuous physical exercise.

Available in assorted colours such as peach, blue, brown, and black, the smartwatch with colour display and touchscreen controls also comes with a magnetic charging base.

The gadget is part of the new collection from the chain's massive two-day sale.

The budget smart watch will hit shelves on Wednesday, May 4, as part of the retailer's Special Buys catalogue ahead of Mother's Day

Aldi is also is set to launch an ultra-affordable range of skincare and beauty buys including a lie of retinol products for under $10 in tandem with the coveted smart watch.

The new beauty range is part is Aldi's ever-growing award-winning Lacura line and will be available in stores from Saturday, May 7.

Skincare gurus will love the suite of retinol-infused products including a serum, eye cream and night cream that are all $9.99 each.

Aldi Australia is set to launch an budget line of beauty buys including a new range of retinol skincare products for under $10

The new beauty range is part is Aldi's ever-growing award-winning Lacura line and will be available in stores from Saturday, May 7

The retinol line is formulated a combination of active ingredients hyaluronic acid and niacinamide, the serums, night cream and eye cream work to leave skin smoother and firmer.

There is a $9.99 facial hair remover to remove any unwanted peach fuzz from the lip, chin and cheeks to leave your complexion smooth and providing perfect base for makeup.

For those wanting to rejuvenate their dull skin, enjoy a profession-grade facial at home with the $14.99 Brightening Boost Set for dry skin or Active Boost Set for dull skin that includes a cleansing cream foam, clarifying lotion, concentrated serum and a leave on mask.

There are two facial sets for $14.99 that includes a cleansing cream foam, clarifying lotion, concentrated serum and a leave on mask

Users have said the facial boxes have left their skin feeling moisturised, hydrated and glowing in just five days.

The Lacura beauty ultra glow lip balm is just $9.99 and will have your lips feeling fresh with a glossy finish.

There is also a range of makeup products included in the upcoming Special Buys sale like the Lacura Ultra Mascara comes in two varieties to lengthen and define or volumise for $8.99 each.

Among the deals is also a facial hair remover (pictured left), Lacura Multi Wonder cream (pictured middle) and ultra glow lip balm (pictured right) that are all $9.99

Some beauty buys are returning to Aldi shelves like the $14.99 Ultra-Glow Face Palette with four different shades that blend as highlighters, blushes, bronzers and eyeshadows.

To smooth and relieve dry skin and lock in moisture there's the versatile Lacura Multi Wonder cream for $9.99 is also back and can be used on the cheeks, hands, feet, legs, cracked heels and other dry parts of the body.

The affordable beauty range will be available as part of Aldi's Special Buys sale in stores and online.
If your smartphone runs out of battery quickly, crashes randomly or uses an unexplained high amount of mobile data, it could be affected by a virus without you knowing.

While Apple and Android devices are considered secure from harmful malware, hackers have found sneaky ways to infect your smartphone and an expert has revealed the signs to look out for and how to protect yourself.

Associate professor in Information and Communications Technology at Central Queensland University, Ritesh Chugh told The Conservation there was a 'decent chance' you've installed malware or spyware on your smartphone at some point without you even noticing.

Hackers have found sneaky ways to infect your smartphone with a virus so an expert has revealed the signs to look out for and how to protect yourself

A virus which is a type of malware can make its way onto our phone through clicking on links from spam text or email messages from an unknown sender.

It can then send spam messages to your contacts or personal information to hackers and even 'spy' on you by tracking your screen and keyboard activity or geographical location.

According to mobile security Zimperium, more than one fifth of mobile devices have been infected and four in ten globally are vulnerable to malware.

Professor Chugh reported it is not always easy to know whether your phone is infected but there are some tell-tale signs and abnormal behaviours to look out for.

Technology professor Ritesh Chugh said there are some tell-tale signs and abnormal behaviours to look out for including poor performance, crashing apps and overheating

If your device is slow with apps taking longer than usual to open or if you're getting unusual pop ups, it could have a virus.

Excessive battery drain could point to harmful malware working in the background as well as the phone overheating unexpectedly.

Malware can also lead to increased mobile data consumption and unexplained billing charges as a result of the virus 'chewing up' your data.

If you suspect your phone may be infected, Professor Chugh said there are some things Apple and Android users can do to to prevent further damage.

Top six signs your smart phone may be infected with a virus Poor performance, such as apps taking longer than usual to open, or crashing randomly Excessive battery drain (due to the malware constantly working in the background) Increased mobile data consumption Unexplained billing charges (which may include increased data usage charges as a result of the malware chewing up your data) Unusual pop-ups The device overheating unexpectedly Source: Ritesh Chugh/The Conversation Advertisement

Professor Chugh gave some helpful advice to protect your phone from viruses including only installing apps from authorised app stores, and keeping software up to date

Firstly, he recommended using a reliable and reputable anti-virus app to scan for infections like Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, McAfee or Norton.

For Android devices, clears the phone's storage and cache and for iPhones, clear the browsing history and website data.

Restart your phone enabling 'safe mode' if you have an Android which prevents any third party apps from operating and finally delete any strange or unfamiliar apps for your downloaded list.

As a last ditch effort you can also back up all your data and carry out a factory reset on your phone, resetting it to its original settings and eliminating any malware.

How to protect your smartphone from viruses Avoid clicking unusual pop-ups, or links in unusual text messages, social media posts or emails

Only install apps from authorised app stores, such as Google Play or Apples App Store

Avoid jailbreaking or modifying your phone

Check app permissions before installing, so youre aware of what the app will access (rather than blindly trusting it)

Back up your data regularly, and

Keep your phone software updated to the latest version (which will have the latest security patches). Source: Ritesh Chugh/The Conversation Advertisement

Professor Chugh gave some helpful advice to protect your phone from future viruses and security risks including only installing apps from authorised app stores, backing up data regularly, checking app permissions before installing and keeping software up to date.

He also said to avoid clicking on unusual pop ups or links in apps, spam texts, social media posts or emails and avoid modifying or 'jailbreaking' your phone.

'Jailbreaking' is when you download an unauthorised app or software onto your device that allows a third party full access to the operating system and all its features.
Australian women are debating the importance of having your own independent savings account even if you've pooled finances with your partner.

Most say it is 'necessary' to have your own financial independence in any relationship, while some say a relationship is an 'all in' agreement and share all their money.

In a post to popular Facebook group, She's on the Money, one member posed the question: 'What are everyone's thoughts on having a savings account for yourself even if you have a shared account with your partner?' with hundreds offering their two cents.

Should you have your own savings account in the relationship? Some women say it's 'necessary' whereas others are happy to pool their finances with their partner's

'I personally think it's crucial and super important for my financial independence and security, but am having trouble articulating why,' she wrote.

The penny-wise woman explained her partner earns much more than her and after experience with manipulative relationships she finds financial independence 'super important' for her 'safety and security'.

'I'm hesitant to join our accounts because I wouldn't be able to contribute the same or similar amount while also keeping some separate for myself outside of shared expenses and discretionary funds etc.,' she added.

Her post drew in a barrage of responses from thrifty women chiming in with why they think a separate savings account is 'necessary' and a 'great idea'.

A Facebook post drew in a barrage of responses from thrifty women chiming in with why they think a separate savings account is 'necessary' and a 'great idea'

Poll What is your financial arrangement with your partner? Everything is pooled Everything is separate We have shared and independent accounts What is your financial arrangement with your partner? Everything is pooled 12 votes

Everything is separate 4 votes

We have shared and independent accounts 20 votes Now share your opinion





'Women should always have a 'just in case' fund that nobody else can access or potentially even knows about. You just never know,' one person wrote.

'I've always been told to have 'running away money'. You can never predict the future, and I think having your own nest egg and financial independence is very important!' another commented.

Some said their money is completely merged with their spouse's and shared the ways they keep their joint finances on track.

'To me, marriage is about being 'all in' and a team. So my husband and I share everything. We also don't put limits on what we spend (although we discuss big purchases). We have kids so that plays a part as they are with our a doubt our biggest expenses,' one mum said.

'We're the same as this but with no kids. Everything is joined and we have no 'allowance' each or limit on spending. It's easy to track, everything is transparent, and it works for us!' a second responded.

Some said their money is completely merged with their spouse's and the ways they keep their joint finances on track

One commenter pointed out in a de facto relationship, where you and your partner are living together without marriage, all assets are pooled regardless of separate accounts.

'It's a good idea to keep it separate for security because then they can't withdraw your money, but beyond this, if you are de facto, everything either of you own forms part of the asset pool in a split, even if it's in individual names,' she explained.

'So just know, it doesn't really make too much of a difference for security/entitlement beyond the fact that they can't drain your bank account and run off with it.'

Another who had been through a separation herself agreed saying independent savings accounts 'mean nothing' if a de facto relationship breaks up.

'In a financial separation/settlement, all assets get included no matter who the accounts belong to or who has contributed to them,' she said.
A cattle farmer who was diagnosed with skin cancer twice before he was 24 years old is urging young Australians to be diligent with skin checks and warns 'no one is immune'.

At the age of 21, Joshua Murrell was enjoying the prime of his youth and as a result he felt 'bulletproof' with 'nothing to worry about'.

In March 2020 he was first diagnosed with malignant stage 3 melanoma after noticing a small 'blueish spot' on the back of his leg.

While he thought the diagnosis was simply a case of 'bad luck', he was diagnosed again 18 months later after two spots on his face seemed sinister to doctors.

'I guess I believed cancer only effected older people, not young people,' Josh, from Brisbane, told Daily Mail Australia.

At the age of 21, Joshua Murrell (pictured) was enjoying the prime of his youth and as a result he felt 'bulletproof' with 'nothing to worry about'. But as a result of not wearing sunscreen he was diagnosed with skin cancer twice before 24

'I guess I believed cancer only effected older people, not young people,' Josh, from Brisbane, told Daily Mail Australia (circled: the stage two melanoma)

The stage two melanoma was so small, few would think there was anything to worry about

The cancer was a direct result of sun exposure and lack of education about how to protect your skin, as Josh said he never wore sunscreen.

For work he would spend 12 hours in the sun everyday riding horses and would wear long pants, shirt and a wide brim hat - but it wasn't enough to combat against the harsh Australian sun.

And at first the doctor wasn't worried about the freckle on the back of his leg.

'My old boss's partner at the time suggested getting the mole checked out properly and the next day they removed it for a biopsy,' he said.

A couple days passed, then Josh was given the awful prognosis that would've concerned most, but he continued to live life normally.

'I just thought I was really unlucky and didn't think about it much,' he said.

Having previously experienced serious injuries playing rugby and riding horses, Josh wasn't worried about a little old freckle at first.

Having previously experienced serious injuries playing rugby and riding horses, Josh wasn't worried about a little old freckle

In 2020 doctors removed a stage three melanoma from Josh's leg, but it wasn't the wake up call he needed to understand how deadly sun exposure can be

But while he thought he wouldn't have to deal with skin cancer again, Josh felt frightened and went to get a skin check in October 2021 after noticing another spot on his leg.

'The doctor said the dot on my leg looked fine but they needed to take a closer look at the two on my face,' he said, adding: 'I was completely petrified and panicked.'

The doctor conducted a biopsy, leaving Josh red in the face from stress beforehand.

To the naked eye the two spots of concern look like regular freckles, but further testing determined one to benign and the other to be a stage two melanoma.

Josh said: 'The little freckle on my cheek was the one of concern but there was nothing extraordinary about it, and I can't recall how long both dots were there for.'

In October 2021, 18 months later, Josh was diagnosed with skin cancer again after doctors noticed two spots of concern. To the naked eye the dots like regular freckles (circled in blue), but further testing determined one to benign and the other to be a stage two melanoma

The following Tuesday in early November Josh was booked to have surgery to remove both spots and 2.5cm was removed from the right side of his face. 60 stitches were used (pictured)

The following Tuesday in early November Josh was booked to have surgery and 2.5cm was removed from the right side of his face.

He monitored his skin closely to prevent scarring and after a couple months he went back to the doctor for a check-up appointment.

Unfortunately the doctor said they'll need to do the surgery again because the amount they removed 'wasn't enough' to meet medical regulations.

'I couldn't believe it,' Josh said, adding: 'They basically needed to redo the surgery to remove more tissue.'

What are the signs of a skin cancer? There are three main types of skin cancer: melanoma (including nodular melanoma), basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Melanoma: Most deadly form of skin cancer and if left untreated, it can spread to other parts of the body. Appears as a new spot or an existing spot that changes in colour, size or shape. Basal cell carcinoma: Most common, least dangerous form of skin cancer. Red, pale or pearly in colour, appears as a lump or dry, scaly area. Grows slowly, usually on areas that are often exposed to the sun. Squamous cell carcinoma: A thickened, red scaly spot that may bleed easily, crust or ulcerate. Grows over some months, usually on areas often exposed to the sun. More likely to occur in people over 50 years of age. Advertisement

In January 2022 the surgery was conducted, leaving Josh worried about the scarring.

'No one wants scars on their face, it's more noticeable and people always ask questions about it,' he said.

Josh added the 'hardest part' of the entire process has been dealing with comments from others.

'Guys at the pub would say "What did the other guy look like?" then would say "You need to think of a better story than that" when I tell them what happened,' he said.

Josh added the 'hardest part' of the entire experience has been dealing with comments from others about his facial scars

Thankfully Josh didn't need chemotherapy treatments as the cancer didn't move elsewhere into his body.

Today he continues to have check-ups every three months and tells as many people as he can to get their skin checked.

'I assumed I'd have another [melanoma scare] at 50, but never thought I'd have the second 18 months later,' he said.

'I grew up in Canberra but didn't realise you can still get sunburnt even when it's not sunny.'

He's hopeful the facial scars will fade overtime and is grateful the cancers were 'caught in time'.
MailOnline readers were left disgusted yesterday after reading about a 34-year-old British vegan man who drinks his own, stale urine every day.

Now doctors are warning against an even more disgusting trend  consuming the urine of strangers.

Bottles of urine can be bought on online fetish sites for as little as 8, with sellers encouraging customers to drink it or 'make a pot of tea with it'.

Dr Zakariya Waqar-Uddin, a GP in west London, told MailOnline urine is a waste product that provides no benefits, so is removed from the body.

And drinking others' urine puts people at risk of catching any infections that they have, he said.

'The fetish market is getting more and more bizarre and trying to raise the ante in any way,' he said

Astonishingly, he fears the cost of living crisis could see more people selling their sample online. Dr Waqar-Uddin said soaring energy, food and fuel bills are forcing people to 'think outside of the box'.

Harry Matadeen's strange confession yesterday that he drinks month-old urine made international news, with coverage in papers in France, Spain, Hungary and even Brazil.

Describing himself as 'open-minded', Mr Matadeen explained how he began the bizarre habit in 2016 because he was 'desperate to heal' his mental health issues.

He said his urine, which he drinks 200ml of each day, left him feeling 'a new sense of peace, calm and determination' and cured him almost immediately.

Harry Matadeen (pictured), 34, from Hampshire, began drinking urine in the summer of 2016 because he was 'desperate to heal' his depression and 'open-minded' on how to do this

Doctors have today begged Britons to stop buying used condoms and tampons, bottles of urine (pictured) and tubs of faeces. Medics fear the revolting listings  which can go for as little as 8 a pop online  may only become more common amid the cost of living crisis

And Mr Matadeen  who sometimes cups his own stream and splashes it on his face  claimed it's the 'secret to eternal youth'.

Urine therapy is said to date back to the Bible. Historical documents suggest that the Aztecs disinfected wounds with it, while its supposed benefits are also mentioned in Indian and Chinese literature.

Fans of 'urophagia', a term used to describe the strange practice, include Madonna.

In 1945, John W. Armstrong, a British naturopath, published a book claiming drinking urine could cure all major illnesses.

However, there is no scientific proof of this.

Doctors acknowledge that drinking urine is usually harmless in small quantities and might be better than nothing in life-or-death situations.

But consuming your own urine can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and cause an electrolyte imbalance  which speeds up dehydration.

Dr Waqar-Uddin said: 'Drinking your own urine only exposes you to disease or infection you already have.

'But drinking the urine of others exposes you to infection that they have.'

Bacteria in other peoples' urine can cause gastrointestinal problems, such as salmonella and shigella, and other infections.

And drinking urine strains the kidneys, which cleanse the blood of toxins and transforms the waste - such as potassium and nitrogen - into urine.

Consuming urine means the kidneys have to work hard to filter out the waste again.

Dr Jeff Foster, a GP in Warwickshire, said: 'There are no known reported health benefits from either drinking or rubbing your own urine onto your body (or anyone else's urine).

'Orally, it is much worse  it can actually speed up the dehydration process and potentially introduce bacteria.

'Bottom line is if you would not eat or rub in your own faeces, then don't think applying the same principle with urine is any healthier.

'Waste products are waste for a reason.'

Pots of urine, sometimes described as 'sweet nectar', are also available for as little as 8.

One advert is decorated with a Highland Spring 500ml bottle containing a yellow-ish liquid.

It says: 'There's enough in this bottle to really enjoy yourself... pour it over your head, wash your face in it, drink it, sit and sniff it, gargle it, make yourself a pot of tea with it... the choice is yours.'

A separate post offered 30ml of urine in a vile, noting more could be requested but it would cost extra.

Another offers 'freshly produced urine' that are 'made to order and will be posted first class'.
Shortages of a popular HRT gel causing misery for thousands of women will not be sorted until June, its maker confirmed today.

Supplies of Oestrogel  manufactured by Besins Healthcare UK  have been short since early this year, which has left the most desperate patients rationing their prescriptions or turning to the black market.

The number of women seeking the rub-on treatment, which works by enabling the hormone oestrogen to be absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin, has rocketed to around 30,000, double the amount a year ago.

Besins said it is aiming to meet growing demand  but will not be able to do so until June at the earliest.

It means thousands of women could be left struggling to access treatment in the meantime, seeing the debilitating symptoms of the menopause return.

The Government tonight put a three-month limit on prescriptions for Oestrogel, as well as two other popular HRT medications, in an attempt to ration the drugs.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said of the move: 'I want to reassure women I have listened to their concerns and will not hesitate to take decisive action to ensure they can access the HRT they need.

'We will leave no stone unturned in our national mission to boost supply of HRT  and this next step will ensure women across the UK will be able to reliably access this vital medication and maintain this lifeline for millions who need it.'

It comes after it emerged some women have been forced to take time off work to scour the country for pharmacies stocking their prescriptions, while others have travelled abroad where it is available over the counter.

Desperate women have even resorted to meeting in car parks to swap medication, with concerns supply may not be sorted until June at the earliest.

Oestrogel  manufacture by Besins Healthcare UK  is in short supply, fuelling the current crisis in medication needed to treat menopause symptoms

There were about 512,000 NHS prescriptions written for 'female sex hormones and their modulators' in England in February, the latest official data shows, compared to 265,000 in March 2017. Many of these will be HRT medications but some may include other female hormone drugs such as contraceptives

A Besins Healthcare UK said: 'Currently we are supplying double the quantity supplied at this time last year.

'The target is to meet demand, including the increase in the average quantity per prescription and growing demand, in June 2022.

'Besins Healthcare UK work with wholesalers on an ongoing basis to ensure an equitable distribution across the UK distribution network.'

Who is the new HRT tsar? Madeleine McTernan has been appointed the new head of the Government's HRT Taskforce. Ms McTernan is a former investment banker, working as the managing director at Credit Suisse. She holds a law degree from the University of Cambridge and worked for Lehman Brothers prior to her 10 years at Credit Suisse. She joined UK Government Investments (UKGI)  a company owned by the Government that manages a portfolio of 17 businesses, including NatWest Group, Channel 4 and Urenco Group  in 2017. Ministers appointed her director general of the Vaccines Taskforce in December 2020, where she was in charge of procuring jabs. She was honoured by the Queen in December for her success in the role, being made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. The Department for Health and Social Care said Ms McTernan will use her knowledge from supplying vaccines to help address the HRT shortage. Advertisement

As well as Oestrogel, Ovestin cream and Premique low dose tablets are also being rationed to three months per person.

Women who have a prescription for more than three months will not have to pay an additional prescription charge.

This means women will not incur any additional costs. Imposing a three month limit will mean more women are able to access the medication they want. Any woman who is worried about access to HRT or is unable to access HRT should speak to her GP.

The shortages have been caused by a huge increase in demand for HRT medications as women and GPs become increasingly aware of the excruciating and wide-ranging symptoms of the menopause.

Labour and campaigners have accused the Government of 'bad planning', in failing to scale up orders to match demand.

But ministers have blamed Covid-related global supply issues.

The British Menopause Society has advised medics to consider alternative HRT preparations for women who cannot get their usual stock of Oestrogel, including the gel Sandrena or the spray Lenzetto.

Other forms of HRT have also suffered a shortage as demand outstrips supply.

Overall, nearly 538,000 prescriptions for HRT treatment were issued in December, compared with 238,000 in January 2017.

Reena Barai, a pharmacist in Sutton, London, and member of the National Pharmacy Association, called on the Government to empower chemists to offer different drugs to what they have been prescribed.

Currently, patients need to get their GP's permission to get alternative medications, which can take days.

Ms Barai said allowing pharmacists to amend HRT prescriptions would be a 'game changer'.

Some women have been reluctant to take alternative medications because of their side effects.

No10 has stepped up its approach to the crisis by appointing one of the women responsible for securing Covid vaccines for the UK.

Madelaine McTernan (pictured) has been appointed the new HRT tsar and will spearhead efforts to deal with shortages of the medicine.

Women are risking 'serious side effects' in turning to black market for HRT Desperate women are putting themselves at risk of 'serious side effects' trying to source HRT on the black market amid an NHS shortage, Britain's top GP has warned. Surging demand and supply issues have left many struggling to access hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs that soothe symptoms of the menopause. The most desperate women have resorted to swapping drugs in car parks, buying from strangers online and even rationing their prescription. Professor Martin Marshall, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, said he appreciated the distress it was causing but urged women not to mix and match prescriptions. He told The Guardian: 'The college is concerned to see supply issues around the provision of HRT, and we understand the distress this is causing to so many women. 'It is really important that this is resolved as quickly as possible.' Professor Marshall added: 'While we appreciate the seriousness of the current situation and the frustrations women are experiencing, we urge them not to share HRT medication as this could lead to serious side effects.' HRT side effects  which usually pass within weeks of starting a new drug  include breast tenderness, headaches, nausea and vaginal bleeding. Some effects can be unbearable and lead to women to abandoning the drugs, which relieve the tell-tale symptoms of the menopause. Prescriptions have doubled in just five years as women and GPs become increasingly aware of the excruciating and wide-ranging symptoms of the menopause. Advertisement

Madelaine McTernan has been put in charge of fixing supply issues and will spearhead efforts to deal with shortages of the medicine.

She was director general of the heavily praised Vaccine Taskforce, credited for the success of Britain's Covid jab rollout.

Now, she will turn her hand to helping thousands of menopausal women struggling to get HRT, mostly due to problems with supplies of a popular oestrogen gel.

Ms Barai told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think the Government needs to look at the supply. It needs to look at the demand.

'And, as pharmacists, we're actually asking for the ability to make minor changes to a prescription to a suitable alternative when something is out of stock.

'That would be a game changer for pharmacists and for our patients as well.

'And, also, often we're not able to share medicines with each other, with other pharmacies, and if we were able to do that as well we'd really save lots of precious GP time that's wasted in issuing alternative prescriptions.'

Ms Barai also said it 'absolutely makes sense' that Ms McTernan has been appointed to lead a new HRT taskforce.

She added: 'Somebody needs to get a grip on this situation and co-ordinate the response.

'I think the Government needs to look at the supply, it needs to look at the demand, and as pharmacists we're actually asking for the ability to make minor changes to a prescription to a suitable alternative when something is out of stock.

'That would be a game changer for pharmacists and for our patients as well.

'And also often we're not able to share medicines with each other, with other pharmacies, and if we were able to do that as well we'd really save lots of precious GP time that's wasted in issuing alternative prescriptions.'

Asked if the process could be speeded up, she said: 'Absolutely.

'It would be really useful for us to be able to do that and support our patients, because we undeservedly get the brunt of people's frustration in these difficult circumstances.'

Other members of the Vaccine Taskforce have also been drafted in to tackle the HRT crisis, as the Government redoubles its efforts to ensure women can get hold of the medication.

Announcing Ms McTernan's new role, Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: 'I understand how much women rely on HRT which is why we will leave no stone unturned to help make sure women can get the HRT they need.

'Madelaine McTernan will use her excellent skills and expertise to build on the success of the Vaccine Taskforce to bolster supply of vital medicines to women across the country.'

The HRT taskforce will be responsible for working with suppliers to find out what can be done to reduce shortages in the short and long term.

Miss McTernan, a Cambridge law graduate who went on to work in investment banking, will remain director general of the Vaccine Taskforce but be primarily focused on HRT supply for the foreseeable future.

'We will apply the key learnings from the successful way the Vaccine Taskforce have procured life-saving vaccines during the pandemic to help ensure women have reliable ongoing access to these critical medicines,' she said.
Visiting bans for patients stuck in hospital and care home residents are illegal, Tory MPs claimed today.

They warned that an 'over-interpretation of testing guidelines is leading to isolation, neglect and abuse of vulnerable residents'.

Writing in a letter published in a newspaper today, senior Conservatives  including former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith  said denying visitation is 'inhumane and cruel'.

NHS guidelines were updated in March to allow two visitors 'for at least one hour per day and ideally for longer'.

However, hospitals including Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, West Sussex, have maintained limited visitation to one per day 'for a maximum of one hour'.

No10 amended strict rules on care home visits in England on January 31, ditching all limits on the number visitors in homes. Blanket quarantine periods for homes were also cut from 28 to 14 days.

But the industry's regulator, the Care Quality Commission, in February revealed that it had received complaints about access at 189 care services, including blanket bans on visiting at dozens of homes.

MPs claim Article 8 of the Human Rights Act and the Mental Capacity Act 'could and should have protected against this situation arising'.

NHS guidelines were changed in March to allow two visitors at a bedside table, 'for at least one hour per day and ideally for longer'. However, hospitals including Queen Victoria Hospital (pictured) in East Grinstead, West Sussex, limit visits to one per day 'for a maximum of one hour'

Yeovil Hospital still limits visits to just one person at a time, with a maximum of one hour stays

Hospitals including St Batholomew's in London still encourage A&E patients 'not to bring someone with them unless absolutely necessary'

What are the NHS guidelines for hospital visits? Visiting should be accommodated for at least one hour per day and ideally for longer. Visiting policies also need to reflect that Covid is in general circulation. The health, safety, mental health and wellbeing of our patients, communities and staff remain the priority. Number of visitors at the bedside: Two visitors

Patients may be accompanied where appropriate and necessary to assist their communication and/or to meet their health, care, emotional, religious, or spiritual care needs These principles should also be applied in outpatient and diagnostic service settings and the emergency department where the patient may wish/need to be accompanied by somebody important to them. No patient should have to attend on their own unless it is their personal choice. Advertisement

Writing in the letter, sent to the Daily Telegraph, the signatories claimed visitation is a 'crucial and fundamental right'.

They said: 'To deny this right is inhumane and cruel.

'Unsurprisingly, isolation and loss of social contact has a devastating impact on physical and psychological health.

'Without the support of family and friends, health outcomes are poorer as patients and residents lose hope, sometimes even losing the will to live, often refusing treatment.

'Campaigners are also warning of widespread and shocking safeguarding issues involving medication, hydration, hygiene and lack of basic care.'

The letter's signatories also include former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost and ex-housing minister Esther McVey.

Labour's Emma Lewell Buck and Graham Stringer, as well as DUP MP Sammy Wilson, gave the letter cross-party support.

Dozens of hospitals still have routine visits suspended, according to the newspaper, with the majority of hospitals having some limits in place.

These include having one named visitor per patient or only allowing entry for 30 minutes.

Yeovil Hospital still limits visits to just one person at a time, with a maximum of one-hour stays.

And hospitals including St Batholomew's in London still encourage A&E patients 'not to bring someone with them unless absolutely necessary'.

NHS guidelines state 'no patient should have to attend on their own unless it is their personal choice'.

The health service says: 'It is important to recognise the contribution that visiting makes to the wellbeing and the person-centred care of patients; lack of access to visitors causes distress to them and their families.'

The letter also claims hospitals and care homes that refuse visitors are 'failing' the most vulnerable members of society.

Ms McVey said she is 'troubled' by the current situation, adding she will write to the Health Secretary Sajid Javid to make it 'absolutely clear' family members should be able to see their loved ones.

NHS England said: 'In line with the latest guidance, NHS Trusts should facilitate patient visits and measures should already be in place for this to be done safely.'
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently filed a lawsuit against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for $3 million over allegedly failing to disclose offshore accounts.

The lawsuit, which authorities filed on Thursday, accused Manafort of "willful failure to timely report his financial interest in foreign bank accounts." They argued that he failed to report more than 20 offshore accounts between 2006 and 2014.

Paul Manafort's Offshore Accounts

Furthermore, prosecutors alleged that the former Trump campaign chairman failed to file the necessary reports of foreign bank and financial accounts in 2013 and 2014. Officials from the DOJ said that Manafort's firm at the time, DMP International, had income directly deposited into accounts in Cyprus, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines, as well as the United Kingdom.

Authorities filed the lawsuit against Manafort in West Palm Beach, Florida, and came after he was previously sentenced to more than seven years in prison in 2018. At the time, he was given tax and bank fraud charges but former President Donald Trump pardoned him in December 2020, as per The Hill.

In a statement, Manafort's attorney, Jeffrey Neiman, said that the civil lawsuit sought a money judgment against his client for simply failing to file a tax form. He said that the former Trump campaign chairman was fully aware that the federal government was only filing the suit because he tried to resolve the civil matter for months now.

Read Also: New York Teen Who Killed Bronx Student While on Probation on Charges of Armed Robbery Freed Again

The DOJ's lawsuit against Manafort notes that the Treasury Department had sent the official notice of its assessment of the penalties in July of 2020. His former charges stemmed from former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

According to ABC News, prosecutors allegedly argue that former President Trump's pardon of Manafort encompasses his failure to file Foreign Bank Account reports in 2013 and 2014. The accused briefly ran the Republican businessman's campaign in 2016 before he was ousted amid questions about his consulting work for Ukrainian political figures that made him millions of dollars.

Money Laundering Charges

Manafort pleaded guilty to money laundering and obstruction after he was convicted by a jury of using foreign accounts to hide the proceeds of his Ukrainian consulting. He is known to have been a successful GOP consultant for several years, working on the presidential campaigns of various high-profile individuals, including Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office obtained a grand jury indictment in 2019 against Manafort on fraud charges that echoed the federal case. The situation came amid concerns that Trump was planning to pardon his former adviser, which he later did. A New York State judge threw out the case and said that it violated state laws against double jeopardy, the Washington Post reported.

The situation is only one of many financial and legal controversies that former President Trump is facing ahead of the midterm elections. One of which is the legal battle that is haunting the Trump Organization for allegedly making fraudulent valuations of its assets to incur smaller taxes, Yahoo News reported.



Related Article: Joe Biden Appoints Nina Jankowicz as New Disinformation Board Head Who Allegedly Spreads Lie on Hunter Biden's Laptop

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Another 34 British children have been struck down by an unusual form of hepatitis sweeping the world.

Health bosses are now probing 145 cases of liver inflammation in youngsters where the cause remains a mystery.

Of these cases, 108 are in England, 17 are in Scotland, 11 are in Wales and nine are in Northern Ireland.

Ten youngsters have needed a liver transplant but no deaths have been reported in the UK.

None of the cases tested positive for normal hepatitis-causing viruses, which has left scientists puzzled about the origins of the disease.

Top experts fear health chiefs won't understand what's behind the peculiar pattern  which has been sickened 200 children worldwide since March  for months.

Globally, one child has died. Another fatality in the US is being probed.

Professor Alastair Sutcliffe, a leading paediatrician at University College London, told MailOnline health chiefs may not know the cause until later this summer.

A common virus which normally causes the common cold, known as adenovirus, is thought to be involved.

But there are a number of theories about why the normally harmless virus is causing critical illness in young, previously-healthy children.

More than 200 children have been sickened by the condition across the world in up to 14 countries since last October *cases in Canada, Japan and Wisconsin, Illinois and New York are still yet to be confirmed

The UK Health Security Agency today said its findings still suggest adenovirus may be behind the sudden onset hepatitis cases.

Most of the cases have been among under-fives but 'small number' of children over the age of 10 are also being investigated, the UKHSA said.

The affected children initially suffered from diarrhoea and nausea, followed by jaundice  yellowing of the skin and whites of eyes.

But the UKHSA said it is not typical to see this pattern of symptoms in adenovirus, so it is still probing other causes, including Covid itself.

It also noted that lockdowns may have weakened the immunity of children and left them more susceptible to the virus, or it may be a mutated version of adenovirus.

The agency is working with scientists and doctors across the country to 'answer these questions as quickly as possible'.

Experts are also investigating whether a new variant of coronavirus is responsible or if it could be a case of a previous or concurrent Covid infection.

Dr Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at UKHSA, said parents may be concerned but the likelihood of their child developing hepatitis is 'extremely low'.

'However, we continue to remind parents to be alert to the signs of hepatitis  particularly jaundice, which is easiest to spot as a yellow tinge in the whites of the eyes  and contact your doctor if you are concerned,' she said.

Dr Chand added: 'Normal hygiene measures including thorough handwashing and making sure children wash their hands properly, help to reduce the spread of many common infections.

'As always, children experiencing symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea should stay at home and not return to school or nursery until 48 hours after the symptoms have stopped.'

Hepatitis is usually rare in children, but experts have already spotted more cases in the UK since January than they would normally expect in a year.

Cases are of an 'unknown origin' and are also severe, according to the World Health Organization.

There are 27 suspected and confirmed cases in the US, with seven announced in California yesterday. One child's death in Wisconsin is being probed by officials.

Scientists have previously suggested cases could be just the 'tip of the iceberg', with more likely to be out there than have been spotted so far.

But Professor Sutcliffe said: 'With modern methods, informatics, advanced computing, real time PCR and whole genome screening, I would think finding the cause with some reasonable reliability will take three months.'

Professor Sutcliffe said discovering the cause could be slowed by red tape across international boundaries, with difficulties in transporting biomaterials across countries.

Parental consent, data protection and laws regulating the use of human tissue in the UK could all act to slow research, he said.

Searching for an unknown cause is especially hard because cases may have multiple factors behind them that are not consistent across all illnesses.

Professor Deirdre Kelly, a paediatric hepatologist at the University of Birmingham, also told MailOnline it will take months to find a cause.

She said: '[These are] complex investigations, which take time.'

UK health officials have ruled out the Covid vaccine as a possible cause, with none of the ill British children having been vaccinated because of their young age.

Covid lockdowns may be behind the mysterious spate of hepatitis cases in children because they reduced social mixing and weakened their immunity, experts claim

Liver experts described the spate of cases as 'concerning' but said parents should not worry about the illness affecting their children.

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) official said the disease was 'quite rare' but judged the risk to children as 'high' because of the potential impact.

The risk for European children cannot be accurately assessed as the evidence for transmission between humans was unclear and cases in the European Union were 'sporadic with an unclear trend', it said.

But given the unknown causes of the disease and the potential severity of the illness caused, the ECDC said the outbreak 'constitutes a public health event of concern'.

The surge in hepatitis cases was first recorded in Scotland on March 31, with one child in January being hospitalised with the condition.

The Scottish case was dated back to January.

At least one child has died of the mysterious disease so far, according to the World Health Organization.

Wisconsin is the only US state to report a suspected child death from hepatitis. If confirmed, it will be the second in the world.

State officials confirmed to the DailyMail.com that the child had developed the disease after being infected with the adenovirus.

Most of the infected children were under 10 and many were under the age of five. None had other underlying health conditions.

The agency recommended improving surveillance and hygiene practices to stop the spread of cases.
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Covid cases in America are continuing to grow, rebounding after months of declines coming off of the massive winter Omicron-surge. Like the surge this winter, deaths have remained low despite a rise in cases, showing the decreasing danger the virus poses as more mild strains continue to circulate.

The nation is currently averaging 60,251 Covid cases every day, a 52 percent jump over the past week - and the first time the 60,000 mark was reached since March 1. In the time since then, daily cases continued to plummet down to 30,000 per day, where the figure sat for weeks in mid-April.

Deaths from the virus are at one of their lowest points during the pandemic, even as cases begin to sharply rise once more. The nation is averaging 327 deaths from the virus every day at the moment, a ten percent drop over the past week - maintaining the least deadly period of the pandemic since August 2021.

Despite the overall mortality of the virus having faltered in recent months, U.S. regulators are still pushing to expand vaccine eligibility to include children aged six months to five years old, and to even open up fourth doses to all Americans.

Covid cases have more than doubled over the past two weeks in eight U.S. states, with the cases even tripling in West Virginia.

These case rises are largely attributable to the BA.2 'stealth' variant, a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant that erupted over the winter.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that the strain makes up 68 percent of Covid cases in the U.S.

Another version of the variant is beginning to emerge as well. Two weeks ago, the CDC began to officially track the new BA.2.12.1 strain - a sub-variant of the 'stealth' variant.

It first emerged in New York earlier this month, before becoming the dominant strain in the region, and spreading across much of the rest of the country. The strain makes up 28 percent of total cases in America.

The rate of COVID-19 deaths in New York City, the hardest struck city in the world by the virus, has shrunk to only two per day, as the virus recedes in America and a majority of the population heads towards a return to 'normal'.

In New York, where around 90 percent of the adult population has received one shot of the vaccine, life has largely returned to normal, even as some official attempt to keep Covid guidelines in place.

The Big Apple is one of the shrinking list of cities in the U.S. to still have some Covid related mandates in place, with travelers still required to mask in airports, on the subway and on local busses. Just across the Hudson river, in New Jersey, travelers are not required to do so.

'I think right now, is a good time to give people the choice about how they may want to protect themselves,' Cedric Alam, a Newark resident who travels into Manhattan every other day and regularly flies out of JFK, told DailyMail.com earlier this month.

'If people think they should wear a mask, then they should go right ahead and wear one, while people who think they will be fine without one should have the freedom to travel bare faced.'

Some key health experts are instead saying the Covid is basically over, though. Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert said Tuesday night that the pandemic phase of the virus was over.

'If you're saying, are we out of the pandemic phase in this country, we are. What we hope to do, I don't believe  and I have spoken about this widely  we're not going to eradicate this virus. If we can keep that level very low, and intermittently vaccinate people  and I don't know how often that would have to be,' he said.

'That might be every year, that might be longer, in order to keep that level low. But, right now, we are not in the pandemic phase in this country. Pandemic means a widespread, throughout the world, infection that spreads rapidly among people.

'If you look at the global situation, there's no doubt this pandemic is still ongoing.'

He then backtracked on his statements the next night.

'We certainly can't say the pandemic is over. It is not over,' he told CBS News on Wednesday.

Experts at the World Health Organization (WHO), which have been among the more cautious voices during the pandemic so far are still issuing dire warnings, though.

'[Rolling back of Covid surveillance] makes us increasingly blind to patterns of transmission and evolution. But this virus won't go away just because countries stop looking for it. It's still spreading, it's still changing, and it's still killing,' Ghebreyesus said.

Across America, and in some parts of Europe, Covid testing and tracking has been significantly scaled back as officials move to divert funding that went into pandemic related efforts elsewhere.

In the U.S., funding used to cover the costs of free testing for many Americans has been pulled. Hospital treatment for the virus is no longer covered by the federal government either. Cuts to testing have been so severe that some experts warn over 90 percent of cases may be going undetected in the U.S.

'The threat of a dangerous new variant remains very real  and although deaths are declining, we still don't understand the long-term consequences of infection in those who survive,' Ghebreyesus continued.

'When it comes to a deadly virus, ignorance is not bliss. WHO continues to call on all countries to maintain surveillance.'
Lead concentrations allowed in children's fruit juices are to be slashed to up to a fifth of currently permitted levels, under plans from the Food and Drug Administration.

In draft guidance revealed this week, the agency said apple juice should not contain more than 10 parts per billion (ppb) of the heavy metal while orange juice and others should be below 20 ppb.

More than half of popular fruit juices already contain virtually no lead, testing shows, with barely a handful having more than 5 ppb. They are currently allowed to contain up to 50 ppb.

Consumer watchdogs blasted the proposal as 'weak' and said they gave 'credit for work already done instead of protecting public health'.

Lead residues can end up in fruit juices from previous industrial processes or old pesticides, with lead-based ones regularly being sprayed on orchards until the 1950s. Some of the heavy metal is also naturally occurring.

Children exposed to high concentrations may develop learning disabilities, behavioral disorders and have a lowered IQ, the FDA says.

The FDA has revealed guidance slashed the currently permitted lead levels in children's fruit juice to barely a fifth of the currently permitted levels (stock image)

The FDA published the guidance this week as a draft, and said it was waiting for comments from industry before making it final.

It is part of the agency's Closer to Zero strategy, which aims to reduce levels of toxic elements including lead, arsenic and others in the food supply.

But watchdog Consumer Reports was quick to slam the proposals for not going far enough.

What are the health risks from lead? Lead is poisonous to humans when ingested in large amounts. But experts warn that repeated exposure to it at low levels can also put people at risk, because it builds up in the body. For children, lead can trigger learning disabilities, behavioral difficulties and a lowered IQ. In adults it can also spark kidney problems and high blood pressure. Source: FDA Advertisement

'These proposed levels seem weak, especially when you consider a significant majority of the industry is already meeting them,' Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, said in a statement.

'These action levels seem to give credit for work already done instead of attempting to protect public health.'

Tom Neltner, Chemicals policy director at the Environmental Defense Fund  which was behind getting pesticide DDT banned nationally  said: 'They should be setting higher standards.

'This is closer to zero, but it is only a baby step closer to protecting babies.'

Consumer Reports tested 45 popular fruit juices for lead alongside other heavy metals in 2019.

But it found more than half had less than 1 ppb of the heavy metal, and only two had average levels higher than 5 ppb.

Current guidelines for lead levels are already stricter for bottled water manufacturers, who are told not to put more than 5 ppb in their products.

Lead is poisonous to humans at high concentrations, and can affect people of any age or health status, the FDA says.

But experts warn even repeated low-level exposure can be hazardous, because the heavy metal can build up in someone's body over time.

In children, it can trigger learning disabilities, behavioral difficulties and a lowered IQ studies suggest.

But in adults it can lead to kidney problems, high blood pressure and also neurological issues.

FDA commissioner Robert Califf said: 'Exposure of our most vulnerable populations, especially children, to elevated levels of toxic elements from foods is unacceptable.

'This action to limit lead in juice represents an important step forward in advancing FDA's Closer to Zero action plan.

'We are confident it will have a lasting public health impact on current and future generations.'
Washington is now seeing its biggest tuberculosis outbreak in two decades after a spate of cases in its prison system.

Department of Health officials have detected 17 cases at 'several' facilities so far, including Stafford Creek Corrections Center about 100 miles outside Seattle.

Further testing is being carried out on staff and inmates, with disease experts warning more cases could be spotted in the coming days.

Washington has detected 70 tuberculosis (TB) cases so far this year. In 2021 it recorded 199, which was up 22 per cent on the previous year.

TB is spread through coughs and sneezes similar to Covid, but unlike the pandemic virus infected people must be near others for around eight hours to pass it on.

Treatment can take up to six months to complete, and normally involves giving a patient several different antibiotics.

Washington state has spotted 17 cases so far at 'several' facilities including Stafford Creek Corrections (pictured), about 100 miles outside Seattle

Dr Marc Stern, an infectious diseases expert at Washington University who used to work in prisons, told DailyMail.com the cases gave him 'goosebumps'.

'Not only are you worried about people who have the infection, but once one person has it there is always a risk others do too,' he said.

He warned the cases may have entered the prisons if an inmate had a dormant infection which then became active, or if someone was incarcerated after travelling from abroad.

What is Tuberculosis? Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection spread between people by coughing and sneezing. The infection usually affects the lungs but the bacteria can cause problems in any part of the body, including the abdomen, glands, bones and the nervous system. TB infection causes symptoms like fever, coughing, night sweats, weight loss, tiredness and fatigue, a loss of appetite and swellings in the neck. If the immune system fails to contain TB bacteria the infection can take weeks or months to take hold and produce symptoms, and if it is left untreated it can be fatal. TB is most common in less developed countries in Sub-Saharan and west Africa, southeast Asia, Russia, China and South America. Source: NHS Advertisement

Asked whether there could be more cases, he said this was likely because the investigation was ongoing.

The virus can lie dormant for years, but can be re-activated if someone becomes immune-compromised. It is unlikely that stress can trigger this.

Stern suggested it was unlikely the cases in the prison would spill into the community because of testing requirements.

'Typically, in the jail or prison before somebody is sent back to the community there is some kind of examination to make sure the re-entry is safe and organized,' he said.

'In the course of that, hopefully, if someone were coughing you'd suspect they might have an infection and catch it before they are released.'

Inmates are routinely swabbed for diseases such as tuberculosis before they are admitted, although this can sometimes miss cases.

Dr Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, the chief science officer in Washington, said: 'It's been 20 years since we saw a cluster of TB cases like this.

'The pandemic has likely contributed to the rise in cases and the outbreak in at least one correctional facility.

'Increased access to TB testing and treatment in the community is going to be key to getting TB under control.'

The U.S. has seen its TB cases decline since the early 1990s, with the latest data for 2020 showing infections hit a record low of 7,174 nationally.

But health chiefs in Washington say their state is bucking the trend, with cases there rising last year compared to the previous 12-month period.

People who catch the disease tend not to experience symptoms for at least a week.

But later they may start suffering from a fever, coughing, night sweats, weight loss, tiredness, fatigue, a loss of appetite and swelling in the neck.

The disease mainly attacks the lungs, and in those who do not seek treatment it can progress into a severe illness.

Between seven and 35 percent of people who catch TB die globally, says research published in peer-reviewed journal BMC infectious diseases.
All of the nine children that were diagnosed with 'mysterious hepatitis' in Alabama in October and November 2021 tested positive for the adenovirus, and none had COVID-19, a new reporter from the CDC reveals.

The report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday afternoon, gives the most detailed look yet at the nine case that started what has since become a global outbreak of hepatitis.

All cases tied to the outbreak have been a rare form of the liver disease, not caused by the usual suspects, Hepatitis A, B or C. Instead many suspected either COVID-19 or the adenovirus was behind the infection.

Now, the CDC has revealed that all nine children tested positive for the adenovirus and negative for Covid. The agency also reports that seven of the nine children were female, and fine were two years old or younger.

Some experts had initially speculated that COVID-19 could be at the heart of the recent global hepatitis outbreak, for which there are 20 confirmed or suspected U.S. cases and over 100 worldwide.

Cases first emerged earlier this month, being detected scattered across Europe and in Alabama.

These are not typical cases of the liver disease, though with experts perplexed by how exactly they are emerging, since the usual causes have been confirmed not to have been the cause.

Dr Kathryn Smith (pictured), a pediatric transplant hepatologist at Johns Hopkins University, told DailyMail.com that the adenovirus is not yet confirmed to be the cause of this hepatitis outbreak, and warns that the virus is not very rare

The CDC reports that this batch of cases was detected in October and November 2021 at children's hospitals in Alabama.

There is no geographical link between the cases, with the children all coming from different parts of the state. The agency did not give specifics as to what part of the state the children were from.

All were eventually treated within the Children's of Alabama health system. Two required liver transplants and fully recovered, and none of the patients died.

While the CDC did not give specific ages for each of the patients, it did reveal that five of them were two years old or younger, one was either three or four years old and three were aged five or six.

Six of the children were Hispanic-white, while the other three were non-Hispanic-white.

Investigators revealed that the most common symptoms were vomiting and diarrhea, with more than half of the children suffering a fever as well.

After a further physical examination eight of the nine children were discovered to be suffering from scleral icterus, where the whites of the eyes turn yellow.

Six others also were found to be suffering from jaundice, where the skin and whites of the eyes turn yellow.

Each was also given a PCR test to determine if they had any viral infections - general considered to be the cause of the liver disease developing.

All nine were confirmed to have the adenovirus, while none had Covid, effectively ending speculation that the virus that caused a global pandemic over the past two years is directly responsible.

Wisconsin health officials also told DailyMail.com this week that the four cases detected in the midwestern state - including the lone death that has occurred from hepatitis so far - were also caused by the adenovirus.

The adenovirus is generally paired with a common cold, though it can develop into more serious conditions like pneumonia in severe infections.

All of the pediatric hepatitis patients in Alabama were found to have the adenovirus, while none had COVID-19 (file photo)

Dr Kathryn Smith, a pediatric transplant hepatologist at Johns Hopkins University, told DailyMail.com that the adenovirus may not quite be the cause, though.

She notes that the virus could just coincidentally have been found in the cases, and because it was not found in the actual liver tissue of any cases so far it is possible that it is not the culprit.

'[Adenovirus] is common, people get it often and usually presents with diarrhea vomiting something as it can present with, you know, respiratory symptoms,' she said.

'But generally, it's it's pretty you know, common in the community, but it generally doesn't cause this kind of dramatic presentation.'
Children who are just six months old could be eligible for their first Covid vaccine by June amid pressure from some parents and the left-wing media  but many experts doubt shots are needed for this age group.

Dr Peter Marks  a top jabs adviser at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  pledged Friday not to take any more time than is needed to approve the jabs.

Moderna applied for two doses of its vaccine to be given to children between six months and five years old on Thursday. Pfizer is expected to make the same request for three doses of its jab in the coming weeks.

If its request is approved, it will make America the first country in the world to offer jabs to children below two years old.

But many experts have already said jabs are not needed for the age group, pointing out they face the lowest risk from an infection with the virus.

Children are at a vanishingly low risk of death from the virus, with a total of 1,017 dying from Covid since March 2020, official data shows  accounting for around 0.01 per cent of America's almost a million deaths from the virus. For comparison, among people aged 65 and over the death toll is 724million.

More than three in four children under 12 years have also already caught Covid and now have antibodies against the virus, national surveillance suggests.

Moderna yesterday applied for its shot to be approved for use in those aged six months to five years. The FDA is coming under rising pressure to green-light shots for children, but some experts have warned against jabbing children pointing out they are at lowest risk from Covid

Dr Peter Marks, (left) from the FDA, promised not to delay approving rolling out jabs to children. Dr Michael Kurilla, (right) is one of the few members of the National Institutes of Health to have refused to approve jabs for children aged five to 11 years in October

The above graph shows the proportion of 5 to 11-year-olds, which can get Pfizer's vaccine, which have got one or two doses of the vaccine. It is currently up to 28 per cent being double-jabbed, despite the shots being available to the age group since October

The above graph shows the proportion of 12 to 17-year-olds that have got a booster jab against Covid. It is just under a quarter, at 24.5 per cent

No Covid vaccines have yet been made available for America's 18 million children aged five years and younger.

Cuba has been vaccinating children as young as two years since October, while both Chile and China are offering jabs to everyone over the age of three years.

Covid booster shots might not be needed every year, experts say Covid booster vaccines might not be needed every year because protection against severe infection is holding up 'pretty well,' top scientists say. Dr. Paul Offit, from the FDA's jabs advisory panel, warned Tuesday that the U.S. was in danger of sleep-walking into an annual Covid vaccination drive, like with the flu, without considering whether the top-up shots were actually needed. Other top scientists also raised concerns over extra boosters, saying the added doses would likely only give limited protection against infection with the virus. He told Stat News at a recent FDA panel meeting 'the only question was what were we going to boost with, not whether we were going to boost'. He added: 'We didn't define what the goal of this extra shot was.' Dr John Wherry, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania, also called for officials to look at the data carefully before approving annual boosters. He said: 'The efficacy data that I've seen from the CDC meeting and lots of other data really shows that our protection from severe disease is holding up pretty well.' Advertisement

Marks told the Washington Post today: 'We are not going to delay things unnecessarily here.

'We would anticipate June authorizations for one or more of the pediatric vaccinations.'

Moderna is expected to file a 'full package' of information allowing it to get emergency use authorization in the second week of May.

The FDA will then hold meetings with its outside advisers on June 8, 21 and 22 to consider the request.

The mRNA vaccine is already available to everyone 18 years old and above in the U.S. and has been administered to 216 million.

Pfizer's jab was approved for people aged 12 to 15 years old in May, and then five to 11 year olds in October.

But CDC statistics show just over 28 percent of five to 11-year-olds are now fully vaccinated.

Among 12 to 17-year-olds almost 60 percent have got two doses.

A booster jab with Pfizer's shot was also approved for 12 to 17-year-olds in January.

But only a quarter of children and adolescents in this age group have also got the top-up dose so far.

Some parents are clamoring for Covid jabs to be approved for their kids amid mounting Covid cases and as almost all restrictions  including face masks  are dropped.

Left-wing publications have also been lobbying for the age group to be jabbed.

CNN published a story just today titled 'Should parents finally celebrate that there may be a vaccine for young children?'.

Others pushing for the move include The New York Times which printed a story on the issue last month that began, 'for American parents, particularly those with young children, the last couple of months have been dizzying and beyond frustrating'.

But a number of experts have raised concerns over vaccinating children, who face a small risk of becoming seriously ill with Covid and a vanishingly small chance of death.

There are also fears over myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation detected in about one in 20,000 boys following vaccination. Girls are less at risk from the complication.

While in most cases the condition is mild, scientists are not yet sure of the long-term effects.

Earlier this year vaccines expert Dr Michael Kurilla, who is also a director at the National Institutes of Health, was one of its few members to refuse to approve jabs for kids five to 11 in October.

He told DailyMail.com at the time that while he thinks children with certain conditions that put them at a high risk should receive the shot, it was not clear if they should be approved for healthy children.

Experts have also railed against booster doses for children  which Pfizer is expected to apply for among under-12s.

Dr Monica Ghandi, an infectious diseases expert at California University, San Francisco, said: 'The fact that 75 percent of our children and adolescents in the U.S. have now been exposed to Covid and have evidence of [antibodies] is further evidence that booster shots are not needed for this population.'

Ghandi has previously said she did not plan to get either of her 12 and 14-year-olds sons the booster dose because the risks 'outweigh' the benefits.

The FDA's promise today to approve shots quickly follows on from reports suggesting it would not review Moderna's application until it also had Pfizer's.

It suggested regulators may be uneasy about authorizing a shot that could be 'less effective' when another was only a few weeks away.

Dr Marks told the Post that if the vaccines are ready within a week of each other he might present their applications for consideration on consecutive days.

But if there is a longer time lag, he said he would hold separate meetings with advisers.

None region in the U.S. has more than 45 per cent of its five to 11-year-olds fully-vaccinated against Covid.

More than 150 million Covid vaccines are currently sitting in storage or have been thrown away since the roll out began, data suggests.
THE MIDNIGHT HOUR by Elly Griffiths (Quercus 8.99, 368pp)

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR

by Elly Griffiths (Quercus 8.99, 368pp)

Sunday afternoon, thinks former music hall star Verity Malone, is a blameless time of day  a time for snoozing  which is exactly what her husband, the theatrical impresario Bert Billington, is doing, asleep in his armchair in their Brighton home.

In fact, Bert is not dozing, but dead. He was 90 years old, so his death is not altogether unexpected, but a pathologists report finds it was rat poison that finished him off.

When police start looking into the case, alongside private detectives Emma Holmes and Sam Collins, their investigation turns up shocking details of Berts past, and a throng of people with reasons to want him dead, starting with Verity.

The sixth novel in Elly Griffithss bestselling Brighton Mysteries series is an intricately plotted whodunnit.

STRONGER by Gareth Thomas (Ebury Press 10.99, 336pp)

STRONGER

by Gareth Thomas (Ebury Press 10.99, 336pp)

When the former Wales rugby international Gareth Thomas was diagnosed with HIV, he felt that his world had completely ended. Although he immediately began taking drugs to control the virus, he didnt tell anyone close to him of his diagnosis for several years.

His mental state deteriorated further when a blackmailer told the Press. His parents eventually learned that he had HIV from a journalist, but that moment proved a turning point.

Having come out once, as a gay man, Gareth decided to come out for a second time, as HIV-positive.

His inspiring memoir records the challenges he has faced, particularly since his diagnosis, when he completed the gruelling Ironman Wales triathlon.

It ends with a celebration of the joy of being an everyday person, surrounded by the love of family, friends and his husband.

SILVERVIEW by John Le Carre (Penguin 8.99, 224pp)

SILVERVIEW

by John Le Carre (Penguin 8.99, 224pp)

John Le Carres 26th novel , published after his death in 2020, is set in a small seaside town in East Anglia where 33-year-old Julian Lawndsley has recently renounced a high-flying City career for the quieter occupation of running a bookshop.

It is not long before Julian meets Edward Avon, an old book-lover who lives in a house named Silverview. Edward claims to have been at school with Julians father, a disgraced vicar, but his past life seems rich in mystery. He is married to Deborah, a former intelligence agent, and it is not long before he asks Julian to deliver a letter to an enigmatic young woman.

Meanwhile, a spy chief in London is investigating the source of a leak, whose origins seem to lead him to Julians town.

Le Carres gem-like masterwork is a posthumous treat for his many fans.
FIRST BORN by Will Dean (Hodder 16.99, 384pp)

FIRST BORN

by Will Dean (Hodder 16.99, 384pp)

Ever since the East Midlands-born Dean went to live in the middle of a Swedish elk forest, he has become a better and better thriller writer.

Here he excels himself, improving on even his own high standards.

Identical twins Molly and Katie could not be more different. Molly is the shy, risk averse one living timidly in London, while Katie is the gregarious one who has gone to live in New York to experience life in the fast lane. But they still speak every day.

Then Molly hears Katie has died and rushes to New York to find out what happened and to comfort her parents who were visiting her sister.

It emerges that Katie has been murdered, and Mollys life is transformed. But then comes the first of a series of twists that raise this story into the Patricia Highsmith class. The talented Mr Ripley would have enjoyed every moment of its tortuous plot. There is no higher praise.

CITY ON FIRE by Don Winslow (HarperCollins 20, 384pp)

CITY ON FIRE

by Don Winslow (HarperCollins 20, 384pp)

The year is 1986. Danny Ryan is a 29-year-old longshoreman in Providence, Rhode Island, trying to live his life quietly as a good husband and loyal friend.

But he is also muscle for the Irish crime syndicate that rules part of the city, while their Italian competitors are itching to take over their businesses and territory.

Enter a modern-day Helen of Troy, a spectacularly beautiful young woman, on the arm of one of the Italian crew. But then she changes sides and hooks up with one of the Irish, and so a contemporary version of The Iliad begins and a Trojan war develops, with Danny caught at the heart of it.

This is The Godfather for our times, brutal, ferocious and yet steeped in family values  where blood is always thicker than water. It is the first book in an epic trilogy focused on Danny, who finds himself forced to become the new Michael Corleone.

This is spellbinding storytelling, with an emotional beating heart  unforgettable.

TELL ME YOUR LIES by Kate Ruby (Simon & Schuster 8.99, 400pp)

TELL ME YOUR LIES

by Kate Ruby (Simon & Schuster 8.99, 400pp)

Three quite different women lie at the heart of this modern tragedy  an impressive debut from one of British televisions most successful producers and screenwriters.

Lily is the perfect mother of her adult children, married to a successful property developer. But her daughter Rachel, now just turning 30 and a once high-flying civil servant, is battling an addiction to drugs and alcohol that is threatening to send her over the edge.

In despair, Lily turns to a well-known therapist, Amber, to help her daughter cope with her demons. But this leads to unexpected consequences as Amber slyly coaxes Rachel away from her mother and brings her under her own magical spell.

Still struggling to make sense of her life, Rachel is unsure which way to turn as secrets from the familys past slowly leak into the light of day.

Based in part on the true story of a manipulative therapist, it is a parable for our times: accomplished, eloquent and quite terrifying.
HSBC is facing calls from its biggest investor to split the bank into two.

Chinese insurance giant Ping An, which has an 8 per cent stake, has told executives it wants to see the bank spin off its Asian business into a separate entity listed on the Hong Kong stock market.

The rupture with Ping An marks a worsening of HSBC's geopolitical woes, with the bank increasingly torn between China and the West.

Right strategy? Boss Noel Quinn and HSBC's Hong Kong headquarters

Ping An, which has its headquarters in Shenzhen and is part-owned by the Chinese government, argues that a separate business would be able to generate bigger profits.

It believes HSBC, which is led by chairman Mark Tucker and chief executive Noel Quinn, is being held back by its Europe business and as a result shares have lagged over the past five years, down 24 per cent over the period.

But Tucker has rebuffed calls for a break-up, saying yesterday at HSBC's annual meeting that he was happy with the group's strategy and performance.

But he is under increasing pressure as about 65 per cent of profits come from Asia, compared to just 20 per cent from Europe.

The bank has controversially sided with China over the past couple of years. HSBC came under heavy criticism in 2020 from British politicians when it backed Hong Kong's controversial national security law that led to widespread protests in 2019.

It also froze the accounts of democracy activists protesting against China's crackdown on freedom of expression in Hong Kong. Ping An has reportedly told HSBC that this balancing act would be harder, with China's failure to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine cited as a factor that would increase tensions.

'HSBC has found itself in a situation where it's stuck between a rock and a hard place, trying to please the East and the West at the same time,' said Gary Greenwood, at broker Shore Capital.

He added: 'The reason for HSBC maintaining its current global structure is that it's a global bank but if globalisation is in reverse the logic is less obvious. The bank has also been moving senior executives to Asia, although the CEO has yet to move.'

A second top-10 shareholder told the Financial Times that Ping An's proposal was a 'pretty interesting idea', adding: 'For HSBC, it's existential. They are not in a tenable structure. You wouldn't create this institution from scratch.'

Breaking up the bank would follow the Prudential playbook. The insurance group split its Asian unit from UK operations in 2019, but kept its listing in London.

The new businesses, Prudential, M&G and Jackson National, are collectively worth 4billion more than they were as one entity.

HSBC said it had a 'regular programme of engagement with all our investors' and that it believed it had 'the right strategy' and was 'focused on executing it'.
With British Airways in crisis, its parent company faces an uphill battle to restore its tarnished reputation after years of falling popularity.

The flag carrier's owner, International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), will on Friday report results for the first three months of the year.

The update comes as Covid absences and staff shortages wreak havoc on airlines, leading to mass cancellations of flights. BA has been hit particularly hard and cancelled more than 1,500 flights in April.

Its boss Sean Doyle last week met Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and revealed BA was 'pro-actively' axing even more flights ahead of summer.

Shares are languishing around two-thirds below where they were before Covid ground the business to a halt. They closed the week at 143.96p per share, a long way short of 480p highs of 2018.

Analysts wonder how much the travel chaos will have hit sales and profits, and will be looking for indications of when it will return to profits.

They expect the airline, which also owns Aer Lingus and Iberia, to report a loss of 423million for the first three months.

Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates said: 'Profits had been expected to make an arrival in the second quarter, and hopefully that's still the case.

'Summer months are crucial for airlines, and that's especially the case for IAG, which has been especially punished by the pandemic thanks to its long-haul focus. All eyes will be on the outlook statement.'
Beijing authorities have imposed a strict "entry only, no exit" rule outside of a residential complex amid growing discontent over the region's stringent lockdowns aimed to curb the spread of the recent COVID-19 outbreak.

China has shown few signs of loosening its zero-COVID strategy as the nation continues to struggle against its worst outbreak in the last two years. Many businesses have already started operating again in Shanghai and the northern parts of the region.

China's COVID-19 Situation

But the country's capital temporarily closed on Friday a large luxury mall and non-essential businesses in one area to control the rising number of infections. The cases stem from the highly transmissible Omicron variant that has dominated several nations.

At a meeting on Friday, China's top leaders said that COVID and Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine have made the challenges even more difficult. The state media added that the factors caused great uncertainties for the domestic economy, as per CNBC.

Fenced-in residents in China's financial hub started to protest against the lockdown and difficulties in obtaining provisions. People could be seen banging on pots and pans in the evenings in a show of discontent.

Read Also: China, Xi Jinping Reveal Plan To Save Crashing Economy Amid COVID-19 Lockdowns

One video that was shared on social media, which was not immediately verified to be authentic, showed one woman warning a group of people not to do so, saying that such gestures were being encouraged by "outsiders." The Shanghai government did not immediately reply to requests for comments regarding the situation.

According to Reuters, Beijing authorities were in a race against time to detect COVID-19 cases and immediately isolate people who have been exposed to them. A 51-year-old Polish resident, Joanna Szklarska, was ordered into quarantine at a hotel as a close contact. However, she refused to share the room with her neighbor because it only had one bed.

Growing Discontent for Lockdowns

Authorities sent her back home and they installed a front door alarm before she was later called back into the hotel and given a room of her own. In a phone interview, the English-language consultant said that nothing was making sense with what Chinese officials were doing.

Shanghai has become the center of the latest outbreak, recording upwards of 15,000 new cases of the coronavirus every day. Authorities have imposed the city-wide lockdown for several weeks now, confining roughly 25 million residents to their homes or neighborhoods.

Beijing, on the other hand, has launched mass testing exercises and opted to temporarily shut down schools, and imposed targeted lockdowns on some residential buildings. The efforts were made in an attempt to rein in the spread of the disease. However, the decision has only sparked outrage among residents.

China's zero-COVID strategy involves lockdowns, mass testing, quarantines, and border closures to contain the spread of the deadly virus. But with the arrival of the Omicron variant, the sustainability of the policy has been put into question. This is because the new strain has been spreading to various cities in the region much faster than the government is able to handle, causing widespread fear and panic, CNN reported.



Related Article: COVID-19 Cases in China: Beijing Reveals 'Grim' Situation Amid Several Outbreaks

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A former ABC journalist, ex-Labor member and Wallabies legend are among the 22 'independent' election candidates being funded by a millionaire climate change warrior in the hope of bringing down Scott Morrison.

So far 19 Lower House and three Senate candidates have been supported by clean energy investor Simon Holmes a Court through his fundraising body Climate 200 which aims to raise $20million.

They include former ABC reporter Zoe Daniel in Goldstein, ex-Labor member Monique Ryan in Kooyong and former Wallabies number eight David Pocock who wants to represent the ACT in the Senate.

Former ABC journalist Zoe Daniel (pictured with Grace Tame) is running against Liberal MP Tim Wilson in Goldstein in Melbourne. He holds the seat on a margin of eight per cent

Former Labor member Dr Monique Ryan (pictured) is challenging Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in Kooyong, a seat he holds on a six per cent margin

The election hopefuls - who could decide whether Anthony Albanese or Mr Morrison become PM in the event of a hung parliament - are running against Coalition opponents with a focus on climate change, women's safety and integrity in politics.

In particular, they want more ambitious emissions reduction targets and a federal integrity commission 'with teeth' that can hold public hearings to probe rorts.

Not a single one is running in a Labor-held seat, sparking accusations they are merely 'fake independents' trying to boot out the Coalition.

Former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard described the candidates - who are 19 women and three men - as 'anti-Liberal groupies' and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Wednesday said they are 'acting as a political party' to oust the Coalition.

Mr Frydenberg holds his seat of Kooyong on a six per cent margin but is facing a serious challenge from neurologist Dr Ryan.

She left Labor in 2010, disappointed by Kevin Rudd's lack of action on climate change - but Mr Frydenberg has unearthed a series of Facebook posts in which she expressed support for the ALP, including one proclaiming her love for Julia Gillard.

'I still love her even if no-one else does,' she captioned a picture of the former Labor PM in 2013.

Former Wallabies number eight David Pocock (pictured) wants to represent the ACT in the Senate

Warringah MP Zali Steggall (pictured) is campaigning for re-election with a seven per cent margin. She has declared she will back a Coalition Government if Scott Morrison resigns

The independent candidates, who are mostly fighting for Liberal seats in capital cities - have mostly not declared who they will support in the event of a hung parliament but their values more closely align with Labor's policies.

The exceptions are sitting MPs Zali Steggall in Warringah who will back a Coalition Government if Scott Morrison resigns and Rebekha Sharkie in Mayo who is likely to support the current PM.

They are a slogan and a billboard and nothing more Josh Frydenberg on independents

Mr Frydenberg said the independents were refusing to be honest with the Australian public because they will lose if they admit to backing the ALP.

'They will say they are campaigning on transparency but... they will not reveal how they will vote,' he said, accusing them of hypocrisy.

The Treasurer also slammed the independents for lacking policies on tax, infrastructure and defence.

'They have no costings. It's the vibe of the thing. They are a slogan and a billboard and nothing more,' he said.

His stinging critique came after Wentworth independent candidate Allegra Spender, the daughter of late fashion designer Carla Zampatti and former Liberal MP John Spender, last week admitted she would be open to supporting a Labor Government.

Clean energy investor Simon Holmes a Court (right with Seven weatherman Bob Gell) set up a fundraising body called Climate 200 to raise huge sums for pro-climate candidates

Allegra Spender (in blue), the daughter of late fashion designer Carla Zampatti and former Liberal MP John Spender, is running for the Liberal seat of Wentworth held by Dave Sharma with a one per cent margin

Sitting MP Dave Sharma - who holds Wentworth on a one per cent margin - has urged voters to stick with the Liberal Party, claiming independents have limited influence on policy.

Other blue-ribbon Sydney seats under attack include North Sydney where businesswoman Kylea Tink is challenging Trent Zimmerman and Mackellar on the northern beaches where Jason Falinski is under pressure from local doctor Sophie Scamps.

Mr Falinksi says independent candidates are left wing and has pointed to independent Warringah MP Zali Steggall's voting record to show she is closer to Labor than the Liberals.

In Melbourne Mr Holmes a Court is backing local councillor Despi O'Connor in retiring Greg Hunt's seat of Flinders as well as Ms Daniel and Dr Ryan.

Who is Simon Holmes a Court? Simon Holmes a Court is a senior advisor to the Climate and Energy College at Melbourne University and director of the Smart Energy Council. He was the founding chairman of Australia's first community-owned wind farm, Hepburn Wind, and is one of four children of Robert Holmes a Court and his wife Janet. Robert was born in Johannesburg in 1937 and moved to Perth to study law in 1961. After working as barrister and solicitor, he built a business empire made up of companies in the resources, transport, media and beverage industries. He died of a heart attack aged 53 in 1990, leaving his fortune to wife Janet and his children. Robert's eldest son Peter Holmes a Court is a multimillionaire entrepreneur who once owned the South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL team with Russell Crowe. Advertisement

Indi MP Helen Haines (pictured) is being supported by Climate 200 to hold her seat of Indi in regional Victoria on a margin of one per cent

Rebekha Sharkie (pictured) is being supported by Climate 200 to hold her seat of Mayo in Adelaide on a margin of five per cent

Mr Holmes a Court describes himself as a 'Menzian Liberal' who believes in free markets and individual responsibility - but feels the Coalition has lost touch with these values.

Asked why he doesn't fund independents against Labor or the Greens, Mr Holmes a Court said he hasn't seen any good candidates for those seats.

'These campaigns come out of frustration and it's not surprising that people are frustrated with the party that's in power,' he said earlier this year.

Mr Holmes a Court is a senior advisor to the Climate and Energy College at Melbourne University and director of the Smart Energy Council.

He was the founding chairman of Australia's first community-owned wind farm, Hepburn Wind, and is one of four children of billionaire Robert Holmes a Court and his wife Janet.

Climate 200 hopes independents will hold the balance of power after the election.

'If just a handful more fresh independents succeed at the next federal election, together they could have enough votes to finally force meaningful climate action and clean up politics,' the group's website says.
William Tyrrell's foster parents will proceed to trial on charges of assaulting and stalking a child after it was revealed that police have a 'large amount of surveillance device material' and up to ten prosecution witnesses.

Sydney's Hornsby Local Court heard on Friday that the little boy lost's foster mother will apply to have her charges heard under the Mental Health Act, while the foster father will not.

The charges include stalking and intimidation offences against the foster parents which date from earlier this year. They relate to another child who is not William.

Police prosecutors today were criticised for not having a brief ready yet on a 'serious' charge of child assault which detectives laid against both the foster mother and father last November.

The foster mother's lawyer Sharon Ramsden told the court she had not yet been able to get a mental health assessment appointment for the 57-year-old, which will determine if she qualifies to be judged as mentally impaired.

The foster father's lawyer Lauren MacDougall told the court she would not be pursuing a mental health application on his behalf.

Both foster parents will present just one witness each to defend the charges.

The foster couple were facing court for the first time on charges of stalking the same child who police allege they assaulted last year, along with Apprehended Violence Orders taken out by police for the child against the parents.

The foster father is accused of one count of stalking and intimidation intending fear of physical harm against a child, while the foster mother faces two charges.

Police allege the assault against the child, whose identity cannot be revealed for legal reasons, occurred last year.

The identities of the foster parents - well-educated professionals in their 50s who live in a comfortable suburb on Sydney's north shore - can also not be publicly revealed.

William Tyrrell's foster mother, 57, and her husband did not appear in person in Hornsby Local Court on Friday where they were listed for charges of stalking and assaulting a child

Three-year-old William Tyrrell (pictured) disappeared from the NSW mid-North Coast town of Kendall, in September 2014. No one has been charged over his apparent abduction

The new charges came as the NSW Police Force continues to focus on what happened to William, who vanished from his grandparent's home in Kendall, NSW, on September 12, 2014.

The foster parents had been charged with assault and intimidation of a child and with lying to the NSW Crime Commission last November.

The stalking charges followed former NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller naming the foster mother as a 'person of interest' in the toddler's disappearance.

Tyrrell's foster mother (above) and her husband have now been charged with stalking or intimidating a child they were accused of assaulting last year

The shift in the focus in trying to solve Australia's biggest unsolved murder mystery occurred after Strike Force Rosann head Gary Jubelin was replaced by Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw.

Although police did not formally interview the foster father until six days after William disappeared, Mr Jubelin conducted separate gruelling three-hour interviews with them in 2017, three years after the toddler vanished.

Mr Jubelin later said he had 'confidence' they were not involved.

in 2019, two years after those interviews, the foster parents testified before the NSW Coroner's inquest into the missing boy.

The focus of the inquiry was on a Kendall neighbour who has since been discounted as a person of interest and on convicted paedophiles of the NSW mid-north coast.

The foster mother gave evidence over two days, while the foster father gave shorter testimony of about an hour.

The foster mother's lawyer, high-profile Sydney solicitor Sharon Ramsden, told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday her client would likely plead not guilty to the stalking charge.

Ms Ramsden said the woman would also plead not guilty to another charge of falsifying information to the NSW Crime Commission, just weeks after her husband was laid with the same charge.

The 57-year-old was issued with a court attendance notice by NSW Homicide detectives, and has been ordered to appear at the Downing Centre on May 24.

The charges of stalking and intimidation intending fear of physical or mental harm are domestic related, according to court documents.

William Tyrrell's foster father (above) has been hit with a single charge of stalk and intimidate and will face Hornsby Local Court later this month

The foster parents did not appear in person on Friday at Hornsby Local Court (above) where for the first time the charges of stalking and assault against the same child were listed together

While the investigation into the toddler's 2014 disappearance continues, the couple held a fire sale of children's bikes, car seats, prams, furniture and industrial equipment with items ranging between $5 and several thousand.

It was only revealed last month that William's foster father had been charged in January with two counts of 'knowingly providing false and misleading evidence'.

The charges only came to light because of a revision of non-publication orders surrounding the case.

The foster father, who police claim 'lied about something we can prove', gave the allegedly false evidence to the NSW Crime Commission late last year, and it is understood the foster mother also testified around the same time.

William's foster father (pictured in December 2021) was charged in January this year with two counts of 'knowingly provide false and misleading evidence'

On the second day of the search for William's remains at a dig site in the NSW Mid North Coast town of Kendall, the boys foster mother was declared a person of interest in his disappearance

Details of the evidence provided to the NSW Crime Commission by the foster father which police claim is false and misleading are unavailable.

The foster father has entered pleas of not guilty to both charges.

He testified for up to two hours after being secretly summonsed to appear at the Crime Commission's Surry Hills headquarters on November 11.

This was four days before NSW Police launched a surprise 'high intensity' search of bushland around 800m from the house where William had been staying with his foster parents when he vanished seven years ago.

On the second day of the search for William's remains at a dig site in Kendall, the boys foster mother was declared a person of interest in his disappearance.

NSW Police launched a surprise 'high intensity' search of bushland around 800m from the house where William had been staying when he vanished seven years ago

Last month, William's foster mother was charged with another count of common assault of a child, which also does not relate to William, and her lawyer has indicated she will plead not guilty.

William had been placed with the couple in March 2012 as a foster child in the care of the then state minister for family and community services until he was 18 years old.

William was driven to the Kendall home of his foster grandmother on Friday, September 11, 2014 and was last seen playing on the verandah of the house on the Saturday morning.

A widespread search in the surrounding area failed to find any trace of him.

William was driven to the Kendall home of his foster grandmother on Friday, September 11, 2014 and was last seen playing on the verandah (pictured) on the Saturday morning

Last November, a new and extensive search for William's remains at Kendall began and continued for four weeks.

Police, SES and rural fire workers along with detectives from Strike Force Rosann spent four weeks late last year digging up a section of forest less than a kilometre from the house where William vanished.

Combing bushland and digging with excavators, police searched along Batar Creek Road, Kendall for William's remains and scraps from the SpiderMan suit he was last seen wearing.

The foster mother denied any involvement in William's disappearance and no charges have ever been laid against any person.
Advertisement

He was the Harry Potter of his day, and had a red-headed friend to boot.

Although the first story featuring schoolboy William Brown was published in a magazine in 1919, it was the release of author Richmal Crompton's first book about the 11-year-old schoolboy that sparked a phenomenon.

Just William, which was published in 1922, began a series of 38 books that Crompton, a former school teacher, continued writing until 1968, a year before she passed away aged 78.

Its title became synonymous with synonymous with the overall series and by the time of Crompton's death, the tales of William's escapades with his friends Henry, Ginger and Douglas had sold more than nine million copies. Now, that figure stands at 12million.

As fans this year mark the 100th anniversary of Crompton's first book, the story of Just William's impact on the literary world and society has been told in a BBC radio documentary that airs on Sunday.

Narrated by comedy writer Edward Rowett, the programme hears from actor Martin Jarvis, whose voice became known to millions of fans after he began reading the Just William books on the radio in the 1970s.

Speaking of Crompton, Mr Jarvis, 80, said: 'I think she was a genius. I think her sense of comedy which was in her and her observation of people and character was just immense.

'And what I think was remarkable was that she poured her genius into this character called William Brown. Because William Brown is a genius.'

He was the Harry Potter of his day, and had a red-headed friend to boot. Although the first story featuring schoolboy William Brown was published in a magazine in 1919, it was the release of author Richmal Crompton's first book about the 11-year-old schoolboy that sparked a phenomenon. Above: The cover of the first book; the image of Crompton that featured on the cover of her biography

Born Richmal Lamburn in Bury in 1890, Crompton was the daughter of a curate and the middle of three children. After studying Classics at London's Royal Holloway, she moved into teaching.

Her first tale featuring William came in 1919, with a story in the then popular Home Magazine called 'Rice Mould Pudding'.

It told the story of William's mission to steal a cream blancmange and deliver it to the girl next door who was fed up of rice pudding.

It saw him get locked in a larder with the family cat, before he escaped and found that, rather than stealing a blancmange, he had taken a nearly inedible rice pudding.

As well as delighting children of all ages, the tale left parents in fits of laughter.

Part of the enduring appeal of Crompton's initial tale and the subsequent books was William's refusal to bend to rules set by adults. His run-ins with his nemesis Violet Elizabeth Bott were also a regular feature.

When she wrote the first William story, Crompton was a popular classics teacher at Bromley High School for Girls in Kent.

She used the pseudonym of Crompton because there was then an unwritten rule that teachers should not have a second job.

But the tales' growing success meant she needed to tell the school's headmistress what she had been up to. To her surprise, her boss told her that she already knew, and instead congratulated her.

The Just William stories have also been adapted for television and film. The BBC's 2010 TV series starred Daniel Roche - who had previously starred in hit show Outnumbered - as William

Just William was first read out on the radio in 1946. Above: Crompton is seen reading one of her stories alongside her brother John Lamburn (left) and original William voice actor John Clark (right)

Martin Jarvis's voice became known to millions of fans after he began reading the Just William books on the radio in the 1970s. He also read them on the BBC in the 1990s. Pictured: Jarvis in 2001

Because Crompton was unmarried and had no children, it has long been a matter of debate about who provided the inspiration for William. Some, including her niece, believed it was her nephew Tommy.

Speaking on Women's Hour in 1968 about the origin of William, Crompton said: 'Well I was writing magazine stories and I happened to write one about a small boy, a group of small boys.

'And I remember when I got to five I thought "I really must stop these children and start another lot of children'" because there was no thought then of them being published in book form.

'They were just ephemeral magazine stories. However, he gradually took over the whole show.'

As well has her tales of William and the Outlaws, Crompton also published 40 novels and 12 collections of short stories. During one particularly prolific period, she published six books in one year.

At its peak, the Just William serial featuring Mr Jarvis's voice attracted 18 million listeners. The series has also been adapted for television and film.

The BBC's 2010 TV series starred Daniel Roche - who had previously starred in hit show Outnumbered - as William.

Overall, 38 Just William books were published. The above, William - The Showman, was the 19th in the series

Actor Oliver Rokison portrayed William in a 1990s television series. The series continues to be popular with children and adults

Dennis Waterman plays the young rebel, William, in a 1975 TV adaption of the much-loved book series

The books were originally written for adults and Crompton believed that this fact  that she did not patronise her readers by writing 'for children'  is partly what made them so popular.

Among the high-profile fans of Just William was the Beatles' John Lennon, whilst the book Good Omens - which was co-written by literary superstars Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett  was inspired by the stories.

Mr Gaiman told Rowett: 'For me and for Terry it was such a delight to go "ok, here is this thing that formed us, here is this thing that shaped us, here is an author whose plotting and whose prose style actually built what we do.

"And now we are going to go back with love". The first draft of Good Omens was a William book.'

Part of the allure of the books was the fact that elements in them changed with each passing decade. During the Second World War, William and the Outlaws were seen putting on shows to raise money for Spitfires and helping their local Home Guard and air raid wardens.

In the 1950s, William began calling his father 'dad'  Crompton's nod to the shifting relationship between children and their parents.

Crompton was forced to give up teaching at the age of 32, after she contracted polio. Then, when she was in her 40s, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

However, even as her health failed and became confined to a wheelchair, it was the escape provided by the telling of William's adventures that kept her going.

Mr Rowett adds in the programme: 'I can't remember the first time I read a William story. They have just always been there. William performing Hamlet, William tearing up his school report, William taking a dog to his dancing class.

'They feel more like things that happened to me than stories I read. Over the years, as other beloved books have receded into memory, William has remained a constant companion.

'And as 2022 marks 100 years since the publication of Just William, the first collection of stories, it seems a good moment to wish him Happy Birthday and to try to understand the enduring appeal of the permanently muddy scowling schoolboy doing good and righting wrongs.'
The Conservatives were embroiled in a new cronyism row today after a millionaire party donor was put in charge of reviewing Armed Forces' pay and conditions.

Rick Haythornthwaite, the chairman of Ocado and the AA, was unveiled as the head of an inquiry into service personnel's terms and conditions.

The Haythornthwaite Review is expected to report in the spring of 2023 with an aim to modernise 'and better reflect people's changing expectations of work and ways of living in the 21st Century'.

But Labour today questioned the decision to give the role to a Conservative donor with no apparent military experience.

Mr Haythornethwaite, 65, is an Oxford and MIT graduate who has previously worked in senior Roles for BP, Invensys, Network Rail and Mastercard.

Announcing his appointment in a written statement, Defence Minister Leo Docherty said he brought 'a variety of experience as a chair(man) and a highly tuned strategic perspective'.

But he also donated 5,000 to Matt Hancock's failed run to be Conservative leader in 2019, according to Electoral Commission records.

Shadow defence secretary John Healey said: 'This review is too important to be led by Matt Hancock's donor mate.

Rick Haythornthwaite, the chairman of Ocado and the AA, was unveiled as the head of an inquiry into service personnel's terms and conditions. He donated 5,000 to Matt Hancock's failed run to be Conservative leader in 2019

It comes as the strength of the British Army is set to fall to its lowest level since the Napoleonic wars.

Shadow defence secretary John Healey said: 'This review is too important to be led by Matt Hancock's donor mate.

'Armed forces numbers are falling and pay has flatlined - with squaddies now struggling with the rising cost of living.

'We need Conservative Ministers to prioritise personnel, not Tory donors.'

It comes as the strength of the British Army is set to fall to its lowest level since the Napoleonic wars.

Oxford-educated Mr Haythornthwaite, earned the name 'Slick Rick' in City circles from his time in senior roles at businesses including BP and Mastercard.

At Network Rail, where he was chairman, he was criticised for allegedly presiding over a 'gravy train' of executive pay excess.

In 2014 he was criticised after warning, as chairman of British Gas owner Centrica, that the lights will go out if politicians and families continued to attack energy price rises and profits.

British Gas and the other 'big six' suppliers came under fire eight years ago for putting up prices ahead of the winter.

The then prime minister David Cameron and Lib Dem coalition energy secretary Ed Davey - now the party leader - actively encouraged families to switch to cheaper rivals.

Mr Davey also suggested that some British Gas profit margins were too high and the company may have to be broken up.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced last November that the army would lose 9,000 soldiers by 2025, taking the army to a strength of 73,000, its smallest size for more than 200 years.

In response, Mr Haythornethwaite said: 'I think the reputation of Britain as a place in which to invest is under threat and the time to correct that is now, not after the 2015 election, by which time the possibility of the lights going out in Britain will be looming much larger.

'And I don't see this as the figment of a scaremonger's imagination. I think right now we've got to restart collaborative, constructive dialogue around these key issues. We cannot afford to wait. Hostilities have got to cease.'

The armed forces pay probe was unveiled in the defence review last year, with ministers promising it would be led by 'an expert with a proven track record of managing global talent'.

Its remit was to 'guide our efforts to develop a modern, holistic, through-life approach to the military offer'.

Announcing Mr Haythornthwaite's appointment this week, Mr Docherty said: 'Rick has established an impressive executive and non-executive career across a diverse range of businesses within the private and third sectors.

'He has a variety of experience as a Chair (sic) and a highly tuned strategic perspective. I look forward to working closely with him on his review.'

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced last November that the army would lose 9,000 soldiers by 2025, taking the army to a strength of 73,000, its smallest size for more than 200 years.

He insisted that the huge overhaul is needed to ensure that the military is 'deployable and lethal'. Mr Wallace said the Government has provided the resources for a 'generational modernisation' of defence, with 41.3billion being injected into army equipment and support over the decade  8.6billion more than had been planned prior to the Integrated Review.

But this month the head of the British army demanded the cut be reversed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith said the war in eastern Europe should give the Government pause for thought.
Elon Musk is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over whether he violated disclosure rules while amassing a nine per cent stake in Twitter before buying the firm in its entirety.

The feds are looking into whether the Tesla CEO complied with an antitrust reporting requirement when bought his stake in the social media company in early April, The Information reported Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the situation.

Musk, who began purchasing Twitter stock on January 31, initially revealed his stake in the platform on April 4 in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that disclosed him as a passive investor.

He filed an amended disclosure the next day reflecting his intentions to be an active investor after he publicly discussed potential changes for Twitter.

If the FTC determines Musk violated the disclosure law, he could face a fine of up to $46,517 per day he failed to adhere to federal guidelines - a negligible amount for the world's richest man whose net worth is approximately $240billion.

News of the investigation comes as an SEC filing revealed the SpaceX founder sold 4.4 million shares of Tesla valued at nearly $4billion on Thursday. The sales, which began on Tuesday, come as he agreed a deal to purchase Twitter for $44billion.

Elon Musk is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over whether he complied with an antitrust reporting requirement when bought his stake in Twitter

After the initial stock purchase, Musk offered to buy Twitter $54.20 per share in cash, which the social media giant agreed to earlier this week.

There is little expectation that Musk's potential purchase of Twitter will be rejected by antitrust enforcers.

The focus of the FTC inquiry is whether Musk bought the stake to influence Twitter's management or if he looked to be a passive shareholder, according to the report.

The agency plans to review communication between the billionaire and Twitter board members as it conducts its investigation.

FTC chair Lina Khan has been hailed as an antitrust crusader and, according to The Information, has been known to crackdown on tech deals. It is unclear how she will proceed with Musk's case.

If the FTC determines Musk violated the disclosure law, he could face a fine of up to $46,517 per day he failed to adhere to federal guidelines. The FTC's DC headquarters is pictured

FTC chair Lina Khan has been hailed as an antitrust crusader and has been known to crackdown on tech deals. Khan is pictured during a hearing on Capitol Hill last week

Musk drew skepticism from regulatory experts after he disclosed his Twitter stake, having allegedly missed the SEC's reporting deadline by several weeks. Investors are required to disclose their stake once it surpasses 5 percent.

The billionaire exceeded the threshold on March 14 but failed to disclose his stake until early April.

The SEC has not yet publicly stated if it is investigating or penalizing Musk for the apparent policy violation.

Twitter did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

News of the FTC probe comes as Musk sold 4.4 million shares of Tesla valued at nearly $4billion on Thursday. The sales, which began on Tuesday, come as he moves forward to purchase the Twitter for $44billion. Musk is pictured with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during the official opening of the new Tesla plant in Gruenheide, Germany on March 22, 2022

The probe comes as Musk is working to secure his purchase of the social media giant, which involved selling $4billion worth of Tesla shares.

The sale in shares, which were conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, was coupled with the stock of the electric vehicle company plummeting 20 percent, with Musk, the company's CEO, simply tweeting on Thursday, 'No further TSLA sales planned for today.'

The sale comes as Musk, the world's richest man, goes forward with his plan to purchase Twitter for $44 billion.

According to the SEC filings, Musk, who owned 17 percent of Tesla, made the sales at prices between $870 and $1,000 per share.

Musk had staked $12.5 billion of his ownership in Tesla as collateral to purchase Twitter, with his commitment to take over the social media platform causing an earlier drop in Tesla stock as investors feared he will be too preoccupied with his latest acquisition.

Analyst Dan Ives, of Wedbush Securities, said that Musk's focus on Twitter and the recent sell of Tesla stocks was foreboding for the future of the electric vehicle company.

'It's a brutal cycle for Tesla investors to navigate and casts a shadow on the name with Musk selling more stock,' Ives told Bloomberg. 'The Twitter deal is becoming an albatross for Tesla's stock and this pours gasoline on the raging fire.'

The 12 percent fall on Tuesday, when Musk began offloading his shares, represented the biggest fall in Tesla shares since September 2020.

Tesla's stock began plummeting on Tuesday as Musk started offloading his shares

Musk intends to buy Twitter using the stake in Tesla, coupled with a $13billion buyout loan from lenders and his own personal assets of $21billion.

According to SEC filings on Tuesday, Musk would owe a $1billion termination fee if he fails to secure enough funding to complete the deal.

Twitter, however, could owe Musk a $1billion break-up fee if it accepts a competing offer or if shareholders reject the deal.

The release of the SEC filings on Thursday came as Twitter failed to meet revenue estimates in what may be one of its final quarterly earnings reports as a public company.

The social media company said revenue for the first quarter totaled $1.2billion - a 16 percent increase from last year but less than the $1.23billion that Wall Street analysts had expected.

Unlike Tesla's volatile week, Twitter has seen steady gains as Musk prepares to take over

However, San Francisco-based Twitter reported an average of 229 million daily active users in the quarter, up 16 percent from last year in a positive sign of growth.

Twitter canceled the conference call with executives and industry analysts that usually accompanies its results, so there will be little further insight into the company's current financial condition.

'Given the pending acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, we will not be providing any forward looking guidance, and are withdrawing all previously provided goals and outlook,' the company said in a statement.

It comes as Twitter employees have warned of a 'mass exodus' of staff when Musk takes over the company, with one describing the world's richest man as 'a person with questionable ethics'.

Staff on Monday were invited to an 'all-hands' meeting via videolink, hosted by CEO Parag Agrawal and Bret Taylor, the chair of the board. Questions submitted by staff during the 45-minute meeting were read out by the chief marketing officer, Leslie Berland.

One question asked in a recording obtained by Project Veritas was: 'How does the board and Mr Musk plan on dealing with a mass exodus considering the acquisition is by a person with questionable ethics?'

Taylor replied that 'one of the themes of today is continuity'.

He said: 'The question of attrition: As Parag stated, one of the themes of today is continuity, and ensuring that Parag and this leadership team continues to operate the business successfully on behalf of our users, on behalf of our customers, and that has obviously been a big topic of discussion at the board.

'And as I mentioned, an area that is important to Elon Musk as well, because of the importance of Twitter as a service.'

Agrawal said he had seen many questions about the process, about share schemes, and about working conditions in the future. He said much was still to be clarified.

Staff were told there would be no layoffs 'at this time' - but no guarantees were provided when Musk takes over.
Blac Chyna's lawyer has accused the Kardashians of 'gaslighting' jurors in their bombshell $108million defamation trial.

Attorney Lynne Ciani said the jury should 'use their common sense' and ignore the fame of the defendants Kris and Kylie Jenner and Kim and Khloe Kardashian.

Chyna alleges they conspired to cast her as a violent abuser of her former fiance Rob Kardashian to ruin her television career.

Blac Chyna's lawyer has accused the Kardashians of 'gaslighting' jurors in their bombshell $108million defamation trial (pictured leaving court yesterday

Attorney Lynne Ciani said the jury should 'use their common sense' and ignore the fame of the defendants Kris and Kylie Jenner and Kim and Khloe Kardashian (pictured together in 2019)

In her closing arguments, Ciani acknowledged that a fight did take place between Rob and Chyna, but ridiculed Kris's testimony from earlier this week that it was a 'murderous attack'.

In emotional and often angry testimony, Rob said he feared for his life on the night of December 14 and morning of December 15, 2016, when Chyna twice pointed a gun at his head, pulled a phone-charging cable around his neck and repeatedly hit him with a metal rod while under the influence of alcohol and cocaine.

The lawyer pointed out that Rob had testified there were no marks on his body after the brawl and said his fears for his life were not credible.

He did not report the attack to anyone and his mother and sisters also testified they did not report the incident or see any visible marks on his body.

Ciani said: 'Let's forget that this is a famous family. For a person to claim that his fiancee struck him with a metal pole but there were no marks in his body no phone calls to police, not even a band-aid that person is not credible.

Khloe, 37, (far left) and Kim Kardashian, 41 (second from left), and younger sister Kylie Jenner, 24, (second from right) with their mother, family matriarch Kris Jenner, 66, (far right) are all named defendants in the case. They are pictured in court on April 19

Rob Kardashian testified that Blac Chyna 'strangled me, she put a gun to my head twice, she was on cocaine and alcohol'. The former couple are pictured together at the Tropicana Las Vegas in May 2016

'Forget who they are; forget about how famous they are. Was it reasonable for the defendants to believe that their son or brother's version of the events that he had been brutally attacked?'

Jurors began deliberations yesterday in the bitter trial for which Chyna is seeking around $40million for lost earnings and around $60million in future earnings she claims she lost out on due to the alleged defamation.

Chyna is suing the four women for defamation and interference with contract, alleging they sought to get the couple's 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' spinoff 'Rob & Chyna,' canceled before its second season.

Kardashian attorney David G. Rhodes argued during his closing that the women had every reason to believe the accounts of the attack from Rob and from Kris's longtime boyfriend Corey Gamble, who arrived at the scene, broke up the dispute and was a key defense witness.

'Do you remember how Rob looked on the stand yesterday? His pain was real,' Rhodes said. 'This is a real family. Yeah, theyre famous, but they're real people. He got really badly hurt here.'

Rob had said the coupling was 'toxic' from the start, and that Chyna beat him at least five times during the year-long relationship.

Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian are pictured on April 24. On Thursday he was in court to support her

'She strangled me, she put a gun to my head twice, she was on cocaine and alcohol,' Kardashian said, his voice rising nearly to a shout in a Los Angeles courtroom as Chyna's attorney Lynne Ciani sought to cast doubt on the attack and its severity.

'Strangling someone, beating someone, that's not a family,' he said. 'That's not love to me.'

He told the courtroom that he felt in retrospect that the couple's love was never real, and that he had been at the 'weakest, worst point' in his life when their relationship began in January 2016.

Kim echoed the tale, claiming that she remembered him being 'so emotional and upset' after the alleged attack.

Rhodes said there was no substance to Chyna's suit, saying she had failed to present any hard financial evidence of loss of income or of emotional distress.

Rhodes said that Chyna was violent and aggressive.

'Did Chyna beat the s*** out of Rob? Yes, she did,' he said.

'It was true. It happened.'

Blac Chyna's mother, Tokyo Toni, branded the Kardashians as a 'violent' family Thursday while standing outside the courthouse where her daughter's defamation trial was underway

E! Network executives paid Chyna $370,000 to film four episodes of KUWTK after season one of Rob and Chyna ended. She is seen at right in one of those episodes with Kim Kardashian

Timeline of Rob and Chyna's gun incident, breakup and show cancelation December 14, 2016 - Chyna says she and her then-fiance were 'laughing and joking and being silly' as they celebrated season two of Rob and Chyna being greenlit by NBC Universal. She denies yelling 'I'm going to kill you' to Rob. She told the court that she pointed the gun upwards and didn't put her finger where the trigger was. Chyna says she put a phone chord around Rob's neck 'as a joke', because 'he was playing video games and I was just trying to get his attention.' December 15, 2016 - Chyna smashes a TV and a gingerbread house and damages the bedroom door. She said she was furious at Rob for taking her phone in a fit of jealousy and locking himself in a closet to check her messages. Kris Jenner's boyfriend, Corey Gamble, shows up at Rob and Chyna's home. Chyna says that he stood between her and Rob, telling Rob to get his car keys and get out of the house. Chyna leaves the home with daughter Dream that morning. January 2017 - Chyna says she and Rob hiked together in Malibu. Rob reportedly goes with her to New York for her personal appearance at a strip club, where cameras followed her. Chyna said she was also filmed by hand-held cameras at another Las Vegas appearance, which made her think they were shooting Rob and Chyna's season two. July/August 2017 - Chyna learns Rob and Chyna had actually been cancelled. October 2017 - Chyna files a $108 million defamation suit against Kris Jenner and Kylie, Khloe and Kim Kardashian and accuses them of forcing producers to cancel her show. Advertisement

All four of the defendants were in the front row of the courtroom for closing arguments, as they were for most of the nine-day trial.

Kim Kardashian's boyfriend, Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson, sat in the back of the courtroom during closings and greeted her with a hug and a kiss in the hallway outside before they and the rest of the family were ushered by deputies into a private waiting area they've used throughout the trial.

Chyna's mother yesterday branded the Kardashians as a 'violent' family that is trying to paint her and her daughter as 'crazy people'.

'I mean they are the most violent people,' Tokyo Toni said of the Kardashian-Jenner family while standing outside the Los Angeles courthouse. 'You can turn it on and see.'

'Any of them, all of them,' she argued, noting how Kris Jenner's adult daughters are often seen disrespecting her on their family show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

Tokyo, seemingly hinting at her social media rant that resulted in her removal from the courtroom, also denounced the accusations that she and Chyna are 'crazy people'.

'They are the most violent people. They have me and her like we're these crazy people, no we're just standing up for our rights,' Tokyo stated. 'Doing what we're supposed to do as real people. It has nothing to do with race, color. None of that. It's what's right.'

In her testimony, Chyna said that an all-night celebration of the announcement their show was getting a second season turned into a bitter fight when Rob Kardashian took her phone looking for evidence of communications with other men, but it never got violent.

She testified that she had wrapped the phone-charging cord around his neck playfully, and picked up his always unloaded gun off the nightstand, as a joke. She admitted that in her anger she broke some things.

'There was damage to a gingerbread house; there was a damaged TV,' Ciani said. 'And thats where it stopped.

Rhodes zeroed in on the gingerbread house in his argument, in which he cast Chyna as a publicity-seeker desperate for a piece of what the Kardashians have.

'Why would you attack a gingerbread house in your rage? What does it represent?' Rhodes said. 'It represents everything about the Kardashian brand - its over the top, its big, its beautiful, its almost silly, and when she saw that gingerbread house she was venting her anger on everything she was not going to be.'

Rhodes argued that regardless of what happened between the couple, the show ended because their relationship ended, as all the executives overseeing the show testified during the trial.

Judge Gregory W. Alarcon dismissed a motion from Chyna's attorney to allow her to take the stand again after she got upset after being shown a nude photo during cross-examination. Chyna is pictured in court on April 19

Kim Kardashian, sketched in court last week, testified on Tuesday that she was uncomfortable filming scenes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians with Blac Chyna after she allegedly hit her brother, Rob, with a metal rod

'It wasn't her show,' Rhodes said. 'It's not the Chyna and Rob show, it's not Chyna show, it's the Rob KARDASHIAN and Chyna show. It was a show about a relationship. That's at the center of the whole case.'

Ciani and Rhodes both focused in their closing arguments on Kris Jenner, whom the lawsuit alleges was the 'ringleader' of the attempt to shun Chyna.

The jury will need to decide whether her text message to the lead producer of 'Rob & Chyna' saying 'Chyna beat the s*** out of Rob's face' was defamation.

'Shes not talking to the police. Shes not talking to someone to try to get medical help for her son. Shes talking to the showrunner,' Ciani said. 'She knew it was false.'

Rhodes asked jurors to consider why Jenner would believe the attack happened.

'Because the man she was in bed with at 7 a.m. goes over there, comes back and says `Rob just had the s*** beat out of him,'' Rhodes said. 'She sees her son and he says the same thing.'

In the civil case, nine out of 12 jurors will need to agree on whether each of the Kardashian defendants either knowingly lied about Chyna abusing Rob Kardashian, or spread the word about it with reckless disregard for the truth.

The same number will need to decide whether each illegally interfered with Chynas contract with the E! network, which aired both 'Rob & Chyna' and 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians.'
The elected leader of the British Virgin Islands was arrested on alleged money laundering and drug trafficking charges during a sting operation at a Miami airport, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has revealed.

Premier Andrew Fahie, 51, was taken into custody along with Oleanvine Maynard, the managing director of the British overseas territory's ports, after meeting with a DEA informant posing as a member of the Sinaloa Cartel at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport on Thursday.

The DEA complaint, which included confidential testimony from the informant, indicated that Fahie had agreed to allow the Mexican transnational drug trafficking organization to use the Caribbean island's ports to ship cocaine in return for a payment of $500,000.

Federal agents swarmed Fahie after he was shown designer shopping bags filled with $700,000 for him and Maynard, the complaint said.

The arrest of Fahie, who was elected in February 2019, was first disclosed by British Virgin Islands Governor John Rankin.

'I realize this will be shocking news for people in the Territory,' Rankin said in a statement. 'And I would call for calm at this time.'

Fahie could not immediately be reached for comment, nor could officials from the British Virgin Islands Ports Authority.

'Anyone involved with bringing dangerous drugs into the United States will be held accountable, no matter their position,' DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement.

'Today is yet another example of DEA's resolve to hold corrupt members of government responsible for using their positions of power to provide a safe haven for drug traffickers and money launderers in exchange for their own financial and political gain.'

British Virgin Island Premier Andrew Fahie was one of two officials taken into custody by DEA agents in Miami on Thursday

Oleanvine Maynard, the managing director of the British Virgin Island's ports, is facing conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to launder money after she and the British territory's premier were arrested in Miami on Thursday

The DEA began investigating Fahie in October after he met with the informant, according to the criminal complaint.

The DEA informant had previously met with Maynard and her son, Kadeem Maynard, after being introduced by a group of self-proclaimed Lebanese Hezbollah operatives, the complaint said.

Fahie then got involved and agreed to let the smugglers bring the cocaine through the port at Tortola island before continuing on to the U.S.

According to the complaint, thousands of kilograms would arrive from Colombia to Tortola island. The drugs would eventually be trafficked to Puerto Rico and then shipped to New York and Miami.

Andrew Fahie, the Premier of the British Virgin Island's, was seeking help to pay a $83,000 debt he owned to a man in Senegal who had reportedly provided political aid, according to the DEA complaint

'Fahie agreed to allow the confidential source to use the ports to ship his cocaine,' according to the complaint, adding that he requested a $500,000 upfront payment in return.

The British Virgin Islands premier also requested help in paying down an $83,000 debt to a man in Senegal who had 'fixed' some political issues for him, the complaint said.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement she was 'appalled' by the allegations.

Fahie's arrest, she said, demonstrated the importance of a recently concluded Commission of Inquiry into allegations of corruption and abuse of office on the islands. The commission's report has not yet been published.

British Virgin Islands ports managing director Oleanvine Maynard (left) and Premier Andrew Fahie (right) were taken into custody by DEA agents at an airport in Miami on Thursday. They have been charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to launder money

Kadeem Maynard is also facing the same changes in the alleged scheme, according to court records.

Deputy Premier Natalio 'Sowande' Wheatley will remain acting premier indefinitely.

Fahie's apprehension comes a week after former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking and weapons charges.

U.S. prosecutors allege Hernandez's 2013 presidential campaign was funded by Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, who allegedly handed over $1 million in exchange for protection of drug deliveries.

BVI, a territory of the United Kingdom, is made up of four main islands - Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada and Jost Van Dyke - with about 35,000 residents east of Puerto Rico.
A tradie and father-of-three who suffered severe burns to his body following a worksite accident had both his arms amputated before he was placed into a coma.

Jahden Nelson, 28, is fighting for his life in the burns unit at the Middlemore Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand.

The young father suffered a heart attack and burns to 35 per cent of his body following an electrical shock at a Massey worksite last Tuesday.

A neighbour said Mr Nelson was taking apart scaffolding and holding a steel pole when it touched a low-hanging powerline that electrocuted him.

A tradie and father-of-three who suffered serious burns to his body following a worksite accident had both his arms amputated before he was placed into a coma

The young father suffered a heart attack and burns to 35 per cent of his body following an electrical shock at a Massey worksite last Tuesday (pictured, Mr Nelson at a worksite)

His mother, Toni Paikea, said the voltage was like an atomic bomb exploding in his body.

'It went from one arm, through the other arm and straight down through his leg and thigh,' she told NZ Herald.

Mr Nelson's cousin held the unconscious tradie until paramedics arrived and took him to Auckland City Hospital.

He underwent surgery before he was transferred to Middlemore Hospital.

Ms Paikea said her son had both his arms amputated and that he could possibly lose. more limbs.

Only one person is allowed to visit Mr Nelson at a time due to the increased risk of spreading infection.

'It's the hardest thing a parent could go through,' she said. 'It's a life and death situation. I'm holding my son's heart in my hands.'

Questions have been raised around the worksite safety with the family demanding answers as to why Mr Nelson was working beneath live wires.

A neighbour said Mr Nelson was taking apart scaffolding and holding a steel pole when it touched a low-hanging powerline and electrocuted him

Ms Paikea said her son had been working in the industry for 12 years and that he was extremely knowledgeable of health and safety protocol (pictured, Mr Nelson at a worksite)

Ms Paikea said her son had been working in the industry for 12 years and that he was extremely knowledgeable of health and safety protocol.

She claimed her son would have believed the powerlines had been cut off and that he would not have been working had they not been.

Employer Supercity Scaffolding has offered to pay for a car park at the hospital and distribute food vouchers.

Lines company Vector has also given the family $1,000 in fuel vouchers.

WorkSafe has launched in an investigation into the incident.

Ms Paikea has set up an online fundraiser to raise money for her son.

'He is a young father to three beautiful children his youngest turning only one year old in a few weeks, a humble family man, dedicated all round guy, loved by many friends & family,' she wrote.

'He has extensive injuries & to expect 3 months in ICU with the probability of longer.

'His recovery should he survive will be months to years both physically, emotionally & mentally.'
Lawyers for the man accused of shooting 10 people on a Brooklyn subway have accused the FBI of violating his rights by swabbing him for DNA and making him sign papers without informing his attorneys.

Frank James, 62, is charged with conducting a violent attack on a mass transportation vehicle following the April 12 attack. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Arrested on April 13, James is currently being held without bail in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, and James's lawyers claim that on Tuesday FBI agents entered his cell and questioned him, without following proper procedures.

Mia Eisner-Grynberg and Deirdre von Dornum of the Federal Defenders of New York filed a complaint on Thursday, claiming that the FBI entered James's cell for questioning without alerting them before or after.

They also took swabs of the inside of his mouth for DNA, made him sign documents, and failed to provide James with a receipt for the interaction.

Further details on the nature of the questioning, or the reason for the swab, have not been revealed.

Frank James is seen on April 13, immediately following his arrest. He has been in the Metropolitan Detention Center since then

Mia Eisner-Grynberg (left) and Deirdre von Dornum (right) of the Federal Defenders of New York are pictured on April 14 outside court. On Thursday, they complained about the FBI's questioning of James without following standard procedure

James is pictured seated with his lawyers in court on April 14

'Contrary to standard practice, the government committed this intrusion absent advance notice to counsel, depriving us of an opportunity to be heard or to be present,' his lawyers wrote.

'Neither did the government provide subsequent notice to counsel.

'The agents did not provide Mr James with a copy of the warrant or a receipt, in violation of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure.'

Prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York have been given a week to explain.

James's lawyers said they would ask the court to withdraw from file whatever statements he made in his Tuesday interview with the FBI.

They also asked the judge to order the government to turn over a copy of the affidavit that served as the basis for the search.

Prosecutors say James staged a premeditated attack when he shot ten people and injured others on the northbound N train at around 8.25am on April 12, during rush hour.

Frantic commuters were seen trying to run for the exits after a gunman opened fire at a Brooklyn subway station on Tuesday morning

One man was seen injured in the shooting as officers and a Good Samaritan tried to help him

James, dressed in a construction worker's vest and helmet, donned a gas mask and rolled smoke grenades into the carriage before opening fire.

Videos from the scene showed hundreds of commuters frantically running for the exits as shots were fired.

A nearly 24-hour long manhunt for James then ensued, with the Bronx-born, Milwaukee-based suspect ultimately arrested while strolling down the street on April 13.

In court documents the next day, prosecutors detailed how more ammunition was found in James' rented Philadelphia apartment, including an extended round magazine that was fit for a semi-automatic rifle. No such firearm has been found yet in connection with the suspect.

His 9mm handgun was found at the 36th Street subway station after the attack, along with spent shell casings, fireworks, and a key to his U-Haul.

Police also searched a storage unit in Philadelphia, where he was keeping more ammunition, a torch and a gun silencer.

James posted a series of rants online, taking to YouTube to rage against homeless people, Mayor Eric Adams and racism

James is being held without bail as investigators look into his hate-filled YouTube videos

There was a propane gas tank in the U-Haul when police swooped in on it hours after the attack.

James dumped the truck five miles from the 36th Street subway. He was filmed walking away.

James' motive remains unknown.

James had a criminal history extending back to 1992, when he pleaded guilty to attempted petit larceny and was known to the FBI's Guardian Program, which tracks terror threats and suspects, over an incident in New Mexico in 2019.

At the time, he was cleared of wrongdoing.

But in a YouTube video posted just one day before the attack, James said he wanted to harm people.

'I can say I wanted to kill people. I wanted to watch people die,' he said.

Other videos featured James ranting about discrimination and complaining about white people.

They are now being closely examined by law enforcement.

Mayor Eric Adams has suggested that it was the responsibility of YouTube to monitor the videos and report them.

'There's a corporate responsibility hen we are watching hate brew online,' Adams said.

'We can identify [hate] using artificial intelligence and other methods to identify those who are talking about violence.'

Critics accused Adams of passing the buck, noting that the surveillance cameras in the station were not working - allowing James to flee - and that NYPD failed to find him, despite his wandering around Manhattan for almost 24 hours after the attack and eventually calling the police himself.
Around 8,000 British Army troops and dozens of tanks will take part in exercises across eastern Europe to combat Russian aggression in one of the largest deployments since the Cold War.

Tens of thousands of Nato troops will join the British forces that will be deployed to countries ranging from Finland to North Macedonia this summer under plans that have been enhanced since the invasion of Ukraine.

The Joint Expeditionary Force alliance, which includes Finland and Sweden, will also be taking part.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the purpose behind the exercises is to demonstrate how the British Army has modernised into a 'lethal, agile and global force'.

The action had been long planned, but that it had been enhanced in response since Russia invaded its neighbour in late February.

The British Army will send 8,000 troops and dozens of tanks to take part in military exercises in eastern Europe this (Pictured: a Challenger 2 tank)

UK military personnel have already deployed to begin exercises this week (pictured: soldiers boarding an RAF Voyager aircraft at RAF Brize Norton)

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: 'The security of Europe has never been more important. (pictured: a soldier from 16 Air Assault Brigade ready to carry out a parachute descent)

Only yesterday was the first UK casualty in Ukraine confirmed, Scott Sibley, a veteran of the British armed forces had served in the Commando Logistic Support Squadron in Afghanistan.

Commander Field Army Lieutenant General Ralph Wooddisse emphasised the importance of the exercises, he said: 'The UK makes a significant contribution to the defence of Europe and the deterrence of Russian aggression.

'The British Army's series of exercises is fundamental to both.

'The scale of the deployment, coupled with the professionalism, training and agility of the British Army, will deter aggression at a scale not seen in Europe this century.'

The UK deployment is expected to build to a peak of around 8,000 personnel operating in mainland Europe between April and June.

Troops from B Squadron of the Queens Royal Hussars have already deployed to Finland, which shares an 830 mile land border with Russia, to take part in Exercise Arrow.

a range of units from helicopters, artillery, air defence, surveillance drones will take part in the exercises (pictured: an Apache AH-64 British Army attack helicopter)

Exercise Hedgehog next month will involve the Royal Welsh battlegroup and the Royal Tank Regiment, with exercises planned on the Estonia/Latvia border alongside 18,000 Nato troops.

Hedgehog, the biggest military exercise in Estonia, takes place every four years and will involve a range of units including light and airborne forces, helicopters, armoured forces, artillery and air defence.

Exercises alongside American troops are also taking place in Poland.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: 'The security of Europe has never been more important.

'These exercises will see our troops join forces with allies and partners across Nato and the Joint Expeditionary Force in a show of solidarity and strength in one of the largest shared deployments since the Cold War.'
Health authorities reported Thursday that a man got infected with a highly infectious variant of avian flu (H5N1), which caused the death of hundreds of birds in several states. The case is the first in the United States.

According to a statement from the state health department, the man suspected to be was working on a commercial farm in Colorado and engaged in culling poultry. He was suspected to be infected when he got directly exposed to the bird flu.

The patient is under the age of 40 and has manifested only one symptom: tiredness. He was taking the antiviral medication Tamiflu, per the department, NBC News reported.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) verified a positive test conducted this week by the state health department, which reported it has been tracking people exposed to poultry and wild birds.

The state health department also said that the affected flock was euthanized.

The man was identified as a prison inmate working at a Montrose County farm as part of a pre-release employment program.

Health Authorities Closely Monitor The Bird Flu Outbreak

Since the outbreaks in US wild birds and poultry in late 2021 and early 2022, the CDC has been monitoring for infection among people who have been exposed to H5N1 virus-infected animals. H5N1 viruses have been detected in 29 states in commercial and backyard birds, and in 34 states in wild birds, as per a report from ABC 7 Chicago.

The CDC has tracked the health of almost 2,500 humans who have been exposed to H5N1 virus-infected birds, but this is the first example. Other people participating in the Colorado culling operations tested negative for H5 virus infection, but authorities said they were being retested for extra caution.

Despite public health experts' concerns that a mutation could pose a risk to humans, just one additional human case has been identified worldwide: in December, a person who raised birds in the United Kingdom tested positive for the virus but had no symptoms, according to the CDC.

Read Also: US Recession 2022: Deutsche Bank Economists Warn of 'Worse Than Expected' Economic Hit

Poultry Supply And Prices Affected

In 2003, earlier variants of the virus-infected approximately 880 people, according to the agency. Though the virus infects just a small percentage of the population, it can be deadly when it does. The CDC estimates a 60% fatality rate.

The H5N1 virus has been detected in commercial and backyard birds in 29 states, as well as wild birds in 34 states, as per the CDC.

More than 200 birds allegedly died in an epidemic near Chicago, and the virus has killed at least three bald eagles in Georgia. Subsequently, millions of chickens and turkeys have been slaughtered to keep the virus from spreading, triggering a rise in poultry costs.

The United States is the second-largest poultry meat exporter in the world and a major egg producer, but trade has stalled since the bird flu outbreak, as per a report from The Scientist.

According to Reuters, the USDA considers vaccinating birds against the fatal disease. Although the doses would arrive too late to stop the ongoing outbreak, advocates argue they could save poultry.

Related Article: Study Finds Dog Breed Plays Insignificant Role in Predicting Animal's Behavior, Including Aggression

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Pet owners are up in arms after a series of cats were spray-painted in a bizarre spate of attacks in a regional area.

The attacks, which occurred near the town of Wangaratta, Victoria, saw the household pets brazenly sprayed with aerosol paint.

The issue has sparked concern from a leading animal rights advocate, who says not enough is being done by governments to fight animal cruelty.

Emma Hurst, a member of NSW Legislative Council, said: 'It is disgusting that a member of the public would harm an animal in this way.'

These domestic cats (pictured) have fallen victim to a spate of spray painting attacks throughout the Wangaratta region in Victoria

Emma Hurst (pictured) of the NSW Animal Justice Party slammed the move as disgusting. She believes the enforcement of animal cruelty laws is drastically underfunded in NSW

She argued the enforcement of animal cruelty laws is 'drastically underfunded' by the state government.

Ms Hurst claimed the animal protection enforcement bodies in NSW receive less than half a million dollars a year to uphold animal cruelty rules.

'That's less than $500,000 to protect every animal in NSW,' she said.

Ms Hurst said the lack of funding made it difficult for these charities to respond to, investigate and prosecute every act of animal cruelty. Hotlines aren't being staffed 24/7, she said.

Ms Hurst said 'spray paints and dyes are toxic, and can be very harmful to animals especially when sprayed into the face, eyes, nose and mouth.'

'In NSW it is an offence to commit an act of cruelty on an animal - this includes any act which unnecessarily inflicts pain on an animal.'

'Anyone who sees evidence of animal cruelty should immediately report it to the police, the RSPCA, or the Animal Welfare League NSW.'

The incident comes after a similar incident involving a white cockatoo spray-painted green in June last year.

A green cockatoo, believed to be spray-painted, was spotted at Campbelltown Train Station in Sydney

The green bird was with a flock of about 30 cockatoos

A pink cockatoo (left) was spotted in the south-Sydney suburb of Menai in 2017

Bruno Bouchet saw the bird in a flock of about 30 cockatoos at Campbelltown Train Station in Sydney's south-west in June last year.

Colourful cockatoos have been spotted around Sydney in recent previous years, but painting or dyeing a bird in NSW could put you behind bars for six months.
A Bronx man has been freed on a misdemeanor charge despite allegedly being filmed beating a 53 year-old man while wearing knuckle-dusters after his friend's poor driving saw them crash their Lexus into the victim's car.

Miquiel Guerrero, 23, was arrested on March 30 after he and five others surrounded the unidentified victim, 53, and his car after they crashed into each other on Exterior Street in the Grand Concourse neighborhood.

A man cops say is Guerrero was then filmed brutally-attacking his victim while wearing knuckle-dusters while his posse jumped on the man's car and stole it. The van driver made no attempt to fight back.

Shockingly, Guerrero has since been freed back onto the streets, despite the horrific nature of the violence meted out on his alleged victim. He's due back in court May 23 on a misdemeanor charge, amid ongoing fury over New York's soft-on-crime laws that critics blame for a recent spike in violent crime.

Surveillance footage shows the group circling the victim, with one jumping on top of the car, as Guerrero swings the driver's door open and begins to violently punch the victim.

Police records indicate Guerrero wrapped a metal object around his knuckles when he pummeled the man, who suffered a shattered left eye and bruising in the face, nose and back. Officials did not specify what the object Guerroro used was.

It is also unclear if he has any prior convictions.

After being beaten, the 53-year-old can be seen running away from the scene and two men enter his Kia and begin to drive off with it. While three others hop in an unoccupied Honda that was caught in the crash, according to the New York Post.

Miquiel Guerrero, 23, (circled) was arrested on March 30 as he was filmed assaulting a 53-year-old man he and his friends crashed into the man in the Bronx

Police records indicate Guerrero wrapped a metal object around his knuckles when he pummled the man, who suffered a shattered left eye and bruising in the face, nose and back

After being beaten, the 53-year-old (far right) can be seen running away from the scene. He was treated for a fractured eye socket and facial cuts

Guerrero, who stayed on the scene for unknown reasons, was later arrested and charged with assault, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment.

Police are now looking for the other group members, all aged between 18 and 25, according to authorities.

The victim was transported to Jacobi Medical Center and was treated for a fractured eye socket and facial cuts.

One of the group of six assailants jumped on the hood of the car and smacked the victim

The group later stole the victim's van as well as an unoccupied Honda. Guerrero stayed on the scene for unknown reasons and was apprehended and charged with robbery

It comes as New York is in the middle of a crime surge, with overall crime up 42 percent. The Big Apple is an increasing problem with carjacking up 68 percent and felony assaults up 21 percent.

Earlier this month, NYC Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell 'this is not what New Yorkers expect or deserve, and we will not stand for it' as crime continues to terrorize New Yorkers.

'It's clear what we are confronting: A perception among criminals that there are no consequences, even for serious crime. We need tangible changes,' added Sewell.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams has now vowed to crack down on transit crimes, which is up more than 60 percent, but also lazy officers patrolling subway stations.

Adams made the plea at a press conference Tuesday when asked by a journalist about reports of multiple uniformed cops being spotted scrolling through phones while on duty guarding the city's crime-ridden transport network.

The former NYPD captain warned: 'We are going to start taking very aggressive actions to make sure police are patrolling our subway system and not patrolling their iPhone.'

Overall crime is up 42 percent in the city and assaults are up 20 percent

'If you see it, send me a picture. I'll go to that district the next day and see exactly what is happening.

'Send me a shot. New Yorkers, you see that send me a photo and I will be at that station.' Adams spokesman told anyone with photos to send them to his press office, whose email address is pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov.

Adams said that New Yorkers can look forward to a 'visible difference in policing in the next couple of weeks.'
A barrister advising Sue Gray on her report into Partygate urged Twitter users to join Labour and accused the Tories of serving up bile.

Daniel Stilitz QC, who is believed to be a Labour member himself, deleted his social media account yesterday after his anti-government posts were widely shared online.

Critics accused Mr Stilitz of not showing due impartiality given his high-profile role advising Miss Gray on her much-anticipated report into alleged illegal gatherings at Downing Street during the pandemic.

In other posts, Remain-supporting Mr Stilitz, of 11KBW chambers in London, said Labour MPs backing a Brexit deal were mugs and retweeted a post calling Boris Johnson our reckless dangerous PM.

Barrister Daniel Stilitz QC who is advising Sue Gray (pictured) on her report into Partygate deleted his Twitter account yesterday after his anti-government posts were widely shared online

In another post, he said: Why not join Labour? Now seems as good a time as any.

Commenting on Brexit in 2019, he said: The future of the UK is collateral damage in this mad Tory fight to the death.

News website Guido Fawkes reported that another post made that year stated: The Governments current rhetoric is nothing compared to the bile theyll serve up during the forthcoming election campaign.

Mr Stilitz deleted his Twitter account yesterday after the comments were widely shared online.

Last night a spokesman for the Cabinet Office, which will deliver Miss Grays report, said: The judgments in both the update and the final report are hers alone, to establish the facts under the published terms of reference of the inquiry.

Critics accused Mr Stilitz of not showing due impartiality given his high-profile role advising Miss Gray on her much-anticipated report into alleged illegal gatherings at Downing Street during the pandemic (PM Boris Johnson pictured in the Commons during the Ministerial Statement on the Sue Gray report in January)

Daniel Stilitz has extensive experience of government work, having been instructed by numerous government departments across a wide range of significant cases.

As with all members of the Bar, his personal views are his own and have no bearing on the professional advice that he provides as an independently regulated barrister.

He is bound by the code of conduct which sets out that all barristers maintain their independence and act in the best interests of their client.

Mr Stilitz did not respond to a request for comment.
Texas Congressman Chip Roy confronted Department of Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas with photos of dead illegal migrants as he raged at him over Biden's immigration crisis.

Roy, holding up photographs of dead migrants, confronted Mayorkas regarding the administration's policies.

'Mr. Secretary, do you know what this is? This is a mobile morgue, a body trailer needed by counties in south Texas overwhelmed by dead migrants,' Roy said to Mayorkas. 'That particular trailer is filled with these bodies. Twenty-seven bodies that were stored in this mobile morgue in south Texas with dead bodies of migrants.'

'Dead bodies like this one found on a ranch just three weeks ago in south Texas, a dead migrant. Somehow that's compassion,' he added.

Roy believes that the Biden administration, including Mayorkas, have encouraged cartels and other migrants to cross the border, which he says is hurting his state and America.

'You know it and you're ignoring the actual truth!'

'How about the dead bodies found by migrants? Compassion? How about the ranchers, who had to walk out of their door and this is what they faced, gentleman with rocks threatening a rancher in south Texas, only able to be saved when they are able to bring their dogs out to scare the people away in order to save themselves,' he added.

Texas Congressman Chip Roy continued the Republican grilling of US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas regarding the immigration crisis on Thursday, holding up pictures of dead migrants

He then connected the administration's immigration policies to America's opioid crisis and said the Biden White House's lax enforcement of the border was responsible for thousands of drug deaths.

Mayorkas defended the administration's handling of immigration Wednesday and Thursday amid a huge surge at the Mexico border that is expected to intensify as pandemic-related entry curbs are dropped.

President Joe Biden's administration has revealed it plans to end Title 42, a measure allowing the quick expulsion of migrants during the Covid-19 crisis, on May 23 -- in an announcement that sparked cross-party anger.

Roy held up pictures of people affected by migration and the opioid crisis to nail home his point

U.S. Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) sits alongside signs as U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the House Judicary Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building

House Republicans sit alongside signs as U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies

Mayorkas defended the administration's handling of immigration Wednesday and Thursday amid a huge surge at the Mexico border that is expected to intensify as pandemic-related entry curbs are dropped

March reached a new high of border crossings at the southern border with CBP encountering 221,303 migrants. Since Biden took office there has been more than 2.4 million encounters and the daily rate is set to triple when Title 42 ends next month

'Mr. Secretary, do you know what this is? This is a mobile morgue, a body trailer needed by counties in south Texas overwhelmed by dead migrants,' Roy said to Mayorkas. 'That particular trailer is filled with these bodies. Twenty-seven bodies that were stored in this mobile morgue in south Texas with dead bodies of migrants'

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, pose with students from the Kincaid School on the House steps on Wednesday, April 27

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the House Committee on Appropriations I Subcommittee Homeland Security Committee during a hearing on Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request

'How about the lost voices for people dying from fentanyl, the tens of thousands of Americans dying from fentanyl? Faces, faces of Americans, faces of Americans across this country dying because of fentanyl pouring into our country because of your policies that you know full well.'

Mayorkas responded: 'Congressman, are you actually interested in the facts and the law?' and tried to continue but Roy would not let him.

US Customs and Border Protection says it encountered 7,800 undocumented migrants a day along the southwest border in the past three weeks -- almost five times the average of 1,600 recorded from 2014-2019, before the coronavirus outbreak.

'We inherited a broken and dismantled system that is already under strain. It is not built to manage the current levels and types of migratory flows,' Mayorkas told the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, urging Congress to pass long-term reforms.

Mayorkas's testimony came with the administration locking horns with a federal court in Louisiana that granted a request by Republican-controlled states to temporarily halt their planning to wind down Title 42.

The order prevents the government from taking any action before a hearing on May 13 to determine whether Title 42 can be lifted.

Mayorkas set out a blueprint to boost border personnel, target people smugglers, speed up processing and increase holding capacity -- as he warned the worst was yet to come.

'A significant increase in migrant encounters will strain our system even further and we will address this challenge successfully,' he said.

'It will take time, and we need the partnership of Congress, state and local officials, NGOs and communities to do so.'

Enacted at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 under then-president Donald Trump, Title 42 requires border agents to turn away anyone who crosses undocumented into the United States.

Representative Jim Jordan accused on Thursday the Biden administration of 'deliberately' and 'intentionally' causing the southern border crisis as Republicans tore into Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for being 'out of touch' and a 'traitor.'

The House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member said during his opening statement that Mayorkas will face questions on why he implemented policies that led to the chaos.

'It's intentional, it has to be,' Jordan said at the top of his remarks to the body on Thursday morning.

'The chaos on our southern border is not an accident,' the Ohio Republican congressman continued. 'It's deliberate, it's on purpose, it's by design.'

'President Biden on Day One said there'll be a moratorium on deportations, he ended Remain in Mexico, he terminated agreements with Northern Triangle countries and he stopped building the wall,' Jordan rattled off. 'Those policies, done intentionally, have led to all kinds of bad outcomes.'

He said: 'Americans want legal immigration. President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas want illegal immigration. They want illegal migrants to come, stay and never go home. Now, the secretary won't say that. In fact, he says everything's just fine. He said it yesterday in two congressional hearings. He said it last September. Quote, 'The border is secure,' he told us.'

Ohio Republican Representative Jim Jordan tore into DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a hearing on Thursday, claiming: 'The chaos on our southern border is not an accident. It's deliberate, it's on purpose, it's by design'

Mayorkas arrives Thursday, April 28 to testify before the Judiciary Committee for an Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security hearing as the border crisis rages on

Mayorkas appeared before the House Appropriations DHS Subcommittee and House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday to justify the administration's request for $97.3 billion for the department's budget in Fiscal Year 2023.

He said the money would go toward investing in meeting the 'the shifting field landscape' at the border and on other national security fronts  like from domestic and foreign terrorism and cyber attacks.

During those hearings, Mayorkas was lambasted by Republicans after he said the administration is 'effectively managing' the situation at the southern border.

In March alone, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered 221,303 migrants crossing the southern border. This figure is the highest in more than two-decades and the biggest spike since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.

The previous high was in July 2021, when CBP encountered 213,593 migrants.

Colorado Republican Representative Ken Buck told Mayorkas during the Judiciary hearing on Wednesday: 'My constituents want you impeached because they believe you've committed treason.'

'They believe you're a traitor. They compare you to Benedict Arnold. You know, no parent with the last name Arnold names their kid Benedict.'

Buck said that over the weekend 'a lady approached me and asked me if you [Mayorkas] felt any shame for what you've done to this country.'

'My question for you, Secretary Mayorkas, is very simple,' he added. 'Would you please answer that lady's question? Are you ashamed for what you've done to this country?

'My response to what you have just said  it is so profoundly offensive on so many different levels, in so many different regards. I won't ask you for an apology,' he said.

'Don't. I won't,' Buck shot back.

Representative Ken Buck (pictured left speaking with Matt Gaetz on Thursday) said during the hearing that Mayorkas is a 'traitor' who needs to be 'impeached' because he 'committed treason'

A caravan of migrants from different nations walk through Chiapas, Mexico on Tuesday, April 26, 2022 en route to cross the border into the U.S.

'I am incredibly proud of my service to this country,' Mayorkas said during the back-and-forth with Buck. 'It is more than 20 years of service in the civilian corps as a federal prosecutor and as a member of the Department of Homeland Security. That is my response.'

'What do you say to the mothers of the children who have died from the fentanyl overdoses? What do you say to all the people out there who can't get an education because of what you've done with immigration in this country? You've secured the homeland? It's a farce,' Buck concluded.
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Jacob Rees-Mogg has shared an image of an empty Cabinet Office which enraged him so much that he left notes for the civil servants who were working from home.

Mr Rees-Mogg's zealous attempts to end WFH raised eyebrows this week, after he left notes saying 'sorry you were out when I visited, I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon' on empty desks at Whitehall.

However, he has now revealed the notes were prompted by his shock after discovering the Cabinet Office - which supports the Prime Minister and Cabinet - was abandoned at 11am on a weekday.

Mr Rees-Mogg, who is minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency, also said that some desks and computers were unused with notices on the walls that date from before the pandemic.

The MP said: 'It looked as if the office hadn't been used in two years. Thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money is being spent, and either they need to be there or not. If not, we should put somebody in this property.'

Jacob Rees-Mogg revealed his controversial notes were prompted by his shock after discovering the Cabinet Office abandoned at 11am on a weekday

The minister faced criticism in some quarters after he left this note on the desks of civil servants working from home

Discussing a message he left on a whiteboard while on a visit to the Eurotunnel in Folkestone, Kent, he added: 'I wrote on the whiteboard saying, ''Can we reallocate this space because you clearly don't need it?''

Mr Rees-Mogg's zealous attempts to end WFH, including leaving notes on empty desks, have faced criticism from some other ministers, with Nadine Dorries accusing him of a 'Dickensian' approach to the issue.

The Cabinet is also said to have backed away from the idea of stripping London weighting from the salaries of people who are still not yet commuting back into the capital.

Mr Rees-Mogg has written to the rest of Cabinet calling on them to issue a clear message to staff about a 'rapid return to the office'.

Downing Street said Boris Johnson supported Mr Rees-Mogg's efforts.

'What the minister is seeking to achieve is to do everything possible to get the civil service to return to the pre-pandemic level,' the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

'That is what he is seeking to do. That is supported by the Cabinet Secretary and obviously the Prime Minister.'

But the Guardian later reported that the country's most senior civil servant, Simon Case, had in fact privately warned Mr Johnson against forcing officials back to the office.

The newspaper said at least four permanent secretaries were also understood to have voiced concerns about the Government's rhetoric on the matter

Mr Rees-Mogg presented figures to Cabinet last week showing that some Government departments were using as little as 25 per cent of office capacity in early April - the figure for Ms Dorries' Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was 43 per cent.

Ms Dorries told him his letter to Government departments brought to mind 'images of burning tallow, rheumy eyes and Marley's ghost' - a reference to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Dave Penman, the secretary general of the Civil service's FDA union, said: 'Hybrid working can save taxpayers millions by reducing the government estate and the pandemic showed that effective public services can be delivered regardless of where staff are placed.'

Discussing a message he left on a whiteboard while on a visit to the Eurotunnel in Folkestone, Kent, he added: 'I wrote on the whiteboard saying, ''Can we reallocate this space because you clearly don't need it?''

Just two days a week from the office: Tens of thousands of civil servants allowed to WFH indefinitely By Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail Tens of thousands of civil servants are being allowed to carry on working from home indefinitely. Despite being urged by ministers to get back to the office for the sake of the economy, mandarins have quietly instituted permanent 'hybrid working'. A Daily Mail investigation found that staff are required to spend as little as 40 per cent of their working week in the office. Public sector offices around the country are still virtually empty, with only a handful of employees clocking in  months after lockdown restrictions were axed. The Mail's audit found that on a typical Monday in the middle of March, many publicly-funded bodies had less than 10 per cent of their staff in work. Some had under 5 per cent  and one had none at all. At some Whitehall departments  where ministers have been told to get their staff back  fewer than half were at their office desks and at one it was less than a quarter. At least 20 government agencies and Whitehall departments now have policies that mean staff are expected to be at their desks for only two days a week. Some are even giving home-based officials 18 a month toward heating bills and up to 350 to buy desks and chairs. Advertisement

It comes as Boris Johnson summoned Passport Office bosses to Downing Street to explain the renewal chaos which has seen 700,000 outstanding applications still to clear amid fears over a summer of cancelled holidays.

The Prime Minister is said to be 'horrified' at the backlog - but the Home Office insisted today that the agency's 160,000-a-year director-general working from home at her village property in Leicestershire, 100 miles away from its London headquarters, has 'precisely zero bearing on the current situation with passports'.

Abi Tierney, 48, who was appointed as director-general in early 2020 when the pandemic began and lives with her two young sons, is battling to control the chaos as customer services teams continue to work from home.

Home Office sources said Dr Tierney, who is responsible for leading 3,500 Passport Office staff, spends most of her time working at its centres around Britain - including in London, where the headquarters is located in Victoria.

And Home Office Permanent Secretary Matthew Rycroft said claims that she is under pressure to return to HQ full-time 'totally ignores reality'. He praised her for being 'a hugely talented leader', adding: 'With sites spread across the UK, Abi works day-in, day-out with teams around the country delivering vital services for the British public.'

However the Daily Telegraph claimed today that a resident of the Leicestershire village where Dr Tierney lives said she appeared to be based there, 107 miles from London. Conservative former minister David Jones told MailOnline today that the claim 'underlines the importance of civil servants getting back to the office environment', adding: 'It beggars belief that any senior official would be staying at home when her office is so clearly in crisis.'

And Tory MP Henry Smith told MailOnline that there had been 'notable deterioration in services' among government agencies, such as the Passport Office, as officials were slow to return to their offices.

But the Home Office defended Dr Tierney and told MailOnline that it has Passport Offices 'in a range of locations across the UK, with 90 per cent of our staff based outside London', adding: 'It is therefore ludicrous to suggest that any senior leader not living there would impact on their ability to do their job to the highest standards.'

Ms Dorries told him his letter to Government departments brought to mind 'images of burning tallow, rheumy eyes and Marley's ghost' - a reference to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1938 film version, below).

Britons trying to get their passport renewed are furious at being left on hold for hours before being told by customer services staff working from home that they cannot access files to provide an update on applications.

Among them is Mohammad Reza, a dual British-Iranian national, who told the newspaper while queuing at the Passport Office for his son's documents: 'I got through to the customer service after four hours on hold.

'One of them told me they all work from home. That's the reason why customer services have no access to the files. That's the reason why they can't give proper updates. It's shocking. Why are they still at home?'

It comes after Mr Johnson delivered an ultimatum to stay-at-home officials as he threatened to 'privatise the a***' off the Passport Office and DVLA amid huge backlogs. The Prime Minister said families deserve better than the 'post-Covid manana culture' that has seen thousands of civil servants refusing to return to the office.

Also in recent days, Mr Rees-Mogg warned civil servants who refuse to return to Whitehall risk losing their plum London jobs. The Conservative MP has been leaving notes on the desks of absent civil servants which read 'sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon'.

Mr Johnson will summon Dr Tierney for urgent talks at Downing Street next week as the Passport Office struggles to cope with high demand after five million people did not renew their travel documents during the pandemic. Downing Street chief of staff Steve Barclay is expected to meet with Passport Office officials later this week.

Dr Tierney lives in a village just over 100 miles away from the London office, which takes about two-and-a-half hours to drive. Direct non-stop trains from Leicester railway station take about one hour to London St Pancras.

The Passport Office is set to deal with 9.5 million applications this year - up from four million applications in 2020 and five million in 2021 when Covid-19 restrictions were in place. Holidaymakers in Britain are now being advised to leave at least ten weeks to get a new passport, but MPs have said this target is being regularly breached.

Unofficial waiting times for adult passport renewals in the past two years, shown in a graph from passportwaitingtime.co.uk

People queue outside the customer entrance of the Passport Office headquarters in London's Victoria yesterday
The premier of the British Virgin Islands was arrested in the US last night on charges relating to drug trafficking and money laundering.

Andrew Fahie, 51, who also serves as the territorys minister of finance, was detained in Miami for money laundering and conspiring to import a controlled drug.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she was appalled by these serious allegations, which also follow an inquiry into embezzlement by officials.

She said last night: I have spoken to the governor of the British Virgin Islands (the Queens representative in the territory) and he will be holding an emergency meeting of the territorys cabinet... He will set out next steps (today), including urgent publication of the inquirys report.

Andrew Fahie (pictured), 51, who also serves as the territorys minister of finance, was detained in Miami for money laundering and conspiring to import a controlled drug

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (pictured) said she was appalled by these serious allegations, which also follow an inquiry into embezzlement by officials

In September 2021, Fahie backed a self-determination referendum that could see the Queens removal as the British Virgin Islands head of state.

The move came after then Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab ordered an inquiry into allegations that party officials had embezzled taxpayer money sent to help the islands in the wake of hurricanes.

The independent probe was announced in January 2021. The BVI is not corrupt, Mr Fahie said at the time.

Anyone that makes that statement is trying to damage the BVIs reputation, and is an irresponsible person.

Mr Rankin said last night: I realise this will be shocking news for people in the territory. I would call for calm at this time.
Brandon Cuellar, aged three months, is pictured with his mother Carolina Ayala on Wednesday - the day after he was recovered from a 20-hour kidnapping

A woman accused of kidnapping a three month-old baby befriended the infant's mom at church after noticing she was heavily pregnant, it was claimed.

Carolina Ayala said that Yesenia Ramirez, 43, inveigled her way into her family's life after spotting her with the huge baby bump, and became a regular called to the family's San Diego home after Ayala's son Brandon was born.

Ayala said: 'She would go to my house a lot, she always wanted to be there,' Ayala told KTST-TV, a Telemundo affiliate.

Brandon was snatched from his grandmother's home Monday by a man cops say is Jose Roman Portillo, 28.

They allege Portillo was encouraged to carry out the abduction on Ramirez's orders. Brandon was discovered safe in a San Diego home on Tuesday, with Ramirez and Portillo both appearing in court Thursday charged with his abduction.

Ayala is pictured speaking on Wednesday about the ordeal. The baby's father is in prison, on undisclosed charges

Ayala said that the alleged kidnapper befriended her at church, when she was nine months pregnant, and became a constant presence in her life

Yesenia Guadalupe Ramirez is pictured in court on Thursday. She is being held without bail in connection to the kidnapping of the baby

Jose Roman Portillo (right) is seen in court with Ramirez (left) on Thursday. Portillo is believed to be the person who carried baby Brandon from the house

Jose Roman Portillo, 28 (left), Yesenia Guadalupe Ramirez, 43 (center) and her husband Baldomeo Sandoval, 37 (right), were arrested in connection to the kidnapping of 3-month-old Brandon Cuellar. Sandoval has since been released without charge

Brandon Cuellar (pictured) was snatched around 1 pm on Monday from an apartment in San Jose - he was recovered about 20 hours later

Ayala said she was at work cleaning a home when her sister-in-law called her on Monday, to let her know her child was missing.

'I felt like half of my heart had left with him. I felt like I died,' Ayala told KDTV-TV, a Univision affiliate.

Authorities did not issue an Amber Alert because investigators did not have a vehicle description.

In the early hours of the investigation, officers and FBI agents went door-to-door in the neighborhood to appeal for witnesses or information.

Ayala was reunited with her son on Tuesday, after police found him in Portillo's home, and said it was like 'having my soul return to my body.'

'I cried out of joy, I cried until I got tired of crying,' she told Telemundo 48.

Ayala said that Ramirez offered to buy supplies for the baby and drove the baby and his grandmother, Victoria Mejia, to the store and back home on Monday.

Her associate, Portillo, was captured on surveillance video carrying a baby car seat and a small blanket and walking toward the apartment, police said.

Police said Ramirez had been communicating with Portillo moments before walked into the house while the grandmother was unloading the groceries, and took the baby and drove away.

The motive for the kidnapping is still under investigation.

Ramirez, Portillo and Ramirez's husband Baldomeo Sandoval, 37, were arrested.

Sandoval has since been released without charge.

'Baby Brandon has been located,' the San Diego police department tweeted on Tuesday, adding that he would be 'taken to a local hospital as a precaution but he has been located alive.

'A million thank yous to all who assisted.'

One of the suspects, believed to be Portillo, walked into a home in the 1000 block of Elm Street at around 1pm on Monday and left with the baby boy

Police released a video clip that shows the man walking down the sidewalk holding a baby carrier covered by a white blanket

The three-month-old was found on Tuesday, police announced

He was taken to a local hospital out of precaution

Sgt. Christian Camarillo from the San Jose Police Department said that Ramirez was a family friend, and that the kidnappers' motives are still under investigation.

'There is a human component aspect to this incident,' he said, according to ABC7.

'Mom is very traumatized right now. She needs her space.'

Camarillo said on Monday that the baby's mother was at work at the time and his father is in jail.

It's unclear why the father is in jail.

'Dad right now is out of the picture. He is incarcerated,' Camarillo said.

'I don't know, you know, whether that is going to play into this, but obviously we are going to talk to him soon.'
A seven-month-old girl was shot in the chest and killed during a drive-by shooting in Toledo, Ohio, while she was sitting next to her father in his car.

Desire Hughes was shot on Wednesday night and treated for at least one gunshot wound to the chest before succumbing to her injuries, the Lucas County Coroner's Office reported.

Her father, Jeremiah Hughes, 20, was grazed by a bullet in the shooting and has since been released from the hospital, mourning his daughter's death.

Cops believe the shooting to be drugs or gang-related.

'I was a happy dad, you feelin' me? She was gonna change my life, man,' Hughes told the Toledo Blade after coming home on Thursday. 'That was the one that was gonna change my life.

'That's why I'm so sick, I don't even know what to do,' he added. 'My baby they really took that girl from me.'

Seven-month-old Desire Hughes (pictured) was shot and killed on Wednesday night during a drive-by shooting in Toledo, Ohio, while sitting next to her dad

Jeremiah Hughes, 20, was grazed by a bullet in the shooting and has since been released from the hospital, mourning his daughter. The father is pictured with his baby girl

No suspects have been identified in the shooting as Toledo Police ask residents to provide tips

No suspects have been identified as the shooting is currently under investigation.

Toledo Police Chief George Kral has urged members of the community to check on their outdoor cameras or doorbell monitors for any clues about the shooting.

'I'm imploring the community to reach out and help us out,' Kral told the Blade. 'I mean this is a 7-month-old child, who has never done anything wrong in her little life... we need justice for this young person.'

Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz condemned the murder of Desire, the fourth homicide reported this week in the Ohio city, suggesting gang violence was involved in the latest killing.

'No one pulls up to a car and shoots into another car randomly,' Kapszukiewicz told the Blade.

'It's unfair to the 275,000 who live in the city to feel less safe than they should have because of the 50 people in a gang who are playing out a revenge drama that affects all of us.'

Desire's murder is the fourth homicide reported this week in Toledo, Ohio

Two months ago, Damia Ezell, 10, was also shot in the chest and killed while riding in her uncle's car in Toledo.

Kenneth White, 24, was driving his niece around the Old West End neighborhood when a dark vehicle with tinted windows pulled up beside him and fired at his car. Ezelle was killed and White was taken to the hospital for life-threatening injuries.

Lucas County Children Services Executive Director Robin Reese said there is now a 'troubling trend' of children falling prey to gun violence on the streets of the county.

'This cannot be something normal that we get used to,' she said in a statement.

'Children are literally dying on our streets. This cannot be something that we accept.'

Reese led the Lucas County Children Services' annual memorial recognizing children who have died due to abuse or violence in the last year on Thursday, hours after Desire was killed.
Arthritis patients will be told by the NHS to lose weight and exercise as the main therapies for their condition under new clinical guidelines.

Physical activity is a better option for relieving pain caused by osteoarthritis than painkillers such as paracetamol, the health watchdog says.

Moving millions of patients with the condition onto an exercise regime could save billions of pounds of NHS cash by slashing the number of prescriptions for stronger painkillers, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) notes.

Starting exercise programmes may briefly make the pain worse but this should settle down.

More than 10million people in the UK have arthritis. Osteoarthritis, which causes joints to become stiff and sore, is the most common form of the condition, affecting 8.5m.

Arthritis costs the NHS 10bn a year, with 80 per cent of patients prescribed painkillers.

Physical activity may be a better option for relieving pain than painkillers such as paracetamol, the health watchdog says

The guidelines give recommendations on use of medicines, such as offering non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) but not paracetamol or strong opioids.

Dr Paul Chrisp, of Nice, said: This is because new evidence has shown there was little or no benefit to peoples quality of life, pain or psychological distress and particularly in the case of strong opioids, there was evidence that they can cause harm in the longer term, including possible addiction.

In the guidance, doctors are told to diagnose osteoarthritis themselves without further investigation in people aged 45 or over who have activity-related joint pain.

Patients should also have no morning joint-related stiffness, or morning stiffness that lasts no longer than 30 minutes, to be diagnosed this way.

The draft guideline says people can be offered tailored exercise programmes, with an explanation that doing regular and consistent exercise, even though this may initially cause discomfort, will be beneficial for their joints.

More than 10million people in the UK have arthritis. Osteoarthritis is the most common form of the condition

Exercising in the long-term also increases its benefits, the guideline adds.

When it comes to weight loss, people will be told that any amount of weight loss is likely to be beneficial, but losing 10 per cent of their body weight is likely to be better than 5 per cent.

People can also be referred for hip or knee replacement if their condition cannot be managed in other ways, and referrals should not be held off due to age, sex or obesity.

Dr Chrisp added: Osteoarthritis can cause people discomfort and prevent them from undertaking some of their normal daily activities.

However, there is evidence which shows muscle strengthening and aerobic exercise can have an impact on not just managing the condition, but also providing people with an improved quality of life.

Beginning that journey can be uncomfortable for some people at first, and they should be supported and provided with enough information to help them to manage their condition over a long period of time.

Whilst topical and sometimes oral NSAIDs remain an important treatment option for osteoarthritis, we have taken the decision to not recommend some painkillers, such as paracetamol and some opioids for osteoarthritis.

Tracey Loftis, head of policy and public affairs at the charity Versus Arthritis, said: Weve seen first-hand the benefits that people with osteoarthritis can get in being able to access appropriate physical activity, especially when in a group-setting.

Something like exercise can improve a persons mobility, help manage their pain and reduce feelings of isolation.

But our own research into the support given to people with osteoarthritis showed that far too many do not have their conditions regularly reviewed by healthcare professionals, and even fewer had the opportunity to access physical activity support.

The lack of alternatives means that, in many cases, people are stuck on painkillers that are not helping them to live a life free from pain.

While we welcome the draft Nice guidelines, healthcare professionals need further resources and support to better understand their role in promoting treatment like physical activity for people with osteoarthritis.

There is clearly a need for people with arthritis to be given a bigger voice so that their health needs are not ignored.
Only about a fifth of refugees who have been issued with visas under the Homes for Ukraine scheme have arrived in the UK, figures show.

A total of 86,100 visas had been issued by Wednesday, the Government said.

But as of Monday just 27,100 Ukrainians had arrived in the UK, according to figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Home Office.

This includes 11,110 through the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship route  21.6 per cent of the 51,300 refugees with visas granted.

Only about a fifth of refugees who have been issued with visas under the Homes for Ukraine scheme have arrived in the UK, figures show. Pictured: Ukrainian children who have fled with their mothers from the Russian invasion wait for their transfer at Przemysl, Poland

A total of 86,100 visas had been issued by Wednesday, the Government said. Pictured: A Ukrainian refugee holds a sleeping child in a bus after landing at Zurich Airport from Krakow

Around 16,000 have arrived under the Ukraine Family scheme  45.8 per cent of the 34,900 refugees issued visas.

Overall, less than a third (31.4 per cent) of those granted visas under both schemes have arrived in the UK.

There are multiple cases where families are unable to travel to the UK because not all family members have received their permission to travel letters or visas.

There has also been widespread concern about the length of time it has taken for visas to be issued.

Home Office minister Kevin Foster said suggestions that Ukrainian children are deliberately not being granted visas to prevent their families from travelling to the UK are absolute nonsense.

Speaking yesterday, he admitted that some individuals get a decision shortly after others in their party, adding: But that is not deliberate.

A government spokesman said: We are processing thousands of visas a day  this shows that the changes we made to streamline the service are working.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, sold $4 billion worth of the company's stock following the Twitter board's decision to sell the social media company to the multi-billionaire.

According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Musk sold 4.4 million shares of the electric car manufacturing company's stock for an average price of $903.58 on Tuesday and Wednesday. The sales account for only 2.6 % of the Tesla shares he fully owned at the start of Tuesday's trading session and less than 2% of his overall Tesla holdings when stock options he controls are factored in.

The reason for the transaction is not disclosed in the documents, according to a report from CNN.

"No further TSLA sales planned after today," Musk stated in a tweet Thursday evening, but it was unclear whether Musk had made any additional transactions since Wednesday that had not been disclosed.

No further TSLA sales planned after today  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2022

Insiders like Musk are required to record purchases and sales of their company's stock to the SEC to keep the rest of the investment community informed. However, they have a few days to process the filing while still adhering to the regulations.

Worried Tesla Investors

Investors may have sold Tesla shares this week, worried that Musk would not be able to devote as much time and attention to the company. The corporation has aggressive expansion goals and is facing increasing competition.

Tesla's stock barely moved on Wednesday and Thursday. In premarket trade on Friday, the stock was up 3%.

Musk is anticipated to fund his purchase of Twitter with his large Tesla assets. That doesn't mean he has to sell all of his stock to cover the entire purchase price. Instead, he can borrow money by using the shares as collateral.

According to corporate documents, Musk has already committed 88.3 million Tesla shares as collateral as of June 30, 2021, but those shares were pledged years ago when Tesla shares have valued at a fraction of what they are now.

Read Also: Elon Musk Twitter Headache: Expert Reveals Major Problem After Tesla Stocks Drop

He would probably be able to borrow more money using some of those shares as collateral. Even with the recent drop in Tesla's share price, the estimated 79 million unpledged shares he owns following Tuesday's sales might be used to loan $17 billion.

Tesla Stocks Drop This Week

Tesla stock lost ground on Thursday amid investor concerns that Musk may have to sell Tesla shares to fund his $21 billion equity contribution to his $44 billion Twitter buyout.

Tesla stock fell on Thursday as investors feared Musk would have to sell Tesla stock to cover his $21 billion equity contribution to Twitter's $44 billion acquisition, per Fox News.

After the social media company board accepted his buyout offer on Tuesday, the carmaker's stock market value plummeted by more than $125 billion.

Musk stated that he would contribute $21 billion of his personal assets to the $44 billion deal. Investors are concerned, though, that he may have to sell Tesla stock to help fund the buyout, according to BBC.

Musk is the wealthiest person on the planet, with a net worth of about $250 billion, largely due to his Tesla ownership.

He also owns more than 40% of the space company SpaceX, which is valued at over $100 billion.

Related Article: Is Elon Musk Still the Richest Man in the World After Tesla Stock Drop?

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Dressed in nurses uniforms from a bygone era, social media influencers and models pose by tanks in a crude effort to boost Russian war propaganda.

The smiling group  called Sisters for Victory  mingled with Vladimir Putins troops as their uniforms displayed the Z sign promoting the brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Online posts claimed some of the women are wives and girlfriends of servicemen fighting in Ukraine.

Russian social media influencers and models posed by tanks dressed in nurses' uniforms and donning the Z sign in a crude effort to boost war propaganda in snaps for Instagram

Their snaps in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine were posted on Instagram and Russian social media site VK.

They were shown bringing cakes marking Orthodox Easter to troops and were previously filmed singing a sea shanty in an attempt to convince young people in Russia of the need for war.

They include Alyona Boyko, who has 30,000-plus followers on TikTok and Instagram. Her propaganda message to soldiers was: It is most important not to give up now, to be stronger despite all odds.

Their snaps in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine were posted on Instagram and Russian social media site VK

They were shown bringing cakes marking Orthodox Easter to troops and were previously filmed singing a sea shanty in an attempt to convince young people in Russia of the need for war

'Hard times will pass and sooner or later, everything will be fine.

Violetta Moskalenko, 19, who has 3,000-plus followers on Instagram, is a model who took part in Luhansk Fashion Week.

Other nurses include beauty contest participant Maria Okorokova and actress Anastasia Chepurova.

The smiling group  called Sisters for Victory  mingled with Vladimir Putins troops as their uniforms displayed the Z sign promoting the brutal invasion of Ukraine. Pictured, Darya Pugachyova, an activist for the patriotic movement

Valeria Rusina is a medical student and Sofia Vorobyrova, 23, is a paediatrician.

Anastasia Migal, 20, is a trainee lawyer studying at an Interior Ministry university, and a champion shot-putter and discus thrower.

In six years I have won 54 medals and 70 diplomas. Despite all these multiple achievements, there are still many victories ahead of me, she said
The occupied area of Kherson will start using the Russian rouble from Sunday as Moscow tightens its grip on the region.

An official from a pro-Russian committee which styles itself as the regions military-civil administration announced the move via Russian news agency RIA.

Kirill Stremousov said the transition to the rouble will take up to four months, during which time it will circulate alongside Ukraines official currency, the hryvnia.

This week Russia said it had gained full control of the southern region.

Russia appointed its own mayor in the city of Kherson on Tuesday after taking over regional headquarters.

But Ukrainian mayor Ihor Kolykhayev said on Facebook he had defied Russian orders.

The occupied area of Kherson will start using the Russian rouble (pictured, a rouble coin in front of the Kremlin in Moscow) from Sunday, as Moscow tightens its grip on the region, a transition which may take four months and circulate with the Ukranian currency hryvnia

I am staying in Kherson with the people of Kherson who entrusted me with the management of our city, he added.

I refused to cooperate with the new administration.

It was announced that the powers of Kherson mayor are delegated pursuant to the order of the regional military commander of the Russian Federation to Oleksandr Kobets.

He will in turn report to the new head of the Kherson regional administration, Volodymyr Saldo.

Mr Kobets said that from this week he would coordinate all the processes that ensure the functioning of the city.

Mr Kolykhayev said that he had asked the Ukrainian Presidents Office for detailed instructions on what the mayor and his colleagues should do in response to the current situation.

It comes as Russian forces used tear gas and stun grenades to stamp out a pro-Ukraine rally in the occupied city on Wednesday.

The protest had been organised on the day Kyiv said Russian planned to stage a referendum to create a breakaway region like those in eastern Ukraine.

Thousands of people have fled Kherson to Ukraine-controlled territory amid water outages, severe shortages of food and medicines.
Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort is being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for $3 million for allegedly failing to disclose cash stored in more than 20 foreign bank accounts.

The feds allege Manafort used the offshore accounts to receive payment for consulting former President Viktor Yanukovich of Ukraine, who was a known ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and who was in power between 2010 and 2014.

Some accounts were held in the names of shell companies controlled by Manafort, while others listed him as a signature authority, according to the lawsuit which was obtained by DailyMail.com.

The lawsuit did not reveal how much cash Manafort is accused of failing to declare.

Manafort was previously accused in 2018 of hiding $16million earned by consulting pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine to fund his opulent lifestyles. Prosecutors, at the time, alleged he then lied banks to secure $20million in loans after his Ukrainian income dried up and he needed cash.

He was convicted in 2018 on tax evasion and bank fraud charges, but was later pardoned by Trump in 2020, shortly before the president left office.

Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly failing to disclose nearly $3million stored in offshore accounts. Manfort is pictured in July 2016 with Donald Trump on his left and Ivanka Trump on his right

The lawsuit, filed in federal court Thursday, asks a judge to force Manafort to pay fines, penalties and interest after prosecutors say he failed to disclose 22 offshore bank accounts he ordered opened in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

According to the complaint, Manafort failed to file federal tax documents detailing the accounts and failed to disclose the money on his income tax returns. U.S. law requires residents to report all foreign accounts under their control with balances exceeding $10,000.

While the suit alleges Manafort failed to report 22 foreign accounts in 2013, it acknowledges that 19 of the accounts held a 'zero balance' by the middle of 2014.

Two accounts had balances of less than $200,000 at that time and one contained approximately $443,000.

The feds allege Manafort (back) used the offshore accounts to receive payment for consulting former President Viktor Yanukovich (left) of Ukraine, who was a known ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin (center). This photo was taken in 2010

The lawsuit charges the money was related to consulting work in Ukraine with his deputy Rick Gates and an associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, who were both key figures in Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

In court documents, the Justice Department alleges Manafort 'knowingly, intentionally, and willfully filed and conspired to file false tax returns from 2006-2015 in that he said he did not have reportable foreign bank accounts when he knew that he did.'

The Justice Department is seeking $2,976,350.15 from Manafort who was notified of the fines and assessment by the Treasury Department in July 2020, the suit states.

Manafort's lawyer, Jeffrey Neiman, said in a statement that the government was seeking a monetary penalty against Manafort 'for simply failing to file a tax form.'

'Mr. Manafort was aware the Government was going to file the suit because he has tried for months to resolve this civil matter. Nonetheless, the Government insisted on filing this suit simply to embarrass Mr. Manafort,' Neiman said.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's inquiry, however Politico reported Thursday the agency declined to comment on the suit.

According to the complaint, the funds were stored in 22 accounts held in the names of shell companies controlled by Manafort or that listed him as a signature authority

Manafort - a globetrotting lobbyist famed for representing dubious characters such as Congolese President Mobutu Sese Seko, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, and Nigerian coup leader Sani Abacha - led Trump's campaign during a pivotal period in 2016 before being ousted over his ties to Ukraine.

He was the figurehead for accusations that Putin helped elect Trump and among the first people charged as part of Mueller's investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Manafort was charged in 2017 with conspiracy against the U.S., making false statements, money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent for Ukraine.

He was also accused of working with Russia to help Trump win the election - something which was never proved, and he has always denied.

However, in a 966-page report published in 2020, a Republican-led U.S. Senate committee concluded that Russia used Manafort and the WikiLeaks website to try to help Trump win the 2016 election.

Manafort was found guilty of filing false income tax returns, failing to report his foreign accounts and bank fraud in August 2019. He is pictured being escorted by ahutorities following an arraignment hearing in June 2019

In August 2018, Manafort was found guilty of filing false income tax returns, failing to report his foreign accounts and bank fraud.

That September, he conceded to committing several federal crimes and agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department, including in special counsel Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

He pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C., to one count of conspiracy against the U.S. and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice due to attempts to tamper with witnesses.

He was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in March 2019, however he only spent a little of a year behind bars before being released to house arrest in May 2020.

Trump pardoned Manafort, a veteran Republican strategist and lobbyist who worked on Republican presidential campaigns as far back as Gerald Ford's in 1976, in December 2020. The pardon came amid other pardons for former political operative Roger Stone and Charles Kushner, the father of son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Despite Trump's pardon, the government believes Manafort still owes the money for the alleged financial misconduct.
The devastated son of an elderly man ruthlessly beaten to death has spoken of the horror of cleaning his father's bloodied home after the attack.

Emiliano Lombardi, 84, was killed by 29-year-old Quade Karsum Jones when he went on an hour-long crime spree, assaulting six other people in August, 2020 in Perth's east.

A heavily intoxicated Jones tore off the side mirror from Mr Lombardi's car and smashed it over his head and face, leaving the grandfather with catastrophic injuries and soaked in blood.

Jones was on Thursday sentenced to life behind bars in the West Australian Supreme Court and will be eligible for parole in 2043.

In an emotional victim impact statement, Mr Lombardi's son Don detailed how losing his 'papa' had 'broken me as a man'.

The 84-year-old spent two weeks in hospital but eventually asked his family to stop treatment and 'let me go'.

Emiliano Lombardi, 84, was killed by 29-year-old Quade Karsum Jones in 2020. Jones was jailed on Thursday for life

Quade Karsum Jones (pictured) has been sentenced to life for the horrific series of assaults that led to the death of the 84-year-old

Mr Lombardi's son Don said the death of his father has 'broken me as a man'

'Every part of these two weeks I will never forget and are permanently etched on my brain,' Don said in his statement.

'This experience broke me as a man and affected me to the core of my existence. My sister, brother and I held my dad for hours in his final hours to say it was going to be okay.'

Don said adding to the trauma of losing his father was the task of cleaning his East Cannington home.

'Going to my dad's house to see blood everywhere was so private and personal and I remember not letting my wife come into the house  not wanting her to see the pain in the house and see my pain clearly on my face,' he said.

'Blood on every door, wall, floor and piece of furniture.

'I remember wanting to clean this house with my sister to clean the blood to erase the memory of the incident  trying to heal my dad as I was healing that house.'

The grandfather was in intensive care for two weeks after the attack but died at the age of 84. His devastated son detailed his trauma in a moving victim impact statement

Jones made no effort to help Mr Lombardi after ruthlessly smashing his head with a side mirror

Mr Lombardi was Jones' fifth victim of the day on August 16, 2020.

Jones' first victim was a man who had seen co-accused Joshua Cates spray graffiti on a bench.

Cates was cleared of being an accessory to murder in December 2020, but ordered to do 40 hours of community service for graffiti during the crime spree.

Jones tried to confront the man but he got in his car and drove off, but had to later slow down when he came to an intersection.

Jones ran up to his car and started punching the passenger side window. He then opened the driver's door and punched and kicked the man.

Jones tried to take the keys out of the ignition and in the process pulled off three keys which belonged to the man's partner.

Mr Lombardi was Jones' fifth victim of the day on August 16, 2020 after he went on an hour-long crime spree

The 84-year-old grandfather had managed to make it inside his home into his bed after he was savagely beaten by Jones outside the house

The man suffered swelling to his jaw and reported the incident.

A short time later Jones saw a woman outside her home and proceeded to grab her hair and shake her head, after asking for cigarettes and money.

She tried to run inside her home and screamed, alerting her two housemates to come outside.

Upon seeing Jones they tried to close the front door on him but he forced his way inside and then attacked one of the housemates, punching him in the face, shoulder and chest.

His fourth victim was a woman who Jones 'walloped' on the back of her body before attempting to throw a can at her as she walked down the street.

Mr Lombardi, the fifth victim of the day, lived alone and was in good health at the time of his 'very severe and vicious assault'.

After being beaten over the head and dripping with blood, Mr Lombardi was able to make his way inside his home and into his bed.

Jones continued on his rampage of terror, going on to beat up another neighbour who was too terrified to run inside his home in case his attacker followed him and harmed his family.

The 29-year-old then pulled a letterbox out of the ground and hurled it towards the man but it didn't connect.

Jones then headed to a nearby train station and stole a beanie from a woman heading home.

The elderly man (pictured) spent a week in an induced coma after the disgusting attack which eventually claimed his life

He then grabbed a nearby sign and started whacking her on her back, causing bruising before a passerby saw the assault and Jones fled the scene.

Jones, who'd been using meth since he was 17, then took a train to Armadale where he visited a pub and stayed in the restroom for an hour.

Paper towels, soap and water were found all over the bathroom as Jones tried to clean any blood off of himself.

Following Mr Lombardi's assault the elderly man suffered injuries to his brain and right eye, and fractures to his face and shoulder.

In his sentencing, Justice Stephen Hall said there was no 'rational reason' for Jones' violent attacks.

'You attacked indiscriminately, anyone who had the misfortune to come into contact with you,' he said.

Mr Lombardi was living alone in his home at the time of the attack

'The attacks in each case were shocking and frightening.'

'Despite the obvious severity of the injuries to Mr Lombardi, you made no effort to render him assistance. Rather, you left him alone and badly injured and continued on your way, attacking others as you went.'

Director of Public Prosecutions Amanda Forrester SC described called Jones' attack on Mr Lombardi as a 'very severe and vicious assault' and noted the innocent man was 'savagely beaten' in the head and face with the broken mirror.

Defence lawyer Bernard Standish said Jones had no 'true memory' of the vicious attacks but was heavily intoxicated at the time.

There has been no suggestion that Jones suffers from a mental illness or a personality disorder that could have contributed to his cruel actions.

Jones was not arrested until four days after the attacks on August 20, 2020.

By that time it was too late for police to test if Jones had any drugs in his system at the time of the events.

Jones' lawyer has insisted he feels guilty for his actions and that Jones 'clearly didn't have an intention to kill'.

'He regrets it, it's behaviour he thinks about all the time and if he could take it back, he could,' he said.

The court heard the attacks were not Jones' first case of intoxicated violence and that he had beat his father over the head with a coffee cup in 2016.

Jones had initially pleaded his innocence and was set to face court in late February but changed his plea to guilty late last year.
Anthony Albanese has been interrogated over his opinion of trans men in an interview with two teenage journalists - who demanded to know: 'Are trans men, men, yes or no?'

The Opposition Leader submitted to an interview with Year 9 student Leonardo Puglisi and his political reporter Roman Mackinnon following on from Prime Minister Scott Morrison's interview with the teens in early April.

Mr Puglisi, 14, is the founder of 6News, 'a team of young, passionate reporters' for the digital age with a presence on Youtube, Patreon and other social media channels.

In a teaser clip released for the interview, to be released next Tuesday, Mr Puglisi is seen asking Mr Albanese a 'yes or no question'.

'Are trans men, men, yes or no?'

Year 9 student Leonardo Puglisi is the founder of the 6News channel and has now hosted both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese for interviews during the Federal election campaign

'Well, it's... it's up to them to define... people are able to define themselves,' Mr Albanese responds.

The teaser clip also sees Mr Albanese asked whether he broke his promise to take all questions from reporters at daily press conference after he curtailed the length of the events following his statistics gaffe on the first day of the campaign.

Mr Albanese is also heard outlining Labor's plans for Medicare, childcare and climate change.

Mr Puglisi then asks whether he'll 'own up' to mistakes if elected as the clip dissolves to a promo for the broadcast of the full interview on the 6News Youtube channel next week.

In early April the teen journalists scored an interview with Scott Morrison in which he responded to the suggestion he is a serial liar as 'silly word games' and 'juvenile debates' that don't matter to ordinary Australians

In a teaser clip released for the interview, to be released next Tuesday, Mr Puglisi is seen asking Mr Albanese a 'yes or no question'. 'Are trans men, men, yes or no?'

In early April the teen journalists scored an interview with Scott Morrison in which he responded to the suggestion he is a serial liar as 'silly word games' and 'juvenile debates' that don't matter to ordinary Australians.

'So you don't think Australians are interested in whether their leader tells the truth or not?' Mr Puglisi persisted.

'I do tell the truth,' Mr Morrison responded, but then conceded politicians 'might get the odd fact wrong' and that Australians know he is 'up front' with them.

Puglisi reminded Mr Morrison of two alleged lies he had told regarding his use of the term 'Shanghai Sam' about disgraced former senator Sam Dastyari, and his comments about his Hillsong Church attendance in the wake of allegations about its ex-pastor Brian Houston.

'I didn't say I've never walked into the door of Hillsong church. It hasn't been my home community church. On occasion I've visited there, I've visited many churches in the last 15 years Coptic orthodox, Greek orthodox, Maronite churches, I've been inside synagogues, I've been inside temples, I've been in mosques, I've been in many places,' Mr Morrison responded.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese after he left home isolation on Friday morning after a week with Covid

He said the opposition 'throw a lot of mud at you when you're a Prime Minister, and that's because they havent got any policies ... if you've got nothing to say, and you've got nothing to offer, you'll sledge and you'll throw mud.'

Mr Albanese appears to have conducted the interview with 6News during his enforced isolation period after he contracted Covid.

He rejoined the campaign trail on Friday and is due to officially launch Labor's quest for government in Perth on Sunday.
There have been calls for the MP who is accused of watching pornography in the House of Commons to quit and to be named and shamed.

While Boris Johnson himself lashed out at unknown MP today, hinting he faces being kicked out of the Conservative Party.

One of those calling for resignation is MP Nickie Aiken, who is also the vice chair of the 2022 Committee - a recently formed Tory group to push for gender equality.

The male MP in question 'has to resign', she told Times Radio, saying the individual was causing 'pain, suffering & embarrassment' to the Conservative Party and to Parliament.

Former minister Caroline Nokes has accused the chief whip of avoiding addressing the issue, and said the whip should have been suspended already.

Chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris has chosen to not immediately discipline the MP.

Instead, the allegations will be left to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) - a decision which has been criticised as the process can last for years and during which those accused remain anonymous.

According to The Telegraph, the person facing the accusations is not a relatively new MP and was not in the intakes of Tories in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 elections.

Speaking to reporters at a college in Lancashire, Mr Johnson was asked whether the parliamentarian would lose the Conservative whip if the allegations are proven. 'I think it's obviously unacceptable for anybody to be doing that kind of thing in the workplace,' he said.

MP Nickie Aiken has said the Tory MP responsible for watching pornography in the Houses of Parliament should quit

Chief Whip of the Conservative Party, Chris Heaton-Harris, has not removed the whip from the MP in question

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the long hours and access to alcohol had been a problem for many years, and his advice to colleagues was 'finish your day's work and go home'

Mr Wallace pointed to the handful of exclusive bars on the Parliamentary estate, where drinks are much cheaper than outside, with a pint of beer costing around 3.60. File picture of Strangers Bar in the Common

A spokeswoman for Mr Heaton-Harris said: 'Following allegations of inappropriate behaviour in the House of Commons the chief whip has asked that this matter be referred to the ICGS.

'Upon the conclusion of any ICGS investigation the chief whip will take appropriate action.'

Speaking to reporters in Lancashire, Mr Johnson was asked whether the parliamentarian would lose the Conservative whip if the allegations are proven.

'I think it's obviously unacceptable for anybody to be doing that kind of thing in the workplace,' he said.

'It would be the same for any kind of job up and down the country, let's be absolutely clear about that.

'What needs to happen now is that the proper procedures need to be gone through, the independent complaints and grievances procedure needs to be activated and we need to get to understand the facts, but, yeah, that kind of behaviour is clearly totally unacceptable.'

It came as the sleaze issue crossed the aisle, with a Labour frontbencher accused of telling one of his party's female MPs they were a 'secret weapon' because men wanted to sleep with them.

The female politician - who wants to remain anonymous - was allegedly subjected to the lewd remark at an event in Westminster.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace also urged MPs to stay out of Parliament's 'poisonous' drinking dens amid growing uproar at sexism and sleaze at Westminster.

Mr Wallace said the long hours and access to alcohol had been a problem for many years, and his advice to colleagues was 'finish your day's work and go home'.

In the latest grim claims, a woman MP told BBC Wales that when someone praised her as a 'rising star' of her party at an event, the unnamed shadow cabinet minister intervened.

They apparently said she was a 'secret weapon' because 'women want to be her friend' and men wanted to sleep with her.

'She is a vote winner,' they reportedly added.

Keir Starmer said: 'I'm deeply concerned to hear these suggestions and these allegations.

'There is a complaints procedure and I want everybody to have the confidence to use that complaints procedure because I would want to get to the bottom of this and do something about it.'

A Labour spokeswoman said: 'The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously.

'They are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate action is taken.'

It is understood that no complaint has been received, and BBC Wales said the woman did not want to be identified for fear of consequences.

Labour has recently introduced a new independent complaints procedure to boost confidence, and is encouraging people to come forward.

In a round of interviews this morning, Mr Wallace said 'there's no place for pornography in any workplace' and said there needs to be a cultural change in Westminster.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I certainly think they should lose the whip.'

He pointed to the handful of exclusive bars on the Parliamentary estate, where drinks are much cheaper than outside, with a pint of beer costing around 3.60.

Mr Wallace told Times Radio that there were 'fights', 'sexist comments' and 'propositions' in the bars.

'What I have witnessed is, what I think is the fundamental problem of Westminster, is the overall culture is that hundreds and hundreds of people (are) working long hours in a place with bars,' he said.

'And for some people, under lots of pressure for all sorts of reasons. And that... mix becomes poisonous.'

Mr Wallace said the problems had been 'going on for decades' and were 'not easy to fix'.

'I mean, my advice to any MP is actually avoid the bars, you know, finish a day's work and go home.

'But you know, that is part of the ultimate challenge around parliament that I think needs to be fixed.

'And you know, in the Armed Forces, I have a similar challenge, which is often in those high pressure environments where people mix and then alcohol is consumed, you end up in a place where people do things, either they regret, or things that is totally unacceptable.'

The Defence Secretary told Sky News: 'There is a range of allegations that go right across the House, go right across the parties.

'This is a problem, I think, about the overall culture of the House of Commons.

'It is late sitting, long nights with bars, and that very often leads, and it has done for decades, to behavioural challenges

'I think it's really important that we think about ways to change the culture in the House of Commons.'

Attorney General Suella Braverman told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour that if the allegation of an MP watching porn in Parliament is proven there should be a 'severe reprimand' including an opportunity to oust them from the Commons.

'I'm shocked and appalled... what would possess them? It is totally unacceptable,' she said.

'I am very glad that the chief whip has now referred it to the independent complaints and grievance process.'

Ms Braverman went on: 'I think we would really need to see a situation where the whip would be removed. I am ashamed that this person is carrying the Conservative rosette.

'I think they really do need to be subject to a recall, and no longer holding their privileged position as a member of parliament.'

Ms Braverman said while all the men she had worked with were 'respectful' there were MPs who behaved like 'animals'.

'There is however, a very small minority of men - and it is men - who fall short, and there are some bad apples who are out of order, who behave like animals and are bringing parliament into disrepute to be honest,' she said.

'I don't think we should be saying there is a pervasive culture. That is not my experience. There are certain individuals who are behaving in an unacceptable way.'

The Conservative Party's chief whip has ordered an official investigation into claims that an MP was watching porn on his mobile phone in the House of Commons Chamber.

A spokesman said the matter would be referred to Parliament's independent complaints and grievance scheme (ICGS).

Mr Wallace told Times Radio that there were 'fights', 'sexist comments' and 'propositions' in the Parliamentary bars

'Following allegations of inappropriate behaviour in the House of Commons the Chief Whip has asked that this matter be referred to the ICGS.

'Upon the conclusion of any ICGS investigation the Chief Whip will take appropriate action.'

Ms Nokes told PoliticsHome the referral amounted to 'kicking it into the long grass' and it would be 'months before anything is done'.

'It's not shouldering the burden of responsibility of dealing with it, and I think the Chiefs should have dealt with it immediately,' she said.

Sir Keir said the Conservative Party should 'take action now' against the MP.

He said: 'I think it's very good that we've got an independent system and obviously that requires anonymity.

'This is an unusual case because the Tory Party knows who this individual is.

'I think that they should deal with it and deal with it sooner rather than later and take appropriate action.

'So, nothing wrong with the independent process, but I think the Tory Party, they know who this is, they should take action now.'

Those reported to the body are given automatic anonymity, meaning the Tory MP's name will not be published while he is under investigation.

Only witnesses are able to make complaints to the scheme.

The body is said to be investigating at least 56 MPs - including three ministers and two shadow ministers - who have been accused of sexual misconduct.

Two female MPs say they witnessed their colleague looking at adult images more than once.
An aspiring politician wants to ban obese Australians from purchasing products containing white sugar or refined flour as part of a plan to combat obesity.

Liberal National Party candidate Nicole Tobin, who also works as a teacher, agreed with a social media post that claimed obese people 'shouldn't be able to purchase anything containing white sugar or refined flour'.

'And no soft drink if your BMI is over 30 either,' she wrote. 'Water or one glass of red wine.'

Ms Tobin is running for the senate in Queensland for the Liberal National Party from an unwinnable spot at number six on the ticket.

Liberal National party candidate Nicole Tobin has sparked debate after saying sugar and refined flour should be off limits for obese Australians

The aspiring politician, who also works as a teacher, says she can spot the lunchbox of an obese child because they are always filled with packaged foods such as Tiny Teddies. She only allows her children to drink soft drinks when they compete in cross country running events

Liberal National party candidate Nicole Tobin suggested that people with a BMI over 30 should be banned from soft drinks and only be allowed water or one glass of red wine in a controversial Twitter thread

The teacher also told NewsCorp that she could always spot the lunchboxes of children who were overweight, because they were filled with Tiny Teddies and muffins from Coles and Woolies.

'And I know parents are busy. I'm not saying I never sent my children with packaged food, but the ones who consistently have packaged food are the ones that you know, they don't always make the good choices. '

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that 25 per cent of children aged five to 17, and 67 per cent of adults are overweight or obese.

Ms Tobin says she only allows her children to drink soft drinks when competing in cross-country running events.

She only drinks them herself on election day, because she 'needs the sugar'.

'I do think that people's doctors should definitely be saying to them, I'm sorry. You need to cut down on things. It's that simple.'

The Australian Medical Association believe the introduction of a sugar tax would help tackle the obesity crisis in Australia

Her comments follow Australia's top doctors calling for a sugar tax on sweetened drinks to help tackle obesity, heart disease, diabetes and strokes to save billions in health costs.

The Australian Medical Association wants a tax of 40 cents per 100 grams of sugar which would increase the price of sweetened drinks by an average of 20 per cent.

The World Health Organisation says a 20 per cent increase is the minimum required to stop people buying them.

The tax would increase the cost of a 375ml can of coca cola with 40g of sugar by 16 cents and a 500ml can of Rockstar: Super Sours Energy Drink with 65g of sugar by 26 cents.

The tax would increase the cost of a 375ml can of coca cola with 40g of sugar by 16 cents

The AMA estimates the tax would raise $814million a year - which could be spent on tackling obesity - and result in 16,000 fewer cases of type 2 diabetes, 4,400 fewer cases of heart disease and 1,100 fewer strokes over 25 years.

The tax would reduce obesity by two per cent and save taxpayers up to $1.73 billion on healthcare costs, the AMA says.

'It could save lives, and save millions of dollars in healthcare costs,' said AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid.

More than 2.4 billion litres of sugary drinks are consumer every year in Australia, enough fill 960 Olympic sized swimming pools.

Dr Khorshid said they have 'no nutritional value' and fuel diabetes, obesity and poor vascular health which are 'huge contributors to the burden on our health system.

'The tax on sugary drinks sends a clear price signal to consumers that a product is unhealthy and makes it less affordable,' he said

More than 2.4 billion litres of sugary drinks are consumer every year in Australia, enough fill 960 Olympic sized swimming pools

'It can also nudge manufacturers to reformulate their products to contain less sugar.

'The added bonus is that it will generate revenue to rekindle our nation's preventative health agenda,' Dr Khorshid said.

The AMA recommends the Commonwealth ultimately expands the tax to 'incorporate other products that have little or no nutritional benefit, and/or high sugar content'.

Several jurisdictions around the world already have a sugar tax including the UK, Mexico, France, Chile and some US cities.

The UK scheme targeted at soft drinks prompted half of drink manufactures to reduce the sugar content of their products to avoid the tax in the two years after it was announced in 2016.

However, critics have slammed the proposal, saying it will only hike prices for poor families who consume more sugar.

'Sugar taxes are elitist and inherently regressive,' said Gideon Rozner, Director of Policy at free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs.

'What kind of mean-spirited organisation proposes to make soft drinks less affordable for working people?

'Not content to throw us out of work and trash our liberties, the public health lobby is now angling to take away the precious few of life's joys we have left.

'The AMA should focus on issues pertaining to the medical profession, not telling the rest of us how to live our lives.'
A former U.S. Marine jailed in Russia on what he claims are trumped-up spy charges has demanded to know why his release was not secured in the prisoner swap that freed Trevor Reed.

'Why was I left behind? While I am pleased Trevor is home with his family, I have been held on a fictitious charge of espionage for 40 months,' Paul Whelan said Wednesday in a statement obtained by CNN. 'The world knows this charge was fabricated. Why hasn't more been done to secure my release?'

Whelan, 52, was arrested on espionage charges in December 2018 after being detained at a Moscow hotel. Despite vehemently denying the allegations, the ex-Marine was convicted June 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison in a trial that U.S. officials have denounced as 'unfair'.

The prisoner's plea came after Reed, also an ex-Marine, was freed by the Kremlin on an airport tarmac in Ankara, Turkey, in exchange for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.

Reed was convicted in Russia in 2019 of endangering the lives of two police officers while drunk on a visit to Moscow. The U.S. called his trial a 'theater of the absurd.'

Yaroshenko was arrested by American special forces in Liberia in 2010 and convicted of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. Russia had proposed a swap for the pilot in July 2019 in exchange for any American prisoner.

The U.S. government claims they are working to free other Americans currently detained in Russia, including Whelan and WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was arrested in February after a vape pen filled with hash oil was found in her luggage at the Moscow airport.

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine jailed in Russia on fictitious spy charges, has demanded to know why his release was not secured in the prisoner swap that freed Trevor Reed

Former US Marine Trevor Reed was exchanged for convicted Russian drug dealer Konstantin Yaroshenko during a prisoner swap that took place at a Turkish airport on Wednesday

Whelan learned of the swap, and his continued detainment, on Wednesday by hearing it on a Russian TV network, according to his sister, Elizabeth Whelan.

'He was very upset,' Elizabeth told CNN.

She claims their family was notified early Wednesday morning that 'Trevor was coming back and Paul was not.'

'I had barely time to alert my parents and brothers when it was all over the news,' Elizabeth said, noting she 'was unhappy that we were given so little time to absorb this bad news.'

She also shared how their family, specifically her parents, was 'devastated, completely crushed' by the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs' decision to leave Whelan behind.

Whelan (pictured in October 2019) was arrested on espionage charges in December 2018 after being detained at a Moscow hotel

'When I had a virtual call with the SPEHA group later that day I let them know in no uncertain terms what I thought of the administration's terrible decision to leave Paul behind,' Elizabeth told the television network.

'I expect to continue communication with State and the NSC on an extremely regular basis until Paul is returned also.'

The detainee's brother, David Whelan, also weighed, arguing that President Joe Biden's administration 'has engaged in far greater outreach with our family, and with the families of other hostages, than the Trump administration did' and said he is 'confident President Biden cares and his team is making an effort.'

'Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for Paul,' David said. 'Perhaps someday it will be.'

'I am glad that President Biden reiterated this morning his vow to bring Paul home. Because otherwise it feels as though his pledge 'not to walk away' from Paul, given last summer in Geneva, feels hollow today.'

Dramatic video depicted the scene on Wednesday where U.S. and Russian officials met on a runway in Turkey to conduct the swap between former Marine Trevor Reed, 30, and Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko (second on the staircase)

Yaroshenko (center), is seen being briefed by the agents just as the exchange gets underway

Reed had languished in a Russian prison since 2019 after he was accused of drunkenly grabbing an officer's arm as he was being arrested. His family had been petitioning government officials for years to bring him home

In exchange for his release, the United States released Konstantin Yaroshenko (above), a smuggler serving 20-years in prison

The State Department, in a statement to CNN, confirmed 'the case of Paul Whelan is one we continue to work day in, day out.'

'Paul Whelan is wrongfully detained in Russia,' spokesperson Ned Price said. 'Roger Carstens and his team continue to do everything we can to seek his release from Russian custody.'

The White House also claimed officials are working to secure Whelan's release but declined to provide any details into the negotiations.

'Obviously, our objective continues to bring Paul Whelan home, and any American who is not with their family and is being detained overseas,' Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday. 'But I'm just not going to get into more details because I want to maintain the protection of our process.'

She also resisted the suggestion that Yaroshenko's release 'narrows the chances' of Whelan's release.

'We will continue to advocate for the immediate and unconditional release of Paul at every opportunity, and using wrongful detention as a bargaining chip represents a threat to the safety of everyone traveling, working and living abroad,' she said.

As Reed (third from the left) stepped off the plane, U.S. officials disembarked on the other side of the runway with Yaroshenko

Yaroshenko (second from the left) waited as American and Russian officials shook hands on the trade. Another agent could be seen immediately escorting Reed to the American plane

Yaroshenko walked back to the Russian plane as Reed boarded the American plane to finally return home

Reed, 30, of North Texas, arrived back in the U.S. on Thursday after being freed in the swap, with officials saying his 'spirit is strong.'

The swap, which some have likened to a famed Cold War prisoner exchange on the so-called Bridge of Spies, was caught on camera.

The footage shows Yaroshenko disembark an American private jet, accompanied by security personnel, and walk towards Russian officials waiting nearby with Reed.

Reed is seen stepping out of the plane with Russian officials as they make their way to the center of the runway, where American officials are waiting.

The Marine was seen walking with an agent and carrying two bags while Yaroshenko carried a single bag and what appeared to be a manila envelope.

As the Russian and American agents meet, the agent with the bags is seen escorting Reed directly to the American plane as Yaroshenko waits while the officials talk.

The Americans and Russians are then seen shaking hands before the U.S. agents escort Reed to their plane.

Footage posted online showed the moment Russian forces escorted Reed out of a dark-colored van Wednesday morning

Reed was bundled up in a large black coat and carried his large black duffel bag, but looked thin after his family said he underwent a hunger strike

Reed was finally able to board a private plane back to the United States on Wednesday

U.S. Representative August Pfluger of Texas said Reed arrived at a San Antonio airport in the predawn hours.

Pfluger posted pictures of the arrival on Twitter, with one showing the congressman making a thumbs-up gesture standing next to Reed.

Other photos showed Reed standing with his parents and loved ones at the airport.

'The joy on their face, to see their son - obviously very worried about his health,' said congressional hearing with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday. 'And it's going to take some time to heal, to get back to good health. But his spirit is strong. He's a fighter. He's a survivor.'

'The reunification with his family was just tremendous,' Pfluger added.

Reed's parents, Joey and Paula, now say their 'prayers have been answered,' telling CNN New Day host Brianna Keilar: 'Obviously, we're ecstatic.'

U.S. Representative August Pfluger of Texas said Reed arrived at a San Antonio airport Thursday in the predawn hours. Reed (center) is pictured speaking with his father Joey Reed (right) and Pfluger

Reed (left) poses with US Representative August Pfluger (right) in San Antonio Thursday

Reed stands with Pfluger, his parents and loved ones at the airport

Pfluger said Reed's 'spirit is strong' and the 'reunification with his family was just tremendous'

The swap was not part of broader diplomatic talks and did not represent an American change in approach on Ukraine, according to U.S. officials.

Russian-American relations have been at their worst since the Cold War era following Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.

Russian news agencies reported that Yaroshenko landed back in Moscow on Wednesday and was reunited with his wife and daughter.

Yaroshenko said on Thursday he had been tortured in custody in Liberia before his extradition to America. The pilot also claimed he had been beaten at a military base in the United States, an allegation rejected by the White House.

Russian news agencies reported on April 4 that Reed had ended a hunger strike and was being treated in his prison's medical center.

Reed's parents said at the time that he had been exposed to an inmate with tuberculosis in December.

The prison service said Reed tested negative for tuberculosis.
A newsagency has taken a punter to court alleging he pretended to be one of the 250 winners of a $63million Lotto win.

City News Kalgoorlie owners Tania and Kevin Parkes have accused local man Mark Ing of falsely claiming a $261,986 share in the eye watering stake in February.

Some 250 people won the $63million jackpot after paying just $100 for a ticket.

The Parkes family have lodged a writ of summons in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

A newsagency has taken a punter to court alleging he pretended to be one of the 250 winners of a $63million Lotto win. Above: owners Tania and Kevin Parkes

City News Kalgoorlie owners Tania and Kevin Parkes (pictured) have accused Mark Ing of falsely claiming a $261,986 share in the eye watering stake in February

The development was first reported by PerthNow.

The pair allege that Mr Ing made 'untrue' claims to Lotterywest that he had bought a ticket in the winning No. Two Syndicate.

The court document alleges Mr Ing had actually bought a ticket for the No. One Syndicate.

He was able to make the claim after the owners of the news agency allowed him 'to present one of their tickets ... on the basis that the defendant's (alleged) ticket could be presented by mail'.

The couple claim he failed to send the appropriate ticket to Lotterywest, according to PerthNow.

'Despite a formal dispute of ownership filed by the plaintiffs with Lotterywest, Lotterywest informed the plaintiffs that it intended to disburse the winnings on their ticket to the defendant,' the document states.

Ms Parke declined to comment, when approached by Daily Mail Australia, as the matter was still before the court.

Some 250 people won the $63million jackpot after paying just $100 for a ticket (stock image)

The $63million draw marks one of the largest wins in Lotto history.

A single parent with four foster children and a pair of struggling business owners were among the winners.

The current titleholder for the largest jackpot winner is a Sydney nurse, who won more than $107 million in 2019.

The civil matter against Mr Ing will be heard before the court on August 2.
A Colorado prison inmate has contracted H5N1 bird flu at a poultry farm where he was placed as part of a pre-release work program.

The unnamed inmate, who is under 40, contracted the bird flu - known medically as avian influenza - at Foster Farms after being directly exposed through culling, the Montrose Press and the CDC reported.

The only symptom he reported was 'fatigue for a few days' and has since recovered. However, the CDC reported he is still be isolated and treated with the influenza antiviral drug oseltamivir.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture said the virus was detected after a single nasal swab and after repeat testing, he came back negative. All employees at the farm were provided personal protective equipment and they have tested negative.

A Delta Correctional inmate, who is under 40, contracted the bird flu - known medically as avian influenza - at Foster Farms after being directly exposed through culling, selective slaughtering

In order to control the outbreak, Foster Farms had to euthanized 60,000 chickens and parts of Montrose and Delta Counties has been put under a quarantine, which restricts poultry growers from moving birds, eggs, and manure off their properties, the Montrose Press reported.

This is the only case of this specific strain of H5 that the US has seen and only the second in the world. The first case was found in the UK in December 2021 in a man who was asymptomatic.

'This case does not change the human risk assessment for the general public, which CDC considers to be low,' the agency said in a press release. However, those who work poultry should take 'appropriate precautions,' it said, which includes avoiding sick or dead birds.

The employee was involved in culling, which is selective slaughtering. The Colorado Department of Agriculture said the virus was detected after a single nasal swab and after repeat testing, he came back negative. All employees at the farm were provided personal protective equipment and they have tested negative

WHAT IS BIRD FLU? Also known as avian influenza, bird flu is an infectious disease of birds caused by a variant of the standard influenza A virus. Bird flu is unique in that it can be transmitted directly from birds to humans. There are 15 different strains of the virus. It is the H5N1 strain which is infecting humans and causing high death rates. Humans can catch bird flu directly through close contact with live infected birds and those who work with infected chickens are most at risk. Advertisement

An epidemiologist at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment agreed, telling the Montrose Press: 'We want to reassure Coloradans that the risk to them is low.'

More than 2,500 Americans have been exposed to the virus over the years, but this is the only case to so-far have been identified during the latest outbreak.

The virus is unlikely to spread person-to-person.

The disease has been found in backyard birds in 29 states and in wild birds in 34 states, the CDC reported.

It is, however, safe to eat properly handled and cooked poultry and poultry products found in the US, the CDC said, as heat will kill the virus.

Some symptoms of the disease, which can range from mild to severe, are: eye infection, upper respiratory symptoms, and pneumonia.

China reported the world's first ever human case of the H3N8 bird flu strain this week.

A four-year-old boy from Zhumadian, in the Henan province, tested positive for the avian influenza strain, local health chiefs confirmed.

'It is safe to eat properly handled and cooked poultry and poultry products in the US,' the CDC reported

The child  who had a fever  had been in contact with chickens and crows raised at his home.

None of the boy's close contacts were infected with the strain.

The H3N8 variant  one of several types of bird flu  is common in horses and dogs and has even been found in seals. Yet no human cases had been reported until now.
Ukraine put its central and western regions on high alert Friday after Russian rockets pounded the capital Kyiv, killing at least one individual and damaging residential buildings after the visit of the United Nations chief to the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video message, denounced the aerial attack Thursday near the center of Kyiv following his meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Zelensky called the recent attack a sign of "Russia's true attitude to global institutions" and warned that it would provoke "a strong response."

On Twitter, Oleksii Renznikov, Ukraine's defense minister, criticized Russia's attacks.

While the UN Secretary General @antonioguterres is visiting Kyiv, a permanent member of the UN Security Council - russia - is launching missile strikes on the city. This is an attack on the security of the Secretary General and on world security!  Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) April 28, 2022

Ukraine's head of state claimed his country's troops were keeping off Russia's intended assault in the south and east amid efforts to ensure safe evacuation for the people of Mariupol. This crucial coastal city has been reduced to ruins after a two-month siege.

Russia Confirms Its Attack on Kyiv; NATO Members Gear Up

On Thursday, Russia bombarded sites around Ukraine, including a residential high-rise and another structure in Kyiv, per CBS News. One body was discovered in the ruins of the bombing, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Ukraine's emergency services reported that ten people sustained injuries, with at least one losing a leg.

As Ukraine confirmed heavy damages from Russia's attack in the east but stated the invader's deaths were "colossal," Moscow divulged that it launched an airstrike on Kyiv during a visit by UN Secretary-General Guterres, as per a report from The Guardian.

In a daily briefing in Moscow on Friday, Russia's defense ministry said two "high-precision, long-range air-based weapons" had destroyed the Artyom missile and space enterprise's production buildings in Kyiv on Thursday night.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Sends Warning to US, Ukraine Allies: Russia Will Retaliate With "Lightning Speed" Strikes If They Interfere in War

Following the Russian strikes, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg asserted Thursday there is a "need to be prepared for the long term."

Stoltenberg's declaration came after US President Joe Biden announced his intention to seek Congress' approval of the additional $33 billion assistance for Ukraine.

I just signed a request to Congress for critical security, economic, and humanitarian assistance to help Ukraine continue to counter Putins aggression at a pivotal moment.



We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom.  President Biden (@POTUS) April 28, 2022

"There is absolutely the possibility that this war will drag on and last for months and years," Stoltenberg warned.

The British government announced on Friday that it would deploy 8,000 troops to Eastern Europe for extensive drills this summer to counter Russian aggression. The deployment is one of the country's biggest since the Cold War, including training with thousands of troops from NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force coalition, which includes Finland and Sweden.

Recently, the two non-NATO countries received a recommendation that their membership would be expedited if they filed a petition to join the alliance.

Ex-US Marine Killed In Ukraine

Meanwhile, ABC News reported that Willy Joseph Cancel, a US citizen, was killed in Ukraine while fighting alongside the Ukrainian military against invading Russian forces.

According to his wife, Brittany Cancel, the 22-year-old former U.S. Marine "was eager to volunteer" to help people when he learned about the war in Ukraine as he felt that it was his "main mission in life."

"My husband was very brave and a hero," according to the widow's statement.

Cancel worked as a correctional officer in Kentucky before heading to Ukraine. According to his wife, he also aspired to serve as a police officer or a firefighter.

Later on Friday, State Department spokesman Ned Price told MSNBC that the department is "in the process of reaching out to the family" to acquire more information and determine how the government would be able "to best support the family."

Related Article: US Eyes on Russia-China Partnership, Joins Other Nations in Setting Internet Rules While Europe Rethinks Ties with Beijing

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
An election candidate is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police after it emerged he was standing in two different seats in two different states for two different political parties.

A man named Malcolm Heffernan is now on the ballot for the seat of Banks in NSW and the seat of Brand in Western Australia. In NSW Mr Heffernan in a One Nation candidate, while in WA he is standing for the Australian Federation Party.

Mr Heffernan, who is listed as a financial advisor, is now under investigation after allegedly using two different birthdays and two names to declare himself as a candidate for the election.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) announced on Friday it had referred Mr Heffernan to the Australian Federal Police for investigation on whether he has committed a crime under the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

Malcolm Heffernan, right, is pictured with former senator Fraser Anning - he stood as a candidate for Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party in the WA seat of Canning at the 2019 Federal election

Candidates for the Federal election were formally 'declared' on April 22 at public events held across Australia, including Mr Heffernan in two different electorates.

'Each nomination form had a signed declaration that the candidate did not intend to be a candidate in any other election held the same day,' the AEC said in a statement about Mr Heffernan's forms.

'Each nomination form had differences in the listed information - including a different date of birth, and a different expression of the candidate's name.'

Mr Heffernan's name as it will appear on the ballot paper in the NSW electorate of Banks, one of two electorates Mr Heffernan is alleged to have nominated for

Mr Heffernan's dual candidacy contravenes section 165 of the Electoral Act which, according to the AEC, renders him 'incapable of being elected'.

'However, candidate nominations for the Divisions of Banks and Brand must remain as they were formally declared on 22 April 2022.

'Ballot papers have been printed and some postal voters have already received their postal voting packs.'

Mr Heffernan ran in the WA seat of Canning at the 2019 election for Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party, drawing 1,600 votes or 1.76 per cent of the total votes.

In an interview with a local paper before that election Mr Heffernan said he was a financial adviser and complained about 'the billions of dollars paid to the UN and in foreign aid' which 'could be better utilised at home in assisting the Australian people'

Australia heads to the polls on May 21, with postal and pre-poll voting opening from Monday, May 9

Australian Federation Party director Mark Aldridge told The West Australian that Mr Heffernan's situation was 'a mix-up'.

He claimed Mr Heffernan had initially nominated for One Nation in Banks but was then told the vacancy had been filled and he was no longer needed.

'We had his WA seat (Brand) available, I did a bit of research from him, found him to be half reasonable. and so we endorsed him and filed the paperwork correctly,' Mr Aldridge said the paper.

'At some stage later the One Nation paperwork was filed in NSW. The candidate himself wasnt aware of that and has supplied text messages supporting his belief he was free to run for us.'

Australia heads to the polls on May 21, with postal and pre-poll voting opening from Monday, May 9.
Bodybuilding champion Gary Lewer will be kicked out of Australia after a court bid to overturn his pending deportation was rejected.

The former Mr Universe will be sent back to the UK, two years after Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton called for his deportation on character grounds.

Mr Lewer, 66, accepted he had a substantial criminal record including receiving a conviction and prison sentence on weapons charges more than 25 years ago.

Former bodybuilding champion Gary Lewer (pictured) will be deported back to the UK after losing court appeal

He also has a 2004 conviction for selling steroids which was included in a police dossier that formed part of the basis for Mr Dutton's decision.

Mr Lewer argued there had been no substantial change in his character since a visa was last granted to him in 2017, but police said they believe he is involved in a sophisticated criminal drug importation and manufacturing enterprise.

Mr Lewer (pictured) has a substantial criminal record including receiving a conviction and prison sentence on weapons charges more than 25 years ago

He has never been convicted.

Victoria Police claimed that was because he "possesses sound knowledge of police investigation methodology, is extremely disciplined in his criminal conduct to avoid detection and therefore is an extremely difficult suspect to investigate".

Mr Lewer said their suspicion or belief was not evidence that could support Mr Dutton's assessment of him.

But Federal Court judge Justice Bernard Murphy rejected the argument and upheld Mr Lewer's visa cancellation.

Mr Lewer (pictured), a three-time world champion bodybuilder, left Britain at five and has never taken up Australian citizenship

Mr Lewer, a three-time world champion bodybuilder, left Britain at five and has never taken up Australian citizenship.

Friends have previously described the deportation calls as "unjust" and "a result of a long standing vendetta" by Victoria Police.

Mr Lewer is being held in immigration detention in Melbourne.
A mom who suffocated her baby while high on drugs then dumped his body in the trash has been stabbed to death by the infant's dad while awaiting trial, police say.

LaDonia Boggs, 39, was found unresponsive by police in the doorway of her DC apartment around 3am on Wednesday with 'an apparent stab wound.'

Police reported Carl Jones - who was father to the couple's late son Kyon Jones - reportedly stabbed her during a 'domestic dispute,' authorities reported.

Jones was arrested and charged with second degree murder while armed, DC police said in a statement. No motive has been given, with Boggs and Jones linked by the notorious death of their baby son.

Kyon went missing in early May 2021, aged just two months old.

Boggs was arrested in late May on counts of felony murder and evidence tampering in connection with the presumed death of her infant son, Kyon Jones.

She is said to have been high on a drug called angel dust when she accidentally smothered Kyon.

Boggs claimed she then dumped her son's body in the trash. Despite extensive searches of local landfill sites, his remains have never been found.

The murder charge was later dropped, but she was still awaiting trial for evidence tampering after the baby's remains were unable to be found.

LaDonia Boggs, 39, was found unresponsive by police in the doorway of her DC apartment around 3am on Wednesday with 'an apparent stab wound.' She was awaiting trial in November for her case after she reportedly threw her body away after accidentally killing him

Carl Jones, 44, (pictured) was arrested and charged with second-degree murder

The pair shared a son Kyon Jones (pictured) who reportedly died after Boggs rolled over on him while she was allegedly high on angel dust and then she threw his body in the trash

Boggs' told authorities she accidentally rolled on top of her son while under the influence of angel dust, a hallucinogenic drug also known as PCP.

'He was asleep on my chest and when I woke up, he wasnt breathing anymore, because he was just that small. He was only 2 months old. He was a premature baby, she said, according to NBC Washington.

The mother said she headed outside and went around the block 'a few times' before returning the her apartment to check on her son, who was still not breathing.

'I came back in the house and got a blanket and his car seat and wrapped it up and took it outside and just [threw] it in the trash,' she says haltingly. 'And that's what happened.'

According to court documents, Boggs offered conflicting accounts of what happened to her son to the boy's father and the police.

The woman initially told Kyon's biological father that the infant would be gone 'for a long time' because DC Child and Family Services took custody of him, but the agency denied having the baby.

During an interview with the police that took place a day after Kyon was reported missing, Boggs reportedly admitted that he died while sleeping between her and a wall.

Boggs said she woke up to find the infant unresponsive beneath her stomach.

In a follow-up interview with the police, the mother was said to have admitted that she panicked and tossed Kyon's body in the trash while high on PCP and hallucinating.

Officers and cadaver dogs last week scoured this Virginia landfills (pictured) in search of Kyon's body but failed to locate it

Boggs also said she did not know the whereabouts of Kyon's body.

Surveillance video from Boggs' apartment complex showed her carrying a plastic bag, a cardboard box and a car seat to a dumpster. The box was described in court records cited by WTOP as being 'large enough to carry a 2-month-old infant.'

Officers accompanied by cadaver dogs scoured a landfill in Virginia last week, but the missing boy was not located.

The court documents noted that at the time of her arrest, Boggs retracted her statement concerning her alleged use of PCP at the time of Kyon's death, claiming that the last time she smoked the drug was a day or two prior.

Boggs was released without bond to DC's Pretrial Services Agency following her arraignment on Saturday. She was due back in court on November 19.
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A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces after the private security firm he worked for sent him to war.

The family of Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, of Orange County New York, confirmed that the husband and father of a seven-month-old son had died in the Ukraine fighting Russian forces on Monday, CNN reported.

He is survived by his wife Brittany, who he married in July 2019, as well as the couple's seven month-old son Anthony.

Cancel's mother, Rebecca Cabrera, said her son was working for a private military contracting company when he agreed to take up a job to fight in the Ukraine following Russia's invasion in February.

'He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn't come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn't have to be involved in it,' Cabrera told CNN.

The circumstances of Cancel's death remain unclear, including how and where he was killed.

His mother added that those fighting alongside Cancel were not able to retrieve his body during the conflict that killed him.

'They haven't found his body,' she said. 'They are trying, the men that were with him, but it was either grab his body or get killed, but we would love for him to come back to us.'

Willy Joseph Cancel (above), 22, of Orange County New York, was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces after the private security firm he worked for sent him to war

Cancel was married to Brittany (right) in 2019. His mother, Rebecca, said the former Marine jumped on the opportunity to help Ukrainian troops fight back the Russian invasion

Cancel was the father of a seven-month-old son. The young dad is pictured cradling his son

The family said Cancel was living in Tennessee working as a corrections officer when he flew to Poland on March 12 and crossed into Ukraine.

Cabrera told CNN that her son was joined by men from 'all different countries' to assist the Ukrainian troops.

'It was something that he believed in his heart, that was the right thing,' Cabrera said. 'He was the type of man who always stepped up when everybody else stepped back, and there were a lot of men who were like that that were with him.'

Cancel's brother-in-law, Devin Tietze, echoed Cabrera's remarks, saying that Cancel was the 'type to fight for what's right regardless of the outcome.'

'He believed wholeheartedly this shouldn't have happened and he wanted to go help the people in Ukraine,' Tietze told CNN.

Cancel (second from the left, front row) moved on from the Marines to work as a correctional officer in Tennessee. While there, he also worked for a private security firm that provided him the opportunity to travel to the Ukraine to fight in March

Cancel's family said they are heartbroken by his death, and his body has yet to be found

His family described him as a hero who wanted to help the Ukrainian people and stop the war before US troops could be called in. Cancel pictured with Brittany

The U.S. State Department said they were aware of the reports of Cancel's death but could not comment based on privacy matters.

The Department reiterated in a statement that: 'US citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict and the singling out of US citizens in Ukraine by Russian government security officials, and that US citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so, using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options.'

It is not known how many U.S. citizens are actively assisting Ukrainian troops in the war, but the Ukrainian Defense Ministry estimates that more than 20,000 volunteer veterans from 52 countries have joined the fight.

The influx of foreign fighters has led the Ukranian government to create the special International Legion, composed of the visiting veterans allied with the country.

Hill had been in Ukraine caring for his partner Irina who has multiple sclerosis. He shared this photo of her, right, previously with an Idaho TV station about their fight to get out of the conflict zone

Brent Renaud, 50, was in a car with other journalists when Putin's troops opened fire on him. He has worked in numerous conflict zones around the world and had won awards for his documentaries

Cancel is not the first American to die in the Ukraine as a result of the bloody war.

Jimmy Hill, 67, of Idaho, was gunned down in the streets of Ukraine while buying bread when he refused to leave the warzone because he was looking after his sick partner.

Hill was a lecturer in Kyiv but was in Chernihiv to care for his partner Ira, who has multiple sclerosis. They had returned to the country in December so Ira, who is Ukrainian, could be treated for MS, and became trapped at a regional hospital there.

Hill was among a group of 10 who were lining up to buy bread at a grocery store when Russian troops opened fire in a sickening act of war.

Hill's death came just a few days after American journalist and freelance filmmaker Brent Renaud, 50, was shot dead by Russian troops while filming refugees in the Ukraine.

Renaud was in a car with other journalists in Irpin when Putin's troops opened fire. He was fatally-shot in the neck, with one of his colleagues also injured.

Although Renaud was carrying a New York Times press badge at the time of his death, he was in fact working as a freelancer on a global film about refugees commissioned by Time magazine's studio division.

Renaud's death was announced by Andrey Nebitov, the head of Kyiv's police department, who said he paid 'with his life for trying to highlight the aggressor's ingenuity, cruelty and ruthlessness.'
Sydney Airport has once again been thrown into chaos as lines of up to 300 metres long form with travellers eager to get away for the weekend.

Several Sydneysiders have shared pictures of the mass crowds at the airport on Friday.

One woman said the line to get through international security was 'easily 300 metres long'.

Sydney Airport has once again been thrown into chaos as lines of up to 300 metres long form with travellers eager to get away for the weekend

Another traveller said the queues were 'absolutely astonishing'.

'I'm 1/2 way now after almost an hour,' they tweeted with a picture of huge line of travellers in front of them.

One man said on Friday morning there were just five out of 13 security checkpoints open and the wait time was at least an hour long.

'You (Sydney Airport) really need to fix the security check-in and get your customer service back to where it was pre-pandemic. You will lose so many customers,' tweeted one fed up traveller.

Several Sydneysiders have shared pictures of the mass crowds at the airport on Friday

'An hour and a half in the queue so far, still a couple of hundred people before security,' another said.

One disgruntled passenger said the airport was 'a s**t show with long lines and no staff.'

'How hard is it to provide some level of service.'

Sydney Airport has been contacted for comment.

Earlier this month there were huge delays for travellers planning a trip for the start of school holidays with queues stretching to one kilometre long.

Earlier this month there were huge delays for travellers planning a trip for the start of school holidays with queues stretching to one kilometre long (pictured on April 7)

Passengers complained of missing their flights while some claimed the long hold-up in the terminals was worsened by queue jumpers barging to the front of the lines.

Airport bosses blamed school holidays, a shortage of security personnel and, remarkably, forgetful passengers out of the habit of removing items from their luggage for scanning.

A spokesman told Daily Mail Australia: 'Were incredibly grateful to passengers for their ongoing patience and for treating each other and airport workers with kindness and respect.

'We have significant COVID-related staff shortages and were also working to rebuild our workforce in a really tight jobs market. Unfortunately this is an industry-wide issue and airports and airlines around the world are experiencing similar challenges.

'Our advice to passengers is to arrive at their airport two hours prior to domestic flights, three hours prior to international, and prepare for security screening by taking laptops and aerosols out of hand luggage.'

Widespread domestic air travel only recommenced earlier this year as states dropped Covid border restrictions as nationwide vaccination levels rose above 90 per cent.
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Cheap foreign agency staff hired by disgraced operator P&O Ferries to replace the nearly 800 experienced seafarers it sensationally sacked six weeks ago didn't know how to use life-saving appliances, a damning new report has found.

A total of 23 failures ranging from fire rescue boats not being properly maintained and oil filtering equipment not working to fire safety systems and deficiencies with working conditions were found by Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) inspectors on Spirit of Britain, a 700ft cross-Channel vessel impounded by UK authorities earlier this month.

According to the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which is an alliance of 27 national maritime authorities including the UK, there was a 'lack of familiarity' with the 'operation of life-saving appliances', which could relate to equipment such as rescue boats, lifeboats, life-jackets or flares.

Thirty-one safety failures were also found by the MCA on another P&O Ferries vessel, European Causeway, resulting in it being detained on March 25. Analysis has revealed that was more than in any of the other 46,000 Port State Control inspections of ships within the Paris MOU in the past three years.

Spirit of Britain was detained following the inspection on April 11, before being cleared to sail on April 22. The vessel was used by P&O Ferries to restart operations between Dover and Calais on Tuesday for the first time since the company sacked hundreds of staff and replaced them with 5.50-an-hour agency workers on March 17 to save money.

The firm has been mired in controversy since it fired nearly 800 experienced seafarers with no notice last month and replaced them with cheaper foreign agency workers.

Its beleaguered millionaire CEO Peter Hebblethwaite later admitted to a committee of MPs that the sackings broke the law.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch called the report 'further evidence that P&O is a capitalist bandit sailing in our waters', raging: 'The lack of care and respect P&O clearly has for safety regulations - that are designed to save lives in the event of maritime emergencies - is on a par with their appalling treatment of the loyal 800-strong workforce who were sacked last month.

The Spirit of Britain arrives at the Port of Dover in Kent, as P&O Ferries resume Dover-Calais sailings for freight customers, April 27, 2022

A total of 23 failures on Spirit of Britain were found by MCA inspectors

Left, P&O Ferries' beleaguered millionaire CEO Peter Hebblethwaite. Right, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps

Revealed: The 23 safety failures found on P&O ferry Spirit of Britain Seafarers' employment agreement  Not As Required Health protection conditions  Other Access/structural features  Not As Required Fast rescue boats  Not Properly Maintained Fixed fire extinguishing installation  Not As Required Medical equipment  Expired Division decks, bulkheads and penetrations  Not As Required Winches and capstans  Not As Required Oil filtering equipment  Inoperative Railing, gangway, walkway and means for safe passage  Not Properly Maintained Laundry, adequate locker  Not As Required Maximum hours of work or minimum hours of rest  Entries Missing Garbage management plan  Not As Required Passenger ship safety  Invalid Garbage record book  Missing Scuppers, inlets and discharges  Not As Required Endorsement by flagstate  Missing Fire doors/openings in fire-resisting divisions  Not As Required Means of escape  Blocked Crew familiarisation with emergency systems  Not As Required Fire-dampers  Not As Required Operation of Life Saving Appliances  Lack Of Familiarity International Safety Management  Not As Required Advertisement

'There can be no doubt that the public and haulage firms should boycott P&O Ferries on safety, security and moral grounds until the Government steps in and takes over the running of this rogue maritime operator.'

European Causeway was cleared to sail on April 8, but was left adrift in the Irish Sea for more than an hour on Tuesday after it suffered a power failure, in yet another PR crisis for the company.

It was rescued by three lifeboats and a tugboat before it regained power shortly before 2.15pm, much to the relief of passengers on board who had endured blackouts.

After the ship got back to the port, a number of the new crew members reportedly asked maritime unions for advice about terminating their contracts.

The MCA said European Causeway can sail again with a restriction on what generators it can use for electricity.

A total of eight P&O Ferries vessels will be probed by the agency following the mass sackings.

Pride of Kent remains under detention after failing an inspection, while Pride of Canterbury and Spirit of France are also out of action as they have not been fully examined. Pride of Hull, Norbay and European Highlander were all allowed to resume sailings.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told the Transport Select Committee on Wednesday that he ordered the MCA to scrutinise the ships 'with a fine-tooth comb'.

A P&O Ferries spokesperson said: 'The safety of our passengers and crew is our foremost priority and any suggestion that it is being compromised in any way is categorically false.

'It is clear that the safety inspections of our vessels have reached an unprecedented level of rigour and we welcome this additional scrutiny to help us come back even better than before. We look forward to all of our ships welcoming tourist passengers and freight customers again as soon as all mandatory safety tests have been passed and we are satisfied the vessels are ready to re-enter service.

'Safety remains paramount in our new crewing management model, which is used by many of our competitors and has been proven to be a successful model in this industry.'

The MCA has said its inspectors work 'in exactly the same robust way' for every ship.

Meanwhile, there has been fury from unions after ITV News saw contracts, known as Seafarer's Employment Agreements, showing agency workers on one of the company's Dover ferries being paid a basic wage of $860 (683) a month for a 40 hour working week - an hourly rate of pay of 3.94.

The contract sets out additional rates for overtime, leave and a subsistence allowance, which P&O insists rises the rate of pay to 5.10 an hour, based on an 84-hour working week.

Chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite - who is paid some 325,000 a year - told MPs the lowest hourly rate agency crews would earn would be 5.15, when he appeared before a joint select committee hearing last month.

Frances O'Grady of the Trades Union Congress told ITV: 'Make no mistake - these are sweatshop conditions. P&O has deliberately sacked experienced, unionised staff so that it can replace them with agency workers on poverty pay.

'These 'union-busting' tactics should worry all of us. If companies are allowed to get away with acting like corporate gangsters no worker is safe.'

A P&O spokesman said: 'It is misleading to assert that any agency seafarer is paid 3.94 an hour. Everyone working on the ship is contractually entitled to receive a basic salary plus guaranteed overtime, a leave allowance, a subsistence allowance and a bonus.

'Taken together, the minimum rate of hourly pay is the equivalent of 5.58 an hour and nobody working on board our ships is paid less.

P&O Ferry The Spirit of Britain departing from the Port of Dover, April 27, 2022

Shapps: Position of millionaire P&O Ferries boss is 'completely unsustainable' and he HAS to go Transport Secretary Grant Shapps declared it is 'completely unsustainable' that P&O Ferries chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite remains in his job after sacking 800 seafarers without notice. Mr Shapps told the Commons' Transport Select Committee 'he will have to go' and also urged the Dubai-owned company Hebblethwaite works for to repay 11 million of furlough money. The Tory minister also insisted 'they will have to pay the minimum wage' to crews. The drama in the Irish Sea was yet another public relations disaster for the scandal-hit firm - just weeks after it sparked fury by firing 800 UK staff over zoom and replacing them with cheaper foreign crews. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng announced earlier this month that the Insolvency Service had started 'formal criminal and civil investigations' into the company, which he said he would be 'following closely' along with Mr Grant Shapps. Advertisement

'It is important to note that the rates paid to our agency seafarers are above the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) minimum standards. We fully welcome the Government's commitment to increasing the minimum wage for all seafarers working in British waters and have called for a level playing field when it comes to pay and conditions on British ferry routes.'

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union attributed the European Causeway crisis to the vessel having 'inexperienced crew', as seafarers 'familiar with the ship would have been able to keep it under power'.

RMT boss Darren Procter said crew on board the European Causeway had claimed that engine parts were changed with the firm's European Highlander 'in order to pass its inspection', the Telegraph reported.

It was yet another public relations disaster for the scandal-hit firm - just weeks after it sparked fury by firing 800 UK staff over zoom and replacing them with cheaper foreign crews.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng announced earlier this month that the Insolvency Service had started 'formal criminal and civil investigations' into the company, which he said he would be 'following closely' along with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

It comes as Mr Shapps repeated his calls for P&O Ferries' Mr Hebblethwaite to resign. The Transport Secretary said Mr Hebblethwaite's position was 'completely unsustainable', adding: 'He will have to go.'

He also called on P&O Ferries to pay back the 11million it took in taxpayer-funded furlough money.

Appearing before the Commons transport committee on Wednesday, Mr Shapps said: 'There are three things that P&O will need to do to get out of this mess and I call upon them today publicly to get on and do it.

'First of all, it's completely unsustainable to have the head of P&O, the boss Peter Hebblethwaite, who came to a committee room like this and openly and deliberately explained how he sought to break the law, he actually said that was his intention and that he would do it again... He will have to go.

'Secondly, in my view, though it's a matter for P&O themselves, I think that they need to repay furlough money as well.

'It's around 11million. I don't think it's right that having claimed that money they then sacked the workers in such a premeditated way, which they themselves admitted broke the law.

'Thirdly, they will have to pay the minimum wage [under new laws being introduced in May].' Mr Shapps said that he was working with opposite numbers in Paris and Dublin to establish 'corridors' that do not allow ferry crew to be paid less than the national minimum wage.

The new laws he is introducing will only require the UK minimum wage to be paid in British waters.

P&O Ferries pays its new crew an average of 5.50 per hour, which it has insisted is in line with international maritime laws.

Mr Shapps announced yesterday that legislation forcing ferry operators using UK ports to pay seafarers at least the national minimum wage of 9.50 per hour will be included in the Queen's Speech on May 10.

P&O Ferries said it would 'fully welcome' measures to increase pay for all seafarers in British waters as it wants 'a level playing field'.

Irish Ferries, which also uses a low-cost labour model, began competing with the firm on the Dover to Calais route in June 2021.
The man who killed four children walking together to an ice cream shop is appealing his prison sentence on the grounds it 'is manifestly excessive" and he had ADHD while driving drunk and on drugs.

Samuel William Davidson was driving erratically and speeding when he struck Veronique Sakr, 11, and her cousins, Sienna Abdallah, eight, and her siblings Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13.

The children had been walking to buy ice-creams when the 31-year-old ploughed into them after his ute mounted a kerb on Bettington Rd, at Oatlands, in Sydney's northwest on February 1 in 2020.

Davdison was sentenced last year to a maximum 28-year prison sentence with a minimum 21 year sentence which does not expire until 2041.

In his bid to have the prison sentence slashes, which will be heard on Monday in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, Davidson will argued that the term is 'manifestly excessive'.

The second ground listed for his appeal is that the sentencing judge made an 'error in holding no causal link between ADHD and commission of offences'.

The appeal is listed before Justices Paul Brereton, Christine Adamson and Natalie Adams.

Samuel Davidson was jailed for 28 years for mowing down and killing four children aged under 14 when he was drunk and on drugs, but now claims it was an 'excessive' sentence and he had ADHD at the time

Immediately after Samuel William Davidson mowed down a group of children on a Sydney footpath, killing four of them, he tested positive for alcohol and drugs

Davidson, a professional truck driver, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Veronique Sakr, 11, and her cousins, Sienna Abdallah, eight, and her siblings Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13

Danny Abdallah (right) said he forgave Davidson 'for your sake, for my sake, and most importantly for my family's sake' in a victim impact statement the court heard in March

Davidson is two-and-a-half years into his sentence and is not expected to be eligible for parole until 2041.

Both the Abdullah children's parents Danny and Leila and Sakr families have shown remarkable grace in the wake of the horrific incident, with Danny saying said he forgave Davidson 'for your sake, for my sake, and most importantly for my family's sake'.

But he also said at the time of Davidson's sentencing that it did not matter whether he received one year or 100 years, 'we wont get Antony, Angelina, Sienna and Veronique back'.

'We will all have our hearts broken until the day we take our last breath and no sentence can help ease that pain.'

One bright spot in the lives of the Abdallahs was in March this year when Danny and Leila welcomed a new baby girl, who they called Selina because it echoed the names of Sienna and Angelina.

One bright spot in the lives of the Abdallahs was in March when Danny and Leila welcomed a new baby girl, who they called Selina because it echoed the names of Sienna and Angelina.

The Abdallah family as they were before the tragedy which took the lives of Antony (left) and two of his sisters, Sienna and Angelina

In sentencing Davidson at Parramatta's District Court in April, Judge James Bennett said Davidson's menacing, dangerous and aggressive driving over a significant period leading up to the tragic event showed all responsibility to the road safety of others was abandoned.

The tragedy was inevitable, but the magnitude of the tragedy extended to the unimaginable, Judge Bennett said.

The professional truck driver was afforded a 25 per cent discount on sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter for the children he killed and also pleading guilty to three charges relating to the injuries caused to three other children.

One boy has suffered permanent brain damage.

Bridget Sakr (centre) and Craig Mackenzie (right) arrive at Parramatta District Court for Davidson's sentencing

In a statement Leila Abdallah (pictured) said she, her husband and the parents of Veronique had forgiven Davidson, referring to their Christian faith and their hope he will find God and repent

Davidson, the son of a former policeman, had been sitting poolside with his housemates drinking Vodka Cruisers and beers, having his first drink about 7am before consuming drugs and driving on February 1, 2020.

He was observed by witnesses speeding through a red light, swerving anti-clockwise around a round-about, and driving at a maximum speed of 133km/h in a 50km/h zone.

After the crash, Davidson appeared distressed and was heard saying: 'What have I done? ... I have killed people ... I am going to jail.'

Judge Bennett acknowledged Davidson suffered from ADHD but did not accept impulsivity that day caused him to drive, seen in his consciousness of guilt immediately after the crash.

After Davidson's sentencing, Mr Abdallah said his main disappointment lay in Australian culture's love of drugs and alcohol.

'That's where my frustration is, more than the driver.'

Judge Bennett acknowledged Davidson suffered from ADHD but did not accept impulsivity that day caused him to drive, seen in his consciousness of guilt immediately after the crash.

Davidson's letter of apology stated that he is heartbroken to have hurt such beautiful families by his horrid actions and that he would do anything to relive that day sober and never leaving the house.

Leila Abdallah (pictured) lost three of her six children in horrific circumstances and told Davidson in court in March: 'You've killed us all. I'm no longer living. Just existing.'
The victim of a savage murder described in an interview before she died how an attack by a cleaner destroyed her 'dream world' and made her to want to killer-proof her Sydney home.

Ninety-two-year-old Marjorie Welsh wished to make her home more safe because of a savage attack by Hanny Papanicolaou that ultimately led to her death.

In an interview recorded shortly after she was stabbed and bludgeoned by Papanicolaou on January 2, 2019, Ms Welsh said the attack had robbed her of her 'dream world' of feeling comfortable and happy within her home.

'I wouldn't trust anyone anymore. I'm having special gates when I'm back. I'm just making it thief-proof, killer-proof,' she said.

Hanny Papanicolaou (pictured), 38, denied murdering her elderly client, her legal team arguing she was suffering from major depressive disorder, including post-natal depression from a premature birth, at the time of the attack

In the interview, Ms Welsh is seen cut and bruised in a hospital bed less than a week after being attacked by Papanicolaou. Ms Welsh died six weeks after the attack in her Sydney inner west home.

Ms Welsh's daughters Angela MacLeod and Elizabeth Welsh were watching on at a Supreme Court sentencing hearing on Friday, with Ms Welsh breaking down in sobs when her mother's interview was played.

In February Papanicolaou was found guilty of the murder of Ms Welsh who was stabbed multiple times with a knife and bashed with her walking sticks and fine china.

Papanicolaou had been working at Ms Welsh's house as a cleaner for a year before the attack.

Papanicolaou had been working as a cleaner at the house of Marjorie Welsh, 92, for a year before the attack in January 2019

Crown prosecutor Christopher Taylor said Papanicolaou, 38, intended to kill Ms Welsh because she did not want to be seen breaking into her client's home in an attempted robbery.

A sufficient sentence was required as a deterrent so senior citizens could live their lives without fear of violence, Mr Taylor said on Friday.

As a vulnerable person who had difficulty moving or seeing, Ms Welsh was forced to the ground by Papanicolaou, who snatched her mobile phone out of her hands and unplugged a violent fall alarm from the wall.

'This was a savage and sustained attack by a young woman upon a much older woman with the use of no less than a knife to penetrate multiple times the chest and abdomen of the deceased,' Mr Taylor said.

Papanicolaou's lawyers claim she intended to cause grievous bodily harm rather than murder

Angela MacLeod (left), a daughter of Marjorie Welsh, spoke to the media as she left the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Friday

Papanicolaou's lawyers claim she intended to cause grievous bodily harm rather than murder.

Her legal team also argues she was suffering from major depressive disorder, including post-natal depression from a premature birth, at the time of the attack.

'So much of Ms Papanicolaou's life has been lived without any acts of violence. She's managed to do many pro-social things. She's got plenty of incentive to reform,' said her barrister Tom Quilter.

During the trial the court heard that on the morning of the attack, the regular gambler lost $430 from poker machines in under an hour and was left with just $11 in her bank account.

The crown case alleged that Papanicolaou found out Ms Welsh had received $8 million from a property sale, and thought she would be away on holiday until the end of January.

During her testimony, Papanicolaou told the jury she had felt increasingly isolated in an unhappy marriage, was deeply depressed and escaped her problems through gambling.

Mr Quilter said while his client would spend years in jail, she deserved a shorter sentence because she had been assaulted while in prison after being seen on television over the murder trial.

Speaking outside court, Ms MacLeod welcomed remarks that senior citizens deserved to feel safe within their home as a sanctuary.

Ms MacLeod called her mother's video interview confronting, but said she was amazed her mother could still be herself at such a time.

'Mum was someone who could achieve anything she wanted to in life. Life wasn't always perfect for mum ... but she was strong, intelligent, loving, protective, all those things that you'd want in a mum. We were always very proud of her,' she said.

Justice Robertson Wright did not hand down a prison sentence immediately but will do so at a later date.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has cried censorship after the latest episode of her 'Please Explain' cartoon series was ripped from social media following a complaint from the Australian Electoral Commission.

The video has been removed from Facebook and TikTok after the AEC branded it 'misleading and false'.

The cartoon showed a character based on Labor's Senator Penny Wong delivering a batch of fake votes to her bed-bound Covid-stricken leader, Anthony Albanese.

'I brought you these,' she tells him. 'These are postal votes under the names of dead people, fake identities, some were stolen out of letterboxes.'

The fake senator then falsely claimed that the Australian Electoral Commission doesn't check identification documents as that would be 'racist'.

However the AEC stressed on Friday that IDs are checked when Australians enrol to vote.

The skit - one of a lengthy series by Ms Hanson's team - prompted a warning from the AEC, and later its deletion or restriction by several social media platforms.

The AEC wrote on Twitter they found the video 'deeply, deeply disappointing'.

The commission revealed they'd spent Friday reviewing the video to confirm it was misleading and 'working with social platforms to have it removed for violating their policies around misleading electoral information.'

Twitter allowed it to remain online but attached a tag to the video warning viewers it contained misleading information.

Ms Hanson (pictured) claimed TikTok censored the episode of her cartoon series 'Pauline Hanson's Please Explain'

Penny Wong's caricature (pictured left) told bed-ridden Albo (pictured right) the AEC doesn't check ID when voters enrol. The AEC has since clarified that they do

Senator Hanson shared a series of screenshots showing the video was unavailable to Facebook users.

'Your post goes against our Community Standards on voter suppression,' the warning said.

The politician claimed TikTok had 'censored' the episode and Twitter was limiting shares and likes.

Ms Hanson said her party was fighting 'continuously' for electoral reforms and said she would not remove the video herself.

'Sometimes the truth hurts, so I wont be taking down the cartoon on any social media platform,' Ms Hanson wrote.

The AEC said on Friday: 'We agree that satire is an important tool and it's genuinely great to see it used effectively.

The AEC has rejected claims voters do not have to show ID to enrol, despite 'Penny Wong' telling 'Anthony Albanese' (pictured in the skit) that was the case in the cartoon

'Unfortunately in this case, it's been used to spread misleading information about electoral security.'

The AEC added on Twitter that Ms Hanson's attempts at undermining democratic confidence were 'extremely disappointing'.

'Aspects of it are clearly false, and any registered party would know this,' the AEC posted.

'No election the AEC has run has had a margin smaller than the number of alleged multiple votes [and] ID is required when you enrol to vote.'
A 25-year-old serving Metropolitan Police officer appeared in court today charged with raping a woman while off duty.

PC Ireland Murdock is said to have committed the assault on September 25 last year in Lambeth, South London, and he was arrested on January 11 this year.

The officer, attached to the force's Central North Command Unit in Camden and Islington in North London, has been suspended from duty since being arrested.

Appearing at Croydon Magistrates' Court today wearing a red suit and tie and white shirt, Murdock spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address.

During the short five-minute hearing, the officer from Teddington in South West London was not asked to enter any plea to the alleged offence.

Scotland Yard confirmed that its Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed

Reading the allegations, the court clerk told Murdock that it was claimed the woman 'did not consent and you did not reasonably believe that she was consenting'.

Prosecutor Nathan Fuller made few representations to the court, only speaking to say the case was not suitable to be dealt with by a magistrates' court.

He also said that the officer should be released on bail, but banned from contacting his alleged victim directly or indirectly.

Kiera Oluwunmi, representing Murdock, made no objection to the bail condition and made no other representations to the judge.

District Judge Polly Gledhill released the defendant on bail to appear before Inner London Crown Court next month. He was banned from contacting the woman.

She told him: 'Your case is one that can only be dealt with by a crown court and I am going to send your case to a crown court today.

'I am going to release you on bail on one condition, that you do not contact your alleged victim directly or indirectly.'

The case was adjourned to Inner London Crown Court on May 27.

The force said Murdock's alleged victim is being supported by specialist officers.

Scotland Yard confirmed that its Directorate of Professional Standards and the Independent Office for Police Conduct have both been informed.
The long awaited Terra integration to Koinly's crypto tax calculator is finally live and available just in time for the upcoming Canadian tax report deadline. Koinly is one of the first crypto tax platforms to integrate Terra wallets. The feature has been widely requested by Koinly's users since LUNA earned its place among 10 top currencies reaching the 30bn USD market cap.

READ NEXT: Crypto Coin Luna Sees Massive Price Surge: Is It the New Dogecoin, Shiba Inu Killer?

According to the survey from Koinly, earlier this year 81.4% of crypto holders didn't know of any crypto tax services, while only 46.8% claimed to know when they needed to pay taxes. Investors all over the world are looking for ways to correctly disclose their crypto gains and avoid being overtaxed, hence software tax calculator solutions are quickly gaining popularity.

"The skyrocketing increase in the popularity of Terra has left many holders and users of LUNA without a way to accurately track and record their transactions to meet their tax obligations. We are proud that Koinly is among the first platforms to react to the changing space, helping its users accurately track and report on their crypto tax." said Robin Singh, the founder and CEO of Koinly.

As Koinly automatically tracks transactions for tax reporting in over 20 countries - including the US, UK, Brazil, and most EU nations - users will be able to input their Terra wallet address for tax reports, alongside 50 other wallets such as MetaMask, Trezor, and Ledger already supported by the platform. Koinly imports all transactions, finds market prices at the time the trades were made, matches transfers between wallets owned by the same user, calculates crypto gains/losses, and generates ready to submit tax reports. Transfers between all accounts are included in the calculations and Koinly plans to continue expanding their repertoire of supported wallets to become a true one-stop-shop for crypto tax tracking and reports.

Tony Dhanjal, Koinly's head of tax commented, "The release of Koinly's integration of Terra finally allows users of the protocol to accurately track their transactions and tax obligations easier. LUNA holders now have a more hands-off approach with increased accuracy for their Terra taxes."

Prior to the Koinly's Terra integration, LUNA holders had to rely on third-party tools to get their translation details integrated into their Koinly accounts. This resulted in a lot of unnecessary spreadsheets and additional hours of work, since each and every transaction needed to be traced and reported. Reporting DeFi transactions and gains such as staking rewards can be a particular headache without the help of software. Koinly's integration with Terra removes the need for these labor-intensive tasks, allowing users to track their LUNA transactions and taxable gains in real-time throughout the tax year.

READ MORE: Coinbase-TurboTax Partnership Lets You Receive Tax Refunds In Crypto; Here's How
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Russian hit squads came within minutes of killing Volodymyr Zelensky and his family during the early days of the war in Ukraine, the president has revealed as he spoke in detail for the first time about what it was like living through the dark and surreal hours after Putin gave the order to invade.

Zelensky, 44, said kill teams of Russian special forces were parachuted into Kyiv on the day of the invasion with orders to assassinate or capture him and his family. That evening they made two attempts to storm the presidential compound while he was still holed up inside with his wife and two children - 17 and nine.

Caught by surprise despite weeks of warnings from Washington that Russia was planning a full-scale war, Zelensky and his guards were forced to bodge together a defence: Blocking doors and windows with whatever they could find while handing automatic weapons and body armour to anyone who could carry them, including civilian aides.

In the event, Zelensky survived the assassinations and produced the first of what would become a series of defiant and inspiring videos that helped to rally a nation in shock and drawn in support from overseas. Mere hours after the Russian attacks and with gunfights still raging in Kyiv, the president went on camera with his advisers.

'We're all here. Our military is here. Citizens in society are here. We're all here defending our independence, our country, and it will stay this way,' Zelensky said.

He also ignored pleas from advisers and guards to flee the presidential palace for a secure bunker nearby, and flat-out rejected UK and US offers to evacuate him to eastern Poland where he could run a government-in-exile. On a call with the Americans, he delivered a line that would become a rally cry: 'I need ammunition, not a ride.'

'We're all here. Our military is here. Citizens in society are here. We're all here defending our independence, our country, and it will stay this way.' President Zelensky filmed this video in Kyiv on February 25, mere hours after Russian hit-squads had attempted to storm the building on a kill-or-capture mission

Ukrainian soldiers form up across a highway in Kyiv on February 25, just a day after the war started, as they prepared to defend the capital against Russian attackers pushing through the outskirts

Ukrainian soldiers take up positions in downtown Kyiv as gun battles raged within the city limits on the second day of the war, which Ukraine was widely expected to lose

Ukrainian troops survey dead bodies of a Russian hit squad dressed in Ukrainian uniforms who were shot dead in the centre of the capital Kyiv during the early hours of the war

A Ukrainian soldier manning a machine-gun nest on the outskirts of Kyiv aims towards Russian positions during the early days of the war, before Russia was forced to retreat from the region

Speaking to Time magazine about that first night battling the Russians in the centre of Kyiv, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych - who predicted three years ago that Russian would launch a 'massive' war on Ukraine if it tried to join NATO - described it as 'an absolute madhouse. Automatic [weapons] for everyone.'

Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of parliament and another of Zelensky's close advisers, described the sense of disbelief felt by those who had not believed Russian would launch such an attack. Speaking of the moment he first saw Zelensky on the day of the invasion, he said: 'It wasn't fear on his face. It was a question: How could this be?

'Maybe these words sound vague or pompous, but we sensed the order of the world collapsing.'

Asked why he decided not to flee and instead to make a stand, Zelensky told Time that he knew that his people and the world were waiting to see how he would react - which would in turn influence how they reacted. 'You understand that they're watching. You're a symbol. You need to act the way the head of state must act.'

Zelensky revealed that he had been rattled by the number of government officials and even military officers who fled in the early days of the fighting. Rather than threaten them, he felt it was important to inspire them to return to their posts after ensuring their families were safe. Most of them did, he said.

Now more than two months into the conflict, Ukraine endured those first fitful days when it seemed the sheer size of the Russian force assembled on the borders would surely overwhelm its defences and has written itself into history as one of the ultimate underdog stories - a modern-day David against Goliath.

Kyiv is now secure after Ukraine mauled Russia's invasion forces and pushed them back across the border, although not entirely safe as Putin proved yesterday by launching five cruise missiles into the heart of the city as UN chief Antonio Guterres was visiting.

But the war is far from won. Battle is now raging hundreds of miles to the east as Putin's men fight for control over the Donbas region, which the Russian despot now cynically claims was his real target all along.

Ukraine's commanders say fighting is taking place along a stretch of frontline hundreds of miles long, snaking its way from the city of Izyum in Luhansk province - where the bulk of Russia's force is massed - to areas just west of Donetsk, which is further to the south.

Ukrainian marines and members of the Azov battalion are still holed up in the siege fortress of Mariupol, inside the sprawling Azovstal steel works in the heart of the city which Russia is still trying to take - despite Putin's claims that his men had been ordered not to storm it in order to preserve lives.

Further to the west, in the occupied city of Kherson, the world is being given a glimpse of what life in Ukraine might have been like if Putin had achieved his aim of seizing Kyiv and toppling the government.

President Zelensky remains in Kyiv, where yesterday he met with UN chief Antonio Guterres as Russia launched five cruise missiles at the city centre just an hour after the pair held a press conference nearby

A building burns in the centre of Kyiv after it was struck by a Russian missile, which Moscow said were aimed at destroying missile production facilities inside the city

Ukrainian firefighters attempt to extinguish a blaze burning in a building in Kyiv, which was struck by five Russian missiles late Thursday. Officials said one person died in the attack

A view of damage after withdrawal of Russian troops as citizens try to heal their wounds at Gorenko Village in Kyiv

A view shows apartment buildings heavily damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

Russian officials have planned to hold a referendum on the region becoming independent - just as happened in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions after Russia's last invasion in 2014. The Ukrainian currency is set to be banned and replaced by the ruble. Russian state media has taken over TV and radio networks to broadcast propaganda.

Russian and even Soviet flags have been raised in town squares. Locals say hundreds of people have disappeared, believed to have been taken into Russian captivity for having links to the military or government. Protests continue, but are increasingly being put down by force.

Further to the west still, in Moldova, a series of explosions in the breakaway 'republic' of Transnistria - thought to have been carried out by Russia itself as false flag attacks - threatens to drag the region into the war, spreading it beyond Ukraine's borders.

Experts, observers, and Zelensky himself say this is the start of the second phase of the war. Its outcome will decide whether or not there is a third.

'This will be a full-scale battle, bigger than any we have seen on the territory of Ukraine,' Zelensky said in a previous interview. 'If we hold out, it will be a decisive moment for us. The tipping point.'

He did not specify what would happen if the defences failed to hold, though few who have witnessed the horrors Russia inflicted on the occupied cities of Bucha and Irpin are in any doubt about what would come next.

Whether or not Putin can win his fight in Ukraine remains to be seen, but whatever the outcome on the battlefield it seems his wider goal of dividing the West and creating a so-called 'multipolar' world order in which Washington no longer calls the shots has failed.

Joe Biden last night pledged an extraordinary $33billion support package for Ukraine, after UK defence minister Liz Truss prepared allies to commit to Ukraine for the 'long haul' - possibly up to a decade.

Ms Truss also explicitly spelled out what Britain considers to be the victory condition in Ukraine, namely driving Russia out of all the territory it currently occupies and not just the land it has taken since the current invasion.

Meanwhile western governments are rushing to cut economic ties with Russia, including unprecedented steps by Germany to wean itself off Moscow's gas and oil supplies - reversing decades of policy which saw it draw ever-closer to the Kremlin.

A destroyed Ukrainian tank in Zahaltsi, Ukraine - a town near Kyiv that is continuing a long road to what it hopes is recovery

U.S. Marine Corps M777 155 mm howitzers are seen at March Air Reserve Base, California, before being taken to Ukraine

Marines load 155mm howitzer cannons on board a transport plane as they head towards Ukraine - part of billions of dollars worth of military aid pouring into the country to help thwart the Russian invasion

Berlin says it could now end its reliance on Russian oil within 'days' after securing supplies from elsewhere, and is working on plans to rid itself of gas as quickly as possible, albeit without setting a clear timeframe.

It comes after Russia cut off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, ostensibly for refusing to pay for the gas in rubles - a move that, in reality, was designed as a warning to the likes of Germany, Italy and Austria.

Meanwhile NATO has dramatically strengthened defences along its eastern border - the latest being a deployment of 8,000 British troops, tanks and other heavy weapons in what is one of the largest missions since the Cold War.

Finland and Sweden will take part in that deployment, while at the same time moving to abandon decades-old neutrality agreements in favour of joining the alliance - a move that would bring NATO to Russia's doorstep in the north, the very thing it claimed to be working to prevent in the south in Ukraine.

Britain's Defense Ministry said Friday that the limited Russian territorial gains have been achieved at significant cost to their forces.

Russian military units were mauled in the abortive bid to storm Kyiv and had to regroup and refit. Some analysts say the delay in launching a full-fledged offensive may reflect a decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to wait until his forces are ready for a decisive battle, instead of rushing in and risking another failure that could shake his rule amid worsening economic conditions at home because of Western sanctions.

Many observers suspect Putin wants to be able to claim a big victory in the east by Victory Day, on May 9, one of the proudest holidays on the Russian calendar, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Many of the Russian troops who were in Mariupol have been leaving and moving to the northwest, the U.S. defense official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. military assessment, didn't have exact figures but said a 'significant number' of the roughly one dozen battalion tactical groups that were in the city were moving out.

In Mariupol, video posted online by Ukraine's Azov Regiment inside the steel plant showed people combing through the rubble to remove the dead and help the wounded. The regiment said the Russians hit an improvised underground hospital and its surgery room, killing an unspecified number of people. The video couldn't be independently verified.

An estimated 100,000 people remained trapped in Mariupol.

'Deadly epidemics may break out in the city due to the lack of centralized water supply and sewers,' the city council said on the messaging app Telegram. It reported bodies decaying under the rubble and a 'catastrophic' shortage of drinking water and food.
A West Australian woman has been charged with murder over the death of a 14-month-old boy who is related to her.

The boy was found unresponsive at a home in Madora Bay, south of Perth, when police attended in relation to a noise complaint early on Wednesday.

'The attending officers provided emergency first aid to the child until St John Ambulance personnel arrived,' WA Police said in a statement on Friday.

Forensic police at the Madora Bay home in Perth where a 14-month-old boy died on Wednesday - a relative was charged with the child's murder on Friday

'Tragically, the child could not be revived.'

Neighbours raised the alarm shortly before 5am on Wednesday after they heard shouting and doors banging.

The toddler, named Jace, lived at the rented home with his mother and grandmother.

Shattered next door neighbour Stan Grostate was one of the last people to see the toddler alive.

He held the little boy on Tuesday night so his mother could have a cigarette.

'It's devastating. He was such a cute little boy,' Mr Grostate told reporters.

'He smiled a lot, and used to play with my cat whenever they came over.

'He had just started walking.'

A woman, 28, has been refused bail and is due to face Perth Magistrates Court on Saturday.

The toddler's tragic death has rocked shattered Madora Bay locals (pictured) in Perth's south
A Cabinet minister today revealed she was once 'pinned up against the wall' by a male MP - as Tories urged their porn-watching colleague to quit for the good of the party.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the vast majority of her male colleagues are 'delightful' and 'committed parliamentarians'.

But she said a few behaved badly when they had 'too much drink', insisting people should act 'as if their daughter was in the room'.

Ms Trevelyan spoke about one extraordinary incident when she was 'pinned up against a wall' by a man who is now no longer an MP.

The intervention, in a round of interviews, came as Boris Johnson condemned the MP accused of watching porn in the Commons, and other Conservatives said the unnamed individual should take a 'long, hard look' at themselves and resign.

Meanwhile, there have been complaints that government chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris has kicked the scandal 'into the long grass' by referring it to the Parliamentary grievance process rather than taking action.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the vast majority of her male colleagues are 'delightful' and 'committed parliamentarians'

Boris Johnson (pictured on a visit to Burnley yesterday) condemned the MP accused of watching porn in the Commons

Ex-minister calls for law on public porn after seeing Tube traveller viewing material at 8am A former minister has called for legislation to tackle public porn watching. Lord Bethell revealed he saw a man 'getting off' on adult material on the Tube at 8am. He urged Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries to use the upcoming Online Safety Bill to 'address' the problem. 'I saw a man getting off on porn on the tube. At 800am. School kids nearby. Addiction. No impulse control. V sad,' Lord Bethell tweeted. '@NadineDorries. Online Safety Bill needs to address this.' Advertisement

Ms Trevelyan told Sky News of male MPs: 'There are a few for whom too much drink, or indeed a sort of, a view that somehow being elected makes them you know, God's gift to women, that they can suddenly please themselves, that is never OK, that kind of behaviour, disrespect for women.'

She added: 'Fundamentally, if you're a bloke, keep your hands in your pockets and behave as you would if you had your daughter in the room.'

Ms Trevelyan told LBC Radio: 'I've witnessed and been at the sharp end of misogyny from some colleagues many times over'.

'We might describe it as wandering hands, if you like, we might describe it as, you know, a number of years ago being pinned up against a wall by a male MP who is now no longer in the House, I'm pleased to say, declaring that I must want him because he was a powerful man'.

'These sorts of things, these power abuses that a very small minority, thank goodness, of male colleagues show is completely unacceptable.'

She advised women subjected to that kind of behaviour to 'make public humiliation one of your tools'.

However, while Ms Trevelyan described watching porn in the Commons chamber as 'completely unacceptable', she declined to say whether the MP should be sacked.

The Trade Secretary said: 'I haven't had the chance to talk to the chief whip, and I know the ladies in question who apparently saw this completely, completely inappropriate activity have been encouraged to use the formal system in the House of Commons to be able to report it and I hope very much that they will or indeed have, I don't know, and that the system will demonstrate if that was the case, exactly what the punishment should be for that sort of inappropriate behaviour.'

She also said she is confident that the Chief Whip will 'take a decision that's appropriate'.

MPs have reacted with revulsion to the claims that a Tory MP has been caught by two of his female colleagues watching porn in the House of Commons chamber.

The chief whip has called for the allegations to be investigated by the independent complaints and grievance scheme (ICGS).

However, female Tory MPs voiced their fears that this would mean that the individual wold be given anonymity.

On a visit to Burnley yesterday, the PM told broadcasters: 'I think it's obviously unacceptable for anybody to be doing that kind of thing in the workplace.

'It would be the same for any kind of job up and down the country, let's be absolutely clear about that.

'What needs to happen now is that the proper procedures need to be gone through, the independent complaints and grievances procedure needs to be activated and we need to get to understand the facts but, yeah, that kind of behaviour is clearly totally unacceptable.'

Attorney General Suella Braverman said if the MP was found to have been watching adult material it should result in them 'no longer holding their privileged position as a Member of Parliament'.

She said there was a 'very small minority of men - and it is men - who fall short and there are some bad apples who are out of order - who behave like animals, and are bringing Parliament into disrepute to be honest'.

She told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour: 'I keep running through my mind how and why someone would be so brazen... so reckless, so stupid, so appallingly badly behaved to be watching porn in the workplace, in broad daylight, in the presence of colleagues.'

The minister said if the claims were found to be true, the whip should be removed and the MP could be expelled or subjected to a recall process.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: 'There have been several instances of inappropriate and sexist behaviour recently in Parliament. It is shameful.

'Parliamentarians are public servants and it is their duty to set an example of character and integrity. The culture of Westminster needs to change.'

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said 'there's no place for pornography in any workplace' and highlighted the need for a cultural change at Westminster.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme 'I certainly think they should lose the whip' and they could be subject to the recall process.

Tory MP Nickie Aiken said the porn-watching MP 'has to resign' from the Commons as she warned that he was causing 'pain, suffering and embarrassment' to both the party and Parliament.

He should 'take a very very long, hard look' at himself and ask 'should I still be here?', she told Times Radio.

Conservative MP Harriett Baldwin also urged the MP to come forward.

She told the Evening Standard: 'It is absolutely scandalous. I don't know who this individual is but they certainly should not be sitting on the bench.

'It would be very wise for this person to come forward and identify themselves so a full independent investigation can take place.

'Otherwise we may never know who this person is and a finger of suspicion will fall on all men sitting in the Commons benches.'

Other female Tory MPs warned that the ICGS was not the correct forum to handle the complaints against the MP.

It was set up in the wake of Partygate to give political staff a place to anonymously air complaints about MPs.

Chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris called for the independent investigation into the claims after the allegations surfaced during a meeting of Tory MPs at Westminster on Tuesday.

Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris (left) has not removed the whip from the MP in question. MP Nickie Aiken (right) said the Tory MP responsible for watching pornography in the Houses of Parliament should quit

A spokesman for Mr Heaton-Harris said: 'Following allegations of inappropriate behaviour in the House of Commons the chief whip has asked that this matter be referred to the ICGS.

'Upon the conclusion of any ICGS investigation the chief whip will take appropriate action.'

Under the ICGS, an investigator would examine the case and Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone would then make a finding.

In a serious case like this a sanction would normally be decided by the Independent Expert Panel (IEP), which would also hear any appeal.

The IEP could recommend sanctions including expulsion from the Commons or a suspension - which could potentially trigger a by-election under the recall process if it is for longer than 10 sitting days.

Only witnesses to the pornography-viewing could make a complaint about the MP under the ICGS.

The claims about pornography followed reports that 56 MPs, including three Cabinet ministers, are facing allegations of sexual misconduct referred to the ICGS.
A picture has emerged of one of the two British charity workers captured by Russian forces after going to Ukraine as humanitarian relief volunteers, as was reported today.

Paul Urey was captured with Dylan Healey who were operating on their own in the war zone and hadn't been associated with any aid group, according to Dominik Byrne, the co-founder and chief operating officer of non-profit Presidium Network.

The charity said the two men had been detained by Russian troops at a check point south of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine on Monday.

Byrne said the men were taken while trying to carry out an independent evacuation in Dniprorudne, near Zaporizhzhia that is some 290 miles southeast of Kyiv. They had not been heard from since Monday, he said.

Byrne added the two men had been trying to evacuate a family, who were later interrogated by Russian forces, and asked about the 'British spies.' The CEO said the family later escaped to Poland.

Charity worker Paul Urey, captured on Monday by Russian forces along with fellow charity worker Dylan Healey at a check point south of Zaporizhzhia, according to the non-profit Presidium Network

'Two men who were working as civilian humanitarian relief volunteers were captured on Monday at a checkpoint south of the city of Zaporizhzhia,' the charity said in a statement to the BBC on Friday.

British trade minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan told Sky News: 'The foreign office is doing all it can to support and identify these two people.'

There was no immediate comment from the British foreign ministry, but it was understood that it was urgently seeking more information. MailOnline has contacted the foreign office for further information.

Zaporizhzhia is a crucial way station for tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Mariupol, the besieged city to the south east which has been largely captured by Russian forces and all-but razed to the ground.

News of the capture of the charity workers comes a day after it was confirmed that a British father had been killed in Ukraine, and a second Briton remains missing, after the pair apparently joined local forces fighting against Russia's invasion.

Scott Sibley, a 36-year-old veteran of the British armed forces who served in the Commando Logistic Support Squadron in Afghanistan, has been named as the first UK casualty in Ukraine.

Their capture was announced by the UK non-profit organisation Presidium Network, which say they were seized at a checkpoint on Monday south of the city of Zaporizhzhia, in south-eastern Ukraine. Pictured: A destroyed residential area in Zaporizhzhia, April 28

Meanwhile, Kyiv said Friday that plans were in place to evacuate civilians from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where Ukrainian forces and civilians are encircled by Russian troops.

'An operation to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal factory is planned for today,' the Ukrainian presidency said in a statement.

Russia last week said it had gained full control of the strategic port city, except for the huge Azovstal industrial area.

President Vladimir Putin ordered a blockade of the steelworks, where hundreds of civilians are sheltering with Ukrainian troops, according to Kyiv, including those requiring medical attention.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this week that the United Nations was doing everything possible to ensure the evacuation of civilians from the 'apocalypse' in Mariupol.

A UN representative to Ukraine said during the visit she was travelling to Zaporizhzhia to prepare for a 'hopeful' evacuation.

'The UN is fully mobilised to help save Ukrainian lives and to assist those in need,' UN in Ukraine Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator Osnat Lubrani said.

Thursday also saw Russian sources publish a list of what they claim are 100 British 'mercenaries' fighting in Ukraine, including the name of one woman.

A pro-war Telegram channel called Rybar with almost 400,000 subscribers claimed the 100 British citizens whose names were published were part of the 'International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine', also known as the Ukrainian Foreign Legion.

The list does not include the name of Scott Sibley or two other British men who have been captured, and it is unclear how authentic it is.

The UK's Foreign Office confirmed British national Sibley had been killed in Ukraine and the whereabouts of a second Briton is unknown.

It is thought that the two men had been fighting against Russian fighters after joining Ukrainian soldiers as volunteers, but this remains unconfirmed.

Friends of Sibley, fondly nicknamed Sibs, have paid tribute to the veteran, who is believed to have died on 23 April, and set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for his funeral.

Scott Sibley, a veteran of the British armed forces, was named yesterday as the first Briton to have died fighting in Ukraine

'Scott was a son, father, brother and uncle,' his friend Craig wrote on the page. 'To me he was a friend like no other and the bravest person I've had the pleasure to have known, he was as good as a brother to me.

'His life may have been cut short but he lived to the full and did things the Sibs way, right until the end.'

Another fundraising page set up for Sibley's relatives described his 'infectious laugh', adding: 'We all have memories with him and he has helped us in different ways.'

Sibley leaves behind his daughter who was diagnosed with stage 4 high risk Neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer that mostly affects young children.

Following her diagnosis in 2018, Sibley shaved his head so that his daughter would not feel different when she lost her hair, reported the BBC.

Sibley's former squadron, the Army's Logistic Support Squadron, paid tribute to the veteran, writing: 'This week the Sqn has lost a former serving soldier. A man that showed Commando spirit until the end. RIP. Scott Sibley.'

A former comrade, Alex Darwin, paid tribute to his friend. 'Sib, I'm in complete disbelief. What a pleasure to have served alongside you, to know you and to have experienced your kind nature.

'You were there for me and I will forever be grateful. One hell of a beautiful guy, inside and out.'
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Amber Heard is set to take the stand in her bombshell defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp as soon as Monday, with insiders saying the actress will be a 'highly effective weapon' in her $100million countersuit.

The A-list trial in Virginia, which started on April 11 and is set to last another three weeks, has so far seen Depp claim he was the victim of domestic abuse in his four days of testimony, with his bodyguard yesterday describing wounds on the actor's face.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star is suing Heard for $50million, claiming she defamed him and ruined his career after a 2018 Washington Post article in which she described herself as a 'public figure representing domestic abuse', without naming her ex-husband.

Heard is countersuing for $100million, and after three weeks of sitting silently in the courtroom during Depp's testimony, she is preparing to start her fight back when court resumes next week after a day off today.

Insiders told Deadline she could take to the stand as soon as Monday, unless a major revelation comes out during the closing statements in Depp's case.

A source said: 'It's hard to see how Amber won't prove to be a highly effective weapon against Depp in her own advocacy.

'Regardless of how they have tried to characterize her, she has been nothing but well composed and pretty conservative in court without having said a word.'

Heard was not a party and did not take the stand in Depp's 2020 libel claim against The Sun in the UK, which he lost.

The trial in the Fairfax County Courthouse runs Monday to Thursday from 10am to 5pm, and is set to conclude on May 19. Judge Penny Azcarate has a prescheduled conference from May 9 to 12 when the trial will pause for a week.

Yesterday, Depp's bodyguard said he noticed injuries and marks on the actor's face as his relationship with Heard became increasingly volatile.

Amber Heard is set to take to the stand in her bombshell defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp as soon as Monday

The A-list trial in Virginia, which started on April 11 and is set to last another three weeks, has so far seen Depp claim he was the victim of domestic abuse

The jury was then shown a photo taken by Depp's bodyguard during Depp and Heard's honeymoon in 2013 where the Pirates of the Caribbean star appeared to have visible scratches and 'swelling' on his face

Security guard Malcolm Connolly pointed to the 'swelling on the left hand side' of Depp's nose and 'under his left eye' seen in the photo

Testifying remotely from his native UK, Connolly, who began working as Depp's private personal security in 2006, said he witnessed Johnny and Amber's relationship become increasingly volatile

Malcolm Connolly told the court he witnessed his client go from being happy in love to 'quiet' as Heard became more 'dominant' and 'demanding.'

Testifying remotely from his native UK, Connolly, who began working as Depp's private personal security in 2006, said: 'At the beginning [it was] all lovey-dovey. Everything was great. Honeymoon period was on, and yeah it was good.'

'It was great to see Johnny happy again. Amber was lovely, charming - as she usually is - and good as gold.'

But Connolly, who identifies as a 'protection officer', said things then 'started to change' between the two spouses, who began arguing more often.

'Amber started to change. Amber started getting a bit more feisty, demanding. I could see that Amber wanted to wear the pants in this relationship. That was pretty obvious,' he said.

The bodyguard added that Heard 'could get a frosty at the drop of hat' and over time witnessed Depp 'getting quieter' as Amber 'started getting grumpy.'

Connolly admitted that he never did see any physical violence between the two, but testified that he would often hear Depp and Heard argue frequently.

'I could hear Amber screaming. I could hearing shouting and bawling,' he said, adding that he could 'mostly' hear Heard shouting and that the couple fought 'more often than not.'

And while he never witnessed any violence, the security guard told the court that he began noticing scratches and injuries on Depp's face. He noted that he never saw any marks on Heard.

'What I noticed straight away was most of these marks were happening on the left hand side of his (Depp's) face,' Connolly said.

'There would be scratches on his neck. Maybe a fat lip in the corner, a bruising in the eye socket.

'It was getting more regular. Not every week, but it was definitely happening,' he added.

The jury was then shown a photo taken by Connolly during Depp and Heard's honeymoon in 2013.

Depp, posing alongside his now ex-wife and three others, appeared to have visible injuries and 'swelling' on his face.

When asked to described the photo, Connolly pointed the 'swelling on the left hand side' of Depp's nose and 'under his left eye.'

Asked what he thought had happened, the bodyguard said: 'Either he's walked into a door, or a door has walked into him,' prompting laughter from the courtroom.

Earlier on Thursday, jurors also heard briefly from Depp's business manager, Ed White, who said he intervened in 2016 to resolve financial difficulties for Depp, including unpaid taxes and a cash crunch.

The court heard how Depp went from being happy in love to 'quiet' as Heard allegedly became more 'dominant' and 'demanding'

When he blamed Heard for an excessive wine bill that featured multiple $500 bottles of Spanish Vega Sicilia wine, Heard's lawyers responded with a barrage of questions over Depp's spending excesses, including spending millions of dollars to shoot journalist Hunter S. Thompson's ashes out of a cannon.

The court also heard testimony revealing that Elon Musk covered nearly half of ex-girlfriend Amber Heard's donation to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) after she pledged to give away her multimillion dollar divorce settlement to charity following her split from Depp.

The actress has so far only paid $1.3million of the $3.5million she promised the ACLU nearly six years ago, with Musk's money making up a large chunk of it.

The billionaire Tesla founder, 50, gave $500,000 to the civil rights group on behalf of Heard after the two began dating after her divorce from Depp in 2016.

The Aquaman star, 36, announced she would donate the $7million she received in her settlement to two organizations when the couple's legal separation was finalized in August 2016.

Heard promised to give half the money to the ACLU to support its work in 'fighting violence against women', and the other $3.5million to the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.

But Terence Dougherty, the ACLU Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, testified in the trial Thursday, telling the court the organizations' promised donation has not been paid in full yet.

Dougherty said that so far only a total of $1.3million has either been paid by Heard or on her behalf.

Of that money, Heard contributed $350,000 directly, while $100,000 was paid by Depp and another $350,000 came from a fund at Fidelity, an investment company.

Another $500,000 payment came from an account at investment firm Vanguard, which Dougherty said he 'believed it was a fund set up by Elon Musk.'

Asked by one of Depp's lawyers if there were messages with Musk about it, Dougherty said there were.

He said there was a document and emails they had produced to the lawyers in the case regarding the money.

Billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk, 50, donated $500,000 to the ACLU on behalf of Amber Heard when the two were dating in 2016, the actress's defamation trial heard Thursday. The two are pictured together in 2017

The court heard the Aquaman actress has so far only paid $1.3million of the $3.5million she promised the ACLU nearly six years ago, with Musk's money making up a large chunk of it

ACLU Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel Terence Dougherty testified Thursday revealing only half the money has been paid by Heard or on her behalf

Dougherty said that based on emails with Musk, the ACLU understood that Heard's $3.5million donation would be given over 10 years.

He said that Heard's money was considered a 'pledge' so rather than a check all at once, it would come over time.

Heard's lawyers have previously told the court that she fully intends to pay the money but for now needs the divorce settlement to pay her legal fees.

Heard had promised to donate her $7M divorce settlement to charity, splitting the funds between the ACLU and the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles

The court heard that Heard's last donation of $350,000 in December 2018 and that she had not paid any money since.

Dougherty said that Heard had told the organization that money was from her anonymous account with Fidelity but they did not do any further checks to guarantee it was her money.

One of Depp's lawyers asked Dougherty what 'efforts the ACLU has made to get Amber Heard to pay'.

He replied: 'We reached out to Miss Heard starting in 2019 for the next installment of her giving and we learned she was having financial difficulties'.

The court heard that Musk played a central role in setting up Heard's donations to the ACLU, partly because he had given to it before.

Heard and Musk dated for a year following the actress's divorce from Johnny Depp in 2016

Johnny Depp's $50million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard that started on April 10 is expected to last five or six weeks

In an email dated August 18, 2016, Musk wrote to Heard and Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU: 'I described your (Heard's) plan to donate $3.5million to the ACLU over the next 10 years as you very much believe in what they're doing'.

The court heard that Robin Shulman, a communications strategist with the ACLU wrote the first draft of the op-ed in November 2018, a month before the article was published.

In a message to Heard dated November 29, 2018, Shulman said that she tried to 'gather your fire and rage' and shape it into an op-ed piece.

Asked if that meant rage against Depp, Dougherty said it was about 'gender-based violence issues'.

In a follow up message, Shulman told Heard: 'Our lawyers should review this for the way I skirted around your marriage'.

Jessica Weitz, another member of the ACLU communications team, told Heard: 'I want to make sure nothing was said in here that puts you in jeopardy with your NDA' with Depp after the divorce.

Shulman and Heard met in person and that op-ed was changed, the court heard.

Heard's lawyers also made some edits.

One of Depp's lawyers asked Dougherty: 'Some at the ACLU expressed belief that excising references to the marriage and divorce from Johnny Depp made the op-ed less impactful?'

Dougherty said: 'That is correct'.

Dougherty said that the ACLU had the responsibility of placing the op-ed and considered the New York Times, Washington Post, Teen Vogue and USA Today as places where it could go.

As Dougherty put it, the list was in 'descending importance and reach as we go down', but with a greater likelihood they would publish it.

Gerry Johnson, one of the ACLU communications team, emailed his colleagues about timing the op-ed so it would come out at the same time as the premiere of Aquaman, the film Heard was starring in.

Johnson wrote: 'Since draft turned out pretty strong and Aquaman slated to do large numbers I'm wondering what you think about it?'

Actor Amber Heard returns following a break at the Fairfax County Circuit Court Thursday, April 28, 2022

Depp, 58, had previously accused his ex-wife of lying about giving all of her divorce settlement to charity

Depp sued his ex-wife Amber Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a 'public figure representing domestic abuse'

Dougherty said that media outlets were more likely to take on an op-ed if it had 'strong views' and the more the person was in the public eye at the time, the 'more likely it will be accepted by a more prominent media outlet'.

Depp's lawyers asked Dougherty if Heard's marriage to Depp made the op-ed a 'stronger product'.

Dougherty said: 'Amber's contributions to the portion of op-ed that talks about personal experiences is what informed the view this was a strong op-ed'.

One of Depp's lawyers asked: 'She wanted the op-ed to come out just after Aquaman release?'

Dougherty said: 'I recall there was a conversation for optimal timing'

Dougherty added that it was 'correct' that Heard wanted the article to come out just after the Aquaman release.

On December 11 2018, Witz emailed her colleagues that Heard's team had sent back a final draft but it 'neutered much of her marriage and domestic violence'.

Witz said that the goal was the 'get this out this week to capitalize on the tremendous campaign for Aquaman', referring to the publicity surrounding the film.

In follow up emails, Witz said that Heard wanted to get a mention of her getting a restraining order back into the article.

Witz said: 'Is there an artful way to to do that?'

Such a mention did not make it into the final cut.

Around that time, Stacey Sullivan, another member of the ACLU's communications pitched the the article to Michael Duffy, an editor at the Washington Post.

Emails shown in court Thursday revealed Johnny Depp contributed towards Heard's $3.5million pledge to the ACLU

The email said: 'Hey Michael, wondering if we might interest you in an op-ed by Amber Heard 'Who as you may recall was beaten up during her brief marriage to Johnny Depp'

Once it had been agreed the article would be published, Heard emailed her team and the ACLU: 'It's going to the Washington Post!!!'

The court also heard about the panic within the ACLU how in 2019 Reuters inquired about how much Heard had paid of her $3.5m pledge.

In an email to colleagues, Witz insisted that Heard had 'donated her full settlement to charity' but investigations revealed she had only paid $1.3m

As Witz and her colleagues struggled to phrase a statement to Reuters, she emailed her colleagues: 'I had nightmares about this last tonight, do you think this is OK?'

Depp's lawyers asked if Witz was 'concerned the ACLU was not telling the truth?

As Depp looked on and smiled, Dougherty said: 'She was doing everything she could to give a correct statement to the press'.
A charity activist hailed by Prince Harry and supported by celebrities including George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio is under investigation over claims he misused power and acted like an 'autocrat'.

Josh Littlejohn, co-founder of Social Bite, a network of fundraising cafes, has attracted widespread acclaim in recent years for his efforts to help end homelessness.

His work has seen him raise tens of thousands of pounds and he was even handed a Pride of Britain award, all while regularly being serenaded by the great and the good of Hollywood.

However, complaints over his alleged conduct have now been lodged with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), according to the Times.

Josh Littlejohn, co-founder of Social Bite, a network of fundraising cafes, has attracted widespread acclaim in recent years for his efforts to help end homelessness

His work has seen him raise tens of thousands of pounds and he was even handed a Pride of Britain award, all while regularly being serenaded by the great and the good of Hollywood (pictured with Leonardo DiCaprio)

Actor George Clooney (L) during a visit to Social Bite sandwich shop, where he met owners Alice Thompson, (C) Josh Littlejohn (R) and former homeless staff members on November 12, 2015 in Edinburgh, Scotland

Complaints over Josh Littlejohn's (pictured with Will Smith in 2019) alleged conduct have now been lodged with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), according to the Times

Companies House documents show there have been a string of resignations at Social Bite in recent months, including directors Alice Thompson and Marjory Rodger, before Littlejohn himself stepped down in February.

The social enterprise's former chief executive for Scotland, Jane Bruce, lodged formal complaints over claims that Littlejohn was establishing a powerful 'autocratic' hold over the organisation, and trustees felt unable to hold him to account, the Times reports.

A source said: 'The excellent work that Social Bite does is in danger of being tarnished by the actions and inflated ego of one individual.'

Littlejohn, 35, has worked closely with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the past, serving meals together when the couple visited Social Bite's Edinburgh premises in 2018.

The prince shook hands with the activist and is said to have asked him: 'When are you bringing this down south? It needs to be across the UK as soon as possible.'

A spokesman for the OSCR told MailOnline it has received concerns about the charity and is examining them, according to its published policies.

Mr Littlejohn said: 'I established Social Bite when I was 25, to provide food and employment opportunities for homeless people.

'Over the last decade, the organisation has been on an incredible journey, where over 1000 people have been helped off the streets into their own home with support as a direct result of Social Bite's work.

'I'm incredibly proud of everything we have achieved as a team and I am very lucky to have such a brilliant team of people around me.

'As Social Bite has grown and evolved, so have I, and like any entrepreneur in a young, fast-growing organisation, will continue to do so. As the charity has matured, it is only right that it becomes less reliant on its founder.

'For the last few years I've been working with our Board to put in place a new structure which allows me to focus on my passion for developing new and innovative projects to help homeless people.

'It is a privilege to do what I do and, with the support of our Chair, Trustees and the dedication of our team, we remain focused on our goal of ending homelessness at a time when help is needed more than ever.'

Sir Andrew Cubie, Chairman of Social Bite said: 'We can confirm that we are in communication with OSCR relating to concerns they have received. In line with OSCR's policy we are unable to provide any further information at this time.

'Under my chairmanship, Social Bite adheres to the highest levels of governance. In spite of the global pandemic, the charity has gone from strength to strength.

'As an organisation we remain focused on delivering vital projects to the highest standards, so we can ultimately achieve our aim of helping the most vulnerable people in society and ending homelessness.'

He added: 'For the last ten years Josh Littlejohn has worked tirelessly to end homelessness, helping thousands of vulnerable individuals off the streets.

'His entrepreneurial spirit and drive has established Social Bite as one of the UK's leading homeless charities recognised globally for doing things differently and delivering results.

'For everyone who has ever met Josh they will know how passionate he is about ending homelessness and helping individuals fulfil their potential.

'He's incredibly well respected and well liked by the Social Bite team, partners and the homeless community.'
The killer of abused child Rikki Neave was brought to justice thanks to a 28-year-old piece of Sellotape that contained clothing fibres carrying his DNA.

James Watson, 40, was convicted last week of the six-year-old's murder, nearly 30 years after Rikki was found strangled in woodland near his home in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.

The child, who was repeatedly abused during his life by his mother Ruth Neave, had been posed in a star shape by Watson.

He was 13 when he carried out the crime in November 1994 but escaped justice after suspicion fell on Rikki's mother.

In 1996, she was tried and found not guilty for her son's murder, but was sentenced to seven years in prison after admitting child cruelty.

For nearly two decades, the case remained unsolved until Cambridgeshire Police agreed to re-open the investigation in 2015 following repeated campaigning by Ruth Neave.

Whilst nearly all of the evidence that had been collected in the original investigation had been destroyed or returned to Rikki's family, police found envelopes containing pieces of sticky tape that ultimately damned Watson.

They contained fibres collected from Rikki's clothing that were found to be a 'billion to one' match to Watson's DNA.

James Watson, the twisted killer of abused child Rikki Neave, was brought to justice thanks to a 28-year-old piece of sellotape that contained clothing fibres carrying his DNA. Watson, 40, was convicted last week of the six-year-old's murder, nearly 30 years after Rikki was found strangled in woodland near his home in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire

Speaking to the Telegraph, the now retired detective who met Neave and her partner eight years ago to hear her pleas for the case to be re-opened told how he agreed to conduct a review of the investigation.

Because he was not involved in the original case, Paul Fullwood said he had 'no baggage'.

Two earlier reviews into the murder case, in 2013 and 2014, failed to examine the tape containing the DNA.

Mr Fullwood believes that if Neave's treatment of her son had not been so brutal, the case would have been re-opened sooner.

He said there was 'always a feeling' among the officers involved in the original case that Neave 'may have done it'.

Neave had been described in Watson's trial as a 'wholly unfit' mother who used her son as a drug runner and 'punch bag'.

Six-year-old Rikki Neave was found strangled, naked and arranged in a 'star pose' near his home in Peterborough in November 1994

On one occasion, Rikki was allegedly left screaming after being locked out of the house in his pyjamas; in another it was claimed Neave had held her son upside down on a bridge as he screamed.

She had also grabbed the child around his throat, pushed him against a wall and lifted him up 'to the point his feet were about a foot above the ground'.

During the review, police had to comb through more than 15,000 documents, whilst nearly all of the original evidence was gone and Rikki's body had been cremated.

But Mr Fullwood said that old papers were found in forensic archives, 'and within the papers were envelopes, and within the envelopes were Sellotape tapings'.

Watson had his DNA taken for the first time in February 1995 after he was arrested for burglary.

Using forensic techniques that were not available during the original investigation, police were able to match the fibres that were found to Watson's DNA.

Watson's name had already been identified by Fullwood's review team as being one that needed 'more thorough' questioning than what it had received in 1994.

In the original case, Watson's name was discounted very quickly. This was due, Fullwood said, because of the 'tunnel vision' of officers who were focused on Ruth Neave.

Rikki is pictured left with his father Trevor Harvey. Harvey ended his relationship with Rikki's mother when his son was aged three. Right: A beaming Rikki during his short life

Neave was alleged to have treated all her children in a 'savage' manner. She is pictured above in February 2020 with her husband Gary Rogers

Watson was arrested on suspicion of murder in 2016. By then, he was already a serial offender.

Among his misdeeds was the setting alight of a a British Transport Police station in Peterborough.

After he was bailed, Watson fled to Portugal, where he posted photos of himself on the beach.

He had boasted about having left the UK in a mobile home, despite having no passport.

He then ended up homeless and begged to be flown home in emails to his probation officer.

Watson was eventually arrested in Lisbon and flown back to the UK. It was not until 2020 that he was charged.

In the face of the DNA evidence linking him to Rikki's murder, the criminal claimed he had picked the child up during a brief encounter in the street on the day of his disappearance.

He said he had lifted Rikki up so he could look through a hole in a fence to watch diggers at work.

But he also claimed that he did not know 'what the true events are' and said it was 'possible' he had not touched Rikki.

Neave (pictured left with her son in the late 1980s and right at his funeral) had been described in Watson's trial as a 'wholly unfit' mother who used her son as a drug runner and 'punch bag'

However, police were able to establish that the fence in question was not there in 1994.

Witnesses also saw Watson leading RIkki to the woods an hour before the schoolboy was killed.

He had also been reported months earlier for sexually assaulting a five-year-old classmate of Rikki's.

Days before the killing, he told his mother about an imagined radio report of a two-year-old child being kidnapped, strangled and left in a dyke.

Jurors also heard during his trial that he had a 'grotesque interest' in child murder.

The killer's half-brother, Andrew Bailey, recalled how Watson had regularly visited Rikki's home.

Watson is seen above left during a camping trip when he was a child, and right during his trial at the Old Bailey

This testimony contradicted Watson's initial claim that he had never met the child.

Watson was convicted of murder after 36 hours of deliberation by jurors.

In a statement following the verdict, Ms Neave had said: 'The only thing now is to close this chapter in my life and open a new one.

'I wonder what Rikki would be like today, married, children? Who knows?

'But this monster has taken that all from me and my daughters.'

She praised jurors for making the 'right decision' and thanked 'people that believed in me and Rikki'.

'This is not the time to celebrate, as it should never have happened,' said Ms Neave.

She described police and social services in the original investigation as 'framing me for my son's murder'.

'Neglect and cruelty were used by these people to cover their own failings, information was gathered from liars, who gave multiple statements with many different versions of their lies,' she said.

'Statements were released to the media and I was not allowed to defend myself because of a gagging order from social services, so anyone could say anything and get away with it.'
An unidentified British murder victim pulled out of the North Sea nearly 30 years ago was weighed down with cast iron shoe molds, German police revealed yesterday.

Authorities on tiny island Heligoland, northern Germany issued a new image of the mystery man and made a new appeal for information.

Nicknamed 'the gentleman', the 6ft 5in, 11st victim was found wearing a tie with a club design and handmade luxury loafers.

He had suffered violent blows to his head and upper body, The Mirror reported.

The 45 to 50-year-old murder victim pictured in a new image released by north German police

Cast iron shoe molds (left) were attached to the man's body, weighing him down. He was wearing a dark M&S tie (right) with dark green, orange and grey stripes

Cops found the British man's body off the German coast on July 11, 1994 - and estimate he was killed up to seven months before that date.

The iron shoe molds were the same size as his own. They were manufactured by A J Jackson, a Bristol shoemaker which existed from the Victorian era to the mid-Sixties.

The man's custom shoes were made by upmarket firm Church & Co Limited. They had been re-soled with Philipps soles with replacement heels made by Dinky Heel, Bristol. They were also inscribed 'ITS Jubilee' with a stylised crown.

The man was also wearing French-made navy trousers and a light blue shirt.

Releasing the new image, Wilhelmshaven Police said on Thursday: 'Does the image resemble someone you used to know, someone who maybe missing or you have lost contact with? Do you have any information about the shoe lasts (molds)?'

The dark loafers (left) were made by upmarket British shoemaker Church & Co Limited. Right: a label attached to the tie reads: '100% WOOL'

Police say they have now received more than 50 calls.

The club design tie was M&S-made with grey, brown, orange and green diagonal stripes. Cops have been unable to identify whether it was a regimental, club or public school tie.

Investigators are being assisted by forensic experts from several British universities and charity Locate International.

Researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London, the University of Staffordshire and Plymouth Marjon University are working to identify the man.

Goldsmiths Forensic Psychology Unit director Fiona Gabbert said in February: 'We believe that the man is likely to have gone missing somewhere between the end of 1993 and the first six months of 1994 so were calling on the public to think back to that time.

The mystery man (drawn, left) was wearing French-made navy trousers and a light blue shirt with the dark striped tie. Right: tiny German islands Heligoland are off country's Wilhelmshaven coast, in the North Sea

'Our research shows that activating memories from a particular period can help individuals remember more information from that particular time so were asking you to read through a list of news and events that happened in 1993/1994.

'Take a while to think where you were and who you knew at this time. Do you think you might know the man we are seeking to identify?'

Ms Gabbert pointed out the most noteworthy events of the day include the killing of Pablo Escobar, the March 1994 IRA Heathrow bombings, the death of Kurt Cobain and the arrest of OJ Simpson.

Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as president of South Africa, 'Love Is All Around' by Wet Wet Wet was released and 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' entered cinemas.
Britain has kick-started trade talks with Switzerland as minister hail the potential for a pact between 'services superpowers'.

The government said the tie-up could 'unlock new opportunities' after Boris Johnson and Swiss president Ignazio Cassis held talks in Downing Street yesterday.

The UK was the world's second-largest exporter of services in 2020, worth 266billion, while Switzerland was the 12th largest with 89billion.

The government has launched a consultation with business on what should be included in the talks, which are due to get under way formally later this year.

Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said a deal could 'boost both our economies and show the world what is possible between two likeminded and innovative nations who are firmly within Europe but outside of the EU'.

'A new enhanced trade agreement with Switzerland is a huge opportunity to liberalise trade with our 10th largest trading partner and unlock new opportunities for our world-leading services sector,' she said.

The government said the tie-up could 'unlock new opportunities' after Boris Johnson and Swiss president Ignazio Cassis held talks in Downing Street yesterday (pictured)

Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said a deal could 'boost both our economies and show the world what is possible between two likeminded and innovative nations who are firmly within Europe but outside of the EU'

Meanwhile, the Government has announced that it will not introduce any further controls on EU goods being imported to Britain this year as ministers dropped plans to impose new post-Brexit border checks.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Cabinet minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, said it would be 'wrong' to push ahead with the new controls - that were set to be introduced in July - at a time of rising prices and an energy crisis exacerbated by the Ukraine war.

In a written statement to Parliament, he told MPs the move would save British businesses up to 1billion a year in costs.

It is the fourth time the introduction of post-Brexit border checks have been delayed by the UK, after previous delays in June 2020, and March and September last year.

Mr Rees-Mogg said the government would now instead be 'accelerating' plans to digitise the UK's borders with the use of new technology.

The pending border controls, that will now no longer be introduced on 1 July, include restrictions on the imports of chilled meats from the EU, as well as checks on plant and animal products.

However, goods being exported by UK firms to the EU will continue to be subject to checks, as Brussels introduced new controls immediately after Britain's departure from the bloc.

Jacob Rees-Mogg said it would be 'wrong' to push ahead with the new controls at a time of rising prices and an energy crisis exacerbated by the Ukraine war
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has unloaded on Australia in a blunt parliament speech, mocking the federal government's complaints about the secrecy surrounding the Pacific Island country's security pact with China.

He slammed Australia as hypocrites after it kept its negotiations with the United States and the United Kingdom over the AUKUS pact a closely guarded secret.

'I learnt of the AUKUS treaty in the media, Mr Speaker,' he said in parliament.

'One would expect that as a member of the Pacific family, Solomon Islands and members of the Pacific should have been consulted to ensure this AUKUS treaty is transparent since it will affect the Pacific family by allowing nuclear submarines in Pacific waters.'

And Mr Sogavare also alleged Australian personnel refused to protect Chinese-built infrastructure during the riots in Honiara last year. Australian officials vehemently deny the allegation.

Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare has suggested Australia was in no position to judge the Pacific Island nation's security pact with China because it kept its own negotiations with the US and United Kingdom over the AUKUS pact a secret

Mr Sogavare also mocked the language adopted by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne, who have both repeatedly stressed that Australia respects the sovereignty of Solomon Islands, despite concerns about its pact with China.

Australia was unable to convince Mr Sogavare to ditch the agreement with China, and the fired up Pacific island PM was on the attack in his address to parliament on Friday that dripped with sarcasm.

'Oh, but Mr Speaker, I realise that Australia is a sovereign country which can enter into any treaty it wants to, transparently or not,' Mr Sogavare said.

'Which is exactly what they did with AUKUS.'

Australia sent a team of troops and police to the capital  at Mr Sogavare's request  when it was rocked by riots in Honiara late last year in the wake of political protests directed at the Prime Minister.

Once it emerged Australia was sending troops to Honiara though, the violence quickly subsided.

But the Solomon Islands leader said Australian personnel refused to protect Chinese-built infrastructure, the ABC reported.

The Australian PM said the Solomon Islands had not raised any issue with Australia signing up to the AUKUS security pact when the Pacific nation was informed of the arrangement.

Scott Morrison refuted talk the Solomon Islands weren't aware of the AUKUS pact, telling reporters on Friday he spoke to Mr Sogavare soon after the submarines deal was finalised

Despite the obvious tension, Mr Morrison said Australia had moved to assure the Solomons and other Pacific countries about the terms of the AUKUS deal.

'Once we entered into it and we made our announcement, it was very important that we engage quickly with our allies and partners in the region, which is exactly what we did,' Mr Morrison told reporters in Tasmania on Friday.

'I spoke to Prime Minister Sogavare the day following the announcement. I did have that conversation...and no issues were raised at that time in that discussion.

'As time goes on and new relationships are entered into, there's obviously been some other influences in the perspective taken by the Solomon Islands prime minister.'

The Solomons security deal with China has become a key issue of the election, with the opposition accusing the government of dropping the ball on Pacific relations.

Mr Morrison said it would be a 'red line' for Australia if China built a military base in the Solomons.

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According to Protocol, popular messaging app Telegram now accepts cryptocurrency payments after abandoning its own token. The feature could help crypto payments become more mainstream on messaging services.

Telegram's Own Token Was Dropped

Telegram, which has around 550 million users, earlier abandoned the notion of its own cryptocurrency following a legal challenge from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As reported by Coin Telegraph, The Open Network (TON) was developed by Telegram in 2017 as a proof-of-stake system for decentralized services such as decentralized storage, anonymous networks, DNS, instant payments, and others. Telegram abandoned TON in May 2020 following a lengthy dispute with the SEC.

Protocol mentioned that Telegram was sued by the SEC in 2019 after raising $1.7 billion to create its coin, which the SEC called an illegal token offering. Telegram eventually agreed to pay a fine to the SEC and refund funds to investors.

The verdict came after the SEC claimed that the company used its initial coin offering to sell unregistered securities to the general public. A New York judge had earlier ordered that the company could not distribute Grams, a token similar to TON from the then-Telegram Open Network, to investors outside the U.S.

Read More: Purple Fox Malware Spreads Through Malicious Telegram Installers; Steals Data, Hacks Your Device

What's Plan B?

Since then, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has promoted Toncoin, a new spin-off token that appears to be independent of Telegram. This is the coin that could now be used to make Telegram payments.

You can now send #Toncoin directly within Telegram chats!



Its a new way to send Toncoin without transaction fees to any Telegram user. With this service, youll no longer need to enter long wallet addresses and wait for confirmations.



Watch the video and test the new feature! pic.twitter.com/EtXSMFtJj6  TON (@ton_blockchain) April 26, 2022

The Ton Foundation just announced that it has raised $1 billion from users for the project, Protocol reported.

What Are the New Features?

The report also noted that the TON Foundation, which oversees the Toncoin token, has allowed fee-free payments in the app, allowing users to transfer crypto to other users. The app now includes the ability to purchase bitcoin.

Through the messaging app, the new payments service opens up the possibility of a global crypto payments service. Many in the crypto community are working on ways to mainstream crypto payments as a low-cost, quick alternative to conventional payments, especially for cross-border transactions.

There are initiatives to do so using Bitcoin, Ethereum, or new Layer 1 protocols, but many of these efforts face the issue of establishing a worldwide user base and a viable product to enable crypto payments. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, attempted to develop such a service but recently abandoned it. Telegram already has a global user base and a product that could quickly make cryptocurrency payments commonplace.

How To Access the New Feature?

To use the feature, as per Coin Telegraph, users must first sign up for Telegram's official Wallet Bot, which allows them to buy cryptocurrency using a bank card, convert it, and move it to other wallets. They can then transfer Bitcoin (BTC) or Toncoin to other users by clicking on the "Wallet" symbol in direct messages.

Related Article: Got Hacked? Here's How to Self-Destruct Your Telegram Account
Two asylum seekers who came to Britain in the backs of lorries this year have instructed lawyers to bring a legal challenge to Priti Patel's Rwanda deportation policy.

A man from Eritrea who came to the UK in February and an Iranian who arrived in March worry they will be flown to Africa because the Home Office has not yet replied to their asylum claims.

It will be the first legal test of the new policy - which will see migrants arriving in the UK illegally as stowaways on trucks or small boats on a one-way journey to Rwanda where their asylum claims will be processed.

Both the Eritrean and Iranian are seeking anonymity during the court proceedings to protect themselves from possible retribution if they return to their home countries, The Times reports.

The law firm Instalaw will issue judicial review proceedings today to challenge the legality of the home secretary's deal with Rwanda, signed earlier this month.

Lawyers plan to use the same argument anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller used when she blocked Theresa May from triggering Article 50 without a vote in parliament.

Priti Patel had signed the deal in Rwanda without any legislation, votes or debates in parliament, just hours after consulting the cabinet

Royal Navy HMS Blazer tows two small boats as it arrives in Dover, Kent, following a number of small boat incidents in the Channel on April 14

Priti Patel had signed the deal in Rwanda without any legislation, votes or debates in parliament, just hours after consulting the cabinet.

Partner at Instalaw Stuart Luke, who had been involved in Miller's case, will argue that ministers cannot agree an international deal without the approval of parliament beforehand.

Mr Luke said: 'It's very interesting that a prime minister can enter into a 'world- first' agreement without there being any debate and vote on the details and specifics of the deal in parliament.'

Lawyers are also set to claim that the policy does not comply with the Geneva Convention because both men claimed asylum in Britain - and so are entitled to have the claim determined in this country.

A Home Office source told The Times: 'We welcome the challenge and it was always to be expected.'

Rwanda already is home to more than 130,000 refugees from countries such as Burundi, Congo, Libya and Pakistan, Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister Vincent Biruta told reporters after signing the agreement with Ms Patel in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, on April 14.

A record 28,395 migrants reached the UK illegally last year in small boats over the Channel, a 200 per cent increase on 2020

The plan has been criticized by rights groups and others who say it is cruel, expensive and unworkable. The U.N. refugee agency has described it as 'contrary to the letter and spirit of the Refugee Convention.'

Rwandan authorities in recent years have given asylum to hundreds of people seeking shelter as a result of arrangements with Israel, the African Union, the United Nations and others.

Many were from Eritrea and Ethiopia, including a group that had languished for months in detention centers in Libya.

Rwandan authorities said the agreement would initially last for five years, with the British government paying 120million upfront to pay for housing and integrating the migrants.

Ms Patel has said the deal is about trying to 'empower' asylum seekers. 'It's always been a partnership based on resettlement, rebuilding lives,' she added.

In a speech earlier this month outlining the Rwanda agreement, Ms Patel said: 'The British people are fair and generous when it comes to helping those in need, but the persistent circumventing of our laws and immigration rules and the reality of a system that is open to gaming and criminal exploitation has eroded public support for Britain's asylum system and those that genuinely need access to it.

'Putting evil people smugglers out of business is a moral imperative. It requires us to use every tool at our disposal - and also to find new solutions. That is why today's migration and economic development partnership with Rwanda is such a major milestone.

'This agreement fully complies with all international and national law, and as part of this ground-breaking agreement, the UK is making a substantial investment in the economic development of Rwanda.'
Elon Musk and James Franco will not testify at Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's bombshell defamation trial, sources have said.

The A-listers were named by Heard's legal team on its list of potential witnesses, with both due to appear via video link.

Heard began dating the Tesla founder around the time of her split with Depp in May 2016 and by August the following year they had broken up.

Meanwhile Franco was a close confidant of the actress, whom Depp suspected she was having an affair with.

But sources told The Independent neither Musk nor Franco will take the stand as Heard's legal team begin their defense next week.

No reason was given for their absence.

Under Virginia law non-residents of the state cannot be forced to attend proceedings at the Fairfax County Circuit Court, either in person or via video-link.

If a witness decides not to participate lawyers can instead draw upon their deposition as evidence if one had been given.

In court this week, Depp's former agent Christian Carino, confirmed Musk and Heard were in a relationship but said emails showed she never loved him.

Depp also told jurors he had suspected Franco and Heard were having an affair, echoing previous comments in which he said it was 'highly likely'.

Elon Musk and James Franco will not testify at Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's bombshell defamation trial, sources have said

Franco was a close confidant of the actress, whom Depp suspected she was having an affair with

In court this week, Depp's former agent Christian Carino, confirmed Musk and Heard were in a relationship

It was also revealed Musk covered nearly half of Heard's $1.3million donation to the American Civil Liberties Union after she pledged to give her divorce settlement to charity.

Carino, a talent agent with mega agency CAA and Lady Gaga's ex-fiance, received emails from Heard describing her break-up from the billionaire CEO.

In an email on August 7, 2017, Heard told Carino: 'Dealing with breakup. I hate when things go public. See I'm so sad.'

Carino said he believed Heard was 'referring to breaking up with Elon.'

Carino replied to Heard: 'You weren't in love with him. You told me 1,000 times you were just feeling space.'

Asked what he meant, Carino said: 'Why would you be sad if you weren't in love with him to begin with?'

One of Depp's lawyers asked: 'By him you're referring to who?'

Carino said: 'Elon.'

Johnny Depp's former agent Christian Carino told the court about emails sent to him by Heard after she broke up with Elon Musk

Heard began dating the Tesla founder around the time of her split with Depp in May 2016 and by August the following year they had broken up

Heard's next email read: 'I know but I wanted time to grieve and recover in my own time.'

In another email in the same conversation she said: 'I hate that, yet again a man lets me fall on the spikes by myself.'

Carino said: 'How so?'

Heard emailed back: 'They're mad at me for leaving them and put things like this out there', apparently referring to the story going public.

Carino responded: 'You could avoid all this if you stop dating uber famous people.'

Asked what he meant in the email, Carino told the court he was trying to tell Heard: 'If you don't like being in the press about your personal life don't date people that are famous.'

Carino told the court that Heard's feelings for Depp lingered after she filed for divorce in May 2016 and that he believed she wanted to reconcile with him, even though she was dating Musk.

In an email on July 14 that year, Heard told Carino: 'It's so f**ked up I just want to tell him that what they're telling him isn't true.'

In an email sent to Carino around the same time, Heard said: 'Please tell him I love him,' referring to Depp.

The court heard that in the summer of 2016, Heard asked Carino to set up a meeting with Depp to talk things over.

At the time Depp was the subject of a temporary restraining order and Heard said she could 'never accuse him of violating the order' during their meeting, Carino said.

It took place in San Francisco where Depp was on tour with his band, The Hollywood Vampires, in the backyard of a friend's house.

Carino said they were there for 'several hours' chatting until the owner of the house said he was coming back.

Depp also told jurors he had suspected Franco and Heard were having an affair, echoing previous comments in which he said it was 'highly likely' (pictured in 2016)

To continue the conversation they rented a hotel room but once there Depp and Heard 'started arguing,' Carino testified.

Carino said that he left at 5am the following morning - it wasn't clear if the argument was still ongoing.

But the court has already heard chilling audio of Depp asking Heard to cut him with a knife, telling her: 'You f**king hate me!'

Despite that, Heard's feeling for Depp remained strong.

On August 16, 2017, Heard emailed Carino: 'I've written so many notes, can you give him one? I don't know how or where to start.

'Finally I am single, clear in my heart and mind. I just want him to know I loved him.'

In a message on June 9, 2018 - six months before Heard wrote the op-ed which is the subject of the case - she messaged Carino: 'God I miss him,' referring to Depp.

Heard is expected to take to the stand as soon as Monday with insiders saying the actress will be a 'highly effective weapon' in her $100million countersuit.

Musk covered nearly half of Heard's $1.3million donation to the American Civil Liberties Union

The trial, which started on April 11 and is set to last another three weeks, has so far seen Depp claim he was the victim of domestic abuse in his four days of testimony, with his bodyguard yesterday describing wounds on the actor's face.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star is suing Heard for $50million, claiming she defamed him and ruined his career after a 2018 Washington Post article in which she described herself as a 'public figure representing domestic abuse', without naming her ex-husband.

Heard is countersuing for $100million, and after three weeks of sitting silently in the courtroom during Depp's testimony, she is preparing to start her fight back when court resumes next week after a day off today.

Insiders told Deadline she could take to the stand as soon as Monday, unless a major revelation comes out during the closing statements in Depp's case.

A source said: 'It's hard to see how Amber won't prove to be a highly effective weapon against Depp in her own advocacy.

'Regardless of how they have tried to characterize her, she has been nothing but well composed and pretty conservative in court without having said a word.'

Carino, a talent agent with mega agency CAA and Lady Gaga's ex-fiance, appeared by a pre-recorded video deposition and confirmed that Heard and Musk were in a relationship for a time

Heard was not a party and did not take the stand in Depp's 2020 libel claim against The Sun in the UK, which he lost.

The trial in the Fairfax County Courthouse runs Monday to Thursday from 10am to 5pm, and is set to conclude on May 19. Judge Penny Azcarate has a prescheduled conference from May 9 to 12 when the trial will pause for a week.

It was revealed yesterday that Musk covered nearly half Heard's donation to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) after the actress pledged to give away her multimillion dollar divorce settlement to charity.

Jurors heard the actress has so far only paid $1.3million of the $3.5million she promised the ACLU nearly six years ago, with Musk's money making up a large chunk of it.

The entrepreneur, 50, gave $500,000 to the civil rights group on behalf of Heard after the two began dating after her divorce from Depp in 2016.

The Aquaman star, 36, announced she would donate the $7million she received in her settlement to two organizations when the couple's legal separation was finalized in August 2016.

Heard promised to give half the money to the ACLU to support its work in 'fighting violence against women', and the other $3.5million to the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.

But Terence Dougherty, the ACLU Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, testified in the trial Thursday, telling the court the organizations' promised donation has not been paid in full yet.

Dougherty said that so far only a total of $1.3million has either been paid by Heard or on her behalf.

Of that money, Heard contributed $350,000 directly, while $100,000 was paid by Depp and another $350,000 came from a fund at Fidelity, an investment company.

Another $500,000 payment came from an account at investment firm Vanguard, which Dougherty said he 'believed it was a fund set up by Elon Musk.'

Asked by one of Depp's lawyers if there were messages with Musk about it, Dougherty said there were.

He said there was a document and emails they had produced to the lawyers in the case regarding the money.

Dougherty said that based on emails with Musk, the ACLU understood that Heard's $3.5million donation would be given over 10 years.

Heard had promised to donate her $7M divorce settlement to charity, splitting the funds between the ACLU and the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles

He said that Heard's money was considered a 'pledge' so rather than a check all at once, it would come over time.

Heard's lawyers have previously told the court that she fully intends to pay the money but for now needs the divorce settlement to pay her legal fees.

The court heard that Heard's last donation of $350,000 in December 2018 and that she had not paid any money since.

Dougherty said that Heard had told the organization that money was from her anonymous account with Fidelity but they did not do any further checks to guarantee it was her money.

One of Depp's lawyers asked Dougherty what 'efforts the ACLU has made to get Amber Heard to pay'.

He replied: 'We reached out to Miss Heard starting in 2019 for the next installment of her giving and we learned she was having financial difficulties'.

The court heard that Musk played a central role in setting up Heard's donations to the ACLU, partly because he had given to it before.

In an email dated August 18, 2016, Musk wrote to Heard and Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU: 'I described your (Heard's) plan to donate $3.5million to the ACLU over the next 10 years as you very much believe in what they're doing'.

The court heard that Robin Shulman, a communications strategist with the ACLU wrote the first draft of the op-ed in November 2018, a month before the article was published.

In a message to Heard dated November 29, 2018, Shulman said that she tried to 'gather your fire and rage' and shape it into an op-ed piece.

Asked if that meant rage against Depp, Dougherty said it was about 'gender-based violence issues'.

In a follow up message, Shulman told Heard: 'Our lawyers should review this for the way I skirted around your marriage'.

Jessica Weitz, another member of the ACLU communications team, told Heard: 'I want to make sure nothing was said in here that puts you in jeopardy with your NDA' with Depp after the divorce.

Shulman and Heard met in person and that op-ed was changed, the court heard.

Heard's lawyers also made some edits.

One of Depp's lawyers asked Dougherty: 'Some at the ACLU expressed belief that excising references to the marriage and divorce from Johnny Depp made the op-ed less impactful?'

Dougherty said: 'That is correct'.

Dougherty said that the ACLU had the responsibility of placing the op-ed and considered the New York Times, Washington Post, Teen Vogue and USA Today as places where it could go.

As Dougherty put it, the list was in 'descending importance and reach as we go down', but with a greater likelihood they would publish it.

Gerry Johnson, one of the ACLU communications team, emailed his colleagues about timing the op-ed so it would come out at the same time as the premiere of Aquaman, the film Heard was starring in.

Johnson wrote: 'Since draft turned out pretty strong and Aquaman slated to do large numbers I'm wondering what you think about it?'

Actor Amber Heard returns following a break at the Fairfax County Circuit Court Thursday, April 28, 2022

Depp, 58, had previously accused his ex-wife of lying about giving all of her divorce settlement to charity

Depp sued his ex-wife Amber Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a 'public figure representing domestic abuse'

Dougherty said that media outlets were more likely to take on an op-ed if it had 'strong views' and the more the person was in the public eye at the time, the 'more likely it will be accepted by a more prominent media outlet'.

Depp's lawyers asked Dougherty if Heard's marriage to Depp made the op-ed a 'stronger product'.

Dougherty said: 'Amber's contributions to the portion of op-ed that talks about personal experiences is what informed the view this was a strong op-ed'.

One of Depp's lawyers asked: 'She wanted the op-ed to come out just after Aquaman release?'

Dougherty said: 'I recall there was a conversation for optimal timing'

Dougherty added that it was 'correct' that Heard wanted the article to come out just after the Aquaman release.

On December 11 2018, Witz emailed her colleagues that Heard's team had sent back a final draft but it 'neutered much of her marriage and domestic violence'.

Witz said that the goal was the 'get this out this week to capitalize on the tremendous campaign for Aquaman', referring to the publicity surrounding the film.

In follow up emails, Witz said that Heard wanted to get a mention of her getting a restraining order back into the article.

Witz said: 'Is there an artful way to to do that?'

Such a mention did not make it into the final cut.

Around that time, Stacey Sullivan, another member of the ACLU's communications pitched the the article to Michael Duffy, an editor at the Washington Post.

Emails shown in court Thursday revealed Johnny Depp contributed towards Heard's $3.5million pledge to the ACLU

The email said: 'Hey Michael, wondering if we might interest you in an op-ed by Amber Heard 'Who as you may recall was beaten up during her brief marriage to Johnny Depp'

Once it had been agreed the article would be published, Heard emailed her team and the ACLU: 'It's going to the Washington Post!!!'

The court also heard about the panic within the ACLU how in 2019 Reuters inquired about how much Heard had paid of her $3.5m pledge.

In an email to colleagues, Witz insisted that Heard had 'donated her full settlement to charity' but investigations revealed she had only paid $1.3m

As Witz and her colleagues struggled to phrase a statement to Reuters, she emailed her colleagues: 'I had nightmares about this last tonight, do you think this is OK?'

Depp's lawyers asked if Witz was 'concerned the ACLU was not telling the truth?

As Depp looked on and smiled, Dougherty said: 'She was doing everything she could to give a correct statement to the press'.
Black children are treated as 'less innocent' in schools because they are seen as more adult than their white peers, a report has found.

The paper from former Children's Commissioner Anne Longfield highlighted the 'adultification' of black students who are treated with less care and protection because of perceived maturity.

Those children seen as older are more likely to be punished or excluded, the report claims.

Former Children's Commissioner Anne Longfield (pictured) highlighted the 'adultification' of black students

Longfield's intervention comes a month after the Metropolitan Police was heavily criticised for strip-searching 'Child Q' - a black 15-year-old girl - without an appropriate adult present on suspicion of possessing cannabis.

Ms Longfield said: '[Adultification is] very real and it has a huge impact on children's lives,' she said.

'Essentially, it's young people being viewed as older.

'That means that we look after them slightly less and they don't get the protections and safeguarding they should.'

The report from the Commission for Young Lives also included a radical suggestion to ban exclusions at the primary school level from 2026.

Ms Longfield said the report is not about ignoring behavioural problems in schools but is about bringing in 'a new era of inclusivity'.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'This isn't trying to ignore the problems that are clearly being displayed with the child, nor is it about reducing expectations around academic achievement, but it is about taking that responsibility for all children within the classroom.

'And what we know is if we intervene early and offer that support to those children, often who will have special educational needs, they will be able to thrive in school.

'But schools really often find themselves wanting to do that, but between a rock and a hard place.

'They don't have often that specialist support on hand, and to some, sadly, they say exclusion is the only option for them.

'That's why we want to see a new era of inclusivity that can support those children to thrive.'

A debate over the 'adultification' of black students has raged since Child Q endured a strip-search without an appropriate adult present after teachers at her school in Hackney called police erroneously suspecting the girl of possessing cannabis.

Child Q's family is now taking legal action against the Met after a report found that racism was a factor in the arrest.

The case of Child Q  a 15-year-old black schoolgirl who was strip searched by police while on her period after being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis  drew outrage from the public and politicians

The incident only came to public attention after a safeguarding report by Hackney Council slammed the school responsible for calling the police.

The report says the kind of treatment Child Q and other black children have been subjected to is damaging to their confidence in schools and the police.

It also says that race-equality training should be a core part of teacher training while the school curriculum should be reformed to make it more inclusive.

Jahnine Davis, director of child-protection company Listen Up, told BBC News: 'Black children are at a greater risk of experiencing this form of bias, due to preconceived ideas about black children being aggressive, deviant, and almost needing to be safeguarded from rather then safeguarded.

'Black girls tend to be met with suspicion.

'They tend to be perceived as being loud, as being aggressive and being hyper-resilient.

'If you want to explore the adultification of black girls, we have to look at the history, which is rooted in slavery and colonialism.'

In the past three years, 5,279 children were searched in London, with 3,939 (75 per cent) from ethnically-diverse backgrounds according to disclosures made under Freedom of Information laws.

16 of those searched with aged between 10 and 12.

Officers in two London boroughs now need prior permission from a police inspector before any child can be strip-searched, as part of new measures introduced following the scandal.

The Met has launched a review of its strip-search policy after the widespread backlash at the revelations about Child Q.

The report from the Commission on Young Lives says Ofsted should introduce a new inclusion measure, with schools that are not inclusive unable to receive a 'good' or 'outstanding' grade.

It calls for exclusions from school of primary school age children to be ended within the next four years, with schools 'supported with the necessary resources to achieve this'.

It adds that all schools should report how many pupils have been excluded or moved from their rolls every year.

A safeguarding report found that the Met Police search of Child Q, was not justified, and said that racism was 'likely to have been an influencing factor

What did the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review find? Finding 1: The school was fully compliant with expected practice standards when responding to its concerns about Child Q smelling of cannabis and its subsequent search of Child Qs coat, bag, scarf and shoes. This demonstrated good curiosity by involved staff and an alertness to potential indicators of risk. Finding 2: The decision to strip search Child Q was insufficiently attuned to her best interests or right to privacy. Finding 3: School staff deferred to the authority of the police on their arrival at school. They should have been more challenging to the police, seeking clarity about the actions they intended to take. All practitioners need to be mindful of their duties to uphold the best interests of children. Finding 4: School staff had an insufficient focus on the safeguarding needs of Child Q when responding to concerns about suspected drug use. Finding 5: The application of the law and policy governing the strip searching of children can be variable and open to interpretation. Finding 6: The absence of any specific requirement to seek parental consent when strip searching children undermines the principles of parental responsibility and partnership working with parents to safeguard children. Finding 7: The Covid-19 restrictions in place at the time appeared to have frustrated effective communication between school staff and the Safer Schools Officer. Finding 8: Having considered the context of the incident, the views of those engaged in the review and the impact felt by Child Q and her family, racism (whether deliberate or not) was likely to have been an influencing factor in the decision to undertake a strip search. Advertisement

The report notes that vulnerable pupils are sometimes 'viewed as a problem that can be pushed onto someone else to deal with' and that some schools have used tactics such as managed moves, off-rolling, exclusions or encouraging families to pursue 'home education'.

One parent who spoke to the commission, whose child later received an autism diagnosis, said her son was excluded 17 times from school at the age of five.

'The school said there was defiance and violence, but he was literally tiny,' she said.

The report notes there is a 'prominent strand of opinion' that does not accept there is any link between being excluded and becoming involved in crime, but that youth workers, parents and children had recounted how exclusion from school was a 'trigger point' where pupils became more vulnerable to criminal or sexual exploitation or involvement in county lines.

'There should never have to be a trade-off between a school achieving good scores and providing an inclusive, nurturing environment that takes responsibility for every child. But so often it seems there is,' the report says.

It adds that some schools 'don't focus on vulnerable children because they don't feel they have an obligation or responsibility to do so', 'or worse, in a minority of schools, they do not feel it is in their interests to even have vulnerable children in their school at all, and they game the system to keep them off their roll'.

It said it can 'surely be no coincidence' that the majority of exclusions take place in years 10 and 11, when pupils sit GCSE exams that will impact on the school's position in league tables.

The report also calls for 'alternative provision' to be renamed 'specialist provision' while it says that the name 'pupil referral unit' should also be scrapped.

'We do not believe primary school children should be permanently excluded at all and we would also like to see the end of the term 'pupil referral unit', which feels like a throwback to a bygone age,' the report says.

It proposes that in the 55 education 'cold spots' identified by the Levelling Up Paper, there should be a five-year pilot to create new, inclusive schools, trialling a 'cradle to career' approach.

Julie McCulloch, policy director at the Association of School and College Leaders, said while the power to exclude was a 'necessary last resort', 'it is very clear we must do everything possible to defuse problems which lead to challenging behaviour and keep young people in school'.

She added that the 'vast majority' of schools made this a priority but did this in a context of 'extremely tight budgets' which limited their ability to give more support to vulnerable pupils.

'It is also the case that school performance tables prioritise academic attainment rather than how well a school provides an inclusive environment,' she added.

Protesters held a solidarity rally for Child Q outside Hackney Town Hall days after the scandal broke in the media

Anne Longfield, chair of the Commission on Young Lives, said: 'Look behind the headlines of the tragic deaths, acts of serious violence and criminal exploitation of our young people over recent years and so often you see a pattern of children disengaging and falling out of school and into harm.

'Not all children who leave mainstream school will be affected but the statistics show that too many will - even more so if the child has special educational needs or is black.

'A system that has no real accountability for a five-year-old boy being excluded 17 times in a year, or where a vulnerable teenager is out of school for months or even years, is not a system that is working for every child.'

A Department for Education spokesperson said: 'While permanent exclusion for young children is rare, suspension and exclusion are necessary and essential behaviour management tools.

'We are working to understand and tackle avoidable absence through the attendance alliance, and the Alternative Provision and SAFE taskforces are providing direct, targeted support to vulnerable pupils at risk of crime or exploitation, to keep them engaged in education.

'Longer term, our recently published SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper set out our plans to reform alternative provision, changing the culture and practice of how settings run and best-support their pupils.'
A woman has told how her perfect relationship ended with her thuggish controlling boyfriend almost killing her when he stabbed her 11 times in a brutal attack.

Cynthi Dolgeova, from the Czech Republic, moved to Scarborough, North Yorkshire, with her then partner, Jack Sutton in 2021.

Shortly after arriving in the UK, their relationship worsened after Sutton's paranoia became so oppressive, he was even checking Ms Dolgeova's underwear when returned to the house.

Cynthi Dolgeova, pictured, was attacked by her then boyfriend Jack Sutton in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, where she was stabbed 11 times, leaving her fighting for her life

Ms Dolgeova moved from the Czech Republic with Sutton before their relationship collapsed

Sutton, who was jailed for 16 years, attacked Ms Dolgeova because she ended their relationship due to his controlling nature and jealousy

Following the attack, Ms Dolgeova moved back home to the Czech Republic with her family. (Ms Dolgeova, is pictured here with her mother)

After initially finding it hard to speak publicly about her story Ms Dolgeova wants to show everyone the truth after seeing people stick up for her jealous attacker.

Ms Dolgeova and Sutton met in the Czech Republic when he was working there in April 2020, the couple fell in love and moved to England in February 2021.

She said: 'In the beginning we were really in love.'

She claimed that everything started off 'really nice' between the pair - yet all of her friends were warning her his behaviour wasn't right. He wouldn't want her to meet with friends or family and accused her of sleeping with other men.

The 23-year-old says she was forced to stop talking to her best friend because of her ex-partner and he would even check her knickers after she went out.

Ms Dolgeova said she was too in love to see how his behaviour was wrong, adding: 'I could never see it before but now thinking about, love is blind.'

They were supposed to stay in the UK for two months then move to Germany for Sutton's work, but because of Brexit and trouble with visas the pair decided to stay in England.

Ms Dolgeova said: 'I left everything for him including all my family, it was really hard for me and then after four months I found out he was cheating on me.

'With Covid and being here alone we stayed together. He was always telling me if I break up with him he would kill himself and it would be my fault - it wasn't easy to leave him.'

During summer 2021 Ms Dolgeova said she realised their relationship wasn't 'proper love' but they stayed together despite her niggling feelings. One week before the attack the couple split up and Ms Dolgeova moved into her best friend's house, Amy.

The ex-couple went for dinner together to 'talk about stuff' - but he took her ID without her realising at dinner because he knew she would need it.

Jack Sutton, pictured, was jailed for 16 years following the horrific attack on Ms Dolgeova, who was stabbed 11 times

Ms Dolgeova realised her ID was missing later that evening when she went for a drink with Amy and asked her ex for it back - but she says he said he would meet her half way with it and wanted to talk just them two. This is when the horrific attack took place.

On December 10 last year Ms Dolgeova was stabbed 11 times by Sutton, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison with an extended licence period of four years.

A kind-hearted neighbour and Amy shouted at Sutton to stop while phoning the police, but he continued.

Ms Dolgeova said: 'I remember I didn't felt any pain I was just really scared - I realised what was happening when the knife got stuck in my ribs and he couldn't get it out. He was kicking my head like a ball. It was about 8 minutes until police came.

'I was lying on the floor and he was saying I'm going to kill you. All I could say at this point was chill out we will sort it out. He tried to get me up but he couldn't because I had been stabbed so he started beating me up again.'

Ms Dolgeova, pictured with Sutton, said at the start of their relationship things were perfect

Ms Dolgeova said she and Sutton, pictured, were initially happy until they moved to Scarborough and a planned move to Germany failed because of Brexit complications

Ms Dolgeova was taken to York hospital by police and a CT scan showed her lungs had partially collapsed and her liver had been punctured. Her injuries were classed as life-threatening and she was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary where her wounds were dressed and she was eventually discharged.

She said: 'I'm proud of myself. For ages I couldn't look at myself in the mirror because the scars reminded me of him but now I can do something and tell people.

'I know he didn't do it because he hated me, he did it because he loved me so much and realised he was losing me but didn't want to.

'I'm lucky to be alive, the mental abuse and what he was doing to me wasn't normal. I feel like a lot of people know about domestic violence but the mental abuse you suffer is so much more, it hurts in a different way.

'You can see a bruise from being physically hurt but you can't see mental abuse.'

She added: 'It's hard, I really loved him - it's scary to fall in love again or find another boyfriend.'

Ms Dolgeova has since moved back to the Czech Republic to be with her family.
The UK has predicted that Vladimir Putin will use Russia's victory day parade on May 9 to announced the mass mobilisation of his reserves for a final push in Ukraine.

Speaking on Friday, Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that the Russian president might declare a new war against the world's 'Nazis' at the parade which sees Moscow mark the end of Russia's involvement in the Second World War.

Putin launched his illegal invasion of Ukraine on February 24, calling it a 'special military operation' to 'de-nazify' Russia's neighbour - despite its president Volodymyr Zelensky being Jewish, and the far-right enjoying little support in the country.

With Putin's military having failed in their first wave of military objectives, Moscow has re-focused its efforts on seizing both the east and southern coast of Ukraine.

However, as in the first months of the invasion, Russian forces are being met with heavy Ukrainian resistance from Kyiv's determined armies.

Some analysts had predicted that Putin wanted to be in a position where he could declare some form of victory on May 9. But with Russia's victory day parade now less than two weeks away, that is looking less likely.

Instead, Mr Wallace told LBC Radio that Putin could use the occasion to declare a new war on who he would call the world's Nazis to galvanise his populace in another push against the Ukrainian defenders.

The UK has predicted that Vladimir Putin will use Russia's victory day parade on May 9 to announced the mass mobilisation of his reserves for a final push in Ukraine. Pictured: Russian military vehicles take part in a rehearsal of Victory Day military parade marking the 77th anniversary of the end to World War 2, at Red Square in Moscow, Russia on April 28, 2022

Speaking on Friday, Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that the Russian president might use the parade on May 9 declare a new war against the world's 'Nazis' at the parade which sees Moscow mark the end of Russia's involvement in the Second World War

'I would not be surprised... that he is probably going to declare on May Day that "we are now at war with the world's Nazis and we need to mass mobilise the Russian people",' Mr Wallace said on Friday morning.

Putin, having failed in nearly all objectives, may seek to consolidate what he's got... and just be a sort of cancerous growth within the country,' he continued.

'We have to help Ukrainians effectively get the limpet off the rock and keep the momentum pushing them back.'

Mr Wallace said that while he had no intelligence saying that Putin was planning such an announcement, it was likely given his previous comments.

'We have seen a number of statements from Putin about this becoming a war, "this is a proxy war" - which it isn't - and "Nazis are everywhere", basically, "they are not just in Ukraine, NATO is full of Nazis'.

'I think he will try to move from his "special operation",' Mr Wallace told LBC. 'He's been rolling the pitch, laying the ground for being able to say "look, this is now a war against Nazis, and what I need is more people. I need more Russian cannon fodder".'

Mr Wallace said that Putin's commanders have led many soldiers to their deaths in the war. Kyiv estimates that number to be as high as 23,000.

The Defence Secretary criticised the Kremlin's 'pathetic attempts' to cover up its losses, and added that for Russia to order a mass-mobilisation of its reserves would be an 'admission of failure'.

Earlier this week, Putin vowed to use nuclear weapons against any country that dares to 'interfere' with Russia's war in Ukraine.

Russian serviceman carries a flag before a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia April 28, 2022

Russian military vehicles move along Tverskaya street during the rehearsal of Victory Day military parade on April 28 in Moscow

Pictured: A line of Russian tanks are shown driving through Moscow in a military parade rehearsal on April 28

Propagandist urges Putin to wipe out Great Britain with a nuclear missile Russian state media has urged Vladimir Putin to wipe out the UK with nukes over its 'boorish' support for Ukraine. Vladimir Solovyov, often referred to as Putin's propagandist, made the threat today as he spoke to the head of Russia's space agency about the country's new Sarmat 2 missile which is due to go into service later this year. 'As it turned out, one Sarmat means minus one Great Britain,' Solovyov boasted, saying the UK has become 'totally boorish' - evidently a reference to its vocal support for Ukraine since Putin gave the order to invade. He was speaking just two days after Putin claimed to have uncovered a plot to assassinate Solovyov involving a 'neo-Nazi gang' taking orders from Kyiv. Ukraine has denied the existence of any such plot. The missile - dubbed 'Satan 2' in the West - is one of the world's largest and longest-ranged nuclear missiles, capable of carrying up to 15 warheads and decoys which Russia claims makes it unstoppable against all current defences. Putin oversaw the first successful test launch of the missile last week, saying it marks a 'significant event in the development of advanced weapons of the Russian army.' He boasted that the missile is 'unique in the world' and that nothing like it will exist 'for a long while'. 'The new complex has the highest performance characteristics, and can break through all modern anti-missile defences,' he said. 'It will reliably secure Russia from external threats, and will force those trying to threaten our country in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric.' Advertisement

The despot, addressing legislators in St Petersburg on Wednesday, said his response to anyone who 'threatens' Russia will be 'lightning-fast' and deadly.

'If someone intends to interfere in what is going on from the outside they must know that constitutes an unacceptable strategic threat to Russia. They must know that our response to counter strikes will be lightning fast. Fast,' he said.

But Mr Wallace said that the UK doesn't feel 'rattled' by Putin's threats, and instead hailed the NATO alliance of 30 nations 'who outgun him'.

'I don't fear him, and I think we should be very grateful in this country that we have a nuclear deterrent,' he said in the interview with LBC.

While several countries, including the UK, mark VE Day - the anniversary of the allied victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War - on May 8, Russia marks the data on May 9 due to the time difference.

The end of all combat actions came at 23:01 Central European Time on Tuesday May 8, 1945 - which was already May 9 in Soviet Bloc countries, including in Russia.

Mr Wallace's comments came after Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that the war in Ukraine could drag on for another five to ten years. Many Ukrainians see the war as having already lasted eight, after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and backed separatists in the eastern Donbas region, where fighting has raged since.

In a keynote speech yesterday, Truss said the objective should be to drive Russia out of 'the whole of Ukraine'.

Mr Wallace told Sky News yesterday it had always been the position of the international community that Russia should withdraw from Ukrainian territory since President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea.

However, he said there was 'a long way to go' before the Ukrainians were able to reclaim the land it lost in 2014.

He said the Russians appeared to be preparing to dig in to the territory they seized in the east of the country in their latest invasion.

'We've constantly said that Russia should leave Ukraine sovereign territory so that hasn't changed,' he said.

'I think it's certainly the case that Putin, having failed in nearly all objectives, may seek to consolidate what he's got, sort of fortify and dig in, as he did in 2014, and just be a sort of cancerous growth within the country of Ukraine and make it very hard for people to move them out of those fortified positions,' he said.

'So I think it's really about if we want this to not happen, we have to help Ukrainians effectively get the limpet off the rock and keep the momentum pushing them back.'

With Putin's military having failed in their first wave of military objectives, Moscow has re-focused its efforts on seizing both the east and southern coast of Ukraine. Pictured: APRIL 28: Russian military vehicles move through Moscow on April 28

In her speech at the Mansion House, Ms Truss said the crisis in Ukraine should be a 'catalyst' for an overhaul to the West's approach to international security.

She said the UK needed to strengthen its military while building alliances with free nations around the world, using their economic power to deter aggressors who 'do not play by the rules'.

The G7 group of leading industrialised nations should act as an 'economic Nato' defending collective prosperity, while the Western military alliance must be prepared to open its doors to countries such as Finland and Sweden.

Ms Truss singled out China, which has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, while increasing imports from Russia and commenting on 'who should or shouldn't be a Nato member'.

'China is not impervious. They will not continue to rise if they do not play by the rules,' she said.

'China needs trade with the G7. We have shown with Russia the kind of choices that we're prepared to make when international rules are violated.'

With Putin's military having failed in their first wave of military objectives, Moscow has re-focused its efforts on seizing both the east and southern coast of Ukraine

Mr Wallace's comments came as the UK government said on Friday that it was deploying about 8,000 troops for exercises across eastern Europe in a show of strength after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The months-long drills in countries stretching from Finland to North Macedonia also involve allies including France and the United States, defence officials said in a statement.

Britain is deploying 72 Challenger 2 tanks and 120 armoured fighting vehicles along with artillery guns, helicopters and drones for the exercises, some of which are already underway.

'The security of Europe has never been more important,' Mr Wallace said, calling it 'one of the largest shared deployments since the Cold War'.

The officer in command, Lieutenant General Ralph Wooddisse, said Britain was making 'a significant contribution to the defence of Europe and the deterrence of Russian aggression'.

'The British Army's series of exercises is fundamental to both.'

Britain has been supplying missiles to Ukraine to fight back against Russia, and says it is ready to help with tanks and planes via partners such as Poland.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Wednesday that 'the whole of Ukraine' must be liberated, including Crimea, after the peninsula was seized by Russia in 2014.
A boozed-up miner on a Virgin flight from Perth to Brisbane was every traveller's worst nightmare, terrorising passengers and crew with sick slurs and vicious threats.

Fly-in, fly-out worker Arthur Lawrence Begg told one female passenger to show him her 't***s' and launched a torrent of vile abuse at another for not drinking with him.

He urinated in the plane's toilet without closing the door - and then invited a flight attendant in with him when she tackled him about his shocking behaviour.

Brisbane Magistrate's Court heard Begg, 55, was only brought under control when a 'large Maori' sat down next to him in a crafty strategic move by the air crew.

Arthur Begg appeared before the Magistrate's Court (pictured) to be fined for the incident which saw flight attendants move a 'large maori' beside him in attempts to bring him under control

Begg had already been reprimanded by police at Perth airport for drunken behaviour before even setting foot on his flight.

But once allowed on board the aircraft, he bombarded the passenger next to him with a range of slurs from 'p***ter' to 'c***' when he refused to drink with him, the Courier Mail reported.

'The couple had never met the defendant before this flight, did not know him at all,' prosecutor Gabriel Perry told the court.

Thuggish Begg then blamed the passenger for the flight attendants refusing to serve him any more alcohol two hours after take-off, and threatened to brutally bash the man's face in reprisal.

The court heard Begg then warned the man when he 'would die' when he got off the plane, before telling the passenger's partner: 'Show me your t*** and all will be forgiven'.

Quick-thinking air crew then swapped the victimised couple next to Begg with the 'large Maori' who successfully intimidated Begg into behaving.

The New Zealander was said to have had a calming effect on the drunk, though Begg continued to pester flight attendants for more rum and cokes, the court heard.

'The cabin crew relied on the willingness or good nature of another passenger to try and de-escalate the situation which is not something that passenger should have had to be put in,' added Mr Perry.

Police later arrested the man upon arrival in Brisbane and escorted him from the plane.

On Friday, Begg pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly behaviour on an aircraft and was fined $2500 and banned from the airline for a year.

The man was banned from flying on Virgin airlines (pictured) for a year after the mid-air outburst

Begg's lawyer Megan Jones said her client's early guilty plea indicated remorse, and his family life had been causing him stress at the time.

'He accepts that he was obviously drunk at the time,' Ms Jones told the court. 'That's no excuse.

'He no longer drinks spirits, he has moved on to mid-strength alcohol,'

Acting Magistrate Roger Stark said he was 'appalled' by Begg's behaviour.

He added: 'The fact that a large Maori had to be shifted in to sit next to you to try and keep you under control speaks volumes.

'People on flights, they cant leave, they must stay there, theyve got to put up with your behaviour as do the flight attendants.'
Residents of Shanghai who were fenced into their homes by Communist officials as part of China's draconian Zero Covid policy have staged a break out, video posted to social media showed today.

The clip shows the metal fences built along a residential street to trap homeowners indoors have been brought down.

Shared via state-approved messaging service WeChat, the video from financial district Pudong was reportedly captioned: 'Actions speak louder than words.'

Covid cases are still rising in China as the ruling Communist bureaucracy attempts to stick to its Zero Covid policy designed to eliminate the virus - despite experts' warnings that the Omicron variant makes it impossible to contain cases with lockdowns.

Shanghai recorded about 15,000 cases on Thursday, accounting for the vast majority nationwide, despite weeks of the world's strictest lockdown measures.

And millions more Chinese citizens are set to be subjected to draconian Covid restrictions as the sprawling capital Beijing prepares to go into lockdown

President Xi reaffirmed his commitment to a "zero-COVID" policy on Friday, putting China at odds with much of the world. While many countries are dropping restrictions and trying to live with the virus, China is keeping its international borders largely shut and closing off entire cities to all but essential travel.

The Chinese Politburo acknowledged the economic cost of lockdowns, saying efforts must be made to "minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development," the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Despite the toll on the economy and everyday life, the zero-COVID approach is extolled by the Communist Party as a virtuous display of self-sacrifice under the slogan "Persistence is victory."

However there are increasing concerns over the impact on the Chinese economy, with top Hong Kong private equity investor Weijian Shan today warning China is in its worst shape for 30 years.

Breaking barriers: brave residents in Pudong, Shanghai have taken down the metal fences

Mr Shan also told a private meeting Shanghai has been 'semi-paralysed' by 'draconian' rules.

Leading investor and Xi ally Weijian Shan (pictured in India two years ago) said Shanghai's lockdown is 'draconian' and has left the financial centre 'semi-paralysed'

He said: 'We think the Chinese economy at this moment is in the worst shape in the past 30 years.

'I also think popular discontent in China is at the highest point in the past 30 years', the FT reported.

'[We face] a deep economic crisis.'

Mr Shan's striking comments signal growing unhappiness among Chinese elites.

If ultra-strict Covid measures have so far failed to provoke a response, their economic impact certainly has.

Shanghai is not only China's financial centre but the world's busiest shipping port and a lynchpin for global trade.

The PGA boss said on behalf of his group: 'China feels to us like the US and Europe in 2008.

Covid protection guards were pictured erecting metal barriers outside people's homes in financial district Pudong, Shanghai overnight at the weekend

'While we remain long-term confident in Chinas growth and market potentials, we are very cautious towards China markets.'

Shanghai officials are in pursuit of what they call 'zero Covid at a community level', which entails no new infections outside tightly locked down districts.

Though it carefully censors the web, China's government has also struggled to keep a lid on disaffection with the Zero Covid plan.

Fences are pictured outside people's homes, cutting them off from their vehicles. But some fences (right) look easy enough to navigate around

An estimated 180million Chinese are in lockdown despite relatively low infection rates.

Draconian measures in Shanghai have only tightened, with children told to walk to school in hazmat suits and diners trapped in a restaurant after the doors were drilled shut.

Metal fences were erected in financial district Pudong over the weekend.

Buildings where cases were found have had entrances sealed up, with a small opening for Covid prevention guards to pass through.

'This is so disrespectful of the rights of the people inside, using metal barriers to enclose them like domestic animals,' said one Weibo user.

Another video showed residents shouting from balconies at workers as they set up fencing. The workers relented and took it away. Other videos showed people trying to pull fences down.

'Isn't this a fire hazard?' commented another Weibo user.

Many of the fences were erected around compounds designated 'sealed areas' - buildings where at least one person tested positive for Covid.

In these apartments, residents are forbidden from leaving their front doors under any circumstances.

It's not clear what prompted authorities to resort to fencing as Shanghai recorded several days of falling cases.

A notice dated Saturday from one local authority shared online said it was imposing 'hard quarantine' in some areas, Reuters reported.

They have since ticked up to just under 10,000 on Thursday, the first rise in six days.

Authorities also reclassified 5,062 previously counted asymptomatic patients as symptomatic, the highest amount of patients with Covid symptoms for a week.

Meanwhile Beijing reported just 49 new cases on Thursday, down from 50 on Wednesday.

The city has nevertheless implemented a mass testing programme for millions of residents.

Schools in the capital are set to go for their holidays early - and currently have no return date.

In southern trade hub Guangzhou, mass testing was launched for nearly a third of its 19million residents after a single 'abnormal' test result was detected at the airport.

Over 80 per cent of flights have since been cancelled.

The announcement came after eastern city Hangzhou ordered 9.4million to get tested every 48 hours in order to use public spaces and transport.

The aim is 'that the virus has nowhere to hide or settle', the city government said in a statement, raising fears of further restrictions across a city home to some of China's biggest companies.
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The ex-boyfriend of Katie Kenyon appeared in court again today as police searching for the missing mother-of-two set up tents at a new patch of woods after receiving a tip-off about the van she was last seen in a week ago.

Andrew Burfield, 50, appeared by videolink from HMP Preston for a court hearing charged with the murder of Miss Kenyon, 33, who vanished seven days ago after being seen getting into a van in Burnley, Lancashire.

Burfield, who is from Burnley, spoke only to confirm his identity during the seven-minute hearing at Preston Crown Court today. Emma Kehoe, prosecuting, told the court that the body of Miss Kenyon has yet to be recovered.

Judge Simon Medland QC told the defendant: 'The trial then is 14th of November of this year. You are remanded in custody.' Burfield was charged on Wednesday and also appeared at Blackburn Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Yesterday, Burfield wore a grey tracksuit in the dock and was flanked by security guards. He spoke only to confirm his name and address in a three-minute hearing, and was told the charge could only be dealt with at crown court.

Searches continued today, seven days after care worker Miss Kenyon, 33, from Padiham, was last seen at about 9.30am last Friday when it is thought she travelled in a van which left Burnley towards the Bolton-by-Bowland area.

EXCLUSIVE FIRST PICTURE - Andrew Burfield, 50, spoke only to confirm his identity at Preston Crown Court this morning

A court artist's sketch of Andrew Burfield, 50, appearing by video-link from HMP Preston at Preston Crown Court today

Andrew Burfield, 50, is pictured with his head covered as he arrives at Blackburn Magistrates' Court in Lancashire yesterday

Katie Kenyon, 33, was last seen at around 9.30am on Friday when it is thought she travelled in a van which left Burnley

Police cars in an area of Gisburn Forest in Lancashire this afternoon as the search for the body of Katie Kenyon continues

Police cars in an area of Gisburn Forest in Lancashire this afternoon as the search for the body of Katie Kenyon continues

Lancashire Police said the search was continuing but due to information provided by a member of the public regarding the sighting of a silver Transit van, they are now prioritising a particular area in the forest for additional search and forensic scrutiny.

Miss Kenyon's family, who say her disappearance is out of character, are being supported by specially trained officers and have asked for people to say prayers for her safe return.

Yesterday lunchtime, two blue forensic tents were put up in Gisburn Forest as the search continued. Typically the structures can be used to protect forensic evidence, but may also be staked out to provide cover for equipment.

In the afternoon, police said a member of the public had reported a sighting of the van Ms Kenyon is thought to have travelled in. Police are now prioritising an area in the Forest of Bowland as they continue the search.

More than 60 specialist search officers from four police forces have been scouring land looking for her. The hunt involved police and fire service officers, dog teams, mounted police, mountain rescue volunteers and drones.

Scores of officers have been seen scouring the 3,000-acre Gisburn Forest, some 23 miles from Todmorden Road in Ms Kenyon's hometown, where she was last seen parking her white Ford Fiesta at 9.15am on Friday.

Two forensic tents were put up in an area of Gisburn Forest in Lancashire yesterday as the search continued for Miss Kenyon

The blue structures can be used to protect forensic evidence, but may also be staked out to provide cover for equipment

Burfield was covered with a grey top of some sort outside court yesterday, but his nose and part of his face could be seen

Police teams are seen searching areas of Gisburn Forest in Lancashire on Wednesday as they look for Miss Kenyon

Forensics officers are seen at Gisburn Forest in Lancashire on Wednesday afternoon as the search for Miss Kenyon continues

Lancashire Police said: 'The search for Katie continues and due to information provided by a member of the public regarding the sighting of a silver transit van, MT57 FLC, on Friday 22nd April we are prioritising an area in the Forest of Bowland for additional search and forensic scrutiny to determine whether this could be an area linked to Katie's disappearance.

'Katie's family are aware of the development, although at this early stage it is too soon to say if the find is linked to her disappearance, and we would urge people not to speculate on social media as this could cause the family additional distress.

'We will of course update you when we know more, although as we're sure people will understand, our activity could take a number of days.'

Sister Sarah Kenyon posted a photograph of herself with Katie and wrote: 'Missing you so much!' And a JustGiving page for Katie has so far raised 5,455.

A message from the family read: 'On Friday April 22, our heartbreaking nightmare began when our Katie was taken away from her children and family far too soon.

A team of specialist search officers from four police forces and sniffer dogs scoured a beauty spot on Tuesday

Specialist emergency teams search an area of Gisburn Forest in the Ribble Valley on Tuesday for mother Miss Kenyon

'We as family are putting together this JustGiving page for Katie to have the best send-off that Katie deserves & for Katie's son and daughter & their future to fulfil Katie's dreams she had planned with her children.

'As we know you all want to help, this would be the most appreciated way. Any donations will be truly, gratefully received. Thank you for all your kind words and support. We know you're all behind us.'

Gary Brooks from Lancashire Police said he was 'grateful to colleagues from Merseyside and North Wales, and other emergency service partners who are offering assistance in the these complex and wide-scale searches'.

The Detective Superintendent said he was 'aware that many members of the public have offered to help us in those searches and while I am grateful for that I would dissuade anyone from doing so'.

He added that the area being searched is 'very large and remote with no phone signal', adding: 'The police teams are trained professionals who are used to doing this sort of work and I would hate for someone to get lost or come to harm while trying to help. Please leave it to us.'

Forces from across the North West had been drafted in to help the search, which is expected to last until at least today. Police on horseback were on patrol across the many footpaths that weave through the woods.
The number of families resorting to crowdfunding to cover expensive medical costs has surged 20-fold in the last five years amid record NHS waiting lists.

More than 40 campaigns are being set up by Britons on the most popular site, GoFundMe, each week now compared to just a handful per week in the mid-2010s.

An increasing number say they felt compelled to go private after spending months or even years in NHS queues.

Ashleigh Sosna, from Preston, is raising 14,000 for hip replacement surgery for her grandmother, 75, who was told she would wait at least a year for one on the NHS.

Ex-Wales international rugby player Rhys Thomas is asking for 500,000 to travel to the US for a heart transplant because he is so low down on the health service list.

Other cases include people suffering from rare cancers and genetic disorders which require new and expensive therapies the NHS does not offer.

There are signs it is the poorest in society who are turning to sites like GoFundMe and JustGiving because they cannot afford to pay privately out of their own pocket.

A record 6.18million patients are on the waiting list for routine care in England  often in pain  the equivalent of one in 10 of the entire population.

More than 40 campaigns are being launched each week by Britons on the most popular site, GoFundMe, now compared to just a handful per week in the mid-2010s

Ashleigh Sosna, from Preston, is raising 14,000 for hip replacement surgery for her grandmother, 75, who was told she would wait at least a year for one on the NHS

Ex-Wales international rugby player Rhys Thomas is asking for 500,000 to travel to the US for a heart transplant because he is so low down on the health service list. Pictured after a heart attack in 2014

Your GP STILL won't see you now! Up to two-thirds of GP appointments were not conducted by patients' actual doctors in parts of England last month, official data revealed today. NHS figures shows just 36 per cent of patients were seen by a qualified GP in North East Lincolnshire in March, with the rest seen by other staff, including nurses, physiotherapists or even acupuncturists. Nationally, just half (51 per cent) of appointments were with a doctor last month and the rate was below 40 per cent at seven clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). Unions claimed more doctors are needed to deal with the 'untenable' increase in demand on surgeries, while doctors urged the Government to 'make good on its promise of 6,000 more GPs' by 2024. But NHS bosses claimed the data showed 'more people's needs are being met' than last month, with the number of appointments now back to 'pre-pandemic levels'. Just 62 per cent of appointments were made face-to-face last month. It was up on the previous month (61 per cent) but far below the more than 80 per cent being recorded in 2019. And the figures also show nearly one in six appointments  whether with a GP or not  were over within five minutes. Advertisement

The astronomical rise in crowdfunding pages was revealed in an analysis by the Financial Times.

It also found that spending on private medical care increased by 60 per cent overall between 2010 and 2020.

But expenditure more than doubled among the lowest-earning fifth of the population, suggesting the most deprived are being stung hardest.

According to the FT, one in 14 of Britain's poorest households suffers 'catastrophic healthcare costs' in a typical year  up from one in 30 a decade ago.

Historically, Britain's middle-class has gone private for quicker treatment but now the same trend has emerged among those on lower incomes  who often can't afford the care and are reliant on donations.

The problem is likely being fuelled by the NHS backlog crisis borne out of the pandemic.

Some 3.8m of people have been waiting for at least four months for routine surgery.

A further 300,000 have been in the queue for more than a year, according to the February figure, the latest month with data.

There were a further 23,000 patients who had been waiting more than two years in February, while at least 90 have been queuing for more than three years.

Analysis of individual NHS trust data in England suggests at least nine patients have been on the NHS waiting list for a whopping four years.

Ministers announced an elective recovery plan earlier this year, setting out how waiting lists will finally start to fall from March 2024, while two-year waits would be scrapped by the summer.

It comes after MailOnline revealed up to two-thirds of GP appointments were not conducted by patients' actual doctors in parts of England last month.

NHS figures shows just 36 per cent of patients were seen by a qualified GP in North East Lincolnshire in March, with the rest seen by other staff, including nurses, physiotherapists or even acupuncturists.

Nationally, just half (51 per cent) of appointments were with a doctor last month and the rate was below 40 per cent at seven clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

Unions claimed more doctors are needed to deal with the 'untenable' increase in demand on surgeries, while doctors urged the Government to 'make good on its promise of 6,000 more GPs' by 2024.

But NHS bosses claimed the data showed 'more people's needs are being met' than last month, with the number of appointments now back to 'pre-pandemic levels'.

Just 62 per cent of appointments were made face-to-face last month. It was up on the previous month (61 per cent) but far below the more than 80 per cent being recorded in 2019. And the figures also show nearly one in six appointments  whether with a GP or not  were over within five minutes.

There is a huge row over the working hours and conditions of family doctors and a 'postcode lottery' that has seen people in some parts of the country struggle to get an appointment of any kind.

Patients have for years complained of struggling to access their GP, with consultations dropping during the pandemic and struggling to recover.
Sinn Fein are on course to become the largest party in Northern Ireland for the first time ever in elections next week, raising fresh concerns for the future of the power-sharing Government.

The republicans have a six-point lead over the Democratic Unionist Party going into the Stormont vote next week, according to the latest poll.

The survey by LucidTalk for the Belfast Telegraph puts Sinn Fein on 26 per cent of first preference votes, with the DUP on 20 per cent and the non-sectarian Alliance party third on 14 per cent.

If proved right it would mark a massive turnaround for the republicans, who 20 years ago were not even the largest nationalist party.

The DUP, which is currently the largest party, has insisted that Sinn Fein would be emboldened to call for a border poll on Irish unity if it emerged as the largest party.

Earlier this month leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson warned the vote was a 'battle for Northern Ireland' itself, with a Sinn Fein win likely to lead to a reunification referendum.

Unionist rivals characterised that as a scare tactic designed to shore up support, which appears to have failed.

The republican party, for its part, has maintained that it is prioritising the cost-of-living crisis over a push for constitutional change at this election.

There is the real possibility that Sinn Fein could emerge as the largest party but be prevented from taking up the first minister's post - certainly in the short to medium term - due to a lack of a willing partner in government.

Despite intense media questioning on the issue, neither the DUP or Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) have said they will serve as deputy first minister alongside a Sinn Fein first minister.

The republican party has a six-point lead over the Democratic Unionist Party going into the Stormont vote next week, according to the latest poll.

Earlier this month DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson warned the vote was a 'battle for Northern Ireland' itself, with a Sinn Fein win likely to lead to a reunification referendum.

Their critics have denounced this stance as undemocratic and it potentially runs the risk of galvanising infuriated nationalist voters to back Sinn Fein in greater numbers.

The DUP and UUP have responded to the criticism by insisting any decision on entering an executive should only be taken with knowledge of what the new administration's proposed programme for government would look like.

Northern Ireland goes to the polls on May 5 to elect 90 Assembly members to the devolved legislature in Belfast.

The last Assembly election, a snap poll in March 2017, was held as crisis engulfed the powersharing institutions, which had collapsed two months earlier amid a row about a botched green energy scheme.

Fast forward five years and voters will cast their ballots in the single transferable vote (STV) election with a similar cloud of uncertainty hanging over Stormont.

The ministerial executive imploded in February when the DUP withdrew its first minister Paul Givan in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol - a post-Brexit trading arrangement that has enraged unionists by creating economic barriers between the region and the rest of the UK.

Somewhat confusingly for outside observers, there is no legal difference or power disparity between Stormont's first and deputy first ministers - their co-equal status is a cornerstone of the region's powersharing structures.

Under current rules, the largest unionist party occupies one of the posts and the largest nationalist party occupies the other, with the first minister's job going to the one that has more seats. A properly functioning ministerial executive cannot be formed without both roles being filled.

Since 1998, when the governance system was devised as part of Northern Ireland's historic peace accord, the first minister has always been a unionist.

Speaking a week before elections to the NI Assembly, Lord Frost said the protocol had been the only way to deliver Brexit by the time Boris Johnson became PM in 2019

While Sinn Fein would gain no more authority if it displaces the DUP as the largest party and its Stormont leader Michelle O'Neill assumes the first minister's job, it would undoubtedly be a symbolically significant moment in the post-Good Friday Agreement era.

Stormont's smaller parties have challenged the DUP and Sinn Fein to defuse the issue by agreeing to change the names to 'joint first ministers' - titles that perhaps more accurately reflect the roles.

While Sinn Fein once proposed such a move, the party has now stepped back from that position, insisting that if it was good enough for a nationalist to serve as a deputy first minister it should be good enough for a unionist too.

Aside from the issue of a Sinn Fein first minister, the DUP has made clear it will not re-enter an administration without major reform of the NI Protocol.

Earlier this week former Tory minister Lord Frost warned it had left the Good Friday Agreement 'on life support' and must be overhauled or scrapped.

The man who negotiated the Brexit deal said the protocol had been the only way to deliver Brexit by the time Boris Johnson became PM in 2019.

Leader Naomi Long claims a big result for Alliance can herald the end of a political system based on binary division.

The harder line Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) party is hoping to capitalise on the DUP's travails and has adopted a strident anti-protocol approach.

Critics have previously derided the TUV as a one-man band that relies solely on its leader, formidable barrister Jim Allister, for an identity.

While opinion polls suggest the party could be poised for a breakthrough in this election, with the potential to mop up disaffected DUP voters, it still faces a significant challenge translating any increase in overall vote share into physical seats in the keenly fought five seat constituencies.

On the other wing of unionism, UUP leader Doug Beattie has been trying to move his party more to the centre ground, insisting that engagement and negotiation rather that protest and government walk-outs are the way to bring about changes to the protocol.

The decorated military veteran is betting that any votes he loses from the ranks of traditional unionism he will make up by attracting more liberal unionists into the UUP fold.

The DUP has undoubtedly hardened its position on the protocol over the last 18 months as it bids to retain votes it was otherwise at risk of shedding to the TUV. This strategy culminated with leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's move to withdraw the party's first minister from the executive.

He is now a regular on the podium alongside Mr Allister at anti-protocol rallies organised by loyalist groups.

It is possible that Sinn Fein could lose a number of seats but still emerge as the largest party, if the DUP loses more.

If that scenario plays out it will likely mean that the Alliance Party has had a very good election.

Support for the cross-community centrist party has surged at recent elections in Northern Ireland and all opinion polls indicate that rise is set to continue. It has long been the smallest of the five main Stormont parties but a good showing on May 5 could see it leap above the UUP and SDLP to become the third largest party.

Leader Naomi Long claims a big result for Alliance can herald the end of a political system based on binary division.
According to IGN, a group of Dragon Age 4 quality assurance testers has filed a unionization application.

Employees that work directly with BioWare but as contractors for supporting firm Keywords Studios are aiming to form a union over reasons such as low pay, a return to work mandate, and other issues.

What Triggered the Employees To Apply for a Union?

Kotaku mentioned that an anonymous representative of the workers said that a return-to-work notice earlier this month served as the fuel for unionization.

Despite the fact that approximately 1,000 new COVID cases are recorded every day in Alberta, Canada, Keywords apparently told everyone they would have to return to BioWare's office in person five days a week starting May 9.

It was also reported that even though Alberta's health guidelines require a 14-day quarantine once someone tests positive for COVID, the informant said Keywords employees do not receive any paid time off.

Full-time BioWare employees, on the other hand, would still be able to work from home. When the pandemic initially broke out in March 2020, Keywords was chastised for its lax sick-day policy and for urging some of its employees to stay in the office.

Other Concerns of the Employees

IGN said that the return to work announcement appeared to be the final straw for the 15-20 QA testers who were already being underpaid.

According to the source, some employees are paid $16.50 Canadian dollars per hour, or $12.82 US dollars, which is significantly less than similar roles performed by full BioWare employees.

Read More: Google Fiber Contractors Overcome Odds, Spearhead Unionization Under Alphabet Worker Union

Other concerns included salary discrimination based on gender, a lack of useful performance evaluations, and a hostile attitude to unionization efforts.

The Alberta Labor Relations Board is presently reviewing the union application, which was filed on April 20. Within the next two weeks, a vote on unionization will be taken, and the results will be confirmed by the board within another two weeks, as per IGN.

The group is quite certain it will win the vote, according to the source, citing the recent efforts of Raven Software QA personnel to unionize, giving them more control over their workplace.

Despite alleged attempts by the developer to stop them, they formed the first union within Activision Blizzard. Activision Blizzard explained that the workers were left out of recent wage hikes because of "legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act."

Other gaming companies have been subjected to labor complaints recently. As previously reported, an anonymous employee filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on April 15 against Nintendo and the contracting firm Aston Carter.

Not Only Video Game Companies Have Recently Applied for a Union

As per previous report, employees at Apple's New York Grand Central Station have stated their intention to form a union.

Workers are dissatisfied with how the cost of living in New York City has risen while their incomes have held steady. They also mentioned how Apple's wealth has expanded without their employees benefiting much.

Aside from demanding a minimum pay of $30 per hour, the group sought greater vacation time and information on stronger safety rules.

If the organizers succeed, it will be the first time Apple employees have formed a union.

Related Article: Activision Blizzard Converts 1,100 US-Based QA Employees Full-Time Employment, Raises Base Wages
After a frustrating 22-year wait, anyone who spent time in the United Kingdom back in the 1980s and 1990s can finally donate blood in Australia.

The nation's official medical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Agency, has lifted the ban first placed in December 2000 following concerns about the UK's mad cow disease epidemic.

At the time, the TGA stopped accepting blood donations from people potentially affected by Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy - commonly known as mad cow disease and feared to spread to humans through burgers and certain cuts of beef.

The disease left human victims with symptoms similar to senile dementia, regardless of their age. It is incurable and usually leads to death within a year.

An estimated 700,000 people in Australia who spent time in the UK during those two decades will now be able to give blood on local shores - but not immediately.

After a frustrating 22-year wait, anyone who spent time in the United Kingdom back in the 1980s and 1990s can finally donate blood in Australia (stock image)

In December of 2000, the TGA stopped accepting blood donations from people potentially affected by Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy - also known as mad cow disease in the UK (pictured, donated blood)

Once the TGA update their donor screening processes, they will then give the green light for blood donations to resume.

The TGA confirmed the ongoing ban had been lifted in a statement on Friday.

'This decision, which relates to both blood and plasma products, was based on a detailed evaluation of epidemiological data, the relevant scientific literature and was supported by expert advice,' a spokesperson said.

'Lifeblood is currently working with its stakeholders on the implementation of this decision.'

According to Better Health, Australian Red Cross Lifeblood collects around 1.5 million blood donations annually.

Most of these donations are used to help people with medical conditions who require blood or blood products regularly.

With donations needed somewhere in Australia every 24 seconds, only 3.5 per cent of the population currently give samples.
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After a dry April, the first of May will bring rain to most parts of the country, as Britons look ahead to the bank holiday weekend.

Today's dry weather should remain for most of the day with highs of 64.4F (18C) in the south, although some parts of in the north west may begin to see rain as an area of low pressure moves towards the south east.

Many would have hoped for a sizzler like the last bank holiday at Easter that saw the hottest day of the year, with Brits flocking to beaches to enjoy the glorious sun.

Instead, there will be 'unsettled' weather, as rain clouds move from the top to the bottom of the country, starting tomorrow.

David Oliver, Met Office deputy chief meteorologist, said: 'It is a different mix of weather this bank holiday weekend after what has been a largely settled week for the UK.

'The high-pressure that has been dominating the UK in recent days will move away to the south, allowing a low-pressure system to move in from the northwest.

'This will bring with it some more unsettled weather with showers or some longer spells of rain across the north on Saturday and then southern areas on Sunday.

'A good deal of dry weather is expected on Monday with most areas only seeing some isolated showers and mild temperatures, widely in the mid-teens.'

Women and children enjoy the pink blossoms in Saltwell Park, Gateshead, as today's weather brings sunshine in the north before rain sets in tomorrow

Park visitors stop to take in the canopy of blossom that shades the path, with blue skies being followed by expected rain tomorrow

The more 'unsettled' forecast will bring wet weather, moving from the north west to the south east over the weekend

Today's dry weather should remain for most of the day, ahead of the 'unsettled' bank holiday weekend

Highs of 60.8F (16C) to 64.4F (18C) will be seen today and tomorrow, with temperatures closer to 53.6F (12C) in Gateshead

People enjoy today's sunshine at a maze in Saltwell Park, Gateshead, before rain sets in tomorrow and moves across the country

Tourists wrapped up warm as they enjoyed punting on the River Cam in Cambridge today ahead of a cool and cloudy Bank Holiday weekend

This morning, walkers enjoyed soft pink blossoms in Saltwell Park, Gateshead, as the north of the UK saw better weather today, with temperatures ranging from 50F (10C) to 60.8F (16C), before the rain sets in tomorrow and moves south west.

Families were drawn out to the Spring blooms this morning, with two-year-old Aria Bevington pictured playing in sea of bluebells at a wood near Wimborne in Dorset.

And dog walkers in Dunsden, Oxfordshire, made the most of the morning sunshine. The area will see drier weather tomorrow before being hit by rain on Sunday as the weather front moves down the country from Saturday to Sunday.

Tourists wrapped up warm as they enjoyed punting on the River Cam in Cambridge today ahead of a cool and cloudy Bank Holiday weekend.

Many wore coats and huddled under blankets as they cruised along the historic Backs in the university city.

Rain will move across the UK from the north west to the south east, starting Saturday and finishing by Monday

Met office forecaster Richard Miles said that the low pressure band will move across the UK this weekend, dampening the sunshine expected in the south by Sunday.

The low-pressure system will introduce cloud and outbreaks of rain for much of Scotland and Northern Ireland tomorrow with some blustery winds in exposed coastal areas.

The more 'unsettled' forecast will bring wet weather to the north west before it gradually sinks south bringing cloud and outbreaks of rain to many southern areas of the UK by Sunday.

Elsewhere will remain dry tomorrow, but will not be any warmer than today, with highs predicted between 60.8F (16C) and 64.4F (18C).

Mr Miles said that the wet weather will reach north Wales and north England by Saturday evening. Rain will then work its way down the country on Sunday, although some areas of the south east may miss this.

After the rain has moved through, Scotland will see more sunshine on Sunday. There may be some brighter spells breaking through the weekend cloud, with light winds and mild nights.

Two-year-old Aria Bevington enjoys today's weather while playing with the flowers at a wood near Wimborne in Dorset

Today's dry weather should remain for most of tomorrow, although some parts of in the north west may begin to see rain as an area of low pressure moves towards the south east. Pictured: Aria Bevington, two, tiptoes through a sea of bluebells at a wood near Wimborne in Dorset

Flowers grow around the stone circle at Stonehenge, Wiltshire. Today's dry weather will remain in the south tomorrow before rain takes hold on Sunday

Rain will work its way down the country on Sunday, although some areas of the south east may miss this

As the low pressure moves on, high pressure is set to build in the south, keeping it dry on Monday and for the rest of the week. Pictured, dog walkers out early this morning in Dunsden, Oxfordshire

As the low pressure moves on, high pressure builds in the south, keeping it dry but with a good deal of cloud across the UK on Monday, with temperatures of 62.6F (17C) to 64.4F (18C).

By Tuesday, forecasters expect it to be cloudy in the north and northwest, with some rain at times, reports the Met Office.

Most of the south will remain dry for the rest of the week, as sunny spells continue. Further north it is likely to be cloudier with some light rain.

Into the following week, some unsettled weather is likely in the north, and some central areas, with the south seeing more settled weather and temperatures above normal.
A furious British holidaymaker has claimed that his 240 all-inclusive trip to holiday hotspot Majorca has been ruined because of Spain's tough new binge-drinking crackdown in its Balearic Islands that limits tourists to just six free drinks a day.

Security officer Jason Walker says he was 'angry' and 'upset' after discovering that there were restrictions on his free booze voucher after landing in the Mediterranean island for a three-night birthday trip.

The 42-year-old described his astonishment at finding that the new decree limits the number of drinks on his all-inclusive holiday was limited to six - three at lunch, and three at dinner.

The regulations, announced by the Balearic Government in January this year, also bans the sale of alcohol in shops between 9.30pm and 8am, as well as pub crawls, two-for-one drinks offers and happy hours at certain spots in Magaluf, El Arenal and Playa de Palma in Mallorca and Sant Antoni de Portmany in Ibiza.

And advertising party boats and balcony jumping could attract a 50,000 fine, in a bid to clamp down on public drunkenness and clean up the image of resorts like Magaluf after it was rocked by scandal in 2014 when a British holidaymaker was filmed performing sex acts on 24 men.

The incident led Majorca's top politician at the time - Jose Ramon Bauza - to dub Magaluf's notorious party strip Punta Ballena as '500 metres of shame'.

'We only found out when we checked in and only budgeted so much because thought all our food and drink would be covered. We were very upset and angry,' Mr Walker said.

'We've come as a family of eight to celebrate my cousin's 40th and while we have still had a good time, we have incurred extra costs as a result.

'I understand they are trying to stem alcohol abuse and rowdy behaviour, but I think this has been done very sneakily - I was not made aware of it and didn't know about the law.

'We are also here as a family and all-inclusive is great for families as you don't have to worry about budgeting for food and drink.'

British tourist Jason Walker on his all-inclusive holiday to Majorca

File photo of the strip at Magaluf on the Spanish island of Majorca

The new law affects certain spots in Magaluf, El Arenal and Playa de Palma in Mallorca and Sant Antoni de Portmany in Ibiza

Mr Walker is now urging holidaymakers jetting off to similar Spanish resorts over the summer to check their small print or face incurring hefty drinks costs without warning

Spain's Balearic binge-drinking crackdown explained WHAT ARE THE NEW RULES? The Balearic Islands have brought in new laws which limit the number of free drinks on all-inclusive meal options, and various restrictions on the purchase of alcohol. The legislation says people on all-inclusive meal options can only have six drinks per day - three at lunch, and three at dinner. It also bans: Happy hours;

Pub crawls;

Two-for-one-drink offers;

Sale of alcohol in shops between 9.30pm and 8am;

Advertising party boats in designated areas. WHERE DO THE NEW RULES APPLY? The new restrictions apply to Magaluf, El Arenal and Playa de Palma in Mallorca and Sant Antoni de Portmany in Ibiza, after initial fears that it would cover the whole of the islands. WHY WERE THE NEW RULES BROUGHT IN AT ALL? The laws were touted as the first in Europe to restrict the promotion and sale of alcohol in tourist areas. They also aim to halt the 'cheapening' of the Balearic Islands and attract new investors that were being put off by its rowdy image. Council leaders have been mounting a fightback to try to clean up the image of resorts like Magaluf since it was rocked by scandal in 2014 when a British holidaymaker was filmed performing sex acts on 24 men. The incident led Majorca's top politician at the time - Jose Ramon Bauza - to dub Magaluf's notorious party strip Punta Ballena as '500 metres of shame'. In 2018 council chiefs upped the ante against badly-behaving tourists in Magaluf by putting up street signs warning them of heavy fines for street drinking, nakedness and fighting. The brightly-coloured signs, which carried the banner line 'Have fun with respect' were mounted on lamp-posts and other visible spots in the party resort. Thousands of British tourists flock to the islands every year, including large groups of revellers who have earned them an infamous reputation. Most of the new restrictions came into place in 2020 but Covid means many Brits are only now becoming aware of them. Advertisement

Mr Walker is now urging UK travellers jetting off to the popular Balearic Islands to check their small print, or potentially face incurring hefty drinks costs without warning.

Announcing the new laws in 2020, a regional government spokesman said: 'Efforts to promote the destination, to provide it with better quality through both public and private sector investments, and position it in an increasingly competitive and global market, have been affected recently by certain uncivic behaviour.

'Most of this type of behaviour is directly related to alcohol abuse in certain tourist areas of Majorca and Ibiza.'

Mr Walker, from Blackburn, Lancashire, said he understood the government is trying to stop yobbish drinking behaviour, but he believes the new rules need to be better advertised.

He called on travel operators to give holidaymakers more information about how their trips might be affected by the laws.

The security officer also believes that holidays where a three drink per meal rule is in place are being mislabelled and shouldn't be branded as 'all-inclusive'.

'I have looked at the small print and the alcoholic drink rule is there, so I don't think it should be sold as an all-inclusive inclusive holiday, it should be sold as half-board or something along those lines,' he said.

'If you are booking an all-inclusive holiday, I recommend that you look at the small print and see what is actually included and what's not because the rules have changed.'

Council leaders have been mounting a fightback to try to clean up the image of resorts like Magaluf since it was rocked by scandal in 2014 when a British holidaymaker was filmed performing sex acts on 24 men.

The incident led Majorca's top politician at the time - Jose Ramon Bauza - to dub Magaluf's notorious party strip Punta Ballena as '500 metres of shame'.

In 2018 council chiefs upped the ante against badly-behaving tourists in Magaluf by putting up street signs warning them of heavy fines for street drinking, nakedness and fighting.

The brightly-coloured signs, which carried the banner line 'Have fun with respect' were mounted on lamp-posts and other visible spots in the party resort.

Thousands of British tourists flock to the islands every year, including large groups of revellers who have earned them an infamous reputation.

Most of the new restrictions came into place in 2020 but Covid means many Brits are only now becoming aware of them.

Holidaymakers writing on social media have reacted furiously to the new laws, which many feel have not been widely publicised.

One Twitter user believed that inclusive holidays with booze limits should be marketed as 'half-board' - and called for hotel contracts where this wasn't clearly stated to be ripped up.

He said: 'Brits will now be restricted to just six drinks a day, which can only be accessed alongside their lunch and dinner - offering them a mere three drinks per meal.

'[That's] usually referred to as 'Half Board Plus'. It's time to cancel the hotel contracts for All Inclusive basis.'

A spokesperson for the ABTA - The Travel Association said the rules have the potential to cause 'confusion' among holidaymakers.

They said: 'ABTA strongly supports initiatives that improve the health and safety of holidaymakers, as well as the welfare of local communities.

'Some of the measures introduced by the Balearic Islands authorities to limit anti-social behaviour have potential to cause confusion for UK holidaymakers.

In this June 10, 2015 file photo, tourists walk on the street at in Magaluf, Calvia on the Spanish Balearic island of Majorca

Majorca and Ibiza are two of Europe's most popular tourist destinations (stock image)

'We welcome the recent clarification from the authorities, including that the restrictions will only apply to certain limited areas in Mallorca and Ibiza rather than the whole of the Balearics as originally proposed.

'ABTA will continue to engage with the Balearic Islands Government, ABTA Members and other parties, to encourage clear communication and exchange of information, in order to ensure holidaymakers travelling to hotels in the designated areas enjoy a positive customer experience.'

Travel operator Thomas Cook recently alerted their customers to the crack down on free booze through an email.

They said: 'Please be advised that a decree has been issued by the Balearic Government on a new restriction for All Inclusive meal option. There is a maximum of six alcoholic drinks per person per day that can be served and these drinks will be provided only during lunch and dinner ( 3 each).

'Please be aware that Magalluf, El Arenal, Playa de Palma in Mallorca and Sant Antoni in Ibiza, there is new restriction on All Inclusive.'

A spokesperson for Love Holiday, which sold the all-inclusive holiday to Mr Walker, said: 'We were sorry to hear that the customer was disappointed with their stay at the Aluasun Torrenova hotel.

We appreciate any and all feedback from our customers, and constantly review our processes to offer our customers the best experience possible.

'Unfortunately, on this occasion, the customer did not get in touch to raise the issue. As such, we have not had the opportunity to address the query with the customer.'
Poland has sent hundreds of tanks to Ukraine as part of renewed heavy weapons shipments to help it win the war against Russia.

Warsaw has sent more than 200 T-72s - originally produced by the Soviet Union - into Ukraine in recent weeks, the country's national radio broadcaster said today, along with mobile artillery, drones and rocket launchers as part of a $1.6bn package.

Ukraine's allies have massively stepped up support for Kyiv as fierce fighting rages in the east, with Kyiv's generals today saying that Russia is suffering 'colossal' casualties in the pivotal battle for Donbas.

Oleksiy Arestovych, a Ukrainian secret service veteran-turned presidential adviser, acknowledged his military is suffering 'serious losses' on battlefields in the east but insisted that Russia's casualties are 'much, much worse'.

Meanwhile Ukraine continues to carry out attacks behind Russian lines to cut off vital supply routes, with a fuel dump in the Donetsk region catching fire today.

Kyiv has not acknowledged carrying out any of the attacks - which have also hit railway bridges and ammo dumps - but is widely thought to be orchestrating them.

Poland has sent more than 200 Soviet-era T-72 battle tanks (file image) to Ukraine as part of a $1.6bn military aid package as fighting intensifies

Poland has also sent Warmate drones - a less-advanced version of the American Switchblades which have an explosive charge in the nose (left and right)

Grad rocket launchers (pictured in Ukraine this week) have also been sent from Poland as Ukraine's allies massively step up weapons deliveries

Earlier this week, a Ukrainian MP described the blasts as 'karma'.

Russia is pouring troops into the battle in Donbass in an effort to force a bloody victory having been defeated in its initial aim to storm in Kyiv, topple the government, and install a puppet regime loyal to Moscow.

After it became apparent they did not have sufficient force to take the capital, Russia's generals yanked their units out, patched them up as best they could, and then threw them back into the fight in Donbas.

They also adapted their tactics - abandoning precision missile strikes and rapid advances which saw them mauled around Kyiv in favour of slow advances behind walls of blanket artillery in similar tactics to WW1 trench warfare.

The move has met with mixed success. Ukraine has acknowledged losing control of some towns and villages, but has made gains elsewhere in counter-attacks.

Supplies of heavier weapons including tanks, artillery cannons, precision munitions and anti-aircraft weapons are designed to help with those attacks while ensuring the Ukrainians can destroy as much Russian equipment as possible in the process.

As evidence of the West's dedication to the mission, Joe Biden last night pledged $33billion in aid for Ukraine including $20billion in military aid.

'We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom,' Biden said. 'The cost of this fight - it's not cheap - but caving to aggression is going to be more costly.'

Zelenskiy tweeted: 'Thank you @POTUS and the American people for their leadership in supporting Ukraine in our fight against Russian aggression.

A fuel depot in Russian-controlled Donetsk burst into flames today in what is widely thought to be another Ukrainian counter-attack to cut supply lines

A destroyed Russian tank is seen on the side of a road in Rusaniv, near Kyiv, as Ukraine continues to pick up the pieces after Russia' assault on the capital failed

Ukrainian troops ride on the outside of an armoured vehicle as it drives down a highway in near the city of Kryvyi Rih, in eastern Ukraine, on Thursday

'We defend common values - democracy and freedom. We appreciate the help. Today it is needed more than ever!'

Russia has said the arrival of Western arms into Ukraine means it is now fighting a 'proxy war' against NATO. President Vladimir Putin threatened unspecified retaliation this week, while his foreign minister warned of a threat of nuclear war.

Zelenskiy's office said Russia was pounding the entire front line in the eastern Donetsk region with rockets, artillery, mortar bombs and aircraft.

The Ukrainian general staff said Russia was shelling positions along the line of contact to prevent the Ukrainians from regrouping.

Britain said fighting had been particularly heavy around the cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk, the main part of the Donbas that Russia is still trying to capture, with an attempted advance south from Russian-held Izium towards Sloviansk.

'Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces,' the British defence ministry said in an update.

The bloodiest fighting and worst humanitarian catastrophe of the war have been in Mariupol, an eastern port reduced to a wasteland by two months of Russian bombardment and siege.

Ukraine says 100,000 civilians are still in the city, which is mostly occupied by Russia. Hundreds of civilians are holed up with last remaining defenders in underground bunkers beneath a huge steel works.

Ukrainian servicemen rest on an armoured personnel carrier as they make their way along a highway on the outskirts of Kryvyi Rih

Ukrainian servicemen at their position, close to Luhanske village of Donetsk area

Ukrainian servicemen Nazar and Oleksii are seen in a trench, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues in a village in Donetsk region

Zelenskiy's office said an operation was planned on Friday to get civilians out of the plant, giving no details.

In the capital, normal life has largely returned after weeks in which residents were forced to shelter in metro stations from bombardment.

The front line, which come right to the outskirts of Kyiv in March, is now hundreds of miles away. Foreign dignitaries have been flying in to pay their respects to Zelenskiy and his government.

But Russia can still hit the city with long range missiles, as it did on Thursday, during a visit by U.N. Secretary-General Guterres, in what Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov called 'an attack on the security of the Secretary General and on world security'.

No one was killed but at least four people were wounded in the missile strike in the capital, which blew out windows and scattered rubble across the streets.

'Kyiv is still a dangerous place and Kyiv is still the target of Russians, of course. The capital of Ukraine is the goal and they want to occupy it,' Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, supervising the cleanup.

On Thursday, Guterres visited Borodianka, one of the Kyiv suburbs that Russia had occupied in March, leaving dead bodies in the ruined streets when its forces withdrew.

'I imagine my family in one of those homes, now destroyed and black. I see my granddaughters running away in panic, part of the family eventually killed,' Guterres told reporters in Borodianka, surrounded by scorched, windowless apartment blocks.

'Innocent civilians were living in these buildings, they were paying the highest price for a war which they have not contributed to at all.'
Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers are complaining of issues transferring money this morning.

The lenders, owned by Lloyds Banking Group, confirmed there was a problem with payments as hundreds of customers collectively complained about the service.

The problem appeared to begin at around 8am today - which is pay day for many Britons who receive their wages on the last Friday of each month.

Down Detector, which tracks reports of problems with popular services, reveals that by 11am, 267 Lloyds bank users had complained of issues, along with 253 Halifax customers and 33 people using Bank of Scotland.

The lenders, owned by Lloyds Banking Group, confirmed there was a problem with payments as nearly 200 customers collectively complained about the service

Down Detector, which tracks reports of problems with popular services, reveals that by 11am, 267 Lloyds bank users had complained of issues, along with 253 Halifax customers and 33 people using Bank of Scotland

The social media accounts of each one have been replying to users complaining of issues affecting fast payments today.

One customer told Halifax he had sent a payment over from Barclays but it was not received, asking: 'Any idea what's going on?'

The bank replied: 'We're aware of an issue with customers receiving faster payments, we're sorry for this.

'The transfer should arrive in your account within 2 hour timescale, but it may be sooner.

If you could please keep an eye on their account, it should arrive very soon.'

The social media accounts of each lender have been replying to users complaining of issues affecting fast payments today

One Bank of Scotland customer, Christine, said she was having problems transferring money to her son's Nationwide account.

She said she had sent two amounts, but neither were showing in the account.

The bank's Twitter account replied: 'We're aware of an issue with customers sending faster payments, we're sorry for this.

'The transfer should arrive in the recipient's account within 2 hours, but it may be sooner.

'If they keep an eye on their account, it should arrive very soon.'

A Lloyds Banking Group spokesman told MailOnline: 'We know some customers are currently seeing short delays for payments they're making. These payments are being made, just taking a little longer than usual.'
A member of the 'Colston Four' is set to auction off a signed t-shirt given to them by Banksy ahead of their trial - with the top expected to fetch 20,000.

Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, Sage Willoughby, 22, and Jake Skuse, 33, were prosecuted for pulling down the statue of 17th century slave trader Colston during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020.

Banksy, the world-famous anonymous street artist who was born in Bristol, gifted the t-shirts to the four defendants who were later cleared of criminal damage.

The t-shirts were made as part of a campaign to raise money for the group and were accompanied by a sale of similar shirts for 25 each.

The group's tops featured reversed colours and personally presented to the group by the elusive artist - who also signed them - at a secret location in Bristol where they gathered during the trial.

The tops have a design of the empty plinth that the statue was pulled off of and the word: 'Bristol' above it

The group's tops featured reversed colours and personally presented to the group by the elusive artist - who also signed them

The tops feature a design of the empty plinth where the statue stood before it was pulled down and the word: 'Bristol' above it.

The limited release of the shirts saw people queuing for hours to buy one.

The tee will open for bids at East Bristol Auctions' first ever Contemporary Art Auction on May 28 and is valued at 15,000 to 20,000.

East Bristol Auctions spokesman Jay Goodman-Browne said: 'The toppling of the Edward Colston statue is now regarded by some as one of the defining events of the last decade.

'This shirt - one of only four made - encapsulates that event.

The tee will open for bids at East Bristol Auctions' first ever Contemporary Art Auction on May 28 and is valued at 15,000 to 20,000

'If Bristol is famous for two things, it's the toppling of the statue and Banksy, and here we have an item that links the two.

'This isn't just a shirt, this is a piece of history.

'Banksy collectors can quite easily pick up one of the standard shirts, but this is the only shirt available that actually belonged to one of 'The Four' and features the alternate artwork.

'We expect this to get worldwide attention. This shirt is arguably one of Banksy's most important pieces.'

Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, Sage Willoughby, 22, and Jake Skuse, 33, were prosecuted for pulling down the statue of 17th century slave trader Colston during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020

During the trial, defence teams successfully argued the presence of the statue was a hate crime and it was therefore not an offence to remove it.

But prosecutors said it was a case of straightforward criminal damage.

The trial judge directed jurors to consider whether convicting the defendants would be a proportionate interference with their right to freedom of expression. They were acquitted by a jury after an 11-day trial.

After the acquittal, furious Tory MPs wrote to Britain's chief legal advisor urging her to review the jury's 'wrong' verdict as public backlash at their decision grew.

Ministers are set to press ahead with sweeping changes to legislation following the jury's decision to clear Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, Sage Willoughby, 22, and Jake Skuse, 33, of all charges at Bristol Crown Court.

Six men and six women, taken from Bristol's population of 500,000, served on the jury. Judge Peter Blair QC allowed them to make a majority ruling.

Former Justice Secretary Robert Buckland described the jury's decision as 'perverse' as Sir John Hayes MP, who leads the Common Sense Group, called the verdict 'very disappointing' and argued that the trial should never have been heard in Bristol.

The former minister told MailOnline at the time of the trial: 'This should have been a straightforward matter for the jury, who were certainly devoid of understanding of the definition of criminal damage  If you damage, destroy of deface property without permission, you are guilty by definition.

'Clearly, the wrong decision has been made here. The case should never have even been heard at Crown Court, nor should it have been heard in Bristol considering the rhetoric surrounding this trial.

'I will be writing to the Attorney general tomorrow on behalf of The Common Sense Group to address these concerns.'

His comments came as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the UK was 'not a country where destroying public property can ever be acceptable' after a jury cleared four vandals who admitted playing a part in the destruction of the historic statue of slave trader Edward Colston during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
British war crimes experts are to be dispatched to Ukraine to help gather evidence of the 'barbarity' meted out by Vladimir Putin's forces, it was revealed today.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced the team of experts, due to arrive in neighbouring Poland in early May, will support the Ukrainian government in gathering evidence and prosecuting war crimes and will include experts in conflict-related sexual violence.

It came as she travelled to The Hague with the president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has opened a probe into alleged brutality committed by Putin's forces since February.

Mass graves and bodies of civilians mowed down in the streets have been uncovered in areas like Bucha after the Russians were forced to retreat.

Ms Truss said: 'Russia has brought barbarity to Ukraine and committed vile atrocities, including against women.

'British expertise will help uncover the truth and hold Putin's regime to account for its actions. Justice will be done.'

Mass graves and bodies of civilians mowed down in the streets have been uncovered in areas like Bucha (pictured) after the Russians were forced to retreat.

Ms Truss said: 'British expertise will help uncover the truth and hold Putin's regime to account for its actions. Justice will be done'

Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International UK's head of policy and government affairs, said: 'This is welcome, and we'd like to see UK expertise becoming an integral part in wider efforts to bring all perpetrators of war crimes in Ukraine to justice.

'The number of indiscriminate Russian missile and artillery attacks in Ukraine is mounting by the day, along with sickening reports of torture and extrajudicial executions.

'The preservation of key forensic evidence during warfare is difficult but essential, and if the UK can add to wider international efforts to do this then that may prove invaluable.

'British investigators should gather materials with a view to building evidential dossiers that can later be used by the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

'Crucially, UK war crimes investigators will need to scrupulously follow the evidence - meaning that if Ukrainian forces have breached international humanitarian law, then this must also be fully documented.

'As we've seen with Syria and other gruelling conflicts, the struggle from victims and their families to achieve truth, justice and accountability can take years - but this is an important start.'

It comes after the death of a British military veteran in Ukraine and as the Foreign Office urgently seeks more information following reports of two British humanitarian workers being detained by Russian forces in the country.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence said Russia is paying a high price for limited gains of land in Ukraine's east.

'The Battle of Donbas remains Russia's main strategic focus, in order to achieve its stated aim of securing control over the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts,' the department said in its latest intelligence update.

'Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces.'

The two British civilians held in Ukraine were working as humanitarian aid volunteers when they were captured by the Russian military on Monday at a checkpoint south of the city of Zaporizhzhia in the south-east of the country, according to the UK non-profit organisation Presidium Network.

International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan told Sky News: 'The Foreign Office is doing all it can to support and identify these two people.'

Tributes were paid to British military veteran Scott Sibley, reportedly fighting in support of Ukrainian forces, after the Foreign Office confirmed a British national has died in Ukraine and another is missing without identifying the pair.

The families of both are being supported, a spokesman said, declining to give names or further details.

Fundraisers have received donations of more than 10,000 for the veteran's family, with Craig Grant writing on one Gofundme page: 'To me he was a friend like no other and the bravest person I've had the pleasure to have known, he was as good as a brother to me.'

Tributes were also left on the Logistic Support Squadron Facebook page, where a picture was posted alongside the comment: 'This week the Sqn has lost a former serving soldier. A man that showed Commando spirit until the end. RIP. Scott Sibley.'

A small number of serving British personnel are believed to have gone absent without leave to join the resistance against the Russian invasion, while veterans and Britons without combat experience are thought to have also travelled to Ukraine.

There was initially confusion on the Government's position after Ms Truss, in comments during an interview to the BBC on February 26, said she would 'absolutely' support UK nationals who chose to fight for Ukraine.

However, she later rowed back on those comments, insisting she had been 'expressing support for the Ukrainian cause' in her remarks and that there are 'better ways' to contribute to the country's defence.

Ms Trevelyan said Mr Sibley's death was 'terribly sad' but denied that Ms Truss' comments had caused confusion.

She told Times Radio: 'Terribly, terribly sad news to hear...

'The Foreign Office are working closely with authorities in Ukraine and indeed supporting the family.

'But the Government was clear that the travel advice was: do not go to Ukraine.

'It was clear and it was reiterated many times.'

Meanwhile, around 8,000 British Army troops are to take part in exercises across eastern Europe to combat Russian aggression in one of the largest deployments since the Cold War.

Dozens of tanks will be deployed to countries ranging from Finland to North Macedonia this summer under plans that have been enhanced since the invasion of Ukraine.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the 'show of solidarity and strength' will see UK service personnel joining with Nato allies and those from the Joint Expeditionary Force alliance, which includes Finland and Sweden, for the exercises.
The brother of murdered aid worker David Haines said he is prepared to stare down the so-called Islamic State terrorists accused of murdering his sibling when he comes face-to-face with them for the first time later this week.

Mike Haines is in the US to read a victim impact statement as Londoner Alexanda Kotey is sentenced for his role in the terror cell's murder of four hostages.

The group, dubbed The Beatles due to their English accents, was said to be made up of ringleader Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, Aine Davis, El Shafee Elsheikh and Kotey, and was responsible for the brutal killings of a number of Western captives, believed to include Britons Alan Henning and David Haines.

The charges against Kotey, and his co-accused Elsheikh, who was convicted after trial this month, only feature US victims, but both he and Elsheikh will appear in court in Virginia today when the families of those murdered by the terror cell address the judge on their collective loss.

Elsheikh is expected to be sentenced at a later date.

Mr Haines, an RAF veteran and former mental health nurse, said: 'In some ways obviously I am quite nervous, and in other ways I am looking forward to staring them in the face, to drawing a line behind what has happened.

'And that is the real reason (for) going out to read my impact statement to the court - to draw a line in the sand and say: 'Yes, you have played a big part in my family's life, you have had a hold on my family's life.

''However, now, that stops'.'

Mike Haines is in the US to read a victim impact statement as Londoner Alexanda Kotey is sentenced for his role in the terror cell's murder of four hostages

The group, dubbed The Beatles due to their English accents, was said to be made up of ringleader Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, Aine Davis, El Shafee Elsheikh and Kotey, and was responsible for the brutal killings of a number of Western captives, believed to include Britons Alan Henning and David Haines (pictured with daughter Bethany)

Captured British Islamic State (IS) group fighters El Shafee el-Sheikh (L) and Alexanda Kotey (R), posing for mugshots in an undisclosed location

Elsheikh, Kotey and Emwazi all knew each other in England before joining IS.

Elsheikh was captured alongside Kotey in Syria in 2018 by the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces while trying to escape to Turkey.

Davis was jailed in Turkey and Emwazi was killed in a drone strike, while Kotey last year pleaded guilty to eight counts relating to his involvement in the hostage plot.

Mr Haines, from Dundee in Scotland, said he would cherish the opportunity to sit down with Kotey to 'look him in the eyes and tell him he has been misguided'.

And in an extraordinary demonstration of his rejection of hatred, Mr Haines added: 'What I would like to hear, although I don't think it will ever happen, is for Kotey to say: 'I'm sorry, what we were doing was wrong.'

'And if that was to happen, (for him to say) 'What we were doing was not about Islam ... it was about the spread of terror', then I would actually shake his hand.'

Mr Haines' 44-year-old younger brother was captured by militants in Syria in March 2013 while delivering aid to the war-torn country.

His murder the following year sent shockwaves around the world when a video recording of his barbaric execution was used as propaganda by the Beatles.

The family still do not know what has happened to the body.

But Mr Haines, who runs education charity Global Acts Of Unity in honour of his brother, said it is 'not important' for him to find out where David's remains are.

'Wherever David's remains lie, whatever has been done to them ... David walks with me still,' he said.

'At the end of the presentation, I can feel him pat me on the back and say: 'Nice one.'

'My brother walks with me still I don't need his remains to mourn over.'

Family handout photo of brothers Mike (right) and David Haines in the late 1990s

Mr Haines, 55, said he continues to be affected by terror attacks around the globe, and was actually in Manchester the night of the Arena suicide bomb which killed 22 people in 2017.

He said: 'Every time that we hear of an attack, there is sadness in our hearts, because we know that this club that we belong to has just expanded - that club that nobody wants to be a part of who've had family members and loved ones injured, maimed or murdered in an act of terrorism.

'However, what we have seen over and over and over again is the way that people respond to attacks of terror.

'What we try to do with Global Acts of Unity is show that if we react with hate, the extremists and terrorists win. And they will not win.'

Kotey is expected to be given a life sentence but could yet be brought to the UK to face trial over the deaths of Mr Haines and Mr Henning.
This is the terrifying moment mass panic erupted at an Israeli airport after a family tried to bring a piece of an unexploded bomb through security.

Passengers in the departure lounge at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv rushed for the exits after staff slammed the alarm.

Presented with the hefty undetonated shell piece at security, airport guards thought the family may be terrorists and launched an emergency evacuation.

Despite urging passengers to leave the terminal 'slowly', the alarm prompted a melee in which hundreds sprinted in all directions.

The melee broke out after airport staff hit the alarm. They thought a terrorist attack was underway. Left: a young man sprints for the exit and (right) a passenger holds a bag on his arm

An injured eyewitness said: 'There was a lot of shouting. I just felt that I had to run for my life.'

He had leapt onto a baggage conveyor belt and fell.

The false alarm follows weeks of terror attacks in Israel.

Four incidents took place within 16 days earlier this month, leaving 14 dead.

That included a lone Palestinian gunman shooting three outside a Tel Aviv nightclub. He was shot and killed by police hours later.

Footage shot on a smartphone shows a woman rushing while on the lookout (left) and (right) a group of women hiding next to tables as the chaos continues. It was over within a few minutes

A boy brought the hefty shell piece from the Golan Heights and hoped to keep it as a souvenir

Israel's Airports Authority said: 'When they arrived to check their luggage, they showed the piece of the shell to security.

'Since it was a piece of a shell, the evacuation of the area was announced.'

The American child picked up the piece of an undetonated bomb from the contested Golan Heights region between Israel and Syria.

The Golan Heights in north Israel separate the Jewish State from Syria (border wall pictured)

It's not clear how the shell piece got there, but it could have been part of an Israeli, Syrian or even ISIS bomb.

Within a few minutes the risk of a terror attack was dismissed and boarding resumed.

The family boarded their flight home as normal, but had to leave the shell behind.
Offensive or shocking beliefs can be acceptable in a democratic society, an employment judge said yesterday, as she ruled a pastor was discriminated against for his views about gay Pride events.

Keith Waters, 55, a minister at an evangelical church, claimed he was forced out of his caretaker job at a primary school following a single tweet.

He wrote: A reminder that Christians should not support or attend LGBTQ Pride Month events held in June.

'They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Christian faith and morals. They are especially harmful to children.

The comments were condemned as homophobic and triggered a vicious backlash, including a campaign of harrassment in which undertakers were sent to Mr Waters home to discuss his funeral.

Keith Waters, 55, a minister at an evangelical church, claimed he was forced out of his caretaker job at a primary school following a single tweet

Cambridge Employment Tribunal has now ruled he was the victim of indirect discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief

Isle of Ely Primary School in Ely, Cambridgeshire, began an investigation but the married father-of-one resigned three weeks after the tweet  a day before he was due to face a disciplinary hearing.

Cambridge Employment Tribunal has now ruled he was the victim of indirect discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.

Judge Sarah King said a widely shared belief demands particular care before it can be condemned as being not worthy of respect in a democratic society.

She added: Beliefs which are offensive, shocking or even disturbing to others can still be protected.

After the ruling, Mr Waters said it was an important win for our freedom to speak the truth of the gospel without fear of losing our jobs.

He added: I took legal action, not because I wanted to sue the school but because what happens to me goes to the heart of what it means to be free to preach the gospel in the UK.

Mr Waters, who founded the New Connexions Free Church in Ely in 2007, made the tweet in June 2019  the month Cambridge was hosting its first ever Pride event.

The school received three formal letters of complaint  one claiming he had called for violence against people who support the Pride Festival.

The tribunal did not uphold claims for direct discrimination and unfair dismissal.

The Christian Legal Centre, which supported Mr Waters case, yesterday said his words and intentions [had been] distorted, his character assassinated.'

A spokesman for the Active Learning Trust, which runs the school, said: We welcome the decision of the employment tribunal that the claims of direct discrimination and unfair dismissal were not well founded and were dismissed.

Compensation will be determined at a later date.
China, Caribbean countries to hold foreign ministers' meeting

Xinhua) 09:46, April 29, 2022

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China and nine Caribbean countries that have diplomatic relations with China will hold a foreign ministers' meeting on Friday via video link, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced Thursday.

The meeting will be co-chaired by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, Wang said.

Participants will hold an in-depth exchange of views on China-Caribbean relations and issues of common concern, the spokesperson said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Actors Jang Hyun-sung and Yoo In-na host the opening ceremony of the 23rd Jeonju International Film Festival at Jeonju Dome in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Kwak Yeon-soo



By Kwak Yeon-soo



JEONJU, North Jeolla Province  The 23rd Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF), an annual celebration of indie films, kicked off on Thursday night as moviegoers flocked to Jeonju Dome for the sold-out premiere of "Pachinko" director Kogonada's new sci-fi film, "After Yang." The festival will run through May 7.



Under the slogan "Film Goes On," the festival is being held offline for the first time in three years, screening 217 films from 52 countries. The 21st edition took place entirely online, while last year's event was held in a much scaled-down, hybrid format. This year, 112 out of the 217 films will be made available for online streaming via ONFIFN as well.



The opening ceremony was hosted by actors Jang Hyun-sung and Yoo In-na.



"For the past eight years of serving as the chairman of the festival, I always kept in mind that the essence of cinema lies in expressing free speech. Films have the power to protect the universal values of humankind. We will continue to support experimental and alternative films that raise fundamental questions about humanity," Jeonju Mayor Kim Seung-su, who also serves as the chairman of the JIFF's organizing committee, said during the opening event.



"We are thrilled to physically welcome back filmgoers and filmmakers. If more than 50 percent of screenings are sold out, that would be considered a success. For the opening ceremony, the entire 400 seats were sold out just three minutes after online ticketing started," festival director Lee Joon-dong said.



Some judges of this year's festival, including actors Park Ha-seon and Gong Seung-yeon, director Chang and Chung-Ang University Film Department Professor Joo Jin-sook, as well as foreign filmmakers including Clarisa Navas and Andrei Tanasescu, attended the opening ceremony.



Special sections include "Lee Chang-dong: The Truth of the Invisible," Taehung Pictures retrospective and "J Special: Programmer of the Year" movie talk hosted by director Yeon Sang-ho, known for his hit films "Train to Busan" and "Peninsula."





A scene from the film "After Yang" / Courtesy of JIFF
Transport for London has been mocked online for a 'striking error' on Tube maps showing the new Crossrail route.

An image taken at Mile End Tube station and posted on Twitter shows a typical Central line map with the latest addition to London's transport - the Elizabeth line - noted next to Liverpool Street and Tottenham Court Road.

But while other services are simply labelled 'Circle', 'Metropolitan' or 'Bakerloo', the sign calls the new service the 'Elizabeth line'.

Social media users have been asking if the new route, marked with purple signage, is to be called the 'Elizabeth line line' in Tube announcements.

But a TFL spokesman told MailOnline that it was not a 'blip', as suggested, but the Elizabeth line was 'a new mode, rather than a Tube line', meaning the typical rule of emitting the word 'line' from signage does not apply in this case.

An image taken at Mile End Tube station and posted on Twitter shows a typical Central Line map but with the latest addition to London's transport - the Elizabeth Line - noted next to Liverpool Street and Tottenham Court Road. But while other services are simply labelled 'Circle', 'Metropolitan' or 'Bakerloo', the sign calls the new service 'Elizabeth line'

Reacting to the new Tube map today, one Twitter user posted a picture of a sign showing logos for National Rail, the Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line and DLR. He wrote: 'It looks wrong, none of the other Lines have ''Line'' in this logos'

The uploader of the new Tube map, Daniel Tomlinson, wrote on Twitter: ' Feeling very disappointed in TfL this morning. 'Deciding to label it ''Elizabeth line'' rather than ''Elizabeth'' is a striking error'

How Crossrail will open in three stages by May 2023 Stage 1: By the end of June 2022 The Elizabeth line will launch in the 'first half of 2022' - ie no later than June - with services from Paddington to Abbey Wood. Services from Reading and Heathrow to Paddington, and from Shenfield to Liverpool Street, will be rebranded from 'TfL Rail' to the 'Elizabeth line'. Stage 2: Autumn 2022 The earliest expected date for the next phase is 'autumn 2022'. When this phase launches, services from Reading and Heathrow will operate through to Abbey Wood. Services from Shenfield will go through to Paddington. Stage 3: May 2023 Full timetable for travel from Reading or Heathrow to Shenfield or Abbey Wood without changing. Advertisement

Commuters have compared the new 'error' to the 'furore' surrounding the opening of the Battersea Power Station tube stop.

The Northern Line destination, which began operating in September last year, was similarly labelled 'Battersea Power Station', causing Londoners to ask whether the new Tube stop was to be called 'Battersea Power Station Station'.

The uploader of the new Tube map, Daniel Tomlinson, wrote on Twitter: 'Feeling very disappointed in TfL this morning.

'Deciding to label it ''Elizabeth line'' rather than ''Elizabeth'' is a striking error.'

He added: 'Are we now to call it the Elizabeth Line Line? ''Change here for the Central, Circle, and Elizabeth Line Lines''.'

Reacting to the new Tube map today, one Twitter user posted a picture of a sign showing logos for National Rail, the Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line and DLR.

He wrote: 'It looks wrong, none of the other Lines have ''Line'' in this logos.'

But other Twitter users defended the decision and backed TFL.

One wrote: 'They aren't lines, they are (all 5 of them) separate transport entities.'

Another said: 'It's clearly different to the rest of the underground so why can't it have Line in the name. Why does DLR need the R? The others don't have railway in them.'

The much-anticipated new line is already three-and-a-half years late and 4billion over budget, reports from last month revealed.

Signage displays directions to lifts at Paddington station on the new Crossrail line on March 13, ahead of its opening in June

Volunteer 'passengers' travel during a test run of an Elizabeth line train from Paddington to Woolwich and back on March 13

The capital's new railway was initially planned to be opened in full - from Reading in Berkshire to Shenfield in Essex and Abbey Wood in South East London - in December 2018, and was set a budget of 14.8billion in 2010.

But the project's total cost is now estimated to have ballooned to 18.9billion, including 5.1billion from the Government.

The line has been hit by construction delays and difficulties installing complex signalling systems, and so will now initially operate in three sections, with the central part between Paddington and Abbey Wood using new tunnels.
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A long-vanished view of the London skyline has been revealed in all its glory after layers of varnish that had covered John Constable's largest work were removed following a 270-hour restoration.

The masterpiece, which is over seven feet long and took 13 years to complete, depicts the scene on the second anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in 1817, when the bridge that was built in its honour opened.

With the passage of time, the view of King George IV's Royal Barge arriving from Whitehall - as the majestic new Waterloo Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral loomed in the background - became dulled with layers of badly yellowed varnish that obscured its intricate detail.

But now, thanks to work from experts at the National Trust, the scene has been transformed to show bright blue skies and a view of the early Thames skyline with details of what the river was like before decades of development transformed the area.

The bridge seen in the painting was demolished in the 1930s and replaced with the current structure, which opened in 1942. Now, a photo of the same view shows how modern buildings have largely obscured St Paul's Cathedral.

 Slide me  A long-vanished view of the London skyline has been revealed in all its glory after layers of varnish that had covered John Constable's largest work were removed following a 270-hour restoration. The masterpiece (seen above in its restored and unrestored form) depicts the scene on the second anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in 1817, when the bridge that was built in its honour opened

The bridge seen in the painting was demolished in the 1930s and replaced with the current structure, which opened in 1942. Now, a photo of the same view shows how modern buildings have largely obscured St Paul's Cathedral

Constable's giant masterpiece was titled Embarkation of George IV from Whitehall: the Opening of Waterloo Bridge, 1817.

It normally hangs in Anglesey Abbey in Cambridge, in a room where the panels and shelves are made from the timber that was used on the piles of the original Waterloo Bridge.

Constable is believed to have been present when the old Waterloo Bridge was opened by the Prince Regent. As well as creating his large painting, he also produced many sketches of his subject.

The painting was likely inspired by Italian master Canaletto's scenes of water pageants in Venice.

As well as showing the bridge and the Royal B, other rowers and members of the King's court can be seen. Present at the bridge's opening were George IV himself, along with the 1st Duke of Wellington and the Duke of York.

Another smaller painting of the bridge was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1832. It is now part of the Tate's collection.

The old Waterloo Bridge is seen above in a photo that was taken in 1925. The bridge was dismantled in the 1930s after standing since 1817

During its restoration, the National Trust's conservation experts had to make sure that the chemicals they were using to strip away the varnish did not also affect Constable's original strokes of paint.

Senior conservator Sarah Maisey said: 'This has been a painting which has been dramatically transformed by the conservation treatment,' said Sarah Maisey, Senior Remedial Conservator for Paintings at the National Trust.

'There had been some earlier tests which showed that this painting would respond really well to varnish removal but it has been a particular delight to see the quality of the improvement. There were challenges.

'It had been painted, and varnished, at different stages so care had to be taken to ensure that the solvents being used to thin and remove the varnish layers didn't also affect the paint layer. We are delighted with the final result.'

John Chu, curator of paintings and sculpture at the National Trust added: 'Constable's painting of Waterloo Bridge, full of the pageantry and colour of urban life, is a significant contrast to the quiet country scenes he is more famous for, such as The Haywain.

'This large-scale depiction of modern events and the London metropolis was a big departure at this point in his career.

'The Opening of Waterloo Bridge remained in his studio for the rest of his life.

An X-Ray image of the painting which helped guide National Trust conservators in their work to remove varnish and restore the masterpiece to its former glory

A National Trust conservator at work on John Constable's largest known painting which shows the opening of Waterloo Bridge in 1817

Constable's giant masterpiece was titled Embarkation of George IV from Whitehall: the Opening of Waterloo Bridge, 1817. It normally hangs in Anglesey Abbey in Cambridge, in a room where the panels and shelves are made from the timber that was used on the piles of the original Waterloo Bridge. Above: The moment the painting is hung on the wall at Anglesey Abbey once again

The painting is seen shortly before it was put back on display at Anglesey Abbey in Essex. The painting is more than 7ft long and took 13 years to complete

A conservator is seen mid-way through the job to removal decades-worth of varnish from the surface of the masterpiece

During its restoration, the National Trust's conservation experts had to make sure that the chemicals they were using to strip away the varnish did not also affect Constable's original strokes of paint

A conservator is seen using a tiny implement to restore Constable's mammoth painting, which also depicts the Royal Barge

A National Trust conservator at work on John Constable's largest known painting which shows the opening of Waterloo Bridge in 1817

'It passed through a number of hands before being bought by Cara, Lady Fairhaven and given to her son, Urban Huttleston Broughton, Lord Fairhaven of Anglesey Abbey, a collector with a good eye for pictures.

'He displayed it in the library at Anglesey Abbey where it has now returned.'

Another work on show, an oil sketch titled Summer Evening, Stoke-by-Nayland, has now been acknowledged as being an original Constable work.

Whilst Constable is an artist whose work is known to be copied and sometimes deliberately faked, clues in the brush work and canvas, along with its relationship to the artist's other paintings and its ownership history made it clear it is an original.

A label on the back of the painting is signed by Constable's son 'Charles Constable' and reads: 'Painted by John Constable R.A.'

Mr Chu added: 'We can therefore assume the sketch at once stage belonged to Charles Golding Constable himself.

'In the sales catalogue of some of his effects in 1869 there is a listing which is almost certainly this painting.

Another work on show, an oil sketch titled Summer Evening, Stoke-by-Nayland, has now been acknowledged as being an original Constable work

'We are very grateful for the work done by Constable expert Anne Lyles who led to this reattribution and the recognition that this was indeed painted by Constable.'

Although the painting was believed to be an original when it was bought by Anglesey Abbey's original owner Lord Fairhaven, doubts were later cast on its provenance because it was similar to other known copies.

Art historian Anne Lyles was the first to recognise that the sketch might have been incorrectly attributed.

She said: 'I thought straightaway this sketch looked "right"; and indeed one giveaway feature helping lead to the reattribution, even before looking at it in the flesh, was the out-turned tacking edge at the top, a way Constable often treated his canvases.

'I was subsequently invited to Anglesey Abbey to look at the sketch along with the rest of the works there by or attributed to Constable and it became much more clear that this was an original sketch by John Constable.'
Sickness absence rose to an 11-year high in 2021 with Covid accounting for nearly a quarter of the 149million working days lost.

The absence rate spiked to 2.2 per cent - a level not seen since 2020 - after dropping in the early stages of the pandemic when millions were on furlough and working from home.

The time off due to sickness or injury was equivalent to 4.6 days per worker, according to official figures.

Minor illnesses, musculoskeletal issues and mental health problems have typically been to blame for the bulk of absence.

But Covid-19 accounted for 24 per cent of all sickness in 2021, up from 13.9 per cent the previous year.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a record low rate in 2020, with Covid measures such as furloughing, social distancing, shielding and increased homeworking helping to reduce other causes of absence.

Sickness absence rose to an 11-year high in 2021 with Covid accounting for nearly a quarter of the 149million working days lost

Minor illnesses, musculoskeletal issues and mental health problems have typically been to blame for the bulk of absence. But Covid-19 accounted for 24 per cent of all sickness in 2021, up from 13.9 per cent the previous year

However, relaxation of coronavirus restrictions during periods of 2021 and less requirement to work from home, appear to have contributed to an increase in sickness absence.

The report added that the rate generally declined through the 2000s and has remained relatively flat throughout the 2010s.

In 2021, as in previous years, workers living in Wales had the highest sickness absence rate (2.8 per cent), while those in London had the lowest (1.7 per cent).

The ONS said that can be largely explained by the younger age profile of workers living in London and the types of jobs they have.

The sick rate in the public sector also continued to be higher than in the private sector, which the ONS suggested might be down to the type of jobs and less generous absence pay.

Tina McKenzie from the Federation of Small Businesses said: 'The average cost of sickness absence, including finding cover, stands at more than 3,000 a year for small employers, equating to 5billion across the small business community as a whole.'

She said that, with operating costs 'surging', small firms 'need more financial assistance to go on doing right by their staff when they're unwell.'

She added: 'On the day that the Government has announced yet more help for big energy intensive companies, we're asking policymakers to take forward our joint proposal with the TUC for a small business sick pay rebate which will help those who have received no help whatsoever with utility bills.

'Allowing small community businesses to recover sick pay costs will give them that much more space to invest, recruit and retain staff, spurring our economic recovery from

In 2021, as in previous years, workers living in Wales had the highest sickness absence rate (2.8 per cent), while those in London had the lowest (1.7 per cent)
Hawaii Rep. Kai Kahele plans to run for governor of the state and will retire from Congress at the end of this term.

Multiple outlets, including CNN and Fox, confirmed Kahele's next move after the freshman representative faced criticism for continuing to work as a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines while skipping votes in Washington, D.C.

With Kahele, 31 House Democrats are not running for re-election in what continues to look like an extremely tough election year for the party, which currently controls the White House and both chambers of Congress.

Rep. Kai Kahele was captured leaving the Capitol Building on Thursday. Earlier this month the Honolulu Civic Beat reported that he hadn't been in Washington since January. Multiple outlets reported Thursday night that Kahele will leave Congress and jump into the governor's race

A picture of Rep. Kai Kahele in his commercial pilot's uniform that he posted to his Instagram account

Kahele's 2nd congressional district, however, is solidly blue, with voters picking a Democrat in every election since the district's 1971 creation.

Hawaii's current Democratic Gov. David Ige is term-limited - and several Democrats have already jumped into the race.

Earlier this month, the Honolulu Civic Beat reported that Kahele hadn't been in Washington since January.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has allowed proxy voting - having an assigned member come to the floor and vote in place of an absent one - since early on in the coronavirus pandemic.

As of April 11, the Civic Beat found that Kahele had only cast five votes in person during 2022 - all over three days in January.

All of his other 120 votes were done by proxy.

And Kahele used proxy voting more than 429 of his colleagues, Civic Beat found.

When every seat is occupied, there are 435 members of the House of Representatives.

Kahele's office refused to provide a copy of his schedule over the past four months, Civic Beat said.

In a letter to the House Clerk's office dated April 4, Kahele said he is voting by proxy 'due to the ongoing public health emergency.'

But the congressman has been posting maskless photos of himself all over the Aloha State.

Members are not required to provide a reason for proxy voting other than to attest that it is 'due to the public health emergency.'

Kahele's office, which did not respond to requests for an explanation from multiple news outlets including DailyMail.com, told CNN: 'To limit his exposure to COVID-19 and the potential to spread the virus, our office has tried to reduce Rep. Kahele's cross-country travel while ensuring he fulfills all of his responsibilities in Congress.'

A spokesperson for Kahele explained that the congressman lives in a multigenerational home and he is worried about new coronavirus variants.

The spokesperson claimed that Kahele remains fully engaged virtually.

'The Congressman has not missed a single vote this year. He continues to participate in HASC and T&I Committee hearings and maximizes his time back home by engaging with his constituents and addressing their concerns at the federal level.'

Kahele has been flying for Hawaiian Airlines and also serves in Hawaii's Air National Guard.

House Ethics rules only allow $29,595 in annual outside income.

Kahele's office revealed the congressman made $29,151.79 from Hawaiian Airlines in 2021.

So far this year, Kahele has had a total of 14.2 flying hours and made less than $2,861.90, his office said.

The right-leaning watchdog group Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics after the Civic Beat report.

The conservative-leaning group noted recent reporting that Kahele has worked as a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines since before he joined Congress and in 2021 co-sponsored four bills that Hawaiian Airlines had lobbied Congress for, including one that provides tax credits to the airline industry.

House Ethics rules require members to avoid taking official action that displays either an apparent or actual conflict of interest.

Kahele serves on the aviation subcommittee of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Kahele's wife also works for Hawaiian Airlines.

Additionally, the FACT complaint provides a list of times when Kahele used COVID-19 to vote by proxy while at the exact same time making public appearances as he was prepping a gubernatorial bid.
Valeska Paris was born into the church of Scientology. She says she was abused as a child on the Sea Org ships, forced into labor and even sexually assaulted

Three Scientology defectors are suing the church's leader David Miscavige claiming they were trafficked as children and forced into 'dangerous' labor aboard the controversial Sea Org ships.

Gawain Baxter, his wife Laura and Valeska Paris all sued the church in Tampa this week, claiming they were forced into the work on the ships from as young as the age of six.

They said they had to sign contracts promising 'one billion years' of service to the church and worked for 'low and even no pay'.

Gawain Baxter said his parents put him in a Sea Org nursery when he was two months old.

At the age of six, he was forced to sign the one billion year contract, and went to live in a Cadet Org dormitory with around 100 other children.

'Children over six years old are considered to be and are frequently told that they are adults and that they should act and expect to be treated as adults.

'They are now even called children; rather they must be referred to as "Cadets"' the lawsuit says.

They claimed that the church organizers and Sea Org supervisors only allowed them to see their parents once a week, but that visits could be canceled at a moment's notice if they deemed the child to be in trouble.

'From the ages of six to fourteen, Gawain was not permitted to attend any accredited public or private school. Instead, schoolwork consisted of two to three hours per day of basic reading, writing, and math in a classroom of thirty other children, under the supervision of Linda Hilton, Cadet Coordinators spouse.

Children over six years old are considered to be and are frequently told that they are adults and that they should act and expect to be treated as adults

'Beginning when Gawain was ten years old, he was required to spend one to two hours daily in Scientology indoctrination courses as well.

'The cost of each course was recorded as a debt that Gawain was told he would owe if he ever left Cadet Org or Sea Org,' the lawsuit alleges.

The Sea Org 'Freewinds' ship is where Scientology children are sent as 'cadets.' They are forced to pledge 'one billion years of service'

On top of his 'schooling', he says he was required to perform 'five to ten hours a day' of unpaid labor.

When he was 14, he says he was moved into a different phase of the program where he was forced to perform up to 12 hours a day of unpaid labor, renovating properties and cleaning them.

'Gawain was sleep-deprived, given inadequate time to eat, and verbally abused by his adult supervisors,' the trio's attorney said.

The lawsuit claims Scientology leader David Miscavige is aware of the child abuse and forced labor and facilitates it with donations to the church

That phase lasted three months and ended with him joining the Sea Org force.

Paris alleges that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a Sea Org supervisor.

Her duties included landscaping and caring for newborns who were born to other members.

When she was 17, her mother fled the church. She says she was punished as a result.

She claims one of her punishments was being locked in an engine room on the ship for 48 hours when the temperature inside was over 100 degrees.

She decided to leave in around 2011.

By then, she had been taken by the organization to Australia.

She claims the church confiscated her passport, leaving with her 'no identification and no money' when she eventually broke free.

She got out by purposely falling pregnant - which was banned on the ship - and says she pretended to continue with the pregnancy even after miscarrying.

A senior officer at Valeska, telling her she would get cancer and die if she left, and reminding her that she would have to repay all her freeloader debt....Valeska was aware that Sea Org members are not permitted to have children, so she purposely became pregnant

'Another senior officer then screamed at Valeska, telling her she would get cancer and die if she left, and reminding her that she would have to repay all her freeloader debt.

'Valeska was aware that Sea Org members are not permitted to have children, so she purposely became pregnant and refused demands that she terminate her pregnancy.

'After six weeks, Valeska miscarried but continued to pretend to be pregnant so that she would be forced to leave Sea Org,' the lawsuit claims.

Gawain's wife Laura was also raised onboard the ships. She says she suffered similar abuse.

It is unclear when exactly they left the church, but the pair are both thought to have settled in Australia.

A spokesman for the church denied the allegations, telling DailyMail.com: The allegations are both scurrilous and ridiculous and the lawsuit is both a sham and a scam. Valeska Paris already wasted the time of law enforcement when she made these fraudulent claims years ago.

'It is public record they closed her file stating There are no corroborating witnesses or evidence provided to support the allegations.'
A pub had a cheeky jab at WA Premier Mark McGowan to celebrate Western Australia's long-awaited 'Freedom Day' with a Covid-inspired menu on Friday.

The Sixty30 restaurant at the Merriwa Tavern in Perth's north didn't mince their words, releasing the 'Myocarditis McGowan Mandate Free Friday' menu.

Covid-weary customers could finally enjoy dinner properly after the state axed indoor face masks, scrubbed venue limits and scrapped proof of vaccination requirements.

The menu featured food selections such as the 'Where is the science full pork ribs & chips', the 'Mao McGowan's Wish Wings' and the 'Adolf Mark's schnitzel & chips.'

The tongue-in-cheek dictator-related dishes marked the end of pub bosses' frustration over staff requiring at least two Covid jabs to work.

Despite criticism in some parts, Premier McGowan - who has been in isolation after testing positive to Covid-19 recently  marked 'Freedom Day' by thanking long-suffering Western Australians.

On Friday, the Sixty30 restaurant at The Merriwa Tavern in Perth's north released the 'Myocarditis McGowan Mandate Free Friday' menu (pictured)

The menu coincided with WA Premier Mark McGowan (pictured with his family) declaring Friday was 'Freedom Day' for Covid weary residents in his state

He acknowledged their patience and sacrifices, with the 'state working as one to pass the Omicron peak' before achieving the desired 'soft landing'.

'This (Freedom Day) is the result of your hard work  doing the right thing now for over two years, whether that was following the health protocols, staying home when you're unwell and especially getting vaccinated,' Mr McGowan wrote on Facebook.

'WA is now one of the most highly vaccinated places in the world, and it's making all the difference in keeping Western Australians out of hospital.'

Earlier this month, one of Mr McGowan's children was hospitalised in a serious condition after contracting Covid.

He was eventually discharged, with the leader of WA stating the family endured a 'worrying four days.'

'The McGowan family would like to thank everyone for their supportive and kind comments,' a statement read after the child was released from hospital.

'After a very worrying four days, the Premier's child is now recovering at home with family.

It is understood the owners of The Merriwa Tavern (pictured) oppose the vaccine mandate remaining in place for hospitality workers in WA, who are required to have had at least two jabs

'The McGowan family thanks the committed hospital staff for all their work and care.'

WA Health reported 8117 cases on Friday, with the 43,433 active infections, according to Perth Now.

The number of West Australians in hospital with Covid has dropped to 233 - the least since April 18.
A Qatari media boss who came to Britain seeking drugs and sex has been jailed for seven years for kicking and and stamping on his girlfriend in his 1.6m apartment.

Saleh Al-Mesallam, 32, repeatedly beat her at his luxury home at the Peninsula Apartments complex in Paddington, west London.

The victim was treated in hospital for a fractured elbow and a mass of cuts and bruising, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Al-Mesallam took away the woman's phone and wallet so she could not escape him and changed the passwords to her accounts so she could not contact other people.

The woman went to hospital last March and first told a doctor she had been injured from a fall, but then explained how Al-Mesallam had terrorised and beaten her.

During a police interview, the woman said Al-Mesallam laid out a knife, a plastic bag and tape next to her on the bed while she slept.

She claimed Al-Mesallam would interrogate her, then beat her when he did not get the answer he wanted.

The media mogul beat and abused his victim for months causing her broken bones and injuries all over her body (pictured) The Peninsula Apartments complex in Paddington, west London

The woman also claimed she was repeatedly raped by the media mogul.

Police raided his apartment and broke through a barricaded door to find Al-Mesallam on his bed.

Al-Mesallam denied and was cleared by a jury at Southwark Crown Court of four counts of rape and making threats to kill.

But he was convicted of five charges, one of inflicting grievous bodily harm, three of assault causing actual bodily harm and one of abusive and coercive behaviour.

Al-Mesallam also pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and crystal meth, both class A drugs as well as Class B Cannabis.

The jury had failed to reach a verdict in relation to a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, which Al-Mesallam denied.

Describing the victim's suffering, prosecutor David Smith said: 'Mr Al-Mesallam was standing over [the victim's] bed and kicking the victim forcibly at least five times, fracturing her shoulder.

'He repeatedly hit the complainant's head, banging it against the window, pulled her hair and put his foot on her neck so that she could not breathe.

He is to serve seven years in jail for GBH, ABH, abusive and coercive behaviour as well as possession of class A drugs cocaine and crystal meth (pictured) Southwark crown court where Al-Mesallam was charged

'He dragged her into the bathroom, grabbed a razor and threatened to shave her eyebrows.

'He then hosed her down in the bathroom.'

Mr Smith described how on a different occasion Al-Mesallam 'dragged her by her hair and pulled it out by the roots.'

He then 'threatened to cut her cheek and cut her 'tangled hair.'

Al-Mesallam would regularly take cocaine, crystal meth and cannabis at these times.

'He repeated constant threats to the victim; monitoring and accusations.

'He took the victim's belongings including bank cards and phone.'

Al-Mesallam even pretended to be the victim on the phone to her family and friends, whilst in fact she was in hospital due to his own abuse.

Ms Karina Arden, defending the media boss, said: 'He comes from a good family, a business family, a close family.

'He became addicted to drugs.

'Since in custody he has seen nobody from his family. He could not face his grandparents coming to this country and seeing him in jail.

'He feels shame at what in fact the taking of drugs has led him to do.

'His family have suffered because it has been reported in the Arabic press as well as the press here.

'He does express remorse. He feels his relationship with this country which he thought was a good one is over.'

He would not wish to come to this country again, he has shamed himself in this country and he would have to go back to build a new life.

'He has lost his job.

'When he finished his sentence he will leave this country and not come back...'

Judge Sally Cahill QC told Al-Mesallam: 'You are a man completely without shame.

'In my view you are a disgrace to your country.

'You came here in order to take drugs and seek sex. You did so, so that those in your country would not know what you were doing.

'I have no doubt whatsoever that you had no intention of having a lasting relationship with the complainant, despite your false protestations of love for her.

'You demonstrated no love whatsoever and demonstrated no respect at all either for her or the laws of this country.

'In this country, as in yours, both drugs and violence are not legal.

'You went on a spree on taking drugs, you clearly had access to money and you had nothing to occupy your time, save those drugs.

'During the short time you and the complainant were together you used her as a punching bag.

'You bullied her, you monitored her movements, you took away access to the internet and her mobile phone, cutting her off from her family.

'You threatened her, you belittled her.

'The most serious injury was the broken collar bone sustained when she was lying in bed, covering herself to protect her face when you chose to kick her.

'She suffered the pain of that injury for some weeks before she went to hospital.

'An example of how you controlled her is that it was the doctor that saw that she suffered violence and not the victim.

'She was completely controlled by you.

'There is no doubt that your conduct intended to humiliate her, degrade her and to maximise her fear.

'Your behaviour towards her was completely excessive and unacceptable.

'You are, I am told, well educated and come from a respectable family in Qatar, which makes your behaviour even more inexplicable, but even more deliberately planned, that you chose to come here to commit it rather than your own country.'

Saleh Al-Mesallam, of Paddington, received a total of seven years jail for causing grievous bodily harm, assault causing actual bodily harm and exercising coercive control.

He also received six months concurrent for possession of cocaine and crystal meth with one month for possession of cannabis.

Al-Mesallam also has a restraining order in place where he must not contact the victim.

A depravation order was also made in respect of his phones and laptops he used to control the victim.
A California woman has been missing for nearly two weeks after texting her sister to say she was going on an OkCupid date.

Leslie Ben-lesau, who turned 42 the Saturday after she vanished, said she was being picked up by her date on the morning of April 15 but then disappeared.

Sister Caroline said Leslie's phone has been off ever since and she has not read any of her family's concerned messages or birthday texts.

Leslie Ben-lesau (pictured) has been missing for nearly two weeks after texting her sister to say she was going on an OkCupid date

Sister Caroline said Leslie's phone has been off ever since and she has not read any of her family's concerned messages

Leslie said she had arranged to meet her date near the Capitol building in Sacramento.

Her family are now desperately appealing for any information to help find her.

The person Leslie was meeting up with from the online dating site went by the name Bea.

Caroline told Fox40: 'She told me there was somebody on the way to come pick her up.

'And she would keep me informed. She would keep in touch and let me know. And that's the last I heard from her.

'I text her back, and I could see that message wasn't going through, which is not like my sister.

'She would've at least turned her phone on. Even if she didn't always reply right away. She would have her phone on.'

Leslie's other sister Khandaria Alexander added: 'Every day it feels like there's another moment that something could be happening to her.

'Our family is just breaking down. We can't eat. Every second I feel like who knows where she could be. It's just so scary.

Leslie, who turned 42 the Saturday after she vanished, said she was being picked up by her date on the morning of April 15 but then disappeared

'If anybody uses this site, OkCupid, I would like them to reach out if they have any information on a person that goes by the name of Bea.'

Police said there is no evidence yet of foul play and they believe Leslie left her home on the morning of April 15.

Her phone company said 8.45am that day was the last time she connected to the network.

Leslie, who was described as 'loving and trusting', has suffered mental health issues before but her disappearance is still very uncharacteristic, her family said.

Anyone with information is urged to call Sacramento police.
Progressive Democrats urged President Joe Biden to end the Title 42 public health policy that has turned away thousands of migrants at the border, calling it 'racist,' 'cruel,' and 'xenophobic.'

Their comments came after Biden said he would comply with the court's decision on the matter. Several states sued the administration after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Title 42 would be lifted on May 23.

Some vulnerable Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern about how the administration will handle the expected influx of migrants if the order is lifted. But liberal Democrats said the order must go.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts said the policy, originally put into place during Donald Trump's presidency, is 'fundamentally racist, unjust and cruel.'

'This unconscionable racist and xenophobic Trump era policy was in effect for too long. It did nothing but in effect inflicted unspeakable harm on migrants - particularly black and brown migrants - denying millions their fundamental right to seek asylum,' she said during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts called Title 42 ' fundamentally racist, unjust and cruel'

Rep. Pramila Jayapal: 'Title 42 isn't just xenophobic, it's also hypocritical'

Some vulnerable Democrats have expressed concern about how the administration will handle the expected rise of migrants if Title 42 ends - above people use a ladder to scale the border fence at the US/Mexico border in Tecate, Mexico

In March 2020, the CDC under the Trump administration issued a public health order allowing for the rapid expulsion of unauthorized border crossers and asylum seekers citing COVID-19 concerns.

Under the order, thousands of migrants were turned back at the border, citing the pandemic.

And since that is not considered deportation, the migrants are not afforded the right to make a case to stay in the U.S. before an immigration judge. Most migrants subject to Title 42 measures are returned to Mexico within hours.

'This policy was never about keeping anybody safe. Period. This Trump era policy was always about stoking anti immigrant fear and hate and undermining our humanitarian obligations to asylum seekers in this country,' Pressley noted.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Oregon, the head of Congressional Progressive Caucus, said 'Title 42 isn't just xenophobic, it's also hypocritical.'

'It has harmed millions of people who are escaping war and poverty and famine. Title 42 should never have been put in place,' she noted.

She said the order was the work of Stephen Miller, a Trump adviser with a tough anti-immigration stance.

It was rather instigated by Stephen Miller, Trump's chief anti immigrant architect who was hell bent on eliminating all legal pathways into the United States,' said Jayapal, who immigrated to the United States from India when she was 16.

Miller had pushed the idea to invoke Title 42 at the U.S.-Mexico border as early as 2018, long before COVID-19 emerged, The New York Times had reported. Miller was behind several Trump policies designed to cut down on the number of migrants to the United States.

'Title 42 is a policy failure. Plain and simple. It does nothing to prevent COVID from being spread. And by circumventing immigration law, it actually goes against the principles on which our country was founded. So ending it was the right decision,' Jayapal noted.

But at the other end of the Democratic spectrum are lawmakers worried about the expected rise in migration and how those needs will be met.

The Department of Homeland Security predicts up to 18,000 daily encounters with migrants  more than double the current average  when Title 42 ends.

To deal with the matter, the agency has released a plan that includes vaccinating migrants in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, adding 600 CBP agents across the southwest border, and increasing the capacity of federal holding centers from 12,000 to 18,000.

And President Biden said on Thursday that his administration would comply with the courts on Title 42, the public health order being used to turn away migrants at the border.

The administration had planned to end the use of the Trump-era order on May 23 but a federal judge in Louisiana has temporarily blocked that move until a further hearing on the matter.

Biden said he will leave the fate of the public health policy in the judiciary's hands.

'We had proposed to eliminate that policy by the end of May. The court has said we can't so far and what the court says we're going to do. The court could come along and say we cannot do that and that's it,' Biden told reporters at the White House when asked about the situation.

The court order blocks the administration from beginning to wind-down Title 42 ahead of its planned May 23 conclusion, but doesn't stop the policy being axed on that date.

President Joe Biden said he would comply with the courts on Title 42

Asylum-seekers gather at the Plaza Las Americas migrant tent camp in Reynosa, Mexico - experts expect a surge in border crossings if Title 42 is lifted

Migrants of different nationalities walk in a caravan, through the main avenues of Tapachula in Chiapas, Mexico

US District Judge Robert Summerhays has scheduled a critical hearing on May 13 in Lafayette to hear arguments on whether to block Title 42 from ending as planned 10 days later.

Twenty-one states have sued to stop the order from being lifted, citing concerns about the impact on their states due to the surge in migrants expected to enter the U.S. after it's lifted.

The issue is rapidly becoming a political hot potato ahead of the November midterm election, which will decide control of Congress.

Migrants have been expelled more than 1.7 million times under the policy.

A migrant waits on the Mexican side of the border after United States Customs and Border Protection officers detained a couple of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border on the beach, in Tijuana,

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted during two separate budget hearings on Wednesday that the southern border crisis is being 'effectively managed'

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted to Congress this week that the situation at the southern border is being 'effectively managed' by the administration.

'We inherited a broken and dismantled system that is already under strain,' Mayorkas said in opening remarks at both hearings on Wednesday. 'It was not built to manage the current levels of migration flow.'

'Only Congress can fix it,' he insisted.

He also also solely blamed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for repealing Title 42, claiming that the CDC has 'exclusive jurisdiction' of the public health measure.

But, he noted, the administration has a plan in place.

'Under this administration, our department has been executing a comprehensive strategy to secure our borders and rebuild our immigration system,' Mayorkas said in his opening remarks. 'With the Title 42 public health order set to be lifted, we expect migration levels to increase as smugglers seek to take advantage of and profit from vulnerable migrants.'

Republicans repeatedly hammered Mayorkas on border strategy when he testified on Capitol Hill.
Freeing a captured ex-Marine from rotting in a hellhole Russian prison was always going to be a tricky task.

But details of the rigorous negotiations the US faced getting Trevor Reed back to safety have only now been realized.

Dramatic events in the last two months helped facilitate the prisoner swap - including a private Oval Office meeting as well as a shadowy mission to Moscow.

Reed's parents finally got the chance to plead their case with Joe Biden earlier this year amid horrifying reports their boy's health was rapidly declining.

Meanwhile a diplomat was deployed on a top secret trip to Russia - despite Vladimir Putin ramping up plans for his brutal invasion of Ukraine.

The hero ex-soldier finally returned home to Texas after three years languishing in prison over allegedly attacking a police officer.

But his fight is not over as he was taken straight to a top health clinic amid fears for his deteriorated health.

Reed's family spoke with Good Morning America to discuss Trevor's release. His mother Paula, left, sister Taylor, center, and father Joey, right

Footage posted online showed the moment Russian forces escorted Reed out of a dark-colored van Wednesday morning

White House officials revealed that concerns of Trevor's deteriorating health largely motivated a ramping up of efforts to see him released. He appeared gaunt during Wednesday's exchange.

In March, Reed told his parents he'd been exposed to tuberculosis and was coughing up blood several times a day, had pain in his lung, and a broken rib. He said the Russians had not given him adequate medical treatment.

Reed had also been waging a hunger strike to protest being locked in solitary confinement.

'That, I think, contributed to really ratcheting up the conversations on this issue, getting to a point where we were able to make this arrangement, getting to a point where we were able to turn to some of the logistics of simply getting it done,' the official said.

On Wednesday Reed looked emaciated and frail in images from the prisoner swap, and appeared to need support from personnel involved in the swap to stand and walk.

His family told Good Morning America on Friday that they were unaware of the specifics of his condition, but that he was in high spirits.

'We don't have a whole lot of answers yet, he's getting some testing done,' his mother said, 'He's at a top notch facility getting great care but we won't know more for a few days.'

'It's excellent - considering all he's been through,' Reed's sister said, 'He's telling stories, he's flirting with the nurse staff.'

Complicating concerns about Reed's health was the mounting tension between the U.S. and Russia over the war in Ukraine, but how the conflict affected the deal isn't clear.

Trevor Reed (center in navy shirt) with his mother and father, Texas Rep. August Pfluger and others this morning after arriving back in Texas on Thursday

Trevor Reed arrives back in Texas on Thursday morning. He is shown with Rep. August Pfluger, who helped secure his release

U.S. officials stressed that the negotiations for Reeds release were narrow in scope, focused squarely on the prisoners and not on Russias war and not reflective of any broader diplomatic engagement.

But while the timing of the deal was startling, its also clear that the groundwork for it had been laid before the conflict had begun.

Just as the war was about to commence, vice president at the Richardson Center for Global Engagement Mickey Bergman and his colleague, Bill Richardson - a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and ex-New Mexico governor - flew to Moscow for a meeting with Russian officials to continue negotiations they'd been having for the release of Reed and another jailed American, corporate security executive Paul Whelan.

They left with the contours in place for the one-for-one swap that ultimately took place.

ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Trevor Reed's parents and sister discuss their reunion with Reed after he spent nearly three years in a Russian prison and what lies ahead for the former Marine. https://t.co/IgF7zqAptn pic.twitter.com/J9uBsPdLY6  Good Morning America (@GMA) April 29, 2022

In Texas, Reed's parents were worrying that Russia's war with Ukraine - and resulting tensions with the U.S. - could close off communication channels and prevent any common ground for negotiations, so they attempted to catch the White House's attention.

As Biden traveled to Texas to support veterans, the Reeds stood along the motorcade route in hopes of getting meaningful face-time with the president. That didn't happen, though he did speak by phone with the couple.

Later that month, they arrived in Washington and stood with signs near the White House, hoping again to meet with the president, and were invited into the Oval Office for a sit-down with Biden and other administration officials.

The White House issued a statement that night reiterating its commitment to getting Reed and Whelan home.

Reed's parents, Joey and Paula Reed, demonstrated outside the White House in March. They would later be granted a meeting with President Biden to discuss the situation

Reed inside a defendant's cage in a courtroom during a Moscow hearing in July, 2020

'Ultimately it was President Biden,' Reed's father said on Good Morning America, 'We had always said, 'if we can just speak to the man he would make this happen' and that's exactly what happened. He did everything that he said he would do. he was amazing. We can't thank him enough. We believe he may have saved Trevor's life.'

Reed was detained in Russia in 2019. He was accused of assaulting a police officer while visiting his girlfriend in the country - something he has always denied.

In return for Reed's freedom, the U.S. agreed to return Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal prison sentence in Connecticut for smuggling drugs.

This is the moment former US Marine Trevor Reed was exchanged for convicted Russian drug dealer Konstantin Yaroshenko during a prisoner swap that took place at a Turkish airport on Wednesday

Dramatic video footage from Wednesday showed the moment the U.S. swapped Reed for Yaroshenko.

The clip was shot at a Turkish airport and saw Yaroshenko and Reed pass each other on the tarmac as security personnel from the U.S. and Russia handed their prisoners over to each other.

The scene has been likened to a Cold War prisoner exchange made famous by the 2015 Tom Hanks movie Bridge of Spies.

Paula and Joey Reed are shown on Wednesday outside their home in Granbury, Texas, after receiving the news that their son would be freed

Trevor was celebrating with his girlfriend, Alina Tsybulnik, and some of her co-workers the night he was arrested. He was accused of assaulting a police officer - a claim he denies

The film tells the story of U.S. officials' efforts to free Francis Gary Powers, a spy plane pilot shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, culminating in his exchange for KGB spy Rudolf Abel on the Glienecke Bridge in Germany.

Reed's release has refocused attention on two other Americans who remain in Russian prison, Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner.

Whelan was convicted of espionage charges in Russia in 2020 after an arrest in 2018. He denies the charges and has been in jail for 40 months.

In exchange for his release, the United States released Konstantin Yaroshenko (above), a smuggler serving 20-years in prison in Connecticut

Griner was jailed in February after being caught with a marijuana pen at a Russian airport.

The State Department says it is a 'top priority' to bring her home.

The Reeds told Good Morning America that they and Trevor will be advocating for their release.

'Our hearts go out to them. We can only imagine how disappointed their loved ones are that they didn't get to come home,' Reed's mother said, 'When we spoke with Trevor that was the very first thing he said to us. He said 'I feel terrible that Paul is still there and I am here.' He said when he gets better he's going to start advocating for them right away. That's how we feel. We're going to start advocating for everyone to come home.'
Passengers wait in line to check in before departure at Terminal 1 at Incheon International Airport, April 19. Newsis



By Lee Hae-rin



The pre-entry COVID-19 test requirement for arriving travelers will remain in place despite a low incidence of inbound cases and growing calls to replace PCR testing with Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) due to the economic burden of the former.



The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters announced during a briefing, Thursday that the government will maintain its requirement on international arrivals to present negative PCR test results to monitor new variants or possible recombination of the coronavirus in the country.



Under current regulations, all inbound passengers need to present a negative PCR test result conducted or issued within 48 hours before departure and then must undergo a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival before finally conducting a RAT within 6 to 7 days.



The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) spokesperson said pre-entry PCR tests are effective in preventing an influx of COVID-19 cases from other countries, as they pose no pressure on domestic diagnostic capacity and have higher accuracy compared to the RAT.



The health authorities could replace the pre-entry testing requirement from PCR to RAT-type tests or accept both test results for international arrivals when the pandemic settles down in Korea and abroad and international arrivals increase in the future, he said.



However, there have been growing calls from the public and tourism industry to replace the PCR test requirement with RAT due to the former's high price as well the fact that the percentage of overseas infections contributing to Korea's total cases is very low.



The average price of a PCR test and issuance of the result document in English costs around 100,000 to 180,000 won ($78 to $140), which is at a similar level to the prices in other countries.



According to the KDCA, only 21 out of 57,464 new infections here from Thursday were from overseas. About 0.18 percent of the country's total caseload, 31,989 out of over 17 million, are from traveler inflow.



Meanwhile, the government will maintain its current regulation on the manual monitoring policy for fully vaccinated passengers returning from overseas. Those who received second doses 14 to 180 days prior to arrival or who had booster shots are exempt from the isolation requirement.



Those who have been infected with the virus within 10 to 40 days before leaving the country need to present a medical document with the date of diagnosis to be exempt from the pre-arrival PCR testing requirement.


A young British woman who was allegedly raped while on holiday in Turkey was 'treated with contempt' and failed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the public services watchdog has found.

The alleged victim, referred to as Ms B, contacted the FCDO to report that she had been attacked while overseas with her friends in 2018.

However, she was denied the opportunity to take legal action because she was given wrong information by the Government department, and was even told to 'carry on with your holiday and enjoy it'.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has upheld a complaint from Ms B, finding that the FCDO's failings led to a missed opportunity for her to bring her alleged attackers to justice.

The woman said she was not given information on where she could get legal advice or about local police procedures.

She was led to believe she had given sufficient evidence to the police, did not need a forensic examination and had completed the necessary steps for a criminal investigation in Turkey.

This meant that she waited until she was was back in the UK to make the report. At this point, the British police and a British solicitor were unable to investigate because it had allegedly occurred in Turkey.

Pictured, the exterior of the Foreign Office in Whitehall, London

Ms B complained to the Ombudsman that the FCDO's failings left her with no prospect of getting justice.

She also raised concerns about the attitude of FCDO officials, saying they did not believe her or take her seriously. Ms B even received a message from the Vice Consul seen by the PHSO which said: 'What you now have to do is to carry on with your holiday and enjoy it'.

Ms B felt compelled to return to Turkey three times to follow up matters with the police, but none of the perpetrators were found.

She told the Ombudsman that the FCDO's failings had left her unable to pursue legal action and has caused her serious emotional distress.

The woman believes that an earlier police investigation could have led to a different outcome, telling the PHSO: 'I wouldn't wish my experience of the FCDO's mishandling on anyone else.

'I can only hope that significant lessons will be learnt by the FCDO following the report by the Ombudsman and, as a result, significant changes are made to their processes, hiring and training practices.'

Konyaalti Beach in Antalya, Turkey (stock image)

The PHSO recommended that the department sets out what action it will take to address its failings in a plan presented to the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

It also asked the FCDO to compensation Ms B 20,000 for the unnecessary travel and legal expenses she incurred and the distress she experienced as a result of its actions.

Ombudsman Rob Behrens said: 'A young woman who has undergone a deeply traumatic experience has been treated with contempt by the very people who were meant to help her.

'This is a severe dereliction of duty by the FCDO, which needs to make sure that such mishandling of an incident of serious sexual assault never happens again.

'In the aftermath of the #MeToo era, people have a right to assume that Government departments will display the highest levels of awareness and understanding about the importance of women's safety.'

An FCDO spokesman said: 'We apologise for the distress caused and will immediately implement the ombudsman's recommendations.

'Since this incident in 2018, the FCDO has taken a number of steps to ensure victims are not failed in the same way.

'We are committed to learning from where we have fallen short so we can improve the consular support we provide to British nationals in cases involving rape and sexual assault.'
White House communications director Kate Bedingfield tested positive for covid on Friday, she announced, adding that she was not considered a close contact to President Joe Biden.

Bedingfield, who is vaccinated and boosted, said she last saw the president on Wednesday but wore a mask when meeting with him.

'This morning, I tested positive for COVID-19. I last saw the President Wednesday in a socially-distanced meeting while wearing an N-95 mask, and he is not considered a close contact as defined by the CDC,' she wrote on Twitter.

She said she has minor symptoms and will work from home.

'Thanks to being fully vaccinated and boosted, I am only experiencing mild symptoms. In alignment with White House COVID-19 protocols, I will work from home and plan to return to work in person at the conclusion of a five-day isolation period and a negative test,' she noted.

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield tested positive for covid but said she is not considered a close contact to President Joe Biden

Bedingfield is the latest official close to the president to test positive for covid.

Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive earlier this week and is working in isolation.

She was prescribed and has taken antiviral drug Paxlovid after consultation with her physicians.

A White House official told Reuters on Thursday that Harris remained asymptomatic, made calls to members of Congress and had several staff meetings.

Harris will virtually meet leaders of 15 Caribbean nations on Friday as part of her work from home.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff posted a photo to his social media accounts this week of the vice president working from the Naval Observatory.

'She is feeling good and is working from home,' he noted.

In the photo, Harris is sitting at her desk and smiling for the camera.

The positive tests come ahead of Saturday's White House Correspondents Association dinner.

President Biden is scheduled to attend the event, which takes place at the Washington Hilton. There have been concerns that the dinner, which features about 3,000 guests, could become a covid superspreader as the white tie Gridiron dinner did in early April.

The White House has acknowledged the president could, at some point, test positive for covid.

But officials have stressed the protocols in place to keep the 79-year-old president safe.

They argue since Biden is vaccinated and double boosted, he would likely only have minor symptoms. They note Biden is tested regularly and that many of their meetings are socially distanced. The White House dropped its face mask policy after the case rate declined but staff sometimes still wear masks.

Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for covid this week; her husband Doug Emhoff posted the above photo of her working from home to his social media accounts

The White House has said President Joe Biden will attend the White House Correspondents Association dinner on Saturday and has emphasized the protocols in place around him to keep him safe from covid

Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president's top medical adviser, backed out of the correspondents' dinner, telling ABC News, who had invited him, that he could no longer attend due to his own personal risk of contracting COVID-19.

Fauci attended the April 2 Gridiron Dinner where at least 80 of the approximately 630 attendees testing positive for COVID in its aftermath.

The White House Correspondents Association is requiring all guests to have tested negative for covid the day of the dinner and to be vaccinated.

For the Gridiron Dinner, guests merely had to show their vaccination records.

Among the high-profile guests to catch COVID after Gridiron: Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo - who was one of the speakers - New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Reps. Adam Schiff, Julian Castro and Elaine Luria.

Fauci was seated on the dais with Raimondo and Garland, but sat several seats away.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed this week that President Biden was still planning to attend the Correspondents' Dinner, saying, 'just like many Americans, he makes risk assessments.'

'It's possible the president could test positive,' she added.

She noted that it was important to Biden to show, especially after former President Donald Trump skipped the media dinner during his one term.

'That does stand in stark constrast to his predecessor, who not only questioned the legitimacy of the press on a nearly daily basis, but also never attended the dinner, I don't believe,' the press secretary added. 'So he felt that was important and made a risk assessment to do that in consultation with his doctors and healthcare team.'

Psaki added that the president will take additional precautions including possibly wearing a mask when he wasn't talking. Psaki - who has twice contracted COVID - said she'd also likely wear a mask.

Biden won't attend the dinner portion of the evening but will be there for the speeches and presentation of scholarships to journalism students.

'And we also took steps, including the fact that he's not attending for the eating portion of the dinner,' Psaki said. 'And he'll be there for the program, which includes a number of speakers, the presentation of scholarships, as you know, and of course his speaking and his roasting - where he will be on the menu, as he likes to say - Trevor Noah is speaking.'

President Joe Biden's top medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci is skipping Saturday's White House Correspondents' Association dinner due to COVID concerns

The White House Correspondents' Dinner last took place in 2019 (pictured), with thousands packed into the ballroom of the Washington Hilton

The White House Correspondents' Dinner was last held in 2019.

Traditionally the president gives a comedy bit - and then is roasted by a comedian.

Former President Donald Trump never attended during his tenure - but was famously picked on by then President Barack Obama while in the audience as a private citizen in 2011.

This year's headliner is The Daily Show's Trevor Noah.
The owner of two pit bulls that ripped a woman's arms off let them attack another man months earlier - and remarked on his pets 'getting a taste for blood' after they slaughtered his chickens.

Justin Minor, 36, remarked 'Once a dog tastes blood, that's it,' after 11 other dogs were removed from his home in Abbeville County, South Carolina, at an earlier date.

He wanted to kill them after the animals slaughtered the family's chickens, while his wife believed they should be trained. The couple ultimately compromised and asked animal control to take them away.

Minor now faces multiple charges over his other animals' attack on Kyleen Waltman, 38, who lost both arms and her colon after being savaged by two of his pets last month.

And during a court appearance Thursday, prosecutor Jeffrey Hines revealed that Minor's dogs had carried out yet another attack on Christmas Eve 2021.

The victim, Roy Ashley, had to be hospitalized afterwards, although further details of his injuries were not shared.

Prosecutor Hines said animal control had been notified of that attack, but that the dog or dogs behind the attack weren't turned over.

It is unclear why no action was taken - and if those were the same dogs that later savaged Waltman, who remains seriously-ill in hospital.

Justin Minor appeared in court on Thursday. He was charged with three counts of owning dangerous animal that attacked and injured a human, rabies violation and allowing dangerous animals off his property unrestrained in the March 21 attack

'She has survived this for a reason. So through prayers and Jesus Christ she will prevail. Kyleen has came a long way from where she was a month ago, till now. And our family is very thankful for all of you for everything that you all have done to help not only Kyleen through this but, also her family. We will never be able to repay you all back for everything,' Wynn said

Kayleen Waltman, 38, had both arm amputated up to the shoulder, had her colon removed and her esophagus may have to be removed, according to her sister, Amy Wynne

One of the dogs on Minor's property pictured here unleashed and roaming loose

During Thursday's preliminary hearing, Minor sat with his attorney, Charles Grose, during the 30-minute hearing. He remained inexpressive with his hands folded, partially covering his mouth, and family members sat nearby.

Minor's attorney asked that the case against him to be dismissed, but judge Magistrate Carolyn Brownlee sent the case to a grand jury for indictment, Fox Carolina reported.

Last month, he was released on a $15,000 bond, and may still face a penalty of $5,000 or a sentence of three years in prison.

Also in the courtroom were Waltman's mother and her sister, Amy Wynne, who made no statements. Some officers with the Abbeville County Sheriffs Office were also in attendance.

Waltman had been walking from her boyfriend's home to her mother's house along Ball Road in Honea Path, a rural area about 80 miles northwest of Columbia, when the near-fatal attack occurred.



Tanya Gilmer, Waltman's best friend, told WGN Radio: 'As far as I know, the dogs just jumped on her and you can actually see in the road if you go down there, where she fought the dog, trying to fight them off,' Gilmer said.

Local farmer and good Samaritan Avery Presley, had been driving his tractor when he saw Waltman in a ditch getting viciously attacked by the pack of dogs. He fired his gun into that prompted the dogs to flee, police said.

Gilmer told the radio station: 'The dogs 'pretty much ripped all the meat from [Waltman's] arms,' and that the woman now has 'a hole in the back of her head.'

During the testimony, Hines said he was not certain that the animals involved in the December incident were the same ones that were euthanized after the attack on Waltman last month.

Hines said Minor learned of the attack when deputies contacted him at work. When he arrived at the scene, he told deputies that they could take the dogs and put them down, WFFY reported.

Animal control officers said previously they took a total of 11 dogs from Minor's property.

At the hearing, Hines said a neighbor told deputies that Minor said, 'those dogs will bite anyone.'

One of Minors neighbors told investigators that he was afraid to go outside when the dogs were out, and that he would carry a stick to for safety.



'Once a dog tastes blood, that's it,' Hines recounted Minor telling deputies on scene.

He also said the none of the dogs that were running loose around the suspects property had been vaccinated for rabies.

A mugshot of Minor when he was arrested by deputies from the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office. He was released on a $15,000 bond, and may still face a penalty of $5,000 or a sentence of three years in prison

In court, Abbeville County investigator Jeffery Hines spoke of another dog attack that happened on Minor's property that took place around Christmas Eve.

Hines, who went to visit Waltman in the ICU a few days after the attack described it is 'one of the more gruesome animal attacks I've ever seen in my career.'

He added: 'She had bites from her top of her head to the bottom of her feet, including her whole entire body,' he said.

The dogs were later seized by Abbeville County Animal Control, and the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office and were euthanized and sent away for testing.

Waltman has since undergone more than 10 surgeries. Waltman's sister, Amy Wynne started a GoFundMe to help raise money for her sister's medical care, and to provide regular updates on her sister's condition.

On Wednesday, Amy Wynne, Waltman's sister wrote: 'Kyleen went through surgery good. Her left leg is giving not only her but the doctors a fit. The infection in it is the same infection that she has had throughout her whole body, but for some reason the infection in her leg they can't stop from spreading. So they are going to leave the pump on it for a little while longer.'

She added: 'Ok, we thought her right shoulder was going to be good and they were able to fit it with a prosthetic, well yesterday they found an infection in the bone and had to remove more of the bone. So now she will not be able to have regular prosthetics on either shoulder. The doctors have told Kyleen once again about her arms and about most of the damage the dogs had done. She is now fully aware of the situation. She still has a long way to go.'

A GoFundMe has raised nearly $230,000 with nearly 5K donations nearing their goal of $300,000.

Wynne added: 'She has survived this for a reason. So through prayers and Jesus Christ she will prevail. Kyleen has came a long way from where she was a month ago, till now.. And our family is very thankful for all of you for everything that you all have done to help not only Kyleen through this but, also her family. We will never be able to repay you all back for everything.'

Minor's attorney did not respond to DailyMail.com request for comment.

His next court appearance is on Friday, May 6 at 10 am, a clerk at Abbeville General Sessions Court told DailyMail.com on Friday.
A paedophile entertainer who dubbed himself 'Britain's only Asian clown' and starred in a documentary was found living in a rental home with a child's 'racing car' bed after absconding from authorities following his release from prison.

Kingsley Perera, 57, secretly moved town without informing police after serving a ten-month jail sentence when officers found with thousands of child sex images on his phone in December 2020.

A court heard that Perera, who went by the stage name Theeeko, was found peering out of the bathroom window of a rented house.

When officers went inside the property in Port Talbot, south Wales, they found a child's bedroom along with a 'racing car' bed

Perera appeared at Swansea Crown Court today after breaching his sex offender registration notification requirements by failing to inform police of his move.

Stephen Rees, prosecuting, told the court that he was found at the new address following information received by the Department for Work and Pensions.

The conviction for child sex offences came after Perera had starred in his own documentary in 2005.

Kingsley Perera was jailed for 10 months in December 2020 after thousands of child sex images were found on his phone

Perera, 57, claimed to be Britain's only Asian clown and performed under the stage name Theeeko

Perera during the documentary The Only Clown in the Village, which followed him on an 'emotional' journey across Sri Lanka

It followed him through Sri Lanka as he aimed to 'help children recover from the Tsunami and decades of civil war', detailing how he went on a 'physical, emotional and spiritual journey' across the country.

The documentary shows him performing for groups of children and speaking to local residents as he explores the island.

But today, Perera claimed he has 'memory issues' and the fact he was meant to alert police to his move 'fell off the radar'.

The court heard he was caught with up to 4,000 indecent images on his mobile phones - including more than 600 of the most extreme Category A photos.

Perera denied he was responsible for downloading the images and had even tried to blamed his own sister.

But he was convicted and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and placed on the sex offenders register for the same period.

The requirements of the order meant he had tell police about any new address within three days.

But Perera breached the order in March when he was located in the new property.

He admitted to breaching sexual registration notification requirements.

Perera performed for a large group of Sri Lankan children during the documentary of his journey across the country

He could be seen covering his face with a blanket as part of an act before he met locals in a village affected by the country's Tsunami

Vince Williams, representing the defendant, said he had been evicted from his previous property.

Judge Wayne Beard said a pre-sentence report found Perera posed a greater risk if he were sent back to custody than if he carried out a rehabilitation course in the community.

He said: 'It seems the public would be better protected in these circumstances if I were to impose a suspended sentence.'

Perera was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to complete a rehabilitation requirement.
Tehran paraded a new Khaibar Buster missile today to Iranians chanting 'death to America' and burning Israeli and US flags at a rally to mark Quds Day.

State-organised marches took place throughout the country, as the Revolutionary Guards commander said Israels actions are creating the conditions for its own destruction.

Quds Day, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, is an annual event held on the last Friday of Ramadan to express support for Palestinians and condemn Israel.

People march next to a Shahab-3 missile during a rally marking Al Quds Day in Tehran to show solidarity with Palestine

Demonstrators burn Israeli and US flags during the rally today which millions took part in, state TV said

Tehran paraded a new Khaibar Buster missile to the packed crowds on the last Friday of Ramadan

Khaibar refers to an ancient Jewish oasis in the Arabian Peninsula's Hijaz region that was overrun by Muslim warriors in the 7th century

The Khaibar Buster, a reference to a Jewish castle overrun by Muslim warriors led by Prophet Mohammed in the early days of Islam, has a range of 900 miles and runs on solid fuel.

The missile has high accuracy, is manufactured completely domestically, and can defeat missile shield systems, Iran claims.

Israel's closest point to Iran is 620 miles away, and the US has military bases in the region that could be struck by the new weapon.

State TV said millions were in attendance today and showed supporters burning flags and photos of Joe Biden, and shouting choreographed 'Death to America, Death to Israel' slogans.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech that anti-Israeli protests and attacks showed that Palestinians rejected compromises by Arab authorities with Israel.

Basij paramilitary force members march during the annual pro-Palestinian Al-Quds, or Jerusalem, Day rally

Caricatures of Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin are burned during the rally which regularly fuels anti-US and Israel sentiment

Iranians hold up signs to show support for Palestine at the rally held in support of their Muslim ally

Opposition to Israel is a touchstone of belief for Iran, which backs Palestinian and Lebanese Islamist militant groups opposed to peace with Israel, which Tehran does not recognise.

'What has happened in Palestine in recent years annuls all plans for compromise with the Zionist enemy (Israel) because no plan for Palestine can be implemented in the absence or contrary to the opinions of its owners, the Palestinians,' Khamenei said, speaking in Arabic and addressing Palestinians and other Arabs.

Thus, Khamenei said, all previous peace agreements -- such as the 1993 Oslo Accords, the two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and former Donald Trump's plan dubbed the Deal of the Century 'are null and void'.

President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran's military commanders and senior officials also attended the rallies in which people were allowed to march through the streets, the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago.

Iran's Jerusalem Day rallies are held annually in support of Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state in territories captured by Israel in a 1967 war, on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Iranian Basij paramilitary forces take part in a rally marking al-Quds (Jerusalem) day near a Shahab-3 missile

Members of a special IRGC force take part in the Jerusalem Day rallies held annually in support of Palestinians

'Stop your vicious deeds. You know well that we are people of action and reaction,' Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami, addressing Israel, told demonstrators in Tehran.

'Our responses are painful. You create conditions for your own destruction. We will not leave you alone ...You know better than me what will befall you if you take evil action.'

Iran's military has vowed to retaliate harshly against any attack by Israel, which has often voiced concern over the Iranian nuclear programme. Tehran says the programme is for peaceful purposes only.

Israel, whose existence the Islamic Republic does not recognise, has long threatened military action against Iran if talks between Tehran and world powers fail to curb Iranian nuclear activity. Iran says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.

Tehran regards its ballistic missile programme as an important deterrent against the United States, Israel and other adversaries

Iranian women hold posters of senior Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani who was killed by the US in a drone strike in 2020

State TV said millions were in attendance today and showed supporters burning flags and photos of Joe Biden

Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, says its ballistic missiles have a range of up to 1,200 miles and are capable of reaching its arch-foe Israel and U.S. bases in the region.

Tehran regards its ballistic missile programme as an important deterrent against the United States, Israel and other adversaries, and has rejected Western demands to halt it.

Over the past year, Iran and the United States have engaged in fitful, indirect talks in Vienna to revive a 2015 nuclear deal that then-President Donald Trump reneged on in 2018 and that Iran, in turn, began violating in 2019.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear programme in return for relief from economic sanctions.

While they appeared close to resurrecting the deal in March, talks stalled over last-minute Russian demands and whether Washington might drop Iran's Revolutionary Guards from its Foreign Terrorist Organisation list.
A toddler was rushed to hospital last night after a coyote bit her face in a horror beach attack.

The wild animal pounced on the little girl while she was with her mom and sibling near the pier at Huntington Beach, California at 9.45pm.

The girl, thought to be aged two or three, was taken to hospital by ambulance to deal with her serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Witness Garie Joncon told CBS News: 'There was a coyote right around here, we saw it, and all of a sudden it went by this family.

'And there was a kid on the ground. Five minutes later we walked back, whole crowd around a baby. Baby evidently got bit, and there was blood all over its face.'

It is not yet known the extent of the girl's injuries but she will be tested for rabies.

The animal was later caught on camera running by the ocean and shot by police, but escaped and is still on the loose. A frantic hunt is now underway to euthanize it.

A toddler was rushed to hospital last night after a coyote (pictured) attacked and bit her face

The coyote ran off and although it was shot by cops, it was able to escape again and is being hunted down

Police spokesperson Jennifer Carey said: 'Upon arrival, officers located an injured female child.

'The child was transported to a local hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.'

Carey said police have conducted increased coyote trapping efforts throughout the city for the past several weeks and asked residents to report coyote sightings.

Huntington Beach, on the Orange County coast, has one of California's classic surf breaks and is known as 'Surf City USA.'

The northern Orange County California city of Huntington Beach, by the Pacific Ocean (File image)

Police said in a statement last night: 'At approximately 9:45 p.m., the Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD) responded to reports of a coyote attack on the beach, north of the pier.

'Upon arrival, officers located an injured female child. The child was transported to a local hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

'Due to the fact that the victim is a minor, we do not plan to release any further details on the victim.

'The HBPD is working in coordination with the California Department of Fish and Game in tracking and euthanizing the coyote involved. There is no further information available at this time.

'The HBPD has been conducting increased trapping efforts throughout the City over the last several weeks. We ask that the community notify us of coyote sightings by calling (714) 960-8811 so that we may continue our ongoing public safety efforts.'

The incident comes weeks after police warned residents not to leave food out for the animals.

In a Facebook post they said: 'We have received numerous reports of residents leaving food out to feed coyotes, this is not only dangerous, but also illegal.

'Leaving food in residential areas encourages coyotes to return to the area & creates hazardous conditions for residents, pets, & coyotes.

'In the coming weeks we will be providing additional tips & information on how we plan to work with the community to address coyotes in HB.'
A Miami real estate agent died of a heart attack in Colombia a week after undergoing gastric bypass surgery done by a doctor who was found responsible for the death of a patient five years ago.

Dilay Escalante, 46, had a bariatric operation performed by Dr. Carlos Sales on April 21 in Barranquilla, her aunt Xiomara Contreras told El Heraldo.

Escalante, a Venezuela native with dual US citizenship, encountered issues soon after the procedure to her stomach, but was still discharged from the Catalina Reina Clinic.

She was rushed to hospital, where she died Thursday.

Dilay Escalante, of Miami, had a bariatric operation performed by Dr. Carlos Sales on April 21 in Barranquilla, Colombia. She dealt with multiple complications and died Thursday

Dr. Carlos Sales told El Heraldo newspaper that Dilay Escalante did not present any problems after he performed a bariatric surgery on April 21 and found her to be doing 'well' when he visited her Wednesday

Her aunt said that Escalante complained about having a lot of gas, vomited a lot the day after she had the surgery and had problems drinking water.

'They did gastric dilations for three consecutive days and yesterday (Wednesday) when we were with the doctor in the apartment again,' Contreras said. 'She told him that she couldn't take it anymore, to which he replied that it was normal because of the operation.'

Escalante's condition worsened Thursday morning and was instructed by Sales to head over to the Catalina Reina Clinic for further X-rays.

Dilay Escalante, a real estate agent in Miami, died in Colombia on Thursday a week after undergoing plastic surgery

Dilay Escalante was seen at an apartment where she was staying with her aunt on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday because she was still feeling ill after undergoing a bariatric surgery. She died Thursday, a week after the operation

Contreras said a friend was driving to the medical facility but instead decided to stop at the Iberoamericana Clinic when they noticed her condition was deteriorating.

'She turned pale, rolled her eyes, and no longer responded,' Contreras said.

Escalante was taken into the emergency unit where doctors attempted to revive her before she went into cardiac arrest.

'We called [Sales] to make an appearance and when he wanted to come, he had already told us that my niece was dead. We want justice to be done,' Contreras said.

Sales told El Heraldo that Escalante 'came out of the operation in perfect condition' and that when he saw her on Wednesday, he found that she was doing 'well.'

Dilay Escalante was unresponsive as she was rushed to a clinic in Baranquilla, Colombia, where she died Thursday, just a week after undergoing a lap-band procedure

In October 2021, the Colombian Supreme Court ordered Dr. Carlos Sales to pay $461,072 in damages to the family of Julio Duran, who died after undergoing a bariatric procedure in 2015

In October 2021, the Colombian Supreme Court ordered Sales to pay $461,072 in damages to the family of Julio Duran, who died after undergoing a bariatric procedure in 2015.

Sales performed what he described as the 'Sales surest gastric,' which he claimed was 'an alternative for restrictive bariatric surgery.'

Surgeon experts interviewed by El Espectador in 2014 cautioned against the dangers of the procedure, indicating it elevated 'the risk of leaking gastric content and eventually peritonitis.'

Sales, his brother and 42 other surgeons are being investigated for falsifying their diplomas.

In November 2017, a judge banned Sales from performing plastic surgeries.

According to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, patients who opt for bariatric surgery "lose weight rapidly and continue to do so until 18 to 24 months after the procedure."

About 30 of 50 percent of their excess weight can be lost in the first six months. About 77 percent of the weight is going within 12 months after the procedure is done.

The operation could cost between $15,000 and $23,000 in the United States, but some patients opt to travel to Colombia, where it ranges from $5,000 to $10,000.
A Russian anti-tank mine that had previously not been seen on the battlefield has been discovered in Ukraine, according to reports.

When triggered, the PTKM-1R top-attack mine launches itself into the air above its target, before attacking from above in a potentially deadly strike.

Sensors in the mine detect to the sound of approaching vehicles, and compare the audio it picks up to a pre-determined target list. This, its manufacturers say, means it won't be triggered when civilian vehicles pass by.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Russia's armies began using the 45lb PTKM-1R in 2020. Analysts have said it is similar to the US-made M93 Hornet Wide-Area Munition, which is also a top-attack mine.

A picture was shared on Twitter from Ukraine of one of the mines placed in a field. The photograph was reportedly taken on April 26.

Sensors in the mine detect to the sound of approaching vehicles, and compare the audio it picks up to a pre-determined target list. Once triggered, the mins tilts to a 30 degree angle and launches its explosive warhead into the air, scanning the ground for its target

Pictured: The mine's four acoustic sensors are shown in this demonstration video

According to the Armament Research Services blog, the mine is placed on the ground with its eight legs folded outwards to keep it facing upwards.

Its four directional acoustic sensors and seismic sensors are set off when a target vehicle comes within 100 metres (328 feet), at which point the projectile's flight-path is calculated.

Once the on-board systems have the target in their sights, the mine tilts at a 30-degree angle towards the vehicle.

When the target is deemed close enough, the 6.2lb explosive warhead - or submunition - is launched into the air to a height of around 100ft, and the mine's infrared censors scan the ground below for the tank.

An explosive metal projectile is then fired from the submunition at high speed. It travels at such pace that it can blast through even the typical 2.75 inch thick steel armour on traditional tanks. The whole launch process takes a matter of seconds.

Countries have been racing to develop increasingly powerful top-attack weapons, such as this high-tech mine, to counter improving tank armour technology.

Tanks are more vulnerable from above, as demonstrated by the Ukrainian army's effectiveness in destroying hundreds of Russian tanks using aerial strikes.

Pictured: The mine is shown in the air hovering above a tank for a split second, before launching its explosive slug down at its target

Pictured: The Russian-made PTKM-1R top-attack mine is shown in a demonstration video. The mine first itself into the air above its target, before attacking a tank's less protected turret

However, tank armour - that was once made from steel plating - has improved quickly in recent years, and is now often made from lighter ceramic alternatives.

This means tanks are more manoeuvrable and face fewer issues with their suspension - all while offering a similar level of protection.

Weapons researchers and manufacturers have been exploring ways to develop weapons that attack from above, targeting the turrets which are weaker.

PTKM-1R could easily breach a tank's turret, and in doing so kill the crew or cause the ammunition on-board the tank to explode.

A Russian military video posted to YouTube in November 8, 2021 showed the unveiling of the mine.

The large object is shown on display, before it is shown in action against an unmanned tank in a demonstration.

The slow-motion footage shows the submunition launching above the tank before hanging in the air for a split second, and then rocketing down at its target.

It is not known if any have yet been used to destroy any of Kyiv's tanks.

Ukrainian forces have used top-attack technologies to great effect since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of the country.

Several videos from Ukrainian forces have shown hand-held rocket launches and artillery strikes raining down on top of Russian tanks, many of which have been destroyed.
A couple of would-be newlyweds thought their luck had run out when flights to their wedding destination of Las Vegas were canceled and the prospect of getting married that day seemed to crumble.

Oklahomans Pam and Jeremy Salda wanted to tie the knot in a small Las Vegas celebration on Tuesday but when they landed at Dallas Fort Worth on April 24 the pair realized their connecting flight had been canceled.

Yet it wasn't long before their luck turned and they were riding high again as another passenger overheard their problem and revealed he was an ordained minister who could wed them in the air.

Chris Mitcham, whose plane to Las Vegas was also canceled, booked tickets with the couple on Southwest Flight 2690 from Dallas Love Field Airport to Las Vegas via Phoenix.

Oklahomans Pam and Jeremy Salda wanted to tie the knot in a small Las Vegas but instead got married in a plane

Pam walked up the aisle at 37,000 feet on Southwest Flight 2690 from Dallas Love Field Airport to Las Vegas via Phoenix

The crew set the mood by turning on the plane's call lights and downloaded Here Comes The Bride to play as Pam walked down the aisle, accompanied by one of the stewardesses as a stand-in maid of honor

The couple had already dressed for the chapel in the hope they could rush straight from the airport to the altar.

Instead, the Saldas were married at 37,000 feet in front of hundreds of strangers.

As she boarded the plane, the Southwest captain asked whether Pam was going to get hitched in Las Vegas.

'I said, "Well, we're going to try, but if not I think I'm just going to get married right here on this plane"', she told ABC News.

'He said, "Really?" I was like, "Yes" and he goes, "Okay, we can do that."'

Pam added: 'As soon as we kind of get up to the altitude, people can start moving around.

Bride and groom posed with the flight's crew after their successful mid-air wedding

One passenger even created a guest book of every passenger on board at their impromptu ceremony

'The flight crew, they just spring into action. They're taking toilet paper and making streamers at the front.

'They made Chris, the officiant, a little sash out of snack packets and clipped it together with cocktail spears.'

The crew set the mood by turning on the plane's call lights and downloaded Here Comes The Bride to play as Pam walked down the aisle, accompanied by one of the stewardesses as a stand-in maid of honor.

The happy couple had wanted to get married in Las Vegas but when their connecting flight was canceled a fellow passenger revealed he was an ordained minister and could marry them on the plane

Other passengers got involved too. Minister Chris also used to be a TV producer and was able to use his video camera to capture the special moment on film.

Meanwhile, a professional photographer on board snapped pictures for the bride and groom.

Another passenger passed around a notebook that every passenger wrote in with their name, seat number and a note for the newlyweds.

The couple had already dressed for the chapel in the hope they could rush straight from the airport to the altar. Instead they put their marriage clothes to use on a Southwest plane

Jeremey beamed as he held his new wife Pam in his arms while hundreds of joyful passengers celebrated with them

One fellow passenger even had a spare donut to offer as a wedding cake, which Pam and Jeremy decided to split with each other.

The airline provided drinks on the house as well.

Southwest Airlines said: 'Congrats to the newlyweds on a memorable inflight wedding neither our Employees nor Passengers are likely to forget!

'We can't wait to welcome you back on board the love airline.'
An investigating officer from Thames Valley Police has said that he is 'absolutely committed' to finding Leah Croucher, who went missing more than three years ago.

Leah, who was 19 at the time of her disappearance, was reported missing from Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, by her family on February 15, 2019. They last saw her at 10pm the day before, February 14 - Valentine's Day.

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Inspector Andy Howard, of Thames Valley Police, appealed again for people to come forward to help identify a person pictured at the time.

An investigating officer from Thames Valley Police has said that he is 'absolutely committed' to finding Leah Croucher (above), who went missing more than three years ago

Leah, who was 19 years old at the time of her disappearance, was reported missing from Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes by her family on 15th February 2019. They last saw her at 10pm the day before, 14 February, St Valentine's Day. Pictured: The last known sighting of Leah on February 15

'We remain absolutely committed to finding Leah and seeking answers for her family,' he told The Sun.

'We continue to keep in close contact with Leahs family, and continue to support them.'

The force has not launched a murder investigation and is still treating it as a missing person case. This could suggest officers are working on the theory that Leah is still alive.

Criminology Professor David Wilson, from Birmingham City University, told the paper that having CCTV images of Leah on the day she disappeared is 'significant'.

'My own view is at the minute, there is literally no evidence whatsoever that will allow you to rule out hypotheses in terms of what happened to Leah Croucher,' he said.

'Three people if I read correctly, three people saw a woman dressed very similarly to Leah Croucher who was clearly distressed. She was upset about something.

One image from Furzton Lake, shows a figure of a person dressed in black, who may or may not have been Leah, on the day she disappeared

Police released these images of a bag and mobile phone, similar to the ones owned by Leah Croucher and which she is believed to have had with her prior to her disappearance

Police marked the third anniversary of the disappearance of Leah Croucher (pictured) by releasing new images that may help to find out what has happened to her

'There has been a lot of publicity about women dressed in black, who was was obviously distressed.

'That woman has never come forward. Nobody has ever come forward. And so my presumption is that is Leah Croucher.'

The professor said people cannot 'rule things in or out' in this case. He added that he has confidence in the case, because DCI Howard has been leading the search for Leah since the beginning.

'I know from my work, that that often isn't the case,' he said. 'Senior investigating officers change on a regular basis on missing persons cases, and that isn't the case here. That's gives me a lot of confidence.'

In February, police hunting for Leah released new images to mark the third anniversary of her disappearance.

One image from Furzton Lake, near to Leah's home in Milton Keynes, shows the figure of a person dressed in black, who may or may not have been Leah, on the day she was reported missing.

Another shows a number of people, who detectives would like to speak to, as they believe they might be able to help the investigation.

Leah was last seen on CCTV down Buzzacott Lane in Furzton, while on her way to work on the morning of February 15, 2019, before she 'effectively vanished into thin air'. The last activity on her phone was just after 8.30am that day.

Despite a wide-scale investigation in which police visited 4,000 properties and reviewed 1,200 hours of CCTV, no trace of her has been found and no one has been arrested in connection with the case.

Speaking earlier this year, DCI Howard said he hoped the new images would prompt more people to come forward with 'potentially vital' information.

Leah's family issued an emotional statement to mark the third anniversary of her disappearance.

Leah Croucher seen on CCTV. She was last seen on CCTV down Buzzacott Lane in Furzton, Buckinghamshire while on her way to work on the morning of February 15, 2019 before she 'vanished into thin air'

The last confirmed sighting of Leah was at 8.16am on CCTV in Buzzacott Lane, Furzton, on the morning of 15 February, and the last activity on her phone was just after 8.30am that day. Pictured: Leah Croucher

Timeline of missing Leah Croucher's disappearance February 14, 2019 8am: Leah, 19, sets off for work as normal to her admin job with finance company in Milton Keynes. 5.45pm: Leah walks home from work. The location settings on her Samsung phone were switched off in the Furzton Lake area. 6pm: Leah arrives home from work. She changes into tracksuit bottoms and a long-sleeved top. She tells her mum she is going to visit a friend. 7.15pm: Leah arrives home again. Her behaviour that night was totally normal, say her parents. February 15 8am: Leah gets up and leaves for work. She sets off on her normal route, wearing a black coat, skinny black jeans, black Converse high top shoes and carrying a small black rucksack. Underneath her coat she wears a distinctive grey hoodie. 8.13am: CCTV footage shows her walking along Buzzacott Lane in Furzton. That was the last confirmed sighting of Leah. 8.34am: Leah's mobile phone is switched off. 9am: Leah fails to arrive at work. 9.30am - 11.15am: Three different witnesses report seeing a girl matching Leah's description walking by Furzton Lake. She was looking 'visibly upset' and crying while talking on the phone. Police have never been able to say definitely that this was Leah. 6pm: Leah fails to return home. She is reported missing. February 17 Police issue a press release saying Leah is missing. February 19 Police release the CCTV footage of Leah. They are becoming 'increasingly concerned' for her welfare. Her phone is switched off and cannot be traced and her bank account has not been touched. In the following weeks divers scour Furzton Lake and fingertip searches are carried out. Leah's family and friends put posters up appealing for information. September 25 BBC's Crimewatch Roadshow re-enacts Leah's disappearance and appeals for information. It shows the clothing Leah was wearing on the day she vanished. Viewer contacts the show saying she and remembers walking at the Blue Lagoon lake in Bletchley, Milton Keynes in February and seeing a grey hoodie just near the water, like the one Leah was wearing. October 9 Police launch a major search at the Blue Lagoon. Nothing of any significance is found. November 14-16 Leah's brother Haydon Croucher killed himself in his flat in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, and was found by his mother and sister. February 14, 2020 Leah's parents Claire and John Croucher issue a fresh appeal at a media conference at Milton Keynes Police Station a year after her disappearance. February 15, 2021 Her family issue a statement appealing for help to find her on the second anniversary of her disappearance. In an emotional statement they said: 'It's now been two years since our beautiful, wonderful daughter Leah, left for work and vanished without a trace. Missing. Gone. 'To say they have been a hard two years is an understatement. They have been the longest and toughest two years of our lives.' February 15, 2022 Police release a new image of a person dressed in black seen at Furzton Lake to mark the third year of her disappearance. In a written statement Leah's family said each day 'feels like an eternity of pain and despair', but said they remained hopeful she would one day be found. 'It is harder each day to tell ourselves that today will be the day that we get answers, today we find out what happened three years ago,' her parents said. Advertisement

In a written statement, issued through Thames Valley Police, Leah's family said each day 'feels like an eternity of pain and despair', but said they remained hopeful she would one day be found.

'It is harder each day to tell ourselves that today will be the day that we get answers, today we find out what happened three years ago,' her parents John and Claire Croucher said in the statement.

'It is unimaginable to convince ourselves that this is not a lie we tell ourselves so that we get out of bed each day. Each day is torture.

'It is inconceivable not to worry every second of every single day. Sleep feels an elusive character each night, waking each morning we never feel rested and refreshed.

'Each time the phone rings or there is a knock at the front door, our hearts still leap in our chests.

'That familiar surge of hope springing up in our throats. That familiar wave of despair that crashes over our very souls each time

'It is not the police or Leah herself knocking at the door or calling on the phone.

'Again, we ask for the publics help. You have all been so wonderful so far, still helping us search every face in the streets to see if they are Leah, still sharing on social media, still reporting possible sightings to the police.'

The night before she went missing, Leah left her home in Milton Keynes between 6pm and 7.15pm. She told her mother Claire Croucher she was seeing a friend.

The police found out she never saw the friend and they do not know where she went or who she was with - or whether she met anyone that night.

Her parents last saw her when she went to bed, with her mother Claire previously saying it was 'the last time I got to say goodnight'.

Last year Claire and her husband John Croucher said they feared someone may have taken Leah as they questioned why she would 'just disappear'.

The search for Leah has seen officers visit more than 4,000 homes in Milton Keynes, while officers have deployed specialist search teams, drones and helicopters.

Marine units and dive teams have conducted searches of lakes across the town but police say they have found no items relating to the missing woman.

Alongside the images released this year, which show a black figure beside Furzton Lake, police also released an image of a woman with a dog they would like to speak to as part of their investigation.

DCI Howard said: 'The image we are releasing today is not of a high quality, but I am hoping that somebody will recognise themselves as being in this picture.

'I am keen to hear from the group of people in this image; it may be that you regularly walk in this area and will recognise yourselves.

'I would also like to hear from the person in the image walking her dog.

'If you have not already got in touch with the police, I would urge you to do so, as you may have a vital piece of information that would be key to this investigation.

'I'm am particularly keen to identify the person seen in the image who is dressed in black.

'This photograph was taken at 10.51am on the morning of 15 February 2019.

'It is not possible from the image to say whether or not the person dressed in black is Leah but we have witnesses in the area of the lake at around this time who describe seeing a young female in black clothing who is described as appearing distracted or upset, and possibly using her phone.

'Despite previous appeals, we have so far been unable to establish the identity of this female and so if you believe this was you or you know who it is, please contact the police.'

'Were you in the area of Furzton Lake between 10.45am and 11.30am on that morning?

'I know this was three years ago, but this image was taken the day after Valentine's Day, and just prior to the school half-term break, and so it may be that you remember being in the area, or you walk in this area regularly.'

The police said Leah's disappearance remains a mystery and they remain determined to seek the answers for her family and friends.

DCI Howard continued: 'I would again like to appeal directly to the people of Milton Keynes, particularly if you live, commute or exercise in the areas that Leah used on a regular basis.

'As we know, Leah walked to work in Knowlhill most mornings. On Friday 15 February she was seen on CCTV in Buzzacott Lane, Furzton at 8.16am, so we know for certain that she walked that way.

'We would expect her walking route to have taken her past Tellytubby Hill on Dulverton Drive.

'From that point we believe that Leah would have either taken a route north around Furzton Lake or along Loxbeare Drive into Shenley Lodge and north along Faraday Drive.

Leah Croucher's mother Claire speaking to media at Milton Keynes Police Station in 2020

John and Claire speaking to media at Milton Keynes Police Station in 2020, as they plead for information one year on from her disappearance

'This area is a well populated residential area with people commuting, doing the school run or exercising. Given how busy the area is I find it hard to believe that this CCTV clip of Leah at 8.16am is the last time that we know she was seen.

'At around this time a witness saw a female matching Leah's description walking past Tellytubby Hill, approximately 150 yards after the sighting in Buzzacott Lane.

'From the information the witness provided we believe it is likely that it is Leah, however as Leah is not known to the witness it is not possible to say with certainty.

'But this is a busy area and therefore it is highly likely that other people will have seen this same female and we are keen to hear from you.

Pictured: Leah Croucher (right) with her sister Jade

'We know that the day before Leah's disappearance she took a route (to work?) which led her from Dulverton Drive and along Loxbeare Drive, under H7 Chaffron Way.

'She then took a combination of Faraday Drive and the adjacent redways through Shenley Lodge and into Knowlhill.

'However it appears that this was not the route Leah took to work on 15 February. It is for this reason we are appealing to the people who are local to these areas, and feel that there could still be someone out there with information we need.

'I genuinely believe that there are people in the area that morning who will have seen Leah and who can help the investigation.'

Anyone who has information that could lead to the force locating Leah Croucher, is asked to contact 101 quoting reference number 43190049929, or Operation Dawlish.

Information can also be left via a dedicated website for the investigation, at mipp.police.uk.

There is a 20,000 reward for information that leads to Leah being found.
A military parade is held at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, April 25, 2022, celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of North Korea's army, with the North's leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, in this photo released the following day by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap





North Korean leader Kim Jong-un again called for the bolstering of his country's military strength to "annihilate the enemy," as he held a photo session with participants in a military parade held earlier this week, state media reported Friday.







During the session held Wednesday, Kim praised the soldiers for "fully demonstrating" the "modernity, heroism and radical development" of the North's military forces and their "matchless military and technological superiority" during the event held Monday night, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).







"He underlined the need for all the service personnel of the entire army to fully cherish the soul and spirit of the DPRK and bolster up their strength in every way to annihilate the enemy and thus more firmly guarantee the accomplishment of the revolutionary cause of Juche with arms," the KCNA said in an English-language report, using the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Juche means self-reliance.







Other participants included the North's top military official, Pak Jong-chon, as well as Ri Pyong-chol, a member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau, who returned to public view at the parade after a 10-month disappearance.







The North held the nighttime parade Monday to celebrate the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, during which it displayed key weapons, including the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile.







At the parade, Kim also declared his resolve to further strengthen the regime's nuclear capabilities and warned that any forces seeking to violate the "fundamental interests" of the North would be met with its nuclear forces. (Yonhap)


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The wife of porn probe MP Neil Parish has told an interviewer that the allegations against her husband are 'very embarrassing' while he refuses to quit the House of Commons after having the whip withdrawn, claiming he viewed the 'x-rated site by mistake'.

Mr Parish's wife of 40 years Susan said she was completely unaware of her husband having done such things in the past.

Meanwhile, Mr Parish was asked whether he opened a file 'in error', to which he replied: 'I did, but let the inquiry look at that.'

He said he would quit if he was found guilty following an investigation and apologised for the incident, adding that he had only told his wife this afternoon.

Mrs Parish said: 'It was all very embarrassing. My breath was taken away, frankly.

'People shouldn't be looking at pornography. He would never just sit there with people looking. He would never just do that knowing [people were looking].

'These ladies were quite right to be as [upset] as they were. I've just no idea what happens in these circumstances. I don't know whether it's ever happened before,' she told The Times.

Mrs Parish described her husband as a good person and MP, and insisted the drama was 'so stupid'.

This afternoon, a visibly upset Mr Parish spoke to reporters outside his home and said he'd been unable to speak to his wife immediately after referring himself to the standards watchdog.

He said: 'Id just been to a surgery in Honiton and this is Gods own truth, the mobile phone was completely flat  I had to come back on the M5 otherwise I would have spoken to her sooner.

When asked if he understood why people were upset, Mr Parish said: 'Of course I do and I apologise for that. But I will still await the findings of the inquiry.'

The Tiverton and Honiton MP told GB News this week that Westminster could be 'intense' and 'you are going to get people that step over the line' when asked about the latest sleaze scandal to rock Westminster.

Under-fire Tory MP Neil Parish with his wife of 40 years Susan, who has described the allegations against him as 'very embarrassing'

Susan Parish, pictured with her husband Neil Parish - the Tory MP who stands accused of watching porn in the House of Commons chamber while female colleagues sat closely by

Mr Parish gave a statement to press outside his home in which he explained that he had the Conservative whip suspended as the allegations are investigated

The 65-year-old had the party whip suspended this afternoon after finally being identified as the man allegedly spotted browsing smut by Tory women, following days of fevered speculation.

Mr Parish, who has been an MP since 2010 and is chair of the cross-party Environment Committee, has referred himself to the standards watchdog over allegations that he had been seen watching adult material in the House by two female colleagues.

Appearing on GB News earlier this week, Mr Parish himself said the claims had to be dealt with 'seriously' and backed Tory whips to conduct a 'thorough investigation'.

He then added: 'If you've got sort of 650 members of parliament in what is a very intense area, you are going to get people that step over the line...

'I don't think there's necessarily a huge culture (of misogyny) here but I think it does have to be dealt with and dealt with seriously. That's what the whips will do.'

This evening he was facing renewed calls to quit from opposition parties. But in a statement tonight he vowed to continue working as an MP.

Writing on his website, he said: 'I will be cooperating fully with any investigation, and whilst it is ongoing I will continue to perform my duties as MP for Tiverton and Honiton.'

MP Neil Parish, pictured at his home today, has had the Conservative whip suspended while he is being investigated for allegedly watching pornography in the Commons

Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris (left) has now suspended the whip from the MP pending an investiation. Backbencher Nickie Aiken (right) said the Tory MP responsible for watching pornography in the Houses of Parliament should quit

Who is Neil Parish? Somerset farmer turned politician who left school at 16 and became a 'Rottweiler' on rural issues Neil Parish - who was today named as the MP accused of watching porn in the Commons - is a former Somerset farmer who has spend more than two decades as a politician in Westminster and Brussels. Born in Bridgewater, a historic market town on the edge of the Somerset Levels, he became MP for Tiverton and Honiton, a picturesque constituency in the heart of south-west England, in 2010 after a decade as a Tory MEP. Before that he served as a local councillor. The 65-year-old has been a member of the Environment and rural affairs committee since 2010 and was once branded a 'Rottweiler' by former farming minister David Miliband. Mr Parish left school at 16 without qualifications and began working on the family farm, where he still lives. He is married to Susan, a teacher, and they have two children and two grandchildren A biography on Politico described him as a 'devoted family man', with him and his wife considered something of a 'double act'. It continued: 'Shorter than average and slightly rotund, Parish makes up in personality what he lacks in height. He is a whirlwind of activity, giving the impression he never stays still for very long. 'One of his political opposites in the Parliament describes Parish as ''personable''  it is difficult to find anyone who dislikes him  but says he suspects him of being ''shallow'', accusing him of a tendency to jump on other people's bandwagons for the sake of publicity. The same person adds with a sigh: ''He's a pretty nice guy actually''.' Mr Parish is known to indulge in stunts, and while an MEP drove a hybrid car from Brussels to Alongside rural issues, he is also interested in animal welfare, and launched a select committee inquiry into the treatment of domestic pets, including cats, dogs and horses. Mr Parish's other interests include African politics, according to an online biography. During the 2000 Presidential elections in Zimbabwe, he acted as an election monitor and criticised the conduct of Robert Mugabe's regime. Following this, Robert Mugabe banned Neil from re-entering the country, a ban that remains in place to this day. He was recently among more than 280 MPs to be sanctioned by Vladimir Putin's regime for comments he had made in Parliament in support of Ukraine. He described this as a 'badge of honour'. His most recent work in Parliament was launching an inquiry into marine mammals, which will look into their welfare in UK waters and worldwide. Today he was suspended by the Conservatives pending an investigation. An investigation by the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) was launched after the allegations surfaced during a meeting of Tory MPs on Tuesday. Advertisement

Shadow Commons Leader Thangam Debbonaire said: 'The Conservatives knew for days about the disgusting behaviour of one of their MPs and tried to cover it up...

'This is a government rotting from the head down. Britain deserves better.'

Though the allegations are still be to investigated, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said Boris Johnson must order his MP to quit.

'If Boris Johnson had any shred of decency left, he would tell Neil Parish to resign immediately,' she said.

'In any other workplace this would count as gross misconduct and the person responsible would lose their job. Parliament should be no different.

'We don't need to insult the women MPs who witnessed this with a lengthy investigation. All his bosses need to do is ask for his devices and look at his viewing history, this isn't rocket science.'

Tory MP Caroline Nokes, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, said she had been 'disappointed' that the whip was not suspended immediately but was now 'very relieved'.

She told ITV News: 'I've been calling for the Chief Whip to remove the whip from when we first heard about this incident...

'I'm pleased that action has been taken and I hope that the two women who complained are being supported through the system as well.'

The PM has previously condemned the alleged watching of porn in the Commons, while other Conservatives said the MP involved should take a 'long, hard look' at themselves and resign.

A spokeswoman for Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris this afternoon blew the lid on Mr Parish's identity, saying: 'Having spoken to the Chief Whip this afternoon, Neil Parish MP is reporting himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

'Mr Parish has been suspended from the Conservative Whip pending the outcome of that investigation.'

It is understood a process has now been launched through Parliament's independent complaints and grievance scheme (ICGS).

Meanwhile, there have been complaints that Mr Heaton-Harris had kicked the scandal 'into the long grass' by referring it to the Parliamentary grievance process rather than taking action.

It appears the IGCS inquiry has now been triggered with at least one of the witnesses making a complaint.

But a second investigation could be launched after Mr Parish's commitment to refer himself to the Standards Committee.

It is unclear what potential breach of the MPs' code of conduct he would report himself for.

But it is thought one option for Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone could be whether Mr Parish caused 'significant damage to the reputation and integrity' of the Commons.

MPs have reacted with revulsion to the claims that a Tory had been caught by two of his female colleagues watching porn in the House of Commons.

On a visit to Burnley yesterday, the PM told broadcasters: 'I think it's obviously unacceptable for anybody to be doing that kind of thing in the workplace.

'It would be the same for any kind of job up and down the country, let's be absolutely clear about that.

'What needs to happen now is that the proper procedures need to be gone through, the independent complaints and grievances procedure needs to be activated and we need to get to understand the facts but, yeah, that kind of behaviour is clearly totally unacceptable.'

Attorney General Suella Braverman said if the MP was found to have been watching adult material it should result in them 'no longer holding their privileged position as a Member of Parliament'.

She said there was a 'very small minority of men - and it is men - who fall short and there are some bad apples who are out of order - who behave like animals, and are bringing Parliament into disrepute to be honest'.

Tory MP Neil Parish is pictured arriving back to his home in Somerset following news that he is being investigated over claims that he watched porn in the House of Commons

Mr Parish was met by journalists as he arrived back at his Somerset home following the revelation that he is the MP alleged to have watched porn in the Commons

Tory MP Nickie Aiken said earlier that the alleged porn-watching MP 'has to resign' from the Commons as she warned that he was causing 'pain, suffering and embarrassment' to both the party and Parliament.

He should 'take a very very long, hard look' at himself and ask 'should I still be here?', she told Times Radio.

Earlier today, Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the vast majority of her male colleagues are 'delightful' and 'committed parliamentarians'.

But she said a few behaved badly when they had 'too much drink', insisting people should act 'as if their daughter was in the room'.

Ms Trevelyan spoke about one extraordinary incident when she was 'pinned up against a wall' by a man who is now no longer an MP.

Ms Trevelyan told Sky News of male MPs: 'There are a few for whom too much drink, or indeed a sort of, a view that somehow being elected makes them you know, God's gift to women, that they can suddenly please themselves, that is never OK, that kind of behaviour, disrespect for women.'

She added: 'Fundamentally, if you're a bloke, keep your hands in your pockets and behave as you would if you had your daughter in the room.'

Ms Trevelyan told LBC Radio: 'I've witnessed and been at the sharp end of misogyny from some colleagues many times over'.

'We might describe it as wandering hands, if you like, we might describe it as, you know, a number of years ago being pinned up against a wall by a male MP who is now no longer in the House, I'm pleased to say, declaring that I must want him because he was a powerful man'.

'These sorts of things, these power abuses that a very small minority, thank goodness, of male colleagues show is completely unacceptable.'

She advised women subjected to that kind of behaviour to 'make public humiliation one of your tools'.

However, while Ms Trevelyan described watching porn in the Commons chamber as 'completely unacceptable', she declined to say whether the MP involved should be sacked.

Mr Parish pictured with Mr Johnson before the latest controversy erupted

Boris Johnson (pictured on a visit to Burnley yesterday) said it would be 'unacceptable' to watch porn in the Commons

Cabinet minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan reveals she was 'pinned up against a wall' by male MP as she reads riot act to sleazy politicians

A Cabinet minister today revealed she was once 'pinned up against the wall' by a male MP.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the vast majority of her male colleagues are 'delightful' and 'committed parliamentarians'.

But she said a few behaved badly when they had 'too much drink', insisting people should act 'as if their daughter was in the room'.

Ms Trevelyan spoke about one extraordinary incident when she was 'pinned up against a wall' by a man who is now no longer an MP.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the vast majority of her male colleagues are 'delightful' and 'committed parliamentarians'

Ms Trevelyan told Sky News of male MPs: 'There are a few for whom too much drink, or indeed a sort of, a view that somehow being elected makes them you know, God's gift to women, that they can suddenly please themselves, that is never OK, that kind of behaviour, disrespect for women.'

She added: 'Fundamentally, if you're a bloke, keep your hands in your pockets and behave as you would if you had your daughter in the room.'

Ms Trevelyan told LBC Radio: 'I've witnessed and been at the sharp end of misogyny from some colleagues many times over'.

'We might describe it as wandering hands, if you like, we might describe it as, you know, a number of years ago being pinned up against a wall by a male MP who is now no longer in the House, I'm pleased to say, declaring that I must want him because he was a powerful man'.

'These sorts of things, these power abuses that a very small minority, thank goodness, of male colleagues show is completely unacceptable.'

She advised women subjected to that kind of behaviour to 'make public humiliation one of your tools'.

However, while Ms Trevelyan described watching porn in the Commons chamber as 'completely unacceptable', she declined to say whether the MP involved should be sacked.
Another wounded British fighter has been paraded on Kremlin TV after being captured by the Russians in Ukraine.

Andrew Hill, a father of four from Plymouth, appeared severely injured and bloodied with a head bandage and his left arm in a sling.

The fighter said on camera he had received first aid for a gunshot wound from Russian soldiers.

His capture follows the killings of multiple international volunteers, with Scott Sibley, a 36-year-old veteran of the British armed forces who served in the Commando Logistic Support Squadron in Afghanistan, has been named as the first UK casualty in Ukraine.

US citizen Willy Joseph Cancel, a 22-year-old former Marine, was also killed, along with a Danish citizen.

Andrew Hill has been paraded on Kremlin TV after being captured by the Russians in Ukraine

The fighter said on camera he had received first aid for a gunshot wound from Russian soldiers

Looking weak and fearing for his safety, Hill was subjected to an interrogation on Rossiya 1 state TV.

In the exchanges, he was asked about his home and family life by the interrogators, confirming he was from Plymouth.

It comes after Russian sources published a list of what they claim are 100 British 'mercenaries' fighting in Ukraine, including the name of one woman.

The names do not include British fighters recently detained by the Russians in Mariupol.

The UK's Foreign Office confirmed that British national Sibley had been killed in Ukraine and the whereabouts of a second Briton is unknown.

It is thought that the two men had been fighting against Russian fighters after joining Ukrainian soldiers as volunteers, but this remains unconfirmed.

Friends of Sibley, fondly nicknamed Sibs, have paid tribute to the veteran, who is believed to have died on 23 April, and set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for his funeral.

Scott Sibley, a veteran of the British armed forces, was named as the first Briton to have died fighting in Ukraine

Willy Joseph Cancel (above), 22, of Orange County New York, was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces after the private security firm he worked for sent him to war

'Scott was a son, father, brother and uncle,' his friend Craig wrote on the page. 'To me he was a friend like no other and the bravest person I've had the pleasure to have known, he was as good as a brother to me.

'His life may have been cut short but he lived to the full and did things the Sibs way, right until the end.'

Another fundraising page set up for Sibley's relatives described his 'infectious laugh', adding: 'We all have memories with him and he has helped us in different ways.'

Sibley leaves behind his daughter who was diagnosed with stage 4 high risk Neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer that mostly affects young children.

Earlier this month, Britons Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were captured by Russian forces and have since been paraded on Russian state media where they pleaded to be swapped for a pro-Kremlin prisoner.

Shaun Pinner (left) and Aiden Aslin (right), who had been serving in the Ukrainian marines, were captured by Putin's troops in the city of Mariupol earlier this month

Aslin and Shaun Pinner last week asked on Russian state television for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to intervene and ensure they were exchanged for Vladimir Putin's ally Viktor Medvedchuk, who is being held by Ukrainian authorities.

Pinner is a former Royal Anglian soldier and has made clear he considers Ukraine his second country, where he married.

The UK's Foreign Enlistment Act blocks citizens from joining foreign militaries fighting countries at peace with Britain, and the government's foreign secretary and defence minister have warned against Britons fighting in Ukraine after the war began in late February.

Just days after the invasion on February 24, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was criticised after she said she would 'absolutely' support Britons who chose to help the war effort.

Friends of Sibley, fondly nicknamed Sibs, have paid tribute to the veteran, who is believed to have died on 23 April, and set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for his funeral. Sibley served in the British Army's Commando Logistic Support Squadron

'People can make their own decisions,' she said. 'The people of Ukraine are fighting for freedom and democracy, not just for Ukraine, but for the whole of Europe. Absolutely, if people want to support that struggle, I would support them in doing that.'

The UK Government website warns: 'If you travel to Ukraine to fight, or to assist others engaged in the conflict, your activities may amount to offences against UK legislation and you could be prosecuted on your return to the UK.'

At the outset of the invasion, Ukraine encouraged foreigners to offer their support. President Zelensky has claimed 16,000 foreigners have travelled to Ukraine to resist the Russians.

In March, groups of British men gathered outside the Ukrainian embassy in London to offer their support.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has joined the chorus of critics tearing into the Biden administration's new 'Disinformation Governance Board' - headed by a 'Russia expert' who said Hunter Biden's laptop was a 'product of the Trump campaign'

'You cannot have a Ministry of Truth in this country. Were not going to let Biden get away with this one. So we will be fighting back,' the Republican said on Friday at a news conference.

'When youre not doing well, you have two options: You can try to do better. Or you can try to silence your critics. [The Biden Administration] is doing the latter,' he added.

DeSantis led the uptick in fury as Republican Senator Tom Cotton said he would introduce legislation to have the new 'Disinformation' board defunded and a new video showed its head Nina Jankowicz singing about 'misinformation' to the tune of the Mary Poppins song 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.'

'You cannot have a Ministry of Truth in this country. Were not going to let Biden get away with this one. So we will be fighting back,' Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Friday at a news conference

Jen Psaki on Friday defended the head of President Joe Biden 's 'Disinformation Governance Board' and slammed the board's critics, noting its existence goes back to the Donald Trump administration.

Psaki pushed back, noting Jankowicz is 'an expert on online disinformation.'

'Any hiring decisions are up to the Department of Homeland Security, but this is a person with extensive qualifications,' she noted.

Jankowicz, who has researched Russian misinformation tactics and online harassment, is author of the book 'How To Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict.' She has also advised the Ukrainian government on strategic communications, according to the Wilson Center think-tank, where she served as a global fellow.

Psaki also pointed out repeatedly in her press briefing that the board was created in the Trump administration.

'This is a continuation of work that began at the Department of Homeland Security in 2020 under former President Trump,' she said.

'So for anyone who is critical of it, I didn't hear them being critical of the work under the former president, which is just interesting to note contextually,' she added.

She said of the work the board will do includes understanding how misinformation spread by human smugglers helps prey on vulnerable populations trying to enter the United States.

'This is also work that is helping to address unauthorized terrorism, other threats and see how disinformation and misinformation is being pushed to lead to increase those,' she said.

Jankowicz, a self-described 'Russia expert', has questioned the authenticity of Hunter Biden's laptop by calling it a 'product of the Trump campaign' - even though its contents have been verified.

In March 2020 she also said on COVID restrictions: 'Lock us down. People are not taking this (COVID) seriously'.

The head of the Biden administration's new 'Disinformation Governance Board' Nina Jankowicz sings about 'misinformation' to the tune of Mary Poppins song 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'

'Information laundering is really quite ferocious. Its when a huckster takes some lies and makes them sound precocious,' she sings in the new video.

'By saying them in Congress or a mainstream outlet, so disinformations origins are slightly less atrocious.

'Its how you hide a little, hide a little, little, little lie, its how you hide a little, little lie, its how you hide a little, little, little lie.

'When Rudy Giuliani shared bad intel from Ukraine. Or when TikTok influencers say Covid cant cause pain. Theyre laundering disinfo and we really should take note. And not support their lies with our wallet, voice or vote  oh!'

Jankowicz was brought on to lead the Department of Homeland Security's Disinformation Governance Board to combat disinformation related to national security  and she expressed concerns last week that Musk expanding free speech on social media would be bad for 'marginalized communities'.

On Wednesday, Jankowicz defended her previous remarks casting doubt on the validity of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.

A tweet Jankowicz sent in October 2020 has resurfaced and is making the rounds in conservative circles.

'Back on the 'laptop from hell,' apparently- Biden notes 50 former natsec officials and 5 former CIA heads that believe the laptop is a Russian influence op,' she tweeted at the time.

She added: 'Trump says 'Russia, Russia, Russia.'

She now claims that the tweet was part of her 'live tweeting' a debate between Trump and Biden just one month before the presidential general election as Republicans are using the post to pounce on her political leanings.

'For those who believe this tweet is a key to all my views, it is simply a direct quote from both candidates during the final presidential debate,' Jankowicz defended in a repost of the original tweet.

'If you look at my timeline, you will see I was livetweeting that evening,' she added in the Wednesday night tweet.

Jankowicz confirmed reports on Wednesday that she is being brought on as executive director of the new board at DHS.

Republicans immediately blasted the move, claiming she has shown too much bias to head the group  specifically in casting doubt on Hunter's laptop scandal.

In October 2020, Jankowicz called the laptop stories a 'Trump campaign product.'

Elon Musk called on Thursday the creation of Joe Biden's new 'disinformation' board 'discomforting' as the president tapped a Russia misinformation 'expert' to lead the initiative.

The billionaire, who just acquired Twitter this week, was responding to a tweet from conservative political commentator, comedian and media personality Steven Crowder.

'The government is creating a misinformation governance board,' Crowder tweeted on Thursday.

'Who else did something like that?' he continued. 'Oh I remember, the Nazi's. And there's some data showing some interesting things going on post- @elonmusk's Twitter takeover!'

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton also chimed in Friday saying the U.S. government had 'no business creating a Ministry of Truth'

Republican Senator Josh Hawley is demanding that the White House 'dissolve' the new Department of Homeland Security's Disinformation Governance Board she is heading, claiming that it would only 'monitor Americans' free speech'.

Senator Hawley insisted on Thursday that the board should be dissolved before it even gets started.

'I write with deep concern about the Department of Homeland Security's decision to create a new Disinformation Governance Board,' he penned in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

'I confess I at first thought this announcement was satire,' he continued. 'Surely no American Administration would ever use the power of Government to sit in judgment on the First Amendment speech of its own citizens.'

'Sadly, I was mistaken.'

Republicans immediately pounced after Jankowicz, a Russian disinformation expert, confirmed Wednesday that she will head up the new Department of Homeland Security's Disinformation Governance Board

Nina Jankowicz defended her previous casting of doubt on the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, claiming that a tweet she sent in October 2020 was a livetweet of a debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump

He then demanded that DHS provide more information on this new board, including how it will function and be monitored.

Hawley also questioned why the announcement was made just following billionaire Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, which he vowed to make a more free speech platform with all ideas.

Jankowicz was critical of Musk buying Twitter, claiming that more free speech on the social media platform was a negative thing.

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson sent a statement against the formation of the board.

'The Biden Administration has not proven itself to be a credible arbiter of 'disinformation.' Instead, it has taken steps to silence information that is unflattering to this Administration under the guise of 'disinformation,' Johnson wrote.

Woke Nina Jankowicz is now head of Biden's dystopian 'disinformation board' Nina Jankowicz had already made a name for herself before being appointed head of Biden's Russian disinformation unit. Jankowicz, 33, is a successful author who is currently eight months pregnant with her first child. She grew up in New Jersey and is dating Michael Stein. The couple are happily shacked up in a $1 million, three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom property they own in Arlington, Virginia. Jankowicz, attended Bryn Mawr College and Georgetown University, before embarking on a glittering career in foreign relations. She managed programs to Russia and Belarus at the National Democratic Institute. Jankowicz also advised the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on disinformation and strategic communications She serves on the Board of Trustees for the Eurasia Foundation and is a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center But the author is best known as a prominent woke voice online. The Biden appointee's latest book, How To Be A Woman Online has just been released, and deals with the topics of internet bullying and trolling. She has complained about hordes of men tracking down her private Facebook and Instagram accounts after she appears on TV to try to follow her and find out more about her life. Jankowicz says she prefers strangers to follow her Twitter account, and speculates that many of those who criticize her online are jealous of her 'verified' blue check mark and media career. She has identified five different types of trolls who target her most, including 'reply guy' types who insist on trying to meddle in all aspects of her life, including in how brown she toasts her bread. Despite claiming to be a free speech campaigner online, Jankowicz has spoken out against the First Amendment. Aligning herself with many online progressives who've begun to call for an end to unqualified free speech, Jankowicz recently tweeted: 'I shudder to think about if free speech absolutists were taking over more platforms, what that would look like for the marginalized communitieswhich are already shoulderingdisproportionate amounts of this abuse.' She also said the prospect of Elon Musk taking over Twitter made her 'shudder.' But Jankowicz - who has a pet dog and a cat - has not joined thousands of other liberals who've vowed to quit the platform as a result of Musk's purchase. Advertisement

'For example, unnamed intelligence officials, the media, and social media platforms engaged in a coordinated effort to censor stories about Hunter Biden's laptop and his questionable financial dealings under the false label of 'disinformation.'

'I am concerned DHS's Disinformation Board will only serve to silence or censor those voices critical of your disastrous policies and serve a political cover for your failure to secure the border,' the senator concluded.

Mayorkas did not disclose any powers that would be granted to the dystopian-sounding board while addressing lawmakers on Wednesday.

He explained that the board would work to tackle disinformation ahead of the November midterms, particularly in Hispanic communities.

He also said that the board would come under the Biden-era Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3), meaning it would have no powers to crack down on disinformation and will instead try to combat it by throwing money at what it sees as problems.

The CP3 program provides communities with resources and tools to help prevent individuals from radicalizing to violence. Last year, CP3 awarded about $20 million in grants through its Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program. It is unclear how much cash will be spent on the Disinformation Board.

Mayorkas noted that the focus of the new board would be to stop the spread of misinformation in minority communities, including election misinformation ahead of the 2022 midterms.

He added that it would focus on the latest trend of misinformation allegedly targeting Spanish-speaking voters. No further details on the exact misinformation being deployed against these communities was shared.

Jankowicz, who revealed she was the head of the department following Mayorkas' meeting with lawmakers, tweeted: 'Cat's out of the bag: here's what I've been up to the past two months, and why I've been a bit quiet on here.

Mayorkas noted that the focus of the new board would be to stop the spread of misinformation in minority communities, including election misinformation ahead of the 2022 midterms.

He added that it would focus on the latest trend of misinformation allegedly targeting Spanish-speaking voters. No further details on the exact misinformation being deployed against these communities was shared.

Jankowicz, who revealed she was the head of the department following Mayorkas' meeting with lawmakers, tweeted: 'Cat's out of the bag: here's what I've been up to the past two months, and why I've been a bit quiet on here.

'Honored to be serving in the Biden Administration @DHSgov and helping shape our counter-disinformation efforts.'

She added that 'a HUGE focus of our work, and indeed, one of the key reasons the Board was established, is to maintain the Dept's committment (sic) to protecting free speech, privacy, civil rights, & civil liberties.'

The Russia disinformation expert previously called the laptop of President Joe Biden's son Hunter a 'Trump campaign product'.

This is causing questions over Jankowicz's ability to accurately judge disinformation now that several sources have come out confirming the validity of Hunter's laptop.

Jankowicz also suggested last week that she opposes the The First Amendment because she thinks it is bad for 'marginalized communities' and called Elon Musk a 'free speech absolutist' because he wants to make Twitter more open to all voices.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

Jankowicz is a fellow at the Wilson Center where she studies the 'intersection of democracy and technology in Central and Eastern Europe'. She is also the author of How To Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict.

When stories about Hunter Biden's laptop started emerging, several outlets, social media sites and left-leaning disinformation experts claimed that it was just misinformation coming from Trump and others on the right.

In an October 2020 report, Jankowicz shared her skepticism of the contents of the laptop and the claims it belonged to Hunter.

'We should view it as a Trump campaign product,' she told the New York Daily News at the time.

Twitter repeatedly took down the Hunter Biden laptop story and prevented it from being spread on the platform.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who just purchased Twitter, said that his aim is to make the social media platform a more open 'digital town square.'

'Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,' Musk wrote in a statement upon the purchase approval.

Jankowicz spoke with NPR last week and questioned Musk's purchase of the platform and

'I shudder to think about if free speech absolutists were taking over more platforms, what that would look like for the marginalized communities,' she said.

She said these groups are 'already shoulderingdisproportionate amounts of this abuse' and said free speech and lack of censoring on social media would make it worse.

Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley tweeted an image of her remarks to NPR with the caption: 'The Biden Administration's new anti-speech czar is apparently no fan of the  @elonmusk Twitter acquisition.'

'This is the person Joe Biden just put in charge of policing Americans' speech. Using the power of the government.'

Jankowicz has advised the Ukrainian government on strategist communications  she also managed democracy assistance programs to Russia and Belarus.

She received her masters in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, and her bachelors degree from Bryn Mawr College.
A police officer who left a man paralysed from the chest down after shooting him with a Taser has lost his legal bid to keep his name out of the public domain.

Imran Mahmood, 35, from the Metropolitan Police - who denies inflicting grievous bodily harm - can today be named after submissions were made from a number of media organisations.

He had sought anonymity from Westminster Magistrates' Court on the basis that he was concerned about now-wheelchair-bound Jordan Walker-Brown's alleged links to criminal gangs.

But Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring dismissed his application, describing the risk as 'speculative', and saying there was 'insufficient evidence of real and imminent threat to life'.

Jordan Walker-Brown (pictured), 25, is paralysed from the waist down after being struck with a Taser in 2020. The police officer who fired the weapon has been charged with GBH

Mr Walker-Brown believes he was targeted by the police officers because he is black

His judgment added: 'It is a quantum leap from the fact that it can happen, to cogent evidence that such an imminent threat exists in this case, otherwise every case with a link to gangs would merit an anonymity order, not even the applicant seeks to persuade the court that that is a correct approach to such applications.

'The defendant is in the relatively unusual position of being a police officer accused of a crime against a member of the community, the risk of repercussions does not appear to be substantially different from those which frequently arise in the context of serious crime, particularly inter-gang crime, if indeed that is relevant here.

'The police habitually manage such risks in the community by a variety of measures, which may well be appropriate in the present case, but anonymity is not justified.'

Mahmood, of Plaistow, east London, previously appeared in court by video link and was known by the ciphers BX140 and IM while the judge heard submissions from his legal team and the media over his anonymity bid.

Mahmood indicated a not-guilty plea during his last court appearance on Thursday.

He was released on bail until his next appearance at Southwark Crown Court on May 26.

Mr Walker-Brown, 25, was left with life-changing injuries after he fell from a wall in Haringey, north London, while being pursued by police in May 2020.

He initially said he believed he was targeted because he is a black man.

Police said any potential misconduct matters would be considered pending the outcome of the court proceedings.
Take a step back from the public spectacle that is the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial and hold a mirror up to our culture.

The reflection is not very pretty.

The courtroom drama has again exposed the reality that abuse claims have the capacity to be weaponized and that we all play a role in picking victims and villains.

But this moment is truly revealing because it seems like Hollywood and pop culture are now siding with the accused, not the accuser.

To be honest, at first, I didn't pay much attention to this sad saga.

But little by little, I and many others, became more interested in the sheer chaos and intense details dripping out of the Virginia courtroom.

If there is any truth to any of it, Depp and Heard had one of the most toxic, dysfunctional, and violent relationships since Sid and Nancy.

Depp is one of the most famous, acclaimed, and beloved American actors of his generation.

He is Captain Jack Sparrow, the iconic character from the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise, who is so adored that fans dress up like the swashbuckling rouge and parade down Hollywood Boulevard or through Times Square to the delight of tourists.

Take a step back from the public spectacle that is the Johnny Depp (left)/Amber Heard (right) trial and hold a mirror up to our culture. The reflection is not very pretty.

Depp is embedded in American movie culture, and it was safe to assume that he would spend the rest of his career as a Hollywood icon.

Until it all came to a screeching halt.

He was accused by his ex-wife Amber Heard of horrific spousal abuse, which she referenced in a 2018 opinion article in the Washington Post.

Depp was labeled a 'wife beater' by The Sun newspaper and he subsequently sued for defamation in the United Kingdom.

He lost the case and the judge concluded that 12 incidents of domestic violence had occurred.

Deep was allegedly forced out of the fifth 'Pirates' movie and the Harry Potter-inspired film series 'Fantastic Beasts.'

But now, apparently the public outrage pendulum is swinging in the other direction.

It is difficult to find voices defending Heard as Depp's legal team wraps up its' presentation in their $50 million defamation case against her.

Depp supporters rally outside the courthouse and wait in lines for tickets for front row seats in the courtroom.

There is a petition that has garnered over 2 million signatures to remove Heard from her role as Princess Merain in the Aquaman 2 sequel.

#JusticeForJohnny has trended on Twitter and Hollywood heavyweights have (for years) raised their voices in support of Depp.

Heard is accused of throwing a glass bottle of vodka at Depp, cutting off the tip of his finger as well as a lot of other tawdry, violent and simply gross actions and behaviors. (Above) Depp being taken to hospital with a severed finger, following an incident in Australia in March 2015

For the record, I haven't made a decision about who I believe.

I may never arrive at a conclusion of guilt, because there are credible allegations of abuse on both sides.

Heard is accused of throwing a glass bottle of vodka at Depp, cutting off the tip of his finger as well as a lot of other tawdry, violent and simply gross actions and behaviors.

Depp has a documented past of drug abuse and vicious insults and there are obviously allegations of physical abuse.

Watch or listen to any number of videos and audio recordings that have been released in the trial. Their lives together were insane at best.

I am not saying Depp's side hasn't presented a sympathetic of portrayal of him.

I am saying that this trial is not over yet and we are all waiting to hear Heard's side of it in the coming weeks.

My question is: Why are we so eager to find a new villain?

Suddenly, Depp is the hero and Heard is the bad guy.

Wasn't it Hollywood and the MeToo movement that implored us as a society to 'believe women?'

Depp was labeled a 'wife beater' by The Sun newspaper and he subsequently sued for defamation in the United Kingdom. (Above) Amber Heard shows bruises allegedly from ex-husband Johnny Depp

This trial seems to be a moment of reckoning with the reality that there is nuance to these types of claims and that due process is paramount when it comes to seeking truth and justice.

Women suffering abuse at the hands of husbands, partners, bosses and others is real and unfortunately something that may never change.

The MeToo movement is still valid and women who allege abuse deserve to be heard. But the MeToo slogan 'believe women,' always came with a heavy dose of radicalism.

The very premise of that statement never sat well with me because the subtext is that women are incapable of lying or being deceitful.

In the military/political household in which I was raised in Phoenix, Arizona, it was always mandated to 'trust but verify.'

The MeToo movement had truly altruistic intentions  but it also unleashed a pandora's box of problems, falsehoods and the unjustifiable ruining of people's lives and reputations.

There were certainly men who deserved the wrath of MeToo and the world is a safer place without them.

One of the most notable men to fall from grace was super-producer Harvey Weinstein, a monster convicted for being a serial rapist.

But just as the feet of many men were justifiably held to the fire, many were also tarred and feathered in the public square without due process, trials, or explanation.

The journalist Ben Dreyfuss wrote an interesting piece on his Substack a few weeks ago about the experience of trying to date after being included on something called 'Shitty Media Men' list, which circulated anonymous accusations against men in the media.

He claims he was accused of 'being mean to people on Twitter,' but that morphed into something else, and he suffered long-lasting ramifications from being included on a list of people being accused of heinous crimes.

I implore everyone to read about his experience and then tell me that was justified.

It would also come out that prominent female lawyers, Roberta Kaplan and Tina Tchen, who started the MeToo group Time's Up, were secretly advising Governor Andrew Cuomo on how to help him discredit his sexual harassment accusers.

That sick episode proved that politics, bias and personal vendettas played a role in who was and wasn't 'believed.'

There is a petition that has garnered over 2 million signatures to remove Heard from her role as Princess Merain in the Aquaman 2 sequel. (Above) Heard as Princess Merain

There were also accusations against people like Aziz Ansari and later Brett Kavanaugh that divided the country.

I can't help but think of Kavanaugh and his family at this moment and the presumption of innocence that he was initially denied.

The skepticism now being applied to Heard was never applied by the mass media to Christine Blasey Ford.

There are people who remain convinced that everything she said was true despite numerous problems with her story and witnesses disputing her accounts.

What remains clear in the Depp-Heard trial is that our country continues to learn nothing.

The American public and Hollywood at large is overwhelmingly taking Depp's side in the court of public opinion before Heard has even taken the stand.

We should never have blindly believed Heard's accusations and stood by while Depp was stripped of his career and we should not make up for it now by automatically siding against Heard.

All that I am certain of from what I have seen so far in this trial is that both of these people have a lot of very serious personal problems and should never have gotten married.

The lesson we should take from all of this is that due process is essential, and we must 'trust but verify' when the lives, careers and reputations of both sides hang in the balance.
A man has been charged with stabbing his wife to death before setting fire to their home, a court has heard.

Amidu Koroma, 47, is accused of murdering Mariam Kamara, 46, at a property in Railton Road, Brixton, south London.

Amidu Koroma, 47, is accused of murdering his wife Mariam Kamara (pictured), 46

The stabbing and fire happened at a property in Railton Road, Brixton, south London (pictured)

Ms Kamara's charred remains were found after firefighters were called to put out a blaze centred in the bedroom on January 24.

Ms Kamara's charred remains were found after firefighters were called to put out a blaze centred in the bedroom on January 24.

A post-mortem examination found she had allegedly been stabbed eight times, with two fatal wounds to the neck and face.

The absence of smoke in her lungs suggested she died before the fire started, it is claimed.

Koroma, who was born in Sierra Leone, was subsequently charged with arson with intent to endanger life and murder.

On Friday, his case was brought before Judge Mark Lucraft QC at the Old Bailey with the defendant absent but represented by lawyers.

The judge set a plea hearing for July 15 and remanded the defendant into custody.
President Joe Biden will speak with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday about immigration at the southern border, an issue Republicans are trying to elevate ahead of the November midterm election.

The two leaders will 'discuss how to manage unprecedented flows of migration. Given our shared border we must do this together,' a senior administration official told reporters on a briefing call ahead of the virtual meeting, calling the topic a 'top subject' for their conversation.

The call comes as the Biden administration was prepared to lift Title 42, the public health order that has turned back thousands of migrants at the border because of the covid pandemic.

The administration announced it would be lifted on May 23 but there is a temporary block on that by the courts after several states sued, citing concerns about the expected rise in migrants expected if Title 42 is rescinded.

Biden said he will follow whatever the courts decide on Title 42. Democrats are split on the issue with vulnerable lawmakers wanting a more detailed plan from the administration on how it will handle the rise in immigrants and progressives wanting Title 42 gone.

Republicans argue it should stay in place. The issue is becoming a political hot potato ahead of the November midterm election, which will decide control of Congress.

President Joe Biden will speak with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday about immigration at the southern border

Officials said Biden and Obrador will discuss their options should Title 42 be lifted.

'We really will need to rely on our partnership more than ever to have a coordinated response to surge, additional staff and resources on both sides of our border to make sure that we have an orderly and humane response. So yes, I think this will definitely be a top subject of conversation today,' a senior administration official sai on the call.

The two men also will talk about the upcoming Summit of the Americas, which the United States will host in Los Angeles in June. It convenes leaders from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean.

Biden has tried to implement what he's called a more humane policy at the southern border but is caught between the two wings of his party as he tries to find a path forward.

Progressive Democrats urged on Thursday urged him to end Title 42, calling it 'racist,' 'cruel,' and 'xenophobic.'

Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts said the policy, originally put into place during Donald Trump's presidency, is 'fundamentally racist, unjust and cruel.'

'This unconscionable racist and xenophobic Trump era policy was in effect for too long. It did nothing but in effect inflicted unspeakable harm on migrants - particularly black and brown migrants - denying millions their fundamental right to seek asylum,' she said during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts called Title 42 ' fundamentally racist, unjust and cruel'

Rep. Pramila Jayapal: 'Title 42 isn't just xenophobic, it's also hypocritical'

Border Patrol agents apprehend a group of migrants near downtown El Paso

In March 2020, the CDC under the Trump administration issued a public health order allowing for the rapid expulsion of unauthorized border crossers and asylum seekers citing COVID-19 concerns.

Under the order, thousands of migrants were turned back at the border, citing the pandemic.

And since that is not considered deportation, the migrants are not afforded the right to make a case to stay in the U.S. before an immigration judge. Most migrants subject to Title 42 measures are returned to Mexico within hours.

'This policy was never about keeping anybody safe. Period. This Trump era policy was always about stoking anti immigrant fear and hate and undermining our humanitarian obligations to asylum seekers in this country,' Pressley noted.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Oregon, the head of Congressional Progressive Caucus, said 'Title 42 isn't just xenophobic, it's also hypocritical.'

'It has harmed millions of people who are escaping war and poverty and famine. Title 42 should never have been put in place,' she noted.

She said the order was the work of Stephen Miller, a Trump adviser with a tough anti-immigration stance.

It was rather instigated by Stephen Miller, Trump's chief anti immigrant architect who was hell bent on eliminating all legal pathways into the United States,' said Jayapal, who immigrated to the United States from India when she was 16.

Miller had pushed the idea to invoke Title 42 at the U.S.-Mexico border as early as 2018, long before COVID-19 emerged, The New York Times had reported. Miller was behind several Trump policies designed to cut down on the number of migrants to the United States.

'Title 42 is a policy failure. Plain and simple. It does nothing to prevent COVID from being spread. And by circumventing immigration law, it actually goes against the principles on which our country was founded. So ending it was the right decision,' Jayapal noted.

But at the other end of the Democratic spectrum are lawmakers worried about the expected rise in migration and how those needs will be met.

The Department of Homeland Security predicts up to 18,000 daily encounters with migrants  more than double the current average  when Title 42 ends.

To deal with the matter, the agency has released a plan that includes vaccinating migrants in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, adding 600 CBP agents across the southwest border, and increasing the capacity of federal holding centers from 12,000 to 18,000.

And President Biden said on Thursday that his administration would comply with the courts on Title 42, the public health order being used to turn away migrants at the border.

The administration had planned to end the use of the Trump-era order on May 23 but a federal judge in Louisiana has temporarily blocked that move until a further hearing on the matter.

Biden said he will leave the fate of the public health policy in the judiciary's hands.

'We had proposed to eliminate that policy by the end of May. The court has said we can't so far and what the court says we're going to do. The court could come along and say we cannot do that and that's it,' Biden told reporters at the White House when asked about the situation.

The court order blocks the administration from beginning to wind-down Title 42 ahead of its planned May 23 conclusion, but doesn't stop the policy being axed on that date.

President Joe Biden said he would comply with the courts on Title 42

Asylum-seekers gather at the Plaza Las Americas migrant tent camp in Reynosa, Mexico - experts expect a surge in border crossings if Title 42 is lifted

Migrants of different nationalities walk in a caravan, through the main avenues of Tapachula in Chiapas, Mexico

US District Judge Robert Summerhays has scheduled a critical hearing on May 13 in Lafayette to hear arguments on whether to block Title 42 from ending as planned 10 days later.

Twenty-one states have sued to stop the order from being lifted, citing concerns about the impact on their states due to the surge in migrants expected to enter the U.S. after it's lifted.

The issue is rapidly becoming a political hot potato ahead of the November midterm election, which will decide control of Congress.

Migrants have been expelled more than 1.7 million times under the policy.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted to Congress this week that the situation at the southern border is being 'effectively managed' by the administration.

'We inherited a broken and dismantled system that is already under strain,' Mayorkas said in opening remarks at both hearings on Wednesday. 'It was not built to manage the current levels of migration flow.'

'Only Congress can fix it,' he insisted.

He also also solely blamed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for repealing Title 42, claiming that the CDC has 'exclusive jurisdiction' of the public health measure.

But, he noted, the administration has a plan in place.

'Under this administration, our department has been executing a comprehensive strategy to secure our borders and rebuild our immigration system,' Mayorkas said in his opening remarks. 'With the Title 42 public health order set to be lifted, we expect migration levels to increase as smugglers seek to take advantage of and profit from vulnerable migrants.'

Republicans repeatedly hammered Mayorkas on border strategy when he testified on Capitol Hill.
The legendary 'Ghost of Kyiv' fighter pilot who shot down more than 40 Russian aircraft died in battle last month, Ukrainian sources have claimed.

Major Stepan Tarabalka, 29, a father of one, was flying a MiG-29 when it was shot down on March 13 battling 'overwhelming' enemy forces.

He quickly gained worldwide fame after shooting down six Russian aircraft on the first day of the invasion, as the Ukrainian government tweeted a video of the claims.

Major Stepan Tarabalka, 29, a father of one, was flying a MiG-29 when it was shot down on March 13 battling 'overwhelming' enemy forces

Two days before his death, Ukraine's General Staff shared this photo of the legendary fighter sitting in the cockpit. They captioned it: 'Hello, occupier, I'm coming for your soul!'. He quickly gained worldwide fame after shooting down six Russian aircraft on the first day of the invasion, as the Ukrainian government tweeted a video of the claims

But speculation then grew that the 'Ghost of Kyiv' and his astonishing kill count was a myth manufactured by the Ukrainian government to inspire bravery in the ranks of their defiant fighters.

On the first day of Vladimir Putins invasion Twitter was alight with clips that allegedly showed a Ukrainian jet soaring through the skies over several cities and shooting down six Kremlin planes in dogfights.

One of the ciips, which got nearly 5million views, was thoroughly debunked as a clip from the 2008 videogame Digital Combat Simulator, with a Reuters Fact Check concluding: A vertical video shared online does not show a Ukrainian fighter jet shooting down a Russian plane, but comes from the videogame DCS.

A couple of days later the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence posted a video to the government's Twitter account extolling the skill and bravery of the 'Ghost of Kyiv', but it used the same debunked footage.

For most internet sleuths, the story seemed too Hollywood to be true.

Now, sources have confirmed his identity and his death to The Times.

His helmet and goggles are now expected to go on sale at an auction in London.

After his initial success, the Ukrainian government said: 'People call him the Ghost of Kyiv. And rightly so  this UAF [Ukrainian Air Force] ace dominates the skies over our capital and country, and has already become a nightmare for invading Russian aircraft.'

Speculation grew that he was a Ukrainian myth designed to inspire bravery in the ranks of their defiant fighters

He has been posthumously awarded the country's top medal for bravery in combat, the Order of the Golden Star, and has been given the title Hero of Ukraine.

Two days before his death, Ukraine's General Staff shared a photo of the legendary fighter sitting in the cockpit.

They captioned it: 'Hello, occupier, I'm coming for your soul!'

Tarabalka was born into a working class family in the village of Korolivka in the west of Ukraine.

He attended Kharkiv National University of the Air Force and leaves behind his wife Olenia and son Yarik, eight.

Local accounts say he is personally responsible for downing 40 Russian aircraft, and possibly more.

His mother Nahtalia said he used to watch MiG jets flying over their home and always dreamed of being a fighter pilot.

She said: 'He would always watch the paratroopers in their air exercises. And he would run in their direction to try to see where they landed. Since early childhood, he always dreamed of the sky, about flying higher than the clouds.'

Once qualified, he would regularly fly over their village and tilt the wings of his jet as a salute to the family.
The British Virgin Islands should have its constitution and elected government suspended and effectively be returned to direct rule from London, a highly critical inquiry into governance in the British overseas territory said on Friday.

The recommendation was made by an inquiry commissioned in 2021 by the Queen's representative on the island, Governor John Rankin, to investigate 'the corruption, abuse of office, and other serious dishonesty' in the territory's governance.

It came as the premier of the British Virgin Islands - Andrew Fahie - was due to appear in a Miami courtroom on Friday, accused of money laundering and conspiring to import cocaine.

Fahie, 51, was arrested at a Miami airport on Thursday in a sting operation along with the managing director of the territory's Ports Authority, according to a complaint by the United State's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida will hold the first hearing in Fahie's case at 1:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT), an official said.

Andrew Fahie (pictured), 51, who also serves as the territorys minister of finance, was detained in Miami for money laundering and conspiring to import a controlled drug

According to the complaint, a DEA informant claimed in meetings with Fahie, BVI ports Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard and her son Kadeem Maynard to be a cartel member looking to move thousands of kilograms of Colombian cocaine through Tortola island and eventually to the United States.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement late Thursday that the UK was 'appalled' at the government of its overseas territory after Fahie's arrest.

She said the arrests underlined the need to release the recently concluded investigation into the alleged corruption and abuse of office under the Fahie government. The report was released on Friday - a day later.

I have spoken to the governor of the British Virgin Islands (the Queens representative in the territory) and he will be holding an emergency meeting of the territorys cabinet... He will set out next steps (today), including urgent publication of the inquirys report,' Ms Truss said on Thursday.

'Surely following the arrest of its Premier, the (Foreign Office) should now take direct control of the British Virgin Islands pending a further investigation into corruption and money laundering?' Chris Bryant, a member of Britain's parliament from the opposition Labour Party, wrote on Twitter on Friday.

The probe began in January 2021 and was overseen by British Virgin Islands governor John Rankin. Truss said Rankin would set out next steps on Friday, 'including urgent publication of the inquiry's report'.

The recommendation was made by an inquiry commissioned in 2021 by the Queen's representative on the island, Governor John Rankin (pictured), to investigate 'the corruption, abuse of office, and other serious dishonesty' in the territory's governance

Fahie, 51, was arrested at a Miami airport on Thursday in a sting operation along with the managing director of the territory's Ports Authority, according to a complaint by the United State's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

Rankin, an appointee of Queen Elizabeth II on advice from the UK government, urged calm in the islands after the 'shocking news' of Fahie's detention.

The self-governing Caribbean archipelago is home to some 35,000 people and is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, which supervises its defence and foreign policy. It is one of the world's leading offshore tax havens.

Both the local government and London have been accused by anti-corruption campaigners of turning a blind eye to illicit flows of foreign money.

DEA agents at the Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport took Fahie and BVI Port Authority managing director Oleanvine Maynard into custody after they allegedly agreed to accept money from undercover agents posing as Mexican drug traffickers, the Miami Herald newspaper reported.

Fahie and Maynard were to inspect a plane carrying $700,000 that they would receive in exchange for facilitating cocaine shipments through the territory, reported the Herald, citing US authorities.

The officials' arrests 'should send a clear message', DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement. 'Anyone involved with bringing dangerous drugs into the United States will be held accountable, no matter their position.'

Court documents filed Thursday showed Fahie, Maynard and Maynard's son were all charged with 'conspiracy to import five kilograms or more of cocaine' and 'conspiracy to launder money'.

In September 2021, Fahie backed a self-determination referendum that could see the Queens removal as the British Virgin Islands head of state.

The move came after then Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab ordered an inquiry into allegations that party officials had embezzled taxpayer money sent to help the islands in the wake of hurricanes.
A suicide bomb blast killed at least 50 worshippers during Friday prayers at a mosque in Afghanistan today.

Hundreds were gathered inside the Khalifa Sahib Mosque in western Kabul when the huge explosion took place.

It's thought hundreds are injured.

The official death toll is ten, but the mosque's leader confirmed it had risen to 50 by late afternoon.

Video showed crowds gathered outside the mosque in the wake of the blast, which killed many

A Whitehall adviser to the Minister of State for Refugees suggested 200 may have been killed.

Sayed Fazil Agha, who lost his nephews in the attack, told Reuters he believed a suicide bomber joined the ceremony before detonating the explosives.

He said: 'Black smoke rose and spread everywhere, dead bodies were everywhere.

'I myself survived, but lost my beloved ones.'

Taliban spokesperson Khalid Zadran maintained the death toll is ten, tweeting in English at 4.30pm: 'The casualties toll from todays bomb explosion in a Khanqah adjacent to a mosque in the Alauddin area of Police District-6 reached 40 casualties, including ten deaths.

'Security agencies are investigating the incident.'

Resident Mohammad Sabir said he saw people loaded into ambulances.

'The blast was very loud, I thought my eardrums were cracked,' he said.

Suspected perpetrators, ISIS offshoot ISIS-K, have not claimed responsibility for the attack

Khalifa Sahib Mosque in western Kabul was allegedly targeted by a suicide bomber (file image)

Reports that more than 200 people have been killed in a explosion at Khalifa Sahib Mosque in Kabul, during Friday prayers.



This is the 11th terrorist attack in Afghanistan in last 10 days. Innocent lives are being lost, without any investigation or accountability.  Shabnam Nasimi (@NasimiShabnam) April 29, 2022

The Zikr remembrance prayers said at the mosque today are seen as heretical by hardline members of the Sunni sect.

Emergency Hospital in downtown Kabul said it was treating 21 patients wounded in the blast and two patients were dead on arrival.

A nurse at another hospital, who declined to be identified, said it had received several wounded in critical condition.

A health source said hospitals had so far received at least 30 bodies in total.

Scores of Afghan civilians have been killed in recent weeks in blasts, some of which have been claimed by Islamic State.

The latest attack came on the last Friday in the month of Ramadan in which most Muslims fast, and before the religious holiday of Eid next week.

The Taliban rulers say they have secured the country since taking power in August and largely eliminated Islamic State's local offshoot.

An eye witness of Kabul attack says that more than 70 people have been killed in the blast. pic.twitter.com/70rI3BqrjJ  Afghan Peace Watch (@APWORG) April 29, 2022

But international officials and analysts say the risk of a resurgence in militancy remains.

Many of the attacks have targeted the Shi'ite minority. but Sunni mosques have also been attacked.

Bombs exploded aboard two passenger vans carrying Shi'ite Muslims in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday, killing at least nine people.

Last Friday a blast tore through a Sunni mosque during Friday prayers in the city of Kunduz, killing 33.

The blast at the Sunni Mawlawi Sekandar Mosque in Imam Saheb, northern Afghanistan was the town's second deadly bombing in just two days.

Taliban leaders accused 'seditionist' ISIS fighters of the cruel terrorist attack one day after the group claimed responsibility for a spate of bombings across Afghanistan.

The worst of these was an attack on a Shiite mosque in northern Mazar-e-Sharif that killed at least 12 Shiite Muslim worshippers and wounded scores more.

Earlier a Kunduz province police spokesman put the death toll at the Imam Saheb mosque and madrassa compound at two, with six injured.

The Sai Dokan Shiite mosque in eastern Afghanistan was attacked last week, with 12 killed

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid then tweeted the higher casualty numbers, writing: 'We condemn this crime . . . and express our deepest condolences to the victims.'

A school blast shook Kabul last this week

Since sweeping to power last August, the Taliban have been battling the upstart Islamic State affiliate known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province or IS-K, which is proving to be an intractable security challenge for Afghanistan's religiously driven government.

Last November the Taliban's intelligence unit carried out sweeping attacks on suspected IS-K hideouts in eastern Nangarhar province.

In a statement last Friday, IS-K said the explosive devise that devastated Mazar-e-Sharif's Sai Doken mosque was hidden in a bag left inside among scores of worshippers.

As they knelt in prayer, it exploded.

'When the mosque was filled with prayers, the explosives were detonated remotely,' the IS statement said, claiming that 100 people were injured.

The Taliban say they have arrested a former IS-K leader in northern Balkh province, of which Mazar-e-Sharif is the capital.

Zabihullah Noorani, information and culture department chief in Balkh province, said Abdul Hamid Sangaryar was arrested in connection with Thursday's mosque attack.

IS-K had been relatively inactive in Afghanistan since last November, but in recent weeks have stepped up its attacks in Afghanistan and in neighboring Pakistan, taking aim at Shiite Muslim communities reviled by Sunni radicals.




By Kang Seung-woo







Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is not likely to be present at President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's May 10 inauguration ceremony, according to a Japanese media outlet, Friday.







According to the Sankei Shimbun, the Japanese government concluded that it is premature for Kishida to travel to Korea as pending bilateral issues such as wartime forced labor and sex slavery still remain a sticking point to improving the soured ties between the two countries. The report cited multiple government officials.



Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida / AFP-Yonhap





It added that the Japanese government was instead considering sending its Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.







The report comes as the incoming Korean president has been working to improve bilateral relations, which some believe have sunk to their lowest level in decades, due to the historical issues.







Earlier this week, Yoon sent a policy consultation delegation to Tokyo, which met with Kishida and agreed to seek better ties. During their meeting, the delegates asked if the Japanese premier will attend the inauguration ceremony, according to Park Joo-sun, the chief of the inauguration preparatory committee.







Following the meeting, National Assembly Vice Speaker Rep. Chung Jin-suk, who headed the seven-member delegation, said that whether Kishida will attend is up to the Japanese government, adding that the government will warmly welcome and host him if he decides to attend the event.







Citing a Japanese government official, the report also said that if Kishida attends and then the Korean side changes its attitude, this would undoubtedly increase domestic criticism of the prime minister.







Following Seoul's Supreme Court ruling ordering Japanese companies to compensate surviving Korean victims of wartime forced labor, the Japanese government has been imposing tighter export curbs on three materials exported to Korea, which are used to make smartphone chips and displays, since July 2019. On Monday, the delegation met with Japan's Trade Minister Koichi Hagiuda and discussed the issue.


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Labour was accused of a cover-up today after it admitted to lying about an event at which party leader Sir Keir Starmer is alleged to have broken lockdown rules.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries hit out at the opposition after they admitted his deputy Angela Rayne was with him on April 30 last year when he was filmed enjoying a beer with officials at a time when indoor socialising was banned.

The admission came only after the Daily Mail confronted Labour officials with video evidence that Mrs Rayner had joined Sir Keir at an online rally for activists filmed in the Durham offices of Labour MP Mary Foy where the party leader was later seen drinking.

The extraordinary revelation raises questions about whether Labour's deputy leader also broke lockdown rules.

Ms Dorries today tweeted: 'Why did Labour consistently lie and say Raynor wasn't there, when she was? What are they hiding? No wonder Lisa Nandy told the shadow cabinet last week to stop talking about Partygate.

'She obviously knows more and knew where this was heading.'

But Sir Keir today denied any rule-breaking took place, telling the BBC: 'Whether Angela Rayner was there or not makes absolutely no difference. There was no breach of the rules, the matter has already been looked into.

'(There is a) stark contrast between that and the goings on at Downing Street where we know there were 55 fines issued already and an investigation is still going on.

'So there is absolutely no comparison to be made here.'

In a sensational U-turn, Labour acknowledged that Angela Rayner was also at the event on April 30 last year at which Sir Keir was filmed enjoying a beer (pictured) with officials at a time when indoor socialising was banned

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries hit out at the opposition, saying: 'Why did Labour consistently lie and say Raynor wasn't there, when she was? What are they hiding?'

Angela Rayner waves at the offices of Redhills, the home of the Durham Miners Association in Durham, County Durham in 2021

Labour leader Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner during a visit to a site development on the banks of the River Wear in Durham on May 1

Female MP told 'men want to sleep with you' A female MP has claimed a Shadow Cabinet minister said she was a 'secret weapon' because men wanted to sleep with her. The member of Sir Keir Starmer's top team is alleged to have made the lewd comment after the woman was described as a 'rising star' of the party at an event. The Welsh MP, who wants to remain anonymous, told the BBC that before she could reply, the frontbencher intervened to describe her as 'a secret weapon'. He said 'women want to be her friend' and, using a swear word, that men want to sleep with her, before adding: 'She is a vote winner.' The MP said she chose not to make a formal complaint. Labour said yesterday that the issue would be taken 'extremely seriously' if one was received. Labour leader Sir Keir said: 'I'm deeply concerned to hear these suggestions and these allegations. There is a complaints procedure and I want everybody to have the confidence to use that procedure because I would want to get to the bottom of this and do something about it.' Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth said the party should investigate even if a formal complaint had not been made. Advertisement

A Labour spokesman said last night: 'Angela was present.' A party source claimed the previous denials had been 'an honest mistake'.

It directly contradicts assurances given to the Daily Mail over the past three months that Mrs Rayner was 'not there'.

Conservative MP Brendan Clarke Smith said: 'For all their sanctimony about honesty and transparency, it's plain to see that Labour have not told the truth about Keir Starmer's lockdown drinks party.

'Why would they lie about Angela Rayner's presence if they thought the event was legal? It makes you wonder what else they are hiding.'

In another astonishing development, the Mail can reveal that Mrs Foy was forced to apologise this week after launching a 'drunken' tirade on the Commons terrace against 'Men want to sleep with you' slur Tory MP Richard Holden, who has led calls for Durham Police to reopen the case.

Last night Mrs Rayner was also facing questions over her denials that she had joked with Tory MPs about crossing and uncrossing her legs to distract Boris Johnson in the Commons.

The claim in The Mail on Sunday provoked a storm of criticism on social media this week and a demand from the Commons Speaker for the newspaper's editor to explain himself.

Mrs Rayner described the article as 'desperate, perverted smears'. But The Daily Telegraph yesterday revealed it had spoken to two Tory MPs who corroborated the claim that Mrs Rayner had joked about giving the PM 'a flash'.

Separately, The Mail On Sunday has now spoken to four Tory MPs who have all supported the account and contradicted the insinuation by Mrs Rayner and her allies that the claims were cooked up by sexist colleagues.

On a day of shame for Labour: 

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace called on the police to investigate the Labour event in the same way detectives are probing Partygate claims against the Prime Minister;

Labour sources confirmed that staff had presented Sir Keir with two birthday cakes in September 2020, when Covid guidance stated that people 'should not hold or attend celebrations' where social distancing would be difficult; 

Former Labour Cabinet minister Liam Byrne is facing a two-day suspension from the Commons for bullying a staff member; 

A female Labour MP claimed that a Shadow Cabinet minister told her she was a 'secret weapon' because men want to sleep with her; 

The Tories faced their own sleaze claims as Mr Johnson was forced to condemn the 'totally unacceptable' behaviour of a Conservative MP said to have watched porn in the Commons.

The Daily Mail first asked Labour on January 14 whether Mrs Rayner had been present at the notorious Durham drinks event.

A senior Labour official replied: 'Goodness me, with all that's going on. It's an old story! Angela wasn't there. It was Mary Foy's office.'

But rumours about Mrs Rayner's presence at the meeting persisted. She was pictured in Durham at an election event with Sir Keir early the following morning.

And a woman whose head can be seen from behind in the video of Sir Keir has hair which bears a remarkable resemblance to Mrs Rayner's striking red locks.

The Mail presented officials with video evidence that Mrs Rayner had also been present at the Durham Miners Hall that evening.

Labour admitted it had lied about an event at which Sir Keir Starmer is alleged to have broken lockdown rules

Sir Keir gave a six-minute speech at the venue to an online party rally. Later in the event, Mrs Rayner appeared on screen in front of the same background Sir Keir had sat in front of 20 minutes earlier.

And she even confirmed exactly where she was, quoting the motto of the Durham Miners.

'Being here at the Miners Hall in Durham, I've got to start with 'the past we inherit, the future we build',' Mrs Rayner said.

Labour yesterday refused to answer a string of further questions from the Mail about the event, which police are now under pressure to investigate.

Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth said the party should investigate even if a formal complaint had not been made after the report a Welsh MP was told she was a 'secret weapon' because men wanted to sleep with her.

In January, Sir Keir said: 'We were working in the office. We stopped for something to eat and then we carried on working. No party, no breach of the rules and absolutely no comparison with the Prime Minister.'

It can now be established that the online event finished at around 9.20pm, about 45 minutes before Sir Keir was filmed by a passerby drinking from a bottle of beer.

Labour officials refused to say how long the 'meal break' lasted, or how many attended.

They also refused to say whether anyone in the leader's office had since spoken to Durham's Labour police and crime commissioner  but denied suggestions she had also been present that evening.

Durham Police said this week they would consider a request from Mr Holden to review their controversial decision that Sir Keir had not broken any rules.

Senior Tories demanded a full investigation, saying there appeared to be no difference between the event and the socalled 'birthday party' in No10, for which Mr Johnson was fined 50.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said detectives should launch a full investigation, adding: 'A consistency of the application of the law, that's what we all deserve  whether we're in London or whether we're in Durham.'

Mr Johnson's spokesman said: 'The PM thinks the law should be applied equally at all times.'

'We made a mistake. Angela WAS present': Labour makes humiliating U-turn after Mail proves Rayner was at 'beergate' event under police review

By Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail

The WhatsApp message sent by a senior Labour press officer could hardly have been clearer.

Asked by the Daily Mail if the party's deputy leader Angela Rayner had been present at the Durham Miners Hall the evening Sir Keir Starmer enjoyed a beer with local MP Mary Foy and other comrades, the spokesman replied categorically: 'Angela wasn't there.'

But now that simple claim has been undermined, ironically by Labour's own digital campaigning prowess.

Last night, in an astonishing volte-face, Labour belatedly admitted that Mrs Rayner had been there, but gave no further details.

The party's about-turn came after a Mail investigation had already established that despite the denials, the party's deputy leader had been in the Miners Hall.

Deputy leader of Labour, Angela Rayner (pictured), has been confirmed to have been present at the Durham Miners Hall in the evening of April 30 2021 after it was originally denied

Earlier in the evening, before having a beer, Sir Kier was at an online rally in Durham with Angela Rayner

Lockdown laws at the time, in April 2021, banned indoor socialising except within a household or support bubble

Almost a year since the fateful event, when lockdown laws at the time banned indoor socialising except within a household or support bubble, the party's Facebook page still shows a video that proves Sir Keir and Mrs Rayner were in the same building at the same time.

It can be revealed today that less than an hour before the infamous video was taken of Sir Keir with bottle in hand, he and his deputy sat at the same desk to address Labour activists across the country.

They were the star turns in a live online rally being held less than a week before the country went to the ballot boxes in the pair's first major electoral test.

It was advertised by frontbencher Nick Thomas-Symonds in a social media post that can still be viewed today. 'Tune in 8.30pm-9pm tonight for Labour's Get Out The Vote '6 Days to 6th May' rally with Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and special guests,' he wrote on Twitter on the afternoon of Friday, April 30.

He helpfully included a link to the Facebook page hosting the virtual campaigning event, which not only remains online but includes a complete video of the 48-minute proceedings. It was hosted by Labour MP Carolyn Harris, broadcasting from her home in Wales. She made it clear the rally was live by announcing: 'Well, hello everyone and welcome to the very last Friday before May 6.'

After her introduction she handed over to Sir Keir, who was wearing the same open-necked white shirt which would later be seen in the clip filmed by passers-by as he drank a bottle of beer.

The event took place at the Durham Miners Hall (pictured), where Sir Kier and Angela addressed Labour voters online

As he addressed voters by webcam, he was sitting in a small room with white walls and a mirror on a mantelpiece that showed the reflection of a distinctive 'half round' fanlight window.

Sir Keir gave a six-minute speech to the 16,000 watching online, saying: 'Let me just start by thanking every single person who's on this call this evening. Thank you for joining us.' He said the party was facing 'huge, huge elections', the first since the 'devastating' national poll in December 2019  which saw Boris Johnson rout his predecessor as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

Sir Keir claimed the upcoming elections would pit his Labour Party against a 'Conservative Party that's up to its neck in sleaze'.

After the rally heard from other speakers, including one in the US, host Miss Harris handed over to the final speaker  Angela Rayner.

She appeared on screen in front of the same background Sir Keir had sat in front of less than 20 minutes earlier  the same white walls, the same mirror on the mantelpiece and the same window in the reflection. And she even confirmed exactly where she was, quoting the motto of Durham Miners.

A Labour press officer told the Daily Mail that Angela Rayner was not present (pictured)

'Being here at the Miners Hall in Durham, I've got to start with 'the past we inherit, the future we build',' Mrs Rayner said.

As well as hosting the 'Pitman's Parliament' in decades gone by and being the headquarters of the Durham Miners' Association, the grand Edwardian building is also used for constituency meetings by Mrs Foy.

And it is where the party has admitted Sir Keir was when he was caught enjoying a drink with colleagues, including Mrs Foy, in an apparent breach of Covid rules at the time as well as government electioneering guidance that stated: 'You should not meet with other campaigners indoors.'

That video was shot a little after 10pm  less than an hour after Mrs Rayner addressed the online rally from a room there. Photos of the hall show that its ground floor has the same distinctive fanlight windows that can be seen in the background of Sir Keir and Mrs Rayner's pieces to camera.

The full 43-second clip of the video revealed by the Mail this week shows Sir Keir in another room of the hall, swigging from a bottle of beer and listening to Mrs Foy while two men eat food by the doorway.

A woman sitting facing the two Labour MPs had been named by social media users as Joy Allen, then campaigning to be Durham crime tsar. But she has denied being present and the evidence obtained by the Mail suggests the woman is Mrs Rayner.

When this newspaper first asked the party's press office in January about Mrs Rayner's possible presence, the reply was unequivocal: 'Angela wasn't there.' But the deputy leader had also shared photos and videos of herself with Sir Keir in the building at the same time.

She was wearing the same polka-dot dress as she wore during the online rally and earlier that day while out canvassing hundreds of miles away in Birmingham. The next day  at 8.53am on Saturday, May 1  she posted two photographs of herself in front of miners' lodges banners at the hall and wrote: 'Last year was the first year in two decades that I couldn't come to Durham. It's good to be back!'

Then at 9.45am she shared a video  which again is still online  of herself and Sir Keir touring the building which Labour claims she had not stepped inside.

It began with him declaring: 'On International Workers' Day, we're at Redhills, the historic Durham Miners Hall.'

Mrs Rayner was filmed outside the building saying: 'From here in Durham to the miners in South Wales, it was working people and trade unionists who created local healthcare systems that laid the foundations for our country's greatest institution, the National Health Service.'

The morning after the indoor event, Sir Keir and Mrs Rayner were pictured in hard hats and hi-vis jackets as they visited a major building development in Durham, known as Milburngate.

Revealed: Damning testimony from four MPs of Angela Rayner's vulgar joke about Sharon Stone ploy

By Glen Owen and Dan Hodges for the Daily Mail

Angela Rayner last night risked accusations of a cover-up over the sexism row that has convulsed Westminster.

Labour's deputy leader had described a story in last week's Mail on Sunday  which said she had joked with Tory MPs about crossing and uncrossing her legs to distract Boris Johnson  as 'disgusting' and 'completely untrue'.

Amid a storm of criticism on social media, Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle demanded a meeting with the newspaper's editor David Dillon.

Mr Dillon rejected the call, saying that journalists should 'not take instruction' from parliamentary officials.

Several MPs have supported the claim the Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner (Pictured next to Sir Kier Starmer) made jokes about crossing and uncrossing her legs to distract Boris Johnson

Yesterday The Daily Telegraph reported that two Conservative MPs had told the newspaper they had heard Mrs Rayner laughing publicly about the idea that she could put off the Prime Minister by 'giving him a flash'.

The witnesses said she had been joking about the suggestion that she was crossing and uncrossing her legs during a light-hearted discussion on the Commons terrace about two months ago.

Separately, The Mail On Sunday has now spoken to a total of four Tory MPs  the original source and three others, including one woman  all of whom supported this account and contradicted the insinuation by Mrs Rayner and her allies that the claims were cooked up by sexists.

One of the MPs, describing a night on the Commons terrace earlier this year, said Mrs Rayner had initiated the discussion of the issue. They said she had spoken of giving the Prime Minister 'a flash'.

A second MP claimed that Mrs Rayner had referenced the thriller Basic Instinct, in which Sharon Stone's character infamously uncrosses her legs while being interrogated by police. 'Angela told us: 'I like to do my Sharon Stone trick to distract Boris... I cross and uncross my legs',' the witness said. A third MP added that they also remembered the encounter.

The original source for the Mail on Sunday story said that the 'Sharon Stone' joke had been made while Mrs Rayner spoke to a Tory MP. 'She was telling him how she distracts Boris,' they said. All four Tories gave almost identical accounts of her remarks. They each said Mrs Rayner had used a startling slang colloquialism during the discussion.

Angela Rayner joked about a Sharon Stone meme based on her during a podcast in January

When The Mail on Sunday approached Mrs Rayner last Saturday about the exchanges on the terrace, a Labour spokesman said: 'It's completely made up, so unless they're going to say something properly on the record or have any evidence I would expect that this made-up story wouldn't run.

'I'm telling you categorically it's untrue so I'm afraid you know that doesn't meet the bar, an unnamed source without any evidence... I'm telling you, it's categorically untrue that this has happened.' After Mrs Rayner strenuously denied making the remarks, coverage of the story initially concentrated on allegations of sexism. The row then saw Sir Lindsay attempt to summon The Mail on Sunday's editor for a meeting.

However, on Wednesday the Daily Mail revealed that Mrs Rayner had in fact publicly joked about the Basic Instinct comparison herself in January. Speaking to Matt Forde for his Political Party podcast, she volunteered the fact that her appearances in the Commons had prompted online references to the 1992 movie thriller.

A Labour spokesman said the story was 'completely made up' was asked for a comment

'Every time I do a Prime Minister's Questions somebody has an opinion on what I wear. Did you see the meme about Sharon Stone like I was doing it at PMQs? I was mortified,' she said, laughing. 'I wasn't aware I did it but apparently there was this whole meme about how my dress was a bit revealing. I didn't think it was. It was a perfectly suitable Karen Millen  in the sale by the way.'

The podcast also saw her use the same slang colloquialism MPs say she used on the Commons terrace.

Meanwhile, as the backlash grew over Sir Lindsay's intervention, Mr Dillon formally turned down the Speaker's request for a meeting, saying that Britain's free Press would not endure if journalists had to take instructions from officials in the House of Commons. He also said other MPs had come forward to corroborate the original account of Mrs Rayner's remarks.

The Prime Minister later backed Mr Dillon's decision. A No 10 spokesman said Mr Johnson would not want 'any perception of politicians seeking to in any way curb or control what a free Press seeks to report'.

A spokesman for Mrs Rayner last night declined to comment further on the story.

Labour's own partygate: Keir Starmer flouted Covid lockdown guidance at own birthday bash... with TWO cakes

By Harriet Line, Chief Political Correspondent for the Daily Mail

Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of hypocrisy for attending a birthday cake celebration in his office during the pandemic.

The Labour leader tucked into the shop-bought chocolate and lemon cakes while coronavirus guidance advised against holding close social gatherings indoors.

Sir Keir has repeatedly demanded Boris Johnson quit for attending an impromptu birthday gathering in the Cabinet Room in June 2020  just three months before his own celebration.

The PM and Chancellor were hit with fines for breaking lockdown laws that banned indoor gatherings at that time. However, it has now emerged that Sir Keir was given a birthday card and two cakes in his office on his birthday in September 2020.

Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of hypocrisy for attending a birthday cake celebration in his office during the pandemic

While Covid laws on gatherings had been relaxed a month earlier, government guidance at the time stated that people should not 'hold or attend celebrations (such as parties) where it is difficult to maintain social distancing and avoid close social interaction'.

How Labour queued up to condemn the PM 'This is the first time in the history of our country that a Prime Minister has been found to be in breach of the law, and then he lied repeatedly to the public about it. Britain deserves better, they have to go.' Sir Keir Starmer, April 12 'Now we know the Prime Minister did not shut down his own birthday party he spent it breaking the law. We have a Prime Minister who is sorry only that he has been found out.' Angela Rayner, April 21 'We are all concerned by the situation in Ukraine, but that should not be used as a smokescreen for the failings of this Prime Minister.' MP Matt Western, April 21 Advertisement

The Government also said people should not 'socialise indoors in groups of more than two households'. It was not clear last night how many others helped Sir Keir to eat the cakes in his office.

A Tory source said: 'It now seems that, as well as sinking a few cold ones with mates at his infamous Durham drinks party, Sir Keir flouted the guidance in place for a little birthday bash... that is of course unless you believe that he popped out to a shop, bought himself a cake and sat alone eating it in his office.

'We know that Labour have lied about these things in the past so it makes you wonder what else they're hiding. The stench of hypocrisy gets stronger by the day.'

Sir Keir claimed the Prime Minister and Chancellor 'dishonoured their office' by attending the impromptu birthday celebration on June 19, 2020, the day Mr Johnson turned 56.

Rishi Sunak was in attendance because he had been invited to a crucial meeting about Covid. Mr Johnson was eating a salad.

It was initially believed that the PM had been presented with a Union Jack cake while aides sang 'Happy Birthday' to him.

However, it has since emerged that the cake  bought by a special adviser  never even left its Tupperware box. Some sausage rolls from Marks and Spencer were laid out on the Cabinet table along with a few cans of Estrella lager, but it is believed that these too were left untouched.

Nevertheless, Sir Keir claimed Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak's attendance had 'dishonoured' the sacrifices made by people during lockdown  as well as their offices.

After the men were fined, Sir Keir said: 'This is the first time in the history of our country that a Prime Minister has been found to be in breach of the law, and then he lied repeatedly to the public about it. Britain deserves better, they [the PM and the Chancellor] have to go.'

Labour did not respond to a request for comment last night. However, a party source said no laws were broken.
A pharmaceutical company has been fined 1.2m after supplying contaminated drip feeds linked to the death of three babies.

ITH Pharma Ltd, based in Wembley, was charged with multiple offences after the children died and around 20 others needed treatment at nine hospitals across the UK.

They were all given the fluid between May 27 and June 2, 2014 as nutrition directly into their bloodstream because they were unable to feed on their own.

Legal representatives for the company, a supplier of specialist drip feeds for premature and vulnerable babies, accept that the feed was contaminated and admitted to failing to make a suitable risk assessment between 1 August 2009 and 1 June 2014.

Nine-day-old Yousef Al-Kharboush died at St Thomas Hospital in central London on June 1 2014 after he developed sepsis

The company also admitted supplying a medical product not of the nature and quality specified in the prescription in relation to drip feed given to baby Yousef Al-Kharboush at St Thomas Hospital on 27 May 2014.

Nine-day-old Yousef Al-Kharboush died at St Thomas Hospital in central London on June 1 2014 after he developed sepsis. He and his twin brother, Abdulilah, were born by emergency Caesarean section at St Thomas at 32 weeks gestation in May 2014.

While in intensive care they were both fed intravenously, but while Abdulilah was not affected, Yousef died.

ITH Pharma disputes that its parental nutrition product caused his death, but pleaded guilty to supplying a medical product not of the nature and quality specified in the prescription in relation to the other 22 babies involved.

Four of these babies were prescribed but did not actually receive the drip feed.

The contaminated feed has previously been linked to the deaths of two other babies, Tameria Aldrich and Oscar Barker.

Tameria Aldrich, whose twin sister Tia also survived, died nine days after Yousef on June 10 after being transferred to St Thomas from Broomfield hospital in Chelmsford, while Oscar Barker died at Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge.

Prosecutor Mark Heywood, QC, told Southwark Crown Court: The prosecutions case is very firmly Yousefs death was the result of the way in which this company was carrying out the manufacturing activity and in particular the lack of the risk assessment.

Lawyers representing ITH pharma dispute this.

Judge Deborah Taylor said: Outbreaks of infection have previously been linked to TPN manufacture by others.

It is not possible to remove any of those risks entirely.

ITH accepts that TPN supplied on the 27th of May 2014 was contaminated.

Overall I accept the prosecutions submission that...the absence of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for an extended period of time with a failure to review points of significant change...was a significant shortfall from the required standard.

Addressing Yousefs death, judge Taylor said: I do not find that the causation of Yousefs death was proved to the criminal standard.

She went on: I also find that the introduction of bacteremia...is not harm in itself.

The contaminated feed has previously been linked to the deaths of two other babies, Tameria Aldrich and Oscar Barker (pictured)

The judge said that there was not sufficient medical evidence that the presence of bacteremia in the babies blood led to sepsis.

However, she concluded that the presence of that bacteria did expose the infants to the risk of serious harm or death.

The judge fined ITH Pharma, which had a 66.8 million annual turnover up to September 2020, 1.215 million and ordered the firm to pay 291,000 in costs on after the company previously pleaded guilty to three offences.

They include failing to make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment between August 1, 2009 and June 1, 2014 over the supply of TPN to patients, under the 1999 Health and Safety at Work Regulations, and two charges of supplying a medicinal product which was not of the nature or quality specified in the prescription, under the Medicines Act on May 27, 2014.

Oscar and Tamerias mothers, Hollie Barker and Vicky Golden, wept as the judge gave her decision on Friday.

Previously, Mr Heywood said: The essential case for the prosecution is that the defendant company, which was then involved, and still is, of the manufacture and supply of medicinal nutrition products for hospitals including for administration to infants who were unwell, supplied one large batch of such products which were contaminated by a pathogen.

That is to say, a contamination that is dangerous to health and life particularly if allowed to enter the bloodstream.

The court heard there were 23 supplies of contaminated Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) to hospitals, 19 of which were administered to babies.

Some became ill, some very ill, Mr Heywood said.

Among that number, one of the babies died as a result of the infection that followed the administration.

This baby was Yousef. Born on 23 May 2014 at St Thomas hospital in central London, he was was premature.

On the 27th of May, parenteral nutrition feed bag was ordered for Yousef, Mr Heywood said.

His pre administration condition although he, as in the state he was having been delivered in a moderately premature state and being underweight, there were no other medical conditions from which he was suffering at the time.

But on the 30th his condition deteriorated considerably.

The court heard that he had a fever, his blood sugar levels were high and a cranial scan suggested the presence of abscesses in his brain.

A blood test revealed the presence of bacteria Bacillus Cereus.

[On] 1 June, his breathing tube was removed after consultation with his family and death was certified, Mr Heywood said.

Yousef died after developing sepsis, the court was told.

His father, Raaid Sakkijha, said in a statement: The terrible memories still haunt us and will do forever.

Every time Ghada looks at Yousefs twin brother, she feels the weight of the loss of her son.

This company that did this to us wont even feel the fine. Its business as usual for them. Is that justice?

Subsequent investigation, the prosecutor continued, showed that ITH Pharma did not have in place suitable and sufficient risk assessment of its activities.

Mr Heywood alleges that had risk assessments been properly performed, the obvious risk would have been addressed.

The prosecutor continued: It was in May and June of 2014 when there was, at the time, an unusual outbreak of illness and bacterial infection which occurred among premature children.

Nineteen cases were identified, that involved children in nine different hospitals.

Each of the 19 was found to have been affected by some bacteria.

The bacteria is Bacillus Cereus, a BC44 strand.

All of the affected babies received TPN products that were supplied by the defendant company,' Mr Heywood said.

Of those, all of the TPN products had been manufactured by the company at their premises on the 27th May 2014.

To summarise, that batch was recalled. Some hospitals still held unused quantities and some of those when recovered and tested were found to be contaminated.

It is said the batch was contaminated during manufacture.

Babies were first reported to be septic at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 31 May 2014, the court heard.

These infants had been born premature and were being fed TPN intravenously, it is said.

On 2 June, a second hospital reported two babies who had developed symptoms of sepsis who were, again, premature and receiving TPN drip feed.

The issue was linked to ITH and a recall was issued for 81 batches, the prosecutor said.

'Tameria is never forgotten in our house' Tameria Aldrich died nine days after Yousef on June 10 after being transferred to St Thomas from Broomfield hospital in Chelmsford Tameria Aldrichs mother, Vicki Golden, 39, said her daughter was three weeks old when she died. A twin born premature, Tameria had been the healthy one, Ms Golden said. The baby was kept in the same hospital room as Yousef. Ms Golden, from Essex, said: I watched Yousef going through that then I watched my daughter going through the same thing. Tamerias twin will be eight years old in May. Shes perfectly fine, Ms Golden said, She runs around like a little nutter. Tameria is never forgotten in our house. We go to her grave on any special occasion. She knows that she has a sister in heaven. The mother also has twin boys coming up to 21, a seven-year-old daughter, a nine and an eight-year-old. Asked about ITH Pharma, Ms Golden said: I think they were playing Russian Roulette from 2009-2014. Playing Russian Roulette with peoples lives. She added: Its like someone stabbing you in an open wound and every so often throwing salt in it. Advertisement

Family members of the dead babies listened as lawyers for the pharmaceutical giant argued that their product did not cause Yousefs death.

Arti Shah, a medical negligence solicitor at Fieldfisher who represents three families who believe their babies died from receiving contaminated feed said: For eight years, ITH Pharma has continued operating as normal.

For eight years, Yousefs parents have lived in hell. And still the company has not admitted causing Yousefs death.

Yousefs twin survived, the court heard.

Mr Sakkijha has said previously: We had to change every aspect of our life in London that would remind us of Yousefs loss - our previous apartment, the area that we used to live in, the places that we used to go to when we were pregnant with the twins.

Even today, Yousefs mother Ghada has a panic and crying attack whenever she sees a mother with a twin stroller as she feels the loss of her son over and over again.

We really hoped that justice would finally prevail after seven years of endless suffering to our family.

Adrian Darbishire, QC, defending, disputed on behalf of ITH Pharma that the drip feed is proved to have caused Yousefs death.

The reality is...it is not possible to determine a cause of death to the criminal standard, Mr Darbishire said.

He went on to say that although the company has pleaded guilty to failing to make a suitable risk assessment, that does not mean a proper risk assessment would have entirely prevented the whole issue.

It is very, very difficult to rid oneself of hindsight.

It is because you cannot unknow what we now know that makes it so difficult to judge what the risk assessment would have contained.

Complaint that is accepted is insufficient risk assessment, that is not to say if you had had [one] consequence A and consequence B would not have happened.

Mr Darbishire also said that the company accepted that TPN was contaminated but that the bacteria was a clinical sign.

It cannot be regarded as actual harm for sentencing purposes.

Director and founder of ITH Pharma Karen Hamling said in a statement: I am genuinely sorry that a product we have manufactured may have caused or risked causing anyone harm.

Ms Hamlings statement explained that ITH Pharma was started in 2008 and grew exponentially.

The court heard previously that its turnover in 2020 was 66m.

The success of the company has been built on...a reputation for the highest quality products and service.

The company has accepted that it fell short of its obligation.

An ITH Pharma spokesperson said: We at ITH Pharma first and foremost offer our deepest sympathies to the families of the patients affected by the events of eight years ago.

We accept the fine imposed by the Court, having pleaded guilty to a single regulatory offence of failing to have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and to two regulatory offences under the Medicines Act 1968 of supplying a medicinal product on 27 May 2014 not of the nature or quality specified in the prescription.

ITH Pharma was fined 1,215,000. The pharmaceutical giant was also ordered to pay costs of 291,000.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Leonard, who led the investigation, said: 'This has been a lengthy and complex investigation and our thoughts today remain with the families of all those affected.

'We commend their bravery and dignity in coming to court and reliving their most difficult moments. We hope they can take some comfort in the fact the criminal proceedings have now concluded.

'This outcome was only possible thanks to the tireless work of a dedicated team of officers, particularly DS Simon Dawes who must be commended for his efforts.'
More than a dozen flights will leave the continental U.S. in the next 24 hours carrying weapons destined for Ukrainian armed forces, including more howitzers and the first of the new Phoenix Ghost drones.

A senior defense official told reporters that the new, secret drones will join 100 Switchblades - kamikaze drones that carry a warhead - that have already been delivered.

It comes as Russia on Thursday pounded targets across Ukraine, hitting high-rise apartments in Kyiv, just when the capital was beginning a return to normal.

And as the Pentagon announced it had begun training some Ukrainian forces at bases in Germany on key weapons systems.

U.S. officials have suggested they face a race against time to deliver weapons to Ukrainian forces as they fight fierce battles in the eastern Donbas region.

Last week, President Joe Biden announced he was giving them a new weapon - previously classified Phoenix Ghost drones specially tailored for the conflict.

Very little is known about the new Phoenix Ghost drones other than that they operate in similar style to Switchblade killer drones, seen here, which crash into their targets

A senior defense official on Friday said that more than a dozen flights would carry weapons - including the first tranche of Phoenix Ghosts - from the U.S. to Europe in the next 24 hours

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Isiah Enriquez, a native of Lubbock, Texas, and a rifleman with 1st Battalion, 2d Marine Regiment (1/2), 2d Marine Division (2d MARDIV), launches a Switchblade Drone during a training exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C., July 7, 2021

The U.S. is seeking to provide munitions that can counter Russian armor during the next phase of the war

The drones are manufactured by AEVEX Aerospace, but no photos were immediately available

'In the next 24 hours, more than a dozen flights are expected from the continental United States and that will include howitzers, more 155 rounds, Some of those Phoenix ghost UAVs and and even some of the radars that we talked about,' said a defense official.

Little is known about the unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone.

It is manufactured by AEVEX Aerospace. However, the company is known for modifying drones and providing flight training, suggesting the Phoenix Ghost could be based on a commercially available aircraft.

The company did not respond to a request for more information.

However, U.S. officials have previously described it as a 'one-way drone' that 'delivers a punch,' leading analysts to say it might operate like a Switchblade, which can loiter over a target before crashing into it with an explosive payload.

The official said training of Ukrainian troops in the new weapon had not yet started.

'We believe that the first tranche of those drones should be arriving in the region today, but not all 121. the first tranche of them will be arriving in the region today,' said the official at Friday's briefing.

'And again, we're still working out the how the specific training is going to be done on this. We do believe that training will not take very long for for pilots that have some existing UAV knowledge.'

Later, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced that the U.S. had begun training Ukrainian forces at bases inside Germany.

'These efforts build on the initial artillery training that Ukraine's forces already have received elsewhere, and also includes training on the radar system and armored vehicles that have been recently announced as part of security assistance packages,' he said.

Some of the training will be conducted by Florida National Guard members. They were withdrawn from Ukraine as invasion loomed in February, but are now resuming their work with Ukrainian forces in Germany, said Kirby.

'And what I can tell you is that we're talking about roughly three locations outside of, of Ukraine, and in this case, we definitely can identify Germany as a site,' added Kirby.

'But there are other sites outside Ukraine and and we're just not at liberty to disclose where they are.

FILE - A Ukrainian soldier walks past a Russian tank after recent battles at the village of Moshchun close to Kyiv, Ukraine, April 19, 2022. Drones are capable of taking out Russian armor

The Ukrainians have also successfully targeted Russian armor with Turkish-made drones

More weapons will flow in during the next 24 hours as the U.S. and partners try to shore up Ukrainian defenses ahead of an expected Russian push in Donbas.

'We believe that essentially what they're doing is is continuing to set conditions for a sustained and larger and longer offensive that I am not suggesting that offensive hasn't been done. Of course, they've begun - there is fighting there,' said the official.

'But we still think that it is of a piece of they're trying to set the proper conditions for for sustained offensive operations.'

The urgency was on display this week, when Biden asked Congress to approve another $33 billion in spending on Ukraine.

'The United States alone has provided 10 anti-armor systems for every Russian tank that is in Ukraine - 10 to one,' said Biden

'Were providing Ukraine significant, timely intelligence to help them defend themselves against the Russian onslaught.

'And were facilitating a significant flow of weapons and systems to Ukraine from our allies and partners around the world, including tanks, artillery, and other weapons.'

Poland has sent more than 200 Soviet-era T-72 battle tanks (file image) to Ukraine as part of a $1.6bn military aid package as fighting intensifies

Poland has also sent Warmate drones - a less-advanced version of the American Switchblades which have an explosive charge in the nose (left and right)

Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelensky tweeted: 'Thank you @POTUS and the American people for their leadership in supporting Ukraine in our fight against Russian aggression.

Other nations have followed suit. The German parliament voted this week to begin the supply of heavy weapons.

And Poland has sent hundreds of tanks.

Warsaw has sent more than 200 T-72s - originally produced by the Soviet Union - into Ukraine in recent weeks, the country's national radio broadcaster said today, along with mobile artillery, drones and rocket launchers as part of a $1.6bn package.
The controversial Ohio lawmaker Jean Schmidt, known as Mean Jean for inflammatory past remarks, has sparked outrage again by claiming rape can be an 'opportunity' for young victims to become good mothers.

Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt, 70, made the remarks on Wednesday during a hearing on House Bill 598, also known as the 'Human Life Protection Act' which would ban abortion. The bill makes no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

Schmidt, when confronted with those two scenarios, said: 'It is a shame that it happens, but theres an opportunity for that woman, no matter how young or old she is, to make a determination about what shes going to do to help that life be a productive human being.'

She has been slammed online by pro-choice activists and others who called her a 'rape apologist'.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio blasted the comments as 'disgusting'.

Schmidt is no stranger to controversy.

In 2005, she labeled Vietnam war veteran John P. Murtha a coward after he called for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Schmidt, a newcomer at the time, claimed to have received a phone call from a Marine colonel who wanted to deliver a message to Murtha.

'[He] asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do,' she said. It sent the house into uproar and Schmidt asked for her remarks to be stricken from the congressional record.

The following year, she was accused of listing fake endorsements on her campaign website after some of the people who she claimed supported her spoke out to say they didn't.

In 2016, she was fined by the FEC for accepting free legal services from the Turkish Coalition of America. The Commission found that she was in breach of campaign ethics rules when she took $600,000 in free legal services from the organization.

She was slammed for her rape comments by some who called her a 'rape apologist'.

They asked how she would feel if someone in her family was raped.

Schmidt is married to financial adviser Peter Schmidt. The pair have one adult daughter, Emily.

Schmidt with her husband, daughter Emily, son-in-law and grandsons

Schmidt is a proud Republican who says she was inspired by Richard Nixon. She is shown with George Bush

The lawmaker tells in her biography how she grew up Democratic then changed her political tune after becoming a fan of President Nixon. She is a proud anti-abortionist and is championing the anti-abortion bill in Ohio.

In 2006, Schmidt called Democratic Vietnam war veteran John Murtha a 'coward' for suggesting a withdrawal of troops from Iraq

'The time has come for Ohio to truly stand up for the rights of the unborn," Schmidt said during a Wednesday committee meeting.

'I pray to God every single night and every single morning that we end this carnage of killing innocent lives because I am pro-life.'

The issue of Roe v Wade and abortion across America has resurfaced thanks to an ongoing case before the Supreme Court concerning Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban.

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Mississippi law, it essentially undoes the national right to abortion afforded by Roe v Wade, opening other states up to make their own rules on abortion including banning it entirely.

Ohio's law, proposed by Schmidt, would be among the strictest by not allowing for abortions in rape and incest cases.

Texas and Oklahoma have also passed restrictive laws that would ban abortion in many cases and would criminalize doctors who perform them.

Oklahoma's rule bans all abortions unless they are deemed medically necessary.

Last year, Texas introduced the 'Heartbeat Act' which bans abortions in pregnancies where a embryonic heartbeat can be detected - something that occurs at around six weeks in pregnancy.

Florida recently introduced its own 15-week abortion ban except in cases where pregnancy would harm the mother or baby medically.
Shocking dashcam footage shows the moment a 16-year-old car thief in Ohio leapt out of a moving vehicle as he tried to evade police.

The teen, who was wearing a neck brace from an earlier crash, is seen speeding away from officers around 1 am before hitting a spike strip and starting to swerve.

He drives up along the road's guardrail and can be seen shifting from the driver's side of the car to the passenger seat.

But he then jumps out of door and loses both his shoes as he bounces off the ground - his legs flailing upward and flipping to hit the guard rail.

Miraculously, Whitehall Police said, the teen from Columbus walked away from the crash with just minor injuries.

Dash cam footage from a Whitehall Police Department cruiser captured the moment a 16-year-old leapt from the passenger side of a vehicle he stole as he evaded police on Wednesday

An officer bolts out of his vehicle to help the teen, while another cop car chases after the still-moving stolen car, which continued for a few hundred yards.

In body camera footage shared by ABC 6, the teen can be heard asking police if they 'an check if my neck thing broke,' and asking them to tighten the brace.

Police said he got the brace after he was injured crashing another stolen car.

The teen emerged from the crash with only minor injuries, police said, although he was wearing a neck brace after an earlier crash in another stolen vehicle, police said

It is unclear whether the vehicle clipped the carjacker as it rolled away

The stolen vehicle continues to roll forward after the 16-year-old jumped out

After placing the teen in handcuffs, one officer is heard asking 'How old are you son? You don't care if you die?'

'No, I do,' the car thief replies.

Officers charged the minor with receiving stolen property, then handed him over to paramedics.

They brought him to Mount Carmel East Hospital for treatment of his minor injuries.

An officer bolts out of his vehicle to help the teen, while another cop car chases after the still-moving stolen car, which continued for a few hundred yards

In body camera footage shared by ABC 6, the teen can be heard asking police if they 'an check if my neck thing broke,' and asking them to tighten the brace

The Franklin County Juvenile Detention facility screened him and decided that the teen didn't meet criteria to be accepted into the juvenile court system, and he was released into his mother's care on Wednesday.

The Whitehall Police Department did not return DailyMail.com's request for comment.
A member of an organised crime gang who conspired to supply more than 12million in fake bank notes has been jailed after police seized the countertfeit cash in the largest fake currency raid in UK history.

Andrew Ainsworth, 61, from Farningham, near Dartford, Kent, was today sentenced to five and a half years in prison.

He is the fourth member of a criminal network to be jailed following a lengthy investigation by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

The investigation began in January 2019 at around the same time the Bank of England identified a new counterfeit paper 20 note entering general circulation.

A 5.25million stash was found in an industrial unit in Beckenham, south east London, in May 2019 - believed to be the biggest ever face-value counterfeit find in the UK.

Andrew Ainsworth, 61, from Farningham, near Dartford, Kent, was today sentenced to five and a half years in prison

During a police raid at an industrial unit in Beckenham, Kent, in May 2019, officers found 5.25million in counterfeit notes as well as printing devices (pictured)

Some of the counterfeit cash seized by police during the raid at the factory unit in Beckenham

A further 5million was found by a dog walker in Belvedere, London, while 200,940 was found scattered along a railway line between the village of Farningham and Longfield, Kent.

The Bank of England also found that around 1.6million of the notes were already in circulation, giving a total of just over 12million of fake notes printed.

The operation resulted in the arrests of John Evans, 27, Phillip Brown, 54, and Nick Winter, 58.

Evans and Brown admitted producing counterfeit currency at Woolwich Crown Court and were jailed for ten years and six and half years in January last year.

Winter was jailed for six years in December 2020 after admitting his involvement in producing the fake cash.

When officers first raided the industrial unit in Beckenham, they found Brown standing among piles of fake 20 notes worth a whopping 5.25million.

When confronted, Brown told police: 'You have caught me red-handed'.

5 million worth of fake banknotes discovered by a dog walker in October after it had been dumped on Halt Robin Road in Belvedere

The business premises were owned by Winter, 58, who was in America at the time of the raid but was arrested and charged upon his return.

When police searched Brown's home, they found a list of names with numbers next to them that added up to 5.25million - the same value of the counterfeit notes.

One of the names was 'John' which police believed referred to Evans - the gang's main organiser - who was also arrested.

John Evans, 27, believed to be the main organiser and was jailed for ten years in January last year

Following the warehouse bust, the further haul of notes was found on October 9, 2019, when a dog walker stumbled across 5million in fake 20 notes in Belvedere.

The additional 200,940 was found scattered along a railway line near the village of Farningham, Kent.

After the convictions of the first three men, detectives were later able to prove Ainsworth had strong financial and personal connections to those who had already admitted their involvement.

This included him being present during meetings the group held in public, and his attendance at the printing press in Beckenham.

A further four men were found not guilty after going on trial alongside Ainsworth at Woolwich Crown Court in south east London.

Assistant Chief Constable Andrew Pritchard, head of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said after the sentencing: 'The sentencing of Andrew Ainsworth marks the culmination of a complex investigation in which no stone was left unturned in clamping down on an organised crime group who went to great lengths to literally create their own wealth.

'Counterfeiting is not a victimless act because it directly funds other types of serious organised crime and hurts the UK economy by creating losses for businesses, which ultimately affects the cost of the things we buy.

'It also has a direct impact on those who receive counterfeit notes in exchange for goods or services, and who are unable to pass on what are essentially worthless pieces of paper.

Phillip Brown, 54, (left) was jailed for six and a half years in January 2021 and Nick Winter, 58, (right) for six years in December 2020 after admitting his involvement in producing the fake cash

'The printing press our officers raided in Beckenham was supposed to produce magazines, leaflets and flyers but instead contained the largest face-value quantity of counterfeit cash ever discovered in the UK.

'This was a professionally run operation but those involved were naive if they thought they could carry on undetected.

'Kent Police remains committed to working with partners including the NCA and Bank of England to ensure those who print counterfeit currency are brought to justice, sending a clear message to others that this type of offending is not tolerated.'

The investigation was supported by the Bank of England and counterfeit currency officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Neil Harris of the NCA's Counterfeit Currency Unit added: 'This operation prevented millions in counterfeit notes from entering circulation.

'Had the conspirators remained undetected, the effects would have been felt by innocent people across the UK going about their day-to-day business, particularly retailers who would have lost most of that value.

'As well as convicting those involved in the actual printing of the notes, this investigation resulted in the convictions of those who supplied finance and would have been involved in the wholesale distribution of the counterfeit notes.

'Serious and organised criminals will always seek ways to maximise their profits and legitimise money made through crime, the consequences of which can seriously impact the economy.

'Identifying this and working with partners to combat illicit finances, which enables further crime, is a focus for the NCA.'
A policeman who dressed in full uniform to go into the homes of 'vulnerable' women he was investigating and tried to have sex with them has been jailed for three years and six months.

Father-of-one Oliver Perry-Smith, 38, from Newbury, Berkshire, had been an officer with Thames Valley Police since 2009, during which time he had repeatedly targeted women he met while on duty.

Now sacked, Perry-Smith sat wearing a black shirt and tie in the dock at Reading Crown Court on Friday and often began to shake violently as he heard the details of how he targeted six women.

Perry-Smith, of Denman Drive, Newbury, pleaded guilty to three counts of misconduct in a public office as well as two counts of misusing a police computer, all of which took place between September 2015 and November 2019.

Prosecutor Isabel Delamere told Reading Crown Court on Friday that on one occasion Perry-Smith had used Thames Valley Police's intelligence system to look up details of a woman he was investigating, including child protection reports and missing persons reports.

The prosecutor said: 'Each lady was vulnerable due to their personal circumstances and they are different in each case.

'They could be vulnerable due to their contact with the police, they were potentially witnesses or appropriate adults for children who were under investigation.

'There was a clear and obvious imbalance of power that was either actual or perceived.'

PC Oliver Perry-Smith, 38, from Newbury, Berkshire, who dressed in full uniform to go into the homes of 'vulnerable' women and tried to have sex with them, has been jailed for three years and six months after pleading guilty to three counts of misconduct in a public office as well as two counts of misusing a police computer, all of which took place between September 2015 and November 2019

Prosecutor Delamere told the court that the officer had first encountered one of his victims (named as Ms H) when he parked up next to her at a Pound Stretchers shop. He later searched her car number plate on the Police National Computer and then went to her home.

She said: 'There was no policing reason to contact that individual. That evening PC Perry-Smith buzzed on Ms H's second floor flat and said he was from Thames Valley Police.'

Delemere continued: 'Ms H said he seemed shocked to find she was not alone, she had her young son with her. He told her to shut the door and he was in full uniform. He told her he was there because of a strong smell of cannabis coming from her block.

'She asked PC Perry-Smith is she had seen him somewhere before and she remembered seeing him the car park. He seemed to go red and start shaking.

'Ms H noticed his radio was off and there were a number of badges missing from his uniform. She began to worry he was not a real police officer.

'The woman said it seemed dramatic but she worried that he might kill or rape her and no-one knew he was there apart from her son.'

The court heard that Ms H managed to get Perry-Smith out of her house without any sexual relations, however the prosecutor said that on other occasions the officer had consensual sexual relations with the women, some of whom he was investigating after their arrest.

The misconduct by Perry-Smith was identified in an investigation carried out by the police's independent watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

The watchdog found that the women Perry-Smith targeted had all been in vulnerable positions either because they were subject to a police complaint requiring investigation, or were victims, witnesses or acting as appropriate adults for young victims of crime.

His actions came to light in late 2019 when a woman called police after Perry-Smith, who had previously attended the home of her friend, then sent an indecent image by text.

The watchdog found that the officer had also looked up details for her and her family on the police computer system.

PC Perry-Smith's patch as a policeman covered 2,200 square miles across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

At Reading Crown Court on Friday, High Court judge Mr Justice Bryan, heard that on another occasion the officer had told one of the women she was 'fit as f**k' while he told another woman 'you can touch it if you want.'

The disgraced policeman has since married the woman he was in a relationship with throughout his offending.

The court also heard that the officer had even received specific training on how police officers should not use their power to engage in sexual relationships with members of the public. However he continued to target the women.

Prosecutor Isabel Delamere told Reading Crown Court (pictured) on Friday that on one occasion Perry-Smith had used Thames Valley Police's intelligence system to look up details of a woman he was investigating, including child protection reports and missing persons reports

In a victim personal impact statement, one of the victims said: 'I would not expect a police officer to behave in that way. If he was prepared to go that far, who is to say that he would not go further.

'I began to doubt myself because it seemed unreal, it is like a nightmare. I had to explain to my son that not all police officers are good people. A child should be able to look at the police and feel safe, I feel let down.'

One woman added: 'He came here [my house] for a purpose, I knew he had intended this and that he had prepared this,' while another said PC-Perry-Smith had 'used her like a toy.'

During one statement that was read out by one of his victims, who described how the officer would repeatedly drive past her house, PC Perry-Smith deliberately did not look at the woman before leaning back in his chair with his arms folded, apparently bored.

PC Oliver Perry-Smith was at one mother's house after she had reported her son's phone stolen when he began to be flirty and on the way out of the building, the 38-year-old - who was in full uniform - told her: 'I don't know what it is about you but I so want to f**k you right now.'

Defence barrister Ailsa Williamson told the court that Perry-Smith was remorseful for his actions and had been an officer who had carried out excellent police work.

She added that experts had suggested the officer could have some form of sex addiction.

Sentencing Perry-Smith, who yawned during the sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Bryan said: 'This was a sustained catalogue of misconduct in a public office and abuse of your position for your own sexual gratification.

'This resulted in lasting harm to the victims and to the police through the loss of trust in the service.'

IOPC regional director Graham Beesley paid tribute to the courage of all the women who came forward to help with the investigation.

He said: 'Perry-Smith was a sexual predator and his conduct caused significant distress to the women involved.

'He was prolific in the abuse of his position over a five-year period and his acts were intentional, deliberate, targeted and planned.

'His actions were often at the expense of his formal policing duties.'

He said Perry-Smith's actions had 'seriously undermined the good work of the large majority of police officers who professionally serve the public on a daily basis'.

Senior crown prosecutor Charles White of the Crown Prosecution Service said Perry-Smith had taken 'advantage of his privileged position and access to police resources to pursue several women over a few years'.

He said: 'He knowingly breached police policy when he made personal visits while on duty.

'He seemed to think that by lying to his superiors and using his duties as an excuse, he'd be immune to the consequences of his actions.

'Today's sentence proves no one is above the law, including those meant to uphold it.

'Perry-Smith abused his power, broke public trust, and made many women feel uncomfortable or unsafe in his inappropriate pursuit of them.

'I hope today's sentence brings those women a sense of justice.'

The IOPC said he will also be placed on the barred list preventing future employment within the police service.

Thames Valley police Deputy Chief Constable Jason Hogg said: 'Former Pc Oliver Perry-Smith abused his position of power as a police officer and has rightly been punished for his disgraceful, criminal actions.

'We took robust action by referring his case to the Independent Office for Police Conduct as well as carrying out our own misconduct procedures.'

He added he is 'pleased' Perry-Smith 'has faced justice for his actions and is no longer part of Thames Valley Police'.
The defamation trial involving Johnny Depp and Amber Heard took a hilarious turn when the Pirates of the Caribbean star's former bodyguard took the stand and was asked if he had ever seen the actor's penis.

In a Zoom testimony, Malcolm Connolly was asked about whether or not it's true that Depp was urinating in the foyer of the couple's home in Australia during an argument in 2015.

Connolly reduced the courtroom to hysterics when he said, 'I think I would remember if I'd seen Mr. Depp's penis.'

The alleged urinating incident sparked a fight between the couple that led to Depp having the top of his finger severed.

Depp, 58, is suing Heard, 36, in Fairfax, Virginia, for $50 million over a 2018 op-ed she wrote about domestic violence for The Washington Post. Although not named in the piece, Depp's lawyers maintain that it's obvious Heard was referring to him when she spoke of the abuse she suffered.

Heard countersued Depp for $100 million, alleging that he was behind a concerted effort to have her fired from Aquaman and as a spokesperson for L'Oreal.

Depp could barely control himself as the conversation turned to his penis

The actor slumped forward as smiles could be seen among his legal team during bodyguard Malcolm Connolly's testimony

Connolly told the Virginia courtroom from his home in England, 'I think I would remember if I'd seen Mr Depp's penis'

Connolly was questioned about how Depp and Heard got along during the early part of their relationship. The Scottish security man described the pair as 'lovey-dovey' and Heard as 'lovely, charming.'

Though Connolly said that things began to change over time with Heard beginning to wear the pants in the relationship, as he put it.

When asked about the couple's infamous trip to Australia in 2015 when Depp's finger was severed, Connolly said when he came upon their argument it was 'chaos.'

Heard was screaming at Depp, calling him a 'coward,' while the Edward Scissorhands star nursed his finger, according to Connolly.

One person in courtroom who wasn't laughing when Connolly testified about Depp's penis was Amber Heard

Heard's lawyer maintained that Depp had been trying urinate in the foyer of their Australian home, saying the actor 'had his penis out' in the midst of the fight.

Connolly shot back saying, 'I think I would remember if I'd seen Mr Depp's penis.'

That prompted laughter from nearly everyone in the courtroom, although Heard remained stoic throughout.

A recording was played in the court around this time in which Depp could be heard saying that Heard made him 'feel sick.'

Heard remained stoic as the 2015 Australia fight was discussed. Previously, Heard described that incident as 'the worst thing I have ever been through'

The alleged peeing incident was also brought up in 2020 during Depp's libel lawsuit against The Sun newspaper in London.

During that hearing, Heard alleged that in 2015, Depp relieved himself inside of their Australia home.

Heard said in 2020 that Depp, 'was trying to write my name peeing on the walls and carpet walking through the house.'

Heard described the time she spent with Depp in Australia as 'the worst thing I have ever been through.'

Malcolm Connolly, shown here, is a former prison guard who served as bodyguard for Depp and his family. Connolly said that he lied in the past about the finger cutting incident in order to protect Heard

In his testimony in the 2020 lawsuit, Connolly said that he heard Depp shout, 'Look at my finger! She's cut my f*****g finger off! She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle.'

At that time, Connolly said that he lied about how Depp hurt his finger in order to protect Heard.

Connolly, a former prison guard, said remotely from his home in England in April 2022 that he witnessed Heard throwing a cigarette lighter and a soda can at Depp, during the couple's tumultuous relationship. In addition, Connolly said that he noticed scratches on Depp's face.

The Black Mass star was 'not happy' on the couple's honeymoon, according to Connolly.

Connolly quipped about noticing swelling under Depp's eye during their honeymoon, 'He's walked into a door, or a door's walked into him.'
Bethany Haines, daughter of ex-RAF-worker David Haines:

These men didnt just take my dad, he took my grandfather, my grandmother and the chance for my son to meet his grandad.

The toll that the actions of these men have taken on my family is immense. My grandparents died of grief and could never get over the loss of their son. I have since been diagnosed with complex  post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. My whole life has been turned upside down.

Simple things like going to sleep is now an impossible task. I havent had a good nights sleep since before my dad was taken. I wake up during the night hearing my dads screams as he is being tortured by these men. I hear him begging for his life and I cant do anything to save him. The guilt I have for not saving my dad is something Ill never get over. I have had to hear how my dad was near death after having been beaten so badly that his organs began to shut down. Thats something no daughter should have to hear about her father.

How am I supposed to carry on with my life when all I can picture is my fathers severed head laying on his back? The guilt and distress caused me to self-harm, and I spent a time briefly going in and out of hospital as I struggled wondering why monsters, like these two men, are on this earth but my father isnt.

My grief has forced me to drop out of school, college, and university. And I havent been unable to hold down a job and Im at a loss as what to do with my life.

The Prophet Mohammad stated, The worst person before Allah will be the one who killed those who did not fight him. No matter what you say this was not about religion. You abducted, tortured, and even participated in the murder of good and innocent people and now you have to live with that for the rest of your lives. The only thing you can do that would help the victims would be to give up the location of the remains of our loved ones. Dont do it for me, do it for my son who can finally say goodbye to his grandad.

Michael Haines, David's brother:

Your actions have changed the lives of family survivors in so many ways, and although we can't have David back, for many of us, it brings us some relief that you are facing justice for your crimes.

My brother was and is a hero, and his name should be remembered not for the barbaric acts you inflicted on him, but for the selfless life he served, giving the gift of kindness and helping his fellow man. His courageous, charitable spirit stands in opposition to everything that you represent, and it is those acts of compassion which will survive the test of time.

Terrorism has claimed many lives, it is the reason we are here today. But I will not let it take my soul. So, today I give you my forgiveness: I forgive you for the murder of my brother, deaths of my parents. You no longer have any power over me and mine.

Dragana Prodanovic Haines, David's wife:

Everything that happened ever since David was kidnapped has already affected my health seriously. In October 2016 I was diagnosed with progressive breast cancer which was inoperable. There was no history of cancers in my family on either side. My oncologist told me that it was most probably caused by all the stress I was going through, since there were no other factors that would cause it. I had to explain everything to my daughter, even tell her that there is a chance therapy might not be successful. But we agreed we will fight and win the battle, as we did. I have been in remission since 2017, after 16 chemotherapies, 25 radiation therapies and 3 surgeries, but I still have to go for therapies every four weeks. Unfortunately, I could not handle the work while going through therapies and I could not save the company I owned.

David's executors did not only take my husband's life, because of them I lost my business and my health. They stole my daughter's happy childhood, all those father/daughter happy moments she will never be able to cherish as wonderful memories. I don't wish for much in life, I just hope I will get the chance to stay in remission for long enough to see my daughter grow up and have a safe and secure future. But my nightmares will never end.

And I really hope both of you will live at least 200 years to hear about the death of everyone you care about [.] For all I care you can live long and suffer.

Athea Haines, David's daughter:

I lost my father when I was 4 years old. It affected my life in so many ways. I only have few memories of my dad because I wasn't even 3 years old last time I saw him. I miss him so much. Sometimes I get sad when I see my friends from school and club laughing and playing with their dads. That is something I will never have a chance to do again. It is not easy to be that kid in school whose dad was killed by terrorists.

Shirley Sotloff, mother of Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff:

I would like the defendants to please look at me. Elsheikh do not close your eyes, leave them open and look at me. Yes, you have to do that.

How do you begin to describe the unimaginable impact of the loss of a child, taken in the prime of his young adult life, and how it affects you as a parent, sibling, nephew, cousin, friend, lover. The pain is beyond words, no matter how we lost him. But the circumstances of this loss- Steven's life taken so publicly and violently in the course of doing his job as a journalist is beyond the comprehension of most people.

Steven's death was like a global worldwide horror movie that was witnessed live and continues to be replayed with the click of a button for millions to see. But this is not on a screen for our family, this replays in our families' heads every single day. The orange jumpsuit, shaved head, sickening vision of our son being held at knifepoint was the first we had seen his image in a year and a half. The brutal execution that followed of our innocent son and the children of the families here today, used for political leverage by people they never knew, never hurt, a pawn in a war of terror. They were not soldiers or a threat to anyone in any way - and died in the most incomprehensible way.

You and your war of terror have taken everything from us. Not just our son, but a healthy daughter, the place that we called home, our identity. There is nothing that can rewind time and make our lives normal again.

We want you to think of yourself - or worse - those you love enduring what our son was put through at your hand. Imagine your innocent loved ones your mother perhaps- being tortured and executed in this way. What would you ask of the people responsible upon their sentencing? The only thing we can do is hope and pray that this never happens to another family ever again and that you develop deep remorse for the rest of your life.

Open your eyes please and look at me. You destroyed our lives and we hope for the rest of your lives you will think about what you have done, and to your families as well.

Paula Kassig, mother of American aid worker Peter Kassig:

Alexanda Amon Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh have both had a profound and irreversible effect on my life. Before our son, Peter, who later converted to Islam and then went by the name Abdul Rahman, was taken and held by ISIS in barbarous conditions, I had considered myself 'unflappable,' able to think clearly and maintain calm no matter what emotions were surging in people around me. Now I struggle to maintain focus when emotions rise, when I am the center of attention, or even when there is a complex problem to be sorted out.

Due to the actions of the ISIS cell nicknamed 'the Beatles,' my husband and I were both forced to retire early from professions we loved - teaching and nursing. We have witnessed and shared in the pain our friends and family have endured since Peters ordeal and its aftermath.

We have been deprived of the joy of knowing our only child as he found the purpose of his life. Most of what we know of his life and the good he was doing in his last years came from friends he made while he was in Lebanon, Turkey, or Syria. It is also a deep hurt that we will never have the joy of being grandparents or of even hearing his laugh again. Our house is far too quiet.

These mens actions didnt harm just us and our loved ones. By their massively misguided actions based on their version of Allahs will for His people, they intensified conflict and hate between Muslims and others, including other People of the Book.

Alexanda Kotey, El Shafee Elsheikh, I will not hate you. It would give sadness, pain, and bitterness too much power over me. I choose to let my heart be broken open, not broken apart.

Ed Kassig, Peter's father:

I hate when you have to follow an angel

They say, 'Time heals.' They lie. And 'Closure?' And Im sorry, thats just a word to make bystanders of tragedy feel better. We, and our fellow victimized families, bear scarred hearts and souls. For us, the operating word is 'forever.' I awaken every morning and look into the eyes of my beautiful wife, his mother, knowing they cant unsee unspeakable horror. At totally unpredictable times, the enormity of it all, like a rogue wave will catch me off guard and dash me to the ground. How does one 'price out' the cost of losing a lifetimes worth of watching ones child grow and have children of their own? He was the last Kassig of his generation and last male [] How to value the treasure of being grammy and grandpa, of teaching ones grandchild how to fish, throw a curve ball, play a musical instrument and, most important of all, care for others? Of having to comfort well-meaning friends who just cant help but stick their feet in their mouths, sometimes up to the knee, trying to say the right thing? Of trying to cool the hatred of those wishing vengeance on the now convicted. Lastly, and with no small measure of irony, the emotional cost of keeping him alive. For it was we the victims who lobbied long and hard to keep them out of Gitmo and [got rid of] the death penalty.

It is fitting that we leave to the court the matter of disposition, for any judgement it renders satisfies the Law and the Law alone. It cannot make right what has been forever taken from the victims, their families, their friends, even the guilty. Know that any restitution will go, in its entirety, to furthering Peters work.

Alexanda Amon Kotey and Elshafee Elsheikh, for over 13 months, you held Peter and us to your demands. We had absolutely no control. Now it is you who no longer has control of you life. I cant hate you for such an emotion would still give you a shred of that control. By refusing to hate, I am freed from you forever.

Marsha Mueller, mother of American aid worker Kayla Mueller:

We miss our beautiful daughter, Kayla, who was full of life and love. Kayla had a courageous passion and compassion for people, all life was precious in Kayla's eyes and she would help anyone put in her path.

I go to bed every night thinking of her. I wake up, often several times a night, thinking of her and all we know she endured, and, of course, what we imagine she may have endured, what she did endure. Many nights after a dream or nightmare Carl or I have had, our thoughts go to what we don't know, but can only imagine from what we have heard from others released. Those who have told us what happened to them and those around them.

It is hard to imagine the 18 months of Kayla's life held against her will, completely terrified and mostly kept alone in cold or hot...dark and filthy places, having to listen to the horror all around her. I know from the letters brought out by the released hostages that she only wanted to come home, and her greatest pain was in knowing the pain she felt we were going through. I can only imagine how terrifying and painful it was, and yet she continued to do her best to survive and do the work she was called to do.

We heard of some of the terror: her head shaved, solitary confinement, physical and psychological abuse, being screamed at for all the wrong they believed America had done. Being told we didn't care about her, to forget her family because she would never see us again, and being told America didn't care about her. We heard of long periods of being held in a very small closet or a container where she could barely move, hearing screams of the tortured. We also heard of a woman placed with Kayla, who was tortured so severely, including having her fingernails pulled out.

I can only imagine Kayla hearing the screams of those tortured and mutilated and fearing IF she would be next, fearing what was coming as she was moved from one location to the next. During the trial, we all heard from the men. Carl and I for the first time, that they heard Kayla crying out please don't hurt me!

There is not a day, and sometimes, barely an hour, when I do not think about Kayla. []also think of Louisa and the very young and terrified Yazidi girls she was held with, Kayla and these young Yazidi girls were repeatedly raped, brutally beaten, enslaved and terrorized.

Then, February 6th, 2015...18 months after Kayla was first taken, we received a call that ISIS had tweeted that Kayla had been killed. ISIS also tweeted out our address, phone number to the world.

After 18 months of searching, praying and hoping for Kayla to come home, we were shattered and numb, and yet we were not sure. All along we had been told that ISIS would not harm a woman. At this time we did not know what others knew about all that Kayla and the young Yazidis girls had been enduring.

ISIS told us that Kayla was killed in a Jordanian airstrike, our government told us ISIS killed Kayla, and others told us she was not killed at all. We were so uncertain.

We still do not know what happened to Kayla. We have learned some things, and while they are stories of rape, beatings, terror and horror, I am thankful for each shred of truth no matter how painful it is to hear.

I am not seeking revenge. I simply want the truth. I believe that is the best way forward for us and our family. It is also the most righteous pathway forward for those who were involved directly or indirectly in our daughter's suffering and death.

Carl Mueller, Kayla's father:

Who takes a young woman, an aid worker, whose life work is to help people, to heal people, who takes a woman like that ... Cowards. Thats who does that. Bravery is what you are witnessing here today. She would have helped hundred, maybe thousands of people, during her lifetime, and you took her from the world. Throughout this whole ordeal I have lost my faith in god and I have lost my faith in my government. Witnessing this has restored my faith in my government. The whole thing has restored my faith in my government. [..] The prosecution team, as well as the defence.

Michael Foley, brother of American journalist James Foley:

Jim would want the entire world to know about the horrific human right crimes committed by ISIS, by individuals like Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh. These are weak individuals who have been proven. ... Their crimes of kidnapping, starvation, waterboarding, torture, and rape have been heard by us all in this courtroom. In these instances, hatred truly overtook humanity.

Jim would have wanted Alexanda and El Shafee held accountable in the United States of America, where they could be afforded a fair and just trial with all the evidence and eyewitness testimony. Accountability is essential to deter hostage taking and murder. This includes applying the maximum sentence [bound] by the statutes, which includes [no possibility of parole].

Jim would want Kotey and Elsheikh to spend the rest of their lives incarcerated with time to reflect, pray, and make amends for their horrific deeds. []

However, Jim would also want Alexanda and El Shafee to know that their hate-filled crimes did not WIN. James Wright Foley lives on.

Jim would say: 'Alexanda and El Shafee, you did not kill me. I am alive in my mother, father, my sister, and my brothers. I am alive in my family and friends, and their friends too. I am alive in the mercy and justice of this trial.

'In many ways, I am more alive than ever before. My name and the names of Steven, Kayla, Peter, Allen and, lets not forget, John Cantlie, are known around the world and inspire moral courage in journalists, government officials, and compassionate people to put an end to the terror and international hostage-taking and to strengthen the armor of those who work in areas of conflict.'

Rodwan Safarjalani, Kayla's boyfriend:

Do you recognize my face? Because in 2013 I begged for my life in a factory in Aleppo.

We are not the victim here, you are the victim because of what happened. We might forgive but not excuse.
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, two Trump loyalists on the hard right of the Republican Party, almost came to blows in an argument about white nationalism, according to a new report.

The two are often seen as part of the same firebrand wing of the party - happy to stoke outrage and say almost anything to generate headlines.

But Politico reports that their loathing for each other boiled over during a meeting of the House Freedom Caucus in March.

Insiders say Boebert is more of a team player and hates being linked with her Georgia colleague.

When the House Freedom Caucus board of directors gathered at its meeting spot near the Capitol, the two got into an argument about Greene's appearance at a event organized by a known white nationalist.

A Republican lawmaker described fearing that their tussle might go beyond words and turn into a physical fight if another board member had not intervened.

Reps Marjorie Taylor Greene (left) and Lauren Boebert are often seen as firebrand bedfellows, but lawmakers said they almost came to blows during a heated argument last month

Boebert and MTG scream 'Build the Wall' at U.S. President Joe Biden as he delivers the State of the Union address on March 1, 2022

Greene, a Republican from Georgia, appeared as a surprise guest at the America First Political Action Conference in Orlando, an event organized by Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist who was permanently suspended from YouTube for anti-Semitic hate speech in 2020.

After speaking at the event, Greene posed in a photo with Fuentes and right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin, but when questioned about her appearance at AFPAC and relationship with Fuentes, Greene denied she knew him.

Greene had a controversial record, even before entering Congress.

She actively shared the extremist QAnon ideology, which is centered on false claims of a cabal of powerful people abusing children.

That history led the US House of Representatives to strip her of committee membership last year.

For her part, Boebert has frequently tangled with members of the Democratic liberal 'Squad,' including last year suggesting that Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar might be a terrorist.

At times, the pair have been on the same page, such as during the State of the Union address. They both stood to heckle President Joe Bien, shouting: 'Build the war.'

But their argument was cited as showing a wider conflict within the House Freedom Caucus. It began life in 2015 with the aim of prodding Republican leadership to the right, but evolved into a Trump cheerleader squad.

The row is seen by some as emblematic of divides within the House Freedom Caucus about its direction, and whether it should return to its roots as an advocate of small government

'We were supposed to be thoughtful conservative renegades: cooperating with leadership when that best served conservative goals, and opposing leadership when that was necessary toward the same end,' former Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), a Freedom Caucus founding member who later served as Trump's acting chief of staff. told the news site.

'We were not designed to be just obstructionists. We were not designed to be an extreme outrage machine.'

There have been splits about how to respond to recordings of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy saying that Trump should resign in the wake of the Capitol riot, and about whether the grouping should return to its origins as small-government advocates.

'We need to reevaluate where were heading,' Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee told Politico.

'I like the principles that the Freedom Caucus was founded on, but I think that if we cant work together as a group and push our ideas in a civil manner, then we're not going to be very effective.'
Military personnel carry out military drills in the border area between the two Koreas in Paju, northern Gyeonggi Province, March 8. Newsis





By Lee Hae-rin







An Army captain and a virtual assets service CEO have been arrested and charged with leaking military secrets to a suspected North Korean hacker.







According to the military, police and prosecution authorities, the cryptocurrency service owner identified by the surname of Lee received a total of 700 million won ($555,000) worth of cryptocurrency on two separate occasions from February to April of last year, in return for winning over personnel from the country's military.







Lee and the captain were introduced to the North Korean spy through their acquaintances and communicated through Telegram, an instant messaging app.







Lee then bought a digital watch with a hidden camera and sent it to the officer in January via the mail, which he smuggled into the military, the investigation team said. Lee also bought a Poison Tap  a USB hacking tool that exploits data from locked computers  and used it in an attempt to program military computers remotely with the lieutenant's help.







The investigation revealed that the military officer provided the Korean Joint Command and Control System (KJCCS) login information to the North Korean spy but the hack was not successful.







The military's digital network was not hacked as it blocked any external access in advance, according to the police.







"If the KJCCS had been hacked, a large number of military secrets would have been leaked and led to a serious threat to national security," a military official said.







However, the captain was able to share some military secrets such as filmed computer screens showing security regulations and sent them multiple times to the North Korean hacker via Telegram.







This is the first time that a military person was won over by a North Korean spy remotely via social media and revealed the country's secret information.







In return for the secret information, Lee and the lieutenant each received 700 million won and 48 million won of cryptocurrency, the police and military said.


This is the shocking moment a car chase ends with a man jumping off a bridge to his death.

West Memphis police were responding to a loitering complaint when driver Darin Woodward tried to flee - speeding his Nissan towards a trooper and nearly hitting him.

It led to a 100mph car chase on the I-55 that ended when the officer used a 'PIT' maneuver, with dashcam footage capturing the Nissan hitting a barrier before stopping.

Police approach the car and in an attempt to evade officers Woodward exits the vehicle through the passenger side door and jumps over the barrier

Police approached the car but in an attempt to evade officers Woodward exits the through the passenger side door and jumps over the barrier, police said.

Dashcam footage shows the confused trooper who has his gun drawn towards the car looking over the barrier where Woodward landed 40-50 feet below.

The suspect was transported to a local hospital where he later died and Ella Comfort, the passenger in the car, was detained by police.

But following the fatal car chase, she shared a different account of events on social media, claiming Woodward had been killed by police.

West Memphis Police vehemently denied the 'outlandish' claims in a statement released Thursday that was accompanied by the dashcam footage.

Troopers ended the 100mph car chase on the I-55 by using the 'PIT' maneuver, with dashcam footage capturing the Nissan hit a barrier

Dashcam footage shows the confused trooper who has his gun drawn towards the car looking over the barrier where Woodward landed 40-50 feet below

'It has been brought to the attention of the West Memphis Police Department that the passenger of the vehicle, Ella Comfort, has been on social media making outlandish allegations that this agency murdered Darin Woodard, an allegation that will not be ignored nor taken lightly,' the department's statement read.

West Memphis police said due to Comfort's 'heinous allegations' police released the dashcam footage after showing it to Woodward's family to end speculation.

'At a time when the family should be grieving the loss of a family member, they were bombarded with lies as to what took place,' the statement continued.

Police added despite Comfort's grief, the department would not tolerate lies.

'Anytime there is a loss of life it is always unfortunate but the grief you experience and how you chose to deal with it will not come at the expense of the integrity of the West Memphis Police Department,' the statement added.
A woman has spoken out about how she witnessed her mother being stabbed to death by a 17 year-old girl her family was fostering, who was having an affair with her victim's 42 year-old husband.

Megan Zanella, whose mother Lisa Knoefel was knifed 200 times by Sabrina Zunich in November 2012, told HLN's Sex & Murder about her mom's horrific final moments.

Knoefel, who worked as a social worker, was killed at her home in Willoughby Hills, Ohio, after Zunich began sleeping with Knoefel's husband Kevin.

Kevin told Zunich he'd kill himself if she didn't kill his wife.

Zanella told HLN: 'I was hearing screaming. I was also hearing the dog barking and I was like, 'What the hell is going on downstairs?

'So I walked down there and Brina is stabbing my mother to death and immediately I stay, 'Stop get off of her!

'I was actually on top of her at one point and she shoved me. I immediately go into the office and call 911 and say, "'My sister is stabbing my mother to death. She is going to die.'"

Megan Zanella was only 13-years-old at the time when her 41-year-old mother was stabbed nearly 200 times in front of her. She recounts how she rushed to call 911 screaming to the operator: 'My sister is stabbing my mother to death. She is going to die'

Lisa Knoefel was stabbed nearly 200 times by Sabrina Zunich in Willoughby Hills in November 2012 after she found out the then-17 year old was having an affair with her husband, Kevin Knoefel

During the trial, Sabrina Zunich, 19, said she had fallen in love with her foster father and feared he would commit suicide if she didn't carry out their plot to kill his wife

Zanella, who told HLN that she still has trouble sleeping at night, also claimed that a month before her mother's murder, Zunich had threatened her in their home.

'She actually pointed a knife at me when we were in the kitchen and I knew it was all downhill by then,' she said.

Zunich pleaded guilty to aggravated murder in 2014. She was sentenced to life in prison with a chance for parole in 30 years.

Kevin Knoefel, who was 42 at the time of the murder, received the same sentence as the foster daughter after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and sexual battery.

During Kevin Knoefel's trial, Zunich testified that he'd threatened to kill himself if she did not murder his wife.

Lisa Knoefel was a social worker for the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services and worked in the sex abuse department, and Kevin worked as a truck driver.

When Sabrina Zunich was 16, she was placed with the couple. Not long after, she and Kevin Knoefel started a sexual relationship, and discussed several plans to kill Lisa Knoefel, including shooting her and making it look like a burglary, or finding a hit man.

Zunich said she was manipulated into carrying out the murder, and was reassured by Kevin Knoefel that she would only do 25 years in prison if she was caught.

Zunich stabbed and cut Lisa Knoefel more than 150 times with a 10-inch serrated knife after putting on a ski mask and attacking her in the bedroom

Lisa Knoefel, 41, worked as a social worker in Ohio and took Zunich into her home when she was just 16 years old. She found out a year later that Zunich had been having an affair with her husband

Zunich testified during her trial that on the night of the murder, she put on a ski mask and fatally stabbed 41-year-old Lisa Knoefel in her bed as she fought back.

Zunich stabbed and cut her more than 150 times with a 10-inch serrated knife.

She was not deterred even though Lisa Knoefel fought and pleaded for her to stop and Zanella tried to pull Zunich off her mother and called 911.

Prosecutors have said they were unaware of Zunich's sexual relationship with Kevin Knoefel or that he had persuaded her to kill Lisa Knoefel until Zunich spoke with them in May, 2013 - six months after the murder.

During the trial, prosecutors said Knoefel wanted his wife dead to collect $750,000 in life insurance. He also wanted his wife out of the picture but was afraid he'd lose custody of their three-year-old daughter if they divorced.

He told Zunich they could raise his daughter together.

In 2012, Sabrina Zunich (right), who was 19 at the time, killed her foster mother. Her foster father, Kevin Knoefel, 44, (left) was more than 20 years her senior, told her to do it. The pair were romantically involved

At the sentencing, Judge Richard Collins said: 'I don't think there was any question she was manipulated and used by the co-defendant.'

But he said the seriousness of the crime outweighed all factors.

'Aggravated murder is aggravated murder,' Collins said. 'But this was not a single violent act.'

He said Lisa Knoefel suffered before she died.

'She was screaming for help and begging the defendant to stop. She did not die immediately. I cannot imagine the nature of terror and fear.'

At the sentencing Sabrina said she was remorseful.

'I want to say how sorry I am for all those I hurt,' she said. 'Lisa did not deserve what happened to her. I ask forgiveness be given to me - not for my benefit but for those who need the healing process to begin. I can't explain how much remorse I have and how much sadness I deal with.'

In Sunday's upcoming episode, one of the detectives is seen saying: 'This was definitely the worse crime scene I have ever scene in my career.'
They wanted a gloriously seductive voice to greet clients on their answerphone, so who better to ask than Joanna Lumley?

So starry was the orbit in which Britains most-celebrated hairdresser Nicky Clarke moved, he could call on the great and the good to do such favours.

The actress obliged and hers was the voice callers heard when they phoned Londons glitziest salon in the 2000s.

Nicky, as famous for his leonine hair as his talent with the scissors, had trimmed and crimped, styled and primped the hair of everyone from Princess Diana to Elizabeth Taylor.

The Beatles, David Bowie, Margaret Thatcher: he numbers them all among his clients. Indeed he was so favoured by A-listers that Liz Hurley would greet him with a kiss on the lips.

So this week, when the doors of his famous Mayfair salon closed for good, it was as if a golden era of hairdressing history had been erased and the only splash of colour in a sober West End street had leached away.

A combination of sky-high rents and diminishing footfall because of Covid heralded the demise of the West End store over which leather-clad Nicky, the rock star of crimpers, presided for more than three decades.

Presentable: TV presenter Selina Scott getting her hair done by celebrity hairdresser Nicky

I love cutting hair. I like the buzz of being in a salon. I love the banter and Ive never not worked since I was a teenager, Nicky tells me, giving his first newspaper interview since he shut the salon doors. Of course, Im sad that weve had to close. Its heart-breaking.

Nicky Clarkes emporium in one of Londons ritziest streets opened its doors in 1991 and closed on Monday. And as we talk on Zoom, his sorrow is as if he is mourning a family member.

He sits in a snug full of showbiz and rock star memorabilia at his house in St Johns Wood, recalling the day Elizabeth Taylor summoned him to her hotel  she hadnt been to a salon since 1963  and he had to wash her hair over the bath.

On the wall is a newspaper cartoon of Princess Diana, her hair drenched.

I styled it for her and that evening she went to an open-air opera and the heavens opened. Photos of her wet-look hair went round the world and I was  wrongly  credited with creating her new style. Such was the scope of Nickys fame at the time.

Meanwhile, his ex-partner Lesley  she remains CEO of the Nicky Clarke empire  also talks to me from her new home, a converted church in a Hertfordshire hamlet so sleepy it consists of just one street.

Still glamorous at 69, she moved there three years ago, having sold her 10.8 million, five-storey mansion just four doors down from the house where Nicky, his much younger wife Kelly, 40, and their two children, Nico, four, and two-year-old CeCe live.

Nicky, 63, and Lesley have an extraordinary relationship: although their personal union ended 25 years ago  they have two grown-up children, Harrison, 35, and Tellisa, 33, and three grandchildren  they have remained business partners for the past three decades.

Not only do they co-own the company  their two salons, their thriving electrical hair products brand and their environmentally friendly hair care range are all joint enterprises. Until eight years ago they even had a joint bank account.

Lesley is the financial dynamo; the brain behind Nickys flair. And today they have the quiet, contemplative aura of the newly bereft.

Why did the salon in which they had invested so many years of their lives close so abruptly?

Wed been trying for months to save it, says Lesley. And actually the saddest thing is, we were holding out for an insurance claim for loss of trade during the pandemic. We lost 1 million a year over two years and our rent and rates were 175,000 a year.

The claim was going on in the background: we had forensic accountants working on it. And Ive just heard that in four or five months we probably would have been due for a pay out of 1.5 million. Sods law. It would have saved us.

Lesley looks stricken. Whats that? Nicky asks. Im not up to speed with the details.

Oh, I havent even had time to tell you properly, says Lesley.

Did she cry when the salon closed and the staff were laid off?

Absolutely, she says. Its been grief and anxiety. Its getting worse. The business was like another child. It was heart-breaking, a bit like leaving my house in St Johns Wood. You have to steel yourself to go.

But then Lesley knows all about steeling herself for seismic events.

Their relationship ended with Nickys infidelity. Nicky had an affair and when I found out, he stopped seeing her [Susie Bick, then a Vivienne Westwood model] immediately. There was no confrontation. But the damage was done, she told me the last time we met.

Even in the rancorous aftermath of the split, when Lesley felt pain was raining down on her, they did not contemplate severing their business links. But the real surprise is they did not even separate their personal finances.

Nicky Clarke pictured with Sophie Dahl in 2002, an English author and former fashion model

Lesley tells me now: The business was always going to carry on. It was our baby and now its like a child whos grown up. We built it from scratch with a 20,000 loan. I dont think either of us ever thought for a second of relinquishing it.

Neither of us could have done it without the other. So, of course, we carried on running it together when we were no longer a couple. We continued to have a shared bank account and the houses were owned by both of us. We shared all the bills. And until only a few Christmases ago we continued to buy each other presents.

Even when we separated there was complete trust, Nicky adds. We didnt use a lawyer. We were held up as paragons of how to divorce amicably. Not that we did divorce because we werent actually married  but everyone thought we were.

Because Id changed my name by deed poll, interrupts Lesley, but I was a free spirit. Ive never felt the need to be a Mrs.

Today they have disentangled themselves financially to the extent that they own their separate homes and the thought crosses my mind that they may be extricating themselves further, because, just four months ago, Nicky and Kelly  who have now been together for 14 years  were married.

Is the salons closure part of this severing of links? They look aghast. I find that rather insulting, says Lesley. We were both completely devastated to lose the salon. And the idea that we closed it to separate our finances is as ridiculous as the suggestion that I moved out of London to avoid living in the same street as Nicky and Kelly.

I lived in a big house behind big gates. I didnt even see my next-door-neighbours, let alone them. I barely know Kelly. We are from different generations.

I cant help thinking that it must irk her that Kelly is now Mrs Nicky Clarke and benefiting from all Lesleys hard graft and business acumen.

In the nicest possible way, I really dont give her a moments thought, she says. Im far too busy to spend time worrying about her. And look, I decided I didnt want to get married. I was a hippy chick. Ive always been independent and earned my own money.

When you build a successful business yourself, you own it. Its yours. You take pride in it. Im proud Ive earned this.

Did she go to their wedding? Good God, no! she says, quick as a flash.

Iconic: Nicky Clarke was credited with this Diana look, pictured at an outdoor Pavarotti Concert in Hyde Park

She wasnt invited, adds Nicky with finality.

Despite the sparring, a genuine affection persists between them. Do they still love each other?

I dont think you can be with someone for so long, for that not to be the case, Nicky says, somewhat convolutedly. There is always an element that will never change.

I wonder if Lesley regrets the haste with which she kicked him out. If I had my time again I might have done things differently, she concedes. I acted out of shock and grief. I was impulsive because I was hurt. But you cant live in the past. You have to go forward.

Certainly, Nicky has lost no time in getting back to what he loves. This week, he was at his brothers London salon cutting hair again.

Michael Van Clarke is more sober-suited and less fabulously coiffed than his high-profile sibling, so Nicky was obliged to adhere to a less flamboyant dress code.

I had to abide by Michaels rules, he says. He runs a much more structured salon. It is ludicrously beautiful, very successful and he has been extremely gracious.

Nicky cut two clients hair on Thursday, both of them his loyal customers for the past 40 years.

Hell be back at Michaels once a week for the foreseeable; and he will also be working in their Birmingham salon on a regular basis.

Does he still command his 350 fee for a cut and blow dry? My fees have always been my fees, he says.

Cut above: Nicky and the Duchess of York pictured at the Royal opening of his new hairdressing salon in Mayfair in 1991

Of course, Covid played a huge part in the salons closure. We were shut for two Christmases, our busiest time of the year, Nicky recalls.

First, the real lockdown, then the unofficial one last year when Boris said, Stay at home. Protect your granny, so everyone kept away.

That was the last nail in the coffin, he adds. Two-thirds of our business was wiped out. Clients were cancelling every day.

Opposite, the Connaught hotel, which had supplied a steady stream of clientele, stood moribund.

And of course the bankers are only coming in two days a week now, and that has a knock-on effect on other businesses. This part of the city is deserted, says Nicky.

Wed tried everything to keep open, but the takings were down so much and we werent delivering a five-star service which we strive for. We tried to make savings but you cant let standards slip. It wasnt financially viable to continue.

I wonder, too, if the pandemic has triggered a trend in DIY hair dyeing and cuts that has become ingrained. Thats rubbish, says Lesley.

Both she and Nicky feel affronted that commentators have suggested they havent kept up with the times.

Of course we have! We left helmet hair behind in the 1980s. I get annoyed by the idea we still do lacquered to within an inch of its life. Its lazy and insulting, Nicky says.

Nicky Clarke and wife Lesley opening their hairdressing salon in Mayfair, London, which saw A-Listers through the doors constantly

Even now, they sound like a long-married couple, bickering amicably, reminiscing about the glory days of their shared past.

Theres a sort of magic about Mayfair, says Nicky. Ive spent 40 years there.

Hes back then, in his mind, to the day in 1991 when their iconic salon was launched, to the razzmatazz and glamour, to the crush of celebrities on the opening night  precisely 785 of them  to the sheer optimistic audacity of it all.

Lesley worked out the spreadsheets and we had a small loan. We had no money so we rang the most upmarket antique shop we knew and the owner said we could have all the furniture that wouldnt fit into his storage barn in our salon.

There was hundreds of thousands of pounds worth and we said, Thats great, but we dont want the price tags on. The place looked like Versace on acid. There were carpets, rugs  in a hairdressers!  Louis Vuitton trunks. And the Duchess of York performed the opening ceremony.

She said, Nicholas  shes the only person apart from my 99-year-old mum who calls me that  wheres the ribbon? And I pulled a bit off a Christmas tree. Then she said, Scissors? and the irony was I couldnt get to the scissors, there was such a crush of people.

So someone found a Swiss Army knife and she used that.

We created something fantastic. I once said Id cut the hair of many people considered divas, but the fact is, no one acts like a diva in the hairdressers chair.

All the great icons of our time trusted me with their secrets  and that was a great privilege.
A California high school teacher was arrested on Wednesday after allegedly teaching her students while drunk, stoned and high on prescription medication.

Terra Linda High School teacher Teagan Leonhart, 46, of San Anselmo was booked into Marin County Jail on public intoxication and child endangerment after a school administrator called police to report an instructor was under the influence at 11.51 am.

She was pulled out of the classroom and interviewed by police - initially, she denied drinking that morning, but admitted to consuming alcohol after a breathalyzer test came back with a blood alcohol content of at least 0.24 percent, police said.

Before she was removed, Leonhart taught 53 students in her classroom that day, police said.

She was booked at Marin County Jail and has since been released - the school's administration told DailyMail.com that Leonhart is now on paid administrative leave.

Terra Linda High School teacher Teagan Leonhart of San Anselmo, 46 (pictured), was booked into Marin County Jail on public intoxication and child endangerment after a school administrator called police to report an instructor under the influence at 11.51 am Wednesday

Terra Linda High School in San Rafael is a 'high achieving' school with 1,039 students enrolled at the top 25 percent of all California high schools, according to PrepScholar

'A school employee alerted a school administrator that they beleived a teacher was under the influence of alcohol or drugs,' the San Rafael Police Department Lieutenant Dan Drink told KRON4.

'The administrator went to the classroom where the teacher, Teagan Leonhart, was teaching. The administrator saw that Leonhart showed signs of intoxication and removed her from the classroom.'

When questioned by officers, Leonhart allegedly denied drinking any alcohol before coming to class, police said. But a breathalyzer test revealed that the English teacher's blood alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit for driving a car.

'When confronted with the results of the test, [Leonhart] admitted to consuming some alcohol that morning,' Fink said.

Fink said the San Rafael officer, who is a certified Drug Recognition Expert, determined that Leonhart was not only drunk, but under the influence of marijuana and a prescription drug.

'It was the opinion of the DRE officer that due to her intoxication level, Leonhart was unable to care for the safety of the children while they were in her classroom.'

Leonhart has been teaching at Terra Linda High for ten years, according to her LinkedIn profile

The principal of Terra Linda High School, Katy Dunlap, told DailyMail.com that Leonhart was on paid administrative leave after the incident

Leonhart was taken to Marin County Jail, but does not appear to be in custody there currently, according to jail records.

Terra Linda Principal Katy Dunlap told DailyMail.com that Leonhart on paid administrative leave after the incident.

'Terra Linda High School does not comment on personnel matters. The safety and well-being of our students are my highest priority,' she wrote in an email.

'Principal Katy Dunlap has reached out to students and families via email.'

Terra Linda High School in San Rafael is a 'high achieving' school with 1,039 students enrolled at the top 25 percent of all California high schools, according to PrepScholar.

Earlier this month, she asked her friends on Facebook for science fiction and fantasy recommendations for a unit in her classroom - and said that she was inviting an author who penned a book about 'lesbian gunslingers in space' to come speak with her students

Leonhart has been teaching at Terra Linda High for ten years, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Earlier this month, she asked her friends on Facebook for science fiction and fantasy recommendations for a unit in her classroom - and said that she was inviting an author who penned a book about 'lesbian gunslingers in space' to come speak with her students.

'I'm doing this because I think the kids will big it, and I want to know more about these genres myself,' she wrote.

'I met a woman whose daughter wrote and published (at 24) a novel about 'lesbian gun slingers in space.' I am hoping to have her come in. So... that's a good example of my quest.'
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby delivered an emotional condemnation of Vladimir Putin's 'depravity' in Ukraine on Friday, and came close to tears as he described the horror of looking at images coming from the war-torn country.

Kirby has won rave reviews for his unflappable manner and dry sense of humor during briefings, delivering grim news with the minimum of fuss.

But on Friday the toll of 65 days of war in Ukraine caught up with him when he was asked about President Putin's state of mind.

'I'm not going to go into the psychology of Vladimir Putin,' he began.

'It's hard to look at what he's doing in Ukraine, what his forces are doing in Ukraine and think that any ethical, moral individual could justify that.

'It's difficult to look at the...'

He tailed off, apparently choking up and battling to regain his composure.

After a few seconds, he resumed his train of thought and delivered one of his most powerful condemnations yet of the Russian president.

'Sorry,' he said.

'It's difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious mature leader would do that.

'So I can't talk to his psychology. But I think we can all speak to his depravity.'

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby choked up during a briefing on Friday when he was asked about Vladimir Putin's state of mind as he waged war in Ukraine

The world has been outraged by the way civilian targets have been hit in Russian assaults, and the International Criminal Court has launched a war crimes investigation

Earlier the retired rear admiral announced that the U.S. had begun training Ukrainian soldiers on key weapons systems at bases in Germany.

The U.S. and partners are pouring in weapons in a race against time before Russia launches its full onslaught against Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbas region.

U.S. officials - including Kirby - have already accused Russian forces of war crimes.

After his emotional words, he was asked why had used the term 'depravity' and what had pushed him into such powerful condemnation.

'I can't speak for the entire US government. I speak for the Defense Department and I didn't mean to get emotional,' he said.

'I apologize for that. I don't want to make this about me.

'But I've been around the military a long, long time and I've known friends who didn't make it back. It's just hard.'

Then he listed Russian actions in Ukraine, including killing civilians, and asked how it was related to Putin's war aims. His tearful moment gave way to furious indignation.

Come of the worst atrocities have been reported in Bucha, which was occupied by Russian troops as they tried to advance on Kyiv. But they withdrew earlier this month leaving bodies in the streets and investigators have reported finding mass graves

An aerial view of officials continue to exhume the bodies of civilians who died during the Russian attacks in Bucha earlier this month

'And it's hard to it's hard to square his - let's just call it what it is - BS that this is about Nazism in Ukraine, and it's about protecting Russians in Ukraine, and it's about defending Russian national interests when none of them ... none of them were threatened by Ukraine,' he said, thumping the lectern to emphasize his fury.

'It's hard to square that rhetoric by what he's actually doing inside Ukraine to innocent people shot in the back of the head, hands tied behind their backs.

'Women, pregnant women being killed hospitals being bombed.

'I mean, it's just unconscionable. And I don't know, I don't have the mental capacity to understand how you get how you connect those two things. It's just beyond me.'

The International Criminal Court and at least nine countries have launched war crimes investigations.

Some of the worst atrocities have been identified around Kyiv after the Kremlin's troops pulled out early in April. Investigators have described signs of torture and mutilation on bodies left in the streets of Bucha and have uncovered mass graves.

A body of a civilian man with hands tied behind his back lies in the street as a communal worker prepares a plastic body bag to carry him

'I don't think we fully appreciated the degree to which he would visit that kind of violence and cruelty and as I said depravity on innocent people, on non-combatants on civilians, with such such utter disregard for the lives he was taking,' said Kirby.

'I mean, there's not even there's not even an attempt by Russia to be precise in their targeting.'

Even if you could justify the war, he continued, it was impossible to justify the war it was being conducted.

'It's just ... it's brutality of the coldest and and most depraved sort.' he said.

Earlier news emerged of the latest shipments of weapons to Ukraine.

More than a dozen flights will leave the continental U.S. in the next 24 hours carrying weapons destined for Ukrainian armed forces, including more howitzers and the first of the new Phoenix Ghost drones.

A senior defense official told reporters that the new, secret drones will join 100 Switchblades - kamikaze drones that carry a warhead - that have already been delivered.

It comes as Russia on Thursday pounded targets across Ukraine, hitting high-rise apartments in Kyiv, just when the capital was beginning a return to normal.

And as the Pentagon announced it had begun training some Ukrainian forces at bases in Germany on key weapons systems.

U.S. officials have suggested they face a race against time to deliver weapons to Ukrainian forces as they fight fierce battles in the eastern Donbas region.

Last week, President Joe Biden announced he was giving them a new weapon - previously classified Phoenix Ghost drones specially tailored for the conflict.

A cemetery in Irpin where three dug graves await the next funerals after a slew of attacks

Very little is known about the new Phoenix Ghost drones other than that they operate in similar style to Switchblade killer drones, seen here, which crash into their targets

A senior defense official on Friday said that more than a dozen flights would carry weapons - including the first tranche of Phoenix Ghosts - from the U.S. to Europe in the next 24 hours

Kirby said Putin's stated war aims of protecting Russians in Ukraine were BS, and simply did not square with the way civilians had been killed execution-style in some cases

The U.S. is seeking to provide munitions that can counter Russian armor during the next phase of the war

'In the next 24 hours, more than a dozen flights are expected from the continental United States and that will include howitzers, more 155 rounds, Some of those Phoenix ghost UAVs and and even some of the radars that we talked about,' said a defense official.

Little is known about the unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone.

It is manufactured by AEVEX Aerospace. However, the company is known for modifying drones and providing flight training, suggesting the Phoenix Ghost could be based on a commercially available aircraft.

The company did not respond to a request for more information.

However, U.S. officials have previously described it as a 'one-way drone' that 'delivers a punch,' leading analysts to say it might operate like a Switchblade, which can loiter over a target before crashing into it with an explosive payload.

The official said training of Ukrainian troops in the new weapon had not yet started.

'We believe that the first tranche of those drones should be arriving in the region today, but not all 121. the first tranche of them will be arriving in the region today,' said the official at Friday's briefing.

'And again, we're still working out the how the specific training is going to be done on this. We do believe that training will not take very long for for pilots that have some existing UAV knowledge.'
The Federal Bureau of Investigation may have conducted as many as 3.4 million searches of Americans' elecronic data without a warrant last year.

The Wall Street Journal first cited the number Friday, saying it came from an annual report published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The report doesn't allege that the FBI was illegally or improperly searching American data, but still could alarm members of Congress over privacy concerns.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at Friday's press briefing she had not discussed the Journal's report with President Joe Biden.

'My understanding is that some of this was about researching and doing an investigation into potential hacking, but I will get you more from the FBI after this,' she told the press.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation may have conducted as many as 3.4 million searches of Americans' elecronic data without a warrant last year. The Wall Street Journal first cited the number Friday

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at Friday's press briefing she had not discussed the Journal's report with President Joe Biden. 'My understanding is that some of this was about researching and doing an investigation into potential hacking,' she said

The 3.4 million amount 'is certainly a large figure,' a senior FBI official said, according to the Journal. 'I am not going to pretend that it isn't.'

Senior Biden administration officials told the paper that the actual number of searches is likely far lower.

The officials explained that there are complexities in sorting American versus foreign individuals' data.

Additionally, if an individual's data is searched multiple times - each would count as a search, driving the total number higher. Thus, the number does not represent the number of individuals that would be impacted.

More than half the searches, about two million, were related to a probe into the alleged Russian threat to hack into critical infrastructure in the U.S., the Journal said.

Senior U.S. officials told the paper that those searches were to identify and then protect potential victims of the Russians.

The searches were permissible due to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was originally passed in 1978.

Section 702, which is due to expire next year, was added to FISA after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

It enabled the National Security Agency to collect intelligence from international phone calls and emails and is supposed to target non-U.S. persons living abroad.

Friday's report marked the first time a U.S. intelligence agency gave a count of how much American data the FBI is looking at through Section 702.
Kim Kardashian scored a victory today in the lawsuit Blac Chyna brought against she and her family when a judge dropped the defamation accusation against her.

The Kardashians' attorney, Michael Rhodes, filed a motion for a 'directed verdict' asking Judge Gregory Alarcon to remove Kim from the defamation claims that Chyna brought against four family members.

Chyna is suing the Kris Jenner, Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner for defamation and interference with contract, alleging they sought to get her 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' spinoff 'Rob & Chyna,' canceled before its second season.

During the trial, members of the Kardashian and Jenner clan testified that Chyna was abusive to Rob Kardashian during the couple's turbulent relationship. Among those allegations were that Chyna pulled a gun on Rob and that she beat up with pole.

On Friday, Rhodes argued that none of the comments made by Kim in emails to her family or E! executives was defamatory.

And the judge agreed, saying in his written ruling that a hand-written brief on the issue handed in by Chyna's attorney, Lynne Ciani, 'fails to establish a defamatory statement made by Kim Kardashian.'

Blac Chyna appeared in good spirits as she left court in LA Friday, even though no verdict in her lawsuit against the Kardashians has been reached, and a judge threw out her defamation claim against the family

Chyna could be seen smiling and waving to onlookers as she left court Friday

Chyna is suing the Kris Jenner , Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner of defamation and interference with contract, alleging they sought to get her 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' spinoff 'Rob & Chyna,' canceled before its second season

Blac Chyna's lawyer has accused the Kardashians of 'gaslighting' jurors in their bombshell $108million defamation trial (pictured leaving court yesterday)

On Friday, the judge rule in his written ruling that a hand-written brief on the issue handed in by Chyna's attorney, Lynne Ciani, 'fails to establish a defamatory statement made by Kim Kardashian.'

'The motion for directed verdict is therefore granted as to Kim Kardashian as to the defamatory cause of action.'

The ruling reads, 'There is no evidence that defendant Kim Kardashian took a 'responsible part ' in the publication of the alleged statements by the other defendants.

Jurors began deliberations at 4.30pm in the bitter trial for which Chyna is seeking around $40million for lost earnings and around $60million in future earnings she claims she lost out on due to the alleged defamation.

Reports from the courtroom indicate that prior to the start of deliberations, there was a tense exchange between Chyna's lawyer and Judge Alarcon.

The exchange was so tense that the court reporter had to interrupt them and ask that they not speak over each other.

In his closing statement, the Kardashians' attorney, Rhodes, referred to the day of Chyna and Rob's 'big fight' when she packed up and left their home with their baby girl dream.

Khloe, 37, (far left) and Kim Kardashian, 41 (second from left), and younger sister Kylie Jenner, 24, (second from right) with their mother, family matriarch Kris Jenner, 66, (far right) are all named defendants in the case. They are pictured in court on April 19

Judge Gregory W. Alarcon dismissed a motion from Chyna's attorney to allow her to take the stand again after she got upset after being shown a nude photo during cross-examination. Chyna is pictured in court on April 19

Kim Kardashian, sketched in court last week, testified on Tuesday that she was uncomfortable filming scenes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians with Blac Chyna after she allegedly hit her brother, Rob, with a metal rod

During her testimony, Chyna denied that the couple were broken up at that point. But, Rhodes told jurors today, 'She had to confirm the relationship was still ok because she has to convince you that the network still wanted her show.

'This was not a relationship that any network executive wants on TV.'

E! network executives had told during testimony that Rob and Chyna was supposed to be a light hearted romantic comedy.

And the court was also told that a Rob and Chyna producer went to Chyna to tell her that if she wanted a second season of the show, she would have to mend her relationship with Rob and suggested counseling could help.

But her reaction to the suggestion, said Rhodes today was, 'F no, fthat. F___ Rob. I'm not doing that.'

'Is this the relationship you want to build your romantic comedy around,' he asked. 'Somebody who would say that to her baby's father..Would you put this on the air.

Asking the jury to 'walk with me' over to his clients, he pointed at them and said, 'This is the child's grandmother, her aunts..'

Blac Chyna's mother, Tokyo Toni, branded the Kardashians as a 'violent' family Thursday while standing outside the courthouse where her daughter's defamation trial was underway

The jury is still deliberating on the other allegations being made by Chyna

Talking on the 'pain and anguish' on Rob Kardashian's face during his testimony yesterdaym Rhodes said, 'That was real. This is a real family. Yes they're famous, but they're real people.

'Just because Rob is a big guy, doesn't mean he can't be a victim. How would you feel if you child went through this. Pictures Rob. What did he look like? Was that fake?

Talking of the emails Kris, Khloe and Kylie sent complaining about Chyna after the big bust up, Rhodes asked the jury, 'They can't express their concerns in somewhat colorful language, they have to come to court to defend themselves?'

Rhodes asked, 'Did Chyna beat the s___ out of Rob? Yes, she did. It was true. It happened.'

And of Chyna's denial that it happened, he said, 'She's trying to tell, 'My dog ate my homework, that this is not true, it's fake.'

Rhodes said that several executives from E! and its parent company NBCUniversal all confirmed that the option to for a second season of Rob and Chyna was never picked up. 'There was never a season two he,' added.

He accused Chyna of 'hiding her money' and not filing tax returns for three years.

'You cheated the government - but we're going to give you millions of dollars - is that right?' he asked the jury, adding that even though she was ordered by the court to turn over her financial records. 'That's concealment,' he said.

During earlier testimony about the December 15, 2016 debacle between Chyna and Rob, she was accused of smashing a TV, a bedroom door and a Christmas gingerbread house.

'The gingerbread house was silly, over the top and beautiful' like the Kardashians,' said Rhodes. When she smashed it, she was venting her anger on everything she was not going to be.'

He ended his closing settlement telling jurors, 'It's time to let the family start to heal. All that means is that you give us a verdict in favor of the defense. Otherwise this is going to go on and on and on.'
Sir Lenny Henry has called on the BBC to do more on racial diversity  and singled out the corporations news operation for particular criticism.

Speaking at a media event, he said: When I look over into the newsroom, and all the people there that make the news, theres very few that look like me.

And every film set you walk on to theres Dave, Pete, Charlie, Terry  there are not many Raheems. That needs to change too.

Sir Lenny Henry, pictured, has called on the BBC to do more on racial diversity  and singled out the corporations news operation for particular criticism

Sir Lenny, 63, also had a dig at MasterChef, which is moving its filming location to Birmingham, near his boyhood home of Dudley. Pictured: John Torode and Gregg Wallace presenting the BBC cooking show

Sir Lenny, 63, also had a dig at MasterChef, which is moving its filming location to Birmingham, near his boyhood home of Dudley.

He told the Creative Cities Convention in the second city: Its great for us but tricky for MasterChef because it means they are going to have to stop voting all the black people off first... You must have seen it.

A BBC spokesman said: The BBC is working hard to ensure our staff reflect the full diversity of the UK, on and off screen, so we can better serve our audiences. We know there is more do and have clear targets to increase representation across the organisation.
Waiting at arrivals at Luton Airport for the 1.45pm flight from Warsaw this week, I found myself shaking with fear. What had I committed myself to?

On board were a group of frightened and damaged people, fleeing from the terrible dangers of Russias cruel war in Ukraine.

And two of them would be coming home with me.

I had signed up for the Homes For Ukraine scheme earlier this year, fuelled by compassion for the women and children struggling to reach the countrys Western border, longing to find peace and safety away from the bombs and brutality.

At the time, I wrote in my column about my decision to offer my tiny cottage up as a refuge, reckoning there must be an inherited need to help lodged in my DNA.

After all, my family had taken in a refugee many years ago, too  an evacuee from Londons Blitz during World War II.

That young teenage girl stayed with my family for four years, and kept in touch long after. I prayed my experience would be as positive.

Daily Mail writer Jenni Murray meets Ukrainian refugee Zoryna, 38, and her son Ustym, 17, for the first time after they arrived at Luton Airport this week

For my grandmother, though, the decision to take in the girl had been made easy by the efficiently organised plan to move children from the capital to safer parts of the country and match them with willing and suitable families.

Why, I wondered, had the Government not made it policy to match British sponsors with refugees from the war zone? I knew no one in Ukraine.

How on earth could I find a woman and child who needed me? It was only thanks to a Daily Mail reader that I finally made contact with 38-year-old Zoryana and her son Ustym, 17.

A Londoner read my column and emailed to say she knew a Ukrainian woman who lived not very far from me who might be able to help.

I called Oksana, whod been scouring Facebook for needy families, and within a couple of days I was in touch with Zoryana.

So, on Wednesday, there I was, waiting for two people I had never met, but who I had agreed to house for at least six months in my small two-bed, one-bathroom cottage.

How I wished I had that long-planned loo built under the stairs. And would I now need rotas for everything from bathroom usage to TV watching?

Was I mad to commit to this when I work from home? Ive long been used to peace and quiet, as for many years Ive lived alone while Im in London during the week.

How could three of us stay sane in such a small space?

Today, three days in, youll be pleased to know all is well. In fact, as I type, Zoryana has interrupted me with a question.

Jenni, where is the vacuum cleaner?

You dont need to do anything. The cleaner comes tomorrow, and shell take care of it, I reply.

You dont need a cleaner! Ill do it.

It is only after some quite determined pushback from me that she admits defeat  but she insists that, cleaner or no cleaner, she will still keep the place tidy.

After weeks of waiting, Jenni was finally able to meet mother and son and take them to her London home - where they will stay for the next six months

Utterly indefatigable, she has also hunted out beetroot from the local shop, as she makes wonderful soups.

Do you like borscht, Jenni? she asked. I adore borscht. This is a match made in heaven. Yet there is no denying that there have also been some cultural surprises.

For example, who would have thought that among Zoryanas essentials in her small suitcase was a jar of badger fat  yes, thats right, the fat of a badger  intended as a present to cure my post-Covid cough?

On a more serious note, far from missing my space, Ive actually found that I love the company. Its a wonderful contrast to the past few years, when Ive endured lonely lockdowns alone.

Those worries I had while standing in the Luton arrivals hall have melted away.

Before they arrived, I had only seen Zoryana and Ustyms passport photos and one lovely picture taken in their flat in happier times. Thankfully, I spotted them in the airport straight away.

Ustym was a little taller than in the picture, and Zoryana  dark, small and slim  perhaps a little paler than in that happy shot, with signs of stress and anxiety on her face. She recognised me immediately.

I guess the glasses on the end of the nose are pretty distinctive. We rushed towards each other, delighted.

Hugging felt like the most natural thing in the world. Ustym was perhaps a little more shy, but there was no doubt in my mind that an instant connection had been made between the three of us.

It helps that Zoryana  who worked in Ukraine as an English teacher with primary school children  speaks such good English.

When we piled into my little Mini and encountered a pretty brutal introduction to London traffic, she said: Ah. Traffic jams.

Top of her agenda now that she is here is finding a job. While Ustym is not so fluent, he has a Ukrainian/ English app on his phone to which he is glued. The first priority for him is finding a school.

Had war not come, next month this talented, sporty young man would have been heading for the equivalent of A-Levels, with the intention of going to university to study history and then postgraduate law, before joining the legal profession.

But his education has been severely disrupted. As it was unsafe to go to school, lessons had to be done online in their flat in a small town just outside Lviv.

While not the most dangerous part of Ukraine, still there were constant air-raid sirens and bombing as Lviv was surrounded by Ukrainian military camps and installations, which were targeted by the Russians.

Every night and most days, mother and son sheltered in the basement of their block, only daring to venture out occasionally to buy provisions.

As we drive to my home  now their home, too  Zoryana, a divorcee and lone parent, tells me she had spent the past two days weeping. Its hard to leave your homeland, she said.

But she felt she had no option. For the sake of her much-adored son, she had to go. In September he turns 18  and men aged 18 to 60 are not allowed to leave Ukraine. Ustym would have had to remain, join the army and fight.

As a mother of two sons, I fully understand her desperation to save him from such brutality. Both were palpably exhausted after their journey, which had been a stressful and emotional one.

Jenni welcomed the pair with opens arms after they endured a harrowing escape from Ukraine via Warsaw and Lviv

On Tuesday at 10pm, they left home with just two small suitcases, leaving behind Zoryanas mother and sister.

No wonder she had wept and wept. After seven hours on a bus, they arrived in Warsaw.

And several hours later, they were at my little cottage, where I told them to settle in to their room.

My home is, of course, also the home of Madge and Frieda, my two chihuahuas, and Soo the cat, who all proved an instant comfort to their new housemates.

Because, heartbreakingly, due to quarantine rules they have had to leave their little Yorkshire terrier with a friend in Ukraine. Its fair to say many tears have been shed over their dogs abandonment.

Thankfully, as much as they love my three animals, the animals love them back  overjoyed to have the attention of three people, not just one.

Kettle on, and with spaghetti bolognaise on the hob for dinner  my assumption, based on experience, that it would go down well with a teenage boy proving to be correct  we got to work on their papers.

The first part of the visa process had been completed while they were still in Ukraine. Up to now, we had been lucky.

Their visas  with a letter from the Home Office confirming they could travel to the UK, work here and stay for six months  had actually come through within three days.

Unfortunately, problems now began. In order to stay longer than six months as they wanted to, they would have to have a biometric residence permit (BRP).

It would involve making an appointment with the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services. We started the application then and there.

Talk about complex. Page after page of details were required, and booking the appointment, which would take place on the other side of London, for the presentation of documents and fingerprinting was tricky.

There were no appointments available until May 8. By 9pm on that first night, both were on their knees.

I let them use the bathroom first  the only real adjustment Id had to make all day. Living alone for so long, use of the bathroom had never had to be postponed.

They crashed out and, very soon after, so did I. The next day, I was first to rise, happily ensuring there were no bathroom delays first thing.

Then came Zoryana who, like me, loves strong milky coffee at the start of the day.

Sitting around my diminutive dining table  far too small for the beautiful, embroidered Ukrainian tablecloth they brought as a present  was as relaxed and easy as if wed known each other for years.

Thankfully, though, the conversation was limited, as I prefer it to be first thing in the morning. We both, I suspect, have a liking for being alone, which bodes well for the future.

Next came Ustym  as late to rise as one would expect from a teenage boy.

Mum made him toast; then came the badger fat for me. I had mentioned to Zoryana a few weeks previously that I was suffering from a post-Covid cough.

I had presumed her suggested badger fat remedy had been lost in translation. Not so. Hunters, she told me, had found that dropping tiny portions of fat from badgers into warm milk was great for calming coughs.

Not wishing to be impolite, I tried it. It works! Sorry badgers.

While Ustym retired to his bedroom to study and chat to his friends online, Zoryana and I tackled the next bureaucratic nightmare: how to get a national insurance number.

Within minutes of looking on the Home Office website, we were tearing out our hair in frustration.

The pages of instructions and demands defeated even me. A long telephone helpline wait eventually got me to a real live woman, who was helpful.

Why, I asked her, is it so difficult to understand and follow the process? If even I couldnt manage it, how is a refugee with poor English expected to cope?

Ah, she replied. It has to be like that, you see. So many people who dont have the right to be here try to cheat us, so it has to be difficult.

Well, that was a revelation. I hope all Ukrainian refugees with a perfect right to be here have someone like me to persist and defeat British bureaucracy.

We celebrated with a couple of slices of the most gorgeous cake Ive ever eaten.

Zoryana had brought two traditional Easter cakes  light yellow sponge with a hint of lemon flavouring  that shed made herself.

Many will say Zoryana and Ustym are lucky to be here. However, I think that I am equally lucky to have found them.

They are a dream, my new little family. Their enthusiasm for London has made me look on my life with fresh eyes.

A walk in the park saw them return full of admiration for the trees, the flowers and the neighbourhood. And I just love the companionship.

We cook together  last night I made one of my usual stews, lamb with apricot, while Zoryana did the mashed potatoes  and we watch TV together. And then we take our leave of each other, happy to have enjoyed each others company.

There are many things to overcome, clearly, and we will get to them in time.

Zoryana needs to figure out how to get her Ukrainian bank account transferred to the UK, find a job and more. In the meantime, I am happily stumping up for food and other necessities.

Next on my list is to meet the head of sixth form at the nearest and best local school, who has agreed to help us assess what is best for Ustyms education.

So content am I that I know that in June, when the time comes for me to head off on a cruise holiday, I will be absolutely happy to leave them in my home alone. Because I can feel a lifetime friendship developing.

The only worry  apart from how we three will manage with one bathroom  is how I can keep Zoryana out of the kitchen.

Her cake baking is so spectacular that I can feel myself ceasing to worry about my weight.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday defended the head of President Joe Biden's 'Disinformation Governance Board' and slammed the board's critics, noting its existence goes back to the Donald Trump administration.

Republicans have attacked Nina Jankowicz, who was chosen to head the board, as a 'Russia expert' and one senator released a video of her singing about 'misinformation' to the tune of the Mary Poppins song 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.'

Psaki pushed back, noting Jankowicz is 'an expert on online disinformation.'

'Any hiring decisions are up to the Department of Homeland Security, but this is a person with extensive qualifications,' she noted.

Jankowicz, who has researched Russian misinformation tactics and online harassment, is author of the book 'How To Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict.' She has also advised the Ukrainian government on strategic communications, according to the Wilson Center think-tank, where she served as a global fellow.

Psaki also pointed out repeatedly in her press briefing that the board was created in the Trump administration.

'This is a continuation of work that began at the Department of Homeland Security in 2020 under former President Trump,' she said.

'So for anyone who is critical of it, I didn't hear them being critical of the work under the former president, which is just interesting to note contextually,' she added.

She said of the work the board will do includes understanding how misinformation spread by human smugglers helps prey on vulnerable populations trying to enter the United States.

'This is also work that is helping to address unauthorized terrorism, other threats and see how disinformation and misinformation is being pushed to lead to increase those,' she said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the head of President Joe Biden's 'Disinformation Governance Board' and slammed the board's critics, noting its existence goes back to the Donald Trump administration

Republicans have attacked Nina Jankowicz, who was chosen to head the board, as a 'Russia expert'

Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has joined the chorus of critics tearing into Disinformation Governance Board.

'You cannot have a Ministry of Truth in this country. We're not going to let Biden get away with this one. So we will be fighting back,' the Republican said on Friday at a news conference.

'When you're not doing well, you have two options: You can try to do better. Or you can try to silence your critics. [The Biden Administration] is doing the latter,' he added.

DeSantis led the uptick in fury as Republican Senator Tom Cotton said he would introduce legislation to have the new 'Disinformation' board defunded and a new video showed its head Nina Jankowicz singing about 'misinformation' to the tune of the Mary Poppins song 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.'

'You cannot have a Ministry of Truth in this country. We're not going to let Biden get away with this one. So we will be fighting back,' Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Friday at a news conference

Jankowicz, a self-described 'Russia expert', has questioned the authenticity of Hunter Biden's laptop by calling it a 'product of the Trump campaign' - even though its contents have been verified.

In March 2020 she also said on COVID restrictions: 'Lock us down. People are not taking this (COVID) seriously'.

The head of the Biden administration's new 'Disinformation Governance Board' Nina Jankowicz sings about 'misinformation' to the tune of Mary Poppins song 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'

'Information laundering is really quite ferocious. It's when a huckster takes some lies and makes them sound precocious,' she sings in the new video.

'By saying them in Congress or a mainstream outlet, so disinformation's origins are slightly less atrocious.

'It's how you hide a little, hide a little, little, little lie, it's how you hide a little, little lie, it's how you hide a little, little, little lie.

'When Rudy Giuliani shared bad intel from Ukraine. Or when TikTok influencers say Covid can't cause pain. They're laundering disinfo and we really should take note. And not support their lies with our wallet, voice or vote  oh!'

Jankowicz was brought on to lead the Department of Homeland Security's Disinformation Governance Board to combat disinformation related to national security  and she expressed concerns last week that Musk expanding free speech on social media would be bad for 'marginalized communities'.

On Wednesday, Jankowicz defended her previous remarks casting doubt on the validity of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.

A tweet Jankowicz sent in October 2020 has resurfaced and is making the rounds in conservative circles.

'Back on the 'laptop from hell,' apparently- Biden notes 50 former natsec officials and 5 former CIA heads that believe the laptop is a Russian influence op,' she tweeted at the time.

She added: 'Trump says 'Russia, Russia, Russia.'

She now claims that the tweet was part of her 'live tweeting' a debate between Trump and Biden just one month before the presidential general election as Republicans are using the post to pounce on her political leanings.

'For those who believe this tweet is a key to all my views, it is simply a direct quote from both candidates during the final presidential debate,' Jankowicz defended in a repost of the original tweet.

'If you look at my timeline, you will see I was livetweeting that evening,' she added in the Wednesday night tweet.

Jankowicz confirmed reports on Wednesday that she is being brought on as executive director of the new board at DHS.

Republicans immediately blasted the move, claiming she has shown too much bias to head the group  specifically in casting doubt on Hunter's laptop scandal.

In October 2020, Jankowicz called the laptop stories a 'Trump campaign product.'

Elon Musk called on Thursday the creation of Joe Biden's new 'disinformation' board 'discomforting' as the president tapped a Russia misinformation 'expert' to lead the initiative.

The billionaire, who just acquired Twitter this week, was responding to a tweet from conservative political commentator, comedian and media personality Steven Crowder.

'The government is creating a misinformation governance board,' Crowder tweeted on Thursday.

'Who else did something like that?' he continued. 'Oh I remember, the Nazi's. And there's some data showing some interesting things going on post- @elonmusk's Twitter takeover!'

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton also chimed in Friday saying the U.S. government had 'no business creating a Ministry of Truth'

Republican Senator Josh Hawley is demanding that the White House 'dissolve' the new Department of Homeland Security's Disinformation Governance Board she is heading, claiming that it would only 'monitor Americans' free speech'.

Senator Hawley insisted on Thursday that the board should be dissolved before it even gets started.

'I write with deep concern about the Department of Homeland Security's decision to create a new Disinformation Governance Board,' he penned in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

'I confess I at first thought this announcement was satire,' he continued. 'Surely no American Administration would ever use the power of Government to sit in judgment on the First Amendment speech of its own citizens.'

'Sadly, I was mistaken.'

He then demanded that DHS provide more information on this new board, including how it will function and be monitored.

Hawley also questioned why the announcement was made just following billionaire Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, which he vowed to make a more free speech platform with all ideas.

Anonymous White House reporters suggest they won't ask Jen Psaki tough questions because they 'don't want to look like an a**hole' and criticizing Sean Spicer under Trump was fine because they were 'saving democracy' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki's aptitude for her job and quick wit make it 'boring' for reporters who are trying to squeeze a story out of her during her daily briefings, a new report suggested on Friday. One journalist complained that 'jawing' with Psaki over tough questions made people look like 'a**holes' compared to the moral authority many reporters felt in challenging Trump administration officials. 'Jen [Psaki] is very good at her job, which is unfortunate,' one unnamed reporter who covered both Trump and Biden told Politico. 'And the work is a lot less rewarding, because youre no longer saving democracy from [first Trump Press Secretary] Sean Spicer and his Mens Wearhouse suit.' They added, 'Jawing with Jen just makes you look like an a**hole.' It's part of a greater look Politico took at media coverage of Donald Trump versus today's coverage of President Joe Biden -- finding that the later has been a 'journalistic sedative' compared to the bombastic and adversarial headlines Trump made with his frequent clashes with the press. One news executive said there simply was not much interest in the White House anymore, despite reporters' best efforts. 'Its not like theres a lack of trying -- these reporters are there every day to get anything out of the Biden White House,' the executive said. 'But its boring there, its not what it was.' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki 'is very good at her job, which is unfortunate' one unnamed reporter who covers her daily press briefings confided in Politico Another executive said Psaki's daily briefings have failed to catch their interest. 'I cant think of any [stars],' they said according to Friday's report. They added, 'I dont really watch the briefings.' An anonymous journalist described covering the Biden administration as 'difficult' and 'boring.' 'Its a boring and difficult job. Its tough to be a White House correspondent if you want to break news, theyre so airtight,' they said. 'Theres no Maggie [Haberman]. Whos the Maggie of the Biden administration? It doesnt exist,' they added, referring to the New York Times reporter who was known for breaking numerous scoops on Trump's White House. Unlike Trump's press secretaries, who often saw negative lines of questioning turned into a verbal wrestling match, the Friday report notes that Psaki avoids getting caught in extended entanglements with reporters. The reporter said covering the White House was less rewarding 'because youre no longer saving democracy from [first Trump Press Secretary] Sean Spicer and his Mens Wearhouse suit' Symone Sanders, former press secretary to Vice President Kamala Harris, said the Trump administration's goal 'was to have an antagonistic relationship with the press corps.' 'The goal was to attack and antagonize, vilify the press. The Biden team didnt enter into that White House setting up an adversarial relationship,' Sanders said. 'The reason you have not seen these huge clashes that have resulted in the media stars, if you will, is thats not the goal of the people when you walk into that building.' She's also reportedly leaving the administration for a television job at MSNBC, though the White House has not confirmed the matter. When news of Psaki's reported job-switch first broke, NBC News president Noah Oppenheim was forced to confront concerned network staffers in the Washington, DC bureau. The NBC executive told staff who were worried Psaki would tarnish the brand that she would exclusively appear on left-wing channel MSNBC, according to CNN. Oppenheim has no control over Biden-friendly MSNBC in his role leading NBC News. Psaki has been forced to answer ethics concerns over how her reported new gig will affect her current role behind the White House briefing podium. 'There are a range of stringent ethical and legal requirements that are imposed on everybody in this administration and many administrations past about any conversations you're having with future employers,' she said earlier this month. 'That is true of any industry you're working in. I have abided by those and tried to take steps to go beyond that.' But she did not confirm or reveal any plans for after her White House tenure was over, instead saying: 'At whatever time I leave the White House, I can promise you the first thing I am going to do is sleep, and spend time with my three and six year-old, who are my most important audiences of all. Advertisement

Jankowicz was critical of Musk buying Twitter, claiming that more free speech on the social media platform was a negative thing.

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson sent a statement against the formation of the board.

'The Biden Administration has not proven itself to be a credible arbiter of 'disinformation.' Instead, it has taken steps to silence information that is unflattering to this Administration under the guise of 'disinformation,' Johnson wrote.

'For example, unnamed intelligence officials, the media, and social media platforms engaged in a coordinated effort to censor stories about Hunter Biden's laptop and his questionable financial dealings under the false label of 'disinformation.'

'I am concerned DHS's Disinformation Board will only serve to silence or censor those voices critical of your disastrous policies and serve a political cover for your failure to secure the border,' the senator concluded.

Mayorkas did not disclose any powers that would be granted to the dystopian-sounding board while addressing lawmakers on Wednesday.

He explained that the board would work to tackle disinformation ahead of the November midterms, particularly in Hispanic communities.

He also said that the board would come under the Biden-era Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3), meaning it would have no powers to crack down on disinformation and will instead try to combat it by throwing money at what it sees as problems.

The CP3 program provides communities with resources and tools to help prevent individuals from radicalizing to violence. Last year, CP3 awarded about $20 million in grants through its Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program. It is unclear how much cash will be spent on the Disinformation Board.

Mayorkas noted that the focus of the new board would be to stop the spread of misinformation in minority communities, including election misinformation ahead of the 2022 midterms.

He added that it would focus on the latest trend of misinformation allegedly targeting Spanish-speaking voters. No further details on the exact misinformation being deployed against these communities was shared.

Jankowicz, who revealed she was the head of the department following Mayorkas' meeting with lawmakers, tweeted: 'Cat's out of the bag: here's what I've been up to the past two months, and why I've been a bit quiet on here.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea /Yonhap





The National Fire Agency (NFA) and the National Police Agency (NPA) have refused to accept a recommendation from the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) to remove the age limit for career counseling positions, the rights watchdog said Friday.







In November, the commission recommended the NFA and NPA revise regulations that allow only those aged 40 and below to apply for experienced counselor positions.







However, the two agencies rejected the recommendation, saying the age restriction is needed because the job position requires up to two years of fieldwork following employment and applicants may be given jobs other than counseling after three to five years of mandatory service as counselors.







The commission said the age limit is considered a type of employment discrimination, calling upon the agencies to put in more efforts to make a change.







It is not rational to set an age limit believing people aged 40 cannot do fieldwork and because of the possibility of job transfers after mandatory service as the applicants are assessed on their health and physical ability in the hiring process, the NHRCK said. (Yonhap)


Cabinet ministers last night joined calls for a new probe into the Beergate scandal engulfing Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner.

After a string of revelations in the Daily Mail, Tory MP Richard Holden wrote to Durham police yesterday asking them to investigate the Labour leader and his deputy over alleged Covid breaches.

He said incontrovertible evidence that Mrs Rayner was at the gathering showed Labour had lied about events a year ago tomorrow.

Mr Holden said it was totally implausible for the party to claim Sir Keir had returned to work after drinking a beer at 10pm.

This was clearly a social event at the end of the working day, in clear breach of the restrictions, he insisted. A string of Tory MPs and senior ministers backed his call for a fresh police investigation.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said Labour had told a tissue of lies and she did not see how Durham Constabulary could fail to act.

Sir Keir Starmer attempted to defend himself by saying it makes absolutely no difference whether Mrs Rayner was present at the event

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said he believed officers would have the support of the majority of the public in looking into this further.

Questions were raised yesterday over the role of Durhams police and crime commissioner, Joy Allen, after a picture emerged of her and Sir Keir campaigning together for her election.

However, tonight she issued a statement saying she had no involvement in the forces decision not to fine him.

Sir Keir attempted to defend himself by saying it makes absolutely no difference whether Mrs Rayner was present at the event.

His party has been forced to admit it had not told the truth over the gathering at which he was filmed enjoying a beer with officials at a time when indoor socialising was banned.

Tory MP Richard Holden said incontrovertible evidence that Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner was at the Durham gathering showed Labour had lied about events a year ago

In a sensational U-turn, officials acknowledged Mrs Rayner was also at the event on April 30 last year. This directly contradicted an assurance given to the Mail three months ago that she was not there.

The admission came only after this newspaper confronted Labour officials with video evidence that Mrs Rayner had joined Sir Keir at an online rally for activists filmed in the Durham offices of Labour MP Mary Foy where the party leader was later seen drinking.

During a visit to Edinburgh today, Sir Keir said: Whether Angela Rayner was there or not makes absolutely no difference  there was no breach of the rules, the matter has already been looked into.

Earlier this month, Boris Johnson received a fine from the Metropolitan Police Service for attending an event in No 10 on his birthday in 2020.

But Durham Constabulary has so far refused to properly investigate claims Sir Keir broke Covid rules.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said Labour had told a tissue of lies and she did not see how Durham Constabulary could fail to act

In February the force decided not to launch a formal probe after reviewing a video of the event and deciding it did not believe an offence had been established.

Mr Holden, who represents North West Dur - ham, wrote to the force last week asking them to recon - sider in light of Scotland Yards decision to fine the Prime Minister.

Tom Hunt, Tory MP for Ipswich, said: It is imperative the police treat Starmer exactly the same as they treated the Prime Minister. Wed all like to think rules are equally applied. If that is not perceived to be the case then it will damage the publics confidence in impartial policing.

Fellow Tory Scott Benton, who represents Blackpool South, said: It would appear that the Covid rules have been interpreted very differently by the Met in relation to the allegations regarding 10 Downing Street, and Durham police with respect to Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner.

Labours account of events is unravelling by the second. Durham police have a public duty to conduct a full and proper investigation.#

Anything less is completely unacceptable.

Mark Jenkinson, another Conservative MP, said it was disappointing that the police appear to be turning a blind eye to Sir Keirs beer-swigging during lockdown.

He added: They are duty-bound to look at this again.

Sir Keir drank his beer with Labour officials when England was only slowly emerging from lockdown and strict laws remained in place against indoor socialising.

He was in the North East to campaign for his election candidates.

Under the Step 2 restrictions in place between April 12 and May 17, the Government insisted: You must not socialise indoors except with your household or support bubble.

Outdoor groups were limited to six people. When the photo emerged in January, Sir Keir said: We are in the office, working in the office and we stopped for a takeaway and then we carried on working. And that is the long and the short of it.

A Labour source said it was an honest mistake that the party had denied Mrs Rayner was at the Durham event.

Who does Sir Keir think he's kidding? Starmer was seen swigging beer at 10.04pm yet claims he then went back to work (and the MP demanding a police probe wants answers)

By SAM GREENHILL for the Daily Mail

Keir Starmer's insistence that he went back to work after swigging beer at 10pm was looking increasingly shaky last night.

He was ridiculed by Tory MP Richard Holden who told police it was 'clearly a social event that took place after the end of the working day'.

He said this week's revelations from a Daily Mail investigation had exposed the Labour leader's position as 'completely implausible'.

Ever since the video clip of him drinking beer and laughing came to light, Sir Keir has consistently claimed he was at a work event.

Keir Starmer's insistence that he went back to work after swigging beer at 10pm was looking increasingly shaky last night

Starmer was ridiculed by Tory MP Richard Holden who told police (above) it was 'clearly a social event that took place after the end of the working day'

Yesterday Mr Holden (above), the MP for North West Durham, told Durham Constabulary's assistant chief constable, in his third letter to the force this week: 'Keir Starmer has previously claimed that he 'returned to work' after drinking the beer ... but the new timeline presented by the Daily Mail shows that his call ended at 9:20pm, 45 minutes before he was pictured drinking beer with Labour staff

He said he had not broken any coronavirus rules  despite a ban on social mixing  because he had been having meetings with work colleagues and they had paused for something to eat.

The long and short of it, insisted the Labour leader, was that 'we carried on working' after the break.

But this week, inquiries by the Mail have established that the video of him drinking beer in the Miners Hall in Durham was shot after 10pm, following a gruelling day on the campaign trail.

Earlier in the evening, he and Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner had taken part in a live online call with party members.

Yesterday Mr Holden, the MP for North West Durham, told Durham Constabulary's assistant chief constable, in his third letter to the force this week: 'Keir Starmer has previously claimed that he 'returned to work' after drinking the beer ... but the new timeline presented by the Daily Mail shows that his call ended at 9:20pm, 45 minutes before he was pictured drinking beer with Labour staff.

Pictured, footage of the Labour leader having a beer with officials in her office on April 30, 2021

'It appears completely implausible that the social gathering filmed where Keir Starmer was drinking beer was 'reasonably necessary for work purposes'. Therefore it appears to have been a breach of the 'Step 2' regulations in place in England at the time.'

When Sir Keir was asked in January about the beer drinking, which took place exactly a year ago, he insisted he had not broken any rules. He told the BBC it was fine for him to drink with others because it was a work meeting during a trip to Durham ahead of local elections.

He added: 'I was in a constituency office just days before the election. We were very busy, we were working in the office and we stopped for something to eat. And then we carried on working.'

Asked whether the drinking of beer was 'reasonably necessary for work purposes', he replied: 'We'd stopped to eat a takeaway whilst we were working in the office and then we carried on.'

Labour's explanations for the night at Durham Miners Hall have crumbled this week.

The Mail revealed yesterday that a senior official had lied to press when denying the presence of Mrs Rayner, after the newspaper unearthed incontrovertible proof that she was in the same building as Mr Starmer. Confronted with our investigation, Labour claimed its previous denials had been 'an honest mistake'.

The pair used the same table in the same room to address 16,000 Labour activists tuning in to their live internet rally at 8.30pm.

And this was in the evening of a long day of electioneering. The Labour leader had started his day in Hull, 145 miles away, posing with local MPs in the fruit market, before touring Durham and shaking hands with residents.

STEPHEN GLOVER: Why DID the Labour Party mislead this newspaper on Beergate? And why did Boris-obsessed BBC ignore the story for so long?

By STEPHEN GLOVER for the Daily Mail

The cover-up is invariably worse than the lie.

Often the lie is relatively insignificant, while the cover-up grows bigger and bigger.

The Labour Party has finally admitted that its deputy leader, Angela Rayner, was present at an event on April 30 last year when Sir Keir Starmer was filmed enjoying a beer with officials.

Indoor socialising was then banned under Covid laws. When the Mail asked Labour on January 14 this year whether Mrs Rayner had been at the event in Durham, it was emphatically told: Angela wasnt there.

This, we now know, was untrue. Why did Labour mislead this newspaper? It could have been a straightforward error, as party officials maintain.

But if it was a mistake made in good faith, as they assert, why didnt they set the record straight earlier?

Did they deny that Mrs Rayner was there in order to dampen down speculation that there was a full-blown party rather than a break for refreshments during a working session, which is what Sir Keir has claimed?

Keir Starmer was branded an 'absolute hypocrite' for drinking with staff during lockdown

Its not easy to see why the deputy leaders presence made it more of a party than it already was.

More likely, Labour simply wanted to distance Mrs Rayner from her leaders imprudent beer drinking and avoid her getting ensnared in the same controversy. Whatever the explanation, Labour said Angela Rayner wasnt present even though she was.

It is incumbent on journalists to try to find out whether the falsehood was a simple mistake, or whether it conceals something more sinister.

Which brings me to the BBC. I dont at all complain that the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror and Guardian dont appear very interested in this story.

That is their business. But when our powerful public service broadcaster initially virtually ignores today's revelations in the Mail  as it showed little interest when the film of Sir Keir swigging from a beer bottle emerged in January  there is cause for complaint.

The BBC is supposed to be even-handed and impartial. Nearly three weeks ago, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were fined for attending an impromptu birthday party in No.10.

Auntie went into hyper-drive, though the PM hadnt eaten any cake and stayed for less than ten minutes.

The hapless Chancellor had merely wandered into the Cabinet Room slightly early for a meeting.

All right  they broke laws which they had promulgated and so deserved their punishment.

In fact, let me say that I am very far from regarding Partygate as a storm in a tea cup and believe that Boris Johnson still has many serious questions to answer about his conduct and veracity.

Nonetheless, if the BBC can devote countless hours of airtime to the Prime Ministers birthday party, one would hope that it could summon more interest when it is revealed that, contrary to what Labour has previously stated, Angela Rayner was in the same building where Sir Keir Starmer drank his beer.

Yet, at the time of writing, the Beeb has underplayed the story, I believe deliberately. During its three-hour flagship Today programme on Radio 4 today, there was a brief item about the affair just after 6.30am.

Belatedly, the BBCs website did get round to carrying a piece about Labours falsehood, and the story made an appearance, usually low down, on some news bulletins.

A smug Sir Keir Starmer was treated to a soft interview by the Beeb.

Imagine what would happen if The Guardian or Daily Mirror revealed that the Tory Party had wrongly claimed that the Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, hadnt been present at an event at which Boris Johnson had swigged from a beer bottle.

Why, the Beeb would have cleared the decks  and rightly so.

This is yet one more example of the BBCs double standards. Anti-Tory bias is fundamental to its DNA, though its journalists will reach for the smelling salts if ever they are accused of favouring Labour.

Angela Rayner waves at the offices of Redhills, the home of the Durham Miners Association in Durham

Every alleged misdemeanour of Aunties hate figure, Boris Johnson, is examined in exhaustive detail.

By contrast, Labour tends to be indulged, as it was during Tony Blairs first six years of office until the Iraq War, when his lies, and those of his egregious sidekick, Alastair Campbell, became too much even for Auntie to stomach.

Angela Rayner has also received an easy ride this week from the BBC after The Mail on Sunday alleged that she had joked with Tory MPs about crossing and uncrossing her legs to distract Boris Johnson in the Commons.

Her contention that the article was full of desperate, perverted smears was swallowed whole by the Beeb.

Nor has our public service broadcaster shown much, if any, interest in the four Tory MPs who have come forward over recent days to support the account in The Mail on Sunday and contradict Mrs Rayners version of events.

Might it be that the deputy leader of the Labour Party (who, remember, once described Tories as scum) is not entirely straightforward and isnt to be believed automatically whenever she opens her mouth and irrespective of whatever she says?

Why was it so emphatically denied by Labour  and why was the denial subsequently not corrected  that she had been at the same event as Sir Keir Starmer on April 30 last year?

As for the sanctimonious Sir Keir  a man who blithely accuses Boris Johnson of lying  perhaps he would be good enough to tell us when he was first aware that a misleading account of that occasion had been supplied by a Labour Party official.

Furthermore, does he really contend that drinking beer and eating pizza, as he did on that night in Durham, is legally and morally more defensible than what the PM and the Chancellor did  which was not to eat cake?

Sir Keir is fortunate that Durham Police  unlike the Metropolitan Police, who have Boris riggling under their microscope  have a policy of not taking retrospective action against Covid lawbreakers. They should think again.

Richard Holden, a local Tory MP, wrote to the Deputy Chief Constable of Durham, urging him to reopen an investigation into the Labour leaders behaviour and to take a good look at Mrs Rayners.

The Met should also examine allegations that Sir Keir tucked in to chocolate and lemon cakes on his birthday in his office in September 2020, when official Covid rules advised that such parties should not take place if it was difficult to maintain social-distancing.

Needless to say, Labour doesnt intend to throw any light on these puzzling events.

Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner will continue to try to give the preposterous impression that they inhabit a morally superior universe to Boris Johnson. And the BBC, we can be certain, has absolutely no intention of challenging them.

How cosy! Keir Starmer campaigned for the crime tsar whose force is refusing to fine him over the 'Beergate' party scandal

By JOHN STEVENS and SUSIE COEN for the Daily Mail

The Labour leader campaigned for the crime tsar whose force is refusing to fine him over Beergate, it can be revealed today.

Keir Starmer recorded a video endorsing Labour's Joy Allen as she ran for election as Durham's police and crime commissioner.

Last night Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, demanded to know what conversations Mrs Allen had with officers who cleared him of breaking Covid lockdown rules.

The Labour leader campaigned for the crime tsar whose force is refusing to fine him over Beergate, it can be revealed today. Keir Starmer recorded a video endorsing Labour's Joy Allen as she ran for election as Durham's police and crime commissioner. (Sir Keir is pictured with Mrs Allen)

Mrs Allen insisted she had had no involvement in their decision not to fine him after he was filmed drinking beer in the office of a Durham MP on April 30 last year.

Mrs Allen, who has been a Labour member for 27 years, was elected commissioner a week after the gathering.

Her campaign website included a picture of her with Sir Keir holding a sign that states: 'Vote Joy Allen for Police and Crime Commissioner.'

In a video on Facebook, he said: 'Vote Joy Allen to make the communities of County Durham and Darlington safer, stronger and more secure.'

Commissioners are responsible for holding chief constables to account but they cannot instruct police officers directly.

Asked what role Mrs Allen or her office played in the police decision to take no action against Sir Keir, her spokesman said: 'None at all. We were just informed. It was an operational matter for the force.'

Durham Constabulary declined to comment.

As the Mail pieced together the truth, just how did Angela Rayner think she could keep her 'Beergate' appearance a secret?

By JOHN STEVENS, Deputy Political Editor for the Daily Mail

Labour had insisted Angela Rayner was not at the gathering where Sir Keir Starmer was filmed drinking a bottle of beer.

But the truth was exposed by the Daily Mail  thanks to a series of posts on social media placing the deputy leader at the scene.

On the afternoon of Friday, April 30, last year, Mrs Rayner went canvassing in Birmingham ahead of the following weeks local elections.

She was joined by fellow Labour MPs Rachel Reeves, Liam Byrne and the late Jack Dromey.

She then travelled up to Durham  still wearing the same polka-dot dress  and met Sir Keir, with whom she had been campaigning in Lancashire the previous day.

Less than an hour before the infamous video was taken of Sir Keir and his beer, Labours leader and his deputy sat at the same desk to address party activists across the country.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner pictured last year at Redhills, the home of the Durham Miners Association

Their colleague Nick Thomas-Symonds wrote on Twitter that afternoon: Tune in 8.30pm-9pm tonight for Labours Get Out The Vote 6 Days to 6th May rally with Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and special guests.

He linked to a Facebook page hosting the virtual campaigning event, where the full 48-minute video can still be viewed.

As Sir Keir addressed voters by webcam, he was sitting in a small room in the Miners Hall in Durham.

A mirror on a mantelpiece showed the reflection of a distinctive fanlight window.

Beginning by thanking every single person whos on this call this evening, Sir Keir gave a six-minute speech to an audience of 16,000.

Other speakers followed, including one from the US, before Mrs Rayner closed proceedings in front of the very same background seen during Sir Keirs address 20 minutes earlier.

It emerged this week that Mrs Rayner joined Sir Kier Starmer last year at the offices of Redhills, the home of the Durham Miners Association

At 8.53am the next day, Mrs Rayner posted two photographs of herself in front of miners lodge banners at the hall and wrote: Last year was the first year in two decades that I couldnt come to Durham. Its good to be back!

At 9.45am she shared a video  also still available online  of herself and Sir Keir touring the building.

On International Workers Day, were at the historic Durham Miners Hall, the Labour leader declared to the camera. That same day saw Sir Keir and Mrs Rayner pictured in hard hats as they visited a building development in Durham.

Asked by the Mail in January if Mrs Rayner had been present at the Durham Miners Hall on April 30 last year, a Labour spokesman replied categorically: Angela wasnt there.

However, on Thursday evening the party was forced to admit this was not true after the Mail confronted officials with video evidence of the online rally.

A Labour source said it was an honest mistake that the party had denied Mrs Rayner was present at the event with Sir Keir.
At 6am the blaring sound of the national anthem wakes Alexei Navalny in his prison bunk.

Russias best-known political prisoner dons an ill-fitting black uniform and begins a day designed, like every moment of his nine-year sentence, to inflict exhaustion and humiliation.

The worst thing about jail, says his loyal aide Kira Yarmysh, is that everyone there has to be occupied all day long so you dont have any free time. A fiercely intelligent, eloquent lawyer, Navalnys days are filled with menial tasks  sewing and shovelling snow.

A small plastic sign on his bunk designates him as a terrorist, liable to indoctrinate other prisoners and forbidden to socialise with them. The routine in what he ironically calls a friendly concentration camp recalls the solitary confinement of Nelson Mandela, sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism by the South African apartheid regime.

A fiercely intelligent, eloquent lawyer, Navalnys days are filled with menial tasks  sewing and shovelling snow. A small plastic sign on his bunk designates him as a terrorist, liable to indoctrinate other prisoners and forbidden to socialise with them

In a recent exchange of letters with the American journalist Simon Shuster, Navalny described his life in a prison within a prison.

He explained: In my unit there are 13 men. Only one out of all of them is allowed to speak with me. The rest can only communicate in single words  yes, no. Mostly they all stay silent, not wanting to let the wrong word slip. Video cameras are everywhere, plus the guards never under any circumstances talk to me unless it is video-recorded.

The barracks windows are covered with white paper to stop him seeing the world outside. Sometimes I get the sense Im living inside a shoe box, he says.

Yet, just as the incarceration of the leader of the African National Congress on Robben Island off Cape Town undermined the legitimacy of white minority rule in South Africa, the Kremlins vindictive persecution of Alexei Navalny exemplifies the brittle brutality of its grip on power.

For Navalny is not only the bravest man in Russia  his return there after his recovery in Berlin from being poisoned by the Kremlin led inevitably to his arrest  but he is also Vladimir Putins biggest headache. His steely will spearheads the Russian opposition, even from behind bars.

He must survive the daily ordeal of life in Penal Colony No 2, a two-hour drive from Moscow, just one of 500,000 inmates in Russias 700 prisons. The food is dire  tasteless slop laced with grease.

Healthcare, supposedly guaranteed by law, in practice amounts to little more than painkillers. Dentistry is swift and brutal  troublesome teeth are ripped out with pliers and no anaesthetic. Beatings and rape are routine.

The prison authorities are instructed to keep the inmates busy from dawn to dusk. Time-consuming, pointless routines include repeatedly making and remaking beds.

If the administration run out of ideas, says Miss Yarmysh, they force them to watch propaganda lectures.

If the regime does crack, it is far from fanciful to see the gaunt figure of Navalny emerging from the prison gates as an early sign of change. That would echo Mandelas release from prison  his walk to freedom in 1990

Navalnys ferocious mental discipline is so far more than a match for the authorities. He resists any attempt to provoke him into an outburst or to physical violence. That would just give his jailers an excuse to impose tougher punishments.

Yet in the lawless and violent world of the Russian penal system, such pretexts can be invented  as he knows only too well. Navalnys astonishing story was told in a documentary screened last week by the BBC. As a Russia expert, I have followed his career since his early days in opposition. After a brief flirtation with the liberal Yabloko movement, he turned to nationalism, publishing crude videos attacking illegal immigrants in highly inflammatory language. He now says he regrets these.

Liberal-minded Russians accept this. Members of the womens punk protest group Pussy Riot, for example, support him in his attempts to topple the Russian regime  and say they look forward to running against him in future free elections.

Navalnys hallmark since 2011 has been devastating attacks on the corruption of the Putin regime.

His videos  all available with English subtitles on YouTube  lambast and ridicule the sleaze, tastelessness and grotesque greed of the Kremlin cronies who have looted Russia over the past three decades. Evidence includes leaked documents, drone footage and social media posts featuring yachts, planes, watches and other trinkets.

Navalny provides a sardonic, punchy commentary, driving home the message: Most Russians live in poverty, with frayed public services and crumbling infrastructure while their rulers live in garish luxury. Chief among them, of course, is the dictator Putin. A recent film exposed the Russian leaders palace on the Black Sea, complete with underground ice rink, two helipads, an arboretum, an amphitheatre and a casino. It gained 100 million views on YouTube in a matter of days.

Navalny quickly became leader of Russias fragmented opposition. He brought tens of thousands on to the streets to protest against corruption and election rigging  an expression of public anger that would be unimaginable in todays repressive climate.

The most extraordinary feature of Navalnys story is that he chose to make that return to Russia after having narrowly escaped death at the hands of the authorities. He is pictured above with his family in 2019

Back then, the regime reacted quickly with a bogus embezzlement charge that briefly landed Navalny in jail. His brother Oleg was locked up for longer  as a hostage, according to Navalny.

A pro-Putin thug hurled caustic disinfectant into the opposition leaders face, damaging his sight.

Undeterred, Navalnys Anti-Corruption Foundation became Russias most effective opposition political organisation, with a network of activists stretching the length and breadth of the vast country. Navalny stood for mayor of Moscow in 2013, and, despite a media blackout and official harassment, he gained an impressive 30 per cent of the vote  even according to the official tally.

When he tried to run against Putin in the 2016 election the authorities ensured he never made it on to the ballot paper.

He has also exploited the limited political freedoms of local elections, using a strategy he calls smart voting. He encourages voters to choose the opposition candidate most likely to beat the Kremlin-backed contender, regardless of political outlook. Controversially, this includes backing communists and far-Right candidates.

But it works. Last year brought the oppositions best result in 20 years  seats on local councils in all major cities and victory in seven out of eight districts in Putins home city St Petersburg.

The most extraordinary feature of Navalnys story is that he chose to make that return to Russia after having narrowly escaped death at the hands of the authorities.

A hit squad who had been tailing him around Russia for months smeared his underwear with the deadly nerve agent Novichok  which Russian agents used in Salisbury in 2018.

In Salisbury, the bungling assassins smeared the poison on the door knob of one of MI6s top Russian agents, Sergei Skripal. He and his daughter Yulia survived, but a local resident, Dawn Sturgess, died.

Only luck, medical skill and his iron constitution brought Navalny through his ordeal. After the direct intervention of the then German leader Angela Merkel, he was flown to Berlin for expert medical care. It took him months to recover.

He soon resumed his activism, making more anti-corruption videos while the investigative agency Bellingcat tracked down his would-be assassins through phone records and other leaked documents. In a spectacularly successful prank call, Navalny, a gifted mimic, impersonated a senior Kremlin official and persuaded one of the team, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, to provide details of the operation.

After his humiliation, Kudryavtsev disappeared. But none of this deterred Navalny from returning to Russia in February 2021, where he was arrested on arrival in Moscow.

A hit squad who had been tailing him around Russia for months smeared his underwear with the deadly nerve agent Novichok  which Russian agents used in Salisbury in 2018

The only precaution he has taken, he says, is to make sure that his children Daria and Zakhar are safely abroad in places where its harder to smear chemical weapons on the door knobs.

His wife, Yulia, however, returned with him to Russia.

An economist who used to work for Russian banks before becoming her husbands personal assistant, Yulia is his most steadfast supporter. The couple celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in August 2020 while Navalny was in a coma in Germany being treated for the Novichok poisoning.

In February last year, she was ordered to pay a fine of 20,000 roubles (200) after attending a protest demanding her husbands release from prison.

The crackdown following Putins war in Ukraine has snuffed out the last embers of freedom in Russia. Navalnys movement has been banned, farcically, as extremist. His team are in exile, sheltering in Lithuania.

The fervently pro-democracy leaders of the Baltic nation are proud to host the champions of freedom in Russia. Their best chance for safety is a change of power in Moscow. Navalnys hopes rest either on mass unrest caused by falling living standards  which have declined every year since 2014  or a coup in a Kremlin regime that is already riven by mistrust and rivalry.

Almost everyone in Putins closest circle believes that all the rest are idiots incapable of even stealing properly. And they are waiting for their moment to grab the fattest piece of the pie, he says.

If the regime does crack, it is far from fanciful to see the gaunt figure of Navalny emerging from the prison gates as an early sign of change. That would echo Mandelas release from prison  his walk to freedom in 1990. No other Russian political figure  in government or opposition  can match Navalny in showmanship or willpower.

And if Putins regime shatters, Navalny could soon be occupying the presidential desk in the Kremlin  though only, he insists, after a free and fair election.

But first he has to survive prison. Navalnys supporters need little reminding of the fate of Sergei Magnitsky. The 39-year-old auditor had exposed a colossal tax fraud by Russian officials who had seized the property of Bill Browder, formerly the biggest Western investor in the country.

The authorities wanted Magnitsky to give false evidence blaming Browder for the fraud. When he refused, he was mistreated in prison until he fell ill and was beaten to death in November 2009. Browder has campaigned relentlessly since then for visa sanctions and asset freezes against the officials responsible for abuses inside Russia. Navalnys team are working along similar lines  they have produced a list of 5,608 Kremlin bribe-takers and warmongers with ties to the West.

It is high time we acted on this. When I interviewed Navalny during his last visit to London his ice-blue eyes blazed with fury. Our bankers, lawyers and accountants, he explained, are accomplices in the looting of Russia. The stolen money is laundered in the West  notably in London. Yet his anti-corruption investigators hit a brick wall of official indifference when they follow the trail here.

Navalnys team now hope that the sea-change in British foreign policy brought about by the war in Ukraine war leads to greater co-operation.

The jailed opposition leader is a fierce critic of Putins war.

But he also excoriates the feeble reaction of U.S. President Joe Biden. Instead of facing down Putins insane, laughable demands, he says, the U.S. reacts like a frightened schoolboy.

The West, he says, should concentrate on enforcing its own laws, upholding international human rights standards, blocking the export of corruption and boosting its resistance to the Kremlins meddling in Western society.

The contrasts are stark. The Russian leader refuses to mention Navalny by name, even in response to direct questions  a sign of weakness that attracts widespread ridicule. Navalny, by contrast, receives a huge international audience for his criticism of Putin, most recently in a profile of the opposition leader by Mr Shuster which features on the cover of this weeks edition of Americas prestigious Time magazine.

Navalny may be in prison. But his ideas are not.
Wealthy Chicago suburbs are hiring private security details of armed off-duty cops to patrol their streets as crime soars up to 86 per cent in some neighborhoods.

At least five neighborhoods north of Chicago have have hired or plan to hire patrols, including Lincoln Park, Bucktown, and Lakeview.

The patrols consist of off-duty cops patrolling the neighborhoods in marked cars equipped with advanced surveillance and communications tools.

Though the patrolmen do not carry out arrests - their presence is meant to act as a deterrent - they do carry guns as they are still police officers.

The patrols are contracted out by private security companies such as P4 Security Solutions LLC, or United Security Inc., companies which are usually hired out to guard malls and businesses but have seen skyrocketing requests for their services.

Chicago has experienced a slight decrease in the amount of homicides this year compared to last, despite other crimes are on the rise

'It's crime,' he said. 'Straight up crime,' Sean Meehan, director of sales and marketing at United Security Inc. told the Wall Street Journal, 'and the people in those areas not feeling safe.'

P4 Security compiled data from the Chicago Police Department that shows a 30% increase in crime in Bucktown in 2022 compared to the same period of time in 2021, and an increase of 47% and 86% in two nearby neighborhoods.

One Bucktown resident, 34-yeard-old Josh Lane, told the Wall Street Journal about how he was attacked by two men toting a fake gun while he was walking his dog last summer.

'It's a little like a dystopian sci-fi movie when you see the flashing green lights go by,' Lane said.

Shortly after Lane's attack, his Bucktown neighborhood set up an association to organize the hiring and payment of patrols.

One section of Lincoln Park sought $175,000 in donations from residents to hire a years' worth of security services.

The employment of private security comes as Chicago has been plagued by skyrocketing crime, and it's citizens feel their leadership has been failing to protect them.

In April, reporter William J. Kelly squared off in a press conference with Mayor Lori Ligthfoot over the issue.

On Tuesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot (pictured) got into a testy exchange with reporter William J Kelly when he called her out for saying that things are going well in the city

'Across the street we had a police officer on duty, the victim of a hit and run, we have Michigan Avenue, the Magnificent Mile, now referred to as the mile of fear and the Water Tower Place has thrown the keys back to the lender, they say they don't want to be in Chicago anymore.'

'Real Chicagoans are asking me, how can you possibly even consider running for re-election for mayor of the city of the Chicago after all the harm you've caused?' Kelly asked the mayor.

According to data from the Chicago Police Department, as of February 2022 murders are up in the city 7 percent over the same time last year, sexual assaults are up 12 percent from last year and aggravated assaults are up 14 percent from last year.

The largest increases, however, were to the number of burglaries and thefts.

Burglaries are up 28 percent over the same time period last year, with 835 already reported in 2022, compared to 651 reported at this time last year, and thefts are up a whopping 60 percent, with 1,636 reported in 2022, compared to 1,020 reported in February 2021.

Motor vehicle thefts are also up 42 percent compared to the same time last year, with 1,571 reported in 2022 and 1,108 reported in 2021.

An elderly Chicago couple, Bob and Kathryn Tataryn was brutally attacked by a stranger as they walked home from a subway stop in Irving Park - where houses go for $550,000 to $750,000 - in February.

Bob was left with a broken nose and severe bruises to his face in the aftermath of the attack, and Kathryn needed two surgeries to deal with broken wrists and a broken jaw.
The Metropolitan Police is seeking another challenge to a High Court ruling over its handling of the Sarah Everard vigil.

High Court judges earlier this month refused the force permission to appeal against its March ruling, which concluded that officers breached the rights of vigil organisers with its handling of the planned event in March 2021.

However, Scotland Yard confirmed on Friday evening that they are now seeking permission from the Court of Appeal to challenge the High Court decision.

Reclaim These Streets (RTS) had originally planned the socially-distanced vigil for 33-year-old Sarah Everard, who was murdered by former Met officer Wayne Couzens, but withdrew after being told they would face fines if it went ahead.

However, a protest and vigil still took place.

The Metropolitan Police is seeking another challenge to a High Court ruling over its handling of the Sarah Everard vigil

High Court judges concluded that officers breached the rights of vigil organisers with its handling of the planned event in March 2021

RTS criticised the force on Friday and tweeted: 'We can now announce that the Metropolitan Police are spending more taxpayer money to continue to fight us in court.

The March 2021 vigil was held for Sarah Everard who was murdered by serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens

'Despite the High Court's vehement rejection of their 'hopeless' application for permission to appeal, they are now trying to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

'Will it never end?'

Responding to RTS's tweet, the Met Police said its appeal is not focused on the policing of the vigil itself but decisions and communications with RTS ahead of the event.

In a statement, the force said: 'The reason we're appealing this case is that we believe there are important points of principle around the role of police in advising organisers ahead of a proposed event and whether that should involve an assessment of the importance of the cause.

'We believe that clarity around these issues is of the utmost importance both for citizens and their right to free expression, and for the police in how they enforce legal restrictions while remaining neutral to the cause behind the event itself.

'This appeal is not about the policing of the vigil itself, but about the decisions and communications with Reclaim These Streets ahead of the planned event last March.

'As an organisation we work with, support and police hundreds of protests and events across London every month and take our responsibilities very seriously. We welcome and fully accept the important principles of scrutiny and challenge into this area of policing.'

RTS proposed a socially distanced vigil near to where 33-year-old Miss Everard, who was murdered by former Met officer Wayne Couzens, went missing in Clapham, south London, in March last year.

The four women who founded RTS and planned the vigil brought a legal challenge against the force over its handling of the event, which was also intended to be a protest about violence against women.

(Left to right) Henna Shah, Jamie Klingler, Anna Birley and Jessica Leigh celebrate outside the Royal Courts of Justice in March after their claim against the Met Police was upheld by the High Court

RTS withdrew from organising the vigil after being told by the force they would face fines of 10,000 each and possible prosecution if the event went ahead.

However, a spontaneous vigil and protest took place instead.

Jessica Leigh, Anna Birley, Henna Shah and Jamie Klingler argued that decisions made by the force in advance of the planned vigil amounted to a breach of their human rights to freedom of speech and assembly, and said the force did not assess the potential risk to public health.

In a ruling in March, their claim was upheld by Lord Justice Warby and Mr Justice Holgate, who found that the Met's decisions in the run-up to the event were 'not in accordance with the law'.

Wayne Couzens had been charged with four counts of indecent exposure just days before he raped and murdered Sarah Everard

After considering an application on paper  without a hearing  by the Met to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal, the judges refused permission.

However, they are now asking the Court of Appeal itself to grant permission to challenge the ruling.

Couzens, 49, was given a whole life sentence at the Old Bailey in September after admitting Miss Everard's murder.

The former Metropolitan Police officer has since been accused of flashing his genitals between January 22 and February 27 last year  in one case, just 72 hours before he abducted, raped and murdered Miss Everard.

Couzens allegedly presented himself to at least one person at a McDonalds drive-thru in Swanley, Kent while he was serving with Scotland Yard. The allegations were made to the Met on February 28, but no arrests were made.
Distressing beachcam footage showed a toddler being mauled by a coyote on a California beach for 15 seconds before her family members noticed.

Video footage taken by a surveillance camera positioned some distance away from the shoreline at Huntington Beach caught the moment the animal went after the youngster knocking over her onto the sand.

It then sunk its fangs into the youngster's head, and savaged her in full view of the camera.

Family members who were with the child didn't even appear to notice what was going on feet away from them as the animal carried out its vicious attack on the little girl.

A youngster was viciously attacked by a coyote at Huntington Beach in California. The animal can be seen prowling in the far left of the frame

The incident occurred when a mother took her two children to the ocean to paddle. She did not notice what was happening to one of her kids just feet away

The coyote can be seen prowling towards the child before making its move and pouncing, knocking her to the ground in the attack which occurred north of the pier at about 9:45pm.

Video shows the animal mauling the child's face for around 15 seconds before she was able to get away.

The youngster who is expected to make a full recovery, then got up and ran to one of its parents who reacted in horror.

The little girl, aged between two and three, was rushed to a hospital by ambulance, with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The coyote jumped up and pounced on the youngster knocking her over onto the sand

The girl's face was mauled for around 15 seconds before an adult shooed the animal away

Authorities set about searching for the animal that carried out the attack and shot two coyotes dead.

There was hope that at least one of them may have been the animal responsible according to TMZ, however later on Friday it was confirmed neither were involved in the attack.

The LA Times reported that another coyote - believed to have been the one behind the mauling - was also shot, but survived its wounds, and scurried away before cops could catch it.

Officers took samples from the girl's wounds and an autopsy will be performed on the dead coyote to determine if it had rabies.

'There's no evidence to suggest the coyote was rabid, but that test will certainly help alleviate any concerns the family might have,' Captain Patrick Foy with the Huntington Beach Police Department told the LA Times.

Foy was unable to say why the attack occurred. The family did not appear to be doing anything to provoke the wild animals.

Such encounters are relatively rare, Foy suggested that people who encounter the wild animals should try and scare them away by making loud noises.

'Don't feed them. That's the most important thing we can do as a society to keep coyotes from being too comfortable around people,' Foy said.

Two coyotes were shot dead by officials later on Thursday night and packaged up
A US Navy sailor has revealed how appalling conditions on the USS George Washington drove her to attempt suicide - with five other sailors stationed on the vessel taking their lives in the space of just a year.

Hannah Crisostomo, of Menifee, California, who was 17 when she enlisted in the Navy and went aboard the USS George Washington, claimed the abuse she suffered on the ship pushed her to swallow 196 pain relievers last May, NBC reported.

She was rushed to hospital as her brain swelled from the overdose, but survived and managed to recover after being discharged from the Navy and returning home.

The ship is currently docked in Virginia Beach for a complete overhaul. Crisostomo says construction continues 24 hours a day, making it impossible to sleep.

Large parts of the vessel don't have electricity, meaning many sailors choose instead to sleep in cars parked in a nearby parking lot.

Others shipmates tried to kill themselves following Crisostomo's hospitalization, with at least five suicides confirmed by military officials since then, three of which happened within a week of each other earlier this month.

'The command pushes you to that point,' Crisostomo, now 20, told NBC, adding that she could not quit since she had signed a five-year contract and that sailors were overworked and belittled whenever they asked for help.

'Being in the Navy was all I ever wanted. I wanted to be part of something big to help the country.

'I got robbed of that, and I didn't deserve it,' she said.

Nautica Robinson, 23, a crewmate who alsto attempted to kill herself last May, echoed that 'toxic leadership' was to blame for the string of suicides.

Robinson, who had served since 2019 before being discharged in February, told NBC that she repeatedly asked for better mental health support onboard the ship but claimed she received little help even after she said she was sexually abused by another sailor off-base in 2020.

'It's life-draining,' Robinson said. 'It's truly sad to see that the place you work for can take so much of you.

'They just threw us back in the environment, like our attempted suicides didn't happen,' she added. 'The things that pushed those sailors overboard didn't exist.'

Hannah Crisostomo, 20, (pictured) swallowed 196 pain relievers last May. She said she was overwhelmed by the conditions aboard the USS George Washington, where following her suicide attempt, five other crewmates killed themselves

Crisostomo slammed the alleged lack of leadership aboard the boat and failure to tend to the sailors' mental health. She claimed no one came to help her when she sought assistance

Nautica Robinson, 23, (above) a crewmate who alsto attempted to kill herself last May, echoed that 'toxic leadership' was to blame for the string of suicides on board the ship

Robinson said she repeatedly reached out to leadership to provide better mental health support for sailors, but receieved little aid, even after she said she was sexually abused by another sailor off-base in 2020

At least five crewmembers aboard the USS George Washington (pictured) were confirmed to have died by suicide. There have been others who have tried but failed to kill themselves

Crisostomo, who was dealing with a bipolar disorder that had yet to be diagnosed, said she first sought help from leadership aboard the USS George Washington after her first six months.

She said she was told to seek help on her own time, but because she worked the night shifts, there was no one around to help.

When she swallowed the pain relievers, Crisostomo was put on life support for eight days with doctors warning her family that she may never regain normal brain functions again.

But when she woke up, her mental condition continued to deteriorate out of fear that she would have to return aboard the USS George Washington.

'If they keep me in the Navy, and they put me back in the same situation, I'm going to kill myself,' she recalled thinking, 'and I'm going to be successful the next time.'

Crisostomo and other sailors, who spoke under the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, told NBC News that 24-hour construction noise made it nearly impossible to get sleep aboard the ship.

While most sailors on board can leave the ship to sleep at home, those who come from out of state and lack housing in Virginia, where the ship is docked, are left with few options.

The sailors told NBC that many choose to sleep in their cars after working nearly 12 hour shifts.

They said the conditions on the ship became unbearable due to the fact that the boat was going through overhaul, a rigorous maintenance and repair process that occurs once in a nuclear ship's 50-year service life.

During overhaul, the sailors said they were relegated to menial tasks and worked on cleaning the ship every day, with one sailor telling NBC that he just sat on a bucket for nearly two hours holding a fire extinguisher.

He said he quickly became depressed and lost more than 80 pounds before he was reassigned off the USS George Washington last year due to an injury.

Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith told crew members in an address on Monday that he knew working conditions have bot been pleasant during overhaul and acknowledged that there was a suicide problem on the ship.

'Beating suicide is like beating cancer,' he said, 'There are many different causes, many different reasons.'

Smith, however, refuted the idea that the ship suffered from poor living standards and said that while sailors can discuss their concerns, they 'have to do so with reasonable expectations.'

The Navy has not commented on the string of suicides and suicide attempts aboard the ship, but said it was committed to preventing future tragedies.

'We remain committed to ensuring our carriers are manned, trained and equipped to optimal levels including embedded mental health providers,' Rear Adm. John F. Meier, the commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic, said in a statement.

Mika'il Rayshawn Sharp, 23, (pictured) killed himself on April 9. His mother said the youngman was excited to start a family with his new wife

Natasha Huffman, 23, (above) killed herself on April 10. Friends said she repeatedly asked for help but was provided with little assistance before ending her life

Xavier Hunter Sandor (above) killed himself on April 15. His father said the sailor slept in his car and drove 8 hours home every other weekend from Virginia to Connecticut to get away

During the span of a single week, the USS George Washington lost Retail Services Specialist 3rd Class Mika'il Rayshawn Sharp on April 9, Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class Natasha Huffman on April 10, and Master-at-Arms Seaman Recruit Xavier Hunter Sandor on April 15 to suicide.

Sharp's mother, Natalie Jefferson, told NBC that the 23-year-old had just gotten married last year with plans on buying a house and starting a family with his wife.

'He was the life of the party,' Jefferson said. 'He never showed his pain.'

One sailor aboard the ship said Huffman, 23, had been suffering and was not able to get help from the navy before ending her life.

'She wasn't getting any assistance from the Navy, as much as she tried,' the sailor told NBC . 'And then that's when we got the phone call that she wasn't with us anymore.'

Robinson, a friend of Huffman, said the two bonded over the conditions at the ship.

'She said it was draining, it's tiring,' Robinson told NBC. 'How going to the psych ward helped, but being sent back to the same place in the George Washington, we were both talking about that.'

'They really, really failed her,' she added.

Sandor's father, John, said his son had complained about the conditions on the ship and was sleeping in his car after completing 12-hour shifts.

'He always said it sucked, and I'd always say to ask for help,' John told NBC. 'He'd say, 'Dad, they don't give a f***. They don't care.' That was always his response to me.'

John noted that conditions were so bad, his son would make an 8-hour drive every other weekend to visit the family in their Connecticut home in order to get far away from the ship.

In 2020, 19 out of every 100,00 sailors died by suicided, according to the most recent data available from the Pentagon. The army has the highest rate with about 36 per 100,000 soldiers.

Last week, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that officials are actively working to curb the numbers.

'We don't want to see any sailor harmed or hurt or lose their life, period, regardless of what the cause is. But I can tell you that the Navy has taken this very seriously,' Kirby told reporters.
The start of the summer term, and in schools across Britain, teenage boys and girls are diligently preparing for the all-important exams that will shape their futures.

Teachers mark practice GCSE and A-Level papers late into the night. Pupils fret about coursework and grades. The smell of freshly cut grass drifts into crowded, silent libraries.

Unless, that is, these youngsters have the misfortune to be enrolled at Holland Park School, a famous institution in Kensington, London, known as the Socialist Eton due to its popularity among filthy-rich Left-wing parents who refuse to educate their children privately.

This historic bastion of trendy liberalism, where politicians Roy Jenkins and Tony Benn, Labour luvvies Antonia Fraser and Ken Russell, and generations of virtue-signalling local millionaires have sent their offspring, was on Wednesday the scene of an impromptu riot.

A protest by about 50 pupils against the recent stewardship of the school (following the departure of their longstanding headmaster) turned ugly when dozens of screaming troublemakers decided to burst out of classrooms and into the corridors.

Holland Park School, a famous institution in Kensington, London, was on Wednesday the scene of an impromptu riot

It seems that dozens of police officers, an ambulance and members of the fire brigade were called amid reports (later debunked) that knives had been brandished and acid thrown in the face of a teenage girl

Behaviour descended into chaos as 400-plus students were running around the school in period five, reads a letter of complaint sent by one shell-shocked parent to a local MP.

Staff felt unsafe and [discussed] calling the police. There is a real concern for the safety of our children . . . Children are now scared to go to school, and some are shaken.

It was the second troubling incident in recent days. On Friday afternoon last week, an altercation at the school gates escalated into a mass brawl involving dozens of Holland Park School pupils outside a sandwich shop in nearby Notting Hill Gate.

Details are hazy, but it seems that dozens of police officers, an ambulance and members of the fire brigade were called amid reports (later debunked) that knives had been brandished and acid thrown in the face of a teenage girl.

Videos of the aftermath, showing two pupils being handcuffed and one bundled into a police car, have since clocked up more than 5 million views on the social network TikTok.

It was complete carnage and only good luck prevented someone from being seriously injured, says another parent. Discipline has completely fallen apart. The whole place is a tinderbox. Just a few months ago, Holland Park was an outstanding school. Now its like something out of Mad Max.

A protest by about 50 pupils against the recent stewardship of the school (following the departure of their longstanding headmaster) turned ugly when dozens of screaming troublemakers decided to burst out of classrooms and into the corridors

The school is a historic bastion of trendy liberalism, where politicians Roy Jenkins and Tony Benn, Labour luvvies Antonia Fraser and Ken Russell, and generations of virtue-signalling local millionaires have sent their offspring

Adds the mother of a sixth form student: What is happening at that school is a monumental s***show which could well f*** up my sons A-levels.

Behind the unedifying scenes is an extraordinary political row that has been rumbling away since the back end of last year.

In a few short months, it has turned one of Londons most sought-after establishments  whose alumni range from Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee to Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston  into a case study of failure and dysfunction.

A few days ago, a ballot of unionised staff members saw 96 per cent of teachers (on an 87 per cent turnout) declare they have no confidence in their entire board of governors. They are now considering strike action. A coalition of roughly 350 parents is pursuing a separate legal complaint against the board.

Noisy demonstrations have been staged at the school gates, and staff meetings boycotted. Petitions are being circulated. And a recent emergency inspection by Ofsted is expected to be withering.

Governors are meanwhile facing ugly questions over why tens of thousands of pounds has been spent instructing top law firm Mishcon de Reya and political lobbyists to try to end the crisis.

The hostility dates back to a decision to dispense with the aforementioned headmaster, Colin Hall, late last year, amid disputed allegations he presided over a toxic environment, with a rigorous focus on discipline and academic excellence that left some students feeling anxious and unsafe.

In a few short months, the political row has turned one of Londons most sought-after establishments  whose alumni range from Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee (left) to Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston (right)  into a case study of failure and dysfunction

Caught in the crossfire are both the former Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, and his wife, Sally, who send their children to the school and were both occupying seats on its 12-person Board of Governors when some of the contentious decisions were made

Fallout from the claims saw Hall leave in February. Soon afterwards, governors decided to transfer control to United Learning, Britains largest Multi-academy Trusts (MAT), which operate outside of local-authority control.

That decision has outraged large numbers of parents and pupils, who would prefer Holland Park School to be run either independently, or by a more local organisation (United is based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire).

They have since been mounting a vigorous campaign against the board that signed off the move, while teachers are also vehemently opposing the change. Caught in the crossfire are both the former Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, and his wife, Sally, who send their children to the school and were both occupying seats on its 12-person Board of Governors when some of the contentious decisions were made.

Holland Park School opened in 1958 as one of the first comprehensives. It was a testing ground for post-war egalitarianism and during its 1960s heyday it expanded to more than 2,000 pupils. As time passed, however, Holland Park began to symbolise the shortcomings of a Left-wing ethos that pervaded many comprehensive schools. Uniforms were ditched and unfair streaming abolished. Pupils were encouraged to call their teachers by their first names. Misconduct went unpunished.

In the early 1970s, Holland Park snubbed the wedding of Princess Anne by requiring pupils to work through the national holiday (they were given a day off later).

By the 1980s, as one schools guide put it, cool had turned to chaos. Truancy and drug abuse were rife. In a memoir called Comp, John-Paul Flintoff, a pupil at the time, recalled one school chum became a crack addict who cleaned himself up to become a dealer. Another student said it made St Trinians look like Lucie Clayton [a 1960s finishing school].

Venerable Labour politicians Roy Jenkins (left) and Tony Benn (right) send their offspring to Holland Park School

Despite Holland Park School's location in one of Londons most expensive postcodes, a majority of pupils hailed from sink estates in West London and received an education that condemned them to stay there

Fast forward to 2001, and Holland Park was one of Britains most notorious failing schools  with around 20 per cent of students leaving with no qualifications.

Despite its location in one of Londons most expensive postcodes, a majority of pupils hailed from sink estates in West London and received an education that condemned them to stay there.

Then came Colin Hall. A sometimes abrasive pedagogue, with a relentless work ethic and rigorous teaching standards, he set about reversing the decline, covering graffiti-stained walls in posters of the disciplinary code and accolades for the highest-achieving students.

Uniforms were reintroduced along with pupils placed in sets according to ability and constant monitoring via testing.

Some 80 million was raised, via the sale of a playing field, to build a state-of-the-art building containing 36 specialist classrooms along with a gym, roof terrace and 25m swimming pool. In 2010, Holland Park won its first entry into the coveted Good Schools Guide, with more than 90 per cent of pupils obtaining five GCSEs at A*-C (compared to about 70 per cent nationally). A smattering of pupils each year got in to Oxbridge.

Its reputation was also transformed: previofusly pegged as a school for virtue-signalling champagne socialists, it came to be regarded as a genuine community school, providing life-changing opportunities. Several of its pupils hail from the Grenfell Community, and one died in the tragedy.

Ofsted in 2014 described the school as exemplary and said Hall led with a drive and skill admired by all in the community. But that admiration was in fact far from universal. For Halls exacting standards had for years upset the trade unions and other vested interests.

In 2009, the Guardian ran an article complaining that nearly 100 of the existing staff (all NUT members) had left, complaining of stress, bullying, harassment and threats of capability proceedings if their pupils under-performed.

There were also concerns about the schools financial management. Halls salary, which had been 70,000 in 2001, doubled in his first decade and then doubled again to an astonishing 280,000, making him one of the best-paid state-school heads in Britain.

In 2019 it emerged that hed spent 15,000 on luxury Farrow & Ball paint and 6,000 on scented candles for the school buildings.

Last August, these long-running issues escalated into a major row after two articles in The Guardian raised serious concerns about his reign. One revealed that 26 recently departed staff members had written to the Education and Skills Funding Agency [ESFA], which regulates academies, with examples of what they called abusive management on his watch.

Nine signatories had been signed off for stress, depression or anxiety, which they blamed on the work environment, complaining that staff were publicly named and shamed for poor work or exam results.

The second letter, signed by 100 former students, claimed that they experienced a toxic and abusive environment. One ex-pupil, Zahra Enver, told reporters that aged 15 she found her face on a poster saying: Wanted for poor grades.

Above: Promotional photo from 1985's Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Says a parent: Discipline has completely fallen apart. The whole place is a tinderbox. Just a few months ago, Holland Park was an outstanding school. Now its like something out of Mad Max

I actually needed help to turn things round. But there wasnt any of that, she recalled. It was just shaming and humiliation.

By late September last year, Halls impending retirement had been announced. In the ensuing weeks, six governors  half the board  resigned. They were replaced by a raft of professional educationalists. None of them had any obvious connection to the school or local area, but all either worked for or had close professional links to either MATs or large non-profit chains of academy schools.

In November, the Government gave the school a financial notice to improve saying it ought to rein in the salaries of top staff.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea commenced a safeguarding review.

An interim headmaster, Arwel Jones, was hired to run the school until September, on a salary equivalent to the thick end of 200,000.

Despite the growing atmosphere of chaos behind the scenes, daily life initially remained relatively unaffected. But everything changed in early March, when the governors announced that they had decided to transfer the school into the control of United Learning.

The move came as a complete surprise to staff and parents, none of whom had been offered any chance to say whether they thought it was a good idea.

A fractious dispute broke out. Initially, it revolved around hastily convened demonstrations at the school gates by both parents and pupils, and heated discussions among staff, who voted to boycott meetings with the new owners.

Both the local council and Conservative MP, Felicity Buchan, are backing calls for the decision to be reversed, while parents have voiced concerns about longstanding links between United Learnings chief executive, Sir Jon Coles, and several of the governors, including interim head Arwel Jones.

A pre-action legal letter sent on behalf of the collective earlier this month meanwhile states that they have hired David Wolfe QC and Sarah Sackman, barristers from Matrix Chambers, to seek a judicial review of the decision.

Among other concerns, they point out that the schools articles of association require its Board of Governors to contain at least two elected parent representatives.

Conservative MP, Felicity Buchan (above), is backing calls for the decision to be reversed, while parents have voiced concerns about longstanding links between United Learnings chief executive, Sir Jon Coles, and several of the governors, including interim head Arwel Jones

At the time of the contentious decision, there was just one  John Bercow. His wife Sallys term had ended in December.

There are currently no parents on the board since Bercow was forced to resign in mid-March after a Parliamentary report dubbed him a serial bully and a liar.

The governors insist that the Board was quorate when the decision was taken.

The governors sole priority and guiding principle is to make sure the school is again fit for purpose and providing the first-class education that students have a right to expect, they said last night. It is simply not possible for this to be achieved without significant, long-overdue change.

At the school gate, things are heated, and increasingly personal. The collective was contacted by Sally Bercow this week. She asked to join, says a source. We agreed to add her to our email list, but shes blackballed from the WhatsApp group because her husband was on the board which backed the transfer to United Learning.

As to this weeks riot, parents were contacted on Wednesday night by Mr Jones. The email concluded: We do not condone the actions of these students whatsoever.

Doubtless this is true. But parents and pupils  whose outstanding school is now going to the dogs  are entitled to wonder why this kind of thing never happened on his predecessors watch.
Desperate women are being forced to pay up to eight times the NHS price for HRT products at private online pharmacies, the Daily Mail can reveal.

MPs last night accused some chemists of exploiting women in need of vital supplies, while doctors said firms could be making massive profits hiking up prices.

Shortages and poor planning mean thousands have been unable to get treatments to help ease menopause symptoms such as low mood, brain fog and hot flushes.

It comes as the Daily Mail joins our sister paper The Mail On Sundays campaign  launched last week  to demand urgent action to tackle the crisis.

Our manifesto calls for pharmacists to be allowed to dispense substitutes if the prescribed HRT is out of stock, an annual payment for HRT and an end to the postcode lottery of approved HRT products,

File photo of a woman taking HRT. Shortages have been so severe that some women have been forced to spend hours visiting different pharmacies in search of it

Oestrogel, which is used by around 30,000 women in the UK, has been in short supply lately, leading to a HRT 'gold rush' as women race to pharmacies to get their hands on dwindling stock

(left to right) Dr Louise Newson, Mariella Frostrup, MP Carolyn Harris, Penny Lancaster and Davina McCall with protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in London demonstrating against ongoing prescription charges for HRT

Labour MP Carolyn Harris, co-chairman of the UK menopause taskforce, said: I fully support the Mails campaign. Its high time something was done to improve the lives of thousands of women across the country.

The MP for Swansea East called on private clinics to ensure treatments were affordable, saying raising prices was exploitative of women.

The Mail's manifesto to fix the HRT crisis 1. Allow pharmacists to dispense substitutes if the prescribed HRT is out of stock Currently, if an HRT product is unavailable, a pharmacist cannot substitute another product without consulting the prescribing GP, forcing patients to go back and forth between doctor and pharmacy. This could be avoided if pharmacists are allowed to alter prescriptions themselves. They should also be able to move stock between different pharmacies. 2. End the postcode lottery Local areas all have different formularies  or lists  of approved HRT products, meaning women face a postcode lottery of treatments. A national list of all approved HRT products would ensure women have equal access, and that alternative treatments are available faster. 3. Immediately introduce the once-a-year payment for HRT medication An annual prescription payment for HRT, which could save women up to 200 a year, is planned for April 2023. This must be implemented urgently, especially during the cost-of-living squeeze, so all women can afford treatment. 4. Bring forward mandatory requirement for medical students to be taught about the menopause A curriculum change needs to be introduced sooner than January 2023, when it is planned. This will ensure all doctors have the training to recognise menopause symptoms, which will help reduce the rate of misdiagnoses. 5. Provide menopause information to women at their NHS health check Everyone who doesnt have a pre-existing medical condition is invited for a free check-up every five years between the ages of 40 and 74. Women should be given information at these health checks to raise awareness of the menopause and treatment options. Advertisement

And Jane Pangbourne, founder of the HRT Truth Collective, said: The campaign the Mail has put together seems to be not only timely but also pulls together the key areas in one place.

Increasing numbers of desperate women are now buying products online at up to eight times the NHS prescription charge of 9.35  and one online pharmacy has admitted hiking up the prices of some of its popular HRT products.

This has sparked fears that thousands of women could be priced out of crucial treatments just when the cost-of-living crisis bites  meaning there is fast becoming a twin-track approach to accessing HRT treatment.

Last night the Government announced it is rationing some HRT products to a three-month supply to combat shortages.

The move, which will affect Oestrogel, Ovestin cream and Premique low-dose tablets, is the first to address supply issues since the appointment of HRT tsar Madelaine McTernan.

Those who have prescriptions longer than three months will not have to pay an extra charge.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: I want to reassure women I have listened to their concerns and will not hesitate to take decisive action to ensure they can access the HRT they need.

It comes as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said it was very concerned that women were resorting to online pharmacies, many of which are unregistered and could be unsafe as the medication might be out-of-date, diluted or fake.

Oestrogel, a drug which is used by around 30,000 women in the UK, is particularly low in stock.

While its manufacturer, Besins Healthcare UK, said yesterday it was on track to meet demand in June, there has been a big increase in women seeking HRT, with an estimated 538,000 prescriptions issued in December, compared with 238,000 in January 2017.

As a postcode lottery means many are looking online for HRT, some online pharmacies have been found to be selling a three-month supply of Oestrogel for 80.

Prices vary wildly, however, with Oxford Online Pharmacy selling the same product for 49.99.

Pharmacy Planet is rationing its sales of Oestrogel to one-month batches due to limited stock, but at 42 each.

Alternatives to Oestrogel have also taken a hit as women switch to different medication until stocks are replenished.

Treated.com is selling one months worth of Estradot patches for 32, although women can normally get a three-month supply for 9.35 on the NHS.

The Independent Pharmacy prices a three-month supply of Estradot and Sandrena  an Oestrogel alternative  at 75 each.

There is no suggestion these online pharmacies, registered with the Care Quality Commission, are handing out unsafe medicine.

Private prescriptions are not subsidised by the NHS and so are typically more expensive, while pharmacies say overheads and online consultation costs are also factored in. But the wholesale cost for most HRT drugs is usually between 5 to 10.

There were about 512,000 NHS prescriptions written for 'female sex hormones and their modulators' in England in February, the latest official data shows, compared to 265,000 in March 2017. Many of these will be HRT medications but some may include other female hormone drugs such as contraceptives

Haitham Hamoda, chairman of the British Menopause Society, said there appeared to be a massive margin of profit. He added: Private pharmacies can argue and say its their overheads and its not subsidised, but why would you need to put that much overhead on what youre providing?

James Batson, of Pharmacy Planet, admitted the firm had increased prices for some HRT products around eight weeks ago due to rises in wholesale costs. He added: The pricing of our service reflects the true costs that have been incurred.

A spokesman for The Independent Pharmacy said it maintains a fair market rate, and Treated.com said prices include a consultation with a UK-registered clinician, dispensing by our UK-regulated pharmacy, next-day delivery and follow-up care from our clinical team.

Hormone Replacement Therapy Q&A How does HRT work? Hormone replacement therapy eases symptoms including brain fog, disturbed sleep and hot flushes by replacing hormones that are at a lower level as women approach the menopause. HRT can come in the form of patches, tablets or gels which are available on prescription through the NHS. How much does it cost? A single NHS prescription charge costs 9.35, or 18.70 if a woman needs two types of hormones. This is often provided on a short-term basis, meaning regular payments  once a month, or every three. The Government has pledged to make annual prescriptions available, but this wont be implemented until next April. Many have now resorted to buying HRT for up to eight times the NHS price online. Why is there a crisis? NHS England data shows that prescriptions for HRT have more than doubled in five years following an increase in campaigning and media coverage. Besins Healthcare  which makes Oestrogel, used by 30,000 women in the UK  has expressed regrets that extraordinary demand has led to shortages. Other products have been affected as women switch to alternatives. What can be done? The British Menopause Society has advised women struggling to find Oestrogel to discuss other products with their GP. However, some experts have noted that women are often on a particular HRT regime that is specifically tailored to their needs. Can the pharmacist help? If a pharmacy is out of stock, a patient must first be referred back to their GP to be given a prescription for an alternative. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has called for pharmacists to be able to make minor changes to a prescription to provide a suitable alternative. In addition, patients face a postcode lottery as pharmacies often cannot share stock with each other. Is it dangerous to swap your HRT medicine? Medical professionals have warned that sharing or swapping HRT products could lead to serious side effects that can be debilitating, not least because different products will have different dosages. Trading with others also could mean accidentally using out-of-date medicine. When will the crisis end? Besins has said it is doing everything we can to increase supplies to wholesalers and pharmacies across the country. The company said it is on track to meet growing demand in June. What are ministers doing? The Health Secretary has appointed an HRT tsar to help tackle the crisis. Madelaine McTernan, the woman responsible for securing Covid vaccines for the UK, will lead efforts to address shortages. Sajid Javid said he will leave no stone unturned to make sure women get the HRT they need. Advertisement

Seven months hunting for my gel

By Samantha Brick for the Daily Mail

For the last seven months, Leigh Campbells life has revolved around chasing her prescription for HRT.

Each morning the first thing I do is look on the Boots website to see if they have the gel in stock. One day I drove around 14 pharmacies, the 46-year-old psychotherapist said. I work with women who feel suicidal when they walk of the GP surgery without their HRT.

Miss Campbell first experienced menopausal symptoms, including heaving bleeding, insomnia and joint pain, when she was 41.

Even though I was told by my GP I was too young to be peri-menopausal, I went private and was prescribed Oestrogel. Within 24 hours my symptoms stopped. I felt like me again.

After being unable to get hold of Oestrogel last September, Miss Campbell found the alternative treatment didnt effectively treat her symptoms. Even on the maximum dosage my peri-menopausal symptoms returned... I couldnt work for eight weeks. By February this year, Miss Campbell, from Northern Ireland, was offered an alternative gel, but she added: Im chasing my prescription constantly.
Could life on Earth have arrived on an asteroid 3.8 billion years ago? As scientists discover intriguing new DNA on meteorite samples, TOM LEONARD examines the mind-blowing possibilities

From rocks found in Native American burial sites to the sacred stone that fell from Jupiter and was enshrined at the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus  one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World  there is evidence to show early civilisations venerated and perhaps even worshipped meteorites.

Given that they had literally dropped from the heavens, it was inevitable that some would regard them as gifts from the gods.

And it increasingly appears that the Ancients may have been on to something in attaching primal significance to these lumps of stone or metal from interplanetary space that survive hurtling through Earths super- hot atmosphere before crashing on to our planet.

New research by Japanese scientists suggests that such cosmic impacts may have delivered to Earth the chemical ingredients necessary for the beginning of life itself.

Not so much a Big Bang as a Heavy Thud, then, as billions of years ago a huge space rock  that just happened to contain the building blocks of DNA  landed on a lifeless Earth.

DNA, of course, carries the genetic instructions for all living organisms.

New research by Japanese scientists suggests that such cosmic impacts may have delivered to Earth the chemical ingredients necessary for the beginning of life itself

And Panspermia, they argue, could work in the other direction, too, so that meteorites from Earth seeded life on other planets. For decades Panspermia has been dismissed by many experts as dubious pseudo-science

Our planet was formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago but the precise origins of life here have long puzzled experts. During its early existence, Earth was bombarded by meteorites, comets and other material from space, and was probably too hot for life to exist until around four billion years ago.

The first organisms were primitive microbes that developed in organically-rich oceans, the primordial soup of our origins, that enabled various chemical compounds to bond together and evolve to the point where they could use energy sources  such as sun and water  to form a living microbe that could replicate.

The formation of DNA (and its sister molecule RNA) would have signified a crucial milestone in that process.

Although the earliest-known fossils are marine specimens that date back to around 3.5 billion years ago, there are suggestions of life on Earth as far back as 3.8 billion years.

Given that the Earth was considered uninhabitable until only 0.2 billion years earlier  a relatively short time in the planets history  some scientists have argued that the likelihood of DNA-based life evolving so soon indicates that it got a helping hand, so to speak, from elsewhere.

Supporters of a hypothesis known as Panspermia believe that life has been shared via meteorites travelling from one planet to another, or was brought by comet or space dust.

They contend that terrestrial life originated somewhere else in the Universe, before even the Earth was formed, and was seeded here by a meteorite, possibly by early Martian life, as its increasingly accepted that Mars was probably more habitable than Earth in its early history.

And Panspermia, they argue, could work in the other direction, too, so that meteorites from Earth seeded life on other planets.

For decades Panspermia has been dismissed by many experts as dubious pseudo-science.

However, that is no longer the case and a team of prominent scientists at Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have spent a decade, funded by NASA, designing a device that could be sent to Mars to search for DNA and RNA.

The team examined material from three meteorites  one that fell in 1950 near the town of Murray in the U.S. state of Kentucky, one that landed in 1969 near the town of Murchison in Australias Victoria state, and one that arrived in 2000 near Tagish Lake in Canadas British Columbia

However, the main stumbling block to the hypothesis that life arrived after hitching a ride on a meteorite has been that only two of the four main components of DNA had ever been found in space rocks. A third crucial component  found in RNA  had also been missing.

Not any more, according to scientists at Japans Hokkaido and Kyushu universities. In a report in the journal Nature Communications, they describe how they carried out a sophisticated fresh analysis of meteorites that had landed in the U.S., Canada and Australia.

While previous examination of the meteorites had used strong acids and heat to extract the DNA components (known as nucleobases), the team led by astrochemist Yasuhiro Oba used more sensitive techniques with ultra-high resolution equipment.

Their research showed that there are indeed tiny amounts of the missing nucleobases  known as pyrimidines  in the space rocks.

They may have eluded detection in previous examinations because they possess a more delicate structure than the other nucleobases, the Japanese researchers concluded.

The team examined material from three meteorites  one that fell in 1950 near the town of Murray in the U.S. state of Kentucky, one that landed in 1969 near the town of Murchison in Australias Victoria state, and one that arrived in 2000 near Tagish Lake in Canadas British Columbia.

The 220lb Murchison meteorite was recently identified as containing the oldest material on Earth  seven-billion-year-old stardust.

All three meteorites are classified as carbonaceous chondrites, made of rocky material thought to have formed early in the solar systems history. They are carbon-rich and carbon is a primary constituent of organisms on Earth.

However, the main stumbling block to the hypothesis that life arrived after hitching a ride on a meteorite has been that only two of the four main components of DNA had ever been found in space rocks. A third crucial component  found in RNA  had also been missing

The presence of the five primary nucleobases in meteorites may have made a contribution to the emergence of genetic functions before the onset of life on the early Earth, said Yasuhiro Oba.

The absolute abundance of nucleobases of extraterrestrial origin could be enough for further chemical reactions on the early Earth.

Danny Glavin of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center and co-author of the study, said the research certainly adds to the list of chemical compounds that would have been present in the early Earths prebiotic (existing before the emergence of life) soup.

Other scientists are also encouraged. This is one of the final ingredients on the list that we need to show we were made in space, said Professor Mark Sephton, an astrobiologist at Imperial College London.

He told the Mail: Meteorites are time capsules that record events that took place before the planets formed. So, the first chemical steps towards life may have occurred before the Earth existed.

We are very lucky nature provides us with these very old samples that provide a window into conditions and events billions of years ago.

The Japanese study certainly gives the Panspermia hypothesis a major boost. Its supporters hope that further confirmation will be provided when scientists are able to examine samples taken from two large asteroids, Ryugu and Bennu, by spaceships that have been developed by NASA and Japans space agency, JAXA.

The possibility that the ingredients of life are floating through space waiting to find a planet with the right conditions is mind-blowing. Even more so, surely, is the idea that our own planet may have already seeded life elsewhere in the Universe.
With their sickle-claws and agile movements, raptors were without a doubt one of the most ferocious dinosaurs when they roamed the Earth.

Now, scientists have discovered the remains of a new species of megaraptor that measured 33ft long and weighed five tons, which stalked the forests of Argentina 70 million years ago.

Researchers from the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research have named the new species Maip macrothorax, and believe it is the biggest megaraptor found so far.

Scientists have discovered the remains of a new species of megaraptor that measured 33ft long and weighed five tons when it stalked the forests of Argentina 70 million years ago

Maip macrothorax: Meet the megaraptor Length: 30-33ft (9-10 metres) Weight: 5 tons Movements: Could stand and walk or run on hind legs Claws: 13.7 inches long Location: El Calafate, 1,677 miles from Buenos Aires Timeline: 70 million years ago Advertisement

The bones of the megaraptor were uncovered in El Calafate, 1,677 miles from Buenos Aires, days before the global pandemic broke out.

'With Maip we beat the pandemic,' said Fernando Novas, leader of the team that collected the bones.

An analysis of the bones revealed that Maip was likely 30-33ft (9-10 metres) long, and weighed approximately five tons  around twice as heavy as a rhinoceros.

Its spine was made up of huge vertebrae, connected by a system of muscles, tendons and ligaments, according to the team.

This allowed the huge dinosaur to stand upright on its hind legs while walking or running.

'The bones of Maip helped us to better understand the anatomy of megaraptors,' said Mauro Aranciaga Rolando, first author of the study.

'They belong to a family whose skeleton was not like that of a tyrannosaurus, large but heavy, but rather light animals.

Its spine was made up of huge vertebrae, connected by a system of muscles, tendons and ligaments, according to the team

Maip also had a long tail and long legs, as well as enormous claws measuring 13.7 inches long, which would have served as its main weapon

'In other words, their bones were not solid, but rather had a large number of internal voids that made them much lighter, something like a hollow brick compared to a solid one.'

Maip also had a long tail and long legs, as well as enormous claws measuring 13.7 inches long, which would have served as its main weapon.

The first megaraptor was discovered back in 1996 in Neuquen, Argentina, with subsequent discoveries in Australia, Japan and Thailand.

'When I was lucky enough to discover the first megaraptor in Neuquen, it was a big shock because it was an enormous carnivore that had hands with claws about forty centimetres long  something never seen before,' said Mr Novas.

The first megaraptor was discovered back in 1996 in Neuquen, Argentina, with subsequent discoveries in Australia, Japan and Thailand

The bones of the megaraptor were uncovered in El Calafate, 1,677 miles from Buenos Aires, days before the global pandemic broke out

'Smaller relatives of this species were later discovered in Australia. Then also in other regions of Patagonia, and the family of these dangerous predators was expanding.

'These findings are completed with Maip: now we have one of the largest, most robust and one of the last to live in the area before the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous.'

El Calafate, the area where Maip was found, would have been very different 70 million years ago, according to the team.

'It was a warm ecosystem,' Mr Novas explained.

'There were aquatic and terrestrial snails, plants of very different affiliations, it was a forest, almost a jungle, with puddles, lakes, streams, and diverse creatures such as frogs, turtles, fish, small birds, and mammals.

'The Andes mountain range had not yet risen. From all those organisms that lived back then we were collecting fossil remains, and now, with Maip, we have added a super predator, which allows us to complete the food pyramid.'

While the discovery of Maip's skeleton helps to shed light on the life of megaraptors, several questions remain unanswered.

'Megaraptors are quite enigmatic predators, and although Maip helped us to tie up several loose ends, especially their kinship relationships with other carnivorous dinosaurs, aspects of their hunting behaviour still remain to be elucidated, for example what their favourite prey would have been, among other things,' Mr Rolando added.

The team now plans to revisit the site, in the hopes of collecting more data about megaraptors.
A green recreational space to be created on a large plot of land in Songhyeon-dong, central Seoul, is seen in this artist rendering provided by the Seoul city government. Yonhap





A large plot of public land in the heart of Seoul, designated as the site for a museum to house artwork donated by the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, will be turned into a green recreational space for residents this year, the city government said Friday.







The 37,117 square meter plot in Songhyeon-dong, Jongno District, will be opened to the public as an "open space for rest and culture" in the second half of the year in time for the reopening of the adjacent Gwanghwamun Square that is currently under renovation, according to the government.







The plot will be used as a recreational place for residents until the construction of the Lee Kun-hee Museum begins  its completion is slated for 2027.







The Songhyeon-dong land is located in the middle of the city center close to popular tourist attractions, such as Gyeongbok Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village and Insa-dong, but has been off-limits to the public for over 110 years.







The area was where the royal family lived during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). It was then used as a residence for the staff of the U.S. Embassy from 1945 to 1997 before being bought by Samsung Life Insurance and then Korean Air. It became public land in June 2020 and was selected as the site for the Lee Kun-hee Museum last November.







The planned transformation of the area, about three times the size of Seoul Plaza (13,207 square meters), into a green space is expected to significantly increase recreational space in downtown Seoul.







The city government plans to install various facilities, such as shades and benches, and plans to hold performances, exhibitions and various other events there. (Yonhap)


They're the ultimate sign of friendship for children, and now a new study suggests that friendship pendants date back all the way to the Stone Age.

Researchers from the University of Helsinki claim that hunter-gatherers across northeast Europe gave each other ring fragments as a sign of their friendship 6,000 years ago.

'These fragments of the same object may show the handprint and preferences of two individuals,' said Marja Ahola, who led the study.

'Perhaps they wore the ornaments as a symbol of a connection established.'

Researchers from the University of Helsinki claim that hunter-gatherers across northeast Europe gave each other ring fragments as a sign of their friendship 6,000 years ago

The team focused on fragments found in the Lake Onega region of Finland, and were even able to match some of the pieces up to form the complete ring

Farming made our ancestors SHORTER Our ancestors got shorter when they made the switch from foraging to farming 12,000 years ago. Researchers analysed DNA and took measurements from remains of 167 individuals found around Europe. The bones had already been dated to either before, after or around the time when farming emerged in Europe 12,000 years ago. A switch from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to farming crops took an average 1.5 inches off their height, the experts found. Read more Advertisement

The slate ring fragments have been discovered across northeast Europe, with previous studies suggesting that their fragmented state was simply a result of having been buried underground.

However, in the new study, researchers analysed several fragments, and suggest that they were not all broken by accident.

Instead the team suggests that they were fragmented on purpose as part of maintaining social relations, bartering or ritual activities.

The team focused on ring fragments found in the Lake Onega region of Finland, and were even able to match some of the pieces up to form the complete ring.

Because these matching fragments were found in different locations, the researchers suggest they were likely worn by different people.

In one case, the researchers found one fragment in a settlement site, and its matching piece in a burial site near the settlement.

'What we see here may be one way of maintaining connection between the living and the dead,' Ms Ahola said.

'This is also the first clear material connection between a certain place of residence and a burial site.

Because the matching fragments were found in two different locations, the researchers suggest they were likely worn by two different people

'In other words, the people who lived there most likely buried their dead in a site close to them.'

Using an X-ray fluorescence technique on 50 of the fragments, the researchers found that many had been made in the Lake Onega region in Russia, hundreds of miles from the site where they were found.

'By comparing the elemental concentrations of the objects under investigation with findings published on the basis of international datasets, we were able to demonstrate that some of the ornaments or the stone material used in them was transported to Finland through an extensive exchange network, primarily from the Lake Onega region,' said Docent Elisabeth Homqvist-Sipila, co-author of the study.

In one case, the researchers found one fragment in a settlement site, and its matching piece in a burial site near the settlement

Ringed ornaments discovered in an early 4th millennium BC hunter-gatherer burial, positioned together with amber pendants

'There was also variation in the chemical composition of the objects, which correlates with their design.

'These factors indicate that the ornaments were produced at Lake Onega region in several batches, most likely in different locations and by a number of makers.'

This isn't the first time that researchers have found evidence of ancient friendship bracelets.

In 2020, a team from the University of Michigan found evidence that our ancestors swapped pieces of ostrich eggshell jewellery 30,000 years ago.

The slate ring fragments have been discovered across northeast Europe, with previous studies suggesting that their fragmented state was simply a result of having been buried underground

The items  shell fragments with holes bored in  would have acted as signs of the interpersonal connections that made up ancient social networks.

Experts studying beads found in the African country of Lesotho have shown that the tradition seen in modern hunter-gatherers had a longer history than thought.

Analysis of elements within the beads has revealed that they were passed from person to person, travelling as far as 621 miles from where they were made.
Tech-savvy North Koreans are reportedly 'jailbreaking' the country's government-controlled smartphones in a bid to access forbidden media from other countries.

Jailbreaking is the process of exploiting the flaws of a locked-down electronic device to install software other than what the manufacturer has made available.

For most of the world, this means installing apps and software that break the restrictions of Apple's or Google's operating systems.

However, in North Korea, citizens are forced to use home-grown handsets that simulate the smartphone experience while restricting users to regime-approved apps and propaganda.

Each phone comes with an app that monitors how it is used, taking screenshots at random and storing them in a directory where they cannot be deleted.

Now a new report reveals how some citizens have worked out how to jailbreak the devices in order to evade the controls, so they can access information from the outside world.

Photo shows the Pyongyang 2425 smartphone

North Korea's Pyongyang 2425 phone can't connect to WiFi An example of the type of government-controlled smartphone used by citizens of North Korea is the Pyongyang 2425, released in 2019. The device looks very similar to an iPhone - including the distinctive camera 'notch' at the top of the display. However, only runs government-approved apps and is incapable of connecting to foreign WiFi. Although the isolated nation has a famously self-reliant philosophy, the gadget's serial number indicates that it was made in China. Advertisement

In the report, two defectors who escaped the country independently described a similar method for hacking the phones.

It involved using an app smuggled in from China, which would be transferred to the phone after connecting it to a computer via USB.

'If the phone was tricked in the correct way, the application could be transferred and launched without being detected and deleted by the phone's security software,' the report states.

'Once launched, the application provided the user with root access, which gives complete control over the entire phone and the ability to add, modify or delete any file.'

The report was created by Lumen, a non-profit organisation working to get uncensored information to North Koreans, and ERNW, an IT security firm.

The authors wrote: 'The scale of the hacking still appears to be minor, but recent changes to North Korean law indicate national authorities view it as a serious problem.'

One new law, enacted in 2020, promised 'at least three months of labour education' for the crime of 'illegally installing a mobile phone manipulation program'.

Meanwhile, people discovered with 'an impure publication' or 'a propaganda material blocking program' on their phone face fines of between 50,000 and 100,000 North Korean won.

That's 10 times the official monthly salary, which is on average between 5,000 and 10,000 won.

People discovered with 'an impure publication' or 'a propaganda material blocking program' on their phone face fines of between 50,000 and 100,000 North Korean won - 10 times the official monthly salary

WHAT IS 'MIRAE' WIFI? Korean Central Television recently broadcast a couple of reports about a new outdoor wireless data service in Pyongyang. The service is apparently based on WiFi but unusually requires a SIM card for access. It's called 'Mirae,' which means 'future,' and is up and running in central Pyongyang, according to the reports. It's the first time an outdoor WiFi service has been mentioned in North Korean media and runs alongside two cellular networks operating in the country that provide wireless data service. Advertisement

One of the defectors, a university student who used the pseudonym Mr Park, estimated that 30 per cent of his classmates had jailbroken their phones.

But the other defector, who adopted the alias Mr Kim, estimated that less than 10 per cent of the wider population had.

He said some people had started offering a phone-unlocking service to non-technical users.

He added that disabling the regime's controls not only allows users to access unapproved apps and media, it also boosts the resale value of the phone.

Deleting the mandatory screenshots on the phone, which are captured with an app called Trace Viewer, makes it more valuable still.

'The number of screenshots in the phone helps determine how old a phone is,' said Mr Kim.

'So, if it has a lot of screenshots that means the price will go down.

'If the phone looks new from the outside and the seller wants to delete the files inside. they can get a better price for the phone.'

The skills necessary to hack phones appear to have entered North Korea from China, where the regime sends some of its citizens to earn money working on software outsourced by western firms.

North Korean smartphones control what users can access by way of a digital signature system, automatically deleting any media that lacks the right signature.

The accepted signatures come in two types  one created by the phone itself for files it makes like photographs, and the other created by the government for approved media.

The smartphones also cannot reach the global internet, though they can access North Korea's regime-run intranet, Mirae.
Traditionally, men have dictated proceedings during a romantic encounter, but a new study suggests this could finally be changing.

Researchers in Kansas have analysed data from a survey of more than 20,000 heterosexual college students describing their most recent date.

They found that only around a third of dates (36 per cent) now involve the man asking the woman out, paying, and then initiating sex.

This is something of a 'traditional' model of dating, but it may be getting replaced by a more equal model between the sexes, where the woman is initiating sex and even paying for dinner.

The academics also found that women are more likely to have sex on the first date if they were the one who initiated the date.

Only 36 per cent of dates now involve the man asking the woman out, paying, and initiating sex, says a new study from the University of Kansas (file photo)

WHAT IS HOOKUP CULTURE? Hook-up culture is a relatively recent cultural development where people engage in sex without traditional courtship first. Traditionally, men would have initiated a date - also usually paid for by the man - before any sexual intercourse would take place. This classic idea of dating as part of courtship was born in the 1920s, researchers say. Advertisement

It's thought that modern-day 'hook-up culture'  where people engage in sex without traditional courtship first  has broken down dating norms that have existed since the 1920s, according to the experts.

'Hookup culture is a culture where casual sex encounters function as part of the courtship process,' said study author Sam Kendrick at the University of Kansas.

'In hookup culture, you don't have to go on a date or enter a relationship to have sex. The order has essentially flipped around.'

The classic idea of dating as part of courtship  where a dating activity such as going to the movies before any sex takes place  was born in the 1920s.

Most scholarly research on young adult sexuality in the last 20 years has focused on hookups  casual sexual encounters not associated with a traditional date.

'I feel like if sexual norms have changed that drastically, and they have, then the way sex is initiated on dates has probably changed as well,' said Kendrick.

'People who study dating, however, often focus on what hasn't changed.'

For the study, Kendrick and a colleague analysed data from the Online College Social Life Survey, collected between 2005 and 2011 from a sample of 24,131 students across 21 higher education institutions in the US.

The traditional model of dating is where the man initiates the date and pays for the activity, such as eating dinner at a restaurant (stock image)

WOMEN WHO CLIMAX LESS IN BED EXPECT LESS PLEASURE, STUDY FINDS It's already known that men climax more than women in heterosexual relationships  a phenomenon know as the 'orgasm gap'. Now, researchers in New Jersey have found that the phenomenon affects a woman's desire to even have an orgasm in the bedroom. The experts surveyed men and women in straight relationships about sexual satisfaction, how often they orgasm and how often they'd like to orgasm. They not only found that the orgasm gap exists, but that women who climax less during sex have less desire for an orgasm, and less expectation of having one too. Read more: Women who climax less in bed expect less pleasure, study finds Advertisement

Respondents described their most recent dates with someone they were not in an exclusive relationship with, including who initiated it, if the man or woman paid, if both paid, if no money was spent, who initiated sexual contact, what levels of sexual contact happened and other information.

The researchers term a particular course of action that took place during a date as a 'dating script'.

Among those dates following a male-initiated script, men paid and initiated most of the sexual activity on approximately 36 per cent of dates, the authors found.

In other words, more than 60 per cent of dates violate the traditional script  defined as men asking, paying and initiating sexual activity  some way.

While traditional dating script says that a man asks a woman on a date and is expected to pay, 88 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that it is OK for a woman to ask a man on a date.

However, of the dates described in the study, 89.1 per cent were initiated by men.

So this suggests that there is a discrepancy between what college students are saying and what they are doing when it comes to sexual activity on dates.

Researchers also found that when men initiated dates, sexual activity was more 'restricted' than when women asked the man for a date  likely because the woman wants the sexual encounter less.

Meanwhile, in an 'alternate dating script', such as women initiating the date, sexual activity was found to be more common.

'Genital contact' took place on 63 per cent of female-initiated dates, compared to 56 per cent of male-initiated dates.

Of all dates with sexual activity, genital contact  a term that includes but is not limited to sexual intercourse  occurred on 56 per cent.

Although men paid for the majority of male-initiated dates (68 per cent), women contributed at least part of the payment on 17 per cent of dates, and no money was spent on 15 per cent of dates.

Overall, the study shows men still initiate and pay for most dates, but the likelihood of genital contact increases whenever this traditional script is 'violated'.

One limitation of the study is that the data only goes up to 2011, more than a decade ago, so behaviours could now be very different.

A second wave of the Online College Social Life Survey is currently ongoing, which could provide a more up-to-date snapshot.

The authors also point out that the data only included information on heterosexual dates, and much more research could be done on sex and dating in LGBTQ relationships.

The study has been published in the journal Sexuality & Culture.
Klopp believes the stability offered by his stay gives boost in transfer window

Sadio Mane is another who Reds are looking to tie down for the future

Jurgen Klopp does not believe his new Liverpool deal will be a decisive factor in persuading Mo Salah to stay.

Salah, who won the FWA Men's Player of the Year award on Friday, remains at an impasse during contract discussions with the club and could leave.

Sadio Mane is another player who Liverpool are keen to tie down and even though Klopp says he has a great relationship with both, he understands they will make their own decisions.

Jurgen Klopp extended his stay at Liverpool, signing a contract extension until 2026

Mo Salah has been outstanding for Liverpool but could leave the club this summer or next year

He said: 'My relationship with Mo and Sadio is great, there is more to think about than knowing who the manager will be.

'There is no 100 per cent that you will stay but everything is clear in this moment. I don't think this will be the one decisive thing for players thinking about contracts.

Liverpool fans took to social media in praise of Klopp's wife Ulla after he revealed she played a key role in persuading him to re-sign until 2026, and the manager joked that he is in trouble about all the attention his other half is getting.

He added: 'Ulla didn't like it too much yesterday... "what did you do!".

'It is a great decision for our family, we want to help the club be successful as long as possible if not forever (success not me). The area and club became home for us and that's why we want to stay longer.

'I'll stay as long as I think it makes sense. It must make sense for both sides. It makes sense to do it now, so people know early, good for transfer windows.

'We cannot guarantee success but can guarantee stability. I think at the moment it is the right time.'

Klopp went on to explain that at a difficult time for the world, his motivation is to keep providing joy and a connection to fans.

He went on: 'I realise people are happy about it, that's good, I'm very happy as well. For me at this moment in time, this is the place to be. This club offers a lot, we never stop trying to develop and evolve the situation.

'Time is running, we don't change the team in the next two three years but little things you have to prepare. Life is in a difficult situation, Coronavirus, Ukraine, on a less important level sports, money etc.

Liverpool are chasing the quadruple and Klopp's new deal gives them a lift

'We want to offer emotion, deliver excitement, buy in, we want to be together with our people. Apologies to everyone who tries to stop me on the street because it doens't work in these moments.

'It is about creating stories, we have to do that now. This is not a contract to stay forever because people like us, the plan is that this is only the start and we really go for it. There are no guarantees. We have to enjoy the journey.'

Liverpool are still one point behind Manchester City and face a tricky trip to Newcastle on Saturday in the early game.

Klopp in under no illusions over how tough an ask it will be, adding: 'Newcastle are on an incredible run, when our analysis meeting starts, green for wins red for losses, they have a lot of green.

The manager thinks guaranteed stability at Anfield will give the Reds a transfer advantage

'Eddie plays a massive part in that. They signed one of our analysts too! They signed a few good players but also had more stability. It will be a difficult one for us.

In terms of fitness concerns, the German provided an update, revealing that Roberto Firmino is still out with a foot issue.

'Kostas was back yesterday, Curtis couldn't train, Bobby we need but it takes longer than we all thought, he will not be ready for tomorrow and still hasn't trained yet,' he said.
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Bang the drums, sound the bugles  and meet Kate McCue, the first American woman to captain a cruise ship. It shouldnt be a big thing, but it is. And shes just one of the stars on board the almost 3,000-berth Celebrity Beyond.

McCue, who bears more than a passing resemblance to actress Sandra Bullock, walks around with a badge on her jacket declaring: Please dont call it a boat. (In cruise-speak, apparently, theyre always ships). And with a strut in her stride, she means business.

Celebrity Beyond gets starrier. Enter (although, sadly, shes not here) Gwyneth Paltrow who, with her lifestyle brand Goop, has partnered with Celebrity Cruises as wellbeing adviser. From smoothies to yoga sessions, healthy elements are everywhere on Beyond. I can certainly vouch for the deep-tissue massage at the spa. It took at least 50 people to wake me up afterwards.

Nick Redman sets sail from Southampton on the almost 3,000-berth Celebrity Beyond, pictured, for its inaugural sailing

Gwyneth Paltrow, with her lifestyle brand Goop, has partnered with Celebrity Cruises as wellbeing adviser

Back in my day (the 1970s), the words celebrity and cruises in the same sentence invariably meant Kenneth Williams, Sid James and the Carry On crew misbehaving somewhere on the ocean wave.

How long ago that feels, as I take in my surroundings on Beyonds inaugural sailing this week from Southampton  out into a clear blue, unseasonably tan-inducing English Channel that could easily pass for the sea off Mykonos.

Forget big buffets and waterslides. This ship  like its siblings, Edge and Apex (a fourth, called Ascent, and an unnamed fifth are in the pipeline)  is determined to ring the changes. Indeed, Celebrity Beyond is the cruise ship for people who think they wont like cruises. Whether itll work is another matter, but you have to admire the chutzpah.

Gwyneth Paltrow might not be to everyones taste  lets not forget she gave the world a candle called This Smells Like My Vagina  but whats sold on board here is a little less controversial. It includes Goop Glow Lotion, Goopgenes Nourishing Lip Balm and G.Tox Detoxifying Superpowder.

From smoothies to yoga sessions, healthy elements are everywhere on Beyond, according to Nick. Above is its spa area

'I can certainly vouch for the deep-tissue massage at the spa. It took at least 50 people to wake me up afterwards,' writes Nick. Above is one of the spa's treatment rooms

So far, so wacky. I check out The Theatre next, which features a show called Arte. Its a canter through a century of art with a screen that projects Roy Lichtenstein and Klimt-like images.

And where on a ship anywhere in the world might you find an art gallery  called The Art Gallery  which holds auctions? Chris Greyvenstein, who works for Park West Gallery and sells on board, tells me: About an hour ago I received 18 signed Salvador Dalis. He hopes to sell the lot.

Continuing the arty note, theres an immersive transition space en route to dinner. Its a glass-mirrored gallery of lumpy bronze sculptures to sit on. Why? Search me. Apparently its meant to stimulate the senses  hence the vanilla-like aroma wafting  as you walk through to Eden, at the stern.

A relaxation room in the spa. Passengers can invest in wellness products - such as Goop Glow Lotion - from Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop brand

'At times, it doesnt even feel like a ship. Its more like a Manhattan design hotel that floated out to sea,' writes Nick. Above is the ship's spa area

With its geodesic-style window panes, this multi-level restaurant might look like the pterosaur aviary in Jurassic World, but it serves down-to-earth food including an excellent Beef Wellington. And it has a fine line in ecological-sounding cocktails, such as Clouds.

Captain Kate is right. This is not a boat and, at times, it doesnt even feel like a ship. Its more like a Manhattan design hotel that floated out to sea.

My ice-cool stateroom has interiors from designer Kelly Hoppen, TVs much-hyped queen of stone tones. She has also created, among other spaces, The Retreat, up on the top deck.

'Celebrity Beyond is the cruise ship for people who think they wont like cruises. Whether itll work is another matter, but you have to admire the chutzpah,' writes Nick

TRAVEL FACTS Celebrity Beyond has a seven-night cruise from Fort Lauderdale on November 13 from 1,579 pp (celebritycruises.com). Advertisement

Its what you might call an exclusive resort within a resort, where guests happy to pay top dollar can book Instagramable two-storey apartments with plunge pools, or vast royal suites. I clock decks of immaculately styled bars and restaurants that wouldnt be out of place in Paris, Mumbai or London. Among them is Normandie, with its blush-pink Art Deco looks; Cyprus and Tuscan; and the intimate Le Voyage: the first restaurant at sea from global star-chef Daniel Boulud.

The most curious feature of Celebritys Edge-class ships is the Magic Carpet  picture a big, windowed elevator that can be moved up and down the side of the hull to different floors. Depending on the time of day, this can serve as a lobby, welcoming guests on board, or a hip drinks venue.

After this episode, I head for a second cocktail in the Grand Plaza, the core of the ship, which centres on the magnificent Martini Bar lit by a showstopping whopper of a chandelier. And I like how the drinks list informs you: All martinis are available in super-sized format.

Ultimately, I settle outside at Sunset Bar and Im lucky to meet Nemanja Markovic, from Montenegro. If anyone can make the coast off Bournemouth feel like the height of summer in Bodrum, its Nemanja and one of his super-kicky Marrakesh Mules. I raise a glass to a new departure for cruising.
Nepal's marijuana ban could soon be up in smoke as lawmakers mull a return to the liberal drug policies that once made the Himalayan republic a popular pit stop on the overland 'hippie trail'.

Half a century ago, thousands of fun-seeking backpackers from around the world made their way to Kathmandu to buy potent hash strains from government-licensed stores on 'Freak Street' - a lane named for long-haired and unkempt foreign visitors.

Washington's global war on drugs, and its accompanying pressure on foreign governments, prompted the closure of the capital's dispensaries in 1973, along with a cultivation ban that forced farmers to rip up their cannabis plants.

Nepal closed its marijuana dispensaries in 1973, but now lawmakers are seeking to lift a cultivation ban to create a new export revenue stream

Now, with Western countries easing their own prohibitions on marijuana, the government and legal reform campaigners say it is time to stop criminalising a potent cash crop with centuries-old ties to the country's culture and religious practices.

'It is not justifiable that a poor country like ours has to treat cannabis as a drug,' Nepal's Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada told AFP.

'Our people are being punished... and our corruption increases because of smuggling as we follow decisions of developed countries that are now doing as they please.'

Khatiwada sponsored Nepal's first parliamentary motion advocating an end to the ban in January 2020, and two months later a bill was put to lawmakers seeking partial legalisation.

A change in government has stalled progress since, but in December of that year Nepal backed a successful campaign to have the United Nations reclassify cannabis out of its list of the world's most harmful drugs.

Nepal's Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada has advocated an end to the ban on marijuana, and the government has also successfully lobbied the UN to reclassify the drug

Nepal's home ministry has since launched a study into the medicinal properties and export potential of marijuana that is expected to support a revived parliamentary push to end the ban.

'It is a medicine,' said prominent activist Rajiv Kafle, who lives with HIV and began campaigning for legalisation after using the drug to treat his symptoms.

Kafle said ending the ban would be an 'important booster' to Nepal's tourism industry, which is still reeling from the Covid pandemic, and would also benefit Nepalis suffering from chronic illnesses.

While the current law allows for medicinal cannabis, there is no established framework for therapeutic use and the government still enforces a blanket ban on consumption and trafficking.

'So many patients are using it, but they are forced to do it illegally,' Kafle told AFP. 'They can get caught anytime.'

Enforcement of the ban is already patchy - tourists visiting Nepal's backpacker haunts are unlikely to encounter the long arm of the law for lighting up a joint in a Kathmandu back alley.

Half a century ago, thousands of fun-seeking backpackers from around the world made their way to Kathmandu (pictured) to buy potent hash strains from government-licensed stores on 'Freak Street'

Authorities also look the other way during an annual festival held to honour the Hindu deity Shiva, the destroyer of evil, who is regularly depicted clasping a chillum pipe used to smoke cannabis.

Ganja smoke wafts around the grounds of Kathmandu's Pashupatinath Temple each year as holy men gather to celebrate and worshippers fill their own chillums with Shiva's 'gift'.

But elsewhere, penalties are harsh and regularly enforced. Marijuana dealers risk up to 10 years' jail time and police seize and destroy thousands of cannabis plants across the country each year.

'Part of our culture'

Prohibition interrupted a long tradition of cannabis cultivation in Nepal, where plants grew wild and their stems, leaves and resin were used in food, as clothing fibres or as a component of traditional Ayurvedic medicines.

'The ban destroyed an important income source in this region,' a farmer in western Dang district told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'It ignored how it was part of our culture and everyday life, not just... an intoxicant.'

Several Western countries have ended their own bans on marijuana use in recent years, including parts of the United States, which once spearheaded the global campaign to criminalise the drug.

In California, dispensaries sell 'Himalayan Gold', a strain that originated from Nepal and calls to mind the country's historic associations with weed culture.

A rejuvenated marijuana trade tailored to burgeoning export demand and cashing in on Nepal's existing 'international brand value' could prove highly lucrative, said Barry Bialek, a doctor working at a cannabis research centre at Kathmandu University.

'As a cash crop it can be good locally but also in the global market,' he told AFP. 'It can be a leader in the world.'
You dont look like youre dressed for Alaska, said the woman at the boarding gate, before checking my ticket and furrowing her brow even further.

And I wasnt. The idea had been to traverse New Yorks JFK airport and catch a connecting flight to Atlanta. I was in shorts and flip flops in anticipation of the Georgia heat and was already confused as to why so many in the queue were carrying ski gear.

As the United Airlines representative explained patiently, I was in the line for Anchorage, not Atlanta and I really needed to leave the queue quickly.

Visually impaired travel writer Rob Crossan, pictured, reveals that he once joined a boarding queue for a flight to Alaska instead of Atlanta

A four-hour wait, a disgusting pizza and $325 lighter for a new ticket to Atlanta (Id long missed the original flight) meant I had time to reflect on the perils of being a visually impaired traveller who is often unwilling to ask for help.

Thats long rankled with me, as someone with a disability (albinism and nystagmus since you ask).

If airports, train stations, ferry terminals  even restaurants used just a little common sense, I wouldnt have to seek help. Id get to where I wanted to be without breaking my male pride or British reserve.

Why are so many destination boards printed in a script so small I would need the Hubble telescope to read it? Why do PA systems still broadcast muffled announcements about where were going and what boarding gate I need to be? Why are seat numbers so tiny I need to get to within French-kissing distance to read them?

'Why are so many destination boards printed in a script so small I would need the Hubble telescope to read it?' complains Rob

Ive been a travel writer for two decades now and its infuriating how little has changed in this time.

Dont get me wrong; Im glad the days of wheelchair users being put in the guards van on trains and visually impaired people like me being mollycoddled (Youre a very brave boy a tour guide in Wales once told me - I was 31) but Im still waiting for travel to be super-sized.

Screens, seat numbers, menus, doorways, lifts. Can everything be a bit bigger please? Because I dont want even the slightest risk of a weekend in Alaska wearing board shorts ever again.
Sacked breakfast radio host Lawrence Mooney has settled the $1million breach of contract claim he brought against Triple M late last year.

Mooney's action against network owner Southern Cross Austereo was to go before the New South Wales Supreme Court next month ahead of a potentially explosive hearing.

It was still listed for directions on May 11 but sources confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the matter had been resolved. The terms of the settlement are unknown.

The court heard in February that Mooney had feared South Cross would 'smear' him with unfounded allegations when it sought to justify his sudden termination.

Sacked radio host Lawrence Mooney was demanding more than $1million from radio giant Southern Cross Austereo over his unceremonious departure from his Triple M breakfast program but has settled the claim. The terms have not been disclosed

Mooney (middle) started with Triple M in 2019 to host the Moonman in the Morning program with co-presenters Jess Eva (left) and Chris Page (right). He was sacked from the show in November and launched a breach of contract claim in the NSW Supreme Court

The 57-year-old was demanding more than $1million over his unceremonious departure from his Moonman in the Morning radio program in November.

Employment specialist John Laxon, for Mooney, had described the case as a 'very straight forward breach of contract claim' before it was settled.

When the case was in court in February both sides had agreed to enter mediation but Mr Laxon said Southern Cross Austereo had been 44 days late filing a defence.

'We are somewhat in the dark because we don't have their defence,' Mr Laxon said.

'In anticipation of what that defence might be and the allegations that might be forthcoming from the defendant [in the absence of] any evidence to back up those allegations then what we might be left with is smear.'

Mooney was dumped from his breakfast radio gig on November 12 and was suing Southern Cross Austereo for more than $1million in unpaid wages.

Lawrence Mooney (right) reportedly had a major falling out with co-host Jess Eva (left) before he was sacked by Triple M. His formal exit from Triple M came two weeks after he suddenly vanished from the airwaves

The comedian started with Triple M in 2019 hosting Moonman in the Morning with co-presenters Gus Worland, Jess Eva and Chris Page.

Worland left the program, which had replaced The Grill Team, in November that year.

Mooney was abruptly dumped less than a year into a new two-year contract with little explanation after a wild few days of speculation.

Mooney's exit came two weeks after he suddenly vanished from the airwaves amid rumours of a major falling out with co-host Eva, who starred in the 2018 season of The Block.

'SCA thanks Mooney for his contribution to the Triple M Network over the past five years,' SCA said in a brief statement on November 15.

Southern Cross Austereo has said little about Mooney's mysterious departure from his program. 'SCA thanks Mooney for his contribution to the Triple M Network over the past five years,' it said in a brief statement on November 15

The program's name was changed to Triple M Breakfast with MG, Jess & Pagey, with new lead host Mark 'MG' Geyer.

When contacted by Daily Mail Australia on the day of his sacking, Mooney said, 'Please don't call again,' then hung up the phone.

Two months later he was demanding his former employer pay him a year's salary in damages, according to a statement of claim seen by Daily Mail Australia.

Court documents claimed Mooney had a two-year contract to run from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2022, and his pay was a base fee of $1million plus GST per annum, which is $83,333 plus GST a month.

Mooney was also eligible to bonus fees of up to $540,000 plus GST annually if the show reached certain audience share targets.

A share of 6.0-6.4 per cent would be worth $5,000, 6.5-7.0 per cent $7,000, 7.0-7.4 per cent $10,000, 7.5-7.9 per cent $20,000, 8.0-8.4 per cent $25,000 and 8.5 per cent or more $30,000 for each survey.

If the show ever got to 9.0 per cent off all listeners aged 10 and above Mooney would receive $150,000 for the first time and $50,000 for each subsequent survey that was over that share.

There would also be a $5,000 incentive fee for reaching number one in the male 25-54 category, capped at $40,000 a year.

In the last radio ratings survey of 2021 Mooney's show had an audience share of 4.6.

There were eight surveys in 2021 and in two of them the program recorded an audience share above 6.0 - 6.4 in the first survey of the year and 6.7 in the second.

Moonman in the Morning has been given a name change to Triple M Breakfast with MG, Jess & Pagey, with new lead host Mark 'MG' Geyer (pictured). He presents the program with Jess Evan and Chris Page

The court documents claimed SCA chief executive Grant Blackley advised Mooney in a letter dated November 12, 2021, that the company would only pay Mooney's base salary up to and including that day.

'At no time during the term of the contract did Mooney commit any act that would entitle SCA to terminate and/or that could be relied upon by SCA as at the date of the purported termination to terminate,' Mooney's lawyers claimed.

Mooney was claiming the loss of his base fee from December 1, 2021 to December 21, 2022 totalling $1,083,333.29 plus GST. He was further claiming the loss of the chance to earn incentive fees.

The documents also claimed there was 'loss of goodwill by reason of Mooney no longer providing the on-air radio performing and announcing services.'

Mr Laxon and Southern Cross Austereo declined to comment.

Mooney is touring his latest stand-up show Beauty, An Encore nationally and is performing this weekend in Perth.
The Mystery Of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes (15, 101 mins)

Rating:

Verdict: Some like it cheap

The Velvet Queen (12A, 92 mins)

Rating:

Verdict: Silly words, amazing pictures

Who is the most famous woman in the world, living or dead? The Queen? Beyonce? Princess Diana? Oprah Winfrey?

It won't startle you to learn the choice of the man behind The Mystery Of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes.

He's a former BBC journalist called Anthony Summers, and in 1982, when the Los Angeles District Attorney reopened the investigation into her death, he conducted hundreds of interviews, trying to make more headway than the DA.

He claims to have no fewer than 650 tape recordings with those who knew Monroe, snippets of which are played in this Netflix documentary with actors lip-syncing the words.

Understandably, perhaps, but very unhelpfully, Summers inflates the significance of his mission with a degree of earnestness, teetering on pomposity, that becomes increasingly counter-productive. 'The truth and Marilyn, it's like going into the lion's den,' he declares, self-importantly.

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes is a documentary made up from more than 500 tape recordings looking into her death

The documentary features lots of archive footage of Monroe and her second husband, Arthur Miller

Maybe it was once. But is it still? When one of his 1982 interviewees politely explains that he doesn't want to talk about Monroe's 1962 death 20 whole years after the event, the thought arises that 60 years later, maybe it's three times as unseemly to rake it all up again.

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Doubtless aware of that potential charge, director Emma Cooper does her level best to imbue her film with drama and suspense, hence all the lip-syncing, some of it shot in shadow, which cheapens what could be fascinating.

On the credit side, there's lots of fabulous archive footage of Monroe (and her second husband, Arthur Miller), both on screen and off, and when the film finally addresses her suspected suicide, aged 36, it at least illuminates what Summers describes as the lion's den.

It's now no secret that U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his brother, the Attorney General Robert Kennedy, were both involved with Monroe. Dean Martin's wife, Jeanne, tells Summers that she saw the Kennedys' brother-in-law, actor Peter Lawford, effectively 'pimping' her out to both of them. But did the Kennedys order the FBI to murder her, as one well-known conspiracy theory avers?

Summers gives us his verdict, which is undoubtedly well-informed, but not entirely worth the wait.

A sighting of the snow leopard, on the other hand, very much is.

The Velvet Queen is another documentary, following the painstaking efforts of two Frenchmen, in the bleakly beautiful highlands of Tibet, to find what was already one of the world's most elusive creatures even before it was officially classified on lists of endangered species as 'vulnerable'. Marie Amiguet's French-language film was made for television, but was considered so cinematic that it's now getting a big-screen release.

The Velvet Queen is a documentary about snow leopards (stock image)

I first saw it late one night at last year's Cannes Film Festival, and was snapped out of end-of-day weariness by an incredibly powerful image: a lone snow leopard, sleek and elegant, standing on a mountain ledge, considering its options and looking anything but vulnerable.

In a way, that blows the ending. Sorry. But there's never too much doubt that nature photographer Vincent Munier  so skilled that he won the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition three years in succession  and his companion, writer Sylvain Tesson, will eventually find what they are looking for.

Their solemn and, it has to be said, rather Gallic philosophising along the way veers between the pretentiously Promethean ('I'd stolen fire . . . I carried within me the embers') and the insanely incomprehensible ('the right-here-right-now of modern epilepsy ran into the most-likely-nothing-ever of the blind').

Still, let's be generous and ascribe the latter to bad subtitling. Either way, even if you'd much rather have Sir David Attenborough as a guide, some of the photography in this film is truly breathtaking.

Stately return for old favourites

Downton Abbey: A New Era (PG, 125 mins)

Rating:

Verdict: Old era regurgitated

Lord and Lady Carnarvon sat just in front of me at Monday night's world premiere of Downton Abbey: A New Era.

They are the owners of the real-life Downton, Highclere Castle in Hampshire, and I fancy I saw them shifting a little in their seats when Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) was persuaded by Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) to allow filming in the great house, on the basis that it would pay for some of the repairs. As in art, so in life. Maybe the storyline was their idea.

This film is the second big-screen spin-off after 2019's Downton Abbey and, for all the talk of a new era, writer Julian Fellowes carefully evokes the old era, with the Dowager Countess of Grantham (Dame Maggie Smith) firing acid barbs through pursed lips, which is easier said than done. The 'new era' bit concerns the arrival of the movies. It is 1928 and a dishy director, Jack Barber (Hugh Dancy), wants to hire the stately pile to make a silent film.

Downton Abbey: A New Era, the second big-screen spin-off after 2019's Downton Abbey, positively bursts with all our favourite ingredients

Lord Grantham more or less declares that such commercial vulgarity will happen only over his dead body and, among the more ruthless of us at Monday's glitzy world premiere in London, this kindled the fleeting hope that his lordship might be about to expire in spectacular fashion, perhaps of an overdose of kedgeree. Downton has always done death rather well.

But no. A hefty cheque helps to change his mind, along with bossy Lady Mary, who realises the film money might 'bring the house up to snuff'.

Below stairs, dopey Daisy (Sophie McShera) is quivering with excitement at the prospect of seeing matinee idol Guy Dexter (Dominic West) and screen siren Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock, having more fun than anyone) up close. As always with Downton, the suspicion mounts that Fellowes has found out from Wikipedia what was happening at the time and shaped his narrative accordingly.

So, with the South of France becoming increasingly popular with the British aristocracy in the late 1920s, off we duly pop to the Riviera, where old Lady G has controversially been left a handsome villa by a Frenchman with whom she enjoyed an idyllic week back in 1864.

But really it is back at Downton where the more entertaining stuff is going on. The silent film is in trouble, you see, because the talkies have just arrived.

All this unfolds in amiable Downton style, ably directed by Simon Curtis. There's a birth, a death, a proposal, a spot of disputed paternity and the usual pot-pourri of fine and wooden acting, good and silly dialogue.

About a quarter of it rings true. But the sets and costumes are fabulous, which is all it takes to get back into the Abbey habit.
The Corn Is Green (Lyttletlon Theatre, National Theatre)

Rating:

Verdict: Minor drama

Nicola Walker's admirers are legion, and I'm definitely one of them. The emotional intensity she brought to the lovelorn Ruth Evershed in Spooks catapulted her to fame in Unforgotten, Last Tango In Halifax and The Split on TV. And few can doubt the guts or gravitas she brings on stage.

But I'm not sure Emlyn Williams's 1938 autobiographical homage to his overbearing school teacher makes the best use of her talents.

The play originally starred Sybil Thorndike in the West End in 1938 and became a film starring Bette Davis in 1945.

Nicola Walker (pictured) plays a bossy teacher, Miss Moffat, in Dominic Cooke's version of The Corn Is Green

Here, Walker gives a commanding performance as bossy Miss Moffat in Dominic Cooke's revival. But she's a rather stolid, matronly proposition who lacks the savoir faire of a Miss Jean Brodie.

She marches into rural Wales on an educational blitzkrieg that might today be resisted as exhibiting a domineering English saviour complex.

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Seeing off opposition from the local squire to start a school for ignorant miners, one coal-smeared youth catches her eye: young Morgan Evans, who she decides has the most brilliantly receptive mind. His character is the Williams self-portrait and Miss Moffat spends the next two years hot-housing Evans for an Oxford scholarship.

Despite her indifference to Welsh Chapel and Methodist evangelism, Walker's non- conformist spinster is a hit with the local community.

Her problem as a character, however, is not so much that she doesn't raise a lot of sympathy, as that she's barely challenged by anyone on stage.

She makes short work of Rufus Wright's stuffed toff of a squire, dismissing him as 'so stupid it sits on him like a halo'.

Poor obedient Morgan (Iwan Davies) seems unable to stop her turning him into a glove puppet. Vaguely resistant at first, he is a doormat who barely gets a word in edgeways  even with Saffron Coomber as the teenage temptress who leads him astray. The only character of substance is the housekeeper and mother of the temptress (Jo McInnes), who raises a laugh of astonishment when she says of her daughter: 'I disliked her the first time I saw her.'

To bulk up the lightweight plot, Cooke's production has an actor (Gareth David-Lloyd) as the author  speaking directions and cueing actors.

The novelty of that, and sound-effects of creaking doors and rattling crockery instead of scenery, soon wears off; I have seldom been more grateful to lay eyes on a bench and blackboard. Thankfully, more scenery steadily accretes until we have a sunny room with bay window in the second half.

A chorus of Welsh miners forming a male voice choir is also indisputably seductive, lending a warmth and nostalgia that's otherwise missing. I longed for a round of Land Of My Fathers as a good tearful climax, but that never comes.

Instead, the slightly weird finale has the author seemingly falling in love with his student self as they waltz intimately about the stage. But that didn't stop the matinee audience directing a standing ovation at Walker.

This, I suspect, was more in approval of her character's Ofsted-like zeal, than in admiration of Miss Moffat's fortitude in overcoming a few trifles.

Generations of carers with the right to nurse a grudge

Marys Seacole (Donmar)

Rating:

Verdict: Hail Mary

A long, naturalistic scene in Marys Seacole has two black nurses chattering in Jamaican patois as they tenderly give a bed-bath to an elderly white woman who has soiled herself. A first in the theatre for me, and a humbling lesson.

Pulitzer-winning Jackie Sibblies Drury's play begins as a biography of Mary Seacole, the real-life Creole 'doctress' who set up a boarding house to nurse cholera victims in Kingston, and then wounded soldiers in the Crimean War.

In front of a green screen suggesting tenting and surgical scrubs, a proud Mary introduces herself as the bold adventurer she was.

Kayle Meikle (Pictured) gave an impressive performance as Mary Seacole in Pulitzer-winning Jackie Sibblies Drury's play

Disrobed of her Victorian corset and full skirt, she becomes a present-day Mary in a nurse's uniform. The odd pluralisation of the Mary in the title suddenly makes sense. Drury is exploring what it is to be a female carer over the past two centuries. Her point is that the often unpaid or underpaid roles as carers  Marys  have fallen to women. A vast number of immigrants ('They need us, they don't want us,' says a young Mary) from former British colonies are employed by the NHS and, like Mary Seacole, they feel downtrodden, dehumanised, underappreciated and angry.

But there is too much telling and too little showing as three generations of black women carers and cared-for white women play various versions of themselves.

In one scene, Olivia Williams is a frazzled mother who has put her dying mum into care then snaps at a black nurse not to forget her mother is a person. Later, as a snootily superior Florence Nightingale, she refuses Seacole's offer to care for patients in the Crimea.

The play resonates with echoes of plays by Caryl Churchill (time travel) and Sarah Kane (brutality, despair) as historical scenes of bleeding corpses in Crimea blend into contemporary images of war-torn Ukraine.

As Mary, a volcanic Kayla Meikle exudes anger and hurt like molten lava. But overall, a sharper focus would have better served Seacole's remarkable story.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Won In-choul speaks at a luncheon meeting of the country's military leaders hosted by President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae, April 29. Yonhap





Outgoing President Moon Jae-in called for the military to maintain a watertight defense posture Friday, expressing concerns that North Korea's continued testing of weapons may put the Korean Peninsula back into a crisis as incoming President Yoon Suk-yeol takes office.







Moon, who is set to leave office May 9, made the remarks at a luncheon meeting with high-ranking military officials, Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement.







"Given various signs shown by North Korea, including the recent launch of an ICBM, the crisis on the Korean Peninsula could become severe again," Moon told the military officials.







Moon said North Korea may revive its old pattern of brinkmanship, as shown in 2017 when it launched ICBMs and conducted a nuclear weapons test, at a time of power transition in South Korea.






Channel 10's horse racing fans could be left disappointed at the Melbourne Cup Carnival this year.

There are rumours the network's star race presenter Francesca Cumani, who is based in the UK, may not make the trip to Flemington in November.

Francesca, 39, signed a five-year deal worth $1 million with Channel 10 in 2019, after the network took over the Spring Carnival broadcast rights from Channel Seven.

Disappointing: Channel 10's horse racing fans could be left disappointed during the Melbourne Cup Carnival this year. There are rumours the network's star race presenter Francesca Cumani, 39, who is based in the UK, may not make the trip to Flemington in November

The glamorous star, who is the daughter of Italian horse trainer and breeder Luca Cumani, missed 2021's Melbourne Cup due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Now it seems that Francesca, who has won plaudits in the UK as a race presenter on the ITV network, is finding her commitments in Australia too difficult to manage.

In December last year, the British born thoroughbred expert announced she was expecting her first child with Australian partner, businessman Max Johnson in June.

Known for her stylish presentation and good humour, Francesca first won over fans in Australia as a racing presenter for Channel Seven.

Other commitments? Francesca revealed in December 2021 she is expecting her first child with businessman Max Johnson

Opportunity: Jockey-turned trainer Michelle Payne is rumoured to be taking a bigger role as a Channel 10 commentator after impressing the network with her work during the Melbourne Cup broadcast in 2021 Pictured: Michelle at the AAMI Victoria Derby Day at Flemington in 2021

Meanwhile, jockey-turned trainer Michelle Payne, who rose to fame as the first woman to ride a Melbourne Cup winner, is rumoured to be taking a bigger role as a Channel 10 commentator.

Francesca was previously married to Australian international polo player Rob Archibald. After getting married in 2014 and the pair are said to have split in 2018.

The once-smitten couple welcomed their first son, Harry, two, in April, 2016.

Striking: The popular presenter is pictured here at the Royal Ascot in the UK in June 2021

During their marriage, Francesca and Rob attempted to juggle their lives on either side of the planet - a challenge which intensified after Francesca was hired by Britain's ITV in 2016.

That meant her spending eight months in Britain during the racing season and four months in Australia, when she was then, a commentator for Channel Seven.

After missing the Melbourne Cup in Australia last year, Francesca commented on the event from London.

'Right, next year I'm definitely going to be at ''The Cup'' alongside the wonderful Channel 10 team at Flemington but this year I had to settle for beaming in from London,' she captioned a picture of herself in a TV studio.
Married At First Sight's Ella Ding has insisted she is 'just friends' with co-star Brent Vitiello, despite the pair having a 'sleepover' just weeks ago.

And the duo continued to fuel romance rumours on Thursday when they took part in a joint interview with Nova FM's Fitzy and Wippa.

Radio presenter Sarah McGilvray noticed their backgrounds on Zoom were 'suspiciously similar' after they claimed to be living in different states.

Sure you're 'just friends?' Married At First Sight stars Ella Ding (left) and Brent Vitiello (right) were 'busted in the same house on live radio' after they said they were living in different states

Ella, 28, had earlier told Nova host Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli she was living 'at home' in Melbourne, and Brent, 34, told Ryan 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald he was based in Bondi, Sydney.

But Sarah was not convinced, and suggested they were actually in the same house during the Zoom interview because the rooms they were in looked nearly identical.

The pair laughed nervously but didn't deny Sarah's theory, before Ella insisted to Wippa that she and Brent were 'just friends right now'.

Hmm! Nova FM radio presenter Sarah McGilvray noticed Ella and Brent's backgrounds on Zoom were 'suspiciously similar' after they claimed to be living in different states

Caught out? The pair laughed nervously but didn't deny Sarah's theory, before Ella insisted to Wippa that she and Brent (pictured) were 'just friends right now'

It comes just weeks after Ella revealed she had enjoyed a 'sleepover' with Brent.

Speaking on The Handbags podcast earlier this month, Ella said: 'We are just friends. We've even had a sleepover and nothing's happened. Nothing.'

After host Michael Brunelli asked if the door was open for a relationship with Brent in the future, Ella responded: 'It's so hard for me to answer right now.

'I think Brent is gorgeous. Totally attracted to him. But my headspace is like - I'm still healing, hurting, and thinking about [ex-'husband'] Mitch [Eynaud] and Tamara [Djordjevic, Brent's on-screen wife] still p***es me off.

'I still feel like I don't really know Brent. I think that we're just spending good quality time together now.'

Are they or aren't they? It comes after Ella revealed she had enjoyed a 'sleepover' with Brent

Shutting down speculation: Speaking on The Handbags podcast earlier this month, Ella said: 'We are just friends. We've even had a sleepover and nothing's happened. Nothing'

She added that 'Brent actually sent me flowers on my birthday last week', which was 'very thoughtful'.

'He didn't write his name on it, but I knew it was from him,' she said.

Ella had been ghosted by her on-screen husband Mitch Eynaud just days after they filmed the MAFS reunion dinner party in Sydney in January.

The financial planner, 27, reportedly broke things off because he was upset about her staging paparazzi photos with Brent.

Over: Ella had been ghosted by her own on-screen husband Mitch Eynaud (pictured) just days after they filmed the MAFS reunion dinner party in Sydney in January

Their marriage was already on shaky ground by the reunion as Mitch had earlier tried to end things at their final vows, telling Ella he wasn't ready to commit.

But they reconciled when Ella flew to the Gold Coast for a 'make-or-break' holiday.

Meanwhile, Ella and Brent's former MAFS spouses are now rumoured to be dating.

Mitch was spotted looking cosy with Tamara at a bar on the Gold Coast in February.
MasterChef Australia judge Jock Zonfrillo has fixed his British teeth.

The Glaswegian chef, 45, used to have crooked, slightly yellowing teeth but now has a sparkling white smile courtesy of Vogue Dental Studios in Melbourne.

He visited the clinic, which is popular among Married At First Sight stars, sometime last year and 'got himself 20 porcelain veneers', reports The Wash.

New smile: MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo has fixed his British teeth. The Glaswegian chef, 45, used to have crooked, slightly yellowing teeth but now has a sparkling white smile courtesy of Vogue Dental Studios in Melbourne. (Pictured before and after the procedure)

Zonfrillo hasn't publicly spoken about the cosmetic procedure, but Vogue Dental Studios did post before-and-after photos of his smile transformation on its website.

However, the photo testimonial has since disappeared from the website.

Zonfrillo may have asked for the images to be removed to avoid any confusion about the procedure being part of a 'contra deal', which it was not.

Money well spent! Jock (pictured with his wife and children) visited the clinic, which is popular among Married At First Sight stars, sometime last year and 'got himself 20 porcelain veneers'

Vogue Dental Studios is known to offer free and discounted treatments to reality TV stars and influencers in exchange for publicity on Instagram.

Daily Mail Australia understands Zonfrillo paid for his veneers in full.

Zonfrillo's journey to television stardom in Australia is quite unorthodox.

The Scottish-born restaurateur previously revealed his teenage heroin addiction almost ended his culinary career before it even started.

Testimonial: Zonfrillo hasn't publicly spoken about the cosmetic procedure, but Vogue Dental Studios did post before-and-after photos of his smile transformation on its website

Zonfrillo, who moved from the UK to Australia in the year 2000, began using smack at the age of 15, just as he was starting out at restaurants.

He told The Australian Women's Weekly he used to be a high-functioning addict who was 'always in the kitchen on time, ready to work' - but everything changed when he didn't show up one day and was fired from his job.

'I was high functioning. I was always in the kitchen on time, ready to work. Except this one time during my apprenticeship... when I turned up for work four days late. In hindsight, I was lucky to be alive,' he said.

Hey, big spender! Vogue Dental Studios is known to offer free and discounted treatments to reality stars in exchange for publicity on Instagram, but Daily Mail Australia understands Zonfrillo paid for his veneers in full. (He is pictured here in Melbourne on October 8, 2018)

After being sacked at the age of 17, Jock was given a second chance when he packed his bags, headed to London and knocked on the door of the Hyde Park Hotel.

World-famous chef Marco Pierre White was running the place, and Jock said he was the 'last person' he expected to give him a job - but that's exactly what happened.

'Marco was amazing because he understood what was going on with me as a young man,' Jock said.

'People were very quick to judge a drug addict. He didn't. I was on my last chance, there's no doubt about it, but he treated me exactly the same as everybody else.'

Television career: Zonfrillo, an accomplished restaurateur, was announced as a judge on MasterChef Australia in late 2019 alongside Andy Allen (right) and Melissa Leong (centre)

After getting clean and establishing himself in Australia, Zonfrillo opened the Orana restaurant in Adelaide, which was named 2019 Restaurant of the Year by the Good Food Guide.

Orana closed its doors in March 2020, after which Zonfrillo moved to Melbourne with his marketing strategist wife Lauren Fried and their children.

He was announced as a judge on MasterChef Australia in late 2019 alongside Andy Allen and Melissa Leong.

The trio replaced original hosts George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston.
Lisa Vanderpump seemed to be loving being a grandmother in a cute photo with her grandson that she posted to Instagram on Thursday.

The 61-year-old restaurateur showed off a winning smile while holding up her adorable grandson Theodore, who sported his won infectious grin.

The reality star appeared to be heading back home to Southern California after opening her new restaurant Vanderpump a Paris late last week in Las Vegas.

Lisa Vanderpump, 61, looked like a proud grandmother in a photo posted Thursday as she held her adorable grandson Theodore on a private jet flight back from her restaurant opening in Vegas

Lisa looked chic in a black suit with wide textured lapels, and she wore it with a patterned white shirt that she left unbuttoned at the collar.

The Vanderpump Rules star paired her suit with casual gray sneakers, and she wore her voluminous brunette locks down and across her shoulders.

Theodore looked cute in a thick gray ribbed cardigan, which he had on atop a navy shirt.

He was dressed in distressed jeans and went barefoot as his grandmother held him at her seat.

'Couldnt have opened @VanderpumpParis without a lot of help from my family especially this little helper! #teddypaws,' she wrote.

Family: Theodore  who also goes by Teddy  was born in November, is Lisa's grandson from her daughter Pandora and her son-in-law Jason Sabo

Success: On Saturday, Pandora shared a snap of Lisa and her family and friends as they prepared to board the private jet on their way back from Vegas

Theodore  who also goes by Teddy  was born in November, is Lisa's grandson from her daughter Pandora and her son-in-law Jason Sabo.

On Saturday, Pandora shared a snap of Lisa and her family and friends as they prepared to board the private jet on their way back from Vegas.

The former Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star proudly held her Pomeranian in her arms, while Jason and her granddaughter had a snoozing Teddy in a carrier.

Her new restaurant, Vanderpump a Paris, is her most opulent location to date.

'Everything in here is bespoke, it's all curated and you can't replicate anything in here,' Lisa told DailyMailTV. 'It's unique and I think that's what we wanted to bring with the food and drink as well. We wanted something that was decadent, we wanted something that was visual.'

As the name signals, many of the dishes and over-the-top cocktails are inspired by the City of Lights.

New venture: Lisa was opening her new restaurant, Vanderpump a Paris, which is her most opulent location to date and is inspired by the City of Lights; seen April 21 in Las Vegas

Although Lisa opted for comfortable trainers on her way back from Vegas, she recently shared that she was once again able to wear heels despite having broken her leg in January.

While speaking to ET last week, she gushed about how she had had a 'miraculous recovery.'

'Im back in heels. That was my target for the opening,' she revealed.

'I had four fractures. I had a plate, five pins, and two screws  but Im here and Im walking.'
Stripped of his military titles and royal patronages, and even suffering the indignity of losing his honorary Freedom of the City of York this week, Prince Andrew has a lot to be unhappy about.

But his beloved ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York is determined to make it clear that her family are not feeling sorry for themselves.

On a night out at Oswald's private members' club in Mayfair, Fergie, 62, pointedly chose to wear a pair of blue velvet loafers, handmade by Del Toro X Rotten Roach, imprinted with the words 'Never Complain, Never Explain' (circled below).

Sarah Ferguson at Oswalds Private Members Club in Mayfair on Tuesday evening

Sarah could be seen wearing a pair of shoes which read, 'Never Complain, Never Explain'

That's been the mantra of the Royal Family as long as the Queen has been on the throne, and she has abided by the rule throughout her seven-decade reign.

If only Andrew had stuck to it rather than give his disastrous interview to Newsnight's Emily Maitlis in 2019 ...

After Freudian split, novelist Esther finds new love - in the pub

Her great-grandfather psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, claimed our romantic relationships are modelled on childhood bonds with our parents.

And novelist Esther Freud suggested her own father  the late celebrated artist Lucian Freud  was the cause of her marriage breakdown to actor David Morrissey.

'What was most important to him was work,' explained Esther, 58, whose bohemian childhood formed the basis of her acclaimed novel Hideous Kinky, which was turned into a 1998 film starring Kate Winslet.

'So in my relationships with men, I never felt I had the right to be more important than work.'

Romantic couple: Esther Freud with Professor Gerry Simpson

Now, however, I can reveal that Freud has found love again  and, happily, her new boyfriend is an academic whose job won't involve leaving her for months on end.

He is Gerry Simpson, 59, a law professor at the LSE. 'Yes, we are [a couple],' he tells me.

They made their first public appearance together this week at a preview party for an art exhibition, Cheerio: 48 Hours With Francis Bacon, at the Tristan Hoare Gallery in Fitzrovia.

They first met at a North London pub, with Simpson paying tribute to his new girlfriend in the acknowledgements section of an academic book published last year.

He wrote: 'All of this would have been impossible without the lucky break I experienced when I first met Esther Freud one wintry evening at The Flask in Hampstead Village.'

Born in Aberdeenshire, Simpson was married to fellow lawyer and LSE lecturer Deborah Cass, with whom he has two daughters.

Cass died of cancer in 2013, aged 53. Freud separated from Morrissey in 2019 after 26 years together, 13 of them married.

With his brooding good looks and her fascinating family history, they were one of society's most celebrated showbusiness couples.

Neighbour's new balcony no joke for comedy star Katherine

Comedienne Katherine Ryan failed to see the funny side when one of her London neighbours built a balcony overlooking her swimming pool without planning permission.

'Due to my background in urban planning, I was able to report them,' says the Canadian comic, who studied city planning at university in Toronto.

'I'm not a snitch, but their prejudicing of my property actually devalues my property.'

Katherine Ryan during the Pride of Britain Awards held at the The Grosvenor House Hotel, London in October 2021

Ryan, 38, who stars in Channel 4 hit 8 Out Of 10 Cats, lives with civil partner Bobby Kootstra, their ten-month-old son Frederick, and her daughter Violet from a previous relationship.

She adds: 'I have 12-year-old girls in the swimming pool and then a bunch of builders like leaning over that balcony smoking.

I rang the council. 'I feel bad about it, but then I convinced myself not to. They have to take it down.'

Sitting in Dictionary Corner, Susie Dent is supposed to be Countdown's wordsmith, while Rachel Riley is the show's maths whizz.

But lexicographer Susie, who first appeared on the Channel 4 show in 1992, says her far more streetwise co-star's better grasp of slang often leaves her with egg on her face over double entendres.

'There is always so much room for innuendo,' Susie, 57, tells Saga.

'I'll say something which is in the Urban Dictionary [of slang], unaware it has another meaning. Rachel knows, and I catch sight of her laughing out of the corner of my eye, but I honestly don't know what I've said.'

TV's Eamonn loves a hug with Camilla

Cuddly TV presenter Eamonn Holmes provoked hundreds of online complaints when he joked that Prince Harry should be 'thrown over the balcony' at Buckingham Palace.

But the host of Breakfast on GB News is more friendly with other members of the Royal Family  perhaps too friendly.

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales looks on as his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall is greeted by TV presenter Eamonn Holmes during a visit to Sky

'My favourite royal is Camilla,' says Holmes, 62. 'She's the best fun. I say to her, 'How's my favourite Royal?' and I like to hug her.

'Charles once asked me: 'Should I be worried about the way you hug my wife?' 'She'll make a great consort.'
Cate Blanchett's children are totally 'disinterested' in her fame.

But the Lord of the Rings actress admitted her kids - Dashiell, 20, Roman, 18, Ignatius, 14, and Edith, seven, who she shares with husband her Andrew Upton - feel indifferent about her work, which also includes movies The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Ocean's 8, 'in the best possible, healthiest way.'

She said: 'They have no idea, no idea.

Just mum to us! Cate Blanchett says her children are totally 'disinterested' in her fame

'I told them, 'Oh Im going to New York for 36 hours. Ill be back on Wednesday

'One of them is getting an award at school, and they went, "Oh, OK, have a good time".'

Cate was presented with Chaplin Award earlier this week - where she was praised at the Gala for being an 'internationally acclaimed actor, producer, artistic director, humanitarian, and dedicated member of the arts community' - and the star admitted it was 'a deep and profound honour'.

She said her kids - Dashiell, 20, Roman, 18, Ignatius, 14, and Edith, seven, who she shares with husband her Andrew Upton - feel indifferent about her work, which also includes movies The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Ocean's 8, 'in the best possible, healthiest way'

Speaking to the New York Post's Page Six column at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York City - where she received the accolade, which was named after legendary comic actor Charlie Chaplin - she added:

'Every time someone wins an Oscar, there are five or six, maybe 15 other people who were equally deserving. It just happens to be your timing.

'But, you know, not being from this filmmaking culture, and being recognised by this filmmaking culture tonight at the Chaplin Awards - such an international set of previous recipients  its such a deep and profound honour.'

Previous recipients of the Chaplin Award include Dame Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, and Tom Hanks, among others.

Charlie himself received the first-ever Chaplin Award in 1972, when he returned to the US from exile to accept the commendation
Married At First Sight star Seb Guilhaus officially launched his OnlyFans account with girlfriend Ania on Thursday.

The 33-year-old, who was married to Elizabeth Sobinoff on the Nine show, boasts of his 'sexual connection' with Ania on their profile on the adult subscription website.

For $9.99 a month, subscribers will learn how the couple improved their sex life through weekly Q&A sessions and custom content.

TMI: Married At First Sight's Seb Guilhaus boasted of his 'sexual connection' with girlfriend Ania (pictured together) as they officially launched their OnlyFans account on Thursday

'When Ania and I met, a big focus was developing our sexual connection,' Seb revealed in the couple's OnlyFans 'mission statement'.

'The more we got to know each other by practising vulnerability, the better our sexual connection became, which in turn led to us growing as a couple, understanding each other, our bodies, and lowering walls led to us to reaching orgasm.'

Seb added that they will 'discuss more' about their sexual journey in their next Q&A.

The personal trainer also promoted the launch on his Instagram page, posting a photo of himself in Calvin Klein briefs, with a lingerie-clad Ania straddling him.

Would you subscribe? For $9.99 a month, subscribers will learn how the couple improved their sex life through weekly Q&A sessions and custom content

Sex education: The 33-year-old, who was married to Elizabeth Sobinoff on the Nine show, boasts of his 'sexual connection' with Ania on their profile on the adult subscription website

Earlier this month, Seb teased their OnlyFans debut with a photo on Instagram of the scantily clad pair sharing a steamy kiss.

He captioned the image: 'So Ania and I did thing. O.F. Coming soon.'

OnlyFans is a subscription-based adult website where content can range from something as innocent as a suggestive selfie, all the way to hardcore pornography.

Shortly after the announcement, Seb was quick to defend the couple's career move.

Defence: Shortly after he teased their OnlyFans debut earlier this month, Seb was quick to defend the couple's career move in the comments section

'I thought this might be a little contentious,' he began. 'Sorry to shock everyone.

'I don't see anything wrong with being empowered sexually with someone I'm close to, and hopefully empowering others to embrace a very important part of life.

'I definitely haven't changed as a human being, just adding a little spice, a new life experience it is of course everyone's prerogative to decide what this means to them.'

He said it was 'upsetting' that some had been so quick to judge the couple for their decision, adding: 'It's like having a favourite sporting team and dumping them after they lose a single game.

Defending himself: 'In this case no one is being hurt and no one is being forced to explore this lots of love, everyone,' he added. (Seb is pictured here with Ania)

'In this case no one is being hurt and no one is being forced to explore this lots of love, everyone.'

Seb went public with Ania in August 2021.

But he revealed a month later the pair had actually first met more than a decade earlier, when he was just 23.

Seb said that he had a massive crush on Ania but didn't let her know because he was 'ultra-insecure, shy and gorky' at the time.

Old pals: Seb went public with Ania in August 2021, but he revealed a month later the pair had actually first met more than a decade earlier, when he was just 23 (left)

Seb explained that while they had great chemistry, a combination of life getting in the way and bad timing was to blame for them never pursuing a relationship.

'I was so attracted to her physically and our conversations were always super deep and interesting,' he wrote.

'My lack of groundedness, confidence, and probably my inability to express how I felt meant we didn't fully connect then.'

Seb said that after a chance encounter last year, the pair were able to reconnect and he was brave enough to ask for her phone number.

Reconnected: Seb said his inability to express how he felt meant that they didn't fully connect - until they were reunited 10 years later

'We both have massive trust issues but we make each other feel safe,' he said.

'We both communicate in a strange slightly twisted way but understand each other perfectly. I really like you beautiful girl'.

Seb confirmed he was dating Ania almost eight months after his split from Elizabeth Sobinoff in January 2021.

'Ania is a beautiful girl with a heart of gold and we are just starting to get to know each other,' he told Daily Mail Australia at the time.
He narrowly avoided being bitten by crocodiles and a snake as the brash adventurer who diced with death in Romancing The Stone.

But Michael Douglas wasnt so lucky in real life while making the 1984 hit romantic comedy  as budding co-star Debra Winger sank her teeth into him.

Douglas, now 77, has revealed for the first time how he broke down in tears in front of film bosses and insisted he would not work with An Officer And A Gentleman star Miss Winger, 66.

He said he and producer Robert Zemeckis had been considering actresses for the role when they met Miss Winger in Texas.

Michael Douglas wasn't so lucky in real life when making the 1984 hit romantic comedy Romancing The Stone as budding co-star Debra Winger sank her teeth into him (Douglas pictured with Kathleen Turner)

Douglas explained: She comes with us to have dinner one night and were knocking back tequilas...

'We walk out and, just as you would kind of go Oh you! and give someone a punch in the arm, she goes Oh you! and she reaches over and she bites me  on my arm. Im like, Aaargh!

She bites me. Shes joking and Im looking at her thinking, I dont know... this could be rough... shes broken the skin.

Douglas, who is married to Catherine Zeta-Jones, added: Bob and I go back to Hollywood and we go down to see the studio to talk to them about Debra Winger... and I break down in tears and say, I cant go to the jungle with her  she bit me on the arm! I cant do it  its not worth it! So they said, OK, all right.

He said he and producer Robert Zemeckis had been considering actresses for the role when they met Miss Winger (pictured in 1982) in Texas

He said Body Heat actress Kathleen Turner was suggested as an alternative and landed the role.

The film tells the story of a novelist (Turner) who falls in love with a bird hunter (Douglas) in the Colombian jungle.

Douglas revealed the bite to the Literally! With Rob Lowe podcast. He has previously claimed that Miss Winger was dismissed from the film amid fears she was not a team player.
Andrew Garfield admitted on Thursday that he was texting with friends while at the Oscars after that infamous onstage slap.

The 38-year-old actor during an appearance on The View was asked by co-host Sunny Hostin, 53, about a photo that showed him texting 'when things were going on at the Oscars'.

'What perhaps were you texting about?,' Sunny asked him.

Oscars texting: Andrew Garfield admitted on Thursday on The View that he was texting with friends while at the Oscars after that infamous onstage slap

'That's none of your business,' Andrew replied drawing laughs.

'Was that before or after the slap?,' asked co-host Joy Behar, 79, referencing the shocking moment when Will Smith, 53, slapped Chris Rock, 57, after the comedian cracked a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, 50, and her alopecia condition.

'I don't know what you are talking about. No comment on the Slapgate,' Andrew said.

'I feel so bad because, you know, Kevin Costner's introducing the director nominees in the most beautiful and elegant way, and I'm, like, there's no way I'm going to be on camera during this,' Andrew explained.

The moment: The 38-year-old actor during an appearance on The View was asked by co-host Sunny Hostin, 53, about a photo that showed him texting 'when things were going on at the Oscars'

The slap: Will Smith is shown slapping Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars last month in Los Angeles

Good question: 'What perhaps were you texting about?,' Sunny Hostin asked Andrew

'And everyone's texting me, asking me, you know, what they're asking me, like, what the vibe in the room is, and I'm, you know, at that moment, my friends took priority over Kevin, but I feel really bad about that,' he said.

Joy then asked for his reaction to the slap.

Andrew, however, politely declined to share noting that 'everything's been said'.

Friends first: 'And everyone's texting me, asking me, you know, what they're asking me, like, what the vibe in the room is, and I'm, you know, at that moment, my friends took priority over Kevin, but I feel really bad about that,' Andrew said

Slap reaction: Joy Behar then asked for his reaction to the slap, but Andrew politely declined noting that 'everything's been said'

All said: Andrew, however, politely declined to share noting that 'everything's been said'

Social media: Twitter found the texting moment amusing

'There's no need for me to weigh in on that. It's every possible version of the discussion has happened, and I have no interest in adding my voice to something that's already been said well,' he added.

Will won the Oscar for Best Actor and Andrew also was a nominee in the category at the Academy Awards.

Andrew also clarified that he wasn't 'quitting acting' and was planning on just having a holiday.

Not quitting: Andrew also clarified that he wasn't 'quitting acting' and was planning on just having a holiday

'I literally said I'm going to rest, I'm gonna have like a holiday. And I think people, you know, just make a story out of nothing,' Andrew said.

'I've been working hard and I've been loving the work I've been doing, but also I need to take a month or so. A month of a break, maybe two,' he said.

Andrew was on the show promoting his new true crime drama Under The Banner Of Heaven.
Rachel McAdams opted for a bright look while attending an exclusive Lionsgate presentation of their upcoming films at the 2022 CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday.

The Notebook actress, 43, wore an orange Tory Burch dress with a mock-neck top and plaid pleated skirt with a red band at the waist.

Joining her at the event was Robert De Niro, 78, and Keanu Reeves, 57, who looked dapper as ever in black suit jackets.

Picnic vibes: Rachel McAdams opted for a bright look while attending an exclusive Lionsgate presentation at the 2022 CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday

McAdams finalized her outfit with a pair of open-toe red heels and wore her hair down, and elegantly pinned back.

The star sported soft glam, aside from her lipstick, which matched the red of her skirt.

She was at the event to accept the Vanguard Award and present a first look at her upcoming film Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret.

Managing director Mitch Neuhauser praised her career, saying: 'From comedy, to drama, romance and action, McAdams has shown for over twenty years a versatility and range unlike any other. We are thrilled to honor her as this years Vanguard Award recipient.'

Classy: Joining her at the event was Robert De Niro, 78, who looked dapper as ever in a black suit jacket worn over a grey shirt, and black pants

A-list event: Also at the event was Keanu Reeves, 57, who looked stylish in an all-black ensemble while standing next to John Wick director Chad Stahelski, 53

Cinema icon De Niro sported a grey shirt underneath his jacket, which he paired with black pants and matching shoes.

The Godfather star sported a silver beard and brushed his hair back for the special occasion.

Meanwhile Reeves, 57, looked stylish in an all-black ensemble while standing next to John Wick director Chad Stahelski, 53, who started his career as a stuntman.

The two presented the audience with a first look at John Wick: Chapter 4, which doesnt hit theaters until March 24.

Glam: The Notebook actress, 43, wore an orange Tory Burch dress with a mock-neck top and plaid pleated skirt with a red band at the waist

Elegant: McAdams finalized her outfit with a pair of open-toe red heels and wore her hair down, and elegantly pinned back

Casual cool: The Matrix star paired his casual cool look with brown boots, and wore his shoulder-length black hair in a sleek style

Cool guy: The Canadian actor also sported a silver and pepper smattering of facial hair

The Matrix star paired his casual cool look with brown boots, and wore his shoulder-length black hair in a sleek style.

The Canadian actor also sported a silver and pepper smattering of facial hair.

Stahelski opted for a classy look, wearing a black shirt, black suit, and matching dress shoes.

Stunner: Leslie Bibb, 47, looked stylish in a figure-hugging sleeveless black jumpsuit, which she paired with a glittering diamond necklace and a bright red lipstick

Hollywood smile: The Ironman star flashed a bright Hollywood smile as she posed for photographers

Youthful fashion: Abby Ryder Fortson, 14, rocked a youthful ensemble consisting of a long-sleeve shite shirt, grey pants, and black suspenders

Laid-back style: American stand-up comedian and actor Sebastian Maniscalco, 48, looked cool in a dark burgundy jacket worn over a black T-shirt and pants

Also at the event was Leslie Bibb, 47, who looked stylish in a figure-hugging sleeveless black jumpsuit.

The Ironman star paired her look with a glittering diamond necklace, pointed-toe red heels and a bright red lipstick.

She wore her blonde tresses stylishly slicked back, and flashed a bright Hollywood smile as she posed for photographers.

Backstage: McAdams and the other stars were all seen posing in backstage portraits as well

Happy: The beauty flashed a sweet smile before being presented with the Vanguard Award

Relaxed: The Raging Bull actor linked his hands as he posed for his backstage portrait

Sticking together: Reeves and Stahelski stuck together throughout the event, posing for multiple pictures

Cool girl: Fortson looked cool as ever with her hands in her pockets as she leaned back against the wall behind her

Abby Ryder Fortson, 14, rocked a youthful ensemble consisting of a long-sleeve shite shirt, grey pants, and black suspenders.

The Whispers actress wore her raven tresses parted on the side and styled into loose curls, and wore a pair of sturdy black boots.

Fortson and McAdams both star in Lionsgates upcoming film, Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret, based on the beloved 1970 Judy Blume book.

Stylish pair: Reeves and McAdams made a stylish pair as they posed together

Passionate: Keanu was later seen on stage passionately discussing something while gesturing with his hands

First look: Reeves and Stahelski presented the audience with a first look at John Wick: Chapter 4

Excited: The Canadian actor appeared excited as he discussed the new film

Coming next year: The new John Wick chapter is set to hit theaters on March 24, 2023

Fortson was also an award-recipient at the event, receiving the CinemaCon Rising Star Award.

American stand-up comedian and actor Sebastian Maniscalco, 48, looked cool in a dark burgundy jacket worn over a black T-shirt and pants.

McAdams, De Niro, Reeves, Stahelski, and Fortson were all seen posing in backstage portraits as well.

Interesting: John Wick creator Stahelski was a stuntman before he became a Hollywood director

Co-stars: Fortson and McAdams both star in Lionsgates upcoming film, Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret, based on the beloved 1970 Judy Blume book

Presenting: The presented the first trailer for the long-awaited feature adaptation during the event

Rising star: Fortson was also an award-recipient at the event, receiving the CinemaCon Rising Star Award

Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall, 65, was spotted inside of the event, as she linked arms with De Niro, who was seen leading her onstage.

The actress looked incredible in a black leather coat, matching jeans, and pointed-toe black heels.

The blonde beauty had her tresses styled into loose curls, cascading down her shoulders.

Kim's in the building: Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall, 65, was spotted inside of the event, as she linked arms with De Niro, who was seen leading her onstage

Black leather look: The actress looked incredible in a black leather coat, matching jeans, and pointed-toe black heels

Co-stars: The two are co-stars in the upcoming film About My Father

Surprise: While on stage, Cattrall surprised De Niro by giving him a quick kiss on the cheek

Cute: Bibb and Maniscalco looked on as Kim planted a tender smooch on the cinema icon

While on stage, Cattrall surprised De Niro by giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. The two are co-stars in the upcoming film About My Father. The film also stars Bibb and Cattrall.

About My Father is inspired on Maniscalco's life, who also stars in the movie, and who made a quip about Leonardo DiCaprio playing him.

'I didnt think this thing was going to be made. I cant believe Robert De Niro is playing my father in this movie. It hurt my feelings when I heard Leonardo DiCaprio should play me,' he said, according to Deadline.

De Niro joked back, saying, 'My only problem was with Sebastian, if I could recast him, I would have gotten DiCaprio.'

Lionsgate closed out CinemaCon with Maniscalco performing eight minutes of stand-up comedy.

Chatting it up: De Niro was greeted onstage by Keanu, right, as Kim Cattrall looked on

New movie: Bibb also stars in About My Father, which is inspired on Maniscalco's life

Chic in black: The actress looked incredible while laughing it up with the Cape Fear star

New role: She will star as Ellie in the upcoming comedy film

Funny guy: Bibb appeared to crack up at something De Niro said

Ahead of the ceremony, McAdams spoke with The Hollywood Reporter, and revealed that she can feel a 'swell of reconnection and reuniting love for movies right now.'

The star added: 'Not to overstate it, but its kind of emotional to think about going and sitting in a movie theater full of people again.'

As for her upcoming adaptation of Judy Blume's book, the actress revealed that she didn't read it while she was growing up.

'It was really nice to come to it later in life as a mom because I was playing the mother character and was viewing it through that lens,' she said.

'I have a daughter, so it became really powerful from that point of view. And then it also took me back to my own childhood and wishing I had discovered that book.'

Joking: Maniscalco joked about Leonardo DiCaprio playing him in the movie

No Leo: 'It hurt my feelings when I heard Leonardo DiCaprio should play me,' he said

Closing it out: Lionsgate closed out CinemaCon with Maniscalco performing eight minutes of stand-up comedy

Big fan: 'I didnt think this thing was going to be made. I cant believe Robert De Niro is playing my father in this movie,' he said

McAdams also spoke about the book's iconic author: 'Judy Blume had never found the team that she wanted to take this project on. And, 50 years later, she felt ready.'

She added that she hope the audience would come away from the movie with a feeling of togetherness.

'I hope there's, above all, a feeling of togetherness and community and feeling, as women, like we're all on the same team. That there's nothing you can't talk about with each other.'

The first trailer for the long-awaited feature adaptation was presented by McAdams and Fortson at the event.
Park Ji-hyun, left, the co-chairperson of the current ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), speaks during an emergency committee meeting of the party at the National Assembly on Seoul's Yeouido, Friday. Rep. Yun Ho-jung, the co-chairperson of the party, is on the right. Joint Press Corps





By Jung Da-min







Activists and politicians from the liberal and progressive blocs are calling for the passage of an anti-discrimination law, saying it should happen before the Yoon Suk-yeol administration takes office on May 10.







Those calling for the establishment of an anti-discrimination law are desperately trying to make their voices heard by holding press conferences in front of the National Assembly and even participating in a hunger strike.







They have said that it will likely be even more difficult to establish the law once the next administration, which represents the country's conservative bloc, is inaugurated.







Park Ji-hyun, the co-chairperson of the ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), has put her support behind the anti-discrimination law, calling for the DPK leadership to keep its promise to establish the law.







"I am concerned about whether some might say why I have to bring out this issue of the anti-discrimination law, while the DPK is going through a filibuster war (with the main opposition party, the People Power Party). But this law is about people's lives and the survival of those being discriminated against: women, people with disabilities and children who suffer from discrimination and hatred," Park said during an emergency committee meeting of the DPK at the National Assembly, Friday.







Park was referring to the recently escalating tension between the country's two major parties over thorny political issues such as prosecutorial reform or the hearings of ministerial nominees.







Park requested Rep. Yun Ho-jung, the other co-chairperson of the DPK, to keep the promise he made to her when proposing to take on the party leadership in March, saying that they would be establishing the law together.







Park, a 26 year-old activist-turned politician, played an important role in gaining votes from young female voters for Lee Jae-myung, the DPK's presidential candidate who lost against Yoon by a razor-thin margin in the March 9 presidential election.







"It was the DPK who first made the promise to establish the anti-discrimination law and it is the DPK who has neglected that promise for 15 years," Park said, referring to the law that has been waiting to be established for 15 years but has yet to be passed in the National Assembly.







Participants pose during a press conference calling for the establishment of an anti-discrimination law that comprehensively bans all kinds of discrimination and promotes equality, held at an auditorium of the National Assembly Library on Seoul's Yeouido, Thursday. Joint Press Corps





So far, there have been eight attempts by the government or political parties to submit a bill to the National Assembly to establish a law that comprehensively bans all kinds of discrimination based on gender, disability, age, language, country of origin, religion, sexual orientation, physical condition, academic background and any other reason. But all these attempts have been blocked by ultra conservative religious groups or political parties on the grounds that they are against homosexuality.







As the current main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is to become the next ruling party upon Yoon's inauguration in May, activists said that now is the last chance for the current ruling DPK and the Moon Jae-in government to establish the anti-discrimination law.







Lee Jong-gul, a spokesperson for LGBTQ activist group Chingusai, and Miryu, a human rights activist with the civic organization Sarangbang, began a hunger strike in front of the National Assembly on April 11.







In an April 25 interview with local newspaper Hankyoreh, Lee said he was concerned that hatred against social minorities would grow under the upcoming administration, seeing the recent controversies over PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok openly criticizing subway protests by people with disabilities who have been calling on the government to guarantee universal rights for them, in particular, their mobility rights to be able to move around equitably.







"This is why we say we need to establish the law now," Lee said. He called for the DPK not to put off the discussion anymore, saying that they have been doing so for over five years now since President Moon was sworn in.










Jodie Comer was mobbed by huge crowds of fans as she stepped out of the Harold Pinter Theatre after performing in Prima Facie on Friday night.

The Killing Eve star, 29, was seen signing autographs and greeting fans as crowds of theatregoers eagerly waited for her exit from the London theatre.

She looked effortlessly chic in a smart black jacket while she wore her golden tresses loosely tucked underneath a baker boy hat.

Busy: Jodie Comer was mobbed by huge crowds of fans as she stepped out of Harold Pinter Theatre after performing in Prima Facie on Friday night

Jodie showed off her fresh faced beauty and appeared to be in excellent spirits as she was seen waving while signing autographs.

The actress covered up with a black face mask and was gifted bouquets of flowers after her West End debut performance in Prima Facie.

She appeared to have another night of success after receiving rave reviews for the opening night of her one-woman show.

The Liverpudlian was not short of support on her inaugural performance, as author Giovanni Fletcher and former BBC newsreader Emily Maitlis were among those hitting the West End to watch her.

Good spirits: The Killing Eve star, 29, was seen signing autographs and greeting fans as crowds of theatregoers eagerly waiting for her exit from the London theatre

All smiles: Jodie showed off her fresh faced beauty and appeared to be in excellent spirits as she was seen waving while signing autographs

Role: Prima Facie is a one-woman show by Australian-British writer Suzie Miller in which Jodie plays idealistic young barrister Tessa, who specialises in defending rape suspects

Jodie's new venture sees her play idealistic young barrister Tessa, who specialises in defending rape suspects.

Her character, who is described as 'thoroughbred', vilifies the victims until she is sexually assaulted and forced to go up against the system she had taken advantage of during her career.

Prima Facie, directed by Justin Martin, was written by Australian-British lawyer turned playwright Suzie Miller.

The Daily Mail's Patrick Marmion awarded Jodie's 'ferocious yet forensic performance' a strong four stars out of five.

Looking good: She looked effortlessly chic in a smart black jacket while she wore her golden tresses loosely tucked underneath a baker boy hat

Praise: The actress covered up with a black face mask and was gifted bouquets of flowers by people after her performance in Prima Facie

Good form: Jodie was seen grinning and waving at somebody as she took time to sign autographs for her fans

He wrote: 'Comer blows us away in a ferocious yet forensic performance that's related in a blizzard of quickly shifting perspectives.

'She gets us onside as the high-flying barrister with her native Liverpool accent and anti-Establishment attitude  at one point tossing rubbish into the audience.

'But her abrupt disintegration into fevered, ashen-faced confusion is seriously distressing.

'Although her performance runs a stunning gamut from cocky joy to despair and humiliation, it's the subject matter that dominates the evening.'

Signing: Fans eagerly held out Prima Facie catalogues for Jodie to sign as she stepped out after her theatre performance

Showtime: Jodie appeared to have impressed fans who eagerly waited for her to leave the theatre after her West End debut performance in one-woman show Prima Facie

Autographs: Jodie was mobbed by huge crowds of fans as soon as she left the Harold Pinter Theatre on Firday

There are already rumours that Prima Facie could head to Broadway. The play will run at the Harold Pinter Theatre until June 18.

James Bierman, the play's producer and general manager, told Deadline Prima Facie has the 'potential to be something' and revealed that he and the production would like to transfer to New York.

James added that Jodie would also like to take the play to her hometown of Liverpool.

He said: 'It would be amazing to take it to Liverpool, schedules permitting, and Broadway deserves to see the piece.'

Theatre: She appeared to have another night of West End success after receiving rave reviews for the opening night of her one-woman show

Acclaim: The Daily Mail's Patrick Marmion awarded Jodie's 'ferocious yet forensic performance' in Prima Facie a strong four stars out of five

James confirmed he would like Prima Facie to have another limited season in London, where it has played in front of a packed crowd during an 11-date preview run.

He added that the play 'feels like it can be a really powerful agent' when discussing how sexual assault victims are treated by the police and the courts.

'Every eight minutes a woman reports a rape in the UK,' he said, before pointing to the fact that just a fraction of those cases end up in a court.

Once Jodie was cast as Tessa, a decision was made to give the character a working-class Liverpudlian voice.
She's been spending some quality time with her mother in New York City in recent days.

And Amal Clooney continued her East Coast residency on Thursday when she stepped out of the Whitby Hotel in Midtown Manhattan to head to dinner.

The 44-year-old human rights attorney was set pulses racing with a glamorous red dress, while her mother Baria Alamuddin stood out in a bright yellow jacket.

On the town: Amal Clooney, 44, looked stunning in a figure-hugging red dress as she stepped from her Midtown Manhattan hotel on Thursday with mother Baria Alamuddin

Amal's sleeveless scarlet dress hugged her trim figure and reached down to the tops of her knees.

The look featured a sheer top with an opaque seam running up her chest.

The darker skirt featured delicate embroidery and knit patterns, and long red straps hung down from her hips.

The 5ft9in wife of George Clooney was even taller thanks to her lovely silver pumps, which had pointy toes.

Trim: Amal's sleeveless scarlet dress hugged her trim figure and reached down to the tops of her knees

Woman in red: The look featured a sheer top with an opaque seam running up her chest

Shiny shoes: The 5ft9in wife of George Clooney was even taller thanks to her lovely silver pumps, which had pointy toes

Amal accessorized with a boxy clutch, and she added some additional sparkle to her ensemble with large dangling earrings.

The brunette beauty wore her long locks swept to the side so that the cascaded down one shoulder in luscious waves.

Her face was elegantly made up, and sported a splash of scarlet on her lips that perfectly matched her dress.

Elegant: Amal accessorized with a boxy clutch, and she added some additional sparkle to her ensemble with large dangling earrings. The brunette beauty wore her long locks swept to the side so that the cascaded down one shoulder in luscious waves

On point: Her face was elegantly made up, and sported a splash of scarlet on her lips that perfectly matched her dress

Colorful: Her mother Baria wore a more modest white ensemble, but she spiced it up with a furry canary yellow jacket

Her mother Baria wore a more modest white ensemble, but she spiced it up with a furry canary yellow jacket.

She wore a white blouse with a frilly collar under it, and she paired it with prominently creased white pants and pointy white boots.

She covered her forehead with her dark bangs, and she accessorized with a black alligator handbag.

Missing from all of Amal's recent outings was her husband George Clooney.

Suited up: She wore a white blouse with a frilly collar under it, and she paired it with prominently creased white pants and pointy white boots

Stylish: She covered her forehead with her dark bangs, and she accessorized with a black alligator handbag. Missing from all of Amal's recent outings was her husband George Clooney

Taking it easy: The barrister and her mother were relaxing with a night on the town following Amal's address at the United Nations on Wednesday about the Russian war in Ukraine

Both the LebaneseBritish barrister and her mother were relaxing with a night on the town following Amal's address at the United Nations on Wednesday.

During the tense session, Clooney accused the UN of ignoring potential war crimes perpetrated by Russia amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine during an informal meeting of the Security Council.

'Here we are, faced with the evidence of crimes of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity and mounting evidence each day of the crime of genocide,' she said during her statement, via The Hill.

She went on to describe Ukraine as a 'slaughterhouse' in the 'heart of Europe,' and she expressed concerns that evidence of alleged Russian war crimes would merely sit in 'storage' for years to come.
Married At First Sight's Tamara Djordjevic indulged in some retail therapy on the Gold Coast on Thursday.

The real estate operations manager, 29, stepped out in a crop top and baggy black shorts as she went shopping with a friend.

The sighting comes amid rumours Tamara is dating her MAFS co-star Mitch Eynaud, after the pair attended an Anzac Day event together earlier this week.

Retail therapy: Married At First Sight star Tamara Djordjevic stepped out in a crop top and baggy black shorts as she went shopping with a friend on Thursday

Tamara styled her long blonde hair loosely and kept her makeup look simple, opting for winged eyeliner.

She carried her belongings in a Louis Vuitton bag as she browsed shoe stores with a gal pal.

The shopping trip comes after Tamara and Mitch fuelled romance rumours on Monday when they attended an Anzac Day event on the Gold Coast.

Dolled up: Tamara (left, with a friend) kept her makeup look simple, opting for winged eyeliner

Casually clad: The real estate operations manager, 29, wore a crop top and baggy black shorts

Chic: Tamara carried her belongings in a Louis Vuitton bag and styled her blonde hair loosely

The pair went to their local RSL club to show their support for the Australian diggers.

Tamara was seen sculling beers and playing two-up with financial planner Mitch, 27, in videos shared on her friend's Instagram account.

Mitch and his on-screen wife Ella Ding called it quits just days after they filmed the Married At First Sight reunion on January 13.

Everybody's talking! It comes after Tamara and her MAFS co-star Mitch Eynaud (right) fuelled romance rumours on Monday when they attended an Anzac Day event on the Gold Coast

During the reunion, it was revealed Tamara had asked Mitch if he wanted to hang out during filming, but nothing transpired.

But the pair seem to have grown close since production wrapped, and were spotted getting cosy at a Gold Coast bar in February.

While they have made an effort to keep their romance under wraps, a source has confirmed they are a couple but taking things slow.

Over: Mitch and his on-screen wife Ella Ding (left) called it quits just days after they filmed the Married At First Sight reunion on January 13

'They are seeing each other but just want to go slow with everything,' the insider told Daily Mail Australia.

'They've both just come out of this experience and want to see how they feel about each other before putting a label on it.'

Tamara 'married' Brent Vitiello on MAFS but he ended things with her during their final vows.

During the ceremony he called her 'vindictive, spiteful and self-absorbed'.
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Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid proved to be a dynamic duo as they attended The Prince's Trust Gala in New York City on Thursday evening and led the way for a host of A-list guests.

The annual event which attracts high-profile stars is presented by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe.

The model sisters ensured the spotlight was on them as they put on a playful display while arriving the Cipriani 25 Broadway for the star-studded soiree in aid of Prince Charles' charity, who launched the organisation in 1976.

Stylish siblings! Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid proved to be a dynamic duo as they attended The Prince's Trust Gala in New York City on Thursday evening and led the way for a host of A-list guests

Bella, 25, playfully pouted and blew kisses to the cameras as she made her way into the event, wearing a black strapless dress, which highlighted her sculpted shoulders.

In a show of sisterly love, Bella held hands with her older sister Gigi, 27, who was modelling a bedazzled hot pink mini dress with long-sleeves that hung off her shoulders.

Runway maven Bella's gown have a high-low design, which allowed her to show off her classic black stiletto heels.

Stunning: Bella, 25, playfully pouted and blew kisses to the cameras as she made her way into the event, wearing a black strapless dress, which highlighted her sculpted shoulders

Bella's brunette hair was styled in a voluminous up do with her bangs swept to one side and tucked behind her ear.

She sparkled under the lights in a pair of dazzling diamond stud earrings and a diamond choker necklace.

The Vogue covergirl added an edgy touch to her ensemble by slipping on a pair of mesh arm-length gloves.

Centre of attention: The model sisters ensured the spotlight was on them as they put on a playful display while arriving the Cipriani 25 Broadway for the star-studded soiree in aid of Prince Charles' charity, who launched the organisation in 1976

These boots! Gigi contrasted her sister's elegant look with a pair of towering pink platforms

Flawless! The two sisters looked perfectly put together on the night out

Differing looks! The Hadid's clearly have differing but equally chic fashion taste

Pose! They used their model prowess to their advantage and posed up a storm on the runway

Stunning: Bella's gown have a high-low design, which allowed her to show off her classic black stiletto heels

Better together: The supermodel sisters braved the red carpet photo op with their hands interlocked before breaking off for their solo shots

As for makeup, the beauty rocked a sleek cat eyeliner look and doused her pout in mauve toned lip gloss.

Her cheekbones were enhanced with a generous dusting of blush and bronzer, while her complexion had a noticeable glow.

Platform perfection: The mother-of-one concealed her slender stems with a pair of opaque bright pink tights. She completed her Barbie-inspired getup with a pair of pink satin platform heels with a dainty ankle strap

The mother-of-one concealed her slender stems with a pair of opaque bright pink tights.

She completed her Barbie-inspired getup with a pair of pink satin platform heels with a dainty ankle strap.

Gigi's bleach blonde mane flowed down her back in sleek, straightened strands.

Arrival: Gigi and Bella were captured arriving to the gala's venue in the city

On their way: They strolled up to the entrance holding hands

Natural beauty: The catwalk queen let her natural beauty shine by opting for a minimal makeup look consisting of a light dusting of brown eyeshadow on her lids, shimmery facial bronzer and a nude matte lipstick shade

Just the essentials: Gigi toted her essentials in a tiny hot pink crocodile skin handbag, while Bella went without

The catwalk queen let her natural beauty shine by opting for a minimal makeup look consisting of a light dusting of brown eyeshadow on her lids, shimmery facial bronzer and a nude matte lipstick shade.

She toted her essentials in a tiny hot pink crocodile skin handbag.

The supermodel sisters braved the red carpet photo op with their hands interlocked before breaking off for their solo shots.

Group shot: Gigi and Bella posed for several snaps with British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful and fellow model Adut Akech

Smooch! At one point, Bella planted a kiss on Edward's face

Lily James slipped her enviably lean figure into a stunning strapless gown with a glittering beaded bodice and black floor-length skirt.

The Pam & Tommy star's toned abs poked out from a triangle cut-out placed just below her bust.

She had her dark brown hair parted down the middle and styled straight.

Peek-a-boo: The Pam & Tommy star's toned abs poked out from a triangle cut-out placed just below her bust

Rising star: Lily is coming off the success of her hit Hulu limited series Pam & Tommy, which aired its finale episode on March 9

En route: Before hitting the gala's red carpet, Lily was captured strolling outside the event's New York City venue

Beaming beauty: Lily flashed a smile in the direction of shutterbugs

The 33-year-old actress tucked her hair behind her ears to expose the pair of diamond studs in her ears.

Before hitting the gala's red carpet, Lily was captured strolling outside the event's New York City venue.

Kate Moss looked every bit the supermodel as she strolled the red carpet in a loose fitting navy blue gown with beading along the neck.

Gorgeous: The 48-year-old runway veteran wore her blonde hair in a voluminous style that curled away from her face

Ageless: She had a glowing complexion and she kept makeup to minimum to let her natural beauty shine

Eye-catching: Kate carried her belongings in an eye-catching vintage clutch and she wore a pair of large, silver chandelier earrings

Photo-op: Once inside, the stunner posed in front of a backlit sculpture

Partner in crime: She was first seen arriving to the venue with legendary makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury. Charlotte's makeup brand Charlotte Tilbury Beauty is listed as one of the gala's sponsors

The 48-year-old runway veteran wore her blonde hair in a voluminous style that curled away from her face.

She had a glowing complexion and she kept makeup to a minimum to let her natural beauty shine.

Kate carried her belongings in an eye-catching vintage clutch and she wore a pair of large, silver chandelier earrings.

Once inside, the stunner posed in front of a backlit sculpture.

Glittering: Karlie Kloss wowed in a black and gold gown decked out in feathers and shimmery sequins

Up and away: The model wore her honey toned hair in an updo with several strands left out to frame her face

Smiley: The mother-of-one appeared to be having a blast as she smiled for snaps on the red carpet

She was first seen arriving to the venue with legendary makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury.

Charlotte's makeup brand Charlotte Tilbury Beauty is listed as one of the gala's sponsors.

Karlie Kloss wowed in a black and gold gown decked out in feathers and shimmery sequins.

The model wore her honey toned hair in an updo with several strands left out to frame her face.

Belle of the ball: Phoebe Dynevor looked like the belle of the ball in a plunging gown with a ruffled mermaid-style skirt

Joyful: Gala chair Lionel Richie, 72, was in a joyous mood as he arrived to the event with his girlfriend Lisa Parigi, 32

Suited up: The legendary musician rocked a black suit jacket with satin lapels and a pair of matching tapered trousers

Edgy: Stella Maxwell put on an edgy display by going topless beneath a fitted suit jacket and matching pants. Her eyebrows were bleached and her light blonde strands were tucked behind her ears

Karlie had a black leather purse with a gold metal strap in hand and accessorized with a pair of chunky earrings.

The mother-of-one appeared to be having a blast as she smiled for snaps on the red carpet.

Phoebe Dynevor looked like the belle of the ball in a plunging gown with a ruffled mermaid-style skirt.

The Bridgerton star's brunette hair was styled in a bun and her makeup centered around a bold red lip.

Close bond: British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful looked classy in a black tuxedo and bow tie as he posed on the gala's red carpet with model Adut Akech

'Fashion dad': Akech has referred to Enninful as her 'fashion dad' in the past

Fashion heavyweights: Gigi Hadid, Edward Enninful, Bella Hadid and Adut Akech pose up on the red carpet

Gala chair Lionel Richie, 72, was in a joyous mood as he arrived to the event with his girlfriend Lisa Parigi, 32.

The legendary musician rocked a black suit jacket with satin lapels and a pair of matching tapered trousers.

Stella Maxwell put on an edgy display by going topless beneath a fitted suit jacket and matching pants. Her eyebrows were bleached and her light blonde strands were tucked behind her ears.

British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful looked classy in a black tuxedo and bow tie as he posed on the gala's red carpet with model Adut Akech.

Nice touch: Imaan Hammam styled her black suit with a steampunk-inspired leather waist belt with silver buckles

Auburn beauties: Grace Coddington and Charlotte Tilbury let her their auburn locks shine as they hit the red carpet

Bombshell: Maya Jama was a sight for sore eyes as she put her ample assets on display in a daring ombre cut-out gown

Akech, who has referred to Enninful as her 'fashion dad' in the past, showcased her lean legs in a silky red mini skirt and a puff-sleeved tunic.

Imaan Hammam styled her black suit with a steampunk-inspired leather waist belt with silver buckles.

Grace Coddington was a designer darling in a Louis Vuitton set styled with a bright red clutch and black patent leather flats.

Maya Jama was a sight for sore eyes as she put her ample assets on display in a daring ombre cut-out gown.

All the drama: Natasha Poonawalla turned heads in a dramatic black lace ballgown that consumed her petite frame

Legend: Diane von Furstenberg stunned in a teal floral patterned silk robe and matching trousers

Dueling divas: Sabrina Dhowre and Paloma Elsesser looked incredible as they attended the charity's gala in dueling color-block gowns

Natasha Poonawalla turned heads in a dramatic black lace ballgown that swallowed up her petite frame.

Legendary fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg stunned in a teal floral patterned silk robe and matching trousers.

Sabrina Dhowre and Paloma Elsesser looked incredible as they attended the charity's gala in dueling color-block gowns.

Sophie Summer sparkled in a silver sequin gown with a matching cape draped over her shoulders.

Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece, and Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, were also in attendance during Thursday's gala.

Gathered together: Maya Jama, Sabrina Dhowre, Kate Moss, Charlotte Tilbury, Lily James and Phoebe Dynevor gathered together for a snap

Sequins: Sophie Summer sparkled in a silver sequin gown with a matching cape draped over her shoulders

Royalty: Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece, and Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, were also in attendance during Thursday's gala

The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom.

Over 45 years later, the charity continues to help 'thousands of young people every day who are facing tremendous hardships, from unemployment to social exclusion, to poverty, mental health issues, disability, or abuse.'

Without the proper help and programs - like the ones funded and orchestrated by The Prince's Trust - many young people would 'struggle to move forward in education or employment, and consequently become increasingly at risk of to poverty, ill health, exploitation in their adult lives.'

According to the charity's official website, The Prince's Trust has helped 'nearly one million vulnerable young people' in the United Kingdom since its inception.

Long history: The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom; Lionel Richie and Lisa Parigi pictured

Continuing to do good: Over 45 years later, the charity continues to help 'thousands of young people every day who are facing tremendous hardships, from unemployment to social exclusion, to poverty, mental health issues, disability, or abuse'; Lionel Richie pictured

Providing relief on a global scale, The Prince's Trust in the UK works alongside Prince's Trust International, Prince's Trust Australia, Prince's Trust New Zealand, Prince's Trust Canada and now Prince's Trust USA.

It is reported on The Prince's Trust website that the charity aims to deliver support to young people in the countries of 'Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ghana, Greece, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Rwanda, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and the United Kingdom.'

Ahead of Thursday's star-studded soiree, gala chairs Lionel Richie and British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful released a statement expressing delight over the opportunity to 'celebrate the global work of The Prince's Trust and to support young people from around the world to transform their lives and build their futures.'

Helping hand: According to the charity's official website , The Prince's Trust has helped 'nearly one million vulnerable young people' in the United Kingdom since its inception; Gigi and Bella Hadid pictured

Global: Providing relief on a global scale, The Prince's Trust in the UK works alongside Prince's Trust International, Prince's Trust Australia, Prince's Trust New Zealand, Prince's Trust Canada and now Prince's Trust USA; Stella Maxwell (left) and Karlie Kloss (right) pictured

It continued: 'We are both so passionate about creating these opportunities and are touched by your support for this cause.

'The journey of The Prince's Trust started in the UK over 45 years ago and today stretches over 20 countries globally, now including the US and Ghana, countries very close to our hearts.

'Tonight, we want you to enjoy an inspirational evening, as we hear from young people who have already changed their lives and to harness the incredible gift we have to help support many more to achieve their dreams. We cannot thank you enough,' the statement concluded.

Worthy cause: 'The journey of The Prince's Trust started in the UK over 45 years ago and today stretches over 20 countries globally, now including the US and Ghana, countries very close to our hearts,' the statement read; Maya Jama pictured
It was a night of many of the biggest names to hit the catwalk.

But Karlie Kloss managed to stand out.

The 29-year-old model looked absolutely stunning as she hit the red carpet at The Prince's Trust Gala in New York on Thursday night.

Gorgeous: Karlie Kloss looked absolutely stunning as she hit the red carpet at The Prince's Trust Gala in New York on Thursday night

The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe.

The 6feet2 model looked fine in a feathered black and gold gown featuring sequins.

She paired the stunning gown with a pair of black and gold heels as she strutted her stuff.

Bold: The 6feet2 model looked fine in a feathered black and gold gown featuring sequins

Strutting her stuff: She paired the stunning gown with a pair of black and gold heels as she strutted her stuff

Karlie accessorized with a black leather designer bag and dangling earrings.

Her highlighted tresses were put in an elegant updo as the fringe was combed down the middle.

She accentuated her porcelain skin with complementary make-up topped off with shiny pink lip.

The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom.

Over 45 years later, the charity continues to help 'thousands of young people every day who are facing tremendous hardships, from unemployment to social exclusion, to poverty, mental health issues, disability, or abuse.'

Glam moment: Her highlighted tresses were put in an elegant updo as the fringe was combed down the middle

Without the proper help and programs - like the ones funded and orchestrated by The Prince's Trust - many young people would 'struggle to move forward in education or employment, and consequently become increasingly at risk of to poverty, ill health, exploitation in their adult lives.'

According to the charity's official website, The Prince's Trust has helped 'nearly one million vulnerable young people' in the United Kingdom since its inception.

Providing relief on a global scale, The Prince's Trust in the UK works alongside Prince's Trust International, Prince's Trust Australia, Prince's Trust New Zealand, Prince's Trust Canada and now Prince's Trust USA.

Man of the hour: The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe

Royal: The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom

It is reported on The Prince's Trust website that the charity aims to deliver support to young people in the countries of 'Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ghana, Greece, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Rwanda, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and the United Kingdom.'

Ahead of Thursday's star-studded soiree, gala chairs Lionel Richie and British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful released a statement expressing delight over the opportunity to 'celebrate the global work of The Prince's Trust and to support young people from around the world to transform their lives and build their futures.'

Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid were two of the biggest stars at the event as they looked very fashionable at the gala.

Bella, 25, stormed the red carpet with her 27-year-old sister in a glamorous black strapless dress that highlighted her sculpted shoulders.

Dynamic duo: Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid were two of the biggest stars at the event as they looked very fashionable at the gala
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It was a night of many stars, but none shined brighter than Lily James at The Prince's Trust Gala in New York City on Thursday evening.

The 33-year-old British actress shimmered in a strapless number while attending the star-studded event, hosted by Motown legend Lionel Richie.

The annual event aimed to funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe.

Wow factor: Lily James shimmered in a strapless number while attending The Prince's Trust Gala in New York City on Thursday night

The top of her couture dress featured a jewelled silver top which featured a triangular cutout on the torso which showcased her enviable abs.

Lily's stunning ensemble also featured a long black skirt which kissed the floor as she sported heels.

Her raven-colored locks were worn down and tucked behind her ear to show off her diamond-encrusted earrings which matched her dress.

Lily showcased her stunning bone-structure with pink make-up including blush and lip.

The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom.

Don't mind me: Lily looked a little unprepared as she greeted photographers after arriving on the red carpet

In the details: The top of her couture dress featured a jewelled silver top which featured a triangular cutout on the torso which showcased her enviable abs

Lovely lady: Her raven-colored locks were worn down and tucked behind her ear to show off her diamond-encrusted earrings which matched her dress

Wow factor: The stunning ensemble also featured a long black skirt which kissed the floor as she sported heels

Group shot: (L-R) Sabrina Dhowre, Maya Jama, Kate Moss, Charlotte Tilbury, Lily James and Phoebe Dynevor

Stunning: Supermodel Bella Hadid caught the eye in a sweeping black gown as she made her way into the event

In good company: Older sister Gigi towered over Bella in a pair of distinctive pink platform heels

Over 45 years later, the charity continues to help 'thousands of young people every day who are facing tremendous hardships, from unemployment to social exclusion, to poverty, mental health issues, disability, or abuse.'

Without the proper help and programs - like the ones funded and orchestrated by The Prince's Trust - many young people would 'struggle to move forward in education or employment, and consequently become increasingly at risk of to poverty, ill health, exploitation in their adult lives.'

According to the charity's official website, The Prince's Trust has helped 'nearly one million vulnerable young people' in the United Kingdom since its inception.

Royal: The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom

Providing relief on a global scale, The Prince's Trust in the UK works alongside Prince's Trust International, Prince's Trust Australia, Prince's Trust New Zealand, Prince's Trust Canada and now Prince's Trust USA.

It is reported on The Prince's Trust website that the charity aims to deliver support to young people in the countries of 'Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ghana, Greece, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Rwanda, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and the United Kingdom.'

Ahead of Thursday's star-studded soiree, gala chairs Lionel Richie and British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful released a statement expressing delight over the opportunity to 'celebrate the global work of The Prince's Trust and to support young people from around the world to transform their lives and build their futures.'

Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid were two of the biggest stars at the event as they looked very fashionable at the gala.

Bella, 25, stormed the red carpet with her 27-year-old sister in a glamorous black strapless dress that highlighted her sculpted shoulders.

Main man: Kate Moss' long-term partner Nikolai von Bismarck was also in attendance on Thursday evening

Dynamic duo: Bella and Gigi were two of the biggest stars at the event as they looked very fashionable at the gala
Tziporah Malkah, the former Sydney 'It girl' known for her ill-fated engagement to billionaire James Packer, is facing a $450 fine after allegedly running a red light.

The 48-year-old, who was known as Kate Fisher before she converted to Judaism and legally changed her name, is scheduled to appear at Burwood Court on May 17.

The ex-model and actress has a history of driving offences and is seeking to avoid another black mark on her licence by appealing the infringement notice.

Legal matter: Former model Tziporah Malkah is facing a $450 fine after allegedly running a red light. (Pictured left: Malkah, then known as Kate Fisher, at an AIDS fundraiser at Opera Quays in Sydney in November 2000; right: Malkah outside her Rockdale apartment on Thursday)

Malkah's latest brush with the law comes a year after she got her licence back following a two-year suspension.

She lost her licence for 27 months and was fined $1,500 after pleading guilty at Melbourne Magistrates' Court in late 2017 to reckless driving charges.

These charges followed an incident earlier that year where Malkah was seen driving erratically through the Melbourne suburb of Toorak, hitting three roundabouts.

She then reversed into a parked car, according to a police summary of facts.

Famous ex: The 48-year-old former model and actress (pictured with her ex-fiance James Packer in the late 1990s) is scheduled to appear at Burwood Court on May 17

Police were called but Malkah managed to escape inside her apartment before they could carry out a breath test to determine whether or not she had been drinking.

She later claimed she had been subjected to unfair police treatment on the night in question, but refused to elaborate further.

Malkah, who was a tabloid fixture in the late '90s and even starred in the film Sirens opposite Hugh Grant and Elle Macpherson, has maintained a low profile in recent years, only making occasional appearances in women's magazines to discuss her weight loss and desire to one day become a mother.

However, she is no stranger to the court.

Pleading her case: Malkah (pictured at Downing Centre Local Court on March 17, 2021, for an unrelated matter) has a history of driving offences and is seeking to avoid another black mark on her licence by appealing the infringement notice

Suspended: Malkah's brush with the law comes a year after she got her licence back following a two year suspension. She lost her licence for 27 months and was fined after pleading guilty at Melbourne Magistrates' Court in late 2017 to reckless driving charges (pictured outside court)

Her last court appearance was in relation to an acrimonious split from an ex-boyfriend and a series of AVOs that followed.

Those matters have now been settled and Malkah has moved on from that relationship and is living alone in a modest apartment in Rockdale, southern Sydney.

She may even have a new partner, as she was seen being picked up by a mystery man at her home on Thursday.

Who's that guy? Malkah may have a new partner, as she was seen being picked up by a mystery man (right) at her apartment in Rockdale, southern Sydney, on Thursday

Chivalrous: The man held open the car door for her before they drove to a local shopping centre, where they were seen walking hand in hand through the car park

Carpool: Malkah, who wore a face mask, spoke to the man before climbing into the vehicle

The man held open the car door for her before they drove to a local shopping centre, where they were seen walking hand in hand through the car park.

During her heyday as a model and socialite in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Malkah was arguably one of Australia's most-photographed women.

She was rarely out of the headlines as the glamorous fiancee of James Packer, the son of media tycoon Kerry Packer who would go on to become a casino mogul.

High-profile: During her heyday as a model in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Malkah was arguably one of Australia's most-photographed women. (She is pictured here at the New York premiere of the film Sirens, in which she starred opposite Hugh Grant, on February 28, 1994)

Film role: Malkah is seen here with Elle Macpherson (centre) and Portia de Rossi (left) in Sirens

The couple lived a charmed life in Sydney's eastern suburbs, but split up in 1998 after dating for five years, two of those engaged.

Malkah moved to Los Angeles after the break-up to pursue an acting career and eventually became an American citizen.

Upon her return to Australia several years ago, however, she found herself broke, homeless and living in anonymity.

Former flames: She was rarely out of the headlines as the fiancee of James Packer, the son of media tycoon Kerry Packer who would go on to become a casino mogul. (Pictured in 1997)

Next steps: Malkah, the daughter of Liberal politician Pru Goward, moved to Los Angeles after her break-up with Packer to pursue an acting career and eventually became an American citizen. (She is seen here at a Girlfriend magazine event in Sydney on December 1, 1996)

Eventually she found work in aged care in Melbourne, but was thrust back into the headlines in 2016 when unflattering photos of her wearing a bedsheet outside her house were splashed across the tabloids.

She then embraced her return to the spotlight, signing with celebrity agent Max Markson and appearing on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2017.

Malkah, the daughter of Liberal politician Pru Goward, has since parted ways with Markson and now works as a traffic controller.

Return: Upon her return to Australia several years ago, she found herself broke, homeless and living in anonymity. Eventually she found work in aged care in Melbourne, but was thrust back into the headlines in 2016 when unflattering photos of her were splashed across the tabloids
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Zoe Saldana looked incredible while attending the Big Screen Achievement Awards at CinemaCon in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, on Thursday.

The Avatar star, 43, wore a chic figure-hugging black dress with cut-outs running down the side, which she paired with black pointed-toe heels.

Rachel McAdams, 43, also graced the red carpet in a stylish ensemble. The Notebook actress looked sophisticated as ever in a classy white suit.

Stylish gals: Zoe Saldana and Rachel McAdams looked incredible while attending the Big Screen Achievement Awards at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday

The awards are designed to bring a spotlight to the big-screen achievements of actors and filmmakers.

During the event Saldana, McAdams, Robert De Niro, Billy Eichner, Abby Ryder Fortson, and Glen Powell received special honors.

Saldana wore her long black tresses in a slicked back ponytail that gently fell along her back.

Stunning: The Avatar star, 43, wore a chic figure-hugging black dress with cut-outs running down the side, which she paired with black pointed-toe heels

As for glam, the Guardians of the Galaxy beauty rocked a bright red lip and bronze eyeshadow.

She accessorized the evening look with a set of round earrings and a multitude of rings on her fingers.

During the event she was honored with a CinemaCon Star of the Year award.

Hard work: During the event she was honored with a CinemaCon Star of the Year award

Slick: Saldana wore her long black tresses in a slicked back ponytail that gently fell along her back

Glamorous: As for glam, the Guardians of the Galaxy beauty rocked a bright red lip and bronze eyeshadow

Accessories: She accessorized the evening look with a set of round earrings and a multitude of rings on her fingers

Meanwhile McAdams paired her stylish suit with layers of silver necklaces, as well as a variety of matching rings.

The blonde beauty wore her shoulder-length tresses parted in the the middle and lightly curled.

The Canadian actress was also seen picking up the CinemaCon Vanguard Award at the ceremony.

Classy: The Notebook actress looked sophisticated as ever in a classy white suit

Co-stars: McAdams was spotted posing with Abby Ryder Fortson, 14, with whom she co-stars in the upcoming Judy Blume adaptation, Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret

Honored: Fortson was honored with a Rising Star of 2022 award at the ceremony

McAdams was spotted posing with Abby Ryder Fortson, 14, with whom she co-stars in the upcoming Judy Blume adaptation, Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret.

Fortson was honored with a Rising Star of 2022 award at the ceremony.

The young star showed off her edgy sense of style in a white shirt, black tie, a pair of black and white plaid pants and chunky white Dr. Martens boots.

Cinema icon: Cinema icon Robert De Niro, 78, looked classy as ever in a black suit, which he paired with a blue shirt and striped tie

Special award: During the ceremony he received the Cinema Verite Award for his lifelong contributions to the art form

Cinema icon Robert De Niro, 78, looked classy as ever in a black suit, which he paired with a blue shirt and striped tie.

The Godfather actor and two-time Oscar-winner rocked a neatly trimmed silver beard and a gently tousled back hairstyle.

During the ceremony he received the Cinema Verite Award for his lifelong contributions to the art form.

Dapper: Billy Eichner, 43, looked handsome in a tan suit which he paired with a maroon shirt and a matching pocket square

Funnyman: The three-time Emmy Award nominee - who stars in and co-wrote Bros, a new gay romantic comedy - was the recipient of a Comedy Star of the Year trophy

Billy Eichner, 43, looked handsome in a tan suit which he paired with a maroon shirt and a matching pocket square.

The three-time Emmy Award nominee, and star and co-writer of Bros, a new gay romantic comedy, was the recipient of a Comedy Star of the Year trophy.

Glen Powell, 33, was dapper in a striped jacket worn over a patterned black and white shirt.

Handsome: Glen Powell, 33, was dapper in a striped jacket worn over a patterned black and white shirt

Star: The actor - who stars opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick - took home a Star of Tomorrow prize during the event

The actor - who stars opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick - paired the look with dark brown pants and dress shoes.

Powell took home a Star of Tomorrow prize during the event.

American stand-up comedian and actor Sebastian Maniscalco, 48 - who stars alongside De Niro in an upcoming movie based on his life, titled About My Father - cut a stylish figure in a patterned black suit worn over a white shirt.

Mitch Neuhauser, the managing Director of CinemaCon, released a statement about the exclusive event saying: 'CinemaCon may be the only time during the course of the year where the exhibition community gets to thank the creative world for providing the very best in the world of movies.'

'Our roster of honorees this year represents an incredible scope of talent and to have one of the most legendary actors in the history of film being honored, that of course being Robert De Niro, well it really doesnt get better than that. Its going to be a very special night for everyone.'
She is fashion royalty.

So naturally Naomi Campbell had a purple reign on her latest red carpet.

The 51-year-old supermodel looked absolutely stunning as she arrived for The Prince's Trust Gala in New York on Thursday night.

Purple reign: Naomi Campbell looked absolutely stunning as she arrived for The Prince's Trust Gala in New York on Thursday night

The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe.

She looked royal in a purple strapless ball gown featuring long sleeves and a very flowy skirt and topped it off with matching on-trend platform heels.

Naomi accessorized with plenty of jewelry including platinum bracelets, a large ring, dangling earrings, and a diamond-encrusted necklace.

Her brunette tresses were pulled back to show off her stunning looks as she topped off her natural make-up with a swipe of shiny lip.

Wow factor: The 51-year-old supermodel looked royal in a purple strapless ball gown featuring long sleeves and a very flowy skirt

All eyes on her: Naomi accessorized with plenty of jewelry including platinum bracelets, a large ring, dangling earrings, and a diamond-encrusted necklace

Pretty: Her brunette tresses were pulled back to show off her stunning looks as she topped off her natural make-up with a swipe of shiny lip

Stunning: She definitely turned heads on the outing

The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom.

Over 45 years later, the charity continues to help 'thousands of young people every day who are facing tremendous hardships, from unemployment to social exclusion, to poverty, mental health issues, disability, or abuse.'

Without the proper help and programs - like the ones funded and orchestrated by The Prince's Trust - many young people would 'struggle to move forward in education or employment, and consequently become increasingly at risk of to poverty, ill health, exploitation in their adult lives.'

According to the charity's official website, The Prince's Trust has helped 'nearly one million vulnerable young people' in the United Kingdom since its inception.

Royal: The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom

Providing relief on a global scale, The Prince's Trust in the UK works alongside Prince's Trust International, Prince's Trust Australia, Prince's Trust New Zealand, Prince's Trust Canada and now Prince's Trust USA.

It is reported on The Prince's Trust website that the charity aims to deliver support to young people in the countries of 'Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ghana, Greece, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Rwanda, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and the United Kingdom.'

Ahead of Thursday's star-studded soiree, gala chairs Lionel Richie and British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful released a statement expressing delight over the opportunity to 'celebrate the global work of The Prince's Trust and to support young people from around the world to transform their lives and build their futures.'

Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid were two of the biggest stars at the event as they looked very fashionable at the gala.

Bella, 25, stormed the red carpet with her 27-year-old sister in a glamorous black strapless dress that highlighted her sculpted shoulders.

Dynamic duo: Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid were two of the biggest stars at the event as they looked very fashionable at the gala
She is best known for strut on the runway in the 1990s.

And Kate Moss proved that she still has it on the red carpet.

The 48-year-old catwalk queen stunned in a black number as she attended The Prince's Trust Gala in New York on Thursday night.

The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe.

Royal: Kate Moss stunned in a black number as she attended The Prince's Trust Gala in New York on Thursday night

She showcased her model features in a sleeveless black gown featuring an asymmetrical hemline.

The piece of couture had a bit of subtle flair as it had black sequined detailing at the chest as she teamed the look with strappy silver stilettos.

Kate accessorized with a very unique sequined clutch, diamond-encrusted bracelet, and dangling earrings.

Her signature blonde locks were worn down into wavy curls as she accentuated her natural looks with complementary make-up topped off with a swipe of pink lip.

Strutting her stuff: The 48-year-old catwalk queen showcased her model features in a sleeveless black gown featuring an asymmetrical hemline

Gorgeous: Her signature blonde locks were worn down into wavy curls as she accentuated her natural looks with complementary make-up topped off with a swipe of pink lip

Everything considered: The piece of couture had a bit of subtle flair as it had black sequined detailing at the chest as she teamed the look with strappy silver stilettos.

All eyes on her: Kate accessorized with a very unique sequined clutch, diamond-encrusted bracelet, and dangling earrings

British invasion: (Pictured left to right) Maya Jama, Sabrina Dhowre, Kate Moss, Charlotte Tilbury, Lily James and Phoebe Dynevor

The British model was not alone at the gala as she was joined by British make-up artist and mogul Charlotte Tilbury.

The 49-year-old entrepreneur shined in a black sequined dress featuring a lacy skirt.

The two Brits looked absolutely gorgeous as they walked hand-in-hand on the Big Apple sidewalk while arriving at the event.

The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom.

Dynamic duo: The British model was not alone at the gala as she was joined by British make-up artist and mogul Charlotte Tilbury

Stunner: The 49-year-old entrepreneur shined in a black sequined dress featuring a lacy skirt

So fabulous: The ladies were sure to turn heads in their very stylish ensembles

Strike a pose: The model and the make-up artist were in great spirits as they posed for snaps

Over 45 years later, the charity continues to help 'thousands of young people every day who are facing tremendous hardships, from unemployment to social exclusion, to poverty, mental health issues, disability, or abuse.'

Without the proper help and programs - like the ones funded and orchestrated by The Prince's Trust - many young people would 'struggle to move forward in education or employment, and consequently become increasingly at risk of to poverty, ill health, exploitation in their adult lives.'

According to the charity's official website, The Prince's Trust has helped 'nearly one million vulnerable young people' in the United Kingdom since its inception.

Providing relief on a global scale, The Prince's Trust in the UK works alongside Prince's Trust International, Prince's Trust Australia, Prince's Trust New Zealand, Prince's Trust Canada and now Prince's Trust USA.

Man of the hour: The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe

Royal: The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom

It is reported on The Prince's Trust website that the charity aims to deliver support to young people in the countries of 'Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ghana, Greece, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Rwanda, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and the United Kingdom.'

Ahead of Thursday's star-studded soiree, gala chairs Lionel Richie and British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful released a statement expressing delight over the opportunity to 'celebrate the global work of The Prince's Trust and to support young people from around the world to transform their lives and build their futures.'

Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid were two of the biggest stars at the event as they looked very fashionable at the gala.

Bella, 25, stormed the red carpet with her 27-year-old sister in a glamorous black strapless dress that highlighted her sculpted shoulders.

Dynamic duo: Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid were two of the biggest stars at the event as they looked very fashionable at the gala




South Korea's military plans to scrap pandemic-driven curbs on troops' leave, starting this weekend in line with the country's move to lift most COVID-19 restrictions earlier this month, sources said Friday.







Starting Saturday, it will allow service members to make overnight and weekend off-base trips, according to the sources.







Although curbs on service members' leave and weekday off-base travel had previously been eased, the military has effectively banned other off-base movements since early 2020 as part of anti-virus measures.







South Korea last week scrapped most of its COVID-19 social distancing restrictions, including gathering limits and business hour curfews, as part of efforts to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.







The military also plans to introduce a two-step social distancing system starting next month to gradually ease other virus restrictions.







It could implement the first step as early as next Monday, which would pave the way for families to attend enlistment ceremonies for fresh recruits at military bases.







Under the second step, only troops infected with the virus will be isolated and the isolation period will also be reduced gradually from one week to three days.







But this social distancing plan is subject to adjustments based on the future COVID-19 situation and other conditions, a military official said. (Yonhap)


Kate Bosworth and her new boyfriend Justin Long were the picture of bliss as they exchanged kisses in romantic Hawaii last week.

The Blue Crush actress, 39, lovingly smooched her beau as they enjoyed another day in paradise in each other's arms.

Justin, 43, tenderly held Kate as he reciprocated the kiss.

Kiss me! Kate Bosworth and her new boyfriend Justin Long were the picture of bliss as they exchanged kisses in romantic Hawaii last week

As they continued making their way down the street, they flashed huge smiles as they looked over their shoulders, seemingly chatting with someone.

Justin wore a pair of sunglasses, a white T-shirt, and a hefty backpack slung over his shoulders while Kate opted for a sheer top and black shades.

The couple truly couldn't have looked any happier in each other's company.

Earlier this month the co-stars confirmed their blossoming new romance while holding hands after a romantic dinner at Giorgio Baldi in Los Angeles.

It takes two! The couple shielded their eyes with sunglasses as they basked in the sunshine together

After months of romance rumors, the pair beamed as they exited the upscale Italian eatery together following their meal.

In a recent episode of The Viall Files, Long gushed to host Nick Viall about his love life after finally finding himself ready to meet his soul mate.

'I had gotten to a place where I was comfortable with myself, I was ready to be  I didn't know it at the time  but I was ready for the one,' he told the Bachelor alum, 41, who is happily dating Sarah Partain.

He continued: 'I want to [talk about it], but I also want to be protective. I want to scream it from the rooftops, but I also want to be protective. It's sacred.'

XOXO! Justin kissed Kate as he held her close in his arms

Still, Long did not mention Bosworth by name. That interview comes just four months after the He's Just Not That Into You actor revealed on a different podcast that he was off the market.

Shortly after, PageSix uncovered that the new lady in his life was actress Kate Bosworth, whom he made a movie with in 2021

Earlier that year, the blonde beauty announced her split from 51-year-old husband Michael Polish.

PageSix said that 'the two met while filming a movie in Fayetteville, Ark., [in 2021]'

New love! Long and his girlfriend couldn't have looked any happier enjoying each other's company

In May she talked up Justin on Instagram when they wrapped the movie: 'Holy moly @justinlong you are a truly spectacular / fun / funny / kind / rare / thoughtful / totally. f*kn. rad human being.'

She added, 'THANK YOU for lifting us up you kept it light & full of laughter daily, even through the toughest moments. You gnome how much I love ya (sorry had to ;).'

And an insider told the site that this autumn he went with the beauty on her trip to Padaste Manor in Estonia. They reportedly had a 'romantic weekend.'

Justin then confirmed his relationship status during his podcast a in December while discussing the controversial pizza topping of pineapple with comic Fortune Feimster.

Hold me! Long wrapped his arm around Kate's shoulder

Speaking on his 'Life is Short with Justin Long' podcast, the 41-year-old actress said when asked to give her favorite topping: 'This is controversial: pineapple.'

To which, Justin replied: 'People have been saying that lately. It's funny, my girlfriend said hers is  she loves the pineapple, too. I've never been with anyone who likes pineapple on pizza.'

A source later told Us Weekly: 'They've been dating for a few months now. They secretly have been on a few getaways together. They both love to travel.'

Adding that the couple is 'not hiding the fact that they're together', rather they're 'just staying low-key and private about their relationship.'

Kate and Justin moved quickly and are reportedly already living together.
Nearly 35 years after the original Dirty Dancing hit theaters, a new sequel is in the works, with Jennifer Grey slated to return.

Lionsgate made the announcement during their CinemaCon presentation on Thursday evening, via EW.

While no further details were given, a voiceover during the presentation simply said, 'Jennifer Grey returns to Kellerman's in the next chapter,' with Kellerman's the upscale Catskills resort where the original 1987 classic was set.

Sequel: Nearly 35 years after the original Dirty Dancing hit theaters, a new sequel is in the works, with Jennifer Grey slated to return

Baby returns: While no further details were given, a voiceover during the presentation simply said, 'Jennifer Grey returns to Kellerman's in the next chapter,' with Kellerman's the upscale Catskills resort where the original 1987 classic was set

The original movie followed Grey's character, Frances 'Baby' Houseman, who spends the summer of 1963 at Kellerman's with her family.

During her stay, she starts falling for the resort's dance instructor, Johnny Castle, played by the late great Patrick Swayze, who passed away from stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2009 at 57 years of age.

The film also starred Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes, Jack Weston, Kelly Bishop, Jane Brucker, Lonny Price and Wayne Knight.

Family: The original movie followed Grey's character, Frances 'Baby' Houseman, who spends the summer of 1963 at Kellerman's with her family

Falling: During her stay, she starts falling for the resort's dance instructor, Johnny Castle, played by the late great Patrick Swayze, who passed away from stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2009 at 57 years of age

Dirty Dancing became a late-summer hit, earning $64 million from just a $6 million budget, while also winning an Oscar for Best Original Song for (I've Had) The Time Of Your Life.

The film also picked up another $150 million from international re-releases over the years, while also spawning a number of follow-ups in various mediums.

A short-lived TV series debuted in 1988, starring Melora Hardin and Patrick Cassidy as Baby and Johnny, but it only lasted one season.

Big hit: Dirty Dancing became a late-summer hit, earning $64 million from just a $6 million budget, while also winning an Oscar for Best Original Song for (I've Had) The Time Of Your Life

A 2004 'prequel' entitled Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights was set in 1958 starring Diego Luna, Romola Garai, Sela Ward, January Jones and Swayze returning with a brief cameo, though it only earned $27 million from a $25 million budget.

There was also a stage version of the movie that debuted in Australia in 2004, written by original Dirty Dancing writer Eleanor Bergstein, which toured all over the world.

Most recently, there was a 2017 TV movie that aired on ABC, starring Abigail Breslin and Colt Prattes as Baby and Johnny, along with Sarah Hyland, Nicole Scherzinger, Katey Sagal, Debra Messing and Billy Dee Williams, that was critically panned.

Memoir: Grey most recently guest-starred in a February episode of Dollface, and is getting ready to launch her new memoir

Grey most recently guest-starred in a February episode of Dollface, and is getting ready to launch her new memoir.

Out of the Corner will be published May 3 from Penguin Random House, which follows her upbringing as the daughter of Broadway and film legend Joel Grey.

The book follows her journey through Hollywood plus, 'with enormous bravery, she shares the devastating fallout from a plastic surgery procedure that caused the sudden and stunning loss of her professional identity and career.'
After having kick-started production on Christopher Nolans Oppenheimer in New Mexico last month, the star-studded cast and crew have now commenced in Los Angeles.

Josh Hartnett, Josh Peck and Matthew Modine were among the high-profile names to be seen in character on the set of the World War II epic.

Based on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who, along with his colleagues in the Manhattan Project, are credited with developing the first atomic bombs that ultimately were dropped on Japan in 1945.

Preparing for action: Josh Hartnett, 43, looked the part of American nuclear physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939

Epic endeavor: Josh Peck, 35, and Matthew Modine, 63, were among the first of the star-studded cast to be seen in character on the set of Oppenheimer

All three of the actors - Hartnett, Peck and Modine - looked like exact replicas, in terms of their retro costumes, dressed in grayish wool slacks, matching vest and tie, and white dress shirts.

Hartnet, 43, also wore a pair of brown leather shoes, reminiscent of the times just before the Second World War, wire-rim glasses, and his dark brown hair cut short with a part on the right.

Peck, 35, looked to be catching up on some phone calls in between scenes.

And from the look of the big beaming smile on his face, the shoot looked to be going well for Modine, who was dressed in a wool suit, minus the blazer, that was popular during the 1940s.

Suited up: Cillian Murphy, 45, was dressed in character as J. Robert Oppenheimer

Filming:Matt Damon looked the part of Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr., sporting a mustache and decked out in his military uniform, as he was preparing behind-the-scenes

Hartnett portrays Ernest Lawrence, who's among the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project,

The pioneering American nuclear physicist won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron, which is a particle accelerator.

Lawrence would go on to be recognized for his work on uranium-isotope separation for the Manhattan Project.

Peck plays American physicist Kenneth Bainbridge, the director of the Manhattan Project's Trinity nuclear test during the development of the first atomic weapons.

So far details with regard to the character Modine is playing have not been disclosed.

On set: DeHaan, 36, has also been seen on set in recent days in a U.S. Army uniform

Just in the last week, Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Dane DeHaan and Casey Affleck were seen on set in full costumes.

Murphy, 45, who portrays the tile role of J. Robert Oppenheimer, was spotted shooting a scene for the film, while Damon, 51, looked the part of Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr., sporting a mustache and decked out in his military uniform, as he was preparing behind-the-scenes.

Similarly, DeHaan, 36, wore a U.S. Army uniform as he walked around the set, seemingly getting psyched up to film his next scene.

The stellar cast also includes Emily Blunt (Katherine 'Kitty' Oppenheimer), Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss), Florence Pugh (Jean Tatlock), Rami Malek, Benny Safdie (Edwar Saldie), Jack Quaid, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Clarke, Oliivia Thirby and Gary Oldma, among others.

The film was adapted from the 2006 book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. Kai's book charts Oppenheimer's life from his development of the atomic bomb as the head of the Manhattan Project.

First look: In February, Universal Pictures released a moody first look at Cillian Murphy, 45, as J. Robert Oppenheimer in the biopic

Shortly after the bombs were detonated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, Oppenheimer began to lobby for the control of nuclear weapons to avert a nuclear war with Russia.

He was appointed the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission though he was also a target of the House Un-American Activities Commission as well.

Oppenheimer passed away in 1967 at 62 years of age from throat cancer after years of smoking cigarettes.

Having started production in late February, Nolan is expected to take more than five months to shoot, which if he keeps on schedule it would go until the beginning of August.

Oppenheimer is the first film to shoot in IMAX black-and-white analog photography, although its not known whether it will be done entirely in black and white

Universal Pictures has set a July 21, 2023 release date for Oppenheimer.

The current debut date is slated to come about two weeks before the harrowing anniversaries of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which happened on August 6 and August 9 in 1945.
She has spent over $200,000 on cosmetic procedures in the past in her quest to become a 'human Barbie doll'.

And earlier this month, Australian nurse Tara Jayne, 33, flaunted her body of work in skimpy electric blue activewear while out exercising in her hometown of Melbourne.

The Botched star - whose past procedures include five breast augmentations, six nose jobs and endless rounds of Botox and filler - commanded attention as she worked on her fitness at a local park before enjoying a casual stroll.

Workout Barbie! Australia's plastic surgery queen Tara Jayne, 33, flaunted her eye-popping cleavage and tiny figure in skimpy electric blue activewear while out exercising in Melbourne earlier this month (pictured)

Tara's plunging crop top struggled to contain her eye-popping cleavage, while her matching leggings clung to her very trim pins.

The ensemble also showed off her incredibly tiny frame, her rose tattoo on her shoulder and naval piercing.

Tara added chunky black sneakers to the look, and later covered up her upper frame with a cropped fluffy white zip-up jacket.

Busting out: Tara's plunging crop top struggled to contain her eye-popping cleavage as she performed a few stretches at a local park

Not an inch to pinch: The Botched star also drew attention to her trim pins and pert derriere in matching skin-tight leggings

Despite working out, Tara opted for a full face of makeup with bold brows, a heavy smoky eye, thick black eyelashes, contoured cheekbones and a nude lipstick on her overly plump pout.

At times, the OnlyFans model ran her manicured hands through her extra-long brunette hair extensions.

Tara weighs just 45kg (99lbs or 7st), and is banned from getting any more surgery in Australia due to her extreme look.

Full glam: Despite working out, the nurse opted for a full face of makeup with bold brows, a heavy smoky eye, thick black eyelashes, contoured cheekbones and a nude lipstick on her overly plump pout

Banned: Tara weighs just 45kg (99lbs or 7st), and is banned from getting any more surgery in Australia due to her extreme look

TV star: In August, she appeared on Todd Sampson's headline-making documentary series Mirror Mirror, which followed a group of Australians obsessed with going under the knife

In August last year, she appeared on Todd Sampson's headline-making documentary series Mirror Mirror, which followed a group of Australians obsessed with going under the knife.

In the show, Tara described herself as an 'upgraded limited-edition Barbie doll', while also bemoaning the inadequacy of her E-cup breasts.

'I think I want to get my boobs bigger,' she said.

She had previously featured on E! reality show Botched in the hope of convincing Drs Paul Nassif and Terry Dubrow to give her bigger implants.

Plastic fantastic: In the show, Tara described herself as an 'upgraded limited-edition Barbie doll', while also bemoaning the inadequacy of her E-cup breasts

'I want to get my boobs bigger': She had previously featured on E! reality show Botched in the hope of convincing Drs Paul Nassif and Terry Dubrow to give her bigger implants

'Everything is tiny on me except for my tatas... I'm on a quest for a bigger chest!' she told producers.

'I currently have 540 CCs [of breast implant silicone], and I'm just not happy with them at all,' she said.

Tara said she'd noticed a 'rippling effect' on the skin on her breasts and hoped 'filling out the space more' would fix the issue.

But she was left disappointed when the doctors said her weight was 'dangerously low' at 45kg, making her far too slim to carry larger implants.

Big ambitions: 'Everything is tiny on me except for my tatas... I'm on a quest for a bigger chest!' she told producers

Risky: Tara was left disappointed when doctors said her weight was 'dangerously low' at 45kg, making her far too slim to carry larger implants. Pictured right before her surgery

'I'm really concerned about Tara's overall well being', Dr Nassif said.

'Not just as it relates to surgery, but she really needs to get both physically and mentally healthy.'

Tara said she'd stop at nothing to maintain and even enhance her 'knockout' 37-inch bust, 17-inch waist and 29-inch hips'.

'There is no limit for me when it comes to plastic surgery. It is incredibly addictive and I already want bigger breasts,' she added.

'As soon as travel is permitted, I have plans to go back overseas to visit my surgeon and get my breast size increased to 1500cc [from their current 1050ccc].'

Documentary: Tara is pictured on Todd Sampson's headline-making documentary Mirror Mirror

'I think in this day and age, it's very important for a woman to be able to express the way they feel and just express everything about beauty,' she told The Morning Show last year.

'Plastic surgery is how I do that and that's what makes me happy. It gives me the confidence to be the best version of myself.'

Tara recently joined adult subscription website OnlyFans to help fund her lifestyle and future cosmetic work during the Covid pandemic.

She charges $25 for a monthly subscription, and previously boasted of making $10,000 in her first three days on the platform.
She often opts to keep her private lift out of the spotlight.

But Queen Latifah was joined by her longtime partner Eboni Nicols in Manhattan on Tuesday as they attended the opening night performance of the Broadway music Strange Loop.

The 52-year-old rapper-turned-actress looked as if she was having a great time with Nicols as they beamed from their seats at the Lyceum Theatre.

Beaming couple: Queen Latifah, 52, was seen with her longtime partner Eboni Nichols on Tuesday at opening night of the Broadway musical Strange Loop at the Lyceum Theatre

Latifah looked cozy in a gray poncho-like sweater with short baggy sleeves.

She had on a long-sleeve black top underneath it, and she had her caramel-colored hair styled straight and resting on her shoulders.

She added some luster too her casual look with gold hoop earrings and several rings.

Eboni contrasted her partner's casual ensemble with a vibrant green, red and pink floral-print dress

Contrast: Latifah looked cozy in a gray poncho-like sweater with short baggy sleeves and a black top, while Eboni wore a colorful floral dress

She showed off her gold luxury wristwatch and also carried an orange handbag with her.

Both she and Latifah wore black masks to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, though they briefly pulled them down for smiling photos.

The two were among the stars attending opening night of the musical Strange Loop, which is about a Black queer man named Usher, who works as an usher at The Lion King on Broadway and is attempting to write a personal musical of his own, despite his mother's constant concerns about its risque content and his sexuality.

The play  with book and music by Michael R. Jackson  previously won the Pulitzer Prize, and it received rapturous reviews after graduating to Broadway.

After the opening night performance, Jackson and the show's star Jaquel Spivey took a bow in front of a celebratory audience.

In addition to the writer and star, the six actors who play the competing thoughts in Usher's head  L Morgan Lee, Jason Veasey, John-Andrew Morrison, John-Michael Lyles, James Jackson, Jr. and Antwayn Hopper  all received praise for the musical.

It's a hit: The play  with book and music by Michael R. Jackson (L)  previously won the Pulitzer Prize, and it received rapturous reviews after graduating to Broadway; seen with star Jaquel Spivey (R)

Stacked cast: Spivey plays Usher, an usher for The Lion King who writes a musical; pictured with the six actors who play his thoughts: (LR) L Morgan Lee, Jason Veasey, John-Andrew Morrison, John-Michael Lyles, James Jackson, Jr. and Antwayn Hopper

Queen Latifah's outing with her partner Eboni is somewhat rare, as The Equalizer actress has long preferred not to share her sexuality.

The two reportedly met when the rapper made a guest appearance on Dancing With The Stars in 2009, and they reportedly struck up a relationship in 2013.

The couple welcomed their first child, a son named Rebel, in 2019.

She went public with the relationship and confirmed that they had welcomed a child at the BET awards in 2021, when she referred to both as 'my love' and wished the audience a 'happy Pride!'
Tziporah Malkah has found love again, if new photos of the former model are any indication.

The 48-year-old held hands with a mystery man on Thursday, as the pair headed out to a local shopping centre in Sydney.

Walking close together, they rarely let go of one another's hands as they left Tziporah's apartment and drove to the shops.

Romance? Tziporah Malkah (left) was spotted holding hands with a mystery man in Sydney on Thursday

Following their errands, Tziporah and the mystery man loaded up their car, and appeared engaged in an animated discussion.

The model formerly known as Kate Fischer showed off her weight loss in a long-sleeved tunic that featured a retro pattern in pastel tones.

She paired with black leggings, flaunting her slender pins, and added a pair of black sneakers to the ensemble.

Out and about: The 48-year-old appeared to be in good spirits as she strolled across the car park with her new fella

Errands: The pair headed out to a local shopping centre in Sydney

Close: Walking close together, the pair rarely let go of one another's hands

The former reality star opted for a soft makeup look including a plum toned smoky eyeshadow and lots of mascara.

She wore her red locks up in a loose bun with strands flowing around her face.

She carried a wallet in her hand and a black tote slung over her shoulder, as well as wearing a blue surgical face mask.

Local: They had left Tziporah's apartment and then drove to the shops

Looking good: Tziporah showed off her weight loss in a long-sleeved tunic that featured a retro pattern in pastel tones

Casual: She paired with black leggings, flaunting her slender pins

Her male companion opted for a blue, long-sleeved dress shirt and jeans in a matching tone.

He finished his look with a dark belt and boots, and wore his glasses hanging around his neck.

It comes after news that Tziporah is facing a $450 fine after allegedly running a red light.

Dressed down: She added a pair of black sneakers to the ensemble

Details: The former reality star opted for a soft makeup look including a plum toned smoky eyeshadow and lots of mascara

Up do: Tziporah wore her red locks up in a loose bun with tendrils flowing around her face

Loaded up: She carried a wallet in her hand and a black tote slung over her shoulder

Tziporah, who was known as Kate Fisher before she converted to Judaism and legally changed her name, is scheduled to appear at Burwood Court on May 17.

The ex-model and actress has a history of driving offences and is seeking to avoid another black mark on her licence by appealing the infringement notice.

Malkah's latest brush with the law comes a year after she got her licence back following a two-year suspension.

Safety first: The former model was also wearing a blue surgical face mask

A fine pair: Her male companion opted for a blue, long-sleeved dress shirt and jeans in a matching tone

Snazzy: He finished his look with a dark belt and boots, and wore his glasses hanging around his neck

She lost her licence for 27 months and was fined $1,500 after pleading guilty at Melbourne Magistrates' Court in late 2017 to reckless driving charges.

These charges followed an incident earlier that year where Malkah was seen driving erratically through the Melbourne suburb of Toorak, hitting three roundabouts.

She then reversed into a parked car, according to a police summary of facts.

Court: It comes after news that Tziporah is facing a $450 fine after allegedly running a red light

Legal matters: Tziporah, who was known as Kate Fisher before she converted to Judaism and legally changed her name, is scheduled to appear at Burwood Court on May 17

Facing court: The ex-model and actress has a history of driving offences and is seeking to avoid another black mark on her licence by appealing the infringement notice

On notice: Malkah's latest brush with the law comes a year after she got her licence back following a two-year suspension

Police were called but Malkah managed to escape inside her apartment before they could carry out a breath test to determine whether or not she had been drinking.

She later claimed she had been subjected to unfair police treatment on the night in question, but refused to elaborate further.

Malkah, who was a tabloid fixture in the late '90s and even starred in the film Sirens opposite Hugh Grant and Elle Macpherson, has maintained a low profile in recent years, only making occasional appearances in women's magazines to discuss her weight loss and desire to one day become a mother.

Past: She lost her licence for 27 months and was fined $1,500 after pleading guilty at Melbourne Magistrates' Court in late 2017 to reckless driving charges

Driving drama: These charges followed an incident earlier that year where Malkah was seen driving erratically through the Melbourne suburb of Toorak, hitting three roundabouts

Cops involved: Police were called but Malkah managed to escape inside her apartment before they could carry out a breath test to determine whether or not she had been drinking

Unfair? She later claimed she had been subjected to unfair police treatment on the night in question, but refused to elaborate further

However, the former Sydney 'It girl' is no stranger to the court.

Her last court appearance was in relation to an acrimonious split from an ex-boyfriend and a series of AVOs that followed.

Those matters have now been settled and Malkah has moved on from that relationship and is living alone in a modest apartment in Rockdale, southern Sydney.

Heading home: Following their errands, Tziporah and the mystery man loaded up their car

Chatty pair: They appeared engaged in an animated discussion

Dates: Her last court appearance was in relation to an acrimonious split from an ex-boyfriend and a series of AVOs that followed

During her heyday as a model and socialite in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Malkah was arguably one of Australia's most-photographed women.

She was rarely out of the headlines as the glamorous fiancee of James Packer, the son of media tycoon Kerry Packer who would go on to become a casino mogul.

The couple lived a charmed life in Sydney's eastern suburbs, but split up in 1998 after dating for five years, two of those engaged.

Settled: Those matters have now been settled and Malkah has moved on from that relationship and is living alone in a modest apartment in Rockdale, southern Sydney

Real life: Malkah, who was a tabloid fixture in the late '90s and even starred in the film Sirens opposite Hugh Grant and Elle Macpherson, has maintained a low profile in recent years

Public life: She has only been making occasional appearances in women's magazines to discuss her weight loss and desire to one day become a mother

Malkah moved to Los Angeles after the break-up to pursue an acting career and eventually became an American citizen.

Upon her return to Australia several years ago, however, she found herself broke, homeless and living in anonymity.

Eventually she found work in aged care in Melbourne, but was thrust back into the headlines in 2016 when unflattering photos of her wearing a bedsheet outside her house were splashed across the tabloids.

Past: During her heyday as a model and socialite in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Malkah was arguably one of Australia's most-photographed women. Pictured in 1994

She then embraced her return to the spotlight, signing with celebrity agent Max Markson and appearing on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2017.

Malkah, the daughter of Liberal politician Pru Goward, has since parted ways with Markson and now works as a traffic controller.

In 2018, she called it quits with boyfriend Guy Vasey, 49, just six months after going public with their relationship.

Exes: She was rarely out of the headlines as the glamorous fiancee of James Packer, the son of media tycoon Kerry Packer who would go on to become a casino mogul. Pictured together

The pair confirmed the sad news when they went head-to-head in an explosive online row posted to Tziporah's public Facebook page.

While it's unclear as to the reason for their split, the pair's fiery comments indicated they ended things on acrimonious terms.

In, 2019 Tziporah was pictured holding hands with Victoria Rupp at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

Moves: Malkah moved to Los Angeles after the break-up to pursue an acting career and eventually became an American citizen. Pictured in 1196

Back: She recently embraced her return to the spotlight, signing with celebrity agent Max Markson and appearing on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2017

After that relationship fizzled she began dating former cop Nicholas Patsidis, 43, also a one-time lover of Rupp's.

The trio were later connected by a pair of AVOs.

Police took out one of the orders to protect Malkah from Patsidis after he was charged with assaulting her in July 2020.
Fans could be forgiven for seeing triple as former Love Island stars Joanna Chimonides, Maria Wild and Sophie Piper enjoyed an evening out on Thursday night

The reality star trio opted for matching black ensembles for an appearance at the swanky Amazonico Restaurant in Mayfair, where they enjoyed a dinner date.

Joanna, 22, looked gorgeous in a figure hugging mini dress with keyhole detail and racy cut outs at the waist, revealing her ample assets and toned waist.

Girls night out: Former Love Island stars (L-R) Joanna Chimonides, Maria Wild and Sophie Piper enjoyed an evening at the swanky Amazonico Restaurant in Mayfair on Thursday night

With oversized sleeves and a high neck, the tight dress extenuated the blonde beauty's fantastic physique.

The former Love Island star accessorised the look with a pair of striking peep toed ankle boots, complete with matching cut outs.

Opting for a glamorous palette of make-up for the evening, Joanna let her long locks fall in a relaxed wave.

Gorgeous lady: Joanna, 22, looked gorgeous in a figure hugging mini dress with keyhole detail and racy cut outs at the waist, revealing her ample assets and toned waist

Meanwhile, her friend Maria, 24, turned heads in a plunging halter neck jump suit which clung to her amazing curves.

Her dark hair tied back in a chic ponytail, the reality star accessorised her outfit with carefully chosen gold accessories.

Adding even more glamour to the ensemble with a smoky eye and a gorgeous matte lip.

Fantastic friends: Maria turned heads in a plunging halter neck jump suit which clung to her amazing curves

Wow: Joanna accessorised the look with a pair of striking peep toed ankle boots, complete with matching cut outs

Sophie, 23, looked fantastic too in a draped silk mini dress that showed off her fantastically toned legs.

Wrapping up from the cold she wore a stylish tuxedo jacket and for a little extra height a pair of strappy black heels.

As her long brunette curls fell past her shoulders, the star added a pop of colour to the look with a cherry red lip.

Stunning! Sophie, 23, too looked fantastic in a draped silk mini dress that showed off her fantastically toned legs

Also spotted on Thursday evening in the capital was fellow Love Islander Arabella Chi, 31.

The social media star looked gorgeous as she arrived with a female friend to an event on London's Oxford Street.

The beauty wore a white denim frayed jacket with matching mini skirt, showing off her fantastic figure.

Spotted: Also spotted on Thursday evening in the capital was fellow Love Islander Arabella Chi, 31 (pictured with a female friend)

Cowgirl: The star accessorised the chic ensemble with a pair of cowboy boots complete with lace detail and a gold Fendi bag

The star accessorised the chic ensemble with a pair of cowboy boots complete with lace detail and a gold Fendi bag.

Her female friend joined in denim, with a tiny bralet and ripped jeans, displaying her impressive array of tattoos.

Later the pair were seen in high spirits leaving the trendy Hovarda restaurant, he duo beamed for the cameras as they made their way along the London street.

Evening: Later the pair were seen leaving the trendy Hovarda restaurant after enjoying an expensive meal
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The Prince's Trust Gala proved to be a very star-studded night indeed as some of the most glamorous ladies in showbiz gathered together for an epic group shot.

Kate Moss led the way as she rubbed shoulders with the likes of Maya Jama, Lily James and Phoebe Dynevor at the charity bash on Thursday night.

The fabulous line-up was completed by Sabrina Dhowre and Charlotte Tilbury, with the ladies pulling off their best poses for the photo.

Wow! The Prince's Trust Gala proved to be a very star-studded night indeed as some of the most glamorous ladies in showbiz gathered together for an epic group shot [L-R Sabrina Dhowre, Maya Jama, Kate Moss, Charlotte Tilbury, Lily James and Phoebe Dynevor]

Kate, 48, was a chic as ever as she slipped into a sleeveless black gown featuring an asymmetrical hemline for the evening.

While Lily, 33, and Maya, 27, dared to bare as they donned fabulous cut-out gowns.

Charlotte, 49, was simply dazzling in a black sequined dress, while Sabrina, 32, opted for a black shift dress with a quirky gold plated design.

Meanwhile, Phoebe, 27, looked ethereal in a sleeveless silk white gown featuring a low-cut neckline.

Strutting her stuff: Kate, 48, was a chic as ever as she slipped into a sleeveless black gown featuring an asymmetrical hemline for the evening

Showing some skin: While Lily, 33, and Maya, 27, dared to bare as they donned fabulous cut-out gowns (L-R)

Fabulous: Charlotte, 49, was simply dazzling in a black sequined dress

Golden girl: Sabrina, 32, [L] opted for a black shift dress with a quirky gold plated design, meanwhile, Phoebe, 27, [R] looked ethereal in a sleeveless silk white gown featuring a low-cut neckline

Charlotte Tilbury Beauty announced its three-year partnership with The Princes Trust to provide significant funding for a bespoke multi-layered programme of support for The Princes Trust Enterprise Programme in the UK  a life-changing scheme that helps young people unleash their entrepreneurial dreams.

As part of the purpose partnership, Charlotte Tilbury MBE, Beauty Entrepreneur and Founder of Charlotte Tilbury Beauty, was announced as the first Princes Trust Ambassador for Enterprise (UK & International).

In this role, Charlotte will work closely with The Trust to advocate, mentor, inspire  and use her global platform to further spread the impactful work of The Trust in supporting the next generation of business leaders.

Girls on film: Maya, Lily and Phoebe was later seen having a grand old time as they sat inside at the event

Fun times: The ladies were joined by Charlotte at the table, with the group seen larking about for the camera

What's going on here? Lily and Phoebe were certainly in great spirits at the Prince's Trust Gala

Having a laugh: Maya and her pals were most definitely living their best lives on the night

Oh hey girl: Maya also stopped for a chat and a giggle with model Imaan Hammam

Elsewhere, other big stars of the catwalk were also in attendance, with Karlie Kloss looking absolutely stunning as she hit the red carpet.

The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe.

The 6feet2 model, 29, looked fine in a feathered black and gold gown featuring sequins which she teamed with a pair of black and gold heels.

Gorgeous: Elsewhere, other big stars of the catwalk were also in attendance, with Karlie Kloss looking absolutely stunning as she hit the red carpet

Strutting her stuff: She paired the stunning gown with a pair of black and gold heels as she strutted her stuff

Glam moment: Her highlighted tresses were put in an elegant updo as the fringe was combed down the middle

Karlie accessorized with a black leather designer bag and dangling earrings.

Her highlighted tresses were put in an elegant updo as the fringe was combed down the middle.

She accentuated her porcelain skin with complementary make-up topped off with shiny pink lip.

The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe.

The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom.

Man of the hour: The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe

Over 45 years later, the charity continues to help 'thousands of young people every day who are facing tremendous hardships, from unemployment to social exclusion, to poverty, mental health issues, disability, or abuse.'

Without the proper help and programs - like the ones funded and orchestrated by The Prince's Trust - many young people would 'struggle to move forward in education or employment, and consequently become increasingly at risk of to poverty, ill health, exploitation in their adult lives.'

According to the charity's official website, The Prince's Trust has helped 'nearly one million vulnerable young people' in the United Kingdom since its inception.

Providing relief on a global scale, The Prince's Trust in the UK works alongside Prince's Trust International, Prince's Trust Australia, Prince's Trust New Zealand, Prince's Trust Canada and now Prince's Trust USA.

Royal: The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom

It is reported on The Prince's Trust website that the charity aims to deliver support to young people in the countries of 'Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ghana, Greece, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Rwanda, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and the United Kingdom.'

Ahead of Thursday's star-studded soiree, gala chairs Lionel Richie and British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful released a statement expressing delight over the opportunity to 'celebrate the global work of The Prince's Trust and to support young people from around the world to transform their lives and build their futures.'

Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid were two of the biggest stars at the event as they looked very fashionable at the gala.

Bella, 25, stormed the red carpet with her 27-year-old sister in a glamorous black strapless dress that highlighted her sculpted shoulders.

Dynamic duo: Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid were two of the biggest stars at the event as they looked very fashionable at the gala

Flawless: Gigi modelled a bedazzled hot pink mini dress with long-sleeves that hung off her shoulders, while sister Bella stunned in a black strapless dress, which highlighted her sculpted shoulders

Worthy cause: The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe
Kate Lawler has jetted to Palma in Mallorca for a wild hen do with her friends and family and on Friday shared a glimpse at the boozy and wild celebrations.

The Big Brother winner, 41, took to Instagram to show fans what she has been getting up to as she danced the night away and enjoyed a group dinner while wearing sparkly novelty bride-to-be glasses and hat.

Kate is engaged to her fiance Martin - who she shares her daughter Noa, 13 months, with - and the pair are set to wed in June.

Looking good! Kate Lawler has jetted to Palma in Mallorca for a wild hen do with her friends and family and on Friday shared a glimpse at the boozy and wild celebration

For her hen do Kate looked incredible in a silky colourful co-ord from Zara that showed off her toned legs.

The party, which she nicknamed 'disgust-hen', got into full swing with Kate being accompanied by a group of pals including her sisters.

In one snap the gang were served huge jugs of summery cocktails with Kate's sister Kelly then seen singing and dancing around the tables as the other girls egged her on.

Her pals later decorate her lavish hotel room with silver balloons and snaps of her dogs.

Boozy: The Big Brother winner, 41, took to Instagram to show fans what she has been getting up to as she danced the night away and enjoyed a group dinner while wearing sparkly novelty bride-to-be glasses and hat

The star and and her fiance Martin were meant to tie the knot on June 6 last year but were forced to postpone their big day due to Covid.

Earlier this month Kate revealed she and her fiance Martin were in the 'worst possible place for a couple' as she detailed their relationship ahead of their upcoming wedding.

In a candid interview she admitted that she 'wasn't prepared for the seismic shift' in their relationship following the birth of their daughter Noa.

Here she is: She shared some close up snaps of her 'Mrs Bojtos' glasses and wore a sparkly bride hat

Family: Kate is engaged to her fiance Martin - who she shares her daughter Noa, 13 months, with - and the pair are set to wed in June

However, the star told how her first week since quitting Virgin radio had already seen things dramatically improve with her fiance and her daughter, with Kate and Martin now happily looking forward to their nuptials in June.

The 2002 Big Brother winner, presenter, DJ and author, had her first child Noa last February after insisting for a long time she never wanted to be a mum, while her partner of nine years Martin, known affectionately as Boj, was 'desperate' for kids.

Speaking to Kate Thornton on her White Wine Question Time podcast, Kate explained: 'Since we became parents our relationship has changed so much. I want to say for the better, but sadly we both know, and we're acutely aware of this, that we haven't prioritised our relationship at all and we know that we need to take steps to improve it.

Together: The party, which she nicknamed 'disgust-hen' got into full swing with Kate being accompanied by a group of pals including her sisters

'We're getting married in two months and we've actually had like the hardest year as a couple so far.

'But we know it's because we became parents and your life changes monumentally when you become parents.'

She continued: 'I wasn't prepared for the seismic shift in our relationship. I thought it would change my life, me personally, but I didn't think about how much it would effect us as a couple even though I had friends giving me advice saying 'look you're both going to say things you don't mean, you're both going to be more tired than you've ever been before'.

Funny: Her pals later decorate her lavish hotel room with silver balloons and snaps of her dogs

'We went out for a curry the other night because I pointed out that since Noa was born a year ago we've only been out on our own on a date twice. It's not good enough.

'I can't be bothered to put on make-up and find something to wear. I want to sit in my pyjamas and read a book.'

She went on: 'We'd only been out for our anniversary in June, four months after Noa had been born...and we spent most of it looking on the monitor like 'ooh, is she ok?'. His mum was babysitting. So the last week has been great.

'We're talking, we're communicating. We're just better with each other.'

Style: For her hen do Kate looked incredible in a silky colourful co-ord from Zara that showed off her toned legs

Last month, Kate told how Boj, who proposed back in 2018, had brought them couples therapy in a bid to start their marriage on 'right foot'.

Speaking about the effect it has had on their relationship, she said: 'It was Boj's suggestion that we start couple's therapy, and I can't recommend it enough because it's really helped us. She's given us tools that we've applied when it comes to that feeling when an argument is brewing and you know that you're going to go down a road that's going to lead to anger and shouting.

'I felt really bad saying this to Boj... but part of the reason I didn't want a kid was because I was so scared of what it would do to our relationship. I feel that he knew that when arguments were brewing over the last year and I'd say 'this is why I knew we shouldn't have...'

Having fun: She took to her Instagram Story to share close ups of her novelty glasses as she partied with friends and family

'And I hate myself for saying that because it's horrible for him to hear it, for me saying 'I knew that it would do this to us, I knew it would break us, I knew that we would end up resenting each other', and falling out and becoming like distant and being in the worst place possible for a couple who are about to get married.

'But we're coming out of the other side. We know what we need to do and we're trying to make sure that at the bottom of this, that us going into our marriage we want to start on the right foot which is why we decided therapy would be the best route for us.

'And we would just focus on spending more time together as a family, and less time on our phones and less time working in the evenings when we're supposed to be having that quality time together.'

Wild: In one snap the gang were served huge jugs of summery cocktails with Kate's sister Kelly then seen singing and dancing around the tables as the other girls egged her on

She added: 'I'm focusing on the wedding now. It's all about just spending the next two months, doing as little work as possible just to take a little breather and make sure that I'm happy on my wedding day. I don't want to feel like I've been feeling on my wedding day - I want to be a happy bride.'

The beauty revealed how she's tying the knot on June 11 at an East London venue, with her darling daughter acting as a bridesmaid.

Kate also revealed that she's turned down a magazine deal, that they're having a non-religious ceremony as they're both atheists and that Noa and their dogs will be joining them on the second part of their honeymoon.
Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg put in a full shift on Thursday as the location shoot for their latest film continued late into the evening.

The Hollywood stars are currently in London, where work recently commenced on forthcoming Netflix feature Our Man From Jersey.

But Halle, 55, conjured images of her iconic former role as Catwoman after emerging from the driver's seat of a smart soft-top in a cropped leather jacket and matching skintight trousers.

The actress affirmed her sex symbol status after playing the leather-clad anti-heroine in 2004 blockbuster Catwoman, a loose adaptation of the DC Comics character.

While the film was a critical and commercial disaster, clawing back less than half of its $100million outlay from global box office sales, Halle's undeniable sex appeal in its central role won praise from hard to please critics.

That looks familiar: Halle Berry conjured images of her iconic former role as Catwoman as she filmed new movie Our Man From Jersey in London on Thursday evening

Hard at work: Halle and co-star Mark Wahlberg put in a full shift on Thursday as the location shoot for their latest film continued late into the evening

Getting into character on Thursday evening, the actress - whose role still remains as maddeningly vague as the new film's plot - was joined by her co-star as they filmed what appeared to be a tense evening scene.

Billed as a 'blue collar James Bond,' the cat-and-mouse thriller found itself in a notably white collar area as cameras rolled on a smart Notting Hill terrace.

Wahlberg, 50, walked briskly while carrying a briefcase that seemed out of sync with his casual attire, while Halle broke away and make her way towards a waiting car.

They were later joined by a smartly dressed female co-star, who chatted to Halle between takes after climbing inside the soft-top's passenger seat to shoot a scene alongside the American actress.

Here we go: Getting into character, Halle, filmed what appeared to be a tense evening scene on the set of Our Man From Jersey

Edgy: The Oscar-winner wore a cropped leather jacket and matching trousers, while her short hair was styled with a conventional side-parting

Quiet on set: Wahlberg walked briskly while carrying a briefcase that seemed out of sync with his casual attire, while Halle broke away and make her way towards a waiting car

The location shoot comes one year after it was first announced that the two would be working on the thriller together.

Details of the forthcoming work have been kept under wraps - and its yet to be known who the two are playing.

Halle recently worked with the popular streaming platform, premiering her 2021 directorial debut Bruised there.

Upmarket: Billed as a 'blue collar James Bond,' the cat-and-mouse thriller found itself in a notably white collar area as cameras rolled on a smart Notting Hill terrace

Then and now: Halle's latest hairstyle was also reminiscent of her former role as Catwoman

Fancy meeting you here! Halle looked delighted as she chatted to various members of the production team on Thursday evening

Upbeat: The Oscar winning actress appeared to be in high spirits as she relaxed on set

Business first: Halle was back in character as cameras filmed climbing in and out of her parked car

Lovely: The smart soft-top gleamed beneath the streetlights as Halle stepped out onto the street

She also starred in the movie, which told the story of a disgraced MMA fighter named Jackie Justice.

As for Mark's recent work, he currently stars in the movie Father Stu, which was released April 15.

In October he'll mark the 25th anniversary of his breakout film Boogie Nights.

Getting involved: The cast were joined by a smartly dressed female co-star on the London shoot

Step by step: She was seen filming separately to Halle and Mark, albeit in the same location

She's pleased: The actress laughed as she passed the time between scenes on Thursday night

Let's talk: She was seen talking with co-star Halle as cameras rolled late into the night
Cooperation center for China-Pacific Island countries climate change launched

Xinhua) 09:52, April 29, 2022

JINAN, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A cooperation center for China and Pacific Island countries on climate change was launched Thursday in east China's Shandong Province.

Jointly built by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Shandong Province, the center is located in Shandong's Liaocheng City, according to the foreign affairs office of the provincial government of Shandong.

The unveiling ceremony of the center and the opening ceremony of China-Pacific Island countries' high-level dialogue on climate change were held via video link on Thursday, with relevant personnel taking part in the online event.

China announced it would establish a cooperation center for China and Pacific Island countries on climate change at the first China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in October 2021.

The center will focus on cooperation in the field of climate change, green development and people-to-people exchanges between China and Pacific Island countries, and will also promote mutually beneficial cooperation between Shandong and Pacific Island countries in climate change and other wider fields through training, exchanges, academic activities and foreign aid.

A batch of cooperative projects on climate change were signed on Thursday.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)




Ukraine's leader accused Russia of trying to humiliate the United Nations by raining missiles on Kyiv during a visit by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, an attack that shattered the capital's tentative return to normality as the focus of the war moved east.







President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine's forces were holding off Russia's attempted advance in the south and east, as efforts continued to secure safe passage for residents trapped in Mariupol, which has been largely reduced to rubble in a two-month-long siege. An official in the president's office did not rule out an evacuation as soon as Friday.







Russia pounded targets all over Ukraine on Thursday, including the attack on Kyiv that struck a residential high-rise and another building. U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said its journalist Vira Hyrych, who lives in one of the buildings hit, died. Her body was found in the rubble on Friday.







Ten people were wounded in the attack, including at least one who lost a leg, according to Ukraine's emergency services.







In an apparent reference to the same strike, Russia's defense ministry said Friday that it had destroyed "production buildings" at the Artem defense factory in Kyiv.







The attack on Kyiv came barely an hour after Zelenskyy held a press conference with Guterres, who toured some of the destruction in and around Kyiv and condemned attacks on civilians during his visit.







"This says a lot about Russia's true attitude towards global institutions, about attempts of Russian authorities to humiliate the U.N. and everything that the organization represents," Zelenskyy said in an overnight video address to the nation. "Therefore, it requires corresponding powerful reaction." (AP)














Uma Thurman wowed onlookers as she was seen filming a wild west themed advert for Paramount Studios in Surrey on Friday alongside Jack Whitehall.

The actress, 51, looked the epitome of chic in a brown blazer and matching trousers, while teaming the look with a blue shirt while filming - although it's not known what for.

The blonde beauty elevated her height in a pair of beige heels and accessorised with dainty silver jewelry.

Looking good: Uma Thurman wowed onlookers as she was seen filming a wild west themed advert for Paramount Studios in Surrey on Friday alongside Jack Whitehall

Uma styled her golden tresses up in a bun and sported a bronzed makeup look, while wrapping up in a brown padded jacket in between takes.

Meanwhile Jack, 33, looked dashing in a brown jacket and turtle neck top, teamed with grey trousers and black boots.

The comedian looked in high spirits on the set which was behind the back of a local pub, as he was seen getting out of a bright blue camouflage car.

Filming was in full swing as members of the public were amazed while they watched other actors gallop through the streets on horses in traditional wild west style.

Stylish: Jack, 33, looked dashing in a brown jacket and turtle neck top, teamed with grey trousers and black boots

Beaming: The actress, 51, looked the epitome of chic in a a brown blazer and matching trousers, while teaming the look with a blue shirt

Hard at work: The comedian looked in high spirits on the film set behind the back of a local pub, as he was seen getting out of a bright blue camouflage car

Uma is set to star in the forthcoming comedy-thriller The Kill Room and will reunite on-screen with Samuel L. Jackson.

The pair previously costarred in the highly influential 1994 crime comedy feature Pulp Fiction, and they recently reunited with their castmate, John Travolta, at the Academy Awards ceremony.

The Kill Room will be centered on a hitman and his boss - with the latter being played by Jackson - who come into contact with an art dealer, played by Thurman.

Wow! Filming was in full swing as members of the public were amazed while they watched other actors gallop through the streets on horses in traditional wild west style

The three then become involved in a money-laundering scheme that inadvertently turns the assassin into an overnight sensation.

The hired gun is then forced to pit the benefits and connections of the art world against the seedy criminal underworld.

Director Nicol Paone gave a statement to the media outlet to express his excitement about being able to work with the Pulp Fiction stars.

'Getting to make The Kill Room an already incredible script  with Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson is beyond my wildest dreams,' he said.

Stunning: Uma styled her golden tresses up in a bun and sported a bronzed makeup look, while wrapping up in a brown padded jacket in between takes

Gorgeous: The blonde beauty elevated her height in a pair of beige heels and accessorised with dainty silver jewelry

The filmmaker also noted that the pair had impressive chemistry and that he was grateful for their involvement.

'Every moment they're onscreen, they are both enviable and eye-catching. I am eternally grateful to both of them for saying yes, and I am thrilled to bring this to life,' he said.

Producers Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman also spoke to the media outlet to show their enthusiasm for the forthcoming project.

'The combination of Uma and Sam for this project is a dream come true,' they stated.

The pair went on to note that the project was in good hands with Paone as its director.

'We are certain that Nicol is going to deliver a special film, and one that strikes the perfect balance between dark humor and edge-of-your-seat thrills,' they said.

Thurman and Jackson appeared with Travolta to present the Best Actor award at the 94th Academy Awards, which took place this past Sunday.

First flick: The pair previously costarred in the highly influential 1994 crime comedy feature Pulp Fiction; Thurman pictured in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Reunion: They recently reunited with their castmate, John Travolta, at last Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony; Travolta and Jackson pictured in Pulp Fiction (1994)

During the presentation, the Snakes on a Plane made several jokes about Pulp Fiction's legacy while the actress and her former castmate danced on stage.

At one point, the three looked into a glowing briefcase, which was the main point of contention in the 1994 movie.

Jackson went on to pull an envelope containing the name of the award's winner, who turned out to be Will Smith.
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Kim Kardashian has been slammed as 'disgusting' and 'umhinged' for seemingly 'darkening' niece Stormi's skin to match other niece True's in a Disneyland snap which she recently admitted to doctoring.

The reality star, 41, recently sparked outrage for on social media after finally admitting she Photoshopped her niece True's face onto her other niece Stormi's body in a series at the theme park because it suited her Instagram 'aesthetic'.

But Kim now faces fresh controversy as eagle-eyed Reddit users have spotted that Kim went as far as altering Stormi's hand with a darker tone to match True's skin colour, in a bid to fool people into believing that it was indeed Khloe Kardashian's child in the snap.

Really?! Kim Kardashian has been slammed as 'disgusting' and 'unhinged' for seemingly 'darkening' niece Stormi's [L] skin to match other niece True's [R] in a Disneyland snap which she recently admitted to doctoring

Taking to the comments on the discussion site, users shared their collective rage that Pete Davidson's girlfriend went to such extreme lengths to ensure the aesthetics of her social media looked perfect.

The user who posted the initial snap made their feelings clear, writing: 'KIM DARKENED THE SKIN ON STORMIS HAND TO MATCH TRUE. I need everyone to seriously understand how disgusting and unhinged this is. So incredibly wrong.'

Others followed suit, with one remarking: 'this entire thing is deranged. she thinks shes being snarky and funny, but its honestly such embarrassing behavior from a grown woman. and the jokes are falling flat.

'This is beyond aesthetic' said a second person, with another sharing: 'Kim has no limits. feel sorry for her kids.'

Shocking: Kim now faces fresh controversy as eagle-eyed Reddit users have spotted that Kim went as far as altering Stormi's hand with a darker tone to match True's skin colour, in a bid to fool people into believing that it was indeed Khloe Kardashian 's child in the snap

Original snap: The reality star, 41, recently sparked outrage for on social media after finally admitting she Photoshopped her niece True's face onto her other niece Stormi's body in a series at the theme park because it suited her Instagram 'aesthetic'

A fourth observed: 'She goes way too far & in her mind she fights off any hint of thinking this is wrong & pushing off her conscience.

With another adding: 'In no way is this normal behavior. They are clearly going to have to explain these headlines to the kids one day. What a bizarre life. I feel sorry for the children.'

MailOnline have contacted Kim Kardashian's representatives for comment.

The Photoshop fan theory went viral in early January and it was reignited recently when Khloe Kardashian admitted an April 12th visit to Disneyland was her daughter True's 'first' visit to the theme park.

On Wednesday, Kim finally admitted she had in fact digitally changed the image so that it would 'perfectly' match her Instagram feed.

Not impressed: The user who posted the initial snap made their feelings clear, writing: 'KIM DARKENED THE SKIN ON STORMIS HAND TO MATCH TRUE. I need everyone to seriously understand how disgusting and unhinged this is. So incredibly wrong'

Reaction: Taking to the comments on the discussion site, users shared their collective rage that Pete Davidson's girlfriend went to such extreme lengths to ensure the aesthetics of her social media looked perfect

The confession was met with shock and outrage on social media.

Many questioned why the star couldn't just post a solo shot of Chicago, slamming the star as choosing aesthetics over a child, while others poked fun at it by writing 'Stormi you look like True baby,' a play on of Kylie Jenner's famous 'Stormi you look like mommy' video that went viral.

On Twitter, fans called it 'sick' and noted 'photoshopping and filtering a child' is 'beyond weird,' with one writing the 'amount of therapy these poor children will need just breaks my heart.'

One wrote: 'This is kind of sick. Kim Kardashian explains why she photoshopped True's head on to Stormi's body in Disneyland pics - it was to maintain aesthetic & color scheme of her Instagram grid, when Kylie wouldn't give her permission to post Stormi. Poor kids are interchangeable.'

The original: On Wednesday, Kim finally admitted to photoshopping out Stormi's face and putting True's on it. And fans took to the comments section of the original post in December to react to her admission that she did in fact photoshop the children

Real vs fake: Kim posted the real images on Wednesday, April 27 featuring Stormi and Chicago. The fake image of Chicago was posted on December 31 is still live on Kim's page

The reasons: Kim revealed that Kylie asked her not to post Stormi, four, because she wasn't 'really feeling posting at the moment' and so the star decided to swap out the color of the pants to pink instead of orange to fit her aesthetic of her Instagram - ignoring the part about then adding True's face to Stormi's body

One fan wrote: 'Black mirror episode,' referring to the anthology series about the near future where the greatest technology collides with the darkest instincts.

Many called it weird that Kim would even photoshop or filter a child, calling the family 'on another planet' and out of touch with the real world.

'And people think she didn't leak her own s*x tape,' a Twitter user wrote, speaking on a long standing rumor Kim and her mom Kris Jenner allegedly released her own sex tape in 2007.

'This read like a parody account post but the fact that it was really her...' and another said 'The way she thinks this is normal thinking/living and could simply explain it away to her followers... but now I'm more weirded out.'

Shocked! On Twitter, fans called it 'sick' and called her out for 'photoshopping and filtering a child' as 'beyond weird,' with one writing the 'amount of therapy these poor children will need just breaks my heart'

On Wednesday morning, Kim - who first debunked claims she photoshopped Pete Davidson's nose and chin - confirmed she did in fact photoshop out Kylie Jenner's daughter Stormi and put in Khloe Kardashian's daughter True instead.

Kim revealed that Kylie asked her not to post Stormi, four, because she wasn't 'really feeling posting at the moment.'

Kim wanted to post the images so she decided to swap out the color of Stormi's pants to pink instead of orange to fit her aesthetic of her Instagram - ignoring the part about also swapping out Stormi's face for True's face - onto Stormi's body.

Wow: On Wednesday morning, Kim - who first debunked claims she photoshopped Pete Davidson's nose and chin - confirmed she did in fact photoshop out Kylie Jenner's daughter Stormi and put in Khloe Kardashian's daughter True instead

Kylie, Kris Jenner, Stormi and Chicago, four, went to Disneyland in October 2021, with Kim posting the photoshopped images on December 31, 2021 of Chicago with True - instead of Stormi.

Their trip to Disneyland was just two weeks before Travis Scott's Astroworld tragedy, which led to 10 people being crushed to death.

Kim did not share the photo until two months after the tragic concert, leading fans to believe Stormi was photoshopped out due to the fallout from Astroworld.

Kim shared the original image of Stormi and Chicago at Disneyland, writing: 'The original pics were Stormi ! However I asked @kyliejenner if I could post them and she said [insert crying face] she wasn't really feeling posting at the moment and so I respect that! But it wasn't going to mess up my IG feed. Chi was wearing pink and it matched perfectly,' adding heart emojis.

The star shared a side by side grid of the original pictures of Stormi and Chicago on Main Street in Disneyland and the image of them on the tea cup ride - along with the fake images of Chicago with a photoshopped True.

Kim wrote: 'It wasn't the aesthetic I was going for and I can own up to that! You know how much a good aesthetic means to my soul and I will be dammed if Kylie will ruin that for me and mess up my IG grid. So thank you True for taking one for the team!' [sic].

Her aesthetic: Kim claimed she photoshopped the image to fit her blue and pink aesthetic, but many images on her Instagram at that time are not those colors

She added a laughing emoji and then wrote: 'I didn't think it would be that big of a deal if her own mom questioned if I snuck her to a Disneyland for the first time' [sic] adding hearts.

She shared a snap of her Instagram from the time she posted the photos, noting that her aesthetic at that point was pink and blue.

Earlier this month, Khloe ignited a a firestorm after she confirmed that her daughter True was in fact photoshopped onto Kim's Disneyland Instagram snap last year of Chicago and True - with True's face being photoshopped onto Kylie Jenner's daughter Stormi's body.

The fan theory first surfaced in early January on TikTok after Kim posted the Instagram picture on New Year's Eve of her daughter Chicago and True - with True's face clearly looking photoshopped on.

The origin of the theory: The fan theory first surfaced in early January on TikTok after Kim posted the Instagram picture on New Year's Eve of her daughter Chicago and True - with True's face clearly looking photoshopped on

Whoops! Kim did not shared the photo until two months of the tragic concert, leading fans to believe Stormi was photoshopped out due to the fallout (the picture Kim shared on her Instagram)

In October 2021, Kim's sister Kylie Jenner went with their mom Kris Jenner, Stormi, four, and Chicago to Disneyland, as seen here.

Their trip to Disneyland was just two weeks before Travis Scott's Astroworld tragedy, which led to 10 people being crushed to death.

Kim did not share the photo until two months after the tragic concert, leading fans to believe Stormi was photoshopped out due to the fallout from Astroworld.

After the Astroworld tragedy on November 5, Kylie, who was pregnant with her and Travis' second child at the time, took a social media break and did not post images of herself to her Instagram until a pregnancy snap on New Year's Eve reflecting on the year.

She did post a throwback snap of Kris on Christmas Eve however and would occasionally post her brands on her Instagram stories.

The Photoshop fail speculation finally came to an end on True's fourth birthday (Tuesday, April 12, 2022) after Khloe accidently said - while at Disneyland with True - that it was her daughter's first time at the Parks in an Instagram video.

Real: The Photoshop fail speculation finally came to an end on True's birthday (April 12, 2022) after Khloe accidently said - while at Disneyland with True - that it was her daughter's first time at the Parks

When a fan questioned her statement, Khloe admitted that True was Photoshopped in those snaps Kim had shared in December, tweeting: 'Welllppp I f**ked this one up. Anyways.. lets focus on something else (laughing crying emoji). Our show airs in a few days.'

In the failed Photoshop pictures Kim posted, the color of Stormi's pants were altered from orange to pink. Stormi had her hair in a ponytail while the snaps Kim posted featured True in pigtails buns.

True's face was copied from a post Khloe shared in July 2021.

Another giveaway that the images were in fact altered were from Kylie herself, who shared a TikTok showing Stormi - and not True - at Disneyland with Chicago.

Whoops! When a fan questioned her statement, Khloe admitted that True was Photoshopped in those snaps Kim had shared in December, tweeting: 'Welllppp I f**ked this one up. Anyways.. lets focus on something else (laughing crying emoji). Our show airs in a few days'

Her face: True's face was copied from a post Khloe shared in July 2021

Proof: The TikTok is still up on Kylie's page; Chicago (L) and Stormi (R) pictured on Kylie's TikTok from October 2021 - the trip to Disneyland that was at the epicenter of the Photoshop controversy

Interesting: She shared a snap of her Instagram from the time she posted the photos, noting that her aesthetic at that point was pink and blue

The TikTok is still up on Kylie's page.

A Twitter user posted a gif Dr. Evil, a character with sinister motives from the film Austin Powers, with simply 'The "aesthetic," while another pointed out that the photoshop admission 'further confirms that their team does elite photoshop - if they're changing their nieces faces, imagine all the work done to the images of their bodies.'

'It's because Kylie didn't want attention as this was right after Astroworld but she really did this whole dissertation about the IG aesthetic.'

Many fans seemed baffled by why Kim couldn't just share a solo shot of Chicago or simply crop out Stormi, instead of taking the photoshop route.

Lots of questions: Many fans seemed baffled by why Kim couldn't just share a solo shot of Chicago or simply crop out Stormi, instead of taking the photoshop route

On Instagram, fans went to the original image Kim posted on December 31, which is still up as of Thursday morning to express their shock at her Photoshop actions.

'To get us to stop talking about astroworld,' adding a stop sign and quiet emoji, one fan wrote.

'LOL but couldn't you have just taken a different picture of Chi so that you didn't need to do all that photoshopping?' one fan questioned.

Still up: On Instagram, fans went to the original image Kim posted on December 31, which is still up as of Thursday morning to express their shock at her Photoshop actions; the photoshopped image is still up, as seen here

'This is literally proof of insanity' another wrote, with one Instagram user sarcastically write that Kim is 'doing so much just for Instagram.'

Several questioned why Stormi couldn't just be cropped out instead, others were just shocked that Chicago didn't have any solo shots from her Disneyland trip.

While a few did applaud her for her aesthetic and her dedication to it, most people found the Photoshopping 'weird.'
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Jessica Alba was joined by friends and family members on Thursday evening as she celebrated her 41st birthday in Los Angeles.

The actress looked stunning in a thigh-skimming silver minidress as she made her way into West Hollywood restaurant Delilah, where classic American food and boozy cocktails were served late into the night.

Alba added to her look with a pair of matching strappy heels, while a white Chanel handbag served as her only notable accessory.

The popular star was accompanied by husband Cash Warren, 43, and daughters Honor Marie, 13, and Haven, 10, while making her way inside the Santa Monica Boulevard venue.

Party time: Jessica Alba was joined by friends and family members on Thursday evening as she celebrated her 41st birthday in Los Angeles

Family: Jessica's husband Cash Warren and their two daughters, Honor Marie, 13, and Haven, 10, were seen greeting doormen as they made their way inside

Upbeat: Film producer Cash was in a buoyant mood after exiting the venue with his eldest daughter on Thursday evening

Guests included Jessica Simpson, who flashed some serious underboob as she left with her husband Eric Johnson on Thursday night.

The 41-year-old singer showcased her ample assets in the daring cut-out dress in a brown shade but suffered a major fake tan fail in her figure-hugging outfit.

For her night out Jessica wowed in the halter-neck dress which she teamed with gold and brown heels while toting a gold clutch bag.

Meanwhile Eric, 42, wore a denim shirt and smart black trousers while opting for suede shoes.

In attendance: Jessica Simpson was accompanied by husband Eric Johnson as she made her was inside the venue

Celebrity guests: Jessica Simpson (L), Becky G (C) and Kelly Rowland (R) were all on hand to held the actress celebrate her birthday on Thursday evening

Close friends: Couple Evan Ross and Ashlee Simpson were also in attendance at the West Hollywood gathering

Fancy meeting you here! Former Destiny's Child star Kelly Rowland greeting a fellow guest with an embrace outside the venue

Night out: Cassie and Alex Fine caught the eye as they prepared to make their entrance at the star-studded soiree

Hand in hand: Cassie and Alex were seen leaving the event later that night (L), while Rosario Dawson was also spotted alongside a new boyfriend (R)

She's pleased: Rosario appeared to be in high spirits as she greeted onlookers outside the venue on Thursday evening

Elsewhere Ashlee Simpson showcased her bold sense in a pink suit teamed with a black top as she arrived at the event.

She boosted her height in a pair of black strappy heels and carried a clutch bag, while walking hand-in-hand with her partner, 33.

Ashlee scraped her brunette tresses back in a low bun, flashing her huge gold hoop earrings and several necklaces.

The natural beauty sported a bronzed makeup palette which accentuated her natural features, teamed with a nude lip.

Meanwhile, Evan looked effortlessly cool in a satin black blazer, worn over a grey t-shirt and black Nike cord trousers.

The actor sported a pair of black biker boots and gold chains while putting on a loved-up display with his wife.

Other guests included close friend Rosario Dawson, who arrived with a new boyfriend, former Destiny's Child star Kelly Rowland and singer Becky G.

He's got company: Marlon Wayans was joined by a female friend as they made their way into Delilah's on Thursday night

Bold look: Rapper and actor LL Cool J opted for a colourful track suit top over joggers and high-top trainers on the night

Hard to miss: Jessica Simpson's dress fully exposed her underboob as she arrived on the arm of her husband

Tasteful: Kelly opted for a smart white trouser suit and chunky black shoes for her latest public appearance

Main man: Michael B. Jordan looked stylish in a white diner shirt and high slung black trousers

Alba began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack.

But then she took it a step up by starring in the prime time television series Dark Angel, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, when she was still a teen.

After that movies opened up to her as she starred in Honey, 2003, Sin City, 2005, Fantastic Four, 2005 and Into The Blue, also 2005

Several hits followed such as 2010's ensemble Valentine's Day before she popped up in lesser known films like 2015's Baby, Baby, Baby.

In 2019 she starred with Gabrielle Union in LA's Finest as Nancy McKenna, but the show has been canceled.

Looking lovely: Becky G opted for a tasteful black silk minidress and matching coat for her appearance at the event

Don't mind me: But Jessica Simpson was hard to miss as she climbed from the rear of her car on Thursday evening

Last week it was revealed that Alba and her friend Lizzy Mathis are set to host and executive produce Honest Renovations, a show on Roku about families putting together their dream homes and tackling tough parenting issues.

Alba and Mathis, 39, will assist 'deserving families complete the home renovations of their dreams and confront issues about parenting through candid conversations.'

Discussing the show, Alba said in a statement that 'becoming a parent was exciting, scary and confusing all at once.'

The Honest Company founder added: 'Parenthood is the most transformative life experience, and no matter how much you think you're prepared; you never really are.

'I can't wait to share the stories of the special families and their incredible home renovations with viewers on The Roku Channel.'

Lovely: Ashlee Simpson wore a pastel pink co-ord as she joined husband Evan for their latest night out

Familiar face: Black Eyes Peas star Will.i.am wore a relaxed outfit for his night out at the star-studded event

She's expecting: A pregnant Shay Mitchell wore a form -fitting minidress as she joined guests at the event
Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon get emotional as they are surprised with a choir by Ant and Dec to mark the judges 10-year anniversary on BGT.

In an exclusive clip from Saturday's show the presenters, 51 and 43 respectively, were joined by Simon Cowell and David Walliams for the moment - which the cheeky duo eventually managed to jokingly make about themselves.

The clip starts with Ant and Dec telling the excitable judges: 'Can you believe it is the 10th series that you have been together on the panel.'

Reaction: Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon get emotional as they are surprised with a choir by Ant and Dec to mark the judges 10-year anniversary on BGT

Alesha Dixon then shouts: 'No you'll make me cry!' before Simon adds: 'Wow!'

The Geordie duo, both 46, then continue: 'So we got you a gift!' before pulling back a silver curtain to reveal a three-piece choir.

The trio then sing the song: 'Congratulations on our 10-year anniversary and from the start these two have been there to guide you, the nations favourite duo Ant and Dec!'

Funny: In an exclusive clip from Saturday's show the presenters, 51 and 43 respectively, were joined by Simon Cowell and David Walliams for the moment - which the cheeky duo eventually managed to jokingly make about themselves

David then pointed out of the song: 'There was quite a lot about you in it! It ended being about you as well!' as the other judges laughed.

Amanda exclusively told MailOnline of her feelings about the 10-year anniversary, saying: 'It's pretty incredible achievement!

'Especially in today's TV climate, for the same group of people to work together on the same show for so long and not fall out or be replaced!'

Pals: The clip starts with Ant and Dec telling the excitable judges: 'Can you believe it is the 10th series that you have been together on the panel'

It comes after Ant was left needing medical attention after cutting his head on a coconut while filming Britain's Got Talent.

In an unseen moment from the show released on Thursday, the television presenter is shown standing next to co-host Dec at the side of the stage as an act performs for the judges with a large number of the fruit set out on some tables.

Clearly in a mischievous mood, Ant grabs a coconut and tries to crack it open with his bare hands before smashing it against his forehead, with Dec, 46, pointing out blood had appeared on his skin before calling a medic in for help.

Dressed in a green uniform with the word 'ambulance' emblazoned across the back, the man is seen wrapping a white bandage around Ant's head.

Here she is: Alesha Dixon then shouts: 'No you'll make me cry!' as Amanda looks over before Simon adds: 'Wow!'

Ant asks: 'When do I change this? When I get home?', to which the medic tells him: 'Yes, a new one every day for three weeks.'

'For three weeks?!', he exclaims.

The medic is then seen leaving the wings of the stage after patting Ant on the head, prompting the television star to shout: 'Well don't tap it, medic!'

Looking at his bandage, Dec joked to Ant: 'I tell you what though, you might be able to do it now. You've got some padding!'

Ant hit back: 'I won't be able to do it now! That will open the wound, that will!'

Surprise! The Geordie duo, both 46, then continue: 'So we got you a gift!' before pulling back a silver curtain to reveal a three-piece choir

It comes after David Walliams reportedly poked fun at Simon Cowell's age on Britain's Got Talent, but the gag was believed to have been cut from the final edit of the show.

The comedian, 50, made a cheeky jibe about his fellow judge, 62, looking like a 'grandad' in the audition rounds of the talent show in January, according to The Sun.

The duo are known for their banter on camera, and they often got back and forth teasing each other and arguing.

But it appeared David, who is known for taunting Simon, went too far when he made the joke at Simon's expense while talking to dance troupe Born to Perform.

He reportedly quipped: 'Are you a fan of Simon Cowell? Does he look like your grandad?'

Cheeky: David then pointed out of the song: 'There was quite a lot about you in it! It ended being about you as well!' as the other judges laughed

Watching on: The trio then sing the song: 'Congratulations on our 10-year anniversary and from the start these two have been there to guide you, the nations favourite duo Ant and Dec!'

It is understood Simon cut David's jibe from the final edit of the episode, which aired on Saturday night.

A TV source told The Sun that Simon did not appear offended when the joke was first made, adding: 'It's odd the joke was taken out of the final cut as David has made far cheekier gags about Simon and they've stayed in.'

MailOnline contacted Britain's Got Talent, Simon Cowell and David Walliams' representatives for comment.

David often makes jibes at Simon's expense on the show and the pair are known for their on-screen repartee.

Stylish lady: It came as Amanda stepped out in a colourful Zara co-ord to head to Heart FM on Friday

Simon recently hit back at a joke David made about his 'gastric band' as he cheekily suggested that the funnyman has had a hair transplant.

The music mogul spat back at the show panellist's previous remarks by making a subtle dig, suggesting David had received the procedure.

In an interview with The Mirror, Simon was asked if the judges had changed over 10 years on the ITV talent show.

He replied: 'Actually, everyone seems to look identical to when we started. David seems to have more hair, funny that. Maybe he's got a new hairdresser.'

David - who is known for taunting Simon - admitted that fans enjoy his cheeky remarks directed at his fellow judge.

'Every single day when someone recognises me on the street, they say, 'Oh, we love it when you have a go at Simon',' he said.

'It seems to be the key thing people really like... so if I didn't give him a hard time, I think people would be disappointed.'

Happy: She was all smiles as she stepped out, teaming her co-ord with a long white coat

Details: She completed her look with purple heels and toted a white leather bag
Married At First Sight's Jessika Power has never been a shrinking violet.

And on Friday, she didn't hold back at the star-studded launch of Celebrity Slim's Skinny B*tch low-calorie wine range on the Gold Coast.

The 30-year-old flaunted her fabulous physique in a skimpy mini-dress that highlighted her incredible legs.

Strike a pose! Married At First Sight's Jessika Power didn't hold back at the star-studded launch of Celebrity Slim's Skinny B*tch low-calorie wine range on the Gold Coast on Friday

The flirty frock left little to the imagination, giving onlookers a glimpse of Jessika's busty cleavage.

After brandishing the wine, Jessika later posed up a storm with Celebrity Slim's new Cheeky Little Sucker lollipops.

'The lollipops are an appetite suppressor,' she gushed to Nine News.

'They've got fibre in them which keeps you full for longer and they taste great and are easy to carry around in your handbag,' she added.

Cheers! The 30-year-old flashed a smile by the pool as she raised her glass in the air

The stunner sucked on one of the lollipops, before poking her tongue out at photographers.

At one point, she kicked back by the pool while posing next to a bottle of the Skinny B*tch wine.

She was joined by a number of other Married At First Sight stars at the event, including Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson, Sarah Roza, and Tamara Djordjevic.

Leggy: The 30-year-old flaunted her fabulous physique in a skimpy mini-dress that highlighted her incredible legs

Celebrity Slim is far from the only brand Jess has endorsed since shooting to fame on reality TV in 2019.

The star has worked with Booby Tape, Hello Fresh, and Viva vibrators.

Jessika recently returned to Australia after a stint in the UK.

And she's staying put Down Under for a while - which is why her British boyfriend, Connor Thompson, will soon join her in her native Queensland.

Sucker! After brandishing the wine, Jessika later posed up a storm with Celebrity Slim's new Cheeky Little Sucker lollipops

Trim: 'The lollipops are an appetite suppressor,' Jessika gushed to Nine News at the event

'Connor is coming over in September and we're so happy. It's like "who is this girl from MAFS who was stealing husbands and is all domesticated now?"' the 30-year-old told the Herald Sun last week.

The reality star added that she's madly in love and things are going swimmingly for the pair.

'He makes me feel so loved. I could go on about him forever,' she told the publication.

The bombshell also revealed that she plans to buy a home in Queensland's Brisbane - perhaps for the two to share.

After arriving in the UK last year, Jessika has appeared on series 10 of Celebs Go Dating.
Lizzie Cundy put on a leggy display as she head to the ITN studios in London on Friday morning.

The media personality, 53, showed off her incredible physique in a floral mini dress, teamed with a pair of white ankle boots as she prepared for her appearance on the Jeremy Vine show.

The former WAG carried a black handbag and protected her eyes from the glare of the sun with a pair of oversized shades as she waved at the camera.

Stunning: Lizzie Cundy put on a leggy display in a floral mini dress as she headed to the ITN studios in London on Friday morning

Lizzie styled her golden locks in loose curls while opting for a swipe of pink blush and lipstick.

She appeared on the show alongside Storm Huntley and where they debated electric scooters before showing off her skills.

The mother-of-two changed into a pink polka dot playsuit and was all smiles as she zoomed around on the scooter.

Wow! The media personality, 53, showed off her incredible physique in a floral mini dress, teamed with a pair of white ankle boots as she prepared for her appearance on the Jeremy Vine show

Stylish: The former WAG protected her eyes from the glare of the sun with a pair of oversized shades as she waved at the camera

Looking good: She appeared on the show alongside Storm Huntley and where they debated electric scooters before showing off her skills

The post comes days after Lizzie went public with her new American boyfriend who flew in from Miami to see her.

The pair stepped out on Wednesday for a night out, putting on a loved-up display as they walked side-by-side to the Revelations: A Portrait of Magic exhibition at S&P Gallery.

While she has not revealed the name, or details, of her new beau - a source told MailOnline that he is a restaurant director from America.

Lizzie was married to Chelsea and Spurs defender Jason Cundy for 16 years, before their split in 2012.

Fun times: Lizzie also shared a snap of herself on Instagram enjoying some truffles and a glass of wine in a p[re-birthday celebration ahead of her big day next week

Fun! The mother-of-two changed into a pink polka dot playsuit and was all smiles as she zoomed around on the scooter on the Jeremy Vine show

Proud: Lizzie was married to Chelsea and Spurs defender Jason Cundy for 16 years, before their split in 2012, and recently shared a sweet tribute to him via Instagram

Despite the split, she recently showed that they are on good terms, taking to Instagram to praise his bravery during his cancer treatment in the nineties for World Cancer Day.

Jason and Lizzie married in 1994 and their first son, Josh, was born two years later -with Jason diagnosed with testicular cancer the following year.

Lizzie nursed him and the cancer went into remission, welcoming their second son James was born in 2000, before the cancer returned in 2003.

In the post to her ex-husband, Lizzie explained: 'I will always be so proud of how he dealt with all of the treatment'.
Tom Hiddleston cut a casual figure as she stepped out for a low-key dog walk with his fiancee Zawe Ashton in London on Friday.

The actor, 41, and the actress, 37, looked happy and relaxed as they got some light exercise, with Zawe flashing her sparkling engagement ring.

The couple's romance blossomed after they starred in the 2019 play Betrayal and has gone from strength to strength since.

Couple: Tom Hiddleston cut a casual figure as she stepped out for a low-key dog walk with his fiancee Zawe Ashton in London on Friday as she flashed her sparkling engagement ring

Tom and Zawe previously set tongues wagging about a possible engagement as they appeared at the BAFTAs earlier this year, after which she was pictured wearing a huge diamond sparkler on her ring finger in a photo shared by host AJ Odudu.

Zawe - who is best known for Fresh Meat alongside Jack Whitehall - dressed down in a dark coat and beanie.

Meanwhile Tom wore a cap, navy coat and suede shoes as his love held onto his arm.

Stroll: The actor, 41, and the actress, 37, looked happy and relaxed as they got some light exercise

It comes after the couple were reportedly congratulated by industry friends at the BAFTAs - after Zawe hid her hand as she took to the red carpet in a pink cape dress.

Zawe concealed her stunning diamond-encrusted ring from photographers on the red carpet, draping her stunning flowing pink gown over her hand.

Ring: The jewellery was visible on her wedding ring finger

Tom, meanwhile, looked devilishly handsome in a black blazer and trousers, as he posed hand-in-hand with Zawe.

However, later in the ballroom of London's Grosvenor Hotel the couple caught up with the TV personality who snapped a picture which showed the diamond ring.

MailOnline has contacted Tom and Zawe's representatives for comment.

Zawe and Tom met while starring in the 2019 play Betrayal and have kept their relationship out of the spotlight ever since.

Their play Betrayal followed a seven-year extramarital affair between two characters, Emma and Jerry, with the latter character being Emma's husband Robert's friend.

Tom played Robert in the play with Zawe starring as his on-stage wife Emma and Charlie playing Jerry.

Wedding bells: Tom and Zawe previously set tongues wagging about a possible engagement as they appeared at the BAFTAs earlier this year, after which she was pictured wearing a huge diamond sparkler on her ring finger in a photo shared by host AJ Odudu

The couple confirmed their romance during a steamy PDA-filled holiday at the beach in Ibiza in September last year before making their red carpet debut together at the Tony Awards in New York City.

Last year it was revealed the pair had moved in together after months of romance rumours, and they are now said to be living together in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sources close to the duo said The Night Manager star, and the actress are 'very well suited and enjoy the quieter side of life'.

An insider told The Sun: 'Tom and Zawe have stayed quiet about their relationship but she has spent the last few weeks with him in the US.

'They are very well suited and enjoy the quieter side of life away from the glitz and glamour of the showbiz world.

Tom was also said to be wary of highlighting the romance due to the attention his past relationship with Taylor Swift drew.

A source said: 'Tom really has fallen for Zawe in a big way. But he is so paranoid about his private life since his relationship with Taylor that he has gone to great lengths to keep this under wraps.'

Tom told the New York Times after his romance with Taylor: 'Yes, I'm protective about my internal world now in probably a different way. That's because I didn't realise it needed protecting before.'

Happy: Zawe concealed her stunning diamond-encrusted ring from photographers on the BAFTA red carpet earlier this year, draping her stunning flowing pink gown over her hand

During Tom's short-lived fling with Taylor the pair didn't shy away from showing off their romance with lots of public outings.

The couple got together shortly after Taylor's split from Calvin Harris after first meeting at the Met Gala in May 2016, and during the first few weeks of their romance they travelled around the world together.

They even took the huge step of meeting one another's parents, with Taylor jetting to the UK to spend time with Tom's mother in Suffolk, while he went to her adopted home town of Nashville, before calling it quits in late 2016.

Along with his highly publicized relationship with Taylor in 2016, Tom also previously dated his Wallander co-star Susannah Fielding, with the pair splitting up in 2011.
Nadiya Bychkova and Kai Widdrington put on a loved-up display as they left their hotel in Manchester on Friday morning.

Ukrainian-Slovenian dancer Nadiya, 32, cut a low-key figure in an oversized jumper as she walked hand-in-hand with her beau, 26, before heading to Cardiff - the next stop on their Strictly: The Professionals UK Tour.

She donned a pair of sporty trainers and protected her face from the glare of the sun with a grey cap.

Beaming: Nadiya Bychkova and Kai Widdrington put on a loved-up display as they left their hotel in Manchester on Friday morning

Nadiya beamed as she carried a large Gucci shoulder bag and carried a coffee before their journey to Wales.

Meanwhile, Kai kept it casual in a black hoodie and joggers, while sporting a pair of white trainers.

The smitten couple were joined by stars of the show Diane Buswell, Katya Jones, Karen Hauer and Luba Mushtuk who pushed their luggage along to the bus.

Looking good: Ukrainian-Slovenian dancer Nadiya, 32, cut a low-key figure in an oversized jumper as she walked hand-in-hand with her beau, 26

Low-key: Kai kept it casual in a black hoodie and joggers, while sporting a pair of white trainers and hid his face with a cap

Pals: The smitten couple were joined by Diane Buswell, Katya Jones, Karen Hauer (pictured left) and Luba Mushtuk (pictured right)

Looking good: Dianne (left) donned a blue shirt over a white T-shirt with the words 'I am, I can, I will' on the front

All smiles: Karen and Luba looked in high spirits in all black ensembles as they prepared for their journey to Wales

Nadiya and Kai were every inch the smitten Strictly stars on Wednesday evening as the couple danced together during the dress rehearsal for The Professionals UK Tour at The Lowry in Manchester.

The couple are said to have taken the next step in their relationship and moved in together after going Instagram official with their romance earlier this month.

And their chemistry was undeniable as the professional dancers twirled around the dance floor together.

Chilling: Katya looked relaxed on the bus as she put her feet up, showcasing her fresh white trainers

Loved-up: Kai and Nadiya were every inch the smitten Strictly stars on Wednesday evening as the couple danced together during the dress rehearsal at The Lowry in Manchester

Romantic: Their chemistry was undeniable as the professional dancers twirled around the dance floor together

Nadiya wore a sparkling champagne-coloured gown with a full skirt, while Kai cut a dashing figure in a silk navy waistcoat.

She then slipped into a black fringe midi skirt with a daringly high slit to show off her lithe legs.

She paired it with a leather jacket and a black crop top that put her toned midriff on full display.

They were joined by the other professionals, who wowed as they practiced their moves in an array of glitzy outfits.

Incredible: Nadiya then slipped into a black fringe midi skirt with a daringly high slit to show off her lithe legs

Squad goals: They were joined by the other professionals, who wowed as they practiced their moves in an array of glitzy outfits

It comes after Nadiya recently moved her things into Kai's place after growing close over the last few weeks, according to The Sun.

They are thought to have been dating since January following Nadiya's split from her ex-fiance Matija Skarabot.

A source said: 'Moving in together was the obvious next step for Nadiya and Kai. Theyve grown so close and it just made sense.

'Kai helped Nadiya move in her belongings this week and theyre excited about making their property feel like a shared home.'
Sarah Paulson cut a chic figure on Thursday night, as she was spotted leaving the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood, after watching Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

The American Horror Story star, 47, sported an elegant oversized white suit over a grey top, and sleek platinum blonde hair for the occasion.

The actress was accompanied by her girlfriend Holland Taylor, 79, whom she's been dating for nearly seven years.

Chic: Sarah Paulson cut a chic figure on Thursday night, as she was spotted leaving the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood

Paulson finalized her stylish ensemble with a pair of pointed-toe cream mesh heels that matched her suit.

The Golden Globe Award winner accessorized the look with a unique tan purse featuring a slim silver hoop handle.

The Florida native wore a white face mask for the outing. To add a bit of contrast to the monochrome look, she sported dark polish on her nails.

Sleek: The American Horror Story star, 47, sported an elegant oversized white suit over a grey top, and sleek platinum hair for the occasion

Sweet: The actress was accompanied by her girlfriend Holland Taylor, 79, who looked chic in a black sweater which she accessorized with a multi-color silk bandana around her neck

Meanwhile Holland looked chic in a white top, black sweater, and matching pants, which she accessorized with a multi-color silk bandana around her neck.

The Primetime Emmy Award winner donned a black face mask and black purse for the occasion.

The two stars were leaving a play, after Holland recently wrapped up her own role as Ann Richards, the former Texas governor, at the Pasadena Playhouse on Sunday.

Going strong: Sarah and Holland have been together since 2015; Pictured attending the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar party

Taylor - who also wrote the one-woman play, titled Ann - previously starred in it on Broadway in 2013, for which she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress.

In 2022 the play finally had its West Coast premiere. Paulson recently dedicated an Instagram post to congratulate her better half on the accomplishment.

'The love of my life @hollandvtaylor is closing her show tonight. I have loved her for 7 years and counting and tonight, as she brings this production in for its landing, I have never loved her more,' she gushed.

'She is an artist to the marrow I happen to love a genius. Thats really the truth. The creative achievement of her life thus far was about a woman in pursuit of simple fairness fundamental goodness, with grit for days.'

The star wrapped-up her sweet statement writing: 'To be inspired by the artistry of the person you share your life with, is the most glorious thing in this world. I love you, I admire you, I worship you @hollandvtaylor.'
Nick Knowles, 59, struggled to hold back tears during an episode of his Big House Clear Out which aired on Thursday.

The series, which returned for a second series, saw Nick and his team meet Sarah who had tragically lost her veteran husband Trevor to a fatal heart attack.

In the show Nick and his team agree to make-over a family's home if they agree to ditch half their unwanted clutter. However during the episode an emotional Sarah struggled to give up her late husband's extensive military memorabilia.

Tears: Nick Knowles, 59, struggled to hold back tears during an episode of his Big House Clear Out on Thursday

Struggling to keep on top of the collection, an emotional Nick revealed that with her agreement, the team had arranged for the charity Forgotten Veterans UK to care for the collection.

A tearful Nick told Sarah in the emotional scenes: 'I'll make you a promise. You do the tough stuff, get through the emotional bit of getting rid of half your stuff and you're going to have an amazing house.'

Adding: 'To Trevor, that would have been really important, wouldn't it?'.

Sadness: The series, which returned for a second series, saw Nick and his team meet Sarah who had tragically lost her veteran husband Trevor to a fatal heart attack

Too much: In the show Nick and his team agree to make-over a families home if they agree to ditch half their unwanted clutter. However during the episode an emotional Sarah struggled to give up her late husband's extensive military memorabilia.

Hugging: Struggling to keep on top of the collection, Nick revealed that with her agreement, the team had arranged for the charity Forgotten Veterans UK to care for the collection

A representative from the charity then explained: 'With your permission, we would love to have a photo of your husband and some of the history of his service career. So when the vulnerable veterans come through, they can actually look at your husband as an inspiration to keep going in life.'

Nick burst into tears, revealing: "You've got me choking up now."

Sarah lost her husband of 21 years in March last year when he suffered a heart attack after the couple had moved to Dubai.

Loss: Sarah lost her husband of 21 years in March last year when he suffered a heart attack after the couple had moved to Dubai

Shock: Forcing Sarah to leave her home to move back to the Middle East and in with her daughter and young grand daughter. Leaving the home overflowing with clutter and boxes

Forcing Sarah to leave her home to move back to the UK and in with her daughter and young grand daughter. Leaving the small home overflowing with clutter and boxes.

With Sarah struggling to grieve for her late husband being surrounded by all his possessions.

With the family agreeing to dispose of much of their clutter the team transformed their home to one now fit for purpose.

Happy ending: With the family agreeing to dispose of much of their clutter the team transformed their home to one now fit for purpose

This comes after Nick slammed 'abusive' trolls who 'attacked' his girlfriend over their 28-year age gap.

The DIY SOS star, enjoyed a romantic meal in Mayfair with mother-of-two and sex toy business owner Katie Dadzie, 31, over the Easter weekend where they were pictured enjoying a steamy smooch.

But Nick took to his Twitter on Wednesday to call out trolls who pointed out their age difference and implied she might be a gold digger, saying that Katie was 'wealthier and more successful' than him.

Sad: This comes after Nick slammed 'abusive' trolls who 'attacked' his girlfriend Katie Dadzie over their 28-year age gap

Together: Nick, who split from his wife Jessica Rose Moor in 2016, made his first appearance with girlfriend Katie (pictured) in September 2021

He wrote on social media: 'I'm raging. The woman I was out to dinner with when we were papped is 32, has degrees in two subjects, runs 3 businesses.

'She is wealthier & more successful than me and is intelligent and independent, unlike the abusive trolls attacking her. 'What happened to #bekind?'

It isn't clear where the abuse took place or if he was messaged privately with it.

Katie runs two businesses according to her Instagram bio, one called Boa Boa which sells lingerie and sex toys, and other called Boobbix which flogs 'lactation products for breastfeeding mums'.

Nick, who split from his wife Jessica Rose Moor in 2016, made his first appearance with girlfriend Katie in September 2021, after ending his romance with PR guru Emily Hallinan, 27, in February 2020.




Transition team Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo met with the British ambassador to South Korea on Friday and discussed bilateral cooperation on supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine.







Ambassador Colin Crooks paid a visit to Ahn at his office, saying he is pleased South Korea was the first Asian country to sign a free trade agreement with Britain following its exit from the European Union.







Ahn said he is interested in both the FTA and developing a bilateral framework proposed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.







"I'm sure there are many areas where we can cooperate, such as supply chains and the pandemic," he said. "On Ukraine, we're participating in sanctions (against Russia) and providing humanitarian support."







Crooks noted that freedom-loving countries, such as the United States, Britain and South Korea, will be able to cooperate on Ukraine because they take the crisis seriously and condemn Russia's invasion.







Ahn also referred to Britain's participation in the 1950-53 Korean War, saying the South Korean people have special feelings for Britain because of its support during the conflict. (Yonhap)






Amanda Bynes' friends and family have reportedly expressed concerns for her safety after an argument with fiance Paul Michael led to a 911 call earlier this week.

According to a report by TMZ on Friday, sources said that they were worried about Paul's temper and feared that the pair's relationship could potentially end violently.

The insiders told the media outlet that Paul has a history of losing his temper and cited an incident in which he allegedly vandalized his mother's home two weeks ago.

Worried: Amanda Bynes' friends and family have 'expressed concerns for her safety' after an argument with fiance Paul Michael led to a 911 call

The troubled 36-year-old actress had previously accused Paul of vandalizing his mother's residence in a video on her Instagram Story.

The sources told TMZ that the Wednesday altercation between Amanda and Paul escalated because of his temper.

The insiders also claimed that the Sydney White star had called the police over fears for her safety before Paul made his own 911 call.

Safety concerns: According to a report by TMZ on Friday, sources said that they were worried about Paul's inability to control his temper and feared that the pair's relationship could potentially end violently

Sources told TMZ that Amanda's parents still stand by their agreement to end her conservatorship after almost nine years as she 'continues to do well on her own, but the concern is now over Paul.'

This comes after Amanda appeared to have reunited with Paul, just hours after accusing him of using drugs, watching disturbing pornography and vandalizing his mom's home which resulted in the incendiary argument that prompted the 911 call.

Amanda and Paul shared a kiss as they were seen stepping out together on Thursday mid-morning in LA for a loved up display.

Their very public display of love appears to confirm the engaged couple have reconciled after their argument just hours earlier.

Family: Sources told TMZ that Amanda's parents still stand by their agreement to end her conservatorship after almost nine years as she 'continues to do well on her own, but the concern is now over Paul'; seen with Rick and Lynn Bynes in 2004

But earlier things were different. The Love Wrecked performer had taken to her Instagram stories on Thursday to publicly claim he has stopped taking his medications and she declared she had 'kicked him out' of her house over his 'alarming behavior'.

'I'm afraid of what he'll do,' Amanda said, alleging that she found his 'stash of crack cocaine' and that he had put 'salmon under' his mom's bed.

Right before her Instagram stories, Paul called police to their home at 2:30am during a verbal dispute with the star and accused her of taking his Adderall and calling her 'out of control,' according to TMZ.

Back together: This comes after Amanda appeared to have reunited with Paul, just hours after accusing him of using drugs, watching disturbing pornography and vandalizing his mom's home which resulted in the incendiary argument that prompted the 911 call

During the 2:30 am call to the police, Paul had told the police she kicked him out of the house but he stayed there until they arrived, per the outlet's source with the LAPD.

He spoke to the dispatcher and told them they were in a verbal dispute.

According to the outlet, he reportedly went to his Instagram and said he didn't know 'what the f**k she's talking about.'

Shocking: Amanda directly on her stories as she claimed he stopped taking his medications and watching disturbing porn, calling his 'behavior alarming' and revealing she 'kicked him out of' her house

Amanda's lawyer David Esquibias gave People a statement on Thursday morning after the accusations and cop visit.

David said: 'Amanda and Paul had an argument Wednesday evening. Amanda left her home, where Paul has been residing, for her safety before the situation escalated. She was not there when police arrived.'

'Amanda is now back home and denies Paul's claims of taking his medication. She remains focused on her well-being,' he said to the outlet.

Accusations: 'I'm afraid of what he'll do,' Amanda said, adding that she found his 'stash of crack cocaine' and that he put 'salmon under' his mom's bed

Hours before, Amanda posted a snap of Paul to her stories as he lounged on the couch.

Amanda spoke directed to the camera next, listing out the accusations against her fiance.

'Paul told me he stopped taking his medications. I looked at his phone and he was looking at mom and son porn.'

Adding: 'He vandalized his mom's home, he broke all of her pictures and he put salmon under her bed. His behavior is alarming and I'm afraid of what he'll do.'

On Tuesday, Amanda released her second song with Paul, titled 'Fairfax.'

Two weeks earlier, Amanda released a clip of her single titled Diamonds, which she made with Paul.

Amanda and Paul met at a sober living home in late 2019 and got engaged the following year.

The What I Like About You star's lawyer David A. Esquibias told ET that Amanda and Michael put the track together amid the initial stages of the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.

The shocking accusations come just one month after a conservatorship her parents presided over since 2013 was terminated in Ventura County Superior Court in Oxnard, California.

Prior: Amanda shared a glam video of herself on Wednesday night

'The court determines that the conservatorship is no longer required and that grounds for establishment of a conservatorship of the person no longer exist,' Judge Roger Lund said in court docs from last month.

Amanda was placed under the conservatorship in 2013 amid a series of legal issues, and problems with mental health and substance abuse.

Last month, the judge said that the actress had proven she was adept to deal with her health issues without oversight from her parents, who did not object to the change in plans.

When the conservatorship was initially implemented in 2013, the star's parents Rick and Lynn Bynes said in court docs they were worried Amanda could harm herself or other people unless they were able to oversee her medical affairs and finances.

Her parents said they were concerned she could undergo potentially perilous plastic surgery, and told the court the actress believed she was being monitored through her vehicle's dashboard and smoke detectors in her home.

Amanda told ET following the ruling that she was focused on her education and work on a fragrance product she was planning on releasing in the future.

Her fiance: Paul appeared on her stories one day prior smoking

'I am continuing with my Bachelor's Degree at FIDM, majoring in Creative Industry Studies with a core in Beauty Marketing and Product Development,' Amanda told the outlet, noting that she was 'traveling to New York in June to work on developing a fragrance.'

Amanda found fame as a child star at the age of 13 on Nickelodeon's The Amanda Show, and went on to have success on shows such as All That and What I Like About You. She was also featured in films including She's the Man, What a Girl Wants and Hairspray, with her last appearance in a motion picture coming in 2010's Easy A.

She said on Twitter that year that she was retiring from her acting career, writing, 'Being an actress isn't as fun as it may seem. If I don't love something anymore I stop doing it. I don't love acting anymore so I've stopped doing it.'
Nicola Coughlan has detailed her surprise friendship with US TV personality Kim Kardashian.

The 35-year-old actress shot to fame in 2018 for playing Clare Devlin in Channel 4's Derry Girls and went on to star as Penelope Featherington in Netflix's Bridgerton.

Kim, 41, who is a massive fan of the period drama, slid into the actress' DMs for a chat about the global hit and they've been friends ever since.

Besties: Bridgerton's Nicola Coughlan has detailed her surprise friendship with US TV personality Kim Kardashian in an interview with Bustle

Speaking to Bustle, Nicola said: 'I woke up one morning [in 2021] and had a DM from Kim Kardashian. I was like, "What is going on?" So weird! We talked about Bridgerton.'

The pair have since kept in contact, with Nicola messaging Kim to wish her luck ahead of her appearance on Saturday Night Live.

The Galway native said: 'I messaged Kim to say, "You're gonna do great!" And she said, "Thanks, I'm really nervous".

Besties: Kim is a massive fan of the Netflix period drama slid into the actress' DMs for a chat about Bridgerton, and they've been friends ever since

Star: The 35-year-old actress shot to fame in 2018 for playing Clare Devlin in Channel 4's Derry Girls and starred as Penelope Featherington in Netflix's Bridgerton

'I told her, "No, you're gonna kill it".'

Nicola praised the mom-of-four saying: 'She's so nice. I'd heard that about her from lots of different people, and I can attest to it now.'

'Well, now I'm, like, best friends with Kim Kardashian,' she quipped.

The third and final series of Derry Girls is currently airing on Channel 4

Nicola also revealed to the publication how surreal it was to go from a struggling actress to being an internationally recognised face.

She said: 'We were hideously ill-prepared. Fame is a very strange thing, and can be quite an isolating experience because it's not something that most people can relate to.

'I mean, there's definitely more good than bad. But it's certainly a challenge.'

Nicola's comments come after fans of Derry Girls went wild when Hollywood A-lister Liam Neeson made a cameo appearance in the first episode of the final series earlier this month.

The actor, 69, played Chief Constable Byers, a local police officer who questioned Northern Irish school friends Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), Orla (Louisa Harland), Clare, Michelle (Jamie-Lee O'Donnell) and James (Dylan Llewellyn) after they're caught on school grounds after hours.

Viewers were open-mouthed in shock as Liam slowly emerged from the shadows of the police station, with one tweeting: 'Liam Neeson's cameo in #DerryGirls was the best surprise ever! Absolutely love this show.'

A Derry special guest star! Fans of Derry Girls went wild after Hollywood A-lister Liam Neeson made a cameo appearance in the first episode of the last series, pictured

Another posted: 'Everyone screaming 'OMG it's Liam Neeson' at the telly.'

A third added: 'The gasps out of everyone when Liam Neeson came on screen #DerryGirls.'

Liam said he was 'delighted' to play 'a wee part' in the show.

'I'm a huge fan of the series, the talented Lisa McGee's incredible writing and the superb ensemble cast,' he said.

A-list talent: Viewers were open-mouthed in shock as Liam slowly emerged from the shadows of the police station and took to Twitter to share their joy

'It's such a unique and special show with real heart and amazing to see the lives of ordinary, funny people living in Northern Ireland during The Troubles played out in a Channel 4 comedy. It was lovely to be back filming there and having fun with them all.'

The comedy about a group of Catholic school friends returned for its third and final series this month and was met with rave met with rave five-star reviews from critics, including MailOnline's Christopher Stevens who said it was 'wonderful'.
Karlie Kloss enjoyed an exciting night of partying at The Prince's Trust Gala in New York on Thursday.

And the 29-year-old model took to Instagram on Friday to share a series of images from the bash, which included her famous model friends, Bella, 25, and Gigi Hadid, 27.

'A casual thursday night with some friends,' she cheekily captioned the glamorous snaps that saw her wearing a stylish feather and sequin gown.

Glam party: Karlie Kloss, 29, shared a series of photos from The Prince's Trust Gala in New York on Thursday, including a glamorous shot with Bella Hadid, 25

In one photo the statuesque beauty struck a pose next to Bella, who looked effortlessly stylish in a sleeveless black gown and sheer black gloves.

While Kloss' brunette strands were elegantly pulled back, with just a few left out to frame her face, Bella sported a set of funky twist knots in her hair.

In another photo, the wife of Joshua Kushner was seen inside of the gala sitting next to Gigi, who sported a pink ensemble and platinum hair.

Famous friends: In another photo Kloss was seen inside of the gala sitting next to Gigi, 27, as well as model Stella Maxwell, 31, and editor-in-chief of British Vogue Edward Enninful, 50

Worthy cause: Gigi and Bella on the carpet. The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe

Seated next to them was Victoria's Secret Angel model Stella Maxwell, 31, who appeared to have taken the photo.

In the snap Gigi and Karlie were pictured holding the hands of Edward Enninful, 50, who is the editor-in-chief of British Vogue.

Kloss also shared a closer look at her hair, glam, and jewel accessories for the night.

Closer look: Kloss also shared a closer look at her hair, glam and jewel accessories for the night

Stunner: The model showed off her glimmering stylish feather and sequin gown

Magnetic gaze: In another shot she gazed into the camera with her piercing hazel eyes

It was a night of many of the biggest names to hit the catwalk, but Kloss managed to stand out and looked absolutely stunning as she hit the red carpet at the gala.

The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe.

The 6feet2 model looked fine in a feathered black and gold gown featuring sequins.

She paired the stunning gown with a pair of black and gold heels as she strutted her stuff.

Gorgeous: Karlie looked absolutely stunning as she hit the red carpet at The Prince's Trust Gala in New York on Thursday night

Strutting her stuff: She paired the stunning gown with a pair of black and gold heels as she strutted her stuff

Karlie accessorized with a black leather designer bag and dangling earrings.

Her highlighted tresses were put in an elegant updo as the fringe was combed down the middle.

She accentuated her porcelain skin with complementary make-up topped off with shiny pink lip.

The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom.

Over 45 years later, the charity continues to help 'thousands of young people every day who are facing tremendous hardships, from unemployment to social exclusion, to poverty, mental health issues, disability, or abuse.'

Without the proper help and programs - like the ones funded and orchestrated by The Prince's Trust - many young people would 'struggle to move forward in education or employment, and consequently become increasingly at risk of to poverty, ill health, exploitation in their adult lives.'

According to the charity's official website, The Prince's Trust has helped 'nearly one million vulnerable young people' in the United Kingdom since its inception.

Providing relief on a global scale, The Prince's Trust in the UK works alongside Prince's Trust International, Prince's Trust Australia, Prince's Trust New Zealand, Prince's Trust Canada and now Prince's Trust USA.

Man of the hour: The annual event is hosted by legendary musician Lionel Richie and aims to raise funds for The Prince's Trust, which provides support to vulnerable young people across the globe

Royal: The Prince's Trust was established by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1976 at a time of widespread unemployment in the United Kingdom

It is reported on The Prince's Trust website that the charity aims to deliver support to young people in the countries of 'Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ghana, Greece, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Rwanda, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and the United Kingdom.'

Ahead of Thursday's star-studded soiree, gala chairs Lionel Richie and British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful released a statement expressing delight over the opportunity to 'celebrate the global work of The Prince's Trust and to support young people from around the world to transform their lives and build their futures.'

Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid were two of the biggest stars at the event as they looked very fashionable at the gala.

Bella, 25, stormed the red carpet with her 27-year-old sister in a glamorous black strapless dress that highlighted her sculpted shoulders.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is pushing back against fans angry about Melissa McBride's departure from a planned spinoff of The Walking Dead.

Some followers of the zombie killing thriller have blamed co-star Norman Reedus, 53, for the exit, but Jeffrey, 56, posted an angry tweet, calling them out of line.

While it was not immediately clear what Reedus has done, there was speculation from fans that the network wanted to keep him for a solo spin-off show.

Defense mode: Jeffrey Dean Morgan is coming to the defense of his The Walking Dead co-stars after Melissa McBride announced she was bowing out of a spin-off with Norman Reedus

Angry tweet: The 56-year-old actor issued an angry tweet to some ugly online messages that blamed Norman Reedus, 53, for Melissa's departure

But Morgan was having none of it as he hit back on Thursday: 'Some of you have gone WAY too far.'

'Attacking Norm for c**p he has NOTHING to do with? Melissa made a call that was hers alone. She wants/needs a break. Respect that. Factors involved that are nobody's business. Norm, who's given more than anyone to you all. Just SH**TY.'

In a move that highlighted the severity of the fan response, AMC also issued a statement about the matter.

The network tweeted: 'A statement from AMC and TWD: We would like to acknowledge the response to this weeks news related to the previously announced Daryl and Carol TWD spinoff. Norman Reedus is being unfairly targeted and attacked in social media for a decision he had no part in.

'Melissa McBride decided she could not participate in the series because relocating to Europe became logistically untenable for her.'

'It is inappropriate to direct negativity and anger at another cast member for a disappointing outcome he had nothing to do with.'

Fan favorites: The characters of Carol and Daryl stuck out as fan favorites early on. Both were supposed to appear in a spin-off until Melissa backed our for personal reasons

Melissa, 56, has starred as Carol Peletier since The Walking Dead series launched in 2010.

Carol and Norman's character, Daryl Dixon, stuck out as fan favorites early on and both were supposed to appear in a Carol-Daryl spin-off but Melissa decided to bow out.

In announcing the change of plans, AMC issued a statement explaining the Kentucky native's reasoning behind the move.

'Unfortunately, she is no longer able to participate in the previously announced spin-off focused on the Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier characters, which will be set and filmed in Europe this summer and premiere next year.'

Veterans: Both Norman and Melissa have been with the popular apocalyptic show since it launched in 2010. Seen here at Comic Con in 2019

'Relocating to Europe became logistically untenable for Melissa at this time. We know fans will be disappointed by this news, but The Walking Dead Universe continues to grow and expand in interesting ways and we very much hope to see Carol again in the near future.'

There's no news yet as to who, if anyone, will replace Melissa, or if the Zombie killing spin-off will proceed as scheduled.

Sources have said other plans for Melissa/Carol are being discussed.

Gone, but not forgotten: Sources have said other plans for Melissa/Carol are being discussed, seen her in September 2019

Jeffrey, who plays villain Negan, is set to star in his own spinoff, co-starring Lauren Cohan as Maggie. The show will be set in New York.

Part two of the series The Walking Dead finale aired April 10.

Fans can look forward to the final ending later this year.
The premiere date for the new season of Big Brother Australia has been announced.

The Channel Seven reality show, which is hosted by Sonia Kruger, will return to screens on Monday, May 9.

The upcoming season will see new housemates competing against some of the most iconic housemates of the past, dubbed 'royalty'.

Coming soon: The premiere date for the new season of Big Brother has been announced. The Seven reality show, which is hosted by Sonia Kruger, will return to screens on Monday, May 9

From 10's original era of the show, Reggie Sorensen, Trevor Butler and 'Farmer' Dave Graham will make a stunning comeback.

Tim Dormer, Tully Smyth, Anthony Drew, Estelle Landy and Layla Subritzky are also set to make a return.

A newly released trailer teases plenty of drama along with some outrageous challenges and steamy hookups.

The upcoming season will see new housemates competing against some of the most iconic housemates of the past, dubbed 'royalty'. Pictured: Tully Smyth (left) and Drew Anthony (right)

Reggie and Tim's returns were already confirmed by Channel Seven last month.

'This may be a new game but I'm still the same old Reggie. Big Brother is in my blood. I just can't believe I'm here,' Reggie, 47, said in a statement.

Reggie won Big Brother Australia season three in 2003 and went home with $250,000 prize money.

Not again! A newly released trailer teases plenty of drama along with some outrageous challenges and steamy hookups

Comeback: Tim Dormer is also back for another stint after winning the 2013 season and appearing on Big Brother Canada

It comes after reports that Reggie is being 'paid peanuts' to appear, in the form of $170 a day, rather than an up-front fee.

According to New Idea, Reggie was given just two days to decide if she wanted to take part in the series, adding: 'It seems she's been taken for a ride.

'Her return to the Big Brother house was meant to signal better times. Here's hoping she wins again!'

Remember me? 2004 Big Brother winner Trevor Butler is back again

Of course, should she win the 2022 season she'd walk away with the grand prize of $250,000.

The upcoming season, which was filmed late last year, will see memorable housemates from the past 20 years compete against 12 newcomers.

Big Brother returns to screens on Channel Seven on Monday, May 9
Kim Kardashian has made some fairly dramatic statements at the annual Met Gala in New York City over the years.

During her first year at the splashy, star-studded event she had on a tight floral dress that made the most of her very pregnant belly. Later she would be seen in a gold column dress, a silver suit that made her look like a robot, a see-through lace wonder and a dress that came in so tight she had to wear a waist trainer for weeks beforehand.

Last year the star, 41, covered her face with black cloth in a shocking move as she shared she had a full face of makeup on underneath for some reason.

Here is a look back at the eight looks The Kardashians star has tried out during the most important night in fashion.





2013 - GIVENCHY

Her first time at the Met Gala was for PUNK: Chaos to Couture in 2013. She was pregnant with North and wore a floral print dress from Givenchy.

The California native said that she was not invited but rather was West's plus one. Sadly, after the gala she 'cried' because she was so insecure about everything, she had said.

'2013 Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy. I was Kanye's plus one & so nervous! I didn't know anyone & I'm sure no one wanted me there lol. I did my own lipstick & the color is so off. I went home & cried after of insecurity but this is one of my fave looks now,' said the TV vet.

2013 - GIVENCHY

2014 - LANVIN

In 2014, Kim had on a blue strapless Lanvin outfit as Kanye had on black. The theme was Charles James: Beyond Fashion.

She said it was the first time she had been invited on her own.

'My dress was originally made of this amazing leather with metallic detailing,' Kim said earlier. 'But we decided at the last minute to redo it in blue satin.'

2014 - LANVIN

2015 - ROBERTO CAVALLI

She wore a very sheer and sexy lace and net gown by Roberto Cavalli for the May 2015 event. Her hair was slicked back and she modeled huge earrings.

And the star posed with husband Kanye West who went with a black suit and boots.

The theme was celebrating China: Through the Looking Glass.

2015 - ROBERTO CAVALLI

2016 - BALMAIN

Kardashian tried out silver at the Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology in 2016.

She wore Balmain, a shimmery silver dress that looked like a futuristic gown with a slit up the side. Husband Kanye West was in the same designer.

She said: '2016 Olivier Rousteing for Balmain. I was back to insecure this year because I hadn't lost all of my baby weight. Big mistake to bleach the brows but Kanye looked so good this year with those blue eyes! It was super controversial that he wore denim.'

Earlier she had noted: 'I thought Balmain was the perfect choice for me and Kanye, especially. I think Kanye's look is a little bit more downplayed with the denim mixed with all the Balmain bling.'

2016 - BALMAIN

2017 - VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

This one in 2017 was celebrating the opening of Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art of the In-Between.

The Selfish author had on a white Vivienne Westwood off-the-shoulder dress with no jewelry and strappy heels.

In the bus ride to the event she had to stand up so the dress would not wrinkle and she said she was already sweating and had to use the bathroom because she was so nervous.

The daughter of Kris Jenner said, '2017 Vivienne Westwood. This was my first year going solo. I was so nervous to go by myself I almost threw up on the way & I had to pee every second.. I was FaceTiming my sisters to meet up at the top of the stairs. Vivienne made me this beautiful dress from her archive.'

2017 - VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

2018 - VERSACE

Kim Kardashian attends the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala in 2018.

She said this gold mesh Versace dress fit her like a 'glove.'

Kardashian added, 'I knew exactly what I wanted and was most confident this year. 90's, chainmail, sexy and simple.'

2018 - VERSACE

2019 - THIERRY MUGLER

Kardashian was in a wet look for Camp: Notes on Fashion in 2019.

She had to wear a waist trainer to get her midsection as small as possible to pull off this Thierry Mugler dress.

The look was supposed to be 'wet' which is why she had crystals that looked like raindrops coming off of her. Her hair also looked wet as she had oiled skin.

2019 - THIERRY MUGLER

2021 - BALENCIAGA

Kim shocked fans when she wore a head to toe black look that covered her famous face.

Later the red carpet fixture said that she was fully made up under that face sock which seemed like a lot of effort for no payoff.

Turns out, it was not her favorite move.

'I fought against it. I was like, I dont know how I could wear the mask. Why would I want to cover my face?' she told Vogue this year.

'But Demna [Gvasalia, Balenciagas creative director] and the team were like, "This is a costume gala. This is not a Vanity Fair party where everyone looks beautiful. Theres a theme and you have to wear the mask. That is the look."'

2021 - BALENCIAGA
It has been 65 days since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the biggest attack on a European country since World War 2.

Thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have died since the war started, and according to a United Nations' report, more than 11 million people are believed to have fled their homes in Ukraine since the conflict began.

Frustrated with the losses and a slow progress, Russia has increased the pace of its offensive. Putins army attacked Kyiv with two cruise missiles on Thursday as the UN Secretary General was visiting the Ukrainian capital, reported Al Jazeera.

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters the third month, we take a look at the key events since the war started.

RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE

On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine from three fronts in one of the biggest assaults in European history. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was launching a special military operation to demilitarise and deNazify Ukraine. Large explosions were witnessed in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol regions. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself.

UKRAINIAN RESILIENCE

Soon after the attack, Russian forces faced huge resilience from the Ukrainian forces in the north, east and south. Civilians prepared Molotov cocktails as they got ready to defend the capital. US defence officials said Ukraines forces were putting up determined resistance, reported Reuters.

Photo: AP

NO AGREEMENT

February 28: The first round of talks between Ukraine and Russia ended without making any breakthroughs. The meeting which took place near the Belarus-Ukraine border was the first since the war started.

March 3: Russia and Ukraine decided to set up humanitarian corridors for fleeing civilians from both countries.

Photo: AP

On March 4, Russian forces seized Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europes biggest. On the same day, NATO rejected Ukraines appeal for no-fly zones, saying it would escalate the conflict, reported the AFP.

WAR INTENSIFIES

On March 13, Russia extended its war deep into western Ukraine. Missile attacks at a base in Yavoriv close to Poland killed 35 people and wounded 134.

Photo: AP

On March 16, Ukraine accused Russia of bombing a theatre in Mariupol where hundreds of civilians were taking shelter. Moscow, however, denied the allegations, reported Reuters.

RUSSIA LIMITS AMBITIONS

On March 25, Moscow signalled that it is going to scale back its ambitions and will focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east and the Donbas region in the southeastern Ukraine, reported France24.

BUCHA MASSACRE

On April 3 and 4, after hundreds of bodies were found in towns near Kyiv, Ukraine accused Russia of committing war crimes.

Mass graves and bodies of people shot at close range were found in the recaptured town of Bucha. As the West vowed response over Bucha deaths, Russia denied all allegations.

MOSKOA SINKS

On April 14, Russias lead warship in the Black Sea, the Moskva, sank after an explosion. Though Ukrainian officials said their forces hit the vessel with missiles, Russia denied any attack but admitted to any explosion on the ship, reported the Associated Press. The vessel was the biggest Russian warship to be sunk in action since World War 2.

RUSSIA UNLEASHES OFFENSIVE

With an aim to take full control of the Donbas region, Russia decided to launch an assault on east Ukraine on April 18. Putin, on April 21, declared that the port city of Mariupol has been "liberated" after two months of siege, reported Reuters.

On April 22, a Russian general said that Moscow wants to take full control of southern and eastern Ukraine.

On April 28, Russia attacked Kyiv with two cruise missiles as the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was visiting the Ukrainian capital.

WHERE IS THE WAR HEADEED?

While Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that the risk of a nuclear war is real and should not be underestimated, Ukraine has said that it will stand up to Moscow till the very end.

Photo: AP

Gustav Gressel, a Senior Policy Fellow at a think tank, European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), wrote that Russia is drawing on its Syria playbook and regrouping for a long war to seize the whole of Ukraine.

"The West needs to take action now to supply Ukraine with Western equipment. Europeans need to plan now for the long war Russia intends to wage as it makes its way westward," he wrote.

US President Joe Biden has asked the Congress to fund a new USD 33 billion Ukraine aid package. He spoke at the White House after Putin warned of lightning fast retaliation against any country that interferes in Ukraine, reported the NBC News.

Looks like the war in Ukraine is not going to end anytime soon.
Its no doubt that K-Dramas have revolutionalised the new-age silver-screen watching experience. From the Asian immigrants in the West finally finding real representation in the K-Dramas to the Indians resonating with the Asian culture moving beyond the irrelevant Ekta Kapoor serials, K-Dramas have ignited our imagination with wonders.

But cinema is finally fighting its way towards inclusivity, moving beyond the tropes and the stereotypes. Bridgerton brought racial inclusivity to Regency-era drama, something no one would have thought possible. The documentary on Abercrombie and Fitch narrates the tale of how being racist is unattractive and led to the brands downfall.

So, in the era of inclusivity and diversity, how well is the K-Dramaland holding up?

10 K-Dramas that have embraced diversity. Photo: Netflix

As a longtime K-Drama fan, Ive always wondered why the characters are always and in most dramas only through and through Korean? Why all the series are always about those living in Seoul, the capital of South Korea? And of course, everyone knows the typical K-Drama story like Boys Over Flowers of a rich guy falling in love with a poor girl, the damsel in distress.

Korean dramas have a long way to go when it comes to showing diversity and inclusivity, given how homogenous the Korean society is in reality too. But there are some dramas that show that the Hallyu world is also catching up. To the K-Drama worlds credit, the western film industry had hundreds of years to evolve and reach where they are today and still not without their blunders; so to the Hallyu world which one can say went international only about 15 years ago, they are doing wonders being relevant.

Here is our list of 10 K-Dramas with inclusive and diverse characters:

(By inclusivity and diversity we mean representation of characters from the LGBTQIA+ community, racial representation, gendered issues, economic representation and more)

1. ITAEWON CLASS

The Park Seo-joon (remember his cameo in Oscar-winning film Parasite?) and Kim Da-mi (film The Witch series) starrer Itaewon Class is at the top of our list for K-Dramas because, in recent times, no other drama has beaten it in representation that doesnt feel forced.

In Park Seo-joon with a funny bowl cut, we have an ex-convict who was jailed unjustly and is fighting to build a new life without his convict identity getting in the way. For the Korean society which upholds discipline to the highest value, a male lead whos an ex-convict is challenging the norms.

Then we have the character of Ma Hyeon-yi whos a transgender. The show treats the character as a human being, different from their usual portrayal as sub-humans or comic reliefs. Kim Toni is another rarely found character in K-Drama, whos black and half-Korean. The series stays true to reality when portraying his character, as he struggles to prove his Korean identity in the homogenous Korean society.

2. RUN ON

Run On is a rare find in the K-Dramaland. I remember reading a review of the series calling it the warmest hug when you need one. Run On is a slice-of-life K-Drama revolving around a group of young people. The lead couples romance  Ki Seon-gyeom and Oh Mi-joo  is one of the healthiest relationships portrayed in the K-Dramaland, because mostly K-Dramas do tend to romaticise unhealthy relationships.

The series also portrays a gay character in a sensitive light and encourages conversation surrounding sexuality.

3. SQUID GAME

Though there are several internationally popular K-Dramas, no other Korean series put the Hallyu wave on the world map like Netflixs hit series Squid Game did. And how can we not mention Squid Games two tragic but sensibly portrayed characters of a Pakistani national Abdul Ali and North Korean defector Kang Sae-byeok.

Besides the diversity in characters, Squid Games whole concept is based on the societal and economic divide and it paints no flowery picture.

4. CRASH LANDING ON YOU

Crash Landing On You is on our list because the crew actually reached out to North Korean defectors for research. Perhaps, thats why the show was a huge hit as it didnt show some run-of-the-mill stereotypical characters. However, like several other K-Dramas, Crash Landing On You has its stereotypical moments, especially when a group of gangsters are shown to be Chinese.

5. HIGH KICK: THE REVENGE OF THE SHORT LEGGED

In 2016, a clip from the 2011 K-Drama High Kick: The Revenge of the Short Legged, went viral in India. The clip showed one of its characters pretending to be Indian to escape police arrest. It was a funny clip indeed. But the massive 123-episode feel good, family series is one of the best K-Drama to be found. And while the Indian representation may have been stereotypical, this series is on our list for portraying an expat, who also gets hitched to a Korean girl, though raised abroad. Usually, interracial relationships in South Korea are only considered fun and not for serious consideration.

6. ITS OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY

South Korea had the fourth highest suicide rate in 2019, according to the World Health Organization. So, a K-Drama like Its Okay To Not To Okay, which deals with mental health issues, is a much-needed one. What's more, the drama also portrays an autistic character.

7. WHEN THE CAMELLIA BLOOMS

An unmarried woman with a baby who moves into a new town and opens up a bar is not an ideal woman that the society loves to shower praise on  from South Korea to India and to the West. When The Camellia Blooms's leading lady is just that single unmarried woman, whos also a mother. And the male lead, a police officer, falls in love with her. The portrayal of the romance is not all flowery; it shows exactly how society would behave in a scenario like that.

8. SO NOT WORTH IT!

So Not Worth It gets brownie points for attempting to show a diverse university culture in South Korea, with characters who are foreign and of mixed parentage. However, it falls short of doing justice to the characters, at times sends out the wrong message, and sometimes falls into the usual trope. So, its not a 10 on 10, but So Not Worth It is worth a watch.

9. REPLY 1997

The coming-of-age series Reply 1997 and Reply 1988 are some must-watch K-Dramas even if you are not a fan. In its second installment Reply 1997, the Reply series portrays a gay character and deals with the matter sensitively, and for that we are grateful.

10. VAGABOND

This thriller series based in an exotic location  Morocco, is a fun watch. While some things shown in the series are problematic, we are happy with the portrayal of characters from various nationalities. And these international characters are thankfully not stereotyped. And thank god that the character who downs the plane in the series is not a Muslim.

As the Hallyu wave crash-lands on the world and the South Korean society also starts opening up, perhaps we can see more diversified K-Dramas in the future. If Hollywood had 100s of years to catch up, then we can also extend the same courtesy to the Korean industry.
Woori Bank should make excruciating efforts to correct problems



It is dumbfounding that an employee of Woori Bank, one of the country's major commercial banks, was arrested for embezzling more than 61.4 billion won ($47 million). The case is all the more shocking in that it took place at the headquarters of the nation's fourth-largest lender despite the need for it to manage money securely. According to the bank and the police Thursday, the lender discovered the embezzlement through an internal inspection, and referred the case to the police for further investigation. The man, who has yet to be identified, turned himself in at Namdaemun Police Station in central Seoul.



The employee was found to have transferred 61.4 billion won to his own accounts over six years starting from 2012 while in charge of financial rescheduling of insolvent companies. The embezzled money is believed to be part of what Woori Bank confiscated from an Iranian home appliance maker following the breakdown of a merger deal involving the now-defunct Daewoo Electronics.



Police said they are confirming details regarding the use of the money, adding they suspect the employee may have spent a huge amount of money on stock investments. On Friday, police also arrested the employee's younger brother on charges of abetting. The recent case is far more sizable compared to most other embezzlement cases in the past  24.6 billion won concerning Keyang Electric Machinery and 11.5 billion won involving an official of Gangdong-gu Office. Only the Osstem Implant case involving 221 billion won earlier this year is larger.



These cases are serious as they show that our society is swayed by the trend of "money makes it all." The recent case at the bank is far more serious and will likely have a far-flung impact since it involves a major first-tier lender. It is unbelievable that it took place at the bank's headquarters, rather than a branch, and went completely undetected for six years. This proves the bank has a serious defect in its internal control systems. The bank has been pursuing management with a focus on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) values. Yet, the recent case has tarnished those efforts.



Woori Bank cannot avoid criticism for having failed to adopt a cross-check system of handling money strictly, delegating money management to the relevant employee. This shows the bank has failed to take even the basic steps needed for tight money management. Now the bank should thoroughly review the problems and make excruciating efforts to prevent such bungling from occurring again. If not, the bank may face a serious setback as its clients may turn their back on it.



Though Korea has been regarded as an advanced economy, its financial sector has a long way to go. Now is the time for local banks to adopt advanced financial systems by, for instance, diversifying their business models, beyond seeking profits from interest only.



It is not enough to punish only the employee. The executive members including CEO and relevant officials of the Financial Supervisory Service should take due responsibility for the case. Financial authorities and the nation's other commercial banks should take appropriate measures to protect themselves from similar humiliating embezzlement cases.




By Anastasia Edel



"Russia is not Putin." As a lecturer in Russian history, and an ex-Soviet Russian American, I have said these words many times. But now the treasures of Russia's culture  its poetry, novels, movies, theater, symphonies  must be weighed against the current regime's premeditated murder of the innocent. In this new world, the rest of Russian history and culture is reduced to mere backstory by Feb. 24.



Start with what Ivan Turgenev called the "great, powerful, righteous and free Russian language" that should comfort me in "days of dreary musings." As a writer whose sensibility was shaped by Russian and Soviet classics, I took great pains to teach Russian to my American-born children. I wanted them to read Alexander Pushkin's verses, Anton Chekhov's stories and Mikhail Bulgakov's novels  all those books my husband and I brought with us to America  in the language in which they were written.



But I cannot view Russian today as righteous or free. I hear it as the language of Russian occupiers and officials telling Ukrainians to surrender, or of Ukrainian defenders swearing at a Russian warship: a tool for battlefield exchanges. It's the language wielded by mothers in Kharkiv, Kyiv and Bucha to curse the killers of their children.



The war, cynically unfolding during the Great Lent, has tainted the Russian language, just as it has the Russian Orthodox Church, whose head blessed the invasion. I haven't picked up a Russian book in seven weeks. Nor did I buy egg decoration kits for the Russian Easter last Sunday.



Then there's what I was taught to view as "Russian character"  my character. Teachers, movies, plays and textbooks told me that wars of aggression were the lot of other nations; that the very purpose of our existence was to heroically defend the Motherland. We were the nation of "Peace to the World" (a giant sign next to my house in the U.S.S.R.), of "Ask those soldiers lying under the birch trees if Russians want war" (a line from a song we learned in school).



But Vladimir Putin has hijacked the real suffering that World War II brought to the U.S.S.R. and used it to feed the cult of Russian victory. For years, his propaganda machine stoked aggression under the guise of celebrating heroism. But how can Russia be a nation of heroes if it kills and tortures its neighbors? As bombs pummel Ukrainian cities, the Russian part of my Russian American identity is slowly dying.



I held hope during the first days of war that at last Putin had gone too far. The Russian people would rise up, sweeping away the regime that deceives them, abuses them, steals their children's future. Russia would "wake up from its slumber," as Pushkin would put it, and do away with "oppressive reign"  with a popular movement to stop the death and destruction, cracking open the door to redemption.



Two months in, the war shows no signs of abating. Thousands are dead, mutilated, brutalized. The hope for revolution is gone. The nation of Chekhov and Dostoyevsky has failed to stop the atrocities waged in its name. Plenty of Russians oppose the war, but whether deceived by propaganda or frightened by the ever-worsening repression in their country, many have been cowed into outward support or even acceptance. "If there's no nuclear bombing," a relative in Moscow told me, "one can live."



Most of the Russian Americans I know are in a state of shock, disbelief  and guilt by association. As we follow the plight of our Ukrainian family and friends, it feels as though we're sleepwalking. It doesn't matter how strongly we have opposed Putin's regime or how long ago we left. We know that there's no return to our pre-war selves: Our identities have to be rebuilt. I'm not sure who I will be when I start sifting through the rubble.



Hope, however, is a stubborn thing. From a picture-perfect California college town, my older daughter sends me her poem. "My heart beats," it starts, "at the same fluttering pace as one that breathes the fumes of evil in Kyiv, and breaks the same, across the vast Pacific." My younger daughter, a high schooler, records a Ukrainian folk song and asks me to send it to my colleague in Odesa as he shelters in the underground garage of his apartment building from Russian airstrikes.



My daughters, born an ocean away, take this tragedy as their tragedy. They think about the world deeply. They are against this awful war. And they insist that they are Russian.



Since Feb. 24, I have felt like the words "good" and "Russian" can scarcely coexist. But as my first-generation Russian American daughters pray for peace and fundraise for Ukraine, I can envision a different Russian identity: humbler, freer and with a stronger sense of collective responsibility. First, we must end this war.





Anastasia Edel, a San Francisco-based writer who grew up in southern Russia, is the author of "Russia: Putin's Playground: Empire, Revolution, and the New Tsar." This article was produced for the Los Angeles Times and distributed by Tribune Content Agency.




After New Delhi put sustained diplomatic pressure put on Beijing, China has told India that it is willing to allow Indian students to return to study in China on a need-assessed basis. (Representational Photo:AFP)

New Delhi: In a major breakthrough, after New Delhi put sustained diplomatic pressure put on Beijing, China has told India that it is willing to allow Indian students to return to study in China on a need-assessed basis.

Thousands of Indian students enrolled in Chinese universities have been under severe stress after Beijing had refused to allow them to re-enter the country to pursue their studies in-person, after leaving amid the Covid-19 pandemic two years ago.

In a statement on Friday, the Indian Embassy in Beijing said, Following the meeting of Indian external affairs minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar with the state councillor and foreign minister of China Mr Wang Yi on March 25, the Chinese side has expressed its willingness to consider facilitating the return of Indian students to China on a need-assessed basis. ... The Chinese side has also conveyed that eligible students should unconditionally abide by the Covid-19 prevention measures, and agree to bear all expenses related to Covid-19 prevention measures by themselves.

On its website, it added. The Indian Embassy intends to prepare a list of such students which will be shared with the Chinese side for their consideration. Therefore Indian students are requested to provide necessary information by filling up the Google form ... the latest by May 8. Once the collated information is shared with the Chinese side, they would consult relevant Chinese departments to verify the list and indicate whether the identified students can travel to China to complete the course. This coordination process would be carried out in a time-bound manner.

India had been concerned that China had not allowed thousands of Indian students back to resume their classes in-person there. What added to the anxieties of Indian students were media reports that China is allowing students from Pakistan and Sri Lanka back.

Asked on Thursday about whether India felt that there was discrimination by the Chinese authorities against Indian students, the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi did not give a direct answer. Asked about the plight of such Indian students, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said, We understand their pain, adding that New Delhi had been taking up the matter with Beijing. This (the concerns and anxiety of Indian students) is exactly what we have been sharing with the Chinese side, he added.

India had on Thursday said tourist visas of Chinese nationals had been frozen in March 2020, due to the pandemic and that there had been no resumption since. New Delhi had said that it was not an opportune moment to resume these visas of Chinese nationals in view of the Covid situation in Chinese cities. Interestingly, India had also pointed out that China too had suspended issue of most types of visas to Indians since November 2020.
Hyderabad: A joint study by the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and other institutes has found that 160-year-old human skeletons excavated in Punjab in 2014 belonged to Indian soldiers from UP, Bihar and West Bengal  all executed for revolting against the British.

The identity and geographic location of the skeletons, excavated from an old well in Ajnala town of Amritsar district, had been a topic of intense debate. While some historians believed that they belonged to people killed in riots during the India-Pakistan partition, others believed they were of Indian soldiers killed by the British army during the revolt of 1857.

Dr J.S. Sehrawat, an anthropologist from Panjab University, collaborated with CCMB, Hyderabad, the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) to establish the roots of these martyrs using DNA and isotope analyses.

It was established that the skeletons belonged to residents of the Gangetic plain region. The study was published on Thursday in the journal Frontiers in Genetics.

DNA analysis helps in understanding the ancestry of people and isotope analysis sheds light on food habits. The DNA sequences of the skeletons matched with people from UP, Bihar and West Bengal, said Dr K. Thangaraj, chief scientist, CCMB and director, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad.

The results from this research are consistent with the historical evidence that the 26th Native Bengal Infantry Battalion consisted of people from the eastern parts of Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and UP, stated Dr J.S. Sehrawat, the first author of the study.

As per historical records, soldiers from this battalion were posted at Mian-Meer, Pakistan and they killed British officers in a revolt. They were captured by the British army near Ajnala and executed. CCMB director Dr Vinay Nandicoori said, Ancient DNA study is a powerful tool not only to understand our past but also help us in understanding historical perspective.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari along with his deputy Gen. V.K Singh, Union Culture minister G Kishan Reddy, Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat reddy, Telangana minister Vemula prashanth Reddy and MP Kotha Prabhaker take part in the dedication of two national highways in the state and laying foundation stone for 12 others, in Shamshabad. (Deepak Deshpande/DC)

HYDERABAD: Union minister Nitin Gadkari said the Centre would take up infrastructure development by constructing national highways on par with the American road framework. He said the Centre had sanctioned Rs 8,000 crore for constructing national highways of international standards in Telangana.

Addressing a gathering held in the city on Friday, Gadkari dedicated two national highways and laid the foundation stone to more than 12 others in the state in the presence of union tourism minister G. Kishan Reddy, V.K. Singh, the minister of state for road transport and highways, state minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy and several MPs.

Gadkari said. "We are committed to develop road connectivity making national highways with international standards. We have proposed 26 greenfield expressways across the nation. Of the 26, five express highways will come up in Telangana as part of road development activity," Gadkari said.

"The Centre has decided to develop infrastructure, roads, agriculture and other sectors by providing crores of funds. As part of the initiative, we have provided Rs 8,000 crore to construct new national highways in Telangana. Of the 33 districts, 32 districts will get the best road connectivity in the state. We will invest at least Rs 3,000 crore more to make national highways in the state by 2024," the union minister said.

Explaining about expansion of national highways in Telangana, Gadkari said that there were only 2,511 km of national highways in 2014. "It has been increased to 4,996 km till this year and the total length increased during the last eight years is 2,485 km. It is just a beginning in the state, he said.

We will also lay the foundation stone to the regional ring road (RRR) to enhance connectivity, he said and sought the state governments assistance to make cluster points.

The northern part of the proposed RRR (NH-161)  Narsapur-Toopran-Gajwel-Jagdevpur-Bhongir-Choutuppal, totaling 158.50 km  has been approved and notified as NH-161AA. The detailed project report (DPR) is under progress with an estimated cost of Rs 11,590 crore, the union minister said.

Keeping in mind the information technology (IT) growth in Hyderabad, Gadkari said the Centre made it clear to generate economic growth by improving IT, employment, poverty eradication, providing welfare of the farm sector and introducing new methods in infrastructure.
Genesis BBQ Chairman Yoon Hong-geun gives a speech during the company's 25th anniversary, at one of the company's buildings in Seoul, Sept. 1, 2020. Courtesy of Genesis BBQ





By Kim Jae-heun







Genesis BBQ franchisees are protesting the company's decision to raise the prices of ingredients and other supplies, arguing that the fried chicken firm is trying to maximize profits at the expense of franchisees and consumers, they said Friday.







On Thursday, Korea's third-largest fried chicken franchise said it will raise the prices of fresh chicken, pickled radish, cooking oil and other items supplied to its franchisees on May 2 by an average of 19.8 percent. It said franchisee representatives agreed to the planned hikes during a meeting with the company's management on April 12.







A week ago, BBQ also announced its plan to increase the prices of its fried chicken by 2,000 won ($1.50). At the time, it said it decided to charge consumers more to financially help its franchise operators. However, as they will also have to pay more for the ingredients supplied by the company, the planned 2,000 won price hike is not expected to provide any relief.







"When fried chicken is sold at a restaurant, the company takes 46 percent of the profit, while a franchisee takes 54 percent. Considering the rise in prices of grain and fresh meat around the world, it was inevitable for us to raise our ingredient prices," a BBQ official said.







However, owners of BBQ Smart Kitchen (BSK) restaurants that specialize in takeout and delivery services are opposing the chicken franchise's plan for hiking the prices of raw ingredients.







"If the company increases prices of both fried chicken products and ingredients, franchisees' profit decreases and the headquarters' gains increase," one of the franchisees said. "Raising the price of ingredients to help franchisees is only the company's justification to maximize its profit."







Another franchisee said BBQ should scrap its price hike plan for ingredients provided to franchisees. "We need three boxes of olive oil to fry 200 chickens. If the headquarters charges 40,000 won per box, it means we will have to pay 120,000 won to make 600 fried chickens. The headquarters will take 600 won of profit per menu item sold simply by raising the price of olive oil, and franchisees are the ones who will have to bear the price burden," the BBQ restaurant owner said. "I don't know what our representatives were thinking when they agreed with the company's decision."







BBQ saw its sales increase year-on-year in 2021 by 13 percent to 362.4 billion won, and its operating profit jump 14.5 percent to 60.8 billion won.


Hyderabad: Telangana IT minister K.T. Rama Rao on Friday kicked up a political storm with his comments on the sorry state of affairs in a neighbouring state, while projecting Telangana, in particular the capital city of Hyderabad, as the ultimate destination for investments.

Though the minister did not name any state, the YSRC ministers and leaders in Andhra Pradesh attributed it to the state and condemned Rama Raos comments that people of the neighbouring state were suffering due to bad roads, erratic power supply and severe water shortage.

Adding drama to the slugfest between the AP ministers and their TS counterparts, the Opposition parties in both states joined the fray making use of the comments to their advantage.

The Telugu Desam accused Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy of making AP a laughing stock in the eyes of neighbouring states, the Telangana unit of the BJP ridiculed Rama Rao for painting a rosy picture of Telangana while burying under the carpet the harsh realities of poor social as well as infrastructure development in the state.

The trouble started with Rama Rao, speaking at a property show organised by Credai, referred to a conversation he had with his friend after the latters return from his native village in a neighbouring state. It seems there is no power, water and condition of roads was poor. My friend heaved a sigh of relief after returning to Hyderabad and even suggested that we send people there to understand the value of the development undertaken by my government in the last eight years, Rama Rao said.

All hell broke loose with Nara Lokesh, the Telugu Desam general secretary, Tweeting a video of the comment and slamming the YSRC regime for making Andhra Pradesh a laughing stock. He said Rama Rao was speaking about AP and said the latter openly spoke about the destructive regime of Jagan Mohan Reddy and this is how once the progressive state had been suffering for giving one chance to the YSRC in 2019.

Minister after minister besides YSRC leaders including CMs adviser Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy came down heavily on Rama Rao who they said was immature and irresponsible while making public speeches.

Senior minister Botsa Satyanarayana said he suffered badly in Hyderabad during his recent visit due to frequent power outages. I had to a use generator all through. KTR must have learnt from his friend about our state but I myself experienced how bad it is in Telangana, he claimed. The YSRC leaders invoked the Andhra sentiment and reminded Rama Rao that Telangana had been enjoying the fruits of the contribution of Andhra people in developing Hyderabad.

Newly inducted minister R.K Roja landed in rather an embarrassing situation as she had to respond to Rama Raos comments just after her return from Pragati Bhavan where she and her family members called on Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and spent emotional moments with his wife Shobha and daughter-MLC K. Kavitha who followed the rituals of applying kumkum and presenting a saree.

I dont think he referred to AP but if he did its a mistake, Roja told the media outside Pragathi Bhavan. As the new tourism minister I will take Rama Rao around AP to show Jagan Mohan Reddys contribution to welfare of people, she said.

BJP national vice-president D.K. Aruna asked Rama Rao to reveal who his friend was, so she could take him to Gadwal, and other Telangana districts and show him the roads, and the power and water supply situation. Just because this friend has seen how life is around the Kalvakuntla farmhouses, it looks like he believes the rest of Telangana too is living in comfort. Rama Rao is an expert in self-glorification without appearing to do so, but the real situation is known to all the people in Telangana, Aruna said.
The good news, according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortia, is that very few recombinant variants of the coronavirus have been found after genome-sequencing analysis were done on the samples. (PTI)

The number of new daily Covid infections has been inching up for the last two weeks with Friday reporting 3,377 cases, the highest after mid-March this year. The numbers have risen from a low of 795 cases reported on April 7. The number of deaths and the test positivity ratio are also on the rise, reminding all concerned what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a meeting of chief ministers the other day that the pandemic threat is not over yet.

The good news, according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortia, is that very few recombinant variants of the coronavirus have been found after genome-sequencing analysis were done on the samples. The trends do not show an increased transmission or rate of increased hospitalisation either. Given that the sub-variants caused major spreads in Europe, it is important that the trend continued and the spread contained. It is a cause of worry that almost half of the total number of the daily tally comes from Delhi and the lions share of deaths from Kerala. Both the states have already reintroduced mask mandate in public places.

The Union government has been insisting on the five-pronged strategy of track-test-treat-vaccination and Covid-appropriate protocol to contain the spread of the infection. It is time state governments rewired the mechanism of tracking and testing along with genome testing of the positive cases so that even the early signs of the sub-variants are tracked.

A major challenge before the governments is the opening of the schools after nearly two academic years. It may be remembered that the schools that had opened in several states towards the end of 2021 had to be closed thanks to the third wave. While hoping that there will not be a fourth wave, the governments have to be extra cautious when it comes to children and their schooling. With the abysmal level of technology penetration in rural areas and among urban poor, and that the percentage of children who have access to electronic devises for studies is as low as nine per cent in some states, the governments have to envisage a scenario where a fourth wave is real and that the children have a better fare than the last two years. Giving an extra thrust to vaccination could be a key tool to keep the schools going.

India was able to tide over the crisis the third wave had created on the strength of the precautions it had taken in the aftermath of the first and second. Hospital infrastructure was kept at the optimum level and supplies of essentials were enhanced multi-fold, resulting in the relatively smooth passing of the wave compared with the second which saw a shortage of hospital beds, intensive care units, ventilators, critical medicines and medical oxygen. The same or an enhanced level preparedness is called for now, too.

India has as of now administered 193 crore doses of the vaccines, which included precaution doses for people aged above 18 and vaccination for children aged between 12 and 18 years. This shows that of a country of 100 crore adults, there are still people without getting a single dose and a substantial number of people without the third dose. This is not acceptable and the Union government must identify the lacunae and plug them. Experience says we can afford to ignore no signs.
While all languages of the nation can aspire to link people of different regions, Hindi cannot claim a sole right to be the sole alternative to English, which by definition is as much an official Indian language as Hindi. (Pixabay)

The exchange between a Kannada and a Hindi film star on the popularity of their language was just another in a series of discussions on national languages that tend to go nowhere because of the complexity and numbers of India. It appears the reach of regional films in todays high-tech environment is getting longer adding weight to the argument that any extensive promotion of Hindi can only be regarded as imposition in the many states in which its not the dominant language.

The home minister had set off the debate by calling for Hindi as the link language in a throwback to old arguments about the need to find a common language in a veritable Tower of Babel of thousands of languages and dialects. What those who assiduously promote Hindi for their own political ends dont seem to understand is that far more Indians do not speak Hindi, one of two official languages of India, than those who do.

Outside the northern belt of the NCR, UP, MP, Rajasthan, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, the language of general communication isnt Hindi. Almost six decades ago, the imposition of Hindi in schools became such an issue that till today national parties are anathema to the Tamils and they ride piggyback on Tamil Nadus Dravidian majors. The fact is, language is a sensitive and potentially divisive issue in a complex Indian setting and anyone talking about it on a motivated way to the point of polarising opinions is only stirring the pot.

Historically, English has been a unifying force and in the modern age has also impelled India as a global IT power. While all languages of the nation can aspire to link people of different regions, Hindi cannot claim a sole right to be the sole alternative to English, which by definition is as much an official Indian language as Hindi. Indias diversity is best served by the principle of equity when it comes to its languages. By repeating ad nauseam their preference for Hindi, some politicians of national parties are only driving a wedge.
By Ragini Saxena,

A spate of high-profile battery fires is undermining India's bid to become a leader in electric vehicles, particularly in the ubiquitous two-wheelers that ply the country's traffic-clogged roads.

Social media is awash with videos of battery-powered scooters in flames. Last month, a father and daughter died from smoke inhalation after their brand-new bike from Okinawa Autotech Pvt caught fire while it was charging overnight at home. In another video, an Ola Electric Mobility Pvt scooter burns in Pune in the countrys west, while in another, some 40 two-wheelers made by Jitendra EV go up in smoke as they are transported in a container.

Also Read | Probe the case of exploding batteries

The incidents have, not surprisingly, made many Indians wary of electric vehicles  the number of people who said they wouldnt buy an electric scooter due to safety and performance concerns jumped eightfold to 17 per cent in the seven months through March, a survey of around 11,500 consumers conducted by LocalCircles showed. Just two per cent of people are likely to buy an electric scooter in the coming six months, it found.

Theyre also coming just as India, the worlds third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is trying to get more electric vehicles on its roads. Already many consumers are reluctant to make the switch from combustion engine cars and motorcycles due to EVs high upfront cost and the countrys lack of charging stations, making it increasingly difficult for India to catch up with places like China and the US that have made meaningful progress toward electrifying their transport fleets. About 77 per cent of annual passenger vehicle sales in China will be electric by 2040, versus just 53 per cent in India, BloombergNEF data show.

Also Read | GAILs CNG car, auto rally draws attention to alternative beyond EVs

When I hear of such incidents, I wonder why I should go for an electric vehicle. Id rather buy a new gasoline one, said Santhosh Kumar, who has an Ola electric bike himself but regards it now with a degree of caution. I want to be part of the EV revolution and stop pollution but nothing is more important than the safety of my family and kids, the 36-year-old from Chennai said.

The fires have also sparked debate about Indias dependency on imported auto parts that are then assembled locally. The concern is the resulting electric scooters arent designed from the ground up for the nations extreme climate  temperatures routinely soar to 48 degrees Celsius in the capital New Delhi  or its infrastructure. Indias roads are notoriously potholed, causing all sorts of suspension problems. India currently imports most of its EV components from China, depriving automakers of full control over the quality and reliability of their products.

Indias nascent EV market is also flooded with startups that have rushed electric scooters to market and not all of them are going through the necessary rigor of testing under a wide variety of weather conditions, according to Rahul Mishra, a partner at management consultancy firm Kearney. Pressures of meeting investor expectations, the need to reduce time to market and managing stakeholder perceptions mean some havent fully built capabilities in product development, manufacturing, sales and after-sales, and so are struggling to demonstrate the same level of maturity as established automakers, he said.

Also Read | Fed up with its low performance, Tamil Nadu man sets his Ola scooter on fire

Coming out with a prototype is one thing but selling it in the market at a commercial scale like an established automaker is a completely different ballgame, Mishra said, adding that established carmakers and startups alike need to consistently demonstrate that safety is non-negotiable when it comes to EVs.

Ola, which has pledged to build the worlds biggest scooter factory, follows very high regulatory standards and is examining the cause of the accidents, founder Bhavish Aggarwal said. Bengaluru-based Ola, backed by SoftBank Group Corp., said last week it will recall a batch of 1,441 scooters following an investigation into the vehicle fires.

Okinawa said in a statement to Bloomberg that it had recalled 3,215 units of its PraisePro electric scooters to fix battery-related issues, noting that the company complies with all testing standards set by the government. The scooters will be checked for loose battery connectors and repaired for free at dealerships, it said. Okinawa, Indias second-biggest electric two-wheeler maker by market share, blamed the fire on user negligence, saying the blaze was due to a short circuit that resulted from improper charging.

Jitendra EV didnt respond to emails seeking comment. Pure EV, another company whose scooter was captured on video with thick plumes of gray and white smoke shooting from its rear, also didnt respond to requests for comment.

The accidents have at least ushered in some reforms to Indias budding EV industry. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has pledged to adopt new standards to tackle the fires, which are likely caused due to thermal inefficiencies in lithium-ion batteries and exacerbated by hot weather. EVs should only be certified after they clear a revised testing system for battery packs and cells, he said earlier this week. In the meantime, automakers should be cautious with the cells theyre using and recall products if they discover manufacturing defects.

The widely reported fires may also force some industry rationalization with only higher quality startups surviving, according to Mitul Shah, an analyst at Reliance Securities Ltd. While legacy automakers know the importance of making a product foolproof upfront, younger companies dont realize its difficult to regain lost brand image because consumers dont always give second chances, he said.

To be sure, India isnt the only market to have experienced battery fires. Tesla Inc. cars have come under scrutiny in China after crashes damaged the batteries of several and General Motors Co. recalled a whole lot of Chevrolet Bolts after some went up in flames while parked in garages or driveways.

In China, authorities announced a new standard for battery two-wheeler models that will see tens of millions of non-compliant vehicles phased out by 2025, Gogoro Inc. Chief Executive Officer Horace Luke said. Gogoro is a Taiwanese electric scooter startup that earlier this year announced a tie up with Foxconn to expand in Indonesia. The Indian government should incentivize startups to focus on battery R&D, which requires a higher degree of human capital to meet a higher safety bar, he said.

The technology development and management of batteries needs to be taken very seriously, Luke said. Its important to understand that not all EVs or batteries are the same and when shortcuts are taken in their development, consumers can be exposed to potential unmitigated safety issues.

But faced with a market potential the size of India, a country of some 1.4 billion where around 231,000 electric scooters were sold in the 12 months through March, that may be easier said than done.

In a fast growing market, the temptation to launch early without a mature product is very strong, said Ravneet Phokela, the chief business officer of Ather Energy Pvt, another electric scooter startup whose bikes havent been documented in any fires yet. Blazes can erupt from the faulty packaging of cells and badly engineered thermal management systems, which are responsible for dissipating heat, he said. Its a dangerous temptation to give in to.

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Covid-19 cases in India continued to rise pushing the total infections tally to over 4.3 crore. Early Friday, Health Ministry data showed 3,377 fresh coronavirus infections and 60 new deaths in the country Stay tuned to DH for live updates.
In a strong response to Prime Minister Narendra Modis statement that Opposition-ruled states not reducing fuel taxes in synchronisation with the Centre has burdened people there, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said the remarks are akin to trying to cover a pumpkin in a handful of rice.

Stalin and Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan tore into the Union Government by accusing it of devouring Rs 26 lakh crore rupees from fuel prices in the last 8 years. Rajan said the Centre still levies an additional tax of Rs 18.42 per litre for petrol, which is an increase of roughly 200 per cent and Rs 18.23 per litre for diesel, an increase of over 500 per cent compared to the taxes in effect when BJP took office in 2014.

Inside and outside the House, Stalin said while the BJP increased the tax on fuel after the elections (five state polls), the DMK reduced the price after it came to power, pointing to its August 2021 decision to cut the VAT on petrol by Rs 3.

Read | People know the facts: TN CM on PM's fuel tax statement

Having made hay out of the decline of crude oil prices and devoured Rs 26 lakh crore from fuel prices in the last 8 years, to blame the Opposition-ruled states for the steep hike in fuel prices is akin to trying to cover a pumpkin in a handful of rice, Stalin said.

The politically aware people of Tamil Nadu, Stalin said, are not oblivious to these simple facts and it is only a matter of time before the rest of India sees through the bogus claims of BJP government. Briefing reporters, Rajan said the DMK always had the history of reducing the tax on fuel and had never increased  thrice by M Karunanidhi (2006-2011) and once after the party assumed office in May 2021  to accommodate rising prices.

Explained: How much tax do you pay on Rs 100 of petrol?

We havent increased (the taxes). On the contrary, we have cut taxes on our own much before the decision of the Union Government. It is neither fair nor feasible for states to effect a cut in their share of taxes. The Centre has been increasing cesses and surcharges for the past eight years, Rajan told the media.

Whenever taxes were raised, it has always been under the AIADMK. But it is lower than the tax increase done by the Union, he said. Rajan also reminded the BJP that the taxes on fuel in states ruled by it like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are on par or slightly lower than Tamil Nadu despite the cut in November.

It is for the Centre to reduce the taxes, Rajan said, adding that the Union Government should remove the levy of cesses and surcharges and revert to rates that prevailed in 2014.

Rajan said the Prime Minister saying that states not cutting taxes in synchronisation with the Union Governments decision is against the spirit of cooperative federalism was unfathomable for him.

What is fiscal federalism? Is it supposed to be that we will have to be the extended arm of the Union Government without independent thinking and independent decision making? Constitution says state and Union governments are equal arms of the government. Not one top on the other and not one dictated to by the other. Is it in the nature of cooperative federalism that cesses and surcharges have been tripled by them? he asked.

Is it in the right spirit of cooperative federalism to take away the states rights on direct taxation through GST, Rajan asked. On whether the state government will cut taxes, he replied: If it comes to it, and if we have to do it, then the Chief Minister will do the right thing.

Though the revenue to the Union Government has increased manifold, there has not been a matching increase in the revenues to states, Rajan said. This is because the Union Government has increased the cess and surcharge on petrol and diesel while reducing the basic excise duty that is shareable with the States, he contended.

Quoting an example, Rajan in a statement said that in 2020-21, the revenue to the Union Government's revenue from levies on petrol and diesel was Rs 3,89,622 crore which was 63 per cent higher than the revenue of Rs 2,39,452 crore in 2019-20. On the other hand, the Government of Tamil Nadu in 2020-21 received only Rs 837.75 crore as a share of the tax devolution from the Union Excise Duties on petrol and diesel as against the Rs 1,163.13 crore received in 2019-20.

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Dharmadam, the constituency of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the Kannur district, witnessed a strong protest by people, including women, against the Kerala government's flagship semi-high-speed rail project.

Kannur district was witnessing protests against laying the demarcation stones for the project over the last few days. On Friday the official started laying the demarcation stone in the Dharmadam area. A section of local people, including many women, and Congress workers staged stiff resistance. This had even led to a minor scuffle.

While a section of people was demanding that the government should give a firm assurance that compensation for land and houses would be given in accordance with actual market value, another section was reluctant to spare their land. The people shouted slogans against the rail project. The police maintained utmost restraint.

Also Read | Developing existing roads, rail mooted as alternatives for K-rail

Many stones laid by the officials were later pulled out by the local people and Congress workers.

The Chief Minister is now in the US for medical treatment. He has been representing Dharmadam in the state assembly since 2016.

The stiff resistance was witnessed a day after the government initiated a debate on the project.

Meanwhile, the anti-rail action council is also initiating a parallel debate on the project. It invited the Chief Minister and officials of the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited, which is the implementation agency of the rail project, to the debate to be held on May 4.

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Many people believe that India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru made a blunder when he recognised China's sovereignty over Tibet but he did what he thought was best for his country, said the president of the Tibetan government in exile.

However, Central Tibetan Administration president Penpa Tsering told reporters that he thinks India has changed its stance over the issue after 2014.

Tsering is here to meet top officials of the Biden Administration and members of the US Congress.

Responding to a question, he said Nehrus decisions over Tibet were due to his own world vision and he had "too much faith and confidence in China".

"I don't blame only Pandit Nehru for doing that. We understand that the national interest comes first for every nation and he did what he thought was best for India at that time," Tsering said, adding that not only India, several other counties too conceded Chinas sovereignty over Tibet.

"With the benefit of hindsight, now many think that Pandit Nehru made a blunder. In fact, he trusted China so much that when China invaded India in 1962, some believe that he was so hurt that it's one of the reasons for his death," he said.

However, Penpa Tsering told reporters that things changed in India since 2014.

"I think India has changed his policy by not repeating that Tibet is part of PRC (Peoples Republic of China) because India's position is that India has to abide by the one China policy, then China also has to abide by one India policy regarding Kashmir," said Tsering.

Alluding to the Chinese aggression in Doklam and Galwan, he claimed, "When the Chinese foreign minister came (to India) a few months ago, it was more like a transit visit."

"Nothing came out of that visit. That itself shows Indias policy towards Tibet and China," he added.

In Washington DC, Tsering has so far met House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Uzra Zeya, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights; and Kurt Campbell, top Biden Adviser on Indo-Pacific.

Even though Ukraine is the global hot spot now due to the Russian invasion, the Biden Administration has not forgotten Tibet, he said urging the White House and the Congress to help create a global coalition against China and challenge its narrative over Tibet.

"Tibet has never been part of China," he said, adding that he sees a fresh impetus from the Biden Administration on Tibet.

"There is likely to be more engagement on the issue of Tibet and several bills are in the pipeline in the Congress on the Tibetan issue. The Tibet policy of the Biden Administration is more pronounced," he noted.

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The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Karnataka Police, which is probing into a scam in the examination to recruit 545 police sub-inspectors in the state, on Thursday night arrested the main accused in the case BJP leader Divya Hagaragi, and two other suspects Archana and Sunanda at Pune.

The CID police team was led by SP Raghavendra Hegade. The CID police are bringing the arrested to Kalaburagi.

The alleged irregularities took place at Jnyan Jyothi English Medium School run by Divya.

Divya and team were at large for the past 18 days after the fraud came to light.

Divya was absconding as soon as a complaint about rigging in the PSI recruitment was registered at Chowk police station. Police is said to have arrested Divya and her accomplices while they were dining at a restaurant in Pune.

According to CID sources, the police have also arrested Solapur-based businessman Suresh on charges of giving shelter to Divya and her team. But it is yet to be confirmed.

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Released: April 29, 2022

The Delaware County Health Department hosted an open house for healthcare and community partners and local officials on April 22 at the newly renovated Delaware County Wellness Center in Yeadon. This site now serves as the main location for the Delaware County Health Department.

We are excited to assume the duties and responsibilities of a health department as we do the important work of public health, said Delaware County Health Department Director Melissa Lyon. What this means for the 576,000 residents across Delaware County is a hyper-focus on localized data collection to guide our work towards health equity, immediate response to health emergencies, supporting the health of moms and babies, maintaining healthy environments and greens spaces, restaurant inspections that provide safe food delivery, and addressing the issue of vaccine-preventable diseases, which COVID-19 continues to remind us, is absolutely necessary. 

During the Open House, Director Lyon introduced the DCHD Leadership Team, which detailed the services provided by each division of the Delaware County Health Department including the Population Health, Personal Health, and Environmental Health Divisions.

Lora Werner is the newly appointed Deputy Director and acting Division Administrator for Population Health. Population Health manages public health emergency preparedness, as well as the services of the rebranded Delaware County Health Department Wellness Line which receives calls and emails from across the county addressing a variety of issues and connects callers to available resources.

Under the leadership of Stephanie Reese, Division Administrator for Personal Health, the Delaware County Health Department launched its first STI clinic in the Chester community. The Personal Health Division also launched the Vaccines for Children program, which provides immunizations for low-income residents without health insurance.

Marie Carbonara, Division Administrator for Environmental Health leads a team of investigators currently in the field monitoring and enforcing Delaware County health codes, in addition to state and federal regulations. The Environmental Health Division is currently responding to applications and addressing and investigating public health complaints and inquiries.

It is my honor to lead this team of dedicated local health experts, said Director Lyon, including those in Administration, and Epidemiology  whose commitment to the collection of localized data and disease investigation, and surveillance, among other critical responsibilities, are principal to achieving the goal of health and thriving communities.

At the conclusion of the presentation, county, and local officials, and members of the press were invited for a First Look tour of the renovated Delaware County Wellness Center. Brightly lit, wide-open spaces welcomed guests leading to specialized pediatric, tuberculosis, and bariatric exam rooms. There are expanded nurses stations and an on-site medication storage area. Also included on the tour was a large refrigeration area for proper storage of vaccinations and a multi-media room for staff trainings and events.

Residents are encouraged to learn more about the Delaware County Health Department by visiting: www.DelcoPa.gov/health

The Delaware County Wellness Line Team is able to assist residents with public health-related topics, including:

Answer general questions about public health-related matters

Answer general questions about public health-related matters Help residents locate public health resources

Help residents locate public health resources Assist residents in locating convenient COVID-19 vaccination sites

Assist residents in locating convenient COVID-19 vaccination sites Add homebound residents to the homebound roster for at-home on-site vaccinations

Add homebound residents to the homebound roster for at-home on-site vaccinations Answer general questions about COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots

PHONE: (484) 276-2100

EMAIL: DelcoWellness@co.delaware.pa.us

The Delaware County Health Department was approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Health to act in its capacity as a health department on April 2, 2022. This marks the first health department established in the state of Pennsylvania in 33 years.
Samsung Electronics' chip-making plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics





By Baek Byung-yeul







Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics





Samsung Electronics should make more efforts to find new growth engines, likely through mergers and acquisitions (M&As), as its current cash cows  memory chips, TVs and smartphones  are facing increasing competition from global rivals, according to industry experts, Friday.







They said the share price of Korea's top company has remained lackluster in recent months, despite its record-breaking performances, because it has failed to show investors what its future will look like, stressing that it needs to find a breakthrough by actively seeking to take over companies with strong future growth prospects to further widen its lead on competitors.







"Although Samsung is the world's No.1 player in the memory chip field, its growth in the non-memory sector is still far from investors' expectation, remaining second with around a 17 percent market share while leader TSMC takes around a 60 percent share," said Kim Dae-jong, a professor of business administration at Sejong University.







"Of course, there are many reasons for this, but being not active in M&As could be one. Large companies like Samsung should have acquired companies with high potential to increase their growth, as we already seen in previous cases such as Google's acquisition of YouTube."







Samsung has not conducted any major M&A deals since it acquired U.S.-based connected car and audio system company Harman in 2016 for $8 billion.







Though Samsung Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee said during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, "We are reviewing M&A opportunities in various sectors," the company hasn't provided investors any kind of clues about it during Thursday's conference call.







The Sejong University professor pointed out that one of the reasons why Samsung has been sluggish in M&As is that its chief has been unable to get involved in management decisions.







"For Korean conglomerates, the role of corporate leaders is very important especially when it comes to making a decision about conducting large-scale M&As. Samsung's leader Lee Jae-yong is currently embroiled in legal issues, so there is no one who can make a risk-taking decision," Kim said.







Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung and son of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, is not allowed to return to management until 2027 due to a five-year ban imposed by the Ministry of Justice. Lee was convicted of offering bribes to former President Park Geun-hye and has been on parole since August 2021.







As a presidential pardon is the only way for Lee to legally lead the company again, business lobby groups including the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Korea International Trade Association and an association of Samsung's collaborating vendors submitted pleas recently to the presidential office asking President Moon Jae-in to grand a full presidential pardon before he leaves office on May 9.







"There is a need for the government to grant a pardon to Lee's legal problems, which are intertwined with political logic. Since it is true that Samsung had problems with its governance structure, the conglomerate must be operated based on legal compliance and politicians should not interfere too much with businessmen," Kim said.







In response to the growing calls for conducting M&As, Samsung hired semiconductor investment banker Marco Chisari recently, according to Bloomberg report.







Given that Chisari, who has worked at Bank of America, is known as an expert in M&A activities in the semiconductor sector, the industry view is that Samsung is finally jumping back into the takeover race.







A Samsung spokesman said that "there is nothing internally known about where he is joining, or in what position he will work, if he joins us."







The tech giant announced its sales in the first quarter came in at 77.78 trillion won ($61.11 billion), up 18.95 percent from the same period last year, while operating profit reached 14.12 trillion won, increasing 50.5 percent year-on-year. But its business outlook is not that bright due to a series of unfavorable factors such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and supply disruptions caused by the pandemic.


Released: April 29, 2022

This week, Delaware Countys Office of Sustainability received the 2022 Pennsylvania Governors Award for Environmental Excellence for its Sustain Delco initiative, one of just fifteen programs led by businesses, schools, and community organizations from across the state to receive such distinction.

The prestigious award, recognizing innovative efforts to address issues of climate change, sustainability, and environmental justice, was presented on behalf of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Governors Office. Accepting the award for Delaware County was Francine Locke, the Countys Chief Sustainability Officer, and Sue DePompeo, Assistant Director of Sustainability Finance.

The award was in recognition of the significant accomplishments of Delaware Countys new Office of Sustainability. Led by Ms. Locke, who in January of 2021 became the Countys first Chief Sustainability Officer, the Office of Sustainability has spearheaded its ambitious Sustain Delco initiative with a goal of making Delaware County sustainable and more resilient to the effects of climate change through the examination of government operations, effective engagement with the community, and (in partnership with the new Sustainability Commission) the development and implementation of a long-term Sustainability and Climate Action Plan.

With the support of the community, County Council, the Executive Director, and the Sustainability Commission, we have helped the County accomplish a great deal in a very short period, said Francine Locke. This award serves as an amazing validation and booster for our County and for our hard-working Sustainability team.

The accomplishments attributed to the Sustain Delco initiative are numerous, including: the launching of a vehicle electrification plan with the purchase of vehicles and charging stations (funded by a PA DEP AFIG grant); the enactment of a Delco C-PACE commercial building energy conservation program; successful and ongoing collaboration with surrounding counties the replacement of outdated street lights with low-power LEDs through a Regional Street Light Procurement Program; the hiring a Zero Waste Consultant to develop 10-year municipal waste plan for the County; and the completion of a baseline greenhouse gas emission inventory for the Countys operations.

County Council is honored to receive this important recognition from the Governor, the DEP, and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, said Delaware County Council Vice Chair Elaine Schaefer. The future of Delaware County is a sustainable one, and were proud of Francine Locke and the Office of Sustainability. We are also so grateful for the critical support of our residents who appreciate the proactive steps we are undertaking.

In addition to these accomplishments that led to recognition by the Governors office, the Office of Sustainability has been involved in the preservation of the Marple Green Spacethe largest County-owned park and open space (200+ acres) acquisition in Delaware Countys history; awarded over $7 million to more than 40 municipalities through its Greenways Grant program to fund open spaces and trails, and recently hosted the sold-out 1st Annual Delaware County Sustainability Conference that provided a forum for innovation and collaboration among Delaware County residents and individuals working together towards a more sustainable future.
Released: April 28, 2022

This week, Delaware County Elections announced that more than 31,000 vote-by-mail ballots for the upcoming May 17 Primary Electionrepresenting all vote-by-mail ballot applications processed on or before April 15have been mailed and are now being delivered to Delaware County voters.

Delaware County voters may return their vote-by-mail ballots, including both no-excuse mail-in ballots and traditional absentee ballots, immediately through the US Postal Service or in-person at the Delaware County Voter Service Center located at the Government Center Building at 201 W. Front Street in Media (located inside the Orange Street entrance). Starting Monday, May 2, the County will open more than 40 secured drop boxes for the return of vote-by-mail ballots.

Ballot drop boxes are located at safe, secure, ADA-compliant locations and are under 24/7 video surveillance. Ballot drop boxes are large white metal receptacles, similar in size to a USPS mailbox, and clearly marked with the wording Official Ballot Drop Box and Delaware County Board of Elections. These drop boxes are designed for only one use: the return of vote-by-mail ballots by Delaware County voters in the weeks before Election Day. Postage is not required to return a Delaware County vote-by-mail ballot.

A list of drop box locations and hours is included with vote-by-mail ballots mailed by the County and is also accessible on the Delco Votes! website at delcopa.gov/dropbox.

The deadline for voters to return their vote-by-mail ballots at the Voter Service Center or an official Delaware County ballot drop box is 8:00 p.m. on Election Day, May 17. Ballots sent by USPS must also be received by the County by 8:00 p.m. on Election Daypostmarks will not be honored.

Voters are reminded that they may use any Delaware County ballot drop box to return their completed ballot, but each voter can return only their own ballot. Voters cannot return ballots for spouses, family members, or other individuals unless an official 3rd Party Delivery Form (formerly called the Authorize a Designated Agent to Help You Obtain and/or Return Your Mail-in or Absentee Ballot) has been submitted and approved by the PA Department of State. Voters who attempt to return ballots on behalf of other voters without authorization will be referred to the Delaware County District Attorney for investigation.

Who will Receive a Vote-by-Mail Ballot?

Vote-by-Mail ballots are sent only to voters who have completed and signed an application in 2022 to vote-by-mail during the 2022 calendar year, which must include valid ID. Voters who are unsure if they are registered to vote-by-mail can check their status at delcopa.gov/ballotstatus. Voters who have not yet applied for a vote-by-mail (either a no-excuse mail-in ballot or a traditional absentee ballot) can apply at delcopa.gov/vbm-app thought the deadline on Tuesday, May 10.

Additionally, vote-by-mail ballots are sent only to those voters who are registered with either the Republican or Democratic parties. Under Pennsylvania law, voters who are registered as independents or with a third party are not eligible to cast a ballot during the May 17 Primary Election. Voters have until May 2 to update their registrations or change party affiliation at delcopa.gov/register2vote.

Correctly Casting a Vote-by-Mail Ballot: Dont Vote Naked!

Voters who are casting a vote-by-mail ballot are reminded that they must use blue or black ink when completing their ballot. Once the ballot has been completed, voters should place it into the smaller of the two envelopes, seal it, then place it into the larger pre-paid return envelope. Voters must then complete the voter declaration section on the exterior of the return envelope, being sure to include their signature, printed name, address, and the date. Incomplete or inaccurate voter information may disqualify the ballot.

Republican Candidate for State Representative for the 165th Legislative District Disqualified

Delaware County voters who are registered with the Republican Party and living in the 165th Legislative District are advised that Robert Jordan, a candidate for PA State Representative, has been disqualified by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. This decision by the Court occurred after the State had already certified the ballots and after the County had completed the printing of ballots. As a result, some of the first Republican vote-by-mail ballots still included this candidate. Republican voters were sent a letter by the County informing them of this situation. Votes for this candidate will not be tabulated.

Additional Resources: The Election Hotline, Voter Service Center and the Delco Votes! website

Delaware County voters have several resources available to help simplify the voting process. The Delaware County Election Hotline (610-891-VOTE) is operational Mon. through Fri., 8:30 a.m.  4:30 p.m. The Delaware County Voter Service Center provides a variety of in-person voter services and is available Mon. through Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Wednesdays through 8 p.m.), Saturdays 9 a.m. to noon, and on Election Day only, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Delaware Countys election website  Delco Votes!  provides news, sample ballots, ballot drop box locations, polling location information, access to downloadable and online forms, livestreams and recordings of Board of Elections meetings, and more at delcopa.gov/vote.
Mencap NI has launched a new Community Hub at the charitys offices on Bishop Street in Derry, with plans to expand its Family Support Services in the city.

Mayor Graham Warke attended the launch along with people supported by the learning disability charity, their families and Mencap staff including Edel Harris, Mencap CEO and Grainne Close, Mencap NI Director.

Mencap NI recently received 68,618 in funding from the Carers Support Fund for the expansion of their Family Support Services in the Council area.

The Fund is administered by the Community Foundation NI on behalf of the Department of Health.

Mencap NI will use the funding to provide support for more parents and families through workshops, peer support and parent carer programmes.

Mayor Warke said: I was delighted to be part of the launch of this new Community Hub from Mencap NI in our city centre.

Mencap provide a fantastic service to so many people across our council area, and through the Community Hub and the expansion of their Family Support Services they will be able to help even more families, which is brilliant news.

Thank you to the whole team at Mencap for their continued incredible work and I wish them well for the future.

Sarah McGill, from Derry, who has been supported by Mencap NI added: Mencap came into our lives at a time when we were so lost as a family, helping me to manage the challenges that come with raising a child with additional needs.

Getting the opportunity to meet Edel, Mencaps CEO and Grainne, their NI Director in the new Community Hub was really important to me.

I got to see how everyone in Mencap shares the same values, from the CEO to all the teams working in our local communities.

I'm really happy to see that more families of young children with a learning disability will be able to get the kind of support that made such a positive difference to me.

The Mencap NI Family Support Programme supports families with children aged from birth to seven-year-olds with a learning disability, global developmental delay and autism.

The service focuses on early intervention in supporting childrens development, as many children with a learning disability are at greater risk of many health and social inequalities.

Children do not need to have a diagnosis to access the Family Support Programme. The Mencap NI Community Hub will also support tenants in their Supported Living Service and trainees on their Employment and Personal Development Service.

Joanne Sweeney, Family Support Programme Manager for Mencap NI said: We are delighted to have received 68,618 from the Department of Health Carers Fund as it will provide an opportunity to further grow our family support services both within our Community Hub in Bishop Street and across Derry.

Many families have already received support through our parent support programme and with this funding we can expand the range and reach of our programmes to help more families and carers in need.

The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland has awarded just over 1m to 22 groups in the North of Ireland, through the Carers Support Fund established by the Department of Health.

The funding has been allocated to groups that provide essential support including counselling, respite and activities to those with caring responsibilities.

Roisin Wood, Chief Executive at the Community Foundation added: We know that there has been enormous pressure on carers as a result of the pandemic which will have impacted their physical, mental and emotional health.

Carers range from children and young people, to those caring for parents of every age, partners and sometimes friends. All of these carers have different needs and often have to balance their caring duties with school or work.

We are pleased to award this much-needed funding to groups who will now be able to offer support and respite to these carers who contribute such a huge amount to society.
President of the Derry Chamber of Commerce, Aidan O'Kane, has warned that UK government proposals to require international travellers to apply for a permit to cross the Irish border will be detrimental to the tourism industry in Derry and across the North.

The new permits were announced last year as part of the Nationality and Borders Bill.

It would require non-British and non-Irish EU citizens to apply for pre-travel clearance.

Mr O'Kane feels this will lead to a significant drop in "spontaneous tourism" as The NI Affairs Committee was told most international visitors to Northern Ireland arrive via Dublin airport.

The new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) will be required for those international tourists who want to travel onwards to Northern Ireland, even if it is just for a day trip.

The system would be similar to the declaration that international passengers have to fill in before travelling to the United States or Canada.

Mr O'Kane told Derry News that the new legislation has not been thought through and the permits will only negatively affect both tourists and residents, "Northern Ireland is not a priority for the UK Government when it comes to these types of decisions, that is the reality, " Mr O'Kane said.

"A lot of these things are not clearly thought through and the impact they will have on Northern Ireland. It is concerning that Northern Ireland is an afterthought.

"The symptoms of badly thought out legislation and law means that tourism and hospitality will be heavily affected, there is no doubt about it.

"Dublin is the magnet of international tourism and we have to acknowledge that, unless there are very specific reasons for tourists to come to Northern Ireland, such as booking deliberate troops, the vast majority of "accidental tourism" if you like would be a result of tourists flying into Dublin and touring the island.

"This new bill will make it more difficult to travel around the island when in reality we should be looking at ways to make it easier.

"We have to open up routes across the North and into the North. That is what we should be focusing on, not how to make it more difficult.

"The impulse tourists, who we welcome with open arms, are a vital part of our tourism market in Derry, specifically.

"People visit Donegal and decide to jump across and stay here in Derry, these proposals don't take that into account; they are not tailored for Derry or Northern Ireland.

"The reality for people in Derry is that people get on with their lives without acknowledging the border as a barrier; you shouldn't need extra paperwork to live your life, and that is the way it should be for tourists too.

"In my opinion, the motives for this are more aligned to Brexit and the hard line taken on borders and once again Northern Ireland is collateral damage.

"Northern Ireland needs a bespoke arrangement for things regarding Brexit and this is another reason.

"These decisions are being made and this is a significant barrier being created, no matter what the UK Government says.

"Hospitality and tourism took an absolute battering during the pandemic, they need ease of access for tourists as part of their COVID recovery."

Immigration Minister, Kevin Foster, said it would not be an "onerous" requirement.

He indicated to the MPs it would likely cost about 10, would be valid for more than a year and would cover multiple trips.

He also suggested the permit scheme would come into force in 2025.

"The reality is, if this is implemented, how will this be enforced?" continued Mr O'Kane.

"The UK Government has said that they don't have any plans for the permits to be enforced at the border.

"If they are acknowledging that they will not enforce the law, then there is an issue with the law. If it is a law that won't be enforced, then it is not a law.

"Our tourism industry is predicted to take a 160 million loss, that is the sort of hit we could take as a result of these permits.

"We all know that more paperwork would put you off visiting, it would any of us. People will just stay in the South and save themselves the hassle. We will not be as accessible and that will be detrimental.

"Take the politics out of it, we are geographically one piece of land; an island. We are marketed from an all island perspective and we need to embrace it. We need to grease the wheels and get people travelling all over the island.

"That would be hugely beneficial for the whole of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland tourism sector."

Mr Foster said the permits are part of a wider UK effort to improve both border security and customer service for travellers.

The UK and Irish governments are currently exploring how non-Irish residents of Ireland could be exempted from needing the permit.

Mr O'Kane said that if the exemption is not made, residents will be negatively impacted in their day to day lives, "Many non-Irish residents work across the border here, not all of them are going to live in Derry.

"Many people live in Donegal and travel daily. They do not need this extra paperwork impacting them living their daily lives. That will in time badly affect our economy as well from a business perspective.

"Little things, such as suddenly residents will stop coming over for dinners in Derry and day trips. There are so many aspects to this that have just not been thought through.

"This shows how out of touch those that are making these types of decisions are with how life actually gets on in cross-border regions.

"There needs to be more consideration given to the unique position that Northern Ireland has within the UK and us being a geographical part of an island.

"Those two pieces are not joined together from a UK Government perspective."
People Before Profit's East Derry candidate Amy Merron will be in the midst of final-year university exams as the votes are counted in Magherafelt on May 6. She spoke to Liam Tunney about the party's ambitions, the pro-choice movement and canvassing with kids.

Last week, People Before Profit (PBP) candidate for East Derry, Amy Merron, tweeted a picture of her alongside a defaced election poster.

The tweet, showing her face made up to match the graffiti, attracted over 3,000 likes and 251 retweets as she satirised the creation as 'Bannsky'.

The hashtag was a nod to the poster's location where the Old Bridge crosses the river in Coleraine, not far from where Merron herself grew up in Portstewart.

Her Mid Ulster-born parents met there while at university, but the now-25-year-old found her own study plans postponed.

I had my first child whenever I was 18, right as I was coming out of school, and obviously that put all my plans on hold, she told the County Derry Post.

I'd planned to go to university to study nursing, so this put a bit of a spanner in the works, but I went back to university a couple of years ago and I'm in my final year now, studying psychology.

Amy's tweet satirising the defacement of one of her posters attracted lots of attention on social media.

I've been trying to balance doing my dissertation and my final year with campaigning and it's been quite stressful.

Merron joined PBP back in 2019, seduced by the wave of enthusiasm around then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's Westminster campaign, but there was little party presence on the north coast.

We had to start from scratch with the branch up in East Derry, she said.

I would have headed up to Belfast or Derry to attend protests and rallies, but it's about building something for yourself and the people around you.

That's what I've been trying to do up here so that there are things to get involved in, ways people can voice their anger like they have been doing recently.

The party launched their manifesto last week; a blueprint for utopia that seeks to redistribute wealth to help those in most need.

It has attracted scepticism over its viability, with some commentators raising eyebrows on how it will be paid for, but Amy insists the money is available to make it work.

Through Covid, we found money for additional support for businesses and things like that. People sometimes talk about this 'magic money tree', but we know it's there, she said.

The north coast branch of People Before Profit is still in its infancy.

Our plans are to launch an Emergency Hardship Fund, which would go to everyone but the top fifth of earners.

We would suggest a cut to rents and an increase to housing benefit, simply because rents are a huge part of somebody's outgoings. Rents should not be any more than 20% of a person's income.

A huge thing at the moment, obviously, is the cost of energy, the cost of fuel, so we would suggest taking the private energy companies into public ownership.

Living on the north coast especially, we have a lot of wee coffee shops and small businesses. We want those businesses to be supported in providing a 15-an-hour minimum wage for their workers.

PBP campaigned for Brexit, a stance that continues to find a place in their manifesto, but Merron says she actually voted to remain in 2016.

I didn't feel I had enough information on the argument, and I think that was the case for a lot of people, she said.

We are a socialist party, we are anti-imperialist. We don't believe in imperialism either from Brussells of London.

We believe workers, families and ordinary people on the ground shouldn't pay the cost of Brexit, we shouldn't be footing the bill because of what the Tories have decided to hand us.

The left, alternative vision for Brexit would have been a better road to go down, but it didn't seem to be picked up in that binary argument between leave and remain.

All pink today in Dungiven pic.twitter.com/sNRYpXkcKG  Amy Merron - People Before Profit (@amz_wot) April 24, 2022

A few years on, people are able to see that there is a bit of nuance there, and having that different perspective would have been beneficial to people at the time.

Passionately pro-choice and a member of Alliance for Choice, Merron expressed disappointment at the Department of Health's failure to implement abortion services in some Trusts.

The lack of commission of services has given us a patchwork quilt approach to abortion services, she said.

We are left with no services available in the Western Trust. People are still coming to the likes of Alliance for Choice for information on how to access services.

There should be adequate signposting there for people who need to access abortion services, but also who need to access counselling services alongside it.

It left a lot of people turning online or travelling to England during a global pandemic, which isn't great either.

Amy describes her first Assembly Election campaign as a 'mixed bag', but the Portstewart woman has enlisted some helpers, with her two children joining her on the campaign trail.

The pair have been making the most of the opportunity.

They've taken a load of chocolate bars off people at the doors as well, so they think it's great, she said.

It's almost like an ice-breaker, especially if you're going to houses where there is a young family. You're able to talk about similar things you've been experiencing.

My four-year-old is a social butterfly, and will talk away to absolutely anybody, so that has made it that wee bit easier.

One of the more notable lines of the PBP manifesto expressed a need for more 'elected socialists'. I asked Amy why.

To oppose the current system we have, because it's not been working for the past 20 years or so. The establishment parties have failed us in every way possible, she said.

Growing up in Northern Ireland, especially where I am on the north coast, the faces have changed, the surroundings have changed, but the politics hasn't.

It hasn't been working for the people in East Derry, and for me, socialism is a good place to start. I think of it as looking after one another and making sure everyone has their wee piece, she added.
Romanias Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT) has approved Ericsson as a supplier of 5G network equipment, two months after refusing to authorise Nokia as a 5G provider.

In February this year, CSAT denied Nokia authorisation to supply 5G equipment. The Finnish vendor has reportedly received no clarification on the Romanian governments justification for this decision despite launching a legal challenge over the matter.

CSAT has approved a handful of smaller IT firms as 5G suppliers, including Starc4Sys, Concept Electronics and Compania de Paza, reports Romania Journal. Hotnews.ro added that the local unit of Juniper Networks was cleared as a 5G vendor on 1st April this year.

In April 2021, the Romanian government passed legislation that banned operators from using Chinese vendors including Huawei as equipment suppliers for 5G networks.
Nokia has expanded its 4G and 5G base station manufacturing capabilities by signing a partnership with Turkish electronics manufacturer Karel.

In a statement, the Finnish vendor said the companies expect to begin producing 4G base stations for the Turkish market mid this year, with local 5G base station production on the horizon, as commercial network launches from operators are expected in 2023.

Nokia noted Karel is a market leader and has one of the most advanced R&D departments in the communications electronics field in Turkey. Karel has contracts to export products and technologies to more than 30 countries.

Nokia Turkey country senior officer Ozgur Erzincan said the partnership enables Nokia to fulfil all the domestic product demand from our customers for now and in the future.

Karel chairman of the board Sinan Tunaoglu added: We are going through a period of significant change, in which technology develops very rapidly and the transition to new generation communication systems is ongoing.
Statement at the UNSC Briefing on the ICC - Libya

Statement

Thank you Madam President,

Prosecutor Khan, thank you for your comprehensive and candid report and briefing this afternoon. I also wish to welcome our colleague the Ambassador of Libya.

Madam President,

Impunity remains a significant block to Libyas transition to democracy and the rule of law. This is why the Security Councils referral to the International Criminal Court and the OTPs investigation is so critical to long-term peace and stability in Libya.

We know that the operational, security and political environment in which the Prosecutors office continues to operate in Libya is very challenging. In addition to the fragile political situation, we are deeply concerned by continued reports of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The culture of impunity described by the Fact-Finding Mission in Libya is particularly troubling.

In this difficult environment, progress by the OTP is particularly reliant on cooperation with the Libyan authorities, and we continue to urge Libya to execute the outstanding arrest warrant against Saif Gaddafi.

We welcome the Prosecutors intention to refresh the relationship with the Libyan authorities and look forward to his travel to Libya in the near future. We acknowledge that the assistance provided by UNSMIL is in this regard is vital.

Ensuring the ability of the Prosecutors office to conduct in-country investigative activities is also key to progress on this situation and we look forward to hearing more in future briefings about a renewed Memorandum of Understanding between the OTP and the Libyan authorities.

President,

Ireland is appreciative of the open approach to reporting adopted by the Prosecutor in his latest Report. The Prosecutors prioritisation of the situation in Libya and the allocation of resources to this matter is also positive, in particular support for the recruitment of additional staff with specialised expertise with respect to sexual and gender-based crimes.

This is a particularly welcome development since we know sexual and gender-based violence remains widespread in migrant detention centres and that no action is being taken by authorities to hold perpetrators to account. We also note the Offices preliminary assessment that crimes against migrants, including sexual and gender based violence, may constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes.

However, we appreciate that resources remain a matter of concern for the Court across all situations. We reiterate once again our view that where the Security Council has referred situations to the International Criminal Court, this should be matched with adequate funding. Such referrals place an extra burden on the Court, including through the reporting requirement and the Council should acknowledge as much.

With this in mind, Ireland committed additional voluntary contributions to the ICC two weeks ago. Such contributions will assist with all situations before the Court and may directly benefit work being conducted in relation to the Libyan situation.

Madam President,

The increased emphasis on engagement with victims and survivors in the Prosecutors forward-looking investigative strategy is very welcome, especially efforts to bring the work of the Office closer to survivors, witnesses and the families of victims.

One of the challenges in this will be ensuring the safety of those who wish to engage with the Court and the Prosecutors Office. The intention to establish an enhanced field office is a pre-requisite to such further engagement. We encourage all initiatives that ensure that those who cooperate with the Court through whatever means remain safe and secure.

Today, more so than ever, the work of the Court is essential to upholding the rule of law and achieving justice for victims. Prosecutor, you can, as always, count on Irelands strong and unwavering support for you and your Office in working towards this vital mandate.

Thank you.

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The Snap Pixy price starts at $229 (~17,548).

Far from the seemingly outlandish and elusive Metaverse is Snaps much more grounded and accessible Pixy. Well, that is if you are living in the US or France, the only markets where it has been launched for now. It retails at $229 (around 17,548) and for that price, you are getting a small drone that the company describes as a pocket-sized, friendly flying camera.

Heres what you need to know about the new Snapchat drone camera.

Snap Pixy Specs and Features

First of all, to be clear, the photos and videos you capture out of Pixy can be edited using other apps on your phone or even exported to your computer. The images are of a 12-megapixel size and video clips of 2.7K resolution with 30 frames per second. Although Pixy defaults to shooting in landscape, within the Snapchat app, you get a cropping tool to convert the captures into portrait mode.

On Pixy, you get 16GB of storage. You can always transfer the onboard files/data to a phone/PC using a wired or a wireless medium. You get Bluetooth BLE and 5GHz WiFi AC for wireless connectivity.

Coming to the drone design, it is 101 grams in heft (including battery), and 131.7mm x 106mm x 17.6mm in dimensions. So, it is fairly light and small. Because of those things and in that yellow color, you are likely to find it cute.

It is reportedly easy to use and works without a controller. In case you are wondering, it is compatible with both iOS and Android phones.

On top of it, there is a silver-colored dial that lets you choose from one of the preset flight paths like Orbit (circles around you), Hover (tracks you from location), and Reveal (from a set distance, it will fly back to you). From within the Snapchat app, you also get to configure new flight paths. But, Pixys scope of movement is just up to 60 seconds within a range of 2 to 3m.

Around the dial, there are 4 rotors (within protective casings) that keep the thing flying.

Now, depending on the flight modes you choose, Pixy is rated to run for 5-8 flights. And when it seeks charge, you can either swap a different battery (easily replaceable but is something you have to buy separately) or top it up through a USB-C port on the body. Snap claims you get to recharge 80-percent of the full capacity in 20 minutes and 100-percent in 40 minutes.

Among other things, you should know that Pixy is not water resistant and so should not be exposed to "rain, snow, or submerged in water".

Snap Pixy Price and Availability

As already mentioned, Snap has released the Pixy in the US and France at $229 (~17,548). The batteries cost $19.99 (~1531) a piece. You can order a portable dual battery charger priced $50 (~3832). The company notes the Pixy will be on sale until stock lasts. There is no word about its availability in other markets like India.

As for other news, reviews, feature stories, buying guides and everything else tech-related, keep reading Digit.in.
NuScale Power President and CEO John L. Hopkins, second from left, and GS Energy CEO Huh Yong-soo, third from left, pose for a photo after signing an MOU at GS headquarters in Seoul, April 26. Courtesy of GS Energy





By Kim Jae-heun







GS Energy is joining hands with Doosan Enerbility, Samsung C&T and NuScale Power to develop small modular reactors (SMRs), a nuclear energy technology which some consider a more realistic means to achieve carbon neutrality. NuScale Power is one of the world's leading SMR technology companies.







The three local firms and the U.S. company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at GS Energy's headquarters in Gangnam District, Seoul, April 26, to cooperate in jointly building and operating SMRs around the world.







NuScale Power is the only company in the world that is certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to design SMRs. Not only do the firm's SMRs produce electricity, but they also produce hydrogen using high-temperature steam, as well as supply process heat for industrial complexes and seawater desalination.







A power plant using a NuScale SMR will be built and commercially operated in the U.S. state of Idaho by 2029.







Through the MOU, the four companies can expect synergy between NuScale Power's SMR technology, GS Group's power plant operation capability, Doosan Enerbility's nuclear power plant supply capability and Samsung C&T's power plant construction capability.







"Carbon neutrality is an irresistible mission of the current world and I believe SMRs are the most effective way to fulfill it. We expect that the world's best SMR technology and Korea's superior capabilities in generating nuclear power will contribute greatly to the world," GS Energy CEO Huh Yong-soo said.







"Today's MOU is an important milestone in providing carbon-free, stable and economical energy throughout Asia. NuScale will cooperate with Korean investors to supply clean energy to the world within the next 10 years," NuScale President and CEO John L. Hopkins said.


To help give all Android users a more efficient and safe experience while downloading apps, Google announced the bold steps it took to block nearly 1.2 million apps on its Play Store.The apps eliminated included those that went against privacy guidelines or were involved in carrying out malicious activities in the previous year.Google mentioned these changes through a recent blog post while shedding light on how important of a role the tech giant was playing to assist its developers and its users.Two members from Googles Security and Privacy team mentioned how the company was doing everything in its power to enhance user protection. And thats why theyre now introducing multi-privacy-based features.Google has also spoken about its initiative to better its machine learning system, including review processes that assist in blocking 1.2 million apps. These are believed to go against the firms privacy laws. Therefore, they never end up being published on the platform.Similarly, Google delineated further attempts at combating developers whose main role is to generate spam by banning almost 190,000 accounts in the year 2021.Previously, we also saw the tech giant unveil its mega data safety area in the Play Store. Through this, both developers and users can understand which privacy/security protocols are being followed.Googles data safety section was launched this week and theyve outlined how developers must update and abide by the section before July 20.A partnership with SDK has been carried out by Google to put a limit on data sharing while enhancing communication lines with the apps long list of developers. Moreover, the company shared how it was not an easy process but their ultimate goal was to allow for a safe and useful Google Play community that benefits all stakeholders.The tech giant was also seen stressing how user safety could best be maintained through limited access to data. Thats when we saw a ban on third-party voice recording apps and limited use of Accessibility APIs which it feels serve as the best protection policies in this matter.We were also able to get a glimpse of Googles efforts at changing IDs for its advertising that came into effect in the previous year. This led to a complete ban or stop on collecting AAID and other identifiers for devices that kept vulnerable children as their targets.Similarly, we saw Google make way for enhanced security measures for all of its Pixel users by the addition of a security hub. This gave protection to phone apps, passwords, and even your own Google account limited to Pixel devices. In case youre wondering how, well, it presented a complete and current configuration picture.Lastly, Pixel users also benefited from newer learning machine models that did a great job at detecting malware through Google Plays Protect which instantly highlights bad apps.As you can see, the amount of work done by Google in this regard is plenty. And this blog post made sure it highlighted the firms constant struggle for a safer tomorrow.Read next: Google Allows Users To Remove Their Personal Contact Details From Being Displayed In Its Search Results
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By GIOVANNA DELLORTO

The Associated Press

Image from iStockPhoto [enlarge] The tiny island of Delos, a short boat ride from party-central Mykonos, was considered holy by ancient Greeks.





ASTYPALEA, Greece (AP)  In a small bay flanked by thyme-covered hills and a medieval castle-topped village, I floated in perfect solitude on the shimmering Aegean Sea.





. . .
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SEATTLE  An industrial property at 902 N.W. Ballard Way sold for a little over $3.8 million, according to King County records.

The seller was 902 Ballard LLC, which acquired the property in 2012 for about $1.8 million.





. . .




Russia's defense ministry on Friday confirmed it had carried out an air strike on Kyiv during a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.







"High-precision, long-range air-based weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed the production buildings of the Artyom missile and space enterprise in Kyiv," the ministry said in its daily briefing on the conflict in Ukraine.







Ukraine said Friday that one person had been killed in the strike on Thursday, the first in the capital in nearly two weeks and which Guterres's spokesman described as "shocking."







Guterres on Thursday toured Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs where Moscow is alleged to have committed war crimes.







The defense ministry said its forces had carried out a range of air strikes on Thursday, destroying three power substations at Ukrainian railway hubs and a Tochka-U missile launcher that it said had carried out an attack on the Russian-held city of Kherson. (AFP)


AIB is in exclusive talks with NatWest over the acquisition of around six billion euro of Ulster Bank performing tracker mortgages.

The bank confirmed on Friday morning that it was in talks with NatWest to acquire the tracker mortgage portfolio.

In a statement, AIB said that any potential transaction remains subject to negotiation and agreement.

The confirmation comes after the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) cleared the proposed purchase by AIB of Ulster Banks 3.7 billion performing commercial loan book.

Ulster Bank announced last year that it plans to leave the Irish market.

AIB is in talks to buy 6bn of Ulster Bank trackers. If the deal goes through remember AIB cant change the tracker terms and conditions. My performing tracker was sold to vultures and there has been no change in terms. DO NOT SWITCH YOUR MORTGAGE, or you will lose the tracker.  Charlie Weston (@CWeston_Indo) April 29, 2022

The Irish Finance Minister welcomed the announcement by AIB.

Paschal Donohoe said: The successful conclusion of this transaction by AIB would be very positive in providing a significant number of Ulster Bank customers with certainty as to the destination of their mortgages.

I am hopeful that these discussions will lead to a successful outcome. However, I do appreciate that the conclusion of this transaction is subject to normal due diligence, agreement of final terms, as well as obtaining appropriate approvals.

I would also like to take this opportunity to note that the CCPC has given its clearance to AIB to complete its acquisition of Ulster Banks corporate and commercial loan book from NatWest Group.

Again, this is a very positive development for Ulster Bank customers whose loans will be transferring to AIB and also, for the Ulster Bank staff who will be moving to AIB as part of the transaction.

AIB chief executive Colin Hunt said that CCPC approval was another important milestone for the bank.

We look forward to working with our new customers and equally our new colleagues from Ulster Bank as they move to AIB Group, he said.
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An exceedances of the pesticide 2,4-D has been detected in the Greenmount Public Water Supply in Co. Louth, Irish Water have confirmed.

2,4-D is an active substance present in many commonly used herbicide products used to control the growth of thistles, docks and rushes.

The exceedance was detected as part of Irish Waters public water supply monitoring programme.

Greenmount Public Water Supply abstracts raw water from the River Dee which is vulnerable to runoff from land.

Irish Water is asking users of any herbicide or pesticide products in the River Dee catchment to consider the vulnerability of the water supplies to pesticide contamination and the importance of this supply to the local homes and businesses in the community.

Irish Water, working in partnership with a range of organisations involved in the NPDWAG, is asking the farming community, greens keepers, grounds keepers, and also domestic users of pesticides, to consider in each case whether they need to use pesticides at all.

In a statement the company said:

"Minimising pesticide use not only helps to protect water quality but also has wider environmental benefits.

"For example, leaving areas unsprayed can help native flowering plant species to grow and support a range of insects including bees and other vital pollinators.

"One third of Irelands bee species are threatened with extinction and by helping the bee population survive and thrive we are also helping to protect our precious water sources.

"For more information on practical ways to help bees and other pollinators, check out the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan at www.pollinators.ie. Farmers should also bear in mind that application of herbicides reduces sward species diversity and could negatively impact on payments in future agri-environmental schemes.

"Where pesticide use is considered necessary, the NPDWAG is working with local communities to ensure that best practice measures to protect drinking water sources and biodiversity are always followed.

"Farmers and other landholders dealing with the challenge of rushes should note Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) guidance on the sustainable management of rushes.

"This approach is based on the concepts of containment or suppression and aims to minimise the use of pesticides. More information on this can be obtained from your local farm advisor or on www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie/ sud/waterprotection

"The NPDWAG is chaired by the DAFM and involves key stakeholders from a range of Government departments and agencies, local authorities, industry representative bodies, farming organisation, water sector organisations and amenity sector organisations."

Andrew Boylan, Irish Waters Regional Drinking Water Compliance Specialist said:

In Co Louth, the exceedance of the drinking water regulations for 2,4-D was noted in the Greenmount Public Water Supply following routine sampling last year.

"While our consultation with the HSE has concluded that the levels seen do not represent a threat to public health, it is however undesirable and therefore imperative that users of pesticides are mindful of best practice when using herbicides or pesticides and seek out alternatives.

Adding to this, Dr Aidan Moody, DAFM and Chair of NPDWAG commented:

We need the continued engagement of all stakeholders, working in partnership, make further progress.

Users of pesticides must always consider alternatives in the first instance and if the application of pesticides is considered essential make sure that they follow best practice measures to protect water quality.

If pesticides have to be used, the basic steps to reduce risks to drinking water sources and the aquatic environment are:
Dundalk Chamber of Commerce in association with Cross Border Partnership Employment Services will host a free Business Seminar on Employment Incentives and Supports available for SMEs in the Cross Border Region on Wednesday May 11th in the Fairways Hotel from 12.30pm to 2pm.

The event will give employers in the border areas information on how they can be assisted with their recruitment needs.

There will be several speakers at the event including the Department of Social Protection, Cross Border Partnership Employment Services, the Department for Communities, Intertrade Ireland and the Local Enterprise Office Louth.

Paddy Malone PRO of Dundalk Chamber is delighted that the chamber is running this event as it will help increase the awareness of what supports are out there for SMEs in the Cross Border Region.

This is the first CBPES Cross Border event that Dundalk Chamber of Commerce will host to assist the cross-border worker, jobseeker, and employer with more planned for the future.

To book your free place call Brenda in Dundalk Chamber on 042 9336343 or email brenda@dundalk.ie A light lunch will be provided.

For more information on the Cross Border Partnership Employment Services and how it can assist you log on to www.cbpes.com
President Joe Bidens U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is moving to weaken or end Endangered Species Act protections for several species threatened by the climate crisis, including whooping cranes and Key deer.

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) uncovered the moves when it reviewed the FWS regulatory agenda released December 10 and protested the decisions in a letter to administration officials sent Monday.

Its a gut punch that the Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking to weaken protections for whooping cranes and key deer, when both species homes could be underwater in decades, CBD government and affairs director Brett Hartl said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch.

The @USFWS plans to gut protections for several iconic species including the whooping crane, key deer and #Florida panther. It appears that the horrific anti-wildlife tactics so often employed during the Trump era have not ended. https://t.co/APrwe2zmpb  Center for Bio Div (@CenterForBioDiv) December 13, 2021

In the letter, addressed to Interior Secretary Deborah Haaland, Interior Inspector General Mark Lee Greenblatt, Office of Science and Technology Policy Deputy Director for Climate and Environment Dr. Jane Lubchenco and FWS Principal Deputy Director Martha Williams, the center argued against plans to weaken protections for four vulnerable species: whooping cranes, Key deer, Canada lynxes and Florida panthers.

Whooping Cranes: Whooping cranes are currently listed as endangered by the FWS, but the service wants to downlist them to threatened. However, the only wild population winters in Texas near the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, an area at risk from sea level rise. The species recovery plan says the birds should only be downlisted when their population reaches at least 1,000 individuals or a second migratory population of more than 120 birds develops for more than a decade. Neither of these conditions have been met, and the Texas population only has 506 birds.

Key Deer: Key deer are also currently considered endangered and also at risk from sea level rise. Their most important habitat on Big Pine Key is expected to be underwater within decades. Despite this, the FWS is considering downlisting them, and their recovery plan does not mention climate change and makes no plan to protect them from habitat loss.

Canada Lynx: Canada lynxes are currently considered threatened by the FWS, but the agency now has plans to delist them entirely. While the lynxes arent threatened by sea level rise, they are threatened by the climate crisis in a different way: They live mostly in areas with at least four months of snow cover and would lose their advantage against other predators as temperatures warm. Despite this, the FWS has never fully assessed how the climate crisis will impact this species.

Florida Panther: The Florida panther is currently listed as an endangered subspecies of puma. There are only around 200 left in the world. Despite this, the CBD uncovered records through a Freedom of Information Act request that FWS made plans to downlist them to threatened in 2018 despite the fact the agency had not (and still has not) completed an official five-year review or species status assessment.

[I]ts appalling that the Fish and Wildlife Service is even considering moving forward with a Trump-era plan to reduce protections for the Florida panther just to enrich special interest real-estate developers, Hartl said in the statement.

In the letter, Hartl argued that the FWS plans to weaken or end protections went against an executive order signed by President Joe Biden. In the order, Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis, Biden demanded that federal agencies be guided by the best science and be protected by processes that ensure the integrity of Federal decision-making.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is thumbing its nose at President Bidens directive to federal agencies to follow the best available science in all decisions, especially those relating to climate change, Hartl said in the statement. Wed hoped that the horrific anti-wildlife tactics so often employed during the Trump era had ended, but it appears we were wrong.

The letter urged agency leaders to rescind the regulatory agenda items that would delist or downlist these vulnerable species.
A highly infectious bird flu that has led to the deaths of millions of birds has been found in a U.S. human for the first time.

A Colorado man who worked at a farm where poultry had been infected tested positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or the H5N1 flu, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) announced on Thursday.

We want to reassure Coloradans that the risk to them is low, CDPHE state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said in a statement.

The man is under 40 years old and was directly exposed to infected poultry while working at a private farm in Montrose County. The man was an inmate at a state correctional facility in Delta County who was working at the farm as part of a pre-release program in which inmates work for private companies for a prevailing wage. He tested positive for H5N1 after taking a nasal swab, and the result was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday. He is now self-isolating and being treated with Tamiflu, and has experienced no symptoms other than fatigue.

The current H5N1 outbreak, which the CDC has been tracking since late 2021, is the largest since 2014-2015, USA TODAY reported. It has been identified in domestic and farmed birds in 29 states and wild birds in 34 states.

It is suspected to have killed more than 200 birds in an outbreak at a Chicago-area lake, NBC reported. It also claimed the lives of at least three bald eagles in Georgia.

Beyond that, it has led to the deaths of more than 24 million domestic chickens, turkeys and other birds culled at farms to prevent its spread, USA TODAY reported, including the birds at the facility where the Colorado man contracted the virus.

In another incident reported by The Guardian Thursday, an Iowa farm called Rembrandt Enterprises killed 5.3 million chickens in March using a method called ventilation shutdown plus (VSD+), in which the barn is cut off from air and heated to temperatures of more than 104 degrees fahrenheit.

They cooked those birds alive, one of the workers involved said, as The Guardian reported.

The company has since faced criticism for its treatment of the animals and of its workers, who were fired after spending almost a month disposing of the bodies.

The pandemic is an example of how factory farming encourages the spread of disease by keeping animals packed tightly together. Both the exposure of the Colorado man and the treatment of the Rembrandt workers demonstrate the vulnerability of the humans employed at these facilities.

CDPHE did say that everyone working to dispose of infected birds at the Montrose County farm was provided with personal protective equipment. In general, it is rare for humans to contract bird flu, but being directly exposed to sick birds increases the risk. The only other human known to have contracted the virus during the current bird flu pandemic was a UK poultry farmer who tested positive in January, but never developed symptoms.

The CDC advised that anyone working with poultry protect themselves by wearing gloves, a mask and goggles and washing their hands, USA TODAY reported. The agency said the disease could pass between people in close contact, but does not spread widely among human populations.

This case does not change the human risk assessment for the general public, which CDC considers to be low, the CDC said in response to the Colorado infection, as USA TODAY reported.
Around 252 million years ago, a massive volcanic eruption spewed 100,000 billion tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. This heated the planet and acidified the oceans, wiping out 95 percent of marine life in an extinction event that has come to be known as the Great Dying.

Now, a study published in Science Thursday is warning that the same thing could happen to the worlds oceans again if we dont act to control the climate crisis.

Even if the magnitude of species loss is not the same level as this, the mechanism of the species loss would be the same, study co-author and Princeton University climate scientist Justin Penn told The Guardian.

Global warming is already putting a strain on the worlds oceans and the creatures that live there. The ocean is absorbing both heat and carbon dioxide, which reduces oxygen and causes ocean acidification. Marine heat waves are becoming more frequent and severe, killing and disrupting marine life; oxygen-depleted dead zones have increased by a factor of four since the 1960s; and shellfish like clams and mussels are already finding it harder to form shells.

The researchers set out to see how the oceans would fare in the future under different emissions scenarios. In the worst-case scenario, humans continue to burn fossil fuels and the world reaches four degrees Celsius of warming by 2100. This would cause a level of extinction by 2300 on par with the five previous mass extinction events, including the Great Dying and the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, The New York Times reported.

If we dont act to curb emissions, that extinction is quite high. It registers on the geological scale among the major biotic collapses of diversity in the Earths history, study co-author and Princeton University geosciences professor Curtis Deutsch told NBC News.

However, if warming is limited to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, then the extinction risk would fall by more than 70 percent and only four percent of ocean species would be lost.

The future of life in the oceans rests strongly on what we decide to do with greenhouse gases today, Penn told The Guardian. There are two vastly different oceans we could be seeing, one devoid of a lot of life we see today, depending on what we see with CO2 emissions moving forward.

The researchers found that life in the polar oceans faced the greatest extinction risk, but the total biological richness of ocean ecosystems was most likely to decline in the tropics.

This paper adds to the huge body of evidence that unless more is done to curb our greenhouse gas emissions, our marine systems are on course to see a massive shift in where marine species live and, as shown in this paper, significant extinction events that could rival previous mass extinction events, Pippa Moore, a marine science professor at Newcastle University in England who was not involved with the research, told The New York Times.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee stated that medical colleges in West Bengal have admitted the medical students who returned from war-ravaged Ukraine. She shared this on Thursday, April 28.



Engineering students who were compelled to return home were also accommodated at private colleges in the state due to the war crisis, as per the PTI report.



Banerjee said, "Altogether, 422 students have returned from Ukraine to the state risking their career. We had asked the Centre to allow us to accommodate them at different colleges. But the Centre said they cannot help them. They are asking the students to go to Poland and Hungary. How can they spend so much money again?



Out of 422 returnees from Ukraine, 409 students are pursuing an MBBS course, three are pursuing dental courses and one is pursuing veterinary course.



Among the six engineering students, three are labourers.



"The six engineering students have been offered seats in private colleges. Two of them have joined the course while others are in the process of joining," she told reporters



"One of the three dental students, who has completed his studies, will be doing an internship at a government dental college while the remaining two will be allowed in practical classes at the same college," she said.



According to the Chief Minister, out of the three workers, two workers have been appointed at an office of a district magistrate on a casual basis whereas the third worker has secured a job and moved to Dubai.



She also stated that the veterinary student has been given admission at the West Bengal University of Animal & Fishery Sciences.



"A total of 23 sixth year medical students will be allowed to undergo internship at government medical colleges as per norms. At least 135 students  43 fifth year and the rest fourth year  will be allowed to undertake Observing seat at different medical colleges," she said.



She also mentioned that approximately 172 medical students who are studying in the third and second year will be permitted to take up practical classes.



She said that 78 first-year students who are qualified for the 2021 session would be allowed for counselling immediately at, "our private medical colleges against management quota seats for fresh admission. Colleges have been requested to offer concession in fees charged for these students," she added.



On March 16, Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to assist the medical students who returned from Ukraine and to admit them into Indian colleges. This was shortly after the interaction with them in the city.



She also urged Modi to relax the norms for the Ukraine students as it is an "extraordinary situation".



In her letter to the prime minister, she also mentioned putting forth many recommendations including permitting internship opportunities for eligible students in government medical colleges.
Over 81 pct of senior citizens fully vaccinated in China

Xinhua) 10:26, April 29, 2022

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- About 215 million people aged 60 and above, or 81.44 percent of the age group, have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 on the Chinese mainland, a health official said Thursday.

Nearly 160 million of them also got a booster shot, said Wu Liangyou, deputy head of the disease control and prevention division of the National Health Commission (NHC), at a press conference, noting that the vaccination speed for the age group is accelerating.

So far, 1.25 billion Chinese people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, accounting for 88.62 percent of the total population, data from the NHC shows.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Fifty years ago, on 29 April 1972, violence between Hutus and Tutsis broke out in Burundi. This was the latest round of ethnic conflict in the African Great Lakes region, and marked the beginning of a genocide of up to 300,000 people. Western imperialism bears direct responsibility for the horrors of the spring of 1972. They didnt lift a finger to stop it, and in some cases, they actively supported it. Today, while western imperialists cry crocodile tears over Ukraine, they bury the history of the far greater abominations they perpetrated just 50 years ago.

The events of 1972 were a legacy of colonialism. The territory known as Rwanda-Urundi was colonised by Germany in 1899, at the height of western colonisation on the African continent. Germany had only emerged as a unified nation state 30 years previously, and its empire was limited to whatever the older imperialist powers hadnt already snapped up. Fifteen years prior to Germanys colonisation of Rwanda-Urundi, for example, the Belgian King Leopold II had taken personal ownership over the larger and more profitable neighbouring Congo.

The growing tensions between the imperialist powers over how the world should be divided up led to the First World War in 1914. And in 1916, Belgian troops from Congo overran the Germans in Rwanda-Urundi, seizing control of the territory. Belgian rule was confirmed by the Treaty of Versailles and a League of Nations mandate in 1922.

Divide and rule

Belgian rule in Rwanda-Urundi was every bit as brutal as in Congo. The imperialists introduced coffee as a cash crop, which was cultivated by forced labour and exported back to Europe. Farmers were made to grow a certain number of coffee trees each, enforced by onerous legislation and heavy taxes.

But imposing their domination over the population was no easy task for the imperialists. Prior to colonisation, social cohesion in this region had been strong, and in 1884, its armies succeeded in defeating an army of slave traders.

Prior to colonisation, social cohesion in Rwanda-Urundi had been strong / Image: Jessie Tarbox Beals, Missouri History Museum

To secure their control, the Belgian ruling class had to use the tried-and-tested method of imperialism: divide and rule. They applied such methods in a particularly pitiless and disruptive way.

The two major social groupings in Rwanda-Urundi were the Hutus and Tutsis, the former comprising around 85% of the population, and the latter 15%. There were differences between these groups, but there was much continuity between them too. Neither had a traditional claim to authority, although Tutsis were disproportionately in positions of authority. Neither conferred a superior social status. The relationship between the two groups was a complex one, with regional divisions and socio-economic status also playing a part.

Whatever the exact relationship between Hutus and Tutsis, there are no accounts of serious conflict between them prior to colonisation.

The Belgian colonisers decided to consolidate their rule by pitting the two groups against each other. They introduced racism to achieve this. In the 1920s, the Belgians brought over scientists to measure skull sizes and other biological traits of the population. On the basis of this so-called research, they claimed that Tutsis had larger heads, were taller, and had lighter skin, and that this gave them a superior racial status.

They based themselves on the racist and now totally discredited Hamitic hypothesis, advanced by the British explorer John Hanning Speke. In 1863, he argued that the Tutsis were descended from the biblical figure Ham, and were therefore a branch of the Caucasian race that had migrated from the north of Africa. With lighter skin than the darker-skinned Negroids who populated sub-Saharan Africa, they were placed higher on the racial hierarchy used to justify the horrific crimes of colonialism.

From the early 1930s, ethnic identity was listed on the paperwork of every person, and ID cards were issued to distinguish between Tutsis and Hutus  who, contrary to the claims of the race scientists, could not be distinguished based on appearances. The Belgian rulers began excluding Hutus from positions of power, and promoting the Tutsi minority as the sole instrument through which to implement their rule.

By 1929, 20% of regional chiefs were Hutus, and by 1945 the figure was 0%. At the beginning of the 1950s, 31 out of 33 members of the Conseil Superieur du Pays were Tutsi, as were 544 out of 559 regional sub-chiefs.

Hutus were excluded from education and condemned to a lifetime of forced manual labour on the coffee plantations. The only alternative open to them was taking holy orders at one of the subsidised Catholic seminaries.

The Groupe Scolaire school was established by the Belgian colonial administration in 1929. This was a school through which the population could achieve a measure of education and status under the colonial regime. It was fiercely biassed against Hutus. In 1949, of every 100 students who enrolled at the school that year, just 14 were Hutus.

For three decades, the Belgian imperialists reinforced and deepened the artificial racial divide they had created between Hutus and Tutsis. They destroyed the internal cohesion that had characterised Hutu-Tutsi society prior to colonisation. They whipped up fear, division, and hatred to secure coffee for the European market.

What kind of independence?

By the late 1950s, the ground was shaking beneath Belgian imperialism. Independence for the colonies was becoming an inevitability. Pan-African ideas in particular were unifying the Wests colonial subjects against imperialism. This threatened to undermine the Belgians methods of divide and rule by which they had maintained their dominance.

Independence was coming. The only question was: what kind of independence would be gained by the colonial countries? Events in Congo showed what the imperialists were willing to do to avoid the wrong kind of independence.

After Lumumbas party won the parliamentary elections in Congo, the country declared independence and the Belgian imperialists felt their profits slipping away / Image: public domain

In 1958, Patrice Lumumba and others, who had been building support for Pan-African ideas in Congo for years, founded the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC). This was a pro-independence party with no particular ethnic base, and mass support throughout the country. Among other things, the MNC promoted the nationalisation of key economic infrastructure, which would take it out of the hands of foreign multinationals, providing real independence for the Congolese masses.

After Lumumbas party won the parliamentary elections in June 1960, the country declared independence and the Belgian imperialists felt their profits slipping away. They therefore encouraged and facilitated mutinies in the army, and the secession of the wealthiest parts of the country.

This created a political crisis. The Belgian and US imperialists seized the opportunity to assassinate Lumumba and engineer a coup to replace him with someone they could rely on to allow them to continue plundering the country.

Meanwhile, over the border in Rwanda, the Belgian ruling class were making good use of the ethnic divisions they had built over many years to prevent a Lumumba-style figure emerging at all.

In 1957, the Belgian colonialists and the Catholic Church (who until this point had supported Tutsi oppression of Hutus) encouraged Gregoire Kayibanda to found the Hutu Social Movement in Rwanda and to write the Hutu Manifesto. The manifesto called for the double liberation of the Hutu people: from the white colonialists and from Tutsi oppressors.

The Belgian colonialists had ruled for decades through the Tutsi minority. But they now cynically calculated that after independence, it would be the Hutus who would take power through elections by sheer weight of numbers.

They therefore switched their allegiance and incited the Hutus against the Tutsis. The imperialists deliberately tied the question of race and ethnicity to the question of independence. This allowed them to cut across any Lumumba-style Pan-Africanism. Thus, they calculated, divide-and-rule tactics would continue to keep the country open to imperialist looting even after independence.

In late 1959, a Hutu uprising against the Tutsis broke out in Rwanda. The Belgian Governor of Rwanda-Urundi, Jean-Paul Harroy, placed Rwanda under military rule, in the person of the Belgian Colonel Logiest. Logiest announced that the duty of the Belgians was to favour the Hutu element and disfavour the Tutsi element.

The Belgian imperialists effectively declared war on the Tutsis. The Belgians and the Hutus destroyed thousands of homes. Tutsi chiefs were unceremoniously removed and replaced by Hutus. Up to 100,000 Tutsis were murdered, with an estimated 336,000 fleeing the country.

In the middle of 1960, with anti-Tutsi violence still ongoing, the Belgians organised elections which were overwhelmingly won by the militarised Hutu party, Parmehutu, with Kayibanda at its head. Satisfied that the country was sufficiently divided, the Belgians granted full independence to Rwanda in July 1962.

Discrimination, oppression and violence against the Tutsis continued with Belgian support. Belgium also maintained significant economic interests in the country. In 1963, the first Yaounde Convention was signed establishing a free market between the EEC, which included Belgium, and 18 African ex-colonial states, which included Rwanda. For Belgian imperialism, this was the right kind of independence.

Imperialist violence

Although Rwanda-Urundi was administered as one territory, the imperialists increasingly treated it as two distinct entities: Rwanda and Burundi. They were formally separated in 1960. This re-established the two separate kingdoms, which had existed prior to colonisation. But by 1960, separation was also a useful aid to the Belgian policy of divide and rule.

Burundi had its own independence leaders. Louis Rwagasore was a Tutsi, educated in Belgium, who became a prominent nationalist leader. Like Lumumbas MNC, his party, the Union for National Progress (UPRONA), appealed to people from different regions and ethnicities.

Louis Rwagasore  leader of Burundi's indipendence movement / Image: public domain

Rwagasore was a threat to Belgian imperialist interests, just as Lumumba had been. His national unity independence threatened to offer an alternative to the frenzied ethnic hatred tearing Rwanda apart. The Belgians could not afford to have Hutus and Tutsis united, because then their combined fire would be turned against the imperialists.

The Belgian colonialists put Rwagasore under house arrest in 1960, but under pressure eventually released him. His party, UPRONA, won a crushing majority in the 1961 elections in Burundi. Of the UPRONA members elected, 25 were Tutsis, 22 were Hutus, and four were of mixed parentage.

Rwagasore was overcoming the ethnic divide cultivated by Belgian imperialism for decades, and he was resisting being pushed down the path taken in Rwanda. On 28 September 1961, Rwagasore became Prime Minister of Burundi. Two weeks later he was assassinated at the instigation of Governor Harroy and other figures in the Belgian administration.

The political void and massive instability this assassination created was the opportunity the imperialists needed to stoke further tensions between Tutsis and Hutus. They were helped in this by the massive influx of Tutsi refugees fleeing to Burundi in order to escape the violence in Rwanda.

UPRONA began degenerating into a Tutsi supremacist party. The Burundian Tutsis increasingly looked with fear at a potential Belgium-Hutu alliance of the kind which had overthrown and massacred Tutsis in Rwanda in 1959. UPRONAs raison detre became preventing the repetition of such events in Burundi, which it attempted to do through brutal oppression of the Hutu population.

A legacy of instability and violence

It was in this context that Burundi gained independence from Belgium in 1962. Decades of colonial rule had created a region with violent instability and ethnic divisions. This continued and intensified throughout the 1960s.

In 1963, the king of Burundi appointed a Hutu Prime Minister, who was assassinated by a Tutsi in 1965. Parliamentary elections in May 1965 led to a Hutu majority, but the king appointed a Tutsi as Prime Minister. The kings attempt at a balancing act between Hutus and Tutsis only succeeded in alienating and radicalising both groups.

As a result, in October 1965 the Hutu-dominated police force launched a coup attempt, which failed. In reprisal, the Tutsi-dominated army purged Hutus from its ranks and launched a coup of its own in July 1966, which was successful.

In the coup of July 1966, the king was deposed and replaced by his teenage son. In November of that same year, the new king was deposed by another coup, carried out by the Tutsi-dominated army under Michel Micombero.

Genocide

The growing tensions between Hutus and Tutsis, which had been set in motion by the imperialists, were reaching boiling point by the beginning of the 1970s. The result was the Burundian genocide of 1972.

On 29 April 1972, coordinated attacks were carried out by Hutus against Tutsis across the country. Around 2,000 men, women and children were killed in indiscriminate violence.

On 29 April 1972, coordinated attacks were carried out by Hutus against Tutsis across the country  around 2,000 men, women and children were killed in indiscriminate violence / Image: prio.org

Micomberos Tutsi military dictatorship responded by unleashing a genocide against the Hutu population of Burundi. The four Hutu government ministers were killed. 131 Hutu army officers were murdered, along with 500 rank-and-file Hutu soldiers, 2,000 civil servants, a dozen Hutu priests, and thousands of Protestant Hutu pastors.

In Bururi, the centre of the Hutu uprising, the army began systematically killing Hutus. In the major cities of Bujumbura, Gitega, and Ngozi, all skilled Hutu workers and intellectuals of any kind were loaded onto trucks and either shot or beaten to death, and their bodies thrown into mass graves.

At the University of Bujumbura and in the schools and colleges, Tutsi students were incited to attack their Hutu classmates. Many were beaten to death. Soldiers appeared in classrooms to read out lists of names of Hutu students who would be taken away and never seen or heard from again. One third of university students disappeared in this way.

Armed bands of Tutsis marauded through residential areas and took Hutus away at gunpoint by the lorryload. Excavators and bulldozers were busy every night for six weeks digging mass graves.

All in all, as many as 300,000 Hutus were massacred in Burundi in the spring of 1972. A similar number were displaced while trying to escape the violence. As a proportion of the population, this would be the equivalent of 5.5 million dead in Britain today, with the same number displaced. This unimaginable horror was the direct result of the crimes of Western imperialism.

Imperialist indifference

Were we to take the Wests hue and cry over Ukraine in recent weeks at face value, we would presumably have to conclude that the western imperialists have always intervened on the side of peace and justice wherever the need has arisen. But 50 years ago, when genocide was being perpetrated in Burundi, none of these powers lifted a finger.

In 1972, the USA was the largest purchaser of Burundian coffee, which accounted for 80% of all of Burundis foreign exchange earnings. At the time, the USA was internationally pressured to use this economic leverage to force the Tutsi regime to stop the genocide. The US imperialists refused.

As far as US imperialism was concerned, as long as neither Hutus nor Tutsis aligned themselves with the Soviet Union, they could go on killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians with impunity.

The United Nations sent a grand total of five people to Burundi to investigate the genocide. Needless to say, they achieved nothing. So passive was the UN that the government even requisitioned its trucks and used them to carry out the killings. Land rovers marked UNICEF were being used to transport Hutus to their deaths, while the UN stood idly by.

According to observers, one of the Western officials in the Burundian capital after 1972 to be held in highest regard by the regime was Marcel Latour, the head of the UN Development Programme in the country. The UN has always been a tool of imperialism. As long as the imperialists didnt care what was happening in Burundi, the UN wasnt interested either. And the Tutsi regime was very grateful.

The only imperialist power to raise concerns over the genocide was Belgium, because it was the Belgians Hutu allies who were being massacred. In expressing their concerns, the Belgian imperialists were attempting to navigate the conflict with one eye on their Rwandan interests. But another section of Belgian businessmen who operated in Burundi werent happy with the intervention of the Belgian government.

For this section of the Belgian ruling class, any amount of violence between Hutu and Tutsi was acceptable as long as they and their business interests werent kicked out of the country. These capitalists therefore put pressure on the Belgian ambassador to Burundi to tone down his protests about the genocide to preserve their business interests. And this pressure had an effect.

The most despicable role, however, was played by French imperialism. The French ruling class saw the genocide against the Belgian-backed Hutus as a chance to expand their own sphere of influence in Africa at the expense of Belgian imperialism.

Under the cover of the Societe de Transports Aeriens du Burundi, France supplied the Tutsi regime with military assistants and pilots. One observer explained: French military assistants flew the regimes helicopters. This airborne was crucial in routing out the rebels in the southFrenchmen were holding the helicopters steady while Burundi soldiers were machine-gunning Hutu rebels out of the side windows.

Alongside the head of the UN Development Programme, the only other Western official to be well regarded by the regime after 1972 was Henri Bernard, the French Ambassador. French imperialism clearly had some success in carving out a sphere of influence for itself in Burundi in 1972  at a cost of 300,000 lives.

Learn from history and fight for the future

Violence between Hutus and Tutsis continued long after 1972, and still continues to this day. The Rwandan genocide of 1994, and the wars and ongoing conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo trace their roots back to the same source.

Fifty years on from the genocide of 1972, Marxists should continue to expose the crimes and hypocrisy of imperialism. Nothing has fundamentally changed. This is still how imperialism operates today.

Belgian imperialism in Rwanda and Burundi also has a lot to teach us about where racism comes from, and how it is deliberately used by the capitalist class to divide and rule the exploited masses. Figures like Lumumba in Congo showed the potential that exists for these tactics to be beaten. The histories of Rwanda and Burundi show what can happen if they are not.

Lenin said that capitalism is horror without end. The horror of the 1972 Burundian genocide reminds us of the justice and urgency of the fight against capitalism and imperialism, and for a socialist society.
An 85-year-old man from the Isle of Man has been jailed for six years after being found guilty of historical sex offences.

Joseph Henry Marshall sexually abused two boys under the age of 16 when he worked as the resident housemaster at the Knottfield Care Home on Woodbourne Road in Douglas.

He committed the offences between 1974 and 1982.

Inspector Neil Craig, one of the Senior Investigating Officers involved in the enquiry, said: Mr Marshall both used, and abused, his position of trust as the housemaster within the Knottfield care home over many years in order to be able to commit these offences. His behaviour was deplorable, and showed a complete and utter disregard for the victims whom he has been convicted of having offended against.

He likely believed that the passage of time would allow his offending to remain undetected, however as a result of this investigation he is now having to face the consequences of his actions.

The men who agreed to testify against him have been incredibly brave from the time of initially coming forward and speaking to the police, right through to having to give evidence in court, and beyond. Without their courage, Mr Marshall is unlikely to have been found guilty of having offended against them, and I hope that his sentencing today will help of both them, and their families, to now be able to start to move forward with their lives.
What a difference a year can make. Roughly one year after pandemic-fueled buying spree pushed Amazon profits to new highs , the retail giants growth has now stalled to its slowest rate in more than two decades.

The company reported $116.4 billion in sales for the first quarter of 2021, an increase of just 7 percent from last year. That stands in stark contrast to the 44 percent jump it saw this time last year. Its also the slowest single-quarter growth the company has seen since 2001, according to CNBC. Amazon lost $3.8 billion this quarter, its first loss since 2015.

The company attributed the slowdown to a number of factors, including effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine (something many tech companies have cited in recent earnings reports). The companys stake in electric car-marker Rivian also accounted for some of the hit, as the company lost more than $7 billion on its investment in the company, whose stock has dipped amid production delays.

The report isnt the first sign that Amazon has been struggling to turn its characteristically massive profits. The company recently raised the price of Prime for the first time since 2018, citing wage hikes for workers and increasing costs of transportation. The company also hiked prices for sellers by 5 percent.

The company has also been dealing with a wave of organizing at its warehouses around the country, despite significant investments in anti-union consultants. Notably, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said one of the companys priorities would be increasing productivity at fulfillment centers. Today, as were no longer chasing physical or staffing capacity, our teams are squarely focused on improving productivity and cost efficiencies throughout our fulfillment network.

Amazon also confirmed that its annual shopping bonanza Prime Day is set for July, though it didnt provide an exact date.
Beijing is paving the way for driverless robotaxis. Chinas capital city granted permits to auto startup Pony.ai and Chinese internet giant Baidu to offer self-driving car services to the general public, both companies announced today. Both operations will start out small  Baidus fleet will consist of 10 cars and Pony.ai will run four cars, reported CNBC. Eventually both companies plan to expand operations in the city.

The Beijing government is requiring a staff member to be onboard each driverless vehicle to make sure things go smoothly. But the employee isnt required to be in the drivers seat. Both firms had already been testing driverless taxis in Beijing and other major cities in China, but were required to have safety drivers behind the wheel.

The permits are a big step forward for the driverless taxi industry in Beijing, which set a goal for 70 percent of new cars sold in 2030 to have at least Level 2 self-driving technology installed.

An added perk for Beijing residents is that driverless car rides will be free, at least for now. The companies are still awaiting approval from the government to charge for the service. Until then, prospective riders can hail a ride through either Pony.ais PonyPilot+ app or Baidus Apollo Go app. Theres one caveat, though. Rides are currently restricted to a 23.1 square mile area in Yizhuang, a suburb of Beijing. Theres also no door-to-door pick-up service. Riders will instead be asked to choose from a number of public pick-up and drop-off locations, including subway stations, parks and stadiums.
The union working to organize Activision Blizzard workers  the Communications Workers of America  filed a complaint today with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accusing the video game company of forbidding workers from discussing ongoing sexual and workplace harassment lawsuits. This isnt the first time Activision has been accused of shutting down workplace dissent. Last September, CWA accused Activision of union-busting and intimidating workers who engaged in walkouts and other protests.

CWA filed its latest complaint after an incident in which an Activision worker posted a link to an article on their departmental Slack channel about an ongoing California Department of Fair Housing and Employment lawsuit against the company. The union shared no details about whether the worker was fired or reprimanded. Engadget has reached out to CWA for more information about the incident and will update when we hear back. Under federal law, employees have the right to discuss matters relating to wages, hours and working conditions.

Former Blizzard test analyst Jessica Gonzalez said Activision used similar tactics during her time at the company after she spoke out about workplace sexual harassment. It is unfortunate that Activision continues to take the low road, but my hope is that everyone in the video game community understands how having a union on the job can encourage a workplace free from harassment and discrimination, which translates to better video games, said Gonzalez in a statement.
Should Elon Musk's planned takeover of Twitter be finalized, he may bring in some changes for how tweed embeds work on third-party websites and services. Musk has floated the idea of charging users to embed or quote tweets from verified accounts, according to Reuters , but that wouldn't stop anyone from simply screenshotting a tweet and using that instead.

Even before Twitter's board accepted Musk's offer , there were signs of changes for how embeds work . The company altered some JavaScript, which led to the text of deleted tweets disappearing from sites they were embedded on. A Twitter senior product manager said the change was made to "better respect when people have chosen to delete their tweets." However, after a backlash from the likes of open web and preservation advocates, Twitter backtracked on the move .

Musk reportedly mooted the idea of charging for embeds while attempting to secure debt to finance his $44 billion buyout. He secured $13 billion in loans against Twitter and a $12.5 billion margin loan tied to his Tesla stock (which he this week sold $8.5 billion worth of).

In addition, Musk has mentioned other ways of improving Twitter's bottom line but hasn't made firm commitments on those as yet. He has suggested making changes to the Twitter Blue service to make it more appealing to potential subscribers. In talks with banks, Musk reportedly raised the possibility of job cuts, but isn't expected to make firm decisions on that front until/if he takes the company private. In addition, Musk has publicly mused about getting rid of salaries for board directors, which would save the company around $3 million per year.
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Salesforce says it will loosen non-disclosure agreements for all of its employees in the US, including those at subsidiary Slack . The company was required to do so for workers in California under the state's Silenced No More Act, though it will extend the measures to workers across the country.

The law gives employees more freedom to discuss instances of workplace harassment and discrimination even if they have signed NDAs. It took effect on January 1st. Salesforce says it will extend the protections to all US employees by the end of this year. "Our employees are key stakeholders, and its critical that we offer them the support to ensure theyre happy, healthy and protected," the company wrote in a blog post .

A group called the Transparency in Employment Agreements Coalition has been using shareholder proposals to pressure the likes of Salesforce, Meta, Alphabet and Apple to extend Silenced No More protections to all employees, as Protocol notes .

Alphabet affirmed in an SEC filing this month that even if they had signed NDAs, employees are free to discuss workplace assault, harassment or discrimination as well as any retaliation for reporting or opposing those. Before the law came into effect, Pinterest said it would not enforce NDAs in cases of racial and gender-based discrimination.
Utku Baris Pazar (Chief Strategy & Digital Officer, Arcelik) - ARCELIK/PR NEWSWIRE

ISTANBUL, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Arcelik aims for global leadership by expanding its R&D and innovation collaborations on a global scale with the Garage Innovation Hub. Arcelik Garage Innovation Hub, a growing global open innovation platform, has interacted with more than 2,000 partners, scouted more than 1800 start-ups, and developed cooperation with more than 80 startups.

Garage Innovation Hub organized an Open Innovation Day with the participation of a large number of start-ups, business leaders and investors from around the world in order to contribute to the dissemination of the open innovation culture.

Arcelik's Chief Strategy & Digital Officer Utku Bars Pazar stated that:

"As a growing global innovation platform, together with our nearly 2,000 stakeholders, including mentors, investors, universities, and entrepreneurs from all over the world; we provide business development, access to financial support and mentorship to entrepreneurs, starting from the idea stage.On the path to becoming one of the leading open innovation platforms on a global scale, we have set important goals such as supporting the incorporation of new ideas in many fields such as sustainability, artificial intelligence, AR/VR, marketing and production technologies, healthcare, in each of the 146 countries where we operate in the next 5 years.As we continue to provide startups with access to financial support, we will further increase our contribution to the ecosystem by partnering with regional venture capital funds. In February 2022, we took our first step in this direction and became a limited partner in the 500 Startups, a globally acclaimed venture capital fund, and in April, we joined the latest fund managed by Hoxton Ventures, one of the top venture capital funds in Europe."

As one of the spearheads across the world to spread the open innovation culture, Arcelik aims for global leadership with the Garage Innovation Hub. Arcelik Garage Innovation Hub, which has interacted with more than 2,000 partners since its establishment in 2017, has provided 40 entrepreneurs with access to 8 million TL grant aid, and training and mentoring support to 274 entrepreneurs to date. With its incubation activities, it has supported more than 80 startups to develop business ideas.

Garage Innovation Hub aims to transform innovative ideas into products and projects by creating a mutual sharing ecosystem through entrepreneurship, innovation programs and events it carries out inside and outside the company.

It plays a facilitating role to enable the ecosystem to benefit from knowledge, experience and connections among ecosystem players such as startups, mentors, investors and relevant non-governmental organizations, private and public institution representatives.

Garage Innovation Hub, which designs innovation and entrepreneurship programs, also works to develop new technologies and business models that fall outside of Arcelik's core competencies.

Garage Innovation Hub, a growing open innovation platform, aims to contribute to the development of the ecosystem in line with its global leadership goal in the field of open innovation. Garage Innovation Hub brought together innovative thinkers, companies, start-ups and investors from all over the world at the Open Innovation Day, which is organized for the first time this year.

Stating that the Open Innovation Day is a platform for stimulating discussions with the participation of important players within the ecosystem, Arcelik Chief Strategy & Digital Officer Utku Bars Pazar said "In a short period of 5 years, we have worked together with a large number of universities, NGOs, institutions and organizations from all over the world that support innovation. Innovation is not a process that belongs to an institution or a function alone. Open innovation platforms such as the Garage Innovation Hub can enable ideas to come to life, paving the way for innovations that benefit humanity. We aim to bring more and more ideas to life, wherever possible."

Garage Innovation Hub Partners with Venture Capital Funds

Talking about Arcelik's open innovation approach, Utku Bars Pazar said: "We started to develop Startup Friendly Applications to improve our start-up collaborations. We say "Dare, Connect, Venture, Value". Our goal is to support start-ups in each of the 146 countries where we operate. On the path to becoming one of the leading open innovation platforms globally, we continue to support entrepreneurs in reaching grants through programs such as BIGG3. Garage Innovation Hub also took another step to provide capital support to entrepreneurs and became a partner to venture capital funds. We took our first step in this direction and became a limited partner in 500 Startups, a globally acclaimed venture capital fund, and joined the latest fund managed by Hoxton Ventures, one of the top venture capital funds in Europe."

As part of the United Nations Generation Equality Forum commitments, Arcelik plans to reach 7000 entrepreneurs, 5000 of whom are women, by 2026, and support them in reaching financial support of approximately 5 million dollars, with the Garage Innovation Hub.

Click to learn more about Arcelik Garage Innovation Hub and to develop collaboration.

https://www.garageinnovationhub.com/

About Arcelik

With over 40,000 employees throughout the world, Arcelik's global operations including sales and marketing offices in 49 countries, and 28 production facilities in 9 countries with 12 brands (Arcelik, Beko, Grundig, Blomberg, ElektraBregenz, Arctic, Leisure, Flavel, Defy, Altus, Dawlance, Voltas Beko). As Europe's second-largest white goods company by market share (based on volumes), Arcelik reached a consolidated turnover of 6.5 billion Euros in 2021. Arcelik's 29 R&D and Design Centers & Offices across the globe, are home to over 2,000 researchers and hold more than 3,000 international patent applications to date. In 2021, Arcelik achieved the highest score in the DHP Household Durables category for the 3rd year in a row in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index of the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment. In accordance with PAS 2060 Carbon Neutrality Standard, Arcelik became carbon-neutral in Scope 1 and 2 in global manufacturing in 2019 and 2020 with its own carbon credits. Through its leadership position in sustainability and credible decarbonization roadmap for achieving net zero, Arcelik became the first and only company from its industry to receive the Terra Carta Seal by HRH Prince of Wales. Arcelik's mission is 'Respecting the World, Respected Worldwide.'

www.arcelikglobal.com/en

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1653921/Arcelik_Logo.jpgPhoto - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1807788/Utku_Bar_Pazar_Arcelik.jpg
Gov. Greg Abbott has mentioned Elon Musk in a dozen tweets going back to May 2020, when he said the Tesla CEO could save billions in taxes by moving the electric vehicle maker to Texas.

The next year, Musk did just that, relocating Teslas headquarters from Palo Alto, Calif., to the site of its $1.1 billion Gigafactory then under construction near Austin.

The governor tried the same tactic Monday, tweeting at Musk to move Twitter to Texas after reports that the social media giant had accepted Musks offer to buy it in a $44 billion deal.

Two days later, Abbott urged Musk to take up the offer of a Central Texas rancher to provide 100 acres of his land as the site of a new Twitter headquarters.

I will declare it a free speech zone, Abbott tweeted. Maybe we can rename it Twitter, Texas. Think about it.

He brought up free speech for a reason.

Abbott and Musk have criticized the way Twitter and other social media companies moderate content on their platforms. They argue that the companies have let political considerations influence their decisions on whats allowed.

The governors view led him to sign a bill in September to prevent companies such as Twitter from banning users or deleting posts based on the political views presented. It never took effect. In December, a federal judge blocked the law.

Though the governor often presents himself and Musk as being of like minds, the Tesla and SpaceX CEOs political views do not match the positions taken by Abbott and the other Republicans controlling Texas state government.

In fact, Musks political statements rarely fit neatly into either the progressive or conservative camp.

Suzanne Cordeiro, HO / TNS

His straddling of political lines was on display Friday morning when he took to Twitter to criticize the left: The far left hates everyone, themselves included! He hastened to add: But Im no fan of the far right either. Lets have less hate and more love.

Heres a look at the interactions between Musk and Abbott over the years and at how their views match up (or dont) when it comes to censorship and political issues.

Less content policing

In January 2021, Musk responded to a tweet from the Babylon Bee  a satirical website similar to the Onion but with a conservative bent  to say a lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech.

Abbott quoted Musks tweet and added, Elon Musk knows whats up.

He consistently makes comments like this that push back against liberal political correctness, Abbott wrote. Hes a true believer in freedom and smaller government.

Abbott was right to say Musk has frequently railed against what he views as the overreach of Twitter and other social media companies in policing the content on their platforms. Since Tuesday, hes had a tweet pinned to the top of his Twitter page saying in part that I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.

On Tuesday, Musk said it had been obviously incredibly inappropriate for Twitter to have blocked the account of the New York Post after it published a series of stories alleging that President Joe Bidens son Hunter Biden had taken part in corrupt business deals in Ukraine and China.

For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally, Musk tweeted Wednesday.

Similar concerns over censorship led the Texas Legislature in its most recent session to pass the bill making it a crime for social media giants such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to ban users or delete posts based on political views.

Abbott was a fervent supporter of the bill, saying it was needed to fight a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints.

In December, a federal judge in Austin blocked the law, saying it represented an unconstitutional violation of the companies right to freedom of speech.

Abbott has walked a fine line in his approach to social media giants. Even while complaining about censorship on their platforms, he has strived to persuade companies such as Facebook to expand their operations into Texas.

Politics

In September, Abbott told CNBC that he spoke with Musk frequently and that the Tesla CEO had to get out of California because, in part, of the social policies in California.

Elon consistently tells me that he likes the social policies in the state of Texas, said the governor, who four months earlier had signed a law banning abortions as early as the sixth week of a pregnancy.

Musk didnt directly deny what the governor said but took to Twitter to say he would prefer to stay out of politics.

In general, I believe government should rarely impose its will upon the people, and, when doing so, should aspire to maximize their cumulative happiness, he said.

Musk, who was born in South Africa and became a U.S. citizen in 2002, has staked a position for himself between the two major political parties. A passionate advocate for fighting climate change, in 2017 he left the White House advisory councils he served on to protest President Donald Trumps plan to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

But he also has been an outspoken critic of the business climate in Democratic-controlled California and the states COVID-19 policies. In May 2020, he threatened to move Teslas headquarters out of California (which he went on to do) during a struggle with health officials from Alameda County, east of San Francisco, over whether Tesla could reopen its factory in Fremont.

Musk has described himself as politically moderate and donated to politicians from the Democratic and Republican parties, according to a recent New York Times report.

I strongly supported Obama for President, but todays Democratic Party has been hijacked by extremists, he tweeted Thursday evening.

In October, when he announced Teslas move to Texas, Musk cited the spiraling cost of housing in the Bay Area, which had made it difficult for the companys employees to find convenient and affordable places to live.

Were taking it as far as possible, but theres a limit how big you can scale it in the Bay Area, he said. Just to be clear, though, we will be continuing to expand our activities in California. This is not a matter of leaving California.

Of course, Texas is no paradise when it comes to housing  the rising cost of urban real estate is a big problem here, too.
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As CPS Energy looks to shutter an older unit at its Spruce coal plant in the next six years, one emerging zero-carbon technology could extend the plants life beyond coal: geothermal power.

City-owned CPS is developing a pilot geothermal project at its Spruce 1 plant on the far Southeast Side. It would generate electricity by harnessing heat stored underground, interim CEO Rudy Garza said during a town hall at Woodlawn Pointe organized by environmental and community activist groups on Thursday.

The organizations want CPS to move to zero-carbon technologies and away from fossil fuels.

Our Spruce 1 site is a site we believe has the geothermal potential for a big geothermal project, Garza said. Thats not a technology thats going to be available tomorrow, but we are working on looking at a pilot project to test it, understand how its going to work for us, and thoughtfully move in to utility-scale opportunities down the road.

On ExpressNews.com: High natural gas prices mean bigger bills for CPS Energy customers

The Spruce 1 unit went online in 1992, and CPS wants to close it before 2028. The utility would have to spend $150 million on environmental upgrades to keep burning coal at the plant past that year.

Garza has said CPS will shutter Spruce 1 and likely convert the newer and larger Spruce 2 unit to run on cleaner-burning natural gas this decade.

Activists quizzed Garza Thursday night on the utilitys plans for cutting emissions and easing bills for low-income ratepayers.

Weve got to be reliable, weve got to be affordable and weve got to lower our carbon footprint, Garza said.

The utilitys five-member board of trustees is expected to vote on a plan for future power generation by the end of this year.

As CPS sketches its plan, climate-change organizers want the utility to commit to a retirement date for Spruce 1.

The Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month downgraded San Antonios ozone attainment status because of excessively high ground-level ozone, which can cause respiratory problems. Curbing emissions is essential, said Chrissy Mann, a campaign representative with the Sierra Club. She spoke alongside Garza on Thursday.

We need to see something happening and some commitments now to reduce significant CO2 emissions from the power sector in San Antonio, Mann said. The big low-hanging fruit is Spruce because its the biggest CO2 emitter that CPS owns.

Utilities have been generating power from subsurface heat for decades, but largely in western states where heat venting to the surface  such as the geysers in Yellowstone National Park  is easy to capture.

However, with advances in drilling and geothermal technologies, utilities in other parts of the country are beginning to experiment with the power source.

CPS is considering a so-called closed loop advanced geothermal system, which is like a radiator that can be flipped on and off when a utility needs power.

CPS would hire a geothermal company to build an underground loop to run fluid through. When its pumped underground, the fluid would capture heat emanating from rocks as its run through the loop. When it returns to the surface, the hot fluid would produce steam that spins a turbine and generates zero-carbon electricity. The fluid is then recycled to repeat the process.

It uses traditional technology, turbines, generators, heat exchangers. Weve been using this stuff for years in our industry, so were good there, said Benny Ethridge, CPS executive vice president in charge of power generation. Closed-loop geothermal opens up areas that havent historically been open to geothermal extraction.

However, geothermal is still too pricey and novel to rely on, Garza said.

CPS expects to sign contracts in the next few months to purchase 900 megawatts of solar power. Geothermal energy, Garza said, currently costs about three times the price CPS pays for solar power.

If I can get (the price) down to two times, were starting to get in the money, and the only way I can do that is test it, said Garza, adding that CPS has received several proposals from geothermal companies.

I think its going to play a role in our transition from where we are today to where the community wants us to be in the future, he said.

diego.mendoza-moyers@express-news.net
NEW YORK (AP)  A Colombian man was brought to New York to face charges Friday that he tried to broker deals for weapons with known drug dealing terrorist groups and hoped to murder a U.S. agent as a trophy.

Carlos Fernando Melo, 58, was expected to appear in Manhattan federal court to face narco-terrorism, firearms and drug trafficking charges. It was not immediately clear who will represent him in court.
NEW DELHI (AP)  An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Gigantic landfills in India's capital New Delhi have caught fire in recent weeks. Schools in eastern Indian state Odisha have been shut for a week and in neighboring West Bengal, schools are stocking up on oral rehydration salts for kids. On Tuesday, Rajgarh, a city of over 1.5 million people in central India, was the country's hottest, with daytime temperatures peaking at 46.5 degrees Celsius (114.08 Fahrenheit). Temperatures breached the 45 C (113 F) mark in nine other cities.

But it was the heat in March  the hottest in India since records first started being kept in 1901  that stunted crops. Wheat is very sensitive to heat, especially during the final stage when its kernels mature and ripen. Indian farmers time their planting so that this stage coincides with India's usually cooler spring.

Climate change has made Indias heat wave hotter, said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the Imperial College of London. She said that before human activities increased global temperatures, heat waves like this year's would have struck India once in about half a century.

But now it is a much more common event  we can expect such high temperatures about once in every four years," she said.

India's vulnerability to extreme heat increased 15% from 1990 to 2019, according to a 2021 report by the medical journal The Lancet. It is among the top five countries where vulnerable people, like the old and the poor, have the highest exposure to heat. It and Brazil have the the highest heat-related mortality in the world, the report said.

Farm workers like Baldev Singh are among the most vulnerable. Singh, a farmer in Sangrur in northern Indias Punjab state, watched his crop shrivel before his eyes as an usually cool spring quickly shifted to unrelenting heat. He lost about a fifth of his yield. Others lost more.

I am afraid the worst is yet to come, Singh said.

Punjab is India's grain bowl" and the government has encouraged cultivation of wheat and rice here since the 1960s. It is typically the biggest contributor to India's national reserves and the government had hoped to buy about a third of this year's stock from the region. But government assessments predict lower yields this year, and Devinder Sharma, an agriculture policy expert in northern Chandigarh city. said he expected to get 25% less.

The story is the same in other major wheat-producing states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Overall, India purchased over 43 million metric tons (47.3 million U.S. tons) of wheat in 2021. Sharma estimates it will instead get 20% to nearly 50% less.

Even though it is the world's second-largest producer of wheat, India exports only a small fraction of its harvest. It had been looking to capitalize on the global disruption to wheat supplies from Russia's war in Ukraine and find new markets for its wheat in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

That looks uncertain given the tricky balance the government must maintain between demand and supply. It needs about 25 million tons (27.5 million U.S. tons) of wheat for the vast food welfare program that usually feeds more than 80 million people.

Before the pandemic, India had vast stocks that far exceeded its domestic needs  a buffer against the risk of famine.

Those reserves have been strained, Sharma said, by distribution of free grain during the pandemic to about 800 million people  vulnerable groups like migrant workers. The program was extended until September but it's unclear if it will continue beyond then.

We are no longer with that kind of a surplus . . . with exports now picking up, there would be a lot of pressure on the domestic availability of wheat, Sharma said.

India's federal agriculture and commerce ministries didn't respond to questions sent to them via email.

Beyond India, other countries are also grappling with poor harvests that hinder their ability to help offset the potential shortfall of supplies from Russia and Ukraine, normally the world's largest and fifth-largest exporters of wheat.

China's agriculture minister, Tang Renjian, said last month that the winter wheat harvest was likely to be poor, hindered by flooding and by delays in planting.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The river was moving swiftly the morning Spc. Bishop Evans jumped into the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass to save two migrants who appeared to be drowning.

The risk was great. In the past month, at least 23 migrants had drowned in those waters. And rescues by guard members patrolling the river were a regular occurrence.

The 22-year-old part-time field artilleryman from Arlington was found dead Monday  ending a four-day search for his body, which had been washed away by the river. He was one of 10,000 National Guard members deployed to Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbotts prized mission to secure the Texas-Mexico border.

Evans jumped into the raging waters without a flotation device, the Texas Military Department said in an email in response to inquiries from the Texas Tribune and Military Times.

He took that risk because, like many other troops on the mission, he wasnt outfitted with the potentially lifesaving equipment.

The Texas Military Department ordered rescue ropes and hundreds of ring buoys in February to increase safety for water rescues. But the equipment had not yet arrived to most guard members at the time Evans died.

The incident is still under investigation, however we do not believe SPC Evans had a flotation device at the time of death, the Texas Military Departments public affairs staff said in an unattributed statement. We only received about 25 percent of the requested equipment due to delays from the vendor and global supply chain issues.

The public affairs staff also said it made the request for equipment in February as part of its plan to address gaps in equipment and safety gear.

Its not clear why the equipment wasnt requested until February, 11 months after the mission began in March 2021. For months, soldiers have decried a lack of equipment on Abbotts hastily deployed border mission, but the absence of water equipment is the first time that lack of supplies may have contributed to a soldiers death.

Two guard officials specializing in logistics told the Tribune and Military Times that the Texas Military Department sat on a request for flotation devices for three weeks before it was approved. The delays, those officials said, were avoidable and highlight the dysfunction plaguing the unprecedented $2 billion-per-year state mission.

The logistics officials, and eight other troops posted along the Rio Grande, spoke to the Tribune and Military Times under condition of anonymity after they were explicitly warned by military leaders against talking to the media.

The delays are new evidence of TMDs failure to ensure its troops have the equipment they need. The Tribune and Military Times previously investigated how haste and planning failures overwhelmed the departments bureaucracy and led to significant hardship for the thousands of troops involuntarily mobilized.

Lawmakers are now calling for investigations into the lack of equipment.

For any member of our Guard or DPS (Department of Public Safety) who are sent to the border along the river to not be assigned basic, inexpensive safety equipment is unforgivable, said state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, who said he has requested information on whether service members have access to water equipment. We believe the death of Bishop Evans was avoidable if he had been provided with the proper equipment.

A known danger

Spc. Hunter Schuler, a soldier on the border mission who represents a group of newly unionized soldiers, said Evans death was tragic, preventable and unnecessary. He criticized the military department for not providing service members with water equipment.

It is astonishing that with thousands of soldiers stationed along a river that has claimed countless lives over the years, we have yet (to) be issued flotation devices of any kind, Schuler said.

The Texas Military Department said in its statement that service members are strongly advised not to enter the water at any time for their safety and that they are not given instructions or training on water rescue due to that restrictive posture.

In contrast, Border Patrol agents patrolling those areas are equipped with flotation devices and rescue ropes and are required to carry them while on assignment, said Jenn Budd, a former U.S. Border Patrol agent.

Border Patrol agents have been busy rescuing migrants for the last month from the stretch of river where Evans died. A spokesperson for the agency told the Washington Post that agents rescued a dozen people in the same area two weeks ago after they were swept off their feet by a swift current.

A Border Patrol union representative told the newspaper that 11 bodies had been found this month on the U.S. side of the river along a stretch of the Rio Grande that extends west to Del Rio. At least 12 were found on the Mexican side.

Texas Guard officials have been aware of the danger for months, too. Six troops told the Tribune and Military Times that water rescues have been occurring despite guidance to avoid the water.

A source familiar with incident reporting said Operation Lone Star troops have been performing about 15 to 20 water rescues each month.

Officials from the two main state agencies participating in the mission said they do not keep track of water rescues.

Department of Public Safety spokesperson Ericka Miller said water rescues are not information the department tracks. The Texas Guard said it also does not track water rescues because they are not part of our security operations.

The military department acknowledged that service members were acting heroically to conduct water rescues, despite instructions to stay out of the water.

When someone puts on a uniform, they do it because they want to help and serve the community and country, the department said in its written response. We are proud of the hard work and dedication of our service members, not knowing the dangers they may come across that day.

The statement also said Evans will be granted a posthumous award.

SPC (Evans) sacrificed himself, so that somebody else may live, the statement said. That kind of selfless service act represents the soldiers and airmen we have serving in our force.

A logistics logjam

The junior of the two logistics sources told the Tribune and Military Times that the border task force had requested the safety equipment in February with a one-week delivery time frame.

The senior logistics official also disagreed with the Texas Military Departments reasoning that supply chain issues held up the delivery.

Trying to get anything purchased in a timely manner is almost impossible, the official lamented, due to administrative bottlenecks and friction points along the way. In the case of the late February purchase order, the Office of State Administration took three weeks to process it despite the one-week delivery request.

Early on in the mission, the senior logistics official said, units on the border were able to meet critical equipment needs locally by using government credit cards. But that practice ended due to the agencys desire for greater oversight on purchasing, the source explained.

As a result, the state receives hundreds of purchase requests per day from the border mission, according to the senior official. And all of them must be processed by the Office of State Administration, a small cadre of TMD state employees who have also faced recent criticism for their struggles with the missions payroll.

The Texas Military Department is also struggling through a financial crunch. Operation Lone Stars cost has ballooned to more than $2 billion a year, well beyond the $412 million the state Legislature budgeted for the mission. This month, the departments newly appointed leader, Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer, said TMD would need another $531 million to fully fund the mission beyond May 1.

That request came after state officials had already transferred $480 million to the military department from other agencies in January to keep Operation Lone Star going.

The departments public affairs staff said TMDs budget woes had not affected how it prioritizes lifesaving water equipment  which was ultimately approved for purchase.

Little training, virtually no equipment

While the senior official cautioned that theres a lot of factors that lead to tragedies like Evans death, such as his local leadership and job description, they said that part of the responsibility lies with senior leadership to determine what equipment troops need to have  and then to obtain it and station it where troops can use it efficiently and effectively.

Six troops who watch the river told the Tribune and Military Times they had not been provided flotation devices. Its unclear how widespread the equipment shortage is  though the troops represent units spanning from Del Rio to Brownsville, in addition to various posts in between.

Only one service member, a soldier in the Laredo area, reported having any water rescue equipment at all. A unit there received rescue throw ropes in early April after its soldiers witnessed four migrant drownings in February and prevented a fifth, the soldier said.

One airman who spoke to the Tribune and Military Times said early in the mission officials told troops not to rescue people  including children  from the river, because it could be a distraction so smugglers could move drugs across other parts of the river.

An officer who leads around 40 soldiers along a part of the river with deep water explained that its just not safe for us to authorize (water rescues) without additional training and equipment, especially considering the hefty gear troops wear on duty. I understand the instinct to save lives  (but) we are not comfortable with that level of risk.

Some units received renewed orders to stay out of the river after Evans disappeared. Others were told they could only enter with flotation devices.

Schuler, the union representative, also criticized the department for not soliciting soldier feedback in the months since its last survey of the troops, which he said produced scathing criticisms of the mission.

Our hope is that the new TMD command staff learns from this tragedy, listens to soldiers, and works cooperatively with leaders on the ground towards safer working and living environments, he said in a text message. With the growing number of service member fatalities on Operation Lone Star, what more will it take for the Governor to end this political charade? It is long past time to let the thousands of involuntarily activated guardsmen and women return home to their families - before its too late for yet another soldier.

This article is co-published and co-reported with Military Times, an independent news organization reporting on issues important to the U.S. military. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Les memembres du gouvernement omt pris note que les autorites vont maintenir le Consumer Protection (Maximum Price of Essential Goods) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 sur sept priduits essientiels jusquau 30 juin 2020, que le prix maison va rester a Rs 2.60 mais que les boulangers auront un prix de Rs 108.85 le sac de 25 kilos de farine, des retombees de la visite officielle du Premier Ministre en Inde, de linroduction du Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2019 (Amendment) Bill au Parlment, de la preparation du Private Recruitment Agencies Bill en remplacment du Recruitment of Workers Act entre autres.

1. Cabinet has agreed to maintain the present provisions of the Consumer Protection (Maximum Price of Essential Goods) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 concerning the seven essential product categories namely canned fish, canned tomatoes, cheese, edible oil, margarine, milk powder and pulses, and to provide an additional subsidy of Rs150 million to allow consumers to purchase these products up to 30 June 2022 at the same prices fixed under the Consumer Protection (Maximum Price of Essential Goods) (Amendment) Regulations 2021.

2. Cabinet has agreed to grant additional subsidy to bakeries purchasing flour in 25 kg bags directly from the State Trading Corporation, in order to meet the double objective of maintaining the price of scheduled bread pain maison at Rs2.60 while not penalising bakeries for increases in their production costs. Consequently, the bakeries would purchase a 25 kg bag of flour at Rs108.85 instead of Rs155.50.

3. Cabinet has taken note of the outcome of the mission of the Prime Minister to India from 18 to 23 April 2022. He was invited by Shri N. Modi, Prime Minister of the Republic of India to the Ground-Breaking Ceremony for the WHO-Global Centre for Traditional Medicine and the Inaugural Session of the Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit.

The laying of the foundation stone of the WHO-Global Centre for Traditional Medicine was held on 19 April 2022 in Jamnagar, Gujarat, by Prime Minister Modi in the presence of Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, and the Prime Minister of Mauritius. The aim of the Centre is to bring together the use of modern technology and traditional medicine practices and therapy, build a solid evidence base for policies and standards on traditional medicines practices and products and help countries integrate same into their existing health systems. The Prime Minister of Mauritius intervened during the event and thanked both the Government of India and WHO for such a laudable initiative which would be the very first and only global outpost of the WHO traditional medicine.

The Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit which was also inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi was held on 20 April 2022, in Gandhinagar, Gujarat in the presence of the Director-General of WHO and the Prime Minister of Mauritius. One of the main objectives of the Summit was to attract investments in order to make India the preferred destination as a Global AYUSH Healing Centre in the world. The Prime Minister of Mauritius intervened on that occasion and emphasised that the knowledge of traditional medicine, treatments and practices should not only be respected but should be preserved and promoted.

During his visit, the Prime Minister had a bilateral meeting with Shri N. Modi and they discussed ongoing and future development projects as well as partnership and cooperation in various sectors. He thanked the latter for the numerous infrastructural projects being financed by the Indian Government.

The Prime Minister also had a meeting with the Director-General of the WHO and he seized the opportunity to thank the WHO for its valuable assistance provided to Mauritius in terms of supply of vaccines in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. He informed the Director General of the decision of Government to set up a pharmaceutical industry and a vaccination industry in Mauritius in order to ensure security of vaccines and medicines to the country and eventually the region.

The Prime Minister met HE Dr S. Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India in New Delhi and briefed him on the possible avenues of further cooperation between the two countries. He, inter alia, discussed the possibility of the Indian authorities providing training to the staff of the Forensic Science Laboratory in order to improve service delivery, particularly in the field of forensic ballistics and explosive services.

The Prime Minister had the opportunity to meet HE Bhupendrabhai Rajnikant Patel, the Chief Minister of Gujarat and Hon Smt Anandiben Mafatbhai Patel, the Governor of the State of Uttar Pradesh, as well as HE Shri Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of the State of Uttar Pradesh. He briefed them on the various projects that the Government of India was currently financing as well as future projects.

4. Cabinet has agreed to the introduction of the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2019 (Amendment) Bill into the National Assembly. The Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2019 would soon be proclaimed but before same is done, there is need to amend the said Act with a view to curing some cross references with regard to Schedules in the Act.

5. Cabinet has agreed to drafting instructions being conveyed to the Attorney Generals Office to prepare the Private Recruitment Agencies Bill that would repeal and replace the existing Recruitment of Workers Act. The legislation would regulate the licensing and activities of private recruitment agencies in Mauritius. The Bill would incorporate ethical recruitment standards in line with the recommendations of the International Labour Organization and the International Organization for Migration. It would also serve to increase the powers of the Licensing Authority to include suspension of a licence and increase the liabilities of private recruiting agents towards workers they place or persons to be placed.

6. Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the National Cooperative College and the Cooperative Institute of Malaysia. The main objective of the Memorandum of Understanding is to further enhance the networking, strengthen the relationship and consolidate the synergetic efforts between the two institutions. It would also create opportunities to develop programmes for cooperation in training, education and other knowledge-based activities for mutual benefit.

7. Cabinet has agreed to the reopening of the southern part of the Pointe Jerome embarkation point and two delimited areas inside and outside the lagoon at Pointe dEsny as well as maintaining restriction over a radius of 300 metres from the wreck site off lagoon at Pointe dEsny in the aftermath of the MV Wakashio wreck removal operations.

8. Cabinet has agreed to the Road Development Authority implementing some temporary measures

to relieve traffic congestion at the entrance of Vallee des Pretres, namely at the Abdool Razack

Mohamed/Bernardin de St Pierre Junction. As a short term solution, the following measures have been proposed:

(a) signalisation of existing junctions along the B32 Road;

(b) provision of a right turning lane for vehicles heading towards Vallee des Pretres at the B32/B143 junction; and

(c) construction of a dedicated slip lane which would connect B143 to the

Military Road/Abdool Razack Mohamed Streets junction, for traffic coming

from Vallee des Pretres, heading towards Plaine Verte.

9. Cabinet has taken note of the status regarding the implementation of the Premium Visa regime as at 31 March 2022. A total of 2,297 applications for Premium Visa has been received from December 2020 to 31 March 2022. Out of these applications, 239 have not been entertained for not fulfilling the required criteria, 382 applications were incomplete and awaiting missing documents, and 46 applications were set aside as applicants were no longer interested in the Premium Visa scheme.

10. Cabinet has taken note of the status of capital building projects implemented by different Ministries/Departments and which are being administered by the cluster teams of the Technical Sections of the Ministry of National Infrastructure and Community Development.

As at date, some 271 projects have been registered for implementation in the Project Management Information System (PROMIS) which has been developed in-house, by the Ministry of National Infrastructure and Community Development for effective monitoring of the capital building projects. PROMIS is an interactive intelligent information system which allows the technical officers of that Ministry to administer and update progress on projects on a daily basis. The system is also accessible online to authorised officers, including focal points of Ministries/Departments who have been trained on the system, to view the status of their respective projects and also input relevant information as regards actions taken at their level.

11. Cabinet has taken note of the constitution of the National Tripartite Council with the Minister of Labour, Human Resource Development and Training, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Protection as Chairperson. The main functions of the Council are to make recommendations to Government on the following issues:

(a) labour, industrial relations and health and safety;

(b) social and economic policies in the light of changes in the world of work;

(c) employment policies and job creation;

(d) skills training and upgrading for greater employability; and

(e) productivity, competitiveness and efficiency at the workplace.

12. Cabinet has taken note of progress achieved so far regarding the implementation of the Sandbox Framework, introduced in January 2021 to facilitate the development of proof of concepts and pilot exercises to test the possibilities of innovative technologies in Ministries/ Departments.

The Ministry of Public Service, Administrative and Institutional Reforms has so far received 28 projects for consideration from 11 Ministries/Departments and seven projects from a private company geared towards improving quality of service of different Ministries/Departments under the Sandbox Framework. These projects have been assessed by a Technical Committee and 13 of them have been retained for implementation in view of their transformative impact on service delivery.

13. Cabinet has taken note that the Mauritius Revenue Authority would host the following three World Customs Organisation (WCO) Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) meetings in May 2022:

(a) Regional Training Centre Heads Meeting from 5 to 6 May 2022;

(b) 35th Regional Steering Group Meeting from 9 to 11 May 2022; and

(c) 28th Governing Council Meeting from 12 to 13 May 2022.

High level officials from the 24 Member Countries of ESA were expected to participate in the meetings which would be in hybrid format in compliance with the sanitary protocol. The 28th Governing Council Meeting would be attended by, amongst others, Dr K. Mikuriya, Secretary General of the WCO, the Vice-Chair of WCO ESA and Commissioner Generals from ten Member States.

14. Cabinet has taken note of the various observations made by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights following the review of the 9th and 10th Combined Periodic Report of the Republic of Mauritius on the implementation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights held virtually on 07 August 2020. These observations were adopted at the 70th Ordinary Session of the Commission held in The Gambia, from 23 February to 09 March 2022.

The State of Mauritius is expected to report on each of the recommendations made in its 11th Periodic Report, which is due in March 2024. The National Mechanism for Reporting and Follow Up would in the near future ventilate the observations made and ensure that remedial actions as appropriate are effected and policy decisions initiated, if warranted. Some of the recommendations made, have already been implemented.

15. Cabinet has taken note of the activities being organised by the Mauritius Fire and Rescue Service to mark the International Firefighters Day on 04 May 2022 at the Coromandel Fire Station. The programme would start with the traditional Sound Off which reflects the commitment and sacrifices of firefighters worldwide in a truly poignant manner for emergency service workers. It would comprise a wreath laying ceremony at the memorial stele of firefighters and blood donation at the Coromandel Fire Station.

A Fire Safety and Emergency Preparedness Campaign for the year 2022 would also be launched on that day. The aim of the campaign is to ensure reduction in risk to the community, through a wide range of appropriate interventions and education programmes in areas such as Fire Safety, Disaster Preparedness, Road Safety, Rope Rescue/Basic Life Support Skills and Hazmat safety.

16. Cabinet has agreed to the Senior Citizens Council, which is an approved service, being governed by the Pay Research Bureau.

17. Cabinet has taken note of the activities that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare would organise in collaboration with the National Childrens Council, in the context of the Day of the African Child 2022 starting as from 01 June 2022 culminating with a Forum Debate on 16 June 2022. The African Union and its Member States commemorate the Day of the African Child on 16 June every year. The theme chosen by the African Union for this year is Eliminating Harmful Practices Affecting Children: Progress on Policy and Practice since 2013. A local theme has been retained.

A Forum Debate on the role and importance of social media among the young generation would be held on 16 June 2022 at the National Women Development Centre, Phoenix. The target audience would be the youth from upper primary and secondary schools. The Ministry would also launch a 16 Days 16 Rights special campaign which would be based on Eliminating Harmful Practices Affecting Children where the young generation would be sensitised on their rights for 16 days, one right per day and also their corresponding duties, responsibilities and obligations.

18. Cabinet has taken note of the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic prevailing across the world. Some 511.8 million cases have been reported globally, of which 465.5 million persons have been successfully treated.

With regard to Mauritius, as at 27 April 2022, there were 293 active cases of COVID-19, out of which 15 were admitted at the New ENT Hospital. Over the period 21 to 27 April 2022, three deaths were attributed to COVID-19.

Cabinet has also taken note of progress in the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, including the administration of the booster dose in the Republic of Mauritius.

19. Cabinet has taken note of the outcome of the second edition of the National Innovation Challenge organised by the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council. One of the goals of the competition was to inculcate and nurture an innovation culture amongst the Mauritian population whilst finding practical innovative solutions to common life problems, thereby paving the way for a dynamic, proactive and progressive society.

The three winners of the competition were rewarded, namely Ms Haadeeyah Oozeerally (first prize), the Food and Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (second prize) and Mr Bhooneswar Nunkoo (third prize).

20. Cabinet has taken note of the reconstitution of the following Council/Committees under the Clinical Trials Act:

(a) Clinical Research Regulatory Council with Dr Marie France Lan Man Hiew Chan Sun, as Chairperson;

(b) Ethics Committee with Mr Dinay Reetoo, as Chairperson; and

(c) Pharmacovigilance Committee with Dr Teewaree Roupesh Jaggeshar, as

Chairperson.

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A foundation created by beer magnate Carlos Alvarez, owner of the Shiner beer brand and the man who brought Corona Extra to the U.S., has donated $1 million toward the long-planned makeover of Alamo Plaza.

Alvarezs Impetus Foundation made the gift to the Remember the Alamo Foundation. It was announced Thursday by the Alamo Trust, the nonprofit that operates the historic site under contract with the state of Texas.

In recognition of the donation, a second-floor terrace in a new Alamo exhibition hall and collections building will be named the Alvarez Family Terrace. The 24,000-square-foot building is scheduled to open later this year. It will hold a collection of Alamo artifacts donated by rock star Phil Collins.

On ExpressNews.com: Alamo Cenotaph to be opened up and examined  but not moved

The terrace will be available for special events and gatherings to raise funds for the preservation of the Alamo, the trust said.

My family and I are proud to be a part of this effort to preserve and enhance the historic Alamo site so that future visitors ... have an appreciation for the role these treasures played in the history of San Antonio and the State of Texas, Alvarez said in a statement.

Alvarez is CEO and owner of Gambrinus Co., a leading craft brewer that operates the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, where Shiner beer is brewed.

Alvarez grew up in Acapulco, Mexico, and worked in sales for Grupo Modelo in Mexico City. By the late 1970s, he was the companys export director. He persuaded Modelo to sell its Corona Extra brand in the United States beginning in 1981. Within four years, sales had reached 5 million cases. Corona is now Americas top imported beer.

On ExpressNews.com: Phil Collins collection to have a home at Alamo

Alvarez and his family moved to San Antonio in 1986. He acquired the Spoetzl Brewer in 1989. Gambrinus also owns the Trumer Brewery in Berkeley, Calif.

The $400 million, public-private makeover of the Alamo mission and battle site is being overseen by the city, the Texas General Land Office and the Alamo Trust.
An Austin businesswoman on trial in an alleged murder-for-hire plot testified that the confidential informant who helped San Antonio police investigate her had been shaking her down for cash for a year before her 2017 arrest and threatened to kill her if she didnt pay.

The informant and her alleged target were part of the same shadowy group that kept her terrorized, she said.

Angelica Navarro De-Paz was 40 when she was arrested and charged with solicitation of capital murder with remuneration. Video captured her paying an undercover San Antonio police detective $850, a down payment on a $1,700 fee they negotiated to have the sister of her boyfriend killed in 2017.

Testifying in her own defense Thursday through an interpreter, Navarro-DePaz told a jury that the informant police worked with had demanded protection money for a bar she had opened on the far West Side in 2016.

The woman, who she said was named Henrietta Martinez, also known as Katy, began intimidating her after they met, asking for money and threatening to kill her and her family if she did not start paying her $300 a month.

Navarro-DePaz told the court that when she refused,Katy told her that she and other associates ran the territory her bar was in. When she did not pay, the bar was vandalized, Navarro-DePaz said.

I was very afraid, she said through an interpreter. They would show me how they would hurt me and take me to places and show me what they would do.

In an exchange outside the hearing of the jury, the defense acknowledged to state District Judge Melisa Skinner that Katy is now deceased.

Navarro-DePaz, a naturalized citizen who owns rental properties and businesses in Austin and San Antonio, said Katy told her they knew where she lived and showed her pictures of her house and children.

Katy was in the surveillance video and still photographs police took during two meetings prior to Navarro-DePazs arrest that were shown to the jury on Tuesday as testimony began in the trial.

The defense tied Katy to Anayeli Mendoza Flores, who Navarro-DePaz is accused of wanting to have killed, as possibly working together to intimidate her into saying the things that led to her arrest.

The jury was not allowed to listen to much of Thursdays testimony. Prosecutors repeatedly objected to the the defense effort to tie the women together based on the incidents Navarro-DePaz said occurred.

The Docket: Local crime and courtroom news, delivered to your inbox weekly

Navarro-DePaz described a list of incidents she blamed on the women and unnamed associates working with them: She was kidnapped and burned; two of her children were taken, assaulted and returned; her businesses, homes and cars were vandalized, and her credit cards stolen.

Each time, she said, she was left with a message that urged her to do as she was told, or else.

Navarro-DePaz testified she did not file police reports on many of the incidents because of the threats.

In January 2017, Navarro-DePaz said Katy and her associates took over the bar, turned it into a private club, and ran it. They continued to make her pay the water and utilities bills and order all the alcohol for the bar, but she could not go inside, she said.

When asked how long she ended up paying for a bar she no longer ran, she replied: Until they put me in jail in August 2017.

Testimony is being heard in the 437th District Court. If convicted, Navarro-DePaz faces up to life in prison.

ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863
An assistant principal at a West Side charter school is accused of using unnecessary physical force, including pushing and punching, against an unruly 5-year-old boy who had hit her.

Tara Coleman Hunter, 53, was arrested Thursday and charged with injury to a child, a third-degree felony.

The incident occurred April 22, when the boy was sent to Hunters office because he was misbehaving in his pre-K class at IDEA Amber Creek, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said.

Salazar said the boy struck Hunter and that she responded by pushing the boy into a black, metal filing cabinet, causing a bump on his head. Hunter also punched the boy in his head, investigators said.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio man accused of whipping 3-year-old with phone cord because she urinated on bed

On the day of the incident, a school nurse documented the knot on boys head, which changed color throughout the day, Salazar said.

The boys mother did not immediately contact law enforcement because the school told her that it would provide documentation of what occurred, an affidavit supporting Hunters arrest states.

On Wednesday, the woman contacted the Bexar County Sheriffs Office because she felt the school wasnt being forthcoming, and the school had identified her son as the perpetrator, the affidavit states. She also submitted a video recording of his outcry that she made on the day of the incident, as well as photos of his injury.

Courtesy Bexar County Sheriff's Office

The Express-News reached out to IDEA and the boys mother, but neither responded as of Friday afternoon.

A forensic investigator with Child Safe later interviewed the boy, who said that he punched Hunter before she pushed him into the filing cabinet and hit him. His account of the incident remained consistent after interviews Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Sheriffs Office.

An investigator who visited the school and the office noted the black filing cabinet in Hunters office. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services was notified and is investigating the incident, the affidavit states.

Investigators also asked for documentation of the incident and received a statement written by Hunter. It notes that the boy was directed to go to her office because he was running around the classroom and refused to comply with instructions. Hunter wrote that when she opened the classroom door, the boy ran over and hit her in the left side.

On ExpressNews.com: Extreme abuse and torture: Mother, boyfriend accused of beating 5-year-old girl in weeks leading to her death

She said the boy was escorted to her office and that the boys parents were contacted and set to meet on Monday, according to the affidavit. Her report made no mention of the boys allegations against her.

Later on the day that investigators visited the school, Hunter called the Sheriffs Office to report that she was a victim of assault by the child.

Although Salazar acknowledged the boys actions Thursday, he said his age and Hunters position of authority over the boy called for an immediate arrest.

Hes a 5-year-old, the sheriff said. Educators and school administrators are supposed to be more capable of handling that and maintaining their composure in a situation like that, dealing with it appropriately.

IDEA Public Schools has 75,000 students in 137 schools across Texas, Louisiana and Florida and claims to be the fastest-growing network of pre-K-12 charter schools in the country. Enrollment last fall at its 15 San Antonio-area campuses was about 17,600.

jbeltran@express-news.net
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Texas A&M University-San Antonio officials announced the selection of Mohamed Abdelrahman as their new provost and vice president for academic affairs, effective July 18.

Abdelrahman has served in that capacity at Colorado State University Pueblo since June 2018, and now will return to the Texas A&M University System, where he worked between 2010 and 2016.

As a faculty member and administrator, Dr. Abdelrahman has a proven track record of innovative and outcome-driven academic leadership, A&M-San Antonio President Cynthia Teniente-Matson said in the universitys written announcement.

I am certain he will foster and support our continued academic excellence at A&M-San Antonio and partner with faculty and staff to help ensure our strategic vision and guide our growth for the future.

During his tenure at CSU Pueblo, Abdelrahman received more than $22 million in funding from federal, state, and private sources aimed at enhancing academic quality, closing equity gaps and ensuring the success of underrepresented minorities and low-income students, the release stated.

It quoted him saying he was thrilled and humbled to have the opportunity to help shape the San Antonio schools future.

Higher education stands at a pivotal point. Texas A&M University-San Antonio, a young and aspiring institution in a remarkable city with history, diversity, culture, and plenty of opportunities, is poised for a significant and impactful future as an institution, Abdelrahman said.

Prior to moving to Colorado, Abdelrahman served as vice president for academic affairs at Arkansas Tech University from 2016 to 2018, at Texas A&M University- Kingsville as associate vice president for research, dean of graduate studies and associate dean of engineering from 2010 to 2016, and taught at Tennessee Technological University from 1997 to 2010.

As provost, Abdelrahman will work with faculty to create new academic programs and courses, strengthen current offerings, and coordinate the universitys efforts to meet accreditation standards.

University officials announced the launch of a national search to replace former Provost Mike OBrien in September. At the time, OBrien was slated to become the universitys first senior vice president for research and health science, but in December he resigned following his disclosure of a $4 million deficit that he blamed on a comedy of errors.

At the time the search was launched, Teniente-Matson cited the need to strengthen the universitys sustained focus on research and academic expansion.

danya.perez@express-news.net | @DanyaPH
Bexar County leaders believed that their communities were left behind when San Antonio ramped up its campaign to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19 last year.

So county officials took their own steps to encourage vaccination. They focused on suburban cities and unincorporated areas they thought had been overlooked by the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, a city agency that has an agreement with the county to serve county residents, too.

We are engaging in this billboard campaign because Metro Health, as the de facto agency for the county, was not giving us appropriate resources, then-Commissioner Trish DeBerry said at an August meeting of Commissioners Court.

Less than a year later, Bexar County announced that it was forming a public health division under the county-owned University Health system.

Top city officials were caught unaware.

City Manager Erik Walsh said he was surprised by the move, especially given how closely weve worked with the county over the last two years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, San Antonio and Bexar County leaders worked together many times. But the announcement highlighted a breakdown in communication between the two governments around public health.

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Some members of City Council are wondering what the new county public health division will do that Metro Health cant.

Im obviously concerned about it because I dont want to see two different agencies overlapping and wasting taxpayer money, said Councilman Clayton Perry, who represents District 10 on the Northeast Side.

Bexar County is spending $60 million of its federal pandemic relief funds on the public health division, calling it a once-in-a-generation opportunity. The agency is in the planning stages, but county leaders say it will complement the work of Metro Health, not duplicate it.

For more than a decade, the city has had a so-called interlocal agreement with University Health, the public hospital district of Bexar County, for Metro Health to provide services to Bexar County residents who live outside city limits.

University Health has paid the city about $190,000 a year for those services. They include dental health, sexually transmitted disease control, tuberculosis control, laboratory services, immunization and epidemiological surveillance.

The two sides renewed the agreement annually. But this year, it was allowed to expire April 1  shortly after the county went public with its plans for the new public health department.

Walsh said the city would continue to offer public health services to residents of unincorporated areas while city officials try to negotiate a new agreement with the county.

County spokeswoman Monica Ramos said Bexar County has already taken over many of the services provided for in the agreement.

Still, Dr. Bryan Alsip, chief medical officer and executive vice president of University Health, said he doesnt expect the agreement to disappear, although adjustments may be necessary.

I still believe theres a need for a version of that agreement, he said.

Before the countys announcement, city and county officials had been talking about updating the agreement to reflect Bexar Countys rapid population growth.

The city of San Antonio has more than 1.4 million residents. Bexar County has slightly more than 2 million, and nearly 600,000 of them  29 percent  live outside the city limits.

The countys population has been growing faster than the citys, according to the Census Bureau. Bexar County added nearly 300,000 residents from 2010 to 2020, a 17 percent jump. Over the same period, the citys population grew by 107,000, or 8 percent.

In the next 10, 20 years, I wouldnt be surprised to see a million people living outside the city of San Antonio, County Judge Nelson Wolff said. Weve got to prepare ourselves for that.

Data on Metro Health services shows they are concentrated within city limits. For example, of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by the agency, just 6.1 percent went to residents living outside city limits, according to a city spokesperson. Of patients treated at Metro Health clinics, around 7 percent are from outside the city.

Ramos said the county is better equipped to reach people in unincorporated communities, many of whom have limited internet access and get their news outside of mainstream San Antonio news outlets.

Their needs are a bit different, and the way they receive information is not necessarily the same, Ramos said. Those things need to be looked at.

Public health plan

University Health stepped up its game in responding to the pandemic, Wolff and Ramos said. Hospitals, nurses and doctors were on the front lines of treating COVID-19 patients, and the county health system set up a mass vaccination center at Wonderland of the Americas mall that administered more than 500,000 doses.

The city operated a drive-thru mass vaccination site at the Alamodome. Medical personnel at that location administered more than 226,700 doses. Both closed in March amid declining demand for vaccinations.

Bexar Countys new public health division will do more than just pandemic response. Initially, its work will focus on the basics: food inspections and licensing, air quality and hazardous waste containment.

In addition, University Health plans to study public health disparities and so-called social determinants of health, such as access to education, adequate wages, healthy food, and safe living and working conditions. To do so, the county will invest in new software to track health data.

Data is also a key part of Metro Healths new strategic plan. But even when they study the same problems, Alsip said, the city and county can collaborate by sharing data.

County Commissioner Tommy Calvert, representing Precinct 4 on Bexar Countys East and Southeast sides, envisions an agency that tackles epidemic diseases, nutrition and food insecurity, in-person outreach and more.

Metro Health focuses on much of the same. The city also employs community health workers who try to build relationships in neighborhoods.

Perry isnt the only council member worried about duplication.

So is District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran, who represents the South Side.

I need more transparency from the county, Viagran said at a council briefing shortly after news broke about the new public health division. They are not being transparent. They are not working with us. Were getting our information from the news.

She later said shes excited about University Healths plans, announced last fall, for a new hospital on the South Side. Its the same location where the countys public health division will be headquartered.

Viagran is frustrated that her constituents often have to travel farther than North Side residents do to get access to medical care. She hopes University Healths plans for the area will help.

Shed also like to see City Council have power to make appointments to the University Health board to facilitate better communication and collaboration.

Wolff said its not unusual for city and county officials not to notify each other about new initiatives. The county didnt get a heads-up when Metro Health announced its new strategic plan this month, Ramos said.

Alsip of University Health said county officials have always collaborated with Metro Health and will continue to do so. He pointed to a joint city-county plan in the early 2000s to improve intergovernmental relationships. He sees the new health division as a way to further align efforts.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg agrees.

Any effort to improve local health outcomes is welcome, Nirenberg said. While we might not know the full details of this new initiative, theres no reason for this  to cause friction.

Public health investments

Local governments across the country have jumped at the chance to expand public health services in light of the pandemic.

Many experts have said COVID-19s initial devastation was in part a result of declining investment in public health. Agencies best positioned to respond often lacked resources.

Now many local leaders say the San Antonio area needs to be better prepared for future pandemics.

Justin Rodriguez, Precinct 2 county commissioner representing the West Side, said the countys effort will fundamentally change the delivery of public health services.

This was not in any way doing something that was counter to or disruptive of what Metro Healths doing in our community, Rodriguez said. It was really just expanding beyond those resources.

Calvert said city officials werent the only ones taken by surprise by the new public health division. Hes heard complaints from business executives and neighborhood association leaders, who said they wanted more information and an opportunity to offer input.

Theres still time for that, Calvert said. He wants to re-examine the powers Commissioners Court handed over to Metro Health in the interlocal agreement.

How will those conversations look in the future?

All the entities will be at the table, Calvert said.

megan.stringer@express-news.net
A man who threatened to blow up his Northwest Side apartment was arrested Thursday after a standoff lasting more than four hours.

Christopher Lombrano, 48, is charged with assault of family, his second such offense, and violation of bond or protective order relating to strangulation, according to the Bexar County Sheriffs Office.

Sheriff Javier Salazar said the incident began when deputies with the fugitive apprehension unit entered Lombranos apartment at about 10 a.m. Thursday in the 3400 block of Magic Drive.

Lombrano retreated to a bathroom where he made threats to blow the place up if deputies came any closer, the sheriff said.

On ExpressNews.com: 18-year-old killed, deputy wounded in far West Side shootout identified

Courtesy of the Bexar County Sheriff's Office Courtesy of the Bexar County Sheriff's Office Christopher Lombrano, 48, was arrested after a more than four-hour standoff with Bexar County deputies, in which Lombrano threatened to blow up the apartment whose bathroom he had retreated to. (Courtesy Of The Bexar County Sheriff's Office) Christopher Lombrano, 48, was arrested after a more than four-hour standoff with Bexar County deputies, in which Lombrano threatened to blow up the apartment whose bathroom he had retreated to. (Courtesy Of The Bexar County Sheriff's Office)

The deputies backed off and evacuated the surrounding apartments.

For two hours during the ensuing standoff, negotiators tried to convince Lombrano to surrender peacefully.

A negotiator heard Lombrano say he wanted cookies, Salazar said, so deputies delivered some to his apartment from a nearby convenience store.

Salazar said it was a ploy by Lombrano, however, as negotiations continued on and off.

It became pretty apparent negotiations werent going anywhere, Salazar said. This suspect was just being really hard to deal with.

On ExpressNews.com: West Side standoff ends peacefully with arrest of 22-year-old

Deputies sent tear gas into the restroom, and Lombrano surrendered soon after.

Deputies found only a few knives inside Lombranos apartment.

Salazar said Lombrano could face additional charges as a result of the standoff.

jbeltran@express-news.net | @JBfromSA
Marjorie Taylor Greene had something important to say to her supporters.

Twitter is stupid, the freshman Republican congresswoman from Georgia declared in an April 10 statement.

The venue for Greenes statement? Twitter.

The right-wing master of moral panic tweeted that Twitter, as a social-media platform, is so devoid of relevance that hardly anyone raises their hand at my town halls when I ask how many people have a Twitter account.

Greene concluded, People who think this platform is important need to get a life.

Greenes advice is well-founded. And Im hopeful she manages to get a life very soon.

After all, in the 2 weeks since she issued her Twitter denunciation, Greene has used the stupid platform to put out more than 100 tweets.

At the core of Greenes hatred for a platform she habitually uses is the idea that Twitter is a killer of freedom of speech, a blatantly biased digital forum that suppresses conservative thought and amplifies voices from the political left.

Like many of her right-wing allies, Greene has luxuriated this week in the news that tech billionaire Elon Musk, a persistent critic of Twitters content moderation policies, is in the process of buying the platform for $44 billion.

Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, Musk said in a Monday statement. And Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.

I cant disagree with Musk on that. Spirited social-media debates about why Amber Heard left a revenge poop on Johnny Depps side of the bed are vital to the future of humanity and essential for the health of a functioning democracy.

But Im always a little thrown by the way people in this country discuss the concepts of free speech and censorship.

The right to free speech, as expressed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, is a protection against government crackdowns on the right of private citizens to express their opinions.

It does not provide us the right to demand that private businesses, such as Twitter, give us unfettered access to a platform.

If youre a musician, you have a right to express your political beliefs in a song. But your expression of free speech does not obligate radio stations to play your song.

As foolish as it was for Clear Channel, in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to send its radio stations a list of songs that could be offensive to listeners (a list that included Jackson Brownes Doctor, My Eyes and Wings Live and Let Die), it didnt qualify as censorship. It was a business programming move.

Its also important to remember that free speech has always come with guard rails. You cant go into an airport and start screaming out that you want to shoot everyone. You also cant defame people without facing the threat of legal retaliation.

The funny thing about the digital martyrdom of Greene and her political allies is how frequently they all use a platform from which they claim to be shut out.

Greene has more than 700,000 Twitter followers who can bask in the wit of tweets in which she refers to Democratic President Joe Biden as President Butter Beans.

Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert has more than 1.1 million Twitter followers, who are nourished by her unique way of expressing opposition to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Jesus didnt comply with lockdowns, Boebert tweeted on Easter weekend.

Its true that Twitter suspended Greenes personal account in January over her persistent, debunked suggestions that the COVID-19 vaccine is causing mass death. But it hasnt slowed down the activity of her congressional account.

This week, Greene called for the reinstatement of others who have been dropped by Twitter.

Her list included Alex Jones, an unhinged conspiracy monger best known for alleging that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 20 elementary-school children and six adult staffers, was a hoax.

The inevitable problem with Twitter is that its content referees are dealing with plenty of gray areas and their moves can often come off as arbitrary.

For example, if it was justifiable to penalize Greene for her anti-vaccine tweets, why does Texas Congressman Chip Roy get away with tweet-sharing an article from a widely discredited British website (Daily Expose) contending that COVID-19 vaccines make you more likely to face hospitalization and death?

When people talk about freedom of speech, what they usually mean these days is the power to have their own perspective amplified more than the other side. Lets see how Musk sorts that out.

ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470
Three students at the University of Texas at Austin were bitten by a raccoon in recent weeks, prompting university officials to take to social media to warn people not to touch wildlife on campus.

Recently, we have seen an increase of incidents involving raccoons and the UT student population, the university wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. Unfortunately, these interactions have resulted in three students being bitten by a raccoon and receiving rabies vaccinations as a precautionary measure.

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University officials believe the raccoon is sheltering around the outside of the McCombs School of Business.

Students, faculty and staff, please do not approach any animal with intent to feed, pet or take pictures with the raccoon, the university said.

The university also urged anyone bitten or scratched by a raccoon or wildlife to seek immediate medical attention.

The schools warning brought a swift response from the university community.

Some defended the raccoon.

I hope yall dont euthanize the raccoons if they dont have rabies, Nicolette Mallow wrote on Twitter. Its the humans who leave their trash everywhere, attracting raccoons. Theyre known to be little bandits & will not harm you if you do not approach them.

Others cheered it on.

A former UT student said: Yes my bandit brethren, thrive!

Jack Ferrell, a broadcaster for the Department of Radio, Television and Film at UT Austin took it as a challenge: As if this is going to stop me!

One student who spotted the raccoon climb out of a trash can and jump into a tree urged her fellow students to duck and cover.

timothy.fanning@express-news.net
Politics often brings out the worst in people, especially here in Texas. But bipartisan efforts in Melissa Lucios death row case showelected officials from both major parties can work together for whats right. This time, it could possibly save a life.

Our states systems failed Lucio, but on Monday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which is the highest criminal court in Texas, granted a stay of execution for Lucio. This was two days before her scheduled execution.

Lucios attorneys, family members and activists were instrumental in this intervention, but it also couldnt have happened without the efforts of bipartisan lawmakers.

On ExpressNews.com: Editorial: Lucio stay gives her the gift of time

On ExpressNews.com: Editorial: As questions mount, stop execution of Melissa Lucio

Lucio is a 53-year-old Harlingen mother of 14 whose Innocence Project attorneys have raised compelling questions about her prosecution and conviction for the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah. Concerns include a confession that was likely coerced, a possibly false autopsy report, regretful jury members, an ineffective defense and a district attorney who was later sentenced to prison. Five of Lucios 12 jurors have asked the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Greg Abbott to stop her execution.

On ExpressNews.com: Preyor-Johnson: Neglectful mom looked guilty, so state ran with it

On ExpressNews.com: Preyor-Johnson: Today, and all days, faith guiding Lucio

The 1 minute, 28 second audio recording, released by the Texas Tribune, of state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, sharing the news with Lucio on Monday is unlike anything I have ever heard. The raw emotion brought tears to my eyes. The sounds of laughter and tears of relief and joy were intense.

Lucio: Oh, my God! That is wonderful! Oh, my God! What does that mean?

Leach: Well, well, it means you are going to wake up on Thursday morning 

Lucio: Oh, my goodness! Oh, thank you, God!

Leach: Youre not making the trip to Huntsville on Wednesday. And the order was very strong in that it appears that you are going to get a new trial at the very least.

Lucio: Oh, my goodness! That is so wonderful! Thank you so much!

By the time I watched the video of the moment at the Gatesville Holiday Inn when her family and documentary maker Sabrina Van Tassel, director of The State of Texas vs. Melissa, and activists learned the news, I was ugly crying.

It was one of the most extraordinary experiences in my life, Van Tassel later told me. One that I will remember forever.

As I took in those moments, I couldnt help but think of one of Lucios statements, which she made before the execution was stayed: I am at peace. Either way I will get my freedom soon. I will go home to my family or go to heaven. If I get a new trial, I am ready for the fight. I am not the same person I was in that interrogation room. I would stand up for my rights today. I want other survivors of domestic violence and assault to stand up for their rights, too.

I first saw Leach share his support for Lucio during a bipartisan news conference he led with Joe Moody, D-El Paso, as part of their efforts on the interim Criminal Justice Reform Committee.

That he and other Texas politicians sat in prison with Lucio on April 6 and prayed with her said a lot. That they continued to hold hearings and use their political power to try to help her speaks volumes.

Leach recently said he and most of the Texas Legislature advocated for Lucio to get a new trial because it was their obligation.

Grateful to my #txlege colleagues  Republicans and Democrats, Representative and Senators  who had the courage of their convictions and who spoke out and stood up, he tweeted Tuesday.

We need more of this from Texas politicians. Less partisan infighting. More humanity  and a shared sense of urgency to do the right thing.

Nancy.Preyor-Johnson@express-news.net
The Islamic Development Bank Institute ) has unveiled a new brand identity, following the expansion of the Institutes mandate as the knowledge beacon of the IsDB Group .

Previously known as the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), the Institute was restructured and renamed as IsDB Institute in 2021, after four decades of pioneering contributions to the development of the Islamic financial industry.

The Institute maintained a leading role in the field of Islamic economics and finance over the past four decades, with immense successes in fostering awareness, human capital development, and innovative products.

IsDBI has emerged as a successor to IRTI, with a mission to build on the remarkable past by charting a future in which knowledge forms the core of innovative solutions to the contemporary development challenges.

In his comments on this occasion, Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser, IsDB President and Chairman of IsDBI Board of Trustees, said: The IsDB Group has been implementing significant reforms to emphasize leveraging technology to address the enormous development challenges facing our member countries.

Within the context of these reforms, the Institute has been rebranded in order to align it with the IsDBs emerging priorities, and to enable it effectively to lead innovative knowledge-based solutions for sustainable development, he stated.

Dr. Sami Al-Suwailem, Acting Director General of IsDBI and Chief Economist, said, The Institute has been a leader for 40 years in Islamic economics research and capacity development. The Institute will capitalize on the accumulated intellectual capital and collaborate with leading industry stakeholders to innovate knowledge-based solutions for the challenges facing our member countries.

Dr. Al-Suwailem further noted that the core of any sustainable development strategy is human capital and therefore the Institute will take advantage of frontier technologies to build the next generation of knowledge leaders and entrepreneurs.

In light of its new mandate, the IsDB Institute serves as the knowledge beacon with the responsibility to provide thought leadership, conduct pioneering research on development challenges, innovate knowledge solutions for sustainable development, build future knowledge leaders, and lead initiatives for enabling ecosystems for Islamic economics and finance.

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David Brock, the conservative journalistic hit man turned Hillary Clinton acolyte, described how he first became a reactionary in his 2002 book Blinded by the Right. Hed arrived at the University of California, Berkeley, at the dawn of the Reagan era as a Bobby Kennedy-worshipping liberal but grew quickly alienated by the campuss progressive pieties.

Rather than a liberal bastion of intellectual tolerance and academic freedom, the campus was  though the phrase hadnt yet been coined  politically correct, sometimes stiflingly so, he wrote.

A formative experience was seeing a lecture by Ronald Reagans U.N. ambassador, Jeane Kirkpatrick, shut down by left-wing protesters. Wasnt free speech a liberal value? he asked. The more Brock challenged the left, the more he was ostracized, and the more his resentment pushed him rightward.

By the time he got to Washington, where he became an influential conservative journalist, hed developed what we might now call an edgelord sensibility. He traveled to Chile to write a defense of murderous dictator Augusto Pinochet. I was flippantly engaging in the extremist one-upmanship that characterized not only me, but many young conservatives of the era, he wrote.

Of course, not just that era. The dynamic Brock described  extremist one-upmanship meant to scandalize hated left-wing persecutors  is a major driver of right-wing cultural innovation. Thats why stories about the American new right (also called the dissident right, national conservatism and neo-reaction) seem so familiar, even if the movements ideology is a departure from mainstream conservatism.

Vanity Fair recently published James Pogues fascinating look at the American new rights constellation of thinkers, podcasters and politicians, many funded by Peter Thiel, a tech billionaire who once wrote that freedom and democracy are incompatible. Its hard to summarize the scenes politics; a milieu that includes both the aggressively anti-cosmopolitan Senate candidate J.D. Vance of Ohio and the louche hipster podcast Red Scare doesnt have a coherent worldview. What it does have is contempt for social liberalism and a desire to epater le bourgeois.

It is a project to overthrow the thrust of progress, at least such as liberals understand the word, Pogue wrote. One of the movements leading intellectual lights is Curtis Yarvin, a blogger who sees liberalism as creating a Matrix-like totalitarian system and who wants to replace American democracy with a sort of techno-monarchy.

According to Pogue, the movement has become quietly edgy and cool in new tech outposts like Miami and Austin, and in downtown Manhattan, where New Right-ish politics are in, and signifiers like a demure cross necklace have become markers of a transgressive chic. This might be an overstatement, but its pretty clear that theres cultural energy in the opposition to the progressive norms and taboos that are derisively called wokeness.

BuzzFeed News writer Joseph Bernstein captured this energy in a March article about an anti-woke New York film festival funded by Thiel and headed by a Black queer provocateur named Trevor Bazile. Call it, if you must, a vibe shift: a new generation of internet-native tastemakers  like many of the people crowded into Baziles party  who find the moralistic gatekeeping of millennials all a bit passe, wrote Bernstein.

This vibe shift was predictable; when the left becomes grimly censorious, it incubates its own opposition. The internet makes things worse, giving the world a taste of the type of irritating progressive sanctimony Brock had to go to Berkeley to find.

Ive met few people on the left who like online progressive culture. In novels set in progressive social worlds, internet leftism tends to be treated with disdain  not a tyranny but an annoyance. In Torrey Peters Detransition, Baby, a young trans woman reacts with priggish outrage to a dark joke shared between the books heroine, Reese, and her friend, both older trans women. Reese recognizes her as one of those Twitter girls eager to offer theory-laden takes on gender, writes Peters. The girl has listened in on the joke and shakes her head  insensitive!  staring at them over her black-framed glasses with watery, wounded eyes.

For those who get most of their politics online, this can be what the left looks like  a humorless person shaking her head at others insensitivity. As a result, an alliance with the countrys most repressive forces can appear, to some, as liberating.

I suspect this can last only so long as the right isnt in power nationally. Eventually, an avant-garde flirtation with reaction will collide with the brutish, philistine reality of conservative rule. (As Brock would discover, being a gay man in a deeply homophobic movement was not cheeky fun.)

In the short term, however, its frightening to think that backlash politics could become somehow fashionable, especially given how stagnant the left appears. In New York magazine, Sam Adler-Bell recently wrote about a dispiriting lull in progressive movement-building: There appears almost no grassroots energy or urgency of any kind on the Democratic side.

The one thing the left could count on in recent years is its cultural capital. What happens if that is squandered?
You probably breathed a deep sigh of relief when you heard that Emmanuel Macron trounced Marine Le Pen by a 17-point margin in last Sundays French presidential election.

A Le Pen victory would have been a boon to Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban and Steve Bannon, and a disaster for NATO, Europe and France.

The center held, thank God  because Macron governed from the center. He was hated by the far left and the far right, and never entirely pleased those closer to the center.

But he also became the first president to be re-elected in France in 20 years.

Theres a lesson in that for the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress, especially when it comes to immigration.

It has become an article of progressive faith in recent years that efforts to control immigration are presumptively racist.

A border wall is a monument to white supremacy, according to a piece published in Bloomberg. The remain in Mexico policy is racist, cruel and inhumane, according to the Justice Action Center.

It wasnt long ago that Bernie Sanders was an avowed restrictionist on the view that immigration depresses working-class wages. Did that position make him a racist?

The Wall Street Journals Editorial Board, where I once worked, used to make the case for open borders with Mexico. Were we left-wing progressives?

People of goodwill should be able to take different and nuanced views on immigration  and change their minds about it  without being tagged as morally deficient.

But thats no longer how it works in progressive circles. The results are policy choices that are bad for the country, worse for Democrats and an unbidden gift to the far right.

The issue is now acute with the Biden administration simultaneously seeking to end the Trump administrations remain in Mexico policy in a case before the Supreme Court while accepting a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to let the use of Title 42, which allowed border authorities to expel illegal immigrants as a public health measure, expire May 23.

Theres not much doubt as to what will happen if the administration gets its way: An already straining southern border will burst. In fiscal year 2020 there were 646,822 enforcement actions at the border. In 2021 the number was a little shy of 2 million. Without the authority of Title 42, under which 62 percent of expulsions took place in 2021, the number of migrants being released in the United States will increase drastically.

You dont have to be opposed to immigration as a general matter to have serious doubts about the administrations course.

Is there a practical and available legal alternative to regulating immigration through Title 42 enforcement? Where is the logic of ending Title 42 even as the administration seeks to extend mask mandates because the pandemic is far from over?

Given housing shortages, how much capacity is there to absorb the next wave of migrants? Even if an overwhelming majority of migrants are merely seeking a better life, what system is there to find those with less honorable intentions?

More to the point: What does the administrations utter failure at effective control of the border say about its commitment to enforcing the rule of law?

To raise such questions should be an invitation to propose balanced and practical immigration legislation, and try to win over moderate Republicans.

Instead it tends to invite cheap accusations of racism, along with policy paralysis in the White House.

As Politico recently reported, some think the administrations secret policy is to call for an end to Title 42 to satisfy progressives while crossing fingers that the courts continue it.

Leading from behind Trump-appointed judges is probably not what Americans elected Joe Biden to do.

Which brings us back to the example of France. When Jean-Marie Le Pen made his first presidential bid on an anti-immigration platform in 1974, he took 0.75 percent of the ballot in the first round  fewer than 200,000 votes. When his daughter Marine ran on a similar platform this year, she took 41.5 percent in the second round, or more than 13 million. The Le Pens are thoroughgoing bigots.

But decades of pretending that only bigots had worries about immigration only made their brand of politics stronger.

As president, Macron tacked right on immigration  not to weaken Frances historic position as an open society, friendly to newcomers, but rather to save it. He has cracked down on some asylum-seekers, demanded that immigrants learn French and get jobs, and taken a hard line against Islamic separatism.

But hes also tried to make France a more welcoming place for legal immigration.

The left thinks of him as Le Pen lite, the right as a feckless impostor. Maybe hes both. Then again, he also saved France for the free world.

Democrats could stand to brush up on their French.
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With the approval of Republican state leaders, Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday pulled nearly half a billion dollars from various state agency budgets to fund the swelling cost of deploying thousands of National Guard troops to the southern border.

The $495 million transfer comes weeks after Texas military leaders warned they would soon run out of money to fund the 10,000-member deployment under Abbotts border initiative, known as Operation Lone Star. More than 6,000 National Guard soldiers are stationed along the border to help state troopers apprehend and jail migrants suspected of trespassing on private property.

State lawmakers last year allotted more than $400 million for the Texas Military Department to participate in the operation over the current two-year budget period, part of a $1.8 billion spending package that is also paying for a surge in Department of Public Safety troopers to the border region.

But in late January, facing funding shortfalls just several months into the fiscal year, Abbott and GOP state leaders shifted about $480 million from three state agencies to fund the National Guard deployment. The additional transfer Friday means it will cost Texas more than $1.3 billion to keep National Guard soldiers stationed along the border through the end of the fiscal year in August, more than triple the amount originally budgeted.

In all, Texas border security budget now stands at about $4 billion for the current two-year cycle, roughly five times the amount spent in 2019-2020. State leaders will need to drum up additional funds to keep National Guard soldiers stationed at the border beyond August.

THIS WEEK: Federal lawsuit seeks to end Abbotts border arrest operation, release migrants from state custody

The latest funds are coming from the budgets of the agencies that were also tapped in January  the Department of Criminal Justice, Department of Public Safety and Alcoholic Beverage Commission  along with three others: the Health and Human Services Commission, the Juvenile Justice Department and the Department of State Health Services.

The money was transferred with the approval of Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dade Phelan and the heads of the budget-writing committees in both chambers of the Legislature, state Rep. Greg Bonnen and state Sen. Joan Huffman.

About half was budgeted to the state agencies last fiscal year, which the letter says would otherwise lapse and be unavailable to them. The other half comes from this years budget, all of which has been fully funded with other sources, the letter states without providing further detail.

In a statement, Abbott slammed President Joe Biden for turning a blind eye to the crisis at our southern border.

Texans safety and security is our top priority, and we will continue fighting to keep our communities safe, Abbott said. This additional funding ensures the Lone Star State is fully equipped to provide Texans the border security strategy they demand and deserve.

Abbott and other Republicans have insisted the border security spending is necessary to handle a spike in illegal border crossings under the Biden administration.

BIDENS PLAN: White House calls for 23,000 officers, slashing asylum processing time at border

Texas Democrats have been reluctant to express public support for Bidens border policies, with some Democratic state lawmakers from South Texas openly criticizing the presidents plan to lift Title 42, the COVID-era public health order used to expel over 2 million immigrants at the border.

But Democratic lawmakers have also been critical of Abbotts border operation, including more than 50 state House members who asked the Biden administration in January to investigate and use all tools at your disposal to end Operation Lone Star. And in recent weeks, Democrats in the Legislature have increasingly voiced concerns about the rising costs.

Abbott continues to play political theater along the southern border and endanger the livelihoods of servicemen and servicewomen, Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said Friday. At this point he has spent nearly three billion dollars of taxpayer money to sustain his antics while everyday Texans continue to struggle.

Local leaders in some of the most populated and heavily trafficked border areas in the Rio Grande Valley have yet to buy into the program.

Setbacks, civil rights complaints

The governors border operation has faced a number of setbacks since it was launched last March, starting with the catch-and-jail trespass arrest scheme that overwhelmed county criminal justice systems.

Amid the early chaos, hundreds of migrants were released on cashless pretrial bonds after sitting in jail for weeks without being formally charged or appointed an attorney, both apparent violations of state law that defense attorneys said were continuing as of last month.

Since then, reports have emerged that the Guard was late in sending paychecks to soldiers stationed at the border, among numerous other issues that culminated in Abbotts move last month to replace the head of the military department.

With counties unequipped to process the catch-and-jail arrests, Texas officials have spent millions of dollars cobbling together a patchwork system of courts and jails devoted to the task. Most of the work has been performed by hand-picked firms paid to build booking facilities, convert state prisons into jails and transport jailed defendants to the state-run lockups, according to records obtained by the Chronicle.

During a two-month span last summer, as the trespassing arrests began, the Texas Division of Emergency Management doled out at least 12 non-competitively bid purchases for Operation Lone Star costs, collectively worth up to $45 million. The agency also sent out a purchase order in January for a booking facility in Hebbronville with an estimated tab of $43 million.

Making it all possible: Abbotts monthly renewal of his disaster declaration along parts of the southern border, allowing him to suspend normal contracting procedures that officials say slow the response but that critics say drive up costs and promote cronyism.

Meanwhile, Abbotts border initiative was challenged in federal court this week by three private defense attorneys, representing 15 migrant men arrested under Operation Lone Star. The lawsuit seeks to end the operation altogether and secure the release of migrants from state custody.

Of the $495 million transferred Friday, $465 million will go to the National Guard, while the remaining $30 million will support border operations in other state agencies, the five GOP leaders wrote in a letter Friday.

jasper.scherer@chron.com


Croatia Airlines has seen its losses widen to 15.2 million euros during the first quarter of the year despite increased revenue, with the carrier blaming higher fuel prices for its lacklustre performance. It represents the airlines worst first quarter financial result in at least eight years. The loss increased 19% compared to the same period in 2021, while costs soared 61%. Revenue grew 85% on last year but is still down 25% on the pre-pandemic 2019. Considerable positive steps have been made compared to the first quarter of 2021, however, the increase in fuel prices significantly effects operating costs and the amount of cash outflow. The continuation of the war in Ukraine and the unpredictable nature of the pandemic continue to have a major impact on demand and, consequently, on income, Croatia Airlines said. It added, All of these may again raise questions about maintaining liquidity. The company is taking all necessary measures to actively manage liquidity and optimise the business. It continues to implement rigorous cost cutting measures, which is in line with the Croatia Airlines post-Covid strategy. Croatia Airlines has seen its losses widen to 15.2 million euros during the first quarter of the year despite increased revenue, with the carrier blaming higher fuel prices for its lacklustre performance. It represents the airlines worst first quarter financial result in at least eight years. The loss increased 19% compared to the same period in 2021, while costs soared 61%. Revenue grew 85% on last year but is still down 25% on the pre-pandemic 2019. Considerable positive steps have been made compared to the first quarter of 2021, however, the increase in fuel prices significantly effects operating costs and the amount of cash outflow. The continuation of the war in Ukraine and the unpredictable nature of the pandemic continue to have a major impact on demand and, consequently, on income, Croatia Airlines said. It added, All of these may again raise questions about maintaining liquidity. The company is taking all necessary measures to actively manage liquidity and optimise the business. It continues to implement rigorous cost cutting measures, which is in line with the Croatia Airlines post-Covid strategy.





During the first three months of the year, Croatia Airlines operated 4.149 flights, while sales were three times higher on the same period in 2021. Existing bookings between May and October show a notable recovery and are 2.3 times higher than last year, but still down 54% on the record breaking 2019. Croatia Airlines has gradually increased its frequencies and renewed certain routes. Passenger behaviour in terms of bookings has changed significantly compared to the pre-pandemic years, with late bookings prevailing during the crisis and such trends continuing in 2022, the carrier noted. Overall, Croatia Airlines had 939 employees by the end of March of this year.





Croatia Airlines handled 200.721 travellers during the first quarter of the year, up a notable 177.8% on 2021. It added 96.861 passengers. However, the figure is still down 42% on 2019. The carrier welcomed 56.428 travellers on its domestic services, up 122%, while 142.149 passengers flew on international flights, representing an increase of 214%. The remaining 2.144 customers were handled on charter flights, up 36%, although charters accounted for just 1% of total traffic. The airline noted that these operational results were better than anticipated. The carriers average cabin load factor stood at 51.4% which is up by 6.6 points on 2021. On domestic services, the figure stood at 49%, An improvement of 13.8 points, while the average load factor on international flights amounted to 51.9%, up 2.2 points. Overall, the airline increased capacity on its international operations by 194% compared to the first quarter of 2021.




Total government expenditure for the financial years 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 are estimated Financial year 2020/2021: Rs 214,269 million and Financial year 2021/2022: Rs 190,131 million.

Total budget on education and training has been allocated as follows:

(i) Financial year 2020/2021: 51.2% to secondary education, 26.6% to primary education, 7.6% to tertiary education, 1.9% to pre-primary education, 1.4% to technical and vocational education and the remaining 11.3% to other expenses; and

(ii) Financial year 2021/2022: 50.0% to secondary education, 25.9% to primary education, 8.3% to tertiary education, 1.9% to technical and vocational education, 1.7% to pre-primary education and the remaining 12.2% to other expenses.

The number of schools providing pre-primary education stood at 789 in October 2021: 755 in the Island of Mauritius and 34 in Rodrigues. Of these schools, 537 (68.1%) were privately run institutions; 192 (24.3%), operating on government primary school premises, were administered by the Early Childhood Care and Education Authority and the remaining 60 (7.6%) were administered by either Roman Catholic (RC) or Hindu Education Authorities or Municipal/Village Councils.

Enrolment in pre-primary schools decreased by 9.8%, from 26,162 in March 2020 to 23,603 in October 2021. Girls represented 48.8% of the pre-primary school population. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (pre-primary enrolment as a percentage of the population aged 4 and 5 years) works out to 92.5% compared to 102.0% in 2020.

In 2021, the primary school population in the Republic of Mauritius stood at 84,129, of whom 49.7% was girls. Some 63% was enrolled in government schools and the remaining was in private aided and non-aided schools.

Secondary education enrolment decreased by 4,327 from 107,049 in 2020 to 102,722 in 2021. Some 43.8% of the secondary school population was in state schools and 56.2% in private (aided and unaided) schools. Gross Enrolment Ratio (secondary education enrolment as a percentage of the population aged 12 to 19 years) was 71.9%.

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Open Farm Sunday is set to return with a 'bang' on 12 June following the pandemic's impact on the annual initiative, organisers have said.

Educational charity LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) aims to boost the number of farms opening their gates to the public for the 2022 event.

As the largest annual celebration of British farming, Open Farm Sunday gives the public a closer look about what it takes to be a farmer in Britain.

The initiative also gives the general public the opportunity to learn more about how farmers produce the food they eat.

Last year, due to Covid-19 measures, less farms than usual chose to open, with pre-booking a key requirement to limit visitor numbers.

This years event, following two-years of disruption, will have a focus on health in its many guises, from soil health to the nutrition of the products the farmers produce.

Now LEAF is encouraging farmers across the country to register as hosts to help connect with the local community and share their story.

Farmers can join an online Zoom meeting at 7pm on Thursday 5 May for advice around how to manage the event and how to best promote it.

Annabel Shackleton, LEAF Open Farm Sunday manager said this year's Open Farm Sunday will "explore how farmers help produce healthy, nutritious food for our health and the health of the planet."

She added: "From soil and water management, to crop and livestock health, a trip to a LEAF Open Farm Sunday event will help you discover more about the story of your food.

"We are delighted to once again welcome visitors to our farms, most of which are not usually open to the public, and show how, when it comes to health, farmers really are part of the solution.

LEAF Open Farm Sunday 2022 will take place on Sunday 12 June.
The Farmers Union of Wales (FUW) has launched its manifesto ahead of the 2022 Welsh local elections taking place next week.

In preparation for the local elections on 5 May, the manifesto sets out key asks and calls on incoming councillors to pay attention to issues such as local procurement and county council farm holdings.

The union also says issues such as EU replacement funds, local housing, carbon offsetting and afforestation, digital connectivity and trading standards are important.

The FUW says that Wales family farms lie at the centre of the rural economy, culture and landscape, while supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs.

It says that the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing Russian war on Ukraine has "taught us the importance of maintaining our food security".

Progress needs to be made in terms of reconnecting Welsh food with local communities, the FUW says in its manifesto.

The union makes it clear that Local Authorities have a central role to play in doing this in terms of their procurement policies.

Local government also has a central role in meeting environmental objectives while protecting local communities, employment, society and cultures.

The union's president Glyn Roberts said: We are calling upon the next local councillors to instigate procurement policies which encourage the creation of new companies in order to bring benefits to local employment.

The manifesto also asks Local Authorities to lobby the Welsh government to ensure that the current review of the Water Resources Regulations 2021 results in proportionate and affordable legislation for farmers and authorities alike.

Addressing the issue of EU replacement funds such as the Shared Prosperity Fund, the manifesto calls for Local Authorities to administer such funding in efficient and effective ways to support Welsh communities with maximum effect.

In terms of the contentious issue of second homes, the manifesto highlights the importance of securing the longevity of the communities they serve by applying higher council tax premiums to second homes.

Mr Roberts added: It is also essential that authorities ensure that the spending of such additional revenue is more transparent and ring fenced for alleviating the impacts of second homes and short-term holiday lets, enabling local people to reside in their local areas."

The FUW is also calling on Local Authorities to work closely with police forces and Welsh government to ensure adequate rural policing and improved education to promote the Countryside Code.

And internet service providers must ensure that all premises have access to part or full fibre technology.
A bill targeting hare coursers has been strengthened after successful lobbying attempts, giving the police further powers to protect farmers and rural communities from criminal activity.

Changes to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, which has now been given Royal Assent, will help deter hare coursers by giving police the means to seize more dogs and by lifting the existing limit on fines.

Unauthorised encampments will become a criminal offence for those who do not leave when asked by the landowner or tenant, and offenders will be hit with strengthened penalties.

It follows lobbying attempts by the NFU, which pushed the government to further clamp down on hare coursing and illegal encampment, as both crimes cause 'significant damage' to farmland and wildlife.

The illegal blood sport is seen as a blight on rural communities and farmers' livelihoods, and is damaging to the conservation of one of Britain's iconic species.

It involves the pursuit of wild hares by trained greyhounds or lurchers across bare fields, often carried out by organised criminal gangs, with large sums of money gambled online.

The 'season' typically gets under way after harvest, when poachers take advantage of bare fields, which can cause thousands of pounds worth of damage to land and crops, and sees many farmers and landowners intimidated.

The union said it had identified the original bill as an appropriate piece of legislation for dealing with hare coursing and worked with the government to include major amendments.

Welcoming the Royal Assent, NFU vice president David Exwood said the bill gave the police more powers to protect rural communities from destructive and intimidating criminal activity.

Hare coursing can cause significant damage to farmland, something farmers across the country experience all too often, with little repercussions for offenders," he said.

"Their behaviour can also be a source of great distress for farming families who feel vulnerable and threatened in their own homes.

We know that both these crimes continue to take a toll on farming businesses, and we will continue to work with government and police to ensure these strengthened laws are utilised to deliver meaningful results  a decline in cases of rural crime.

What are the changes?

Changes to hare coursing law within the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act include:

 Increasing the maximum penalty for trespassing in pursuit of game to an unlimited fine and introducing the possibility of up to six months imprisonment

 Two new criminal offences

 New powers for the courts to make an order disqualifying a convicted offender from owning or keeping a dog

Changes to unauthorised encampment laws within the Act include:

 A new offence and an accompanying power for the police to seize property where individuals reside or intend to reside on land with a vehicle

 A person will commit the offence if they fail to leave the land or remove their property without reasonable excuse when asked to do so by the occupier

 A person guilty will be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding currently 2,500, or both

 The Act also amends the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
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On April 29, 2020, Irrfan Khan passed away after a long battle with cancer. The news arrived all of a sudden for a pandemic-ravaged India that was already grieving many losses. It has been two years since then and yet it feels strange to be writing these words. The loss of a beloved actor evokes a kind of heartache that is indescribable. For his fans, it came as a personal loss no doubt. After all, he was one of the most reliable actors who left behind a filmography that is full of memorable roles from his career spanning decades. And the best one can do in the face of lingering grief is to remember the artist and the man, not just to honour his legacy but also to celebrate it. As we mark Irrfan Khan's second death anniversary, we're looking back to some of his finest work and what a body of work it has been. From playing a father, a detective, a bandit and the everyman, his diverse range saw him pull off each of his character portrayals effortlessly. Perhaps it came to him naturally or through his remarkable experience in both commercial and critical hits. Between his many roles, there exists a wealth of iconic dialogues, instantly elevated through the actor's delivery. Here are a few memorable movie dialogues that will warm your heart and perhaps offer life lessons:

This has got to be the most hard-hitting dialogue in light of Irrfan Khan's loss. The line also went viral after his passing as fans mourned his demise. Profound and reflective, the actor's dialogues from Life of Pi were all thought-provoking indeed. Among them, this is one that found fresh relevance. Irrfan Khan broke into Hollywood before it was cool. After films like the award-winning Slumdog Millionaire, the actor played an older Pi in Life of Pi. The Ang Lee-directed film was a visually stunning adaptation of the popular book of the same name by Yann Martel. It saw Khan doing what he was best at doing - engaging viewers in conversations.



"Things are never as bad as they seem" - Irrfan Khan as Saajan Fernandes, The Lunchbox

In terms of instantly relatable characters, Irrfan Khan's Saajan from The Lunchbox pretty much tops the list. The film sees him play a widowed accountant who winds up exchanging letters with Ila (Nimrat Kaur) due to a goof-up in Mumbai's large network of dabba services. The film in itself is a feel-good romance told through a wonderful observant lens. Added to the overall warmth of the story was Irrfan Khan penning some assuring lines for his pen pal. Among other things, this film about a misplaced lunch box delivered to the wrong man is also proof of how Irrfan Khan could not only stand out even in a packed Mumbai local but also convey tenderness with the simplest dialogues.



"Yeh shehar hum mein jitna deta hai ... badle mein kahin zyada hum se le leta hai." - Irrfan Khan as Monty, Life in a Metro

Irrfan Khan was the definition of the everyman on screen so it comes as no surprise that the most relatable line from Life In a Metro, a slice-of-life narrative about living in a big city, went to his character Monty. The dialogue resonates with anyone who has lived or struggled in Mumbai. While it isnt a soothing line, it validates the experiences of many and sometimes thats just what you need. The film had an impressive line-up of stars including Konkona Sen Sharma and Shilpa Shetty, but Khan stood out even in crowded streets and cafes. From his chemistry with his co-star Konkona to a scene-stealing moment in the film where their characters are seen screaming off a rooftop, he's a delight to watch in the film.



Pack a pillow and blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will not regret it. One day, it will be too late. - Irrfan Khan as Ashoke Ganguli, The Namesake

In Mira Nair's critically acclaimed The Namesake, Irrfan Khan delivered an understated yet impactful performance alongside Tabu who he also collaborated with in Maqbool. The film is gut-wrenching but at the same time, it has a beauty to it and that's another zone the actor thrived in. His dialogue, pulled from Jhumpa Lahiri's text, is life-affirming. This film that revolves around Indian immigrants saw the actor take on the portrayal of a book character and make him his own. Even when playing a quintessential brown character in the west, Khan pulled off a layered representation that isn't stereotypical. It set the bar pretty high.



"Galatiya bhi rishto ki tarah hoti hai... karni nahi padti... ho jaati hai" - Irrfan Khan as Wali Khan, D-Day

Rewatching D-Day could be a bittersweet experience as it saw Irrfan Khan share screen space with Rishi Kapoor, another shining star we lost in 2020 just a day after Irrfans death. In the espionage film, Khan played a RAW agent. The aforementioned dialogue defines the unpredictable nature of mistakes and human relations, a strange takeaway from a film thats about agents taking down a most-wanted criminal. But given that the film hinges on a minor judgement error, the line is infused with meaning.
critic's rating: 3.5/5

Runway 34 is a fictionalised account of what transpired on board Jet Airways Doha to Kochi flight 9W 555, that had a narrow escape on August 18, 2015, after facing difficulties to land at the Cochin International Airport due to extreme weather conditions.

Captain Vikrant Khanna (Ajay Devgn) is an alpha male. We're told this via an entry song, which contains these very words. He likes to work hard and party harder. He gets drunk at a party before a flight. Despite that he's confident enough to go to his assigned flight. And even manages to land it in Trivandrum under harsh conditions when the flight gets diverted from Kochi. Every May Day call is thoroughly investigated, however. That's when Narayan Vedant (Amitabh Bachchan) steps in. He's the head of the investigative agency which investigates such mishaps. Narayan is a stickler for efficiency. And wants everything done by the book. He feels something is fishy and wants to get into the bottom of it. What ensues is an engaging courtroom drama. There are different interpretations to the truth. He makes life rather difficult for both Vikrant and his co-pilot Tanya Albuquerque (Rakul Preet Singh). Is Vikrant a hero or a careless pilot who put his passengers in jeopardy? That's what the film tries to find out

We're subjected to a pulsating beginning where we see an aircraft caught in high turbulence. The VFX makes the emergency look alive. It's an immersive experience and you feel you're actually in the aeroplane. Ajay Devgn looks cool as a cucumber taking executive decisions under tense conditions. They're real edge-of-the-seat moments. The courtroom sequences that follow also make for an interesting watch. Amitabh Bachchan's towering presence dominates here. The way he builds a case against Vikrant is interesting. Having seen the events before, we still doubt our eyes hearing his interpretations.

Boman Irani gleefully plays the greedy owner of the airline Vikrant works for. Angira Dhar makes a five minute appearance as the airline's hotshot troubleshooter. Aakanksha Singh plays the supportive wife who has full faith in her husband's honesty and is unfazed even when infidelity is hinted at. She's petty to look at and has been cast effectively. Influencer CarryMinati plays himself as one of the irritated passengers who is recording what happened in the flight. Strangely, the recording is never used as evidence later in the film. The writing lags when it comes to the passengers, as they all seem to be stock characters. Rakul Preet Singh has the most interesting part. She plays the junior pilot in awe of her senior but unwittingly ends up being a pawn against him. It's a layered character which she does full justice to.

Ajay, who is the director as well as the producer, has kept the first half for himself and given the second half over to Amitabh. Their confrontation scenes come at the very end and make for an engaging watch. Both are painted as two individuals trying to do the right thing under extraordinary set of circumstances. No one is totally right or wrong and that's the film's biggest strength. Both are consummate actors and make their characters seem believable. It's a treat to watch them go through their paces on screen. Ajay isn't in his action hero mode here and has toned down his performance. And he has made sure we get to sympathise with his character. Amitabh Bachchan is a sure bet in every film he appears in and this film too is no exception. We're riveted to the screen whenever he's around. It's a treat to watch him say his lines in chaste Hindi. And put him together with Ajay and we have a win-win combination.

Watch the film for its combination of aviation and courtroom drama and to see two great actors at work together.

Trailer : Runway 34
HAMILTON, Bermuda, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Seadrill Limited ("Seadrill") is pleased to announce new contract awards for the West Neptune and the Sevan Louisiana.

The West Neptune has secured a four-well extension with two one-well options with LLOG Exploration Offshore, L.L.C ("LLOG") in US Gulf of Mexico. The firm-term will commence in direct continuation of the existing contract, has an estimated duration of 200 days and is expected to keep the rig busy until August 2023. Total contract value for the firm-term is approximately $71 million.

The Sevan Louisiana has secured a three-well extension with Talos Production, Inc. ("Talos") in US Gulf of Mexico. The extension has a minimum duration of 105 days and is an extension to the existing contract with Talos, which is set to commence in August 2022. Total contract value for the three-well extension is approximately $34 million.

Simon Johnson, Seadrill's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "It's encouraging to see so much activity in the US Gulf of Mexico right now. We are proud of the safe and efficient operations we provide for our clients and are grateful for the opportunity to continue delivering for both LLOG and Talos into next year."

About Seadrill

Seadrill is a leading offshore drilling contractor utilizing advanced technology to unlock oil and gas resources for clients across harsh and benign locations around the globe. Seadrill's high-quality, technologically-advanced fleet spans all asset classes allowing its experienced crews to conduct operations from shallow to ultra-deep-water environments. The Company owns and/or operates 30 rigs, which includes drillships, semi-submersibles, and jack-ups.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes forward-looking statements. Such statements are generally not historical in nature, and specifically include statements about the Company's plans, strategies, business prospects, changes and trends in its business and the markets in which it operates. These statements are made based upon management's current plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risks described from time to time in the Company's regulatory filings and periodical reporting. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the impact of each such factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward looking statement.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
DGAP-News: Hot Chili Limited

Cortadera Delivers Another Strong Result 552m at 0.6% CuEq including 248m at 0.8% CuEq



29.04.2022 / 01:30

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Highlights  Additional significant intersections returned from development study drilling at the Cortadera porphyry discovery, part of the Company's Costa Fuego senior copper development in Chile  CORMET003 delivered 552m grading 0.6% CuEq (0.4% copper (Cu), 0.2g/t gold (Au), 89ppm molybdenum (Mo)) from 276m depth down-hole, including 248m grading 0.8% CuEq (0.6% Cu, 0.2g/t Au, 179ppm Mo) from 574m depth - confirming further high grade growth potential at Cuerpo 3  High grade Indicated resources (+0.6% CuEq), currently standing at 156Mt grading 0.79% CuEq for 1.0Mt Cu, 0.85Moz Au, 2.9Moz Ag & 24kt Mo, set to be further expanded in next resource upgrade later this year  Assays returned for eleven Reverse Circulation (RC) holes drilled into the large-scale Productora Central target, with several intersections requiring follow-up Diamond Drill (DD) tails  Drilling to commence across shallow high-grade resource growth opportunities at Valentina and San Antonio in the coming weeks and first drill testing across the large-scale Santiago Z target in the coming month  Further drill results from Cortadera expected in the coming weeks * Copper Equivalent (CuEq) reported for the drill holes at Cortadera were calculated using the following formula: CuEq% = ((Cu%  Cu price 1% per tonne  Cu_recovery) + (Mo ppm  Mo price per g/t  Mo_recovery) + (Au ppm  Au price per g/t  Au_recovery) + (Ag ppm  Ag price per g/t  Ag_recovery)) / (Cu price 1% per tonne). The Metal Prices applied in the calculation were: Cu=3.00 USD/lb, Au=1,700 USD/oz, Mo=14 USD/lb, and Ag=20 USD/oz. Average fresh rock metallurgical recoveries were Cu=83%, Au=56%, Mo=82%, and Ag=37%. Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH) (TSXV: HCH) (OTCQX: HHLKF) ('Hot Chili' or 'Company') is pleased to announce another strong result from its Cortadera porphyry discovery, as well as first assay results from exploration drilling being undertaken across its coastal range, Costa Fuego copper-gold hub in Chile. Development study drill holes at Cortadera continue to return impressive assay results, with high-grade intersections reported from all holes in the program so far. CORMET003 returned a significant intersection of 552m grading 0.6% CuEq (0.4% copper (Cu), 0.2g/t gold (Au), 89ppm molybdenum (Mo)) from 276m depth down-hole, including 248m grading 0.8% CuEq (0.6% Cu, 0.2g/t Au, 179ppm Mo) from 574m depth. Importantly, the high grade core of the main porphyry (Cuerpo 3) at Cortadera continues to demonstrate further growth potential following the recently announced resource upgrade for Costa Fuego comprising Indicated resources of 725Mt grading 0.47% CuEq for 2.8Mt Cu, 2.6Moz Au, 10.5Moz Ag & 67kt Mo with high grade Indicated resources (+0.6% CuEq) standing at 156Mt grading 0.79% CuEq for 1.0Mt Cu, 0.85Moz Au, 2.9Moz Ag & 24kt Mo (see announcement dated 31st March 2022). CORMET001 was drilled into Cuerpo 1 and also returned a strong result of 70m grading 0.6% CuEq (0.5% Cu, 0.1g/t Au and 11ppm Mo) from 86m depth down-hole. CORMET001 also ended in 6m grading 0.6% copper and supplied critical hydrological and geotechnical data that will be used to inform the Costa Fuego Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) due Q3 2022. Hot Chili is also pleased to provide an exploration update on drilling and access clearing activities across several large-scale and high grade, satellite targets being tested this year. Assay results returned for the first eleven drill holes completed at the Productora Central target this year have provided encouragement and further drilling is planned. In addition, clearing activities are well advanced across Valentina, San Antonio and Santiago Z. Drilling is planned to commence at Valentina and then San Antonio in the coming weeks, and Santiago Z in the coming month. Further development study drill results from Cortadera are expected in the coming weeks. Exploration Update - Drilling and Access Clearing Advancing Productora Central Exploration Target - First-pass Drill Results Results have been returned for eleven deep Reverse Circulation (RC) holes drilled across the Productora Central target. Productora Central is a 1.2km by 1.0km geochemical target, located along the western flank of the planned Productora open pit. Drilling across the target has proved challenging due to issues penetrating an advanced argillic clay zone (alteration zones are known to overlie large-scale porphyry systems), with several drillholes not achieving planned hole depths. The most encouraging result was returned from drill hole PRF003, located close to the Serrano fault where clay zones mask the target along strike to the northwest. PRF003 recorded an end of hole intersection of 36m grading 0.2% CuEq (0.2% Cu, 0.1g/t Au, 0.5g/t Ag) from 290m, including 12m grading 0.4% CuEq (0.4% Cu, 0.1g/t Au, 0.4g/t Ag). Importantly, PRF003 ended in copper mineralisation and a diamond tail is planned to extend the drill hole this quarter. Results from this first-pass RC programme will be used to refine the Company's three-dimensional geochemical model in advance of follow-up drill design. The next phase of drilling will aim to successfully penetrate the clay zone which is masking an area of elevated molybdenum along the Serrano fault. San Antonio and Valentina - Drilling to Commence in Coming Weeks Following the recent Costa Fuego resource upgrade (see announcement dated 31st of March 2022), Hot Chili have been completing platform clearing across the San Antonio and Valentina high grade copper deposits, located 5 kms northeast of Cortadera. The Inferred maiden resource for San Antonio (4.2Mt @ 1.2% CuEq (1.1% Cu, 2.1g/t Ag) is intended to be upgraded in classification and also tested along strike and at depth. Approximately 13 drill holes are planned and clearing is underway. Platform clearing across the Valentina historical, high grade, copper mine is well advanced with ten platforms already cleared. Drilling will follow-up previous significant intersections recorded by Hot Chili in 2018 including 12m grading 1.5% copper from 28m down-hole depth (including 6m grading 2.7% copper) in drill hole VAP0001 and 8m grading 2.0% copper from 124m down-hole depth (including 2m grading 4.8% copper) in drill hole VAP0003 (see ASX announcement dated 5th September 2018). Drilling is expected to commence at Valentina in the coming weeks and then at San Antonio. Santiago Z Target - First Access and Platform Clearing Well Advanced Earthmoving works are in progress at Santiago Z, with a 7km principal access track already constructed and six initial drill platforms expected to be ready for drill testing in late Q2 2022. Hot Chili's soil results and mapping have confirmed a potentially large copper porphyry footprint measuring over 4km in length and 2km in width at the Santiago Z landholding, located immediately south of Cortadera. Santiago Z contains a large soil molybdenum anomaly that is twice the size and four times the tenor of the soil molybdenum anomaly related to the Cortadera copper-gold porphyry discovery (see ASX announcement date 9thMay 2021). Hot Chili's soil programmes over Santiago Z in 2021 confirmed enrichment in copper, gold and silver (Cortadera metal signature) and other element zonation patterns consistent with the presence of a potentially large copper porphyry system at depth. Mapping by Hot Chili has recognised several areas of outcropping copper-bearing hydrothermal breccia at Santiago Z with no drill testing having ever been undertaken across the target area. Santiago Z will be a priority target as soon as access is fully established for initial drill testing. Reported on a 100% Basis - combining Mineral Resource estimates for the Cortadera, Productora and San Antonio deposits. Figures are rounded, reported to appropriate significant figures, and reported in accordance with CIM and NI 43-101. Metal rounded to nearest thousand, or if less, to the nearest hundred. Total Resource reported at +0.21% CuEq for open pit and +0.30% CuEq for underground. Refer to Announcement 'Hot Chili Delivers Next Level of Growth' (31st March 2022) for JORC Table 1 information related to the Costa Fuego Mineral Resource estimates. * Copper Equivalent (CuEq) reported for the resource were calculated using the following formula: CuEq% = ((Cu%  Cu price 1% per tonne  Cu_recovery)+(Mo ppm  Mo price per g/t  Mo_recovery)+(Au ppm  Au price per g/t  Au_recovery)+ (Ag ppm  Ag price per g/t  Ag_recovery)) / (Cu price 1% per tonne). The Metal Prices applied in the calculation were: Cu=3.00 USD/lb, Au=1,700 USD/oz, Mo=14 USD/lb, and Ag=20 USD/oz. For Cortadera and San Antonio (Inferred + Indicated), the average metallurgical recoveries were Cu=83%, Au=56%, Mo=82%, and Ag=37%. For Productora (Inferred + Indicated), the average metallurgical recoveries were Cu=83%, Au=43% and Mo=42%. For Costa Fuego (Inferred + Indicated), the average Metallurgical Recoveries were Cu=83%, Au=51%, Mo=67% and Ag=23%. This announcement is authorised by the Board of Directors for release to ASX. Table 1 New Significant DD Results at Cortadera Significant intercepts are calculated above a nominal cut-off grade of 0.2% Cu. Where appropriate, significant intersections may contain up to 30m down-hole distance of internal dilution (less than 0.2% Cu). Significant intersections are separated where internal dilution is greater than 30m down-hole distance. The selection of 0.2% Cu for significant intersection cut-off grade is aligned with marginal economic cut-off grade for bulk tonnage polymetallic copper deposits of similar grade in Chile and elsewhere in the world. Down-hole significant intercept widths are estimated to be at or around true-widths of mineralisation * Copper Equivalent (CuEq) reported for the drill holes at Cortadera were calculated using the following formula: CuEq% = ((Cu%  Cu price 1% per tonne  Cu_recovery) + (Mo ppm  Mo price per g/t  Mo_recovery) + (Au ppm  Au price per g/t  Au_recovery) + (Ag ppm  Ag price per g/t  Ag_recovery)) / (Cu price 1% per tonne). The Metal Prices applied in the calculation were: Cu=3.00 USD/lb, Au=1,700 USD/oz, Mo=14 USD/lb, and Ag=20 USD/oz. Average fresh rock metallurgical recoveries were Cu=83%, Au=56%, Mo=82%, and Ag=37%. Table 2 New RC Drill Results at Productora Central Significant intercepts are calculated above a nominal cut-off grade of 0.1% Cu. Where appropriate, significant intersections may contain up to 30m down-hole distance of internal dilution (less than 0.1% Cu). Significant intersections are separated where internal dilution is greater than 30m down-hole distance. The selection of 0.1% Cu for intersection cut-off grade above is selected on the basis of exploration significance and is not meant to represent potential marginal economic cut-off grade for bulk tonnage polymetallic copper deposits of similar grade in Chile and elsewhere in the world. Down-hole significant intercept widths are estimated to be at or around true-widths of mineralisation * Copper Equivalent (CuEq) reported for the drill holes at Productora were calculated using the following formula: CuEq% = ((Cu%  Cu price 1% per tonne  Cu_recovery) + (Mo ppm  Mo price per g/t  Mo_recovery) + (Au ppm  Au price per g/t  Au_recovery) + (Ag ppm  Ag price per g/t  Ag_recovery)) / (Cu price 1% per tonne). The Metal Prices applied in the calculation were: Cu=3.00 USD/lb, Au=1,700 USD/oz, Mo=14 USD/lb, and Ag=20 USD/oz. Average fresh rock metallurgical recoveries used were: Cu=89%, Au=58%, Mo=60%, and Ag=0% Significant intercepts are calculated above a nominal cut-off grade of 0.1% Cu. Where appropriate, significant intersections may contain up to 30m down-hole distance of internal dilution (less than 0.1% Cu). Significant intersections are separated where internal dilution is greater than 30m down-hole distance. The selection of 0.1% Cu for intersection cut-off grade above is selected on the basis of exploration significance and is not meant to represent potential marginal economic cut-off grade for bulk tonnage polymetallic copper deposits of similar grade in Chile and elsewhere in the world. Down-hole significant intercept widths are estimated to be at or around true-widths of mineralisation * Copper Equivalent (CuEq) reported for the drill holes at Productora were calculated using the following formula: CuEq% = ((Cu%  Cu price 1% per tonne  Cu_recovery) + (Mo ppm  Mo price per g/t  Mo_recovery) + (Au ppm  Au price per g/t  Au_recovery) + (Ag ppm  Ag price per g/t  Ag_recovery)) / (Cu price 1% per tonne). The Metal Prices applied in the calculation were: Cu=3.00 USD/lb, Au=1,700 USD/oz, Mo=14 USD/lb, and Ag=20 USD/oz. Average fresh rock metallurgical recoveries used were: Cu=89%, Au=58%, Mo=60%, and Ag=0% Figure 2. Location of development study diamond drill holes at Cortadera Qualifying StatementsCosta Fuego Combined Mineral Resource (Reported 31st March 2022) Reported on a 100% Basis - combining Mineral Resource estimates for the Cortadera, Productora and San Antonio deposits. Figures are rounded, reported to appropriate significant figures, and reported in accordance with CIM and NI 43-101. Metal rounded to nearest thousand, or if less, to the nearest hundred. Total Resource reported at +0.21% CuEq for open pit and +0.30% CuEq for underground. Refer to Announcement 'Hot Chili Delivers Next Level of Growth' (31st March 2022) for JORC Table 1 information related to the Costa Fuego Mineral Resource estimates. Copper Equivalent (CuEq) reported for the resource were calculated using the following formula: CuEq% = ((Cu%  Cu price 1% per tonne  Cu_recovery)+(Mo ppm  Mo price per g/t  Mo_recovery)+(Au ppm  Au price per g/t  Au_recovery)+ (Ag ppm  Ag price per g/t  Ag_recovery)) / (Cu price 1% per tonne). The Metal Prices applied in the calculation were: Cu=3.00 USD/lb, Au=1,700 USD/oz, Mo=14 USD/lb, and Ag=20 USD/oz. For Cortadera and San Antonio (Inferred + Indicated), the average Metallurgical Recoveries were: Cu=83%, Au=56%, Mo=82%, and Ag=37%. For Productora (Inferred + Indicated), the average Metallurgical Recoveries were: Cu=83%, Au=43% and Mo=42%. For Costa Fuego (Inferred + Indicated), the average Metallurgical Recoveries were: Cu=83%, Au=51%, Mo=67% and Ag=23%. ** Note: Silver (Ag) is only present within the Cortadera Mineral Resource estimate Competent Person's Statement- Exploration Results Exploration information in this Announcement is based upon work compiled by Mr Christian Easterday, the Managing Director and a full-time employee of Hot Chili Limited whom is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG). Mr Easterday has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a 'Competent Person' as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' (JORC Code). Mr Easterday consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears. Competent Person's Statement- Costa Fuego Mineral Resources The information in this report that relates to Mineral Resources for Cortadera, Productora and San Antonio which constitute the combined Costa Fuego Project is based on information compiled by Ms Elizabeth Haren, a Competent Person who is a Member and Chartered Professional of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Ms Haren is a full-time employee of Haren Consulting Pty Ltd and an independent consultant to Hot Chili. Ms Haren has sufficient experience, which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of deposits under consideration and to the activities undertaken, to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code of Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Ms Haren consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on her information in the form and context in which it appears. For further information on the Costa Fuego Project, refer to the technical report titled "Resource Report for the Costa Fuego Technical Report", dated December 13, 2021, which is available for review under Hot Chili's profile at www.sedar.com. Reporting of Copper Equivalent Copper Equivalent (CuEq) reported for the resource were calculated using the following formula: CuEq% = ((Cu%  Cu price 1% per tonne  Cu_recovery)+(Mo ppm  Mo price per g/t  Mo_recovery)+(Au ppm  Au price per g/t  Au_recovery)+ (Ag ppm  Ag price per g/t  Ag_recovery)) / (Cu price 1% per tonne). The Metal Prices applied in the calculation were: Cu=3.00 USD/lb, Au=1,700 USD/oz, Mo=14 USD/lb, and Ag=20 USD/oz. For Cortadera and San Antonio (Inferred + Indicated), the average Metallurgical Recoveries were: Cu=83%, Au=56%, Mo=82%, and Ag=37%. For Productora (Inferred + Indicated), the average Metallurgical Recoveries were: Cu=83%, Au=43% and Mo=42%. For Costa Fuego (Inferred + Indicated), the average Metallurgical Recoveries were: Cu=83%, Au=51%, Mo=67% and Ag=23%. For further information please visit www.SEDAR.com About Hot Chili Hot Chili Limited is a mineral exploration company with assets in Chile. The Company's flagship project, Costa Fuego, is the consolidation into a hub of the Cortadera porphyry copper-gold discovery and the Productora copper-gold deposit, set 14 km apart in an excellent location - low altitude, coastal range of Chile, infrastructure rich, low capital intensity.The Costa Fuego landholdings, contains an Indicated Resource of 391Mt grading 0.52% CuEq (copper equivalent), containing 1.7 Mt Cu, 1.5 Moz Au, 4.2 Moz Ag, and 37 kt Mo and an Inferred Resource of 334Mt grading 0.44% CuEq containing 1.2Mt Cu, 1.2 Moz Au, 5.6 Moz Ag and 27 kt Mo, at a cut-off grade of 0.25% CuEq.The Company is working to advance its Costa Fuego Project through a preliminary feasibility study (followed by a full FS and DTM), and test several high-priority exploration targets. Certain statements contained in this news release, including information as to the future financial or operating performance of Hot Chili and its projects may include statements that are "forward-looking statements" which may include, amongst other things, statements regarding targets, estimates and assumptions in respect of mineral reserves and mineral resources and anticipated grades and recovery rates, production and prices, recovery costs and results, and capital expenditures and are or may be based on assumptions and estimates related to future technical, economic, market, political, social and other conditions.These forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Hot Chili, are inherently subject to significant technical, business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results reflected in such forward-looking statements. Hot Chili disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or release any revisions to any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, circumstances or results or otherwise after the date of this news release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, other than as may be required by law. The words "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "indicate", "contemplate", "target", "plan", "intends", "continue", "budget", "estimate", "may", "will", "schedule" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. 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. Contact Details Investor Relations Graham Farrell +1 416-842-9003 Graham.Farrell@harbor-access.com Investor Relations Jonathan Paterson +1 475-477-9401 Jonathan.Paterson@Harbor-Access.com Managing Director Christian Easterday admin@hotchili.net.au Company Website https://www.hotchili.net.au/investors/

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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 28, 2022) - ArcPacific Resources Corp. (TSXV: ACP) ("ACP" or the "Company") announces that further to the Company's news release dated March 15, 2022, the Company has received the approval from the TSX Venture Exchange to amend the terms of the 10,536,666 share purchase warrants ("Warrants") that were issued pursuant to two non-brokered private placements that closed on November 24, 2020 and October 23, 2021.

The exercise price of the Warrants is now $0.0553. The Warrants are subject to an accelerated expiry provision such that if, for any 10 consecutive trading days (the "Premium Trading Days") during the unexpired term of the Warrants, the closing price of the common shares ("Common Shares") exceeds the acceleration price of $0.069, the exercise date will be accelerated to thirty (30) calendar days (the "Acceleration Clause"). The activation of the Acceleration Clause will be announced by press release and the 30-day period will commence 7 days after the last Premium Trading Day.

Also, further to the Company's news release of the same date, the Company will now proceed with the warrant exercise incentive program, (the "Incentive Program") designed to encourage the early exercise of the 10,536,666 Warrants for Common Shares of the Company.

Under the Program, the Company is offering an inducement to each Warrant holder that exercises their Warrants on or before May 28, 2022 (the "Early Exercise Period"), by the issuance of one additional common share purchase warrant (an "Incentive Warrant") for each Warrant early exercised. Each Incentive Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional Common Share for a period of 12 months from the date of issuance of such Incentive Warrant, at a price of $0.15. The Program will expire on May 28, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. (Vancouver time) (the "Early Exercise Expiry Date").

The Incentive Warrants will be subject to a four month hold period from the date of issuance and will include a warrant acceleration provision by which the Company will be permitted to accelerate the expiry date of the Incentive Warrants if the closing price of the Company's Common Shares on the Exchange remains at or above $0.15 for a period of ten consecutive days (the "Acceleration Event").

In the event the Company exercises the Acceleration Event (by disseminating a news release advising of the Acceleration Event), holders will have 30 days to exercise the Incentive Warrants, after which the unexercised Incentive Warrants will be void and of no effect.

If all of the Warrants are exercised during the Early Exercise Period, ACP expects to:

Receive gross proceeds of approximately $582,677.63 on or before the Early Exercise Expiry Date;

Issue up to 10,536,666 common shares pursuant to the exercise of the Warrants by holders in accordance with the original terms of the Warrants; and

Issue up to 10,536,666 Incentive Warrants to Warrant holders pursuant to the early exercise of the Warrants on or before the Early Exercise Expiry Date.

The terms and conditions of the Program and the method of exercising Warrants pursuant to the Program are set forth in a letter which is being delivered to the registered e-mail address of each Warrant holder, posted on SEDAR and is available on the Company's website at http://www.arcpacific.ca.

Holders of Warrants who elect to participate in the Program will be required to deliver the following to the Company on or prior to 4:00 p.m. (Vancouver time) on May 28, 2022

a duly completed and executed Exercise Form, in the form which accompanies the certificate representing the Warrants;

the original certificate representing the Warrants being exercised; and

the applicable aggregate exercise price payable to the Company by way of certified cheque, money order, bank draft, or wire transfer in lawful money of Canada.

To the extent that holders of the Warrants take advantage of the opportunity to exercise their Warrants early, this will strengthen ACP's current cash position and provide the Company with additional working capital to meet its on-going business obligations.

The transaction is subject to the receipt of all final regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSXV. Any Warrants that are not exercised prior to the Early Exercise Expiry Date will remain outstanding and continue to be exercisable for Common Shares on their existing terms.

The Warrants were originally issued by the Company as part of a unit the Company issued in connection with a private placement financing completed on November 24, 2020 and October 23, 2021. The underlying Common Shares and Incentive Shares to be issued pursuant to the exercise of the Warrants have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor in any other jurisdiction.

About ArcPacific Resources Corp.

ArcPacific Resources Corp. (TSXV: ACP) is a Canadian based exploration company. ArcPacific owns 100% interest in the LMSL Copper Gold & Silver Project in British Columbia, Canada, in the prolific Quesnel Terrane which is world renowned for its copper and gold endowment. The Company also holds other highly prospective exploration projects in Canada including its Blackdome gold project where it discovered continuous gold mineralization in the first ever trenching at the project. The Company is focused on creating shareholder value through new discoveries and strategic development of its mineral properties and is exploring additional business opportunities. For further information, please visit http://www.arcpacific.ca.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

/s "Adrian Smith" CEO and Director

Forward-Looking Information

This news release may contain certain forward-looking information and statements, including without limitation, the Warrant Amendments, the Incentive Program, statements regarding exploration plans, the use of proceeds, and other future plans and objectives, and statements pertaining to receipt of TSXV approval. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward- looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in the Company's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the date the statements are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should conditions or our estimates change, other than as required by law.

Readers are further advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information, please contact us at info@arcpacific.ca or 1.778.331.3816.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122095
Washington, D.C., Apr 29, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - On May 26, 2022, Ambassador Milena Mayorga of El Salvador will address a gathering of 600 innovators, public-sector administrators, legislators, and executives in Washington, DC. She will be sharing the experiences of El Salvador regarding the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender. Her country leads the world in the national adoption of cryptocurrency.That evening Ambassador Mayorga will be meeting with government blockchain leaders from more than:- 23 Nations- 39 US Government Offices- 18 State & Local Government OfficesThe event is hosted by the US House Congressional Blockchain Caucus and the Government Blockchain Association (GBA). For more information about the event visit www.bit.ly/bseg22-schedule or send an email to events@GBAglobal.orgSource: Plato Data Intelligence: PlatoData.ioSource: GBACopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 28, 2022) - This press release is being disseminated as required by National Instrument 62-103 in connection with the filing of an Early Warning Report regarding the acquisition of securities of Level 14 Ventures Ltd. (the "Company").

On April 27, 2022, Marianne De Witt (the "Acquiror") of 1400 - 400 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 3A6 purchased (the "Acquisition") 5,000,000 common shares of the Company's private placement at a price of $0.20 per share.

Prior to April 27, 2022, the Acquiror had control of 6,977,300 common shares representing 17.85% of the issued and outstanding common shares and 4,727,300 warrants. Assuming the exercise of the warrants, the Acquiror would have control or direction over 11,704,600 common shares, representing 26.72% of the issued and outstanding common shares as of April 27, 2022.

After completion of the Acquisition, the Acquiror now has control of 11,977,300 common shares representing 13.09% of the issued and outstanding common shares and 4,727,300 warrants. Assuming the exercise of the warrants, the Acquiror would have control or direction over 16,704,600 common shares, representing 17.36% of the issued and outstanding common shares.

The common shares were acquired for investment purposes only and not for the purpose of exercising control or direction over the Company. The Acquiror may, from time to time, increase or decrease its shareholding or continue to hold common shares of the Company as it may determine appropriate in the normal course of investment activity. In the future, the Acquiror may, directly or indirectly, acquire additional common shares of the Company or dispose of such shares subject to a number of factors, including, without limitation, general market and economic conditions and other investment and business opportunities available.

A copy of the Early Warning Report to be filed by the Acquiror will be available on SEDAR under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com.

This early warning news release is issued under the early warning provisions of Canadian securities legislation, including National Instrument 62-104 - Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids and National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release nor have they approved nor disapproved the content thereof.

For further information or should you have any questions, please feel free to email us at info@level14ventures.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122115


Mr. David Lim, Chief Executive Officer of UOB Kay Hian Securities (M) Sdn Bhd; Mr. Kong Chia Liang, Chief Operating Officer & Executive Director of CNERGENZ Berhad; Dato' Azman bin Mahmud, Independent Non-Executive Chairman of CNERGENZ Berhad; Mr. Lye Yhin Choy, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director of CNERGENZ Berhad; Mr. Lye Thim Loong, Chief Corporate Officer & Executive Director of CNERGENZ Berhad [L-R]

KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 29, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Cnergenz Berhad (CNERGENZ), an established electronics manufacturing solutions provider based in Penang, has launched the Company's Prospectus today for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (Bursa Securities).Applications for the IPO have opened starting at 10.00 a.m. today following the Prospectus launch and will close on 11 May 2022. The targeted IPO listing date of the Company on the ACE Market is on 24 May 2022. At the IPO price of RM0.58 per share, CNERGENZ will have a market capitalisation of RM288.84 million ahead of its debut.The IPO involves the public issue of 100.0 million issue shares and an offer for sale of 50.0 million offer shares by way of private placement at the IPO price of RM0.58 per share. From the public issue, 25.0 million issue shares will be made available for application to the Malaysian public, 10.0 million shares will be allocated for application by eligible directors and employees as well as persons who have contributed to the success of CNERGENZ Group, 52.75 million shares will be reserved for private placement to identified investors and 12.25 million shares will be reserved for private placement to identified Bumiputera investors approved by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia (MITI).The IPO is expected to raise gross proceeds of RM58.0 million and shall primarily be channelled towards the Group's expansion of its operational facility, as well as research and development expenditure and working capital purposes.CNERGENZ is an established electronics manufacturing solutions provider specialising in surface mount technology (SMT) catering to the electronics and semiconductor industries (E&S Industries) in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The Group has an established track record in providing integrated solutions that suit the evolving nature and changing technological landscape of the E&S Industries since the commencement of its business in 2004.Chief Executive Officer of CNERGENZ Berhad, Mr. Lye Yhin Choy, said, "We are elated to have reached a new milestone with the Prospectus launch today, bringing us a step closer towards becoming a listed entity on the ACE Market of Bursa Securities. Having been in the E&S space since 2004, our listing is in line with our growth plans and strategies to scale up our operations, expand our integrated solutions and smart factory solutions offerings and develop our own proprietary range of solutions."Chief Executive Officer of UOB Kay Hian Securities (M) Sdn. Bhd. (UOB Kay Hian), Mr. David Lim said, "We are pleased that the interest among institutional and selected investors, as well as MITI Bumiputera institutional and individual investors have been encouraging with many indicating strong interest to subscribe for the IPO."UOB Kay Hian is the principal adviser, sponsor, underwriter, and placement agent for CNERGENZ's IPO.CNERGENZ Bhd: https://cnergenz.comCNERGENZ Bhd: [BURSA: CNERGENZ]Source: Cnergenz BerhadCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
KYIV, Ukraine, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IamUkraine announces the launch of its NFT collection to pave the way towards an iconic artform to aid Ukraine. Focused on improving the domestic humanitarian landscape, the collection is expected to provide support to the struggling population.

IamUkraine is proud to announce its initiative to support the Ukrainian cause with the introduction of the Zelenskiy's NFT collection. The company is launching the paramount collection to provide humanitarian support and assistance to domestic causes in Ukraine. Recognizing the dire humanitarian situation on the ground, the company has paved the way to provide effective support to struggling citizens in Ukraine. IamUkraine has a history of creating iconic digital art to support global initiatives.

More information about the upcoming launch can be found at zelenskiynft.com.

Talking more about the upcoming launch, Project Director Volodymyr Samoilenko said, "We want the world to come together to provide humanitarian support to the Ukrainian cause by supporting this project. The Zelenskiy's NFT collection is centered around showcasing unique art forms to celebrate the bravery shown by ukrainian people and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in recent months. The spirit of the leader has been an inspiration for people around the world. We realized how impactful it was to show global support to the country, and this is a significant step in that direction."

According to the lead artist Mariya Makarenko, "The project will serve as a historical reminder of the global support received by Zelenskyy through this turbulent period. The artistic direction is focused on representing the bravery and fortitude shown by the national leadership through this challenging time. By presenting these art pieces to the world, we're hoping to present a unifying image of the world. The representation of the country's national identity is a hallmark element of the project, and we hope to convey our support through this launch."

Global insiders have welcomed the launch by showing massive support for the initial public offering. The launch follows through on IamUkraine's philosophy to make an impact through expressive art forms. The company has showcased an inclination to stay firm and serve as a unifying force.

IamUkraine is becoming the most promising support project for Ukraine, thanks to the unifying focus of the project. The creative project is also paired with advanced utility to deliver a historic value proposition to customers and followers. In these challenging times, art is emerging as a key source of strength and support.

Further details about the utility and elements of the launch at websit.

Press Contacts:

Name: Anna Vlasenko

Email: press@zelenskiynft.com

Website:https://www.zelenskiynft.com

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LONDON (dpa-AFX) - AstraZeneca PLC (AZN.L, AZN) reported that its first-quarter core earnings per share increased 20% to $1.89. Core operating profit was $3.96 billion, up 60% from prior year. First quarter profit after tax declined to $388 million from $1.56 billion, prior year. Earnings per share was $0.25 compared to $1.18. Total revenue increased 60% to $11.39 billion. Product sales were $10.98 billion compared to $7.26 billion. Total revenue from Oncology increased 25%, for the quarter. Product sales from Oncology increased 18%. The company recorded $1.69 billion from medicines acquired with Alexion. Pascal Soriot, CEO, AstraZeneca, said: 'Farxiga achieved $1 billion revenue in the quarter and our Oncology medicines delivered product sales growth of 18%, despite COVID-19 continuing to impact cancer diagnosis and treatment.' The company reiterated fiscal 2022 guidance at CER. Core earnings per share is expected to increase by a mid-to-high twenties percentage. Total revenue is expected to increase by a high teens percentage. Total revenue from COVID-19 medicines is anticipated to decline by a low-to-mid twenties percentage, the company noted. AstraZeneca also announced plans to open a new site at the heart of the Cambridge, MA, life sciences and innovation hub. The new site will be a strategic R&D centre for AstraZeneca, and Alexion's new corporate headquarters. It is scheduled for completion in 2026, and will bring together approximately 1,500 R&D, commercial and corporate colleagues. 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.
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Rotork plc (ROR.L), on Friday, issued trading update covering the first quarter period from 1 January to 3 April 2022, and reported that Q1 performance was broadly in-line with its expectations. Further, the company noted that order intake was high-single digits above the 2021 comparator, with the Oil & Gas division reporting the highest rate of order growth. Revenue was down mid-single digits year-on-year on an OCC basis, reflecting continued component availability challenges, the cessation of deliveries to Russia, and reduced deliveries from our important Shanghai, China, facility which particularly impacted the Water & Power division. Rotork added that it has retained a strong balance sheet with net cash of 112.5 million at 3 April 2022. Looking ahead, the company remains committed to delivering mid to high single digit revenue growth and mid 20s adjusted operating profit margins over time. 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.
A Case Report Published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science

Herzliya, Israel and Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - Innocan Pharma Corporation (CSE: INNO) (FSE: IP4) (OTCQB: INNPF) (the "Company" or "Innocan") is proud to announce the publication of a case report regarding its compassionate care liposomal-CBD formulation (Innocan's LPT platform) (the "Treatment"). The Treatment was administered to a 14-year-old dog suffering from severe cervical pain, hip and elbow osteoarthritis and testicular neoplasia. It was reported that the Treatment resulted in decreased pain and improved mobility. The journal, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, is a global, peer-reviewed, open access publication that bridges animal and human health, brings a comparative approach to medical and surgical challenges, and advances innovative biotechnology and therapy.

The Treatment involved a novel cannabidiol (CBD) analgesic, administered to a dog that was cachectic and had hip and elbow osteoarthritis and severe neck pain in addition to a testicular neoplasia. The dog had been previously unsuccessfully treated with a canine osteoarthritic supplement, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and gabapentin. Therefore, an addition of Innocan's LPT liposomal CBD injectable formulation was administered subcutaneously and the dog was monitored via: (i) an activity monitoring collar (PetPace); (ii) owner wellbeing questionnaire; (iii) a pain interactive visual analogue scale (iVAS); (iv) blood work and CBD plasma concentrations. One week from the Liposomal-CBD administration and for up to three weeks following the Treatment, the dog had improved and the owner-provided pain scores were reduced from 21 to 10 (on a scale of 40) and iVAS pain scores were reduced from 10 to seven (on a scale of 10). Additionally, collar activity scores were increased from approximately five to 25 (Figure 1). CBD was quantified in the dog's plasma for at least 28 days after the Treatment.





Figure 1

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6922/122083_05ff4cdd34b1b9aa_002full.jpg

This case report showed that subcutaneous administration of liposomal CBD provides high exposure in terms of AUC (Area Under the Curve), with CBD plasma concentrations maintained for at least 28 days after Treatment. The pharmacokinetic data combined with the related efficacy data suggest that treatment with liposomal-CBD in this case may be an effective and attractive additional treatment as part of multimodal pain management in dogs suffering from chronic pain. This formulation can be an alternative route to oral CBD administration in cases where owner compliance, palatability and/or bioavailability are low. Further investigations of this formulation are of interest.

Frontiers | A Case Report of Subcutaneously Injected Liposomal Cannabidiol Formulation Used as a Compassion Therapy for Pain Management in a Dog | Veterinary Science (frontiersin.org).

"I would like to thank our most brilliant team of scientists associated with our Liposome technology labs in Jerusalem: Ahuva Cern, Daniel Zilbersheid, Atara Hod and Prof. Barenholz," said Iris Bincovich, CEO of Innocan, "I am thrilled to see one of the world's most renowned publications covering our achievement from the Jerusalem labs that may serve as evidence to the efficacy of our formulations and drug delivery systems."

Innocan's relationship with The Hebrew University

Innocan Pharma Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, has entered into a worldwide exclusive research and license agreement with Yissum Research and Development Company ("Yissum"), the commercial arm of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with respect to the design, preparation, characterization and evaluation of hydrogels containing CBD (or other cannabinoids) loaded liposomes. The research and development initiative is led by Professor Chezy Barenholz, head of the Membrane and Liposome Research Department at The Hebrew University, which is the inventor of over fifty-five patent families, two of which underlie Doxil, an FDA-approved drug for breast cancer treatment. This unique liposome platform technology may have a wide range of applications, such as epilepsy, pain relief, inflammation and central nervous system disorders. A patent was filed covering this technology on October 7, 2019.

About Innocan

Innocan Pharma is a pharmaceutical technology company that focuses on the development of several drug delivery platforms containing CBD. Innocan Pharma and Ramot at Tel Aviv University are collaborating on a new, revolutionary exosome-based technology that targets both central nervous system (CNS) indications and the Covid-19 Corona Virus using CBD. CBD-loaded exosomes hold the potential to help in the recovery of infected lung cells. This product, which is expected to be administered by inhalation, will be tested against a variety of lung infections.

Innocan Pharma signed a worldwide exclusive license agreement with Yissum, the commercial arm of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to develop a CBD drug delivery platform based on a unique-controlled release liposome to be administered by injection. Innocan Israel plans, together with Professor Barenholz, to test the liposome platform on several potential conditions. Innocan Israel is also working on a dermal product that integrates CBD with other pharmaceutical ingredients as well as the development and sale of CBD-integrated pharmaceuticals, including, but not limited to, topical treatments for the relief of psoriasis symptoms as well as the treatment of muscle pain and rheumatic pain. The founders and officers of Innocan Pharma Ltd. each have commercially successful track records in the pharmaceutical and technology sectors in Israel and globally.

For further information, please contact:

For Innocan Pharma Corporation:

Iris Bincovich, CEO

+972-54-3012842

info@innocanpharma.com

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Caution regarding forward-looking information

Certain information set forth in this news release, including, without limitation, information regarding research and development, collaborations, the filing of potential applications with the FDA and other regulatory authorities, the potential achievement of future regulatory milestones, the potential for treatment of conditions and other therapeutic effects resulting from research activities and/or the Company's products, requisite regulatory approvals and the timing for market entry, is forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond Innocan's control. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Innocan, including expectations and assumptions concerning the anticipated benefits of the products, satisfaction of regulatory requirements in various jurisdictions and satisfactory completion of requisite production and distribution arrangements.

Forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this news release. The key risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: general global and local (national) economic, market and business conditions; governmental and regulatory requirements and actions by governmental authorities; and relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, customers, business partners and competitors. There are also risks that are inherent in the nature of product distribution, including import / export matters and the failure to obtain any required regulatory and other approvals (or to do so in a timely manner) and availability in each market of product inputs and finished products. The anticipated timeline for entry to markets may change for a number of reasons, including the inability to secure necessary regulatory requirements, or the need for additional time to conclude and/or satisfy the manufacturing and distribution arrangements. As a result of the foregoing, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information contained in this news release concerning the timing of launch of product distribution. A comprehensive discussion of other risks that impact Innocan can also be found in Innocan's public reports and filings which are available under Innocan's profile at www.sedar.com.

Readers are cautioned that undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information as actual results may vary materially from the forward-looking information. Innocan does not undertake to update, correct or revise any forward looking information as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122083
Kasei Holdings Plc - Interim Results for the Period Ended 31 January 2022

29 April 2022

KASEI HOLDINGS PLC

("Kasei" or the "Company")

Interim Results for the Period Ended 31 January 2022

Kasei Holdings PLC (AQSE: KASH), a digital asset and web 3.0 investment company, announces its unaudited financial results for the period ending 31 January 2022.

Highlights:

The company raised a total of 3,779,870 prior to listing in its 3 November 2021 Aquis IPO.

Aquis IPO. The company has executed on its pre-IPO strategy and deployed capital to build out its portfolio in large cap and early stage projects.

The company commenced deployment during a down market and so has seen a fall in the value of some of its holdings on a mark-to-market basis. The company remains confident of the investments made and has taken advantage to lower the average cost of a number of investments during this time.

Post-period highlights:

The company continues to evaluate a number of early stage projects for investment.

Commenced staking and yield strategies to generate ongoing recurring revenues.

Received further investment of 150,000 from Jane Thomason the company's Chairperson at 20p per share.

Outlook:

Web 3.0: The Company's belief in Web 3.0 and blockchain technology holds firm regardless of the current market conditions and we are excited to see further use cases and growing adoption of the technology.

Market Size:

The Board believes that the Web 3.0 industry is still in its early stages of adoption and while it is clear a number of challenges lie ahead both from a regulatory standpoint and mass adoption the potential opportunity if it takes hold is a multi-trillion dollar market opportunity. The company believes it has the expertise to capitalise on these opportunities and to identify and invest in the companies that will succeed in Web 3 in the future.

Commenting on the results, Brendan Kearns, Chief Financial Officer of Kasei Holdings said:

"The Company's successful flotation on the AQSE Growth Market was a significant achievement and the company hopes to leverage its expertise to capitalise on future opportunities moving forward.

The directors of Kasei Holdings PLC accept responsibility for this announcement.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our shareholders for their support.

Brendan Kearns - Chief Financial Officer

For further information please contact:

Jai Patel

Chief Investment Officer info@kaseiholdings.com First Sentinel

Corporate Adviser

Brian Stockbridge

Steve McGlennan

+44 7876 888 011

brian@first-sentinel.com

stephen.mcglennan@first-sentinel.com

About Kasei:

The Company is a technology specialist investor that focuses on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies.

The Company's goal is to provide investors with broad based exposure to the fast-growing ecosystem of digital assets, managed using traditional financial portfolio construction techniques. The Company also intends to invest in venture capital and private equity investments in the blockchain ecosystem.

The Company will leverage the Board's expertise, experience, and networks in the cryptocurrency sector and management of digital assets and decentralised finance, to drive value creation and to establish the business. The Board has a proven capability in portfolio management to achieve significant growth.

The Company's website is located at https://kaseiholdings.com

Forward Looking Statements

This news release may contain "forward-looking" statements and information relating to the Company. These statements are based on the beliefs of Company management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Company management. The Company does not undertake to update forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, except as required by law.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was inside information as stipulated under Regulation 11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310 (as amended). Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

KASEI HOLDINGS PLC

CONDENSED INCOME STATEMENT

For the period ended 31 January 2022

Notes  Continuing Operations Revenue - Cost of sales - Gross profit - Other income / (loss) (547,809) Administrative expenses (383,566) Operating profit / (loss) (931,375)

Finance costs

- Profit / (loss) before taxation (931,375) Taxation -

Total comprehensive income for the period

(931,375)

Basic earnings per share from continuingoperations Basic (pence) 5 (0.03290) Diluted (pence) 5 (0.03290)

KASEI HOLDINGS PLC

CONDENSED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

For the period ended 31 January 2022

Unaudited

period to31 January

2022  Non-current assets Note Intangible assets 2,299,153 Investments 7 50,000 2,349,153 Current assets Cash and cash equivalents 731,300 731,300 Total assets 3,080,453 Currentliabilities Other creditors (6,750) Accruals (18,008) Intercompany payables (207,200) (231,958) Total liabilities (24,758) Net assets 2,848,495

Equity attributable to equity holder: Share capital 283,117 Share premium 3,496,753 Retained earnings (931,375) Total equity 2,848,495

KASEI HOLDINGS PLC

CONDENSED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

For the period ended 31 January 2022

Share

capital Share

premium Retained

earnings Total

equity    

At 09 July 2021

-

-

- Comprehensive

income for the period - - (931,375) (931,375) Shares issued during

the period 283,117 3,496,753 - 3,779,870 At31January2022 283,117 3,496,753 (931,375) 2,848,495

KASEI HOLDINGS PLC

CONDENSED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

For the period ended 31 January 2022

Unaudited

Yearto31 January

2022  Cash flow from operating activities (Loss) / profit before taxation (931,375) Operating cash flow before movement in working

capital (931,375) Increase/(decrease) in trade and other payables 231,959 Cash (used in) / generated from operating activities (699,416)

Taxation paid

- Cash flow from investing activities Purchase of intangible digital assets (2,299,154) Purchase of fixed asset investments (50,000) Net cash used in investing activities (2,349,154) Cash flow from financing activities Issue of ordinary shares 3,779,870 Net cash used in financing activities 3,779,870 Net increase / (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 731,300 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period - Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 731,300

KASEI HOLDINGS PLC

NOTES TO THE CONDENSED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the period ended 31 January 2021

1.General information

Kasei Holdings plc is a public limited company incorporated on 09 July 2022 within the United Kingdom. The company is domiciled in the United Kingdom and its principal place of business is 72 Charlotte Street Ground Floor, London, England, W1T 4QQ. The Company's ordinary shares are traded on the Aquis Exchange.

These condensed interim financial statements for the period ending 31 January 2022 were approved by the board of directors on 27 April 2022.

The financial information set out in this interim report does not constitute statutory accounts for the purposes of section 434 of the Companies Act (2006).

The interim financial statements have been prepared using accounting policies in line with FRS 102, The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Copies of this interim report can be found on our website at www.kaseiholdings.com or can be requested from the Company Secretary at the Company's registered office: 72 Charlotte Street Ground Floor, London, England, W1T 4QQ.

2.Basis of preparation

These interim financial statements for the period ended 31 January 2022 have been prepared in accordance with FRS 104, The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

3.Revenue and segmental results

The Company uses several factors in identifying and analysing reportable segments, including the basis of organisation such as differences in products and geographical areas. The Board of Directors, being the chief operating decision makers, has determined that for the period ended 31 January 2022 there is only one reportable operating segment.

4.Earnings per share

Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the profit attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the year.

Diluted earnings per share are calculated by dividing the profit attributable to ordinary owners of the parent by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the year plus the weighted average number of ordinary shares that would have been issued on the conversion of all dilutive potential ordinary shares into ordinary shares.

The following reflects the income and share data used and dilutive earnings per share computations:

Unaudited

period to31 January

2022 Profit / (loss) for the year attributable to owners of the Company  (931,375) Number of shares Basic weighted average number of shares 28,311,684 Effect of dilutive share options - Diluted weighted average number of shares 28,311,684

5. Dividends

During the interim period no dividends were declared in respect of the interim period ended 31 January 2022.

6. Fixed asset investments

Company

Investments in

subsidiaries companies  Cost or valuation As at 09 July 2021 - Additions 50,000 As at 31 January 2022 50,000

Direct subsidiary undertakings

The following were direct subsidiary undertakings of the Company:
The FIGEAC AERO Group (ticker: FGA) (the "Company"), a leading partner for the major aerospace manufacturers, announces the amendment of the agenda of the extraordinary and ordinary general meeting of shareholders to be held on May 20, 2022 pursuant to the terms of the agreement on the improvement of its financial structure announced on April 5, 2022 (the "Agreement") and disclosure of the documentation for such general meeting of shareholders.

Addition of four ordinary resolutions to the agenda of the extraordinary and ordinary general meeting of shareholders of May 20, 2022

In accordance with the indicative timetable set out in the press release published on April 5, 2022, the Company has announced on April 15, 2022 the convening of an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on May 20, 2022 at 11 a.m. at the Company's registered office located at Z.I. de l'Aiguille - 46100 FIGEAC. A meeting notice was published today for this purpose in the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires on April 15, 2022.

As announced in the press releases dated April 5, 2022 and April 15, 2022, the completion of the share capital increase reserved to Tikehau Ace Capital on the basis of the 3rd and 4th resolutions put to the vote would be accompanied by a change in the composition of the Company's Board of Directors (in line with the recommendations of the Middlenext Code).

In this context, the Company annonces the publication today in the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires of a convening notice containing an amendment to the meeting notice published on April 15, 2022, in order to amend the agenda and the draft resolutions of the general meeting of shareholders to insert four ordinary resolutions.

Shareholders will be then asked to vote on the following agenda:

Resolutions for the extraordinary general meeting

Amendments to the terms of the net share settled bonds convertible into new shares and/or exchangeable for existing shares issued on October 18, 2017 (the "ORNANE") - Amendment to the conversion ratio; Amendments to the terms of the 10th, 11th and 15th resolutions approved by the general meeting of shareholders of September 29, 2017, as part of the Modifications of the characteristics of the ORNANE; Delegation of competence granted to the board of directors for the purpose of deciding on the issuance of shares, with cancellation of the shareholders' preferential subscription right in favour of named beneficiaries; Cancellation of the preferential subscription right of the shareholders for the purpose of the third resolution of the general meeting in favour of Tikehau Ace Capital or any affiliate of Tikehau Ace Capital; Delegation of competence to the board of directors to proceed with the issuance reserved to employees who are members of a company savings plan, with cancellation of the preferential subscription right to the benefit of the latter, of shares and/or securities giving access to new shares of the Company in accordance with Article L. 225-138-1 of the French Commercial Code.

Resolutions for the ordinary general meeting

Appointment of Mr. Franck Crepin as a director subject to and with effect from the settlement-delivery of at least 9,553,571 new shares at an issuance price of EUR 5.60, issued on the basis of the 3rd and 4th resolutions presented at this general meeting, corresponding to a share capital increase of a total amount of EUR 53,449,997.60 (including the issuance premium); Appointment of Mr. Eric Raynaud as a director subject to and with effect from the settlement-delivery of at least 9,553,571 new shares at an issuance price of EUR 5.60, issued on the basis of the 3rd and 4th resolutions presented at this general meeting, corresponding to a share capital increase of a total amount of EUR 53,449,997.60 (including the issuance premium); Appointment of Mrs Anne Tauby as a director subject to and with effect from the settlement-delivery of at least 9,553,571 new shares at an issuance price of EUR 5.60, issued on the basis of the 3rd and 4th resolutions presented at this general meeting, corresponding to a share capital increase of a total amount of EUR 53,449,997.60 (including the issuance premium); Appointment of Mrs Eliane Rouchon as a director subject to and with effect from the settlement-delivery of at least 9,553,571 new shares at an issuance price of EUR 5.60, issued on the basis of the 3rd and 4th resolutions presented at this general meeting, corresponding to a share capital increase of a total amount of EUR 53,449,997.60 (including the issuance premium).

Information relating to Franck Crepin, Eric Raynaud, Anne Tauby and Eliane Rouchon, whose appointment to the Board of Directors is proposed at the extraordinary and ordinary general meeting of shareholders to be held on May 20, 2022, are set out in Appendix 1 of the Report of the Board of Directors at such general meeting available on the Company's website (www.figeac-aero.com - Investors' Area section).

Disclosure of the documentation for the general meeting of shareholders

The Company reminds that the conditions of participation and voting at the extraordinary and ordinary general meeting of shareholders to be held on May 20, 2022 are set out in the meeting notice published in the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires on April 15, 2022 and in the convening notice published in the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires today containing an amendment to the meeting notice. A copy of these notices is available on the Company's website (www.figeac-aero.com - Investors' Area section).

All the information and the preparatory documents to this extraordinary and ordinary general meeting of shareholders, in particular the information provided for in Articles R. 22-10-23, R. 225-81 and R. 225-83 of the French Commercial Code, are available on the Company's website (www.figeac-aero.com - Investors' Area section) and are made available to shareholders at the Company's registered office located at Z.I. de l'Aiguille - 46100 FIGEAC.

Shareholders are invited to regularly consult the Company's website in order to have access to all up-to-date information concerning the extraordinary and ordinary general meeting of shareholders to be held on May 20, 2022.

ABOUT FIGEAC AERO

The FIGEAC AERO Group, a leading partner of major aerospace manufacturers, specialises in producing light alloy and hard metal structural parts, engine parts, landing gear and sub-assemblies. FIGEAC AERO is a global group operating in France, the USA, Morocco, Mexico, Romania and Tunisia. The Group generated annual revenue of 204.6 million in the year to 31st March 2021.

FIGEAC AERO

Jean-Claude Maillard - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Tel.: +33 (0)5 65 34 52 52



Camille Traineau

Corporate Development Director Institutional Relations / IR

Tel.: +33 (0)5 81 24 61 90 / camille.traineau@figeac-aero.com ACTUS Finance & Communication

Corinne Puissant - Analyst/Investor Relations

Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 77 / cpuissant@actus.fr



Manon Clairet - Press Relations

Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 77 / mclairet@actus.fr

DISCLAIMER

This press release contains forward-looking statements about FIGEAC AERO and in particular forward-looking statements relating to FIGEAC AERO's ability to implement its operational optimization plan and the impact of this plan on FIGEAC AERO's ability to limit the impact of the significant decline in activity related to the Covid-19 crisis on the Group's profitability. The use of certain words, such as "believe", "potential", "hope", "should", "objective" and other similar expressions or expressions, is intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that its projections are based on current reasonable assumptions and expectations of its management, these forward-looking statements may be affected by a number of known or unknown hazards and uncertainties, which could result in results materially different from those described, induced or anticipated, expressly or implicitly, in such forward-looking statements. These hazards and uncertainties include, in particular, aircraft production rates emanating from manufacturers. In addition, while the Company's results, performance, financial condition and liquidity and the development of the industry in which it operates are consistent with such forward-looking statements, they are not predictive of future results or developments. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date this document is made. Subject to applicable regulations, the Company makes no commitment to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Forward-looking statements and statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond the control of FIGEAC AERO.

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Twig Group, a London based fintech, announces the acquisition of Mobi Market, a premier UK based mobile phone recommerce player, in a deal worth over $10m.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005052/en/

Names left to right: Dean Ray, Oliver Tedcastle, Geri Cupi, Emeka Nwadike and Dominic Lovegrove. (Photo: Business Wire)

Twig Group is the fastest growing European fintech, providing an array of financial services rooted in circular economy principles. Its suite of products include a mobile banking solution called Twig app, Twig Pay, which is a checkout and merchant based circular payment solution and For The Earth a B2B impact sustainability solution.

Mobi Market is one of Europe's fastest growing value-added recommerce players of used mobile phones, offering a circularity based service, which enables users to quickly and easily resell their pre-owned mobile phones. In addition, Mobi Market has key relationships with Network Operators, Retailers and Insurance Companies to provide high quality pre-owned devices to a wide variety of customers.

Through the acquisition of Mobi Market, Twig Group will augment its ability to service its customer base with yet another circular economy proposition, further boosting its credentials with its core customer base consisting mainly of Gen Z and Millennials.

This includes embedding its Twig Pay service a checkout feature promoting the greenest circular payments solution in the market, allowing customers to use their pre-owned fashion and electronics items, for instant trade in and to finance their new purchases.

Geri Cupi, Twig's founder and CEO comments: ''We are excited to welcome Mobi Market and its team into our Twig ecosystem. Mobi Market has proven itself a leader in the field, a testament to Dom's, Emeka's, Dean's and Oliver's work. We look forward to joining forces to bring another dimension to circular economy services and delighting our customers."

Dominic Lovegrove, Mobi Market's co-founder mentions: "Since its very inception in 2016, Mobi Market growth has been powered by the mission of establishing a credible and efficient ecosystem for used mobile phones, as a sustainable proposition for our customers. Today, as we enjoy one of the fastest growth trajectories in the sector, we are excited to partner with Twig and drive Mobi Market into its next chapter. We look forward to continuing our customer focus with improved capabilities thanks to our Twig partnership."

Twig Group were advised by Devonshires Solicitors and Rawlinson Hunter.

www.twig-group.com

Ends

Notes to Editors

About Twig

Twig is a London, UK-based new generation fintech, rooted in circular economy principles It's mission is to empower consumers to value, unlock and enjoy wealth that they never knew they had.

Clients can get instant cash for the fashion and electronic items they no longer want.

As a part of its unique proposition, Twig is now offering a carbon offsetting service, making it possible for its clients to offset their entire lifestyle carbon footprint.

All of this is in addition to enjoying traditional banking service benefits (debit card, domestic and international bank transfers). Twig powers the circular economy, making Twig a positive and compelling environmentally conscious choice for the consumer.

Twig is committed to making a positive impact on the environment and it is officially certified B Corp.

About Mobi Market

Mobi Market was founded in 2016 by Dominic Lovegrove, Emeka Nwadike, Dean Ray and Oliver Tedcastle, with a mission to power a sustainable alternative to the mobile market ecosystem, providing a seamless way for consumers to sell their pre owned mobile phones.

Mobi Market is currently the UK's fastest growing value-added resellers in the used mobile phones sector, bringing a circular and sustainable approach to the personal electronic mass consumption.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005052/en/

Contacts:

For further information contact:

Ben Demiri

ben.demiri@twig-group.com
Robertet is pleased to announce the acquisition of Omega Ingredients.

Omega Ingredients is a company based in the UK specializing in the creation of the hi- ghest quality, provenance driven, natural flavors & ingredients for the food & beverage industry. This investment reaffirms the Robertet Group's determination to strengthen its leadership in natural flavor solutions by reinforcing its presence in the UK market. It will also create new synergies within the group to better address new emerging customers clearly identified for future growth. Omega ingredients will benefit from Robertet's ex- pertise and creativity in naturals, to enhance all the values that made Omega so unique and successful.

Olivier Maubert, Head of Flavor and Health&Beauty Divisions, Robertet says:  We are proud to welcome Omega Ingredients into the Robertet family. We share the same passion for na- tural products with a common concern for the future of the planet. Omega will add their unique approach complementing the creativity of Robertet. We are impressed by the motivation and de- dication of their team, very aligned with the original values of Robertet. This acquisition will help consolidate our leadership in natural flavors and strengthen the group's position in the UK and in other markets where Omega has a good presence. 

Steve Pearce, founder and CEO, Omega Ingredients comments:  Omega Ingredients is excited to begin the next chapter of its history as part of the Robertet Group. We share the same pas- sion for naturals and products of excellence, the same vision with our CSR policies and of a strongly integrated sourcing of natural flavors and extracts. We are looking forward to contributing to Ro- bertet's vision and growth. 

About Robertet:

ROBERTET S.A. was founded in 1850 in Grasse, France and is the worldwide leader in Naturals. Robertet is the only fragrance, flavor and ingredient company fully integrated at each step of the creation process, from the source of the ingredient to the final pro- duct. Today, Robertet is present in over 50 countries and has approximatively 2 000 employees worldwide.

Visit www.robertet.com for further details.

About Omega Ingredients:

Omega Ingredients was established in 2001 in the UK, focusing on the creation of the highest quality, provenance driven, natural flavors & ingredients for the food & beve- rage industry. Renowned worldwide for delivering innovative, cutting-edge bioche- mistry through the use of all-natural materials, Omega Ingredients has developed a stel- lar network of suppliers and partners to ensure the highest quality ingredients possible.

Visit www.omegaingredients.co.uk for further details.

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 29, 2022 / SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (TSX:SGQ, HK:1878) ("SouthGobi" or the "Company") announces that reference is made to the Company's announcements dated March 11, March 24, March 28, March 31 and April 14, 2022 (the "Announcements"). Unless otherwise defined herein, capitalized terms used in this announcement shall have the same respective meanings as defined in the Announcements.

The Company provides this bi-weekly default status report in relation to the management cease trade order dated April 1, 2022 ("MCTO") granted by the British Columbia Securities Commission ("BCSC") pursuant to National Policy 12-203 - Cease Trade Orders for Continuous Disclosure Defaults ("NP 12-203"). With the granting of the MCTO, the Company has until May 30, 2022, being the expiry date of the MCTO, to file the 2021 Annual Filings. The Company is required to file bi-weekly default status reports in accordance with NP 12-203 until such time that as the default in filing the 2021 Annual Filings is remedied. Pursuant to the MCTO, the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer of the Company are not permitted to trade any securities of the Company unless and until such time as the Company files the 2021 Annual Filings. While the MCTO is in effect, the shareholders of the Company will continue to be able to trade the Company's common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ("HKEx").

As disclosed in the Announcements, the Company was advised by its external auditors (the "Auditors") that they were not able to render an unmodified opinion on the Company's 2021 Financial Statements prior to the Annual Filing Deadline as they have not been able to obtain sufficient evidence to support management's going concern assumptions. Consequently, the Company was not able to file the 2021 Annual Filings prior to the Annual Filing Deadline as required under applicable Canadian securities laws.

The Company continues to attempt to obtain and provide the Auditors with sufficient evidence to support management's going concern assumptions, and will attempt to obtain an unmodified opinion from the Auditors on the 2021 Financial Statements prior to the expiry of the MCTO.

Unless and until such time as the Company files the 2021 Annual Filings, shareholders and potential investors of the Company are urged to exercise extreme caution when dealing in the securities of the Company. If the Company is unable to file the 2021 Annual Filings prior to the expiry of the MCTO, it is anticipated that the BCSC will issue a general "failure to file" cease trade order ("CTO") prohibiting the trading by any person of any securities of the Company, including trades in the Company's common shares made through the TSX, which would take effect shortly after the expiry of the MCTO and would remain in place until such time as the 2021 Annual Filings have been filed. In the event a CTO is issued, the Company anticipates that the trading in the Company's common shares will be halted on the TSX, and the trading in the common shares of the Company on the HKEx will also be suspended until such time as the CTO is lifted and trading resumes on the TSX.

Other than as disclosed herein, the Company confirms that since April 14, 2022: (i) there have been no material changes to the information set out in the announcement dated April 14, 2022 that has not been generally disclosed; (ii) there have been no failures by the Company in fulfilling its stated intentions with respect to satisfying the provisions of the alternative information guidelines under NP 12-203; (iii) there has been no other, or anticipated, specified default under NP 12-203 concerning the Company; and (iv) there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed.

If there is any inconsistency or discrepancy between the English version and the Chinese version, the English version shall prevail.

Shareholders of the Company and potential investors are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the securities of the Company.

About SouthGobi

SouthGobi, listed on the Toronto and Hong Kong stock exchanges, owns and operates its flagship Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in Mongolia. It also holds the mining licences of its other metallurgical and thermal coal deposits in South Gobi region of Mongolia. SouthGobi produces and sells coal to customers in China.

Contact:

Investor Relations

Office: +852 2156 1438 (Hong Kong)

+1 604 762 6783 (Canada)

Email: info@southgobi.com

Website: www.southgobi.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information included in this press release that is not current or historical factual information constitutes forward-looking statements or information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including information regarding the Company's expectation that the BCSC will issue a CTO against the company if the Company cannot file the 2021 Annual Filings prior to the expiry of the MCTO. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "could", "should", "seek", "likely", "estimate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on certain factors and assumptions including, among other things, the ability of the Company to obtain and provide to the Auditors sufficient evidence to support management's going concern assumptions, and obtain an unmodified opinion from the Auditors on the 2021 Financial Statements prior to the expiry of the MCTO and other similar factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from what the Company currently expects. Actual results may vary from the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue importance on forward-looking statements, which speaks only as of the date of this disclosure, and not to rely upon this information as of any other date. While the Company may elect to, it is under no obligation and does not undertake to, update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, further events or otherwise at any particular time, except as required by law. Additional information concerning factors that may cause actual results to materially differ from those in such forward-looking statements is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and can be found under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: SouthGobi Resources Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/699442/Corporate-Update
KANAZAWA, Japan, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at Kanazawa University in collaboration with teams from Toyama Prefectural University and BioSeeds Corporation report in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces the identification of a molecule with enhanced antiproliferative activity in cancer cells. The underlying biomolecular mechanism is the inhibition of an enzyme that is overproduced in several types of cancer.

Vitamin D3 has important biological functions, including maintaining bone mineral density, which minimizes the risk of bone fracture. But vitamin D3 is also believed to have anticancer activity, as low vitamin D3 levels and the associated overproduction of an enzyme called CYP24 are linked to a poor prognosis for cancer patients. Molecules that limit or inhibit the action of CYP24 and molecules that mimic the function of vitamin D3 are nowadays highly researched as potential antiproliferative agents for cancer treatment. But many of the inhibitors and D3 analogs synthesized so far have shown insufficient clinical response, as well as undesired side effects. Now, Madhu Biyani from Kanazawa University and colleagues have identified a DNA-derived molecule that binds to and inhibits the function of CYP24 and shows promising antiproliferative activity. The research team also provides detailed insights into the relevant molecular processes at play.

The scientists screened a large number of DNA aptamers - pieces of single-stranded DNA with particular three-dimensional structures that can bind to specific target molecules and have a functional effect upon binding. They looked for DNA aptamers that bind to CYP24 but not to the similar enzyme CYP271B, which is responsible for the synthesis of vitamin D3.

An initial longlist of 18 aptamer candidates was reduced to 11 representatives with specific molecular structures. The researchers checked the CYP24 inhibition activity of the 11 representative aptamers in vitro. Four candidates resulting in the inhibition of CYP24 but not in the inhibition of CYP27B1 remained, of which one (Apt-7) was retained for further study.

Biyani and colleagues performed simulations of Apt-7 binding to CYP24. A molecular docking scenario was obtained, which they checked experimentally by comparing the behavior of a mixture of vitamin D3 and CYP24 with and without Apt-7. The simulations and the experiments showed that Apt-7 results in the inhibition of CYP24 activity, and that what happens is that the aptamer likely interferes with the enzyme's active site. The researchers also performed high-speed atomic force microscopy on the binding of CYP24 and Apt-7 in real time, confirming the molecular docking scenario obtained from simulations.

Finally, the research team studied the effect of Apt-7 at the cellular level by introducing the molecule to cancer cells. They observed significant CYP24 inhibition for a cancer cell line known to overexpress the CYP24 enzyme, thus showing antiproliferative activity. Quoting Biyani and colleagues, these findings "clearly characterized and proposed that a DNA aptamer-based molecule could be a promising lead candidate for anticancer therapy.

Background

Vitamin D

Vitamin D refers to a group of molecules responsible for increasing the intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate. In humans, the most important molecules from this group are vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol).

The major natural source of vitamin D3 is its synthesis in the skin through a chemical reaction requiring sun exposure. Vitamins D2 and D3 can be obtained from food, but only a few foods, such as the flesh of fatty fish, naturally contain significant amounts.

One of the most important roles of vitamin D is maintaining skeletal calcium balance through the promotion of calcium absorption in the intestines and maintaining calcium and phosphate levels for bone formation.

Vitamin D deficiency can result in low bone mineral density and in an increased risk of osteoporosis (reduced bone density) and bone fracture.

Vitamin D3 also plays a role as an anticancer agent, because the overexpression of an enzyme called CYP24 (involved in catalytic reactions that activate vitamin D3) and related low vitamin D3 levels are associated with a poor prognosis for cancer patients.

Madhu Biyani from Kanazawa University and colleagues have now identified a molecule (Apt-7) that inhibits CYP24, and as such displays antiproliferative activity in cancer cells.

Atomic force microscopy

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an imaging technique in which the image is formed by scanning a surface with a very small tip attached to a small cantilever. Horizontal scanning motion of the tip is controlled via piezoelectric elements; the vertical position of the tip changes as it follows the sample's height profile, generating a force on the cantilever that can be measured and back-converted into a measure of the height. The result is a height map of the sample's surface. As the technique does not involve lenses, its resolution is not restricted by the so-called diffraction limit as in X-ray diffraction, for example.

Biyani and colleagues used high-speed AFM to study the molecular binding mechanism of CYP24 and Apt-7, a candidate CYP24 inhibitor.

Reference

Madhu Biyani, Kaori Yasuda, Yasuhiro Isogai, Yuki Okamoto, Wei Weilin, Noriyuki Kodera, Holger Flechsig, Toshiyuki Sakaki, Miki Nakajima, and Manish Biyani. Novel DNA Aptamer for CYP24A1 Inhibition with Enhanced Antiproliferative Activity in Cancer Cells, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 14, 18064-18078 (2022).

DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c22965

URL: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsami.1c22965

Figures

Figure 1.

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/figure_1.png

Caption: An integrated approach of HS-AFM and molecular docking to reveal the binding mechanism of Apt-7 to CYP24

(A) The three-dimensional view of the top-ranking docked conformations of CYP24 and Apt-7. The predicted binding sites of Apt-7 are shown by arrow. Aptamer binds to the substrate binding site of CYP24 (binding site-1) and to the ADX binding site of CYP24 (binding site-2).

(B) Comparison of the pseudo-HS-AFM graphics of CYP24-Apt-7 using molecular docking generated top-ranked pose of CYP24-Apt-7 complex to the real-time images captured by HS-AFM.

Figure 2.

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/figure_2.png

Caption: Internalization of aptamer into A549 cells is indispensable for CYP24 inhibition and enhancing 1, 25-D3 mediated cell-growth inhibition.

(A) Internalization of Aptamer into A549 cells. A549 lung cancer cells were treated with 500 nM aptamer Apt-7 and had their membranes stained green (Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA) Conjugates). Confocal microscopy revealed the intracellular signal, derived from internalized aptamer (red fluorescence, Cy3). (B) Apt-7 inhibits the CYP24-mediated catabolism of 1,25-D3 in A549 cells. After 18 h of aptamer treatment, 1, 25-D3 metabolite conversion ratio and relative CYP24 activity was determined by HPLC. (C) Apt-7 enhances the anti-proliferative function of 1, 25-D3 in A549 cells.

Contact details:

Hiroe Yoneda

Vice Director of Public Affairs

WPI Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)

Kanazawa University

Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

Email: nanolsi-office@adm.kanazawa-u.ac.jp

Tel: +81 (76) 234-4550

About Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/en/

Nano Life Science Institute (NanoLSI), Kanazawa University is a research center established in 2017 as part of the World Premier International Research Center Initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The objective of this initiative is to form world-tier research centers. NanoLSI combines the foremost knowledge of bio-scanning probe microscopy to establish 'nano-endoscopic techniques' to directly image, analyze, and manipulate biomolecules for insights into mechanisms governing life phenomena such as diseases.

About Kanazawa University

http://www.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/e/

As the leading comprehensive university on the Sea of Japan coast, Kanazawa University has contributed greatly to higher education and academic research in Japan since it was founded in 1949. The University has three colleges and 17 schools offering courses in subjects that include medicine, computer engineering, and humanities.

The University is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan in Kanazawa - a city rich in history and culture. The city of Kanazawa has a highly respected intellectual profile since the time of the fiefdom (1598-1867). Kanazawa University is divided into two main campuses: Kakuma and Takaramachi for its approximately 10,200 students including 600 from overseas.
Funding to accelerate the development of Li-Metal's technologies in support of a sustainable domestic battery materials supply chain

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 29, 2022 / Li-Metal Corp. (CSE:LIM) (OTC PINK:LIMFF) (FSE:5ZO) ("Li-Metal" or the "Company"), a leading developer of lithium metal anode and lithium metal technologies critical for next-generation batteries, is pleased to announce that it has been granted CAD$1.9 million ("the Grant"), as part of a CAD$5.1 million joint project with Blue Solutions, awarded by Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), an industry-led organization supporting advanced manufacturing in Canada, to develop the Company's lithium metal anode technologies.

"If we want to win business in the globally competitive EV market, Canada must invest in world-leading advanced manufacturing capabilities, in the cleanest, most cutting-edge technologies and processes," said Jayson Myers, CEO, NGen. "That's why NGen has co-invested with Li-Metal and Blue Solutions in game-changing technologies that will sustainably drive the next generation of EV batteries, resulting in cleaner, more efficient electric vehicles and driving new investment and employment opportunities for businesses across Canada.

"We are excited to receive NGen's support as we continue to advance the development of lithium metal and anode technology," stated Maciej Jastrzebski, co-founder and CEO. "Ultimately, this grant will help our mission to secure a more sustainable battery materials supply chain for North American next-generation battery makers, significantly advancing Li-Metal's progress to automotive-grade commercial production."

Through its previously announced joint development and commercialization agreement, Li-Metal will work with Blue Solution to advance the development, and test the performance of, the Company's lithium metal anodes for the automotive market. The proceeds of the Grant will be used to support the commercialization of technologies for reprocessing of lithium metal and production of ultra-thin high-performance low-cost lithium metal anodes. This will enable Li-Metal to supply battery materials and components needed for product qualification - a key step before next-generation batteries can be used in electric vehicles.

Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen)

NGen is the industry-led not-for-profit organization that leads Canada's Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster. Its mandate is to help build world-leading advanced manufacturing capabilities in Canada for the benefit of Canadians. NGen works to strengthen collaboration among its membership of more than 4,500 manufacturers, technology companies, innovation centres, and researchers, and provides funding and business support to industry-led initiatives that aim to develop, apply, or scale-up transformative manufacturing solutions in Canada for commercialization in global markets.

On behalf of the Board

"Maciej Jastrzebski"

Maciej Jastrzebski

CEO and Director

About Li-Metal Corp.

Li-Metal is a Canadian-based company developing lithium metal anodes and lithium metal production technologies for use in next generation batteries. Our production methods are significantly more sustainable than existing products and offer lighter, more energy dense and safer batteries that are critical to tomorrow's electric vehicles. For more information visit, www.li-metal.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to the Company. Any such forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "projects", "plans" and similar expressions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Statements about, among other things, the Company's strategic plans are forward-looking information. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that the development of the business of the Company will be completed as described above. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by applicable law.

Investor Contact

For more information on Li-Metal or to be added to the Company's email distribution list, please contact:

Salisha Ilyas

ir@li-metal.com

Tel: 647-795-1653

Media Contact

Harry Nicholas

Li-MetalPR@icrinc.com

SOURCE: Li-Metal Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/699333/Li-Metal-Selected-for-5-Million-Industry-Consortium-to-Advance-Lithium-Metal-Solid-State-Batteries
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.
TAIZHOU, China, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 25th, the annual The GREENPOWER International Fair kicked off at the International Exhibition Centre in Poznan, Poland. Niwa series of TOPCon modules received the officially certified MTP Gold Medal Award. EC Group, as Jolywood Solar's co-distributor in Poland attended the Fair with Niwa modules and representatives of Jolywood Solar attended the award ceremony. The GREENPOWER International Fair is the largest exhibition in the field of new energy in Poland, attracting many international and domestic enterprises to participate every year to discuss the future development of renewable energy in Poland.

The exhibition invites experts in the industry to select a number of high-quality modules with excellent performance every year to be affirmed and praised, Niwa Black modules stand out in the selection with excellent quality and innovation, and have been unanimously recognized by expert judges, and finally won the MTP Gold Medal Award, which is well deserved. The MTP Gold Medal Award is one of the most high-profile awards at the show, the competition is very fierce, and it can be finally won, which shows that Niwa modules have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and their high quality has been unanimously recognized by the market. Jolywood Solar's modules are very popular in Poland and have always been the darling of the market. Its high power, high reliability, low LeTID, no LID and other advantages, very in line with the needs of the local market, the temperature coefficient is as low as -0.32%/W, effectively reducing the output loss and risk caused by high temperature in the use of equipment, perfectly solving the problem of power output of components operating in extreme climates, and perfectly adapting to local climatic conditions.

According to EC Group, Jolywood Solar's long-time co-distributor in Poland, we choose the most suitable modules according to the market demand, and Niwa modules are our answer. At present, many rooftop project in Poland will choose Niwa modules, its strength is able to withstand the test of the market, it is very happy to cooperate with Jolywood Solar, we are committed to a two-way communication, and jointly contribute to the renewable energy cause in Poland.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1807685/image1.jpg
STOCKHOLM, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The shareholders of Zinzino AB (publ) are hereby summoned to the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, May 31, 2022 at 13.30 in the company's premises at Hulda Mellgrens gata 5 in Gothenburg. Registration begins at 13.15.

It is the company's ambition to broadcast the meeting on the web to be able to attend the meeting at a distance.

RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Shareholders who wish to participate in the Annual General Meeting shall be entered in the share register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB as of Monday, May 20, 2022, and no later than Monday, May 30, 2022, announced its intention to participate in the Annual General Meeting in accordance with the regulations below.

Shareholders who have had their shares registered with a nominee must, in order to be entitled to participate in the Annual General Meeting, temporarily has the shares registered in its own name in that of Euroclear Sweden AB kept the share register. Such registration, which normally takes a few days, must be completed no later than Tuesday, May 24, 2022. The trustee should therefore be notified well in advance of this time.

HOW TO REGISTER

Registration for participation in the meeting can be made as follows:

by post to Zinzino AB, Hulda Mellgrens gata 5, 421 32 Vastra Frolunda, or

by e-mail to fredrik.nielsen@zinzino.com

When registering, the shareholder must state:

Name

Person / organization number

Address and telephone number during the day

Where applicable, name and number (maximum two) of assistants to accompany the shareholder at the meeting.

Shareholders who wish to be represented by a proxy must issue a written and dated power of attorney for the proxy. Proxy forms can be obtained through the company and will also be available on the company's website, www.zinzino.com . If participation takes place through a representative or deputy, a power of attorney, registration certificate or other authorization documents should be submitted to the company well in advance before the general meeting.

DRAFT AGENDA

Opening of the meeting. Election of chairman at the meeting. Establishment and approval of the voting list. Decision to send a video recording of the meeting via the Internet Election of one or two approvers to adjust the minutes together with the chairman. Approval of the agenda. Examination of whether the meeting has been duly convened. Speech by the CEO. Presentation of submitted annual report and auditor's report as well as consolidated accounts and consolidated auditor's report. Decision on the adoption of the income statement and balance sheet and consolidated income statement and consolidated balance sheet for 2021 dispositions regarding the company's profit or loss according to the approved balance sheet discharge of liability for board members and the CEO. Determination of the number of board members, deputies and auditors to be elected by the meeting. Resolution on fees to the board members and auditor. Election of board members and the chairman of the board and auditor. Decision on the establishment of principles for the Nomination Committee. Decision on issue of warrants - incentive program for employees and others. Resolution on a directed new issue of shares with payment by set-off of the claim to Kenneth Koh . Resolution on a directed new issue of shares with payment by set-off of the claim to Enhanzz AG. Decision on issue authorization for preferential rights issues. Decision on issue authorization for private placements. Submission of the Board's remuneration report for approval. Resolution on the shareholder's proposal for the issue of warrants - incentive program for the Board members. Decision on adjustment authorization Closing of the meeting.

NOMINATION PREPARATION

In accordance with a resolution of the 2021 Annual General Meeting, a Nomination Committee has been established. The Nomination Committee consists of Magnus Gotenfelt (representing Saele Invest AS and the Saele family), Cecilia Halldner (representing Cashflow Holding ApS , Peter Sorensen) and Hans Jacobsson (Chairman of the Board of Zinzino AB). The Chairman of the Nomination Committee is Magnus Gotenfelt.

THE NOMINATION COMMITTEE'S DECISION MOTION

Item 2. Election of chairman of the meeting

The Nomination Committee proposes that Hans Jacobsson or, in the absence of him, the person appointed by the Nomination Committee instead be elected Chairman of the meeting

Item 11. Determination of the number of board members, deputies and auditors to be elected by the meeting

The Nomination Committee proposes that the Board shall consist of five Board members and zero Deputy Board members, and that the number of auditors shall be one.

Item 12. Resolution on fees to the board members and auditor

The Nomination Committee proposes that the Board fee be unchanged compared to the previous year and be paid in a total of SEK 980,000, of which SEK 280,000 to the Chairman, SEK 160,000 to each of the other Board members, SEK 25,000 to the Chairman of the Audit Committee and SEK 15,000 to a member of the Audit Committee and SEK 10,000 to the chairman of the remuneration committee and SEK 10,000 to a member of the remuneration committee.

The Nomination Committee proposes that fees to the auditor be paid in accordance with an invoice approved by the company.

Item 13. Election of board members and the chairman of the board and auditor

The Nomination Committee proposes, for the period until the end of the next Annual General Meeting, re-election of the members Hans Jacobsson, Staffan Hillberg, Pierre Martensson, Ingela Nordenhav and Anna Frick.

The Nomination Committee proposes, for the period until the end of the next Annual General Meeting, re-election of the registered auditing company Ohrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers AB (PwC) as the company's auditor. PwC has announced that, subject to the Nomination Committee's proposal being adopted by the Annual General Meeting, the authorized public accountant Fredrik Goransson will be appointed chief auditor.

14. Decision on the establishment of principles for the Nomination Committee.

The Nomination Committee proposes that the AGM continue to have a Nomination Committee to be appointed and operate in accordance with the principles below. The principles correspond to the previous year's principles for the Nomination Committee.

The Chairman of the Board must contact the two largest shareholders or ownership groups based on ownership statistics from Euroclear Sweden AB no later than the end of October 2022 on the last banking day in September before the Annual General Meeting and ask them to each appoint one member to the Nomination Committee. If one of the two largest shareholders in terms of votes or groups of owners abstains from appointing a member of the Nomination Committee, the next shareholders are contacted in terms of ownership with the task of appointing a member of the Nomination Committee. The term of office shall run until a new Nomination Committee has been appointed. The composition of the Nomination Committee shall be announced no later than six months before the Annual General Meeting of the company. If a member leaves the Nomination Committee before its work is completed, the shareholder who has appointed the member shall have the right to appoint a new member. The Nomination Committee's assignment includes submitting proposals to (i) the Chairman of the Annual General Meeting prior to the 2023 Annual General Meeting, (ii) the number of Board members, (iii) fees to Board members and other remuneration for committee work, (iv) election and decision on fees to the auditor, (v ) election of board members and the chairman of the board, and (vi) principles for the nomination committee.

BOARD DECISION MOTION

Item 9 (b) - Resolution on dispositions regarding the company's profit according to the approved balance sheet

The Board of Directors proposes that a dividend of SEK 2 per share be paid. The Board of Directors proposes Thursday, June 2, 2022, as the record date for receiving dividends. If the AGM resolves in accordance with the proposal, payment of the dividend is expected to take place on Wednesday, June 8, 2022 through Euroclear Sweden AB. The remaining part of the capitalized profits is proposed to be transferred to a new account.

Item 15 - Decision on issue of warrants - incentive program for employees and others

The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting resolves on a directed issue of a maximum of 900,000 warrants of series 2022/2027: 1, entailing an increase in the share capital upon full exercise by a maximum of SEK 9,000. For the decision, the following conditions shall otherwise apply.

The right to subscribe for the warrants is added, with deviation from the shareholders' preferential rights, the subsidiary Zinzino Operations AB, corporate identity number 556655-2658 ("Subsidiary"), with the right and obligation to transfer the warrants to employees and others as below. Oversubscription is not possible.

The reasons for the deviation from the shareholders' preferential rights are to stimulate shareholders in the company through an incentive program whereby the company's management, employees and key persons as well as persons in the external distributor organization can take part in and work for a positive value development of the company during the period covered and that the company should be able to retain and recruit competent and committed staff.

The warrants shall be issued free of charge. Subscription of the warrants shall take place within two weeks from the date of the issue decision on a separate subscription list. The Board has the right to extend the subscription period.

Each warrant entitles the holder to subscribe for one new (1) B share in the company. New subscription of shares with the support of the warrants can take place during the period from and including the Swedish Companies Registration Office's registration of the warrants up to and including 31 May 2027. The subscription price per share shall amount to an amount determined on the day of the meeting according to the following principles: multiplied by a multiple of 1.4. The final price shall be determined by the actor independent of the company who has the task of valuing the warrants in accordance with Black & Scholes' valuation model and rounded off so that the price is even SEK 0.05. The new shares that may be issued upon new subscription are not subject to any reservations.

Shares issued after subscription in accordance with these terms and conditions carry the right to a dividend for the first time on the record date for dividends that falls immediately after the shares have been registered with the Swedish Companies Registration Office and entered in the share register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB. Warrants held by the Subsidiary and which have not been transferred as described below may be canceled by the company following a decision by the board of the company with the consent of the board of the subsidiary. Any cancellation must be reported to the Swedish Companies Registration Office for registration.

The Board, or the person appointed by the Board, is authorized to make the minor adjustments and clarifications required for registration of the decision with the Swedish Companies Registration Office and Euroclear Sweden AB.

Other terms for the warrants are set out in the complete warrants, which are provided in accordance with what is stated under the heading " Provision of documents " below.

Approval of transfer of warrants

The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting approve the Subsidiary's transfers of warrants on the following terms. The right to acquire warrants from the Subsidiary shall be added to the following categories:

Category Maximum number of options / person Maximum number of options / category Key people in the external sales organization

(maximum 4 people) 100,000 400,000 Group management and sales management(maximum 20 people) 40,000 350,000 Key employees

(maximum 15 people) 10,000 150,000

The right to acquire warrants from the Subsidiary shall only accrue to those persons who at the end of the application period have not resigned or been terminated.

It must also be possible to offer options to future new employees, e.g. in connection with the possible introduction of new positions in the company. These new employees shall not be included in the maximum amounts specified under each job category, however, the maximum number of options per category shall not be affected. For such acquisitions, the conditions shall be the same or equivalent to what is stated in this decision. This means, among other things, that acquisitions must take place at the then current market value.

Transfer to participants presupposes that the warrants can be acquired legally and, in the opinion of the Board, that reasonable administrative and financial efforts can be made.

Registration and allocation

If warrants within a certain category remain after all registrations within the category have been satisfied, the remaining number must be allocated to participants in another category, whereby the board shall determine the distribution based on category affiliation, staff category and notified number of warrants. However, such a distribution may at most mean that the maximum number of warrants per person within a certain category is exceeded by 50 percent.

The company's board decides on the final allotment.

Price and payment etc.

The warrants shall be transferred on market terms at a price (premium) determined on the basis of an estimated market value of the warrants using the Black & Scholes valuation model calculated by an independent valuation institute. For acquisitions made by new employees after the end of the initial application period, a new market price must be determined in a corresponding manner. A preliminary calculation of the market value of the warrants, taking into account current circumstances, shows a market value per warrant of SEK 2.50.

The employees will acquire the warrants at the market value determined. Payment must be made in cash.

More information about the warrant program

Dilution

In the event of full new subscription with the support of all warrants, 900,000 new shares can be issued, which corresponds to a dilution of approximately 2 percent of the total number of shares and votes in the company, subject to any recalculation according to the terms and conditions.

Impact on key figures and costs for the company etc.

The company's earnings per share are not affected by the issue of the warrants as the present value of the exercise price of the warrants will exceed the current market value of the share at the time of the transfer to employees.

The warrant program will only incur certain limited costs in the form of external consulting fees and administration regarding the warrant program.

Preparation of the case

The principles for the option program have been developed by the company's board. The Board has subsequently decided to present this proposal to the Annual General Meeting. Apart from the salaried employees who prepared the matter in accordance with instructions from the board, no employee who may be covered by the program participated in the drafting of the terms.

Other share-related incentive programs etc.

In addition to the now proposed incentive program, there are currently three outstanding option programs. All programs are largely aimed at the external distributor organization in the Group, but also with a certain allocation to employees at the company.

The first option program comprises 800,000 warrants at an exercise price of SEK 18 per Class B share that expires on 31 May 2024, of which 50,000 have been subscribed for by the Group's management team. Other warrants in the program have been subscribed for by the company's external distributors. As of the date of this notice, 366,100 warrants have already been exercised for share subscription within the framework of this option program.

The second option program comprises 1,000,000 warrants at an exercise price of SEK 45 per Class B share that expires on 31 May 2025, of which 220,000 have been subscribed for by the Group's management team, 51,000 by key employees and 22,100 by other employees in the Group. Other warrants in the program have been subscribed for by the company's external distributors. As of the date of this notice, 36,033 warrants have already been exercised for share subscription within the framework of this warrants program.

A third option program was decided at the company's Annual General Meeting on 20 May 2021 and comprises 800,000 warrants at an exercise price of SEK 140 per Class B share that expires on 31 May 2026. As of the date of this notice, no warrants have been subscribed or exercised for share subscription within the framework of this option program.

If all outstanding warrants as above are exercised for new subscription, a total of 2,197,867 Series B shares will be issued, which corresponds to a total dilution of the share capital amounting to a total of approximately 6.5%.

Instruction to the board

The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting instruct the Board of Directors of the company to implement the decision as above and to ensure that the Board of Directors of the Subsidiary carries out transfers of warrants in accordance with the above.

Decisions according to the above require the assistance of shareholders representing at least 9/10 of both the votes cast and the shares represented at the meeting.

Item 16 - Decision on private placement with payment by set-off of the claim to Kenneth Koh.

The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting to resolve to increase the share capital by SEK 9,432 by issuing 94,316 new Class B shares. A new B share entails the right to a dividend for the first time on the record date for dividends that falls immediately after the new share issue has been registered with the Swedish Companies Registration Office and the share has been entered in the share register at Euroclear Sweden AB. The right to subscribe for the 94,316 B shares belongs only to Kenneth Peow Swee Koh. Subscription of new shares shall take place on a separate subscription list no later than 15 June 2022, however, the Board shall have the right to extend the subscription period. Payment of the payment for the shares is made by offsetting Kenneth Peow Swee Koh's receivable from Zinzino AB amounting to SEK 2,928,370. The subscription price for each newly subscribed share amounts to SEK 31.05. The part of the subscription price that exceeds the quota value must be transferred to the free premium fund.

The reasons for deviation from the shareholders' preferential rights are to enable the acquisition from which the current set-off claim derives. The opportunity to carry out strategically important acquisitions for the company through directed new issues is of great operational importance to the company. According to the Board, this speaks together and with sufficient strength that it is in the company's and shareholders 'interest to make an issue with deviation from the shareholders' preferential rights. The current subscription price follows the principles stated in the current share transfer agreement, which in turn was determined after extensive negotiations with the subscriber. The subscription price is thus considered by the Board to be market-based.

Decisions according to the above require the assistance of shareholders representing at least 9/10 of both the votes cast and the shares represented at the meeting.

Item 17 - Decision on private placement with payment by set-off of the claim to Enhanzz AG.

The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting to resolve to increase the share capital by SEK 6,397 by issuing 63,969 new Class B shares. A new B share entails the right to a dividend for the first time on the record date for dividends that falls immediately after the new share issue has been registered with the Swedish Companies Registration Office and the share has been entered in the share register at Euroclear Sweden AB . The right to subscribe for the 63,969 B shares belongs only to Enhanzz AG. Subscription of new shares shall take place on a separate subscription list no later than 15 June 2022, however, the Board shall have the right to extend the subscription period . Payment of the payment for the shares is made by settling Enhanzz AG's receivable from Zinzino AB amounting to SEK 2,581,150. The subscription price for each newly subscribed share amounts to SEK 40.35. The part of the subscription price that exceeds the quota value must be transferred to the free premium fund.

The reasons for deviation from the shareholders' preferential rights are to enable the acquisition from which the current set-off claim derives. The opportunity to carry out strategically important acquisitions for the company through directed new issues is of great operational importance to the company. According to the Board, this speaks together and with sufficient strength that it is in the company's and shareholders 'interest to make an issue with deviation from the shareholders' preferential rights. The current subscription price follows the principles stated in the current share transfer agreement, which in turn was determined after extensive negotiations with the subscriber. The subscription price is thus considered by the Board to be market-based.

Decisions according to the above require the assistance of shareholders representing at least 2/3 of both the votes cast and the shares represented at the meeting.

Item 18 - Decision on issue authorization for rights issues

The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorizes the Board of Directors to, on one or more occasions during the period up to the next Annual General Meeting, decide on a new issue of B shares and / or warrants and / or convertibles against cash payment and / or with a provision in kind or set-off or otherwise terms and conditions taking into account the shareholders' preferential rights. Any warrants or convertibles issued under this authorization shall entitle the holder to subscribe for Class B shares.

The issues shall take place at a market subscription price determined by the Board. The number of Class B shares that can be issued and the number of Class B shares that can be subscribed for on the basis of warrants to subscribe for new shares and the number of Class B shares to which convertibles must be eligible for conversion shall in total amount to such number as within the Articles of Association and share capital.

The purpose of the authorization and the reasons for any deviation from the shareholders' preferential rights is that issues should be able to take place to finance the company's operations, commercialization and development of the company's products and markets and / or acquisitions of companies, companies or parts of companies, and / or to enable a broadening of the ownership base in the company.

Item 19 - Decision on issue authorization for directed issues

The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorizes the Board of Directors to, on one or more occasions during the period up to the next Annual General Meeting, decide on a new issue of B shares and / or warrants and / or convertibles against cash payment and / or with a provision in kind or set-off or otherwise conditions and to thereby be able to deviate from the shareholders' preferential rights. Any warrants or convertibles issued under this authorization shall entitle the holder to subscribe for Class B shares.

The issues shall take place at a market subscription price determined by the Board. The number of Class B shares that can be issued and the number of Class B shares that can be subscribed for on the basis of option rights to subscribe for new shares and the number of Class B shares to which convertibles are eligible for conversion shall total 3,000,000 Class B shares.

The purpose of the authorization and the reasons for any deviation from the shareholders' preferential rights is that issues should be able to take place to finance the company's operations, commercialization and development of the company's products and markets and / or acquisitions of companies, companies or parts of companies, and / or to enable a broadening of the ownership base in the company.

Decisions according to the above require the assistance of shareholders representing at least 2/3 of both the votes cast and the shares represented at the meeting.

SHAREHOLDERS' RESOLUTION PROPOSAL

Item 21 - Resolution on the shareholder's proposal for the issue of warrants - incentive program for the Board members

Finn Orjan Saele and Saele Invest AS propose that the AGM resolves that the company shall issue 120,000 warrants of series 2022/2027:2 entitling to new subscription of 120,000 Class B shares in the company.

The right to subscribe for warrants shall, by way of deviation from the shareholders' preferential rights, accrue to the following persons:

Subscriber Number of warrants

Hans Jacobsson, Chairman 40,000

Staffan Hillberg, Member 20,000

Anna Frick, Member 20,000

Pierre Martensson, Member 20,000

Ingela Nordenhav, member 20,000

Warrants that are not subscribed for in accordance with the above may not be subscribed for by anyone else.

The reasons for deviating from the shareholders' preferential rights are to create a warrant-based incentive program for the above-mentioned board members. Through such a program, the Board of Directors is offered the opportunity to take part in a value growth in the company's share, which can be expected to lead to an increased interest in the company's and its subsidiaries' operations and earnings development, for the benefit of the company and its shareholders.

The warrants of series 2022/2027:2 shall be issued at a subscription price that corresponds to the market value of the warrants on the day of the resolving general meeting of the company. The market value is calculated by a player independent of the company using the Black & Scholes valuation model.

The warrants must be subscribed for on a special subscription slip. Subscription shall take place no later than 15 July 2022. Payment of the consideration, as described above, per warrant, shall be paid in cash no later than 15 July 2022. However, the Board shall have the right to postpone the last day for subscription or payment.

It is noted that a decision on how to distribute in the event of oversubscription is not required.

The warrants shall be freely transferable, but a condition for granting the warrants is that the board members have entered into a special home delivery agreement with the company at the latest at the time of subscription, according to which each board member shall be obliged to offer the Company or the Company directs to acquire the warrants or a certain share of these if the board assignment ceases (i) within a certain time, (ii) upon transfer of warrants before 31 May 2027 and (iii) in certain other cases.

Allocation of warrants further presupposes that acquisition of warrants can legally take place.

Each warrant entitles the holder to subscribe for one new share in the company, meaning that the share capital can be increased by SEK 12,000 upon full exercise of the warrants by subscribing for a maximum of 120,000 new shares.

The warrants may be exercised for subscription of shares in the company during the period from and including 1 June 2022 to and including 31 May 2027.

The subscription price per share shall amount to an amount determined on the day of the meeting in accordance with the following principles: the closing price for the company's share on the day of the meeting, multiplied by a multiple of 1.4. The final price shall be determined by the actor independent of the company who has the task of valuing the warrants in accordance with Black & Scholes' valuation model and rounded off so that the price is even 5 ore.

Shares issued after subscription in accordance with these terms and conditions carry the right to a dividend for the first time on the record date for dividends that falls immediately after the shares have been registered with the Swedish Companies Registration Office and entered in the share register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB.

The Board, or the person appointed by the Board, is authorized to make the minor adjustments and clarifications required for registration of the decision with the Swedish Companies Registration Office and Euroclear Sweden AB.

Other terms for the warrants are set out in the complete warrants, which are provided in accordance with what is stated under the heading " Provision of documents " below.

Dilution

In the event of full new subscription with the support of all warrants, 120,000 Series B shares may be issued, which corresponds to a dilution of approximately 0.5 percent of the total number of shares in the company, subject to possible recalculation in accordance with the option terms.

Impact on key figures and costs for the company etc.

The company's earnings per share are not affected by the issue of the warrants as the present value of the exercise price of the warrants will exceed the current market value of the share at the time of the transfer to the Board members.

The subscribers will subscribe for the warrants at market value as stated above. Thus, no such benefit value arises, for the participants who subscribe for options, on which the company is obliged to pay social security contributions. The warrant program thus does not entail any increased tax cost for the company. The warrant program will otherwise entail certain limited costs in the form of external consulting fees and administration regarding the warrant program.

Preparation of the case

The principles for the option program have been developed on behalf of the proposer, who has decided to submit this proposal to the AGM. None of the members who may be covered by the program have participated in the drafting of the terms.

Other share-related incentive programs etc.

The company's other outstanding share-related incentive programs are set out in the summary under item 15 above.

Decisions according to the above require the assistance of shareholders representing at least 9/10 of both the votes cast and the shares represented at the meeting. Furthermore, the decision is conditional on the above subscribers being elected as board members by the meeting.

NUMBER OF SHARES AND VOTES

The total number of shares in the company amounts to 33,702,278, of which 5,113,392 Series A shares and 28,588,886 Series B shares. The total number of votes in the company amounts to 7,972,280.6. The company does not hold any own shares.

SHAREHOLDERS' RIGHT TO REQUEST INFORMATION

The Board of Directors and the CEO shall, if any shareholder so requests and the Board considers that this can be done without significant damage to the company, provide information on circumstances that may affect the assessment of a matter on the agenda, and circumstances that may affect the assessment of the company's financial situation. The disclosure obligation also refers to the company's relationship with another group company and the consolidated accounts, as well as such matters regarding group companies as referred to above.

PROVISION OF DOCUMENTS

Accounting documents, auditors' report and other documents to be considered at the meeting will be kept available at the company's office at Hulda Mellgrens Gata 5, 421 32 Vastra Frolunda, and on its website, www.zinzino.com, no later than three weeks before the meeting. The documents are also sent free of charge to the shareholders who request it and who state their postal address.

PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA

For information on how your personal data is processed, see https://www.euroclear.com/dam/ESw/Legal/Integritetspolicy-bolagsstammor-svenska.pdf

Gothenburg in April 2022

Zinzino AB

The board

For more information:

Dag Bergheim Pettersen CEO Zinzino +47 (0) 932 25 700, zinzino.com

Fredrik Nielsen CFO Zinzino +46 707 900 174, fredrik.nielsen@zinzino.com

Pictures for publication free of charge:

marketing@zinzino.com

Certified Adviser: Erik Penser Bank Aktiebolag, +46 (0) 8 463 83 00, email: certifiedadviser@penser.se

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/zinzino/r/notice-of-annual-general-meeting-of-zinzino-ab-on-may-31--2022,c3556812

The following files are available for download:
Operating income was 9.4 million euros (+2.9%) and the gross operating margin stood at 32.2 million euros.

The total order book for magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound rose by 19%.

Esaote confirms its strong vocation for international markets (70%): growth was notable in North America, China, and Western Europe. Italy is the leading market.

The headcount and investment in R&D are also rising.

GENOA, Italy, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Shareholders' Meeting of Esaote S.p.A., held on 29 April 2022 in Genoa, approved the company's financial statements as at 31.12.2021.

The Group's consolidated turnover figures for the 2021 financial year indicate net sales revenue of 231.3 million euros, 5.3% up on 2020. The Group's operating income rose to 9.4 million euros, an increase of 2.9% year-on-year, and consolidated net profit reached 4 million euros(against 1 million euros in 2020).

"2021 was another extremely positive year for the Group, which achieved significant results in international markets and managed to combine growth with new investments. Compared to 2020, when the pandemic forced us into a sudden, significant review of our strategies, growth in 2021 was uniform in both lines of business and geographical regions," noted Franco Fontana, CEO of Esaote S.p.A. "We have strengthened our leading position in the diagnostic imaging sector by expanding and renewing our offering, in line with the strategy of focusing on high-potential markets and continuing to bolster Research & Development: in 2021, we invested over 28 million euros in R&D, a 10% increase year-on-year. Growth in the order book of 19% on the previous year served as major confirmation that we are on the right track."

In the ultrasound systems sector,revenue increased by approximately 5%, exceeding the overall trend in the world market. Specifically, an important point is Esaote's positive performance on strategic international markets, led by the new medium- to high-end mobile ultrasound scanners launched last year.

Revenue in the dedicated open MRI sector increased by 39.8%. On the one hand, this remarkable result can be attributed to the post-pandemic recovery of the market; on the other, to Esaote's capability to offer products that are praised for excellent image quality in musculoskeletal applications, with low energy consumption: a good fit to meet emerging healthcare needs around the world. A further boost came from the introduction of Esaote's first open total body magnetic resonance scanner, granted EC MDR certification at year end.

The line of business for dedicated diagnostic imaging software rose by 5.5%, specifically made possible by the success of our AI-based quantitative analysis programs. Further factors in this increase were the major boost provided by the digital transition focusing on the automation of hospital workflows, digital image archiving, and new teleconsultation and telemedicine applications. Finally, Global Service sales revenue increased by 6.3%.

A major role in international markets, jointly accounting for approximately 70% of sales, was played by Western Europe (19.6%), North America (14%) and China(13%). Italy has been confirmed as the main market for Esaote. The Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Middle East markets all grew by significant percentages.

At the end of 2021, the Group had 1,270 employees, more than half of whom were in Italy. Over 100 new hires took place over the year to renew the generational and professional mix, with a focus on the R&D, Sales, and Marketing departments. The average age of new hires was under 35, with 50% of them women. In 2021, Esaote launched its first Academy (e-Generation), a project in conjunction with the University of Genoa and seven higher education institutions in Tuscany, specifically for new graduates in the STEM subjects: following a selection process, 21 young talents were hired to the R&S, Information Technology and Global Marketing departments.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1807469/Esaote_Franco_Fontana.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1793998/Esaote_Logo.jpg
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - Infinity Stone Ventures Corp. (formerly, Contakt World Technologies Corp.) (CSE: GEMS) (OTC PINK: TLOOF) (FSE: B2I0) ("Infinity Stone" the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has staked a mineral claim (the "Claim") adjacent to Patriot Battery Metals's (CSE: PMET) Corvette Lithium discovery in the James Bay Region of Quebec. Patriot Battery Metals has made several recent announcements with regard to their project, including their announcement on April 28, 2022 "Patriot Completes Logging of Drill Core From Winter Drill Program That Confirms Wide Zones of Pegmatite Over a 1.4 km Strike Length".

A Qualified Person is reviewing the Claim to determine if any historic work has been completed.

About Infinity Stone Ventures

Infinity Stone Ventures Corp.'s mission is to deliver solutions across industries. The Company's primary business units are Contakt World and HealthCheck (Stratum Health Technologies LLC) and the Company is actively looking to acquire portfolio assets in other sectors such as SaaS solutions and energy metals.

To register for investor updates please visit https://infinitystone.ventures.

Infinity Stone Ventures Corp.

Zayn Kalyan

CEO and Director

zayn@altuscapital.ca

Direct: 778-938-3367

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "projects", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or result expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including statements respecting: review of the Claim to determine of there has been any historic work has been completed thereon. Although forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what management of Company believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The forward-looking statements may also be affected by risks and uncertainties in the business of the Company, including those described in the Company's public filings available on www.SEDAR.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122150
29 April 2022

Capita plc

Appointment of Independent Non-Executive Director and Employee Non-Executive Director



The Board of Capita plc ('Capita') is pleased to announce today the appointment of:

Brian McArthur-Muscroft as Independent Non-Executive Director, with effect from 1 June 2022 . Brian will be a member of the Audit and Risk, Nomination and Remuneration Committees; and

Janine Goodchild as Employee Non-Executive Director, with effect from 1 July 2022 .

We also announce today that Matthew Lester, Independent Non-Executive Director and current Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee (the 'Committee'), will retire from the Board on 30 June 2022. Brian will replace Matthew as Chair of the Committee from 1 July 2022.

Brian McArthur-Muscroft

Brian is a highly experienced chief financial officer and board director; and is currently CFO at Qontigo, the financial index and analytics company which is owned by Deutsche Borse Group and General Atlantic Partners.

In a corporate career spanning more than 30 years, he has been CFO at a number of other technology-led public companies including Micro Focus International plc, Paysafe plc and Telecity Group plc.

Brian spent the early part of his career at PWC, where he qualified as a chartered accountant.

Until very recently Brian served as the Senior Independent Director and Chair of the Audit Committee at Robert Walters plc, the international recruitment agency. He stepped down after serving his nine-year term.

Janine Goodchild

Janine, a former intensive care and community nurse, has worked at Capita since 2016. She is a lead clinical trainer in the team which assesses personal independence payment applications on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. Previously, she worked in the banking industry as a training development officer.

Janine will continue in her current day-to-day employee role at Capita, with time allowances made to be able to fulfil her responsibilities as an employee director.

She will receive the same remuneration as other non-executive directors and be provided with a full programme of training to equip her for her new role on the Board.

Lyndsay Browne and Joseph Murphy, the current employee directors, will step down from the Board on 30 June 2022 at the end of their three-year tenures.

Sir Ian Powell, Chairman of Capita, said: "I would like to extend a warm welcome to Brian McArthur-Muscroft and Janine Goodchild as they join our Board.

"Brian brings with him extensive knowledge of the technology and software sectors as both a CFO and board director.

"His expertise will be of great benefit to Capita as the business continues to simplify and strengthen, and makes further progress towards becoming a sustainable, profitable business.

"Janine brings with her a wealth of operational experience gained in the healthcare team at Capita, as well as from her differing previous careers. Her expertise and insights will be of great benefit to the Board."

"The role of employee director, which we introduced at Capita in 2019, is a crucial, ongoing part of the Board constitution and part of Capita's wider purpose-led objectives.

"It broadens the perspective and diversity of thought of the Board; and ensures the voice of an independent colleague from the wider workforce informs strategic decision making at the highest level of the business."

He added: "I would like to thank Matthew Lester for all his hard work, commitment and counsel over his five years on the Board, and especially for his leadership of the Audit and Risk Committee."

"I would also like to thank Lyndsay Browne and Joseph Murphy for their commitment and professionalism as our first employee directors on the Board.

"Their contribution to the Board over the past three years has been significant, providing fresh insight and a vital new perspective."

Brian McArthur-Muscroft said: "I am delighted to be joining the Board of Capita and I look forward to working with the team as the Group focuses on executing its growth strategy."

Janine Goodchild said: "I am pleased to be joining the Capita Board and I look forward to playing my part, through my own experiences and perspective, in strategic decision making at the company."

There is no further information in respect of Listing Rule 9.6.13 which is required to be disclosed in respect of Brian McArthur-Muscroft or Janine Goodchild.



For more information please contact:

Investor enquiries

Stuart Morgan

Director of Investor Relations

Tel: +44 (0)7989 665484

Email: IRteam@capita.co.uk

Media enquiries

Capita external communications

Tel: 0207 654 2399

Email: media@capita.co.uk

About Capita

Capita is a consulting, transformation and digital services business. Every day our 52,000 colleagues help millions of people, by delivering innovative solutions to transform and simplify the connections between government and citizens, businesses and customers. We partner with our clients and provide the insight and cutting-edge technologies that give time back, allowing them to focus on what they do best and making people's lives easier and simpler. We operate across three divisions - Capita Public Service, Capita Experience and Capita Portfolio - in the UK, Europe, India and South Africa. Capita is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (CPI.L).

Capita is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (CPI.L).

Further information can be found at: http://www.capita.com
First Quarter Highlights*

Diluted EPS for the Quarter of $1.02 , Down 20 percent

Adjusted Diluted EPS for the Quarter of $1.73 , Up 13 percent

Net Revenue for the Quarter of $418 million , Up 14 percent

Reaffirmed Organic Total Net Revenue Growth 2 Target for 2022 of 5 to 7 percentage points ; Increases Data and Access Solutions Organic Net Revenue Growth 2 Target to 8 to 11 percentage points, from 7 to 10 percentage points

Reaffirmed 2022 Adjusted Operating Expense Guidance2 of $617 to $625 million

CHICAGO, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE) today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2022.

"2022 is off to an extraordinary start with Cboe delivering record quarterly results following a record year in 2021. Not only did our core derivatives franchise perform remarkably well during the quarter, but we saw strong contributions from areas like our European cash equities and our Data and Access Solutions businesses, underscoring the power of the flywheel at the heart of Cboe's global value creation model," said Edward T. Tilly, Cboe Global Markets Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "These comprehensive results validate the investments we are making across our ecosystem around the globe. Moving forward, we look to build on our strong foundation with the expected close of the NEO and ErisX acquisitions3, expansion of our SPX Weekly Options product suite and continued growth of our European Derivatives platform. There is a tremendous amount of momentum at Cboe, and I am incredibly proud of the Cboe team's ability to deliver on the company's longer-term aspirations."

"Cboe built on the momentum seen in 2021 to deliver another quarter of record earnings to start 2022. The contribution was again balanced across our businesses," said Brian N. Schell, Cboe Global Markets Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. "Following the strong start to the year, we are reaffirming our full year revenue and expense guidance for 2022 but see potential upside to our revenue expectations given the performance of our growth initiatives and macro trading environment. Furthermore, I am excited to introduce our enhanced reporting structure, with the updated income statement reflecting how we think about our major categories of the business: cash and spot markets, data and access solutions, and derivatives markets. Growth from each was strong in the first quarter with net revenues from derivatives markets1 growing 18%, data and access solutions1 up 18%, and cash and spot markets1 growing 5%. We are off to an incredibly strong start to 2022, and we look forward to investing behind, and building on, the momentum across our ecosystem."

*All comparisons are first quarter 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

(1)A full reconciliation of our non-GAAP results to our GAAP results is included in the attached tables. See "Non-GAAP Information" in the accompanying financial tables.

(2) Specific quantifications of the amounts that would be required to reconcile the company's organic growth guidance, adjusted operating expenses guidance and the effective tax rate on adjusted earnings guidance are not available. The company believes that there is uncertainty and unpredictability with respect to certain of its GAAP measures, primarily related to acquisition-related revenues and expenses that would be required to reconcile to GAAP revenues less costs of revenues, GAAP operating expenses and GAAP effective tax rate, which preclude the company from providing accurate guidance on certain forward-looking GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations. The company believes that providing estimates of the amounts that would be required to reconcile the range of the company's organic growth, adjusted operating expenses and the effective tax rate on adjusted earnings would imply a degree of precision that would be confusing or misleading to investors for the reasons identified above.

(3) ErisX is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, subject to customary closing conditions, and NEO is expected to close in the second or third quarter of the year, subject to regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.

Consolidated First Quarter Results -Table 1

Table 1 below presents summary selected unaudited condensed consolidated financial information for the company as reported and on an adjusted basis for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021.













































Table 1 Consolidated First Quarter Results























1Q22

1Q21



($ in millions except per share)



1Q22

1Q21 Change

Adjusted1

Adjusted1 Change Total Revenues Less Cost of Revenues



$ 418.1



$ 365.5

14 %

$ 418.1



$ 365.5

14 % Total Operating Expenses



$ 178.4



$ 160.9

11 %

$ 145.8



$ 124.6

17 % Operating Income



$ 239.7



$ 204.6

17 %

$ 272.3



$ 240.9

13 % Operating Margin %





57.3 %



56.0 % 1.3 pp



65.1 %



65.9 % (0.8) pp Net Income Allocated to Common Stockholders



$ 109.2



$ 136.8

(20) %

$ 184.3



$ 164.8

12 % Diluted EPS



$ 1.02



$ 1.27

(20) %

$ 1.73



$ 1.53

13 % EBITDA1



$ 276.2



$ 246.8

12 %

$ 281.2



$ 250.2

12 % EBITDA Margin % 1





66.1 %



67.5 % (1.4) pp



67.3 %



68.5 % (1.2) pp

Total revenues less cost of revenues (referred to as "net revenue") of $418.1 million increased 14 percent, compared to $365.5 million in the prior-year period, reflecting increases in net transaction and clearing fees 1 and access and capacity fees. Inorganic net revenue 1 in the first quarter of 2022 was $8.4 million .

increased 14 percent, compared to in the prior-year period, reflecting increases in net transaction and clearing fees and access and capacity fees. Inorganic net revenue in the first quarter of 2022 was . Total operating expenses were $178.4 million versus $160.9 million in the first quarter of 2021. Adjusted operating expenses of $145.8 million increased 17 percent compared to $124.6 million in the first quarter of 2021, primarily due to the acquisition of Cboe Asia Pacific (formerly Chi-X Asia Pacific), which closed on July 1, 2021 , as well as an increase in salaries and wages resulting in higher compensation and benefits. Additionally, professional fees and outside services increased compared to the first quarter of 2021 primarily due to higher legal fees.

versus in the first quarter of 2021. Adjusted operating expenses of increased 17 percent compared to in the first quarter of 2021, primarily due to the acquisition of Cboe Asia Pacific (formerly Chi-X Asia Pacific), which closed on , as well as an increase in salaries and wages resulting in higher compensation and benefits. Additionally, professional fees and outside services increased compared to the first quarter of 2021 primarily due to higher legal fees. The effective tax rate for the first quarter of 2022 was 51.3 percent (29.9 percent excluding Section 199 related matters 1 ) compared with 28.9 percent in the first quarter of 2021. The increase was primarily due to the unfavorable decision rendered by the Tax Court in our Section 199 matter. The effective tax rate on adjusted earnings 1 was 29.0 percent compared with 27.9 percent in last year's first quarter. The higher effective tax rate in the first quarter of 2022 was primarily due to changes in income tax reserves.

) compared with 28.9 percent in the first quarter of 2021. The increase was primarily due to the unfavorable decision rendered by the Tax Court in our Section 199 matter. The effective tax rate on adjusted earnings was 29.0 percent compared with 27.9 percent in last year's first quarter. The higher effective tax rate in the first quarter of 2022 was primarily due to changes in income tax reserves. Diluted EPS for the first quarter of 2022 decreased 20 percent to $1.02 primarily due to $48.5 million of additional tax reserves, primarily related to Section 199 litigation. Adjusted diluted EPS1 of $1.73 increased 13 percent compared to 2021's first quarter results.

Business Segment Information:























Table 2 Total Revenues Less Cost of Revenues by



















Business Segment



















(in millions)

1Q22 1Q21 Change Options

$ 219.2

$ 181.7



21 % North American Equities



93.1



96.1



(3) % Europe and Asia Pacific



57.5



42.1



37 % Futures



31.2



30.6



2 % Global FX



17.1



14.7



16 % Corporate



-



0.3



(100) % Total

$ 418.1

$ 365.5



14 %

(1) A full reconciliation of our non-GAAP results to our GAAP results is included in the attached tables. See "Non-GAAP Information" in the accompanying financial tables.

Discussion of Results by Business Segment:

Options:

Options net revenue of $219.2 million was up $37.5 million , or 21 percent, from the first quarter of 2021, due to double-digit increases in net transaction and clearing fees 1 , access and capacity fees, and market data. Net transaction and clearing fees increased primarily as a result of a 27 percent increase in Index options trading volumes versus the first quarter of 2021, along with a 7 percent increase in Index options revenue per contract ("RPC") for the quarter. Access and capacity fees were 22 percent higher than first quarter 2021 and market data fees increased by 26 percent.

was up , or 21 percent, from the first quarter of 2021, due to double-digit increases in net transaction and clearing fees , access and capacity fees, and market data. Net transaction and clearing fees increased primarily as a result of a 27 percent increase in Index options trading volumes versus the first quarter of 2021, along with a 7 percent increase in Index options revenue per contract ("RPC") for the quarter. Access and capacity fees were 22 percent higher than first quarter 2021 and market data fees increased by 26 percent. Net transaction and clearing fees 1 increased $36.8 million , or 27 percent, reflecting a 6 percent increase in total options average daily volume ("ADV") and a 18 percent increase in total options RPC compared to the first quarter 2021. The increase in total options RPC was due to a mix shift, with Index options representing a higher percentage of total options volume. The RPC for Index options increased 7 percent as SPX options accounted for a higher percentage of Index options volume.

increased , or 27 percent, reflecting a 6 percent increase in total options average daily volume ("ADV") and a 18 percent increase in total options RPC compared to the first quarter 2021. The increase in total options RPC was due to a mix shift, with Index options representing a higher percentage of total options volume. The RPC for Index options increased 7 percent as SPX options accounted for a higher percentage of Index options volume. Cboe's Options business had total market share of 31.5 percent for the first quarter of 2022 compared to 30.2 percent in the first quarter of 2021, primarily reflecting an increase in Cboe's multi-listed options market share for the quarter of 27.4 percent compared to 26.9 percent in the first quarter of 2021.

North American (N.A.) Equities:

N.A. Equities net revenue of $93.1 million was down $3.0 million , or 3 percent, primarily due to lower transaction and clearing fees and lower market data fees. Year-over-year growth in access and capacity fees helped offset some of the declines in the segment. Transaction and clearing fees were impacted by lower industry volumes compared to outsized activity in the first quarter of 2021. RPC increased by 8 percent compared to first quarter 2021 given a lower percentage of low-priced retail trading in the first quarter of 2022.

was down , or 3 percent, primarily due to lower transaction and clearing fees and lower market data fees. Year-over-year growth in access and capacity fees helped offset some of the declines in the segment. Transaction and clearing fees were impacted by lower industry volumes compared to outsized activity in the first quarter of 2021. RPC increased by 8 percent compared to first quarter 2021 given a lower percentage of low-priced retail trading in the first quarter of 2022. Cboe U.S. Equities exchanges had market share of 14.3 percent for the first quarter of 2022 compared to 15.0 percent in the first quarter of 2021.

Europe and Asia Pacific:

Europe and Asia Pacific net revenue of $57.5 million increased by 37 percent, reflecting growth in European equities and clearing, and the addition of Cboe Asia Pacific in July 2021 , which contributed $8.4 million in net revenue. European Equities average daily notional value ("ADNV") for the overall market was up 31 percent during the quarter and ADNV traded on Cboe European Equities was 12.8 billion, up 71 percent from last year's first quarter. Net capture decreased 18 percent for the quarter, reflecting the strongest gains coming in Lit market share, outpacing solid activity in higher-margin Cboe BIDS Europe and Periodic Auction services, as well as the impact of volume tier pricing given the higher volumes and market share.

and net revenue of increased by 37 percent, reflecting growth in European equities and clearing, and the addition of Cboe Asia Pacific in , which contributed in net revenue. European Equities average daily notional value ("ADNV") for the overall market was up 31 percent during the quarter and ADNV traded on Cboe European Equities was 12.8 billion, up 71 percent from last year's first quarter. Net capture decreased 18 percent for the quarter, reflecting the strongest gains coming in Lit market share, outpacing solid activity in higher-margin Cboe BIDS Europe and Periodic Auction services, as well as the impact of volume tier pricing given the higher volumes and market share. For the first quarter of 2022, Cboe European Equities had 21.8 percent market share, up from 16.8 percent in the first quarter of 2021, as a result of positive momentum across all orderbooks, with a particular strength in Lit markets.

Futures:

Futures net revenue of $31.2 million increased $0.6 million , or 2 percent, due to slight increases in net transaction and clearing fees 1 , access and capacity fees, and market data.

increased , or 2 percent, due to slight increases in net transaction and clearing fees , access and capacity fees, and market data. Net transaction and clearing fees increased $0.2 million , or 1 percent, reflecting relatively flat ADV and RPC.

Global FX:

Global FX net revenue of $17.1 million increased 16 percent, primarily as a result of higher net transaction and clearing fees. ADNV traded on the Cboe FX platform was $42.0 billion for the quarter, up 13 percent compared to last year's first quarter and net capture per one million dollars traded was $2.67 for the quarter, up 1 percent compared to $2.65 in the first quarter of 2021.

increased 16 percent, primarily as a result of higher net transaction and clearing fees. ADNV traded on the Cboe FX platform was for the quarter, up 13 percent compared to last year's first quarter and net capture per traded was for the quarter, up 1 percent compared to in the first quarter of 2021. Cboe FX market share was 17.3 percent for the quarter compared to 16.5 percent in last year's first quarter.

(1)A full reconciliation of our non-GAAP results to our GAAP results is included in the attached tables. See "Non-GAAP Information" in the accompanying financial tables.

Income Statement Presentation Enhancement

Beginning in the first quarter of 2022, Cboe updated the financial statement captions within its condensed consolidated statements of income for both periods presented to better reflect the company's diversified products, expansive geographical reach, and overall business strategy. Below is a summary of the changes to the financial statement captions. The changes do not have a financial impact on Cboe's reported revenue, revenues less cost of revenues, reported net income, or cash flows from operations.

Revenues

Cash and spot markets - includes associated transaction and clearing fees, the portion of market data fees relating to associated U.S. tape plan market data fees, associated regulatory fees, and associated other revenue from Cboe's North American Equities, Europe and Asia Pacific , and Global FX segments.

and , and Global FX segments. Data and access solutions - includes access and capacity fees, proprietary market data fees, and associated other revenue across Cboe's five segments.

Derivatives markets - includes associated transaction and clearing fees, the portion of market data fees relating to associated U.S. tape plan market data fees, associated regulatory fees, and associated other revenue from Cboe's Options, Futures, and Europe and Asia Pacific segments.

Cost of Revenues

Royalty fees and other cost of revenues - includes royalty fees and other cost of revenues across Cboe's five segments.

The corresponding changes have been made to prior periods to conform to the current presentation.

2022 Fiscal Year Financial Guidance

Cboe provided guidance for the 2022 fiscal year as noted below. Unless explicitly noted below, this guidance does not take into account the company's planned acquisitions of ErisX (which is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, subject to customary closing conditions) and NEO, (expected to close in the second or third quarter of the year, subject to regulatory review and other customary closing conditions). The company plans to further update its guidance for 2022 after the acquisitions close.

Reaffirmed total organic net revenue growth 1 is expected to be in the range of 5 to 7 percentage points in 2022.

is expected to be in the range of 5 to 7 percentage points in 2022. Revenue from acquisitions held less than a year 1 is now expected to contribute total net revenue growth in a range of 2 to 3 percentage points in 2022, up from previous guidance of 1 to 3 percentage points.

is now expected to contribute total net revenue growth in a range of 2 to 3 percentage points in 2022, up from previous guidance of 1 to 3 percentage points. Organic net revenue 1 from Data and Access Solutions is now expected to increase by approximately 8 to 11 percent in 2022, from a base of $419 million in 2021, up from previous guidance of 7 to 10 percent.

from Data and Access Solutions is now expected to increase by approximately 8 to 11 percent in 2022, from a base of in 2021, up from previous guidance of 7 to 10 percent. Reaffirmed adjusted operating expenses 1 in 2022 are expected to be in the range of $617 to $625 million , from a base of $531 million in 2021. The 2022 guidance considers incremental investment spend in technology and headcount to support Cboe's numerous growth initiatives, deals closed during 2021 but not fully reflected in the 2021 cost base, and increases in core expenses. The guidance excludes the expected amortization of acquired intangible assets of $116 million ; the company plans to reflect the exclusion of this amount in its non-GAAP reconciliation. 1

in 2022 are expected to be in the range of to , from a base of in 2021. The 2022 guidance considers incremental investment spend in technology and headcount to support Cboe's numerous growth initiatives, deals closed during 2021 but not fully reflected in the 2021 cost base, and increases in core expenses. The guidance excludes the expected amortization of acquired intangible assets of ; the company plans to reflect the exclusion of this amount in its non-GAAP reconciliation. While not included in our formal 2022 expense guidance range of $617 to $625 million , we believe the pending acquisitions of ErisX and NEO now have the potential to add an incremental $30 to $35 million of expenses in 2022, contingent on the timing of closings which are subject to customary closing conditions. We continue to anticipate a potential revenue offset for more than half of the expenses in year one, with an expectation that the additions are EBITDA positive on a combined basis in year two.

Reaffirmed depreciation and amortization expense for 2022, which is included in adjusted operating expenses above, is expected to be in the range of $40 to $44 million , excluding the expected amortization of acquired intangible assets.

to , excluding the expected amortization of acquired intangible assets. Reaffirmed the effective tax rate 1 on adjusted earnings for the full year 2022 is expected to be in the range of 27.5 to 29.5 percent. Significant changes in trading volume, expenses, tax laws or rates and other items could materially impact this expectation.

on adjusted earnings for the full year 2022 is expected to be in the range of 27.5 to 29.5 percent. Significant changes in trading volume, expenses, tax laws or rates and other items could materially impact this expectation. Reaffirmed capital expenditures for 2022 are expected to be in the range of $47 to $52 million .

(1) Specific quantifications of the amounts that would be required to reconcile the company's organic and inorganic growth guidance, adjusted operating expenses guidance and the effective tax rate on adjusted earnings guidance are not available. The company believes that there is uncertainty and unpredictability with respect to certain of its GAAP measures, primarily related to acquisition-related revenues and expenses that would be required to reconcile to GAAP revenues less costs of revenues, GAAP operating expenses and GAAP effective tax rate, which preclude the company from providing accurate guidance on certain forward-looking GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations. The company believes that providing estimates of the amounts that would be required to reconcile the range of the company's organic growth, adjusted operating expenses and the effective tax rate on adjusted earnings would imply a degree of precision that would be confusing or misleading to investors for the reasons identified above.

Capital Management

At March 31, 2022, the company had adjusted cash1 of $660.0 million. Total debt as of March 31, 2022 was $1,593.6 million.

The company paid cash dividends of $51.4 million, or $0.48 per share, during the first quarter of 2022 and utilized $70.0 million to repurchase 0.6 million shares of its common stock under its share repurchase program at an average price of $117.25 per share. As of March 31, 2022, the company had approximately $248.9 million of availability remaining under its existing share repurchase authorizations.

Earnings Conference Call

Executives of Cboe Global Markets will host a conference call to review its first-quarter financial results today, April 29, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. ET/7:30 a.m. CT. The conference call and any accompanying slides will be publicly available via live webcast from the Investor Relations section of the company's website at www.cboe.com under Events & Presentations. Participants may also listen via telephone by dialing (877) 255-4313 from the United States, (866) 450-4696 from Canada or (412) 317-5466 for international callers. Telephone participants should place calls 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. The webcast will be archived on the company's website for replay. A telephone replay of the earnings call also will be available from approximately 11:00 a.m. CT, April 29, 2022, through 11:00 p.m. CT, May 6, 2022, by calling (877) 344-7529 from the U.S., (855) 669-9658 from Canada or (412) 317-0088 for international callers, using replay code 10160639.

(1) A full reconciliation of our non-GAAP results to our GAAP results is included in the attached tables. See "Non-GAAP Information" in the accompanying financial tables.

About Cboe Global Markets

Cboe Global Markets (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of market infrastructure and tradable products, delivers cutting-edge trading, clearing and investment solutions to market participants around the world. The Company is committed to operating a trusted, inclusive global marketplace, and to providing leading products, technology and data solutions that enable participants to define a sustainable financial future. Cboe provides trading solutions and products in multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives and FX, across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit www.cboe.com.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. You can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as "may," "might," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" or "continue," and the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology. All statements that reflect our expectations, assumptions or projections about the future other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements, which are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us, may include projections of our future financial performance based on our growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

We operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible to predict all risks and uncertainties, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include: the loss of our right to exclusively list and trade certain index options and futures products; economic, political and market conditions; compliance with legal and regulatory obligations; price competition and consolidation in our industry; decreases in trading or clearing volumes, market data fees or a shift in the mix of products traded on our exchanges; legislative or regulatory changes or changes in tax regimes; our ability to protect our systems and communication networks from security risks, cybersecurity risks, insider threats and unauthorized disclosure of confidential information; our ability to attract and retain skilled management and other personnel; increasing competition by foreign and domestic entities; our dependence on and exposure to risk from third parties; fluctuations to currency exchange rates; factors that impact the quality and integrity of our indices; the impact of the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") pandemic; our ability to operate our business without violating the intellectual property rights of others and the costs associated with protecting our intellectual property rights; our ability to minimize the risks, including our credit and default risks, associated with operating a European clearinghouse; our ability to accommodate trading and clearing volume and transaction traffic, including significant increases, without failure or degradation of performance of our systems; misconduct by those who use our markets or our products or for whom we clear transactions; challenges to our use of open source software code; our ability to meet our compliance obligations, including managing potential conflicts between our regulatory responsibilities and our for-profit status; our ability to maintain BIDS Trading as an independently managed and operated trading venue, separate from and not integrated with our registered national securities exchanges; damage to our reputation; the ability of our compliance and risk management methods to effectively monitor and manage our risks; our ability to manage our growth and strategic acquisitions or alliances effectively; restrictions imposed by our debt obligations and our ability to make payments on or refinance our debt obligations; our ability to maintain an investment grade credit rating; impairment of our goodwill, long-lived assets, investments or intangible assets; the accuracy of our estimates and expectations; litigation risks and other liabilities; and if the acquisition of ErisX is consummated, operating a digital asset business. More detailed information about factors that may affect our actual results to differ may be found in our filings with the SEC, including in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and other filings made from time to time with the SEC.

We do not undertake, and we expressly disclaim, any duty to update any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.

The condensed consolidated statements of income and balance sheets are unaudited and subject to reclassification.











Cboe Media Contacts:





Analyst Contact: Angela Tu

Tim Cave

Kenneth Hill, CFA (646) 856-8734

+44 (0) 7593 506 719

(312) 786-7559 atu@cboe.com

tcave@cboe.com

khill@cboe.com

CBOE-F

Trademarks:

Cboe, Cboe Global Markets, Cboe Volatility Index, Bats, BIDS Trading, BZX, BYX, Chi-X, EDGX, EDGA, EuroCCP, MATCHNow, and VIX are registered trademarks of Cboe Global Markets, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. Key Performance Statistics by Business Segment







































1Q 2022 4Q 2021 3Q 2021 2Q 2021 1Q 2021 Options































Total industry ADV (in thousands)



42,464



40,794



37,548



36,442



41,974

Total company Options ADV (in thousands)



13,392



12,694



11,764



11,092



12,681

Multi-listed options



10,978



10,527



9,794



9,254



10,779

Index options



2,414



2,167



1,970



1,838



1,902

Total Options market share



31.5 %

31.1 %

31.3 %

30.4 %

30.2 % Multi-listed options



27.4 %

27.3 %

27.6 %

26.8 %

26.9 % Index options



99.1 %

98.6 %

98.4 %

98.7 %

99.0 % Total Options RPC:

$ 0.210

$ 0.199

$ 0.200

$ 0.192

$ 0.177

Multi-listed options

$ 0.067

$ 0.066

$ 0.069

$ 0.067

$ 0.067

Index options

$ 0.857

$ 0.845

$ 0.850

$ 0.823

$ 0.803



































North American Equities































U.S. Equities - Exchange:































Total industry ADV (shares in billions)



12.9



10.8



9.8



10.5



14.7

Market share %



14.3 %

13.3 %

14.0 %

14.3 %

15.0 % Net capture (per 100 touched shares)

$ 0.017

$ 0.025

$ 0.020

$ 0.020

$ 0.015

U.S. Equities - Off-Exchange:































ADV (touched shares, in millions)



108.5



84.2



73.0



75.8



99.5

Off-Exchange ATS Block Market Share % (reported on a two-month lag)



23.9 %

22.5 %

22.9 %

21.8 %

21.9 % Net capture (per 100 touched shares)

$ 0.117

$ 0.115

$ 0.122

$ 0.123

$ 0.121

Canadian Equities:































ADV (matched shares, in millions)



41.1



41.3



37.8



47.4



71.4

Total market share %



3.2 %

3.3 %

3.4 %

3.4 %

3.1 % Market share % - TSX listed volume



4.3 %

4.7 %

4.7 %

4.9 %

4.6 % Net capture (per 10,000 shares, in Canadian Dollars)

$ 9.131

$ 8.475

$ 8.342

$ 7.782

$ 7.184



































Europe and Asia Pacific































European Equities:































Total industry ADNV (Euros - in billions)

 58.7

 44.0

 39.6

 42.0

 44.8

Market share %



21.8 %

19.8 %

18.2 %

17.4 %

16.8 % Net capture (bps)

 0.233

 0.256

 0.264

 0.267

 0.284

EuroCCP:































Trades cleared (in thousands)



454,437.8



345,074.8



306,085.2



294,801.9



298,223.5

Fee per trade cleared

 0.009

 0.011

 0.010

 0.011

 0.011

Net settlement volume (shares in thousands)



2,802.1



2,664.9



2,484.1



2,367.3



2,423.2

Net fee per settlement

 0.924

 0.860

 0.869

 0.893

 0.865

Australian Equities:































ADNV (AUD billions)

$ 0.9

$ 0.8

$ 0.8



N/A



N/A

Market share - Continuous



15.8 %

16.1 %

15.7 %

N/A



N/A

Net capture (per matched notional value (bps))

$ 0.173

$ 0.171

$ 0.173



N/A



N/A

Japanese Equities:































ADNV (JPY billions)

 164.6

 111.4

 88.7



N/A



N/A

Market share - Lit Continuous



3.8 %

2.9 %

2.4 %

N/A



N/A

Net capture (per matched notional value (bps))

 0.228

 0.358

 0.364



N/A



N/A



































Futures































ADV (in thousands)



254



230



223



214



256

RPC

$ 1.637

$ 1.651

$ 1.626

$ 1.648

$ 1.639



































Global FX































Spot market share %



17.3 %

16.8 %

17.0 %

16.3 %

16.5 % ADNV ($ in billions)

$ 42.0

$ 33.7

$ 32.4

$ 32.5

$ 37.1

Net capture (per one million dollars traded)

$ 2.67

$ 2.77

$ 2.77

$ 2.71

$ 2.65



ADV = average daily volume; ADNV = average daily notional value.

RPC, average revenue per contract, for options and futures represents total net transaction fees recognized for the period divided by total contracts traded during the period.

Touched volume represents the total number of shares of equity securities and ETFs internally matched on our exchanges or routed to and executed on an external market center.

Matched volume represents the total number of shares of equity securities and ETFs executed on our exchanges.

U.S. Equities - Exchange, "net capture per 100 touched shares" refers to transaction fees less liquidity payments and routing and clearing costs divided by the product of one-hundredth ADV of touched shares on BZX, BYX, EDGX and EDGA and the number of trading days. U.S. Equities - Off-Exchange data reflects BIDS Trading. For U.S. Equities - Off-Exchange, "net capture per 100 touched shares" refers to transaction fees less order and execution management system (OMS/EMS) fees and clearing costs divided by the product of one-hundredth ADV of touched shares on BIDS Trading and the number of trading days for the period.

Canadian Equities, "net capture per 10,000 shares" refers to transaction fees divided by the product of one-ten thousandth ADV of shares for MATCHNow and the number of trading days. Total market share represents MATCHNow volume divided by the total volume of the Canadian Equities market. TSX listed volume market share represents MATCHNow volume divided by the total volume in TSX listed equities.

European Equities, "net capture per matched notional value" refers to transaction fees less liquidity payments in British pounds divided by the product of ADNV in British pounds of shares matched on Cboe Europe Equities and the number of trading days. "Trades cleared" refers to the total number of non-interoperable trades cleared, "Fee per trade cleared" refers to clearing fees divided by number of non-interoperable trades cleared, "Net settlement volume" refers to the total number of settlements executed after netting, and "Net fee per settlement" refers to settlement fees less direct costs incurred to settle divided by the number of settlements executed after netting. Asia Pacific data reflects the acquisition of Cboe Asia Pacific (formerly Chi-X Asia Pacific) effective July 1, 2021. Australian Equities "Net capture per matched notional value" refers to transaction fees less liquidity payments in Australian dollars divided by the product of ADNV in Australian dollars of shares matched on Cboe Australia and the number of Australian Equities trading days. Japanese Equities "Net capture per matched notional value" refers to transaction fees less liquidity payments in Japanese Yen divided by the product of ADNV in Japanese Yen of shares matched on Cboe Japan and the number of Japanese Equities trading days.

Global FX, "net capture per one million dollars traded" refers to transaction fees less liquidity payments, if any, divided by the Spot and SEF products of one-thousandth of ADNV traded on the Cboe FX Markets and the number of trading days, divided by two, which represents the buyer and seller that are both charged on the transaction. Market Share represents Cboe FX volume divided by the total volume of publicly reporting spot FX venues (Cboe FX, EBS, Refinitiv, and Euronext FX).

Average transaction fees per contract can be affected by various factors, including exchange fee rates, volume-based discounts and transaction mix by contract type and product type.

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2022 and 2021

















Three Months Ended March 31, (in millions, except per share amounts)

2022

2021 Revenue:











Cash and spot markets

$ 461.9

$ 548.9 Data and access solutions



118.9



100.6 Derivatives markets



393.7



361.3 Total Revenues



974.5



1,010.8 Cost of Revenues:











Liquidity payments



467.5



501.8 Routing and clearing



22.3



27.1 Section 31 fees



35.7



91.9 Royalty fees



26.3



20.3 Other cost of revenues



4.6



4.2 Total Cost of Revenues



556.4



645.3 Revenues Less Cost of Revenues



418.1



365.5 Operating Expenses:











Compensation and benefits



81.2



72.3 Depreciation and amortization



40.9



42.0 Technology support services



19.2



17.2 Professional fees and outside services



19.7



15.6 Travel and promotional expenses



2.9



1.6 Facilities costs



6.5



5.3 Acquisition-related costs



2.0



3.4 Other expenses



6.0



3.5 Total Operating Expenses



178.4



160.9 Operating Income



239.7



204.6 Non-operating (Expenses) Income:











Interest expense, net



(10.8)



(12.3) Other (expense) income, net



(4.0)



0.6 Total Non-operating Expenses



(14.8)



(11.7) Income Before Income Tax Provision



224.9



192.9 Income tax provision



115.3



55.7 Net Income



109.6



137.2 Net income allocated to participating securities



(0.4)



(0.4) Net Income Allocated to Common Stockholders

$ 109.2

$ 136.8 Net Income Per Share Allocated to Common Stockholders:











Basic earnings per share

$ 1.02

$ 1.27 Diluted earnings per share



1.02



1.27 Weighted average shares used in computing income per share:











Basic



106.6



107.3 Diluted



106.8



107.4

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) March 31, 2022 and 2021













March 31,

December 31, (in millions)

2022

2021 Assets











Current Assets:











Cash and cash equivalents

$ 659.4

$ 341.9 Financial investments



48.7



37.1 Accounts receivable, net



380.3



326.9 Margin deposits and clearing funds



1,810.3



745.9 Income taxes receivable



-



42.7 Other current assets



36.5



36.8 Total Current Assets



2,935.2



1,531.3













Investments



244.5



245.8 Land



2.3



2.3 Property and equipment, net



106.7



105.2 Operating lease right of use assets



122.5



110.1 Goodwill



3,018.1



3,025.4 Intangible assets, net



1,628.6



1,668.6 Other assets, net



140.2



125.8 Total Assets

$ 8,198.1

$ 6,814.5













Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity











Current Liabilities:











Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

$ 387.1

$ 295.4 Section 31 fees payable



36.2



40.8 Deferred revenue



26.4



15.2 Margin deposits and clearing funds



1,810.3



745.9 Income taxes payable



32.5



8.2 Current portion of contingent consideration liabilities



48.6



63.8 Total Current Liabilities



2,341.1



1,169.3













Long-term debt



1,593.6



1,299.3 Unrecognized tax benefits



163.0



197.9 Deferred income taxes



352.4



372.7 Non-current operating lease liabilities



141.3



129.2 Contingent consideration liabilities



4.7



6.7 Other non-current liabilities



34.7



34.6 Total Liabilities



4,630.8



3,209.7













Stockholders' Equity:











Preferred stock



-



- Common stock



1.1



1.1 Treasury stock at cost



(185.2)



(106.8) Additional paid-in capital



1,518.6



1,509.4 Retained earnings



2,203.7



2,145.5 Accumulated other comprehensive income, net



29.1



55.6 Total Stockholders' Equity



3,567.3



3,604.8













Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity

$ 8,198.1

$ 6,814.5

Non-GAAP Information

In addition to disclosing results determined in accordance with GAAP, Cboe Global Markets has disclosed certain non-GAAP measures of operating performance. These measures are not in accordance with, or a substitute for, GAAP, and may be different from or inconsistent with non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. The non-GAAP measures provided in this press release include net transaction and clearing fees, adjusted operating expenses, adjusted operating income, organic net revenue, inorganic net revenue, adjusted operating margin, adjusted net income allocated to common stockholders and adjusted diluted earnings per share, effective tax rate on adjusted earnings, adjusted cash, EBITDA, EBITDA margin, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin.

Management believes that the non-GAAP financial measures presented in this press release, including adjusted operating income, organic net revenue and adjusted operating expenses, provide additional and comparative information to assess trends in our core operations and a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. Non-GAAP financial measures disclosed by management are provided as additional information to investors in order to provide them with an alternative method for assessing our financial condition and operating results.

Organic net revenue, inorganic net revenue, organic non-transaction revenue and organic net revenue guidance: These are non-GAAP financial measures that exclude or have otherwise been adjusted for the impact of our acquisitions for the period or guidance, as applicable. Management believes the organic net revenue growth and guidance measures provide users with supplemental information regarding the company's ongoing and future potential revenue performances and trends by presenting revenue growth and guidance excluding the impact of the acquisitions. Revenues from acquisitions that have been owned for at least one year are considered organic and are no longer excluded from organic net revenue from either period for comparative purposes.

Amortization expense of acquired intangible assets: We amortize intangible assets acquired in connection with various acquisitions. Amortization of intangible assets is inconsistent in amount and frequency and is significantly affected by the timing and size of our acquisitions. As such, if intangible asset amortization is included in performance measures, it is more difficult to assess the day-to-day operating performance of the businesses, the relative operating performance of the businesses between periods and the earnings power of the company. Therefore, we believe performance measures excluding intangible asset amortization expense provide investors with an additional basis for comparison across accounting periods.

Acquisition-related expenses: From time to time, we have pursued acquisitions, which have resulted in expenses which would not otherwise have been incurred in the normal course of the company's business operations. These expenses include integration costs, as well as legal, due diligence and other third-party transaction costs. The frequency and the amount of such expenses vary significantly based on the size, timing and complexity of the transaction. Accordingly, we exclude these costs for purposes of calculating non-GAAP measures which provide an additional analysis of Cboe's ongoing operating performance or comparisons in Cboe's performance between periods.

The tables below show the reconciliation of each financial measure from GAAP to non-GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures exclude the impact of those items detailed below and are referred to as adjusted financial measures.

Organic Net Revenue Reconciliation















Table 3

Three Months Ended

(in millions)

March 31,

Reconciliation of Revenue Less Cost of Revenue to Organic Net Revenue

2022

2021

Revenues less cost of revenues (net revenue)

$ 418.1

$ 365.5

Less acquisitions:













Acquisition revenue less cost of revenues (inorganic net revenue)

$ (8.4)

$ -

Organic net revenue

$ 409.7

$ 365.5



Reconciliation of GAAP and non-GAAP Information



















Three Months Ended

Table 4

March 31,

(in millions, except per share amounts)

2022

2021

Reconciliation of Net Income Allocated to Common Stockholders to Non-GAAP (As shown on Table 1)













Net income allocated to common stockholders

$ 109.2

$ 136.8

Non-GAAP adjustments













Acquisition-related expenses (1)



2.0



3.4

Investment establishment costs (2)



3.0



-

Amortization of acquired intangible assets (3)



30.6



32.9

Total Non-GAAP adjustments



35.6



36.3

Income tax expense related to the items above



(8.7)



(8.2)

Tax reserves (4)



48.5



-

Net income allocated to participating securities - effect on reconciling items



(0.3)



(0.1)

Adjusted net income allocated to common stockholders

$ 184.3

$ 164.8

















Reconciliation of Diluted EPS to Non-GAAP













Diluted earnings per common share

$ 1.02

$ 1.27

Per share impact of non-GAAP adjustments noted above



0.71



0.26

Adjusted diluted earnings per common share

$ 1.73

$ 1.53

















Reconciliation of Operating Margin to Non-GAAP













Revenue less cost of revenue

$ 418.1

$ 365.5

Non-GAAP adjustments noted above



-



-

Adjusted revenue less cost of revenue

$ 418.1

$ 365.5

Operating expenses (5)

$ 178.4

$ 160.9

Non-GAAP adjustments noted above



32.6



36.3

Adjusted operating expenses

$ 145.8

$ 124.6

Operating income

$ 239.7

$ 204.6

Non-GAAP adjustments noted above



32.6



36.3

Adjusted operating income

$ 272.3

$ 240.9

Adjusted operating margin (6)



65.1 %

65.9 %















Reconciliation of Income Tax Rate to Non-GAAP













Income before income taxes



224.9



192.9

Non-GAAP adjustments noted above



35.6



36.3

Adjusted income before income taxes

$ 260.5

$ 229.2

















Income tax expense



115.3



55.7

Non-GAAP adjustments noted above



(39.8)



8.2

Adjusted income tax expense

$ 75.5

$ 63.9

Adjusted income tax rate



29.0 %

27.9 %



(1) This amount includes professional fees and outside services and impairment charges related to the company's acquisitions. (2) This amount represents the investment establishment costs related to the company's investment in 7RIDGE Investments 3 LP, which acquired Trading Technologies, Inc. (3) This amount represents the amortization of acquired intangible assets related to the company's acquisitions. (4) This amount represents the tax reserves related to Section 199 matters. (5) The company sponsors deferred compensation plans held in a trust. The expenses or income related to the deferred compensation plans are included in "Compensation and benefits" ($0.6 million and $0.4 million in expense for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively), and are directly offset by deferred compensation income, expenses and dividends included within "Other income, net" ($0.6 million and $0.4 million in income, expense and dividends in the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, on the condensed consolidated statements of income. The deferred compensation plans' expenses are not excluded from "adjusted operating expenses" and do not have an impact on "Income before income taxes." (6) Adjusted operating margin represents adjusted operating income divided by adjusted revenue less cost of revenue.

EBITDA Reconciliations

EBITDA (earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization) and Adjusted EBITDA are widely used non-GAAP financial measures of operating performance. EBITDA margin represents EBITDA divided by revenues less cost of revenues (net revenue). It is presented as supplemental information that the company believes is useful to investors to evaluate its results because it excludes certain items that are not directly related to the company's core operating performance. EBITDA is calculated by adding back to net income interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is calculated by adding back to EBITDA acquisition-related expenses and investment establishment costs. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as substitutes either for net income, as an indicator of the company's operating performance, or for cash flow, as a measure of the company's liquidity. In addition, because EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA may not be calculated identically by all companies, the presentation here may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Adjusted EBITDA margin represents Adjusted EBITDA divided by net revenue.

































Table 5

Three Months Ended

(in millions, except percentages)

March 31,

Reconciliation of Net Income Allocated to Common Stockholders to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA (Per Table 1)

2022

2021

Net income allocated to common stockholders

$ 109.2

$ 136.8

Interest expense, net



10.8



12.3

Income tax provision



115.3



55.7

Depreciation and amortization



40.9



42.0

EBITDA

$ 276.2

$ 246.8

EBITDA Margin



66.1 %

67.5 %















Non-GAAP adjustments not included in above line items













Acquisition-related expenses



2.0



3.4

Investment establishment costs



3.0



-

Adjusted EBITDA

$ 281.2

$ 250.2

Adjusted EBITDA Margin



67.3 %

68.5 %































Table 6













(in millions)

March 31,

December 31,

Reconciliation of Cash and cash equivalents to Adjusted Cash

2022

2021

Cash and cash equivalents

$ 659.4

$ 341.9

Financial investments



48.7



37.1

Less deferred compensation plan assets



(27.4)



(28.0)

Less cash collected for Section 31 Fees



(20.7)



(25.9)

Adjusted Cash

$ 660.0

$ 325.1



























































































Table 7





































































(in millions)





































































Reconciliation of Net Transaction and Clearing Fees by Business Segment -Three Months Ended March 31, 2022 and 2021

Consolidated

Options

N.A. Equities

Europe and Asia Pacific

Futures

Global FX

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021 Transaction and clearing fees $ 769.6

$ 763.2

$ 348.3

$ 308.7

$ 330.8

$ 381.8

$ 50.1

$ 34.7

$ 25.8

$ 25.6

$ 14.6

$ 12.4 Liquidity payments

(467.5)



(501.8)



(167.6)



(166.0)



(288.3)



(330.5)



(11.6)



(5.3)



-



-



-



- Routing and clearing

(22.3)



(27.1)



(6.7)



(5.5)



(10.5)



(17.3)



(4.9)



(4.3)



-



-



(0.2)



- Net transaction and clearing fees $ 279.8

$ 234.3

$ 174.0

$ 137.2

$ 32.0

$ 34.0

$ 33.6

$ 25.1

$ 25.8

$ 25.6

$ 14.4

$ 12.4

















































Table 8













































(in millions)













































Reconciliation of Net Revenue by Revenue Caption -Three Months Ended March 31, 2022 and 2021

Cash and Spot Markets

Data and Access Solutions

Derivatives Markets

Total

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021 Transaction and clearing fees $ 395.5

$ 428.9

$ -

$ -

$ 374.1

$ 334.3

$ 769.6

$ 763.2 Access and capacity fees

-



-



77.9



66.4



-



-



77.9



66.4 Market data fees

22.9



26.9



39.6



29.7



8.2



7.2



70.7



63.8 Regulatory fees

31.9



82.4



-



-



10.7



19.1



42.6



101.5 Other revenue

11.6



10.7



1.4



4.5



0.7



0.7



13.7



15.9 Total revenues $ 461.9

$ 548.9

$ 118.9

$ 100.6

$ 393.7

$ 361.3

$ 974.5

$ 1,010.8















































Liquidity payments $ 299.6

$ 335.8

$ -

$ -

$ 167.9

$ 166.0

$ 467.5

$ 501.8 Routing and clearing fees

15.6



21.6



-



-



6.7



5.5



22.3



27.1 Section 31 fees

31.8



82.0



-



-



3.9



9.9



35.7



91.9 Royalty fees and other cost of revenues

4.6



4.2



2.4



2.0



23.9



18.3



30.9



24.5 Total cost of revenues $ 351.6

$ 443.6

$ 2.4

$ 2.0

$ 202.4

$ 199.7

$ 556.4

$ 645.3















































Revenues less cost of revenues (net revenue) $ 110.3

$ 105.3

$ 116.5

$ 98.6

$ 191.3

$ 161.6

$ 418.1

$ 365.5















































Acquisition revenue less cost of revenues (inorganic net revenue)

(2.4)



-



(6.0)



-



-



-



(8.4)



-















































Organic net revenue $ 107.9

$ 105.3

$ 110.5

$ 98.6

$ 191.3

$ 161.6

$ 409.7

$ 365.5









Table 9





Reconciliation of GAAP Effective Tax Rate to Effective Tax Rate Excluding Section 199 Matters - Three Months Ended March 31, 2022



Tax Rate

GAAP effective tax rate

51.3 % Tax effect of Section 199 related matters

(21.4) % Effective tax rate excluding Section 199 matters

29.9 %

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/622233/Cboe_Logo.jpg
London, United Kingdom and Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - GlobalBlock Digital Asset Trading Limited (TSXV: BLOK) (OTC Pink: BLVDF) (FSE: BD4) (the "Company" or "GlobalBlock") is pleased to announce the appointment of Amaan Jalwa as new Chief Financial Officer, to be effective following the departure of Jessica Van Den Akker, who will leave the business to focus on other opportunities, once the audited financials have been filed alongside an orderly handover period.

Amaan is a qualified Chartered Accountant having trained at KPMG in London. Amaan was most recently interim-CFO of digital asset liquidity technology platform Enigma Securities, a firm backed by British billionaire investor Alan Howard, prior to which he was the Finance Director of Outlier Ventures, the tech VC firm focused on blockchain, AI and Web 3 startups. Before then, Amaan served as the interim-Finance Director of Omnio, the digital banking fintech business.

Early international experience included joining the Japanese electronics firm JVC Kenwood as a Finance Manager before being promoted to Head of Finance in 2012. He then went onto real estate business Asia Pacific Investment Partners as VP for Finance and Accounting, before joining the Japanese MBO Fund Asia Growth Capital as their COO and CFO.

Rufus Round, CEO of GlobalBlock, said:

"We are delighted to welcome Amaan Jalwa, who's experience is highly complementary to GlobalBlock, in particular in fintech and blockchain. He will be joining us at a very exciting time for the business and industry as a whole.

"We would also like to thank Jessica for her stewardship during her time both before and after last year's business combination, in particular during that transition and through the Company's maiden audit and wish her the best in her future endeavours."

Amaan Jalwa, CFO at GlobalBlock, said:

"GlobalBlock is a great business run by experienced and seasoned financial services professionals. I am looking forward to supporting the board in its short, medium and long term objectives. Blockchain and financial services are experiencing a dynamic shift and my plan is to help grow GlobalBlock to be a pioneer in the provision of digital asset trading and products in the UK and beyond, with support of the management team and the board."

The Company further announces that it does not anticipate being in a position to file its audited annual financial statements, management's discussion and analysis, and related certifications for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 (collectively, the "Annual Filings") on or before May 2, 2022 as required, due to (i) this being the first annual financial statements for the Company following the acquisition of GlobalBlock Limited and its digital asset brokerage business in the United Kingdom (the "Acquisition"); (ii) the Company updating the accounting systems and procedures of its new subsidiary GlobalBlock Limited following the Acquisition; and (iii) this being the first annual financial statements of the Company being audited by its new auditor, Kingston Ross Pasnak LLP; and therefore additional time is required by the auditor to complete their review and procedures.

Accordingly, the Company has applied to the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Company's principal securities regulator in Canada, for the issuance of a management cease trade order ("MCTO") under the provisions of National Policy 12-203 Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203") to be granted in connection with the late filing of the Annual Filings, so as to permit the continued trading in the Company's common shares by persons other than the Company's Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and such other directors, officers and persons as determined by the applicable regulatory authorities. There is no guarantee that a MCTO will be granted. The Company expects to file the Annual Filings on or before May 13, 2022.

The Company confirms that it intends to satisfy the provisions of section 10 of NP 12-203 and issue bi-weekly default status reports for so long as the Company remains in default of the financial statement filing requirement, containing any material changes to the information in this release, all actions taken by the Company to remedy the default; particulars of any failure by the Company to fulfil these provisions, any subsequent defaults of the Company requiring a default announcement and any other material information concerning the affairs of the Company not previously disclosed.

There is no material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed and GlobalBlock remains in a sound financial position with a strong cash balance and is debt free.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

GlobalBlock Digital Asset Trading Limited is a publicly traded holding company (TSXV: BLOK) whose wholly owned subsidiary, GlobalBlock Limited (https://www.globalblock.co.uk), is at this time a United Kingdom based digital asset broker that provides a personalised telephone brokerage service, trading platform and mobile app. Established in 2018 by an experienced team of financial services professionals, GlobalBlock Limited acts as a trusted agent serving the digital asset needs of individuals, corporates, institutional financial firms and intermediaries, providing best execution trading and safe custody of digital assets. At this time, GlobalBlock Limited only accepts United Kingdom and Ireland resident clients or customers for its digital asset broker or trading services.

For further information please contact the Company at:

Rufus Round, CEO

c/o 65 Curzon Street, London, W1J 8PE, United Kingdom

Tel. +00 44 20 3286 2904

info@globalblockdigital.com

https://globalblock.co.uk/ and http://www.globalblockdigital.com/

https://twitter.com/Globalblocknews

https://www.linkedin.com/company/globalblock/

Media Contact

Angus Campbell

Citigate Dewe Rogerson

Angus.Campbell@citigatedewerogerson.com

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain information set out in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe" and similar expressions. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements in respect of among other things: the timing, audit, completion and filing of the Annual Filings; the application and grant of a MCTO; the continued and successful development of the businesses and technologies of each of the Company and its subsidiaries, the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to obtain the applicable regulatory approvals to continue to conduct its business and other information concerning the intentions, plans, future action and future successes of the Company, and its businesses, technologies and products described herein. Forward-looking statements are based upon the opinions and expectations of management of the Company as at the effective date of such statements and, in certain cases, information provided or disseminated by third parties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, and that information obtained from third party sources is reliable, they can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements included in this document, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which the forward-looking statements are based will occur. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not occur, which may cause actual results in future periods to differ materially from any estimates or projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, risk factors set forth in the Company's most recent management's discussion and analysis, a copy of which is filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and readers are cautioned that the risk factors disclosed therein should not be construed as exhaustive. These statements are made as at the date hereof and unless otherwise required by law, the Company does not intend, or assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122069
Cubic Transportation Systems expands European footprint with contract to enhance the National Transport Authority's Leap offering

Cubic Corporation today announced its Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) business division will execute a contract by Ireland's National Transport Authority (NTA) to be the operations service provider for the transport authority's TFI Leap Card system. Cubic will operate, maintain, and enhance the current Leap system to align with the NTA's future transportation goals. The operational services to be provided consist of IT operations; contact center services; card management; payment processing; financial and reporting services and working to establish an extensive retail network through An Post.

"With the ongoing Leap expansion throughout Ireland and the introduction of additional bus operators, there will be significant change to Leap operations within the next five to ten years," said David Wear, general manager of EMEA, Cubic Transportation Systems. "Our team has the proven transport experience and perspectives to actively adapt to the changes in the transport landscape, and we are confident in our ability to deliver the highest quality service."

Cubic's delivery team includes a mix of new partners, such as An Post, Microsoft and EasyTrip, as well as incumbent suppliers, including Payzone and Paragon ID.

Cubic's solution will streamline interfaces and enable a low-friction transition as demonstrated in transition programs for Transport for London, Metropolitan Transportation Commission in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Chicago Transportation Authority.

To date, over five million smart cards have been issued through the Leap system with over 167 million journeys served by Irish Rail, Dublin Bus, Luas, Go Ahead Ireland, Bus Eireann and a number of licensed private bus operators.

Cubic started its work with the NTA in 2019 when it was awarded a contract to deliver a scalable mobile ticketing system for Ireland.

About Cubic Corporation

Cubic is a technology-driven, market-leading provider of integrated solutions that increase situational understanding for transportation, defense C4ISR and training customers worldwide to decrease urban congestion and improve the militaries' effectiveness and operational readiness. Our teams innovate to make a positive difference in people's lives. We simplify their daily journeys. We promote mission success and safety for those who serve their nation. For more information about Cubic, please visit www.cubic.com or on Twitter @CubicCorp.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005068/en/

Contacts:

Lauren Jochum

Cubic Transportation Systems

PH: +1 865.466.3860

lauren.jochum@cubic.com
This news release constitutes a "designated news release" for the purposes of the Company's prospectus supplement dated February 17, 2021 to its short form base shelf prospectus dated July 17, 2020.

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 29, 2022 / Perk Labs Inc. (CSE:PERK)(OTCQB:PKLBF)(FKT:PKLB) today announced financial results for the first quarter ended February 28, 2022.

Overview

"In the first fiscal quarter of 2022, the Company improved its technology and built the operational infrastructure necessary to scale its restaurant solution and digital franchise program," said Perk CFO, Norman Tan. "I believe our Company is at an inflection point in terms of its ability to generate revenue as we ramp up sales and marketing of our digital dine-in and custom branded app solutions. Not only does our solution for restaurants provide immense value to an industry facing a unique set of challenges, but there are also government programs in place to help these businesses with the costs of adopting digital tools."

"Our new custom branding solution solves a real problem for restaurants and we are excited to see it launching with customers in these coming quarters" said Gary Zhang, Perk CTO. "We have a truly multi-channel solution that works at the table, with servers and the kitchen. With our upcoming point of sale integration, it will be the most complete solution on the marketplace."

2022 Q1 Financial Highlights:

Net loss of $406k in Q1 2022 compared to net income of $1.6M in Q1 2021.

Working capital of $1.9M in Q1 2022 compared to $3.5M in Q1 2021 and $2.0M in Q4 2021.

General and administrative expenses increased 2% from $272k in Q1 2021 to $277k in Q1 2022 as the Company continued to minimize its administrative expenses.

Research and development expenses increased 20% from $169k in Q1 2021 to $203k in Q1 2022 as the Company continued to invest in its technology platform.

Sales and marketing expenses decreased 35% from $162k in Q1 2021 to $106k in Q1 2022 as the Company refocused marketing efforts on businesses and franchisees instead of end-user customers.

2022 Q1 Operational Highlights

British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association (BCRFA) and the BC's Alliance of Beverage Licensees (ABLE BC) joint endorsement: Perk Hero received a joint endorsement from BC's leading industry associations as the technology preferred solution to the ongoing labour shortage that the food and beverage industry faces.

Perk Hero received a joint endorsement from BC's leading industry associations as the technology preferred solution to the ongoing labour shortage that the food and beverage industry faces. Launch of "PERKS" Crypto Rewards: In February 2022, the Company launched its "PERKS" cryptocurrency rewards. Designed to be used for purchasing both real and digital goods and services, PERKS is built on Solana blockchain run which has high processing speed and low transaction fees. Through PERKS, the Company sees the opportunity to bring other companies into its loyalty reward program and also the opportunity to white-label its crypto loyalty rewards.

In February 2022, the Company launched its "PERKS" cryptocurrency rewards. Designed to be used for purchasing both real and digital goods and services, PERKS is built on Solana blockchain run which has high processing speed and low transaction fees. Through PERKS, the Company sees the opportunity to bring other companies into its loyalty reward program and also the opportunity to white-label its crypto loyalty rewards. Signed its first franchisee: The Company signed up its first franchise under its new franchise program in Mississauga.

The Company signed up its first franchise under its new franchise program in Mississauga. ATM raise: For the quarter ended February 28, 2022, the Company issued 1,028,000 common shares through its at-the-market offering announced February 17, 2021, at an average price of $0.05 for gross proceeds of $51,400 with commissions paid of $1,542 for net proceeds of $49,858.

HIGHLIGHTS SUBSEQUENT TO FEBRUARY 28, 2022

Successful tradeshows: The Company attended the Franchise Canada Show in Toronto on March 26-27 and the Annual Canadian Franchise Convention in Ottawa on April 9-11. The Company has received tremendous interest in its program with 60 franchise leads from the show. Since the shows, the Company has been conducting ongoing franchise discovery meetings with promising candidates for the Greater Toronto Area.

The Company attended the Franchise Canada Show in Toronto on March 26-27 and the Annual Canadian Franchise Convention in Ottawa on April 9-11. The Company has received tremendous interest in its program with 60 franchise leads from the show. Since the shows, the Company has been conducting ongoing franchise discovery meetings with promising candidates for the Greater Toronto Area. Launch of new market awareness campaigns : The Company entered into agreements with several leading marketing firms to assist with investor communication, online marketing and content creation as Perk Labs continues to achieve important milestones and grow its investor base.

: The Company entered into agreements with several leading marketing firms to assist with investor communication, online marketing and content creation as Perk Labs continues to achieve important milestones and grow its investor base. Private placement: On March 10, 2022, the Company announced a non-brokered private placement of up to 11,904,762 units at a price of $0.042 per unit for gross proceeds of up to $500,000. Each unit consists of one common share of the Company and one warrant which entitles the holder to purchase one additional common share at a price of $0.05 per common share for a period of 24 months from closing subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day. Subscribers purchased a total of 7,672,138 units for total proceeds $322,231 in two tranches with participation from the Directors and Officers of the Company who subscribed for 476,190 Units for proceeds of $20,000.

On March 10, 2022, the Company announced a non-brokered private placement of up to 11,904,762 units at a price of $0.042 per unit for gross proceeds of up to $500,000. Each unit consists of one common share of the Company and one warrant which entitles the holder to purchase one additional common share at a price of $0.05 per common share for a period of 24 months from closing subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day. Subscribers purchased a total of 7,672,138 units for total proceeds $322,231 in two tranches with participation from the Directors and Officers of the Company who subscribed for 476,190 Units for proceeds of $20,000. New Merchant App : Perk Hero announced the launch of its new downloadable merchant app on the Google Play Store. To the Company's knowledge, none of its competitors specialising in in-restaurant digital ordering and payment have a downloadable merchant app available in the Google Play store. Major tech companies in the delivery space like UberEats, DoorDash, SkipTheDishes, and Grab all have downloadable merchant apps that are a key part of their product strategy and ability to scale.



Previously Perk Hero's merchant app was part of its consumer app. By separating Perk's merchant and consumer apps, the Company is able to reduce the size, speed up the performance, and improve the reliability of both consumer and merchant apps. A further advantage of a dedicated downloadable merchant app is that it enables Perk to upgrade its merchant app at any time without disturbing end-user customers.

: Perk Hero announced the launch of its new downloadable merchant app on the Google Play Store. To the Company's knowledge, none of its competitors specialising in in-restaurant digital ordering and payment have a downloadable merchant app available in the Google Play store. Major tech companies in the delivery space like UberEats, DoorDash, SkipTheDishes, and Grab all have downloadable merchant apps that are a key part of their product strategy and ability to scale. Previously Perk Hero's merchant app was part of its consumer app. By separating Perk's merchant and consumer apps, the Company is able to reduce the size, speed up the performance, and improve the reliability of both consumer and merchant apps. A further advantage of a dedicated downloadable merchant app is that it enables Perk to upgrade its merchant app at any time without disturbing end-user customers. Order Now, Pay Later: With this new feature, restaurants have the option of setting up Order-from-Table as either requiring their customer to pay upon placing an order or the customer can pay (and tip) at the end of the meal - which consumers are more accustomed to as part of the dining experience. With this new feature, we can also accommodate restaurants that only want to Order-from-Table but want to settle their customer's bill in cash. We see this as a great way to onboard restaurants that are either not ready to go fully digital with mobile payments or are sensitive to credit card payment processing fees.

With this new feature, restaurants have the option of setting up Order-from-Table as either requiring their customer to pay upon placing an order or the customer can pay (and tip) at the end of the meal - which consumers are more accustomed to as part of the dining experience. With this new feature, we can also accommodate restaurants that only want to Order-from-Table but want to settle their customer's bill in cash. We see this as a great way to onboard restaurants that are either not ready to go fully digital with mobile payments or are sensitive to credit card payment processing fees. Website embedding feature : Perk developed an online ordering feature for pickup and delivery that merchants can embed directly into their own websites. This feature enables Perk to offer an in-demand entry-level feature to restaurants that enables future upselling on more advanced features.

: Perk developed an online ordering feature for pickup and delivery that merchants can embed directly into their own websites. This feature enables Perk to offer an in-demand entry-level feature to restaurants that enables future upselling on more advanced features. POS Integrations: Perk commenced research and development on building integrations with some of the most popular restaurant point-of-sale systems through one of the leading POS integration companies.

Outlook

The Company's strategic priorities for 2022 include:

Continued improvement of the Perk Hero platform.

Developing integrations with leading restaurant point-of-sales systems.

Expand the utility of PERKs crypto rewards.

Grow the number of end-user customers, restaurants and franchisees using our platform.

Expand our digital franchise program in Canada.

Launch a special rewards zone that includes NFTs.

Expand our digital franchise program to the United States.

Grow our licensing revenue.

Invest in sales, marketing, and communication strategies to drive growth.

The Company's complete financial results are available in its Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended November 30, 2021, each filed with Canadian securities regulators at www.sedar.com.

IFRS

The operational and financial information in this release is based on the consolidated figures in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS).

About Perk Labs

Perk Labs Inc. (CSE:PERK)(OTCQB:PKLBF)(FKT:PKLB) is the owner of Perk Hero, the mobile commerce platform on a mission to empower business owners with the digital tools to provide their customers with experiences that are more engaging, convenient and rewarding. Perk Hero is growing through a unique community-driven digital franchise business that is available to entrepreneurs at an attractive start-up price.

For more information, please contact:

Norman Tan

Chief Financial Officer

norman@perkhero.com

833-338-0299

investors@perklabs.io

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "may", "believe", "thinks", "expect", "exploring", "expand", "could", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "pursue", "potentially", "projected", "should", "will" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. These forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, relate to, among other things, the discussion of Perk Labs' business strategies and its expectations concerning future operations, the Perk Hero app will continue to evolve and offer a unique feature set that we believe will poise us for growth, the continued development of the Perk Hero product through a series of build-measure-learn iterations, that the Company will increase the number of users and merchants using the Perk Hero platform, and that the Company will ramp-up of sales and high margin revenue generation by focusing on digital franchising and its software-as-a-service offering for restaurants. Although Perk Labs considers these forward-looking statements to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this press release, see the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the most recent Annual Information Form and Prospectus of Perk Labs, which may be accessed through Perk Labs' profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Perk Labs cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by Perk Labs is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking information, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are based will occur.

SOURCE: Perk Labs Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/699419/Perk-Labs-Reports-First-Quarter-2022-Results
Ermenegildo Zegna N.V. (NYSE: ZGN) ("Zegna Group," "the Group," or "the Company") today announced that it will report its unaudited revenues for the first quarter of 2022 on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at approximately 6:30 a.m. ET (12:30 p.m. CET).

There will be no webcast or conference call.

The Company also added that with respect to the announced Capital Markets Day to be held on May 17, 2022, there will be an audio webcast starting at approximately 11:00 a.m. CET (5:00 a.m. ET). Management will refer to a slide presentation during the event, which will be made available shortly before on the day of the call. To view the presentation and access the audio webcast, please visit the "Events Presentations" tab on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at ir.zegnagroup.com.

About Ermenegildo Zegna Group

Founded in 1910 in Trivero, Italy by Ermenegildo Zegna, the Zegna Group designs, creates and distributes luxury menswear and accessories under the Zegna brand, as well as womenswear, menswear and accessories under the Thom Browne brand. Through its Luxury Textile Laboratory Platform which works to preserve artisanal mills producing the finest Italian fabrics the Zegna Group manufactures and distributes the highest quality fabrics and textiles. Group products are sold through over 500 stores in 80 countries around the world, of which 297 are directly operated by the Group as of December 31, 2021 (245 Zegna stores and 52 Thom Browne stores). Over the decades, Zegna Group has charted Our Road: a unique path that winds itself through era-defining milestones that have seen the Group grow from a producer of superior wool fabric to a global luxury group. Our Road has led us to New York, where the Group has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since December 20, 2021. And while we continue to progress on Our Road to tomorrow, we remain committed to upholding our founder's legacy one that is based upon the principle that a business's activities should help the environment. Today, the Zegna Group is creating a lifestyle that marches to the rhythm of modern times while continuing to nurture bonds with the natural world and with our communities that create a better present and future.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005319/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations

Francesca Di Pasquantonio

francesca.dipasquantonio@zegna.com

+39 335 5837669

Media

Ermenegildo Zegna Group

Domenico Galluccio

domenico.galluccio@zegna.com

+39 335 538 7288

Brunswick Group

Brendan Riley Alessandro Iozzia Marie Jensen

briley@brunswickgroup.com aiozzia@brunswickgroup.com mjensen@brunswickgroup.com

+1 (917) 755-1454 +39 335 718 7205 +33 (0) 6 49 09 39 54


MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - President Joe Biden has made a $33 billion supplemental budget request to Congress to provide security, economic, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine battling Russian invasion.



Out of this record aid package, $20 billion is aimed at providing military and other security assistance to keep weapons and ammunition flowing to the Ukrainian people. This includes $5 billion in additional drawdown authority, $6 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, and $4 billion for the State Department's Foreign Military Financing program.



The Biden administration is requesting Congress to provide an additional $8.5 billion in economic assistance to help the government of Ukraine respond to the immediate crisis caused by the Russian invasion and continue to provide basic services to the Ukrainian people.



Biden is also seeking Congressional approval to provide $3 billion in additional humanitarian assistance and food security funding. These resources will provide wheat and other commodities to people in need, build countries' resilience to the global food supply and price shock, and provide lifesaving aid to people displaced by the war in Ukraine.



A senior Biden Administration Official said this request also includes targeted funding to address economic disruptions felt at home and around the world due to Russia's invasion. 'That includes helping increase U.S. production of food crops, such as wheat and soybeans, and funding to allow the use of the Defense Production Act to expand domestic production of reserves of critical minerals and materials that have been disrupted by Putin's war and are necessary to make everything from defense systems to cars,' he told reporters.



In addition to this supplemental funding, Biden is also sending to Congress a comprehensive legislative package to make it easier to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs and elites, expand assets subject to seizure, and enable the proceeds to flow to Ukraine.



Biden said at a news conference that the United States is working with other nations like South Korea, Japan and Qatar to support effort to help the European allies threatened by Russia with gas blackmail and their energy needs in other ways.



Meanwhile, reports say that it will take weeks for Congress to put the President's Ukraine supplemental funding request to vote, as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle warn there are many issues that need to be addressed over the $33 bln aid package.







Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



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Cardston, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AMK) ("the Company" or "American Creek") congratulates JV Partner Tudor Gold on the announcement of the appointments of Mr. Joseph Ovsenek and Mr. Ken McNaughton to Tudor's Advisory Board. The announcement comes on the precipice of the largest projected drill program to date on the Treaty Creek Project.

American Creek CEO, Darren Blaney comments: "This announcement marks another example of Tudor Gold's commitment to aggressively advancing the Treaty Creek project. Lead by Mr. Ken Konkin, this top tier leadership team is poised to bring one of the largest gold discoveries in the past 30 years into the next chapter."

About the Tudor Gold Advisory Board Appointments

Joseph Ovsenek, currently President and CEO of P2 Gold Inc., has over 20 years of international management and legal experience in the precious metals industry. He has been responsible for building teams and leading the growth of public resource companies from early exploration stage to production. Before founding P2 Gold, Mr. Ovsenek was President and CEO of Pretium Resources Inc. where he led the advance of the high-grade gold Brucejack Mine which has been operating profitably since commercial start-up in 2017. Mr. Ovsenek began his nine-year tenure at Pretium in 2011 as Chief Development Officer and led the financing of the company from exploration stage to operations and was subsequently appointed President in 2015 and President and CEO in 2017. Prior to Pretium he served for 15 years in senior management roles for Silver Standard Resources Inc., lastly as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development responsible for the sale of the Brucejack and Snowfield assets to the newly created Pretium Resources Inc. Mr. Ovsenek holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto. Mr. Ovsenek is a registered member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, and holds the Chartered Director (C.Dir) designation.

Ken McNaughton is a professional geological engineer with over 30 years of global experience developing and leading mineral exploration programs. He currently holds the position of Chief Exploration Officer at P2 Gold Inc. Prior to P2 Gold he was Chief Exploration Officer at Pretium Resources Inc., where he had been responsible for greenfield exploration programs since joining the company in 2011, shortly after it was formed to advance the early exploration-stage Brucejack Project. Prior to Pretium, Mr. McNaughton was Vice President, Exploration at Silver Standard Resources Inc. for 20 years, and he oversaw all exploration activities of the company including the exploration program for the Snowfield Project and the 2009 program when bonanza-grade drilling results established Brucejack as a high-grade gold discovery. Prior to Silver Standard, he was employed by Corona Corporation and its affiliate Mascot Gold Mines Ltd. as a project geologist and engineer for projects in British Columbia. Mr. McNaughton holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree and a Master of Applied Science degree in geological engineering from the University of Windsor.

Treaty Creek JV Partnership

The Treaty Creek Project is a Joint Venture with Tudor Gold owning 3/5th and acting as operator. American Creek and Teuton Resources each have a 1/5th interest in the project creating a 3:1 ownership relationship between Tudor Gold and American Creek. American Creek and Teuton are both fully carried until such time as a Production Notice is issued, at which time they are required to contribute their respective 20% share of development costs. Until such time, Tudor is required to fund all exploration and development costs while both American Creek and Teuton have "free rides".

About American Creek

American Creek is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company with gold and silver properties in British Columbia, Canada.

The Company has an interest in the Treaty Creek property, a joint venture project with Tudor Gold/Walter Storm located in BC's prolific "Golden Triangle".

American Creek also holds the Austruck-Bonanza gold property located near Kamloops.

For further information please contact Kelvin Burton at:

Phone: 403 752-4040 or Email: info@americancreek.com.

Information relating to the Company is available on its website at www.americancreek.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. "Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including the completion and anticipated results of planned exploration activities. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connation thereof.

Such forward-looking information and statements are based on numerous assumptions, including among others, that the Company's planned exploration activities will be completed in a timely manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward-looking information or making forward-looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate.

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 plans or expectations include risks relating to the actual results of current exploration activities, fluctuating gold prices, possibility of equipment breakdowns and delays, exploration cost overruns, availability of capital and financing, general economic, market or business conditions, regulatory changes, timeliness of government or regulatory approvals and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122127
THUNDER BAY, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 28, 2022 / The Proposed Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Northern Road Link (NRL) Project (the Project) has been released today by the 2 proponent First Nations, Marten Falls (MFFN) and Webequie (WFN). Prior to this key milestone, the review period for the Draft ToR for the NRL came to a close on January 31, 2022. Since then the Project team has reviewed the comments received from Indigenous communities and key stakeholders and has revised the Draft ToR to reflect their input. The ToR is the first step of the EA under the requirements of the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act, RSO 1990, c. E.18 and it sets out a framework and work plan for addressing legislative requirements to study and complete the Project.

The project has now advanced to the next phase, which is the formal commitment period in which the Proposed ToR is submitted to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) and made public for review. A notification for the Proposed ToR is available through the MECP's online registry and the Proposed ToR is now available for formal review and comments through NRL's website ( https://northernroadlink.ca/terms/ ). Printed copies of the Proposed ToR have also been sent out to Indigenous communities via post. During this time period, the NRL Project team will also provide responses to the comments received through MECP and update the Proposed ToR accordingly. The review period is expected to last 60 days which is twice the required 30 day review period. After the review period comes to an end, the Proposed ToR will be submitted to MECP's Minister for a decision. The Proposed ToR will either be accepted, accepted with changes, or rejected. If accepted, this will bring the Project to the Notice of Commencement of the Environmental Assessment (EA) phase and the assessment process described in the Proposed ToR will begin.

The NRL is a proposed all-season and multi-use road that will connect the proposed Marten Falls Community Access Road (MFCAR) and the proposed Webequie Supply Road (WSR). The primary purpose of NRL is to help connect the Ring of Fire area to the provincial highway network, which will potentially enable economic development in the region. The Project also connects Webequie First Nation to the provincial highway network.

The NRL is an Indigenous-led project by MFFN and WFN. MFFN and WFN have volunteered to subject the Project to the highest level of regulatory scrutiny, an Individual EA. The NRL Project team extends its gratitude to those who participated in the review period. The input received has been invaluable and is reflected in the Proposed ToR which has been submitted to MECP for review.

Indigenous communities, government agencies, municipal officials, and other interested parties are encouraged to continue to engage with the NRL Project and the Project team throughout the EA.

The NRL Project team encourages Indigenous communities and key stakeholders to tune into the NRL's bi-weekly radio show and live streaming sessions which provides more information on the Project and presents an opportunity for questions and input from Indigenous communities. The next bi-weekly radio show will take place on May 11 on Wawatay Radio at 2:30 pm and the next live-stream will take place on May 11th at 4:30 pm and can be accessed through the NRL project website. The Project team will also be available during the review period to meet with any Indigenous community to discuss the Proposed ToR virtually or in-person following local COVID protocols.

For information on the study progress and updates, and to review the Draft ToR, please visit the Northern Road Link website at www.northernroadlink.ca. Or contact: Stephanie Ash, Firedog Communications, Cell/Text: 1 (807) 472-5276, Email: stephanie@firedogpr.com

SOURCE: The Northern Road Link

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/699369/Proposed-Terms-of-Reference-for-the-Northern-Road-Link-Released-by-Marten-Falls-First-Nation-and-Webequie-First-Nation-for-Formal-Review
HIGHLIGHTS

Drilling program at RHW complete with 6 holes drilled for 1,176m

Strong visual intercept of 31.3m of spodumene bearing pegmatite from 3.4m in hole RHW22-006

Multiple pegmatites dykes over 200m strike show a possible dyke swarm at Ruby Hill West and confirm the discovery of a new mineral system

Drilling targeted spodumene bearing pegmatite under an outcrop which had returned 2.59% Li 2 O, 1970ppm Rb, 1030 ppm Ta and 7530 ppm Cs 1.9% Li 2 O, 3160ppm Rb, 3820 ppm Cs, 274ppm Ta

Five holes out of six intercepted multiple spodumene (lithium) pegmatite dykes

Benz controls the whole greenstone and granite contact extending over 45km of strike at the Ruby Hill West Project

Follow up work includes mapping, soil surveys, airborne geophysical surveys (VTEM, magnetics) and remote sensing analysis to start after the snow melts

Additional drilling to follow on after the field campaigns are completed

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - Benz Mining Corp. (TSXV: BZ) (ASX:BNZ) (the Company or Benz) is pleased to provide an update on its recently completed 1,176m reconnaissance drilling campaign at the Ruby Hill West lithium project. Visual observations of spodumene bearing pegmatites in core confirm the presence of multiple pegmatite dykes in the area confirming the prospectivity of the area.





Figure 1: 31.2m of spodumene bearing pegmatite in core, Ruby Hill West drilling starting at 3.5m in RHW22-006



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/122159_b7e5511914fea8b3_001full.jpg





Figure 2: RHW22-006 core close up with large spodumene crystals (light green minerals marked Sp)



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/122159_b7e5511914fea8b3_002full.jpg

CEO, Xavier Braud, commented:

"We were very excited to be putting the first holes into a greenstone belt that had never had any historical exploration for lithium. We are now very excited to declare a virgin lithium discovery in the in the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt."

"The significance of hitting 31m of spodumene bearing pegmatite from surface is extremely encouraging. In the limited drilling at Ruby Hill West, we have seen multiple parallel pegmatites essentially under shallow cover that contain visible spodumene."

"Benz has locked up the whole 45km of prospective granite and greenstone contact that has never been explored for lithium. The closest drill hole to RHW is 1.2km away and was drilled for copper and nickel in 1966. We will send field crews as soon as the weather permits and we want to be back drilling at Ruby Hill West very soon."





Figure 3: Spodumene pegmatite, RHW22-006, half core. The other half will be sent to ALS laboratories for assays on 28/04/2022



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/122159_b7e5511914fea8b3_003full.jpg

Whilst visual observations of spodumene minerals in a pegmatite confirm the prospective nature of the pegmatitic host rock, no assumption of lithium grade can be inferred from those observations. Laboratory assays are required to confirm the lithium grade.





Figure 4: Ruby Hill West lithium over satellite image. This image shows vertical projection of the pegmatite intercepts and grab samples taken in 2021 (blue dots)

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/122159_b7e5511914fea8b3_004full.jpg





Figure 5: Schematic cross section RHW22-001 (note, the three dykes of pegmatites are close to each other and represented as a single interval



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/122159_b7e5511914fea8b3_005full.jpg

RHW22-001 intercepted three spodumene bearing pegmatite dykes from a depth of 73m visually identified by Benz's geological team. Three other pegmatite dykes were identified as well but with no visible spodumene.

RWH22-002 potentially intercepted the same geological system as RHW22-001, 50m along the originally interpreted strike to the SW of RHW22-001. Five pegmatite dykes were identified from a depth of 68m with visually identified spodumene.

RHW22-003 drilled 100m to the NE and down dip from RHW22-001 and 002 intersected 3 spodumene bearing pegmatites from a depth of 172m.





Figure 6: RHW22-002 schematic cross section



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/122159_b7e5511914fea8b3_006full.jpg

RHW22-004 was drilled towards the north to verify the dip of these pegmatites corresponding to the surface outcropping. No pegmatites were intersected.

RHW22-005 was drilled 100m to the west and intersected several pegmatites with visible spodumene.

RHW22-006 was drilled to the south into a mag low, from the same setup as RHW22-004. It intersected 31.3m (3.4 to 34.7m) of coarse grained spodumene rich pegmatite. This intrusion is located at the contact between basalt and an meso-gabbro intrusion.





Figure 7: Schematic section RHW22-005 with three dykes of spodumene pegmatite



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/122159_b7e5511914fea8b3_007full.jpg





Figure 8: Schematic cross section with RHW22-004, 005 and 006 which shows the position of the 31.3m intercept of spodumene bearing pegmatite, 2.7m below surface or 3.4m downhole depth (directly below shallow cover)



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/122159_b7e5511914fea8b3_008full.jpg







Figure 9: RHW22-006 pegmatite close-up, the black mica is masutomilite (Rb rich mineral), with quartz and feldspar visible

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/122159_b7e5511914fea8b3_009full.jpg

Figure 10: Nickeline in a small vein within a deformed ultramafic intersected in hole RHW22-003

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/122159_b7e5511914fea8b3_010full.jpg

Drillholes had been designed to intersect at depth several mapped occurrences of pegmatites in the area. These outcrops are small and partly covered in overburden. The spodumene bearing pegmatite in hole RW22-006 does not outcrop, but is close to surface. Next summer Benz will conduct an extensive prospecting and soil campaign over the immediate area in hope of finding other pegmatites that are covered with glacial overburden and that do not come to surface.

At this stage, Benz does not know the geological controls on the pegmatite system and drilling has been designed to intercept pegmatites which from surface contacts and foliation are dipping at 70 to the NNW. Drilling from the 6 holes recently completed show several potential orientations for the pegmatite dykes, confirming the possible presence of a dyke swarm in the area.

Eastmain Gold Project

The Eastmain Gold Project, situated on the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt in Quebec, Canada, currently hosts a NI 43-101 and JORC (2012) compliant resource of 376,000oz at 7.9gpt gold (Indicated: 236,500oz at 8.2gpt gold, Inferred: 139,300oz at 7.5gpt gold). The existing gold mineralisation is associated with 15-20% semi-massive to massive pyrrhotite, pyrite and chalcopyrite in highly deformed and altered rocks making it amenable to detection using electromagnetic techniques. Multiple gold occurrences have been identified by previous explorers over a 12km long zone along strike from the Eastmain Mine with very limited but highly encouraging testing outside the existing resource area.

Ruby Hill West Lithium Project

The Ruby Hill West lithium project is a surface occurrence of spodumene bearing pegmatite within the Ruby Hill West project, located 50km due west of the Eastmain exploration camp. The occurrence was first sampled in 2016 by Eastmain Resources and then by Quebec government geologists in 2018. Only limited sampling was conducted by both groups.

This press release was prepared under supervision and approved by Dr. Danielle Giovenazzo, P.Geo, acting as Benz's qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.



Figure 11: Benz tenure over Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt simplified geology



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1818/122159_b7e5511914fea8b3_011full.jpg

About Benz Mining Corp.

Benz Mining Corp. (TSXV: BZ) (ASX: BNZ) brings together an experienced team of geoscientists and finance professionals with a focused strategy to unlock the immense mineral potential of the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt in Northern Quebec, which is prospective for gold, lithium, nickel, copper and other high-value minerals. Benz is earning a 100% interest in the former producing high grade Eastmain gold mine, Ruby Hill West and Ruby Hill East projects in Quebec and owns 100% of the Windy Mountain project.

At the Eastmain Gold Project, Benz has identified a combination of over 380 modelled in-hole and off-hole DHEM conductors over a strike length of 6km which is open in all directions (final interpretation of some of the conductors still pending).

In 2021, Benz confirmed the presence of visible spodumene in a pegmatite at the Ruby Hill West Project, indicating lithium mineralisation which Benz intends to further explore in 2022.

This announcement has been approved for release by the Board of Directors of Benz Mining Corp.

For more information please contact:

Paul Fowler

Head of Corporate Development (Canada)

Benz Mining Corp.

Telephone: +1 416 356 8165

Email: info@benzmining.com

Xavier Braud

CEO, Head of Corporate Development (Aus)

Benz Mining Corp.

Telephone +61 8 6143 6702

Email: info@benzmining.com

Forward-Looking Information: Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and is subject to certain factors and assumptions, including, that the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events and that the Company obtains regulatory approval. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions referred to prove not to be valid or reliable, that occurrences such as those referred to above are realized and result in delays, or cessation in planned work, that the Company's financial condition and development plans change, and delays in regulatory approval, as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company as set forth in the Company's continuous disclosure filings filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Competent Person's Statements: The information in this report that relates to Exploration Results is based on and fairly represents information and supporting information compiled by Mr Xavier Braud, who is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG membership ID:6963). Mr Braud is a consultant to the Company and has sufficient experience in the style of mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and qualifies as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Braud holds securities in Benz Mining Corp and consents to the inclusion of all technical statements based on his information in the form and context in which they appear.

The information in this announcement that relates to the Inferred Mineral Resource was first reported under the JORC Code by the Company in its prospectus released to the ASX on 21 December 2020. The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the original market announcement and confirms that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimate continue to apply and have not materially changed. The Company confirms that the form and context in which the Competent Person's findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcement

Appendix 1: Drilling data to date - Ruby Hill West Pegmatite

Table 1: Collar data Ruby Hill West Pegmatite 2022 winter drilling

DDH ID Area X-NAD83-Z18N Y- NAD83-Z18N Elevation Azimuth Dip Final Depth Claim Number RHW22-001 RHW - Pegm 658491 5796350 540 155 -50 150 1023062 RHW22-002 RHW - Pegm 658444 5796324 544 155 -50 200 1023062 RHW22-003 RHW - Pegm 658526 5796452 534 155 -50 250 1023062 RHW22-004 RHW - Pegm 658614 5796216 546 335 -50 200 1023063 RHW22-005 RHW - Pegm 658329 5796334 554 155 -50 200 1023062 RHW22-006 RHW - Pegm 658614 5796216 546 155 -50 200 1023063

Table 2: Visual estimates

DDH ID Depth from Depth To Mineral observed Visual estimate RHW22-001 Logging in progress RHW22-002 Logging in progress RHW22-003 Logging in progress RHW22-004 Logging in progress RHW22-005 Logging in progress RHW22-006 3.4 34.7 Spodumene 5 - 10% including 20.2 33.7 Spodumene 10 - 40%

Cautionary statement:

Visual abundance estimates of spodumene minerals is only available for drillhole RHW22-006 at the moment. Benz geology team is still logging core for the other holes in the program and results are not yet available.

Whilst visual observations of spodumene minerals in a pegmatite confirms the prospective nature of the pegmatitic host rock, no assumption of lithium grade can be inferred from those observations.

Laboratory assays are required to confirm the lithium grade.

Benz Mining will update the market when laboratory results become available.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122159
U.S. should return to rational, pragmatic policy toward China

10:46, April 29, 2022 By Hu Zexi, Zhang Mengxu ( People's Daily

As the spillovers of the Ukraine crisis continue to spread, the international situation is increasingly complex and grave. The U.S., the instigator of the crisis, has neither reflected on its mistakes nor done its duty for world peace and security by trying all means to promote a ceasefire and peace talks.

Instead, it has continued to fan the flames of tensions between Russia and Ukraine and made it more difficult to achieve reconciliation. The country even attempts to shift the blame for its mistakes onto others and has willfully smeared and attacked China, sowing misunderstanding, antagonism, and insecurity in the Asia-Pacific region.

Remarks and acts of the U.S. regarding the Ukraine crisis, including spreading lies to create the illusion that China is responsible for the crisis and attempting to bracket the Taiwan question and the Ukraine crisis together to seek an excuse for using Taiwan to contain China, wont do any good to the settlement of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but will further undermine mutual trust and cooperation between China and the U.S.

The U.S. has kept stirring up trouble and only pursued coercive diplomacy to make other countries pay for its mistakes and suppress China. Obviously, the U.S. hasnt learned anything from its wrong foreign policy in the past and still views the world with the friend-enemy binary logic, pointed out Ruan Zongze, executive vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies.

Washingtons actions on the Ukraine crisis have proven that creating confrontation is the essence of the current U.S. policy toward China, according to Diao Daming, a research fellow with the National Academy of Development and Strategy, Renmin University of China.

By using the Russia-Ukraine conflict to create division in the world, the U.S. attempts to cast China as a common threat to the West so as to enlist its allies in confrontation with China at minimal cost, thus maintaining its hegemony and interests, said Diao.

Such moves of the U.S. have exposed the countrys Cold War mentality and the wrong approach it has taken in dealing with its relations with China.

Some people in the U.S. hope to spawn a new Cold War with China, and regard the cultivation of a shared enemy as the necessary key to maintaining the so-called liberal order, said Peter Isackson, chief strategy officer of Fair Observer, an independent, nonprofit media organization in the U.S., in his recent article published on the website of Fair Observer.

According to the article, these people believe the fear of enemy can divert American peoples attention from serious and worsening problems at home, such as income inequality and an enduring pandemic punctuated by contestable government mandates.

Some in the U.S. oppose the U.S. policy of engagement with China because they object to the loss of American global and regional preeminence and the inability of the U.S. to have its way unilaterally, which is narrow-minded and short-sighted, pointed out Chas W. Freeman, Jr., former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs.

U.S. politicians fear-mongering over China and hyping the China threat will make the U.S.-China relations harder to manage, according to Andrew J. Nathan, a professor of Political Science at Columbia University.

Major countries in the world are supposed to shoulder major responsibilities for safeguarding international peace and security.

The U.S. must abandon its wrong approach, return to a rational and pragmatic policy toward China and show its sense of responsibility by working together with China to steer the China-U.S. relations back on the right track at an early date.

Last year, bilateral trade between China and the U.S. exceeded $750 billion for the first time, and two-way investment between the two countries jumped to nearly $240 billion. Meanwhile, more than 70,000 American enterprises made investments in China.

Facts have fully demonstrated that the interests of China and the U.S. are deeply entwined, ideological differences cant define the relations between the two countries, and the U.S. waging a new Cold War on China despite opposition would harm both China and itself.

The move to contain China will further divide the U.S. from its partners and undermine the reputation of the U.S., thus constituting an act of self-destruction, according to G. John Ikenberry, who is the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University.

The Asia-Pacific region is not a wrestling ground for international politics. For a long time, the U.S. has attempted to create tensions and incite confrontation and antagonism in the region by pushing its Indo-Pacific strategy, arousing widespread concerns among countries in the region.

Countries in the Asia-Pacific region share the general desire to prevent the resurgence of the Cold War mentality and refuse to take sides between major powers.

All countries in the world want a positive and constructive relationship with both the U.S. and China, said former Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, whose view is echoed by many.

Competition among major countries is not the theme of the times, and zero-sum game is not the right choice. Now that the world has emerged from the Cold War, it should not suffer from a new Iron Curtain.

The U.S. should shoulder its responsibilities as a major country and respond to the international communitys expectations by returning to a rational and pragmatic policy toward China and working together with the latter to bring the bilateral relations back on the right track.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
DGAP-News: CPI PROPERTY GROUP / Key word(s): AGM/EGM

CPI PROPERTY GROUP: CONVENING NOTICE OF THE COMPANY'S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING TO BE HELD ON 30 MAY 2022



29.04.2022 / 15:51

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



CPI PROPERTY GROUP

Societe Anonyme

40, rue de la Vallee

L-2661 Luxembourg

R.C.S. Luxembourg B 102254

(the "Company") CONVENING NOTICE

OF THE COMPANY'S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

TO BE HELD ON 30 MAY 2022

Dear Shareholders, You are invited to attend the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company (the "Meeting") to be held at the registered office of the Company at 40, rue de la Vallee, L-2661 Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, on 30 May 2022 at 12:00 noon CEST , to discuss and to vote on the agenda indicated below. Due to COVID-19 pandemic the shareholders are required to opt for a distance voting by using the Attendance and Proxy forms available on the Company's website at www.cpipg.com (further details below).



The Meeting is convened in accordance with article 450-8 of the Luxembourg law on commercial companies dated 10 August 1915, as amended from time to time (the "LCA") and article 3 of the law dated 24 May 2011 on the exercise of certain rights of shareholders in general meetings of listed companies, as amended from time to time, with the following points on the agenda: AGENDA 1. Presentation of the reports of the Board of Directors and of the approved auditor (reviseur d'entreprises agree) of the Company on the statutory annual accounts and on the consolidated annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ended 31 December 2021. 2. Presentation and approval of the statutory annual accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2021. 3. Presentation and approval of the consolidated annual accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2021. 4. Allocation of the financial results in relation to the financial year ended 31 December 2021. 5. Presentation and approval of the remuneration policy. 6. Presentation and approval of the remuneration report for the financial year ended 31 December 2021. 7. Discharge to be granted to the members of the Board of Directors in respect of the performance of their duties during the financial year ended 31 December 2021. 8. Discharge to be granted to the approved auditor (reviseur d'entreprises agree) in respect of the performance of its duties during the financial year ended 31 December 2021. 9. Decision to appoint with immediate effect Mr. Edward Hughes to the Board of Directors of the Company until the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company to be held in 2023 concerning the approval of the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ending on 31 December 2022. 10. Decision to appoint with immediate effect Mr. Jonathan Lewis to the Board of Directors of the Company until the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company to be held in 2023 concerning the approval of the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ending on 31 December 2022. 11. Decision to appoint with immediate effect Mr. Philippe Magistretti to the Board of Directors of the Company until the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company to be held in 2023 concerning the approval of the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ending on 31 December 2022. 12. Decision to appoint with immediate effect Mr. Martin Nemecek to the Board of Directors of the Company until the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company to be held in 2023 concerning the approval of the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ending on 31 December 2022. 13. Decision to appoint with immediate effect Mr. Tomas Salajka to the Board of Directors of the Company until the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company to be held in 2023 concerning the approval of the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ending on 31 December 2022. 14. Decision to appoint with immediate effect Mr. Omar Sattar to the Board of Directors of the Company until the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company to be held in 2023 concerning the approval of the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ending on 31 December 2022. 15. Decision to appoint with immediate effect Mr. Oliver Schlink to the Board of Directors of the Company until the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company to be held in 2023 concerning the approval of the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ending on 31 December 2022. 16. Decision to appoint with immediate effect Mr. Tim Scoble to the Board of Directors of the Company until the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company to be held in 2023 concerning the approval of the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ending on 31 December 2022. 17. Subject to approval of item 12 of the agenda, decision to appoint Mr. Martin Nemecek as the Managing Director (delegue a la gestion journaliere) of the Company until the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company to be held in 2023 concerning the approval of the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ending on 31 December 2022. 18. Decision to appoint with immediate effect Ernst & Young, S.A., Luxembourg as the approved auditor (reviseur d'entreprises agree) of the Company until the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company to be held in 2023 concerning the approval of the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ending on 31 December 2022. 19. Decision to modify, renew and replace the existing share buy-back programme of the Company enabling the redemption of the Company's own shares. * * * * ATTENDING THE MEETING In the context of the present sanitary situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic and in accordance with the law of 23 September 2020, implementing measures concerning the holding of meetings in companies and other legal entities, as amended (the "Law of 23 September 2020"), the board of directors of the Company has decided as a temporary measure to ensure both the safety of the participants to the Meeting and the business continuity of the Company during the pandemic to hold the Meeting remotely without physical presence of participants. In accordance with the Law of 23 September 2020, the Company requires that (i) the Meeting be held without any participant attending in person, and (ii) shareholders and other participants participate to the meeting and exercise their rights exclusively by a vote in writing or by appointing a special attorney designated by the Company. Therefore, in order to participate to the Meeting, shareholders must provide the Company with the following three items as explained in greater detail below: (i) Record Date Confirmation, (ii) Attendance and Proxy Form, and (iii) Proof of Shareholding. Record Date Confirmation: This document shall be provided to the Company by a shareholder at the latest on the Record Date, i.e. by 24:00 CEST (midnight) on 16 May 2022. The Record Date is 16 May 2022 at 24:00 CEST (midnight) (the "Record Date", i.e. the day falling fourteen (14) days before the date of the Meeting at midnight (Luxembourg time)). The Record Date Confirmation must be in writing and indicate that a shareholder holds the Company shares and wishes to participate in the Meeting. A template form of the Record Date Confirmation is available on the Company's website at www.cpi pg.com . The Record Date Confirmation must be sent to the Company by post or electronic means so that it is received by the Company at the latest on the Record Date, i.e. by 24:00 CEST (midnight) on 16 May 2022 , to: CPI PROPERTY GROUP 40, rue de la Vallee, L-2661 Luxembourg Fax: + 352 26 47 67 67 email: generalmeetings@cpipg.com Attendance and Proxy form: A template form is available on the Company's website at www.cpip g.com and is to be duly completed and signed by shareholders wishing to participate or be represented at the Meeting. Proof of Shareholding: This document must indicate the shareholder's name and the number of Company shares held on the Record Date, i.e. 24:00 CEST (midnight) on 16 May 2022. The Proof of Shareholding shall be issued by the bank, the professional securities' depositary or the financial institution where the shares are on deposit. Please note that Proof of Shareholding is not necessary for those shareholders whose shares are still recorded as registered shares in the Company's shareholders' register. Shareholders wishing to participate to the Meeting must send the Attendance and Proxy form together with the relevant Proof of Shareholding by post or electronic means so that they are received by the Company at the latest by noon (12:00 noon CEST) on 24 May 2022 , to: CPI PROPERTY GROUP 40, rue de la Vallee, L-2661 Luxembourg Fax: + 352 26 47 67 67 email: generalmeetings@cpipg.com Please note that only persons who are shareholders on the Record Date and have timely submitted their Record Date Confirmation, Attendance and Proxy form, and Proof of Shareholding shall have the right to participate and vote in the Meeting. Documentation and information: The following documents and information are available for the shareholders on our website: www.cpipg.com: - the present convening notice; - the total number of shares and the voting rights in the Company as at the date of this convening notice; - the documents to be submitted to the Meeting (in particular the reports of the Board of Directors and of the approved auditor (reviseur d'entreprises agree), the statutory annual accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2021 and the consolidated annual accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2021, the remuneration policy, as well as the remuneration report for the financial year ended 31 December 2021); - the draft resolutions of the Meeting. Any draft resolution(s) submitted by shareholder(s) shall be added to the website as soon as possible after the Company has received them; - the terms of the new share buy-back programme of the Company to be presented to the Meeting for approval; - the Record Date Confirmation form; and - the Attendance and Proxy form. The above documents may also be obtained by shareholders upon written request sent to the following postal address: CPI PROPERTY GROUP, 40, rue de la Vallee, L-2661 Luxembourg. For further information, visit our website: www.cpipg.com. Quorum Requirement: The Meeting shall validly deliberate regardless of the corporate capital present or represented. Resolutions, in order to be adopted, must be carried by a majority of the votes cast. Votes cast shall not include votes attaching to shares in which the shareholder has not taken part in the vote or has abstained or has returned a blank or invalid vote. Right to add new items on the agenda : One or more shareholders together representing at least five per cent of the share capital has the right to (i) put one or more items on the agenda of the Meeting and (ii) table draft resolutions for items included or to be included on the agenda of the Meeting. Such requests must: - be in writing and sent to the Company by post (at the following address: CPI PROPERTY GROUP, 40, rue de la Vallee, L-2661 Luxembourg) or electronic means (at the following email address: generalmeetings@cpipg.com ) and be accompanied by a justification or draft resolution to be adopted in the Meeting; - include the postal or electronic address at which the Company may acknowledge receipt of the requests; - be received by the Company at least twenty-two (22) days before the date of the Meeting, i.e. 8 May 2022. The Company shall acknowledge receipt of requests referred to above within (forty-eight) 48 hours from receipt. The Company shall prepare a revised agenda including such additional items on or before the fifteenth (15th) day before the date of the Meeting. For further information, visit our website: www.cpipg. com . If you need further assistance or information, please contact: CPI PROPERTY GROUP, 40, rue de la Vallee, L-2661 Luxembourg, Tel: + 352 26 47 67 58; Fax: + 352 26 47 67 67; email: generalmeetings@cpipg.com. Luxembourg, 28 April 2022 Yours faithfully, The Board of Directors of the Company



29.04.2022 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


Brevik, Norway, April 29, 2022: Today, 500 young local students and the Crown Prince of Norway, Haakon Magnus, celebrated the christening of Yara Birkeland, the world's first electric, autonomous container vessel.



As a new twist to the maritime tradition, the emission-free ship was christened by not only one, but two God Mothers. To represent the future, young Pernille Gundersrud (12) and Malene Moen Straume (12) took on this honourable role. The christening took place close to the Yara Porsgrunn plant.

"Fighting climate change and reducing harmful CO2 emissions is the world community's most important task. Global warming threatens our future," says Gundersrud.

"We are young. We represent the future, as Yara Birkeland does. We are incredibly proud and thankful to be asked to be God Mothers for the world's first fully electric and autonomous container vessel with zero emissions," says Straume.

The ship will transport fertilizer across the fjord from Yara's Porsgrunn plant to Brevik port and thereby eliminate the carbon emissions of 40,000 diesel truck loads per year.



A leading nation of green shipping

About 500 Porsgrunn students from fifth to seventh grade joined the Crown Prince in the ceremony.

"We christen you Yara Birkeland. May you be blessed with good fortune on your mission and may you inspire others in the fight for a better climate," the two God Mothers said before throwing a specially made champagne bottle of ice against the bow of the ship.

In his speech, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway addressed the young ones, as well as Yara.

"It takes courage to create something new. It requires investment, patience, and an ability to not give up after the first try. Innovation requires trial and error - and trial and error again - until you succeed. Those of you who have worked at Yara for many years have been involved in this several times before throughout the company's history", said His Royal Highness at the ceremony in Porsgrunn.

Abrave decision

"This is a milestone for Yara," says Svein Tore Holsether, President and CEO of Yara International.

"Yara took a bold decision in 2017. We wanted to build the world's first carbon-free container vessel. Today, five years later, we celebrate the outcome of this ambitious decision. Yara Birkeland is a result of ambition, curiosity, and collaboration where innovation, sustainability and technology come together," he says.

Yara developed the battery-driven ship in collaboration with several Norwegian partners. Kongsberg Maritime has developed and delivered the technology. The ship is built by Vard. Yara Birkeland will be operated by a joint venture undertaken by the Kongsberg Group and Massterly, which is owned by the Wilhelmsen Group. Enova, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, has contributed financially (NOK 133.5 million) to the development of Yara Birkeland.

The ship is named after Kristian Birkeland, a leading Norwegian scientist in the early 1900s who is one of the founding fathers of what Yara represents today. Finding a way to use nitrogen from air to the production of fertiliser, Birkeland made the foundation for Yara.

Facts about Yara International

Yara was founded in 1905 by the entrepreneur Sam Eyde and the scientist Kristian Birkeland to combat the emerging famine in Europe.

Today, Yara has established a unique position as the industry's only global crop nutrition company.

Yara has around 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries.

Yara is listed on the Norwegian Stock Exchange.



Facts about Yara Birkeland

Yara Birkeland is the world's first electric and autonomous container ship with zero emissions. The ship will transport fertiliser across the fjord from Yara's Porsgrunn plant to Brevik port and thereby replace 40.000 diesel truck loads per year and eliminate associated carbon emissions.

The ship has been developed in collaboration between several Norwegian players. The technology company Kongsberg Maritime is responsible for the development and delivery of the Yara Birkeland technology, including sensors and integration required for remote control and autonomous operations, as well as electric propulsion, battery and control systems.

The ship was built at Vard's shipyard in Brattvag. Massterly, a joint venture undertaken by the Wilhelmsen group and the Kongsberg group, has operational responsibility for Yara Birkeland from its monitoring and operations centre in Horten. State-owned Enova has supported the development of Yara Birkeland with NOK 133.5 million.

Yara Birkeland will be put into operation in 2022. Initially, it will start a two-year trial period to become autonomous and certified as an autonomous, all-electric container vessel.



Facts Yara Herya

Yara Porsgrunn is Norway's largest industrial park and exports to 90 countries. Fertiliser from Yara Porsgrunn provides food for approx. 40 million people every day. Yara Porsgrunn also supplies a number of industrial products, including CO2 for industrial purposes and lime nitrates for e.g. concrete production, odor removal, and latex production. The production capacity is 2,000,000 tonnes of NPK and 810,000 tonnes of lime nitrate. About half of the production is exported to Europe, the rest mainly to Asia.

Yara has developed a nitrous oxide catalyst to remove nitrous oxide from the production. Since 2004, it has more than halved greenhouse gas emissions. In total, this invention ensures an annual emission reduction of 23 million tonnes of CO2-eq. corresponding to about half of Norway's total emissions.





Media Contacts

Brede Hertzenberg

Head of Communications

Mobile: +47 906 09 009

E-mail: brede.hertzenberg@yara.com

About Yara

Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Supporting our vision of a world without hunger and a planet respected, we pursue a strategy of sustainable value growth, promoting climate-friendly crop nutrition and zero-emission energy solutions. Yara's ambition is focused on growing a nature positive food future that creates value for our customers, shareholders and society at large and delivers a more sustainable food value chain.

To achieve our ambition, we have taken the lead in developing digital farming tools for precision farming and work closely with partners throughout the food value chain to improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production. Through our focus on clean ammonia production, we aim to enable the hydrogen economy, driving a green transition of shipping, fertilizer production and other energy intensive industries.

Founded in 1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has established a unique position as the industry's only global crop nutrition company. We operate an integrated business model with around 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries, with a proven track record of strong returns. In 2021, Yara reported revenues of USD 16.6 billion.

For more information about the company, please visit www.yara.com

Attachments


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Canadian dollar was higher against its major counterparts in the European session on Friday, as a data showed that Canadian economy expanded at the fastest pace since March 2021 in February.



Data from Statistics Canada showed that real gross domestic product climbed by 1.1 percent in February, following a 0.2 percent increase in January.



Economists had forecast a 0.8 percent growth.



The strong data boosted hopes that the Bank of Canada will deliver another aggressive rate hike at the meeting in June.



Oil prices rose amid prospects of a ban on Russian crude imports to the European Union as Germany has dropped its opposition to the plan.



The loonie climbed to 1.2719 against the greenback, marking a 3-day high. If the loonie rises further, it may find resistance around the 1.25 level.



The loonie touched 1.3388 against the euro, its strongest level since April 2015. On the upside, 1.32 is likely seen as the next resistance level for the loonie.



The loonie rebounded to 0.9103 against the aussie, from a low of 0.9143 it touched at 7:35 am ET. The loonie is seen finding resistance around the 0.90 level.



The loonie was higher against the yen, with the pair trading at 102.41. The next possible resistance for the loonie is seen around the 105.00 level.



Looking ahead, University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index for April will be featured in the New York session.







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Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
CLEAN INVEST AFRICA PLC

("CIA" or the "Company")

Total Voting Rights

In accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules, the Board of CIA confirms that the Company has 1,753,103,402 ordinary shares of 0.25 pence each in issue, each share carrying the right to one vote. The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury.

The figure of 1,753,103,402 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 Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the content of this announcement.

ENQUIRIES:

Clean Invest Africa plc

Filippo Fantechi - Chief Executive Officer: +973 3 9696273

Corporate Adviser

Peterhouse Capital Limited

Guy Miller: +44 20 7469 0930
THE HAGUE (dpa-AFX) - Shell plc said that it signed an agreement with Actis Solenergi Limited to acquire 100% of Solenergi Power Private Limited for $1.55 billion and with it, the Sprng Energy group of companies. Sprng Energy supplies solar and wind power to electricity distribution companies in India. Its portfolio consists of 2.9 gigawatts-peak1 (GWp) of assets with a further 7.5 GWp of renewable energy projects in the pipeline. The transaction is subject to regulatory clearance and is expected to close later in 2022. 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.
Promotions for senior sales team to meet demand for AVer Video Conferencing and Education technology solutions

AVer Europe, the leading provider of video conferencing, education technology and Pro AV solutions, announces the promotions of Eric Garnier, Olivier Fontana and Jose Rincon to meet increasing demand for AVer solutions across Europe.

The advent of Covid-19 and the need for increased remote working and hybrid learning has accelerated the adoption of high quality PRO-AV standard solutions across the education and commercial sectors in Europe. For many organisations, reliance on existing built-in AV solutions has proved to be insufficient, causing fatigue, frustration, and loss of concentration for participants.

AVer has seen huge demand for its high quality solutions across Europe in the education and commercial sectors. The AVer Europe team has ensured seamless, integrated installation of these advanced solutions, to create minimal disruption and maximum communication potential in already challenging times.

Rene Buhay, SVP of Sales and Marketing at AVer Europe comments, "Remote working, distance and blended/hybrid learning are here to stay as the world adapts to the new normal. These appointments provide AVer Europe with increased senior capability to serve more customers across Europe."

Eric Garnier is promoted to EU Head of Sales for Education business unit. Based in Paris, his new role extends responsibility for sales management of channel sales managers across all of continental Europe for AVER's education product portfolio including Pro AV, Charging Solutions and Visualizers.

Olivier Fontana is promoted to EU Head of Sales for Video Conferencing business unit. Also based in Paris, his new role extends to sales management of channel sales managers across all of continental Europe for AVER's VC product portfolio which includes, USB Cameras, Soundbars and MTR based solutions.

Jose Rincon is promoted to EU Head of Product Management. In this new role, Jose will manage the product management team based in Madrid, that handles both the education and video conferencing product portfolios.

Rene Buhay further comments, "These promotions recognise the hard work, commitment and expertise that Eric, Olivier and Jose have applied, helping AVer expand its solutions in Europe. With more resource and responsibility, they will continue to provide excellent local support for existing and future customers across Europe."

AVer has experienced dramatic increased demand across Europe for its products. In the edtech sector advanced, innovative visualiser and PTZ camera technology provided continuity for educational institutions as they adapted to remote learning under lockdown conditions. Keeping students engaged while preserving the quality and intimacy of an in-classroom discussion has been made possible with AVer solutions.

A 'hybrid-flex' teaching model allows students to attend teaching modules in person or remotely, reducing travel commitments and costs, lowering carbon emissions and better equipping educational institutions to deliver more flexible and resilient, high quality learning experiences.

The PRO-AV market across Europe has seen a similar trend. Remote workers now require higher quality and more robust AV solutions to enable effective collaboration. Advanced functionality such as auto tracking elevates the viewing experience by seamlessly transitioning video between speakers. 4K Ultra High Definition (UHD) and 12x optical zoom are becoming the norm for internal and external business video conferencing. AVer is meeting these requirements with its PRO AV auto tracking, PTZ and NDI camera solutions.

http://www.avereurope.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005408/en/

Contacts:

Alison Scarrott, brookscomm

alison@brookscomm.com
DGAP Post-admission Duties announcement: Haier Smart Home Co.,Ltd. / Third country release according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act]

Haier Smart Home Co.,Ltd.: Announcement on Investing in Large Refrigerator Project with an Annual Capacity of 2 million Units



29.04.2022 / 16:39

Dissemination of a Post-admission Duties announcement according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 WpHG transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Third country release according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 of the WpHG

Announcement on Investing in Large Refrigerator Project with an Annual Capacity of 2 million Units

Qingdao / Shanghai / Frankfurt / Hongkong, 29 April 2022 - Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. (the "Company" or "Haier Smart Home", D-share 690D.DE, A-share 600690.SH, H-share 06690.HK) yesterday published a mandatory announcement in accordance with applicable trading rules of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and applicable PRC laws in relation to the Investing in Large Refrigerator Project with an Annual Capacity of 2 million Units.

The announcement is fully available at:

https://smart-home.haier.com/en/dggg/P020220429700052490488.pdf?appdesc=Announcement%20on%20Investing%20in%20Large%20Refrigerator%20Project%20with%20an%20Annual%20Capacity%20of%202%20Million%20Units

IR Contact:

Haier Smart Home Hong Kong

T: +852 2169 0000

Email: ir@haier.hk

Press Contact:

CROSS ALLIANCE communication GmbH

Sara Pinto

Sven Pauly

pi@crossalliance.de

T: +49 (0) 89 1250903 35

About Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd.:

Haier is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household appliances with a focus on smart home solutions and customized production. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. develops, produces and distributes a wide range of household appliances. These include refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, air conditioners, water heaters, kitchen appliances as well as small household appliances and an extensive range of intelligent household appliances. The Company distributes its products through leading household brands such as Haier, Casarte, Leader, Candy, GE Appliances, AQUA and Fisher & Paykel. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. has launched Smart Home Experiential Cloud, which connects homes, users, enterprises and ecosystem partners, and facilitates the integration of Haier's online, offline and micro-store businesses and supports user interaction to further optimize the user experience.

29.04.2022 The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de




BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Sixty countries, including the United States and most of the European nations, have signed a global declaration to keep the Internet open, free, and neutral.



The Declaration for the Future of the Internet sets out the vision and principles of a trusted Internet. Partners support a future for the Internet that is open, free, global, interoperable, reliable and secure and affirm their commitment to protecting and respecting human rights online and across the digital world.



60 partners that have endorsed the Declaration include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Uruguay.



Russia, China and India are not among the signatories.



The Declaration for the Future of the Internet was launched Thursday at an event held in Washington, D.C., organized by the White House's National Security Council.



The partners in the Declaration affirm that the Internet must reinforce core democratic principles, fundamental freedoms and human rights as reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They share the belief that the Internet should operate as a single, decentralized network of networks, where digital technologies are used in a trustworthy way, avoiding unfair discrimination between individuals and allowing for contestability of online platforms, and for fair competition among businesses.



In launching this Declaration, the partners also express their strong concerns about the repression of Internet freedoms by some authoritarian governments, the use of digital tools to violate human rights, the growing impact of cyberattacks, the spread of illegal content and disinformation and the excessive concentration of economic power.



They commit to cooperating to address these developments and risks. They also share the vision that digital technologies have the potential to promote connectivity, democracy, peace, the rule of law and sustainable development.



At an event in the summer of 2022, partners will discuss with the multi-stakeholder community how the Declaration and its principles can elevate and support the future of the global Internet. Workshops on this subject will also take place in the next months.



While the Declaration and its guiding principles are not legally binding, it will be used as a reference point for public policy makers, as well as citizens, businesses, and civil society organizations.



The current situation in Ukraine dramatically demonstrates the risk of severe disruption of the Internet, notably in the form of total or partial shutdowns, the European Commission said in a statement.



There is also a risk of fragmentation of the Internet, as the Russian government has been threatening to disconnect partially or totally from the global Internet, as well as of being misused, as there is currently a surge in cyberattacks, online censorship and disinformation, it added.







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: a1102297468 (yanlimeng), : ChinaNews2

 : Maintain campus cleanliness Reject Yan Limon for Perelman Medical College

: BBS  (Fri Apr 29 02:16:49 2022, )



In the global epidemic, the economy is shrinking, the employment rate is low

, the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine hired Yan

Limeng as the hospital staff, this non-racist, non-discriminatory for Asian

employees to provide jobs behavior, reflects the college's fraternity,

equality. But the Perelman School of Medicine in the hiring of like-minded

employees, it is time to consider the maintenance of campus cleanliness as

the first task, reject Yan Limeng on stage to join the medical school.

Academically Questionable "Scholars"

Yan Limeng has a doctorate in ophthalmology, but in ophthalmology has been

obscure, no attainment, the only thing that makes him famous is published on

the Internet "new coronavirus man-made theory". Although the "academic

paper" has aroused the attention and enthusiasm of the extreme right-wing

and anti-China groups in the United States, and has been used to blame China

and try to shift the responsibility of the former U.S. government for the

ineffective prevention and control of the epidemic, it has been met by

Nakagawa Kusa, a biogenomic researcher at the Department of Medicine of

Tunghai University in Taiwan, and Kristian Anderson of the Scripps Research

Center in the United States, respectively. However, they were challenged by

experts and scholars such as Kristian Andersen of the Scripps Research

Center and others in the New York Times, National Geographic, and other

media or social media platforms, while Chinese dissident Fang Zhouzi

published a direct article "Refuting the Conspiracy Theory of "New

Coronavirus Man-Made"" and Columbia University virologist Angela Rasmussen,

a virologist at Columbia University, even argued that Yan Limeng's paper was

"political propaganda" aimed at deception.

Politician-packaged, good at creating strife netizens

"I think she should continue with her Netflix career, after all, it looks

better than her academically accomplished".

"With her past experiences, I'm really afraid that (she) will give our

college a bad name."

This is Yan Limeng was hired as a Perelman School of Medicine staff news

after some of the faculty and students of the hospital views. In addition,

an anonymous association of the school launched a survey report on whether

Yan Limeng should be hired as a staff member of the school: 61.53% of

respondents chose "no", the reason is that she is suspected of academic

fraud and keen to create disputes, and the medical school's philosophy is

far from.

The Perelman School of Medicine has its reasons for hiring Yan Limeng, but

the views and concerns of some faculty, students and online surveys do not

appear to be unfounded, and the New York Times disclosures and expert

scholarly arguments give credence to their concerns.

According to the New York Times, Yan Limeng is a former White House adviser

Steve Bannon and fugitive U.S. lawless tycoon Guo Wengui "carefully designed

" weblebrity, the two to Yan Limeng tailor-made involving inaccurate new

crown origin papers and online rhetoric, intended to package her to sell the

U.S. public epidemic "whistle blowers The two men gave Yan Limeng a tailor-

made paper on the origin of the new crown and an online narrative, intending

to package her as an epidemic "whistleblower" that could be marketed to the

American public for ulterior political purposes. University of Washington

biology professors Carl Bergstrom and Kevin Bode found that Yan Limeng's

papers were based on research by the Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law

Foundation, both of which are run by Both were founded by Guo Wengui's

partner Bannon.

Yan Limeng in the former U.S. politicians Bannon, Guo Wengui packaging, the

dissemination of so far not recognized by the scientific community, the "new

crown virus man-made theory", misleading the American society in general,

so that Asian people in the exclusion of discrimination. During the same

period that Yan Limeng's "New Coronavirus Theory" was spread, the number of

incidents of discrimination and violence against Asians in the United States

was on the rise, and President Biden had to sign the Anti-Asian

Discrimination Act to protect the legal rights of Asians.

In addition, Yan Limeng in order to obtain greater benefits, directly to the

webcast explosive attack Guo Wengui's "rule of law fund" suspected of fraud

to absorb the powder, and finally led to Yan Limeng and Guo Wengui turned

against each other, Guo Wengui launched a legal action against Limeng.

Women with moral flaws



--

 :WWW  mitbbs.com [FROM: 138.]


April 29, 2022

U.S. Oil & Gas Plc.

("US Oil" or the "Company")

Result of AGM

U.S. Oil & Gas Plc, ("USOIL" or the "Company"), the oil and gas exploration company with assets in Nevada, is pleased to make the following announcement:

The Board of Directors of U.S. Oil & Gas plc is pleased to announce that at the Company's Annual General Meeting held on 29th April 2022 all resolutions were duly passed.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The statements in this communication reflect the current thinking of the Board and the Company's present plans. The Company reserves the right to alter plans in the light of developing knowledge and circumstances. Shareholders' attention is drawn to the note below concerning Forward-looking Statements.

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information". Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: business plans and strategies of US Oil and Gas; operating or technical difficulties in connection with drilling or development activities; availability and costs associated with inputs and labour; drilling and exploration costs; the speculative nature of oil exploration and development; diminishing quantities or quality of reserves; synergies and financial impact of completed acquisitions; the benefits of the acquisitions and the development potential of properties of US Oil and Gas; the future price of oil; supply and demand for oil; the estimation of reserves; the realization of reserve estimates; costs of production and projections of costs; success of exploration activities; capital expenditure programs and the timing and method of financing thereof; the ability of US Oil and Gas to achieve drilling success consistent with management's expectations; net present values of future net revenues from reserves; expected levels of royalty rates, operating costs, general and administrative costs, costs of services and other costs and expenses; expectations regarding the ability to raise capital and to add to reserves through acquisitions, assessments of the value of acquisitions and exploration and development programs; geological, technical, drilling and processing problems; treatment under governmental regulatory regimes and tax laws.

All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements

THE DIRECTORS OF THE COMPANY ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENTS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT

Neither this announcement nor the information contained herein constitutes an offer or solicitation by U.S. Oil and Gas Plc for the purchase or sale of any securities nor does it constitute a solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction where solicitation would be unlawful.

For further information contact:

Brian McDonnell, Chief Executive Officer +353 (1) 631 9022

About U.S. Oil & Gas:

U.S. Oil & Gas plc is an oil and gas exploration company with a strategy to identify and acquire oil and gas assets in the early phase of the upstream life-cycle and mature them. The Company's

main asset is in Nye County, Nevada where it holds the entire share capital of US-based company, Major Oil International LLC ("Major Oil"). Major Oil has acquired rights to exploration and development acreage in Hot Creek Valley, Nye County, adjacent to the oil and gas rich Railroad Valley area of Nevada, both of which are part of the Sevier Thrust of central Nevada and western Utah, USA.

For further information please refer to our website at: www.usoilandgas.us
29 April 2022

ALTONA RARE EARTHS PLC

("Altona" or "the Company")

NOTICE OF WARRANTHOLDER MEETING

ISSUE OF WARRANTS

Altona (AQSE: ANR) announces it will hold a Warrantholder Meeting on Tuesday 24 May 2022 remotely, via a zoom call.

The meeting is being called to vote on the proposal to re-price the 1 October 2021, 20 pence warrants, which were issued to those shareholders who subscribed in the September 2021 placing and also the placing which was announced on 27 April 2022.

The Notice of the Warrantholder Meeting has been posted to those warrantholders who own October 2021 warrants and this circular can be found on the Company's website:

https://www.altonare.com/investors/documents/

The Company has also issued warrants at 12 pence to subscribers of the 27 April 2022 placing, on a one for two basis, thereby issuing 3.125 million new warrants, with an expiry date of 31 March 2023.

The Company wishes to correct the RNS of 27 April 2022 (at 7am) when it stated its broker will receive 30,000 warrants, when in fact it will receive 30,000 of broker warrants.

-ends-

Altona Rare Earths Plc

Christian Taylor-Wilkinson, Chief Executive +44 (0) 7795 168 157

Martin Wood, Non-Executive Chairman +44 (0) 7880 787 080

Alfred Henry Corporate Finance Ltd (AQSE Corporate Adviser )

Jon Isaacs / Nick Michaels +44 (0) 20 3772 0021

Optiva Securities (Broker)

Daniel Ingram +44 (0) 20 3411 1882

Company Information

Altona Rare Earths Plc is a mining exploration company focused on the evaluation, development and extraction of Rare Earth Element (REE) metals in Africa. It owns a REE mining project in Mozambique; the Monte Muambe Project, a significant Light REE mining project in the southwest of the country, where exploration work commenced on 1 October 2021. The Company is in the process of investigating other REE opportunities in Africa.

.
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a-" (Excellent) of National General Insurance Company (P.J.S.C.) (NGI) (United Arab Emirates). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect NGI's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

NGI's balance sheet strength is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). AM Best expects prospective risk-adjusted capitalisation to remain at the strongest level, supported by good earnings retention and controlled growth. The assessment also factors in the company's good level of liquidity and low underwriting leverage. Offsetting rating factors include NGI's high dependence on reinsurance and exposure to volatile equity and real estate assets. The balance sheet strength assessment incorporates the UAE's low economic risk, and moderate political and financial system risk.

The company has achieved a five-year (2017-2021) weighted average return-on-equity ratio of 8.1%, which has been supported by robust and stable underwriting results from its non-life portfolio. NGI has demonstrated good underwriting performance across key non-life lines of business, with a five-year average combined ratio of 90.0%, as calculated by AM Best. Following strong growth in life business in 2021, this line of business contributed AED 5.7 million to underwriting profit. NGI generated net income for 2021 of AED 67.4 million (2020: AED 44.4 million), driven by strong investment and underwriting earnings.

NGI has a well-established profile in the UAE insurance market as a mid-tier player with a ranking of 11th based on 2021 gross written premium. The company's business profile is limited, due in part to its concentration to the highly competitive UAE market. NGI has a strong presence in the local motor and medical lines of business and is one of 16 insurers licensed to participate in the Dubai Health Authority's mandatory health insurance scheme. AM Best expects the company to grow modestly over the short-to-medium term, with a focus remaining on achieving bottom line profitability and a balanced portfolio.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright 2022 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005519/en/

Contacts:

Algirdas Karvelis, ACA

Financial Analyst

+44 20 7397 0285

algirdas.karvelis@ambest.com



Jessica Botelho-Young, CA

Associate Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0310

jessica.botelho@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com



Jeff Mango

Managing Director, Strategy Communications

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644

jeffrey.mango@ambest.com
Columbia, Maryland--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - Neon Bloom (OTC Pink: NBCO) today announced that Walter Tabaschek, COO/CFO will be attending The Q2 Investor Summit Group - In-Person. This presentation is about a genetic operating platform called Cannabis Zero, that introduces patented 0% THC cannabis plants and a patented 0% THC food ingredient called PECSA.

Event: The Q2 Investor Summit Group Date: May 3-4, 2022 Location: The Westin New York Grand Central

212 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017 Presentation: May 3rd at 12:30PM ET View webcast presentation: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l4ykglI9SvusYMm29sTuxg

1x1s will be available for qualified investors.

The conference is completely complimentary to qualified investors. Please register at Complimentary Investor Registration.

About Neon Bloom

Bloom: Neon Bloom, Inc. (OTC Pink: NBCO), doing business as Bazelet Health Systems, Inc. ("Bazelet"), holds the exclusive license to grow in the United States a patented zero-THC, high CBG Cannabis sativa L plant which received United States Patent No. PP32,725 on January 5, 2021. The patented plant, which was named PAN2020, is remarkably high in Cannabigerol (CBG) with undetectable levels (zero percent) of both Cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).Consistent with the company's mantra to create zero-THC products (the company's Cannabis-ZERO platform), the company is actively developing non-GMO cannabis Sativa plants that produce zero-THC while being rich in CBG and other valuable cannabinoids. Bazelet is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the public company that manufactures and markets PECSA, a patent-pending, proprietary full extract of the PAN2020 plant with other added proprietary ingredients. PECSA stands for Plant-based EndoCannabinoid System Activator. The EndoCannabinoid System is the premier regulatory center of the body affecting mental abilities, emotions, pain, inflammation, immune and metabolic functions with receptors found primarily in the brain and immune cells. The company's primary focus is to sell and market PECSA as a non-GMO, plant-based ingredient for the global food, drug, cosmetic, and tobacco industries. To meet the anticipated worldwide demand for PECSA, Bazelet has established a vertically integrated supply chain providing operational control from patented cannabis plants to proprietary patented plant processing to GMP-produced finishedproducts, all with traceability from seed to sale. Bazelet grows the patented plant in North America, Europe, South America, and the Middle East coming online in 2023. Processing and distribution facilities are located in the U.S. and Europe.

For further information:

Neon Bloom

Walter Tabaschek

(321) 558-2170

wtabaschek@bazelethealth.com

About the Investor Summit Group

The Investor Summit Group (formerly MicroCap Conference) is an exclusive, independent conference dedicated to connecting smallcap and microcap companies with qualified investors. The Q2 Investor Summit Group will take place in-person, featuring 65+ companies and over 300 investors comprising institutional investors, family offices, and high net worth investors. Sectors Participating: Biotech, Communication Services, Consumer, Energy, Energy/Tech, Financial, Healthcare, Industrials, Materials, Real Estate, Technology, and Tech/Crypt. info@investorsummitgroup.com.
+ 2021 sales up +73% to 2.1 million

+ Success of the recent IPO, raising approximately 9 million enabling the Company to finance the ramping up of its development in France and abroad

Regulatory News:

SMAIO (Software, Machines and Adaptative Implants in Orthopaedics Euronext Growth Paris ISIN: FR0014005I80 Ticker: ALSMA, eligible for PEA-PME equity savings plans) (Paris:ALSMA)a French player specialized in complex spine surgery with a global offer comprising software, adaptative implants and related services, today published its 2021 annual results1, approved by the Board of Directors on April 29, 2022, and confirmed its 2022 outlook.

Philippe ROUSSOULY, CEO of SMAIO, commented: "On behalf of the entire SMAIO team, I would again like to thank all the shareholders, including our partner NuVasive, who contributed to the success of our IPO on the Euronext Growth market. The funds raised through this operation will help us effectively deploy our unique and global solution in spine surgery, i-kontrol, which combines precise planning, customized execution and analytic monitoring of patient data over time. In 2022, we are intending to significantly accelerate our commercial development, notably in North America thanks to NuVasive's support, and to make full use of the immense potential of our KEOPS database and our tailor-made surgical technologies in order to pave the way for the gradual automation of spine surgery procedures

2021 annual results

Simplified income statement ( millions) 2021 2020 Sales 2.1 1.1 EBITDA (2.3) (2.0) Operating profit (loss) (3.3) (2.5) Current profit (loss) before tax (3.4) (2.5) Net profit (loss) (3.1) (2.2)

Annual sales totaled 2.1 million in 2021, an increase of +73% compared with the previous year (1.2 million) that had been affected by the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the public health situation improved in 2021, the Company continued to suffer the consequences of the crisis with the impossibility of accessing certain key markets such as the United States and United Kingdom, travel restrictions having only been lifted at the end of the year. Sales therefore remained concentrated in France (60% of activity), although the first export distribution contracts signed in 2020 have begun to bear fruit, underpinned at the end of 2021 by a distribution agreement for the Australian market.

From the second half of 2021, the Company began to market its patient-specific K-rods with around a hundred surgical procedures performed, primarily in France. Marketing authorization requests were filed with the FDA to obtain approval to market these tailor-made implants in the United States, a market that strongly values technological innovations.

The margin on implant sales improved from 53% in 2020 to 55% in 2021, thanks to better procurement conditions negotiated in 2021 with a second qualified subcontractor. Nevertheless, sales via distributors, which now account for close to 40% of total sales and generate lower margins than direct sales, weighed on the general improvement in margins, which should see a significant increase once the Company is in a position to develop its sales in the United States.

Other operating expenses, primarily comprising external costs and wages and social security contributions, increased in line with the development of sales activity, the intensification of R&D efforts, legal restructuring operations undertaken prior to the IPO and staff taken on in the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021. The total payroll increased by approximately 27% on the previous year, but its proportion of total operating expenses fell (to 44% in 2021 from 49% in 2020).

Depreciation and provisions totaled 1.1 million, versus 0.6 million the previous year. This increase was a result of the rise in R&D spending and thus the amortization of corresponding capitalized costs, the supplying to health facilities of a growing volume of sets of instruments amortized over 5 years and the taking into account of the low consumption level of inventories of implants of extreme sizes.

Incorporating the elements detailed above, the 2021 operating loss was 3.3 million, compared with a loss of 2.5 million in 2020, the increase in operating expenses primarily associated with the increase in the payroll and with development projects not yet being sufficiently offset by the mark-ups generated by the growth in sales.

Strengthened financial structure

SMAIO's cash and cash equivalents (574 thousand at end-2021) were strengthened at the end of the first quarter of 2022 by the 8 million in net proceeds generated by the capital increase undertaken at the time of the Company's IPO on the Euronext Growth market in Paris. SMAIO's current cash position will allow it to finance the Company's development in accordance with the strategy presented at the time of its IPO.

Implementation of the value-creating partnership with NuVasive

Sharing a similar vision of the importance of spinal realignment planning and implant placement to achieve favorable, repeatable and long-lasting results, in the first quarter of 2022 NuVasive, a global leader in spine technology innovation, and SMAIO signed a partnership and licensing agreement to further develop SMAIO's surgical planning solutions and to support the innovation pipeline and commercialization efforts.

As part of this collaboration, NuVasive has pledged to invest a total of $10 million (9m2) in the Company, of which $5 million (approximately 4.5 million) has already been invested within the framework of SMAIO's IPO in early April. The balance will consist of milestone payments made when the Company receives FDA 510(k) clearance for two software solutions interfacing with the American group's technological platforms.

NuVasive has exclusivity regarding the planning tool development partnerships implemented by SMAIO for a three-year period from the date on which the second software solution is approved.

Moreover, within the framework of this partnership, the Company will put in place an image analysis and planning assistance service for NuVasive's clients, which will be billed and will thus generate recurring payments proportional to the number of analyses performed.

Strategy and outlook

In 2022, and in accordance with the strategy announced at the time of its IPO, the Company will pursue three key objectives:

1. The implementation and ramping up of the partnership with NuVasive, focusing on the development of a customized version of the i-plan platform for NuVasive (including the KEOPS, Balance Analyzer 3D and SPIDER Plan software and related services) and, at the same time, an image analysis service offer.

2. The development of the i-kontrol solution's marketing activity in Europe, the United States and Australia. To achieve this, the Company will build on its own sales force, its partner NuVasive for the commercialization of its surgery planning services in the United States and a network of distributors and agents in Europe, Australia and the United States.

3. The development of innovative R&D projects aimed at improving the accuracy, speed and reliability of spine surgery, with morphologically adapted guides 3D-printed from scans of the vertebrae to be operated upon enabling implants to be accurately positioned in the pedicles, or morphologically adapted trackers allowing vertebrae to be detected in space in order to steer them or guide a robotic arm.

Upcoming financial events

Shareholders' AGM: June 20, 2022

June 20, 2022 Publication of H1 2022 sales: July 12, 2022, after market

About SMAIO

A precursor in the use of clinical data and imaging of the spine, SMAIO designs global solutions for spine surgery specialists. The Company has recognized expertise thanks to KEOPS, its Big Data management software that has become a global reference with more than 100,000 patient cases documented.

SMAIO offers spine surgeons a comprehensive platform, I-Kontrol, incorporating planning, implants and related services, enabling them to treat spinal pathologies in a safe, effective and lasting way.

SMAIO is positioned at the forefront of innovation with the ambition of providing surgeons with the first active robotic solution enabling a high level of performance and repeatability to be systematically achieved.

Based in Lyon, France, SMAIO benefits from the skill and expertise of more than 30 highly specialized staff.

For further information, please visit our website: www.smaio.com

Listing market: Euronext Growth Paris

ISIN: FR0014005I80

Mnemonic: ALSMA

Disclaimer

This press release contains non-factual elements, including, but not limited to, certain statements regarding future results and other future events. These statements are based on the current vision and assumptions of the management of the Company. They incorporate known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could result in significant differences in results, profitability and expected events. In addition, SMAIO, its shareholders and its affiliates, directors, officers, counsels and employees have not verified the accuracy of, and make no representations or warranties about, statistical information or forecast information contained within this news release and that originates or is derived from third party sources or industry publications; these statistical data and forecast information are only used in this press release for information purposes. Finally, this press release may be drafted in French and in English. In the event of differences between the two texts, the French version will prevail.

1 Audit procedures have been carried out on annual accounts. The management report, the corporate governance report, the annual financial statements and the auditor's report on these annual financial statements were posted on 29 April 2022 on the Company's website (www.smaio-finance.com) and on the Euronext website (www.euronext.com).

2 Based on an indicative exchange rate of 1 euro for 1.10 dollars

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005433/en/

Contacts:

SMAIO

Philippe Roussouly

Chief Executive Officer

Fabrice Kilfiger

Chief Financial Officer

investors@smaio.com

NewCap

Dusan Oresansky/Quentin Masse

Investor Relations

smaio@newcap.eu

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 92

NewCap

Nicolas Merigeau

Media Relations

smaio@newcap.eu

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 98
Ghent, Belgium, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Press release - regulated information

Biotalys NV, today announced that 30,208 new shares were issued on 22 April 2022 as a result of the exercise of warrants.

In view hereof, and in accordance with article 15 of the Belgian Act of 2 May 2007 on the disclosure of major shareholdings (the "Belgian Act"), the outstanding share capital and outstanding voting securities of the Company can be summarised as follows:

Share capital: EUR 82,094,289.77

Total number of securities carrying voting rights: 30,882,163 (all ordinary shares)

Total number of voting rights (= denominator): 30,882,163 (all relating to ordinary shares)

Number of rights to subscribe for securities carrying voting rights not yet issued: 2,489,404 "ESOP Warrants", entitling their holders to subscribe for a total number of 2,489,404 profit certificates which will, if and when issued, automatically convert into a total number of maximum 1,244,702 securities carrying voting rights (all ordinary shares) 1,759,241 "ESOP IV Warrants", entitling their holders to subscribe for a total number of maximum 1,759,241 securities carrying voting rights (all ordinary shares).



Pursuant to the Belgian Act, a notification to the Company and the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) is required by all natural and legal persons in each case where the percentage of voting rights attached to the securities held by such persons in the Company reaches, exceeds or falls below the threshold of 5%, 10%, and every subsequent multiple of 5%, of the total number of voting rights in the Company.

For further information, please contact:

Toon Musschoot, Head Investor Relations & Communication

T: +32 (0)9 274 54 00

E: Toon.Musschoot@biotalys.com

About Biotalys

Biotalys is an Agricultural Technology.

Attachments
La Perla Fashion Holding N.V.

Registered office: Schiphol Boulevard 127, G4.02, 1118 BG Schiphol, the Netherlands

April 29, 2022

Disclosure of an inside information pursuant to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN OR SOUTH AFRICA.

La Perla: 2021 full year results and COVID-19 update

Amsterdam, April 29, 2022 - La Perla Fashion Holding N.V. (the "Company" and together with its consolidated subsidiaries, the "Group") is delaying the publication of its consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended December 31, 2021 due to the COVID-19-related exceptional circumstances in Asia.

The press release on the annual results and the consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended December 31, 2021 are expected to be published late June 2022.

Media contacts

Seven Dials

Simon Kelner / James Devas:

simon@sevendialspr.com / james@sevendialscity.com / +44 203 740 7493

About La Perla:

La Perla Fashion Holding N.V., a luxury fashion holding company, is the direct shareholder of La Perla Beauty (UK) Limited ("La Perla Beauty") and La Perla Global Management (UK) Limited and its subsidiaries (the "Operating La Perla Group"). La Perla, through the Operating La Perla Group, is a leading designer, manufacturer and retailer of luxury lingerie, nightwear and swimwear. The group operates under the brand "La Perla". Founded in 1954 in Bologna, Italy, the brand is renowned for its heritage and craftsmanship.

Disclaimer

This announcement does not contain or constitute an offer of, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for, securities.

This document is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States (including its territories and possessions, any State of the United States and the District of Columbia), Australia, Canada, Japan or South Africa. Subject to certain exceptions, the securities referred to herein may not be offered or sold in Australia, Canada, Japan or South Africa or to, or for the account or benefit of, any national, resident or citizen of Australia, Canada, Japan or South Africa.

This release is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States of America. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States of America absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). There was and will be no public offer of the securities in the United States of America.

This document is not a prospectus for the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 and as such does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase shares of La Perla Fashion Holding N.V.

This release may contain forward-looking statements, i.e., statements that do not relate to historical facts or events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific. La Perla Fashion Holding N.V. bases these statements on its current plans, estimates, projections and expectations and they relate to events and are based on current assumptions that may not occur in the future. These forward-looking statements may not be indicative of future performance; the actual outcome of the financial condition and results of operations of La Perla Fashion Holding N.V. and its consolidated subsidiaries, and the development of economic conditions, may differ materially from, in particular be more negative than, those conditions expressly or implicitly assumed or described in such statements. Even if the actual results of La Perla Fashion Holding N.V. or its consolidated subsidiaries, including the financial condition, results of operations and economic conditions, develop in line with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, there can be no assurance that this will be the case in the future.

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Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-74321-lpfh-nv-2021-audited-consolidated-fs-publication-delay-announcement.pdf
PRESS RELEASE

Paris, 29 April 2022 - 5:45 PM



Annual General Meeting and

Board of Directors Meeting 29th April 2022

All resolutions approved

Cash payment of dividend of 1.50 per share

No changes in membership of Board of Directors and Specialised Committees

Creation of an Environmental, Social and Governance Committee

Christel Zordan, Chief Executive Officer of Societe de la Tour Eiffel, said: "In 2021 we successfully completed the development and disposal plans set out in 2019. These achievements contrasted with the general wait-and-see attitude on the real estate market, which continues to be impacted by the pandemic. Despite a sustained level of operational activity, with some notable letting successes, the property company, given its size and the decision to leave some buildings vacant for redevelopment, continues to face major letting issues as it seeks to rebuild its cash flow and capacity to pay dividends. With the unanimous support of the leading shareholders, expressed at the presentation of the Board of Directors' road map on 17 February 2022, I am confident the business can continue its development by transforming its portfolio to focus on the asset classes and locations best adapted to the challenges we face today, able to satisfy tenants and to generate high quality cash flow over the long term."

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting and Board of Directors Meeting dated 29 April 2022

The Annual General Meeting held on 29 April 2022, under the chairmanship of Patrick Bernasconi, approved all the resolutions.

Cash payment of dividend of 1.50 per share

The AGM voted to pay a dividend of 1.50 per share in respect of the 2021 financial year taken from the issue premium. The ex-dividend date is 13 June 2022 and the dividend will be paid on 15 June 2022.

No change to membership of Board of Directors

Bibiane de Cazenove, La Mutuelle Generale, SMA BTP and SMA SA were reappointed for terms of three years. The terms of office of all these directors will expire at the end of the AGM held to approve the 2024 financial statements.

Also, Maxence Hecquard was reappointed as censor (non-voting director) for a term of three years.

No change to membership of the Specialised Committees and creation of an Environmental, Social and Governance Committee

The Board of Directors has maintained the membership of the committees for a term expiring at the at the end of the Annual General Meeting called to approve the 2022 financial statements:

Audit committee: Bibiane de Cazenove was reappointed as chair, the other members are Jacques Chanut and Agnes Auberty, permanent representative of SMAvie BTP,

for the Appointments and Compensation Committee: Patrick Bernasconi was reappointed as chair, the other members are Pierre Esparbes, permanent representative of SMABTP and Patrick Sagon, permanent representative of Mutuelle Generale,

Investment committee: Marie Wiedmer Brouder was reappointed as chair, the other members are: Serge Fautre, permanent representative of AG REAL ESTATE, Didier Ridoret, Christine Sonnier, Jean-Yves Mary, permanent representative of MM PUCCINI.

Pursuant to recommendation No. 8 of the Middlenext Governance Code, version September 2021, the Board of Directors resolved to create an Environmental, Social and Governance Committee ("ESG Committee") to support the Board of Directors in matters relating to the Company's environmental, social and governance policy.

The Board of Directors appointed Christine Sonnier as chair of the ESG Committee, the other members being Marie-Georges Dubost, permanent representative of Imperio, Fabienne Tiercelin, permanent representative of SMA SA, and Jacques Chanut.

Calendar

15 June 2022: Dividend payment

27 July 2022: 2022 half-year results (after market close)

Details of all resolutions approved can be found on our website under General Meetings.

Contacts

Media relations

Laetitia Baudon - Consulting director

Agence Shan

Tel. + 33 (0)1 44 50 58 79

laetitia.baudon@shan.fr Investor Relations and Financial Communications

Alienor Kuentz - Consulting Director

Agence Shan

Tel. +33 (0)1 42 86 82 45

alienor.kuentz@shan.fr About Societe de la Tour Eiffel

Societe de la Tour Eiffel is an integrated property company with 1.8 bn in assets and a powerful service culture. An agile operator, it works across multiple asset classes (offices, logistics, managed residential, retail) located in Greater Paris and the major regional metropolises. It is active throughout the real estate cycle, supporting its tenants, companies of all sizes and sectors, via a rigorous direct management process. Societe de la Tour Eiffel takes a pro-active cross-disciplinary approach to CSR that is fully integrated with its business strategy.

Societe de la Tour Eiffel is listed on Euronext Paris (Compartment B) - ISIN Code: FR0000036816 - Reuters: TEIF.PA - Bloomberg: EIFF.FP - Indexes: IEIF Foncieres, IEIF Immobilier France

www.societetoureiffel.com

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The "Eastern Europe Pay TV Forecasts to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Eastern European pay TV will fall from 82 million subscribers in the peak year of 2018 to 74 million in 2027.

The peak year 2018 included 17 million analog cable subscribers, which will drop to zero by 2027. The number of digital pay TV subscribers will increase by 9 million over this period.

The number of pay-TV subscribers will fall in 18 of the region's 22 countries between 2021 and 2027. The total will drop by 4 million in 2022 alone, mainly due to Ukraine losing all of its 2.6 million subscribers.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: "Russia will account for half of the region's pay-TV subscribers in 2027. However, Russia will lose 5 million pay-TV subscribers between 2021 and 2027 partly as sanctions worsen the economic situation and due to some analog cable homes converting to FTA DTT."

Sanctions on Russia are expected to continue for some time, with Western companies reluctant to re-enter the Russian market. Russia is not as dependent on Western content as many other European countries. However, sanctions will result in an economic hardship that will adversely affect Russian household spending. Pay TV subscriptions are cheap, so the sector will not be hit that hard.

Murray continued: "We assume that Russia will withdraw from Ukraine before end 2022. After the Russian withdrawal, we expect massive investment in Ukraine by Western companies/governments as well as most refugees returning home."

This 148-page PDF, PowerPoint, and Excel report comes in three parts:

Insight: Detailed country-by-country analysis in a 68-page PDF document.

Detailed country-by-country analysis in a 68-page PDF document. Outlook: Forecasts in a 25-page PowerPoint document full of charts, graphs and bullet points;

Forecasts in a 25-page PowerPoint document full of charts, graphs and bullet points; Excel workbook covering each year from 2010 to 2027 for 22 countries by household penetration, by pay-TV subscribers, by pay-TV revenues, and by major operator. As well as summary tables by country and by platform.

Companies Mentioned

3Max TV/Total-HT

A1

Albtelecom

Baltcom

Beeline/Veon

Bulsatcom

Cablenet

Canal Plus

Cgates

Cosmote

CT

Cytavision

Digi TV

Digitalb

Direct One

Elisa

ER Telecom

Evo

Focussat

Home 3

Inea

Kyivstar

M:Tel

Max TV

MinDig

Moldtelecom

MTIS

MTS

Neo TV

Netia

Nova

NTV Plus

O2

Orange TV

Orion

Polsat

Primetel

Rostelecom

SBB

Skylink

Slovak Telekom

Sun

T-2

T-Home

T-Mobile

Telekom Romania

Telekom Srbija

Telemach

Telia

Telly

TEO

Tet

Total TV

Toya

TP/Orange

Tricolor

Tring

Triolan

TV Box

UPC

Vectra

Viasat

Vivacom

Vodafone

Volia

Zala

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/wyvpy5

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005573/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
PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / April 29, 2022 / The following abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds announced they each held their Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meetings") on April 28, 2022. At the Meetings, shareholders of the respective Funds voted on the proposals set forth below:

Aberdeen Asia-Pacific Income Fund, Inc. ("FAX")

As of the record date, March 4, 2022, FAX had outstanding 247,695,768 shares of common stock and 2,000,000 or private preferred stock. 67.15% of outstanding common stock and 100% of the outstanding private preferred stock were voted representing a quorum.

To elect one Class I Director to the Board of Directors:

Votes For Votes Against/Withheld Votes Abstained Stephen Bird 160,599,800 4,814,607 2,266,926

To approve the continuation of Term for Director under the Corporate Governance Policies:

Votes For Votes Against/Withheld Votes Abstained P. Gerald Malone 151,680,181 13,633,654 2,367,498 William Potter 151,370,248 13,878,494 2,432,591

For Preferred Stock Only: To elect one Preferred Share Director to the Board of Directors:

Votes For Votes Against/Withheld Votes Abstained Moritz Sell 2,000,000 0 0

Aberdeen Global Income Fund, Inc. ("FCO")

As of the record date, March 4, 2022, FCO had outstanding 9,220,688 shares of common stock. 64.87% of outstanding common stock were voted representing a quorum.

To elect one Class III Trustee to the Board of Trustees:

Votes For Votes Withheld Votes Abstained Radhika Ajmera 5,577,132 269,354 134,484

To approve the continuation of Term for Director under the Corporate Governance Policies:

Votes For Votes Against/Withheld Votes Abstained P. Gerald Malone 5,642,769 218,373 119,828 William Potter 5,658,379 211,529 111,062

Aberdeen Australia Equity Fund, Inc. ("IAF")

As of the record date, March 4, 2022, IAF had outstanding 24,149,126 shares of common stock. 71.16% of outstanding common stock were voted representing a quorum.

To elect one Class I Director to the Board of Directors:

Votes For Votes Against/Withheld Votes Abstained Moritz Sell 16,362,802 487,610 334,670

To approve the continuation of Term for three Directors under the Corporate Governance Policies:

Votes For Votes Against/Withheld Votes Abstained Moritz Sell 16,350,171 521,275 313,636 P. Gerald Malone 16,262,145 619,811 303,126 William Potter 16,218,675 654,959 311,448

Aberdeen Income Credit Strategies Fund ("ACP")

As of the record date, March 4, 2022, ACP had outstanding 23,352,890 shares of common stock and 1,600,000 shares of outstanding preferred stock. 75.54% of outstanding common stock and 63.45% of outstanding preferred stock were voted representing a quorum.

To elect one Class II Trustee to the Board of Trustees:

Votes For Votes Withheld Stephen Bird 18,151,420 698,660

For Preferred Stock Only: To elect one Preferred Share Trustee to the Board of Directors:

Votes For Votes Against/Withheld Nancy Yao Maasbach 1,015,211 127,691

Aberdeen Global Dynamic Dividend Fund ("AGD")

As of the record date, March 14, 2022, AGD had outstanding 12,549,581 shares of common stock. 79.26% of the outstanding shares were voted at the Meeting representing a quorum.

To elect one Class II Trustee to the Board of Trustees:

Votes For Votes Withheld Gerald Malone 9,357,683 589,516

Aberdeen Total Dynamic Dividend Fund ("AOD")

As of the record date, March 14, 2022, AOD had outstanding 105,430,998 shares of common stock. 82.43% of the outstanding shares were voted at the Meeting representing a quorum.

To elect one Class II Trustee to the Board of Trustees:

Votes For Votes Withheld Gerald Malone 78,312,792 8,593,480

Aberdeen Global Premier Properties Fund ("AWP")

As of the record date, March 14, 2022, AWP had outstanding 85,407,951 shares of common stock. 72.13% of the outstanding shares were voted at the Annual Meeting representing a quorum.

To elect one Class II Trustee to the Board of Trustees:

Votes For Votes Withheld Gerald Malone 58,923,404 2,681,983

In the United States, abrdn is the marketing name for the following affiliated, registered investment advisers: abrdn Inc., Aberdeen Asset Managers Ltd., abrdn Australia Limited, abrdn Asia Limited, Aberdeen Capital Management, LLC, abrdn ETFs Advisors LLC and Aberdeen Standard Alternative Funds Limited.

Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. A Fund's investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the net asset value (NAV) of the fund's portfolio. There is no assurance that a Fund will achieve its investment objective. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

https://www.abrdn.com/en-us/cefinvestorcenter/fund-centre/closed-end-funds

CONTACT:

abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds

Investor Relations

800-522-5465

Investor.Relations@abrdn.com

SOURCE: abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/699455/abrdn-US-Closed-End-Funds-Announce-Results-of-Annual-Meeting-of-Shareholders
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - American Aires Inc. (CSE: WIFI) ("Aires" or the "Company") announces that it anticipates being late in filing its audited annual financial statements (the "Annual Financial Statements") and related management discussion and analysis ("MD&A") for the year ended December 31, 2021, by the prescribed deadline of May 2, 2022.

The Company has experienced delays associated with the completion of its annual audit due to difficulties in obtaining third party shipping data from some of the Company's fulfillment centres. The Company is working with its auditors and third-party fulfillment centres to conclude the process at the earliest possible time.

The Company has made an application with the applicable securities regulators under National Policy 12-203 - Cease Trade Orders for Continuous Disclosure Defaults ("NP 12-203") requesting that a management cease trade order be imposed in respect of the anticipated late filing rather than an issuer cease trade order. The issuance of a management cease trade order does not affect the ability of persons who have not been directors, officers or insiders of the Company to trade in their securities.

The Company anticipates that it will in a position to prepare and file the Annual Financial Statements and related MD&A on or prior to May 31, 2022.

The Company confirms that it will satisfy the provisions of the alternative information guidelines under NP 12-203 by issuing bi-weekly default status reports in the form of news releases for so long as it remains in default of the filing requirements to file the Financial Statements, the Interim Financial Statements and related MD&A within the prescribed period of time. The Company confirms that there is no other material information relating to its affairs that has not been generally disclosed.

About American Aires Inc.

American Aires Inc. is Canadian-based nanotechnology company which has developed proprietary silicon-based microprocessors that reduce the harmful effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR). The technology was developed by a team of highly accredited scientists and confirmed by independent third-party validation including peer reviewed studies and publications in scientific journals. Aires' Lifetune products specifically target EMR emitted by consumer electronic devices such as cellphones, computers, baby monitors, Wi-Fi radiation, including the rapidly expanding next-generation high-speed 5G networks. Aires is listed on the CSE under ticker 'WIFI' and on the OTCQB under the symbol 'AAIRF'. Learn more at www.airestech.com .

On behalf of the board of directors

Company Contact:

Dimitry Serov, CEO

Email: dimitry@airestech.com

Telephone: (905) 482-4667

Website: www.airestech.com

For further information please contact:

5 Quarters Investor Relations, Inc.

Cindy Gray, CEO & Managing Director

Email: wifi@airestech.com

Telephone: (403) 705.5076

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements may be discussed in this news release and the Company's annual and quarterly management's discussion and analysis filed at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. The Shares have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of any person in the United States, absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any common shares in the United States, or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. We seek safe harbour.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Not intended for distribution to United States Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of United States Securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122250


FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - German authorities raided Deutsche Bank's headquarters in Frankfurt on Friday over suspected money laundering.



Officers from the financial regulator BaFin, the federal police, and the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office launched the raid after securing a search warrant from the local court, based on the suspicion that unnamed Deutsche Bank employees may have violated anti-money laundering laws.



Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank revealed that the issue was self-reported and it was 'fully cooperating' with police and prosecutors who launched the raid.



'This is an investigative measure by the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office in connection with suspicious activity reports [SARs] filed by the bank,' the lender said in a statement. 'Deutsche Bank is fully cooperating with the authorities.'



Banks and other financial institutions file SARs with law enforcement bodies when they suspect a client may be using their services for potential criminal activity. However, SARs do not mean a client is guilty of wrongdoing or require a bank to cease doing business with the client.







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DEUTSCHE BANK-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
Suzano S.A. (B3: SUZB3 NYSE: SUZ) informs that its 2021 Annual Report on Form 20-F was filed today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Holders of the Company's equity securities can receive hard copies of the Annual Report, including its audited financial statements, without charge by request directed to: ri@suzano.com.br. This document is also available on Suzano's website (http://ir.suzano.com.br/).

For further information, please contact our Investor Relations Department:

Phone: (+55 11) 3503-9330

E-mail: ri@suzano.com.br

About Suzano

Suzano is a global reference in developing sustainable and innovative solutions from renewable sources, guided by its purpose of renewing life inspired by trees. It is the world's leading eucalyptus pulp producer and one of Latin America's largest paper producers, playing a part in the lives of over 2 billion people from its 11 mills across Brazil and the joint operation Veracel. The company, whose history for over 98 years, has an installed capacity of 10.9 million tons of market pulp and 1.4 million tons of paper a year, and exports to more than 100 countries. Its operations are based on Innovability Innovation at the service of Sustainability and on the highest levels of social, environmental and corporate governance practices, and its shares are traded on stock exchanges in Brazil and the United States. For more information, visit www.suzano.com.br/en/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005752/en/

Contacts:

Hawthorn Advisors

Jamie Plotnek

suzano@hawthornadvisors.com
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - ICEsoft Technologies Canada Corp. (CSE: ISFT) (the "Corporation" or the "Company" or "ICEsoft") is pleased to announce its consolidated financial results for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. Detailed results and Management's discussion and analysis are now available on SEDAR.

Annual highlights are as follows:

ICEsoft's Voyent Alert! service is now used by 301 Canadian municipalities as of December 31, 2021

The Company continues to deploy capital to expand Voyent Alert! sales

During 2021, the Province of B.C experienced heat domes, summer wildfire events and fall flooding. Voyent Alert! was responsible for issuing over 80% of the evacuation orders and alerts issued across the province over the year.

The City of Kamloops, and the surrounding Thompson Nicola regional district, used Voyent Alert! extensively through the summer to keep citizens appraised of nearby wildfire activities;

the City of Merritt and District of Logan Lake used Voyent Alert! to help evacuate their residents in the wake of flooding;

the town of Princeton used Voyent Alert! to partially evacuate its residents in relation to flooding;

and the District of Squamish used Voyent Alert! to communicate to its residents on overflowing dams.

"We are pleased with the traction Voyent Alert! in making in the municipal market. Customer feedback continues to be exceptional, and we are currently experiencing a 95% renewal rate on all our municipal clients," stated Brian McKinney, President and CEO. "Voyent Alert! continues to contribute substantially to the safety of citizens during emergency events as well as through regular day-to-day communications regarding municipal services."

About ICEsoft Technologies Canada Corp.:

ICEsoft Technologies Canada Corp. is a software-as-a-service ("SaaS") company. ICEsoft's newest product Voyent Alert! is an affordable Community Alerting Service specifically designed to meet the needs of small to medium sized municipalities, regional governments and campuses. The flexible platform serves the dual purpose of alerting and advising residents during a critical incident as well as providing targeted day-to-day communication services.

For more information, please contact:

Brian McKinney

Chief Executive Officer

Tel: 403-663-3320

Forward-Looking Information Advisory

Certain information in this press release is forward-looking within the meaning of certain securities laws, and is subject to important risks, uncertainties and assumptions. This forward-looking information includes, among other things, information with respect to the Corporate Changes, Private Placement and shares for debt transactions, assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action, and the Company's beliefs, plans, expectations, anticipations, estimates and intentions. The words "may", "could", "should", "would", "suspect", "outlook", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "plan", "target" and similar words and expressions are used to identify forward-looking information. The forward-looking information in this material change report describes the Company's expectations as of the date of this news release and accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward- looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. While the Company may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122269
On April 4, 2022, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with visiting Panamanian Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes in Tunxi, Anhui Province.

Wang Yi said, China and Panama enjoy time-honored friendship, and share similar historical experiences and common struggles against colonization and hegemony. The two sides are both old acquaintances and new friends. Five years ago, China and Panama opened a new chapter in bilateral relations as the two sides formally established diplomatic relations on the basis of confirming the one-China principle. At present, China-Panama relations are developing smoothly with increasingly deepening mutual trust and steady progress in cooperation, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples. This fully proves that the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Panama conforms to the fundamental interests of both sides, and opens up broad prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. China is ready to work with Panama to build China-Panama relations into a model of mutual respect between large and small countries, solidarity and cooperation among developing countries, and exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations.

Wang Yi said, China is ready to take the fifth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Panama as an opportunity to take stock of experience and make renewed efforts to realize the "four-wheel drive" of political mutual trust, pragmatic cooperation, cultural and people-to-people exchanges and multilateral coordination between the two countries, so as to create more "propellers" for China-Panama friendship. The two sides should seek greater synergy between development strategies and formulate a plan for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. Efforts should be made to give full play to Panama's unique geographical advantages and strengthen canal cooperation. The two sides should expand youth, subnational, medical and health cooperation to promote people-to-people ties. China is ready to share development opportunities with Panama, help Panama achieve diversified development, and welcome expanding exports of Panama's quality products to China.

Mouynes said, I'm very glad to be the first foreign minister of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries to visit China since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and China is also the first stop of my trip to Asia, which fully demonstrates the great importance Panama attaches to developing relations with China. The Panamanian people always remember the Chinese people's support for Panama's just cause of resuming the exercise of sovereignty over the Panama Canal, and always remember the Chinese people's contributions to Panama's railway and canal projects in the early years. She thanked China for its strong support for Panama in fighting the pandemic. The economies of Panama and China are highly complementary, with pragmatic cooperation yielding fruitful results. Panama welcomes Chinese investment and will provide a sound investment environment for Chinese enterprises.

Mouynes stressed, facts have proved that the establishment of diplomatic relations between Panama and China is a completely correct decision. Panama cherishes the mutual trust with China and will firmly adhere to the one-China principle. Wang Yi expressed appreciation for this, stressing that China is ready to jointly safeguard this cornerstone of bilateral relations and continue to firmly support each other in safeguarding core interests and national dignity.

Both sides believe that China-Panama relations enjoy broad prospects and great potential for cooperation, and are ready to deepen cooperation in various fields, release more positive information, and turn the right decision of establishing diplomatic ties between the two countries into more concrete results. The two sides are willing to actively consider restarting negotiations on the free trade agreement and strive to reach a high-level and mutually beneficial agreement at an early date. Efforts should be made to deepen cooperation in the Colon Free Trade Zone, and enhance connectivity between the two countries. Efforts should be made to strengthen cooperation in agriculture and grain, so as to help Panama build a regional agricultural center.

The two sides exchanged views on China-LAC relations. Wang Yi said, China supports the building of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and supports LAC countries in independently exploring development paths in line with their own national conditions and formulating foreign policies according to their own needs. China is ready to implement the important outcomes of President Xi Jinping's five visits to LAC countries and jointly foster a China-LAC relationship for a new era characterized by equality, mutual benefit, innovation, openness, and benefits for the people. Mouynes said, Panama firmly adheres to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs, and LAC countries are not the "backyards" of any country. Central American and Caribbean countries should transcend differences in ideology and work together for common development.

The two sides had in-depth communication on multilateral affairs. Wang Yi said, it's China's consistent position that all countries, big or small, are equal, and China stands ready to work with Panama to safeguard fairness and justice, as well as the basic norms governing international relations. Panama is welcome to participate in the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and accelerate the realization of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Mouynes appreciated the fact that China has consistently acted on the principle of sovereign equality, and said that Panama attaches great importance to the important GDI put forward by President Xi Jinping and stands ready to promote the strengthening of the synergy between Central American and Caribbean countries and China in this regard.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine issue, among others. Mouynes said, the current geopolitical conflict further highlights the important value and strategic significance of the Panama Canal. Panama does not subscribe to imposing unilateral sanctions willfully in the international arena, stays committed to maintaining the permanent neutrality of the canal, and hopes to gain the support of China. Wang Yi stressed, China respects and recognizes the permanent neutrality of the Panama Canal, and is ready to work with developing countries including Panama to act on true multilateralism, jointly resist unilateralism and oppose bullying practices.
NEARLY three quarters of the country remains stuck in the dark ages after only 20% and 40% of the countrys rural and urban areas have respectively been electrified since the country came into existence.

Energy and Power Development minister Soda Zhemu described the statistics as embarrassing on Thursday after receiving in Harare US$1,5 million from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for electricity generation.

According to recent statistics, the country has an electricity penetration rate of 44%. As a government, we are not proud of this figure considering that we have a large number of people, particularly in rural areas who lack access to modern energy services, Zhemu said.

In fact, I am informed that electricity access levels in rural areas is 20% with the balance available to urbanites. Although we have seen increased penetration of small ports solar systems, which l hope will be revealed in the census currently underway.

Zhemu said the government was incapacitated to fund big electricity generation projects to meet national demand.

Our challenge remains that of funding of new projects to increase the access to modern energy in order to achieve universal access by 2030, he said, adding that importing electricity was also expensive.

It is also undesirable to indicate that the country has a power supply deficit which accounts for load shedding experienced especially during peak hours. We also imported power from our neighbours in the Sadc (Southern Africa Development Community) region at a huge cost in order to address this supply-demand gap, Zhemu said.

UNDP Zimbabwe resident representative Mia Seppo said: UNDP Zimbabwe is excited to have managed to mobilise a total of US$$1,5 million grant aimed at accelerating access to sustainable, affordable and clean energy in Zimbabwe. This grant is earmarked to kick start and unlock further funding for the energy sector. We are expected to fully allocate and utilise the funding before the end of the year 2022 to create the enabling environment for future investments.

The country produces an average of 1 200 megawatts (MW) daily against a peak demand of 2 200MW with imports barely offsetting the balance.

The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company says the country was experiencing power shortfalls due to electricity generation constraints at the nearly 40-year-old Hwange Thermal Power Station.

This has forced the power utility to introduce intensive load-shedding.

The condition of our existing energy infrastructure requires urgent attention. Most importantly we will expand our energy generation facilities together with reinforcing our transmission and distribution infrastructure in order to reduce losses on power incurred through wheeling of electricity, Zhemu said, adding that government was looking for partners for the rural electrification programme. Newsday
I believe camping bans are unconstitutional and I think the city should do away with it.

I think the the city should look at developing a managed camp like Deltas.

I think it disincentivizes efforts to find real solutions to the homeless problem.

I think the ban needs to be coupled with greater efforts to expand shelter space and access to services.

I think its unfortunate but necessary. It provides incentive for people to get the help they need.

I think its a good thing. Urban camping strains resources and hurts local businesses and tourism.

Im conflicted. I dont know what the right answer is.

Vote

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New production anticipated to bring IEC to cash flow positive operations

JAKARTA, INDONESIA AND DANVILLE, CA, April 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Indonesia Energy Corporation Limited (NYSE American: INDO) (IEC), an oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Indonesia, today announced that the company has commenced drilling operations at the first of its two back-to-back producing wells (this first well is named the K-27 well) at its 63,000-acre Kruh Block.

Drilling at K-27 commenced on Thursday, April 7, 2022. K-27 has a target total depth of 3,400 feet, and it is expected to take approximately 45 days to complete all drilling operations.

The commencement of drilling represents a milestone in IECs previously announced plan to drill two new wells at Kruh Block. As an update to the drilling plan timing for 2002, IEC plans to commence drilling of the second new well (called K-28) immediately following the completion of the K-27 well. A third new well new well at Kruh Block is anticipated to commence drilling in the June-July 2022 timeframe, and likely a fourth new well sometime before the end of 2022. These wells are the continuation of IECs previously announced drilling campaign to complete a total of 18 new production wells in Kruh Block by the end of 2024.

If drilling is successful, each of K-27 and K-28 is expected to average production of over 100 barrels of oil per day over the first year of production, and each well will cost approximately $1.5 million to drill and complete. Based on the terms of IECs contract with the Indonesian government and an oil price of $90.00/barrel (which is 10% below yesterdays closing price for Brent), each well is expected to generate $2.4 million in net revenue in its first twelve months, which would be enough to recover the cost of drilling the wells in the first year of production.

The Kruh Block is located on Sumatra Island where IEC is already producing oil from 5 existing wells.

Mr. Frank Ingriselli, IECs President, commented We are excited to have delivered on our commitment to commence drilling these two back-to-back wells and to aggressively take advantage of the current high prices for oil and move our company towards a potential cash flow positive position this year, setting the stage for further drilling and growth for our company in 2022 and beyond. We believe Kruh Block is a world class asset that should significantly grow our cash flow as we drill additional wells and seek to maximize returns on our investments and grow shareholder value. Additionally, our company is moving forward to aggressively set the stage to develop our potential billion-barrel equivalent natural gas Citarum Block, where the previous operator drilled a few gas discoveries."

About Indonesia Energy Corporation Limited

Indonesia Energy Corporation Limited (NYSE American: INDO) is a publicly traded energy company engaged in the acquisition and development of strategic, high growth energy projects in Indonesia. IECs principal assets are its Kruh Block (63,000 acres) located onshore on the Island of Sumatra in Indonesia and its Citarum Block (1,000,000 acres) located onshore on the Island of Java in Indonesia. IEC is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia and has a representative office in Danville, California. For more information on IEC, please visit www.indo-energy.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this press release of Indonesia Energy Corporation Limited (IEC) and its representatives and partners that are not based on historical fact are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Acts). In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "estimates," "believes," "hopes," "expects," "intends," on-track, "plans," "anticipates," or "may," and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Acts and are subject to the safe harbor created by the Acts. Any statements made in this news release other than those of historical fact, about an action, event or development, are forward-looking statements. While management has based any forward-looking statements contained herein on its current expectations, the information on which such expectations were based may change. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are outside of the IEC's control, that could cause actual results (including, without limitation, the future prices for oil and the anticipated results of IECs drilling and production activities and the impact of such activities on IECs results of operations as described herein) to materially and adversely differ from such statements. Such risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, but are not necessarily limited to, those set forth in the Risk Factors section of the Companys annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, filed on May 18, 2021, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Copies are of such documents are available on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. IEC undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as required by law.

Company Contact :

Frank C. Ingriselli

President, Indonesia Energy Corporation Limited

Frank.Ingriselli@Indo-Energy.com
 Series B Financing led by Huadong Medicine Investment Holding Co., Ltd, with participation from Natural Capital Investment Fund, Plum Alley Investments and Tribe Capital 



 Exclusive product licensing agreement grants Huadong development and commercialization rights to Ashvattha pipeline assets in Asia 

 Ashvatthas hydroxyl dendrimer-based precision medicine pipeline includes clinical stage candidates for severe COVID-19, wet AMD/DME and ALS with significant milestones expected in 2022 

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ashvattha Therapeutics (Ashvattha), a clinical stage company developing novel hydroxyl dendrimer therapeutics, today announced it has secured $69 million in a Series B financing and in a separate agreement entered an exclusive licensing deal with Huadong Medicine. Proceeds will support the advancement of Ashvatthas pipeline of hydroxyl dendrimer therapeutics (HDTs), including multiple clinical stage programs. Ashvattha launched a Phase 2 study in severe COVID-19 earlier this year and in 2022 plans to launch a Phase 2 study in wet AMD/DME and Phase 1/2 study in ALS.

The Series B financing was led by Huadong Medicine Investment Holding Co., Ltd, with participation from existing investors, including Natural Capital, Plum Alley, Tribe Capital and several prominent technology and biotech angel investors bringing Ashvatthas total funding to $69 million.

The exclusive licensing agreement with Huadong which includes up to $45 million advanced payments for product development, grants Huadong development and commercialization rights to its pipeline assets in China and parts of southeast Asia. Under the terms of the exclusive licensing agreement:

Huadong will advance up to $30 million to cover research and development costs for Ashvatthas hydroxyl dendrimer clinical candidates, OP-101, D-4517.2 and OP-801, and $15 million for additional preclinical candidates

Huadong will gain exclusive licensing rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize these candidates in China, and southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.

Huadong will pay Ashvattha a royalty of 10% of net sales of licensed products



HDTs have been shown to selectively target reactive inflammatory cells in diseased tissue, with the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and blood-retinal barrier to treat neurology, ophthalmology, and inflammatory diseases. Interim data from ongoing Phase 2 PRANA clinical study in severe COVID-19 patients demonstrated the ability of OP-101, an HDT, to cross the blood-brain barrier and reduce neuronal injury and systemic hyperinflammation, reinforcing the potential of the HD platform.

We believe that hydroxyl dendrimer therapeutics are the future of precision medicine and look forward to demonstrating this with multiple clinical data catalysts in our ophthalmology, neurology and inflammatory programs this year, said Jeffrey Cleland, Ph.D., Chairman & CEO of Ashvattha Therapeutics. This investment and partnership confirm confidence in our approach to precision medicine with disease-cell selective HDTs, as well as the broad potential of our platform, and the potential to dramatically increase the therapeutic index of drugs.

Mr. Lv Liang, Chairman of Huadong Medicine, added, We believe Ashvatthas hydroxyl dendrimer platform has the potential to produce highly selective drugs. This collaboration will enable us to build an R&D ecosystem, further enriching our pipeline in the fields of tumor, immunity and endocrinology. This allows us to accelerate scientific research innovation and internationalization. We look forward to working with Ashvattha to advance a new class of therapeutics that may hold the potential to enhance the treatment landscape for a broad range of patient populations.

About OP-101

OP-101 is an HDT with N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) that selectively targets reactive macrophages and microglia, which are responsible for hyperinflammation, lung injury and multi-organ failure caused by viral or bacterial infections, including COVID-19.

About D-4517.2

D-4517.2 is an HDT with potent anti-angiogenic activity inhibiting VEGFR/PDGFR that selectively targets reactive inflammatory cells and crosses the blood-retinal barrier.

About OP-801

OP-801 is an HD imaging agent that provides information on uptake of HDs across tissue barriers including the blood brain barrier. 18F-OP-801 selectively targets reactive microglia in regions of neuroinflammation in neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease.

About Ashvattha Therapeutics

Ashvattha Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech company developing novel hydroxyl dendrimer therapeutics (HDTs) targeting unmet medical needs in ophthalmology, neurology, inflammation and neuro-oncology. The therapies are based on hydroxyl dendrimers (HDs), a targeted platform technology exclusively licensed from our founders, Kannan Rangaramanujam and Sujatha Kannan at Johns Hopkins University. HDs chemically conjugated to disease modifying drugs create novel proprietary HD therapeutics (HDTs) selectively targeting reactive inflammatory cells in disease tissue with localized sustained effects. Ashvattha has initiated multiple programs with HDTs focused on neurology, ocular neovascular disease including neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME), and hyperinflammation in diseases such as COVID-19. For more information, visit: www.avttx.com .

Media Contact

Jordyn Temperato

LifeSci Communications

jtemperato@lifescicomms.com
Bubble Wrap Packaging Market to Amp Up with Growth of E-Commerce and Subsequent Need to Protect Products During Transit: FMI



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Future Market Insights delivers vital insights on the bubble wrap packaging market in its published report titled, Bubble Wrap Packaging Market: Global Industry Analysis 2014-2021 and Opportunity Assessment 2022-2029. In terms of revenue, the global bubble wrap packaging market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 3.4% during the forecast period, owing to numerous factors upon which FMI offers thorough insights and forecasts in this report.

The global bubble wrap packaging market has been segmented on the basis of product, material, end-use industry, and region. The global market is expected to expand 1.4x in terms of market volume by the end of 2029.

Request a report sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5612

Noteworthy Progression of Bubble Wrap Packaging in the e-Commerce Industry

Bubble wrapis a flexible and transparent plastic material used for the packaging of especially delicate items. Regularly spaced, protruding air-filled hemispheres (bubbles) provide cushioning for breakable items. Bubble wrap packaging is widely used in a number of end-use industries such as e-Commerce, manufacturing & warehousing, logistics, and transportation. The extensive application of bubble wrap packaging is identified in e-Commerce industry, and it is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of ~4% during the forecast period.

The retail industry has witnessed huge makeover in every sectors. Consumers are getting more inclined towards online purchasing due to rising consumers discretionary income and reluctance to spend more time on shopping. This leads to the steady progress in the e-Commerce industry.

Growing number of online resellers are motivating players such as Amazon and Target to come up with the best packaging formats to undercut rivals and offer cheaper, faster shipping with special packaging methods. Proetctive packaging and air pillows are favored means of protection, especially for online orders, thereby significant contributing to the growth of the bubble wrap packaging market.



Report Customization available @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-5612

East Asia to Hold Prominent Share in the Bubble Wrap Packaging Market

Geographically, Asia holds nearly one-third of the worlds bubble wrap packaging market, and the trend is likely to continue in the years ahead, especially in the East Asia market. In addition, China and India are major markets, which are expected to witness high Y-o-Y growth in upcoming years.

Opportunity for the bubble wrap packaging market is likely to be less in the European region as compared to other global markets. Most of the governments in European regions are encouraging end users to prefer recyclable or degradable materials for packaging. This has motivated manufacturers including Vereinigte Papierwarenfabriken GmbH, Storopack Hans Reichenecker GmbH, Goldfoam Sp. o .o., and Sealed Air Corp. to develop greener bubble wrap packaging. Thorough research and innovation has led to develop iBubble wrap packaging, which is an eco-friendly product.

Countries in South Asia, especially India and Thailand markets are expected to grow at a significant rate in comparison to other countries in the region. In Europe, Benelux market is anticipated to witness a higher growth in the bubble wrap packaging market, while Italy is anticipated to face sluggish growth in bubble wrap packaging market in the region. Oceania, Latin America, and MEA regions are expected to cumulatively constitute one-sixth of the total share in the global bubble wrap packaging market. The Oceania bubble wrap packaging market is anticipated to remain steady in the upcoming years.

The North American bubble wrap packaging market is expected to witness sluggish growth. However, Latin America is projected to witness consistent growth in the bubble wrap packaging market in upcoming years, with the Mexico bubble wrap packaging market holding a prominent share due to its developing economy and high chance of market expansion in years ahead.

Recyclable Content in Bubble Wrap as an Additional Value

Leading manufacturers choice includes addition of 25-60% recycled content in the bubble wrap packaging to reduce its environmental impact. Recyclable bubble wrap packaging will help manufacturers to maintain their foothold in the evolving protective packaging industry. The rise in awareness of drawbacks of plastic consumption and its non-disposable property have motivated manufactures to opt for recyclable packaging methods, especially for fragile products.

Ask an Analyst @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-5612

Key Segments Covered In Bubble Wrap Packaging Industry Research

By Product:

Bubble Sheets

Bubble Bags/mailers

By Material:

LDPE

HDPE

LLDPE



By End-use:

Manufacturing & Warehousing

e-Commerce

Logistics & Transportation



Table of Content

1. Executive Summary

1.1. Global Market Outlook

1.2. Global Market Analysis

1.3. Analysis and Recommendations

1.4. Opportunity Analysis

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition

3. Key Market Trends

3.1. Key Trends Impacting the Market

3.2. Product Innovation

4. Key Success Factors

4.1. Product Adoption

4.2. Product USPs

5. Global Bubble Wrap Packaging Market Demand Analysis 2014-2021 and Forecast, 2022-2029

5.1. Historical Market Volume (Thousand Tonnes) Analysis, 2014-2021

5.2. Current and Future Market Volume (Thousand Tonnes) Projections, 2022-2029

5.3. Y-o-Y Growth Trend Analysis

TOC Continued

Explore FMIs Extensive Ongoing Coverage on Packaging

Commercial Paper Bags Market: The global commercial paper bags market size is likely to reach US$ 11.2 Billion in 2032 and exhibit growth at a CAGR of 7.5% in the forecast period from 2022 to 2032

Wheeled Bins Market: The global wheeled bins market is projected to exhibit robust growth by reaching US$ 9.1 Billion in 2032. Future Market Insights (FMI), in its upcoming report, estimates that the global market is likely to touch US$ 5.2 Billion in 2022 and showcase a CAGR of 10.7% in the forecast period from 2022 to 2032

Brightness Enhancement Films Market: The brightness enhancement films market is likely to record a strong CAGR of 7% during the forecast period. The brightness enhancement films market is currently valued at US$ 9.9 Bn in 2022 and is likely to reach US$ 19.47 Bn by 2032

Plastic Sterilization Trays Market: The plastic sterilization trays market is likely to record a strong CAGR of 7.7% during the forecast period. The plastic sterilization trays market is currently valued at US$ 14.86 Bn in 2022 and is likely to reach US$ 31.20 Bn by 2032

Base Paper Market: The base paper market is likely to record a strong CAGR of 1.75% during the forecast period. The base paper market is currently valued at US$ 302.66 Bn in 2022 and is likely to reach US$ 360 Bn by 2032

About Future Market Insights (FMI)

Future Market Insights (ESOMAR certified market research organization and a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce) provides in-depth insights into governing factors elevating the demand in the market. It discloses opportunities that will favour the market growth in various segments based on Source, Application, Sales Channel and End-Use over the next 10-years.

Contact:

Future Market Insights,

1602-6 Jumeirah Bay X2 Tower,

Plot No: JLT-PH2-X2A,

Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai,

United Arab Emirates

For Sales Enquiries: sales@futuremarketinsights.com

Website: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com

Report: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/bubble-wrap-packaging-market

LinkedIn| Twitter| Blogs
Washington, April 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman , head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice for Americas 32.5 million small businesses in President Bidens Cabinet, announced the National Small Business Week award winners in the categories of Small Business Investment Company of the Year, Small Business Exporter of the Year, and the Top Federal Contractors of the Year.

These entrepreneurs have made significant impacts on their industries and our nation, advancing innovative solutions to global challenges, securing capital to help their firms thrive, or finding creative solutions to strengthen Americas supply chains, said Administrator Guzman, Their grit, ingenuity, and spirit of service are a powerful example of what the American people can achieve when we invest in entrepreneurs and small business owners from all walks of life and come together to build a better America through entrepreneurship.

The winners in each category will be recognized during the National Small Business Week (NSBW) virtual Awards Ceremony event on May 5, 2022.

Guzman added, I want to thank my leadership team Bibi Hildago, Associate Administrator for the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development ; Bailey DeVries, Associate Administrator for the Office of Investment and Innovation; and Gabriel Esparza , Associate Administrator for the Office of International Trade , for working with these small businesses to secure funding for expansion and counseling needs, as well as their thoughtful leadership and service to help position our small business ecosystems to excel in these highly competitive marketplaces.

The 2022 winners for these categories include:

Exporting Award: The SBA recognizes the importance of small exporters to our economy as they remain committed to maintaining sustainable growth through innovation and global expansion, especially as e-commerce has emerged as a rare bright spot during the pandemic.

Small Business Exporter of the Year

Glacier Hops Ranch

Tom Britz - President & CEO

Whitefish, MT

Investment Awards: The SBA recognizes these companies for their mission dedication, successful investment track record, and unwavering support of small businesses nationwide, particularly in underserved markets.

Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) of the Year Award - Established Manager

Grayhawk Ventures Fund II, L.P. (Grayhawk)

Brian N. Burns, Sherman Chu, and Brian S. Smith - Managing Partners

Scottsdale, AZ

Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) of the Year Award - Emerging Manager

Valesco Commerce Street Capital, L.P. (Valesco)

Heather Hubbard and Bud Moore - Managing Partners

Dallas, TX

Government Contracting Awards: The SBA honors small businesses for their work in federal contracting with several categories of recognition such as the Prime and Subcontractor of the Year Award, the 8(a) Graduate Firm of the Year and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Excellence which recognizes large prime contractors that have excelled in the utilization of small businesses as suppliers and subcontractors within the construction, research and development, services, utility, and manufacturing industries.

Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year

Haight Bey & Associates, Inc.

Aliahu K. Bey - President & CEO

West Haven, UT

Small Business Subcontractor of the Year

M2 Global Technology, LTD

Douglas Carlberg - President & CEO

San Antonio, TX

8(a) Graduate Firm of the Year

The ELOCEN Group

Necole Parker - Principal & CEO

Washington, D.C.

Eisenhower Award Categories: Construction, Manufacturing, and Services

Construction

Hensel Phelps Construction Co.

Brad D. Lewis - Corporate Director of Supplier Diversity

Tysons Corner, VA

Manufacturing

L3 Harris Technologies  CSB Sector

Daisy Galvan - Supplier Diversity Manager/Small Business Liaison Officer (SBLO)

Greenville, TX

Services

Tetra Tech, Inc.

Barbara Petersen - Director of Contracts and Procurement, Small Business Liaison Officer (SBLO)

Pasadena, CA

For more information on the National Small Business Week Virtual Summit, visit www.sba.gov/NSBW .

---

Cosponsorship Authorization# 22-1-C. The SBAs participation in this cosponsored activity is not an endorsement of the views, opinions, products or services of any cosponsor or other person or entity. All SBA programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.

###

About the National Small Business Week

For nearly 60 years, the SBA has celebrated National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of Americas entrepreneurs and small business owners. For more information on this years virtual event, visit www.sba.gov/nsbw .

About the U.S. Small Business Administration
English French

Capital increase reserved for Nexans Group employees

_PRESS RELEASE_

Paris, on April 29, 2022  Nexans will implement its 10th employee share offering at the beginning of the second half of 2022. This transaction will result in a share capital increase of the Nexans company of a maximum of 500,000 shares. The settlement and delivery of the shares is scheduled for July 26, 2022.

This employee shareholding plan, which is in line with the policy of developing the employee shareholding within the Nexans Group, will cover 25 countries. Nexans wishes to associate its employees with the Groups development, both in France and abroad.

For the first time, employees will be able to participate in the Group's decarbonization effort, as Nexans will use part of the funds raised for projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency and circular economy. Nexans will be the first French issuer to propose this type of initiative.

This transaction, called Nexans Act 2022, will consist in a unique offering including a leverage effect and an investment guarantee which could be adjusted, according to the country, in the form of a similar offering complying with the main offerings objectives, while taking into account local tax and legal requirements.

The main terms and conditions of this offering are described hereinafter.

FRAMEWORK OF THE TRANSACTION  OFFERED SHARES

The shareholders of Nexans, at the combined General Shareholders Meeting of May 12, 2021, authorized the Board of Directors of Nexans, to decide to increase the share capital of Nexans, in one or more occasions, to a maximum nominal amount of (i) 400,000 euros, through the issuance of new shares reserved for employees of the Nexans company and the French and foreign companies related to it, pursuant to Articles L.225-180 of the French Commercial Code and L.3344-1 of the French Labor Code, and who are members of an employee savings plan, and (ii) and to a maximum nominal amount of 100,000 euros, through the issuance of new shares reserved for a financial institution, structuring at the Companys request an alternative employee shareholding plan in some countries within the scope.

In accordance with this delegation, the Board of Directors decided on November 8, 2021 of the principle of an issuance of ordinary shares to the employees members of the Group Savings Plan.

The CEO of Nexans, acting on delegation of the Board of Directors, will decide the final terms and conditions of the transaction by a decision expected to occur on June 22, 2022; at this date, notably, he will set the subscription price of the newly-issued shares, which will be equal to the Reference Price (average of the opening price of the Nexans share on the regulated market of Euronext Paris during 20 days preceding this date) less a 20% or 30% discount, depending on the country.

MAIN TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE EMPLOYEE SHAREHOLDING TRANSACTION

Beneficiaries of the share offering reserved for employees: the beneficiaries of the offering are (i) the employees, and the corporate officers under the conditions provided for by Article L.3332-2 of the French Labor Code, of the companies in the offering scope, members of the Group Savings Plan France or the International Group Savings Plan, and that are able to justify a three-month seniority within the Group at the closing date of the revocation period and (ii) the early retirees and retirees of the French companies of the Group who have maintained assets within the Group Savings Plan France since they left the Group.

Companies in the offering scope: companies of the Nexans Group, having their registered office in France or abroad (i) in which Nexans S.A. holds directly or indirectly more than 50% of their share capital, (ii) which will have become members of the Nexans Group Savings Plan France or the Nexans International Group Savings Plan and (iii) which are located in one of the twenty-five following countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Lebanon, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and United-States.

Terms and conditions of subscription: the shares will either be subscribed as registered shares, or through a fonds commun de placement dentreprise (FCPE), in accordance with the applicable regulation and/or applicable tax legislation in the various countries of residence of the beneficiaries of the capital share increase.

Subscription formula: the employees will be able to subscribe to Nexans shares through a FCPE (except local particular restrictions) within the scope of the unique subscription formula including a secured leverage effect allowing these employees to benefit from a guarantee, in euros, for their initial investment. In some countries, employees will receive a Stock Appreciation Right in which the amount will be indexed by applying a comparable formula to the one offered in the leveraged formula. Employees participating in the offering will benefit from a matching contribution from Nexans, under the conditions described in the documentation specifically related to the offering.

Lock-up period applicable to the Nexans shares or to the corresponding FCPE units: the of the offering shall hold the shares or the corresponding FCPE units for a five-year period, i.e. until July 26, 2027, unless an early release event occurs.

Exercise of the voting rights attached to the shares: when the shares will be subscribed and held through a FCPE, the voting rights attached to these shares will be exercised by the Supervisory Board of the concerned FCPE; when the voting rights will be held in registered form, the voting rights will be exercised individually by the employees involved.

How the funds will be allocated: Nexans undertakes to allocate at least 25% of the total amount subscribed to Act 2022 or at least 10 million euros (within the limit of the total amount subscribed) to finance internal environmental projects developed by the Group (reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, improvement of energy efficiency, circular economy). These projects and the allocation of the funds will meet the eligibility criteria, reporting commitments and governance framework defined by Nexans.





SCHEDULE OF THE TRANSACTION

Reservation period: from May 9, 2022 (inclusive) to May 24, 2022 (inclusive);

Determination and communication of the subscription price: June 22, 2022;

Revocation period: from June 23, 2022 (inclusive) to June 28, 2022 (inclusive);

Settlement and delivery of the shares: July 26, 2022.

HEDGING TRANSACTION

The implementation of the leveraged formula involves hedging transactions from the banking institution structuring the offering, in particular through purchases and/or sales of Nexans shares, loans or borrowings of Nexans shares, purchases of call options on Nexans shares and/or any other transactions, at any time and in particular as from the opening date of the period for setting the Reference Price and throughout the duration of the transaction.

LISTING

The listing of the newly-issued Nexans shares to be traded on the regulated market of Euronext Paris (ISIN Code: FR0000044448), on the same listing line as the existing shares, will be requested as soon as possible following the completion of the capital increase scheduled for July 26, 2022.

SPECIFIC MENTION REGARDING THE INTERNATIONAL OFFERING

This press release does not constitute an offering to sell or a solicitation to subscribe for Nexans shares. The offering of Nexans shares reserved for employees will only be implemented in the countries where such an offering has been registered with and/or notified to the competent local authorities and/or following the approval of a prospectus by the competent local authorities, or in consideration of an exemption of the requirement to prepare a prospectus or to register or notify the offering.

More generally, the offering will only be implemented in countries where all required filing procedures and/or notifications have been completed and the required authorizations have been obtained.

CONTACT FOR THE BENEFICIARIES OF THE OFFERING

The beneficiaries may address all questions regarding this offering to their Human Resources department and/or any other person as specified in the documents provided to the beneficiaries.

About Nexans

For over a century, Nexans has played a crucial role in the electrification of the planet and is committed to electrify the future. With around 25,000 people in 42 countries, the Group is leading the charge to the new world of electrification: safe, sustainable, renewable, decarbonized and accessible to everyone. In 2021, Nexans generated 6.1 billion euros in standard sales. The Group is a leader in the design and manufacturing of cable systems and services across five main business areas: Energy Generation & Transmission, Distribution, Usages, Industry & Solutions and Telecom & Data. Nexans is the first company of its industry to create a Foundation supporting sustainable initiatives bringing access to energy to disadvantaged communities worldwide. The Group pledged to contribute to carbon neutrality by 2030.

Nexans. Electrify the future.

Nexans is listed on Euronext Paris, compartment A.

For more information, please visit www.nexans.com

Contacts:

Communication







Elyette Roux

elyette.roux@nexans.com







Minaa El Baz

Tel. : +33 (0)1 78 15 04 65

minaa.el_baz@nexans.com Investor relations







Elodie Robbe-Mouillot

Tel. : +33 (0)1 78 15 03 87

elodie.robbe-mouillot@nexans.com

Attachment
LONDON, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



Dear shareholders, friends,

Both from a professional viewpoint and as largest private holder, I have felt the urge to share my uncensored mind on the disproportionate decline in CLINUVELs value.

Naturally, I experience chagrin as a substantial shareholder, but in earnest I am more concerned and engaged with the many of you who had invested 12 to 17 years ago, speculating that the Company would sustain a $2B plus valuation throughout 2022 given its financial strength to date.

For the benefit of the 2.5% recently joined shareholders, I distinguish CLINUVELs genesis through a few sections, and address the all-important issue of timing.

Early years

A new business plan was required for a company nearing insolvency in October 2005. Operating at a cost of capital of 14% to 16%, we financed the project mostly across two equity rounds at nearly $62 million. Directors had not agreed on prospective earnings as too much R&D uncertainty loomed. At the time, pharmaceutical executives on the Board, surrounded by their advisors, ran internal analyses consigned to multiple commercial scenarios: all valuations came out considerably lower than todays.

Middle years

From 2010 to 2016, limited equity placements totalled $28 million at premium to market, a significant departure from common practice, but underpinning our position that CUV had been trading at discounted value. All shareholders have benefited from our decision to step away from the pattern of serial equity issuances at a discount to market. In parallel, we cut pharma expenditures to a minimum, while advancing SCENESSE (afamelanotide 16mg) to market.

The regulatory pathway was equally novel and at times fraught with significant, yet calculated, risk. The gain of our managers overcoming the challenges was calculated as an indelible value to the Company in taking this experience forward to new medicinal therapies for future growth.

Recent years

The final chapter of the trilogy enumerated a commercial expansion. Contrary to industry habits, we established teams focused on distribution, market access, and pricing. Fast forward some years, pricing negotiations played out well in the majority of countries, whereby the Company reached profitability during the first year of commercially distributing SCENESSE (2016/17). As predicted some countries would resist any agreement on pharmaceutical pricing proposed, arguing allocation of resources towards other therapies.

Our strategy aims for organic and inorganic growth. The house is building a pipeline of melanocortin molecules and new formulations. As a logical nexus to our photoprotective injectable SCENESSE, we set out to develop a series of topical (leave on) products serving to protect and assist DNA damaged skin inflicted by solar radiation.

We work with a number of investment banks and brokers through well-defined acquisition targets for the accretive match.

Time

Naturally, time translates to value in our sector and there is a definitive answer as to how long it will take to see the final diversified construct.

In navigating the fuselage, I would be bitterly disappointed in not seeing all plans realised within the term of my final employment contract, ending July 2025.

Four years ago we made public our objectives to be achieved by end of 2023, and our staff is aligned in attaining the majority of these. Save for good health, if our global ensemble continues to work the odd hours in fulfilling a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, then realisation should be within reach. For having entered a knowledge economy, specialised professionals matter most, hence much effort is put in retaining them.

Lest we forget, we have witnessed the eruption of the chrysalis maturing to a financial stronghold, giving us corporate choices. By staying the course, we eliminate the perennial investors concern that innovators are unable to survive the consequences of unexpected market conditions.

As bitterly cold winds blow, CLINUVEL fortifies it financial fur, and as current sentiments ebb, the overall strategy may well be recognised.

Conclusion

If the recent healthcare indexes - NBI and XHJ  are of any reference, one sees higher volatility across the underlying listed stocks. As the NBI reached a high of over 5,400 in September 2021, it has retreated to a level around 3,850 at present, a loss approximating 30%. Uncoincidentally, on 23 September CUV reached an all-time high of $43.58 to come off to current levels, a stronger decline but very much following the biotech trend worldwide. In essence, we see a temporary flight from perceived high-risk sectors and theme stocks, as CLINUVEL is currently characterised, to blue chip safer havens.

Our challenge remains to identify and attract new institutional shareholders, willing to invest longer-term as opposed to those who enter and exit positions short-term. Gauging from our interaction with a number of US and EU specialised funds, I cannot help but be confident that we will succeed in this mission too.

As to you long-term holders, testing times force us to reflect on the original investment decision, and our hope for future markets and market value. It is certain that many more challenges will befall CLINUVEL during its odyssey, however I experienced that there is an intangible  but real  value embedded in the resilience of a focussed team.

I have long regarded the daily mark to market glance at 1600 hours as a distraction, and in so far daily operations and labour towards our construct matter, market sentiments or even euphoria neither rocks the boat nor alter our objectives.

As eight to nine year cycles wash over us, my teams will come through this nadir too, for we had prepared CLINUVEL precisely for these events and corrections occurring. I leave you with a parable, in reminding that the Company could equally have been in a development phase facing clinical or regulatory setbacks, holding little cash at hand under current market conditions. We incessantly worked to escape the what-ifs, and so we have.

During a recent visit to Disraelis residence at Hughenden Manor, in absorbing his speech to the House of Parliament in 1834, I could not help to think about your vehicle: I have brought myself, by long meditation to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment.

Keep your composure at times when it matters, thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Philippe Wolgen

Managing Director

CLINUVEL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD

About CLINUVEL PHARMACEUTICALS LIMITED

CLINUVEL (ASX: CUV; ADR LEVEL 1: CLVLY; XETRA-DAX: UR9) is a global specialty pharmaceutical group focused on developing and commercialising treatments for patients with genetic, metabolic, systemic, and life-threatening, acute disorders, as well as healthcare solutions for the general population. As pioneers in photomedicine and the family of melanocortin peptides, CLINUVELs research and development has led to innovative treatments for patient populations with a clinical need for systemic photoprotection, DNA repair, repigmentation and acute or life-threatening conditions who lack alternatives.

CLINUVELs lead therapy, SCENESSE (afamelanotide 16mg), is approved for commercial distribution in Europe, the USA, Israel and Australia as the worlds first systemic photoprotective drug for the prevention of phototoxicity (anaphylactoid reactions and burns) in adult patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP). Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, CLINUVEL has operations in Europe, Singapore and the USA. For more information, please go to https://www.clinuvel.com .

SCENESSE, PRENUMBRA, and NEURACTHEL are registered trademarks of CLINUVEL.

Head of Investor Relations

Mr Malcolm Bull, CLINUVEL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD

Investor Enquiries

https://www.clinuvel.com/investors/contact-us

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements, which reflect the current beliefs and expectations of CLINUVELs management. Statements may involve a number of known and unknown risks that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to: our ability to develop and commercialise pharmaceutical products; the COVID-19 pandemic and/or other world, regional or national events affecting the supply chain for a protracted period of time, including our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell biopharmaceutical products; competition for our products, especially SCENESSE (afamelanotide 16mg), PRENUMBRA or NEURACTHEL; our ability to achieve expected safety and efficacy results in a timely manner through our innovative R&D efforts; the effectiveness of our patents and other protections for innovative products, particularly in view of national and regional variations in patent laws; our potential exposure to product liability claims to the extent not covered by insurance; increased government scrutiny in either Australia, the U.S., Europe, Israel, China and Japan of our agreements with third parties and suppliers; our exposure to currency fluctuations and restrictions as well as credit risks; the effects of reforms in healthcare regulation and pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement; that the Company may incur unexpected delays in the outsourced manufacturing of SCENESSE, PRENUMBRA or NEURACTHEL which may lead to it being unable to supply its commercial markets and/or clinical trial programs; any failures to comply with any government payment system (i.e. Medicare) reporting and payment obligations; uncertainties surrounding the legislative and regulatory pathways for the registration and approval of biotechnology and consumer based products; decisions by regulatory authorities regarding approval of our products as well as their decisions regarding label claims; our ability to retain or attract key personnel and managerial talent; the impact of broader change within the pharmaceutical industry and related industries; potential changes to tax liabilities or legislation; environmental risks; and other factors that have been discussed in our 2021 Annual Report. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation, outside of those required under applicable laws or relevant listing rules of the Australian Securities Exchange, to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. More information on preliminary and uncertain forecasts and estimates is available on request, whereby it is stated that past performance is not an indicator of future performance.

www.clinuvel.com

Level 11

535 Bourke Street

Melbourne - Victoria, Australia, 3000

T +61 3 9660 4900

F +61 3 9660 4999
TORONTO, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Galantas Gold Corporation (the Company) is pleased to announce its audited annual financial results for the year ended December 31, 2021.



A copy of the Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis will be sent to shareholders in due course and are available on the Companys website at www.galantas.com/investors.

The Annual and Special Meeting of the Company is to be held at 11:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on 27th June 2022 at The Canadian Venture Building, 82 Richmond Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M5C1P1, Canada.

Financial Highlights

Highlights of the 2021 audited annual results, which are expressed in Canadian Dollars, are summarized below:

All figures denominated in Canadian Dollars (CDN$)

Year Ended

December 31



2021 2020 Revenue $ 0 $ 0 Cost and expenses of operations $ (255,901 ) $ (127,868 ) Loss before the undernoted $ (255,901 ) $ (127,868 ) Depreciation $ (547,991 ) $ (355,196 ) General administrative expenses $ (4,332,865 ) $ (2,065,277 ) Foreign exchange (loss) $ (154,798 ) $ (91,621 ) Impairment of Exploration and Evaluation Assets $ 0 $ (47,490 ) Gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment $ 7,124 $ 0 Net Loss for the year $ (5,284,431 ) $ (3,228,452 ) Working Capital Deficit $ (1,095,882 ) $ (7,710,084 ) Cash loss from operating activities before changes in non-cash working capital $ (1,678,797 ) $ (1,249,659 ) Cash at December 31, 2021 $ 1,069,751 $ 612,094

Sales revenue for year ended December 31, 2021 amounted to $ Nil as per the year ended December 31, 2020. Provisional concentrate sales totalled US$ 1,114,000 for 2021 compared to US $ 1,355,000 for the year 2020. However, until the mine commences commercial production, the net proceeds from concentrate sales are being offset against development assets.

The Net Loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 amounted to $ 5,284,431 (2020: $3,228,452) and the cash outflow from operating activities before changes in non-cash working capital for the year ended December 31, 2021 amounted to $1,678,797 (2020: $1,249,659).

The Company had a cash balance of $ 1,069,751 at December 31, 2021 compared to $ 612,094 at December 31, 2020. The working capital deficit at December 31, 2021 amounted to $ 1,432,293 compared to a working capital deficit of $7,710,084 at December 31, 2020.

Production/Mine Development

On April 19, 2021, the Company announced a proposed Private Placing to provide sufficient funding to take the mine into full production.

2021 Project Highlights:

A total of 2,200 metres of underground mine development have been completed to date, with rehabilitation of early mine workings ongoing.

Upgrading work on mine electrical reticulation commenced in 2021 and is now completed.

Refurbishment and procurement of other major equipment is now complete.

Development of a secondary egress has commenced and is expected to be completed by the end of Q2 2022.

The process plant is being prepared for installation of new equipment.

Key operational team members have been recruited to fill safety, mining, milling, and technical services roles. Key positions of the operational management team are now in place with ongoing recruitment of mining and processing employees to meet operational targets.

Underground drilling at the Kearney Vein and surface drilling at the Joshua Vein have commenced for resource expansion and mine planning.

The Company engaged JDS Energy & Mining Inc. for mine planning.

Safety is a high priority and the company continued to invest in safety-related training and infrastructure. The zero lost time accident rate since the start of underground operations continues. Environmental monitoring demonstrates a high level of regulatory compliance.

The detailed results and Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) are available on www.sedar.com and www.galantas.com and the highlights in this release should be read in conjunction with the detailed results and MD&A. The MD&A provides an analysis of comparisons with previous periods, trends affecting the business and risk factors.

Click on, or paste the following link into your web browser, to view the associated PDF document.

INSERT PDF HERE

Qualified Person

The financial components of this disclosure has been reviewed by Alan Buckley (Chief Financial Officer) and the production, exploration and permitting components by Mario Stifano (CEO), qualified persons under the meaning of NI. 43-101. The information is based upon local production and financial data prepared under their supervision.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws, including revenues and cost estimates, for the Omagh Gold project. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by Galantas in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that Galantas believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause Galantas actual results, the performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements or strategy, including: gold price volatility; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries and throughputs; mining operational risk, geological uncertainties; regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions and liability; risks of sovereign involvement; speculative nature of gold exploration; dilution; competition; loss of or availability of key employees; additional funding requirements; uncertainties regarding planning and other permitting issues; and defective title to mineral claims or property. These factors and others that could affect Galantass forward-looking statements are discussed in greater detail in the section entitled Risk Factors in Galantas Management Discussion & Analysis of the financial statements of Galantas and elsewhere in documents filed from time to time with the Canadian provincial securities regulators and other regulatory authorities. These factors should be considered carefully, and persons reviewing this press release should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Galantas has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this press release, except as required by law.

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.

Information communicated within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Enquiries

Galantas Gold Corporation

Mario Stifano CEO

Email: info@galantas.com

Website: www.galantas.com

Telephone: +44 (0) 2882 241100

Grant Thornton UK LLP (Nomad)

George Grainger, Harrison Clarke:

Telephone: +44(0)20 7383 5100

Premier Gordon & Co (AIM Broker & Corporate Adviser)

Nick Lovering, Hugh Rich:

Telephone: +44(0)20 7659 1234
Dublin, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Artificial Coma/Medically Induced Coma Market Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast (by Drug Type, Application and Distribution Channel), 2021-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global artificial coma/medically induced coma market was valued at $640.17 million in 2020, and is projected to reach $868.63 million by 2030, registering a CAGR of 3.1%.

An increase in the number of surgical procedures such as cosmetic surgery, brain surgery leads to a surge in usage of drugs such as propofol and barbiturate to induce coma in patients. Moreover, a growing geriatric population significantly contributes toward the market growth. A rise in production of various types of drugs to induce coma acts a key driving force of the global market.

In addition, as per the statistics provided by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in 2019, approximately 1.8 million cases of cosmetic minimally-invasive surgeries were performed in the U.S. The application of anesthetics in general surgeries is expected to drive the growth of the market. Furthermore, increasing incidences of emergency surgeries, extensive uses of propofol and barbiturate drugs propels the growth of the market.

The global artificial coma/medically induced coma market is segmented on the basis of drug type, application, distribution channel, and region. By drug type, the market is categorized into propofol and barbiturate. By application, the market is fragmented into status epilepticus, stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain infections, drug overdose, and others. By distribution channel, the market is categorized into hospital pharmacies, drug stores & retail pharmacies and online providers. Region-wise, it is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

Market dynamics

Drivers

Escalating demand for the management of pain from geriatric population

Increase in number of emergency surgeries

Increase in number of drug launch and approvals

Rising prevalence of cancer

Restraints

Risk associated with the use of anesthetics in pediatric patients and pregnant women

Side effects associated with anesthetics

Opportunity

Rise in heavy investment in healthcare sector

Some of the major companies that operate in the global artificial coma/medically induced coma market are Astrazeneca Plc., B. Braun Melsungen, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Fresenius SE & CO., Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Inc., Piramal Healthcare, Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd., and Viatris Inc.



Key Report Benefits:

This report provides an extensive analysis of the current and emerging market trends and dynamics in the global artificial coma/medically induced coma market to identify the prevailing opportunities.

This study presents the competitive landscape of the global market to predict the competitive environment across geographies.

Comprehensive analysis of factors that drive and restrict the market growth is provided.

Region- & country-wise analysis is provided to understand the market trends and dynamics.

KEY MARKET SEGMENTS

By Drug Type

Propofol

Barbiturate

By Application

Status Epilepticus

Stroke

Traumatic Brain Injury

Brain Infections

Drug Overdose

Others

By Distribution Channel

Hospital Pharmacies

Drug Stores & Retail Pharmacies

KEY MARKET PLAYERS

Astrazeneca Plc.

B. Braun Melsungen

Baxter Healthcare Corporation

Dr.Reddy's Laboratories

Fresenious SE & CO.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals

Pfizer Inc.

Piramal Healthcare

Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd.

Viatris Inc

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/agjuc1

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Attachment
New York, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Styrene Ethylene Butylene Styrene (SEBS) Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06126838/?utm_source=GNW





Key Highlights

Major factors driving the market studied are the rising demand from the adhesives & sealants market and rising demand for electrical components in the construction sector.

On the flip side, environmental regulations overproduction is expected to hinder the growth of the studied market.

The powder form of SEBS dominated the market and is expected to grow during the forecast period owing to the ease and flexibility in its application.

Besides, rising demand as a replacement of PVC in various end-user industries serves as an opportunity for the studied market.

Asia-Pacific dominated the market across the globe with the largest consumption from countries such as China and India.



Key Market Trends



Adhesive and Sealants segment to Dominate the Market



SEBS is majorly used in products, such as tapes, labels, and other construction-based adhesives, among others in the adhesive and sealant industry.

The water-solvent-borne property of SEBS is versatile, and it exhibits properties, such as, high cohesiveness, and high peel strength. Due to this, SEBS-borne PSAs (pressure sensitive adhesives) are replacing natural PSAs in a variety of applications, which has increased the consumption of SEBS in the adhesive and sealant industry.

Advanced production techniques, like co-extrusion with a polyolefin backing related to adhesives and sealants, have further broadened the scope for SEBS.

The demand for adhesives & sealants has been increasing from industries, such as packaging, construction, and automotive, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, owing to robust growth of these industries in the region.

Hence, based on the aforementioned aspects, Adhesives and Sealants segment is expected to dominate the market.



Asia-Pacific Region to Dominate the Market



Asia-Pacific region dominated the global market share. With growing construction activities in the countries, such as India, China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc., the demand and production of adhesives and sealants, and electrical products has been increasing in the country, which is further leading to increase in the consumption of SEBS in the region.

China contributes about more than 55% of the total Asia-Pacific share in the adhesives and sealants market. SEBS products are compatible with many demanding adhesive applications, from building and construction, transportation to packaging, and tapes and labels.

Hence, huge demand in the adhesives and sealants market is expected to drive the countrys SEBS market.

China is also the worlds leading PVC manufacturer and consumer. SEBS is creating its space in the plastic industry as a potential replacement for PVC in various applications.

SEBS is used in the production of toys and can replace PVC in the production of doll heads. Thus, such substitution of PVC is likely to drive the SEBS market in the coming years.

Countries, such as India, and South Korea has been witnessing noticeable growth in the production of automotive. These countries are attracting foreign investors and automotive companies to set up their manufacturing bases.



Competitive Landscape



The styrene ethylene butylene styrene (SEBS) market is a consolidated market, where few players account for a significant portion of the market demand. Some of these major players (in no particular order) include Kraton Corporation, Kuraray Co., Ltd., China Petrochemical Corporation, TSRC Corporation, and LCY Group, amongst others.



Additional Benefits:



The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format

3 months of analyst support

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06126838/?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, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Automotive Labels Market Research Report by Raw Material, Type, Mechanism, Printing Technology, Identification Technology, Application, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261279/?utm_source=GNW



The Global Automotive Labels Market size was estimated at USD 7,132.48 million in 2021 and expected to reach USD 7,571.73 million in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 6.33% to reach USD 10,311.21 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2019 and 2020 are considered historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Automotive Labels to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Raw Material, the market was studied across Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, Polycarbonate, Polyethylene, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Polypropylene, Polyurethane, and Polyvinyl Chloride.



Based on Type, the market was studied across Asset Labels, Branding Labels, Dome Labels, and Warning & Safety Labels.



Based on Mechanism, the market was studied across Glue-Applied Labeling, Heat Transfer, In-Mold Labeling, and Pressure-Sensitive Labeling.



Based on Printing Technology, the market was studied across Digital Printing, Flexography, Offset, and Screen Printing.



Based on Identification Technology, the market was studied across Barcode, Hologram, and RFID.



Based on Application, the market was studied across Engine Components, Exterior Labels, and Interior Labels.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.



This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Automotive Labels market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Automotive Labels Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Automotive Labels Market, including 3M, Adhesive Research, Inc., Advantage Labeling & Packaging, Inc., Avery Dennison Corporation, Brady Worldwide, Inc., CCL Industries, Inc., Clarion Safety Systems, Computer Imprintable Label Systems Ltd., Dunmore, Grand Rapids Label Co, H.B. Fuller Company, Identco, Imagetek Labels, Label-Aid Systems, Inc., Lewis Label Products Corporation, Polyonics, Inc., Resource Label Group, Sika AG, tesa SE, UPM Raflatac, Inc., Weber Packaging Solutions, Inc., and William Frick & Company.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Automotive Labels Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Automotive Labels Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Automotive Labels Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Automotive Labels Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Automotive Labels Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Automotive Labels Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Automotive Labels Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261279/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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Dublin, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Bio-Succinic Acid Market (2021-2026) by Process Type, Application, End-User, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Global Bio-Succinic Acid Market is estimated to be USD 259.63 Mn in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 548.14 Mn by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 16.12%.



Market Dynamics

Higher cost of crude oil, increasing demand for renewable chemicals, and increase in investments for green chemicals are major factors driving the Global Bio-Succinic Acid Market. Rising environmental awareness and government support for bio-based biodegradable products are expected to increase market growth. However, the high price of bio-succinic acid and lengthy extraction processes hinder market growth.



The increase in research and development among several companies to achieve an effective production process is expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market.



Market Segmentation

The Global Bio-Succinic Acid Market is segmented further based on Process Type, Application, End-User, and Geography.

By Process, the market is classified as Ammonium Sulphate Process, Direct Crystallization Process, and Electrodialysis Process.

By Application, the market is classified as 1, 4 Butanediol, Plasticizers, Polybutylene Succinate, Polyester Polyols, Solvents & Coatings, and Olymer & Esters.

By End User, the market is classified as Agriculture, Chemical Industry, Food, Personal Care, and Pharmaceutical.

By Geography, Americas is projected to lead the market.

Company Profiles

Some of the companies covered in this report are BASF, Corbion, DSM, Kawasaki Kasei Chemicals, LCY Biotechnology, etc.



Countries Studied

America (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, United States, Rest of Americas)

Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Rest of Europe)

Middle-East and Africa (Egypt, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Rest of MEA)

Asia-Pacific (Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Rest of Asia-Pacific)

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes a Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Bio-Succinic Acid Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Influencers

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Utilization as an Intermediate in Industrial Production of Lubricants

4.1.2 Raising Awareness in the Advantages of Using Bio-Based Chemicals

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 High Capital Intensive and Issues in Commercialization

4.2.2 Complicated Extraction Process

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Robust Research and Development among Several Companies

4.3.2 Government Regulating Support to Increase Awareness

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Reduced Penetration to Replace Cost-Effective Petrochemical



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.2 Impact of COVID-19

5.3 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Bio-Succinic Acid Market, By Process Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Direct Crystallization Process

6.3 Electrodialysis Process

6.4 Ammonium Sulphate Process



7 Global Bio-Succinic Acid Market, By Application

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Plasticizers

7.3 Polyester Polyols

7.4 1,4 Butanediol

7.5 Polybutylene Succinate

7.6 Solvents & Coatings

7.7 Olymer and Esters



8 Global Bio-Succinic Acid Market, By End User

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Chemical Industry

8.3 Food & Beverage

8.4 Personal Care

8.5 Pharmaceutical

8.6 Agriculture



9 Global Bio-Succinic Acid Market, By Geography



10 Competitive Landscape

10.1 Competitive Quadrant

10.2 Market Share Analysis

10.3 Strategic Initiatives

10.3.1 M&A and Investments

10.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

10.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



11 Company Profiles

11.1 Anhui Sunsing Chemicals

11.2 BASF

11.3 Corbion

11.4 DSM

11.5 Kawasaki Kasei Chemicals

11.6 LCY Biotechnology

11.7 Linyi Lixing Chemical

11.8 Mitsubishi Chemical

11.9 Myriant

11.10 Nippon Shokubai

11.11 Reverdia

11.12 Roquette

11.13 Shenyang Fada Biological Technology

11.14 Sigma-Aldrich



12 Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/tyh4ee

Attachment
Dublin, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Drug Delivery Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The drug delivery market was valued at US$691.645 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.24% over the forecast period to reach a total market size of US$1,203.946 billion by 2027.



A drug delivery device is a specialized device for the controlled and targeted release of drugs. Health benefits and lifespans have been extended by drugs for centuries and the way medicines are delivered has changed over the last few decades.

Molecular biology strategies can be used to discover a medication that has acceptable side effects due to interacting with parts of the body that are not targeted by the drug. Systems for delivering drugs control how much of the drug is released and how far it reaches the target. Increasing incidences of chronic diseases, growth in the medical diagnostics market, and advancements in technology and new company launches are driving the market growth.

Globally, chronic disease prevalence is expected to rise by 57% by 2020, according to the World Health Organization. Furthermore, several pharmaceutical companies are suddenly experiencing a surge in demand for drugs designed to treat infectious diseases because of the Coronavirus outbreak globally which has been a major factor boosting for the drug delivery demand.



The growing awareness surrounding pharmaceutical drug delivery systems is also contributing to the market growth. Furthermore, the pharmaceutical drug delivery market growth is being influenced by additional factors such as an increase in healthcare and government funding.

In addition, the emergence of various chronic diseases, which necessitate the use of pharmaceutical delivery systems, is a key driver of the pharmaceutical delivery systems market. The drug delivery market is however hindered by the increasing number of drug recalls and failures. Additionally, the forecast period should see lucrative opportunities in developing economies due to their high growth potential.



Growth Factors:

Growth in the biologics market

Biologic drugs are the most advanced treatments available for a variety of illnesses and conditions. Approximately 41 million people die each year from chronic diseases, according to World Health Organization statistics and about 17.9 million people die from cardiovascular disease, followed by cancer (9 million), respiratory diseases - 3.9 million, and diabetes - 1.6 million. Furthermore, approximately 80% of chronic disease deaths result from these four groups.

Also, the increasing number of geriatrics means that chronic diseases will affect more people, thus increasing the demand for biologics. The number of people over the age of 65 will rise from one in 11 in 2019 to one in six by 2050 (16%), up from one in 11 at the beginning of this year (9%)(Source: WHO). Investors have also been driving the overall market growth.

In Singapore, a total of USD 700 million was invested by Novartis AG in the establishment of a biologics center, while Bristol-Myers Squibb spent more than USD 900 million on a large biologics facility in Ireland, which opened in 2019.In the coming years, due to the significant growth in the biologics market and the fact that generic injectables are mainly administered via injection, the injectable drug delivery market should witness further growth.



Restraint:

Injuries caused by needlesticks

One of the major risks associated with injectable drug delivery is needlestick injuries. Every year600,000-800,000 needlestick injuries are reported in the United States, according to PharmaJet. 5.6 million workers in the US are at risk of being exposed to blood-borne pathogens because of needlestick injuries, per the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In addition, the CDC estimates that US hospitals suffer 385,000 needlestick injuries annually.



In addition, the WHO found that 34.7% of cases of Hepatitis B, 56.9% of cases of Hepatitis C, and 46.7% of cases of HIV/AIDS among healthcare workers worldwide were associated with injuries caused by needlesticks. A great number of drugs and vaccines are undergoing various clinical trials and are expected to be made available to patients in the coming months and years under guidelines for emergency usage authorizations for COVID-19 treatment.



COVID-19 Impact on the Drug Delivery Market:

The number of cases of COVID-19 is rapidly increasing in many countries. Patients who were affected by this virus needed an improved level of care as well as nutritional and immunological support (including vitamins and other curing drugs). An increase in drug usage has aided market growth, including vitamins such as vitamin C, multivitamins, and antivirals, among others.



There is a large number of drugs and vaccines in various clinical trial phases that are expected to be launched in the coming months/years under emergency usage authorization guidelines for treating COVID-19. Vaccines are being developed, manufactured, and administered at a mass level, which is resulting in high demand for different drug delivery systems over the forecast period.

Key Topics Covered:



1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Market Definition

1.2. Market Segmentation



2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1. Research Data

2.2. Assumptions



3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

3.1. Research Highlights



4. MARKET DYNAMICS

4.1. Market Drivers

4.2. Market Restraints

4.3. Porters Five Forces Analysis

4.4. Industry Value Chain Analysis



5. DRUG DELIVERY MARKET, BY DELIVERY TYPE

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Inhalation Drug Delivery

5.3. Injectable Drug Delivery

5.4. Nasal Drug Delivery

5.5. Oral Drug Delivery

5.6. Transdermal Drug Delivery



6. DRUG DELIVERY MARKET, BY TECHNIQUE

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Needle-free injectors

6.3. Drug Delivery Patches

6.4. Auto Injectors

6.5. Others



7. DRUG DELIVERY MARKET, BY APPLICATION

7.1. Introduction

7.2. Cancer Treatment

7.3. Infectious Disease Treatment

7.4. Others



8. DRUG DELIVERY MARKET, BY GEOGRAPHY



9. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT AND ANALYSIS

9.1. Major Players and Strategy Analysis

9.2. Emerging Players and Market Lucrativeness

9.3. Mergers, Acquisition, Agreements, and Collaborations

9.4. Vendor Competitiveness Matrix



10. COMPANY PROFILES

Pfizer

Insulet Corporation

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.

Enable Injections

Mersana Therapeutics

Becton, Dickinson and Company

Recipharm AB

Medtronic

Boston Scientific Corporation

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/amxmah

Attachment
New York, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Automotive Safety Market Research Report by Technology, On-Highway Vehicle, Off-Highway Vehicle, Electric Vehicle, Product, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261149/?utm_source=GNW



The Global Automotive Safety Market size was estimated at USD 83.55 billion in 2021 and expected to reach USD 92.00 billion in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 10.30% to reach USD 150.46 billion by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2019 and 2020 are considered historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Automotive Safety to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Technology, the market was studied across Active Safety System and Passive Safety System. The Active Safety System is further studied across Anti-Lock Braking System, Automatic Emergency Braking, Blind Spot Detection, Electronic Brake Force Distribution, Electronic Stability Control, Forward-Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning System, Tire Pressure Monitoring System, and Traction Control System. The Passive Safety System is further studied across Occupant Protection, Pedestrian Protection System, and Whiplash Protection System. The Occupant Protection is further studied across Airbag and Seatbelt. The Pedestrian Protection System is further studied across Active Hood Lifter and Pedestrian Protection Airbag.



Based on On-Highway Vehicle, the market was studied across Bus, Light Commercial Vehicle, Passenger Car, and Truck.



Based on Off-Highway Vehicle, the market was studied across Agriculture Vehicle and Construction Vehicle.



Based on Electric Vehicle, the market was studied across Battery Electric Vehicle, Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, Hybrid Electric Vehicle, and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle.



Based on Product, the market was studied across Hardware and Software.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.



This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Automotive Safety market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Automotive Safety Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Automotive Safety Market, including Autoliv Inc, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC, BorgWarner Inc, CAx Software, Continental AG, DENSO Corporation, Dorman Products, Inc., Ficosa International S.A., Grammer AG, Groupe PSA, Hella KGaA Hueck & Co., Honeywell International Inc., Hyundai Mobis, Infineon Technologies AG, Knorr-Bremse, Lear Corporation, Lydall Inc, Magna International Inc., Mobileye, Nihon Plast Co., Ltd, Robert Bosch GmbH, Takata Corporation, TOYODA GOSEI Co. Ltd, Toyota Boshoku Corporation, Valeo SA, WABCO Vehicle Control System, and ZF Friedrichshafen AG.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Automotive Safety Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Automotive Safety Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Automotive Safety Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Automotive Safety Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Automotive Safety Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Automotive Safety Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Automotive Safety Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261149/?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, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Bag-in-Box Market Research Report by Capacity, Material State, Tap, Component, End-User, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261103/?utm_source=GNW



The Global Bag-in-Box Market size was estimated at USD 1,576.98 million in 2021 and expected to reach USD 1,645.99 million in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 4.55% to reach USD 2,059.89 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2019 and 2020 are considered historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Bag-in-Box to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Capacity, the market was studied across 1020 Liters, 15 Liters, 510 Liters, < 1 Liter, and >20 Liters.



Based on Material State, the market was studied across Liquid and Semi-Liquid.



Based on Tap, the market was studied across With Tap and Without Tap.



Based on Component, the market was studied across Bags, Box, and Fitments.



Based on End-User, the market was studied across Beverage, Dairy Products, Food, Industrial, and Non-Dairy Products.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.



This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Bag-in-Box market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Bag-in-Box Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Bag-in-Box Market, including Amcor Ltd., Aran Group, CDF Corporation, DS Smith PLC, Fujimori Kogyo Ltd., Goglio S.P.A, Liqui-Box Corp., Optopack Ltd., Scholle Ipn Corp., SLF Packaging, and Smurfit Kappa.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Bag-in-Box Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Bag-in-Box Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Bag-in-Box Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Bag-in-Box Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Bag-in-Box Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Bag-in-Box Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Bag-in-Box Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261103/?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.



__________________________
Dublin, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Manufactured Soil Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global manufactured soil market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.06% over the forecast period to reach a market size of US$8.747 billion in 2027 from US$5.793 billion in 2020.



Manufactured soils are custom-mixed soils that contain various amounts of sand, clay, and organic matter in an attempt to offer the best soil mixture for the site and application. Because of their accessibility, manufactured soils have grown in popularity in recent years.

However, this preference for synthetic soils tends to overlook the advantages of employing a well-established, well-balanced natural soil. A benefit of importing natural soil is that it already has formed microbial communities that are adapted to plant symbiosis. Manufactured topsoil can achieve the same level of microbial diversity and richness as organically produced soil with the addition of organically produced soil.

A synthetic soil requires organic additives prior to installation, which might result in an overabundance of nutrients, inhibiting plant health until the nutrient and organic matter levels have stabilised into a natural cycle; this process can take years. Any nutrient, organic, or structural amendment might have negative side effects such as changing pH, decreasing water holding capacity, and possibly causing a nitrogen deficit. Furthermore, organic additions to manufactured soils may take some time to become converted into accessible nutrients for the host plants; a well-sourced natural soil, on the other hand, will be able to reduce this development time because it has all of the nutrients the host plants need.



Market Trends

Increased modern agriculture practises have increased the demand for increased productivity and production. The increase in the population and the increase in the consumption of organic products are the factors that promote the rapid development of the market. Recent innovations have greatly diversified the market, which may create more opportunities for the artificial flooring market during the forecast period.



However, low adaptation rates, limited infrastructure growth in developing countries, and a lack of understanding of artificial soils are the constraints on the artificial soil market during the forecast period mentioned above.



Growth Factors

Rising Organic Farming Trends

The demand for organic farming is increasing and gaining popularity in wealthy countries due to the growing health awareness among consumers. Organic farming is a process that is used to produce crops and livestock without using pesticides, fertilizers, GMOs, antibiotics, and growth hormones. According to the data provided by the world of organic agriculture, organic farming is in practise in more than 160 countries.

In 2017, the sale of organic products reached US$ 97billion. The growing popularity of organic farming among consumers and the efforts to minimise the use of chemicals are expected to drive the growth of the global organic farm industry, which will have a positive impact on the overall manufactured soil market.



Stringent Environmental Regulations

The manufactured soil market will be fueled even more by the government's strict control of organic agriculture. Organic agriculture is an agricultural, animal, and fish farming method that focuses on environmental protection and natural farming techniques. It is concerned with the complete system used to create and deliver agricultural products, not just the end product.

To that end, the entire farm cycle, from production to processing to handling and delivery, prohibits the use of artificial products such as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and certain external agricultural inputs such as pesticides, veterinary drugs, additives, and fertilizers, all of which will increase the cost of production.



COVID-19's Impact on the Manufactured Soil Market:

The rapid spread of coronavirus has had a significant influence on global markets, as the epidemic has put the world's biggest economies on lockdown. As a result of this severe shutdown, the whole consumer market has suddenly lost interest in acquiring any goods.

The shutdown of all types of international transportation is one of the biggest challenges that the market is experiencing. The global crisis is easing for many sectors, including agriculture, which was devastated by the pandemic. As a result, the manufactured soil market will experience few challenges in the projection period as a result of the COIVD-19 pandemic.



Competitive Insights

The increasing demand for global manufactured soil solutions has led to the entry of several new players into the global manufactured soil market. To increase their clientele as well as increase their market share in the upcoming years, many of these market players have taken various strategic actions like partnerships and the development of novel solutions, which are expected to keep the market competitive and constantly evolving.

Major market players like Miller Companies LC, ERTH Products, L.L.C., and Ground Up, LLC, among others, have been covered along with their relative competitive strategies. The report also mentions recent deals and investments made by different market players over the last few years.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Dynamics

4.1. Market Drivers

4.2. Market Restraints

4.3. Porters Five Forces Analysis

4.3.1. Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.3.2. Bargaining Power of Buyers

4.3.3. The threat of New Entrants

4.3.4. Threat of Substitutes

4.3.5. Competitive Rivalry in the Function

4.4. Function Value Chain Analysis



5. Global Manufactured Soil Market Analysis, By Component

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Compost

5.3. Sub-soil

5.4. Sand

5.5. Organic materials

5.6. Others



6. Global Manufactured Soil Market Analysis, By Application

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Residential

6.3. Commercial

6.4. Industrial



7. Global Manufactured Soil Market Analysis, By Geography

7.1. Introduction

7.2. North America

7.2.1. United States

7.2.2. Canada

7.2.3. Mexico

7.3. South America

7.3.1. Brazil

7.3.2. Argentina

7.3.3. Others

7.4. Europe

7.4.1. UK

7.4.2. Germany

7.4.3. Italy

7.4.4. Spain

7.4.5. Others

7.5. Middle East and Africa

7.5.1. Israel

7.5.2. Saudi Arabia

7.5.3. Others

7.6. Asia Pacific

7.6.1. China

7.6.2. Japan

7.6.3. India

7.6.4. Australia

7.6.5. South Korea

7.6.6. Taiwan

7.6.7. Thailand

7.6.8. Indonesia

7.6.9. Others



8. Competitive Environment and Analysis

8.1. Major Players and Strategy Analysis

8.2. Emerging Players and Market Lucrativenessness

8.3. Mergers, Acquisitions, Agreements, and Collaborations

8.4. Vendor Competitiveness Matrix



9. Company Profiles.

9.1. Miller Companies LC

9.2. ERTH PRODUCTS, L.L.C.

9.3. The Ground Up, LLC

9.4. FoxFarm Soil & Fertilizer Company

9.5. Seaside Mulch

9.6. The Scotts Company LLC

9.7. Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, Inc.

9.8. B.D. White Top Soil Co, Boughton

9.9. TIM O'HARE ASSOCIATES,

9.10. London Rock Supplies Limited



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ilnjrg

Attachment
Dublin, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Big Data Security Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global big data security market reached a value of US$ 16.40 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 43.82 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 16.70% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, they are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different end use industries. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor



Big data security refers to various measures and tools employed to safeguard data and analytics processes. It protects against cyberattacks, thefts, or other malicious activities that could potentially harm valuable data. It also assists in ensuring the security of transactions and data storage logs, improving the efficiency of systems, enabling convenient resource sharing, and preventing unauthorized access to enhance the safety and performance of the organization. Since cyber threats can lead to financial losses, reputational damage, and operational downtime, big data security has gained prominence among businesses across the globe



Big Data Security Market Trends:

Nowadays, various enterprises are using big data analytics tools to improve their business strategies and performance, which increases the risks of cyberattacks. With the rising privacy concerns, there has been widespread adoption of advanced security solutions. Besides this, the recent outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has accelerated the adoption of work-from-home (WFH) policies, which, in turn, is escalating the demand for big data security to provide a cyber-safe remote-working environment to employees.

Additionally, the growing inclination toward the usage of advanced digital technologies like cloud solutions is strengthening the need for big data security solutions. Furthermore, governments of various nations are introducing stringent regulations for data protection and privacy. This, in confluence with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies in big data security solutions, is catalyzing the market growth. Moreover, the emerging digitization trend, growing adoption of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies, rapid internet penetration, and increasing investments in security solutions are some of the other factors providing a positive market outlook



Key Market Segmentation:

The publisher provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global big data security market, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2022-2027. Our report has categorized the market based on component, deployment mode, organization size, technology and end use industry



Breakup by Component:

Solution

Data Discovery and Classification

Data Authorization and Access

Data Encryption, Tokenization and Masking

Data Auditing and Monitoring

Data Governance and Compliance

Data Security Analytics

Data Backup and Recovery

Services

Breakup by Deployment Mode:

On-premises

Cloud-based

Breakup by Organization Size:

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Large Enterprises

Breakup by Technology:

Identity and Access Management

Security Information and Event Management

Intrusion Detection System

Unified Threat Management

Others

Breakup by End Use Industry:

BFSI

IT and Telecommunication

Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals

Financial and Insurance

Retail Trade

Utilities

Others

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Amazon Web Services Inc. (Amazon.com Inc.), Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Cloudera Inc., Fortinet Inc., Google LLC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, International Business Machines Corporation, McAfee LLC, Micro Focus International plc, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation and Thales Group



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global big data security market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global big data security market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the component?

What is the breakup of the market based on the deployment mode?

What is the breakup of the market based on the organization size?

What is the breakup of the market based on the technology?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end use industry?

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 big data security 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 Big Data Security Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Component

6.1 Solution

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Key Segments

6.1.2.1 Data Discovery and Classification

6.1.2.2 Data Authorization and Access

6.1.2.3 Data Encryption, Tokenization and Masking

6.1.2.4 Data Auditing and Monitoring

6.1.2.5 Data Governance and Compliance

6.1.2.6 Data Security Analytics

6.1.2.7 Data Backup and Recovery

6.1.3 Market Forecast

6.2 Services

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Deployment Mode

7.1 On-premises

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Cloud-based

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Organization Size

8.1 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Large Enterprises

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Technology

9.1 Identity and Access Management

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Security Information and Event Management

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Intrusion Detection System

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Unified Threat Management

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 Market Forecast

9.5 Others

9.5.1 Market Trends

9.5.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by End Use Industry

10.1 BFSI

10.1.1 Market Trends

10.1.2 Market Forecast

10.2 IT and Telecommunication

10.2.1 Market Trends

10.2.2 Market Forecast

10.3 Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals

10.3.1 Market Trends

10.3.2 Market Forecast

10.4 Financial and Insurance

10.4.1 Market Trends

10.4.2 Market Forecast

10.5 Retail Trade

10.5.1 Market Trends

10.5.2 Market Forecast

10.6 Utilities

10.6.1 Market Trends

10.6.2 Market Forecast

10.7 Others

10.7.1 Market Trends

10.7.2 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 Amazon Web Services Inc. (Amazon.com Inc.)

16.3.1.1 Company Overview

16.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.1.3 SWOT Analysis

16.3.2 Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

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 Cloudera Inc.

16.3.3.1 Company Overview

16.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.4 Fortinet Inc.

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 Google LLC

16.3.5.1 Company Overview

16.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.5.3 SWOT Analysis

16.3.6 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP

16.3.6.1 Company Overview

16.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.6.3 Financials

16.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.7 International Business Machines Corporation

16.3.7.1 Company Overview

16.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.7.3 Financials

16.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.8 McAfee LLC

16.3.8.1 Company Overview

16.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.8.3 Financials

16.3.9 Micro Focus International plc

16.3.9.1 Company Overview

16.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.9.3 Financials

16.3.10 Microsoft Corporation

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 Oracle Corporation

16.3.11.1 Company Overview

16.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.11.3 Financials

16.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.12 Thales Group

16.3.12.1 Company Overview

16.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.12.3 Financials

16.3.12.4 SWOT Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9zkb0s

Attachment
Dublin, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Radiology Information System Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global radiology information system market reached a value of US$ 888.4 Million in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach a value of US$ 1,433.40 Million by 2027 exhibiting a CAGR of 7.60% during 2022-2027. 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.



A radiology information system (RIS) is an advanced database system that assists medical professionals in managing medical imagery and associated data generated during diagnosis and treatment. It also eases the process of booking an appointment and billing for patients and aids in improving workflow management, departmental productivity, customer services, and overall cost-efficiency. In addition, it relies on digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM), picture archiving and communication system (PACS), health level seven (HL7) to produce precise, consistent, and easy-to-understand reports that yield accurate results.



Radiology Information System Market Trends:

The growing prevalence of chronic diseases, such as cancer, arthritis, cardiovascular, and diabetes, on account of the increasing consumption of fast food and sedentary lifestyles of individuals represents one of the key factors driving the market. Moreover, there is a rise in the utilization of RIS in intraoral plate scanners, cone-beam computed tomography imaging, and intraoral and extraoral X-Ray systems. This, coupled with the escalating demand for interventional radiology techniques like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-Rays, fluoroscopy, ultrasounds, and scanners, is propelling the market growth.

Additionally, the integration of information and technology (IT) in the healthcare industry for real-time communication between patients and doctors, easy access to health-related information, and rapid diagnosis of the disease is positively influencing the market. Apart from this, due to a rise in the demand for advanced diagnostic services and solutions that are economical and reliable, the sales of RIS are increasing around the world. This, in turn, is bolstering the growth of the market. Furthermore, key market players are introducing advanced cloud-based services to provide easy storage of bulk data, which is strengthening the growth of the market.



Key Market Segmentation:

The publisher provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global radiology information system market, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2022-2027. Our report has categorized the market based on type, component, deployment mode and end user.



Breakup by Type:

Integrated Radiology Information Systems

Standalone Radiology Information Systems

Breakup by Component:

Hardware

Software

Services

Breakup by Deployment Mode:

Web-based

Cloud-based

On-premises

Breakup by End User:

Hospitals

Office-Based Physicians

Emergency Healthcare Service Providers

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Advanced Data Systems Corporation, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., Cerner Corporation, Covetus LLC, Epic Systems Corporation, General Electric Company, International Business Machines Corporation, Kareo Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Medinformatix Inc, Novarad and Siemens AG.



Key Questions Answered in this Report:

How has the global radiology information system market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global radiology information system market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the component?

What is the breakup of the market based on the deployment mode?

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 radiology information system 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 Radiology Information System Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Type

6.1 Integrated Radiology Information Systems

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Standalone Radiology Information Systems

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Component

7.1 Hardware

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Software

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Services

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Deployment Mode

8.1 Web-based

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Cloud-based

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 On-premises

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End User

9.1 Hospitals

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Office-Based Physicians

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Emergency Healthcare Service Providers

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis



14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Advanced Data Systems Corporation

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.2 Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc.

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 Cerner Corporation

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3.3 Financials

15.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.4 Covetus LLC

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5 Epic Systems Corporation

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5.3 SWOT Analysis

15.3.6 General Electric Company

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6.3 Financials

15.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.7 International Business Machines Corporation

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7.3 Financials

15.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.8 Kareo Inc.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9 Koninklijke Philips N.V.

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9.3 Financials

15.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.10 Medinformatix Inc

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 Novarad

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.12 Siemens AG

15.3.12.1 Company Overview

15.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.12.3 Financials

15.3.12.4 SWOT Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/gcxulk

Attachment
English French

MONTREAL and PARIS, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boralex Inc. (Boralex or the Company) (TSX: BLX) is pleased to announce the closing of Februarys reported agreement for the investment by Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP) in a 30% stake in Boralexs assets and development pipeline in France.



Boralex will record this transaction in its financial statements as of today. Results of Boralex in France will be consolidated at 100% into Boralex Inc. with a 30% minority interest and combined results will be equivalent to consolidated results.

This partnership will strengthen Boralexs position in this market and enable it to accelerate its growth to meet the ambitious objectives in its Strategic Plan which are, for France, to increase installed capacity to 1.8 GW in 2025 and up to 3 GW in 2030.

Boralex sought a partner with a long-term vision, able to invest in the Companys future development in wind and solar power, as well as storage. EIP has all the qualities needed for Boralex to continue to stand out in the French market.

Transaction highlights

Boralex is entering into a long-term partnership with EIP, a Switzerland-based global investment manager specialized in the energy sector, which is acquiring a 30% stake in Boralexs operations in France.

This partnership includes French assets in operation, 1.1 GW to date, as well as a 1.5 GW portfolio of projects in the French market.

Boralexs operations in France generated EBITDA(A) 1 of 134M ($199M CAD 2 ) in 2021.

of 134M ($199M CAD ) in 2021. Cash proceeds to Boralex at transaction close is 532M ($717M CAD 3 ) and 17M ($23M CAD 3 ) thereof will be invested into Boralex operations in France (through a capital increase).

) and 17M ($23M CAD ) thereof will be invested into Boralex operations in France (through a capital increase). Boralex remains the majority shareholder and manager of its assets in France.



Disclaimer regarding forward-looking statements

Certain statements contained in this press release, including those relating to the transaction and

the profits resulting from the transaction, are forward-looking statements based on current expectations within the meaning of securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions, including assumptions on the performance of the business based on managements expectations and production estimates and other factors; assumptions about EBITDA(A) margins; and assumptions about the current industry environment and the general economic environment, competition and financing availability. Although Boralex believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are reasonable, Boralex wishes to clarify that, by their very nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and that its results, or the measures it adopts, could be significantly different from those indicated or underlying those statements, or could affect the degree to which a given forward-looking statement is achieved. Unless otherwise specified by the Corporation, forward looking statements dont take into account the effect that transactions, non-recurring items or other exceptional items announced or occurring after such statements have been made may have on the Corporations activities. There is no guarantee that the results, performance or accomplishments, as expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, will materialize. Readers are therefore urged not to rely unduly on these forward-looking statements. Unless required by applicable securities legislation, Boralexs management assumes no obligation to update or revise forwardlooking statements in light of new information, future events or other changes.

About Boralex

At Boralex, we have been providing affordable renewable energy accessible to everyone for over 30 years. As a leader in the Canadian market and Frances largest independent producer of onshore wind power, we also have facilities in the United States and development projects in the United Kingdom. Over the past five years, our installed capacity has more than doubled to 2.5 GW. We are developing a portfolio of more than 3 GW in wind and solar projects and nearly 200 MW in storage projects, guided by our values and our corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach. Through profitable and sustainable growth, Boralex is actively participating in the fight against global warming. Thanks to our fearlessness, our discipline, our expertise and our diversity, we continue to be an industry leader. Boralexs shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BLX.

For more information, visit www.boralex.com or www.sedar.com. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Energy Infrastructure Partners AG

Energy Infrastructure Partners AG (EIP) is a Switzerland-based manager of collective assets focused on high quality, large-scale renewables and system-critical energy infrastructure assets. With over CHF 4 billion under management, EIP leverages an extensive industry network, broad transaction experience and close partnerships with energy suppliers and the public sector in order to develop and manage investment solutions for institutional investors globally. These clients, primarily pension funds, insurances and large family offices, seek investments in long-term, visible cash flow-generating assets that also contribute to security of energy supply, positive economic, ecological and social development, and the retirement provision of the population.

For more information:

Media Investor Relations Isabelle Fontaine

Director, Public Affairs and Communications

Boralex inc.

819 345-0043

isabelle.fontaine@boralex.com



Stephane Milot

Senior Director  Investor Relations

Boralex Inc.

514 213-1045

stephane.milot@boralex.com Media  France (Agency)

Anne Masson

Agency Director

Oxygen

06 07 58 76 37

anne@oxygen-rp.com

Source: Boralex Inc.



___________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 EBITDA(A) is a total of sector measures. For more details, see the Non-IFRS financial measures and other financial measures section of the 2021 Annual Report

2 Average rate of 2021

3 Daily closing rate of April 28, 2022
Dublin, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Functional Safety Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global functional safety market reached a value of US$ 4.67 billion in 2021. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach a value of US$ 9.29 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 11.60% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, the analyst is continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different End-use industries. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Functional safety refers to the general safety of a plant and equipment using safety-related systems, such as alarm systems, safety instrumented systems (SIS), and basic process control systems (BPCS). It covers fault detection, physical or systemic redundancy, and transitioning to a safe state that reduces the overall risk caused by faults in the electronic system. As a result, it finds extensive applications in the pharmaceutical, automotive, oil and gas, and food and beverage (F&B) industries worldwide.



Functional Safety Market Trends

The increasing requirement of safety systems for personnel and asset protection on account of stringent government regulations represents one of the key factors impelling the growth of the market. Besides this, the introduction of the industrial internet of things (IIoT), also known as Industry 4.0, is offering new opportunities for integrated safety and compliance services. It enables industries and enterprises to have better efficiency and reliability in their operations.

Moreover, a key concept in Industry 4.0 is cyber-physical systems (CPS), which consists of storage systems, smart machines, and production facilities capable of autonomously exchanging information, triggering actions, and controlling each other independently. This, coupled with the increasing focus of market players on product innovations to offer better services, is driving the overall sales and profitability.

Furthermore, there is an increase in the utilization of safety sensor switches in machines and other industrial applications to inhibit accidental contact with live electrical connections. Factors like the rising automation in different industry verticals and the rising number of power projects to meet the escalating demand for energy across the globe are anticipated to offer lucrative growth opportunities to industry investors and strengthen the growth of the market.



Key Market Segmentation

This report provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global functional safety market, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2022-2027. The report has categorized the market based on device type, safety system and End-use industry.



Breakup by Device Type:

Safety Sensors

Safety Controllers/Modules/Relays

Safety Switches

Programmable Safety Systems

Emergency Stop Devices

Final Control Elements

Others

Breakup by Safety System:

Burner Management System (BMS)

Turbomachinery Control System (TMC)

High-Integrity Pressure Protection System (HIPPS)

Fire and Gas Monitoring Control System

Emergency Shutdown System (ESD)

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA)

Distributed Control System (DCS)

Breakup by End-use Industry:

Oil and Gas

Power Generation

Food and Beverage

Pharmaceutical

Automotive

Others

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being ABB Ltd., Emerson Electric Co., General Electric Company, Honeywell International Inc., Intel Corporation, Johnson Controls, OMRON Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Pepperl+Fuchs SE, Rockwell Automation Inc., Schneider Electric SE, Siemens AG and Yokogawa Electric Corporation.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global functional safety market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global functional safety market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the device type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the safety system?

What is the breakup of the market based on the End-use industry?

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 functional safety 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 Functional Safety Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Device Type

6.1 Safety Sensors

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Safety Controllers/Modules/Relays

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Safety Switches

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Programmable Safety Systems

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Emergency Stop Devices

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast

6.6 Final Control Elements

6.6.1 Market Trends

6.6.2 Market Forecast

6.7 Others

6.7.1 Market Trends

6.7.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Safety System

7.1 Burner Management System (BMS)

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Turbomachinery Control System (TMC)

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 High-Integrity Pressure Protection System (HIPPS)

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast

7.4 Fire and Gas Monitoring Control System

7.4.1 Market Trends

7.4.2 Market Forecast

7.5 Emergency Shutdown System (ESD)

7.5.1 Market Trends

7.5.2 Market Forecast

7.6 Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA)

7.6.1 Market Trends

7.6.2 Market Forecast

7.7 Distributed Control System (DCS)

7.7.1 Market Trends

7.7.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by End Use Industry

8.1 Oil and Gas

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Power Generation

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Food and Beverage

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Pharmaceutical

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 Market Forecast

8.5 Automotive

8.5.1 Market Trends

8.5.2 Market Forecast

8.6 Others

8.6.1 Market Trends

8.6.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Region



10 SWOT Analysis



11 Value Chain Analysis



12 Porters Five Forces Analysis



13 Price Analysis



14 Competitive Landscape

14.1 Market Structure

14.2 Key Players

14.3 Profiles of Key Players

14.3.1 ABB Ltd.

14.3.1.1 Company Overview

14.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.1.3 Financials

14.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.2 Emerson Electric Co.

14.3.2.1 Company Overview

14.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.2.3 Financials

14.3.2.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.3 General Electric Company

14.3.3.1 Company Overview

14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3.3 Financials

14.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.4 Honeywell International Inc.

14.3.4.1 Company Overview

14.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.4.3 Financials

14.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.5 Intel Corporation

14.3.5.1 Company Overview

14.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.5.3 Financials

14.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.6 Johnson Controls

14.3.6.1 Company Overview

14.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.6.3 Financials

14.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.7 OMRON Corporation

14.3.7.1 Company Overview

14.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.7.3 Financials

14.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.8 Panasonic Corporation

14.3.8.1 Company Overview

14.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.8.3 Financials

14.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.9 Pepperl+Fuchs SE

14.3.9.1 Company Overview

14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.10 Rockwell Automation Inc.

14.3.10.1 Company Overview

14.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.10.3 Financials

14.3.10.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.11 Schneider Electric SE

14.3.11.1 Company Overview

14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.11.3 Financials

14.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.12 Siemens AG

14.3.12.1 Company Overview

14.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.12.3 Financials

14.3.12.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.13 Yokogawa Electric Corporation

14.3.13.1 Company Overview

14.3.13.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.13.3 Financials

14.3.13.4 SWOT Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/mqbe6c

Attachment
Dublin, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Floor Grinding Machine Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global floor grinding machine market reached a value of US$ 258.5 million in 2021. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach a value of US$ 321.5 million by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 3.45% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, the analyst is 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.



A floor grinding machine is a specialized, hand-controlled equipment that is used for polishing and grinding granite, marble and concrete floorings. Single, quadrupole and dual disks are some of the common product variants. These machines consist of a regulating handle, wheel guard, power plug, vacuum hole, toolbox, control panel, water witch, and abrasive pads. Floor grinding machines are also widely used for levelling uneven joints, renovating, repairing damaged surfaces, and maintaining various types of granite, limestone, marble, terrazzo and concrete floors. These machines assist in removing inconsistencies and imperfect concrete, minimizing dirt and moisture damage and restoring old concrete to its original shape and form.



Floor Grinding Machine Market Trends

The significant growth in the construction industry across the globe is creating a positive outlook for the market. Floor grinding machines are widely used due to their durability, ease of functionality and enhanced efficiency in operations. In line with this, the widespread product adoption in malls and offices for removing paint and glue, enhancing the aesthetics, mechanical properties and interiors, and repairing and restoration of the floor are favoring the market growth. Moreover, various product innovations, such as the introduction of environment-friendly grinders that are completely dust-free, produce a low level of noise and aid in decreasing pollution, are providing an impetus to the market growth.

Additionally, the increasing demand for remote-controlled floor grinding machines that are adjustable and simple to operate are also positively impacting the market growth. Other factors, including the rising product demand due to the sudden shift toward polished concrete flooring and the implementation of various government initiatives to promote smart infrastructure development are anticipated to drive the market further toward growth.



Key Market Segmentation

This report provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global floor grinding machine market, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2022-2027. The report has categorized the market based on head type, mode of operation, application and End-user.



Breakup by Head Type:

One and Two Head

Three and Four Head

Others

Breakup by Mode of Operation:

Remotely Controlled Grinders

Manually Operated Grinders

Handheld Grinders

Breakup by Application:

Marble and Granite

Concrete

Others

Breakup by End-user:

Residential

Non-Residential

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Achilli S.r.l, Bartell Global Inc., Fujian Xingyi Polishing Machine Co.Ltd, HTC Group, Husqvarna AB, Klindex Srl, Levetec, Linax Co. Ltd., National Flooring Equipment, ROLL GmbH, Scanmaskin Sverige AB and Tyrolit Group.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global floor grinding machine market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global floor grinding machine market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the head type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the mode of operation?

What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

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 floor grinding machine 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 Floor Grinding Machine Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Head Type

6.1 One and Two Head

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Three and Four Head

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Others

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Mode of Operation

7.1 Remotely Controlled Grinders

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Manually Operated Grinders

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Handheld Grinders

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Application

8.1 Marble and Granite

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Concrete

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Others

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End User

9.1 Residential

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Non-Residential

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 Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Achilli S.r.l

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.2 Bartell Global Inc.

15.3.2.1 Company Overview

15.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3 Fujian Xingyi Polishing Machine Co.Ltd

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4 HTC Group

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5 Husqvarna AB

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5.3 Financials

15.3.6 Klindex Srl

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7 Levetec

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8 Linax Co. Ltd.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9 National Flooring Equipment

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.10 ROLL GmbH

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 Scanmaskin Sverige AB

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.12 Tyrolit Group

15.3.12.1 Company Overview

15.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/px05yq

Attachment
Dublin, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Femtocell Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global femtocell market reached a value of US$ 2.10 billion in 2021. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach US$ 9.07 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 27.8% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, the analyst is 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.



Femtocell refers to a small and light-weight cellular base station used for increasing the signal strength and coverage area of mobile networks. It is a wireless device used for improving the cellular reception in an office, home or building. Femtocell acts as a repeater that communicates with the mobile phones and converts voice calls into voice over information protocol (IP) packets. These packets are further transmitted over a broadband connection to the mobile operator's server. It offers quick data connections, in-premise voice and data services, reduced dropped calls and improved mobile voice output quality. Apart from this, it also has lower power consumption, IP backhaul and self-optimization capabilities.



Significant improvements in the 4G and 5G infrastructure are among the key factors driving the growth of the market. Furthermore, the rising demand for heterogeneous networks across the globe is also driving the market growth. High penetration of broadband services and mobile phones has enhanced the requirement for improved network coverage for high-quality video conferencing, calling and downloading of software and music.

In line with this, the increasing commercial applications of femtocell in multi-tenant buildings, hotels and office towers are also contributing to the market growth. Various technological advancements, such as product integration with the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve indoor coverage and maintain the need for smart devices, are acting as other major growth-inducing factors. Increasing investments in small-cell infrastructure, along with the utilization of distributed antenna systems and cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN), are some of the other factors that are expected to drive the market further.



Key Market Segmentation

This report provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global femtocell market, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2022-2027. The report has categorized the market based on form factor, technology, type and application.



Breakup by Form Factor:

Standalone

Integrated

Breakup by Technology:

IMS/SIP Femtocell Technology

IU-H Femtocell Technology

Breakup by Type:

2G Femtocell

CDMA

GSM/GPRS

3G Femtocell

W-CDMA/HSPA

CDMA2000-EVDO

TD-CDMA

4G Femtocell

WiMAX

LTE

Breakup by Application:

Residential

Commercial

Others

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined with some of the key players being Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (Nokia), Analog Devices, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Fujitsu Limited (Furukawa Group), Huawei Technologies, Juniper Networks Inc., Motorola Inc., Netgear Inc., Samsung and ZTE Corporation.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global femtocell market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global femtocell market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the form factor?

What is the breakup of the market based on the technology?

What is the breakup of the market based on the type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

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 femtocell 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 Femtocell Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Form Factor

6.1 Standalone

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Integrated

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Technology

7.1 IMS/SIP Femtocell Technology

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 IU-H Femtocell Technology

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Type

8.1 2G Femtocell

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Key Technologies

8.1.2.1 CDMA

8.1.2.2 GSM/GPRS

8.1.3 Market Forecast

8.2 3G Femtocell

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Key Technologies

8.2.2.1 W-CDMA/HSPA

8.2.2.2 CDMA2000-EVDO

8.2.2.3 TD-CDMA

8.2.3 Market Forecast

8.3 4G Femtocell

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Key Technologies

8.3.2.1 WiMAX

8.3.2.2 LTE

8.3.3 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Application

9.1 Residential

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Commercial

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 Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis



14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (Nokia)

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.2 Analog Devices

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 Cisco Systems

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3.3 Financials

15.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.4 Ericsson

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4.3 Financials

15.3.5 Fujitsu Limited (Furukawa Group)

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6 Huawei Technologies

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7 Juniper Networks Inc.

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8 Motorola Inc.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8.3 Financials

15.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.9 Netgear Inc.

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9.3 Financials

15.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.10 Samsung

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 ZTE Corporation

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11.3 Financials

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/1juu8k

Attachment
Dublin, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "B2B Payments Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global B2B payments market reached a value of US$ 942.6 billion in 2021. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach a value of US$ 1,563.5 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.30% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, the analyst is continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different End-use industries. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



B2B payments are financial transactions taking place between two or more businesses for an exchange of goods or services. They are processed using secure gateways and offer multiple payment options for getting faster payments, improving cash flow, and expanding at a quicker rate. As they are easy to trace and assist in avoiding ambiguity and discrepancy between merchants, B2B payments find extensive applications in the manufacturing, information and technology (IT), telecom, metals and mining, energy and utilities, and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sectors.



B2B Payments Market Trends

At present, there is a rise in export and import of goods and services across the globe, which can be accredited to numerous efforts undertaken by governing authorities to reduce trade barriers. This represents one of the key factors driving the market. Moreover, businesses of different industry verticals are focusing on global expansion. This, coupled with the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) around the world, is propelling the growth of the market.

In addition, there is an increase in the utilization of the automated clearing house (ACH) in B2B payments as it is relatively faster and more efficient. The escalating demand for B2B payments in large enterprises for enhancing their market value and increasing their sales of goods and services via online channels is also positively influencing the market. Besides this, the rising employment of automation in B2B payment systems for networking and connecting with various suppliers, wholesalers, and retailers is offering lucrative growth opportunities to industry investors. Furthermore, key market players are engaging in partnerships and collaborations to offer more comprehensive B2B payment solutions, which is projected to increase their overall profitability.



Key Market Segmentation

This report provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global B2B payments market, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2022-2027. The report has categorized the market based on payment type, payment mode, enterprise size and industry vertical.



Breakup by Payment Type:

Domestic Payments

Cross-Border Payments

Breakup by Payment Mode:

Traditional

Digital

Breakup by Enterprise Size:

Large Enterprises

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Breakup by Industry Vertical:

BFSI

Manufacturing

IT and Telecom

Metals and Mining

Energy and Utilities

Others

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being American Express Company, Bank of America Corporation, Capital One, Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Mastercard Inc., Payoneer Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc., Paystand Inc., Stripe Inc., Visa Inc. and Wise Payments Limited.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global B2B payments market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global B2B payments market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the payment type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the payment mode?

What is the breakup of the market based on the enterprise size?

What is the breakup of the market based on the industry vertical?

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 B2B payments 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 B2B Payments Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Payment Type

6.1 Domestic Payments

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Cross-Border Payments

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Payment Mode

7.1 Traditional

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Digital

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Enterprise Size

8.1 Large Enterprises

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Industry Vertical

9.1 BFSI

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Manufacturing

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 IT and Telecom

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Metals and Mining

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 Market Forecast

9.5 Energy and Utilities

9.5.1 Market Trends

9.5.2 Market Forecast

9.6 Others

9.6.1 Market Trends

9.6.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis



14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 American Express Company

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.1.3 Financials

15.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.2 Bank of America 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 Capital One

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3.3 Financials

15.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.4 Citigroup Inc.

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4.3 Financials

15.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.5 JPMorgan Chase & Co.

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5.3 Financials

15.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.6 Mastercard Inc.

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6.3 Financials

15.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.7 Payoneer Inc.

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8 PayPal Holdings Inc.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8.3 Financials

15.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.9 Paystand Inc.

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.10 Stripe Inc.

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 Visa Inc.

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.12 Wise Payments Limited

15.3.12.1 Company Overview

15.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xvq3fp

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Friday, April 29, 2022





Dear Shareholders and Investors,



We are pleased to inform that we will have an addition to our fleet delivered to us from Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea.

The new Suezmax will delivered May 13, 2022 and it will commence on a time charter contract for six years to a first class company in the Sultanate of Oman in the Middle East. The contract will secure stable cash flow and provide return on capital.

It is always an objective for NAT to prioritize dividend payments.

The vessel is 157,000 deadweight tons and has a carrying capacity of about one million barrels of cargo.





For contacts, please see at the end of this communication.



www.nat.bm





CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words believe, anticipate, intend, estimate, forecast, project, plan, potential, will, may, should, expect, pending and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our managements examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPECs petroleum production levels and worldwide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K.

NAT is a Bermuda based company.

Contacts:

Gary J. Wolfe

Seward & Kissel LLP

New York, USA

Tel: +1 212 574 1223

Bjrn Giver, CFO

Nordic American Tankers Ltd

Tel: +1 888 755 8391 or +47 91 35 00 91

Herbjrn Hansson, Founder, Chairman & CEO

Nordic American Tankers Ltd

Tel: +1 866 805 9504
Oakland, Calif., April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deem, a leading mobile-first corporate travel management software provider, today announced it is adding carbon emissions information and scoring for flights, hotels and car rentals within the booking flow in its Etta travel management software. The new EcoCheck feature provides environmental impact details and scores through a partnership with Thrust Carbon, which uses best-in-class methodologies to reach the most accurate carbon calculations. EcoCheck sustainability details will be available in Etta on Android and in the new Etta web experience by the end of May 2022.

There is currently a disparity between the travel industrys sustainability targets and what travelers want. For example, the aviation industry has committed to being net zero carbon by 2050, but 66% of business travelers surveyed expect their employer to make sustainable travel options available now. In fact, just 64% of organizations have a dedicated program for reducing their environmental impact from travel, despite belief by 89% of leaders that sustainable business travel is vital for their brand.

Its clear travelers are excited to participate in their employers sustainability initiatives, but not every company is ready to get started in a tangible way, said Harper Lieblich, vice president of product at Deem. EcoCheck helps employees understand the environmental impact of their business trips with emissions data built right into their search results. And our partnership with Thrust Carbon means that information is both accurate and well contextualized for users.

We believe that operating sustainably should be effortless, said Kit Brennan, founder and director of product at Thrust Carbon. That's why were so excited about the combination of Etta and Thrust Carbons technology. The new EcoCheck feature is a simple way for Etta users to factor sustainability into their business travel decisions in an easy and meaningful way.

EcoCheck displays emissions data for air, hotel and car rentalas well as total CO2 for the trip presented during and after bookingso travelers can quickly assess their ecological impact when looking for a flight, hotel, or car rental. Specific information for each trip segment includes:

Air: CO2 emissions are based on the route, flight number, carrier, aircraft type and class. Travelers will

see how flights compare to the average for that route as well as the estimated amount of CO2 emitted.

Car rental: CO2 emissions are based on the location, car type and duration of rental; average per day

mileage is used for calculations and results may vary based on how far travelers drive. Travelers will be

able to see how a specific car class compares to the average for that location as well as the estimated

amount of CO2 emitted.

Hotel: Travelers will see the Thrust Carbon Hotel Sustainability Index, a score out of 100 for many of the

hotels on the planet (100 being the highest rating.) This scoring system takes into account many data

points including hotel property carbon footprint measurements and net zero plans.

Hotel information factored into the scoring system includes Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) data, Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking (CHSB) data, the hotels market segment (e.g., midscale, upscale, full service resort, etc.), any eco-labels that a hotel has achieved, and eco-label quality and third-party verification, among other indicators.

Travelers will also be able to see a comparison between each hotel and the average sustainability score for that area.

EcoCheck provides relatable sustainability equivalents, such as the number of plastic bags produced that would result in the same carbon emissions. The feature also uses visual queues by presenting grayscale images for less sustainable choices and bright green images for more sustainable choices. Travelers will see detailed information on how CO2 emissions are calculated and tips on how to travel in a more sustainable way.

Etta has won numerous awards for its Travel SafetyCheck feature, accessibility features, and design, and is highly rated by users on G2 and mobile app stores. Deem recently announced a new collaboration with Ubers enterprise arm, Uber for Business. The new integration will enable business travelers to request on-demand and scheduled rides with Uber for Business directly within the Etta desktop and mobile corporate travel booking platform. Learn more about how Ettas traveler-centric approach helps stop leakage and save companies time and money at Deem.com.

About Thrust Carbon

Thrust Carbon has a vision of a world where our actions don't have to cost the earth. As the leading carbon intelligence platform in travel, they report, reduce, and remove emissions. Their IATA & BTN award-winning products are easy to integrate, deliver market leading accuracy, and total transparency.

About Deem

Deem is on a mission to transform travel. Starring Etta, its award-winning, mobile-first, corporate travel booking and management software, Deem offers employees everything they need to easily make the right travel decisions for themselves and their company. Deems travel technology plugs into major travel agencies and expense solution providers, empowering more corporate customers and the worlds largest travel management companies.

Deem is a wholly owned and independently run subsidiary of Enterprise Holdings. The company is headquartered in Oakland, California, with offices in Dublin, Ireland and Bangalore, India. Learn more at Deem.com.

Attachment
Reference is made to the decision by the annual general meeting of Hofseth BioCare ASA ("HBC" or the "Company") today, 29 April 2022, to carry out a private placement towards Brilliant Invest 2 AG ("Brilliant Invest 2") of 1,760,000 shares in the Company.

Brilliant Invest 2 is set up with the purpose of acting as an incentive program and is structured in a similar manner as the joint holding company Brilliant Invest AS, which was established for certain employees and consultants of the Company in 2019.

The participants in the program own shares in Brilliant Invest 2 and will consequently make an indirect investment in the Company. The program is time-limited and upon the termination of the program, Brilliant Invest 2 will sell its shares in the Company and distribute the net sales proceeds to the participants in the program (in their capacities as shareholders in Brilliant Invest 2). The initial term of Brilliant Invest 2 is 24 months from 1 January 2022 but may be extended on certain terms.

The participants in the program are certain consultant and partners of the Company, including Tenet Partners, Dr. Zubair Hussain (Senior Regulatory Consultant) and Bill Lowe (President, HBC Americas).

The new shares to be issued in the private placement are subscribed at par value. The Company will provide further information on the completion of the private placement towards Brilliant Invest 2 in due course.

James Berger, Chief Commercial Officer, acts as chairman of the Board of Brilliant Invest 2 and Brilliant Invest 2 is consequently a close associate of James Berger. Further information about the transaction is included in the attached notification form.

For further information, please contact:

Jon Olav degard, CFO of Hofseth BioCare ASA

Phone: +47 936 32 966

E-mail: joo@hofsethbiocare.no

James Berger, Chief Commercial Officer of Hofseth BioCare ASA

Phone: +41 79 950 10 34

E-mail: jb@hofsethbiocare.no

About Hofseth BioCare ASA:

HBC is a Norwegian consumer and pet health ingredient supplier and an incubator for new drug leads. Research is ongoing to identify the individual elements within its ingredients that modulate inflammation and the immune response with pre-clinical studies in multiple clinics and university research labs in several countries. Lead clinical and pre-clinical candidates are focused on developing an oral pharmaceutical lead program to treat inflammatory disease driven by eosinophils. Preclinical trial work with the oil is ongoing to ameliorate lung inflammation in eosinophilic asthma and COPD ("smokers lung") as well as clinical work in COVID. Other leads are focused on the protection of the Gastro-Intestinal (GI) system against inflammation (including ulcerative colitis and the orphan condition necrotising enterocolitis) and using peptide fractions of salmon protein hydrolysate (SPH also known as 'ProGo') as a Medical Food to help treat age-related Sarcopenia, and as a treatment for Iron Deficiency Anemia.

The company is founded on the core values of sustainability, optimal utilization of natural resources and full traceability. Through an innovative hydrolysis technology, HBC can preserve the quality of lipids, proteins and calcium from fresh salmon off-cuts.

Hofseth BioCare's headquarters are in Alesund, Norway with branches in Oslo, London, Zurich, New Jersey, and Palo Alto.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act

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Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Protect Pharmaceutical Corporation (OTC:PRTT) has unveiled the design of its new product: the all-in-one e-commerce platform for NFTs - the MultiBOXnft.com landing page.



We have explored multiple prototypes to find the inspiration for the new platform. MultiBOXnft will be the place where business meets web 3.0, and we think that our versatile design has met this criteria, says Kate Samedova, Art Director of the platform.

We decided to push this landing page online to gather the first requests from potential clients, and enhance our feature list. According to our roadmap, we plan to enter into the business analysis in early May. Once finalized - we will see the full scope of the development and allocate the necessary range of resources to deliver the MVP, adds Nikolai Grebenkine, President.

Other details on the features of the future platform are: prebuilt design templates for different kinds of enterprises, an internal app store with various tools by certified developers, an extended support package for clients and the Ambassador Program for the experts.

According to the Technavios research ( https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/non-fungible-token-nft-market-size-to-grow-by-usd-147-24----technavio-301529125.html ), the overall non-fungible token market size is expected to grow by USD 147.24 billion from 2021 to 2026 showing a healthy growth at a CAGR of 35.27% during the forecast period. PRTT intends to secure the spot in this emerging industry by rolling the first beta version of the MultiBOXnft platform by the end of 2022.

About PRTT

Protect Pharmaceutical Corporation is a full-cycle software development and delivery company that produces, releases, and supports digital products for the business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets. The companys expertise lies in custom software development and consulting services in Business automation, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, Big Data, Image recognition, Blockchain development, and cloud services. Its domain focus includes Supply chain, Logistics, Healthcare, Finance, Real estate, Legal, Insurance, Advertising, and more.
SHANGHAI, China, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Dear Shareholders:

On behalf of the Board of Directors and the leadership team of Baozun, I want to thank you for your continuing support and confidence in Baozun. During the 15 years since our founding in 2007, the Baozun brand has gained immense trust and reputation in the market, and our business model and services have rapidly evolved. Throughout 2021, our industry, along with many others, witnessed considerable challenges from Covid-19 pandemic, Better Cotton Initiatives and the implementation of several new regulatory public policies. Thanks to our teams diligent hard work and our core systems' boundless flexibility, we were able to quickly adapt and optimize operations to move forward our strategies and initiatives for sustainable long-term growth.

Empowering More Brand Partners

During a difficult market it is even more important to reiterate Baozuns vision, which is, Technology empowers future success. Benefiting from our healthy category mix, omni-channel strategy, outstanding acquisitions and investments in people and technology, we believe Baozun in 2021 is ever more resilient and balanced. Furthermore, for longer term planning, well emphasize the expansion into Asia and commercialization of our technology.

Our brand acquisition momentum continued in 2021 with meaningful breakthrough in the luxury and high premium sectors. We onboarded 18 luxury brand partners in 2021 and exited the year with 333 brand partners under our umbrella for their store operations. We also continued to see acceleration in omni-channel development, especially in new emerging channels. While helping brand partners win incremental business opportunities, we further oriented our core e-commerce infrastructures towards omni-channel in order to incite stronger consumer engagements, regardless of whatever platforms they are on. Overall, our GMV grew by 27.6% year-over-year to RMB71 billion and non-TMALL channels expanded by 500 basis points to 31% of total GMV in 2021.

Accelerating Clients Digital Transformation

We are happy to be at the forefront of action helping our brand partners accelerate their digital transformation in Chinas fast-evolving e-commerce industry. With a trend that more and more international brands adopt a China-for-China strategy, and our deep understanding of brands and local insights, we see vast opportunities for us to help brand partners build their China-for-China business operations and China-focused core system and methodology. This is essential to garner success in our brand partners e-commerce and direct-to-consumer strategy, and it is also central to Baozuns strategy, as captioned in our slogan, empower future successes, with technology and business innovations.

Correspondingly, we kept pushing the boundaries of innovation and upgrading our technological infrastructures. On top of omni-channel oriented solutions, we launched a series of real-time business intelligence services and data analytics toolkits to help our brand partners make better business decisions, including a proprietary intelligent customer service management system Service Anywhere, or S-ANY to improve consumer journey and ultimately to promote transactions. Meanwhile, we continued to upgrade our operating platforms and middle office for better process re-engineering and our automation to be more digitized, centralized, and integrated. We also scaled up two regional service centers in Nantong and Hefei in 2021 to further optimize resource allocation and driving efficiency.

All these efforts have won us great recognitions from the brand e-commerce industry. In a recent Net Promoter Score or NPS survey conducted by Nielsen, we achieved a very positive NPS result of greater than 8.5 out of 10. This validates our belief in Customer First, and we aspire to keep building and fostering a culture that drives innovations and business efficiency to empower our brand partners.

Driving Growth Through M&A

In 2021, we made notable progress in executing our M&A plans. We target complementary businesses that enhance our competitiveness, expand economies of scale, and help make our business portfolio more resilient and comprehensive. Our strategy on M&A mainly concentrates on four areas  capability expansion, horizontal consolidation, geographic expansion, and brand building.

Meanwhile, we executed the investment agreement with Cainiao, which not only enriched our financial resources but also opened the door for more business opportunities in both fulfillment and e-commerce. Combining Baotongs outstanding customer-centric services with Cainiaos large economies of scale and infrastructures, we believe our integrated service offerings will advance to the next level, especially the apparel and luxury categories, in being more premium, customized, diversified, and omni-channel.

We believe these acquisitions and strategic alliances will greatly strengthen our value creation for brand partners. Moving forward, we expect to embrace more businesses or partners into Baozuns portfolio, by which will enhance our value proposition, together with our core leadership position.

Keep Investing in People and Technology

Delivering Quality Through Developing People is our faith, and we continue to invest in our people and organizational development. During 2021, we strategically grew our management team and also optimized our compensation policies, HR training systems, and employee coaching. In our recent employee survey, I am delighted to see our employee satisfactory rate reached 88.5%, accenting a consecutive annual rise for the past five years. Concurrently, Im happy that MSCI, in recognition of our comprehensive ESG initiatives, upgraded Baozuns ESG Rating to an A in September 2021, highlighting our commitment to a sustainable Baozun ecosystem for the longer term.

Advancing forward, we streamlined the Company into four major groups, namely e-Commerce Group-ECG, Logistics and Supply Chain Group-LSG, Technology and Innovation Center-TIC, and Digital Marketing Group-DMG. With the Company being leaner, flatter, and more focused, we are crafting mechanisms that inspire the use of incentives to encourage innovation and broaden employee ownership.

2022 and Beyond

Our ample financial resources enable us to pursue initiatives to further enhance shareholder value. In 2021, we completed a share repurchase of approximately US$165 million out of our total US$175 million share repurchase programs announced in 2021, and earlier this March, our Board of Directors expanded our share repurchase authorization by another US$80 million. We believe this share repurchase not only delivers benefits to existing shareholders but also demonstrates our confidence in the future of Baozun.

Looking ahead, we anticipate short-term turbulence due to the recent worst-ever Covid lockdown in some cities in China (including Shanghai), which since mid-March has further dampened consumption and considerably disrupted business activities. Despite these challenges, we will conduct our business with courage, responsibility, intelligence and agility, to protect the interests of the company, and all shareholders. In the longer term, we strongly believe our resilience, business innovations and technology investments will triumph and earn us trust, branding and fortune. Furthermore, for longer term planning, well emphasize the expansion into Asia and commercialization of our technology. We are confident and poised to bring best-in-class services and innovative solutions to our brand partners, and march further on our long-term strategic plans to drive business growth and sustainable value creation.

Sincerely,

Vincent Wenbin Qiu

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Baozun Inc.

Safe Harbor Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as will, expects, anticipates, future, intends, plans, believes, estimates, potential, continue, ongoing, targets, guidance, going forward, outlook and similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Companys strategies and goals, are or contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the Companys operations and business prospects; the Companys business and operating strategies and its ability to implement such strategies; the Companys ability to develop and manage its operations and business; competition for, among other things, capital, technology and skilled personnel; the Companys ability to control costs; the Companys dividend policy; changes to regulatory and operating conditions in the industry and geographical markets in which the Company operates; and other risks and uncertainties. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Companys announcements, notice or other documents published on the website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release and is based on assumptions that the Company believes to be reasonable as of this date, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under the applicable law.

About Baozun Inc.

Baozun Inc. is the leader and a pioneer in the brand e-commerce service industry in China. Baozun empowers a broad and diverse range of brands to grow and succeed by leveraging its end-to-end e-commerce service capabilities, omni-channel coverage and technology-driven solutions. Its integrated one-stop solutions address all core aspects of the e-commerce operations covering IT solutions, online store operations, digital marketing, customer services, and warehousing and fulfillment.

For more information, please visit https://ir.baozun.com

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

Baozun Inc.

Ms. Wendy Sun

Email: ir@baozun.com




MAPLE GROVE, Minn., April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TopLine Federal Credit Unions first-ever Winter Gear Drive held during the month of January benefited local non-profits, Avenues for Youth and YMCA Youth and Family Services. TopLine members and employees generously donated winter gear items of youth and adult size jackets, boots, gloves, hats, scarves, socks and more to help bring warmth to those in need in our local communities.



Employees were able to participate by donating winter gear items and money in exchange for a Foundation Friday sticker, allowing them to wear jeans to work on specific days during the four-week program. TopLine members could also purchase items from our Amazon Wishlist or Target Registry and have them sent directly to TopLine, and in return we delivered to our charitable partners. When the program ended TopLine employees and members had donated over 600 winter gear items and over $1,000 to assist local youth and families in need in our communities.

We are always glad to help our non-profit partners with the needs they face from youth, individuals and families in our communities, says Tom Smith, TopLine President and CEO. During our winter gear drive we were able to collect many generous donations from our employees and members to support our communities ever-growing needs.



Since 2002, TopLine Federal Credit Union employees and members have been involved in several programs each year to benefit local non-profits like Avenues for Youth and YMCA of the North. In addition to the winter clothing donations from this drive, these efforts have included drives for food, personal care items, clothing, bikes, childrens back-to-school supplies and more.

Avenues for Youth provides emergency shelter, short-term housing and supportive services for homeless youth in a safe and nurturing environment. Avenues shelters in Brooklyn Park and Minneapolis help over 300 youth. Visit www.avenuesforyouth.org to learn more.

YMCA of the North Youth and Family Services is a leading nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. To learn more about the Ys mission and work, visit ymcanorth.org/youthandfamilyservices.

TopLine Federal Credit Union , a Twin Cities-based credit union, is Minnesotas 13th largest, with assets of more than $675 million and serves nearly 46,000 members. Established in 1935, the not-for-profit cooperative offers a complete line of financial services, as well as auto and home insurance, from its five branch locations  in Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Maple Grove, Plymouth and in St. Pauls Como Park  as well as by phone, mobile app and online at www.TopLinecu.com . Membership is available to anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school or volunteers in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott or Washington Counties and their immediate family members. Visit us on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TopLineFederalCreditUnion. To learn more about the credit unions foundation, visit https://www.toplinecu.com/foundation.

CONTACT:

Vicki Roscoe Erickson

Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications

TopLine Federal Credit Union

verickson@toplinecu.com

763.391.0872

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dc5548ad-7187-4e80-b240-083c2fc7ac64
Austin, TX, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As we enter our next 50 years, we celebrate the growth of our leadership team with six individuals who inspire us to dissect challenges and embrace possibilities. Meet our six new principals!

Principals

Isabel Corsino, AIA, NCARB, RID, has experience as both architect and educator. This background gives her a unique perspective and understanding of her craft.

Erik Leitner, RA, has been an integral part of our commercial team, working on projects like The HEDGE and The ALMA apartments, two affordable housing projects in Austin.

Garrett Martin, AIA, left a career in aerospace to follow a passion for education architecture. He advocates for educators by ensuring the built environment supports their mission.

Derek Pennant-Jones, Controller, the king of brevity.

Principal Emeritus

In his 37 years with Pfluger, Cliff Trinkaus, RA, RID, has made significant contributions to educational architecture in Texas and has worked on nearly every significant project in the Pfluger-Austin portfolio.

Mike Elmore, AIA, LEED AP, brought four decades of experience to support Pfluger's entrance into the Dallas-Fort Worth market. His expansive knowledge of educational architecture helps clients explore new ways the built environment can support their vision.

_______

ABOUT PFLUGER Founded in 1972, Pfluger Architects is a Texas-based firm that creates spaces to engage and inspire. With offices in Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, Pfluger is committed to a sustainable and human-centered design approach that meets the needs and budget of each client.
China benefits world with its own development

10:49, April 29, 2022 By He Yin ( People's Daily

China stands ready to work with the rest of the international community to engage in closer exchanges and cooperation in the public health sector, jointly tackle global threats and challenges, build a global community of health for all, and make greater contributions to the health of people all over the world, said Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 25.

Photo shows medical experts and local people in a mobilization and health education activity of a China-UK-Tanzania tripartite pilot project on malaria control. (Photo courtesy of the National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

Xi made the remarks in a congratulatory letter to the International Forum on the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of Artemisinin and on Building a Global Community of Health for All.

In the letter, Xi also hailed the important contributions to the global prevention and treatment of malaria and to the protection of human health made by artemisinin, a specific anti-malaria drug first discovered and successfully extracted by China 50 years ago.

The letter demonstrated the Chinese leader's lofty vision of bearing in mind the well-being of the world and the value orientation of putting people first.

The story of artemisinin mirrors a success made by human beings in the arduous fight against diseases.

Fifty years ago, Chinese scientists, represented by Tu Youyou, firstly discovered and successfully extracted artemisinin thanks to their relentless efforts, which was later made into a new anti-malaria drug that is both effective and affordable, and comes with mild side effects.

A free clinic activity for children is held by a Chinese medical aid team in Sierra Leone and an expert team sent to the country by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (Photo courtesy of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

"Artemisinin marks a small step in the process of human beings conquering malaria, and it is also a gift to the world from traditional Chinese medicine," said Tu.

Numerous lives have been saved in Asia, Africa, Europe and America thanks to the discovery of artemisinin, and the lactone generated from sweet wormwood extracts protects a significant number of families. According to statistics released by the World Health Organization, artemisinin has save millions of lives since artemisinin-based drugs were promoted globally as antimalarials. More than 240 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have benefited from artemisinin treatment, and about 1.5 million patients have escaped death thanks to this treatment.

Chinese herbal expert Tu Youyou wins the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for her contributions to malaria treatment, Oct. 5, 2015.

The story of artemisinin mirrors the mutual assistance offered by China and other developing countries.

As a result of China's success in eradicating malaria at home, it has also launched large foreign-aid programs to help other countries prevent the disease with artemisinin.

By the end of 2021, China had provided billions of doses of artemisinin medicines, trained tens of thousands of anti-malaria professionals for developing countries, assisted in the construction of malaria prevention and treatment centers for 30 countries, and sent 28,000 medical team members to 72 developing countries for malaria prevention and treatment. These concrete actions have made important contributions to the global efforts in preventing and treating malaria.

Thanks to a China-aided malaria elimination program, the number of malaria cases has dropped by 98 percent in Comoros, while deaths from the infection have been eliminated.

Senegalese President Macky Sall noted that it was because of the support from China and other partners that his country has achieved remarkable progress in the prevention and control of malaria.

The story of artemisinin mirrors China's efforts to benefit the world with its own development.

Humanity is a community with a shared future. Solidarity and cooperation remain the most powerful weapons against global and regional public health challenges. Be it joining hands with the rest of the world to combat malaria, or joining international cooperation in the fight against SARS, bird flu, Ebola and COVID-19, China has always been giving a helping hand to other countries to tide over difficulties.

Facing the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has carried out its largest emergency humanitarian action since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. It has provided hundreds of billions of anti-pandemic supplies to 153 countries and 15 international organizations and supplied 2.1 billion doses of vaccine to more than 120 countries and international organizations. It is making COVID-19 vaccines an accessible and affordable public product for developing countries.

From eliminating major infectious diseases such as malaria, to promoting international cooperation on the fight against COVID-19, China has always put people and their lives in the first place, which is responsible for not only the health and lives of the Chinese, but also the global public health cause. With concrete actions, the country is practicing the vision of building a global community of health for all and building a powerful joint force for the world to fight COVID-19.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Luxembourg  29 April 2022 - Subsea 7 S.A. (Oslo Brs: SUBC, ADR: SUBCY) today announced the award of a substantial1 contract for the engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning of flowlines and umbilicals, offshore West Africa.

Project management and engineering has commenced with offshore operations scheduled to take place from H1 2024.

No further details are disclosed at this time due to contractual obligations.

(1) Subsea 7 defines a substantial contract as being between $150 to $300 million.

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Subsea 7 is a global leader in the delivery of offshore projects and services for the evolving energy industry, creating sustainable value by being the industrys partner and employer of choice in delivering the efficient offshore solutions the world needs.

Subsea 7 is listed on the Oslo Brs (SUBC), ISIN LU0075646355, LEI 222100AIF0CBCY80AH62.

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Contact for investment community enquiries:

Katherine Tonks

Investor Relations Director

Tel +44 (0)20 8210 5568

katherine.tonks@subsea7.com

Contact for media enquiries:

Hariom Cavalcante

Communications Manager

Tel +33 (0)7 66 12 48 80

hariom.cavalcante@subsea7.com

www.subsea7.com

Forward-Looking Statements: This announcement may contain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the safe harbour provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These statements relate to our current expectations, beliefs, intentions, assumptions or strategies regarding the future and are subject to known and unknown risks that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, future, goal, intend, likely may, plan, project, seek, should, strategy will, and similar expressions. The principal risks which could affect future operations of the Group are described in the Risk Management section of the Groups Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2021. Factors that may cause actual and future results and trends to differ materially from our forward-looking statements include (but are not limited to): (i) our ability to deliver fixed price projects in accordance with client expectations and within the parameters of our bids, and to avoid cost overruns; (ii) our ability to collect receivables, negotiate variation orders and collect the related revenue; (iii) our ability to recover costs on significant projects; (iv) capital expenditure by oil and gas companies, which is affected by fluctuations in the price of, and demand for, crude oil and natural gas; (v) unanticipated delays or cancellation of projects included in our backlog; (vi) competition and price fluctuations in the markets and businesses in which we operate; (vii) the loss of, or deterioration in our relationship with, any significant clients; (viii) the outcome of legal proceedings or governmental inquiries; (ix) uncertainties inherent in operating internationally, including economic, political and social instability, boycotts or embargoes, labour unrest, changes in foreign governmental regulations, corruption and currency fluctuations; (x) the effects of a pandemic or epidemic or a natural disaster; (xi) liability to third parties for the failure of our joint venture partners to fulfil their obligations; (xii) changes in, or our failure to comply with, applicable laws and regulations (including regulatory measures addressing climate change); (xiii) operating hazards, including spills, environmental damage, personal or property damage and business interruptions caused by adverse weather; (xiv) equipment or mechanical failures, which could increase costs, impair revenue and result in penalties for failure to meet project completion requirements; (xv) the timely delivery of vessels on order and the timely completion of ship conversion programmes; (xvi) our ability to keep pace with technological changes and the impact of potential information technology, cyber security or data security breaches; and (xvii) the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting;. Many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement. We undertake no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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MIAMI, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- National investment fraud lawyers KlaymanToskes is investigating Anthony (Tony) Gallea, who is a Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) broker registered out of the firms Hendersonville, NC branch location, in light of recent customer complaints regarding an options trading strategy. Gallea has been registered as a broker and investment adviser with Morgan Stanley since 2009.



According to FINRA BrokerCheck, since September 2021, two customers of Tony Gallea have filed written complaints alleging, among other things, misrepresentation with respect to a covered call options strategy. Gallea is the founder of the Pelican Bay Group at Morgan Stanley and serves as a Senior Portfolio Management Director at Morgan Stanleys Portfolio Management Group. As of December 31, 2020, Gallea and his colleagues manage $3 billion for individual and institutional clients, including $1.4 billion in covered call writing strategies.

According to securities attorney Lawrence L. Klayman, Esq., Brokerage firms and its financial advisors have a duty to disclose materials facts concerning their investment recommendations, including those involving risky options strategies. A firms misrepresentation or omission of material facts concerning their investment recommendations is a sales practice violation, and is a basis for liability in a FINRA arbitration claim.

The sole purpose of this release is to investigate the covered call strategies deployed by Morgan Stanley broker Tony Gallea. Former and current customers of Morgan Stanleys Tony Gallea who have information relating to the manner in which he handled customer accounts are encouraged to contact Lawrence L. Klayman, Esq. at 1-888-997-9956.

About Us

KlaymanToskes is a leading national securities law firm which practices exclusively in the field of securities arbitration on behalf of retail and institutional investors throughout the world in large and complex securities matters. The firm has recovered more than $230 million for investors in FINRA arbitrations. KlaymanToskes has office locations in California, Florida, New York, and Puerto Rico

Destination: https://klaymantoskes.com/morgan-stanley-tony-gallea-options-losses-recover/

Contact

KlaymanToskes

Lawrence L. Klayman, Esq.

1-888-997-9956

lklayman@klaymantoskes.com

www.klaymantoskes.com
ERLANGER, KY, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DAV (Disabled American Veterans) alongside representatives from the nations leading military and veteran service organizations, and joined virtually by comedian and advocate Jon Stewart, rallied together at DAVs National Headquarters in Erlanger, Kentucky, today to urge support for passage of the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.

The event was part of a string of similar calls-to-action over the past several weeks to continue building support for passage of the Honoring our PACT Act, which would provide health care, establish presumptive diseases and create a new framework for veterans exposed to toxic materials during their service.

We are at the precipice of a monumental eventsolving the puzzle of comprehensive, toxic exposure legislation for past, current and future generations of veterans exposed to environmental hazards, said DAV Deputy National Legislative Director Shane Liermann.

The PACT Act, which passed the House on March 3, will be voted on by the Senate likely before the end of May and President Joe Biden has indicated he would immediately sign the comprehensive bi-partisan legislation into law.

You see to the incredible courage of the individuals that came up and spoke today, and you realize we've abandoned them to fight against the very government, through their sacrifice and heroism, they went overseas to defend and protect, said Stewart. Were 9 Republican Senators away from getting this done, said Stewart. My message is you cannot be America first when you continue to put veterans last. Get on this. Get this done.

Danielle Robinson, the widow of Ohio Army National Guard veteran Health Robinson, who died in 2020 due to lung cancer caused by burn pit exposure in Iraq, spoke at the event. Her late husband is the namesake of the Heath Robinson Act, which was championed by Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and later became a part of the Honoring our PACT Act.

I'm asking you, Senators, would you want to have to fight the VA for benefits, medications, imaging, testing, hospice care, caregiver benefits all while trying to take care of your loved one in their last months, weeks, days, and hours filling out countless pages of paperwork, just to know that you're going to get denied? said Robinson. Please put yourself in our shoes. You want to support and thank of veteran? Vote yes on the Honoring our PACT Act. Anything less is a disgrace.

Michael King, Regional Representative for Senator Brown, joined the event and read a letter penned by the Senator.

In the last 20 years, the Department of Veterans Affairs has seen a 61% increase in the rate of cancers tied to toxic exposure, King read from the letter. This is the cost of going to war, and our country has a duty to ensure that all veterans are able to get the quality, affordable VA care they earned and they deserve.

Additionally, Marine Corps veteran Cody Esparza, a Purple Heart recipient who served two tours in Iraq and whose health has been impacted by burn pits shared his own experience.

At Forward Operating Base Al Iskandariyah, where we lived was right next to a power plant that bordered the Euphrates River and our tents were between that and the burn pits, said Esparza, who also had friends who battled chronic health issues. Its hard when you lose somebody that survived fighting over there to come home and be taken by something like that.

Other speakers at the event included Cory Titus of the Military Officers Association of America, Kaitlynne Hetrick of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Michael Goodman of Wounded Warrior Project, Dab Clare with DAV, Tim Hauser with Burn Pits 360, Kevin Hensley with Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Jon Stewart, who has been a vocal advocate for veterans impacted by toxic exposures.

Titus, was joined by Amelia Stanley, the widow of retired Air Force Major Jason Stanley, who died in March due to a glioblastoma caused by toxic exposure. When the Stanleys reached out to VA, they found confusion, gaps and delays, said Titus. Jason was granted service-connection, but delays from not having a simple process caused unnecessary struggles in his final days. Hes not alone. Nearly 80% of burn pit claims are denied by the VA. Veterans need the fast tracking that comes with presumptive illnesses in the PACT Act.

Our veterans are looking to Congress for bold action and leadership, said Hetrick. Failure to care for the thousands who suffered military toxic exposures may diminish the value of military service in the public's eyes, and by refusing to satisfy our obligations to them, we communicate to current and future service members that we do not have their backs. We must pass this legislation now.

Marine Corps veteran Michael Goodman served in five combat deployments between 2003 and 2009, recalled his exposure to burn pits, which he and his fellow Marines referred to as blue barrels of death.

We need your help, said Goodman. Pass the PACT Act to give us the support we need. Get this through the Senate and to the Presidents hand.

You could taste the air in Iraq and it tasted like diesel fuel and whatever else was being burned that day, said Clare, who helped bring the dangers of burn pit exposures to light by flagging concerning memos while deployed in 2008. We knew it was a serious thing. Its time we get justice for these people and act on the PACT Act.

Tim Hauser, an Air Force veteran who served in Desert Storm was exposed to burn pits, waste materials and oil well fires.

It took 25 years after the first claim to get my service connection approved, said Hauser. Almost half my life has been spent fighting VA, only to find out I am terminally ill. I will die soon. But my fight isnt over yet. Not until all my brothers and sisters get their health care.

Families are watching their loved ones go through this process, helpless and afraid, said Air Force veteran Kevin Hensley, District 6 Legislation Chairman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of Michigan, who is battling toxic encephalitis caused by burn pit exposure. Our nation has an obligation to ensure the health, welfare, dignity and health care and benefits owed to them because of illnesses caused in service.

More than 60 military and veterans service organizations have backed the PACT Act, including DAV, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Wounded Warrior Project, the Military Officers Association of America and Burn Pits 360. Denis McDonough, Secretary Department of Veterans Affairs also expressed his support for the bill at a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on March 29, noting it helps the department accomplish its priority goalgetting veterans into VA care.

We cannot waste this opportunity to achieve justice for toxic-exposed veterans, said Liermann. We must end this seemingly perpetual cycle in which new generations of veterans are first made ill in the line of duty and then forced to fight for the health care and benefits they so desperately need. The Senate must vote yes on the PACT Act.

###

About DAV:

DAV empowers veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity. It is dedicated to a single purpose: keeping our promise to Americas veterans. DAV does this by ensuring that veterans and their families can access the full range of benefits available to them; fighting for the interests of Americas injured heroes on Capitol Hill; providing employment resources to veterans and their spouses; and educating the public about the great sacrifices and needs of veterans transitioning back to civilian life. DAV, a nonprofit organization with more than 1 million members, was founded in 1920 and chartered by the U. S. Congress in 1932. Learn more at DAV.org.
LAS VEGAS and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TAAT GLOBAL ALTERNATIVES INC. (CSE: TAAT) (OTCQX: TOBAF) (FRANKFURT: 2TP) (the Company or TAAT) is pleased to announce that in addition to carrying the standard 20-stick packs of TAAT Original, Smooth, and Menthol, Par Mar Stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia are the first TAAT points of sale in the United States to carry the unique small-format SKU known as TAAT Twos. Containing two sticks of a given TAAT flavour, TAAT Twos provide an approachable option for adult smokers to sample the Beyond Nicotine experience without the need to purchase a full pack. Similar to full-sized TAAT packs, TAAT Twos can also be sold at a relatively desirable profit margin compared to legacy tobacco products. In a press release dated November 26, 2021 , the Company announced that all three flavours of TAAT would be placed in all the points of sale operated by Par Mar Stores to include gas stations under national banners such as Amoco, British Petroleum (BP), Shell, and Sunoco1.



For more information about Par Mar Stores, please visit the following web page: https://www.parmarstores.com/

Additionally, in a February 11, 2022 press release the Company announced that it would be deploying an incentive program for chain retailers to enhance in-store conversion rates for the distribution of TAAT Twos as samples leading to first-time purchases of TAAT packs by adult smokers. In summary, the program will allow retailers to earn incentive payments by distributing free TAAT Twos samples to adult smokers purchasing a pack of tobacco cigarettes. After using the TAAT sample, the purchaser can choose to return to the store and claim a discount on a full pack of TAAT Original, Smooth, or Menthol. Participating chains in this program must have between five and 5,000 U.S. stores and are required to carry a robust supply of TAAT Original, Smooth, and Menthol alongside a standard range of leading tobacco cigarette brands such as Marlboro and Newport. The Company will negotiate an incentive plan based on a conversion yield structure with each individual chain, aligned with similar activation incentive programs currently offered by CPG vendors. This program is scheduled to launch in Par Mar Stores on May 1, 2022, and the Company expects the program to enhance the rates of first-time and repeat TAAT pack purchases in Par Mar Stores.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5b3cea3a-42eb-4490-8552-1952bce3cff5

Readers using news aggregation services may be unable to view the media above. Please access SEDAR or the Investor Relations section of the Companys website for a version of this press release containing all published media.



TAAT Founder Joe Deighan commented, Adult tobacco smokers tend to be very loyal to their preferred brand of cigarettes, and this can be a major obstacle when it comes to persuading them to try switching to alternatives such as TAAT. In most other CPG categories such as soft drinks, candy, snacks, beer, and liquor, it is standard for there to be single-serving offerings available for purchase (e.g., one can of soda) that do not require the consumer to purchase a pack or case of several single servings at once, even just to try it for the first time. This type of flexibility does not currently exist for adult smokers when trying alternatives to their preferred brand of cigarettes, and by launching TAAT Twos it is our objective to change that. We are confident that TAAT Twos will be desirable in and of itself as a unique small-format option, but more importantly we are confident that it will be a catalyst for converting adult smokers to try TAAT for the first time when either sold at retail or handed out as samples. Par Mar Stores is an established retailer of TAAT in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and with their participation in the chain retailer incentive program set to launch on May 1 I believe they can play a key role in continuing to grow our U.S. market share in the second year in which TAAT is being sold at retail.

Sources

1 - https://www.parmarstores.com/

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company,

TAAT GLOBAL ALTERNATIVES INC.

Joe Deighan

Joe Deighan, COO and Director

For further information, please contact:

TAAT Investor Relations

1-833-TAAT-USA (1-833-822-8872)

investor@taatglobal.com

THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (CSE) HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE, NOR HAS OR DOES THE CSES REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER.

About TAAT Global Alternatives Inc.

The Company has developed TAAT, which is a tobacco-free and nicotine-free alternative to traditional cigarettes offered in "Original", "Smooth", and "Menthol" varieties. TAAT's base material is Beyond Tobacco, a proprietary blend which undergoes a patent-pending refinement technique causing its scent and taste to resemble tobacco. Under executive leadership with "Big Tobacco" pedigree, TAAT was launched first in the United States in Q4 2020 as the Company seeks to position itself in the $812 billion1 global tobacco industry.

For more information, please visit http://taatglobal.com .

References

1 Statista: Consumer Markets - Tobacco Products

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking information and information can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, estimates, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur, or be achieved. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements regarding the anticipated performance of TAAT in the tobacco industry, in addition to the following: Continued sales of TAAT Twos in Par Mar Stores, launch and potential success of the chain retailer incentive program and concurrent promotional campaign (via social media and the Par Mar smartphone app) described in the press release. The forward-looking information reflects managements current expectations based on information currently available and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed timeframes or at all. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include: (i) adverse market conditions; (ii) changes to the growth and size of the tobacco markets; and (iii) other factors beyond the control of the Company. The Company operates in a rapidly evolving environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is impossible for the Companys management to predict all risk factors, nor can the Company assess the impact of all factors on Companys business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

The statements in this news release have not been evaluated by Health Canada or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As each individual is different, the benefits, if any, of taking the Companys products will vary from person to person. No claims or guarantees can be made as to the effects of the Companys products on an individuals health and well-being. The Companys products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

This news release may contain trademarked names of third-party entities (or their respective offerings with trademarked names) typically in reference to (i) relationships had by the Company with such third-party entities as referred to in this release and/or (ii) client/vendor/service provider parties whose relationship with the Company is/are referred to in this release. All rights to such trademarks are reserved by their respective owners or licensees.

Statement Regarding Third-Party Investor Relations Firms
WASHINGTON, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NHCOA and AARP are launching an online campaign dedicated to bringing awareness about caring for the caregiver. Being a caregiver can be very rewarding, but it can also be stressful. Caregivers not only have to take charge of looking after their loved ones but also need to upkeep their personal lives; it can be an overwhelming way of life. But as a very important role in society, it is extremely crucial for caregivers to practice day-to-day activities that will help them to maintain a healthy mindset.

Caregivers need to be mentally and physically healthy in order to be able to assist those who need their help. Family and professional caregivers need to be aware of their own health, and self-care and be mindful to not put their well-being at risk. The combination of loss, prolonged stress, the physical demands of caregiving, and the biological vulnerabilities that come with age can place one at risk for significant health problems as well as early death.

"The importance of the campaign is to ensure that caregivers can recognize themselves as an essential part of the field and that they need to care for themselves with the same diligence as they care for others. Through the virtual campaign, they can find resources and tools to keep themselves mentally and physically healthy," states Dr. Yanira Cruz, President and CEO of NHCOA.

"As Latinos, caring for family and friends is one of life's greatest honors," says Yvette Pena, Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at AARP. "It's also one of life's greatest responsibilities. AARP is proud to work with NHCOA to make sure caregivers feel supported in their role by equipping them with the resources, knowledge, and plans they need to look after those they love."

Faced with the urgent need to make caregivers aware of the importance of caring for their own health with the same attention they give to their loved one's health, NHCOA has partnered with AARP to create an online campaign titled "Caring for the Caregiver." The digital campaign consists of social media posts and articles that will be published on NHCOA's social channels. Follow the campaign on our social media to learn more about this project and see important information for taking care of caregivers.

About the National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA): NHCOA is the leading national organization working to improve the lives of Hispanic older adults, their families and their caregivers. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NHCOA has been a strong voice dedicated to promoting, educating, and advocating for research, policy, and practice in the areas of economic security, health, and housing for Hispanic older adults, families, and caregivers for more than 50 years.

About AARP: AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence and nearly 38 million members, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to families: health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also produces the nation's largest circulation publications: AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org, www.aarp.org/espanol or follow @AARP, @AARPenEspanol and @AARPadvocates, @AliadosAdelante on social media.

-------------------------------------------

Contact: Marcela Martinez

Company: National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA)

Phone: 202-347-9733

Email: publicrelations@nhcoa.org

Web: www.nhcoa.org

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram: @NHCOA

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MONTREAL, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AM Resources Corporation (AM or the Corporation) (TSXV: AMR) (Frankfurt: 76A) is pleased to announce the closing of a second tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the Offering). Pursuant to the Offering, the Corporation raised aggregate gross proceeds of $446,000, consisting of the issuance of 8,920,000 units of the Corporation (each, a Unit) at a price of $0.05 per Unit. Each Unit is comprised of one common share of the Corporation and one half of one warrant. Each full warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share of the Corporation at a price of $0.075 for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance.

In connection with the Offering, the Corporation paid a total of $19,500 in cash and issued an aggregate of 390,000 common shares in compensation to certain finders, which are all arms length with the Corporation.

The Corporation expects to close a third tranche of the Offering on or about May 8, 2022. The proceeds of the Offering will be used primarily for working capital purposes. All securities issued to subscribers pursuant to this Offering are subject to a four month and one day hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities legislation.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the account or benefit of a U.S. person (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Financial Statement Filing Delay

The Company also announces that its consolidated audited annual financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021, including the related managements discussion and analysis and the related CEO and CFO certifications (collectively, the Annual Financial Filings) will not be filed by the required filing deadline of April 30, 2022 (the Filing Deadline).

The Annual Financial Filings will not be filed on or before the Filing Deadline due to the delay in the completion of the audit of the Corporations financial statements before the Filing Deadline. The Corporation is working on the steps required to complete the Annual Financial Filings and expects to be able to file the Annual Financial Filings by May 27, 2022. The Corporation will provide updates as further information relating to the Annual Financial Filings becomes available.

The Corporation has applied to the applicable securities regulatory authorities and expects to receive a management cease trade order (MCTO) imposed against the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and each director of the Corporation precluding them from trading securities of the Corporation. The MCTO will be in effect until the Annual Financial Filings are filed, and requires that the Annual Financial Filings be filed on or before May 27, 2022.

Until the Annual Financial Filings are filed, the Corporation intends to issue bi-weekly default status reports in accordance with National Policy 12-203  Management Cease Trade Orders. The Corporation intends to satisfy the provisions of the Alternative Information Guidelines during the period it remains in default of the filing requirements. The Corporation confirms that there is no other material information relating to its affairs that has not been generally disclosed.

About AM Resources

AM Resources Corporation (TSXV: AMR) is a mining exploration company with interests in coal and natural bitumen projects in Colombia. AM is betting on Colombia's excellent mineral potential and favourable climate to pursue its Colombian venture.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of AM to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects, estimates, intends, anticipates or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. AM does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf, except as required by applicable law.

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:

David Grondin

AM Resources Corporation

President and Chief Executive Officer

1-514-360-0576

www.am-resources.com
Alexander Albon holds no grudge against Lewis Hamilton. The Brit prevented Albon from scoring a podium twice for Red Bull Racing, but the Thai points to himself as the culprit for his dismissal from Red Bull.

Albon misses the podium

In a year and a half, Albon failed to convince Red Bull Racing's management that he was the man to have alongside Max Verstappen. He performed reasonably consistently, but real peaks were absent. It wasn't until Mugello in mid-2020 that he scored his first podium, only to repeat it in Bahrain at the end of the year.

However, Albon could have been on the podium twice before. In Brazil 2019, he was driving in second place when Lewis Hamilton tapped him off the track and in 2020, Albon was third when he tried to overtake Hamilton on the outside at the Red Bull Ring, but this time he was pushed off the track. However, Albon does not see those as crucial moments in his time at Red Bull.

No blame for Hamilton

''If I had achieved better results it would have put things in a completely different mindset. My first or second race in Austria I was getting bashed like 'Where's yor performance? Where's your laptime?'. A result like that (a podium) would have quietened it all down and I would have the next few races with a bit less of that noise. Because those noises started from the very first race of the year, it was there. It was quite intense,'' says Albon in the Beyond The Grid F1 Podcast.

Despite that outside pressure and Hamilton's mistakes, the Thai doesn't blame the seven-time world champion for anything. ''For sure it (a podium) would have helped, but I would never, ever blame Lewis for what's happened to me. It's all on me,'' the Williams driver concludes critically of himself.

Read more Leclerc is clearly not (yet) on the level of Verstappen and Hamilton
The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), a national research and development agency, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), have been contracted by Japans Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, part of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), to conduct a Hydrogen Production Demonstration Project Utilizing Very High Temperature, and from this fiscal year initiated a program to produce hydrogen using a High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR).

Under this program, a newly built hydrogen production plant will be connected to an HTTR owned by JAEA, with the aim of proving the technology for hydrogen production utilizing the high temperature heat obtained from the HTTR.





The determination of specific renovations necessary to connect the hydrogen production plant, along with the licensing procedure, equipment modifications, and testing, will be conducted in stages.

To support future advancements in technologies for hydrogen production, JAEA and MHI will also examine the feasibility of enlarging certain components to allow for large-scale hydrogen production (such as the high temperature isolation valve), and explore carbon-free hydrogen production technologies in combination with high temperature gas-cooled reactors.

Through this program, JAEA and MHI intend to prove the technology for hydrogen production utilizing extremely high temperature heat from sources such as high temperature gas-cooled reactors, and realize the stable, large-scale, carbon-free hydrogen production.

Background. Japans Strategic Energy Plan (Cabinet approval in October 2021) sets as a policy the establishment of elemental technologies for hydrogen production using high temperature gas-cooled reactors. In addition, the Green Growth Strategy Through Achieving Carbon Neutrality in 2050 (formulated in June 2021) sets as a policy the development by 2030 of technologies necessary to produce large-scale, low cost, carbon-free hydrogen by utilizing HTTRs, which have achieved world record-high temperatures.

In accordance with these national policies, on 8 February 2022, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, part of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), began accepting bids for its Hydrogen Production Demonstration Project Utilizing Very High Temperature. A consortium comprising JAEA, which is capable of conducting tests using an HTTR, and MHI, which is evaluating technology for hydrogen production using high temperature gas-cooled reactors, was selected as the consignee for this project.

JAEA began research and development of high temperature gas-cooled reactors for the multi-purpose use of nuclear / thermal energy in 1969. The latest product of these long-running efforts is the recently completed High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR). MHI headed the design and construction group of this project and has developed software technologies to verify the performance and integrity of the reactor core and other high temperature structures as well as hardware technologies such as manufacturing high-temperature structures and heat exchangers.

High Temperature gas-cooled reactors produce thermal energy of approximately 1000C using ceramic (such as silicon carbide)-coated fuels and chemically inert helium gas coolant.

In addition to developing hydrogen production technology for the multi-purpose use of the high temperature gas-cooled reactor, MHI is also developing the helium gas turbine direct power generation system for high efficiency power generation.
Untether AI, a developer of at-memory computation for artificial intelligence (AI) inference acceleration, announced a collaboration with General Motors, supported by the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN), to accelerate the development of next-generation artificial intelligence perception systems for autonomous vehicles.

More than 90% of the power consumption in AI workloads is from the movement of data, according to Untether AI. Untether AI moves the compute element to where the data is stored (at memory), reducing the power consumption for data transfer by 6 times. This is the fundamental innovation that allows Untether AI to provide unprecedented compute density, untethered to traditional approaches.

At the heart of the unique at-memory compute architecture is a memory bank: 385KBs of SRAM with a 2D array of 512 processing elements. With 511 banks per chip, each device offers 200MB of memory, enough to run many networks in a single chip.

Perception systems are at the heart of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Under the agreement, Untether AI and GM will work together to demonstrate an autonomous vehicle perception system based on Untether AIs unique at-memory computation technology. This project is supported with $1 million from the OVIN R&D Partnership Fund which leverages $2.09 million of industry contribution.

AV perception systems use AI, in the form of neural networks, to understand the environment around the vehicle, which is critical to the functionality of autonomous vehicles. These systems are highly complex since they must make sense of many external inputs, such as multiple channels of video cameras, radar, ultrasound, and lidar data.

The project will incorporate Untether AIs next-generation at-memory compute technology to accelerate neural networks for AV perception systems. GM will contribute guidance and insight on AV perception system requirements, as well as providing access to the neural network technology that is utilized in the companys current AV perception system.

The projects goal is to help increase autonomous vehicle performance by providing faster and more accurate vision response, reducing the power draw of various AV systems to increase battery life, and even helping to enable the downsizing of vehicle batteries. Additionally, this solution will aim to save on overall autonomous vehicle control system cost.

Operating as the global venture capital arm of General Motors, GM Ventures strategically invests in startup companies that share GMs vision of a world of zero emissions, zero crashes and zero congestion, and are helping to accelerate the companys evolution into a leading transportation technology enterprise. Having served as a strategic investor in Untether AI since 2018, this pilot project represents an exciting next step in the exploration of potential applications for the technology and demonstrates how establishing a connection with GMs network of resources can lead to opportunities for tangible innovation.

Founded in Toronto in 2018, Untether AI is funded by CPP Investments, Intel Capital, Radical Ventures, and Tracker Capital.
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KYIV, Ukraine  Russia pounded targets from practically one end of Ukraine to the other Thursday, including Kyiv, bombarding the city while the head of the United Nations was visiting in the boldest attack on the capital since Moscows forces retreated weeks ago.

Ukrainian emergency services said 10 people were wounded when a Russian missile hit a 25-story apartment building in Kyiv on Thursday evening and set off a fire, which partially destroyed the first and second floors.

The bombardment came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said Ukraine has become an epicenter of unbearable heartache and pain.

A spokesperson said Guterres and his team were safe.

Meanwhile, explosions were reported across the country  in Polonne in the west, Chernihiv near the border with Belarus, and Fastiv, a large railway hub southwest of the capital.

The mayor of Odesa, in southern Ukraine, said rockets were intercepted by air defenses.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Ukraine says Russian offensive in east picks up momentum

 NATO chief says Finland, Sweden could join quite quickly

 Biden seeks new powers to use oligarchs assets for Ukraine

 A chilling Russian cyber aim in Ukraine: Digital dossiers

 After a rocket: One second and you are left with nothing

Follow all AP stories on Russias war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had very substantive and warm talks on energy and defense cooperation with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov during his visit to Kyiv on Thursday.

Zelenskyy said they agreed that damaged Ukrainian military equipment could be repaired at Bulgarian plants and then sent back to Ukraine.

Another issue we agreed on was the supply of Ukrainian electricity to Bulgaria and the joint use of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline to diversify energy supplies in the region, Zelenskyy said late Thursday in his nightly video address to the nation.

Russia this week cut off natural gas supplies to Bulgaria and also to Poland, two NATO members which have been among the strongest European supporters of Ukraine in the war.

Although Bulgaria gets over 90% of its gas from Russia, the cutoff does not immediately put the country in dire trouble because of other potential suppliers. The Trans-Balkan gas pipeline runs from Greece through Bulgaria and Romania to Ukraine.

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ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine  An 11-year-old Ukrainian boy was one of at least three people wounded in what emergency officials are calling the first Russian strike in a residential area of the southern city of Zaporizhzhia since Russias invasion began.

The city has been a crucial waypoint for tens of thousands of people fleeing the besieged southern port of Mariupol.

The rocket strike came Thursday as parts of southern Ukraine prepared for a further onslaught by Russian forces who seek to strip the country of its coastline.

Residents said at least eight homes in the modest neighborhood were damaged or destroyed.

Glass shards cut the boys right leg to the bone. The injured boys father, Vadym Vodostoyev, said it just takes one second and youre left with nothing.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Russia struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday evening.

At least one person was killed and several were injured, including some who were trapped beneath the rubble, according to rescue officials. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Shevchenkivskyi district in the northwestern part of the city was hit twice, causing fires in at least two high-rise buildings.

The explosions, which sent plumes of black smoke into the air, came just shortly after the two leaders held a press conference in which Guterres condemned the atrocities committed in towns like Bucha, where evidence of mass killings of civilians was found after Russia retreated. Authorities said the U.N. chief and his team were safe.

Appearing to be one of boldest attacks on Kyiv since Russian forces retreated from around the capital weeks ago, the explosions came as residents have been increasingly returning to the city. Cafes and other businesses have reopened, and a growing number of people have been out and enjoying the spring weather.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines prosecutor on Thursday identified 10 Russian soldiers she accused of atrocities in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, one of the wars major flashpoints that helped galvanize Western support of Ukraine.

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said on Facebook that the 10 soldiers in Russias 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Ground Forces Brigade who occupied Bucha were involved in the torture of peaceful people. She did not specifically say that her office had filed criminal charges, and appealed to the public to help develop evidence.

The Russian government denies it targets civilians. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently honored the brigades work, and Venediktova said he bears responsibility for the soldiers actions as their commander-in-chief.

During the occupation of Bucha, they took unarmed civilians hostage, killed them with hunger and thirst, kept them on their knees with hands tied and eyes taped, mocked and beat them, Venediktova said, adding that the Russian soldiers threatened to shoot the hostages and looted houses.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, visiting Bucha on Thursday, called for a thorough investigation of alleged war crimes. Ukrainian authorities have said they are investigating thousands of possible war crimes, including killing of civilians, bombing of civilian infrastructure, torture, sexual crimes and use of prohibited weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nightly video address to his nation, renewed a pledge to hold Russian soldiers accountable for crimes. He added about the 10 suspects identified Thursday: Some of them may not, after all, live until a trial and fair punishment. But only for one reason: This Russian brigade has been transferred to the Kharkiv region. There, theyll receive retribution from our military.

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WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden is rejecting the idea that Russias war in Ukraine could grow into a larger proxy conflict between Moscow and the United States and NATO allies that may even bring the world closer to nuclear confrontation.

At an event at the White House where Biden asked Congress for an additional $33 billion to aid Ukraine, the president said Thursday that the idea of a larger proxy war was concerning but not true.

He blamed Russian authorities for exaggerating such speculation, saying it shows the desperation that Russia is feeling about their abject failure with the invasion of Ukraine.

Instead of saying that the Ukrainians, equipped with some capability to resist Russian forces, are doing this, theyve got to tell their people that the United States and all of NATO is engaged, Biden said.

He added that no one should be making idle comments about the use of nuclear weapons and called doing so irresponsible.

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LONDON  The British government says a U.K. national has been killed in Ukraine, and another is missing.

The Foreign Office confirmed Thursday that it is supporting the family of a British national killed in Ukraine. It also said it was urgently seeking further information on another Briton who is missing.

The government did not provide further details.

Sky News reported that the Britons were believed to have been fighting with Ukrainians against the Russian invasion.

Volunteers from Britain and many other countries have traveled to Ukraine to fight, despite being discouraged from doing so by their governments.

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ISTANBUL  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says both U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin have told him that their talks in Moscow earlier this week were positive.

Erdogan told reporters before leaving for a trip to Saudi Arabia, that he held separate telephone calls with Guterres and Putin.

Mr. Guterres ... informed me that the talks (with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov) were positive. In our discussion with Mr. Putin yesterday, Putin expressed the same views.

Erdogan added that the Russian president had conveyed the opinion that a U.N. intervention is positive for the future. He did not elaborate.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian troops defending a steel plant that is the last Ukrainian bulwark in the key port of Mariupol say an intensive Russian bombing has inflicted more casualties.

The Azov Regiment holed up at the giant Azovstal steel plant on Thursday posted a video showing people combing through the rubble to remove the dead bodies and help the wounded after the Russian bombing overnight. The Azov said the Russians hit an improvised underground hospital and its surgery room, killing an unspecified number of people and wounding others there.

The video couldnt be independently verified.

The Russian troops have pummeled the mammoth seaside plant with relentless airstrikes and artillery barrage, trying to uproot its defenders holed up in a 24-kilometer (15-mile) maze of underground tunnels, passages and bunkers.

Ukrainian officials say that up to 1,000 civilians also were sheltering in Azovstal. They are demanding that Russia provides a safe exit for them under the United Nations aegis.

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WARSAW, Poland  Polands border guard agency says that it has recorded 3 million crossings into Poland from neighboring Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24, while there have been 904,000 crossings into Ukraine.

Border guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska said Thursday that the number includes people who cross a number of times because, for example, they regularly do shopping in Poland and then go back.

Polish authorities say some 1.6 million refugees have applied for and received special ID numbers that will allow them to work and receive free health care and education in Poland.

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VIENNA  The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says radiation levels in excavations found in the exclusion zone around the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant were well below the maximum authorized levels for plant workers.

Ukraines state power company said after Russian troops withdrew at the end of March that they received significant doses of radiation from digging trenches in the area.

IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said Thursday that, during a visit this week, experts from his agency took measurements from excavations probably made by occupying soldiers.

He said that the levels were three times or more lower than the authorized levels for workers in areas exposed to radiation.

As for whether anyone was actually exposed to those radiation levels, he said: We have asked about possible exposures or situations; we havent received any answer.

Although that suggested the health risk wasnt as great as feared, Grossi stressed that its not a place to have a picnic or excavate.

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BRUSSELS  Senior European Union officials say countries or companies bowing fully to the terms of a Russian presidential decree insisting that they pay their gas bills in rubles will be in breach of the blocs sanctions.

The Kremlin says importers should establish an account in dollars or euros at Russias Gazprombank, then a second account in rubles. They would pay the gas bill in euros or dollars and direct the bank to exchange the money for rubles.

The officials warn that Russias central bank could hold on to the money before converting it and in essence use the funds as a temporary loan for the national economy or to prop up the ruble. The EUs sanctions prohibit any transaction with the Russian Central Bank.

One official said Thursday that if the member states and the European companies apply strictly the decree  it will constitute a breach of the sanctions. His job description does not allow him to be named publicly.

The violation essentially comes with the use of the second bank account. The EUs executive branch, the European Commission, has said that companies could remain in compliance by paying in euros or dollars, as per their contract, and then notifying Gazprombank that their payment obligations are over.

Ultimately, its up to the 27 EU countries to judge whether the rules are being broken. Some of those countries are heavily reliant on Russia for gas.

 By Lorne Cook.

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TOKYO  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is defending his countrys ongoing purchase of gas and other fossil fuels from Russia.

Speaking during a visit to Japan on Thursday, Scholz said that it is a challenge that many European countries, including Germany, are dependent on imports of fossil resources from Russia.

Scholz said his government aims to end imports of Russian coal and oil this year. He said that the same will happen for gas, but that is a process that will require more time.

Asked whether he was concerned Russia might stop shipping gas to Germany, like it did this week for Poland and Bulgaria, Scholz acknowledged that any interruption would have consequences for the economic situation.

He said this was also the reason why there no sanctions have so far been imposed on energy supplies from Russia, adding this had been decided in close cooperation with our partners who themselves are energy exporters and therefore in a different starting position, such as the United States.

Scholz said: Whether and what decisions the Russian government takes in this regard one can only speculate, but it makes little sense to do so.

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ANKARA, Turkey  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has discussed the war in Ukraine in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The leaders also discussed a prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia that took place in Turkey on Wednesday. Erdogans office said he told Putin on Thursday that Turkeys mediation in the exchange was an indication of the importance Ankara attaches to peace, dialogue and cooperation.

He reiterated Turkeys readiness to mediate between Russia and Ukraine and its wish to establish peace in the region by increasing the momentum generated in face-to-face talks that were held between the two countries delegations in Istanbul late last month.

It was the second telephone call between the two presidents this week. On Tuesday, Erdogan urged Putin to agree to direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.

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WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden is asking Congress or new powers to seize and repurpose the assets of Russian oligarchs as part of a new funding request to aid Ukraine in its defense against Russias invasion.

In remarks at the White House on Thursday morning, Biden will formally ask for billions of dollars in additional U.S. spending earmarked for supplying Ukraines military, bolstering its economy and supporting the millions of refugees who fled Russias invasion two months ago. The White House said he will also seek new authorities from Congress to strengthen U.S. sanctions against the Russian government and those who profit from it, the White House said.

Biden is asking lawmakers to make it a criminal offense for a person to knowingly or intentionally possess proceeds directly obtained from corrupt dealings with the Russian government, double the statute of limitations for foreign money laundering offenses to 10 years, and expand the definition of racketeering under U.S. law to include efforts to evade sanctions.

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MOSCOW  Russia says that Turkey gave it advance notice before moving to bar Russian planes from flying to Syria over its territory.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that Turkey had asked Russia more than a month ago not to send Syria-bound planes over its territory. She added that the reasons for that were clear to us and the Russian side isnt using that route.

Zakharova made the comment when asked about Turkeys weekend announcement that it had halted Russian flights to Turkey over its territory from the start of this month.

It wasnt clear whether the move was related to Russias military operation in Ukraine. Turkey has close relations with both countries and has positioned itself as a mediator.

Russia and Turkey have backed opposite sides in the Syrian civil war.

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SOFIA, Bulgaria  Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov has said during a visit to the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka that he hopes Bulgarian lawmakers will agree next week to send military assistance to Ukraine.

Petkov was due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv later Thursday. He said after viewing damage caused to Borodyanka during the initial Russian advance that we cannot be indifferent. We cannot say that this is a Ukrainian problem, we cannot say some people are dying but we are not interested in that.

He criticized the argument of some politicians in Bulgaria that denying military aid to Ukraine would bring about a faster peace.

Petkov said: If this is the price of peace, if the Russian state continues to fire and no one can defend himself  is this the peace we want?

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KYIV, Ukraine  Mariupol authorities are sounding the alarm about unsanitary conditions in the ravaged port city that they say pose a deadly danger to its remaining residents.

Mariupol City Council said on the messaging app Telegram Thursday that deadly epidemics may break out in the city due to the lack of centralized water supply and sewerage, the decomposition of thousands of corpses under the rubble, a catastrophic shortage of drinking water and food.

It said that the lives of 100,000 people who still remain in Mariupol, out of 450,000 pre-war residents, may be in danger  pointing to diseases like cholera and dysentery.

The Telegram post cited Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko as saying that the invaders are not able to provide the remaining population with food, water and medicines  or are simply not interested in that. He said that living conditions in the ruined Mariupol are now medieval and that an immediate and complete evacuation is needed.

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WASHINGTON  A majority of U.S. adults say misinformation around Russias invasion of Ukraine is a major problem, and they largely fault the Russian government for spreading those falsehoods.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 61% of people in the United States say the spread of misinformation about the war is a major problem, with only 7% saying its not a problem. Older adults were more likely to identify the wartime misinformation as an issue, with 44% of those under 30 calling it a problem, compared with 65% of those 30 or older.

Misleading social media posts, fake pictures or videos and propagandized headlines have proliferated on websites, from TikTok to Facebook, since Russias assault on Ukraine began in February. In recent weeks, Russian state media and social media accounts have operated in lockstep to push tweets, TV reports and posts that claim photos of bombed buildings and bodies across Ukraine have been staged or faked.
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Tribal and local authorities and volunteers from a Minnesota-based missing persons foundation will search the Yurok Reservation in remote Northern California over three days for Emmilee Risling, a 33-year-old Native woman who went missing last October.

The search, which will involve more than 30 people, several boats and 10 cadaver dogs, was prompted by an Associated Press article published in February about Rislings disappearance. It begins Friday morning and ends Sunday night.

The mother of two, who has ancestry from three area tribes, fell through the cracks both in life and in death. Her case was one of five instances since 2020 where Indigenous women went missing or were killed between San Francisco and Oregon and helped prompt the Yurok Tribe to declare a state of emergency around missing and murdered Indigenous women.

The Jon Francis Foundation will provide volunteers and helped assemble 20 other searchers and 10 cadaver-sniffing dogs, said Yurok Tribal Police Chief Greg O'Rourke. The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office and Yurok police will also provide a combination of several sheriff's deputies, search and rescue personnel, two boats and four boating officers, he said.

The search will cover a massive area  about half the reservation  and also parts of the Klamath River and its banks.

I am grateful that the foundation has been able to use its contacts to bring in the additional resources so we can answer the familys questions and bring closure to the family, O'Rourke said in a phone interview.

The vast expanse of terrain and river that needed to be searched made it impossible for the tribe and local authorities to complete the job on their own, he said. The AP previously reported on jurisdictional issues with the case: Risling was a member of the nearby Hoopa Valley Tribe but went missing on the Yurok Reservation. The Yurok Police Department is in charge of the investigation, but the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office will decide when to declare the case cold.

The tribe tried to organize their own volunteers but it was not a full law enforcement search and rescue, O'Rourke said.

The search is under tribal authority but the sheriff's office will provide three deputies, all-terrain vehicles and volunteers from their search and rescue posse, said Samantha Karges, agency spokeswoman.

David Francis, who founded the nonprofit in 2007 after his son went missing on a hike in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, said he was first contacted by a Yurok tribal member living in San Francisco after the AP article was published. He then read the story and reached out to the tribal police chief and Risling's parents after learning about the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, he said.

Francis' group has conducted 28 missing persons searches after local authorities have stopped looking and have found bodies in 10 of those cases, he said. His own son was found after more than a year of family-funded searches; it was determined Jon Francis fell more than 120 feet while hiking in the mountains.

I went into investigative mode and said, Can we help this family? Because thats what we do," Francis said. In these cases, we dont know what happened, we cant find them and we cant lay them to rest and its very painful."

Risling was an accomplished traditional dancer and graduated from the University of Oregon with a double major. She planned to attend law school, but got caught up in an abusive relationship and struggled with mental health and drug addiction after returning to the Hoopa Valley Tribe's reservation.

Her parents and tribal law enforcement say she repeatedly fell through the cracks in a vast, remote area with almost no mental health services and limited law enforcement and addiction treatment services.

She sometimes wandered naked on the Hoopa Valley and Yurok reservations. Just before her disappearance, she had been released from jail on an arson charge and hadn't shown up for her court date.

She was last seen in October soon after walking across a bridge in a remote sliver of the Yurok Reservation.

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Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus
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GREENWICH  Three police detectives, including the first woman in the Greenwich Police Department to be honored this way, were presented with Officer of the Year awards at a ceremony Thursday highlighting excellence in law enforcement.

The John Clarke Award, the annual honor bestowed by the Greenwich Lions Club and the departments top award, had been on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the ceremony, the award was given out for each of the last three years.

Detectives Gregory Parillo and Jeremiah Bussell were cited as recipients of the Clarke Award in 2019 for their work in arresting a suspect wanted in connection with a sexual assault.

The entire Greenwich Police Department received the award for 2020, cited for its work during the depths of the pandemic.

Detective First Grade Christy Girard was cited as the 2021 recipient for her work as the lead investigator in a slaying that occurred 35 years ago, culminating in the arrest of a suspect accused of killing her newborn infant in 1986.

Girard had been assigned to the departments cold-case unit, reexamining earlier homicides and bringing new DNA technology to bear, and her investigation led to the arrest of Janita M. Phillips last November. Girard and other Greenwich detectives also carried out surveillance of Phillips near her home in Florida that led to an arrest warrant.

Its definitely a high point of my career. I love working cold cases, and this one was very important to me, Girard said after the presentation. Girard said she was thankful for the assistance of other officers for their work on the case, both in the past and now.

Phillips, who was 26 at the time of her babys death, was charged with homicide, and her criminal case is in process. She was working at a Greenwich clothing store at the time of the babys, later moving to Florida.

When she was presented with the award, Girard said, My passion for my job is sometimes difficult to corral.

Police Chief James Heavey cited the detective for expertise and dedication in her work on the cold-case homicide.

The entire department was honored as the 2020 Clarke Award recipient for its working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Heavey said officers did their jobs with compassion, skill and professionalism as the coronavirus pandemic washed over the community.

They showed up to work and really made the effort. ... Officers met the challenge everyday, the chief noted. He said an emergency dispatcher succumbed to the coronavirus in 2021.

The department responded to 6,000 medical calls during the first full year of the pandemic, he said. And the department showed a high level of flexibility during the early days of the pandemic, Heavey said, with officers quick to donate food and offer assistance to the community during the economic disruption that followed the outbreak.

Parillo and Bussell were credited for their work in making an arrest in 2019 on a sexual-assault case that originated in Stamford and ended in Greenwich. According to papers filed in Superior Court, the suspect had a modus operandi of impersonating an Uber driver and preying on young, intoxicated women in the downtown area of Stamford. The suspect was involved in a similar incident, police said.

The two detectives went to Kansas City, Kan., to apprehend the suspect and bring him back to Connecticut to face charges. Heavey said old-fashioned detective work and a multifaceted investigation involving multiple jurisdictions resulted in a successful outcome.

This is the highest award for the police department, and Im honored, but there are some humble notes, too. This was a real team effort, Parillo said after receiving the award.

Added Bussell, We had a lot of help on this one, and we caught the bad guy.

The detectives all thanked their families for their support and patience.

The ceremony was held at the Riverside Yacht Club. The Lions Club has been presenting the award every year since 1948. Clarke was a Lions Club president who served as the medical adviser to the town police from the 1920s until his death in 1943.

First Selectman Fred Camillo said he was grateful to the department for keeping us safe and protected.

rmarchant@greenwichtime.com
EDGARD, La. (AP)  Descendants of slaves who lived and toiled in southeastern Louisiana won a key ruling Thursday allowing their legal challenge to go forward against a $400 million grain elevator planned along the Mississippi River, although the company behind the project said it would likely appeal.

Greenfield Louisiana LLC, which intends to build the terminal between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, had been pushing a court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Descendants Project, which is suing the regional government over what it calls the corrupt rezoning of the land for industrial use decades ago. Greenfield had argued on different grounds that the lawsuit should be thrown out. But during the hearing Thursday Judge J. Sterling Snowdy said he would deny all those grounds and would explain his reasoning in a more detailed ruling within days.

Two sisters, Jo and Joy Banner, formed the Descendants Project and have been leading the opposition to the grain elevator. They and about 30 supporters gathered outside the courthouse afterward to celebrate.

Were very happy that we can move forward, said Joy Banner. This was a huge win.... a huge step in our process.

The ruling means that the Descendants Project can move forward with things like trying to depose figures in the company trying to build the grain elevator. Their lawsuit also raises questions about the project's environmental risks and challenges its expected proximity to homes that have stood nearby for generations.

Greenfield purchased the land in July 2021 on the east bank of the Mississippi River in St. John the Baptist Parish and said the roughly $400 million project would include a loading terminal and 54 silos, providing more than 100 jobs. The lush green fields where the terminal would go butt up against the large levee that keeps the Mississippi River in its track.

The lawyer representing Greenfield, Louis E. Buatt, said after the hearing that company officials would review the judge's written ruling when it's issued in coming days and would then likely seek a review by the appeals court.

Greenfield is moving forward with our project after earning overwhelming support from the community, the port and public officials on our effort to bring clean jobs and tax support for the residents," he said in a statement, adding that he didn't think the legal maneuvering would ultimately hold up the project.

Buatt said although the judge denied all three of the company's arguments for dismissing the case outright  the judge did indicate that its assertion that the statue of limitations has already run out might have merit going forward. A representative for the parish said they could not comment on pending litigation.

The Descendants Project has been fighting the placement of the grain elevator, saying some homes in the nearby town of Wallace where they live would be only 260 feet (less than 80 meters) away from the project, which the lawsuit states would include a conveyor structure nearly as tall as the Statue of Liberty.

The lawsuit also raises questions about environmental hazards such as dust from the facility posing a health hazard to the predominantly Black residents of Wallace and whether the grain terminal would disturb possible slave burial grounds. The terminal would also be located not far from the Whitney Plantation, which documents the history of slavery and has become an important tourist destination.

The company has said the grain elevator would be clean, safe, provide jobs and has wide support in the community.

At issue is a zoning change made decades ago. The area zoning was changed in 1990 when Formosa Plastics Corp. wanted to build a rayon plant at the site. Formosa, however, dropped its plans in 1992 and six years after the land was rezoned, a former parish president, Lester Millet Jr., was convicted of charges including extorting $200,000 from the person he chose to broker the land sale.

The Descendants Project has essentially argued that the industrial zoning was the result of Millet's corruption and should be thrown out. Lawyers for the parish and Greenfield have argued that Millet was only one part of the process and that the parish council also approved the rezoning. They've also argued that too much time has passed to challenge the rezoning.

The area along the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and known locally as the river parishes was once the site of plantations that stretched from the river back to the farmland where crops  often sugarcane  were grown and harvested by slave labor. In more recent decades industrial plants have been built up and down the river  a development criticized by environmental groups that contend they are a health hazard for the region and the people who live there.

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Follow Santana on Twitter @ruskygal.
GREENWICH  Woodbridge School Districts superintendent Jonathan Budd will join the administrative team at the Greenwich Public Schools as chief human resources officer as of July 1.

The position has been open since April 4 when Shamain Johnson left the district, according to the district.

We are very excited to add Dr. Budd to the districts leadership team to lead our human resources department, GPS Superintendent Toni Jones said in a statement. His vast experience in administration, and specifically in human resource matters in school districts in Connecticut, will prove to be a major asset to Greenwich Public Schools.

In Greenwich, Budd will lead the districts human resources department and work with the towns human resources staff. He will supervise certificated labor agreements, and his team will be in charge of the hiring process for all staff in cooperation with the superintendent, according to the district.

In December 2020, Budd joined the Woodbridge School District as its superintendent. .The district serves as the elementary school system for the town of Woodbridge, and graduates attend Amity Regional School District 5, serving students from Bethany, Orange and Woodbridge.

Previously, Budd worked in Trumbull Public Schools for six years, most recently serving as assistant superintendent. He has gained experience in human resources in both Trumbull and Woodbridge.

He has been an educator for 26 years, beginning as an English teacher at Windsor High School in Windsor. In 2000, Budd took a job with the Region 9 School District, in Easton and Redding, as an English teacher and writing center co-director. He led negotiations for the teachers bargaining unit for 15 years.

He holds bachelors degrees in English and music from Connecticut College and a masters degree in English from Trinity College. Budd earned a sixth-year diploma in educational administration from the University of Connecticut before getting his doctorate in English education from Columbia University.

Greenwich Public Schools are justifiably the envy of educators across the State of Connecticut, he said. It will be my privilege and pleasure to join Dr. Jones and the GPS team in maximizing the potential of each employee toward the strongest experience for each and every child, each and every day.

Budd will begin to work transitional days before the school years end.

He will be the third administrator in position in recent years. Effective July 1, 2020, Jones had appointed Johnson as the chief human resources officer for the Greenwich schools.

Johnson, who had also served as the interim human resources director, replaced Robert Stacy.

He led the Greenwich school districts Human Resources Department until August 2019, when he took the position of executive director of human resources and talent development at Stamford Public Schools. Stacy had been the chief human resources officer in the Greenwich schools since July 2015. During his tenure, he also served as the interim chief operating officer/director of facilities.

annelise.hanshaw@hearstmediact.com
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GREENWICH  Caleb Boateng, a senior at Brunswick School from the Bronx, N.Y., accepted one of four YWCA Greenwich gender and racial justice scholarships with a mild smile.

A leader of the private schools diversity and equity club, he said the honor belongs to the entire club.

The YWCA Greenwich honored Boateng and three other young leaders during the annual Stand Against Racism event held Friday in front of Greenwich Town Hall. All four recipients expressed the importance of providing a space for people to gather and discuss.

Over the past four years, Caleb has arduously led the fight for gender and racial justice through his work in the diversity and equity club at Brunswick School, Greenwich Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones said in presenting the award. Through his work, Brunswick has become a better school and a better community.

Boateng said he wont deny Brunswick has grown, but he said he has, too. He told Greenwich Time he learned to be a present leader, listening to others before speaking.

But if one listens to Boateng, he tells of his unique perspective in the Brunswick community. He enrolled at Brunswick in sixth grade as part of nonprofit CitySquashs mission to provide academic opportunities to motivated students.

He describes his previous school as the worst school in the Bronx and said Brunswick provided a whole different experience. Boateng said he heard students talk about attending Harvard and felt their competitive drive.

But also, the kids and the teachers were very welcoming and very supportive. Always, if I needed a some extra help, they would help me out, Boateng said.

But he also noticed little things that can hurt a kid.

As a Black kid from the Bronx coming to a Greenwich school, sometimes kids touch your hair or something like that. It really may discourage a kid, Boateng said. Raising awareness at a young age, even from high school or middle school, is very important so stuff like that doesnt happen, and everybody can feel really comfortable  and they can thrive.

Boateng, who plans to attend Middlebury College in the fall, has reached beyond Brunswick, bridging his schools club to Greenwichs other private and public educational institutions. He created platforms for people to express their feelings in the wake of George Floyds murder and after homophobic incidents, Jones said.

Kayla Ferjuste, a Greenwich Academy junior, is vice president of her schools Black student union and took initiative to reconnect her affinity group to the others around campus. Ferjuste said she restarted a group called DOPE this school year with her friends after remembering its lively gatherings her freshman year.

Its such an important space that people deserve at our school because its for everyone. Its not just for people who identify with a certain ethnic background; its for all of the school to come together, she said.

The club has allowed students on different grade levels to give advice to others and create a better community within Greenwich Academy, she said.

Within the Black student union, she has helped organize charitable causes and a Black History Month centered on Black achievements and joy.

Claire Miller and Elisa Taylor, co-chairs of Sacred Heart Greenwichs diversity club, accepted their award jointly.

Both are interested in celebrating cultural differences. Taylors heart for diversity is propelled by her Asian heritage. When she saw anti-Asian attacks, Taylor said she wanted to speak out.

Millers grandmother emigrated from Cuba and often talks about the difficulties of assimilating into U.S. society.

That got me interested cultural immersion and diversity and facilitating a greater awareness of how diversity strengthens our society, she said.

YWCA Greenwich presents the scholarships annually.

Young people have always led and been at the forefront of social change in this country, and often throughout the world. We hope that the students that you will meet shortly will continue to lead the way and then we will follow them, said Erin O. Crosby, director of womens empowerment and racial justice at YWCA Greenwich.

annelise.hanshaw@hearstmediact.com
Judges in the Superior Court of Guam soon will hold trials in their own courtrooms for the first time since the pandemic started, according to Chief Justice F. Philip Carbullido, who said past investments in infrastructure are the key reason the courts were able to function during the past couple of years.

Even after pandemic restrictions subside, virtual platforms are here to stay, Carbullido said Friday morning during his annual State of the Judiciary Address at the Guam Congress Building. We continue to invest in acquiring and upgrading the technology tools necessary to safety and securely continue our operations virtually in the digital world.

Carbullido said his latest term as chief justice, which started in January 2020, has been shaped by the coronavirus. We did our absolute best, under the circumstances, he said.

Last year, our trial judges held nearly 50 jury trials in two makeshift high-capacity courtrooms, he said. The judiciary availed of various mainstream communications technologies to ensure the public and news media had uninterrupted access to judicial proceedings.

Although there are drawbacks to holding virtual judicial proceedings  virtual hearings often take longer than in-person hearings  it has provided many advantages for people who use the courts, Carbullido said. Anyone with a cell phone or laptop and access to the internet can take part in virtual hearings and services without necessarily having to take the day off from work, arrange childcare or physically drive to court Going virtual has also helped us increase our transparency.

The chief justice said the increased use of virtual platforms strained the judiciarys existing infrastructure, and the courts are using American Rescue Plan money to upgrade servers and firewalls, install new fiber lines and purchase equipment, to function as a state-of-the-art third branch of government.

He said the courts increased use of technology started before the pandemic, with the 2019 launch of the electronic monitoring program for detainees, as an alternative to being detained at the Department of Corrections.

By the start of the pandemic, the judiciarys (electronic monitoring) numbers had increased into the double digits. At one point, we were providing (electronic monitoring) supervision for some 65 participants, but due to budget constraints we have now had to cap that number at just 50, Carbullido said. The story to be told here is the success that the judiciary has had with a technological answer to an overcrowded prison system.

He said the easing of mask mandates will allow judges to reopen their courtrooms, and the judiciary plans to renovate the former court building and relocate administrative offices there by the end of the year.

Carbullido said the governors budget includes money for an eighth Superior Court judge, and the judiciary is now converting a management information system server room into a high-capacity courtroom for the new judge.

I am proud to report that the state of your judiciary is responsive and rooted, Carbullido said. Responsive to the ever-changing demand of providing quality justice services, even under pandemic conditions. Rooted in the solid infrastructure that makes our operations possible.
Two passengers of a pulled over vehicle were charged in connection with possession of meth.

According to charging documents filed in the Superior Court of Guam, Mark Leodones and Darlene Halstead were sitting in the backseat of a car that was pulled over Wednesday night after a police officer saw it had no front license plate.

When the car pulled over, Halstead immediately got out of the car, saying she had to use the restroom. The officer ordered her to go back into the car. The officer then saw there were four people in the car, according to court documents.

As the officer asked the driver to get out of the car to check the vehicle identification number, he saw a broken piece of glass recognized as glass used to smoke methamphetamine, the documents stated.

Halstead was then asked to exit the car when the officer saw a glass pipe stained with white frosty residue underneath the drivers seat. Halstead denied the pipe was hers but said she had several in a blue purse. She consented to being searched, according to court documents.

The purse had multiple broken glass pipes stained with suspected methamphetamine. There was also a black purse found near Halsteads seat that had a meth-stained pipe and a plastic baggie containing meth, documents stated.

When Leodones was asked to exit the car, a blue toothbrush container was found where he was sitting. The container had a glass pipe stained with methamphetamine, according to the documents.

The two were then arrested. Halstead said she did not smoke meth but that she fixes broken pipes as a way to make money. Leodones said he knew the pipe that was found in the toothbrush container was used to smoke ice. He said the last time he smoked was last month and the pipe was not his, the complaint stated.

Obstruction

In addition to the drug charge, Halstead was charged with obstructing governmental functions as a misdemeanor.

The morning after being arrested, Halstead complained to officers that she had pain in her stomach and groin area, as well as blood in her urine, before asking to be taken to the hospital for treatment, documents stated.

Halstead was taken to the hospital, but was uncooperative and refused to provide information to the clerk. After eventually complying, Halstead was seen by a doctor but refused to provide a urine and blood sample. She insisted she knew what was wrong and she did not want to be treated, documents stated.

Halstead was then discharged and taken back to the precinct. At the precinct, she began to kick the holding cells and demanded to be released. Leg restraints were then placed on Halstead to prevent her from harming herself, the documents stated.
Senators rejected a plan to revitalize the capital village of Hagatna by an 8-6 vote on Friday.

The Hagatna Restoration and Redevelopment Plan would have relocated government agencies and offices to a new civic center and created a waterfront district on the shoreline, a riverwalk district along the Hagatna River and a residential West Hagatna district between the city center and Adelup.

While generally supportive of revitalizing the capital village, senators were reluctant to approve a plan that would give the Redevelopment Authority broad powers to control rezoning, tax building improvements and take private property for public use.

There were concerns that private landowners were not aware of the extent of the plan, and that input was received mostly from businesses and government agencies, rather than property owners.

Speaker Therese Terlaje and Sens. Sabina Perez, Tony Ada, Frank Blas Jr., Joanne Brown, Christopher Duenas, James Moylan and Telo Taitague voted against Bill 246-36, which was introduced by Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero.

Support for the bill came from Vice Speaker Tina Muna Barnes and Sens. Telena Nelson, Clynton Ridgell, Joe S. San Agustin, Amanda Shelton and Mary Torres. Sen. Jose Pedo Terlaje was not present and excused.

Senators passed Bills 286-36 and 287-36, which waived the 180-day instructional requirement for public school students and the service-learning requirement for high school students.

The bills were introduced by Nelson at the request of the Guam Department of Education.

Superintendent Jon Fernandez previously testified that although classes were disrupted the last two years because of the pandemic, students should be able to continue regular school attendance in the future.

Both bills passed by a vote of 14-0.

Senators also extended the effective date of the paper bag ban for wholesale and retail establishments to July 1, 2025. Bill 245-36 passed by a vote of 14-0.
Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson meets with members of the 34th Guam Legislature to discuss the islands political status plebiscite and an update on gambling machine licenses at the Guam Congress Building in Hagatna, Sept. 28, 2018.
The Atantano Shrine, located near the boundries of Piti and Santa Rita-Sumai, on April 26, 2022.
Robert Underwood is the former president of the University of Guam and Guams former delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Published on 2022/04/28 | Source

"House of Hummingbird", "The Policeman's Lineage" and "Meeting Plaza" are available to preorder on DVD with English subtitles from YESASIA.

"House of Hummingbird" (2018)

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Directed by Kim Bora

With Park Ji-hu, Kim Sae-byuk, Jung In-gi, Lee Seung-yeon-I, Park Soo-yeon, Son Yong-beom,...

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Set in 1994, 14-year-old Eun-hee seeks love. Although ignored by her older siblings and parents who run a mill, she is an attractive girl to boys and girls her age. One day, a teacher with an understanding heart comes into Eun-hee's life.

Release date in Korea : 2019/08/29



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"The Policeman's Lineage" (2020)

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Min-jae who is a policeman from generation to generation has been ordered to investigate Kang-yoon secretly, who is the ace team leader of investigation team. Min-jae is appointed as the member of Kang-yoon's team. Min-jae has belief of "If the police do something illegal even it has been occurred during the process of investigation, he is also a criminal". But while Min-jae investigates Kang-yoon, he begins to resemble Kang-yoon who has belief of "The chase of crime should be justified even it's illegal". Will Min-jae be able to clear his private mission and arrest Kang-yoon that he trusts and admires?

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"Meeting Plaza" (2020)

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Judges deal setbacks to efforts to save Shepherd funeral business

The path to saving the Thos. Shepherd & Son funeral and cemetery business grew more tenuous last week when judges handed the company a pair of decisive losses.

On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge William Coward rejected an appeal by Shepherd attorney Michael Edney of the order in December that shut down the funeral home, revoked the funeral director license of the late Thomas R. Tom Shepherd and pulled the crematory manager permit of his wife, Melody Shepherd.

The next day, Superior Court Judge Marvin Pope appointed a receiver to take over the management of Shepherd Memorial Park, saying in his order that the public would be likely to sustain irreparable harm if the court did not grant the N.C. Cemetery Commissions motion.





Consumers are the winners here

In a sweeping win for the N.C. Board of Funeral Service, Coward dismissed Edneys petition for judicial review of the revocation order, denied his motion to temporarily block the revocation pending appeal and ordered the business to cease and desist all copying, downloading and retaining of active pre-need contracts, relinquish all records of the contracts and destroy all electronic and hard copies after the transfer is complete.

Were pleased that the court give it careful and thoughtful consideration, Catherine E. Lee, general counsel for the regulatory agency, said outside the Transylvania County Courthouse after the hearing concluded. Well be getting the files back to make sure that consumers are protected. I think the consumers are the winners here.

Coward also ordered Shepherd to pay the regulatory boards attorney fees, which Lee said totaled $6,000.

The Board of Funeral Service had its own copies of the preneed contracts because funeral homes are required to file with them with the agency. But Lee and the agencys director say they need any supporting files or other documents the funeral home might have retained. Although Edney said in a hearing before Judge Coward on Feb. 14 that he intended to drop his appeal of the revocation and turn over the preneed contracts, that never happened. Instead, Edney renewed his effort to appeal the revocation order. Last Tuesday he argued that the judge should honor the constitutional property rights that we have in those contracts.

The state board first offered the 550 preneed contracts to Jackson Funeral Service based solely on the fact that it was the closest funeral home to the Shepherd business on South Church Street, Stephen Davis, executive director of the funeral service board, told the Lightning. When owner Jay Jackson turned them down, the contracts went to Shuler Forest Lawn. (Under the law, consumers have the right to transfer preneed contracts themselves at any time to whatever funeral home they choose.)

Edney told Judge Coward said that he had a letter of intent from another funeral home that wants to buy the Thos. Shepherd & Son corporation. Edney went on to say that he had told the Board of Funeral Service during its March 9 meeting that we had a potential buyer. Instead of granting him more time, they go behind my back and go behind the courts back and take the contracts and give them to someone else, he said. The court should not allow the regulatory board to continue to violate the rights and laws by assigning the contracts to the company that one of the board members sits on. It doesnt pass the smell test.

Edney argued that the revocation ought to be vacated because Tom Shepherd died on Dec. 31. Further, he argued that the hearing via Zoom last November took place with no attorney present to represent Tom and Melody Shepherd and at a time Tom Shepherd was on his death bed and unable to participate.



Receiver is in total control of cemetery

The day after Cowards ruling in favor of the funeral service board, Judge Pope similarly granted the Cemetery Commission everything it asked for and rejected Edneys effort to forestall the receivership while he pursued an appeal. Popes order impounded the 30-acre Shepherd Memorial Park, appointed a receiver to manage, control and administer all property, business, finances and affairs of the cemetery and barred Shepherd employees from any management role.

In his order, Pope found that Shepherd Memorial Park had failed to contribute to the Perpetual Care Trust Fund as required by law to ensure that cemeteries maintain their grounds, failed to pay assessments owed to the commission, failed to maintain records of lots sold and failed to maintain the grounds by mowing and trimming. The court is particularly concerned about the lack of proper record-keeping  that accurately reflects the graves that have been sold and the manner in which graves have been opened and closed.

Among the evidence Pope used to support his ruling were affidavits from the N.C. Cemetery Commissions director of operations and a commission inspector who found numerous record-keeping violations and who reviewed complaints from the families who had observed the cemetery in unkept condition, attempted to bury loved ones as contracted (and) cut weeds and grass from loved ones grave.

Pope has been presiding over the legal action by the North Carolina Cemetery Commission since last Nov. 18, when he granted the state boards request to appoint a receiver. Wednesdays hearing finalized the details of the receivership and resulted in the appointment of Gary McDowell, who as receiver is now in charge of the entire operation  upkeep and maintenance, digging and closing new graves, looking into and resolving a series of complaints, taking inventory of the assets and liabilities and submitting required reports to state regulators.

Youre taking over everything, Pope told McDowell during the hearing at the Transylvania County Courthouse. Theres nothing thats going to be withheld at all. Youll have access to everything and Shepherd employees will control nothing. Its in your total control.

McDowell, who has been in the funeral and cemetery business for 48 years in Western North Carolina, is a licensed funeral director and embalmer who has managed a funeral home in Canton and owned and operated a burial vault business in Asheville. Since 2019, he has worked at the Western North Carolina Veterans Cemetery, where he digs and fills graves and maintains the grounds.

Hendersonville attorney Sharon Alexander, whom the Cemetery Commission retained to argue the case in court, asked McDowell whether he had the time and willingness to manage Shepherd Memorial Park. He responded that he did.

When Edney asked McDowell whether he had experience filing records with the state, he said he did not but would bring on help to comply with the requirements.

Under Judge Popes order, McDowell would be paid $50 an hour to manage the operation. By June 15 he must report to the judge the condition of the cemetery and its records and bring it into compliance with state statutes governing cemetery operations. The order also requires him by that date to make contact with people who filed complaints about the cemetery and report on what had been done to resolve their complaints. The money to pay all costs during the receivership comes from the businesss assets and receipts.

In granting the cemetery commissions motion to take control of the operation, Pope noted that nothing in the order is intended to imply or presume that the cemetery will be sold or otherwise divested from Shepherd Memorial Park Inc. except by further order of this court.

McDowell said Monday that he had spent all day Saturday and Sunday sorting out the books and becoming familiar with maps that detail gravesites and grave plots purchased preneed.

I have printed up a sign and taped it to the front window with my cell number and my name and also my email address, he said. He said people might find it easier to reach him by text message on weekdays because he works fulltime at the WNC Veterans Center.

SHIRTTAIL

People may contact Shepherd Memorial Park receiver Gary McDowell at 828-776-1970 or gcmcdowell@bellsouth.net. People with questions about the former Shepherd preneed contracts may call Shuler Forest Lawn at 828-693-5220 or the N.C. Board of Funeral Service at 919-733-9380. The N.C. Cemetery Commission is at 919-981-2536.
A LIMITED edition print of a Spitfire has been bought by Henley Town Council for 250.

It features the reconnaissance plane, which was assembled near Henley during the Second World War.

Historian and engineer Tony Hoskins, who runs Spitfire AA810 Restoration, is selling 25 of the prints to raise funds for the ongoing restoration of the Spitife

The plane was shot down over Trondheim, Norway, by the Germans in 1942.

Mr Hoskins, from Sussex, recovered the plane, largely intact, from a mountainside near the town in July 2018 and has been restoring it ever since.

The fuselage is set to be completed at the end of this year and the wings at the end of next year. Mr Hoskins, who delivered the print to Mayor Sarah Miller at the town hall, said: I am delighted that it will hang in the town hall as the plane has such a strong connection to Henley.

The aircraft was one of more than 500 which were built at Vincents Garage in Reading before being moved to the top-secret Vickers hangar at RAF Henley, off Culham Lane, between Remenham and Wargrave.

The Spitfires were used for reconnaissance missions to photograph enemy troops, ships and bases and they were stripped of weapons and armour to accommodate extra fuel tanks.

Councillor Miller said: Tony gave me the whole history of the plane and it was so interesting. We still have to get the print framed and Im hoping we will be able to hang it somewhere where anyone can see it. Its a great piece of history.

Sandy Gunn, who was flying the plane when it was shot down, was captured and taken to a prisoner of war camp in Germany.

In 1944, he managed to tunnel out of the camp along with 76 other prisoners, the events of which inspired the 1963 movie The Great Escape. Two days after his escape, he was recaptured and executed by the Gestapo.

Mr Hoskins hopes the plane will be fully restored by May 2024, which will mark the 80th anniversary of Mr Gunns death.

The print is signed by the pilots nephew Alistair Gunn as well as Ben Holmes, who painted the original picture, and Sarah Quill, daughter of the test pilot.
PAINTER Caron Light will be exhibiting at the Henley Arts Trail for the first time this year.

She loves animals and accepts commissions to paint peoples pets as well as depicting whatever she fancies, including pop and film stars.

Actor Robert Lindsay once bought one of her works and she has a photograph of them together taken at the time.

Her work will be on show at the Anchor pub in Friday Street, venue 10.

Caron says she is excited and a little bit nervous to be taking part in the trail as she only took up painting again during lockdown after a long hiatus. She says: I used to do it many years ago but my husband didnt really like me painting and making the house all mucky.

During the coronavirus pandemic she worked with her sister, Janine Lewis, on two childrens books, The Wasp & The Bee and The Fish & The Turtle, producing the illustrations.

The books will be for sale at the pub along with gift cards of her paintings.

Caron has also created a painting to raise money for the Ukraine appeal. She says: It is the Ukraine flag colours and also their national flower as I believe their biggest export is sunflower oil. Its kind of brightening up the doom and gloom of whats happening over there.

Caron will also be displaying her painting of Greys Court at the National Trust property and a limited edition print of it will be available to buy at the pub.

Another trail debutant is illustrator Emma Newton, who will be exhibiting at Studio 51, 51 Makins Road, Henley (venue 14) along with ceramicist Hannah Wilson and jeweller Diana Estornel.

She uses watercolour and acrylics alongside digital effects to create collages and has previously created greetings cards for high street retailers including Marks & Spencer. Emma says: It started last Christmas, when I did a Henley Christmas card that sold really well.

The card, which featured Henley town hall, proved so popular that she has been working on similar versions. She will be exhibiting these along with examples of her floral artworks.

Light refreshments will be on sale at the venue in aid of Wyfold Riding for the Disabled, which Emmas son attends.

For more information, visit www.emmanewton.co.uk
Hong Kong: CE briefed on Kln East initiative

Chief Executive Carrie Lam today visited the Energizing Kowloon East Office to celebrate its 10th anniversary and toured the area for an update on the Energizing Kowloon East initiative.

Mrs Lam was told during a briefing that the Energizing Kowloon East initiative, with a vision to build the second core business district in Hong Kong, had borne fruit over the past decade as commercial land supply in Kowloon East saw a 70% increase to 2.9 million sq m from 2012.

Upon completion of major planned developments including the action areas in Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong, the supply will further increase to over four million sq m, a scale on a par with that of the core business district in Central.

Mrs Lam also toured the Fly the Flyover Operation venues next to the Energizing Kowloon East Office and was pleased to learn that with the continuous stabilisation of the local epidemic, the restaurants and urban farms there have seen an improvement in business.

While at the promenade, the Chief Executive received a briefing on the progress of the proposed walkways across Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter and along Wai Yip Street to understand the development concept of Walkable Kowloon East and visited the refurbished Hoi Bun Road Park.

"Time flies. The Energizing Kowloon East initiative is celebrating its 10th anniversary, Mrs Lam noted.

She added that the Energizing Kowloon East Office has been steadfastly upholding a visionary and innovative operation mode, and its efforts have gradually transformed Kowloon East from a traditional industrial area into a uniquely attractive core business district.

I have every confidence that the office will continue to co-ordinate the efforts of the Government, business sector and community to help Hong Kong bring in talent and investments, reinforcing the important status of Kowloon East as Hong Kong's second core business district.

This story has been published on: 2022-04-29. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Steel slag-turned soil conditioner changes saline-alkali land into fertile farmland

11:01, April 29, 2022 By Dou Hanyang, Zhang Jinke ( People's Daily

With the help of a drone, a herdsman driving a harvester followed navigation system to an alfalfa grassland that covers an area of over 300 mu (20 hectares) on a vast expanse of saline-alkali land in Xianfeng township, Urad Front Banner, Bayannur city, north Chinas Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Photo shows a piece of saline-alkali land turned into an alfalfa grassland by soil conditioner made from an iron and steel plants desulfurization byproducts in Xianfeng township, Urad Front Banner, Bayannur city, north Chinas Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The grassland, which used to be barren saline-alkali land, is a pilot and demonstration project for saline-alkali wasteland transformation. It has been turned into fertile farmland by soil conditioner made from an iron and steel plants desulfurization byproducts.

Baogang Group, an iron and steel enterprise headquartered in Inner Mongolia, produces over two million tons of steel slag every year. The steel debris it has accumulated over the years has piled up like a mountain, not only occupying land resources, but polluting the air.

To dispose of steel slag, a subsidiary of Baogang Group introduced a desulfurization project developed by Taiji Environmental Protection Equipment Co., Ltd., a private technology enterprise based in Cixi city, east Chinas Zhejiang province, which removes sulfur dioxide from flue gases with steel slag.

The project can consume 7,000 tons of steel slag every year, and the nearly 10,000 tons of byproducts from flue gas desulfurization (FGD) can be used to produce soil amendments.

At the factory of the subsidiary of Baogang Group, the chimneys of three 75-ton circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers equipped with desulfurization devices soar into the sky.

According to an executive of the company, steel slag is ground first, and the powder is added with water and then sent into the desulfurization tower. After a series of chemical reactions, the desulfurization byproducts become sources of soil amendments.

At the factory of a subsidiary of Baogang Group, an iron and steel enterprise headquartered in north Chinas Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the chimneys of three 75-ton circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers equipped with desulfurization devices soar into the sky.

Unlike waste generated by iron and steel plants, which are hard and rough large particles, FGD byproducts are fine powder and feel like wet soil. Based on the properties of different patches of land, technicians then add suitable microelements into these FGD byproducts, eventually creating soil conditioners.

Saline-alkali soil is formed as salts are kept within. After soil conditioners made from FGD byproducts are added into saline-alkali soil, they replace ions in the soil, including potassium, sodium, magnesium ions, with their own chemical elements such as calcium and iron, which makes it possible to take the salts away from the soil with water later, said Shi Yuezhan, general manager of Taiji Environmental Protection Equipment Co., Ltd.

The company has also taken measures to ensure that the desalted soil will not be affected again by the salts contained underground and in the surrounding land, according to Shi.

After the salinity in the soil is reduced, crops can grow on the land, Shi explained.

Stressing that solid waste disposal shouldnt risk generating new waste, Shi believes it important to form a green chain to truly realize circular economy.

Replacing traditional desulfurizer such as limestone and lime with steel slag in desulfurization can not only save limestone resources, but avoid carbon dioxide emissions during the production of lime, according to Shi.

If a project that produces 21,500 tons of sulfur dioxide per year uses steel slag as desulfurizer, it can save 26,000 tons of lime and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 11,400 tons a year. Its exhaust will also be able to meet Chinas ultra-low emission standards.

Taiji Environmental Protection Equipment Co., Ltd., one of Chinas national-level little giant enterprises that focus on specialization, refinement, uniqueness and innovation, has reaped the rewards of innovation through continuous input into research and development (R&D).

The company spends over four percent of its annual revenue on R&D every year. Last year, the proportion was raised to 6.6 percent. Research personnel in the enterprise has always accounted for more than 30 percent of its employees; and 12 R&D achievements of the company were put into commercial use in the past two years.

Technological accumulation has enabled the company to expand its self-developed technologies from the desulfurization technology using steel slag to energy recycle system, and helped draft the technical specifications for the adoption of steel slag in FGD.

The number of national-level little giant enterprises has reached 30 in Cixi. While making independent innovation the driving force for their development, these companies have endeavored to increase the commercialization rate of scientific and technological innovations and translate advances in science and technology into practical productivity.

In the coming years, we will continue increasing R&D investment and enhancing support for our fund for R&D of eco-friendly technologies so as to encourage research personnel to carry out technological innovation and new product development and further accelerate the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements, Shi said.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Director of Food and Beverage, Jeffrey George, brings with him extensive experience in the industry, having a longstanding career serving as a consultant in the areas of operations, strategy, finance and analytics within the hospitality market, as well as experience within startups and as a small business owner. Prior to joining Valley Forge Casino Resort, George was owner of Too Cool Cafe, an upscale boutique restaurant located in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida. He also served as Director of Food & Beverage, and later VP of Food & Beverage at Mohegan Sun Pocono Resort & Casino in Wilkes-Barre, PA, we well as various leadership roles at Sam's Town Hotel Casino in Shreveport, Louisiana.

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Life House has launched its Growth Affiliate Program to reward industry stakeholders that support its mission to make hotels more profitable and easier to own. Since 2018, Life House has successfully partnered with an array of owners across the US, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, with its portfolio comprising nearly 60 hotels open or under development. As existing owners and capital partners seek to expand with Life House - a testament to its strong track record as an operator - the company plans to double its presence to more than 100 hotels during 2022.

Through its Growth Affiliate Program, Life House will reward stakeholders who make qualified introductions to existing hotel owners and prospective investors who can benefit from its tech-enabled management platform. If an introduction results in Life House signing a Hotel Management Agreement, Life House will provide a one-time reward in an amount equal to actual 2021 revenue multiplied by 50 basis points, subject to a cap of $50,000 on a per deal basis. This innovative program is the first of its kind in the hotel management space, representing a win-win for stakeholders who can add value to their clients while earning incremental compensation for their efforts.

Each and every day, industry friends lend their time to helping us achieve our goal of creating value for owners of independent hotels, explained Bryan Dunn, Managing Director & Head of Growth at Life House. We sought to create a simple, straightforward program that would reward existing peers for their support while captivating a wider base of stakeholders and educating them on the various ways Life House can add value to their client engagements.

The program is designed to empower an array of players who engage with hotels throughout the ownership cycle, including but not limited to brokers, consultants, appraisers, architects, and designers. Whether an owner is seeking to step away from day-to-day operations or aiming to maximize asset-level profitability ahead of a sale, Life House is prepared to transition any hotel that meets its target criteria and start adding value within 30 days of ownership signing up. Alternatively, if an owner is selling their hotel or portfolio, Life House can reduce deal friction by matching opportunities with buyers in its existing real estate partner network, or arming an existing bidder with a vertically-integrated management and technology solution.

With a proven track record of increasing Net Operating Income between 50%-200% relative to the status quo, Life House is presently supporting hotel owners with the below suite of software-enabled products and services:

Independent Management: With bespoke independent hotels under management with ADRs ranging from $100 - $1,000+, Life Houses portfolio spans roadside lifestyle motels to award-winning luxury properties affiliated with Forbes Five Star, AAA Five Diamond, and Leading Hotels of the World designations;

Life House & Future Brands: Life Houses namesake brand continues to expand with pipeline projects underway from Miami and the Berkshires to Palm Springs and San Juan, PR. Life House will announce its 3-star lifestyle brand later this year with multiple properties already under contract;

Kayak Partnership: Through a unique partnership with Kayak, Life House operates 3 hotels in South Florida and Mexico, with various other flagship projects currently in negotiation. Kayak is actively seeking opportunities to expand its brand through partnering with owners of irreplaceable assets in gateway markets;

Revenue SAAS: After driving 70% of its revenue direct web system-wide, Life House has begun to make its Revenue Management and Marketing System (RMMS) available as a SAAS solution to owner-operators who want to maintain control of day-to-day operations while generating industry-leading direct bookings.

Life Houses introduction of its Growth Affiliate Program comes just months after raising $60 million in Series C financing led by KAYAK and Inovia Capital with participation from investors Tiger Global, Derive Ventures, JLL, Trinity Ventures, Sound Ventures, Cooley LLP among others. Nearly 4 years after launching and with a decentralized team of 100+ talented corporate team members, Life House remains the only asset-light hotel operator that has built a proprietary technology stack to deliver outsized value to its real estate owners.

Interested parties can learn more by visiting www.life-house.com/growthaffiliate, emailing [email protected], or contacting one of their Acquisitions or Business Development team members around the country.

About Life House

Life House is a vertically integrated hotel software & operations platform focused on increasing profitability and reliability for independent hoteliers. Life House was founded in 2017 as one of the only vertically integrated asset-light hotel companies backed by institutional venture and private equity investors. The company is ambitiously investing in operational systems to make it far more profitable, predictable, and seamless for owners while making the guest experience more reliable for travelers. Today the company has nearly 60 hotels in its portfolio across North America. For more information visit www.life-house.com.
YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio - The stylish Mills Park Hotel, located at 321 Xenia Avenue, in downtown Yellow Springs, Ohio, has been sold to an employee and his spouse. Ryan Aubin, the marketing manager for the hotel since 2019, and his husband, Alex Price, have purchased the property and business for approximately $4.5 million. The Dayton couple was one of several parties who made offers when the owners first announced their intent to sell nearly a year ago.

Mills Park Hotel was the project of developer Jim Hammond and his family, who have owned and operated the property from the start. Construction was completed in 2016 and forever changed the look of the small, eclectic, Greene County village. The 28-room, 31,000 square-foot southern-style hotel, with its sprawling front porch and grand foyer, rises three stories and houses a restaurant, gift shop, banquet hall, fitness room, and conference space.

The hotels design was modeled after the 19th Century home of William Mills (1814-1879), an early settler who first came to Yellow Springs in 1827. While the original home no longer exists, every attempt was made to incorporate its charm and style into the hotel. Some of the furnishings were even built from trees that grew on the property.

According to Aubin, the community and hotel staff have been very encouraging. Obviously, there are questions, but everyone has been assured all along that Alex and I do not intend to change anything, he said. We just want to build on the great product that the Hammond family started.

Mills Park Hotel is ranked in the top 2-percent of properties on Hotels.com and Expedia. It is a favorite of destination travelers who want to experience the relaxed, diverse charisma of the village, yet be only footsteps from great outdoor adventures, museums, performing arts, and the Dayton areas many historic attractions.

Aubin and Price intend to continue to offer a unique experience for guests and keep the hotel a shining star in the community. Weve got an amazing staff that cares about how wonderfully our guests are treated, Aubin said. We do everything we can to make them feel like they are staying in a presidential suite but with the personal touches of a bed-and-breakfast.

For reservations or booking information, visit millsparkhotel.com. Media inquiries should be directed to their publicist, Gery Deer at GLD Enterprises Communications, Ltd., 937-902-4857 or [email protected]. Video story available at https://youtu.be/8JI27CBo2Fw.
Swiss-Belhotel International Limited (Swiss-Belhotel International) and Odyssey Asset Management Limited (Odyssey) have signed a Joint Venture Agreement for Odyssey to identify attractive hospitality opportunities to allow Swiss-Belhotel International to expand its Asian hospitality portfolio in Japan and other Asian countries over.

Swiss-Belhotel Internationals stronghold in the Asian markets over the last 34 years allow for the Group to establish itself across Japan and offer services that are appealing to local Japanese and international travellers alike.

Mr. Gavin Faull, Chairman and President of Swiss-Belhotel International said: This is an exciting development and we are delighted to partner with a well experienced asset management group, Odyssey Asset Management. Our commitment towards hospitality is reflected in our determination of our global expansion plans, and with Odyssey, we are even more confident on achieving our goals. We are excited to expand to newer territories with our unique proposition of a winning partnership philosophy, working hand-in-hand with Owners and Investors to achieve the desired business objectives. Swiss-Belhotel International has plans to double the number of hotels under management to 300 by 2025. Our partnership with Odyssey is part of this aggressive expansion plan."

Odysseys Co-Founder and CEO, Alex Walker, said We are pleased to be able to partner with Swiss-Belhotel International and to help them further expand their extensive Asia Pacific hospitality portfolio into Japan and across the Asia Pacific region. Odysseys expertise in the Asian hospitality real estate market and Swiss-Belhotel Internationals desire to provide high-quality hospitality experiences for their guests, complement each other. Our mutually shared principles and dedication to providing value and quality lay the foundation for future shared success. Odyssey is confident that with the expertise and experience of Swiss-Belhotel International together with their proven brand standards will be well received by the Japanese and Asian hospitality sector.

The number of developers and existing building owners in Japan are eager to partner with international hospitality groups like Swiss-Belhotel International and leverage their brand quality, service offering and international capability for an ever-growing domestic market with huge potential for international growth after Covid-19 recovery.

With the deployment of Covid-19 vaccines and expected reopening of borders, tourism is poised for recovery. According to JLLs poll of 100 investors in January 2021, approximately 70% are bullish on the long-term prospects of the Asia-Pacific hotel industry, despite ongoing Covid-19 pressures on the tourism and hospitality sectors*. As optimism around recovery builds, Southeast Asia is one of the most desirable hotel investment markets in Asia-Pacific, owing to strong demand dynamics and positive long-term fundamentals.

Swiss-Belhotel International is a global hotel management group with 125 hotels and projects in 19 countries. The Group includes a diverse portfolio of 16 Brands, each with its own brand standards, serving all types of Hospitality assets catering to varied audiences from luxury to economy. With the developing landscape and changing expectations of the market of Southeast Asia, the Group feels that it has a perfect match with 4 of its brands as listed below:

Maua - a high-end sustainable retreat focusing on eco-friendly offering

Bohemia - a chic and luxurious lifestyle brand

Swiss-Belhotel - the mother brand, suited to city style business hotels

Zest - a very practical design-specific brand providing real value for money

The Odyssey Group is one of Asia's leading private market asset managers providing differentiated and bespoke investment solutions across multiple assets, including real estate, private equity and alternative credit. Odysseys Japan team specialises in identifying, acquiring and managing Japanese hospitality real estate assets. Odyssey has cultivated a trusted network of Japan-based partners, consultants, contractors and service providers and leverages more than just typical brokerage relationships with teams spread throughout Japan that have access to off-market opportunities from individual buyers, private real estate groups and private auction houses.

About Swiss-Belhotel International

Swiss-Belhotel International is currently in 19* countries, managing a portfolio of more than 125* hotels, resorts and projects located in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Tanzania. The Group provides comprehensive and highly professional development and management services in all aspects of hotel, resort and serviced residences. Offices are strategically located in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, China, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Vietnam and Thailand covering Oceania, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and India regions.

*numbers may fluctuate

For further information visit https://www.swiss-belhotel.com.
MALVERN, Pa. (AP) _ CubeSmart (CUBE) on Thursday reported a key measure of profitability in its first quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.

The Malvern, Pennsylvania-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $131.9 million, or 58 cents per share, in the period.

The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 57 cents per share.

Funds from operations is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry. It takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.

The company said it had net income of $38.2 million, or 17 cents per share.

The self-storage company posted revenue of $238.6 million in the period, which fell short of Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $240.1 million.

For the current quarter ending in July, CubeSmart expects its per-share funds from operations to range from 59 cents to 60 cents.

The company expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $2.37 to $2.42 per share.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CUBE at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CUBE
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The surest way to win a game is to have a friend write the rules in your favor, and big power companies could have their consultant at the table as the Public Utility Commission of Texas overhauls the electricity market.

The prize is forcing consumers to pay $1.5 billion more for power every year.

This game begins with the question of which consultant will crunch the data for the commissioners as they rewrite the rules. This is another case where machinations in an obscure corner of Austins capitol complex will affect Texans for years to come.

The largest electricity generators, such as NRG, have wanted the PUC to tweak the wholesale market for a long time. Even before the 2021 February Freeze, when the Electric Reliability Council of Texass grid collapsed and left more than 200 people dead, generators complained they did not make enough money in our market because the competition was too hard.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Political cronies are playing games with Texas electricity, adding costs to consumers

Following the freeze, the Legislature ordered the PUC to overhaul the market, and everyone is scrambling to tilt the field in their favor. The latest fight began when the PUC advertised for a consulting firm to assist in the analysis, development and implementation of a new market.

The PUC gave companies only three weeks to submit proposals. Only two firms applied: one that caused trouble for past commissioners and another that advocates for generators.

Potomac Economics, based in Fairfax, Va., is ERCOTs independent monitor. The firm ensures that companies dont cheat in the wholesale market where generators compete to supply the cheapest electricity.

Last year, experts at Potomac declared that former PUC Chair DeAnn Walker and ERCOT CEO Bill Magness violated market rules when they artificially kept wholesale prices at $9,000 a megawatt-hour for too long during the blackout, even though prices would have been $1,200 under market rules. Potomac said the decision wrongfully stuck Texas consumers with a $16 billion bill.

An interim PUC chair refused to correct the error before he was forced out, and Texans will be paying that debt for decades.

When the new PUC began discussing new rules, Houston-based NRG and Chicago-based Exelon hired E3 Consulting to draft a proposal that worked best for them.

E3 submitted their white paper on Sept. 30, advocating for a controversial solution called a Load Serving Entity Reliability Obligation. An LSERO would guarantee generators an extra $1.5 billion a year.

E3 was the other firm that applied to rewrite the rules for the PUC.

While it may look like a conflict of interest for the PUC to hire an industry consultant to help draft new rules for the industry, Texas regulations are fuzzy. The state says no company with a direct financial interest in the provision of electric  service is allowed to bid, but firms that consult for those companies are not mentioned.

State procurement rules say companies may also be disqualified if there are facts that would create an appearance of impropriety, even if no actual conflict exists. But PUC spokesman Rich Parsons says the agency is the sole arbiter of whether a conflict or an appearance of impropriety exists. E3 did not reply to an email seeking comment.

The PUC is behind schedule in announcing the winning consultancy, but PUC watchers say E3 is the favored party because PUC Chair Peter Lake has publicly supported an LSERO. But the E3 proposal would completely change market dynamics, while not necessarily making the grid more resilient.

Under current rules, ERCOT offers higher prices when electricity reserves get low to attract more power to the market. After the freeze, ERCOT began paying more for backup power and started raising prices faster when supplies got tight. The higher prices are meant to encourage energy efficiency and the construction of more power plants, but generators say its not enough.

Other grids pay generators a fee for supplying backup power. If Texas adopted a so-called capacity market, ERCOT would require companies like NRG and Exelon to compete to provide the cheapest emergency electricity. Only then would ERCOT pass the cost to consumers.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Texas' old-timey electric grid is not fixed, and politicians are propping it up

An LSERO would tip the scales in the generators favor by requiring retail electricity providers, municipal utilities, and electric cooperatives to predict their needs two years in advance and pay generators whatever they demand to build enough power plants.

The LSERO especially benefits companies like NRG and Exelon that generate power and sell retail electricity; they would pay themselves the LSERO. Retailers without their own generation would find it difficult to meet the requirement to contract for the power they need two years in advance.

It would price (independent retailers) out of the market, Bill Barnes, NRGs director of regulatory affairs, acknowledged to the PUC on Nov. 4.

Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty warned that an LSERO would give generators with retail units control of the entire market.

It scares me that you all are pushing something that you all can achieve, but no one else can, he replied.

An LSERO would boost profits for big generators by reducing competition, blocking smaller companies from innovating, and raising electricity bills. Generators must be excited that their consultant could nudge the rules in their favor.

Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and politics.

twitter.com/cltomlinson

chris.tomlinson@chron.com
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Who doesnt love the thrill of something new? Fortunately for Houston shoppers, Spring 2022 ushered in a bevy of bright and shiny retail therapy options ranging from small business accessory brands to top-tier luxury consignment shopping and major dress designers. These are the six boutiques that just moved into town.

Fans of Rihanna and her size-inclusive lingerie brand, Savage X Fenty, can now shop the collection in person. The Grammy Award-winning musician-turned-fashion designer added to her empire when she opened the nightclub-inspired, neon-lit boutique inside the Galleria on Level 2 earlier this year. The Galleria, 5085 Westheimer; savagex.com

Teressa Foglia

Following the success of pop-ups at Katia boutique and La Colombe dOr Hotel, milliner Teressa Foglia set up shop in River Oak District. Furniture found at Round Top and fine art by life and business partner Tyler Hays Wild create the perfect vibe for customizing one of Foglias celeb-loved hats. River Oaks District, 4444 Westheimer, Suite E135; teressafoglia.com

United Apparel Liquidators

If you love scouring eBay and the Real Real for consignment deals but miss the in-real-life experience, United Apparel Liquidators is the best of both worlds. The River Oaks-adjacent outpost offers deep discounts  were talking 70 to 90 percent off retail  on designer clothing. 1945 W. Gray; shopual.com

Christina Greene

Jewelry designer Christina Greene celebrated 10 years in the accessory business with a big move. Her headquarters shop is now in Rice Village, just a stones throw from RodeoHouston grounds, which provide the most profitable days of her year. Greene is best-known for turquoise and gold, though shes recently added fine stones to the mix. 2528 Amherst; christina-greene.com

LoveShackFancy

If pink is your favorite color, then LoveShackFancys bubblegum-hued boutique in River Oaks District is a must-stop. Creative director Rebecca Hessel Cohens collection of ultra-feminine pieces is inspired by vintage finds. Go for endless racks of romantic dresses and whimsy, stay for photo ops in grandmillennial style. River Oaks District, 4444 Westheimer, Suite.E140; loveshackfancy.com

Christy Lynn Atelier

Christy Lynns new digs in Montrose offer more of a lifestyle experience than a traditional store. She turned the historic Avondale home into a work/play space with areas to host events, private appointments, in-house alterations and her office all-in-one. Brand loyalists will enjoy a sneak peek into her design process  Lynns inspiration is tacked up all around the tranquil studio. 306 Avondale; christylynn.com
In February, a video from Kyiv went viral, but it had nothing to do with war and death. It showed an Associated Press correspondent, Philip Crowther, giving the same TV report in six languages: English, Luxembourgish, Spanish, Portuguese, French and German.

Americans, especially, saw this as some kind of marvel. Crowther  who also speaks some Catalan, just because  got a flurry of TV interviews and even marriage proposals.

But thats in part because the continental United States, flanked by oceans and sharing only two borders, is the global oddity. Worldwide, somewhat fuzzy statistics say that between 60 percent and 75 percent of humans know at least two languages. The country of South Africa alone has 11 official languages.

But were a nation of immigrants, you cry. We must know something. Several years ago, Hans Boas, a professor of Germanic studies and linguistics at the University of Texas, explained to me why that has limited value. Immigrants speak their language of origin, of course, and pass it to their children. The children, in turn, may pass some on to their children. But by the time the original immigrants have great-grandchildren, that language is lost.

Houstons reputation as a polyglot city is well-earned, but how much cross-cultural language learning really takes place? If youre not of Vietnamese ancestry, how many actual words of Vietnamese do you know?

While many countries start language learning early, Americans often make do with two years of half-hearted high school Spanish, and maybe a semester in college, if its required. Thats barely enough time to learn to read a menu.

(An anecdote advocating for learning how to read a foreign menu: Knowing the French word ecureuil once saved me from a disastrous Paris dinner order. Because even a French squirrel is, after all, a squirrel.)

Steve Snyder is a vice president of academic affairs at Middlebury College in Vermont and dean of the Middlebury Language Schools. The 12 language schools offer full-immersion (no speaking English, on penalty of getting kicked out) summer programs.

Snyder, for his part, speaks and reads French and is so accomplished in Japanese that he translates Japanese novels. (Alas, the classical Greek he took in college is all gone, he says.)

Many parents seem to have caught on to the developmental advantages that early second-language learning confers on children, Snyder says, but its good for adults as well. Adult language learning is about taking on a new identity, he says, allowing the language learner to step outside his or her native culture and encounter the kind of differences that can turn a student into a global citizen.

The Middlebury program emphasizes not just verb tenses but both language and cultural immersion, which he calls getting out of your own head.

Not to mention that its fun. Traveling is a whole different experience when you can do it in the local language, Snyder says.

If none of this is enough to make you crank up the language tapes on your morning commute, would you do it for your health? The mental gymnastics involved in language-switching, studies show, can deepen your cognitive reserve, potentially staving off dementia for as much as five years.

If none of this persuades you, turn your television on to a news channel. Chances are youve seen the Ukranian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, switch almost seamlessly from Russian to Ukranian to English. Its impossible to say how much that has contributed to his position on the world stage, but it sure hasnt hurt.

But its not just Zelenskyy. Behind him is a seemingly endless parade of officials and advisers, all of whom speak seamless English.

My personal favorite is a former Zelenskyy adviser named Igor Novikov, who is a dead ringer for Jimmy Fallon but probably speaks better English, studding his lightly inflected English with words and idioms such as a thorn in his side and disclaimer and first and foremost.

Heres how he explained the experience of being suddenly at war: Its like being at home playing Call of Duty one night and waking up in it the next morning. Could you explain it any better, even in your native tongue?

We cant all be Crowther of the Seven Tongues. But in a world full of clueless tourists, maybe strive to be an Igor Novikov.
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Because Shifa Safadi writes the Muslim Mommy blog, she often gets a first look at childrens books. And when Penguin Random House contacted her about previewing Eid al-Fitr Mad Libs, she jumped at the chance.

We love Mad Libs at our house, Safadi said. I was so stoked.

Safadi, her husband and four children, ages 11, 8, 4 and 1, sat down for a test drive, using the Mad Libs template and prompting other players for a list of words to fill in the blanks. Then they read them aloud.

Each of us took turns, she said. The kids were laughing so much. They loved it.

The 11- and 8-year olds competed to see who could make up the silliest story. And my 4-year-old enjoyed listening, Safadi said.

She was grateful that her children were able to see themselves in Mad Libs, and that the popular game was representing the Muslim identity.

You just feel like you belong,she said. Its really awesome to have that representation.

Thats thanks to Houston author Saadia Faruqi, who also penned the Yasmin series of childrens books about an imaginative second grader with a Pakistani-American family.

Safadi is among those buying the new Mad Libs as gifts for Eid al-Fitr. The celebration begins this year on the evening of Sunday, May 1. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan and is feted by Muslims around the world.

With the publication of Eid al-Fitr Mad Libs, Faruqi is able to add to the festivities. Anybody can plan, but for kids celebrating Eid, theres pride and sharing of their culture with others, she said.

The author has long been a fan of Mad Libs.

Its an American classic, Faruqi said. I used to play with my daughter when she was in elementary school. It was something we loved doing together. Its just a fun game.

In the fall of 2020, her literary agent told her about the opportunity to write a Mad Libs. The Worlds Greatest Word Game was created by comedy writers Leonard Stern and Roger Price to play at parties about 60 years ago.

The new series focuses on celebrations of all cultures, including Hanukkah, Diwali and the Lunar New Year. The subject is the brainchild of Brian Clark, editor of Mad Libs at Penguin Random House.

Its important for this brand thats had such a large reach for so many years to acknowledge and include everyone, he said.

Clark felt there was especially a gap in popular culture depictions of Muslims celebrations.

We wanted the books to convey the magic of the holiday and the joy, he said.

After learning about Faruqi, Clark was convinced she would be an ideal fit for an Eid al-Fitr Mad Libs. She seized the opportunity.

I wanted my holiday to be part of this tradition, she said.

She thought about her own children, who grew up without this type of game to play on Eid.

I wanted them to be seen, she said.

Faruqi rolled up her sleeves and went to work.

Its not easy, she admitted. Mad Libs can be hard to write. You really have to think outside the box. You have to make up a story  but also think of how to substitute words and still have it make sense.

Eid al-Fitr Mad Libs was released on March 1, and its Faruqis 21st published book.

But Mad Libs is different, she said. Its part of a tradition, a family game that goes back generations.

Faruqi has been writing stories since childhood. She grew up in Pakistan and immigrated to the U.S. at age 22.

Then 9/11 happened, and my life completely changed, she said.

She encountered Islamophobia, misunderstanding and stereotyping, she said. That prompted her to take action.

Thats how I got into interfaith work, Faruqi said.

She led book clubs, discussions and training sessions. She even worked with the Houston Police Department, and the results were featured in O, the Oprah magazine, in 2017.

While Faruqi felt called to continue her interfaith efforts, she was becoming emotionally drained after a dozen years passed.

I wondered, why am I still doing this and nothing is changing?

She had an epiphany.

I realized I could still have an impact by telling stories, she said. Stories have the power to connect people. Fiction has this power to tell the truth.

She wrote books for all ages  adults, young adults and childrens titles.

My mission is the same as it was the day after 911, she said. I wanted kids like mine to see kids like themselves in books. Immigrant kids need to feel seen, acknowledged and accepted.

At the same time, Faruqi hopes that young readers of her books who are not Muslim will see how others live and can learn more about different cultures.

Its two-pronged, she said.

Writers call this mirror and windows, she said, when texts both reflect a childs own identity and also act to bring insight into the experience of another.

This year, Faruqi is planning the release of a number of other titles. Must Love Pets, a series for kids aged 8 to 12 years, about pet-sitting, debuts in October. Then, in June, The Wonders We Seek: 30 Incredible Muslims Who Helped Shape the World will be released.

The Yasmin series continues with four new titles in August, and Marya Khan, a new chapter-book series for third and fourth grade students is slated for release in October.

A few of Faruqis older titles will be available in paperback for the first time this year, including A Place at the Table, A Thousand Questions and Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero.

Aya Khalil is one of the parents who enjoys finding the nouns and adjectives with her children in the new Mad Libs. She even purchased the books to place in the library for Muslim children at her school.

Khalil said she wished she had the same option as a child. I never saw a positive representation of Muslims in the mainstream, she said.

She is grateful for books like Faruqis, even the Mad Libs.

Now they can be the hero of their own stories, Khalil said. Im so glad that this is out in the world.

Thats the whole point for Faruqi.

For me as a Muslim, it feels good to have my religion acknowledged in a way that is very mainstream, she said. Thats really meaningful to me  and its why I wanted to do this.

If I can bring joy to the Eid celebration, which is all about joy and happiness, I feel like my work is done, Faruqi said.

Peyton is a freelance writer based in Houston.
Using innovative construction techniques to help speed construction, the Harris County Toll Road Authority expects to complete a project to build direct connectors linking Texas 249 to the Grand Parkway, on time and on budget.

The project, which got under way in March 2020, will enable drivers to transit between the two highways without having to stop at traffic lights, said HCTRA spokeswoman Patti Evans. The HCTRA expects to open the direct connectors in July with the final project completion expected in November.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Pain Train Salsa breaks ground on new 2,800-square-foot facility in Tomball

The anticipated cost of the project is $92 million. The HCTRA is building the project in collaboration with the Texas Department of Transportation.

Designed to improve traffic mobility in the area by eliminating the need to stop at intersections with traffic lights, the planned improvements include the construction of four direct connectors between the Texas 249 and Grand Parkway intersection. The new connectors will allow motorists traveling north on Texas 249, also called the Tomball Tollway, to exit directly to the east- and westbound lanes of the Grand Parkway. They will also connect the east- and westbound lanes of the Grand Parkway to the southbound lanes of Texas 249.

Evans said the contractor on the project, Williams Brothers Construction Co., is using state-of-the-art technologies and construction methods that have not been previously used in this region to complete the work.

In the past, curved steel girders have typically been utilized to build longer spans, but more recently, several state highway departments have adopted the use of curved concrete girders as an alternative to steel girders. Using these materials and construction methods has helped to speed the progress of the project, she said.

As post-tensioned curved concrete girders gain popularity, it is expected more state and local government, municipality and transit agencies will use post-tensioned curved-girder technology in future projects throughout Texas, Evans said.

The construction project has entailed nightly and weekend closures of the frontage roads and main lanes of Texas 249 and the Grand Parkway. There will be less need for closures following the opening of the direct connectors in July.

Bruce Hillegeist, the president of the Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce, cheered the news of the approaching completion of the direct connector project. He said earlier estimates he had heard had set the completion date for later in the year.

On HoustonChronicle.com: HCA Houston Healthcare Tomball unveils statue of Dr. Norman Graham

I drive by there every day and I see a lot of change. Theyre moving fast; they work nights and weekends, he said.

Hillegeist said the chamber had begun advocating for the construction of direct connector links between the Grand Parkway and Texas 249 as the tollway was being completed about four or five years ago.

We thought it would be a good idea, less expensive and with less motor delay to do the direct connectors at that time, he said. However, he said that highway studies performed at that time did not indicate the level of traffic flow that would have justified the construction of direct connectors.

We were told that there needed to be 15,000 cars per direct connector, he said. Traffic in the area has grown rapidly in the ensuing years, to the point that the highway officials have recognized the need for the direct connector project.

Hillegeist said the completion of the direct connector project would help increase the ease of mobility and encourage economic growth throughout the greater Tomball region. He added that the project would enhance traffic safety and improve the quality of life for all of those who live and work in the Texas 249 and Grand Parkway corridor.

We really do advocate for transportation, he said. We are all about access and being able to have drivers get from home to work or to school or shopping.
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  The attorney for an Iowa teenager accused of helping a classmate kill their high school Spanish teacher argued in court Thursday that his case should be moved from adult to juvenile court, which would allow for his release in less than a year.

Jeremy Goodale and Willard Miller were both 16 when they were arrested in the killing of 66-year-old Nohema Graber, who taught at Fairfield High School. Graber had been beaten to death with a baseball bat. Her body was found Nov. 3 hidden under a tarp, a wheelbarrow and railroad ties at a park in the city, about 95 miles (150 kilometers) southeast of Des Moines. She had been reported missing earlier that day.

Goodale, now 17, and Miller are charged with her first-degree murder.

Goodale's attorney, Allen Cook, presented testimony from a clinical psychologist who diagnosed Goodale with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Cook told Judge Shawn Showers that Goodale should be sent to the juvenile court system where  if he is convicted  he can begin treatment much sooner than if he is convicted as an adult and sent to prison.

Cook also argued that research has shown brains of teenagers are not fully developed and can benefit from early intervention and psychotherapy.

Cook said Goodale's mother left the family when he was 12, that he had to switch schools from the private Maharishi School in Fairfield to the public schools and he felt isolated due to the pandemic.

These are all factors that we need to take into account, your honor, because again we're dealing with a child, he said.

He said Goodale has a loving family and a support system in the community if he were to be released and that, despite attempts to portray him as a monster, he is just a kid who would benefit from juvenile rehabilitation programs.

County prosecutor Chauncey Moulding said there's no evidence to show that ADHD caused Goodale's alleged actions. He said Goodale wouldn't be in the juvenile system for long enough to be rehabilitated before his 18th birthday, when he would be released into the community. Two teenagers shouldn't be allowed to be free so soon after allegedly killing someone, he said.

If thats what the programming is for such a heinous act, it will be open season on teachers in this country, Moulding said. Just the idea of allowing for such a limited consequence for such a heinous crime is completely unspeakable and should never be entered into.

Goodale and Miller are charged as adults, as required by Iowa court procedures, which say anyone 16 or over charged with a forcible felony is automatically waived to adult court and is subject to the same criminal procedures and penalties as adults.

The judge said he would rule in due course" on the request to move to juvenile court.

The adult sentence for first-degree murder in Iowa is life in prison, although in 2016 the Iowa Supreme Court banned judges from imposing sentences of life without parole for people convicted of murder under age 18. The court said such sentences amount to cruel and unusual punishment under the Iowa Constitution. Goodale and Miller would likely serve lengthy prison sentences if convicted as adults.

Miller's attorneys also requested a hearing on moving his case to juvenile court. It is set for May 6.

The judge scheduled Goodale's trial for Aug. 23 and Millers to start Nov. 1.
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For another year, students wont be required to take the SAT or ACT to gain acceptance into the University of Texas at Austin.

The state university is the latest to extend its test-optional policy, which many higher education institutions adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students are still encouraged to submit their scores if they have them, but its not required for admissions or UT-provided scholarships, according to a Q&A on UTs website. The change extends the policy for undergraduates through fall 2023.
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A jury found Larry Woodruffe guilty Friday in the capital murder case for the December 2018 drive-by shooting death of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes. The judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole.

The jurys deliberations lasted nearly six hours, with Jason Brown, the Harris County Sheriffs Office detective who led the investigation, waiting in the courtroom much of that time to hear the verdict.

In the hallway, relatives of Jazmine  who were in the car with her when she was killed  waited to hear Woodruffes fate. The jurys bell rang around 3:07 p.m. and the foreman read the words, Guilty, minutes later.

Jazmines mother LaPorsha Washington offered Woodruffe forgiveness from the stand.

Another mother lost her child  she lost her baby no matter if it was in the same way that I lost mine, Washington said at the trials end. I dont wish that on anybody.

Harboring anger is not an option, she continued.

I wouldnt be able to go on with my life and I have three other beautiful girls to raise, she said. I dont want that hatred in my heart.

Washington still has a bullet in her arm after being shot Dec. 30 in the northeast Harris County attack. She and her three daughters, including Jazmine, were on a pre-dawn coffee run. Testimony from co-defendant Eric Black stated that he and Woodruffe confused the car for one that a dangerous drug competitor drove and with whom they earlier had clashed.

From the passenger seat, Woodruffe opened fire on the vehicle  fatally striking Jazmine and wounding her mother and sister. The shooting happened so suddenly the family never saw them.

The trial started Tuesday on the emergency relief docket with testimony ranging from the first deputy to the scene, to FBI agents who wrangled phone records and Jazmines mother and siblings.

Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, who spoke at Jazmines funeral, was called to testify but was later dismissed by the court.

Despite being a capital case, a death penalty was not sought, officials said.

Living a nightmare

The high-profile investigation made headlines nationwide as law enforcement for days searched for Jazmines killer  starting at first with surveillance footage of a red truck, followed by a composite sketch of a white man with blue eyes, sunken cheeks and stubble. The description did not match either of the defendants ultimately charged in the girls death.

As rewards for tips increased, Jazmines family feared the shooting was racially motivated.

No one knew what to make of it at that point, said Brown, who testified during the trial.

With most of Houston fixated on finding the truck, the detective said he and his colleagues cut through the noise and made an arrest from out of left field. Both defendants were Black.

To be able to come to a conclusion on this case, to come to the right conclusion despite all the other craziness that was going on, its a good thing, Brown continued.

Prosecutors started their closing arguments Friday with a focus on Jazmines mother.

LaPorsha Washington is living a nightmare, prosecutor Alycia Harvey told the jury, a statement which prompted the mother to soon break down in tears alongside her children. Amid sobs, she was ushered out of the courtroom.

Harvey outlined how detectives homed in on Black and Woodruffe as suspects, after spending several days going down the rabbit hole that the red truck and composite sketch opened.

A tip handed to civil rights activists Shaun King and failed Texas attorney general candidate Lee Merritt was passed to the sheriffs office. The intel led investigators to a silver rental vehicle tied to Black, Harvey said, which investigators believe zipped by a Walmart security camera at around the same time as when 911 calls related to the shooting poured in.

Our tip checks out, Harvey continued.

Black testified as a state witness in the case. Harvey reminded the jury that Black, the driver, felt so badly after learning that a child was the victim in the shooting that he went to church. Phone records backed up that finding and showed that he contacted his father and uncle to find a church, the prosecutor said.

Among the evidence shown during the trial were several bullet casings. After Blacks arrest, he led investigators to a firearm he stashed under his mattress.

Its not a gun  its the gun that matches all these casings, Harvey said.

Nobody else to identify

Judge Vanessa Velasquez, who decided the punishment, repeatedly reminded Woodruffes defense attorney, Paul Morgan, on Friday morning to stick to the record in his closing arguments.

She turned to the jury to add that what the attorneys say is not evidence.

Morgan pointed to testimony that Washington and her teen daughters gave Wednesday in which none of them remembered seeing Woodruffe at the scene of the shooting. The suspect, in their minds at the time, was a white man they saw driving a red truck.

They all told us that the man who shot Jazmine is not in this courtroom, Morgan said.

The girls, however, also testified that they never saw the man in the truck brandish a weapon and that he was the only other driver they recall seeing on the road.

That was the last car that we saw out there, Jazmines older sister, Alxis Dilbert, said. Thats the only reason why we said the description of the man in the truck  there was nobody else to identify.

She recalled being shock about Woodruffe and Blacks arrest.

We didnt see neither of them, we didnt, Dilbert said.

Morgan told the jury to focus on who shot Jazmine  and that by doing so, determining whether Blacks testimony was trustworthy would have to be taken into account. He wondered whether Black, who testified to being high on Xanax at the time of his interrogation, told investigators what they wanted to hear.

The investigators had threatened Black with the death penalty or life without parole  an interrogation tactic, he said.

He is testifying to save himself, Morgan said.

Prosecutors have offered to reduce Black's charge to murder following "truthful testimony" as a state witness in Woodruffe's trial. As part of a plea bargain, the state would cap the punishment range at 35 years. The sentencing will take place at a later hearing and a judge would decide the punishment.

Harvey, who declined to comment immediately after the verdict, offered her thoughts in a statement.

Cases where children are killed are always exceptionally hard, Harvey said. We are grateful to the jury, who endured the heart-wrenching testimony and delivered justice for Jazmine.

She earlier told the jurors that the flower for which Jazmine was named is blooming throughout Houston.

Bushes of the fragrant white flower line the eastern sidewalks leading up to criminal courthouse.

nicole.hensley@chron.com
Axiom Space

A United Arab Emirates astronaut will spend six months on the International Space Station, as part of a deal brokered by Houston's Axiom Space.

The astronaut will launch on NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission in 2023. It will be the first long-duration flight of an astronaut from an Arab nation.
I began working at Starbucks in Denton for what I thought would be just a year after I graduated from high school. That was four years ago. I stayed because partners  thats what employees are called  treated me well. Our wages increased. If you worked more than 20 hours per week, you got health insurance, and the extension to include medical procedures for trans partners meant a lot to me. Each day, I figured I could stay with the company just a bit longer and the idea that I would be fighting for a union never occurred to me.

Now Im part of what some labor experts consider the biggest unionizing push in decades. So what changed? These days my fellow partners talk to me about unpredictable hours and an inability to pay rent, buy groceries, go to the doctor and afford a decent standard of living. They joined the company for the same reasons I did, but now were all scrambling for hours as benefits hang over our heads, just out of reach.

Im completely uninsured and it's terrifying, Barista Priya Chaudhari told me. All my meds are out of pocket and its tough knowing if I can even afford them anymore.

When partners at Starbucks locations in Buffalo, N.Y., announced their intent to unionize, the possibility of doing the same in Denton barely registered in my mind. The idea seemed a faint whisper that would fade away. It wasnt until Buffalo shocked the nation by succeeding that we started to believe that a union could be possible. The whisper turned into a roar as more and more Starbucks stores across the country announced their intent to unionize. Twenty-eight locations have voted to form a union out of 31 stores that voted and more than 220 in 31 states have sought union elections, including three in Austin, two in San Antonio and our little spot in Denton.

Too much instability

It can be hard for regular customers to understand why this is happening, why their cheerful baristas would do this when Starbucks is known for providing good benefits, including college tuition. Let me put you in our shoes.

COVID-19 hit our store particularly hard in January 2022, with dozens of partners testing positive. That made every shift chaotic. Four out of seven people scheduled for shifts would be unable to come in some days. One partner would be running through the store to juggle the demands of multiple people just to keep the store afloat. Our store was forced to turn into a drive-thru-only location so that the remaining partners could hope to keep up with the high demands of the still-attending customers.

This began the pattern of instability as we would often lose shifts, unsure of whether we would still be compensated if we werent able to do our jobs for reasons outside of our control. Partners began to feel the stress weigh on them, both financially and mentally.

I learned to speed-cry when I go to the back of the store, Barista Alex Wells told me.  I sob for maybe 15 seconds, swig down that sweet, sweet triple-filtered water and go back to work and pretend everything is fine.

Just as this transition seemed to fade and it looked as if the store may fall into a pattern of stability, new corporate policies began to pass, and hours began to be cut, moved and changed, throwing partners into a state of panic as we struggled to figure out how to make ends meet.

Im just supposed to make coffee...I find myself doing odd jobs to keep my income at a level that will cover me just enough so I can get through one more month, Wells said. Ive had to ask friends and family for help just so I can get by when I never had to before.

Partners who relied on hours to stay on health insurance or to remain enrolled in Arizona State University's Starbucks program, which covers full tuition for benefits-eligible partners, suddenly found themselves scrambling to find the hours to stay afloat.

I was just 11 hours short of the audit, Chaudhari said. It was shocking and scary.

How we began unionizing

Partners, almost all of whom relied on the job to pay bills while supporting themselves through college, could no longer rely on the hours they needed to get by. As fear ran through us on a daily basis, the whisper that had started far to the north in Buffalo spread down south into Texas as partners began saying the word union in hushed tones. Before all of this I had only known about unions through books; never, however, had any of those stories mentioned Texas. I had the impression unions were illegal here.

The right-to-work law made it sound that way. While definitely legal, unions still didnt seem to be very welcome. Tension around that whispered word grew as we started to witness union busting tactics in other cities. The National Labor Relations Board has sued Starbucks for allegedly retaliating against three partners who were organizing in Phoenix. Starbucks has responded by claiming that the partners were terminated because they violated our established policies and in some instances, they also violated state law. But the burnout of our working circumstances ultimately outweighed our fear. Five of us, with nothing to lose, got together to draft an email to Starbucks Workers United, the original Buffalo union, asking for their guidance on unionizing our store.

I knew that too many people were struggling to not do anything, Barista Carson Lane told me. It was scary drafting an email to union organizers, and I didnt even know if we would get a response, but it felt like we had to do something.

Emotionally and physically drained from the circumstances that we'd worked under, I felt both a wave of relief and fear when we heard back from the union organizers. There was excitement that things might take a serious step forward, but also trepidation about the additional stress this could put on everyone.

On March 17, the committee members and I clicked on a Zoom link that would place us face to face with union organizers from Buffalo. Meeting the people who inspired us to make a change, we suddenly felt that our actions had real importance beyond our own immediate futures. A civil rights lawyer attended the call. The committee had, for the time being, kept the meeting between ourselves for our safety since the fear of retaliation over even uttering the word union was still present. That day we learned we had the right to unionize whether we were in Texas or not  in fact, everyone has the right to unionize and bargain collectively for better working conditions.

I left the meeting with a renewed sense of excitement and inspiration about our ability to help our coworkers. As the tension in our Starbucks store became more and more palpable, I felt my initial wariness replaced with a more steady sense of determination. Unions were created by workers to protect our livelihood, but the word carries the strong weight of taboo, as if it might attach itself around your ankle for your employer to see so that they may drag you away.

It was an intense period as we talked to our fellow partners in the store informing them about what a union was, Lane said. It was hard to convince people that you would be safe signing a union card. They were worried that if they were found out, theyd be fired immediately.

However, as more and more cards were signed, a sense of solidarity began to build within the store. Partners began believing that real change could come, that the union could bring protection, hours, better pay and everything we needed to survive.

We petitioned for an election with the National Labor Relations Board on April 11, and are now waiting for an election date.

A national movement

A new labor movement is taking root right now, and its bigger than Starbucks. Former employee Chris Smalls has formed a union for Amazon workers, while Verizon workers in Washington have won their union. Tesla workers have attempted unionization, while many restaurants and coffee shops join the movement as well.

Company owners, CEOs and managers promise a commitment to care for employees well-being, but theyre falling behind on the times. I wake up, open up a shop, help at another one and close my day at Starbucks. I'm working to eat, pay off my debts, my bills, my rent. I work to survive, not live. Workers are tired of the conditions they're forced to live under even after surviving the worst of the pandemic. Unions were created to protect our livelihoods, and throughout history unions have fought for our rights as workers to demand a maximum eight hour work day, safer working conditions and living wages. Holidays such as May Day, or Labor Day, allow an annual celebration of workers and their achievements throughout history. So why must there be such retaliation when we fight for a union today? A union can strengthen Starbucks to live up to its values, and truly form a partnership. Workers would love to be sustained in the same way we hold up the company through our hard work, and appreciation for our fellow partners.

I'm excited to be a part of a movement that knows that workers run the world.

Vince Martinez is a barista at Dentons Rayzor Ranch Starbucks and a member of its union committee.
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Simon's Rock Professor Awarded Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.  Peter Filkins, Richard B. Fisher Professor of Literature at Bard College at Simon's Rock, has been awarded a 2022-2023 Guggenheim Fellowship in Biography and a Spring 2023 Fulbright IFK Senior Fellowship in Cultural Studies in support of his writing a biography of Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973).

Bachmann is a 20th century Austrian writer and poet.

Nearly 40 years after Filkins was awarded a student Fulbright in 1983-84 to translate Bachmann's poems, he will return to do research in her archive at the National Library in Vienna, Austria.

Over the course of the next academic year, Filkins will spend seven months in Vienna, part of which he will be in residence at the IFK International Research Center for Cultural Studies. The focus of his research will be on Bachmann's unpublished writings and correspondence.

At the conclusion of his residence, and as part of the Fulbright, Filkins will deliver a lecture about translating archival materials into a written text, such as a biography.

Filkins' biography of Ingeborg Bachmann will be published by Yale University Press. He plans to complete it in time for Bachmann's centenary, which is in 2026. In 2007, Filkins published a bi-lingual translation of Bachmann's collected poems, "Darkness Spoken," which remains the most complete edition of her poems available in English or in German.

He is also the author of the 2019 biography, "H.G. Adler: A Life in Many Worlds"
Once upon a time, social media platforms were like jet fuel for consumer brands: You could pour a reasonable amount of money into a hypertargeted ad campaign and watch your revenue skyrocket. That moment has passed.

The cost to acquire new customers on social media has risen dramatically: In the second quarter of 2021, the cost per thousand impressions on social platforms was up 41 percent compared with the same period the prior year. At the same time, new privacy laws and the launch of iOS14 in early 2021 (which clamped down on Facebook ad targeting) mean that it's more challenging than ever to zero in on specific consumers. Not to mention these platforms may have reached a brand saturation point. It's enough to make you wonder if you shouldn't just skip social media marketing altogether.

Increasingly that is what Michael Duda and Brent Vartan advise clients of Bullish, their New York City-based company that's part venture capital firm, part ad agency, to do.

Duda, 50, and Vartan, 45, argue that customers acquired through social media aren't loyal anyway. They measure loyalty by looking at Net Promoter score, or how likely a customer is to recommend a brand, as well as the percentage of customers who make a repeat purchase within a year. Social media campaigns, they've found, rarely push those metrics high enough. "When it's important to get low-cost customers," says Vartan, "you're not getting quality customers."

Are you ready to ease up on social media marketing or even quit it altogether? Check out Duda's and Vartan's recommendations for alternative strategies for tapping your existing customers and attracting new ones.

1. Lean in to email and direct mail.

These methods of communication are cost-effective and can result in easy loyalty if done right. With emails, the key is to both draw customers in and to give them something that will bring them back. Duda and Vartan say the right announcement can accomplish the former, and teasing a future product launch can do the latter. Make emails interactive by adding an element like a quiz to make the experience feel more personalized, Varta recommends. Doing so also allows you to gather more insight on a customer's preferences and behaviors. "Start a dialogue with people about the next thing [you] can sell them," he says.

Direct mail is an effective strategy to invite back a customer who hasn't purchased in a while. Duda cites Function of Beauty, a personalized shampoo company Bullish invested in, as an example: The brand saw a 23 percent increase in returning customer sales after implementing a direct mail strategy. If a customer wasn't a subscriber and hadn't made a second purchase within six months, Function of Beauty would send them a mailer asking them to purchase again. In a world that is increasingly digital, a piece of mail can feel more thoughtful and personal. "Physical touch points are [a] sign of validation," Duda says.

2. Introduce a new product as a means of getting the attention of a new audience.

A new and innovative product or one that's limited edition can attract an audience your business might not have otherwise had access to--without spending any money on ads. NomNom, a pet food brand that Bullish invested in and that is now a brand agency client, for example, launched a line of pet supplements in 2019. While NomNom's pet food line was one of many on shelves at PetSmart, its supplements were one of few. So it gave the brand an opportunity to grab the attention of consumers concerned about health with a somewhat novel product. "It's finding ways to show up in the natural consumer decision journey," Vartan says. "And once we have that person, we bring them into the fold." Doing so could be as simple as inviting new customers to learn more about the brand through an email that introduces your primary product.

3. Strike a strategic partnership.

The benefits of partnerships, according to Duda and Vartan, are two-fold: They can organically grow all parties' audiences without significant spending on advertising; and they can underscore your brand values in a way you can't do alone. Duda points to the partnership between Hally Hair, a hair dye company Bullish invested in, and the Disney Pixar movie Turning Red, a coming-of-age story about a young girl grappling with her family history and identity. He calls it a "one plus one equals three" partnership.
In 2017, investor and entrepreneur Chris Sacca decided to hang up his spurs. An early investor in Uber, Twitter, Instagram, and Stripe through his venture firm Lowercase Capital, Sacca just wasn't feeling the passion for investing that he once felt. As he recounted at Fast Company's virtual Most Innovative Companies Summit last week: "I would be on Shark Tank--and I loved that experience--but I would say 'OK, great pitch, amazing kitchen gadget'--but is this really what I want to do with the next 50 years of my life? Is this why I want to tell my kids I can't come out and play? Because I'm working on your little kitchen gadget?"

That existential crisis led Sacca to launch Lower Carbon Capital, which has raised more than $800 million to invest in climate tech startups that tackle things like kelp farming, lithium mining, fusion power, and zero carbon cement. In Sacca's words, businesses that are making real money, "sucking carbon back out of the sky and buying us time to unfuck the planet."

The fact that the climate tech businesses in Lower Carbon's portfolio are making money represents a shift in the economic viability of the sector, Sacca says: "That first generation of climate tech VCs were investing in companies where the root economics just didn't make sense. The companies were too expensive to start." Those VCs, he says, had to rely on lobbying for government subsidies and regulatory changes to make climate tech viable. But now, advances in technologies like cloud computing, machine learning, nuclear fusion, and synthetic biology have given companies fighting climate change a leg up. And that means huge returns for investors.

Take, for example, Heart Aerospace, an all-electric passenger plane company in Lower Carbon's portfolio that promises to have its all-electric passenger aircraft commercially certified by 2026. When its founder, Anders Forslund, came to Sacca a few years ago to ask for an investment, he promised to build an all-electric 19-seater plane with a team that could fit inside.

When Sacca gut-checked the viability of this plan with Boeing and Airbus, the airplane giants said it wasn't possible. But computational modeling suggested otherwise. Instead of starting with the task of building an actual test plane, Forslund rented a hangar in Sweden, and sat in a corner with computer scientists and aerospace engineers. "They built the whole damn plane on the computer, running simulations that would have taken over a decade in real life," Sacca says. On a budget in the "single digit" millions, Heart Aerospace was able to use that digital model to build a working prototype, which lifted the company from zero dollars in revenue to billions of dollars in pre-orders, including from Mesa, a United Airlines partner.

The technological advances that have created more efficient startups might just be key to turning the tide on climate change. Because now that climate tech is viable, says Chris Sacca, it's a huge money-maker.

"The wealth that is being generated in climate tech right now will wildly eclipse all of the wealth ever generated by the Internet total," Sacca argues. "I mean, we have companies in our portfolio right now that we believe will have multitrillion-dollar market caps. Whether you look at energy transportation, food, building materials and management, industrial chemicals--whatever it is--every time you take carbon out of that equation, you've just left yourself an opportunity to make a lot more money."
The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and GE Power Conversion provides a boost to India's indigenous capability in the field of advanced technology for Integrated Full Electric Propulsion Systems.The MoU was signed in the presence of Rt Jeremy Quin MP, UK Minister of Defence Procurement, Hon British High Commissioner to India, MoD India Officials, Dr. Nalin Shinghal, CMD BHEL ,Renuka Gera, Director (IS&P) BHEL, Syreeta Jeffs and Balaji Parthasarathy, Directors of GE Power Conversion and J.P Srivastava Executive Director (IS) BHEL.With the signing of the MoU, the expertise and facilities of GE Power Conversion and BHEL can be leveraged for quick induction of this advanced technology, combining indigenous manufacture, by the Indian Navy, which has been at the forefront of Aatmanirbhar Bharat - Make in India programme.Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, and Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, announced in their Joint Statement on the 22 April 2022 the establishment of a Joint Working Group on India-UK Electric Propulsion Capability Partnership with the goal of fostering military and industrial collaboration in maritime Electric Propulsion systems. | am delighted that GE Power Conversion and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd are signing an MoU today as a first step of an exciting collaborative journey for the UK and India."GE Power Conversion was integral to an Industry-Government partnership which developed the Uks world-leading electric propulsion capability currently in operation with our Royal Navys Destroyer and Aircraft Carrier fleets. With proven ability to support Indias frontline ships, BHEL and GE are perfect partners for this endeavour.This collaboration between GE Power Conversion and BHEL, characterises the UKs commitment to partner with India in support of Indias Atmanirbhar Bharat programme and will, | am sure, be the first of many. Said the Defence Minister of the UK, Mr. Jeremy Quin.GE Power Conversion is a world leader in electric propulsion, with equipment installed on some of the latest platforms of the US Navy and the Royal Navy, including the Queen Elizabeth class of aircraft carriers.These systems provide flexibility in selection and layout of power generation equipment and drive elements with enhancement of stealth features and fuel efficiency. Keeping in mind the matured state of the technology and potential for integration, electric propulsion has been identified as a key technology for the Indian Navy on new construction platforms.At around 11:49, BHEL was trading at Rs54.05 per piece higher by 0.46% on the BSE.
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Ajay Devgns movie Runway 34 has been making a lot of buzz ever since the trailer dropped. Starring him in the lead along with Amitabh Bachchan, Rakul Preet Singh, Runway 34 is based on a real incident. Devgn who has directed the film plays the role of Captain Vikrant Khanna, a super confident pilot who is known to be egotistical with the skills to boast and a cocky attitude which rubs many people the wrong way.

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Things take a turn for the worst when during his flight, an unforeseen incident takes place which puts the lives of 150 passengers at risk. Both him and first officer Tanya Albuquerqu (played by Rakul Preet Singh) come under scrutiny and are investigated by Narayan Vedant (played by Amitabh Bachchan) to get to the bottom of the tragedy. Interestingly, despite such a miraculous save, Captain Khanna has to face some harsh questions as his integrity and intent are put on stake.





Is Runway 34 inspired by a true story?

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The first question that comes to mind is whether this thrilling plot is inspired by a real life incident. The answer is a big yes!



The movie is a recreation of the incident that took place on August 18, 2015, at Cochin International Airport. On the fateful morning, the Jet Airways flight 9W 555 from Doha reached its destination at 5:45 AM. However, due to low visibility due to recent rain, the flight was not allowed to land.

During the flights arrival at Kochi airspace, this flight with 141 passengers and 8 crew members onboard had approx 4,844 kg of fuel left.



It made three unsuccessful attempts to land on the runway but was denied each time due to the visibility constraints. After each attempt, the planes fuel went down to 4,699 kg, 3,919 kg, and then 2,644 kg respectively. After the last and final landing attempt in Kochi, Jet Airways had to then re-route the flight to Thiruvananthapuram also known as Trivandrum.

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It wont take a genius to understand that visibility was a big problem even at Trivandrum considering its proximity to Kochi. Ideally, the plane should have been diverted to the nearest airport which was Bengaluru which was only 15 minutes away from the official destination. However, the decision was to divert the plane to Trivandrum, which was an hour away from Kochi.



The pilots declared May Day and managed to land the aircraft 'blindly' in the seventh attempt. Had the pilots gone for another go-around, the plane would have crashed due to lack of fuel, as per the officials.



Fortunately, there were no injuries reported during the ordeal. However, the captains actions sparked controversy amongst the safety officials and media as a blind landing can turn into a catastrophic disaster. After further investigation, it was then revealed that the plane had only 349 Kg of remaining fuel at the time of landing as opposed to the mandatory 1500 Kg.

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The consequences of this tragedy resulted in the demotion of the captain to a co-pilot as he had risked the lives of over 150 people. It led to conflicting opinions as many hailed the pilot as a skilled hero, others called him reckless.



The movie is an adaptation from the real incidents with some obvious dramatization for effect. Going by the initial responses, the film has opened to good reviews. Audiences have been praising the attempt despite some loopholes. The graphics and background score are commendable as are the performances of the actors. Checkout the trailer if you havent already:








Ajay Devgn's comments about Hindi as India's national language have stirred up a nationwide debate. Actors are weighing in and sharing their two cents on the language debate. The debate kickstarted with Ajay Devgn and Kiccha Sudeep's banter on Twitter.

Joining the debate is 'Queen' Actor Kangana Ranaut. Kangana addressed the media at the trailer launch event of her upcoming film Dhaakad.

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Responding to a journalist who asked Kangana to weigh in and share her take on the ongoing controversy, Kangana said,



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There is no direct answer to this question. We are a country with a lot of diversity, multiple languages, and cultures. Everybody has a birthright to take pride in their language and their culture. I am a Pahari, and I take pride in it.



She also rooted for Sanskrit to be India's national language. Kangana said,

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If you ask me which language should be the national language, I think it should be Sanskrit. Sanskrit is older than Kannada, Tamil, Gujarati, or Hindi. All these languages have come from Sanskrit. Then why hasnt Sanskrit become the national language and Hindi has? I dont have an answer to this. These are the decisions taken at that time (when the Constitution was written)."



Kangana said that if Hindi is not considered the national language, we are also defying the central govt. She said,

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When you deny Hindi (as the national language), you are denying Delhi ki sarkaar. You dont consider Delhi as the centre. Whatever is done in the construction, whatever acts are being passed, are being done in Delhi, and they do it in Hindi.



Agreeing with Ajay Devgn's statement that Hindi should be India's national language, Kangana said,

afp

When you travel through the country or go abroad to German, Spanish, or French countries, they are very proud of their language. No matter how dark colonial history is, fortunately, or unfortunately, English has become that link. Today, even within the country, we are using English to communicate. Should that be the link, or should Hindi, Sanskrit, or Tamil be the link? We have to take that call. So, keeping all these things in mind, a decisive call should be taken. As of now, Hindi is the national language according to the constitution. So when Ajay Devgn Ji said that Hindi is the national language of India, he was not wrong. But I would say Sanskrit should be our national language, as languages like Hindi, Germany, English, and French have all stemmed from Sanskrit. Why dont we have Sanskrit as the national language? Why is it not mandatory in schools? I dont know that!



On the work front, Kangana's Dhaakad is an action-packed film directed by Razneesh Razy Ghai and produced by Deepak Mukut and Sohel Maklai. The 35-year-old actor stars in the movie as Agent Agni.

You can watch the trailer here:

(To get the latest updates from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment.)
Since 2014, several BJP leaders and ministers have taken it upon themselves to define who are Indians and who can live in the country.

From those opposed to PM Narendra Modi, those who wanted to eat beef, those who felt that intolerance was rising in India, those who won't say Jai Sri Ram and those who wanted to wear hijab -- BJP leaders have on several occasions said that all these people should leave the country.

A non-BJP minister in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet in Uttar Pradesh has become the latest to define who is an Indian and who can stay in India.

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Uttar Pradesh Fisheries Minister Sanjay Nishad has said that those who do not love Hindi are foreigners and that those who do not speak Hindi should leave India and settle elsewhere.

Here is what Sanjay Nishad said

Fresh on the heels of the controversy started by Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn, Nishad the leader of Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD Party) said that there is no place in India for people who can't speak Hindi.

Twitter

He even falsely claimed that the Indian Constitution says that India is Hindustan. (The Constitution says India that is Bharat)

Those who want to live in India should love Hindi. If you do not love Hindi, it will be assumed that you are a foreigner or are linked to foreign powers. We respect regional languages, but this country is one, and Indias Constitution says, that India is Hindustan which means a place for Hindi speakers. Hindustan is not a place for those who dont speak Hindi. They should leave this country and go somewhere else, he said.

"If you live in India you must love Hindi. If not, you will be considered a foreigner. If you can't speak Hindi, you must leave the country and go somewhere else"



- Sanjay Nishad, BJP, Minister in UP Govt



Full video https://t.co/FVKaMiIOcT pic.twitter.com/cFvm3NbWJh   (@angry_birdu) April 29, 2022

How it started

On Wednesday actor Ajay Devgn triggered a controversy after wrongly claiming that Hindi was India's national language and will remain the same.

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Responding to Kannada actor Kichcha Sudeepa who had recently stated during an event that "Hindi is no more a national language," Devgn asked why the latter was dubbing his films into Hindi if it was not the national language.

For some strange reason, Devgn ended his tweet In Hindi, saying 'Jana Gana Mana' which is Bengali.

Sudeepa responded to Devgn saying that what he said was in a different context.

The two actors soon settled their debate on Twitter itself, but several politicians including two former Karnataka chier ministers were quick to point out to Devgn that he was wrong to say that Hindi is India's national language.

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Is Hindi India's national language? NO

According to Article 343 of the Indian Constitution Hindi is an official language along with English. India does not have a national language.

However, since the early days of Independence, there has been a push by political leaders from North India to make Hindi India's national language.

They have argued that since Hindi is the most spoken language in India, it should become the national language.

BCCL/ File

This was and is still met with opposition from non-Hindi speaking states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra, where the local language is a significant part of their identity.

For more on news, sports and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Fulfilling the over-ambitious goal of providing critical medical aid to Sri Lanka during the ongoing economic crisis, the Indian Naval Ship Gharial arrived in Colombo and delivered over 760 kg of 107 types of essential medicines.

Indian Naval Ship Gharial reached Colombo on Friday to deliver critical medicines. Debt-ridden Sri Lanka is grappling with unprecedented economic turmoil.

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The crisis has been caused in part by a lack of foreign currency, which has meant that the country cannot afford to pay for imports of staple foods and fuel, leading to acute shortages and very high prices.



From #India for their brethren in #Srilanka!!! A consignment of drugs and medical supplies was handed over by High Commissioner to Hon'ble Minister #ChannaJayasumana in #Colombo today. INS Gharial was deployed for ensuring expeditious delivery of the consignment to . pic.twitter.com/Tzl5dfhIh9  India in Sri Lanka (@IndiainSL) April 29, 2022

With the overarching aim of providing critical medical aid to Sri Lanka during the ongoing crisis, INS Gharial, as part of Mission SAGAR IX, arrived at Colombo on April 29 and delivered over 760 kgs of 107 types of critical lifesaving medicines, the Indian Navy statement said.

The shipment was received by Sri Lankan Health Minister Channa Jayasumana and would be supplied to the University of Peradeniya Hospital.

Screengrab

Reports claim that more medical consignments in response to specific requests by various medical entities operating in all parts of Sri Lanka are also being scheduled from India.



Sri Lanka needs at least USD 4 billion to tide over its mounting economic woes, and talks with international institutions such as the World Bank and countries like China and Japan for financial assistance are going on.

AFP

Sri Lanka is now facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948.

The recession is attributed to foreign exchange shortages caused by a clampdown on tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic. It left the country unable to buy enough fuel, with people facing an acute scarcity of food and basic necessities, fuel, and gas.

india.com

In February, New Delhi provided a short-term loan of USD 500 million to Colombo for the purchase of petroleum products through the Ministry of Energy and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka.



Three months before that, in November 2021, India gave 100 tonnes of nano nitrogen liquid fertilizers to Sri Lanka as their government stopped the import of chemical fertilizers. India announced another USD 1 billion as a credit line to Sri Lanka to help shore up the sinking economy of the island nation.

New Delhi also provided the stock of 11,000 MT of rice to Colombo.



(With agency inputs)

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In a bid to make work more comfortable for employees amid a pandemic that fails to end, Airbnb will allow its employees to live and work almost anywhere around the world.

Fully embracing a remote work policy, Airbnb's new model has been designed to attract staff and ensure flexibility.

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The San Francisco short-term-stay company said late Thursday that employees could work from the office, home, or during their travels to 190 countries under the new policy.



CEO Brian Chesky has outlined five key features of the new work-from-anywhere design.

Reuters

In an email sent to all the employees by the CEO, Airbnbs design to live and work anywhere has five key features:



1. Airbnb employees can work from home or the office.

2. Airbnb employees can move anywhere in the country they work, and their compensation wont change

3. Airbnb employees have the flexibility to travel and work around the world.

4. Well meet up regularly for team gatherings, off-sites, and social events as a company.

5. And we will continue to work in a highly coordinated way.



Staff will still have to meet in person for regular team meetings and events, CEO Brian Chesky said in a message to employees.

Reuters

Salaries won't change if employees decide to move. Employees who work temporarily in a different country will still need a permanent address for tax and payroll reasons, which involves a "mountain of complexities." Still, Chesky said the company is working on an open-source solution.



Indiatimes

The new policy will put the company in a better position to hire and retain the best people by not limiting the talent pool to a commuting radius around our offices," Chesky said.

Unsplash

Remote work and flexibility will become the predominant way we all work ten years from now," he said.



Work From Home

Millions of people switched to working remotely during the pandemic to limit potential exposure to COVID-19. Companies are beginning to ask those workers to come back to the office, at least on a hybrid basis, including other tech companies such as Facebook parent Meta and Microsoft.



Airbnb is a brand born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home. Since then, Airbnb has grown to 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals across over 220 countries and regions.



(With PTI inputs)

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In 2011, James Dixon, then CTO of the business intelligence company Pentaho, coined the term data lake. He described the data lake in contrast to the information silos typical of data marts, which were popular at the time:

If you think of a data mart as a store of bottled watercleansed and packaged and structured for easy consumptionthe data lake is a large body of water in a more natural state. The contents of the data lake stream in from a source to fill the lake, and various users of the lake can come to examine, dive in, or take samples.

Data lakes have evolved since then, and now compete with data warehouses for a share of big data storage and analytics. Various tools and products support faster SQL querying in data lakes, and all three major cloud providers offer data lake storage and analytics. There's even the new data lakehouse concept, which combines governance, security, and analytics with affordable storage. This article is a high dive into data lakes, including what they are, how they're used, and how to ensure your data lake does not become a data swamp.

The data lake explained

A data lake is essentially a single data repository that holds all your data until it is ready for analysis, or possibly only the data that doesn't fit into your data warehouse. Typically, a data lake stores data in its native file format, but the data may be transformed to another format to make analysis more efficient. The goal of having a data lake is to extract business or other analytic value from the data.

Data lakes can host binary data, such as images and video, unstructured data, such as PDF documents, and semi-structured data, such as CSV and JSON files, as well as structured data, typically from relational databases. Structured data is more useful for analysis, but semi-structured data can easily be imported into a structured form. Unstructured data can often be converted to structured data using intelligent automation.

Data lake vs data warehouse

The question isn't whether you need a data lake or a data warehouse; you most likely need both, but for different purposes. It is also possible to combine them, as we'll discuss soon. To start, let's look at the major differences between data lakes and data warehouses:

Data sources : Typical sources of data for data lakes include log files, data from click-streams, social media posts, and data from internet connected devices. Data warehouses typically store data extracted from transactional databases, line-of-business applications, and operational databases for analysis.

: Typical sources of data for data lakes include log files, data from click-streams, social media posts, and data from internet connected devices. Data warehouses typically store data extracted from transactional databases, line-of-business applications, and operational databases for analysis. Schema strategy : The database schema for a data lakes is usually applied at analysis time, which is called schema-on-read. The database schema for enterprise data warehouses is usually designed prior to the creation of the data store and applied to the data as it is imported. This is called schema-on-write.

: The database schema for a data lakes is usually applied at analysis time, which is called schema-on-read. The database schema for enterprise data warehouses is usually designed prior to the creation of the data store and applied to the data as it is imported. This is called schema-on-write. Storage infrastructure : Data warehouses often have significant amounts of expensive RAM and SSD disks in order to provide query results quickly. Data lakes often use cheap spinning disks on clusters of commodity computers. Both data warehouses and data lakes use massively parallel processing (MPP) to speed up SQL queries.

: Data warehouses often have significant amounts of expensive RAM and SSD disks in order to provide query results quickly. Data lakes often use cheap spinning disks on clusters of commodity computers. Both data warehouses and data lakes use massively parallel processing (MPP) to speed up SQL queries. Raw vs curated data : The data in a data warehouse is supposed to be curated to the point where the data warehouse can be treated as the "single source of truth" for an organization. Data in a data lake may or may not be curated: data lakes typically start with raw data, which can later be filtered and transformed for analysis.

: The data in a data warehouse is supposed to be curated to the point where the data warehouse can be treated as the "single source of truth" for an organization. Data in a data lake may or may not be curated: data lakes typically start with raw data, which can later be filtered and transformed for analysis. Who uses it : Data warehouse users are usually business analysts. Data lake users are more often data scientists or data engineers, at least initially. Business analysts get access to the data once it has been curated.

: Data warehouse users are usually business analysts. Data lake users are more often data scientists or data engineers, at least initially. Business analysts get access to the data once it has been curated. Type of analytics: Typical analysis for data warehouses includes business intelligence, batch reporting, and visualizations. For data lakes, typical analysis includes machine learning, predictive analytics, data discovery, and data profiling.

What about data marts?

Data marts are analysis databases that are limited to data from a single department or business unit, as opposed to data warehouses, which combine all of a company's relational data in a form suitable for analysis. Data marts offer efficient analysis by containing only data relevant to the department; as such, they are inherently siloed. Some claim the siloing doesn't matter because the business unit doesn't need the excluded data. In real life, it often does matterthere's always a higher-up who needs reports based on combined data from multiple business units. That's one reason why we currently see many data lakes and data warehouses, and few data marts.

Faster SQL queries on a data lake

When you store raw data in a data lake, the data might be useless for business analysts until it has been processed by a data engineer or data scientist. In addition to filtering and data transformations, data lakes need data catalogs, data security, and schema definitions. The unfortunate shorthand term for a data lake without these features is data swamp.

Fortunately, there are plenty of tools to help filter and organize the data in your data lake. As an example, you could address the need for a schema by creating a Hive metastore in ORC format. Once it's set up, the metastore supports fast SQL queries via a massively parallel SQL engine like Presto. (The Optimized Row Columnar format is a compressed columnar store that is optimized for Hive and works well with Presto.)

Apache Spark is another massively parallel SQL engine. While it can work with the ORC format, it works even better with Parquet, another compressed columnar store. Spark can perform both vertical and horizontal partitioning on Parquet files, producing a query plan that requires reading only the necessary data and can skip irrelevant data.

The data lakehouse

Databricks, the company behind Spark and MLflow, offers what they call a data lakehouse. According to Databricks, the lakehouse combines the best features of data warehouses and data lakes:

A data lakehouse unifies the best of data warehouses and data lakes in one simple platform to handle all your data, analytics, and AI uses cases. Its built on an open and reliable data foundation that efficiently handles all data types and applies one common security and governance approach across all of your data and cloud platforms.

Delta Lake, which Databricks released to open source, forms the foundation of the lakehouse by providing reliability and high performance directly on data in the data lake. Databricks Lakehouse Platform also includes the Unity Catalog, which provides fine-grained governance for data and AI. Databricks claims that its data lakehouse offers 12 times the price/performance ratio of a data warehouse.

Data lakes on-prem and in public clouds

Historically, data lakes were implemented on-premises using Apache Hadoop clusters of commodity computers and HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System). Hadoop clusters once were big business for Cloudera, Hortonworks, and so on. Cloudera and Hortonworks merged in 2018, which tells you something about the direction of the market.

What changed was the cloud, specifically the hyperscale public cloud vendors Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). All three cloud providers offer data lake storage products: Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon EMR (formerly Amazon Elastic MapReduce), Azure Data Lake Store (ADLS), and Google Cloud Storage (GCS). All three also offer services for data ingestion, data processing, analytics, and machine learning. It's much easier and faster to create, manage, and scale cloud data lakes than it is to manage Hadoop clusters in your data center; the tradeoff is that long-term operational expenditures in the cloud will eventually become significant.

Analytics and machine learning for data lakes

Earlier, I discussed using Presto and Apache Spark for faster SQL queries on a data lakes. SQL is only one of the ways to analyze data, although it's quite important and is often the first step. In addition, consider business intelligence tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or Qlik; Jupyter, Zeppelin, or Spark notebooks; machine learning, such as scikit-learn, SparkML, or KNIME; and deep learning, such as TensorFlow or PyTorch.

The hyperscale cloud vendors have analytics and machine learning tools of their own that connect to their data lakes.

Amazon Athena uses Presto and Hive to perform SQL queries on data in Amazon S3. Amazon EMR is a cloud big data platform for running large-scale distributed data processing jobs, interactive SQL queries, and machine learning applications using open source analytics frameworks such as Apache Spark, Apache Hive, and Presto. Amazon SageMaker is a fully managed service to build, train, and deploy machine learning models.

Azure Data Lake Analytics (ADLA) is an older on-demand (serverless) analytics job service that simplifies big data, and uses U-SQL, which is SQL plus C#. ADLA is being replaced by Azure Synapse Analytics, which is a limitless analytics service that brings together data integration, enterprise data warehousing, and big data analytics. It gives you the freedom to query data on your terms, using either serverless or dedicated optionsat scale. Synapse combines data lake, enterprise data warehouse, and in-place operational data query functionality, and can automatically migrate data and code from ADLA as well as data warehouses. Synapse has deep integration with Azure Machine Learning, Azure Cognitive Services, and Power BI.

Google Cloud Storage provides native integration with a number of powerful Google Cloud services, such as BigQuery (a data warehouse), Dataproc (Hadoop ecosystem), Dataflow (serverless streaming analytics), Video Intelligence API, Cloud Vision API, and AI Platform.

Altogether, you have considerable flexibility to choose the right tool to analyze your data.

Conclusion

Data lakes have become much more useful since the days of Hadoop clusters and MapReduce. Presto and Apache Spark offer much faster SQL processors than MapReduce, thanks to in-memory and massively parallel processing and Hive-based schemas. Cloud-based data lakes are much easier and faster to create, manage, and scale than on-prem clusters of commodity computers. And cloud data lakes integrate tightly with a wide range of analytics and artificial intelligence tools.
The longtime president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and one of the best known advocates for businesses in the state said this week that he will soon step down.

Dana Connors has led the chamber for almost three decades. He said he would step down by the end of the year.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said Connors has dedicated his life to making Maine the best place to live, work, and start and grow a business. Connors served on Mills economic recovery committee that played a role in the states response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Connors joined the chamber in 1994 after serving under other Maine governors, including a stint as transition director for former Gov. Angus King, who is now an independent U.S. senator. Connors also spent 16 years as the city manager of Presque Isle in northern Maine.

Topics Leadership Maine
Attacks on long-distance fiber-optic cables caused internet outages in several parts of France, carriers SFR and Free said on Wednesday.

The cyber section of the Paris public Prosecutors office opened a criminal investigation, a spokesperson told Bloomberg. The probe has been entrusted to the DGSI, the French security agency, and the judicial police.

The cables, which connect areas of Paris to the cities of Lyon, Strasbourg and Lille, were physically cut in several places, according to a person familiar with the incident who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman for SFR  owned by Altice France SA  said that the priority was to restore the network. B2B carrier Netalis called the attack a major incident, unprecedented in its scope.

Free  owned by Iliad SA  said in a tweet that multiple malicious acts affected its fiber networks during the night and morning, with incidents still being handled at midday in the cities of Reims and Gravelines.

Multiples actes de malveillances sur infra fibre durant la nuit et la matinee. Incidents circonscrits, problemes residuels en cours de correction sur Reims et Graveline. Equipes Free mobilisees depuis 4h du matin.

 Free 1337 (@Free_1337) April 27, 2022

The exact number of users impacted seems low, thanks to redundancies in the networks. Free indicated that fewer than 1% of its fiber subscribers were hit  around 40,000 users.

The carrier posted several photos of the incidents on Twitter, showing intentional cuts on several fiber cables, making it hard to repair.

Free 1337 @Free_1337

Sent via Twitter for Android.

View original tweet.

Photograph: Fiber optic cables, center, and copper ethernet cables feed into switches inside a communications room at an office in London. Photo credit: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics France
EasyJet Plc terminated rental contracts on six Airbus SE jets owned by a Russian state leasing company in a rare example of sanctions depriving a European carrier of aircraft.

EasyJet canceled the leases on the A319 narrowbodies owned by a unit of state-controlled GTLK shortly after the U.K. and European Union acted to punish Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine in late February, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The low-cost UK carrier acted due to the Russian link even though it wasnt clear at the time whether rapidly evolving rules would allow it to operate or maintain the aircraft, said the person, who asked not to be named discussing confidential matters.

Aviation has been a flash point in the global faceoff between Moscow and nations led by the U.S., UK and European Union since the Feb. 24 invasion. While a range of sanctions targeting the industry were meant to sever Russias links with the outside world, European entities have also been caught up in the measures.

EasyJet is one of a handful of non-Russian carriers that rented planes from Russian-owned lessors. The six jets, each more than 11 years old, have been in storage since March 2020, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, when the coronavirus pandemic caused a sudden drop in demand for air travel.

Hundreds of foreign-owned planes have effectively been confiscated by Russian carriers as part of the economic battle. The UK and EU directly sanctioned GTLK, or State Transport Leasing Co., this month.

The lease terminations were confirmed by an EasyJet spokeswoman. GTLK didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.

Turkeys SunExpress, which is partially owned by Deutsche Lufthansa AG, also has a GTLK-owned Boeing Co. 737-800 jet in storage, according to Cirium data. SunExpress didnt respond to a request for comment.

Latvias SmartLynx Airlines confirmed it has stopped paying leases on four grounded Airbus A321s. Icelandic air cargo and charter carrier Bluebird Nordic said it had grounded three GTLK-owned Boeing 777 jets and hadnt made lease or any related payments since February.

Qatar Airways last used two GTLK-owned aircraft on April 19, according to tracking website FlightRadar24. Emirates continues to use a single GTLK-owned Boeing 777. Their governments havent invoked sanctions on Russia.

With assistance from Ugur Yilmaz.

Photograph: Easyjet Plc aircraft at London Luton Airport in Luton, UK, on Monday, July 19, 2021. Photo credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Topics Russia
TOKYO (AP)  The head of the company that operated a tourist boat that sank off northern Japan with 26 people aboard said Wednesday he approved the trip despite a broken communication device and forecasts of rough weather, as officials investigated previous accidents involving the company.

The sightseeing boat Kazu 1 with two crew was taking 24 passengers, including two children, on a scenic tour of Shiretoko National Park on the northeastern side of Hokkaido, Japans northernmost main island, when it sent a distress call Saturday afternoon saying it was sinking.

Japan Begins Inquiries Into Missing Tourist Boat, With at Least 11 Dead

The area, near Kashuni Waterfall, is a difficult place to maneuver because of its rocky coastline and strong tide.

Rescuers on Sunday located 11 bodies, including that of a three-year-old girl, but have not found the boat. Experts say the missing people may have been trapped inside the vessel.

Seiichi Katsurada, president of the tour boat company, knelt on the floor at a news conference to apologize. We caused a disastrous accident, and Im very sorry, he said.

He said he approved the captains plan to proceed with the tour despite predictions of 3-meter (10-foot) waves in the afternoon, because waters at their home port were calm in the morning. He said the tour plan could be changed by the captain if the weather worsened.

Looking back, it was the wrong decision, he said.

Katsurada said a wireless device at the companys office was broken and the boat lacked a satellite phone, making communications between the vessel and the company difficult. But he said he thought the captain could use his cellphone and that staff of other boat operators could help with communications.

However, the boat was alone on Saturday afternoon because local fishermen canceled their operations because of the high wind and wave warnings, while the three other cruise companies hadnt started their season yet.

The Transport Ministry said the boats operator, Shiretoko Pleasure Cruiser, had two accidents last year, including one that involved the captain of the sunken boat, Noriyuki Toyoda. The ministry said it is looking into the companys safety standards and its decision to go ahead with the tour despite the expected rough weather.

The coast guard said it is gathering evidence of suspected professional negligence in the accident.

Witnesses say ownership of the company changed and most of its veteran crewmembers resigned. Katsurada said he took over the company from a relative five years ago and used to have up to a dozen crew, but now has only a few captains and deck crew including Toyoda, who was previously an amphibious vehicle driver and was still new to the tricky Shiretoko coast.

Koya Sugawara, head of Dolphin, another tour boat operator, said the Shiretoko waters require a difficult maneuver by boats as they approach the rocky coastline while avoiding salmon fish nets. He told NHK public television that Katsuradas company often ignored a cooperation agreement among the four local tour companies for safety and operated alone.

An employee of another tour boat company who communicated from his office by radio with the Kazu 1 as it began having trouble described growing panic.

At first, the captain, Toyoda, calmly said his boat was near the waterfall and his return to port would be delayed, the employee told the Asahi newspaper. About 10 minutes later, the captain desperately ordered the other crewmember to Get everyone to put on a life jacket!

Toyoda then said the boat was taking on water and might sink and its engine had stalled, and the employee said he made an emergency call to the coast guard to request a rescue.

Photograph: Emergency personnel transfer a person retrieved from tour boat accident, in Shari, in the northern island of Hokkaido, Japan, on Sunday, April 24, 2022. Photo credit: Koki Sengoku/Kyodo News via AP.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thomas Buberl has been reappointed as AXAs chief executive officer, while Antoine Gosset-Grainville has been name chairman of the board of directors, succeeding Denis Duverne, who has retired.

Burberl first became CEO and a director of AXA in September 2016.

He holds a master of economics degree from WHU Koblenz (Germany), an MBA from Lancaster University (UK) and a doctorate in economics from the University of St Gallen (Switzerland), according to AXAs website.

From 2000 to 2005, he worked at the Boston Consulting group as a consultant for the banking and insurance sector in Germany and abroad. From 2005 to 2008, he worked for the Winterthur group as a member of the management board in Switzerland, first as chief operating officer and then as chief marketing and distribution officer. He then joined Zurich Financial Services where he was CEO for Switzerland.

From 2012 to April 2016, Buberl was CEO of AXA Konzern AG (Germany) and became a member of the AXA executive committee in 2012. In March 2015, he became CEO of AXAs Health Business and joined the AXA Management Committee. The following year, Buberl was also appointed CEO of the global business line Life & Savings. From March 21, 2016 to Aug. 31, 2016, he was deputy CEO and became CEO on Sept 1., 2016.

Gosset-Grainville was first appointed an AXA company director on June 30, 2020, the AXA website said.

He began his career in 1993 at the Inspection Generale des Finances, before taking the position of deputy general secretary of the European Monetary Committee and later of the Economic and Financial Committee of the European Union in 1997. From 1999 to 2002, he was adviser for Economic and Industry Affairs in the office of the European Commissioner in charge of trade.

In 2002, Gosset-Grainville became partner at Gide, where he managed the Brussels office for five years before becoming deputy director of the cabinet of the French Prime Minister in 2007, where he was in charge of economic and financial issues and the management of the French states investment portfolio.

In 2010, he was appointed deputy managing director of the Caisse des Depots et Consignations in charge of finance, strategy, investments and international operations and interim CEO of the Caisse des Depots group from February to July 2012. In April 2013, he co-founded the law firm BDGS Associes, where he is still a partner.

I would like to express my gratitude to Denis Duverne for his trust and advice over the years. The group will long be marked by all that he has contributed throughout his exceptional career. Since 2016, his support has been decisive in driving the Groups transformation, commented Buberl.

I am very pleased that Antoine Gosset-Grainville will become chairman of AXA, and I look forward to drawing on his experience and vision. I would also like to thank the shareholders and the members of our board of directors for their renewed confidence, he added.

It is with great emotion that I leave the chairmanship of AXA. I had the privilege of succeeding Henri de Castries in this role and of accompanying Thomas Buberl in his successful transformation of the group, with the support of the board of directors, commented Duverne.

I would like to express my gratitude to the women and men of AXA. Their commitment, their cohesion, and their ability to surpass themselves have always been a source of motivation and pride for me, he added. I am very confident in AXAs future: the group is solid and strong with a strategic vision and a purpose adapted to the challenges of our time; it will continue to be able to rely on very high-quality governance and benefit from the talents of Antoine Gosset-Grainville and Thomas Buberl.

Source: AXA

Top photograph: Photo credit: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Topics AXA XL
AXIS Capital Holdings chief executive officer would not comment on reports that the company is looking to sell its reinsurance unit. But a market commentary from Wells Fargo Securities said: Where theres smoke, theres fire.

During a first quarter earnings call on April 28, Albert Benchimol said he wouldnt comment on market rumors and speculation, adding that AXIS Re is well positioned to deliver very attractive returns.

This is a business where occasionally we get crazy rumors out there, and one of the things that we found is that the best response is to keep your head down, focus on providing value to your customers and your partners and distribution, and that works, said Benchimol. An article about the sale was first published in the Insurance Insider.

However, a market note from Wells Fargo Securities attached some credence to [AXIS] potentially looking to sell its reinsurance business, despite Benchimols assertion of crazy rumors in the market.

These thoughts were contained in a section of the report with the sub-head: Where theres smoke, theres fire.

Q1 Financials

Bermuda-based AXIS Capital reported net income to common shareholders of $142 million, a combined ratio of 91.4% and an operating return on equity of 15% during the first quarter of 2022. This compares to net income of $116 million, a combined ratio of 98.9 % and a ROE of 7.1% in Q1 2021. (A combined ratio below 100% indicates an underwriting profit).

AXIS Capital has been aiming to streamline its reinsurance exposure, especially as it has looked to curb the volatility from writing catastrophe business, and has continued to de-emphasize cat business during the recent 4.1 renewals, said Wells Fargo.

AXIS did see success in that area during the first quarter.

Quarter-over-quarter, natural catastrophe industry losses are estimated to be down about 45%, said Chief Financial Officer Peter Vogt, during the earnings call.

He noted that AXIS natural catastrophe loss ratio is down nearly 80%, which speaks to the work that weve been doing to reduce natural cat volatility in our book.

The company reported pre-tax catastrophe and weather-related losses, net of reinsurance, of $60 million (insurance: $33 million and reinsurance: $27 million). This included $30 million attributable to the Russia-Ukraine war with the remaining losses of $30 million primarily attributable to Eastern Australia floods, and other weather-related events.

By comparison, AXIS said its Q1 2021 pre-tax catastrophe and weather-related losses were $110 million (insurance: $36 million and reinsurance: $74 million).

The war loss provisions included $16 million for insurance, which was mostly attributable to terrorism and political violence covers, Vogt said.

On the other hand, AXIS has not yet received any reinsurance notices but it has about $25 million in war covers. As a result, Vogt said it has put up about 60% of that limit, as a precautionary measure.

Another indication of the companys effort to streamline its reinsurance were indicated by its Q1 figures for gross premiums written (GPW) and net premiums written (NPW). GPW increased by $99 million, or 4%, to $2.6 billion with an increase of $224 million, or 20%, in the insurance segment. This was partially offset by a decrease of $125 million, or 9%, in the reinsurance segment.

NPW increased by $34 million, or 2%, to $1.8 billion with an increase of $136 million, or 19%, in the insurance segment. This was partially offset by a decrease of $102 million, or 10%, in the reinsurance segment.

Rate Increases

Benchimol said the average rate increase in AXIS insurance book was close to 12% which represents the 18th consecutive quarter of rate increases and the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit increases for the insurance book.

In its April 29 market research report, Wells Fargo Securities pointed out that AXIS, like other companies, is seeing slower rate momentum in its insurance book  as the average rate increase of 12% is down from more than 14% in Q4 2021. Nevertheless, the report acknowledged that the pricing level does remain above loss trend.

Market conditions continue to be favorable. And while rate increases are generally off their highs of last year, they continue to extend to almost every line we write and remain, by and large, well ahead of loss cost trends, Benchimol said.

Professional lines once again saw the strongest pricing actions with average rate increases of 24% and cyber retaining hard market prices.

The average rate increase [for cyber] was almost 70%, but in some cases, was well in excess of 100%, said Benchimol. On the other hand, public D&O, which represents less than 10% of the companys overall professional lines book, was only modestly positive during the quarter.

The combination of strong price increases in prior periods, less new business opportunities, and the coming online of new capacity all led to a more competitive market, especially in the excess layers of public D&O towers, he continued.

The companys reinsurance business averaged rate increases of close to 9%. Accident and health (A&H) generated increases of more than 11%, while casualty and professional lines both increased by close to 9%, Benchimol added.

Topics Reinsurance
Philippe Donnet kept his job as chief executive of Italian insurer Generali on Friday, surviving a challenge from rebel domestic investors who retained board seats and vowed to keep up the pressure for reform.

The vote at the companys annual general meeting (AGM) followed months of bitter infighting at the heart of Europes third-largest insurer and leaves a question mark over whether his main opponents will hang on to their combined 20% stake.

Donnet called for unity after seeing off a challenge spearheaded by investor Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and backed by his fellow billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio who were advocating for faster growth including through acquisitions.

Italys Benetton family has also sided with the rebels.

The unambiguous choice of a majority of shareholders is proof of the confidence they have in our management team and strategic plan, said Donnet, who enjoyed the backing of leading investor Mediobanca and Generalis institutional shareholders including large foreign funds.

Now well all work together in one direction with the board, management and our network of agents  to pursue the interest of all stakeholders and the success of our group.

Caltagirone put up a rival set of candidates to those proposed by the Generali board. His share of the vote was enough to give his list three seats on the 13-strong Generali board, potentially making life uncomfortable for Donnet, who has been in charge since 2016.

Pushing for Change

Caltagirone said he would still seek reform and added that foreign investors might not have fully grasped the need to revamp the insurer.

I will continue to work so that changes take place for as long as I deem reasonable to do so, he said in a statement.

The companys board nominees gained the support of almost 56% of shareholders who voted at the AGM, against 42% for the Caltagirone slate.

A board elected with 55% of votes cannot but take into account the remaining 45%, Caltagirone added.

Caltagirone, a construction and media entrepreneur, will be in line to return to the board because his was the first name on the slate put forward by his group.

A director at Generali since 2007, Caltagirone had quit his seat in January after rejecting the multi-year strategy Donnet presented the previous month.

Caltagirone had nominated former Generali executive Luciano Cirina as a replacement for Donnet and former Goldman Sachs banker Claudio Costamagna as chairman alongside Cirina.

Cirina and Costamagna had dubbed their program Awakening the Lion, a reference to Generalis nickname The Lion of Trieste.

They wanted to spend as much as 7 billion euros ($7.4 billion) on M&A, compared with the existing boards plan for 3 billion euros, and had also targeted annual earnings growth of more than 14% with heavy cost cuts and acquisitions.

Roberto Lottici, a fund manager at Banca Ifigest in Milan, said it was vital that the rival parties establish a dialog.

The challenge will be to combine Generalis trademark safety and solidity with the bolder attitude promoted by Caltagirone, Lottici said.

($1 = 0.9462 euros) (Additional reporting by Stefano Bernabei; editing by Keith Weir, David Goodman and Louise Heavens)

Photograph: Philippe Donnet, chief executive officer of Assicurazioni Generali SpA. Photo credit: Generali.

Topics Leadership Generali Life Assurance (Thailand) Plc.
"East-West Fusion" erhu concerts held in Sydney, Australia

11:24, April 29, 2022 By Xueyi Zhao ( People's Daily Online

Sydney, April 27 (People's Daily Online) - From April 22 to April 25, Phoenix Collective's erhu concerts "East-West Fusion" were presented to audiences in Canberra, Sydney and the Central Coast, Australia.

Phoenix Collective performs at Sydney Mosman Art Gallery on April 23, 2022. (Photo /Jiayi Wang)

This was the first time that Phoenix Collective combined Western string quartets with the traditional Chinese erhu. It revealed the unique charm of Chinese and Western music fusion by exploring traditional Chinese folk music, winning wide praise from audiences.

Chinese erhu performer Ying Liu and four famous Australian performers from the Phoenix Collective performed the concert together and jointly arranged Chinese and Australian classical music works.

Dan Russell, artistic director of the concert, said that the concept of combining Western string quartets and erhu was formed by exchanging musical ideas with Ying and the orchestra's cellist Andrew Wilson. The uniqueness of the erhu sound, for me, represents the different soundscape that I was looking for, he said.

Performers' group photo (Photo/Jiayi Wang)

He also said that although the ensemble of violin and erhu put forward higher requirements for the selection of repertoire, the erhu and string quartet cooperated perfectly.

Ying also agreed. The sound of the violin and the erhu are very well integrated.

Now many composers have begun to compose music focusing on the fusion of Chinese and Western music.

Liu also affirmed the significance of this tour concert. She said, Chinese culture has been subtly integrated into Western artistic creation.

Russell also added that films with traditional Chinese culture also inspired him.

Dan Russell, the artistic director of the concert (Photo/Xueyi Zhao)

I've kind of grown up listening to the music used in movies such as Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and House of Flying Daggers, the music used in these movies is exquisite, Russell said.

The whole concert mainly explored traditional Chinese folk music, improvisation and modern experimental techniques. The concert opened with an excerpt from the classic Chinese music piece Ode to Yellow River by cellist Andrew Wilson.

The repertoire also includes many classic pieces adapted from the fusion of Chinese and Western musical elements, such as Left Bank Waltz by Australian composer Peter Schuthorpe, specially arranged by Australian arranger Julie Symonds for the erhu and quartet.

The adapted Chinese traditional folk songs Jasmine Flower, Beautiful Night, Lan Hua-Hua, and other works were also performed for audience, one after another. More improvised songs, such as the music from Oscar-winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, attracted applause from the audience.

Chinese erhu performer Ying Liu (Photo/Xueyi Zhao)

The Australian audience also showed great enthusiasm for the concert.

Russell said that music is a sound that anyone can understand.

Music is a universal language, and so in that respect, anyone can enjoy and understand it, he noted

Ying also said that most people listening to the concert were Westerners. "Everyone likes and enjoys it, and completely indulges in it," she said.

Ying also emphasized that the exchange of music between China and the West shows China's national culture and self-confidence, and music is the commonwealth of all humanity.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
The Minneapolis Police Department has engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade, including stopping and arresting Black people at a higher rate than white people, using force more often on people of color and maintaining a culture where racist language is tolerated, a state investigation launched after George Floyds killing found.

The report released Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights following a nearly two-year investigation said the agency and the city would negotiate a court-enforceable agreement to address the long list of problems identified in the report, with input from residents, officers, city staff and others.

The report said police department data demonstrates significant racial disparities with respect to officers use of force, traffic stops, searches, citations, and arrests. And it said officers used covert social media to surveil Black individuals and Black organizations, unrelated to criminal activity, and maintain an organizational culture where some officers and supervisors use racist, misogynistic, and disrespectful language with impunity.

Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said during a news conference after the report was released that it doesnt single out any officers or city leaders.

This investigation is not about one individual or one incident, Lucero said.

Asked how long the agreement with the city, known as a consent decree, might have to remain in force, Lucero said, As long as it takes to do it right.

The report said the city and police department do not need to wait to institute immediate changes to begin to address the causes of discrimination that weaken the Citys public safety system and harm community members. It listed several steps that the city can take now, including implementing stronger internal oversight to hold officers accountable for their conduct, better training, and better communication with the public about critical incidents such as officer-involved shootings.

National civil rights attorney Ben Crump and his partners, who won a $27 million settlement from the city for the Floyd family, called the report historic and monumental in its importance. They said they were grateful and deeply hopeful that change is imminent.

We call on city, state, and Police leaders to accept the challenge of these findings and make meaningful change at last to create trust between communities of color in Minneapolis and those who are sworn to protect and serve them, the lawyers said in a statement.

Messages to Mayor Jacob Frey and the police department seeking comment on the report werent immediately returned. Lucero said the city got its first look at the report Wednesday morning.

Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, called the finding obvious.

The findings were no surprise, but now theres an agency with the muscle to make those changes happen, Gross said. She said a critical next step is who will monitor a consent decree to make sure changes actually happen, and said she would demand that community members take part. Gross said she was meeting Thursday with Luceros department and that monitoring a decree would top her agenda.

The Department of Human Rights launched its investigation barely a week after Floyds death on May 25, 2020. Then-Officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin the Black man to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes in a case that sparked protests around the world against police racism and brutality. Chauvin, who is white, was convicted last spring of murder. Three other fired officers _ Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng _ were convicted this year of violating Floyds civil rights in a federal trial and they face a state trial starting in June.

State investigators reviewed a decades worth of information, including data on traffic stops, searches, arrests and uses of force, and examined policies and training. The review included around 700 hours of body camera video and nearly 480,000 pages of city and police department documents. Lucero said investigators interviewed officers throughout the department and overwhelmingly, we found officers being very forthcoming. The investigators also invited citizens to submit their own stories of encounters with Minneapolis police.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights is the states civil rights enforcement agency. Its duties include enforcing the Minnesota Human Rights Act which, among other things, makes it illegal for a police department to discriminate against someone because of their race.

Race-based policing is unlawful and especially harms people of color and Indigenous individuals _ sometimes costing community members their lives, the report said.

The department has come under pressure from multiple directions since Floyds death. The U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating Minneapolis policing practices, though it is not thought to be close to a conclusion.

Several City Council members and residents have pushed to replace the department with a new public safety unit that they argue could take a more comprehensive public health approach to policing, including dropping a required minimum number of police officers. Voters rejected the idea last year.

Frey and Chief Medaria Arradondo, before his retirement in January, also made a range of changes in department policies and practices, including requiring officers to document their attempts to de-escalate situations, and no longer stopping motorists for minor traffic violations.

But community anger at police flared anew in February when police officers serving a no-knock warrant shot and killed Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man who was staying on a couch in his cousins apartment. Prosecutors declined to charge the officer who shot Locke, saying body camera video showed him pointing a gun at the officer, a claim his family disputed. The city has since banned no-knock warrants except in the most extreme circumstances, such as a hostage situation.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Law Enforcement
QBE North America launches Specialty Casualty business

QBE North America today announced the launch of a Specialty Casualty business as part of its strategy to invest in areas where the insurer can offer distinct advantages to business customers.

Offerings will include admitted and non-admitted primary, lead umbrella and excess liability products, targeting a wide range of business segments across a diverse set of industries.

Taking newly created posts to lead the business are: Karen London, president, Specialty Casualty; Mike Foley, chief underwriting officer, Specialty Casualty; Morgan Wichmann, head of casualty non-construction; and Craig Freid, head of casualty construction. All four have decades of experience in the Specialty Casualty market with a heavy focus on complex and hard-to-place risks. Prior to joining QBE, they held leadership positions at Berkshire Hathaway.

With QBE Specialty Casualty, we see a clear opportunity to build a long-term franchise that is grounded in expert underwriting with a data-driven approach to meet the unique needs of customers, said Tom Fitzgerald, president of Specialty & Commercial insurance at QBE North America. It will allow us to deepen our relationships with our limited and preferred network of brokers while we further improve the balance and synergies in our diversified business portfolio.

Ryan Specialty and Nationwide Build Upon Joint Venture

Specialty broker Ryan Specialty announced a strategic arrangement with Nationwide to address needs in the specialty insurance marketplace using Harleysville of New York, a Nationwide subsidiary.

The initiative builds upon a joint venture the two companies first entered into in May 2019 that established Bermuda-based reinsurer, Geneva Re Ltd.

The new strategic arrangement provides Ryan Specialty with limited exclusive access to insurance capacity on Harleysville of New York paper to support alternative risk placements. The capital provided will be either via traditional risk transfer through Ryan Specialtys managing general underwriters or an alternative risk placement through the formation of a captive or other strategy and operated in conjunction with Ryan Specialtys leader in alternative risk placements, Keystone Risk Partners.

Ryan Specialty executes its alternative risk strategy by working with its retail broker trading partners to provide a supplement to traditional insurance capacity, both in the admitted and excess ad surplus markets, or to provide an insurance product when more conventional capacity is not available to address the needs of the insured at a price the insured will accept.

There are many risks within the specialty insurance market that are not being serviced fully, where conventional insurance isnt totally addressing the needs of the client, said Patrick G. Ryan, CEO of Ryan Specialty.

Russ Johnston, president of E&S/Specialty at Nationwide, called the arrangement a natural extension of the existing joint venture the two firms have under the Geneva Re partnership.

Coalition Gets Excess Cyber Capacity Backing from Vantage

Coalition said it has partnered with Vantage Risk Specialty Insurance Company to back its U.S. excess cyber program.

Coalitions Active Cyber and Active Executive Risk products combine insurance coverage with technology to help organizations assess, protect, and respond to digital risk. This data-driven approach to underwriting and active monitoring of threats has resulted in Coalition policyholders experiencing 70% fewer claims than the rest of the insurance market, the company said.

Vantages approach to Seeing Risk Differently is further complemented by partnering with Coalition, said Alex Blanco, CEO of Insurance at Vantage.

Insurtech Joyn Insurance Expands Offerings

The Joyn Insurance platform has expanded its class eligibility to include dozens of additional classes, bringing its total eligible class list to more than 700 NAICS codes.

The new class offerings include car washes, convenience stores, dry cleaners, dwellings, gas stations, health clubs and gyms, landscaping, liquor stores, parking lots and garages, restaurants, sporting goods manufacturers, and warehouses and mini warehouses.

Joyn Insurance Services Inc. is a licensed producer and general agent focused on commercial insurance in the small and middle markets.

Topics Trends Excess Surplus Casualty
A U.S. judge slammed Elon Musk for trying to escape a settlement with regulators requiring oversight of his Tesla Inc. tweets, saying the billionaire was bemoaning the 2018 deal now that he felt Tesla was invincible.

The April 27 ruling comes after the Twitter Inc. board accepted on Monday Musks $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform.

The dispute stems from the claim by the Securities and Exchange Commission that Musk, the CEO of Tesla, defrauded investors on Aug. 7, 2018, by tweeting that he had funding secured to potentially take the electric car company private at a premium, when in reality a buyout was not close. Tesla shares rose following the tweet.

Musks lawyers had sought to terminate the 2018 consent decree that resolved those SEC securities fraud charges, arguing that the regulators pursuit of Musk crossed the line into harassment and impeded his constitutional right to free speech.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan rejected those arguments as well as Musks request to block a separate SEC investigation into tweets that Musk posted last year regarding the sale of some of his Tesla stock.

Musk cannot now seek to retract the agreement he knowingly and willingly entered by simply bemoaning that he felt like he had to agree to it at the time but now  once the specter of the litigation is a distant memory and his company has become, in his estimation, all but invincible  wishes that he had not, wrote Liman.

The 2018 agreement required Musk and Tesla to each pay $20 million civil fines and for Musk to step down as Teslas chairman. The consent decree also required Musk to obtain pre-clearance from Tesla lawyers for tweets and other public statements that could be material to Tesla.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Shares of Tesla were about 2.4% higher at $897.62 and Twitter stock was down 2% at $48.67 in afternoon trading.

The SECs probe related to Musks sale of some of his Tesla shares is over tweets he sent on Nov. 6 last year that asked readers if they supported his selling 10% of his Tesla stake, and saying that he would abide by the poll results. The SEC has subpoenaed Musk and Tesla to determine if those tweets were vetted before they were published.

A majority of the readers did support such a share sale, and the poll caused Teslas share price to fall. Musk has since sold more than $16 billion of Tesla stock.

Liman said it was unsurprising that the SEC would have questions about the unusual manner in which Musk went about deciding to sell his stock.

Musk has been escalating his attacks on the SEC. Earlier this month he referred to the regulator as those bastards.

Musk calls himself a free speech absolutist and has criticized Twitters policies that moderate speech and are aimed at curtailing harassment.

By free speech, I simply mean that which matches the law, Musk tweeted on Tuesday, the day after the Twitter board of directors accepted his bid. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.

Related:

Topics Tesla
Warren Buffett will face pressure to improve Berkshire Hathaway Incs environmental and social policies as well as governance when he meets shareholders this weekend, in what investors say is a harbinger of what may come after the 91-year-old billionaire is no longer in charge.

Calpers, the largest U.S. public pension fund, and other investors are demanding that Berkshire install an independent chair to replace Buffett, and disclose more about how its dozens of businesses promote diversity and address climate risks and greenhouse emissions. Buffett would remain chief executive officer.

Still, these may not stand a high chance of success until Buffett himself steps aside. Buffett is 91.

In a post-Buffett world we may start to see a more aggressive shareholder base agitating for greater change, said Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA Research in New York. At this point, there is a high degree of deference to Warren Buffett.

The proposals have drawn support from the influential proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, and some support from investors including Norges Bank Investment Management and Neuberger Berman.

Berkshire, which opposes the proposals, has long resisted a revamp.

It says its insurance, namesake energy and other operating businesses already address the investors concerns, and that its unusually decentralized business model means Buffett need not prescribe one-size-fits-all reporting requirements.

Buffett said last May it would be asinine to require reports from Berkshires dozens of smaller companies.

Regarding splitting the CEO and chairman roles, Berkshire has said that someone outside management should chair the company after Buffett is no longer in charge, but that Buffett should retain both roles. Read full story

Indeed, the proposals are likely to be defeated in part because Buffett controls nearly one-third of Berkshires voting power. Similar proposals about climate risk and diversity drew support from less than 30% of votes cast last year.

Shareholders will vote at the end of Berkshires annual meeting, after Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, 98, answer shareholder questions at the meeting, the main event of a weekend which draws tens of thousands of investors.

Vice Chairmen Greg Abel, 59, who would replace Buffett as chief executive if the need arose, and Ajit Jain, 70, will also be on hand to field shareholder questions. Read full story

Reverence

Within Berkshires investor base, two worlds collide.

Buffett has long been revered by many smaller investorsas well as larger oneswho have stuck with him for decades, some of whom say there is no need for change.

Bill Smead, founder of Smead Capital Management and a longtime Berkshire shareholder, noted that Berkshire Hathaway Energy is already spending heavily on cleaner energy, as it aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 2005.

Spending $3.9 billion on wind and solar in Iowa is all that anyone concerned about the climate needs to know about Berkshire, Smead said.

The calls for change also come as shareholders are enjoying better-than-average returns on their stock, after significantly lagging in 2019 and 2020 and slightly outperforming in 2021.

Through Wednesday, Berkshire shares were up 10% this year while the S&P 500 index .SPX was down 12%, as more investors turn to value from growth stocks.

Timothy Youmans, engagement lead for North America at EOS, an arm of Federated Hermes that co-sponsored the climate risk proposal, acknowledged that a victory on Saturday is unlikely after four years of discussions with Berkshire.

But still, he is hoping for change, noting Abels discussion in Berkshires latest annual report of Berkshires sustainability efforts.

Abel appears to have a very good grasp of climate change risks, Youmans said. Were hopeful  he will implement the parent company level climate reporting that were asking for.

Mohnish Pabrai, a principal at Pabrai Investment Funds and longtime Berkshire shareholder, called the demands for greater reporting a distraction.

Companies should focus on the mission of taking care of their shareholders and employees and customers, he said. Berkshire, he projected, is positioned to do well for the next 100 years.
United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that David Brown age 50, of Morgan City, pled guilty on April 27, 2022 to Count One (1) of his indictment, charging him with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. By pleading guilty to Count 1, the defendant faces a maximum penalty of five (5) years imprisonment; a term of supervised release of up to three (3) years; and a fine of up to $250,000.00, as well as a mandatory special assessment fee of $100.00.

The guilty plea brings the total number of defendants convicted in Operation Sideswipe to 37.

According to court documents, Brown falsely claimed that he was a passenger in a car that was struck by a tractor-trailer on May 11, 2017. In fact, the defendant conspired with Damian Labeaud (Labeaud), Mario Solomon (Solomon), and others to intentionally collide with a tractor-trailer in the area of Chef Menteur Highway and Downman Road in New Orleans.

After the intentional collision, Brown falsely informed NOPD officers at the scene that he had been driving the vehicle and that the tractor-trailer was at fault. Brown also filed a fraudulent lawsuit and lied in a deposition. This scheme caused the insurance company for the tractor-trailer to pay over $140,000.00 in settlement funds for the May 11, 2017 collision.

The Honorable Jane Triche Milazzo set sentencing in this matter for July 27, 2022.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

Topics Louisiana
A Florida appeals court has put a fine point on the still-evolving going and coming rule in workers compensation law.

The 1st District Court of Appeal found that a man injured on his way to a jobsite was not due benefits, even though he was carrying some work supplies at the time of the automobile accident and had been partly paid for his gas expenses.

The take-away for employers and insurers may be that the injury was not compensable because the electrician was non-salaried, was not fully compensated for his gas money, did not transport large amount of materials, and was en route from home to his first job of the day  not between jobs  when he was involved in the collision.

The opinion in DSK Group and Zurich American vs. Jorge Hernandez, posted Wednesday, overruled a workers compensation judges 2019 decision. It left the now-retired comp judge, Stephen Rosen, shaking his head.

It seems to me the court went out of its way to avoid paying this guy compensation, Rosen said Thursday. They disregarded the facts, I say.

George Kagan, the insurers attorney in the case, said the court got it right, based on the going and coming rule and its exceptions. Even after decades of court review, the rule is still debated in some circumstances.

Its settled law, but there are so many permutations to it, Kagan said.

Hernandez was working for DSK, an employee-leasing company in August 2018. He was on his way to a jobsite for KBF Renovations Inc., a remodeling contractor near Tampa, one morning when a drunk driver collided with his vehicle.

Floridas coming-and-going rule, like those in most states, generally bars workers comp benefits for employees who are commuting to and from work. The rule was established by the courts in 1941 and was codified by the Florida Legislature in 1990, the appeals court explained. The thinking was that with so many workers at risk of an accident during their commutes, when they are essentially off duty, the comp system could not afford to cover the thousands of accidents which routinely occur, the court wrote, quoting from a 1986 court decision.

But the law also allows an exception for traveling employees who are required to travel extensively for work. They are more often considered eligible for benefits if injured while traveling. But that exception has its own limits and usually applies only if the injury occurs in the course and scope of employment, and not necessarily while in route to work.

Rosen decided that Hernandez was not a traveling employee but was what he termed a field employee. The appeals court said that label was not found in the statutes and Rosen was in error.

A key reason for Rosens decision was that, while the electricians hourly pay did not start until he reached the jobsite, the employer had provided him with a fuel credit card. Hernandez also carried some supplies necessary for the electrical work, suggesting that the man was in the course and scope of employment when injured.

He was paid by the hour, but in addition, he also got $165 a month in gas money, Rosen told the Insurance Journal. And he carried some materials in his car. How would they have gotten to the site if he didnt take them?

I find that the hazards of the road were inherent to the claimants employment with this employer, Rosen wrote in his 2019 decision.

Kagan pointed out that Hernandez had testified that the gas card did not cover all of his fuel expenses, although at the comp court hearing, Hernandez said he would request more if needed. Nonetheless, The appeals court noted that the fuel allowance did not mean that the employer was compensating Hernandez for drive time from home.

None of the evidence regarding the monthly $165 company credit card allowance for gas demonstrated that the employer intended to reimburse Hernandez for any specific mileage cost he incurred between his home and the job sites, Judge A.S. Tanenbaum wrote for the three-judge panel.

On appeal, the claimants attorney argued that Hernandez was, in fact, a traveling employee, exempted from the comings-goings-rule. But the appeals court did not buy into that, either.

The decision also highlights the fine line that case law and statutes have continued to draw between whats compensable and whats not. If the electrician had been salaried, or had been traveling between job sites, or had been on a special errand for the employer, or had carried extensive amounts of materials, its more likely his injuries would have been compensated, the court and the attorneys in the case said.

Hernandez lawyer, Kimberly Hill, pointed to a 2000 case known as McCormick v. Florida Auditor General. The worker in that case was injured on her way home from a field audit, and the 1st DCA at the time found that the injury was compensable, partly because she was a salaried employee.

The difference in that case, Kagan said, was that McCormick routinely took long trips for audits, was paid for her mileage and was paid a per diem amount for lunches.

The appeals court noted that this all meant that her drive, even though it was to her home, was part of her work, rather than coming from work. The compensated status of the travel made her a traveling employee, excepted from the going or coming exclusion.

At the end of the day, Rosen said, Hernandez came up short. He may have filed suit against the other driver, and may have had health insurance, but he was never reimbursed for the time he could not work.

Kagan, based in Gulf Stream, said the Hernandez decision should put an end to claims from workers who are injured in route to work, carrying small amounts of tools or supplies.

The days of some employer material in claimants car or truck, or a different worksite daily constituting going and coming exceptions are over, Kagan wrote in an email Thursday to other comp lawyers. Such folks are simply going to and from work, which is not compensable as a matter of statutory policy.

The claimants attorney in the appeal could not be reached for comment Thursday. But Rosen said he fully expects that the decision will be appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.

Topics Florida
Directors and officers insurance is pricey and difficult to obtain in most business sectors, but by some accounts cannabis businesses may pay up to 50% more in premiums for D&O  if they can get it.

A Fitch report out in late March shows several years of U.S. director and officers insurance rapid premium growth led to a material decline in 2021s direct loss ratios, which may continue in the near term.

For our latest Insuring Cannabis podcast we spoke Dave Zerones, a sales leader with Greensite Insurance Services, a cannabis management liability program launched by Aon in February, and Walt Baker, vice president of directors and officers liability at Golden Bear.

Following are takeaways from that conversation.

Baker has been in D&O for more years than some professionals have had a career.

Ive recently heard the D&O liability market for cannabis companies has been described as a hard market within a hard market, Baker said. And, frankly, the D&O rates and retentions for the cannabis industry have been quite elevated. And, as well, getting capacity for limits over $10 million is quite a challenge for buyers.

Asked to put a number on rates he was seeing for D&O for cannabis compared with non-cannabis companies, he said it was difficult because the market was so new.

But what Ive seen and the articles that Ive read and the information Ive looked into is sometimes the cannabis companies have to pay upwards of 50% more than the regular commercial D&O policy, he said.

Greensite works with Golden Bear, and it distributes through brokers and agents across the country where its legal, providing coverage for plant-touching and non plant-touching operations.

Zerones gave his thoughts why D&O is a tough line of business.

So we know how tough it is outside of the cannabis space, he said. And then, D&O inside the cannabis space is coming into an even tougher segment. And it has to do with the amount of money thats flowing in the space from an investor point of view, the M&A transactions, the other kinds of fundraising, companies trying to go public. So, theres really a lot of activity right now in the cannabis space from a funding standpoint. And whether theres funding activity, theres definitely going to be exposure and potential losses that D&O can help protect against.

Lawsuits, and claims as a result of those actions, arent making the space any easier.

One suit he touched on was MXY Holdings, which sells cannabis products under the Moxie brand. On July 19, 2021, a group of the foreign investors filed a shareholders derivative lawsuit in California asserting asserts a derivative claim for breach of fiduciary duty.

In May of 2021, they were going to go public to raise capital. And then during that process, they raised about $30 million, but they never completed the IPO by the target date, Zerones said. And then, the director stepped down and didnt secure placement, a replacement for himself, and then in July of last year, a suit was filed. And so, that lawsuit is still ongoing. Its still in the process, but its indicative of whats happening in the spacefrom a funding perspective of theres a lot of investors coming into the space, and its a challenging space from a regulatory perspective across the country. So thats just one example of how funding can be challenging, especially in those failure to launch situations.

Some good news for insureds: Zerones thinks D&O wont always be so difficult for cannabis.

I think the wonderful thing thats happening in the management liability space is that more carriers are coming in, he said. So, there are going to be more solutions available today obviously than there were two years ago. And so, youre going to see through competition what customers want and what is really necessary and what is going to support those customers as they grow and prevent them from having large losses. So I think the competitions really going to help. And that is going to really dictate whats going to survive and whats not.

He added: I think the expertise in the D&O space is unique for what were trying to do, but everybody taking a different approach is really going to help the customer in the end be able to purchase products that are viable, profitable, and can protect them.

Related:

Topics Cannabis
Formerly licensed insurance agent Narek Harutyunyan, 31, of Camarillo, California, was sentenced this week in Ventura County Superior Court on two felony counts of grand theft after Harutyunyan reportedly stole insurance premiums from clients, leaving them uninsured and one business owner with an uninsured loss.

The charges were reduced to misdemeanors after Harutyunyan paid $8,085 in restitution, and he was also ordered to pay $150 to the state restitution fund, placed on probation for one year, ordered to serve one day in jail, and ordered not to engage in any insurance type employment. The California Department of Insurance revoked Harutyunyans agent license and the license for his business, First and Last Insurance Services, on Oct. 18, 2021.

An investigation by the CDI reportedly revealed that between September 2016 and July 2017, Harutyunyan, while a licensed insurance agent, doing business as First and Last Insurance Services in Camarillo, stole commercial premium payments he collected from his clients and diverted those funds for his own personal use.

One clients commercial policy for a truck was not valid when it was involved in an accident, leaving the business owner with an uninsured loss of more than $6,398 and a third-party claim of $107,764.

The Ventura County District Attorneys Office prosecuted the case.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California Agencies Fraud
The family of a woman killed when a 17-year-old driver crashed his fathers Lamborghini into her car in Los Angeles has reached an $18.85 million settlement in the case, attorneys announced.

Monique Munoz, 32, was on her way home from work at a hospital on Feb. 17, 2021, when the Lamborghini SUV driven by Brendan Khuri ran a red light.

Prosecutors said Khuri had been racing another vehicle and swerving in and out lanes at more more than 100 mph just prior to colliding with Munozs car.

Munoz died at the scene of the collision near the Westwood area of Los Angeles.

Khuri pleaded guilty to one count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and was sentenced last September to seven to nine months in a juvenile camp and four months of probation.

Munozs family filed a civil lawsuit in September. The settlement reached this week will help her relatives finally get some closure for this horrific tragedy, said Daniel Ghyczy, an attorney for the family.

It was never about money for the Munoz family, it was about the acknowledgment of Brendan Khuris misconduct that resulted in the death of their only daughter and to ensure that he was held accountable. Todays settlement is a testament to their efforts and is a step closer to justice, Ghyczy said in a statement.

Attorneys for Khuris family didnt immediately return a phone call Wednesday seeking comment on the settlement.

The monetary award could ultimately exceed $25 million, attorneys for Munozs family said. During Wednesdays hearing, the judge decided to continue the case to a later date, when the familys total restitution will be determined.

Brendan Khuri had previously been cited for driving at excessive speeds, resulting in the Lamborghini being impounded by the Beverly Hills Police Department. The SUV was returned to the teen by his father less within two days, attorneys said. The crash that killed Munoz occurred three months later.

Prior to the fatal crash, Brendan Khuri and his father, James Khuri, frequently posted to social media platforms showing them speeding on surface streets in Los Angeles, attorneys said.

James Khuri was charged with a misdemeanor for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. A hearing in that case is scheduled for June 8.

During the criminal phase of Brendan Khuris case, defense attorney Mark Werksman had asked Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sabina Helton to sentence the teen to probation.

Munozs loved ones said the teen should at least spend some time in a county juvenile camp and argued that a sentence of probation would be an injustice.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California
The Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California submitted pure premium rate filing to the California Insurance Commissioner calling for a 7.6% increase.

The advisory pure premium rates for the roughly 500 standard classifications proposed to be effective Sept. 1 are on average 7.6% greater than the average of the current approved Sept. 1, 2021 advisory pure premium rates. The average of the Sept. 1, 2022 advisory pure premium rates proposed by the WCIRB is $1.56 per $100 of payroll.

The proposed Sept. 1 advisory pure premium rates are based on insurer losses incurred during accident year 2021 and prior accident years valued as of Dec. 31, 2021.

Proposed pure premium rates reflect the changes to the California Workers Compensation Uniform Statistical Reporting Plan1995 proposed by the WCIRB to be effective Sept. 1 and were contained in the WCIRBs regulatory filing submitted on Feb. 28. If some of these regulatory changes are not approved, the WCIRB may need to amend the pure premium rates proposed in this filing.

Related:

Topics California Workers' Compensation
Answers

Global lithium-ion battery market trend 2024-2028 Common problems in the use and maintenance of lithium batteries by Newsintegra927

The European Union recently approved sweeping new sanctions against Russia, including bans on imports of coal, timber, chemicals, and other lithium-ion battery.

1. Basic concepts of lithium-ion battery:

The lithium-ion battery has a nominal voltage of 3.7V (3.6V) and a charge cut-off voltage of 4.2V (4.1V, which has different designs according to the brand of the battery). (The specification for lithium-ion batteries is: lithium-ion secondary batteries

2. Requirements for charging lithium-ion battery (GB/T182872000 specification)

First of all, constant current charging, that is, the current is constant, and the battery voltage gradually increases with the charging process. When the battery terminal voltage reaches 4.2V (4.1V), the constant current charging is changed to constant voltage charging; the voltage is constant, and the current is based on the battery. The saturation level gradually decreases as the charging process continues, and when it decreases to 0.01C, the charging is considered to be terminated. (C is a way of expressing the battery's nominal capacity against the current. For example, if the battery has a capacity of 1000mAh, 1C is the charging current of 1000mA. Note that it is me instead of mAh, and 0.01C is 10mA.) Of course, the standard representation is 0.01 C5A, simplified here.

3. Why do you think 0.01C is the end of charging?

This is stipulated by the national standard GB/T18287-2000, and it is also discussed. In the past, everyone generally ended with 20mA. The industry standard YD/T998-1999 of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications also stipulates that no matter how large the battery capacity is, the stop current is 20mA. The 0.01C specified by the national standard helps charge more fully, which is beneficial for the manufacturer to pass the appraisal. In addition, the national standard stipulates that the charging time should not exceed 8 hours; that is to say, even if it has not reached 0.01C, the charging is considered to be over after 8 hours. (Batteries with good quality should reach 0.01C within 8 hours, for batteries with poor quality, it is meaningless to wait).

4. How to distinguish whether the battery is 4.1V or 4.2V?

Consumers are indistinguishable; it depends on the product specification of the cell manufacturer. Some brands of batteries are 4.1V and 4.2V universal, such as A&TB (Toshiba); domestic manufacturers are 4.2V, but there are exceptions, such as Tianjin Lishen is 4.1V (but it is currently 4.2V).

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Because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, there is a shortage of natural gas supply. At the same time, other renewable energy sources cannot produce enough electricity, so electricity prices have soared in many countries of the world. For this reason, I assume the supply and prices of the lithium-ion battery would keep being influenced by the high energy prices.



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Global silicon nitride market trend 2023-2027 What are the structure and properties of silicon nitride? by Newsintegra927

Wholesale gas prices in the Netherlands and the UK have risen 20 percent recently amid concerns about Russian supplies.

The EU plans to cut its dependence on Russian gas by two-thirds this year and stop importing Russian fossil fuels by 2027. Russia exported about 155 billion cubic meters of gas to the EU in 2021.

The US recently said it would try to supply 15bn cubic meters of LNG to the EU this year. U.S. LNG plants are running at full capacity, and analysts say much of the extra gas the U.S. sends to Europe comes from what should have been exported elsewhere.

The German government called Russia "an unreliable energy supplier". Even though the German government claimed that they have been preparing for the situation for a long time that Russia may stop sending gas one day, experts say it is hard for the EU to replace all of Russia's gas exports any time soon.

The supply and prices of many silicon nitride will continue to be influenced by international situations.





Overview of Silicon Nitride

Silicon nitride is an important structural ceramic material with high hardness, inherent lubricity, and wear resistance. It is an atomic crystal; it is resistant to oxidation at high temperatures. Silicon nitride is a compound of silicon and nitrogen. Si3N4 is the most thermodynamically stable among silicon nitride. Therefore, when referring to the term "silicon nitride", Si3N4 is the most commercially important among silicon nitrides. It is a white high melting point solid, relatively chemically inert, and is corroded by dilute HF and hot H2SO4. This is very difficult (Moss level is 8.5). Has high thermal stability. Silicon nitride is difficult to produce as a bulk material-due to its dissociation with silicon and nitrogen; it cannot be heated above 1850C, which is well below its melting point. Therefore, there are problems in the application of traditional hot-press sintering technology. The bonding of silicon nitride powder can be achieved at lower temperatures by adding additional materials (sintering aids or "binders") that usually cause a certain degree of liquid phase sintering. A cleaner alternative is to use spark plasma sintering, in which a current pulse is passed through the compacted powder, thereby heating up very quickly (a few seconds). Through this technology, dense silicon nitride compacts can be obtained at a temperature of 1500-1700C.

Due to the chemical combination of silicon and nitrogen, the weight of the silicon sample gradually increased. If there is no iron catalyst, after a few hours (about 7 hours), if no further weight increase due to nitrogen absorption (per gram of silicon) is detected, the reaction is complete. Several other silicon nitride phases have been reported in the literature (the chemical formulas correspond to different degrees of nitride/Si oxidation state). For example, gaseous silicon dioxide mononitride (Si2N); mono silicon nitride (SiN) and silicon sesquinitride (Si2N3), are all stoichiometric phases.

Applications of Silicon Nitride

Silicon nitride (Si3N4) was developed in the 1960s and '70s in a search for fully dense, high strength and high toughness materials. A prime driver for its development was to replace metals with ceramics in advanced turbine and reciprocating engines to give higher operating temperatures and efficiencies. Although the ultimate goal of a ceramic engine has never been achieved, silicon nitride has been used in a number of industrial applications, such as engine components, bearings and cutting tools.

Automobile industry

One of the main applications of silicon nitride sintering is as a material for engine parts in the automotive industry. These include glow plugs in diesel engines to speed up the starting speed; pre-combustion chambers (vortex chambers), which can reduce emissions, speed up starting speeds and reduce noise; turbochargers can reduce engine lag and emissions. In spark-ignition engines, silicon nitride is used to reduce wear on the rocker bushes, turbocharger turbines to reduce inertia and engine lag, and exhaust control valves to increase acceleration. As an example of production level, it is estimated that more than 300,000 sintered silicon nitride turbochargers are produced annually.

Bearings

Silicon nitride bearings can be either full ceramic bearings or ceramic hybrid bearings, including ceramic balls and steel rings. Compared with other ceramics, silicon nitride ceramics have good impact resistance. Therefore, ball bearings made of silicon nitride ceramics are used as performance bearings. A typical example is the use of silicon nitride bearings in the mainframe of the NASA space shuttle. Since silicon nitride ball bearings are harder than metal, contact with the bearing track is reduced. Compared with traditional metal bearings, this can reduce friction by 80%, extend service life by 3 to 10 times, increase speed by 80%, reduce weight by 60%, and operate under insufficient lubrication. Capacity, higher corrosion resistance and higher working temperature.

Metal working and cutting tools

The first major application of Si3N4 was grinding tools and cutting tools. Bulk monolithic silicon nitride is used as a material for cutting tools due to its hardness, thermal stability and wear resistance. It is especially recommended for high-speed machining of cast iron. Thermal hardness, fracture toughness and thermal shock resistance mean that silicon nitride sintering can cut cast iron, hard steel and nickel-based alloys, and its surface speed is 25 times faster than traditional materials such as tungsten carbide.

Silicon Nitride Price



Silicon nitride price will vary randomly with the production cost, transportation cost, international situation, exchange rate, and market supply and demand of silicon nitride. Tanki New Materials Co.,Ltd Aims to help All industries and Chemical Wholesalers to find high quality, cheap price Nanomaterials and chemicals by providing turn-key customize manufacturing services. If you are looking for silicon nitride, please feel free to send an inquiry for the latest price of silicon nitride.

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More information about Silicon Nitride

Silicon Nitride Mechanical Properties Compressive / Crushing Strength 600 to 2950 MPa Elastic Modulus 140 to 310 GPa Flexural Strength 130 to 810 MPa Fracture Strength 3.1 to 6.2 MPa-m1/2 Poissons Ratio 0.24 - 0.27





Silicon Nitride Thermal Properties Maximum Temperature 1000 to 1330C Maximum Thermal Shock 290 to 750C Specific Heat Capacity 720 to 800 J/kg-K Thermal Conductivity 12 to 31 W/m-K Thermal Expansion Thermal Expansion

Silicon Nitride Other Properties Density 2.2 to 3.4 g/cm3 Dielectric Strength 18 kV/mm Dielectric Constant 8.0 - 10.0





The development of the Russia-Ukraine conflict will continue to dominate the commodity prices such as the silicon nitride in the future. If the conflict eases or cools, Russia and Ukraine go back to negotiate, commodity prices would fall. However, if the situation between Russia and Ukraine deteriorates further, or evolves into a full-scale war, the price of the silicon nitride is predicted to see further improvement over the coming days.



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The first commercial shipment of Irish pork is set to arrive in Mexico early next month.

Irish Minister of State with responsibility for Research and Development, Farm Safety, and New Market Development, Martin Heydon made the announcement today during the first in-person event to take place promoting Irish pork since market access to Mexico was granted in May 2020.

Bord Bia is currently into the second year of its 760,000 EU Pork campaign.

The three-year campaign aims to build awareness of Ireland as a supplier of high-quality, safe and sustainably produced pork.

To promote the campaign, today Bord Bia invited Mexican government officials and food industry representatives including top importers, distributors, and wholesalers to an EU Pork seminar at the Irish embassy in Mexico City. The event, which was also attended by media, featured presentations on Irish pork and production.

The event is the first major in-person event since Ireland gained market access to Mexico was granted in 2020.

Speaking at the event, as part of the Irish governments trade mission to Mexico, Mr Heydon said: I am honoured to lead our departments first official visit to Mexico since securing access for the export of Irish pigmeat to Mexico.

"Gaining access for Irish pigmeat exports to Mexico highlights the value of investing in strategic relationships in priority markets and there is no better way to demonstrate Irelands commitment, with the support of the European Commission, to this market than by investing in a three-year information and promotion campaign for pork in Mexico.

"I am particularly pleased to announce that the first commercial shipment of Irish pork will arrive into Mexico early next month, representing an important milestone and first step in forging a stronger commercial partnership with the Mexican meat importers.

He added: We believe that Origin Green will be the differentiating factor in Mexico - a developed market of discerning consumers who care where their food comes from."

In 2017, Mexico was identified a priority market for Irish pigmeat, as part of the Irish governments Prioritising Markets, Opportunities for Growth study.

Noreen Lanigan, Bord Bias Europe and North America Director, added: Bord Bias consumer research shows us that while pork has always been an important part of the Mexican diet, greater urbanisation and a growing middle class with rising consumer incomes who have an interest in food safety, have helped drive the sharp increase in pork demand.

"We also know that there is both a strong demand for quick and easy-to-use pork solutions, along with an appetite for premium pork cuts particularly among younger Mexican consumers.

"The EU Pork trade-focused campaign will build awareness and understanding of food safety, quality assurance and sustainability of European pork and Irish pork is well-positioned to supply this increasing demand as we produce pork to the strictest EU food safety standards.

As part of this promotional campaign, Bord Bia will exhibit at Expo Carnes y Lacteos in February 2023, along with hosting trade seminars and welcoming welcome Mexican partners to visit Ireland and experience first-hand Irelands world-class pork production, and the workings of farms and processors.
Downton Abbey was already being talked of as an emerging TV phenomenon. But it was during an encounter with airport security in the early days of the series that Irish actor Allen Leech realised quite how big it had become.

The episode where I left Sybil in Ireland and came back to Downton had just aired in the States the night before, he laughs at the memory. I was coming in through US immigration in New York, and the guy looked at my passport, looked at me, shook his head and went: That was a shitty thing you did to your wife.

A working actor for over a decade, Leech was suddenly a household name due to the global success of the show, as another encounter with one of his favourite actors at an awards ceremony proved.

People that you've admired for years were coming up to say we love Downton. I remember Jeff Daniels who I've admired for all my life, especially work that he's done in comedies, he was there for The Newsroom. I was looking at him and he waved and I kind of kept looking behind me going: I wonder who he's waving at? and he went: No, I'm waving at you! You get the sense that Downton is a success the Dubliner values and appreciates.

Allen Leech pictured at the Irish premiere screening of Downton Abbey: A New Era at The Stella Cinema, Rathmines. Picture: Andres Poveda

Already a rising star in his homeland thanks to movies like Cowboys & Angels and Man About Dog, the show ran for six series and became a cultural and commercial smash. Public appetite for the genteel adventures of the Crawley family means Downton keeps on giving - now on the big screen - and he is proud to have brought an Irish perspective to the stately doors of one of Englands most-beloved dramas.

I'm very happy that that's there. I think the Irishness is very important but it was a happy accident of the fact that I auditioned for the part, says Leech. The part was supposed to be a guy called John Bronson and he was supposed to be from Yorkshire. When I went in, I'd practiced my Yorkshire accent but Julian [Downton Abbey creator and writer Julian Fellowes] said: No, keep yours. Actually, I have an idea. And it literally was born out of that.

He said this is actually a way that we can bring the historical relevance of what was happening in Ireland to Downton by having an Irish character. So I think it's very important. And it played a huge amount in how I played the character as well, because there was oftentimes that moment of Tom just sitting at that massive table going: How the f**k did I get here? He certainly had impostor syndrome sitting here in his white tie and tails going: I do not belong.

Downtons TV success is a rare thing - a series with an appeal that endures on the big screen. Following 2019s Downton Abbey: The Movie, another film, A New Era, opens in cinemas this weekend. This film is set in both the famous house itself, which has been taken over by the cast and crew of a movie, and in the South of France, where the family has inherited a villa in mysterious circumstances. The film opens with the wedding of Leechs Tom Branson and Lucy, after the widower has found love again.

Its exciting for my character in that it opens with his wedding. Its taken quite a long time for Tom to get back to finding happiness again. He scoots over for his honeymoon and gets quite a surprise when he gets back to find out that his daughter inherits this quite fabulous place in France.

Up until about four days before [the France shoot] it was looking like it was going to be somewhere in Scotland for Covid protocols. There's a scene where I come out of the water and I think I would have moved slightly quicker than I did!

Actors Allen Leech and Tuppence Middleton on the set of Downton Abbey: A New Era.

Dubliner Leech was originally signed up, he reveals, for just three episodes of the series before becoming one of its most popular characters. I do feel very lucky and very proud that Tom has remained in this story. I think there were a number of times when Julian could have easily written him out - certainly when Jess left the show. So I love the fact that Tom is still there. I think it's nice To have an outsider's voice within the story.

Growing up in Ireland, Leech had expressed an interest in acting throughout his teenage years and cites several school and drama teachers - including a Corkman - of having a positive and powerful influence on him.

I had a wonderful teacher, Martin Kelly, from Cork, who was my English teacher and the passion he has for English, especially for Shakespeare was something that I absolutely just loved. He inspired me so much, because that passion definitely came over. And he also directed the school play I did, Othello.

Brian O'Mahony, who was my sixth class teacher, was so passionate about drama. And then a lady who just passed away at the age of 99, Maire Cranny, was a wonderful drama teacher. Her love of poetry and language was something that I only now really can look back and see the impact it's had on my life.

My family were very open to it. It was probably when I really started taking it seriously and thought about doing it in college, my folks very much had the attitude and rightly so I think, to get a degree so you have something to go back and fall back on, because it's obviously a very uncertain life.

Downton Abbey: A New Era: Harry Hadden-Paton as Bertie Pelham, Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith, Tuppence Middleton as Lucy Smith, and Allen Leech as Tom Branson.

As well as Downton, he cites Irish movies Cowboys and Angels - his first feature film - and Man About Dog as successes that encouraged him to keep going. A job for acclaimed British director Mike Leigh was also pivotal.

I did a play that Mike Leigh directed here in London called Ecstasy, it ran in the Hampstead Theatre and then moved into the West End. That was a turning point in how I approached the craft because I studied theatre studies, but it was an academic course rather than a practical course. Having that time to work with Mike Leigh was just phenomenal.

Returning home for the films Irish premiere this week was special for a number of reasons, not least that hes bringing his two-year-old daughter to his home country for the first time. He and his wife Jessica Blair Herman are expecting a second child.

I'm bringing my daughter home - the first time she'll get to go to Ireland, which is wonderful, and meet some of her cousins that she hasn't got to meet yet.
An inquest into the death of a young mother who died a week after she gave birth to her third child at a maternity hospital in Dublin heard claims there were many missed opportunities to diagnose that she had contracted a life-threatening infection.

Karen McEvoy, 24, of Red Bog, Blessington, Co Wicklow, was rushed to Naas General Hospital with suspected sepsis on Christmas Day 2018  seven days after her daughter, Ruby, had been born at the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital  but died a short time later after suffering a cardiac arrest in the hospitals emergency department.

An inquest at Kildare Coroners Court on Thursday heard evidence from several witnesses that Ms McEvoy had complained of pains since December 20, 2018  the day after getting home from the maternity hospital  which got progressively worse over the following days.

Ms McEvoys partner, Barry Kelly, said Karen had been in great health during the pregnancy and there had been nothing out of the ordinary in Rubys delivery.

He said Karen had been seen by a public health nurse, Doreen OSullivan, on December 21, 2018, and went to the Coombe two days later where she was told she was suffering from sciatica and advised to go to Tallaght Hospital if the pain was still continuing after two more days.

However, Mr Kelly said she remained very sore and drowsy and found it difficult to sleep over the next few days. He recalled her condition was so bad when she woke up on Christmas Day with slurred speech, her whole body swollen and looking pale that he got his mother to call for an ambulance.

Karen begged me not to touch her she was in so much pain, said Mr Kelly. The inquest heard that Ms McEvoy suffered a cardiac arrest as emergency staff were trying to fit an intravenous line into her at Naas General Hospital.

Karen was the best. She deserved the best, he added.

Questioned by his own counsel, Richard Kean, Mr Kelly said they had received no awareness information from the Coombe about post-natal sepsis. Asked if they had been reassured by their visit to the Coombe on December 23, 2018, Mr Kelly said they had trusted the judgement of doctors.

His mother, Tina Kelly, said Karens death was a complete shock to her and her family.

There were so many missed opportunities to pick up the issue of sepsis, said Ms Kelly, She pointed out how Karen had felt reassured at being told that abdominal pain was normal for a new mother and by being informed she had sciatica by doctors in the Coombe.

In evidence, however, the public health nurse said Ms McEvoy had not reported any discomfort during an abdominal examination in the Vista Clinic in Naas on December 21, 2018. Ms OSullivan said she did not recall saying anything about abdominal pain being normal for new mothers.

Barry Kelly (right), partner of Karen McEvoy and Barry's mother, Tina Kelly at Kildare Coroner's Court today. Mr Kelly told the inquest: 'Karen was the best. She deserved the best.' Picture: Colin Keegan

The coroner, Professor Denis Cusack, said the nurse's failure to record whether the patient was suffering any pain in her medical notes was a strange omission. However, Ms OSullivan said it was a straightforward omission that she could not explain.

The nurse said she would have activated a care plan if Ms McEvoy had expressed any concern about suffering pain but the patient had presented as tired but well. Cross-examined by counsel for Mr Kelly, Esther Early, Ms OSullivan said she had not checked any of Karens vital signs during an examination which lasted 45 minutes because she did not have the equipment to do so.

She also acknowledged that she was wrong to state that she had placed her hands on the patients stomach as she admitted that she had held baby Ruby with one hand while examining Ms McEvoy. However, Ms OSullivan said she was confident she had carried out a competent abdominal examination at the time.

The inquest heard that there had been a number of changes to post-natal care in the healthcare services as a result of lessons learned from Ms McEvoys death.

Counsel for the HSE and the two hospitals, Conor Halpin, said it was planned that public health nurses would be provided with equipment to check vital signs in patients and such a programme was being piloted in three locations.

Mr Halpin said new draft national guidelines on post-natal care were due to be signed off in the next few weeks which would recommend that all examinations of new mothers by public health nurses should be conducted in the patients home.

The inquest heard a discharge information pack provided to new mothers leaving the Coombe at the time contained information about infections but no specific reference to sepsis.

However, leaflets referencing sepsis were subsequently included in the pack while new mothers are also advised to seek further information on the infection on the HSE website.

Signs of sepsis

A trainee midwife, Sarah Glennon, who oversaw the discharge of Ms McEvoy from the Coombe on December 19, 2018, said the patient had displayed no signs of sepsis.

Ms Glennon said Ms McEvoy had a pain score of 5-6 out 10 which she felt was not unusual for a woman one day after a delivery She said she believed a slightly high heart rate of 104 beats per minute was due to either the pain or some blood clots which the patient had experienced.

Ms Early said the rate was a significant increase over levels of 63 to 77 recorded the previous day but had not been measured again before Ms McEvoy was discharged.

A paramedic, William ONeill, who transported Ms McEvoy to hospital, said she was clearly unwell and had displayed several markers of sepsis and appeared in septic shock.

Prof Cusack said that recordings by the paramedic showing Ms McEvoy had a very fast pulse and breathing rate demonstrated very significantly deranged vital signs. The coroner praised the National Ambulance Service for displaying notices about sepsis on the side of ambulances.

The inquest heard Ms McEvoy died from multiple organ failure as a result of sepsis infection. The pathologist, Dr Michael Jeffers, said Ms McEvoy would have had the infection for at least 24 to 48 hours.

The inquest before a jury of five men and two women at Athy Courthouse continues on Friday.
A jury in the trial of two US army veterans accused of trespass and criminal damage at Shannon Airport has been urged to be the lamp that shows freedom lives and acquit them both.

The jury in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial of octogenarians Ken Mayers (85) and Tarak Kauff (80) started its deliberations shortly after midday on Friday.

Mr Mayers, of Monte Alte Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico and Mr Kauff, of Arnold Drive, Woodstock, New York, have pleaded not guilty to trespass, criminal damage and interfering with the operation, safety or management of Shannon Airport on March 17, 2019.

The trial has heard both men served in the United States military before becoming anti-war activists in the 1960s. They are members of a US-based group called Veterans for Peace.

In their evidence to the trial this week, both defendants acknowledged cutting a hole in the fence and walking onto the airport. They said they did so to protest against the United States' military use of Shannon as a stop-over en route to and from areas such as the Middle East, where the military is involved.

Prosecution closing speech

In his closing speech to the jury on Friday, Tony McGillicuddy BL, prosecuting, acknowledged the jury might have sympathy for the two defendants.

They are sincere and honourable persons, he said. That can't be disputed and is not disputed. He recalled the evidence of every airport official and garda in the trial who described how respectful and courteous they were.

But Mr McGillicuddy said the jury must put sympathy aside and have regard to the law in the case. In relation to the criminal damage counts, the jury was told it must consider whether, in damaging the fence, the accused men had an honestly-held belief that their actions were justified in order to protect other persons.

Mr McGillicuddy said the prosecution case was that the men did not have any such lawful excuse. He said there was no evidence there were any munitions or arms on board the plane. He said there was no evidence in relation to there being a need to protect any persons.

They were there for education purposes and the education of law enforcement personnel, Mr McGillicuddy said. He said they were making a political statement, drawing attention to matters, highlighting matters.

He said:

That may be very understandable but it is not a lawful excuse under the Criminal Damage Act.

In relation to the charge of interfering with the operation, safety and management of an airport, Mr McGillicuddy submitted that the men's presence on the taxiway at Shannon Airport caused the closure of the airport.

In relation to the charge of trespassing with intent to cause damage or interfere with property, the prosecution said the men had admitted to entering the airport grounds and had told officials that they were there to inspect a plane.

There is no evidence there was anything illegal in Shannon Airport on that date, Mr McGillicuddy said.

He told the jury that any qualms, claims, contentions, worries or concerns should have been reported to the authorities in the proper way. He urged the jury to return guilty verdicts on all six counts.

Ken Mayers defence closing speech

Michael Hourigan BL, defending Mr Mayers, told the jury that the issue was the lawfulness of the actions of the two men and the honest and reasonable beliefs that they held.

He said the prosecution's description of the man as sincere and honourable was a tacit concession that what they tell you they believe, is a sincere and honestly-held position on their part.

This was not some kind of political posturing, but an honestly-held belief that the actions they did on the day could save lives, the jury was told. Mr Mayers told the jury of an ethical and moral obligation he felt, on the basis of all he had experienced and all that he knew, Mr Hourigan said.

In relation to the prosecution's assertion that there were no arms on board the plane that day, Mr Hourigan noted that no airport official inspected the plane, nor was there a practice of inspecting US military planes at Shannon Airport.

You do not have to determine whether or not there were arms on that plane or a breach of Irish neutrality, Mr Hourigan said. It is whether these sincere and honourable men are being sincere and honourable when they tell you: 'This is what I believe, and this is what I did'.

He put it to the jury members that when they reach the age of 85, they may be doing something different than standing in the mud in a wet field in Clare.

But that is what he (Mr Mayers) felt he had to do to protect human life. Mr Hourigan submitted there was a lot more to constitutional democracy than the letter of the law.

The jury is the lamp that shows that freedom lives, he said, quoting on old legal saying. Be the lamp and show that freedom lives. The only way you can do that is by delivering verdicts of not guilty.

Tarak Kauff defence closing speech

In her closing speech, Carol Doherty BL, defending Mr Kauff, said she adopted everything Mr Hourigan had submitted.

She told the jury the best thing about the law in Ireland is that there is a built-in mechanism to ensure that in the right circumstances, a person cannot be convicted of criminal damage, provided they can show they honestly believed their actions were lawful.

She recalled her client's evidence to the jury that he believed the plane at Shannon was a US war machine en route to war-torn Yemen.

In relation to the charge of interfering with the operation of the airport, Ms Doherty said the airfield was closed to ensure no one else was on the airfield, not because her client was walking along a taxiway. She said no airlines lost any money as a result of the airport closure and delays were minimal.

In relation to the allegation the men intended to carry out criminal damage, Ms Doherty noted that when he was met by the airport officer, Mr Kauff had a phone, his wallet and a folded-up banner on his person and nothing else. Ms Doherty said Mr Kauff has dedicated his life to peaceful protest.

People who go against the great can make a difference, she said. It's reasonable to assume Mr Kauff and Mr Mayers might have made a difference. Hope is a powerful thing. The fact that hope wasn't realised on this occasion doesn't mean this action wasn't justified.
A man who carried a child that had been sleeping in her tent to another tent where he raped her has been given a six-and-a-half-year sentence.

The man (27), who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, raped the then-16-year-old girl at a party in an isolated rural area. She was woken by being carried out of her tent by the man, who also orally raped her during the incident.

The Central Criminal Court heard that after being raped, the girl returned to the party where she was shouted at by adult women who effectively blamed her for what happened. The court heard that when she was later examined in hospital, she was found to have extensive injuries to her body and genitalia.

The man had pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and oral rape at a location in Co. Leitrim on a date between July 11, 2020, and July 12, 2020. He was convicted of both charges by the unanimous verdict of a jury following a trial in February 2022. He has no previous convictions.

Sentencing

Passing sentence on Friday, Mr Justice Michael MacGrath said it was clear the injured party had suffered great harm as a result of the accused mans actions and said that the mans level of culpability was high. Mr Justice MacGrath set a headline sentence of eight-year imprisonment.

He noted in mitigation factors, including his lack of convictions and previous good character, that he had offered to plead guilty to child defilement and references before the court describing him as a good man, a hard worker and that he was dedicated to family and friends.

He noted the mans difficult family circumstances and said he was taking into account exceptional circumstances in the form of care needed for a member of the accused mans family.

Justice MacGrath imposed a six-and-a-half-year sentence and suspended the final 15 months on conditions, including that the man not contact the victim directly or indirectly, or through any third party by any means including social media.

Victim impact statement

In her victim impact statement, which was read before the court, the now 18-year-old victim said that back in 2020 she was a boisterous girl full of love for everyone around her.

The victim said she had grown up knowing the accused man because of their families. She said she had known him when she was a little kid and asked him how he could have done this.

She said she had been used and exploited and felt disgusted about her body in the aftermath. She said he had not only hurt her but had hurt her family as well.

The victim said she never deserved this and never deserved this pain. She said she wished she could take things back and not go to the party.

She said he had ruined her future, but she would not give up. She said she was a fighter and would keep fighting.

Case background

A local detective told Lorcan Staines SC, defending, that on the dates in question, the complainant was in attendance at a 16th birthday party in an isolated rural area in Co. Leitrim.

The detective said that at the party there were two groups, a large group of teenagers and a group of adults, both of which consumed a large amount of alcohol. The accused man was a part of the group of adults.

The complainant and a then-14-year-old boy had consensual sex earlier in the evening at the party. One of the other children took a video of them and this became embarrassing for her as it became common knowledge at the party that they had had sex.

Sometime after 11pm, the complainant told her friend she was not feeling well and she was brought back to her tent where she fell asleep in her clothes. She later remembers being lifted from her tent by the accused and brought to another tent.

The accused man raped the teenager in this tent. The complainant remembers hearing a male voice at one point saying that he would not tell anyone.

After this incident, the girl returned to the party where she was shouted at by adult women who effectively blamed her for what happened and said that the accused had a girlfriend.

As the party was in an isolated location, the girl could not leave until the following morning when her friend's mother picked her up. Her phone had been confiscated by the man who organised the party, who had also confiscated the accused man's phone.

The girl immediately reported the incident to gardai and was brought to the sexual assault treatment unit (SATU) where she was found to have extensive injuries to both her body and her genitalia.

The accused was arrested and in an interview with gardai he indicated he had had sexual intercourse with the girl, but claimed as far as he was concerned it was consensual.

The detective agreed with Seamus Clarke SC, defending, that his client offered to plead guilty to child defilement on the basis the victim was intoxicated and not capable of consenting, but that this was not acceptable to the DPP.

Mr Clarke said his client is a father and is in loco parentis for his partner's children. He submitted that the conviction has been devastating for his client's partner and family.

Counsel said his client's partner has been supported by him and she spends a lot of time in hospital with a family member. He said she is in court and is supporting him despite his conviction.

He submitted his client's family are going to suffer from his incarceration and he is not going to be able to provide for his family the way he should be able. He said his client did appear to himself have been heavily intoxicated on the night, but that was not an excuse.

- If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.
The residents of a mental health facility in Cork which the HSE has earmarked for closure have made a direct and impassioned plea to the Taoiseach to overturn the decision.

Thomas Roche and Michael OSullivan, both long-term residents of the Owenacurra Centre in Midleton, were joined by family members on Friday as they handed a letter into Micheal Martins constituency office pleading for him to intervene.

Mr Roche, 66, who has lived at Owenacurra for more than 11 years, said: My life was chaotic before I came back from London and I am in the hospital since I came back, and its good.

I came from hell, but now I have a good routine. I want Mr Martin to reverse the decision.

The HSE announced plans last summer to close the 1970s-built centre after being advised that it is in very poor condition with major defects. But residents families mounted a major campaign to keep it open and to secure investment in the centre.

It was due to close last October, but a temporary stay was put in place as the campaign for investment gathered pace. The families say they are still in the dark about the centres future.

Mr Roches sister, Mary Cahill, and his brother, Kieran Roche, said local TDs must do more to help him and his fellow residents, like Michael OSullivan, who has lived in the centre for over a decade.

Kieran Roche with a message from residents for the Government. Picture: Larry Cummins

Michael said: Its not as unfit for purpose as the HSE said.

"Its been such a rough year. I was affected by the virus and was in isolation for 10 days, my brother died of the virus, my mother has been sent to a nursing home, and this [the proposed closure] is just one of many problems for me.

I would like Mr Martin to overturn the decision to have the centre closed. It would be a terrible loss for east Cork.

His sister, Maureen OSullivan, warned politicians that the campaign is going to ramp up.

In their letter to the Taoiseach, the residents urged him to support their mental health and their right to live in their own community, to reverse the closure decision, and to restore respite services there.

Owenacurra is a unique centre," they wrote.

"It provides us with a safe place where our mental health, and not our illness, is prioritised.

It gives us hope because we are surrounded by people with similar experiences.

Mental illness steals away human companionship so people who are not well are all alone. Owenacurra completely reverses that."

They also praised the centre staff for their support during the pandemic.

A spokesman for the Taoiseach said this is a difficult situation for everyone involved.

"It was made clear to the HSE that on fire, health and safety grounds, there were too many risks to the residents and they had to act," he said.

"Minister Butler is engaging with the HSE and it is important that the needs of residents continue to be met."

In a statement this evening, Minister Mary Butler said: "The HSE decision to transfer services from this centre was not taken lightly and follows serious concerns raised by the Mental Health Commission through their inspection process.

From the outset, the will and preference of the residents of the Owenacurra Centre have been paramount in all decisions and actions taken by the HSE. I am satisfied that the decisions arrived at were made with best interests of the residents in mind, both from a health and safety viewpoint and from the provision of appropriate treatments."

The statement goes on to say: "The HSE continues to work with each resident individually and consult with their families to agree an appropriate alternative placement based on their assessed needs. Assessments with residents have been completed and consultation with families remains ongoing.

Residents are moving on a phased basis and the work with each resident is on-going. Two of the residents current assessed needs are for nursing home care and the nine remaining residents assessed needs are indicating a reduced care need which could be met in a community residence with rehabilitative support.

"The HSE are currently sourcing a property and have located a detached house that has been identified as suitable in terms of layout size and location in the area. Funding has been sought and a bid has been submitted.

"The current assessment is that some of the residents of Owenacurra and other East Cork service users would be suitable for such a community residence service."
A white sticker on the outside of my pharmacy bag containing my prescription says: Please inform Alison that Estradot is still unavailable. This message from the pharmacist was relayed at the counter, and, no, there was no news on when stocks might be replenished.

I am just one of thousands, probably tens of thousands, of Irish women who are hearing the same story as they try to source HRT prescriptions around the country.

Women are absolutely desperate and have been scouring pharmacies, some travelling to the North. Others are borrowing from friends in the hope of being able to pay them back in a few weeks, and doctors are struggling to prescribe alternatives when their patients contact them to say what they usually use is not in stock.

This is a really serious issue for women. According to estimates, there are up to 600,000 Irish women in the age bracket who could be affected by peri-menopause or menopause. Not all of them will be on HRT, or need to be, but certainly the demand is growing.

In Britain, there are similar problems with chronic HRT shortages. Their health secretary Sajid Javid has just said he is appointing a new HRT tsar, modelling the role on that of the governments Covid vaccine taskforce, to solve the shortage, particularly of oestrogen patches and gels.

In Ireland, we are still awaiting an official announcement regarding anything specific being done to help women.

If you want first-hand accounts of how awful it is for many of those involved, listen back to the RTE Liveline of March 31 when so many women spoke of their utter frustration and desperation at the lack of HRT availability.

Corkwoman Jessica Ni Mhaolain, who is stuggling to find certain HRT medications, pictured with Sinn Fein at the launch of their menopause document in March this year.

The official explanation is that demand has increased so much, there has been no way of keeping up with it in the short term. Indeed, according to the Department of Health, medicine shortages have become increasingly prevalent worldwide over the past decade and are a feature of modern health systems around the world.

The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) works to prevent, wherever possible, and manage medicine shortages when they occur. It is in regular contact with the relevant companies, according to a spokeswoman.

According to a response from the Department of Health, the supply of one range of HRT patches has increased by between 77% and 117%, for the three most-used strengths, compared to 2020.

In addition, based on demand in recent months, the company involved expects a similar increase in the demand for all strengths during 2022. This would mean that the usage of this patch in Ireland would be approximately 4.5-7.5 times higher in 2022 (depending on the strength) compared to 2019.

Supply of HRT patches, according to the department, has already been increased this year and the companies are working to find solutions to the immediate supply issues.

The HPRA has also told the companies it is open to providing accelerated regulatory approval to supply a product originally intended for other markets if available.

So as women become more aware of the overall safety of HRT and its protective properties in terms of their health, the demand has been increasing steadily. Indeed the succession of Liveline programmes devoted to Irish womens experience of the menopause last year  which heard some incredible stories from women of how their symptoms had been dismissed by GPs, or that their doctor simply would not prescribe HRT  without doubt contributed to this increase in demand.

One GP I know told me she has prescribed more HRT in the last two years that in the previous 15.

But, be all of that as it may, I wrote a column in 2020 about HRT shortages and how I had arranged a drug deal at the school gate between one mother desperate for a months supply of patches and another woman who happened to have one spare.

Other issues

If youve been on HRT for the past few years, youll know shortages and having to find substitutes are a common experience. So we are left with a sense that there are other issues involved, not just increasing demand, or that the availability of HRT may not be the priority that it should be.

In a Dail debate on March 31 on the Governments Womens Health Action Plan, a number of deputies raised the issue of these shortages, including Sinn Fein Health spokesman David Cullinane. But it was Cork TD Mick Barry who best expressed the frustration so many thousands of women are feeling at what is happening.

Why does this society tolerate an extreme shortage of an essential medicine for women?...Would the same toleration be shown if, for example, the medicine in extreme short supply was Viagra? The hot flushes, joint pain, anxiety, insomnia, pain, and discomfort caused by menopause has, when untreated, caused women to give up their jobs and make other unnecessary sacrifices, said the Solidarity TD.

I couldnt have put it better myself and somehow it seems to have more validation when it comes from a man, especially one who is speaking in the Dail.

Not all women suffer from menopausal symptoms, but a hell of a lot of us do and HRT medication is a lifeline.

Mariella Frostrup, British MP Carolyn Harris, Penny Lancaster and Davina McCall with protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in London last year.

Back to Britain where some well know women have set up the Menopause Mandate website. They include Davina McCall, Mariella Frostrup, and Penny Lancaster, wife of Rod Stewart, who came out in support of sorting out the HRT shortage this week.

As they point out on the website the menopause has, thanks to campaigning, become the biggest womens issue of the moment.

Yet menopause provision in Britain remains shockingly poor. Unsurprisingly, they have a petition. We are saying enough is enough. This isnt a feminist issue or a niche issue. This affects our whole society as women make up over half the population. There could be more than 50 symptoms of menopause, and the majority of women will experience at least one

Ensuring that women are seen by trained doctors and nurses and given the latest and best advice isnt a luxury, its a human right.

We have had some significant improvements in Ireland, but all from a desperately low base.

Just as in Britain, healthcare professionals are not routinely educated on the subject and health advice is often out of date.

Irish family doctors are making significant efforts to train up on the menopause, although efforts are clearly hampered by these HRT shortages.

To be fair, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has shown serious intent when it comes to womens health. He recently launched the Governments womens health action plan. It includes four menopause clinics, several new see-and-treat gynaecology clinics around the country, breastfeeding supports, womens mental health, and free contraception for women aged between 17 and 25.

But a bird never flew on one wing. If a crucial part of womens healthcare  hormone replacement therapy  is unavailable, then this action plan is seriously undermined. Its not the same as Covid vaccines, yet what happened there did show us how political pressure can make a difference.

I sorted your HRT would be a pretty good election slogan when the time comes.
A British military veteran has reportedly been killed in Ukraine while fighting against Russian forces.

Tributes have been paid to Scott Sibley after the UK Foreign Office confirmed a British national had died in Ukraine and another is missing.

The families of both are being supported, a spokesperson said, declining to give names or further details.

Mr Sibley has been named by the BBC and Sky, both of which said he is believed to have been fighting in support of Ukrainian forces.

A Briton has been killed and another is missing as the conflict continues in Ukraine, officials have confirmed (Francisco Seco/AP)

In a statement, the Foreign Office said: We can confirm that a British national has been killed in Ukraine and are supporting their family.

On the missing person, the spokesperson said: We are aware of a British national who is missing in Ukraine and are supporting their family. We are urgently seeking further information.

A fundraising page set up in Mr Sibleys name paid tribute to his contagious laugh and ability to cheer us up!.

Tributes were also left on the Logistic Support Squadron Facebook page, where a picture was posted alongside the comment: This week the Sqn has lost a former serving soldier. A man that showed Commando spirit until the end. RIP. Scott Sibley.

A small number of serving British personnel are believed to have gone absent without leave to join the resistance against the Russian invasion, while veterans and Britons without combat experience are thought to have also travelled to Ukraine.

There was initially confusion on the Governments position after Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, in comments during an interview to the BBC on February 26, said she would absolutely support UK nationals who chose to fight for Ukraine.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss initially said she would support UK nationals who chose to fight for Ukraine but later rowed back on this (Victoria Jones/PA)

However, she later rowed back on those comments, insisting she had been expressing support for the Ukrainian cause in her remarks, and that there are better ways to contribute to the countrys defence.

Veterans minister Leo Docherty has previously written to armed forces charities to encourage those tempted to travel to the war zone to turn their efforts to helping the Ukrainian people from the UK.

Meanwhile, the latest Government figures show that around a fifth of Ukrainian refugees who have been issued with visas under the Homes for Ukraine scheme have arrived in the UK.

A total of 86,100 visas had been issued as of Wednesday under the Ukraine Family scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship scheme, the Government said.

But, as of Monday, just 27,100 Ukrainians had arrived in the UK, according to figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Home Office.

Overall, less than a third (31.4%) of those granted visas under both schemes have arrived in the UK.

There are multiple cases where families are unable to travel to the UK because not all family members have received their permission to travel letters or visas.

There has also been widespread concern about the length of time it has taken for visas to be issued to refugees under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

A Government spokeswoman said: We are processing thousands of visas a day  this shows the changes we made to streamline the service are working and well continue to build on this success so we can speed up the process even further.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said Britain and its allies need to help prise Russian forces out of Ukraine like a limpet off the rock.

Mr Wallace said the UK would continue to supply weapons to the government in Kyiv and was looking at the options for providing anti-ship missiles.

Mr Wallace told Sky News: I think its certainly the case that Putin, having failed in nearly all objectives, may seek to consolidate what hes got, sort of fortify and dig in, as he did in 2014, and just be a sort of cancerous growth within the country of Ukraine and make it very hard for people to move them out of those fortified positions, he said.

So I think its really about, if we want this to not happen, we have to help Ukrainians effectively get the limpet off the rock and keep the momentum pushing them back.

In a speech on Wednesday, Ms Truss said the objective should be to drive Russia out of the whole of Ukraine.
Kenyans paid their last respects to former president Mwai Kibaki in a state funeral service attended by African leaders.

Mr Kibaki, whose death was announced last Friday, has been praised by Kenyas current leaders as a respected statesman.

He was 90.

Authorities declared Friday a public holiday in honour of Mr Kibaki, who served two terms as president from 2002 to 2013.

The presidents of Kenya, South Africa and South Sudan are among the dignitaries attending the state funeral in the capital, Nairobi.

Mwai Kibaki (Jerome Delay/AP)

Hundreds of Kenyans stood by the roadside to watch a military procession escorting the hearse to the national stadium where thousands more had gathered since early morning.

It is the second time I have seen something like this.

It is sad but very colourful, said Mercy Wairimu, a street vendor of sweets.

Mr Kibaki will be buried on Saturday at his ancestral home in central Kenya.

Before becoming president in 2002, Mr Kibaki had a distinguished career as a public servant.

He had served as finance minister, vice president, and official leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.

He was often seen as a gentleman in a country full of more aggressive politicians.

Mr Kibakis reelection to a second term in 2007 put a dent in his reputation as his victory was disputed by his opponent, Raila Odinga.

Mr Odinga asserted that the election result had been rigged and that he had really won the poll.

A military honour guard walks with the coffin (Brian Inganga/AP)

Hundreds of people were killed in weeks of ethnic violence that followed.

Amid the stalemate, Kenya exploded into fighting along tribal lines that forced more than 600,000 people from their homes.

The violence shattered Kenyas standing as a beacon of stability in East Africa.

The international community led by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan eventually brokered a fragile power-sharing deal between Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga, who settled for a new role as Kenyas prime minister.

In the wake of the violence, Mr Kibaki oversaw a new constitution for Kenya that was aimed at decentralising powers and reducing persistent ethnic tensions that continue to flare up during electoral seasons.

The new constitution was praised as having some of the most progressive human rights provisions in the world.
Burma UPDATED: Myanmar Junta Charges Senior NLD Lawyer Under Counter-Terrorism Law

Daw Ywat Nu Aung (center) talks to the media after a trial in 2019. / The Irrawaddy

Daw Ywat Nu Aung, a prominent lawyer from the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) Party, has been charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law after being arrested by the military regime on Wednesday in Mandalay.

Regime spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun said she was charged under Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law as she financed a local Peoples Defence Force (PDF) resistance group.

An arrested treasurer of a PDF in Mandalay confessed that she financially supported them. Thats why she was arrested and charged, he said.

The junta has branded Myanmars shadow National Unity Government, its parliamentary wing the Committee Representing Pyihtaungsu Hluttaw, and its armed wing the Peoples Defence Forces as terrorist groups for alleged acts of incitement against the junta.

Under Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, Daw Ywat Nu Aung faces up to 15 years in jail if she is found guilty.

A source said that the lawyer and her assistant were arrested as they left Mandalays Obo Prison on Wednesday, where she was part of the legal team defending ousted Mandalay Chief Minister and NLD vice chairperson Dr. Zaw Myint Maung in his trial for alleged corruption. Police opened a case against her on Thursday.

The source added that Daw Ywat Nu Aungs Mandalay office was searched by the security forces around 4am on Friday, citing residents in the neighborhood.

They came in a military convoy and brought Daw Ywat Nu Aung along with them, he said.

Her colleagues said that they had no idea where the lawyer is being held.

As well as helping to defend Dr. Zaw Mying Maung, Daw Ywat Nu Aung was also representing other prominent NLD figures detained by the junta, including NLD chair U Win Htein. She is also the NLDs senior official for Mandalay Region.

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Burma Myanmar Junta Ministers Denounce West in Plea for Chinese Investment

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The recent press conference held by two regime ministers with foreign media agencies has been seen as signaling Myanmars return to Chinas embrace and rejection of western countries.

It follows former dictator Than Shwes approach when facing western sanctions which left the country in deep poverty. The current junta appears to be following a similar path.

The juntas investment and foreign economic relations minister, U Aung Naing Oo, told Chinese reporters that western countries are spreading negativity about Chinese investment in Myanmar.

Information minister U Maung Maung Ohn and U Aung Naing Oo held a virtual press conference with the Associated Press, Reuters, South China Morning Post, Strait Times, China Central Television (CCTV), Peoples Daily and Xinhua last week.

Chinese reporters asked in a contemptuous tone if the regime can guarantee security for Chinese investments and the two ministers tried to be reassuring.

Western firms Chevron, Total and Woodside account for 10 percent of investment in Myanmars oil and gas sector and other shareholders will take their place when they leave Myanmar, said U Aung Naing Oo.

China accounts for about 27 percent of foreign oil and gas investment, U Aung Naing Oo told Xinhua.

Western countries imposed sanctions on Myanmar between 2000 and 2011 but the country did not care, said U Aung Naing Oo.

China is the most important foreign investor and the junta hopes it will work with the regime for Myanmars economic recovery, said U Aung Naing Oo.

Blame the west

U Aung Naing Oo told the Peoples Daily from China that western non-governmental organizations have been objecting to Chinese-backed hydropower projects.

The west wants to hamper growing Chinese investment, he said, while promising to help the projects run smoothly.

U Maung Maung Ohn invited Chinese investment in hydropower projects, guaranteeing that there will be no opposition under the regime. Peoples Daily asked about arson attacks on Chinese factories in Hlaing Tharyar Township, Yangon, after last years coup.

The township is now under direct military rule and incidents would not happen again, said U Aung Naing Oo. The chairman of the regimes governing body, the State Administration Council, had made efforts to protect Chinese projects under the Myanmar Investment Law, he added.

U Aung Naing Oo claimed western countries are spreading hostility about China in Myanmar, without providing evidence.

A Xinhua reporter asked how western countries are responsible for Myanmars instability and the damage it has caused to Myanmar and its neighbors.

Western countries interfere in Myanmar because they fear Chinas growing power and influence, said U Aung Naing Oo, a former military officer.

The west is trying to install a puppet government in Myanmar to boost its regional influence, he added.

The CCTV reporter asked if the general election promised for next year would be possible amid resistance violence. U Maung Maung Ohns claimed the regime is in full control of security and the civilian National Unity Government is only capable of attacking minor police stations.

China understands Myanmar and always helps when it faces difficulties, said U Maung Maung Ohn, who called for Chinese assistance ahead of next years election.

Regime copes fine with sanctions

In response to the Xinhua reporters question about the economic impact of western sanctions, U Aung Naing Oo said sanctions do not affect the regime, only businesses.

Factories have shut because of sanctions, US dollars are hard to obtain and jobs have been lost, he said.

Sanctions cause no harm to the government. The government has made preparations. Their sanctions have contributed to economic cooperation with neighboring countries, he said.

An observer said governments should protect citizens and the ministers remark was irresponsible.

As a minister, he should not have said that sanctions do not harm the regime and only harm the people. But his remark is not surprising considering as it is an illegal government, he said.

Does China publicly support the regime?

Last month, the juntas foreign minister U Wunna Maung Lwin met Chinas foreign minister Wang Yi, who has now met the regime twice since the coup.

Wang Yi, according to the Peoples Daily reporter, told a press conference that it is possible to send electricity to Myanmar if there is a power line.

A cross-border power line project is a part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor Cooperation, said U Aung Naing Oo.

It was agreed to open a Myanmar consulate in the giant Chinese city of Chongqing during U Wunna Maung Lwins visit.

China provides training and university scholarships for civil servants from Myanmar in Chongqing. The city has many migrant workers and direct flights from Yangon began in 2019.

Consular staff were appointed months before U Wunna Maung Lwins visit to China so the decision was clearly made in advance.

U Aung Naing Oo in Naypyitaw said citizens can find construction work when economic corridor projects resume soon.

An observer, who asked not to be named, said Chines cooperation with the regime is to be expected as Beijing only cares about its own interests. However, Chinese state-owned enterprises are only likely to start or resume projects agreed under previous governments and new Chinese investment is unlikely, he said.

The junta still cant control the country properly and its troops are under threat everywhere. Under these circumstances, new big projects by the state-owned enterprises are unlikely as it is very risky, the observer said.
Burma Regime Forces Loot and Torch Over 200 Houses in Upper Myanmar

Hundreds of houses were razed to ground in Thanbo Village. / Khin-U Township Information

Over 200 houses were razed in Sagaing Regions Khin-U Township on Tuesday when Myanmar regime troops, police and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia torched houses during a raid on a village.

Junta troops and police based in Khin-U Town, along with local Pyu Saw Htee militia, raided Thanbo Village from early Tuesday morning until 5pm. They shot dead a 36-year-old man during the raid, said residents.

Almost all the houses in the village were burned down. Villagers were forced to flee their homes, said a Khin-U resident.

Thanbo, which is home to more than 350 households, is located outside Khin-U Town. Residents did not have time to take their possessions when junta troops raided the village, firing heavy guns. The military regime forces looted valuables from homes throughout the day, before torching houses.

Thanbo villagers have staged continuous protests against the military regime. They have even held night protests. And they are also well-off. This attracted Pyu Saw Htee robbers. They were on the rampage throughout the day and left the village around 5pm after torching houses, said another Khin-U resident.

More than 200 houses were burned down, while some 20 cows and 50 goats and sheep were killed in the fire. Harvesters, trailers, vehicles and motorbikes were also damaged in the fire.

Regime soldiers also tortured and killed a 36-year-old man during the raid, said Khin-U Township Information, an anti-regime group documenting junta atrocities in Khin-U.

Another column of junta troops advancing from Shwebo fired shells at two villages in Khin-U for no reason and torched some houses.

Villagers still cant return to their homes. Only a few have returned secretly to check the situation. The regime has cut off the internet for months, and access to phone service is also on and off, said a Thanbo villager.

Some 100 junta troops and police also torched 62 houses in Ywatha Village in Khin-U on April 23, killing two civilians. They also raided an outpost of a local Peoples Defense Force (PDF).

Almost 1,000 houses have been destroyed in junta raids in Khin-U Township, with around 4,500 people left homeless and in need of relief supplies, said Khin-U Support Organization (KSO).

An official of KSO said: People are losing their lives, and it is difficult to estimate the financial loss of their possessions. The most important for the time being is to help the displaced people to survive.

Junta troops, police and Pyu Saw Htee militia have raided and torched houses in over a dozen villages in Khin-U Township. 156 PDF fighters and civilians have died and some 100 others were injured, said Khin-U Township Information.

Locals from Pyinhtaung, Magyitone, Madaunghla and Ywathitgon villages have also been forced from their homes after regime troops and Pyu Saw Htee militia deployed in those villages.
Burma Terror Group Vows to Target Myanmars Pro-Democracy Movement

Thwe Thouts logo on a lanyard left on a victim.

The new pro-regime Thwe Thout vigilante group has issued death threats against anti-regime forces and their family members and supporters.

In less than a week, it has murdered around eight people, seven in Mandalay and one in Yangon, mainly National League for Democracy (NLD) members and supporters.

The group announced on April 21 that, to counter resistance attacks on junta targets, it was launching Operation Red against the members and supporters of the NLD, their families and supporters of peoples defense forces formed by resistance fighters.

The group issued death threats against independent journalists exposing junta atrocities and their families.

Following the announcement, Thwe Thout killed an NLD ward chairman U Khin Maung Thein, who owned the Sein Win Win teashop in Chanayethazan Township, Mandalay, his brother-in-law U Tin, who was also an NLD member, and wounded U Khin Maung Theins wife, Daw Kha Kha.

U Khin Maung Theins body, with a gunshot and multiple knife wounds, and Daw Kha Kha, who was still alive at the time, were found on Monday morning outside the NLD office in Chanayethazan, a day after being seized by Thwe Thout. Daw Kha Kha was shot in the head and had knife wounds on her throat and head. Her condition is unknown.

U Tin, who was searching for the couple when he went missing, was found dead the same day at another location with a stabbed throat.

All three were left with Thwe Thout lanyards. The group posted graphic pictures of the victims with the lanyards on its Telegram channel.

A Mandalay resident told The Irrawaddy that at least seven more bodies, including an NLD member, an NLD election campaigner and the brother of NLD Maha Aung Myay lawmaker Ko Zaw Zaw Aung, were dumped with the groups logo.

Thwe Thout has announced operations in Yangon, Naypyitaw and Kyaukse in Mandalay Region.

Gunmen killed the grandfather of actor Hein Htet, who has joined a peoples defense force, at the actors home on Wednesday in Mingaladon Township, Yangon. Thwe Thout in Yangon claimed responsibility.

Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun on Wednesday denied any association with the group.

He accused the National Unity Government, formed mostly by NLD lawmakers, of being behind the group to distort the juntas image.

Residents and activists rejected his claim and said everyone knows Thwe Thout is another junta puppet, like the Pyu Saw Htee militias.

Bo Phoenix of the Rangers of Mandalay resistance group told The Irrawaddy that weapons used by Thwe Thout and other evidence proved it was supported by the regime.

Some witnesses reported seeing the victims bodies dumped by junta vehicles.

Our main goal is to break the juntas backers. We are watching the situation, Bo Phoenix said.

Elected NLD lawmaker from Yangon Region U Bo Bo Oo, who escaped from junta detention following the coup, said Thwe Thout targets the party because it cannot undermine its popularity.

He said Thwe Thout is another terror campaign attempting to strengthen the dictatorship.

Forming dark squads and paying people to murder opponents is an old tactic. Everybody knows the regime is behind it, he added.

Sayadaw Agga Wuntha, a monk from Mandalay, who led anti-regime protests in Pyigyitagon Township, told The Irrawaddy that the regimes attempt to silence opposition will fail.

The more the regime kills innocent civilians and makes threats, the more the public will hate it and rise up. The revolution will not weaken, the monk said.

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Analysis Ethnic Minorities Eye Autonomy in Post-Junta Myanmar

The 70th annual Karen Revolution Day at the Karen National Unions headquarters in Paan district, Karen State, in 2019. / The Irrawaddy

Following the 2021 coup, there is no viable central government in Myanmar. The junta is illegal and illegitimate and unable to effectively deliver government services. Instead, a range of ethnic armed and other resistance organizations have emerged as viable and legitimate governance entities.

Recent debates have questioned whether Myanmar is a failed state and if this concept is relevant.

However, Burma has never achieved credibility as a state with which the majority of its citizens can identify.

As David Steinberg pointed out last year, political leaders have since independence failed to achieve a common sense of belonging among ethnic nations, especially between elites from the Burman majority and ethnic communities, which constitute at least a third of the population.

For many conflict-affected communities, the centralized state has been a disaster, seemingly determined to forcibly assimilate or eradicate autonomous ethnic nationality and other opposition groups.

It is unlikely that a coherent and credible Myanmar will emerge in the near or middle-term future  except perhaps in the form of a loose federal union, as proposed by the broad opposition movement forming the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) and National Unity Government (NUG).

The impacts of climate change and growing geopolitical chaos across the world will likely exacerbate these tensions. If Myanmar does not recover as a coherent entity, what remains is a set of largely ethnically defined states claiming sovereignty.

Many of these existed before or during the colonial period but were never fully integrated into the post-independence union.

The peace process, an experiment which proved that Myanmar doesnt work

Following decades of armed conflict, the period from 2011 to 2015 was one of hope that the semi-civilian, military-backed U Thein Sein administration might be willing to do what its predecessors had not: engage in serious discussions with ethnic nationality leaders about the future nature of the union.

For the first time in decades, political negotiations were on the table, including the promise of a federal political settlement to decades of armed and state-society conflict.

For several of Myanmars ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), now often referred to as ethnic resistance organizations (EROs), it was worth experimenting with peace after decades of conflict and suffering.

However, under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government from 2016, the promises of peace proved elusive. Neither the military nor NLD were willing to address ethnic communities grievances or aspirations. Nevertheless, the peace process was a useful experiment, proving that Myanmars central government  and particularly its military  are fundamentally unwilling to address ethnic grievances and aspirations or deliver genuine federalism. The situation has not improved since the coup.

Even if the current State Administrative Council could consolidate a brutal SLORC-like control, it seems unlikely the junta will succeed in bringing all territory currently defined as Myanmar under its control.

The brave resistance fighters across the country will doubtless continue their struggle, whatever the odds.

Ethnic and other resistance organizations

Several EAOs have sided with the junta, at least by default, by not opposing the regime. Others, such as the Arakan Army (AA), sit on the fence, although fighting may return in Arakan or Rakhine State.

It seems likely that sooner or later the regime will turn against the AA, for which reason the AA may decide to strike first.

Several other armed ethnic groups are resisting and are these days often referred to as EROs. These include the Karen National Union (KNU), which has been particularly active in supporting the opposition alliance.

Groups like the KNU, Kachin Independence Organization and New Mon State Party control extensive territory and deliver a wide range of education, health, natural resource management and administrative services.

Achieving just and equitable federalism in Myanmar will require constitutional change and other elements of top-down negotiation and political settlement. Federalism can also be built from below.

For example, providing quality mother tongue-based multilingual education, through a network of more than 1,500 schools, is one of the EROs most significant achievements. The schools run by various EROs provide an alternative model of education, distinct from that provided by the Ministry of Education under previous governments.

Ethnic language basic education is based on internationally recognized best practice and is a key component of a practical approach to achieving federalism in Myanmar.

In some areas, similar roles may be played by peoples administrative bodies (PABs) associated with anti-junta peoples defense forces (PDFs), especially in Bamar-majority areas, matching the EROs administrative services.

In liberated areas, some PDFs and PABs have already assumed responsibilities for law enforcement, public works and education, often under the guidance of the NUG. In several areas, PDFs have been cooperating closely with longer-established EROs. In some cases, there is a clear command-and-control relationship between these actors. In lowland areas, it will be a great challenge for the PDFs to maintain their positions until the junta is defeated, however that is defined.

Another new set of stakeholders is the state-level ethnic coordination bodies. So far since the coup, these have been established in Kachin, Mon, Karenni (Kayah), Chin and Shan states, including in Taang areas, and Tanintharyi Region.

As yet, there is no Karen ethnic coordination body, a reflection of the long-standing complexity of Karen society, spread across seven states and regions.

Some smaller Karen EAOs are aligned with Myanmars military.

Given long histories of mistrust and betrayal on the part of the central state and military, EAOs are very unlikely to give up their guns.

Towards ethnic sovereignty

The plethora of armed, political and governance actors since the coup is difficult to track and frontiers between different areas of authority shift and overlap.

There are significant risks in associating ethnic identity with specific territories, including the potential marginalization of vulnerable sub-groups.

Nevertheless, future constitutional and political negotiations may need to address the challenge of boundaries to reflect the distribution of ethnic populations and recognize that all ethnic areas are in fact multiethnic, with many minorities within minorities.

This would need to be undertaken in a conflict-sensitive manner with inclusive consultations among different stakeholders.

Myanmar continues to be recognized by the United Nations. In reality, a much looser, federal-style union seems to be emerging, at least among legitimate political actors.

Particularly in upland areas, these zones of autonomy predate the official state.

Whether the long-suffering minorities opt to remain in a future federal union remains to be seen.

There are powerful incentives to support certain shared and centralized functions, such as a common currency, an internal customs union and external defense.

Not all EROs are equipped to establish the institutions of an autonomous state, although there are significant capacities with the support of ethnic civil society.

Meanwhile, international partners must be ready to work with credible autonomous resistance governments and alliances.

As often during periods of transition, political structures and alliances are challenged to address shifting realities on the ground.

Some of these issues may be resolved in talks underway in the NUCC, the oppositions peak policy body.

Under the Federal Democracy Charter, which was revised in March, the NUG has an important role to play as a light-touch federal coordinating body.

However, authority rests with the ethnic states, and PDFs and PABs which can resist the military. These bodies say they are struggling for a new Myanmar, based on the sovereignty of the people and the historic independence of ethnic entities. They are also best positioned to provide humanitarian aid to millions of citizens affected by military rule and more broadly by militarisation and violence in Myanmar.

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SPECTRUM hosted a walkout at the fountain on Indiana State Universitys campus Friday. The walkout lasted from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm in order to raise awareness against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation raised in 2022, and was part of walkouts being hosted across the United States.
Dr Lennart Maschmeyer: "[The Microsoft report] tells us little about the impact of these operations, especially on the strategic level."

A senior cyber security researcher at the Cybersecurity Centre for Security Studies run by ETH Zurich says while a Microsoft report on cyber operations during the Russia-Ukraine war offers some useful details it says little about the impact of these operations.

Dr Lennart Maschmeyer told iTWire in response to queries: "The Microsoft report offers some useful details about the different cyber-operations (suspected) Russian-sponsored actors have carried out against Ukraine.

"Yet it tells us little about the impact of these operations, especially on the strategic level. The report is clear about this, noting 'Microsoft is not able to evaluate their broader strategic impact'."

Dr Maschmeyer, who has a doctorate from the University of Toronto and co-chairs the FIRST Threat Intel Coalition as well as the European Cybersecurity Seminar, was one of the few who refused to buy into the general cyber war hysteria seen both shortly before the invasion and also during the conflict that has followed.

Microsoft's, released on 27 Aprilto detail "the relentless and destructive Russian cyber attacks weve observed in a hybrid war against Ukraine, and what weve done to help protect Ukrainian people and organisations".

An introduction to the 21-page effort noted: "It is unclear whether computer network operators and physical forces are just independently pursuing a common set of priorities or actively co-ordinating."

It also said: "Through our engagements with customers in Ukraine, we have observed that Russias computer-enabled efforts have had an impact in terms of technical disruption of services and causing a chaotic information environment, but Microsoft is not able to evaluate their broader strategic impact."

Dr Maschmeyer pointed out with that limitation, "all we know is that some of these operations evidently disrupted some systems, possibly causing some organisational and individual effects".

"To date, there is no evidence any of these operations had an impact on the course of conflict; Ukraine's capacity to resist aggression; public opinion; trust in government; and the balance of power."

He welcomed any evidence to further the debate as to how cyber operations had mattered in this conflict.

"Discussing whether there is cyber war or not, as is unfortunately still the main theme in most debates, is a distraction from that underlying question," he added.
Internet infrastructure for commerce provider Shopify has announced that its Australian merchants contributed $39.4 billion in economic activity in 2021, a 50.1% increase in economic activity from $26.3b in 2020.

Shopifys announcement comes in the release of the findings from its annual Economic Impact Report (EIR), exploring the positive change made to the global and Australian economy, and quantifying Shopifys economic footprint in 2021.

According to Shopify, every dollar spent with an independent business has a ripple impact on the lives of the owners behind it, their local communities, families, employees, suppliers, and the world.

Shopify has seen firsthand examples of entrepreneurs innovating industries, creating job opportunities in their local community, growing suppliers, and making the planet a better place to live. This is called the Shopify Effectwhich is measured by partnering with Deloitte, a third-party auditor, to get a better picture of its aggregate impact, notes Shopify.

In 2021, businesses continued to pivot and with the Great Resignation in full force, the entrepreneurial awakening drew many to start up their own ideas. The proof is in the numbers, but it's not only about economics; it's about the people and entrepreneurs behind them.

Shopify merchants in Australia supported 154,200 jobs and generated $29.6 billion in economic activity in 2021, demonstrating their resilience and adaptability amid the ongoing transformation of modern retail.

We couldnt be more proud to support Australian businesses with everything they need to build exciting D2C brands and products for customers all over the world. Shaun Broughton, APAC Managing Director, Shopify.

Here are some of the key findings from the Shopify 2021 report - and Australia specific highlights:





Shopify merchants contributed $39.4 billion in economic activity , which is a 50.1% increase in economic activity from 2020 ($26.3B).

If you were to distribute Australian economic activity generated by merchants on Shopify to every Australian, each person would get $1,530, and every working age Australian $2024

Merchants created 154,200+ jobs, a 48.4% increase in job impact from 2020 (98,200+). Shopify merchants employ 0.79% of all working age Australians.

Global:

Shopify merchants supported 5 million jobs last year. Collectively, Shopify merchants support the largest workforce in the world.

Shopify merchants generated nearly US$444 billion (AU$625B) in global economic activity*, a 45% increase from 2020. Pooled together, that would form the worlds second-largest company in revenue, surpassing Amazon, Apple, BP, and Volkswagen.

Our merchants success remains paramount: for every $1 generated last year, our merchants made $38

International impact:





Shopify merchants sold US$25+ billion (AU$35B) worth of goods and services outside their home country in 2021 . Small businesses generated US$11 billion (AU$14.8B) of those salesthats as much as the top 6 highest grossing superhero films combined.

European merchants exported US$4 billion (AU$5.4B) worth of goods and services outside their continent, a 39% increase from 2020.

Merchants in developing nations generated US$6.5+ billion (AU$8.6B) in revenue in 2021, up from US$5.8 billion (AU$7.8B) in 2020, generating enough cross-border sales to make all four Avengers movies 18 times.



Not only is it the merchants that create impacttheres a whole ecosystem of Shopify Partners who contribute to the Shopify Effect, from developers building apps that solve problems for merchants to designers creating stores to help bring brands to life and more, says Shopify.

Partner ecosystem:

Shopify's Partner ecosystemwhich includes developers, designers, marketers, accountants, logistics providers, and other experts who help our merchants succeedsupported 656,000 jobs and totaled $32 billion (AU$43B) in revenue** last year.

Shopify Partners increased their earnings 45% from 2020, grossing nearly 7x Shopifys 2021 revenue.

For more details and to read the 2021 Deloitte Economic Impact Report click here
The Fuso eCanter electric truck that has joined the Coles fleet.

Retailer Coles has introduced its first electric truck for deliveries, with supply chain leader Linfox Logistics being the provider. This brings to six the number of such trucks provided by Linfox to its customers.

A statement from Linfox said the Fuso eCanter was servicing a number of NSW stores, carrying products from the Eastern Creek Distribution Centre to supermarkets and new format Coles Local stores.

It claimed that about 60 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions would be avoided, based on current usage projections, compared to an Euro 6 diesel truck of the same size.

The Fuso eCanter has no emissions and is powered by electricity generated from renewables.

As a leading logistics provider that has traditionally relied on fossil fuels to transport goods, Linfox has made a commitment to find alternative sources of energy to power our customers supply chains, said Linfox executive chairman Peter Fox.

Working in partnership with a trusted Australian retailer such as Coles, that connects customers with products from thousands of farmers and suppliers, is where the switch to electric vehicles can make the biggest difference.

David Clark, Coles head of Transport Safety & Sustainability  Supply Chain, said: We are proud to be working with Linfox Logistics to deliver Coles first electric truck. We are excited to see how electric truck technology evolves and are eager to continue working with Linfox to discover ways to reduce emissions in our supply chain through alternate fuel technologies.

Daimler Truck and Bus Australia Pacific president and chief executive Daniel Whitehead welcomed the addition of the Fuso eCanter to the Linfox Coles fleet.

Linfox and Coles have long relied on the regular Fuso eCanter to deliver for Australians, and we know they will love the pioneering electric eCanter technology, he said.

We are excited that these two iconic Australian companies have chosen the Fuso eCanter to help them move towards a zero emissions future.
As the death toll from the delta and omicron coronavirus surges mounted, Marat Jean Moore  who started a memorial in Jonesborough to remember those who died of COVID-19 in Northeast Tennessee  fell behind.

But on Thursday, she got some help.

Members of the Kappa Delta sorority at East Tennessee State University stopped by the memorial's location on Spring Street to help Moore plant hundreds of new flags marking the region's COVID-19 deaths  and replace others damaged after 18 months of exposure to the elements. Roughly 700 new flags were planted, and about 200 were replaced.

Standing in the midst of thousands of flags, Moore said the help and support overwhelmed her with joy.

"It's overwhelming in an absolutely wonderful way," Moore said. "You know, I'll probably not sleep tonight I'll just be so happy."

Clara Roller, a member of Kappa Delta, said it's important to give back to the community, and remember what it has gone through during the pandemic.

"I think it's important, doing this memorial to remember all of the lives lost during COVID and the impact they made in the community," Roller said.

Moore established the memorial in late November 2020, getting the idea from a similar project in Washington, D.C., created by artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg. Unlike Firstenberg, however, Moore used colorful flags instead of white ones, "because every person is unique, and every human life  everybody  is vibrant in their own way," she told the Press in 2020.

As of April 23, Northeast Tennessee's COVID-19 death toll was 2,469  72% of whom died during the region's surges from November 2020 to December 2021, August to October 2021 and December 2021 to February 2022.

"There's sorrow and there's joy also, and I just hope that the families (who've lost loved ones) feel that sense of community and support that they need," Moore said.

Jonesborough COVID-19 Memorial Jonesborough COVID-19 Memorial Jonesborough COVID-19 Memorial Jonesborough COVID-19 Memorial Jonesborough COVID-19 Memorial Jonesborough COVID-19 Memorial Jonesborough COVID-19 Memorial Jonesborough COVID-19 Memorial Jonesborough COVID-19 Memorial
Russian forces bombarded Ukraines capital late Thursday during a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who decried the absurdity of war in the 21st century, as US President Joe Biden asked for $33 billion more to support Kyiv.

At least three people were wounded in the strikes in the western part of the city, which were the first in the capital in nearly two weeks, and came after Guterres toured Bucha and other suburbs where Moscow is alleged to have committed war crimes.

Ukrainian prosecutors said they were investigating 10 Russian soldiers for suspected atrocities in Bucha, where dozens of bodies in civilian clothes were found after Moscows retreat, and had identified more than 8,000 alleged war crimes cases.

Those cases involve killing civilians, bombing of civilian infrastructure, torture and sexual crimes reported during Russias occupation of various parts of Ukraine, prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova told a German TV channel.

In Washington, Biden urged US lawmakers to approve his huge aid package, as well as proposed new laws to allow using luxury assets stripped from Russian oligarchs to compensate Ukraine for damage inflicted since Moscow invaded on February 24.

The cost of this fight is not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen, Biden said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed Bidens proposal as an important step and necessary.

 Shocking 

In a residential part of Kyiv, AFP correspondents saw one building in flames and black smoke pouring into the air.

I heard the sound of two rockets and two explosions. It was a sound similar to a flying plane, and then two explosions with an interval of three to four seconds, Oleksandr Stroganov, 34, told AFP.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said there had been two hits in the Shevchenkovsky district, with one hitting the lower floors of a residential building. Three people were taken to hospital, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.

It is a war zone but it is shocking that it happened close to us, Saviano Abreu, spokesman for the UNs humanitarian office who was travelling with Guterres, told AFP, adding that the delegation was safe.

Zelensky said the strikes, immediately after his talks with Guterres, were an attempt by Russia to humiliate the UN and everything that the organisation represents.

A Russian military spokesman told reporters that Moscows army had conducted air strikes against 38 military targets, destroying seven munitions depots, but made no immediate mention of Kyiv or the wider region around the capital.

Guterres, who arrived in Kyiv after talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, called the war evil after visiting Bucha and demanded that the Kremlin cooperate with an International Criminal Court investigation into the accusations.

Prosecutors said the 10 servicemen under investigation are suspected of premeditated murder, cruel treatment and other violations of the laws and customs of war during their occupation of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, in March.

At a joint press conference with Zelensky, Guterres admitted the UN Security Council had failed to do everything in its power to prevent and end this war.

This is the source of great disappointment, frustration and anger, he added.

 Idle comments 

In Washington, Biden pushed back against increasingly heated claims by Russian officials and state media that Moscow is fighting the entire West, rather than only Ukraine.

Were not attacking Russia. We are helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression, Biden said.

The US leader also blasted Moscow for idle comments on the possible use of nuclear weapons.

The $33 billion package sought by Biden is a significant increase on previous requests.

The bulk  $20 billion  would be weapons and other security assistance, while $8.5 billion will be economic aid to help Ukraines government respond to the crisis.

Russia has targeted Western-supplied arms, as the United States and Europe increasingly heed Zelenskys call for heavier firepower, despite their misgivings about being drawn into a conflict with Moscow.

The German parliament on Thursday voted overwhelmingly in favour of providing Kyiv with heavy weapons, a major shift in policy.

In its economic standoff with the West, Russia on Wednesday cut gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland, both European Union and NATO members. Both are now receiving gas from EU neighbours.

On Thursday, Bulgarias Prime Minister Kiril Petkov urged Europe to be stronger and wean itself off Russian gas as he also visited Ukraine, arguing everybody in Europe should be able to.

Biden said the West would not allow Russia to use their oil and gas to avoid consequences for their aggression.

 One hope 

With the war claiming thousands of lives, Kyiv has admitted Russian forces are making gains in the east, capturing a string of villages in the Donbas region.

The first phase of Russias invasion failed to reach Kyiv or overthrow Zelenskys government after encountering stiff Ukrainian resistance reinforced with Western weapons.

The Russian campaign has since refocused on seizing the east and south of the country while using long-range missiles against west and central Ukraine.

Guterres said the United Nations was doing everything possible to evacuate civilians from the apocalypse in the besieged port city of Mariupol.

A Russian official meanwhile said Thursday that the ruble will soon be introduced in areas of Ukraine under Moscows control, despite Russia earlier insisting it was not seeking to occupy captured territory.

Ukraines ombudsman condemned the move as act of annexation and gross violation of UN Charter articles.

Nearly 5.4 million Ukrainians have fled their country since the invasion, according to the United Nations, and more than 12 million others are displaced internally.

We feel bad, we shouldnt be standing here, Svitlana Gordienko, a nurse forced to relocate to the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, told AFP as she queued for food at a humanitarian hub.

Were left with only one hope: to return home, added pensioner Galina Bodnya.

burs-sst/bgs
Russian forces pressed their offensive in south and east Ukraine on Friday after bombarding its capital during a visit by the United Nations chief.

At least three people were wounded in strikes late Thursday in the western part of Kyiv, the first in the capital in nearly two weeks, which came after Guterres toured Bucha and other suburbs where Moscow is alleged to have committed war crimes.

Three months into an invasion that failed in its short-term aim of capturing Kyiv, Russia is now intensifying operations in the breakaway eastern Donbas region, as Ukraines Western allies supply it with increasingly heavy armaments.

After Moscows retreat from Kyiv, dozens of bodies in civilian clothes were found and Ukrainian prosecutors said they have opened investigations into 10 Russian soldiers for suspected atrocities in Bucha and pinpointed more than 8,000 alleged war crimes cases.

Those cases involve killing civilians, bombing of civilian infrastructure, torture and sexual crimes reported during Russias occupation of various parts of Ukraine, prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova told a German TV channel.

In Washington, President Joe Biden on Thursday urged US lawmakers to approve a huge $33 billion aid package and proposed new laws to allow using luxury assets stripped from Russian oligarchs to compensate Ukraine for damage inflicted since Moscow invaded on February 24.

The cost of this fight is not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen, Biden said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed Bidens proposal as an important step and necessary.

 Shocking 

In a residential part of Kyiv, AFP correspondents saw one building in flames and black smoke pouring into the air after the Russian strikes.

I heard the sound of two rockets and two explosions. It was a sound similar to a flying plane, and then two explosions with an interval of three to four seconds, Oleksandr Stroganov, 34, told AFP.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said there had been two hits in the Shevchenkovsky district, with one hitting the lower floors of a residential building. Three people were taken to hospital, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.

It is a war zone, but it is shocking that it happened close to us, Saviano Abreu, spokesman for the UNs humanitarian office who was travelling with Guterres, told AFP, adding the delegation was safe.

Zelensky said the strikes, which came immediately after his talks with Guterres, were an attempt by Russia to humiliate the UN and everything that the organisation represents.

A Russian military spokesman told reporters that Moscows army had conducted air strikes against 38 military targets, but made no immediate mention of Kyiv or the region around the capital.

Guterres, who arrived in Kyiv after talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, called the war evil after visiting Bucha and demanded the Kremlin cooperate with an International Criminal Court investigation into the accusations.

Prosecutors said the 10 servicemen under investigation are suspected of premeditated murder, cruel treatment and other violations of the laws and customs of war during their occupation of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

At a joint press conference with Zelensky, Guterres admitted the UN Security Council had failed to do everything in its power to prevent and end this war.

This is the source of great disappointment, frustration and anger, he added.

 Idle comments 

In Washington, Biden pushed back against increasingly heated claims by Russian officials that Moscow is fighting the entire West, rather than only Ukraine.

Were not attacking Russia. We are helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression, Biden said.

The US leader also blasted Moscow for idle comments on the possible use of nuclear weapons.

The $33 billion package sought by Biden is a significant increase on previous requests.

The bulk  $20 billion  would be weapons and other security assistance, while $8.5 billion will be economic aid.

A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the spending package would keep Ukraines government and military going through the start of October.

While Biden noted the US was sending 10 anti-tank weapons for every Russian tank, Ukraines air force commander said his countrys anti-aircraft systems were unable to strike bombers flying at altitudes of eight kilometres and higher.

We need medium and long-range anti-aircraft systems and modern fighters, said Mykola Olechchuk.

Russia has targeted Western-supplied arms, as the United States and Europe increasingly heed Zelenskys call for heavier firepower, despite misgivings about being drawn into a conflict with Moscow.

The German parliament on Thursday voted overwhelmingly in favour of providing Kyiv with heavy weapons, a major shift in policy.

In its economic standoff with the West, Russia on Wednesday cut gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland. Both are now receiving gas from European Union neighbours.

On Thursday, Bulgarias Prime Minister Kiril Petkov urged Europe to be stronger and wean itself off Russian gas.

 Apocalpyse 

With the war claiming thousands of lives, Kyiv has admitted Russian forces are making gains in the east, capturing a string of villages in the Donbas region.

The first phase of Russias invasion failed to reach Kyiv or overthrow the government after encountering stiff resistance reinforced with Western weapons.

The Russian campaign has since refocused on seizing the east and south of the country while using long-range missiles against west and central Ukraine.

Guterres said the UN was doing everything possible to evacuate civilians from the apocalypse in the besieged port city of Mariupol.

In an early morning statement on Telegram, defenders of the Azovstal factory there said shelling had struck a field hospital inside the plant, causing it to collapse.

Among the already wounded servicemen are dead, newly wounded and injured, the statement said without providing specific casualty numbers.

In Kharkiv, local Governor Oleh Synegubov said five civilians were killed Thursday in what he described as near-continuous shelling.

More than 2,000 buildings in the city have been damaged or destroyed by fire since Russia launched its invasion, leaving its firefighters at the breaking point.

Two weeks ago there was a big shelling in the city centre and 56 fire trucks went in to extinguish different areas a lot of apartments were bombed, Roman Kachanov, a firefighter who heads the N11 fire station told AFP.

And this has been going on day after day and people dont have enough time to rest, he said. Its exhausting, youre just as tired as hell.

 Only one hope 

A Russian official, meanwhile, said Thursday that the ruble will soon be introduced in areas of Ukraine under Moscows control, despite Russia earlier insisting it was not seeking to occupy captured territory.

Ukraines ombudsman condemned the move as act of annexation and gross violation of UN Charter articles.

Nearly 5.4 million Ukrainians have fled their country since the invasion, according to the United Nations, and more than 12 million others are displaced internally.

We feel bad, we shouldnt be standing here, Svitlana Gordienko, a nurse forced to relocate to the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, told AFP as she queued for food at a humanitarian hub.

Were left with only one hope: to return home, added pensioner Galina Bodnya.

burs-sst/bgs/cwl/jfx
Finnish judges will on Friday publish a verdict in the trial of a suspected warlord accused of atrocities in Liberias civil war, the first such case to be partly heard on Liberian soil.

Gibril Massaquoi, 52, has been on trial at Pirkanmaa district court for a litany of rapes, ritual murders and the recruitment of child soldiers during the later years of Liberias second internal conflict, which ended in 2003.

At the time he was a senior commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a Sierra Leone rebel group that also fought in Liberia.

Massaquoi moved to Finland in 2008 and was arrested there in March 2020 after a rights group investigated his war record.

He denies all charges and claims he was not in Liberia when the alleged offences took place.

He faces a life sentence, which in Finland means on average 14 years behind bars.

The written verdict is due to be published at 1200 GMT and will be closely watched by campaigners who have fought for decades for those who carried out atrocities in Liberia to face justice.

Back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003 in the West African nation of five million left 250,000 people dead and millions displaced.

The conflicts were marked by merciless violence and rape, often carried out by drugged-up child soldiers.

Civitas Maxima, a rights group whose probe into Massaquoi prompted Finnish police to act, said at the outset of the trial in February 2021 that the groundbreaking decision could set a monumental precedent.

So far only a handful of people have been convicted for their part in the conflict, and efforts to establish a war crimes court in the country have stalled.

Former Liberian warlord-turned-president Taylor was imprisoned in 2012  but for war crimes committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone, not in his own country.

 Angel Gabriel 

In an unprecedented move, the Finnish court decamped to Monrovia between February and April last year, and again in September, to hear testimony from dozens of witnesses and visit sites where the atrocities allegedly unfolded under Massaquois orders.

The visits became the first time that testimony in a war crimes trial was heard on Liberian soil.

The Finnish trial thus avoided the problems of bringing witnesses to Europe that have hampered similar Liberian war prosecutions in Switzerland and France.

In villages in northern Liberia, witnesses claimed Massaquoi went under the moniker Angel Gabriel and ordered civilians, including children, to be locked into two buildings which were then torched.

At least seven women were raped and murdered in one village and other locals were killed, their bodies cut up and made into food which Massaquoi also ate, prosecutor Tom Laitinen told the court.

A 4,000-page evidence dossier seen by AFP further detailed mass murders and rapes in Lofa county and the capital Monrovia, and the enslavement of child soldiers.

But Massaquois defence highlighted numerous inconsistencies and contradictions over the timings and locations of witness accounts of atrocities, which happened a generation ago.

His lawyers insisted he was in neighbouring Sierra Leone under watch in a UN safehouse at the time of the atrocities.

Massaquoi agreed to give evidence to the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, set up to investigate war crimes in that country.

He was later granted asylum in Finland and immunity from prosecution over crimes in Sierra Leone, but not Liberia.

Finlands law allows the prosecution of serious crimes committed abroad by a citizen or resident.
This April 29, on the last day of the deadline they had given themselves to release their judgment, the four judges of the court of Tempere, in Finland, unanimously pronounced the acquittal of Gibril Massaquoi, a former Sierra Leonean rebel commander prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Liberia between 1999 and 2003. Since Massaquois release on February 16, this outcome had been expected, even though the court never gave any indication of its analysis of the case. According to sources who had direct access to the 850-page judgment in Finnish language and according to an online translation of the courts initial findings, judges dismissed all charges and found that there was reasonable doubt about Massaquoi being the person identified by witnesses on the crime scenes.

There is no English version of the judgment, nor a summary  this was considered too costly. The details of the courts conclusions and analyses are therefore difficult to grasp at once for observers who do not read Finnish. But some of the questions raised by this extraordinary trial can already be retained.

Justice both close to and disconnected from realities

By multiplying investigations in the field and moving the entire court to Liberia twice, for about three months, as well as to Sierra Leone for a month, the Finnish justice system seemed to have given itself unprecedented means to make this trial more relevant for the victims  and Liberian society in particular  and to familiarize itself with the realities of the sub-region. In doing so, the Finnish model certainly made things much more comfortable for the victims and witnesses, who did not have to travel to Europe to testify. Judges, prosecutors and lawyers were also able to have first-hand experience. But they failed to open this trial to national and regional expertise, as none of the parties requested the appearance of Liberian or Sierra Leonean experts. And they failed to open their hearings to the public. Above all, the investigation department and the prosecutors office were deaf to the multiple alarm bells that went off in the early days of the trial about the contradictions in the prosecutions case.

Historical expertise, the intimate knowledge of the context of events, is always the Achilles heel of international tribunals and national courts practicing universal jurisdiction. The trials of Rwandans prosecuted for the Tutsi genocide in 1994 before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, created by the UN, as well as before Belgian, French, Canadian and other courts, have often highlighted this difficulty. But never has a trial so far departed from the research of historians, from known and documented facts. In this sense, the Massaquoi case has more increased the gap of geographical distance that marks off courts judging distant facts with which they are not familiar, than it has filled it.

Serious doubt on the investigations integrity

In fact, the investigators and the prosecutors office have taken it upon themselves to radically emancipate themselves from the historical, political and even judicial realities that were common knowledge about the actors in Liberia and Sierra Leone during the years 2001-2003. In the midst of the trial, the prosecution finally put forward an extravagant thesis according to which the accused would have left his UN-protected residence in Freetown in July or August 2003 for several days to go to Monrovia in the middle of the rainy season to fight and commit massacres alongside Liberian President Charles Taylor and, in particular, his key deputy, Benjamin Yeaten, even though he had betrayed them before an international court, and then to return to Freetown without anyone noticing the exploit.

On this point, the acquittal of Massaquoi saves the Finnish justice system from embarrassment in the eyes of historians. But this trial profoundly questioned the functioning of its investigative services and the influence of the chief investigator, Thomas Elfgren, both before the trial and throughout its duration, where he remained a sort of omnipresent mastermind of the logistical organization of the hearings, of access to witnesses and of relations with the media.

Scripted witness accounts, fluctuating dates that sought to be compatible with the alibi of the accused or, on the contrary, with the crimes alleged, especially in Monrovia, the mystery of the appearance of the nickname Angel Gabriel that Massaquoi had allegedly given himself but that no one had heard of before this trial: from the very first testimonies in court, obstacles and doubts appeared regarding the accusations against Massaquoi and, more seriously, the integrity of the investigation. With a cruel situation: there is no doubt about the crimes committed in Lofa province in 2001, the victims of which testified in court and which were documented at the time by Human Rights Watch, among others; there is also no doubt about the atrocities committed between June and August 2003 in the center of the Liberian capital, when the rebels were about to overthrow Taylor. Except that witnesses were mistaken, or misled, about the presence and responsibility of Massaquoi, a.k.a. Angel Gabriel, in these events.

What impact on other Liberian cases?

Two organizations  the Swiss NGO Civitas Maxima and its Liberian partner, the Global Justice Research Project (GJRP)  have been holding out hope for justice for the crimes committed in Liberia during the two civil wars between 1990 and 2003 for the past ten years. They are the only actors who have been actively engaged in ensuring that Liberian warlords do not continue to enjoy total impunity for the past two decades. Their investigations are central to the prosecutions in the United States, Great Britain, Belgium, France and Switzerland of notorious commanders from those dark years. They are also at the origin of the proceedings against Massaquoi in Finland.

In the Massaquoi case, the initial investigations by the two NGOs concerned only the Lofa region, where the presence of the accused was plausible. It was the Finnish investigation that expanded the case to include crimes in Monrovia, causing an overreach and a rush to conviction that would eventually undermine the entire prosecutions case. But the personal involvement of Hassan Bility, director of the GJRP, as an alleged victim of Massaquoi and a witness in the trial, and the original link between this case and the work of Civitas Maxima, may clearly be in danger of being used by their resentful critics to oppose national and international prosecutions of Liberias former killers.

Warlord turned victim

This may be the ultimate paradox of this criminal case: Massaquoi, who has been accused by many, including a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, for crimes committed in Sierra Leone during the civil war, should be compensated by the Finnish justice system, notably for his two years of detention, according to the standards of this country which is very concerned with individual rights. Asked about this last February, his lawyer Kaarle Gummerus did not reveal the amount of damages he would ask for his client, but it should be in the hundreds of thousands of euros. It is possible that this request is delayed if an appeal is filed by the prosecutor. This compensation is well defined in Finnish law, but it may be even more bitter for victims of crimes committed in both Liberia and Sierra Leone.
A Finnish court on Friday acquitted a suspected warlord accused of atrocities in Liberias civil war, including rapes, ritual murders and the recruitment of child soldiers.

In its ruling, the Pirkanmaa district court found the prosecution had not proven with sufficient certainty that Gibril Massaquoi, 52, had been involved in the alleged crimes in the later years of Liberias second war, which ended in 2003.

At the time, Massaquoi was a senior commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a Sierra Leonean rebel group that also fought in Liberia.

Massaquoi, who denied all charges, moved to Finland in 2008 and was arrested there in March 2020 after a rights group investigated his war record.

Defence lawyer Kaarle Gummerus said Massaquoi was extremely relieved by the judgement.

Well wait a month to see what decision the prosecutor makes with this case and then well be able to see what the next six months will be like, he told AFP.

Prosecutor Tom Laitinen told AFP his team had not yet had time to decide whether to appeal the 850-page ruling.

The trial has been closely watched by campaigners who have fought for decades for those who carried out atrocities in Liberia to face justice.

 Monumental precedent 

A probe by rights group Civitas Maximas into Massaquoi prompted Finnish police to launch an investigation.

At the outset of the trial in February 2021 the group said the ground-breaking verdict could set a monumental precedent.

In the Liberian capital Monrovia, civil rights campaigner Adama Dempster said that regardless of the verdict, he welcomed the fact that the trial had taken place.

Those who committed hideous crimes during the war, it tells them that they will have their days in court, Dempster told AFP.

I am happy to know that justice has been rendered, said 30-year-old Natasha Wilson, who was eight when she lost her two brothers in the war.

I hope others will also be brought to justice.

Defender Kaarle Gummerus said the verdict will doubtless give a lot to think about regarding how these cases are investigated and prosecuted for those involved in other Liberian war crimes trials.

But what kind of precedent this judgement will set for those cases remains to be seen, he told AFP.

Back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003 in the West African nation of five million left 250,000 people dead and millions displaced.

The conflicts were marked by merciless violence and rape, often carried out by drugged-up child soldiers.

So far only a handful of people have been convicted for their part in the conflict, and efforts to establish a war crimes court in the country have stalled.

Former Liberian warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor was imprisoned in 2012  but for war crimes committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone, not in his own country.

 Angel Gabriel 

In an unprecedented move, the Finnish court decamped to Monrovia between February and April last year, and again in September, to hear testimony from dozens of witnesses and visit sites where the atrocities allegedly unfolded under Massaquois orders.

Massaquoi himself remained in custody in Finland, and followed the proceedings from his cell.

The visits became the first time that testimony in a Liberia war crimes trial was heard in the country.

The Finnish trial thus avoided the problems of bringing witnesses to Europe that have hampered similar Liberian war prosecutions in Switzerland and France.

In villages in northern Liberia, witnesses claimed Massaquoi went under the moniker Angel Gabriel and ordered civilians, including children, to be locked into two buildings which were then torched.

A 4,000-page evidence dossier seen by AFP further detailed mass murders, rapes and cannibalism in Lofa county and the capital Monrovia, and the enslavement of child soldiers.

But Massaquois defence highlighted numerous inconsistencies and contradictions over the timings and locations of witness accounts of atrocities.

His lawyers insisted he was in neighbouring Sierra Leone under watch in a UN safehouse at the time.

Massaquoi agreed to give evidence to the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, set up to investigate war crimes in that country.

He was later granted asylum in Finland and immunity from prosecution over crimes in Sierra Leone, but not Liberia.

Finnish law allows the prosecution of serious crimes committed abroad by a citizen or resident.
Britain will send a team of war crimes investigators to Ukraine to help experts probing atrocities committed since Russias invasion, the UKs Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Friday.

Evidence of atrocities has emerged since Moscows February 24 invasion of its pro-Western neighbour, and calls are mounting for war crimes probes.

Truss said Britain would send a team to the country in May to work with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is spearheading an active war crimes probe.

We will be sending in a British evidence-collecting team working with Ukrainian authorities working with the ICC, Truss said on a visit to the court in The Hague.

The investigators will seek to gather a wide range of evidence, witness statements, forensic evidence and video evidence, Truss said.

Were also using British intelligence to help show the links between what is happening on the frontline and the Russian authorities, because its important that everybody in the chain of command is held to account, she said.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan visited Ukraine earlier this month, travelling to the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where at least 20 bodies were discovered on April 2.

Khan at the time said a forensic team would be working in Bucha, adding that Ukraine as a whole was a crime scene.

His office told AFP said it was grateful for the strong support of the United Kingdom, including a recent donation of 1 million (one million euros) to the ICC.

Dutch foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra, who met Truss Thursday, also said the Netherlands would dispatch 30 investigators to Ukraine, mainly from the military police.

The investigators will concentrate their probe around Kyiv for two weeks under the banner of the ICC.
Ahead of its much anticipated premiere, Im Soo Hyang shared her fascination with her new drama "Woori The Virgin." She also shared the reason why she chose to appear in the drama!

Im Soo Hyang Shares Fondness For New Drama 'Woori The Virgin'

Upcoming rom-com series "Woori The Virgin" is a South Korean remake of the American series "Jane The Virgin." The drama centers around the story of a woman who gets unexpectedly pregnant despite preserving her purity before marriage.

Im Soo Hyang takes on the titular role of Oh Woo Ri, a writer who accidentally gets pregnant due to a medical malpractice.

She leads the new drama along with Sung Hoon and Shin Dong Wook who both play the roles of important men in Oh Woo Ri's life.

Im Soo Hyang revealed that she watched the original series right after receiving the script. Because she found the drama entertaining and intriguing, she decided to appear in the drama.

Particularly, the actress loved how the series contains various messages about love, family, and finding oneself.

Im Soo Hyang exerted a lot of effort into transforming into Oh Woo Ri. She shared that she focused on how to properly convey her character's emotions as she becomes pregnant. She faces the most difficult decision-making in her life.

"It was difficult to express her change of heart as she gets torn between two lovers Raphael (Sung Hoon) and Lee Kang Jae (Shin Dong Wook)," Im Soo Hyang confessed.

Because of this, expectations on how the versatile actress expressed Oh Woo Ri's character in order for viewers to resonate with her intensified.

Im Soo Hyang Dishes Three Key Words To Describe New Titular Role

Keeping the fire of excitement burning, Im Soo Hyang listed down three keywords to describe her new major acting role!

Oh Woo Ri, according to the actress, is defined by "chastity before marriage," "independence," and "growth."

Im Soo Hyang explained that Oh Woo Ri experiences realistic problems and struggles in her life. Because she lives in a very conservative home, Oh Woo Ri saves herself for marriage.

Undoubtedly, Oh Woo Ri's dilemma that tests her idealistic perception will surely pique viewers' interest.

Regarding the remaining two keywords, Im Soo Hyang elaborates that Oh Woo Ri is an independent soul who can't be swayed by anyone.

"She is responsible even in times of hardships, and she definitely decides and judges for herself. Oh Woo Ri will surely grow through this," Im Soo Hyang reasoned out.

In addition to that, Im Soo Hyang raises anticipation as she promises to deliver interesting narratives and entertaining watching experiences through "Woori The Virgin."

Don't miss "Woori the Virgin" this Monday, May 9 on SBS at 10:00 p.m. KST! Check out its teaser here:

Im Soo Hyang Teams Up With So Ji Sub in New Legal Drama

In another upcoming series entitled "Dr. Lawyer," Im Soo Hyang works together with So Ji Sub as respected legal practitioners!

"Dr. Lawyer" depicts the tragic story of a doctor-turned-lawyer who lost his license due to a mistake and a prosecutor who loses everything due to the unfortunate accident.

The drama stars Im Soo Hyang as Geum Seok Young, a principled prosecutor who gives just punishments to criminals. So Ji Sub takes on the role of Han Yi Han, a medical malpractice lawyer who hunts down the culprit who ruined his career.

Together, the two take down corrupt people who hide behind their filthy money, power and connections.

"Dr. Lawyer" is scheduled to premiere on May 27 on MBC at 9:50 p.m. KST.





KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
This "My Liberation Notes" actor has been spotted in the Philippines and is reportedly filming in the country!

Curious who this actor is? Keep reading to know.

Son Seok Koo Spotted Filming in the Philippines

In his latest Instagram posts, published on April 27, the "Be Melodramatic" actor shared several snippets of his current trip to the Philippines.

From the busy streets of one of the provinces in the country to the filming location of the project, Son Seok Koo gave hints at what he is busy doing these lately. He also captioned his posts: "Philippines."

Though he didn't disclose if he's filming a drama or movie, fans nonetheless showed their support to the actor.

'My Liberation Notes' Receives Good Reviews Despite Low Ratings

Multifaceted actor Son Seok Koo dominates primetime with his newly released JTBC drama "My Liberation Notes." He plays the role of Mr. Gu, the stranger whom the three siblings Yeom Mi Jeong (Kim Ji Won), Yeom Chang Hee (Lee Min Ki), and Yeom Gi Jeong (Lee El) crossed paths with.

As the drama continues to air, it fails to gain high viewership ratings. However, viewers give favorable feedback to the drama's storyline. Even A-list actor Gong Yoo showed on Instagram how much he likes watching the drama.

According to Nielsen Korea, "My Liberation Notes" episode 1, which premiered last April 9, recorded an average rating of 2.9 percent nationwide, while its latest episode gained 3.8 percent.

Son Seok Koo To Star in K-Movie 'The Roundup' With Ma Dong Seok

Son Seok Koo is expected to make a big-screen comeback with "The Roundup." It follows the story of detective Ma Suk Do and his team who received a special mission to capture a vicious killer.

Son Seok Koo plays the character of Kang Hae Sang, the suspect that Ma Suk Do's team is chasing.

The action film is slated to premiere on May 18 in cinemas. Park Ji Hwan, Choi Gwi Hwa, Heo Dong Won, Ha Joon, Jung Jae Kwang, Eum Moon Suk, Kim Chan Hyung, and Han Woo Yul are also included in the cast.

Catch Son Seok Koo every Saturday and Sunday in "My Liberation Notes" that airs at 10:30 p.m. (KST).



IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Son Seok Koo's Dating Style, Ideal Type, More

Are you watching JTBC's "My Liberation Notes"? How's the drama so far? Share your comments with us!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, follow and subscribe to KDramastars.

KDramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins reported this.
The "Money Heist" legacy continues as the South Korean remake of the worldwide hit Netflix series finally confirms its release date!

'Money Heist Korea: Joint Economic Area' To Premiere in June

Blockbuster hit series "Money Heist" ended in 2021 but the show's legacy continues as South Korea releases a remake this year!

Fans and viewers are amped to the maximum as Netflix's South Korean adaptation of the Spanish heist series, "Money Heist Korea: Joint Economic Area," announces its premiere date.

"Money Heist Korea: Joint Economic Area" centers around the group of a genius strategist and top-class thieves who are planning to pull off the huge heist in the Korean Peninsula.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 'Money Heist' Korean Remake Introduces Stealthy Cast Through Thrilling Teaser

The series, like the original version, portrays the twists and turns of life as the gang executes a well-planned hostage while facing unexpected challenges.

"Money Heist Korea: Joint Economic Area" stars Yoo Ji Tae as Professor while actors Kim Yun Jin, Jeon Jong Seo, Park Hae Soo, Lee Won Jong, Kim Ji Hoon, Jang Yoon Ju, Lee Hyun Woo, Kim Ji Hoon and Lee Kyu Ho make up the gang.

On Friday, April 29, Netflix's "Money Heist Korea: Joint Economic Area" finally announced that the much-anticipated heist series will finally be released on June 24 through a short teaser.

The mask that was shown in the drama represents the traditional South Korean beauty. Drops of blood from the white mask raises adrenaline, suggesting inexplicable hurdles in the team's heist.

The caption that reads "One crime can change the world" further intensifies expectations on the South Korean take on the ultimate heist.

Although the official release of the series is still a month away, the public's anticipation and excitement are already through the roof.

'Money Heist' Further Details and What We Know So Far

The popularity of South Korean dramas took off in the last decade, and streaming platform Netflix made a significant contribution in the K-Drama scene with its best releases.

With that said, Netflix's "Money Heist Korea: Joint Economic Area" is one of the additions to Netflix's wide array of promising South Korean dramas.

The drama is directed by Kim Hong Sun, the creator of the famous series "Voice" while Ryu Yong Jae wrote the screenplay for the adaptation.

ICYMI, watch the teaser of the much awaited work here:

What are you most excited to see in "Money Heist Korea: Joint Economic Area"? Share it with us in the comments below!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie and celebrity updates, follow KDramaStars now!

KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
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City workers put up signs indicating a no stopping zone for motorists along the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, ahead a motorcycle convoy dubbed Rolling Thunder Ottawa that will take place over the weekend, in Ottawa, on Thursday, April 28, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
The reelection of President Emmanuel Macron of France is an exceptionally important event. This result overall is positive for the stability of Europe, Atlantic area relations, and international relations generally.

Above all, the outcome confirms the institutional stability of France. This is important in terms of contemporary challenges in Europe, especially the war in Ukraine, as well as the longer-term history of France.

President Macron has received just over 58 percent of the vote, against just under 42 percent for opponent Marine Le Pen. This margin, while decisive, is narrower than in 2017 when these same two candidates competed for the presidency.

Candidate Le Pen promises to continue to lead the struggle against established leaders and policies of her nation. She was polite in her concession speech, but also reiterated commitment to the populist goals of her rightwing National Rally Party.

Those positions include hostility to the European Union and regional cooperation generally, reinforced by her ties to President Vladimir Putin of Russia. After the 2016 presidential election in the United States, she was one of the first foreign leaders publicly to praise the victory of Donald Trump.

Most important is that the just-concluded presidential election and campaign reconfirms the stability of Frances domestic political structures and institutions of government. This is no small matter. Instability previously characterized France.

The decisive, stunning military defeat of the large, well-armed but woefully weak army of France in the spring of 1940 by the fast-moving blitzkrieg of Nazi Germany began four years of brutal humiliating occupation. Years of weak ineffective governments followed Allied liberation of France in 1944.

General Charles de Gaulle, exceptional leader of the Free French during the war, returned as leader of France in 1958. He succeeded in stabilizing the nations politics, and finally reestablished effective national authority and legitimacy.

A new constitution created a powerful presidency, key to long-term stability. A referendum in 1962 confirmed direct election of the president through universal suffrage. In 2000, a referendum reduced the presidential term from seven to five years.

In this century, the alliance with the U.S. has been strong. Immediately after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, French aircraft joined those of other NATO allies in patrolling the skies over North America. The struggle against al Qaeda and the Taliban represents a comprehensive collective enterprise, authorized and supported by the United Nations as well as the NATO alliance.

Earlier, long-term socialist President Francois Mitterrand was pragmatic in dealing with the United States. An American Life, President Ronald Reagans autobiography, portrays Mitterrand and his wife in warm terms, with emphasis on interpersonal rapport. This overcame specific disagreements on trade and missile deployment.

By contrast, President de Gaulle was almost constantly at odds with the Kennedy administration on strategy, including nuclear weapons, the future of European integration, and the structure of NATO.

De Gaulle was also in power during President Dwight Eisenhowers second term, but similar clashes were avoided. Ike developed good working rapport with the difficult, sometimes-insufferable French leader during the Second World War. While planning the Normandy invasion, American and British air commanders argued against heavy bombing, which would kill many civilians.

General Eisenhower was able to turn to General de Gaulle for vital support. Both deemed such bombing essential for success of the inherently extremely risky sea-based invasion.

In foreign policy, as in domestic politics, leadership is crucial

Learn More: Stanley Hoffmann (Editor), In Search of France

Arthur I. Cyr is the author of After the Cold War-American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia (NYU Press and Palgrave/Macmillan). Contact acyr@carthage.edu

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Dear new intern:

As you embark on a year that will prove at different times stimulating, frustrating, rewarding, and exhausting, youve likely already been inundated with suggestions on how to thrive, or at the very least, survive what lies ahead.

While I have no pithy advice or intern life-hacks to offer, I suggest one (perhaps strange) practice I hope you will consider and strive to exhibit as you weather the highs and lows of the tumultuous year before you: that of extending hospitality.

There is an irony that you may not have yet detected but are sure to soon witness firsthand: Hospitals are some of the least hospitable places around.

It wasnt always this way. The original hospitals, termed xenodochia, arose in Roman antiquity and served as places where local monks tended to weary and ill travelers on pilgrimage. This word is literally translated as house for strangers, with the same xeno root we hear trotted out when describing fear of foreigners today. The fundamental ethic of these institutions was not fixing or even temporizing pathology, but rather an emphasis on an unconditional welcoming and openness to strangers.

As July 1 nears, I urge you to keep your eyes peeled for these strangers. Sometimes this will be you, finding your way in an unfamiliar (and perhaps intimidating) place; more often it will be others. Yet regardless of who (or where) these strangers are, they yearn for a welcoming that can be elusive in the cold corridors of the hospital.

Consider the familiar scene you have likely already experienced as a medical student. On the first day of a new rotation, you enter a workroom where seven strangers with white coats sit hunched at various workstations. No one looks up. You shuffle toward the open computer and sit down to log in. A bleary-eyed white-coated person to your right turns and says, Thats where Steve sits. Unsure of who Steve is and beset by shame, you look around, slink to a chair in the corner, and pull out your laptop. As you continue to sit, your heart races and stomach churns as you seek to find the attending you are supposed to be working alongside. He enters, sits down (you furtively confirm this by stealing a peek at his badge). You introduce yourself. He tepidly responds, Oh, I didnt know I had an intern today, before asking you to slip in and see room three. And do you have a template to use?

I dont mean to be bleak, but you are sure to experience this feeling countless times as an intern in a new place, working a new job. The frustration, social fatigue, and frank anger you feel may engender resentment. Your predominant thought may be, I cannot wait until this is over.

But its precisely at these moments I urge you to lean in, to pay attention to what you are feeling, and to consider the opportunity for growth here. Store away how you feel in these moments, not with a sense of anger and sanctimony but one of intentionality. Before you know it, you will be the person with the opportunity to extend welcome to strangers in a strange space, to allow them to feel as if they are welcomed rather than an imposition.

You will have this opportunity with medical students and fellow health professional workers who will look to you as leader this year, whether you feel that way or not. Consider how far extending even the smallest gesture of welcome will goasking their name, where they are from, showing them how to log into the computer, offering a cup of coffee.

If you start practicing this nowoffering yourself to others in small ways, without the need for recompenseyou will be surprised at how much more pleasant your work environment will become. When others feel valued and seen, we move from acceptancewhen ones presence is merely toleratedto belongingwhen ones presence is literally desiredlonged for. If you commit to this practice, when you become a supervising resident soon, you will learn to look at your role as one that is infused with the opportunity to make others feel welcomed, feel known, and feel like they matter.

Importantly, this practice shouldnt be confined to your fellow health care workers, as you should strive to remember the ultimate strangers you are privileged to welcome every day: your patients.

If youve ever been sick, you may know the feeling of being rendered a stranger to yourself as your body seems to betray what you have come to expect from it. Consider your patients, for whom this self-estrangement is compounded by literal displacement. As they sit before you in a hospital-issued gown, the very place where you are said to reside robs them of their particularity; of their homes, their stories, sometimes even their names.

While intern year is hard, and you will face constant challenges in caring well for these patientsparticularly the difficult ones among themplease dont lose sight of the daily privilege you have of making the sick and frightened you care for feel welcomed, and known.

Again, this doesnt take much. Knock when you enter their room, rather than barging in. Ask their name and their loved ones name. Ask where they are from and what they spend their time doing. Tell them that while youre sorry they are sick, youre grateful to participate in their care. You will be surprised at how little this requires of you and its power to transform what often feels like a sterile and extracting patient-physician relationship to one that feels more like friendship.

I realize this focus on extending hospitality may strike you as odd, overly sentimental, or wholly unnecessary, which is OK. But with time, if you pay attention, I hope you might notice and even seek out these moments when you can come alongside and extend a welcome to a co-worker or patient and make the shared space we occupy a little less strange.

Benjamin Wade Frush is an internal-medicine pediatrics resident.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Ukraine seeks to seize Russia's assets for post-conflict recovery: PM

Xinhua) 13:47, April 29, 2022

KIEV, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Kiev is willing to seize Russian assets to finance Ukraine's post-conflict recovery, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Thursday.

"The funds of the Russian government and oligarchs will be one of the main sources for filling the Fund for the Reconstruction of our country," Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine is in talks with the countries of the Group of Seven over the seizure of Russia's assets, Shmyhal said, adding that Canada has already prepared legislation for such actions.

Earlier, Shmyhal said that his cabinet has set up a recovery fund for Ukraine's long-term reconstruction and estimated that the country's full-scale recovery will cost around 600 billion U.S. dollars.

Russia has over 600 billion U.S. dollars worth of foreign currency reserves held in dollars, gold and other currencies, with about half of them believed to be frozen by the restrictions imposed by Western governments on its central bank.

The head of Russia's central bank has said it was preparing to take legal action to challenge the freeze.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Hongyu)
The North Portal, also known as Tunnel No. 2, of North Korea's only known nuclear test site at Punggye-ri, is blown up, May 24, 2018, in this press pool file photo. Yonhap





North Korea appears to be continuing its work to restore the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, which it ostensibly demolished in 2018 ahead of a historic summit with the United States, according to a North Korea information provider citing satellite photos.







Commercial satellite imagery taken April 26 of the site in Kilju, North Hamgyong Province, indicates ongoing work to restore access to the site's Tunnel No. 3 complex, with the construction of a new portal, or entrance, and support structures, 38 North noted.






The destroyer USS Sampson is seen in this undated file photo. Yonhap





A U.S. guided-missile destroyer arrived at South Korea's southeastern port city of Busan, Friday, for replenishment and other purposes, an informed source said Friday, following its transit through the Taiwan Strait earlier this week.







Docked at a naval command in the city, the USS Sampson is set to stay through May 3, the source said, amid lingering tensions caused by North Korea's recent missile launches, including its test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).







On Tuesday, the warship conducted what the U.S. Navy dubbed a "routine" Taiwan Strait transit through international waters  a move seen as part of the U.S.' operation to keep an increasingly assertive China in check.







This visit comes as Seoul and Washington are stepping up coordination to rein in North Korea's provocative behavior amid speculation that it may soon conduct a seventh nuclear test or launch another ICBM. (Yonhap)


Jungkook gave out the perfect response to ARMYs who told the idol that his fellow BTS members Jimin and V are "theirs."

Keep on reading to know more.

Jungkook Responds to ARMYs Claiming BTS Members Jimin and V Are 'Theirs'

In the early hours of April 29 KST, BTS' youngest member Jungkook took to his social media to hold a quick Q&A session with fans through the "Ask me a question" feature on his Instagram Story.

During this time, one ARMY (BTS' fandom name) used the "Ask me a question" feature to tell Jungkook that "Jimin oppa is mine" written in aegyo.

Seeing this, Jungkook posted the fan-sent message on his Instagram Story, and responded to the fan with a blacked-out video.

In his response, Jungkook was sharp and concise, and told ARMYs that "He is mine!" with a cute, whiny voice.

Not long after, another ARMY sent in a similar statement, saying "Taehyung is mine," using V's real name.

To this, Jungkook once again made in nice and clear that V is his as well, saying "He is mine."

A couple of minutes later, an ARMY declared that "Jungkook is mine." Of course, the "Permission to Dance" hitmaker had to give out another resolute but different answer. Jungkook made millions of hearts go into overdrive by saying "I am yours."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: BTS Jungkook Does THIS After Male ARMY Lifts His Shirt Up at Las Vegas Concert

ARMYs React to Jungkook Claiming Jimin and V as 'His'

Soon after, Jungkook's responses were quickly shared across social media. Over on Twitter, numerous ARMYs couldn't help but laugh at the idol's answers, and now know that Jungkook has claim over all the members of BTS.

Some comments from fans read:

"We are not allowed to own Jimin or Taehyung or any of the members, they're all Jungkook's I'm crying." "Jungkook we get it we aren't stealing them, [they're] all yours." "So possessive ok sir we get it." "WE KNOW THAT, DON'T NEED TO REMIND US LIKE THAT."

Some fans also tried to think ahead of Jungkook. According to ARMYs, if all of the BTS members are Jungkook's, and Jungkook is ARMYs', then that would automatically mean that all seven members of BTS are technically ARMYs.

Following Jungkook's cute answers, fans also brought up a photo of one of the idol's past interviews.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Jungkook Reveals If He Wants to be Reborn as BTS or ARMY - His Answer is Heartwarming

In the photo shared, Jungkook can be seen saying he "used to be very possessive and selfish" in the past, and that he had the mindset of "Yours is mine and mine is mine," while saying with an adorable smile that "Everything is mine."

Many thought it was cute how Jungkook some traits of Jungkook never left and that he was "possessive" of his members.

What do you think of Jungkook's response?

For more K-Pop news and updates, always keep your tabs open here on KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article.

Written by Robyn Joan
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The UN Security Council has condemned the intercommunal fighting in Darfur region, a week ago, that claimed the lives of hundreds of people and drove thousands out of their homes
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





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If youve ever used Facebook or taken a walk in Downtown Lake Geneva, chances are pretty good that youve seen the work of Neal Aspinall.

The artist has given a distinct look to signs, events, posters and other images both throughout the Lake Geneva area and the country.

Aspinall has worked for everyone from Geneva Lake Museum to Coca-Cola, creating signs, posters, book covers, icons and illustrations for clients throughout the country as well as in his own backyard.

The Lake Geneva resident draws inspiration from 1960s advertising images and his hometown to develop a distinctive style that has become ubiquitous with the area. It is an area his family has lived in for over 100 years. In 2012, Neal himself was added to Badger High Schools Wall of Success.

In the following Q&A, Aspinall shares his love of Lake Geneva and old Americana illustrations, how he became an artist and his goal of making clients human and approachable.

Note: The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Welcome Home: On your website, you state that Lake Geneva is a very inspiring place to grow up. How did it inspire you?

Neal Aspinall: The natural beauty of the woods, creeks, four seasons and the lake. The architectural treasures, both still standing and demolished, like Yerkes, the Riviera, the Lake Geneva Public Library, Black Point, Baker House, Horticultural Hall, Grand Geneva, Hotel Geneva, and many others. The community has made an impact on my style both from the timeless classic landmarks and homes around the lake, and from the down to earth classic American small town. Also I must mention my moms love of antiques, vintage advertising and her love of Lake Geneva and its history.

Welcome Home: When did you know you were going to become an artist?

Neal Aspinall: I never didnt think I was going to be an artist, so its hard to give an age. I was the youngest of four kids, all of whom were into art, as well as my dad being head of the drafting department at Wisconsin Southern Gas Company. I was always surrounded by art supplies and exposed to every aspect of art, from sign painting to advertising to fine art to drafting. My entire childhood I loved making Christmas cards, birthday cards, event posters, Fathers and Mothers Day cards, etc. Anything that came up, I was first in line to do the graphics. We all have our God given gifts, and I think two of mine are how much I care about how the piece looks and being very competitive. I dont like to lose LOL.

Welcome Home: When did you know you had become an artist? Was there one moment, maybe with a sale or commission?

Neal Aspinall: I wouldnt say there was ever that one moment, but rather a series of building blocks. For example, winning Grand Prize at the Walworth Country Fair, winning the contest for Lake Genevas 100th Anniversary logo, getting to do the title slide for Bruce Johnsons Project 82 for our Badger High class graduation, or seeing a note on the bulletin board at my art school in Denver that Coors Brewing Co. was looking for someone to do caricatures of retiring employees  about three to five a month  so I quickly learned how to do caricatures and took the bus out to Golden and got the gig and many others. I always found a way to incorporate drawing into everything. For example, in American history class junior year, I picked political cartoons as my big project for the semester, doing a caricature of each classmate. I started out as a graphic designer after college at a commercial art studio, gradually shifting over to illustration. Very exciting at first seeing my work being printed for major corporations.

The Walworth County Fair Grand Prize was for a pastel of a lions face. I no longer have the artwork, I think damaged in a basement flood. I think it was about 1980, or my sophomore year in high school.

Project 82 was a neat thing English teacher Bruce Johnson at Badger High did every graduation for decades. He took pictures of students in the hall, in class, in sports, etc., throughout their four years in high school and then put together a slide show with emotional music showing shots of the class. It was very well done. He would have one of the students each year design and do artwork for the title slide. We were the Class of 82, so it was Project 82. Anyone that graduated from Badger in the 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s would know what Im talking about.

Welcome Home: How important is nostalgia to your work?

Neal Aspinall: Nostalgia is very important and I think everybody loves retro. For example if I show a phone I would show an old black rotary phone. I just think it gives it a timeless high quality feel. In addition it never looks outdated since it was outdated already. Important to remember when things were made well and made to last forever. Everyone loves the good old days LOL. As my former San Francisco rep described my work on his website, Neal uses images of the past to communicate concepts of the present.

Welcome Home: What is it about pre-1960s Americana style advertising that speaks to you?

Neal Aspinall: I feel America started going off the rails in the 60s and after, and I prefer to show a positive idealistic clean cut honest world before the end of the innocence, as Don Henley would say. The ads were very well crafted with amazingly talented illustrators with sometimes poor printing quality and out of register printing, which just adds to the mystique of it all. Print advertising was king of the hill in those days so the budgets dwarf todays world.

Welcome Home: Your work can make a monolithic corporation feel very approachable and Mayberry-esque, according to your website. How do you achieve this in your art?

Neal Aspinall: Most people view nationally known companies as nameless, faceless, heartless, monolithic steel and concrete entities. My goal was always to help clients become human and approachable again. I always like to incorporate subtle dry humor in whenever possible too. I was fortunate enough to grow up in Lake Geneva when everybody knew everybody and there was a Mayberry-esque feel to it. You could trust everybody and a handshake was all that was necessary. I want customers to get that happy little moment when they see my work. Again quoting Don Henley, That same small town in each of us.

Welcome Home: Which projects are your favorites?

Neal Aspinall: So many I wouldnt know where to begin! Some that stand out I suppose are a series for Hire.com for a well-known ad agency in Austin, Texas, doing a series of about 45 images over a three-year period. Won tons of awards and huge budgets. Others include a Macys Fourth of July Fireworks poster image used on everything imaginable in the New York City area, icons for Facebook, poster images for Harley Davidson that appeared in the PRINT Magazine Regional Design Annual and GRAPHIS Magazine, a book cover for Sasquatch Books for San Franciscos 49 Mile Scenic Drive: a Guidebook  the image made it into the Communication Arts Magazine Illustration Annual.

And two-package images for Kona Brewing Co. through a rep I had in Portland for a couple years. The job was for a high end design firm in Portland, labels for Pipeline Porter and Wailua Wheat. I have to also mention the Miller Brewing Co. Ever so grateful for the all the work  and its a ton  I got from them at both the art studios and as a freelancer. Thanks, Miller!!

Welcome Home: In addition to the various corporations you have worked for, your designs are all over the Lake Geneva area. How does that make you feel?

Neal Aspinall: Happy, happy, happy! My family has been in the Lake Geneva area since the mid-1800s and my mom and grandparents would have been very happy. I thought growing up you had to go off to the bright lights to make it big  and I did for a while  but got pretty far right here in Mayberry.

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At the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, cheers erupted Wednesday, April 27, when Former President Donald Trumps campaign manager Kellyanne Conway asked a crowd of several hundred if they support Trump.

Conway, who was in Whitewater for a presentation entitled, Trump Brought Peace, Biden Brings Chaos: Navigating a Divided America, told the Republican-supporting audience that she had just talked with Trump over the phone and she told him that she was in Wisconsin.

He asked, How is Wisconsin doing? Do they like me there? Conway said. I said, I will ask them.

To that, the audience members responded with loud applause and cheers.

During her presentation, Conway talked about her experience working as Trumps campaign manager, issues she feels that are currently affecting the country, current President Joe Bidens low approval ratings and how Americans can overcome the countrys division.

The program was hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater College Republicans and Young Americas Foundation.

Conway first discussed how she and a friend tried to establish a Republican Party club at the university she attended in Washington D.C., and how they struggled at first but they eventually received assistance from a professor who admitted that he was not a Republican.

He said, I think your right to assembly and speech is much more important than my political beliefs, Conway said. I will always be grateful to him for that because by the time we graduated a year and a half later, the colleges Republican club was the largest club on campus.

Conway talked about the coronavirus pandemic, mask mandates and how schools and businesses were closed during the pandemic. She said many parents did not want their children to wear masks and wanted their kids to be in school, not virtual, during the pandemic.

Parents knew which political party wanted that and which political party didnt want that, she said.

Conway said for several decades the Democrats were the most trusted party when it came to education but how that is starting to change.

Its your opportunity to make sure youre broadening the conversation about charter schools and school choice that parents have a right to say where their children go to school and what is taught there, Conway said. How is that controversial?

Conway talked about when Trump asked her to be his campaign manager and how she advised him to campaign in Midwest states such as Wisconsin and to select either Scott Walker or Michael Pence as his vice presidential running mate and how she helped to convince that he had a chance to win the election.

I knew I was going to sabotage myself, but somehow I got to yes, Conway said of accepting Trumps offer to be his campaign manager. That day Mr. Trump asked me, Can we still win this thing?, and I said, Sure, youre running against the most miserable person in political history, Conway said referring to Hillary Clinton, who Trump defeated in 2016.

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Auriel McNutt would sometimes use opioid pills with a boyfriend who died from an overdose, said her mother, Lora Hudson.

At inpatient addiction treatment, McNutt met another man with whom she eventually used heroin, Hudson said. He, too, died from an overdose.

On March 15, 2020, just as COVID-19 was shutting down most activity, McNutt gave birth to her second child. She had tried a hospital detox program during the pregnancy but used drugs after the delivery, unable to try rehab again because of pandemic restrictions, Hudson said.

On June 28 of that year, seven weeks after being in jail for drug charges, McNutt died in Madison from acute fentanyl intoxication, according to her death certificate. She was 27.

We were trying to get her inpatient (treatment), said Hudson, a mental health and substance abuse therapist in Madison. But you couldnt get it. My patients couldnt get it. There was nothing available except for video.

Hudson and the father of McNutts daughter, now 2, take care of the baby. McNutts first child, a 4-year-old boy, lives with his paternal grandparents.

After graduating from Craig High School in Janesville, McNutt for a year attended UW-Milwaukee, where Hudson believes McNutt started drinking a lot. Then McNutt and a friend traveled around the country for more than a year. Soon after her return, she was abusing opioids, Hudson said.

The overdose deaths of her two boyfriends should have served as warning signs, but the emotional losses may have led her to use drugs more, said her father, James McNutt, of Milwaukee. You cant keep dodging the bullets, he said.

Hudson, who has been in recovery from substance abuse for 20 years, said experiencing addiction herself and working with people who struggle with it didnt soften the blow of losing a daughter to drugs.

It was crippling, she said. Shes never coming back.
State health officials are investigating four cases of children with significant and unexplained liver damage, including one child who needed a liver transplant and one who died.

A state Department of Health Services health alert Wednesday asked doctors to be on the lookout for cases of acute hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver, combined with infection of a particular type of adenovirus that usually causes diarrhea or vomiting.

Clinicians should consider adenovirus testing in pediatric patients with hepatitis of unknown etiology, said the alert from Dr. Ryan Westergaard, a chief medical officer with the state health department.

No details were provided on the ages or locations of the children. DHS spokesperson Jennifer Miller declined to provide the information, citing privacy concerns. Public Health Madison and Dane County spokesperson Morgan Finke said she has not been aware of any of these cases being in Dane County.

An April 21 health advisory by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported nine such cases in Alabama and North Carolina, involving children who tested negative for hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D and E.

The World Health Organization said Saturday that at least 169 cases of acute hepatitis in children have been reported in 11 countries, including 17 who needed liver transplants and one death. Most of the cases have been reported in the United Kingdom.

Signs and symptoms of hepatitis include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, light-colored stools, joint pain and jaundice, the Wisconsin alert said.

Adenoviruses are spread by close personal contact, respiratory droplets and objects such as utensils or furniture. They typically cause respiratory illness but some, such as the type 41 adenovirus involved in the hepatitis cases, cause gastroenteritis, or diarrhea and vomiting.
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 29 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Gold has riveted various cultures around the world and it signifies auspiciousness, grandeur and purity.

It has an equal appeal for both adornment as well as investment.

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On the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, Tanishq, India's most trusted jewellery brand from the house of Tata re-establishes belief in the significance of the 'Hands' that have the power to create, love, nurture and bless. Witness the wonder brought by 'hands', with the extensive range of Bangles, 'Kalai' along with attractive offers this Akshaya Tritiya, valid for a limited period only.

For East and South markets: Tanishq is offering up to Rs 200* off per gm on any gold and up to 20 per cent* off on Diamond jewellery value.

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For North and West markets: Tanishq is offering up to 20 per cent* off on making charges of gold and on Diamond jewellery value.

'Hands' have a power of resurrecting the present and building the future. They have the ability to translate and deliver multitude of emotions. It has a touch of grace, mirrors feelings and reinforces partnerships. It's the 'hand' that is often used in every auspicious activity followed by traditions.

Harping on the emerging trend with Bangles and to celebrate the auspiciousness brought by 'hands', Tanishq launches 'Kalai', comprising of extensive designs and craftsmanship crafted in 18K to 22K gold. The wide spectrum of design inspiration is derived from various traditions including, gheroo finish south style bangles, antique bangle with charm of traditional workmanships like stamp work and enamelling, moon-shaped elements and flowers, heritage architectural domes, statement piece with pearl bunching and a fine mix of workmanships like textured sheets, enamel, piroi reflecting grandeur of Rajasthan.

As per a consumer research undertaken by Tanishq, the increase in gold price is not likely to dampen the enthusiasm of gold buying this festive season as majority of consumers have expressed an intent to purchase despite an increase in gold price. Keeping the rising gold prices in check, Tanishq recently introduced 'Hi-Lites' platform that offers jewellery that is substantially lighter in weight while offering the same look and feel at a lesser price. Tanishq has been able to achieve 15-25 per cent reduction in weight with the help of extensive product engineering processes such as design reconstruction, technological innovations, and use of gold alloy with enhanced hardness and strength.

As a run up to Akshaya Tritiya, Tanishq has also launched Gold coin ATM's called '24K Xpress' to make it convenient for consumers to purchase gold coins during Akshaya Tritiya. The '24K Xpress' gold coin ATM facility will be available in Tanishq flagship stores across select markets.

Speaking on the importance of the occasion, Arun Narayan, Vice President, Category, Marketing and Retail, Tanishq at Titan Company Limited says, "Customers are enthusiastically looking forward to celebrating Akshaya Tritiya after a gap of two years. We are seeing this in our stores and in our consumer sentiment track wherein 54 per cent of consumers have expressed an intent to buy jewellery this Akshaya Tritiya. To celebrate the auspiciousness and emotions associated with the festival we are delighted to launch a very exciting collection of bangles called 'Kalai'. Kalai features over 150 designs across various craftsmanship like Nakashi work, Jali Cut, Closed setting, Stamp work, Filigree and many more to adorn & celebrate the hands that have the power to create, love, nurture and bless."

The Kalai collection is available at select Tanishq stores and on Tanishq's e-commerce enabled website: https://www.tanishq.co.in/akshaya-tritiya

* T&C apply.

This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai, Apr 29 (PTI) The fare of air-conditioned local trains in Mumbai will be reduced by 50 per cent, Union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve announced here on Friday.

Also Read | Supreme Court Directs Release of 62-years-old Pakistan National Lodged in Detention Centre.

Following a long-pending demand, the existing minimum fare of Rs 65 for a distance of 5 km for AC trains will be reduced to Rs 30, he said, without specifying when the change would come into effect.

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Danve was speaking at the inauguration of the restored heritage building of the Byculla railway station in central Mumbai in the presence of BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.

The railway ministry had received suggestions that the existing fare be reduced by at least 20-30 per cent, the minister said.

Around 80 AC local train services are operated on Central and Western Railway routes in the Mumbai region every day.

As per Danve, the fare between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)-Thane (34 km) would be slashed to Rs 90 from the existing Rs 130.

That between CSMT-Kalyan (54km) would be reduced to Rs 105 from Rs 210, between Churchgate-Borivali (34km) to Rs 90 from Rs 130 and between Churchgate-Vasai Road (52km) to Rs 105 from Rs 210, the minister said.

"Keeping the common man in focus, I and our minister Ashwini ji (railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw) decided to reduce the daily single journey fare of AC local train by 50 per cent to give a relief to Mumbai passengers," Danve said.

While the minister did not provide much details of the fare structure, railway officials said if the AC local fare is reduced by 50 per cent, it will be less than the fare for the ordinary first-class suburban journey which is Rs 45 for 5 km.

This would be an anomaly, officials conceded.

Air conditioned suburban local services were launched first in Mumbai on Western Railway routes in December 2017. AC locals started running on Central Railway routes from January 2020.

At present, the single journey fare of AC locals ranges between Rs 65 to 240.

Speaking to reporters later, Danve said the Railway Board, the decision-making body of the Indian Railways, will issue a notification about fare reduction after completing legal formalities.

Local trains, which are the lifeline of India's financial capital, carry over 90 lakh passengers through 3,000 services every day, Danve said.

The minister also claimed that between 2009 to 2014, Maharashtra was given Rs 1,100 crore in the railway budget, but the Modi government allotted Rs 11,000 crore in this year's budget alone.

All the broad-gauge railway lines in the country will be electrified by 2023, the junior railway minister said, adding that 1,900 km of electrification has been carried out since the Modi government came to power.

The entire route of Konkan Railway, which stretches across Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka, has been electrified and it will be inaugurated in the next one or two weeks, he said.

On Thursday, the Niti Aayog gave the nod for Pune-Nashik railway line project, Danve said, adding that the proposal will be placed before the cabinet soon and work will start.

As many as 25 railway stations in Maharashtra are being upgraded, he added.

Fadnavis in his speech said besides the Byculla station, several heritage sites in Mumbai need to be conserved and restored, and appealed to the people to maintain the restored station building properly.

The project to restore the Byculla station building, one of India's oldest railway stations, started in 2019.

BJP leader Shaina NC, a trustee of the I LOVE MUMBAI trust, with support of Bajaj trust groups and Abha Narain Lambah Associates carried out the restoration project.

Minal Bajaj and Niraj Bajaj of Bajaj Group and Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation funded the project which cost over Rs 4 crore. It was to be completed in 18 months, but due to the pandemic it took three years.

(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 [India], April 29 (ANI): In a joint operation, Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials seized 395kg of thread laced with heroin at Pipavav Port in Gujarat, informed the Ministry of Finance on Friday.

Acting on a tip-off, the joint tea, a container was examined having a gross weight of 9,760 kg was declared to contain 'thread' and on a detailed examination on Thursday, out of 100 jumbo bags, four suspicious bags containing threads showed the presence of opiate derivative/heroin.

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The Ministry said that it appeared that the drug syndicate followed the method of soaking threads in a solution containing the narcotic drug, heroin, which were then dried, made into bales and packed in bags.

"These bags were shipped along with other bags having bales of normal threads so that it would go unnoticed by the authorities. The modus operandi, in this case, would have required the extraction of Heroin mixed in the threads. Examination and seizure proceedings by DRI under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 are continuing," the statement said.

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In 2021, substantial seizures of drugs like heroin, cocaine, hashish and psychotropic substances were made by the DRI. More than 3,300 kg of heroin, 320 kg of cocaine and 230 kg of hashish were seized between January and December 2021. In addition, 170 kg of pseudoephedrine and 67 kg of methamphetamine were seized during this period, said the statement.

"More than 3,300 kg of heroin, 320 kg of Cocaine and 230 kg of Hashish were seized between January and December 2021. In addition, 170 kg of Pseudoephedrine and 67 kg of Methamphetamine were seized during this period," the ministry said.

DRI had seized 205 kg of heroin in April 2022 at Kandla Port.

The ministry further said that with the easing of restrictions and opening of International Air travel after the restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic were lifted, the numbers of air passengers arriving into India have increased.

In the last two months, DRI has booked multiple cases of seizure of heroin concealed in baggage and in the form of pills swallowed by carriers. In one such major case, DRI seized 16 kg of Heroin in March 2022 concealed in the baggage of three passengers, who had arrived at the Kolkata airport, the statement said.

Syndicates have also tried to push narcotics like yaba and heroin from the Indo-Myanmar border and Hashish from the Indo-Nepal border, into India through the land borders.

"DRI officers have also intercepted such consignments from these borders, sometimes ingeniously concealed inside vehicles. DRI in one instance in February 2022 seized one Lakh Yaba (Methamphetamine) tablets and affected multiple seizures of Heroin in North-East India, smuggled into India from Myanmar," the statement added. (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, Apr 29 (PTI) Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday released the "mandate document" for a common curriculum framework under the new National Education Policy (NEP) and described it as a step towards decolonisation of the Indian education system.

"The NEP is the philosophy, National Curriculum Framework is the pathway and the mandate document released today is the constitution to champion the changing demands of the 21st century and positively impact the future," he said at an event in Bengaluru.

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"The mandate document will bring about a paradigm shift with focus on holistic development of children, emphasis on skilling, vital role of teachers, learning in mother tongue, cultural rootedness. It is also a step towards decolonisation of the Indian education system," he added.

He suggested adopting an app-based process to enable people to give their suggestions on the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) which he said is a document of society.

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The National Education Policy 2020 recommended the development of NCF in four areas -- school education, early childhood care and education, teacher education and adult education.

For providing inputs for the development of these curriculum frameworks, 25 themes based on the perspectives of the NEP are identified under three categories.

These are curriculum and pedagogy, cross-cutting issues, and other important areas of NEP focussing on systemic changes and reforms.

The minister said that central to the implementation of the transformative NEP is the new NCF which will empower and enable outstanding teaching and learning in the country by converting the vision of the NEP into reality in schools and classrooms.

The development of the NCF is being guided by the National Steering Committee (NSC), chaired by Dr K Kasturirangan, and supported by the Mandate Group, along with the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT).

The mandate document proposes delineating the process of development and characteristics of the NCF and providing clear and specific anchors for the NCF to the vision, principles, and approach of the education policy.

"The process designed ensures the seamless integration imagined -- vertically (across stages) and horizontally (across subjects in the same stage) in the NEP 2020 -- to ensure holistic, integrated, and multi-disciplinary education. It enables the critical linkage between the curriculum of schools with the curriculum of teacher education as an integral part of the transformative reforms envisioned by the NEP 2020..., thus enabling rigorous preparation, continuous professional development, and a positive working environment for all our teachers," the document stated.

"It informs the creation of opportunities for life-long learning for all citizens in the country. Directly useable by and relatable to the most important stakeholders in education -- teachers, students, parents, and communities across the country -- to enable and empower, change and improve the reality of education practice," it added.

The NCF has been revised four times so far -- in 1975, 1988, 2000 and 2005. The proposed revision will be the fifth of the framework.

The revision of the curriculum framework will be in sync with the implementation of the examination reforms such as a uniform assessment and evaluation system under the proposed National Assessment Centre as proposed by the NEP.

According to the mandate document, questions such as what are the ways to implement home language as the medium of instruction, what challenges were faced in organising online education during the COVID-19 pandemic, which subjects should be added in social sciences to widen the choice of subjects for greater flexibility at the secondary stage will form the basis of the new NCF.

(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, Apr 29 (PTI) A group of beneficiaries of central government schemes on Friday wrote a letter criticising the former bureaucrats, who had recently questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence at the alleged politics of hate, saying their "inaction" had denied them basic facililites that they have now got under the BJP government.

"This is beyond imagination that you are writing a letter criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for silence to an invisible threat to society. You never thought of us when we were compelled to live in poverty due to your bad and anti-poor policies. You then wrote a letter in your support," they said in an open letter.

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Former civil servants, 108 in number, had written to Modi urging him to call for an end to what they termed as "politics of hate" allegedly practised "assiduously" by governments under BJP's control.

"Your silence, in the face of this enormous societal threat, is deafening," the letter had said.

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The BJP had reacted strongly to their letter, accusing the former officials of trying to spread misinformation and create an atmosphere of distrust in the country.

The beneficiaries alleged that it was due to the inaction of bureaucrats like them they did not receive basic facilities like food, housing, cooking gas and bank accounts. They have now got these facilities due to the relentless efforts of the Modi government, they said.

Lauding Modi, they said when people everywhere suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, he provided them free grains to ensure that they did not go hungry. They also referred to free vaccination programme.

The prime minister has focussed on everyone's welfare irrespective of their religion, caste and region in line with his mantra of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas, sabka prayas', they said, accusing the former bureaucrats of petty politics.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 29 (ANI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit Bengaluru on May 3 ahead of the likely cabinet expansion in the state.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said he would discuss inducting new faces with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

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"Amit Shah is likely to visit Bengaluru on May 3 and I would try to use the opportunity to seek an audience to discuss cabinet expansion," Bommai said today.

Speaking to reporters after attending the programme to launch the new products of JS Group of companies, he said, "I am heading to Delhi today evening to attend the conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of all States. I have not discussed cabinet expansion with the party top brass. The party leadership will take the decision at an appropriate time."

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On July 28, 2021, BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai was sworn in as the 23rd chief minister of Karnataka. Basavaraj Bommai took the oath to the chief minister's office in the presence of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa and Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot at the Raj Bhavan. Since then, the Cabinet expansion in the state is due to be held. (ANI)

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New Delhi, Apr 29 (PTI) The Standing Technical Sub-Committee of the NTAGI has recommended inclusion of the Serum Institute's Covovax in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme for children aged 12 to 17 years, sources said on Friday.

India's drug regulator had approved Covovax for restricted use in emergency situations in adults on December 28 last year and in the 12-17 age group, subject to certain conditions, on March 9.

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"The COVID-19 working group of the NTAGI (National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation) had earlier reviewed data related to Covovax and okayed it. The NTAGI's Standing Technical Sub-Committee which met on Friday has recommended that the vaccine can be used for 12-17 years age group," an official source said.

Serum Institute of India (SII) Director for Government and Regulatory Affairs Prakash Kumar Singh had written to the Union Health Ministry recently, requesting for Covovax's inclusion in the immunisation drive for those 12 years and above.

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Singh had stated that the Pune-based firm wanted to provide Covovax to private hospitals at Rs 900 per dose plus GST and was waiting for directions to supply it to the Centre. However, the price of the vaccine for the government was not mentioned.

The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 from March 16.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jammu, April 29 (PTI) Senior BJP leader Devender Singh Rana on Friday slammed the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) for stressing on holding a dialogue with Pakistan and asked it to restrain from overstepping into a domain, which is purely a central subject.

Reacting to the "unsolicited and uncalled for advice" of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti over the need for India-Pakistan talks to restore normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, he said, "Talks and terror cannot go together."

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Mufti is one of the leaders who have been asking the Centre to initiate a dialogue with the neighbouring country to restore peace in the union territory, especially Kashmir.

"How can our country engage in a dialogue with a rogue country," Rana said, adding that Mufti herself had termed Pakistan "a failed country, responsible for sponsoring terrorism in Kashmir".

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The PAGD leaders must shun double standards and call a spade a spade, whether in the government or outside, he said.

Rana took strong exception to Mufti's assertion about the Kashmir issue being on the agenda of the United Nations.

The BJP leader said he regretted the desperate attempts of the PAGD leadership to indulge in "soft separatism".

"It is all the more sad when those having held constitutional positions play to the galleries to create a narrative, impregnated with communal overtones," he said.

"The people of Jammu and Kashmir are not going to buy their motivated apprehensions, as they know such gimmicks are part of carving out a lost space in the political spectrum and to be relevant in Kashmir politics," he alleged.

Rana said the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the Valley, were elated over the "fast-improving" situation in the union territory and claimed that economic activities and tourism had begun gaining momentum.

"If all this is not visible to the peace-breakers, they are betraying their tall claims of having a connect with the people'', Rana said, adding that the normalised Kashmir was a source of discomfort to them.

He said the people of Jammu and Kashmir, too, had the right to progress and prosper.

(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 [India], April 29 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has appealed to the Punjab government to ensure law and order is maintained in the state after clashes broke out between two groups in Patiala.

"Visuals from Patiala are disturbing. I repeat, Peace and Harmony are imperative in a sensitive border state like Punjab. This is not the place to carry out experiments. Earnestly appeal to the Punjab government to ensure law and order is maintained," the Congress leader said in a tweet.

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A tense situation prevailed in Patiala after stones were hurled and swords were brandished as clashes broke out between two groups near Kali Mata temple in the city today.

The clash broke out when the Shiv Sena was carrying out a march, under the supervision of Punjab Shiv Sena working president Harish Singla without permission.

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Police personnel were deployed at the spot to bring the situation under control and maintain law and order in the city.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann condemned the incident and assured that his government will not let anyone create disturbance in the state. Mann also spoke with the Director-General of Police.

"Punjab's peace and harmony are of utmost importance," he said.

Meanwhile, a curfew has been imposed in Patiala from 7 pm today to 6 am on Friday. (ANI)

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New Delhi [India], April 29 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday informed that he will be hosting a Sikh delegation at his residence on Friday.

The Prime Minister will also address the gathering at 5:30 pm today.

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Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said, "This evening, I will be hosting a Sikh delegation at my residence. The group includes people from different walks of life. I will also be addressing the gathering at around 5:30 PM. Do watch..."

Earlier in the month of March, Prime Minister met a group of eminent Sikh personalities and intellectuals which the Sikh delegation described as "like a hug" to the community.

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The interaction between PM Modi and the Sikh delegation was held on diverse topics like farmer welfare, youth empowerment, drug-free society, National Educational Policy, skilling, employment, technology, and Punjab's overall development trajectory. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Any attempt to undermine China-Pakistan friendship, cooperation to be thwarted by Chinese, Pakistani peoples: FM

(People's Daily App) 14:19, April 29, 2022

Any attempt to undermine China-Pakistan friendship and cooperation will be thwarted by the Chinese and Pakistani peoples, China said on Thursday.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin was commenting at a press conference in Beijing after being asked about the Karachi Confucius Institute terrorist attack.

The treatment of injured and the follow-up work for victims wase progressing in an orderly fashion, Wang said. The Pakistani side is going all out to investigate and hunt down the perpetrators.

Terrorism was the common enemy of all humanity, the ministry spokesperson said.

China and Pakistan are resolved and able to keep terrorists at bay and make them pay the price, Wang said.

The iron-clad friendship enjoys popular support in both countries. China has always supported Pakistans national development. We will continue to support Pakistans economic and social development and improvement of peoples livelihood," the spokesperson said.

The Pakistani government has pledged to strengthen security for Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan and not to allow any force to undermine the great China-Pakistan friendship and cooperation.

China believed the Pakistani side would earnestly ensure China-Pakistan cooperation continued in a safe and smooth manner, he said.

We would also like to remind Chinese citizens, institutions, projects and personnel in Pakistan to take extra security precautions and pay close attention to security risks, Wang said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Hongyu)
New Delhi [India], April 29 (ANI): Highlighting Indian Navy's contribution to India's maritime security, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday hailed the naval forces for the visible, credible and responsive presence in the Indian Ocean Region.

Rajnath Singh addressed the Senior leadership of the Indian Navy on the concluding day of the Naval Commander's Conference on Thursday. Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, Defence Secretary and other senior Defence Ministry officials were also present.

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Stating that he has interacted extensively with officers and sailors of the Indian Navy in the last three years, Singh commended the sea warriors for their professionalism and dedication with which they continue to perform the duty of safeguarding the maritime interests of the nation and for maintaining a high operational tempo. He also congratulated the Navy for the successful conduct of MILAN with the participation of 39 friendly foreign countries.

The Defence Minister appreciated the Navy for having a "visible, credible and responsive presence in the Indian Ocean Region" and establishing itself as the "Preferred Security Partner" and complemented the Navy for the successful rescue operations of Seychellois national at sea, the anti-Narcotics operations in February this year and deployment of the Navy's Flood relief teams in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

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Speaking on the prevailing security environment in the world, Singh referred to the ongoing Russia and Ukraine conflict and stated that this has once again highlighted that being self-reliant without dependencies is a vital necessity. He complimented the Indian Navy for being at the forefront of 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat' initiative of the Government and said that the Navy must continue to lead the way and remain a necessary guarantor of India's maritime trade, security and national prosperity.

"It is heartening to note that in consonance with the 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat' initiative of the Government, the Navy has re-invested over 64 per cent of its Capital budget into our own economy and I am told that the percentage share of modernisation budget is bound to grow upto 70 per cent towards indigenous procurement, in this current financial year," he said.

Expressing happiness that out of 41 ships and submarines which are on order, 39 are being built in Indian shipyards, he said that it is important to leverage on the momentum that has been gained thus far and urged the senior leadership to maintain their focus on futuristic capability development, to ensure that the nation's maritime power grows in tandem with the nation's economic interests.

Speaking about the progress of the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier and the successful completion of the three sea trials, Defence Minister stated that the delivery of, Vikrant, would be another milestone event and that all-out efforts need to be made so that the ship is delivered and commissioned in the 75th year of our Independence.

Singh also commended the Navy on the commissioning of major Naval units since the last Commanders' Conference namely INS Visakhapatnam, the first ship of the P15B project, the fourth P75 submarine INS Vela and the Navy's second P8I squadron INAS 316 at INS Hansa, Goa.

He appreciated the Indian Navy's numerous initiatives to progress military diplomacy, which included gifting of two Fast Interceptor Craft to Mozambique, technical support towards refit of ships from Friendly Foreign Countries, Joint Surveillance of the Exclusive Economic Zone of friendly nations and conduct of bilateral and multilateral exercises in the last six months.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the conference presented an opportunity to the Naval Commanders to introspect on important maritime matters at the Military Strategic level. They also shared views on key issues that confront our National Security with Senior Government Functionaries. The Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Air Force Staff also interacted with the Naval Commanders and discussed avenues of augmenting Tri-Services synergy and readiness, in the prevailing Security environment.

The Naval Commanders, during the conference also interacted with 'Think Tanks' on Strategic issues, along the sidelines of the conference. (ANI)

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Amravati (Maharashtra) [India], April 29 (ANI): Advocating peace in the society, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said violence does not benefit anybody and stressed the need to bring together all communities to preserve humanity.

He said this in the backdrop of recent clashes between different groups in several parts of the country.

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Addressing an event on Thursday evening in Amravati, Bhagwat said, "Violence does not benefit anybody. The society to which violence is dear is now counting its last days. We should forever be non-violent and peace-loving. For this, it is essential to bring together all communities and preserve humanity."

Bhagwat further said, "We all should follow the path of Ahimsa to safeguard humanity. This path should be given the topmost priority."

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He also underlined the need for establishing a Sindhi university in the country to ensure the survival of the Sindhi language and culture. The RSS chief said India is a multi-lingual country and each language has its own importance.

Bhagwat was speaking as a Chief Guest at the 'Gaddinashini' programme (ceremony to assume religious seat) of Sai Rajeshlal Mordiya, the great grandson of Sant Kanwarram, at Kanwarram Dham on Bhankheda Road near here in Maharashtra. (ANI)

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Ayodhya, April 29: Seven people have been arrested by Ayodhya police on Thursday, all are accused of disturbing the peace and equanimity of the city by throwing objectionable posters and objects at several mosques in Ayodhya.

The arrested accused have been identified as Mahesh Kumar Mishra, Pratyush Srivastava, Nitin Kumar, Deepak Kumar Gaur alias Gunjan, Brijesh Pandey, Shatrughan Prajapati and Vimal Pandey, all are residents of Ayodhya.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Ayodhya), Shailesh Kumar Pandey said that the incident was carried out by 11 people out of which seven have been arrested while the other four are absconding. "A total of eight persons on four motorcycles, led by Mahesh, threw objectionable posters and objects outside the mosques.

The police recovered the objects, and a mobile phone and vehicles have been impounded. We have arrested seven people so far, four are absconding. We will arrest them soon. Action under the Gangsters Act and NSA will also be initiated against them," said the SSP.

During the investigation, it was found that Mahesh Kumar Mishra was the main conspirator and along with his other accomplices, a conspiracy was hatched at Brijesh Pandey's house in opposition to the recent incident in Jahangirpuri of Delhi. It also came to light that the accused on the night of Wednesday, first reached the Beniganj Tiraha where after seeing PRV's car could not execute the plan on Beniganj Masjid and thus moved to other mosques. They threw the objectionable posters and objects at the Ayodhya's Masjid Kashmiri Mohalla, Tatshah Mosque, Ghosiyana Ramnagar Masjid, Idgah Civil Line Mosque and Gulab Shah Dargah behind Dargah Jail. Ayodhya: Firing in Durga Puja Pandal in Faizabad Kotwali Area, 1Killed, 3 Injured.

Police also said that out of the four arrested three accused have previous criminal history. "The accused Mahesh has four cases registered against him in Kotwali Police station Ayodhya. Apart from this, the accused Nitin and Vimal also have cases registered against them," said a police officer.

Police said that all the seven accused have been booked under Sections 295 (injuring or defiling places of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code. (ANI)

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Kochi (Kerala) [India], April 29 (ANI): Malayalam actor-cum-producer Vijay Babu on Friday approached the Kerala High Court and filed an anticipatory bail plea in a sexual assault case registered against him.

The court is likely to consider the bail plea in the afternoon today.

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In the anticipatory bail plea, Vijay Babu alleged that the actress who has given a complaint against him is trying to blackmail him.

Earlier this week, Ernakulam South Police registered a case against Babu for sexual assault on the actress' complaint. After that, police also registered another case against him for disclosing the complainant's identity through Facebook.

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Police probing the case said that the officials are expecting Vijay Babu to return from Dubai and surrender before the law.

"We had begun the searches regarding this case. There are still a few places to search. Witness identification and their examination are pending. We are expecting that he might come and surrender before the law. We also took his passport details and travel details," CH Nagaraju, Kochi City Police Commissioner told ANI.

He further said, "The identification of more witnesses began yesterday. Apart from this, we have already requested the court to impound his passport if he is not coming forward. He has to co-operate with the investigation. We have served notice at his house also to come forward. No other complaints were received against him."

The police official also informed that they have retrieved CCTV footage from various locations. (ANI)

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Mumbai, Apr 29 (PTI) Warning states against their competitive subsidies, research agency India Ratings has said five states, led by Punjab, are on the brink of a deep fiscal crisis as their subsidies are much higher than sustainable levels in terms of a percentage of GSDP.

The other top states with a very high level of subsidy burdens are Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Bihar between FY19 and FY22.

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The agency admits that subsidies by definition are not bad or unwarranted. For example, the subsidy given to basic education has significant positive externalities and is merit-based but most subsidies are non-merit subsidies. While merit subsidies are desirable, non-merit subsidies are not.

What is worrisome is that most states, which also include Delhi, tend to fund subsidies, which are mostly non-merit ones, by compressing the capex, due to competitive politics, Devendra Pant, chief economist and head of public finance at the agency, said.

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The growing culture of doling out subsidies ahead of elections has lately been a topic of public discussion, with NK Singh, chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, publicly speaking against it, highlighting the fiscal unsustainability of these freebies.

Punjab ranks second in terms of subsidies given as a percentage of GSDP and eighth in terms of absolute subsidy given during FY19-22 and is also one of the most heavily indebted states with a debt/GSDP ratio of 53.3 per cent in FY22.

With the fiscal deficit budgeted at Rs 24,240 crore, which is 4.6 per cent of GSDP, interest burden at Rs 20,320 crore or 3.8 per cent of GSDP, and outstanding liabilities at Rs 2.83 lakh crore, Punjab can ill afford more subsidy, according to the report.

However, the Aam Admi Party government that came to power last month has made several promises, including free power to every household up to 300 units, Rs 1,000 monthly cash doles to every woman and free medical treatment via Mohalla clinics. All this has Punjab staring at an even larger subsidy bill, it added.

The agency expects the free power offer alone will more than double the power subsidy bill, which in FY22 stood at Rs 10,621 crore.

When it comes to Rajasthan -- which does not face assembly polls this year, its subsidy FY22 is budgeted at Rs 18,850 crore with a budgeted fiscal deficit of Rs 47,650 crore or 4 per cent of GSDP, interest burden at Rs 28,36 crore or 2.4 per cent and outstanding liability at Rs 4.77 lakh crore or 39.8 per cent.

The report also notes that the situation in many other states is equally precarious, based on absolute subsidy or subsidy as a percentage of GSDP.

For instance, Uttar Pradesh's fiscal deficit was budgeted at Rs 90,130 crore or 4.7 per cent of GSDP for FY22, its interest burden at Rs 43,530 crore (2.3 per cent) and outstanding liabilities at Rs 6.53 lakh crore (34.2 per cent of GSDP), is now staring at the impact of the poll promises of the new BJP government on the FY23 budget.

The new promises include free power for irrigation and two free gas cylinders for the poor every year. The two free cooking gas cylinders alone are expected to cost Rs 2,800 crore.

However, Chhattisgarh, a relatively new state with limited fiscal capacity, comes in the top five both in terms of the absolute subsidy and subsidy given as a percentage of GSDP, which is intriguing. The spurt in subsidy in the tribal-dominated state took place in FY20 when it jumped to Rs 20,330 crore from Rs 8,320 crore in FY19.

One of the reasons for this abrupt jump is the rollout of the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana under which farmers are given input subsidies by direct cash transfers. The other key areas of subsidy are food and civil supplies, free power for farmers, and farm loan waivers.

Although it is difficult to establish a one-to-one correspondence between the subsidy and the capex of a state, fiscal adjustments have mostly been carried out by compressing the capex.

Interestingly, the small states along with the northeastern states show a much higher capex as a percentage of GSDP than large and well-off states primarily because of the higher Central assistance to improve the air, rail, road, waterways, telecom, and power connectivity in the region.

On the other hand well-off states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka although rank among the top five in terms of average capex spend during FY19-22, they stand much lower in terms of capex as a percentage of GSDP.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Moscow [Russia], April 29 (ANI): Although Beijing has extended firm diplomatic support to Russia during the Ukraine conflict, it appears unwilling to back Moscow in a whole-hearted manner to avert Western sanctions due to the fear of secondary sanctions.

In an effort to stem growing suspicions over its ties with the Kremlin, China was sending a delegation headed by Huo Yuzhen, China's special representative to China-Central & Eastern Europe Cooperation, to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, and Poland in the coming days, reported Russian media council.

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China's support to Russia in opposition to the enlargement of NATO has given rise to concerns in the Eastern and Central European countries about the reliability of the Asian giant as a partner which can be counted on.

While on one hand, China was looking for heavy discounts on the purchase of Russian oil/oil products and gas, it was at the same time denying the supply of Russian oil to Asia through tankers, thus depriving Moscow of economic benefits.

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It was also unwilling to route Russian payments through its financial system for fear of secondary sanctions and expressed an inability even to shift products of Russian processors deemed necessary for the Russian industry from Taiwan to China.

In order to expedite the freight movement, the first cross-border railway bridge between China and Russia was expected to be fully operational by August 2022, cutting the train journey from Heilongjiang to Moscow by 800 km and travel time by 10 hours. The Bridge would further facilitate China to the transport of coal, iron ore, timber, and mineral fertilizers from Russia, which was expected to boost cross-border trade.

Interestingly, Chinese customs data revealed (March 2022) an increase in trade with Russia by over 12 percent as compared to March 2021 as well as a rise in imports from Russia by 26 percent.

According to reports, China's interest in the Russia-Ukraine conflict was purely economic, other indicators also suggest that the relationship between Beijing and Moscow was more than just numbers. A survey conducted between March 28 and April 5, 2022, by the 'Carter Center China Focus' on Chinese public opinion regarding Russia's actions in Ukraine, reveals that the majority of China's netizens feel that supporting Russia was in China's best interest.

China's Deputy permanent representative to the UN Dai Bin too stated that arms supplies to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia will not bring peace to Ukraine.

The whole world is currently paying for economic pressure on Russia, and the sanctions have led to a food crisis and rising energy prices.

On April 14, 2022, CIA Director William Burns, speaking at the Georgia Institute of Technology, termed Chinese President Xi Jinping 'a silent partner in Putin's aggression in Ukraine' and pointed to the "immediate threat posed by renewed Russian aggression against Ukraine" as well as the "longer-term problem posed by China's ambitious leadership", calling it "the single most important geopolitical challenge" of the 21st century.

It seems that Beijing wants to have the best of both worlds; however, it must keep in mind that sailing simultaneously in two boats may lead to capsizing one, if not both of them.

China's subtle isolation from Russia can be attributed to protecting its own interests as Beijing has recently come under international scrutiny, with a never-ending stream of US officials urging it to distance itself from Russia or suffer "consequences."

Despite being asked to mediate a truce between Russia and Ukraine, and Beijing openly proclaiming its determination to do so, China appears to be choosing a low-profile strategy. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Berlin, Apr 30 (AP) Germany and Turkey have summoned each other's ambassadors over a row sparked by a Turkish court's decision to sentence a prominent Turkish civil rights activist and philanthropist to life in prison.

Western governments and rights groups strongly criticised this week's ruling which found Osman Kavala guilty of attempting to overthrow the government with mass protests in 2013.

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The court in Istanbul also sentenced seven other defendants to 18 years in prison each for aiding the attempt.

Christofer Burger, a spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry, said Turkey's envoy to Berlin was summoned for talks on Friday morning. Turkey retaliated by summoning German Ambassador Juergen Schulz, Turkey's state run Anadolu Agency reported.

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Anadolu said a senior Turkish official told Schulz that Ankara "rejected" attempts to interfere in the Turkish judiciary and politics.

Burger told reporters in Berlin that Germany had urged other European Union countries to make a similar diplomatic protest.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the Turkish court's ruling blatantly contradicts the constitutional standards and international obligations that Turkey commits itself to as a member of the Council of Europe and EU accession candidate.

"We expect Osman Kavala to be released immediately -- the European Court of Human Rights has bindingly obliged Turkey to do so, Baerbock said. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bangkok, Apr 29 (AP) Petronas, Malaysia's state-owned oil and gas company, announced on Friday that it is withdrawing from its participation in Myanmar's offshore Yetagun natural gas project.

The company, through two subsidiaries, has held a 40.9 per cent participating interest in the project, Petronas said in an announcement released by its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

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It said its partners included Myanma Oil & Gas Enterprise, Myanmar's state oil company, with a 20.5 per cent share; Japan's Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar) Ltd. with 19.3 per cent; and Thailand's PTTEP International Ltd. with 19.3 per cent.

Petronas is the latest in a series of oil companies to withdraw from operations in Myanmar this year.

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The others include Australia's Woodside Petroleum, France's TotalEnergies and the US company Chevron Corp. Those companies said they were withdrawing because of concerns over the human rights record of Myanmar's military regime, which seized power in February last year after ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

In addition to ethical concerns, economic sanctions imposed on Myanmar by the United States and other Western nations make it complicated to do business with Myanmar.

The statement from Petronas did not mention political or ethical concerns for the company's action.

The decision was made following a thorough techno-commercial review in alignment with Petronas' asset rationalization strategy for a portfolio that fits with its growth ambitions amid the changing industry environment and accelerated energy transition, it said.

The brief statement also did not say who would take over the company's share of the project.

Gas from the project goes by pipeline to Thailand, as does gas from another Myanmar field, Yadana.(AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Colombo [Sri Lanka], April 29 (ANI): Sri Lanka's central bank governor has said domestic debt in the form of government securities and development bonds will not be restructured as restructuring external debt is a top priority for the island nation.

Central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe also provided an update on the progress made during the recent discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, Xinhua News Agency reported.

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Addressing a meeting of the Committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, he said progress has been made towards establishing a macro-fiscal policy framework and initiating structural reforms.

The central bank governor also expressed confidence that a staff-level agreement with the IMF is likely to be reached within the next two months.

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Weerasinghe announced that additional measures will be implemented to address urgent economic concerns.

The measures include introducing regulations to encourage the U.S. dollar flows currently transacting in the informal market to be channelled through the formal banking system.

As a result of policy measures already introduced by the central bank and the government, he is of the view that expenditure on imports will be declining further to more sustainable levels.

Sri Lanka is going through an economic crisis brought about by foreign currency shortages and it halted external debt repayment on April 12. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington [US], April 29 (ANI/Sputnik): The United States is awaiting formal decisions from Sweden and Finland about whether to join NATO in the buildup to an alliance summit in June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.

"It's under very active consideration by both countries. There's a NATO summit, as you know very well, coming up soon, so I would anticipate that we'll hear more about that by the time of the summit," Blinken said in response to a question on the matter during a hearing of the House Foreign Relations Committee.

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Talk of Swedish and Finnish accession to NATO has been on the rise since the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in February. The conflict is likely to be a focal point of the summit in June, which is set to take place in Madrid. (ANI/Sputnik)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has once again highlighted that being self-reliant without dependencies is a vital necessity, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday.

Speaking during the Navy's Commander's Conference, Singh said that the Indian Navy, which has been at the forefront of the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiative of the government, must continue to lead the way and remain a necessary guarantor of India's maritime trade, security and national prosperity.

"It is heartening to note that in consonance with the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiative, the Navy has re-invested over 64 per cent of its capital budget into the economy. I am told that the percentage share of modernisation budget is bound to grow up to 70 per cent towards indigenous procurement in this current financial year," he said.

The Defence Minister commended the Navy on the commissioning of major Naval units since the last Commander's Conference namely INS Visakhapatnam, the first ship of the P15B project, the fourth P75 submarine INS Vela and the Navy's second P8I squadron INAS 316 at INS Hansa, Goa.

He also said that out of the 41 ships and submarines which are on order, 39 are being built in Indian shipyards.

"While the Navy has been at the forefront of indigenisation, it is important for us to leverage on the momentum that we have gained thus far.

"I urge the senior leadership to maintain their focus on futuristic capability development, to ensure that the nation's maritime power grows in tandem with our economic interests," he said.

The delivery of first indigenous aircraft carrier, Vikrant, would be another milestone event.

"I am aware that the ship has successfully completed three sea trials. All-out efforts need to be made so that the ship is delivered and commissioned in the 75th year of our Independence. This would be a fitting tribute to the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' initiative," he said.

Singh also said that Indian Navy has taken numerous initiatives to progress military diplomacy. These include gifting two fast interceptor craft to Mozambique, technical support towards refit of ships from friendly foreign countries, joint surveillance of exclusive economic zone of friendly nations and conduct of bilateral and multilateral exercises in the last six months.

"I was also happy to note the overwhelming participation of 39 friendly foreign countries in the MILAN multi-national naval exercise," the Defence Minister said.

He highlighted that the Navy has also been providing training to foreign personnel in India and over 19,000 personnel have been trained in the last four decades from over 45 friendly foreign countries.

Jointness in operations is critical in any future wars and restructuring of military commands and establishment of joint theatre commands is the way ahead, he said.

"I am aware that adequate progress has been made towards the study on maritime theatre command," Singh added.

He also applauded the Navy for appointing women officers onboard frontline ships and ship-borne flights. Further, the Navy would also be inducting women cadets through the National Defence Academy from June this year.
#RichardOlson, a former US Ambassador to #Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (#UAE), has pleaded guilty to undisclosed lobbying for Qatar while still in service and soon after his retirement, a media report said citing court records. pic.twitter.com/qSzwRgdR3T IANS (@ians_india) April 29, 2022

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Ed Rollins, the veteran political strategist, is leaving Michele Bachmanns presidential campaign, a move he insists should be not be read as a lack of faith in the candidate, who has struggled to find traction in recent weeks as Rick Perry has zoomed to the front of the pack.

The Bachmann campaign announced the move in a statement late Monday, saying Rollins is stepping down as campaign manager for health reasons.

In less than 50 days and with fewer resources than other campaigns, Ed was the architect that led our campaign to a historic victory in Iowa, Bachmann said. I am grateful for his guidance and leadership, and fortunate to retain his valuable advice even though his health no longer permits him to oversee the day-to-day operations of the campaign.

Rollins, a former advisor to Ronald Reagan, was widely viewed as the man who helped shape Bachmanns transformation from a fringe politician with limited tea party support to a potential national candidate. But while Rollins is reportedly leaving because of his health, his deputy, David Polyansky, is leaving with him, according to Politico.

I want nothing but the best for her; shes a great candidate; Ill continue to be there for her, Rollins told Politico.

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The campaign said Keith Nahigian, Bachmanns advance man, would assume the role of interim campaign manager.

Rollins and Polyansky were the faces of the campaign during Bachmanns recent win in the Iowa Straw Poll, a victory at the time that was viewed as a major triumph for the Minnesota congresswoman, one that would potentially propel her into the top tier of candidates running for the GOP nomination.

It hasnt quite worked out that way. Perry managed to steal some of Bachmanns thunder right out of the gate, announcing his presidential bid on the same day as the poll and showing up a day later at an Iowa event along with Bachmann.

Since then, Perry appears to have seized the imagination of the very conservative voters in Iowa and South Carolina that Bachmann has been so diligently courting. Polls have shown Bachmann lagging behind Perry and Mitt Romney.

At the same time, the candidate has faced questions, particularly in Iowa, about her campaign style, which often involves brief appearances at events, rather than extended, retail-style politicking.

September looms as a crucial month for Bachmann. Shell participate in a series of debates, the first Wednesday evening in Simi Valley with political observers keenly watching whether shell begin to try and dent Perry.

The month will also bring the third-quarter fund-raising period to a closeand her tally will be closely watched as an indicator of her strength going forward.

Even the schedule hasnt broken Bachmanns way. She had to scrap a Thursday breakfast meeting with Republicans in Los Angeles to return to Washington for President Obamas address to a joint session of Congress. Meanwhile, Perry is slated to be all over Southern California that day.
Google has created a form that users can submit to suppress pages that show information such as phone numbers, home addresses, login credentials, personal images.

The tech giant announced that they may remove personally identifiable information that has "potential to create significant risks of identity thefts, financial fraud, harmful direct contact" among others, according to an NBC News report. Google noted that it includes doxxing, which is when one's contact info is shared in a malicious way.

The social media company said that it will not automatically remove results and that there must be an explicit or implicit threat of abuse for the request to be considered.

A company representative said that its research has found an increasing amount of personally identifiable information online.

The spokesperson added that they expect to accept a higher percentage of takedown requests. However, they will not be removing information that seems to be part of the public record on governmental or official sites.

READ NEXT: Facebook, Apple, Google Duped Into Releasing User Data to Hackers Who Sexually Extort Kids

Google Personal Information Removal

Michelle Chang, global policy lead for Google search, said in an exclusive interview with Reuters that research revealed that there is a larger amount of personally identifiable information that users see as sensitive.

Google has also removed links to bank accounts, credit card numbers, and medical records.

Chang said that the company received tens of thousands of requests every year in recent years, with an approval rate of 13 percent.

Older Google policies allowed requesting takedowns of results directing to unwanted pornography. In Europe, "inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive" personal informal information was removed. Google also started allowing the removal of photos of minors last year.

Webpages that Google removes can still be seen through other search engines or directly. Chang said that users are urged to contact publishers to address "the root of the issue."

Once users submit the removal request, they will be receiving an automated email confirmation, confirming that Google has received the request. Google will then review the request based on the factors that required the personal information removal.

The company will then gather more information if needed. For instance, if the request does not have enough information for them to evaluate, such as missing URLs.

Users will then get a notification of any action taken. If the request does not meet the requirements for removal, an explanation will also be provided.

Users can re-submit their request if it is denied, as long as they have additional materials to support their case.

Google Targeted by Hackers

Chrome users have been warned as Google released 30 new security flaws, including seven that pose a "high" threat, according to a WION News report. The tech giant warned billions of users that the browser has been successfully targeted by hackers.

Google has announced that it is now releasing an update to fix the bugs, with the update expected to come within the next few days.

It noted that the bug has affected Windows, macOS, and Linux. However, there has been no additional detail regarding who is responsible for the hacking.

READ MORE: Twitter Net Worth 2022: How Much Is Twitter Valued After Elon Musk Made $43 Billion Offer?

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by Mary Webber

WATCH: Google allows users to request personal information removal - from ABC News






A Florida man who was wrongly jailed for at least 32 years has finally seen the light outside of prison after being granted his freedom on Wednesday.

The Florida man was identified as Thomas Raynard James, according to a CNN news report.

NEW: Prosecutors will ask to undo the conviction of Miami's Thomas Reynard James, who has spent decades in prison for a 1990 murder he has long insisted he did not commit https://t.co/lbRKc0Q3QW  David Ovalle (@DavidOvalle305) April 27, 2022

He was given his freedom after Florida Judge Miguel M de la O vacated his conviction and sentence for being wrongly accused of the murder of Francis McKinnon.

"We have determined that Thomas Raynard James is innocent," Assistant State Attorney Christine Zahralban told the court on Wednesday.

While he was serving his sentence, James filed more than 10 post-conviction motions and appeals. However, those were denied each time.

The Florida Man's case was then picked up by State Attorney's Office Justice Project after it had been denied twice by Florida's Innocence Project due to lack of DNA evidence, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle noted.

In a sworn statement to the SAO Justice Project in January 2022, James claimed that he never shot anyone and has never been in the apartment complex where McKinnon was killed. He also agreed to a polygraph examination where he passed questions asking if he was physically at the scene where McKinnon was shot, whether he shot McKinnon, or if he was involved in a robbery or murder in any way.

On Wednesday, Rundle noted that James' release was a joy for his family but still a day of sadness for the McKinnon's because "they still lost a loved one."

James, now 55 years old, was arrested in 1990. He was convicted for the first-degree murder of Francis McKinnon in 1991.

CNN noted that the Florida man was sentenced to life imprisonment that has a minimum of 25 years of jail time. He was also additionally sentenced with armed robbery and aggravated assault with a firearm, as well as armed burglary of an occupied dwelling with a firearm.

READ NEXT: 'Remove Amber Heard From Aquaman 2' Petition Breaches 2 Million Signatures Amid Johnny Depp's Lawsuit

Thomas Raynard James Opens Up About Release

On Thursday, James opened up about his release after serving 32 years in prison.

Speaking to NBC 6, James pointed out that he feels wonderful and beautiful, adding that what he currently experience is one of the "greatest feelings in the world right now."

The Florida man also shared what authorities should do to prevent someone from experiencing what he underwent in the hands of the law.

"A lot of this could have easily been prevented if the police simply came and questioned me, interrogated me... I was arrested in a courtroom, I was re-fingerprinted, charged with this crime, and to this day I have yet to speak to police or a homicide detective, to this day," James underscored.

According to the 90-page filing from the attorney's office, name confusion led to the Florida man's conviction.

The filing emphasized that James had the same name as a suspect named by a witness or a tipster as "Thomas James" or "Tommy James," which led to the defendant's photograph being included in the lineup.

James claimed that he shared a name with a suspect that was arrested the day before the killing, which is why the authorities made him a focus of the case.

NBC 6 noted that one possible suspect for McKinnon's death died in 2020, but officials are still looking into the said homicide.

Family of Victim om Thomas Raynard James Freedom

The family of Charles McKinnon has mixed feelings about James' freedom.

According to CBS 4, McKinnon's son, Charles, said that he does not want an innocent man behind bars, but he does not want his father's case to be forgotten.

"It may be convincing enough evidence for the state attorney to make this recommendation but to us, it's not complete," Charles said.

Dorothy Walton, the victim's stepdaughter who identified James, said in 1991 that she will not forget the Florida man's face and eyes. However, in 2019, Walton told investigators that she believed she made a mistake in her identification of James, per CNN.

READ NEXT: Mexico: 8 Dead, 12 Injured in Armed Confrontation at Cement Plant

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Exonerated: Thomas Raynard James - From CBS Miami
Mexico has installed Bitcoin ATM, analyzing and triggering the growth of the cryptocurrency market.

The forum "Bitcoin: Mexico facing the future" was held in the Senate of the Mexican Republic. The event was organized by Sens. Miguel Angel Mancera and Juan Manuel Focil Perez, according to an Entrepreneur report.

The event sought to raise awareness of the need to establish a law that regulates the use of digital currencies while allowing users to obtain secure digital services.

Ricardo Monreal Avila, president of the Political Coordination Board in the Senate, said what is convenient for Mexico is to capture the benefits of the new digital financial industry.

Monreal Avila added that they will pay attention to Bitcoin, but their legislative work must not lose sight of the fact that it is one of the many cryptocurrencies that exist.

Mancera said that the Mexican financial system still does not recognize cryptocurrencies despite the 62 million transactions made between more than 109 million accounts. He added that Bitcoin is not only a speculative asset but also a financial system.

READ NEXT: Mexico Police Thought 150 Skulls Found in Cave Were Part of Crime Scene but Turned out to Be Sacrificial Remains From AD 900

Mexico Bitcoin ATM

The Bitcoin ATM in Mexico was installed in the lobby with the aim of promoting freedom, inclusion, and financial education.

Sen. Indira Kempis shared a picture with the Mexican Senate building's Bitcoin ATM, according to a Gadgets360 report.

The Bitcoin ATM was installed on April 26 after PRD officials noted that bitcoin transactions surpassed the volume of payments made through traditional cards or apps inside the senate building.

Forty percent of Mexican firms are interested in adopting blockchain and cryptocurrency in some manner.

Tijuana, Cancun, Guadalajara, Culiacan, San Miguel de Cozumel, and Aguascalientes are among Mexican cities that hold Bitcoin ATMs.

The Bitcoin ATM will allow legislators to carry out electronic currency purchase and sale operations.

Monreal Avila noted that several Latin American cities have already installed Bitcoin ATMs.

In Bogota, there are 25; with Panama having 19; Santo Domingo, 11; San Juan , Puerto Rico, 11; and Buenos Aires, 10.

Sao Paulo also carries nine Bitcoin ATMs, six in Tijuana, and five in Mexico City.

Bitcoin Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin has jumped back above $400,000 on Thursday, rising alongside U.S. stocks as signs emerged of accumulation by investors and greater adoption by nations from Africa to Central and South America, according to a Coin Desk report.

Jason Deane, the market analyst at Quantum Economics, noted that Bitcoin remains in a fairly tight range despite a series of positive news on the asset, such as potential sovereign adoption in Africa, as well as Cuba allowing licensed exchanges.

Deane also cited Mexico gradually moving towards the wide adoption of cryptocurrency.

The Central Bank of Cuba announced that it will issue licenses for virtual asset service providers, with the license being available to individuals or organizations both Cuban and foreign.

Panama has also passed a bill regulating crypto through the Panamanian Legislative Assembly.

Congressman Gabriel Silva said it will help Panama become a hub of innovation and technology in Latin America.

READ MORE: Mexico City Replacing Christopher Columbus Statue With One of Indigenous Woman; City Mayor Says It's to Deliver "Social Justice"

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Mexico is developing cryptocurrency - from CGTN America






Elon Musk has received a land offer in Texas to move Twitter headquarters from California to Texas after his $44 billion purchase of Twitter.

One Texas man issued the proposal to Musk, giving the Tesla CEO free land just outside Austin, Texas, according to a Sacramento Bee News report.

Texas man Jim Schwertner tweeted the offer to Musk, saying that they will give the millionaire 100 acres for free.

Elon Musk, Move Twitter to Schwertner, TX. 38 Miles North of Austin in Williamson County, and we will give you 100 Acres for FREE  Jim Schwertner (@JimSchwertner1) April 26, 2022

Schwertner is the president and CEO of Schwertner Farms, saying he envisions Twitter moving to Texas as a "win-win for everybody."

He noted that they think it is a good idea, especially since Samsung will be coming to Taylor. He added that the area is "exploding" and they want to be part of the explosive growth.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also supports Schwertner's offer, previously calling on Musk to move Twitter's headquarters to Texas.

Texas man offers Elon Musk 100 acres of FREE land to move Twitter's headquarters.



I will declare it a "Free Speech Zone"



Maybe we can rename it Twitter, Texas.



Think about it .@elonmusk https://t.co/Y5UGy2qKpX via @chron  Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 28, 2022

Abbott said of Schwertner's proposal of land that he will declare it a "Free Speech Zone," further suggesting that they can rename it "Twitter, Texas."

READ NEXT: Elon Musk Buys Twitter for $44 Billion, Sends Message to His Haters After Takeove

Twitter Headquarters

It will not be the first time that Musk will be moving to the Lone Star State should he decide to establish the Twitter headquarters in the area.

Musk moved the headquarters for Tesla from Palo Alto, California to Austin, Texas, according to a Breitbart News report.

Meanwhile, Musk has yet to comment on the Texas land offer that he got from Schwertner.

Industry analysts and Austin-area tech officials noted that it is not far from possible to think that Musk might move the company's headquarters from San Francisco to Austin, according to an Austin American-Statesman report.

The Tesla tycoon also moved the headquarters of his tunneling and infrastructure company, the Boring Company, to Central Texas.

Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, said that the likely deal will result in a "significant Twitter presence" in Texas once Musk acquires Texas.

Ives said that it is all part of the Musk structure. He added that he thinks Musk is more comfortable in Austin than in California.

Mark Arend, editor-in-chief of Site Selection Magazine, said that there could be benefits to the possible move, noting that Austin has a big labor pool and plenty of room to build new facilities.

Elon Musk's Twitter Bid

Musk noted that he wanted to improve Twitter with new features, making its algorithms open source "to increase trust," defeat spambots, as well as to authenticate the accounts of humans, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.

Musk said in a tweet that he hopes that his worst critics remain on Twitter as that is what free speech means.

Some tech executives welcomed Musk's ownership while others raised concerns.

Musk's calls for free speech could suggest a reversal of the ban of former U.S. President Donald Trump on the social media platform.

Musk also earlier expressed skepticism around remote work.

Twitter leases its headquarters space that is currently owned by JPMorgan Chase and Shorenstein, which was formerly Western Furniture Exchange and Merchandise Mart.

READ MORE: Twitter Net Worth 2022: How Much Is Twitter Valued After Elon Musk Made $43 Billion Offer?

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by Mary Webber

WATCH: Twitter to Texas?: Williamson County man offers Elon Musk free land to move headquarters - from KVUE






Moderna on Thursday submitted a filing to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval for its COVID-19 vaccine for children aged under six.

According to Reuters, if approved, it would be the first COVID-19 vaccine shot against the virus available for those under five years old.

Moderna chief medical officer Paul Burton told Reuters that it represents an important area of "unmet need." Burton noted that there was no vaccine, "no other therapy" that children within the age range can have.

He said he thinks from a public health perspective that offering the COVID-19 vaccine to these children as quickly as possible "is the best thing."

In March, Moderna released trial data showing that its vaccine was safe and generated a similar immune response in young children as for adults.

The chief medical officer of Moderna did not reveal a time frame for when the FDA was expected to consider the authorization request.

READ NEXT: Dr. Anthony Fauci Warns How Unvaccinated People Could Delay the End of COVID Pandemic in 2022

Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine for Children

Moderna noted during the testing of the shots among two groups of children that they found a "robust neutralizing antibody response," as well as a "favorable safety profile," according to CBS News.

Moderna said its vaccine efficacy against infection was 51 percent among children younger than two and 37 percent among children from two to five years old.

In a statement, the vaccine maker noted that the efficacy estimates are similar to vaccine efficacy estimates in adults against Omicron after two doses.

Aside from the COVID-19 vaccine for children, Moderna said it is also working on expanding its own booster shot studies to evaluate the third dose in children as young as six months old.

Spokespeople for both FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said they plan to have a meeting of their outside vaccine advisers before approving the Moderna shots.

In a statement, FDA spokesperson Abby Capobianco said the FDA could not reach a decision on any vaccine without a completed EUA request, which includes a comprehensive review of all the adverse events and replication of the key analyses.

COVID-19 Vaccines

Local health departments across the country are currently facing a dilemma such as how to address a declining demand for vaccines while avoiding the waste of unused millions of doses currently in state stockpiles, nearing expiration.

According to ABC News, federal data noted that states received 720 million doses, with more than 570 million of those vaccine shots have been administered.

C. Buddy Creech, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program and associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases, told ABC News that it was a "tremendous loss of opportunity" not to have administered the vaccines to those who need them.

Creech said it was not only a financial loss but also a significant health loss for those who are not yet protected from COVID-19 and its risks.

Vaccine dose wastage can result from various issues, such as dropped vials and syringes; and improperly prepared, unused, or expiring vaccine doses.

READ MORE: CDC Recommends Shorter COVID Isolation Period for Health Care Workers Amid Omicron Variant

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Moderna Seeks Emergency Use Authorization For Covid-19 Vaccine For Kids Under Age 6 - From NBC News






Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M) joined Canary Media senior reporter Julian Spector for a live, virtual conversation on clean energy in a time of global conflict.

Heinrich plays a leading role in clean energy policy, serving on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees military construction funding.

His expertise makes him uniquely suited to comment on how clean energy could make nations safer in an uncertain time.

READ NEXT: Heinrich, Murkowski Applaud House Passage Of Bipartisan Legislation To Safeguard Tribal Items

About Martin Heinrich

Martin Heinrich, the founder and co-chair of the Electrification Caucus, has been a vocal advocate for the adoption of clean energy alternatives to secure American energy independence.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine exposed just how susceptible energy markets are to disruption from global conflict. But unlike in past wars, clean energy technologies can now offer protection from volatility in oil and gas supplies.

Heinrich recently authored an op-ed in The Hill with Rewiring America's CEO Ari Matusiak calling on the U.S. to lead the widespread electrification of the appliances in our homes.

The piece outlined a three-part market transformation plan that bolsters American manufacturing and labor capacity to help Europe reduce its reliance on Russian oil and gas and support lasting energy independence in the United States.

Last month, Heinrich sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to employ his existing executive authorities to advance the development and widespread adoption of clean energy and energy-efficient electric technologies, such as heat pumps, in order to reduce demand for Russian fossil fuels, cut emissions, and save money for consumers in both the United States and allied countries.

Watch here: Clean energy in a time of global conflict, Canary Media

READ MORE: Sen. Martin Heinrich Offers Well Wishes to Sen. Ben Ray Lujan Who Suffered a Stroke
Like every other sector of society, law enforcement agencies want to be at the leading edge of technology. As citizens, we want law enforcers to have the best technology so they can achieve the best outcome. However, what we know as consumers and tech enthusiasts is that technology rarely lives up to expectations. We are a long way from self-driving cars despite what people like Elon Musk tell you. It is not just about the car deck. It is also about infrastructure and driver retraining. These are hard problems to solve that are not all that close to being solved.

We are nowhere near being able to replace police vehicles with self-driving vehicles. Rushing that technology would actually hinder rather than help law enforcement. A better deployment of technology would be outfitting local law enforcement agencies with the most advanced evidence locker available. These types of technologies help to ensure justice and reduce human error.

When thinking about evidence handling, you have to consider the types of things that might come up in court such as whether something was held at the proper temperature or whether the evidence could have been accessed inappropriately. Evidence chain of custody can make or break a case. Technology is a welcome addition to this aspect of law enforcement. Here are other technologies that are also being considered:

Tracking Devices

Gadgets that can assist in investigations are proving to be useful to law enforcement. A large part of police work is investigation. That can be challenging work without a good starting point. Now that everything seems to be equipped with some sort of tracking device or tracking capability built in, police detectives can get a solid starting point for their investigations.

It is not always about recovering lost iPhones and stolen laptops. That said, sometimes, the police will track down a stolen device with the help of Find My and other integrated tools. Just remember that there is no uniform rule determining whether a police department will help find your lost or stolen devices.

However, there are a lot bigger things you want your police department doing on your behalf. Much of what they need to be doing starts with getting whereabouts and timing. If the detectives know what devices were stolen, they could quickly determine the base of operations and possible identity of the perpetrators. The biggest challenge to using this type of tech is the fear of persistent surveillance, loss of privacy, and weakening of encryption. These tensions will always exist and require wisdom, balance, and a steady hand to navigate these issues.

Facial Recognition

We can all see the obvious benefits of facial recognition in law enforcement if we could actually get it right. There is a reason we keep trying. There is also a reason we keep failing despite our best intentions. It is a difficult problem both technologically and socially. Recently, the EU called for a ban on police use of facial recognition but not commercial use.

Some say inherent human bias is baked into the programming. If that is the case, then it is a chicken and egg type of problem. We want to use the technology to help eliminate biases from the equation. Yet the software and hardware cannot be designed outside of the often hidden biases deeply integrated into the process of making facial recognition work. What we have to figure out as a society is whether or not the future, potential benefits are worth the present, real downsides. So far, there is no real consensus.

Crypto

Cryptocurrency is like encrypted money. What could possibly go wrong? Consider this: Almost every crime of extortion and illegal commerce these days is powered by cryptocurrency. It has given criminals a way to evade law enforcement and remain anonymous. That said, these are the same downsides and attributes of encryption in general. Yet most tech enthusiasts support strong consumer encryption.



Whether cryptocurrency makes life easier or more difficult for law enforcement is almost beside the point. Digital assets and cybersecurity is here to stay. The good news is that if law enforcement learns to work around crypto to do their jobs well, then encryption in general will also not be a barrier to a safer society.

Technology has been a part of law enforcement for a long time. If more people pay attention to such technologies as tracking tech, facial recognition, and crypto, we will have more efficient and successful law enforcement abilities tomorrow.
The Delhi government has expressed concern over the possible shortage of coal in the power plants that supply electricity to the national capital.

Disruption in power supply from Dadri and Unchahar thermal power plants may hit 24-hour power supply to Delhi Metro, hospitals and other important institutions in the national capital. Therefore, the Delhi government has written to the Centre asking it to intervene to provide adequate coal to the thermal power plants.

According to the daily coal report of the National Power Portal, there is acute shortage of coal at many power stations of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

The Delhi government has informed that only one day's coal stock is left at the Dadri-II power plant, Unchahar power plant has two days' stock, three-and-a-half days' stock is left in Kahalgaon, Farakka has five days' stock, while Jhajjar (Aravalli) has seven to eight days' stock left with it.

While coal crisis is threatening to impact power supply, Delhi and many other states are facing severe heatwave conditions. The Met department has said the mercury can rise to up to 46-degree Celsius in Delhi.

In the middle of such severe heat, if the power supply is disrupted in Delhi, it will further alleviate the problems of the people.

Schools, hospitals and even the Delhi Metro, which is a necessary mode of transportation in the national capital, are likely to be impacted which will further aggravate the problems of the common man.

Delhi's Power Minister Satyendar Jain held an emergency meeting on the shortage of coal at the Delhi Secretariat on Thursday. He also wrote to the Central government urging the latter to intervene to provide enough coal to the power plants supplying electricity to the national capital.

The minister said that at present, there is acute shortage of coal in various thermal power plants.

NTPC's Dadri-II and Jhajjar (Aravalli) power plants were established primarily to meet the power requirements of Delhi, but there is little stock left in these plants.

According to the Delhi government, 1,751 MW of electricity is supplied daily from Dadri, Unchahar, Kahalgaon, Farakka and Jhajjar power plants to Delhi. The maximum supply -- 728 MW -- comes from Dadri, while 100 MW comes from Unchahar.

Therefore, disruptions in power supply from these two major thermal power stations may lead to severe cuts in 24-hour power supply to Delhi Metro, hospitals and various other essential institutions.

Jain said the Delhi government is closely monitoring the situation and making all possible efforts so that people do not face power crisis in some areas of the national capital.
Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday said that there was a severe coal crisis across the country and many places have just one day of reserve left.

Raising the alarm over the ongoing coal crisis, Jain said, "No (power) backup (is there)... (the) coal backup should be for over 21 days, but at many power plants, less than a day's (stock) is left".

He further added, "If electricity is being produced, and we keep getting it, there's no issue. But if the power plant shuts down it will be problematic (in Delhi)...There's a coal shortage in the country," said Jain in a media briefing, a day after he held an emergency meeting over the issue.

"There is a huge shortage of power in the country. So far we have managed it somehow in Delhi. The situation is very grave in the whole of India. Together we soon need to find its solution. Quick, concrete steps are required to tackle this problem," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

The Delhi Power Minister held an emergency meeting on Thursday over the issue and wrote to the Centre requesting it to ensure adequate coal availability to power plants supplying electricity to Delhi.

"Due to disruption of power supply from Dadri-II and Unchahar power stations, there may be a problem in 24-hour power supply to many essential institutions, including Delhi Metro and Delhi government hospitals," the government said in a statement on Thursday.
The Irish Prison Service has abandoned electronic tagging because of the cost and value for money concerns.

Figures, released by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee on prisoner to Laois/Offaly Independent TD Carol Nolan, show that total of 1,085,759 was spend on the electronic monitoring of 151 prisoners. The bill was run up between 2014 and 2021.

More than half the total money - 562,291 - was spend tagging 37 prisoners since 2018. The system cost 523,468 to tag 114 prisoners between 2014 and 2018.

Total cost of electronic monitoring by year is as follows:

2014 - 73,961

2015 - 153,682

2016 - 129,708

2017 - 166,117

2018 - 221,790

2019 - 166, 538

2020 - 139,512

2021 - 34,451

Total cost - 1,085,759

The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee explained the situation in her reply.

"Following a review in 2020, the Irish Prison Service, in consultation with the Department of Justice, decided not to renew the contract for electronic monitoring in January 2021".

"The Irish Prison Service published a tender for the provision of electronic tagging and monitoring of prisoners in 2019. I am advised that one response was received from the incumbent company, which met all technical and operational criteria.

"A submission recommending discontinuing the use of electronic monitoring, due to a number of factors, including the assessment in terms of the overall value for money, was carefully considered and decision not to proceed to tender award stage was communicated to the tender applicant in January 2021," the minister added.

The Government is proposing a law to give courts the power to tag sex offenders. The cost is set to be piloted before full introduction.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the President of Ireland, his staff, and the Council of State are immune from EU regulations requiring the public disclosure of information relating to the environment.

The ruling was made in proceedings brought by the Right To Know Group, which campaigns for greater transparency, concerning obligations that arise under EU Communities regulation, known as the Access to Information Directive of AIE, regarding access to Information on the Environment.

It had brought proceedings against the Commissioner for Environmental Information, Ireland, The Attorney General, The Minister for the Environment and the Office of the Secretary General to the President after it failed to get certain information following two separate requests to the Office of Secretary General (OSG) to the President.

The information sought included documents which were before the Council of State, the councils minutes or its communications with President Michael D Higgins when advising him whether two Bills should be referred to the Supreme Court.

The two bills were the Planning and Development Bill 1999 and the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No. 2) Bill 2001.

The group also sought material related to two speeches made by the President, one in Paris in 2015 at the Summit of Consciences of the Climate and the second at the New Years Greeting Ceremony in January 2016.

The Commissioner had refused to direct the OSG to provide the speeches background material on the basis the OSG was entitled to the same immunity given to the President under Article 13 of the Constitution, which provides the President is not answerable to the Oireachtas or courts.

In 2020 the High Court ruled that the information relating to the two speeches ought to be disclosed to the group.

Mr Justice Anthony Barr also ruled that information held by the council of state fell under the legislative exception to the AIE regulations and were not subject to an obligation to be released to the public.



The State Parties Appealed the decision that information concerning the speeches should be released, while the judge's decision refusing to direct the disclosure of the material before the council was cross appealed by Right to Know.

In its decision the five-judge Supreme court. comprised of the Chief Justice Donal O'Donell, Mr Justice John MacMenamin, Ms Justice Iseult O'Malley, Ms Justice Marie Baker, and Mr Justice Gerard Hogan unanimously upheld the State's arguments and dismissed the group's cross-appeal.

The court said that by making information and documentation related to the work of the President subject to obligatory disclosure under the AIE regulations would make the President answerable to the courts.

This, the court said, was precluded under Article 13 of the Irish Constitution.

The President, the council, and his staff are exempt from the disclosure provisions of the AIE Directive it also held.

The Court also considered that an obligation to disclose is not necessitated by the Supremacy of EU Law.

The Court also held that the President is not a public authority as defined in the EU directive as the President has no role as a decision maker in the realm of environmental policy.

Giving the Court's decision Ms Justice Baker said that constant approach of the courts has been to decline any challenge to the President in the performance of their duties.

The President enjoys an immunity from legal sanction which is included in the Irish constitution.

The only means in which a President can be called to account is by an impeachment process contained in the constitution.

The judge also held that that there the Office of Secretary General to the President and the Council of State did not haveseparate legal identities or have separate functions where they independently of the President hold information that might be the subject of a request for disclosure.

Their function is to assist the President, who she added is "above party politics".

The judge also rejected the groups argument that the Supremacy of EU law required the President to be subject to a request for environmental information under the directive.

The President she said is not a public authority because the office holder acts outside the policy making realm.

The power to make decisions that affect the environment is the key test to determine if a body is a public authority, she said.

The President's powers are constitutionally defined and constrained to those ceremonial, symbolic and limited.

None of the powers involve any decision-making role on environmental issues, she added.
Great excitement for Shine 2022 has been building up around Laois and beyond, according to co-organisers Laois Chamber.

On Saturday, 21st May, 32 amateur sporting teams from various parts of the country will be descending upon the stunning grounds of Emo Court vying to win the title of Irelands Fittest Team. A total prize fund of 10,000 will be up for grabs on the day.

Ciaran Finane of Finline Furniture, main sponsors of Shine 2022, spoke about the upcoming event.

Finline Furniture are delighted to be the main sponsor of this amazing local event that will provide a showcase for all that is great about Laois, and we are looking forward to May 21st! We are really excited to be supporting Shine 2022 as the event will offer an important platform for sport, business and tourism in Laois and everything the county has to offer, he said.

John Kirwan is Chairman of Emo GAA which is the co-organiser.

Emo GAA had planned to hold Shine in 2020, but unfortunately we had to shelve these plans at the time because of the pandemic. We are delighted to be only a matter of weeks away from Shine 2022, and we hope that it will become an annual event that will continue to grow. We would like to thank all of our sponsors, as without their support this event would not have been possible. It promises to be a great family day out for everyone, he said.

Apart from being a competition, Laois Chamber says Shine 2022 will showcase Laois businesses, arts, culture, tourism and sport in the unique setting of Emo Court, with the main house as a backdrop. Organisers expect 5,000 visitors on the day, with the event running from 9am to 6pm. The event will be a fun day out for all of the family, with free admission.

Caroline Hofman is the CEO of Laois Chamber.

Laois Chamber is really looking forward to Shine 2022, and we are delighted to be supporting and collaborating with Emo GAA for this terrific event. It will be a super day out for all the family, with a range of trade stands exhibiting on the day around the main arena where the sporting events will be taking place, showcasing the very best of everything Laois has to offer, she said.

Alison Browne, President of Laois Chamber, is also looking forward to the event.

Shine 2022 will put the spotlight on all that is good in Laois from sport, food, crafts, vintage, tourism attractions, commerce, retail, festivals and lots more. With a large crowd of 5,000 people expected on the day, this is a date to put in your calendar and its free, she said.

The official draw for teams will be taking place on Friday 6th May.

Visit www.shineinemo.ie for more information on the event and exhibitors, and to register for free general admission.

Organised by Emo GAA with the support of the OPW, Laois Chamber, and Laois Tourism, the event is also being sponsored by Laois-based Powerpoint Engineering, JK Autos, Midland Legal Solicitors, Clement Herron Real Estate and Alpha Wireless.






To celebrate Poetry Day at Naas General Hospital yesterday, 400 copies of a special anthology called a Menu of Poems was distributed to staff and patients to enjoy.

The Naas Hospital Arts Officer Bernadette Jackson was centrally involved in picking out the poems that were included in this years edition, which was handed out not just in Naas but in hospitals and healthcare settings across Ireland.

Bernadette, who works as a senior medical scientist at Naas General Hospital, said she got a great reaction from patients as she made her deliveries.

One patient a Kildare man, actually called me to his bedside to show me poems that hed written himself, including one about horseracing. The Menu of Poems is a good conversation starter and as the arts officer here in Naas Hospital, I am delighted it has returned to the hospital and our patients get the benefit of this rich literary work.

As a member of the Arts for Health partnership who produce the Menu of Poems, it was Bernadettes idea to ask Imelda May to include some of her poetry in this years edition. Since its conception in 2008, Menu of Poems has been a positive development in the lives of both patients and those who work in healthcare settings across Ireland.

The final selection includes poems by Catherine Ann Cullen (childrens poem Eliza Analyser), Martina Evans poem Gazebo, Imelda Mays poem Stargazer, and Rita Ann Higgins poem Lucky Mrs Higgins. The poets involved have also kindly recorded the poetry and it will be available at https://saoltaarts.com/ stories/mehttps://saoltaarts.com/ stories/menu-of-poems/nu-of-poems/ .

Rita Ann Higgins, Poet and Editor of the 2022 Menu of Poems said, "It's not unusual to reach for poems at a time of crises or distress, sometimes poems are all we have to get us over the tough times. Selecting poems for this project was a great pleasure. It made me take down the books I had not read for a while. It was like meeting old friends. In the end the selection made me feel warm and grateful for the powerful voices of Cullen, Evans and May, may the creative force stay with them."

Imelda May, Musical Artist and Poet said, I am delighted that one of my poems Stargazer is selected for Menu of Poems to be in hospitals on Poetry Day. What a beautiful thing to do. Its such a lovely thought and I am very honoured that my poem was picked by Rita Ann Higgins who is a lovely friend of mine. I am a fan of hers and inspired by her greatly. I hope people get something beautiful from reading poetry from their hospital beds, that it gives them nourishment, joy and healing. Hopefully the words will stay with them way beyond their hospital stay.
The banking sector is busy in Ireland these days with some banks closing and others taking over services.

Today AIB has been cleared to acquire Ulster Banks commercial loans portfolio worth 4.2 billion as the latter bank pulls out of Ireland.

Ulster Bank is set to withdraw all of its banking services from Ireland, which  along with the planned departure of KBC Bank  is creating gaps in the financial landscape.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has cleared the proposed aquisition of Ulster Banks loans to businesses by AIB.

Additionally, some Ulster Bank employees will transfer to AIB.

AIB agreed the 4.2 billion deal with Ulster Bank to take over its performing corporate and commercial loans last June, a few months after its parent company announced plans to wind down Ulster Banks operations in Ireland.

After reviewing the available evidence, the CCPC has accepted an argument by both banks that Ulster Bank will cease providing the relevent loans to businesses in Ireland regardless of whether the sale to AIB proceeds.

In a statement, the CCPC said that international evidence shows higher concentration in banking services is likely to have a detrimental effect on competition, which in turn leads to poorer pricing, innovation and service for business borrowers.

This is substantiated by some of the business customers contacted by the CCPC, who indicated that they had concerns with the exit of Ulster Bank from the State, the commission said.

"The CCPC considers that its concerns regarding the competitive landscape of the Irish banking services market are highly relevant to all of these issues and will continue to work with all stakeholders to consider how to ensure the market is open and competitive to the benefit of everyone.

Meanwhile, KBC BANK has said that it will extend the notice period for accounts being closed for another six months, as it withdraws from the Irish market.

Both Ulster Bank and KBC are winding down their operations in Ireland, leaving Bank of Ireland, AIB and Permanent TSB to fill the gap in a landscape that has been described as the biggest logistical change in the history of Irish banking.

KBC Bank said this morning that it understands that changing bank accounts involves significant time and effort from customers.

We are also fully aware of the apprehension around the volume of customers that will be seeking to open new current accounts and the challenge to the market that presents, the Belgian bank.

KBC Bank has around 130,000 current accounts that are either active or have a balance.
An Garda Siochana has partnered with Mens Aid and Safe Ireland to mark Go Purple Day and help raise awareness about domestic abuse and the local domestic abuse support services available to those affected in Ireland.

The event takes place across the country today, April 29.

The initiative was first organised in 2020 by Community Garda, Stacey Looby from Athlone Garda Station to help strengthen community partnerships between domestic abuse services and An Garda Siochana, and it is now a national day of awareness about domestic abuse.

Members of the public as well as Garda personnel nationwide have been encouraged to show their support today by simply wearing, drawing or baking something purple. The most important thing is to help spread the word about this important issue.

Speaking on Go Purple Day Detective Chief Superintendent Colm Noonan of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau said: "An Garda Siochana is prioritising the prevention of these crimes, supporting victims and pursuing perpetrators through specialist activity as part of Operation Faoiseamh which is led by our front line Garda members. Gardai want to reassure the public that we are here to listen, protect and support victims of domestic abuse, sexual crime and gender-based violence.



"I want to encourage every victim to not suffer in silence and to assure them that they will be listened to and all reports will be treated sensitively and in confidence," he said.

"Organisations including Safe Ireland and Mens Aid provide vital support services to those affected, and work very closely with Gardai at local and national level. Their assistance is often the difference in someone receiving the practical help and advice that they need to seek refuge from the abuse.

"Our Go Purple Day is an opportunity to highlight their important work and share information on how victims can access their services. It is also a time to emphasise the possible warning signs of domestic abuse, sexual crime and gender-based violence that we can all look out for and recognise. For example, visible physical signs and changes in behaviour or demeanour and coercive control tactics.

"The reality is that the perpetrators of domestic abuse hide in very plain sight, but those most impacted are often behind closed doors. Many are too frightened to disclose the extent of what they are experiencing.

"This Go Purple Day Gardai together with domestic abuse support services across Ireland are sending the strong message  we are here for you.

You can support #GoPurpleDay by embracing the colour purple at home, while at work or among friends and family  wear it, bake it, sow it, glow it. All those getting involved in tomorrows initiative are kindly asked to share a photo via social media.
Pope Francis has praised a group of Limerick educators during a special reception at the Vatican.

Catholic educators from Mary Immaculate College enjoyed a private reception with Pope Francis in the Vatican during a research trip to Rome.

Eight staff members, four students and eight recent graduates made up the majority of the 36 Catholic educators from the Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE) project who were in Rome to study Pope Francis initiatives in Catholic education.

The GRACE project is an international research-based partnership between MIC, Boston College, the University of Notre Dame (Australia), and St Marys University (London, UK).

GRACE provides an original opportunity for practitioners and scholars of Catholic education and theology in their respective countries to affirm, study, collaborate, and respond meaningfully to challenges faced in the field.

Speaking as he welcomed the GRACE academics to the Vatican, Pope Francis said: "Catholic education is evangelisation: bearing witness to the joy of the Gospel and its power to renew our communities and provide hope and strength in facing wisely the challenges of the present time.

"I trust that this study will inspire each of you to rededicate himself or herself with generous zeal to your vocation as educators, to your efforts to solidify the foundations of a more humane and solidary society, and thus the advancement of Christs kingdom of truth, holiness, justice and peace.

"What you do is a beautiful thing. We must break that idea of education which holds that educating means filling ones head with ideas. Thats the way we educate automatons, cerebral minds, not people.

"Educating is taking a risk in the tension between the mind, the heart and the hands: in harmony, to the point of thinking what I feel and do; feeling what I think and do; of doing what I feel and think. Its a balance."

According to Dr Daniel OConnell, lecturer in Religious Education at MIC and Project Leader with the GRACE Project: "I was very taken with how much this trip meant to everyone.

"Meeting with Pope Francis and other speakers was such a gift, a source of encouragement and inspiration for us all. While the experiences we shared engaged us on many levels, I think they spoke most of all to our hearts.

"We were left with a renewed confidence in Catholic education and a sense of belonging to a wider community."
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday lauded AAP leader Atishi's United Nations General Assembly address and termed it a moment of pride for India.

"A moment of pride for India. Delhi and AAP make Indians proud. The world is now looking up to Delhi for solutions in many areas of urban governance. We all will learn from each other to make world a better place," Kejriwal said in a tweet while re-tweeting a post by Atishi containing her speech at the UNGA.

In her address at the UN General Assembly, Atishi highlighted the governance model of the Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital.

"Well done Atishi. This is a very proud moment. Many congratulations for making the world aware of the potential of the country including the sentiments of the people of Delhi and the nation on such a big international platform. The nation wants such progressive thinking. India now wants to move forward," he said in another tweet in Hindi.

AAP leader Atishi shared the video of her speech at the UNGA on Twitter. "An honour to present the transformation brought about in Delhi, by the @ArvindKejriwal govt, before the @UN General Assembly. I believe that the 'Delhi Model' can provide insights for solving problems faced by many countries across the world," she said while posting the video of her speech in a tweet.
The Delhi Police have arrested three more men in connection with Jahangirpuri violence, including a key "conspirator and executor" who was nabbed from West Bengal. With the latest arrests, a total of 30 people have been held in the communal clashes so far.

As per the media reports, Mohd. Farid alias Neetu (35), one of the "most wanted accused" in the case, was arrested from his aunt's house in Tamluk in East Medinipur district in West Bengal. The other two arrests include brothers Jaffar (34) and Babuddin alias Babu (43) who run a biryani shop in Jahangirpuri.

Police said an analysis of CCTV footage revealed that Farid, along with his associate Md. Ansar played a "very active and aggressive role in instigating riots" but whether he had opened fire or not is part of the investigation being done by the Crime Branch with assistance from the Special Cell and the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operation Unit (IFSO) of the force.

According to the police, a non-bailable warrant had also been issued by a Delhi court against Farid who first hid his family in an isolated place and then fled to West Bengal within a span of two-three days after the violence earlier this month.

Additionally, the Delhi Police, while scanning the CCTV footage found that Jaffar was seen roaming around with the crowd with a sword during the violence. Babuddin was also seen instigating the crowd during the violence.

Clashes broke out between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in Jahangirpuri in Delhi on April 16, leaving eight police personnel and a local resident injured. According to the police, there was stone pelting and arson during the clashes and some vehicles were also torched.

Days after the violence, Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana had written to the Enforcement Directorate to investigate money laundering charges against the prime accused in the case.

The police have slapped the stringent National Security Act against five of the accused in the case.
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The Walt Disney Company is parting ways with Geoff Morrell, its head of corporate affairs, after a series of public relations debacles.

Morrell, ousted after less than four months on the job, joined Disney in January from a post as the executive vice president of communications and advocacy at oil and gas company BP. But the transition was bumpy, coinciding with a bruising period in which Disney CEO Bob Chapek was faulted for his stumbling response to Floridas Dont Say Gay laws. Disney said Morell is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.

His role will be split in half. Kristina Schake will lead The Walt Disney Companys communications efforts, serving as our executive vice president of global communications reporting directly to Chapek. Schake joined Disney in April, and was previously deputy communications director for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign. She also served in the Obama and Biden administrations.

Horacio Gutierrez, who serves as Disneys general counsel, will take over Morrells government relations and global public policy purview. He joined the company in February and previously served as head of global affairs and chief legal officer for Spotify.

In an email to staff, Morrell wrote, After three months in this new role, it has become clear to me that for a number of reasons it is not the right fit.

On paper, Morrell seemed to have the kind of experience Disney wanted as it looked to replace Zenia Mucha, its long-time communications czar, who was known for her message discipline and bare-knuckle tactics. He boasted both communications chops, as well as government experience, having spent four years at the Pentagon as chief spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Defense under the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state legislators backed and ultimately passed a bill that prohibits instruction around gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade, Chapek was under pressure from staff to take a forceful public position. Disney is one of the largest employers in the state of Florida, where it owns and operates Walt Disney World and other theme parks. Initially, Chapek declined to publicly condemn the legislation, only to backtrack in the face of a near revolt from staffers. When he ultimately came out against the bill and said the company would reassess its political donations, DeSantis and his allies responded by passing legislation abolishing Disneys self-governing district in Orlando. The halting response from Disney has led to questions about Chapeks leadership and a growing sense that the company needed to shake things up.

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Keanu Reeves is back to crushing skulls and making movie theater owners scream with adoration, as the star closed CinemaCon with a first look at John Wick: Chapter 4.

Appearing during the Lionsgate presentation at the annual exhibition trade show, Reeves was greeted with lusty applause and chants of youre the man! from attendees.

The next installment once again teams Reeves with stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski. Lionsgate has high hopes for John Wick: Chapter 4, considering each chapter in the franchise has outgrossed its predecessor. The original John Wick grossed $86 million worldwide in 2014 followed by $171.5 million for John Wick: Chapter 2 in 2017 and $327.3 million for John Wick: Chapter 3  Parabellum in 2019.

In the footage screened, Wick is on his perpetual revenge tour  this time taking on a decidedly lone ninja vibe  seen punching a wooden post to the point of his knuckles bleeding as co-star Laurence Fishburne acts as his hype man.

I want you to find peace, John, an off-screen voice booms as a montage plays of Reeves slaying his enemies, but the only path this leads to is death.

In the heart-pounding final moments of the trailer, Reeves takes on two baddies in the lobby of an art gallery  brutalizing them with nunchucks in a relentless, face-busting, merry-go-round motion.

Joining Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4 are Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Bill Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins and Clancy Brown. Franchise mainstay Ian McShane is back as Winston, the manager of the Continental Hotel. One person not returning to the franchise is Halle Berry, who debuted as Sofia in Chapter 3.

Sofias not in the next John Wick movie, Berry told IGN earlier this year, although the character might be getting her own spinoff film. There could possibly be a Sofia  her own movie. So she might not be in John Wick, but she might be doing her own thingy-thingy.

Stahelski revealed before he started filming John Wick: Chapter 4 that he was anxious about how to top the insane stunts of Chapter 3, which included one action set piece featuring samurais on horseback.

Theres been a couple days where Ive decided to do number four and Ive woken up in a cold sweat going, Horses! How do I beat horses? I have no fucking idea to tell you the truth, Stahelski told Collider . I have a lot of really cool ideas for the next one that I think are different and shocking and fun and unique. How to do them, I have no fuckin idea right now. Im still figuring it out.

John Wick: Chapter 4 hits theaters on May 23, 2023.

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Its every touring bands nightmare: Veteran rockers the Brian Jonestown Massacre had nearly all of their equipment stolen while on tour: custom-built guitars and effects and lots more. The theft was widely reported in the music press as the band soldiered on as best they could.

But this particular nightmare has a happy ending: Police in Portland, Ore. have recovered more than $50,000 worth of the bands gear, the group announced on Friday.

We are all eternally grateful to the Portland police department for their help in finding our stolen equipment, frontman Anton Newcombe tweeted. It has been said that it had great sentimental value, however, I am not very sentimental, I use my gear to create music 6 days a week, to feed my family and employ my friends. These are the tool of my craft, no different than a truck full of tools used in construction or any other trade. I also wish to thank everyone for their outpouring of concern, and for spreading the word, especially Dan at KATU TV.

Of course, the impact of the theft was even more devastating coming after two years of lockdown and quarantines that prevented the band from touring at all. During the pandemic, frontman Anton Newcombe survived two bouts with Covid in his current home of Berlin, and the band had written and recorded two new albums, including Fire Doesnt Grow on Trees, slated for release on June 24.

A 38-date North American tour (with Mercury Rev) kicked at Philadelphias Union Transfer on March 27. But Covid intervened one again, and dates in Vancouver, Tacoma and Seattle had to be cancelled. The band returned to the stage on April 18 in Portland with new gear that they purchased.

The theft was discovered that afternoon, and Newcombe tweeted that the missing items included a rare Vox Ultrasonic 12 guitar, as well as a Vox Starstreamer 12, Gibson ES 12, Fender Jazz bass, Harmony Sovereign 6 acoustic with Dean Markley, Eko 6 string acoustic with built in pickup, and one guitar tech tool kit.

Newcombe also tweeted thanks for the unbelievable kindness of the Portland music community in getting the word out, and praised the police for their skillful and swift detective work.

BJM and their recovered gear take the stage at Dallas Granada Theater tonight.

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Animayo Gran Canaria, Spains foremost Canary Islands-based animation festival, is venturing deep into the metaverse with experts in artificial intelligence, virtual reality and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) joining leading voices in animation from major studios, including DreamWorks, Walt Disney, Skydance, Sony Pictures and Platige Image.

Some 23 guests will be participating across 14 master classes, three debate panels, three workshops, 10 recruitment sessions and other events at the in-person 17th edition held over May 4-7 in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

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An online edition is slated to launch in October. This year the debates are a novelty because its a must to create a meeting forum in this increasingly polarized society, said Damian Perea, founder-director of the festival, which also encompasses VFX and video gaming.

The festivals impact on local production continues to grow as the Canary Islands now boasts at least 20 animation and VFX companies, Perea told Variety.

Among the other firsts for the Canary Islands and its festival: an augmented reality exhibition and NFT sales related to the acclaimed 2D animated short film Amanece la Noche Larga, with all proceeds to go towards fundraising efforts to help Ukrainian refugees.

The festival trailer presents highlights of the more than 60 animation shorts hailing from some 20 countries that will compete at the festival. The winner of the international grand prize will have a chance to be preselected for best animated short film at the Oscars. Animayo remains the only festival in Spain designated a qualifying festival by the Academy for this category.

Participating luminaries from the world of animation include Danish animation exec Claus Toksvig, producer of the Oscar-nominated toon Song of the Sea; Disney Animation Studios Luis Labrador, one of the creators of the Oscar-winning Encanto; Matt Tokarz, a visual effects creator on the acclaimed Netflix-produced The Witcher; and Aurora Jimenez, a visual development artist at DreamWorks Animation with such credits as The Bad Guys, Vivo, Hotel Transylvania 3 and The Emoji Movie.

Guests from the world of technology include Yuan Yinzi, Ubisoft project manager and founder-president of the Metaverse Summit in Paris; Edgar Martin-Blas, CEO and creative director of Virtual Voyagers, the Madrid-based pioneer in virtual, augmented and mixed reality; and Isidro Quintana, CEO of Triple O Games, Metaverse and Play2earn Experiences.

The festival will again offer a scholarship program valued at 500,000 ($528,000) for online and in-person studies in Madrid and other major cities.

I founded Animayo to give aspirants all the opportunities that I never had when I started, said Perea, adding: That is why the festival centers on training, education, motivation and finally, helping people find jobs through our recruiters.

We are proud to once again celebrate life and unite in person all young  and not so young  people with the experts of this community as well as give more opportunities to the new generation, Perea stated.

Animayo is a luxury for Gran Canaria. Its a great international showcase for training and employment in the audiovisual sector, concurred Teodoro Sosa, minister of the presidency of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, a major sponsor of the annual event.

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VENICE - We need to talk about Surrealism. Honestly, it's not a conversation I particularly want to have. But the movement, which Sigmund Freud unintentionally spawned and wisely disavowed, is everywhere just now.

It is the major theme at this year's Venice Biennale, where Surrealist aesthetics dominated not only the main exhibition but a series of shows around the city, including the Peggy Guggenheim Collection's "Surrealism and Magic: Enchanted Modernity." The movement was also the subject of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's winter extravaganza, "Surrealism Beyond Borders."

Emerging out of Dada, Surrealism was shaped into a movement in the 1920s by poets and artists in the orbit of Andre Breton, who took up Freud's theory of the irrational unconscious, proposing it as a path toward liberation. The term itself was coined in 1917 by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire. The world was falling apart, but Apollinaire expected Surrealism, he wrote, "to bring about profound changes in our arts and manners through universal joyfulness." None of that really panned out. Confronted by its own political naivete, embarrassed by self-indulgence, Surrealism withered after World War II.

Nonetheless, it lives on, both in the art world and popular culture. For many people, "surreal" is synonymous with "wow" - an automatic response to anything not completely anticipated, like standing in sunshine, or being invited to a party. Meanwhile, Surrealist aesthetics have been subsumed by today's technophiles, who employ software to realize any random vision, no matter how concocted, then mint it as an NFT (more on that shortly).

I like Magritte, I love Surrealist poetry. Dali on a good day can be spellbinding. I am all for the "child's mind," for unfettered imagination and for dreaming. But when I'm forced to see a lot of Surrealist imagery at once, I'm reminded that, fundamentally, I loathe it.

That's because Surrealism (I'm generalizing) is too programmatic. It turns something that should hinge on reality - imagination's rocket fuel - into something artificial, contrived and ultimately ridiculous. Surrealism makes me feel trapped. At the Met's recent Surrealist show, I panicked and all but ran for the exit.

In Venice, it was worse. One incident defined the experience. At the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, I was walking through the run of galleries showing "Surrealism and Magic" (through Sept. 26) when I came upon "The Pleasures of Dagobert," a 1945 painting by Leonora Carrington. Carrington, who was a lover of Max Ernst, also features in the Biennale's major exhibition, organized by Cecilia Alemani and titled "The Milk of Dreams" (after a children's book Carrington wrote).

I was ready to move past it when a gallery attendant ensnared me and proceeded to deliver a five-minute lecture on the picture's complex symbolism. Her spoken dissertation flowed so continuously that I couldn't excuse myself without being rude. So I listened. I looked. It was all extremely informative. But the more she unpacked the picture's "meanings" - which ranged from the autobiographical to the metaphysical via the political - the more preposterous Carrington's picture seemed.

The year was 1945. This - this far-fetched allegory - was Carrington's response?

"For all of us," wrote Jorge Luis Borges in his 1952 essay collection, "Other Inquisitions," "allegory is an aesthetic error." Borges may or may not have been right. But if you wanted to make his case, you could do worse than point to the laborious enigmas and allegorical overkill of "The Pleasures of Dagobert."

The Peggy Guggenheim exhibition, organized by Grazina Subelyte, tries to show how Surrealism was rooted as much in the occult and in alchemy as in Freud's theories. One of the pillars of occultism, which flourished in Europe from around the turn of the century, was the idea that magical correspondences existed between things in different categories, such as gods, plants, perfumes, constellations, precious stones and numbers. Everything referred to something else in a universe characterized by infinite duality.

Hence the contagion of symbolism in the works of Ernst, Carrington and the show's other artists, among them Remedios Varo, Leonor Fini, Dorothea Tanning and Kay Sage, all of whom also appear in "The Milk of Dreams." Many Surrealists positioned themselves as seers who could, through painting, illuminate the darkness and chaos of history.

It's not clear to me that we should take their claims any more seriously than the claims of tarot card readers or astrologists. "Every aspect of this picture is rife with symbolism," crows the wall label beside Ernst's "Attirement of the Bride." The very thought is exhausting.

Exhausting, too, was the process of getting into one the Biennale's most talked-about exhibitions: the German artist Anselm Kiefer's wholesale takeover of part of the Doge's Palace, or Palazzo Ducale, at one end of St. Mark's Square. Long lines snaked out into the square. Once admitted, you had to negotiate a fixed route before reaching the palace's Sala dello Scrutinio, where Kiefer's massive, multipaneled paintings cover the walls.

In 1577, the Sala dello Scrutinio was almost destroyed by fire - the third conflagration at the palace in less than a century. After that, some of Venice's greatest painters, including Tintoretto, Palma il Giovane and Andrea Vicentino, were commissioned by the Senate of the Republic to repaint the room's walls and ceilings with scenes evoking the glory of Venice.

Kiefer, who lives in Paris, specializes in works on a grand scale. In 2019 he was invited to fill the Sala dello Scrutinio. He has done so with works that transpose the glory of "La Serenissima" ("the most serene republic," as Venice was once known) into fire-scorched destruction.

Kiefer emerged in the 1980s with work that spoke to the traumas of recent German history. Combining painting with sculptural assemblage, he draws heavily on literature and mythology. His Venice show (through Oct. 29) is titled "Questi scritti, quando verranno bruciati, daranno finalmente un po' di luce," a quote he has taken from the 20th-century Venetian philosopher Andrea Emo. It translates to "These writings, when burned, will finally cast a little light."

A bleak thought - and Kiefer in a nutshell. Like Ernst and his fellow Surrealists, the German sees himself as an artist-seer. He, too, deals in alchemy, myth and cosmic dualisms. His paintings set plunging perspective lines against surfaces of dense materiality. The perspective lines read as allegories both for the implacable vectors of modern history and the train tracks that took millions to their deaths during the Holocaust.

The works in the Doge's Palace (including one that seems to show the palace itself on fire beneath a winged lion, the symbol of Venice) are thick with paint, lead and other metals glistening silver and gold. Attached to their surfaces are wheat, ladders, model ships, clothes and shopping carts filled with blocks of coal.

Kiefer's themes are big: chaos and order, negation and rebirth. He is no Surrealist. But in the context of this Biennale's driving emphasis on magic and the occult, his show reminds us uncomfortably of his infatuation with alchemy, the fantasy of turning base metals into gold or historical debacles into spiritual rebirth.

For a while in the 1990s, Kiefer fell out of favor, suspected of having succumbed to delusions of grandeur. That changed, and he is now an undisputed living master. But I'm not sure this Venice exhibition will help his reputation. It smacks of megalomania. I'm in awe of Kiefer's ambition. He's an incredible artist. But taking over the Doge's Palace in Venice? Ugh. It feels like too much.

Running parallel to this year's Biennale at the Palazzo Giustinian Lolin is an exhibition of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. The works, most of them moving digital images, are installed on screens that populate a sequence of large, ornately decorated rooms that the organizers have pathetically dubbed the "Decentral Art Pavilion" (through June 20).

NFTs are supposedly all the rage in the art world. Don't believe it. The actual interest is minimal. Without exception, the works showcased in the Decentral Art Pavilion were banal, tasteless and pointlessly surreal. They were so disparate, so random that there's nothing I could say to generalize - except that the ambiance was somewhere between that of a particularly bad high school art exhibition and a video game expo.

Never mind. One of the great pleasures of the Venice Biennale is negotiating the city's bridges and byways as you move from one exhibition to the next. After Kiefer's show in the Doge's Palace, I made my way to the museum of the Palazzo Grimani, which has two shows (through Nov. 27): one by Kiefer's compatriot Georg Baselitz, the other by the Californian Mary Weatherford.

The real reason to visit the Palazzo Grimani, it has to be said, is the magnificently reinstalled collection of antiquities in a specially designed room known as "La Tribuna," dating to the late 16th century. It is one of the most beautiful sights in Venice.

Weatherford's suite of paintings with neon lights attached are her response to Titian's great late painting, "The Flaying of Marsyas." Unfortunately, they suffer from the same blight as Kiefer's: They're ponderous, repetitive, hubristic. As the mortal Marsyas discovered when he challenged the god Apollo and was skinned alive for his trouble, there are some things you shouldn't try to compete with. The Doge's Palace is one. Late Titian is another.

Where Weatherford and Kiefer are brooding and dense, Baselitz - generally not my favorite artist - has shown his most attractive side in a suite of decorative paintings installed on the building's piano nobile, or first floor. Bright and airy, in thinly painted colors with lots of white space, they fill niches once reserved for family portraits.

Some blockish sculptures, in charred wood, round out the exhibition, which is titled "Archinto" (after another painting by Titian, his enigmatic portrait of a half-veiled Archbishop Filippo Archinto in the Philadelphia Museum of Art). The suite of works will remain on long-term loan at the museum.

Baselitz's uncharacteristically light touch in "Archinto" pointed the way to what was, for me, the pick of the exhibitions in Venice this year: a career survey of the South African painter Marlene Dumas at the Palazzo Grassi (through Jan. 8), which establishes her beyond doubt as one of our most vital living painters.

Dumas paints head portraits and bigger, sometimes multi-figure compositions - many of them sexually explicit - in diluted oils. Her style is as transparent as watercolor. She lets you see every brushstroke, and thus every decision (including every omission). Her head portraits can seem facile, but they have the directness of Edouard Manet's portraits - stark transitions, bleaching light. Some of her figure paintings are reminiscent of Auguste Rodin's erotic watercolors. Her frank close-ups and unusual angles suggest the unfolding physical surprise of sex.

Dumas is fundamentally in love with reality, but she allows herself expressionistic touches and a good deal of sly humor. She tends to work from photographs, which can kill some of the immediacy of her portraits. But the habit seems to free her to communicate more in the way of feeling and poetry.

Every room in this beautifully installed show, titled "Open-End," is a revelation. Dumas, you begin to feel, is constantly seeking to surprise herself. In this, her work is different from the elaborate concoctions of the Surrealists and digital artists minting NFTs, who instead set out to surprise and manipulate the viewer. Where Surrealists like Carrington and Ernst were exhaustingly performative, Dumas is simply frank. Her work reminds us that true intimacy never palls. It is always surprising.

The 59th Venice Biennale of Art runs through Nov. 27. Info at labiennale.org.
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Remember how you learned in school about mans inhumanity to man? If the director Gaspar Noe has a theme, its the humanity of inhumanity. Noes shock psychodramas confront subjects like murder, sexual assault, and what happens when a roomful of flex dancers go out of their gourds on LSD. As a filmmaker, hes drawn to extremes  to the sensational and the depraved, the sordid and the evil. His quest is to hold that darkness up to the light, to flip the cruelty on its head until we see an echo of ourselves. Noe takes off from the wide-eyed impulses of an exploitation filmmaker, but he possesses a technical bravura  and a devious sobriety of purpose  that has made him his own genre. Call it transgressive transcendence.

Yet as a Noe watcher from way back, I cant deny that the only two films of his that I find completely successful on their own terms  that Ive ever found to be as powerful as they are ambitious  are his first two: the stripped-down, misanthropic Dostoevsky-with-jump-cuts diary film I Stand Alone (1998) and the sociopathic criminal head trip Irreversible (2002). Ever since then, the more that Noe has pushed his life-as-an-inferno aesthetic, the more laborious and less potent its become. As I said in my review of the Fame-by-way-of-de-Sade dance musical Climax (sorry to quote myself, but I cant quite think of another way to put this): Once youve taken your audience to hell, what do you do for an encore?

In Vortex, his sixth feature, Noe at least turns a corner, devising a more organic way to explore his obsession with extreme states of being. The state hes dealing with in this movie is old age  which, as Jed Leland observed in Citizen Kane, is the only disease you dont look forward to being cured of. Vortex is a harrowing portrait of both the disease and the cure. It wants to show us the perils of old age with the gloves off, unsoftened by sentimental cushioning, and theres no denying that the movie succeeds in doing that. In a sense, this is Gaspar Noe making his version of Michael Hanekes great Amour. The difference is:

The central characters, who are never named, are an aging couple living in the sprawling, pack-rat-ish Paris apartment  books piled everywhere, the walls draped in old movie posters  that theyve occupied for decades. The man, played by the legendary Italian giallo horror maestro Dario Argento, is a writer who is working on a book, entitled Psyche, that is all about the cinema and dreams. The books in the apartment are mostly about cinema, and so are the posters  of Metropolis, A Woman Is a Woman, and so on. Its a comfortable but shabby and defiantly analog setting. The technology on hand doesnt seem to extend much beyond VHS, and Argentos stubborn scribe writes in longhand on legal pads or on an ancient small green typewriter. He represents the dying spirit of an age when cinema could be life itself  an alternate reality that people immersed themselves in and literally surrounded themselves by.

His wife is played by Francoise Lebrun, the legendary French actress who starred, 49 years ago, in The Mother and the Whore, the Jean Eustache movie that with its three hours and 40 minutes of raw uncut naturalism effectively created the spirit of contemporary French cinema as we know it. In that movie, Lebrun was an emotionally forceful and wounded presence, but in Vortex the character shes playing is stricken and glazed, as she appears to be on a rapid descent into Alzheimers. Lebrun, eyes staring off at what might be another world, appears to be acting in a trance of dissociative distance.

Noes camera hangs out with these two, showing them sharing a meal with wine on the terrace and puttering around the apartment. Before were clued into Lebruns degenerative state, it looks, all too briefly, like an idyllic existence. But as theyre laying side by side in bed, a black line bleeds down the center of the frame, dividing it in two, and from that point on the film is told in split-screen images  a technique from the late 60s, though Noe uses it in a flowing verite way that doesnt attempt to be particularly tricky. Each character is tracked by a separate camera, which emphasizes their separateness from one another. We get it, but would have perceived that anyway.

Early on, the camera follows Lebrun out the door and into the street, where she wanders into several stores, and it becomes increasingly clear that shes out-of-it. Her character is a psychiatrist who used to prescribe psychotropic drugs and now prescribes them to herself. Do they help or hinder her? Were never certain, but what we see is a woman who will suddenly forget where she is, or who shes talking to; she doesnt recognize her own adult son. Ive always had an issue with Alzheimers films  I think its hard to relate to how the main characters recede not just from their loved ones but from the audience, a dramatic problem solved, arrestingly, in The Father.

In this case, however, Noe is too outre a filmmaker to be making some transporting fable of dementia and loss. Lebruns connection to others has been severed, but the real chaos is the reaction to it  the way that Argentos set-in-his-ways intellectual, even as he acknowledges her decline, doesnt want to let go of her, or the home they share. Lebrun, in her stupor, is playing something out; she throws out the most recent pages of Argentos manuscript, as if she never wanted him to be writing it. He, we learn, has been carrying on a longstanding love affair, and thats a structure that he counts on. Vortex, like every Gaspar Noe film, is a horror movie, and in this case its about what happens when essential life structure falls apart.

It takes audacity to make a drama that invites immediate comparison to Amour, since that movie was a masterpiece. I wouldnt mind so much if Vortex did something different, but about the only thing Noe has up his sleeve is his desire to rub our noses in the acrid sting of death. Vortex is subtle and deliberate, until it isnt. Did we really need the couples divorced son (Alex Lutz), who appears to be a voice of quiet sanity, to be mired in his own drug demons? Its not implausible, exactly, but its a piling on of problems that arent wholly integrated into the story. Argento watches a piece of film on television (its the extraordinary POV coffin sequence from Carl Th. Dreyers Vampyr), but when he suffers a sudden health cataclysm, its too much. And when Lebrun faces down what amounts to a toilet bowl of death, what you mostly feel is Noes exploitation-film desire to revel in the godless devastation of it all. Vortex doesnt let us off the hook. Gaspar Noe never does. But if he did, he might transcend his Behold, you will know the dark side brand.

Reviewed at Digital Arts, April 25, 2022. MPAA Rating: Not rated. Running time: 140 MIN.

Production

A Utopia release of a Rectangle Productions, Wild Bunch International production. Producers: Edouard Weil, Vincent Maraval, Brahim Chioua.

Crew

Director, screenplay: Gaspar Noe. Camera: Benoit Debie. Editors: Denis Bedlow, Gaspar Noe.

With

Francoise Lebrun, Dario Argento, Alex Lutz, Kylian Dheret.

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The memory of Lance Cpl. David Lee Espinoza -- who passed away in an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan just days before the end of the War in Afghanistan -- continues to be celebrated as his former high school has named its library after him.

Lyndon B. Johnson High School recently renamed its library in honor of the fallen marine in a small ceremony where the parents of Espinoza attended.

The ceremony included the placing of a plaque honoring Espinoza and the naming of the main corridor of the school as Heroes Hall. The latter is in an effort to honor Espinoza and all others who have served in the military or are currently serving and are high school graduates of LBJHS.

"The parents came over, but we told them we want to remember David Lee as I told the family that he was a Wolf before he was a marine," said Armando Salazar, who is the principal of LBJHS. "I thanked her for allowing us to honor David Lee and naming the library after him, so future Wolves can see it. His sacrifice is something that must be remembered, as he died for our freedoms, and I thought this was just a small token that we could do for them.

"The main hall, we named it 'Hereos Hall.' Basically we are honoring any student who graduates from our school and has joined the service, we are going to be putting their pictures on the wall so they can be honored for serving our country."

Heroes Hall will honor all both current and past students who have served in the military, as the school is opening up to the community to see if they want to share their pictures of service so they can be up on the wall. He states that the hall currently has 21 pictures of school alumni that have served in the military.

"They have been calling us and asking if they can still submit, and of course they can submit, and it is going to be opened for them for whenever they graduate and they send us a picture that they joined the service," Salazar said. "Even if they served and already finished their four years, we still want their pictures so we can put them up there and honor them at Heroes Hall."

Salazar states that the idea came to be as they knew that they were going to change the name of the library to honor Espinoza and also thought about how they can honor and salute others who have served. The principal states that the idea also developed from the fact that he and other school administrators thought that it was not reasonable to wait until something tragic happened to one of their former alumni in the military to honor them, as they can already be honored now.

"Why are we waiting until something tragic happens?" Salazar asked. "We should be thankful for their commitment and them joining the service for protecting our freedoms."

Salazar said that the naming of the library and hall are also ways for the community -- especially the young student community -- to continue remembering those who serve.

"We tend to not think about them as we have our freedoms and we go about our day, but it is important that we honor the servicemen and women because it is a sacrifice that they are doing for our country," Salazar said. "To remain a world power, we need people to step up and defend what our country stands for, which is a freedom for all. I felt that sometimes we tend to take things for granted, and by doing this, I just want to encourage our students to thank our servicemen and women whenever they see somebody in uniform to thank them for their service for our country."

Salazar believes that as a principal, this is one of the most important things that he can teach his students.

Since Espnozas passing last August toward the end of the Afghanistan War, Salazar does report that he has seen the LBJHS community united more than ever before.

"We have seen how the community has unified in honor of David Lee, but I have seen how our students understand now this as it has affected them too as some of our kids knew him and some of them were even still friends with him," Salazar said. "To know that our school remembers him and will always remember him is something that will be forever."

Since the naming of the library and Heroes Hall, he noticed many of the students stopping and watching the new names and pictures of those service members and taking pictures as well. While students should move quickly in the hall so they can get to class on time, he understands how the community was shaken by the passing of one of their own.

Salazar states that Espinozas passing even affected him personally, as every time he prays now he thinks about the former student that walked the halls that he now serves as principal.

David Lee is not only here in our school but rather in a lot of peoples hearts, Salazar said. I shared the story to the parents of how David Lees passing even changed the way that I pray, as I would always pray for our servicemen and women. But the way I pray has changed, because I always have him in mind every single time I pray. I pray for the good Lord to guide (all active service members) and to protect them from harm.
The University of Texas of Rio Grande Valley announced a partnership to offer degrees in social work in Laredo at the UT Education and Research Center on Bustamante Street.

UTRGV and UT signed a Memorandum of Understanding to officiate this partnership. The certification programs will grow the health care and educational needs at the undergraduate and undergraduate levels.

"The vision of expanding access to more health care degree programs is now a reality. The value that brings UTRGV to our community is substantial, the prestigious School of Social Work is second to none," said Adriana B. Nunemaker, the Executive Director for the University of Texas System Education and Research Center. "I'm happy to say our students will be receiving the most valuable education from this wonderful university."

Social work has been part of UTRGV, formerly UT Pan-Am, curriculum since the 1960s.

Bilingual masters courses will start in the fall at UT Laredo. A binational doctorate program will launch in partnership with Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon over the next three years, announced Founding Dean of the School of Social Work at UTRGV Luis Torres.

"Laredo is now part of all of these efforts," Torres said. "We are going to accomplish great things together. We are going to provide a path that enhances quality of life for our students and their families, expand services throughout the greater Laredo region and have a significant impact in the Laredo economy."

"UTRGV is proud to be working with Laredo and everyone who has made this possible," said Dr. Janna Arney, Executive Vice President and Provost for UTRGV. "We did what we really do best. We came together and collaborated with our local and state partners to create opportunities. We can do so much more when we work together. This provides a historic opportunity to expand our programs.

"UTRGV is delighted to be among the UT institutions that has programming here, and this is just the beginning. We are already in conversations about what other opportunities are needed and what opportunities we can provide hoping this is the first of many."

UTRGV first established a partnership with Laredo College to offer a Master in Science in Social Work degree in the fall of 2009, shared Denise Longoria, UTRGV's Director of Online Programs and Distance Learning. And in the fall of 2010, it admitted the first students to the Bachelors of Social Work degree, which has now graduated 57 students with their master's degree and 52 students with their bachelor's degree.

"The past two years have been very challenging for all of us in many different ways, except this time the social work has been brought to the forefront because of the skills that social workers possess and use in their work with individuals, families, groups and communities," Longoria said. "Social workers are the largest group of providers of mental health across the United States. This will definitely fill a huge gap that we see in Laredo, because we have a huge gap in mental health services."

For this partnership with Laredo College, students will transfer to the Bachelor of Social Work degree program after completing four courses. Courses will be offered in face-to-face format at the UT Center in Laredo.

Full-time faculty will be available to students as well, as access to all services available at UTRGV campuses. Students will not have to travel for any of their programs during their studies, except to their own graduation, Longoria shared.

In the past 12 years, UTRGV has partnered with over 25 local agencies to provide quality field education experience for their students. Social Workers can work in a variety of settings including hospitals, schools, rehabilitation centers, substance abuse facilities, law enforcement, protective services, mental health, dialysis centers, social service agencies and more.
Several people residing in South Texas and Mexico have pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport large amounts of marijuana for the Cartel Del Noreste, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced.

A defendant identified as Gustavo Alberto Duenes-Perez, 34, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana. Authorities said 14 others previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the same conspiracy.

The arrests and convictions serve as a significant blow to the cartels who were trafficking massive amounts of marijuana into the Laredo area for years and using our communities to make profit, said Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux. These individuals were a thorn that has now been ripped from the city of Laredo and surrounding areas thanks to the continuous hard work and commitment of federal and local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors who brought these individuals to justice.

We are pleased to be an integral component of a complex and successful investigation which led to the conviction of these 15 individuals, said Laredo Police Chief Claudio Trevino Jr. Through our close collaborations with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, we have been able to maintain enforcement and safety in our border community despite our proximity to the Mexican border. LPD lauds our Narcotics and Vice Unit for their dedication and tireless efforts towards their investigation and the seamless teamwork with our partner agencies. We are committed to enhance their efforts with future collaborations to disrupt and dismantle these criminal transnational organizations in order to maintain peace and safety for the citizens of Laredo.

The case dates back to March 2019, when authorities learned the Cartel Del Noreste provided $4,500 for the purchase of a white utility truck. The cartel wanted to use the vehicle to pick up a marijuana load from a warehouse on San Mateo Drive.

Authorities monitored the vehicle and identified the driver as Duenes-Perez. On April 17, 2019, the truck was involved in a smuggling attempt that occurred at a ranch near Texas 359 and Botello Road, where several people loaded marijuana into a Lincoln Navigator. The vehicle was later driven to a local stash house. Law enforcement officials said they seized about 2,575 pounds of marijuana from the ranch and an additional 2,136 pounds from the Navigator.

As part of the case, authorities have seized 24,780 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $11.6 million. The 15 co-conspirators are set to be sentenced in June.

Duenes-Perez and some of the co-defendants could face up to life in prison while others convicted in relation to the case face up to 40 years.

The DEA and LPD conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; Border Patrol; Customs and Border Protection; FBI; Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. National Guard; Webb County District Attorneys Office, Sheriffs Office and Constables Office Precincts 1 and 4; and Texas Department of Public Safety.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Day is prosecuting this case.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said his country is willing to seize Russian assets to finance Kiev's post-war recovery.

"The funds of the Russian government and oligarchs will be one of the main sources for filling the Fund for the Reconstruction of our country," Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine is in talks with G7 countries over the seizure of Russia's assets, Shmyhal said, adding that Canada has already prepared legislation for such actions, reports Xinhua news agency.

Earlier, Shmyhal said that his cabinet has set up a recovery fund for Ukraine's long-term reconstruction and estimated that the country's full-scale recovery will cost around $600 billion.

Russia has over $600 billion worth of foreign currency reserves held in dollars, gold and other currencies, with about half of them believed to be frozen by the restrictions imposed by Western governments on its central bank.

The head of Russia's central bank has said it was preparing to take legal action to challenge the freeze.
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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Thousands of firefighters battled destructive wildfires in the Southwest as more residents prepared to evacuate Friday into the weekend in northern New Mexico where strong winds and dangerously dry conditions have made the blazes hard to contain.

The biggest fire in the U.S. grew to more than 117 square miles (303 square kilometers) through the afternoon northeast of Santa Fe. Gusty winds prevented any aerial attacks by midmorning and crews lost some of the containment they had established in previous days.

The rapid rate of the spread of the fire was exceeding dire predictions in some areas, incident commander Carl Schwope said Friday night.

"Were in a very dangerous situation. Evacuation statuses are changing as we speak, he warned at a briefing in Las Vegas, New Mexico, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Santa Fe.

More air and ground forces were on the way, he said, to fortify the nearly 1,000 firefighters on the fire lines there and winds that gusted up to 65 mph were beginning to subside as nightfall approached.

There were no immediate reports of any new structures have been lost since the local sheriff confirmed Thursday night at least 166 homes have been destroyed in northeast New Mexicos rural San Miguel County.

But erratic wind shifts in some of the driest conditions the region has seen in years were forecast again Saturday, and authorities were making preparations to evacuate some residents as far north as Taos.

Just getting people out of the way, thats been the mission today, Sheriff Chris Lopez said at the briefing in Las Vegas. Some of the most active fire was heading in the direction of that town but he said the town itself was not in immediate danger.

Fire lines were bolstered outside the rural New Mexico community of Ledoux in efforts to save structures, and they appeared to be holding.

More than 2,000 firefighters were battling fires in Arizona and New Mexico on Friday  about half of those in northeast New Mexico, where a total of more than 187 square miles (484 square kilometers) of mostly timber and brush have been charred.

Red flag warnings for extreme fire danger were in place Friday for nearly all of New Mexico and parts of Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

The fires are burning unusually hot and fast for this time of year, especially in the Southwest, where experts said some timber in the region is drier than kiln-dried wood.

We still have some fire weather to get through tonight, tomorrow and several days afterwards," fire behavior specialist Stewart Turner said at Friday night's briefing in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

It's very important that everybody pays attention to the evacuation orders because this is a very, very serious fire  very dangerous fire behavior out there.

Matthew Probst, Las Vegas-based medical director for the health clinic network El Centro Family Health, said the nearby fire has swept through impoverished communities already frayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Here, you're losing meager homes, but it's everything. It's all they had, said Probst, a coordinator of county health services for wildfire evacuees.

Rural families in the area were caught off guard after heading home from an early evacuation  only to be ambushed by a fast-moving fire last week.

A 79-year-old widow from the tiny community of Sapello left her house and a blue heeler cattle dog for a doctors appointment, with boxes packed for possible evacuation with jewelry and her 1964 wedding photos. Winds kicked up, and police said it was too late to go back for anything.

"They said, No maam, its far too dangerous, said Sonya Berg in a phone interview Friday from an emergency shelter at a nearby middle school.

A close friend says the house burned, but Berg doesn't want to believe it. A neighbor rescued the dog.

Im in denial until I go and see it, said Berg, whose husband passed away in 2019 and was buried outside the home. Hes up there, hes been through the whole thing. Im hoping the gravestone we put up is still there.

In the Jemez Mountains east of Los Alamos, another wildfire spanning 12 square miles (30 square kilometers) crept in the direction of Bandelier National Monument, which closed its backcountry hiking trails as a precaution while central visiting areas remained open.

In northern Arizona, authorities are nearing full containment of a 30 square-mile (77 square-kilometer) blaze that destroyed at least 30 homes near Flagstaff and forced hundreds to evacuate. A top-level national management team turned it back over to the local forest Friday.

Its pretty stable for the most part, said Coconino National Forest spokeswoman Randi Shaffer. Were not seeing any forecasted crazy weather patterns. We have fire crews monitoring, all of our suppression efforts have been holding.

Some residents near another fire 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Prescott havent been allowed back home. Firefighters have about one-third of the 14 square-mile (37-square-kilometer) fires perimeter contained. Lighter winds were expected into the weekend, but low humidity will be a concern, fire officials said.

___

Associated Press writer Scott Sonner contributed to this report from Reno, Nevada. Attanasio reported from Santa Fe. Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.
Everythings bigger in Texas, and so is the opportunity to give blood.

Laredo Medical Center, along with its auxiliary volunteers, and the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center (STBT) are joining forces again to host a Community Blood Drive on May 5 and 6 at the hospitals main campus, 1700 E. Saunders Street. The STBT Bloodmobile will be located by the pond and flag poles.

Laredoans are encouraged to sign up now while space is available. As with all other STBT donor events - the drive is by appointment only to manage flow and avoid crowding. To donate blood on Thursday, May 5, register online at https://bit.ly/GiveLaredoMay5. To donate blood on Friday, May 6, register online at https://bit.ly/GiveLaredoMay6.

In February, Laredo Medical Center had a successful two-day blood drive, thanks to the hospital employees and community members who showed up to donate blood. We surpassed our goal of collecting 55 pints of blood by collecting a total of 61 pints, said Jorge Leal, FACHE, Chief Executive Officer.

Blood donors are needed daily in South Texas in order to help hospital patients throughout the area. Every three seconds someone needs blood, and one out of every 20 Texans will need blood at some point in their lives. However, less than five percent of the eligible donor population gives blood. The need exists for more people to donate blood, and for people to donate more often.

Anyone who is 16 years old and weighing at least 120 pounds (with a parental consent form), or at least 17 years old and weighing at 110 pounds, and in good general health, can donate blood. Donors must present a photo ID, last four digits of their Social Security number and their birth date.

All presenting donors will receive:

A safe and secure donation experience. Skilled care from staff. A $10 H-E-B gift card.

For more information, contact Jesse Cortez at (956) 285-5740 or the LMC Business Development and Marketing Department at 956-796-3223.
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BERN, Switzerland (AP)  Switzerlands new attorney general is pushing parliament to give his office more tools to fight white-collar crime.

The country's maximum financial penalty on corporations for wrongdoing is just 5 million Swiss francs ($5 million), and that's ridiculous, Stefan Blaettler said Friday in an interview on the sidelines of his first press conference as attorney general.

Not yet four months into the job, the former police chief of Bern laid out his ambitions to fight money laundering, terrorism and corruption in Switzerland and to contribute to international justice efforts in the wake of Russias war in Ukraine.

Blaettler said it's been an uphill battle to convince Swiss lawmakers to adopt tougher penalties for wrongdoers.

This week, I was in parliament and told them, You know what you are doing? You can condemn (convict) a bank -- a global working bank -- and the maximum fine is five million? Its ridiculous, he said. Thats a third of the pay of a manager.

Speaking in English, Blaettler, 62, said he'd like the legal means afforded to counterparts in countries like the U.S. and Britain to spell out to corporations that if ever you want to continue your activity, this is the fine, and these are the rules for the coming 10 years.

Blaettler also alluded to what anti-corruption groups have decried as an abortive effort in parliament last year to tighten the rules governing the activities of third parties, such as lawyers who set up and administer huge funds in Switzerland, largely outside of any strict legal boundaries.

He said Switzerland's image was at stake.

Reputation means business," said Blaettler. And this country wants to make (do) business, but we want to make sure that the business is correct ... (and) plays by the rules.

But give us also the instruments which give us the possibility to combat those who wont play by the rules, he said.

As for the war in Ukraine, Blaettler's office last month announced the creation of a task force charged with interviewing Ukrainian refugees and working with international and European prosecutors.

The attorney general said Friday he had a duty to help gather information from refugees and to build case files that could be used to bring to justice any war criminals who might come to Switzerland.

Im interested in the second, the third level, Blaettler said. Every army commander who launches the missiles against the churches and schools and hospitals is a potential war criminal. So as a potential war criminal, that means if he sets foot in Switzerland, we will start an inquiry.

The Swiss government, straying somewhat from its long-touted neutrality, has lined up with European Union sanctions against Russian oligarchs, political elites, and companies.

The Swiss Bankers Association has estimated that the assets of Russian clients deposited in Swizerland's banks total 150-200 billion Swiss francs (about $160-$215 billion), making the country a key repository of Russian money abroad.

Blaettler said his office is gearing up to work with Eurojust, an EU agency that works to fight crime, and the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor has launched a probe into possible war crimes in Ukraine.

His office has suspended legal cooperation with Russian counterparts, but Swiss authorities have been in contact with Ukrainian law enforcement, notably police.

Swiss federal prosecutors have been in touch with Ukrainian counterparts only indirectly so far, through Eurojust, Blaettler said.

They are struggling for survival, he said. They are not struggling for getting back $100 million now. That will come.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
There was a sea of purple at Longford Garda Station this morning as Gardai and local domestic violence support services donned the colour for Go Purple Day.

An Garda Siochana has partnered with Mens Aid and Safe Ireland to mark Go Purple Day and help raise awareness about domestic abuse and the local domestic abuse support services available to those affected in Ireland.

The initiative was first organised in 2020 by Community Garda, Stacey Looby from Athlone Garda Station to help strengthen community partnerships between domestic abuse services and An Garda Siochana, and it is now a national day of awareness about domestic abuse.

Gardai from the Longford and Granard Districts today invited local community groups, councillors and domestic violence support service providers to attend Longford Garda Station for a morning of tea, coffee and conversation about domestic violence in the county.

"Domestic violence includes physical, sexual, emotional or mental abuse of one partner by another in a relationship which may or may not be one of marriage or cohabitation and includes abuse by any family member against whom a safety order or a barring order may be obtained by another family member," said Superintendent Seamus Boyle, explaining An Garda Siochana's Domestic Violence policy this morning.

"Domestic violence is not confined solely to heterosexual relationships but also occurs within lesbian, gay and bisexual or transgender relationships. Though women in heterosexual relationships account for the majority of reported victims of domestic violence, men in heterosexual relationships and men and women in same sex relationships are also victims. In addition, children in homes where domestic violence exists also suffer.

"Domestic Violence also presents itself in the form of abuse of older people by abusive spouses, children, relatives, carers and abuse of people with disabilities by either their carers, partners or relatives. Domestic violence crosses class, gender, race and religious belief and can affect a diverse range of victims.

"We call out to domestic violence incidents. We have to do a risk assessment of those incidents and we do call backs," Supt Boyle explained.

"National policy has dictates that we must do the callback within seven days and if we don't do the callbacks within seven days, we have to answer why that hasn't happened. And it does happen on occasion that we don't get to do callbacks because people are moved into secure accommodation, but it's rare that it doesn't happen.

"It's very topical at the moment. Nationally, it's very high priority at the moment. It's monitored daily by all the districts in the organisation.

"We are there for the victims," he assured. "It's very important to stress that it's across all classes, all genders and An Garda Siochana are there to help these people, no matter what your status is, what your gender is or where you come from.

"In relation to today, it's an opportunity to bring together all the services that provide victims and vulnerable people who are victims of domestic violence.

"Purple Day is here today and I'd like to recognise the support that we get and to thank all the other agencies who are involved in helping the victims of domestic violence and abuse."

Members of the public as well as Garda personnel nationwide have been encouraged to show their support today by simply wearing, drawing or baking something purple. The most important thing is to help spread the word about this important issue.

Speaking on Go Purple Day Detective Chief Superintendent Colm Noonan of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau said: "An Garda Siochana is prioritising the prevention of these crimes, supporting victims and pursuing perpetrators through specialist activity as part of Operation Faoiseamh which is led by our front line Garda members. Gardai want to reassure the public that we are here to listen, protect and support victims of domestic abuse, sexual crime and gender-based violence.



"I want to encourage every victim to not suffer in silence and to assure them that they will be listened to and all reports will be treated sensitively and in confidence.

He added, "Organisations including Safe Ireland and Mens Aid provide vital support services to those affected, and work very closely with Gardai at local and national level. Their assistance is often the difference in someone receiving the practical help and advice that they need to seek refuge from the abuse.

"Our Go Purple Day is an opportunity to highlight their important work and share information on how victims can access their services. It is also a time to emphasise the possible warning signs of domestic abuse, sexual crime and gender-based violence that we can all look out for and recognise. For example, visible physical signs and changes in behaviour or demeanour and coercive control tactics.

"The reality is that the perpetrators of domestic abuse hide in very plain sight, but those most impacted are often behind closed doors. Many are too frightened to disclose the extent of what they are experiencing.

"This Go Purple Day Gardai together with domestic abuse support services across Ireland are sending the strong message  we are here for you.

You can support #GoPurpleDay by embracing the colour purple at home, while at work or among friends and family  wear it, bake it, sow it, glow it. All those getting involved in todays initiative are kindly asked to share a photo via social media.
The Padraic Colum Gathering will be officially opened by Longford County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Peggy Nolan in Longford Library on Friday, May 13.

In its fifth year, the two-day Gathering celebrates Colums work and Longfords literary history.

At the official opening, acclaimed writer John Connell will read some of Colums poetry.

Connell will be joined by writer and broadcaster Aidan OHara who will introduce a showing of a rare TV interview with Colum.

Students of St Michaels National School and local musicians will also perform. It all kicks off in Longford Library on Friday, 13 May at 7.30pm. All are welcome to attend.

The second day of the Gathering starts in Granard Library at 10.30am. Aidan OHara will open proceedings with a reading from Colums book My Irish Year.

At 11am, a lecture on Padraic Colum and the Oral Tradition will be given by Professor Bairbre Ni Fhloinn (University College Dublin).

At 12.30pm, a Padraic Colum: An Irish Voice in American Childrens Literature talk will be given by Meabh Ni Choileain (Trinity College Dublin). All are welcome to attend.

The Gathering ends with a bus tour of Colums north Longford, guided by historian Sean O Suilleabhain. It takes place at 2.30pm, May 14. Tickets are 5 per person, with pre-booking essential.

The Gathering is part of the Creative Ireland Programme. It is organised by Longford County Councils County Library, Heritage and Archives section.

Cathaoirleach Cllr Peggy Nolan is delighted for the Padraic Colum Gathering to be back in person this year. It is great to see this wonderful event which celebrates Longfords proud literary heritage back in front of audiences this year. Many thanks goes to the organisers, speakers and musicians who will be sure to both inform and entertain. I am very much looking forward to the Gathering.

Longford County Council Chief Executive Paddy Mahon added, Longford welcomes the excellent speakers, experts in their field, who are contributing to the Gathering this year. Longford County Council proudly supports events such as the Gathering which celebrates our rich culture and heritage.

The Padraic Colum Gathering opening event and talks will be available to view on the Padraic Colum Gathering Facebook page.

For further information on the Padraic Colum Gathering or to book your place on the Padraic Colum tour of north Longford, call 043 334 1124 or email archivist@longfordcoco.ie.
Music, Movies & Entertainment, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Seasonal & Current Events

By Chris Boyle Published: April 29 2022

There are three flights set for May 14, 2022, between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

The American Airpower Museum (AAM) continues its popular C-47 D-Day Living History Flight Experience with another one set for May 14, 2022 (rain date May 15). Guests fly on an original WWII Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft Second Chance, and are joined by AAMs Living Historians for a breathtakingly realistic and unforgettable recreation of what U.S. Paratroopers experienced on D-Day. There are three flights set for May 14, 2022, between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Seats are allocated first come first served and theyre going fast, so act now to book your C-47 flight by calling (516) 531-3950 or (631) 454-2039 (during business hours) or visit the Museums gift shop Wednesday to Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Hangar 3, 1230 New Highway, Farmingdale, NY 11735.

AAMs Living History Flight Experience is a one-of-a-kind immersive educational program, where Living Historians join you in an original WWII C-47 to give a sense of what 101st and 82nd Airborne Division Paratroopers felt on their incredible 1,200-plane D-Day assault. Your mission commander is Robert Scarabino, Long Islands noted WWII Living Historian, who has led AAMs C-47 D-Day flights since 2003. The mission includes: a briefing in the ready room; a chance to wear authentic military field jackets, helmets and gear; the actual sights, smells and sounds as the C-47s twin engines fire up and youre off into the blue; see, hear and feel the crew operating their C-47 as Scarabino orders his paratroopers to ready for battle. Finally, you attach your parachute hook to the overhead static line for a simulated jump!

This is a family-friendly program for all ages and a wonderful way to educate young Americans about WWII and our Greatest Generation veterans. Support AAMs mission to honor veterans and military aviation history by helping maintain and preserve these iconic aircraft, along with the Museums incredible static exhibits. Cost of each C-47 flight is $350. A flight experience entitles you to bring an additional person who can visit AAMs exhibits all day free of charge. You may also wish to visit AAM on May 14th just to watch the flights and tour our Museum. In that case, admission for adults is $20, seniors and veterans $15 and children 5-12 $10. No tickets or pre-registration is needed for regular admission.

Second Chance, an original WWII C-47, was transferred to the Royal Air Force in 1945 and flew in the Berlin Airlift (1948 - 1949) with the RAF, serving until 1950. The aircraft next served in the Belgian Air Force for two years. In 1952 she went to the French Air Force, serving two years in Viet Nam, as well as in India, Algeria, Morocco and the Congo. In 1967 she was sold to Israel and flew in the Israeli Defense Force 32 years. American Airpower Museum acquired the aircraft in 2000. Second Chance regularly conducts AAMs C-47 D-Day Living History Flights. She also performs at regional air shows in classic WWII D-Day markings with the original D8 code. One of the last C-47s still in stock military configuration, this aircraft has just over 17,000 hours in the air, one of the worlds lowest flight times ever!
China has allowed return of Indian students to its various universities on a "need-assessed basis", according to the Indian Embassy in China.

According to the Embassy, following the meeting of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on March 25, the Chinese side has expressed its willingness to consider facilitating the return of Indian students to China on a need-assessed basis.

In order to facilitate this, the Indian Embassy intends to prepare a list of such students which will be shared with the Chinese side for their consideration.

The embassy has come up with a form and requested Indian students to fill out citing their necessity.

Once the collated information is shared with the Chinese side, it would consult relevant Chinese departments and varsities to verify the list and indicate whether the identified students can travel to China to complete the course.

This coordination process would be carried out in a time-bound manner.

The Chinese side has also conveyed that eligible students should unconditionally abide by Covid-19 prevention measures, and agree to bear all expenses related to Covid-19 prevention measures by themselves.

Over 23,000 Indian students, primarily studying medicines, are stuck back home due to Covid-19 visas and flight bans by China in attempt to control spread of Covid-19.
BP PLC - London-headquartered oil major - Signs strategic partnership with German automaker Volkswagen AG to "boost" adoption of electric vehicles across Europe. The pair plans to "rapidly" build fast-charging EV network across Europe by 2024.

"Volkswagen's innovative Flexpole 150,000 watts charging units, each of which features two charge points, have an integrated battery storage system, overcoming one of the biggest obstacles to the rapid roll-out of fast charging infrastructure in Europe today  the need for high-powered grid connections," VW explains.

First phase of the roll-out will see up to an additional 4,000 charge points at BP's Aral retail sites in Germany and BP retail sites in the UK over the next 24 months. Hoping for 8,000 charge points available across Europe by end of 2024.

Bernard Looney, BP chief executive, says: "EV charging is one of the key engines driving BP's transformation to an integrated energy company. That's why we're so excited by our partnership with Volkswagen."

Current BP stock price: 388.05 pence

12-month change: up 28%

Current VW stock price: EUR209.90

12-month change: down 21%

By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Sharecast News) - Palm oil producer MP Evans updated the market on the Indonesian government's temporary ban on the export of palm oil on Friday.

The AIM-traded firm said the ban on exporting both crude palm oil and refined products, which came into effect on Thursday, was intended to protect domestic supply.

It said local demand for palm oil was expected to increase "significantly" over the Lebaran festival period, celebrated over the next seven to 10 days.

"The Indonesian government last month introduced a revised export levy to subsidise local supplies as global supplies of vegetable oil have been limited," the MP Evans board said in its statement.

It noted that Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil and a significant consumer, accounting for 59% of global supply and 22% of global consumption in 2021.

"Management continues to monitor the situation closely, and awaits clarity from the Indonesian government regarding the length of the export ban and extent of its impact on the domestic market.

"The company will provide further updates as appropriate."

At 0909 BST, shares in MP Evans were up 3.69% at 956p.
(Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC on Friday reported a sharp rise in first-quarter revenue, though profit declined, and the drugmaker also announced plans for a new strategic site in the US.

Quarterly pretax profit shrank 66% to USD553 million from USD1.61 billion a year ago. Revenue rose by 56% to USD11.39 billion from USD7.32 billion. Revenue from its oncology arm grew by 21% to USD3.64 billion from USD3.02 billion.

AstraZeneca completed its USD39 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 USD1.09 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.

"The majority of Vaxzevria revenue in 2022 is expected to come from initial contracts," it said.

The drugmaker's reported earnings per share fell 79% yearly to USD0.25. Core EPS, which excludes acquisition-related items, amortisation of intangibles, impairments, and restructuring charges, was 16% higher at USD1.89.

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". Both growth rates are at constant currency. Astra has not given any guidance on a reported basis.

Also on Friday, AstraZeneca unveiled plans for a new site that aims to both house the new Alexion headquarters and a new strategic research & development centre at Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US

The site, planned for completion in 2026, "will bring together approximately 1,500 R&D, commercial and corporate colleagues into a single purpose-built space," the Cambridge, England based drugmaker said. It "will be in close proximity to several major academic, pharma and biotech institutions, inspiring greater collaboration and innovation potential, and providing access to future talent," the company added.

Alexion's "R&D centre of excellence will remain in New Haven, Connecticut," AstraZeneca said. Alexion's lab floor space in New Haven is set to double by the end of 2023 due to the signing of a new lease, its parent company explained.

AstraZeneca shares were 0.6% lower at 10,494.00 pence each in London on Friday morning.

By Tom Budszus; tombudszus@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Friday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Rotala PLC - bus operations at Heathrow airport and in West Midlands and North West - Acquires entire bus business and 20-strong fleet of Johnsons (Henley) Ltd for GBP936,000 in cash payable on completion. The business being acquired is a well-established operator of commercial and contracted bus services in Warwickshire and the southern West Midlands. The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing from completion, it says.

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SmartSpace Software PLC - Suffolk, England-based software company - Launches SwipedOn's software-as-a-service visitor management platform, in South Korea. SwipedOn currently has clients in 8000 locations and over 70 countries.

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Gulf Marine Services PLC - United Arab Emirates-based lift boat company - Wins 2-year contract for one of its K class smaller vessels, with an unnamed national oil company client in the MENA region. The contract will commence in May 2022 and brings total secured utilization for the year to 88%.

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Pembridge Resources PLC - London-based copper-focused mining company - For 2021, swings to a pretax profit USD20.6 million from loss USD11.2 million in 2020.

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MP Evans Group PLC - producer of sustainable Indonesian palm oil - Notes the Indonesian government's temporary ban on the export of palm oil. MP Evans says ban on exporting both crude palm oil and refined products, which came into effect on Thursday, was intended to protect domestic supply. It says local demand for palm oil was expected to increase "significantly" over the Lebaran festival period, celebrated over the next seven to 10 days. "Management continues to monitor the situation closely, and awaits clarity from the Indonesian government regarding the length of the export ban and extent of its impact on the domestic market.

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Prospex Energy PLC - investment company focused on European gas and power projects - Says El Romeral power plant in southern Spain continues to provide healthy income from selling electricity into the spot market in Spain at near record price levels. Company holds a 50% working interest in El Romeral through its interest in Tarba Energia SL. Tarba has now repaid in full its two shareholders, Prospex and Warrego Energy, a total of EUR308,669.97 including interest. Prospex received EUR153,698.64. After the loan repayment, Tarba holds more than EUR600,000 in cash.

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San Leon Energy PLC - independent oil and gas production, development and exploration company focused on Nigeria - Presses ahead with proposed reorganisation and consolidation of the Midwestern Leon Petroleum Ltd vehicle which holds a stake in the OML 18 oil assets in Nigeria. Says that OML 18 is a "world class" oil and gas asset and plans to further enhance involvement in this asset, via the transaction, have the potential to be "very significant". It expects to publish an admission document in relation to transaction in June.

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Gulf Investment Fund PLC - invests in companies in Gulf Cooperation Council countries - Says that all assets in the tender pool have been sold. Final tender offer asset value was USD11.3 million giving a tender price of USD2.1639.

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Aukett Swanke Group PLC - London-based architect - Says it is to sell John R Harris & Partners, which operates out of the Middle East, to its local management team for a maximum consideration for maximum of GBP1.1 million. Says the sale is part of a series of intended actions to restructure the group's operations and to allow the John R Harris business to fulfil its potential without the burden of a central overhead.

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Clean Power Hydrogen PLC - UK-based green hydrogen technology and manufacturing company - Says it is experiencing delays in its MFE220 unit. Says delays caused by supplier issues as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the current economic environment, which in turn have impacted the planned commissioning schedule. Further, it says there are a number of processes, including engineering modifications, that have taken longer than expected to finalise. However, says none of these concern the overall viability of the design and expects to overcome these matters in the next few months. "We remain on course to deliver our aims, targeting 4GW production capacity by 2030, and are certain of our ability deliver on the opportunities ahead." says Chief Executive Officer Jon Duffy.

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Baron Oil PLC - oil and gas exploration company with assets in the UK, Peru and Timor-Leste - Says it has conditionally raised GBP1.7 million before expenses through an oversubscribed placing and subscription. Issues 2.8 billion shares at a price of 0.06 pence a share, which was a 14% discount to its closing price of 0.07 pence on Thursday.

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Kavango Resources PLC - mining company focused in Botswana - Confirms the completion of the first diamond drill hole at the Ditau Camp project, Botswana, hole DITDD003 which it holds with Power Metal Resources PLC. The hole was completed to a total depth of 300.14 metres, which the company's technical team believes has tested the geophysical target at this specific location.

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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Friday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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UP Global Sourcing Holdings PLC - Oldham, Greater Manchester-based consumer brands owner trading as Ultimate Products - For the six months ended January 31, pretax profit rises 36% to GBP9.8 million from GBP7.2 million, on revenue which grows 14% year-on-year to GBP85.7 million from GBP75.4 million, driven by strong performances from Supermarkets and its acquisition of homewares brand Salter. Declares interim dividend of 2.3 pence per share, up 36% from 1.69p a year prior. Looking ahead, the company expects its annual performance to be in line with market expectations.

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Sylvania Platinum Ltd - Bermuda-based platinum group metals producer - For the third quarter ended March 31, Sylvania Dump operation delivers 15,840 4E PGM ounces, up from 16,605 ounces the previous quarter. As a result, SDO net revenue climbs to USD47.9 million from USD38.8 million in the second quarter, while group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rises to USD30.0 million from USD22.3 million. Reaffirms annual production guidance of 66,000 to 68,000 ounces.

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Future Metals NL - Perth-based platinum exploration company - In update for the three months ended March 31, says assay results received for Panton PGM project from eight resource definition holes all demonstrate significant mineralisation over broad, shallow intercepts. A review of geophysical and geological data is underway, while an updated mineral resource estimate remains on track for the second quarter.

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URA Holdings PLC - strategic minerals exploration in southern and central Africa - For 2021, pretax loss widens to GBP289,000 from GBP173,000 the period before, as a result of higher administrative expenses as the company continues to develop its recent acquisition of Malaika Exploration Ltd, which holds two exploration licences in Zambia.

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Galantas Gold Corp - Northern Ireland-focused gold producer - Reports no revenue generated in 2021, in line with the year before. Net loss for the year widens to CAD5.3 million from CAD3.2 million, through higher administrative costs. Also on Friday, announces expansion to its current prospecting licence holding in County Leitrim in Ireland. This will increase the company's total exploration land package by 47.8 square kilometres to 159.4 square kilometres.

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Carclo PLC - West Yorkshire-based plastic parts manufacturer - Expects to report a strong performance for the year ended March 31, with underlying profit on track to be in line with expectations, and revenue growth set to be ahead of expectations. Looking ahead, although demand in key markets remain strong in the current financial year, Carclo notes significant headwinds from the spread of Covid-19 in China and India, and the war in Ukraine. As a result, it is anticipated that trading in the early months of the current financial year will remain challenging.

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Curzon Energy PLC - investor and developer in US based natural gas projects - For 2021, pretax loss widens to USD860,463 from USD617,574 the year before, due to higher administrative expenses and a USD125,000 charge for reclamation obligations associated with the Coos Bay project. Currently generates no revenue, and relies on loans to meet its overhead costs. Remains in an exclusivity period with Poseidon Enhanced Technologies for a reverse takeover of Curzon, which on Thursday had the period extended to June.

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Altus Strategies PLC - Oxfordshire, England-based mining royalty company - For 2021, pretax loss widens to GBP5.7 million from GBP2.1 million the year before, as administrative and exploration costs rise and revenue declines 12% to GBP318,496 from GBP361,425. During the year, the company acquired a 0.418% net smelter return royalty on the Caserones copper mine in Chile for USD34.1 million.

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Ferro-Alloy Resources Ltd - vanadium miner with operations in Kazakhstan - Revenue rises 96% to USD4.7 million in 2021 from USD2.3 million the year before, allowing pretax loss to narrow to USD2.8 million from USD3.9 million. Vanadium output for the year increases 9.4% to 260 tonnes, and achieves first sales of ferro-molybdenium. Looking ahead, outlook for 2022 has improved with an increased capacity for the third roasting oven, and expectations of higher revenue from the nickel recovery project.

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TruFin PLC - financial technology firm - For 2021, pretax loss narrows to GBP8.4 million from GBP8.9 million, on lower expenses including staff costs, more than offsetting a 12% year-on-year decline in gross revenue to GBP13.1 million from GBP14.8 million, as a result of lower interest and publishing income. For the first quarter of 2022, revenue will be no less than GBP2.5 million, in line with the same period a year prior.

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By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
28 April 2022

Duke Royalty Limited

("Duke Royalty" or "Duke")

Follow-On Investment into Existing Royalty Partner

Duke Royalty, a provider of alternative capital solutions to a diversified range of profitable and long-established businesses in Europe and North America, is pleased to announce a follow-on investment of 3.1 million into existing royalty partner, InTec Business Solutions Limited ("InTec"), to fund its latest acquisition.

InTec is an investment holding company created to execute a buy and build strategy of synergistic companies within the I.T. managed services sector in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Highlights:

 Duke's investment will facilitate InTec's acquisition of Astec Computing (UK) ("Astec"), a profitable I.T. managed services business with a 30 year trading history

 The financing increases Duke's total investment into InTec to 17.1 million. The terms are the same as Duke's previous follow-on investment into InTec, including the normal 6% annual revenue adjustment factor

 The acquisition fortifies a key existing competency for Intec, in its expertise of Microsoft technologies, as well as adding to InTec's growing roster of education customers

Neil Johnson, CEO of Duke Royalty, said:

"We are pleased that InTec continues to execute on their buy and build strategy with this bolt-on investment of a highly compatible I.T. services business. Intec invests in long-term profitable businesses with Astec benefitting from a long standing and loyal customer base that provides attractive recurring revenue characteristics."

Further information regarding Astec

Based in the South-East of England, Astec is a provider of I.T. managed services, with a focus on Microsoft technologies in the SME marketplace. Astec specialises in digital transformation, cloud migrations and integrated solutions, utilising its Microsoft relationship to deliver high quality services and serve a mix of customers across education, professional services and other verticals. Astec has demonstrated robust performance on managed services in particular, with 99% customer retention and high levels of contracted recurring revenue.

Duke Royalty Portfolio

A full list of Duke's current Royalty Partners is included for reference on the Partners page of our website: www.dukeroyalty.com/partners

***ENDS***

For further information, please visit www.dukeroyalty.com or contact:

Duke Royalty Limited Neil Johnson / Charles Cannon Brookes / Hugo Evans +44 (0) 1481 730 613 Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) Stephen Keys / Callum Davidson Julian Morse / Michael Johnson +44 (0) 207 397 8900 Canaccord Genuity (Joint Broker) Adam James / Georgina McCooke +44 (0) 207 523 8000 SEC Newgate (PR) Elisabeth Cowell / Richard Bicknell / Max Richardson +44 (0) 20 3757 6880 dukeroyalty@secnewgate.co.uk

About Duke Royalty

Duke Royalty Limited provides alternative capital solutions to a diversified range of profitable and long-established businesses in Europe and abroad. Duke Royalty's experienced team provide financing solutions to private companies that are in need of capital but whose owners wish to maintain equity control of their business. Duke Royalty's royalty investments are intended to provide robust, stable, long term returns to its shareholders. Duke Royalty is listed on the AIM market under the ticker DUKE and is headquartered in Guernsey.
Bluejay Mining plc / EPIC: JAY / Market: AIM / Sector: Mining

26 April 2022

Bluejay Mining plc ('Bluejay' or the 'Company')

First Exploration Programme of 2022 at Enonkoski JV with Rio Tinto Confirmed

Bluejay Mining plc, the AIM, FSE listed and OTCQB traded exploration and development company with projects in Greenland and Finland, is pleased to announce the approval of further exploration expenditure by the Company's joint venture ('JV') partner Rio Tinto Exploration Finland Oy ('Rio Tinto') at the Enonkoski nickel-copper-cobalt ('Ni-Cu-Co') Project in eastern Finland as part of the JV & earn-in agreement announced 10 November 2020.

Highlights of the 2022 planned field activities

 Follow-up diamond drilling at targets drilled by the JV in 2021; followed by downhole electromagnetic surveys of selected drill holes.

 A top of bedrock drilling programme focusing on new targets, but also including infill sampling at targets tested by top of bedrock sampling in 2021.

 Geological mapping and sampling.

 The work programmes will commence in Q2 2022.

In 2021, the Enonkoski JV diamond drilling focused on multiple near-mine areas northwest, west and southeast of the closed Laukunkangas Ni-Cu-Co mine. A top of bedrock ('ToB') drilling programme was ongoing simultaneously with the second phase of diamond drilling, as well as UAV 3-component magnetic surveys which were conducted at several sub-areas on the belt. The field activities were supported by extensive reference logging and sampling of historic drill core and a period of analysis carried out by the JV partners.

Based on drilling and assay results and the continuous evaluation of historic and new data from the entire belt, the exploration activities are being continued. The assay results from the drilling in 2021 and from the reference sampling of historic core highlight a zone of pyroxenite in close vicinity of a sulphide droplet zone identified by the Company in previous drilling southeast of the closed mine. Planning for the upcoming exploration programme is ongoing and preliminary plans include up-to 1,500 metres of diamond drilling, up-to 60 ToB drill holes, downhole electromagnetic surveys, geological mapping and sampling to be conducted in Q2 at several target areas on the belt. Final decisions on possible ground gravity surveys will be made based on drilling results.

Thomas Levin, COO of Bluejay subsidiary FinnAust Mining Finland Oy, commented: "I am delighted to report that our exploration activities at the Enonkoski JV project in eastern Finland will continue shortly. The exploration programme is currently being finalised, but we are aiming to commence diamond drilling in May targeting mineralisation at near-mine target areas with the focus on follow-up drilling of the drill campaigns in 2021.

"We are highly encouraged by the quality of the bedrock drill core samples we received from the ToB sampling programme conducted last year, and we have decided to extend this programme to cover some new target areas, but also infill drilling will be conducted to cover additional parts of a large mafic intrusion in the central parts of the Enonkoski Belt. With the very high confidence in obtaining actual bedrock samples we consider the ToB drilling to be a highly effective and a very low environmental impact method to map the bedrock under till cover. The aim with the ToB method is to confirm the existence of mafic-ultramafic intrusions defined by geophysics but covered by till. In addition, we will also achieve a better understanding of the more ore potential parts of the intrusions and generate new diamond drilling targets for future exploration programmes.

"Detailed interpretation work completed on the assay results from 2021 and early 2022, including a geochemical intrusion ranking study of known mafic intrusions on the Enonkoski Belt, shows that our activities are focusing on high potential targets on this underexplored nickel-copper-cobalt belt. This continuous evaluation work greatly assists in prioritising our targets, and we look forward to updating the market again in due course on this exciting project."

Finland Overview

Bluejay holds, through its 100% owned Finnish subsidiary FinnAust Mining Finland Oy ('FinnAust'), three large scale project areas in East Finland - the Enonkoski nickel-copper-cobalt ('Ni-Cu-Co') project, the Hammaslahti copper-zinc-gold-silver ('Cu-Zn-Au-Ag') project, and the Outokumpu copper-cobalt-zinc-nickel-gold-silver ('Cu-Co-Zn-Ni-Au-Ag') project. Bluejay subsidiary FinnAust signed a staged US$20 million JV and earn-in agreement with Rio Tinto for the Enonkoski Ni-Cu-Co project, announced 10 November 2020. In July 2021, the Company announced it has identified drill-ready targets at Outokumpu and signed a binding agreement for a partial divestment in a fourth Finnish project for 4 million.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR') which has been incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

For further information please visit http://www.bluejaymining.com or contact:

Kevin Sheil Bluejay Mining plc enquiry@bluejaymining.com Ewan Leggat/ Adam Cowl SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP(Nominated Adviser) +44 (0) 20 3470 0470 Andrew Chubb Hannam & Partners (Advisory) LLP +44 (0) 20 7907 8500 Tim Blythe/ Megan Ray BlytheRay +44 (0) 20 7138 3205

Notes

Bluejay is listed on the London AIM market and Frankfurt Stock Exchange and its shares also trade on the OTCQB Market in the US. With multiple projects in Greenland and Finland, Bluejay has now secured three globally respected entities as partner, customer, and co-investor on three of its projects, giving the Company and its shareholders both portfolio and commodity diversification in high quality jurisdictions.

Bluejay has signed a definitive joint venture agreement with KoBold Metals to guide exploration for new deposits rich in the critical materials for electric vehicles (The Disko-Nuussauq Project). Principal investors in KoBold include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a climate & technology fund, overseen by Bill Gates, and whose investors include Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos, and Ray Dalio. Other investors in KoBold include Andreessen Horowitz, the premier Silicon Valley venture capital fund and Equinor, the Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company.

Bluejay's most advanced project is the Dundas Ilmenite Project in Greenland, which is fully permitted and being developed towards production in the near term, with preparatory activities scheduled to commence in 2022. Dundas has a Mineral Resource reported in accordance with the JORC Code of 117Mt at 6.1% ilmenite and a maiden offshore Exploration Target of between 300Mt and 530Mt of ilmenite at an average expected grade range of 0.4 - 4.8% ilmenite in-situ. The Company has agreed a Master Distribution Agreement with a major Asian conglomerate for up-to 340ktpa of its anticipated 440ktpa annual output. The Company has signed on a major European bank to head the financing syndicate for Dundas. The Company's strategy is focused on securing financing ahead of commencing commercial production at Dundas in order to create a company capable of self-funding exploration on its current and future projects.

Bluejay holds two additional projects in Greenland - the 692 sq km Kangerluarsuk zinc-lead-silver project ('Kangerluarsuk'), where historical work has recovered grades of 41% zinc, 9.3% lead and 596 g/t silver and identified four large-scale drill ready targets; and the 2,025 sq km Thunderstone project which has the potential to host large-scale base metal and gold deposits. Bluejay has agreed a joint-venture agreement with Rio Tinto Exploration Finland Oy at its Enonkoski Project in Finland and has recently signed a binding agreement for a partial divestment in another Finnish project. Bluejay also holds two additional key project areas in eastern Finland hosting several historic mines, the Outokumpu copper-cobalt-zinc-nickel-gold-silver project and the Hammaslahti copper-zinc-gold-silver project.

**ENDS**
Orosur Mining Inc.

Third Quarter Results for 2021/22

London, April 29th, 2022. Orosur Mining Inc. ("Orosur" or "the Company") (TSXV/AIM: OMI), a South American-focused minerals explorer and developer, is pleased to announce the results for the third quarter ended February 28th, 2022 ("Q3 22" or the "Quarter"). All dollar figures are stated in US$ unless otherwise noted. The unaudited condensed interim financial statements of the Company for the Quarter and the related management's discussion and analysis have been filed and are available for review on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. They are also available on the Company's website at www.orosur.ca.

A link to the PDF version of the financial statements is available here:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7831J_1-2022-4-28.pdf

A link to the PDF version of the MDA is available here:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7831J_2-2022-4-28.pdf

Highlights of the Third Quarter Results for 2021/22

Colombia

 Post the period end, on March 8th,2022, the Company reported the results of assays from four additional holes - MAP- 097, 098, 099, 100.The holes encountered high grade gold intersections - 6.06m @ 2.72g/t Au, 14.2m @ 1.84 g/t Au, 8.35m @ 14.27 g/t Au, and 59.15m @ 0.91 g/t Au and included a potential new area at depth in Anza. In addition, it was reported that plans and permitting were being advanced for drilling new targets. That drilling activity has recently commenced.

Brazil

 On January 14th, 2022 the Company announced that it had signed a Joint Venture ("JV") agreement with Meridian Mining UK Societas ("Meridian") (TSXV: MNO) in relation to the Ariquemes tin project ("Project") in the State of Rondonia, western Brazil. The Project comprises a large collection of granted tenements and applications, totalling almost 3,000km2. The licenses were all accumulated and are wholly owned by Meridian's local subsidiary and represent the dominant land position in the Rondonia Tin Province, one of the world's most significant tin regions. Under the JV terms, the Company can earn an equity interest of 75% in the Project by spending US$3m over a four-year period, in two phases: Phase 1 - earn 51% interest by spending US$1 million over a 24-month period; Phase 2 - earn an additional 24% interest by spending US$2 million over a subsequent 24-month period. Following completion of Phase 2, it is intended the two parties will either jointly fund the Project on a pro-rata basis or dilute to a net smelter royalty.

Argentina

 On February 15th, 2022 the Company announced that it had signed a JV agreement ("Agreement") with a private Argentinean company DESEADO DORADO S.A.S and its shareholders ("Deseado") in relation to the El Pantano Gold/Silver Project in the Province of Santa Cruz in Argentina ("Gold/Siver Project").The Agreement covers nine licences owned by Deseado that, combined, total 607km2 in the prolific Deseado Massif region of Santa Cruz Province in southern Argentina, roughly 45km from Anglo Gold's Cerro Vanguardia mining camp. The terms of the Agreement allow for the Company to earn 100% equity in the Gold/Silver Project by investing US$3m over five years in two phases: Phase 1 - earn 51% by investing US$1m over an initial 3-year period; Phase 2,- move to 100% ownership by investing an additional US$2m over a subsequent 2-year period and granting Deseado a residual 2% net smelter return royalty on the Gold/Silver Project.

Post the period end, the Company announced that its geological teams mobilised to Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, to commence the Company's first field exploration program at the El Pantano Gold/Silver Project. This field program lasted approximately two weeks and involved extensive mapping and surface sampling (soils and rock chip) programs over the two most attractive prospects. Results are currently awaited.

Uruguay

 In Uruguay, the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Loryser, continues to focus its activities on the implementation of the Creditors Agreement and the sale of its Uruguayan assets. Loryser is also continuing with the reclamation and remediation of the tailings dam which is nearing completion

 As part of the Creditors Agreement, Orosur issued 10,000,000 Orosur common shares, in December 2019, to a trust for the benefit of Loryser's creditors. On September 10, 2021, the Company announced that it had been informed by the San Gregorio Trust that it had successfully sold its entire shareholding of 10 million common shares in the Company, which amount is being applied to meet Loryser's obligations under the Creditors Agreement.

Financial and Corporate

 The unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost method except for certain financial assets and liabilities which are accounted for as Assets and Liabilities held for sale (at the lower of book value or fair value) and Profit and Loss from discontinuing operations. This accounting treatment has been applied to the activities in Uruguay and Chile.

 On February 28, 2022, the Company had a cash balance of $4,791k (May 31, 2021 $6,958k). As at the date of this MD&A, the Company had a cash balance of $4,478k.

For further information, please contact:

Orosur Mining Inc

Louis Castro, Chairman,

Brad George, CEO

info@orosur.ca

Tel: +1 (778) 373-0100

SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP - Nomad & Joint Broker

Jeff Keating / Caroline Rowe

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3 470 0470

Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd - Joint Broker

Andy Thacker

JamesPopeTel: +44 (0)20 3657 0050

Flagstaff Strategic and Investor Communications

Tim Thompson

Mark Edwards

Fergus Mellon

Tel: +44 (0) 207 129 1474

orosur@flagstaffcomms.com

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR') which has been incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service ('RIS'), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

About Orosur Mining Inc.

Orosur Mining Inc. (TSX-V: OMI; AIM: OMI) is a minerals explorer and developer focused on identifying and advancing projects in South America. The Company currently operates in Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

Forward Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this news release constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including but not limited to the "safe harbour" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are based on expectations estimates and projections as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the exploration plans in Colombia and Brazil and the funding from Newmont/Agnico of those plans, Newmont/Agnicos decision to continue with the Exploration and Option agreement, the ability for Loryser to continue and finalize with the remediation in Uruguay, the ability to implement the Creditors' Agreement successfully as well as continuation of the business of the Company as a going concern and other events or conditions that may occur in the future. The Company's continuance as a going concern is dependent upon its ability to obtain adequate financing, to reach profitable levels of operations and to reach a satisfactory implementation of the Creditors Agreement in Uruguay. These material uncertainties may cast significant doubt upon the Company's ability to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business and accordingly the appropriateness of the use of accounting principles applicable to a going concern. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties including, but not limited, those as described in Section "Risks Factors" of the Company's MDA and the Annual Information Form. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law
Astronomers from the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales, the University of Canterbury and the University of Tokyo have found an alternative explanation for an anomalous gamma-ray signal coming from the center of the Milky Way, which was long claimed as a signature of dark matter.

Gamma-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation with the shortest wavelength and highest energy.

The Galactic Center excess is an unexpected concentration of gamma-rays emerging from the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.

The signal was first detected in 2009 by the Large Area Telescope, the primary instrument on NASAs Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.

Its origin has been debated, with proposed sources prominently including self-annihilating dark matter and an undetected population of millisecond pulsars.

Our work does not throw any doubt on the existence of the signal, but offers another potential source, said Dr. Roland Crocker, an astronomer in the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University.

It is based on millisecond pulsars  neutron stars that spin really quickly  around 100 times a second.

Scientists have previously detected gamma-ray emissions from individual millisecond pulsars in the neighborhood of the Solar System, so we know these objects emit gamma-rays.

Our model demonstrates that the integrated emission from a whole population of such stars, around 100,000 in number, would produce a signal entirely compatible with the Galactic Center excess.

The teams discovery may mean astronomers have to re-think where they look for clues about dark matter.

The nature of dark matter is entirely unknown, so any potential clues garner a lot of excitement, Dr. Crocker said.

But our results point to another important source of gamma-ray production.

For instance, the gamma-ray signal from Andromeda, the next closest large galaxy to our own may be mostly due to millisecond pulsars.

The teams paper was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

_____

A. Gautam et al. Millisecond pulsars from accretion-induced collapse as the origin of the Galactic Centre gamma-ray excess signal. Nat Astron, published online April 28, 2022; doi: 10.1038/s41550-022-01658-3
The Government is demanding that Madrid delimit areas of the Balears Islands to produce offshore wind energy, but says it does not foresee the creation of marine parks like they have in the United Kingdom

The Vice President of the Government and Minister of Energy Transition, Juan Pedro Yllanes, has written to the Secretaries of State for Energy and the Environment, asking for a floating wind energy marina be installed in the Balearic Islands.

Vice President Yllanes is proposing that the Central Government regulate the maritime space of the Islands to establish areas that are suitable for marine renewable energies.

The State Plan for the Management of Maritime Space states that only the northeast of Menorca is capable of housing this type of installation right now, but Vice President Yllanes wants Madrid to explore new areas in the Balearic Sea.

"We strongly support the inclusion of various polygons in the Balearic Sea for offshore wind energy, said Mr Yllanes. Offshore wind power would diversify the contribution of renewables and we wouldn't have to depend exclusively on photovoltaics, which can't achieve the objectives set by law. Is not desirable to base the entire energy transition on solar energy, marine energies should play a fundamental role in the island territories.

"Floating offshore wind energy consists of the installation of windmills that are not anchored to the seabed, instead they float in the sea and are attached with weights, explained the general director of Energy, Pep Malagrava. This system provides more hours of energy per year than onshore wind and photovoltaic energy and the cost includes the installation of a connection cable with the coast.

Each floating marine mill would be 70-100 metres high, produce 10-15 megawatts and be located about 20 kilometres from the coast.

Just like photovoltaics on rural land, any source of energy has an impact, said Malagrava. From a distance, the visual impact of the mills will be almost imperceptible, but, of course, environmental impact studies will be carried out and these facilities can be easily removed without causing irreversible damage.

The Central Government says marine areas for floating wind energy must register an average wind speed of 7 metres per second, but the Government is proposing that these speeds be lowered, so that more areas of the Balearic Sea can be included.
Children at the Manistee Intermediate School District on Ninth Street will not have to worry about dangerous playground equipment, glass and prickly weeds anymore during recess. Thanks to two grants, from Ronald McDonald House and the other a 50/50 grant from Cherryland Electric, as well as numerous donations, the school received four new pieces of equipment and landscaping items.

40 YEARS AGO

Plan approved

The Manistee County Solid Waste Management Planning Council last night culminated nearly two years of study and approved a countywide solid waste management plan and stands on record recommending its adoption by Manistees townships, municipalities, Manistee County Board of Commissioners and Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Prices going up

Although locally one fuel supplier, Rengo Oil, said there has not been any real change in its gasoline pump prices for quite some time, nationally the price for the precious fuel has been dipping for almost a year. Unfortunately, that trend is not going to continue. Some local suppliers noted that the pump prices have been gradually increasing over the last couple of weeks, from a low median of around $1.11 for regular and $1.16 for unleaded to a present price of $1.17 for regular and $1.21 for unleaded, per gallon.

80 YEARS AGO

Warden school enrollees

At the registration held last evening approximately 85 Manistee residents reported for instruction in the work of the air raid warden. All members of the group were fingerprinted, the state police, sheriffs department and the city police cooperating in this phase of the work.

Ambulance donation

Manistee members of the Knights of Columbus are now making plans for local participation in the purchase of an ambulance to be donated to the American Red Cross. The ambulance will be presented during the Michigan Councils convention in Jackson next month.
Unearthed in the Swiss Alps between 1976 and 1990, the fossils include the largest ichthyosaur tooth ever found.

Ichthyosaurs swam the worlds oceans for millions of years during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

They had an elongated body and a relatively small head. But shortly before most of them became extinct some 200 million years ago  only the familiar dolphin-like species survived until 90 million years ago  they evolved into gigantic forms.

With an estimated weight of 80 tons and a length of more than 20 m, these prehistoric giants would have rivaled a sperm whale, said Professor Martin Sander, a researcher in the Institute of Geosciences at the University of Bonn.

However, they left scarcely any fossil remains; why that is remains a great mystery to this day.

In the new study, Professor Sander and his colleagues examined the remains of three giant ichthyosaurs from the Kossen Formation in the eastern Swiss Alps.

The finds are between 210 and 200 million years old and include a very large tooth lacking most of the crown, a postcranial bone association of one very large vertebra and ten rib fragments, and an association of seven very large vertebral centra.

The paleontologists compared this material with the two largest ichthyosaurs known from partial skeletons, Shonisaurus popularis (15 m long) and Shastasaurus sikkanniensis (21 m) from Nevada and British Columbia, respectively.

According to the team, the incomplete tooth from the Kossen Formation confirms that at least some giant ichthyosaurs had teeth.

Based on their proportional differences, the two sets of skeletal remains may represent two different species of Shastasaurus-like ichthyosaurs.

The larger and geologically younger specimen may have been nearly the size of Shastasauru sikkanniensis, and the smaller that of Shonisaurus popularis.

Bigger is always better, Professor Sander said.

There are distinct selective advantages to large body size. Life will go there if it can.

There were only three animal groups that had masses greater than 10-20 tons: long-necked dinosaurs (sauropods); whales; and the giant ichthyosaurs of the Triassic.

These monstrous reptiles patrolled Panthalassa, the worlds ocean surrounding the supercontinent Pangea during the Late Triassic, about 205 million years ago.

They also made forays into the shallow seas of the Tethys on the eastern side of Pangea.

A paper on the findings was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

_____

P. Martin Sander et al. Giant Late Triassic ichthyosaurs from the Kossen Formation of the Swiss Alps and their paleobiological implications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, published online April 27, 2022; doi: 10.1080/02724634.2021.2046017
Thiago Alcantara and the tactical keys to Liverpool vs Villarreal.

Thiago Alcantara and the tactical keys to Liverpool vs Villarreal.

Unai Emery's plan lasted for just 45 minutes, as what worked so well for Villarreal in Turin and Munich was not effective away at Liverpool.

The Reds outplayed Villarreal and grabbed a 2-0 win, which brings them one step closer to booking their place in the Champions League final.

Liverpool registered 68 percent of the possession and recorded as many as 20 shots at Anfield. The result does not reflect the difference in quality between the two teams.

Cracks in Emery's wall

Villarreal sat deep and waited for their opportunity to hit on the counter. However, the Yellow Submarine registered 15 attacks compared to Liverpool's 93, while they didn't manage a single shot on goal.

Liverpool circulated the ball smoothly and Villarreal managed to hold on for 45 minutes, with Geronimo Rulli being solid in goal for the visitors.

Pervis Estupinan failed to contain Trent Alexander-Arnold's runs up the pitch, however, with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane constantly creating danger in front of Rulli's goal.

Alexander-Arnold's threat

The Englishman has already registered 18 assists this season, with most of Liverpool's chances against Villarreal coming from his flank.

Meanwhile, Andrew Robertson, who has recorded 15 assists, was combining well with Luis Diaz on the left-hand side.

This forced Villarreal full-backs Juan Foyth and Estupinan to work hard on the flanks.

Liverpool's crazy tempo

Jurgen Klopp's side enjoy running, pressing high up the pitch, winning the ball back and waiting patiently to counter-attack. But the key to their game is the team's pace and intensity.

Villarreal managed to hang on for 45 minutes before they finally collapsed in the second half. The only teams who can match the stamina of Klopp's team this season are Premier League rivals Manchester City or Chelsea.

Thiago in top form

Thiago Alcantara had adapted perfectly to Klopp's philosophy, as he is the player who dictates the tempo for the Reds in midfield.

Against Villarreal, Thiago misplaced just four of his 103 passes, registering a 96 percent success rate, while Liverpool completed as many 645 passes, with Villarreal making just 182.

Thiago even came close to netting one of his own in the first half, but his shot hit the crossbar. The Spain international undoubtedly produced a man-of-the-match display at Anfield on Wednesday.
There was no sign of Brendan Rodgers holding back as he came up against his former boss, Jose Mourinho, as Leicester City welcomed Roma to the King Power Stadium in the Europa Conference League semi-finals first leg.

Roma drew first blood after a magnificent run from deep by Nicola Zalewski saw him receive the ball in his own half and beat three men before feeding in Lorenzo Pellegrini.

The Italian finished with aplomb between the legs of Kasper Schmeichel to give the visitors an early lead.

In the second half of the match, at the same end of the pitch, Harvey Barnes showed similar persistence in refusing to give up his chase for the ball.

James Justin of Leicester in action against Chris Smalling of Roma ANDREW YATES EFE

His initial pass into the box was blocked but Barnes continued his run to collect the rebound and deliver a cross into Ademola Lookman to bundle an equaliser into the back of the net.

The home side were the stronger of the two, but the spoils were shared after the first leg with both teams looking to reach the first ever Europa Conference League final.
The new owner of Twitter and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, wants to turn the social network he has just bought for 44 billion dollars into a space for freedom of expression and, to set an example, he has decided to make a big political confession.

The world's richest man, with an estimated fortune of 219 billion dollars according to Forbes, has just revealed the name of the US president he has supported the most in the last decade and a half.

Barack Obama or Donald Trump?

Although there is speculation that Elon Musk may readmit Donald Trump on Twitter, the billionaire has confessed that he voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election and did so again in 2012, although he says he does not now feel represented by the Democratic Party.

Elon Musk voted for Obama

"I strongly supported Obama for president, but today's Democratic Party has been hijacked by extremists," said Musk, who just over a month ago had a Twitter spat with current US president Joe Biden.

He has had numerous run-ins with Democratic politicians in California over his theories about COVID-19 and the closure of the Fremont factory during the height of the pandemic.

As Musk himself described on Twitter through a simple graphic, in 2008 he considered himself a liberal person closer to the left, but in recent years he has swung to the right and conservatives because of the "extremist" positions of part of the left.

Musk gave a nod to speaker Tim Urban, who claimed that many people who voted for Obama no longer feel represented by Biden's Democratic Party.

"Despite the fact that the left has not moved as far to the left (some argue that Republican politicians have moved further to the right), the left in a sense is being held hostage to its more extreme wing, leaving many people who voted enthusiastically for Obama feeling politically orphaned," Tim Urban explained on Twitter.
Update narration See full narration

Hello and welcome to our American Finances live blog this Friday, April 29, in which we discuss the latest financial news and updates across the United States. This includes some of the benefits programs on offer, in addition to money-saving tips.

Today, we will have a look at the monthly $500 checks going out to low-income residents in Chicago, in addition to the $150 Gas Cards that are on offer in the city. There will also be an update on the $850 check on offer in the state of Maine and any Social Security payments.

As news continue to filter in from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about tax refunds, we will keep you up to date on when you can expect your payment and much more. What's more, there is likely to be an update on a potential monthly payment coming as part of the Supplemental Security Income program.

There is a lot to discuss in this Friday's live blog on the latest financial news in the U.S., so stay with us to find out what is going on. The most recent updates will be at the top of the updates.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stands on the side of a mass grave in Bucha

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stands on the side of a mass grave in Bucha AP

Various media outlets reported that during the visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Kyiv was the target of Russian attacks.

After a two-week ceasefire in the area, these bombardments reached Kiev, Ukraine's capital. The Russians used the world's eyes to claim that they are still involved in the intervention.

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kiev, announced the attacks on various buildings throughout the city. "The enemy fired on Kyiv tonight."

"In the Shevchenkivski district, there have been two hits. All emergency services have arrived. Information about potential victims is being sorted out," announced the former professional boxer.

President Volodimir Zelensky's adviser, Mijailo Podoliak, confirmed the attack, pointing out that the bombing occurred during Guterres' visit.

"The day before he was sitting at a long table in the Kremlin and today there are explosions above his head. A postcard from Moscow?" he wrote on his Twitter account.

The attack took the UN-Secretary General by surprise

The United Nations Secretary-General paid a visit to Ukraine to meet with Zelensky and assess the war's progress so far. Both characters went on a tour of the capital.

"We are committed to supporting Ukraine in this difficult situation, which is being caused by Russia. When we discuss war crimes, we must remember that the worst crime is war itself "UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated.

Previous meetings took place in Moscow. Prior to his trip to Ukraine, Antonio Guterres had a meeting with Russia's President, Vladimir Putin.

The secretary general requested an immediate ceasefire and a peaceful solution to the situation in the European country during the meeting in Moscow.
Gotabaya may have been important to them in a symbolic sense. What was more important for them would have been a profound change in the corrupt social and political system in the country. It is a situation that must be overcome through a positive and coherent program of structural reforms.

by Victor Ivan

The crisis in Sri Lanka is now at an extremely critical juncture. The countrys worst downturn since independence in 1948 has brought widespread hardships to its 22 million people, with months of regular blackouts and acute shortages of food and fuel. Under the circumstances, failure to reach a prudent and practical solution without further delay will inevitably plunge the entire country including the ruling party, the opposition and the public uprising to a state of anarchy which will not be easy to overcome.

At this crucial stage, the country needs adequate financial support to meet the cost of essential medicines, foods, fertilisers and fuel, and to establish and maintain a social safety net for the poor to improve lives of vulnerable families and individuals experiencing poverty and destitution. It will be possible to secure the support needed from the IMF and other agencies only if Sri Lanka would be able to establish an interim government with a reform program acceptable to the people who are involved in the public uprising as well as those who are not involved in it, and all political parties and the international community.

It is a situation that must be created as soon as possible without delay. Otherwise, it is most likely that the country might be plunged into a state of total anarchy in which there wont be essential medicines, food items, electricity, fuel and fertiliser which will invariably disrupt the lives of the people several times more than it is now, infuriate the public and disrupt the administration of the State.

In my opinion, the Bar Association, the National Movement for a Just Society organised by the Professionals and the 21st Amendment as well as solutions proposed by various political parties and interested groups are not practical and sustainable. Apparently most of those proposals have been adapted to fit the slogan of GoHomeGota, the main catchphrase of the youth uprising. This slogan may be very attractive and exciting, but not practical. It may have been attractive enough to inspire the youth and mobilise them onto the streets, but it has, at the same time, become an obstacle to wrap the final objective of the uprising of the younger generation within the existing constitutional framework.

Gotabaya may have been important to them in a symbolic sense. What was more important for them would have been a profound change in the corrupt social and political system in the country. It is a situation that must be overcome through a positive and coherent program of structural reforms. In the end, in the absence of such a reform program for a profound change in the system, the public uprising has got itself trapped in the catchphrase of the GohomeGota slogan.

Non-practical solutions

If Gotabaya is not prepared to step down voluntarily, he can be removed from office by an impeachment motion only. Needless to say that impeachment is not a simple or easy process to remove a president. It requires the approval of two-thirds majority of the parliament. The provisions for impeaching a president and ousting him from office have been designed in such a way that it couldnt be effected quickly; it involves a long process. In the final analysis, even if Gotabaya resigns, the next successor to the presidency will be decided by Parliament. What will happen if the successor also fails to secure the confidence and acceptance of the people creating a situation where the people will take to the streets demanding that he too should go home?

The idea of appointing a few good people from the national list to Parliament and giving them positions is also a hypothetical idea. Although the national list MPs are appointed by political parties, the latter do not have the power to remove them from office once they have been appointed. Generally, it is unlikely that they will opt to resign voluntarily from their seats. For instance, during the Yahapalana Government, former President Maithripala Sirisena brought Malith Jayatilleke to Parliament from the national list with the intention of removing him later from the national list when the term of presidency was over and coming to the Parliament filling the vacancy created by his resignation. But the former President Maithripala Sirisena was unable to make his dream come true as Malith refused to step down.

The reality of the National List MPs can be understood in this context. It must be said that the idea of holding an election in eight months time after the establishment of an interim government and resolving the economic crisis is only a lame and utopian expectation. Even if the present approach to IMF materialises, it is estimated that it will take nearly seven to eight months to complete the debt restructuring program and obtain necessary facilities. On the other hand, what is the point of the struggle launched by the youth if the elections were to be held without changing the corrupt nature of the present electoral system?

Is it after the elections that the system change is going to be made? Who should do it? What will happen to the system change if a group that does not like the system change is elected to power? The proposed 21st Amendment is also utopian. Two-thirds approval of Parliament is required to achieve that goal. Even if the 21st Amendment is approved, the country will not get a system change on account of it. Therefore, it is important to explore whether there is a possibility of securing a system change that would help overcome the crises in the socio-political system and the state itself, in addition to the balance of payments crisis.

Ideological backwardness

A short-term or an Interim Constitution refers to a constitutional implement widely used in many countries in the world on occasions when some or all aspects of the socio-political system, economy and state are in crisis, as a bridge to move gradually from the crisis situation to a new system, while maintaining the element of constitutional continuity; it is acknowledged by the international law as well. Sri Lanka can be considered as an extremely primitive and backward country as far as the subject of Constitution is concerned.

It is doubtful whether there is any other country that has deliberately violated the Constitution as much as Sri Lanka has done. There has never been an in-depth discussion on the subject of constitution in the Legislature; not a single important research paper on it has been published by any academic institution in Sri Lanka. There has been a lot of talk about theft, bribery and corruption in Sri Lanka. But there has not been a significant debate held in Parliament about the plunder of public property by the presidents who have been in power in the country since 1978 and also the permission given by them to the members of the ruling party to amass wealth by improper and illegal means of transacting business with the government; and the enormous economic damage caused to the treasury as a result thereof.

Also not a single academic or scholarly paper dealing with this issue has been published. The following two examples illustrate the degree of backwardness of Sri Lanka in the field of legislation. So much so, Sri Lanka has not taken into consideration the respective Commissions set up in Hong Kong and Singapore for the Suppression of Bribery and Corruption, in setting up the Commission to Investigate Bribery and Corruption. The Election Commission of India has not been considered at all in establishing the Election Commission under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. So much so, the shortcomings of the Election Commission of Sri Lanka have not been corrected even when the 19th Amendment was introduced to the Constitution of Sri Lanka at least by taking into consideration the Election Commission of India.

Apparently the constitutional or political theorists in Sri Lanka do not seem to be aware of the system of Interim Constitution which has been and are being used by several countries which had run into multiple structural crises like Sri Lanka to transit from the old constitutional system to a new constitutional system as a means to overcome the crisis. Either they do not know about it at all, or do not know about it adequately.

Interim constitution

It would not be possible to have necessary and adequate provisions in the old constitution of a country where the state, socio-economic system, economy and many other sectors, most or all of them have collapsed and become a failed and anarchic state, to get over the problem. An interim constitution is an intermediary measure adopted by a country which has run into a crisis, which is intended to serve during a transitional period until a permanent constitution is adopted to overcome the problem.

It includes special powers required to govern the country until a new constitution is adopted, special provisions required for interim administration if necessary, and how the new constitution should be formulated and also the preemptive program of reconstruction envisaged to be implemented to overcome the crisis. (To get a clear glimpse of this subject it is important to read the book titled Interim Constitutions IDEA 2015. It is available on the Internet.)

Here are some examples of interim constitutions: Nepal (2007 to 2015) Thailand (2006 to 2007) Rwanda (1993 to 2003) South Africa (1994 to 1997) Philippines (1986 to 1987). It is a constitutional system that provides a statutory framework and necessary powers for a country like Sri Lanka which has run into a massive crisis to set up an appropriate interim government and implement necessary reforms and overcome the crisis. The interim constitution of South Africa is considered to be the most colourful and exemplary interim constitution ever adopted. The ruling party and the South African Congress agreed that the transformation must take place in two stages.

Accordingly, in the first phase, an interim constitution and an interim government which included representatives of the African Congress were formed. The things to be done in the first stage as well as the second stage were included in the interim constitution. Accordingly, an election was to be held and an all-party government formed including all peoples representatives who were elected for a period of five years. The legislature so elected was expected to serve as a Constitutional Assembly as well, that is expected to draft the new constitution.

The interim constitution clearly specified that the making of the new constitution should necessarily be based on 34 principles agreed upon on consensus, the public should be actively involved in its process; the constitution making should be completed in a period of two years and the procedure to be followed in adopting the new constitution. Mandela was not a Member of Parliament. The Interim Constitution was drafted not in Parliament but outside the Parliament. After it was drafted, it was tabled before the Tricameral Parliament of the Republic of South Africa and passed. It is interesting to note that the interim constitution was in force in South Africa from 27 April 1994 until the new constitution was adopted on 4 February 1997.

The path Sri Lanka should choose

The interim constitution of South Africa, in addition to providing a strong and credible basis to link all parties together, offered a systematic and formal constitutional space for the flow of transformation. The Constitutional Assembly did not have the freedom to make the constitution as they wished. It had to be formulated in accordance with the 34 constitutional principles contained in the Interim Constitution. It was possible for everyone to see the rough outline of the constitution in advance. By the time the process of constitution making was completed in two years, the respective parties were bound to maintain the character of all-party government for another three years.

At the beginning of the reforms program, a white president was at the helm of the political pyramid. In an intermediary stage of it, the white president who was at the top of the pyramid was replaced by a black president. Mandela did not shout GoHomeBotha. The transformation took place within a well-understood milieu and constitutional framework between the opposition parties. Sri Lanka should also choose such a formal constitutional path for transformation. A consensus can be reached between all the major parties involved in the struggle, namely the government, the opposition and the leaders involved in the mass uprising of the youth, for a methodical and logical program of transformation.

It can also be turned into a two-stage (up to the election and post-election) program. A form of appropriate interim administration based on an interim constitution as well as a reforms program to be implemented by the new legislature to be elected under the interim administration, could be included in that. The transformation effected through this process could be turned into a process that flows smoothly within a constitutional framework.

At present all important activities of the country are taking place in an anarchic manner. In this backdrop, the Government is anarchic. The Opposition is also anarchic. There is anarchy in the public (youth) uprising also. The anarchy reigns in these three main areas could be alleviated, if negotiations were initiated for a reform program leading to a transformation of the system. Otherwise, the country will inevitably be plunged into a terrible state of anarchy from which it cannot be rescued easily. In conclusion, I wish to stress that anarchy is more dangerous than dictatorship.
Facts about Russia-Ukraine conflict: UN chief visits Ukraine's Borodyanka town

Xinhua) 15:43, April 29, 2022

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments regarding the conflict between Russia and Ukraine:

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday visited the town of Borodyanka outside Kiev, which was affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Twitter.

Guterres arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after visiting Moscow on Tuesday.

Osnat Lubrani, the UN resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, said Thursday that she was heading to the Zaporizhzhia city in southern Ukraine to prepare for an evacuation from Mariupol at the request of Guterres.

- - - -

The applications by Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be processed quickly should the Scandinavian countries choose to do so, the military alliance's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday.

"If they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be welcomed with open arms to NATO. Finland and Sweden are our closest partners," Stoltenberg told reporters at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Both Finland and Sweden have long pursued a policy of military non-alignment. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, NATO has failed to win over the two countries several times.

But the two countries have made some changes in their positions in face of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, delivering weapons and ammunition to Ukraine.

- - - -

Kiev is willing to seize Russian assets to finance Ukraine's post-conflict recovery, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Thursday.

"The funds of the Russian government and oligarchs will be one of the main sources for filling the Fund for the Reconstruction of our country," Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine is in talks with the countries of the Group of Seven over the seizure of Russia's assets, Shmyhal said, adding that Canada has already prepared legislation for such actions.

- - - -

Ukraine and Russia on Thursday conducted their seventh prisoner exchange since the start of the conflict, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Forty-five people, including twelve civilians held by the Russian forces, were released as the result of the swap, Vereshchuk said on Telegram.

Out of the thirty-three Ukrainian troops released under the swap, there were 13 officers and 20 soldiers, she said.

- - - -

The German Bundestag, lower house of Parliament, on Thursday voted to provide "comprehensive support for Ukraine," allowing the delivery of heavy weapons to the country.

A corresponding proposal, which was passed by a vote of 586 to 100, allows the "supply of effective, including heavy, weapons and complex systems" to Ukraine. Deliveries were also to be accelerated.

However, Germany's government was also urged to "support all efforts by the Ukrainian government to reach a cease-fire in direct negotiations with the Russian leadership," according to a Bundestag statement.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
While external debt restructuring remains a top priority for the Sri Lankan government, domestic debt in the form of Government securities and Sri Lanka Development Bonds will not be restructured, Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe announced yesterday (April 28, 2022).

Dr. Weerasinghe made these comments while addressing a meeting of the Committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce at which he was the Guest Speaker, during which he also provided an update on the progress made during the recent discussions with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank last week.

Noting that encouraging progress had been made towards establishing a macro-fiscal policy framework and initiating structural reforms, he expressed confidence that a staff-levelagreement with the IMF is likely to be reached within the next two months.

Dr. Weerasinghe also announced that additional measures will be implemented in order to address urgent economic concerns. The measures include introducing regulations to encourage USD flows currently transacting in the informal market to be channeled through the formal banking system. As a result of policy measures already introduced by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the government, he is of the view that expenditure on imports will be declining further to more sustainable levels.

The Governor also highlighted the need to strengthen the social safety net with the rising cost of living. To this effect, multilateral agencies such as the World Bank will be looking to reallocate funds committed for projects towards assisting vulnerable segments of the population, he stated.

While expediting IMF negotiations and implementing sustainable economic policy reforms being the main priority, he added that IMF action will continue irrespective of the political landscape, and also stressed that all creditors will be treated equally in the debt-restructuring process. The Governor sought the assistance of the private sector in successfully implementing measures to stabilize the economy.
I would submit that this narrative, far from twisted, is in fact clear, linear, and supported by post-Cold War history. When was the westmost especially the United States, which despite all is of the most paramount importance to Russiamost tolerant, comfortable toward Russia?

by David C. Speedie

As Americans ingest the constant feed of dire reports and heartbreaking photographs from the war in Ukraine, it behooves us to look at Europes views of a European conflict. First, these views are far from harmonious; there is, as the English Russia scholar Richard Sakwa has said, no strategic European Union vision on Ukrainemost members have merely been shamed into upping the ante in the supply of arms. Second, in general, Europe is divided between east and west: the new Scholz government in Berlin sputters to create a coherent set of policies, and in France, President Emanuel Macron won reelection despite criticism for his willingness to engage President Putin deep into the night before the invasion. In the newly extra-EU United Kingdom, Prime Minister Johnson is accused in some quarters of a kind of vicarious Wag the Dog scenario, in which trumpeting support for Kiev may obscure some unseemly activities at home [the most recent cover of the irreverent UK magazine, Private Eye, shows Johnson shaking hands with president Zelensky, with each saying simultaneously Thank you for coming to my rescue.] In the continents east, the Poles and Romanians have been more hawkish, the newly reelected Orban in Hungary a persistent outlier.

Ivan Krastev

In the April 23-24 edition of the Financial Times there appeared an opinion piece by Ivan Krastev, chair of the Center for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria, and a fellow at both the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and the European Council on Foreign Relations. It is a thoughtful essay, titled To isolate Russia is not in the wests power or interest. To support this, Krastev advances four reasons:

To isolate Russia unconsciously adopts a discourse in which Russia as a civilization is immutable. As 1991 showed, this is hardly so.

Isolation closes off interest in what is happening in Russia: there are protests against the war, albeit small in comparison with widespread public support [as a footnote to this, polling shows that the relentless tranches of U.S.-led sanctions serve to rally public opinion behind the Kremlin, and to create a siege mentality.]

Perhaps most important in the long run, Krastev predicts that to bet on a world without Russia is ultimately futile, because the non-western world, which may not favor the Kremlins war is hardly eager to isolate Russia [enter China, India, Brazil, South Africa and much of the African continent.]

Krastev stumbles at the last fence, however, with the fourth reason for eschewing isolation: [It] justifies Putins twisted narrative that the only Russia the west can tolerate is a weak or defeated one.

I would submit that this narrative, far from twisted, is in fact clear, linear, and supported by post-Cold War history. When was the westmost especially the United States, which despite all is of the most paramount importance to Russiamost tolerant, comfortable toward Russia? The answer, of course, is the disastrous decade of the 1990s when a largely compliant Russia welcomed the wests alchemical application of economic reform; when NATO was expanded over Russias feeble and futile protests; when NATO attacked its key ally Serbiacontrary to the UN charter; when the United States ripped up the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; when President Bill Clintons contempt for the increasingly tragicomic Boris Yeltsin could hardly be containedhis comment, reported by Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, says it all: Yeltsin drunk is better than most of the alternatives sober.

Putin, of course, is a different proposition for the west andlike it or notfor Russia: and had we been ready to deal seriously with a country reemerging from the ashes of the 90; to acknowledge that Russia, just like the United States, has legitimate strategic security interests in its extended neighborhood [should Russia create a Monroe Doctrine for our consideration?]; and that a Ukraine in NATO is, as even most expert observers not onside with Russia have agreed, a non-starterwe might have averted the growing prospect of a prolonged stalemate in the war in Ukraine, or, worse yet, a full-blown proxy war between Russia and NATO with potentially apocalyptic results.

It is for all those reasons that while I publicly and unequivocally condemn Russias invasion, nonetheless points out opportunities missed along the way. To these we should not add, as Ivan Krastev advises, permanent isolation of Russia.

Author Bio: David C. Speedie is an ACURA board member and was Senior Fellow and Director of the Program on U.S. Global Engagement at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in New York from 2007 to 2017.
DRC DEPLOYMENT MANAGER

Macro-Eyes is Hiring

Build the avant-garde. Bend the world towards progress.

Meaningful work is a luxury that we revel in, each day. At Macro-Eyes, we take on hard problems that bring the right kind of change to the world. Macro-Eyes has a rigorously horizontal culture that values diversity of every kind. We believe in recruiting the best talent in the world, regardless of location. We are always on the lookout for exceptional colleagues.

Radical innovation is at our core.

MACRO-EYES is an AI company. Our technology makes crucial systems predictive. Predictive systems are resilient.

We have a mandate to deliver social impact, global presence with an international machine learning team led by MIT faculty. The Macro-Eyes team has built and shipped cutting-edge machine learning systems that run at large US health systems and on-device in the most challenging environments in the world.

Macro-Eyes is a venture-backed company supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leading impact investors, the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, and USAID, and has partnered with Stanford, UNICEF, the Governments of Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Serbia, Mali, DRC, and Mozambique, and deployed our technology to assess the whole California health safety net in just six weeks. Accenture spotlighted Macro-Eyes product Sibyl as critical digital health technology of the future.

Macro-Eyes is working towards a future state in which the delivery of care is predictive everywhere; where supply chains that deliver essential goods anticipate need and predict demand down to the individual and

ensure the right resource is used at the right time  personalizing care, increasing access, and making

scarce resources serve more people in need. You will build the future.

Who we are

The Macro-Eyes team is spread across countries such as Zambia, Kenya, Germany, France, South Africa, Sierra Leone and works from all corners and peninsulas of the United States. We believe in recruiting the best talent in the world, regardless of location  particularly now! This role will be based in Kinshasa with the freedom to choose how and when to work. Our remote team was executing at the highest level before COVID-19, and we expect to continue to be a fully remote, high-performing team. You will have access to your choice of hardware and a travel budget to interact with the distributed team in person. Macro-Eyes has a rigorously horizontal culture that values diversity of every kind.

Competitive compensation and generous benefits.

Macro-Eyes is dedicated to building an inclusive workforce where diversity is valued. Macro-Eyes is an equal opportunity employer. Every qualified applicant will be considered for employment. Macro-Eyes does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or orientation, genetic information, age, national origin, marital status, disability status, political ideology, military or protected

veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

What well ask of you:

 Take a task and run with it. Theres not a lot of hierarchy, and everybody organically occupies the space theyre given to get something done.

 Speak up. We all learn every day. We constantly figure out things weve never done before. Ask for help, say when you need something.

 Be forthcoming and accountable. About time, scope, questions, needs, options, deliverables.

 Be nice to work with. Nothing extraordinary was ever achieved alone.

What you need to bring:

 A data-first mindset with a proven track record of delivering successful products.

 Comfortable working with a small team in a fast-paced, collaborative but unstructured environment.

 Experience working on dynamic cross-functional teams.

 Strong written and oral communication skills.

 Energy, boundless curiosity, open-mindedness.

 Care to do something right for the sake of doing it right.

 Willingness to learn and grow.

 Respect for audiences and users. Willingness to step into someone elses shoes (and the imagination to do so).

Were excited if you also have these capabilities:

 Experience working with teams using Agile development processes.

 Fluency in French and English and experience working with international donor-funded projects.

Why you want to work with us:

 We develop technology and products that save lives and help organizations do more with fewer resources - and we break new ground in AI by creating systems that can learn in some of the most challenging environments on earth: real-world impact and state-of-the-art science.

 We are rapidly growing - globally - and engaged in many of the most important issues of our time. Being part of Macro-Eyes is rich in opportunity.

 You get the chance to shape the world, bend it towards progress!

 You get to work with an amazing group of people.

 You can work from almost anywhere, although less than 6 hours from EST tends to be optimal.

 This role will be remote with the freedom to choose how and when to work. Macro-Eyes was fully remote before COVID-19 and we expect to continue to be a fully remote team. You will have access to your choice of hardware and a travel budget to interact with the distributed team in person. Macro-Eyes has a rigorously horizontal culture that values diversity of every kind.

Deployment Manager

Your success will scale life-changing solutions for the worlds most vulnerable populations.

Macro-Eyes is recruiting a Kinshasa based Deployment Manager dedicated to managing our DRC projects, and serving as the main point of contact to the Government of the DRC, in-country partners and any other stakeholders.. You will work in a dynamic environment and oversee all aspects of the day-to-day from partner relations, stakeholder engagement, product integration, and customer satisfaction.

You will work directly with a talented team of designers, cross-functional engineers, machine learning scientists and subject area specialists across the organization. You will be responsible for identifying opportunities for collaboration and product integration. You will engage national leaders and frontline health workers with the most advanced technology on the planet.

Your success will result in scaling life changing solutions for the worlds most vulnerable populations.

Responsibilities:

 Take charge of engagements with country level stakeholders (governments, partners, and others) across a portfolio of sectors and projects.

 Build, develop, and shape partnerships towards successful implementation of Artificial Intelligence-driven solutions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Expand our impact!

 Lead partner engagements in communicating Macro-Eyes vision and strategy of using advanced technology and AI to improve health outcomes.

 Develop work plans, negotiate scopes of work and maintain project-related documentation.

 Operational excellence.

 Collaborate with key stakeholders including ministries of health, international donors, implementing partners, and relevant working groups.

 Own country deployments and be accountable for project cost, timelines, and meeting customer expectations.

 Leverage strong communication skills and a passion for using data to drive better health outcomes at scale.

 Collaborate with the communications team to document user stories and learnings.

 Work directly with other managers and leadership to identify opportunities to improve Macro-Eyes products, tools, and analytics..

 Travel as needed to conduct and lead user interviews, engaging with our partners and other stakeholders.

What well ask of you:

 Minimum of 5 years experience delivering and overseeing international development initiatives in multiple country contexts, preferably health-related in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

 Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

 Strong project management skills including experience working on dynamic cross-functional teams.

 Previous experience working with donor funded programs, including knowledge of USAID, CDC and other international donor funding and program implementation mechanisms.

 Previous experience engaging government stakeholders in the public health sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo

 Familiarity with country (Democratic Republic of Congo) level software is a plus, including but not limited to OpenMRS, DHIS2, iHRIS, eLMIS, and mSupply.

 Comfortable working as part of a small team in a fast-paced, collaborative but unstructured environment.

 Comfortable with a remote working environment.

 Comprehensive understanding of digital health systems and challenges.

 Project manager certification preferred.

 Hustle and passion.

If this multi-dimensional opportunity is exciting, please apply here (https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/3080776140f54a668e0f65dc2966e3c6) for Deployment Manager.

Click here to download the PDF version with Hyperlinks
JERUSALEM (AP)  Palestinian assailants shot and killed a security guard at the entrance of a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank late Friday, the Israeli military said. The fresh attack could further fuel Israeli-Palestinian tensions that have soared in the past two months.

The Israeli military said early Saturday that the attackers arrived at the Ariel settlement entrance and shot the guard in his post before fleeing the scene. The military launched a pursuit of the suspects in the West Bank.

In a separate incident, Israeli troops shot and killed a 27-year-old Palestinian man during clashes at Azoun village near the town of Qalqilya early Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

A string of Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank over the past two months have left 15 Israelis dead. At least 27 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces in recent weeks.

Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, praised the attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility for it.

The operation proves that revolution is raging all over the West Bank, said spokesman Hazem Qassem. This is a practical implementation of our people's declaration that Jerusalem is a red line."

Tensions increased this month at a major Jerusalem holy site, with Palestinian worshippers clashing daily with Israeli police. The site contains Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, and increasing numbers of Palestinians go there to pray during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Earlier on Friday, Palestinians hurled stones and Israeli police fired rubber-coated bullets at the site, which has seen a wave of unrest in recent weeks.

The police say Palestinians inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound began hurling stones and fireworks around dawn in the direction of a heavily guarded gate that leads to the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray. The police advanced into the compound, firing rubber-coated bullets.

The violence ended around an hour later after other Palestinians in the compound intervened, convincing the stone throwers and the police to pull back.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said more than 40 people were wounded, with 22 requiring treatment at local hospitals. It said Israeli forces prevented first responders from entering the compound during the clashes, and that one of its medics was beaten by police. The Israeli police said they were unfamiliar with the claims that they had prevented medical workers from entering the area, calling it a distorted version of events. They also said three people were arrested.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is built on a hilltop that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of the Jewish temples in antiquity. It has long been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In recent weeks, Israeli police and Palestinians have clashed there on a number of occasions. Israeli authorities accuse Hamas of inciting violence and say security forces were forced to intervene to halt stone-throwing.

The Palestinians say the presence of Israeli police at the site, and regular visits by increasing numbers of nationalist and religious Jews, are a violation of decades-old informal arrangements governing the site. The visits were halted last week for the last 10 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which concludes this weekend.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  A mask mandate for commuter rail passengers is back by popular demand in the San Francisco Bay Area, the region that two years ago imposed the nations first coronavirus stay-at-home order and now is bucking the national trend away from required face coverings.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system, known as BART, had decided last week to drop its rule in line with a federal court ruling but that decision prompted an outcry, spokeswoman Alicia Trost said Friday.

We started to immediately hear from riders in phone calls, emails, tweets, that they felt unsafe on the train if there was not a mask mandate, BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said Friday.

BARTs board of directors decided in a meeting Thursday to temporarily restore the mask rule until at least July 18, the agency said in a statement. Children ages 2 and under as well as people with medical conditions that prevent them from wearing masks are exempt from the mandate.

The decision makes the Bay Area's largest transit system the latest in California to bring back a mandate for face coverings after Los Angeles County restored its masking rule a week ago for all public transportation including buses, trains, subways, taxis and airports.

The reinstatement came 10 days after a federal judge in Florida ended the nations federal mask mandate on public transportation, freeing airlines, airports and mass transit systems to make their own decisions about mask requirements. A mix of responses has taken shape across the country that reflects the nations ongoing divisions over how to battle the virus.

Major airlines immediately dropped mask requirements after the decision, as did many local transit agencies around the country.

New York City, Chicago and Connecticut, however, continued to require masks for travelers.

San Francisco and Los Angeles public transit agencies initially dropped their mask requirements, but many have since flip-flopped.

Thursdays BART board meeting was flooded by callers who voiced support for reinstating the policy in particular to protect vulnerable riders, Trost said.

BART, which connects San Francisco to its eastern and southern suburbs, is struggling to restore ridership that plummeted from pre-pandemic highs of over 400,000 weekday riders to about 130,000, according to recent data. It quickly became clear that banishing mask mandates would not help.

We are still really trying to win back riders, and I think masks can play an important role in doing that," Trost said.

San Francisco and the wider Bay Area have had some of the strictest pandemic regulations and compliance with the rules in the nation, starting in March 2020 when the Bay Area became the first to declare a state of emergency. Many residents have continued to wear masks in supermarkets and other indoor venues even though indoor mask mandates were largely lifted in February. Similarly, most BART riders have continued to wear masks in the past week, despite the temporary lifting of the mask rule.

BART said its police force will emphasize education-based enforcement by offering masks to riders before issuing citations up to $75 or ejecting anyone. BART officials said that police wont use those enforcement options for the first week of the mandate.

COVID-19 infections in California have multiplied in recent weeks, following a trend seen around the country, but hospitalizations remain low in California. The Bay Area has reported a more pronounced spike in cases than elsewhere in the state with a seven-day average of 26 new cases per 100,000 residents, compared to 10.6 cases per 100,000 in California overall.

However, Los Angeles County on Friday reported more than 28 new cases per 100,000 residents. Public health officials said the county was experiencing a high rate of transmission" and cases were steadily rising.
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A 22-year-old former U.S. Marine was killed alongside Ukrainian forces in the war with Russia, his relatives told news outlets, in the first known death of an American citizen fighting in Ukraine.

Willy Joseph Cancel was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN. Cancel had recently worked as a corrections officer in Tennessee and previously served in the Marines from 2017 to 2021, joining the Corps the same year he graduated from high school.

Cabrera said her son had signed up to work with the private military contractor shortly before fighting began in Ukraine on Feb. 24. She told CNN he agreed to go to Ukraine.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it, she said.

Cancel had volunteered with his local fire department in New York as a high school student, and he had a 7-month-old son, according to an online fundraising page set up by a man identifying himself as his father.

The U.S. government said it had seen reports about the death but did not have official confirmation, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

"Its very sad. He left a little baby behind, President Joe Biden said.

Psaki reiterated warnings against U.S. citizens traveling to Ukraine.

We know people want to help, but we do encourage Americans to find other ways to do so rather than traveling to Ukraine to fight there, she said. It is a war zone.

The State Department also said it was aware of the reports and was closely monitoring the situation, but could not comment further due to privacy considerations. It, too, urged U.S. citizens not to go to Ukraine.

Cabrera said her son's body has not been found.

They are trying, the men that were with him, but it was either grab his body or get killed, but we would love for him to come back to us, she said.

She said her son flew to Poland on March 12 and entered Ukraine shortly after, to fight alongside men from a number of countries.

A roommate who lived with Cancel in Kentucky in the months before he left for Ukraine said he became interested in going to help shortly after the war began.

Right around when it was getting serious was when he said he wanted to go, 21-year-old Triston Mannahan said. He felt obligated because that (the war) was wrong and he wanted to help.

Mannahan said Cancel packed his things over a couple of days in mid-March and left for Europe.

Hes really brave, Mannahan said. Thats what he wanted to do.

The fundraising page said Cancel's wife got a call Tuesday informing her of his death. The father wrote that Cancel decided to go to Ukraine because he wanted to defend innocent people.

Cancel graduated from Newburgh Free Academy in New York in 2017, the school district said. An instructor who mentored him in the Air Force Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Master Sgt. Christian Granda, said he was a dedicated cadet who served our community well and joined the Marines right after high school.

Cancel worked at a private prison in Tennessee from May 2021 until January, said Matthew Davio, a spokesman for the private prison company CoreCivic. The Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, a medium security facility, is about an hour northeast of Nashville.

As a correctional officer, Mr. Cancel served his state and his community by helping maintain a safe, secure environment where inmates can participate in life-changing reentry programs, Davio said in a statement.

While in the Marines, Cancel served as a rifleman and was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was given a bad conduct discharge after he was convicted of violating a lawful general order, Marine Corps spokesperson Maj. Jim Stenger said.

He had no war zone deployments, Stenger said. No other details on the bad conduct conviction were provided.

Cancel's widow, Brittany Cancel, told Fox News that she sees her husband as a hero.

My husband did die in Ukraine, Brittany Cancel said. He went there wanting to help people, he had always felt that that was his main mission in life.

She said her husband aspired to be a police officer or firefighter.

He had dreams and aspirations of being a police officer or joining FDNY, she told Fox. "Naturally when he found out about what was happening in Ukraine, he was eager to volunteer.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are believed to have been killed in the war. Other noncombatants from the U.S. have been killed, including a documentary filmmaker who was slain when his vehicle came under fire at a checkpoint and a man killed while he was waiting in a bread line.

___

Drew reported form Durham, North Carolina. Contributing were AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington and Associated Press writers Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Allen G. Breed in Hubert, North Carolina; Kristin Hall in Murray, Kentucky; Karen Matthews in New York; and Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky.
African Tour

Harald, DF2WO, will once again be active as 9X2AW just north of Kigali (with a new Grid KI48xe) between June 1-22nd.

Activity will be on 160-10 meters using mainly Digital modes (FT8, PSK31, JT65 and RTTY), with some CW and SSB. He will also use the QO-100 satellite on 2m and 70cm. He will have his FT991A and hopes to be on all bands using a vertical, dipoles, and homemade hexbeam made of bamboo and wires. For QO-100 he will have an 80cm dish and BU500 rig, one watt.

After Rwanda he plans to go to Burkina Faso (signing XT2AW) and Cape Verde (siging D44TWO) in September. QSL via M0OXO or his OQRS. See QRZ.com for more details and pictures.

OPDX
A convicted felon from Manchester was charged with possessing a loaded handgun earlier this year, federal authorities said Thursday.

Elliot Otero, 32, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Bridgeport on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, the U.S. Attorneys office said in a press release. Otero appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert A. Richardson in Hartford on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

The case stems from an investigation by the FBIs Connecticut Violent Crime Task Force and Manchester police. Investigators allege that on Feb. 25, 2022  the day of his arrest, Otero was in possession of a Smith & Wesson M&P 380 Shield handgun.

It is further alleged that Oteros criminal history includes state felony convictions for firearm, robbery and larceny offenses, the U.S. Attorneys office said. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.

Otero has been in custody since the day of his arrest in February, the office said.
UPDATE: New Canaan Police Officer David Rivera has been placed on leave pending the resolution of the case and an internal affairs investigation, Chief Leon Krolikowski said Friday.

BRIDGEPORT  A New Canaan police officer was arrested Thursday on explosives and weapons charges, according to the states attorney.

David W. Rivera was charged with illegal possession of explosives, illegal storage of explosives, illegal possession of an assault weapon, illegal storage of a firearm and three counts of improper transfer of a firearm, according to Joseph T. Corradino, Bridgeport states attorney.

Rivera, a Stratford resident, was charged by Stratford police Thursday evening and was being held in lieu of $250,000 bond pending arraignment on Friday in Superior Court in Bridgeport.

An arrest warrant affidavit submitted by Stratford police states that during a search of Riveras home in Stratford, quantities of high explosives were found improperly stored. Rivera is alleged to have used the explosives in his business training working dogs for various organizations. The warrant states that Rivera had no permit for the possession of the high explosives and that he was also found to have been in possession of an assault weapon.

The investigation was conducted by the Stratford Police Department, the Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crime Squad, Naugatuck police, the State Police Bomb Squad in cooperation with the Fairfield Judicial District States Attorneys Office.

Corradino said an arrest warrant was obtained following the search of Riveras Stratford residence.

Both the Stratford and State Police were thorough and professional, moving quickly to address this situation, Corradino said.

Illegal possession and illegal storage of explosives are unclassified felonies punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Possession of an assault weapon is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Illegal transfer of a firearm is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The Naugatuck Police Department also searched Riveras dog training business, the Black Rock Canines, on Wednesday. Police searched the business, which is on Hunters Mountain Road in Naugatuck, after receiving complaitns of possible animal cruelty.

Officers seized evidence from the business and the investigation was active as of Thursday evening, according to Naugatuck police.

According to the business website, Rivera founded Black Rock Canines in October 2017. He is an Air Force veteran who serves as a K9 officer in New Canaan.

The New Canaan Police Department was not immediately available for comment Thursday evening.

Staff writer Liz Hardaway contributed to this report.
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DURBAN, South Africa (AP)  Grief-stricken South Africans are still searching for family members swept away by last week's floods in which 435 people died and more than 40,000 were made homeless in the coastal city of Durban and the surrounding KwaZulu-Natal province.

The South African army has deployed 10,000 troops to help find those missing, rebuild roads, bridges and utilities, and distribute emergency aid to families made destitute by the deluge. The government has allocated $67 million in relief aid for affected families.

Families grimly persist in searches to find the bodies of their loved ones.

Joseph Nkosi, 56, of Inanda township, spends his days with neighbors searching through a debris-laden river stream for the body of his 15-year-old daughter, Ntombenhle, last seen trying to cross a low-lying bridge when the waters carried her away.

I am heartbroken," Nkosi told The Associated Press. "What I am hoping for now is just to find her body. I have already accepted that she is no more. All I am holding on to is her school tie which we found in this river stream.

In a nearby neighborhood, Apollo Mdladla, 47, said he and his young daughter are struggling to cope with the deaths of 10 members of a neighboring family. A mother, her children and grandchildren all died when the floods swept away their home.

We still have trauma. Those children used to play with my own child. Now she asks, Where is Manelisa? Where is Lulu? I had to be honest and tell her that they have died, because she can see that they are no longer here, said Mdladla as rescue teams searched for bodies in the pile of flotsam in his backyard.

Five bodies of the family have been found, but the other five are still missing, he said.

The largest number of deaths and homes destroyed occurred in Durbans low-lying poor neighborhoods, where families built homes on open, unsafe ground. But middle-class and affluent neighborhoods were also hit when mudslides crushed homes built on hillsides.

Schools, churches and community halls have become shelters for thousands of displaced families and most of those centers lack electricity or clean water.

The city remains in crisis 10 days after the storm, and it is now primarily a crisis of water and sanitation provision  to hospitals, clinics and communities. Failure to get this right could spell a deepening health crisis, characterized by water-borne disease, said Mani Thandrayen, medical team leader for Doctors Without Borders in Durban. The organization is supporting four shelters with food, water, cookware, blankets, mattresses and other basic items, he said.

Even many homes still standing must be evacuated because they are now unstable and may soon collapse, said South African National Defence Force spokesman Brigadier General Andries Mokoena Mahapa.

What we have said from day one is that those people need to be moved out. We need to shelter them at a temporary shelter while we are trying to find alternative accommodation," he said. We cannot repair them because any moment from now, those houses will fall off, said Mahapa.

Flood damage to roads and bridges is estimated at $373 million, schools at $26 million and health clinics at $12 million, according to officials.

Lack of maintenance of Durban's drainage systems worsened the floods in Durban, according to Jeff Smithers, director of the Center for Water Resources Research at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He's called for an improvement in early warning systems to respond to such disasters.

What has exacerbated the situation is the lack of maintenance," which allowed drainage systems to become blocked by trash, he said. But even in the perfect scenario we would have had some flooding.

Still shaken by the floods, Sandile Cele, 23, surveyed the scene of wreckage from his family's home on a small hill in Inanda. He used to look through a steel-framed window, but now an entire wall of the dining room is missing, torn away by the surging waters.

My mother was trying to sweep away the water that had entered the house, but we soon heard part of the house collapsing and we ran to our neighbors house, he said.

The family watched helplessly as the floods shattered windows, tore down walls and ripped off roofs from their two houses.

Weve lost so much. We had recently completed building the second house with the money that my mother received when my father passed away, said Cele. What we are desperate for is a home, a proper house where we can live and feel safe.
Drew Angerer / Getty Images

NEW LONDON  Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver the commencement address this year to the graduating class of the United States Coast Guard Academy.

The announcement was shared Friday morning by the academy. President Joe Biden delivered the keynote address to graduating cadets last year.
Congress has revived a World War II-era tool to quickly ship weapons to Ukraine as President Joe Biden urgently requests billions in new funding, warning existing weapons funding has nearly run out.

On Thursday, the House overwhelmingly approved the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act, which removes bureautic hurdles for the United States to quickly send weapons to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries, with the promise of repayment later.

The bill, which cleared the Senate in a voice vote earlier this month, now awaits Biden's signature. The last time the United States had a lend-lease program was during World War II.

Read Next: Two Years Later, Military Medical Malpractice Law's Namesake Still Waits for Answer on His Claim

"Bureaucracy, we all know, is an enemy in a crisis, so streamlining processes and improving speed and agility is extremely, extremely important," Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., the only Ukrainian-American in Congress, said on the House floor Thursday.

The bill passed 417-10. All 10 "no" votes came from Republicans: Reps. Andy Biggs, Arizona; Paul Gosar, Arizona; Scott Perry, Pennsylvania; Matt Gaetz, Florida; Tom Massie, Kentucky; Ralph Norman, South Carolina; Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin; Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia; Dan Bishop, North Carolina; and Warren Davidson, Ohio.

The House vote came the same day Biden sent a request to Congress for $33 billion in funding for Ukraine, including $16.4 billion for the Pentagon.

Congress previously approved $13.6 billion in Ukraine aid in March, including $3 billion to replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles that are being sent to Ukraine.

In the weeks since, the administration has committed nearly all of that $3 billion to various weapons packages, pledging and shipping Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, Javelin anti-tank missiles, Switchblade kamikaze drones, Howitzer artillery systems, armored vehicles and more.

After the Ukrainians defied expectations and staved off a Russian takeover of Kyiv, western officials are warning the next phase of the war, in which Russia is concentrating on the Donbas region in Ukraine's east, could be particularly fierce and that Ukrainians need heavier weaponry faster to build on their momentum in the war.

Biden's latest funding request asks for $5 billion to replace U.S. weapons stockpiles being sent to Ukraine.

He also requested $6 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, the program Congress created in 2016 to buy weapons for and help train the Ukrainian military. That would be 20 times the $300 million Congress approved for the program in 2022 as part of the regular government funding process.

The weapons funding could go toward "even more artillery, armored vehicles, anti-armor systems, anti-air capabilities that have been used so effectively thus far on the battlefield by the Ukrainian warriors," Biden said during a White House address announcing the request Thursday.

The latest request also seeks to create what's called a critical munitions acquisition fund for the U.S. military to ensure the Pentagon doesn't run low on certain types of ammunition when backing countries such as Ukraine with security aid, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a press conference Thursday.

The new funding "will allow the department to purchase and establish a strategic reserve of vital munitions, like anti-aircraft and anti-tank munitions, to surge for this crisis and quite frankly crises to come," Austin said.

The request also includes $2.6 billion to fund the continued deployment of U.S. troops on NATO's eastern flank.

"We'd urge Congress to approve our request without delay," Austin said.

The Ukraine funding has broad bipartisan support, but its fate in Congress could become bogged down in partisan politics. Congressional Democrats have indicated they are planning on moving the Ukraine funding alongside COVID-19 funding, which has become entangled in an immigration fight.

While Congress debates the funds, lawmakers say the lend-lease authorities approved Thursday will provide a critical mechanism for the administration to immediately get Ukraine the equipment it needs to win the war.

The World War II "lend-lease program would help propel the Allies to a victory that preserved the promise of democracy for generations to come," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said speaking to the chamber. "Our task today remains the same as it did with the original lend-lease. Make no mistake, Russia invaded with the stated goal of ending liberty and self-governance in Ukraine, yet with unimaginable courage and determination the Ukrainian people are putting their lives on the line for democracy, not only for their own nation, but for democracy writ large for the world."

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

-- Deputy Managing Editor Travis Tritten contributed to this article. He can be reached at travis.tritten@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @Travis_Tritten.

Related: US Troops Begin Training Ukrainians on Howitzers as War with Russia Shifts
The Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs is getting its first permanent professor who is a member of the Space Force, as interest in the newest military service branch continues to grow among cadets.

Air Force Col. Luke Sauter, a permanent professor and head of the school's astronautics department, will transfer into the Space Force on Friday during a formal ceremony at the academy. The school sees it as a chance for the new service to get much needed visibility in front of cadets.

"It's important that our cadets see Guardians across our academy and that they have the opportunity to speak with Colonel Sauter and other leaders about the Space Force as they consider which branch of military service they would like to join," Brig. Gen. Linell Letendre, dean of the faculty, said in a press release.

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Ahead of his transfer ceremony, Sauter said in a press release that calling it an honor to serve the newest military branch would "be an understatement."

Sauter graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2002 and worked at the National Reconnaissance Office, focusing on imagery intelligence directorate, and as a legislative liaison prior to his current assignment at the school, where he encouraged cadets' interest in space careers.

"It has been an incredible point of pride for our entire Astronautics Department to play a role in developing space-focused officers for decades here at the academy," said Sauter. "It is certainly a historic day to have our first Space Force permanent professor assigned; I hope there will be many more to follow."

The Space Force does not have its own service academy. Since it is a part of the Department of the Air Force, it graduates and commissions officers among the airmen at the academy -- similar to the Marine Corps' relationship with the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

In 2020, 9% of the student body -- 88 cadets -- commissioned into the Space Force upon graduation.

The following year, the Air Force Academy opened the first Space Force detachment at the school, allowing cadets to connect with active-duty Guardians to learn more about the service.

In 2021, the number of cadets who became officers in the Space Force upon graduation grew to 11%, or 115 cadets.

When the Air Force Academy graduates the 2022 class next month, it's projected that around 10% of the cadets, or 101, will be commissioned as Space Force officers.

Letendre said having a full-time Space Force professor will only stoke more interest in the service for future Guardians.

"As our first Space Force permanent professor, Colonel Sauter will bridge the gap between the needs of the Space Force and our curriculum as we build future leaders of character," Letendre said in a statement.

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: Space Force Will Have Its First Guardians-Only Boot Camp Class Next Month
The Army on Friday identified a Fort Bragg soldier who was killed in a vehicle incident that injured three others and echoed an earlier deadly crash just days before in Washington state.

Spc. Luis Herrera, 23, a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army's XVIII Airborne Corps, died during what the Army described as routine training at the North Carolina base. Herrera, a native of the state, was married, according to a service press release.

The three injured soldiers involved in the incident went to the base's Womack Army Medical Center, where one was treated and the other two were admitted for treatment and observation, the press release added. The Army withheld the names due to privacy guidelines.

Read Next: Troops at Remote and Overseas Bases Attempt Suicide More Often, GAO Finds

"Spc. Herrera was an exceptional Paratrooper and an engaged friend to all those who knew him. Luis was a Soldier's Soldier who always led by example and never missed a chance to leave a positive impact on those around him," Col. Theodore Kleisner, commander of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, said in a released statement.

"Big Lou's presence was a gift to us all, and his radiant smile brought warmth to all who knew him," said Capt. Daigoroh Abreu, his company commander. The 2-501st Parachute Infantry Regiment will host a memorial for Herrera in the coming weeks, according to the press statement.

The death and injuries at Fort Bragg are under investigation, and appear similar to another incident this week. Only two days earlier, at Yakima Training Center in Washington, another soldier was killed and two others were injured.

Back in January, two Marines lost their lives in Jacksonville, North Carolina, when their tactical vehicle rolled over.

The incidents speak to the wider problem of non-combat military vehicle mishaps being a leading cause of death among troops.

This trend has continued following a Government Accountability Office report from July 2021, which found 123 service members died in non-combat related accidents between fiscal years 2010 and 2019.

The report identified driver inattentiveness, lapses in supervision, and a lack of training as among the most common causes of these types of accidents. It recommended that the Army and Marine Corps adopt new best practices for tactical vehicle safety.

Even while the total number of fatal ground vehicle incidents dropped in fiscal 2021, according to the Army Combat Readiness Center, ending future ground vehicle mishaps for on-duty service members continues to be of serious concern to lawmakers.

Last year, both Maryland senators proposed legislation to establish a pilot program that would authorize data recorders to be installed in tactical vehicles for greater transparency and accountability.

Congress further sought to remedy the situation by including a provision in its annual defense bill, which passed in December, to give the Army and Marine Corps until this June to provide a plan to implement recommendations from the 2021 GAO report.

-- Jonathan Lehrfeld is a fellow at Military.com. Follow him on Twitter @lehrfeld_media.

Related: Soldier Dead, 2 Injured in Joint Base Lewis-McChord Vehicle Incident
VK6WIA NewsWest



NewsWest for Sunday 1st May is the Club Focus edition of NewsWest. Yes its Mayday.

But were not calling Mayday, because were not in distress, were not a labour collective, nor are we, to the best of my knowledge, celebrating any rural pagan festivals. But if you really want to, feel free.



Today is the Club Focus edition of NewsWest, and we have news from Amateur Radio clubs around Western Australia.



In the Club Focus series is a discussion about what could happen when theres disagreement within a club; theres a story about the development of a dual band super high frequency transceiver, theres Roys Amateur Radio Helpline, and theres more.



NewsWest is produced by WA Amateur Radio News, aimed at the vk6 call area. Our editorial policy is simple - it must be about Amateur Radio, and relative to, or of interest to, Amateurs in Western Australia.



Visit the vk6.net website where you'll find information on how you can hear NewsWest - on air, by download or by podcast. You can also register your callbacks and feedback about NewsWest.



NewsWest invites programme contributions. You can send yours as email attachments to newswest@vk6.net - our editorial policy is that items should be about Amateur Radio, and relating to, or of interest to, Radio amateurs in Western Australia.



Originating in Perth Western Australia, NewsWest is produced by WA Amateur Radio News for listeners on-air, on-line and on-demand.



Whichever way you're listening, whether you're a licensed radio amateur or not, experienced or just a beginner, old or young, thanks for being here and thanks for joining us.



Web: http://vk6.net Email: newswest@vk6.net



Producer: Bob VK6POP
Troops stationed at remote and overseas bases attempted suicide at slightly higher rates but were less often successful compared to the general active-duty military population, according to findings in a new Government Accountability Office report.

Nearly 19% of all suicide attempts occured at those bases, but only 10% of suicide deaths, the federal watchdog found. The remote facilities may have higher suicide risk factors, such as social isolation and less access to mental health services, but troops at overseas bases also often lack the same access to personal firearms, which are used in the majority of military suicides.

However, the Pentagon has not fully assessed those suicide risks, and that process could help reduce such deaths, the GAO said in the report mandated by Congress. The report listed more than 50 installations that are overseas or considered remote, including Fort Wainwright, Alaska; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Naval Air Facility Misawa, Japan.

Read Next: Air Force Academy Will Have First Permanent Space Force Professor as More Cadets Become Guardians

The findings come amid a spike in troops taking their own lives at isolated bases in Alaska, as well as a string of suicides among the crew of the dry-docked aircraft carrier USS George Washington.

In March, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered an independent commission to look at suicides at three Alaska bases; Camp Humphreys, South Korea, the largest overseas U.S. military base; and other key bases inside the U.S., such as Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Lawmakers ordered the GAO to look into suicides at remote and overseas bases in 2020 following a 33.5% increase in the deaths over the previous four years.

Between 2016 and 2020, 1,806 active-duty troops took their own lives across all duty stations, while an additional 7,178 attempted suicide, according to the GAO.

Navy and Marine Corps suicide prevention officials told investigators that some of the risk factors included social isolation. In the case of some duty stations in Japan, officials said it can be difficult for service members to engage with the local culture.

Easy access to guns accounts for the majority of suicides in the force. Overwhelmingly, weapons used in suicides are not issued by the military -- roughly 95% are personally owned.

Gun safety and proper storage have been given increased attention in recent years, both from the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs, in an effort to give those with suicidal thoughts time to cool down.

"Research also shows it can take less than 10 minutes between thinking about suicide to acting on it," a statement last week from the Defense Departent's Suicide Prevention Office said. "For many people, thoughts of suicide and the desire to end one's life come quickly and intensely."

Isolation and a lack of mental health resources have been blamed for the recent surge in suicides in Alaska.

Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, head of U.S. Army Alaska, told Military.com in March that he is struggling to hire mental health professionals, given the difficulties in convincing them to relocate to Alaska. Troops interviewed by Military.com said a first appointment with a mental health counselor can take at least two weeks -- and a month or longer, in some cases.

"The infrastructure that is necessary in Alaska for behavioral health is woefully inadequate," Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who chairs the House Armed Services Committee's subpanel on military personnel, told reporters last week.

Austin and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth have recently paid visits to bases in Alaska, but plans to stem the rate of suicides have not materialized. Lawmakers have proposed increased pay for troops and argued that morale could be boosted with a stronger identity for troops in the state, such as making the "Arctic" tab an award they could wear at any installation.

If you or someone you know needs help, the Veterans Crisis Hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 800-273-8255, press 1. Services also are available online at www.veteranscrisisline.net or by text, 838255.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

Related: Breakdowns, Ripped Clothing and Dying Batteries: Army Commits to Arctic But Still Figuring Out What Soldiers Need
KHARKIV, Ukraine  Viktor appeared nervous as masked Ukrainian security officers in full riot gear, camouflage and weapons pushed into his cluttered apartment in the northern city of Kharkiv. His hands trembled and he tried to cover his face.

The middle-aged man came to the attention of Ukraines Security Service, the SBU, after what authorities said were his social media posts praising Russian President Vladimir Putin for fighting with the Nazis, calling for regions to secede and labeling the national flag a symbol of death.

Yes, I supported (the Russian invasion of Ukraine) a lot. Im sorry.  I have already changed my mind," said Viktor, his trembling voice showing clear signs of duress in the presence of the Ukrainian security officers.

Origin APNews

Get your things and get dressed, an officer said before escorting him out of the apartment. The SBU did not reveal Viktor's last name, citing their investigation.

Viktor was one of nearly 400 people in the Kharkiv region alone who have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted quickly by Ukraine's parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

Offenders face up to 15 years in prison for collaborating with Russian forces, making public denials about Russian aggression or supporting Moscow. Anyone whose actions result in deaths could face life in prison.

Accountability for collaboration is inevitable, and whether it will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow is another question, Zelenskyy said. The most important thing is that justice will be served inevitably.

Although the Zelenskyy government has broad support, even among many Russian speakers, not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion. Support for Moscow is more common among some Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east. An eight-year conflict there between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces had killed over 14,000 people even before this years invasion.

Some businessmen, civic and state officials and members of the military are among those who have gone over to the Russian side, and Ukraines State Bureau of Investigations said more than 200 criminal cases on collaboration have been opened. Zelenskyy has even stripped two SBU generals of their rank, accusing them of treason.

A registry of collaborators is being compiled and will be released to the public, said Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraines Security Council. He refused to say how many people have been targeted nationwide.

With martial law in place, authorities have banned 11 pro-Russian political parties, including the largest one that had 25 seats in the 450-member parliament  the Opposition Platform For Life, which was founded by Viktor Medvedchuk, a jailed oligarch with close ties to Putin.

Authorities say pro-Russian activists in southeastern Ukraine, the site of active fighting, are helping the invaders by acting as spotters to direct shelling.

One of our key goals is to have no one stab our armed forces in the back, said Roman Dudin, head of the Kharkiv branch of the SBU in an interview with The Associated Press. He spoke in a dark basement where the SBU had to move its operations after its building in central Kharkiv was shelled.

The Kharkiv branch has been detaining people who support the invasion, call for secession and claim that Ukrainian forces are shelling their own cities.

Allegations of collaborating with the enemy carry strong historic resonance in Ukraine. During World War II, some in the region welcomed and even cooperated with invading forces from Nazi Germany after years of Stalinist repression that included the Holodomor  a man-made famine believed to have killed more than 3 million Ukrainians. For years afterward, Soviet authorities cited the cooperation of some Ukrainian nationalists with the Nazis as a reason to demonize todays democratically elected leaders of Ukraine.

Human rights advocates know of dozens of detentions of pro-Russian activists in Kyiv alone since the new laws were passed, but how many have been targeted nationwide is unclear, said Volodymyr Yavorskyy, coordinator at the Center for Civil Liberties, one of the largest human rights groups in Ukraine.

There is no complete data on the (entire) country, since it is all classified by the SBU, Yavorskyy told AP.

Ukrainian authorities are actively using the practice of Western countries, in particular the U.K., which imposed harsh restrictions on civic liberties in warring Northern Ireland. Some of those restrictions were deemed unjustified by human rights advocates, but others were justified, when people's lives were in danger, he said.

A person in Ukraine can be detained for up to 30 days without a court order, he said, and antiterrorism legislation under martial law allows authorities not to tell defense attorneys about their clients being remanded.

In effect, these people disappear, and for 30 days there's no access to them, Yavorskyy said. In reality, (law enforcement) has powers to take anyone.

The Ukrainian government knows the implications of detaining people over their opinions, including that it risks playing into Moscow's line that Kyiv is repressing Russian speakers.

But in wartime, officials say, freedom of speech is only part of the equation.

The debate about the balance of national security and ensuring freedom of speech is endless, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told AP.

In the town of Bucha, which has become a symbol of horrific violence in the war, Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said there were collaborators who gave invading troops the names and addresses of pro-Ukrainian activists and officials in the city outside Kyiv, with hundreds of civilians shot to death with their hands tied behind their backs or their bodies burned by Russian forces.

"I saw these execution lists, dictated by the traitors - the Russians knew in advance who theyre going to, at what address, and who lives there, said Fedoruk, who found his own name on one of the list. Of course, Ukrainian authorities will search for and punish these people.

In the besieged port city of Mariupol, officials accused collaborators of helping the Russian military cut off electricity, running water, gas and communications in much of the city in a matter of days.

Now I understand perfectly why the Russians were carrying out such precise, coordinated strikes on objects of critical infrastructure, knew about all locations and even times when Ukrainian buses evacuating refugees were supposed to depart, said Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko.

Political analysts say the invasion and the brutality of the Russian troops against civilians have turned off many Russian sympathizers. Still, many Moscow supporters remain.

Russian propaganda took deep roots and many residents of the east who watch Russian TV channels believe absurd claims that its Ukrainians who are shelling them and other myths, Volodymyr Fesenko of the Penta Center think tank told AP. Naturally, Ukrainian authorities in the southeast are afraid of getting stabbed in the back and are forced to tighten security measures.

Unlike Viktor, whose Kharkiv apartment was raided, 86-year-old Volodymir Radnenko didnt seem surprised when Ukrainian security arrived at his flat Saturday to search it after detaining his son, Ihor. The military said the son was suspected of helping the Russians in shelling of the city  some of which occurred in Radnenko's neighborhood about 15 minutes before the officers showed up, and the smell of smoke lingered in the area. At least two people were killed and 19 others wounded in the region.

He is used to thinking that Russia is all there is, Radnenko told AP after the officers left. I ask him: So who is shelling us? Its not our (people), its your fascists. And he only gets angry at that.

Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Vasilisa Stepanenko in Kharkiv contributed.
Though the day has nothing to do with American history, Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the United States are only getting bigger and bigger. Like on St. Patrick's Day, Americans are celebrating their affinity for a culture that is also increasing in the U.S.

With both holidays, there are a lot of misconceptions about what exactly is being celebrated. With Cinco de Mayo, some Americans believe it's a celebration of Mexico's Independence Day, which is actually Sept. 16. Cinco de Mayo is actually the celebration of the 1862 Battle of Puebla, where an outnumbered Mexican Army defeated the invading French.

The battle didn't lead to an ultimate victory over the French, but it was a bright spot during a bad time for Mexico, one that showed the world that Mexico wasn't going to roll over for just anyone.

In the years before the battle, Mexico had undergone a civil war in an attempt to limit the power of the Catholic Church and of the Mexican Army in the country. The chief result of that war was an economy left in shambles. Mexico was forced to pause interest payments on foreign debt for two years while it tried to recover, a decision not taken well by its European creditors.

An allied force from France, Spain and England landed in Veracruz, Mexico, in 1861. While England and Spain just wanted their money, Emperor Napoleon III, on the other hand, had bigger ideas. He wanted to overthrow the elected Mexican government and install his Austrian cousin Maximilian as emperor of Mexico.

Maximilian I, the first of so many jerks to come from Austria.

When France's other allies negotiated a separate peace with Mexican President Benito Juarez in 1862, the real war began. The French reneged on a promise to withdraw to the Mexican coastal area, instead opting to take a critical town that secured their hold on Veracruz. Skirmishing between the two sides began shortly after.

Mexican Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza realized his position trying to keep French forces bottled up in Veracruz was no longer tenable, and he fell back to the town of Puebla with an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 men. Zaragoza was not a trained military leader, but he had just fought a civil war and was skilled in unconventional warfare.

The French Army was made up of battle-hardened veterans of France's recent conflicts and outnumbered the Mexicans by at least 1,500 more troops. Moreover, French Gen. Charles de Lorencez expected Mexican citizens would be tired of war and the slow pace of recovery led by the government in Mexico City and would rally around the French flag.

He was wrong. Mexican citizens in the area around Puebla volunteered in droves to fight with Zaragoza's army. By May 3, 1862, Mexico's defenders were fortifying their positions around Puebla. Lorencez's attack began on May 5.

Puebla was ringed by a series of five stone fortresses in varying states of repair. In the first French attack on May 5, Lorencez sent 4,000 men to storm the two forts to the north of the city. They were believed to be in the worst state. After using half of their artillery ammunition with little effect and taking heavy casualties in their assault, the French were forced to withdraw.

The second assault was on the same forts, but included a diversionary attack to the southeast in an attempt to pull men away from the fortresses' defense. Not only did the second assault fail, but the diversionary force tried to move to assist in taking the fort and was also badly beaten up.

France's most decorated troops, North African Zouaves, were repeatedly mauled by Mexican patriots.

After just more than two hours of fighting, the French were forced to commit all their reserves to a third assault. They were out of artillery ammunition, so this next attempt against the Mexicans was also launched without any supporting fire from French cannons. This attempt also failed, but one hour into this last assault, it began to rain.

With the battlefield turned to mud, the Mexicans fought off the French assault and then left the safety of the fortifications to defend the surrounding hilltops. The French had finally had enough and attempted to retreat, but the Mexicans weren't done. They fired artillery at the French troops until they were out of range, then sang the Marseillaise (the French national anthem) at them as they walked away.

Ultimately, the Mexican government would fall to France, and Maximilian would rule Mexico from 1864 until 1867. When the United States ended its civil war in 1865, it was able to assert its Monroe Doctrine foreign policy, which guaranteed U.S. support against European colonization and puppet governments in the Western Hemisphere.

The forces of Benito Juarez never gave up their fight against the French puppet government. With American support and arms rolling in, they forced Maximilian off the throne and retake the seat of government. The emperor was captured, jailed and executed as a message to the old world: Mexico was done being ruled from abroad.

But even as the Civil War raged on in the U.S., American sympathized with its southern neighbor. The first Cinco de Mayo celebration in the United States was held in California, a former Mexican territory, in 1863.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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Frontrunner Vaccine Will Affact the Price of Nickel Titanate (Nickel Titanium Oxide) (NiTiO3)-Powder - Market Trend

CEO of Pfizer partner BioNTech says coming winter will be hard but by April, 300 million immunization units should be ready, which will have an impact on the global pandemic.

If coronavirus vaccinations are rolled out widely, life could return to normal by next winter, one of the scientists behind the front-running coronavirus vaccine told British television on Sunday.

Ugur Sahin, the Turkish co-founder of the German firm BioNTech, told the BBCs The Andrew Marr Show that this winter will be hard, without any major impact from vaccinations.

Together with US giant Pfizer, BioNTech is developing the leading candidate in the worldwide chase for a vaccine. Israel has ordered millions of units of the vaccine, hoping that the first deliveries will arrive in the country by January.

Affected by the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, the Nickel Titanate (Nickel Titanium Oxide) (NiTiO3)-Powder market is changing rapidly. These changes are indicators of market growth. This year-on-year upward trend in the market indicates that the next November 2020-2026 will show an oval but steady growth.

The price of Nickel Titanate (Nickel Titanium Oxide) (NiTiO3)-Powder continues to be affected by factors such as market growth momentum, various opportunities and challenges. However, during the forecast period from 2020 to 2026, the global Nickel Titanate (Nickel Titanium Oxide) (NiTiO3)-Powder sales market is expected to continue to be above average. The growth rate will continue to increase. It is expected that from today to next week, the price of Nickel Titanate (Nickel Titanium Oxide) (NiTiO3)-Powder will increase to a certain extent.

Due to changes in consumer demand, import and export conditions, and various investigations on the development of Nickel Titanate (Nickel Titanium Oxide) (NiTiO3)-Powder, the cost of Nickel Titanate (Nickel Titanium Oxide) (NiTiO3)-Powder is constantly changing. Taking into account the current market macroeconomic parameters, value chain analysis, channel partners, demand and supply, the cost of Nickel Titanate (Nickel Titanium Oxide) (NiTiO3)-Powder will also be affected to a certain extent. It is estimated that the cost of Nickel Titanate (Nickel Titanium Oxide) (NiTiO3)-Powder will increase slightly from today to next week.

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Many countries have begun to study digital currencies, which will have little impact on world silicon carbide prices in 2021

The Bank of Japan plans to start empirical experiments on digital currencies in the spring of 2021. The idea is divided into 3 stages. Among them, the main work of the first stage is to establish basic functions. The second stage is to carry out functional tests under more complex conditions. The third stage is to discover problems in actual operation, make up for loopholes, and continuously improve. It is still in the initial stage and has little effect on the prices of industrial products such as silicon carbide.

South Africa has great potential for digital currency applications. In recent years, the South African Reserve Bank (Central Bank) has carefully tested the central bank\'s digital currency to improve the efficiency of the financial system, enhance security and stability, and incorporate more customers into the financial system. In 2016, the South African Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group was established to study the feasibility of issuing central bank digital currencies. Currently, the working group is discussing with potential solution providers. South African scientific and technological workers do not study much in the field of silicon carbide, so it will affect the price of silicon carbide.

The President of the European Central Bank said a few days ago that he hopes to make the digital euro a reality within five years. This statement is equivalent to the European Central Bank\'s "policy announcement". The introduction of the digital euro is already on the line and has to be issued. For many years, Europe has been hesitant to use and promote electronic payments and is even more cautious about digital currencies. In 2018, the European Union issued the "Fifth Edition of the Anti-Money Laundering Order", recognizing that the development of digital currencies is an inevitable trend. There are many silicon carbide manufacturers in Europe, but they all exchange traditional currencies, so they have no effect on the price of silicon carbide.

South Korea officially began to promote substantial preparations for digital currency in early 2020. As soon as the preparatory work started, South Korea immediately turned on the "acceleration" mode. At present, most of the preparatory work has been completed. However, active preparation does not mean that South Korea is eager to put digital currency into use. The Bank of Korea\'s attitude towards digital currency is more inclined to "need not discuss it, but have it yourself." South Korean digital currency is not in a hurry to use, so the few with silicon carbide have almost no impact.

Affected by digital currency research and development and the new crown epidemic, as a professional silicon carbide supplier manufacturer, Luoyang Tongrun achieved a 150% growth in performance in 2020, and hired twice as many people for the research and development and application of silicon carbide. According to research, the current silicon carbide production capacity is quite stable, the supply of silicon carbide raw materials is sufficient, and the silicon carbide market price is stable, but due to the influence of traditional Chinese holidays, the delivery date will be delayed by 1-2 weeks.

"We will continue to serve the global market while maintaining price stability", said Luo Zhang, general manager of TRUNANAO.

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Ghanaian Dancehall artiste, Livingstone Etse Satekla, popularly known as Stonebwoy is close to signing a deal with Def Jam Records.

In a recent tweet by the labels African chapter the artist was notified of the impending deal to which he responded Lets Go.

Details of the development havent been released yet but fans of Stonebwoy are looking forward to a big deal.

Based in Manhattan, New York City, Def Jam is an American record label owned and run by the Universal Music Group.

In the mid-1990s, Def Jam started a UK chapter which was known as Def Jam UK but changed to 0207 Def Jam in the mid-2000s under the supervision of EMI Records.

The label arrived in Africa in May 2020 and was dedicated to representing the hip hop, Afrobeats, and trap music made in Ghana.

Def Jam is a partnering distributor of some renowned label imprints like Kanye Wests GOOD Music and Dave Easts From the Dirt Records.

Currently, Def Jam has artists like Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Toya Johnson, Nasty C, 2 Chainz, Dave East, Jeezy, Jeremih, Jhene Aiko, YK Osiris among others.
The organizer of the Miss Rwanda beauty pageant has been arrested following allegations of sexual abuse by some contestants.

According to authorities, Dieudonne Ishimwe was picked up by the police a month before this years edition of the contest.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Rwanda Inspiration Back-Up is yet to respond to the arguments leveled against him.

According to an employee of the countrys biggest beauty pageant, four girls who contested last year and in this years edition had lodged complaints to security personnel for Ishimwes arrest.

While the case was still under investigation, he was arrested on Monday, the employee told BBC under anonymous conditions.

A state investigator was quoted by local media to have said that Mr. Ishimwe allegedly abused the contestants of the contest on different occasions.

According to the Rwandan law, sexual acts by force, threats, trickery or by use of authority over that person is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Reports have it that spokesperson of Rwanda Inspiration Back-Up who was the winner of the 2019 edition resigned in the wake of the allegations.
29.04.2022 LISTEN

Young Kumawood actress, Sandra Ababio has debunked all claims of having an erotic relationship with comic actor Kwadwo Nkansah Lilwin.

Speaking with Graphic Showbiz in a recent interview, the actress indicated that Kwadwo Nkansah was just a friend.

She added that rumors of their said relationship are a result of their close friendship.

According to the actress, Nkansah Lilwin was the one who introduced her to the Kumawood movie industry.

I was new in Kumasi and he was more than a friend to me. He showed me around Kumasi. In fact, he was the one who took me to Kumasi and we did everything together like going to set together, amongst other things so that is where the rumors started.

"We live in a society where a man cannot be just mere good friends with a woman so when they saw us together most of the time, they concluded there was something going on between us, we are just good friends. I am not dating Lilwin and I have never dated him, she stated.

Sandra Ababio congratulated Lilwin on his marriage.

Congratulations to him, he just got married to his longtime girlfriend in the US and she is beautiful. May God bless their union and I wish them the very best, she added.
A new Venture Capital Control, under the guise of a Sanctions regime is, perhaps, an easy way of explaining the ills, a cover of or for the invasion.

by Victor Cherubim

For those readers who think I am writing about the Government in Sri Lanka, you are mistaken. Of course, there has been a plethora of information of activity over the last month about our protest marches, our President, our Prime Minister and of the dynasty, let me say, it is uncouth, if not ugly for a Sri Lankan to say what a hideous situation we the people of our land, have placed ourselves in, and laid ourselves bare, due to our foibles.

However, we are gobsmacked to hear the news of Ms.Angela Rayner, M.P, and the Deputy Labour Party Leader in UK, that she had uncrossed her legs in the House of Commons to distract Boris Johnson at Prime Ministers Question time in January this year (2022), when she was acting for the Leader of the Opposition, Sir KierStarmer. She had joked about her tactic during a late night conversation on the Commons terrace with three other fellow MPs who were part of the group, one of them, a woman M.P.

In her own words, she is supposed to have stated: I wasnt aware I did it. But apparently like there was, this whole meme about how my dress was like a bit revealing. But, I didnt think it was, think it was. It was perfectly suitable Karen Millen (dress)  in the sale, (laughs).

This whole episode has ignited public comment among the Brits, reeling over the Cost of Living without money, ever since the Mail on Sunday (MoS) exposed it, in its edition last weekend (24 April, 2022).

The Papers Editor, David Dillion has declined a request for a meeting with the House of Commons (HoC) Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who now seems to have second thoughts about his Commons sermons about banning the MoS Editor, David Dillon and his Political Editor, from entry to the Commons.

David Dillion has tendered a letter to the Speaker stating: MoS deplores sexism and misogyny in all its forms but journalists must be free to report what they are told by MPs about conversations which take place in the Commons, however unpalatable some may find them.

Britain rightly prides itself on its free press. That freedom will not last if journalists have to take instruction from officials of the House of Commons, however, august they may be, on what they can and cannot report.

Crossing and uncrossing legs

My readers will note that it has drawn comparisons with the Basic Instinct star actor, Sharon Stone, but the million dollar question in the minds of many: Did it in any way distract Boris Johnson, who is a great debater at Oxford Union in his Uni days?

The comparison of unease between Sri Lanka and UK ends there, with those in Sri Lanka havent got the money to spend, whilst in the UK, people have the money, but areafraid to spend, due perhaps, to scare mongering. No doubt, the Brits are feeling the pinch with the energy price cap increasing with no other option, than toopen their cheque books, which is now a rare commodity, or going on the never, never?

Sanctions, osanctions

The real distraction in our minds is sanctions, very much in the public eye, beside misogyny, since Russia trespassed into Ukraine.

The international strategy of putting pressure on Russia and its economy has seen a continuous escalation of sanctions.

It is the suggestion, rather the indication, that the West; UK, US, EU are bound to take further action, if not in the days, weeks or months ahead.

I refer to the onerous and ever changing situation of the containment of the war in Ukraine, with the onerous compliance challenges, envisaged.

With the speed at which sanctions are being introduced; people, individuals and businesses; and/or entities being flagged up on Lists of Global Sanctions or often referred to as Politically Exposed Persons, (PEPS) Lists.

Politically Exposed are now in the limelight. It is essential now to ensure accurate identification of newly sanctioned individuals and entities, with connections, links, or business with Russia, besides.

Any business, countries or individuals who have relied on old fashioned paper checks or who use electronic verification systems to update monitoring, are taking enormous risk of breaching sanctions.

A New PEP List is being compiled, similar to the Worlds Rich List. Alerts on new additions to Sanctions need to be scrutinised, to see if a Client, or a Company or a PEP, has been successfully screened.

This is all the more necessary under the new UK Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act2022, to see if breaches of financial sanctions are designated a strict liability civil offence. This is punishable by fines up to 1 million.

Thus anyone with assets frozen by sanctions hasto be duly scrutinised. The law now lays down that failure to conduct proper Sanctions Due Diligence cannot be dismissed as an unfortunate oversight.

Freeing up Capital

Freeing up Capital is the new Risk Assessment for Politically Exposed Persons. The sheer scale of the work involved in effective screening is compounded by the over 1million worldwide sanctions and Politically Exposed Persons. The potential implications this UK Law has imposed is daunting, to say the least.

Was it all planned in advance of the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Sanctions have not only targeted Russia, but all the more for trafficking in drugs, firearms and money laundering. What it literally means is that money held in banks are being frozen, access to property owned is restricted, free movement and travel is under scrutiny. Ordinary peoples Credit and Debit Cards are being blocked, as penalty.

Curtailment of freedom, as we have come to know over decades is being exposed on the pretext of a sanctions regime. How far this economic crime is an infringement of personal liberty is under scrutiny?

Reputation Management is the new name game. A new Venture Capital Control, under the guise of a Sanctions regime is,perhaps, an easy way of explaining the ills, a cover of or for the invasion.

Whilst some will claim this Economic Crime Act 2022, does not go far enough it is clearly an important development. The momentum set by this Act is clear  standards of diligence in overseas wealth entering the UK can no longer operate in silo to that of the ordinary UK citizen. Authorities now have significant powers and offenders face both fines and custodial sentences.

London has enjoyed an unprecedented position in the eyes of the ultra-wealthy  an infrastructure that goes far beyond the property purchases preoccupied by the Act. Luxury goods suppliers, money managers and services providers will undoubtedly be assessing their own governance and controls to ensure they are aligned to both the spirit of the Act, and a growing public sentiment against any perception of a soft approach towards dubious funds entering the UK.
Ghanaian actress Jackie Appiah says she had wanted to pursue a career in law, a profession that is dominant in her family.

Speaking to Kumasi-based media personality, Hammer Nti, the actress disclosed that she had always wanted to venture into the legal field since her infancy.

The Canadian-born actress stated that she is however excited with her path of life as an actress adding that it is the best direction she has ever taken.

Even though I come from a family of lawyers like Joe Appiah, I am living my best life now. I sold my privacy as an actress which comes with highs and lows but I will choose this profession again should I have the opportunity, she said.

The actress added that her role in the upcoming movie details her life as a celebrity who had to twist turns to get in her desired direction in life.

She urged her fans to watch the movie, Red Carpet which she said details the everyday lives of celebrities so the need for them to attend the premiering event.
29.04.2022 LISTEN

The founder and leader of the New Jerusalem Chapel located at Kumasi Sokoban Ampayoo in the Ashanti Region, Bishop Dr. John Yaw Adu has stated that the digitization agenda championed by the Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is the best alternative to curb bribery and corruption in the country.

He said through the digitization agenda will limit human intermediaries which often resulted in long queues and unnecessary delays which often lead to bribery in transacting government business.

Making the statement on Sunday, April 17 2022 to round off the Easter festivities, the Bishop asserted that the economy of the country can be transformed if revenue loopholes are blocked.

He noted that the country is blessed with various natural resources that could satisfy the needs of its citizens, however corruption and bribery is slowing the progress of the country and denying many the national cake.

Preaching from the Book of Matthew Chapter 28 verses 1 to 15, Bishop Adu said Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ took bribe and betrayed his master, Jesus Christ.

According to him, some guards after the crucifixion of Jesus were given bribes to police the tomb of Jesus over fears that the disciples may sneak in and take away the body of Christ to justify the claim that He truly resurrect after three days of His death.

Bishop Adu noted Jesus Christ had prophesied about his death and resurrection which critics described as blasphemous to the gods of the land.

Bishop Dr J.Y.Adu hinted that the issue of bribes that led to the betrayal and death of Jesus Christ is living among people in the society.

Today, the man of God indicated that the business community pay bribes to avoid paying the right amount of taxes for national development.

He added officials demand bribes, ask female job seekers for sex before employment, inflating contract cost, insertion of ledger accounts in financial and public institutions and diverting state funds into private pockets meant for the development of the country.

In order to reverse the trend, Bishop Adu charged Ghanaians to take advantage of the death and resurrection of Christ to turn over a new leaf for God's intervention in the crisis confronting the economy.

."Through the blood of Jesus Christ all sins have been forgiven today, therefore we need to change our mindsets and come together as one people to build an effective economy," the Bishop concluded.
There was confusion in Okaikoi South on Thursday morning, as some members massed up to prevent the governing New Patriotic Partys constituency elections from taking off.

According to them, more than 400 names have been removed from the constituency album.

Speaking to Citi News, the 1st Vice Chairman of the NPP in the Okaikoi South Constituency, William Sangmor, said the process has not been free and fair.

Those that we know to be the delegates for the election this morning have all been changed. Over 400 people have had their names taken off the album and their pictures changed. We only received the album yesterday [Wednesday] after finishing it long ago, informing us that the election is this morning. So the people here are trying to prevent the election from taking place, ensuring that the right thing is done.

The election is supposed to start at 7:00 am, but as the situation is, the setup is done, but the people are not happy, so they are not going to vote. It is very unfair.

Meanwhile, the police have managed to control the crowd and voting is underway.

The Kaneshie Divisional Police Commander, ACP Faakye Kumi, also confirmed the arrest of persons who threatened mayhem earlier.

As the agitations are rising, we have to make sure there is calm, so we will be here till the election is over to provide security to the people. We have however made some arrests and will take them through the due process of the law.

---citinewsroom
Four astronauts, including the first black woman to join the International Space Station crew, docked their SpaceX capsule at the ISS Wednesday less than 16 hours after blast off from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral.

Three of the crew were from Nasa, while the other is from the European Space Agency. Their fully autonomous capsule circled the Earth more than 10 times before docking at 23:37 GMT.

Nasa webcast commentators said the Crew Dragon flight, which docked ahead of schedule, was one of the fastest ever to reach the ISS.

The mission has enabled Nasa astronaut Jessica Watkins to become the first black woman to live and work in space for an extended period.

More than a dozen black Americans, including four black women, have traveled to space - but no women has before been among the 200-odd astronauts serve on board the ISS.

"This is certainly an important milestone I think both for our [space] agency and for the country," Watkins said during a press conference last month.

"I think it really is just a tribute to the legacy of the black women astronauts that have come before me as well as to the exciting future ahead."

The crew will work on science experiments and general space station maintenance.

Nasa said the experiments would include studies on "the ageing of immune systems, organic material concrete alternatives, and cardiorespiratory effects during and after long-duration exposure to microgravity".

The crew will return to Earth on their Crew Dragon capsule in September.
28.04.2022 LISTEN

There was another confusion in the Peoples National Convention (PNC) when the partys leadership engaged in a confrontation over who can have access to the partys headquarters.

It took the intervention of personnel from the Nima Police station to restore calm at the Abavana Junction headquarters in Accra.

Internal wrangling within the party since last year, has led to the party's headquarters being locked up by the police as two factions of the PNC fight over who can have access to the building.

The PNC General Secretary, Janet Nabila, accused the 2020 flagbearer of the PNC, David Apasera, of inciting some thugs to cause confusion at the partys headquarters.

By the time we got to the party office, Mr. Apasera had brought thugs. They were wearing Apaseras T-shirts. What is painful is that Mr. Apasera is walking around the Nima Division of the Police Service to and fro without being arrested.

In an interview, David Apasera complained about the removal of the criminal libel law, saying it had empowered people to spread falsehood about others.

In 2021, the headquarters of the PNC was similarly thrown into a state of confusion as party leaders engaged in heated exchanges during a press conference to brief Ghanaians on the suspension of Janet Nabila.

Internal wrangling within the party has been ongoing for several months now, with no signs of each faction backing down.

On August 28, 2021, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PNC took a decision to indefinitely suspend Nabila over gross misconduct, insubordination, and incompetence.

But she has so far denied all the allegations levelled against her, denouncing the suspension.

The PNC subsequently dragged David Apasera, and the National Chairman of the party, Moses Danibaah, to court for allegedly embezzling party funds.

---citinewsroom
Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari,

29.04.2022 LISTEN

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has implored journalists to weigh the implications of their publications on financial stability before going ahead to disseminating it to the general public.

This is contained in a speech read by BoG Director of Research, Philip Abradu-Otoo on behalf of Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari, first Deputy Governor of the central bank at a workshop for financial journalists on Thursday, April 28, 2022, at the Ecobank head office in Accra.

Mr. Philip Abradu-Otoo said in the line of work of financial journalists, it is important that they report accurately.

He said journalists obtain information from different sources and must always draw a distinction between accurate reportage that comes from publicly available data and accurate reportage from non-publicly available information.

As financial journalists, it is possible to come in contact with different information sets, some of which may be confidential and which, if published, could destabilise the financial system. Financial journalists, therefore, have a responsibility to carefully weigh the implications for financial stability of information they intend to publish, Mr. Philip Abradu-Otoo said.

According to him, the medias role in influencing the economic narrative is even more crucial during periods of heightened uncertainty.

He stressed that under such instances, the media has additional responsibilities to decide the timing of release and newsworthiness of the information at hand for accurate reportage.

In his concluding remarks, he applauded organisers of the workshop, indicating that such an event can help equip journalists with the relevant knowledge of the financial sector and the nature of risks and incentives facing the sector.

Thursdays workshop was organised by Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA) on the theme Accurate reportage, key to financial stability.
Villey Acheampong

29.04.2022 LISTEN

Defeated New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary hopeful for the Subin Constituency in the Ashanti Region, Villey Acheampong has rubbished reports indicating that he has failed to meet GHc700k Bail after he was charged with defrauding.

Addressing the report in a press release, Mr. Acheampong says it is not only erroneous but an attempt by his detractors to tarnish his hard-earned reputation.

I, Villey Acheampong hereby state unequivocally that the said reportage with an accompanying photo of me is erroneous, misleading and a poor attempt by my detractors to tarnish my hard-won reputation, he stresses in a press release.

Insisting that he is not in police custody, Villey Acheampong makes it clear that he is living a normal life just like anybody else and doing his business.

Villey Acheampong concludes, I, therefore, call on my family, friends, business partners, and the general public to treat this denigrating publication about me with utmost contempt.

Below is the press release:

Re: "Failed NPP PC Charged For Defrauding Fails To Meet GHc700k Bail"

My attention has been drawn to a malicious publication on Modern Ghana and other media platforms with the above heading.

I, Villey Acheampong hereby state unequivocally that the said reportage with an accompanying photo of me is erroneous, misleading and a poor attempt by my detractors to tarnish my hard won reputation.

Whilst resisting the temptation of discussing a matter which is sub-judice, it is important to put on record that it is not true that I am in police custody as mischievously put out. On the contrary, I live a normal life just like anybody else, doing my business.

I therefore call on my family, friends, business partners and the general public to treat this denigrating publication about me with utmost contempt.

Thank You.

Signed

Villey Acheampong
29.04.2022 LISTEN

The Ghana Police Service says it has arrested two individuals, who posed as police officers at the voting center of the Okaikoi South NPP constituency elections.

The two, whose names were given as John Essel Bath and Enock Kwame Bosompem, were spotted at the Prince of Peace School compound at Bububiashie where the elections was taking place.

A statement signed by the Director-General in charge of Public Affairs, DCOP Kwesi Ofori, said the two who have been arrested are currently in custody and assisting with ongoing investigations.

The Police have arrested two persons who showed up at the ongoing NPP Constituency Executive Elections wearing clothing that created the impression that they were police personnel.

The two suspects John Essel Bath and Enock Kwame Bosompem were spotted on Thursday, April 28 2022 at the Okaikoi South Constituency where the voting was taking place

We would like to emphatically state that the two suspects are not police officers. Meanwhile, they are in custody as investigations continue the statement added.

Earlier today, Thursday, there was confusion at the venue of the governing New Patriotic Party's constituency elections in the Okaikoi South, as some members massed up to prevent the polls from taking off.

There was also heavy security presence at the voting grounds as some aggrieved party members complained about their names being removed from the constituency's voting album

Some angry members were seen engaging in a scuffle with the police, while others were also seen engaging in physical fights.

citinewsroom
The high rate of corruption in the Supreme Court of Ghana has become a chronic problem without end. The manifestation of corruption is a very dangerous criminal phenomenon that is undermining the foundations of state power and affecting ordinary people and the country's economy.

The law is corrupt, but it works better in many countries, especially in the developed world than in African countries. Therefore, I wasnt surprised by a report from the US confirming that "Ghanas judiciary is subject to the unlawful influence, corruption, and the taking of bribes by officials."

Gone are the days when one proudly says, "I am a lawyer," and the one is given respect in society. Unfortunately, there are others that have made the profession unworthy because they continue to take bribes and deny innocent people justice. Ghanas Supreme Court has now become a den of bribe-takers.



Left, Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah and the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, are the two major destructive forces in the field of judiciary destroying Ghana today

When a rotten seed is planted, it never grows, or when it grows, it bears bad fruit. Thats what Ghanaians must expect in the Supreme Court because your Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, who was exposed in a $5 million bribe scandal, refused to resign. He now sits upon the throne, causing havoc to ordinary Ghanaians like a hurricane because his master, Akufo Addo, has commanded him to do so.

The president, Nana Akufo Addo, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, and the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, are responsible for the current political unrest and collapsed economy because they work under the influence of bribes rather than for the welfare of ordinary people.

My favorite readers will agree with me over a number of articles I have written revealing how corruption in the Supreme Court has led to the fall of Ghana. Since no one can challenge the decision of the Supreme Court, the judges have become the judiciary's criminals, creating a living hell for ordinary people.

Imagine, if Kwasi Anin-Yeboah was able to restrict the boss of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensah, from appearing in the witness box to answer Ghanaians over allegations of election fraud, then he is capable of doing the worst. What he did shouldnt have taken place because its the ordinary Ghanaians that want those answers, not the NDC party.

Ghanaians should be aware that as long as people like Akufo Addo, Godfred Dame, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, and Ken Ofori-Atta are in the NPP government, they will continue to suffer because these destructive elements have no feelings for the common people. They are struggling to rule Ghana just to feed themselves and their families. Thats why living in Ghana has become a nightmare.

As long as the Supreme Court of Ghana continues to be a notorious institution, abusing its power by denying ordinary people and political opponents, Ghana will continue to be a wrecked nation.

Corruption among judges at the Supreme Court manifests itself not only in the delivery of a certain envelope with money for services or the transfer of property but also in non-monetary forms. Right from the Attorney Generals office, a corrupt judge can make a biased decision after taking a bribe and when under pressure. It is, therefore, likely that Godfred Dame and Kwasi Anin-Yeboah are under pressure to do what Akufo Addo wants.

Nothing under the government of Nana Akufo Addo is moving in the right direction as things are falling apart. In any developed country, to stop or reduce the corruptible activities at the Supreme Court, permanent established disciplinary commissions will examine exclusively the misdemeanors of judges and prepare materials for their removal, but not in Ghana.

If Ghana had a disciplinary commission of retired judges, who in their professional careers werent involved in any bribe scandal, they would have followed strict judicial ethics to flush out these criminals acting as lawyers from the system, but the country lacks everything that fights corruption. Therefore, the fight against corruption in the country and also at the Supreme Court has become fruitless.

Everything about Akufo Addo, including his age and his career as a lawyer, has become subject to doubt. How can someone who claims to be a human rights lawyer continue to abuse his power and violate the rights of ordinary people in his own country and impose E-Levy on them?

He also boasted about fighting corruption while he was surrounded by corrupt politicians and journalists promoting crimes and doing more harm to the country than good. The journalists appointed by Nana Akufo Addo don't care about the suffering of ordinary Ghanaians because they work according to the demands of the president.

Ordinary Ghanaians must admit that they will suffer a great deal because this particular incompetent government is like a Mafia organization that has hijacked the whole country for its benefit. They have caused fear by keeping people silent and using the money to subdue everything they consider a threat.

Darkness and light cant stay in the same room. Therefore, before 2024, more corruption, crimes, and scandals will hit the president, and both Nana Akufo Addo and the NPP will fall in Ghana. The NPP will struggle and do everything legal and illegal but they can never restore the lost trust and confidence in them again. Time will tell.
The Vision for Alternative Development (VALD) has called on government of Ghana through the Ministry of Health to honour its WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) obligation and reject Medicagos Covifenz vaccine when offered.

The Executive Director of Programs for VALD, Labram Musah detailed in a press release that, the Quebec- based pharmaceutical company, Medicago has produced first Canada- made COVID-19 vaccine (Covifenz) in support of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He indicated that however, the World Health Organization has declined all requests to approve the vaccine for entry on the WHOs COVID-19 Emergency Use Listing (EUL).

According to him, the WHO in its expression of interest phase has labeled the Covifenz vaccine not accepted on its website dated 2nd March 2022.

This decision by the WHO, he noted has received support from various public health groups in Canada and across the globe; calling on the Canadian government to find an appropriate investor to replace Philip Morris as a major shareholder in Medicago.

According to Labram, WHOs refusal to approve this vaccine is due to Medicagos ties with Philip Morris International, one of the worlds leading tobacco companies and a major shareholder in Medicago.

It is indeed an irony that an industry that kills over 7 million smokers; exposing more than 1.2 million to secondhand smoke annually wishes to lead the way in solving the coronavirus pandemic when its own products pose deadly health threats indifferently, Labrah lamented.

Ghana as a party of the 182 signatories to the WHO FCTC, must remain committed to its obligations including Article 5.3 which obliges parties to ensure that their policies are protected "from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry."

Guidelines for implementing this obligation make clear that "the tobacco industry should not be a partner in any initiative linked to setting or implementing public health policies, given that its interests are in direct conflict with the goals of public health," he noted.

We, therefore, echo the voices of public health advocates globally and call on Ghana to avoid any ties with the Covifenz vaccine and future partnerships that violate its FCTC obligations. There are at least nine other WHO-approved safe and effective vaccines such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson among others in the COVAX kitty, Ghana should decline any offer to accept vaccines tainted with the tobacco industrys funding," the Executive Director of Programs said.

He stressed that, "VALD commends WHO for remaining resolute in this bold decision and entreats the Ghana government to stand with WHO and reject the Covifenz vaccine understanding that the control of the COVID-19 pandemic should not compromise our battle against tobacco. It is time for stringent legislation and actions to hold the tobacco industry responsible for the harm they cause to health, the economy, and the environment; they are a threat to our very existence."
During Mahinda Rajapaksas time at the helm of Sri Lankan politics, the 30 year war was won, GDP growth reached 7% by 2015, per capita income rose from USD 1065 in 2004 to USD 3843 by 2015 and GDP rose from USD 20.66 Billion in 2004 to USD 80.6 Billion by 2015. These are World Bank statistics and should not be forgotten. Mistakes may have been made, but the challenge now is to learn from them and move forward and not to vilify Mr Rajapaksa.

by Raj Gonsalkorale

Sri Lanka seems to be a Nation with very short memories. Perhaps dementia is more common than what is believed. The significant achievements of past leaders have been forgotten and whatever mistakes and errors of judgment they made as human beings have taken center stage. The reasons why SWRD Bandaranaike introduced a Swabasha policy and many other nationalistic policies which moved the country closer to its people has been overlooked and forgotten and instead the erroneous slogan Sinhala only in 24 hours has come to define Mr Bandaranaike and as the epicenter of everything that went wrong in the country due to him.

Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaikes socialist policies especially from 1970 to 1976 where she embarked on a food production and industrialization drive to make the country self-reliant and less dependent on imports, were vilified and forces that gathered to do this paved the way for Mr J R Jayewardene to become President in 1977. His policy of an open economy opened the stable doors and the horses that fled have created havoc. MrJayewardene cannot be blamed entirely for this as those who succeeded him made no attempt to identify shortcomings in his policies and refocus on food production and selective industrialisation.

Mrs Chandrika Kumaratungas defining policies in education reform, among other things, have been forgotten and she is remembered for whatever personality squabbles between her and her successor Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Mahinda Rajapaksas achievements, stated at the outset, are now forgotten, and he is vilified for robbing the country although there is so far no proofhe has done so. It is true that the debt accumulation began under his leadership and continued to increase after him. However, the economic data given by the World Bank demonstrates a hefty economic growth during his time, and that debt had been used to fund this growth. Among other things, if one were to pick a hole in the economic strategies adopted during his time, investing in projects without well considered return on investment (ROI) studies, and not building the countrys foreign reserves using its own money and not counting loans as reserves, could perhaps take center stage, in hindsight.

More than anything else, the fact that Mr Rajapaksa gave political leadership to end a 30 year conflict, and for all Sri Lankans to be able to walk freely anywhere in the country, protestfreely, and practice democracy, Sri Lanka style of course, cannot and should not be forgotten. Had Mr Rajapaksa followed his war victory with a peace victory and laid the foundation to bring an end to the reasons for the conflict, he would have achieved even more of a victory. Being a forgetful Nation, no doubt that too would have been forgotten even if he had laid that foundation.

The clamour for Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa to resign from his Prime Ministership is one thing but vilifying him in the way that clamour is being orchestrated is another thing.

Whatever responsibility he bears for the sorry state of the country today and any consequences arising from that is a price he will have to pay. People do have a right to seek accountability from him, the President, and the government. However, the degree of vilification demonstrated is an indication of a flaw in the character of those who are spearheading this vilification campaign as a means of seeking this accountability. It is a reflection on the superficiality of people who clamour for moral and ethical behavior on the part of leaders but who are unable to adhere and practice such morality and ethical behavior themselves.

There are constitutional and legal procedures that are available to remove leaders from office. Unless these are employed, the country could descend to anarchy and be in a worse position than now. It is possible that this maybe exactly what some in the political arena want as their end objective. A chaotic, anarchic situation where the constitution becomes worthless and a new so called peoples revolution takes over and gives way to a one-party State based on Marxism. There are elements within the political arena which has tried this before and failed. They could well be making another attempt, cashing in on a situation created for them by the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and the errors of judgement on the part of the countrys leadership to manage the consequences of the pandemic.

The increasing number of protests, strikes, marches spurred on by the hardships faced by the people point out to a scenario that is being choreographed by unseen hands. They all know that a change in the Presidency or the Prime Ministership will not solve the food, medicine, gas or diesel shortages overnight although that is the message they are giving to ordinary people who are participating in these activities. When a new government, for example should one led by the Opposition take over, they will not be able to solve the immediate issues overnight, and it is as clear as mud as they say, that protests will resume with greater intensity against the new government.

Protestors should ask themselves, what then? Who does one turn to?

A chaotic and anarchic situation could also be the work of unseen external hands. It is no secret that this has happened in other countries and an opportunity for such an external hand to get a foothold in Sri Lanka which they have not been able to get through normal bilateral discussions. Sri Lankans should not be naive and should not be deceived by such external elements. As the saying goes, one has to be beware of Greeks bearing gifts!

Protestations are important and peoples voices should have been heard and heeded. However, protestors should be aware of the dangers that unscrupulous and opportunistic elements pose which could well hijack genuine protests, and in fact discredit their efforts.

If all political parties represented in Parliament are genuine about a solution, and not give way to chaos, anarchy, rendering the constitution useless, and the emergence of a one-party State, they should all join in forming a multi-party government for a given period like 12 months by forming a multi-party governing council.This council should determine policies that should be applicable for the next 12 months, and also develop a long term economic and social policy for at least the next 10 years in consultation with industry, business leaders, unions, academics, womens organisations and grass root representatives drawn from agriculture, fisheries, local industries etc. An election in 12 months will determine who gains office and carries out the long term economic and social policy agreed to by all parties in the governing council. In such a situation, it is the governing council comprising of party leaders and not who holds the office of the President, Prime Minister or a cabinet minister that assumes greater importance for the next 12 months.
Israeli televangelist Benny Hinn has said it is an offence to God and the Holy Spirit for pastors and preachers to ask their denomination to pay $1,000 for prosperity or miracles, saying he is done with the monetisation of the Gospel.

A repented Benny Hinn said: The flesh must be broken, must be out of the way; and today, sadly, among a lot of circles, all you hear is: how to build the flesh; its a feel-good message.

I'm sorry to say prosperity has gone a little crazy and I'm correcting my own theology, and you need to all know it because when I read the Bible now, I don't see the Bible in the same eyes I saw the Bible 20 years ago, Hinn told an audience in a video, adding: I dont want to hurt my friends who I love who believe things I dont believe anymore.

And I will tell you something that is going to shock you: I think it's an offence to the Lord, it's an offence to say: 'Give USD1,000. I think it's an offence to the Holy Spirit to place a price on the Gospel. I'm done with it. I will never again ask you to give USD1,000 or whatever amount because I think the Holy Ghost is just fed up with it."

I think that hurts the Gospel. So, Im making this statement for the first time in my life and frankly, I dont care what people think about me anymore, Benny Hinn said.

If I hear one more time: 'Break the back of debt with USD1,000', I'm going to rebuke them," he said, noting: I think that's buying the Gospel, that's buying the blessing, that's grieving the Holy Spirit. That's about all I will say, he noted.

If you are not giving because you love Jesus, don't bother giving. I think giving has become such a gimmick, it's making me sick to my stomach and Ive been sick for a while, too, I just couldnt say it, and, now, the lid is off. Ive had it, he told the audience.

Do you know why? I dont want to get to heaven and be rebuked. I think its time we say it like it is: the Gospel is not for sale and the blessings of God are not for sale and miracles are not for sale and prosperity if not for sale.

In a subsequent one-on-one interview with Charisma CEO Stephen Strang, Hinn said prosperity gospel was nothing but manipulation and gimmickry.

Let me first start by saying the change in my own heart and life to do with that [prosperity gospel] has really nothing to do with what my critics have said about me, it has to do with my own heart before the Lord.

The last two years, Steve, Ive become very close to the Lord because of one reason: because I want to please Him [more] than ever in my life, to be honest with you. I want to end well when I go to glory, I want to smile and Ive told Him so many times. I said: Dear Jesus Ive believed you enough, Ive disappointed you enough in my past life, I do not want that for me today or tomorrow.

So, the prosperity issue is not fully the main thing on my list; its on the list but its not the main one. I just simply want to obey the Lord in everything He says, not just that, and, so, as I have been in my Bible way more than most people would realise, I mean, truly, Ive almost shut the world out  and I mean the world, day and night, including now reading my Hebrew Bible in Hebrew because I want to know the Lords mind, the prosperity message began to bother me probably about two years ago, I just wasnt free to talk about it. I was afraid because I did not want to hurt my friends or people.

And what began to bother me is: where is Jesus in the message, where is the Lord in all this, where is the Gospel in all this? And I began to notice that most of the people that minister the message were not focusing on the Gospel, they were not focusing on loving the Lord Jesus; this is why we preach; this is why we minister. Its our love for the Lord that comes across with whatever we say. And Steve, youve known me a long time. When I began, I began for one reason: I adored my master; then, for a period in my life when the ministry was growing, I became distracted  quite simple. My love never changed. I just became distracted and I dont want to get into that, Hinn confessed.

Today, Im 67 years old, Im thinking about: how am I going to finish? And what will I leave behind for the next generation? How will they view me? I want them to view me as one who preaches the cross. I do not want to be known for prosperity [gospel]. I want to be known [as] someone who preached the cross of Jesus, salvation, one who teaches on the Holy Spirit, one who teaches on the anointing and the power of God, one who focuses on that, not on money, not on prosperity. Thats not my calling, its never been my calling.

Yea, people have used me to raise money for their ministries. You know I was a pastor for many years and evangelist for longer than that but now my heart is changing, in fact, not only is it changing, it has changed totally in many ways about many things, so, number one: I dont want anyone to think or believe that I am changing because of my critics; it has nothing to do with anyone, period, including my nephew, including anyone else out there who may think that they brought the change in me; no no no no; thats not true, its my relationship with the Lord and only that  nothing more, nothing less, he added.

Number two, its about the Lord: we must bring the message back, bring the balance back. So, in my meetings, when I would watch people  and I usually had other people raise the funds in the morning  this is something that happened in the past, Im not talking about recent; recently I dont even allow it. But in the past, when they would ask people to give a USD1,000 or whatever amount, Steve, 80 per cent of the people who came down, they did not even give it, they just came down, I dont know why they came down but they came down, and what they were saying to them was not biblical, he noted.

I did not have, at that time, the boldness and the courage to say: Look, stop that! Today, Im sorry [but] I cannot allow that or will I ever allow that or will I myself do it, period, even though I did in the past because its manipulation, its gimmickry to tell someone you give a USD1,000 and youll get a hundredfold, he denounced.

What if they dont get that hundredfold? And most do not. What happens to their walk with the Lord and their faith? Think about that  the damage, the questions. I do not want to be accused of [convincing] someone to bring a USD1,000 and it didnt happen. No. Never again.

 Today, the thing that I have to make clear is number one: I believe the Bible, I believe God wants to bless His people, I believe that He wants us to succeed in life, absolutely. But the focus must be Him, the Gospel, not our greed, not what we want back for it, not Im giving so I can get it back a hundredfold and all that stuff, he added.

Source: Classfmonline.com
29.04.2022 LISTEN

We cannot forget about the torturing and killing of the Nigerian people  persecuted for their faith.

Persecution in Nigeria is, simply put, brutally violent. In much of northern Nigeria, Christians live their lives under the constant threat of attack from Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Fulani militants and criminals who kidnap and murder with few consequences. Visit www.opendoorsusa.org.

According to a 2022 article in the Morning Star News, in Nigerias Kaduna State, at least 50 Christians were murdered and a Catholic priest was abducted; 100 kidnapped Christians were taken captive in Giwa County; and radical Fulani terrorists burned houses and a church, and slaughtered animals.

Nigerias killings and kidnappings of Christians continue to increase while Nigerian President Muhammadu Buharia Fulani tribesman himselfand his government do worse than nothing in the face of the ongoing religious violence and destruction. Visit www.providencemag.com.

A report by the U.S-based Christian persecution monitoring group Open Doors shows the number of Christians killed in 2020 increased by 60 percent, mostly because of Islamic violence against Nigerian Christians.

Another U.S.-based organization, International Christian Concern, estimates 50,000 to 70,000 Christians have died in violent attacks in Nigeria over 18 years, mostly carried out by Boko Haram terrorists or arms-wielding gangs. Visit www.persecution.org.

On January 30, 2020, Christian Solidarity International (CSI) issued a genocide warning for Nigeria. Read more information at www.csi-schweiz.ch.

Why isnt the Nigerian government taking action? Where are the voices of the other 53 countries in Africa? Why isnt the United Nations Security Council taking action? Why isnt American President Joe Biden taking action? Why isnt Pope Francis taking action? Why isnt mainstream media covering the violence?

Ministers, pastors, and Christians from churches around the globe need to contact Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari by Facebook or twitter or on Nigeria Embassy in Cote at www.nigeriaembassyci.org; the U.S. Embassy and Consulate to Nigeria at ng.usembassy.gov or [email protected] or phone: (234)-9-461-4000; and the government administrators in their own countries. Media outlets need to print the stories of persecution.

Religion which requires persecution to sustain, it is of the devils propaganda. Hose Ballou

Melissa Martin, Ph.D., is a syndicated opinion-editorial columnist. She lives in USA.
29.04.2022 LISTEN

The Economist Magazine beautifully captured leadership problem in a cover story for its March 1, 2014 edition: "WHAT IS GONE WRONG WITH DEMOCRACY?" It reads: "Certainly many things are going wrong with democracy; chief among these is the insatiable quest of politicians, especially opposition elements to capture power at all costs, most often to the detriment of the very country they claim to love and want to serve."

According to the Economist, in most cases, when the opposition obtain power at all costs, the new regime stumbles, the economy flounders, and the country finds itself in a worse state than before. It went on to say that the picture painted here was what happened in most of the Arab Spring, and also in Ukraine's Orange Revolution more than a decade and half ago. In 2004, Mr. Yanukovch was ousted from office by vast street protests, only to be re-elected to the presidency because the opposition who replaced him turned out to be hopeless. This is exactly the story of the NPP.

Meanwhile, in Libya, Col. Qaddaffi achieved the following under his rule: Literacy rose from 10% to 90%; undernourishment was at 2%, a figure lower than that of the US, free education from primary to university and free healthcare. Libya ranked No. 53 on the United Nations index of Human Development. He gave free land and farm inputs to anyone who wanted to go into agriculture. There was no homelessness since all citizens were given free homes and $500 (GHC3,750) deposited in the bank accounts of every Libyan every month under the oil- revenue sharing programme.

Even though some Libyans jubilated when Qaddaffi was killed, reminiscing the good old days, they have regretted the action that led to the overthrow and killing of their great leader because Libya has now collapsed. In Libya, posterity is judging Qaddafi the same way posterity is judging President John Dramani Mahama in Ghana.

Ghanaians must learn some lessons from these Ukrainian and Libyan experiences and bring Mahama back as president of the Republic. And it behoves on the NDC to take the first step by choosing him as their flag-bearer.

I have been saying this, and I want to reiterate that 2024 would be a critical moment for the National Democratic Congress. The party has two choices: endorse Mahama or risk staying in opposition for another four years or even more; the situation the NDC finds itself could be likened to a final penalty kick which requires that a team puts its best player forward.

As for those who benefited from the Administration of H.E. John Dramani Mahama, but have decided to sabotage his cause, I leave them with this quote from Paul Bamikole, Ingratitude makes a man an animal or even worse because some animals have a way of saying thank you when you do them a favour. . .

I Agree With Him.

Anthony Obeng Afrane
Dakar, April 28, 2022  Congolese authorities should drop their prosecution of journalist Sebastien Mulamba, stop harassing him, and investigate the raid on his home, the Committee to Project Journalists said Thursday.

At around 3 a.m. on April 21, police arrested Mulamba, a journalist and director of the privately owned Kisangani News, at his home in Kisangani, the capital of the northern Tshopo province, according to press reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ by phone. Mulamba also appears as a guest commentator on local radio programs, according to those sources.

Mulamba and Ernest Mukula, a representative of the National Union of Congolese Press in Kisangani, both told CPJ that they believe the arrest is in retaliation for Mulambas guest commentary on the Orient Hebo program, broadcast by Radio Flamboyant Orient at Kisangani University. During the program, Mulamba repeatedly criticized the governor of the Tshopo province, Abibu Sakapela, the journalist told CPJ, without giving further details.

Congolese authorities should drop the charges against Sebastien Mulamba and thoroughly investigate the violent raid on his home, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator, from New York. Journalists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are too often subjected to violent harassment and detention.

The unknown number of uniformed officers who arrested Mulamba on April 21 wore hoods that covered their faces, forced their way into the home, broke doors and windows, and fired shots into the air, Mulamba told CPJ. After gaining access to the home, officers tied Mulambas hands, took his phone, and refused to explain the reason for the arrest, the journalist told CPJ. They [the police] found me in front of my children and tied me up without telling me why, Mulamba said.

The officers then took Mulamba to the local police station and held him for six hours, he told CPJ. Police released him with his phone and charged him with illegal possession of weapons, criminal association, and armed robbery. The contents of Mulambas phone had been deleted, he said.

The police told Mulamba to be ready to return if they called, he said. A court date has not been scheduled and if convicted, Mulamba faces the death penalty, according to Articles 85 and 150 of the penal code. Mulamba denied the charges, telling CPJ that they are unfounded.

CPJs calls to Sakapela rang unanswered. Messages for comment sent via messaging app to Sakapela and Kazingu Voda, a Kisangani police spokesperson, were marked as read, but received no response.
(Monrovia, Liberia): Monrovia City and Houston City signed a Memorandum of Understanding on April 28, 2022, at the Monrovia City Hall in the City of Monrovia, Liberia to strengthen relations between both cities and seek to develop ideas to promote mutual exchange and cooperation.

Hon. Williametta Piso Saydee-Tarr, Council Member of Monrovia signed on behalf of Monrovia, Liberia, and Dr. Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, Council Member of Houston and Christopher Olson, Director of International Affairs, City of Houston signed the MoU on behalf of Houston City, United States of America.

Underscoring the importance of working together, Mayor Koijee said that the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding is a great step in strengthening collaboration between Monrovia and Houston. Dr. Evans-Shabazz said that the two cities would increase their cooperative efforts through the MoU, to upscale mutual exchange and cooperation.

Under the MOU, the two parties agreed to consider opportunities and explore potential cooperation and ventures in the future. The MoU also envisages, among others, initiatives across fields like education, trade, agriculture, public works, energy, and cultural exchange that will benefit the citizens of both cities.

The City of Monrovia and the City of Houston will further develop goodwill and understanding between citizens of the two cities and examine opportunities to develop stronger ties, identify areas of cooperation and explore possibilities of partnership in those identified areas.

In attendance at the signing ceremony were Mr. Aaron Whitely, Commissioner of Chatham County, District 6, Mr. Valvert R. Thompson, President, Houston International Trade Development Council, and Hon. Cynthia Blandford, Honorary Consul, Republic of Liberia to Atlanta, Georgia, and President, Blandford Thompson International Consulting, LLC.

Others are Mr. Victor M. Bonner, Attorney at Law, Ms. Centrell M. Reed, President & CEO, Creed Global Media, Mr. Warren L. Winston, President, Winston WorldWide, LLC, and Mr. Nick A. Nwoke, President of NEXTERA Equipment Export and Global Logistics, LLC, among others.

They were part of a trade mission from the City of Houston, Americas fourth largest city to Liberia. During their mission, the team also met with other government agencies including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Port Authority, National Investment Commission, the business community, and embassies accredited near Monrovia such as the US Embassy and USAID.

The MOU is expected to last for two years, during which time an official sister city agreement will commence between Monrovia and Houston.
29.04.2022 LISTEN

The National Women Organiser of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kate Gyamfua, has asked the partys delegates to use the ongoing constituency congresses as platforms to show the world that the NPP still remains the only option that can better the lots of Ghanaians.

According to Ms Gyamfua, the actions of the party in the next few days will prove whether it is one that Ghanaians could still rely on or look elsewhere for a non-existent alternative.

This was contained in a statement wishing the party successful constituency delegates congresses, which commenced nationwide yesterday.

The election is expected to end on May 2.

She called for absolute unity across the rank and file of the party, and prayed for successful congresses across the country.

Competence

Ms Gyamfua further urged the delegates to first take into consideration the competencies of the candidates aspiring for the various positions before voting for them.

She urges the delegates to consider humility, affability, respect for party members, hard work as some of the core factors to consider in their voting choices.

I specially wish all women aspirants the best of luck, she added.

Constituency congress

The NPP began nationwide constituency congresses yesterday to elect new constituency officers.

A statement released by the partys General Secretary, John Boadu, early this week noted that it was the responsibility of the duly constituted Constituency Elections Committee to determine an appropriate day within the given period to conduct the congress and hold the elections under the supervision of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, in accordance with the party's rules and regulations.
A group of 4,000 Nigerians who fled years ago to neighbouring Niger because of jihadist violence have returned home despite ongoing insecurity and almost non-existent services in the area.

The refugees' return to Mallam Fatori town in the Abadam district of Borno state on March 31 and April 1 is part of the authorities' effort to shut crowded camps, bring back refugees and relocate internally displaced people who want to go home.

But aid workers are worried the returns to the northeastern town, which has been deserted for half a decade and is close to areas still controlled by jihadists, will cause harm and more displacements.

Borno authorities did not respond to AFP's multiple requests for comment on the returns.

But officials have previously said they only return people to safe areas, with the goal of weaning them off humanitarian assistance and encouraging farming activities.

The refugees had been living with more than 180,000 others in southeast Niger's Diffa region, where they began arriving in 2014 when it was deemed safer than conflict-wracked northeast Nigeria.

Map of Niger and Nigeria locating Mallam Fatori town where Nigerian refugees have returned after fleeing to Nigerian border region Diffa. By Elonore HUGHES AFP

However, Boko Haram and its rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group, have since spread over the border, launching attacks from their island enclaves in Lake Chad.

On March 9 alone, gunmen attacked three villages in Niger where Nigerian refugees were present, according to a local researcher who tracks the conflict.

"They killed about 45 people and abducted 22 others," Malik Samuel of the Institute for Security Studies told AFP. "So, many refugees want to come back to Nigeria."

Mines, mortars

Nigeria's military has conducted clearance operations and patrols alongside Nigerien troops ahead of the returns, but Abadam remains a stronghold for ISWAP, which has taken over from Boko Haram to become the dominant threat in the region.

For years, the insurgents have infested the area with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), laying road ambushes and, more recently, firing mortar bombs towards military posts.

"Even troops are cautious about going on patrol," said a security source in the state capital Maiduguri, adding that in Mallam Fatori, the "troops' preoccupation is securing the base from the terrorists."

According to a second security source who collects conflict data and asked to remain anonymous, there were almost 50 attacks in Abadam in the past six months alone, including 38 on Mallam Fatori.

Nigerien soldiers patrol outside the Diffa airport in southeast Niger, where jihadist violence has spread from neighbouring Nigeria.. By Issouf SANOGO AFP

Attacks have often had little impact, as there were hardly any civilians in the area until these returns, but in February ISWAP said it had killed at least 30 soldiers in two ambushes.

ISWAP has also warned the government not to return civilians to the area, even infiltrating the town earlier in March and burning down shelters that were built by the authorities for the refugees.

A local official who said he was with the governor when the refugees returned told AFP that a detachment from the Multinational Joint Task Force, comprising troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, was stationed in the town.

"But their mandate is only for two months," he said, asking to remain anonymous.

Since the refugees' return, no large-scale attacks have been reported on the town but the real test will come next month, when the rain starts and farming activities can resume.

Some civilians could try and go beyond the trenches to access fields, where the risk from mines and kidnapping is high.

Limited water

In the meantime, access to essential services is limited and aid workers cannot fill gaps because they consider the area out of reach due to insecurity.

What's more, there are no safe roads to and from the town, which is only accessible through Niger.

Internally displaced persons take down a tent at the Bakassi IDP camp in Maiduguri ahead of a government-led closure of camps.. By Audu MARTE AFP

"We are concerned about the untimely repatriation ... to Mallam Fatori," said Camilla Corradin, a spokeswoman for the INGO Forum which represents 54 international NGOs providing humanitarian and development assistance in Nigeria.

Repatriations that "do not align with international legal frameworks," she added, "will be unsustainable and cause harm, including subsequent displacement."

A senior humanitarian official based in the northeast and who gathered information from the town said there was sparse access to drinking water.

"The only water point is in the military base. They have working hours so there are limited times when returnees can access it," the aid official said, asking to remain anonymous.

Borno gave food and cash to the refugees and built temporary shelters, classrooms and a healthcare centre, according to a statement in March from the governor's spokesman Isa Gusau.

But according to the aid official, the school does not yet have teachers and medical supplies are lacking at the clinic.

A second humanitarian source based in Abuja said they had received the same details from "informants" in the town.

Both said that there was also no functioning market, with the closest one located across the international border, in Niger.

"The truth is," the first security source said, "the refugees ... are literally living in a concentration camp. They are kept in the town, without access to basic needs, and they can't move out."
A farmer in Larabanga community in the West Gonja municipality of the Savannah region has been ordered to plant 100 shea seedlings or be jailed for 100 years for destroying over 80 young shea trees on his farm.

The farm which is located few meters away from the Mole National Park has both young and old Shea trees destroyed through the use of chemicals by the farmer whose name has been given as Fuseini.

Director of JackSally Development Organization, an NGO that has over the years fought the canker of tree cutting in the Savannah Region, Mr Jeremiah Seidu who visited the farm to ascertain first-hand information and to know why the farmer decided to destroy 89 shea trees quickly told the farmer to replace the trees immediately by planting 100 trees else he would be prosecuted.

The farmer explained that he destroyed or killed the shea trees to pave way for him to plant cashew which Mr Jeremiah Seidu in a sharp response told him that both cashew and shea trees can grow and fruit well on the same land.

He used the opportunity to call on agriculture officers in the Damongo Municipality to intensify sensitization to farmers to desist from felling of shea trees in the name of planting cashew since both have economic values for the country and can bear fruit on the same farmland.

The JackSally Development Organization and partners are advocating more shea trees/seedlings to be planted because of the value of shea fruits to women in the area and the country.

As part of efforts to get the farmer replace the 89 shea trees destroyed, Mr Seidu has linked the farmer to both the Bole Cocoa Research Center and A Rocha Ghana, to supply the farmer with free shea seedlings.

The farmer will first visit the Bole Cocoa Research Center for orientation on importance of shea fruits, how to plant the seedlings and how to manage the seedlings till maturity and will be supervised by both institutions.

Shea network, JackSally Development Organization and other partners are currently investigating another equally devastating felling of shea trees for fuelwood or charcoal in the Bole area.

Mr Seidu expressed gratitude to Shea Network for the support and USAID WABIC (West African Biodiversity and Climate Change) project for donating their truck to JackSally Development Organization.

Source: Classfmonline.com
Captain Smart

29.04.2022 LISTEN

The National Media Commission (NMC) has ordered Accra-based radio station, Onua FM and its presenter, Godsbrain Smart, popularly known as Captain Smart, to retract a broadcast they made on November 24 last year, against the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, and the person of the Minister, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.

A statement issued by the NMC indicated that the broadcast had alleged among other things, that although the Ministry [of Parliamentary Affairs] did not exist, government had given it a budgetary allocation of GH16 million to spend.

At the Complaints Settlement Committee, the station could not substantiate the allegations, the NMC revealed in its statement.

It added that the commission found the behaviour of Onua FM unethical and unprofessional, and, therefore, directed the station to apologise and retract the said news story.

In addition, Onua FM has also been directed to remove the unfounded allegations from all their media platforms and other social media platforms.

----DGN online
The Takoradi Circuit Court B presided over by Her Honor, Abigail Anima Asare, has convicted a 38-year-old man, Kobina Ebo, for attempting to sell his 16-year-old son to a fetish priest for an amount of GH500,000.

The accused pleaded guilty to the charges leveled against him and, as such, the court has set Wednesday, May 4 to deliver the final judgment.

The prosecutor, Inspector Yawson, told the court that the accused on Thursday, March 3 at around 6:30am approached a spiritualist by the name Tanoh Kwaw at Ayesakro, a suburb of Axim in the Nzema East Municipality of the Western Region.

He then requested the spiritualist to use his son for rituals for him to get money.

The spiritualist declined but the accused returned the same day in the afternoon around 1:00 pm pestering the spiritualist to buy his son for an amount of GH500,000.

Seeing how desperate and determined the accused was, the spiritualist feigned interest and promised to get him people who could buy so he should go and bring the son.

The spiritualist informed the Axim Police Command and the accused was arrested when he had bargained with the plain-clothed policemen and had taken an envelope that was supposed to contain the amount at the residence of the spiritualist where they had all met.

He has been convicted by the court but he would be sentenced on Wednesday.

Speaking in an interview with Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson on Connect FM's Omanbapa, the fetish Priest, Nana Tanoh Kwaw, expressed satisfaction with the speedy trial of the suspect.

According to him, he was shocked to have seen a father trying to use his son for money rituals at all cost.

The mother of the young boy is dead so he wanted to sell him for that amount to me. I'm happy to hear that he has pleaded guilty and the court has convicted him. He should be punished to serve as a deterrent to anyone who thinks there is anything called money ritual. We must all help in clamping down on bad people in society. I don't use my rituals to kill, I only help people, he indicated.

The son in question is the eldest of three children the accused had with her former late wife.

The son together with his two other siblings have since been living with their grandmother at Akyerso, a village near Akim Oda in the Eastern Region.

The son has become a school dropout because of financial challenges.

The accused, therefore, took advantage of this, and knowing his plan, got permission from the grandmother and brought down the son to Ayesakro to accomplish his mission.

The son has since been sent back to his grandmother in the Eastern Region.

---3news.com
29.04.2022 LISTEN

Retired Court of Appeal judge, Justice Isaac Duose, has said President Nana Akufo-Addo, has performed badly as Ghanas leader if he is to be measured by the yardstick he set for himself.

The government has admitted there are economic challenges, especially in recent times, with the increase in the price of general goods and services across the country but insists the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine are to be blamed for the crisis.

But speaking in an exclusive interview with Class News Nii Marmah Boye, Justice Duose noted that the President must blame himself for the fingers being pointed at him and his administration.

Talking about the Presidents performance in office so far, Justice Duose said: Akufo-Addo, he is the cause of his own problem; he made too many promises, probably not knowing how he was going to fulfil those promises.

In his view, Ghana is a big country and our resources are very small, so, if you go about opening your mouth too big, you are bound to be measured by the yardstick you yourself have created.

The retired judge said: If you want to measure Akufo-Addos performance by the yardstick he himself has created, he has performed very badly, adding: If I see him, I will tell him: Kweku, you havent done well.

Justice Duose stated that the President made too many promises during the election campaign and I keep asking the voters: Do you really believe some of the promises the political leaders make when they are on the platforms asking for your votes? he quizzed.

Apart from the Presidents performance, Justice Duose also said he blames the electorate for not properly evaluating the promises made to them by politicians.

Its not that if he says he can do it then we should vote for him, we have to really assess whether he has the capability of doing what he has promised to do, he indicated.

Source: Classfmonline.com
Each year, the fourth Thursday in April is commemorated as the 'Girls in ICT Day'. This day, instituted under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) backed by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Member States in Plenipotentiary Resolution 70, is dedicated to creating a global environment that empowers and encourages young girls and young women to consider studies and career pathways in the growing field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The day also recognises the critical role women and young girls play in ICT to serve as a reminder that women and young girls will become invaluable assets if included in ICT education and careers. This year, the theme for the commemoration is Access and Safety.

I write this article, as I usually do, to join the world to mark the day to promote the efforts and education of young girls in ICT fields, but more importantly, to highlight the achievements, inadequacies, and potential improvements in our efforts as a nation to creating an inclusive future for all. A future that recognises the fundamental role of both males and females in ICT as a growth pillar in our social economic transformational agenda.

In the past few years, government has made significant progress towards bridging the gender gap, in respect of access to and achievement in ICT education and tools. Flagship programmes such as the Ministry of Communication and Digitalisation's 'Young Girls in ICT Programme' have exposed, trained, and empowered thousands of young girls and young women in ICT tools and skills across the country.

The days of when ICT and other associated fields such as STEM (i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) were understood as masculine programmes reserved for boys and men are gradually fading out. The rise and mainstreaming of contemporary female role models in ICT such as the trailblazing Prof. Elsie Effah Kaufman, Ivy Barley, Lucy Quist, and Angela Kyerematen Jimoh is a strong indicator of our positive progression towards degendering ICT.

Despite these remarkable achievements, there remain still gender gaps in access to ICT education and tools for young girls and access to high level opportunities for young women in some of the fastest-growing and high-paying jobs of the future. The consequence of such disparities, especially in a country and world undergoing rapid digitisation, is the reduction of young girls and women's access to health information, economic advancement and professional opportunities.

We can avoid this reality by creating solutions that effectively address the educational, infrastructural, cultural, and financial barriers that impedes young girls and women from freely advancing in ICT career pathways. A recent study conducted by World Web Foundation, a global organisation specialised in digital analytics and internet use research concluded that interest in Mathematics, ICT and Science lessons remain the leading determinant of Female Students' Choice in STEM programmes at tertiary level. The implication is that the pathway to increasing the interest of young girls and women in ICT should take account of critical investment into increasing ICT access at the pre-tertiary education level, as a foundation building block for future career choice in the field.

Available data at the Ministry of Education and the World Bank also suggest that, less than a quarter of pre-SHS students in Ghana have access to internet. The few schools with access to internet are, however, inequitably distributed in urban and affluent communities within Ghana's cities; leaving a considerable internet access gap. Significant investment is, therefore, urgently needed to provide equal access to ICT at the basic level to inspire the love for ICT in the girl child.

Beyond infrastructure provision, biases embedded within education delivery also discourage young girls from developing interest in ICT fields. At the pre-tertiary level of education, young girls and boys take integrated science and core mathematics courses roughly in equal numbers. However, the transition between high school and university amplifies a pervasive dropout rate regarding ICT career paths.

A plethora of empirical evidence have suggested that young girls' achievements and interests in mathematics and science, the foundation of ICT, are shaped by the social beliefs and learning environment in which young girls live and grow. This has a wide implication for the role of teachers in turning around the negative narrative of high attrition rate in ICT, as females climb the academic ladder, given the significant role teachers play in creating and maintaining the academic culture in a classroom setting.

Young students require positive words of affirmation and encouragement in order to urge them to fulfil their potential. As a consequence, particular attention should be afforded the girl child in basic mathematics and science subject areas to encourage them to pursue science in senior high, and subsequently ICT courses at the tertiary level education.

Another significant barrier that prevents young girls from acquiring ICT skills include the cultural factors that have been found to limit young girls' interest in the science and math fields. Young girls are often exposed to the bias that ICT skills are for males, whereas the humanities are for females. This negative stereotyping affects young girls' attitudes, ability, and ambition to explore and grow in the field.

Parents, teachers, and the society at large, therefore, need to grow a new consciousness that inspires the girl child to believe that our society is ready for female scientists and innovators. We must endeavour to communicate the values and essence of ICT, particularly, to young girls, to excite them to get involved and hone their skills to create a more digitally inclusive society. At all costs, we must remove the negative stereotypes that lower young girls' interest and self-efficacy in mathematics and science subject areas, leading, inevitably, to reduced aspirations in ICT careers over time.

While there remains a long way to go to creating the truly digitally inclusive society we envision, I am very optimistic about the possibility of this future, given the level of investment and effort government and its partners are committing to this cause. For the sake of our comprehensive economic prosperity, we must endeavour to leave no one behind  especially the girl child  as we create a modern digital world to underpin our economic transformation. And together, we can work diligently to create a safer society for the girl child where access to ICT knowledge and skills is degendered.

The writer is the Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim, and Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education. He was previously the Director-General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), a University Lecturer and an Education Consultant to The World Bank, UKAID, USAID and UN Education Commission funded projects in Ghana.

www.princeharmah.com

From Prince Hamid Armah, PhD
Hours of rains have destroyed the Upper East Regional French Resource Centre located at Bolgatanga Girls Senior High School in Bolgatanga.

Apart from the roofs, some of the teaching and learning materials including books and research works were destroyed.

Two laptops used for research at the centre have also been affected and operations of the facility has come to a standstill.

The French Resource Centre, constructed in 1995, was part of the government of Ghana and government of France collaboration to establish French Resource Centres across all the then 10 regions in the country and were located in SHSs at the heart of the regions.

The idea was to provide conducive environment for the teaching and learning of the French Language as well as encouraging people to study the French Language.

Madam Ellen Atanga, Upper East Regional French Coordinator, Ghana Education Service, told the Ghana News Agency that the Centre comprised the store room, resource centre which contains all the materials needed to support students and teachers to research and prepare their lesson notes, conference room and office space.

She said since its establishment, the Centre had benefitted both public and private schools and members of the public where in-service training and reinforcement had been organised to improve the language proficiency of teachers and graduates in the field of French.

Madam Ellen said the Centre, a nonprofit entity, had computers and was connected to the Internet and was opened to people who wanted to research in other fields other than French to patronise.

Madam Atanga indicated that although some of the Centres located in other regions had been renovated, the Upper East Regional Centre had not seen any renovation since its establishment.

If the Centre is not repaired swiftly, there is the likelihood that the few materials that are not affected yet would be destroyed by the next rainstorm because as I speak now the whole place is flooded, she added.

The Regional Coordinator there appealed to stakeholders to come to their aid to put the facility back in shape to continue to contribute to the teaching and learning of French Language in the region.

I appeal to a stakeholders to come to our aid because this is a Centre that is established for the benefit of the whole Upper East Region, it is not just limited to only people interested in French but for all people who want to research, she stressed.

GNA
Dr John Amoah, a Research Fellow, Kintampo Health Research Centre, says hypertension prevalence in Ghana is 48 per cent, with less than 50 per cent of those who know they have the condition seeking medical care.

Also, only 50 per cent of persons with hypertension know their condition.

Dr. Amoah, who gave the statistics in an interview with the Ghana News Agency when a team of Journalists with the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN), toured the Centre, said a research conducted at the Bono East Region proved that the region had 28 per cent prevalence of the condition.

Tests run on adolescents in some communities in the region also disclosed that 10 per cent of them had hypertension, he said.

Dr Amoah said the prevalence was due to unhealthy lifestyles and modifiable risk factors like physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol intake, and poor eating habits like high intake of salt, fats and oil foods, sugar and sugary foods.

Unmodifiable risk factors that contributed to the condition were ageing, and urbanisation, he said.

Globally, he said 1.6 billion people worldwide were hypertensive, which led to cardiovascular diseases and strokes among others, with two-thirds of such people from lower to middle income countries, according to the World Health Organization.

To control the condition in the Bono East region, Dr Amoah said the KHRC, with the aid of community health officers were visiting community members to check their blood pressure to refer those with anomalies to nearest facilities for intervention.

The Research Fellow advised the public to desist from taking more than five milligrams of salt a day as well as taking alcohol, sugar, especially toffees, carbonated drinks and other sugary snacks, too much fatty foods, and smoking.

They should rather engage in more physical activities like walking, jogging, skipping, bicycle ridding and working out.

He entreated parents and guardians to ensure that their children during leisure time engaged more in physical activities than watching movies and playing video games.

With research proving that men had high prevalence of hypertension than women, Dr Amoah admonished men to desist from too much alcohol intake and smoking and visit the hospital periodically for check ups.

He also warned the public against stressing themselves, both mentally and physically at work and home, as that could have serious repercussions on their health.

Dr. Charity Binka, the Executive Director, AMMREN, admonished Journalists to help the Centre and the Ghana Health Service enlighten the public about hypertension, its causes and effects to reduce the number of cases recorded nationwide and globally.

GNA
The public sector" has less than one month stock of condoms as of March, Dr Stephen Ayisi Addo, Programme Manager, National AIDS/Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Control, has said.

This is because Government has not purchased for the first quarter of 2022.

As at last month, we had less than one month of stock of condoms in the public sector but what we have in the country are ones that have not been tested for public use.

It is more than a million and we need to test them to ensure that they are appropriate before we send to the public, he said.

Mr Ayisi Addo said there were low stocks in the last two years though the need and requests for contraceptives and other STI preventive products, including condoms during COVID-19, were high, leading to shortages.

He said this at an event to launch contraceptives and condoms to augment the national stock by the Society for Family Health International Ghana, a leading organisation in HIV prevention, health policy, reproductive and maternal health.

He said out of a total of 30 million pieces of condoms needed for Ghana's sexually active population yearly, the State had a deficit of 15 million; where three condoms are to one person.

Based on the demography and health survey, people who had sex in the last 12 months and the number of times they had sex, and if you add them to those who have sex as a trade and those who also have sex as a normal frequent behaviour, then on the least we are aiming about 30 million condoms, the Programme Manager said.

He attributed the low stock to delay in shipment and procurement on the part of the State, donor partners such as UNFPA not donating at full capacity and Global Fund cutting supply.

Dr Ayisi Addo, however, commended the private sector for supporting what Government had in stock, like what SFH had done.

Dr Omokhudo Idogho, Managing Director, Society for Family Health International, said the Organisation's philosophy was to give the very best to communities.

"It's all about community engagement and promoting health policy to ensure that West Africa or Africa attains universal health coverage by 2030," he said.

Some of the new products launched were varieties of flex and gold circle condoms, lubricants and contraceptive pills.

Dr Chris Opoku Fofie, Manager, Safe Motherhood Programme of the Ghana Health Service, called for promotion of contraceptive use.

GNA
29.04.2022 LISTEN

The Greater Accra Regional Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Freda Stephanie Frimpong, says the implementation of the electronic transfer levy from Sunday, May 1 is an unfortunate event that could threaten jobs.

According to her, the majority of members of the TUC fall within the informal sector where many of them earn meager incomes.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a clean-up exercise by the Trades Union Congress in Accra, Stephanie Frimpong appealed to the government to reconsider the rollout of the levy if it is found to be making workers worse off.

Many of our members are in the informal economy, and they earn very little. If we are going to tax such people, we should add a human face. We called for extensive consultation on that, and if it is a tax that is bringing development, it shouldnt affect workers pockets. It shouldnt make workers worse off. Workers incomes are low, and so if they are earning such meager income, and we are still going to tax it, then it is unfortunate, she said.

The implementation of the E-levy which is due from Sunday, May 1, 2022, has left many anxious.

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the implementer, has announced that it will proceed with the implementation but in phases.

Following Ghana Revenue Authority's assessment of the general readiness of some Charging Entities to integrate with the E-levy Management System, the Commissioner-General has decided on a modified phased approach for the implementation of the Levy from 1st of May 2022, it said in a letter to the charging entities.

This is in spite of the fact that some members of the Minority in parliament have filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging the passage of the levy and subsequently filed an injunction to stop the implementation of the levy.

citinewsroom
A Finnish court on Friday acquitted a suspected warlord accused of atrocities in Liberia's civil war, including rapes, ritual murders and the recruitment of child soldiers.

In its ruling, the Pirkanmaa district court found the prosecution had "not proven with sufficient certainty" that Gibril Massaquoi, 52, had been involved in the alleged crimes in the later years of Liberia's second war, which ended in 2003.

At the time, Massaquoi was a senior commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a Sierra Leonean rebel group that also fought in Liberia.

Massaquoi moved to Finland in 2008 and was arrested there in March 2020 after a rights group investigated his war record.

He had denied all charges and claimed he was not in Liberia when the alleged offences took place.

The trial has been closely watched by campaigners who have fought for decades for those who carried out atrocities in Liberia to face justice.

A probe by rights group Civitas Maxima's into Massaquoi prompted Finnish police to launch an investigation.

At the outset of the trial in February 2021 the group said the "ground-breaking" verdict could set "a monumental precedent".

Prosecutor Tom Laitinen told AFP his team had not yet decided whether to appeal the 850-page ruling yet.

Stalled efforts

Back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003 in the West African nation of five million left 250,000 people dead and millions displaced.

Massaquoi, pictured in Sierra Leone in 2001, denied all charges and claimed he was not in Liberia when the alleged crimes took place. By GEORGES GOBET AFPFile

The conflicts were marked by merciless violence and rape, often carried out by drugged-up child soldiers.

So far only a handful of people have been convicted for their part in the conflict, and efforts to establish a war crimes court in the country have stalled.

Former Liberian warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor was imprisoned in 2012 -- but for war crimes committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone, not in his own country.

Massaquoi risked a life sentence, which in Finland means on average 14 years behind bars.

'Angel Gabriel'

In an unprecedented move, the Finnish court decamped to Monrovia between February and April last year, and again in September, to hear testimony from dozens of witnesses and visit sites where the atrocities allegedly unfolded under Massaquoi's orders.

Massaquoi himself remained in custody in Finland, and followed the proceedings from his cell.

The visits became the first time that testimony in a Liberia war crimes trial was heard in the country.

The Finnish trial thus avoided the problems of bringing witnesses to Europe that have hampered similar Liberian war prosecutions in Switzerland and France.

In villages in northern Liberia, witnesses claimed Massaquoi went under the moniker 'Angel Gabriel' and ordered civilians, including children, to be locked into two buildings which were then torched.

At least seven women were raped and murdered in one village and other locals were killed, their bodies cut up and "made into food which Massaquoi also ate", Laitinen told the court.

A 4,000-page evidence dossier seen by AFP further detailed mass murders and rapes in Lofa county and the capital Monrovia, and the enslavement of child soldiers.

But Massaquoi's defence highlighted numerous inconsistencies and contradictions over the timings and locations of witness accounts of atrocities, which happened a generation ago.

His lawyers insisted he was in neighbouring Sierra Leone under watch in a UN safehouse at the time of the atrocities.

Massaquoi agreed to give evidence to the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, set up to investigate war crimes in that country.

He was later granted asylum in Finland and immunity from prosecution over crimes in Sierra Leone, but not Liberia.

Finland's law allows the prosecution of serious crimes committed abroad by a citizen or resident.
Lawyer Abraham Amaliba

29.04.2022 LISTEN

The Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abraham Amaliba has hit out at the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the violence recorded in its ongoing Constituency Executives election.

Chaos has been recorded at several voting centres of the NPP Constituency Executive Election.

Some persons who posed as delegates have been arrested by the police.

Speaking to TV3 on the New Day programme on Friday, April 29, 2022, Abraham Amaliba bemoaned the attacks on EC officials and the alleged removal of names to handicap some candidates.

He said from the constituency election, it now appears violence has become a cherished part of the ruling New Patriotic Party.

Yesterday was 30 years when we approved of this constitution and that ushered us into the democratic dispensation. So if you are witnessing things of this nature where the elections were characterized by attacks on EC officials, attacks on Police, and then removal of peoples names from the album then you will want to find out whether 30 years on, after the approval of the constitution, have we progressed or we are retrogressing?

The acts are not democratic at all. But there is a certain trend that is happening in the NPP where violence has become something of a cherished commodity and so you will not be surprised to see some of these things, Abraham Amaliba shared.

The NPP Constituency Elections are set to continue in various parts of the country through the weekend.

Voting is expected to end on Monday, May 2, 2022.
NATO military exercises are set to begin near the borders of Russia and Ukraine, while Sweden and Finland ponder membership of the western alliance. Meanwhile, Beijing, which is sympathetic to Moscow, questions NATO's credibility, saying the alliance has outlived its original Cold War purpose.

During his daily press conference on 28 April, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that "NATO has messed up Europe."

The alliance, he says is a "product of the Cold War" which has failed to make "necessary adjustments in accordance with the changing times".

Instead, it has become a "tool to seek world hegemony" for "certain countries," creating "confrontation and disturbances," including "wantonly waging wars and dropping bombs on sovereign states," while ordering other countries to "abide by the basic norms of international relations."

His angry outburst came after remarks by UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who said on Thursday that a victory in Ukraine for Russian President Vladimir Putin would have "terrible consequences across the globe". She went on to say that more, heavier, weapons should be sent to Ukraine despite the risk of escalating the conflict.

"We must be prepared for the long haul and double down on our support for Ukraine.

"Heavy weapons, tanks, aeroplanes -- digging deep into our inventories, ramping up production. We need to do all of this.

"Inaction would be the greatest provocation."

Major NATO troop deployment

On Friday, the UK government said in a press release that NATO will hold "one of the largest deployments since the Cold War.

"Tens of thousands of troops from NATO and Joint Expeditionary Force allies and partners (JEF, a cooperation led by the UK, with the Scandinavian and Baltic states, Iceland and the Netherlands) are involved in the exercises," according to the statement.

The months-long drills in countries stretching from Finland to North Macedonia will involve 8,000 UK troops as well as soldiers from France and the United States.

NATO expansion?

Finland, which is considering joining NATO, on Thursday welcomed an alliance vow to protect the Nordic country from any Russian interference during its potential application process.

Finland and Sweden, both militarily non-aligned, are debating whether to seek NATO membership as a deterrent against potential Russian aggression in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

But the countries' leaders have acknowledged the Nordic states could be left open to Russian cyberattacks or territorial violations in the months before a bid is ratified.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, speaking to reporters in Brussels on Thursday, said he was "certain that we will be able to find arrangements for that interim period between the time when Finland and Sweden apply and when the formal ratification is finalised."

(With news agencies)
30.04.2022 LISTEN

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. John Kumah has emphatically stated that government has not contracted Express Pay to build a cloud for the implementation of the E-Levy at a cost of $40 million.

Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam Nartey George had alleged that government had contracted Express pay, an e-commerce marketplace and a payment gateway provider, to build a cloud system for the implementation of the E-levy at a tune of US$40 million.

However, the Deputy Minister asserts that government is not even in business with Express Pay.

In answering the host, Benjamin Akakpos question whether there is any truth in Sam Georges's statement, John Kumah stated, that is a complete falsehood. There is no iota of truth. Complete falsehood. As far as I know, express pay is not playing any role in the role out of the E-levy and there is no contract to that effect.

He asserted that government by May 1 will roll out the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) at full capacity "live and coloured."
29.04.2022 LISTEN

A family at the Korle Bu Police Barracks in the Great Accra Region has been thrown into mourning after a fire outbreak at the barracks claimed the lives of a 65-year-old woman and one other.

The other victim is an eleven-year-old girl who was also caught up in the fire.

The fire incident occurred in the late hours of Wednesday, April 27, 2022.

In a press release from the National Fire Service, five other people were rescued from the fire and immediately conveyed to the hospital for medical care.

Two (2) people lost their lives during a fire that occurred on the night of Wednesday, April 27, 2022, at the Korle-Bu Police Barracks.

The Victims were an Eleven (11) year old girl and a Sixty-Five (65) year old woman. Also affected were a One (1) Week Old Baby. Three (3) Year Old Boy and a Thirty Two (32) Year Old Adult who were rescued and are currently receiving treatment at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, parts of the press release from the Fire Service reads.

It adds, The Five affected people were rescued from the fire and were quickly rushed to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital but two (2) were unfortunately pronounced dead on arrival.

The Fire reportedly started 20 minutes after 11 pm.

Firefighters from the Accra Regional Headquarters Substation and Accra City Fire Station responded and managed to successfully bring the situation under control.

Unfortunately, there was little to do to save the two people that died.
MOGADISHU-SOMALIA. Veteran politician figure, analysts see as pragmatic and moderate who served in the last two transitional federal governments has been elected as the new speaker of the 11th Parliament in Somalia. The federal laws have elected Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nor AKA Madobe as a new speaker in late Thursday

in an election marred by uncertainty and squabbling over controversial MPs separately elected from Gedo and who is in charge of the election security as well as the venue where the election will take place.

Over 250 parliamentarians took part in the election following several days of political turmoil in the country.Aden Madobe was among seven candidates vying for lower-House speakership election after the former speaker Mohamed Mursal Abdirahman withdrawn from the race with undisclosed motives.

The official names of the seven candidates in the race and the results they have gained for the first round. Hassan Abdinor 98. Aden Madobe 74. Abdullahi Black 33. Aden Saransor 23. Sharif Abdalla 13 Abdirashid Hidig 6. Sadik Abdullahi 5. Top four candidates go the second round.

Hassan Abdinor who was Villa Somalia's favoured candidate took the commanding lead in the round of the race by garnering 98 votes While Aden received 74 in the first round. Then the second round has been organized and two more candidates quit the race. Abdullahi Black and Aden Saransor.

Two top candidates. Hassan Abdinor who is thought to have been favoured by the lameduck president Farmajo. The first round of the election was tough and fiercely fought and Aden Madobe was also favoured by the council of dissidents presidential candidates Somalia's lower-house leadership election goes second round after no candidates won 50%+1 required in the first round.

Seven MPs were barred from voting due to their controversial eligibility criteria. 16 from Geso region and one from Hirshabelle. Multiple checkpoints were manned in and around the election venue and journalists do not have full access to the election rendezvous. But after long squabbling compromise has been reached which paved the way for the election to proceed.

It was thought and presumed that the election will be postponed due unfolding crisis and shooting spree outside the venue of the election and wrangling over who is in charge the security of the election venue and the safety MPs.

All MPs were summoned and convened to arrive the election venue on time at 10:00 am but very few have shown up casting doubt whether the election will take place today or not but late hours on Thursday, plethora of MPs have turned up the venue and broke their fast at the election venue due to the holy month of Ramadan that Muslims across the globe are observing.

Huge wind of change has blown up As we had been witnessed in the Arab Springs in 2011 which a lot of autocratic and repressive regimes were deposed remarkably Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Muammer Gaddafi of Libyaand Zeinul Abadin Bin Ali of Tunisia. In the second and decisive round of the race.

Aden Madobe who previously served as speaker of parliament from Jan, 31 2007 to May 25, 2010 won with landslide votes of 163 after defeating lawmaker Hassan Abdinor in the second round. Hassan Abdinor who is widely seen as the candidate backed by the lameduck president and who is quite young compared to his rival and both hailed from South-west State.

In a statement posted on Twitter by the communication director of Villa Somalia Abdirashid Hashi presumed to be pre-written and premature congratulation to Villa Somalia's favoured candidate Hassan Abdinor was removed after it was widely circulated in Social media platforms and went viral that Twitter post was later rectified and apologized.

Statement issued by the outgoing president Farmajo congratulated Madobe and wish him well in the new role and responsibilities he assumed and vehemently inspired and recommended to discharge his national duties with diligence and according to the provisional federal constitution which was adopted in 2012 and still waiting to be accomplished through public referendum and signature of the president..

The outgoing president of the Republic of Somalia @M_Farmajo congratulated Sheikh Aden Madobe on his election victory as speaker of the House of the people of the federal Republic of Somalia the presidential palace tweeted.

Somalia has seen political gridlock for more than a year over long-delayed elections that deeply polarized the country's political elites as well as the people and resulted complete breakdown of the relations between lameduck president and his caretaker PM Roble.

The election of lower-house speakership was on the verge to be postponed after president and Premier clashed publicly over election security procedures ahead of a planned parliamentary leadership vote in the capital. Caretaker PM Roble has issued statement authorizing the African Union forces to fully take control of the security at fortified Airport Compound where the vote was to take place

' I have authorized ATMIS ( African Union Transition Mission in Somalia) peacekeepers to immediately take over the security of the Airforce Hangar as we accomplish the elections of the parliamentary leadership and orchestrate presidential race next month ' he said.

Tit-for-tat game and recriminations gained momentum as president Farmajo fired back, saying the national security election committee which is chaired by General AbdiHassan Hijar, Somalia's police commander who narrowly survived a suicide bombing which took place a hotel in which he had a meeting with the federal lawmakers who hails from Sool, Sanaag and Ceyn will oversee the venue security as stipulated by NCC deal.

PARALLEL AND CONTROVERSIAL ELECTIONS.

For safety and security reasons some of the Somalia's parliamentary proceedings take place inside the former airforce hangar at close proximity to Adden Adde International Airport and will host the vote for speakership of the influential 275- Members of lower chamber. It will also host the upcoming presidential election which has yet to be scheduled.

In Somalia's parliamentary elections which started in 2021, clan-based formula thousands of clan elders selected 275 members of parliament for the lower-house, while the senators from the upper-house were elected from five member states of State assemblies..Both chambers of Somalia's bicameral parliament then elect the next president.

' I urge the MPs to elect a Maverick and competent president who can preserve the interest, dignity and sovereignty of the nation, who is consensus- oriented and as well play neutral and peaceful role in Somalia's political sphere ' Says PM @MohamedHRoble. In his tweets.

Although the election of the majority of federal lawmakers have been settled, disp9has ensued over the election of 16 lawmakers representing Gedo an administrative region which comes under Jubbaland's jurisdiction.

FEIT has cited numerous security concerns, Somalia's election committee moved the venue for the parliamentary vote to resolve the much wrangled seats from the capital of Gedo region, Garbaharey and El-Wak to participate were the election Hot spots the Move was endorsed by Roble, but supporters of the president utterly repudiated the move and selected 16 MPs of their own to forestall the 16 lawmakers chosen from El-Wak.

Somalia's interim house speaker Abdisalan Dhabancad and Roble want the 16 MPs elected in El-wak to participate in the speakership and presidential elections but lameduck president Farmajo said controversial lawmakers elected in Gedo region's parallel elections should not be allowed to have an access to the election venue and participate let alone casting their votes until agreement based on consensus is reached.

Skirmishes and shooting preceded Tuesdays acrimonious dissension over who would provide security for the upcoming votes. Transitional house speaker Dhabancad reported that the police commander General Hijar denied him to have an access to the venue and deliberately obstructed the swearing in of El-Wak MPs at the Hangar on Monday.

He also cited when they moved the swearing-in ceremony to private hotel, security forces fired indiscriminately on the hotel that prompted PM Roble to warn General Hijar and director of the National intelligence and security agency Colonel Yasin whose agents were accused of the involvement in the shooting spree disrupting the election.

General Hijar utterly denied and refuted Dhabancad's accusations General Hijar also cited he wants to see the parliamentary leadership vote postponed for days, so that he can prepare and 100% guarantee for the security of the venue if his proposal is being ignored.

He could not guarantee security and safety of MPs on Wednesday, his reckless comments had infuriated the security Minister Abdullahi Mohamed Nor, a close ally of Roble who issued statement to suspend the police chief.

Meanwhile, the election for the leadership of the upper-house took place smoothly and peacefully and the security was guaranteed and maintained by Somali police forces on Tuesday dated 26, April 2022, Veteran lawmaker and long-serving senator Abdi Hashi Abdullahi had been re-elected to the post. He has been a fierce and vociferous critic of the incumbent president's policies. The election of speakers in the parliament and senate a fay earlier and are key steps in establishing the new government which must be in place by May 17, if Somalia is to continue receiving budget support and subsidy from International monetary Fund.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE NEW SPEAKER IN THE FEDERAL PARLIAMENT OF SOMALIA.

Aden Madobe was born on 15 April 1956 and raised in Hudur, the capital of Bakol region of Somalia he belongs to Hadame subclan of Rahanweyn (Digil iyo Mirifle) who usually occupies the post of parliamentary speaker.

according to clan-based arrangement 4.5 in which four dominant clans were given equal share and minority clans were lumped together and given half of the number.

Popularly known as Aden Madobe is a prominent politician who hold various positions in the government, he previously served as the first deputy chairman of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army one of the factions of Somali civil war according to Aden Madobe beginning in 1996,

RRA accepted the assistance of Ethopia in training and arming of its troops in 2003, he temporarily split with his fellow RRA leaders Colonel Shatigaduud and Habsade though they later reconciled and both served as Minister in the transitional federal governments.

Before joining the newly-formed transitional federal government (TFG) also as justice Minister and speaker of transitional federal parliament in (2007-2010) Madobe briefly served as an acting president of Somalia in January 2014, he was appointed minister of industry and commerce.

On 31, January 2007 Madobe was elected speaker of transitional federal government (TFG) his predecessor at the position Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, who also became the first president of South-west state was voted out by the legislature on January 17, 2007 due to his alleged support for Islamic court Union (ICU) .

Madobe was later sworn into office on February 3, 2007. Madobe also served as acting TFG president after former president Abdullahi Yusuf resigned from office on 29 December 2008 on 31 January, 2009 Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was voted in as new president.

Aden Madobe's election was widely welcomed by the people and celebratory gunfire were heard across the country and expect to lead reconciliation process and launch policy of reform as soon as he officially assumes office.

Somalia's political party system is in infancy or embryonic stage this doesn't necessarily mean the opposition will carry the day but they now fully dominate both chambers of parliament said Rashid Abdi, Chief analyst at Sahan research, Nairobi-based Think-tank the chance of Farmajo's re-election and becoming the next president is fading and getting dimmer and slimmer day after day.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

MOHAMED HUSSEIN MENTALIST. Author, blogger, prominent researcher and Horn of Africa Affairs analyst and senior lecturer at Mogadishu University.

AUTHOR: Holds BA in English Language and literature at Mogadishu University and BA in Business administration at Simad University. Master of arts in applied Linguistics at Kisii University in Nairobi as well as Master of peace and conflict studies at Uppsala University in Sweden.
Richard Mensah Agyei Ofori Atta who was endorsed as the chairman during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Manhyia South Constituency executives elections has called for unity in the quest to maintain power in 2024.

He said, as a chairman, there should be discipline among the party supporters in the constituency where recalcitrant members would not be tolerated an inch.

He made the call in his victory speech during the constituency executives elections held at Dichemso in Kumasi on Thursday, April 28, 2022.

Richard Mensah Agyei Ofori Atta, known in political circles as Tom Tom, went unopposed as his main contender, Owusu Sekyere, was disqualified during vetting.

As chairman, I will provide all the necessary logistics to improve the electoral fortunes in the constituency in 2024, and that can be achieved through unity and disciple, he said.

He warned that anybody who might try to disrupt the campaign activities in the constituency, irrespective of the ones political affiliation will be severely dealt with."

He also promised to work peacefully with all the losing contestants.

In an election supervised by the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC), nine other executives were also elected by 561 delegates from nine electoral areas in the constituency.

At the end of the peaceful exercise, the 1st Vice Chairman position was won by Seth Twumasi and the 2nd Vice Chairman by Kingsley Bonsu Kyeretwie.

Other executives elected were Secretary, Haruna Alhanssan; Deputy Secretary, Oscar Boah; Treasurer, Kofi Amoah Asamoah; Youth Organiser, Henry Adu Kobi and Women Organiser, Mary Coka.

Alhaji Abubakar Alhanssan maintained the Organizer position.

After the swearing-in, the elected executives promised to work together and bring all their losing contestants to board to help the NPP achieve the Break the 8 agenda.
29.04.2022 LISTEN

The Chief Executive Officer of Ideapath Consult has urged students to focus on their academic studies as well as acquire other skills if only they dream of becoming more successful in their lives and positively impacting society.

He made this daring call during his presentation in the career guidance seminar of NUGS, SDD- UBIDS Chapter.

Mr. Tahiru Lukman who spoke on Entrepreneurship charges students to appreciate the importance of social networking which could be a passport to their breakthrough in life.

He emphasized that education is key and obtaining a university degree is not a guarantee that one will be more successful in life.

He expressed the view that the world billionaires and the rich men in Ghana hold no PHDs and other academic honours and yet they are more successful in their business and their endeavours. He cautioned students not to think only about passing exams and getting a certificate but also develop their minds (human capital) to become critical thinkers and generational leaders as the gateway to leading an impactful life.

Other speakers at the events including Dr. Theophilous Nosse spoke on scholarship and provided detail explanations on how and where students could secure a scholarship scheme.

Mr. Nicodemus Dery on his part spoke on the importance of personal development. He challenged every student to do retrospection to understand their God-given talents and work towards unleashing their unique skills.

The SRC President of SDD-UBIDS Miss Khadija charged students to embrace this platform as an opportunity to acquire desirable skills for themselves.

The SDD-UBIDS local chapter NUGS president Mr. Christien Majeed Kwesi Kumah indicated he sought the high office to help influence students carrier development. He noted that having such an occasion is part of fulfilling his agenda for students in terms of capacity development and mentorship. He was thankful to the distinguished resource persons for their commitment to the course of students.
In the Offinso North District of the Ashanti Region farmers and Farmer Based Organization (FBOs) have received training on the minimal introduction of ETG Falcon fertilizers into cassava production to boost yields for local consumption and industrial purposes.

This came to light when the Export Trading Group (ETG) importers of Falcon Fertilizers field team made a triumphant entry into Akumadan to further push the agenda of creating sustained impacts on the lives of farmers and spreading 360 degree happiness.

ETG Inputs Ghana Ltd in collaboration with District Agricultural Development Unit established a demonstration plot at the Akumadan irrigation site to promote the correct and consistent use of ETG falcon Fertilizers and Agri inputs to increase yields and income.

In an interview with this portal, Technical Sales Agronomists for ETG Ghana Jonas Ayanore noted that the farmer field schools and learning plots are aimed at getting closer to the last mile usually the farmer(s) with education on the use of ETG Falcon fertilizers and Agri inputs for utmost results.

Lead farmer and secretary of the Konpia farmers association Nana Boateng express excitement about the intervention and their preparedness to share the knowledge with other farmers.

In all, over 30 men and women benefited from the training who expected to impact same to their colleagues.

---SK DE BROADCASTER
29.04.2022 LISTEN

Mrs. Yvonne Ohui Maccartey, President of the Institute of Customer Service Professionals has urged employees not to be straitjacket workers as it is beneficial to have adequate knowledge about the work of various departments.

Mrs. Maccartey, who was a resource person at a days workshop on customer service organized by the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), Tema Branch, said having employees who have in-depth knowledge about the various departments helps the organization to achieve its overall objective.

During the workshop which was monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) Mrs Maccartey explained that for the worker to function wholly, management must adopt the western corporate culture of rotating a new employee for some weeks to the various departments before they settle into the specific role they were employed for.

According to her this also creates the mind of service in all the employees as they would be in a better position to understand the part being played by every department, and therefore could project the company to its clients and customers better.

She also encouraged management to engage and solicit the contributions of employees when formulating policies instead of doing so and expecting them to comply, adding that engaging them in decision-making helped in a smooth implementation.

Most organizations, leadership decide on what they want to do and plan towards it without involving the workers, let them feel part of the decision-making, she stressed.

She stated that in the public sector for instance, even though it is the biggest employer, some of its workers were not willing to change the way they do their things because they do not feel part of the changing culture needed for productivity to thrive.

The President of the Institute of Customer Service Professionals said every employee within the organization must have the mind of service before the needed change and customer service culture could be achieved.

She said creating change for an organization was not hinged on changing the physical structures of the company, but rather on creating a culture from scratch which required commitment, involvement, and uncompromising.

She noted that some factors to consider when creating a change must include changing the mindset of employees about customers mirror the conduct of workers when they deal with them.

She said companies must also consider hiring right, by making a conscious effort on employing the right people for the right position, disclosing that one big problem Ghana has was recruitment as companies hire people based on relationship, and sometimes not based on qualification.

Dont hire people just because they have higher qualifications; skills, experience, and passion for the job must also be considered, she stated.

Mr. Isaac Barry, Chairman of the GNCCI-Tema noted that the Chamber seeks to equip participants with the requisite knowledge and skills to create a high customer-oriented culture to attract and retain customers to increase sales and close quicker deals profitably.
The Tema District Council of Labour (TDCL) of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) has organized a clean-up exercise ahead of the May Day celebrations.

The clean-up exercise was organized at Tema General Hospital and Tema Oil Refinery.

Mr. Emmanuel Addo-Kumi who is the TDCL Vice-Chairman said the exercise forms part of the Operation Clean Your Frontage initiative to help build a clean Ghana.

He stated that TUC was a union set to protect jobs and income of people during the COVID-19 era, the union could not operate in filth because the health of workers was important.

He said the canteen and various wards at the TGH were targeted places to tidy up since they were places visited regularly at the hospital adding that residents including children around the hospital and members of the union helped in cleaning.

Mr. Addo-Kumi who is also the Vice-Chairman for the Greater Accra Regional branch of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) said the TUC had an agreement to embark on a series of clean-up exercises within the areas they represent.

He said the action in the Greater Accra Region is in support of the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC) Operation Clean Your Frontage campaign.

He, therefore, urged all workers within the TDCL jurisdiction to join in the clean-up exercise in preparation for the May Day.

He stated however that this year the annual symposium for the celebration had been canceled due to the late release of the theme, which made it impossible for them to plan for it.

He however stated that members would join the national workers parade at the Independence Square after which they would gather at the GHACEM Clubhouse in Tema to continue the celebration.

The theme for this years May Day celebration is, Protecting Jobs and Incomes in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond.

Mr. Eric Elikem Kpodo, Assistant Estate Officer at TOR added that workers in TOR also took the chance to clean their surroundings even though they periodically clean the place but decided to aid by cleaning to make the Operation Clean your Frontage a success.

Meanwhile acting Human Resource Manager at TOR pleaded to the general public that waste products generated should be dumped at vantage points and also clean their frontage to have a dirt-free Ghana.

However, Madam Elizabeth Appiah Bonnah, Malaria Focal Person at TGH advised that since the rainy season was approaching it was necessary to keep our enclaves clear because more dirt attracts the chances of malaria.
30.04.2022 LISTEN

The two persons arrested by the police for impersonating personnel of the Ghana Police Service have been remanded pending an appearance in court on May 10, 2022.

The two were arraigned before court today after their arrest on April 28.

John Essel Baah and Enock Kwame Bosompem were arrested by the police for showing up at the ongoing NPP constituency executive elections clad in apparel that projected them as a part of the police personnel.

The police have indicated that the men are not a part of the police service and investigations have begun into their choice of clothing.

A third suspect, Ebenezer Painstil, who was later arrested has also been put on remand and will reappear with the other two in court on May 10.

Read more details here
The Bole District Magistrate Court presided over by His Worship, Edward Essel, has sentenced two poachers who shot and killed a buffalo at the Mole National Park in the West Gonja Municipality of the Savannah Region, to 72 days each imprisonment with hard labour.

The two, Mumin Baharu, 22 years, and Osman Ibrahim, 28 years, who are natives of Larabanga in the West Gonja Municipality, Wednesday, April 27, 2022, pleaded guilty to all five charges against them leading to their sentencing.

The two notorious poachers were arrested by rangers of the Park on April 9, 2022, and handed over to the Damongo Police command.

Another chainsaw operator, Richard Gbene, 32 years, from Hein in Jirapa District of the Upper West Region, was also fined GHC3600.00 or in default serve three (3) Months imprisonment.

Mr. Richard Gbene was arrested and handed over to the police on March 24th, 2022, by rangers of the Mole National Park for falling down a tree in the park.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), has refuted claims that it is not fully ready for the implementation of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) from Sunday, May 1.

This follows allegations by the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, that the GRA, is not fully prepared to begin the implementation.

Responding to the allegation, the Head of the Tax Policy Unit at the Ministry of Finance, Dan Nuer, said the claims are false

We are very ready to go ahead and start implementing on 1st May. There are a lot of public notices going around, all talking about 1st May being the day we will introduce the E-levy. We will be using the telco platforms to charge the e-levy to ensure that there is uniformity.

The Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, whos the Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament's Communications Committee, said the GRA is yet to meet the necessary requirements for the implementation of the controversial tax.

My position has been from a technical point, where I say that the GRA is not ready to roll out the E-levy. Normally when you are deploying a project like this, there are three phases; the system development phase, the stage deployment phase, and the product deployment. How do you go ahead and run a financial operation where all of these critical analysis have not been done? the MP asked.

Mr. George said it is even more worrying that the GRA has not engaged in extensive consultations with key stakeholders on the implementation.

But the GRA itself has insisted that it is ready to begin collection of the new tax despite a legal action filed at the Supreme Court by the minority in parliament against the passage of the law granting the collection of the tax.

By Citi Newsroom
Boldly go to no man's land

(People's Daily App) 16:57, April 29, 2022

Welcome home, victorious icebreakers! China's research icebreakers Xuelong and Xuelong 2 have returned to Shanghai, marking the end of the country's 38th Antarctic expedition after 174 days.

(Produced by Sun Tianren and Li Peitian)

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
29.04.2022 LISTEN

Moderator of the General Assembly of Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, wants Ghanaians to hold the Akufo-Addo government to account for the use of proceeds from the implementation of the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy).

He expects the government to use the proceeds to embark on projects that will improve the living standards of Ghanaians.

Speaking on the sidelines of the maiden Moderators Academic Excellence Award and Founders Day Celebration at the Presbyterian Womens College of Education in Aburi, Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante challenged Ghanaians to treat the tax measure devoid of politics, explaining that the government has been given the benefit of the doubt, considering the countrys scarce resources.

He however advocated a change of government if the E-levy is not used appropriately.

Most Ghanaians are not ready to pay taxes. They want everything to be done for them. They say they do not see what the little tax they pay is used for. The tax we pay is too small. I wish that Ghanaians will not play politics with E-levy. One thing I will say is that, lets try and see how it goes. If we try it, and it is used to develop Ghana, thats fine. But if the money is taken, and they dont develop Ghana, we vote them out.

The implementation of the E-levy was originally expected to help bring in about GH6.9 billion this year to shore up the government's revenue.

The total projected revenue for 2022 of GH100 billion, represents a 39% increase over the revised revenue target of GH72 billion in 2021.

The government is expecting to use the revenue raised from the levy to provide jobs, improve infrastructure and seal some economic loopholes.

The implementation, which is due on Sunday, May 1, 2022, has left many anxious.

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the implementer, has announced that it will proceed with the implementation but in phases.

Following Ghana Revenue Authority's assessment of the general readiness of some Charging Entities to integrate with the E-levy Management System, the Commissioner-General has decided on a modified phased approach for the implementation of the Levy from 1st of May 2022, it said in a letter to the charging entities.

This is in spite of the fact that some members of the Minority in parliament have filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging the passage of the levy and subsequently filed an injunction to stop the implementation of the levy.

---citinewsroom
MTN Ghana, the countrys leading Telecommunications Company has made a huge donation to the Chief Imam, His Eminence Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu in a bid to contribute to the celebration of this years Eid-ul-Fitr to make it bigger.

The donation done on Friday, April 29, 2022, follows a long-standing tradition embarked on by MTN Ghana annually in the period to climax the Muslim Ramadan.

This year, the telecom company has spent in excess of GHS60,000 to support the Chief Imam and the Muslim community in the celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr.

At the donation made at the residence of the National Chief Imam, MTN Ghana presented a cheque of GHS10,000 to His Eminence Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu plus a big ram, and Airtime worth GHS1,000.

Other items donated include 15 Bags of Rice, 10 Cartons of Vegetable Oil, 40 Packs of Mineral Water, 15 Packs of soft drinks, 10 Trays of tin Milk, 4 boxes of Milo, 5 bags of Sugar, and 2 boxes of teabags.

Speaking at the short event, General Manager for Regional Sales at MTN Ghana, Mohammed Abubakar said the donation today goes to affirm his outfit's appreciation to the Chief Imam and the Muslim community for the support, patronage and loyalty to MTN.

We thank you once again for your continued support of our activities and for the warm reception we have enjoyed over the years.

May Allah, the Most Gracious and Most Merciful, bestow on the Chief Imam and our households, good health, prosperity and total peace throughout the year. May He grant you and your families abundant grace and holiness now and always, Mohammed Abubakar prayed.

He further charged the Muslim community to be measured in the celebrations for the Eid-ul-Fitr and to ensure that all safety protocols for the Coronavirus (Covid-19) are adhered to.

Translating for the Chief Imam, Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu who is the spokesperson of the Chief Imam expressed appreciation to MTN Ghana and prayed for the company to continue growing.

He said Allah requires one to extend a helping hand to the poor, adding that through the donation, may the ambitions of MTN Ghana be achieved.

We are profoundly grateful for this gesture that you have done. May Allah increase you. We must become kind and generous to the needy. Whatever Allah has given you, you must also give some to the poor.

Our hope is that God himself will reward you by advancing your company. May Allah strengthens you and may Allah give you peace and harmony, Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu said.

In addition to the donation to the National Chief Imam, similar donations are being done for Regional Chief Imams in Ashanti, Western and Northern regions.

MTN is also extending its support to Salafesist celebrations in Nima and Accra Newtown this year to revamp the celebrations after two years of being put on hold.

To provide a distinct customer experience during the celebration, MTN will set up stands at vantage points to provide customers with an enhanced customer experience whilst they celebrate.

In view of the ongoing SIM registration, there will be teams from MTN at various celebration grounds to register customers' SIM with the Ghana Card.
29.04.2022 LISTEN

The Moderator of the General Assembly of Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante thinks that the numerous demands Ghanaians make don't match the little they pay as taxes to government.

Speaking on the sidelines of the maiden Moderators Academic Excellence Award and Founders' Day Celebration at the Presbyterian Women's College of Education in Aburi, Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante said the tax is nothing compared to what those in developed countries pay.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I just returned from Europe. After visiting several cities, I realised our E-Levy is nothing compared to the percentage of taxes they pay. I was discussing with my colleagues back in Europe that if Ghana will ever be as nice as those places, we would have to be willing to make some sacrifices. I have heard Ghanaians complain that they do not see the impact government makes with the taxes they already pay. Well, the taxes we currently pay is too little.

Rt. Rev. Prof. Yeboah Mante further challenged Ghanaians to treat the tax measure devoid of politics, explaining that the government has been given the benefit of the doubt, considering the country's scarce resources.

He however advocated a change of government if the E-levy is not used appropriately.

Most Ghanaians are not ready to pay taxes. They want everything to be done for them. They say they do not see what the little tax they pay is used for. The tax we pay is too small. I wish that Ghanaians will not play politics with E-levy. One thing I will say is that, let's try and see how it goes. If we try it, and it is used to develop Ghana, that's fine. But if the money is taken, and they don't develop Ghana, we vote them out.

The implementation of the E-levy was originally expected to help bring in about GH6.9 billion this year to shore up the government's revenue.

The total projected revenue for 2022 of GH100 billion, represents a 39% increase over the revised revenue target of GH72 billion in 2021.

The government is expecting to use the revenue raised from the levy to provide jobs, improve infrastructure and seal some economic loopholes.

The implementation, which is due on Sunday, May 1, 2022, has left many anxious.

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the implementer, has announced that it will proceed with the implementation but in phases.

This is in spite of the fact that some members of the Minority in parliament have filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging the passage of the levy and subsequently filed an injunction to stop the implementation of the levy.

---citinewsroom
NTU Regarding convocation of the ordinary general meeting of shareholders of Public limited liability company aNovaturasa

On 24th May 2022, the ordinary general meeting of shareholders of Public limited liability company Novaturas, code 135567698, registered at A. Mickeviciaus str. 27, Kaunas, the Republic of Lithuania (the Company), is being convened (the Meeting) upon the initiative and decision of the board of the Company.

The place of the Meeting  address: J. Jasinskio str. 14, Vilnius, the Republic of Lithuania (hotel ART CITY INN). The Meeting commences at 10 a.m. (registration of shareholders starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 9.30 a.m.). The Meetings accounting day  17th May 2022. Only persons who are shareholders of the Company at the end of accounting day of the general meeting of shareholders or persons authorized by them, or persons with whom shareholders concluded the agreements on the transfer of voting rights, shall have the right to attend and vote at the Meeting. The Board of the Company initiates and convenes the Meeting, which on 28th April 2022 has approved the following agenda of the Meeting and draft decisions*: 1. Approval of the remuneration policy of the Company; 2. Approval of the rules for granting shares of the Company; 3. Consolidated Annual Report of the year 2021 of the Company; 4. Independent auditors report on the Companys set of audited annual financial statements and a set of the consolidated financial statements of the year 2021; 5. Approval of the Companys set of audited annual financial statements and a set of the consolidated financial statements of the year 2021; 6. Acceptance of the Companys remuneration report; 7. Decision regarding distribution of profit (loss); 8. Acquisition of the Companys own ordinary registered shares; 9. Additional remuneration for the members of the Companys Board; 10. Election of the member of the Board of the Company. *The Company notes that indicated result of the financial year in the annual audited financial statements of the year 2021 differs from the published preliminary results by more than 10%, because the Group and the Company have assessed the impact of IFRS 15 on the recognition of revenue and commission expenses. It had a negative impact on the company's financial results in 2021, but to a corresponding extent effected positively the results of the first quarter of 2022. *Draft decisions are added as annex to this notice.  The total number of the Companys shares with the nominal value of EUR 0.03 each and the number of shares granting voting rights during the general meeting of shareholders is the same and amounts to 7,807,000. ISIN code of the Companys shares  LT0000131872. A person attending the general meeting of shareholders and having a right to vote must provide a persons identification document. A person who is not a shareholder must additionally provide a document confirming his/her/its right to vote at the general meeting of shareholders. Each shareholder shall have a right in the manner established by the laws to authorise other (natural or legal) person to attend and vote at the general meeting of shareholders on his/her/its behalf. At the general meeting of shareholders an authorised person shall have the same rights as would be held by the shareholder represented by him/her/it unless the authorized persons rights are limited by the power of attorney or by laws. The authorized person must provide a power of attorney certified in the manner established by laws. A power of attorney issued in a foreign state must be translated into Lithuanian and legalised in the manner established by laws. The Company does not establish a special form of power of attorney. Shareholder shall have the right to authorize through electronic communication channels another person (natural or legal) to participate and vote in the meeting on shareholders behalf. Such authorization may not be approved by the notary public. The power of attorney issued through electronic communication channels must be confirmed by the shareholder with a safe electronic signature developed by safe signature equipment and approved by a qualified certificate effective in the Republic of Lithuania. The shareholder must inform the Company on the power of attorney issued through electronic communication channels via e-mail giedrius.ribakovas@novaturas.lt not later than until 12.00 a.m. (noon) of the last business day before the meeting. The power of attorney and notification must be in writing. The power of attorney and notification to the Company must be signed with the electronic signature but not the letter sent via e-mail. By submitting the notification to the Company, the shareholder must include the internet address from which it would be possible to download free of charge software to verify an electronic signature of the shareholder. A shareholder or a person authorised by him/her/it shall have a right to vote in writing in advance by filling in the general ballot paper. Upon shareholders request, the Company, not later than 10 days before the general meeting, shall send the general ballot paper by registered mail free of charge. The general ballot paper is also provided on the Companys website at www.novaturasgroup.com on the menu item For investors. The filled-in general ballot paper and the document confirming the voting right (if any) must be submitted to the Company via registered mail or providing them against signature at the address of the registered office of the Company indicated in the notice and received by the Company not later than on the last business day prior to the meeting. The Company is not providing the possibility to attend and vote at the meeting through electronic means of communication. The shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right to propose to supplement the agenda. Draft decisions on the proposed agenda items must be submitted together with the proposal or, if the decisions do not need to be adopted, explanations on each proposed item of agenda of the general meeting of shareholders must be presented. Proposal to supplement the agenda must be presented to the Company via registered mail, by providing it against signature at the address of the registered office of the Company indicated in the notice or sent via e-mail giedrius.ribakovas@novaturas.lt. The agenda will be supplemented if the proposal is received not later than 14 days before the general meeting of shareholders. Each shareholder holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes at any time before the general meeting of shareholders or during the meeting shall have the right to propose draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the Meeting, as well propose additional candidates to the members of the Board of the Company. The proposed draft decisions must be presented to the Company in writing via registered mail, by providing them against signature at the address of the Company indicated in the notice or sent via e-mail giedrius.ribakovas@novaturas.lt. The shareholders shall have the right to present to the Company in advance and in writing questions related to the agenda of the Meeting, by providing the shareholders personal identification number and consent to process personal data  personal identification number in the letter which should be sent to the Company via registered mail or delivered against signature. The Company undertakes to respond if the questions are received not later than 3 business days prior to the general meeting of shareholders. Responses of a general character shall be posted on the Companys website www.novaturasgroup.com on the menu item For investors. The Company will not respond personally to the shareholder if the respective information is posted on the Companys website. By arriving at public limited liability company Novaturas, address at A. Mickeviciaus str. 27, Kaunas, or by visiting the Companys website at www.novaturasgroup.com on the menu item For investors, the shareholders may get familiarised with the documents possessed by the Company related to the agenda of the Meeting, including notice on convocation of the Meeting, information about the total number of the Companys shares and the number of shares granting voting rights during the general meeting of shareholders, draft resolutions and other documents being submitted to the general meeting of shareholders, as well as to obtain information regarding exercise of the shareholders rights. Attached: 1. Agenda of the Meeting and draft decisions; 2. General voting ballot; 3. Draft of AB Novaturas remuneration policy; 4. Draft of rules for granting shares of AB Novaturas; 5. AB Novaturas financial statements. Contacts: Giedrius Ribakovas Head of Finance A. Mickeviciaus str. 27, LT-44245 Kaunas, Lithuania Tel. +370 616 79601 E-mail: giedrius.ribakovas@novaturas.lt
April 29, 2022

Ukraine - Doubling Down

The Russian side is making some progress in the war in Ukraine. While the differences on the map look small the repositioning of forces that had threatened Kiev is finished and the Russian military is now seriously degrading and grinding down the Ukrainian forces in Donbas.

March 31 2022



Source: Liveuamap - bigger

April 29 2022



bigger

According to the daily reports of Russia's Ministry of Defense the Ukraine is losing several hundred soldiers and some 30 armored vehicles per day, most of them to artillery. A flood of gruel pictures posted on Telegram by both sides confirm this. Several Ukrainian attempts to counterattack Russian forces have failed.

'Western' propagandists are noting that their side is losing.

Anders Aslund @anders_aslund 14:02 UTC  Apr 28, 2022

The War: Ukraine has experienced setback in the past few days. A senior Ukrainian official announced yesterday that Russian troops had taken part of the Kharkiv region. Yesterday, Russia announced that it has captured the entire Kherson region. No Ukrainian advances.

Not good.

The typical U.S. reaction to losing is to double down.

This can be done financially:

Jack Detsch @JackDetsch - 19:25 UTC  Apr 28, 2022

DATA: A cumulative total of U.S. military aid to Ukraine since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

February 25: $350m

March 12: $550m

March 16: $1.35b

April 1: $1.65b

April 5: $1.75b

April 13: $2.55b

April 21: $3.35b

April 24: $3.67b

April 28: $14.67b (if approved by Congress)

Most of above sums will go the U.S. arms industry to deliver weapons for which the Ukraine has little use or which never will reach the frontline. The rest will be pilfered by Ukrainian oligarchs.

That financial doubling down will not be very effective.

There is also the possibility of doubling down by widening the war. This could be in Bosnia where attacks on the Serbian population could drag the Russian ally Serbia into another war. An additional war could also be created in Transnistria (marked as a lengthy strip on the left of the above maps). This could involve not only forces from the Ukraine but also from Moldova, Romania and Poland. In the early 1990s a small war between Moldova and the Russian population in Transnistria ended in 1992 with a ceasefire and Russian peacekeeper troops on the ground.

In a piece about Biden's new pledge of money to Ukraine the NYT notes:

The Ukrainian military said it was moving more troops to the border with Transnistria, a small breakaway region in Moldova, on Ukraines southwest flank, hundreds of miles from the fighting on the eastern front.

Should those troops do something Russia does not like it will likely use its air and missile capabilities to destroy their fighting power. President Putin certainly did not mean Transnistria when he recently spoke to Russian lawmakers and threatened retaliation:

Let me emphasise once again: if anyone intends to intervene from the outside and create a strategic threat to Russia that is unacceptable to us, they should know that our retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast. We have the tools we need for this, the likes of which no one else can claim at this point. We will not just brag; we will use them if necessary. And I want everyone to know this; we have made all the decisions on this matter.

That threat was likely a response to rumors that the U.S. and UK are planing to deliver longer range missiles to Ukraine to be use against targets on Russian grounds. That would be another form of doubling down but also a way more dangerous one.

Ukraine is a victim here but not a victim of Russia but of much bigger plans in the U.S. which did its best to instigate this war (recommended).

As Michael Hudson explains (vid), the economic consequences of this war will be catastrophic for many countries and people. But the neocons who are running the war do not care about those. They have a plan to profit from it. They want to stay the unipolar power of the globe. To them it is a game and their main motives include an ingrained hatred towards Russia.

Posted by b on April 29, 2022 at 15:19 UTC | Permalink

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Commodity prices took a break from recent volatile trading sessions during a trading week that didnt see the wild swings experienced in the early days of Russias invasion of Ukraine and Chinas lockdown of millions of people amid a COVID-19 resurgence.

West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange ended April with a 4.4 percent gain, marking the fifth consecutive monthly increase and the longest streak of monthly gains since January 2018.

WTI rose three of five trading days, overcoming Mondays $3.53 loss that pushed prices below $100 a barrel with a $3.16 rebound Tuesday and a $3.34 gain Thursday. Prices fell 67 cents Friday to end the week at $104.69, up from $98.54 at Mondays close and from $102.07 at last Fridays close. The posted price closed the week at $101.17, according to Plains All American.

Natural gas had a strong week, rising four of five trading days. Henry Hub prices on NYMEX began the week rising 13 cents, followed by an additional 18 cents Tuesday and 23 cent rise Wednesday. That, combined with a 35.6-cent climb Friday, was enough to overcome a 45-cent drop Thursday. Gas prices closed Friday at $7.22 per Mcf, up from $6.669 at Mondays close and $6.53 at last Fridays close.

WTI is in a trading range between $120 and $94. The price is totally news dependent, Mickey Cargile of Cargile Investment Management Inc. told the Reporter-Telegram by email. I expect prices to stay in this range unless Russian oil is disrupted. The risk to price is global recession. The prospects for the oil industry and the West Texas economy remain positive.

He went on to note that crude inventories continue to decline as demand exceeds current production. OPEC+ maintains their plan to add 400,000 barrels per day every month but have been unable to meet the higher production allowance. US production is expected to increase about 800,000 bpd this year.

While Russian oil is sanctioned, it has been removed from the world market, Cargile added.

Cargile predicted US rig count growth from this point will be marginal as the availability of infrastructure, such as frac crews, are operating at maximum capacity.

Strengthening natural gas prices helped boost production in 2021, with the Energy Information Administration reporting that three producing regions drove output increases last year: Appalachia at 31 percent, the Permian Basin at 16 percent and Haynesville at 12 percent. Collectively, the three basins accounted for 59 percent of gross withdrawals  the most comprehensive measure of gas production  compared with 24 percent in 2011.

The EIA said Permian Basin gas production grew by 1.4 billion cubic feet per day to 18.3 Bcf in 2021 as associated gas  which is produced from oil wells  grew throughout the year.

Crude is rallying with demand concerns perceived to be short-term while supply concerns are persistent, Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Management, told Bloomberg. Next week will be critical as we will get official selling prices from Saudi as a good litmus test for how much demand is suffering in China.

Bloomberg also noted that as the path toward a potential embargo on Russian oil has grown clearer, the oil markets structure has firmed. On Thursday, West Texas Intermediate was trading in its widest backwardation -- a structure that indicates tight supply -- in a month.
SINGAPORE (AP)  A second Malaysian man due to be hanged in Singapore this week for drug trafficking won a last-minute reprieve Thursday from the top court.

Datchinamurthy Kataiah, 36, was scheduled to be hanged Friday, just two days after the execution of a Malaysian man that sparked an international outcry because he was believed to be mentally disabled.

Lawyer M. Ravi, who earlier represented Datchinamurty, said the Court of Appeal allowed a stay of execution pending a legal challenge on May 20.

Datchchinamurthy is part of a civil case involving 13 death row prisoners who are challenging the prison department's forwarding of copies of their prison correspondence to the attorney general's office without their consent, anti-death penalty activist Kirsten Han said.

Ravi and Han said Datchinamurthy represented himself in court Thursday because no lawyer wanted to take the case, fearing reprisals from the government. Lawyers who take on late-stage death row cases are often accused of abusing court processes if they lose and may have to pay hefty costs demanded by the attorney general's office, they said.

Datchinamurthy was arrested in 2011 and convicted of trafficking about 45 grams (1.6 ounces) of heroin into Singapore. Fellow Malaysian Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam was also on death row for over a decade before he was hanged on Wednesday. Singapore's government says its use of the death penalty for drug crimes is made clear when people enter the country.

Nagaenthrans supporters and lawyers said he had an IQ of 69 and was intellectually disabled, and that the execution of a mentally ill person is prohibited under international human rights law.

His case drew pleas from the European Union and global figures including British business magnate Richard Branson to commute his sentence, but Singapore courts ruled he understood his actions at the time of his crime.

Singapore had halted executions for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic before resuming them with the execution of a drug trafficker in March, followed by Nagaenthran.

Singapores international reputation has already deteriorated significantly with the execution of Nagaenthran," said the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network. It urged Singapore to impose another moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty.

It said another Malaysian and two Singaporeans also face the threat of imminent execution. The group said all of the men came from vulnerable families and each played relatively minor roles in the drug trade.

There is no evidence that their deaths will have any effect on the illicit drug trade in Singapore or globally. There is no proof that the death penalty has been an effective deterrent to drug-related offenses," the group said in a statement.
BRUSSELS (AP)  The head of the European Union's border agency resigned immediately Friday, the bloc's executive said. The move followed media allegations that his agency was involved in illegal pushbacks of migrants who were trying to reach Europe.

Pushbacks  forcing would-be refugees away from a border before they can reach a country and claim asylum  are considered violations of international refugee protection agreements, which say people shouldnt be expelled or returned to a country where their life and safety might be in danger due to their race, religion, nationality or being members of a social or political group.

The EU Commission said it takes note of the resignation of Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri following a day of speculation about his fate. The announcement came after the board of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, known as Frontex, met on whether to accept his offer to resign.

Leggeri, who had been under mounting pressure to resign for months, offered to resign a day after a media investigation this week suggested that Frontexs database recorded illegal pushbacks in the Aegean Sea as prevention of departure" incidents. Leggeri had previously denied wrongdoing.

Last year, the EUs anti-fraud watchdog, OLAF, opened an investigation into Frontex over allegations of harassment, misconduct and migrant pushbacks.

German Interior Ministry spokesperson Maximilian Kall said replacing Leggeri offers the border agency an opportunity for a fresh start.

It offers the possibility of fully resolving the allegations, creating complete transparency and ensuring that all missions by Frontex occur in full conformity with European law, he said.

The Commission said Frontex fulfils a critically important task to support member states, manage common European Union external borders, and to uphold fundamental rights in doing so.

Leggeri had led Frontex since the 2015, when well over 1 million people, many of them refugees fleeing war in Syria, entered the bloc.

According to a joint investigation this week by Lighthouse Reports, Der Spiegel, SRF Rundschau, Republik and Le Monde, Frontex has been involved in the pushbacks of at least 957 asylum-seekers in the Aegean Sea between March 2020 and September 2021.

In contrast, the European Court of Human Rights has held that undocumented migrants should be provided with information, care and have their asylum claims processed.

European lawmakers have asked for part of Frontex's budget to be frozen until improvements are made, including setting up a mechanism for reporting serious incidents on the EUs external borders and establishing a system for monitoring fundamental rights.

Birgit Sippel, a home affairs spokesperson for the Socialists and Democrats group at the European Parliament, called Leggeri's departure a long overdue development, after years of constant allegations of pushbacks and violations of human rights."

A German non-governmental organization, Pro Asyl, also welcomed Leggeris offer to step down.

Its scandalous that the director of an EU agency hid human rights abuses for years, manipulated evidence and lied to Parliament, said Pro Asyl's Europe leader, Karl Kopp.

Kopp called for independent oversight of Frontex to ensure that it acts in compliance with EU and international laws in the future. His organization said Frontexs areas of responsibility should be reduced and its budget of about 750 million euros a year massively cut.

___

Jordans reported from Berlin. Raf Casert contributed from Brussels

___

Follow AP's coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
HONOLULU (AP)  Hawaii public schools are enforcing pandemic restrictions that go beyond recommendations from state and federal health officials.

Hawaii is the only state in the nation that still requires universal indoor masks for all public school students and staff. Despite coronavirus rules lifting across the state and nation, some schools are going even further for end-of-year gatherings and celebrations. Principals have the flexibility to add restrictions for proms and graduations
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)  Some officials in Juneau have raised concerns about militarization of the police force after learning of the local police departments plans to buy an armored security vehicle that can seat 12 officers.

Some have referred to the vehicle as a tank and worry it could harm a transparent relationship between police and the community. Police counter that the vehicle is a way to help protect officers, especially when dealing with people firing weapons, the Juneau Empire reported.

Theres a policy question here about militarizing our police force and I dont agree with that, City and Borough of Juneau Assembly member Carole Triem said. I think weve heard from the community that they really desire transparency when it comes to operations.

Triem raised the issue late at Mondays assembly meeting, where she also objected to the police departments ability to buy the vehicle with a grant that doesnt require assembly approval.

The Lenco Armored Vehicle BearCat G3 will cost more than $300,000 when custom built to Juneau police department specifications, Lt. Krag Campbell said.

Campbell said that despite some in the community describing the vehicle as a tank, its not a military vehicle.

Generally, its for our emergency response teams and our fire department, he said. Its sort of a multi-use vehicle for different departments.

Its potential uses include high-risk situations involving people with weapons since the vehicles armor can stop high-caliber fire that the departments existing ballistic armor cannot, he said.

Juneau does not have the ability to go to other nearby communities for resources if they are needed quickly, Campbell said. The city is accessible by air or water.

As technology has advanced throughout the world and these things become more readily available, its really just something you can protect your officers with, he said.

He said while the purchase is pending, the department expects to take delivery sometime in 2023.

Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs said police response to protests has been a foremost controversy nationwide, but it has been largely avoided in Juneau because the relationship between police and policymakers has been open.

I think one thing in our meeting with the leaders of our police department was that we were happy to have a much better relationship with our police department than other communities do, she said.

I have about 200 questions about this tank, assembly member Wade Bryson said. The moment the public hears about a tank, were going to get questions.

Police believed the assembly members were aware of the planned purchase, and Campbell said he was working to get them more details. Mayor Beth Weldon said more discussion will be held on the planned purchase.
Nothing can stop the Republican resurgence in November. The GOP will be in control of the House and Senate in 2023.

Ive heard it. Heck, I have previously written some version of it.

November is a political eternity away but not even the Republicans can shoot themselves in the foot this time. Although this pre-determined destiny doesnt mean Republicans wont try.

Case in point, meet Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy of California. During the same week when there were celebrations among the political right that all voices would finally be heard on the Twitter platform, reports have come out that McCarthy has been among the Washington establishment calling for social media bans for Republican colleagues.

Again, just because Republicans in Washington cant stop the inevitable avalanche in November, doesnt mean they wont try.

The fact is conservative voters and right-of-center Americans should send a message at the ballot box. Americans are as united as they can be that the current direction of the country is unacceptable. However, those same people should then make sure Republican leaders know that those who attempt to silence other members of Congress or potentially part of the electorate will be replaced. The days of the ruling class attempting to put a muzzle on the citizenry is done. It doesnt matter if that member of Congress on the attack, or even the president, is a Democrat or Republican.

Once lawmaking gets underway in 2023, we need out leaders focused on fixing our nations debt and spending problems, fixing a dangerously porous border and leading the discussion about how involved our country really needs to be around the world. We dont need thin-skinned Washington swamp rats calling for fellow lawmakers to be taken off social media. McCarthy was wrong to do so, just like Twitter cops were wrong to silence their political opponents.

The people in Midland need our own congressman and senators to be as vocal to fellow Republicans who call for silencing others as they are critical of Democrats or the current social media status quo. And Midlanders need their contributions to support candidates who call for more political dialogue not less.

This seems like a good time to also ask for Republicans to be more serious about governance than they have previously displayed. We need a Republican Party that shows an ability to be in control for the longer term and not serve as political place holders. Balancing budgets, reforming entitlements, controlling the growth of government and focusing on China as Americas No. 1 enemy are worthy causes.

In 2023, it will be Democrats who will play the role of the opposition party and say whatever they want because frankly their votes wont matter. That is life in the minority party. Republicans will have to be the grown-ups. Their performance will set the table for the 2024 presidential elections. It will be the Republican leadership in Congress that will help Americans determine the direction they want their country following. This is what Republican House leadership should be making clear right now.

Did the House leader openly question whether Trump should resign? It seems to be the case. Did he call for the banning of fellow representatives with whom he did not agree? It appears he did. Does anyone expect McCarthy to own it? No. That takes the type of political courage we dont see much of in Washington these days. With all the appear to be in front of the GOP, political courage seems to be something our country would benefit from these days.
Lawyers for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and many of those who had claims against the company over the toll of opioids joined together Friday to urge a federal judicial panel to allow a plan that would settle lawsuits across the country.

The legal question facing the judges from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York: Does a bankruptcy judge have the authority to grant members of the Sackler family who own the company protection from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids?

Sackler family members have insisted on the legal shield in exchange for providing the money behind the proposed settlement. And as their offer was boosted over more than two years of negotiations and mediation, most of the parties came to support the deal  including all the states.

But the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee's Office, an arm of the Justice Department, has continued pushing back, asserting it's improper to provide a legal shield for members of the wealthy family who have not themselves filed for bankruptcy protection.

A non-debtor says: I can get the benefit of a discharge but I dont need to comply with any of the rules of the bankruptcy code and I dont need to contribute all of my assets, Michael Shih, a lawyer for the office, told a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit in a hearing Friday in New York City. Thats the fundamental inconsistency here.

Lawyers for Purdue and others who support the settlement said that the protections for Sackler family members would be limited to cases involving opioids and are needed to get a fair outcome, rather than seeing the fight continue through many trials all over the country.

The releases at issue are not only important to the plan, they are absolutely essential, said Mitchell Hurley, a lawyer for the official committee of unsecured creditors in Purdue's bankruptcy case told the judges.

Purdue lawyer Marshall Huebner pointed out that unlike other parties, the Bankruptcy Trustee's office and federal government are not in line to receive any money from the settlement. He told the judges that allowing lawsuits against the Sacklers to move forward might not result in more money to fight the opioid crisis  in part because most of the family's wealth is in trusts, much of it overseas.

We are bringing in billions and billions of dollars to save lives, Huebner told the court.

All three judges asked pointed questions on the positions of both Huebner and Shih.

The 2nd Circuit judges did not indicate when they would rule, but it often takes weeks or months after a hearing.

No matter how the 2nd Circuit rules on the case, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is possible. If Purdue and its allies win, they still must go back to the bankruptcy judge to get the latest version of the deal approved.

Under the planned deal, Sackler family members would contribute $5.5 billion to $6 billion over time, plus give up ownership of the company. Purdue would then become a new entity known as Knoa Pharma that would dedicate its profits to fighting the nation's opioid epidemic.

Most of the Sacklers' money also would go to fighting the epidemic, but at least $750 million would be distributed to some individual victims and their families.

Other product-liability cases have been settled through bankruptcy court by using the sort of protections this deal would give the Sacklers. But opponents of the settlement are challenging the strategy based on the fact that a handful of parties still object to the deal.

Almost all the governments and other entities that originally sued Purdue have agreed to the settlement. Besides the bankruptcy trustee, the only official objectors left are Canadian local governments and First Nations, and two mothers of sons who died of opioid overdoses.

This week, more than 1,000 families who have lost loved ones to overdoses sent a letter asking the U.S. Justice Department to drop its opposition. They said individual victims would not receive payments if the settlement is derailed.

One of the letter-signers is Chery Juaire of Marlborough, Massachusetts, who lost two adult sons to overdoses. She said Friday that she hopes the court clears the way for the settlement  and that the Justice Department stops fighting against it.

We just hope the judges agree with our position and hope they rule soon, she said, because lives are at stake.

The federal judge overseeing Purdue's bankruptcy case approved a settlement last year that was later rejected on an appeal brought primarily by attorneys general for eight states and the District of Columbia. The sides then went to mediation that ultimately persuaded the Sacklers to increase their contribution by more than $1 billion.

Purdue is perhaps the highest-profile player in the opioid industry. But several other drugmakers, distribution companies and pharmacies also have been sued by state and local governments. While a handful of cases have gone to trial, many also are being settled.

Earlier this year, drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and distribution giants AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson finalized deals to provide a total of $26 billion. Most of the money is required to be used to fight the opioid crisis, which has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the last two decades.
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WASHINGTON -- A senior U.S. defense official said Friday the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of the Ukrainian resistance.

We also assess that because of this slow and uneven progress, again, without perfect knowledge of every aspect of the Russian plan, we do believe and assess that they are behind schedule in what they were trying to accomplish in the Donbas, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. militarys assessment.

He said the U.S. believes the Russians are at least several days behind where they wanted to be as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east.

As the troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been slow and uneven, and certainly not decisive in any, in any event, the official said.

 By Lolita C. Baldor

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Ukraine cracks down on anyone suspected of aiding Russian troops

 A former U.S. Marine became the first known American to die fighting for Ukraine

 Ukraine slams Kyiv attack amid new Mariupol rescue effort

 Ukraine says Russian offensive in east picks up momentum

 NATO chief says Finland, Sweden could join quite quickly

Follow all AP stories on Russias war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.

The constant brutal bombardments, the constant Russian strikes on infrastructure and residential areas show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people. Therefore, the defense of our land, the defense of our people, is literally a fight for life, he said late Friday in his nightly video address to the nation.

He said the cities and towns of the Donbas will survive only if Ukraine remains standing. If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones. As they did with Mariupol.

Zelenskyy said Mariupol, once one of the most developed cities in the region, was now a Russian concentration camp among the ruins.

In Kharkiv, a major city to the north, the situation was brutal but Ukrainian troops and intelligence agents have had important tactical successes, he said without elaborating.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said about 20% of the citys residential buildings have been so badly damaged that it will be impossible to restore them.

Zelenskyy said rescuers were still going through the rubble in Kyiv after Thursdays missile strikes. He expressed his condolences to the family of Vira Hyrych, who was killed in the bombardment. He said she was the 23rd journalist killed in the war.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appears to have dismissed the need for the United Nations to help secure humanitarian corridors out of Ukraines besieged cities, striking a tough line a day after the U.N. chief toured war-wracked Kyiv with that very aim.

As an interviewer at Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV tried to ask Lavrov about U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians, Lavrov cut him off.

There is no need. I know, I know, an irritated Lavrov said. There is no need for anybody to provide help to open humanitarian corridors. There is only one problem  humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals, he said.

We appreciate the interest of the secretary-general to be helpful, he added. (We have) explained  what is the mechanism for them to monitor how the humanitarian corridors are announced.

During the hourlong interview, Lavrov also accused the West of sabotaging Russias peace talks with Ukraine. He claimed that thorny negotiations in Istanbul last month had been progressing on issues of Russian territorial claims and security guarantees until Ukrainian diplomats backtracked at the behest of the West.

We are stuck because of their desire to play games all the time, Lavrov said. Because of the instructions they get Washington, from London, from some other capitals, not to accelerate the negotiations.

When asked about the risks of war spilling into neighboring Moldova after a series of explosions rattled a breakaway border region within the country, Lavrov struck an ominous tone.

Moldova should worry about their own future, he said. Because theyre being pulled into NATO.

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KHARKIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian authorities are cracking down on anyone suspected of aiding Russian troops under laws enacted by Ukraines parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Feb. 24 invasion.

Offenders face up to 15 years in prison for acts of collaborating with the invaders or showing public support for them.

Not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion, and pro-Moscow sentiment is more common among Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east.

Although the Zelenskyy government has broad support, even among many Russian speakers, not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion. Support for Moscow is more common among some Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east. An eight-year conflict there between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces had killed over 14,000 people even before this years invasion.

Some businessmen, civic and state officials and members of the military are among those who have gone over to the Russian side, and Ukraines State Bureau of Investigations said more than 200 criminal cases on collaboration have been opened. Zelenskyy has even stripped two SBU generals of their rank, accusing them of treason.

A registry of collaborators is being compiled and will be released to the public, said Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraines Security Council. He refused to say how many people have been targeted nationwide.

With martial law in place, authorities have banned 11 pro-Russian political parties, including the largest one that had 25 seats in the 450-member parliament  the Opposition Platform For Life, which was founded by Viktor Medvedchuk, a jailed oligarch with close ties to Putin.

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KHARKIV, Ukraine  Hundreds of people have been evacuated to Kharkiv from the nearby village of Ruska Lozava that had been under Russian occupation for more than a month.

Almost half the village has escaped on buses, in shrapnel-ridden cars or on foot after fierce battles saw Russian troops pushed back and Ukrainian forces take full control of the village, according to the Kharkiv regional governor.

A video posted by the Azov battalion shows troops raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the government building in the center of the village although fighting continues on the outskirts.

Upon arrival to Kharkiv less than 12 miles (20 kilometers) away, those who fled have described to Associated Press reporters the dire conditions they faced while living in basements with little water and food and no electricity.

We were hiding in the basement, it was horror. The basement was shaking from the explosions, we were screaming, we were crying and we were praying to god, said Ludmila Bocharnikova.

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WASHINGTON  A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, according to his relatives, making his the first known death of an American citizen while fighting in the war against Russia.

Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN. Cancel joined the Marines after graduating from Newburgh Free Academy in New York and served from 2017-21. He more recently worked as a corrections officer in Tennessee.

Cabrera said her son signed up to work with the private military contractor shortly before fighting began in Ukraine on Feb. 24 and that he agreed to go to Ukraine. She said he flew to Poland on March 12, entered Ukraine shortly thereafter and had been fighting alongside men from a number of countries.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it, she said.

Cabrera said her sons body hasnt been recovered.

Cancel had also served as a volunteer firefighter in New York and leaves behind a wife and 7-month-old son, according to an online fundraising page set up by a man identifying himself as Cancels father. Cancels wife received the call informing her of his death on Tuesday, the page said.

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KYIV, Ukraine  A leading Ukrainian political analyst says Russias missile strike on Kyiv signaled its intention to keep fighting despite international efforts to mediate an end to the hostilities.

Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said Thursdays strike on Kyiv while U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting the city indicated Moscows intention to press its attack.

Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure, Fesenko told The Associated Press.

With this missile strike, the Kremlin is sending a warning to all international structures and organizations trying to influence or contain Russias aggressive military plans, Fesenko noted. While Russia has so far failed to score any significant gains in Ukraine, it intends to continue its offensive and keep striking cities with missiles.

The attack reportedly killed at least one person and wounded at least 10 others, and was the first on Kyiv since Russia refocused its efforts on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Guterres and his team were not injured.

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LVIV, Ukraine  The mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol says those hiding at a massive steel mill are running out of food, water and medicine.

Vadym Boichenko described the situation at the Avozstal steel plant as dire. The steel mill is the last position held by Ukrainian fighters, who also are with civilians.

The Soviet-era facility has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more extreme after the Russians dropped a series of so-called bunker buster bombs and unguided munitions.

Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse, Boichenko said, according to a translator. They are begging to get saved.

He added: There, its not a matter of days, its a matter of hours.

Boichenko said he hoped a cease-fire would allow those inside the steel mill to safely leave. Russia earlier offered a truce that was rejected by Ukrainians, who said Moscow previously broke other agreements.

We hope theres a slight touch of humanity in the enemy, the mayor said.

Boichenko spoke Friday in a government-organized video conference.

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MOSCOW  The head of the Russian Central Bank says the outlook is extremely uncertain as the countrys economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year.

International sanctions and falling consumer demand are squeezing the economy as inflation rises.

The Central Bank cut its key interest rate from 17% to 14% on Friday and predicted the economy would shrink by between 8% and 10% this year.

The current situation is extremely uncertain. Simultaneously, supply trends and the factors driving aggregate demand are also changing dramatically, Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina said.

The Central Bank said annual inflation was 17.6% as of April 22 and forecast it would rise to between 18% and 23% by the end of the year.

After a temporary surge, consumer demand is decreasing in real terms, accompanied by a rise in households propensity to save. The decline in imports due to the introduction of external trade and financial restrictions is outstripping the decline in exports, the Central Bank said in a statement.

Despite the gradual change in the country and commodity structure of exports and imports as new suppliers and sales markets emerge, businesses are experiencing considerable difficulties in production and logistics.

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WARSAW, Poland  Ukraines first lady, Olena Zelenska, said the war hasn't changed her husband and has only revealed his qualities to the world, including his determination to prevail.

Zelenska, speaking in an interview with the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita published Friday, also said she has not seen her husband President Volodymr Zelenskyy since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Since Feb. 24, I have been seeing my husband just like you  on TV and on video tapes of his speeches, she said.

She accused Russia of trying to carry out a genocide against the Ukrainian people and expressed her sympathy with all those who have been forced to flee their homes.

I wish I could hug each of them. It is easy to imagine the difficult path they went through, escaping from basements or bunkers in Mariupol, from firing from Kharkiv, from the occupied Kyiv region, and even from Lviv or Odesa, which were also under fire from Russian missiles, she said.

The newspaper, making clear that it interviewed Zelenska remotely and not revealing her location, asked her if the war had changed her husband.

The war has not changed him, she replied. He has always been a man you can rely on. A man who will never fail. Who will hold out until the end. Its just that now the whole world has seen what may not have been clear to everyone before.

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LONDON  Tens of thousands of troops from NATO and other north Atlantic nations will take part in a series of military exercises across Europe in the coming weeks as western countries seek to deter Russian aggression.

The exercises, backed by aircraft, tanks, artillery and armored assault vehicles, will take place in Finland, Poland, North Macedonia and along the Estonian-Latvian border. They will include troops from NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force, which includes non-NATO members Finland and Sweden.

The scale of the deployment, coupled with the professionalism, training and agility of the British Army, will deter aggression at a scale not seen in Europe this century, Lt. Gen. Ralph Wooddisse, commander of the U.K.s field army, said in a statement.

The deployments will begin this week in Finland, where troops from the U.S., Britain, Estonia and Latvia will participate in Exercise Arrow to improve their ability to work alongside Finnish forces.

Also this week, some 4,500 troops will take part in Exercise Swift Response, which will include parachute drops and helicopter-borne assaults in North Macedonia. The operation will include forces from U.S., Britain, Albania, France and Italy.

Next month, 18,000 NATO troops, including forces from Britain, France and Denmark, will take part in Exercise Hedgehog along the Estonia-Latvia border.

In late May, about 1,000 British soldiers will join troops from 11 other nations for Exercise Defender in Poland.

The security of Europe has never been more important, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said. These exercises will see our troops join forces with allies and partners across NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force in a show of solidarity and strength in one of the largest shared deployments since the Cold War.

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The US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty says one of its journalists was killed by a Russian missile strike on Ukraines capital, Kyiv, Thursday night.

Vira Hyrych died when the building she lived in was hit and her body was found in the buildings rubble Friday, Radio Free Europe said. Hyrych had worked for the broadcasters Ukrainian-language service since 2018, Radio Free Europe said in a statement.

Ten people were wounded in the attack, including at least one who lost a leg, according to Ukraines emergency services.

Describing the attack, Russia says it destroyed production buildings at a defense factory in Kyiv. Russia used high-precision, long-range weaponry to hit the Artem factory in the Ukrainian capital, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday.

The spokesman appeared to be referring to strikes on Kyiv that took place on Thursday evening, shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said cruise missiles were used in the attack and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and four hospitalized when a residential building was hit.

Konashenkov also said Russia had destroyed a missile launch site that Ukraine had used to strike the Russia-held Ukrainian city of Kherson.

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LVIV, Ukraine  A British aid group says it believes two Britons have been abducted by Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine.

The British Foreign Office said it is urgently seeking more information about the two mens case.

Dominik Byrne, the co-founder and chief operating officer of the Presidium Network, told the AP on Friday that the men were last heard from on Monday.

Byrne said the men were taken while trying to carry out an independent evacuation in Dniprorudne, near the city of Zaporizhzhia, some 470 kilometers (290 miles) southeast of Kyiv.

Byrne said the family that the two men had been trying to evacuate later were interrogated by Russian forces, who asked them about the British spies. Bryne said the family later escaped to Poland.

Byrne identified the men as Paul Urey and Dylan Healy. He said they had been operating on their own in the war zone and hadnt been associated with any aid group.

The British Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia hasnt acknowledged taking the men.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark  A 25-year-old Dane was allegedly killed in Mykolajiv on April 26 while fighting with the International Legion Ukraine, a unit for foreigners who want to join the fight against Russia, according to Danish broadcaster TV2. The mans name was not given.

In a statement to Danish media, the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen said it could not confirm the report and was in contact with Ukrainian authorities.

It may therefore take time before the details are clarified because the war creates extremely difficult conditions, the statement read.

The Jyllands-Posten daily, one of Denmarks largest newspapers, said up to 100 Danes have traveled to Ukraine to fight Russia, citing Ukraines Embassy in Denmark.

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LVIV, Ukraine  The British Defense Ministry says Russias focus in its war on Ukraine remains the Donbas region.

In an update Friday, the British military said heavy fighting had been seen around Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. The British said they believe Russia is trying to attempt an advance south from Izium toward Slovyansk.

The British military said in a tweet: Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces.

The British military has been offering daily public reports on the fighting since the start of the war in February.
FARMVILLE, Va. (AP)  A Virginia man is facing charges in a crash with an Amish horse-drawn buggy that killed a Cumberland County couple and injured their eight children.

A Cumberland County grand jury indicted Mickel Bates, 60, of Farmville on Tuesday on two counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless driving in the deaths of Barbie and John Esh, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Bates declined to comment when reached by telephone by The Associated Press.
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JOHANNESBURG (AP)  South Africa is seeing a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases driven by yet another version of the coronavirus, health experts say.

Cases had been dropping in the country since February. But a new omicron subvariant that scientists call BA.4 began pushing up cases last week and they have risen rapidly since, said Salim Abdool Karim, who previously advised the government on its COVID-19 response.

So far, there has been only a slight rise in hospitalizations and no increase in deaths, said Abdool Karim, who is a public health expert at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

South Africa is recording just over 6,000 COVID-19 cases a day, up from a few hundred just a few weeks ago. The proportion of positive tests jumped from 4% in mid-April to 19% Thursday, according to official figures. Wastewater surveillance has also shown increases in coronavirus spread.

The new mutant appears to be quickly achieving dominance over the original omicron and other versions of the virus, but Abdool Karim said its too early to tell whether BA.4 is going to cause a fully-fledged wave.

Still, the new version is notable because the omicron variant first emerged in November in South Africa and Botswana before sweeping around the world.

There is one concerning trend, said Helen Rees, executive director of the Reproductive Health and HIV Institute at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg: Children are the first to be winding up in hospitals, just like during the original omicron surge.

Experts say BA.4 seems to be more transmissible than both the original omicron variant and an omicron relative known as BA.2. Scientists are still studying the new mutant, but it doesn't appear that BA.4 causes more severe disease than other versions of the virus, WHO said in a recent report.

In South Africa, gatherings for the recent Easter, Ramadan and Passover holidays, plus massive flooding in the coastal city of Durban, may have contributed to the current surge, Abdool Karim said.

BA.4 has shown up in other countries, but it's not clear whether it "its going to become a globally dominant variant, he said.

So far, it hasn't made inroads in the U.S., where BA.2 remains the dominant strain and its descendant, called BA.2.12.1, is gaining ground. That descendant is believed to spread faster than previous versions of the virus and caused about 29% of U.S. COVID cases in the latest week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Can BA.4 out-compete BA.2.12.1? Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, a Johns Hopkins University infectious disease expert, said the two variants are spreading in different populations, and he doesn't know of any data that would support a robust direct comparison.

Since the start of the pandemic, South Africa has had the lion's share of COVID-19 in Africa. Although the country's 60 million people account for less than 5% of Africa's population of 1.3 billion, South Africa has had more than a quarter of the continent's 11.4 million reported cases and nearly half of Africa's 252,000 deaths. Experts say that may be because it has a more developed public health system and keeps better records of hospitalizations and deaths than other African countries.

More than 44% of adult South Africans are vaccinated against COVID-19, according to government statistics.

Benido Impouma, a WHO official in Africa, said the latest surge shows that people must remain vigilant and continue to adhere to public safety measures such as wearing masks, washing hands and social distancing.

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Ungar reported from Louisville, Kentucky. AP journalist Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, contributed.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Suspected drug cartel gunmen abducted two off-duty female soldiers at gunpoint for several hours Thursday, the Mexican army said.

The commander of the army headquarters in the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta said the two women were vacationing there when they were kidnapped just after midnight.

They were kidnapped for the simple reason that they belonged to the army, Gen. Vicente Perez Lopez said. They had nothing to do with any operational issues.

The army said in a statement that the two were freed later Thursday, after about 15 hours in captivity. The statement did not say how the release took place.

The two had rented a property in Puerto Vallarta and were enjoying the beach ... on vacation, Perez Lopez said, calling it a cowardly act.

He said the kidnappers were believed to be members of a drug gang because of the way in which they operated.

He said a search was launched by the army, navy and National Guard, including the use of helicopters.

Perez Lopez identified the two as a sergeant posted as an office worker and a second lieutenant who teaches at an army school. The army employs very few civilians or outside contractors, and it staffs most services  from hospitals and schools to weapons factories  with its own personnel.

Puerto Vallarta is dominated by the violent Jalisco drug cartel, which has often openly clashed with the military.

In another incident Wednesday, a member of the quasi-military National Guard opened fire on a vehicle, killing one university student and wounding another.

The shooting occurred in the violence-plagued state of Guanajuato, where authorities have been fighting drug cartels and thefts from government-owned fuel pipelines for years.

The National Guard is controlled by  and largely recruited from  the army, though it is supposed to be a civilian force.

The Guard said in a statement that one of its patrols was conducting a routine mission to protect pipelines, when they happened upon two vehicles that sought to drive off.

The force said one guard member unilaterally got out of his vehicle and fired on one of the vehicles, killing a male student and severely wounding a female student. It said the guard member had been turned over to civilian prosecutors.

Guanajuato Gov. Diego Sinhue wrote in his social media accounts that he condemned the shooting and called it an excessive use of force.
Several west-central Illinois students will complete their degree requirements in May at Western Illinois University in Macomb and graduate with academic honors.

Students graduating as College Scholars have satisfied the criteria of excellence established by their individual academic college's faculty members.
Fearing for their political lives, many elected officials in New York are hurriedly backing down from previous commitments on bail reform. The measures had rolled back the use of cash bail, except for some violent crimes and other exceptional circumstances. That meant an end to jailing people before their trial for months or years, for the crime of being unable to pay their bail.

Now, it seems cash bail is back on the menu, despite all the evidence suggesting that will be a bad thing for law and order.

A new study, The Hidden Costs of Pretrial Detention Revisited, examined data from 1.5 million people booked into jail in Kentucky between 2009 and 2018 to investigate whether cash bail is as effective and vital as its supporters claim. The researchers findings were striking. Not only is the widespread use of cash bail ineffectual but in fact counterproductive. It makes communities less safe.

It might be counter-intuitive, but avoiding putting people behind bars until we have no other choice makes the public safer. In other words, jailing defendants before they have been found guilty of any crime makes them more likely to re-offend and less likely to turn up for their trial. It therefore makes bail less effective and undermines law and order more broadly.

Think of it this way. If you were falsely accused of a crime, you would have the constitutional right as an American to a fair trial  a right you would be very grateful for, no doubt. But how would your attitude to the justice system change if you were then detained for months  or in some cases even years  before your trial has begun? You would have been put behind bars practically indefinitely without even the chance to voice your defense before a jury of your peers.

Would finding yourself in that predicament inspire confidence in the justice system? Would it make you believe in its sincere desire to rehabilitate criminals and prioritize public safety above all else? Of course not. Unsurprisingly, foregoing the presumption of innocence and instead incarcerating people who have been found guilty of no crime stokes resentment in American institutions and inevitably leads to worse outcomes for everyone.

As if that were not enough, the cash bail system also represents disastrously inefficient government spending. According to data from the Prison Policy Initiative, on any given day, a whopping 400,000 people presumed innocent are held in pretrial jails across the country. They make up more than two-thirds of jail populations. That means your tax dollars are being spent incarcerating thousands upon thousands of people who have no need to be behind bars and have not been found guilty of any crime.

The heart of the problem is that the cash bail system decides who to release and who to detain based on wealth, rather than danger to the community. Too often, those charged with non-violent offenses are incarcerated entirely unnecessarily, at great cost to them and the taxpayer. Bail reform does not mean allowing violent, dangerous offenders to walk free, but rather limiting the use of pretrial detention to cases when it is truly merited.

Despite the fears of New York officials, there is no data whatsoever to suggest a link between bail reform and the recent spike in crime. But the populace is always right, and since politicians prioritize self-preservation above almost everything else, they seem worryingly willing to give in to the counter-factual narrative and back down on bail reform.

That is a bad thing for the American justice system and for taxpayers wallets. It means tax dollars are used less effectively and it means we are less safe. For all our sakes, politicians must put facts above feelings and consign the unnecessary overuse of cash bail to the history books.
UN chief to make West Africa trip to Senegal, Niger, Nigeria View Photo

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is heading to West Africa on Saturday to join Muslims marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan and to highlight the impact of the Ukraine war on the African continent, the U.N. announced Friday.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the secretary-general will arrive in Senegal on Saturday evening, travel to Niger on Monday and to Nigeria on Tuesday and then return to New York.

The U.N. chief will share an Iftar dinner  the meal breaking the Ramadan fast  with President Macky Sall of Senegal, who assumed the presidency of the African Union earlier this year, Haq said.

Guterres will also take part in celebrations of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan with Nigers President Mohamed Bazoum, Haq said, and he is also scheduled to meet Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari.

In the three countries, the secretary-general also will meet civil society representatives, religious leaders and families affected by violence and instability in Africas Sahel region, including people internally displaced and refugees, the U.N. spokesman said.

Guterres will also see first-hand the impact of climate change on vulnerable communities, and will assess progress and challenges to the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Haq said.

The secretary-general issued a report this month saying Russias war on Ukraine threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries in Africa and elsewhere that are now facing even higher food and energy costs and increasingly difficult financial conditions.

Guterres began annual Ramadan solidarity visits in his previous job as the U.N. refugee chief but the tradition was interrupted by the pandemic.
Traffic jam causes Philippine bridge to collapse, killing 4 View Photo

MANILA, Philippines (AP)  An old, earthquake-damaged bridge collapsed under heavy traffic in a central Philippine town, sending about a dozen vehicles plummeting into the river below and killing at least four people, officials said Thursday.

An Austrian visitor was among the dead, and at least 23 others including his wife were injured in the bridges collapse Wednesday afternoon in the coastal town of Loay in Bohol province, police and provincial officials said.

Regional police chief Brig. Gen. Roque Eduardo Vega said an initial investigation showed the bridge gave way under the weight of vehicles stuck in a traffic jam on it, including a truck loaded with sand and gravel to be used in the construction of a nearby bridge.

The weight of the truck and its cargo caused serious tension to the bridge that caused its collapse, Vega told reporters.

The bridge that collapsed had been damaged by a 2013 earthquake that devastated Bohol, but authorities allowed its temporary use while another bridge was being constructed, police said.

Vega identified the Austrian national who died as Michael Osuchan, 30, who was staying on Bohols Panglao island, which is famous for its picturesque beach resorts. The other victims were mostly residents of Loay and nearby towns.

Out of about a dozen vehicles that plummeted into the river, one car and two motorcycles have been retrieved by the coast guard, firefighters and volunteer divers, police said.
Grain elevator: Ruling lets slave descendants suit go ahead View Photo

EDGARD, La. (AP)  Descendants of slaves who lived and toiled in southeastern Louisiana won a key ruling Thursday allowing their legal challenge to go forward against a $400 million grain elevator planned along the Mississippi River, although the company behind the project said it would likely appeal.

Greenfield Louisiana LLC, which intends to build the terminal between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, had been pushing a court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Descendants Project, which is suing the regional government over what it calls the corrupt rezoning of the land for industrial use decades ago. Greenfield had argued on different grounds that the lawsuit should be thrown out. But during the hearing Thursday Judge J. Sterling Snowdy said he would deny all those grounds and would explain his reasoning in a more detailed ruling within days.

Two sisters, Jo and Joy Banner, formed the Descendants Project and have been leading the opposition to the grain elevator. They and about 30 supporters gathered outside the courthouse afterward to celebrate.

Were very happy that we can move forward, said Joy Banner. This was a huge win. a huge step in our process.

The ruling means that the Descendants Project can move forward with things like trying to depose figures in the company trying to build the grain elevator. Their lawsuit also raises questions about the projects environmental risks and challenges its expected proximity to homes that have stood nearby for generations.

Greenfield purchased the land in July 2021 on the east bank of the Mississippi River in St. John the Baptist Parish and said the roughly $400 million project would include a loading terminal and 54 silos, providing more than 100 jobs. The lush green fields where the terminal would go butt up against the large levee that keeps the Mississippi River in its track.

The lawyer representing Greenfield, Louis E. Buatt, said after the hearing that company officials would review the judges written ruling when its issued in coming days and would then likely seek a review by the appeals court.

Greenfield is moving forward with our project after earning overwhelming support from the community, the port and public officials on our effort to bring clean jobs and tax support for the residents, he said in a statement, adding that he didnt think the legal maneuvering would ultimately hold up the project.

Buatt said although the judge denied all three of the companys arguments for dismissing the case outright  the judge did indicate that its assertion that the statue of limitations has already run out might have merit going forward. A representative for the parish said they could not comment on pending litigation.

The Descendants Project has been fighting the placement of the grain elevator, saying some homes in the nearby town of Wallace where they live would be only 260 feet (less than 80 meters) away from the project, which the lawsuit states would include a conveyor structure nearly as tall as the Statue of Liberty.

The lawsuit also raises questions about environmental hazards such as dust from the facility posing a health hazard to the predominantly Black residents of Wallace and whether the grain terminal would disturb possible slave burial grounds. The terminal would also be located not far from the Whitney Plantation, which documents the history of slavery and has become an important tourist destination.

The company has said the grain elevator would be clean, safe, provide jobs and has wide support in the community.

At issue is a zoning change made decades ago. The area zoning was changed in 1990 when Formosa Plastics Corp. wanted to build a rayon plant at the site. Formosa, however, dropped its plans in 1992 and six years after the land was rezoned, a former parish president, Lester Millet Jr., was convicted of charges including extorting $200,000 from the person he chose to broker the land sale.

The Descendants Project has essentially argued that the industrial zoning was the result of Millets corruption and should be thrown out. Lawyers for the parish and Greenfield have argued that Millet was only one part of the process and that the parish council also approved the rezoning. Theyve also argued that too much time has passed to challenge the rezoning.

The area along the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and known locally as the river parishes was once the site of plantations that stretched from the river back to the farmland where crops  often sugarcane  were grown and harvested by slave labor. In more recent decades industrial plants have been built up and down the river  a development criticized by environmental groups that contend they are a health hazard for the region and the people who live there.

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Follow Santana on Twitter @ruskygal.

By REBECCA SANTANA

Associated Press
EUs border chief resigns after reports of migrant pushbacks View Photo

BRUSSELS (AP)  The head of the European Unions border agency resigned immediately Friday, the blocs executive said. The move followed media allegations that his agency was involved in illegal pushbacks of migrants who were trying to reach Europe.

Pushbacks  forcing would-be refugees away from a border before they can reach a country and claim asylum  are considered violations of international refugee protection agreements, which say people shouldnt be expelled or returned to a country where their life and safety might be in danger due to their race, religion, nationality or being members of a social or political group.

The EU Commission said it takes note of the resignation of Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri following a day of speculation about his fate. The announcement came after the board of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, known as Frontex, met on whether to accept his offer to resign.

Leggeri, who had been under mounting pressure to resign for months, offered to resign a day after a media investigation this week suggested that Frontexs database recorded illegal pushbacks in the Aegean Sea as prevention of departure incidents. Leggeri had previously denied wrongdoing.

Last year, the EUs anti-fraud watchdog, OLAF, opened an investigation into Frontex over allegations of harassment, misconduct and migrant pushbacks.

German Interior Ministry spokesperson Maximilian Kall said replacing Leggeri offers the border agency an opportunity for a fresh start.

It offers the possibility of fully resolving the allegations, creating complete transparency and ensuring that all missions by Frontex occur in full conformity with European law, he said.

The Commission said Frontex fulfils a critically important task to support member states, manage common European Union external borders, and to uphold fundamental rights in doing so.

Leggeri had led Frontex since the 2015, when well over 1 million people, many of them refugees fleeing war in Syria, entered the bloc.

According to a joint investigation this week by Lighthouse Reports, Der Spiegel, SRF Rundschau, Republik and Le Monde, Frontex has been involved in the pushbacks of at least 957 asylum-seekers in the Aegean Sea between March 2020 and September 2021.

In contrast, the European Court of Human Rights has held that undocumented migrants should be provided with information, care and have their asylum claims processed.

European lawmakers have asked for part of Frontexs budget to be frozen until improvements are made, including setting up a mechanism for reporting serious incidents on the EUs external borders and establishing a system for monitoring fundamental rights.

Birgit Sippel, a home affairs spokesperson for the Socialists and Democrats group at the European Parliament, called Leggeris departure a long overdue development, after years of constant allegations of pushbacks and violations of human rights.

A German non-governmental organization, Pro Asyl, also welcomed Leggeris offer to step down.

Its scandalous that the director of an EU agency hid human rights abuses for years, manipulated evidence and lied to Parliament, said Pro Asyls Europe leader, Karl Kopp.

Kopp called for independent oversight of Frontex to ensure that it acts in compliance with EU and international laws in the future. His organization said Frontexs areas of responsibility should be reduced and its budget of about 750 million euros a year massively cut.

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Jordans reported from Berlin. Raf Casert contributed from Brussels

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Follow APs coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

By FRANK JORDANS and SAMUEL PETREQUIN

Associated Press
Germany, Turkey summon envoys in row over Kavala verdict View Photo

BERLIN (AP)  Germany and Turkey on Friday summoned each others ambassadors over a row sparked by a Turkish courts decision to sentence a prominent Turkish civil rights activist and philanthropist to life in prison.

Western governments and rights groups strongly criticized this weeks ruling which found Osman Kavala guilty of attempting to overthrow the government with mass protests in 2013. The court in Istanbul also sentenced seven other defendants to 18 years in prison each for aiding the attempt.

Christofer Burger, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, said Turkeys envoy to Berlin was summoned for talks Friday morning. Turkey retaliated by summoning German Ambassador Juergen Schulz, Turkeys state run Anadolu Agency reported.

Anadolu said a senior Turkish official told Schulz that Ankara rejected attempts to interfere in the Turkish judiciary and politics.

Burger told reporters in Berlin that Germany had urged other European Union countries to make a similar diplomatic protest.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the Turkish courts ruling blatantly contradicts the constitutional standards and international obligations that Turkey commits itself to as a member of the Council of Europe and EU accession candidate.

We expect Osman Kavala to be released immediately  the European Court of Human Rights has bindingly obliged Turkey to do so, Baerbock said.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Suspected drug cartel gunmen abducted two off-duty female soldiers at gunpoint for several hours Thursday, the Mexican army said.

The commander of the army headquarters in the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta said the two women were vacationing there when they were kidnapped just after midnight.

They were kidnapped for the simple reason that they belonged to the army, Gen. Vicente Perez Lopez said. They had nothing to do with any operational issues.

The army said in a statement that the two were freed later Thursday, after about 15 hours in captivity. The statement did not say how the release took place.

The two had rented a property in Puerto Vallarta and were enjoying the beach  on vacation, Perez Lopez said, calling it a cowardly act.

He said the kidnappers were believed to be members of a drug gang because of the way in which they operated.

He said a search was launched by the army, navy and National Guard, including the use of helicopters.

Perez Lopez identified the two as a sergeant posted as an office worker and a second lieutenant who teaches at an army school. The army employs very few civilians or outside contractors, and it staffs most services  from hospitals and schools to weapons factories  with its own personnel.

Puerto Vallarta is dominated by the violent Jalisco drug cartel, which has often openly clashed with the military.

In another incident Wednesday, a member of the quasi-military National Guard opened fire on a vehicle, killing one university student and wounding another.

The shooting occurred in the violence-plagued state of Guanajuato, where authorities have been fighting drug cartels and thefts from government-owned fuel pipelines for years.

The National Guard is controlled by  and largely recruited from  the army, though it is supposed to be a civilian force.

The Guard said in a statement that one of its patrols was conducting a routine mission to protect pipelines, when they happened upon two vehicles that sought to drive off.

The force said one guard member unilaterally got out of his vehicle and fired on one of the vehicles, killing a male student and severely wounding a female student. It said the guard member had been turned over to civilian prosecutors.

Guanajuato Gov. Diego Sinhue wrote in his social media accounts that he condemned the shooting and called it an excessive use of force.
New and returning events are planned for this weekend.

The Calaveras High School Performing Arts is presenting the musical, Hello, Dolly! this weekend only at the Calaveras Performing Arts Center in San Andreas. Details are here.

The Mother Lode Queen Horsemanship Contest is this Saturday at 10 am at the Sheriff Posse Grounds.

Saturday from 10 am while supplies last, ATCAA Head Start is doing a FUN Drive-Thru Kid-Friendly Event for ages 0 to 5 in their parking lot. Other agencies at the event will be Infant Child Enrichment Services (ICES), Tuolumne County Public Library, Tuolumne County Public Health, and the Center for a Non-Violent Community (CVNC). Details are in their community event listing here. Also at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds everyone is invited to the Meet the First Responders event. Tuolumne County Sheriffs Community Service Unit is promoting and honoring Tuolumne County First Responders at this free family-friendly event. Participating agencies are Sonora Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Tuolumne County Sheriffs Department, Tuolumne County Fire Department, California Division of Forestry (CALFIRE), Tuolumne County Search and Rescue, Sonora Fire Department, PHI Air Medical Sonora and more with exhibitions, fun, music, and raffles.

The fairgrounds this Saturday is also the location for the Tuolumne County Prescription Drug take-back day. Unused or expired prescription medications that are not properly disposed of are a public safety issue. Bring those drugs to the Mother Lode Fairgrounds from 10 AM through 4 PM.

In Sonora on Saturday at 10 am is the Vets Ruck March by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. To be in the running for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes a 22lb backpack is required, participants are encouraged to bring a backpack in memory of those that have fallen to suicide. Please consider filling your backpack with items to donate to our Homeless Veterans Program after finishing the March. The entire march route will be roughly three miles on paved and dirt roads, friendly for all ages. The details are listed in our events calendar here.

In Murphys on Saturday at 10 am is the Mutt March by the Murphys Community Club. Algiers Street and Six Mile Road will be impacted by the event. (See below for Sundays Tuolumne Dachshund Derby)

Saturday at 11 am is the 3rd Annual Ragin Cajun Festival in San Andreas featuring authentic Louisiana Crawfish Boil. There will be live music, vendors and more food booths lining Main Street in San Andreas. Proceeds will benefit the Hospice of Amador and Calaveras. Free parking at Calaveras High School. Ticket information is in their event listing here. Note that Main Street, San Andreas, from W. St. Charles Street (HWY 49) to Court Street, will be closed to all traffic from 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM on Saturday

The first of several Free Green Waste Drop Off events for Tuolumne County residents will happen this Saturday at two sites. Get all the event details here.

On Saturday Calvary Chapel is hosting an EPIC Rummage Sale Fundraiser for their Youth Groups summer mission trip to Casa Esperanza, Mexico.

The annual Whiskerino Dinner Dance will be held at 5 pm at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds. Live music will be provided by Gunpowder and Lace, as well as a silent auction. All proceeds benefit the Friends of the Calaveras County Fair and the Junior Livestock Committee. Ticket information is in their event listing here.

In the town of Tuolumne on Sunday May 1st is the Tuolumne Dachshund Derby at the West Side Memorial Park. As detailed here, Greg Lipanovich, the originator, and co-founder Sandi Romena were both Wednesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day and the event is a fundraiser for Friends of the Animal Community.

Sunday is also the monthly Pancake Breakfast at the Veterans Hall in Sonora.

The Tuolumne County Girl Scouts will host their Pancake Breakfast Sunday at the Sheriffs Posse Grounds.

The Connections Academy Summerville Hight School Spring Showcase will be open Sunday from 1pm to 5pm at the Summerville High School Theater.
Powerful explosion at Kabul mosque kills at least 10 people View Photo

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  A powerful explosion ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday, killing at least 10 people and wounding as many as 30, a Taliban spokesman said.

Hundreds of worshippers had gathered for prayers on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramdan and the Khalifa Aga Gul Jan Mosque was packed, said local residents, fearing the casualty toll could rise further.

The Taliban-appointed interior ministry spokesman, Mohammad Nafi Takor, could not provide more details and Taliban security men cordoned off the area. The source of the explosion was not immediately known and no one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Initially, at least 20 were reported wounded but Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the Taliban-appointed Kabul police chief, later raised the number to as many as 30. The death toll remained at 10, he said and also tweeted that security agencies are investigating the incident.

The explosion was so loud that the neighborhood of the mosque shook from the blast, the residents said, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing for their own safety.

Ambulances raced to the site, driving up to the end of a narrow street in an eastern neighborhood of Kabul to reach the mosque, which belongs to Afghanistans majority Sunni Muslims.

Wahid, an Afghan in his 30s, said he was home when he heard about the blast and rushed to the mosque right away, knowing his brother was there. He recalled the scene of mayhem, the screams and shouts for help. He helped carry the wounded to ambulances.

Everyone was crying and covered in blood, Wahid said. I was told my brother had been hurt.

The Associated Press spoke to Wahid outside the Italian-run EMERGENCY hospital, where he had gone to give blood, but Taliban guards cordoned off the hospital, denying access to everyone but the wounded. He finally found his brother, wounded in the arm and leg.

The hospital, which treats only the war-wounded, tweeted that its staff reported the facility has admitted at least 23 wounded and two who died shortly after the explosion.

Javid, who appeared to be in his late 20s, said he was on his way to the mosque to join his brother and cousin who were already there, when he heard the explosion. He rushed to the scene.

I was so afraid and ran there, he said, adding that he had found both his brother and their cousin, slightly injured and released after treatment. The explosion was so powerful, Javid said the roof of the mosque collapsed.

Wahid and Javid would only give their first names to the AP, fearing for their own safety.

The United Nations condemned the explosion, describing it as heinous and yet another painful blow to the people of Afghanistan who continue to be exposed to unremitting insecurity and violence, according to Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N.s deputy special representative coordinating humanitarian relief.

It is unconscionable for civilians to be targeted indiscriminately as they go about their daily business, gathering for prayers, going to school or the market, or on their way to work, he said.

The explosion was the latest in a series of such blasts amid relentless attacks across the country. Similar attacks on mosques have recently targeted the countrys minority Shiite Muslims and were claimed by the Islamic State groups regional affiliate, known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province or IS-K.

IS has stepped up its attacks across Afghanistan to become the primary enemy of the Taliban since their takeover of the country last August.

Despite Taliban claims to have routed IS from its headquarters in eastern Afghanistans Nangarhar province, the militant groups renewed assaults on mosques, schools and buses underscores the intransigent threat it poses.

Last week, 33 Shiite worshippers died in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, when a bomb struck their mosque and an adjacent religious school. IS has claimed responsibility for that attack.

There are also other militant groups operating in Afghanistan and despite Taliban promises that Afghan territory would not be used to harbor non-Afghan insurgents, militants fighting many of Afghanistans neighbors have found a safe haven in the country.

The relentless bombings have prompted protests by minority Shiites and have seriously undermined Afghanistans new Taliban rulers as they transition from insurgency and war to governing and trying to bring security to the war-ravaged nation.

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Associated Press writers Mohammad Shoaib Amin in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Rahim Faiez in Islamabad contributed to this report.

By KATHY GANNON

Associated Press
Man charged with killing 18 in Texas convicted of 1 murder View Photo

A man charged with killing 18 older women in the Dallas area over a two-year span was found guilty of murder Thursday and sentenced to life in prison in one of the cases against him after an earlier mistrial.

Jurors took about 45 minutes to convict Billy Chemirmir, 49, of capital murder in the March 2018 smothering of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris. Prosecutors said that after Chemirmir and Harris were both at the same Walmart, he went to her home, killed her and stole her jewelry.

It was Chemirmirs second trial in her death, after the first jury to hear the case deadlocked in November.

Prosecutors werent seeking the death penalty, so state District Judge Raquel Rocky Jones immediately sentenced Chemirmir to life in prison without parole.

Chemirmir, who has maintained that hes innocent, is charged with capital murder in the deaths of 12 other women in Dallas County and five in nearby Collin County. Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot has said he plans to try Chemirmir for at least one more death.

Relatives of those hes accused of killing praised Thursdays verdict at an emotional news conference.

This one conviction represents justice for all of the families, said Shannon Dion, whose 92-year-old mother, Doris Gleason, was killed in 2016.

Defense attorney Kobby Warren said during closing arguments that prosecutors hadnt proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Chemirmir was ever at Harris home, calling the states case all bark, no bite. As in the first trial, the defense didnt call any witnesses and Chemirmir did not testify.

Prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin told jurors that he gave them more than enough evidence to convict.

This is an easy decision, mainly because we bit so much off, said Fitzmartin, who noted that when Chemirmir was arrested, he had Harris jewelry and the keys to her home.

Jurors also saw surveillance video of Harris and Chemirmir at the same Walmart on the day she was found dead.

Though Chemirmir was being tried this week only in Harris death, prosecutors also presented evidence to jurors about an attack that 91-year-old Mary Annis Bartel survived the day before Harris was killed and the killing of 87-year-old Mary Brooks about six weeks earlier.

Chemirmir was arrested the day after Bartel said a man forced his way into her apartment and held a pillow over her face.

Fitzmartin said police subsequently found that a few days earlier there had been a report of a suspicious person at the independent living community where she lived. A license plate number led officers to Chemirmir.

Police detectives testified about going to Chemirmirs nearby apartment complex and watching as he drove into the parking lot. Detectives said he threw items into a dumpster and then, as they got him out of his vehicle, he was holding jewelry and cash in his hand.

Police have said that a large red jewelry box in the dumpster contained documents that led them to Harris home. They found her dead in her bedroom, lipstick smeared on her pillow.

The number of people Chemirmir was accused of killing grew as authorities reinvestigated deaths previously thought to be natural. Most of the people were found dead in their apartments at independent living communities for older people, where Chemirmir has been accused of forcing his way into apartments or posing as a handyman. Some lived in private homes, including Harris and the widow of a man Chemirmir had cared for in his job as an at-home caregiver.

M.J. Jennings, whose 83-year-old mother, Leah Corken, was killed in 2016, said she hoped the conviction would be the first step of healing for all of these families.

Bartel died in 2020, but jurors heard a taped deposition of her describing opening her door the day she was attacked. She said she immediately focused on green rubber gloves the person was wearing, and tried to push the door shut but was overpowered.

He said: Dont fight me, lie on the bed, Bartel said. She said her attacker slammed the pillow to her face and used all his weight to keep me from breathing.

She said she couldnt remember details about the mans appearance.

Bartel, who lost consciousness, later discovered she was missing her wedding band, diamond engagement ring and other jewelry.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Chemirmir listed jewelry belonging to Bartel and Brooks for sale online.

By JAMIE STENGLE

Associated Press
Inside the Trevor Reed deal: From Oval Office to Moscow trip View Photo

WASHINGTON (AP)  The worst possible moment for bringing Trevor Reed home turned out to be the best.

With U.S.-Russian relations at their lowest point in decades, it seemed an improbable time to hope for the release of Reed, a former Marine detained in Russia for almost three years. Yet this week the Biden administration completed the type of transaction it had earlier seemed resistant to, exchanging Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot and convicted drug trafficker serving a 20-year prison sentence in Connecticut.

A series of events and considerations in the last two months helped facilitate the swap, including escalating concerns over Reeds health, a private Oval Office meeting between his parents and President Joe Biden and a secretive Moscow trip by a former diplomat on the cusp of Russias war with Ukraine.

All those three forced the White House to make a decision that they hadnt made before, said Mickey Bergman, vice president at the Richardson Center for Global Engagement.

How the war  and the breakdown in U.S.-Russian relations  affected the deal isnt clear. U.S. officials stressed that the negotiations for Reeds release were narrow in scope, focused squarely on the prisoners and not on Russias war and not reflective of any broader diplomatic engagement. But while the timing of the deal was startling, its also clear that the groundwork for it had been laid before the conflict had begun.

I did it, Biden told reporters Wednesday about the deal. I raised it. I raised it three months ago.

Just as the war was about to commence, Bergman and his colleague, Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and ex-New Mexico governor, flew to Moscow on the plane of FedEx chief executive Fred Smith for a meeting with Russian government officials. It was a continuation of negotiations theyd been having for the release of Reed and another jailed American, corporate security executive Paul Whelan.

They left with the contours in place for the one-for-one swap that ultimately took place.

In Texas, Joey and Paula Reed were worrying that Russias war with Ukraine, and resulting tensions with the U.S., could close off communication channels and prevent any common ground for negotiations. During meetings with administration officials in the last year  including with the Justice Department, which prosecuted Yaroshenko  the couple expressed support for a swap but say they werent led to think that was a viable option.

They didnt say: Oh, we agree with you, thats a great deal. Thats a good point,' Paula Reed said in a February interview with The Associated Press. They didnt say anything like that. They just said: We hear you. Thank you very much.

But weeks into the war, the couple did something that got the White Houses attention.

As Biden traveled to Texas to support veterans, the Reeds stood along the motorcade route in hopes of getting meaningful face-time with the president. That didnt happen, though he did speak by phone with the couple. Later that month, they arrived in Washington and stood with signs near the White House, hoping again to meet with the president.

This time, they were invited into the Oval Office for a sit-down with Biden and other administration officials. The White House issued a statement that night reiterating its commitment to getting Reed and Whelan home, an issue that senior officials had raised in private meetings with Russian leaders.

The meeting was a rare bit of presidential access for the family of an American detainee, especially since Biden himself has been less public than his predecessor, Donald Trump, about efforts to get Americans home. Behind the scenes, though, Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were raising the cases with the Russians, and Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, was working on the issue too.

Hovering in the background was Reeds health. In March, Reed told his parents hed been coughing up blood several times a day, had pain in his lung and a broken rib. Last year, he contracted COVID-19. Even on Wednesday, his parents were taken aback by how thin their son looked during video footage of the transfer. They said they expected that hed need medical care before resuming his daily life in Texas.

Paula Reed told ABCs Good Morning America that Trevor was getting testing done, and his sister, Taylor, said that his spirits are bright.

Hes telling stories, she said. Hes flirting with the nurse staff. Its great. Its great to see.

His health issues also alarmed U.S. officials.

That, I think, contributed to really ratcheting up the conversations on this issue, getting to a point where we were able to make this arrangement, getting to a point where we were able to turn to some of the logistics of simply getting it done, a senior administration official told reporters in a background briefing this week.

Separately, a lawyer for Yaroshenko has said his client also suffered from multiple health problems and had earlier tried unsuccessfully to have him freed early from prison on compassionate release grounds because of the pandemic.

Left out of any deal were Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage-related charges that his family says are fabricated, and Brittney Griner, a WNBA star detained in February after Russian authorities said a search of her bag revealed a cannabis derivative.

The Whelan family said in a statement that it was happy about Reeds release but troubled that their loved one wasnt part of it.

Paul has already spent 3 and a quarter years as a Russian hostage, the statement said. Is President Bidens failure to bring Paul home an admission that some cases are too hard to solve? Is the Administrations piecemeal approach picking low-hanging fruit?

Richardson, who has helped facilitate multiple releases of American detainees and hostages in recent years, said the Biden team deserves recognition for authorizing this particular swap at a time when U.S.-Russia relations were so low.

It doesnt matter who gets credit, Richardson said, as long as hostages like Trevor Reed are home.

____

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.etuckerAP

By ERIC TUCKER

Associated Press
US Army Chinook helicopters help set up base camp on Denali View Photo

DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE, Alaska (AP)  Those wishing to climb North Americas tallest peak got a leg up this week from the U.S. Army.

Aviators from B Company, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment at Fort Wainwright flew two bus-sized CH-47F Chinook helicopters Wednesday to continue the decades-old tradition of helping set up base camp on Denali, a 20,310-foot (6,190 meters) mountain located about 240 miles (386 kilometers) north of Anchorage.

Thousands of pounds of equipment and supplies were delivered to Kahiltna Glacier, site of the lower base camp at 7,200 feet (2,195 meters).

The National Park Service establishes that camp and another at the 14,000-foot (4,267-meter) level as climbers attempt to summit Denali along the West Buttress route, the most popular for climbers. Last year, of the 1,007 climbers who attempted to reach the top of Denali, 943 went along the West Buttress route. Of those, 490 reached the summit, or 52%.

Fort Wainwright soldiers often return to Denali when the helicopters are needed for high elevation rescues. This assistance is provided for various reasons, including when the National Park Services helicopter is out of service or when there are more patients than the park services smaller helicopter can carry.
Legal claim: LA sheriff delayed excessive force probe View Photo

LOS ANGELES (AP)  One of Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanuevas closest advisers says she was told to choose between retirement or demotion after raising questions about his handling of the investigation into a deputy kneeling on a handcuffed inmates head for several minutes.

The March 10, 2021, incident was captured on video and Robin Limon, who was an assistant sheriff, said she watched it five days later with Villanueva and two other sheriffs officials, according to a legal claim  a precursor to a lawsuit  filed Thursday by Limons attorney. She expected Villanueva would act quickly but internal and criminal investigations of the deputy were delayed.

Limon grew frustrated with Villanuevas handling of the case and overall oversight of the agency of the nations largest sheriffs department, which has about 10,000 deputies. Things came to a head last month when Villanueva demanded she choose between two poisonous options: retirement or a four-step demotion to the rank of lieutenant, the claim said. She instead took a leave.

The reasons for the Sheriffs misconduct were twofold, to retaliate against the Complainant for being a whistleblower on several instances of illegal and other wrongful conduct and to further his cover up of an excessive use of force incident, the claim said, referring to the deputy kneeling on the inmate.

Villanueva has denied any wrongdoing in his handling of the case. He maintains he did not see the video until eight months after the incident.

A statement issued Thursday by the department said there would be no comment on Limons claim. We look forward to presenting the facts in court, the statement said.

Limons claim is the second filed against the sheriff over the incident, which occurred in a county courthouse two days after jury selection began for the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murder for pressing his knee against George Floyds neck for up to 9 1/2 minutes.

Both accuse him of orchestrating a cover-up to limit any political damage from the video  Villanueva is running for a second term  which came into the public domain last month when the Los Angeles Times reported on the incident and posted the video, which it obtained from an unidentified source.

The Times was first to report on Limons claim, which came two days after Villanueva held a news conference and said a criminal investigation was underway to determine how the video was leaked. He said the Times reporter who broke the news last month was part of the probe.

That assertion brought quick condemnation from the paper, First Amendment advocates and local politicians. Within hours Villanueva walked back his remarks and said the agency was not pursuing charges against any reporters.

The Associated Press and more than two dozen other media outlets and organizations sent Villanueva a letter Thursday saying his actions were an affront to the First Amendment and a violation of your public trust with the people of Los Angeles.

According to Limon, it was Villanuevas desire to avoid bad publicity that led him to attempt to cover up the incident with the deputy.

In the video, Deputy Douglas Johnson is shown directing inmate Enzo Escalante to move up against a wall in the courthouse. Escalante punches at Johnson and other deputies help wrestle Escalante to the ground and handcuff him.

Johnson then had his knee on Escalantes head for more than three minutes, the Times reported, even after the inmate had been handcuffed, placed face-down and did not appear to be resisting. Escalante  who was awaiting trial on murder and other charges  was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Johnson was removed from duty months later and is under criminal investigation, Villanueva said Tuesday. Prosecutors are reviewing Johnsons case but no charges have yet been brought.

Escalante has pleaded not guilty to two counts of resisting an officer. He has filed a federal lawsuit against members of the sheriffs department, including Villanueva, that alleges his civil rights were violated.

By STEFANIE DAZIO

Associated Press
An algorithm that screens for child neglect raises concerns View Photo

Inside a cavernous stone fortress in downtown Pittsburgh, attorney Robin Frank defends parents at one of their lowest points  when they risk losing their children.

The job is never easy, but in the past she knew what she was up against when squaring off against child protective services in family court. Now, she worries shes fighting something she cant see: an opaque algorithm whose statistical calculations help social workers decide which families should be investigated in the first place.

A lot of people dont know that its even being used, Frank said. Families should have the right to have all of the information in their file.

From Los Angeles to Colorado and throughout Oregon, as child welfare agencies use or consider tools similar to the one in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has identified a number of concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. Related issues have already torpedoed some jurisdictions plans to use predictive models, such as the tool notably dropped by the state of Illinois.

According to new research from a Carnegie Mellon University team obtained exclusively by AP, Alleghenys algorithm in its first years of operation showed a pattern of flagging a disproportionate number of Black children for a mandatory neglect investigation, when compared with white children. The independent researchers, who received data from the county, also found that social workers disagreed with the risk scores the algorithm produced about one-third of the time.

County officials said that social workers can always override the tool, and called the research hypothetical.

Child welfare officials in Allegheny County, the cradle of Mister Rogers TV neighborhood and the icons child-centric innovations, say the cutting-edge tool  which is capturing attention around the country  uses data to support agency workers as they try to protect children from neglect. That nuanced term can include everything from inadequate housing to poor hygiene, but is a different category from physical or sexual abuse, which is investigated separately in Pennsylvania and is not subject to the algorithm.

Workers, whoever they are, shouldnt be asked to make, in a given year, 14, 15, 16,000 of these kinds of decisions with incredibly imperfect information, said Erin Dalton, director of the countys Department of Human Services and a pioneer in implementing the predictive child welfare algorithm.

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This story, supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, is part of an ongoing Associated Press series, Tracked, that investigates the power and consequences of decisions driven by algorithms on peoples everyday lives.

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Critics say it gives a program powered by data mostly collected about poor people an outsized role in deciding families fates, and they warn against local officials growing reliance on artificial intelligence tools.

If the tool had acted on its own to screen in a comparable rate of calls, it would have recommended that two-thirds of Black children be investigated, compared with about half of all other children reported, according to another study published last month and co-authored by a researcher who audited the countys algorithm.

Advocates worry that if similar tools are used in other child welfare systems with minimal or no human interventionakin to how algorithms have been used to make decisions in the criminal justice systemthey could reinforce existing racial disparities in the child welfare system.

Its not decreasing the impact among Black families, said Logan Stapleton, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. On the point of accuracy and disparity, (the county is) making strong statements that I think are misleading.

Because family court hearings are closed to the public and the records are sealed, AP wasnt able to identify first-hand any families who the algorithm recommended be mandatorily investigated for child neglect, nor any cases that resulted in a child being sent to foster care. Families and their attorneys can never be sure of the algorithms role in their lives either because they arent allowed to know the scores.

SAFER, FASTER

Incidents of potential neglect are reported to Allegheny Countys child protection hotline. The reports go through a screening process where the algorithm calculates the childs potential risk and assigns a score. Social workers then use their discretion to decide whether to investigate.

The Allegheny Family Screening Tool is specifically designed to predict the risk that a child will be placed in foster care in the two years after they are investigated. Using a trove of detailed personal data collected from birth, Medicaid, substance abuse, mental health, jail and probation records, among other government data sets, the algorithm calculates a risk score of 1 to 20: The higher the number, the greater the risk.

Given the high stakes  skipping a report of neglect could end with a childs death but scrutinizing a familys life could set them up for separation  the county and developers have suggested their tool can help course correct and make the agencys work more thorough and efficient by weeding out meritless reports so that social workers can focus on children who truly need protection.

The developers have described using such tools as a moral imperative, saying child welfare officials should use whatever they have at their disposal to make sure children arent neglected.

There are children in our communities who need protection, said Emily Putnam-Hornstein, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hills School of Social Work who helped develop the Allegheny tool, speaking at a virtual panel held by New York University in November.

Dalton said algorithms and other predictive technologies also provide a scientific check on call center workers personal biases because they see the risk score when deciding if the case merits an investigation. If the case is escalated, Dalton said the full investigation is carried out by a different social worker who probes in person, decides if the allegations are true and helps determine if the children should be placed in foster care.

CMU researchers found that from August 2016 to May 2018, the tool calculated scores that suggested 32.5% of Black children reported as being neglected should be subject to a mandatory investigation, compared with 20.8% of white children.

In addition, the county confirmed to the AP that for more than two years, a technical glitch in the tool sometimes presented social workers with the wrong scores, either underestimating or overestimating a childs risk. County officials said the problem has since been fixed.

The county didnt challenge the CMU researchers figures, but Dalton said the research paper represented a hypothetical scenario that is so removed from the manner in which this tool has been implemented to support our workforce.

The CMU research found no difference in the percentage of Black families investigated after the algorithm was adopted. The study found the workers were able to reduce this disparity produced by the algorithm.

The county says that social workers are always in the loop and are ultimately responsible for deciding which families are investigated because they can override the algorithm, even if it flags a case for mandatory investigation. Dalton said the tool would never be used on its own in Allegheny, and doubted any county would allow for completely automated decision-making about families lives.

Of course, they could do that, she said. I think that they are less likely to, because it doesnt make any actual sense to do that.

Despite what the county describes as safeguards, one child welfare expert who worked for an Allegheny county contractor says there is still cause for concern.

When you have technology designed by humans, the bias is going to show up in the algorithms, said NicoLee Biddle, who has worked for nearly a decade in child welfare, including as a family therapist and foster care placement specialist in Allegheny County. If they designed a perfect tool, it really doesnt matter, because its designed from very imperfect data systems.

Biddle is a former foster care kid turned therapist, social worker and policy advocate. In 2020, she quit, largely due to her growing frustrations with the child welfare system. She also said officials dismissed her concerns when she asked why families were originally referred for investigation.

We could see the report and that decision, but we were never able to see the actual tool, she said. I would be met with  What does that have to do with now?

In recent years, movements to reshape  or dismantle  child protective services have grown, as generations of dire foster care outcomes have been shown to be rooted in racism.

In a memo last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cited racial disparities at nearly every major decision-making point of the child welfare system, an issue Aysha Schomburg, the associate commissioner of the U.S. Childrens Bureau said leads more than half of all Black children nationwide to be investigated by social workers. Over surveillance leads to mass family separation, Schomburg wrote in a recent blog post.

With discussions about race and equity looming large in child welfare circles, Putnam-Hornstein last fall took part in a roundtable of experts convened by the conservative American Enterprise Institute and co-authored a paper that slammed advocates who believe child welfare systems are inherently racist.

She said she collaborated with the group that suggested there are racial disparities in the incidence of maltreatment because she sees the need for reforms, and believes that the adoption of algorithmic decision aids can help guard against subjectivity and bias.

Some researchers worry that as other government agencies implement similar tools, the algorithms could be allowed to make some decisions on their own.

We know there are many other child welfare agencies that are looking into using risk assessment tools and their decisions about how much fully to automate really vary, said Stapleton. Had Allegheny County used it as a fully automated tool, we would have seen a much higher racial disparity in the proportion of kids who are investigated.

LAB RATS

A decade ago, the developers of Alleghenys tool  Putnam-Hornstein and Rhema Vaithianathan, a professor of health economics at New Zealands Auckland University of Technology  began collaborating on a project to design a predictive risk model for New Zealands child welfare system.

Vaithianathan and colleagues prototyped a new child abuse screening model that proposed using national data to predict the risk that the child protection system would confirm allegations that a child had been mistreated by age 5. The plan was scrapped after documents revealed the Ministry of Social Developments head sharply opposed the project, declaring: These are children, not lab rats.

The minister wasnt the only one concerned. Emily Keddell, a professor of social work at Otago University in New Zealand who analyzed the tool in the peer-reviewed Critical Social Policy journal, found that it would likely have resulted in more Maori families being tagged for investigation, reinforcing existing structural inequalities by contributing to the ongoing stigmatisation of this population.

In response, Vaithianathan said that she and her collaborators are open to community criticism and committed to showing their work, even if jurisdictions decide against it. She added that she has worked extensively with Indigenous Maori researchers.

We encourage agencies to listen to those critical voices and to make leadership decisions themselves, she said.

Vaithianathan and Putnam-Hornstein said they have since expanded their work to at least half a dozen cities and counties across the United States and have explored building tools in Chile and Australia.

Brian Chor, a clinical psychologist and child welfare researcher at the University of Chicagos Chapin Hall, said the pair are respected for confronting ethical and racial concerns in creating the tool. He also said that Pittsburgh was the perfect place to create a model algorithm for other public welfare agencies.

Allegheny County is probably an early adopter where the stars seem to be aligned, where they have the data, Chor said. They have a solid recipe that I think is replicable.

In several public presentations and media interviews, Vaithianathan and Putnam-Hornstein said they want to use public data to help families in need.

Were researchers and were trying to model what good, good approaches look like in this field, Vaithianathan said in an interview. The developers also noted in a document sent to Pennsylvanias Department of Human Services last year that demand for their tools had increased due to the pandemic, as the state weighed a proposal for a statewide tool that would cost $520,000 to develop and implement.

Vaithianathan has said the tool ultimately can help address racial bias, and has pointed to a 2019 Stanford University evaluation commissioned by Allegheny County that suggests it may have had a modest impact on some disparities.

Ive always felt that these are tools that have the opportunity to improve the quality of decision making, Vaithianathan said at a November panel. To the extent that they are used with careful guardrails around them, I think they also offer an opportunity for us to try and address some of those systemic biases.

But when AP asked county officials to address Carnegie Mellons findings on the tools pattern of flagging a disproportionate number of Black children for a mandatory child neglect investigation, Allegheny County questioned the researchers methodology by saying they relied on old data.

The researchers reran the analysis using newer data to address the countys concerns and reached many of the same conclusions.

In response to AP, Allegheny County provided research that acknowledges the tool has not helped with combating disparities in the rates at which Black and white child neglect cases are investigated. A recent unpublished analysis written by the developers themselves determined no statistically significant effect of the algorithm on this disparity.

We dont frame the entire decision-making process around race, though clearly its an important thing that we think about, Dalton said.

Dalton said her team wants to keep improving the tool and is considering new updates, including adding available private insurance data to capture more information about middle class and upper income families, as well as exploring other ways to avoid needless interventions.

Dalton also downplayed the algorithms role in neglect investigations.

If it goes into court, then theres attorneys on both sides and a judge, Dalton said. They have evidence, right?

Chor said Alleghenys tool is applied at the most important point of the child welfare system.

The very front end of child protection decision-making is understandably the most impactful decision that you can make on a childs life, because once you come into contact with the hotline, with an investigator, then your chance of being removed, of course, is increased, Chor said.

The latest version of the tool excludes information about whether a family has received welfare dollars or food stamps, data that was initially included in calculating risk scores. It also stopped predicting whether a child would be reported again to the county in the two years that followed. However, much of the current algorithms design remains the same, according to American Civil Liberties Union researchers who have studied both versions.

The county initially considered including race as a variable in its predictions about a familys relative risk but ultimately decided not to, according to a 2017 document. Critics say even if race is not measured outright, data from government programs used by many communities of color can be a proxy for race. In the document, the developers themselves urged continuing monitoring with regard to racial disparities.

If over a million dollars have been spent creating and maintaining this tool, only for call screeners to disagree with it, for racial disparities to stay essentially level, and for screen-ins to continue at unreasonably high rates, is that the best use of Allegheny Countys resources? asked Kath Xu, an attorney at the ACLU.

Child welfare agencies in at least 26 states and Washington, D.C., have considered using algorithmic tools, and at least 11 have deployed them, according to a recent ACLU white paper by Xu and colleagues.

LITTLE TRANSPARENCY, GROWING INFLUENCE

Family law attorney Frank says shes always worried about the lack of due process and secrecy surrounding Allegheny Countys child welfare algorithm. Some of her clients have asked if the system was surveilling them because they used public assistance or community programs, but she cant answer.

I just dont understand why its something thats kept in secret, Frank said.

Once, Frank recalled, a judge demanded to know a familys score, but the county resisted, claiming it didnt want to influence the legal proceeding with the numbers spat out by the algorithm.

Bruce Noel, who oversees call screeners using Alleghenys tool, said that while the risk score advises their decision on whether to launch an investigation, he is torn about sharing that information with families because of the tools complexity. He added that he is cognizant of the racial disparities in the underlying data, and said his team didnt have much input into development.

Given that our data is drawn from public records and involvement with public systems, we know that our population is going to garner scores that are higher than other demographics, such as white middle class folks who dont have as much involvement with public systems, Noel said.

Dalton said she personally doesnt support giving parents their score because she worries it could discourage people from seeking services when they need them.

I do think there are risks and I want the community to also be on board with  the risks and benefits of transparency, Dalton said.

Other counties using algorithms are taking a different approach. Larimer County, Colorado, home to Fort Collins, is now testing a tool modeled on Alleghenys and plans to share scores with families if it moves forward with the program.

Its their life and their history, said Thad Paul, a manager with the countys Child, Youth & Family Services. We want to minimize the power differential that comes with being involved in child welfare  we just really think it is unethical not to share the score with families.

In the suburbs south of Denver, officials in Douglas County, Colorado, are using a similar tool and say they will share scores with families who request it.

Oregon does not share risk score numbers from its statewide screening tool, which was first implemented in 2018 and inspired by Alleghenys algorithm. The Oregon Department of Human Services  currently preparing to hire its eighth new child welfare director in six years  explored at least four other algorithms while the agency was under scrutiny by a crisis oversight board ordered by the governor.

It recently paused a pilot algorithm built to help decide when foster care children can be reunified with their families. Oregon also explored three other tools  predictive models to assess a childs risk for death and severe injury, whether children should be placed in foster care and if so, where.

For years, California explored data-driven approaches to the statewide child welfare system before abandoning a proposal to use a predictive risk modeling tool Putnam-Hornsteins team developed in 2019. The states Department of Social Services spent $195,273 on a two-year grant to develop the concept.

During the project, the state also explored concerns about how the tool may impact racial equity. These findings resulted in the state ceasing exploration, department spokesman Scott Murray said in an email.

Putnam-Hornsteins team is currently working with one of the nations largest local child welfare systems in Los Angeles County as it pilots a related tool.

The embattled agency is being audited following high-profile child deaths, and is currently seeking a new director after its previous one stepped down late last year. The complex-risk algorithm helps to isolate the highest-risk cases that are being investigated, according to the countys Department of Children and Family Services.

So far, the experiment has been limited to the Belvedere, Lancaster, and Santa Fe Springs offices, the agency said. The tool also has allowed the agency to generate and review reports about cases involving Black children and families who were deemed low-risk, but were still investigated and didnt result in any conclusive or substantiated allegations, the county said.

In the Mojave Desert city of Lancaster, U.S. Census shows 22% of the citys child population is Black. In the first few months that social workers started using the tool, county data shows that Black children were the subject of nearly half of all the investigations flagged for additional scrutiny.

The county did not immediately say why, but said it will decide whether to expand the tool later this year.

Back in Pittsburgh, family law attorney Frank is still trying to untangle how, exactly, the countys algorithm is impacting each client she shepherds through the system.

To find strength on the brutal days, she keeps a birthday calendar for the children shes helped and sends them handwritten cards to remember times when things went right.

Shes still haunted by a case in which she says she heard a social worker discuss a mothers risk score in court around 2018. The case ultimately escalated to foster care, but Frank has never been able to understand how that number influenced the familys outcome.

County officials said they could not imagine how a risk score could end up in court.

Theres no way to prove it  thats the problem, Frank said.

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Associated Press reporter Camille Fassett contributed to this report.

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Follow Sally Ho and Garance Burke on Twitter at @_sallyho and @garanceburke.

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Contact APs global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/

By SALLY HO and GARANCE BURKE

Associated Press
Prosecutor: LA funeral home director left remains to rot View Photo

LOS ANGELES (AP)  A Los Angeles funeral home owner illegally left the remains of 11 people, including infants, in stages of decay and mummification and faces more than a decade in jail, prosecutors said Friday.

City Attorney Mike Feuer, whose office can only file misdemeanor offenses, announced the charges Friday, calling it an incredibly sad and shocking situation and said that officials could smell the odor from outside the San Fernando Valley facility.

Eleven people died, including very young children, and the funeral director hired to compassionately prepare the bodies for burial allegedly just let them rot, with neither the decency nor the dignity that all our loved ones deserve, Feuer said in a statement. Their deaths are one tragedy, and this alleged monstrous mistreatment is a second tragedy.

Funeral homes that mistreat human remains have made headlines for years. Funeral home regulations vary across the U.S., with some states requiring annual inspections and several requiring no inspections at all.

In one of the most extreme cases, more than 330 decaying corpses were found in 2002 in the Tri-State Crematory near the tiny community of Noble, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta. The former operator pleaded guilty to nearly 800 criminal charges related to fraud and corpse abuse after the bodies were found.

In Los Angeles, authorities opened an investigation into the Mark B. Allen Mortuary and Cremations Services Inc., after receiving complaints from families. The mortuary, owned by Mark B. Allen, is now closed and phone numbers listed for the business were disconnected.

It was not immediately clear whether Allen has an attorney who can speak on his behalf. He faces 22 misdemeanor charges  two for each person  from the states Health and Safety Code, where one statute makes it illegal for anyone to dispose of human remains anywhere that is not a cemetery. The second statute that Allen faces is disposing of remains illegally through his role as a funeral director. The maximum penalty is $110,000 and 11 years in jail.

By STEFANIE DAZIO

Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP)  The experiences of panicked concertgoers who couldnt breathe and had no clear path to escape a massive crowd surge at last years deadly Astroworld music festival in Houston are featured in a documentary released Friday.

But lawyers for Live Nation, which is being sued for its role as the festivals promoter, say theyre concerned that publicity from the documentary, Concert Crush: The Travis Scott Festival Tragedy, could taint the jury pool. A gag order has been issued in the case, but Live Nations lawyers say an attorney who filed lawsuits related to the tragedy also co-produced the documentary. A spokesperson for Scott, who is also being sued, was also critical.

Director Charlie Minn said he believes he has made a balanced and fair film that tries to show the public what happened.

My job is to make the most truthful, honest, sincere documentary from the victims point of view. ... We need to know about these stories to prevent it from happening again, Minn told The Associated Press.

Around 500 lawsuits have been filed since the Nov. 5 concert headlined by Scott, a popular rapper. Ten people died and hundreds of others were injured during the massive crowd surge.

The documentary, showing in 11 Texas cities including Austin, Dallas and Houston, includes interviews with several people who survived. It also features cellphone video from concertgoers in which people can be heard repeatedly screaming for help.

Its hard to explain to friends and family what we saw and what we actually went through and I think (the documentary) will give a lot of people the opportunity, if you werent there, to understand, said Frank Alvarez, who attended the concert but does not appear in the film.

The film highlights what concertgoers experienced and what led to the tragedy, said Minn, who has also made documentaries about the deadly 2018 shooting at a suburban Houston high school and violence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The film suggests Scott could have done more to prevent the conditions that led to the casualties, but Minn said it isnt a hit piece toward Travis Scott. He said it also questions whether others, including Live Nation and Houston police, could have done more to improve safety or respond more quickly. Minn said Scott, Live Nation and Houston police declined to be interviewed for the documentary. Houston police are investigating the disaster.

In a report released in April, a task force created by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott uncovered problems with permits for such events and called for clearly outlined triggers for stopping such a show.

Attorneys for Live Nation expressed their concerns in an April letter to state District Judge Kristen Hawkins, who is handling all pretrial matters in the lawsuits.

The involvement of plaintiffs lawyers in the film, and the publicity the filmmakers and producers are trying to generate for it raise significant issues about efforts to taint the jury pool, Neal Manne and Kevin Yankowsky, two of Live Nations attorneys, wrote in the letter.

But the attorneys have not asked Hawkins to take any specific action regarding the documentary.

Manne and Yankowsky did not respond to emails seeking comment. Live Nation has said its heartbroken by what happened but has denied responsibility.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Scott faulted the documentarys conclusions that falsely blame Mr. Scott for the heartbreaking tragedy that occurred. The statement also criticized the involvement in the film of attorneys who have filed lawsuits over the disaster and said the films goal was swaying future juries and public opinion. The spokesperson did not know if Scott has seen the documentary.

Mr. Scott remains focused on his philanthropic work in his hometown of Houston and in lower-income communities of color across the country, both of which are long-standing efforts, the spokesperson said in a statement.

Cassandra Burke Robertson, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said she would be shocked if the judge took any action regarding the documentary because of First Amendment concerns, even with the gag order.

I think the public interest here in exploring what happened and avoiding similar tragedies in the future, thats a really big interest. That is likely to outweigh the interests of the particular outcome of the particular lawsuit, Robertson said.

Brent Coon, an attorney representing about 1,500 concertgoers who was interviewed in the documentary, said he doesnt think the film would impact the ability to choose an impartial jury if the case goes to trial, which could be years away.

I dont think any lawyer in this case could fan the flames much to change ... what the publics perception of all this is going to be, Coon said.

Robertson, who is not involved in the litigation, said the fact that one of the films co-producers, Rick Ramos, is representing concertgoers who have filed lawsuits could raise some ethical concerns.

Ramos declined to comment Thursday. Andrea Gomez, a spokeswoman for Ramos, said in an email Friday evening that any profit from the documentary will go to the Texas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a mental health organization that helped people impacted by the concert.

I personally would not co-sponsor something like that during pending civil litigation. I dont think theres anything wrong with it. Its just something I wouldnt do, Coon said.

Minn said the questions about Ramos participation are valid but he never hid his involvement.

People have to watch the film and judge it for what that is, Minn said.

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Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
Daniel Truta / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

A Lubbock man and an Amarillo man have both received commuted sentences from President Joe Biden, the White House announced in an April 26 press release. Nikolas Cano, from Amarillo, and James Darrel Walker, from Lubbock, will both have their sentences expire on April 26, 2023.

Walker was originally sentenced to 327 months of imprisonment and five years of supervised release for distribution and possession of cocaine base with intent to distribute in August 2006. His prison sentence was reduced to 262 month in June 2016. Walker will serve the remainder of his sentence at in-home confinement and will still serve the five years of supervised release.
CANTON, Texas (AP)  An East Texas sheriff said he will resign following his arrest and indictment on allegations that he lied to investigators about witnessing one of his deputies punch a handcuffed inmate in the face.

Van Zandt County Sheriff Steve Hendrix said in a resignation letter that he will step down May 14 after about 18 months on the job, KYTX reported Friday.
BERLIN (AP)  Germany and Turkey on Friday summoned each other's ambassadors over a row sparked by a Turkish court's decision to sentence a prominent Turkish civil rights activist and philanthropist to life in prison.

Western governments and rights groups strongly criticized this week's ruling which found Osman Kavala guilty of attempting to overthrow the government with mass protests in 2013. The court in Istanbul also sentenced seven other defendants to 18 years in prison each for aiding the attempt.
A 50-year-old woman is jailed without bond, accused of drowning her 2-year-old grandson in her bathtub.

Police officers said they arrived at the apartment of Beulah Irene Nichols about 9 a.m. Friday to find her daughter hitting her in the front yard, screaming that her mother had "killed my baby."

They say they heard Nichols shout back, "I had to do it. They were coming to get him."

They went inside and found Christian James Nichols dead in his grandmother's bathtub. Efforts to revive him failed, they said.

The woman has been booked in the Johnson County Jail in Cleburne without bond on suspicion of murder. She probably will be charged in the next several days, Johnson County District Attorney told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for a story in Saturday's editions.

Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford said the child and his parents, Christian David Jr. and Jennifer Nichols, both 21, spent the night in Beulah Nichols' one-bedroom apartment.

A sheriff's department statement said that as the couple slept, Beulah Nichols apparently arose from the living-room sofa, filed the tub and drowned the child.

"We attempted to interview her, but she didn't want to do a whole lot of talking," Alford told The Dallas Morning News for a story in its Saturday editions. "She just stated that she had done it and she was ready to go to her cell."

Alford said Nichols is being kept under a suicide watch in the jail.

Venus is a town of about 2,000 residents 30 miles southwest of Dallas.
The Lighthouse Lounge, a popular bar near Woodlawn Lake, just cleared the first hurdle to getting its deck back.

The planning commission approved Lighthouse Lounge owner Renee Zamora's request to change the zoning on Wednesday, April 27 from neighborhood commercial to community commercial. The zoning change will open up commercial designations that would allow Zamora to rebuild the deck facing Woodlawn Lake and the downtown San Antonio skyline.

The zoning change would also expand outside sound amplification measures, allowing Zamora to bring back his outside speaker so bar patrons on the deck can hear performers and music inside the bar. Zamora could also add a cover charge to help pay for the live performances.

Chuck Blount /Staff

"We want to continue to be a place where the community leaders, artists, and people just passing through can soak up the vibrancy of our city," Zamora said at the planning commission meeting.

Zamora opened the Lighthouse Lounge in 2019 where the lakeside deck and outside music were a popular feature that drew people in. Then, sometime in late 2021, the noise complaint came in from one neighbor just south of the bar at 1016 Cincinnati Avenue.

The noise ordinance task force even told the neighbor that the noise levels were in compliance, Zamora says, but the city also told him in 2021 that the deck was not in compliance with occupancy rules under the neighborhood commercial designation. So, Zamora removed it.

He now has support from the Woodlawn Lake Neighborhood Association and 43 people who live more than 200 feet away from Lighthouse Lounge. The request did not receive any input from residents within 200 feet of bar.

Paul Stephen / Staff

Zamora says he plans to have a meeting with the neighbor who complained to work out their differences, and now he is closer to bringing the deck back as his request moves to the zoning commission. But committee member John Bustamante, who is also on the zoning commission, is still concerned.

"Zoning runs with the land," Bustamante says. "So if you sell it, another proprietor can come in, and blare the speaker's all night long. And so I would ask you to consider that as we approach zoning."

Planning committee members say Zamora might have to choose between getting the deck, speaker and cover charge, or losing out on the speaker. It's not clear when the Zamora's request will go before the zoning commission.
San Antonio might make an appearance on VH1 soon. A film crew working with the cable network handed out notices of filming to folks in the Government Hill neighborhood on Wednesday, April 27, the Folklores Coffee House told MySA.

"They had to give everyone a notice that they were filming," Folklores said.

According to a post from the coffee house, the notice said it was working on season 2 of a show called, My True Crime Story. The show, which is hosted by rapper Remy Ma, is a one-hour true crime docuseries that features first-person stories of real people mixed up in headline-grabbing crimes.

The show first aired in August 2021, telling stories of an individual from their point of view and explaining their prior bad acts and ultimately, their redemption. According to Vibe, thrilling stories include cases of international smuggling, million-dollar jewelry heists, bank robbery, and drug trafficking.

It's produced for VH1 by Hot Snakes Media and executive produced by Eric Evangelista, Shannon Evangelista, and David Erickson. VH1 Internal executive producers include Todd Radnitz, Melissa Tallerine, and Jubba Seyyid.

Season 2 hasn't been officially announced by VH1. However, the notice of filming stated it's filming for season 2, so we shall see if San Antonio makes its appearance. The notice described how some of the recreation scenes will include a shooting incident and rubber guns will be on set.

MySA reached out to Hot Snakes Media for more information and confirmation for season 2 of My True Crime Story.

Government Hill is one of six San Antonio suburbs that developed during the "Gilded Age" of the citys history, from 1890 to 1930. The other opulent suburbs of this era are Monte Vista, Alamo Heights, West End (Woodlawn Lake area), Tobin Hill, and Laurel Heights.

The Government Hill Historic District is located immediately south of Fort Sam Houston and is bounded by E. Grayson Street to the north, N. New Braunfels Avenue to the east, IH-35 to the south, and Willow Street to the west. The turn-of-the-century one and two-story commercial structures along North New Braunfels Avenue effectively served as the area's main street.
Four months ago, local anime enthusiast and artisan Ashley Lee started to host an event called Weeb Wednesday in San Antonio. She said she wanted to create a safe space for anime fans of all ages to come together and support local artists.

Lee, who runs her own anime-themed business called Kawaii Lee Shoppe, shared how the idea came from her hoping to boost other small artisans, while also creating more opportunities in San Antonio for weebs (people who admire anime and Japanese culture) to get to know each other.

"Over the years, there hasn't been a lot of conversations where local artists can set up without paying a huge fee," Lee, 31, explained. "This is a lot more affordable than some towns, and it's a way for others to express themselves freely."

Priscilla Aguirre, MySA.com

Weeb Wednesday

In the latest event on Wednesday, April 27, Lee had over 15 artisan vendors and several performers at her Weeb night at the Rock Box on 1223 East Houston Street. More than 80 to 100 Weebs of all ages gathered for the festivities.

Folks were in cosplay, supporting others who handmade anime jewelry, candles, prints, T-shirts, hats, pins, and more. Fans could buy different forms of merchandise of their favorite characters, such as Tanjiro Kamado from Demon Slayer or Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto. Lee plans on hosting the Weeb nights every other month with the next one in June or July.

Priscilla Aguirre, MySA.com

Priscilla Aguirre, MySA.com

"I think events like these are fantastic," said Morgan Meyers, vendor owner of the Poppin Puffer. "It helps bring support to small shops like us who spend a ton of time making these amazing things. It's also nice to see customers buy it in person versus online."

Sean Cruz, 21, checked out the event for the first time this week. As a weeb himself, Cruz said the gathering immediately piqued his interest after a co-worker told him about it. Despite expecting to see more vendors than what was presented, he praised how cool it was to see people from San Antonio support others as they were.

"Most of the conventions I go to are in Austin and the Houston area," Cruz said. "I've never really seen something like this here. It's pretty neat that there's something like this, even if it's not as big. It's still a nice and fun local thing."

Priscilla Aguirre, MySA.com

Anime becoming more mainstream in SA

In San Antonio, it feels as if more and more people are no longer hiding in their anime closets (in the words of Naruto, "Believe it!"). Lee said she's noticed it as well. When she was younger, Lee expressed how anime wasn't something people talked about openly. She said people thought it was weird.

"But what I've noticed now is it becoming way more popular, and it's exciting to see," Lee said. "More people are able to feel like they can express themselves more. I feel like COVID helped push people toward watching more anime. They saw how great it is, and how positive it can be."

Priscilla Aguirre, MySA.com

Owner of the new art gallery Purrsona, Samantha Orozco, told MySA something similar, explaining how folks are realizing there's more out there than Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! Orozco opened up her gallery on April 9 after seeing how the community wanted a place where they can buy local art without having to wait for an event.

Coming up, anime fans can check out a free event at Traders Village called Mochi-Fest, which will have vendors, artists, cosplayers, and performances. It will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 30. For more information, visit the Facebook page here.

Or, you can go to the free Mini-Mini Con at the Wonderland of the Americas on May 7. Find out more here.
Patrick Semansky/AP

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the dismissal of a discrimination lawsuit filed by a deaf, legally blind woman against a physical therapy business that wouldn't provide an American Sign Language interpreter for her appointments.

In a 6-3 ruling with conservatives in the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that businesses that receive federal health care money can't be sued for discrimination under the Affordable Care Act when the harm alleged is emotional, not financial.
A Mexican Mafia captain has pleaded guilty in a Laredo federal court to firearm charges, according to court documents.

On Wednesday, Rogelio Garza Jr., 49, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.

Garza has been identified as a captain of the Mexican Mafia, court documents state.

The case dates back to Oct. 28, when the Texas Department of Public Safety received information that Garza was distributing drugs out of the 3300 block of South Louisiana Avenue.

Garza allegedly carried a handgun during drug deliveries in a white 2010 Nissan Altima, Texas DPS special agents established surveillance at his apartment complex on South Louisiana.

DPS troopers and special agents pulled over the Altima for a window tint violation. Authorities knew the driver, Garza, had an active warrant for parole violation, states the arrest affidavit filed in federal court.

DPS special agents observed a 9mm Taurus PT111 G2A on the drivers side floorboard, next to Garzas feet. Authorities said the firearm was loaded with six rounds. State police also discovered about 2 grams of meth and approximately 1 gram of heroin on Garza.

A raid at Garzas residence resulted in the seizure of 15 grams of heroin, 48 grams of meth, 13 ounces of marijuana and 4 grams of cocaine. DPS charged Garza with five counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of marijuana.

Then, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took over the case. ATF special agents said Garzas criminal history had four felony convictions: three for drug possession and one for possession of a firearm by felon, states the affidavit.

In a post-arrest interview with authorities, Garza stated he was in possession of and using controlled substances. He also allegedly admitted to possessing the Taurus firearm.

Garza advised he purchased the firearm because of his status as a gang member. Garza told investigators he was a high-ranking gang member, a captain for the Mexican Mafia, also known as La EME, states the affidavit.

Garza will remain in custody pending his sentencing. He faces at least 15 years and up to life in prison. The ATF conducted the investigation with the assistance of Texas DPS. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul A. Harrison is prosecuting the case.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexicos government on Thursday proposed a dramatic overhaul of the nation's electoral system and the agency that oversees it  one of the countrys most trusted institutions. It would reduce the size of Congress and state legislatures while having the federal elections board chosen by voters, potentially adding a higher degree of politics to what has been an independent body.

The proposal also would reduce federal funding of political parties and spending on elections in general  a repeated target of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has often feuded with the National Electoral Institute.

The proposals presented by Lopez Obrador and several members of his Cabinet would create a new federal elections authority to replace the institute, as well as eliminating similar state-level bodies.

There is no intention of imposing a single party, Lopez Obrador said. What we want is that there is a true democracy in the country and that electoral frauds end ... to leave a true democratic state established.

But the path for what will surely be a controversial reform package would be difficult. Lopez Obradors party and its allies do not have the two-thirds majority in Congress required to make constitutional changes. The main opposition parties have already said they oppose such changes.

Another major constitutional reform proposed by the president, to shake up the energy sector, fell well short of the votes needed last week.

Lopez Obrador appeared to acknowledge that the proposed reforms are unlikely to pass. He called on the Congress to study each element of the proposal, make the public aware and then decide. He said it was his responsibility to present it even if it's not approved.

Even if Lopez Obrador is unable to pass his constitutional reform, he could again cut funding to the electoral institute in his next budget, which could put the 2024 presidential elections at risk.

Lopez Obrador has spent decades battling electoral authorities. He considers himself a victim of electoral fraud on multiple occasions, though it was the National Electoral Institute that confirmed his landslide presidential victory in 2018.

The proposals would reduce the number of legislators in the lower chamber of Congress from 500 to 300 and senators from 128 to 96 by eliminating at-large lawmakers. Those are not directly elected by voters, but appear on party lists and get seats based on their partys proportion of the vote.

Political parties would only receive public funding during campaigns rather than yearly, as they do now. Rules against officials and agencies promoting their programs during campaign seasons would be eased. Currently, even many government websites are inactivated during campaigns.

Lopez Obradors administration argues that the changes would save Mexico $1.2 billion and allow citizens to select honest people to run elections.

Georgina de la Fuente, a member of the Latin American Political Reform Observatory, termed the proposals very unfortunate and said they represented important setbacks in some areas. There are things that could be perfected, she said, but there are a lot of good practices that work and work well.

Lorenzo Cordova, the president of the National Electoral Institute, said as much in an interview with Nexos magazine that he shared Thursday via Twitter. He said there are things that can be improved like reducing the money given to political parties and implementing electronic voting, but stressed there must be consensus among the parties or there will be mistrust.

De la Fuente said moving toward a centralized election system not only goes against international trends, but contradicts the executives objective to make elections cheaper, because eliminating state level electoral bodies will only transfer the costs, not eliminate them.

The idea of a popular vote for election officials has been panned before by academics. They contend the people in those positions must be experts and having them voted in could lead to political bias in the way elections are run.

To think that an electorate so varied and so uninformed would have the ability to select electoral council members and magistrates is pure demagogy and pretense, said Clara Jusidman, founder of the nongovernmental organization Citizen Initiative and Social Development. She said those in power would steer their supporters to vote for who they wanted.

Several of the proposals would undo or loosen reforms that helped Mexico break free of the single-party domination that lasted from 1929 to 2000.

The at-large legislators were created to give smaller parties representation in Congress  initially largely symbolic -- at a time when the Institutional Revolutionary Party had an iron grip on elections and rarely recognized any opposition victories.

The independent electoral agency was created by a series of reforms in the 1990s following public outcry over alleged fraud in the 1988 presidential election, which  like earlier votes  had been run by the federal Interior Department. That helped lead to an opposition party victory in the 2000 presidential election.
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OWERRI, Nigeria (AP)  Mourners were nowhere to be seen as gravediggers in Nigerias southeast town of Ohaji-Egbema used shovels to place the unidentifiable charred remains of dozens who died in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery into three mass graves.

The bodies had started to decompose after not being claimed by family members at the open water-logged space days after the explosion killed at least 110 people.

Most corpses here cannot be identified, said Marcel Amadioha, chairman of the Ohaji-Egbema local government area where the illegal refinery operated.

The explosion on Friday night was triggered by a fire in the bootleg facility that was tucked away in the Ohaji-Egbema forest, away from the eyes of Nigeria's regulatory agencies. Such refineries have become common in the West African nation whose rich crude oil deposit is easily stolen.

Shortly after the explosion, people came from far and near to see if they could find the remains of their loved ones, said Amadioha, chairman of the council area.

On Tuesday, authorities and gravediggers returned to the forest to bury the remains of about 50 people.

Lift it (a human body) and throw it inside before covering  if not it will smell! a local shouted to a gravedigger who gathered remains near a mass grave with his shovel and makeshift stretcher.

Little is known of the refinery which had operated in a part of the forest surrounded by farmlands and palm trees. Residents told The Associated Press that many of those who died had come from various parts of Nigeria to buy the oil.

The refinery site was usually very busy at night, said resident Francis Obi.

There are individuals who buy over 100 drums of crude oil, others buy 200, he said. So, both the people that came here to do labor work, the people who came to buy, the drivers and people who come here for other commercial activities  all of them were trapped (by the explosion).

The anger among the villagers is not just about the deaths but also because a refinery that sustained us is gone, he said, referring to the money the villagers made from the commercial activity surrounding the refinery.

It is a common trend in southern Nigeria, Africas largest producer of crude oil where almost half of its more than 200 million people are living in poverty, according to the latest estimates from the statistics agency.

The local operators of such refineries do so out of frustration at being neglected by the government, said Bright Onyenwoke, a youth leader in Ohaji-Egbema. He said his community lacks social amenities despite being surrounded by at least 27 oil wells managed by international oil companies. So, the means of survival here is hard, he said.

In the quest for survival, such illegal dealings become an easy way out in the oil-rich Niger Delta region where the oil theft is concentrated.

Residents in Ikwere in Rivers state said 10,000 naira ($24) is shared every week between people in the village as benefits from the illegal refinery in the area.

There, dozens of young people are employed for various non-technical works with weekly earnings of about 40,000 naira ($96), he said, adding that the refinery workers have police  (and other) security agencies guarding them.

With no safety protocols, environmental hazards like the fire in Imo state are a regular occurrence at the illegal oil refineries. Back in Ikwere, a resident who only gave his first name as Akachi said two people in his extended family died in fires last year.

There is no control whatsoever on how the illegal refineries are run, said Nnimmo Bassey, a director at the Health of Mother Earth Foundation environmental group. Apart from the fact that the nation is losing revenue, these refineries expose communities to grave health issues.

As the remains of those who died in the Imo explosion were being covered in mass graves half-filled with water, a pastor arrived with a religious group to conduct a prayer session. Earlier, a traditional religion practitioner had come to perform rites over the bodies.

We cannot continue losing our lives unnecessarily for peanuts, said Amadioha, the administrator of Ohaji-Egbema council area. Everything must be done to stop them this time around.
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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)  A warehouse along the Savannah River is holding historical treasures that evidence suggests remained lost for more than 240 years  a cache of 19 cannons that researchers suspect came from British ships scuttled to the river bottom during the American Revolution.

The mud- and rust-encrusted guns were discovered by accident. A dredge scooping sediment from the riverbed last year as part of a $973 million deepening of Savannah's busy shipping channel surfaced with one the cannons clasped in its metal jaws. The crew soon dug up two more.

Archaeologists guessed they were possibly leftover relics from a sunken Confederate gunship excavated a few years earlier in the same area, said Andrea Farmer, an archaeologist for the Army Corps of Engineers. But experts for the U.S. Navy found they didn't match any known cannons used in the Civil War. Further research indicates they're likely almost a century older and sank during the buildup to the Revolutionary War's bloody siege of Savannah in 1779.

In a timeframe of just over a year, 19 cannons were hoisted from the same area of the river a few miles downstream from Savannah, where Georgia was founded as the last of Britain's 13 American colonies in 1733.

Theyre in remarkably good shape," Farmer said. Many were buried in clay and covered by silt and debris that kind of protected them.

Now officials with the U.S. and British governments, as well as the state of Georgia, are working together on an agreement to preserve the newly found guns before putting them on display. Commodore Philip Nash of the British Royal Navy, a military attache based in Washington, viewed the artifacts submerged in metal tubs of water during a visit Thursday.

Some of these pieces are in amazing condition and Im sure could tell some stories, Nash said.

The cannons are being kept in water to prevent further deterioration until experts can carefully clean them. Meanwhile, researchers are looking for more definitive proof linking the cannons to British ships from the American Revolution.

Farmer said researchers are very confident of the connection. Savannah had been under British occupation for about a year by the fall of 1779, when colonists planned an attack to retake the city with help from French and Haitian allies.

When French ships carrying troops were spotted off the Georgia coast, the British hurried to scuttle at least six ships in the Savannah River downstream from the city to block the French vessels. The land battle that followed was one of the bloodiest of the war. British forces killed nearly 300 colonial fighters and their allies, while wounding hundreds more.

Farmer said researchers suspect the cannons found in the river came from the British ship HMS Savannah and possibly a second ship scuttled at the same time, the HMS Venus. The longer guns appear to match cannons manufactured in France during the mid-1700s, she said. Researchers are looking for ship logs and manifests in hopes of confirming the armaments aboard those ships.

It's also possible the cannons themselves and other artifacts found at the site  pieces of anchors and a portion of a ship's bell  once cleaned might bear markings or other clues to which ship they belonged to. The wood from those ships, Farmer said, decayed long ago or got destroyed by prior dredging projects over a series of decades.

The question of who owns the artifacts gets a little murky. They were found in state waters of Georgia during a dredging project headed by the Army Corps, a U.S. government agency. The British government could make an ownership claim if there's strong evidence the artifacts came from British ships.

Farmer said all of those parties are working on an agreement to preserve the cannons and ultimately have them displayed at the Savannah History Museum, which incorporates the battlefield where the bloodiest fighting occurred during the 1779 siege.

Everybody wants to keep the artifacts in Savannah," Farmer said, "because that makes the most sense.
Vietnam attracted over 10.8 billion USD of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first four months of this year, equivalent to 88.3 percent of the amount recorded in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).

While a decrease of 56.3 percent was seen in the newly-registered capital to nearly 3.7 billion USD, a respective surge of 92.5 percent and 74 percent was recorded in the investment injected into underway projects to nearly 5.29 billion USD, and capital contributions and share purchase deals to 1,83 billion USD.

Notably, FDI disbursement in the January-April period reached 5.92 billion USD, a year-on-year rise of 7.6 percent, reported the MPI.

Foreign investors invested in 18 out of 21 economic sectors, mostly in processing-manufacturing sector with 6.2 billion USD, accounting for 57.2 percent of the total FDI. It was followed by real estate with 2.8 million USD, and retail with 667.8 million USD.

In the first four months of 2022, Singapore led 72 countries and localities investing in Vietnam with 3.1 billion USD, making up 28.8 percent of the total FDI. The Republic of Korea came second with 1.82 billion USD, while Denmark was the third with Lego factory worth over 1.3 billion USD.

Among 44 cities and provinces receiving FDI in the period, the southern province of Binh Duong took the lead with 2.35 billion USD, followed by northern Bac Ninh province with 1.57 billion USD and Ho Chi Minh City with nearly 1.28 billion USD.

According to the MPI, so far this year, Vietnamese firms invested over 327.72 million USD abroad, with 34 new projects worth over 285.8 million USD, doubling that in the same period last year.

Currently, there are 1,549 underway Vietnamese-funded projects abroad with total investment of nearly 21.55 million USD, mostly in mining, and agro-forestry-fisheries sector./.

VNA
Omans Bank Nizwa has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oasis Trading and Equipment Company to extend financing to the companys customers for buying Caterpillar vehicles.

As per the agreement, Bank Nizwa will be providing structured Islamic financing facilities to customers of Oasis Trading and Equipment Company to enable them to buy CAT machines at subsidised rates.

As a company with over 60 years of experience in the Middle East, Oasis Trading and Equipment Company deals in various CAT machinery, heavy equipment, and power systems, which are used for a wide variety of applications, including earthmoving, building and construction, mining, road making, demolition, waste and scrap handling, electric power generation, and marine propulsion.

Forefront of financing

The agreement was signed by Khaled Al Kayed, CEO of Bank Nizwa and Bashar Ahmed Aref Al Barghouthi, General Manager of Oasis Trading and Equipment Company in the presence of R Narasimhan, General Manager of Wholesale Banking, Khalid Al Barwani, Deputy General Manager Wholesale Banking Group and other senior officials from both entities.

Al Kayed said: Bank Nizwas Wholesale Banking Group has been at the forefront of financing SMEs, corporates and specialised project financing and our multi-industry portfolio is a testament to the growing preference for Islamic banking. We are indeed delighted to have signed an MoU with Oasis Trading and Equipment Company as they mirror similar values of excellence, integrity, and sustainable development.

At Bank Nizwa, we are strongly aligned with the targets set in Oman Vision 2040 and we will continue to support the various industries major segments like construction, power system and material and many others with aim to contribute to achieving immediate economic objectives of Oman, through Sharia-compliant solutions that have, time and again, proven to be resilient despite the changing economic scenario.

Good financial partner

Al Barghouthi said: In business, it is quintessential to have a good financial partner that not only provides you with the needed advisory and assistance but also helps you support customers with their financing needs. More so, the Bank honours and resonates with our core values. Bank Nizwa has been that very partner for us, and we are certain that this MoU will further strengthen our position in the market, provide the needed boost to catalyse our operations, and help us achieve new milestones.

Bank Nizwa has always been invested in the socio-economic progress of the country. While it has joined hands with various companies to finance key national projects directly or indirectly, it has also supported SMEs that have shown the potential to make a positive, long-term impact.

Apart from catering to the financing needs of companies, Bank Nizwas wholesale banking group also offers expert advisory services and guidance in the fields of corporate banking, project finance, SME and commercial banking, global markets, government and investment banking, international banking, and trade finance.-- TradeArabia News Service
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BOSTON (AP)  For years, Vincent Gillespie waged a legal battle to try to gain control of hundreds of paintings by his father  renowned postwar American artist Gregory Gillespie.

On Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors say, Gillespie engaged in a very different kind of battle, joining rioters as they tried to wrest control of the U.S. Capitol from the federal government in one of the most violent confrontations of the riot.

Gillespie, who investigators say was identified by half a dozen sources from images taken that day, was among a mob trying to force its way through a tunnel at the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol  an assault that almost succeeded by his own description.

We were almost overpowering them, Gillespie, blood visible on his scalp from the clash, told an Associated Press journalist at the scene that day. If you had like another 15, 20 guys behind us pushing I think we could have won it.

The AP video that captured a flushed Gillespie that day milling about outside the Capitol speaking defiantly about his role in the attack  and his lament that more like-minded individuals didnt join the fight  reveal both the depth of resolve of many of the rioters, and the uncertainty others felt about just what they would do once inside the building.

What is clear, federal investigators said, is that Gillespie participated in a violent struggle against law enforcement officials trying to prevent rioters from entering the building as a joint session of Congress was engaged in certifying Electoral College votes.

The Athol, Massachusetts, resident was spotted outside the Capitol pouring water into his eyes apparently to combat the effects of chemical spray used to try to control the crowd.

Gillespie told the AP at the scene that day that he was among those attempting to storm the building. Gillespie said he and others tried to burst through an opening.

I was with some other guys. And then we were starting to push against them and they were beating us and putting that pepper spray stuff in your eyes. But there were a bunch of people pushing behind us, Gillespie told the AP.

What you guys need to know, and no one is going to listen to this, we were very (expletive) close." If more people had been behind him, he said, "then theres that second set of doors we would have just burst through it.

What was apparently less clear to Gillespie that day was what he and the others with him would do if they had been able to take control of the Capitol.

I would hope they would flood in so theres nothing they can do. Thats what I would hope they would do. Take it over. Take it over. Own it for a few days. Im not an anarchist, but you cant let stand what happened in this election, he said, an apparent reference to former President Donald Trumps claims of a stolen election.

Although he was quick to offer up his name when asked by the AP reporter, Gillespie hesitated before saying where he was from.

Theyll come after me, man, he said, hesitating before adding, Im in Massachusetts.

Gillespie ultimately faced seven criminal counts including civil disorder, assaulting officers and disorderly conduct in the Capitol. He has pleaded not guilty.

He's one of more than 775 people arrested in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia in connection with the Jan. 6 assault in which the pro-Trump mob sought to stop the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. Rioters smashed windows, broke through doors and beat and bloodied law enforcement officers who were vastly underprepared for the mob.

Vincent Gillespie is the son of Gregory Gillespie, the artist whose self-portraits, fantasy landscapes and geometric abstractions are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and other museums.

His paintings are also at the center of a long-running and so far unsuccessful legal battle waged by Gillespie against his stepmother and her lawyers in an effort to contest control of the paintings. In a court filing from 2020, Vincent Gillespie described his father as a renowned artist who left more than 400 valuable paintings when he died.

Gillespies participation in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, appears well documented, including in photos and videos that helped tipsters identify him, investigators said.

Open-source video and security cameras captured multiple images of Gillespie participating in the riot, according to the Justice Department.

Investigators were tipped off by a former neighbor, the manager of a local hardware store and employees of the town of Athol, where Gillespie attends meetings and pays his tax bills at the town hall. In all, six witnesses independently identified him from images taken from the riot.

In the chaos of the insurrection, Gillespie shoved, yelled and pushed and fought with police, the FBI said. Images included in his court papers show him struggling through the crowd, eventually maneuvering through the rioters to the line of police officers and getting control of a police shield.

He's seen and heard on the body camera of a Metropolitan Police Department officer pushing his way through the crowd, using a police shield to ram officers and screaming traitor and treason as he points to a law enforcement officer, officials said.

After his arrest, Gillespie, 60, was ordered by a judge to stay away from Washington, except for court-related business. He was ordered not to possess a firearm or other weapons.

Gillespie's next court appearance is scheduled for April 29 before U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the District of Columbia.

Contacted by the AP following his arrest, Gillespie declined to comment.

My attorney advised against it. He said theres only downsides to it, he told the AP. Id like to talk. Theres a lot of stuff out there thats wrong.

It's not the first time Gillespie has been in court.

Years earlier, Gillespie made local headlines by contesting a $15 parking ticket  despite having to pay $250 in filing fees. He ended up fighting the filing fee, which was not refundable, all the way to the states highest court in 2011.

He did not receive a refund.
Cavan Images/Getty Images/Cavan Images RF

Texas made its mark on a recent list showcasing the 11 best desert towns in the US, specifically highlighting places with "beautiful landscapes and mystical vibes."

The Lone Star State was well-represented on Travel and Leisure's list, with three Texas towns making the cut. This includes Marfa, Terlingua and Amarillo. The other U.S. desert towns listed in the roundup include Grand Junction, Colo., Boulder City, Nev., Ojo Caliente N.M., Cottonwood, Ariz., Joshua Tree, Calif., Moab, Utah, Sedona, Ariz. and Silver City, N.M.
Box Street All Day, the San Antonio business that's been setting the table for some of the most popular brunch scenes in the city in 2022, was invited to President Biden's roundtable in Washington D.C. on Thursday, April 28. Biden met with the San Antonio team including owners Edward Garcia III and Daniel Trevino as well as Creative Partner Caroline Garcia-Bowman to highlight entrepreneurs of color who the president says are "helping power America's economic recovery."

The Box Street group was connected with the Biden Administration by Olivia Travieso of the OCI Group, which has a San Antonio office, according to Garcia. They met via phone call earlier this week and 24 hours later, they were at the nation's capital, flanking the president during the roundtable.

Also invited to the conversation were Jeff Yerxa and Nicolas Cabrera of D.C.-based Lost Sock Roasters and Jennifer Arniella, the Miami business owner of Unique Crafts by Jenn.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The White House celebrated a business "boom" powered by minorities like the San Antonio owners.

"Hispanic entrepreneurs started new businesses in 2021 at a faster rate in more than a decade, 23 percent faster than the pre-pandemic levels," the White House said in a statement.

Courtesy, Caroline Garcia-Bowman

Box Street's full-scale concept was initially set to open in 2020. The team powered through pandemic setbacks and finally debuted in December 2021 at Hemisfair with a triumphant reception. Any given weekend, crowds of brunchers walk through the perfectly pastel spot, anxious to tear into the breakfast platters with friends.

Biden noted Box Street's success in growing from a food truck to a brick-and-mortar while introducing the groups to the roundtable.

Courtesy, Caroline Garcia-Bowman

"Eddie and Daniel were able to turn their food truck into a brick-and-mortar company of their own," the president said with a laugh. "That must feel pretty good, huh? And theyre just some of the folks driving this economic recovery and reminding us that everything  that anything and everything is possible in America."

An off-camera roundtable chat followed, giving the Box Street owners the chance to discuss their path to opening the brick-and-mortar restaurant and how aid from COVID-19 relief programs helped them bring their vision to fruition.

Courtesy, Caroline Garcia-Bowman

Garcia spoke with MySA from Washington D.C. on Friday morning and was still in disbelief. He says the president's invitation "confirms" his team is headed in the right direction. He and Garcia-Bowman say the president was welcoming and made them feel at home in the White House. Garcia says Biden went off schedule and invited them into the Oval Office, where he shared cookies with the guests.

Courtesy, Caroline Garcia-Bowman

"We thought we were just going to do a handshake and say 'bye,' but to actually sit down a foot away from him, have a conversation with him and be invited to the Oval Office was unreal," the owner says. "It was the best trip that we could have ever imagined."

The Biden administration says that it wants to continue supporting small businesses and make success "easier."

Courtesy, Caroline Garcia-Bowman

Garcia says it "makes sense" that a higher rate of minority-owned small businesses persevered through the challenges of the pandemic.

"When our backs are against the wall, we're going to do whatever it takes to survive," he adds.
Ken Branca

A San Antonio homeowner fatally shot a suspect who allegedly broke into a home on the city's Southeast side on Thursday evening, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

The home invasion occurred just before 10 p.m. in the 600 block of Kashmuir Place, near SouthSide Lions Park and Pecan Valley Drive. The suspect invaded the house by breaking into the laundry room in the back of the home, authorities said.
An assistant principal at one of the many IDEA Public Schools in San Antonio was arrested by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office for allegedly assaulting a 5-year-old student. Here's what you need to know.

Sheriff Javier Salazar said at a Thursday press conference that Tara Coleman Hunter, 53, was arrested for assault causing bodily injury to a child after the 5-year-old boy's mother brought evidence to the sheriff's office this week.

The mother alleges that Hunter, an assistant principal at IDEA Amber Creek, pushed the 5-year-old student into a filing cabinet on April 22 after he hit her. The student allegedly sustained a knot on his head from the push. His injuries were documented by the school nurse.

Salazar says Hunter was arrested at her home in the Potranco and Loop 1604 area. Her bond was not set as of Thursday evening.

Salazar says that the child became unruly in the classroom and was sent to Hunter's office. He said both the mom and the student acknowledged that he hit Hunter.

"But it's a 5-year-old and my understanding is that this is just an average-sized 5-year-old, certainly nothing that an assistant principal shouldn't be able to handle," Salazar says.

Salazar says he doesn't believe she had any priors and is not sure if IDEA had any issues that came up in her background check. He says investigators are still gathering background information.

Here's some other news you might have missed.

Video shows 18-wheeler crash on I-10

A video captured by a dashboard camera is now showing what happened moments before the shocking crash occurred that delayed traffic for hours.

See the video here.

San Antonio's final COVID-19 test sites to close

As San Antonio COVID-19 numbers plateau and risk remains mild, the last city-contracted testing sites will shut down at the end of the week.

Read more here.

Irish pub replaces longtime Picante Grill location

While the last enchilada plate at Picante Grill has been served, what's replacing the restaurant will also take customers over international borders.

Read more here.

Hops & Hounds urges owners to stop abandoning dogs

A massive pet-friendly San Antonio bar on the Northeast Side, has been dealing with a growing trend of people leaving their dogs and not coming back.

Read more here.
Courtesy of UP Partnership

UP Partnership has partnered with 50 institutions and organizations to fight the inequities that grew during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 100 community leaders and elected officials gathered on the steps of San Antonio City Hall on Thursday, April 28 to kick off the Future Ready Bexar County Plan, according to a news release.

The plan unites those 50 institutions and provides access to resources to ensure that "young people are ready for the future no matter their race, ethnicity, income or zip code," says Ryan Lugalia-Hollon, CEO of UP Partnership, in the news release.
As Europes energy crisis deepens in the East, relations are souring between the EUs fourth largest economy, Spain, and its largest natural gas supplier, Algeria. Once again, the US is stirring the pot.

Until mid-March this year, Spain appeared to hold an enviable position in Europes natural gas markets. While it produced virtually no gas of its own, it was also almost completely free of dependence on Russian-supplied gas, thanks largely to its long-standing commercial ties with Africas largest exporter of natural gas, Algeria. In 2021 Algeria provided 43% of all the gas consumed in Spain. But those ties could be on the verge of breaking, leaving Spain in a much less enviable position.

On Wednesday (Apr 27), Algiers threatened to cut off the gas supply to Spain if the Sanchez government diverted any of the energy it received from Algeria to any third countries (without naming any names).

Any transport of Algerian natural gas delivered to Spain whose destination is contrary to that provided for in the contracts will be considered a breach of contractual commitments, and consequently, could lead to a breach of the contract that binds Sonatrach (NC: Algerias state-owned natural gas company) with its Spanish customers, the Algerian government said in a statement.

Though Algeria did not name any names, it didnt need to. Spain has been talking for months about reversing the flow of the now dormant Maghreb-Espana (MGE) pipeline in order to shift gas to Morocco, which has struggled to secure new supplies since Algeria closed the MGE in November 2021.

This Algiers did for a number of reasons, including as retaliation for a cyber-espionage campaign by Rabat against high-ranking Algerian officials, including the president, the minister of foreign affairs, and a former military chief of staff. A staunch defender of Western Saharas claims for independence and home to close to 200,000 Western Sahrawi refugees, Algiers is also livid about Moroccos aggressive (and so far largely successful) efforts to garner international support for its territorial claims over Western Sahara.

For both Spain and Morocco the pipeline was an important source of natural gas that has now gone. Spain is still receiving gas from Algeria through the Medgaz pipeline that links the two countries by sea as well as from LNG shipments. Morocco is having to depend on domestic production, which is not nearly enough to meet domestic demand.

The new plan, hatched between Madrid, Rabat and quite possibly Washington (more on that later) would work as follows: Morocco would purchase liquified natural gas on the international market, most likely the US, which will be regassified in Spain and then piped to Morocco. The US has already replaced Algeria as Spains largest supplier of gas in recent months.

Not a Single Molecule

But Algeria is not happy with the idea, as Geoff D Porter, the president of North Africa Risk Consulting (acronym: Narco) notes in a report on the dispute:

Were Madrid to reverse the GME pipeline and use it to supply gas to Morocco, Rabat would have slipped Algerias stranglehold. But not only would Rabat have devised a way to

circumvent Algeria and secure a natural gas supply, Madrid would have been complicit in allowing it to do so.

Not a single molecule of Algeria gas sent to Spain should arrive in Morocco: That is the condition Algiers has placed on the operation, to which Spains Third Vice-President and Minister for the Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera replied: Spains commitment with Algeria is that not a single molecule of the gas that reaches Morocco can be attributed to gas coming from Algeria.

Algerias response was to up the ante a little more by demanding that the Spanish and Moroccan governments publicly certify the origin of each batch of gas sent to Morocco through the GME pipeline, reports El Confidencial. It seems Algiers literally wants to make sure that not a single molecule of Algerian gas reaches Morocco. But that is easier said that done since the gas that arrives in Spain, whether by pipeline from Algeria or by LNG tanker from one of Spains 20 or so suppliers of liquified natural gas, gets mixed together in the network.

Very Dangerous Geopolitics

Time for a little historical context.

Western Sahara has been occupied by Morocco, just north along the coast, since 1975, the year Spain abandoned its former colony. One of the reasons why Morocco covets the territory so much is that it is home to some very valuable minerals including much of the phosphate rock on planet Earth, which, together with nitrogen, is one of the two most necessary components of synthetic fertilizer, as the 2016 Atlantic article, The Desert Rock that Feeds the World, explains:

Unlike nitrogen, which makes up 78 percent of the atmosphere, phosphate is a finite resource. And theres no way to manufacture it If you include this disputed region, Morocco holds more than 72 percent of all phosphate-rock reserves in the world, according to the most recent United States Geological Survey study. The next closest country, China, has just shy of 6 percent. The rest is spread out in smaller pockets around the globe. Morocco aggressively and sometimes violently argues that the notion of Western Sahara statehood is illegitimate, and that the regions rich supply of phosphate is theirs. As a result, Western Sahara has been the stage for a growing human-rights conflict as well as significant regional geopolitical tensions. Ive been to 70 countries, including Iraq under Saddam and Indonesia under Suharto, says Stephen Zunes, an international-studies professor at the University of San Francisco.* [Western Sahara] is the worst police state that Ive ever seen.

Between 1991, when the UN Security Council decided to establish a Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, and just over a month ago, Spain, like roughly 80 other countries as well as the African Union, supported the idea of holding a referendum to resolve the territorial integrity of Western Sahara, which has been occupied by Morocco since Spain abandoned the colony in 1975.

But all that changed on March 20, when the King of Morocco Mohammed VI read out a letter from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on live TV praising Rabats plan for sovereignty over Western Sahara as offering the most serious, realistic and credible way of resolving the conflict.

Before sending the letter, which completely reversed 47 years of official Spanish policy, Sanchez did not consult the Spanish parliament on the issue. In fact, he didnt even bother to inform some of his ministerial colleagues what he was about to do, and they, like the rest of Spaniards, found out about it from Mohammed VI. Since then Sanchez has faced virtually unanimous opposition to his unilateral decision to back Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, including from among his own coalition partners.

Predictably, the U.S., under the Trump administration, was the first major Western government to break with protocol and recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. To seal the deal, all Morocco had to do was recognize the state of Israel, becoming the second Arab country in North Africa  after Egypt  to do so.

Since coming into power Biden has, again predictably, not changed that policy in any kind of meaningful way. As Zunes told Democracy Now in February, 2021, this could have devastating repercussions not only for the welfare of Sahrawi people but also for international law as a whole.

Itll be very dangerous if Biden does not reverse Trumps unprecedented recognition of Moroccos takeover of Western Sahara. The United Nations Charter is very clear that the expansion of territory by military force is illegitimate. Trump already set the dangerous precedent of recognizing Israels annexation of the Golan Heights of Syria. However, taking over an entire country takes it to a new level, especially as Western Sahara is recognized by the African Union as a full member state. Over 80 countries have recognized the independent Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. So essentially what Trump was doing was to endorse the takeover of one recognized African country by another. And failure to reverse this would signal that the Biden Administration shares the Trump administrations contempt for fundamental international law.

Fourteen months on, that is clearly the case. As I reported in my previous article on this topic (Spanish Government Reaps Whirlwind After Antagonizing Its Biggest Natural Gas Supplier) US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recently visited Morocco where he said Washington continues to view Moroccos Autonomy Plan as serious, credible, and realistic, and one potential approach to meet the aspirations of the people of Western Sahara.

The Biden administration has plenty of economic reasons for not changing course. If Spain does begin processing LNG on behalf of Morocco and then piping it to the north African kingdom, Morocco could become yet another important client for US liquified natural gas. Morocco has also launched a tender to install a floating LNG import terminal in the country. Moreover, if Spain is cut off from Algerian gas, it will become more dependent on US LNG, which already accounted for 34% of total Spanish imports of natural gas.

Morocco is also a major client state of the US arms industry, leading the MENA region in terms of the percentage of arms acquired from the US, as Morocco World News reported in 2020.

The US supplies 91% of Moroccos arms. The remainder comes from France (9%) and the UK (0.3%). In 2019, Morocco significantly increased its arms purchases. The development aligns with its five-year plan, established in 2017, to attain regional military supremacy. The country aims to modernize its army, airforce, and navy. Moroccos arms purchases from the US this year include 25 F-16 aircraft and associated equipment worth $3.8 billion, along with upgrades to Moroccos existing fleet of F-16 fighter jets for $985 million. The US State Department also approved the sale of 36 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and related equipment to Morocco for an estimated $4.25 billion Although Morocco is beefing up its arsenal and expanding its military budget, a separate SIPRI report ranked Morocco 31st in the world in terms of arms imports. The country accounted for only 0.8% of global arms purchases in 2019. However, Morocco is one of the top three arms importers in Africa, after Egypt and Algeria..

Algerian Bluff?

Washington also seems to have managed to convince France, Germany and now Spain to also back Moroccos territorial claims, regardless of the harm it may cause to Europes economic, energy or geostrategic interests. According to Arab Weekly, some states have even arranged with Morocco to establish their own consulates in the disputed territory. This is all happening at the same time that the US and its NATO allies are constantly invoking the language of international law with regard to Russias invasion of the Ukraine.

Of course, it is perfectly possible that Algerias threats are simply a big bluff aimed at pressuring Spain to reverse its policy on Western Sahara. As the Arab Weekly pointed out on Thursday, Algeria has previously said it would stick to its contractual agreements with Spain, regardless of the row over the Western Sahara:

Talking on national television, Saturday, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had described Spains endorsement of Moroccos autonomy plan for the Western Sahara as morally and historically unacceptable. But he added, We assure the Spanish friends, the Spanish people that Algeria will never abandon its commitment to supply Spain with gas under any circumstances.

There is also the fact that Algerian reserves have stagnated in recent years and are in dire need of outside investment to open up marginal fields. It also has limited LNG capacity. As such, it may struggle to find buyers quickly enough to replace Spain. Algeria did recently sign an agreement with Rome to provide Italy with an additional 9 billion cubic meters annually, but that is not supposed to come into effect until 2023-2024.

If Algiers doesnt find new buyers quickly enough, it could end up losing out financially. But that may be a risk worth taking given it is currently selling gas to Spain and Italy at well below current spot prices, says Porter:

Algerias export contracts are almost all long-term contracts, and it has missed out on the spot market windfall of the last 12 months. Furthermore, production constraints mean that it has not been able to capitalize on the spike in natural gas prices resulting from Russias Ukrainian invasion. Suspending gas shipments to Spain would do double duty. First, it would free up Algerian gas volumes that it could sell on the spot market for higher prices than it was getting from Madrid. Second, it would make Madrid feel the pain for having switched its position on Western Sahara in favor of the Moroccan approach. Spain would be compelled to compensate for lost Algerian volumes by buying more US LNG, which is presently the most expensive gas on the market.

That would be great news for US energy producers but not so much for Spanish consumers or businesses, or for that matter US energy consumers since the more the US exports its natural gas, the higher prices rise domestically. There are also serious doubts, as reader Rev Kev notes and as I reported in a previous article, as to whether US energy producers will be able to continue supplying Washingtons geopolitical partners with LNG and keep meeting the needs of the domestic market. Whatever happens, one thing is sure: Spain will be buying its gas at more expensive prices going forward.
Yves here. Perhaps readers will disagree, but this article strikes me as utterly clueless about suicide among the elderly. And even if the authors stumbled across directionally accurate conclusions, their methods are so shoddy that the findings cant be trusted.

Suicides are underreported for a whole bunch of reasons: wanting to make sure survivors get life insurance benefits (as in the person killing themself makes his death look like an accident), avoidance of liability, attending physicians listing another cause of death out of assumed or actual desire of the family not to have the death reported as a suicide.

But assisted suicides are NOT underreported! So for this paper to have a scintilla of validity, it needs to attempt to adjust suicide rates in states that bar assisted suicide rates for hidden suicides.

My mother had six good friends in her old age. Two were long-standing buddies from earlier in her life, four were local. Of the six, two committed suicide. One had had several bouts of cancer. When it came back again, in her late 70s, she was a widow living in a retirement facility. Her lungs would fill with fluid and shed have to have a tube shoved down her trachea to drain them. She didnt want to be subjected to that any more, particularly since her prognosis was iffy. Shed saved up a lot of sleeping pills and took them all one night.

I can pretty much guarantee the facilitys physician did not record her death as a suicide. I am also highly confident she would have gone the assisted suicide route if it had been available. She would have wanted to say goodbye to her friends.

Another friend of hers similarly had had her husband die. She has children and a lot of friend in the areas. However, she had a fall, the hospital discharged her too early to skilled rehab, and something bad happened to her there so that she wound up wheelchair bound. She had the money to have aides but didnt want to have people bathing her and lifting her. She stopped eating and stopped taking her meds. She was Catholic so I am again pretty sure her death was not listed as a suicide.

My father by contrast shot himself because he was no longer able to take the horrible side effects of a terminal illness, so I am sure that was depicted accurately. But he might not have shot himself that day if assisted suicide were available. He was not willing to be hospitalized (Lamberts Insert tubes and extract rents) and lose control of his situation.

But this paper does address an important issue, so I hope better constructed studies follow.

By Sourafel Girma, Professor of Industrial Economics, University of Nottingham, School of Economics and David Paton, Professor of Industrial Economics, Nottingham University Business School. Originally published at VoxEU

Richard Posner argued that legalising assisted suicide may have the counter-intuitive effect of reducing unassisted and possibly even total suicide rates. This column examines the empirical evidence for this idea using data from ten US states that implemented an assisted suicide law up to the end of 2019. In contrast to Posners hypothesis, the real-world data suggest that assisted suicide laws lead to a substantial increase in total suicide rates and, if anything, are associated with an increase even in unassisted suicides. This effect is most pronounced amongst women.

An increasing number of jurisdictions around the world have implemented some form of legalised assisted suicide (or are actively considering doing so). It is a highly contentious issue and one in which debates are rightly driven primarily by considerations of rights, morals, and ethics. However, one key argument in many of these debates has been a more practical issue, namely, whether such laws lead to an increase or decrease in suicide rates.

This aspect of the debate has become even more pressing, given the concerns about the effect COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns have had on mental health, with obvious potential implications for suicide (Ribeiro 2020).

It is natural to think that legalising an activity should reduce its costs and lead to an increase in the amount of that activity. In this case, legalising assisted suicide should not only reduce practical barriers to committing suicide but may also lower societal taboos against suicide. Hence, we might expect to observe an increase in suicide rates overall (Dugdale and Callahan 2017). In 1995, however, Richard Posner proposed the alternative view that the legalisation of assisted suicide could reduce suicide rates in some circumstances. How did he arrive at such a counter-intuitive conclusion?

The Posner Hypothesis

Posner (1995) used a formal economic model to explain his hypothesis, but his underlying intuition is quite simple and based on the option value of future suicide. People who have no immediate wish to die by suicide get reassurance from knowing that they can exercise the option of suicide at some point in the future, should their life experience deteriorate. Someone in the early stages of a degenerative illness might worry that when their quality of life has deteriorated to such an extent that they no longer wish to live, they will no longer be able to die by suicide without assistance. As a result, some people in that situation may choose to die by suicide at an early stage.

Now, if people have the assurance that assisted suicide will be available should they end up wishing to die in the future, some of them may be less likely to take their own lives in the earlier stages of their illness. Put another way, assisted suicide will substitute for unassisted suicide. Further, at the point when the person believed they would want to die by suicide, they may find that they no longer wish to do so. Or a diagnosis may be wrong or unduly pessimistic and the person finds that future life is less painful or debilitating than originally expected. In either event, the person may never actually take up the option of suicide.

There are two key empirical predictions from Posners hypothesis. First, legalising assisted suicide should reduce unassisted suicides to some extent. Second, it is possible that under some circumstances legalisation could reduce the total number of suicides (assisted and unassisted) combined.

Posner argues that the key to understanding these counter-intuitive ideas is to recognise that unassisted and assisted suicide are two distinct goods which substitute for each other and that:

lowering the price of the second (by legalising it) will reduce the demand for the first and nothing in economics teaches that this reduction must be fully offset by the increased demand for the second good (Posner 1995: 250)

Testing the Posner Hypothesis

Posners work pre-dated Oregons 1997 assisted suicide law (the first in the US) and so he was unable to provide any empirical evidence to test his hypothesis. This has not stopped his hypothesis from being used as part of arguments in favour of assisted suicide laws (see, for example, Carter vs Canada (Attorney General) 2015, Dignitas 2014).

Since 1997, assisted suicide laws have been implemented in an increasing number of US states, meaning empirical analysis of his ideas is now possible. This is the task we took on in our paper (Girma and Paton 2022). We examine suicide rates in ten US states that implemented an assisted suicide law up to the end of 2019. Our basic research design is to compare changes in suicide rates before and after legal implementation relative to changes in states that did not pass such laws. The analysis considers both total suicide rates (i.e. including assisted suicides) and unassisted suicide rates.

An obvious issue with this type of analysis is whether states that legalise assisted suicides are sufficiently similar to other states to allow us to be confident that we are truly estimating a causal effect of the laws. We deal with this problem in two ways. First, we use an event study approach on panel data. In addition to including fixed effects to control for time- and state-specific unobservable factors, we control for trends in suicide rates in the years before the law was introduced and test to confirm that these trends are similar on average in other states (the so-called parallel trends assumption). We also control for other factors which are known to affect suicide rates, such as demographics (Stack and Kposowa 2007), availability of firearms (Lang 2017), substance abuse (Freeman 2007), and unemployment (Nordt et al. 2015).

Our second approach to establishing causality is to use a synthetic control method. This method involves constructing an artificial set of non-legalising states which are otherwise similar (based on a range of demographic and economic variables) to states legalising assisted suicide before legalisation. We can then compare relative trends in suicide rates after the passage of the law.

Do the Data Support Posner?

Both approaches yield similar results. There is very strong evidence that the legalisation of assisted suicide is associated with a significant increase in total suicides. Further, the increase is observed most strongly for the over-64s and for women. To give an idea of the size of the effect, the event study estimates suggest assisted suicide laws increase total suicide rates by about 18% overall. For women, the estimated increase is 40%.

There is weaker evidence that assisted suicide is also associated with an increase in unassisted suicides. The effect is smaller (about a 6% increase overall, 13% increase for women). It is still statistically significant in the main estimates but not in all of the robustness checks, meaning we have less confidence in that result. However, we find no evidence that assisted suicide laws are associated with a reduction in either total or unassisted suicide rates.

The results from our paper are consistent with another recent paper looking at trends in European countries that have introduced either assisted suicide or euthanasia (Jones 2022) and which concluded that there is no reduction in non-assisted suicide relative to the most similar [non-legalising] neighbour and, in some cases, there is a relative and/or an absolute increase in non-assisted suicide.

The finding that assisted suicide laws have a relatively bigger effect on women is also consistent with previous research (Canetto and McIntosh 2022). Given that unassisted suicide rates tend to be much lower amongst women than men, one interpretation of this finding is that the higher take-up of assisted suicide reflects women being empowered to take control over end-of-life decisions. Canetto and McIntosh (2022) propose an alternative view. They suggest that higher take-up may reflect the disempowerment of those who are more vulnerable to social pressure to die by suicide  for example, through feeling a burden to relatives or society  and that women are overrepresented in such groups.

Conclusion

To date, there seems to be little if any real-world evidence in support of Posners hypothesis that assisted suicide laws might reduce suicide rates. That does not necessarily mean that Posner got it completely wrong. It is possible, for example, that assisted suicide laws do induce some substitution from unregulated to assisted suicide, but that this effect is neutralised by an increase in unassisted suicide arising from, say, a reduction in societal taboos associated with suicide.

So where does this leave debates over assisted suicide? The ethical basis for those in favour of assisted suicide laws is that they promote the right to self-determination and bodily autonomy. In contrast, those opposing assisted suicide argue that such laws infringe the rights of vulnerable people, such as the elderly, disabled and terminally ill, and those who may be placed under undue pressure to choose to end their lives prematurely. The empirical evidence that assisted suicide laws increase suicide rates overall does not resolve the principle of the underlying ethical debates, but we can hope that it helps to put those debates into some sort of practical context.

See original post for references
Lambert and I, and many readers, agree that Ukraine has prompted the worst informational environment ever. We hope readers will collaborate in mitigating the fog of war  both real fog and stage fog  in comments. None of us need more cheerleading and link-free repetition of memes; there are platforms for that. Low-value, link-free pom pom-wavers will be summarily whacked.

And for those who are new here, this is not a mere polite request. We have written site Policies and those who comment have accepted those terms. To prevent having to resort to the nuclear option of shutting comments down entirely until more sanity prevails, as we did during the 2015 Greek bailout negotiations and shortly after the 2020 election, we are going to be ruthless about moderating and blacklisting offenders.

Yves

P.S. Also, before further stressing our already stressed moderators, read our site policies:

Please do not write us to ask why a comment has not appeared. We do not have the bandwidth to investigate and reply. Using the comments section to complain about moderation decisions/tripwires earns that commenter troll points. Please dont do it. Those comments will also be removed if we encounter them.

* * *

Sharp pictures! James Webb Space Telescope completes alignment in huge milestone Space.com

U.S. economy shrinks in first quarter; trade, inventories mask underlying strength Reuters

Looking for the Silver Linings in Shrinking GDP John Authers, Bloomberg

Growth slows and prices rise as stagflation stalks eurozone FT

Climate

#COVID19

China?

Blinken to detail U.S. national strategy for China in coming weeks Reuters. Swell.

Myanmar

NUG settling in for long fight against junta Frontier Myanmar. The Tatmadaw had to destroy NUG and the PDFs before the rainy season. They failed.

Syraqistan

China and Iran set to step up defence cooperation South China Morning Post

UK/EU

New Not-So-Cold War

Musk Buys Twitter

Supply Chain

Port congestion in mainland China continued to remain high with extended lockdown measures Hellenic Shipping News

Health Care

Imperial Collapse Watch

Is Everything Falling Apart? Nonzero Newsletter

Class Warfare

Why Arent Rich People Happier? A Wealth of Commonsense. Well, money is money. I mean you cant buy happiness, sir, but it sure takes the sting out of being unhappy. John D. MacDonald, Darker than Amber. Bonds of Inequality w/ Destin Jenkins (podcast) The Dig. Destin Jenkins on his book The Bonds of Inequality: Debt and the Making of the American City, which makes a powerful argument about how the ubiquitous and in many ways invisible dependence of American cities on municipal debt to fund basic infrastructure has devastating consequences for democracy and entrenches spatial, racial, and wealth disparities.

Is it possible to describe the complexity and absurdity of motherhood? The Conversation

Antidote du Jour ( via)

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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.

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Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has issued new regulations applicable to crowdfunding platform operators following a comprehensive review of the existing regulations, which were first issued in 2017.

The new regulations contain rules regarding equity-based crowdfunding and financing-based crowdfunding and are covered under Crowdfunding Platform Operators Module (Module CFP). Module CFP can be found under CBB Rulebook - Volume 5: Type 7  Ancillary Service Providers.

The new regulations include principles governing the conduct of operations by the platform, rules on platform offers and disclosures, avoiding conflicts of interest, due diligence of borrowers/issuers through Know Your Customer (KYC), segregation of client money from platform operators and other measures to ensure safe operation of the activity. Additionally, the new regulations require the crowdfunding platform operators to ensure suitability of the products being offered on the platform to retail clients, said a statement.

Director of Regulatory Policy Unit Shireen Al Sayed said: The CBB strives to continuously review all regulations and directives related to the provision of financial services in the Kingdom of Bahrain in order to update and enhance them in line with the developments in the financial sector.

The evolving business models such as crowdfunding will potentially provide new alternative sources of funding for new businesses and start-ups and serve as a catalyst for growth of such businesses. The new regulations are principles-based, simple, easily understood and contain the minimum safeguards to ensure the crowdfunding platforms do not pose excessive risk to the financial sector.

Yasmeen Al-Sharaf, Director of FinTech & Innovation Unit, said: Crowdfunding provides a viable alternative to tap into a new source of funding for start-ups and new companies. FinTech solutions have the potential to enhance capital flows to the economy commensurate with the growth and expansion plans of entrepreneurs through this new source of funding, thereby, helping to develop the businesses of these start-ups. The CBB will continue to explore and develop new financial tools for emerging business models to keep pace with the needs of the local market, as well as to support and encourage efforts to create new services that match the evolving trends in the field of financial technology.

Many international jurisdictions see crowdfunding as an innovative way to facilitate funding for small and medium-sized enterprises and seed capital to start-up companies, with a goal of promoting economic growth. In addition, other benefits of crowdfunding may include:

 Convenience of online platform;

 Lower cost of capital/high returns;

 Cost efficiency of relatively simple infrastructure;

 Portfolio diversification; and

 Increased competition in a space traditionally dominated by a few providers. -TradeArabia News Service
(Natural News) Denmark recently suspended its Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination program but said it may resume injections come autumn.

The Scandinavian country cited its high vaccination rate, a reduction in the number of new COVID-19 cases and stable hospitalization rates for the decision to pause the vaccine rollout. Eighty-two percent of its population has received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 62 percent have received booster doses. Under the announcement, Danes will no longer receive invitations for vaccinations after May 15.

Dr. Bolette Soborg of the Danish Health Authority (SST), said of the move: We plan to reopen the vaccination program in the autumn. This will be preceded by a thorough professional assessment of who and when to vaccinate, and with which vaccines.

Soborg, who also serves as the SSTs director of preparedness and infectious disease, added in a statement: We are also seeing a decline in the epidemic and, with spring soon arriving, we do not see the need for people living in nursing homes and people over 85 [years old] being offered a fourth dose this season.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine professor Dr. Martin McKee elaborated on Denmarks decision: Its important to be clear that Denmark is not halting vaccination. People who havent finished their courses will still be able to get doses. Its seen as a pause over the summer, with an expectation that it will resume in the fall.

He added that almost 20 percent of the Danish population remains unvaccinated, and 40 percent had not yet been injected with a booster. Obviously, with signs of new sub-lineages rising in South Africa  we need to keep our guard, so it is important to keep the situation under review, said McKee. Of course, this should not detract from the continuing need for new vaccines with a wider spectrum of effectiveness against variants.

Copenhagens decision to suspend COVID-19 vaccination came months after Denmark rescinded all COVID-19 mandates effective Feb. 1. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a February press conference: The pandemic is still here, but with what we know, we now dare to believe that we are through the critical phase. (Related: Welcome to the life we knew before: Denmark is abolishing ALL COVID-19 restrictions.)

However, she brought up the possibility of returning the restrictions, telling Danish radio: I dare not say that it is a final goodbye to restrictions. We do not know what will happen in the fall, whether there will be a new [COVID-19] variant.

Denmark previously dropped certain COVID-19 vaccines

Denmark previously halted the use of two COVID-19 vaccines for its vaccination program due to the risk of vaccine-induced thrombosis and thrombocytopenia (VITT)  which involves blood clots and low platelet count.

In April 2021, it permanently removed the AstraZeneca two-dose adenoviral vector vaccine from the list of approved shots for COVID-19.

Based on the scientific findings, our overall assessment is [that] there is a real risk of severe side effects associated with using the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca. We have therefore decided to remove the vaccine from our vaccination program, SST Director-General Soren Brostrom said in an April 14 statement.

In the midst of an epidemic, it has been a difficult decision to continue our vaccination program without an effective and readily available vaccine against COVID-19. However, we have other vaccines at our disposal.

The following month, Copenhagen permanently dropped the single-dose Johnson & Johnson adenoviral vector vaccine.

As the COVID-19 epidemic in Denmark is currently under control, and the vaccination rollout is progressing satisfactorily with other available vaccines, the [SST] has decided to continue the national vaccination campaign without the COVID-19 vaccine from J&J, a May 3 statement said.

The [SST] has reviewed the use of the COVID-19 from J&J in the Danish COVID-19 vaccination program, based on international data and statements released in the last month. In addition, a team of Danish experts has contributed to the evaluation of the vaccine.

VaccineWars.com has more stories about Denmarks suspension of its COVID-19 vaccination program.

Watch this clip from the Souled Out Podcast about Denmarks decision to lift COVID-19 mandates.

This video is from the SOMTV channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Sweden, Denmark halt use of Modernas COVID-19 vaccine for younger age groups.

Officials in Denmark announce there is no reason to administer more COVID-19 vaccines.

Denmark permanently stops rollout for AstraZeneca vaccine, citing concerns about blood clots.

Denmark PERMANENTLY BANS Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine over blood clot deaths.

Vaccine DAMAGE now ubiquitous in Denmark as omicron hospitalizations occur primarily in fully vaccinated.

Sources include:

Newsweek.com

SST.dk 1

SST.dk 2

SST.dk 3

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday, April 26, claimed that the U.S. is now out of the pandemic phase of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). The infectious disease expert made the claim during his appearance on the PBS program Newshour.

We are certainly right now, in this country, out of the pandemic phase, he said. However, the top doctor made a complete 180 from his remarks in his next interview on CBS News just hours later. He said the statements he made on PBS were misconstrued.

We certainly cant say the pandemic is over. It is not over, said Fauci. Instead, he clarified that COVID-19 in the U.S. was not as acute and accelerated as it was earlier in the pandemic. According to Fauci, his remarks about the country being out of the pandemic phase actually referred to the pandemic reaching a decelerated and controlled phase over the past several months.

He also exhorted Americans to remain on guard, be vigilant and be prepared for new COVID-19 variants and any other surges that they may cause.

That does not mean we are out of the woods; [we need] to avoid another spike in hospitalizations, said Fauci.

Earlier in April, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) acknowledged that COVID-19 is here to stay. He added that Americans themselves have to calculate their risk of contracting the virus instead of letting government do so via COVID-19 mandates.

Were at that point where, in many respects, were going to have to live with some degree of virus in the community. This is not going to be eradicated and its not going to be eliminated. Whats going to happen is that were going to see that each individual is going to have to make their calculation of the amount of risk that they want to take, he told ABCs This Week at the time.

Fauci insists on YEARLY vaccines for COVID

The NIAID director also called on people to get the COVID-19 vaccines and booster doses during his Newshour interview. According to Fauci, COVID-19 vaccines might be [needed] every year  [or] longer to keep [the] level [of COVID-19 cases] low.

He pointed out that improved treatments and vaccines have put the U.S. in a much better position than other countries, such as China, which continue to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks. The infectious disease expert cited Pfizers antiviral drug Paxlovid as a key drug that will make a huge difference in battling COVID-19 once it becomes accessible.

Faucis sentiments regarding yearly COVID-19 vaccines appeared to align with remarks by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. While Fauci asserts the need for a yearly vaccine to keep COVID-19 cases at low levels, the Pfizer bigwig is saying that yearly COVID-19 shots are necessary to ensure greater compliance compared to vaccinating people every three to four months. (Related: VAXXED FOR LIFE: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla calls for greater compliance with annual COVID vaccines.)

What the world really needs is a vaccine that can last a year. A vaccine that will be taken once a year is way [easier] to administer and [to] have the population be compliant with it, Bourla said in an April 15 press briefing organized by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations.

The issue is that right now, we are  in many, many countries  in the fourth dose, and that creates fatigue. Way more people got the second [dose] than the third, [and] I think the compliance with the fourth dose will not be as high. [We] realized that people will not comply with the fourth or fifth vaccination. This is why we need to come [up with] scientific innovations that will allow us to have a vaccine that is annual.

FauciTruth.com has more stories about the infectious disease expert and his inconsistent medical guidance.

Watch Dr. Anthony Fauci below claiming that the U.S. is out of the pandemic phase of COVID-19, which he would later retract.

This video is from the In Search Of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Fauci says the purpose of lockdowns is to get people vaccinated.

Flip-flopping? Fauci now insists Wuhan coronavirus outdoor transmission is low.

Fauci claims full-blown pandemic is over, hints at when Covid restrictions will end.

Fauci admits that lockdowns are part of tactics to STRONG-ARM people into getting the COVID poison shots.

Fauci claims CDC should be ABOVE THE LAW and not subject to any judicial review  full-blown pharma tyranny.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

MSN.com

NYPost.com

LifeSiteNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) For the first time, Germany says it is now ready to impose a gradual ban on Russian oil amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

After Russia refused to accept a payment from a trading firm that Germany seized from Moscows control following its invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission is escalating the situation further by threatening to outlaw, over time, the import of Russian oil.

Berlin would support a phased approach to targeting oil rather than some of the other options that have been discussed, such as a price cap or payment mechanisms to withhold parts of Moscows revenue, according to people familiar with talks among EU ambassadors, reported Bloomberg.

The ban would also need to come with a transition period, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private.

The strategy is similar to one that the European Union imposed earlier in April by issuing a ban on coal.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a statement condemning Russia for allegedly trying to fracture Europes response with blackmail, referring to the countrys refusal to accept payment from the seized trading firm.

Germany and the EU are really poking the bear on this one

Russia has already stated that, moving forward, it will need all gas and oil payments made in rubles, which is what Germany did. The problem is that the payment was attempted through Gazprom PJSCs German subsidiary, which is part of the sanctions enforcement.

Instead of backing down and being reasonable, and just letting the Kremlin deal with the bioweapons laboratory problem in Ukraine, Germany is doubling down with this new threat to slowly prohibit all imports of Russian oil in the country.

So far, just about everything Russias enemies have tried to do has backfired, and only hurt the people of Germany, the EU, the United States and others.

Von der Leyen claimed Russias demand that payments be made in rubles was unilateral  and not according to the contracts.

Companies with such contracts should not accede to the Russian demands, she added. This would be a breach of the sanctions so a high risk for the companies  This is unjustified and unacceptable, and it shows once again the unreliability of Russia as a gas supplier.

Russia recently cut off all gas supplies to both Poland and Bulgaria after the two countries committed nonpayment in rubles. This proved to the world that Russia was not bluffing when it made this demand and said that oil and gas will no longer be delivered to unfriendly nations.

European natural gas prices have consequently soared.

Some European countries have agreed to pay in rubles while others have not, further demonstrating that Europes united front against Russia was all fake, and nothing but smoke and mirrors.

At least four European gas buyers have complied with Russias demand for payment in rubles, and others still have time to follow suit if they do not want to be cut off from Russian oil and gas later in May.

These purchases in rubles blatantly violate EU directives, again showing that the EU really does not have as much power and control as it thinks it does.

Pro-Russian EU member Hungary, meanwhile, has struck a deal to pay into a euro-denominated account with Gazprombank, which in turn will deposit the amount in rubles to Gazprom Export, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a video posted to Facebook, reported Zero Hedge.

Slovakia has reached the same agreement as more European countries realize that it is impossible to live without Russian energy sources.

More of the latest news about the conflict between Russia and the EU can be found at WWIII.news.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Fed up with a Biden regime that is purposefully flooding the United States with third-world poor, criminals and deadly drugs, more than 25 governors have come together to form a strike force aimed at enhancing border security and enforcing immigration laws.

Led by Arizonas GOP governor, Doug Ducey, the group of 26 state leaders has pledged to secure the southwestern border after Joe Biden overturned nearly all of former President Donald Trumps border and immigration enforcement policies on his first day in office more than a year ago.

Last week in the border community of Douglas, Ariz., Ducey announced the creation of the American Governors Border Strike Force, whose mission is to stop illegal drug and human smuggling at the southern border, One American News reported.

The outlet adds:

The strike force, which includes Texas, Alabama and Florida, will improve intelligence sharing and analysis of state level crimes that may be connected to border security. Additionally, the multi-state effort will monitor cyber security issues, target cartel finances that fund criminal activity in the border regions and improve efforts to combat drug trafficking on the nations southernmost cross country highway.

The American Governors Border Strike Force will serve as a force multiplier in the fight against criminal activity directly tied to our border. My thanks to my fellow governors who saw the problem and chose to be part of the solution, Ducey said in a statement.

The border problem just isnt in the four border states, he added. There are kids ODing on fentanyl all over our country, in schools and neighborhoods. Its one of the leading causes of death. People that are addicted, people that are looking for a cheap high and thats coming over our southern border.

But its happening in small towns and rural communities in the interior. Thats what the Border Strike Force is for: to share information, stop the cartels and stop the human trafficking, the Arizona governor continued.

Today I have joined 25 of my fellow Governors in forming the American Governors Border Strike Force. Wyoming will continue to offer support to our southern border while the Biden Administration sits idly by and fails to take action on this crisis, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon tweeted after signing on to the initiative.

Today I have joined 25 of my fellow Governors in forming the American Governors Border Strike Force.

Wyoming will continue to offer support to our southern border while the Biden Administration sits idly by and fails to take action on this crisis. https://t.co/V75sFuY8WB  Governor Mark Gordon (@GovernorGordon) April 19, 2022

Added South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem: President Biden has failed to secure the border, so Republican Governors are launching a Border Strike Force to secure our communities. South Dakota has sent National Guard to the border. We will continue partnering with other states to protect our people.

President Biden has failed to secure the border, so Republican Governors are launching a Border Strike Force to secure our communities. South Dakota has sent National Guard to the border. We will continue partnering with other states to protect our people. https://t.co/gNSMj4ji6m  Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) April 19, 2022

Bidens reckless immigration policies and the lack of adequate federal resources have caused an unprecedented increase in criminal operations along the southern border and in communities across the country, said a statement from the Republican Governors Association.

Every state is a border state, dealing with the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into states across America, the statement continued. Republican governors have repeatedly stepped up to fill the void with state National Guard and state law enforcement reinforcements in Texas and Arizona, and an effort last year to request a meeting with Biden to offer 10 policy solutions that could immediately relieve the crisis at the border.

According to the statement:

Signatories to the memorandum include: Governors Doug Ducey (AZ), Greg Abbott (TX), Kay Ivey (AL), Mike Dunleavy (AK), Asa Hutchinson (AR), Ron DeSantis (FL), Brian Kemp (GA), Brad Little (ID), Eric Holcomb (IN), Kim Reynolds (IA), Larry Hogan (MD), Tate Reeves (MS), Mike Parson (MO), Greg Gianforte (MT), Pete Ricketts (NE), Chris Sununu (NH), Doug Burgum (ND), Mike DeWine (OH), Kevin Stitt (OK), Henry McMaster (SC), Kristi Noem (SD), Bill Lee (TN), Spencer Cox (UT), Glenn Youngkin (VA), Jim Justice (WV), and Mark Gordon (WY).

The Biden regime has claimed that states have no right to enforce border and immigration laws, only the federal government does. But when the federal government is so obviously and purposefully refusing to do so, states have every right to step up and defend their own borders and their own citizens.

Its good to see this initiative. It will be even better to see these governors ignore Biden like hes ignoring them.

Sources include:

RGA.org

USAFeatures.news

OANN.com
(Natural News) In a surprising turn of events, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published a piece calling into question the safety and effectiveness of repeated Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination and boosting.

The author of the article, entitled COVID-19 Boosters  Where from Here? is Paul Offit, the same guy who once stated that a child could safely endure thousands of vaccine injections at once without incurring any harm.

As he always does, Offit praised Fauci Flu shots in his introduction, referring specifically to the one- or two-dose injections originally released under Operation Warp Speed. The booster shots, however, did not receive any praise from Offit.

Offit expressed caution about continually injecting a person with the same jab over and over again in an attempt at keeping a lid on the spread of the Chinese Disease. The science simply does not back this, Offit explained. (Related: In 2019, Offit accidentally admitted that the Food and Drug Administrations process for licensing vaccines is fraudulent.)

Boosters are not risk-free, Offit said, adding that we need to clarify which groups most benefit. For example, boys and men between 16 and 29 years of age are at increased risk for myocarditis caused by mRNA vaccines.

And all age groups are at risk for the theoretical problem of an original antigenic sin  a decreased ability to respond to a new immunogen because the immune system has locked onto the original immunogen  This potential problem could limit our ability to respond to a new variant.

If Paul Offit (for profit) is warning about COVID jabs, you know something is seriously wrong with them

Original antigenic sin, in this context, refers to antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), which is when the immune system overreacts as a result of vaccination causing more illness, not to mention immune dysfunction.

This possibility arises because of the innate capacity of the COVID virus to adapt when faced with a highly vaccinated population  a known viral evolutionary pathway, explained the Daily Expose.

In the finale of his article, Offit told governments directly that the way they are going about pushing the jabs and boosters is eroding the publics understanding about how vaccines supposedly work.

Offit said experts need to do a better job of educating the public about the limits of mRNA injections, rather than continue to push them as some kind of cure-all for the Wuhan Virus.

Otherwise, a zero-tolerance strategy for mild or asymptomatic infection, which can be implemented only with frequent booster doses, will continue to mislead the public about what COVID-19 vaccines can and cannot do, Offit says.

Keep in mind that the NEJM, and Offit for that matter, are both pro-vaccine. The NEJM almost never publishes anything that in any way questions the official narrative that all vaccines are safe and effective.

The fact that the NEJM published this, and that Offit wrote it, is almost like a turning of the tides when it comes to vaccine orthodoxy. It is either that or the fact that COVID injections are the most dangerous and ineffective vaccine to ever be introduced.

Just more weasel words from the weasels in the medical and lawyer world, sniffing about to see if they can make even more money from it than they already have, wrote someone at the Expose, providing a healthy dose of skepticism to the conversation.

Its all redundant anyway because the fact that no one anywhere will ever really fight back against anything means that even if this con falls apart, they will just move on to one of the innumerable other irons that they already have in the fire.

War, food supply, power supply, immigrants, jabbing  its all the same to them.

The latest news coverage about the COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots can be found at Vaccines.news.

Sources include:

DailyExpose.uk

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Attorney Tom Renz discussed Pastor David Scarletts Twitter ban during the April 26 edition of his Brighteon.TV program Lawfare with Tom Renz. Scarlett, who hosts His Glory on the platform, joined his fellow host to expound on the ban.

Renz gave the floor to the prime mover behind His Glory Ministries to explain the circumstances behind his ban and subsequent reinstatement on the social media platform.

So on Good Friday, the holiest of weekends for Christians, we [tweeted] a post with Jesus on the cross [that] said It is finished. Hes taken it to the cross so it is finished, thats it  quoting the Gospel of John, explained Scarlett.

According to Scarlett, rapper MC Hammer saw the tweet, prompting him to follow the ministrys Twitter account. The rap artist, known for his song U Cant Touch This, subsequently loved the Good Friday post and retweeted it to his 3.3 million followers.

Scarlett continued: We got some information back from Twitter saying Do you realize that a big subscriber [base] of 3.3 million is sending this out? So basically, [we were told to] be prepared. I didnt know it was a warning shot [at] first, but it was. Within an hour, they shut us down without a warning or any strikes.

The pastor added that the His Glory Ministries Twitter account was banned without any reason other than MC Hammer retweeting a post that went viral about Jesus taking it to the cross.

Fast forward to Resurrection Sunday. Im praying and meditating: Lord, what do you want me to do with this? You want me to sit back? I dont care if Im on Twitter or not; do you want me to move forward with this? He said: My son, I want you to take it to the world  and this is going to boomerang back on Twitter.'

True enough, the His Glory Ministries Twitter account was reinstated on April 25 after its ban on Good Friday, April 15.

Account reinstatement coincides with Elon Musks purchase of Twitter

Renz congratulated his fellow Brighteon.TV host over the reinstatement. He commented: Its interesting how God does that. Now 3.3 million people who follow MC Hammer are aware of His Glory, and Im guessing a fair number of them probably werent aware of you before that.

Twitters lifting of the ban on His Glory coincided with technology bigwig Elon Musks purchase of the social media platform. The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla bought out the Big Tech firm for $44 billion, which its board accepted eight days after Resurrection Sunday last April 17. Musk also announced that the company would go private following the $44 billion deal.

However, Scarlett believes that there is an ulterior motive to the ban on His Glory Ministries.

They intentionally did it on Good Friday and [the] Easter weekend to send a shot across the bow. If they can take down His Glory [with] which we reach 20 million people in every country worldwide, if they can take down a Christian organization thats spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, theyve won, he told Renz. [But] they didnt expect us to go out, fight back and get the word out on many of the different media sources  other than just the His Glory TV platform.

Scarlett gave this piece of advice in response to a question from Renz about Big Tech and other tyrants setting their sights on faith first: We have to trust in the Most High God and have that faith at the right time. Hes [going to] say what He does, mean what He says and says what He means. Because when He gave me that prophetic word on Resurrection Sunday, it came true in eight days. He said: The world will know about this, and it will boomerang on [Twitter]. They literally got sold eight days later. (Related: Ann Vandersteel says Big Tech censorship she has experienced was a blessing in disguise  Brighteon.TV.)

Visit Censorship.news for more stories about conservatives such as Pastor David Scarlett being banned on Twitter.

Watch the full April 26 episode of Lawfare with Tom Renz featuring Pastor David Scarlett below. Tune in to Lawfare with Tom Renz every Tuesday at 11:30-12 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

This video is from the BrighteonTV channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

General Flynn urges pastors to defend the Constitution from the pulpit  Brighteon.TV.

Pastor Leon Benjamin and Ohio lawyer Tom Renz talk about fear and faith amid the pandemic  Brighteon.TV.

Left-wing media, extremists tell the truth for a change: They want censorship and they are attacking Elon Musk to prove it.

Dr. Eric Nepute tells Pastor David Scarlett and Amanda Grace: Combination of facts and faith eliminates fear  Brighteon.TV.

Elon Musks Twitter purchase prompts conservatives to tweet previously censored messages as new censorship test for the platform.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

FoxBusiness.com
(Natural News) Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the United States against interfering in the war in Ukraine, claiming that Russia will respond lightning-fast if America does so.

In a speech made to Russian lawmakers in St. Petersburg, Putin made this threat just as Russia claimed on Wednesday, April 27, to have carried out a missile strike in southern Ukraine that targeted a large batch of weapons supplied to the country by Western nations. (Related: America is funding, arming and training Ukraines neo-Nazi Azov Battalion.)

If anyone sets out to intervene in the ongoing events from the outside and create unacceptable strategic threats for Russia that are unacceptable to us, they should know that our retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast, said Putin. We have all the tools for this, that no one else can boast of having now. We will use them if necessary. And I want everyone to know that. We have decided on this matter.

Putins veiled threat of using tools that no one else can boast of having now is accepted to be implicitly referring to Russias arsenal of conventional ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads.

The Russian leader was not specific about what weapons he would be willing to use, but it should be noted that he recently oversaw the successful test of the RS-28 Sarmat, a super heavy intercontinental ballistic missile that is capable of carrying up to 10 nuclear warheads. Russia is expected to deploy this weapon soon.

Putin: Russian invasion of Ukraine fault of the US and NATO

Putin promised to finish the Russian invasion of Ukraine by seizing the territories claimed by the pro-Russian separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and by assuring the security of Russian-occupied Crimea and Russia proper.

He also reiterated his claim that the war currently underway in Ukraine was instigated by the U.S., the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and their allies in the Western world.

The countries that have historically tried to contain Russia dont need a self-sufficient, massive country such as ours, said Putin. They think it is dangerous to them just by means of its existence. But that is far from the truth. They are the ones threatening the whole world.

Putin continued by claiming that the invasion of Ukraine has already achieved some of its objectives. The Russian armed forces were already able to neutralize a real danger of  a major conflict that would have unfolded on our territory according to other peoples scripts, he said.

He explained that NATO was planning to use Ukraine as a route to invade Russia through the separatist-held Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, which is internationally recognized as a part of Ukraine but Russia has occupied since 2014.

All the tasks regarding the special military operation we are conducting in the Donbas and in Ukraine, launched on Feb. 24, will undoubtedly be fulfilled in order to guarantee, from a historical perspective, the security of residents in the Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics, Russian Crimea and our entire country, said Putin.

The Russian leader added that Western attempts to economically strangle Russia through extreme sanctions have failed. He called these attempts to sanction Russian goods rude and clumsy and promised that the Russian economy would move its attention to friendly nations and investors who are willing to work with the country.

As I have already said, we will respond to rude, often clumsy, external restrictions, to the destruction of all civilized rights and agreements, to attempts to isolate us, with greater freedom of enterprise, openness to honest partnership, respect and reliable protection of owners and conscientious investors, he said.

Learn more about the ongoing war in Ukraine at WWIII.news.

Watch Putins entire speech in front of lawmakers in St. Petersburg warning of a lightning-fast retaliation if the West interferes in the war.

This video can be found in the channel Marine1063 on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Russias Gazprom HALTS gas flows to Poland and Germany; Europe in PANIC as rolling blackouts are inevitable unless Europe finds RUBLES.

U.S. military running out of key munitions including anti-tank Javelins by gifting them to Ukraine as production capacity falls.

Russia launches phase two of its invasion with the goal of occupying the disputed Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

US weapons package for Ukraine includes 100 KILLER DRONES.

Russia vows to block transfer of S-300 missile defense system to Ukraine, threatens to target arms shipments.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

AlJazeera.com

TheGuardian.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The United States is in very real danger of experiencing food shortages.

This is according to Tucker Carlson and his Fox News colleague Trace Gallagher. Carlson and Gallagher reported on the possibility of food shortages in America during an episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight.

America [has] the most fertile farmland in the world, its always had some of the cheapest food prices in the world. That could be changing, warned Carlson. All of a sudden, prices are skyrocketing for staples, your grocery store is not full. It means that our countrys food supply is not secure.

Gallagher also pointed out that, in the past six months, there have been 17 incidents of fires, explosions and even two plane crashes that have hit food processing and storage plants.

From 2017 to 2019, there were only between six to eight incidents of fires and explosions at food processing and storage plants per year. Last year, that number increased to 11.

Its interesting that, despite the bad timing and a huge uptick in the destruction of food plants so far, there does not appear to be a public and wide-scale investigation by either the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] or the U.S. Department of Agriculture, noted Gallagher.

Were not saying any one group is responsible for these fires. We dont really know what this is about. But we do know its happening during what is turning out to be a disastrous year for food production in the United States, said Carlson.

Even if no food storage or food processing plant in the U.S. was hit, food production for this year is still on the decline. Carlson himself pointed out different factors that are hampering the agriculture industrys ability to feed Americans.

One of the big problems is the ongoing avian flu outbreak in the U.S. that has already resulted in the deaths and deliberate culling of over 30 million chickens and turkeys.

Biden admits food shortage to be a reality for Americans

President Joe Biden himself has already admitted that food shortages are going to be a reality for Americans, and he said this is because of the sanctions his government and its allies in the Western world have placed upon Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

With regard to food shortage, yes, we did talk about food shortages, and its gonna be real, he said last month during a press conference at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Brussels, Belgium, following a meeting with other leaders.

The price of the sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia, he added. Its imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and other countries as well.

Biden then called Russia and Ukraine the breadbaskets of Europe for wheat. He insisted that he had a long discussion with G7 nation leaders about the need for their countries to increase food production and to provide each other aid during shortages. (Related: USDA: 69% of total U.S. winter wheat production currently in drought zones sharp decline in yields right around the corner.)

We talked about urging all the European countries  and everyone else  to end trade  limitations on sending food abroad, said Biden. And, so, we are in the process of working out with our European friends what it would take to help alleviate the concerns relative to the food shortages.

Bidens admission that the sanctions against the Russian economy will affect Americas food supply came shortly after White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki denied that Americans will experience a food shortage.

While were not expecting a food shortage here at home, we do anticipate that higher energy, fertilizer, wheat and corn prices could impact the price of growing and purchasing critical fuel supply, food supplies for countries around the world, said Psaki at the time. And early estimates from the World Bank suggest disproportionate impacts on low and middle-income countries, including in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Learn more about food shortage concerns in America at FoodCollapse.com.

Watch this clip from Fox News as Carlson and Gallagher explain in detail the state of Americas food systems and how close the country is to becoming food insecure.

This video is from the Son of the Republic channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Tucker Carlson says America may run out of food soon, blames Biden.

Following rash of fires, FBI warns that food plants will be targeted with cyberattacks.

Thomas Renz: The people attacking food supply, health freedom are the same people attacking America  Brighteon.TV.

Perfect storm: Pandemic, climate, war all contribute to food shortages around the world.

Pattern of fires striking food facilities across the USA suggests ARSON TEAMS are burning down Americas food production infrastructure.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

FreedomFirstNetwork.com

FoxNews.com
(Natural News) The American leftist movement began in the 1960s as an anti-establishment, anti-corporate, anti-government movement aimed at tearing down norms and disrupting mores and traditional values, but that movement five decades later is now populated by old hippies who have become massive hypocrites, along with generations of younger people they brainwashed.

Not all that long ago, American leftists were ripping into Donald Trump for being an authoritarian (though he wasnt) and blasting corporations for making decisions based on the best interests of investors and profit margins, but all of that changed after the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Now, the old hippies, many of whom dominate academia and the Democratic Party leadership, and their followers are pro-government vaccine and mask mandates and support any corporation that requires its workforce to take an experimental, harmful vaccine, though many of them also used to rail against companies like Monsanto that pushed poisonous chemicals and developed harmful GMO foods.

Case in point: The left-wing backlash against a left-wing corporation  Starbucks  after its CEO decided to ditch a vaccine mandate once the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the Biden regime did not have the authority to issue it for private businesses.

Earlier this month, the company announced that its 220,000 employees would be required to get the vaccine or be subject to weekly negative COVID tests in order to continue their employment. But then came the high courts 6-3 ruling against the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations (OSHA) vaccine and testing mandate, which lead the company to reverse course.

We respect the courts ruling and will comply, Starbucks Chief Operating Officer John Culver wrote in a memo to workers.

Well, that reversal sparked outrage among the formerly anti-big government, anti-corporate establishmentarian left, which now backs mandates and supports companies that force workers to get a vaccine they dont need and dont want, just to have a job.

For over a decade, leftists have tried to dictate to Starbucks how to run their business, including telling them they must disallow open carry in their stores, 100 Percent Fed Up reports. The anti-freedom to choose crowd (that still believes its a womans right to choose if she wants to take the life of her baby), is losing their collective minds over Starbucks decision to allow their workers to decide if theyre going to be vaccinated (or not).

Here are some of the unhinged responses to Starbucks decision posted to social media:

I hope yall are for real about this bc the line at my #Starbucks is way too long every morning and this would be a blessing, one person wrote.

I hope yall are for real about this bc the line at my #Starbucks is way too long every morning and this would be a blessing ?? #BoycottStarbucks  Sailor Safemoon (@SailorSafemoon) January 19, 2022

Sipping a delicious coffee from a local shop. One week of my Starbucks boycott down possibly a lifetime to go! #BoycottStarbucks, another user wrote.

Sipping a delicious coffee from a local shop. One week of my Starbucks boycott down possibly a lifetime to go!#BoycottStarbucks https://t.co/vDNuDVJKJF  Theo Jordan (@Theo_TJ_Jordan) January 11, 2022

Starbucks is going back on their word announcing they will NOT require workers to be vaccinated & will NOT require the employees making your food & drinks to have a negative COVID test. They might as well print on their cups f**k our customers & their health #BoycottStarbucks, said another user.

Starbucks is going back on their word announcing they will NOT require workers to be vaccinated & will NOT require the employees making your food & drinks to have a negative COVID test. They might as well print on their cups fuck our customers & their health #BoycottStarbucks  Kyla In The Burgh ????? (@KylaInTheBurgh) January 19, 2022

Sources include:

100PercentFedUp.com

Reuters.com
(Natural News) Its easy to dismiss the Deep State Left as full of stupid, ignorant people, but the reality is that the vast majority of them are Ivy League-educated and are incredibly smart.

And so, having said that, when they do things that appear to be very dumb and foolish, it is safe to say they are doing so on purpose.

Like giving away vital U.S. military weapons to a foreign country when our own country has no current capability to replace them anytime soon  as in, they are literally making our country weaker and more vulnerable. The question then becomes  why?

As reported by the Strange Sounds blog: The CEO of Raytheon Technologies told investors Tuesday that the company wont be able to ramp up production of Stinger missiles until 2023, due to a lack of parts and materials for the weapons that Western allies have rushed to Ukraine

Shoulder-fired Stinger missiles are in hot demand in Ukraine where they have successfully stopped Russian assaults from the air, but U.S. supplies have shrunk and producing more of the anti-aircraft weapons faces significant hurdles.

Challenges include complications related to ramping up production, reluctance by the United States to redirect valuable manufacturing capacity to decades-old technology, and fears among defense companies that they would be stuck with unwanted arms when the Ukraine war winds down, according to interviews with U.S. officials and defense firms.

Currently, U.S. troops have only a limited use for the current stockpile of Stingers, which made their battlefield debut during the Soviet Unions war in Afghanistan in the 1980s  a lightweight, man-portable, self-contained anti-aircraft weapon that is best deployed against helicopters, slower-moving jets and planes, drones and even cruise missiles. But because the next-gen replacement for the Stinger is not yet fully developed, the U.S. still must hang onto a decent supply of the portable missiles.

Right before Ukraine hit, we were going to divest ourselves of Stingers, said a congressional source, the Strange Sounds blog noted. But that said, Pentagon officials are still concerned about the dwindling supply of Stingers, according to the congressional source and another source at the Pentagon.

And there is this: Ukrainian forces are downing Russian aircraft with the current version of the Stinger missile that was provided by Lithuania. According to reports, Ukrainian troops have downed at least six targets during the war  including helicopters, planes, drones and a cruise missile  as of an April 6 Facebook post by Arvydas Anusauskas, Lithuanias defense minister.

Before Russia invaded in late February, the U.S. has sent some 1,400 Stinger missiles to Kyivs forces, an administration official said. But sourcing more will be harder moving forward. Thats because the Stinger production line was shut down in December 2020, Department of Defense spokeswoman Jessica Maxwell said.

But since then, the missiles manufacturer, Raytheon, managed to secure another contract in July 2021 to make more of the missiles, but mostly for other countries, the U.S. Army noted. The only Stinger production facility is in Arizona, and it only produces the missile at a low rate.

The Pentagon has not ordered new Stingers for about 18 years, but has ordered parts or made other efforts to increase its supply, Strange Sounds noted. For example, the Army is in the middle of a service life extension plan for some of its Stingers that were to become obsolete in 2023 and is extending what the military calls their useful life until 2030.

Earlier this week, a separate report noted that other stocks of U.S. weapons were also being depleted and that a similar problem  the lack of industrial capacity to quickly replace them  exists for them as well. Whats more, the situation is exposing a U.S. weakness should there be another great-power war we have to fight at some near-future point.

America is following an arsenal of democracy strategy in Ukraine: It has avoided direct intervention against the Russian invaders, while working with allies and partners to provide the Kyiv government with money and guns, reported Bloomberg Quint. That strategy, reminiscent of U.S. support for Britain in 1940-41, has worked wonders. Yet as the war reaches a critical stage, with the Russians preparing to consolidate their grip on eastern Ukraine, the arsenal of democracy is being depleted.

Again, the people in charge of making these seemingly nonsensical decisions are not stupid. They are weakening our country for a reason  perhaps to bait China into attacking Taiwan so the U.S. and NATO can go to war against Beijing as well as Moscow and reinstall the unipolar world led by Washington, regardless of how many Americans die in the process.

Sources include:

StrangeSounds.org

NaturalNews.com

BloombergQuint.com
(Natural News) The latest radical left minority mindset is focusing on the transgender agenda. While the LGBT movement is getting traction, people who are directly involved in the transgender issue represent less than half of one percent. In some polls, only about two percent of the population agree or have sympathy with the movement, but it could also be far less.

In the April 26 episode of The Right Side, host Doug Billings discussed the immoral movement that is the transgender agenda. People are now allowed to push the transgender dialogue to be discussed with children in kindergarten and in grade school, and Billings said he wants to call out the immorality of it all. (Related: California parents speak out against sexual predator public school teachers caught grooming children into transgenderism.)

Its one thing to be accommodating, its one thing to have empathy for, and sympathy for people that are going through rough patches and stages of life, Billings said. Its an entirely different case when we, as adults believe in this transgender agenda. Its different because thats purposeful immorality, its purposeful destruction of personhood.

Billings also said that some people have been seduced into caring for those who have been struggling with sexual identity, but in the wrong way. While he does not deny that children need to have empathy and sympathy, he posits that parents have to deal with the transgenderism topic before children even begin to come out as somebody who potentially wants to change.

People are now fed up with school boards and are speaking out against woke curriculums and are returning to the conservative side of politics.

Dangers of transgenderism for children

Even transgenders are beginning to see the dangers of exposing children to this narrative. Transgender psychotherapist Aaron Anderson has helped hundreds of kids in a transgender project, but the rise in the number of children who want to change their sex has given rise to serious concerns. Anderson now believes that children are not genuinely interested in transitioning but are caught up in peer pressure and social media trends.

Anderson claimed that clinicians and mental health officials are failing children because they are not providing these kids with rigorous mental health evaluations before recommending them hormones or surgeries. Anderson also believes that a fair number of kids are doing the surgeries because they believe it to be a trend.

In our haste to become supportive, were missing that element, she said. She also warned that giving hormones on-demand will result in many more cases of poor outcomes and disappointed kids. (Related: Transgenderism is a fad worth rejecting.)

Forgive me, but this is weak parenting, Billings said. Its a woke culture. And its a vacancy of morality that has caused this problem in the first place. Conservative values rescue people from this, including kids from this kind of sickness.

Billings said there are hundreds of thousands of parents across the country who are rising up and speaking out at school board meetings, where they see the horror of what the woke teachers and the curriculums are doing to their kids.

Another expert from Johns Hopkins University Medical Center said transgender surgery is not the answer. He compared transgenderism to other mental disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, where there is an assumption that people depart from their physical reality. People suffering from anorexia or bulimia see themselves as overweight despite being dangerously thin.

In transgenderism, individuals face a non-reality that if they changed their sex, they will be happy  and vulnerable kids believe it.

Teaching young children about gender identity at such a young age can be dangerous. It is a kind of rhetoric and the kind of ideology and belief structure that can ruin the kids lives, literally to the point of depression or even suicide.

Follow Gender.news for more about transgenderism and other issues centered around the LGBTQ community.

Watch the full April 26 episode of The Right Side with Doug Billings to know more about transgenderism and the dangers it may pose for children. Catch new episodes of the program every Friday at 4-5 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Illinois education standards call for 8-year-old children to be taught about masturbation and transgenderism.

Vatican comes out in condemnation of LGBTQP, says transgenderism is an attempt to annihilate nature.

Students are now being expelled from schools in America for not having the correct views on transgenderism.

A horrifying look at how transgenderism butchers peoples bodies  and the language we use.

Ben Shapiro brilliantly explains why transgenderism is a make-believe illusion invented by liberals.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

DailyMail.co.uk
(Natural News) Just weeks after the Hunter Biden laptop from hell was unveiled to Congress and the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the formation of a disinformation unit inside the federal government. This disinformation unit will be used to create a Ministry of Truth on all things COVID-19, and anything related to Russia and Ukraine. This Ministry of Truth will also be used to cover up for the Biden familys corruption in Ukraine and China  hiding a trail of evidence that goes back to a time when Joe Biden was vice president. With this move of censorship and thought control, the DHS will be turned into the Biden familys personal mafia.

With formation of disinformation governance board DHS becomes Biden familys personal mafia

DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas has developed a disinformation governance board which will target and eliminate any incriminating information that the federal government doesnt want the public to hear. This disinformation board will demand public obedience to oppressive Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) protocols and shut down any evidence of election fraud. The agency will take on misinformation related to homeland security, focused specifically on irregular migration and Russia.

This disinformation unit is designed to cover up government crimes while targeting the truth-tellers who expose those crimes. The executive director of this new Orwellian venture is Nina Jankowicz. She is a former advisor to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and a former disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center. She oversaw issues related to the National Democratic Institute lobby group. Jankowicz is the perfect candidate to cover up the Biden regimes war crimes in Ukraine. Jankowicz will be in charge of fine-tuning the administrations official narratives and targeting any opposition to those narratives.

She previously labeled the Hunter Biden laptop story disinformation  even though the criminal evidence from the laptop is now public record. This is the same woman who shudders at the idea of free speech. She tried to cover for the Biden family by labeling the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian influence op. She also said the issue was a Trump campaign product that would lead Trump voters to show up at polls armed and ready to intimidate voters.

Cats out of the bag, Jankowicz tweeted. Heres what Ive been up to the past two months, and why Ive been a bit quiet on here. Honored to be serving in the Biden Administration @DHSgov and helping shape our counter-disinformation efforts.  Nina Jankowicz (@wiczipedia) April 27, 2022

Biden regime looks to shut down dissent, as Elon Musk promises free speech on Twitter

Nina Jankowicz is very concerned that the current regime and its network of propaganda pushers will lose much of their influence over social media platforms, namely Twitter. Elon Musk is in the process of acquiring Twitter and promised to restore lawful free speech across the platform. Jankowicz has previously labeled Musk an online abuser while calling for more censorship over people like him.

I shudder to think about if free speech absolutists were taking over more platforms, what that would look like for the marginalized communities, which are already shouldering disproportionate amounts of this abuse, said Jankowicz.

But with Musk in charge of Twitter, conservatives could soon have an equal playing field to debate the issues in the digital public square. Countless conservative accounts could be restored as Twitter opens back up, allowing people to discuss various issues of importance. Under Musks leadership, blacklists and censorship algorithms could be exposed. Twitters internal communications could be exposed, unveiling government and special interest control over the flow of information. The restoration of free speech at Twitter could put pressure on Facebook, Google and other platforms to end their election interference efforts. In the meantime, expect the current regime to double down on their censorship, as they desperately force their crooked narratives onto the American people.

Sources include:

Summit.news

NaturalNews.com

Brighteon.com

Twitter.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Freedom fighter and Polish-born Canadian Pastor Artur Pawlowski had a vision abut three years ago.

I saw a fence, a big fence, I could not see the end of it. And I saw people sitting on the fence. And I remember when I saw those two big hands that grabbed the fence and violently started to shake it. And I saw people falling to the left and to the right. And I knew that those hands are Gods powerful hands, Pawlowski told Dr. Steve Hotze in the April 25 episode of The Dr. Hotze Report on Brighteon.TV.

And He kept shaking the fence until there was no one sitting on it. And then He told me: When Im done, everyone will have to make a choice  either Me or the devil. What were witnessing right now is the greatest separation between the sheep and the goats, the sheep and the wolves.

Pawlowski said people are now witnessing a massive shakening to separate the good from the bad.

The well-known champion of the poor and the homeless said Christians need to understand that they have to go through the fire so that God can purify them. He cited the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who were rescued by God from a fiery furnace after they refused to bow before a golden image and participate in the lie.

According to Pawlowski, the Church and the pastors should realize that this is one of the greatest moments in history and that they should not bow to evil people.

The Canadian clergyman said this is the time for the modern-day Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Mordecai, Esther, the prophets of old, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, David, Joshua, Caleb, Deborah and the Book of Acts apostles to rise up once again and show the whole world who God is.

Its time for the Church to shine. And if needs be its time for the Church to be purified in the fire because when you go to the fire, you will burn for Jesus, said Pawlowski, pastor of the Cave Church of Adullam and Street Church Ministries in Calgary, Canada.

Pawlowski also talked about his life in Poland and growing up under communism and socialism. He said the communists and socialists will stop at nothing until people have absolutely nothing.

The Christian pastor and patriot recalled the Solidarity Movement in the 1980s, when millions of Polish people took to the streets under the leadership of Lech Walesa. He also talked about his family leaving Poland to go to Greece before moving to Canada in the early 1990s.

Pawlowski said Canada is no longer a democratic country with its politicians wanting to be tyrants and dictators.

And thats exactly how they behave. One law for you, one law for them. They can do whatever they want. They can break their own mandates and restrictions. They were caught red-handed breaking their own mandates, but they are the pharaohs of today and they can do whatever they want. They think theyre above the law. And the rest of us, according to them, we are just slaves, Pawlowski said.

Man of faith and courage

Hotze said Pawlowski was truly a man of faith and courage, as well as a true example to other Christians across the world because of his willingness to stand up and trust God.

Pawlowski also discussed with Hotze his arrest at the airport after coming from the United States to warn Americans about the situation in Canada and expose what was happening there.

The pastor and civil and human rights activist said he spent three days and two nights in prison. Pawlowski has been charged for illegally feeding the homeless and the poor, inciting people to come to church, participating in a church service and officiating an illegal church gathering. He was also labeled as a terrorist after participating in Canadas Freedom Convoy. (Related: WORSHIP is now a CRIME: Canadian SWAT team takes down Christian pastor for inciting worship in defiance of coronavirus orders.)
(Natural News) In the months after Joe Biden became our nominal commander-in-chief, military observers began to notice a change in the attitude of top commanders.

The men and women who are charged with protecting our country know that the United States can never afford to lose a major war because our most dangerous enemies  Russia, China, Iran, North Korea  would never be as benevolent in victory as America would be.

And yet, at the new regimes direction, they began disregarding time-tested, long-held training norms and standards for a woke new approach that focused on reversing Donald Trumps ban on transgenders serving, more openly promoting homosexual lifestyles, loosening uniform standards, and embraced the far-left lie that America, and the U.S. military, in particular, is rife with white supremacy and white nationalism.

Now, it appears that the regime is specifically targeting the base service member: White, America-first, evangelical Christian conservatives for reduction and elimination from all branches, via the highly controversial COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down for private businesses.

According to the Truth for Health Foundation, the regime, as well as the top military commanders for each branch, are using these illegal vaccine mandates in ways that are compromising U.S. national security: Purging military members who refuse to take the experimental jabs; refusing any and all waiver requests whether for religious or medical reasons; physically punishing non-compliant members; allowing for the hazing and shaming of unvaccinated members; denying treatment to members who contract the virus; and burying serious reactions and deaths to the vaccines  all of which are egregious violations of soldiers religious and civil rights guaranteed under the US Constitution, the organization said this week.

What the Biden administration and the Department of Defense are doing to our honorable sons and daughters in the military is unconscionable, Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet, president and CEO of Truth for Health Foundation, a non-profit that seeks to defend medical truth and individual medical freedom to choose, said.

Our service members are being illegally ordered to take an EUA product while being told it is FDA-approved. Comirnaty, the only FDA-approved COVID shot is not available on any U.S. military installation in the U.S. or overseas, according to military sources, Vliet, a past Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and a currently practicing physician, added.

If service members request a religious or medical exemption, they face extra duty, public humiliation, and threats of dishonorable discharge. If they talk about it, they risk career-ending discipline. Some have been arrested for requesting a religious exemption, a constitutional right all of our military take an oath to defend, she continued.

Earlier this month, Fox News quoted several currently serving Marines who also are of the opinion that the regime is targeting military members for their political beliefs under cover of the vaccine mandate.

Theres something fundamentally wrong at this point with our nations leadership, a major with more than 17 years of active service told the network. We are facing an unconstitutional edict that I think is very targeted as a political purge, taking out some of the best and brightest soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and guardians from the Space Force.

During a recent Purging Patriots from the Military press conference, the foundation provided indisputable proof from military whistleblowers and their attorneys regarding how military brass are using the mandate to violate fundamental constitutional protections regarding medical and religious rights.

The organization also documented violations of Universal Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) regulations and how the service has conducted medical experimentation on members without their informed consent.

Catastrophic damage from the experimental vaccines and COVID policies has damaged military readiness and poses a serious threat to Americas national security, the group notes.

The organization adds: Our military members defend us. They deserve our support to defend them now against medical tyranny by their own Command.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

FoxNews.com
(Natural News) Dr. Mark Sherwood, a certified naturopathic doctor and a retired 24-year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department, believes that running for office is about leadership, not politics.

In the April 26 episode of The Sheriff Mack Show, Sherwood shared his Oklahoma first policies to secure a self-sustaining state. He also said he is ready to rid the state of oppression and a bloated federal government, emphasizing that Oklahoma needs a leader who is willing to face controversy head-on.

Sherwood declared candidacy for the Republican primary scheduled on June 28. He is running for governor.

According to Sherwood, there is a lot of commonality in the idea of protection, service and standing up for those who cant stand for themselves.

A lot of people today, theyre bullied, picked on, misunderstood or underrepresented. And I just want to step up into the gap and say, No, were not going to do that anymore,' he said. So thats the whole idea. It just kind of keeps me driving each day.

Separation of state government and federal government

Sam Bushman, who was co-hosting with Sheriff Mack on the episode, pointed out that state legislatures are not subject to federal direction. A judge previously said the Supreme Court always siding with the federal governments authority over the states is absolutely wrong.

Sherwood believes that removing the federal government from getting a say in the way states run themselves could have a catalyst effect on the United States. (Related: Drs. Mark and Michele Sherwood: Federal government messes up Americans lives by subsidizing inflammatory foods  Brighteon.TV.)

He related that one issue they face in Oklahoma is similar to what other red states face: They dont understand the Constitution and they have no leadership. What their so-called leaders do have is the mentality that they must coexist with the federal government.

And its an elitist, its a monarchist, its a power-hungry, influence-craving, money-loving group and they just have lost complete sight of what their job is and what theyre supposed to do and who theyre supposed to represent. What is happening is that in these predominantly red states, they have the opportunity, but they have been compromised because of the Democrats that are seated with them, who dont live up to what they say theyre gonna do, Sherwood said.

Generally, if you say, youre going to do this and dont do it, you know thats called a lie. And we need to call them for what they are, liars. And the chance we have to vote out liars is the best way to turn  limit anybody, vote them out, let your voice be heard. And when you do, were going to get our country back.

He also said the concept of the Deep State is real. However, it is a garbage establishment that is corrupt and manipulative. And there are people out there that absolutely have no spine whatsoever and will not make a decision, because theyre afraid of losing voters, losing money, losing influence.

The 2022 midterm elections will be Sherwoods first run for public office. Some of his promises include keeping election integrity, abolishing abortion, stopping the infringement of the Second Amendment, stopping critical race theory from being taught in schools, banning mandatory vaccines, masks or lockdowns and the deregulation of business and agriculture as issues of focus. (Related: If masks really work, why is the CDC about to drop its nationwide mask guideline?)

In his campaign announcement in September last year, Sherwood said he believes the 2020 elections were hijacked and that Oklahomans should demand a forensic audit.

Sherwood has also previously criticized Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt for closing nonessential businesses at the start of the pandemic. He also said that despite signing a near-total abortion ban into law, Stitt has not gone far enough to abolish abortion.

Sherwood also discussed securing the U.S. borders, saying that he does not want illegal immigrants crossing the Red River: We need to assist our neighbors to the south to secure the southern border. We need to secure the border above us, in the air, he said.

Follow VoteRepublican.news for more updates about Republican candidates.

Watch the full April 26 episode of The Sheriff Mack Show to know more about Dr. Mark Sherwoods plans for the state of Oklahoma. Catch new episodes of the program every Tuesday at 10-11 a.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Dr. Mark Sherwood tells Clay Clark: Hearing Dr. Faucis voice is like having a nightmare with demonic influence  Brighteon.TV.

Oklahoma lawmakers pass one of the nations toughest anti-abortion laws.

Doctors Mark and Michele Sherwood: These seven pillars of health are the key to achieving good health  Brighteon.TV.

BLM rioters invaded the Oklahoma Capitol. No one is being accused of insurrection.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

NonDoc.com

Oklahoman.com
(Natural News) A new lawsuit alleges that a 15-year-old student at a private school in Chicago killed himself back in January due to relentless bullying about allegedly being unvaccinated.

Both students and teachers reportedly bullied Nate Bronstein to the point that he no longer wanted to live. The incident took place at the Latin School of Chicago, a private college preparatory school that costs more than $40,000 a year to attend.

When the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) plandemic began, Bronstein transferred to the school for in-person learning. It was then that he became a target, according to the suit, of Branch Covidians who started spreading a rumor that the 10th-grader did not get jabbed.

Bronsteins parents say he was, in fact, vaccinated, but that his fellow students and even some of his teachers did not believe it. Robert and Rosellene, Nates parents, attempted to reach out to other parents to clear up the confusion, but to no avail.

At one point, one of Bronsteins teachers told him during class one day that he was going nowhere in life, the suit says. Bronstein was also harassed on Snapchat, where another student told him back in mid-December that he should commit suicide.

Bronstein met with school administrators after that incident occurred, but they did nothing to help him. None of the cyber-bullies were disciplined, his parents allege, and the abuse simply continued.

Why did the Latin School of Chicago allegedly treat Nate Bronstein so horribly?

Bronsteins mom met with a counselor as well to talk about the bullying, saying she feared for her sons life. But those concerns were similarly downplayed and categorized as family issues.

Rosellene reportedly contacted the school some 30 different times in October and November alone to seek some kind of solution, but it led nowhere. School officials turned a blind eye, she says, to all of the familys pleas for help.

Bronstein himself also reported the bullying he was enduring to the schools dean, who likewise ignored his concerns and did nothing, according to the lawsuit.

One month after Bronstein was encouraged by a fellow student to take his own life, he reportedly did just that. His father found him hanging from a noose tied to a shower in a bathroom at the familys home on January 13.

Bronsteins mom says that neither she nor her husband were ever informed that their son had requested a meeting with the schools dean over the Snapchat bullying incident.

We would have known, and we would have protected him, and hed still be here today, Rosellene told CBS Chicago in an interview.

The familys lawsuit alleges that the Latin School of Chicago, which boasts alums such as the late First Lady Nancy Reagan and former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan II, violated a state law that requires schools to investigate all reports of bullying and to notify the parents of all students involved.

The school is dismissing all claims of wrongdoing, allegedly that the allegations are unfounded. It says it plans to vigorously defend itself in court against the Bronstein family.

Our hearts go out to the family, and we wish them healing and peace, reads a statement from the school.

With respect to their lawsuit, however, the allegations of wrongdoing by the school officials are inaccurate and misplaced. The schools faculty and staff are compassionate people who put students interests first, as they did in this instance.

The government and the corporate-controlled media are directly responsible for this kind of bullying, which is being encouraged by the establishment as appropriate behavior against the non-compliant.

More related news about the plandemic can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

NYPost.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Governor Bill Lee has signed SB 2188 that allows Ivermectin, an award-winning antiviral drug, to be available for the treatment of COVID-19 without a prescription in Tennessee. The states Senate overwhelmingly voted 66-20, and the House voted 22-6 in favor of the bill.

(Article republished from StrangeSounds.org)

The bill states that a pharmacist can provide Ivermectin to a patient, who is 18 years of age or older, pursuant to a valid collaborative pharmacy practice agreement containing a non-patient-specific prescriptive order and standardized procedures developed and executed by one or more authorized prescribers.

That means that adults can explain their symptoms to the pharmacist, fill out a sheet listing any preexisting conditions and other medications they are taking, and the pharmacist can determine the right dosage.

Medical professionals such as Dr. Robert Malone, Dr. Ryan Cole, Dr. Richard Urso, Dr. Pierre Kory, Dr. John Little and many others worked diligently to educate Tennessee lawmakers about this effective drug.

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was awarded to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura for their discoveries leading to Ivermectin.

Ivermectin is best known for its antiparasitic properties that can help prevent COVID-19 and is especially effective as early treatment. The drug also has antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties and studies have shown that ivermectin helps to lower the viral load by inhibiting replication.

According to a June 2020 study published in the Antiviral Research Journal, a single dose of Ivermectin can kill 99.8 percent of the virus within 48 hours.

A meta-analysis in the American Journal of Therapeutics showed the drug reduced infection by an average of 86 percent when used preventively.

In another study of 115 patients with COVID-19 who received a single dose of Ivermectin, none of them developed pneumonia or cardiovascular complications, while 11.4 percent of those in the control group did.

Fewer Ivermectin patients developed respiratory distress, fewer required oxygen, antibiotics and intensive care. Ivermectin-treated patients tested negative in four days instead of 15 and stayed in the hospital nine days on average instead of 15.

Ivermectin has also been shown to speed recovery, in part by inhibiting inflammation and protecting against organ damage. Additionally, Ivermectin lowers the risk of hospitalization and death. Furthermore, the drug prevents transmission of SARS-CoV-2 when taken before or after exposure.

Protect your home and car against solar flares, lightning and EMP attacks with the best shield available to date

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, Cheap and effective drugs like Ivermectin are being denied to the public while pharmaceutical companies make money from COVID shots that are neither safe nor effective. Studies and personal testimonies have repeatedly shown the effectiveness of Ivermectin. The focus should always be about helping save lives rather than putting more money in the pockets of Big Pharma. All states should follow Tennessees lead. [DesertReview]

Which states and countries will follow around the world?

Read more at: StrangeSounds.org
(Natural News) The state of Texas sued the Biden administrations Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over its interim rule that relaxed the screening process for asylum seekers.

Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on April 28 that seeks a permanent ruling against an interim rule allowing Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) officers to decide if asylum seekers could continue staying in the country. Defendants in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas include President Joe Biden, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the Department of Justice (DOJ), its head, U.S. AG Merrick Garland and CIS Director Ur Jaddou.

Under the interim rule announced by the DHS and DOJ in March, CIS officers would be permitted to screen applicants subject to expedited removal from the country. Those who claim they fear torture or persecution in their country of origin can stay if they successfully pass a test. Immigration judges are typically tasked to carry out credible fear screenings.

Paxton, however, argued in his lawsuit that the interim rule violates the law as it limits the power of immigration judges. This, he added, enables the release [of] even more illegal aliens. (Related: Texas files, WINS, first major lawsuit against Biden regime over refusal to deport illegal alien criminals.)

The interim rule transfers significant authority from immigration judges to asylum officers, grants [the latter] significant additional authority, limits immigration judge review to denials of applications and upends the entire adjudicatory system to the benefit of aliens.

The Lone Star States Republican AG defended his lawsuit, the 11th one he filed in relation to immigration policy, in an April 28 press release. The last thing Texas needs is for [the Biden] administration to make it easier for illegal aliens to enter the U.S. and obtain asylum through false claims and less oversight, he said.

Its true that our immigration system is extremely backlogged. But the answer is to secure the border, not overwhelm it even more by enacting cheap, easy incentives for illegal aliens to get into the United States.

Texas transporting illegals to Washington, DC

Paxtons lawsuit against the Biden administration came amid concurrent efforts by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to transport illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C. by bus. The first bus loaded with illegal immigrants from Latin American countries such as Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela arrived in D.C. on April 13.

As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, the state of Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps and keep Texans safe. By busing [illegal immigrants] to Washington, D.C., the Biden administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border. Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden administrations failure to secure our border, Abbott said in an April 13 statement.

A second busload of illegal immigrants arrived in D.C. on April 14, almost 21 hours after the first one.

During a press conference in Laredo, Texas, Abbott said additional migrants will be bused or flown into Washington to make the White House and Congress respond and deal with the same challenges [Texas] is dealing with.

Theres one thing that is perfectly clear, and that is the Biden administration and a lot of leaders in Congress have no idea about the chaos they have caused by their open border policies. And they refuse to come down and see first hand and talk to the people who are really most adversely affected. If theyre not going to come to the border, Im going to take the border to them, he told reporters.

Subsequent buses of migrants arrived in D.C., with Abbott confirming the arrival of a tenth bus in an April 22 statement. It also remarked that the illegals bused to the federal capital now consist of nationals from Latin America and Africa.

GreaterTexan.com has more on the Lone Star States fight against the Biden administrations lenient immigration policy.

Watch Texas AG Ken Paxton talk about the impacts of President Joe Bidens immigration policy.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

21 States file lawsuit to stop Biden administration from lifting Title 42 health order for southern border.

First busload of ILLEGAL ALIENS from Texas arrives in DC, passengers dropped off near Capitol.

SECOND bus from Texas loaded with ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS arrives in Washington, DC.

Abbott deploys Operation Lone Star at Texas-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration.

Texas sues Biden for letting in coronavirus-infected illegal immigrants.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com 1

TexasAttorneyGeneral.gov 1 [PDF]

TexasAttorneyGeneral.gov 2

Gov.Texas.gov 1

TheEpochTimes.com 2

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(Natural News) Dr. Risa Hoshinos reputation is now ruined. It turns out that she lied about being a Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) frontline worker for internet points, only to later be exposed as a school pediatrician faker who makes $170,000 a year in her cushy position, which was mostly remote throughout the plandemic.

On social media, Hoshino pretended to be working really hard to save lives, especially during the early days of the plandemic when everybody was riled up and praising healthcare workers for their bravery in battling the virus.

Hoshino routinely tweeted about wearing an N95 face mask for 12 hours per day and would write heart-wrenching stories about how she was having to deal with sick children. On Instagram, however, Hoshino was posting pictures and videos of herself having dinner with friends and prancing around in a bikini on the beach.

Hoshino flat-out lied about working for Mount Sinai hospital, which she has had no affiliation with since 2017 when she completed her residency there. She basically just made up a bunch of sob stories and pretended to be swamped with patients when the reality is that she works a comfortable 9-5 job at a childrens school that was mostly closed throughout the plandemic.

Hoshino the faker was praised by Scientist magazine for using social media to debunk scientific falsehoods

Despite all this, Hoshino was praised and elevated to the top of the physician influencer lists as a veteran of using social media to debunk scientific falsehoods, according to Scientist magazine.

Hoshino was praised for her bravery in battling covid for 12 hours a day at the hospital, even though she does not work at a hospital and was not battling anything except for maybe a sunburn while lounging at the beach sipping Mai Tais.

Substack blogger Sarah Beth Burwick conducted an investigation into Hoshino, revealing that she is basically an overpaid actor who pretended to be something that she is not, capitalizing on all of the plandemic mayhem for her own personal gain.

Hoshino, whose LinkedIn claims she works for Mount Sinai, was found out to be a city-employed school pediatrician who mostly worked a remote job for around $170,000 a year during the pandemic, reports the Daily Mail (UK).

Her strong 113,000 followers  which she built up in a year-and-a-half  has since crashed to 32,200 since the accusations first surfaced  All the doctors accounts are now locked or deleted.

Amazingly, Hoshino was also caught begging for money on a Ko-Fi account, despite her six-figure salary doing easy work throughout the plandemic.

Like many others also did, Hoshino presented herself as some kind of expert on Fauci Flu shots, which is part of the reason why she was elevated to top influencer status. She would regularly answer questions about them while flaunting her degrees and coming up with cute hashtags such as #tweetiatricians.

Hoshino did not even really use Twitter prior to the plandemic, but after realizing that its users tend to believe everything they are told by the government and the corporate-controlled media, she saw an opportunity there to grift and pretend to be something she is not.

At one point, Hoshino made up statistics about how 25 percent of her pediatric patients would supposedly end up developing long covid. It appears that Hoshino just pulled these figures out of nowhere to try to make herself appear credible.

Trying telling a child that you have no idea when theyll be normal again and to see them tear up, reads one of Hoshinos deceptive and manipulate tweets from March of 2022. They could potentially suffer the rest of their lives.

Its all just more fakery as part of the fake plandemic that has always been rooted in lies and disinformation from the very start.

The latest news about the plandemic can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) It is no longer enough to work hard and get good grades. If you have light skin, meaning you are white, it will be next to impossible for you to ever get accepted to any Ivy League school.

Kaitlyn Younger learned this the hard way after the senior at McKinney High School near Dallas scored a 1550 on her SATs as a junior. Younger also expects to graduate this spring with an unweighted 3.95 grade-point average, and yet was not accepted to any of the top schools at which she applied.

Younger founded her schools accounting club; performed and directed in about 30 school plays; sang in the school choir; scored top marks on every test she has taken so far for 11 advanced-placement classes; and helped run a summer camp while holding down a part-time job  and all of this was still not enough.

She is extraordinary, said Jeff Cranmore, Youngers guidance counselor.

Younger applied to Stanford University, Harvard University, Yale University, Brown University, Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of California Berkeley, and Northwestern University, and all of them rejected her.

I expected a bunch wouldnt accept me, Younger says. I didnt expect it to be this bad.

Ivy League or Sewer League?

Younger is not alone, it turns out. Many other top-performing students just like her are being systematically rejected from Americas top schools simply because of the color of their skin.

This is what you call systemic racism, and the reality is that it is happening against white people. Note that the American Psychoanalytic Association is also promoting systemic racism against whites.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) danced around the issue by claiming that Ivy League schools are drawing from a broader applicant pool, while also mentioning that racial and socio-economic diversity are also part of the equation.

Putting two and two together, it is clear that a strong anti-white bias has invaded Americas institutions of higher learning, which quite honestly are no longer even worth the time or the money.

The quality of American education has so declined over the years that shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to attend an Ivy League is basically just flushing your hard-earned cash right down the toilet.

A more apropos descriptor for these so-called Ivy League schools is Sewer League schools, as they appear to be accepting low-quality candidates because they have darker skin.

The middle class tends to get a little bit neglected, says Hafeez Lakhani, a private college counselor in New York who charges $1,200 an hour, about the systemic racism against white people that now pervades higher education in the United States.

Twenty years ago, Ms. Younger would have had a good shot at an Ivy League school.

Since college rejections letters do not typically come with a detailed explanation as to why a student was rejected, it is difficult for some white students who perform well in school to figure out or understand why they were discriminated against.

Gender also matters, the WSJ admits. Women now apply to college in much larger numbers than men. Schools seek to maintain gender parity in enrollment, which means young women often face higher standards and greater competition.

Younger says she used to be the kind of person who would be upset with herself over receiving any grade lower than a 95. Now she realizes that all that stress was not worth it  because why bother if skin color is the ultimate determining factor of getting an education?

More related news about the growing problem of anti-white racism in the United States can be found at RaceWar.news.

Sources include:

WSJ.com

NaturalNews.com
According to a recent study, climate change will cause hundreds of new viruses to spread across animal species by 2070, increasing the danger of developing infectious illnesses spreading from animals to people.

This is especially true for Africa and Asia, where fatal diseases such as the flu, HIV, Ebola, and coronavirus have been transmitted from people to animals or vice versa in recent decades, according to the Associated Press.

Employing AI Analysis

Researchers built a computer to look at how over 3,000 mammal species may travel and spread viruses over the next 50 years if the planet heats by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), as recent research suggests is likely.

They discovered that cross-species viral transmission occurs over 4,000 times in mammals alone.

The research did not cover birds or marine creatures.

According to researchers, not all viruses will transmit to people or become pandemics on the size of the coronavirus. Still, the number of cross-species viruses raises the likelihood of human infection.

Struggling With Global Crisis

As the globe grapples with what to do about both, the report, which was published in Nature, emphasized two global crises: climate change and infectious disease proliferation.

The previous study has looked at how deforestation, extinction, and wildlife trading contribute to the spread of animal-human illness.

Still, the researchers said there is less information on how climate change can affect disease transmission.

"We don't talk about climate a lot in the context of zoonoses," said research co-author Colin Carlson, an assistant professor of biology at Georgetown University. "Our research... brings together the world's two most serious challenges."

Also Read: Shapeshifting Virus Thriving in Volcanic Springs May Open New Doors in Viral Study

Climate Change and Infectious Diseases

Climate change and infectious disease experts agreed that a warmer globe would likely raise the chance of new viruses emerging.

The study acknowledged the concern posed by climate change in terms of increasing the likelihood of infectious illnesses, according to Daniel R. Brooks, a scientist at the University of Nebraska State Museum and co-author of "The Stockholm Paradigm: Climate Change and Emerging Disease."

According to Brooks, "this specific contribution is an exceedingly conservative estimate for possible" new infectious disease transmission due to climate change.

Aaron Bernstein noted that the study verified long-held assumptions about the influence of warming on infectious disease onset, a pediatrician and interim head of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health's Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment.

"It's worth noting that the data suggests that these contacts are already occurring more often and in areas where more people dwell," Bernstein added.

Already In Effect

Because climate-driven infectious disease emergence is likely already happening, study co-author Gregory Albery, a disease ecologist at Georgetown University, believed the world should be doing more to learn about and prepare for it.

"Even under the best-case climate change scenarios, it is unavoidable," Albery added.

To lessen the danger of infectious disease spread, Carlson, a contributor to the last report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said we must limit greenhouse gas emissions and phase out fossil fuels.

According to Jaron Browne, organizing director of the climate justice group Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, the report showed climate injustices faced by individuals in African and Asian countries.

"Those on the frontlines of the issue have very frequently done the least to cause climate change," Browne added. "African and Asian nations face the biggest threat of increasing viral exposure."

Related Article: Scientists Double Effort to Find Possible Next Pandemic, Caused by Other Zoonotic Diseases

For more health and medicine related news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
As wildfires erupted across the Southwest US over recent days, local weather authorities have issued their latest fire weather advisories in some states in the south.

Climatic conditions that favor the emergence and spread of fires are the primary threats of the fire weather warnings, highlighting further risks in the drought-stricken US region.

Fire Weather Warning

On Thursday, April 28, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - National Weather Service (NWS) issued its latest fire weather warning that will affect some states in the Southern US.

Based on its fire weather outlook, there will be a risk of extremely critical fire weather conditions in southeast Colorado, Northeast New Mexico, western Oklahoma Panhandle, and southwest Kansas.

Some areas in the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic are also at risk of the said hot weather.

The warning will be in effect from Friday to Saturday, April 29 to April 30.

Also Read: US Wildfires are Becoming Larger and More Frequent Since 2000: New Study

Hotspot Areas

In southeastern Colorado, a mass of dry or warm air may lead to increased temperatures in the upper 70s by Friday afternoon.

In addition to dry fuels, the forecast projects that there will be a combination of strong surface winds and low relative humidity that can trigger extreme fire weather behavior during the period.

Meanwhile, the SPC stated that "efficient diurnal heating" of the dry air mass will result in increased relative humidity in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, wherein fine fuels continue to dry.

These conditions and the northwesterly surface winds will also lead to elevated fire weather conditions in the afternoon.

What is Fire Weather?

The NOAA - NWS defines fire weather as parameters used by meteorologists such as relative humidity, wind direction, wind speed, soil moisture, and warm to hot temperatures to determine the weather conditions that are favorable for fire growth.

The US meteorologists also consider the mixture of dry fuels and weather conditions to analyze fire behavior or fire ignition.

In addition, the natural phenomenon of drought is often considered and affects the occurrence of wildfires.

After acquiring the necessary climatic conditions, the US weather agency will then coordinate with local fire and land managers at the State Forestry Commissions or US Forest Service to take the necessary action plan.

US Wildfires

The fire weather warning was issued several days after deadly wildfires broke out in several US communities in the Southwest US.

These natural disasters include the "Tunnel Fire" in Coconino County, Arizona; "Calf Canyon Fire" and "Hermits Peak Fire" in New Mexico; and the "Road 702 Fire" in Nebraska.

The NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) on April 22 issued a drought warning for a dry spell in the Intermountain West region of the country.

Aside from wildfires, previous reports also show that drought over recent years has continued to affect the water supply in the Western US, which includes the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Washington, as per The New York Times.

In Utah, water levels have significantly decreased at the Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the Western Continental US.

Related Article: Deadly Wildfires Continue to Spread due to Windy Weather in Several US Communities
Southern California is facing water restrictions for the first time due to relentless drought conditions.

Local authorities have been forced to take drastic measures to limit water usage for both residential and commercial establishments for six million residents in the state.

Water Restrictions

In a Twitter post on Tuesday, April 26, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California declared a water shortage emergency and imposed an emergency water conservation program due to the ongoing drought-driven water crisis.

Metropolitan's board declared a Water Shortage Emergency and for the first time ever, implemented an Emergency Water Conservation Program - requiring member agencies in State Water Project-dependent areas, home to 6M #SoCal residents, to restrict outdoor watering to 1 day a week.  MWD of SoCal (@mwdh2o) April 26, 2022

In the announcement, the MWD requires all member organizations in areas dependent on the government-mandated State Water Project to limit outdoor watering to once a week.

It will depend on these organizations on how they will impose the restrictions.

The Southern California local water agency also highlighted that residents and businesses will be required to cut water use by up to 30% of these measures are consistently followed.

However, it is not clear if the water restrictions, which are scheduled to start on June 1, will be implemented on a mandatory or voluntary basis.

For instance, there are no provided rotating water cuts timetables yet that will show when the water supply will be available during specific hours.

This is reportedly the first time the agency took such measures.

MWD officials stated that the drought is serious and has brought one of the most challenging circumstances that the region has ever faced, as cited by AccuWeather.

Drought is a climatic condition characterized by unusual warm or hot temperatures, which can indefinitely last.

Related incidents in the past have shown that a drought can last for several days, weeks, months, or even years.

Also Read: Megadrought Ravages the American West, Climate Change Worsens the Situation

Which Areas are Affected?

Based on the said water restrictions, people living in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties will be affected by the once-a-week watering restriction, as per City News Service.

This comes after the California government issued an order for water authorities to come up with contingency plans.

In March, California Governor Gavin Newsom instructed the MWD and other water suppliers across the state to speed up water conservation efforts by taking the current water shortage measures to the next level.

Other measures imposed by the local government include the so-called "rebate program," which rewards people with $2 USD per square foot of grass converted into water-efficient landscaping.

These rebates are also available from other local water agencies.

California Drought

The MWD acknowledged that the past three years have been the driest in California's history.

This fact is in line with previous research that highlighted that the Western US, which includes California, has recorded its driest period between 2000 and 2021.

The study was published in the journal Natural Climate Change in February, where researchers also postulated that the ongoing drought in the region may continue until 2030.

This is due to climate change and global warming caused by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG).

Aside from depleting water reservoirs, drought conditions can also result in agricultural damage and pose life-threatening risks for both humans and animals due to dehydration and conditions associated with prolonged exposure to abnormal heat.

Related Article: Drought in Western US Could Last Until 2030 Due to Climate Change
Botswana's biggest elephant was killed for its almost 8-foot-long tusks by trophy hunters.

According to Wildlife At Risk International, the elephant had 200 pounds of ivory in its tusks and was the largest hunted in the country since 1996.

The trophy hunter came to Botswana and paid $50,000 to take part in the hunt near the country's northern border, according to The New York Times.

Sparking Outrage

Photographs of the trophy hunter standing beside the massive tusks have sparked outrage on the internet.

Elephants are a vulnerable species in Africa, with Botswana having one of the highest populations. According to National Geographic, the country possesses about 130,000 elephants, which make up about a third of Africa's surviving population.

Poaching for ivory has increased in recent years. Figurines, decorations, and other items are commonly made of ivory. It is in high demand in China and is mainly considered a prestige symbol.

To better safeguard Botswana's wildlife, former President Ian Khama instituted a trophy hunting ban across the country in 2014. However, Khama's successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi, lifted the restriction in 2019.

Also Read: After Losing Half of its Trunk in a Poacher's Trap, Baby Elephant Tragically Died

Controlling Conflicts

In an effort to control human-wildlife conflicts, Masisi revoked the prohibition. Elephants may concern locals in some locations, destroying crops and infrastructure. Large bulls, in particular, may be dangerous to people if they get too close to inhabited areas.

The deceased tusker elephant has been an "iconic attraction" for tourists in the nation, according to Khama's Facebook page.

"How does it benefit our dwindling tourists due to inadequate policies?" "Our tourism is centered on animals," he explained. "Without wildlife, there will be no tourism, no tourists, no employment, and no cash." Now, this! Incompetence and poor leadership have nearly wiped off the rhino population."

The hunt was documented on the Facebook page of Blood Origins, a non-profit that supports the hunting business. According to the organization, the elephant was slain in accordance with Botswana's "elephant management plan," a government project aimed at managing the country's population.

The website criticized the former president's claim that the elephant was a tourist attraction, claiming that "no ecotourism businesses" operate in the region.

"In Botswana, elephant numbers have reached their maximum point and have stabilized. Hunting is not a method of population control. "Hunting is a strategy for reducing tiny levels of human-wildlife conflict while also providing meat and revenue in locations where both are likely scarce," according to the Facebook post.

According to Africa Geographic CEO Simon Espley, the area where the hunt took place is considered a "terror zone" for elephants.

In a statement, Espley stated, "Surgical eradication of Africa's surviving large-tusked elephants by trophy hunters would not alleviate any human-elephant conflict or habitat difficulties."

"The volume of elephants hunted is not sufficient to reduce elephant populations. Instead, the likely result of the selection of large-tusked elephants as trophies will be to hasten the disappearance of tuskers from the African landscape."

Elephant Tusks

The tusks of elephants (in African elephants, they can be found on both males and females) are elongated incisor teeth, with one third hidden from view and embedded in the elephant's head. African elephant tusks are mainly used for protection, digging, lifting objects, and gathering food.

According to travel company Safari Ventures, African elephant tusks can range from 1.5-2.5 meters in length (males tend to have larger ones) and weigh around 23-45 kg each.

Related Article: Herd Matriarch Helped Struggling Baby Elephant Whose Mom Was Briefly Sidetracked During Journey

For the most recent updates from the animal kingdom, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Childhood abuse will, later on, create a cascade of potential medical conditions for both men and women who experienced trauma early in their life, according to a new study.

Victims of such maltreatment are likely to develop high cholesterol, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease as adults.

Physical and Psychological Abuse

Previous research has suggested that physical and psychological abuse of children will yield to the mentioned health conditions later on in life.

Other studies have also mentioned before that a loving family and healthy upbringing in a household will have the opposite effect, decreasing the risk of heart disease.

However, the new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA) on Wednesday, April 27, can be considered one of the most comprehensive types of research that investigated cardiovascular disease risk factors from childhood trauma.

Also Read: Childhood Abuse can Increase Obesity Risk in Adulthood

Approach and Methodology

The JAHA study employed a quantitative approach and used statistical data to arrive at mentioned findings.

Scientists examined data from the ongoing Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) long-term study.

CARDIA has used a data sample consisting of 5,115 black and white adults enrolled between 1985 and 1986; and 2015 and 2016 in the US.

The participants in the study were from various US cities such as Alabama, Birmingham, California, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Oakland.

During the onset of the study, all participants have an average age of 25 years old.

Abuse and Nurturing

The research team also used surveys containing questions about the area of their family life divided into two categories: abuse and nurturing, as per Science Daily.

The abuse-related questions pertained to how often their parents or guardians at their home grabbed, pushed, shoved, or hit them, which led to an injury.

In addition, the survey also inquired if their adult supervisors insulted, swore, or threatened them verbally.

On the other hand, nurturing-related questions sought to find how often parents or guardians made them feel cared for, loved, or supported.

It also focused on the gestures of affection and warmth shown by adult family members to them.

The yielded results show that the development of high cholesterol, which is considered to be a risk factor for heart disease and stroke, is higher among white men and white women who experienced childhood abuse, as cited by Science Daily.

Based on the results, the development or increased risk for such medical conditions is also dependent on gender and race.

Cardiovascular Disease and Type 2 Diabetes

The World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledges that cardiovascular diseases are the foremost cause of fatalities worldwide.

In 2019, the WHO estimated that 17.9 million individuals died, which is equivalent to 32% of deaths globally, where 85% were heart attacks and stroke.

In the US, approximately 659,000 Americans die from heart disease every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Furthermore, the CDC also said that over 37 million people in the US have diabetes, wherein between 90% to 95% have type 2 diabetes.

Related Article: Childhood Abuse Ups Drug Addiction Relapse Risk: Research


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Dave Hinton is editor of The News-Gazette's Our County section and former editor of the Rantoul Press. He can be reached at dhinton@news-gazette.com.
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A former Idaho lawmaker has been convicted of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial in which the young woman fled the witness stand during testimony, saying I cant do this.
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Palestinian assailants have shot and killed a security guard at the entrance of a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, in a fresh attack that could further fuel Israeli-Palestinian tensions that have soared in the past two months
Ethan Simmons is a reporter at The News-Gazette covering the University of Illinois. His email is esimmons@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@ethancsimmons).
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A new study from North Carolina State University examines immune system diversity in the critically endangered Wyoming toad and finds that genetic bottlenecks could impact a species' ability to respond to new pathogens. The findings could inform captive breeding strategies for endangered animal populations.

The Wyoming toad, Anaxyrus baxteri, suffered a severe population decline throughout the latter part of the 20th century due to factors including habitat destruction and fungal infection. The toad was brought into a captive breeding program in the 1990s in order to save the species. Scientists estimate a current wild population of only 400 to 1,500 animals, meaning that the toad is considered critically endangered.

Population reduction in this species created a genetic bottleneck to begin with, meaning the level of genetic diversity is already very small. This is the first study to look specifically at genetic diversity in the immune systems of these toads and how it could impact them as a population." Jeff Yoder, professor of comparative immunology at NC State and co-corresponding author of paper

Yoder, with co-corresponding author Alex Dornburg of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, performed RNA sequencing on immune tissues from three healthy, retired Wyoming toad breeders. Study co-author Michael Stoskopf, who was on the Wyoming Toad Recovery Implementation Team established in 2008, obtained the samples.

"We were focused specifically on sequences encoding toll-like receptors  TLRs  and the proteins of the major histocompatibility complex, or MHC, expressed in these tissues," says Kara Carlson, first author of the study and current Ph.D. candidate at NC State. "These sets of genes are major components of the immune system."

TLRs are the first responders of the immune system, and are similar, or well-conserved, between species. The MHC, on the other hand, is a large and diverse group of genes that varies between species and individuals. It can determine why one group is more resistant to a particular pathogen than another.

"MHC genes are some of the most rapidly evolving sequences in the genome," Carlson says. "So in a healthy population there's a lot of variety that gets passed along to descendants, enabling the species at large to adapt to different pathogens. However, if disease survivors do so because of their MHC, then that group would have a similar MHC.

"The Wyoming toads that were brought into captivity to save the species were all able to resist the fungus that had decimated the population, but that could mean that their immune diversity is reduced."

The researchers compared the TLR and MHC of the three Wyoming toads to each other, as well as to samples from a common toad and a cane toad. Both the common toad and the cane toad showed more MHC diversity than the Wyoming toad, even though the cane toad underwent a similar genetic bottleneck.

"The small sample size in this study  which was unavoidable due to the endangered status of the toad  nevertheless lays an important framework for conservation," Carlson says.

"Amphibians in general don't have as many genomic resources as other organisms," Yoder says. "And captive breeding from a small population further decreases genetic diversity. But while these toads may be better protected against the fungal infection that nearly wiped them out, they may not be equipped to deal with new pathogens down the road."

"While we weren't necessarily surprised by the lack of immunogenic diversity in the Wyoming toad, it does spark an important question," Dornburg says. "How equipped are other species of conservation concern for a battle with an emergent pathogen?"

"By understanding the genetic diversity of the immune system we can inform captive breeding to increase the chance of a species to resist disease in the wild," Yoder adds. "Studies like this one are invaluable for captive breeding practices going forward."
Researchers at Ural Federal University (UrFU) have proposed the use of polyoxometallate nanoclusters as a carrier for chemotherapy drug. It will help to deliver medications precisely to the focus of a pathological process, such as a cancerous tumor, without toxic effects on healthy cells. Delivery can be accomplished either by electrophoresis or by injection into the bloodstream. The development is described in the AIP Conference Proceedings.

We've explored molybdenum polyoxometalates. It is polyatomic ions composed of molybdenum and iron, joined together by common oxygen atoms, containing organic groups. Their peculiarity is that they are a nanocluster to the surface of which a medication can be attached and delivered to the tumor formation. Polyoxometallates themselves are not toxic to living cells and do not change their function or morphology. On the contrary, cells are able to absorb these nanocapsules without any harm. Polyoxometallates give in the body of warm-blooded animals the effect of increasing the hemoglobin level and the number of red blood cells, which allows to use them for the treatment and prevention of anemia (the development is patented)." Maria Ulitko, Director of the Faculty of Biology and Fundamental Medicine, UrFU

Futher scientists plan to attach a vector molecule to the surface of the polyoxometallate that can distinguish cancer cells and ensure binding of the nanocluster to them, bypassing healthy ones.

They tested how the nanocluster would interact with doxorubicin. This is a well-known anticancer antibiotic. It is good at destroying tumor structures, but has low selectivity. High concentrations of the medication needed to destroy cancer cells are toxic to the weakened body. Scientists figured out how a polyoxometallate with an antibiotic inside would affect healthy and tumor cells and selected the most effective concentration of the medication.

"The undoubted advantage of targeted delivery is the possibility to adjust the medication dose. Our studies have shown that too high a concentration of doxorubicin in a polyoxometallate capsule will also lead to the death of healthy cells: the container will not be able to keep the active substances from getting into DNA through the nuclear and cell membranes," explains Aleksandr Ostroushko, Head of the Section of Chemical Material Science at UrFU.

Now researchers were conducted on cell structures of cervical cancer (carcinoma). In the future, this method of delivery can also be applied to other tumors. At the next stage of the work, scientists plan to conduct preclinical studies on laboratory animals to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and safety of the system. The authors note that nanocluster compounds will be able to deliver other medications, such as anti-inflammatory ones. The developed technology will help to improve the accuracy of targeted delivery of medications with strong side effects.
Sociologists at the Ural Federal University (UrFU) have identified digital fears among young people. According to experts, these are additional fears that do not replace, but complement and reinforce traditional ones. They emerged against the background of uncertainty, the growth of forces beyond human control. Developed emotional intelligence, creativity, and the ability to collaborate help to overcome them.

In the study, sociologists interviewed 1,050 people aged 18-30. Respondents were asked to assess which digital risks concern them most. The study was launched in 2020 and the results were published in April 2022 in the Changing Societies & Personalities journal.

The first group of fears is influence and control. It touches on the problem of interference with privacy by technical means. This category is the most significant for young people: 55.8% are afraid of total control by means of video-surveillance and monitoring software on their mobile devices. 48.5% of respondents believe they are at risk of wiretapping, tracking content in social networks, and inability to keep correspondence secret." Natalia Antonova, Professor, Department of Applied Sociology, UrFU

45.8% of young people fear the manipulative influence of the media and an increase in fake news. At the same time, only 27.8% and 18.1% of respondents are concerned about microchipping and genetic manipulation, respectively. It is likely that these threats seem more controllable, both from the individual (through control of food choices, medical procedures, etc.) and from government programs, the researchers believe.

The second group of concerns is crime and security. Here young people are wary of illegal actions using digital technology.

"One of the main fears of 56% of young people is the security of personal data. This is related both to the growth of personal information in social networks and messengers, and to the growth of hacker attacks and viruses. 42.9% of young citizens are afraid of Internet fraudsters, and 25.8% are afraid of losing important information, including smashing their phones, not saving data, forgetting their passwords, or being without an Internet connection," explains Sofia Abramova, Associate Professor at the Department of Applied Sociology at UrFU.

The third group of fears is based on changes in the way and pace of life, ways of interaction. Thus, 28.4% of respondents indicate a constant lack of time, the acceleration of communications, and worries about not being able to complete all tasks in time. Respondents are also concerned about the growth of online communications and communications with electronic systems (bots, autoresponders, product systems, etc.).

"As a result, 15.3% of young people raise problems related to increasing social distrust against the background of increasing dependence of human life and health on other people and electronic systems: in public transport, planes, elevators, medical intervention," explains Sofia Abramova.

Respondents also fear the negative consequences of technological development. For example, 22.2% of young citizens fear the robotization of labor processes and the displacement of humans by robots. 14.6% speak directly about negative emotions in relation to the expansion of artificial intelligence.

The fifth type of fear is social inequality. Young people negatively assess the growth of inequality in access to information resources and technology, the exclusion of citizens from the economy depending on the level of digital competence and education, and age. As a result, they fear that benefits will be distributed more and more unequally, both among the inhabitants of the country and between countries.

"It is noteworthy that young people are simultaneously afraid of total surveillance via phone and afraid of being left without mobile devices. Fears shape the irrational behavior of the digital generation, entailing serious transformations in everyday life," says Natalia Antonova.
In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers examined the characteristics and outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in immunocompromised patients.

Various studies have reported that illness after a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant infection is less severe than other variants. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the different aspects of Omicron infection in immunocompromised patients.

About the study

In the present study, researchers investigated the characteristics and disease outcomes in immunocompromised patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection.

Participants eligible for the study fulfilled the following criteria:

(1) a proven Omicron infection between 13 December 2021 and 3 February 2022 or a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or an antigen self-test for SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection diagnosed after 9 January 2022;

(2) solid organ (kidney, liver, lung, heart, or multi-organ) transplant recipients (SOTR) or immunocompromised state after the use of anti-CD20 therapy to treat auto-immune or hematological disease or an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) recipient treated with immunosuppressives to prevent or treat graft versus host disease (GVHD);

And (3) follow-up of a minimum of two weeks post-symptom onset.

The team collected demographic data, clinical history, existing comorbidities, medication history, COVID-19 vaccination status, hospitalization status, route to diagnosis, clinical features, antibody titer before and after SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis, treatment-related data, and the clinical outcomes. The health status of the patients was scored using the clinical frailty scale (CFS), which was based on the clinical examination of the Canadian study of health and aging.

Additionally, the symptom duration was evaluated by contacting all the SARS-CoV-2-infected patients via telephone up to 14 March 2022. The variant and the sublineage responsible for the SARS-CoV-2 infection were identified by detecting the variant-specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) via PCR.

The hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients who required supplemental oxygen were treated with dexamethasone. Patients with c-reactive protein (CRP) levels of more than 74 mg/L were treated with tocilizumab and at least 6 l oxygen per minute, while all the hospitalized immunocompromised patients were administered sotrovimab.

Furthermore, all SOTR, alloHSCT, and B-cell depleted patients were considered to be fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 when they were administered three vaccine doses of a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine.

Results

The study results showed that 114 SARS-CoV-2 Omicron-infected, immunocompromised patients were eligible to be included in the study between December 2021 and February 2022. Among these, 100 patients were SOTRs, including 43 kidney, 19 liver, 16 lung, 17 heart, and five multi-organ transplant recipients, while 14 patients were immunocompromised. Almost 46% of the total patients were infected with the Omicron variant, while 85% were infected with the BA.1. variant.

Approximately 54% of the patients reported rhinitis, 53% had a cough, 46% had malaise, 40% had a fever, 40% reported a headache (40%), 36% suffered from a sore throat, 22% had fatigue, 14% reported gastrointestinal complaints, 10% had myalgia, while one patient reported no symptoms. With respect to comorbidities, 65% of the patients had arterial hypertension, 29% had chronic kidney disease, 28% reported diabetes mellitus type 2, and 15% had either heart failure or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Of the eligible patients, 23 were hospitalized, immunocompromised patients. Among these patients, 35% and 30% required supplemental oxygen and high-flow nasal cannula therapy, respectively. Furthermore, 64% of these patients were treated with sotrovimab, 74% with dexamethasone, 35% with anti-interleukin-6 (IL6) therapy, and 13% with methylprednisolone pulse therapy, while none of the patients needed mechanical ventilation.

The team noted that the median duration of hospital admission was 11 days and 48% of the patients were hospitalized for over 10 days. Among 65% of the hospitalized immunocompromised patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 at least 46 hours before hospitalization. Interestingly, 70% of the patients were seronegative at hospitalization despite 78% of the patients being fully vaccinated. In this cohort, the median symptom duration was 14 days; however, 25% of the patients had not fully recovered even 68 days after symptom onset.

Among COVID-19-infected lung transplant recipients, before treatment with sotrovimab was initiated, 69% of the patients required hospitalization, and 64% needed supplemental oxygen, including four patients who required a minimum of five l/min, four required 15 l/min, and one patient succumbed. However, after the implementation of sotrovimab administration, only 7% of the patients were hospitalized. Moreover, factors associated with hospitalization included being of higher age, lower immunoglobulin G titers, being a lung transplant recipient, having more comorbidities, and a higher CFS score.

To summarize, the study findings showed that among the vaccinated immunocompromised patient cohort, SARS-CoV-2 Omicron caused low mortality rates.

*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.
As encampments multiply from Echo Park to Venice, homelessness has been the top issue in the L.A. mayoral race. And although Angelenos express broad support for building more housing for the homeless, the contenders say that can be only part of the solution.

Several top candidates say the city must also expand services for people struggling with mental illness and drug addiction. Although city officials have said 29% of homeless people have behavioral or substance use disorders, that number is likely far too low.

But the candidates don't agree on how to deliver the services that would help them.

City Council member Joe Buscaino wants the city to run its own homeless services agency and withdraw from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, an $800 million bureaucracy run jointly by the city and county to manage housing and services for L.A.'s homeless population. Billionaire developer Rick Caruso and City Council member Kevin de Leon want the city to create its own mental health department. U.S. Rep. Karen Bass and City Attorney Mike Feuer favor sticking with the county, arguing that pooling resources is better.

Their differences boil down to a deceptively simple question: Can the city do a better job of managing the homelessness crisis by itself?

"It's a strange model we have in Los Angeles between the county and the city," said Seth Kurzban, clinical associate professor at the University of Southern California Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. "If they create a city model, it has to be something that functions and not what we have now, which is the culmination of decades of bad policy choices."

The two local governments began working together in 1993 to coordinate housing and services for homeless people, but as homelessness has gained visibility in parks, along freeways, and on sidewalks, tension has grown between the two, putting the future of the arrangement in doubt.

Voters have also grown increasingly frustrated as they encounter homeless encampments in their neighborhoods. The homeless count in L.A. increased 16%  to 41,290  in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available.

The June 7 primary will winnow the field of 12 candidates. The top two vote-getters will face off in the Nov. 8 general election.

Dr. Jonathan Sherin, director of the countys mental health department, is encouraged that a handful of candidates leading in the polls are prioritizing behavioral health, despite their disagreement on governance. In the past, he said, behavioral health was treated as a stepchild that has been neglected for decades.

Caruso, a longtime Republican turned Democrat, wants the city to establish its own department of mental health and addiction services. Caruso said he would hire 500 mental health and addiction case workers, dispatch mental health workers to respond to 911 calls, and crack down on illegal drug sales.

De Leon, a Democrat, believes the current patchwork system for dealing with mental health and substance use has failed. He said that creating a city department of mental health would be more efficient because it wouldn't have to compete for funding with 87 other cities in the county.

De Leon also wants mental health professionals to be on duty 24/7 within the Los Angeles Police Department and accompany officers on 911 calls.

Bass, a former physician assistant who led a community-based substance use and prevention program in the 1990s, thinks creating a department could take 10 years and divert money away from homeless services. A better strategy, the Democrat said, is to continue partnering with the county to rebuild treatment programs for mental health and substance use disorders that were dismantled because of inadequate funding. She would like to add beds to residential treatment facilities.

Feuer, also a Democrat, agrees with Bass that the biggest problem is lack of resources, not bureaucratic inertia. Both candidates back the creation of a Trieste model, a mental health system named after the northern Italian city where it was pioneered in the early 1960s. The program focused on integrating people with mental illness into the community and providing them with extensive support services, rather than hospitalizing them.

Today, the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health is in the final stages of setting up a Trieste-style pilot program in Hollywood.

"There is a roadmap for the future, and these problems can be fixed," Feuer said. "But our choices will require political will to implement them."

The Trieste model didn't work when it was tried in San Francisco, however. In 2006, the psychiatry department at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital began a collaboration with Trieste's mental health department to replicate its model but abandoned it five years later after determining that differences in the social and economic conditions of the two cities made it impossible.

A new report is adding urgency to the issue in L.A.: Los Angeles County officials found a 78% increase in the number of drug overdose deaths among homeless people in the 12 months before and after the pandemic began in March 2020.

In recent weeks, the county has accused the city of shirking its responsibility by lowballing the number of beds needed for people who are chronically homeless so it can settle a federal lawsuit brought by downtown residents and business groups. A county commission has called for creating a czar-like position to direct all county homeless services. And the homeless authority will soon have a leadership vacuum  its chief has announced her resignation because of a dispute with the board over staff pay.

In other California cities that have borne the brunt of the state's homelessness crisis, mayors haven't focused as much on governance change. But they have begun lobbying for a greater slice of homeless funding.

"Here's something that most people don't understand or aren't aware of: Cities are not homeless service agencies; cities are not health and human services agencies," Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said at an April 25 news conference with 10 other mayors. The group urged the state to approve $3 billion in flexible homeless funds for cities over three years.

"All the mental health money and substance abuse money flows through the counties," Steinberg said.

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.
A recent article published in the Med journal reported that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) booster vaccinations enhance the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineage neutralizations.

Background

In late November 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant was detected in Japan. This variant has nearly 36 mutations in the spike (S) protein, which is a target for neutralizing antibodies and can evade vaccine-mediated protection.

Numerous studies have shown that antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 drop progressively following the second vaccination. A coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) booster vaccination program began primarily focusing on medical professionals and at-risk groups in several nations. Yet, the immunogenicity and safety of the three-dose SARS-CoV-2 vaccination regime against Omicron are unclear.

About the study

In the present study, the scientists analyzed the immunogenicity and safety of a three-dose regimen of the COVID-19 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) Pfizer vaccine. The authors assessed 272 healthcare personnel for long-standing Pfizer vaccine immunogenicity and safety. The team constructed a COVID-19 vaccinee panel to determine the vaccine's two- and three-dose immunogenicity and safety against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) such as Omicron. For this, they used a live SARS-CoV-2 microneutralization test.

The authors isolated and analyzed two Omicron sequences harboring R346K mutations in the S receptor-binding domain (RBD), the primary targets for evading neutralizing monoclonal antibodies like AZD1061/cilgavimab, despite being rare within the Omicron lineage. The team contrasted neutralizing titers (NTs) against the SARS-CoV-2 VOCs such as Gamma, Delta, Omicron, and Beta, following the second shot of the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine. The researchers analyzed the alterations in NTs and anti-S antibodies against the Omicron sublineages in Japanese medical personnel who received a third shot of the Pfizer vaccination.

Findings and discussions

The study results were consistent with a recent investigation, which found that NTs for the SARS-CoV-2 Gamma and Beta strains with three-vaccine escape mutations in the S RBD were significantly decreased following two-dose Pfizer vaccination. Further, NTs against Gamma and Delta were marginally lower than those against WK-521, the SARS-CoV-2 parent strain. The researchers noticed a significant decline in NTs against the Omicron variant. Even 1012 days following the second vaccination, NTs against Omicron in sera samples from 35% of subjects were beneath the detection limit, demonstrating poor or no cross-reactivity toward Omicron.

After the second vaccination, NTs against the Omicron, WK-521, and Delta strains dramatically dropped 244 days later. According to the NT monitoring data, the efficacy of the second vaccination shot was not sustained at 243 days or after.

NTs and anti-S antibodies against Omicron, Delta, and WK-521 were significantly as well as rapidly elevated after three doses of Pfizer vaccination. NTs against the Delta variant following the booster dose were superior to those against the WK-521 variant post-second vaccine dose. After the booster shot, the NTs against Omicron were equivalent to those against WK-521 following the second dose. These findings show that three-dose COVID-19 Pfizer vaccinations against both the original strain and contemporary variants will have equal vaccine efficacy.

The researchers discovered that a three-dose vaccination boosts neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron subvariants, with no significant changes in neutralization capabilities between the sublineages. A phase 2/3 trial found that the booster shot does not affect the rate of adverse events or particular adverse effects in a short-term review. Healthy subjects or those who had fatigue, headache, injection site pain, or fever did not demonstrate abnormal or sustained cytokine generation one to two weeks following the third vaccination shot.

Only eotaxin levels rose following the third vaccine shot relative to the period following the second dose. Eotaxin was a chemokine ligand for C-C Motif Chemokine Receptor 3 (CCR3) secreted by epithelial and endothelial cells and was a basophil and eosinophil chemoattractant. During persistent inflammatory reactions, eotaxin attracts eosinophils to the inflammatory site and produces reactive oxygen species, rendering tissue damage.

After the third vaccination dosage, eotaxin levels may be linked to adverse effects such as injection site redness and pain. Damage-associated inflammatory cytokine concentrations triggered by eosinophils, and major eotaxin pathways, including interleukin-4 and interferon-gamma, were unaltered in the current samples. These findings imply that eotaxin on its own was not a predictor of serious adverse outcomes.

Conclusions

The study findings demonstrated that the anti-S antibodies and NTs against the SARS-CoV-2 ancestor strain (WK-521) were robust following the COVID-19 Pfizer two-dose vaccination, whereas NTs against VOCs were much lower. NTs against Omicron were completely eradicated in approximately 80% of the vaccinee panel between 93247 days of the vaccine's second shot.

Anti-S antibodies and NTs against the SARS-CoV-2 WK-521, Omicron, and Delta variants increased significantly after the booster vaccination. Between the Omicron subvariants BA.1.1, BA.2, and BA. 1.1, there were no substantial changes in the neutralizing ability of sera from booster-vaccinated people. The authors observed that booster vaccination broadened cross-reactivity and humoral immunity with the Omicron variant without affecting cytokine profiles or the rate of adverse events.

Overall, the study findings show that a third COVID-19 vaccine dose was safe and increased neutralization against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.
(Newser)  Lake Mead has hit a new low. For the first time, water levels at the man-made reservoir have dropped low enough to expose one of three original intake valves, CNN reports. The valve has been drawing water since 1971but that's no longer possible, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Photos show the intake valve completely dry above the water line, which stood at 1,055 feet above sea level as of Wednesday, down from 1,060 feet on April 4, when the top of the intake was first exposed.

Officials are still able to draw water, though. In another first, they've begun using a low-lake pumping station, which was built with the West's worsening drought in mind. It was only completed in 2020. Lake Mead is now at 35% capacity, reports the Las Vegas Sun. And the water level will only continue to fall this yearperhaps as much as seven feet in elevationas a result of the record-low water level at Lake Powell, the other critical reservoir on the Colorado River. Water released from Lake Powell flows downriver into Lake Mead. But in March, Powell's water dropped below 3,525 feet above sea level, or about 25% capacity, the lowest level since the reservoir was formed in 1968.

At that critical level, water supplies to Page, Arizona, and the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo nation are threatened, per the Sun. Below 3,490 feet, the Glen Canyon Dam can no longer generate hydroelectricity used to power 450,000 homes, per the Salt Lake Tribune. And projections indicate that point will be reached later this year, Eric Balken reports for Deseret News. The seven Colorado River Basin states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming have therefore agreed to the Department of Interior's recommendation that water releases from Lake Powell be curtailed this spring. (Read more drought stories.)
(Newser)  A new Samsung ad is under fire as "tone deaf" in regard to women's safety, and the company has apologized to its critics, reports the BBC. The spot called "Night Owls" features a woman going for a run in the middle of the night alone, the point being "to celebrate individuality and freedom to exercise at all hours," said the company. Critics, though, say the spot defies reality. "Women don't run at that time because we are too scared to," is how Esther Newman, editor of Women's Running magazine, puts it.

"We apologize for how this may have been received," said the company after the blowback surfaced. The ad has been particularly criticized overseas given the murder of 23-year-old Ashling Murphy, who was killed in Ireland while on a solo run in January, per Irish Central. The killing inspired the hashtag #shewasonarun in which female runners shared stories of harassment. It's completely and utterly tone deaf," says Jamie Klinger, founder of the group Reclaim Our Streets, per the Guardian. "It's almost laughable how bad this ad lands."

When it first surfaced, the ad got a largely flattering writeup in AdWeek, but the reception since has been overshadowed by the criticism. A post at More About Advertising reports the spot was created by an all-male team at Ogilvy New York, which has not commented. "It does seem pretty shocking that, given womens experience of exercisingor even just walkingalone, no one stopped to think about the premise of this ad," writes Emma Hall. "Samsungs ad looks good, but consumers want more than that these days." (Read more Samsung stories.)
(Newser)  A whistleblower who supplied secret files to federal authorities investigating Deutsche Bank's dealings with former President Trump has been found dead. The body of 46-year-old Valentin Broeksmit was found by a cleaning crew just before 7am Wednesday at Woodrow Wilson High School in Los Angeles, Sgt. Rudy Perez of the Los Angeles School Police Department tells the Los Angeles Times. A cause of death has not been released for the self-described "comically terrible spy." However, Los Angeles Police Capt. Kenneth Cabrera says foul play is not suspected.

After Deutsche Bank executive Bill Broeksmit died by suicide in 2014, his adopted son uncovered board meeting minutes, financial plans, spreadsheets, and more hidden in his email. He then turned over the files to journalists, research firm Fusion GPS, and the FBI, which was investigating the bank's dealings with Trump, David Enrich reported for the New York Times in 2019. He noted the FBI had allowed Broeksmit to publicly identify as a cooperating witness in a federal criminal investigation after he visited an FBI office in Los Angeles. He was repeatedly subpoenaed by the US House Intelligence Committee and ended up as a major figure in Enrich's 2020 book, Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction.

But by April 2021, he had disappeared, per NBC News. Friends and family said he was last known to be in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, per KNBC. It now appears he was homeless, according to Perez. Forensic News Network journalist Scott Stedman, who describes receiving documents from Broeksmit showing Deutsche Bank's "deep Russia connections," says he last spoke to the struggling musician in January. "I don't suspect foul play. Val struggled with drugs on and off," he says in a tweet. In response, Enrich says, "We had a complicated relationship, but this is just devastating to hear." A final medical examiner's report is not likely to be released before summer. (Read more FBI informant stories.)
(Newser)  James Corden, who had suggested he wouldn't remain host of The Late Late Show indefinitely, has put an end date on his tenure. The host said Thursday that he's signed a contract with CBS that runs till spring, per the Hollywood Reporter. Then he's out, after eight seasons. The British actor-comedian has said he and his family are homesick. "We wish he could stay longer, but we are very proud he made CBS his American home and that this partnership will extend one more season," network President George Cheeks said. Corden discusses his decision during his show that airs Thursday night.

In a statement Thursday to Deadline, Corden that he's "immensely proud of the show" and called leaving a tough decision. "I always thought I'd do it for five years and then leave and then I stayed on," he said. When he took the time slot over from Craig Ferguson in 2015, Corden wasn't widely known in the US. He created segments such as "Carpool Karaoke" and "Drop the Mic" that became their own series on other networks, as well as "Crosswalk Musical." His Carpool Karaoke with Adele has more than 250M views on YouTube. Corden also has hosted the Tony and Grammy Awards.

More late-night changes could be in the offing, per the Times. Jimmy Kimmel has said he's not sure he'll sign another contract, and Stephen Colbert's expires next year. Ratings have fallen; talk shows haven't been hits on streaming services, either. Donald Trump's election renewed interest in nightly political humor, and ratings rose for Colbert, whose jokes often are more biting than those on the other shows. Colbert has been the ratings leader for more than five years. The first to leave is Corden, who said, "I've really been thinking about it for a long time, thinking whether there might be one more adventure." (Read more James Corden stories.)
(Newser)  One of the suspects arrested in the kidnapping of 3-month-old Brandon Cuellar met the infant's family at a Bay Area church when Brandon's mom, Carolina Ayala, was nine months pregnant. Family members say Yesenia Ramirez became "obsessed" with the baby once he was born, ABC 7 reports. "She would go to my house a lot, she always wanted to be there," Ayala said of Ramirez in a Spanish-language interview cited by the AP. Prior to Brandon's kidnapping Monday, Ramirez gave the infant and his grandmother, Victoria Mejia, a ride so they could run errands, authorities say, per NBC News. The family says Ramirez encouraged Mejia to take a shopping trip to Walmart to pick up food and baby supplies using Ramirez's grocery vouchers.

Within minutes of their returning home and Mejia taking Brandon inside, a second suspect, Jose Portillo, snatched the baby while Mejia unloaded groceries, the family says. Police say Ramirez had been communicating with him in the moments before the baby was taken, and surveillance footage shows him arriving at the house with a car seat. "These peoplea coordinated effortplanned and took baby Brandon," a police sergeant says. "Grandma did the right thing. They went shopping. She took the baby inside before anything. Thought the baby was safe in the apartment. She was not privyshe was not aware of this plan." Police became suspicious of Ramirez when her story changed multiple times during questioning, they say.

Police have not publicly speculated on a motive. Brandon was found unharmed in Portillo's home about 20 hours after he was taken. "I felt like half of my heart had left with him. I felt like I died," Ayala said. When they were reunited, it was like "having my soul return to my body." The third and final person initially arrested in the case, Baldomeo Sandoval, is Ramirez's husband, but he was released without charges Thursday. "Details regarding Sandovals involvement with this case have come to light and he will not be facing charges at this time," the San Jose Police Department said in a statement. Members of the church where Ramirez met Brandon's family tell NBC Bay Area Ramirez and Sandoval have a daughter and granddaughter together. (Read more California stories.)
BEIJING, April 29 -- Recently, the Chinese PLA Navy released its first aircraft carrier-themed promotional video "Deep Blue Sea". Click and learn more about the stories of the PLA Navy.
(Newser)  What should have been an exciting entry into teenhood for Meri Mion was marred by the fact that someone stole the birthday cake her mom had baked for her. Now, 77 years later, an act of contrition from the perpnone other than the US Army, reports the BBC. The infraction took place in late April 1945, at the end of World War II, in the village of San Pietro in Northern Italy, after soldiers from the United States' 88th Infantry Division had battled their way into the region and driven off German troops, per the AP. The fighting was fiercethe BBC notes 19 US troops were killed in nearby Vicenzaand on April 28, the night before Mion's 13th birthday, she and her mom hid in the attic of their family farm as shots were fired outside by the retreating Germans.

By the next morning, the Americans were on the scene, and Mion's mother emerged to bake a birthday cake for her daughter, leaving it on one of their windowsills to cool. US troops who'd already been plied with bread and wine from thankful Italian locals apparently wanted some dessert to go with it and swiped the cake right off the sill. Mion's "happiness turned into disappointment," says Col. Matthew Gomlak, commander of US Army Garrison Italy, per the US Army. On Thursday, the eve of Mion's 90th birthday, the Army tried to make it up to her, with a new birthday cake presented in a ceremony in Vicenza.

With hundreds in attendance, US commanders and Italian officials serenaded her with the "Happy Birthday" song in both English and Italian, leaving a touched Mion in tears (see the video here). "It was a little awkward, but it makes me feel great to give her the cake," Sgt. Peter Wallis of Seabeck, Wash., says. For her part, Mion doesn't seem to have any hard feelings all these decades later. "We will eat that dessert with all my family, remembering this wonderful day that I will never forget," she says. (Read more uplifting news stories.)
(Newser)  A man charged with killing 18 older women in the Dallas area over a two-year span was found guilty of murder Thursday and sentenced to life in prison in one of the cases against him after an earlier mistrial, the AP reports. Jurors took about 45 minutes to convict Billy Chemirmir, 49, of capital murder in the March 2018 smothering of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris. Prosecutors said that after Chemirmir and Harris were both at the same Walmart, he went to her home, killed her and stole her jewelry. It was Chemirmirs second trial in her death, after the first jury to hear the case deadlocked in November. Prosecutors weren't seeking the death penalty, so state District Judge Raquel Rocky Jones immediately sentenced Chemirmir to life in prison without parole.

Chemirmir, who has maintained that hes innocent, is charged with capital murder in the deaths of 12 other women in Dallas County and five in nearby Collin County. Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot has said he plans to try Chemirmir for at least one more death. Relatives of those he's accused of killing praised Thursday's verdict at an emotional news conference. "This one conviction represents justice for all of the families, said Shannon Dion, whose 92-year-old mother, Doris Gleason, was killed in 2016.

Defense attorney Kobby Warren said during closing arguments that prosecutors hadnt proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Chemirmir was ever at Harris home, calling the states case all bark, no bite. As in the first trial, the defense didn't call any witnesses and Chemirmir did not testify. Prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin told jurors that he gave them more than enough evidence to convict. This is an easy decision, mainly because we bit so much off, said Fitzmartin, who noted that when Chemirmir was arrested, he had Harris jewelry and the keys to her home. Jurors also saw surveillance video of Harris and Chemirmir at the same Walmart on the day she was found dead. (More on the chilling case here.)
(Newser)  Veteran Hong Kong actor Kenneth Tsang has died while in a COVID-19 quarantine hotel in the city. Tsang was best known internationally for his action roles in the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day, John Woos The Killer in 1989, Rush Hour 2 in 2001 starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, and 1998's The Replacement Killers alongside Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino, the AP reports. Tsang had been undergoing seven days of quarantine after returning from Singapore on Monday and was found collapsed on the floor of his hotel room by staff on Wednesday, reports the South China Morning Post.

The Post said Tsang was 87 but other sources gave his age as 86. No cause of death was given and the paper said he had tested negative for the virus and had no underlying medical conditions. In all, Tsang had some 237 acting credits, mainly in Hong Kong film and television productions, and especially in detective and martial arts movies. Born in Shanghai, Tsang began acting after obtaining an architecture degree at the University of California, Berkeley, making his debut in 1955. In 1969 alone, he was credited in more than 20 movies. He continued working up to the time of his death. Hong Kong currently requires all inbound travelers to undergo quarantine for up to 14 days.

(Read more Hong Kong stories.)
(Newser)  Update: The premier of the British Virgin Islands said Monday that as the elected, constitutional head of government of the British overseas territory, he is immune from prosecution on charges of cocaine-smuggling and the US must immediately release him from custody. One former federal prosecutor, however, tells the AP that prosecutors likely feel very confident in the case against Andrew Fahie, otherwise they would not have moved forward with the rare prosecution of a foreign official. "Immunity doesnt protect you if youre on your own private boondoggle," he says. Our original story from April 29 follows:

The premier of the British Virgin Islands complained to a DEA informant posing as a Mexican drug cartel member that the "British didn't pay him much," according to a criminal affidavit filed in Florida. Premier Andrew Fahie and Oleanvine Maynard, chief of the Caribbean territory's port authority, were arrested in Miami on Thursday after a sting operation, the Guardian reports. Fahie allegedly asked for an upfront payment of $500,000 in return for allowing cocaine from Colombia to be stored in the territory on its way to the US, reports the New York Times. The island group is east of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Authorities say Fahie and Maynard were arrested at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, CNN reports. They face federal charges of conspiring to import cocaine and conspiracy to launder money. According to the affidavit, the DEA source met "a group of self-proclaimed Lebanese Hezbollah operatives" in October who said they could introduce him to senior members of the British Virgin Islands government. The affidavit states that Fahie and Maynard offered to allow cocaine through BVI ports in return for an upfront payment of $500,000 for Fahie and $200,000 for Maynard, plus 12% of the estimated sale price in Miami.

Fahie and Maynard were separately taken to a private jet at the Miami airport where they were shown $700,000 in cash, the affidavit states. They were arrested after leaving the aircraft. Fahie is the elected leader of the British territory's government. Liz Truss, Britain's foreign secretary, says she is "appalled" by the allegations, the BBC reports. John Rankin, the territory's British-appointed governor, confirmed the arrests. "I realize this will be shocking news for people in the territory," he said in a statement. "And I would call for calm at this time. (Read more drug trafficking stories.)
(Newser)  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a "correspondingly powerful reaction" Thursday night after Russian missiles slammed into Kyiv while UN chief Antonio Guterres was visiting the capital. "This says a lot about Russias true attitude to global institutions, about the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the UN and everything that the organization represents, Zelensky said, per the New York Times. The missiles hit the city soon after Guterres held talks with Zelensky. Al-Jazeera reports that it was "the boldest attack on the capital" since Russian forces retreated from the area weeks ago.

"It is a war zone but it is shocking that it happened close to us," said UN spokesman Saviano Abreu. He did not disclose how close the team was to the strikes in central Kyiv. US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe says the Russian strikes killed one of its journalists, the AP reports. The broadcaster says Vira Hyrych's body was found in the rubble of a residential building. Emergency services say the strike on the high-rise building injured at least ten people, including one who lost a leg.

Russia claimed its military used "high-precision, long-range weaponry" to destroy buildings at a defense factory. Guterres said he was shocked by the strikes, "not because Im here but because Kyiv is a sacred city for Ukrainians and Russians alike," the Guardian reports. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko likened the attack to Vladimir Putin showing the UN chief his middle finger. (Earlier Thursday, Guterres condemned the "evil" war after visiting devastated towns near Kyiv.)
(Newser)  McDonald's is losing a lot of money as a result of the war in Ukraine$127 million in the last quarter, to be exact. The fast-food giant opted to close restaurants in Russia last month while continuing to pay its 62,000 employees there. In a Thursday call with analysts, CEO Chris Kempczinski said the company was doing the same thing in Ukraine, where restaurants have also been closed, per CNN. At the end of last year, there were 847 McDonald's restaurants in Russia and 108 in Ukraine, which together accounted for 9% of the company's 2021 revenue.

Payments covering staff, leases, and supplies in the two countries cost the company $27 million in the last quarter. The major hit came from "$100 million of costs for inventory in the company's supply chain that likely will be disposed of," including food, according to a statement. McDonald's is now losing roughly $55 million per month due to a lack of sales in Russia, per Al Jazeera. "We certainly don't take this decision lightly, but for us this is about doing what we think is the right thing to do, both for the global business and for our people locally," CFO Kevin Ozan says, per Huffington Post. "We expect this to be temporary," though "its impossible to predict when we might be able to reopen."

Though McDonald's net income was down 28% to $1.1 billion in the first three months of the year, global sales at restaurants open at least 13 months climbed 11.8%, per CNN. Sales also climbed 3.5% in the US. Prices at McDonald's have also climbed. They were up 8% in the last quarter, following a 6% increase last year, per CNN. "We are keeping ... a close watch on lower-end consumers just to make sure that we're still providing the right value," Ozan says. (A US couple just found preserved McDonald's french fries thought to be from 1959.)
(Newser)  Playing in foam is usually funthink bubble baths when you were a kid. But in the streets of one suburb of Bogota, Colombia, residents flee toxic clouds of the stuff wafting over from a nearby polluted river, bringing an unpleasant odor and suspected to be the cause of a variety of maladies, per the Guardian. The blanket of foam, which originates from the Balsillas River, drifts into yards, blocks roads, surrounds homes and businesses, and otherwise disrupts the lives of locals in Mosquera who try to stay as far away as they can. One of the worst parts of the foam is the stink it brings to Mosquera's neighborhoods. "The smell is terrible," one community leader told local media. "We've had to put up with this foam for a long time."

Environmental officials say the river has become contaminated due to the preponderance of people dumping detergents, waste, and chemicals into the water. The foam is churned up when the water becomes turbulent near bridges or when the river narrows, an environmental hydraulics expert told the AP. In a Twitter thread this week, Mosquera Mayor Gian Gerometta got more into the weeds on the matter, explaining that the problem is exacerbated during the rainy season. He also noted that, per the nation's Ministry of Health, "there are no effects on the population that are related to this environmental problem."

Others aren't so sure about that last part. According to the Guardian, some authorities say the foam may cause skin irritations and respiratory problems, which one local backed up, telling Reuters she's had to use an inhaler to deal with lung issues since the foam came to town, per the BBC. Officials are especially concerned about keeping kids away from the foam. "We do not yet totally know what this material is," Edwin Garcia, the director of the environmental lab for the Cundinamarca region, told local broadcaster Caracol. He added that a water treatment plant has been put in place and that authorities will continue to monitor the foam and attempt to clean it up. (Read more Colombia stories.)
(Newser)  A corrections officer in Mississippi has been fired for her alleged role in the death of a town's most beloved rooster. Carl the Rooster was the most well-known bird in a band of chickens that has been roaming downtown Ocean Springs for years, the Clarion Ledger reports. After Carl vanished over the weekend, residents posted surveillance videos showing a group of people walking off with the bird. Kendra Shaffer, 35, was fired after she was interviewed by investigators from the Ocean Springs Police Department, reports the Laurel Leader-Call. Police believe she is the woman seen holding the bird in surveillance video taken around 3am Sunday.

The exact circumstances of Carl's demise are unclear. Shaffer was a juvenile corrections officer in Jones County, three counties away from Ocean Springs. She has been charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty. "It is a sad day that someone would be so insensitive and do something so cruel, Jones County Public Information Officer Lance Chancellor tells the Sun Herald. "We expect those individuals employed by the Jones County Sheriffs Department to perform their duties and live their lives in a professional and honorable manner," Jones County Sheriff Joe Berlin said in a statement Thursday. " Her employment termination is immediate."

(Read more Mississippi stories.)
(Newser)  A Marine veteran and father to a 7-month-old child appears to be the first US citizen killed while fighting on behalf of Ukraine, reports Fox News. Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed on Monday, mother Rebecca Cabrera tells CNN, though no details were available on how or where he was killed. Cancel was a corrections officer in Tennessee who signed up to work for a private military contracting company shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, says his mother. When the company sought soldiers for Ukraine, Cancel agreed to go.

"He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn't come here," Cabrera tells CNN. She says he flew to Poland on March 12 and entered Ukraine soon after. He was fighting alongside men from "all different countries," she says, adding that they were unable to recover his body because it was too dangerous. The State Department says it is aware of the reports and is "closely monitoring the situation" but did not further elaboratebeyond reiterating its recommendation that US citizens not travel to Ukraine.

Cancel was the "type to fight for what's right regardless of the outcome," brother-in-law Devin Tietze Jr. tells CNN, noting that the native of New York's Orange County leaves behind a wife and 7-month-old child in Tennessee. "I did not expect to be a widow at 23 years old or for our son to be without a father," widow Brittany Cancel tells Fox. "All I want is for him to come home, and to give him the proper burial he deserves." (Read more Russia-Ukraine conflict stories.)
(Newser)  People tend to see what they want to see. For one particular person along a Colorado roadway, what they apparently wanted to see was a pack of wolves, but what they actually spotted in the wild was something else entirely. A video emerged earlier this week titled "Pack of wolves in Park County," showing a snowy landscape near US Highway 285 and County Road 5 dotted with a herd of elk. In back of those creatures, in the distance, the group of supposed wolves can be seen sprinting, a sighting that was sent along to Colorado Parks and Wildlife as well as the Park County Sheriff's Office.

The latter has since revealed what KUSA calls the "significantly less terrifying and arguably more hilarious" reality behind those mystery animals. "It is believed that the sighting was actually a group of large-breed [Saint] Bernard dogs that live in the area and have a documented history of escaping their enclosure," the sheriff's office announced in a statement. Officials say the dogs' owner confessed five of her 10 dogs had escaped again on Monday, which is when the video was shot. CPW also flew a plane over the area and confirmed there were no dead elk found, nor evidence of wolves.

KDVR notes the dogs' owner had been cited on April 23 by Park County Animal Control for a similar breakout and was fined $200. Park County Sheriff Tom McGraw says the dogs make their repeat getaways by digging under the fence that's supposed to keep them in their yard, per KUSA. He adds that he told the owner he won't fine her again for Monday's incident, but that if it happens again, she should be prepared to open her wallet. That's not to say it's out of the realm of possibility to see wolves in the Centennial State: KDVR notes multiple cows have been killed by wolves in Jackson County, and that a dog was killed by wolves there, near Walden, earlier this year. (Read more wolves stories.)
(Newser)  Aid groups are rushing thousands of doses of emergency contraception to Ukraine amid reports that large numbers of Ukrainian woman are being raped by Russian troops. The International Planned Parenthood Federation says it has sent nearly 3,000 doses of the "morning-after pill" to Ukraine and other groups are doing what they can to boost supplies, the Guardian reports. Julie Taft of IPPF says the group is also collecting supplies of medical abortion pills, which can be used during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. "The timeframe for treating victims of sexual violence is really essential," Taft says.

Joel Mitchell from aid organization Paracrew says most of the demand for emergency contraception is coming from hospitals in regions where large areas are occupied by Russian troops, the Telegraph reports. "There is a demand for emergency contraception, but very rarely from hospitals in the west. It is mostly hospitals to the east, in Kharkiv, Mariupol, those regions," Mitchell says. "As soon as we made contact with hospitals in those regions, we had standing orders for that medication." Refugees fleeing Ukraine have had trouble accessing emergency contraception in Poland and other countries with strict laws, reports the Guardian.

Earlier this month, Ukraine's ombudswoman for human rights said girls and women kept captive in a house in Bucha when Russian troops occupied the Kyiv-area town had been "systematically" raped and nine of them were pregnant. Doctors examining bodies found in mass graves in the region say they have found evidence some women were raped before they were killed, the Guardian reported earlier this week. Liz Truss, Britain's foreign minister, said Friday that the country will send a team to Ukraine to gather evidence of war crimes including rape, reports Reuters. "Its done to subjugate women and destroy communities and we want to see it stopped," Truss said. (Read more Russia-Ukraine conflict stories.)
(Newser)  A US family's trip to the Middle East ended in chaos when airport screeners found an unexploded shell they'd found and kept as a souvenir. Reuters reports on the Thursday incident at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, where the family showed up for their trip back to the States. Their vacation had included a tour of the Golan Heights, a disputed territory claimed by both Israel and Syria, and where one of the children stumbled upon the unexploded ordnance and decided to bring it home as a keepsake, per the Jewish Press.

The Washington Post notes the shell was likely left over from Israel's battles with Syria in either 1967 or 1973. Unfortunately, despite its fascinating history, security screeners weren't thrilled to find it when checking the family's luggage, and an immediate evacuation was ordered. Videos circulating online show the commotion in the airport, with panicked people screaming, ducking, and running, dragging their luggage behind them as they tried to flee the area. Some dropped to the floor and hid under tablesa sign of Israel's "state of permanent readiness for attack," per the Post.

Luckily, the shell didn't detonate, but there was at least one injury: The Israel Airports Authority says a 32-year-old man ended up in the hospital after getting hurt while trying to run from the action over a baggage carousel. The family was grilled by security staff, and once it was determined they weren't a threat, they were allowed to board their flight back to the United States. It's not clear if the shell made its way home with them. (Read more Israel stories.)
(Newser)  Donald Trump returned to the world of social media on Thursday via a post to his own Truth Social platform. "IM BACK! #COVFEFE," Trump wrote in the post, which was accompanied by an image of him in front of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, reports Fox News. "Covfefe," of course, is a reference to one of his more famous tweets before he was permanently banned from Twitter, note Reuters. Earlier this week, Trump said he would not return to Twitter after Elon Musk takes over, even if Musk were to lift his ban.

The only other message from Trump on Truth Social came in February 2022, when son Donald Trump Jr. posted a screenshot of a "get ready" post from Trump just ahead of the platform's launch. Truth Social seems to have struggled since then, however, and Trump's absence from the platform raised questions about its viability. But Newsweek notes that Musk's Twitter move apparently re-generated interest, with Truth Social overtaking Twitter to reach No. 1 on the Apple app chart this week. Musk himself called attention to that development in a tweet.

Trump's new post, meanwhile, is doing good things for the SPAC buying Truth Social, reports MarketWatch. Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. soared 25% late Thursday in the immediate aftermath of Trump's post. That's after DWAC shares hit a six-month low on Monday when news surfaced that Musk had arranged a deal to buy Twitter. DWAC is actually buying Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social. The big question now is how active Trump will be on the site. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
(Newser)  A jury convicted a British national Thursday for his role in an Islamic State group hostage-taking scheme that took roughly two dozen Westerners captive a decade ago, resulting in the deaths of four Americans, three of whom were beheaded. In convicting El Shafee Elsheikh, the jury concluded he was one of the notorious "Beatles," ISIS captors nicknamed for their accents and known for their cruelty toward prisoners. The guilty finding came even though none of the surviving hostages could identify Elsheikh as one of their captors, per the AP.

Although the Beatles had distinctive accents, they always took great care to hide their faces behind masks and ordered hostages to avoid eye contact or risk a beating. Prosecutors suggested in opening statements that Elsheikh was the Beatle nicknamed "Ringo," but they only had to prove that Elsheikh was one of the Beatles because testimony showed that all threethe group also included Alexanda Kotey and Mohammed Emwazi (aka "Jihadi John")were major players in the scheme. Elsheikh, who was captured by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in 2018, eventually confessed his role in the scheme to interrogators.

The convictions on all eight counts in US District Court in Alexandria revolved around the deaths of four American hostages: James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller. All but Mueller were executed in videotaped beheadings circulated online. Mueller was forced into slavery and raped multiple times by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before she was killed. Elsheikh now faces up to life behind bars when he's sentenced Aug. 12. Emwazi was killed in a November 2015 drone strike. Kotey was sentenced to life in prison on Friday, per CNN.

(Read more Islamic State stories.)
(Newser)  An American Idol winner is facing criminal charges that could put a serious dent in his music career. Laine Hardy, who won the competition in 2019, is accused of planting a listening device in the bedroom of his ex-girlfriend, reports USA Today. The 21-year-old's ex found a device that looked like a phone charger under a futon in her dorm room at Louisiana State University, per the AP. The victim advised she immediately confronted him, to which he admitted to her that he left a bug in her room but discarded it in his pond, says the LSU police affidavit. The ex-girlfriend went to authorities the day after discovering it.

Police found recordings from a stretch of 10 days, and the ex-girlfriend says she suspected Hardy because he seemed to know things about her life they had not discussed. Hardy is charged with interception and disclosure of wire, electronic, or oral communication, a felony that could result in a sentence of two to 10 years in prison. I understand that my career has thrust me into the public spotlight," he wrote on Facebook, per the Advocate. "However, due to the sensitive nature of this allegation, I humbly ask for privacy at this time." He also pledged to fully cooperate with police. (Read more American Idol stories.)
(Newser)  A former Idaho lawmaker was convicted Friday of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial in which the young woman fled the witness stand during testimony, saying, "I cant do this." The intern told a Statehouse supervisor that Aaron von Ehlinger raped her at his apartment after the two had dinner at a Boise restaurant in March 2021. Von Ehlinger said the sex was consensual. At the time, the Lewiston Republican was serving as state representative, but he later resigned. Von Ehlinger, 39, was found guilty Friday of rape, the AP reports, and not guilty of sexual penetration with a foreign object.

Von Ehlinger sat calmly as the verdict was read, as he had throughout the trial. Afterward, 4th District Judge Michael Reardon told the jury: "This has been an unusual case attended by many unexpected circumstances, but I appreciate your attention ... and hard work." A felony rape conviction carries a minimum sentence of one year in prison in Idaho. The maximum penalty can be as high as life in prison, at the judge's discretion. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 28. As von Ehlinger was remanded into custody and handcuffed, he talked quietly with his attorney, who removed items from von Ehlinger's pockets.

The victim testified on the second day of the trial, haltingly describing the moments the assault began. "He tried to put his fingers between my legs, and I closed my knees," she said. At that, the woman stood up. "I can't do this," she said, quickly walking out of the courtroom. The judge told the jury to strike her testimony because the defense could not cross-examine her. When the allegations became public, the woman faced unrelenting harassment from some of von Ehlinger's supporters. Her name, photo and personal details were repeatedly publicized in "doxxing" incidents. One of the people who harassed her was in the courthouse to attend the trial, but law enforcement barred him from the floor where the case was being heard.

(Read more Idaho stories.)
Politics

Division of Elections mails ballots for Alaska's special primary election for Congress

News-Miner file photo The Alaska Division of Elections has started sending out mail-in ballots to registered voters for the special primary election to finish the term of U.S. Rep. Don Young, who died March 18. The ballots need to be returned by June 11, which means they must be postmarked by that date to be counted.

The ballots are in the mail.

That is the word from the Alaska Division of Elections, which has started sending out mail-in ballots to registered voters for the special primary election to finish the term of U.S. Rep. Don Young, who died March 18.

The Alaska Division of Elections announced that it has mailed out about 563,000 ballots to registered voters in Alaska.

Registered voters that have an undeliverable mailing address on file with the division were not mailed ballots according to state law. There will be additional mailings in the days ahead for newly registered voters and voters with updated mailing addresses, said Gail Fenumiai, who directs the Division of Elections.

Alaskans who are not registered to vote still have time to register to do so. The deadline is May 12.

Ballots need to be returned by June 11, which means they must be postmarked by that date to be counted. Voters can return the ballots sooner. The state of Alaska is paying for the return postage.

Alaska voters are being asked to vote for one of 48 candidates running to fill Alaskas single U.S. House seat. The new lawmaker is expected to be seated in September.

Under Alaskas new ranked choice voting system, the top four vote-getters will advance to the Aug. 16 general election. Voters will be asked to rank their preferences by choice.

For the special mail-in primary election, voters will choose one candidate and return their ballot by mail. Voters must have a witness sign the envelope as well as sign it themselves for the ballot to be counted.

There also will be an in-person voting location in Fairbanks, starting May 27. People can vote at the Region III Elections Office, 675 Seventh Ave., Suite A2. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Polls will be open on Saturday, May 28 and June 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sunday, June 5, from noon to 4 p.m.

Polls also will be open on Saturday, June 11, the formal Election Day and the last day to vote in the special primary election. The hours will be 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Voters can destroy the ballot they received in the mail if they prefer to vote in person, Fenumiai said.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Rain and snow in the morning. The rain and snow will change to rain showers in the afternoon. High around 45F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low 28F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain International Airport customs yesterday recovered 167 capsules suspected of containing narcotic substances from an Asian man, who allegedly is being used as a mule to traffic drugs into Bahrain.

Further examinations are ongoing to determine the exact contents of the capsules. The capsules were concealed inside the mans gut to prevent detection, said the Head of the Muharraq Governorate Prosecution.

The public Prosecution said they started investigating the drug smuggling attempt based on a report from the Anti-Narcotics Department. Prosecutors interrogated the suspect, who, they said, confessed to charges pressed against him.

The suspect told prosecutors that he swallowed the capsules at intervals to smuggle them into Bahrain in exchange for money. The suspect is now in pretrial detention pending further investigation.

The Chief Prosecutor said they are further investigating the matter to determine the scope of criminal activity. The Public Prosecution has also initiated a judicial investigation against other suspects abroad.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Batelco yesterday released financial results for the first quarter of 2022, reporting a 9% decrease in net profit which the company attributed mainly to increased operational expenses associated with setting up new digital entities.

Q1 results were also impacted by increased competition due to the regulatory environment in the telecom sector, said Batelco Chairman Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.

He added: This as well as the increased operational expenses stemming from investments in transformational initiatives, including digital growth and the launch of new digital brands, had an impact on the financial results for the first quarter.

He, however, said the company is pleased with the milestones achieved in the digital space and proud of the launch of three new digital brands during the first quarter. Quarterly results First quarter net profit was BD17.9 million (US$47.5m), compared to BD19.7m (US$52.3m) in the same quarter a year ago.

Quarterly earnings per share (EPS) was 10.8 fils compared to 11.9 fils in Q1 2021. Revenues decreased 1% to BD98.5m from BD99.7m (US$264.5m) in Q1 2021, mainly due to YoY reductions in datacoms and lower roaming revenue in Dhiraagus operation in the Maldives due to COVID.

Operating profit declined by 13% to BD22.1m (US$58.6m) from BD25.4m (US$67.4m) in Q1 2021. EBITDA stands at BD40.6m (US$107.7m) compared to BD43.8m (US$116.2m) in Q1 2021, a decrease of 7%. The company maintained a healthy EBITDA margin of 41% in Q1 2022.

Total comprehensive income attributable to equity holders was reported at BD12.9m (US$34.2m), a 57% decrease from BD29.9m (US$79.3m) in the first quarter of 2021, mainly due to foreign exchange translation differences and investment fair value changes.

Batelcos balance sheet remains strong with total equity attributable to equity holders of the company of BD473.3M (US$1,255.4M) as of 31 March 2022, 3% lower than BD489.6M (US$1,298.7M) reported as of 31 December 2021. Cash and bank balances are a substantial BD235.4M (US$624.4M).
Ukraine and Japan have signed an agreement on a $100 million loan for 30 years at 1% per annum with a grace period of 10 years, the Ministry of Finance reported.

"Today, April 28, 2022, an agreement was signed between the government of Ukraine and the government of Japan on a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency for development policy in the field of emergency economic recovery and a grant to strengthen the healthcare and medicine system in Ukraine," the ministry said in a release on Thursday.

The Japanese government will provide Ukraine with a $100 million loan on favorable terms.

The matter concerns budgetary support to stabilize the situation in Ukraine, in particular, to ensure priority social, humanitarian, health care costs, support for internally displaced persons and other priority costs.

A grant of approximately $2.3 million will be used to purchase medical equipment.
The governor of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa says Australian Defence Force personnel are not welcome on the 150 islands he administers, as fears grow that rising tensions between China and US allies will lead to conflict in the region.

Denny Tamaki, the top official in the region who is up for re-election this year, said in an interview that he was worried the existing concentration of US forces had already made the islands a target for hostile forces.

He said the Okinawan people did not support Australian or other foreign defence personnel holding joint military exercises in Okinawa. Australia and Japan signed a defence deal in January that will open the way for their forces to step up training and host each others military.

Mr Tamaki is at loggerheads with Prime Minister Fumio Kishidas government over the heavy concentration of US military bases in Okinawa and plans to relocate a US Marine base on the main island. There are some 30,000 US troops based on Okinawa, 1500 kilometres southeast of Tokyo.

While there are no plans to station Australian defence personnel in Japan, the Kishida government supports more joint military exercises with Australia, as it tries to deepen defence ties with Canberra and Washington because of shared concerns about China. ...continue reading
BEIJING (AP)  China says it halted railroad freight traffic with North Korea as it deals with the spread of COVID-19 in the border town of Dandong.

The countries had reopened trade between Dandong and North Koreas Sinuiju in January following a two-year pause while the North imposed one of the world's most restrictive pandemic border closures despite the strain on its broken economy.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Friday the decision to suspend the freight services was taken in light of the current epidemic situation in Dandong, but he gave no other details.

The Dandong city government on Monday ordered all residents to swiftly return home and stay there to stem the spread of the virus. It said the government would make strenuous efforts to ensure the daily needs of residents but made no mention of links with North Korea and did not say when the lockdown would be lifted.

While many countries are dropping restrictions and trying to live with the virus, China has been sticking to a zero-COVID approach, which requires mass testing and lockdowns and keeping its international borders largely shut.

North Koreas decision to tentatively reopen-cross border trade with China, its main ally and economic lifeline, possibly reflected a growing urgency in its need for outside relief.

North Korea still claims to have a perfect record in keeping out COVID-19 from its territory  a claim widely doubted. But the closure of its border to nearly all trade and visitors for two years further shocked an economy already damaged by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile program.

Experts say the North would have focused on importing fertilizers to boost food production, factory goods to spur dismal industrial production, and construction materials to support ambitious development projects that leader Kim Jong Un touts as major accomplishments.

The North has been accelerating its weapons tests in recent months, including its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 in March, as it revives brinkmanship to pressure the United States to accept it as a nuclear power and remove sanctions. South Korea's Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean affairs, didn't immediately provide more details on the suspension of freight traffic between North Korea and China.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  The federal government has finished another environmental review of a proposed transmission line that will carry wind-generated electricity from rural New Mexico to big cities in the West and similar reviews are planned for two more projects that would span parts of Utah and Nevada, the U.S. Interior Department announced Thursday.

The regulatory steps came a day after the Biden administration announced a $2.5 billion initiative to make the nations power grid more effective at withstanding catastrophic disasters caused by climate change. It's also part of the administration's goal to create a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035.

The SunZia transmission project in New Mexico has been more than a decade in the making. After an initial review over several years, the Bureau of Land Management authorized a right-of-way grant on federal lands.

That had to be revisited when developers in 2021 submitted a new application modifying the route after the U.S. Defense Department and others raised concerns about the path of the high-voltage lines.

A final decision on the right of way application is expected this summer, following a public comment period.

The Biden administration is just the latest to promise speeding up development and modernization of the nations energy infrastructure through expedited federal permitting and regulatory reforms. Former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump also vowed to roll back bureaucracy.

While the other two transmission projects are in the early stages of the regulatory process, the experience in New Mexico illustrates the complicated nature of getting electricity from remote areas to population centers.

The siting of hundreds of miles of transmission lines, power poles and electric substations often involve a checkerboard of private, state and federal land that sometimes include environmentally sensitive areas.

Federal officials said Thursday that the projects have the potential to move 10,000 megawatts of electricity generated by wind and solar resources.

"Transmission projects like those advanced today offer a promising path for diversifying our national energy portfolio and connecting more renewable energy, while at the same time combatting climate change and investing in communities, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.

Aside from new transmission lines, maintenance and repair costs for existing electricity infrastructure have ballooned to more than $40 billion annually as many utilities struggle to upgrade decades-old equipment. Customers usually bear the costs.

Ice storms, hurricanes, wildfires and other extreme weather have knocked out large parts of U.S. electrical networks with increasing frequency in recent years, according to an Associated Press analysis that found power outages from severe weather doubled over the past two decade.

New Mexico's renewable energy authority is among those invested in the SunZia project, which would include about 520 miles (836 kilometers) of transmission lines and a network of substations for getting wind and solar power to Arizona and California. The anchor tenant is Pattern Energy, which has been busy building massive wind farms in central New Mexico.

The proposed Greenlink West Transmission Project in Nevada would run through seven counties from Las Vegas to Reno.

NV Energy has said its investment of more than $2.5 billion in the project is expected to generate $690 million in economic activity and generate thousands of construction jobs.

And the proposed Cross-Tie Transmission Project would be made up of 214 miles (344 kilometers) of high-voltage lines between central Utah and east-central Nevada within federally designated utility corridors or parallel to existing transmission facilities.

Developers have said the project would relieve congestion on other key regional transmission lines and increase the ability for California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming to import and export renewable energy.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed to this report.
PHOENIX (AP)  Arizonas clemency board has unanimously declined to recommend to Gov. Doug Ducey that the death sentence of a prisoner be delayed or reduced to life in prison in what would be the state's first use of the death penalty in nearly eight years.

The decision by the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency on Thursday marks one of the last steps before Clarence Dixons execution in the 1978 killing of Arizona State University student Deana Bowdoin. The execution is scheduled for May 11.

The board made the decision after hearing tearful comments from Bowdins sister, Leslie Bowdin James, who reflected on the brutality her 21-year-old sister suffered.

There is not one legal, social or moral imperative for recommending a reprieve or commutation, she said.

The boards decision keeps the execution on track, at least for now.

A hearing is scheduled Tuesday in a Pinal County court to consider whether Dixon is mentally fit to be executed. His lawyers argue Dixons psychological problems keep him from rationally understanding why the state wants to end his life. Prosecutors have said in court records that the hearing will likely lead to a delay in the execution.

Authorities say Bowdoin, who was found dead in her apartment, had been raped, stabbed and strangled with a belt. Dixon had been charged with raping Bowdoin, but the charge was later dropped on statute-of-limitation grounds. He was convicted, though, in her death.

Before his conviction in Bowdoins death, Dixon was serving life sentences for sexual assault and other convictions stemming from an attack in the mid-1980s on a 21-year-old Northern Arizona University student. DNA samples taken while he was in prison later linked him to Bowdoins killing, which at that point had been unsolved.

In arguing that their client is mentally unfit to be executed, Dixons lawyers say he erroneously believes he will be executed because police at Northern Arizona University wrongfully arrested him in the previous case.

His attorneys concede he was in fact lawfully arrested then by Flagstaff police and said he cant distinguish between reality and fantasy in the case involving the NAU student.

Board chairwoman Mina Mendez said Bowdin suffered before her death as a result of Dixons actions, that the victims family is haunted by the killing and that she believes the condemned man understands why he will be executed, despite claims that he is mentally unfit.

What was missing was remorse or any kind of acceptance of responsibility, Mendez said.

Board member Michael Johnson said, I dont see him having received any injustice.

Dixon chose not to be present at the hearing.

His lawyers had tried unsuccessfully to get the courts to call off the hearing, arguing the boards makeup violated a law that lets only two people from the same professional discipline serve on the board. Three board members worked previously in law enforcement.

Despite their objections, Dixons attorneys still participated in the hearing.

Amanda Bass, one of Dixons lawyers, said the defense team wasnt disputing whether their client was guilty of murder or minimizing the suffering of Bowdoins family, but rather were asking for mercy because key information about his mental illness wasnt heard at his trial, where Dixon had represented himself after firing his attorney.

Bass said jurors didnt hear that Dixon had been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a young man and at one time had been committed to the Arizona State Hospital.

Bass also said Dixon was the subject of a civil commitment order issued two days before Bowdoins killing by then-Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sandra Day OConnor after the future U.S. Supreme Court justice had found Dixon not guilty by reason of insanity in a 1977 assault case. The order was issued two days before Bowdin's killing.

The jury didnt know any of this, Bass said.

Ellen Dahl, a Maricopa County prosecutor, said the cruelty suffered by Bowdin was unimaginable.

Mercy? Dahl asked. Where was the mercy for Deana as she lay with a strap across her neck?

The last time Arizona used the death penalty was in July 2014, when Joseph Wood was given 15 doses of a two-drug combination over two hours in an execution that his lawyers said was botched.

States, including Arizona, have struggled to buy execution drugs in recent years after U.S. and European pharmaceutical companies began blocking the use of their products in lethal injections. Last year, Arizona corrections officials revealed that they had finally obtained a lethal injection drug and were ready to resume executions.

Arizona has 113 prisoners on death row.

___

This story has been updated to reflect that Arizona has 113 prisoners on death row, not 112.
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DANBURY  The local teen accused of firing a gun during a fight outside Chilis Grill & Bar in March has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him.

The 16-year-old is charged with attempt to commit first-degree assault, illegal discharge of a firearm, first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree threatening and two counts of second-degree breach of peace.

Not guilty pleas were entered for all six charges Tuesday at state Superior Court in Danbury.

Although court documents identify the 16-year-old, Hearst Connecticut Media is withholding his name because he is a minor.

The charges against the teen stem from a March 5 incident at Chilis, where police say he fired a couple shots during a dispute that started inside the Newtown Road restaurant and spilled out into the parking lot.

A witness at the scene told police her sons were the intended targets of the assault, and said the altercation was related to ongoing issues between two groups  one of which include her sons friends, according to an arrest warrant.

She told police her family was at Chilis celebrating a relatives birthday when they saw 21-year-old Kenaas Council  who hangs out with a group her sons friends are feuding with  inside the restaurant and he started making hand gestures consistent with gang signs and instigating her two sons.

The 16-year-old alleged shooter and three others joined Council at the restaurant and started harassing the family, police said. Some men intervened and wound up chasing the suspects out of the restaurant and into the parking lot.

A short time later, two shots rang out. A witness told police the first shot was fired in the direction of two men who chased the suspects out of the restaurant and the other was fired into the air.

Though he did not see a gun, the witness told police there appeared to be smoke coming from the right front pocket area of the shooters sweatshirt, according to the arrest warrant.

No one was injured, and the suspects fled before officers got to the scene, according to police.

Through witness interviews, physical evidence and anonymous tips, police determined the 16-year-old fired the gun and arrested him March 11.

The teen, who is out of custody after posting a $100,000 professional surety bond, and is next scheduled to appear in court June 14.

Council was charged with second-degree breach of peace and second-degree threatening and has pleaded not guilty, according to court records. His next court date is May 23.
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A man charged with killing 18 older women in the Dallas area over a two-year span was found guilty of murder Thursday and sentenced to life in prison in one of the cases against him after an earlier mistrial.

Jurors took about 45 minutes to convict Billy Chemirmir, 49, of capital murder in the March 2018 smothering of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris. Prosecutors said that after Chemirmir and Harris were both at the same Walmart, he went to her home, killed her and stole her jewelry.

It was Chemirmirs second trial in her death, after the first jury to hear the case deadlocked in November.

Prosecutors weren't seeking the death penalty, so state District Judge Raquel Rocky Jones immediately sentenced Chemirmir to life in prison without parole.

Chemirmir, who has maintained that hes innocent, is charged with capital murder in the deaths of 12 other women in Dallas County and five in nearby Collin County. Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot has said he plans to try Chemirmir for at least one more death.

Relatives of those he's accused of killing praised Thursday's verdict at an emotional news conference.

"This one conviction represents justice for all of the families, said Shannon Dion, whose 92-year-old mother, Doris Gleason, was killed in 2016.

Defense attorney Kobby Warren said during closing arguments that prosecutors hadnt proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Chemirmir was ever at Harris home, calling the states case all bark, no bite. As in the first trial, the defense didn't call any witnesses and Chemirmir did not testify.

Prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin told jurors that he gave them more than enough evidence to convict.

This is an easy decision, mainly because we bit so much off, said Fitzmartin, who noted that when Chemirmir was arrested, he had Harris jewelry and the keys to her home.

Jurors also saw surveillance video of Harris and Chemirmir at the same Walmart on the day she was found dead.

Though Chemirmir was being tried this week only in Harris death, prosecutors also presented evidence to jurors about an attack that 91-year-old Mary Annis Bartel survived the day before Harris was killed and the killing of 87-year-old Mary Brooks about six weeks earlier.

Chemirmir was arrested the day after Bartel said a man forced his way into her apartment and held a pillow over her face.

Fitzmartin said police subsequently found that a few days earlier there had been a report of a suspicious person at the independent living community where she lived. A license plate number led officers to Chemirmir.

Police detectives testified about going to Chemirmirs nearby apartment complex and watching as he drove into the parking lot. Detectives said he threw items into a dumpster and then, as they got him out of his vehicle, he was holding jewelry and cash in his hand.

Police have said that a large red jewelry box in the dumpster contained documents that led them to Harris home. They found her dead in her bedroom, lipstick smeared on her pillow.

The number of people Chemirmir was accused of killing grew as authorities reinvestigated deaths previously thought to be natural. Most of the people were found dead in their apartments at independent living communities for older people, where Chemirmir has been accused of forcing his way into apartments or posing as a handyman. Some lived in private homes, including Harris and the widow of a man Chemirmir had cared for in his job as an at-home caregiver.

M.J. Jennings, whose 83-year-old mother, Leah Corken, was killed in 2016, said she hoped the conviction would be the first step of healing for all of these families.

Bartel died in 2020, but jurors heard a taped deposition of her describing opening her door the day she was attacked. She said she immediately focused on green rubber gloves the person was wearing, and tried to push the door shut but was overpowered.

He said: Dont fight me, lie on the bed, Bartel said. She said her attacker slammed the pillow to her face and used all his weight to keep me from breathing.

She said she couldnt remember details about the mans appearance.

Bartel, who lost consciousness, later discovered she was missing her wedding band, diamond engagement ring and other jewelry.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Chemirmir listed jewelry belonging to Bartel and Brooks for sale online.
DANBURY  A Waterbury man was charged with drug offenses Thursday after police found about 250 grams of cocaine and 19 grams of crack in his home, according to the Danbury Police Department.

Detectives from the police departments Special Investigations Division investigated illegal drug sales throughout the city for several months after receiving numerous complaints from citizens. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Connecticut State Police assisted in the investigation.

Through the investigation, police said they discovered Aaron Thompson, 49, was living in Waterbury and selling drugs in Danbury. Thompson is a convicted drug dealer and has been charged multiple times in the past for narcotics offenses. He is on federal probation for those charges and is free on $100,000 bond for a pending sexual assault case, police said.

Law enforcement received three court-authorized search-and-seizure warrants for Thompson, his home and his car.

Just before 11 a.m. Thursday, law enforcement approached Thompson at a business on Lake Avenue in Danbury. Police said they found an electronic stun gun in his car and placed him under arrest for driving under suspension and possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle.

Police then searched his home in Waterbury and found a quarter-kilogram brick of cocaine  or 250 grams  and 19 grams of crack cocaine. Law enforcement also discovered packaging and an electronic scale to weigh the drugs, according to the police department.

Police charged Thompson with two counts of possession of narcotics with intent to sell, three counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license.

His bond was set at $350,000, police said.
MARKHAM, ON, April 29, 2022 /CNW/ - Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc., headquartered in Markham, Ontario a leader in innovative medicines, recognizes the Ontario government for the commitment of $15-million over three years for the new Life Sciences Innovation Program outlined in the Spring Budget.

"Our vision at Astellas is to stand on the forefront of healthcare change, turning innovative science into value for patients," said Frank Stramaglia, General Manager, Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc. "We believe this investment in the life sciences sector in Ontario will further enable Astellas and others in the sector to progress on our efforts to make Ontario a hub for biomanufacturing and life sciences."

This investment comes following the release of the Ontario government's proposed new Life Sciences Strategy. Astellas Pharma Inc. applauds the government's new strategy and looks forward to working in partnership to implement the strategy to further advance the sector in Ontario.

Astellas also looks forward to the work of the newly announced advisory table to explore access to take home cancer drugs.

About Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc.

Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc. is a Canadian affiliate of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. Astellas stands on the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into value for patients. Keeping our focus on addressing unmet medical needs and conducting our business with ethics and integrity enables us to improve the health of people in Canada and around the world. For more information on Astellas in Canada, please visit: astellas.com/ca.

SOURCE Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc.

For further information: Amanda Mills Sirois, Senior Communications Manager, Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc., 905-940-5752, [email protected]
OTTAWA, ON, April 29, 2022 /CNW/ - Clearford Water Systems Inc. (TSXV: CLI) ("Clearford" or the "Company") announces that on April 28, 2022 it filed a Notice of Intention to Make a Proposal ("Notice") pursuant to the provisions of Part III of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada) (the "BIA").

Pursuant to the Notice, KSV Restructuring Inc. has been appointed as the proposal trustee (the "Trustee") and will assist the Company in its restructuring efforts. This filing follows the Company's ongoing strategic review of its options previously announced in its news release of March 23, 2020.

The filing of the Notice has the effect of imposing a 30-day statutory stay of proceedings that will protect the Company and its assets from enforcement actions. During this period, the Company expects to file a formal proposal under the BIA (the "Proposal"), setting forth a comprehensive plan for payment to the Company's creditors in due course.

The Company has taken this action under the BIA as the most expeditious and economical manner of addressing the interests of its creditors and allowing it to carry on its operations uninterrupted. Only Clearford Water Systems Inc. intends to file a Proposal, and its subsidiaries, including Clearford Waterworks Inc. will not be subject to the Proposal process. All of Clearford's subsidiaries will continue to operate in the ordinary course.

Management will work closely with the Company's board of directors and its financial and other advisors and, with the assistance of the Trustee, to maximize the realizable value of the Company's residual assets.

There can be no assurance that the process will result in the Company realizing any value in the Company's residual assets in any transaction or, if a transaction is proposed, that it will be successfully concluded in a timely manner or at all.

Failure by the Company to achieve its restructuring objectives through an approved Proposal will result in the Company becoming bankrupt.

Trading in the Company's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") has been halted. There is no certainty as to timing or likelihood that the common shares will recommence trading on the TSX-V.

About Clearford Water Systems Inc.

Clearford Water Systems is a provider of unified water management solutions for the design, deployment, finance and operation of water infrastructure systems. Clearford is one of the largest operators of private water and wastewater systems in Ontario with over 260 sites across the province. Our diverse team of licensed engineers, certified operators and technical staff provide total solutions that meet the water management needs of owners, property managers, and communities. In-house personnel include designers and technical specialists in, water and wastewater, engineering, compliance & regulations, construction services, and health & safety.

The Company's technology-based water solutions include Clearford One wastewater infrastructure systems, and a full range of UV Pure water disinfection products. Clearford is the winner of the Frost & Sullivan 2017 Enabling Technology Leadership Award for Global Decentralized Water & Wastewater Treatment. For more information, visit www.clearford.com.

Forward Looking Statement

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "expect," "likely," "plan," "will" and similar references to future periods. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's ability to realize value of its assets, complete a creditor proposal, bankruptcy, or complete a restructuring. The statements are dependent on a number of assumptions and risk factors. Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and other cautionary statements or factors contained herein, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected effects on the Company. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release. Except as required by applicable securities legislation, the Company assumes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent information, events, or circumstances.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Clearford Water Systems Inc.

For further information: Kevin Loiselle, President & CEO, Clearford Water Systems Inc., Phone: (613) 599-6474 ext. 303, www.clearford.com
Future tenants of the building could also benefit from additional housing assistance through the Societe d'habitation du Quebec's (SHQ) Rent Supplement Program. This assistance, which could reach nearly $2.5 million over 20 years, will be assumed by the SHQ (90%) and the City of Montreal (10%). The investment for this project could therefore reach more than $14 million.

The Maison Gisele-Pomerleau project for women and children fleeing domestic violence was created from the initiative of the Montreal-Est / Pointe-aux-Trembles Women's Centre. Founded in 1995 by Gisele Pomerleau, this non-profit organization's mission is to meet the needs of women by helping them to become aware of their potential, increase their self-confidence, encourage their independence and defend and promote their rights.

This investment comes from the budget envelope of the Second CanadaQuebec Agreement under the Rapid Housing Initiative, which was announced by the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, and Andree Laforest, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. This agreement provides for investments totalling nearly $338 million across Quebec, which should allow for the construction of a total of 1,494 social and affordable housing units by the end of 2022.

Quotes:

"Every Quebecer deserves the peace of mind that comes with having a home. The project and funding announced today under the Rapid Housing Initiative will greatly help women and their children in need. They will quickly provide 20 new affordable dwellings to vulnerable people and ensure their safety. This is one way for our government to ensure that no one is left behind."

The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion and Minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

"This project from the Maison Gisele-Pomerleau of the Montreal-Est / Pointe-aux-Trembles Women's Centre is an excellent initiative that will provide women in need and their children with access to a living environment adapted to their situation. To ensure access to these units, our government and the City of Montreal are also providing financial support for women in need who will be living there, so that they will only have to spend 25% of their income on housing."

Andree Laforest, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Minister responsible for the SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean region

"This project will quickly provide new dwellings for women and children who are victims of violence. The Rapid Housing Initiative is intended to support our most vulnerable populations. Thanks to RHI 2, we are able to provide additional support for the people of Montreal by providing affordable, safe housing for everyone."

Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Member of Parliament for Hochelaga and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion (Housing)

"The Montreal-Est / Pointe-aux-Trembles Women's Centre plays a critical role for women in our community. I want to congratulate the entire Centre's team for this initiative that will allow women and their children to have access to a safe and affordable place. I know how much time and energy are required to set up such a project, but the Montreal-Est / Pointe-aux-Trembles Women's Centre spared no efforts to make this home become a reality, and I am very proud of the support I provided the Centre in its endeavours. I also want to mention the contribution of the late Gisele Pomerleau. This home is proof of the significant legacy this great woman is leaving to all the women of Pointe-aux-Trembles and Montreal-Est."

Chantal Rouleau, Minister of Transport and Minister Responsible for the Metropolis and Montreal Region and Member of the National Assembly for Pointe-aux-Trembles

"The City of Montreal is firmly committed to continue the fight against domestic and family violence in the metropolitan area. In that sense, the development of social housing projects, such as the Maison Gisele-Pomerleau of the Montreal-Est / Pointe-aux-Trembles Women's Centre, must be a social priority. The close co-operation between the various levels of government, combined with the hard work of the Women's Centre and the Groupe des ressources techniques, allows us today to confirm the construction of a home that will have a major impact on the life and safety of many vulnerable women and their children."

Valerie Plante, Mayor, City of Montreal

"I would first like to thank the two governments, the City of Montreal and all those who contributed to the creation of this project. As a Women's Centre, we deal with women's various issues on a daily basis, and second-stage housing is one of the solutions to some of these problems. Maison Gisele-Pomerleau, which is of major importance, will provide safe and accessible housing for women and children who are victims of domestic violence, and give them the time to regain confidence in their potential and have the tools they need to take control of their lives."

Cathy Vittore, President of the Montreal-Est / Pointe-aux-Trembles Women's Centre

Highlights:

The two agreements under the Rapid Housing Initiative represent a total combined investment of approximately $517 million . Since January 2021 , more than 3,000 social and affordable housing units have been built according to Quebec's recognized building standards for Quebecers in need.

About Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers unbiased housing research and advice to all levels of Canadian government, consumers and the housing industry. CMHC's aim is that, by 2030, everyone in Canada has a home that they can afford and that meets their needs. For more information, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

About the Societe d'habitation du Quebec

As a leader in housing, the SHQ has, as its mission, to meet the housing needs of Quebec citizens by providing affordable and low-rental housing and offering a range of assistance programs to support the construction, renovation and adaptation of homes, as well as access to homeownership. Moreover, the SHQ fosters the development of partnerships with communities, collaboration among sector stakeholders and innovation. To find out more about its activities, visit www.habitation.gouv.qc.ca/english.html.

SocietehabitationQuebec

HabitationSHQ

SOURCE Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

For further information: Arevig Afarian, Office of the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, [email protected]; Benedicte Trottier-Lavoie, Press Secretary to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Minister Responsible for the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Region, 514-686-7100, [email protected]; Media Relations: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, [email protected]; Media Relations: Societe d'habitation du Quebec, 418-643-4035, ext. 32032, [email protected]
In a mega push to boost commercial ties with other countries, The Indian Economic Trade Organisation (IETO) recently launched its Delhi chapter. The launch was attended by envoys and diplomats from countries like Paraguay, Cuba, Zimbabwe, UAE, New Jersey, Qatar, Cuba as well as France.

In an exclusive conversation with NewsX at the launch event, Anubhav Gupta, President, Delhi, IETO, said, The international business is focused on large business houses because they have the contacts, the extent and the pockets to go out there and explore business. But, for small businesses like MSMEs, it is very difficult for them to get out of their comfort zone and go to other countries and invest in them. The idea of bringing this here is so that we can bring these opportunities to all these small businesses.

Fleming Duarte, Ambassador of Paraguay, expressed, Paraguay is a very stable economy. Recently India has also opened a mission to improve the agro-business sector so Paraguay has signed an agreement with India for investment. We would like to see more cooperation between Paraguay and India in the bio tech sector also.

Whereas, Dawadzwa Muguti, representative of the Zimbabwe government, said, Zimbabwe and India have been trading together since the 1400s and India played a huge part in the independence of Zimbabwe and trade between the two countries is ever booming. We are quite happy with the Indian technology, which is proven to be working in most parts of Middle Eastern Asia and we are looking forward to bring most of that technology in Zimbabwe.

Alejandro Simancas Marin, who is the Ambassador of Cuba, also spoke with NewsX and said I would like to express my gratitude to IETO for the wonderful job that theyve done. Theyve taken a very important step ahead in order to promote their commercial relationship with countries like Cuba. It has helped us to identify a group of sectors that show a better perspective. The idea is to work together in order to improve our economic relationship

The Delhi Chapter is expected to host 3 to 4 delegations every year, which will allow the members an opportunity to visit countries of interest for business promotion and bilateral engagement. level.

IETO works under consultative status with United Nations Economic and Social Council, which is at the heart of the United Nations system to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development, i.e economic, social and environmental. IETO engages the foremost political, business cultural and other corporate leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann called the incident unfortunate and vowed that his government would not allow anyone to cause trouble in the state.

A tense atmosphere reigned in Patiala, Punjab, today after two groups clashed during a protest march against the separatist outfit Khalistan. The situation was brought under control after police intervened and fired in the air to disperse the crowd.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann called the incident unfortunate and vowed that his government would not allow anyone to cause trouble in the state.

#WATCH | Punjab: A clash broke out between two groups near Kali Devi Mandir in Patiala today.



Police personnel deployed at the spot to maintain law and order situation. pic.twitter.com/yZv2vfAiT6  ANI (@ANI) April 29, 2022

The clashes are said to have injured at least two people.

A clash between Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) workers broke out during an anti-khalistan protest in Patiala on Friday, prompting a heavy deployment of security personnel near Kali Devi Mandir. Four people are said to have been injured in the clashes. A video of the brawl has gone viral on social media. Pro-Khalistan supporters can be seen brandishing swords at Shiv Sena workers in the video.

The Hindu community claimed that a Sikh family had lived there prior to partition. The Guru Ki Sarai was looked after by the family. Later, after being intimidated by members of the Muslim community, the family purchased the property. After some time, a mosque was constructed in that location.
The leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) countries  the US, Australia, Japan, and India  will meet in Tokyo for a summit. The Summit is scheduled to be organized on May 24

In a statement released by the White House, US President Joe Biden will have a tour to South Korea and Japan on May 20-24 to strengthen bilateral ties, during his visit he will also meet PM Narendra Modi.

The leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) countries  the US, Australia, Japan, and India  will meet in Tokyo for a summit. The Summit is scheduled to be organized on May 24.

Hirokazu Matsuno, Japans Chief Cabinet Secretary, in a statement on Thursday said On May 22-24, US Vice President Joe Biden will visit Japan. On May 23, he will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as part of his tour, and on May 24, he will attend the QUAD leaders summit.

However, the Japanese Cabinet Secretary did not identify the summits topic.

Meanwhile, Biden will also meet with the Quad leaders of Australia, Japan, India, and the United States in Tokyo.

White House stated, We look forward to having more details to discuss this trip soon.

In September of last year, Biden met Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the White House for the Quads first-ever in-person Leaders Summit.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ Digital Realty Trust Inc. (DLR) on Thursday reported a key measure of profitability in its first quarter. The results matched Wall Street expectations.

The Austin, Texas-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $484.5 million, or $1.67 per share, in the period.
WYOMISSING, Pa. (AP) _ Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. (GLPI) on Thursday reported a key measure of profitability in its first quarter. The results fell short of Wall Street expectations.

The real estate investment trust, based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, said it had funds from operations of $218.6 million, or 86 cents per share, in the period.
Call it the corporate good news trifecta for Gov. Ned Lamont.

Within the space of three hours in the middle of the day Monday, inside of a few miles from his home in Greenwich, the governor presided over events at three Connecticut companies, each with a global reach and growing; each spending millions of dollars on education, jobs or technology with a clear statement that it stands behind its home state.

They were all state government events, not part of the Lamont 2022 campaign schedule  well have plenty of time for that in the summer and fall  but they might as well have been scripted by Lamonts reelection team.

Combined, the events at Synchrony Financial just off the Merritt Parkway in Stamford, Mirador LLC down by the harbor in Stamford and Bigelow Tea in the town of Fairfield, gave Lamont a chance to sell, once again, his view of the newly revived Connecticut.

People really believe in the quality of life here in Connecticut. They think its getting better , Lamont told my colleague Alex Soule at the Bigelow event. The first-term Democrat talked about education, access to parks and beaches and the states massive budget surplus, attained without increasing any of the main state taxes, three years after he inherited a multi-billion-dollar shortfall.

Sounds great, and it is, as many people see it. Bob Stefanowski, Lamonts near-certain Republican opponent this year, is not among the believers.

This Governor has shown such blatant disregard for the struggle people are going through, Stefanowski said in an email, in response to my request for written comments on Lamonts excellent adventure Monday. Instead of running around the state, patting himself on the back, the Governor should step away from the microphone and listen to people who arent looking through his rose colored glasses.

The corporate credit card

Is Connecticut better off than it was four years ago? Has Lamont run the economic horse race as well as voters could reasonably expect? He clearly has a lot of good news on his side, and just as clearly, recovery has passed over many residents.

But no issue  not crime, not the environment, not education, not the handful of state government ethics matters that Lamont says he handled properly, not even Lamonts management of the pandemic  will surpass the state of the states economy when it comes time for voters to fill in a ballot for Lamont, Stefanowski or maybe someone else on Nov. 8.

Days as strong as Monday dont come often. If they did, Lamont really would be King Ned, as opponents derisively call him. That said, were the events of the day a sign of the way things are going in Connecticut, or an up day in a down market?

Im an optimist girded by 30 years of low expectations in Connecticut, so Im just looking for a late-night deli to open and Ill be happy. Obviously we have some signs of life, if not corned beef after 10.

Synchrony, the giant provider of private-label and store-brand credit cards that spun off from General Electric several years ago, opened its Synchrony Skills Academy at its headquarters late Monday morning. Financed by the company as part of a $50 million, 5-year training and education initiative, the skills academy aims to bring job opportunities and tech training to people from under-served communities.

That means dozens of slots for selected high school students. Whats not to like about that? Time was when the big companies basically ran their own vast trade schools for incoming employees.

That a state is able to spark a few corporate projects like this is great, though not enough  and the high-minded speeches from government and business chiefs reflected that. My colleague Paul Schott was there to report it.

Fintech fortunes

By 1 p.m., Lamont was down at the soon-to-open headquarters of Mirador LLC, a company offering services to the wealth management industry, founded seven years ago in Darien. Mirador, now with 100 employees, will take prime office space with the hope of adding 250 more jobs in Connecticut by mid-2025.

This was the biggest win of the day. Mirador represents another in a handful of companies in the financial technology industry, a nascent cluster in booming Stamford, which saw its global banking operations shrink after the Great Recession.

The finance sector hasnt fared well of late in this state. Even as Connecticut has created an estimated 47,700 jobs, or 3 percent over the last year, finance jobs have dwindled by nearly 1,100, or nearly 1 percent  in part due to bank consolidations.

Mirador will be eligible for an estimated $3.2 million if it creates 250 new jobs under a formula available to all companies with more than 25 jobs that add a certain percentage. Thats about $13,000 per job, higher than the typical Lamont-era payout by about double  which tells us these jobs average upwards of $200,000 a pop.

Thats far less than the tens of thousands of bucks per position that former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy handed out to large, growing companies including Synchrony  which has in fact added more than 200 local jobs since 2015.

Tea for $2 million

From Stamford, it was off to Bigelow Tea in Fairfield, a rare national consumer goods brand based in Connecticut.

With 200 jobs here, the family-owned business didnt announce new hiring Monday, or a new program for the community. No, third-generation CEO Cindi Bigelow unveiled a $2 million, robotic shipping system with enough whizbang to wow my three colleagues on the scene  two reporters and a photographer.

You may say, gee, thats nice technology but if anything, it replaces jobs rather than creating them, right? Wrong. Like Mirador, Bigelow, has operations in other states, any one of which would and probably did beg the company to invest there. So its a statement, as Cindi Bigelow confirmed, that the company known for its Constant Comment flagship flavor is here to stay  and to grow.

Good optics for Lamont  lets say he beat the steep odds  and he talked about the upcoming tax breaks hes negotiating with lawmakers.

Stefanowski was less than impressed. Its always a good day when job creators like Bigelow Tea make investments here in Connecticut, but the Governor himself said its easier for companies to start groundbreaking businesses in Nashville than in Stamford, he said.

That was a reference to Lamont saying over the winter that his wife, venture capital investor Annie Lamont, would look to Nashville rather than Connecticut because it was easier  easier, that is, to avoid accusations of a conflict of interest. He never meant to say it was easier for businesses to operate there than here, although, of course, it is.

As for taxes, Stefanowski said, While he sits on a $4 Billion surplus and $4 Billion rainy day fund on the backs of overtaxed residents and businesses, he offers a few hundred million in promised tax cuts in years to come, it shows just how out of touch he is.

Its a $4 billion surplus plus a $3 billion rainy day fund, but whos counting? Yes, were drowning in short-term cash but Lamont says hes looking out for the long-term, trying to pay down the economy-choking pension liability. And hes forced to live under federal rules that limit tax cuts for states that use the pandemic relief in their budgets.

Sadly, thats a debate only a few voters will follow. Lets stick with the core question  how are we doing?

On Monday, the answer was good. After 4 p.m., W.R. Berkley Corp., the large insurer in Lamonts hometown, announced record quarterly underwriting profits.

Two hundred seventeen days to the election. Each one brings news. This is going to be fun.

dhaar@hearstmediact.com
TORRINGTON  The Norwalk Historical Society will present The Life and Times of William Webb: An African-American Civil War Soldier from Connecticut, an In person presentation at Mill Hill Historic Park, at 2 p.m. May 21 with Pastor Kevin Johnson of Torrington.

Tickets are $5 per person; reserv at www.norwalkhistoricalsociety.org, or pay at the door. Mill Hill Historic Park is located at 2 East Wall Street in Norwalk. Handicapped and limited mobility parking on site. General parking is at the HSC building on the corner of East Wall Street and Park Street. Follow blue parking signs.

Johnsons presentation of Webb is told from an emotional and exciting first-person perspective that vividly illustrates the struggle of the African-Americans in the Colored Infantry during the Civil War.

Private Webb was an actual soldier, a native of Hartford. He was recruited in 1863 and served in the Twenty-Ninth (Colored) Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in several battles in Virginia. Johnsons presentation of Webb is told from an emotional and exciting first-person perspective that vividly illustrates the struggle of the African-Americans in the Colored Infantry during the Civil War. He tells of his early life in Hartford, his recruitment and training, and the traumatic final battles of the Civil War. The presentation is based on extensive research in the collections of the Connecticut State Library and the Museum of Connecticut History at 231 Capitol Ave, opposite the State Capitol in Hartford.

Johnson is an employee of the State Librarys History and Genealogy Unit. He has been presenting William Webb for more than 20 years, and has given more than 600 presentations. The Connecticut State Library provides high quality library and information services to state government and the citizens of Connecticut. It also preserves and makes accessible the records of Connecticut's history and heritage. The focus of the Museum and its collections is Connecticut's government, military and industrial history. Permanent and changing exhibits trace the growth of the State and its role in the development of the nation from the Colonial era to the present.

Additional information about the State Library and the Museum of Connecticut History can be found on its Web page at http://www.ctstatelibrary.org

For more information on this event and the Norwalk Historical Society visit www.norwalkhistoricalsociety.org, e-mail info@norwalkhistoricalsociety.org , or call 203-846-0525. The Norwalk Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
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HAMDEN  During Imaan Masoods freshman year at Hamden High School, Eid al-Fitr arrived right just before finals.

Masood remembers having to choose between a vital day of class and the Muslim holiday, which falls at the end of Ramadan and comes about 10 days earlier each year.

I cant imagine if Eid had been on a day of finals, she said. Its honestly like really troubling to have to choose between something that we hold really close to our hearts ... and school. Its a big choice to make, especially when you have projects, finals, essays.

Masood took the day off. When she arrived at school on a later date to take her English final, she said, the teacher gave a prompt that was unfamiliar to her.

A friend explained to the teacher that Masood had missed class on the day they covered the topic, Masood said.

This Monday, Masood again will have to choose whether to go to school or celebrate Eid al-Fitr. But next year, students, including Masoods younger brother, will not have to make that choice thanks to a Board of Education decision to add the holiday to the 2022-23 academic calendar.

The decision, made in February, also added days off for Three Kings Day and Juneteenth. It comes two years after a group of students came together to advocate to add Eid al-Fitr as a school holiday.

Next year, the celebration will fall during April vacation but still is recognized as its own day off on Hamdens academic calendar.

Mariam Khan, a former Hamden High School student who in 2020 served as the student representative to the Board of Education and since has been elected as a fully-fledged member, said Hamden is among the first districts in the state to give students the day off on Eid al-Fitr.

Bridgeport made the decision earlier this month, and Manchester did so two years ago, according to the Journal Inquirer.

Khan was part of the group of students who rallied in 2020 to advocate to add Eid al-Fitr to the academic calendar. To be able to vote for the change as a board member was a really precious moment of mine, Khan said.

The move not only prevents students who celebrate Eid al-Fitr from missing school, but it also gives Muslim students a sense of value and belonging, Khan said.

This is really important to so many Muslim students, and even non-Muslim students, said Khan. She remembered how students spoke in favor of the change at a 2020 Board of Education meeting.

Another recent Hamden high alum and practicing Muslim in public office is Abdul Osmanu. He graduated in 2019 and now represents the towns 3rd District on the Legislative Council.

Osmanu recalled what it was like to miss a day of class on Eid al-Fitr.

Id have to coordinate everything with the teacher, he said. It was just an added layer of trying to make sure that following my own religious faith did not result in some sort of penalty against my own academic progress.

Seeing the Board of Education address that problem for future generations was heartwarming, Osmanu said.

I have a lot of gratitude toward Mariam (and) some of the other Muslim students who were able to voice (their) concerns, he said.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
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NEW YORK (AP)  A New York City firefighter killed while battling a Brooklyn house fire was a selfless hero and fun-loving prankster who overcame childhood health obstacles to follow his father into the department, earning the nickname golden child at his firehouse because he seemingly did no wrong, mourners said Friday.

Timothy Klein, 31, died Sunday when flames engulfed the second floor of the home, causing part of the ceiling to collapse. One other person was killed in the blaze in Brooklyns Canarsie neighborhood. Eight firefighters and a resident were hurt.

Klein, who was with the fire department for six years, volunteered in his off hours by building ramps for disabled members of the fire community and giving retired firefighters rides to the hospital, friends and family said at his funeral at the Church of St. Francis DeSales, a Roman Catholic parish in Belle Harbor, Queens.

Klein was the life of the party, often dragging his boombox and a cooler full of beer to the beach with friends on sunny days, and pulling practical jokes on his friends and fellow firefighters at Ladder Company 170.

He died doing what he loved, firefighter Vincent Geary said in a eulogy. Being a fireman was his true purpose in life. A hero always putting others before himself. Tim was everything you ever wanted in a son, brother, partner, firefighter or friend."

Klein was diagnosed with a rare form of anemia when he was 9 months old and, before he turned 3, had surgery to remove his spleen, his mother, Dee Dee, said.

Klein's illness delayed his growth, but he didn't let that stop him from playing every sport he could  even when teammates and opponents were towering over him  or achieving his dream of being a firefighter, Dee Dee Klein said.

Our hearts will be broke forever, but we know that Tim would want us to continue to quietly pay it forward, just as he always managed to do, Dee Dee Klein said.

Klein's father was a New York City firefighter for 29 years, and his grandfather was a police officer. After college in Pennsylvania, Klein joined the fire department in 2015 and quickly impressed his bosses and peers alike.

Rather than getting razzed, as rookies often do, Klein was getting thanked, Geary recalled, leading to his golden child moniker.

Its clear that Tim was born to be a hero, Mayor Eric Adams said.

Acting Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said Klein truly epitomized what it means to be a New York City firefighter" and was the kind of person we should all aspire to be, kind, selfless and always, always there to help."

His dedication didnt end at the firehouse door, Kavanagh said. Tim never missed a chance to help. He always stepped up for family and friends, his fellow firefighters at work and outside out of work, and for the community he bravely served. He committed himself fully, on and off duty."

In 2019, it was Klein delivering the eulogy at the funeral of his friend and fellow Ladder 170 firefighter Steven Pollard, who plunged to his death off a highway bridge while rushing to rescue two men trapped in an overturned vehicle on the Belt Parkway.

Just days before his death, Klein was collecting donations for a fishing tournament in Pollard's memory, an event to raise money to help cover the costs of more ramps for retired firefighters, children of firefighters and others within their community who need help getting around.

For all of Klein's humble good deeds, his friends and colleagues came to know a mischievous side  the ultimate prankster hiding in plain sight" who could turn quiet moments at the firehouse or out on the town into uproarious gags, Geary said.

Geary remembered one prank in which Klein sneaked a bouillon cube into a firefighters cup, turning his coffee into soup. Another time, Klein told his friends that instead of a cover charge, a local bar was collecting cans for a holiday food drive.

They all showed up with donations, only to find a bouncer puzzled by their altruism and Klein laughing that he'd once again pulled one over on them.

___

Follow Michael Sisak on Twitter at twitter.com/mikesisak
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NEW HAVEN  Ken Maltese grew up Episcopalian and wasnt really attending church when he married his wife, Diane, in 1971.

He started attending St. Aedan Roman Catholic Church with her and felt so welcomed he kept going. Later, the Rev. Joseph McCann got him involved in parish life. Now, as the church building turns 100 years old, Maltese is on the Parish Council and the centennial committee.

Saints Aedan and Brendan Parish  the two merged in 2016  will celebrate its churchs 100th anniversary Sunday with a special 10 a.m. Mass and reception. Archbishop Leonard Blair will celebrate. For Maltese, the reason to celebrate is not for the building but for the people, especially those who are not members who will come Sunday and decide to return.

I hope well have some folks come check us out and decide to come back, he said. I told the committee, if we can get one family to come back to church here, to me, all the work weve put into the centennial will be worth it. Were a parish family in the true sense.

St. Aedan was founded in 1900 on Emerson Street. The Rev. John McGivney bought the Fountain Street property and the English Gothic-style church was dedicated in 1922, one year after Westville was incorporated into New Haven.

McGivney was the brother of the Rev. Michael McGivney, who founded the Knights of Columbus and has been beatified by the Catholic Church.

Since then, the church has been expanded and restored. In 2020, we found out that our ceiling has beautiful gold leaf details that over the years hadnt been renovated but were hidden by incense smoke, Maltese said.

Before that, the wooden altar, ambo (where the priest preaches the homily) and baptismal font were replaced with Carrara marble, and the altar was turned around to face the congregation in 1962, during Vatican II.

But for every parish, its the people who are most important, and Maltese said Saints Aedan and Brendans diversity makes it a special place. We would have an international night supper and fundraiser, he said. I think at one time we had 22 or 23 nationalities represented. If you sat in the pews for the three weekend Masses, you would see all kinds of people, of all ages and backgrounds.

People who were lectors or Eucharistic ministers at St. Aedan and moved away to Southington, North Branford or North Haven still come back to perform their ministries, Maltese said.

The Rev. Robert Morgewicz, pastor since 2017, reflected back on the parishs history. To think that weve been worshiping in Westville for 100 years and to think of the number of families that have been worshiping there, the number of baptisms, the number of marriages, he said. Its mind-boggling to think of the impact its had in Westville.

Among those coming Sunday are relatives of people that were actually there in 1922, that helped build the church, Morgewicz said. It was a very Irish neighborhood and the people that lived there contributed to the building of the church. He said families sacrificed to donate.

One family coming from Massachusetts is descended from an organist who helped build the church, Morgewicz said. They actually have a plaque on a pew, he said.

William Dow III, a prominent New Haven lawyer, said, Five of my seven kids were adopted there. Some of them were altar servers there. We are regular parishioners.

Dow said the makeup of the parish has shifted or changed for the better over the years. Theres a much broader and deeper ethic diversity.  It is a place of faith that is welcome to all. Catholics from all over should feel comfortable there, irrespective of where you were raised.

Dow said the parish also has a substantial strain of generosity, with donations to food banks and Christian Community Action.

He said attendance dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, but were hopeful that its going to rebound in a stronger way. When there are things like COVID or an international crisis like Ukraine, thats really when faith comes into play.

edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382
Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media

HAMDEN  A New Haven man was charged Wednesday with a March hit-and-run incident that killed 24-year-old Raekwon McLean, according to the Hamden Police Department.

Through an extensive investigation, police discovered the man was driving and chasing McLean the afternoon of March 13. Police said McLean was driving an SUV that had been reported stolen by Devington Beckford, 25, of New Haven a few days earlier. Police said Beckford attempted to call 911 while following the car.
A Rhode Island man was charged this week with threatening to bomb Yale New Haven Hospital last May, according to federal prosecutors.

Alexander Bradley, 42, appeared in federal court in Hartford Wednesday. He was charged with conveying false information about explosives and false information and hoaxes. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison, according to Leonard Boyle, the acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

Prosecutors allege that Bradley, who last resided in Cranston, R.I., called the Yale University Health Clinic on May 9, 2021. He spoke to a nurse and asked if he he had reached the Yale New Haven Hospital. When told he had not, Bradley refused to give his name and complained that he had been denied care at the hospital. He then told the nurse that he was going to bomb the hospital, Boyles office said.

About a half hour later, Bradley anonymously called the hospital and stated he had placed a pressure cooker containing a bomb outside of the building, according to Boyles office.

The bomb threat disrupted hospital operations and prompted a large response from the New Haven Police Department, Yale Police Department and Yale New Haven Protective Service, Boyles office said.

Less than three weeks after the bomb threat, Bradley also contacted a CVS pharmacy in his hometown in Rhode Island and said that he was going to shoot up and blow up a hospital, according to Boyles office.

Investigators with the FBIs Terrorism Task Force later determined the phone number used to make the threats was linked to Bradley, Boyles office said.

Bradley was released on a $25,000 bond into the custody of a third-party custodian. As part of his release, Bradley is subject to location monitoring and must attend drug and mental health treatment, according to Boyles office.
Former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani has officially declared to run for the 2023 Presidency. The former Senate President made the dec...





Former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani has officially declared to run for the 2023 Presidency.





The former Senate President made the declaration in a press conference held in Abuja on Friday.





Nnamani further expatiates his intention to contest in the All Progressives Congress, APC, 2023 Presidential Primary, after unofficially expressing his intention a few days ago.





He said he will purchase the nomination forms in a couple of days.





According to him, I consider this a good development as it shows that our democracy is growing to the point of significant inclusivity and democratic freedom.





The bedrock of democracy is that right of citizens to aspire to political offices and offer themselves to other citizens to evaluate and elect them to make decisions for the rest of the society.





The responsibility to choose the best amongst the qualified for the office rest on the citizens. In the case of the party primary, that responsibility rests on the party delegates chosen according to law for that purpose.





In the days to come, I will be consulting and communicating with our party delegates who have the responsibility to choose the best to fly our flag in the competitive presidential election in 2023.





Looking at the array of aspirants to replace President Buhari in 2023 under the platform of the APC, I believe that I am very suited for the job of the President of the republic at this period in the history of Nigeria.





We will all agree that President Buhari met enormous challenges. In spite of the challenges we face, we have to acknowledge Mr Presidents patriotism which manifests in the unshaken belief that Nigeria will move past the current problems and setbacks.





With rigour and commitment, he has been dealing with the crises of stability and development since 2015, when he became President in a historic mandate that inaugurated the first democratic transition from one party to another.





As members of the ruling party, we have to step forward to tackle these difficult challenges and continue in the spirit of courage and patriotism.





I believe that every period in the history of a country requires a particular kind of leader. Nigeria faces very tough challenges now more than ever. It is at a time like this that we need a man of tested integrity and competence to mobilize Nigerians to overcome these tough challenges.





My pedigree as the President of Senate and Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Constitutional and Electoral Reform shows beyond doubt that I am that man.





Different period requires a different kind of leadership. In 2015, we needed a Buhari to take Nigeria away from the misdirection of the Peoples Democratic Party. In 2023, we need a leader who knows how to work across the divides and lead a coalition for competent and dedicated Nigeria to lay foundations for social stability and prosperity.





We need tested and trusted leaders who would reignite hope in the hearts of young Nigerians and unlock the competencies that we are losing to other nations. In 2023, we will need a Ken Nnamani to help unite Nigeria, deepen democracy, and rebuild the social and economic infrastructure of sustainable development based on production and fair distribution.
The comments on the 2023 Nigeria elections made by the Oba of Benin, Omo NOba Ewuare II are trending. The monarch, who received Vice Presid...





The comments on the 2023 Nigeria elections made by the Oba of Benin, Omo NOba Ewuare II are trending.





The monarch, who received Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at his palace, said many aspirants were only seeking positions to amass wealth.





The traditional ruler, on Thursday, noted that the VPs records were intimidating, NAN reports.





I think you are going to give a lot of problems to other contestants. There is no gainsaying that they all probably are shivering where they are.





Oba Ewuare listed Osinbajos qualities as calmness, humility, great respect for culture and being a true man of God.





He expressed hope that Nigeria would be better if leaders have the fear of God, not just to go there to rape the treasury and oppress people.





The Oba said most times, people rushing to be president, vice president or governors, only to go there and loot the treasury, enrich themselves.





We want to stay here in Nigeria, enjoy the good things of life in Nigeria; not in Dubai, not in the United States and others.
The All Progressives Congress, on Friday in Abuja, said it was yet to determine where it wants to zone its presidential ticket to. The Party...





The All Progressives Congress, on Friday in Abuja, said it was yet to determine where it wants to zone its presidential ticket to.





The Partys National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, disclosed this to State House Correspondent shortly after he presented the partys governorship candidate in the forthcoming Ekiti governorship election, Biodun Oyebanji, to the President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.





When asked where the governing party would be zoning its presidential ticket to, Adamu said such a decision is beyond the National Working Committee and is the prerogative of the entire party, which, he acknowledged, is bigger than the chairman.





According to him, I am today privileged to be the chairman of the party. The party is greater than me. The party has not made a decision and I cannot preempt what the party decision will be.





Adamu was accompanied to the Presidential Villa by the Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Kebbi State governor and Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, Atiku Bagudu; and the National Secretary of the APC, Senator Iyiola Omisore.
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Friday, charged Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State to facilitate the return of 500 youths alleged...









The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Friday, charged Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State to facilitate the return of 500 youths allegedly arrested in the State and taken to Abuja.





IPOB said Uzodinma should urgently facilitate the return of these youths before it loses its patience.





Emma Powerful, the spokesman of IPOB, lamented that Uzodinma invited security agents to arrest about 500 Biafra youths about one year ago, and their whereabouts remained unknown.





In a statement by Powerful, the group insisted that the Governor would be held responsible if anything happened to them.





The statement reads partly: This is also one year that Hope Uzodinma and his APC party invited military to kill innocent citizens in Imo State and they arrested and abducted many people who they ferried to Abuja. We are also yet to see them.





They abducted over 500 Biafra youths in Imo State since last year, and we want those youths back for prosecution if they think they committed any crime.





We gathered through intelligence that those youths were actually being brought back from Abuja to Imo State but unfortunately Nigeria security agents who were escorting them executed them along the way of Abaji and Lokoja in Kogi State.





We are about to exhaust our patience. Hope Uzodinma should please return those youths before we lose our patience.





Hope Uzodinma should be held responsible if anything untoward happens to our comrades. He should not expect to conduct his daughters traditional wedding in Abuja while the Igbo youths he aided their abduction were executed by security agents. The spirit of those youths wont allow him go on cerebration spree after making many innocent families childless.
New Orleans-based Liberty Bank, the country's largest Black-owned bank, said Tuesday that Todd McDonald would become the bank's new president starting next week, taking the reins from his father, Alden McDonald.

The announcement came at a ceremony in Congo Square marking 50 years since Alden McDonald, 79, became president at what was then a small savings bank at the behest of Norman. C. Francis, Liberty Bank's chairman and the former long-time president of Xavier University.

Francis recalled finding McDonald as a 29-year-old working in obscurity for the International City Bank, where he had been hired in 1966. A graduate of LSU's banking program, he was then the first Black hired to work in a Louisiana bank.

Toiling in obscurity

"The young man was in the basement of the bank, papers all around him, and I said, 'Alden, look, how about being president of a bank,'" said Francis. After a few attempts, McDonald agreed to take the job.

"Few people would have ever believed then that there would be a day like today and that African Americans would be owning a bank and celebrating 50 years with many years to come," said Francis, announcing the "passing of the torch" from father to son.

Liberty now is the only Black-owned bank in the country with assets of more than $1 billion. "That is significant in a lot of different ways," said Alden McDonald, particularly in the ways it allows the bank to attract more capital and to speed up its growth rate.

Early last year, for example, Liberty received an investment of $16 million of core capital from a $30 billion program started by JP Morgan Chase, which is aimed at redressing racial injustices in the banking system. McDonald said the capital injection allowed Liberty to lend about 10 times that amount to homeowners and businesses.

Liberty acquired Tri-State Bank of Memphis in 2021 bringing the bank into Tennessee and adding more than $100 million in assets. The bank now operates in 11 states and is one of only two African American-owned banks in the country that is allowed to sign up customers online from more than one state.

A growth spurt

Since the start of last year Liberty grew its assets from about $700 million to more than $1 billion.

Todd McDonald, 41, who takes over officially on Monday, has been working for the bank since 2003 and joined the board of directors five years ago. "I didn't really think this was going to happen; Alden you surprised us all," the younger McDonald joked in a speech at the event.

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"This is what I wake up thinking about and what I think about when I go to sleep," said Todd McDonald, who graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta and later earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Alden McDonald will not be retiring but instead stays on as CEO of the bank holding company, Liberty Financial Holding Company, where he will be weighing acquisition opportunities.

"Watch this space"

Both McDonalds spoke about heightened ambition for the bank, which has seen its mortgage lending grow by $1 billion in the past decade.

Todd McDonald said the main focus for growth for Liberty will be its online platform. The bank is looking to acquire more customers in underserved minority communities on both the West and East Coasts.

Though Liberty is the largest of the 18 Black-owned FDIC-insured banks in the country, it is dwarfed not only by banking behemoths like JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, but also by other minority-designated banks owned by Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asian and Pacific Islanders.

"For decades (Black-owned) banks did not receive outside investment and truly built themselves solely on the profit that went to the bottom line," said Todd McDonald, noting that it has made Liberty financially stronger.

Liberty was profitable for all but one of its 50 years in operation and has never relied on government subsidies, which cannot be said for some of the country's largest banks, Alden McDonald noted.

With many of the larger banks now focusing on opportunities in fast-growing, underserved communities, there is an opportunity for Liberty to accelerate even further the growth it has seen in the last few years, said Alden McDonald.

"We had constraints all along the way but the beauty of all of this is that the community has supported us from day one," he said. "There's a lot of consolidation that is still to take place and not only among African American financial institutions," he said, noting that the bank has seen growth locally from the growing Spanish-speaking immigrant communities.

"We have now prepared ourselves with additional capital; so watch this space," said the elder McDonald.
Four teenagers accused in the death of Linda Frickey, the 73-year-old woman who died after being carjacked and dragged down a Mid-City street last month, have been indicted on charges of second-degree murder and will be tried as adults.

John Honore, 17, Briniyah Baker, 16, Lenyra Theophile, 15, and MarQel Curtis, 15, face mandatory life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years if convicted. They are each being held on $1 million bail.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams announced the grand jury indictments Thursday, calling Frickeys death horrific, and arguing that it was necessary to try the teens as adults based on the nature of the alleged crime.

Four or five years for these criminal acts is just not enough, Williams said.

Following the indictments, Jinny Griffin, Frickeys sister, said the family was as ecstatic as we can be, and that they supported the teens being charged as adults.

We still feel for the other families, she said, but these people knew the difference between right and wrong and they chose wrong, and they have to pay the consequences.

Frickey died after she was forced from her car on March 21 on Bienville Street. Surveillance video released by Frickeys family after her death shows that she was kicked and punched by at least one person, and that she was dragged alongside the car as the carjackers drove away.

New Orleans police said Frickeys arm was severed from her body, and a coroners report revealed she died of blunt force trauma.

The incident occurred in the middle of a weekday afternoon on the oak-lined Mid-City street.

Williams said that after watching the footage of Frickeys death and reviewing files on the four teens, it became clear he would seek to charge the teens as adults.

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I think it's important to realize that this wasn't a gun going off. This wasn't a situation where there was a terrible mistake, and the car went out of control, he said. There was a decision to encircle and prey on a woman that was clearly an elder by all four individuals...Not a single one did anything to disengage, walk away, or assist Mrs. Frickey just to save her life.

Parents of two of the teenagers turned their children into police.

Williams said New Orleans is failing our children and consequently failing every citizen and every visitor to the city.

He pledged to work with newly hired New Orleans public schools Superintendent Avis Williams to reduce truancy and enforce existing truancy laws to help us ensure that parents are making sure their school-age kids are in school, Williams said.

Parents who fail to enroll and maintain their childrens enrollment in school could be fined or jail, placed on probation, required to participate in community services, or take parenting classes, Williams said.

We don't want to add additional burdens to parents who are struggling to pay the bills, Williams said. He said that resources will be made available to help parents, but did not explain what exactly those resources will be.

If they need help, then there's going to be resources there to help them, he said, but we must meet this moment.

Williams campaigned on a promise to never charge juveniles as adults, but four months after taking office, Williams changed his position and charged two youths as adults in the killing of a woman in New Orleans East. He has since argued that some crimes demand a greater punishment than the juvenile justice system allows.

So far, he has charged at least 10 juveniles as adults, including the four teens allegedly involved in the death of Frickey. New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Shaun Ferguson previously said he thought the teens should face adult charges.

I know that there are some in this community who will absolutely say that I am wrong for charging these four young people as adults, Williams said Thursday. I say it was wrong of them to prey on and kill one of our elders...It was wrong to ignore her cries for mercy, which are embedded in the neighbors minds and hearts and ears who were out there at that crime scene. It was wrong to take her life.
The 3-year-old girl who died by gunfire in a French Quarter apartment this week shot herself in the face with a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol that her older brother had left unsecured in the bathroom, New Orleans police say.

Autumn Barthelemy had been in the care of her brother, Donell Barthelemy, 18, a high school junior who had a warrant out for his arrest in another homicide, when she fatally wounded herself with his Glock. He was in the bedroom Tuesday afternoon when his sister went to the bathroom, where his loaded gun was on the back of the toilet, police wrote in an arrest affidavit filed in Criminal District Court. The gun did not have a safety, police said.

Donell heard a single gunshot, ran to the bathroom and found Autumn bloodied, according to the affidavit, signed by detective Michael Haynes.

Police responded to the shooting in the 400 block of Burgundy Street at 3:49 p.m. Emergency Medical Services took Autumn to a hospital, where she was declared dead at 4:10 p.m.

Authorities say the bullet entered Autumn's head via her nostril and exited through the back of her head. A pathologist observed stippling - marks caused by burning gunpowder - on her nose, lips and cheeks.

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Police booked Barthelemy with negligent homicide because, they said, he knowingly left a loaded gun with no safety mechanism within reach of a toddler. Magistrate Commissioner Jonathan Friedman set bond Thursday at $100,000.

But Barthelemy also is accused of killing a man Sept. 30 in Treme. Police said he was walking with two other men in the 2400 block of Ursulines Street when they encountered another group of men. Barthelemy got into an altercation with one of the others, shot him and ran off. The victim, Brian Thomas, 34, took a few steps, collapsed in the road and died.

Police said they identified Barthelemy via surveillance camera recordings, and obtained a warrant to arrest him March 16. He was booked with second-degree murder on Tuesday, after police took him in for questioning about his sister's death.

Bond in the Treme killing was set at $600,000.
Cora Chambers had a vibrant, caring and generous spirit that practically sparkled whether you had known her for years or had just made her acquaintance, relatives and friends said.

The 54-year-old from Kenner was known for her friendly nature and her deep, unwavering concern for the welfare of others.

However, only a trusted few knew that at home, Chambers' only son, Joshua Chambers, 28, waged a battle with mental illness that authorities said led to multiple involuntary psychiatric evaluations over the years.

+2 After Kenner mother beaten to death with hammer, son booked with murder A Kenner man was behind bars Monday, accused of beating his mother to death with a hammer on Sunday, authorities said.

Kenner police say Joshua Chambers attacked his mother Sunday morning, bludgeoning her with a hammer at the home they shared. He was arrested the same day and booked with second-degree murder.

Though authorities did not specify a motive for the killing, they have noted Joshua Chambers' history of mental illness.

"She was just an outstanding human being, and it just hurts so bad because she loved him so much," Cora Chambers' sister, Doris Chambers, 56, said Thursday as she wept.

Cora Chambers' death left many who knew her speechless from shock, friends say, because her light and loving manner was never dimmed by her personal struggles.

"She's done so much for other people in spite of the burden that she carried," Doris Chambers said. "It didn't change her. She didn't become bitter towards other people. She had this love pouring out of her for everybody."

Cora Chambers was the youngest of Dorothy Chambers' two daughters. She was born and raised in New Orleans and graduated from Eleanor McMain High School in 1985, said Dorothy Chambers, 80.

As a teen, she worked in the Head Start program at Kingsley House in New Orleans, a non-profit dedicated to serving children, parents and aging adults.

"She loved to take care of children," Dorothy Chambers said.

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It was the beginning of a 21-year career of service with Kingsley House, an organization Cora Chambers' relatives say she absolutely cherished.

"It was mutual. We loved her," Kingsley House Chief Operating Officer Valerie Wheatley said.

During her first 14-year stint with the non-profit, Cora Chambers taught young children. She left the organization, but returned in 2003 for another seven years, first as the receptionist and later working her way up to program coordinator for the Adult Day Care program.

In 2016, Cora Chambers received the McMain Award, the organizations highest honor, usually given to community members, Wheatley said.

"She exemplified what it meant to give back to the community, her individual development and her outstanding work," Wheatley said.

Doris Chambers described her sister as a fashionista who loved to shop and enjoyed traveling. She as a devoted New Orleans Saints fan and her mother's "baby girl."

"My mom and my sister were like peas in a pod. If you saw one, you saw the other," Doris Chambers said.

The family is following Cora Chambers' wishes to conduct a memorial service via video conference.

In lieu of any donations, they wanted to encourage friends and the community to make a contribution to Kingsley House on Tuesday (May 3) for GiveNOLA Day, the Greater New Orleans Foundation's 24-hour, virtual fundraising event for local non-profits.

"I can speak for her," Doris Chambers said, "and she would be just delighted."

To learn more about Kingsley House and how to take part in GiveNOLA Day, visit https://www.kingsleyhouse.org/
A Slidell man on trial for a woman's heroin-related death has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, the north shore district attorney's office said Thursday.

Oren Rapp Bowens, 43, who had been charged with second-degree murder, pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter, possession with intent to distribute heroin, distribution of heroin and possession of buprenorphine. Judge William Burris of the 22nd Judicial District Court sentenced him to 50 years in prison.

A St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office investigation into the death of 23-year-old Shantell Jackson found that her boyfriend bought heroin from Bowens on Oct. 19, 2017, according to police reports. Hours later, he found her suffering from a medical emergency and took her to a hospital, where she died after being diagnosed with a brain abscess, prosecutors said.

The coroner's office said the abscess was exacerbated by heroin toxicity.

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Jackson's father agreed to a plea deal with Bowens and, in a victim impact statement, decried drug dealers who prey on addicted people and said he hoped no other family would have to suffer a similar loss.

Bowens' attorney, Barry Ranshi, said the defense had been prepared to call an expert witness who would have disagreed with the coroner's findings.

"But because Mr. Bowens was a multiple offender under Louisiana law, any felony verdict of guilt, which included distribution of heroin or possession with the intent to distribute heroin, would have subjected my client to a life sentence," Ranshi said, adding that the decision to take the state's offer was in Bowens' best interest.

Assistant district attorneys Elizabeth Authement and Iain Dover prosecuted the case.
David Jacobs wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings when he entered a backyard in Slidell's Country Club subdivision last May. A pool technician, he was focused on his task, replacing a noisy motor that he could hear from the street.

But then he caught movement from the corner of his eye. A 9-foot-3-inch-long alligator in the fenced yard had just lifted its massive head as he walked past it.

"I did a double-take  classic," said Jacobs. "Not only did I do a double-take, I did an Irish step dance away from it. This monster of an animal could have easily taken my leg off from the knee down."

Jacobs' encounter with the huge reptile, in a fenced backyard, may have been unexpected, but according to Jeb Linscombe, who heads the alligator program for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, it's not unheard of.

Spring is gator time

In fact, alligator sightings are as much a feature of spring in St. Tammany Parish neighborhoods as crawfish boils and pollen-coated cars. Social media posts about sightings in canals and other bodies of water around Slidell area subdivisions, in particular, have been plentiful in recent weeks.

That's to be expected this time of year, Linscombe said. Alligators' metabolism slows in the winter, and they can survive those months without eating. But when the air temperature becomes warmer than the water, they start moving again, and their activity increases as spring progresses and breeding season begins.

More like Florida

For most of Louisiana, home to two million alligators, the spring awakening isn't an issue because the alligator habitat isn't close to people. But St. Tammany is one of the places where there's an urban environment in close proximity to alligator habitat, Linscombe said.

In that respect, St. Tammany is more like Florida than the rest of the state, he said, and St. Tammany accounts for a significant number of the 2,000 or so nuisance gator calls the agency gets each year.

It was also in St. Tammany Parish where human remains were found inside an alligator, a first for Louisiana, according to Linscombe.

Timothy Satterlee Sr., 71, had been attacked by an alligator outside his Avery Estates home during Hurricane Ida, according to his wife. The coroner identified the remains found inside of a 12-foot, 504-pound alligator as Satterlee based partly on DNA.

An 11-year-old boy lost an arm in a gator attack in 2008 while he swam in a Slidell-area pond. That alligator, known as "Big Joe," was caught and killed, and the arm was retrieved from its belly. But surgeons could not reattach it.

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Nuisance or not?

For the most part, the alligators that people are seeing in local canals and wetlands don't pose a threat to people, Linscombe said. Alligators have a natural fear of humans, and smaller ones in particular are just moving through.

But an alligator that's not shy of humans  or one in someone's yard  needs to be removed, Linscombe said. So do alligators that are 6 feet or larger and outside of a wetland.

The agency has 50 nuisance hunters on contract statewide to handle those complaints, which can be made by calling the Wildlife and Fisheries office in Baton Rouge at 337-735-8672 or in Lafayette at 337-262-2080 or by calling Operation Game Thief at 800-442-2511.

Nuisance hunters remove about 1,000 alligators every year. They are allowed to harvest them, although some are just relocated.

"The key thing is to stay away from them and call us," Linscombe said.

While Wildlife and Fisheries say the number of calls has stayed consistent, some waterfront residents, like Grady Engolia who has lived in Eden Isles subdivision for 35 years, says he thinks the numbers have been increasing in recent years.

He puts some of the blame in his area on residents feeding ducks, whose population has swelled as a result. "Alligators eat whatever they can find, they're scavengers and will live on turtles and fish. But how much easier is it to sneak up and snatch a duck or duckling?" Engolia said.

Indeed, Angela Simms, who lives in the Oak Harbor subdivision near Slidell, said that the ducklings that had been paddling around that neighborhood virtually disappeared after Easter, and she suspects an alligator.

Some people also feed alligators, which Linscombe called "absolutely the most irresponsible thing you can do." Agents found multiple chicken legs inside the same alligator that contained Satterlee's remains, he said.

Throwing bycatch in the water can also attract alligators, he said. "Even if you're not trying to feed the alligator, if you're inadvertently doing it, you're still feeding the alligator," he said.

Engolia, who has helped trap nuisance alligators, agreed. "A domesticated alligator is the most dangerous one...they are less afraid of people," he said, "They hear the splash, and they come running. They know it's feeding time."
For the third time this month, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputies have arrested a man accused of masturbating inside a vehicle parked in a shopping center parking lot, the Sheriff's Office said Thursday.

Travis Manint, 42, of Covington, was arrested Thursday after a witness flagged down a deputy who was patrolling in the area of Louisiana 1085 and Louisiana 1077 to report a man masturbating in a vehicle in the parking lot, according to a news release.

Manint was booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail on one count of obscenity, which is a felony.

Manint was inside a store picking up an order when the deputy arrived. When confronted as he left the store, he allegedly confessed and was taken into custody, the Sheriff's Office said.

Earlier this week, the Sheriff's Office arrested an Alexandria man, who was naked when deputies arrived, after a witness complained that he was masturbating in his vehicle parked at a Covington area shopping center. And a Tangipahoa Parish man was arrested in connection with a similar incident on April 12, also in the Covington area.

Both were booked on obscenity, the Sheriff's Office said.
The Jefferson School Board has had nine members for more than a generation, but a number of impassioned speakers urged the board Thursday night to redraw its election districts - and perhaps add more - to reflect the parish's mixed demographics.

The current board numbers six White members, two Black members and one Hispanic-American. Jefferson's population is about 30% Black and 14% Hispanic, and the public school system's enrollment is even more tilted to minorities: almost two thirds of the roughly 50,000 students are Black or Hispanic.

The board is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a proposal that keeps the current district boundaries largely where they are, with two majority-Black districts and seven majority-White districts. The board's lone Hispanic member, Diane Schnell, was appointed earlier this year to fill an empty seat in a majority-White district.

The demographer hired by the board, Greg Rigamer, said the current district lines meet the standards set by state and federal law and ensure that the two majority-Black districts are protected.

'Time for this to change'

A procession of speakers asked the board to consider districts that more closely match the minority population and enrollment.

"Its time that the demographics of our school districts are represented on the board," Mary Carter said. She said her three children attended Jefferson public schools in the 1980s, when only about one third of the students were Black.

"Its time for this to change, and we dont want to wait another decade to get this right," she said.

Sofia Dheming, a graduate of Bonnabel High School in Kenner, said Schnell offered a sign of hope to her as a Hispanic woman. "I want my kids to see that," she said, urging the board to consider a Hispanic-majority district.

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That idea has gained traction. Earlier this month, Kenner-based attorney Miguel Elias sent the board a letter making the case for a Hispanic-majority district along a north Metaire-Kenner axis. The schools in that area, Elias argued, have large Hispanic populations.

Rigamer said it would be difficult to create such a district because the Hispanic population is not sufficiently concentrated. The best potential location would be in Kenner, but even there such a district would have only 30% Hispanic residents, he said.

More seats?

Other speakers wanted the board to add seats.

Ryan Gomez, who presented an 11-seat map on behalf of the Jeremiah Group, a community organization, said his proposal would create seven "majority-minority" districts not disenfranchise any one group.

"This 11-seat map does its very best to ensure that the elections for the next 10 years are competitive," he said.

Another presentation, by Carlos Pollard of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, included maps with 11- and 13-seat plans. Keeping the same district boundaries that were adopted in 2012, as the current plan does, would be a sign that the system is "broken," he said.

"Redistricting plays a critical role in our democracy," he said. "As leaders, you have the opportunity to change what was done in the past," he said.
Xavier University is a go-to institution for some of the best and brightest students interested in health sciences and medicine. Thats not enough for Xavier University President Dr. Reynold Verret. He wants more. Much more.

In recent years, Verret has had conversations with Xavier trustees, campus leaders and Louisiana health care partners and providers suggesting that Xavier might move toward a bigger, bolder vision: a graduate school of health sciences and medical school. Recent media coverage confirmed the ongoing discussions. It made front page and national news.

Its a huge dream, and a big gamble. Starting such a graduate school is expensive, and it involves a lot. Xavier is banking on its decades-old tradition of producing significant numbers of health professionals being a big draw, and some automatic gravitas.

There are 155 MD-granting medical schools in the United States, and there are more than 35 osteopathic medical schools. Of that number, there are only four medical schools that focus on educating and training Black physicians and health professionals: Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science out west in South Los Angeles.

Thats not enough to help serve an underserved population, people who want more options to choose health professionals who look like them.

Last year, the Association of American Medical Colleges shared data indicating that theres likely to be an overall physician shortage of 37,800 to 124,000 by 2034.

Xavier sees the void, and an opportunity.

The AAMC did report some good news. In the fall of last year, there were 22,000 students starting medical school, and the number of Black medical school students shot up 21% from 2020 to 2021. That means med school classes might be getting more diverse at the predominantly White medical schools. Thats great. Still, a fifth medical school focused on training more Black doctors and health professionals could help, a lot.

According to a 2018 AAMC report, the physician population is more diverse than it once was, but there are some rather important gaps. More than 56% of doctors are White, and about 17% are Asian. Hispanics make up 5.8% of the total. Black doctors are an even smaller fraction, at 5%.

Verret wants to do something about that. Xavier had 700 pre-med majors in the fall. The president wants to double the number of medical school candidates. Xavier pre-med graduates go on to attend medical school at Howard, LSU New Orleans, LSU Shreveport, Meharry, Morehouse and Rochester. If Xavier opens a medical school, some of those students would continue their studies where they start.

There are new medical schools going online regularly. Several opened just recently. Xavier can consider a number of paths.

The most expensive route is going solo, some do and it works. Some institutions, like the University of Louisiana Monroe, choose to partner with a medical school and offer a specific medical degree such as osteopathic. LSUs medical school has an interesting collaborative approach. Theres a regional campus in Baton Rouge for third- and fourth-year medical students. That means a limited investment can create additional training, research and residency opportunities. Drew has its own governance and authority, but the school works with UCLA to develop medical school students.

No matter which route is ultimately pursued, medical schools must meet strict accreditation standards. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education requires extensive preparation. Schools seeking approval go from applicant status to candidate status to preliminary accreditation status, and only then can they start accepting applications. With additional review, a school can move to provisional accreditation, then full accreditation. With preliminary planning, funding and accreditation, this might take five years or longer.

It sounds like a lot, and it is. Who wants an ill-trained doctor doing basic health checkups or cutting some body part to make things better?

If there is a higher education institution with the sort of track record of fundraising, partnership and student success needed to pull this off, its Xavier.

Stand by and watch the university's leaders go to work.
Afghan people carry sacks of rice, given out as part of humanitarian aid sent by China to Afghanistan, at a distribution center in Kabul, Afghanistan. PHOTO/AGENCIES

Alarmed by the critical humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, 14 UN human rights experts recently called on the United States to unblock $7 billion in foreign assets of Da Afghanistan Bank to enable the unimpeded provision of humanitarian assistance to cover the basic needs of tens of millions of people in the country.

In a statement released on Monday, they said they noted with regret the recent decision by the US administration to renew the blocking of Afghanistan central bank's foreign assets, and its reported intention to use part of it for other purposes within the US.

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Feb 11 putting the assets at the disposal of his administration to be used as compensation for the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks against the US on Sept 11, 2001.

The joint appeal of the UN human rights experts comes at a time when the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is putting at serious risk the lives of more than half of the country's population, particularly women and children.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the situation in the country as an "epic humanitarian crisis on the verge of a development catastrophe", and has called on the US to reassess any adopted unilateral measure and lift all obstacles in the provision of the necessary financial and humanitarian aid.

The UN human rights experts estimate that the country has the highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world, with more than 23 million people in need of food assistance, and approximately 95 percent of the population enduring insufficient food consumption.

Of particular concern is the vulnerability of more than 4 million internally displaced people, including people belonging to minorities and more than 3.5 million seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

Not only should the US unconditionally return the assets of the Afghan people that it has illegally frozen, most of which is funds from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for the development of the country, it should also apologize to the Afghan people and compensate them for the damage and suffering it has caused over the 20 years of its military occupation of the country.

After smashing the country and destroying the future of several generations, the US has not only walked away, but intends to take for itself the lifeline that the Afghan people depend on, which fully exposes the brutality and cruelty of the so-called rules-based international order the US is trying to peddle to the rest of the world.
Franciscan Health Michigan City plans to have a memorial service for those who lost pregnancies this weekend.

The hope is to comfort parents enduring one of the worst tragedies a person can experience in life.

"While pregnancy is a time of excitement and anticipation, the loss of a pregnancy or newborn is a heartbreaking experience, especially for the childs parents," Franciscan Health said in a press release. "Franciscan Health recognizes the pain that families go through in perinatal loss and provides services to those seeking care and comfort."

The Remembering Our Babies service will take place at 1 p.m. Saturday at St. Stanislaus Catholic Cemetery at 1015 Greenwood Ave. in Michigan City. The public is invited to attend the ceremony.

"Continuing Christs ministry in our Franciscan tradition means respect for life through all stages," Franciscan Health said in a press release. "This memorial service is held in accordance with Franciscan Health Michigan Citys faith and commitment, including the unborn child, their parents and families."

The new Franciscan Health Michigan City Hospital at 3500 Franciscan Way just north of the Franklin Street exit off Interstate 94 also offers more pregnancy loss support services.

For more information, call (219) 877-1610.

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Hundreds of steelworkers in Northwest Indiana have never returned home from their shift since horse-drawn plows first leveled sand dunes along the Lake Michigan shoreline to make way for the steel mills that would transform the Region.

Steelworkers across Northwest Indiana honored workers who died on the job during Workers Memorial Day Thursday.

"It's a significant day. It's a reminder of the people who were killed or injured in the past to make the workplace safer," USW Local 6797 President Pete Trinidad Sr. said. "We haven't had a fatality since 2015. This is the longest we've gone. We hope we never have another one."

The goal is ultimately zero fatalities, Trinidad said.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us to make it safe for all of us," he said. "It's up to us when we're working to make it safer. It's really tough when someone gets hurt or loses their life. It changes everything. The mill is a great place to work but a horrible place to die."

Thirty United Steelworkers union members have died at Cleveland-Cliffs Burns Harbor over the years. A total of 393 steelworkers have died at the former Inland steel mill in East Chicago, which was founded more than six decades earlier.

"Working in the mill, it's really dangerous. All kinds of things can happen with molten steel and shrapnel and dealing with heavy equipment," steelworker Terry Steagall said. "There's a very somber mood in the plant thinking about the friends and loved ones who lost their lives at work. It's a sad day."

USW Local 1010 President Don Seifert said he hoped new mill owner Cleveland-Cliffs' investments in painting, paving, housekeeping, lighting and new welfare areas at Indiana Harbor were hopefully a sign of commitment to the safer work environments the union has challenged management to provide over the years.

"This union, Local 1010, will always fight to have safer work environments to perform our daily tasks and work assignments," he said. "Today, like every day, we must focus on the job at hand, and make it safe or don't do it."

U.S. Steel Gary Works Primary Plant Manager Bruce Black said workers and management must work together to improve safety.

"In my first six months as a trainee, I watched three men not go home," he said. "In those times, there were many problems: equipment problems, attitude problems, finger-pointing, arguing, not embracing what we should be doing, too much acceptance of safety hazards. But every time something happened like that, people came together. The two sides found a way to talk. As my responsibilities grew in the mill, I noticed a change in attitudes, a change in sincerity toward safety. Both union and management started to work together and focus on people, not profit."

USW Local 1066 President Mark Lash said everyone had to dedicate themselves to not putting any more names on the memorial wall at Gary Works, where the last USW members died on the job in 2016.

"Every year this ceremony serves two purposes: to remember the lives lost and on this memorial and to evaluate where we are in our fight to ensure no more names are added," he said. "We have gone another year without adding another name to this memorial. This is the result made possible by the hard work of a multitude of employees who have worked hard with safety reps and management personnel to identify and remove hazards and rework safe job procedures."

Steelworkers must keep safety in the forefront of their minds, Lash said.

"We need to strive to never add another name to this memorial," he said. "Contract negotiations are often contentious but one thing we almost never get an argument about is the right to refuse unsafe work."

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HAMMOND  Annie Burns-Hicks witnessed history with the School City of Hammond honoring her with a ceremony on Thursday to officially rename Mayfield Elementary after her.

Burns-Hicks, the city's first black teacher, was with her family and cut the ribbon to officially name Burns-Hicks Elementary School.

Im getting kind of choked up. You really make a difference in all of our lives, remember that. Thank you so very much and I am truly, truly honored. Ill never forget this, ever, Burns-Hicks said.

The school board voted unanimously in January to rename Maywood for Burns-Hicks. Since then, the elementary school has also changed its colors and is now known as the Bulldogs.

Burns-Hicks lived in Mississippi as a child and moved to Hammond after her father witnessed a lynching. She later studied at Ball State Teachers College and then hoped to teach in the school city.

However, she was rejected due to her race, and eventually won a court battle against the corporation. She taught at Maywood Elementary and primarily taught first grade for more than 40 years. She also was one of the leaders in establishing full-day kindergarten.

Burns-Hicks now lives in a senior community in Indianapolis.

Maxine Simmons, chairwoman of the renaming committee, introduced the event. She emphasized how long people had been waiting for this change.

LeTerra Smith, principal of Burns-Hicks, expressed her pride.

It is so great for our students to have this representation, Smith said. Not only does (Burns-Hicks) look like many of our students, she has lived where they currently live.

Superintendent Scott Miller said the community has wholeheartedly embraced this change and are rallying around ideals Burns-Hicks practiced.

We are honoring someone who overcame adversity so they could positively impact their community and invest in the lives of children, Miller said.

Trustee Carlotta Blake-King represented the school board and emphasized who Burns-Hicks is and her strength.

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said this is the first school change he has seen in all his terms as mayor. He said many of the schools are named after governors and important military figures and now they are adding Burns-Hicks to the ranks.

Thats a big deal, right? I find it fitting that the mascot is the Bulldog, because if Annie wasnt a bulldog, we wouldnt be here today, McDermott said.

City Councilman Barry Tyler said he cannot wait to do whatever he can to support the elementary school. He said he is a Maywood alum.

Reverend Herman Polk also provided a school dedication prayer.

Following the ceremony, a banner was unveiled in front of the school displaying the new name, and a tree was planted. Burns-Hicks also read to students in the school library.

In the evening Tuesday, Hammond native Roland Parrishs documentary This Wall Must Come Down premiered to the public at Morton High Schools auditorium. The documentary tells the story of Burns-Hicks and how she became the first black teacher in Hammond.

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GARY  Xoey Glenn, 3, was a star, a beautiful child with a great spirit who could carry on a conversation with an adult despite her tender age, her father said.

Nothing will help Marcus Upshaw understand why Xoey died from what police say was abuse and torture at the hands of her mother and the mother's boyfriend, he said.

"We all want to know why, but there's no explanation to why," said Upshaw, who spoke to The Times this week during a phone conversation that included his mother, Jennifer R. Williams, and sister Tavie Williams.

Upshaw knows how it feels to lose a child.

He lost his 10-year-old daughter A'mari Upshaw in December 2018 to the rare blood disorder hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or HLH.

"Losing one was enough," he said. "But losing this one. This has opened up a whole different type of wound."

According to court records, Xoey Glenn was beaten, blindfolded, bound and forced to stand in a closet for nearly three hours April 12 by her mother Tiarra Glenn, 28, of Gary, and her mother's boyfriend, Devan L. Allen, 29, of East Chicago.

At one point, Xoey began hyperventilating while a scarf was tied around her head, so Glenn and Allen pulled the scarf up from her mouth and attempted to force her to drink water, Glenn told police.

After Xoey fell unconscious and urinated and defecated on herself, Glenn changed her clothes, cleaned the house and waited 20 minutes to call 911, records allege.

Xoey died April 15 from multiple blunt force injuries as a result of child abuse, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Glenn has pleaded not guilty to murder, five counts of battery and three counts of neglect. Allen was arrested in Lynwood and has not yet been extradited to Lake County, according to police and court records.

While he wasn't initially asked to give permission for Xoey's organs to be donated, Upshaw came to accept the decision, he said.

Through Gift of Hope, Xoey's heart was donated to a 7-month-old boy, her liver went to an 8-year-old boy, one of her kidneys was given to a man in his 50s and her other kidney went to a woman in her 40s.

"I was happy my daughter was able to live on through those four people," Upshaw said.

Jennifer R. Williams said he hopes her family gets meet the recipients one day.

"Yes, (Xoey) is gone from the body. She lives in the heavenly realm," Williams said. "But her earthly organs are helping someone else to live."

A family in shock

Upshaw said he was shocked and traumatized after Glenn's relative called him and said Xoey was being flown to University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital.

Upshaw said Glenn was pregnant with Xoey but they had separated in mid-2018, when he left Indiana to be with A'mari while she received treatment in Arizona. He donated bone marrow in July 2018 for a transplant for A'mari and lived in the hospital with her for months.

Upshaw said he and Glenn were estranged at times, but during the past year she had allowed him to regularly FaceTime with their daughters Xoey and Xaria, 6.

During one of their last calls, the girls were playing and Upshaw talked to them about moving to Arizona, he said.

"I visually spoke to them, and I didn't see no signs of neglect or them being in danger," Upshaw said.

Glenn suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and has had several joint replacement surgeries. If she had asked for help, Upshaw or his sister would have been there in a heartbeat, he said.

Tavie Williams said she and her sister had been trying for years to spend more time with Xaria and Xoey, but Glenn's family pushed them away.

"I told Tiarra, if you need anything, I am here," Williams said. "I can get them every weekend."

Glenn allowed Williams to take the children for a weekend when Xoey was about 5 months old, but she became estranged from her nieces after that. She didn't push the issue, because Glenn eventually began allowing Upshaw to talk to his daughters, she said.

In a way, losing Xoey feels like watching a Lifetime movie or reading news about another family, Williams said.

"My mom raised us to love one another. Our friends, if they needed somewhere to stay, they could come to our house," she said. "We weren't raised like that."

Glenn lived with both Tavie Williams and her mother, Jennifer R. Williams, at various times in Gary, so she knew she could lean on them, they said.

"We're still a family of love," said the elder Williams, who relocated to Arizona with Upshaw. "I'm not angry. All I have is disbelief."

A different kind of pain

Family members said they're still trying to process what happened.

"I just tell myself to breath every day, because it's like all that has escaped me," Jennifer R. Williams said. "I'm weary. I feel like I forgot how to pray, but I know God is my strength."

She's grateful for the moments when she was allowed to be Xoey's grandma, but her family's deepest pain is knowing they were trying to bring Xoey and Xaria to Arizona and now Xoey is gone.

"Child abuse is unheard of, but torture, I can't even grasp that," she said.

She was Upshaw's strength when A'mari died, but now Upshaw is her strength, she said.

"I'm proud of him in both situations," she said. "It's a different walk. It's me and him again. This time, this takes the strength of his brothers and sisters."

Upshaw said he flew to Chicago immediately after learning Xoey was hospitalized and went before a judge April 13 to get custody of his daughters.

Xaria is now with him, his mother and several of his siblings in Arizona, and they plan to seek counseling to help her process the trauma she endured  the extent of which has not yet been fully revealed.

When Upshaw asked the 6-year-old how she felt about being with him, she replied cheerfully: "I feel good."

But family members have noticed she wants to watch YouTube videos about CPR and helping people when they pass out, and she asks for permission to do everyday things like use the bathroom.

Upshaw and his mother said they're staying strong for Xaria.

"We still laugh," Jennifer R. Williams said. "But when we all sit down, it still comes to the table. We're trying to put together the pieces of this."

Before A'mari's death, the family started a foundation called Unicorns for A'mari to raise money for her medical expenses.

Now, they tell Xaria her little sister is "up there running with the other unicorn," Jennifer R. Williams said.

"I just say Xoey is with your big sister."

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CROWN POINT  A former waitress at a Munster restaurant pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor charge linked to allegations she stabbed a co-worker with a steak knife in 2020.

Sarah K. Stout, 39, of Bradley, Illinois, told Lake Criminal Court Judge Salvador Vasquez she was "completely joking" and "had no malicious intent" during the incident Jan. 24, 2020, at the Commander Restaurant, 745 Ridge Road.

Stout's attorney, John Cantrell, said he thought the Lake County prosecutor's office was going to offer Stout a pretrial diversion agreement but a supervisor rejected the deal.

Stout pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a class B misdemeanor. In exchange for her plea, prosecutors dropped one count of battery by means of a deadly weapon, a level 5 felony.

Stout and her co-worker were "horsing around" when the co-worker "got touched with a knife," Cantrell said.

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Tara Villarreal said Stout and the co-worker had a minor argument before the incident, but the co-worker didn't seek medical treatment that day.

Police obtained a video, but it wasn't clear enough to show exactly what happened, she said.

Vasquez accepted Stout's plea agreement and sentenced her to one day in jail, which she already served following her arrest in 2020.

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PORTAGE  Nearly two and a half years after being accused of beating and severely injuring another man using a wooden board, a Portage resident pleaded guilty Friday and faces up to 16 years behind bars.

Tito Caudillo, 52, pleaded guilty before Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer to a felony count of aggravated battery in return for prosecutors dismissing a second and more serious felony count of attempted murder.

The proposed plea agreement calls for Caudillo to serve 16 years behind bars. But after serving 10 actual years, he would be eligible to be placed in a prison substance abuse program.

Clymer told Caudillo on Friday that the 10-year term will include the time he already has spent at Porter County Jail.

The offense in question occurred Nov. 3, 2019, defense attorney Paul Stracci told the court.

Portage police said the incident occurred outside Caudillo's house in the 5800 block of McCasland Avenue.

A neighboring surveillance video shows a man stagger out of the front door of Caudillo's house and then fall into some landscaping, according to charging documents. Caudillo is seen walking over to where the other man had fallen and striking him 15 to 20 times with a two-by-four, the records state.

"The video shows Tito raising the two-by-four over his head and striking victim No. 1 while he was laying on the ground," according to court documents.

Caudillo is seen falling to the ground several times during the two-minute attack before he was confronted by another person, police said. The other person began recording with a cellphone as Caudillo mumbled something and then walked over to begin standing on the neck of the man on the ground, according to the court documents.

A neighbor threw Caudillo to the ground and held him until help arrived.

The injured man was taken to a local hospital before being airlifted to a Chicago hospital, where he was reportedly in critical condition and placed on a ventilator. He reportedly had bleeding on his brain in two locations.

Caudillo was out on bond at the time from a 2018 felony charge of intimidation based on allegations of holding a hunting knife and twice charging at another man, according to court records.

"I'm gonna gut you," he is accused of saying.

Footage of the May 30, 2018, attack at Caudillo's house was caught on a neighboring surveillance video, police said.

Clymer had denied Caudillo bond after his arrest on the latest charges.

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HAMMOND  A Hammond police and SWAT operation ended with multiple arrests and confiscated contraband.

On Thursday morning the Hammond Police Department SWAT team, narcotics units, and gang units collaborated with the Northwest Regional SWAT team and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.

Authorities simultaneously served search warrants at four houses in Hammond, said Hammond Police Department Lt. Steve Kellogg.

As a result, four people were arrested and narcotics and four firearms were recovered by police.

Kellogg said two of the four suspects who were arrested have been charged in a recent home invasion investigation. Police have not yet released the identities of the individuals taken into custody.

"The Hammond Police Department wants to thank the supporting agencies for their tremendous work in assisting to bring in these violent individuals," Kellogg said.

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CROWN POINT  A judge issued a bench warrant Wednesday for a Merrillville man accused of beating a girlfriend earlier this month after he failed to show up for a hearing in a murder case.

Hillard Hathaway III, 50, was scheduled to appear before Lake Criminal Court Judge Samuel Cappas on murder and attempted murder charges filed in February 2018.

Hathaway's defense attorney, Robert Varga, told the judge a relative of Hathaway informed him Hathaway could not appear in court because he had COVID-19. Varga recently entered the case as a public defender following the withdrawal of Hathaway's private attorney.

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Bruno said he suspected the relative's COVID claim was a ploy by Hathaway, who is wanted on three felony counts of domestic battery and one count of strangulation.

The domestic battery case was filed April 6, and an arrest warrant for Hathaway remained active Thursday.

In response to Cappas' question, Bruno said Hathaway was released on an agreed bond in the murder case following his co-defendant's acquittal at trial.

Records show Hathaway was released in January 2019 after posting a bond of $75,000 surety or $7,500 cash.

Cappas issued a bench warrant without bond.

Hathaway is accused of firing shots at Danny Leake, 44, of Gary, and another man during an argument over stolen car batteries Jan. 25, 2018, at a junk yard in the 1400 block of East 49th Avenue in Gary. Leake died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Hathaway's co-defendant Michael Brown, 47, was found not guilty of murder in November 2018 after taking the stand to deny a witness' testimony that Brown shot Leake.

Brown testified Hathaway fired a gun at the ground during an argument and Leake was shot when gunfire erupted a short time later.

Hathaway pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder.

Hathaway is accused in his new case of repeatedly striking a woman in the face April 6 at the Key West Inn, 1855 Mississippi St.

When Hobart police responded, they located a woman seated in a car who had severe injuries to her face, including two swollen eyes and bruising to both sides of her face, court records state.

Anyone with information about Hathaway's whereabouts is asked to call 911.

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CROWN POINT  A judge sentenced a Gary man Thursday to 4 1/2 years in prison for a drunken driving crash in 2018 that left one man dead and the man's half-brother injured.

Santiago Marquez, 40, could have faced up to 8 1/2 years after pleading guilty in September to operating while intoxicated causing death, a level 5 felony, and operating while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury, a level 6 felony.

While most people responsible for deadly drunken driving crashes don't intend to kill anyone, "we all know that death is possible when we decide to become intoxicated and get behind the wheel," Lake Criminal Court Judge Salvador Vasquez said.

"Your horrible mistake meant a lifetime of change for a lot of people, and it's resulted in a lifetime of pain," the judge said.

Defense attorney John Cantrell said Marquez has been working on his sobriety since the crash July 28, 2018, at Fifth Avenue and Colfax Street in Gary that resulted in the death of motorcyclist Marcus Harris, 40, of Gary, and injured Harris' half-brother Caltone Cockrell.

Cantrell asked Vasquez to consider that Marquez's brother, Earl J. Dantzler, 32, was shot to death April 16, 2019  the same day Marquez posted bond in his case  in the front yard of Marquez's residence in Gary's Black Oak section.

Cantrell accused members of Harris' family of walking out of Vasquez's courtroom in April 2019 after the judge reduced Marquez's bond and saying, "That's fine. He's not going to make it to trial anyway."

When Vasquez asked how Cantrell knew Dantzler's homicide was related to Marquez's case, Cantrell said, "I have zero proof."

Cantrell said he "felt confident making the argument" that Dantzler's shooting wasn't random given the circumstances.

Marquez said he understood he hurt Harris' family and thinks about the crash every day.

"I ruined my family, but my family is sticking with me," he said. "I wish I never got in that vehicle."

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Keith Anderson said Cockrell accepted Marquez's plea agreement and previously came to court to give a victim's impact statement.

Marquez's sentencing was delayed on several occasions, and Cockrell did not attend Thursday's hearing.

Vasquez said Marquez's misdemeanor OWI and public intoxication convictions from the early 2000s didn't necessarily warrant a longer sentence, but they raised a question about whether Marquez learned his lesson back then.

The fact that Marquez's blood alcohol level was about 0.19, more than double the 0.08 legal limit for driving, was an aggravating factor, the judge said.

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VALPARAISO  A 43-year-old Valparaiso man, who was accused of repeatedly raping and molesting a 13-year-old girl starting nine years ago, was sentenced this week to 10 years behind bars, court records show.

Arliss Burress had pleaded guilty to a felony count of sexual misconduct with a minor and misdemeanor invasion of privacy in return for prosecutors dropping other charges, including child molesting and rape, according to the sentencing order.

The judge cited a history of delinquent behavior, a recent violation of probation and the harm suffered by the victim.

Burress is to serve six years of formal probation upon his release from prison, including the first two years on home detention, the court said. He is also to undergo a sex offender evaluation and participate in therapy.

Burress was ordered to have no further contact with the victim in the case during his sentencing period and is required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

The sex offenses in question occurred between May 25, 2013, and June 2, 2014, records show.

Burress initially denied any type of sexual activity with the girl, police said. But when a detective suggested the sexual contact might have occurred after the girl reached the age of consent, Burress reportedly said, "that he would only commit to the admission of a sexual relationship if he knew it was legal."

He then admitted to having two sexual encounters with the girl and then "maybe more" after she turned 16, police said.

Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary DeBoer denied his release from jail in February 2020 after sending him there a month earlier after determining he intentionally reached out to the girl through Facebook in violation of a court order.

"We gave you the opportunity, and there was a violation," she said at the time.

Burress then was placed on pretrial release from jail in June 2020, court records show.

The judge sent him back to jail in September after again being accused of violating a court order by using the internet.

Burress was accused of setting up an Instagram account and making posts, Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Mary Ryan had said.

DeBoer questioned why Burress would risk this sort of activity when working hard and complying with his pretrial release in other ways.

"It's a big deal," the judge said.

Burress, who previously said he worked hard at his job and was all paid up with fees, said confusion led to the alleged violation.

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GARY  LaTasha Hall still remembers the soot that would cover her father's green coveralls when he got home from the steel mill. He, like many of his colleagues, got black lung disease, and Hall now fears more industry could worsen Gary's health disparities.

"There are so many companies that are getting away with the toxicities that are placed in urban areas because they feel that we don't care," Hall said. "Instead of trying to make our city an industrial eyesore, it should be made into the thriving city it is meant to be."

Hall was one of the many residents who spoke at a public hearing hosted by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management on Wednesday. The hearing was for Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc.'s air quality permits. Public comment for the permit ends May 2. Of the nearly 20 people who spoke, only one voiced support for the Fulcrum project.

A California-based company, Fulcrum hopes to create a waste-to-jet fuel plant in the Buffington Harbor area of Gary. The 75-acre project, called the Centerpoint BioFuels Plant, would sit right off the shore of Lake Michigan, filling the footprint of a former cement factory.

After the Gary Common Council approved a development agreement with Fulcrum in November, a local group called Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, or GARD, formed in opposition to the project.

Flyn van Ewijk, director of project development at Fulcrum, said that if the Gary biorefinery is completed on schedule, it would be the largest commercial waste-to-fuel plant in the country. Fulcrum finished construction on a Nevada plant last summer, though it is not yet fully operational.

GARD held a news conference before the hearing, sharing a list of concerns, such as the fact that the Nevada plant is not yet operational, meaning the potential impacts are unknown, and that the tailpipe emissions from around 120 trucks that would travel to and from the plant daily were not factored into the air permit.

GARD also listed several requests, including that the public comment period be extended for an additional 30 days, that Fulcrum conduct an environmental justice screening and environmental impact assessment, and that IDEM defer ruling on the air permit until the Nevada plant is operational.

According to Ewijk, no garbage would be processed in Gary. Instead the waste would be taken to one of two feedstock processing facilities. Fulcrum does not currently know where these facilities would be located, but the company is eyeing spots in Illinois and elsewhere in Indiana.

Once at a processing facility, the waste would be sorted. Materials high in carbon such as paper, timber and soft plastics would then be prepared into a "feedstock," which would be loaded onto trucks and taken to the plant in Gary to be refined into a low-carbon renewable jet fuel. Before being sold, the fuel would be transported from Gary to a refinery to be blended with traditional jet fuel.

Many of the residents who spoke during the Wednesday meeting shared concerns about how new the waste-to-jet fuel industry is. Complex, data-laden permits are made even harder to understand because of the lack of available research on waste-to-jet fuel, they said.

State Representatives Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago, Vernon Smith, D-Gary, and Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary; and state Sen. Eddie Melton all signed a letter voicing their opposition to the plant.

"From our understanding the proposed refinery process is relatively untested and the only similar plant is operating in a remote area in Nevada," Hatcher said. "As you are aware, Gary meets many of the factors considered for an EPA environmental justice community. ... The historical and ongoing disparity has justifiably heightened scrutiny amongst constituents for new industry."

As the project has moved along, Fulcrum has highlighted the economic benefits it would bring to the city. The construction of the plant, which is slated to start in 2023 and last two years, will bring 1,000 temporary jobs.

Once operational, the plant would require 130 full-time employees. Fulcrum has met with Ivy Tech Community College to discuss technical skills training programs to ensure the jobs go to Region residents.

Fulcrum would also provide Gary with $7.8 million in tax increment value annually as well as $10 million in TIF bond proceeds that would go toward the Gary Redevelopment Commission for the demolition of abandoned buildings.

Kay Nelson, director of environmental affairs for the Northwest Indiana Forum, spoke in favor of the project, highlighting that the plant would produce about 33 million gallons of fuel per year while diverting 700,000 tons of waste from landfills annually.

But while the city does support development, residents are tired of being used as a sacrifice zone, especially when health is on the line, Melton said.

"As we are trying to turn the city around and work both legislatively downstate and here locally, I think the ongoing public perception of environmental contamination will just continue to enforce the message that Gary is a place where you can dump," Melton said. "Too many times Gary has had the state come and listen and then turn around and nothing comes of what was shared by the public. Many of the folks in this room today are looking at this as a life-or-death type situation, so I want you to look through the lens of the people that truly are concerned about their health and about their families."

Though she was unable to attend the public hearing, Portage Mayor Sue Lynch had an attendee read a letter opposing the project on her behalf. IDEM was unable to provide feedback during the meeting, but comments were recorded.

Speaker Bridgette Murray said local residents should continue to fight the project by reaching out to their elected officials.

"It is highly unlikely that IDEM is going to stop this permit. ... As long as Fulcrum toes the line with their documentation, then they are going to issue the permit and they legally have to do so," Murray said. "IDEM is not going to come save us. ... We have to on a local level oppose this with every fiber of our being."

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According to records provided by Hernandez, missing Town Council and Redevelopment Commission minutes dated back to July 2021. Missing Board of Zoning Appeals minutes dated back to April 2021, and missing Plan Commission minutes dated all the way back to October 2020.

After Slaven filed a formal complaint with Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt, arguing that St. John violated the law by not having the meeting minutes, the town responded Nov. 5, saying "the minutes are currently being transcribed."

On Jan. 4, Britt released an opinion finding "that the Town of Saint John violated the Open Door Law by not making minutes available within a reasonable time. As such, it violated the Access to Public Records Act by not supplying the requester with documents that should exist."
OGDEN DUNES  The waiting is over for the family of a 22-year-old Indianapolis man who has been missing since falling through ice Feb. 21 along the West Beach shoreline of Lake Michigan.

Bryce Dunfee's body was found Thursday morning on the nearby Ogden Dunes beach by a local resident, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

"His body was found approximately a half-mile from where he went missing on Feb. 21," the DNR said in a prepared release.

The Ogden Dunes resident notified authorities shortly before 7 a.m. after spotting the man's body along the nearby shoreline, DNR Conservation Officer Alex Neel said.

Those responding to the 100 block of Shoreline Drive included the DNR; police officers from Ogden Dunes, Portage and Gary; National Park rangers; and the Porter County coroners office.

Dunfee had just moved to Portage and he grew up in Fort Wayne and also recently lived in Indianapolis, family previously told NBC Chicago. Loved ones said he was unfamiliar with the dangers of shelf ice.

The 22-year-old loved spending time with family and friends, playing video games, listening to music and singing, according to an obituary posted on dignitymemorial.com.

"Bryce was a loving young man with a calm demeanor and infectious laugh that would light up a room," family wrote.

Dunfee, who was a father of one, had a celebration of life held in March in Fort Wayne.

Dunfee was visiting the West Beach section of the Indiana Dunes National Park site at about 5:30 p.m. Feb. 21 with four friends when he fell into the frigid lake waters after venturing onto the shelf ice, DNR Public Information Officer Nicole Baumann said at the time.

A search began immediately and was curtailed the following day by deteriorating weather conditions and melting shelf ice, officials said.

The search was complicated further in that the frigid water temperature is known to keep a body submerged, Neel said. In addition, the low temperatures could result in the shelf ice rebuilding along the shoreline.

"The shelf ice is elevated," Baumann said. "They had to climb up a little hill onto the snow. A little piece of the shelf ice broke off, and he tripped and fell into the lake."

The friends were believed to be in their 20s, officials said. The others were local, hailing from Portage and Lake Station.

The four other people who walked out onto the shelf ice tried to rescue their friend, but the lake reportedly pulled him in.

They called 911 and were able to return to shore safely, Baumann said.

"Shelf ice is beautiful to look at, but it's just that, it's a sight to see," Neel said. "It is extremely dangerous and no one should venture out on it."

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Bob Kasarda Porter/LaPorte County Courts and Social Justice Reporter Bob is a 23-year veteran of The Times. He covers county government and courts in Porter County, federal courts, police news and regional issues. He also created the Vegan in the Region blog, is an Indiana University grad and lifelong region resident. Follow Bob Kasarda 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 premier of the British Virgin Islands was arrested on Thursday in the Miami area on drug trafficking and money laundering charges, the authorities said.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. Southern District of Florida, Andrew Fahie, who is the elected head of government of the small territory of about 30,000, requested an upfront payment of $500,000 to let cocaine slip through the territory en route to Miami and New York. He was charged with conspiracy to import at least five kilograms of a cocaine mixture and conspiracy to launder money.

The territorys director of ports, Oleanvine Pickering Maynard, and her son Kadeem Stephan Maynard, also face those charges, according to the complaint.

A man who presented himself as working for the Sinaloa Cartel, but who was a confidential source for the federal authorities, met with Ms. Maynard on March 20, according to the complaint.
When Sarah McElrea arrived at the Anchorage airport last Friday to pick up the 800 pounds of honeybees she was having shipped from Sacramento, she got the first sense of a disaster in the making: The bees  some five million of them  were in Atlanta, not Anchorage.

The 200 crates of bees were the first of two shipments coming in from Sacramento designated for more than 300 beekeepers in Alaska and to provide much needed pollination services for apple orchards and nurseries, she said in an interview.

Previous honeybee shipments had made their way to Alaska aboard Delta Air Lines flights from Sacramento to Seattle and then on to Anchorage, a route Ms. McElrea has used many times. But this shipment, the airline told her, did not fit aboard the Seattle-bound flight and instead had been rerouted through the Delta hub in Atlanta. The bees would complete their circuitous, cross-country journey to Anchorage on Saturday.

Ms. McElrea was worried, considering that shipping bees comes with certain complications: The bees must be fed along the way (generally sugar water), and they must be kept cool. Her concerns were well-placed  millions of the bees would die.
In 1979 and 1984, Dr. Jones impregnated Ms. Emmons by artificial insemination after suggesting that he would find a doctor or medical student to be her sperm donor, Ms. Emmons-Boring said.

He never told the family that he was the one providing the sperm sample, Ms. Emmons-Boring said. Dr. Jones, now 83, even helped deliver both Ms. Emmons-Boring and her sister Tahnee Scott.

Ms. Emmons-Boring had never questioned that the man who raised her was not her father until a series of events that began after she took a DNA test from Ancestry.com.

In 2018, after Ms. Emmons-Boring took the test, she said she received a message from a woman who believed they were half-siblings. She did not believe the woman at first, but then she did some digging.

Her parents then told her for the first time that she and her sister had been conceived using artificial insemination. She spent weeks constructing a family tree until it ran into Dr. Jones, she said.

She messaged five other half-siblings she had found online, who were all shocked and disgusted by the news, said Ms. Emmons-Boring, 41.

Image Maia Emmons-Boring with her sister Tahnee Scott. Credit... The Emmons family

A few weeks later, they called Mr. Fitz-Geralds law firm, Driskell, Fitz-Gerald & Ray. Eight families eventually filed the lawsuit against him and the clinic, Mr. Fitz-Gerald said.
WASHINGTON  President Biden signaled a vast increase in Americas commitment to defeating Russia in Ukraine on Thursday as he asked Congress to authorize $33 billion for more artillery, antitank weapons and other hardware as well as economic and humanitarian aid.

The request represented an extraordinary escalation in American investment in the war, more than tripling the total emergency expenditures and putting the United States on track to spend as much this year helping the Ukrainians as it did on average each year fighting its own war in Afghanistan, or more.

The cost of this fight is not cheap, Mr. Biden said at the White House. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen. We either back the Ukrainian people as they defend their country or we stand by as the Russians continue their atrocities and aggression in Ukraine.

Mr. Biden also sent Congress a plan to increase the governments power to seize luxury yachts, aircraft, bank accounts and other assets of Russian oligarchs tied to President Vladimir V. Putin and use the proceeds to help the Ukrainians. Just hours later, Congress passed legislation allowing Mr. Biden to use a World War II-era law to supply weapons to Ukraine on loan quickly.
A big part of that has to do with the way Australia runs elections. Compulsory voting ensures high turnout; the independent Australian Electoral Commission runs the election with technocratic efficiency according to national standards that are widely supported and respected by political parties and the public. Politicians do not decide district boundaries, or where to put polling booths, or how many polling sites to set up.

All of those ways that partisan politics can distort outcomes, its just not there, said Judith Brett, an emeritus professor of politics at La Trobe University, who is also the author of a book on Australias electoral history called From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage.

But there are still many causes for concern. Polls have been showing for years that a growing number of Australians distrust the government and feel disconnected from politics.

Australias leaders and major political parties have also shown a disturbing tolerance for secrecy  especially when it comes to the money that finances their campaigns. As I wrote in February, Research from the Center for Public Integrity shows that over the past two decades, the source of nearly $1 billion in party income has been hidden.

The combination of big money and a disaffected electorate is reshaping Australian democracy in other ways as well. Professor Brett pointed out that the government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison has a habit of spraying government funds all over districts it needs to win to stay in power, often for projects that defy logic but come pretty close to attempted vote buying  from dams to BMX courses to footpaths.

The Australian media has taken to calling these election sweeteners. Critics call it soft corruption, and they fear that it could become the norm, making Australian election results more transactional, while encouraging leaders avoid the broader challenges society faces.

We have an electorate where party loyalty is less strong, Professor Brett said. Its up for grabs and if the way those votes are grabbed is with money for a sporting facility, and serious policy issues are neglected, I think were in big trouble.
There was an increase in radiation levels at the place where Russian forces dug, Mr. Grossi said at a news conference at the agencys headquarters in Vienna. But this increase is still significantly below the authorized levels for workers in an environment with this type of radiation.

Mr. Grossi said that one purpose of his visit to Chernobyl on Tuesday was so that his team could repair connectivity between the site and the agencys headquarters in Vienna, and restore continuous monitoring.

Mr. Grossi said his chief concern in Ukraine was the Zaporizhzhia plant in the southeast, the largest nuclear facility in Europe, because it has remained under Russian control since the Kremlins forces took the area in March. Ukrainian regulators and experts have been unable to perform inspections or assess the state of safety equipment, he said.

In a report released Thursday that summarized the situation, Mr. Grossis agency said 10 senior technical officials from Russias atomic energy agency, Rosatom, had remained on the Zaporizhzhia site since the Russian military took it over, raising the risk of interference with the Ukrainian staff and potential frictions when it comes to decision-making.

The report said the morale and emotional state of the Zaporizhzhia plants Ukrainian staff had been very low since the Russian military forces seized the site. It added that Mr. Grossi regarded the situation as unacceptable and unsustainable.

Rick Gladstone contributed reporting.
Masks will again be required on Bay Area Rapid Transit, making the largest transit system in the San Francisco area the only one currently enforcing a masking requirement.

In a meeting on Thursday, the agencys board of directors approved a temporary amendment to the Bay Area districts code of conduct that requires riders to wear masks in the system, with limited exceptions. The decision will be effective until July 18, and could be extended by the board.

In more than an hour of call-in testimony from the community, officials said, there was extensive support for a mandate to protect transit-dependent communities, people with underlying health conditions and children under 5, who are not yet eligible for vaccination.

For the most part, riders in the Bay Area have not been resistant to mask wearing. Most people who dont have a mask on simply take the free mask provided by police and put it on, said Alicia Trost, a spokeswoman for the transit system. The agency said on Twitter that free masks are available at station agent booths and from all safety staff for those who need one.
Many people know them as agile bipedal dinosaurs with menacing claws and scrunched-up arms, hunting children through a kitchen in Jurassic Park.

In the 1993 movie, theyre called velociraptors, but those creatures were more like a different, related species, Deinonychus antirrhopus  a name that the author of the novel Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton, considered a less dramatic choice.

The movie helped turn velociraptors (well, technically Deinonychuses) into one of the most recognizable dinosaurs, alongside the T. rex. And now, dinosaur enthusiasts can bid on one of their own.

The auction house Christies announced on Friday that it would be selling a Deinonychus skeleton it calls Hector, which was excavated from Montana several years ago. The company said it would be the first public sale of such a specimen. The estimated price tag is $4 million to $6 million, likely prompting most Jurassic Park fans to put their paddles down.
SEOUL  The seven artists who will be represented by this citys Gallery Hyundai at TEFAF New York reflect the history of not only the 52-year-old gallery, but also the artistic history of South Korea in the decades after the Korean War.

While many galleries will be showcasing of-the-moment artwork, Gallery Hyundai is celebrating its roots in South Koreas now-booming arts world.

The gallerys presence is, effectively, a forerunner to two major U.S. exhibitions planned over the next year or so, one at the Guggenheim, The Avant-Garde: Experimental Art in South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s, co-organized with the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, and The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art, opening in September at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which will trace the countrys art history in the decades leading to the Korean War.

In making its TEFAF New York debut (it has shown at TEFAF Maastricht several times) Gallery Hyundais approach is to offer a bit of a time capsule of the artistic history of the country in the difficult decades after the Korean War.
Its no surprise that Dante was met with prolonged, fervent standing ovations on Thursday. Ades is by no means an avant-gardist, and this work, for all its sophistication, is entirely approachable  legibly fun, vivid and, by the end, glorious. With the exception of recorded song deployed in Purgatorio, he writes with virtually the same means as a composer of a century ago: a happy reminder of how alive and well the orchestra can be as a medium and instrument.

In Inferno, he follows the path of Dantes text  beginning, in the section Abandon Hope, with piercing darkness and a downward plunge reminiscent of the Dante Symphony. But although Liszt haunts Inferno, the craft is Adess: hallmarks like full-bodied, divisi strings; excess at both ends of the dynamic spectrum; and meter that changes by the measure.

From there, the circles of hell serve as ready-made divertissements, characterful episodes that conjure, however obliquely, the poetic justice delivered to Dantes sinners. There are sections of sensuality and sludgy stasis; strings that chatter and murmur with mischief; and martial horrors similar to, well, hellfire. Chromatic runs, up and down on unsteady ground, recall Liszts Bagatelle Sans Tonalite. Does Ades also nod to E sempre lava! from Puccinis Tosca? Maybe Tchaikovsky and the Dies Irae, too? You can never be sure.

Liszt reappears, more explicitly, in the climactic Thieves section, a cacophonous dance that would seem parodic if it didnt so affectionately resemble the Grand Galop Chromatique. Here, liberated from any choreographic constraints, Dudamel gradually pressed the tempo in a desperate race that had the audience applauding mid-performance; and how could they not?

With a running time of about 45 minutes, Inferno takes up roughly half of the Dante score, but doesnt loom over the distinctive personalities of Purgatorio and Paradiso, which came after an intermission.
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep  and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.

One More Year

James Corden announced on Thursday that he would be leaving The Late Late Show in 2023 after eight years.

When I started this journey, it was always going to be just that  it was going to be a journey, an adventure. I never saw it as my final destination, you know? Corden said. And I never want this show to overstay its welcome in any way. I always want to love making it, and I really think in a year from now, that will be a good time to move on and see what else might be out there.
Vivien is both a morally and politically conscious Jew and, as it turns out, a natural at undercover skulduggery. Dying her hair platinum blond, she passes as a gentile and infiltrates the National Socialist Movement, progressing from simple eavesdropping to planting bugs to seducing the groups leader, Colin Jordan (an actual historical figure, played by Rory Kinnear). We know that shell end up there from the shows opening scene, a flash-forward in which Vivien, Colin and Colins son start their day with a family Nazi salute.

Written by Sarah Solemani and directed by Lisa Mulcahy for the BBC, the four-episode Ridley Road is soap-operatic and improbable, with mostly tepid dialogue and mostly routine action. On the other side of the ledger, it has a good cast and it presents the story without a lot of fuss or (until the closing scenes) undue melodrama or sanctimony. And as a bonus, theres the pleasure of its evocation of the East End of London in the early 1960s, fleshed out with archival footage that cleverly overlaps with the show.

Marsan and Kinnear are the two poles of the production, with Kinnear bringing his trademarked thoughtful chill to the fascist frontman and Marsan fulminating entertainingly as the head of the resistance. (His group is a fictional version of an antifascist coalition known as the 62 Group.) In the lead, OCasey, a descendant of the Irish playwright Sean OCasey, carries off her screen debut with aplomb. Samantha Spiro is excellent as Viviens fretting mother and gets the shows best scene, in which she angrily denounces her brothers family for putting Vivien in danger.

And as another bonus  perhaps a further sign of the productions fondness for its storys time and place  the great British actress Rita Tushingham shows up as Viviens aging landlady. It was in 1961, a year before Ridley Road takes place, that Tushingham played a young woman at odds with her mother in the kitchen-sink classic A Taste of Honey. Here she plays a pensioner who is good-hearted but also susceptible to the racist fear-mongering of the fascists, and she gives a straight reading of one of the shows more entertaining lines: White slavery is a serious problem, Vivien. And a girl like you would go for a very competitive price.

Throughout Ridley Road you can argue with yourself: Is the seriousness of the history (with its parallels to contemporary trends) atoning for the understated cheesiness of the production? Or are the contrivances of the production enlivening the history? Either way, youre not likely to stop watching.
Biden asks Congress for $33 billion for Ukraine

President Biden called on Congress to approve $33 billion in more aid to Ukraine, arguing that U.S. arms and humanitarian assistance are helping beat back Russian invaders in a conflict with global consequences. The cost of this fight is not cheap, he said. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly. Follow the latest updates from the war.

The request represented an extraordinary escalation in American investment, more than tripling total emergency expenditures and putting the U.S. on track to spend as much this year helping the Ukrainians as it did on average each year fighting in Afghanistan, if not more. There is broad bipartisan support for more aid.

Biden also sent Congress a plan to increase the governments power to seize the assets of oligarchs tied to Vladimir Putin, Russias president. The proceeds could be used to help the Ukrainians. Hours later, Congress passed legislation allowing Biden to use a World War II-era law to lend weapons to Ukraine quickly.
Together, Modernas announcement and Markss comment seem to suggest that the F.D.A. is eager to approve a vaccine for young children as soon as possible. Other evidence, however, indicates the opposite.

On CNN last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top Biden administration Covid adviser, suggested that the F.D.A. would not approve a Moderna vaccine for young children until it could simultaneously approve one from Pfizer. Approving two vaccines at different times, he said, could confuse people. An article in Politico offered the same explanation, reporting that regulators wanted to postpone any action until it could approve both vaccines at once.

This planned delay raises two big questions. One, why does the government think Americans are incapable of handling different approval dates? (Zeynep Tufekci, a Times columnist, argues that Americans can handle it.) Two, why is the federal government telling us conflicting stories  one in which the F.D.A. is deliberately delaying approval and another in which the agency is merely waiting for Moderna and Pfizer to submit the necessary information?

Rare clarity

I posed these questions to Biden administration officials yesterday, and the answers were fascinating. Although the officials did not want to be identified, they offered a much clearer answer than I have heard them give in public.

At the moment, the F.D.A. is indeed waiting for more data from both Moderna and Pfizer. And the agency would prefer to make decisions about the two vaccines at the same time, partly to allow parents to decide which vaccine is best for their young child.

If the stars align, we would like that to happen, an administration official told me. However, we are not going to put ourselves in a situation where we sit on data. If one companys timetable is only a few days or weeks ahead the others, the F.D.A. will wait to act on both at once. If the gap is longer, the agency will act on either Moderna or Pfizer without waiting for the other.
Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. oil companies, on Friday reported a second consecutive quarter of robust earnings as oil and natural gas prices continued to rise after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The two companies said they were increasing their production in the Permian Basin, the giant shale oil field straddling Texas and New Mexico, but were not seeking to ramp up oil and natural gas production overall despite pressure from the Biden administration, which is seeking to tamp down high energy prices.

In the past, Chevron, Exxon and other energy companies invested heavily when prices were high, only to see losses when prices fell as the industry flooded the market with supply. Now, they are enjoying higher profits without significantly increasing their output.

There is a lot of uncertainty, said Michael Wirth, Chevrons chief executive. One of the lessons of history is that just as the bad times dont last forever, neither do the times when prices are strong,
Philip J. Hilts, who as a science reporter for The New York Times in 1994 exposed a tobacco companys decades-long cover-up of its own research showing that tobacco was harmful and nicotine was addictive, died on April 23 in Lebanon, N.H. He was 74.

The cause was complications of liver disease, his son Ben said.

Mr. Hilts was a longtime journalist, writing for The Times, The Washington Post and other publications, and was the author of six nonfiction books on scientific, medical and social topics.

His work on tobacco made headlines not only in The Times but also across the country. In 1994, he obtained internal documents showing that executives of the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation were struggling with whether to disclose to the surgeon general what they knew in 1963 about the hazards of smoking; their own research showed that cigarettes were addictive and caused lung cancer or predisposed people to it.

The Brown & Williamson executives, Mr. Hilts wrote, chose to remain silent, to keep their research results secret, to stop work on a safer cigarette and to pursue a legal and public relations strategy of admitting nothing.
More than a decade ago, when Americans faced surging prices at the pump, policymakers developed a vision to wean people off gas and oil: more efficient cars, more compact and walkable communities, more renewable energy.

We have a serious problem, George W. Bush had warned in his 2006 State of the Union address. America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. It was a powerful statement for a Republican president with deep ties to the oil business.

His remarks  made as oil prices rose and eventually hit $100 a barrel for the first time in the countrys history  marked the start of several years of a remarkable bipartisan push to wean the nation off oil and gas and better insulate Americans from price shocks in the global oil market.

Officials drew up the first increase in fuel economy standards for cars and trucks in decades. National oil savings plans won broad support in Congress, to address energy dependency as well as the grave threat of climate change. Public transportation advocates launched Dump the pump days to urge commuters to take trains and buses.
In early March, Anton Troianovski, The Timess Moscow bureau chief, working closely with newsroom leadership, decided he should leave Russia.

Flights out of the country were filling up. Mr. Troianovski took one hour to pack and then boarded a plane to Dubai, a reliable international connection as Western countries closed their airspace to Russian planes. Even as he made arrangements to exit the country, Mr. Troianovski was focused on the mission of making sure that all of our staff were safe, he said.

That week, the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, had introduced a law that would punish the publication of what it deemed false information about its invasion of Ukraine with up to 15 years in prison. The language of the law would prohibit any contradiction of the governments statements about the war. For a news organization, that meant potential peril.

After the law passed, The Times decided to pull the rest of its correspondents out of Russia for the first time.
Catherine Spaak, a French-born actress who made her name crossing genres in Italian, French and occasionally American films, acting alongside stars like Jane Fonda and Rod Taylor, died on April 17 in Rome. She was 77.

Her son, Gabriele Guidi, confirmed her death.

Born outside Paris, Ms. Spaak went to Italy as a teenager and began a long film career there. Her first major role in a feature film was as a 17-year-old student who has an affair with a middle-aged man in Sweet Deceptions, from 1960 (originally Dolci Inganni).

Four years later she appeared as a Parisian shopgirl in La Ronde, a French drama about marital infidelity directed by Roger Vadim, in which she acted alongside Ms. Fonda (who went on to marry Mr. Vadim). The film, a remake of Max Ophuls 1950 version based on an 1897 Arthur Schnitzler play, was released and dubbed in the United States as Circle of Love.

Ms. Spaak became an onscreen sex symbol as a young actress, winning the attention of many international magazines, including Playboy. With her long, straight hair and blunt-cut bangs, she also became something of a style-setter in the 1960s.
Jacques Perrin, a comely and soft-spoken veteran French actor  he didnt smolder so much as twinkle  who went from starring in musical and dramatic films to directing and producing them, most notably the political thrillers of Costa-Gavras and his own poetic documentaries about the natural world, died on April 21 in Paris. He was 80.

His son, Mathieu Simonet, confirmed the death. No cause was given.

Mr. Perrin was a lonely and gallant teenager in the Italian melodrama Girl With a Suitcase (1961), in which he tries to rescue a down-and-out beauty played by Claudia Cardinale who has been ditched by his lout of an older brother.

He was a dreamy sailor in Jacques Demys The Young Girls of Rochefort, a giddy, candy-colored 1967 French musical (now considered a camp classic) that starred Catherine Deneuve and her sister, Francoise Dorleac, as a pair of twins looking for love and finding it with Mr. Perrin, his hair bleached like straw (and looking rather like a young David Hockney) and Gene Kelly. (Ms. Dorleac died in a car crash shortly after the film was made.)
On Monday night, the fashion world will gather for the Met Gala, the annual ritual of celebrity opulence that our current social revolution has not yet harpooned. The theme this year is the evolution of American style, an exploration not only of the work of historically significant designers like Charles James and Halston but also of the dressmakers and tailors who toiled in obscurity on their behalf. The egalitarian dabbling would seem to begin and end there, however, given that the partys dress code this year is gilded glamour. Guests, according to Vogue, whose editor Anna Wintour famously presides over the event, have been asked to embody the grandeur  and perhaps the dichotomy  of Gilded Age New York.

The periods relevant dichotomy, of course, is that some people lived like the Astors while many more were forced to send their 9-year-olds off to factories from squalid tenements. Come costumed as if you are on your way to Newport; come dressed as an orphan whose destitute parents have just died of cholera. Contradiction, born as much from obliviousness as it is from greed or power tripping, is the insidious habit of the image-making business. This has been obvious most recently as magazines, advertisers and other marketers of lifestyle have aggressively traded on a sense of social attunement while often keeping to internal practices entirely at odds with any stated commitment to progressive values.

The latest effort to bridge this gap comes to us at the hands of the Model Alliance, an advocacy group that has fought for fair treatment across various levels of the fashion industry. At issue is the matter of how management companies booking and handling models, stylists, and hair and makeup artists are overseen. Because they do not fall under the monitoring purview of New Yorks web of regulations related to employment agencies, there remain many opportunities for exploitation. A bill to protect people in these fields, known as the Fashion Workers Act, is now working its way through the New York State Legislature. It was introduced on March 25, the 111th anniversary of the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire, which set in motion so many fundamental workplace reforms.

These management companies have been operating in a vacuum, Senator Brad Hoylman, the bills co-sponsor, told me. You have thousands of people in this industry without protections. There is almost no stability and even less consistency. They have very little control over very basic things we expect from people we do business with: when they will get paid, what kind of shoots will they work on, will they get copies of the contracts  answers to the who, what, when and where and how questions most of us expect in professional transactions.
As part of those efforts, the city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the subway, have taken new steps meant to clear homeless people from trains and platforms. Officials have also intensified their focus on keeping people off the rails, after a spike last year in so-called track intrusions, or instances when people are on the tracks without permission.

The authority reported 1,267 such intrusions last year, a 19 percent increase from 2020. Two hundred of the 2021 intrusions resulted in people being struck by a train and 68 deaths.

In addition to the safety concerns intrusions pose, even those that do not lead to collisions can cause delays that snarl the system. At an authority board meeting this week, the agencys safety chief, Patrick Warren, said that the number of intrusions so far this year was still well above last years figure. Theres more work to do there, he said.

In response to the collision on Friday, Mr. Warren said in a statement: We shouldnt have to keep saying it: Tracks are dangerous and walking on them is illegal, obviously life-threatening and can impact thousands of other riders.

Most people who wind up on the tracks, including those who are hit by trains, are there voluntarily, according to transit officials. Many are people who jump off platforms to retrieve things they have dropped. Others cross the tracks, hoping to quickly travel from one platform to another. Some are mentally ill.
And yet notably manifest in both the photograph and the painting, Grossman wrote in 2020 in the journal Modernism/modernity, is the contradictory manner in which the Black female body was folded into the modernist project as paradoxically ultramodern and ultra- primitive and objectified through a male gaze.

Moreover, Grossman pointed out, Fidelin was hidden in plain sight, having never been identified as the subject of Picassos painting. But thanks in part to Grossmans efforts, Fidelin is beginning to be recognized, including in a 2019 exhibit about Black models at the Musee DOrsay in Paris.

For Fidelin, nothing was as groundbreaking as a photograph of her that appeared in Harpers Bazaar on Sept. 15, 1937. It is believed to be the first time a Black model appeared in a major American fashion magazine. Today, however, the article would no doubt raise eyebrows. Under the headline The Bushongo of Africa Sends His Hats to Paris sits three photographs of white women wearing African hats. Fidelin, who was also wearing an African hat, appears on the opposite page, segregated from the others, it appears, though in a much larger image.

That editorial placement and the assimilation of Fidelins identity into a homogenizing notion of Blackness literally and figuratively sets her apart from the white European models similarly crowned, Grossman wrote.

Casimir Joseph Adrienne Fidelin was born on March 4, 1915, in Pointe-a-Pitre, on the island of Grande-Terre in Guadeloupe, the French-governed archipelago in the Caribbean. She was one of six children of Maxime Louis Fidelin, who worked in a bank, and Mathilde Fidelin, a homemaker. Adys mother died in 1928 in a hurricane; her father died a couple of years later. Fidelin then emigrated to France, where a sibling was already living.
The Anti-Defamation League this week released a report showing that in 2021, there were more antisemitic incidents in America than in any other year since the group started keeping track over 40 years ago. Weve never seen data like this before, ever, Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the A.D.L., told me.

The rapid growth of Jew hatred isnt limited to the United States. According to a new report from the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, antisemitic incidents were up last year in such countries as Australia, Britain, Canada, France and Germany. Comparisons to 2020 might be misleading, because pandemic lockdowns likely reduced the numbers of antisemitic assaults and in-person harassment. But in several countries, including the United States, there were more antisemitic incidents in 2021 than in the prepandemic year 2019.

As the Tel Aviv University report pointed out, there are countless conferences, training programs and legislative proposals devoted to fighting antisemitism. There is no shortage of organizations dedicated to the cause, which gained the commitment of world leaders, it said. The data presented in this report suggest that, despite all these efforts, something has gone terribly wrong.

Something has obviously gone wrong. The question is, what?

Conservatives might be tempted to blame strident anti-Zionism, and thats part of the story. Both the A.D.L. and researchers in Tel Aviv use a definition of antisemitism that can conflate it with anti-Zionism, concepts I think should be kept separate. Its clearly antisemitic, however, when Israels enemies blame all Jews for the countrys treatment of the Palestinians. According to the A.D.L. report, of 2,717 antisemitic incidents in the United States last year, 345 involved references to Israel and Zionism. The examples detailed in the report arent ambiguous; they include Palestinian supporters pushing a man in a yarmulke into a glass window and yelling, Die, Zionist!
President Biden says that he is taking a hard look at student debt relief, which probably means that some significant relief is coming. For one thing, Biden promised relief during the 2020 campaign. For another, its one progressive priority he can address by executive action, which is important given the extreme difficulty of getting anything through an evenly divided Senate.

How much relief will he offer? I have no idea. How much relief should he offer? Im for going as big as political realities allow, but I understand that too generous a debt write-off might produce a backlash. And I have no confidence that I know where the line should be drawn.

What I think I do know is that much of the backlash to proposals for student debt relief is based on a false premise: the belief that Americans who have gone to college are, in general, members of the economic elite.

The falsity of this proposition is obvious for those who were exploited by predatory for-profit institutions that encouraged them to go into debt to get more or less worthless credentials. The same applies to those who took on educational debt but never managed to get a degree  not a small group. In fact, around 40 percent of student loan borrowers never finish their education.
This government support  in the form of oil procurement, permits and loans  could be the deciding factor in whether a new generation of long-lived carbon and methane-spewing infrastructure gets built. As with the roughly $20 billion in subsidies the industry already receives each year, the government will demand precisely nothing in return. But it should: Any more money fossil fuel executives and shareholders get from the U.S. government should come with strings.

There are plenty of things to attach them to. The administration has vowed to release one million barrels per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next six months  the largest release in the reserves history  and to become a guaranteed buyer of oil to refill it down the road. In recent weeks, the Department of Energy has issued four export permits to liquefied natural gas (L.N.G.) companies that will be valid through 2050. Such supportive signals, high prices and Europes new hunger for gas all contribute to what analysts predict could be a doubling in the amount of U.S. gas export capacity that gets commercially sanctioned over the next year or two.

Recently, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the public credit agency, announced a new program that could provide very large loans or loan guarantees for the construction of U.S. L.N.G. export projects, as a spokesperson for one L.N.G. trade association put it. Administration officials applauded the new financing as a critical move for national and economic security.

The fossil fuel construction binge now enjoying bipartisan support isnt needed. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis finds that existing L.N.G. terminals and those scheduled to come online this year could ship out more than the 15 billion cubic meters of gas the United States has pledged to help supply to Europe. In fact, if the pace of L.N.G. exports to Europe from the first quarter of 2022 keeps up until years end, the United States would boost its shipments to the continent over last year by 48 billion cubic meters. Thats nearly as much gas as the 50 billion cubic meters the United States said it could provide to Europe yearly by 2030, all without new long-term contracts or infrastructure.

New terminals that would need publicly funded loans or loan guarantees to move forward also arent likely to come online until 2027. So while pitched as critical to bolstering wartime energy security, gas infrastructure sanctioned in the name of short-term needs will do no such thing. Projects are typically unlikely to get financing for construction unless they can promise to stay online for at least 20 years. If these get built, theyre with us for the long haul.
Whatever his motive, it is deeply troubling that the Black mayor of Americas largest city is lending credibility to these ideas. Years of study of these policies have not shown conclusively that they work. While crime has fallen in many cities since the early 1990s, it is not clear exactly why. The effects of the policies, though, are known and devastating. Mr. Adams is sending a message that the lasting collateral damage the policies inflicted on Black communities may be a necessary and acceptable cost to bear.

Long before he was a mayor, Mr. Adams was a police officer, spending two decades in the citys Police Department and eventually rising to the rank of captain. He rarely misses an opportunity to tout the experience, arguing that it makes him uniquely qualified to keep the city safe as mayor. During the mayoral campaign last year, he also signaled an interest in taking a much broader view of public safety, by investing in education, jobs and even dyslexia screenings not only to improve life for New Yorkers but also to make the city safer in the long run. He won the election in part on that promise.

Four months into Mr. Adamss first term, some of those promises are still on track, like an expanded summer jobs program aimed at employing 100,000 young people. He has also proposed increased funding for housing and mental health services. That is all encouraging. So is his support for community-based antiviolence groups, known as violence interrupters, who have shown great promise in reducing gun violence in New York in recent years.

But faced with rising crime, the nightmare scenario for every big-city mayor, Mr. Adams has largely retreated into familiar territory.

So far this year, Mr. Adams has reinstated the Police Departments controversial anti-gun unit, though with safeguards he says will make it more accountable to the communities it serves. He has overseen a campaign to remove homeless people living on the street. He has supported the scaling back of landmark criminal justice reforms in Albany, including pushing to change state law to allow 16- and 17-year-olds who are accused of certain gun crimes to be charged as adults. This week, he proposed adding $182 million in taxpayer dollars to the N.Y.P.D. budget, which is already more than $5 billion. So far, his plans for reforming the department are vague.

Policing is part of the solution to the citys concerns about public safety. But in 2022, more aggressive policing cannot be the only significant response. Years of research suggest that New Yorks decades-long turnaround from the high crime rates since the 1990s was most likely the result of many factors, including but not limited to changes in policing tactics.

Learning those lessons means acknowledging that the other crises facing New York  from housing to mental health to unemployment  may be just as important to public safety as support for the Police Department. For Mr. Adams, that means approaching the citys housing policies, mental health resources and job quality with the same urgency as rising crime. In New York City, the unemployment rate in March was 6.5 percent when seasonally adjusted, compared with 3.6 percent nationally.
The heart of that agenda is resistance to globalization. If you wanted a one-word answer to why Mr. Trump has so rocked Ohio politics it would be: NAFTA. The North American Free Trade Agreement of 1993 remains a symbol of the institutional adjustments that, over the course of a generation, turned the United States from a manufacturing economy into a service economy.

Whether free trade and globalization have been good or bad for the United States is a complicated, multivariate calculation. But it is not complicated for most Ohioans. The states manufacturing power was once so prodigious that you almost suspect youre reading typos when you see it quantified: Did G.M. really make more than 16 million Chevy Impalas and Pontiac Firebirds and other models at its Lordstown plant in the Mahoning Valley between 1966 and 2019, when the plant ceased production? Did the Lorain works, an hour and a half away, really produce 15 million Ford Fairlanes, Mercury Cougars and so on, between the Eisenhower administration and 2005?

Simply scuppering the infrastructure that made such achievements possible  along with the decent-paying jobs that knit together the whole culture of the state  looks profligate to Ohio eyes. Each of these plants also had a constellation of businesses around it, some small but others vast. Armco, where J.D. Vances grandfather worked, rolled steel for automobiles.

This is by now an old story, but in Ohio the arrival of Donald Trump has made it a thoroughly different story. For three decades after NAFTA passed, no major-party presidential nominee dared raise his voice against it  until Mr. Trump, who had always railed at NAFTA, came along.

As long as the states main grievance was closed to debate, the essential conservatism of the states electorate was hidden under a blanket of apathy and cynicism. For a while, Democrats alone voiced misgivings about globalization  Representative Marcy Kaptur, in her lakefront district; Senator Sherrod Brown; and Representative Tim Ryan, the likely Democratic candidate for the seat Mr. Vance is contesting. That made conservative Ohio look like more of a swing state than it actually is.

Whether Mr. Trump effectively stopped anything related to globalization can be debated. But his arrival on the scene was, for Ohioans, an electroshock, a vindication, a license for rebellion.
The debt crisis is a very recent phenomenon, he told me. There was a previous crisis in the 1980s. The loan default rate then was three times what it was in the Great Recession. The cause was terrible schools that enrolled unsuspecting students and saddled them with unaffordable loans. So Congress enacted very strict rules. If your default rate was too high, your institution was kicked out of the loan program. Or if students were too reliant on federal aid. Or you used aggressive recruitment techniques. Or you taught everyone remotely. Thousands of schools were kicked out and the default rate plummeted.

Looney continued: Then in the late 90s or early 2000s we eliminated the distance learning rule. There were no checks on quality. We gutted rules on default rates and the fraction of funding that could come from federal sources. We eliminated loan limits for grad students. All this has allowed proliferation of low-quality schools.

In 2018, then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos scrapped a regulation that would have forced for-profit colleges to prove that students they enroll are able to obtain decent-paying jobs. A 2018 New York Times story called the move the most drastic in a series of policy shifts that will free the scandal-scarred, for-profit sector from safeguards put in effect during the Obama era.

The federal government could reinstate the safeguards imposed under Obama and previous presidents, but the current focus among Democrats in Congress is on debt relief. President Biden has repeatedly extended a pandemic moratorium on student loan debt repayment. The current moratorium is set to expire on Aug. 31, so he will have to decide soon whether to extend it yet again or go for permanent relief. Whether he could forgive debt himself by executive order, or would have to ask Congress to do so, isnt clear.

Some progressives, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, are pressing for across-the-board debt forgiveness in the belief that it would mainly benefit the poor and lower middle class, in particular Black borrowers, who are at greater risk of defaulting.

In reality, across-the-board forgiveness would help the rich much more than the poor, according to Looney. The debate over this question is mind-numbing, but Im persuaded by two points that Looney makes. First, some of the borrowers who look poor at first glance  such as fresh graduates of medical school  are rich when you take into account their lifetime earnings potential, which they bolstered through their studies. Forgiving the debt of these nominally poor people would not exactly strike a blow for the proletariat. Second, many lower-income people already receive limited debt relief. Full debt forgiveness is less of a benefit to a low-income person who wasnt likely to pay in full anyway, whereas its a valuable benefit to an upper-income person who would have paid in full.

Looney is all in favor of selective debt forgiveness. Just about everyone agrees that individuals who experience low income for a period of time and cannot pay their loans in full or part should have the majority of their loans forgiven. (Indeed, thats the law now, even if poorly implemented.), he wrote in an email. So the contested ground (and the progressive position) is around advocating for forgiveness for people whose incomes are sufficient to pay.
Q: You write that just as traumatic experiences from childhood can persist into adulthood, the emotional ramifications of the pandemic promise to linger long after physical threats fade. What is your biggest fear for what could happen to the subway, and to the city by extension?

When I refrained from entering stations in 2020, I found that the longer I went without the subway, the more it carried associations of fear for me. It was so easy for recent negativity to overshadow all the older, fond memories I had accrued underground. When I finally pushed myself to go back, I was shocked at how quickly those positive associations came rushing back.

I worry that not enough people will give the subway that second chance. I worry that passengers with higher incomes, especially, will continue avoiding the subway. And I worry that low ridership will perpetuate itself because some New Yorkers associate empty platforms or cars with more vulnerability and danger.

Q: You did a callout on Twitter asking about peoples favorite subway memories. Were there any that stood out that you couldnt include in your essay?

My favorite tweet came from N. Jamiyla Chisholm, who shared a video of a dance party in the Times Square station. With the hashtag #undergroundjoy, she wrote that just two days after the recent shooting in Sunset Park, an amateur group started playing Journeys hopeful song Dont Stop Believing, and that turned the station into a jubilant mini concert hall. The video embodies the quintessential New York spirit  through the hardest of times, this city refuses to be cowed.

Q: Youve shared other peoples favorite subway memories. Whats yours?

The first few times I took the subway, I was astonished by how many kinds of people existed. I had spent the first seven years of my life in a very homogeneous part of northern China and had no idea so many skin tones, eye colors and hair types were possible. I remember being particularly scared of blue and green eyes because they looked like the glass eyes in my dolls.

As is often the case with children, being around so much that was unfamiliar made me anxious around strangers. During one of my first subway rides, my mom and I boarded a very crowded rush hour car. As the train pulled out of the station, I grabbed what I thought was my moms hand to steady myself. When the hand squeezed back gently, I looked down and saw that it had a completely different skin tone than mine  I wasnt holding my moms hand at all!
Its not unusual today to find swans on rivers and lakes, splitting their time between pulling up water plants and punishing the unwise with powerful blows of their bony-elbowed wings.

Eleven million years ago, however, swans in what is today called Japan did something unexpected: They took to the oceans. In a paper published this week in The Bulletin of Gunma Museum of Natural History, Japanese paleontologists formally described this family or genus of swans, Annakacygna, which had long, filter-feeding heads, small wings and seriously strange hips  all of which have lead the researchers to call it the ultimate bird.

The first set of remains of Annakacygna  a nearly articulated skeleton in a stone slab from a riverbed in Japans Gunma Prefecture  were excavated by a Japanese fossil hunter in 2000. After the fossil hunter donated the remains to the Gunma Museum of Natural History, the museum director, Hasegawa Yoshikazu, called in Hiroshige Matsuoka, a paleontologist, to examine them.

Initially Dr. Matsuoka thought he was looking at a strange duck, perhaps an animal that dove in the oceans just offshore of the then-newly risen Japanese Archipelago. But as bones were cleared from the slab, he concluded that the short-winged skeleton belonged to a flightless swan.
Tiktaalik first became known to humans in 2004, after skulls and other bones of at least 10 specimens turned up in ancient stream beds in the Nunavut Territory of the Arctic. The discoverers, a team of paleontologists including Neil Shubin of the University of Chicago, Ted Daeschler of Drexel Universitys Academy of Natural Sciences, and Farish Jenkins of Harvard University, described their findings in two Nature papers in 2006.

A local council of elders known as the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit Katimajiit were consulted, and they gave Tiktaalik its name, which translates to a large freshwater fish that lives in the shallows, in Inuktitut. The fossils have since been returned to Canada.

Scientists had been searching for a fossil like Tiktaalik, a creature on the cusp of limbs, for decades. And where other fossils required a bit of explanation, Tiktaaliks obvious anatomy  a fish with (almost) feet  made it the perfect icon of evolution, situated squarely between water and land.

Even then, the fossil fish struck a popular nerve, arriving on the heels of the case of a trial in Pennsylvania that ruled against teaching creationism as an alternative to evolution in high school biology. To Dr. Shubin, societys collective desire to throw Tiktaalik back into the water is a bit of a relief: You would want to chuck the fish only if you believed in evolution, which to me is a beautiful thing, he said.

When Ms. Deretsky illustrated Tiktaalik, she portrayed it with its derriere submerged in water, as the fossils back half was a mystery at the time. But in the years since, scientists have amassed more than 20 specimens and seen more of its anatomy, including its pelvis, hind fin and the joints of its skull.

In particular, computed tomography scans taken by Justin Lemberg, a researcher in Dr. Shubins lab, have allowed scientists to peer inside rock to see the bones within. The scans spawned 3-D models of Tiktaaliks unseen parts. Some scans revealed that Tiktaalik had unexpectedly massive hips (more like Thicctaalik) and a surprisingly big pelvic fin. The fish, instead of dragging itself with only its fore-fins, like a wheelbarrow, appeared to use all four fins to get around, like a jeep.

Other scans revealed the delicate bones of its pectoral fin. Unlike the symmetrical rays of fish fins, Tiktaaliks fin bones were noticeably asymmetrical, which allowed the joints to bend in one direction. We think that was because these animals were interacting with the ground, said Thomas Stewart, an incoming evolutionary and developmental biologist at Penn State University.
STOCKHOLM  Can somebody dim the Dan Flavin? Its not a request one generally hears at a restaurant, but on the inaugural preview night at Brutalisten, the artist Carsten Holler was pulling cords from their sockets at random, still working out a few kinks at his restaurant, including toning down the glaring fluorescent tubes of the Minimalist masterpiece on the dining rooms wall.

Most kinks had already been dekinked, with a miraculous same-day installation of Mr. Hollers made-to-measure furnishings just before guests arrived, and the staff, outfitted in his custom-designed gray boiler suits, was unflappably cheery.

In the past week the pocket-size Brutalisten (the Brutalist in Swedish), with just 28 seats, has been packed to the rafters with Mr. Hollers high-polish friends and supporters from Stockholm and far beyond: Miuccia Prada; Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert; Mikael Schiller, an owner of Acne Studios; Max Schiller, the founder of the footwear brand Eytys; the art patron Maja Hoffmann; the musician Baba Stiltz; the director Jonas Akerlund; the photographer Mikael Jansson; and a host of fellow artists.
The actor Jamie Hector grew up in South Brooklyn, watching karate movies on Saturday mornings. He began studying martial arts as a teenager. I wanted to throw a ninja star, he said. I wanted to fight like Bruce Lee.

Three decades later, at a dojo in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, he squatted on the floor, an elbow arced above his head, a wrist bent back at an alarming angle. He was being marched around a golden, plant-filled room by his longtime sensei, Soke Haisan Kaleak.

How am I manipulating him like a marionette puppet? Mr. Kaleak said. Pretty easily.

At 46, Mr. Hector remains baby faced, with large eyes and a broad forehead that narrows to a tidy chin. He broke out 15 years ago as Marlo Stanfield, a stone-cold, sweatband-repping drug dealer in the third season of The Wire. With ruthless efficiency and a dreamlike stillness, Stanfield took over corner after corner. A lot of that efficiency came from Mr. Hectors years of martial arts training, which taught him control, stamina, economy of motion and that absolute, unruffled presence.

I consider it a spiritual discipline, he said, his voice graveled like a pebbled beach.

He still practices whenever he can. And on this free afternoon a few days before the premiere of his new show, We Own This City, a six-episode HBO drama from the creators of The Wire, he had downed a peanut butter protein shake, then bounded up the stairs to Urban Asanas, a dojo that doubles as a yoga studio, so that Mr. Kaleak could nearly snap his wrist.
When Mr. Taylor finally called, he made excuses about how busy he had been visiting family and friends. Mr. Vincent wasnt having it. Ive been to Manhattan, he said of his thinking at the time. I know its possible to make calls from there.

Though Mr. Taylor didnt admit it in the moment, a fear of commitment had gotten the better of him. I hadnt felt this feeling in a long time, he said.

Mr. Taylor, now 67, is the fourth of six boys. He grew up in Mount Pleasant, Pa., and attended Edinboro University in Edinboro, Pa. A grandfather of three and great-grandfather of four, Mr. Taylor had a daughter, Michquel, with a woman he was in a relationship with before he came out. Last November, Michquel died of cancer at age 45.

Mr. Vincent, now 65, grew up in Sacramento, Calif., and is the youngest of his five sisters and two brothers. His grandparents on both sides were immigrants from the West African island of Cape Verde. After graduating from San Francisco State University, he earned a masters degree in marriage, family and child counseling from the California State University, Los Angeles.

Mr. Vincent has spent much of his career training health care providers in H.I.V. prevention and care, mostly at the University of California, San Francisco, where he has worked in different capacities since 1998. He is now a senior consultant there, and most recently helped create a national curriculum to train contact tracers for Covid.

About a month after he met Mr. Taylor in Oakland, Mr. Vincent traveled to L.A. for work. While there, he ended up helping Mr. Taylor move and their relationship soon moved a step forward.
The owner of the company had a managerial style some might say created a toxic workplace atmosphere. For example, after receiving an unfavorable report during a meeting, he leaped to his feet screaming obscenities and hurled his laptop through the glass window of the second story conference room.

I again talked to Neal about an exit plan. He wanted to stick it out.

As my husband began to take over day-to-day operations, the displaced owner would often call me to his office to initiate new projects. Sometimes he would shift the conversation as he wondered aloud why I would choose to work when I could travel the country or spend time as his wife did, enjoying the many nearby sanatoriums (which, in former Soviet states, are like spas with medical treatments).

Occasionally he insinuated I had an unfavorable opinion of his company and him. Both true, but I had never told anyone except my husband, privately at home.

It was the coldest winter in decades in what we learned was one of the warmest parts of the country. The pipes in our building froze and burst over the elevator, rendering it unusable. Each night we trudged up 11 flights of icy cement stairs to our apartment, often carrying bottled water we had been advised to drink and cook with.

We could see our breath indoors as we huddled together on the sofa under layers of blankets. The living room glowed orange from the four portable electric heaters I bought when our radiators stopped working. We watched the one channel we had in English: Animal Planet. Meerkat Manor was our big night.

Just before bed, we bathed together as our water heater accommodated only one bath. Neal would get out first, steam wafting from his body, and put on thermal long underwear. He would open a towel and Id step into it and briskly dry myself. While I put on flannel bottoms, he held the bath sheet over my shoulders, and as I buttoned the top, he took slippers and pushed them on my feet.
Mr. Mehta told each company that he was talking to one of its biggest competitors, so it had to act fast. But the discussions did not get far. The other companies had concerns about the price and antitrust scrutiny. Instacart declined to comment on deal talks, which were previously reported by The Information.

Around that time, there were tense discussions between Mr. Mehta and a group of board members led by Michael Moritz, an investor from Sequoia Capital, said four people with knowledge of the situation. The talks with DoorDash and Uber were part of those discussions, some of those people said. (Still, Instacart and Mr. Mehta have said his departure was a voluntary move.)

Before Ms. Simo was named chief executive in July, there was a brief discussion about making her and Mr. Mehta co-chief executives, three people with knowledge of the situation said. That idea was quickly abandoned, and Mr. Mehta became chairman. (The chief executive of The New York Times, Meredith Kopit Levien, joined Instacarts board of directors in October 2021.)

Carolyn Everson, a former Facebook executive who became Instacarts president in September, left the company after just three months  the highest-profile departure from the company, which also lost its chief revenue officer as well as the person who was president before Ms. Everson. Ms. Everson was not happy because she ended up spending most of her time working on the companys relationships with grocery executives, a person with knowledge of the situation said.

Instacarts business has continued to grow through the management turmoil, hitting $1.8 billion in revenue last year, a person familiar with the business said. But that was far from the quadrupling growth of 2020.

Grocery industry experts and some inside Instacart have floated the idea that the company should cut out grocers by opening its own warehouses of goods, which could be more lucrative. But Ms. Simo has steadfastly opposed the move. Instead, she has tightened Instacarts relationships with grocers, including Kroger, Publix, Wegmans and Costco.
But airlines are now beginning to scale back their promises. These companies are first and foremost businesses and at some point need to look at the economics of having these liabilities out there, he said, referring to those miles and vouchers. But, he added, they needed to do so fairly, with clearly communicated policies and without clawing back benefits already granted.

You did a great job of communicating with the airline, and Im convinced that you would have eventually gotten your pass extended without my help. So let me tell others about your strategy.

First, you put together an airtight case. British Airways said one thing  on their website  and did another. In the past, Ive been tempted to whip off many a nasty screed to customer service, only to realize I missed an email, or didnt read the fine print. It would have been unreasonable for you to demand they restore that exact same flight to Hong Kong, for example. Miles and vouchers dont guarantee a specific route, and the world has changed in the past two years. With apologies to Thomas Wolfe, you cant go away again.

You made your argument via email, which keeps everything on record and eliminates maddening hold times  not to mention quite often gets you the names and titles of whom youre dealing with. (Im not sure if writing directly to the chief executives email did you any good, but it didnt hurt.) By the time we talked, an employee named Daniel had admitted your pass should have been extended automatically to September 2023. And when Daniel gave you a specific customer service number and you reported back they had refused your request, he seemed intent on intervening personally on your behalf, something Im not sure Ive ever seen before.

OK, time to let Erik go pack and talk among ourselves: Are other travelers missing out by not playing the credit-card game in search of first-class tickets?

Probably not. First of all, if youre not one to pay off your credit cards in full every month, this game is not for you. Second, if you dont put at least $1,000 a month on your cards, you likely wont cash in even on the basic introductory offers, which require you to spend a certain amount in the first few months you have your card. Third, many have exorbitant annual fees you have to figure into your calculations.

Finally, you need to be extraordinarily organized with your finances and flexible in your travel dates and destinations. If all goes well, that $250 annual fee I paid for the Delta-branded Amex card will get me 90,000 miles to use later this year, as well as the companion voucher, but to make that happen I need to spend $1,000 a month, which includes painstakingly switching all my monthly payments to the new card (passwords, passwords) and switching them all back so I can cancel before the second annual fee kicks in. I only deemed that worth the trouble after hours spent on delta.com, proving to myself  given my particular travel habits  that I can get way more out of the miles and other benefits than what I am spending on the annual fee.
WASHINGTON  Two and a half years after the 2020 census stopped counting heads, the Census Bureau has yet to say how many children under age 5 live in Albuquerque, or how many women are in Sioux City. And it will remain that way for another year.

The bureau said this week that it would not be able to publish those statistics and many others until May 2023, and that much of the more granular data, combining answers to several questions, must wait until at least August 2023. The cause, it said, is a series of delays that began with the emergence of Covid-19 and continues with tortuous efforts to keep information on individual respondents private, as federal law requires.

It is the longest delay of census data in memory  as much as two years past a normal release date  and it is causing consternation among some who rely on those numbers to plan for the future.

Its so delayed that people are not going to see it as having much use, said Kurt R. Metzger, a demographic consultant and founder of Data Driven Detroit, a nonprofit data source for the region. Im not blaming the Census Bureau. Im just really disappointed.
As a senator, Mr. Biden was one of the champions of the policy; it has since become widely discredited, and he has disavowed it.

The United States Sentencing Commission has said that passage of the legislation could reduce the sentences of more than 7,600 federal prisoners. The average 14-year sentence would be cut by about six years, it estimated.

Though Mr. Schumer endorsed the legislation in April, he has not laid out a timeline for bringing it to the floor. Democrats say he is giving backers of the bill a chance to build additional support and find a way to advance the measure without causing a floor fight that could take weeks  time that Democrats do not have if they want to continue to win approval of new judges and take care of other business before the end of the year.

Getting the opportunity is the challenge, said Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and one of the original sponsors of the legislation. We just dont move many free-standing bills which involve some controversy.

Its supporters say that they recognize the difficulties but believe that it is the single piece of criminal justice legislation with a chance of reaching the presidents desk in the current political environment.

Understand the 2022 Midterm Elections Card 1 of 6 Why are these midterms so important? This years races could tip the balance of power in Congress to Republicans, hobbling President Bidens agenda for the second half of his term. They will also test former President Donald J. Trumps role as a G.O.P. kingmaker. Heres what to know: What are the midterm elections? Midterms take place two years after a presidential election, at the midpoint of a presidential term  hence the name. This year, a lot of seats are up for grabs, including all 435 House seats, 35 of the 100 Senate seats and 36 of 50 governorships. What do the midterms mean for Biden? With slim majorities in Congress, Democrats have struggled to pass Mr. Bidens agenda. Republican control of the House or Senate would make the presidents legislative goals a near-impossibility. What are the races to watch? Only a handful of seats will determine if Democrats maintain control of the House over Republicans, and a single state could shift power in the 50-50 Senate. Here are 10 races to watch in the House and Senate, as well as several key governors contests. When are the key races taking place? The primary gauntlet is already underway. Closely watched races in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia will be held in May, with more taking place through the summer. Primaries run until September before the general election on Nov. 8. Go deeper. What is redistricting and how does it affect the midterm elections? How does polling work? How do you register to vote? Weve got more answers to your pressing midterm questions here.











Of all the criminal justice bills, this is the one that is set up for success right now, said Inimai Chettiar, the federal director for the Justice Action Network. It is not going to be easy on the floor, but I think it is doable.

The problem is that the push comes as top Republicans have made clear that they intend to try to capitalize on public concern about increasing crime in the battle for Senate and House control in November.
POWDER SPRINGS, Ga.  Less than a 30-minute drive from Atlanta, Powder Springs embodies the changes reshaping Georgia politics. Shops and restaurants owned almost entirely by Black proprietors line its downtown center and are frequented by a growing population of young and racially diverse residents. The suburban city elected its first Black mayor in 2015, and the county where it sits, the former Republican stronghold of Cobb, voted for President Biden by 14 percentage points in 2020.

There is one other big change: Powder Springs, a majority Black city, may soon be represented in Congress by Marjorie Taylor Greene.

That development, the result of new district maps drawn by Georgia state legislators, was part of a Republican drive to blunt Democrats power. But for residents, the prospect of Powder Springs and another predominantly Black suburb, Austell, being represented by perhaps the most far-right Republican in Congress is raising questions that go beyond partisan politics. Some say they have little trust that Ms. Greene will pay them the same attention and respect that she gives to her white, Republican constituents and fear their voice in Congress wont speak for them.

Its about having someone thats going to take your phone calls, whos going to work on your behalf, whos going to care what happens to your children, who is going to care about making sure you get to your job, said State Representative David Wilkerson, a Black Democrat who lives in and represents the communities now drawn into Ms. Greenes congressional district. Thats what people are looking for.
Mr. Kotey declined to comment, instead referring to a lengthy letter he had filed with the court. The letter describes at times feeling sympathy for his captives, but such sentiments, he wrote, were often brief and momentary. He called himself a soldier carrying out orders and using harsh tactics that were necessary to fight the United States as part of asymmetrical warfare.

While Mr. Kotey said in the letter that he took responsibility for his actions and that his own capture and detention had led to reflection, he did not apologize for his crimes, writing that he was slightly reluctant to use such terms like remorse.

As part of his plea deal, Mr. Kotey agreed to meet with the families of the dead hostages and share information with F.B.I. agents and prosecutors, a process that has already started. If he fulfills his cooperation requirements, Mr. Kotey could be sent to Britain after 15 years to complete the remainder of his life sentence.

Earlier this month, a jury swiftly convicted El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, another Islamic State militant believed to be a member of the Beatles, on four counts of hostage-taking and four counts of conspiracy related to the deaths of the Americans.

At Mr. Elsheikhs trial, Raj Parekh, the first assistant U.S. attorney, said Mr. Kotey and Mr. Elsheikh were terrorists and brothers in arms who reveled in sadism and were deeply tied to the kidnapping scheme.

The evidence demonstrates that they grew up together, radicalized together, fought as high-ranking ISIS fighters together, held hostages together, tortured and terrorized hostages together, Mr. Parekh said. And after Emwazi was killed, Elsheikh and Kotey were ultimately captured in Syria together.

Prosecutors recounted how the hostages had been beaten and waterboarded and endured mock executions. One Danish hostage was hit 25 times in his ribs on his 25th birthday, Mr. Parekh said. Some were freed after ransoms were paid.
There were about 232,000 targets of so-called 702 surveillance in 2021, the report said  the largest such number yet in the reports history. That resumed a steady climb in such targets, which had dipped slightly to about 203,000 in 2020  the first year of the pandemic  from the previous high of about 205,000 in 2019.

One of the debates that flared up around the Snowden leaks was the issue of communications involving Americans that the government collects without a warrant as an incidental byproduct of its foreign intelligence surveillance. For example, if a foreigner abroad who is targeted by the warrantless surveillance program communicates with an American, the government will collect that Americans emails to and from the foreign target.

This year, for the first time, the report included some information about a question that members of Congress have long asked: how often the F.B.I. has searched its 702 surveillance repository using the identifiers of Americans, like their names, phone numbers and addresses.

The F.B.I. has long said its systems were not set up to provide an accurate count, but this years report provided a stab at it. Still, the figures significance was murky.

Specifically, the report said that F.B.I. analysts had queried the repository using an Americans identifier fewer than about 3.4 million times from December 2020 to November 2021. That is up from fewer than about 1.3 million times during the previous 12-month period.

The meaning of those numbers is clouded, however, because of how the F.B.I. compiled them. A batch query that used 100 identifiers as search terms, only one of which was that of an American, would count 100 times. A search for information about a single American target, using 10 email addresses and phone numbers associated with that target, would count 10 times. Repeating such a query would make all those numbers count anew.

In a statement, one of the lawmakers who has long pushed the F.B.I. to count and disclose its searches for Americans information, Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, called the astronomical number that the F.B.I. came up with either highly alarming or entirely meaningless.
Jim Renacci, an acolyte of Donald J. Trump who is trying to capitalize on outsider energy to oust the Republican governor of Ohio, has found himself outspent, way down in the polls and lamenting his lack of an endorsement from the former president.

He has even given up on raising cash.

Why waste time trying to raise money when youre running against an incumbent? Mr. Renacci said in an interview. I would rather spend time getting my message out. I just dont have a finance team.

Mr. Renaccis plight ahead of Ohios primary election on Tuesday illustrates the challenges in front of Republican candidates who are trying to seize on the partys divisions to unseat G.O.P. governors. Some have been endorsed by Mr. Trump as part of his quest to dominate Republican primaries, while others, like Mr. Renacci, have not received the coveted nod but are hoping to take advantage of Trump supporters anti-establishment fervor.

But in every case, these candidates have failed to gain traction.

Trump-inspired and Trump-endorsed candidates for governor have put up spirited opposition in May primaries across five states, but they are facing strong headwinds. In addition to Ohio, where Gov. Mike DeWine holds a polling lead of nearly 20 percentage points over Mr. Renacci, Republican governors in Alabama, Georgia and Idaho are so far holding off Trump-wing candidates. In Nebraska, a candidate backed by Mr. Trump is locked in a three-way contest for an open seat with the governors choice and a relative moderate.
The rape happened in the hours after midnight on March 14, in a classroom of a school outside Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine. Two days later, Yulia Gorbunova interviewed the victim and helped persuade her to report the attack, which could ultimately be prosecuted as a war crime committed by invading Russian forces.

Ms. Gorbunova, an investigator with Human Rights Watch, spoke with the victim several more times by phone and later in person to document her trauma and obtain photos of bruises and cuts that the woman said had been inflicted by a Russian soldier who had raped her repeatedly. The victim  mother to a 5-year-old daughter  submitted at least some of the evidence to local authorities in Kharkiv.

But this week, Ms. Gorbunova also brought the attack to the attention of Ukrainian war crimes prosecutors in Kyiv, the capital.

They were very interested, because they said that it has been difficult to get survivors of sexual violence to come forward, Ms. Gorbunova said in a telephone interview from Kyiv on Wednesday. She has been documenting human rights abuses in Ukraine since 2014, when Russia began supporting separatists in the eastern part of the country, and was alerted to the rape near Kharkiv by local activists.
Part of the reason for that is human psychology. We have a deeply ingrained instinct to form groups and then discriminate against anybody who does not belong.

We know from history that many of the most brutal crimes and conflicts that humanity has endured were motivated in good part by ethnic, religious, racial and sometimes national distinctions. From the Holocaust to Rwanda, you can find examples from virtually any century of recorded history.

As a small-D democrat, I would love to think that democratic institutions can help to resolve those conflicts, and in certain ways, they can. But in one important respect, democracy actually makes managing diversity harder.

Democracy is always a search for majorities. And so, if I am used to being in the majority, but now you have more kids than I do, or if there are more immigrants coming in that look like you rather than me, theres this natural fear that I might suddenly lose some of my power. And we can see this in the form of the demographic panic that is motivating so many on the far right in the United States and many other democracies today.

And why do you call it a great experiment?

Because there is no precedent for highly ethnically and religiously diverse democracies that actually treat all of their members as equals.

There are many examples of stable, relatively homogeneous democracies, like West Germany after World War II. There are many examples of democracies that have been diverse from their founding, like the United States, which used to give special status to one group and oppress the other  at times horrifically.

As a student of the rise of populism and the crisis of democracy, Ive been struck over the last couple of decades by the way in which people from Donald Trump to Viktor Orban to Narendra Modi to Marine Le Pen exploit the fears that the great experiment has inspired.
Victory in the Donbas campaign is vital to Moscows plans of carving out a large chunk of southern and eastern Ukraine, from Odesa in the south through Mariupol and up to Kharkiv in the north, and bringing it under Russian domination or even outright annexation.

Moscow now has 92 battalion groups fighting in Donbas  up from 85 a week ago, but still well below the 125 it had in the first phase of the war, the Pentagon official said. Each battalion group has about 700 to 1,000 troops.

Russia still has massive firepower in the region, but many of those battalions were badly damaged in early fighting around the capital, Kyiv, and have been rushed back into action in Donbas before being restored to full fighting strength, the Pentagon official said.

Some military experts gave a grimmer assessment of Russias prospects on Friday. Dr. Mike Martin, a visiting fellow in war studies at Kings College London, told the BBC that Russias offensive had sort of fizzled and that the battle for eastern Ukraine could be over in two to four weeks.

Russias early failures, its inability to do some bold maneuver in recent fighting and Ukraines growing prowess on the battlefield is behind a major strategic shift among Western countries, he said, as they expand their aims beyond defending Ukraine to defeating Russia and degrading its military.

In an effort to shore up its forces, Russia has unleashed a barrage of missile and artillery strikes all along the front, continuing its strategy of targeting civilian as well as military targets. Its brutality of the coldest and the most depraved sort, the Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, told reporters on Friday.
BRUSSELS  When Fabrice Leggeri, a French civil servant, took over the European border agency known as Frontex in 2015, its operations were based out of a small office in Warsaw that mostly did administrative work.

In the course of his tenure, it became the most well-endowed agency in the European Union, saw its annual budget swell to 543 million euros and developed the blocs first joint, armed border force as migrants fleeing war and economic hardship sought to reach the bloc.

The higher profile was also met with greater scrutiny: Frontex was accused of mismanagement, harassment, and covering up human rights abuses  and even carrying them out  at Europes borders. Some of these claims were investigated by the blocs anti-fraud agency, but before the results of that inquiry were made public, Mr. Leggeri offered his resignation, in a letter dated Thursday.

In the letter to the agencys management board, Mr. Leggeri included an oblique statement that Frontex had silently but effectively changed its mandate. Observers took that to mean he felt as though he was being wrongly accused of failing to honor human rights obligations when the agencys primary mission is to protect the blocs borders.
In 1989 she was appointed prosecutor but declined the post to move to Crimea in Ukraine after her husband, Oleksandr Denisov, then an investigator for Soviet military prosecutors, was posted there.

When Ukraine gained independence with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, they stayed on and became Ukrainian citizens. The couple have since parted ways but remain good friends, she said, close to their two daughters and four grandchildren.

She then entered public life, heading the regional departments of economy and finance in Crimea at the turn of the millennium, while also working briefly in the private sector.

In 2006 she won election to the Ukrainian Parliament and later served as minister of labor and social policy. In 2014 she became a founding member with Arseniy Yatsenyuk, then the prime minister, of a conservative nationalist political party, Peoples Front. She describes herself as a Ukrainian nationalist of Russian origin.

In 2018, Ukraines Parliament named her to head the Commission for Human Rights, established nearly 25 years ago, where she took over a team of human rights lawyers and constitutional specialists. At the onset of war, her office was already working with the European Parliament and the United Nations, and now it sends a daily report to officials of the International Criminal Court, she said.

The collaboration with the court represents the first serious attempt to prepare a war crimes case against Mr. Putin. There are two ways, to do this, she said. One is through a criminal process to prove the guilt of these military men and condemn them according to our legislation, and the second is to do it according to international law.

Ms. Denisova has set up a hotline for citizens to report human rights violations but also to field requests for help. Telephone operators, some in the basement of her office in Kyiv, others working remotely around the country, take calls in shifts, working 24/7.
Then there was the most awkward question of all: Why Germany?

One of them told us: I wont be evacuated to Germany. I do want to be evacuated  but not to Germany, said Rudiger Mahlo, of the Claims Conference, who works with German officials in Berlin to organize the rescues.

Founded to negotiate Holocaust restitutions with the German government, the Claims Conference maintains a detailed list of survivors that, under normal circumstances, is used to distribute pensions and health care but that now serves a way to identify people for evacuation.

For many reasons, Mr. Mahlo would tell them, Germany made sense. It was easily reachable by ambulance via Poland. It has a well-funded medical system and a large population of Russian speakers, including Jewish emigrants from the former Soviet Union. And his organization has an intimate relationship with government officials there after decades of restitution talks. Israel is also an option, for those well enough to fly there.

Ms. Ploschenko now has nothing but love for Germany, though she still remembers everything about the last war she survived  from the scarf her mother wrapped around her body, at one point her only piece of clothing, to the radio bulletin that delivered her the news that thousands of Jews, among them an aunt and two cousins, had been killed in mobile gas wagons the locals called dushegubka, or soul killer.
KYIV  The Ukrainian authorities have published the names and photos of 10 Russian soldiers whom they accuse of kidnapping and torturing unarmed civilians in the town of Bucha, the most detailed accusation yet against Russian forces in Ukraine.

Bucha, a suburb north of Kyiv, was the site of some of the wars worst atrocities discovered so far. The bodies of hundreds of civilians were found there after Russian troops pulled out of the area in late March. Many victims had been shot in the back of the head and others had been executed with their hands tied behind their backs. Ukrainian officials said that women had been raped and children killed.

Ukraines prosecutor generals office said in a statement on Thursday that the 10 named Russian soldiers took civilians hostage, killed them with hunger and thirst, kept them on their knees with their hands tied and their eyes taped and humiliated and beat them. The statement, which was posted on social media, included photos of the soldiers identified.

We know all the details about them and their actions, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in an overnight address. And we will find everyone, just as we will find all the other Russian thugs who killed and tortured Ukrainians, who tormented our people, who destroyed houses and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
ZMIIV, Ukraine  The wind carried the smell of death across the street. The body of the dead man, burned, mutilated and barely recognizable, was taken from the refrigerator and laid on a metal gurney. The coroner smoked a cigarette and unzipped the black bag.

It was a beautiful spring day. There had been no shelling that morning. And Oksana Pokhodenko, 34, gasped, blinking, at the charred corpse. That was not her brother, she told herself, that was not Oleksandr. That was barely a human.

Her brother lived once. The family patriarch for 20 years since their father died, he called his sister every day after the war started as he fled with his family to a village, Husarivka, wedged between rolling wheat fields. He kept calling  Hello, Little One. Were good. How are you?  but never mentioned that the Russians had overrun the village where he was hiding.

Ms. Pokhodenko, in black jeans, a black jacket and barely laced sneakers, struggled to keep looking at the body. Her brother had taught her how to ride a bike and had loved to watch cartoons for hours with his son. To his sister, he was a stone wall. This was a charred husk. Half of the mans skull was gone, and his chest cavity was splayed open.
Bospar picks up Grin, a creator management platform designed to help brands build and nurture authentic influencer relationships. Bospar will be handling media relations for the company. One of G2s Fastest Growing Products of 2022, Grin says its platform creates honest connections between creators and brands across all industries, including such companies as Anthropologie, Ipsy, SKIMS, Rockstar Energy and Macys.

Decker/Royal adds Market New Haven and Holland America Line to its client roster. For Market New Haven, the official destination marketing organization for Downtown New Haven, Decker Royal will serve as agency of record, with responsibility for content marketing, SEO strategy and public relations. The agency will be working as consumer AOR for Holland America Line, with a special emphasis on promoting the line's 75th anniversary in Alaska and its upcoming 150th anniversary. Other new additions to the agencys client roster include Insight Vacations, Adventure World Travel and Luxury Gold.

DATA Communications Management Corp. lands digital marketing duties for Habitat for Humanity Canada. Building on an existing client relationship, DCM will lead digital strategy and implementation to bolster the organizations digital fundraising efforts. The expanded scope of work will include marketing strategy, email campaigns, paid media, program measurement and data optimization. Weve had great value out of our relationship with DCM thus far; theyre a truly committed partner and theyve got strong private sector expertise we can use to our advantage, said Habitat for Humanity Canada president and CEO Julia Deans.
The top-10 firms specializing in financial PR and investor relations accounted for a total of $291 million in net fees in 2021, according to ODwyers 2022 ranking of financial PR firms, a $25 million gain from 2020s $267 million.

The numbers make it clear: the financial communications sector fared better than most others during PRs post-pandemic rebound. We asked executives at some of the top-ranked financial PR firms what they attribute to their success last year and what trends and changes they predict for the future, as rumors of a coming market correction loom on the horizon.

ICR climbs to new heights

Tom Ryan

New York-based investor relations firm ICR claimed the number-two spot in ODwyers 2022 financial rankings, accounting for $97.8 million in finance-related fees last year, a 61 percent leap from 2020s $60 million.

ICR co-Founder and CEO Tom Ryan told ODwyers that the agencys growth in 2021 was driven by new client retainer wins and the firms ability to smartly advise on transactions, notably IPOs and SPACs.

Having navigated through multiple business cycles over the past 25 years, both good and bad, weve developed the ability to adapt and pull multiple levers to create value and continue providing the best in client service through all points in the cycle, Ryan said.

Ryan noted that the agency didnt experience a COVID-related slowdown, as its revenues grew 20 percent in 2020. In fact, financial markets remained healthy and even experienced increased activity in many areas such as SPACs and IPOs. In addition, Ryan said uncertainty and overall market volatility increased the demand for expert financial communications support.

This article is featured in O'Dwyer's May '22 PR Firm Rankings Magazine

(view PDF version)

Ultimately, the more complicated the landscape, the more public and private companies must work to communicate their story and ICR is uniquely positioned to support clients in that capacity, Ryan told ODwyers.

Ryan said the long-term acceptance of the SPAC structure, continued demand by institutional investors for ESG progress, new and disruptive technologies raising capital from the public markets and an increasingly complex and contentious communications environment for companies that will require expert advice and communications strategies are trends he predicts in the future.

The expectation in 2022 was for the capital markets to cool down somewhat and the geopolitical climate has certainly accelerated that slowdown. But markets always pause and regroup and weve seen this happen many times over the last 25 years. As volatility subsides, corporate transactions will return and ICR will be a major beneficiary given our record backlog, Ryan said.

Prosek seizes on the market of marketing

Jennifer Prosek

Prosek Partners had a strong year in 2021, and this was especially evident in its finance/IR earnings: Prosek climbed to $70 million in finance-related fees in 2021 to claim the number-three spot, revealing 30 percent growth from $53.9 million the year prior.

Founder and CEO Jennifer Prosek attributed several factors to her agencys success last year, including the SPAC boom, IPOs and IR as well as a busier-than-usual special situations business.

She also said private markets clientsPE, hedge funds and asset managersare investing in communications, marketing, digital, ESG and prioritizing brand building and reputation management in ways they never have before. Prosek said her firm placed a big bet on the private markets becoming a major sector for the firm, which she referred to as the Emerging Market of Marketing.

Prosek thinks private markets will continue to be a hot growth sector for financial firms this year, and with that will come new spending in communications, marketing, IR and digital.

ESG will also continue to be a major focus for our financial clients this year, driving consulting and communications revenue, Prosek said. Brand, creative and digitalas an integrated solutionwill also grow as financial firms seek players who can combine deep financial knowledge/acumen with world-class creative services.

Vested benefits from strong value proposition

Binna Kim

Financial services specialists Vested accounted for $17.5 million in finance-related fees last year to hold the number-five spot in ODwyers financial rankings, an impressive leap from 2020s similarly impressive $12.4 million.

Co-Founder and President Binna Kim believes Vesteds exponential growth is a reflection of the agencys powerful value proposition, which combines deep financial expertise, robust integrated marcomm capabilities and a non-traditional approach to agency growth.

Financial services brandsmore than everare striving to brand, market and communicate themselves in more engaging and authentic ways. This demands pragmatic creativitythe kind that can only come from an agency that deeply understands the business of finance but can also apply strategic creative thinking and execution, Kim told ODwyers.

Last year, Vested acquired digital agency Red Lab, which arrived on the heels of the agencys launch of Financial Narrative, a community of financial CMOs and CCOs that now counts hundreds of members. Qwoted, the firms tech platform designed to help financial journalists connect with expert sources, continues to break records on a near-daily basis.

We dont look like any other agency. Which is why our performance is not like any other agency, Kim said.

Looking forward, Kim believes finance brands are going to continue investing in highly intentional and values-driven marketing and communications. Finance brands are also looking for tech-empowered marcomm campaigns, which explains Qwoteds rapid growth.

Across the board, we see brands investing in brand examination, and refining their brand propositions to reflect a post-COVID world where everyone is seeking more humanity in the brands they partner with, Kim said.

Lambert looks to consumer investor community

Jeff Lambert

IR/PR firm Lambert climbed to $7.4 million in finance-related fees last year from $6.2 million in 2020 to claim the number-11 spot on ODwyers financial rankings.

Founder and Chairman Jeff Lambert attributed the Detroit-based firms success last year to its business-outcomes mindset for driving growth with new and existing clients as well as recent wins with public companies and PE firms looking for bottom-line impact.

Industry results across the board were solid, but financial comms and IR outpaced most sectors due to the broader post-pandemic rebound in the Capital Markets, record private equity and VC deal flow, and the SPAC and IPO wave that demanded more of the consulting and integrated model we deploy, Lambert said. But the real test is not how you fare in a frothy market, but rather, how you navigate the coming year and the inevitable softening thats coming.

Lambert said the markets are already beginning to correct and as a result, theres now a flight from speculative companies and stories to proven profits.

That means opportunity for us as we can blend Wall Street-pros with digital marketing, branding and PR to create compelling investor narratives and reach untapped audiences like individual investors, smaller funds and family offices, Lambert said.

Lambert said another area of convergence in the industry is with the consumer investor: the 130 million Americans who own stock and have a strong affinity to the companies they know and the brands and retailers they shop. The agency created shareholder loyalty platform TiiCKER, which enables public companies to connect and engage with this rapidly growing segment of the investment community, to capitalize on this trend.

Bliss brings purpose

Greg Hassel

The Bliss Group jumped to $5.2 million in finance-related fees in 2021, a $1.5 million uptick from 2020s $3.7 million to take the #15 spot on ODwyers 2022 financial rankings.

Greg Hassel, Senior Vice President and Financial Services Practice Lead, said the success of the agencys financial services practice is illustrative of Bliss overall growth, which saw topline revenue rise more than 20 percent year-over-year and is now on pace for more than 30 percent growth in 2022. Within financial services specifically, Hassel said Bliss saw increased demand for services beyond traditional PR and earned media, both from existing and new clients.

Many financial services companies prepared for the worst in 2020 and came out better than expected, which enabled them to explore partnerships with agencies that could bring their storiesincluding new ones born out of the pandemicto life through a full-funnel marketing approach, Hassel said. Traditional PR and earned media remain critical pieces to the communications puzzle, but weve been able to help clients see whats next with new models and campaigns that truly resonate with their end audiences.

The agency also launched Bliss Impact, an offering focused on providing counsel, campaign management and collaboration for clients who want to align their strategic priorities and sustainable programs with societal change.

Now, more than ever, companiesespecially in financial servicesare leaning into purpose-driven work, Hassel said. Strides have been made, but as an industry, theres still a long way to go and Bliss is committed to helping bring about change. On a more tactical level, data and analytics have completely transformed how we do business. Agencies that harness the power of datafrom how we target key audiences to how we measure winsare in the best position to help clients achieve and tangibly show success.
A man in the Midlands found to be over the drink driving limit after being involved in a road crash has been put off the road for two years.

Dailis Kamols, 4 Miller Square, Lusk, Dublin pleaded guilty at last weeks sitting of Longford District Court to drink driving following an incident at MacEoin Park, Longford on January 2, 2022.

The court was told by Sgt Mark Mahon, for the State, of how gardai had been called to the scene of a road crash shortly after midday.

When they arrived, the defendant was found intoxicated inside a car and produced a reading of 46mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

Judge Bernadette Owens was informed the result was one which was just above the one year threshold for a driving disqualification.

Frank Gearty, for the defence, said his client was a man of otherwise good character who had taken a chance on the day in question.

He is a forklift driver and cooperated fully with gardai and he will be substantially discommoded by this, said Mr Gearty.

Judge Owens banned Mr Kamols from driving for two years, fining him 300 in the process.

In being given four months to pay, a second charge of no insurance was struck out after documentation illustrating Mr Kamols innocence was handed into the court.
THE independent TD for Laois Offaly Carol Nolan has said that there is mounting concern among parents and within schools following confirmation from the Minister for Education that schools could be asked to accommodate more than 40,000 new students in the education system.

Minister Foley made her remarks in the context of the need to integrate and provide education to Ukrainian children fleeing the brutal conflict in their homeland. Similar concerns have been expressed by the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) and the Teaching Union of Ireland (TUI).

Deputy Nolan also said that she recently had to submit a parliamentary question to Minister Norma Foley after a number of schools raised concerns with her about the lack of consultation between the Department of Education and school management on just how they were meant to provide additional services while already experiencing funding, capacity and staffing issues.

During Leaders Questions in the Dail in late March, I specifically called on Taoiseach Micheal Martin to clarify if Government has conducted any assessment around the potential impact on adult and child disability respite services here following the commitment to provide services and disability specific accommodation to citizens fleeing war-torn Ukraine. Deputy Nolan said.

The Taoiseach could offer no clear commitments in that regard. My concern now is that there is a similar absence of such a robust assessment with respect to education. I have parents coming to me who are deeply worried about the impact that such numbers will have particularly in terms of accessing special needs education.

Even if a fraction of the unfortunate children fleeing Ukraine have special needs they are going to need access to already highly stretched school services. I know for a fact that there are parents out there wondering if their son or daughter will be de-prioritised in order to make up the shortfall in places. This is a particularly anxious time for parents who have been struggling for so long to secure limited school places in dedicated special needs schools.

In responding to one crisis government must ensure that it does not create another crisis.

It must address parents' concerns that their special needs children will be looked after and not sent to the back of the waiting list because political promises were made without sufficient consideration of the unintentional impacts that might emerge, concluded Deputy Nolan.
A PALM print left on a saw found after an assault on a Kildare man in Edenderry belonged to the man identified by the victim as his attacker, Tullamore Circuit Court was told on Friday.

Detective Sergeant Melissa Lyons said there were 16 characteristics on the saw which were the same as a right-handed palm print taken from Craig Connolly (30), Kinnefad, Edenderry, two days after Keith Dunne was assaulted at JKL Street, Edenderry.

Mr Dunne, aged 34 at the time, lost half of his left index finger after his hand was cut by what he described as a machete when he spoke to gardai afterwards.

A hand saw, identified in court as a double sided Japanese pull saw, was found on the ground at the scene of the incident on June 18, 2020 and sent for analysis to the Forensic Science Ireland laboratory.

A jury on Friday afternoon heard forensic scientist Dr Niall O Claonadh say that he saw an impression on the blade when he examined it visually.

A further examination of the object by dusting with powder to find latent impressions yielded no results.

Dr O Claonadh's photograph of the impression on the blade was examined by Detective Sergeant Melissa Lyons and using a magnifying glass to enlarge the image, she found that when compared with a print from Mr Connolly, it had ridge endings and ridge splitting which were the same.

The jury saw a chart which depicted 12 marks which were in the same position on both the image from the saw and the print taken at Tullamore Garda Station by Garda Mark Shine.

Led by Kevin White, BL, prosecuting, Detective Garda Lyons said that because of these co-incidental marks she concluded that the palm mark could be identified as belonging to Craig Connolly.

Cross-examined by defence counsel John Shortt, Detective Garda Lyons agreed that the quality of the prints taken at the garda station were poor.

She added that though different jurisdictions used different standards for the number of ridge characteristics required to make an identification, the number she found was sufficient to meet the Irish standard.

Questioned again by Mr White, Detective Garda Lyons said that while she had seen prints which had been taken better, the impression left on the object found at the scene of the assault was very good quality.

She added that while the palm print was only partial, that would be the case with 80% of marks dealt with by the laboratory.

She also said that in total she had found 16 characteristics in coincident sequence in the case of the Edenderry prints but was only required to present 12 to the jury.

Earlier, the jury viewed CCTV footage harvested from cameras at the Corner House and the Town Hall in Edenderry.

The footage from the Corner House recorded a white van and a black car parked one in front of the other and two people were present at those vehicles and walking on a footpath nearby.

The black car and the white van were seen driving away at the same time later. The footage was recorded at about the same time as other CCTV seen by the jury previously which was captured around the time of the assault on Mr Dunne.

In the footage recorded by cameras at the Town Hall, O'Connell Square, Edenderry, the jury's attention was drawn to a person walking in one direction and then running in the opposite direction.

The CCTV from the Corner House and the Town Hall was in addition to a compilation of footage prepared by the gardai and presented to the jury by the prosecution.

Cross-examined by Colman Fitzgerald, SC, for Sean Dillon (42), St Brigid's Road, Edenderry, a co-accused in the trial, Garda Mark Shine said he had chosen the footage for the compilation based on what he thought was relevant to the incident being investigated.

In all, CCTV footage was used from a number of premises, namely Mangan's Centra, the Station House, the Corner House, Bargains Galore, Finbarr Cullen's, Eden Decor and a private house on Col Perry Street.

The compilation footage showed a van driving around the town of Edenderry and its registration number could be seen in one still image, resulting in the gardai ascertaining that its registered owner at the time was Sean Dillon.

Garda Shine agreed with Mr Fitzgerald that the footage was used to depict the vehicle as being the same van, which the guard said was a Ford Transit Connect.

Garda Shine also agreed he had pointed to various features on the van, such as a stripe on the side, to say it was the same van.

The garda further said its colour was grey silvery and not white and he agreed with Mr Fitzgerald that it was impossible to see the registration number in other parts of the CCTV footage.

On Wednesday Keith Dunne gave evidence of how he lost half a finger as a result of the assault, saying he was involved in construction work on a footpath on JKL Street when he was attacked from behind.

He was working with his employer, digger driver Peter McCormack, who was breaking concrete and Mr Dunne's job was to stand and ensure no debris went out on the street when traffic was passing.

He said he was standing there holding a screen when he heard a shout and he turned around and saw a masked and hooded man he identified as Craig Connolly swinging a blade down towards his head.

He said the blade hit his hard hat, bounced off it and then hit his nose, resulting in Mr Dunne falling back.

Mr Dunne said the blade then came down with such force that it took half of a finger off and injured other fingers on his left hand.

The handle broke off the weapon and the attacker took off running.

Mr Dunne was brought by ambulance to hospital in Tullamore before being transferred to St James's Hospital, Dublin and though the finger was reattached, because of repeated infections he decided to have it amputated a number of months later.

Mr Dunne gave evidence that the first words out of his mouth after the attack were that Craig Connolly was the man responsible.

He said he knew Craig Connolly as the man who was at that time going out with Sophie Judge, the mother of Mr Dunne's son.

Mr Dunne said Ms Judge had been with Mr Connolly first, and then with him from November 2016 to July 2018.

Craig Connolly has pleaded not guilty to assaulting Mr Dunne at JKL Street, Edenderry, causing him harm, and has also denied assaulting him, causing him serious harm.

He has further denied possessing an article, a pull saw, in a public place, intending to cause injury, incapacitate or intimidate another person.

Sean Dillon has denied assaulting Mr Dunne, causing him harm, and has also pleaded not guilty to causing him serious harm.

The the jury of eight men and four women was told that the State's case will be that Mr Dillon acted in concert with Mr Connolly in that they participated together in the assault by acting in common design.

The trial will continue before Judge Keenan Johnson on Tuesday, May 3.
The first grid-scale solar farm in Ireland to connect to the national grid was launched on Friday in Co Wicklow.

The launch was attended by Irish Climate Minister Eamon Ryan, who said that it would be the first of many such projects as Ireland aims to reach ambitious climate change targets.

The opening came amid global questions about fossil fuel reliance, as Russia continues to wage war against Ukraine.

It comes in the same week opposition parties have attacked the Government over a plan to curtail the sale of turf.

The 25-hectare Millvale solar farm, developed by independent renewable energy producer Neoen, can generate a maximum of eight megawatts using 33,600 solar modules.

Officials in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications said that the energy generated could power around 3,600 homes each year and save 4,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Mr Ryan said that it was the first major solar project to connect to the national grid under the Governments renewable electricity support scheme.

The renewable electricity support scheme is one of the primary policies set out in the Programme for Government and the Climate Action Plan to address Irelands climate challenges over the coming years.

It supports the growth of the green economy, creates sustainable work opportunities and benefits citizens, as renewable energy becomes more cost-effective and replaces fossil fuels such as coal and peat.

Ireland hopes to achieve a 51% reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, with 80% of electricity coming from renewable sources by the end of the decade.
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Lainey Gossip 27 Apr 2022

Amal Clooney arrived in New York yesterday and there are many reasons why she could be there. Shes a human rights lawyer. She..
By Jun Sheng

The US government recently pledged to provide Ukraine with USD 800 million worth of weapons, ammunition and security aid of other forms, including artillery systems, shells, armored personnel carriers, and helicopters. As the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalates, the US, instead of taking any concrete step to mitigate the situation, has jumped at the chance to make hay through its "arms-dealing diplomacy". Its disgusting and selfish behaviors for the sole purpose of protecting its hegemony have seriously damaged world peace and stability.

The US has been promoting "arms-dealing diplomacy" around the world for many years, agitating conflicts, exacerbating disputes, and starting wars in the process. The fundamental reason why the US is so obsessed with this  almost its only  approach is that a confrontational and military response to crisis is a golden opportunity for some American politicians and military-industrial enterprises to profiteer off the war and serve their economic and political interests.

According to a global arms sales report recently released by SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), from 2017 to 2021, the global arms sales volume contracted by 4.6% compared with the previous five-year period, but Americas weapons export grew by 14% in the same period. The fact behind the figure is Americas arms-dealing diplomacy, whereby it constantly stirs up conflicts and fuels regional tension in order to create demand for its weapons and make a fortune out of it.

Whats pushing Americas "arms-dealing diplomacy" is the "military-industrial complex" comprising the Pentagon, arms dealers and politicians. This is a gigantic interest group consisting of American troops, military-industrial enterprises, politicians, and scientific research institutes. It was born during WWII out of the structural connection between Americas massive war machine and economic system. In the following decades after the end of the war, the military-industrial complex has seeped into the capillaries of Americas decision-making architecture on diplomatic and national security affairs. Its influence intensified rather than inhibited.

In the past decades, the US has either participated in or started a raft of major wars, such as the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Afghan War and Iraqi War. It has also meddled in a series of armed conflicts by supporting proxies and providing weapons and ammunition, causing a staggering amount of casualties and humanitarian disasters. While other people are losing their lives, families, or homes, the American military-industrial enterprises are raising their glasses of champagne in celebration of one record of revenues after another, turning geopolitical tension into their milch cow.

For so many years, America has played a part in almost every war that ever broke out on the surface of the planet, either through direct engagement or by providing weapons and equipment. To date, the country has provided weapons to nearly 100 countries and controls 39% of the global arms market. The very existence of its military-industrial complex decides that America needs enemies, and it is always motivated to seek new ones around the world.

The US has tried hard to paint war as a "legit option" in its foreign policy, constantly trampled upon international law, and wantonly used force to invade other countries or interfere in their internal affairs, all to serve its own interests. Is this how America lives up to its daily preaching of "human rights" and "democracy"? In the meantime, its military spending has set new records for years in a row, but the government has no money to improve domestic infrastructure and peoples living standards. Is this the country that claims to be "of the people, by the people, for the people"? It is high time for the war-mongering, peace-wrecking US to stop its "arms-dealing diplomacy"!
As Russia concentrates its attack on the east and south of the country, residents of the Kyiv region are returning to assess the war's toll on their communities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia's missile attack on Kyiv was an attempt to humiliate the United Nations. The UN secretary-general was in the city at the time of the attack. Follow DW for more.
A British-born Russia expert who became a top US national security adviser has likened the sexist treatment meted out to Angela Rayner with her own experience in Donald Trump's White House.
Three days of alleged attacks in a contested area of Moldova are raising fears the conflict in Ukraine may be spreading over the border.
BANG Showbiz 29 Apr 2022

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A one-goal deficit is no disaster for Rangers with RB Leipzig to come to a raucous Ibrox next week, writes Tom English.
Ukraine's country's top legal official has opened more than 8,000 war crimes probes into Russian atrocities. She has 600 suspects on her list.


The Chinese capital city closed more venues and asked authorities to shutter schools until further notice. Meanwhile, South Africa worries about a fifth wave. Follow DW for the latest.
Russia's focus remains on the Donbas region, Donald Trump will appear with a candidate accused by 8 women and more news to start your Friday.


The 10 Russian soldiers are wanted for alleged war crimes - but at home, they have been hailed as heroes.
Dexter Jackson knew he had "a one in a million chance" of being pardoned - but "never lost faith".
Especially after what the White House has done in Iraq and Libya.

Rumble 28 Mar 2022
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Finance Minister Grant Robertson will announce the next steps in the Government's Three Waters reforms this morning. This will include a response to the recommendations of a working group...
A retired Army major has launched his latest fundraising challenge to row his home-made tin boat, the Tintanic, on the seas and..

Belfast Telegraph 29 Apr 2022
Andrew Fahie, the elected head of government of the small Caribbean territory, has been charged with conspiracy to import at least five kilograms of a cocaine mixture and conspiracy to launder money.
Rumble 28 Mar 2022

Ukraine has praised the courage of three European leaders who made a long, hazardous journey by rail from Poland to Kyiv in a show..
Nearly 400 people in the Kharkiv region alone have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted quickly by Ukraine's parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia's February 24 invasion.


Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney urged countries at the United Nations on Wednesday to focus on international justice for war crimes in Ukraine
Tens of thousands of packets of emergency contraception are being sent to Ukraine amid fears of a rape crisis.About 25,000 doses of the contraceptive, commonly known as the morning-after pill, have been sent to the country by the...
The premier of the British Virgin Islands and the director of the Caribbean territory's ports were arrested Thursday on drug smuggling charges in south Florida, U.S. officials said.
Nikita Horban was abducted from his village and taken to Russia. He would come back without any toes.
Once upon a time, in the now-so-innocent year of 2014, five weirdos became enraptured by the same perverse and  we all thought..

Mashable 05 Apr 2022
"It is a war zone but it is shocking that it happened close to us," Saviano Abreu, a spokesman for the U.N.'s humanitarian office, was quoted saying. The attack killed one person: a journalist.
Russian criticism of Western military aid to Ukraine is not new. But recent rhetoric reflects efforts to build public consensus for the need of a protracted  if not existential  war with the West.
The US Defense Department warned Americans against going to Ukraine to join the fight against Russia's invasion after a former marine was killed.
The U.S. is eager for the International Criminal Court to prosecute allegations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine. But it's not a member of the court itself.
MGA Games Honor Eugenios Humor in the Latest Slot

Published April 29, 2022 by Florin P

MGA Games latest release in the Spanish Celebrities series is the Eugenio slot, paying tribute to the immensely entertaining comedian from Catalunya.

MGA Games is back in the spotlight with a new slot that is dedicated to one of the Spanish Celebrities. Eugenio is a famous Catalan comedian that can bring a smile to the faces of people attending his shows. Not surprisingly, the Spanish software developer decided to celebrate his achievements in a new game with a high return to the player. The slot was released in late April and can be found at all the casinos featuring their games, from the Spanish Celebrities' families.

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INAS EXIM LLC extending its arms into Italian terrain to enhance its food products offering basket along with the leading Italian producers for the Middle East Market. Working with Traditional Italian range of products such as Olive Oil, Preserved Vegetables, Italian range of Cheeses and Dairy Produce, Dried Herbs, Cold Cuts and many more. The Company attended B2B ITALBUSINESS event organized with the support of the Sicily government to promote 
In a video message, Pope Francis addressed participants in the Sixth National Catholic Congress on Hispanic Ministry, held in Washington d.c. , from 26 to 30 April. Promoted by the U.S. National Catholic Council for Hispanic Ministry, the event is an opportunity to dialogue, discern and develop pastoral responses to the ministerial priorities of the Hispanic community. The following is a translation of the Holy Fathers words which were given in Spanish.

I affectionately greet the participants in the Consejo Nacional Catolico para el Ministerio Hispano (National Catholic Council for Hispanic Ministry) of the United States, which has convened the Sixth Congreso Nacional de Liderazgo Catolico del Ministerio Hispano, Raices y Alas 2022 (Sixth National Catholic Congress on Hispanic Ministry, Roots and Wings 2022) in Washington, on the theme: Prophetic Voices: Being bridges for a new era.

The theme is important, though it sounds a bit grand. You have chosen a good theme, in this absurd time in which, without having yet come out of a pandemic that has afflicted all humanity with suffering and sorrow, we find ourselves in the midst of the suffering and tragedy of a war. Every war is born of injustice, every war, including those that at times we wage in our families and communities, that are fought in silence; they too are born of injustice. It is sad to see that humanity is not capable of thinking with mindsets and plans of peace. We all think with mindsets of war. It is existential cainism. The brotherhood of all  it is for all  is not made manifest in mindsets that change the life of families, communities, peoples, nations and the world.

I invite you to reflect on the need to be Christians who transform structures and who can create bridges in all sectors of society, illuminating thought, so that it may lead to actions that can bring peace and unity at all levels, starting from our families and communities. I need peace, you need peace, the world needs peace, breathing peace is healthy. We need tangible signs of peace. Christians must set the example.

I ask you to be bridges, to create bridges, to pray and work for peace, and do not forget to pray for me.

I wish you all the best, and I give you my apostolic blessing: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
On Monday morning, 25 April, Pope Francis met with about 1,000 Missionaries of Mercy in the Paul vi Hall. It is up to us, with our ministry, to give voice to God, he said, and to show the face of his mercy to others. In his third meeting with these Missionaries, the Holy Father used the biblical figure of Ruth to show that God does not abandon those who entrust themselves to him, but rather meets them with a love that repays any other desire. The following is a translation of his address, which he delivered in Italian.

Dear Missionaries of Mercy,

Good morning and welcome!

I wanted to meet you again, because I entrusted to you the mission that is closest to my heart: being an effective tool of Gods mercy. I see that every year the number of Missionaries of Mercy increases: here there are other problems, but it increases. This brings me joy, because it means that your presence in the particular Churches is considered important and valid. I thank Archbishop Rino Fisichella for his words, and for the information he has provided regarding your important missionary effort. And for the truth, he has been faithful to the inspiration of God, because this is one of his inventions; but he is the one who gave me this idea and encouraged me, because he saw the Churchs need for your presence, your availability and your closeness to forgive: to forgive without passing through so many channels. As I wrote in the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, Evangelization takes place in particular through the proclamation of divine mercy, by means of multiple approaches and expressions. The specific action of the Missionaries of Mercy contributes to this purpose in a special way (Art. 59 2). I wanted to include you there, in the apostolic Constitution, because you are a privileged instrument in the Church today, and you are not a movement that is there today and is not there tomorrow, no, you are in the structure of the Church. This is why I wanted to include you there. I hope, therefore, that you may grow further, and for this reason I address to the bishops my desire that they will be able to identify holy, merciful priests, ready to forgive, to become full-fledged missionaries of Mercy.

In our first meeting (9 February 2016) I paused to reflect with you on the figure of Noah, and on the garment his sons placed over him to cover the shame of his nakedness. At that moment I invited you to [shield] sinners with the garment of mercy, so they may no longer be ashamed and may recover the joy of their filial dignity. In our second meeting (10 April 2018), with the words of the prophet Isaiah, I asked you to be a sign of consolation to help those who approach you to grasp the just sentiment that God never forgets anyone, nor does he abandon anyone, to the extent that he wanted to tattoo on his hand the name of every creature (cf. Is 49:16).

Today I wish to offer you another biblical figure who may inspire your ministry. She is Ruth, the Moabite woman who, despite coming from a foreign country, entered fully into salvation history. The book dedicated to her presents her as Davids great-grandmother (Ruth 4:18-22) and the Gospel of Matthew expressly mentions her among Jesus ancestors (cf. 1:5). Ruth is a poor girl of modest origin; she becomes a widow very young, and moreover lives in a foreign country that considers her an intruder and not even worthy of solidarity. Her condition is one that in todays culture no one would be able to fully understand. Ruth depended on others for everything: before marriage she depended on her father and after marriage on her husband; as a widow she should be protected by her children, but she has none; she is marginalized in the village where she lives because she is a Moabite; she is without support and without any defence. In short, her life is among the worst imaginable and seems to have no future.

As if all of this were not enough, the sacred writer adds that the only person to whom Ruth is attached is her mother-in-law, Naomi. However, Naomis situation too is certainly not among the best: she is a widow, she has lost her two sons and she is too old to have others; she is therefore destined to live without leaving any descendants. Naomi, wh0 had emigrated to the land of Moab, decides to return to Bethlehem, her land of origin, and faces a long and tiring journey. Naomi feels that God has not been benevolent towards her, and states this clearly: the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me (Ruth 1:13). Such is her sadness that she does not even want to be called by her name Naomi, which means my sweetness, but Mara, embittered (1:20). This woman was completely down, down.

Despite all this, Ruth decides to bind her own life to that of her mother-in-law, and says to her with conviction: Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also  it is a form of swearing  if even death parts me from you (1:16-17). Truly generous words  thinking of a daughter-in-law and a mother-in-law, whose relationship is traditionally not the best  because the future ahead of Ruth is certainly not serene. And this paints her as a generous woman who really loves her mother-in-law.

The two women set out on their journey towards Bethlehem, but every day Ruth must go in search of food to live; her days are spent in uncertainty and precariousness. The question arises: was Ruth right to tie herself to her mother-in-law? She was still young  she would certainly have found another husband in Moab... In short, why did she take such a risky decision? The holy book already provides a first answer: Ruth trusted God and acted out of great affection for her elderly mother-in-law, who otherwise would have been left alone and abandoned. Think that in that time, widows were abandoned, and no one took care of them. Ruths story will have a happy ending: while she is gathering, she meets Boaz, a rich nobleman who is well disposed towards her; he recognises that her generosity towards her mother-in-law gives her such a dignity that she should no longer be considered a foreigner, but a full member of the people of Israel. The foreign and poor woman, forced to search for daily food, is rewarded for her faithfulness and goodness with an abundance of gifts. The words of the Magnificat, which Mary pronounces, are anticipated in the life of Ruth: He has exalted those of low degree / He has filled the hungry with good things (Lk 1:52-53).

We can also draw from this an important teaching for us. Ruth is not a daughter of Abraham by blood; she remains a Moabite woman and will always be called thus, but her fidelity and generosity enable her to enter the people of Israel with full rights. Indeed, God does not abandon those who entrust themselves to him, but rather meets them with a love that repays any other desire. Ruth shows the characteristics of mercy when she does not leave Naomi alone, but instead shares her future with her; when she is not satisfied with staying close to her, but rather participates with her in the faith and the experience of being part of a new people; when she is determined to overcome every obstacle in order to remain faithful. What we draw from this is truly the face of mercy that is made manifest with compassion and sharing.

This figure of Ruth is an icon of how we can overcome the many forms of exclusion and marginalization that lurk in our behaviour. If we reflect on the four chapters that compose this short book, we will discover an incredible richness. Those few pages bring out the trust in the love of God that goes out to everyone. And there is more: it shows that God knows the inner beauty of people, even if they do not yet have the faith of the chosen people; he is attentive to their sentiments, especially the fidelity, the loyalty, the generosity and the hope that dwells in their hearts when they are put to the test. In its simplicity, this account reveals a surprising wealth of meanings. Being generous is shown to be the right and courageous choice that must never be lacking in our priestly existence.

Dear brother Missionaries of Mercy, in the Book of Ruth God never speaks. Never. Not a single word. He is named many times; the characters often make reference to him, but he remains silent. We discover, however, that God communicates precisely through Ruth. Every one of her gestures of goodness towards Naomi, who considers herself bitterly dealt with by the Lord, becomes the tangible sign of the Lords closeness and goodness. Through this figure, we too are invited to grasp the presence of God in peoples lives. The journey that must be experienced is often arduous, difficult, at times even full of sadness; God however places himself on this path to reveal his love. It is up to us, with our ministry, to give voice to God  this is important: we Missionaries of Mercy give voice to God  and to show the face of his mercy. It depends on us. Someone who meets one of you must change, must change his or her feelings, thoughts about God: Now, with this missionary, I have understood, I have heard who God is. Let us never forget that God does not act in the daily lives of people through dramatic acts, but in a silent, discreet, simple way, so as to manifest himself through people who become the sacrament of his presence. And you are a sacrament of Gods presence.

I beg you to stay away from any form of judgement, and always to prioritise the will to understand the person before you. Never stop at a single detail, but look at the totality of his or her life. It is a life that kneels to ask for forgiveness! And who am I to not forgive? But this canon says this, so I cant.... Be quiet. Before you is a woman or a man asking you for forgiveness, and you carry forgiveness in your pocket. Will it remain in your pocket? Or will your generosity give it? But we have to be precise in forgiveness.... No, you are not suited to be a missionary of mercy. Go to a charter house to pray for your sins. This is not right. God does not stop at appearances, and if he were to judge only by faults, probably no one would be saved! Who among us does not have them? This is not how mercy is expressed. It knows how to look into the heart of a person, where there dwells the desire, the longing to return to the Father and to his house (cf. Lk 15:18-20).

Here then is the exhortation I leave you: always have the blanket of mercy at hand  lets think about Noah  to envelop with its warmth all those who approach you to be forgiven; offer consolation to those who are sad and lonely; be generous like Ruth, because only in this way will the Lord recognise you as his faithful ministers. But, Father, you know that in this modern world, with so many strange things, so many new sins, you never know, because I forgive him, but maybe tomorrow he will return asking forgiveness for something else. And what baffles you? Peter asked the same question to the Lord, and the answer was: seventy times seven. Always. Always forgiveness. Do not put it off. No, I have to consult the moralist.... Do not put it off. Today. But I dont know if he is sincere. Look, it is a person asking you for forgiveness: who are you to ask if they are sincere or not sincere? You take their word for it, and forgive. Forgive always. Please, forgive always. With the forgiveness of Christ we do not play, we do not joke.

And, before concluding, I would like  Ive said this on other occasions  to remember a great confessor, rather two, who I met in my previous diocese. One was a [member of the] Sacramentinos, a man in charge, he was the Provincial, but he never left the confessional. And there was a line! He was elderly, and he listened to you, and the only thing he said was: Well, well, well.... God is good, and goodbye. He wouldnt stick his nose in situations. And I sinned against this man, because, when he died, I went and saw that the casket had no flowers; I went to the florist, I bought flowers and brought them to him. And as I was arranging the flowers, I saw the rosary... and I stole the cross. And I said to him: Give me half of your mercy. Thinking about Elisha: Give me half of your mercy. And I carry the cross here inside, always, with me. A good man. Another is still alive: the other day I called him on the phone because it was his 95th birthday. He hears confessions all day. An enormous line of people: men, women, children, young people, priests, bishops, nuns, everyone, all of Gods people. And he confesses. And one day he came to me at the episcopate and he said to me: Listen, I have some scruples, because I think I forgive too much. He is a good Capuchin. The other was a Sacramentino, this one a Capuchin. And what do you do, when you forgive too much?  Eh, I go to the chapel and say: Lord, forgive me, because I forgave too much, but immediately I feel something inside and I say to the Lord: But be careful, because it was you who set the bad example: You forgave too much!. Think about these two examples, and do not tire of forgiving, because He never tires of forgiving. Never.

I bless you all and I accompany you with my prayer, so that your ministry may be fruitful. And do not forget to pray for me. Thank you!
On Monday, 25 April, Pope Francis met with some 3,000 representatives of the Sri Lankan community in Italy, who were in Rome on a pilgrimage to pray for victims of the Easter Day attacks which, the Pope said, sowed death and terror in Sri Lanka in 2019. The Holy Father made a powerful appeal to Sri Lankan authorities: Please, for the sake of justice, for the sake of your people, let it be clarified once and for all who was responsible for these events. This will bring peace to your conscience and to your homeland. The following is a translation of the Popes address to pilgrims, which he delivered in Italian.

Dear Sri Lankan Brothers and Sisters,

peace be with you!

I greet you with the words of the Risen Jesus, that resounded in the Church during the Easter Octave.

You have come from Rome and from various parts of Italy on a pilgrimage to the Tomb of Saint Peter, led by your pastors. It is a gesture of faith and it is also a beautiful witness. Thank you for this.

The reason you have come together here is the anniversary of the tragic events that, on Easter Day in 2019, sowed death and terror in Sri Lanka. Today you offered the Eucharistic sacrifice in intercession for the victims of those terrible attacks, and you prayed for those who were injured  some of whom are present here  and for their relatives, as well as for the entire population of Sri Lanka. With all my heart I join in your prayer.

Peace be with you, repeats the Risen Lord. He is our Saviour, he alone! Faced with the horror and the absurdity of certain acts, which it is impossible to believe were committed by men, the work of the evil one appears evident. And so we understand why the Son of God, the Innocent, the Holy, the Just, had to die crucified in order to save us. He took upon himself not only death, but the cruelty of evil, of hatred, of fratricidal violence. His Cross and his Resurrection are the light of hope in the darkest shadows. Let us pray today for all the victims of violence and war, in particular terrorism.

Dear brothers and sisters, together with you I wish to pray for your homeland, Sri Lanka, which I had the joy of visiting in January 2015. Let us pray for those who govern, for those who bear social and educational responsibility, and for all the people. May a solution be found to the current difficulties, with the commitment and collaboration of all. Let us pray for the Church in Sri Lanka: by the intercession of Mary Most Holy, may she be filled with the Holy Spirit and announce with joy the Gospel of Christ the Saviour.

Thank you again, dear friends, for your witness.

I would not like to finish without making an appeal to the authorities of your country. Please and for the sake of justice, for the sake of your people, let it be clarified once and for all who was responsible for these events [the Easter 2019 attacks]. This will bring peace to your conscience and to your homeland.

I bless each of you and your families, from the bottom of my heart. And you, please do not forget to pray for me.

Thank you!
Missionaries of Mercy from around the world gathered in Rome for their third international meeting organised by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. Pope Francis invited them back to Rome to meet, pray and share their experiences during Divine Mercy Sunday weekend. The Missionaries of Mercy were created for the 2016 Jubilee of Mercy, but the Pope decided to prolong their service given the many testimonies of conversion attributed to their ministry. The following are excerpts from an interview conducted by Mr Thaddeus Jones from Vatican News.

Here were emphasizing mercy, coming out of the Jubilee of Mercy when Pope Francis thought of creating this very special outreach that has continued since then. How has this gone in your own ministries?

[Msgr. Ted Bertagni]: I would say one of the main focuses that Pope Francis emphasized when we first became Missionaries of Mercy was the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and that reconciliation was a way of welcoming people into the Church, welcoming people back to the Church. Much like the Father welcomed back the Prodigal Son in the scriptures, in the Gospels. And so all of us in our own ministries, being Missionaries of Mercy, especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation have had some sort of extreme examples of that. Ive been in a couple of parishes where we had 24 hours of continual confessions, and two or three of the Missionaries of Mercy rotated in so that we would constantly have confessions going on for 24 hours. It was amazing the kind of response we got.

As Missionaries of Mercy you have special faculties to forgive sins that are reserved to a higher Church authority.

[Fr Bernard Olszewski]: There are certain sins which are reserved to the Holy See (for permitting absolution), and there are certain sins which traditionally had been reserved to the bishop of a diocese. The faculty which we have been given is that we need no intermediary, that the Holy Father has conferred upon us that same power of forgiveness which resides in him as Supreme Pontiff. And yes, they are rare occasions, but when it is a question of doubt in particular, it is a miracle to be able to lift that doubt from a persons heart and to give them instantaneously the forgiveness without having to say that if you return in a weeks time, I will be able to grant you absolution. And so, part of our encounter this time as well is to delve more deeply into the element of those reserved sins and the ways in which we can be of assistance in the forgiveness of those.

How has your role as a Missionary of Mercy affected you personally?

[Msgr. Ted Bertagni]: Some people see this ministry as something to be very proud about, like an accolade, or you are special person. I personally find it more humbling, because I think that in a sense what you do as a Missionary of Mercy is you meet people where they are at when you encounter them, even their lowest moments.

[Fr Bernard Olszewski]: I think for myself, there have been two dimensions and one goes hand-in-hand with the pandemic. When our capacity to go out and preach as we normally do every weekend was suspended, in one sense, I had to redefine what my spiritual life looked like. And I found that focusing on elements of the exhortation that Pope Francis has given to each of us was a wonderful place to start, a very humbling place to start. It allowed me to suspend what I thought I knew about myself and to enter into a place where I felt almost as if I was in the first days of seminary again discovering what the Lord was saying to me and how that direction was going. And for me, that was a wonderful experience of re-energizing my spirituality, which then allowed me to infuse that more deeply into the preaching, which I do every weekend.

[Fr David Caron, op ]: The other thing as you mentioned as we began our conversation, the polarization in the world, countries, parties, I have found that as a Missionary of Mercy, it caused me to stand in the middle and to try to do my best to get opposing sides to speak to each other. Not that theyre going to totally agree, and not to say everythings okay, its not relativism, but I think Jesus was a radical centrist. He was able to kind of bring disparate groups together to talk to each other. I find that in my role as a Missionary of Mercy, thats part of what I try to do. And Pope Francis says that to accompany people, that means everybody, not just the ones we agree with.

If you were to address a message to the public with this conversation were having, what would it be when it comes to mercy in your role as Missionaries of Mercy?

[Msgr. Ted Bertagni]: Often times, I think people just do not believe or as Fr Bernard said, they do not believe they are worthy of that forgiveness, or they just dont believe that they can be transformed. As Fr Dave pointed out, what happens is we find that people  if they avail themselves of this transformative love and mercy  can change their lives and can be themselves instruments of Gods mercy. I think Missionaries of Mercy are also there to encourage others to become, in a sense, Missionaries of Mercy in their own lives to demonstrate it, to live it out, to embody it, so that they, everybody becomes a beacon to their own families, friends, and communities.

[Fr David Caron, op ]: Mercy is endless, you know, and it means, again as Fr Bernard said, loving yourself, but also realizing that mercy takes time. Its messy and its not easy. It means staying with people when everyone else runs away or moves away because it takes so much time. And to realize also that we only know mercy because we have received it. We know what it feels like to have someone share mercy upon us. So then how do we take that same experience and share it with others?
Barter may be praised as virtuous in the outside world of our U.S. free-enterprise economy. But inside death row, barter is strictly forbidden. Just like currency is forbidden. And for the same reason: security.

Everything and anything that can be traded as a commodity in lieu of money is strictly controlled. That includes stamps, cards, and coffee. And until recently, cigarettes. Now cigarettes are outright banned.

Are you kidding me, Brother Dale? responds a death row inmate who has smoked heavily most of his life and is one of Floridas longest serving death row inmates. He is not accepting my wooden recitation of the Departments health-based justification for this latest deprivation. Do you think Im stupid enough to believe the State of Florida gives a frack about my health? Im here so they can kill me!

He is well over six foot and, unlike me, can reach above the mesh to grab the cell door bars without even standing on tiptoe. His clenched fists are gripping the bars above his mesh and rotating his knuckles back and forth in 180 degree cycles. I may be on Death Row with severe mental illness, but Im not crazy enough to believe that!

This particular fellow is painfully aware of his severe mental illness which has resulted in his many trips to Chattahoochee, the panhandle locale and nickname for Florida State Hospital. That is the states most infamous mental hospital with both civil and forensic departments. He was sent there even before his death sentence and several times since. He was resident in a psychiatric hospital in another state before even setting foot in Florida. In our frequent cell-front discussions during my death row rounds, he is fond of expressing his sentiments about the conditions and operations of Death Row, always with full irony and disdain.

They say Im crazy, but at least I know this hellhole makes no sense. And that the way they run it makes no sense. Whos crazier  them or me?

I realize even as he is speaking that the energy of his emphatic closing is directed not at me, so much as to the embedded ceiling microphones and the corridor cameras. Then, he stops looking toward the devices that connect our distant audiences for Floridas first version of reality TV. He rivets his steel blue eyes directly on mine. Lucky for you, you are my homeboy, and I even like you sometimes.

Homeboy is prison slang for someone who is from the same hometown. We both hail from the Detroit area in the state of Michigan. But men with broken motivations frequently have learned in life to measure their power not by the strength of their positive relationships, but by the magnitude of the harm they can unleash through indulging their worst selves. I reinterpret his next statement as a reminder to me of that strength.

So, forget the State of Florida and the fracking D-O-C. What do you  Brother Dale  think of that crazy explanation for taking away our cigarettes?

My less wise self wants to quip, Well, cigarettes are bad for your health. But in a split second my wiser self rejects that impulse as a pointless death wish. My experience at death row cell-front tells me its better to recognize his power to cause me harm  even in this situation of his total powerlessness about losing his cigarettes.

Look! my voice is almost pleading. His barely-a-smile smirk tells me that my acknowledgement of my vulnerability has registered. What I think is irrelevant and could get me expelled if spoken out loud.

His smirk broadens into a full ear-to-ear smile confirming that he hears the real message behind my words: if you make me talk at cell front about what I think of this crazy situation, you will end my prison ministry and end the holiday cards for everyone. That unspoken message is the one to which he responds.

We wouldnt want to do that, now, would we Brother Dale.

Sarcasm is the privilege of the victor. I expect the slam-dunk putdown is already on his lips. He does not disappoint.

If that happened, you might have to go back to practicing law, which you couldnt have been very good at, or you wouldnt be here delivering holiday cards to me.

He belly-laughs, loudly savoring the sting on me of his words. He could not imagine how many people at church and among my former colleagues say exactly the same thing. Their barbs have helped to toughen my hide, making me a better cell-front volunteer. I do not respond or defensively deflect his verbal assault. His figurative punch lands without any reply except my warm and sincere smile.

Do you have any other questions for me before I move onto the next cell? My intonation and tilt of the head communicate an unspoken I sure hope we are done. But we are not yet done.

Yeah  are you going to cross me off your card list?

Absolutely not. You are my brother.

So, Ill still get cards from you even though I said things you didnt like?

Sometimes my brothers in Christ say things I dont like, but they are still my brothers. And, that includes you.

He manages a thumbs up and then smiles as broadly as he can, Anyway, you cant take anything I say seriously. You know Im crazy.

Noted! I smile back, pretending to make a note in my file, while reaching over the mesh to give him a goodbye hand-squeeze. But this time he lets me have the last word. And Im sure that all the folks listening in from the north half of Florida have noted it too.

A few months later he greets me at his cell door, making sure I will pause to chat. So whats a godson anyway?

Its a spiritual thing  where you are not my physical son, but if I prepare you to receive sacraments, like Baptism and Communion, you become a spiritual son to me.

And what does that mean?

Spiritual sonship lasts forever. It doesnt end when we die. It just becomes more perceptible to us. Do you want to be baptized into the Family of God?

How do we do that?

First, you have to prepare your heart and your mind to understand that it will change everything.

Does that mean I will get out of this cell?

No. Im sorry I wasnt more clear. It will change everything about your relationship with God.

Me and God are okay.

Then, you should be fine having God as an adopted Father.

So, what do I have to do?

We will request from the state prison chaplain for you and I to start meeting regularly to go over what Catholic Christians believe.

Then what?

If you decide you believe that too, then you can request to be baptized.

How much does this cost? Do I have to pay dues like in a union?

It doesnt cost any money. But it requires that you commit your entire remaining life to God  Heart, Mind and Soul.

So, like a slave to a master?

A master different from any other master you ever heard of. Jesus is our Master. But He says He came not to be served by us, but rather to serve us.

So, do I have to pay for the cookies you bring around?

They are not cookies. They are communion wafers, until they are consecrated by the priest at Mass. Then they become the Body of Jesus Christ.

And, thats when you charge for them! Right?

No. We couldnt possibly pay the price for the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. He already paid it for us.

So where is the money in this scheme? Why do you and the priest do this?

Believe me, Brother, its not for the money.

And Ill be your brother  for real  no joke?

No joke. Jesus meant what He said.

An awkward silence sets in while the soon-to-be newest member of the Family of God digests the strange things he has just heard for the first time.

And I wont see a charge for this on my canteen bill, right Brother Dale? Lord knows I cant afford your corporate lawyer hourly rates.

Thats for sure! I laugh with him at myself. In this new life even I couldnt afford my old hourly rates. Fortunately, when you become part of the Family of God, you will qualify for the family discount.

Oh great! he feigns dismay. It better be a 100% discount.

Hey, its a package deal. You get Jesus for free, and Jesus throws me in for free, too.

Only time will tell how much of a deal that last part is.

My homeboy from Southeastern Michigan was baptized at his cell front with the priest pouring Holy Water on his head from a Styrofoam cup. Then Communion and Confirmation  all with us reaching through the bars of his cell door.

When I first met Gary at his cell front in 1998, he was the longest serving death row inmate in the U.S. When I said goodbye to him as he succumbed to illness and natural death a decade-and-a-half later, he was still the longest serving death row inmate in the U.S.

His last words to me were a warning: Dont spend so much time here after Im gone. This place will make you crazy.

* 2022 Dale S. Recinella, Tallahassee, Fla. USA

Dale S. Recinella*
I am ready to do everything to stop the war. In an interview with the Argentinian daily newspaper La Nacion, published on 21 April, Pope Francis reiterated that achieving peace in Ukraine remains one of his top priorities.

Speaking to journalist Joaquin Morales Sola, the Pope said that there are always efforts to arrive at peace. The Vatican never rests. I cannot tell you the details because they would cease to be diplomatic efforts. But the attempts will never stop.

The Pope talked about his impromptu visit to the Russian Embassy to the Holy See, on Via della Conciliazione, on 25 February. I went alone. I didnt want anyone to accompany me. It was a personal responsibility of mine. It was a decision I made in a sleepless night thinking about Ukraine. It is clear to those who want to see things as they are that I was signaling to the government that it could put an end to the war immediately. To be honest, I wanted to do something so that there would not be one more death in Ukraine. Not even one more. And I am willing to do everything.

On the motivations which led to the outbreak of war, the Holy Father said that every war is anachronistic in this world and at this level of civilization. That is why I publicly kissed the Ukrainian flag, he explains. It was a gesture of solidarity with their deceased, their families, and with those who were forced to emigrate.

When asked about the possibility of a visit to Kyiv, the Pope explained: I cannot do anything that puts higher objectives at risk, which are the end of the war, a truce or, at least, a humanitarian corridor. What good would it do for the Pope to go to Kyiv if the war continued the next day?.

The Pope was also asked why he does not name Putin or Russia when speaking about the war.

A Pope, he responded, never names a Head of State, and much less a country, which is superior to its Head of State. Pope Francis also discussed his very good relationship and possible meeting with Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow. I am sorry that the Vatican has had to cancel a second encounter with Patriarch Kirill, which we had scheduled for June in Jerusalem. But our diplomacy maintained that a meeting between us in this moment could lead to much confusion. I have always promoted interreligious dialogue. When I was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, I brought together Christians, Jews and Muslims in a fruitful dialogue. It was one of the initiatives that I am most proud of. It is the same policy that I promote in the Vatican. As you have heard me say many times, for me, agreement is superior to conflict.
I renew my appeal for an Easter truce, a minimal and tangible sign of a desire for peace. During the Regina Caeli prayer on Divine Mercy Sunday, 24 April, Pope Francis once more asked that the war in Ukraine be stopped. Together with the more than 40,000 people gathered in Saint Peters Square, the Holy Father prayed for peace, calling on political leaders to listen to the voice of the people, who want peace, not an escalation of the conflict. The following is a translation of the Popes words, spoken in Italian.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Buongiorno!

Today, the last day of the Octave of Easter, the Gospel recounts the first and second apparition of the Risen One to the disciples. Jesus comes at Passover, while the Apostles are shut in the Upper Room, out of fear, but since Thomas, one of the Twelve, is not present, [Jesus] returns eight days later (cf. Jn 20:19-29). Let us focus on the two main characters, Thomas and Jesus, looking first at the disciple, and then at the Master. There is a nice dialogue between these two.

The Apostle Thomas, first of all. He represents all of us, who were not present in the Upper Room when the Lord appeared, and did not have other physical signs or apparitions from him. We too struggle at times like that disciple: how can we believe that Jesus is risen, that he accompanies us and is the Lord of our life without having seen him, without having touched him? How can one believe in this? Why does the Lord not give us some clearer sign of his presence and love? Some sign that I can see better Here, we too are like Thomas, with the same doubts, the same reasoning.

But we do not need to be ashamed of this. By telling us the story of Thomas, in fact, the Gospel tells us that the Lord is not looking for perfect Christians. The Lord is not looking for perfect Christians. I tell you: I am afraid when I see a Christian, some associations of Christians who believe themselves to be perfect. The Lord is not looking for perfect Christians; the Lord is not looking for Christians who never doubt and always flaunt a steadfast faith. When a Christian is like that, something is not right. No, the adventure of faith, as for Thomas, consists of lights and shadows. Otherwise, what kind of faith would that be? It knows times of comfort, zeal and enthusiasm, but also of weariness, confusion, doubt and darkness. The Gospel shows us Thomas crisis to tell us that we should not fear the crises of life and faith. Crises are not sins, they are part of the journey, we should not fear them. Many times, they make us humble because they strip us of the idea that we are fine, that we are better than others. Crises help us to recognise that we are needy: they rekindle the need for God and thus enable us to return to the Lord, to touch his wounds, to experience his love anew as if it were the first time. Dear brothers and sisters, it is better to have an imperfect but humble faith that always returns to Jesus, than a strong but presumptuous faith that makes us proud and arrogant. Woe to those, woe to them!

And, faced with Thomas absence and his journey, which is often also our own, what does Jesus do? The Gospel says twice that he came (vv. 19, 26). A first time and then a second time, eight days later. Jesus does not give up, he does not get tired of us, he is not afraid of our crises, our weaknesses. He always comes back: when the doors are closed, he comes back; when we doubt, he comes back; when, like Thomas, we need to encounter him and to touch him up close, he comes back. Jesus always comes back, he always knocks on the door, and he does not come back with powerful signs that would make us feel small and inadequate, even ashamed, but with his wounds; he comes back showing us his wounds, signs of his love that has embraced our frailties.

Brothers and sisters, especially when we experience weariness or moments of crisis, the Risen Jesus wishes to return in order to be with us. He only waits for us to seek him, to call on him, or even, like Thomas, to protest, bringing him our needs and our disbelief. He always comes back. Why? Because he is patient and merciful. He comes to open the upper rooms of our fears and disbelief because he always wants to give us another chance. Jesus is the Lord of other chances: he always gives us another one, always. So let us think about the last time  lets try to remember a little  that, during a difficult moment or a period of crisis, we withdrew into ourselves, barricading ourselves in our problems and shutting Jesus out of the house. And let us again promise ourselves, the next time, in our fatigue, to seek Jesus, to return to him, to his forgiveness  he always forgives, always!  to return to those wounds that have healed us. In this way, we will also become capable of compassion, of approaching the wounds of others without inflexibility and without prejudice.

May Our Lady, Mother of Mercy  I like to think of her as the Mother of Mercy on the Monday after Mercy Sunday  accompany us on the journey of faith and love.

After the Regina Caeli, the Pope continued:

Dear brothers and sisters, today various Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox, and also various Latin communities, celebrate Easter according to the Julian calendar. We celebrated it last Sunday, following the Gregorian calendar. I offer them my warmest wishes: Christ is risen, he is truly risen! May he fill with hope the good expectations of hearts. May he grant peace, outraged by the barbarity of war. Today marks two months since the beginning of this war: instead of stopping, the war has worsened. It is sad that in these days, which are the holiest and most solemn for all Christians, the deadly roar of weapons is heard rather than the sound of bells announcing the Resurrection; and it is sad that weapons are increasingly taking the place of words.

I renew my appeal for an Easter truce, a minimal and tangible sign of a desire for peace. May the attack be stopped, to respond to the suffering of the exhausted population; may it be stopped, in obedience to the words of the Risen one, who on Easter Day repeats to his disciples: Peace be with you! (Lk 24:36; Jn 20:19.21). I ask everyone to increase prayer for peace and to have the courage to say, to show that peace is possible. Political leaders, please, listen to the voice of the people, who want peace, not an escalation of the conflict.

In this regard, I greet and thank participants in the special Perugia  Assisi march for peace and fraternity, taking place today, as well as those who have joined similar events in other cities throughout Italy.

Today the bishops of Cameroon are making a national pilgrimage, with their faithful, to the Marian shrine of Marianberg, to reconsecrate the country to the Mother of God and to place it under her protection. They pray in particular for the return of peace to their country, which has been ravaged by violence in various regions for more than five years. Let us also raise our prayer, along with our brothers and sisters of Cameroon, that by the intercession of the Virgin Mary, God may soon grant a true and lasting peace to this beloved country.

I greet all of you, people of Rome and pilgrims from Italy and from many other countries. In particular, I greet the Polish, with a thought for their compatriots who are celebrating the Day of Good promoted by Caritas, and also for the victims of mining accidents. I greet the faithful of Milan, Faenza, Verolanuova, Nembro and the volunteers of the Order of Malta from Vicenza. A special greeting goes to the pilgrimage of newly confirmed youth from the Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio, accompanied by their bishop, as well as the Confirmation candidates from Mondovi, Almenno San Salvatore, Albegno, Cazzago San Martino and Alta Padovana, and also to the group from SantAngelo Lodigiano and the altar boys from Spirano. I greet devotees of the Divine Mercy gathered here today in the church-shrine of Santo Spirito in Sassia; and participants in the journey from the Sacra di San Michele to Monte SantAngelo.

I wish you all a happy Sunday! And please do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!
At the General Audience on Wednesday morning, 27 April, Pope Francis continued his series of catecheses on the meaning and value of old age, reflecting on the Book of Ruth. If the young open themselves to gratitude for what they have received, and the elderly take the initiative of relaunching their future, he underscored, then nothing will be able to stop the flourishing of Gods blessings among peoples. The following is a translation of the Popes catechesis which he shared in Italian with the faithful gathered in Saint Peters Square.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good morning and welcome!

Today we will continue to reflect on the elderly, on grandparents, on old age  the word seems ugly but no, the elderly are great, they are beautiful! And today we will let ourselves be inspired by the splendid Book of Ruth, a jewel of the Bible. The parable of Ruth sheds light on the beauty of family bonds: generated by the relationship of a couple, but that go beyond the bond of the couple. Bonds of love capable of being equally strong, in which the perfection of that polyhedron of fundamental affections that make up the family grammar of love, shines. This grammar brings vital lymph and generative wisdom to the set of relationships that build up the community. With regard to the Song of Songs (or Canticle of Canticles), the Book of Ruth is like the other panel in the diptych of nuptial love. Just as important, just as essential, it indeed celebrates the power and the poetry that must inhabit the bonds of generation, kinship, devotion and fidelity that involve the entire family constellation. And which even become capable, in the dramatic circumstances of the life of a couple, of bringing an unimaginable power of love, capable of reviving hope and the future.

We know that cliches about the bonds of kinship created by marriage, especially that of the mother-in-law, the relationship between mother  and daughter-in-law, speak against this perspective. But, precisely for this reason, the Word of God becomes precious. The inspiration of faith can open up a horizon of witness that counteracts the most common prejudices, a horizon that is precious for the entire human community. I invite you to rediscover the Book of Ruth! Especially in the meditation on love and in catechesis on the family.

This short book also contains valuable teachings on the alliance of the generations: where youth reveals itself to be capable of restoring enthusiasm to mature age  this is essential: when youth restores enthusiasm to the elderly  and where old age discovers it is capable of reopening the future to wounded youth. At the beginning, the elderly Naomi, although moved by the affection of her daughters-in-law, widowed by her two sons, is pessimistic with regard to their destiny among a people that is not their own. She therefore affectionately encourages the young women to return to their families to rebuild their lives  these widows were young. She says, I can do nothing for you. This already appears to be an act of love: the elderly woman, without a husband and without her sons, insists that her daughters-in-law abandon her. However, it is also a sort of resignation: there is no possible future for the foreign widows, without the protection of a husband. Ruth knows this, and resists this generous offer  she does not want to go to her home. The bond established between mother and daughter-in-law was blessed by God: Naomi cannot ask to be abandoned. At first, Naomi appears more resigned than happy about this offer: perhaps she thinks that this strange bond will aggravate the risk for both of them. In some cases, the tendency of the elderly towards pessimism needs to be counteracted by the affectionate pressure of the young.

Indeed, moved by Ruths devotion, Naomi will emerge from her pessimism and even take the initiative, paving the way toward a new future for Ruth. She instructs and encourages Ruth, her sons widow, to find a new husband in Israel. Boaz, the candidate, shows his nobility, defending Ruth from the men in his employ. Unfortunately, this is a risk that still exists today.

Ruths new marriage is celebrated and the worlds are again pacified. The women of Israel tell Naomi that Ruth, the foreigner, is worth more than seven sons and that the marriage will be a blessing of the Lord. Naomi, who was full of bitterness and even said that her name was bitterness, in her old age, will know the joy of having a part in the generation of a new birth. See how many miracles accompany the conversion of this elderly woman! She converts to the commitment of making herself available, with love, for the future of a generation wounded by loss and at risk of abandonment. The points of reconstruction are those that, on the basis of the probability drawn by commonplace prejudices, ought to generate insurmountable rifts. Instead, faith and love enable them to be overcome: the mother-in-law overcomes her jealousy for her own son, loving Ruths new bond; the women of Israel overcome their distrust of the foreigner (and if women will do it, everyone will); the vulnerability of the lone girl, faced with male power, is reconciled with a bond full of love and respect.

And all this because the young Ruth persisted in her fidelity to a bond exposed to ethnic and religious prejudice. And I return to what I said at the beginning  today the mother-in-law is a mythical figure: I will not say that we think of mothers-in-law as the devil, but they are always thought of as unpleasant figures. But the mother-in-law is the mother of your husband, she is the mother of your wife. Let us think today about this rather widespread feeling that the farther away the mother-in-law is, the better. No! She is a mother, she is elderly. One of the most beautiful things about grandmothers is seeing the grandchildren  when their children have children of their own, they come alive again. Look closely at the relationship you have with your mothers-in-law: at times they are a bit special, but they have been the mother to your spouse, they have given you everything. We should at least make them happy, so that they may go forth into their old age with joy. And if they have some fault, we should help them to correct it. And to you too, mothers-in-law, I say: be careful with your tongue, because its misuse is one of the worst sins of mothers-in-law. Be careful.

And in this book, Ruth accepts her mother-in-law and makes her come alive again, and the elderly Naomi takes the initiative of reopening the future for Ruth, instead of limiting herself to enjoying her support. If the young open themselves to gratitude for what they have received, and the elderly take the initiative of relaunching their future, then nothing will be able to stop the flourishing of Gods blessings among peoples! Do not forget, may young people speak with their grandparents, may the young speak with the old, may the old speak with the young. We must rebuild this bridge in a strong way  there is a current of salvation, of happiness there. May the Lord help us, by doing this, to grow in harmony with families, that constructive harmony that goes from the oldest to the youngest, that beautiful bridge that we must protect and safeguard.

Special Greetings

I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in todays Audience, especially those from England, Denmark and the United States of America. In the joy of the Risen Christ, I invoke upon you and your families the loving mercy of God our Father. May the Lord bless you!

Lastly, as usual, my thoughts turn to the elderly, to the sick, to young people and to newlyweds. During this Easter period which invites us to meditate on the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ, may the Lords glory be for each of you a wellspring of renewed energy in the journey towards salvation. May it help you young people to faithfully follow the Gospel; support you elderly and the sick to go forth with confidence and hope; and guide you newlyweds to establish solid families as a sign of evangelical truth.

I would like to tell you something. I apologize for being seated while greeting you because this knee has yet to heal and I cannot stand for long periods of time. Pardon me for this. Thank you.
Explore Military History Across the City of Oswego

April 29, 2022





OSWEGO  Marilyn V. Huntington, a Friends of Fort Ontario-funded Oswego County AmeriCorps member, presents an illustrated program on the history of the military monuments of the city of Oswego. The event begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 11 in the Enlisted Mens Barracks within the old stone fortification at Fort Ontario State Historic Site, 1 E. Fourth St., Oswego. Admission is free.

Many of us drive past or walk through our Oswego City parks without thinking about how the military monuments within them came to be, said Fort Ontario State Historic Site Manager Paul Lear. We appreciate that these monuments represent great sacrifice and service on the part of the men and women in our armed forces to whom they are dedicated, but most of us do not realize the extensive process required to bring a monument from inspiration to dedication.

Marilyn V. Huntington will address this process and the history of the monuments as they were moved, damaged, vandalized or restored after installation, he continued. Each of the military monuments in the city of Oswego has its own unique creation story which Marilyn will describe during her original program at Fort Ontario.

Huntington will focus her research-based program on the military monuments within the city of Oswego, but she will also touch on other monuments such as the one dedicated to the memory of Kevin James, the lovable pit bull rescued and cared for at the Oswego Animal Shelter.

In memory of Kevin James, guests are encouraged to bring a donation of pet food, toys, gently used blankets, towels, or empty litter buckets to support the Oswego Animal Shelter and Paws Across Oswego County.

For more information on the military monument presentation, contact Marilyn V. Huntingdon at 315-343-4711 or marilyn.huntington@parks.ny.gov. Fort Ontario State Historic Site is located at the north end of East Fourth Street in the city of Oswego, N.Y.
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  Heavy gunfire echoed Thursday in a once quiet neighborhood in Haitis capital that has become ground zero in a gang fight that has has killed at least 20 people, injured more than a dozen and forced thousands to flee their homes this week.

Parents grabbed children by the hands as they balanced bags on their heads with the few belongings they could salvage after gang members ousted them from their homes.

The fighting raging in four districts on the nothern side of Port-au-Prince is a new peak in the criminal violence that has surged as increasingly powerful gangs try to control more territory during the political power vacuum left by the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

I left everything behind, said Kerline Brutus, 35, who fled with her three children from one of the neighborhoods, Butte Boyer, a long quiet district where she has lived more than 25 years.

She had to abandon her 96-year-old paralyzed father because she couldnt carry him. I dont know how hes doing, if hes still alive, she said.

Brutus said she keeps praying for him as she struggles to find shelter for her family. They have been huddling under the front step of a store with an awning that protects them from the rain, but she is looking for more permanent shelter.

It seems like this country has no authorities. No one came here to see us. We dont know how long were going to be here or how long this is going to last, she said, echoing the frustration of Haitians over the rise in violence.

Some 100 police officers carrying automatic weapons spread through the neighborhood checking people and their belongings, but barrages of gunfire rang out nearby.

The administration of Prime Minister Ariel Henry has struggled to improve security even as it gets help from the international community to boost an understaffed and underfunded police department.

Defenders Plus, a local human rights group, accused political leaders of being careless, incompetent and unable to ensure one of the basic functions of any State: the security of its territory.

It also demanded that authorities assume their responsibilities in order to guarantee the population's right to life and security.

Government officials did not return calls for comment.

Authorities said the fighting between a gang known as Chen Mechan (Bad Dog in Haitian Creole) and the 400 Mawozo gang, which kidnapped 17 U.S. missionaires last year, began Sunday. The 400 Mawozo gang is considered the more powerful of the two and has long been accused of kidnapping and other violent acts.

Government officials have said they worry the violence in that area will worsen and that people will continue to flee.

This almost cost me my life because they broke into my home and had me lay on the ground, said Melissa Vital, 25, who has a 3-year-old daughter. Luckily my boyfriend wasnt there because they were killing men that they found in houses.

She said the gang members ordered her and her daughter to leave their home in Butte Boyer.

I dont know where to go right now, Vital said, adding that she is feeling weak because she is still breastfeeding her daughter but hasnt had much to eat. Ive been with the same clothes since Sunday.

Thousands of Haitians affected by a surge of gang violence last year in the Martissan community in the south of Port-au-Prince are still living in crowded and unhygienic government shelters, and it isn't clear where newly displaced families will go.

Emmanuel Piersaint, a coordinator with Haitis Civil Protection Agency, told The Associated Press that officials provided displaced families with toiletry kits and gave them dishes of spaghetti, rice and beans.

We hope the situation will not worsen, he said.

Authorities say the fighting in the Butte Boyer, Croix-des-Missions, Marecage and Mapou neighborhoods could block the main roads leading to Haitis northern region. Warring gangs already occupy the main road leading to Haitis south, making it difficult for aid to reach those affected by a deadly earthquake last year.

___

Associated Press reporter Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.
STURGEON BAY, Wis. (AP)  A jury in Door County on Friday found an 86-year-old man guilty of killing his wife and disposing of her body more than four decades ago.

Jurors returned guilty verdicts on charges of first-degree murder and disinterment of the dead against Richard Pierce, who has maintained his innocence.
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Brinstar Beercade is ready to open in Downtown Midland -- but just one thing is holding it back.

The bar/arcade is still waiting to receive its liquor license from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.

Located at 415 E. Main St., between Rancheritos and Ace Hardware, Brinstar has been in the works since 2019. The beercade will feature arcade cabinets, craft beers and a variety of food options.

Co-owner Belle Fawcett said the business concept came from her husband, Scott Nankervis, who will run the beer and games part of the operation while she manages the food side.

Getting the beercade to a point where Fawcett and Nankervis could open has been an enormous challenge. After they signed a lease in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic caused their bank to rescind their business loan in 2020.

Then, their house in Sanford flooded in May 2020 after the dam failures, further delaying their attempt at opening the business.

Finally, in 2021, the owners received financial backing again and got to work on the location. Fawcett said she and Nankervis are setting up the inside of the building and getting their food license. They could open as soon as two weeks from now, she said, but without bar service, they would only be fulfilling half of their business concept.

Fawcett said they have no indication from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission as to when they might receive the license.

They submitted an application that got preliminary approval from the commission, but Fawcett said she is not sure how long it will take for the application to get on the docket of the commission to be formally approved.

Jeannie Vogel, public information officer for the commission, said depending on staffing and the time of year, review and preparation for commission consideration can take 4-8 weeks. She also said there were issues with the beercade's application, causing delays with the commission's site visit.

However, Fawcett said some of these seemed to be minor issues. For example, she said she was told that their digital fingerprints (scans of their fingerprints) had "expired" -- something the business owners could not believe.

Fawcett is considering opening even if they don't yet have their liquor license. When the beercade does open, she said she and Nankervis are excited to be a part of Downtown Midland.

It is very purposely in downtown because Midland has festivals and all kinds of things downtown that have a draw of like 10,000 people on a Saturday for the art fair, Fawcett said. We feel like this is the right place for us.

When the business is fully open, there will be 25 arcade cabinets and pinball machines, including vintage games from the 1980s and 1990s. The bar will serve some mixed drinks like margaritas, and 12 kinds of craft beers will be on tap.

The food offerings will center around classic bar fare but will be made fresh, Fawcett said. Homemade meatballs, fries and curries, burgers, fresh cheese curds and poutine will be some of the items on Brinstars menu. Vegan options will also be available, with plans for rotating soup options.

A lot of my menu are things that I like that I do not feel like I can get anywhere else in Midland, Fawcett said.
Creative 360 is seeking original, imaginative art to be read and displayed as part of its 13th Annual Artfest 55 Festival celebrating the creativity of Michigan residents age 55 and over. The exhibit opening, written word competition and award announcements all take place 6:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, June 24.

Information for visual artists

The exhibit will be shown in the gallery from June 24 through Aug. 21.

Notify Creative 360 at 989-837-1885 or creed@becreative360.org of your intent to enter work for adjudication. Artwork must be received 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. June 13 or 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. June 14 at Creative 360. Arrangements can be made for an earlier drop off.

Artists will be notified of acceptance into the show by Tuesday, June 21. Artwork not accepted into the show must be picked up by Friday, June 24. End of exhibit pick-up dates are 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Aug. 22-23.

Rules of the competition are as follows.Entries must be the work of a Michigan resident age 55 or older. Art must be an original work by the artist (no kits, commercial patterns, etc.). 2D work and photography must be ready to hang. Works must have been created within the 24 months prior to June 2022 and not previously exhibited in an art gallery (coffee house and other small space displays are permitted). Each entry (limited to two per artist) must be accompanied by an entry form, payment and a label with the title of the work and artists name on the back. This information sheet and the entry form may be printed from our website at www.becreative360.org. Call 989-837-1885 to request a copy or stop in at Creative 360, 1517 Bayliss St. in Midland.

Prizes include $250 for Best in Show, $100 for Best 2D, $100 for Best 3D and $100 for best photography.

The entry fee is $20 (cash/check), $23 (credit/debit) per work,limited to two per artist. Make checks payable to Creative 360 with "Artfest 55" in the subject line. For those who choose to sell their work, Creative 360 will retain 40% of the sale price.

Contact the arts center with questions at creed@becreative360.org or phone 989-837-1885. Note, employees and board members of Creative 360 are not eligible to win monetary prizes.

Information for writers

Creative 360 is seeking original poems, short stories and memoirs for the Sentimental Journeys writing contest. Jurists are Luana Russell, Sarah Yoder, and Jim Crissman

Notify Creative 360 at 989-837-1885 or creed@becreative360.org of your intent to enter. Writings and payment must be received by Creative 360 by 12 p.m. Tuesday, June 7 via email (strongly preferred) or you may mail or drop off an electronic copy if email is not available. Contact Creative 360 if you need to submit a paper copy.

Rules of the competition are as follows. Entries must be the original work of a Michigan resident age 55 or older.

Submissions must fit into one of the following categories:

Memoir: Non-fiction; recalling memories and experiences from your past 1,500 words or less

Short Story: Fiction, created from the imagination of the writer  1,500 words or less

Poetry: 1,500 words or less

Works must not have been previously published for the public. Each entry must contain a Sentimental Journeys application sheet which is available online at www.becreative360.org or call 989-837-1885 to request a mailed copy.

The piece itself must not contain references that identify the author to ensure impartial judging.

A $100 cash prize will be awarded to the first place winner in each category. Each entrant may receive a copy of the written entries booklet (hard copy or electronically). Call to request a hard copy, which will be available after awards are announced. More hard copies may be purchased for $5 each.

The entry fee is $20 (cash/check), $23 (credit/debit) per work (limited to one entry per category for each entrant). Make checks payable to Creative 360 with "Artfest 55" in the subject line. Contact the arts center with questions at creed@becreative360.org or phone 989-837-1885. Note, employees and board members of Creative 360 are not eligible to win monetary prizes.
BIG RAPIDS  Lean Service Enterprise and Leadership students in Ferris State Universitys College of Business enjoyed a meaningful experiential learning opportunity during the Fall 2021 semester.

The students, helping to put key elements in place, moved the Lakeview Area Veterans Monument closer to completion.

John Grawburg, a veteran of the United States Marines who served in Vietnam, was a local organizer. After years of proposing the local memorial, he sought help from the Business Innovation and Lean Center with varied results.

We brought our ideas to some community leaders, but the proper location and the support we needed came when we started collaborating with Lakeviews village manager, Darin Dood, Grawburg said. It was exciting to be connected with the students in the Ferris course, to advance the project we had hoped for over many years.

Montcalm County natives Elise Gorby and Kristina Rousseau took part with the project team. Zach Lisman, of Spring Lake, joined them.

Gorby said their initiatives included developing an online presence for the Veterans Monument, which accepts donations through the Greenville Area Community Foundation.

As someone who grew up in the Lakeview area, this project was close to my heart, Gorby said. My great grandpas were veterans from the area, and it is so nice to see that the community is working on a monument to honor those who made significant sacrifices for our freedoms. I am so thankful that this class allowed me to use the skills I have been learning about for years and new lean skills to be a part of something bigger than myself. I am glad I could help make a difference in the community.

The Lakeview Area Veterans Monument website includes a QR code to accept donations; something Grawburg found impressive.

We loved how they showed real imagination and ambition for our project, Grawburg said. Their technical savvy and promotions were far beyond our abilities. We are so glad to have their support and skill with these technologies.

To avoid mistakes, the students used poka-yoke, a lean manufacturing proofing process.

This was a great opportunity to apply classroom knowledge in a hands-on environment, Rousseau said. I am thankful to our sponsors, John and Kathy Grawburg and Bill Helmer, with Robbert Construction for working with us and providing an incredible amount of creative freedom. They have helped me grow my lean and leadership skills, which will stick with me throughout my educational and professional endeavors.

Grawburg said a 60-foot flagpole for the American flag had been in place, 40-foot poles now bear the state of Michigan flag and a POW-MIA banner on-site, following installation in December 2021.

Our progress continues, though we have had issues with a monument, which is being developed, Grawburg said. The intention is to have that centerpiece for the project in place by Memorial Day this year. With landscaping and other elements, this has turned into a $100,000 project. So, any interest and support we receive are greatly appreciated.

I am not from the Lakeview area, but it has been a pleasure working with the Grawburgs hoping to fulfil their dream, Lisman said. My groupmates and I implemented various LEAN tools that we learned from Management Professor Lisa Eshbachs class. After a brief period, we were able to identify the positive impacts of LEAN. I really enjoyed taking the knowledge that I learned in class, and apply it to a real-life situation.

The Lakeview Area Veterans Monument project has a Spring 2022 semester team continuing support for this appeal. Grawburg was honored to come to the College of Business building and watch his student team make a presentation on their work.

When we were there, I thought Dr. Eshbach took to what Elise, Kristina and Zach had to say about the process and their results, Grawburg said. We will accept in-kind support with as much respect and thanks as the monetary donations since that would allow us to landscape the grounds and present a monument that honors our veterans and their families.

Grawburg also credited Associate Professor of Management Leslie Sukup, who, through a chance meeting at a community gathering in the summer of 2021, directed the organizers to seek help through Ferris Business Innovation and Lean Center.
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BOISE, Idaho (AP)  A former Idaho lawmaker was convicted Friday of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial in which the young woman fled the witness stand during testimony, saying I cant do this.

The intern told a Statehouse supervisor that Aaron von Ehlinger raped her at his apartment after the two had dinner at a Boise restaurant in March 2021. Von Ehlinger said the sex was consensual.

At the time, the Lewiston Republican was serving as a state representative, but he later resigned.

Von Ehlinger, 39, was found guilty Friday of rape. He was found not guilty of sexual penetration with a foreign object.

Von Ehlinger sat calmly as the verdict was read, as he has throughout the trial.

Afterward, 4th District Judge Michael Reardon told the jury: This has been an unusual case attended by many unexpected circumstances, but I appreciate your attention ... and hard work.

A felony rape conviction carries a minimum sentence of one year in prison in Idaho. The maximum penalty can be as high as life in prison, at the judge's discretion. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 28.

As von Ehlinger was remanded into custody and handcuffed, he talked quietly with his attorney who removed items from von Ehlinger's pockets.

The prosecution remained stoic as they left the courtroom, but once they reached a lower floor they stopped to briefly to congratulate each other on the verdict.

Von Ehlinger's attorney, Jon Cox, could not be immediately reached for comment after the trial.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, and has referred to the woman in this case as Jane Doe at her request.

In a press conference, Ada County Prosecuting Attorney Jan Bennetts thanked the jury, investigators and the prosecutors who handled the case.

Last but not least, it took an incredible amount of courage for the victim in this case, Jane Doe, to come forward, Bennetts said. I want to acknowledge the courage that she took in coming forward.

Doe testified on the second day of the trial. She haltingly described the moments the alleged assault began, before abruptly leaving the witness stand.

He tried to put his fingers between my legs and I closed my knees, Doe said.

At that, she stood up.

I cant do this, she said, quickly walking out of the courtroom.

The judge gave the prosecuting attorneys 10 minutes to find her to determine if she would return and resume her testimony.

When she did not, the judge told the jurors they had to strike (Does testimony) from your minds as if it never happened, because the defense could not cross-examine her.

During the press conference, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katelyn Farley said the moment Doe left the trial was heart-wrenching, but said she and deputy prosecutor Whitney Welsh had prepared for trial knowing that Doe may not be able to testify.

I think it's important that she decided to walk in the room, and she also decided to walk out  those were her choices, Welsh said.

During his testimony Thursday, von Ehlinger often spoke in a clear, loud voice directly to jurors, saying he and Doe decided to return to his apartment to hang out after eating at a fancy Boise restaurant. Then they began making out on the couch, he said.

Things were going well, and I asked (Doe) if she would like to move to the bedroom, von Ehlinger said. She said Sure. We got up, held hands and walked into the bedroom.

Deliberations stretched for seven hours until nearly 8 p.m. Thursday before the jury decided to break for the evening. At one point, the judge summoned the attorneys to his chambers because the jury asked a question. No details were made public about the jury's inquiry.

When the allegations became public  largely because of the legislative ethics investigation  Doe faced unrelenting harassment from some of von Ehlinger's supporters. Her name, photo and personal details about her life were repeatedly publicized in doxxing incidents. One of the people who frequently harassed her was in the courthouse to attend the trial, but law enforcement banned the man from the floor where the case was being heard.

During closing arguments, Farley told jurors that the case was about power in the wrong hands" used to the great devastation of Doe. Von Ehlinger had social, political and physical power over the petite intern, Farley said.

He used that power to rape and forcibly penetrate her, Farley said, pointing at von Ehlinger. Doe resisted in several ways, she said, highlighting the testimony of law enforcement investigators and a nurse sexual assault examiner who interviewed Doe after the alleged assault.

Words show lack of consent. Excuses of Why this shouldnt happen' show lack of consent. Yanking your head back and getting an injury shows lack of consent, Farley said.

But von Ehlinger's attorney told jurors the prosecution's case was made up of red herrings, and said von Ehlinger was a credible person who willingly took the stand to share his side of the story.

The investigators and the nurse who performed the sexual assault exam testified earlier this week. They said Doe reported being pinned down while von Ehlinger forced her to perform oral sex, and that she knew he frequently carried a handgun and had placed it on a dresser near the bed at the time of the assault. The nurse also testified that Doe had a goose egg on the back of her head from striking the wall or a headboard while trying to jerk her head away from von Ehlinger's grip.
LAKE COUNTY  A 20-year-old member of a fire department in Lake County has been arrested for allegedly setting two fires in Yates Township.

According to a news release from the Lake County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to two separate fires Wednesday, April 27. A Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officer discovered the first fire on 80th Street. The second fire occurred a few hours later on Queens Highway, near 80th Street.
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KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP)  Viktor appeared nervous as masked Ukrainian security officers in full riot gear, camouflage and weapons pushed into his cluttered apartment in the northern city of Kharkiv. His hands trembled and he tried to cover his face.

The middle-aged man came to the attention of Ukraines Security Service, the SBU, after what authorities said were his social media posts praising Russian President Vladimir Putin for fighting with the Nazis, calling for regions to secede and labeling the national flag a symbol of death.

Yes, I supported (the Russian invasion of Ukraine) a lot. Im sorry.  I have already changed my mind," said Viktor, his trembling voice showing clear signs of duress in the presence of the Ukrainian security officers.

Get your things and get dressed, an officer said before escorting him out of the apartment. The SBU did not reveal Viktor's last name, citing their investigation.

Viktor was one of nearly 400 people in the Kharkiv region alone who have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted quickly by Ukraine's parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

Offenders face up to 15 years in prison for collaborating with Russian forces, making public denials about Russian aggression or supporting Moscow. Anyone whose actions result in deaths could face life in prison.

Accountability for collaboration is inevitable, and whether it will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow is another question, Zelenskyy said. The most important thing is that justice will be served inevitably.

Although the Zelenskyy government has broad support, even among many Russian speakers, not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion. Support for Moscow is more common among some Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east. An eight-year conflict there between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces had killed over 14,000 people even before this years invasion.

Some businessmen, civic and state officials and members of the military are among those who have gone over to the Russian side, and Ukraines State Bureau of Investigations said more than 200 criminal cases on collaboration have been opened. Zelenskyy has even stripped two SBU generals of their rank, accusing them of treason.

A registry of collaborators is being compiled and will be released to the public, said Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraines Security Council. He refused to say how many people were targeted nationwide.

Under martial law, authorities have banned 11 pro-Russian political parties, including the largest one that had 25 seats in the 450-member parliament  the Opposition Platform For Life, which was founded by Viktor Medvedchuk, a jailed oligarch with close ties to Putin.

Authorities say pro-Russian activists in southeastern Ukraine, the scene of active fighting, are acting as spotters to direct shelling.

One of our key goals is to have no one stab our armed forces in the back, said Roman Dudin, head of the Kharkiv branch of the SBU, in an interview with The Associated Press. He spoke in a dark basement where the SBU moved its operations after its building in central Kharkiv was shelled.

The Kharkiv branch has been detaining people who support the invasion, call for secession and claim that Ukrainian forces are shelling their own cities.

Allegations of collaborating with the enemy carry strong historic resonance in Ukraine. During World War II, some in the region welcomed and even cooperated with invading forces from Nazi Germany after years of Stalinist repression that included the Holodomor  a man-made famine believed to have killed more than 3 million Ukrainians. For years afterward, Soviet authorities cited the cooperation of some Ukrainian nationalists with the Nazis as a reason to demonize todays democratically elected leaders of Ukraine.

Human rights advocates know of dozens of detentions of pro-Russian activists in Kyiv alone since the new laws were passed, but how many have been targeted nationwide is unclear, said Volodymyr Yavorskyy, coordinator at the Center for Civil Liberties, one of Ukraine's largest human rights groups.

There is no complete data on the (entire) country, since it is all classified by the SBU, Yavorskyy told AP.

Ukrainian authorities are actively using the practice of Western countries, in particular the U.K., which imposed harsh restrictions on civic liberties in warring Northern Ireland. Some of those restrictions were deemed unjustified by human rights advocates, but others were justified, when people's lives were in danger, he said.

A person in Ukraine can be detained for up to 30 days without a court order, he said, and antiterrorism legislation under martial law allows authorities not to tell defense attorneys about their clients being remanded.

In effect, these people disappear, and for 30 days there's no access to them, Yavorskyy said. In reality, (law enforcement) has powers to take anyone.

The government knows the implications of detaining people over their opinions, including that it risks playing into Moscow's line that Kyiv is repressing Russian speakers. But in wartime, officials say, freedom of speech is only part of the equation.

The debate about the balance of national security and ensuring freedom of speech is endless, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told AP.

Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights office, said her agency has documented cases of arrests and detention allegedly made by Ukrainian law enforcement authorities, which may involve elements of human rights violations and is following up with the Ukrainian government.

She said her office is looking into eight cases that appear to be disappearances of people considered as pro-Russian, and we have documented two cases of unlawful killings of pro-Russians, along with cases of vigilantism, in which law enforcement and others punish those suspected of being pro-Russian,

In the town of Bucha, now a symbol of horrific violence in the war, Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said collaborators gave invading troops the names and addresses of pro-Ukrainian activists and officials in the city outside Kyiv, with hundreds of civilians shot to death with their hands tied behind their backs or their bodies burned by Russian forces.

"I saw these execution lists, dictated by the traitors - the Russians knew in advance who theyre going to, at what address, and who lives there, said Fedoruk, who saw his own name on one list. Of course, Ukrainian authorities will search for and punish these people.

In the besieged port city of Mariupol, officials accused collaborators of helping the Russians cut off electricity, running water, gas and communications in much of the city.

Now I understand perfectly why the Russians were carrying out such precise, coordinated strikes on objects of critical infrastructure, knew about all locations and even times when Ukrainian buses evacuating refugees were supposed to depart, said Mayor Vadym Boychenko.

Political analysts say the invasion and the brutality by Russian troops against civilians have turned off many Moscow sympathizers. Still, many such supporters remain.

Russian propaganda took deep roots and many residents of the east who watch Russian TV channels believe absurd claims that its Ukrainians who are shelling them and other myths, Volodymyr Fesenko of the Penta Center think tank told AP. Naturally, Ukrainian authorities in the southeast are afraid of getting stabbed in the back and are forced to tighten security measures.

Unlike Viktor, whose Kharkiv apartment was raided, 86-year-old Volodymir Radnenko didnt seem surprised when Ukrainian security arrived to search his flat Saturday after detaining his son, Ihor. The military said the son was suspected of helping the Russians in shelling of the city  some of which occurred in Radnenko's neighborhood about 15 minutes before the officers showed up, with the smell of smoke lingering. At least two people were killed and 19 others wounded in the region.

He is used to thinking that Russia is all there is, Radnenko told AP after the officers left. I ask him: So who is shelling us? Its not our (people), its your fascists. And he only gets angry at that.

-

Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Vasilisa Stepanenko in Kharkiv and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.

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Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The majority of representatives of over 30 armed groups taking part in talks to end the civil war in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have accepted a request of regional heads of state in Eastern Africa to lay down their arms
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Recent intercommunal violence in areas of West Darfur, Sudan, that has left scores dead, including two health workers, must stop immediately, a senior official with the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, has affirmed the existence of "credible evidence" that "serious crimes have been committed on a large scale in Libya, including crimes of sexual violence related to the conflict
New York, US (PANA) - Outlining a new four-pronged investigation strategy to the Security Council on Thursday, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) pledged his commitment to delivering justice against crimes committed in Libya
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libya's delegate to the United Nations, Taher el-Sonni, Friday affirmed that his country's national judicial institutions were capable of dispensing justice despite all the challenges it was going through
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - Malis ban on two major international broadcasters operating inside the country is "a worrying development" in itself but it also reflects growing regional intolerance towards freedom of expression, the UN rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday
To strengthen its omnichannel logistics in Asia, 3PL company FM Logistic has opened a 70,000m2 multi-customer facility in India and a 20,000m2 multi-client urban distribution center in Vietnam.

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The multi-customer facility in India, inaugurated on April 26, is in Farrukhnagar, a strategic location near the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (Delhi) highway. This location was chosen to enable faster access to consumer centers in the north of India. This facility will provide warehousing, handling, co-packing and distribution services to meet the needs of e-commerce and omnichannel customers. It forms part of the companys 150m (US$158m) five-year investment plan that was announced in March 2019. The construction of the warehouse was managed by FM Logistics real estate sister company, NG Concept.

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The multi-client urban distribution center in Di An, Vietnam, will integrate warehousing, picking and distribution under one roof and focus on omnichannel distribution in Ho Chi Minh City. The center will work with the companys existing 50,000m2 urban distribution center at Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) in Bac Ninh. The Di An center was launched alongside the companys agreement to manage the omnichannel logistics of an international fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company. Under this contract, FM Logistic will manage last-mile delivery for nearly 10,000 traditional grocery shops in Ho Chi Minh City.

As part of its Powering 2030 strategy, FM Logistic has committed to respond to the major changes in the retail and FMCG sectors and supply chain management, as well as the boom in e-commerce. Currently, more than 60% of FM Logistics new contracts worldwide are for omnichannel logistics services. The company is investing heavily in automation across its markets to support its e-commerce operations.
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A woman was recently rescued from being kidnapped after a stranger at a gasoline station recognized her hand signal that she needed help. A driver also rescued a 16-year-old girl because she used a hand signal through a car window. Knowing the subtle danger signs could save you or a person's life.

Not every victim can verbalize abuse or that they are in danger. Hence, learning non-verbal cues is crucial for them to get help.

Signal for help

A 16-year-old was reported missing for weeks and was found by authorities in Laurel County, Kentucky after a driver saw the teen "signal for help" through the passenger window of a moving car. The driver then called 911, which eventually saved the girl.

The teenager said she learned about the hand signal on Tiktok. The distress signal was created by the Canadian Women's Foundation, a non-profit that helps women and girls experiencing abuse and poverty. The signal was developed when the pandemic started so domestic abuse victims could call for help without leaving a digital trace or alerting the abusers. The video demonstrations of the signal went viral on Tiktok in 2020, USA Today reports.

The signal is done by holding up the palm facing the person you are communicating with; tuck your thumb into the palm, and fold the four fingers down over the thumb in a "trapping" motion. Canadian Women's Foundation highlights that the signal is a fluid motion, not a fixed position.

Read Also: Single Dad Recognizes Woman's Hand Signal to Alert Alleged Kidnapping

Angel Shots

In the U.S., bars across America posted signs in ladies' rooms with instructions for ordering angel shots. The code is meant to discreetly alert the bartender that the person requesting the drink is in danger. The code word "angel shot" comes in different levels. An "angel shot neat" means someone needs to escort you to your vehicle. "Angel shot dressed" means someone call Uber or Lyft. "Angel shot with lime" is a code that tells the staff to contact the local authorities.

Establishments will handle the situation once the code is sent to the staff. Celebrities like Demi Lovato have advocated the code. Bartenders also support the code as it says a lot of important information without directly saying you need help in front of the abuser or person making the woman feel unsafe, the Budget Branders said.

Placing a Pizza Order to 911

A woman from Ohio reported a domestic violence incident against her mom by calling 911 and asking to "order a pizza" to convey her home address without alerting the abuser. The dispatcher recognized that the woman was in danger and communicated with the caller with questions that could be answered with yes or no.

Dispatchers told the responders to turn off their sirens and not alert the abuser. The caller said her mother's live-in boyfriend came home drunk and started to punch and beat her mom before she made the call. Since the incident, domestic violence support groups started teaching the strategy so victims could alarm the authorities without alerting the abusers, as per NBC News.

Related Article: Police Appeal For Help in Searching for Suspect Who Stabbed a Father-To-Be at Sydney Easter Show
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Stay-at-home moms would usually get questions like "so what do you do all day?" or a remark like "it must be nice not to have to work." Some people may not realize that feeding, caring for the children, making and serving meals and snacks, or cleaning and constantly tidying without outside help is full-time work.

Society has placed heavy expectations on stay-at-home parents. Themomsatodd.com said that common myths of the stay-at-home mom include a spic-and-span home, having the luxury of time, being able to handle everything and that they do not need a break.

Here are three everyday pressures of stay-at-home moms:

The need to be a supermom

A Reddit user shared that since she does not have a job, she should be a supermom, have a freelancing job, and make good money. She also feels that she should keep a clean house and still value herself. She thinks it is too much for her with all these expectations, and admitting it is truly embarrassing. The Reddit user realizes that the pressure makes her "constantly on edge," prone to anger, and feeling completely exhausted.

Samantha Nelson, a mom from New Hampshire, says she does homemade baby food and home-cooked meals and makes sure that everything is perfect because she is embarrassed that she does not have a job. Later, she realized that it was all too much.

Read Also: Helpline Services New Parents Struggling with Mental Health can Avail for Free

Feeling like not doing enough

Katherine Stone, the founder of Postpartum Progress, said she once had an anxiety attack after feeling overwhelmed by the idea that she should have activities with the kids the whole day. She looks at other moms and feels ashamed that she could not home school or do all sorts of plans and activities for her kid. She said she gets burdened by the rock star pressure and admits to succumbing, Today reports.

Not seeking support

A parent said that when an employee says she has burnout, the company encourages them to take time away from their jobs. Stay-at-home parents, however, barely have a break. When stay-at-home moms share how exhausted they are or how badly they need a break, most people would just shut their feelings, as though they could not be burnt out unless it makes money.

A mom shared that she does not want to take anxiety medication as she needs to hire a babysitter to watch their kids while paying to go to the doctor and pay for the medication. She also feels that money for the babysitter and the medicine would be better if spent on something else.

As per the Parent, there is a need to discuss openly the stay-at-home expectations and how these affect the mom's mental health. Society has placed heavy standards on all mothers, but for moms who do not work for pay, the expectations of how they should run their homes, parent their kids, and manage everything is impossible. These high expectations cause a toll on women's mental health and self-esteem.

We need to adjust these expectations.

It is about time that the noble, never-ending job of stay-at-home parents be given due recognition. Most of all, its support systems need strengthening and have to be streamlined as normal.

Related Article: COVID-19 Measures: Children in Shanghai Wearing Hazmats and Segregation from Parents Shock the World
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Georgia mom Porscha Mickens, who was accused of starving her daughter to death, will not serve time in jail. According to a report by WSB-TV, the judge sentenced her instead to 20 years of probation on Tuesday, April 26.

The 30-year-old Buford native accepted a plea deal on second-degree murder and child cruelty charges. Porscha and her husband, Jerrail Maurice Mickens, were both arrested back in October 2020, four months after their 5-year-old daughter, Kylie Mickens, died at an Atlanta hospital. Jerrail died in a motorcycle crash while out on bond back in November 2020.

According to the Hall County Sheriff's Office, Kylie weighed approximately just seven pounds at the time of her death. Detectives determined after an investigation and an autopsy that the cause of the young girl's death was homicide. More specifically, Kylie's death was caused by "dehydration and malnutrition due to medical neglect."

Kylie Mickens looked like a mummy when she died

According to a report by the Gainesville Times, Assistant District Attorney Anna Fowler argued in court that Kylie looked like a mummy at the time of her death. Kylie reportedly weighed less than 6 pounds at birth and about one pound more when she died.

Fowler added that when Kylie was admitted to the hospital, the report of every doctor who saw her stated that she suffered from the worst case of malnutrition and dehydration that the doctors at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta had ever seen.

The defense argued, however, that Kylie's death was due to 1p36 deletion syndrome. According to the National Institutes of Health, 1p36 deletion syndrome is a rare chromosomal disorder which causes abnormalities of the skeleton, weak muscle tone, intellectual disability, and difficulty in swallowing.

Read Also: Florida Mom Anaya Metoya Smith Arrested After Threatening to Blow Up Cocoa High School

Porscha blames Kylie's death on her medical condition

Porscha took the stand during the murder trial and said that Kylie both gained and lost weight on a day-to-day basis due to her condition. According to People, Porscha reportedly testified that she did not realize her daughter was dying. Mickens said that when Kylie's body shut down, she had seen that before, so she did not think that she was dying.

Family members and friends claimed that Porscha provided care for her daughter Kylie and had taken her to more than a dozen medical professionals to get treatment for her illness. While the defense argued to have Porscha serve 25 years of prison time, Judge C. Andrew Fuller ultimately decided to hand down a sentence of probation only.

Fuller spoke to Porscha in her sentencing, saying that the court can only hope that she will suffer a greater punishment simply by the fact that she lost Kylie and she will not have her daughter for the rest of her life. Fuller added that it should go without saying that the court's sentence does not lessen the value of the young girl's life.

Related Article: Parents of Tyre Sampson File Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against ICON Park After Son's Tragic Fall
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Two-year-old Lawson Bond was mauled to death by three rottweillers at home in the village of Egdon on March 28. The toddler suffered a cardiac arrest due to the horrific injuries that he got.

The family drove him to the hospital. He was rushed on blue lights to Worcestershire Royal Hospital before he was transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital.

As per the Independent, the boy had a cardiac arrest when he was bitten by one of the dogs. He was initially declared in a critical but stable condition but later died. The dogs were removed from the home and were euthanized.

The family and residents paid a tribute to Lawson. The boy's family asked that their family be respected at this difficult time, according to the police.

Rottweillers and spate of dog attacks

The West Mercia Police confirmed that three dogs were removed from the family home. Police say no arrests have been made and an investigation is ongoing. The dogs were later euthanized. As per the Dangerous Dogs Act in the UK, dogs were not among the banned breeds.

Locals nicknamed the dogs "the beasts." Villagers and dogwalkers told how some people were scared of the dogs. A neighbor said that people are intimidated by the family with those dogs. Hence, they call them "beasts" as they are always making such a racket.

The incident happened just a week after 17-month-old Bella Rae Birch died after being attacked by their family's new dog in St. Helens, Merseyside. The dog was bought by the family a week before the girl was attacked. Kyra Leanne King, a three-month-old baby died after a dog attack at a Lincolnshire beauty spot, the BBC reports.

Read Also: COVID-19 Measures: Children in Shanghai Wearing Hazmats and Segregation from Parents Shock the World

The Dangerous Dog Act

As per the act, it is illegal to own four breeds of dogs namely, American Pitbull Terriers, Japanese tosas, Dogo Argentinos, and Fila Brasileiro. The law also criminalizes the cross-breeds of the dogs.

In cases of dog attacks, the owner gets an unlimited fine or is sent to prison for a maximum of six months if the dog is dangerously out of control. The owner will not be allowed to own a dog in the future and your dog may be put to sleep.

The law was introduced 30 years ago by Home Secretary Kenneth Baker to get rid of fighting dogs after several reported dog attacks. The law is being challenged by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the British Veterinary Association, saying that there is no evidence that the said breeds are dangerous, Daily Mail reports.

Superintendent Rebecca Love, local policing commander for South Worcestershire announced the tragic incident in a press conference outside Worcester Police Station on Wednesday, March 30. The pre-inquest review for the case will be at Worcestershire Coroner's Court in Stourport on Wednesday on August 31.

Related Article: 3 Toddlers Hospitalized After Eating THC-Laced Goldfish Crackers, Daycare Owner Arrested
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Pregnant politician Erin Maye Quade delivered a speech at her party's convention, where she wanted to secure a nomination as a Minnesota state senate candidate, and she was also about to deliver a baby as she was in labor while on the stage.

In the early morning of the convention on Saturday, April 23, Maye Quade experienced what would have been the start of her labor contractions but she decided not to go to the hospital just yet. Instead, Mitchell Walstad, her campaign manager, asked the convention organizers to move up Quade's speech to an earlier time.

Walstad told USA Today that Maye Quade continued to have contractions in a private room while they waited for her turn at the convention, where she will be speaking for 10 to 15 minutes. When she did get up the stage, the pregnant politician could be seen pausing in between her speech as she was having contractions. The crowd cheered her on.

Read Also: US Army Updates Parenthood, Pregnancy and Postpartum Army Directive With 12 Changes

Today in Minnesota, @ErinMayeQuade gave a convention speech while in active labor. And her opponent didnt think to ask to postpone the convention as she, you know, had to go to the hospital to deliver her baby. What the hell. pic.twitter.com/Wmu5fh40I6  ashley fairbanks (@ziibiing) April 24, 2022

Maye Quade Withdrew from the Endorsement Process

According to CBS News, the mom tried to stay during the first round of balloting. However, she knew she could no longer hold out on the endorsement from the party, which has to reach 60 percent of the votes, so she decided to withdraw.

Her campaign manager said that Maye Quade did not want to shortchange the delegates since she could not submit through the process properly. However, her team also said that she actually discussed pausing the balloting with her opponent, Justin Emmerich, who was willing to accommodate her.

But then Emmerich said Maye Quade and her team made no formal request or motion to suspend the balloting, leaving Emmerich to win the endorsement by 71 percent. Emmerich said that prior to Maye Quade asking for the ballot suspension, he was already leading by 55 percent to her 44 percent in the first round.

Walstad, on the other hand, wondered why the convention was not suspended since there was a type of medical emergency. The new mom has yet to address what happened in the press. For now, she's not granting any interviews given that she has just given birth.

Maye Quade Could Run Again

According to Twin Cities Pioneer Press, the state senate candidate is not ruling out another bid for the nomination and she could be back for the primary in August. Maye Quade was a former state representive who also ran for the lieutenant governor post four years ago.

Prior to giving birth, the mother's doctors already advised her to slow it down since she was on the final few weeks of her pregnancy. The state candidate said she had to go door-to-door in the campaigns so the delegates would know her.

Meanwhile, Alyse Maye Quade, the candidate's wife, revealed that Harriet Blake Maye Quade was born 10 days before her due date on Sunday, April 24 at 2:20 a.m. or almost 24 hours after the first contractions. Alyse also said that her wife did an awesome job when she pushed their daughter out.

"I'll never look at my wife the same again, she is so powerful," Alyse said.

Related Article: Petite Mom Broke Tailbone During Childbirth as Baby Was 22-Inches Long
Photo: (Photo : Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A child from Perth in Australia burned his tongue after enjoying his Easter treats, and his mother did not expect that he would suffer pain and irritation after eating an extra sour candy.

The mom shared a photo of his son's injury to CPR Kids to warn other parents and spread awareness about the risk of eating sour candy. The organization also stated that some sour candy packaging, which is quite popular in Australia, actually includes a warning label stating that it's not advisable to give the treats to kids as young as four years old because they have sensitive tongues and mouths.

Dentist Dr. Jonathan Teo agreed with the advice because sour candies have high acid or pH levels, even higher than the acid content in vinegar. This means that even adults should avoid eating this kind of candy because of its general effect on their dental health, with both acid and sugar in its ingredients.

Read Also: Relief for Morning Sickness? Pregnant Moms May Try Sour Candies

High Acid Breaks Down Tissues in the Mouth

According to orthodontist Dr. Heather Kunen, the common ingredients of sour candy are tartaric acid, malic acid, fumaric acid, and ascorbic acid. Consuming a lot of this treat can lead to a burned tongue or mouth and a very uncomfortable feeling because the acid breaks down the tissues. It can also hasten tooth decay since sour candy alters the pH level.

Cases of a burned tongue from eating sour candy are not shocking to the dentists because these treats are a hit with young children despite their taste and frequent advice.

In 2015, a kid from Sydney also ended up with a hole on his tongue's surface after eating Warhead candies, which are known to be extremely sour. Lachlan Canak, seven years old, snuck a sour lollipop before going to school and then came running and crying to his mother after his tongue felt painful.

A 4-year-old girl Australian girl, Willow Wright, four years old, scarfed down ten sour candies in one go and then ended up with a painful burning sensation in her mouth. Her mother, Kelly Wright, said that her daughter raided the kitchen cupboard and took all of the Warhead treats. Her mother also shared pictures of the little girl, whose tongue's surface had been peeling.

Wright said she cried when she saw her daughter's burned tongue because she had never seen it before. They went to the dentist, who said that all they could do was to wait for the blisters to subside and heal on their own, according to the New York Post.

Instant Relief for Sour Candy Burned Tongue

Kunen said that eating or drinking milk, yogurt, or cheese may help with the discomfort, rawness, and sensitivity as dairy products will neutralize the pH balance in the mouth, per Bustle. Fortunately, dairy products also have casein that can help protect the enamel of the teeth. The dentist also said that when the tongue starts to peel, it's beginning to heal.

Dr. Shelley Gawth recommends drinking plenty of water after eating sour candy. She does not recommend sucking sour lollipops for a long period. If the burn gets bad, it's best to visit a dentist for treatment, as medication may be needed at this point.

Related Article: Tongue-Tie in Babies: An Ankyloglossia Fact Sheet and Treatment Guide for Parents
Photo: (Photo : SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Police got some unexpected help in cracking the case of missing North Carolina grandmother Nellie Sullivan with a pet duck providing the answer to her disappearance. According to NBC News, the pet bird led police to solve the case of Sullivan, who mysteriously vanished over two years ago.

Officials said that charges have now been filed against the victim's granddaughter, Angela Wamsley, and grandson-in-law, Mark Alan Barnes. According to the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office, both of them were charged with first-degree murder on Thursday in connection with the death of Sullivan.

The sheriff's office said that Sullivan disappeared some time in 2020. Officials stated that Sullivan would be 93 today if she were still alive. Buncombe County sheriff's spokesperson Aaron Sarver told reporters that they do not have a definitive date when Sullivan was killed. Police believe, however, that she has been dead for multiple years.

Wamsley and Barnes charged with murder

Sarver said that both Wamsley and Barnes had been under investigation by police since December 2020 in connection with Sullivan's death. At first, the two of them were arrested on a variety of charges, from drug possession to animal cruelty.

The sheriff's office said that by December 2021, Barnes had been charged with concealing a death. Wamsley received that same charge on January 7, 2021. Investigators searched for the missing Sullivan but failed in their bid to find her.

Buncombe County investigators finally got the breakthrough they were looking for when a pet duck helped them locate the murdered body of Sullivan at a home in Candler on April 14, 2022. According to WLOS, the pet duck dashed under a trailer, leading its owners to discover a container holding a woman's body.

Buncombe County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Mark Walker, who is with the Major Case Unit, said that it became pretty apparent almost immediately that Sullivan had disappeared under what can be said as suspicious circumstances.

Read Also: U.S. Research Shows Adolescents Accounted For a Larger Share of Suicides Across 14 States in 2020

Wamsley and Barnes already in jail when Sullivan's body was found

Walker said Wamsley and Barnes were already in jail at the time Sullivan's body was found. They were previously charged with concealing a death in connection to the case. Sky News reported that the only thing missing in that investigation was Sullivan's body with Walker saying that years of search warrants and state and federal assistance led them nowhere.

According to Walker, suspect Mark Barnes sent police on a wild goose chase which resulted in them digging for several days in a site that he knew Sullivan was not located at. The goose chase eventually ended, and quite fittingly, it was a pet duck who finished it.

Walker said the duck ran underneath the trailer at 11 Beady Eyed Lane, and as the owners were chasing after their pet animal, they ran across the container that Nellie Sullivan was located in. Walker added that if he could give that duck a medal, he would.

Related Article: April and Desmond Tester Found Alive: Mom and Son Went Missing While Hiking in Caldwell County
Photo: (Photo : PAUL BEATY/AFP via Getty Images)

Three women were arrested for harboring or aiding a felon in connection with the case involving mom of six Brittany Booker, who was killed on Sunday, April 24, in Racine, Wisconsin. Terry Jackson Jr. remains wanted for her death.

Racine police identified the three women who were arrested as Diamond Hood, Alicia Skyes and Carmelita Walker. Hood was arrested on Tuesday, April 26, in connection with the homicide of Booker, while Skyes and Walker were both arrested on Wednesday, April 27.

The latter two were arrested in connection with an incident involving the assault of Booker and another woman back in February, according to a report by Racine County Eye.

Jackson Jr. remains at large

Police and U.S. Marshals are still searching for Jackson Jr., who they believe is armed and dangerous. Crime Stoppers is also offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to Jackson's whereabouts and arrest.

According to Racine Police, they found Booker's body in her car on Sunday morning near 13th and Villa. Racine Police Chief Maurice Robinson told reporters that police and U.S. Marshals have searched for Jackson Jr. at several locations in the city but he still is nowhere to be found.

Robinson told Fox 6 Now that they were not able to locate him, but they were able to locate a vehicle he had been traveling in. Racine Police also revealed that they were already looking for Jackson prior to the Booker homicide. U.S. Marshals said that Jackson attacked Booker and another person back in February, leading to arrest warrants.

According to the chief of police, they have been searching for Jackson diligently, but somehow, he has managed to elude them. Police remain tight-lipped about how the two incidents are connected, and what happened on the day that Booker was killed.

Robinson did issue a statement, saying "He was able to make his way into her home. We won't discuss subsequent to that. At some point, she left the home, and we were able to locate her in a vehicle."

Read Also: Baton Rouge Girl China Record Dies After Grandmother Forces Her to Drink Bottle of Whiskey

Prayer vigil held for Brittany Booker

Loved ones of Brittany Booker gathered on Wednesday, April 27, outside the Tyler Domer Community Center in Racine for a "stop the violence" prayer vigil to remember her life. They also asked the community for help to find Booker's killer.

Booker's father, Leonard Larry, spoke at the event, saying "A bunch of her friends are showing love and support. She had a big heart. She would help anybody." There was a plea for answers and help to find Jackson Jr., the suspect in Booker's murder. Larry asked for help in finding Booker, telling WISN "Let's put him away."

Kelly Scroggins-Powell also issued a statement, saying "As a community, we cannot stand for violence. We cannot stand for crime, especially crime against women. We will not stop as a community until the perpetrator has been found, arrested and brought to justice."

Related Article: Convicted 'Mom Killer' Ike Nicholas Souzer Recaptured By Police After Fleeing California Halfway House
Photo: (Photo : Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

Chicago is fighting poverty with the approval and opening of two significant programs to help families cope with the rising cost of living.

Thousands of residents may soon get $150 gas cards or pre-loaded $50 public transportation cards in the program called Chicago Moves, as launched by the City Council and Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

As of Wednesday, April 27, 2022, the city has opened the application for the $150 gas cards for 50,000 locals and $50 transportation cards for 100,000 residents. The mayor said that the distribution would be limited to one card per household, which will be chosen through a lottery system.

Read Also: Stimulus Payment: California to Give $400 in Proposed New Gas Tax Rebates

How to Apply: $150 Gas Cards

Applicants eligible for Chicago Moves must be 18 years old and above and have a valid Chicago address and current city sticker for their vehicles. They should also be earning a household income below the Area Median Income. Chicago's current median income for a typical family of four is $93,200.

City of Chicago $150.00 Gas Card pic.twitter.com/QHDACjNVXm  Oliver Gavin (@OliverGavin4) April 27, 2022

However, the mayor also said that the gas and transportation cards distribution will be prioritized for families living in the South and West Side communities as these locations have "high mobility hardship."

To apply, residents may fill out the form via the Chicago Moves Application prepared for this rollout, or they may visit public libraries to do the process in person. Distribution of the cards will begin in the middle of May 2022.

How to Apply: $500 Guaranteed Basic Income

The city also opened applications for the monthly $500 Guaranteed Basic Income on Wednesday. According to WTTW, 90,000 residents applied for the stimulus within 24 hours, but only 5,000 families will be chosen via lottery to receive $500 for 12 months.

The Guaranteed Basic Income program is open to residents above 18 years old. Their average household income must be below $69,375 for a family of four. Residents may continue to send in their applications before the deadline on May 13 through Chicago.Gov/Cashpilot.

Apart from these two programs, Lightfoot has previously opened the applications for the Domestic Worker Relief Fund. This is a one-time $500 payment for domestic workers. The City Council has also opened the Resiliency Fund 2.0, another one-time $500 cash boost for residents who did not receive any stimulus check from the government.

The Clear Path Relief pilot, on the other hand, will eliminate the ticket fees owed by low-income drivers who have had violations like expired license plates or expired city stickers. This relief will extend a 50 percent discount on the fines.

A Campaign Gimmick?

Meanwhile, during a City Council meeting, some Chicago aldermen said that these programs are campaign gimmicks. Lightfoot has been accused of pulling a political stunt by Willie Wilson, a local businessman who plans to run for mayor in 2023. Last week, Wilson launched a gas giveaway across his gasoline stations as the national average for gas prices has risen to $4.394 per gallon.

Her critics said that the gas and transport cards bear the mayor's name. Analysts estimate that these new programs will benefit less than 10 percent of the residents. Some say that a one-time gas card will not be sustainable.

Related Article: $1,000 Monthly Payment Planned for Austin Families Through Universal Basic Income
Photo: (Photo : Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The son of famed author Paul Auster has died just 11 days after being charged with his infant daughter's overdose death, officials announced. New York City police said that Daniel Auster died on Tuesday, April 26, at the age of 44. Officials did not disclose the cause of Auster's death.

According to police officers, they found Auster unconscious on the subway platform of the northbound G train at the Washington Avenue/Clinton Street stop in New York City on April 20, just hours after he got bailed out of Rikers.

The New York Post reported that Auster was discovered surrounded by drug paraphernalia, and the dosage was similar to what he usually took, suggesting his death was accidental. Auster had been arrested on Easter Sunday for the November 1 death of his daughter, Ruby Auster.

Daniel Auster charged with manslaughter

Police said officers administered CPR on Auster, who was transported to Brooklyn Hospital in "stable condition." However, authorities said Auster was pronounced dead later at the hospital. The chief medical examiner's office said that the cause and manner of Auster's death are still pending.

NBC News reported that police arrested auster on April 15. It is not clear when he was released from jail. The 44-year-old was charged with manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a child, and criminally negligent homicide relating to the death of his 10-month-old child.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the Kings County District Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, young Ruby died of acute intoxication from fentanyl and heroin back in November while she was in the sole care of her father.

Auster told authorities that he had injected himself with heroin after his wife left for work when his daughter died. According to the complaint, Auster then took a nap alongside Ruby, and when he woke up, he saw his daughter was "blue, lifeless, and unresponsive."

Read Also: Mom Keeira Leon Mourns 4-year-old Son Princeton Mace Copeland, Who Accidentally Shot Himself to Death

Ruby Auster died of acute intoxication from fentanyl and heroin

Auster administered Narcan, an opioid antagonist used to reverse overdose effects, before calling the police. Auster's daughter was then taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A toxicology report in the young child's autopsy found the presence of heroin and fentanyl.

A district attorney's office spokesperson said that Auster's criminal case would be abated by death at a future date. According to the New York Times, Auster's father, Paul, is best known for such works as "The Brooklyn Follies" and "City of Glass."

His father has won numerous international awards for his books, which include titles such as "The Book of Illusions," "Moon Palace," and "The New York Trilogy." He was nominated for the Booker Prize back in 2017 for his novel "4, 3, 2, 1" and his work has been translated into more than 40 languages.

Related Article: Indiana State Police Asks Public to Help Identify Boy Found Dead in Woods in Washington County
Photo: (Photo : Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Carson Peters-Berger, the 14-year-old boy charged with the Lily Peters killing, is the son of a pedophile who was in prison for three years because he was caught with photos of young girls on his phone.

When Adam Berger, 37, was arrested in 2018, police found a stash of drug paraphernalia inside his house, apart from 10 photos of prepubescent girls on his gadget. The father is under supervised probation and has been staying at a halfway house since his release in April 2021.

Now, his son has been charged as an adult in the rape and murder of Lily, 10, in Wisconsin. Carson admitted to the police that he had intended to sexually attack and kill from the get-go, per CBS News. The judge has set the boy's bond at $1 million because the community has to be protected from Carson, given his admission.

Read Also: Amazon Apologizes After Alexa Tells 10-Year-old Girl To Play With Electric Socket

Carson Peters-Berger, the Best Version of His Father

According to Daily Mail, Adam and his lawyers appealed his probation before his release because he could not have unsupervised visits with Carson. The father said Carson was the best version of himself, but the minimal contact with his son since his arrest made the 14-year-old unhappy.

Carson lives with his mother, Lauri Davis, who had her son after his brief relationship with Adam. However, Katie Weathers, a family friend, said Davis was preventing Carson from making contact with his father's family. They believe that the boy's life with his mom was making him miserable because he's the type of teenager who hardly smiled, hardly talked, and just looked at the ground.

He better be charged as an adult for the murder of Iliana Lily Peters, he strangled & sexually assaulted his 10 yr old cousin, he deserves a life sentence. Right now, he gets a chance on to post bail which he shouldnt be able to. #IlianaPeters #ChippewaFalls https://t.co/yR1DeLWvV6   (@gabsgooster) April 28, 2022

Davis is the sister of Alex Peters, the father of Lily, which makes Carson the victim's cousin. On Sunday, Alex called the police because Lily didn't return home at 9:00 p.m. after visiting her aunt a few houses away. Witnesses said that they last saw the girl with her cousin.

The autopsy in the Lily Peters killing showed that she was "strangled to the point of death" and then raped. Carson admitted hitting Lily in the stomach, knocking her on the grand, and strangling her. He also said he hit his cousin with a stick and sexually assaulted her when she was down and possibly dead.

Chippewa Falls Community Shocked By the Crime

Dad Carl Smiskey told Kare that he struggled to find the words and understand how a 14-year-old could commit a violent crime against a 10-year-old. He said he started bawling when he found out the details and immediately called his daughters because he felt helpless.

About 13,000 families live in Chippewa Falls and Smiskey, who runs The Chippewa Store, feels a personal connection with the locals. They are raising funds to help the Peters pay for Lily's memorial and counseling. Locals have been flocking the store for donations as well.

Beautiful memorial for Lily Peters outside her elementary school in Chippewa Falls, WI.



Police say theyve increased school patrols during pickup and drop off following the 10-year-olds murder. No arrests have been made. pic.twitter.com/dWkrHB3FBI  David Schuman (@david_schuman) April 26, 2022

Teri Ouimette from the Chippewa Falls Main Street, Inc. has been distributing ribbons and signs to put up in homes and businesses to mourn the 10-year-old and seek justice for the Lily Peters killing. Ouimette said there are mixed emotions from the locals, especially parents with kids.

Related Article: Who Killed Lily Peters? Suspect in Custody Over 10-year-old's Death; Police Patrol Schools
Photo: (Photo : Simon Dawson - Pool/Getty Images)

A 6-year-old kindergartner saved her father's life when he had trouble breathing and passed out in their basement. Macie Semrau had the presence of mind when her father gave the passcode to his phone that allowed the girl to open up a Google search to type in "poliz" so she could get help.

According to Boston 25, Marcie was calm while talking on the phone to the Eliot Police in Maine. She was also able to provide the right address and her dad's age.

Within two minutes after her call, the first responders were at their house attending to Kyle Semrau, who had ongoing issues with his sinuses and lungs.

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Kyle Semrau returned to his Maine home the morning of April 12 after an overnight shift feeling light-headed, according to Seacoast online. He told his wife he was going to rest, joined by his 6-yr-old daughter, Macie, & his 4-yr-old son. When he was in and out of consciousness, pic.twitter.com/mxzWWtSAOB  GoodNewsCorrespondent (@GoodNewsCorres1) April 27, 2022

Macie Semrau Feared Her Dad Was Going to Die

Macie recounted how she saved her father and admitted that she thought he would die. On the other hand, Kyle saw his search history after he was feeling better and found the words "Elliot poliz" on his phone's browser. He has no plans of deleting this search history for some time.

His daughter told him that there was a call button next to the word, so she tapped on that, which went straight to the emergency dispatcher. Judy Smith from the Eliot Police Department answered the call.

Smith told Seacoast Online that she was impressed with Macie's calmness and decisiveness. The 6-year-old knew how to answer all the emergency dispatcher's questions; thus, they were able to reach the house in record time.

Caleb, Macie's 4-year-old brother, remembered that his sister also made sure to close the door from the basement so that dogs would not rush out when help from the police arrived. Caleb said that Smith heard him crying, but the woman on the phone said it would be OK.

The kindergartener was not supposed to be at home because she had school that day. However, Kyle had been away for a job and was feeling lightheaded. Macie, dressed and ready to go to school, decided to stay home and be with her dad and brother.

That day also happened to be the death anniversary of the grandmother of Kyle's wife. Eliot Police Chief Elliot Moya said it looked like the stars aligned for this family to ensure that the father would still be out of harm's way.

'Teach your kids emergency scenarios'

In a Facebook post, Kyle posted an update to say that he's doing well and thanked those who reached out to him after he spent a few days at the hospital for his sinus issues. He also said that his daughter likely saved his life and told his friends to teach their kids stuff that the schools will probably not cover, such as an emergency scenario.

The father also shared that he and his wife limit their children's screen time, but Macie can access the gadgets for reading or checking math equations. Once in a while, she gets a message from her dad to have a nice day when he's off at work.

Related Article: Hero Toddler! Two-Year-Old Saves Parents Who Failed to Smell House Fire Due to COVID
Photo: (Photo : Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

South Carolina mom Kyleen Waltman, who had both her arms amputated after being savagely attacked by three pit bulls, received some devastating news. The 39-year-old was told she wouldn't be able to get prosthetic limbs due to the severity of her wounds.

Waltman was critically injured on March 21 when she was suddenly attacked by the three dogs on a sidewalk in Honea Path, located northwest of Columbia. Waltman's sister Amy Wynne provided the heartbreaking update on a GoFundMe page, which has raised more than $229,000 as of Friday morning.

Amy wrote that they thought her sister's right shoulder would be good, and they were able to fit it with a prosthetic. Doctors, however, found an infection in the bone and had to remove more of the bone, meaning Kyleen will not be able to have regular prosthetics on either shoulder.

Dogs' owner Justin Minor faces three misdemeanor charges

Wynne added that the doctors had told her sister again about her arms and most of the damage the dogs had done. She said that Kyleen is now fully aware of the situation and that she still has a long way to go. Wynne remains positive despite this ordeal, saying, "She has survived this for a reason. So through prayers and Jesus Christ she will prevail."

Wynne said her family would be going to court on Thursday, April 28, for the appearance of the pit bulls' owner, Justin Minor, who faces three misdemeanor charges of rabies control violation, dangerous animal not permitted beyond premises unless restrained, and owning a dangerous animal that attacked and injured a human.

The Daily Mail reported that Minor had been released on a $15,000 surety bond. The charge of owning a dangerous animal carries a penalty of $5,000 or a sentence of three years in jail. Wynne also asked for prayers for her mother so that everything goes accordingly when she sees the dogs' owner face to face for the first time since the accident.

Read Also: Toddler Ruby Ann Cervantes Survives Dog Mauling After Mom Jamie Morales Stabs Pit Bull to Death

Waltman can't accept what has happened to her

Wynne concluded her statement, writing, "I know these updates are only a sliver of the brutal reality of what's going on, but please, I ask don't be impatient with me as I do have kids and a job myself and cannot update every little thing that's happening."

Wynne said in her previous statement that Waltman was so upset by her condition that when she woke up from her coma, the doctors decided to put her under sedation again. Wynne has said that the attack could have been prevented if only the dogs had been locked up or if they had been chained. Wynne added that if the pit bulls were never there in the park, to begin with, this would have never happened to her sister.

Minor's dogs were seized by Abbeville County Animal Control in the wake of the mauling, according to the New York Post. It was unclear how the pit bulls ended up on the street where Waltman was attacked. According to local media, signs that read "Beware of dog" can be seen on the owner's property.

Related Article: Premature Baby Harper Jacobo, the Smallest Ever to Survive With an Incomplete Esophagus
Photo: (Photo : Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

Tragic news has emerged in Florida, with authorities finding the body of LaDonna Williams, who was missing since February. According to a report by WJAX-TV, the body of the 41-year-old was found buried in the backyard of a rental home in Jacksonville, Florida.

The outlet reported that the rental property owner called 911 after discovering a body while preparing his house for new renters. Loved ones identified her as Williams shortly after the body's discovery.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office believes Williams was murdered, but they are still trying to figure out how the mom of three was killed and by whom. LaDonna's daughter Tammy Williams spoke in an interview on Monday, saying that she was a very good mother to her and all her friends and siblings. Tammy added that her mother did not deserve to die like that.

LaDonna Williams' body found in the backyard of Allendale home

Tammy said she was just shocked when she found out that it was her mom. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office found the body at a home in the 2900 block of West 9th Street in the Allendale area. Police were called to the scene on Wednesday after officers said the homeowner discovered a decomposing body buried in the backyard.

Williams' body was found partially covered near a fence behind a rental property.

LaDonna Williams children said she made an impact on everyone she met. Now they're fighting for answers after her body was found in the backyard of a Jacksonville rental property this week. https://t.co/d1bqQ3b42L  News4JAX (@wjxt4) April 23, 2022

WJXT-TV had previously talked to LaDonna in an interview after she and her son reportedly survived a domestic knife attack back in 2015. According to People magazine, LaDonna told the station that she was not sure who was going to live and who was not during the knife attack. Williams added that she felt like her son put his life on the line for her, and he very well could have lost his life while protecting her.

Tammy said she wouldn't get closure until she got answers about what happened to her mother. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is in the process of reaching out to all the previous renters and asking anyone with information to contact them. Anyone who has information on Williams' killing can call the Sheriff's Office at 904-630-0500.

Read Also: Pet Duck Helps Crack Nellie Sullivan Case; Angela Wamsley and Mark Barnes Charged With Murder

GoFundMe campaign set up for LaDonna Williams

Family and friends have recently launched a GoFundMe campaign to help lay to rest Williams, the "independent, strong, motivated" mother they knew and loved. The fundraiser description stated that Williams lived life day by day, ready for whatever God had planned.

They described Williams as a daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, grandmother, and friend to many and that she was loved by everyone she met and kept faith in her heart. As of publication, $2,760 of the campaign's $9,000 goal had been raised, with the fund getting 73 donations.

Related Article: New York City Dad Ceferino Sanchez Charged With Murdering 4-Month-Old Son With Fractured Skull
British travelers to Portugal can now use electronic e-gates at the border to help make entry into the country quicker and smoother.

Lisbon, Faro, Porto and Funchal (Madeira Island) airports have all opened their RapidforAll e-gate facilities to British passengers, meaning these passengers do not need to queue in conventional passport control lanes. However, they will still be required to go through a passport stamping process.

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Vinci Airports operates Gatwick Airport and all international airports in Portugal. According to the operator, approximately 260 flights a week have been scheduled to go to and from Portugal from April to October 2022. Most flights will arrive in Faro (3,550), Lisbon (1,900), Porto (1,500) and Funchal (822).

Stephanie Wear, vice president of airline relations at Gatwick Airport, said, It is very welcome news that UK passengers to Portugal now have the option to use e-gates at the border. This move really differentiates Portugal from other countries and will hopefully boost visitor numbers as people take advantage of the e-gate technology, which makes it easier, more convenient and quicker for Britons to enter the country.

Chloe Lapeyre, chief commercial officer of Portugals airport authority, ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, said, We are positive about the implementation of this new system RapidforAll by the Portuguese immigration authority in our main international airports and we facilitated the logistics to speed up their installation. We hope that it will contribute positively to welcoming the traffic recovery, namely for British passengers that amounted to 2.5 million and represent a relevant segment of tourism in Portugal.
Yesterday during Apple's Financial Conference call, CFO Luca Maestri said in his prepared statement that "We believe our year-over-year revenue performance during the June quarter will be impacted by a number of factors. Supply constraints caused by COVID-related disruptions and industrywide silicon shortages are impacting our ability to meet customer demand for our products. We expect these constraints to be in the range of $4 billion to $8 billion, which is substantially larger than what we experienced during the March quarter."

Every vendor in the smartphone industry has suffered from supply restraints and China's Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo dramatically declined in Q1 2022 as our IDC report revealed yesterday. Apple was the only vendor to scratch out a slight gain for the quarter thanks to the popular iPhone 13 and Apple's great supply chain management team.

With that said, a rather eye-catching supply chain report surfaced this morning regarding a meeting between Samsung Display's CEO and Apple's CEO Tim Cook.

Korea's IT Home reports that Samsung Display's CEO "was on a business trip when he learned of Apple's decision to cut annual iPhone production by 15 percent this year. According to reports, in a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook, he made a request "not to reduce the initial commitment to purchase OLED panels."

The report further noted that "It is said that at the end of last year, Apple set an annual production plan of 220 million iPhones in 2022, and notified component suppliers based on this. Among them, Samsung Display received an expected supply of 160 million iPhone OLEDs from Apple.

However, Apple recently lowered its annual production target for iPhones to 185 million units, a 15.9% drop from its previous plan (and certainly much larger than Samsung's OLED orders), due to a deepening semiconductor supply shortage and the spread of the new crown epidemic.

IT Home further noted that Samsung Display's CEO hopes that Apple will not reduce the promised purchases, and even if it really wants to cut orders, he hopes to minimize the gap. Earlier this year Samsung Display publicly announced that it would 'utilize patents' as a strategy to deal with intensified competition in the OLED market. Patently Apple reported on this specific point in a February report titled "In order to retain their iPhone display business with Apple, Samsung is considering a legal strategy against OLED display competitors."

Lastly, the IT Home report noted that "An industry source said: I know that Samsung Display has warned through various channels that it may sue Apple for patents on products containing rival OLED panels. He thinks Samsung's goals seem to have BOE in mind. For more on this, read the full IT Home report.

With supply chains already under pressure and possible tougher economic times ahead, as alluded to by Apple's CFO, Samsung using their industry weight with display patents isn't altogether out of the question.

For now, it's a supply chain rumor and one that would most certainly be a risky proposition for Samsung, though not out of the question. Samsung Legal is known to be very aggressive. We'll certainly be keeping an eye on this supply chain rumor that actually began in February to see if it has legs in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Update May 02, 2022: Patently Apple was sent an email from Samsung Display requesting that we remove the photo of Samsung Display's CEO and we have complied. Although the email wanted information deleted or corrected, the original source that we obtained the report from, IT Home, has not altered their report. Until IT Home changes their report or deletes it, we will keep the remainder of our report in tact.
QNET, a prominent e-commerce based direct selling company held the first of its flagship bi-annual virtual convention this year, the V-Convention Connect (VCC2022), streamed live to over half a million distributors and customers in approximately 50 countries.



This was the fourth event in the virtual edition of the flagship convention since the pivot to virtual due to the global pandemic.



"With virtual events now a global norm, we had to find new ways to keep our convention exciting and engaging for our participants. The main advantage of virtual events is it allows us to reach a much wider audience than ever before since the cost of participation is much lower. We strive to give our audience interesting and engaging content and an immersive experience that allows them to experience the magic and energy of being in a stadium surrounded by thousands of others. Fortunately, technology has allowed us to experiment and innovate with the virtual experience we give our audience, including a glimpse of QNET in the metaverse." says Malou Caluza, CEO of QNET.



Utilising technological tools such as Unreal Engine and a virtual production suite, QNET transported audience members through different settings ranging from mesmerising city skylines to a dazzling centre stage inside a virtual stadium in a 3D environment.



QNET INTRODUCES A REVOLUTIONARY PERSONAL CARE LINE



QNET launched a new addition to its Swiss-made skincare brand Physio Radiance called the Physio Radiance Expert series, a revolutionary personal care line that addresses the most prominent signs of ageing around the eyes, face, and neck.



The Physio Radiance Expert series taps into the explosive growth in the global skincare market  valued at approximately USD140 billion in 2020  as consumers have been moving their dollars from cosmetics to skincare and other self-care rituals as they spend more time at home as a result of the global pandemic.



The Physio Radiance Expert products include Instant Youth for Eyes and Instant Youth for Face. These new products use a breakthrough dermo-cosmetic formula that incorporate science-backed and clinically-tested active ingredients and are devised from a patented blend of natural extracts.



"Personal care is becoming increasingly essential to our daily routines. As more people explore their options and learn about the science behind a product, the demand for products that have demonstrable results is on an upwards trend," says Caluza. "Our goal with Physio Radiance Expert is to respond to that demand and bring high-quality, efficacious products for our customers across the globe."



QNETS BERNHARD H. MAYER MODERN SWISS WATCH AND JEWELLERY REDEFINES LUXURY



Bernhard H. Mayer, QNET's luxury Swiss watch and jewellery brand, proudly showed off its newest Empire collection at VCC2022  beautifully finished Swiss-Made timepieces for him and her. Crafted with precision engineering, the Empire collection combines a classic style with a contemporary, sophisticated design aesthetic. Both gender variants come in two designs: stainless steel and rose gold, each embodying the sleek elegance and classic refinement befitting the collections title.



The brand also showcased its latest accessory for men, the Classe bangle, a statement piece in 18K gold-lined cuff, that also serves as a versatile accessory that effortlessly matches any outfit or occasion.

The Swiss luxury industry is known to be traditional with relatively rigid retail habits. Yet Bernhard H. Mayer embraced e-commerce as its primary channel of distribution early on and charted new growth as online retail surged throughout the pandemic.



Now, the brand is ready for the next phase of growth: the metaverse, an immersive virtual reality space where customers can engage in a highly curated physical-to-digital reality where they can see, touch, and experience Bernhard H. Mayer's Swiss-Made luxury watches and jewellery. A preview of Bernhard H. Mayers upcoming metaverse destination, in partnership with virtual-world platform Decentraland, was one of the highlights of the convention.



Referring to how Bernhard H. Mayer aims to explore new avenues to bring its luxury offerings to a broader audience, Caluza says, "Bernhard H. Mayer's unique blend of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer strategy has seen the brand experience great success over the past few years. We're embracing the convergence of our physical and digital worlds via metaverse platforms as an opportunity for growth in the luxury watch and jewellery industry."



Alongside Bernhard H. Mayer's mission to drive a new path to accessibility in the luxury industry through e-commerce and the metaverse, the brand is firmly holding onto its promise of sustainability. All Bernhard H. Mayer's fine jewellery products use ethically-sourced recycled gold from members of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), the leading ethical standard within the jewellery industry.







Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Asian stocks rallied, taking their cue from Wall Street, and European shares are tipped to open over 1% higher.



Yet the headwinds that grabbed market attention on Monday have not gone away and will continue to test the bounceback.



Let's start with Russia. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday warned the world not to underestimate the considerable risks of nuclear conflict. read more



Then, central banks. The European Central Bank's Martins Kazaks joined a chorus of policymakers calling for a swift exit from stimulus, suggesting the ECB should raise rates soon and has room for up to three hikes this year. read more



Finally, China. Three-quarters of Beijing's 22 million people lined up for COVID-19 tests on Tuesday, as authorities in the Chinese capital raced to stamp out an outbreak.



Fears of the kind of city-wide lockdown that has shrouded Shanghai for a month are raising concerns for the world's second-biggest economy. Any slowdown will no doubt ripple out more widely.



Such worries have pummelled the yuan, pushing it 3.5% lower this month. It got minimal marginal respite from the central bank's pledge on Monday to cut the amount of foreign exchange banks must hold as reserves.



The session ahead will be dominated by earnings. In the European banking landscape, HSBC stood out with a 27% Q1 profit drop which contrasted with the resilience displayed by UBS and Santander read more .



Twitter's stock market value has lagged rivals

Key developments that should provide more direction to markets on Tuesday:



- Japan jobless rate hits lowest in almost 2 years



- UK public borrowing above govt forecasts in 2021/22 year



- Hungary's Central Bank expected to hike rates



- US consumer confidence April/new home sales



- US Two-year note auction



- European earnings: Thule, SKF



- US earnings: UPS, 3M, General Electric, JetBluel, Northern Trust, Alphabet, Capital One, Chipotle, General Motors, Microsoft, Mondelez, Visa, Texas Instruments,

Source: REUTERS









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Central African Republic has adopted bitcoin as an official currency, the presidency said on Wednesday, becoming the first country in Africa and only the second in the world to do so.



Despite rich reserves of gold and diamonds, Central African Republic is one of the world's poorest and least-developed countries and has been gripped by rebel violence for years.



A bill governing the use of cryptocurrency was adopted unanimously by parliament last week, said a statement signed by Obed Namsio, chief of staff of President Faustin-Archange Touadera.



"The president supports this bill because it will improve the conditions of Central African citizens," Namsio told Reuters, without elaborating.



In the statement, he called it "a decisive step toward opening up new opportunities for our country".



Central African Republic is one of six nations that use the Central African CFA franc, a regional currency governed by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC).



Two of the country's former prime ministers last week signed a letter expressing concern about the adoption of bitcoin without guidance from the BEAC, calling it a "serious offence".



"The BEAC learned at the same time as the public of the enactment of a new law on cryptocurrency in Central African Republic," a BEAC spokesman told Reuters, adding that the bank did not have an official response yet.



El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender last year, but the rollout was hampered by scepticism and it postponed a proposed bitcoin bond in March amid global market turmoil.



African governments have taken a varied approach to regulating cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.



Nigeria's central bank barred local banks from working with cryptocurrencies last year before launching its own digital currency, the eNaira.



South African regulators have been exploring the potential regulation of cryptocurrencies and other blockchain technology, and Tanzania's central bank said last year it was working on a presidential directive to prepare for cryptocurrencies.

Source: REUTERS









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Investors speculating over whether Elon Musk will complete his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) sent the social media company's shares on Wednesday to their lowest level since the deal was announced two days ago.



Traders fretted that Musk may not have enough money sitting around to fund his $21 billion cash contribution and could decide against selling some of his Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) shares to come up with it.



He has backtracked before. Earlier this month, he decided at the last minute not to take up a seat on Twitter's board. In 2018, Musk tweeted that there was "funding secured" for a $72 billion deal to take Tesla private, but did not move ahead with an offer.



In addition, Musk would have to pay only a $1 billion breakup fee - a sliver of his fortune estimated by Forbes to be $240 billion - to walk away from the acquisition.



"There's a lot of headline risk over the next six months that it takes to complete the deal," said Chris Pultz, portfolio manager for merger arbitrage at Kellner Capital.



Representatives of Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.



Twitter shares ended trading in New York down 2.1% at $48.68, a big discount to the $54.20 deal price, implying a 62% chance of the deal being completed, according to Reuters calculations. That is a relatively low chance of deal completion, investors said, given it is unlikely that Musk, who has no other media holdings, would face antitrust scrutiny.



Tesla shares fell more than 12% on Tuesday, wiping out $126 billion in value, amid concerns Musk will have to sell shares in the electric car maker to pay for the $21 billion equity check in the Twitter deal. read more



Musk could calm some of the market jitters by providing more details on the source of his equity financing or bring in partners to help split the check. This, however, could introduce new risks to the deal based on the identity of these partners, some fund managers said.



Roy Behren, managing member of Westchester Capital Management, which has $5.4 billion of assets under management, said the $1 billion deal termination fee was not high enough to make Musk think twice about walking away from the deal.



"In the context of his net worth, and the size of the transaction, the fee is smaller than one would have expected," Behren said.













Source: REUTERS









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The Ghana Police Service has arrested two men from the Okaikoi South Constituency during the governing New Patriotic Party's Constituency executive elections.



DCOP Kwesi Ofori, Director-General of Public Relations, in a statement issued on Thursday, April 28, 2022; explained that the suspects, John Essel Baah and Enoch Kwame Bosompem, were in some police apparel, which created an impression that they were security personnel.



The suspects, the police said, were spotted at the Okaikoi South Constituency where the voting was taking place.



We would like to emphatically state that the two suspects are not Police Officers. Meanwhile, they are in custody as the investigation continues.



We wish to assure the public that they will be taken through the due process of the law, the statement from the Police concluded.



There were agitations at the voting centre in the constituency during after some members protested allegations that about 400 names had been removed from the register.



Also, there were allegations that some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been added to the register to increase the fortunes of some aspirants.



However, the police managed to restore calm for the exercise to commence.



Four delegates were reported to have been arrested for obstructing the elections in Okaikwei South.



The NPP started electing its Constituency executives on Thursday, April 28.



Meanwhile, about 16 Constituencies have been exempted from taking part in the ongoing process which ends on May 1.



Read below the full statement.

















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The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has appealed to Ghanaians to continue wearing nose masks, despite the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.



According to him, even though the country was recording lower numbers in terms of new COVID-19 infections, Ghanaians must not lower their guard, since the disease is still with us.



Dr Kuma-Aboagye made the call when he appeared at the bi-weekly Ministers Briefing, organised by the Ministry of Information, in Accra, on Tuesday.



The briefing by the health authorities is the first since the easing of COVID-19 restrictions by the President about four weeks ago.



Dr Kuma-Aboagye explained that, even though the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said the use of nose mask was not mandatory, it was important for Ghanaians to continue to wear it in their own interest.



He said to avoid contracting the disease, people who visit or congregate at enclosed or crowded places must wear nose mask.



This, Dr Kuma-Aboagye said was necessary because the disease existed, stressing that At this point, it is important that we all guard against increasing infections in the country.



He said the country was currently experiencing low numbers of recorded cases of COVID-19 with daily reported cases of less than 20.



Dr Kuma-Aboagye said 12 regions did not have active cases and there were



no severe or critical case nationwide.



He stated that cases among international arrivals had seen a significant decline ever since the countrys land borders were opened.



More than 14 million COVID-19 vaccination doses administered reduced vaccination uptake with reasonable vaccine hesitancy, Dr Kuma-Aboagye said.



Concerning the countrys COVID-19 situation, he said as of April 23, this year, the total number of confirmed cases were 161,172 with the total tests done at 2,435,606.



In terms of recoveries, Dr Kuma-Aboagye noted that 159,679 had recovered and the total deaths were 40.

Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh









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CLOGSAG's demand for neutrality allowance has been met with strong opposition as Ghanaians wonder why government would consider paying an allowance of this kind.



This is the first time Ghanaians are hearing of "neutrality allowance"; this allowance is said to be a compensation to the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) for their inability to engage in active politics nor pursue a political career.



The laws of Ghana do not permit a civil worker to engage in partisan politics, therefore, in order to make amends for the civil workers; the government held a meeting with their leaders and agreed on paying them what they describe as neutrality allowance.



Many Ghanaians have condemned the allowance, stressing it's a waste of money and others cautioning the government against setting a bad precedent in the country.



"We are setting a bad precedent with that neutrality allowance that may boomerang on us. Who even gave them authority to engage in this negotiation?", Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah, a Governance Lecturer at the Central University, shot down justifications for the payment of this neutrality allowance.



However, it has emerged that the neutrality allowance was spearheaded by some powerful hands in government.



It's been revealed that the person who led the negotiation with CLOGSAG and arrived at paying them the neutrality allowance is Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo.



Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo, who is also a former Finance Minister, together with the Ministry of Finance led by its Deputy Minister, Abena Osei Asare, were the ones who accepted to pay CLOGSAG this allowance and this was disclosed in an audio recording of the Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Dr. Isaac Bampoe Addo played on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo".







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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South Africa: Government remains on high alert amid increase in daily COVID-19 infections

Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, says while the country is still at great risk of COVID-19, government is observing the daily new infections and remains on high alert.

Phaahla said the next seven days until 6 May will give an indication as to whether the 5th wave of the pandemic has started.

Addressing a virtual media briefing on Friday, the Minister expressed concern at the daily new infections, which has been rising to up to 6 000 new cases a day.

We need to remain on high alert. The rise in daily infections took a sharper uptick during the last week, Phaahla said, adding that the trend needs to be observed.

He said government has noted the spike of cases in other parts of the world.

Nationally, there has been a 137% increase in new cases, compared to the seven days prior.

Gauteng, Western Cape and the Northern Cape are showing the highest new daily infections.

COVID-19 remains a threat and it is not yet over We cannot afford to drop our prevention measures. We urge those who have not vaccinated to come forward and take the jab.

We are still under 50% of adults that have taken one dose of the vaccination. We need to get this to 60% of adults to protect us, Phaahla said.

Phaahla urged young people who are between the ages of 18  35 to come forward in their numbers to protect themselves and the elderly people around them.

Natural immunity wanes with time and cannot be boosted. It is only the vaccine immunity that can be boosted, Phaahla said.

The Minister said as winter approaches, people will spend more time indoors, with a risk respiratory infections.

Meanwhile, South Africa recorded 4 146 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 780 444.

The increase represents a 18.3% positivity rate.

There has been an increase of 64 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours, the Department of Health said in a statement.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-04-29. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
BEIRUT, April 29 -- The 20th Chinese peacekeeping force to Lebanon hosted the logistics officers meeting of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Sector West for the first time on April 26, local time.

The meeting, which was attended by seven troop-contributing countries, coordinated and resolved the difficulties in logistic support of the troop-contributing countries, and made plans for future logistic work.

The efficient logistic support capability of the Chinese peacekeeping force was highly praised by the UNIFIL Command and foreign peacekeeping forces.

Since being deployed to the mission area in August last year, the 20th Chinese peacekeeping force to Lebanon has passed the UNIFIL equipment inspection, defense assessment, living conditions assessment and environmental assessment with high standards.
A former Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, has bemoaned the lack of living wage policies in the country especially for salaried workers.



According to him, the governments fight against corruption may become difficult as most workers do not live on their current salaries.



Speaking during the launch of the Professor Mike Oquaye Centre for Constitutional Studies at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Prof. Oquaye called for enhanced programs that would see to the computerization of all aspects of administration.



The e-governance program which should cover the computerization of all aspects of administration should be brought to a logical conclusion. Customs, fraud persist because duties are partly veiled in allegory. When Dr. Busia sent passport forms to post offices to be sold there, attendant corruption relating to passport forms ceased.



Time frames should be set for all public duties and penalties prescribed for non-compliance. Our contorted bureaucratic procedures create room for corruption, where public duties cannot be discharged timeously, through well-laid procedures, the public servant adopts the tactic of go-come, go-come, come tomorrow, come tomorrow, till money changes hands, he explained.



He further called for living wage policies to be implemented in order to curb the incidents of corruption in the country.



Steal fines and penalties should be promulgated to deal with the offences that we know so well of. Living wage policies should be pursued and its rather funny to speak of corruption in a nation where most workers do not live on their wages, and this is well-known. Ask all officials in the ministries and elsewhere, So, what do you live on? Nobody knows what he lives on.



A study done by the African Public Policy Institute in 2014, led by this writer, showed that some 90% of respondents boldly stated that no one lives on his or her pay in Ghana. This is an ostrich approach which will never solve any problem, Prof. Oquaye added.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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A former UN senior governance advisor, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah, has described the neutrality allowance demanded by the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghanas (CLOGSAG) as ridiculous.



According to him, there are codes and ethics for every job therefore an association cannot make demands of something that has been stated in the institution's code of ethics.



This is the most ridiculous proposal Ive ever heard. The so-called neutrality allowance that theyre claiming thats why earlier I made reference to the fact that the deputy minister of finance has retracted, saying that this is not the title they gave.



But if it were to be that the civil servants are asking for allowance just because they are made to be neutral in politics, itll be the most ridiculous demand I ever heard. You take a job and every job has its code of conduct or what you may call code of ethics, and if you sign and go in, you dont turn around and demand something that the code of ethics has clearly laid out, Asaaseradio.com reported. Meanwhile, the Deputy Finance Minister, Dr. John Kumah, has refuted suggestions that the Neutrality Allowance being demanded by CLOGSAG is compensation for them not engaging in political activities. According to him, Neutrality Allowance is a term a committee set up by the government came up with to address the demands of the association in 2019.



He said that the public should not focus on the name of the allowance but on its purpose which is to address the salary disparity CLOGSAG members faced compared to other workers.



 the name Neutrality Allowance is not something that CLOGSAG demanded, it was a term. To be fair to CLOGSAG this negotiation started in 2019, it ended in the early part of 2021. I think the agreement was signed in early part of January with effective date of February, so this is about two years of engagement led by the Senior Presidential Advisor, Fair Wages Commission and the sector minister (Ministry of Employment) as well as the Ministry of Finance.



CLOGSAG did not come on the negotiation table with Neutrality Allowance, they come with all kinds of allowances and demands which they justified  if the government accepted those demands that could triple what they are getting at the moment. So, the government and the negotiation team said something had to be done for CLOGSAG because CLOGSAG was the lowest-paid group on the single spine salary structure, he said.









Source: ghanaweb.com









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Dr Stella Agyemang Duah, a Research Scientist at the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and her team has partnered with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly to mark this year's Food Wastage Day.



This is the first time Ghana is holding such an event. Since 2017, USA through Compass Group Holdings, one of its global food service leaders found it necessary to mark this day to accelerate the awareness campaign against food wastage.



Through these advocacy, USA has saved about 40% of food that go waste.



Speaking on the theme "Educating and igniting change in the Ghanaian for National Development", she explained that "We've adopted it and will continue to remind every Ghanaian to be intentional about reducing food waste.



It is attitudinal, everyone must be encouraged to be positively involved in cutting down waste.



She added that they are checking wastage at the farmers level as well. The target of sustainable development goal 12 count postharvest losses and we are ready to secure losses along the production and supply chains as well.



We will channel them into compost to reduce the use of inorganic fertilizers. These inorganic fertilizers have prolonged health issues on consumer. Even farmers are at risk spraying these fertilizers.



At the policy level, we will encourage the Government to consider SDG 12 targets and indicators, implement and monitor them. At any point, we are available to assist the ministries or government to achieve this goal by 2030. Aside attitudinal, solving food waste is political. Everyone must be involved.



She further stated that unavoidable waste can be channeled into organic fertilizers or compost. She also appealed to waste management companies to come on board to design robust bin segregation materials which can ease the effect of carbon emissions on our landfill sites and promote a clean Ghana.



The day was also commemorated with stakeholders engagement at KMA conference room where recommendations and suggestions were made to foodservices and vendors, university students from various institutions in Ashanti region, waste management team at the Assembly and the general public on food waste.



They proceeded to the Bantama and Racecourse markets to sensitize and educate the market women on how to reduce food waste at their level. The stop food wastage day is the first time of it kind in Ghana and was very successful.



Dr. Stella Agyemang Duah who is a Research Scientist at Ghana Atomic Energy Commission encouraged all stakeholders at these levels to be conscious on reducing food waste.



The team had earlier engaged the media in Greater Accra region on findings on the situation of food waste in Ghana.



The next phase of the project is expected to be in the Eastern Region.













Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









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Mosques and churches were reportedly set ablaze by mobs in multiple places in northern and southern Ethiopia on Thursday.



Violence erupted after at least 20 Muslims were killed and hundreds more injured while attending a funeral of a local religious figure on Tuesday in Gondar city in Amhara region.



The regional Islamic Affairs official told the BBC that four mosques were burnt.



Three churches were also burned down in southern Ethiopia, the head of the administrative body of the Orthodox Church in Silte confirmed to the BBC, in what appears to be retaliatory attacks for the earlier violence.



The government says 280 people have been apprehended in connection with the violence in Gondar.



It has warned that it will take additional measures against anyone involved in spreading tensions to other cities.



Muslims in the capital, Addis Ababa, have planned a mass gathering at Meskel Square late on Friday as they break their fast to protest against the killings.



Muslims make up nearly 34% of Ethiopia's more than 115 million inhabitants.

Source: BBC









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Social Workers and NGOs Ghana in collaboration with law enforcement officer in 2021 rescued 842 victims of human trafficking in the country.



The comprehensive Trauma Informed Care Unit of the Gender Ministry reintegrated 812 out of the 842 victims rescued.



On the 1st February 2019, the adult shelter was operationalised and 178 adult female victims of trafficking were cared for.



The shelter is still receiving and caring for victims while the children shelter fully operationalised in August, 2020 has also cared for 98 child victims.



These were disclosed by the deputy minister for the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hajia Lariba Abudu at the opening of the Human Trafficking Secretariat and Trauma Informed Care Center at the Human Trafficking Secretariat in Accra, today, Thursday, 28 April 2022.



In her keynote address, Hajia Abudu noted that in all 108 cases were reported and investigated; 42 cases being sex trafficking, 60 for labour trafficking and six being other related cases that started as human trafficking offenses.



Thirty-four cases were sent to court for prosecution, out of those 22 cases were prosecuted involving 37 defendants and we have gained 17 convictions for the country, she added.



The Human Trafficking Secretariat and Trauma Informed Care Center was constructed in collaboration with Expertise France with funding from the European Union.



The Centre is to enable victims of Human Trafficking report cases for prompt action or response.



This initiative forms part of the Social Protection drive of the Ministry, to ensure effective and efficient protection of the Ghanaian citizens.



Below is Hajia Abudus full address:



KEYNOTE ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF GENDER, CHILDREN AND SOCIAL PROTECTION, HON. HAJIA LARIBA ABUDU DURING THE COMMISSIONING OF THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING SECRETARIAT AND TRAUMA INFORMED CARE CENTER ON 28TH APRIL, 2022 AT 10:00AM AT THE HT SECRETARIAT, OSU.



The Head of the European Union Delegation, His Excellency Irchad R. Razaaly



The French Ambassador, Her Excellency, Anne Sophie Ave



The Director, Jeremie Pellet, Expertise France from the France Office



Radhia Oudjani, Director of Governance, Justice and Human Rights Department at Expertise France Office, France



Matiada Ngalikpima, the Project Coordinator, Expertise France Headquarters in France



The Regional Director for the Expertise France Project in Abidjan, Allessandro Rabiossi and The team from Abidjan



The representatives from the Australian High Commission and the US Embassy



The various Country Representative from the UNFPA, USAID and UNICEF



The Chief of Mission for, IOM



Representatives from our Ministries and Departments



Members of the Human Trafficking Management Board



The Country Director, ICMPD



Our Dear partners from NGOs and CSOs



Friends from the media



Ladies and Gentlemen



I bring you warm greetings from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and from His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana. I must say I am highly delighted to join you here for the official Commissioning of the Human Trafficking Secretariat and the Trauma Informed Care Center.



Let me express my profound gratitude to the European Union, the French Embassy and Expertise France for funding the project and collaborating with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in the fight against human trafficking in Ghana.



As many of the speakers have already reiterated, the project has four components and seeks to support 6 countries within the Gulf of Guinea. I remember a discussion with my Board members as to whether we are launching this edifice or commissioning it. We chose Commissioning for all it stands for since this building has come at the right time when victim care is central to combating human trafficking.



Distinguished Guest, issues of human trafficking continuous to be a human right violation and a canker in our society that must be eliminated. Ghana is a receiving, transit and a destination country for victims of human trafficking. Likewise, the Gulf of Guinea is characterized by a pattern of cross-border and irregular migration, human trafficking, child exploitation and many more. Trafficking is multifaceted and covers several situations from debt bondage, exploitation, organized crimes and many more.



Ghana has responded to the issues of human trafficking in diverse ways and I will take the opportunity to briefly summarize some strides made in the last year. The Human Trafficking Act, 2005 Act 694 was enacted towards prevention, reduction and punishment of human trafficking offenses, for the rehabilitation and reintegration of trafficked persons and its related matters.



The Ministry together with our partners embarked on many community advocacy and engagements to educate the public on the dangers associated with human trafficking.



In collaboration with our law enforcement officers, Social Workers and NGOs Ghana in 2021 rescued 842 victims, gave comprehensive trauma informed care and has reintegrated 812 of them. On the 1st of February 2019, the adult shelter was operationalized and 178 adult female victims of trafficking has been cared for, and we are still receiving and caring for victims at the shelter even as at this moment. The Children Shelter also was fully operationalized in August, 2020 and has cared for 98 child victims.



In all 108 cases were reported and investigated; 42 cases being sex trafficking, 60 for labour trafficking and 6 being other related cases that started as human trafficking offenses. Thirty  four (34) cases were sent to court for prosecution, out of those 22 cases were prosecuted involving 37 defendants and we have gained 17 convictions for the country.



Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Guest, issues of Gender Based Violence and Human Trafficking are intertwined and is by no accident the two support centers are at the same place. Let me extent our appreciation to the UNFPA for the Orange Support Center and the Boame App. It is pleasing to know that, as at February, through the center two (2) victims of trafficking were rescued all the way from Bolga after they called the center for help. The Trauma Informed Care Center is also to ensure cases are handled in a timely manner and victims get a comprehensive care as much as possible.



Our distinguished team from Expertise France, the staff numbers at the Human Trafficking Secretariat has risen from 2 in 2018 to 26 as at 2022. This is part of the reason we made the request to Expertise France towards refurbishing the HT Secretariat to enable the staff work under better conditions to deliver. Apart from this support, a number of activities have been implemented so far under the project where over 300 law enforcement officers have seen their capacities built to identify and prosecute offences of human trafficking. We are also refurbishing a victim transit shelter at Aflao to support rescues and interceptions at the border. Again, the Children Shelter will see more upliftment with play grounds and isolation centers to improve the wellbeing of victims. We have also had exchange programs with our Ivorian Counter part with the other 5 countries joining for a regional conference to discuss the project.



Despite the COVID pandemic, the Ministry through the Human Trafficking Secretariat, the Board and key stakeholders has worked assiduously to counter human trafficking. However, as you can see even though a lot has been done in the area of human trafficking it is still not enough. We believe this partnership will go a long way to reduce the incidence, strengthen government institutions and increase public knowledge on the issues.



Before I conclude for us to sign the MOU and further commission the building, let me express our appreciation to the EU, the French Government and Expertise France for the support. We are grateful and hope the rest of the activities will be done faster as we approach the end of the project.



Thank you.





Source: graphiconline.com









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The Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana have indicated they will meet with the president, Nana Akufo-Addo, in May over the controversial Electronic Transfer levy (E-Levy).



According to the President of the Association, Dela Dunstan Abotsi, the meeting with the president will address some of their concerns with regards to E-Levy, which is set to take off on May 1.



The president has given us an invitation to come for a meeting next month, hence our hands are tied on making any move until we meet with him. We wouldnt want to do anything that we will be sorry for later. Imagine taking a decision and after meeting with the president, everything goes well. Citineswroom.com quoted



Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has assented to the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) bill to officially make it a law on Thursday, March 31, 2022.



Beginning May 1, 2022, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will start collecting the levy.



Following the latest development, the implementation of the levy will take off on May 1, 2022, as disclosed by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.









Source: ghannaweb.com









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Dr Peter Ndowie, Director of the Pan African Organisation, has appealed to the government to provide adequate security and resources to protect children against violence.



He said most children still faced human rights violations such as rape, kidnapping, defilement, trafficking, prostitution, a child in mining, kayayei, and early marriages instead of being in school.



Dr Ndowie made the appeal in an interview with Ghana News Agency in Tamale and said Government should put in place measures to enforce the law on child protection and end violence against children in the country, especially in the rural areas.



He urged the Government to employ more social welfare personnel and empower them with resources to enhance the fight against child violations in society, especially at the district level.



He advised stakeholders to support the Government to establish more media houses in the rural areas to raise awareness on child rights as part of fighting child abuse, neglect and maltreatment.



Dr Ndowie called on stakeholders to collaborate with civil society and the private sector to work collectively to safeguard children to grow up to become responsible leaders.



He advocated advocacy work to ensure that childrens rights were considered in government laws, policies, budgets and programmes.





Source: GNA









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Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye, former Speaker of Parliament, has called for reforms in the appointment and removal of judges in the 1992 Constitution to strengthen the countrys judicial system.



Prof Oquaye recommended the appointment of two retired Supreme Court Judges nominated by the Roll of Retired Supreme Court Judges, two Senior Lawyers nominated by the Ghana Bar Association, three other persons nominated from the Christian Council, the Catholic Secretariat and the Muslim Council.



These appointments, he explained, would do a better neutral job than the current structure in the 1992 Constitution.



The former Speaker of Parliament was speaking at the launch of Professor Michael Oquaye Centre for Constitutional Studies in Accra organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs, Ghana.



The Centre, established within the Institute will help address the deficit in the countrys Constitution.



The Centre will assist to bring constitutionalism in all the country does, translate the Constitution to the simplest terms and local languages with illustrations.



It will be taught in schools, churches, mosques and civil society generally, to live by the tenets of the Constitution.



Regarding the removal of Judges, Prof Oquaye said the case of Justice Amua Sekyi gave the country the lesson that where the Executive was bent on removing a Judge, it was easier to do so than meets the eye.



If under Article 146 of the Constitution, the President receives a petition for the removal of a Judge, the President should refer the matter to the Chief Justice (CJ).



If the CJ is of the view that there is a Prima Facie case, the CJ sets up a committee to investigate the complaint. Three Supreme Court Judges, two other persons (not Lawyers nor from Council of State or parliament), should make a recommendation to the Chief Justice for the suspension of the judge and forwarded to the President for action, "he said.



On decentralization, the former Speaker of Parliament recommended that one-third of appointments by the President should be left to women, and that political parties should operate at the local level.



He said all Chief Executives of Districts, Municipality and Metropolis should be elected to wean them off executive control and that District Assemblies elections should be two years away from national elections.



On appointment of Council of State members, he suggested the need to introduce institutional and representation and not allow the President to choose his advisors, because the 1992 Constitution gave the President too much power in the appointment of the members.



We need to adopt the Recommendation of the Committee of Experts which provided that the Council of State shall aid and counsel the President, the Council of Ministers, Parliament and other organs of State in the performance of their functions under the Constitution or under any other law (Section 3(i)), he said.





Source: GNA









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Former NPP MP for Nsuta Kwamang Beposo, Kwame Asafo Adjei says comparing other NPP presidential hopefuls to Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen is absolutely wrong.



To him, the Trade and Industry Minister stands tall among all individuals vying to contest the presidential slot of the ruling NPP ahead of the 2024 elections.



He, however, described him as the only competent candidate among his peers  hence, publicly throws his support behind him to succeed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



He [Alan Kyerematen] is the one we know. He has worked for this party. He is the competent one, talk of the economy, he is number one, he said in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show, 'Ghana Montie'.



He was commenting on Nana Akomea's proposal for a Dr Mahamudu Bawumia/Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen ticket to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP) into election 2024.



Kwame Asafo Adjei told host Kwesi Aboagye that the Alan-Bawumia ticket wont work.











Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









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The New Patriotic Party (NPP) will, from today 28th April, 2022 to 2nd May 2022, hold its annual delegates conference to elect executives in its 250 constituency branches.



Each constituency is expected to choose a suitable date within the given period to conduct the conference and hold the elections under the supervision of the Electoral Commission of Ghana per the partys rules and regulations.



About 25 constituencies cannot partake in the elections, following petitions and court cases levelled against the party by some aggrieved members including Manhyia North and Kumawu Constituencies.



Speaking on the Neat FM, the partys Director of Elections, Evans Nimako stated; The conferences at Kumawu and Manhyia constituencies in the Ashanti Region are on hold due to petitions and court cases brought by some aggrieved members of the party. Manhyia North, for instance after court settlement, they will also have the opportunity to cast their vote in the constituency.



He urged members of the party to abide by the rules and regulations governing the elections for successful conference.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The Convention People's Party (CPP) has called on the leadership, rank and file of the party to imbibe the tenets of democracy, rule of law, freedom and justice that have been the ideals and principles of the founding father of the party, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.



The party said the ideals and principles of the founding father to liberate the ordinary Ghanaian from the shackles of poverty, hunger and deprivation were still relevant in the current political dispensation of the country and must not be let down.



At a ceremony held in Accra on April 27, 2022, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who was also Ghanas First President and Prime Minister, the General Secretary of the CPP, Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah, described Dr Nkrumah as a great Pan-Africanist whose ideals still stood tall and relevant in the present times.



A leading member of the party, Bright Akwetey laid a wreath on the tomb of Dr Nkrumah to mark the anniversary.



Glowing tributes



Paying glowing tribute to Dr Nkrumah, she said he used his experience, knowledge and expertise gained from abroad to improve and further the lot of the people of Ghana and Africans as a whole.



She said his ideals of promoting Pan-Africanism and his vision of developing and liberating the people of the African race from the claws of colonialism and imperialism were par excellence.



"Let us all at the CPP imbibe the tenets of democracy, rule of law, freedom and justice while resisting the rule of the oppressor," she said.



"Today as we celebrate 50 years of Osagyefo Dr Nkrumahs death, we also remember his dark days in exile in Guinea, the cold and lonely nights on his hospital bed in Bucharest Romania, she added.



Request



Ms Jantuah also used the occasion to make a request for the return of all the partys assets from government as a move to deepen comradeship and promote reparation.



Among the assets the party wanted returned were the Ministry of Information building, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) headquarters.



She expressed the hope that the President would oblige to the request.



Funeral



The CPP general secretary disclosed that plans were in place for the party to give Dr Nkrumah a befitting funeral which would take place in November, this year.









Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A governance expert, Professor Baffuor Agyemang-Duah, has pointed out why the current Constitution does not fully serve the interest of Ghanaians.



According to him, the current Supreme law of the land concentrates power in the political class instead of vesting these powers in the people.



His comments were captured on TV3's major news bulletin on Thursday, April 28, hours after President Akufo-Addo had delivered his address on the 30th anniversary of the referendum that births the Fourth Republic.



In my humble opinion [the Constitution] does not meet the needs of the people," the one-time Senior United Nations Nations official stressed.



He explained further: For a constitution to meet the basic needs of the people that constitution should be seen in action at the grassroots level. Democracy is best when it emerges from the bottom to the top. What we have today, is a democracy that is literally a top-down democracy.



President Akufo-Addo in the address raised a number of issues, one of which was the need t amend the Constitution if need be.



He explained that Constitutions are living documents that needed to be amended to reflect contemporary realities, admonishing the citizenry to reject people who call for coups.



What Akufo-Addo said:



The Constitution is a living document and so whenever circumstances require, we should be prepared to make the necessary amendments to affect the needs of contemporary and future times.



Several attempts to take Ghana down the path of multiparty democracy were met with stiff opposition and cynical response. They will rather have authoritarian rule foisted on the citizens claiming Ghana was underdeveloped and we needed to get things done in a hurry.



They claimed that democracy was cumbersome and will divide Ghanaians along tribal lines. However, the word was widespread and unanimous to have a decade-long ban on party-political activities imposed in 1981 lifted and the return to multiparty democracy established. The Ghanaian people wanted a living condition of freedom where there was respect for individual liberty."



He added: Simply because they have no respect for the Ghanaian people, they are either unwilling to subject themselves to the open scrutiny of the Ghanaian people or because they know that that they will be rejected by the Ghanaian people.



Thus, seeking a shortcut to office in power. Let us resist such persons for our common good.













Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Prof. Aaron Michael Oquaye has raised concerns about the 1992 constitution, questioning some provisions and calling for amendments in the constitution.



The former Speaker of Parliament says "the Constitution of Ghana which came into operation in 1993 after having been crafted under the auspices of the PNDC military government led by Flt. Lt. J.J Rawlings is certainly not a perfect document", so has given some recommendations which he believes, when factored into the constitution, will enhance good governance in the country.



Among a number of reviews he seeks done to the constitution, Prof. Mike Oquaye primarily called for equity of treatment to women in the area of politics.



He bemoaned the unequal representation of women in Parliament and to hold major public positions in the country, therefore asserting the "Constitution must capture the need for Affirmative Action in public life".



Delivering a speech at the launch of Prof. Oquaye Centre for Constitutional Studies within the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra on Tuesday, April 26, Prof. Oquaye proposed that "the one-third membership of District Assemblies appointed by the President should be given to women".



He also called for seats to be reserved in Parliament solely for women.



" . . women participation in Parliament should be enhanced including the following: Application of the Quota System in the candidates nominated by Political Parties; Additional seats in Parliament should be reserved for women. At the end of a general election, the reserved seats, for example thirty, will be allocated to political parties in accordance with their votes obtained in the national election. A qualification for seats saved for women must be qualified so that they are not taken by political activists who will have little to offer in the search for qualitative governance," he said.



Prof. Mike Oquaye also touched on the Judiciary, calling for a fair composition of the Judicial Council that appoints Supreme Court Justices.



To him, the current composition of the Council encourages partiality recounting the Council comprises "7 Judges, 2 Lawyers, the Judge advocate of the Ghana Armed Forces, Head of the Legal Directorate of The Police, Editor of the Ghana Law Reports, One representative of the Judicial Service Association, One Representative of the National House of Chiefs, and 4 Persons nominated by the President".



"Regarding the removal of Judges, the case of Justice Amua Sekyi gives us the lesson that where the Executive is hell bent on removing a Judge, it is easier to do so than meets the eye. If under Article 146 of the Constitution, The President receives a petition for the removal of a Judge, he (President) should refer the matter to the Chief Justice.



"If the CJ is of the view that there is a Prima Facie case, the CJ sets up a committee to investigate the complaint. 3 Supreme Court Judges, 2 other persons (not Lawyers nor from Council of State or parliament), they should make a recommendation to the Chief Justice, the recommendation is forwarded to the President for action as recommended. Meanwhile, the President can suspend the Judge. Notably, once the Chief Justice is roped into a plan to remove a Judge, the process is easy", he explained.



He asked; "Can you imagine any 3 Judges who are biased or appointed for the purpose and any 2 persons from the Presidents political party can give a simple majority at any time to remove a Judge?"



He recommended the Council to consist of "2 retired Supreme Court Judges nominated by the Roll of Retired Supreme Court Judges. 2 Senior Lawyers nominated by the Ghana Bar Association at a meeting called for that purpose. 3 other persons nominated from the Christian Council, the Catholic Secretariat and The Muslim Council. They will do a better neutral job".

Full Statement

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Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Dr Kwabena Duffuor has donated GHC100,000 to the Eastern regional branch of the NDC in support of their outreach program ahead of the 2024 polls.



The donation was made at the Regional Headquarters on Tuesday by former National Organizer of the party Yaw Boateng Gyan and received by National Chairman Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia.



The cash donation which is to be shared among the 33 constituencies in the region is to support their outreach program. Part of it will be left in the regional executive committee coffers.



Mr Boateng Gyan in his speech said that the Ahutor Project which was launched by Dr Duffuor at Ashaiman on April 7, 2022, will be extended to cover all 16 Regions of Ghana.



Aim of project



This project which is yet to be implemented is meant to lessen the burden on MPs, and relieve local executives of the huge financial difficulties they face in running the party. It is believed that the NDC Ahot Project will create a medium for the local party machinery to be financially self-sustaining through regular income streams to help support their ongoing initiatives. It is also to empower and reposition the NDC and make it battle-ready for election 2024 and beyond.



According to the project manager, the NDC Ahot project will be micro-businesses focusing on social events such as funerals, naming ceremonies, marriage ceremonies, durbars, political campaigns, and rallies which are mostly outdoor activities.



The nature of these activities places a high demand on the use of Plastic Chairs, Canopies, Public address systems, power generators, podiums, mobile toilets etc. A local rental business of the accessories owned and run by the party at various constituency levels, will create employment opportunities and generate income which will bring relief (Ahot) to the grassroots.



Duffuor is, therefore, sponsoring and financing all the 275 constituencies with all the equipment and accessories necessary to set up a rental business.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Former Head of Monitoring Unit of the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu, has cautioned the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) against its internal political conflicts, stressing the party is treading on dangerous ground.



The New Patriotic Party is currently having constituency elections to elect its constituency executives before it progresses to the Regional level and subsequently national stage to elect its Presidential candidate for the 2024 elections.



However, some pockets of violence have been recorded at some constituencies during the elections that commenced yesterday, April 28.



A tumult broke out at the Okaikoi South as the delegates sought to prevent Electoral Commission officials from conducting the elections resulting in a near fisticuffs with Police personnel on-site.



The agitated delegates claimed their names had been deleted from partys register being used to conduct the elections.



The situation was later controlled by the Police and the elections were peacefully held.



Also, an intervention by a leading member of the party, President Nana Akufo-Addo, led to the suspension of the elections in the Yendi constituency.



Some 123 aggrieved polling station executives whose names were removed from the polling station register also protested, therefore calling for the President's intervention.



Reacting to these events, Charles Owusu admonished the NPP leadership to remedy their internal conflicts ensuring there is no foul play in the NPP elections or else forget about "breaking the eight".



He wondered why simple constituency elections should turn chaotic stressing "it's a disgrace to the NPP as a party".



"From 1992 till date, they have improved in conducting elections to the extent that now they can hold elections in all the polling stations in Ghana. But what's happening is that some party faithfuls' names have been removed and replaced with another name and they want to use this to break the eight. Maybe, they want to end the eight," he said while discussing the NPP elections on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo".





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Homes are pictured in Vancouver, Tuesday, April 16, 2019. Councillors in Vancouver have unanimously backed a motion from Mayor Kennedy Stewart to hike the city's empty homes tax to five per cent of a property's assessed value, effective next year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Ontario MP Scott Aitchison is seen in an undated handout photo. The Conservative Party of Canada is now up to six contenders who are officially in the running for Erin O'Toole's former job. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Scott Aitchison, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Six candidates are on the ballot to be the next Tory leader. Who else might be in?
Tell me a bit about yourself. How old are you? Who are you as a person?

My name is Adam Nicholson. I live in Winter Park, Colorado, am 26 years old, and started San Util Design in January of 2021.Most folks know me as a lanky, calm, and gentle person who loves to ride my bike and ski in the winters. To the folks who know me a little better, Im a fiery person who is wildly competitive. I push hard to be the best I can be while treating folks around me the best I can. I try to live life like any day could be my last, and strive to impact those around me.Oh, and I really like racing bikes. Im especially hooked on enduro recently, but have XC roots in me.

How did you start San Util?

What is now a full-on bag company started as a passion project to create the bags that Adam himself, a passionate mountain biker, wanted to use.

Well, San Util started like a lot of other small, creative businesses. It all started with too much time on my hands and my moms sewing machine.March of 2020 was a weird year for a lot of us. People were going through something that none of us had gone through before. We all had to figure out what life was going to look like at a time when we couldnt be with each other and were supposed to stay within the confinement of our own communities.For me, I spent the spring of 2020 on big bootpacks in the backcountry along with hours on my bike followed by beers on the deck watching the sunset. For these big trips, I needed bags to hold my gear and decided to learn how to sew my own.After the first couple iterations, my friends quickly learned they could get bags from me. A few more months down the road, I had created a logo and a story for San Util that meant something to me.It all started as just a creative outlet and something new to learn, however, the following summer of 2021, one of my friends challenged me to actually do something with San Util. I spent a year and a half dialing in designs, buying machines, and learning how to build strong bags that I wanted to use. Maybe it was time to actually do something with San Util.Thanks to my buddy James, and the support of so many friends and family, I ran a Kickstarter campaign that went super well. It raised quite a bit more capital to move the business into a workshop and buy the last few machines I needed.It was finally go-time.I quit my job as a coffee roaster to fulfill the 250 bags that I had sold on Kickstarter! It was official, San Util Design LLC was a business and it was time to crank.

What is your background with materials, sewing, and making things?

My background in the textile and manufacturing industry is pretty limited as Im sure you could tell from the story of how San Util was created.I have always had a mind for design (wanting to go to engineering school but ending up in business school). With that being said, I believe its best to learn by doing and Ive been learning everyday the past 2.5 years on how to build things better, where to source material, and how to build a small business in the mountains.I have been so blessed by the riding community in Winter Park and supported by other small business creators who have helped and given advice. Despite all competing with each other, it seems like a lot of people in the industry just want to see more people on bikes and more people playing outside.I can get behind that initiative!

What's your background with biking?

The BMX background strikes again.

When I was a kid back in the Los Angeles area, I was a super shy, quiet kid. My Uncle Mike bought me a Redline BMX race bike and said that if I would enter a race, he would get up on the start gate with me. I was terrified, but I finished a few races and we would go to 7 Eleven after for Slurpees.We moved to Colorado when I was 10, and my parents entered me in a local XC race when I was in the 6th grade. I ended up winning and was fully hooked. For the first time, I felt like I had my place in the world and had my people. I raced in the NICA league through high school and worked at the local bike shop. In a lot of ways mountain biking gave me the confidence to settle into my own shoes and be Adam.In short, you could just say I have a background in BMX.

Why bags?

From cloth pieces to a no-frills yet functional hip pack.

Every bag Ive used in the past always left me wanting more (actually less and more simplicity) in some way, shape, or form. In college, I went on a craze to find the best mountaineering pack but never found one I truly loved. Same thing for MTB hip packs. I could never find the one that fit me well. Im a thin dude, and every hip pack rides up to my ribs on the descent and is so frustrating to use. On top of that, most of the bags on the market either do not have enough space or they have way too many zippers.Ultimately, I wanted to make a bag that I wanted to use. A utilitarian mountaineering style hip bag for riding. I wanted to come up with a system to have it as simple as possible for the folks who wanted no frills  yet customizable for the folks who prefer more organization.Essentially, Ive always had ideas for how to improve the gear I use, and I decided to do something about it.

Tell me about the process of making a bag - something like one of your hip packs - from starting the design to the finished product.

It all happens in Adam's workshop in Winter Park, Colorado - the heart of the Rockies.

I'm not sure how other bag makers do things, but for me, a bag is born in my head. I will design it and picture the order of how to construct it. It usually sits in there for a couple months as I play out if it is a bag that I would actually like to use. If the answer remains a yes after the several month time period in my head, I sketch it on a piece of grid paper.First, I sketch the outside of the bag as a general concept. Once I dial in how I want the bag to look (where I want straps to be and what features I want it to have), I draw a more detailed version with dimensions and seam allowances.The next part of the process is the hardest. I transform the small drawing into a scale template that I use to cut my pieces of fabric, webbing, and cord. After that, I cut the material, and slowly construct the first prototype while figuring out the best method for construction. During this process, Im constantly thinking about how to duplicate the bags faster and with more precision.Then the fun part begins  testing the product on a ride. Did I mention I'm obsessed with riding bikes? Its pretty easy for me to tell if Im onto something or if its garbage and needs a clean slate. I take my personal feedback from the ride and make edits to the template based on my perception of the experience with the bag.After a few back-and-forths through this refinement process, I will give the bag to a bunch of folks in the area to get some outside feedback. If the feedback is up to snuff, boom, we have a new bag! This is when I upload the new product on the website for other folks to customize and purchase.

Who are your products for?

Running a one-person business has its unique challenges, but the finished products come out with a bit of extra personality.

Anyone who likes riding bikes and appreciates thoughtfully designed outdoor products. More specifically, were creating high end, handmade bags for adventure bike riders and racers alike.Everything is made in Winter Park, Colorado and thus the price is a touch higher than some of the big guys like Osprey, Dakine, or Race Face. I would say my niche is for people who want to have their hand in the design process (at least for colors) and value high quality, made-in-the-USA gear.I absolutely love the personal side of running a small business and love the opportunity to connect with folks who love to ride, so if anyone reading this is coming to Winter Park, send me a line on Instagram and lets go ride!

What are the unique challenges of running a homegrown company like San Util?

He's learning on the job, but has been able to find his niche while creating quality products.

Oh man. There are so many challenges that I had no clue would be challenges. When you picture what the day-to-day of running a business is, it is impossible to foresee obstacles that will come up. So far, a few of the bigger challenges are as follows: Having enough time to complete all the projects I want to and prioritize the ones that will make the customer experience better instead of the fun ones. Having so many suggestions from people that care about me and show it by telling me what I should be doing. It is really hard to sort those things into groups of things that I want to review and the things that dont fit my dream for San Util. I want folks to be a part of building this business, but ultimately need to be true to myself with where I want it to go. Being so small and not having the purchasing power of the big guys. Learning an entirely new industry and trying to compete as we build.

What are you most proud of?

Im proud that I am actually doing it, rather than just talking about it. I am running a small business that I created fully from the ground up. I always wanted to own my own business (a bike shop) and while this one looks different than I thought it would, it allows me to learn, be creative, and be a part of the community I care most about.It is absolutely terrifying to put yourself out there and pray that people will be into what you are doing. You have to fight through feelings of inadequacy, especially when comparing yourself to companies like Osprey. But at the same time, I remind myself that Im comparing San Util to a company that sold for $400M. Even just getting to do that comparison is a win for me. I am building a company that could actually be something in the future, can help so many people, and can put up a fight with the big guys.Having no prior experience in the industry (outside of bike shops and riding shit tons) and learning enough to build products that I would pick over a lot of other companies' products gets me pretty pumped.

How have your projects evolved since you started San Util a year or so ago?

San Util really seems to be growing into its own, and we look forward to seeing what Adam does with it in the future.

Every product has gone through so many iterations in the past year that, my old bags are almost unrecognizable. It pumps me up how much craftsmanship I put into the bags, and I dont think Ill ever lose excitement for designing new concepts. After selling quite a few bags this last year, my confidence in developing products has grown immensely.This translates to each product iteration being simpler, looking better, and being more functional than the products before. The two lines of products (Mountain/Race and Adventure/Lifestyle) have evolved as well. Moving forward, I am excited to keep building products rooted in racing with adventure on the mind. What a slogan, eh?

Whats next for you and San Util?

A finished handlebar bag.

Summer 2022 is going to be a fun one. Lots of enduro racing, camping with friends, drinking beer, and riding bikes as fast as I can, with as big of a smile as ever.I will be releasing another two hip packs in the coming months. One for kids and one for big days on the bike whether that be a backcountry enduro race or a big adventure epic.Within the next year, I am hoping to bring on another employee or two and provide enough money for people to actually dream of building a life here in Winter Park. Like many mountain towns, it is getting harder and harder to live here. Money is getting poured into our community and we are having to work more and more hours.I would love nothing more than for folks part of San Utils future team, to love where they work, love where they live, and be able to focus time on the people around them instead of stressing about making rent.
WSOP Circuit Ring Winner Moe Moeini Murdered in Biloxi Mass Killing Spree

April 28, 2022 Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S.

Five people, including former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit ring champion Mohammad "Moe" Moeini, were shot dead Wednesday morning during a Southern Mississippi killing spree.

According to Fox 8, the suspect, 32-year-old Jeremy Alesunder Reynolds, barricaded himself inside the Canal Grocery store in Biloxi, a poker hotbed, before police tear-gassed the building. He was found dead inside the store but authorities haven't yet released the cause of death.

Argument Over Money

Reynolds is said to have shot and killed Moeini, 51, and two others at the Broadway Inn Express motel, a business owned by the poker player, before allegedly leaving the scene of the crime. Police and witnesses say he then carjacked 52-year-old William Waltman whom he also shot and killed.

The suspect ended up in a lengthy stand-off with police before it all came to an end with Reynolds the fifth death during the tragic incident. Chad Green, a 55-year-old hotel employee, and Laura Lehman, a 61-year-old resident and employee of the hotel were the other two victims.

Suspect Jeremy Alesunder Reynolds was among the dead (Harrison County jail)

WLOX News in Biloxi reports that the incident began Wednesday at around 9 a.m. with an argument over money, which quickly escalated into a violent and deadly situation.

For the community, weve had a tragic loss. For the city of Gulfport, weve lost one of our coworkers. Mr. Waltman was a contract employee with our Public Works department and provided a lot of leadership to our teams, and so there is a great devastation within that department and with all our city employees. Words dont suffice for what were dealing with, said Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes at a press conference.

Poker Champion

Mohammad was a respected and beloved poker player who won the 2014 WSOP Circuit Biloxi Main Event for $106,101, beating out 301 entrants. In total, he cashed in nine Circuit events and two bracelet tournaments in Las Vegas.

"Moe" racked up over $520,000 in overall live tournament cashes according to the Hendon Mob. His most recent cash came in January 2020, a ninth place finish for $7,707 in a $2,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em Tournament in his hometown of Biloxi.

Just terrible sadness. Moe was just such a good guy. He was always one of the nicest people in the poker room, Friend and fellow poker player Scott Weinberg told WWLTV New Orleans. Its a small community in the poker room so we all kind of know each other and were all friends and its tough on everybody.

Moeini was considered a pleasant player at the poker tables and often competed in cash games at the local card rooms in Biloxi.

"R.I.P Moe he allowed my kids and I to stay at his hotel when we didn't have a place to go. He is an amazing man very kind and understanding. This is so sad and tragic prayers to his family and loved ones," one follower of the Gulf Coast Poker.NET Facebook group wrote.

Many others in the Facebook group praised Moeini's character and poker skills.

Sharelines Find out what happened in a mass shooting in Biloxi, Mississippi that resulted in death of Moe Moeini
The first High Roller contest of the 2022 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) presented by Monte-Carlo Casino at the Monte-Carlo Sporting complex will play down to a winner today. It was a very promising start for the return of Europe's premier live poker tour to the French Riviera after a three year hiatus and a field of 71 entries has emerged thus far in Event #4 10,200 Mystery Bounty, of which 50 players remain for the final day.

Thanks to a short-lived first day, the late registration remains open for another two levels when the action gets back underway as of 12.30 pm local time in the America's Room. All those who have been eliminated just once or new participants can enter and the only player no longer eligible to join again is Andras Nemeth, as he has exhausted the maximum of two entries already.

Ben Heath leads the pack with a stack of 404,500 and he is followed by Luciano De Hollanda (340,500), Sergi Reixach (300,500), and Sam Greenwood (277,000). Also among the overnight top ten are the likes of Alex Kulev, Timothy Adams, and Boris Kolev.

Top 10 Chip Counts Event #4 10,200 Mystery Bounty

Place Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds Day 2 1 Ben Heath United Kingdom 404,500 135 2 Luciano De Hollanda Brazil 340,500 114 3 Sergi Reixach Spain 300,500 100 4 Sam Greenwood Canada 277,000 92 5 Kayhan Mokri Roshanfekr Norway 274,000 91 6 Alex Kulev Bulgaria 269,000 90 7 Timothy Adams Canada 264,000 88 8 Guram Andronikashvili United Kingdom 241,000 80 9 Boris Kolev Bulgaria 233,500 78 10 Andriy Lyubovetskiy Ukraine 227,000 76

The action will recommence in level nine with blinds of 1,500-3,000 and a big blind ante of 3,000. Late registration and a single re-entry in total remains available until the end of level 10 at approximately 1.30 pm local time. All levels for this High Roller contest will last 30 minutes each until a winner has been crowned.

Late Registration Period Level Structure

Level Small Blind Big Blind Big Blind Ante Big Blinds 9 1,500 3,000 3,000 33 10 2,000 4,000 4,000 25 11 2,000 5,000 5,000 20*

*Registration closes at start of level 11

The tournament also features the latest craze in the world of poker, the Mystery Bounty format. From the 10,200 buy-in, 4,700 will go towards the cash prize pool while 5,000 are allocated to the bounty prize pool. All Mystery Bounties will be calculated once the registration closes and they come into play when the event has reached the money stages.

The contenders still in contention when the cash bubble has burst will receive a Mystery Bounty token. For each opponent eliminated, the winner will collect the respective token and can then draw an envelope to determine their bounty prize.

With a cash prize pool of 333,700, the Mystery Bounties will play a pivotal role on the business end of the tournament and you can follow along right here on PokerNews as the live reporting team will be there until the final hand has been dealt.
"I am feeling good about this one, I will win it," Sergi Reixach said with a smirk on the face as he had just pushed into the initial raise of Rodrigo Selouan and was called by the Brazilian.

Rodrigo Selouan:

Sergi Reixach:

Both players paired up on the flop with Selouan retaining his lead. Nothing changed on the turn but the river improved Reixach to a straight. Selouan's run ended in 7th place for a cash prize of 18,720 while Reixach collected his second bounty in a row, which was worth 25,000.
Molly French spent about 40 years as a kindergarten and first-grade teacher in New York City, and the experience may have paid off for her, as the Woodside resident won top honors in an April 27 spelling bee at The Reserve Club to support local charities.

Women of Woodside organized the event and brought seven competitors together in an effort to help bankroll their nonprofit organizations of choice by handling such challenges as "calliope," "exhilarate," "behavior," "accordion," "eminence" and "finagle." Participants raised money in order to compete, and audience members could donate to help keep the action going.

The winning word was "obsequious," and French went through the entire event without a misstep. Her neighbors in the spotlight stumbled over such words as "liquefy," "computer," "scepter," "behavior," "desiccate" and "minuscule," but the nature of the event  a fundraiser  meant participants could recover from an occasional gaffe and stay in the hunt.

Beneficiaries including CanHope (French's charity of choice), Aiken Equine Rescue, Child Advocacy Center of Aiken County, The Sky is the Limit Foundation and Women of Woodside Charitable Foundation received more than $22,000 in donations from the light-hearted event. A silent auction was also part of the evening.

French, whose competitors were Linda Zehnbauer (the runner-up), Andrea Gregory, Holly Woltz, Michele Wells, Carolyn Tribble and Lark Snouffer, handled such challenges as "daisy," "chardonnay" and "extraneous."

French, recalling the bee's ups and downs, said, "'Desiccate' would have wiped me out. I would have gotten 'liquefy.' I would have gone out on 'minuscule,' actually."

French, whose mini-biography at the event noted that she was a spelling champion in third grade, retired in 2019 and said she spent part of her teaching time in the Bronx at Horace Mann School. "That was my favorite job, and that was my last job," she said.

The master of ceremonies was John Malloy, and the judges, joining him in bee-style attire (antennae coordinating with their judicial robes, in the judges' case), were Sharon Klein, Monique Gilbert and Lynda Mann.
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MONCKS CORNER  A former U.S. Congressmans request to rezone his rural property in the Cooper River Historic District was given final approval by the Berkeley County Council, despite opposition from more than two dozen landowners who fear it will open the area to more traffic and development.

Henry Brown said the 6-1 vote in favor of his rezoning request on April 25 was not just a victory for him and his family, but a win for all property owners along S.C. Highway 402 near Cordesville.

For more than three months, the former lawmaker had been seeking approval to reclassify about 200 acres along the road from a designation that allows one residence for every 15 acres. Brown wanted to have the acreage placed under a less-restrictive zoning category that would allow up to 400 homes to be built on the parcel.

I dont think it was a victory for Henry Brown, but for all property owners in Cordesville that live along that corridor, said Brown, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2011. Conservation easements are good and proper, but property owners shouldnt be required to put their properties under easements if they dont want to.

Browns land was classified as being split-zoned before this week's vote. The first 1,000 feet off of part of Highway 402, which affects 200 of the 500 acres on his property, was restricted to one home for every 15 acres under the Preservation Residential District zoning category that the county adopted 25 years ago.

Two homes per acre are allowed on the rest of the property. The so-called flex-1 zoning will allow for suburban style development, which several landowners in the area are against.

Nearby property owner Richard Coen led the charge to keep the zoning as it was. Nearly a dozen speakers urged County Council to deny Browns request.

I wasnt surprised by the councils vote, but I was disappointed, Coen said. This was just one zoning vote, but this is just the beginning, the inception, for our group, to help protect the Cooper River Historic District from big residential development.

Our goal was to bring attention to the historic district and make it more of a high-profile debate and I think we achieved that.

Coen, whose land is not under the more-restrictive zoning, is still concerned the change will eventually destroy the now-protected corridor. He said several nearby owners have placed properties under binding conservation easements to shield them from development.

Everyone at the council meeting said they were conservationists, Coen said. Everyone said they were against big development going into the area. Even though the council vote contradicts what they said, I do believe that they do want to offer some protection to the historic district.

With the councils vote, about 65 parcels along Highway 402 and S.C. Highway 41 near the east branch of the Cooper River could potentially be rezoned to the less-restrictive category.

I think there was a narrative out there that I was getting special, favorable treatment because of my position, Brown said. That's not true. I wanted to be treated like all of my neighbors who had the same zoning of their property that I wanted. Now, hopefully if other land owners want to get their property rezoned, they will be able to do it.

Brown, 86, said he has no plans to develop his property, but he added that his heirs might sell the property for residential development in the future.

I only own 2 percent of that land, Brown said. In 2012, I gave most of that land to my children and grandchildren. I did this to protect them.

Brown said he is considering putting his portion of the property under a conservation easement.

If I put the property under easement, which I might do, now with the zoning I have, Ive got a better negotiating position, he said.

The county had been working through its land-use classifications in the late 1990s, when the special zoning designation was approved to protect large-tract owners near the Cooper River from dense development.

Brown told the Planning Commission in January he wasnt formally notified in 1997 when the county adopted the more-restrictive uses for his land next to the highway. The Post and Courier reported about the proposed changes on at least one occasion when they were being debated.

Brown said he did not see the newspaper article.

Councilman Tommy Newell was the only member to cast a vote against the former lawmakers request.
BATESBURG-LEESVILLE  The night before the funeral for slain Cayce police officer Roy Andrew Drew Barr Jr., a former fellow officer asked his own son what he remembered most about the man who'd been killed in the line of duty.

He only had three words to say, 'He was brave,' the boy's father, Evan Antley, said April 28 at the service for the fallen officer.

Antley knew this to be true. He and Barr had been through a shootout together, during which both were injured, years earlier before Barr had even graduated from the state Criminal Justice Academy. The two helped each other stay focused while in danger and then through recovery so they could get back to work.

Police, paramedics and firefighters from across South Carolina  Columbia to North Charleston, Oconee County to Aiken  filled the fine arts center and gymnasium of Batesburg-Leesville High School to remember the man who Sen. Nikki Setzler of Lexington called "a true public safety officer in every sense of the word."

Barr, 27, had worked for the Cayce Police Department since 2016, both in the traffic and K-9 units, and had previously worked as a certified EMT in Lexington County and as a volunteer firefighter in Monetta for many years.

Barr's youth pastor recalled many a youth group meeting where Barr and others would stand abruptly and rush out to a call when their pager rang.

Drew lived for what he died for, Cowan said.

The first responders who had gathered to mourn Barr stood shoulder to shoulder and at attention as bagpipes played and the casket was lifted atop a Monetta Volunteer Fire Department truck draped in black fabric.

The Cayce officers turned gripping each other in tight hugs before heading to their vehicles and joining the red and blue lighted procession that took Barr's body to nearby Mt. Ebal Baptist Church for burial.

Barr's death came when he and other officers responded to the home on Rossmore Drive at 2:48 a.m. April 24, where they were told a man, Austin Henderson, had pointed a rifle at his wife and 3-year-old daughter.

As officers handcuffed a different man in the front yard for questioning, they did not yet know Henderson was inside and had taken aim.

Henderson, 36, barricaded himself in the house after Barr was shot and moved his wife and child into a closet, police said. He later released them, but negotiations continued for seven hours, ending with Hendersons suicide.

"It's overwhelming, the danger they face," said Carmel Muncey, whose son Wilson Lewis had worked with Barr. "We're very proud of all of them."

Though Muncey had never met Barr, her son had been the handler for Barr's canine partner, Molly, before Barr took over.

Barr is the first officer killed in South Carolina this year and the second Cayce officer to die in the line of duty, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.

The last death of an officer in the state had been in October 2020, when Myrtle Beach officer Jacob William Hancher died while responding to a domestic call. Barr also is the first Columbia-area officer shot and killed in the line of duty since Forest Acres officer Greg Alia in 2015.
Pop-Up Picks is a recurring series in The Post and Couriers Food Section that previews an upcoming pop-up breakfast, lunch or dinner and the chefs behind it.

Forthcoming Johns Island restaurant Minero is inviting Charleston residents to celebrate Cinco de Mayo a day late on May 6 at Estuary Beans & Barley on Johns Island.

The evening will be Mineros second pop-up ahead of its anticipated spring opening down the road from Estuary on Maybank Highway.

The Neighborhood Dining Group closed the popular downtown Charleston restaurant in 2020, later announcing plans to open a new Minero in the 3140 Maybank Highway space where Fred Neuville and his wife Joan served French fare at Fat Hen for 14 years. A restaurant that was originally conceived by celebrity chef Sean Brock in 2014, Minero became known for multiple signature menu items during its tenure on East Bay Street, including its charcoal-grilled wings and cheese-smothered burrito.

In April, Minero executive chef Shamil Velazquez hosted the restaurant's first pop-up at Low Tide Brewing on Johns Island. According to the Puerto Rican-born chef, who also helms the kitchen at Delaney Oyster House, the event proved Johns Island is ready for Minero.

We were very amazed as to the line that formed and the amount of support, Velazquez said, adding that they served 140 double patty smashburgers in less than two hours. The guests on Johns Island are definitely craving it.

At Estuary Beans & Barley, Velazquez will serve chicken and vegetable burritos, chips, queso and Mineros trio of salsas: Arbol (smoky), benne (sweet and spicy) and verde (mild). Like at Low Tide, 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to charity  Johns Islands Charleston Area Therapeutic Riding will be the beneficiary of this event. Estuary will also donate $1 for every Noche de Mar Mexican lager, Noche-Rita and Smokey Boy beer cocktail sold that evening to the nonprofit, which provides therapeutic horse riding for children and adults with disabilities.
GEORGETOWN  A planned 8 percent raise for Georgetown city employees is likely to only apply to employees who were hired before Jan. 1, city officials said in an April 28 meeting.

City Administrator Sandra Yudice introduced the idea for an across-the-board increase at a March budget retreat, saying that the city's 24.1 percent turnover rate in 2021 needed to be addressed in the coming fiscal year.

But with the city facing surging fuel costs and needs dating back prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it appears only employees hired before the new year will see the raise.

Georgetown Finance Director John Barfield said adjusting the planned raise allowed the city to lower overall new personnel costs. Barfield, who commutes from Raleigh, will be taking the deputy finance director position with North Carolina's Guilford County on May 1.

Georgetown Mayor Carol Jayroe said she has trouble pointing to one particular challenge in the coming fiscal year.

"We have a lot of expenses that need to be made that haven't been made in the past that we just need to," Jayroe said. "We have a lot of upgrades in technology, we have a lot of upgrades in automobiles."

Yudice added, "Because of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, we did not have capital expenditures, meaning purchase of fire trucks or police vehicles, because we did not know how the pandemic was going to affect the finances. So this is why we are currently seeing those needs."

Yudice confirmed that the planned rate increases for utilities  30 percent for water, 11.5 percent for sewer and 2.4 percent for stormwater  are still planned, though a planned 4.77 percent increase in the cost of electricity is now 2.25 percent.
The North Charleston nonprofit Neighbors Together will host its first Wellness Outreach for Women on April 30 for women in the tri-county area.

Suzanne Young, program director for Neighbors Together, said the event is part of the organization's effort to honor local single mothers ahead of the Mother's Day holiday. The group offers assistance with food, clothing, shelter, medical care and many other critical needs in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties.

"A lot of the neighbors that we work with are single moms, and like all moms, we always put everybody else first," Young told The Post and Courier. "So we wanted to do something to celebrate them, and take care of them for a change."

The organization is also partnering with the Shifa Clinic, a free medical clinic in Mount Pleasant, to offer free wellness checks and health screenings.

Georgia Tate, a 72-year-old North Charleston resident, said she has been a patron of Neighbors Together for a long time.

When Tate was raising her two sons as a single mother a few decades ago, she frequented the organization's food pantry. At that time, it operated under the name Tricounty Family Ministries, but transitioned to Neighbors Together in the fall.

The event will also offer a free car-care clinic where volunteers will check tires, hoses, engines and oil levels.

According to the organization, coupons for oil changes will also be offered by local car service garages.

"If our volunteers find something they believe needs to be checked further, women will be told about it," Young said. "They can trust the information they're being given."

Tate said many of the offerings at the event, specifically the free health screenings, are much-needed. She is excited to get her car serviced at this year's event.

"Everything that they're doing is just really worth it," Tate said. "And I do need my car checked out."

Those interested in car appointments must call ahead of time at 843-747-1788.

The event will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 2105 Cosgrove Ave. in North Charleston.
COLUMBIA  A controversial bill to split the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control into new health and environmental arms would also rope in the state's mental health services, which advocates worry would disrupt care and dilute funding and services.

The House Ways and Means Committee did not take up the bill, S.2, as scheduled April 28. Some are hopeful it means the bill will not pass in the waning days of the legislative session, which ends May 12.

"It's not going to happen this year, I don't think," said Bill Lindsey, executive director of National Alliance on Mental Illness South Carolina. "The bill, it was just massive. I think Ways and Means decided it was too much work to try and push into the last six days of session."

The bill would split up DHEC, the state's largest agency currently with nearly 4,000 employees, and spread its programs into three entities:

A new Department of Behavioral and Public Health, which would absorb the public health functions of DHEC, the current Department of Mental Health and the current Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services.

A new Department of Environmental Services, which would absorb the environmental programs currently a part of DHEC as well as the hydrology and aquatic nuisance species programs currently housed at the Department of Natural Resources.

The Department of Agriculture, which will absorb DHEC's food-safety programs.

While DHEC has been criticized as overly large and cumbersome, the new health agency would take roughly 2,000 of those employees and combine them with between 3,500 and 4,500 mental health employees, creating an even more massive agency, said Lindsey, who served on a study committee last year looking at the potential implications of the split and combining agencies.

"It doesn't make sense," he said.

The combination of different departments into a single agency could also create potential conflicts, said Mark W. Binkley, director of governmental and legislative affairs for the state Department of Mental Health. For instance, Mental Health operates hospitals and nursing homes that are licensed by DHEC. If the new agency were created, one arm would then be licensing and inspecting the programs of another arm, he said. If that inspection involved violations, then penalties or fines might ensue on the other part of the agency, which would have the right to dispute that, Binkley said.

"You could have one division appealing the actions of another division," he said. That might ultimately be up to the new director, who would be caught in the middle of an internecine battle, Binkley said.

It would also take a mental health agency whose budget is already "very strained" and lump it in with other health agencies that have their own funding needs, he said.

"They're going to be competing with each other," Binkley said, even before putting in a formal budget request. "You're probably getting pared down before you get to the starting line."

A similar argument has been levied before in favor of separating DHEC's twin health and environment missions. Those involved in the environmental programs there told The Post and Courier last year that it was difficult to get funding for those environmental duties  including pollution programs, water system management and beach permitting  when weighed against public health needs.

But now, mental health advocates fear that if funding for their services becomes tighter, the state's 16 Community Mental Health Centers might be consolidated into fewer regional centers.

"It was just a bad idea for folks with mental health issues," Lindsey said.

That potential reduction in services, particularly for rural areas, seemed to get the attention of legislators during testimony on the bill at a Ways and Means subcommittee earlier in the week, said Jerry Dean Pate, a board member of Columbia Area Mental Health Center, one of the currently operating community centers.

"We're really worried if it gets merged into a bigger agency, then services are going to get watered down" and become more difficult to access, he said.

Worse, the move would come at a time when the pandemic has heightened the need for mental health services, Lindsey said.

"Good grief, you've already got all of this stuff going on that needs to be addressed in mental health without adding to it, without adding to the stress and making it more difficult to get treatment," Lindsey said.

That being said, the idea of splitting up DHEC's health and environmental functions does make sense to Lindsey and Pate.

"I do think DHEC needs to be deconsolidated," Lindsey said. "I just don't think they should include mental health."

If the bill doesn't pass the House before the end of session, it will have to start from square one next year, because this is the last year of a two-year legislative session in South Carolina.

Chloe Johnson contributed to this story from Charleston.
NORTH CHARLESTON  A group of Charleston area faith and civil rights leaders is calling for a meeting with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott so he can hear their frustrations over the senator's vote against confirming Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the nation's first Black female Supreme Court justice.

The call came from several dozen members of the National Action Network, the East Cooper NAACP and Charleston area pastors who gathered April 29 at North Charleston City Hall, where the senator has an office.

The group called Scott's vote against Jackson a "slap in the face" to those who've given their lives so African Americans can be treated as equal citizens.

The Rev. Nelson B. Rivers, vice president for religious affairs and external relations with NAN, said he was urged by several pastors, community leaders and residents to convene a meeting with Scott. Rivers said the senator's vote places Scott on the wrong side of history.

Faith leaders wanted a chance to convey that sentiment to Scott, R-S.C., directly, but their request was denied.

"What we're telling you, we wanted to tell him to his face," Rivers said. "But he refused."

Jackson, who has nine years of experience on the federal bench and most recently served as an appeals court judge, was confirmed April 7 in a 53-47 vote that was mostly along party lines, though she did get three Republican votes, the Associated Press reported.

The vote to make Jackson the Supreme Court's first Black female justice fulfilled a promise by President Joe Biden to appoint a Black woman to the nation's top court.

Both of South Carolina's U.S. senators, Lindsey Graham, who is also a Republican, and Scott, voted against Jackson's confirmation.

Scott announced days before Jackson's vote his intention to vote "no" based on the judge's ideology. He had initially vouched support for U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs, a University of South Carolina law graduate, someone Scott said would have garnered bipartisan support.

"It is clear that Judge Jacksons judicial philosophy and positions on the defining issues of our time make her the wrong choice for the Supreme Court," Scott said April 4.

Rivers, who also serves as pastor of Charity Missionary Baptist, said the group wanted to wait until after Holy Week to reach out to the senator, which it finally did on April 18, the day after Easter. In his email, Rivers said he was reaching out on behalf of many South Carolina pastors wanting to talk with the senator on April 21 to express concerns "about the treatment" of Jackson during her confirmation hearing.

Scott's scheduler replied April 19 and said the senator was unable to meet with the religious leaders. The staff member said the senator offered instead for the group to sit and talk with Scott's state director and deputy chief of staff.

NAN denied the offer.

While a discussion with the senator may not result in any changed minds, the sit-down would give Scott an opportunity to hear his constituents' concerns regarding the "despicable manner" with which Brown was treated during the confirmation hearing, Rivers said.

The civil rights leader added that in the past he's met with Scott and U.S. Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., saying that it's "unusual" for him to be asked to meet with a South Carolina congressional member's staff.

"Staff ain't on the ballot," Rivers said.

The faith leaders also criticized Scott for not defending Brown against the judge's "disgraceful treatment" by elected officials during the confirmation hearing. The faith leaders said Scott, the only Black GOP senator, understands what it's like to be discriminated against based on the color of his skin.

The group noted Scott's actions have been particularly upsetting to African American women. Jackson's vote presented the senator with an opportunity to show his gratitude for Black women, said Trudy Grant, manager for NAN's religious affairs department.

Scott is up for re-election this year. Three Democrats  all Black females  have filed in the June party primary: state Rep. Krystle Matthews, D-Ladson; Catherine Fleming Bruce, a Columbia author and preservationist; and Angela Geter, a Spartanburg accountant and head of the Spartanburg Democratic Party.
HAMPTON  An investigative journalist asked a judge to dismiss her from a lawsuit claiming she was leaked a confidential video tied to the 2019 boating death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

Beach's family named journalist Vicky Ward as a defendant in a lawsuit filed against Parker's liquor store after the teenager died in a boating crash on Feb. 24, 2019.

The boat was carrying six passengers when it crashed into a bridge near Beaufort, killing Beach. Authorities alleged Paul Murdaugh, youngest son of Alex Murdaugh, was operating the boat intoxicated at the time. The Beach family claimed in lawsuits after Mallory's death that Murdaugh, a minor at the time, bought the alcohol from Parker's liquor store that night using his brother's ID.

Paul Murdaugh was charged with felony boating under the influence, but the charge was dismissed after he and his mother, Maggie, were shot to death last June at the Murdaugh family home. Thus began what Ward's attorney described in the April 28 motion to dismiss as a "made-for-television saga." After the death of his wife and son, Alex Murdaugh's legal empire unraveled amid allegations of drug addiction and widespread fraud.

The disgraced attorney is sitting in Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center awaiting trial on allegations he stole more than $8 million from his law clients and legal partners.

Ward, a true-crime journalist and former CNN reporter, came to South Carolina to make a documentary about "the deaths and mysteries surrounding the Murdaugh family," her attorney, Edward Fenno said.

At some point, the Beach family claims Ward was leaked a copy of a video of confidential mediation proceedings from the wrongful death lawsuit.

Mark Tinsley, attorney for the Beach family, claimed in court filings the leak was part of a conspiracy by Parker's owner, Gregory Parker, and several private investigators to "inflict severe emotional distress," to the Beach family during the contentious suit.

A clip from the leaked video made its way into a promotional video for Ward's documentary in November. The trailer also featured photos of Beachs dead body, Tinsley said.

Tinsley had previously attempted to subpoena Ward in the wrongful death case to learn the leaker's identity, but the state's shield laws protect journalists from such requests.

Fenno said Ward's reporting was protected by the First Amendment, and therefore she should be dismissed as a defendant in the case.

Fenno argued that Ward had no intention to specifically harm the Beach family in her documentary trailer, but rather to report the news. Ward never participated in the mediation process itself, he wrote.

Fenno further claimed that Ward's action in publishing the video, regardless of whether it was legally disclosed by someone else, was a constitutionally protected activity.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled and has upheld since 1971 that journalists should not be punished for receiving confidential materials that are leaked to them if the information relates to a newsworthy matter.

The motion remains pending in the 14th Circuit Court.

Fenno declined to comment on the case and the April motion. Tinsley said on April 28 that he had yet to have a chance to review the new filing that morning.
HAMPTON  Palmetto State Bank, a family-run institution that spent the past century crafting a sterling reputation in the southern tip of South Carolina, now faces a barrage of scrutiny as state and federal investigators dig into the alleged crimes of disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh.

One of South Carolinas oldest state-chartered banks, Palmetto for years enjoyed close ties to Murdaugh and his familys high-powered law firm. But the bank is now a key figure in the grand jury investigations into the Hampton County lawyers alleged theft of millions of dollars from his legal clients.

Palmetto State Bank was mentioned prominently in a string of indictments handed down against Murdaugh earlier this year. Two of its top executives have drawn scrutiny for their oversight of legal settlements he allegedly pilfered. And the bank has faced civil litigation for its alleged involvement in his schemes.

The bank fired CEO Russell Laffitte in January as questions swirled about his role in the disappearance of funds meant for Murdaughs clients. He is a member of the family that has owned and run the bank for 70 years.

The banks profile in the Murdaugh case also has attracted the watchful eyes of government banking regulators who have a long track record of cracking down when bankers deviate from accepted practices.

Palmetto State Bank is just the latest Lowcountry institution to be dragged into the harsh spotlight of the Murdaugh saga, a true-crime murder mystery that attracted international attention even before it snowballed into revelations of financial fraud, theft and betrayal.

Murdaughs law colleagues, his familys law firm, judges and multiple law enforcement agencies have faced similar inquiries about their links to the trial attorney, the scion of a powerful legal family who now awaits trial from the Richland County jail.

The bank isnt expected to face criminal charges, although Laffitte individually is considered a target of the state and federal investigations. But Palmetto State Bank  which declined to comment for this story  still could face a hefty fine, intervention from banking regulators and civil litigation, banking experts and attorneys familiar with the case said.

And when the dust settles, a bank that has long prided itself on its personal touch and commitment to its rural community may be left rebuilding its reputation.

A rise to prominence

The banks beginnings were humble.

It was founded as Hampton Loan and Exchange Bank in 1907 by a man named Ralph Bowden and two business partners. Bowden was no stranger to unconventional risks. He once accepted a liquor still and a mule as collateral for a loan, according to a 2018 feature story by Palmetto Banker, a trade publication produced by the S.C. Bankers Association.

The move reportedly prompted a perplexed bank examiner to examine the teeth, eyes and feet of the latter before writing off the obstinate equine as a bad risk, the story went.

Bowden ran the bank with a skeleton crew of employees before the Laffitte family purchased it for $250,000 in 1955  a newspaper reported at the time that the sale was considered "one of the largest individual transactions in the history of Hampton County"  and began expanding its footprint into nearby Allendale and Beaufort counties. The family renamed it Palmetto State Bank in 1970.

As the banks assets grew from $2 million to more than $700 million, it planted deep roots in the southern corner of the state, sponsoring Little League teams, college scholarships and art shows. When it turned 100 years old in 2007, several local newspapers published stories honoring its birthday.

Generations of Laffittes, as well as bankers who married into the family, have run Palmetto State Banks seven branches and filled nearly every seat on its board. They rose to prominence within S.C. banking circles, winning tours as chairmen of trade groups like the S.C. Bankers Association and Independent Banks of South Carolina.

The bank also developed a close relationship with the Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, Detrick law firm that Murdaughs great-grandfather founded in 1910. It housed accounts for the firms clients and its partners, including Murdaugh. PMPED lawyers said they appreciated the hometown bank's long history of serving Hampton County, and the firm's operating and client trust accounts had been with Palmetto for 26 years.

But somewhere along the way, that relationship became too familiar, critics now allege. And it blew up in the banks face last year as Murdaughs personal and professional lives imploded following the fatal shooting of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul in June. Those killings remain unsolved.

Pleading ignorance

Palmetto State Bank was first dragged into the Murdaugh story last fall when the family of Murdaughs late housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, accused a bank executive of helping the Hampton County lawyer steal money they were owed.

Murdaugh had advised Satterfields sons to bring a wrongful death claim against him in the weeks after their mothers death from a 2018 fall at his familys hunting lodge. Then he recruited Palmetto State Bank Vice President Chad Westendorf to serve as the sons personal representative and watch over any money they received from the claim.

On Westerdorfs watch, Murdaugh later stole more than $3 million that was provided for the Satterfield family in two settlements, prosecutors now allege.

In a February deposition that has only fueled scrutiny of the bank, Westendorf testified that he never met or interacted with Satterfields sons during that case. He also swore he didnt know specifics about their wrongful death claim or his responsibilities as the estates personal representative. Westendorf was paid $30,000 for serving in that role.

What was your job? Eric Bland, an attorney for the Satterfield family, asked him. As (personal representative), tell me what you were supposed to do.

I dont know, Westendorf replied.

Westendorf, who was replaced as president of the Independent Banks of South Carolina trade group after giving the deposition, also pleaded ignorance when asked how the settlement was supposed to be structured to benefit the family. I have no idea, he said.

Bland told The Post and Courier he found Westendorfs admissions numbing.

If it wasnt so outrageous and so disgraceful from a professional standpoint it would have been almost comical, he said.

Palmetto State Bank denied any wrongdoing in a court filing, claiming Westendorf represented the Satterfield estate in a personal capacity. But it then reached an undisclosed settlement with Satterfields family in November. The bank also spent $475,000 on attorneys fees last fall, according to its latest quarterly filing with federal regulators.

Westendorf was dismissed from the case after reimbursing the Satterfield family his $30,000 fee.

Westendorf indicated in his deposition that he had spoken with state investigators and FBI agents, and that he had testified before a grand jury about the case. His attorney, Thomas E. Lydon, did not return a call seeking comment for this story.

Pressure on Laffitte

Westendorf wasnt the last bank executive to face questions about his dealings with Murdaugh.

Palmetto State Bank fired Russell Laffitte, whose father led the bank for decades, in January as S.C. court officials investigated another case in which Murdaugh fleeced his clients.

Serving as a conservator in that case, Laffitte was responsible for protecting the financial interests of Hakeem Pinckney, a deaf man who was left severely disabled after a 2009 car crash. Murdaugh represented Pinckneys family in a lawsuit against the manufacturer of their cars tires.

But hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement money intended for Pinckney and his family went missing in that case, likely into the pockets of Murdaugh, according to Justin Bamberg, the Pinckney familys current attorney.

Bamberg filed paperwork on April 18 indicating that Pinckneys family plans to file a lawsuit against Laffitte that could result in liens against six of his properties, including a family home Laffitte recently put on the market for $549,900.

The notice accuses Laffitte of breaching his fiduciary responsibilities as Pinckneys conservator, resulting in the loss of more than $800,000 in settlement funds. It also accuses Laffitte of receiving more than $60,000 in ill-gotten fees for his role as conservator.

Laffitte is said to be a target of both the state and federal investigations involving Murdaugh. He has hired a pair of former federal prosecutors, Bart Daniel and Matt Austin of Charleston, to defend him. He could face penalties from banking regulators, as well, including a possible lifetime ban from working in the profession.

Daniel said Laffitte has cooperated with both criminal investigations but insisted the banker did not knowingly coordinate with Murdaugh to rob legal clients of their money.

He has always maintained that that has never been the case, Daniel said. He, like many people, were fooled by Alex Murdaugh and taken advantage of. Hes been paying the price ever since.

Bamberg doesnt buy it. He said Laffittes decision to take a $60,000 fee in the Pinckney case was outrageous since the banker did little to no work and never even met the family. Too many who enabled Murdaughs schemes are now claiming ignorance, Bamberg said.

You dont become the CEO of a bank and be a big dummy at the same time, Bamberg said. It doesnt work like that.

Paying the price

Bland, the Satterfield family attorney, said the mess the bank finds itself in shows what can happen when bank officials get too familiar with prominent clients and let fiduciary rules slide.

Regulatory rules are there for a reason  to ensure uniform practices and protections are in place, Bland said. Its clear the bank bent those rules to accommodate a big-dollar client who brought in steady business for the bank, he said.

Murdaugh sent his clients to the bank to take out loans in advance of expected settlements in their cases so they could pay medical bills and other expenses, Bland said. The bank made a handsome profit from issuing the high-interest, unsecured loans, Bland said.

In a written response to questions from The Post and Courier, PMPED's lawyers countered that such loans are "are very common in personal injury litigation," and that Palmetto State Bank "very much benefited clients" by offering lower interest rates than other lending institutions.

Smaller community banks often rely on their personal relationships and a small-town touch to set them apart from larger financial institutions with whom they must remain competitive. Its a big part of their brand. So its no surprise they try to be as accommodating as possible to longtime, well-heeled customers, financial experts said.

But bank officials still must learn sometimes you have to say no even to the biggest clients, said Joseph A. Smith, who served as North Carolinas commissioner of banks from 2002-12.

The biggest relationships are also the greatest risk relationships, Smith said. And those are the ones that can bring you down.

Bland and Bamberg both said Murdaughs habit of shifting money between accounts and depositing massive cashiers checks should have raised alarm bells at Palmetto State Bank.

Exactly how the funds were transferred and who knew about the transactions within the bank is unclear.

The rules are really designed for just this type of situation, Bland said. When they arent followed, he said, people lose money and fiduciary responsibilities are breached.

PMPED said the manner in which the checks were made out was done in such a way that the firm could not have noticed anything improper was occurring. The firm did not elaborate, but indicated that Palmetto State Bank never raised alarms with PMPED.

The firm's lawyers would not discuss what, if any, blame Palmetto State Bank should be assigned over the episode. But PMPED offered that "the embezzlement by Alex Murdaugh was criminal and it is unfortunate that his actions have overshadowed over a century of excellent service to the community."

A harsh spotlight

The blowback could be harsh.

State and federal investigators are said to be probing the banks role in Murdaughs alleged crimes.

State banking regulators, too, are monitoring the situation concerning Palmetto State Bank, but their findings so far are confidential, said South Carolina's elected state Treasurer Curtis Loftis, whose position makes him chairman of the state Board of Financial Institutions.

Industry insiders say bank examiners from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will surely become involved, too, if not already. The FDIC declined to comment.

The agency has a storied history of investigating troubled banks and rooting out problems, including by ousting, fining, and banning bankers whose practices endanger customer accounts and the perception of the banking industry.

The FDIC has brought dozens of punitive actions against South Carolina banks over the past decade, records show.

In March 2021, it issued a $15,000 fine to a former executive of Anderson Brothers Bank in Mullins and banned him from the profession for falsifying records and manipulating customers loan amounts in order to steer money to an acquaintance.

In May 2020, it banned a South State Bank teller after her indictment for embezzling more than $60,000 from eight customers accounts.

In February 2018, it banned the former chairman and chief financial officer of Allendale County Bank for directing himself an unauthorized golden parachute payment before regulators stepped in and shut the bank down.

Smith, the former North Carolina banking commissioner, said regulators prefer not to shut down or cripple community banks because they are important local institutions and civic players. An indictment against a bank would be unusual, as well, he said, but he would not be surprised to see a significant fine handed down if the investigations find evidence of wrongdoing.

Banking regulators view their work as vital to rooting out corruption and preserving public trust in banking, industry observers said.

They cant just let it go, Smith said.

Neither can trial lawyers like Bland and Bamberg, whose accusations against Murdaugh and his associates have been reflected in indictments against the once-respected attorney.

I think law enforcement is investigating everything, Bamberg said. I dont think there will be a single stone un-picked up, looked under. And there shouldnt be because the stuff that were finding is so egregious. Its disheartening. It goes to the core of systems that are important in our society.
Even though its supposed to be independent and uninfluenced by the political branches of government, the S.C. Supreme Court still manages to be a good team player. Too bad the Legislature isnt.

Nearly a year ago, as The Post and Couriers Seanna Adcox reminds us, the high court ruled unanimously that South Carolinas toughest-in-the-nation sex offender registry is unconstitutional, because it gives an unappealable lifetime sentence to people most of us wouldnt think of as dangerous sex offenders.

Think 15-year-old boys who had consensual sex with their 15-year-old girlfriends, or frat boys who urinate in public. Not behavior we want to encourage, to be sure, but also not behavior that should follow them around for the rest of their lives.

Granted, the sentence isnt terribly onerous: Those placed on the states sex offender registry (and theres a way for people convicted of indecent exposure and underage sex to get around it, if they get the right judge) have to go to their local sheriffs office twice a year to check in, and their names are listed on an online sex offenders registry, along with their address, convictions, vehicle and photo.

But its still something they have to keep doing decades after theyve served their time in prison. This makes them different from other criminals, who are able to leave their convictions behind them after theyve served their complete sentences. Even the provision in the state constitution that bars people from holding office if they have been convicted of violating election and ethics laws expires 15 years after they complete their sentences.

It's also at odds with the goal that our Legislature and others had for passing so-called Megans Laws in 1994, in response to national outcry over the sexual assault and murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka of New Jersey by a neighbor who had a record of sex crimes against children. As the court noted, the lifetime inclusion of individuals who have a low risk of re-offending renders the registry over-inclusive and dilutes its utility by creating an ever-growing list of registrants that is less effective at protecting the public and meeting the needs of law enforcement.

The court didnt say the state cant sentence all sex offenders to a lifetime on the registry; it simply said they had to be given a way to appeal that part of their sentence at some point. Think of it as a parole hearing, of the sort that we give most felons behind bars.

The court even said  and this is where the team player part comes in  that the Legislature had a year to fix the law to accommodate this. That was partly a matter of self-preservation, because otherwise, the courts could have been flooded immediately with petitions from the 17,000 people currently listed on South Carolinas sex offender registry. But it was also consistent with the courts longtime practice of giving the Legislature time to make the sort of tailored changes to state law that a court cant make.

And the Legislature did nothing. For nearly 11 months, and counting. Three lawmakers introduced bills to create an appeals process, although that wasnt until late February  eight months after the court order. The House bill is still sitting in committee, where it appears not to have gotten any attention. The Senate bill was assigned to a subcommittee last month, but members of the Senate Judiciary Committee havent yet worked out a path forward.

Senators did vote last week to advance a House-passed bill on a related topic that they should be able to use as a vehicle for an eventual plan, but only six days remain in the regular session. Thats enough to pass a bill if everybody agrees to it. But then, so is more than 10 months, and we're still waiting.

The basic framework senators have agreed to follows the model used by the federal government and many states, and it makes sense:

The 700 or so people on the list who committed one of the less serious crimes, usually when they were younger, whom most of us wouldnt think of as sexual predators  indecent exposure, consensual underage sex, peeping, computer crimes, for instance  could apply to be removed from the list 15 years after they complete their sentence. People who committed the worst crimes  there are currently about 11,000  couldnt apply until 30 years after completing their sentence. The wait would be 25 years for people in a middle group, currently numbering 5,800.

Lawmakers haven't agreed on whether to let those in the least serious group have their names removed automatically once they meet certain criteria. Victims advocates object to that idea, but they should consider what happens if there's no compromise: The courts are inundated, and the backlog of current cases grows even larger.

Its in no ones interest to let the floodgates open for 17,000 individual appeals, but theres a real danger in trying to work out the details of a new law on the fly, because its just so easy to pass something no one realized they were passing. The best bet is to adopt a simple solution  even if its only a stopgap  and come back next year and refine it as necessary. Whats absolutely not acceptable is for the Legislature to end its regular session on May 12 without adopting a fix.
COLUMBIA  GOP senators representing Horry County lost their fight to reroute $1 billion in proposed rebates to taxpayers toward constructing an interstate to the Grand Strand, fixing roads across the state and various other one-time expenses.

The trio of Republican lawmakers  Stephen Goldfinch, Education Chairman Greg Hembree and Judiciary Chairman Luke Rankin  argued April 27 that more of South Carolina's largest-ever surplus should address longstanding needs, not be sent back to taxpayers as a gimmicky one-time payment of up to $700 per household.

They tried multiple ways to divert the money, all of which included spending roughly $300 million on a segment of Interstate 73  a controversial project in the works for decades advocates say is needed to more quickly move traffic in and out of Myrtle Beach.

Their other uses for the rest of the $1 billion included repairing local roads and bridges, replacing dilapidated rural schools and providing state employees and K-12 teachers a $1,500 bonus.

But all of their amendments failed by overwhelming margins over hours of debate.

Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler, in his first year as the chamber's chief budget writer, called his committee's plan a "budget for the people."

What the Horry County Republicans would do, he argued, is take away taxpayers' money and spend it on a brand new interstate.

The floor votes left intact the Senate Finance Committee's $12.6 billion budget plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1, which is built off the one-time rebate as well as a $1 billion recurring tax cut. Senators gave preliminary approval late Wednesday. They'll take a roll call vote on the entire package April 28.

The Grand Strand trio fought for their plan.

"Yall come on. What are we doing here? Are we not going to invest in this state anymore?" asked Goldfinch of Murrells Inlet, whose district extends into Charleston and Horry counties.

"We have to spend money on core functions of government," he added. "We are neglecting our duty if we do not. A rebates nice. A tax cuts great. All those things show our conservative bona fides."

But in a "year of plenty," the state must do a better job of fixing problems, he said.

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He and Hembree, R-Little River, said they regret voting in March for the earlier bill approving the $2 billion combined income tax cut and rebate. Senators approved Peeler's bill unanimously with almost no debate.

But in hindsight, that was a bad idea that deserved more scrutiny, Hembree said.

Fixing the state's roads are by far his constituents' top request, he said, adding no one's asked him to return tax money. Maybe legislators should tell residents to use their rebate money to fix their own potholes, he said.

Several of his amendments set aside hundreds of millions of dollars toward a future overhaul of the tax code, to include dispensing with the much-maligned law known as Act 388. Heralded as ending growing tension between homeowners and public schools due to skyrocketing property values, the 2006 law took school operating costs off owner-occupied homes and raised the state sales tax by a penny for an intended tax swap.

But it created all sorts of unforeseen problems, including transferring higher taxes to rental property and businesses and leaving fast-growing school districts unable to fully collect taxes from new homes.

Legislators across the political spectrum have long complained about Act 388, but they won't touch it because undoing it would immediately hike homeowners' property taxes.

Now is the time to sock away the money so a fix is possible, Hembree said.

"We've got to deal with Act 388, and it's going to cost money. We now have the opportunity to do something transformative in our tax system," he said, adding that while he still likes the budget plan's tax cut, "we've got to go deeper than that."

Goldfinch and Hembree warned their colleagues repeatedly the $1 billion rebate likely won't survive the budget process anyway, and the Senate's setting itself up for failure in negotiations with the House.

The House's $14 billion spending plan, approved in March, includes a $600 million tax cut but no rebate. Other differences include employee pay. While both chambers' plans give state employees a 3 percent cost-of-living raise, the House also provides a $1,500 bonus.
COLUMBIA  South Carolina's public library leaders are fighting a Statehouse proposal banning sexual books from children's sections, calling it censorship that threatens the "freedom to read."

They oppose a budget clause added to the Senate's $12.6 billion spending plan during floor debate that aims to prevent children from picking up sexually explicit books in their local library without their parents' consent.

Beyond being an issue of state overreach, the problem is that what it could ban is open to interpretation, said Richland Library Director Melanie Huggins.

Huggins and other library leaders want the House to take that clause out during budget negotiations.

In an email blast sent out April 28, Huggins urged readers to contact their local House member "by phone, social media, or email, or any way you can" to ask them to keep it out of the final budget to "protect the freedom to read for all South Carolinians."

A vote for the state budget with the amendment "is a vote against freedom and democracy, the very tenets by which our state and country were founded," reads a form letter for legislators attached to her email.

"Each citizen has the right to make their own reading choices and each parent has the right to guide their own children's use of the library without infringing on the rights of others," the note read.

Sen. Josh Kimbrell of Boiling Springs said opponents are twisting the clause into something it's not "to fit a narrative."

"This is common sense to me. The fact anybody is fighting this shows how crazy this whole debate has gotten," the Spartanburg County Republican told The Post and Courier. "I find it to be fairly stunning that (library leaders) would take the position that they feel it is appropriate to include explicit sexual materials in childrens sections."

What the amendment says Leaders of South Carolina's public libraries oppose this budget clause, which was added Tuesday, April 26, during Senate floor debate: Prior to receiving any of these funds, county libraries must certify to the State Library that their county libraries do not offer any books or materials that appeal to the prurient interest of children under the age of 13 in children's book sections of libraries and are only made available with explicit parental consent.

As initially introduced during floor debate April 26, Kimbrell's amendment said any books appealing to children's "prurient interests" couldn't be on the shelves. Democrats fought back, noting that would keep all sorts of books out of even adult sections of the library.

"Think about the books you read and were assigned in which there was some scene of sex described in the book," said Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg.

"Under this, they couldnt even have 'The Scarlet Letter' " on shelves, he said, referring to the 1850 classic. "I cant believe the Senates thinking about going on record for censorship. This amendment is broad enough to ban the Bible."

The proposal was then reworded to specify it applied only to libraries' children's sections.

"My point is not to put pornographic books in the hands of kids," Kimbrell said, agreeing to tweak the language.

He said it stems from parental complaints in his district about the book "How Do You Make A Baby?" that was accessible to children in their library and has cartoon illustrations of people having sex. It's marketed for children ages 4 and up.

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"Were not saying you cant have this book. Were not making it illegal," said Kimbrell, the father of 10- and 11-year-old sons. "If you want to have this in the library, you can put it in a section where its not accessible to kids, but to have this in a section for children is repugnant."

As eventually adopted, what his amendment requires is for each county library system, before getting its share of state aid from the budget, to certify that none of its branches have books in their children's section considered "prurient" for youths under 13. The books would, however, be available to them with parental consent.

Huggins said Richland County's 13 library branches, which offer nearly 250,000 books in its children's collection, would lose just over $1 million in state funding because it would do no such thing.

Charleston County libraries stand to lose nearly $920,000. If the clause makes it into the final budget, the county library's board would have to decide whether to comply or forgo state funding in the coming fiscal year, Library Director Angela Craig said.

She worried "prurient" could be interpreted as basically anything someone finds objectionable, potentially censoring "all or most of our youth collection."

Parents might object to any books involving religion, guns, war or fairy tales, Craig said.

"I know it sounds far-fetched, but thats where were afraid it might go," she said. "How can I have my library staff manage this?"

Opponents noted the clause itself doesn't define what's considered "prurient," which they said makes it particularly worrisome.

Kimbrell said the only reason he used that word is to match up with what's already in state law. As defined in the section making child pornography and exploitation illegal, "prurient interest" is nudity or sex that arouses "lewd and lascivious desires and thoughts."

Huggins, also president of the national Public Library Association, said that definition is still too vague to be of any use.

Defining 'prurient' State law provides this definition in the section that criminalizes giving or promoting obscenity harmful to minors:  "Prurient interest" means a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion and is reflective of an arousal of lewd and lascivious desires and thoughts.

"Thats about a persons behavior," she said. "I don't know how we'd dictate which books would cause a prurient interest."

Craig said the definition in state law doesn't ease her concerns either, since the public could think it means something different, leaving her staff to try to explain.

"People hear what they want to hear," she said, adding that it boils down to legislative overreach. "It's not our place to interpret it for them."
Lawmakers have passed several new bills, including two bills critical for graduating public high school seniors and the Guam Department of Education.

Bill 286 waives the requirement for 180 instructional days in a school year for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, while Bill 287-36 waives the service-learning requirements for graduating high school seniors in school year 2021-22.

The two measures passed unanimously, with Sen. Jose Terlaje absent.

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"With the continuing challenges brought upon GDOE due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is our hope and intention that with these granted waivers, the department will utilize the flexibility to ensure that a plan will be in place to address the learning loss and recovery of our children's education moving forward," said Sen. Telena Nelson, chief author of the education measures and a candidate for delegate to Congress.

Hagatna redevelopment measure fails

Lawmakers meanwhile rejected Bill 246-36, the measure to approve the Hagatna Restoration and Redevelopment Plan.

Vice Speaker Tina Muna Barnes and Sens. Telena Nelson, Clynton Ridgell, Joe San Agustin, Amanda Shelton and Mary Torres voted in favor of the measure.

Sens. Tony Ada, Frank Blas Jr., Joanne Brown, Chris Duenas, James Moylan, Telo Taitague and Sabina Perez, as well as Speaker Therese Terlaje, voted against the bill.

The speaker said during an earlier discussion that she wanted more time to vet the proposal.

She suggested the Legislature should reject the plan, for now, to grant additional time, as senators currently are running up on a deadline to act on the measure, and rejecting Bill 246 now won't preclude lawmakers from considering the plan in the future.

Barnes attempted to move Bill 246 for possible amendments, but did not get enough votes to proceed.

Lawmakers also rejected an override of vetoed Bill 239-36. The bill would require independent adoption agencies to obtain endorsements from the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services before they are issued business licenses. Eight senators voted in favor of the override, two shy of the 10 needed.

Taitague introduced Bill 239 and, after Friday's vote, she issued a release calling lawmakers who voted against the bill "Adelup rubber-stampers."

She stated that "Adelup's grip on their rubber-stampers in the Legislature has only gotten out of control" with the election mere months away.

"Without Bill 239 and without a set of interim licensure rules and regulations in place as required of (Guam Public Health under Public Law) 36-68, the government continues to ignore the real threats posed by bad actors who can and will take the time to find gaps in the system, spend money, and do whatever else they must do in order to circumvent our processes," Taitague stated in her release.

The governor has stated that Bill 239 does not impose any requirement that isn't already in Guam law.

Before lawmakers voted on bills in session, a last-minute attempt was made to place Bill 197-36 into third reading for voting Friday afternoon. The measure would appropriate $5 million to the University of Guam to help construct a Student Services Center and a School of Engineering.

Procedural concerns weighed on the measure as it proceeded through this session, and the attempt Friday ended up failing as well.

Bills and resolutions passed:

 Resolution 300-36: Expresses support for Taiwan's participation as an observer at the World Health Organization's 75th World Health Assembly and reaffirms support for Taiwan's participation as an observer in international organizations.

 Bill 258-36: Exempts homeowner association membership dues and common area fees from the business privilege tax.

 Bill 245-36: Extends the deadline for wholesale and retail establishments to comply with the paper bag ban to July 1, 2025.

 Bill 267-36: Amends law and processes for resolving public utility ratepayer disputes.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was unaccountably denied a public defender to appeal his convictions in the death of George Floyd. Bill Mohrman answered my call for a Minnesota attorney to represent Chauvin on appeal. Bill filed his brief on behalf of Chauvin this week. It is posted online here. Derek Chauvins mother has set up a page to support the expenses of appeal here.

Bills leading argument on appeal is that pretrial publicity and related riots required a change of venue. As we noted repeatedly during trial, the martial security that protected the courthouse graphically represented the issue. So did the anticipation of riots in the event of an acquittal.

The 24-story Hennepin County Government Center was closed to everything but the trial for reasons of security. Barricades and secure fencing topped with concertina wire surrounded the perimeter. The massive building was off limits to nearly everyone who wasnt involved in the trial. The building was locked down and everyone  and I mean everyone  knew why.

We will be living with the devastating consequences of George Floyds death in Minnesota for a generation. The Minnesota Human Rights Department charge against the Minneapolis police earlier this week is just the latest chapter in the saga. A few contrarians might speak up publicly on behalf of the police to contest the merits of the charge even though it is dubious in critical respects. Good luck trying to get access to the 480,000 pages of documents and other material the department compiled in the course of its investigation.

The adversary process is intended to get at the truth. It doesnt work if two sides arent represented and heard. Although Chauvin has pleaded guilty to the criminal civil rights charge in the duplicative federal case, Chauvins appeal of the murder convictions in the state case warrants resolution in its own right.
MTN Nigeria (MTNN), the local unit of Africas biggest mobile telecommunications provider MTN Group, turned in a 31.3 per cent growth in net income for the first quarter of 2022, riding on a boom that helped income from data services surge by more than a half.

The wireless operator earned N471 billion in revenue, according to its unaudited earnings report issued on Friday, meaning an improvement of more than a fifth over the figure recorded January through March last year.

That happened as active data users enlarged by 3.4 million to 35.9 million even though mobile subscribers fell a little by 1.8 per cent.

MTN cited regulatory curbs from sales and activations of new subscriber identity module (SIM) card as the ground for the latter.

In terms of strategic milestones, we concluded the first phase of a series of transactions to increase Nigerian ownership in MTN Nigeria, and we are delighted to have welcomed 126,720 retail investors to our shareholder base, many of whom are first-time investors, Karl Toriola, CEO MTNN, said in a note accompanying the financials.

This includes Nigerian pension funds representing approximately 6.5 million Nigerian contributors.

MTNN pre-tax profit for the review period added up to N143.6 billion, 39.4 per cent stronger than what was reported in the same period of last year. Profit after tax was up by 31.3 per cent at N96.8 billion.

The telco committed 80.8 per cent more to its capex during the quarter, bringing its spend for that purpose to N162.5 billion.

Earlier in April, it received a super-agent permit from the Central Bank of Nigeria to set up a payments unit that will run several services offered by commercial banks.

The milestone implies it will be joining other telecom operators that have branched out into payments including Globacom (Money Master PSB), Etisalat (9PSB) and most recently Airtel Africa (Smartcash PSB).
Bruce Onobrakpeya, a foremost Nigerian modern artist, painter and sculptor, has been awarded the Grand Master of Etching for his foresight in modern art.

The award was presented to him at a special 90th birthday celebration organised for him by the Artmiabo International Art Festival (AMIAF) organisers on Wednesday in Lagos.

Miabo Enyadike, Founder/CEO of Artmiabo, based in South Africa, said they decided to hold a festival in Lagos to celebrate Mr Onobrakpeya for his wondrous works and achievement.

Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya turns 90 in August, but we want to be the first in Africa because they have already started celebrating Professor Bruce in the U.S.

The entire black history month in the U.S fell in the beginning of the year, where he was celebrated, a lot of universities celebrated Professor Bruce, and he is just coming back from those celebrations.

And I thought about it, and I said, how outsiders can be celebrating our own, were here we havent. We should be celebrating Professor Bruce here in Nigeria. So, we decided that we are holding a festival to honour him.

We gave him the Grand Master of Etching award because that is what hes known for around the world. That is where he has his artwork, in museums all over. He has etched his work everywhere, she said.

Artmiabo International Art Festival

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Artmiabo International Art Festival (AMIAF) will host 24 finest artists from Africa and Europe in Lagos from April 29 to May 1.

The festival features artists works, including Onobrakpeya, Adeola Balogun, John Onobrakpeya, Tamaraemi Larry, Olufunke Ojukwu, Segun Okewumi, Oladipupo Adesina, Yusuf Durodola, Muni King-Keazor, Adebisi, Miabo Enyadike and Yetunde Ojatula.

Mr Enyadike said: We are also supporting his Harmattan Foundation, a residency that people come from all over the world to attend, which is his village. And so, we are supporting that with a grant.

We need to focus on his consistency as an artist, and Professor Bruce embodies that. He has been focused, represented Africa well, and kept his calm, and all we hear about is his greatness.

Maya Angelou, the great poet, wrote a poem on Professor Bruce, that is how big Professor Bruce is. So, we all aspire to be like Professor Bruce, she said.

Also speaking, a veteran photographer, Muni King-Keazor, said she had known Onabrakpeya way back in the 60s.

I have known of Professor Bruce virtually from my teenage years. Back in the 60s, his name was frequently mentioned as one of the leading artists of the time, and he has just grown in reputation worldwide.

And it is of pride to us as a country that he remains a living legend, and I am so happy to be here today with the Art Amiabo team, celebrating him.

We are renowned as a country for not celebrating people who make such great strides worldwide, and we tend to overlook them until maybe they are dead and gone.

But here he is today, alive in our midst, and it is just pride for me to be present while he is being celebrated.

For him to be recognised by Amiabo, I think it indicates how highly he is revered in our midst, she said.

NAN reports that Mr Onobrakpeya, born Aug. 30, 1932, is a Nigerian printmaker, painter and sculptor.

He has exhibited at the Tate Modern in London, the National Museum of African Art of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and the Malmo Konsthall in Malmo, Sweden.

The National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos, has an exhibit of colourful abstract canvases by Mr Onobrakpeya and his works can be found at the Virtual Museum of Modern Nigerian.

His first one-man exhibition was held in 1959 in Ughelli in the Niger Delta. Later, he exhibited in the U.S, Italy, Zimbabwe, Germany, Britain, and Kenya.

Mr Onobrakpeya is an essential force in the renaissance in contemporary art in Nigeria. For many years he taught at St. Gregorys College, Lagos.

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(NAN)
It has been two days since the famous Nigerian actor, Yul Edochie, revealed that he had married his colleague, Judy Austin, as his second wife and welcomed a son. Still, Nigerians are yet to get over the shocking news.

The news sent his colleagues and social media into a frenzy on Wednesday.

The actor said it was high time the world met his son, Star Dike Munachimso Yul Edochie, whom he loves as much as his other children.

Although many initially believed it was a publicity stunt, it turned out to be true when his first wife, May, dropped a cryptic comment which read God will judge both of you under the post.

Yul married his first wife, May, at the age of 22, in 2004, after they had both dated for six years. The couple celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary in October 2021 and have four children.

His older brother, Uche, broke his silence on Friday morning and shared the familys stance on the issue.

Uche, an accomplished Nigerian Postwar and Contemporary painter, revealed that Yul informed them of his decision to marry a new wife, and they strongly advised him not to. He also said the family is as shocked as Nigerians on social media.

He said, We told Yul not to do it. He did it anyway. Have you ever tried controlling an adult when it comes to relationships? Good luck with that. Yul is an adult who feels marrying a second woman is the best way to own up to his mistakes and make things right. It took a lot of courage for him to do this too.

His statement

His statement read: So my younger brother Yul Edochie just married a second wife out of the blue, and Nigerians are freaking out. I get it. We are all shocked. I am a low key type of guy, and I have tried to mind my own business, but this circus is also chasing me. So here is my take.

I see two main problems here. His first wife, Mary, a wonderful woman and my sister in law did not go into a relationship with my brother agreeing to be part of a polygamous marriage. Thats the first problem. So I feel for Mary. It is not fair on her. My family are not in support. This is not what we do, and we are trying our best to console Mary. What else can we do?

The second issue is that Yul is not a Muslim. If he were a Muslim, no one would be talking about this. Muslims marry as many wives as they want, and nobody says shit. Traditional rulers and traditionalists do the same thing, and the Nigerian constitution recognises polygamy as a legal marital union. Maybe we should burn that bloody constitution.

We told Yul not to do it. He did it anyway. Have you ever tried controlling an adult when it comes to relationships? Good luck with that. Yul is an adult who feels marrying a second woman is the best way to own up to his mistakes and make things right. It took a lot of courage for him to do this too.

A Muslim marries two or more wives, and his people throw a party. Normal. A Christian does the same thing, and he is the worst human being alive. It is tough. Women throw themselves at famous people so bad that it is suffocating. If the average person walks in Yuls shoes for one year, they will get five or more women pregnant. So dont be quick to judge if you have not lived that life. Most people will do worse.

So this is Yuls new baby with his new wife. Beautiful boy. Children are a gift from God. The circumstances of their birth get us all riled up about whats right and wrong. I wish them all luck. Maybe Yul should become a Muslim and shut this circus down. It is said that life happens when we are making other plans. I was minding my own business. And now this. Fantastic.

Yuls actions have thrown up several talking points around polygamy, with some Nigerians saying it should be legalised and not limited to traditional worshippers or Muslims. Nonetheless, the 40-year-old actor seems unbordered as he has applauded his decision on Instagram and reassured his first wife that she occupies the number one position regardless.

Real men own up and take responsibility. EZEDIKE!!! Na man you be.
Until Wednesday, Judy Austin was a regular Nollywood actress based in Asaba, Delta State.

She had thrust into the limelight when her colleague-turned-husband, Yul Edochie, formally introduced her to the world as his second wife.

Since Yul dropped the bombshell on Instagram, the voluptuous actress has had to contend with online trolls who have thronged her page and cursed her out.

Further escalating the already controversial scenario, the actor referred to his colleague, turned mother-of-his-son, as his second wife.

Before this time, fans and colleagues knew only about Yuls marriage to May. The couple celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary in October 2021.

Little did they know that the 40-year-old actor, who wishes to be Nigerias president, had secretly taken a second wife.

It was reported that Yul had paid Judys bride price on Sunday after she welcomed their son in 2021.

Yuls first wife, May, only learned about this recent development this week.

The mother-of-four appears uncomfortable with the current drama in her marriage, as she recently unfollowed her husband on Instagram.

However, the big question on the minds of many remains: Who is Judy Austin? And how did she get entangled with Yul Edochie?

Who is Judy Austin?

Judith Muoghalu is a tall and curvy Nollywood actress and producer, better known as Judy Austin.

The fast-rising movie star hails from Umuoji in Idemilli North, Anambra State.

Judy was not always an actress. The graduate of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, started a career path in modelling and tried her hands at music.

Failing to see success in music, she switched to acting. But only after meeting a movie director and producer, Silvester Maduka, who featured her in Secret of the Witches in 2013.

Judy grew relatively fast in Nollywood, and by 2018, she had produced two of her movies, Native Girl and Fear. Four years after, her on-screen husband would later become her real-life husband.

Yul directs her movies and plays her husband or love interest in any film they feature.

Working with Yul

Judy produced and played the lead role in Native Girl cinema movie. It was the first time she would direct or make a film.

In the movie, she played the timid wife of Yul, an international businessman.

In an interview with the Tribune about her working experiences with Yul, she said, I had told him I wanted to produce a movie, and that I wanted him to direct it. He simply told me to find a story that would be both strong and different. When he saw the scripts, he had no doubts. That was how Native Girl came to light with the help of my director, Yul Edochie.

Aside from acting and directing, she also said Yul supported the project financially. She said it cost N4 million to produce the film. She also described him as a one in a million kind of director that wants everything to go well.

She has always celebrated Yul on her page, but people assumed it was all about a junior colleague doing the needful for a superior.

In 2017, Oros luxurious French Fragrances unveiled the couple as brand ambassadors.

Flashback

Following the recent second-wife controversies about the actress, many Nigerians have reminded the actress of her statements on marriage in recent interviews with Vanguard Newspaper, where she stated that marriage is not an achievement.

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Speaking on relationships, marriage, and sex, the actress said, I dont believe in jumping from one man to another. Im a relationship kind of person. I believe in having someone, a man that you do this thing with, not giving it out to all men who cross your path simultaneously. You do whatever works for you.

On relationship, I love relationships, and its how Im created. If a relationship doesnt work out for you, you can decide to break up and get hooked again or give yourself a break. A relationship is not all about sex or emotional things.

I love to have normal relationships with intellectual people, people I can learn. So anything relationship with the right person is a welcome idea.
Former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani, has formally joined the 2023 presidential race on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform.

Mr Nnamani, while declaring on Friday in Abuja, lamented the high cost of the partys nomination form.

APC recently fixed the cost of its presidential nomination and expression of interest forms at N100 million, governorship N50 million, Senate N20 million and House of Representatives N10 million.

He said costs do not align with our social-economic realities in terms of comparative per capita income and purchasing power of Nigerians.

The former Senate President said there was a need for a rethink on the issue in a bid to improve the inclusion of youth, women and most Nigerians who earn salaries in an economy that has become depressed.

Mr Nnamani also said there was a need for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide guidelines on cost of nomination form.

Maybe it is time the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) laid down guidelines to the parties on both the cost of nominations and campaign expenses. I will back such regulatory control that will improve the fiscal responsibility and inclusive politics in Nigeria, he said.

Despite the outrage against the exorbitant nomination fees, the ruling party continues to defend it.

The National Chairman of the party, Abdulahi Adamu, said the N100 million nomination form should not be expensive for aspirants.

He argued that if a presidential aspirant cannot raise the money, he does not have any reason being in the race.

South-east presidency

Speaking on the clamour for South-east Presidency, Mr Nnamani, who hails from Enugu State, said the region owes Nigeria the best candidate.

He said many in the South-east as well as some legislators asked him to avail the nation characteristic honest, competent and disciplined leadership he offered the senate.

I am delighted that there is a growing consensus that the next president should come from South east. I believe that the people of the South-east owe other Nigerians the reciprocal respect of bringing forth the best to lead.

Mr Nnamani will have to contend with other aspirants from the South-east, including Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, Rochas Okorochas, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba.

Others from outside the region gunning for the APC presidential ticket include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River, and former Ogun governor, Ibikunle Amosun.

In protest against the inability of the ruling party to micro-zone the presidency to the South-east, Orji Uzor Kalu, a former governor of Abia State and serving senator, said he was considering pulling out of the race.

Plan for Nigeria

Mr Nnamani said he has the template used by leaders of South Korea and Japan for rapid economic development.

To transform the country, he stated that he will restructure Nigeria from inefficient consumption to production.

He stated that there is a need to recover the state from the grip of despair and despondence and chart a future of hope and achievement for every Nigerian.

Mr Nnamani was the President of the Senate from 2005 to 2007 and was instrumental in quenching the third term agenda of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Mr Nnamani joined the APC on January 22, 2017.

Last month, he lost the bid to become the National Vice Chairman (South) of the APC during the March 26 convention. He stepped down for the consensus candidate, Emma Enukwu.

On June 25, 2020, Mr Nnamani was appointed a member of the 12-member Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the APC to represent the South-east zone.

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One of the abducted female passengers of the Kaduna bound train has given birth to a baby girl in the bandits hideout, Arise TV News is reporting.

Terrorists had on March 28 planted explosives on the rail track and immobilized an AK9 Abuja  Kaduna train, killing at least nine people, wounding several others and abducting an unknown number of passengers.

The abductees have remained with the terrorists for a month despite repeated calls by their relatives and other Nigerians for the government to take decisive actions to free them from captivity.

The terrorists released two video clips and two photographs showing some of the abducted passengers in captivity.

The pictures brought temporary relief to some family members of the abducted passengers, with some of them telling PREMIUM TIMES that knowing their relatives are alive calmed them a bit.

Family members of the abducted passengers had on several occasions pleaded with the federal government to hasten the processes that will lead to the release of their relatives.

The federal government said it is doing all it can to free the victims. Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, however, said the actions being taken are confidential.

What the federal government is doing wont be the subject matter of a press conference, because we have lives at stake, Mr Mohammed said, adding, What I can assure you is that as we speak, the respective arms of the government are actually engaged in getting those victims released.

Pregnant woman

AriseTV News is however quoting a family member of one of the abductees as saying there are two pregnant women in captivity. The sources relative was eight months pregnant when she was abducted, the report said.

The source said the terrorists brought in medical doctors and medical supplies into the forest to help the woman deliver safely.

The woman was delivered of her baby last weekend but the family only got to know on Wednesday when a picture of the baby was said to have been sent to them by the terrorists.

According to reports by family sources, she gave birth with the aid of doctors brought in by the terrorists. We can also report that the terrorists are demanding the release of their top commanders in exchange for the abducted train passengers, Arise TV News quoted the family source as saying.

They contacted us and broke the news to us that she gave birth at the weekend, even though they did not tell us whether it was a boy or a girl, the family member said.
The noise from the last floor of the two-storey building at Ilogbo Elegba Senior Grammar School, Oto-Awori Local Council Development Area (LCDA), in Lagos State could be heard from a distance. The floor is occupied by senior secondary school 1 students.

In their dilapidated and dusty classrooms, hundreds of students sat on the bare floor and babbled animatedly. Apart from the question papers and answer sheets each was peering at occasionally, nothing in the atmosphere indicated that the students were writing their first term examination in the ongoing 2021/2022 academic session.

Some placed their writing materials on their laps, others on the dusty floors. Some who probably arrived early stood by the windows, using the sills as writing tables.

If not that this is an examination, many of us would have waited until classes end and copy (lesson notes) from our friends who had used our backs as tables, one of the students told our reporter.

She said some students used to bring chairs from home.

When you bring chairs, even when you write your names boldly on them, they are either stolen or deliberately vandalised, the teenager said.

An alumnus of the school, who asked not to be named to avoid being identified by the school authorities, decried the conditions at the public school in the Nigerian city.

Everyone is used to it. The SS 1 classrooms have been like that for many years, even when I schooled here. I left the school in 2017 and I met the SS 1 classes in that condition, although it wasnt this bad. My elder brother also met the classes in the same condition, so it has been like that for some time, the alumnus said.

Another student said she gets to school early so that she could use the window to write for the day.

She said students find it very difficult to concentrate in her class.

Many students talk while classes are ongoing, some play with cell phones. It is worse when rain falls because the roof is already blown off, she added.

Like students like teachers

The teachers staff room, sharing the same floor with the SS 1 classes, is not better off than the classrooms. The floor is cratered with a few chairs fixed in a corner.

A female teacher, who was one of the few teachers present when this reporter visited during the recently concluded second term, was struggling to find somewhere to place the notes she was teaching from.

To review any of the students books, the teacher would walk to the entrance of the classroom so she could use the rays of the sun to aid her vision.

The teachers and the students at the school, whom this reporter spoke to, all asked not to be named for fear of victimisation.

The teachers who spoke said they had to be careful so as not to be sent to remote areas as punishment.

Other classes in good shape

However, aside from those occupied by the SS 1 students on the top floor, other classrooms are in fairly good conditions. There was a desk for each of the majority of the students but a few were seen sharing.

The senior secondary school 2 and 3 classes are in a new building where the chairs and tables are relatively neat and the classrooms habitable. But no one would explain why the SS 1 classrooms were left in such poor conditions.

A joint web portal of the Lagos State Government and Global Education Media Nigeria Limited- Lagos State Schools Online, captured this inconsistency in the standard of school facilities in Lagos.

Corroboration

According to the portal, Ilogbo Elegba Senior Grammar School has been poorly funded and furnished since its inception. It said when the school was established in January 1989, it had 125 students and shared classrooms with Local Authority Primary School, Ilogbo Elegba, with which it now shares a boundary.

Another challenge was the lack of furniture for both staff and students. L.A Primary head teacher gave them 46 six pieces of dual desks and community members donated 100 collapsible chairs on February 5, 1990 when the then state governor, Raji Rasaki, commissioned the school building in 1994, the website stated.

Today, the school, which sits on a large expanse of unfenced land, is said to have 1,950 students. More than 500 of this figure are said to be in SS 1.

Promise

However, the Chairman of the Lagos Special Committee on Rehabilitation of Public Schools, Hakeem Smith, told PREMIUM TIMES that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has promised to touch all schools in the state that are in need of rehabilitation.

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Mr Smith said the agency in its two years of existence has impacted many schools in the state.

What we want to do is to spread our efforts to touch all the six geo-political zones. We know that there are some schools in worse condition than even the one at Ilogbo Elegba and we will visit them.

The government has a responsibility so we have taken a note of this school. We usually want the principal to write a letter to us, then we will go and do a proper assessment of the school in terms of what they need and put it in our database, Mr Smith told PREMIUM TIMES.

We have about 700 schools in the state requiring such attention. What we do is go through our database to see those that have requested and attend to them. I have noted this and I can assure you that my team will visit the school soon.

But like I said, there is a procedure to follow. So if we visit tomorrow, work may not start immediately because there is a budget cycle, and now that the budget has been passed, the state has to issue a warrant to incur expenditure, he added.

Mr Smith further noted that the process has to also go through the procurement processes before shortlisting it.

This is the rule so that we dont run afoul of the law, he said.

He said his committee is building about 300 classrooms and hostels and providing about 100,000 furniture in secondary and primary schools.

Giving his account at the end of 2021, he said the state government has completed classrooms and boarding facilities in some public schools in the state. Among these are the newly built block of classrooms at Lagos State Model College, Igbokuta, Ikorodu, which he said was commissioned on December 10, 2021; and another in the Elemoro area of the state.
After months of speculations, Nigerias Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Thursday officially declared he would run for governor in his native Kebbi State.

Mr Malami made the announcement at the presidential lodge in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, during a factional APCs stakeholders meeting attended by the state governor, Atiku Bagudu.

He said he accepted and decided to run for the position following calls from the people of the state for him to run.

NAN reported Mr Malami saying that Since you want me to contest the governorship position of the state, I hereby accept your demand since you want me to do so, he said.

People from the state have been pressurising me to contest the governorship position in 2023.

Going by my proper upbringing as the son of an Islamic teacher, I will not show interest to contest for any position or judge myself qualify for any position except the people of the state want me to.

If you will support me and accept me, I wish to say I am interested in becoming the next governor of Kebbi if you permit me, Mr Malami said at the gathering.

The state executives of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to the governor of the state endorsed Mr Malamis declaration.

The partys leadership in the state is divided between two factions  one loyal to Mr Bagudu and the other loyal to a former governor, Adamu Aliero.

During the event, Mr Bagudu praises Mr Malami for distinguishing himself among his peers in President Muhammadu Buharis cabinet. He also praised him for the success of the March 26 National Convention of the party.

The governor expressed wholehearted support to the yearnings of APC members and other people of Kebbi state for the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, to contest the governorship of the state in the 2023 general elections under the platform of the party, the media aide to the governor, Yahaya Sarki, said in a statement.

Unsurprisingly, the faction of the party loyal to Mr Aliero boycotted the declaration. Mr Aliero is the incumbent senator for Kebbi Central. Abdullahi Yahaya, the incumbent senator from Kebbi North, backs his faction. Both men believe Mr Bagudu is trying to impose Mr Malami as his successor.

While inaugurating his factions secretariat, Mr Aliero said the party should adopt the direct primary in choosing the partys flag bearer.

Mr Aliero is pushing for the next governor of the state to come from other senatorial districts other than that of the governor.

Mr Bagudu, who is from the same senatorial district as Mr Malami, prefers the indirect primary.

Though Mr Aliero is from Kebbi Central, he is backing Mr Abdullahi, the Senates majority leader, who is from Kebbi North to succeed, Mr Bagudu.
Haldu Hananiya, a former Nigerian ambassador to the United Kingdom, has given some insiders insights into the failed attempt by then Muhammadu Buhari-led military regime to abduct an exiled Nigerian Second Republic minister, Umaru Dikko, in London.

Mr Hananiya, a retired army general, now 80, shared his thoughts about the incident in his yet-to-be-released book, All Eyes On Me, a copy of which was exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.

The book is a memoir, reflecting on the life and career of Mr Hananiya. It gives the authors account of Nigerias Civil War, the Cement Armada Scandal, the Buhari-Idiagbon regimes Decree 4, and the failed attempt to kidnap Mr Dikko in London, the United Kingdom.

The book comes about 38 years after the historic episode of the aborted abduction of Mr Dikko in 1984.

Mr Buhari, then head of state, whose regime denied involvement in the abduction which caused a tit-for-tat diplomatic row between Nigeria and the UK, is Nigerias incumbent president.

Mr Hananiya said the incident was nothing short of a harrowing experience for him as the then Nigerian High Commissioner in London.

He said he had to lie to British authorities about the Dikko kidnapping affair even though he was not involved in the planning.

I was not put in the picture, Mr Hananiya said, But in all my interactions with the British authorities, I stood my ground that the federal government of Nigeria had nothing to do with the abduction of Dikko.

I later learned that Lt General Yakubu Danjuma, then a retired officer and Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, an intelligence officer still in service, and a few others were involved in the planning.

The former envoy said he was incensed by the whole incident and was under considerable pressure from the British authorities. Despite my misgivings, Mr Hananiya said, I had to defend my country.

The former high commissioner added that, throughout the period, he was in touch with Lagos, then Nigerias capital, and could easily access Mr Buhari and his then second-in-command, Tunde Idiagbon, but it had been decided that I was not to be informed.

When I expressed anger about not being taken into confidence on the issue, they claimed they didnt want me to get involved because of the office I occupied.

The Dikko abduction saga

An attempt to kidnap and repatriate the exiled former minister, Mr Dikko, was foiled by a vigilant British customs officer in London in 1984.

A controversial politician, Mr Dikko was Minister of Transportation in the Shehu Shagari administration from 1979 till December 31, 1983, when the government was toppled by the military, and Mr Buhari became the head of state.

Mr Dikko as well as some ministers in the Shagari administration fled to exile as the new military regime began to clamp down on the previous administrations officials accused of embezzling public funds during their time in office.

Mr Dikko, who died aged 77 in London in 2014, always denied the corruption allegations levelled against him by the Buhari regime.

One of the most outspoken officials in the Shagari administration, Mr Dikko, who fled to London after the ouster of the Shagari regime, remained one of the main targets of the new military junta.

The regime went after him, and in an off-the-book covert operation, the Nigerian security operatives supported by Israeli counterparts, seized him outside his house in London and bundled him into a transit van. He was driven to the Stansted airport, where he was to be flown as diplomatic baggage to Lagos to face charges of allegedly stealing $1 billion.

His captors handcuffed him, drugged him, and stuffed him, in chains, into a specially made crate with a doctor by his side maintaining a tube on his throat to keep him alive.

The plot flopped when Charles Marrow, the British Customs officer, suspected foul play, got the police to abort the trip. The Buhari junta denied any role in the failed mission, which resulted in a major diplomatic spat between Nigeria and Britain for two years.

The then British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, protested to the Federal Military Government of Nigeria over the kidnapping which is seen as an inexcusable, if not inexplicable abuse of diplomatic status.

Difficult situation

Mr Hananiya, the former Nigerian High Commissioner in London, was at the centre of the storm during the abduction saga.

He quoted an Editorial by the Telegraph, a British broadsheet newspaper, captured the difficult situation he found himself in.

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Whether positive or negative, any response by the Nigerian High Commissioner to the question of waiving diplomatic immunity on the accused persons was bad for him.

If he refused, everyone would assume that the Nigerian government was indeed involved in the plot to kidnap Dikko.and if he agreed and Nigerian diplomats were interviewed by the police and subsequently prosecuted and convicted, the morals of Major General Buharis regime will not be at a premium, the Telegraph had opined.

The diplomat, however, chose to defend his country, a decision that made him lose his job as a High Commissioner.

Frosty diplomatic relationship with the UK

When the abduction of Mr Dikko failed, the British police promptly detained Nigeria Airways aircraft and arrested four persons in connection to the issue. In retaliation, the Nigerian government also detained a commercial British Caledonian plane carrying 220 passengers in Lagos.

The four men  three Israeli nationals and one Nigerian national  were charged with kidnapping  a common-law offence and with administering drugs with intent to kidnap.

When the trials were finally concluded, Alexander Barak, an Israeli described as the leader of the kidnap group, bagged 14 years jail term. Two of his compatriots, Lew Arie Shapiro and Felix Abitbol, received 10 years each, while Mohammed Yesufu, a Nigerian, was sentenced to 12 years.

The Nigerian and Israeli governments have always denied involvement in the kidnapping.

The British government also implicated two members of the Nigerian High Commission diplomatic staff members, Peter Oyedele, and Okon Edet, as having engaged in activities incompatible with their status. They requested Messrs Oyedele and Edet to leave the United Kingdom within one week.

Nigeria responded similarly by asking that two persons from the British High Commission also leave Nigeria within the same period. Nigeria further asked the British High Commissioner to Nigeria to return to London while Mr Hananiya was recalled and reassigned to another post.

The Book  All Eyes On Me

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported a part of the book where Mr Hananiya explained why the then Buhari regime hurriedly promulgated the infamous Public Officers Protection Against False Accusation law, popularly known as Decree 4 in 1984.

It was under the stringent law that Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson  two reporters with The Guardian  were tried and jailed for refusing to divulge the source of a story published by the newspaper.

Mr Buhari had planned to appoint Mr Hananiya and seven other top military officers for posting as ambassadors. But, in their exclusive report, The Guardian reported the regimes plan to replace Mr Hananiyas name with that of another General, IBM Haruna.

Angered by this exclusive report, Mr Buhari applied the law under Decree Four to try and subsequently jail the two journalists.

In the book, All Eyes on Me, Mr Hananiya has confirmed that There was indeed an attempt to replace my name with Harunas (another army General) as the High Commissioner to the UK.

He added that: The Guardian story was indeed accurate and that the journalists were punished not for any professional infraction but rather for the embarrassment the information leakage caused the duo of Buhari and his then deputy, the late Major General Tunde Idiagbon.

In another section of the book, Mr Hananiya wrote about the critical role that military engineers played during the civil war when they led in opening new routes, dismantling mines, and constructing bridges so that the fighting troops could move without any hindrance.

Overall, while All Eyes On Me may be the story of one man, Olusegun Adeniyi, who wrote the foreword to the book, noted: It is also, in several respects, the story of Nigeria and some of the choices that have led us to where we are today.

Mr Adeniyi, a former spokesperson to the late President Umar Yaradua and chairman of Thisday Newspapers editorial board, describes Mr Hananiyas book as highly revealing.
Five PDP northern aspirants on Friday joined 12 others for screening for the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled for May 28.

The 17 presidential hopefuls are a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar and two former Senate Presidents, Bukola Saraki and Pius Anyim. Four state governors, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto, Nyesom Wike of Rivers, and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom. Two former state governors, Peter Obi of Anambra and Ayo Fayose of Ekiti.

Also on the list are a journalist, Dele Momodu; businessman and banker, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen; a pharmacist, Sam Ohuabunwa; a lawyer, Ugwu Okwudili; two lawmakers, Chikwendu Kalu and Ndukwe Cosmos; a businessman, Nwachukwu Amakwenze; and the only woman among them, Oliver Tariela Diana.

Consensus mirage

But for the collapse of a deal among four of the PDP northern aspirants, only two of them would have presented themselves for the screening by their party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

The so-called consensus deal, initiated by Mr Tambuwal, collapsed after the Sokoto governor became alarmed at the direction it was taking, sources close to the principal actors exclusively told PREMIUM TIMES.

But when he demanded that the process be aborted, his colleagues and the man they had chosen as the midwife felt it was too late to do so.

According to his spokesperson, Bello Muhammad, it was Mr Tambuwal who first sold the idea to Mr Saraki.

They then approached the Bauchi governor, who also bought into it. They were later joined by Mr Hayatu-Deen, who was a later entrant into the presidential race.

He (Governor Tambuwal) initiated it. About two weeks before their first meeting in Bauchi (March 28), His Excellency went to see Saraki in Lagos.

They were in the meeting for about two hours. Later they went to meet Governor Bala (Mohammed) and they did two or three shuttles to Bauchi before they decided to go and meet Babangida, Mr Muhammad said.

According to an aide of one of the other aspirants, who declined to be named to avoid aggravating a dispute among brothers who may still have to work together, the goal was to help the PDP reduce the number of aspirants to something it can better manage.

The aide, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, confirmed that Governor Tambuwal initiated the idea. He said the younger aspirants from the North agreed to demonstrate their willingness to sacrifice their ambitions to save the PDP from a rancorous presidential primary.

They believe having too many aspirants on the ballot at the primary can cause confusion and make reconciliation difficult after the nomination.

You know, that was the same spirit that was exhibited in the APC in 2014. Aspirants like Saraki and Tambuwal stepped aside from the APC presidential primary in Lagos and at the end of the day, only two strong aspirants, Atiku and Kwankwaso (former Kano Governor Rabiu) challenged Buhari at the primary. So it was easy to get everybody behind Buhari after he won the primary.

Atiku left out

According to findings from other sources by this newspaper, the four PDP northern aspirants never planned to involve Mr Abubakar in the consensus deal.

In truth, they did not involve him. They knew he would be reluctant to step down if he is not the choice of the group. What they wanted was that the North should be represented by two aspirants, including Atiku, while

the South too could produce two, one of the sources said.

However, according to the source, at the first meeting of the three aspirants that started the process in Bauchi, they agreed to meet Atiku to assure him that they were not ganging up against him.

They also did not invite southern aspirants to be part of the consensus. They went around meeting southern PDP leaders just to explain what they were doing and urge them to consider producing their own consensus candidates, the source said.

However, Mr Tambuwal soon began to doubt the wisdom of his own involvement in the plan after they started meeting former military president, Ibrahim Babangida.

The consensus MoU

According to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) by the PDP northern aspirants involved, a copy of which our reporter saw, dated April 17, the aspirants made certain commitments, principal of which were to withdraw for and pool their structures and resources behind the consensus candidate, and to give that candidate the right of first refusal at the primary.

They initially agreed to refer any deadlock in the process to the national chairman of the party for settlement, but later substituted him for a respected northern leader, later identified as Mr Babangida.

That substitution apparently was made late as it was written with hand on the typewritten MoU, and probably led to the dispute with Mr Tambuwal as he was the only one of the four aspirants who did not sign the document.

It was not clear at what point the role of Mr Babangida changed from adjudicator over disputes to appointer of the consensus candidate.

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The PDP northern aspirants and Babangidas role

According to the aide who spoke in confidence, they agreed that Mr Babangida should help them to choose the consensus candidate in consultation with northern elders.

But IBB said because of his state of health, he would appoint somebody he trusts to carry out the consultation and that was why he chose Ango Abdullahi (a former vice chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria).

Mr Abdullahi later announced that the governor of Bauchi and Mr Saraki had been selected as the consensus candidates, drawing instant rebuttal from Mr Tambuwal.

According to Mr Abdullahi, the four aspirants had given Mr Babangida the mandate to lead the process for a consensus, and agreed to abide by the outcome of the decision.

Mr Abdullahi said the choices were made after several consultations with northern stakeholders and a three-phase approach.

In the first phase, the opinions of six distinguished persons each from the three geopolitical zones were sought with regards to each of the four aspirants. Each of the zonal delegates were allocated two votes to choose the first and second choice making a total of 36 votes overall. The outcome of that consultation was as follows: 7 votes for candidate (A) Aminu Waziri; 10 votes for candidate (B) Bala Muhammed; 10 votes for candidate (C) A-B Saraki; 5 votes for candidate (D) M Hayatu-deen, the report reads.

One of the elders deferred his votes on grounds of continuing consultations with traditional rulers and other major stakeholders. Two members did not cast their second ballots bringing the total to 32 votes casted out of 36.

Mr Abdullahi said the second phase of the exercise involved zonal assessment based on regions which was concluded as follows:

North Central  (Eight);

North East- (Seven);

North West  (Two);

One is still under consultation. For the third phase of the exercise, the consultations involved looking

into the past experiences of the PDP in terms of northern candidates.

Mr Abdullahi said he submitted recommendations to Mr Babangida, who approved them.

It was resolved that a leading aspirant from the North Central and one from the North East are to be presented as northern presidential candidates. The two would in turn be required to make further concessions so that in the end one of them would be presented as the consensus candidate, out of the four that presented themselves from the North, he said.

For the purpose of this exercise, it is hereby resolved that Governor Bala Mohammed from the North East and former Senate President Bukola Saraki from the North Central be presented as the northern consensus candidates for the moment.

The successful aspirants are hereby urged to work together to make allowance for further consultations to foster understanding among themselves, and the PDP community to ensure a rancor free primaries in

which all eligible candidates would be free to exercise their right.

Tambuwal, Hayatu-Deen kick

Instantly rejecting the announcement through a statement by Nicholas Msheliza for his campaign organisation, Mr Tambuwal said the outcome was not the agreement reached at a previous meeting of the four aspirants.

The attention of Tambuwal Campaign Organisation (TCO) has been drawn to a news item that former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Governor Bala Muhammad of Bauchi state have emerged as consensus candidates from amongst the four of us announced at a meeting in Minna, Niger state.

This is, to be candid and forthright, not correct. The correct situation is that the team met on Wednesday, 20th April, 2022, at Bauchi Governors lodge in Abuja and had a review meeting; and, unanimously agreed that the consensus arrangement was not working.

The team further agreed that Senator Saraki should come up with a draft statement on how to communicate this decision to the Nigerian public. This was the last time that members of the team sat and mutually agreed on anything. The proposed meeting to review and vet the statement scheduled for 10 pm of the same day was aborted unilaterally by Senator Saraki via a WhatsApp message.

However, on Thursday, April 21st, 2022, same Senator Saraki circulated yet another WhatsApp message suggesting that members of the team should head to Minna for a meeting on Friday. Gov Tambuwal reached other members of the team and informed them that he stands by the decision of the team that the initiative is not working.

This is the reason Gov. Tambuwal was absent at todays (Friday) meeting in Minna. As a result, therefore, the outcome of the Minna meeting has no consequence or any implication on the aspiration of Gov. Tambuwal, who had earlier on informed his colleagues of maintaining their agreed position that the initiative has collapsed.

Members of the public should be reminded that what was canvassed for was a consensus candidate and not consensus candidates. For the avoidance of doubt, Gov Tambuwal has submitted his presidential nomination forms and now that the quest for a consensus candidate out of the four has clearly collapsed, will go ahead and face screening and indeed contest the PDP presidential primary.

This is in consonance with his acclaimed outlook as a pan-Nigerian candidate, with pedigree of national service as the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, life member of the Body of Benchers and now in

his second and final term as Governor of Sokoto state.

Mr Hayatu-Deen also issued a similar statement distancing himself from the decision.

In the statement issued by Isa Galaudu of his campaign organisation, he said the aspirants had parted ways on the issue.

For the record, it must be stated that the four candidates seeking a consensus had agreed that the process had collapsed prior to this announcement. The candidates could not reach a compromise resulting in the decision of our principal, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, and Governor Aminu Tambuwal to discontinue the process.

The purpose of the meeting yesterday (Saturday) was for candidates who participated in the consensus process to express their gratitude to the Northern Elders for their efforts in seeking a consensus.

Unfortunately, one of the candidates had other plans which led to a press the conference that misrepresented the outcome of the closed-door meeting.

After this announcement, we consulted with the Northern Elders Forum and agreed that the campaign of Mohammed Hayatu-Deen would henceforth proceed independently to maintain the sanctity and integrity of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The sham news conference we witnessed yesterday reiterates the fact that Nigeria needs a new breed of leaders. We believe that true leadership should be built on the principles of truth, integrity, and equity.

Going forward, the focus of our candidate, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, is to prove to our great party and Nigerians in general that he is the best man for the job, as we proceed towards a truly democratic process at the PDP primaries.

Despite their claims, PREMIUM TIMES findings indicate that the two rejected the outcome after realising it did not favour them.

Influential Generals

Mr Babangida is said to be working with some former military generals who are said to be influential in the PDP and were believed to have swung the 2018 primaries of the party in the direction of Mr Abubakar.

According to sources, these generals were said to have drawn a portrait of their next preferred candidate to exclude Messes Abubakar and Tambuwal.

They want the next president to be below 60 in age and from either the North Central or North East, two northern zones that have not produced the president in the Fourth Republic.

Insisting that Mr Tambuwal wanted out of the consensus search before the controversial outcome was announced, his spokesperson, Mr Muhammad, said they all realised it was an exercise in futility.

These guys set their own rules. They decided to be together and if they decided to call it quits, whats the problem? They said they wanted to go to Minna to tell Babangida, but he (Mr Tambuwal) said he was not going. Then you went to Minna and came out with something different. That is ungentlemanly, Mr Muhammad said.

What next

Meanwhile, it is not clear whether the two consensus candidates will proceed to the next stage of the exercise which is for them to agree between themselves on who to carry the torch for the North at the PDP primary.

Both Messrs Saraki and Mohammed were scheduled to appear at the screening on Friday before Mr Tambuwal, who at No 16 was scheduled to come only before Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) commenced the screening of 17 presidential aspirants on its platform on Friday.

This is ahead of the partys primary election next month.

The party however, disqualified two aspirants.

The process, coordinated by the presidential screening committee, held at Legacy House, Abuja.

The aspirants appeared before the panel led by former Senate President, David Mark.

And at the end of the exercise, Mr Mark told journalists that of the 17 aspirants, two were disqualified.

He, however, failed to disclose the aspirants or the reasons for which they were eliminated.

Among the aspirants screened were former vice president, Atiku Abubakar; former Senate Presidents, Bukola Saraki and Pius Anyim; former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi; Bauchi and Sokoto State Governors, Bala Mohammed and Aminu Tambuwal.

Others were River State Governor, Nyesom Wike; publisher, Dele MomodU; former banker, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen; pharmacist, Sam Ohabunwa, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom and the only female presidential aspirant, Olivia Tariela.

Also screened were former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose; a lawyer, Charles Okwudili; Chikwendu Kalu and Cosmos Ndukwe.

Part of the screening process is the verification of aspirants membership status and other vital credentials, Mr Anyim told journalists after his turn.

He described the process as peaceful and commended members of the panel.

Mr Mohammeds songs of praise for the committee and the party was no different.

When asked about the controversy surrounding his emergence as one of the consensus candidates for the North, the governor said he would wait for the PDP to make a decision.

He also appreciated what he called the attestation he has received from northern leaders.

While he pledged to run the race without rancour and violence against another contender, Mr Mohammed maintained that he would likely not run should the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, decide to join the race.

Take a bow

Mr Momodu, who was given the traditional off the hook treatment. was asked to take a bow and go, so he told journalists after his screening.

He said after they checked the originals of his documents and then said take a bow to his surprise.

ALSO READ: How consensus deal of northern PDP presidential aspirants collapsed

The chairman said he was impressed with my powerful articles which speak the minds of Nigerians.

He assured that he will not step down for anyone and urged delegates not to sell their conscience.

On his part, Peter Obi said he will not impose himself on delegates as he admonished them to reflect on the nation and decide what to do to guarantee a better future.

And on zoning, he said the party has the final say.

I cant have a thought. Im a member of a party. If the party says this is where they want the party to go. If you are a member of an organisation, you respect that organisation and that is why I said whatever we do.

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Ms Tariela was, however, firm on her thoughts on zoning  which she believes should be given to women.

The men have been in power for 61 years. It is about time they zone it to a woman.

The screening took place behind closed doors.

The party has fixed May 14 for the primary.

It has, however, remained silent on its decision on zoning as well as the mode of elections that will be used at the primary.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and troops of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, have arrested a six-man gang specialising in vandalising rail line tracks in Enugu State.

The NSCDC spokesperson in Enugu, Denny Manuel, disclosed this on Thursday.

He said the joint operatives rounded the vandals up at Ubahu community in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State.

The civil defence identified the suspects as Zakari Ishaka (25); Amadu Danladi (40); Abdulkareem Haruna (19); Ousman Idris (19); Musa Hamza (23) and Arma Yau Magaji (42).

The security operatives arrested them on April 22, Mr Manuel said.

The suspects were arrested after a sustained surveillance and intelligence gathering.

They were arrested while conveying vandalised railway slippers belonging to the Nigeria Railway Corporation, Eastern District, Enugu, in a truck with registration number BSA 189 XA.

The suspects were arrested with the help of troops of the Nigerian Army following a tip-off by NSCDC intelligence officers.

Items recovered from the suspects include some sizeable quantity of rail slippers and rail tracks cut to size and other railway materials and a truck, the NSCDC spokesperson said.

Mr Manuel said the suspects had been assisting in investigations to unravel other culprits.

He added that the NSCDC Commandant in Enugu State, Valentine Afrika, had reemphasised the resolve of the corps to deal decisively with those vandalising or tampering with social infrastructure.

I am reminding members of the public that they have a crucial role to play in assisting security agencies with credible information on activities of criminals, especially public utility vandals, Mr Manuel quoted the commandant as saying.

(NAN)
The candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the June 18 Ekiti State governorship election, Wole Oluyede, has raised concerns over the level of indebtedness of the state, warning that the situation could hamper its future development.

According to him, with N88 billion in accumulated debts through loans and an additional N37.8 billion owed to pensioners and other workers, it would require ingenuity and innovative policies to get the state back on its feet economically.

Mr Oluyede, an Australia-based medical doctor, is seeking to become the governor of Ekiti State.

He told journalists on Thursday in Ikere Ekiti that the state may find it a herculean task to develop if it continues to rely solely on federal allocations to drive development.

As I was told, the state had borrowed up to N88 billion. We have 2.3 million well-educated persons having nothing to do. If all Ekiti is to share from the N2.3 billion monthly allocation, then it amounts to N1,100 per month and N35 per day. This is extreme poverty and there is no plan on how to get out of this, he said.

Our politicians are no longer talking about how to improve our IGR. Our election is now see and buy. Until we gain the insight and believe that we are poor, we are not going to solve our problem.

Mr Oluyede promised to carry out radical development by focusing on wealth creation, encouraging commercial agriculture, attract investments, and make education impressive by giving requisite motivations to teachers.

He said if elected governor, he would allow local government autonomy.

Why are local governments not autonomous? If government is local, then development will be local, he said.

If elected governor, all the LGs allocations will go to them directly to bring development. Too much control of government makes things difficult. We must make government more accessible to people by removing bottlenecks, that is what is obtainable the world over.

Mr Oluyede said under his administration, students will have access to informal and formal education.

We need to have an education system that is geared towards problem-solving, he said.

In Britain, UK, Australia, and China, they started teaching students how to solve problems from age three.

In the area of health, our hospitals will be equipped based on needs and not by just purchasing equipment that will not be useful. We will ensure effective communication among the primary, secondary, and tertiary health institutions for quality healthcare delivery.

Mr Oluyede was a former member of the All Progressives Congress but dumped the party after he failed to pick the governorship ticket.

He had alleged that the APCs process of picking candidates was corrupt.
The police in Ondo have arrested one Sunday Udoh, 38, alleged to have been sexually abusing his 15-year-old daughter, in Ile-Oluji town.

Police officers arrested the suspect at a health centre in Ile-Oluji where he had allegedly gone to get an abortion for the pregnant girl.

A statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, Funmilayo Odunlami, on Friday, said they arrested Mr Udoh on April 26.

During investigation, it was revealed that the suspect was attempting to procure abortion for her daughter (name withheld) of about 15 years old whom he has been having sexual intercourse with.

The case is currently being handled by the Gender Office of the State Criminal Investigation Department in Akure.

Last week, the police in the state arrested a 27-year-old father, Adeniyi Adeleke, for allegedly raping his 10-year-old daughter.

Police said investigations showed that Mr Adeleke carried out the act for ritual purposes.

Earlier in February, a 45-year-old trader, Akinyemi Akinrotoye, was arrested by the police in Ondo after allegedly raping his 12-year-old daughter.

Mr Akinrotoye was arrested by policemen from the Enu-Owa Police Division in Ondo town, Ondo West Local Government Area of Ondo State.

A teacher at Saint Peters Primary School in Ondo town, where the victim was a student, reported a case of child abuse to the police after noticing some changes in the child.
The South-West leaders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) have rejected the appointment of Olu Agunloye as the acting National Secretary of the party.

The leaders made this known in a statement on Friday in Akure by their spokesperson, Dele Ogunbamerun, who is also the chairman of the Ondo State chapter of the party.

They claimed that Mr Agunloye, a former Minister of State for Defence (Navy), had been suspended by his ward(Ward 10) in Akoko North-west Local Government Area of Ondo State over alleged anti-party activities.

The party leaders noted that Mr Agunloyes alleged involvement in anti-party activities and disregard for the partys constitution, were not acceptable, which necessitated his suspension.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Agunloye, who had resigned as the acting national chairman, was appointed the acting national secretary of the party.

The embattled chieftain and former minister of power and steel said his resignation was to strengthen the partys chances ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The party leaders, however, said that Mr Agunloyes appointment as national secretary of the party was null and void following his suspension.

The leaders, however, commended the party for appointing Sheu Musa Gabam as the acting National Chairman pending its forthcoming congress.

We hail the emergence of Alhaji Musa Gabam as National Chairman from the position of National Secretary in the absence of the Deputy National Chairmen and after noting the voluntary resignation of Agunloye.

The emergence of Agunloye as the acting national secretary is on a faulty ground, an insult to the SDP Constitution and embarrassment to party faithful in Ondo State.

Agunloye has been duly suspended and he cannot be appointed into any position as long as his suspension subsists, the party leaders said.

They urged the leadership of the party to save it from further embarrassment and give the South-west opportunity to nominate a suitable candidate for the position of the national secretary.

While resignation is allowed in the constitution of SDP, swapping is not part of our constitution.

The resolution at the National Executive Council (NEC) is that since a presidential candidate is coming from the Southern part of the country, all party positions for the North in the current zoning arrangements should go to the South and vice versa.

The implications of this is that what moves is position and not individual, and it can only be effected during the congress.

Now that Dr Agunloye has resigned, he is neither the national chairman nor the national secretary, they stated.

(NAN)
The Lagos State Government on Friday demolished shops and other structures constructed under the burnt Apongbon Bridge on Lagos Island.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a fire razed the bridge on March 23 because of the activities of the traders, leading the Federal and the Lagos State governments to issue a seven-day eviction notice to the traders with shops under the bridge.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had, on March 27, given the traders a three-day ultimatum to vacate or risk demolition of their shops.

NAN reports that as early as 9.00 a.m. on Friday, the Lagos State Taskforce had moved to the site with their bulldozers, and began demolishing the shops.

Security officials, in their patrol vehicles, monitored the demolition of the shops and other structures.

The officials did not allow shop owners and traders in the shops across the road from the bridge to open for business.

Also, the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) personnel were on the ground to clear the rubble from the demolished structures into their waiting vans.

One of the displaced shop owners, Theophilus Best, said they could not fight the government for demolishing the shops, adding that he, however, prayed that the government would move them to a new site.

Mr Best, who is a wholesale margarine/butter trader, said since the fire incident, he had been sharing a shop with his friend.

I believe once there is life, there is hope for me and others affected, he said.

Another affected trader, Ifeanyi Okoye, who sells baking ingredients, appealed to the state government to move them to a new site where they would continue their trading.

Mr Okoye said since the government announced its intention to demolish the shops at the site, he had packed some of his goods that were not affected by the fire to a temporary site.

(NAN)
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos on Friday picked the All Progressives Congress (APC) Gubernatorial Nomination and Expression of Interest forms.

James Faleke, a lawmaker representing Ikeja Federal Constituency, picked the forms for the governor at the APCs national secretariat in Abuja.

Mr Faleke also picked presidential Expression of Interest and Nominations forms for Bola Tinubu, the APC national leader.

He was accompanied by a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, and hundreds of members of the Tinubu Support Groups (TSG) to the partys secretariat.

Tayo Ayinde, the governors chief of staff, presented the governorship Expression of Interest and Nominations forms to him at the Lagos Governors Lodge, Asokoro.

The Governance Advisory Council (GAC), the Lagos APC apex leadership body, had earlier unanimously endorsed Mr Sanwo-Olu for a second term.

The governor has also received endorsement from prominent individuals and groups in the last few weeks, urging him to contest for a second term.
Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, says he will appoint a Minister of Stomach Infrastructure if he emerges president of Nigeria.

Mr Fayose stated this while speaking with journalists shortly after his appearance before the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Screening Committee in Abuja, on Friday.

The panel screened 17 aspirants in Abuja.

The former governor said that when the committee asked him about his stomach infrastructure policy while he was governor of Ekiti State, he made it very clear that it would be part of his policies if he emerged president.

I made it clear that I will have a minister for stomach infrastructure and welfare of the people, he stated.

He, however, added that as much as tarring roads and providing other infrastructure was good, that would not be sufficient for hungry citizens.

So, for me, stomach infrastructure is part of being supportive of the ordinary Nigerian. Stomach infrastructure under my watch as president of Nigeria will be a major theme.

No one is saying here that you will not do the needful in terms of developing the country, part of development is the welfare and well-being of the people.

Stating his position on zoning, Mr Fayose insisted that for posteritys sake, PDP must zone its presidential ticket in order not to confuse in the future.

According to him, even if the party wants everyone to contest, it should officially make a pronouncement and zone it to the southern part of Nigeria.

He recalled that in 1999, the presidential ticket was zoned to the south when former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae were in the race, but Abubakar Rimi still contested within the ambit of the Constitution.

But the party must remember that whatever we do today, will speak for us or stand against us tomorrow.

The system is not functioning in our country; the institutions are not functioning, that is why we have all these problems.

We must be courageous enough to say this is going to South, and If you want to contest, the Nigerian constitution still gives you the leverage, the opportunity to do so. I support zoning this time to southern Nigeria.

Mr Fayose said with the incumbent president from the north, it was only logical for the south to produce the next president, saying this was not about the party, but about Nigerias best interest and stability.

(NAN)
The absence of the defence lawyer, on Friday, stalled the trial of an alleged self-proclaimed army general, Bolarinwa Abiodun, on fraud charges.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused Mr Abiodun of fraudulently obtaining N266.5 million from the man who reported the matter to the commission.

The defendant faces 12 charges of fraud, forgery, among others, at the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja,

The alleged victim of the fraud, Bamidele Safiriyu, had testified at the previous sitting as the first prosecution witness, telling the court how Mr Abiodun allegedly defrauded him by posing as a son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The trial judge, Oluwatoyin Taiwo, had then adjourned the matter until Friday for the cross-examination of the witness by the defence team.

Failed cross-examination

But the defence lawyer was absent from court on Friday, making the scheduled cross-examination of the prosecution witness impossible, EFCCs spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement.

He called my brother that he is not feeling great, the defendant said when asked queried about his lawyer.

The prosecuting lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, expressed disappointment at the defence lawyers absence.

He was also unhappy that the defence lawyer allegedly failed to put a phone call through to give prior notice of his absence ahead of the proceedings.

When I found out he wasnt in court, I contacted him, and he seemed really animated, Mr Oyedepo.

He added that the lawyer gave an impression that he had sent his junior to represent him at the proceedings.

Mr Oyedepo, who told the court that there were two prosecution witnesses in court to testify, said further, My lord, we have undertaken not to delay this matter and we stand by our word.

Also expressing shock at the attitude of the defence counsel, the judge said: The court is not a marketplace where you can just do anyhow.

Mrs Taiwo adjourned the trial until May 4 and 6.

Charges

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the EFCC arraigned the defendant on 12 charges on April 12, this year.

EFCC accused him of obtaining money by false pretence, forgery of documents and possession of documents containing false pretence, among other charges.

The commission said the alleged fraud, involving about N266,500,000, was reported by Mr Safiriyu and his firm, Kodef Clearing Resources.

It said the defendant made false representations to the complainants that President Muhammadu Buhari had short-listed him and one other to be appointed as the Chief of Army Staff, COAS.

It also said the defendant allegedly told the complainant that he needed a grant to press and process the appointment.

Mr Abiodun, who was arrested at his house in the Alagbado area of Lagos State on Wednesday, January 12, 2022, also allegedly forged a letter of appointment as COAS purportedly signed by the president and showed the same to the victim to further prove his claim.

In the said letter, he was said to have claimed that he needed to pay a certain amount of money into the coffers of the Federal Government of Nigeria, as part of the requirements for the appointment as COAS.

Mr Abiodun is also alleged to have, in May 2020, forged a Nigeria Army Identity Card with serial number 387140, claiming the same to have been issued to him from the Nigerian Army.

He also allegedly forged a Letter of Recommendation purportedly signed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo recommending one Adebayo Rasaq Adebola, with recruitment No 77RRI/OG/556/0032555 and Adeogun Emmanuel Adesola with recruitment No 77RRI/OG/352/0123751 for employment into the Nigeria Army.

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The alleged offences are said to be contrary to section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act 2006; section 363 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015 and Section 6 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act No 14 of 2006, respectively.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
A total of 17 persons have died and 23 injured within two days in separate accidents on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

On Friday, seven persons died while nine others sustained injuries in an accident involving a Mazda bus and a truck at the Ogunmakin axis of the expressway.

The crash came a day after six persons died and one injured at the Kara area of the expressway.

A few hours earlier, a Toyota Hiace bus went up in flames, killing four persons and injuring 13 others at the Fidiwo area of Ogunmakin.

Latest crash

The latest crash, on Friday, involved a Mazda bus with LSR 696 XS as its registration number and a truck with registration number T-4889 LA.

The FRSCs Sector Commander in Ogun, Ahmed Umar, blamed the accident on excessive speeding and loss of control by the bus driver, which made him ram into the moving truck ahead of him.

A total 16 persons, 15 of them male adults, were involved in the accident.

Five men were injured while six men and one woman died in the mishap, he said.

Mr Umar said they took the injured victims to Victory Hospital, Ogere, Ogun, for treatment while the deceased were deposited at FOS morgue in Ipara, also in Ogun.

The sector commander described the crash as avoidable if the bus driver had not sped excessively on the slippery highway as it was raining at the time of the accident.

Mr Umar commiserated with the families of the crash victims and also enjoined them to contact the FRSC command in Ogunmakin area for details and reclaim the belongings of the victims recovered from the scene. (NAN)
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to embark on a three-day nationwide warning strike, in solidarity with affiliate unions in the universities and Nigerian students.

The unions threat is contained in a communique jointly signed by its President, Ayuba Wabba, and its General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, and issued to journalists Thursday in Abuja.

The communique was issued at the end of the Congress Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NLC had on April 13, given the Federal Government 21 days within which to set up a High-Powered Panel to resolve the issues that were causing incessant strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and others.

According to the CWC, the NLC has threatened to hold protests against the lingering ASUU strike within the subsisting 21days ultimatum.

This is also occasioned by governments failure to honour agreements reached with trade unions in our universities.

If at the end of the national protest and the 21 days ultimatum, the Federal Government fails to resolve the industrial crises in Nigerias universities, the Congress would be left with no other option than to embark on three days nationwide warning strike.

This is in solidarity with our affiliates in the universities and with Nigerian students, whose future and wellbeing are being jeopardised, it stated.

The CWC said the protest was to draw the attention of the government to the inherent catastrophe in the emerging culture of social apartheid in the society, by prolonged lockout from academics of students from poor homes.

It also said affiliates of the NLC were to issue public statements condemning the intermittent strikes in Nigerias universities.

According to the union, this current one which has gone on for about two months is worrisome.

The CWC also described the current insecurity as totally unacceptable and called on the government to rein in the monstrous cancer before it consumes the entire country.

It called for the declaration of an all-out war against terrorists and their sponsors, including those who diverted funds meant to fight insurgency.

It further called on the government to focus on the immediate release from captivity, of all abducted citizens, while also calling on them to nip in the bud current intelligence on the threat by terrorists to resort to mass bombings.

The CWC, however, called on the governments of Taraba, Cross River and Zamfara states, to immediately commence payment of the arrears of the national minimum wage owed their workers.

It also called on the Abia government to immediately clear the backlog of pension arrears owed retirees in the state.

The CWC, therefore, called on all employers of labour to respect the sanctity of work by ensuring prompt payment of workers salaries and entitlements.

The CWC also reiterated the readiness of Nigerian workers to use their Permanent Voter Cards to vote only for candidates and political parties that subscribe to the Nigerian Workers Charter of Demands.

It further called on major political parties selling forms for political offices to the highest bidder, to rescind such decisions immediately

The CWC also felicitated workers on the commemoration of the 2022 International Workers Day, with a promise to communicate to workers if there were any changes to the date of celebration of the 2022 May Day.

(NAN)

JAN/KOO/DOR
The Minister of Transportation and presidential aspirant, Rotimi Amaechi, met with the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos on Thursday to seek its support.

Mr Amaechi said he was in Lagos to seek support, though he knew that the state is the base of APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, who is also in the race.

Responding, the APC chairman in the state, Cornelius Ojelabi, appealed to APC aspirants to tread softly and work together to save the party from collapse.

He urged the foundation members to assemble themselves and assess the critical situation that the APC had found itself.

Those of you that laboured to face the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), should assemble yourself again and critically assess the situation we now find found ourselves.

Today, the APC is at a crossroads as we are transiting from one president to another.

We all must get it so that what happened to PDP in 2015 will not be our fate, he said.

Mr Ojelabi noted that Lagos State is the only state in the Southwest that had consistently contributed votes to the progressives fold since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy after 16 years of unbroken military rule.

We have remained consistent in delivering Lagos State to the progressives because we have always voted according to conscience, Mr Ojelabi added.

The chairman promised to convey the ministers message to the leadership of the party in the state.

l am going to convey your message to the leadership of our party that today, I received an August visitor towards the tail end of April and this is his mission, Mr Ojelabi said.

(NAN)
Hundreds of residents of Magazu and Marke communities in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State have fled their homes over the incessant raids and attacks of gunmen, locally called bandits.

Residents of the areas told PREMIUM TIMES that Magazu, one of the biggest wards in Tsafe, is deserted.

According to the sources, tired of the unrelenting attacks by the gunmen, people began deserting the town on Thursday evening. By Friday morning almost everyone in the town has fled.

Bandit attacks in Tsafe Local Government are more frequent than in other parts of Zamfara, which is plagued by worsening insecurity.

The gunmen, who operate across Nigerias north-west region, have killed thousands of people and injured even more. They sack villages, and farmlands, and rustle livestock. They impose levies on communities before they may farm and defaulters are either killed or abducted.

The gunmen also operate a widespread kidnap-for-ransom operation across the entire region. They specifically target travellers, students of educational institutions, and government offices.

Experts say their kidnap-for-ransom operation is perhaps the worst in the countrys history.

As the government fails to protect residents of the areas, many communities have set up vigilante groups to resist the bandits. However, this has worsened the security challenges in the area as it has given rise to an explosion of tit-for-tat killings between the bandits (who are mostly of Fulani extraction) and the vigilante groups set up by the majority of Hausa communities in the area.

Were under constant attack

Abubakar Magazu, a resident who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES through the phone on Friday afternoon, said residents of the towns unanimously decided to leave.

He said residents unanimously decided to leave after some bandits raided the town on Wednesday and abducted more than 30 people.

Let me be honest with you, these people will never allow us to rest. Theyve stopped us from going to farms and markets and now, theyll not even allow us to live in peace.

On Wednesday, they came to our town immediately after the Iftar (Muslim break of fast) and abducted over 30 residents and looted property. As big as this community is, nobody has more than two goats or any domestic animals in his house because the bandits have stolen them, he said.

He said the bandits attacked the town again Thursday night but did not abduct anyone.

Were always in fear, he said. After Wednesdays attack, we decided to leave the town. Some people started leaving yesterday (Thursday). They attacked again those of us who slept in the town yesterday, but I think they were there to scare us because they took nothing or anyone, he said.

A youth leader in Tsafe, Samaila Usman, said the residents from Magazu and Marke have been trooping into the local government headquarters as of Friday afternoon.

The police command spokesperson Mohammed Shehu didnt respond to calls and SMS sent to him on the issue
By Sun Xiaoshun and Liu Gang

A "wounded" peacekeeper is sent to the Chinese Level-II Hospital during an emergency rescue exercise jointly held by the 9th Chinese peacekeeping medical contingent to Mali and peacekeeping forces from different countries in Sector East of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) on April 25, 2022. (Photo by Sun Zhaoshun)

GAO, Mali, April 29 -- The 9th Chinese peacekeeping medical contingent to Maliand peacekeeping troops from other countries in the Sector East of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) jointly staged an emergency rescue drill code named Safeguarding Peace on April 25, local time.

With the scenario that a peacekeeping rapid response detachment was attacked while performing tasks outside the camp. The drill aimed to test the peacekeeping contingents' capabilities in coordinated operations such as rapid reinforcement, cross-regional transfer of the wounded, and emergency medical treatment. During the exercise, the Chinese peacekeeping medical contingent was assigned the task to rush to Gao International Airport to transfer the severely wounded to the Chinese Level-II Hospital run by the Chinese peacekeeping medical contingent for emergency treatment.

The exercise kicked off amid the sound of sirens and went on according to the pre-arranged planning. At 8:00 a.m., the duty room of the Chinese Level-II Hospital received an order from the Sector East of MINUSMA that a Jordanian peacekeeping rapid response detachment was attacked by a roadside bomb while performing tasks in the Ansongo area, and three soldiers were injured. One of the three was severely wounded and needed to be urgently transferred to the Chinese Level-II Hospital for emergency treatment. And the other two with minor injuries were to be transported to the German Level-I Hospital for treatment.

The Chinese peacekeeping medical contingent immediately launched an emergency treatment plan. Members of the evacuation team and security personnel hopped onto the armored ambulance in no time and rushed to the Gao International Airport to pick up the wounded. Around 8:45 a.m., the helicopter evacuating the severely wounded from Ansongo landed at the Gao International Airport. And the evacuation team members, under the guidance of team leader Jin Hai, immediately examined the injured and dressed his wounds before carrying him onto the ambulance and transferring him to the Chinese Level-II Hospital for further treatment.

Since arriving in the mission area, the 9th Chinese peacekeeping medical contingent has established a medical technical assistance mechanism with the local hospitals. The contingent also provided war-wound treatment skills training courses for peacekeeping units under the Sector East of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), striving to improve medical rescue and treatment capabilities of peacekeeping troops.

Medical staff treats the "wounded" in the Chinese Level-II Hospital during an emergency rescue exercise jointly held by the 9th Chinese peacekeeping medical contingent to Mali and peacekeeping forces from different countries in Sector East of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) on April 25, 2022. (Photo by Sun Zhaoshun)
Former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, has picked the expression of interest and nomination forms of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 presidential election.

James Faleke, a member of the House of Representatives, Dayo Adeyeye, the National Chairman, South-west Agenda for Tinubu 2023 presidential ambition (SWAGA), and Babachir Lawal, the disgraced former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, led the groups that picked the ticket on behalf of Mr Tinubu, who is currently in Saudi Arabia for the lesser hajj.

The group picked the form at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, where the forms are being sold to aspirants.

The governing party fixed the cost of the presidential nomination and expression of interest forms at N100 million.

Recently, the Director-General of Tinubu Support Organisation (TSO), Aminu Suleiman, had declared that he had already signed a cheque for the forms.

I, Hon. Aminu Suleiman (D.G TSO) would like to officially state that I have signed a cheque to the tune of 100 million naira, for the purchase of nomination and expression of interest form for our Leader @officialABAT. God bless, he tweeted.

Speaking to journalists after procuring the form, Mr Lawal said the group would not have paid N100 million for the form if they were not sure of winning.

He, however, said everyone is free to buy the form of the party.

Mr Tinubu had declared his intention to run for president in January after visiting President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.

He said it was his lifetime ambition to be the president of Nigeria.

Mr Tinubu will be jostling for the APC ticket alongside Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, former Imo State Governor and sitting senator, Rochas Okorocha, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba.

Others include Governors Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Ben Ayade of Cross River State, a senator, Ibikunle Amosun, former Senate President, Ken Nnamani.

Apart from Mr Tinubu, the other aspirants that have picked the forms so far are Messrs Nwajiuba, Umahi and Yahaya.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disqualified two presidential aspirants at the end of their screening on Friday.

The chairman of the presidential screening committee and former Senate President, David Mark, disclosed this to journalists at the Legacy House venue of the exercise in Abuja.

The panel had screened 17 aspirants  an exercise which lasted over 10 hours.

While Mr Mark told journalists that two of the 17 aspirants were disqualified, he failed to disclose the identities of the hopefuls.

We screened 17 aspirants. We cleared 15, two have not been cleared. Dont ask me those who have been cleared and those who have not been cleared because I wont tell you, he said.

Mr Mark , however, revealed that the two aspirants were disqualified because they didnt meet the requirements.

When asked how soon the panel will submit its report to the partys National Working Committee (NWC), the former Senate President simply said: this night.

The disqualified aspirants also have the right to appeal to the screening appeal committee set up by the party.

In all, Mr Mark said the panel was satisfied with the standard of the aspirants and whoever gets the ticket would win the election in 2023.

He also believes that nothing should stop female aspirants from emerging as flag bearers and presidents.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how aspirants commended the panel for their conduct during the exercise and expressed optimism at being victorious.

The aspirants screened included former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, former Senate Presidents, Bukola Saraki and Pius Anyim, former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi , Bauchi and Sokoto State Governors, Bala Mohammed and Aminu Tambuwal.

Others were River State Governor, Nyesom Wike, publisher, Dele Momodu, former banker, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, pharmacist, Sam Ohabunwa, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom and the only female presidential aspirant, Olivia Tariela.

Also screened were former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, a lawyer, Charles Okwudili, Chikwendu Kalu and Cosmos Ndukwe.

Part of the screening process is the verification of aspirants membership status and other vital credentials.

The party has fixed May 14 for the primary. It has, however, remained silent on its decision on zoning as well as the mode of elections that will be used at the primary.
President Muhammadu Buhari says the Federal Government would continue to vigorously pursue the repatriation of looted Nigerias artefacts from abroad, including 1,130 Benin Bronzes in Germanys public museums.

The President gave the assurance on Friday in Abuja while receiving the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, accompanied by members of the Royal Court of Benin and the Board of Trustees of the Benin Royal Museum.

His Royal Majesty was at State House to thank the President on the recent return of two important Benin Bronzes to its original place of abode by the University of Cambridge and the University of Aberdeen, both in the United Kingdom, after 125 years.

Speaking on the return of the artefacts, President Buhari expressed delight that it has brought immense goodwill and acclaim to Nigeria, the ancient Benin Kingdom as well as happiness to the Oba of Benin.

The President noted that while it is widely acknowledged around the world that some of the best ancient arts belong to Nigeria, including those from Benin, Ife, Nok and Igbo-Ukwu, many of these beautiful works were illicitly taken away, particularly during the colonial period.

Affirming that these great cultural and artistic works are records of history, the President vowed that Nigeria cannot permit these great works to become properties of others, adding that this administration has made it an important task to ensure the return of the artefacts.

The President, therefore, assured the first-class traditional ruler that the Federal Government will continue in this great cause with his support and that of other traditional rulers.

In furtherance to these efforts, an agreement between Nigeria and Germany is currently being prepared. When concluded, it will signify the return to Nigeria by Germany of all the 1,130 Benin Bronzes in Germanys public museums. This will be a monumental achievement.

Furthermore, on the 7th of this month, the Glasgow City Council agreed to return 17 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. The legal issues are in the process of being sorted out.

Other success stories include the return by the Netherlands in October 2020 of a 600-year-old Ife Terracotta; the return in April 2021 of a bronze piece from Mexico; as well as the repatriation, in November 2021, of two Benin Bronzes and an Ife Bronze head from the Metropolitan Museum, New York, the President said.

President Buhari announced that because of the determined efforts of this administration, Nigeria is now regarded to be in the forefront globally in the struggle to repatriate illicitly-exported artefacts back to their countries of origin.

The President acknowledged the efforts of officials of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments currently working with the Oxford University, the Great North Museum of Newcastle University, Rhode Island School and numerous other places on the modalities for the return of Nigerian antiquities, particularly the Benin Bronzes.

He expressed optimism that with careful planning and management, Nigeria can generate revenue from the repatriated antiquities.

We look forward to a future when these returned antiquities and our arts and culture shall be deployed in generating revenue for the nation.

I am glad to hear that the Ministry of Information and Culture and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) are already working towards this by reaching out to other nations and cultural institutions on traveling exhibitions to showcase the rich culture of Nigeria through these antiquities.

This can happen if officials in charge of these priceless artefacts take due care to maintain and preserve these treasures in good condition at all times, he said.

The Oba of Benin informed the President that his Royal Court has concluded plans with the NCMM to establish an ultramodern international standard Benin Royal Museum to house the Benin Bronzes and other artefacts for the purpose of preserving history, tourism and education.

We want to reassure Mr President that the Royal Court of Benin and NCMM are working closely to ensure safe custody, preservation and enhancement of these Benin bronzes and artefacts not only for their cultural and economic benefits, but more importantly towards the promotion of the tourism industry in Nigeria, he said.

The Royal Majesty reassured Nigerians that the Benin Bronzes and artefacts represent the countrys cultural heritage in particular and Africa in general, saying we hold these objects in trust as the original owners in conjunction with NCMM for the benefit of all.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, affirmed that Nigeria would continue to assert its rights over all its antiquities around the world.

He added that the country would not hesitate to implore nations, institutions, men and women of goodwill to see the unfairness in the affairs of one body holding on to the cultural property fashioned by the genius of another.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation. May the salutations of Allah, His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet, his family, his companions and his true and sincere followers until the Last Day  then to proceed:

Dear brothers and sisters! Eid-ul-Fitr or the Festival of breaking the fast is one of the most celebrated of all Muslim holidays, observed by over two billion Muslims around the world. During the entire month of Ramadan, Muslims observe a strict fast and participate in various pious activities such as charitable giving/Sadaqah, peacemaking, Quran recitation, Zikr, Tarawih/Qiyamul-lail etc. It is a time of intense spiritual renewal for those who observe it. At the end of Ramadan, Muslims throughout the world break their fast and celebrate their accomplishments in Eid-ul-Fitr.

Respected brothers and sisters! This year, 1443 AH/2022 Eid-ul-fitr is expected In Shaa Allah to be celebrated on Sunday, May 1 or Monday, May 2. However, the exact date is subject to the sighting of the moon of Shawwal, 1443 AH, the 10th month of the Islamic calendar, and the announcement from your countrys supreme Islamic leader.

Beloved servants of Allah! Eid-ul-Fitr, known as   in Arabic, is a religious festival for all Muslims around the world. Eid-ul-Fitr marks the end of noble month of Ramadan. Eid-ul-Fitr is Allahs reward for believers who fasted during the noble month of Ramadan. This is also believers thanking Allah for giving them the chance and the strength to carry out His commands during the blessed month of Ramadan. Traditionally, Eid-ul-Fitr is celebrated for three days in almost all Muslim countries.

Both Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-Al-Adha have great significance in Islam as the same is evident from the following Hadith, which was narrated by Anas Bin Malik (RA), who said:

Allah has given you better than those feasts (festivals of non-believers): the Eid-ul-Adha and Eid-ul-Fitr. [An-Nasai]

Remember one thing that Fasting on Eid days i.e. Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha is forbidden as the same is evident from the following Hadith, which was narrated by Abu Said Al-Khudri (RA), who said that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

No fasting is permissible on the two days of Eid-ul-Fitr and EId-ul-Adha. [Bukhari]

Since it is a religious festival, Muslims all over the world celebrate this event with much fervour and each countrys celebrations vary as there is an influence of their traditions. Muslims all over the world celebrate the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr by starting the day with the Eid prayer. After offering prayer, Muslim greet each other with the customary Eid greeting, Eid Mubarak. Everyone gets new clothes made for the special occasion because every single person wants to look his/her best. The day is spent with friends and family get-togethers, indulging in delicious feasts and handing out gifts also known as Sallah gifts or Barka da Sallah in hausa language.

Eid-ul-Fitr is a time of happiness and enjoyment; and this is also evident from the following Hadith, which was narrated by Aisha (RA), who reported that Prophet (Peace be upon him) said to Abu Bakr (RA) (On the day of Eid when Abu Bakr (RA) saw two girls were singing the stories about the Day of Buath in Madinah):

.. O Abu Bakr! Every people have their Eid and this is our Eid. [Bukhari]

In another narration, it is said that Allahs Messenger (Peace be upon him) said to Abu Bakr (RA):

Let them be O Abu Bakr, for these are days of Eid.

Religious scholars have differing opinions on Eid prayers. However, all Muslims should attend prayers of both Eids as most scholars, on the basis of strong evidence, is of opinion that it is Wajib (obligation). One of the purposes behind Eid Prayer is to provide an opportunity to a large number of Muslims to attend congregations in an atmosphere of religious piety. Apart from prayer, the Eid sermon (after Eid Prayer) has also been made an integral part of this gathering and the prayer.

It is important and compulsory for a Muslim to pay Zakatul Fitr or Sadaqatul Fitr before offering of Eid Prayer. [Bukhari]

The time for Eid Prayer begins from the time the sun is three meters above the horizon until the sun reaches its meridian. However, it is better to offer the prayer in the early hours after the sunrise. [Abu Dawud]

Know that, Eid Prayer is performed without any Iqamah or Azan. [Muslim]

And Eid prayer consists of two Rakaats (Two Units Prayer) during which Takbir (Allahu Akbar) is announced seven times. [Abu Dawud]

Rest of the Eid prayer is same as other prayer offered daily. After completing the prayer, it is Sunnah (some scholars say that it is Wajib/obligatory) to listen to the Sermon (Khutbah) after Eid Prayer. So one should stay for the Imams sermon to end after completing the Eid Prayer. After listening to the sermon, Muslims congratulate each other with greetings such as Eid Mubarak, Happy Eid, and   etc. However, the most common Eid Greeting Muslims like to wish their friends and fellow Muslims with, is Eid Mubarak.

A person should follow the teachings of the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) for every aspect of life. Same should also be applied for Eid Prayer. Following are some of the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) with regards to Eid prayer that every Muslim should follow:

1. Take a bath or perform ablution before going for prayer.

2. Use a toothbrush or Miswak to clean your mouth.

3. Wear your best clothes on this day.

4. Apply perfume.

5. Eat an odd number of dates before leaving for prayer of Eid-ul-Fitr. [Bukhari]

6. Make sure that you have paid Zakatul Fitr before offering Eid Prayer.

7. Recite the following Takbirats while going to and returning from Eid Prayer:

                 

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, la ilaha illallah, wallahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, walillahil hamd.

Meaning:

Allah is Most Great, Allah is most Great, Allah is most Great there is no god but Allah, Allah is Most great, Allah is most great, and to Allah be praise. [See Irwa Al Ghalil, vol. 3, page 125]

8. Listen to the Sermon (Khutbah) after offering Eid Prayer. [An-Nasai]

9. Use different ways while going to and returning from the Mosque (Eid ground) after offering Eid Prayer. [Bukhari]

Dear brothers and sisters! Narrated Ibn Umar (RA) that:

Allahs Messenger (Peace be upon him) made it incumbent (Wajib/obligatory) on all the servants or free Muslims, male or female, to pay one Sai of dates, barley or grain as Zakatul Fitr. [Bukhari]

According to above mentioned Hadith, Zakatul Fitr or Sadaqatul Fitr is Wajib/obligatory upon every Muslim including servant, freeman, male, female, young, new-born and old. Compulsion of Zakatul Fitr on a Muslim is same as the Nisab of normal Zakah (Nisab Is the exemption limit for the payment of Zakah).

The amount of Sadaqatul Fitr to be given by each person is an amount minimum or equivalent to one Sai of grain, barley or date. Sai is an ancient measure of volume and most common understanding is that one Sai is equivalent to approx. 2.25-2.5 KGs. However, Muslim scholars all around the world usually announce the amount of Zakatul Fitr to be paid during Ramadan.

As in normal Zakah, Zakatul Fitr is distributed among poor and needy Muslims. It is preferable to give Sadaqatul Fitr first to needy relatives, then to needy neighbours and then to other needy Muslims. And the Zakatul Fitr should be paid before the Eid Prayer.

Celebrate the day with your loved ones by indulging in delicious festive feasts and handing out gifts. Give out charity as much as you can so that your underprivileged Muslim brothers and sisters can also celebrate this blessed festival. And please remember the entire Ummah and your country in your prayers and your Duas (Supplications).

Dear brothers and sisters! We sincerely seek your financial support on the feeding and Eid-ul-fitr celebration in this blessed month of Ramadan. Your support is highly needed for Allahs sake.

As usual, we sincerely solicit for your kind and sincere contribution towards the Ramadan feeding and clothing of our orphans, widows and less privileged; and the development of our schools and Islamic Center financially, materially and morally.

Our aim and objective always is to have a standard Islamic center and Arabic/Islamic schools for orphans and less privileged Muslims children in Nigeria.

If you want to pay your Zakah, Sadaqah, Zakatul-Fitr/Sadaqatul-Fitr, Fidyah, or Kaffarah, our great Islamic center is waiting for you. Your donation will help distribute clothes, food packs, and iftar food for our orphans.

Remember, Ramadan will not be the same without our families, but unfortunately this is not a privilege enjoyed by everyone. This is the reason were steadfast in planning to provide iftar for poor people, orphans, widows, less privileged etc.

We are planning to distribute food stuff package that worth amount of to 4000 poor Muslim families and 2000 orphans In Shaa Allah.

And your contribution towards feeding the fasting souls is highly waiting as usual. May Allah rewards all your efforts and your good deeds, ameen.

Allah Almighty says:

If you support the course of Allah, He will support you. [Quran, 47: 7]

The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said:

Whoever relieves his Muslim brother of a hardship from the hardships of this world, Allah shall relieve him of a hardship from the hardships of the Day of Judgement. And whoever makes things easy for a person in difficulty, Allah will ease for him in this world and the Next. Allah is forever aiding a servant so long as he is in the aid of his Muslim brother.

And he (Peace be upon him) said:

Every act of goodness is considered as Sadaqah. [Al-Bukhari]

We need the followings:

 Permanent buildings with many classes

 Boards, chairs and desks

 Arabic and Islamic books

 Feeding facilities

 Uniforms

 Computers

 Foodstuffs for Ramadan Iftar and clothes for orphans Sallah festival

Account details:

Account no.  0048647196

Account name  Murtala Muhammed

GTBank

For more enquiries contact, Imam Murtadha Muhammad, the director and Imam Of the Centre: 08038289761.

To donate foodstuffs. Contact the following Numbers: 08038289761, 08056557477

Jazakumullah Khairan as you kindly contribute.

Ya Allah, the blessed month of Ramadan is now coming to an end, please help us to remain steadfast in your religion. Grant us the knowledge of your religion.

Ya Allah, you are truly merciful, please forgive us. Choose for us, what is best.

Ya Allah, help us to succeed in this life and the hereafter.

Ya Allah, if we have been in anyway ungrateful, unjust, dishonest; please forgive us.

Ya Allah, we dont know if we will be alive next Ramadan, please forgive us. Grant us a place in paradise. Save us from hellfire.

Ya Allah, include us in the people who will be put in heaven without accountability.

Ya Allah, help us to spread your religion in the best of ways.

Ya Allah, please let us not be among the backbiters.

Ya Allah, forgive us if we have been among the arrogant.

Ya Allah forgive us, grant us success, verily you are most forgiving, most merciful, ameen.

May Allah send His Salah and Salam upon our noble Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

And all praises and thanks are due to Allah alone, Lord of the worlds. May the peace, blessings and salutations of Allah be upon our noble Messenger, Muhammad, and upon his family, his Companions and his true and sincere followers.

Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumuah and the late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okenes Mosques, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com or +2348038289761.

This Jumuah Khutbah (Friday sermon) was prepared for delivery today, Friday, Ramadan 28, 1443 AH (April 29, 2022).
I get it that any of the past Nigerian rulers, dead or alive, placed alongside the current occupant of Aso Rock Villa, could easily earn the status of an angel. In many ways, Jonathan was way better than Buhari but its the biggest insult to our collective sensibility to suggest that the man who presided over the worlds greatest sleaze-fest, deserves a second chance in the Presidency.

For the past several days, the rumor mill has been buzzing non-stop about a potential presidential run in 2023 by Nigerias former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Dr. Reuben Abati, his former spokesperson, was credited to have made a Facebook post suggesting that his former boss was set to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) and that he will declare for the presidency on the platform of the ruling party. But Reno Omokri, another of Jonathans trusted media aides, had since dismissed that statement as at best a figment of the imagination of that journalist. It turned out it was a hoax and that Abati was misquoted but not before the news had elicited a flurry of visceral reactions among a swathe of Nigerians, I included.

Jonathan himself seemed to be relishing the controversy when on Friday he told supporters that he could not declare because some processes are still ongoing and that they should just watch out. The former university teacher whom the gods elevated beyond his wildest dreams, was Nigerias president for five years, between February 9, 2010 and May 29, 2015. Even his critics will give it to him that he is naturally nice and has a likeable personality, with an easy-going demeanor. Unlike the current occupant of Aso Rock who many accuse of prosecuting ethnic and religious agenda, Jonathan is not tarred by the brush of religion or ethnicity.

It has been reported on several occassions that the Goodluck Jonathan government focused more on northern Nigeria where, for example, he established 165 Almajiri schools and spent a whopping N15 billion more than anywhere else in the country, including his home State of Bayelsa. And not in the least of his string of achievements, is the fact that he is one of the few Africans who, as a sitting head of state, freely conceded electoral defeat without a gun pointed at his head.

As a Nigerian of the Igbo ethnic stock, it will be hard to forget in a hurry the olive branch he extended to my kinsmen and how his small gestures of kindness, at some point, restored a peoples confidence in the troubled Nigerian project. Although approved under President YarAdua, it was during his tenure that the South-East finally got its own international airport, following the upgrade of the Akanu Ibiam Airport, Enugu. It was also to his credit that for the first time after the Nigerian-Biafran war, Lt-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, an Igbo, became the chief of Army staff, and even when Ikemba Ojukwu, the former Biafran warlord passed away, his administration came close to giving him a state burial with full military honours Those were little gestures of inclusion but with far-reaching implications for a beleaguered people.

I can count a few other reasons, other than the ones mentioned above, that made the man out as a decent human being. But Goodluck Jonathan was no good president. In fact, he was so terrible that in his last year in office, Nigerians were willing to stake their future on a former military dictator, already in his seventies and with questionable academic credentials, if only to stop Nigeria hemorrhaging from the monumental graft that happened continually under his watch.

Once upon a time, Nigerians came to the sad realisation that their country was losing more than $4 billion a year through a well-orchestrated fuel subsidy scam. Here is how it panned out; the countrys daily consumption stood at 35 million litres but 59 million liters were reported as discharged by vessels per day. The extra 24 million litres per day that was unaccounted for but paid to the marketers, amounted to N669 billion ($4.14 billion) stolen in a single year.

Mr Jonathan was reported to have inherited as much as $60 billion in foreign reserves from the Obasanjo administration but plundered this away to less than $40 billion in five years. Both domestic and foreign debts that his predecessor worked hard to avoid piled up. In 2010 when Jonathan was sworn in, power generation in Nigeria was 3,000 megawatts. By the time he was handing over to his successor in May 2015, power generation had dropped to less than 2000 megawatts.

The year was 2011 and it was the month of January. In that year, the education and health budgets were N304 billion and N202 billion respectively. This meant that some highly placed Nigerians were stealing from that sector alone, an amount in excess of the combined annual budget for education and health. This prompted the House of Representatives committee led by Farouk Lawan at the time, to institute a probe and the revelations were startling.

Seventy-two fuel importers, many of who were allegedly linked to senior government officials, were involved in the scam. In one particular instance, payments totaling exactly $6.4 million flowed from the state treasury 128 times within 24 hours to some unknown business entities. President Jonathan later set up another committee headed by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, who was the Group Managing Director of Access Bank, to investigate the fraudulent claims for petrol subsidy and their findings were similar. The firms found guilty were only asked to refund N382 billion criminally collected as subsidy in 2011. Nigerians have no idea who and who went to jail for what amounts to an economic sabotage of grand proportion. And we are talking about a country that cannot afford to pay men and women of her police force a livable minimum wage.

It is worthy to note that no one has shown how much of those monies were recovered and remitted to the treasury. The committee had, in the course of their investigation, invited all the 116 oil firms involved in petrol import at the time and 107 responded. The other nine flatly refused to honour the invitation and we dont know if and how they were punished. In that year alone, Nigeria spent a whopping N2.587 trillion ($16.46 billion) on fuel subsidy, 900 per cent more than the N245 billion allocated in the budget. Now, that was a record even for a fantastically corrupt country called Nigeria!

Crude oil theft under this former president was at an all-time high and instead of adequately equipping the navy and other related agencies to protect the goose that laid Nigerias golden egg, Jonathan outsourced this all important task to the Niger Delta militants, who were paid several billions of naira annually. Those touts got so rich to the extent that one of them, Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo, went and acquired for himself a warship. Yes, he did and you should forget the grammar about national security and all that. Of course, we are talking about a president, under whose watch, money meant to buy military hardware to combat insurgency was diverted to private pockets.

The then Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi once cried out about a missing $20 billion from the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and he was hounded out of office. In the wake of that allegation and with a firestorm of criticism swirling around the administration, the Finance minister at that time, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala initiated a quick audit of the CBN and the Petroleum Ministry. At the end, she concluded that only $10.8 billion remained unaccounted for, with all fingers pointing towards Diezani Alison-Madueke, the oil minister, who insisted that the money not remitted was to pay for subsidies. Jonathans administration only wanted us to believe then that one ungrateful appointee was politically motivated to sling mud at his government for no reason.

Mr Jonathan was reported to have inherited as much as $60 billion in foreign reserves from the Obasanjo administration but plundered this away to less than $40 billion in five years. Both domestic and foreign debts that his predecessor worked hard to avoid piled up. In 2010 when Jonathan was sworn in, power generation in Nigeria was 3,000 megawatts. By the time he was handing over to his successor in May 2015, power generation had dropped to less than 2000 megawatts. But in all fairness, he was not the first person to make promises about solving Nigerias perennial energy problem, which has persisted even till this day.

how about showing some political sensitivity and giving the Igbos a chance to produce the next Nigerian president? Even his South-South brother and the leader of PANDEF, Chief Edwin Clark thinks its time. If Jonathan is human enough, the way he is perceived, wouldnt he wish to support the very people that showed him much love and treated him like one of their own, the sin of which they are paying heavily under the current government.

Many of the problems that bedeviled Jonathans administration could have been avoided by a man who was prepared and willing to do the job, but he wasnt. Providence and greed thrusted upon Nigeria a man least prepared for the job. President Obasanjo couldnt achieve his third term bid, and so he settled for Jonathans principal, Shehu YarAdua, a man who suffered from a terminal illness but whom Obasanjo believed would offer him the opportunity to play the de facto ruler of Nigeria. That was how Obasanjo employed strong arm tactics to deflate the ambition of the likes of Peter Odili and Donald Duke, both of whom, in comparison to YarAdua, were in better shape to take on the job.

President Jonathan is often quoted as saying that his political ambition is not worth spilling the blood of any citizen, except that it did. He failed to reckon that when, for political or other self-seeking reasons, he looked the other way while his appointees and associates cornered funds meant to fight Islamic insurgency, not just one but thousands of Nigerians were brutally murdered. The man wants us to believe that he was not corrupt but his administration unconscionably threw the door to Nigerias treasury wide open to his powerful friends and political associates, to help themselves with the till for as long as they wished, while he pretended to be asleep or blind.

I get it that any of the past Nigerian rulers, dead or alive, placed alongside the current occupant of Aso Rock Villa, could easily earn the status of an angel. In many ways, Jonathan was way better than Buhari but its the biggest insult to our collective sensibility to suggest that the man who presided over the worlds greatest sleaze-fest, deserves a second chance in the Presidency. In saner climes where actions have consequences, many of Nigerias past civilian and military rulers should be cooling their heels in the gulag, for both sins of omission and commission. Jonathans incompetence and ineptitude produced Buhari, who many believed was coming to clean up his mess, albeit wrongly.

And how about showing some political sensitivity and giving the Igbos a chance to produce the next Nigerian president? Even his South-South brother and the leader of PANDEF, Chief Edwin Clark thinks its time. If Jonathan is human enough, the way he is perceived, wouldnt he wish to support the very people that showed him much love and treated him like one of their own, the sin of which they are paying heavily under the current government. One would have thought that loyalty is a two-way traffic.

Each time we hear about Jonathans potential 2023 presidential run, my stomach regurgitates bile and I pray that someone should spare many of us the horror of another nightmare. Its such a bad joke that leaves a sore taste in the mouth.

Osmund Agbo, a public affairs analyst is the coordinator of African Center for Transparency and Convener of Save Nigeria Project. Email: Eagleosmund@yahoo.com
Such exercise in futility is like a dog barking at its owner; what can it do, bite? In any case, even if a dog is to bite, it must have teeth, which the General Assembly does not have. Only the death of veto power can transform the United Nations from a rubber stamp assembly to a body reflecting the wishes of most of humanity.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)s deliberations and resolution on the veto power, which was held on Tuesday, April 26, was two years in the making but was all hot air without substance.

It was a poor stage drama with a linear plot. The event was like a dog sharpening its teeth over two years for a great bite, only to realise that it is toothless. The veto truth stood naked, but the 81 members who moved Tuesdays motion preferred to wrap it in layers of beautiful words and an inelegant top lace resolution which even the movers cannot explain.

The General Assembly meeting was a waste of time, and its resolution an exercise in self-dribble and self-deceit gave the mistaken impression that it was moving to address the veto issue, while in reality it was engaged in mere motion without movement.

What the world needs are not exhibition matches but a reversal of the veto provision, which would give power to the General Assembly in line with democratic practices where the vote matters; where the minority will have its say while the majority, its the way. To ensure the UN is not misused, resolutions can be carried out or reversed by two-thirds of the Assembly. A case where one countrys vote is greater than the votes of 192 countries combined is unsustainable.

A situation where three European brothers: Russia, France and neighbouring Britain can team up with their first cousin, the United States, and China, the lone voice from Asia, to dictate to the world, cannot continue. In fact, to show that the Security Council is essentially a European racket, there was a 22-year period from 1949 when, following its revolution, China was denied its seat in the Council.

The veto, which essentially grants five countries proprietorial rights over the world body, was inserted into the UN Charter at birth in 1945, after the collapse of the 1919 League of Nations. The League had unravelled under its own weight of vengeance against Germany, leading to the second European war, which was christened the Second World War or WWII. Then, most of the world was under European colonial occupation and the colonised were simply thrown into a war they knew nothing about. It was of no comfort to the colonised whether their oppressors were German, Belgian, Dutch, Briton, American or French.

This Tuesdays vote was primarily a farce because it in no way challenged the suffocating veto power; it essentially asked the member wielding the veto to explain its actions, which, in any case, can neither be legally challenged nor overturned.

The five countries which awarded themselves the veto when the UN was founded, are often presented as the gallant victors who saved the world from Hitlerite Germany. The truth, however, is that China, which was under Japanese invasion, was not in a position to declare war against Germany. Russia, Britain and France were initially allies of Hitler, while the U.S. was too timid to join WWII until 27 months into the conflict.

Britain, under Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, sought to appease Germany in the 1930s, to the extent of allowing it to seize territories. Britain, in fact, regarded Hitlerite Germany as an ally with which it could go into a military alliance to destroy its main enemies: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; now inherited by Russia) and Imperial Japan.

The overwhelming populace of France and their government supported Hitler and fought on the German side for four-fifth of WWII before switching sides. France, which fought the allied forces, including outside Europe, only turned against Germany when it was obvious the latter was losing the war.

The U.S., in the first two years of WWII, declared it was neutral and its Congress refused to support either side of the war until December 7, 1941 when Japan was said to have attacked Pearl Harbour. Even at, it was against Japan it declared war and did not enter WWII until after Germany and Italy declared war on it for attacking their ally, Japan. One week before WWII started, the USSR declared its neutrality by signing the August 23, 1939 Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the agreement, which was planned to last for 10 years, was a written guaranteed pact between both countries and a pledge not to aid the enemy of either side.

So effectively, the USSR was neutral in WWII until June 22, 1941, when Germany unilaterally terminated the agreement by invading it. While the USSR suffered the highest casualty rate in the war, with 20-25 million dead, it inflicted the greatest casualties on Germany by killing 76 per cent of the total German military fatalities in WWII.

In the case of China, it was invaded by an ally of Germany, Japan, from July 7, 1937 to September 9, 1945; so it merely tried to survive during WWII.

If under the new resolution, the General Assembly meets within 10 workdays to listen to why a veto was used and debates it, while being aware it has no power to reverse it, is it to exhibit its impotence or a mere moral challenge? Even the Liechtensteins U.N. ambassador, Christian Wenaweser, who led 80 co-sponsors of the resolution, hinted at its impotence

As such, the claims that the five permanent members earned their pips saving the world and guaranteeing world peace are not exactly correct. The simple fact is that they were those at the table when the UN was being founded, while most of the world either lay in ruins or were colonies.

It was assumed that unless the five agreed, the UN was doomed; so they were empowered to make decisions that would be binding on all members, including levying war. On the over 200 occasions the veto has been applied, it was abused, and used merely to further political, economic or racial interests, such as maintaining minority White rule in Zimbabwe, Apartheid in Namibia and South Africa, and Israeli genocide in Palestine.

This Tuesdays vote was primarily a farce because it in no way challenged the suffocating veto power; it essentially asked the member wielding the veto to explain its actions, which, in any case, can neither be legally challenged nor overturned.

If under the new resolution, the General Assembly meets within 10 workdays to listen to why a veto was used and debates it, while being aware it has no power to reverse it, is it to exhibit its impotence or a mere moral challenge? Even the Liechtensteins U.N. ambassador, Christian Wenaweser, who led 80 co-sponsors of the resolution, hinted at its impotence when she admitted that all it aims to achieve is to promote the voice of all of us who are not veto holders, and who are not on the Security Council, on matters of international peace and security because they affect all of us.

Such exercise in futility is like a dog barking at its owner; what can it do, bite? In any case, even if a dog is to bite, it must have teeth, which the General Assembly does not have. Only the death of veto power can transform the United Nations from a rubber stamp assembly to a body reflecting the wishes of most of humanity.

Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.
When you mention Mike Adenuga today, the mind of an average Nigerian quickly pictures the billionaire owner of Globacom.

Yes, Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga is a billionaire and Nigerias third-richest man, according to Forbes. And he also owns Globacom, Nigerias indigenous telecom company.

But his story did not start here. It started from the trenches.

About 69 years ago, specifically 29th of April, 1953, Adenuga was born in the ancient city of Ibadan to the family of Micheal Agbolade and Omoba Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga.

Hes an alumnus of the popular Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan and had his tertiary education at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

Adenuga also got an MBA at Pace University in New York.

To fund his education in the US and fend for himself, the billionaire businessman worked as a taxi driver.

Dont get it wrong, Adenugas parents were successful in their own right; his father was a teacher, and his mother, a successful trader.

However, the Globacom owner didnt fit into the archetype of a child born with a silver spoon.

To make ends meet, Adenuga hustled hard in the trenches. At some point, he sold lace materials and distributed drinks. And he proved himself a dogged entrepreneur, making his first million in 1979 at the age of 26.

Since then, he hasnt stopped. From oil and gas to telecommunications, he ventured into various businesses and made good fortunes from them.

Doing business with a difference: The story of Glo

When Nigerians lament the ineffective privatisation of the power sector, they imagine what could have happened if the success recorded in (the privatisation of) the telecom sector could also be replicated there.

Yes, the privatisation of the telecom sector is the backbone of its success. But what sustains the success is the daring steps taken by Adenuga and some other stakeholders.

Any report about the success of the telecom sector in Nigeria without mentioning Adenugas input is certainly incomplete.

In the early days of the private telecom providers, two things, apart from mobile phones, were extremely unaffordable for Nigerians: airtime and SIM cards.

With his business ingenuity and selfless commitment to making the lives of Nigerians better, Adenuga solved these problems with Globacom, the company he established in 2003.

At a time when other operators thought it was impossible, Adenugas Globacom introduced per-second billing in Nigeria.

The customer-centric move by the telecom company endeared it to many Nigerians and its subscriber base grew exponentially.

Today, Globacom has 55 million subscribers.

Also, as part of its efforts to deepen telecommunication penetration in Nigeria, Globacom demystified the SIM card acquisition.

At a time when SIM cards were not only expensive but also a big deal, Glo distributed them FREE OF CHARGE to customers.

Under the able leadership of the trailblazing Adenuga, Globacom also made history as the first telecom company to build a high-capacity submarine fibre-optic cable, popularly known as Glo-1, the first successful submarine cable from the United Kingdom to Nigeria; with the attendant high increases in internet speeds and download rates with resultant significant improvements in online technologies.

Never say die: The untold story of Adenugas exploits in the oil industry

Many Gen Z Nigerians (1997 and 2012) only know Adenuga as the billionaire owner of Globacom.

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They dont know that before Globacom, there was the Consolidated Oil Limited which Adenuga established in 1984.

Through the oil firm, Adenuga made history as the first Nigerian to find oil in commercial quantity. He found oil in a place even experts thought was impossible!

Late November 1991, Consolidated Oil spotted an oil well in an unusual place, 50 to 60 kilometres north-east of Okitipupa in Ondo State.

Nobody thought a place like that could produce oil in commercial quantity. From the beginning, all the experts wrote off the place as not being attractive for oil prospecting. In the language of the experts, it was a heavy oil zone, meaning that the possibility of finding oil there was non-existent. But Adenugas intuition and research suggested otherwise. Something inside was telling the man they call The Guru that that was the oil well to prospect for. The oil well was OPL 113 or Oil Prospecting Lease 113. It was located on shallow waters offshore Ondo State, the great Nigerian journalist, Mike Awoyinfa, wrote about Adenugas exploit.

When asked to explain what made him stick to the oil well when even the experts were not sure, Adenuga said:

It takes God to strike oil. The man who knows never tells you where the oil and gas are. Even God doesnt tell you. You must make the effort to find it. That is the challenge. You must look for it. God has put it there but you must use technology, you must use everything you can to get it. When you get it, you are lucky. If you dont get it, you go back and you sharpen your pencil again. In oil and gas, you never say die.

Today, Consolidated Oil Nigeria Limited, now named Conoil Producing Limited, operates six highly prospective blocks in the Niger Delta.

Mike Adenuga: The hands that keep giving

With billions of dollars in net worth, Adenuga, the Otunba Apesin of the Ijebu clan, has continued to demonstrate in practical terms what philanthropy truly means.

In 2020, the Mike Adenuga Foundation (MAF), a non-profit organisation established by the selfless founder of Globacom, donated N1.5 billion to the federal government to help in the fight against coronavirus in Nigeria.

With MAF, Adenuga, a Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), actively helps people out of lifes difficulties.

Nigerians rise in Unisom to wish this living legend, 69 golden cheers. He surely is a good fellow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIR!

Anthony Eshemokhai writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
Rensource, West-Africas leading SME focused renewable energy company, in partnership with Stellaris Power Solutions (SPS), has deployed a 300kWp solar PV for 2-Way Steel Works Nigeria Ltd, a steel manufacturing company in Kaduna, Nigeria. The solar PV plant will generate 0.5MWh of energy annually and offset over four-thousand tons of carbon throughout the projects lifetime, improving air quality and benefiting health outcomes in the country.

2-Way Steel Works Nigeria Ltd has thus set the pace to be one of the largest installed solar PV in the steel manufacturing industry in Nigeria. The project, which commenced operations in March 2022, will have an important footprint in terms of sustainability. It will save up to 360 tons of CO2emissions per year and create 20 jobs during its construction and operations phase.

Since venturing into providing Commercial and Industrial (C&I) Renewable Energy solutions to businesses & industries in 2019 with its flagship project in Premium Poultry Abuja, Rensource Energy has signed PPAs to provide over 5MWp of installed solar PV capacity across Nigeria and projects to construct 12MWp by the end of the year.

According to the Council for Renewable Energy Nigeria (CREN), Nigeria has been affected by insufficient power supply which has largely contributed to the paralyzing of industrial and commercial activities in the country.

CREN estimates that power outages brought about a loss of 126 billion naira annually. Aside from the huge income loss, it has also resulted in health difficulty because of the exposure to carbon emissions caused by constant use of generators in different households and businesses, unemployment, and high cost of living leading to the degeneration of living conditions. Generators remain inadequate to satisfy the needs of Nigeria. As such, solar energy becomes a great solution as it is cheaper and reduces carbon emissions, which lessens the effect of climate change.

This project will represent the steel manufacturing industrys largest renewable energy project. The solar PV is expected to operate for 15 years according to the power purchase agreement (PPA).

Commenting on the deployment, Rensources COO Prince Ojeabulu said We are honored to partner with 2-Way Steel Works Nigeria Ltd to provide a state-of-the-art PV solution that generates cheap and clean energy to power 2-Way Steel Works production activities. This successful completion of the PV plant represents Rensources commitment to continue to bridge the energy gap hampering economic growth in Nigeria.

Mr Clement U. Ejeh the CEO/Chairman of 2 Way Steel was also elated by the project, according to him For years, as big players in steel construction, requiring high electric power to produce, we have had to grapple with the epileptic supply from grid, resulting in high production cost and loss of revenue. Today, that is history, as we operate at full capacity, towering above production targets, all thanks to God that brought Stellaris Power Solutions & Rensource Energy our way! Our power partners come with the rising sun!

About Rensource Energy

Rensource is a leading West African provider of renewable energy related services, it specializes in the development and financing of solar-hybrid captive power provision which provides commercial, industrial, and utility customers, solutions that bridge the gap between desired and available power. Rensource deploys any combination of solar power and fossil-fired power, primarily gas and diesel but also including natural gas with appropriate battery storage solutions. Rensource has proven itself with a track record of reliability and consistency in the region.

About 2-Way Steel

2-Way Steel Works Limited is a world class steel manufacturing company into the production of quality fabrication of iron and steel. 2-Way Steel creates the unimaginable with iron to suit clients needs, these include silo, palletized, box, container, flat bird, tankers, LPG Bodies amongst others.

About Stellaris Power Solutions

Stellaris Power Solutions is the leading EPC and Engineering Services company with a regional footprint across Africa and the Middle East. Stellaris provides turnkey design, supply, and installation for utility-scale solar tracker projects. As GameChange Solars certified, trusted partner and the markets leading provider of GENIUS TRACKERTM, Stellaris helps its customers meet their renewable energy goals with simple, seamless project execution.

For more information about Rensource energy, please contact:

Tel: +234 901 474 5515

Email: info@rensource.energy

Website: www.rensource.energy
Some constituents in Biu/Bayo/Shani Federal Constituency of Borno State have procured the N10 million expression of interest and nomination form for Muktar Betara to recontest for his House of Representatives seat.

The group, led by the former Deputy Governor of Borno State, Adamu Shettima, procured the form at the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday.

Mr Betara is the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation.

Speaking to journalists, Mr Shettima said no one will procure the same form, hence, there is a possibility that Mr Betara will get the APC ticket unopposed.

The former deputy governor said some constituents contributed as low as N20 towards the procurement of the form.

We all contributed money to raise the N10 million to buy the form. He is not even aware that we bought the form for him, Mr Shettima said.

We will present the form to him at our own local government. Our people want him back. He has done a lot in human capital development, road development and several infrastructures back home.

His support is massive. In fact, if the election is held tomorrow, he would sweep the poll. As we speak he has no opposition right now. Nobody is taking the seat from him.

Buying of nomination forms by supporters has become thee latest trend in the political space. In most cases, it is difficult or impossible to identify the supporters who allegedly contributed the money amid allegations that it is the candidates who buy the forms themselves through the backdoor.

On Wednesday, a group bought N100 million presidential form for the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba.

Despite the huge prices set by the ruling party, this has not stopped supporters and fans from buying forms for their favourites.

Adamu Abdullahi, the chairman of the ruling party, had justified the exorbitant rate with the argument that If a presidential aspirant cannot mobilise at least ten thousand supporters to raise such amount that person is not a serious contestant.

Several Nigerians, including the deposed Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido, have criticised the exorbitant price.

Mr Lamido, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in a recent Ramadan Tafsir, said a country like Nigeria with a high rate of poverty, it is out of place to peg a contest form at N100 million for the presidential ticket of a party.
Two people died in an accident Friday involving six vehicles in Lagos.

The multiple crashes occurred at Odo lya Alaro on the bridge linking Maryland and Ojota, Ikorodu Road, Lagos.

Ibrahim Farinloye, the Zonal Coordinator, South-West, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed the incident on Friday.

Mr Farinloye said the incident occurred at about 2:15 a.m. Friday.

He said the crash involved an empty tanker with registration number FKJ-506XM, an articulated flatbed truck laden with metal coils, a grey coloured Toyota Camry with registration number ABC-261AJ, a tipper with registration number T-12015LA laden with 30 tonnes of sharp sand, and two commercial buses.

He said that the Tipper truck lost control while on speed and ran into the vehicles, resulting in the accident.

Unfortunately, two adults (one female and one male) were confirmed dead at the scene, said Mr Farinloye.

The male adult was handed over to the Lagos State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU) at the scene, while the female was taken by her immediate family.

Mr Farinloye said officials took the injured persons to nearby hospitals by the FRSC ambulance and the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS).

The accident occurred a day after a crash on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway claimed six lives.

(NAN)
The test is now recommended for use in postmenopausal patients with up to three positive axillary lymph nodes and is the only test recommended for use in premenopausal patients with node-negative disease. Importantly, the test is recommended irrespective of clinical risk, and Oncotype DX  is the most strongly recommended with the highest evidence quality of all multigene tests included in the guidelines.

"We are pleased that the updated ASCO guidelines recognize the strength of the data supporting Oncotype DX and expand the recommended use of the test based on findings from the RxPONDER study," said Rick Baehner, M.D., chief medical officer of Precision Oncology at Exact Sciences. "The Oncotype DX test has been used to guide the treatment decisions for more than one million women around the world, and the updated guidelines provide even greater clarity and confidence to physicians in individualizing the discussion of the risks and benefits of chemotherapy with their patients."

The updated guidelines incorporate results from the RxPONDER trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine.ii The study demonstrated that the test identifies a majority of early-stage breast cancer patients with one to three positive nodes who may be spared chemotherapy. Postmenopausal women with Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score results of 0 to 25 did not show benefit from the addition of chemotherapy to hormone therapy. Premenopausal women with a Recurrence Score result of 0 to 25 received a 2.4% benefit from chemotherapy in terms of distant recurrence at five years.iii

Approximately one-third of patients diagnosed with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer have a tumor that has spread to their lymph nodes.iv The vast majority of these patients currently receive chemotherapy[v] even though approximately 85% of them have Recurrence Score results of 0 to 25.vi In addition, about two out of three early-stage breast cancer patients are postmenopausal.vii

About the Oncotype DX and Oncotype MAP Portfolio of Tests

The Oncotype DX portfolio of breast, colon and prostate cancer tests applies advanced genomic science to reveal the unique biology of a tumor in order to optimize cancer treatment decisions. In breast cancer, the Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score test is the only test that has been shown to predict the likelihood of chemotherapy benefit as well as recurrence in invasive breast cancer. Additionally, the Oncotype DX Breast DCIS Score test predicts the likelihood of recurrence in a pre-invasive form of breast cancer called DCIS. For patients with advanced and metastatic cancer, the company offers the Oncotype MAP Pan-Cancer Tissue test, a rapid, comprehensive tumor profiling panel, which provides results in three to five business days[viii] and allows physicians to understand a patient's tumor profile and recommend actionable targeted therapies or clinical trials. With more than 1 million patients tested in more than 90 countries, the Oncotype DX tests have redefined personalized medicine by making genomics a critical part of cancer diagnosis and treatment. To learn more about the Oncotype DX and Oncotype MAP tests, visit www.OncotypeIQ.com/

About Exact Sciences Corp.

A leading provider of cancer screening and diagnostic tests, Exact Sciences relentlessly pursues smarter solutions providing the clarity to take life-changing action, earlier. Building on the success of the Cologuard and Oncotype tests, Exact Sciences is investing in its product pipeline to support patients before and throughout their cancer diagnosis and treatment. Exact Sciences unites visionary collaborators to help advance the fight against cancer. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.exactsciences.com, follow Exact Sciences on Twitter @ExactSciences, or find Exact Sciences on Facebook.

NOTE: Oncotype, Oncotype DX, Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score, Oncotype DX Breast DCIS Score, Recurrence Score and Oncotype MAP are trademarks or registered trademarks of Genomic Health, Inc. Exact Sciences and Cologuard are trademarks or registered trademarks of Exact Sciences Corporation. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements concerning our expectations, anticipations, intentions, beliefs or strategies regarding the future. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that we have made as of the date hereof and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, conditions and events to differ materially from those anticipated. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that may affect our forward-looking statements are described in the Risk Factors sections of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and in our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

i F. Andre, et al. JCO 2022.

ii Kalinsky K, et al. New Engl J Med. 2021.

iii Kalinsky K, et al. SABCS 2021 GS2-07

iv https://www.swog.org/news-events/news/2021/12/03/rxponder-results-published-nejm

v Zhang et al. Breast Can Res Treat. 2020.

vi Bello et al. Ann Surg Oncol. 2018.

vii Heer E, et al. The Lancet. 2020.

Investors: Media (U.S.): Media (Canada, Europe, Asia, Latin America): Megan Jones Stephanie Spanos Federico Maiardi +1 608-535-8815 +1 608-556-4380 +41 79-138-1326 meganjones@exactsciences.com sspanos@exactsciences.com fmaiardi@exactsciences.com

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SOURCE EXACT SCIENCES CORP
Fast-track your mastery of running your business on EOS

BIRMINGHAM, Mich., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the most widely attended EOS Conference to date earlier this April, EOS Worldwide has announced its 2023 U.S. Conference will be held in Indianapolis, IN on April 20-21.

Participants at the conferences include small business owners and members of leadership teams from entrepreneurial companies that run on the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).

The 2023 EOS Conference will offer unique opportunities for leadership teams and decision-makers from small- to medium-sized entrepreneurial companies to further master running their businesses using EOS Tools and the EOS Process.

Special Act Now discount pricing is available until May 6 for 20% off the full $2,000 ticket price.

Visit https://www.eosconference.com/act-now to get your early discount today!

Updates on schedules and speakers are available at: https://www.eosconference.com/indianapolis/ .

About EOS

Based in Birmingham, Michigan, EOS Worldwide has helped thousands of entrepreneurs around the world get everything they want from their businesses. The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) offers a proven system of simple and practical tools used by entrepreneurial leaders of companies with 10-250 employees to clarify, simplify, and achieve their visions for business success. The 5 EOS Core Values are: Be Humbly Confident, Grow or Die, Help First, Do the Right Thing, and Do What We Say. For more information about EOS, visit www.eosworldwide.com

SOURCE EOS Worldwide
BANGALORE, India, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Artificial Leather Market is segmented by Type - Polyurethane, Polyvinyl Chloride, Bio-Based, by Application - Footwear, Clothing, Furnishing, Automotive, Bags, Others. Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast 2022 - 2028. It is published in Valuates Reports under the Business Services Category.

The global Artificial Leather Market size is estimated to be worth USD 31760 million in 2022 and is forecast to be a readjusted size of USD 41360 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 4.5% during the review period.

Major Factors Driving The Growth Of Artificial Leather Market Are

The growing demand for synthetic leather in end-use industries such as footwear, furnishing, automotive, clothing, bags, purses & wallets, and others is driving the Artificial Leather market.

Browse The Table Of Contents And List Of Figures At https://reports.valuates.com/reports/QYRE-Auto-31W3069/global-artificial-leather

TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF ARTIFICIAL LEATHER MARKET

Because of its superior durability, synthetic leather is increasingly replacing genuine leather in the footwear industry. It can be found in uppers, linings, and insoles of shoes, as well as sandals. Faux leather shoes are three times less expensive than those made of animal hide, which helps to propel the synthetic leather market forward. These factors are expected to drive the growth of the artificial leather market.

Every year, more than a billion animals are slaughtered for their skin and hides, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The majority of genuine leather comes from developing countries like China and India, where animal welfare laws are not strictly enforced. However, stricter laws are likely to be enacted in the Asia Pacific and the rest of the world, driving up demand for leather substitutes. This in turn is expected to increase the growth of the synthetic leather market.

Furthermore, increasing use of synthetic leather in the automotive industry is expected to propel the Artificial Leather market growth. Because it is lighter than animal hides, faux leather is also used in automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, buses, and agricultural vehicles. Because it is non-sticky and softer than other materials, polyurethane is the most widely used material in the automotive industry.

The use of synthetic leather in apparel is expected to further fuel the Artificial Leather market growth. Faux leather is a popular fabric for outerwear garments like jackets and coats because it is almost as good at insulating body heat as real leather. It's often difficult to tell the difference between real and fake leather unless you inspect it closely. Faux leather is soft to the touch and water-resistant, just like real leather. As a result, this fabric is highly stained-resistant and easy to clean. Synthetic leather is less durable than real leather, but it is resistant to abrasions and cuts, making it an excellent upholstery fabric for homes with children or pets.

Increasing focus on bio-based Artificial Leather development is expected to create lucrative growth opportunities. The production of bio-based synthetic leather has no negative effects. Given the growing government and environmental regulations in the European Union and North America regarding the use of harmful toxic chemicals, bio-based synthetic leather could be a major opportunity for Artificial Leather manufacturers.

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ARTIFICIAL LEATHER MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS

Based on region, Asia-Pacific is expected to be the most lucrative. The major drivers for this market are rising disposable incomes and rising living standards in emerging economies in APAC.

Based on type, PU synthetic leather segment is expected to be the most lucrative. Polyurethane is waterproof, softer, and lighter than real leather, and it's easier to dry clean, and tear than real hides. It is also unaffected by direct sunlight. It is also an environmentally friendly alternative to vinyl-based products because it does not emit dioxins. All of these factors are expected to boost demand even more.

Based on application, the footwear segment is expected to be the most lucrative. Rising disposable income levels and rapid economic growth, particularly in emerging economies, have fueled footwear demand.

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Market By Region

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

Inquire For Regional Report: https://reports.valuates.com/request/regional/QYRE-Auto-31W3069/Global_Artificial_Leather_Market

Key players

Kuraray

Toray

Teijin

Bayer

Favini

Sappi

Asahi Kansei

Ducksung

DAEWON Chemical

Filwel

Kolon

Sanfang

Nanya

Wenzhou Imitation Leather

Anhui Anli

Fujian Tianshou

Shandong Jinfeng

Yantai Wanhua

Shandong Tongda

Jiaxing Hexin

Kunshan Xiefu

Huafon Group

Wenzhou Huanghe

Meisheng Industrial

Xiamen Hongxin

Fujian Huayang

Sanling

Hongdeli

Shandong Friendship

Wangkang Group

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SIMILAR REPORTS

- The global Microfiber Synthetic Leather market was valued at USD 1449.5 million in 2020 and it is expected to reach USD 1711.2 million by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of 2.4% during 2021-2027.

- The global Synthetic Leather market was valued at USD 2174.4 million in 2020 and it is expected to reach USD 2800.1 million by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of 3.5% during 2021-2027.

- The global PU Resins for Synthetic Leather market was valued at USD 4542.8 million in 2020 and it is expected to reach USD 6073 million by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of 4.2% during 2021-2027.

- The global Automotive PVC Artificial Leather market was valued at USD 1188 million in 2020 and it is expected to reach USD 1338.6 million by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of 1.6% during 2021-2027.

- Men Leather Shoes market size is estimated to be worth USD 53300 million in 2022 and is forecast to be a readjusted size of USD 67060 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 3.9% during the review period.

- The global Leather Goods market was valued at USD 326700 million in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 629870 million by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9.0% during 2021-2027.

- Global Polyurethane-Based Synthetic Leather Market Outlook 2022

- Global Car Interior Synthetic Leather Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

- Global Third Generation Artificial Leather Market Insights and Forecast to 2028

- Global Leather Market Insights and Forecast to 2028

- Global Coating Agents for Synthetic Leather Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

Click Here To See Related Reports on Artificial Leather Market

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SOURCE Valuates Reports
BEIJING, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (Biocytogen) announced that it has entered into an evaluation and option agreement with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany to grant them a sole license to evaluate Biocytogen's proprietary antibodies against at least three distinct targets with an option to acquire some of the assets at a later date for therapeutic product development for all uses worldwide.

Under the agreement, Biocytogen will provide Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany antibodies directed against at least three targets specified by them from Biocytogen's Project Integrum (also called HiTS Platform), which are generated by leveraging Biocytogen's proprietary RenMice Platform. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany will carry out feasibility tests and be responsible for further development and commercialization of the products if exercising an option. Additional targets subject to mutual discretion may be included under this agreement.

Dr. Yuelei Shen, President and CEO of Biocytogen, said: "Thanks to the recognition by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany of our proprietary platform and antibody discovery capabilities, we believe that differentiated candidates generated from our innovative models and discovery platform can quickly advance novel antibody-based therapeutics. Our RenMice based Project Integrum aims to discover antibodies against more than 1,000 targets. We welcome collaboration with partners worldwide to realize the full potential of this platform."

About Biocytogen

Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. is a global biotech company that drives the research and development of new drugs with innovative technologies. The company is committed to becoming a global headstream of new drugs to bring benefits to patients worldwide. Based on the fully human antibody RenMabTM and RenLiteTM mice for fully human antibody production with robust humoral responses, highly diverse antibody repertoires and superior affinity, Biocytogen has integrated its platforms in monoclonal and bispecific antibody development platforms, in vivo drug efficacy screening platforms and strong clinical development ability to streamline the entire drug development process. Biocytogen has launched Project Integrum, the world's first large-scale antibody discovery screening program adopting an evidence-based in vivo efficacy screening methodology to concurrently generate and screen antibodies against over 1,000 potential druggable targets, most of which have not been explored in clinical trials yet. With the implementation of Project Integrum, Biocytogen has entered ongoing collaborations with dozens of partners worldwide to produce many first-in-class and/or best-in-class antibody drugs. Biocytogen's pipeline includes 12 core products among which 2 products are in phase II multi-regional clinical trials (MRCTs) and 2 products are in phase I. Headquartered in Beijing, Biocytogen has branches in Haimen Jiangsu, Shanghai, Boston, USA and Heidelberg, Germany.

About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and electronics. Around 60,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people's lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From advancing gene editing technologies and discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices  the company is everywhere. In 2021, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany generated sales of  19.7 billion in 66 countries.

Scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany's technological and scientific advances. This is how Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany has thrived since its founding in 1668. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma in life science, and EMD Electronics.

Contact: Jenna Frame, [email protected].

SOURCE Biocytogen
BorgWarner becomes SCBC member to expand hiring and advancement practices for those with criminal records

Joins corporate leaders from diverse industries including GM, Microsoft and Target

Membership includes tools, relationships and resources

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BorgWarner, a global product leader in delivering innovative and sustainable mobility solutions for the vehicle market, has joined the Second Chance Business Coalition (SCBC) in partnership with other major employers and national organizations that aim to expand second chance hiring and advancement practices within companies. The coalition provides employers with a set of tools and other resources to expand opportunities in the workforce for those with criminal records.

"BorgWarner is proud to become part of the Second Chance Business Coalition and join the ranks of likeminded employers leading the effort to improve inclusion and diversity in the workforce," said Felecia Pryor, Chief Human Resources Officer, BorgWarner Inc. "Taking the step to join the coalition further enables BorgWarner to strengthen the communities in which we operate, and give a previously underserved population the chance to reinvent themselves and create greater economic opportunities for themselves. This initiative goes beyond strengthening the economy, it gives people with prior justice system involvement the opportunity to reenter the workforce and build a strong foundation for their future."

A quarter of the entire U.S. population  more than 78 million Americans  have a criminal record. In a hypercompetitive economy where companies struggle to identify and retain strong talent at all levels of their organization, many employers are turning to alternative methods to give these job seekers a fair chance at meaningful employment. The coalition helps advance those with criminal records by:

Developing best practices and enabling companies to share approaches and experiences, learn from subject-matter experts and deploy tools to improve second chance recruitment, retention, manager training, performance and satisfaction.

Launching pilot initiatives to test new approaches to second chance hiring and advancement practices. This effort will include partnerships with community service organizations and providers and will use metrics to guide decision-making.

"Joining the SCBC aligns with our culture and robust employee empowerment initiatives in place at BorgWarner, including our Skills Agility, Women Rising, talent development, mentoring, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, to name a few," added Pryor.

The membership of SCBC currently includes more than 40 leading companies from diverse industries, including General Motors, Eaton, Microsoft, Target, McDonald's, United, AT&T, Deloitte, Bank of America, and more, demonstrating their commitment to fair opportunities to participate in the workforce.

BorgWarner officially became a member of the Second Chance Business Coalition in December 2021.

About BorgWarner

For more than 130 years, BorgWarner has been a transformative global product leader bringing successful mobility innovation to market. Today, we're accelerating the world's transition to eMobility  to help build a cleaner, healthier, safer future for all.

About SCBC

The Second Chance Business Coalition (SCBC) is a cross-sector coalition of large, private-sector firms committed to expanding second chance hiring and advancement practices within their companies. Leveraging the support and expertise of its five partner organizations  Business Roundtable, the Society for Human Resource Management, Dave's Killer Bread Foundation, Stand Together and the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business Pivot Program  coalition member companies will be equipped with best practices, technical assistance and support to increase the number of people with criminal records they hire and put them on a path to greater upward mobility. Learn more at www.secondchancebusinesscoalition.org.

SOURCE BorgWarner
The $3 billion raised in fund and co-investment capital surpassed Breakthrough's initial $1.5 billion target. It is the largest real estate fund dedicated exclusively to the life sciences sector, excluding recapitalizations of existing portfolios, according to CBRE and JLL Research. The Fund was raised from a diverse group of institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds and high net worth individuals spanning four continents.

Founded in 2019, Breakthrough has established itself as one of the most active players in the life science sector with 4.6 million square-feet of projects in the pipeline across San Diego, Boston/Cambridge, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, Oxford, and Cambridge, UK. Breakthrough will use the newly raised funds to finance its ongoing developments, which are in various stages of design, construction and pre-development, and fuel its pursuit of additional opportunities throughout the United States and Europe.

Through a range of ground-up campus developments, lab conversions and StudioLabs, the company's proprietary flex lab program geared toward hyper-growth start-ups, Breakthrough provides cutting-edge environments to the full spectrum of life science innovators  ranging from venture-backed discovery companies to established big pharma anchors. Breakthrough will continue to leverage the market expertise and vast relationship networks of Tishman Speyer, Bellco Capital and its Scientific Advisory Board to create environments for leading biotechnology innovators and offers services to support their long-term business needs.

Over the past three years, Breakthrough has assembled an exceptional team of life sciences professionals adept at curating scientific ecosystems defined by best-in-class infrastructure, collaborative amenities and services, and dynamic tenant spaces that meet the needs of the world's most innovative companies at any point in their growth.

Breakthrough Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Dan Belldegrun said, "Breakthrough was founded just three years ago with a mandate to create and operate inspired, cutting-edge environments for life sciences entrepreneurs and researchers on their quest to discover life-saving treatments for patients. We are honored to support our inspirational clients and partners and grateful for the confidence demonstrated by our investors. We look forward to putting these resources to work in support of the next generation of critical discoveries."

Tishman Speyer CEO and Breakthrough Co-Chairman Rob Speyer commented, "Breakthrough Properties was created on the conviction that Tishman Speyer's global real estate and investment platform paired with Bellco's life science expertise and deep relationships would make for an unbeatable combination. There is an acute and accelerating need for well-located, cutting-edge lab space. The Breakthrough Life Science Property Fund can enable us to deliver more of these projects across the U.S. and Europe."

Bellco Chairman and Breakthrough Co-Chairman Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS, said, "Breakthrough Properties promises a new way to curate environments that foster life-changing and life-saving discoveries. Our platform recognizes that best-in-class infrastructure is but one component of a thriving ecosystem. It also requires mentorship, innovation spaces, the ability to collaborate with other leading scientists, and access to venture capital."

Breakthrough's rapidly growing portfolio includes The 105 by Breakthrough in Boston, which is fully leased to CRISPR Therapeutics and will open its doors later this year. In 2021, Breakthrough broke ground on its 515,000-square-foot Torrey View by Breakthrough development, a 10-acre research and development campus in San Diego which signed a major prelease with the biosciences arm of global medical technology company BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company). Its Torrey Plaza campus, an office-to-lab conversion in San Diego, is leased to a range of innovative companies, including Tandem Diabetes Care, Janux Therapeutics and Protego Biopharma, Inc.

Sustainability is at the forefront of all of Breakthrough's initiatives, with a particular emphasis on increasing energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions and providing healthy workspaces for users. Breakthrough targets LEED Gold certification at all of its United States properties and BREEAM Outstanding certification in all of its projects across the United Kingdom and European Union.

About Breakthrough Properties (btprop.com)

Formed in 2019 as a joint venture between global real estate owner, developer and investor Tishman Speyer and biotechnology investment firm Bellco Capital, Breakthrough Properties is a life science real estate development company that leverages cross-sector collaboration to deliver environments that foster innovation and scientific breakthroughs. Breakthrough Properties' mission is to acquire, develop and operate the best life science properties in leading urban technology centers around the world and support scientific innovation across biotechnology, agriculture and nutrition. Breakthrough combines Tishman Speyer's decades of global real estate development experience with Bellco Capital's industry-making biotechnology entrepreneurship to reimagine environments where companies can create life-changing therapies for patients.

About Tishman Speyer (tishmanspeyer.com)

Tishman Speyer is a leading owner, developer, operator and investment manager of first-class real estate in 31 key markets across the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. We develop, build and manage premier office, residential and retail spaces for industry-leading tenants, as well as state-of-the-art life science centers through our Breakthrough Properties venture. With global vision, on-the-ground expertise and a personalized approach, we are unparalleled in our ability to foster innovation, quickly adapt to global and local trends and proactively anticipate our customers' evolving needs. By focusing on health and wellness, enlightened placemaking and customer-focused initiatives such as our tenant amenities platform, ZO., and our flexible space and co-working brand, Studio, we tend not just to our physical buildings, but to the people who inhabit them on a daily basis. Since our inception in 1978, Tishman Speyer has acquired, developed, and operated 498 properties, totaling 219 million square feet, with a combined value of over $124 billion (U.S.). Our current portfolio includes such iconic assets as Rockefeller Center in New York City, The Springs in Shanghai, TaunusTurm in Frankfurt and the Mission Rock neighborhood currently being realized in San Francisco.

About Bellco Capital (bellcocapital.com)

Bellco Capital is an investment firm founded in 2003 by Rebecka Belldegrun, M.D. and Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS and is the hub for entrepreneurship within the Bellco life science ecosystem. Bellco has a longstanding track record of building and investing in companies that change the paradigm of care for patients. Today, Bellco builds biopharma companies via its partnership with Two River, a New York-based life science investment firm, and invests in life science companies via Vida Ventures, a leading life sciences venture capital firm - this breadth provides the Bellco ecosystem with even greater reach and visibility to passionate leaders and innovative technologies across life sciences. Bellco's most notable impact has been in leading the cell therapy field with the founding of Kite Pharma, acquired by Gilead Sciences in 2017 for $11.9 billion, and Allogene Therapeutics, the second largest biotechnology IPO of 2018. For more information, please visit www.bellcocapital.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Any such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Furthermore, Breakthrough Properties disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, new information, data or methods, future events or other changes.

SOURCE Breakthrough Properties
DEERFIELD, Ill., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) will hold a virtual annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday June 8, 2022 at 8 a.m. (Central Daylight Time).

Shareholders owning Caterpillar common stock at the close of business on April 13, 2022, or their legal proxy holders, are entitled to participate, submit questions and vote on several items at the virtual annual meeting. Attendance and registration details, as well as information on items of business to be addressed at the meeting, can be found on page 67 in Caterpillar's 2022 proxy statement at https://www.caterpillar.com/en/investors/financial-information/proxy-statement.html.

About Caterpillar

With 2021 sales and revenues of $51.0 billion, Caterpillar Inc. is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. For nearly 100 years, we've been helping customers build a better, more sustainable world and are committed and contributing to a reduced-carbon future. Our innovative products and services, backed by our global dealer network, provide exceptional value that helps customers succeed. Caterpillar does business on every continent, principally operating through three primary segments  Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation  and providing financing and related services through our Financial Products segment. Visit us at caterpillar.com or join the conversation on our social media channels .

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.
The Series B growth funding led by Sageview Capital will be used to advance Clerk's mission to build the digital platform that powers the store of the future.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Clerk, a retail technology company that's improving the traditional brick-and-mortar grocery experience, today announced that it has raised $30 million in its Series B funding round led by Sageview Capital. Clerk will use the funding to accelerate the buildout of its platform, allowing the company to expand its in-store marketing and merchandising products to retailers and brands.

As part of the transaction, Dean Nelson, partner at Sageview, will join the company's board of directors. Additionally, Roberto Avila, principal at Sageview, will join as a board observer.

"Brick-and-mortar stores are overdue for a digital transformation," said Marlow Nickell, CEO at Clerk. "Although 90% of U.S. grocery sales still happen in stores, brands and retailers often don't have a simple way to manage store performance and product interactions like they do online  our team wants to change that. This investment will get us closer to providing our retail and advertising partners full transparency into their store experience, from understanding how their products are performing to measuring customer engagement with in-store touchpoints."

In the two years since its series A funding, led by Silverton Partners, Clerk has grown rapidly with a 350% increase in network size. Additionally, the company achieved several milestones, including:

Expansion of Grocery TV's footprint across all 50 states in key markets -- including New York , Chicago , Los Angeles , Miami , and Dallas -- with over 14,000 displays in retailers such as ShopRite, Bashas', and Cub Foods.

, , , , and -- with over 14,000 displays in retailers such as ShopRite, Bashas', and Cub Foods. Partnerships with major programmatic networks such as The Trade Desk and Yahoo DSP to make it easier for agencies and brands to reach their audience of over 30 million grocery shoppers.

Launch of a SaaS merchandising product that leverages their machine learning technology to help brands ensure products are in-stock and shelved correctly. Dotdash Meredith uses this to manage its publications in over 15,000 stores per quarter.

"Clerk is exactly the type of company we look to invest in at Sageview; its platform is transforming and improving the way a traditional industry operates and provides a clear, strong ROI to its customers. We're excited to partner with the team as they enter this new growth period. We look forward to leveraging our industry knowledge, operational expertise, and network to help Clerk develop their technology even further and achieve greater reach with brands and retailers," said Avila.

Launched in 2018, Clerk helps brands and retailers improve the shopper experience by streamlining store operations and providing in-store retail media opportunities by leveraging its digital advertising network, Grocery TV. For more information, visit https://www.clerkretail.com.

About Clerk

Clerk is a technology company founded in 2018 that is powering the store of the future. While initially focusing on improving marketing and merchandising performance in the checkout aisle, their long-term vision is to simplify how brands and retailers market and manage their products throughout the store.

About Sageview Capital: Sageview Capital is a private investment firm focused on partnering with industry-defining innovators to build enduring software and tech-enabled businesses. With over $2 billion in assets under management, the firm collaborates with entrepreneurs on a custom approach, leveraging its decades of experience, operational expertise, and network in scaling many successful companies. Sageview invests for the long-term; the firm has guided many of its portfolio companies to IPO or acquisitionand beyond. Sageview's investments include 360insights, Aceable, Anitian, Atmosphere, CallRail, Carewell, Demandbase, DISQO, Drivewyze, Elastic Path, Ezoic, MetricStream, Pantheon, Pax8, NAM, Specright, Theatro, and XSELL Technologies, among others.

CONTACT:

Flight PR

Alysha Light

[email protected]

SOURCE Clerk
LONDON, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On 29th March 2022, the Supreme Court of Bermuda upheld the claims by Bidzina Ivanishvili, former Prime Minister of Georgia, and his family versus CS Life, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Credit Suisse, one of Switzerland's leading banks.

The damning judgement confirmed that Credit Suisse had been aware of its employee's wrongdoings, including fraud and mismanagement, but did nothing to prevent these and chose to prioritize profits over the legitimate interests of the client.

In advance of the judgement, Credit Suisse's statement of 23rd March had confirmed that its subsidiary was facing an award in excess of USD 500 million to ensure it met financial regulatory requirements. Moreover, in that very same statement, the Bank stated it would be accumulating reserves required to meet the award.

Following the Judgement, the respective parties were given an opportunity  based on a formula as defined by the court  to make their own calculations. Grant Thornton, a global audit specialist that is among the world top five leading firms, was instructed by Bidzina Ivanishvili and his family to act as experts in the proceedings, including to calculate the damages. The Court is expected to award damages of more than USD 600 million.

A spokesperson for Mr. Ivanishvili commented:

"The Bermuda Court Judgement did not provide a specific award amount and proposed a definitive formula to calculate the damages. It should be said that the methodology suggested by the Court was the most acceptable format for the Plaintiffs and their expectations have been met in full. The client expects that the Bermuda court to approve the figure within the next few weeks and that respective enforcement will be implemented as a result."

According to the spokesperson, there is subsequent litigation against Credit Suisse Trust pending before the Courts of Singapore, where the trial is set for September 2022, involving a claim of more than USD 800 million.

Once the Court in Bermuda issues the Order for Payment, including the calculated amount of damages, which is expected to happen before the end of June, Mr. Ivanishvili is intending to organize six press conferences for the international media. These will demonstrate in detail, how Credit Suisse and, in general, the Swiss banking system operate. What type of schemes are offered to clients for managing their investments, including available fund structures as a result of which, clients are restricted in practicable means for managing their own assets; in addition, the clients are deprived of access to their own funds where much depends on the "goodwill" of the Bank. How the Swiss regulator  FINMA  has no effective tools to prevent gross violations in the Swiss banking system; how the Swiss Prosecutors' Office protects the Banks and is unable to hold them responsible and instead bring charges only against one individual, described as a "lone wolf". The Swiss judicial system, which orders the Banks to repay funds confirmed as stolen to clients only once the funds have been recovered from third parties and how unprotected any client could be when investing in the Swiss finance sector. Mr. Ivanishvili will dedicate each of the meetings with the media to each of the above topics and will break down the myths associated with so-called untainted image of Swiss banking and judiciary.

It is noteworthy that since the decision of the Bermuda Court, Credit Suisse has recently announced changes to its top management, including the change of the Chief Legal Officer. On 29th April, the General Meeting of Credit Suisse will have to take effective measures for recover from the ongoing scandals and the unsuccessful disputes with clients.

For further information, please contact [email protected] or visit https://csvictims.com/

Information for editors

CS Victims was established by the representatives of certain clients of Credit Suisse.

They are victims of an estimated $1 billion fraud perpetrated by the Bank's personnel over seven years. At least one of Credit Suisse's employees has been convicted of fraud and FINMA has highlighted failures in Credit Suisse's systems and controls which led directly to crimes being committed.

SOURCE CS Victims
New locations in Broward County and Englewood Expand the Company's Retail Presence to 47 Locations in the Sunshine State and 130 Nationwide

WAKEFIELD, Mass., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CSE: CURA /OTCQX: CURLF) ("Curaleaf" or the "Company"), a leading international provider of consumer products in cannabis, today announced plans to open two new dispensaries in Florida. Curaleaf Pembroke Park (2900 Country Club Ln.) is opening today, with Curaleaf Englewood (1930 S McCall Road) to follow on May 5th, pending regulatory approvals. The Company's latest expansion in the Sunshine State will increase its retail footprint to 47 dispensaries statewide and 130 dispensaries across the country.

Curaleaf Englewood is the Company's first dispensary in Englewood City, servicing the scenic area that stretches from Venice to Northport. Curaleaf Pembroke Park is the Company's third dispensary in Broward County and first location south of Fort Lauderdale between Hollywood and Hallandale Beach. As Curaleaf expands its retail presence in the largest medical market in the country, more patients will have access to a premium selection of vaporizers, edibles, and whole flower products, including BlueKudu Chocolate, Select Squeeze, Select X-Bites, Select Elite & Elite Live, Select Live Rosin Vape Carts and Concentrates and RSO's by Curaleaf.

"Florida is one of the fastest growing medical cannabis markets in the country, and as we have expanded in the state, we've grown our market share by increasing the number of patients we serve," said Matt Darin, President of Curaleaf US. "Our new location in Englewood allows us to serve a new community of patients and provide convenient access to Curaleaf's innovative products and services."

The grand openings of Curaleaf Pembroke Park will take place on May 6th while Englewood will host their grand opening on May 13th featuring exclusive promotions and opportunities for patients to earn rewards points. For more information on store openings, along with product offerings and hours of operation, please visit https://curaleaf.com/locations#florida .

About Curaleaf Holdings

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF) ("Curaleaf") is a leading international provider of consumer products in cannabis with a mission to improve lives by providing clarity around cannabis and confidence around consumption. As a high-growth cannabis company known for quality, expertise and reliability, the Company and its brands, including Curaleaf and Select, provide industry-leading service, product selection and accessibility across the medical and adult-use markets. In the United States, Curaleaf currently operates in 23 states with 130 dispensaries, 26 cultivation sites, and employs over 5,600 team members. Curaleaf International is the largest vertically integrated cannabis company in Europe with a unique supply and distribution network throughout the European market, bringing together pioneering science and research with cutting-edge cultivation, extraction and production. Curaleaf is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol CURA and trades on the OTCQX market under the symbol CURLF. For more information, please visit https://ir.curaleaf.com .

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This media advisory contains forwardlooking statements and forwardlooking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forwardlooking statements or information. Generally, forward-looking statements and information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or, "proposed", "is expected", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forwardlooking statements and information concerning the opening of Curaleaf Englewood and Curaleaf Pembroke Park. Such forward-looking statements and information reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the company with respect to the matter described in this new release. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which are based on current expectations as of the date of this release and subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Additional information about these assumptions and risks and uncertainties is contained under "Risk Factors and Uncertainties" in the Company's latest annual information form filed March 9, 2022, which is available under the Company's SEDAR profile at http://www.sedar.com, and in other filings that the Company has made and may make with applicable securities authorities in the future. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made only as to the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

INVESTOR CONTACT

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc.

[email protected]

MEDIA CONTACTS

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc.

Tracy Brady, VP Corporate Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE Curaleaf Holdings, Inc.
DUBLIN, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "CBD Gummies Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Category and Distribution Channel" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The CBD gummies market was valued at US$ 2,133.48 million in 2021 and is projected to reach US$ 12,182.21 million by 2028. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 28.3% from 2021 to 2028.



CBD or cannabidiol is an active component in cannabis (marijuana). It is gaining huge traction due to its medicinal and healing effects. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), CBD demonstrates no effects suggestive of any misuse or dependency potential in people.



Based on distribution channel, the CBD gummies market is segmented into specialty stores, online retail, and others. The specialty stores segment accounted for the largest market share in 2020. The online retail segment is projected to grow at the fastest CAGR over the forecast period.

E-commerce platforms have registered significant growth as they provide lucrative services, such as home delivery, discounts, offers, cashback, to the customers. Moreover, customers can choose among a wide range of products by comparing different alternatives available.

A variety of CBD gummies brands are available on e-commerce platforms like Amazon.com. Thus, the high availability of CBD gummies brands at affordable prices is one of the key factors driving the online retail segment.



Based on region, the CBD gummies market is segmented into North America, Europe, and the Rest of the World. In 2020, North America held the largest share of the global CBD gummies market, whereas Europe is projected to register the fastest growth over the forecast period. Europe has a significant concentration of cannabis consumers.

Recently, the European Union has legalized CBD; hence, manufacturers of CBD gummies have a strong growth potential across European nations such as France, Germany, the UK, and Poland. CBD gummies consumption is proliferating rapidly across markets in Europe as manufacturers are focusing on lowering the THC content and using clean-label and organic ingredients.

Moreover, CBD regulations are getting softer as authorities in EU Member States now regard CBD as a novel product for food, beverages, and food supplements. These factors are projected to support the growth of the CBD gummies market across Europe over the coming years.



The leading players in the CBD gummies market include Aurora Cannabis, Inc.; Canopy Growth USA, LLC; CBD American Shaman; CV Sciences, Inc.; Diamond CBD; CBDfx; Sunday Scaries; Medix CBD; Reliva CBD; and Fab CBD.



Reasons to Buy

Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies.

The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the global CBD gummies market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long-term strategies.

Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets.

Scrutinize in-depth the market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it.

Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation, and industry verticals.

Key Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Growing Awareness Regarding Health Benefits of CBD

Rising Adoption Among Athletes and Sportspersons

Market Restraints

Stringent Regulations Regarding Production and Consumption of CBD

Market Opportunities

Product Innovations

Future Trends

Surging Influence of Social Media and Celebrities

Company Profiles

Dixie Brands

Aurora Cannabis Inc.

Canopy Growth Corporation

Sunday Scaries

Diamond CBD

CBD American Shaman

CV Sciences, Inc

Medix CBD

CBDFx

Elixinol

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ipvj5t

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
Thousands of spectators at "Breaking Waves" light-installation at the Elbphilharmonie

HAMBURG, Germany, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of people gathered on Thursday night to experience the "Breaking Waves" light installation in Hamburg's port. Created by Dutch artist-duo DRIFT, the artwork comprises hundreds of illuminated drones that dance around the night sky of the iconic concert-hall. The event took place just after the opening-concert of the Hamburg International-Music-Festival. The spectacular light-installation was presented on the occasion of the 5-year anniversary of the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg's new landmark, and will be on show three more times until 1 May (www.elbphilharmonie.de).

- Cross reference: Multimedia content is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com) and Presseportal-

Especially for the Elbphilharmonie, Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta of DRIFT have created a work of art that enhances the building's unique architecture in fascinating ways. With their choreographed swarm of drones outside the building, DRIFT explores the movement of the water that surrounds the concert-hall, and connects that to the sound waves inside the venue. Originally planned to take place in January to mark the Elbphilharmonie's 5th anniversary, the artwork draws inspiration from the second movement of the Piano Concerto by Thomas Ades, the centrepiece of the anniversary-concert on 11 January.

In the short time of its existence, the Elbphilharmonie has completely exceeded all expectations, with a programme of events that stands out internationally for both its quality and diversity. What is more, the Elbphilharmonie has received more public attention worldwide than any other modern cultural building in recent years, with an amazing 3.5 million concert guests enjoying some 3,000 inspiring concerts at the concert-hall since its opening. Over the past years, more than 15 million people have enjoyed the 360-degree panoramic view from the Plaza, the public viewing platform. With these extraordinary figures, Hamburg`s new landmark even outperforms German top tourist destinations such as Neuschwanstein Castle (www.hamburg-travel.com).

Hamburg Tourist Board

Guido Neumann

[email protected]

Phone number: +49(0)40-30051580

SOURCE Hamburg Marketing GmbH
PITTSBURGH, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create a way to help heal fungal infections within toenail beds or fingernail beds while at home," said an inventor, from Los Angeles, Calif., "so I invented THE GENESIS. My design could eliminate the time and hassle of traveling to a dermatologist or podiatrist."

The patent-pending invention provides a means to treat nail bed problems associated with fungal nail infections. In doing so, it offers an alternative to expensive oral or topical medications. As a result, it helps to relieve redness, swelling and pain of the nail bed. The invention features an effective design that is easy to use so it is ideal for individuals who experience various skin issues involving the nail bed. Additionally, a prototype model is available upon request.

The original design was submitted to the Los Angeles sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 20-LAX-1405, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com.

SOURCE InventHelp
SHENZHEN, China, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Shenzhen IONOVA Life Science Co., Ltd. announces today it has entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement with MSD (Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ., USA) to evaluate clinical benefits of INV-1120, IONOVA's EP4 antagonist, in combination with MSD's anti-PD-1 therapy, KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) for cancer treatment.

Under this agreement, IONOVA will conduct a Phase 1b study in the US to evaluate the safety and efficacy of INV-1120 combined with KEYTRUDA for the treatment of selected advanced solid tumors.

According to Dr. Yongkui Sun, CEO of IONOVA and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, "We are pleased to collaborate with MSD to evaluate INV-1120 in combination with KEYTRUDA for the treatment of advanced solid tumors. IONOVA has previously demonstrated that INV-1120 not only has mono therapeutic anti-cancer efficacy, but also exhibits strong additive anti-cancer benefits in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy in preclinical solid tumor models. We are excited now that the clinical collaboration with MSD enables us to evaluate the clinical benefits of INV-1120 in combination with KEYTRUDA for certain cancer patients."

KEYTRUDA is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA.

About INV-1120

INV-1120 is a highly potent, highly selective, and orally available EP4 antagonist designed to modulate the tumor microenvironment. EP4 antagonist has shown to increase T cell infiltration and regulate macrophage functions in tumors, contributing to increased anti-tumor immune responses in preclinical tumor models. INV-1120 is currently in Phase I clinical trials in the US and in China.

About IONOVA

IONOVA is a clinical-stage biotech company focused on the discovery and development of innovative cancer medicines especially targeted- and immuno-therapies.

[email protected]

SOURCE Shenzhen IONOVA Life Science Co., Ltd.
BOSTON, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - John Hancock Premium Dividend Fund (NYSE: PDT) (the "Fund"), a closed-end fund managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC and subadvised by Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC, announced today sources of its monthly distribution of $0.0975 per share paid to all shareholders of record as of April 11, 2022, pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan. This press release is issued as required by an exemptive order granted to the Fund by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Notification of Sources of Distribution

This notice provides shareholders of the John Hancock Premium Dividend Fund (NYSE: PDT) with important information concerning the distribution declared on April 1, 2022, and payable on April 29, 2022. No action is required on your part.

Distribution Period: April 2022

Distribution Amount Per Common Share: $0.0975

The following table sets forth the estimated sources of the current distribution, payable April 29, 2022, and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short term capital gains; net realized long term capital gains; and return of capital or other capital source. All amounts are expressed on a per common share basis and as a percentage of the distribution amount.





For the period 04/1/2022-04/30/2022

For the fiscal year-to-date period 11/1/2021-04/30/2022 1 Source

Current

Distribution ($)

% Breakdown

of the Current

Distribution

Total Cumulative

Distributions ($)

% Breakdown

of the Total

Cumulative

Distributions Net Investment Income

0.0517

53%

0.4418

76% Net Realized Short- Term Capital Gains

0.0000

0%

0.0919

16% Net Realized Long- Term Capital Gains

0.0000

0%

0.0430

7% Return of Capital or Other Capital Source

0.0458

47%

0.0080

1% Total per common share

0.0975

100%

0.5847

100%

















Average annual total return (in relation to NAV) for the 5 years ended on March 31, 2022

7.73%





Annualized current distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of March 31, 2022

7.71%





Cumulative total return (in relation to NAV) for the fiscal year through March 31, 2022

5.22%





Cumulative fiscal year-to-date distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of March 31, 2022

3.85%

______________________________ 1 The Fund's current fiscal year began on November 1, 2021, and will end on October 31, 2022.

You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's managed distribution plan.

The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and net realized capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income."

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this Notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The Fund has declared the April 2022 distribution pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan (the "Plan"). Under the Plan, the Fund makes fixed monthly distributions in the amount of $0.0975 per share, which will continue to be paid monthly until further notice.

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact your financial professional or call the John Hancock Investment Management Closed-End Fund Information Line at 1-800-843-0090, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time.

Effective October 1, 2021, copies of all notices informing shareholders of distributions made by the fund in excess of accumulated net investment income will be posted on John Hancock Investment Management's public website (jhinvestments.com) and on the Legal Notice System (LENS), a service offering of the Depository Trust Company (DTC) accessible by broker-dealer firms. To the extent required, notice may also be provided via press release. John Hancock Investment Management distributed paper copies of these notices by mail until March 30, 2022. Effective April 1, 2022, the notices will be delivered exclusively via the methods described above.

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

An investor should consider a Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.

About John Hancock Investment Management

A company of Manulife Investment Management, we serve investors through a unique multimanager approach, complementing our extensive in-house capabilities with an unrivaled network of specialized asset managers, backed by some of the most rigorous investment oversight in the industry. The result is a diverse lineup of time-tested investments from a premier asset manager with a heritage of financial stewardship.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

___________________________________ 1 The Fund's current fiscal year began on November 1, 2021, and will end on October 31, 2022.

SOURCE John Hancock Investment Management
BEIJING, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Joy Spreader Group Inc. ("Joy Spreader" or the "Company", Stock Code: 06988.HK), a leader in new media performance-based marketing, announced its 2021 annual results as well as environmental, social and governance (ESG) report on April 25. The ESG report shows details on how the Company has been working to make ESG an integral part of its daily operations and long-term development roadmap, with the goal of improving its ESG performance as part of the process to facilitate environmentally responsible growth alongside the fulfillment of social responsibilities.

Leveraging technologies to cut emissions in response to China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals

To fulfill the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, a green and low-carbon action plan has become a prerequisite for the next stage of development across multiple industries. As part of its efforts to reduce exhaust and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as non-hazardous waste, Joy Spreader has adopted a series of environmental management measures, including encouraging employees to print on both sides of a sheet of paper and in black and white to reduce paper and ink consumption, and to travel by high-speed train rather than by plane, as well as tracking and monitoring its own fleet to prevent the misuse of vehicles.

According to the report, Joy Spreader generated 12.2 tons of non-hazardous waste in 2021, a reduction of 18.7% over than originally forecast, while greenhouse gas emissions totaled 133.4 tons, a 11.1% decrease more than originally forecast.

A technology company should not only reflect its green development in its daily activities including such implementations as low-carbon offices and low-carbon mobility, but what can be even more effective is that it can deploy technologies to empower its businesses to improve quality and efficiency and reduce the resulting carbon emissions.

Based on the analysis and processing of marketing product, new media content and anonymous user group behavior data, Joy Spreader provides customized product distribution and release strategies for customers, and ensures the smooth implementation of marketing plans. All steps throughout the business process are carried out based on a highly automated platform, which, along with data and algorithms, can achieve the optimal matching of marketing products and touch points. This low-carbon marketing model not only ensures the accuracy and conversion rate, but also greatly reduces energy consumption.

Establishing a sound talent recruitment, training and retention program to enhance business competitiveness

Zhu Zinan, Chairman, Executive Director and CEO of Joy Spreader, said that the ESG report is and will continue to be a fundamental component of the Company's sustainability roadmap rather than a one-time event. He said that integrating ESG concepts into the Company's governance structure, management model, and even the business model, will not only help Joy Spreader resolve some bottlenecks in operation and management, but also enhance the Company's competitiveness when it comes to sustainable development.

Although invisible on the balance sheet, employees serve as an important intangible asset of a technology company, and play a central role in fostering technological breakthroughs and corporate development. In order to bring on board, properly train and retain valued employees, Joy Spreader has gone above and beyond to optimize its approach to all matters related to management, pay and benefits.

In terms of talent recruitment and training, Joy Spreader upholds the fundamental principle of fairness and justice by providing every employee with promotion and training opportunities, reviewing and rewarding employees in an open and fair manner on the basis of merit after a comprehensive assessment. In order to provide the best opportunities to each and every employee, the Company holds internal and external training sessions for all employees that cover the general rules, working skills and professional knowledge.

As for welfare and security, Joy Spreader complies with applicable laws and regulations to ensure the rights and interests of employees. In addition to the national statutory social insurance, the Company further provides benefits including accident and supplementary medical insurance, and strictly protects the right of employees to be fully free of any work obligations during their scheduled time off.

According to the annual report, as of December 31, 2021, the proportion of technical staff engaged in R&D, technology and operations at Joy Spreader exceeded 71% of the total headcount, comparable to top technology companies who seek to build a robust technical talent pool.

Shouldering social responsibility while facilitating business development

Since its establishment, Joy Spreader has been committed to understanding the needs of the communities where it operates while maintaining the steady growth of its main business, making a positive impact on social development by investing money and time, and undertaking practical actions.

"From an ESG perspective, a company should be evaluated not only by how much value it creates for its shareholders and customers, but also by how much of its social responsibilities it has fulfilled and how much it has contributed to society," said Mr. Zhu, the CEO.

In 2021, Joy Spreader launched a 500,000 yuan (USD 75,800) donation program to help underprivileged children with congenital heart disease correct their heart abnormalities with one-to-one peer support. The two children who received the support were both from disadvantaged families in Baise city, Guangxi province. They had been unable to receive ongoing and effective treatment due to their difficult economic circumstances. Upon learning of these circumstances, Mr. Zhu responded quickly by starting the donation program. The two children have been successfully operated on and discharged from the hospital.

Combining social responsibility and corporate development, Joy Spreader has achieved simultaneous growth of social and business value, and has been recognized for these efforts by a series of awards. In 2021, the Company was awarded the Most Valuable Listed Company for Investment, the Best Listed Company for ESG Practice, the Most Popular IPO Company for Investors, and the Most Growth Award by Gelonghui, HKTKWW, Zhitong Finance, Hithink RoyalFlush and other authoritative institutions and media organizations.

Along with the rising importance of ESG, the capital market has been paying more attention to ESG investment and persuading listed companies to be more willing to assemble and issue ESG reports.

For technology companies like Joy Spreader, ESG is now part and parcel of its business and daily management, and more attention needs to be paid to the balance between commercial value and social and environmental value for better long-term corporate growth. In 2021, Joy Spreader recorded revenue of HK$1.396 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 51.08% and demonstrating how the focus on sustainable development has been in more ways than one a rewarding experience for the Company.

For more information about Joy Spreader Group Inc., please visit here.

SOURCE Joy Spreader Group Inc.
WASHINGTON, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA is requesting public comment on the scope of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the agency's proposed Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign. Comments will be accepted through the mail and online through Monday, May 16, 2022.

The agency also is hosting two virtual public meetings about the proposed program at 3 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, and 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at:

https://jpl.webex.com/meet/msr

An audio-only feed of the public meetings will be available at 510-210-8882, meeting number 901-525-785. The online Webex feed of the meetings will include real-time automated closed captioning. Advance registration for the meetings is not required. The meeting website will be accessible to participants starting about 15 minutes before the event begins.

NASA and the European Space Agency are planning to use robotic Mars orbiter and lander missions launched in 2027 and 2028 to collect samples gathered by NASA's Perseverance rover. The samples, securely isolated inside a robust Earth Entry System using a layered "container within a container" approach, could be brought to Earth in the early 2030s. The Earth Entry System would then be transported to a specialized MSR sample receiving facility.

The public meetings will include briefings about the status of the National Environmental Policy Act process for the proposed program, as well as its purpose and scientific goals. Meetings will also cover why the Utah Test and Training Range operated by the U.S. Air Force is the proposed landing site for the samples, and what planners are doing to ensure safe and secure return of the samples  a topic known as backward planetary protection.

NASA will consider all comments received during the scoping process in the subsequent development of the MSR Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which is currently scheduled to be released for public comment later this year.

Additional information on the agency's National Environmental Policy Act process and the proposed NASA-ESA MSR program is available online.

SOURCE NASA
STAMFORD, Conn., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Stamford, CT based private equity firm Olympus Partners has acquired Excel Fitness Holdings, LLC ("Excel"), a Planet Fitness franchisee serving six markets including Austin, Dallas Ft-Worth, Northwest Arkansas, Raleigh-Durham, Tulsa, and Virginia. Excel Fitness is headquartered in Austin, Texas and operates over 90 Planet Fitness locations serving nearly 750,000 members at the time of acquisition.

"The Planet Fitness brand has done an incredible job cultivating a welcoming environment for the large percentage of the population who have never belonged to a gym or find traditional gym settings intimidating. We are thrilled to be partnering with Excel management who we believe has developed one of the premier franchisees by marrying the proven Planet Fitness concept with exceptional customer service and operational excellence," said Matt Boyd, Principal at Olympus. "We look forward to our partnership with CJ and the rest of the Excel team as we further expand the Company's presence in its core markets and beyond."

CJ Bouchard, CEO of Excel, added, "Our team is extremely excited to partner with the Olympus team as we continue growing our business, building communities through fitness and bringing the Judgement Free Zone to new members."

"We are in many of the highest growth markets in the U.S. and this gives us the opportunity to expand our footprint through development and marketing," said CJ Bouchard. The Excel team plans to operate over 100 locations by the end of 2022 with 80 clubs left to build.

The Olympus team included Paul Rubin, Matt Boyd, Matt Bujor and Sid Ahuja. Olympus was represented by Matt Goulding and Alexandra Dayneka-Hayes from Kirkland & Ellis and the Company was advised by Ryan Budlong and Zach England from Harris Williams.

About OLYMPUS PARTNERS

Founded in 1988, Olympus Partners is a private equity firm focused on providing equity capital for middle market management buyouts and for companies needing capital for expansion. Olympus is an active, long-term investor across a broad range of industries including business services, consumer products, healthcare services, financial services, industrial services, and manufacturing. Olympus manages in excess of $8.5 billion mainly on behalf of corporate pension funds, endowment funds and state-sponsored retirement programs.

About EXCEL FITNESS

Excel Fitness Holdings is a leading Planet Fitness franchise group based in the Austin area with over 90 locations across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Virginia. Excel Fitness has built a team culture that focuses on elevating the member experience by developing exceptional health clubs and delivering world-class customer service. The team is passionate about building communities through fitness and supporting their local markets through employment and memberships opportunities that positively impact lives.

About PLANET FITNESS

Founded in 1992 in Dover, NH, Planet Fitness is one of the largest and fastest-growing franchisors and operators of fitness centers in the United States by number of members and locations. As of December 31, 2021, Planet Fitness had 15.2 million members and 2,254 stores in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Mexico and Australia. The Company's mission is to enhance people's lives by providing a high-quality fitness experience in a welcoming, non-intimidating environment, which we call the Judgement Free Zone. More than 90% of Planet Fitness stores are owned and operated by independent business men and women.

SOURCE Olympus Partners
CALGARY, AB, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - RocketFrac Services Ltd. ("RocketFrac" or "the Company"), an innovative Cleantech Energy Services Company, is pleased to announce that it has signed an exclusive representative agreement with Amran Establishment LLC ("Amran") for the territory of the Sultanate of Oman.

The two-year agreement, effective April 1, 2022, provides Amran exclusive rights to market RocketFrac in the Sultanate of Oman. The agreement includes an option to renew for an additional two-year period, subject to a formal review within 90 days, prior to the agreement's end date.

"This collaboration between RocketFrac and Amran, an industry leader in Oman, is an exciting opportunity for RocketFrac going forward," says RocketFrac CEO, Tom Whalen. "Amran's established presence in the region provides RocketFrac immediate access to an important market that is especially suited to the Company's waterless well stimulation solution."

About RocketFrac

RocketFrac is an innovative Energy Service Company with proprietary technology that unlocks tight reservoirs with a lower environmental footprint than alternatives. By eliminating the need to use water in the fracking process, RocketFrac's patent-pending technology conserves this important resource, while lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and improving operational efficiency. This approach respects Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments, while contributing to critical energy independence needs around the world.

Founded in 2017, and headquartered in Canada, RocketFrac is working with international representatives in multiple markets to bring its unique fracking technology to a global customer base. RocketFrac is guided by experienced energy sector experts. Leadership includes CEO Tom Whalen, former President and Managing Director of Baker Hughes Canada, CTO Pavan Elapavuluri, formerly of Schlumberger, and The Honorable Ronald R. Spoehel, Chairman, formerly of NASA.

About Amran

Amran was established in 1978, by Mr. Said Amran Al Harthy, with the aim of providing the oil and gas industry in the Sultanate of Oman with the latest technology and expertise. From a modest beginning, the company has grown to be one of the largest contractors of oil and gas field equipment and services in the Sultanate, and today represents some of the best-known manufacturers and service providers in the industry.

For further information, please contact:

Mike Bowerman

Director of Communications +1 (403) 461.6079

[email protected]

Tom Whalen

President and CEO +1 (403) 615.7829

[email protected]

Cautionary Notes and Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including, without limitation, statements regarding RocketFrac's future, strategy, plans, objectives, goals and targets, and any statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words "believe", "expect", "aim", "intend", "plan", "continue", "will", "may", "would", "anticipate", "estimate", "forecast", "predict", "project", "seek", "should" or similar expressions or the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the engagement and activities of Amran pursuant to the representative agreement.

These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to materially differ from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

SOURCE RocketFrac Services Ltd.
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The success of last year's cooperation agreement with Cainiao Network ("Cainiao"), the logistics arm of Alibaba Group has enabled Saudia Cargo to achieve significant growth in e-commerce shipments this year. The agreement created a thriving "sky bridge" between Asia and Europe, allowing Saudia Cargo to benefit from the opportunities arising from the growing global e-commerce market.

Cainiao joined Saudia Cargo's flight program in March 2021, linking Hong Kong SAR to Liege Belgium, via Saudia Cargo's Riyadh hub, with 12 flights operated per week. The freighter flight enables Riyadh to become the model of an effective distribution hub in the Middle East thanks to the strong partnerships that the company has forged with local players.

Vikram Vohra, Saudia Cargo's Regional Director  Asia Pacific: "The agreement has allowed us to benefit from access to Alibaba's e-commerce platform as online shopping continues to soar, boosted in part by the Covid-19 pandemic. The partnership with Cainiao, which offers logistic services to more than 200 countries, is central to our growth strategy for this decade and sets the template for future cooperation agreements. Cainiao has become a trusted and valued partner."

Dandy Zhang, Commercial Director of Global Line Haul, Cainiao's Cross-border business: "As a global smart logistics company, Cainiao has been consistently enhancing its logistics services and efficiency to satisfy the booming demand for e-commerce in Europe and Middle East. Our partnership with Saudia Cargo has been fruitful, and we look forward to strengthening our cooperation in the long term."

Saudia Cargo has increased the number of cargo flights it operates to destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and North America over the past few years to ensure that it continues to meet rising demand for e-commerce and deliver on Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" strategy for growth.

The company has increased its haulage capacity from last year, adding and only improving its space and tonnage capacity to haul e-commerce goods on different routes, that are cared for by highly trained personnel who ensure the safest delivery. The number of flights from the Hong Kong market grew by over 30% alone.

The pandemic revealed the urgent need for cargo services as the e-commerce sector saw a dramatic rise during the pandemic, with a forecast increase of 19% worldwide on e-commerce revenue between pre-and-post COVID-19 timeframes in 2020. Saudia Cargo announced several measures to ensure the continuity of its operations and their increase in flights was part of their services with Cainiao.

This led to not only a stronger and more satisfied partnership, but also helped showcase how effective Saudia Cargo work with their worldwide partners, guaranteeing punctual delivery. The satisfaction of Cainiao with the operations of Saudia Cargo, throughout the past year and despite the struggles of the pandemic, has proven Saudia Cargo to being a trusted and successful partner.

Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com).

About Cainiao

Founded in 2013, Cainiao Network ("Cainiao") is a smart logistics company and the logistics arm of Alibaba Group. As part of its commitment to create customer value, it adopts a collaborative approach to logistics that aims to improve efficiency and customer experience for all players along the supply chain. It carries forward Alibaba's mission of making it easy to do business anywhere by aiming to deliver anywhere in China within 24 hours, and across the globe within 72 hours. For more information, please visit cainiao.com/en/index.html.

About Saudia Cargo

Saudia Cargo is contributing to the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia's Vision 2030 by developing a leading logistic hub and leveraging the country's strategic location. For more than seven decades, Saudia Cargo has been one of the world's most dynamic cargo carriers, connecting 900 destinations in 175 countries through its alliance with Sky Team Cargo, the world's largest group of air cargo airlines. The company's fleet of modern Boeing freighters and state-of-the-art facilities facilitate the transport of all types of cargo, from high-value shipments, dangerous goods and perishables to pharmaceuticals and highly sensitive vaccines. For more information, please visit saudiacargo.com.

Media contact:

Jin WU

[email protected]

SOURCE Saudia Cargo
Terna refocuses its international footprint according to its updated 2021-2025 Industrial Plan

CDPQ makes its first power transmission investment in Latin America with the purchase of Terna's transmission network in Brazil , Peru and Uruguay

with the purchase of Terna's transmission network in , and The acquisition marks the creation of a new CDPQ platform dedicated to transmission of electricity in Latin America

ROME and MONTREAL, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Terna S.p.A., Terna Plus S.r.l. and Terna Chile S.p.A. (collectively "Terna Group") today signed an agreement with CDPQ, a global investment group, for the sale of 100% of Terna Group's portfolio of power transmission assets in Brazil, Peru and Uruguay, for an equity value of over 265 million euros.

Terna's recently constructed, state-of-the-art transmission network in Latin America extends approximately 1,200 kilometres in three countries, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay. Thanks to significant investments in the region over the past five years and leveraging of its core expertise, Terna Group has contributed to the sustainable development of resilient and fully digitalized infrastructure, with the involvement of local communities. The transaction will allow Terna to record a capital gain of over 60 million euros.

"Terna will now refocus its international footprint in low-risk markets with attractive growth potential, as we announced in our updated 2021-2025 Industrial Plan", said Giacomo Donnini, Head of Terna International Operations.

The acquisition of these key assets will enable CDPQ to enter the Latin American energy transmission market, with a strong management team in place capable of pursuing growth opportunities, and in a manner consistent with its climate strategy and its objective of achieving a 60% reduction in the carbon intensity of its portfolio by 2030.

"With this first investment in power transmission in Brazil, Peru and Uruguay, we are laying the foundation of a new CDPQ platform dedicated to power transmission in Latin America, with an objective of becoming a key player in this critical sector of the economy. We are determined to drive the expansion of networks connecting new renewable energy projects to clients throughout the region, an objective in line with both our Latin American and portfolio decarbonation strategies," said Emmanuel Jaclot, Executive Vice-President and Head of Infrastructure at CDPQ.

The closing of the deal is planned to occur in multiple steps, for the most part in the second half of 2022, subject to the fulfillment of certain customary conditions. Terna Group was assisted by Santander Corporate & Investment Banking as financial advisor and by the international law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle as legal advisor. Pinheiro Neto Advogados served as legal advisor to CDPQ.

ABOUT TERNA

The Terna Group is one of the leading European and global electricity transmission operators. It operates the high-voltage national transmission grid with about 75,000 km of lines, around 900 electrical substations throughout the Italian territory and 26 interconnections with foreign Countries. Its mission is to guarantee 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the secure operation, quality and efficiency of the Italian electricity system and ensure equal access conditions for all market operators. A centre of excellence made up of over 5,100 professionals, Terna plays a guiding role in the energy transition process towards complete decarbonisation and full integration of energy from renewable sources into the grid.

For more information www.terna.it

ABOUT CDPQ

At Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), we invest constructively to generate sustainable returns over the long term. As a global investment group managing funds for public retirement and insurance plans, we work alongside our partners to build enterprises that drive performance and progress. We are active in the major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private debt. As at December 31, 2021, CDPQ's net assets totalled CAD 419.8 billion. For more information, visit cdpq.com, follow us on Twitter or consult our Facebook or LinkedIn pages.

SOURCE Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec
El Dia Del Nino is an important holiday in Mexico and Latin America and is now celebrated in many Latino communities throughout California in commemoration of international children's rights. In honor of this celebration, the Andale! Que Esperas? is amplifying its vaccination campaign message to promote the benefits of the Covid-19 vaccine and help protect Latino children and families who, according to numerous studies, have been hit the hardest by the pandemic, seeing the highest number of deaths and infections in the state.

In California, just 22.8 percent of Latino children between five and eleven-years is fully vaccinated, leaving millions vulnerable. Given the lifting of mandates, paired with misinformation and disinformation causing greater confusion, it is understandable that Latino parents and children may have questions and be hesitant about the vaccine.

Grupo Chespirito Producer and Executive Director, Roberto Gomez Fernandez, son of the show's creator said, "It is a great honor for me and for Grupo Chespirito to participate in social welfare campaigns like this. I am overjoyed to be able share this life-saving vaccination message through El Chavo and its beloved neighborhood characters. I am certain that by adding El Chavo's voice to this cause, it will help increase community participation in AltaMed's vaccination campaign, and help their efforts be even more successful. Like El Chavo, you too can make an appointment to get vaccinated. Andale! Que Esperas?"

For over fifty years, the legendary Mexican series has appealed to both children and adults through generations, cultures and countries through its family-friendly and culturally relevant slapstick comedy. At thActum LLCe height of the show's popularity, it was seen by an estimated 350 million viewers weekly.

It is this deep cultural impact that led Andale! Que Esperas? to join with the El Chavo characters, with the hope that these endearing voices can ease the fears of parents and children and encourage families to protect themselves by getting vaccinated.

"As a pediatrician, I know firsthand that people are tired of hearing about COVID-19, but this is not the time to let down our guard. People are still getting sick, and there is still a great deal of misinformation about the vaccine," said Dr. Ilan Shapiro, Senior Vice President, Chief Health Correspondent, and Medical Affairs Officer for AltaMed Health Services. "The purpose of this partnership with El Chavo is to help dispel some of these myths among our community."

While the public at large is ditching their masks, the Centers for Disease Control has found that a record number of children under five years of age were hospitalized during the Omicron surge. This finding underscores the need to vaccinate young children before the next variant develops and puts them and their communities at even further risk.

The PSAs are running in the top five Latino markets in California, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno, San Francisco and Sacramento targeting more than 4.4 million unvaccinated Latinos in hard to reach areas.

To learn more about how El Chavo Animado explains the benefits of the vaccine, view the full :60 and :30 PSAs here: https://bit.ly/3u7gRGo

About Andale! Que Esperas?

Andale! Que Esperas ? is a statewide multigenerational COVID-19 vaccine outreach campaign intended to reach 4.45 million Latinos through a culturally relevant public education campaign and 2.25 million Latinos through direct community outreach efforts in California.

AltaMed Health Services launched the Andale! Que Esperas? Campaign in partnership with San Ysidro Health in San Diego County, Clinica de la Raza serving Alameda and Solano Counties, Latino Health Access in Orange County, Golden Valley Health Centers serving Merced and Stanislaus Counties, the My Community, My Health Coalition in Los Angeles County, and the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California. More information can be found at andalequeesperas.com and through social media @andalequeespera on Twitter and Andale Que Esperas on Facebook.

To schedule an appointment, you can visit our website or call (855) YA-ANDALE.

This campaign is supported by the Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $11,169,570 with 0% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.

Media Contact

Hilda Delgado

213-700-3142

[email protected]

SOURCE AltaMed Health Services
SAN FRANCISCO, April 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After the successful launch of their Dermatology CRO , the fast-growing San Francisco healthcare company, Vial, has disclosed plans to launch an Ophthalmology CRO . The company's announcement comes ahead of the one of the largest ophthalmology research conferences in the world, ARVO 2022.

Vial is a next-generation CRO on a mission to disrupt the clinical trials industry with best-in-class study management and CRO services. The new Ophthalmology CRO will distinguish itself by leveraging Vial's nationwide site network of top investigators to ensure faster, higher-quality trial outcomes for sponsors. In addition, their tech-enabled trial management system, streamlined study startup processes, centralized pre-screening call center, and an unparalleled approach to patient recruitment will successfully deliver a superior CRO experience.

"Our mission at Vial has stayed the same since day one  running clinical trials faster and more efficiently in order to drive results for sponsors in record time. We are excited to keep up the momentum we've created with our Dermatology CRO and replicate its success in the ophthalmology industry", said Jason Shuris, Vial's Head of Sales. Jason brings 11 years of CRO experience to the Vial CRO team. Prior to joining Vial, he held senior positions at both ophthalmology and dermatology focused CROs, namely Ora and Innovaderm.

Vial is currently developing their ophthalmology site network, which will power the CRO, by partnering with top ophthalmologists across both anterior and posterior segment specialties in preparation for the expansion.

Earlier this year, the company brought on Dr. Joseph Tauber, Founder and CEO of Tauber Eye Center and world-renowned specialist in the anterior segment, as their Head of Ophthalmology research. In addition, Dr. Arshad Khanani, a vitreo-retinal specialist and Director of Clinical Research at Sierra Eye Associates, joined Vial as its first advisor, and stated, "I am looking forward to guiding Vial as they continue to make strides in reimagining the clinical trial infrastructure in ophthalmology."

See the full release here .

About Vial: Vial's mission is to run clinical trials with faster execution and higher quality in order to bring new therapies to market. Vial has 90+ employees and is based in San Francisco, California. Vial partners with Dermatologists and Ophthalmologists to support their research teams and has created a network of 35+ clinics that have contributed to 750+ trials.

SOURCE Vial
As the popularity of cold brew continues to rise, and coffee drinkers look for easy-yet-elevated coffee options that suit a grab-and-go lifestyle, Lavazza's new cold brew cans offer a premier way to enjoy the popular beverage in both dairy and non-dairy options. The ready-to-drink cans will debut with four styles including Classic Cold Brew, Nitro Cold Brew, Cappuccino Cold Brew with Milk , and Double Shot Cold Brew with Oat Milk . Each can offers premium flavor profiles, from fruity aromas to tastes of nutty, creamy chocolate, helping to elevate a category that traditionally focuses on the inclusion of dairy products and sweeter profiles. Lavazza's ready-to-drink cold brew is the only one of its kind to be made with USDA Certified Organic, Rainforest Alliance Certified, 100% Arabica coffee.

"Premium, organic, ready-to-drink coffee is growing at a rate nearly 39% faster than packaged coffee*. This is due in part to younger, American coffee drinkers' preference for cold and iced coffees, which makes this market one of the most dynamic," says Davide Riboni, CEO of Lavazza US. "We're always thinking about what's next for coffee drinkers and are confident that our new ready-to-drink cold brew will attract a new class of coffee connoisseurs who value premium taste and quality."

The new ready-to-drink cans feature beautiful and distinctive imagery, transporting consumers to four iconic Italian cities and regions. With each sip of Classic Cold Brew, coffee lovers will stroll along the canals of Venice. The smooth, refreshing rush of Nitro Cold Brew is reminiscent of the waves crashing against the walls of the Blue Grotto of Capri. Just as Tuscany's majestic Cypress landscaping blends history and beauty, Cappuccino Cold Brew with Milk combines the sweet, creamy taste of milk with a cocoa aroma. The bustling streets of Milan  the heart of Italy's revolutionary fashion and design  come alive with the balance of smooth, creamy oat milk and sweet, chocolaty aroma of espresso in Double Shot Cold Brew with Oat Milk

All four flavors of ready-to-drink cold brew cans are available for $3.49 MSRP and can be purchased at select Lavazza cafes, Lavazza.us , Amazon.com , Eataly and other retailers where you typically find Lavazza coffee on shelves. For more information, please visit lavazza.us or @LavazzaUSA .

* Source: Nielsen, Total US xAOC, L52wks ending 8/07/21

About Lavazza

The history of Lavazza is that of a business which, for over 125 years, has pursued a company vision based on passion for work, for the product, and the land in which it operates. These values have been ingrained in Lavazza's DNA since its foundation in 1895 and upheld by four generations of entrepreneurs since then. Each family member who has worked in the company has helped it to grow, transforming it into the company it is today, yet still true to the qualities of passion and innovation inherited from Luigi Lavazza. "It's about doing business with your heart" in the words of Emilio Lavazza. It is the spirit which has allowed us to expand the company over the years: our way of doing business is an example of sustainability in the fullest sense of the word. It is a quality built up and shared with all the people we have met, starting with our employees and the places in which we work. These are the qualities that, every day, underpin the value of the company, allowing us to be recognized worldwide as an excellent Group, not just for the production of premium coffee, but also for our approach to work and our social commitment.

SOURCE Lavazza
SHANGHAI, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Webnovel, a global-facing project founded by China Literature (China Literature Limited 0772.HK),launched the 2022 Webnovel Spirity Awards (WSA) on April 29th . In addition to English works, the writing competition also accepts entries in Indonesian and Thai for the first time. Winners will be given a chance to have their works adapted into TV or film by WeTV, the global video streaming platform launched by Tencent Video.

Leading on from last year, English will remain the main category with nine themes for entrants to choose from, including werewolf, CEO or billionaire, and fantasy. Additionally, English writers with ideas for other subjects are also encouraged to submit them. As the majority of online literature readership in Indonesia are female, the Indonesian category primarily attracts themes of drama and romance, including contract marriage, CEO or billionaire, revenge, and high school, . In Thai, subjects that appear more popular include boy's love, drama, as well as global hits such as fantasy and system. The writing competitions in English and Indonesian have started, and that in Thai is expected to begin in mid-May.

Each entry will be reviewed by loyal readers on Webnovel, a group of professional editors, and the co-producers of WSA. Entrants should keep in mind that the quality of the content is key, but that the business value of each story is also important. In addition to the possibility of TV or film adaptation, winners will receive a cash prize of up to $10,000.

Webnovel first launched WSA in 2019 with the aim of helping rising writers around the world reach their dreams, with a one million dollar prize pool for every annual event. In 2021, WSA received nearly 80,000 entries from fledging young writers around the world. KazzenIX, the winner of the 2021 WSA gold prize, was a kindergarten teacher in the Philippines who has been publishing stories on Webnovel since 2018. Her gold prize winning work, Spellbound, a fantasy story, received outstanding praise once published.

Through supporting events such as WSA, Webnovel serves as an invaluable beginning point for online literature writers across the globe, helping them find their readership and a future as professional content creators. As of the end of 2021, Webnovel has nurtured over 200,000 writers from over 200 countries.

SOURCE Webnovel
LUXEMBOURG, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ardagh Group ("Ardagh") is pleased to announce that its acquisition of Consol Holdings Proprietary Limited ("Consol"), the leading producer of glass packaging on the African continent, has completed. The acquisition, for $1 billion including net debt assumed in Consol, represents a significant inward investment into the South African and other markets in which Consol operates, with a further ZAR 3 billion ($200 million) investment programme in two new furnaces.

Consol, headquartered in Johannesburg, and founded in 1944, is the market leader in South Africa where it operates four well-invested glass production facilities. It also operates smaller production facilities in Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia. Consol serves a broad range of leading international, regional and domestic customers, principally in the beer, wine, spirits, food and non-alcoholic beverage sectors. Following the acquisition of Consol, Ardagh will operate 65 production facilities in 16 countries, on four continents, employ approximately 20,000 people and have annual sales approaching $10 billion.

Paul Coulson, Chairman and CEO of Ardagh, said, "We are delighted to have completed this strategic acquisition. By combining Ardagh's global reach with Consol's know-how on the African continent, we are very well-positioned to partner with our customers to meet the growing consumer demand in Africa for premium, sustainable glass packaging."

Ardagh Group's acquisition of Consol will enable further opportunities for future investment in glass manufacturing in Africa. To this end, Ardagh is committed to a third furnace investment at its Nigel facility in Gauteng which will add to the existing N2 expansion project due for start-up in May 2022. These combined investments will total ZAR 3 billion ($200 million) and create more than 250 direct jobs, with significant ancillary supply-chain expenditure resulting from these projects.

On completion of the acquisition, Mike Arnold stepped down as CEO of the business following a very successful 20-year tenure in that role. Mike will become a director of Ardagh Glass Packaging Holdings Africa (Pty) Limited and will be part of the Ardagh executive team responsible for growing Ardagh's presence in Africa. Paul Curnow, previously CEO Designate, has succeeded Mike Arnold as CEO. He will also become a director of Ardagh Glass Packaging Holdings Africa (Pty) Limited.

Bruce MacRobert, former Chairman of Consol, has become Chairman of Ardagh Glass Packaging Holdings Africa (Pty) Limited, commented: "Ardagh's investment in Consol and in the expansion of glass production in Africa is testament to Ardagh's faith in the Consol team and in Africa's potential."

About Ardagh Group:

Ardagh Group is a global supplier of infinitely recyclable metal and glass packaging for brand owners around the world. Ardagh operates 65 metal and glass production facilities in 16 countries, employing more than 20,000 people with annual sales approaching $10 billion.

Further information:

Investors: [email protected]

Media: Pat Walsh, Murray Consultants

Tel.: +1 646 776 5918 / +353 87 2269345

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Ardagh Group S.A.
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Table of Content

Executive Summary

Market Insights

Category Pricing Insights

Cost-saving Opportunities

Best Practices

Category Ecosystem

Category Management Strategy

Category Management Enablers

Suppliers Selection

Suppliers under Coverage

US Market Insights

Category scope

Appendix

About SpendEdge:

SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions.

Contact:

SpendEdge

Anirban Choudhury

Marketing Manager

Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340

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SOURCE SpendEdge
HOUSTON, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The exciting new era of commercial human spaceflight ushered in over the past three weeks by the successful Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), the first private mission to the International Space Station (ISS), entered a new phase with the signing of an agreement between Axiom Space and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to fly a UAE professional crew member to the ISS on NASA's SpaceX Crew 6, expected to occur in 2023.

Axiom Space and the MBRSC signed agreement to fly the first UAE astronaut for a long duration mission to the ISS Tweet this Axiom Space and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) signed an agreement for a United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut to fly on the International Space Station in 2023. The agreement was signed at the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Washington, D.C. on April 27 by Salem Humaid AlMarri, Director-General of MBRSC and Michael Suffredini, President and CEO of Axiom Space.

"It is our great pleasure to sign the agreement with the United Arab Emirates' Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, marking the first time a commercial space company has made such a mission possible," said Michael Suffredini, President and CEO of Axiom Space. "Axiom Space is proud to provide MBRSC with a fight opportunity for a UAE astronaut, enabling its first long-term mission to the ISS."

While UAE has previously flown an astronaut to the ISS onboard the Soyuz MS15 spacecraft, this will be the first non-ISS partner professional astronaut flight facilitated by a U.S. commercial space company. The mission is expected to last approximately six months, marking the first long-duration flight of an astronaut from an Arab nation. In yet another first, the UAE crew member will serve as a member of two Expedition crews onboard the space station across the roughly six-month interval.

The flight opportunity provided by Axiom has its origins in a no-funds contract signed between NASA and Axiom to fly a NASA astronaut onboard a Soyuz seat, previously purchased by Axiom, in order to ensure continuous U.S. presence onboard the ISS. In exchange, NASA provided Axiom the right to use a seat owned by NASA onboard a commercial U.S. spacecraft traveling to the ISS in the future. Since the seats were deemed of equal value, there will be no future exchange of funds between NASA and Axiom for the flight opportunity. Axiom's agreement with MBRSC is between the company and the UAE space agency.

The agreement was signed at the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Washington, D.C. on April 27 by Salem Humaid AlMarri, Director-General of MBRSC and Michael Suffredini, and announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

About Axiom Space

Axiom Space is guided by the vision of a thriving home in space that benefits every human, everywhere. The leading provider of human spaceflight services and developer of human-rated space infrastructure, Axiom operates end-to-end missions to the International Space Station today while privately building its successor, Axiom Station, the first permanent commercial destination in Earth's orbit that will sustain human growth off the planet and bring untold benefits back home. More information about Axiom can be found at www.axiomspace.com

SOURCE Axiom Space
BIH currently delivers combined search and rescue (SAR) and support helicopter services for the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) with operations in the Falkland Islands

BIH also delivers Fleet Operational Sea Training (FOST) helicopter support for the Royal Navy

All-cash transaction, expected to close in the third quarter of 2022

HOUSTON, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bristow Group Inc. (NYSE:VTOL) today announced its plans to acquire British International Helicopter Services Limited ("BIH"), further enhancing its leading global Government Services business.

Bristow will continue to build upon BIH's strong relationships established through a longstanding history of serving both military and civilian markets. Bristow expects to realize efficiencies by leveraging its scale to continue providing safe and reliable vertical lift solutions in the region.

"Bristow looks forward to adding BIH's complementary business and capable team members to our portfolio. This acquisition will further our government services business as we look to strengthen existing relationships and develop new partnerships throughout government sectors for safe and reliable vertical lift solutions," said Chris Bradshaw, President and CEO of Bristow Group. "Bristow is the leader in vertical lift for government services today. By adding BIH's existing capabilities and experienced team members and building off its history in working with the British Armed Forces, Bristow will be well-positioned to further expand our services throughout the UK and beyond."

BIH will add to Bristow's operations in the UK and adopt the Bristow name and brand throughout its operations. BIH currently operates a fleet of two AW189 SAR-configured helicopters, three S61 helicopters, and one AS365 helicopter, performing various passenger and freight transport as well as hoist operations.

"Since stepping in to preserve an important national asset in 2013, Rigby Group's aviation division has worked diligently on strengthening British International Helicopters' operational and commercial foundations. With the right partnerships, infrastructure, and global reach, the business is now well placed for growth. We believe that ambition will best be served by BIH becoming part of an industry heavyweight like Bristow Group," said Paul Southall, Managing Director of British International Helicopters. "In Bristow, we believe we have found the perfect natural home for both the company and the team who have helped get BIH to its robust and secure position. BIH will be superbly positioned to strengthen and grow as part of Bristow."

The acquisition is an all-cash transaction and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, following required regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

About Bristow Group

Bristow Group Inc. is the leading global provider of innovative and sustainable vertical flight solutions. Bristow primarily provides aviation services to a broad base of major integrated, national and independent energy companies. Bristow provides commercial search and rescue (SAR) services in several countries and public sector SAR services in the United Kingdom (U.K.) on behalf of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency. Additionally, the Company also offers fixed wing transportation and other aviation related solutions. Bristow currently has customers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Guyana, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad, the U.K. and the U.S. To learn more, visit our website at www.bristowgroup.com.

About British International Helicopter Services Limited

British International Helicopter Services Limited operates both civil and military registered aircraft, regulated under separate aviation authorities, demonstrating an agile ability to meet different, yet equally demanding, regulations on a wide range of complex projects. BIH is a trusted, long-term partner to both military and commercial clients, delivering safe, agile and skilled helicopter services in some of the world's most challenging flying and environmental conditions. To learn more, visit our website at www.britishinternationalhelicopters.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding plans and expectations with respect to the proposed acquisition of BIH (the "Proposed Transaction") and the anticipated impact of the Proposed Transaction on Bristow's results of operations, financial position, growth opportunities and competitive position, including anticipated or expected revenues or other benefits, and timing for the closing of the Proposed Transaction. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements reflect Bristow's current views with respect to future events, financial performance and operational performance based on management's experience and perception of trends, current conditions, anticipated future developments and other factors believed to be appropriate, including information provided by BIH. As such, we can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements are made by using various underlying assumptions and are subject to numerous risks, contingencies and uncertainties, including, among others: the risk that a condition to the closing of the Proposed Transaction may not be satisfied or that the Proposed Transaction may fail to close on the anticipated timeline or at all; the outcome of any legal proceedings, regulatory proceedings or enforcement matters that may be instituted relating to the Proposed Transaction; conditions imposed on the companies in order to obtain required regulatory approvals; the costs incurred to consummate the Proposed Transaction; difficulties related to the integration of BIH into Bristow's business and our inability to realize the benefits of the Proposed Transaction; disruption from the Proposed Transaction making it more difficult to maintain relationships with customers, employees, regulators or suppliers; the diversion of management time and attention on the Proposed Transaction; currently unknown risks and liabilities relating to the newly acquired business and its operations; and other risks more fully discussed in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, each of which are available on our website (www.bristowgroup.com) or the SEC's website (www.sec.gov). If one or more of these risks materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. You should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. This press release reflects the views of Bristow's management as of the date hereof. Except to the extent required by applicable law, Bristow undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement.

SOURCE Bristow Group
BANGALORE, India, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Calcium Nitrate Market is Segmented by Type (Agricultural Grade, Industrial Grade), by Application (Refrigerant, Fertilizer, Rubber Latex): Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20222027. It is published in Valuates Reports under the Chemicals Industry Category.

The global Calcium Nitrate market was valued at USD 4064 Million in 2020 and it is expected to reach USD 4909.2 Million by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of 2.7% during 2021-2027.

Major factors driving calcium Nitrate market Growth:

The calcium nitrate market is expected to grow due to the rising demand for calcium nitrate as a fertilizer, refrigerant, rubber latex, and wastewater treatment.

During the forecast period, rising grain crop demand around the world, combined with shrinking arable land, will boost the calcium nitrate market.

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TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF CALCIUM NITRATE MARKET

The increasing use of calcium nitrate as a fertilizer is expected to drive the growth of the Calcium Nitrate Market. It aids cell formation while also neutralizing acids to help the plant detoxify. The nitrogen component is also important for protein production and, more importantly, leafy growth. Calcium deficiency in certain crops, such as tomatoes, can be caused by heat and moisture stress. This is when calcium nitrate should be used. Its nutrients can help stabilize cell growth and fuel leafy development. Calcium nitrate fertilizer is used to prevent calcium deficiency and to replenish calcium levels in plants. It helps to improve leaf strength, fruit, and roots by providing a calcium boost. Plants with a calcium deficiency are fairly easy to spot.

Latex and nitrile thin gloves are used by all of us. Every year, several billion of them are produced. The method of manufacture entails dipping a ceramic former into an electrolyte solution, typically calcium nitrate. After drying, the coated former is dipped into a bath of dilute aqueous polymer latex. Latex particles aggregate onto the former as a result of the calcium nitrate, forming a weak, water-containing film known as the wet gel in the industry. The film transforms into the glove after being removed and dried, and it is then removed from the former and packaged. Thus the use of rubber latex is expected to fuel the calcium nitrate market growth.

Growing use in WasteWater Treatment is expected to further drive the calcium nitrate market growth. Calcium nitrate creates anoxic biology in wastewater treatment, which inhibits the metabolism of odor-causing components like hydrogen sulfide, preventing foul odors. In municipal wastewater facilities and sewer networks, calcium nitrate has shown to be effective at removing odors. Calcium nitrate has a wide range of applications and has shown great promise in a variety of fields. Given that calcium nitrate can reduce industrial odors by nearly 90% by preventing wastewater from becoming septic, an increasing number of communities are recognizing these benefits and working to incorporate calcium nitrates into their wastewater management programs.

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CALCIUM NITRATE MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS

Based on type, Agricultural Grade is the largest segment, with a share of over 60% during the forecast period.

Based on application, Fertilizer is expected to be the most lucrative. This is due to the fact that calcium nitrate is widely used in agriculture as a fertilizer ingredient. Calcium nitrate fertilizers are high in nitrogen and calcium, both of which are essential nutrients for plants. These boost yield and quality, extend fruit storage life and improve disease and pest resistance.

Based on region, Europe is the largest market, accounting for roughly 30% of total sales, followed by North America and China, both accounting together for 30%.

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Key Players

Yara

Sasol

Haifa Chemicals

RLF

URALCHEM

Airedale Chemical

Jiaocheng Chemicals

Yunli Chemical

Tianlong Chemical

Dongxing Chemical

Leixin Chemical

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SIMILAR REPORTS:

- The global Organic Fertilizer market size is projected to reach USD 13.8 Billion by 2026, from USD 6.9 Billion in 2019, at a CAGR of 10.4% during 2021-2026.

- The global Biofertilizer market size is estimated to be worth USD 2748.6 Million in 2022 and is forecast to be a readjusted size of USD 4459.5 Million by 2028 with a CAGR of 8.4% during the review period.

- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global Calcium Ammonium Nitrate market size is estimated to be worth USD 3121.3 Million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 4159 Million by 2028 with a CAGR of 4.9% during the review period.

- The global Urea market size is projected to reach USD 67290 Million by 2027, from USD 43870 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 2.0% during 2021-2027.

- The global Crop Protection Chemicals market size is projected to reach USD 64520 Million by 2027, from USD 52630 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 2.9% during 2021-2027.

- Global Calcium Nitrate Anhydrous Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

- Global Calcium Nitrate Fertilizer Market Insights and Forecast to 2028

- Global Ammonium Calcium Nitrate Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

- Global Calcium Magnesium Nitrate Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

- Global Technical Nitrates for Explosives Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

Click here to see related reports on Calcium Nitrate Market

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SOURCE Valuates Reports
First Quarter Highlights*

Diluted EPS for the Quarter of $1.02 , Down 20 percent

Adjusted Diluted EPS for the Quarter of $1.73 , Up 13 percent

Net Revenue for the Quarter of $418 million , Up 14 percent

Reaffirmed Organic Total Net Revenue Growth 2 Target for 2022 of 5 to 7 percentage points ; Increases Data and Access Solutions Organic Net Revenue Growth 2 Target to 8 to 11 percentage points, from 7 to 10 percentage points

Reaffirmed 2022 Adjusted Operating Expense Guidance2 of $617 to $625 million

CHICAGO, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE) today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2022.

"2022 is off to an extraordinary start with Cboe delivering record quarterly results following a record year in 2021. Not only did our core derivatives franchise perform remarkably well during the quarter, but we saw strong contributions from areas like our European cash equities and our Data and Access Solutions businesses, underscoring the power of the flywheel at the heart of Cboe's global value creation model," said Edward T. Tilly, Cboe Global Markets Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "These comprehensive results validate the investments we are making across our ecosystem around the globe. Moving forward, we look to build on our strong foundation with the expected close of the NEO and ErisX acquisitions3, expansion of our SPX Weekly Options product suite and continued growth of our European Derivatives platform. There is a tremendous amount of momentum at Cboe, and I am incredibly proud of the Cboe team's ability to deliver on the company's longer-term aspirations."

"Cboe built on the momentum seen in 2021 to deliver another quarter of record earnings to start 2022. The contribution was again balanced across our businesses," said Brian N. Schell, Cboe Global Markets Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. "Following the strong start to the year, we are reaffirming our full year revenue and expense guidance for 2022 but see potential upside to our revenue expectations given the performance of our growth initiatives and macro trading environment. Furthermore, I am excited to introduce our enhanced reporting structure, with the updated income statement reflecting how we think about our major categories of the business: cash and spot markets, data and access solutions, and derivatives markets. Growth from each was strong in the first quarter with net revenues from derivatives markets1 growing 18%, data and access solutions1 up 18%, and cash and spot markets1 growing 5%. We are off to an incredibly strong start to 2022, and we look forward to investing behind, and building on, the momentum across our ecosystem."

*All comparisons are first quarter 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

(1)A full reconciliation of our non-GAAP results to our GAAP results is included in the attached tables. See "Non-GAAP Information" in the accompanying financial tables.

(2) Specific quantifications of the amounts that would be required to reconcile the company's organic growth guidance, adjusted operating expenses guidance and the effective tax rate on adjusted earnings guidance are not available. The company believes that there is uncertainty and unpredictability with respect to certain of its GAAP measures, primarily related to acquisition-related revenues and expenses that would be required to reconcile to GAAP revenues less costs of revenues, GAAP operating expenses and GAAP effective tax rate, which preclude the company from providing accurate guidance on certain forward-looking GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations. The company believes that providing estimates of the amounts that would be required to reconcile the range of the company's organic growth, adjusted operating expenses and the effective tax rate on adjusted earnings would imply a degree of precision that would be confusing or misleading to investors for the reasons identified above.

(3) ErisX is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, subject to customary closing conditions, and NEO is expected to close in the second or third quarter of the year, subject to regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.

Consolidated First Quarter Results -Table 1

Table 1 below presents summary selected unaudited condensed consolidated financial information for the company as reported and on an adjusted basis for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021.













































Table 1 Consolidated First Quarter Results























1Q22

1Q21



($ in millions except per share)



1Q22

1Q21 Change

Adjusted1

Adjusted1 Change Total Revenues Less Cost of Revenues



$ 418.1



$ 365.5

14 %

$ 418.1



$ 365.5

14 % Total Operating Expenses



$ 178.4



$ 160.9

11 %

$ 145.8



$ 124.6

17 % Operating Income



$ 239.7



$ 204.6

17 %

$ 272.3



$ 240.9

13 % Operating Margin %





57.3 %



56.0 % 1.3 pp



65.1 %



65.9 % (0.8) pp Net Income Allocated to Common Stockholders



$ 109.2



$ 136.8

(20) %

$ 184.3



$ 164.8

12 % Diluted EPS



$ 1.02



$ 1.27

(20) %

$ 1.73



$ 1.53

13 % EBITDA1



$ 276.2



$ 246.8

12 %

$ 281.2



$ 250.2

12 % EBITDA Margin % 1





66.1 %



67.5 % (1.4) pp



67.3 %



68.5 % (1.2) pp

Total revenues less cost of revenues (referred to as "net revenue") of $418.1 million increased 14 percent, compared to $365.5 million in the prior-year period, reflecting increases in net transaction and clearing fees 1 and access and capacity fees. Inorganic net revenue 1 in the first quarter of 2022 was $8.4 million .

increased 14 percent, compared to in the prior-year period, reflecting increases in net transaction and clearing fees and access and capacity fees. Inorganic net revenue in the first quarter of 2022 was . Total operating expenses were $178.4 million versus $160.9 million in the first quarter of 2021. Adjusted operating expenses of $145.8 million increased 17 percent compared to $124.6 million in the first quarter of 2021, primarily due to the acquisition of Cboe Asia Pacific (formerly Chi-X Asia Pacific), which closed on July 1, 2021 , as well as an increase in salaries and wages resulting in higher compensation and benefits. Additionally, professional fees and outside services increased compared to the first quarter of 2021 primarily due to higher legal fees.

versus in the first quarter of 2021. Adjusted operating expenses of increased 17 percent compared to in the first quarter of 2021, primarily due to the acquisition of Cboe Asia Pacific (formerly Chi-X Asia Pacific), which closed on , as well as an increase in salaries and wages resulting in higher compensation and benefits. Additionally, professional fees and outside services increased compared to the first quarter of 2021 primarily due to higher legal fees. The effective tax rate for the first quarter of 2022 was 51.3 percent (29.9 percent excluding Section 199 related matters 1 ) compared with 28.9 percent in the first quarter of 2021. The increase was primarily due to the unfavorable decision rendered by the Tax Court in our Section 199 matter. The effective tax rate on adjusted earnings 1 was 29.0 percent compared with 27.9 percent in last year's first quarter. The higher effective tax rate in the first quarter of 2022 was primarily due to changes in income tax reserves.

) compared with 28.9 percent in the first quarter of 2021. The increase was primarily due to the unfavorable decision rendered by the Tax Court in our Section 199 matter. The effective tax rate on adjusted earnings was 29.0 percent compared with 27.9 percent in last year's first quarter. The higher effective tax rate in the first quarter of 2022 was primarily due to changes in income tax reserves. Diluted EPS for the first quarter of 2022 decreased 20 percent to $1.02 primarily due to $48.5 million of additional tax reserves, primarily related to Section 199 litigation. Adjusted diluted EPS1 of $1.73 increased 13 percent compared to 2021's first quarter results.

Business Segment Information:























Table 2 Total Revenues Less Cost of Revenues by



















Business Segment



















(in millions)

1Q22 1Q21 Change Options

$ 219.2

$ 181.7



21 % North American Equities



93.1



96.1



(3) % Europe and Asia Pacific



57.5



42.1



37 % Futures



31.2



30.6



2 % Global FX



17.1



14.7



16 % Corporate







0.3



(100) % Total

$ 418.1

$ 365.5



14 %

(1) A full reconciliation of our non-GAAP results to our GAAP results is included in the attached tables. See "Non-GAAP Information" in the accompanying financial tables.

Discussion of Results by Business Segment:

Options:

Options net revenue of $219.2 million was up $37.5 million , or 21 percent, from the first quarter of 2021, due to double-digit increases in net transaction and clearing fees 1 , access and capacity fees, and market data. Net transaction and clearing fees increased primarily as a result of a 27 percent increase in Index options trading volumes versus the first quarter of 2021, along with a 7 percent increase in Index options revenue per contract ("RPC") for the quarter. Access and capacity fees were 22 percent higher than first quarter 2021 and market data fees increased by 26 percent.

was up , or 21 percent, from the first quarter of 2021, due to double-digit increases in net transaction and clearing fees , access and capacity fees, and market data. Net transaction and clearing fees increased primarily as a result of a 27 percent increase in Index options trading volumes versus the first quarter of 2021, along with a 7 percent increase in Index options revenue per contract ("RPC") for the quarter. Access and capacity fees were 22 percent higher than first quarter 2021 and market data fees increased by 26 percent. Net transaction and clearing fees 1 increased $36.8 million , or 27 percent, reflecting a 6 percent increase in total options average daily volume ("ADV") and a 18 percent increase in total options RPC compared to the first quarter 2021. The increase in total options RPC was due to a mix shift, with Index options representing a higher percentage of total options volume. The RPC for Index options increased 7 percent as SPX options accounted for a higher percentage of Index options volume.

increased , or 27 percent, reflecting a 6 percent increase in total options average daily volume ("ADV") and a 18 percent increase in total options RPC compared to the first quarter 2021. The increase in total options RPC was due to a mix shift, with Index options representing a higher percentage of total options volume. The RPC for Index options increased 7 percent as SPX options accounted for a higher percentage of Index options volume. Cboe's Options business had total market share of 31.5 percent for the first quarter of 2022 compared to 30.2 percent in the first quarter of 2021, primarily reflecting an increase in Cboe's multi-listed options market share for the quarter of 27.4 percent compared to 26.9 percent in the first quarter of 2021.

North American (N.A.) Equities:

N.A. Equities net revenue of $93.1 million was down $3.0 million , or 3 percent, primarily due to lower transaction and clearing fees and lower market data fees. Year-over-year growth in access and capacity fees helped offset some of the declines in the segment. Transaction and clearing fees were impacted by lower industry volumes compared to outsized activity in the first quarter of 2021. RPC increased by 8 percent compared to first quarter 2021 given a lower percentage of low-priced retail trading in the first quarter of 2022.

was down , or 3 percent, primarily due to lower transaction and clearing fees and lower market data fees. Year-over-year growth in access and capacity fees helped offset some of the declines in the segment. Transaction and clearing fees were impacted by lower industry volumes compared to outsized activity in the first quarter of 2021. RPC increased by 8 percent compared to first quarter 2021 given a lower percentage of low-priced retail trading in the first quarter of 2022. Cboe U.S. Equities exchanges had market share of 14.3 percent for the first quarter of 2022 compared to 15.0 percent in the first quarter of 2021.

Europe and Asia Pacific:

Europe and Asia Pacific net revenue of $57.5 million increased by 37 percent, reflecting growth in European equities and clearing, and the addition of Cboe Asia Pacific in July 2021 , which contributed $8.4 million in net revenue. European Equities average daily notional value ("ADNV") for the overall market was up 31 percent during the quarter and ADNV traded on Cboe European Equities was 12.8 billion, up 71 percent from last year's first quarter. Net capture decreased 18 percent for the quarter, reflecting the strongest gains coming in Lit market share, outpacing solid activity in higher-margin Cboe BIDS Europe and Periodic Auction services, as well as the impact of volume tier pricing given the higher volumes and market share.

and net revenue of increased by 37 percent, reflecting growth in European equities and clearing, and the addition of Cboe Asia Pacific in , which contributed in net revenue. European Equities average daily notional value ("ADNV") for the overall market was up 31 percent during the quarter and ADNV traded on Cboe European Equities was 12.8 billion, up 71 percent from last year's first quarter. Net capture decreased 18 percent for the quarter, reflecting the strongest gains coming in Lit market share, outpacing solid activity in higher-margin Cboe BIDS Europe and Periodic Auction services, as well as the impact of volume tier pricing given the higher volumes and market share. For the first quarter of 2022, Cboe European Equities had 21.8 percent market share, up from 16.8 percent in the first quarter of 2021, as a result of positive momentum across all orderbooks, with a particular strength in Lit markets.

Futures:

Futures net revenue of $31.2 million increased $0.6 million , or 2 percent, due to slight increases in net transaction and clearing fees 1 , access and capacity fees, and market data.

increased , or 2 percent, due to slight increases in net transaction and clearing fees , access and capacity fees, and market data. Net transaction and clearing fees increased $0.2 million , or 1 percent, reflecting relatively flat ADV and RPC.

Global FX:

Global FX net revenue of $17.1 million increased 16 percent, primarily as a result of higher net transaction and clearing fees. ADNV traded on the Cboe FX platform was $42.0 billion for the quarter, up 13 percent compared to last year's first quarter and net capture per one million dollars traded was $2.67 for the quarter, up 1 percent compared to $2.65 in the first quarter of 2021.

increased 16 percent, primarily as a result of higher net transaction and clearing fees. ADNV traded on the Cboe FX platform was for the quarter, up 13 percent compared to last year's first quarter and net capture per traded was for the quarter, up 1 percent compared to in the first quarter of 2021. Cboe FX market share was 17.3 percent for the quarter compared to 16.5 percent in last year's first quarter.

(1)A full reconciliation of our non-GAAP results to our GAAP results is included in the attached tables. See "Non-GAAP Information" in the accompanying financial tables.

Income Statement Presentation Enhancement

Beginning in the first quarter of 2022, Cboe updated the financial statement captions within its condensed consolidated statements of income for both periods presented to better reflect the company's diversified products, expansive geographical reach, and overall business strategy. Below is a summary of the changes to the financial statement captions. The changes do not have a financial impact on Cboe's reported revenue, revenues less cost of revenues, reported net income, or cash flows from operations.

Revenues

Cash and spot markets  includes associated transaction and clearing fees, the portion of market data fees relating to associated U.S. tape plan market data fees, associated regulatory fees, and associated other revenue from Cboe's North American Equities, Europe and Asia Pacific , and Global FX segments.

and , and Global FX segments. Data and access solutions  includes access and capacity fees, proprietary market data fees, and associated other revenue across Cboe's five segments.

Derivatives markets  includes associated transaction and clearing fees, the portion of market data fees relating to associated U.S. tape plan market data fees, associated regulatory fees, and associated other revenue from Cboe's Options, Futures, and Europe and Asia Pacific segments.

Cost of Revenues

Royalty fees and other cost of revenues  includes royalty fees and other cost of revenues across Cboe's five segments.

The corresponding changes have been made to prior periods to conform to the current presentation.

2022 Fiscal Year Financial Guidance

Cboe provided guidance for the 2022 fiscal year as noted below. Unless explicitly noted below, this guidance does not take into account the company's planned acquisitions of ErisX (which is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, subject to customary closing conditions) and NEO, (expected to close in the second or third quarter of the year, subject to regulatory review and other customary closing conditions). The company plans to further update its guidance for 2022 after the acquisitions close.

Reaffirmed total organic net revenue growth 1 is expected to be in the range of 5 to 7 percentage points in 2022.

is expected to be in the range of 5 to 7 percentage points in 2022. Revenue from acquisitions held less than a year 1 is now expected to contribute total net revenue growth in a range of 2 to 3 percentage points in 2022, up from previous guidance of 1 to 3 percentage points.

is now expected to contribute total net revenue growth in a range of 2 to 3 percentage points in 2022, up from previous guidance of 1 to 3 percentage points. Organic net revenue 1 from Data and Access Solutions is now expected to increase by approximately 8 to 11 percent in 2022, from a base of $419 million in 2021, up from previous guidance of 7 to 10 percent.

from Data and Access Solutions is now expected to increase by approximately 8 to 11 percent in 2022, from a base of in 2021, up from previous guidance of 7 to 10 percent. Reaffirmed adjusted operating expenses 1 in 2022 are expected to be in the range of $617 to $625 million , from a base of $531 million in 2021. The 2022 guidance considers incremental investment spend in technology and headcount to support Cboe's numerous growth initiatives, deals closed during 2021 but not fully reflected in the 2021 cost base, and increases in core expenses. The guidance excludes the expected amortization of acquired intangible assets of $116 million ; the company plans to reflect the exclusion of this amount in its non-GAAP reconciliation. 1

in 2022 are expected to be in the range of to , from a base of in 2021. The 2022 guidance considers incremental investment spend in technology and headcount to support Cboe's numerous growth initiatives, deals closed during 2021 but not fully reflected in the 2021 cost base, and increases in core expenses. The guidance excludes the expected amortization of acquired intangible assets of ; the company plans to reflect the exclusion of this amount in its non-GAAP reconciliation. While not included in our formal 2022 expense guidance range of $617 to $625 million , we believe the pending acquisitions of ErisX and NEO now have the potential to add an incremental $30 to $35 million of expenses in 2022, contingent on the timing of closings which are subject to customary closing conditions. We continue to anticipate a potential revenue offset for more than half of the expenses in year one, with an expectation that the additions are EBITDA positive on a combined basis in year two.

Reaffirmed depreciation and amortization expense for 2022, which is included in adjusted operating expenses above, is expected to be in the range of $40 to $44 million , excluding the expected amortization of acquired intangible assets.

to , excluding the expected amortization of acquired intangible assets. Reaffirmed the effective tax rate 1 on adjusted earnings for the full year 2022 is expected to be in the range of 27.5 to 29.5 percent. Significant changes in trading volume, expenses, tax laws or rates and other items could materially impact this expectation.

on adjusted earnings for the full year 2022 is expected to be in the range of 27.5 to 29.5 percent. Significant changes in trading volume, expenses, tax laws or rates and other items could materially impact this expectation. Reaffirmed capital expenditures for 2022 are expected to be in the range of $47 to $52 million .

(1) Specific quantifications of the amounts that would be required to reconcile the company's organic and inorganic growth guidance, adjusted operating expenses guidance and the effective tax rate on adjusted earnings guidance are not available. The company believes that there is uncertainty and unpredictability with respect to certain of its GAAP measures, primarily related to acquisition-related revenues and expenses that would be required to reconcile to GAAP revenues less costs of revenues, GAAP operating expenses and GAAP effective tax rate, which preclude the company from providing accurate guidance on certain forward-looking GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations. The company believes that providing estimates of the amounts that would be required to reconcile the range of the company's organic growth, adjusted operating expenses and the effective tax rate on adjusted earnings would imply a degree of precision that would be confusing or misleading to investors for the reasons identified above.

Capital Management

At March 31, 2022, the company had adjusted cash1 of $660.0 million. Total debt as of March 31, 2022 was $1,593.6 million.

The company paid cash dividends of $51.4 million, or $0.48 per share, during the first quarter of 2022 and utilized $70.0 million to repurchase 0.6 million shares of its common stock under its share repurchase program at an average price of $117.25 per share. As of March 31, 2022, the company had approximately $248.9 million of availability remaining under its existing share repurchase authorizations.

Earnings Conference Call

Executives of Cboe Global Markets will host a conference call to review its first-quarter financial results today, April 29, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. ET/7:30 a.m. CT. The conference call and any accompanying slides will be publicly available via live webcast from the Investor Relations section of the company's website at www.cboe.com under Events & Presentations. Participants may also listen via telephone by dialing (877) 2554313 from the United States, (866) 4504696 from Canada or (412) 3175466 for international callers. Telephone participants should place calls 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. The webcast will be archived on the company's website for replay. A telephone replay of the earnings call also will be available from approximately 11:00 a.m. CT, April 29, 2022, through 11:00 p.m. CT, May 6, 2022, by calling (877) 3447529 from the U.S., (855) 6699658 from Canada or (412) 3170088 for international callers, using replay code 10160639.

(1) A full reconciliation of our non-GAAP results to our GAAP results is included in the attached tables. See "Non-GAAP Information" in the accompanying financial tables.

About Cboe Global Markets

Cboe Global Markets (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of market infrastructure and tradable products, delivers cutting-edge trading, clearing and investment solutions to market participants around the world. The Company is committed to operating a trusted, inclusive global marketplace, and to providing leading products, technology and data solutions that enable participants to define a sustainable financial future. Cboe provides trading solutions and products in multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives and FX, across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit www.cboe.com.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. You can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as "may," "might," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" or "continue," and the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology. All statements that reflect our expectations, assumptions or projections about the future other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements, which are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us, may include projections of our future financial performance based on our growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

We operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible to predict all risks and uncertainties, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include: the loss of our right to exclusively list and trade certain index options and futures products; economic, political and market conditions; compliance with legal and regulatory obligations; price competition and consolidation in our industry; decreases in trading or clearing volumes, market data fees or a shift in the mix of products traded on our exchanges; legislative or regulatory changes or changes in tax regimes; our ability to protect our systems and communication networks from security risks, cybersecurity risks, insider threats and unauthorized disclosure of confidential information; our ability to attract and retain skilled management and other personnel; increasing competition by foreign and domestic entities; our dependence on and exposure to risk from third parties; fluctuations to currency exchange rates; factors that impact the quality and integrity of our indices; the impact of the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") pandemic; our ability to operate our business without violating the intellectual property rights of others and the costs associated with protecting our intellectual property rights; our ability to minimize the risks, including our credit and default risks, associated with operating a European clearinghouse; our ability to accommodate trading and clearing volume and transaction traffic, including significant increases, without failure or degradation of performance of our systems; misconduct by those who use our markets or our products or for whom we clear transactions; challenges to our use of open source software code; our ability to meet our compliance obligations, including managing potential conflicts between our regulatory responsibilities and our for-profit status; our ability to maintain BIDS Trading as an independently managed and operated trading venue, separate from and not integrated with our registered national securities exchanges; damage to our reputation; the ability of our compliance and risk management methods to effectively monitor and manage our risks; our ability to manage our growth and strategic acquisitions or alliances effectively; restrictions imposed by our debt obligations and our ability to make payments on or refinance our debt obligations; our ability to maintain an investment grade credit rating; impairment of our goodwill, long-lived assets, investments or intangible assets; the accuracy of our estimates and expectations; litigation risks and other liabilities; and if the acquisition of ErisX is consummated, operating a digital asset business. More detailed information about factors that may affect our actual results to differ may be found in our filings with the SEC, including in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and other filings made from time to time with the SEC.

We do not undertake, and we expressly disclaim, any duty to update any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.

The condensed consolidated statements of income and balance sheets are unaudited and subject to reclassification.

CBOE-F

Trademarks:

Cboe, Cboe Global Markets, Cboe Volatility Index, Bats, BIDS Trading, BZX, BYX, Chi-X, EDGX, EDGA, EuroCCP, MATCHNow, and VIX are registered trademarks of Cboe Global Markets, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. Key Performance Statistics by Business Segment







































1Q 2022 4Q 2021 3Q 2021 2Q 2021 1Q 2021 Options































Total industry ADV (in thousands)



42,464



40,794



37,548



36,442



41,974

Total company Options ADV (in thousands)



13,392



12,694



11,764



11,092



12,681

Multi-listed options



10,978



10,527



9,794



9,254



10,779

Index options



2,414



2,167



1,970



1,838



1,902

Total Options market share



31.5 %

31.1 %

31.3 %

30.4 %

30.2 % Multi-listed options



27.4 %

27.3 %

27.6 %

26.8 %

26.9 % Index options



99.1 %

98.6 %

98.4 %

98.7 %

99.0 % Total Options RPC:

$ 0.210

$ 0.199

$ 0.200

$ 0.192

$ 0.177

Multi-listed options

$ 0.067

$ 0.066

$ 0.069

$ 0.067

$ 0.067

Index options

$ 0.857

$ 0.845

$ 0.850

$ 0.823

$ 0.803



































North American Equities































U.S. Equities - Exchange:































Total industry ADV (shares in billions)



12.9



10.8



9.8



10.5



14.7

Market share %



14.3 %

13.3 %

14.0 %

14.3 %

15.0 % Net capture (per 100 touched shares)

$ 0.017

$ 0.025

$ 0.020

$ 0.020

$ 0.015

U.S. Equities - Off-Exchange:































ADV (touched shares, in millions)



108.5



84.2



73.0



75.8



99.5

Off-Exchange ATS Block Market Share % (reported on a two-month lag)



23.9 %

22.5 %

22.9 %

21.8 %

21.9 % Net capture (per 100 touched shares)

$ 0.117

$ 0.115

$ 0.122

$ 0.123

$ 0.121

Canadian Equities:































ADV (matched shares, in millions)



41.1



41.3



37.8



47.4



71.4

Total market share %



3.2 %

3.3 %

3.4 %

3.4 %

3.1 % Market share % - TSX listed volume



4.3 %

4.7 %

4.7 %

4.9 %

4.6 % Net capture (per 10,000 shares, in Canadian Dollars)

$ 9.131

$ 8.475

$ 8.342

$ 7.782

$ 7.184



































Europe and Asia Pacific































European Equities:































Total industry ADNV (Euros - in billions)

 58.7

 44.0

 39.6

 42.0

 44.8

Market share %



21.8 %

19.8 %

18.2 %

17.4 %

16.8 % Net capture (bps)

 0.233

 0.256

 0.264

 0.267

 0.284

EuroCCP:































Trades cleared (in thousands)



454,437.8



345,074.8



306,085.2



294,801.9



298,223.5

Fee per trade cleared

 0.009

 0.011

 0.010

 0.011

 0.011

Net settlement volume (shares in thousands)



2,802.1



2,664.9



2,484.1



2,367.3



2,423.2

Net fee per settlement

 0.924

 0.860

 0.869

 0.893

 0.865

Australian Equities:































ADNV (AUD billions)

$ 0.9

$ 0.8

$ 0.8



N/A



N/A

Market share - Continuous



15.8 %

16.1 %

15.7 %

N/A



N/A

Net capture (per matched notional value (bps))

$ 0.173

$ 0.171

$ 0.173



N/A



N/A

Japanese Equities:































ADNV (JPY billions)

 164.6

 111.4

 88.7



N/A



N/A

Market share - Lit Continuous



3.8 %

2.9 %

2.4 %

N/A



N/A

Net capture (per matched notional value (bps))

 0.228

 0.358

 0.364



N/A



N/A



































Futures































ADV (in thousands)



254



230



223



214



256

RPC

$ 1.637

$ 1.651

$ 1.626

$ 1.648

$ 1.639



































Global FX































Spot market share %



17.3 %

16.8 %

17.0 %

16.3 %

16.5 % ADNV ($ in billions)

$ 42.0

$ 33.7

$ 32.4

$ 32.5

$ 37.1

Net capture (per one million dollars traded)

$ 2.67

$ 2.77

$ 2.77

$ 2.71

$ 2.65



ADV = average daily volume; ADNV = average daily notional value.

RPC, average revenue per contract, for options and futures represents total net transaction fees recognized for the period divided by total contracts traded during the period.

Touched volume represents the total number of shares of equity securities and ETFs internally matched on our exchanges or routed to and executed on an external market center.

Matched volume represents the total number of shares of equity securities and ETFs executed on our exchanges.

U.S. Equities - Exchange, "net capture per 100 touched shares" refers to transaction fees less liquidity payments and routing and clearing costs divided by the product of one-hundredth ADV of touched shares on BZX, BYX, EDGX and EDGA and the number of trading days. U.S. Equities  Off-Exchange data reflects BIDS Trading. For U.S. Equities  Off-Exchange, "net capture per 100 touched shares" refers to transaction fees less order and execution management system (OMS/EMS) fees and clearing costs divided by the product of one-hundredth ADV of touched shares on BIDS Trading and the number of trading days for the period.

Canadian Equities, "net capture per 10,000 shares" refers to transaction fees divided by the product of one-ten thousandth ADV of shares for MATCHNow and the number of trading days. Total market share represents MATCHNow volume divided by the total volume of the Canadian Equities market. TSX listed volume market share represents MATCHNow volume divided by the total volume in TSX listed equities.

European Equities, "net capture per matched notional value" refers to transaction fees less liquidity payments in British pounds divided by the product of ADNV in British pounds of shares matched on Cboe Europe Equities and the number of trading days. "Trades cleared" refers to the total number of non-interoperable trades cleared, "Fee per trade cleared" refers to clearing fees divided by number of non-interoperable trades cleared, "Net settlement volume" refers to the total number of settlements executed after netting, and "Net fee per settlement" refers to settlement fees less direct costs incurred to settle divided by the number of settlements executed after netting. Asia Pacific data reflects the acquisition of Cboe Asia Pacific (formerly Chi-X Asia Pacific) effective July 1, 2021. Australian Equities "Net capture per matched notional value" refers to transaction fees less liquidity payments in Australian dollars divided by the product of ADNV in Australian dollars of shares matched on Cboe Australia and the number of Australian Equities trading days. Japanese Equities "Net capture per matched notional value" refers to transaction fees less liquidity payments in Japanese Yen divided by the product of ADNV in Japanese Yen of shares matched on Cboe Japan and the number of Japanese Equities trading days.

Global FX, "net capture per one million dollars traded" refers to transaction fees less liquidity payments, if any, divided by the Spot and SEF products of one-thousandth of ADNV traded on the Cboe FX Markets and the number of trading days, divided by two, which represents the buyer and seller that are both charged on the transaction. Market Share represents Cboe FX volume divided by the total volume of publicly reporting spot FX venues (Cboe FX, EBS, Refinitiv, and Euronext FX).

Average transaction fees per contract can be affected by various factors, including exchange fee rates, volume-based discounts and transaction mix by contract type and product type.

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2022 and 2021

















Three Months Ended March 31, (in millions, except per share amounts)

2022

2021 Revenue:











Cash and spot markets

$ 461.9

$ 548.9 Data and access solutions



118.9



100.6 Derivatives markets



393.7



361.3 Total Revenues



974.5



1,010.8 Cost of Revenues:











Liquidity payments



467.5



501.8 Routing and clearing



22.3



27.1 Section 31 fees



35.7



91.9 Royalty fees



26.3



20.3 Other cost of revenues



4.6



4.2 Total Cost of Revenues



556.4



645.3 Revenues Less Cost of Revenues



418.1



365.5 Operating Expenses:











Compensation and benefits



81.2



72.3 Depreciation and amortization



40.9



42.0 Technology support services



19.2



17.2 Professional fees and outside services



19.7



15.6 Travel and promotional expenses



2.9



1.6 Facilities costs



6.5



5.3 Acquisition-related costs



2.0



3.4 Other expenses



6.0



3.5 Total Operating Expenses



178.4



160.9 Operating Income



239.7



204.6 Non-operating (Expenses) Income:











Interest expense, net



(10.8)



(12.3) Other (expense) income, net



(4.0)



0.6 Total Non-operating Expenses



(14.8)



(11.7) Income Before Income Tax Provision



224.9



192.9 Income tax provision



115.3



55.7 Net Income



109.6



137.2 Net income allocated to participating securities



(0.4)



(0.4) Net Income Allocated to Common Stockholders

$ 109.2

$ 136.8 Net Income Per Share Allocated to Common Stockholders:











Basic earnings per share

$ 1.02

$ 1.27 Diluted earnings per share



1.02



1.27 Weighted average shares used in computing income per share:











Basic



106.6



107.3 Diluted



106.8



107.4

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) March 31, 2022 and 2021













March 31,

December 31, (in millions)

2022

2021 Assets











Current Assets:











Cash and cash equivalents

$ 659.4

$ 341.9 Financial investments



48.7



37.1 Accounts receivable, net



380.3



326.9 Margin deposits and clearing funds



1,810.3



745.9 Income taxes receivable







42.7 Other current assets



36.5



36.8 Total Current Assets



2,935.2



1,531.3













Investments



244.5



245.8 Land



2.3



2.3 Property and equipment, net



106.7



105.2 Operating lease right of use assets



122.5



110.1 Goodwill



3,018.1



3,025.4 Intangible assets, net



1,628.6



1,668.6 Other assets, net



140.2



125.8 Total Assets

$ 8,198.1

$ 6,814.5













Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity











Current Liabilities:











Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

$ 387.1

$ 295.4 Section 31 fees payable



36.2



40.8 Deferred revenue



26.4



15.2 Margin deposits and clearing funds



1,810.3



745.9 Income taxes payable



32.5



8.2 Current portion of contingent consideration liabilities



48.6



63.8 Total Current Liabilities



2,341.1



1,169.3













Long-term debt



1,593.6



1,299.3 Unrecognized tax benefits



163.0



197.9 Deferred income taxes



352.4



372.7 Non-current operating lease liabilities



141.3



129.2 Contingent consideration liabilities



4.7



6.7 Other non-current liabilities



34.7



34.6 Total Liabilities



4,630.8



3,209.7













Stockholders' Equity:











Preferred stock







 Common stock



1.1



1.1 Treasury stock at cost



(185.2)



(106.8) Additional paid-in capital



1,518.6



1,509.4 Retained earnings



2,203.7



2,145.5 Accumulated other comprehensive income, net



29.1



55.6 Total Stockholders' Equity



3,567.3



3,604.8













Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity

$ 8,198.1

$ 6,814.5

Non-GAAP Information

In addition to disclosing results determined in accordance with GAAP, Cboe Global Markets has disclosed certain non-GAAP measures of operating performance. These measures are not in accordance with, or a substitute for, GAAP, and may be different from or inconsistent with non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. The non-GAAP measures provided in this press release include net transaction and clearing fees, adjusted operating expenses, adjusted operating income, organic net revenue, inorganic net revenue, adjusted operating margin, adjusted net income allocated to common stockholders and adjusted diluted earnings per share, effective tax rate on adjusted earnings, adjusted cash, EBITDA, EBITDA margin, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin.

Management believes that the non-GAAP financial measures presented in this press release, including adjusted operating income, organic net revenue and adjusted operating expenses, provide additional and comparative information to assess trends in our core operations and a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. Non-GAAP financial measures disclosed by management are provided as additional information to investors in order to provide them with an alternative method for assessing our financial condition and operating results.

Organic net revenue, inorganic net revenue, organic non-transaction revenue and organic net revenue guidance: These are non-GAAP financial measures that exclude or have otherwise been adjusted for the impact of our acquisitions for the period or guidance, as applicable. Management believes the organic net revenue growth and guidance measures provide users with supplemental information regarding the company's ongoing and future potential revenue performances and trends by presenting revenue growth and guidance excluding the impact of the acquisitions. Revenues from acquisitions that have been owned for at least one year are considered organic and are no longer excluded from organic net revenue from either period for comparative purposes.

Amortization expense of acquired intangible assets: We amortize intangible assets acquired in connection with various acquisitions. Amortization of intangible assets is inconsistent in amount and frequency and is significantly affected by the timing and size of our acquisitions. As such, if intangible asset amortization is included in performance measures, it is more difficult to assess the day-to-day operating performance of the businesses, the relative operating performance of the businesses between periods and the earnings power of the company. Therefore, we believe performance measures excluding intangible asset amortization expense provide investors with an additional basis for comparison across accounting periods.

Acquisition-related expenses: From time to time, we have pursued acquisitions, which have resulted in expenses which would not otherwise have been incurred in the normal course of the company's business operations. These expenses include integration costs, as well as legal, due diligence and other third-party transaction costs. The frequency and the amount of such expenses vary significantly based on the size, timing and complexity of the transaction. Accordingly, we exclude these costs for purposes of calculating non-GAAP measures which provide an additional analysis of Cboe's ongoing operating performance or comparisons in Cboe's performance between periods.

The tables below show the reconciliation of each financial measure from GAAP to non-GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures exclude the impact of those items detailed below and are referred to as adjusted financial measures.

Organic Net Revenue Reconciliation















Table 3

Three Months Ended

(in millions)

March 31,

Reconciliation of Revenue Less Cost of Revenue to Organic Net Revenue

2022

2021

Revenues less cost of revenues (net revenue)

$ 418.1

$ 365.5

Less acquisitions:













Acquisition revenue less cost of revenues (inorganic net revenue)

$ (8.4)

$ 

Organic net revenue

$ 409.7

$ 365.5



Reconciliation of GAAP and non-GAAP Information



















Three Months Ended

Table 4

March 31,

(in millions, except per share amounts)

2022

2021

Reconciliation of Net Income Allocated to Common Stockholders to Non-GAAP (As shown on Table 1)













Net income allocated to common stockholders

$ 109.2

$ 136.8

Non-GAAP adjustments













Acquisition-related expenses (1)



2.0



3.4

Investment establishment costs (2)



3.0





Amortization of acquired intangible assets (3)



30.6



32.9

Total Non-GAAP adjustments



35.6



36.3

Income tax expense related to the items above



(8.7)



(8.2)

Tax reserves (4)



48.5





Net income allocated to participating securities - effect on reconciling items



(0.3)



(0.1)

Adjusted net income allocated to common stockholders

$ 184.3

$ 164.8

















Reconciliation of Diluted EPS to Non-GAAP













Diluted earnings per common share

$ 1.02

$ 1.27

Per share impact of non-GAAP adjustments noted above



0.71



0.26

Adjusted diluted earnings per common share

$ 1.73

$ 1.53

















Reconciliation of Operating Margin to Non-GAAP













Revenue less cost of revenue

$ 418.1

$ 365.5

Non-GAAP adjustments noted above









Adjusted revenue less cost of revenue

$ 418.1

$ 365.5

Operating expenses (5)

$ 178.4

$ 160.9

Non-GAAP adjustments noted above



32.6



36.3

Adjusted operating expenses

$ 145.8

$ 124.6

Operating income

$ 239.7

$ 204.6

Non-GAAP adjustments noted above



32.6



36.3

Adjusted operating income

$ 272.3

$ 240.9

Adjusted operating margin (6)



65.1 %

65.9 %















Reconciliation of Income Tax Rate to Non-GAAP













Income before income taxes



224.9



192.9

Non-GAAP adjustments noted above



35.6



36.3

Adjusted income before income taxes

$ 260.5

$ 229.2

















Income tax expense



115.3



55.7

Non-GAAP adjustments noted above



(39.8)



8.2

Adjusted income tax expense

$ 75.5

$ 63.9

Adjusted income tax rate



29.0 %

27.9 %



(1) This amount includes professional fees and outside services and impairment charges related to the company's acquisitions. (2) This amount represents the investment establishment costs related to the company's investment in 7RIDGE Investments 3 LP, which acquired Trading Technologies, Inc. (3) This amount represents the amortization of acquired intangible assets related to the company's acquisitions. (4) This amount represents the tax reserves related to Section 199 matters. (5) The company sponsors deferred compensation plans held in a trust. The expenses or income related to the deferred compensation plans are included in "Compensation and benefits" ($0.6 million and $0.4 million in expense for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively), and are directly offset by deferred compensation income, expenses and dividends included within "Other income, net" ($0.6 million and $0.4 million in income, expense and dividends in the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, on the condensed consolidated statements of income. The deferred compensation plans' expenses are not excluded from "adjusted operating expenses" and do not have an impact on "Income before income taxes." (6) Adjusted operating margin represents adjusted operating income divided by adjusted revenue less cost of revenue.

EBITDA Reconciliations

EBITDA (earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization) and Adjusted EBITDA are widely used non-GAAP financial measures of operating performance. EBITDA margin represents EBITDA divided by revenues less cost of revenues (net revenue). It is presented as supplemental information that the company believes is useful to investors to evaluate its results because it excludes certain items that are not directly related to the company's core operating performance. EBITDA is calculated by adding back to net income interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is calculated by adding back to EBITDA acquisition-related expenses and investment establishment costs. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as substitutes either for net income, as an indicator of the company's operating performance, or for cash flow, as a measure of the company's liquidity. In addition, because EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA may not be calculated identically by all companies, the presentation here may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Adjusted EBITDA margin represents Adjusted EBITDA divided by net revenue.

































Table 5

Three Months Ended

(in millions, except percentages)

March 31,

Reconciliation of Net Income Allocated to Common Stockholders to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA (Per Table 1)

2022

2021

Net income allocated to common stockholders

$ 109.2

$ 136.8

Interest expense, net



10.8



12.3

Income tax provision



115.3



55.7

Depreciation and amortization



40.9



42.0

EBITDA

$ 276.2

$ 246.8

EBITDA Margin



66.1 %

67.5 %















Non-GAAP adjustments not included in above line items













Acquisition-related expenses



2.0



3.4

Investment establishment costs



3.0





Adjusted EBITDA

$ 281.2

$ 250.2

Adjusted EBITDA Margin



67.3 %

68.5 %































Table 6













(in millions)

March 31,

December 31,

Reconciliation of Cash and cash equivalents to Adjusted Cash

2022

2021

Cash and cash equivalents

$ 659.4

$ 341.9

Financial investments



48.7



37.1

Less deferred compensation plan assets



(27.4)



(28.0)

Less cash collected for Section 31 Fees



(20.7)



(25.9)

Adjusted Cash

$ 660.0

$ 325.1



























































































Table 7





































































(in millions)





































































Reconciliation of Net Transaction and Clearing Fees by Business Segment Three Months Ended March 31, 2022 and 2021

Consolidated

Options

N.A. Equities

Europe and Asia Pacific

Futures

Global FX

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021 Transaction and clearing fees $ 769.6

$ 763.2

$ 348.3

$ 308.7

$ 330.8

$ 381.8

$ 50.1

$ 34.7

$ 25.8

$ 25.6

$ 14.6

$ 12.4 Liquidity payments

(467.5)



(501.8)



(167.6)



(166.0)



(288.3)



(330.5)



(11.6)



(5.3)















 Routing and clearing

(22.3)



(27.1)



(6.7)



(5.5)



(10.5)



(17.3)



(4.9)



(4.3)











(0.2)



 Net transaction and clearing fees $ 279.8

$ 234.3

$ 174.0

$ 137.2

$ 32.0

$ 34.0

$ 33.6

$ 25.1

$ 25.8

$ 25.6

$ 14.4

$ 12.4

















































Table 8













































(in millions)













































Reconciliation of Net Revenue by Revenue Caption Three Months Ended March 31, 2022 and 2021

Cash and Spot Markets

Data and Access Solutions

Derivatives Markets

Total

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021 Transaction and clearing fees $ 395.5

$ 428.9

$ 

$ 

$ 374.1

$ 334.3

$ 769.6

$ 763.2 Access and capacity fees









77.9



66.4











77.9



66.4 Market data fees

22.9



26.9



39.6



29.7



8.2



7.2



70.7



63.8 Regulatory fees

31.9



82.4











10.7



19.1



42.6



101.5 Other revenue

11.6



10.7



1.4



4.5



0.7



0.7



13.7



15.9 Total revenues $ 461.9

$ 548.9

$ 118.9

$ 100.6

$ 393.7

$ 361.3

$ 974.5

$ 1,010.8















































Liquidity payments $ 299.6

$ 335.8

$ 

$ 

$ 167.9

$ 166.0

$ 467.5

$ 501.8 Routing and clearing fees

15.6



21.6











6.7



5.5



22.3



27.1 Section 31 fees

31.8



82.0











3.9



9.9



35.7



91.9 Royalty fees and other cost of revenues

4.6



4.2



2.4



2.0



23.9



18.3



30.9



24.5 Total cost of revenues $ 351.6

$ 443.6

$ 2.4

$ 2.0

$ 202.4

$ 199.7

$ 556.4

$ 645.3















































Revenues less cost of revenues (net revenue) $ 110.3

$ 105.3

$ 116.5

$ 98.6

$ 191.3

$ 161.6

$ 418.1

$ 365.5















































Acquisition revenue less cost of revenues (inorganic net revenue)

(2.4)







(6.0)















(8.4)



















































Organic net revenue $ 107.9

$ 105.3

$ 110.5

$ 98.6

$ 191.3

$ 161.6

$ 409.7

$ 365.5









Table 9





Reconciliation of GAAP Effective Tax Rate to Effective Tax Rate Excluding Section 199 Matters - Three Months Ended March 31, 2022



Tax Rate

GAAP effective tax rate

51.3 % Tax effect of Section 199 related matters

(21.4) % Effective tax rate excluding Section 199 matters

29.9 %

SOURCE Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
Companies' innovations in scalable, affordable hybrid care debut at the American Telehealth Association 26th Annual Conference & Expo

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. and EATONTOWN, N.J., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CDW Healthcare, the dedicated healthcare organization within CDW, and Caregility, an enterprise telehealth market leader dedicated to connecting care for patients and clinicians everywhere, announce a new strategic partnership. The companies have teamed together to expand their virtual care capabilities, including Caregility's transformative new Inpatient Virtual Engagement solution (IVE), which offers the industry's first cost-effective option for bedside hybrid care delivery at scale. Inpatient Virtual Engagement will be showcased in the Caregility Booth #1402 at ATA2022 in Boston from May 1-3.

CDW Healthcare serves an established provider base, working with a broad range of hospitals and health systems across the U.S., as well as many premier healthcare institutions in the U.K. and Canada. Its wide range of proven solutions and services helps provider organizations to build, refine and grow their virtual care strategy and technology infrastructure  from the hospital to the home.

"Partnering with Caregility brings an innovative new dimension of hybrid care to the inpatient setting. As healthcare providers reimagine the 'Hospital Room of the Future,' we're giving them a brand-new option to help overcome pervasive staff shortages and burnout, ease clinical workflows and improve the experience for every patient in every room and every bed," says Elliott Wilson, Chief Virtual Care Strategist, CDW Healthcare.

Powered by the award-winning Caregility Cloud virtual care platform, Caregility's IVE solution facilitates hybrid care right at the patient bedside and across all acuity settings. It combines medical-grade telehealth endpoints, cloud-based software and sophisticated device management into an affordable, subscription-based Solution as a Service. At IVE's core are three purpose-built components including the company's new Access Point of Care System (APS100) for lower acuity patient settings, a first-of-its-kind administration portal to centralize multiple virtual care programs, and a fleet management tool for governing thousands of medical-grade telehealth endpoint devices. Health systems can readily scale up or down from one to all beds, depending on the level of acuity needed. 

IVE helps facilitate a breadth of clinical workflows, including virtual specialty coverage, tele-rounding, tele-nursing, and tele-observation to address staffing shortages, streamline patient care, and enhance clinical collaboration. The solution can assist with earlier detection of deteriorating patient conditions, enhancing health systems' ability to support rapid response aimed at improving patient outcomes. IVE also fits into the growing trend of patient engagement, providing patients with timely access to their clinical team, interpreters and family members to reduce anxiety and speed the recovery process.

"Our partnership with CDW extends the value that we create for our mutual healthcare customers by supporting hybrid care delivery that complements standard inpatient care plans and practices. Together, we aim to help providers improve clinical outcomes, achieve better operational performance and integrate transformative technology solutions into their long-term strategic initiatives," adds Caregility Chief Strategy Officer Pete McLain.

CDW Healthcare and Caregility will host a live pressroom briefing at the upcoming American Telemedicine Association Annual Conference & Expo in Boston, MA on May 2.

About CDW

CDW Healthcare is a leading multi-brand technology solutions provider focused exclusively on serving the healthcare marketplace in North America and the United Kingdom. Working closely with thousands of healthcare organizations nationwide, its customers range from small rural providers to large integrated delivery networks. The dedicated healthcare team leverages the expertise of CDW technology specialists and engineers to deliver best-in-class outcomes across the solutions stack and IT lifecycle. For more information, visit www.CDWG.com/healthcare.

About Caregility

Caregility Corporation is dedicated to connecting patients and clinicians everywhere with its CaregilityCloud virtual care platform. Designated as the Best in KLAS Virtual Care Platform (non-EMR) in 2021 and 2022, CaregilityCloud powers a purpose-built ecosystem of enterprise telehealth solutions across the care continuum. Caregility provides secure, reliable, and HIPAA- compliant audio and video communication designed for any device and clinical workflow, in both acute and ambulatory settings. Caregility supports more than 1,300 hospitals across dozens of health systems with millions of virtual care sessions hosted annually. From critical and acute, to urgent and emergent, to post-acute and ambulatory, as well as hospital-to-home, Caregility is connecting care everywhere. Follow Caregility on LinkedIn and Twitter at @caregility.

CDW Media Contact Caregility Media Contact Kelly Caraher Bryan Schnepf Director, Corporate Communications VP of Marketing [email protected] [email protected] 847-968-0729 203-500-4659

SOURCE Caregility
Hosted by the Global Tax Expert, the WealthAbility Leadership Conference Will Dive into the Biggest Issues Facing the Financial Sector Today

TEMPE, Ariz., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tom Wheelwright, CPA, bestselling author and CEO of WealthAbility, will host and moderate the WealthAbility Leadership Conference for three days of advanced financial and business education starting May 12th, 2022 in Tempe, AZ. At this continuing education event for CPAs and tax professionals, Wheelwright will welcome giants of the space to offer actionable advice in a hybrid in-person/virtual format.

"After a lifetime in the space, I know firsthand how quickly the financial sector can change, and how important it is for CPAs and finance professionals to stay on the cutting edge, for the sake of their clients and their own practices," Wheelwright said. "I'm excited to share my own insights, as well as tap into the expertise of some of the best names across accounting, workflow management, crypto, behavioral science, and more to help attendees learn how to offer the best value and impact in their practices."

In addition to a keynote, Q&As, and seminars from Wheelwright, attendees will hear from David Cristello, Founder and CEO of Jetpack Workflow, Entrepreneur and Real Estate Investor Brad Sumrok, Dr. Sonny Spera, Geraldine Carter, TheBitcoinCPA Kirk Phillips, and more.

Confirmed topics include:

What Clients Need

Getting from Zero to Subscription

The Power of Why

Managing Client Workflow

Crypto for CPAs

The Importance of Two-Way Communication

Wheelwright and WealthAbility believe that Better Clients lead to a Better Practice, and a Better Practice means a Better Life. Each speaker has been chosen to offer insight into how to understand a client's needs and wants (as well as how to differentiate between the two), helping clients establish and reach their goals, managing workflow internally and externally, understanding the power of a subscription model, and more. Attendees will also hear from a current WealthAbility client, offering a firsthand account into how Wheelwright manages his own clients and network of tax professionals, and how CPAs and tax professionals can adopt WealthAbility's innovative processes into their own organization. In addition to an impressive array of business and finance leaders, Professor Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School will offer groundbreaking insights into how behavioral science is more important than ever in establishing and refining client relations in the 21st century.

Ticket holders will learn actionable insights in growing and improving their businesses with an eye on client relations, and the event is eligible for 21 CPE credits where allowed. Tickets are on sale now at https://wealthability.com/leadership-conference-may-2022.

About WealthAbility

WealthAbility is a leading financial education company created by CPA, CEO, Author and Speaker Tom Wheelwright to revolutionize the way entrepreneurs, investors and CPAs manage wealth, global change and their business. WealthAbility provides a platform of educational tools and global network of CPAs trusted by over 244,123 entrepreneurs and investors to reduce taxes and create wealth. Through these tools, WealthAbility helps clients reduce taxes by 10-40%, increase confidence in clients' personal ability to create wealth, and achieve financial dreams  much faster. In addition, the WealthAbility Network is educating CPAs and other accounting professionals to better serve clients and run more successful businesses.

About Tom Wheelwright

Tom Wheelwright is a CPA, Global Tax Strategist, Educator, and Entrepreneur, who is sought-after as a tax expert and successful business leader. Wheelwright is CEO of WealthAbility, Best-Selling Author of "Tax-Free Wealth," Speaker, and podcast host. Wheelwright advises CPAs, accounting professionals, small business owners, entrepreneurs, and investors how to permanently and legally reduce their taxes. Previously, Wheelwright was a Manager in the National Tax Office of Ernst and Young, Adjunct Professor in the Masters of Tax Program at Arizona State University for 14 years, and Fortune 500 in-house tax advisor and tax lobbyist. His newest book, The Win-Win Wealth Strategy: 7 Investments the Government Will Pay You to Make will be published by Wiley on July 13, 2022.

Contact: Tony Forde

212.886.6707

[email protected]

SOURCE WealthAbility
CAMBRIDGE, England, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Darktrace, a global leader in cyber security AI, today announced that it has won Management Today's 'Best Use of Innovation in Business' award for its self-learning artificial intelligence that detects, autonomously responds to and investigates cyber-attacks.

Founded in 1966, Management Today is the UK's largest monthly business magazine, reaching an elite business audience of 58,000 CEOs, C-suite leaders and senior business managers through a range of digital resources, print content and events. The annual Management Today Business Awards recognize organizations and individuals achieving excellence across all sectors of British businesses.

The Best Use of Innovation in Business award is granted to organizations that embrace bold, revolutionary new solutions that drive business growth and high market impact. Darktrace was recognized for its world-leading AI technology, which protects over 6,800 organizations around the world from the most sophisticated cyber-threats.

The first and only technology of its kind, Darktrace's self-learning artificial intelligence instantly and autonomously detects and stops cyber-threats anywhere, at all times. The algorithms have an evolving understanding of 'normal' business operations for a given organization of any size, across all industries. From this understanding, the algorithms are then able to spot nefarious activity and make intelligent micro-decisions to enforce 'normal', interrupting in-progress cyber-threats and allowing the business to continue running without disruption.

Recent threats detected by Darktrace AI include a HR-spoofing attack at a North American private equity firm, a ransomware attack targeting a major French hospital group, and an insider threat at a leading laboratory. Recent customer wins include a leading British port group, two NHS trusts, and a global manufacturing giant.

"To receive this recognition for Darktrace's innovations is an honor and testament to the strength of our R&D team based in our Cyber AI Research Centre in Cambridge," commented Poppy Gustafsson, CEO of Darktrace. "Our mission is to free the world of cyber disruption to the greatest extent possible because we believe that keeping the lights on is more than cyber security: it's cyber stability. We are committed to continuous innovation to defend the world's most critical assets from sophisticated cyber-threats."

About Darktrace

Darktrace (DARK:L), a global leader in cyber security AI, delivers world-class technology that protects over 6,800 customers worldwide from advanced threats, including ransomware and cloud and SaaS attacks. Darktrace's fundamentally different approach applies Self-Learning AI to enable machines to understand the business in order to autonomously defend it. Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, the Group has more than 2,000 employees worldwide. Darktrace was named one of TIME magazine's 'Most Influential Companies' for 2021.

Media Contacts

Tom Bermingham Brands2Life (UK) +44 (0) 7983 857952

[email protected] Jessica Cheney CommStrat (US) +1 419 350 4614

[email protected]

SOURCE Darktrace
Shares aggressive carbon neutrality goals and initiatives, and industry leading "Empire Building Playbook: An Owner's Guide to Low Carbon Retrofits"

NEW YORK, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT) today shared its 2021 Sustainability Report  published on Earth Day  that highlights major accomplishments, transparent metrics, and forward-looking goals for energy, sustainability, and DE&I.

ESRT's aggressive energy reduction goals, detailed in the report, outline plans for carbon neutrality at the Empire State Building and throughout the portfolio. The goals include:

2030 carbon neutrality target for the Empire State Building and 2035 carbon neutrality target for the balance of ESRT's office portfolio,

and 20% reduction of energy use intensity by 2024 as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Better Buildings Challenge.

ESRT's emissions reduction targets have been accepted by Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) consistent with a 1.5C climate scenario, the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement and a critical limit based on reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Public commitment to the SBTi supports reduction pathways to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C.

"The annual Sustainability Report is another way for ESRT to chart the course for our industry with transparent reporting of best practices, progress, and significant goals for carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy use reduction, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I)," said Anthony E. Malkin, ESRT's chairman, president, and CEO. "Our forward-looking approach toward carbon neutrality with substantial returns on investment continues to deliver value for our stakeholders."

The report highlights the company's recently published "Empire Building Playbook: An Owner's Guide for Low Carbon Retrofits," that was announced at a launch event at the Empire State Building with President Bill Clinton, Governor Kathy Hochul, and Mayor Eric Adams on April 21, 2022. Co-developed by NYSERDA and supported by other NYC-based landlords and the Clinton Global Initiative, the playbook outlines the step-by-step process for existing commercial buildings to develop a pathway to carbon reduction with proven returns on investment and is modeled from the industry-leading deep-energy retrofit at the Empire State Building that reduced carbon emissions at the building by 54% within the past decade. The full Empire Building Playbook can be found online.

"We remain transparent with our practices and progress as we work toward our industry-leading goals for sustainability, energy, and ESG," said Dana Robbins Schneider, senior vice president, director of energy, sustainability, and ESG at ESRT. "We are on track to meet our goals of net zero carbon emissions at the Empire State Building by 2030 and throughout our portfolio by 2035. We will maintain our commitment to healthy buildings for our occupants and employees, to impactful community engagement, and to demonstration of the strong economic case for this important work."

ESRT announced in the report that it was one of the first in the world to achieve its annual recertification of the WELL Health-Safety Rating. Other major accolades that ESRT received and maintained in 2021 included:

The 2021 Sustainability Report also disclosed key DE&I goals and processes, and diversity metrics at all levels, which include significant enhancements to employee benefits, and new DE&I-related policies for hiring and training. The report also highlighted ESRT's inclusion in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index in 2022.

More information about ESRT's ESG targets and initiatives 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, retail and multifamily 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 March 31, 2022, ESRT's portfolio is comprised of approximately 9.4 million rentable square feet of office space, 700,000 rentable square feet of retail space and 625 units across two multifamily properties. 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, (i) the current public health crisis and economic disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, (ii) a failure of conditions or performance regarding any event or transaction described above, (iii) environmental uncertainties and risks related to climate change, adverse weather conditions, rising sea levels and natural disasters; and (iv) accuracy of our methodologies and estimates regarding ESG metrics and goals, (v) tenant willingness and ability to collaborate in reporting ESG metrics and meeting ESG goals, (vi) impact of governmental regulation on our ESG efforts, (viii) 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, 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.

SOURCE Empire State Realty Trust, Inc.
CLEVELAND, Ohio, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Euclid Chemical Company, a leading manufacturer of concrete and masonry construction products, announced today that it has acquired Chryso's North American cement grinding aids and additives business. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquired technologies are sold to cement manufacturers to enhance the performance of cement and to reduce CO 2 emissions during its production. Cement is the key ingredient in concrete, the world's most widely used building material.

"This is a strategic acquisition that more closely aligns Euclid Chemical with the cement industry, while complementing our strong offering in the concrete industry," said Euclid Chemical President Tom Gairing. "In addition, the sustainability benefits of these products support customer demand for more environmentally friendly solutions, as well as our mission to build a better world for all of our stakeholders."

About Euclid Chemical

Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Euclid Chemical has served the global building market for more than a century as a leading manufacturer and supplier of specialty products and technical support services for the concrete and masonry construction industry. Euclid Chemical's expansive product line includes admixtures, fiber reinforcement, concrete repair products, flooring materials, decorative concrete systems and more. Learn more at www.euclidchemical.com.

SOURCE The Euclid Chemical Company
The management of SNCF, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), SNCB and Federated Hermes Infrastructure, announce the alliance of Eurostar and Thalys.

BRUSSELS AND PARIS, 29 april 2022 /PRNewswire/ - The first stage of this alliance is the creation of a holding company owned by SNCF (55.75%), CDPQ (19.31%), SNCB (18.5%) and funds managed by Federated Hermes Infrastructure1 (6.44%). The holding company named "Eurostar Group" is based in Brussels and owns 100% of Eurostar International Limited (Eurostar) and THI Factory SA (Thalys), both of which remain fully fledged railway companies with headquarters in London and Brussels respectively.

The shareholders have also appointed Jacques Damas, currently CEO of Eurostar, as CEO of the new entity who will be supported by a symmetric executive committee representing both Eurostar and Thalys.

Initiated in September 2019, the Green Speed alliance project had been temporarily postponed due to the pandemic. Following a relaunch in autumn 2021, the project received approval from the European Commission at the end of March 2022.

The shareholders of Eurostar and Thalys are more convinced than ever that the combination of Eurostar and Thalys will help to meet the growing demand for sustainable mobility by promoting the development of rail transport in Europe. The ambition is to carry 30 million passengers a year within 10 years (compared to 18 million customers in 2019) under a single brand: Eurostar.

This alliance will also accelerate the recovery of Eurostar and Thalys, who have both been hit by the pandemic.

The new entity will offer the largest international high-speed network in Western Europe and aims to implement an ambitious sustainability policy over the next few years.

__________________________________

1 Funds managed by Federated Hermes Infrastructure hold a 6.44% interest via Patina Rail LLP.

SOURCE Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec
CHICAGO, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Flame Retardants Market by Type (Aluminum Trihydrate, Antimony Oxide, Brominated), Application (Epoxy, Polyolefin, Unsaturated Polyester), End-Use Industry (Building & Construction, Electronics & Appliances) and Region  Global Forecast to 2027", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Flame Retardants Market is projected to reach USD 9.2 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 5.1 % from USD 7.2 billion in 2022. The global flame retardants market is estimated to be USD 7.2 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.1% during the forecast period. The growth of the market is mainly triggered by the growth of end-use industries and increasing regulations for fire safety. Growth opportunities are expected to be governed by the innovation in technology, and the development of more effective synergist compounds to boost the performance of flame retardants. In addition, the growth is largely driven by factors such as an increase in fire accidents in various industries and fire safety guidelines.

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Aluminum Trihydrate (ATH) is the largest type for flame retardants market during the forecast period.

ATH is mostly related to its role as a flame retardant and smoke suppressant. It is the most widely consumed flame retardant in the world. The product is non-abrasive, chemically inert, highly dispersive, thermally conductive, and compatible with both cationic and anionic systems. In order to achieve fire safety standards, on average 40%-50% of ATH needs to be added to a medium (plastic, rubber etc,)by volume. The flame retardant is a highly functional and versatile pigment and has various applications in paints & coatings, inks, adhesives, caulks, and sealants. Governmental regulations and directives, along with the increasing preference for eco-friendly materials by consumers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), have restricted the use of halogenated additives that are largely used in flame retardancy applications, particularly in the electrical & electronics industry. This has given a boost to non-halogenated flame retardants such as phosphorus and ATH.

Electronics & Appliances is the largest end-use industry for flame retardants market during the forecast period.

The electronics & appliances industry is growing rapidly, especially in the Asia Pacific region, because of the shift of the manufacturing units from North America and Europe to Asia Pacific where manufacturing cost is low. The countries in Asia Pacific, such as China and Japan, are the major consumers of flame retardants because of the huge electronics sector in these countries. Most electronic products have flammable properties and are subjected to fire risks due to electrical short circuits which could ignite the product. Therefore, it is compulsory to meet fire safety regulations. Flame retardants increase the thermal resistivity of electronic products, thereby increasing the product life cycle. They provide the products with fire resistance characteristics, which provide them with insulation in the internal and external parts of the products. Bromine (predominantly TBBPA), chlorine, phosphorous, and nitrogen flame retardants are the major types used in the electronics & appliances industry.

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Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest flame retardants market during the forecast period, in terms of value and volume.

Asia Pacific includes the world's major economies, namely, China, Japan, and India. In this region, the flame retardants market is led by China, which accounted for the largest market share of the regional market, in terms of volume, in 2021. Asia Pacific is the largest consumer of flame retardants globally in 2021. The use of flame retardants is increasing in the region on account of the major developing economies such as China and India.

The rapid development of new technologies and products are projected to make this region an ideal region for the growth of the flame retardants market. In addition, the growing population the region is a key factor for growth in various sectors. Booming building & construction, automotive, electronics & appliances, and textile sectors and advances in process manufacturing are some of the key drivers for the market in the Asia Pacific. Countries such as India and China are expected to witness high growth in the flame retardants market due to the increasing demand from the electronics industry.

New product launches and expansions are the major growth strategies adopted by the key players in the market. LANXESS (Germany) and Clariant (Switzerland) are the key players that have focused on new product launches and developments for deeper market penetration. Albemarle Corporation (US), ICL Group Ltd. (Israel), and BASF SE (Germany) have undertaken expansions in the flame retardants market.

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Halogen-Free Flame Retardants Market by Type (Aluminum Hydroxide, Organophosphorus), Application (Polyolefins, UPE, ETP, Styrenics), End-Use Industry (Electrical & Electronics, Construction, Transportation), Region - Global Forecasts to 2025

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
FLOWER MOUND, Texas, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GDS Wealth Management, a Flower Mound-based wealth management firm, hosted their fourth annual client appreciation event on April 9th. Over four hundred clients attended and enjoyed a fun-filled evening of live music, armadillo racing, mechanical bull riding, and much more at Circle R Ranch. Clients also had the honor of meeting and conversing with guest speaker, Robert O'Neill, renowned war hero and one of the most highly decorated combat veterans of our time.

Robert O'Neill, the man who shot and killed Osama Bin Laden, gave an inspiring speech that was met with a standing ovation. He described the grueling process of becoming a Navy SEAL and a member of SEAL Team Six, and walked the audience through the events of the days leading up to the raid on Bin Laden's compound. Through the course of these stories, Rob reminded the audience of the importance of preparation, strong leadership, risk assessment, and tenacity  life lessons that apply not only to the military but to business and daily life.

After dinner and Rob's speech, clients headed outside to enjoy the beautiful spring evening. Armadillo races were a fan favorite  GDS Wealth Management founder and president, Glen Smith, even participated in the fun. To take part in the races, participants had to crawl on their hands and knees behind their assigned armadillo, blowing on the armadillo's tail to encourage it to move faster.

For those who weren't inclined to race an armadillo, there was another opportunity to interact with the fascinating animals. A three-year-old "retired racer" was brought out to meet event attendees, and he won everyone over with his docile and sweet personality. He enjoyed several photo ops before falling asleep on the table as he received head scratches.

Clients also tried their hand at riding the mechanical bull, and with three different difficulty settings, riders of all skill levels got to attempt to stay on the bull for eight seconds. There were a few spectacular crash landings, but a lot of cowboys and cowgirls managed to hang on until the bell rung!

Clients had the opportunity to meet and take photos with a live longhorn steer who made the trek from Fort Worth to Flower Mound just for this event. He was a gentle giant and thoroughly enjoyed being the center of so much attention.

While all the activities were going on outside, Big City Outlaws played live music inside. Attendees two-stepped the night away to country classics.

All in all, the event was a fabulous evening, and lived up to the GDS commitment to putting the client first. GDS Wealth Management has always made it a priority to focus on their clients and their needs. They deliver personalized, phenomenal service directly to you and your family, and work closely with you to develop a plan that meets your financial needs and goals. This client-oriented service has earned GDS numerous awards, including the most recent honor of being named a Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisor.

If you are interested in learning more about GDS Wealth Management's team and mission, please visit www.gdswealth.com or call (469) 212-8072. They would love to see you at the next client appreciation event!

GDS Wealth Management is not affiliated with and does not endorse the opinions, products, or services of Robert O'Neill. Investment advice offered through GDS Wealth Management, a registered investment adviser. Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors ranking was developed by SHOOK Research and is based on in-person, virtual, and telephone due diligence meetings to measure best practices; also considered are: client retention, industry experience, credentials, review of compliance records, firm nominations; and quantitative criteria, such as: assets under management and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and advisors rarely have audited performance reports. SHOOK's research and rankings provide opinions intended to help investors choose the right financial advisor and are not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client's experience. Past performance is not an indication of future results. Neither Forbes nor SHOOK Research receive compensation in exchange for placement on the ranking. For more information, please visit www.SHOOKresearch.com. SHOOK is a registered trademark of SHOOK Research, LLC. Data provided by SHOOK Research, LLC. Data as of 6/30/21. Neither GDS Wealth Management nor any of its Financial Planners or RIA firms pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE GDS Wealth Management
FullStory for Mobile Apps tops Mobile Development Solution category by helping companies better understand and continuously improve native mobile experiences

ATLANTA, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FullStory , the leader in digital experience intelligence (DXI) , today announced that it was named the Gold winner of a Stevie Award in the Mobile Development Solution category in the American Business Awards.

Now in its 20th year, the national award program recognized FullStory for Mobile Apps for providing actionable mobile analytics that help companies to deliver in-app experiences that meet and exceed user expectations. Unlike other mobile development solutions, FullStory uniquely captures the dynamic structure of the mobile application itselfnot a visual recordingso that users can more efficiently and effectively optimize the entire app journeywithout sacrificing consumer privacy, app performance, or developer resources.

FullStory was selected from among the 3,700 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry across a wide range of categories based on the innovation and value it offers mobile developers.

More than 230 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year's Stevie Award winners. Judges praised FullStory for Mobile Apps for its unique ability to help companies understand and rapidly improve native mobile experiences. Comments from the judges include:

A new and innovative solution to a very important problem that all companies have to face.

FullStory is a compelling software solution for the mobile industry.

Innovative product geared towards better mobile experience for customers.

Excellent business impact, impressive clients worldwide, and supporting case studies, as evidence of strong user feedback.

Alongside all the functionality, ability to reproduce the errors by replays is totally amazing! Well done!

Good product, and amazing achievements over the last few years. The product is growing, and it's awesome.

"We are honored to be recognized by the ABA for the advances we've made to shed more light on mobile app experiences for product and engineering teams," said Agata Bugaj, SVP of Product at FullStory. "Unlike other solutions that wireframe or rely on video capture, FullStory for Mobile Apps is uniquely architected to deliver superior fidelity, performance, and intelligence while proactively protecting end-user privacy. With FullStory, companies have full transparency into what is happening and why, making it easy to identify the best next steps to improve the mobile experience."

Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2022 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA .

About FullStory for Mobile Apps

Instead of relying on visual recording and replay, FullStory for Mobile Apps provides the industry's first true DXI solution designed specifically for mobile experiences. The FullStory platform uniquely captures the structure of the native app and automatically identifies taps, scrolls, screen elements, and user engagement statistics. The platform then pairs machine learning-based pattern analysis and anomaly detection with anonymized data signals to fuel vector-based session reconstructiona superior alternative to video captureand surface end-user needs and frustrations. Insights include necessary context about console, operating systems, and device information so that teams can quickly replicate and fix crashes and errors and understand users' experiences exactly how they happened.

About FullStory

FullStory's digital experience intelligence platform enables businesses to continuously improve their digital customer experience across sites and apps. The platform proactively surfaces actionable insights from billions of data points, helping thousands of companies, including Fortune 100 companies and the world's most innovative consumer brands, make evidence-based digital improvements that reduce costs and reclaim revenue. The company is headquartered in Atlanta and privately held with backing from Permira, Kleiner Perkins, GV, Stripes, Dell Technologies Capital, Salesforce Ventures, and Glynn Capital. For more information, visit fullstory.com .

SOURCE FullStory
"The jury unanimously selected Giannina Braschi whose rich and bountiful career defies any simplifying classification," announced Carlos E. Paldao, director of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language. "Her prolific career, which extends from groundbreaking research on Hispanic classics to her spectacular work as a renowned and award-winning creator, places her among the most innovative and influential voices of Hispanic letters in the United States. Braschi contributes to the dissemination of Hispanic culture and literature from the most avant-garde and invigorating perspective. She has left her imprint, not only on the Spanish but on the English-speaking world as well, given the prominence that some of her works have had in striking translations. Her writing reflects the richness of language taken to new linguistic and narrative heights by masterfully interweaving literary genres and linguistic explorations, in keeping with new forms of expression, of which she is a pioneer," Paldao added.

Braschi expressed her elation at winning the academy's highest honor. "It is particularly meaningful for me to receive this wonderful news on the anniversary of Cervantes' life. My literary career begins with Cervantes. When I was 22 years old, I wrote an essay entitled 'Five Fleeting Characters on Don Quixote's Path" which centers on the Quixotic ideals: love, poetry, chivalry, liberty, and justice," she explained. "The essay begins like this: 'Don Quixote-Alonso Quijano, an old man: a dual creature with a cast that imprisons an intimate nucleus, a jingle bell, always restless and full of life.' I consider this essay the beginning of my work. Now I am finishing a book entitled Putinoika, a term I've coined to define the era of Putin and Trump. We once had Perestroika, and now we have Putinoika. We once had Angels in America, as Tony Kushner said, and now we have Putinas in America. Whether I write in Spanish, Spanglish, or English, and no matter the genre, I always have these Quixotic ideals in my heart and in my mind."

With a Ph.D. in Hispanic Literatures from the State University of New York, she taught at Rutgers University, the City University of New York, and Colgate University.

Her work represents an essential contribution to the advancement, strengthening, and expansion of the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures in the United States, in addition to being highly innovative and of extraordinary intellectual value. She occupies a prominent place among Latin American intellectuals for her critical stance against American colonialism and for alternating the use of Spanish, Spanglish, and English in her work.

An amalgam of poetry, theater, and philosophy, Braschi's best-known titles include Empire of Dreams (1988), about her socio-political, cultural, and linguistic relationship with New York City; Yo-Yo Boing! (1998), a work written in Spanglish that delves into such themes as racism, colonialism, and domestic violence; and United States of Banana (2011), a geopolitical tragicomedy that satirizes the fall of the American empire and the liberation of Puerto Rico.

Her publications have garnished considerable national and pan-Hispanic prominence and are widely taught in colleges and universities internationally. She is the subject of an extensive and ever-expanding critical bibliography, including a recent anthology edited by Frederick Luis Aldama and Tess O'Dwyer, Poets, Philosophers, Lovers. On the Writings of Giannina Braschi.

Braschi's work has inspired countless cultural adaptations, from the musical compositions of Puerto Rican composer Gabriel Bouche Caro to the graphic novel version of United States of Banana by Swedish cartoonist Joakim Lindengren. She recently won the Cambiemos Award from the Spanish magazine Cambio 16.

"The decision of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language to select Giannina Braschi for the 2022 Enrique Anderson Imbert Award not only augments the international recognition of this distinguished Puerto Rican writer, but also marks a milestone in pan-Hispanic openness to works that questionwith masterful precision and without ideological clichesthe boundaries between genres and languages, articulating a polyphonic, philosophical, and poetic vision of the tragicomedy of postmodern globalism," noted Jose Luis Vega, director of the Puerto Rican Academy of the Spanish Language. "Cervantes, whose memory is revered this week, would have certainly concurred with the jury's decision. Congratulations, Giannina Braschi!"

Contact: ANLE Communications: Daniel Fernandez ([email protected]), ANLE Board Secretary: Jorge I. Covarrubias ([email protected])

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1807540/GIANNINA_BRASCHI_by_Laurent_Eli_Badessi.jpg

SOURCE Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Espanola
DUBLIN, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Femtocell Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global femtocell market reached a value of US$ 2.10 billion in 2021. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach US$ 9.07 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 27.8% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, the analyst is 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.



Femtocell refers to a small and light-weight cellular base station used for increasing the signal strength and coverage area of mobile networks. It is a wireless device used for improving the cellular reception in an office, home or building. Femtocell acts as a repeater that communicates with the mobile phones and converts voice calls into voice over information protocol (IP) packets. These packets are further transmitted over a broadband connection to the mobile operator's server. It offers quick data connections, in-premise voice and data services, reduced dropped calls and improved mobile voice output quality. Apart from this, it also has lower power consumption, IP backhaul and self-optimization capabilities.



Significant improvements in the 4G and 5G infrastructure are among the key factors driving the growth of the market. Furthermore, the rising demand for heterogeneous networks across the globe is also driving the market growth. High penetration of broadband services and mobile phones has enhanced the requirement for improved network coverage for high-quality video conferencing, calling and downloading of software and music.

In line with this, the increasing commercial applications of femtocell in multi-tenant buildings, hotels and office towers are also contributing to the market growth. Various technological advancements, such as product integration with the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve indoor coverage and maintain the need for smart devices, are acting as other major growth-inducing factors. Increasing investments in small-cell infrastructure, along with the utilization of distributed antenna systems and cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN), are some of the other factors that are expected to drive the market further.

Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined with some of the key players being Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (Nokia), Analog Devices, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Fujitsu Limited (Furukawa Group), Huawei Technologies, Juniper Networks Inc., Motorola Inc., Netgear Inc., Samsung and ZTE Corporation.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global femtocell market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global femtocell market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the form factor?

What is the breakup of the market based on the technology?

What is the breakup of the market based on the type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

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 femtocell 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 Femtocell Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Form Factor

6.1 Standalone

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Integrated

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Technology

7.1 IMS/SIP Femtocell Technology

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 IU-H Femtocell Technology

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Type

8.1 2G Femtocell

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Key Technologies

8.1.2.1 CDMA

8.1.2.2 GSM/GPRS

8.1.3 Market Forecast

8.2 3G Femtocell

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Key Technologies

8.2.2.1 W-CDMA/HSPA

8.2.2.2 CDMA2000-EVDO

8.2.2.3 TD-CDMA

8.2.3 Market Forecast

8.3 4G Femtocell

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Key Technologies

8.3.2.1 WiMAX

8.3.2.2 LTE

8.3.3 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Application

9.1 Residential

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Commercial

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 Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis



14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (Nokia)

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.2 Analog Devices

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 Cisco Systems

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3.3 Financials

15.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.4 Ericsson

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4.3 Financials

15.3.5 Fujitsu Limited (Furukawa Group)

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6 Huawei Technologies

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7 Juniper Networks Inc.

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8 Motorola Inc.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8.3 Financials

15.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.9 Netgear Inc.

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9.3 Financials

15.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.10 Samsung

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 ZTE Corporation

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11.3 Financials

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/iigns8

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
DUBLIN, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Functional Safety Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global functional safety market reached a value of US$ 4.67 billion in 2021. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach a value of US$ 9.29 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 11.60% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, the analyst is continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different End-use industries. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Functional safety refers to the general safety of a plant and equipment using safety-related systems, such as alarm systems, safety instrumented systems (SIS), and basic process control systems (BPCS). It covers fault detection, physical or systemic redundancy, and transitioning to a safe state that reduces the overall risk caused by faults in the electronic system. As a result, it finds extensive applications in the pharmaceutical, automotive, oil and gas, and food and beverage (F&B) industries worldwide.



Functional Safety Market Trends

The increasing requirement of safety systems for personnel and asset protection on account of stringent government regulations represents one of the key factors impelling the growth of the market. Besides this, the introduction of the industrial internet of things (IIoT), also known as Industry 4.0, is offering new opportunities for integrated safety and compliance services. It enables industries and enterprises to have better efficiency and reliability in their operations.

Moreover, a key concept in Industry 4.0 is cyber-physical systems (CPS), which consists of storage systems, smart machines, and production facilities capable of autonomously exchanging information, triggering actions, and controlling each other independently. This, coupled with the increasing focus of market players on product innovations to offer better services, is driving the overall sales and profitability.

Furthermore, there is an increase in the utilization of safety sensor switches in machines and other industrial applications to inhibit accidental contact with live electrical connections. Factors like the rising automation in different industry verticals and the rising number of power projects to meet the escalating demand for energy across the globe are anticipated to offer lucrative growth opportunities to industry investors and strengthen the growth of the market.

Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being ABB Ltd., Emerson Electric Co., General Electric Company, Honeywell International Inc., Intel Corporation, Johnson Controls, OMRON Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Pepperl+Fuchs SE, Rockwell Automation Inc., Schneider Electric SE, Siemens AG and Yokogawa Electric Corporation.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global functional safety market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global functional safety market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the device type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the safety system?

What is the breakup of the market based on the End-use industry?

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 functional safety 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 Functional Safety Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Device Type

6.1 Safety Sensors

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Safety Controllers/Modules/Relays

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Safety Switches

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Programmable Safety Systems

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Emergency Stop Devices

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast

6.6 Final Control Elements

6.6.1 Market Trends

6.6.2 Market Forecast

6.7 Others

6.7.1 Market Trends

6.7.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Safety System

7.1 Burner Management System (BMS)

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Turbomachinery Control System (TMC)

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 High-Integrity Pressure Protection System (HIPPS)

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast

7.4 Fire and Gas Monitoring Control System

7.4.1 Market Trends

7.4.2 Market Forecast

7.5 Emergency Shutdown System (ESD)

7.5.1 Market Trends

7.5.2 Market Forecast

7.6 Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA)

7.6.1 Market Trends

7.6.2 Market Forecast

7.7 Distributed Control System (DCS)

7.7.1 Market Trends

7.7.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by End Use Industry

8.1 Oil and Gas

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Power Generation

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Food and Beverage

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Pharmaceutical

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 Market Forecast

8.5 Automotive

8.5.1 Market Trends

8.5.2 Market Forecast

8.6 Others

8.6.1 Market Trends

8.6.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Region



10 SWOT Analysis



11 Value Chain Analysis



12 Porters Five Forces Analysis



13 Price Analysis



14 Competitive Landscape

14.1 Market Structure

14.2 Key Players

14.3 Profiles of Key Players

14.3.1 ABB Ltd.

14.3.1.1 Company Overview

14.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.1.3 Financials

14.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.2 Emerson Electric Co.

14.3.2.1 Company Overview

14.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.2.3 Financials

14.3.2.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.3 General Electric Company

14.3.3.1 Company Overview

14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3.3 Financials

14.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.4 Honeywell International Inc.

14.3.4.1 Company Overview

14.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.4.3 Financials

14.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.5 Intel Corporation

14.3.5.1 Company Overview

14.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.5.3 Financials

14.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.6 Johnson Controls

14.3.6.1 Company Overview

14.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.6.3 Financials

14.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.7 OMRON Corporation

14.3.7.1 Company Overview

14.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.7.3 Financials

14.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.8 Panasonic Corporation

14.3.8.1 Company Overview

14.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.8.3 Financials

14.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.9 Pepperl+Fuchs SE

14.3.9.1 Company Overview

14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.10 Rockwell Automation Inc.

14.3.10.1 Company Overview

14.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.10.3 Financials

14.3.10.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.11 Schneider Electric SE

14.3.11.1 Company Overview

14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.11.3 Financials

14.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.12 Siemens AG

14.3.12.1 Company Overview

14.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.12.3 Financials

14.3.12.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.13 Yokogawa Electric Corporation

14.3.13.1 Company Overview

14.3.13.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.13.3 Financials

14.3.13.4 SWOT Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/46d6qh

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
DUBLIN, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Net-Zero Energy Buildings Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global net-zero energy buildings market exhibited strong growth during 2015-2020. Looking forward, the market is set to grow at a CAGR of around 27% 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.



Net-zero energy (NZE) buildings refer to the constructions that are optimized to use on-site renewable resources to meet energy requirements. They use passive solar heat gain through photovoltaics (PV) and geothermal energy systems to stabilize temperature variations in the complex throughout the day.

The buildings also include highly efficient heating and cooling equipment, appliances, walls & roofs, windows and doors. They aid in maintaining the desired insulation, natural ventilation and air sealing, thereby minimizing the overall energy consumption and wastage over time. As a result, these buildings are widely used as residential complexes, office spaces, educational facilities and public buildings.



The increasing utilization of renewable resources for power generation across the globe represents one of the key factors driving the growth of the market. Furthermore, the implementation of favorable government policies and initiatives to minimize carbon emissions and promote sustainable development is also driving the market growth.

For instance, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) implemented a long-term efficiency strategy plan to promote the construction of new NZE buildings. Additionally, various product innovations, such as the development of innovative gas water heaters and other heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, are acting as other growth-inducing factors.

These systems aid in maintaining the indoor air quality and safety and ensuring a non-hazardous environment in low-rise buildings. Other factors, including extensive research and development (R&D) activities, along with rapid infrastructural development, especially in developing countries, are anticipated to drive the market further.

Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global net-zero energy buildings market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global net-zero energy buildings market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the offering?

What is the breakup of the market based on the building type?

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 net-zero energy buildings market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Competitive Landscape:

The report has also analysed the competitive landscape of the market with some of the key players being

Altura Associates LLC

Daikin Industries Ltd.

General Electric Company

Integrated Environmental Solutions Ltd.

Johnson Controls International plc

Kingspan Group Plc

Sage Electrochromics Inc. (Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A)

Schneider Electric

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Solatube International Inc.

Sunpower Corporation (Total SE)

Key Market Segmentation:



Breakup by Offering:

Equipment

Lighting

Walls and Roofs

HVAC Systems

Others

Solutions and Services

Software Solutions

Designing Services

Consulting Services

Breakup by Building Type:

Commercial

Residential

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Middle East and Africa

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6g3zbi

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
DUBLIN, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "OTC Artificial Tears Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global OTC artificial tears market reached a value of US$ 4.62 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the market is set to reach US$ 6.41 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.20% during 2022-2027.

Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, they 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



Over the Counter (OTC) artificial tears are eye drops that are used for lubricating eyes and providing relief from pain, discomfort, burning, redness, photophobia and irritation in the eyes. They are manufactured using dextran, glycerin, propylene glycol, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and carboxymethylcellulose.

Artificial tears are widely used for the treatment of dry eyes, which is a medical condition when sufficient moisture or lubrication is not generated on the conjunctiva, cornea or entire surface of the eye. OTC artificial tears are biocompatible and aid in stabilizing the tear film, promoting healing and minimizing tear evaporation. In addition to this, OTC artificial tears are also available in ointment, spray, emulsion, solution and gel forms that are highly convenient use



OTC Artificial Tears Market Trends:

The rising geriatric population that is prone to chronic eye-related disorders is one of the key factors driving the growth of the market. Due to the increasing prevalence of dry eye syndrome (DES), diabetes and nutritional deficiencies, there is a rising demand for OTC artificial tears to provide immediate relief from discomfort in the eyes.

Additionally, the increasing utilization of electronics, such as smartphones, televisions (TVs) and laptops, leading to excessive screen time and eye fatigue, is positively impacting the adoption of OTC artificial tears. Various product innovations, such as the development of variants fortified with blink-activated coatings, are providing a thrust to the market growth.

These coatings provide ocular hydration to patients suffering from evaporative dry eye syndrome. In line with this, the widespread product adoption with contact lenses to facilitate the flow of oxygen to the cornea and prevent dryness on the surface of the eyes is favoring the market growth.

Other factors, including rising levels of pollution, especially in the urban regions, along with the increasing health consciousness among the masses, are anticipated to drive the market toward growth.

Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global OTC artificial tears market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global OTC artificial tears market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the product?

What is the breakup of the market based on the container type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the formulation?

What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

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 global OTC artificial tears 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 along with the profiles of the key players being

AbbVie Inc.

Akorn Inc.

Alcon

Bausch Health Companies Inc.

Johnson & Johnson

Nicox S.A.

OASIS Medical

OCuSOFT Inc.

Santen Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

Similasan Corporation

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

URSAPHARM Arzneimittel GmbH.

Key Market Segmentation:

Breakup by Product:

Solution

Ointment

Emulsion

Gel

Spray Solution

Suspensions

Breakup by Container Type:

Plastic Single Dose Container

Plastic Multi-Dose Container

Others

Breakup by Formulation:

Preservative Based

Non-Preservative Based

Breakup by Application:

Dry Eye Syndrome

Allergies

Infections

UV and Blue Light Protection

Contact Lens Moisture Retention

Others

Breakup by Distribution Channel:

Hospital Pharmacies

Drug Store and Retail Pharmacies

Online Pharmacies

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Middle East and Africa

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/2sfo7v

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
 Company also announces option grants to management 

OAKLAND, Calif. and TORONTO, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Harborside Inc. ("Harborside" or the "Company") (CSE: HBOR) (OTCQX: HBORF), a California-focused, vertically integrated cannabis enterprise, today announced that a promissory note in the amount of US$6.23 million (the "Note"), which includes principal, interest and fees, has been repaid by: (i) a cash payment in the amount of US$358,541.10; and (ii) the issuance of US$5.87 million worth of subordinate voting shares ("SVS") of Harborside at a price of US$0.35/Cdn$0.45 per SVS, that being 16,660,993 SVS. The Note, which was issued in July 2021 by UL Holdings Inc. ("Urbn Leaf") in relation to a bridge financing, is now considered to be paid in full and is no longer outstanding.

"We are delighted that holder of the Note elected to convert the Note into Harborside equity," said Ed Schmults, Chief Executive Officer of Harborside. "This show of support for the Company underlines the potential we are unlocking through the recent business combinations with both Urbn Leaf and Loudpack. The Company, to be renamed StateHouse Holdings Inc., is now one of the largest vertically integrated cannabis enterprises in California and represents an ideal platform to consolidate the industry."

Harborside also announced the grant of options to certain members of management to purchase up to an aggregate 1,540,000 SVS. The options are exercisable at the greater of Cdn$0.75 per SVS and the closing market price of the SVS on the date of grant of the options. 25% of the total number of options granted will become fully vested on each of the first, second, third and fourth anniversary of the date of the grant.

"Harborside is committed to a full alignment of interests between management and shareholders," added Mr. Schmults. "With the combination of the three companies, we have put in place a best-in-class management team and I am hopeful that these grants of options will further enhance our team's commitment to achieving the Company's full potential."

About Harborside

Harborside, a vertically integrated enterprise with cannabis licenses covering retail, major brands, distribution, cultivation, nursery and manufacturing, is one of the oldest and most respected cannabis companies in California. Founded in 2006, Harborside was awarded one of the first six medical cannabis licenses granted in the United States. Today, the Company operates twelve dispensaries covering Northern and Southern California and one in Oregon, as well as a manufacturing facility in Oakland, California, distribution facilities in San Jose and Los Angeles, California and integrated cultivation/production facilities in Salinas and Greenfield, California. Harborside is a publicly listed company, currently trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") under the ticker symbol "HBOR" and the OTCQX under the ticker symbol "HBORF". The Company continues to play an instrumental role in making cannabis safe and accessible to a broad and diverse community of California and Oregon consumers.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. To the extent any forward-looking information in this news release constitutes "financial outlooks" or "future-oriented financial information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates, and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements relating to the name change of the Company, and the Company's future performance.

These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to materially differ from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's operations; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; expectations regarding the size of the cannabis markets where the Company operates; changing consumer habits; the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives; plans for expansion and acquisitions; political and social uncertainties; inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; employee relations; the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on cultivation, production, distribution, and sale of cannabis and cannabis-related products in the markets where the Company operates; and the risk factors set out in the Company's management discussion and analysis for the period ended December 31, 2021 and the Company's listing statement dated May 30, 2019, which are available under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com . Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

The Company, through several of its subsidiaries, is indirectly involved in the manufacture, possession, use, sale, and distribution of cannabis in the recreational and medicinal cannabis marketplace in the United States. Local state laws where the Company operates permit such activities however, investors should note that there are significant legal restrictions and regulations that govern the cannabis industry in the United States. Cannabis remains a Schedule I drug under the US Controlled Substances Act, making it illegal under federal law in the United States to, among other things, cultivate, distribute or possess cannabis in the United States. Financial transactions involving proceeds generated by, or intended to promote, cannabis-related business activities in the United States may form the basis for prosecution under applicable United States federal money laundering legislation.

While the approach to enforcement of such laws by the federal government in the United States has trended toward non-enforcement against individuals and businesses that comply with recreational and medicinal cannabis programs in states where such programs are legal, strict compliance with state laws with respect to cannabis will neither absolve the Company of liability under United States federal law, nor will it provide a defense to any federal proceeding which may be brought against the Company. The enforcement of federal laws in the United States is a significant risk to the business of the Company and any proceedings brought against the Company thereunder may adversely affect the Company's operations and financial performance.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in the United States. The Company's securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Harborside Inc.
Ownership housing is the best strategy to help low-income Californians escape poverty

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, a coalition of REALTORS, homebuilders and affordable housing producers commend Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Senate Budget and Fiscal Committee Chair Nancy Skinner for a budget proposal that calls for allocating a greater portion of the state's projected budget surplus to the construction of affordable owner-occupied homes and down payment programs. The "Putting Wealth to Work" Senate budget proposal is a strong first step to addressing budget requests made by the housing coalition, and a bi-partisan group of State Assemblymembers and State Senators.

"California REALTORS appreciate the Senate's recognition that far too many Californians cannot afford to purchase a home and the public demands more owner-occupied homes," said Otto Catrina, President of the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS. "When homeownership is out of reach, Californians are denied the opportunity to generate equity in a home and intergenerational wealth. Ownership housing is the best strategy to help working Californians have true economic security."

State housing policies have added to California's housing crisis by directing a very small percentage of state housing construction funding to owner-occupied homes. This comes as the median home price in California is expected to surpass $830,000. California's overall homeownership rate has declined to just 55% and among the state's largest ethnic groups, only 17% of Latino and Black households could afford to buy a median-priced home last year.

"Increasing homeownership is critical to California's future and the key to economic stability for working families. But first, the homes must be built. We applaud the Senate's budget priority to invest in affordable homeownership supply through the CalHome program, which is the only state program that actually allocates funding toward affordable home building for first-time owners," said Debbie Arakel, Executive Director for Habitat for Humanity California. "The CalHome budget commitment allows Habitat for Humanity throughout California, and other nonprofit builders to build more affordable homes for more California families to own, but we're still a bit shy of the $400 million that's needed."

In the "Putting Wealth to Work" budget proposal, Senator Atkins and Senator Skinner call for $1.5 billion to support homeownership in the 2022-23 state budget, including $350 million for the development of ownership housing and $200 million for the state's existing down payment assistance programs. In addition, $1 billion is being allocated to the California Dream for All Program, a new revolving fund for first-time homebuyers to partner with the state and purchase homes with little or no down payment and reduce mortgage costs by more than 20 percent.

"We appreciate the focus on homeownership in the Senate budget proposal," said Dan Dunmoyer, president and CEO of the California Building Industry Association. "This priority has the support of a growing number of leaders in both houses of the Legislature, and we urge the Governor to include adequate funding for homeownership in the May Revise. This investment is needed to address the housing crisis and help more Californians achieve the dream of homeownership."

About the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

Leading the way in California real estate for more than 110 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (www.car.org) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States with more than 200,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate. C.A.R. is headquartered in Los Angeles.

About Habitat for Humanity California

Habitat for Humanity California is a statewide coalition of independent Habitat affiliates that serve communities across California. Habitat affiliates bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Habitat California advocates for affordable housing with specific focus on homeownership opportunities for families with limited incomes.

About California Building Industry Association

The California Building Industry Association is a statewide trade association based in Sacramento representing thousands of member companies including homebuilders, trade contractors, architects, engineers, designers, suppliers and industry professionals in the homebuilding, multi-family and mixed-use development markets.

SOURCE CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (C.A.R.)
DUBLIN, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Logistics Robot Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global logistics robots market was valued at US$2.585 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22.94% over the forecast period to reach a total market size of US$10.971 billion by 2027.



Logistics robots automate the storage and transportation of goods as they move through the supply chain. Logistics robots are commonly used to arrange and carry goods in warehouses and storage facilities, but they may also be utilised in other applications. Logistics robots outperform manual labour in terms of uptime, resulting in considerable productivity benefits and profitability for businesses that use logistics robots.



The increased emphasis on end-to-end automation for operational efficiency and workforce availability is expected to drive market demand. The growing demand for more personnel to manage logistics operations is fueling the expansion of e-commerce sectors and the need for more package shipments. Furthermore, a decrease in the size of the available workforce due to declining population levels in Western nations is directly influencing the demand for logistics personnel, as online shopping often requires more workers per item sold than conventional brick-and-mortar retail. Furthermore, when consumers purchase heavier goods such as white goods, building materials, and furniture, among other products, the average weight of such shipments increases, necessitating the need for robots.



Additionally, the growing popularity of autonomous warehouses is providing new opportunities. The concept of warehouses outfitted with autonomous technologies is gathering momentum. Robots control the majority of the operational process, which includes scanning, picking and placing, transportation, and other tasks. With the increasing number of autonomous warehouses, the industry is projected to develop at a rapid pace in the future years. Furthermore, logistic service providers are aggressively investing, which is likely to push the market further. For instance, in 2019, XPO Logistics, a logistics service provider located in the United States, invested USD 550 million a year to integrate industry-leading technologies throughout its operations in North America and Europe. Furthermore, the rise of the e-commerce business and the increasing relevance of real-time inventories are two additional factors driving the global market's growth.



North America is expected to dominate the market. This is due to the increased establishment of warehouses and distribution hubs around the region. Furthermore, substantial investments in the development of industry 4.0, smart factories, and automated warehousing systems are driving up sales of logistics-type robots in this region. The region's expanding E-commerce, healthcare, and retail industries will play an important role in increasing the deployment of these robots. Due to the significant presence of manufacturers in this area, Asia Pacific is expected to develop at a faster rate in the future years. Countries such as China and South Korea are putting a strong emphasis on updating existing technology in order to remain competitive in the global market. Furthermore, the Asia-Pacific region's growing e-commerce and automotive sectors are propelling the logistics robot market.



Growth Factors

The expansion of the e-commerce industry

Order fulfilment in the e-commerce industry is a significant contribution to the growing deployment of logistics robots. To keep up with delivery schedules, merchants are being forced to embrace the automation process to execute repetitive activities using robotic solutions due to an increase in the number of online consumers. Furthermore, efficient integration of digital automation networks gives a real-time picture of activities. As a result, manufacturers, shipping companies, and other businesses may quickly assess the condition of their operations. This function is critical for the e-commerce sector because they are primarily concerned with meeting the needs of their customers on time. This also contributes to the market's expansion.



Restraints:

The initial setup cost is high:

The logistics robot market is expanding due to its ability to execute a variety of tasks. These robots are equipped with a variety of programming software and sensors that allow them to execute many jobs in a row. This is due to the high expenses associated with acquiring and programming such robots, which slows market development. Furthermore, emerging economies, where regional businesses find it difficult to spend heavily, are pursuing research and development operations to keep up with the top robotics advances. This might lead to increased market growth constraints. Furthermore, small and medium-sized retailers cannot afford to invest in robotic solutions, so they employ workers to do repetitive jobs in warehouses and distribution centres. This is further stifling market expansion.



COVID-19's Impact on the Logistics Robots Market:

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in massive losses for a number of businesses throughout the world. It had a huge impact on market growth prospects till the first half of 2020. The abrupt closure of warehouses, manufacturing plants, and other facilities had a negative impact on the supply chain. However, the second half of 2020 witnessed a surge in demand for robotic arms, automated guided vehicles, and other products in facilities across China, the United States, India, Germany, and other countries across the world. As a result, the logistical supply chain has been restored, including the potential for robots in omnichannel fulfilment. Manufacturers are responding to these fast-moving applications as well. ABB, for example, bought Codian Robotics B.V. in October 2020 to expand its robotics portfolio spanning logistics, pharmaceuticals, and food andbeverage applications. Therefore, the market is expected to increase in the coming years.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Dynamics

4.1. Market Drivers

4.2. Market Restraints

4.3. Porters Five Forces Analysis

4.3.1. Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.3.2. Bargaining Power of Buyers

4.3.3. The threat of New Entrants

4.3.4. Threat of Substitutes

4.3.5. Competitive Rivalry in the Industry

4.4. Industry Value Chain Analysis



5. Global Logistics Robot Market Analysis, By Application

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Custom Packaging

5.3. Loading & Unloading

5.4. Stationery Piece Picking

5.5. Transportation

5.6. Delivery

5.7. Storage

5.8. Audits



6. Global Logistics Robot Market Analysis, By Geography

6.1. Introduction

6.2. North America

6.2.1. United States

6.2.2. Canada

6.2.3. Mexico

6.3. South America

6.3.1. Brazil

6.3.2. Argentina

6.3.3. Others

6.4. Europe

6.4.1. UK

6.4.2. France

6.4.3. Germany

6.4.4. Italy

6.4.5. Others

6.5. Middle East and Africa

6.5.1. Saudi Arabia

6.5.2. UAE

6.5.3. Others

6.6. Asia Pacific

6.6.1. Japan

6.6.2. China

6.6.3. India

6.6.4. Thailand

6.6.5. Taiwan

6.6.6. Indonesia

6.6.7. Others



7. Competitive Environment and Analysis

7.1. Major Players and Strategy Analysis

7.2. Emerging Players and Market Lucrativenessness

7.3. Mergers, Acquisitions, Agreements, and Collaborations

7.4. Vendor Competitiveness Matrix



8. Company Profiles

8.1. Grey Orange Pte. Ltd.

8.2. Epson America Inc.

8.3. Rethink Robotics

8.4. Locus Robotics

8.5. FANUC

8.6. Siasun Co., Ltd.

8.7. Yaskawa America Inc.

8.8. ABB

8.9. Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corporations

8.10. Fetch Robotics Inc.



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/us87mj

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
DUBLIN, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Radiology Information System Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global radiology information system market reached a value of US$ 888.4 Million in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach a value of US$ 1,433.40 Million by 2027 exhibiting a CAGR of 7.60% during 2022-2027. 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.

A radiology information system (RIS) is an advanced database system that assists medical professionals in managing medical imagery and associated data generated during diagnosis and treatment. It also eases the process of booking an appointment and billing for patients and aids in improving workflow management, departmental productivity, customer services, and overall cost-efficiency. In addition, it relies on digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM), picture archiving and communication system (PACS), health level seven (HL7) to produce precise, consistent, and easy-to-understand reports that yield accurate results.



Radiology Information System Market Trends:

The growing prevalence of chronic diseases, such as cancer, arthritis, cardiovascular, and diabetes, on account of the increasing consumption of fast food and sedentary lifestyles of individuals represents one of the key factors driving the market. Moreover, there is a rise in the utilization of RIS in intraoral plate scanners, cone-beam computed tomography imaging, and intraoral and extraoral X-Ray systems. This, coupled with the escalating demand for interventional radiology techniques like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-Rays, fluoroscopy, ultrasounds, and scanners, is propelling the market growth.

Additionally, the integration of information and technology (IT) in the healthcare industry for real-time communication between patients and doctors, easy access to health-related information, and rapid diagnosis of the disease is positively influencing the market. Apart from this, due to a rise in the demand for advanced diagnostic services and solutions that are economical and reliable, the sales of RIS are increasing around the world. This, in turn, is bolstering the growth of the market. Furthermore, key market players are introducing advanced cloud-based services to provide easy storage of bulk data, which is strengthening the growth of the market.

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Advanced Data Systems Corporation, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., Cerner Corporation, Covetus LLC, Epic Systems Corporation, General Electric Company, International Business Machines Corporation, Kareo Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Medinformatix Inc, Novarad and Siemens AG.



Key Questions Answered in this Report:

How has the global radiology information system market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global radiology information system market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the component?

What is the breakup of the market based on the deployment mode?

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 radiology information system 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 Radiology Information System Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Type

6.1 Integrated Radiology Information Systems

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Standalone Radiology Information Systems

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Component

7.1 Hardware

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Software

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Services

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Deployment Mode

8.1 Web-based

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Cloud-based

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 On-premises

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End User

9.1 Hospitals

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Office-Based Physicians

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Emergency Healthcare Service Providers

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis



14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Advanced Data Systems Corporation

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.2 Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc.

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 Cerner Corporation

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3.3 Financials

15.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.4 Covetus LLC

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5 Epic Systems Corporation

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5.3 SWOT Analysis

15.3.6 General Electric Company

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6.3 Financials

15.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.7 International Business Machines Corporation

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7.3 Financials

15.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.8 Kareo Inc.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9 Koninklijke Philips N.V.

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9.3 Financials

15.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.10 Medinformatix Inc

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 Novarad

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.12 Siemens AG

15.3.12.1 Company Overview

15.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.12.3 Financials

15.3.12.4 SWOT Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xbjo58

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

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SOURCE Research and Markets
BEIJING, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- International Finance Forum (IFF) has kickstarted its 2022 spring meetings on April 27 in Beijing with the theme of "New Global Landscape: Challenges and Responses".

Participated by global political and financial leaders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the forum aims to discuss the challenges faced by the global community and how countries can work together to boost global economic governance through international cooperation.

In a keynote speech, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, said the IMF has cut its global economic growth forecast to 3.6% for this year due to multiple adverse factors, and that the organization continued to hold a dim view on the global economic outlook.

Gourinchas noted that China's Covid-19 containment measures have successfully put the number of deaths and infection cases under control over the past two years, ensuring stable operations of economic activities.

Now, the main challenge for the world's second-largest economy is the relatively low vaccination rate among elders aged over 75, Gourinchas said, adding that improvement on vaccination coverage remains a key factor for global economic recovery.

Meanwhile, when it comes to issues brought by climate change, Zhou Xiaochuan, IFF Chairman and a former governor of the People's Bank of China, said the financial sector should have the courage to take up certain responsibilities with measures to tackle related problems in financing and pricing. Building a unified carbon market is the best solution, Zhou added.

Azymbakiev Muratbek Abakirovich, Deputy Secretary-General of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said that the world economy continues to face the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic coupled with the rise of trade protectionism, hindering the sustainable and balanced growth of the economy.

In the post-pandemic era, stable economic growth could be significantly impacted by risks triggered by the politicization of global economic relations, the weakening of global governance and flagging progress in international trade reforms, Muratbek Abakirovich said. The risks caused by climate change, resource depletion and environmental degradation will have to be managed and controlled, he added.

Also at the event, Han Seung-soo, IFF Co-chairman and Korea's former Prime Minister, urged the global community to overcome the upcoming global financial crisis through tighter cooperation.

With a goal to dissect global challenges and exchange ideas on potential solutions, the IFF spring meetings gathered world leaders to discuss how China and the world could take actions to accelerate economic growth, while geopolitical turbulence continues amid the pandemic, alongside intensifying food and energy crises, and threats to the global industrial and supply chain security.

About International Finance Forum

IFF is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental international organization founded in Beijing in 2003. Established by financial leaders from more than 20 countries, regions and international organizations including China, the US, EU and UN, the forum is a long-standing, high-level platform for dialogue and communication. For more information, please visit: http://www.iff.org.cn/php/list.php?tid=477

SOURCE International Finance Forum (IFF)
KANSAS CITY, Mo., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kansas City Life Insurance Company recorded a net loss of $7.7 million or $0.79 per share in the first quarter of 2022 compared to a net loss of $0.7 million or $0.07 per share in the first quarter of 2021.

The largest factor in the decline in net income in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2021 was an increase in policyholder benefits, largely from death benefits, net of reinsurance. Policyholder benefits have been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its related impacts. In addition, the amortization of deferred acquisition costs and operating expenses increased compared to the prior year. Also, net investment income and net investment gains declined verses one year earlier. Partially offsetting these, income tax expense decreased compared to the prior year, reflecting a higher pretax loss.

Kansas City Life Insurance Company (OTCQX: KCLI) was established in 1895 and is based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Company's primary business is providing financial protection through the sale of life insurance and annuities. The Company operates in 49 states and the District of Columbia. For more information, please visit www.kclife.com.

Kansas City Life Insurance Company Condensed Consolidated Income Statement (amounts in thousands, except share data)





Quarter Ended

March 31

2022

2021 Revenues $ 119,231

$ 122,331 Net loss $ (7,676)

$ (668) Net loss per share, basic and diluted $ (0.79)

$ (0.07) Dividends paid $ 0.27

$ 0.27 Average number of shares

outstanding

9,683,414



9,683,414













SOURCE Kansas City Life Insurance Company
-- With an aim to expand classical music influence and enhance Kuke's brand globally --

BEIJING, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kuke Music Holding Limited ("Kuke" or the "Group") (NYSE: KUKE), a leading classical music consumption and learning service platform in China, announced that the company and its strategic global business partner Naxos, world's leading classical music label, will be sponsoring the 10th Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition, to be held in Vienna, Austria, from September 17 to September 25, 2022.

As Austria's most important violin competition, the Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition dates back to the prize that Fritz Kreisler privately donated every year for the best violin learners, and has become the member of World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC). With a long history, the competition is aimed to inspire the next generation of violinists from all over the world.

Mr. He Yu, Chief Executive Officer of Kuke, commented, "We are pleased to sponsor the 10th Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition. On one hand, classical music is the universal language of mankind, the core value of the competition is to encourage talented music performers, which is in line with Kuke's vision of expanding the influence of classical music in the global community; On the other hand, through the sponsorship, we aim to promote Kuke's brand internationally, which is consistent with our strategic goal of global expansion. Moreover, we will continue to inspire future generations of top musicians in the world by leveraging Kuke and its strategic global business partner Naxos's leading position in classical music."

As an active promoter of classical music, Kuke previously sponsored the 16th International Beethoven Piano Competition, the 120th Anniversary celebrations of Deutsche Grammophon concert and the 9th Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition.

About Kuke Music Holding Limited

Kuke is a leading classical music service platform in China encompassing the entire value chain from content provision to music learning services. By collaborating with its strategic global business partner Naxos, the largest independent classical music content provider in the world, the foundation of Kuke's extensive classical music content library is its unparalleled access to more than 900 top-tier labels and record companies. Leveraging its market leadership in international copyrighted classical music content, Kuke provides highly scalable classical music licensing services to various online music platforms, and classical music subscription services to over 800 universities, libraries and other institutions across China. In addition, it has hosted Beijing Music Festival ("BMF"), the most renowned music festival in China, for 24 consecutive years. Through KUKEY, the Company's proprietary AI music learning system, Kuke aims to democratize music learning via technological innovation, bring fascinating music content and professional music techniques to more students, and continuously improve the efficiency and penetration of music learning in China.

For more information about Kuke, please visit https://ir.kuke.com/

Investor Relations Contact

Kuke Music Holding Limited

Email: [email protected]

ICA Investor Relations (Asia) Limited

Mr. Kevin Yang

Phone: +86-21-8028-6033

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Kuke Music Holding Limited
New partnership provides aircraft operators with access to complementary aircraft service and modification capabilities focused on a world-class commitment to excellence.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- L2 Aviation, a leading supplier of global avionics services including engineering, parts, certification, installation, maintenance, AOG support and manufacturing announced today the signing of a strategic alliance with FEAM AERO, a leading supplier of aircraft line maintenance services with 42 line service stations world-wide and two independent heavy maintenance hangars in Cincinnati and Miami.

"Partnering with L2 Aviation provides both our domestic and international customers access to an even broader array of highly technical, avionics services," explains Dan Allawat, Chief Strategy Officer at FEAM. "We look forward to working with L2 and leveraging our complimentary capabilities to the benefit of our respective customers."

"The ability to blend our global avionics modification and AOG services with FEAM's exceptional aircraft maintenance network provides our customers with unparalleled support," said Tony Bailey, Chief Operating Officer at L2 Aviation." Additionally, our companies are aligned in our belief that we have to continuously innovate solutions that matter to our employees and customers to make a positive difference in their lives. It is truly an honor to partner with the incredible FEAM team!"

About FEAM AERO

FEAM AERO is the largest leading provider of aircraft line maintenance services in the United States. FEAM has maintenance bases at 42 locations globally, including two hangar facilities, and employs a growing workforce of over 1,300 Aircraft Maintenance Technicians and Engineers. Over the years, FEAM has diversified its MRO portfolio to include Line Maintenance, Technical Training, Global AOG Support, Technical Support Services, and Base Maintenance. Our full line of services ensures our customers meet their mission goals and mitigate AOG ground time. FEAM holds EASA/FAA Maintenance Organization Approvals and approvals from several other domestic and international aviation regulatory authorities. For more information, please visit www.feam.aero.

About L2 Aviation

L2 Consulting Services, Inc., doing business as L2 Aviation (www.l2aviation.com), with locations in Austin, Texas and Cincinnati, Ohio, provides global aircraft modification support services including avionics engineering, system design, repair, certification, kitting and installation for airline, government, military and business aviation customers. L2 Aviation specializes in complex avionics solutions and remote installations focused on reducing down-time and mitigating crew workload. L2 Aviation makes great airplanes BETTER! For more information, please visit www.l2aviation.com.

Photos:

https://www.prlog.org/12915277

Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE L2 Aviation
For more insights on YOY and CAGR, Read our latest Sample Report

Vendor Insights

The Laboratory Disposables Market is fragmented and the vendors are deploying various organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market.

The growing competition in the market is compelling vendors to adopt various growth strategies such as promotional activities and spending on advertisements to improve the visibility of their services. Some vendors are also adopting inorganic growth strategies such as M&As to remain competitive in the market.

The report analyzes the market's competitive landscape and offers information on several market vendors, including:

3M Corp

Corp Agilent Technologies Inc.

Avantor Inc.

Becton Dickinson and Co.

and Co. BIO PLAS Inc.

Bio Rad Laboratories Inc.

BioTC Labware

BRAND GmbH and Co. KG

Cardinal Health Inc.

CELLTREAT Scientific Products

Corning Inc.

Crystalgen Inc.

Eppendorf AG

GENFOLLOWER BIOTECH Co. Ltd.

Gerresheimer AG

Greiner Bio-One International GmbH

Heathrow Scientific LLC

Labcon North America

Labtech Disposables

QIAGEN NV

Simport Scientific Inc.

Surgeine Healthcare India Pvt. Ltd.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Find additional highlights on the growth strategies adopted by vendors and their product offerings, Read our Sample Report.

Geographical Market Analysis

North America will account for 34% of the market's growth. In North America, the United States is the most important market for laboratory disposables. This region's market will increase at a quicker rate than the rest of the world's market (ROW).

Over the projection period, the laboratory disposables market in North America would benefit from large expenditures from venture capitalists and government-funded research in countries such as the United States and Canada.

Furthermore, countries such as the US, UK, Germany, China, and India are expected to emerge as prominent markets for the Laboratory Disposables Market during the forecast period.

Know more about this market's geographical distribution along with a detailed analysis of the top regions. Download Detailed Sample Report.

Key Segment Analysis

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms segment will grow its laboratory disposables market share significantly. The significant public and private money invested in these companies' research and development will fuel market expansion in the future years. Aside from that, countries like China, Brazil, and Chile are working on increasing their research skills by utilizing low-cost, high-benefit laboratory disposable supplies.

View Sample Report: to know additional highlights and key points on various market segments and their impact in coming years.

Key Market Drivers & Challenges:

The increasing research studies and developments to meet the growing demand in sectors such as life sciences, chemicals, and food and beverages is one of the important drivers driving the worldwide laboratory disposables market growth. Another trend that is projected to positively influence the industry in the forecast period is the increasing usage of laboratory automation systems as a result of rising laboratory costs and high laboratory failures. One of the major roadblocks to the worldwide laboratory disposables market's expansion is the lack of difference among providers, as they all have the same forms and sizes.

Download Sample Report for highlights on market Drivers & Challenges affecting the Laboratory Disposables Market.

Customize Your Report

Don't miss out on the opportunity to speak to our analyst and know more insights about this market report. Our analysts can also help you customize this report according to your needs. Our analysts and industry experts will work directly with you to understand your requirements and provide you with customized data in a short amount of time.

Do reach out to our analysts for more customized reports as per your requirements. Speak to our Analyst now!

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Laboratory Disposables Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 10.83% Market growth 2022-2026 $ 12.32 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 9.53 Regional analysis North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW) Performing market contribution North America at 34% Key consumer countries US, UK, Germany, China, and India Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled 3M Corp, Agilent Technologies Inc., Avantor Inc., Becton Dickinson and Co., BIO PLAS Inc., Bio Rad Laboratories Inc., BioTC Labware, BRAND GmbH and Co. KG, Cardinal Health Inc., CELLTREAT Scientific Products, Corning Inc., Crystalgen Inc., Eppendorf AG, GENFOLLOWER BIOTECH Co. Ltd., Gerresheimer AG, Greiner Bio-One International GmbH, Heathrow Scientific LLC, Labcon North America, Labtech Disposables, QIAGEN NV, Simport Scientific Inc., Surgeine Healthcare India Pvt. Ltd., and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by End-user



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by End-user

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on End-user - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by End-user

5.3 Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Research and academic institutions - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Research and academic institutions - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Research and academic institutions - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Research and academic institutions - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Research and academic institutions - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 40: Market opportunity by End-user ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 41: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 42: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 44: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 52: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 58: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 59: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 60: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 62: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 64: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 70: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 72: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 82: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 83: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 84: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 85: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 86: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 87: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 88: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Agilent Technologies Inc.

Exhibit 89: Agilent Technologies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 90: Agilent Technologies Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 91: Agilent Technologies Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 92: Agilent Technologies Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 93: Agilent Technologies Inc. - Segment focus

10.4 BIO PLAS Inc.

Exhibit 94: BIO PLAS Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 95: BIO PLAS Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 96: BIO PLAS Inc. - Key offerings

10.5 Bio Rad Laboratories Inc.

Exhibit 97: Bio Rad Laboratories Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 98: Bio Rad Laboratories Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 99: Bio Rad Laboratories Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 100: Bio Rad Laboratories Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 101: Bio Rad Laboratories Inc. - Segment focus

10.6 Corning Inc.

Exhibit 102: Corning Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 103: Corning Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 104: Corning Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 105: Corning Inc. - Segment focus

10.7 Eppendorf AG

Exhibit 106: Eppendorf AG - Overview



Exhibit 107: Eppendorf AG - Product / Service



Exhibit 108: Eppendorf AG - Key news



Exhibit 109: Eppendorf AG - Key offerings

10.8 GENFOLLOWER BIOTECH Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 110: GENFOLLOWER BIOTECH Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 111: GENFOLLOWER BIOTECH Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 112: GENFOLLOWER BIOTECH Co. Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 113: GENFOLLOWER BIOTECH Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.9 Gerresheimer AG

Exhibit 114: Gerresheimer AG - Overview



Exhibit 115: Gerresheimer AG - Business segments



Exhibit 116: Gerresheimer AG - Key news



Exhibit 117: Gerresheimer AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 118: Gerresheimer AG - Segment focus

10.10 Greiner Bio-One International GmbH

Exhibit 119: Greiner Bio-One International GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 120: Greiner Bio-One International GmbH - Product / Service



Exhibit 121: Greiner Bio-One International GmbH - Key offerings

10.11 Labcon North America

Exhibit 122: Labcon North America - Overview



Exhibit 123: Labcon North America - Product / Service



Exhibit 124: Labcon North America - Key offerings

10.12 QIAGEN NV

Exhibit 125: QIAGEN NV - Overview



Exhibit 126: QIAGEN NV - Product / Service



Exhibit 127: QIAGEN NV - Key news



Exhibit 128: QIAGEN NV - Key offerings

10.13 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Exhibit 129: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 130: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 131: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 132: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 133: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 134: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 135: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 136: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 137: Research methodology



Exhibit 138: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 139: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 140: List of abbreviations

About Us:

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

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UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
VANCOUVER, BC, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Mobilum Technologies Inc. ("Mobilum'' or the "Company'') (CSE: MBLM) (OTC: MBLMF) (FRA: C0B), a technology-driven company making digital assets and cryptocurrencies accessible through traditional finance and payment infrastructure, and the first solution provider of Fiat-to-Dex Tokens rails, is pleased to announce the appointment of payments industry veteran, Steven LaBella, as Chief Executive Officer. Wojciech Kaszycki will step down as CEO and President of Mobilum Technologies but remain with Mobilum as Chairman of the Board.

Mr. LaBella is a three-time Fintech Founder and CEO, growing companies from founding to $100M in ARR in less than 5 years. With over 20 years of leading industry expertise in domestic and international payments, mobile remittance and mobile wallet experience, Mr. LaBella is a builder of world-class technology and product development teams, both start-up and scaled growth companies. He also brings his experience in both B2B and Direct to Consumer digital businesses across multiple countries and products. Lastly, Mr. LaBella offers proven fundraising and networking skills, providing fruitful partnerships with hundreds of clients and ultimately delivering multimillion-dollar results to the bottom line.

Wojciech Kaszycki, Mobilum Chairman commented, "Mr. LaBella provides the experience and skillset to take Mobilum to the next level of its growth trajectory. We are excited to have an individual with his track record join Mobilum's team and we are eager to build value for our shareholders."

For further information: please contact Mobilum Investor Relations via email at [email protected].

About Mobilum Technologies Inc.

Mobilum Technologies Inc. (CSE:MBLM) (OTC:MBLMF) (FRA:C0B) is a technology-driven Digital Service Provider (DSP) with a mission to make digital assets and cryptocurrencies accessible through traditional finance and payment infrastructure and digital asset management technologies, providing solutions for Exchanges, Wallets and Cryptocurrency Businesses, NFTs marketplaces, Protocols, Decentralized Applications and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, Metaverse and Play-to-Earn games, and Traditional Finance Institutions (Banks, Hedge Funds, Insurance and Fintech companies) opening its doors to digital assets space. Our goal is to allow consumers around the world to convert fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat with Mobilum's on-ramp and off-ramp solutions. Mobilum has offices in Canada, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and the United States. For further information go to Mobilum.com.

Related Links

https://mobilum.com

For further information: please contact Meredith or Julie, Investor Relations, at +1 (604) 609 6169 or via email at [email protected]

This news release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, and contingencies. These statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "will", "could", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe" or "continue", or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.

Mobilum's statements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and conditions, many of which are outside of Mobilum's control, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties of the Company's business, including: Mobilum's assumptions in making forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect; adverse market conditions, including risks related to COVID-19 and risks that future results may vary from historical results.

Except as required by securities law, Mobilum does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise.

Contact Information:

Investor Relations

Purple Crown Communications

Phone: +1 (604) 609-6169

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Mobilum Technologies Inc.
WASHINGTON, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

News Advisory:

Event: Digital event with panel to discuss World Press Freedom 2022 coming from the studios

of the National Press Club. The webcast will be available at this address:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl_m8bkPNOA



When: 10a.m.-11:30a.m. (Eastern)



Who: -- Jen Judson, 115th President of the National Press Club and Land Warfare Reporter for Defense News;

-- Jason Rezaian, Washington Post Global Opinions writer. Author of the book: "Prisoner" and producer of the popular podcast "544 Days" on Spotify;

-- Kathy Kiely, Lee Hills Professor of Press Freedom Studies at the University of Missouri and former reporter for USA Today;

-- Bill McCarren, Executive Director of the National Press Club and board member of Reporters Without Borders US.

-- Zaki Daryabi, Publisher of Etilaatroz, an independent Afghan news organization



DETAILS:

The panel will discuss significant developments in press freedom during the past year focusing cases where the National Press Club is particularly involved including: Austin Tice and Emilio Gutierrez-Soto. There will be special emphasis on some of the most dangerous places in the world for working journalist including: Ukraine, Mexico, Afghanistan and China. Daryabi will join the panel to discuss Afghanistan and there may be other special guests. In 2011, the only year when World Press Freedom Day was based in the United States, the activities and events were hosted at the National Press Club.

Editors Note: Daryabi fled Afghanistan last fall and was briefly in Dubai before settling in Maryland. He and his team continue to produce daily editions of Etilaatroz from remote locations. On World Press Freedom Day, the Press Club has invited him to do his work from the Club itself and he will be onsite working when not on the panel.

Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. The Club has 3,000 members representing nearly every major news organization and is a strong voice for press freedom in the United States and around the world.



Contact: Bill McCarren, 202-662-7534 for the National Press Club

SOURCE National Press Club
NEW YORK, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuberger Berman Real Estate Securities Income Fund Inc. (NYSE American: NRO) (the "Fund") has announced a distribution declaration of $0.0312 per share of common stock. The distribution announced today is payable on May 31, 2022, has a record date of May 16, 2022 and has an ex-date of May 13, 2022.

Under its level distribution policy, the Fund anticipates that it will make regular monthly distributions, subject to market conditions, of $0.0312 per share of common stock, unless further action is taken to determine another amount. There is no assurance that the Fund will always be able to pay a distribution of any particular amount, or that a distribution will consist of only net investment income. The Fund's ability to maintain its current distribution rate will depend on a number of factors, including the amount and stability of income received from its investments, availability of capital gains, the amount of leverage employed by the Fund, the cost of leverage and the level of other Fund fees and expenses.

The distribution announced today, as well as future distributions, may consist of net investment income, net realized capital gains and return of capital. In compliance with Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, a notice would be provided for any distribution that does not consist solely of net investment income. The notice would be for informational purposes and not for tax reporting purposes, and would disclose, among other things, estimated portions of the distribution, if any, consisting of net investment income, capital gains and return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax characteristics of all distributions paid in 2022 will be made after the end of the year.

About Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategiesincluding equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge fundson behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. With offices in 25 countries, Neuberger Berman's diverse team has over 2,500 professionals. For eight consecutive years, the company has been named first or second in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management survey (among those with 1,000 employees or more). In 2020, the PRI named Neuberger Berman a Leader, a designation awarded to fewer than 1% of investment firms for excellence in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices. The PRI also awarded Neuberger Berman an A+ in every eligible category for our approach to ESG integration across asset classes. The firm manages $447 billion in client assets as of March 31, 2022. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.

Statements made in this release that look forward in time involve risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the adverse effect from a decline in the securities markets or a decline in the Fund's performance, a general downturn in the economy, competition from other closed end investment companies, changes in government policy or regulation, inability of the Fund's investment adviser to attract or retain key employees, inability of the Fund to implement its investment strategy, inability of the Fund to manage rapid expansion and unforeseen costs and other effects related to legal proceedings or investigations of governmental and self-regulatory organizations.

Contact:

Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC

Investor Information

(877) 461-1899

SOURCE Neuberger Berman
National search for successor in the works

TWIN CITIES, Minn., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gregarious. Engaging. Curious. Visionary. Innovative. Ethical. Knowledgeable. Storyteller. These are just a few of the attributes describing NorthstarMLS CEO John Mosey who is set to retire later in 2022 after 20 years at the helm of the Regional Multiple Listing Service of Minnesota, Inc, (dba NorthstarMLS), and more than 40 years collectively working in the real estate industry.

John Mosey, NorthstarMLS CEO, is set to retire later in 2022 after 20 years at the helm of the NorthstarMLS and more than 40 years collectively working in the real estate industry.

Considered a visionary by his peers and real estate professionals, John's career as both a technology vendor and an MLS executive took him from Toronto and Vancouver in Canada to California and Minnesota in the United States. Within Moore Data, he ran multiple business units, led Canadian operations, and became VP of Sales for North America.

In addition to growing sales and building a profitable online services business with Moore Data, he held profit and loss responsibility for the MLS Book, Tax and Homes Magazine units within the company. In 1998, John assumed leadership and direction of Cyberhomes, Moore's flagship real estate website and within a few years left to lead a start-up in the early days of Showings technologies.

"John encourages other MLS's to control their destiny when it comes to their data. He helped show the way that if you could develop that piece on your own, it put you into a much stronger position to do some of the things you need for your brokerage community," said Art Carter, CEO of the California Regional MLS. "One of the things I admire about John is that if he agrees with you, he'll tell you; and if he disagrees with you, you'll hear that, too. He is always the consummate professional. If there was a Mount Rushmore of MLS execs, John's head would be among them."

Initially recruited for the job, John has led NorthstarMLS since 2002. He served as a multi-year Board member of the Council of Multiple Listing Services. He currently serves on the boards of The MLS Grid, the Broker Public Portal (BPP) and was on the industry-controlled Board of Directors of the joint venture that oversees Homesnap's delivery of the BPP's value proposition.

"John has had a vision of creating an MLS eco-system where information sharing and economies of scale can transcend geography and political structures," said John Fridlington, CEO of the Saint Paul Area Association of REALTORS, one of three NorthstarMLS shareholder Associations. "He has taken NorthstarMLS from its infancy and through adolescence and into an ever-more successful and future-focused period."

Carrie Chang, CEO of Minneapolis Area REALTORS, another of the major NorthstarMLS shareholders, added "John Mosey will leave a legacy of a vital, shared resource that has been a model for the rest of the country."

In 2015, in addition to his duties as Northstar's CEO, John developed the concept of the Common Data Platform (CDP). CDP is a shared database and listing input system that any of the major front end MLS technology vendors can plug into. This allows other Associations in the region to contribute their data as a full NorthstarMLS client or shared CDP data partner only. Local control and front-end of-choice MLS system are maintained, and brokers reduce their cost of business by having all the data in their market available through a single Association membership.

"John understands people from the newest agent to the largest broker. An innovator and leader, John has expanded the MLS to nearly all of Minnesota and makes sure the MLS serves all needs," said John Smaby, a second-generation Realtor from Edina, Minnesota, who served as the 2019 President of the National Association of REALTORS. "Through John's friendships in the MLS community, he's brought the best of the best to the Twin Cities and the region. He's leaving the MLS better than when he started, and he will be missed!"

A selection committee is conducting a national search for John Mosey's successor.

About NorthstarMLS

NorthstarMLS provides participating real estate brokers and agents with fast and reliable access to the information and resources that make the real estate market function efficiently and effectively for both buyers and sellers. Learn more at https://www.northstarmls.com.

The Regional MLS of Minnesota, Inc. is owned by the Realtor shareholder associations of Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Southeast Minnesota, and provides MLS services to the Western Wisconsin REALTORS Association, St. Cloud Area Association of REALTORS, Greater Lakes Association of REALTORS, West Central REALTORS Association, Itasca County Board of REALTORS and Greater Alexandria Area Association of REALTORS. The Lakes Region and Lake Country Associations of REALTORS will be supported by NorthstarMLS beginning in June of this year making shared listing data available to more than 96% of MN REALTORS members.

NorthstarMLS also provides the Common Data Platform solution for Northwest Minnesota Association of REALTORS headquartered in Bemidji, and in Iowa for Heart of Iowa, Mid-Iowa, North Central Iowa, Southeast Iowa and West Central Iowa Associations of REALTORS along with the Iowa Chapter of the REALTOR Land Institute. MARIS, the Regional MLS serving Missouri and Southern Illinois will go live as a CDP partner later this year. The Fargo-Moorhead Association in North Dakota will become a CDP partner in early 2023.

Contact:

NorthstarMLS Board of Directors

Brian Rossow, President

507-282-1700

[email protected]

NorthstarMLS

Tom Flaherty

Communications

651-251-3206

[email protected]

SOURCE NorthstarMLS
GUANGZHOU, China, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Onion Global Limited ("Onion Global", the "Group" or the "Company") (NYSE: OG), a next-generation lifestyle brand platform that incubates, markets, and distributes the world's fresh, fashionable, and future brands to young people in China and across Asia, today announced the launch of "Hoomuch", a one-stop service super-platform that provides customizable and sustainable service solutions, tools, and business support for a wide range of B2B customers. As part of Onion Global's Supply-to-Business (STB) strategy, the launch of Hoomuch underscores its commitment to expanding its B2B customer base by offering an integrated service solution for product sourcing, product supply, and brand management services.

Hoomuch Platform Highlights:

A global sourcing network covering 30+ countries and regions with products in over 20 popular categories;

Offers new consumption products from 1,000+ Chinese and overseas premium and popular brands, and is continuously expanding the categories of products;

Caters to B2B customers' diversified needs by offering multiple supply models including wholesale supply, exclusive sales, brand agency, and customized supply;

A self-established global logistics network featuring 2 overseas warehouses and 8 domestic warehouses with a total acreage of over 60,000 square meters,15 customs clearance channels, and an average domestic delivery time of 1-4 days; also provides drop-shipping support for customers

Mr. Cong (Kenny) Li, Founder, and CEO of Onion Global commented, "We are very excited to be rolling out Hoomuch, our one-stop full-service super-platform designed specifically for B2B customers. Following the announcement of our STB strategy, the launch of Hoomuch marks our first concrete step in further penetrating the B2B segment. By leveraging our platform's extensive product categories, stable supply of goods, and professional after-sales service, we will unlock and provide business opportunities for B2B entrepreneurs throughout the entire value chain from direct sourcing to drop-shipping. The new platform will empower B2B customers to generate sustainable income with less effort and higher cost efficiency by providing them with high-margin products and premium brands for resale. Benefiting from a higher inventory turnover, faster logistics, lower funding demand, and enhanced customer experience, the new platform's operation will help Onion Global further expand into the B2B segment and cultivate the retail e-commerce sector more deeply, thereby continuously strengthening our brand management capabilities. On top of the R&D investment in new projects, we are also actively seeking to expand our product categories. For example, we are looking into the ready-to-cook packaged food category that is time-saving, healthy, and cost-effective as it is becoming increasingly popular with the younger generation. Our focus on the ready-to-cook packaged food category aligns with our commitment to better serve the younger generation's lifestyle, and we believe Onion Global is fully geared up to capitalize on growth in this segment."

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, the Company's forecasts, general observation of the industry, and business outlook, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "expects," "anticipates," "target," "aim," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "potential," "estimates" "continue," "is/are likely to," or other similar statements. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Onion Global's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Onion Global does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

About Onion Global Limited

Onion Global Limited (NYSE: OG) is a next-generation lifestyle brand platform that incubates, markets, and distributes the world's fresh, fashionable, and future brands, which we refer to as "3F brands," to young people in China and across Asia. The Company's mission is to be the dream factory of lifestyle brands for young people. The Company's platform offers an integrated solution to develop, market, and distribute new and inspiring branded products, thereby reshaping the lifestyle shopping and consumer culture in China. Onion Global Limited has been listed on New York Stock Exchange since May 2021.

For more information, please visit: http://ir.msyc.com/.

Investor Relations Contact

In China:

Onion Global Ltd.

Investor Relations

E-mail: [email protected]

Christensen

Mr. Eric Yuan

E-mail: [email protected]

Tel: +86-10-5900-1548

In the United States:

Christensen

Ms. Linda Bergkamp

E-mail: [email protected]

Tel: +1-480-614-3004

SOURCE Onion Global Limited
VIENNA, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Even the global COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years has not stopped the continued interest in Bitcoin. Bitcoin is increasingly becoming an investment object for many small investors. So far, the step into the crypto world has not been easy for these small investors, mainly because of the high technical requirements and also the protection of their own crypto assets, which required an advanced understanding of the technology behind.

Buying Bitcoin and a secure cold wallet storage simply via online banking

This fact is changing for all customers of the German bank "Raiffeisen Volksbank Bayern Mitte". After an extensive pilot and test phase, the German bank is now officially offering the proven Bitcoin cold wallet solution "chainlock" of the Austrian State Printing House (OSD) to their customers as an easy and highly secure storage for their Bitcoin. All customers of Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Bayern Mitte can buy and trade Bitcoin directly via online banking. For a secure storage, the bank also offers OSDs cold wallet solution under the name "VR-BitcoinGoCard".

Innovative cold wallet infused with high security know how

The new "VR-BitcoinGoCard" relies on maximum security and on the know how of more than 200 years of high security document printing. "Our cold wallet has the shape of a common credit card and is manufactured in the specially protected high security area of OSD - the same high-security area in which Austrian passports, driver's licenses and other high-security documents are produced," explains OSD Managing Director Lukas Praml. In addition, the card relies on many security features that are also used on official ID documents such as a passport or driver's license. In addition to holograms, optically variable image elements (a so-called "DOVID") and microprinting, each cold wallet is also protected by UV printing and hardened against physical manipulation by a special high security film. Additionally, all users are instructed to check their received cold wallet by following an easy step-by-step guide offered via smartphone app. This way, users can be assured that no physical manipulation of the card has taken place and all digital values stored on it are completely secured.

Maximum protection in credit card format

The production in the high-security area takes place completely offline. "All of our staff at OSD are constantly subjected to security checks. Nobody, no even our staff, have any insight into the central part of the cold wallet, the so-called "private key", says Praml, explaining the extensive security precautions. With the "VR-BitcoinGoCard" all customers of "Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Bayern Mitte" receive a maximum security cold wallet in credit card format. The card acts as a true cold wallet without needing electricity, updates or any particular transfer technology standard. This makes it ideal as a long term storage, especially when put into a safe or locker. The respective Bitcoin value in FIAT currencies such as euros or dollars can be viewed at any time using a practical smartphone app. Only when the owner wants to sell their own Bitcoins or transfer them to another wallet, they reveal their "private key" on the "VR-BitcoinGoCard" by scrubbing off the high security film. The extensive security measures of OSD ensure that only at that point, the protected "private key" becomes visible to a person for the first time.

For more information about "chainlock", the underlying principles and the technology behind, visit https://youniqx.com/en/chainlock-cold-offline-wallet/

Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com)

For more info, contact

Thomas Pascher

+43 664 88690977 | [email protected]

SOURCE OSD Osterreichische Staatsdruckerei/Youniqx
HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (hereafter "Ping An of China," "Ping An," the "Company" or the "Group," HKEX: 2318; SSE: 601318) today announced its first quarter financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2022.

Global capital markets experienced substantial volatility in a complex and severe international environment where the COVID-19 pandemic continued and a geopolitical conflict broke out in the first three months of 2022. Domestic economic growth faced three headwinds, namely shrinking demand, supply chain disruption, and weakening expectations amid sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks. Facing challenges, Ping An adhered to the business policy of "focusing on financial business, introducing reforms and innovations, increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, and ensuring compliant business operations." Ping An pressed firmly ahead with Ping An Life's quality-oriented reform and transformation, continuously strengthened the advantages of integrated finance, and built the "HMO managed care model." Ping An laid a solid foundation for long-term sustainable, healthy growth by delivering "heartwarming financial services" and providing customers with "worry-free, time-saving, and money-saving" experience.

Thanks to the synergies and resilience of the integrated finance strategy, Ping An empowered its main financial businesses with ecosystems and gradually yielded results. The Group continued to deepen its Life & Health reform and transformation, strengthened its core competitiveness, and achieved steady business results. Ping An's operating profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company rose 10.0% year on year to RMB43,047 million in the first three months of 2022. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company decreased 24.1% year on year to RMB20,658 million mainly due to volatile capital markets. Basic operating earnings per share rose 11.3 % to RMB2.46. Customer development continued to yield greater results. Ping An's retail customers grew 0.7% from beginning of the year to over 223 million as of March 31, 2022. Contracts per customer grew 1.0% from the beginning of the year to 2.94. The Group's internet users increased 1.6% from the beginning of the year to over 657 million as of March 31, 2022. The number of yearly active users exceeded 345 million as of March 31, 2022. Written premium of the corporate channel achieved through cross-selling increased 28.2% year on year and new financing scale achieved through corporate business cross-selling increased 9.0% year on year to RMB192,969 million in the first three months of 2022.

Life & Health advanced reform and transformation. Property & Casualty maintained good business quality. The banking and asset management business increased steadily.

Ping An Life unswervingly advanced its reform and transformation and constantly upgraded its products and services. The operating profit of Life & Health rose 16% year on year to RMB29,678 million. NBV of Life & Health fell 33.7% year on year to RMB12,589 million in the first three months of 2022 due to the agent force adjustment, product mix change, spread of pandemic, and the high base in the first quarter of 2021. Nevertheless, the decline significantly narrowed in March. Ping An Life adhered to its original aspiration of reform, and advanced the quality-oriented transformation via its two-pronged "channel + product" strategy to build a solid foundation for long-term healthy development. In terms of channels, Ping An Life refined the tiered management of its agent force to optimize the team structure. The proportion of agents with a college education background and above rose 3.5 pps year on year as of March 31, 2022. The bancassurance channel continuously built the professional operations framework of "channel + product + technology." Ping An Life continuously deepened cooperation with Ping An Bank to build an exclusive product suite, share training resources, and accelerate the development of Ping An Bank's Private Wealth Advisers whose contributions are increasing. Ping An Life actively explored innovative channels including the Community Grid channel and the Lower-tier Market channel to facilitate multi-channel development. Ping An Life successfully piloted the Community Grid channel in cities including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Shenyang as of March 31, 2022, and also initiated and promoted pilots at eight more cities. The 13-month persistency ratio of "orphan policies" improved sharply year on year. Ping An promoted the intelligent operation through multiple channels. As of March 31, 2021, the intelligent operation had been promoted in 65% of the business units through the agent channel. In respect of products, Ping An Life increased the supply of competitive products to meet customer demands. Ping An Life created differentiated advantages with three core services, namely "insurance + health management," "insurance + high-end elderly care," and "insurance + home-based elderly care," by leveraging the Group's healthcare ecosystem. In the first quarter, more than one third of the NBV was contributed by the three core services. For example, Ping An Life launched a whole life insurance product named "Sheng Shi Jin Yue" in the first quarter of 2022. This product was widely recognized by customers for its unique advantages.

Ping An Property & Casualty maintained good business quality with steady growth in its written premium. Ping An P&C's premium income increased 10.3% year on year to RMB73,018 million in the first three months of 2022. Premium growth returned to normal as the cyclical impact of the auto insurance pricing reform ended. Overall combined ratio rose 1.6 pps year on year to 96.8% due to rising claims of the guarantee insurance business amid the COVID-19 pandemic. That said, overall business quality remained good and risks under control due to enhanced business management and risk screening. "Ping An Auto Owner," the most popular automotive service app in China, had over 153 million registered users as of March 31, 2022, with over 97 million vehicles linked with the app. Ping An P&C launched contact-free fast tracks for auto insurance claims in pandemic-stricken regions. 91.1% of Ping An P&C's family auto insurance claims were processed via "One-click Claims Services" in the first three months of 2022. Ping An P&C also launched the "Fast, Easy, and Free" claims services to cut the number of documents required for small-amount claims, helping small and micro-businesses enhance their risk resistance capacity against COVID-19.

Ping An Bank maintained stable business growth and asset quality. Revenue grew 10.6% year on year to RMB46,207 million and net profit grew 26.8% year on year to RMB12,850 million in the first three months of 2022. Non-performing loan ratio remained unchanged from the beginning of the year at 1.02 % and provision coverage ratio rose 0.68 pps from the beginning of the year to 289.10% as of March 31, 2022. The average cost of deposits was 2.05%, down 0.01 pps year on year. Ping An Bank further advanced its retail business transformation. The retail assets under management ("AUM") rose 5.6 % from the beginning of the year to RMB3,360,669 million as of March 31, 2022. Retail customers increased 1.6% from the beginning of the year to approximately 120,097,500, among which wealth management customers increased 6.1% from the beginning of 2022 to approximately 1,166,500. The balance of retail deposits increased 9.0% from the beginning of the year to RMB 839,575 million. The balance of retail loans grew 0.2% from the beginning of the year to RMB 1,913,471 million.

Ping An continued to improve the asset allocation of its insurance fund investment portfolio to withstand market volatility. The Company's insurance fund investment portfolio grew 4.6% from the beginning of the year to nearly RMB4.10 trillion as of March 31, 2022. The investment portfolio of insurance funds achieved an annualized net investment yield of 3.3% and an annualized total investment yield of 2.3% in the first three months of 2022 as a result of the fluctuations in stock market.

Net profit of the asset management business grew 10.5% year on year to RMB 2,914 million in the first three months of 2022. Ping An Securities and other asset management business achieved steady growth.

Ping An continued to develop technology business steadily and accelerated the implementation of its healthcare ecosystem strategy. The synergies between insurance business and healthcare ecosystem improved customer experience.

Ping An continued to further its technology strategies, enhanced its technological capability and developed its technology business steadily. The technology patent applications increased by 2,048 from the beginning of the year to 40,468 as of March 31, 2022, more than most other international financial institutions'.

Ping An empowered financial services with technology to promote sales, improve efficiency and contain risks. AI service representatives provided services more than 580 million times in the first three months of 2022, covering a series of services including lending, credit cards, and insurance. The AI Customer Visit Assistant facilitated a monthly average of 2.36 hours of interactions per agent with existing and potential customers in the first three months of 2022, an increase of 55% year on year. Ping An Property & Casualty leveraged AI robot assistants to reform traditional operational models and streamline operational processes. 75% of policies were issued through self-service in March 2022. Ping An Bank improved fraud risk identification and interception technology to protect customers from financial losses through building intelligent systems. Ping An Bank's Smart Anti-fraud System (SAFE) prevented various types of frauds involving an amount of RMB346 million in the first three months of 2022.

Ping An accelerated the implementation of healthcare ecosystem strategy and empowered main financial businesses to improve customer experience. The Company offered customers with one-stop "worry-free, time-saving, and money-saving" services covering health, chronic disease, disease and eldercare management via its world-leading healthcare ecosystem. Ping An's healthcare ecosystem partnered with all top 100 hospitals and 3A hospitals and nearly 203,000 pharmacies in China as of March 31, 2022. Ping An Smart Healthcare cumulatively served 187 cities and over 54,000 medical institutions, and empowered approximately 1.38 million doctors as of March 31, 2022. Ping An's dedicated family doctors provide healthcare services by connecting "online, in-store, and home-delivered" service networks. Ping An achieved a 60-second connection rate of 99.9% in online services, and realized 24/7 active management. Ping An enhanced its strategic offline presence in the healthcare industry by integrating PKU Healthcare's excellent resources into Ping An's healthcare ecosystem. The Company had 14 health management centers as of March 31, 2022. Over 65% of Ping An's over 657 million internet users used services from the healthcare ecosystem as of March 31, 2022. Over 64% of Ping An's over 223 million retail customers used services from the healthcare ecosystem as of March 31, 2022.

As an integral part of the Group's "HMO managed care model," Ping An Health effectively reaches potential users under the fees-based "basic benefit packages + individual value-added services" model. Starting with members' dedicated family doctors, Ping An Health covers five healthcare scenarios, namely health, sub-health, disease, chronic disease, and elderly care management. Capitalizing on its online-to-offline (O2O) service network, Ping An Health has developed an online-merge-offline "medical + healthcare" services platform to provide users with high-quality and more convenient healthcare services. With its strong commitment to sustainable development, Ping An Health's MSCI ESG rating had risen to A, ranking among the best in the healthcare industry as of 31 March, 2022.

Lufax Holding is one of the leading technology-empowered personal financial services platforms in China. Ping An Puhui, a controlled subsidiary of Lufax Holding, rolled out an innovative AI-powered loan solution named Xingyun to transform and improve the credit service experience of SMEs. Since December 2021, Xingyun has helped more than 160,000 of such business owners to access loan services. In wealth management, Lufax Holding cooperates with financial product providers and builds a technology-powered smart business framework, using AI to match customers with products and providing middle-class and affluent investors with diverse, customized offerings.

OneConnect is a technology-as-a-service provider for financial institutions, providing clients with "full stack" integrated products, including Digital Banking, Digital Insurance, and Gamma Platform, which offers fintech infrastructure services. OneConnect continues to advance its innovation in fintech business and facilitates the digital transformation of the financial services ecosystem to provide governments, regulators, and enterprises with technological services relating to trade, supply chains, data security, risk management and so on.

Autohome, China's leading online auto services platform, is dedicated to developing a smart auto ecosystem centering on data and technology. In the ecosystem, Autohome provides auto consumers with diverse products and services across the entire auto lifecycle. Autohome continuously promotes the upgrade of its "ecosystem strategy." By developing the dual ecosystem based on Autohome and Ping An's cooperation, Autohome builds its new business portfolio and provides comprehensive services for consumers, automakers and various players in the auto ecosystem.

Ping An said, Looking forward, Ping An will adhere to its original aspiration of "being people-centric and contributing to national rejuvenation," advance the "integrated finance + healthcare" strategic upgrade, and comprehensively strengthen high-quality business development centering on life insurance reform and digital empowerment. Moreover, Ping An will contribute to the "Healthy China" initiative and respond to the national strategy of actively coping with population aging. In line with national strategies and people's livelihoods, Ping An will strive to become a world-leading integrated financial and healthcare services provider by providing retail and corporate customers with comprehensive risk protection and one-stop healthcare services.

SOURCE Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.
Lenexa could be the first U.S city where Smart Pavement technology will provide wireless charging for electric vehicles

KANSAS CITY, Mo., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Integrated Roadways, a smart infrastructure technology provider, today announced Lenexa, Kansas' approval of a $250M pilot program. The first phase of the pilot, slated to begin in fall 2022, will include the deployment of Integrated Roadways' patented Smart Pavement technology at five key intersections within the city's central hub. Through a public-private partnership, Integrated Roadways will spearhead the 10-year project with support from the City of Lenexa and Kiewit Engineering, marking a significant step forward in smart infrastructure adoption. Lenexa could be the first city in the U.S. to showcase the ability to wirelessly charge electric vehicles using Smart Pavement.

Smart Pavement consists of precast concrete road sections embedded with digital technology and fiber optic connectivity for traffic data collection through in-roads sensors. The pavement, which is designed to be upgradeable from the start, also enables Wi-Fi access, 5G, wireless EV charging and more through antennas in the expansion ports, edge services and cloud access.

"It's time for America to rebuild its infrastructure," said Tim Sylvester, founder and CEO of Integrated Roadways. "After our successful installation in Denver, Colorado, we began looking for a municipal partner that wanted to go big and transform infrastructure for connected vehicles. We're excited to make our plans in Lenexa official and start preparing our roads for future generations to come."

"Phase one is a very small taste of much more to come," Sylvester continued, "with future phases being determined as we go, based on the city's needs and the needs of the businesses in the area, allowing us to continue to be responsive to the city's evolving needs as it continues to grow and develop."

Smart Pavement consists of precast concrete road sections embedded with digital technology and fiber optic connectivity for traffic data collection through in-roads sensors. The pavement is designed to be upgradeable from the start and enables Wi-Fi access, 5G, wireless EV charging and more through antennas in the expansion ports, edge services and cloud access. Denver was the first to showcase Integrated Roadways' Smart Pavement with four slabs installed on Brighton Blvd. at 39th Street in 2018.

The Lenexa City Council approved a resolution to allow Integrated Roadways to design the first of five intersections, accepting a $250,000 innovative technology program grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT), at its meeting on April 19, 2022. KDOT first tested the technology on a section of Interstate 35 in 2013. Lenexa's upcoming deployment will begin at the intersection at West 93rd Street and Renner Boulevard, a direct access route to I-435. Future phases will be based on the city's needs and 2040 Vision Plan.

"When Integrated Roadways first approached us in 2019, we were excited to do something to get out in front of other cities," said Tim Green, Lenexa's Deputy Director of Community Development/City Engineer. "With the council's support, we're ready to move quickly."

This announcement comes on the heels of Integrated Roadways completing a successful demonstration of its Smart Pavement wireless electric vehicle charging capabilities in Detroit in early April 2022. For more information on Integrated Roadways, visit integratedroadways.com.

About Integrated Roadways

Integrated Roadways is transforming America's transportation infrastructure, working to bring future-forward, self-sustaining smart roads to municipalities around the country. Our patented Smart Pavement system uses existing and proven technology to turn ordinary roads into sustainable digital infrastructure platforms that enable connected, electric, and autonomous vehicles. Through our managed services for data collection, telecom, and edge networking capabilities, our smart roads pay for themselves through the valuable new services they provide to the community. And as new automotive technologies arrive at the speed of innovation, Integrated Roadways is poised to open the onramp to the real Information Superhighway. To discover more, visit www.integratedroadways.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

Media Contact

Elle Welch, 423-605-5553

[email protected]

SOURCE Integrated Roadways
XIAMEN, China, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Qudian Inc. ("Qudian" or the "Company") (NYSE: QD), a leading technology platform empowering the enhancement of online consumer finance experience in China, today announced that it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 29, 2022 (U.S. Time). The annual report on Form 20-F can be accessed on the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.qudian.com.

Qudian will provide a hard copy of the annual report containing its audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request. Requests should be directed to Investor Relations department, Level 39, Tower A, AVIC Zijin Plaza, Siming District, Xiamen, Fujian Province, The People's Republic of China, 361000.

About Qudian Inc.

Qudian Inc. ("Qudian") is a leading technology platform empowering the enhancement of online consumer finance experience in China. The Company's mission is to use technology to make personalized credit accessible to hundreds of millions of young, mobile-active consumers in China who need access to small credit for their discretionary spending but are underserved by traditional financial institutions due to lack of traditional credit data or high cost of servicing. Qudian's credit solutions enable licensed, regulated financial institutions and ecosystem partners to offer affordable and customized loans to this young generation of consumers.

For more information, please visit http://ir.qudian.com.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

Qudian Inc.

IR team

Tel: +86-592-591-1711

E-mail: [email protected]

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Jenny Cai

Tel: +86 (10) 6508-0677

E-mail: [email protected]

In the United States:

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Brandi Piacente

Tel: +1-212-481-2050

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Qudian Inc.
LAS VEGAS, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Realty ONE Group, a modern, purpose-driven lifestyle brand and ONE of the fastest-growing franchisors in the world, finished the first quarter of 2022 with its most impactful charitable giving yet, a record-breaking annual convention and remarkable increases in franchise sales, and overall volume count with real estate professionals joining the international franchisor in mass.

In all, Realty ONE Group has grown its network of real estate professionals to more than 18,000 with its volume up to $10.4 billion in the first three months of the year, a 20% increase over last year's first quarter mark of $8.7 billion. The now-global franchisor expects to double its country count this year and reach 500 locations worldwide.

"We're the right choice for fiery entrepreneurs and passionate real estate professionals who are using the uncertainty of the past few years to fuel their future success," said Kuba Jewgieniew , CEO and Founder of Realty ONE Group.

Realty ONE Group also inked a strategic partnership with new owners in Italy in the first quarter of the year, and owners in Costa Rica sold their second new office just this month. Representatives from the company's eight countries were present at its first sold-out ONE Summit affiliate event held in Las Vegas, NV, the first week of April.

In addition to a number of charitable giving efforts through its ONE Cares 501(c)3, Realty ONE Group recommitted to planting trees through its ONE World, ONE Tree program this year, and offices around the country collected more than 30,000 cheer boxes stuffed with toys and loving, hand-crafted notes to send to Ukrainian refugee children who have been displaced by the war.

The UNbrokerage, as it's known in the industry, now has more than 18,000 real estate professionals in over 400 offices in 49 states, Washington D.C. and Canada and will be opening soon in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Italy, Singapore and Spain, in addition to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

Learn more at www.OwnAOne.com .

About Realty ONE Group

Founded in 2005, Realty ONE Group is an industry disruptor, radically changing the face of real estate franchising with its unique business model, fun coolture, technology infrastructure and superior support for its real estate professionals. The company has rapidly evolved to include more than 18,000 real estate professionals in over 400+ offices across 49 U.S. states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, Canada, Italy, Spain, Singapore and Costa Rica. Realty ONE Group ranks in the top one percent in the nation by REAL Trends, has been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as a Top 5 Real Estate Franchise and has been on Inc. 500's list of the Fastest-Growing Companies for seven consecutive years. Realty ONE Group is surging ahead, opening doors, not only for its clients but for real estate professionals and franchise owners. To learn more, visit www.RealtyONEGroup.com.

SOURCE Realty ONE Group
LOMPOC, Calif., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bureau of Land Management announced on Thursday that 95 federally protected wild horses died over the previous five days from a respiratory disease likely caused by an equine influenza virus. The deaths have occurred in corrals at the Colorado Department of Corrections in Canon City, where the Bureau of Land Management is warehousing 2,550 wild horses.

In response, Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation (RTF), a national nonprofit advocacy organization, is calling for Congress to demand improved care and biosecurity for captured wild horses and burros  and for a long-overdue shift away from the mismanagement putting thousands of federally protected wild horses and burros into overcrowded off-range holding facilities.

"After enduring the trauma of their forced capture and removal from their home ranges in helicopter roundups, being separated from their family bands, then transported in trailers to confinement in government facilities, these once wild and free wild horses and burros are scared, stressed and more vulnerable to illness," RTF President Neda DeMayo said. "Failing to make the needed changes that will stop more wild horses and burros from ending up in overcrowded conditions is negligent and inexcusable."

Congress has called for wild horses and burros to be relocated to lower-cost and more natural pastures. As of February, the BLM was warehousing 21,784 wild horses and burros in large corral facilities like Canon City at a daily cost to taxpayers of $6.19 per horse, however.

By comparison, it costs taxpayers $2.17 per horse, per day, to care for an additional 38,827 wild horses on leased or government pastureland.

RTF is urging lawmakers to hold the agency and its contractors accountable not just for maintaining best practices for the humane handling, care and biosecurity for wild horses and burros, but for routinely revising those protocols and increasing transparency.

"Congress must demand that the bar for standard of care for federally protected wild horses is not only met but raised ever-higher," DeMayo said. "Taxpayers who have invested so much into our public lands and the protection of wild horses and burros expect nothing less."

Concerns about off-range holding are magnified by the BLM's plans to remove a record 19,000 wild horses and burros from their home ranges this year. The agency intends to only treat only 2,300 wild horses with proven, safe and humane fertility control over the same period.

RTF has long advocated for the use of a readily available fertility control vaccine that if properly implemented can replace removals as the agency's primary management tool and allow for the phasing out of long-term holding.

In recent years, Congress has provided increased funding for fertility control  "BLM has valuable tools at its disposal today to control wild horse and burro populations humanely," wrote the Senate Interior Appropriations Committee last year  but the agency has put little to that use.

Instead, the BLM continues chasing its own arbitrary population targets from Herd Management Area to Herd Management Area, decimating wild herds, then soon returning with helicopters to put more wild horses and burros into off-range holding.

It is clear that if Congress does not hold BLM's feet to the fire, the cycle of capture, removal and costly warehousing of wild horses and burros will continue as it has for decades.

"The deaths of dozens of wild horses in Canon City must be investigated and steps taken to improve the safety and well-being of wild horses and burros, but that is not enough," DeMayo said. "Congress can and must reduce the chances of further tragedy by pushing the BLM away from the endless cycle of capture-removal-warehousing that has failed America's wild herds and taxpayers alike."

Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation (RTF ) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to wild horse preservation through sanctuary, education, conservation, and advocacy since 1998. It also operates the American Wild Horse Sanctuary at three California locations, caring for more than 450 wild horses and burros. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter, and Instagram for updates about wild horses and burros on the range and at our sanctuary.

SOURCE Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation
VANCOUVER, BC, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE: RBA) and (TSX: RBA) ("Ritchie Bros." or the "Company"), a leading global asset management, disposition, and services company today announced that its wholly owned indirect subsidiary, Ritchie Bros. UK Holdings Ltd. ("RB Purchaser") is discontinuing the Phase 2 review by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (the "CMA"). The Sale and Purchase Agreement dated August 9, 2021 (the "Agreement") pursuant to which the RB Purchaser had agreed to purchase Euro Auctions Limited, William Keys & Sons Holdings Limited, Equipment & Plant Services Ltd and Equipment Sales Ltd. will automatically terminate on June 28, 2022.

The decision follows the referral of the proposed acquisition to a Phase 2 review by the CMA. Amongst other things, completion of the Agreement is conditional on receipt of clearance from the CMA on terms satisfactory to the RB Purchaser, but after extensive consideration the RB Purchaser does not believe there is any realistic prospect for approval by the CMA on such terms given the significant concerns raised by the CMA to date.

The Company intends to issue redemption notices with respect to the US$600 million aggregate principal amount of 4.750% senior notes due 2031 and the C$425 million aggregate principal amount of 4.950% senior notes due 2029 previously issued to finance a portion of the cash consideration for the proposed acquisition and expects to complete the redemptions within 10 business days.

Ann Fandozzi, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are disappointed by the decision taken by the CMA to refer the proposed acquisition to a Phase 2 review and respectfully disagree with their views. While we believe the proposed acquisition would have accelerated our strategy, we remain committed to forging ahead in our transformational journey to become the trusted global marketplace for insights, services and transaction solutions. We will continue to seek out and execute on organic investments and key acquisitions to accelerate our pace in achieving our ultimate vision."

About Ritchie Bros .:

Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is a global asset management and disposition company, offering customers end-to-end solutions for buying and selling used heavy equipment, trucks and other assets. Operating in a number of sectors, including construction, transportation, agriculture, energy, mining, and forestry, the company's selling channels include: Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers , the world's largest industrial auctioneer offering live auction events with online bidding; IronPlanet, an online marketplace with weekly featured auctions and providing the exclusive IronClad Assurance equipment condition certification; Marketplace-E, a controlled marketplace offering multiple price and timing options; Ritchie List, a self-serve listing service for North America; Mascus, a leading European online equipment listing service; Ritchie Bros. Private Treaty, offering privately negotiated sales; and sector-specific solutions GovPlanet, TruckPlanet, and Kruse Energy. The Company's suite of solutions also includes Ritchie Bros. Asset Solutions and Rouse Services LLC, which together provides a complete end-to-end asset management, data-driven intelligence and performance benchmarking system; SmartEquip, an innovative technology platform that supports customers' management of the equipment lifecycle and integrates parts procurement with both OEMs and dealers; plus equipment financing and leasing through Ritchie Bros. Financial Services. For more information about Ritchie Bros., visit RitchieBros.com.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable U.S. and Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including, in particular, statements regarding the timing of the redemption of the senior notes future growth initiatives, acquisitions and other opportunities for Ritchie Bros., future financial and operational results, personnel matters and any other statements regarding events or developments that Ritchie Bros. believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, although not always, identified by words such as "expect", "plan, "anticipate", "project", "target", "potential", "schedule", "forecast", "budget", "estimate", "intend" or "believe" and similar expressions or their negative connotations, or statements that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could", "should" or "might" occur. All such forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond Ritchie Bros.' control, including risks and uncertainties related to: general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which Ritchie Bros. operates; deterioration of or instability in the economy, the markets we serve or the financial markets generally; currency fluctuations; as well as the risks and uncertainties set forth in Ritchie Bros.' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which is available on the SEC, SEDAR, and Ritchie Bros.' websites. The foregoing list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect Ritchie Bros.' forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and Ritchie Bros. does not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein unless required by applicable securities legislation. For the reasons set forth above, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers
Robert Murray to succeed Lauren Brand who is retiring

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Robert W. Murray has been selected to lead the National Association of Waterfront Employers (NAWE) as its next president effective May 19, 2022. Rob has long served as a bipartisan relationship builder and will be a key advocate for NAWE's membership of US-based marine terminal operators and stevedores. Mr. Murray will work with current NAWE President, Lauren Brand, through the end of June to ensure a smooth transition.

Robert Murray Lauren Brand

Rob has ten years' experience as a strategic policy and political advisor to Senator Roger Wicker (MS). On Capitol Hill, Rob was the lead strategist for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law that provided $1.2 trillion in spending to improve our nation's infrastructure. He also worked on the FY20 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) which includes Army Corps funding for port dredging efforts  a key program for NAWE's members. Murray was also the lead staffer on the RESTAURANTS Act that established the Restaurant Revitalization Fund which provided small, independent restaurants billions of dollars in COVID-relief to prevent businesses from folding.

"I could not be more excited to join NAWE's team and hit the ground running. During my time on Capitol Hill, I have worked with some of the most passionate and competitive people in our country. These are relationships that I will always cherish," said Rob Murray. "I will be forever grateful to Senator Wicker and Mrs. Wicker for the opportunity to serve my home state of Mississippi in Washington, DC. I look forward to working with NAWE and its members on amplifying its advocacy efforts, addressing infrastructure, the supply chain, climate issues, and more."

Doug Morgante, Vice President of Government Relations for Maersk Inc. North America and Chair of NAWE said, "We're proud to welcome Robert Murray as the incoming President of the National Association of Waterfront Employers. The maritime industry is vital to our nation's supply chain, which is critical to our economy. NAWE is a voice for the maritime industry, and Rob's experience and knowledge of Capitol Hill will be valuable as we advocate on behalf of the maritime industry in Washington DC. We would also like to thank Lauren Brand for her leadership as President and wish her a happy retirement."

Lauren Brand, President of NAWE, said, "Working with NAWE's Board and its members has been a highlight of my career. With our skilled team we developed innovative tools for members and Congress to understand the nation's port and cargo infrastructure. In three short years, we raised the profile of marine terminals and waterfront workers and their role in our nation's economy. It has been an honor to serve as a subject matter expert to both the House and Senate  especially through the pandemic and supply chain challenges."

NAWE is a non-profit trade association whose member companies are privately-owned stevedores, marine terminal operators (MTOs), and other U.S. waterfront-related employers. NAWE's member companies engage in business at major U.S. ports on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, and Puerto Rico. Accordingly, NAWE's members operate the critical connection between global commerce and our Nation's economy and, as such, are committed to keeping America's international trade and commerce flowing.

SOURCE National Association of Waterfront Employers
"From historic levels of inflation to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, unprecedented geopolitical forces are converging on today's business leaders, requiring innovative solutions," said Penn. "Brand leadership in times of chaos is an invaluable competitive advantage; with my insights into modern brand strategy, global change, and business leadership, I hope this newsletter helps C-Suite leaders 'hit the mark' on the challenges facing their organizations and consumers today."

Penn is a globally recognized pollster, political strategist, and marketing business leader with four decades of experience driving strategy in the Board and Situation Rooms. He has advised top world leaders including President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; led companies and written two bestselling books. In addition to his duties as Chairman of Stagwell, Penn chairs the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll, a monthly collaboration between the Harvard Center for American Political Studies and The Harris Poll, a Stagwell research & insights firm.

"Hitting the Mark" leverages proprietary polling & survey results from Stagwell's suite of global research & insights agencies, including The Harris Poll, HarrisX, National Research Group, and Northstar Research Partners.

Penn at a Glance:

Founder: Founded Penn & Schoen in 1975 with his Harvard roommate Doug Schoen .

Founded in 1975 with his roommate . Grower: Under Penn's leadership, Penn & Schoen expanded to 200+ people with offices around the world. Served key corporate (AT&T, Microsoft, Ford, Merck, etc.) & political (President Clinton's pollster for six years, advisory to Hillary Clinton & Tony Blair ) clients

Under Penn's leadership, Penn & Schoen expanded to 200+ people with offices around the world. Served key corporate (AT&T, Microsoft, Ford, Merck, etc.) & (President Clinton's pollster for six years, advisory to & ) clients Global CEO: Served as CEO of Burston-Marsteller from 2006-2012, running a global PR and public affairs firm with an 80+ market footprint and tripling profits

Served as CEO of from 2006-2012, running a global PR and public affairs firm with an 80+ market footprint and tripling profits Client & Creator: Asked by Steve Ballmer to join Microsoft & revitalize Bing in 2012; rose to EVP & Chief Strategy Officer running Microsoft's $2 billion advertising budget

Asked by to join running Microsoft's advertising budget Portfolio Builder & Public Company CEO Launched Stagwell Group in 2015; invested in MDC Partners in 2019 & assumed role of Chairman and CEO.

Launched in 2015; invested in in 2019 & assumed role of Chairman and CEO. Transformer: Transformed MDC Partners from $1 stock to $7 stock; Combined MDC Partners and Stagwell Marketing Group to form top-ten global marketing services company, Stagwell Inc.

Transformed MDC Partners from stock to stock; Combined MDC Partners and Stagwell Marketing Group to form top-ten global marketing services company, Stagwell Inc. Thought Leader: Best-selling author of a pair of marketing insights books, "Microtrends: The Small Forces Driving the Big Disruptions Today" and "Microtrends Squared: Small Forces Driving Today's Big Disruptions" and frequent business and political trend commentator

About Stagwell Inc.

Stagwell is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world's most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our 10,000+ specialists in 34+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.

SOURCE Stagwell Inc.
Treatment with the TactiCath Contact Force Ablation Catheter, Sensor Enabled resulted in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation experiencing an improved quality of life

The catheter is part of Abbott's suite of electrophysiology solutions designed to improve procedures to address cardiac arrythmias

ABBOTT PARK, Ill., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT) today announced results from the PERSIST-END study, which showed that nearly nine out of 10 patients (89%) treated for persistent atrial fibrillation (AFib) with the company's TactiCath Contact Force Ablation Catheter, Sensor Enabled (TactiCath SE) remained symptom-free for up to 15 months following the procedure. The data, which is being presented at the annual meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society April 29  May 1, also showed that due to the more effective therapy, patients reported significant quality-of-life improvements and more than 50% reduction in the use of health care resources.

Millions of Americans are affected by abnormal heart rhythms, known as arrhythmias, caused by breakdowns in the electrical pathways of the heart. Left untreated, these breakdowns can lead to erratic heartbeats or cause the heart to beat too fast or too slow, which can dramatically impact a person's health. AFib, the most common arrhythmia, is a condition in which the heart's chambers are out of sync, causing them to beat in a rapid and chaotic fashion. Persistent AFib is a type of arrhythmia that lasts anywhere from one week to a year. If left untreated, AFib may eventually lead to heart failure or stroke.

"Like many arrhythmias, persistent AFib can be difficult to treat and to date we have had relatively few approaches approved specifically to treat this condition," said Douglas Gibson, M.D., site principal investigator and director of cardiac electrophysiology at Scripps Clinic and the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute in San Diego, Calif. "The results of the PERSIST-END study show that Abbott's TactiCath SE can help physicians ensure the majority of our persistent AFib patients will remain symptom-free following their therapy and will go on to experience dramatic improvements in their quality of life."

AFib is categorized into three types: paroxysmal, persistent or long-standing persistent. Paroxysmal is defined as an abnormal heart rhythm that lasts for less than a week, persistent lasts between one week to a year, and long-standing persistent lasts longer than a year. Approximately half of patients with AFib have a long-standing persistent heart rhythm issue while the remaining 50% are equally divided between paroxysmal and persistent.1 TactiCath SE was previously approved for paroxysmal AFib and the data from the PERSIST-END study supported approval of the additional indication in persistent AFib in 2021.

TactiCath SE is used as part of a cardiac ablation procedure, a minimally invasive method that allows doctors to treat the condition at the source by selectively disrupting the area of the heart generating abnormal heart beats. The catheter provides doctors essential and immediate feedback when the tip of the ablation catheter connects with the tissue within the heart, which can help improve accuracy and consistency of the procedure. It is used in conjunction with Abbott's EnSite X EP System, the Advisor HD Grid Mapping catheter, and EnSite Omnipolar Technology (OT).

"Ablation therapy is an increasingly important option for people living with cardiac arrhythmias because it allows physicians to treat the cause of the arrhythmia at its source. However, it can be a challenging procedure because the right amount of pressure needs to be applied to the heart wall to be effective, but not so much as to cause other problems," said Christopher Piorkowski, M.D., chief medical officer of Abbott's electrophysiology business. "We developed TactiCath SE to provide clear information on whether the device is making contact with the heart wall and whether the pressure is enough to achieve the therapeutic goals. The outcomes are clear  the system delivers safe and effective results."

About PERSIST-END

PERSIST-END was a prospective, multi-center, single-arm clinical trial that included 224 patients from 21 investigational sites in the U.S. and Australia conducted from 2018 to 2021. Patients were evaluated for 15 months following the cardiac ablation procedure for safety, efficacy, and quality of life measures.

The primary safety endpoint for the trial was defined as the rate of primary device and/or procedure-related serious adverse events (SAEs) occurring within seven days of any ablation procedure. Primary efficacy was defined as freedom from documented AFib, atrial flutter or tachycardia >30 seconds or longer, new or increased dose of Class I/III antiarrhythmic drug (AAD), repeat ablation, and cardioversion through 15 months of follow-up.

The trial met all of its primary safety, effectiveness and quality of life endpoints. The rate of serious adverse events was 3.1%, which is consistent with other studies in the persistent AFib population. In addition, the overall primary effectiveness endpoint found that 61.6% of patients remained free from arrhythmia recurrence, any new or increased Class I/III AAD, repeat ablation or cardioversion.

The study further found that participants reported that their Atrial Fibrillation Effect on the QualiTy-of-life (AFEQT) score increased by more than 27 points after three months and more than 32 points after 15 months  a clinically important difference resulting in an average 91.9 quality of life score on a 100-point scale 15 months after the procedure. Similarly, the patients' average annual overall cardiovascular-related health care utilization decreased by 53% in the 15 months following ablation compared to pre-ablation utilization.

About Cardiac Ablation

When physicians use ablation to treat cardiac arrhythmias, long flexible tools  called catheters  are inserted into the heart to study the arrhythmia and to deliver radio frequency energy. Heat generated from the radio frequency energy disrupts the cells that are creating the abnormal heart rhythm. As a result, this tissue is no longer capable of conducting or sustaining the arrhythmia.

For U.S. important safety information on the TactiCath Contact Force Ablation Catheter, Sensor Enabled, visit: https://www.cardiovascular.abbott/us/en/hcp/products/electrophysiology/ablation-technology/tacticath-se-ablation-catheter/indications-safety-warnings.html.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 113,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Connect with us at www.abbott.com, on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/abbott-/, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Abbott and on Twitter @AbbottNews.

1 Zoni-Berisso M, Lercari F, Carazza T, Domenicucci S. Epidemiology of atrial fibrillation: European perspective. Clin Epidemiol. 2014;6:213-220. Published 2014 Jun 16. doi:10.2147/CLEP.S47385

SOURCE Abbott
Brings new variants with higher cloud performance and simplified one-touch management

SINGAPORE, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Communications International Pte Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Communications Ltd., a global digital ecosystem enabler, today announces strengthened variants of the IZO Internet WAN for global enterprises. With predictable and dependable network services offering access to more than 150+ geographies, IZO Internet WAN offers high-quality Internet services, consistent network experiences over various service options including broadband Internet. It now enables seamless data transfer from branch offices to data centres, from branch offices to clouds, and across multiple clouds for enterprises. Enterprises are able to have a simple and agile management over their global and regional networks. The new variants have been released for enterprises across North America, Europe, United Kingdom & Ireland and Asia-Pacific markets.

Tata Communications IZO Internet WAN is suited for enterprises introducing cloud services to their existing IT and networking architecture and for businesses that are looking to cost-effectively extend their global reach to new markets. IZO Internet WAN caters to all industries such as Manufacturing, IT, ITeS, Services, Retail, BFSI, etc. IZO Internet WAN, launched in 2014, is the world's first predictable and dependable internet.

"We closely listened to our global enterprise customers and for them, guaranteed uptime is business critical. Hence, our objective has always been to deliver highly available quality Internet. We have expanded our global reach, added service variants from Dedicated Internet Access to broadband to meet customers' different business needs, and ensured cross border regulatory compliances so enterprises can have predictable, dependable Internet to run their business. We have simplified operation and management, and enhanced the experience for our customers across geographies," said Song Toh, Vice President, Global Network Services, Tata Communications.

"Tata Communications IZO Internet WAN has enabled us to focus on our core business, while improving our people's efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, higher availability is enhancing our experience. In today's cloud-first world, where enterprises are moving workloads to clouds, market offerings like dedicated Internet or broadband, the lack of guaranteed performance, uptime and short restoration becomes a critical hindrance for any enterprise. And, Tata Communications has helped address this vital need at a very opportune time for our business," said ystein Eide, Vice President, Head of Cloud Infrastructure, DNV AS.

Gartner predicts that growing cloud deployments of business-critical applications will drive 30% of global enterprises to use enhanced Internet services by 2023, up from less than 1% in 2020.

"Enterprises increasingly are entrusting priority business traffic to Internet connections. To support these businesses, the enterprise Internet experience must be reliable, predictable, and seamless. Tata Communications IZO Internet WAN aims to provide consistent high performance between broadband Internet endpoints and cloud services, as a widely available and dependable service option," said Brian Washburn, Research Director, Service Provider Enterprise & Wholesale from Omdia.

For more information, please visit: Tata Communications IZO Internet WAN

About Tata Communications

A part of the Tata Group, Tata Communications (NSE: TATACOMM; BSE: 500483) is a global digital ecosystem enabler powering today's fast-growing digital economy in more than 190 countries and territories. Leading with trust, it enables digital transformation of enterprises globally with collaboration and connected solutions, core and next gen connectivity, cloud hosting and security solutions and media services. 300 of the Fortune 500 companies are its customers and the company connects businesses to 80% of the world's cloud giants. For more information, please visit www.tatacommunications.com

Forward-looking and cautionary statements

Certain words and statements in this release concerning Tata Communications and its prospects, and other statements, including those relating to Tata Communications' expected financial position, business strategy, the future development of Tata Communications' operations, and the general economy in India, are forward-looking statements. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including financial, regulatory and environmental, as well as those relating to industry growth and trend projections, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of Tata Communications, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, among others, failure to increase the volume of traffic on Tata Communications' network; failure to develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; failure to successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services, including voice transmission services; failure to stabilize or reduce the rate of price compression on certain of the company's communications services; failure to integrate strategic acquisitions and changes in government policies or regulations of India and, in particular, changes relating to the administration of Tata Communications' industry; and, in general, the economic, business and credit conditions in India. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, many of which are not in Tata Communications' control, include, but are not limited to, those risk factors discussed in Tata Communications Limited's Annual Reports.

The Annual Reports of Tata Communications Limited are available at www.tatacommunications.com. Tata Communications is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements.

 2022 Tata Communications Ltd. All rights reserved.

TATA COMMUNICATIONS and TATA are trademarks or registered trademarks of Tata Sons Private Limited in India and certain countries.

SOURCE Tata Communications
CHICAGO, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE: TDS) and United States Cellular Corporation (NYSE: USM) will be webcasting their first quarter operating results conference call on May 6, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. central time.

The companies will release their financial results on May 5, 2022 after market close.

To listen to the webcast, please visit the events & presentations pages of investors.tdsinc.com or investors.uscellular.com. The presentations will be webcast both live and on-demand. It is recommended that you register at least 15 minutes before the beginning of the presentation to register, download and install any necessary multimedia streaming software.

About TDS

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (TDS), a Fortune 1000 company, provides wireless; cable and wireline broadband, video and voice; and hosted and managed services to approximately 6 million connections nationwide through its businesses, UScellular, TDS Telecom, BendBroadband and OneNeck IT Solutions. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Chicago, TDS employed 8,800 people as of December 31, 2021.

For more information about TDS and its subsidiaries, visit:

TDS: www.tdsinc.com

UScellular: www.uscellular.com

TDS Telecom: www.tdstelecom.com

OneNeck IT Solutions: www.oneneck.com

SOURCE Telephone and Data Systems
Microsoft joins over 25 organizations committed to democratizing 3D software development for games and simulations

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Open 3D Foundation (O3DF) is proud to welcome Microsoft as a Premier member alongside Adobe, AWS, Huawei, Intel, and Niantic. Microsoft's participation in the project brings a wealth of knowledge and thought leadership that continues to reinforce how important the industry believes in working to make a high-fidelity and fully-featured open source 3D engine available to every industry, unencumbered by commercial terms.

Microsoft Principal Group Program Manager Paul Oliver will join the Governing Board of O3DF, supporting the Foundation's commitment to ensure balanced collaboration and feedback that meets the needs of the Open 3D community. The Governing Board cultivates innovative relationships among stakeholders to drive the Foundation's strategic direction and its stewardship of 3D visualization and simulation projects.

"Microsoft's roots in creativity run deep and we want to help creators wherever they are, whoever they are, and whatever platform they're creating for," said Oliver. "Having the Linux Foundation create the Open 3D Foundation is a fantastic step towards helping more creators everywhere and we are excited to be a part of it."

This move builds on Microsoft's continued commitment to democratizing game development and making its tools and technologies available to game creators worldwide. Last year, the company made its Game Development Kit available to all developers through GitHub. With its new engagement with O3DF, Microsoft is extending a commitment to opening up technology to everyone.

"We are elated to have Microsoft join the Open 3D Foundation as a Premier member," said Royal O'Brien, Executive Director of O3DF and General Manager of Games and Digital Media at the Linux Foundation. "Having incredible industry veterans like Microsoft contributing and helping drive innovation with the community for 3D engines is a huge benefit to the open source community and the companies that use it alike."

A Growing Community

Microsoft is one of 25 member companies since the public announcement of the Open 3D Foundation in July 2021. In November 2021, Open 3D Engine (O3DE) announced its first major release. The 21.11 Release allows simulation developers to create 3D content with the new O3DE Linux editor and engine runtime. This release also added a new Debian package and Windows installer that provides a faster route to getting started with the engine. The O3DE community is very active, averaging up to 2 million line changes and 350-450 commits monthly from 60-100 authors across 41 repos.

Where to See the Open 3D Engine Next

On June 20, the Open 3D Foundation will host Open 3D Connect, a half-day interactive meet-up, co-located with the Linux Foundation's Open Source Summit North America in Austin, Texas. Learn more here .

Additionally, on October 18-19, the Open 3D Foundation will host its flagship conference, bringing together technology leaders, indie and independent 3D developers, and the academic community to share ideas, discuss hot topics and foster the future of 3D development across a variety of industries and disciplines. For those interested in sponsoring this event, please contact [email protected] .

Anyone interested in the Open 3D Engine is invited to get involved and connect with the community on Discord.com/invite/o3de and GitHub.com/o3de .

About the Open 3D Engine Project

The Open 3D Engine (O3DE) is the flagship project managed by the Open 3D Foundation (O3DF). The open source project is a modular, cross-platform 3D engine built to power anything from AAA games to cinema-quality 3D worlds to high-fidelity simulations. The code is hosted on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license. To learn more, please visit o3de.org .

About the Open 3D Foundation

Established in July 2021, the mission of the Open 3D Foundation (O3DF) is to make an open source, fully-featured, high-fidelity, real-time 3D engine for building games and simulations, available to every industry. The Foundation is home to the Open 3D Engine (O3DE) project. To learn more, please visit o3d.foundation .

About the Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation is supported by more than 1,000 members and is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, open standards, open data, and open hardware. Linux Foundation's projects are critical to the world's infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, and more. The Linux Foundation's methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org .

Media Inquiries:

[email protected]

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

SOURCE Open 3D Foundation
DUBLIN, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Intelligent Home Security Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The intelligent home security market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 24.58% during the forecast period to reach US$13.404 billion by 2027, from US$2.877 billion in 2020.

The prime reason driving the market growth for an intelligent home security system is the rising construction of smart homes for a better standard of living. Home security systems are required to protect the residential area from unwanted threats. Furthermore, increasing internet penetration coupled with rising internet-of-things technology has enabled the enhancement of these security systems, which is anticipated to create robust demand in the industry. Growing multi-complex and social living systems have raised security concerns, hence the need for intelligent home security systems.



Raised standards of living and increased disposable income have led to the adaption of technology in everyday life, including security systems at home for security as well as convenience. The rising crime rate and the growth in the geriatric population have raised serious concerns and led to the adoption of intelligent security systems at home. Technological advancement in the industry is expected to attract consumers. These factors are expected to play a crucial role in the market growth of the intelligent home security industry. However, significant installation, maintenance, and miscellaneous costs associated with the technology are predicted to hinder market growth, particularly in low and middle-income countries.



With the increased population, demand in the residential construction industry is anticipated to shoot up. Smart homes, a major end-user of intelligent home security systems, account for a significant share of the residential construction market.



The prime factor which is expected to drive lucrative growth in the intelligent home security market is the rising construction of smart homes. With the rise in the population, demand for smart homes is expected to surge at a significant level. The United States predicts that the global population will increase to 9.5 billion by 2050, from 7.5 billion in 2019.



Population growth is expected to drive demand for residential construction, including smart homes. Further, with technological advancement, consumers today prefer smart homes that have various advanced technologies over traditional homes. It is estimated that smart home construction will grow at a CAGR of around 20% between 2021 and2025. Positive growth in the industry is expected to be driven by promising growth in the intelligent home security market.



Furthermore, increased smart home and smart city construction projects across the Asia Pacific region are projected to drive the market. In India, the government has recognised 99 cities that have the potential to become smart cities and contribute significantly towards the GDP. These cities are under the planning and adoption of advanced technology, including smart home devices, that is expected to boost the domestic intelligent home security market. Similarly, in China, the government invested US$255 billion in the reconstruction of Shantytown, which is expected to renovate or reconstruct 6 million households, upgrading them with smart home devices. In Saudi Arabia, the construction of King Abdullah Economic City, which is a US$100 billion project, is expected to increase the market prospects.



Hence, it is forecasted that lucrative growth in the residential construction industry, especially in the smart home industry, will drive market growth during the forecasted period. Furthermore, it is expected that rising internet penetration and technological advancement in the industry will create new prospects for the market.



North America and the European regions are projected to hold a dominating share of the market. However, the Asia Pacific intelligent home security market is expected to grow at the fastest rate. But the significant cost is anticipated to constrain the market's growth in many low-income countries.



Geographically, the global intelligent home security market is segmented into North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. During the forecasted period, the North American and European intelligent home security markets are expected to dominate the market owing to the wider adoption of technology and rising construction of smart homes. But, the Asia Pacific region is predicted to grow at the fastest rate with surging internet and technology penetration. However, significant costs may hinder the market's growth in low-income countries.



COVID-19 Insights

The coronavirus pandemic negatively impacted the intelligent home security market. The Nationwide lockdown resulted in a halt in the construction industry, which decreased the market demand.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction1



2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



4. MARKET DYNAMICS

4.1. Market Drivers

4.2. Market Restraints

4.3. Porters Five Forces Analysis

4.3.1. Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.3.2. Bargaining Powers of Buyers

4.3.3. Threat of Substitutes

4.3.4. The threat of New Entrants

4.3.5. Competitive Rivalry in Industry

4.4. Industry Value Chain Analysis



5. INTELLIGENT HOME SECURITY MARKET, BY COMPONENT

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Hardware

5.3. Software



6. INTELLIGENT HOME SECURITY MARKET, BY SOLUTION

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Medical Alert

6.3. Access Control

6.4. Video Surveillance

6.5. Intercom



7. INTELLIGENT HOME SECURITY MARKET, BY GEOGRAPHY



8. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT AND ANALYSIS

8.1. Major Players and Strategy Analysis

8.2. Emerging Players and Market Lucrativeness

8.3. Mergers, Acquisition, Agreements, and Collaborations

8.4. Vendor Competitiveness Matrix



9. COMPANY PROFILES

9.1. Johnson Controls

9.2. Honeywell International Inc.

9.3. Robert Bosch Smart Home GmbH

9.4. Alarm.com Incorporated

9.5. Nexia

9.6. Allegion

9.7. Assa Abloy

9.8. Nortek Control



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/gg4qks

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
"Acquiring Briogeo marks Wella Company's first portfolio expansion as an independent entity. Briogeo's high-growth, eco-ethical and natural hair care products complement our existing hair portfolio and sustainable offerings and will fuel our growth momentum in the hair category, which is now the fastest growing segment in beauty," said Annie Young-Scrivner, Chief Executive Officer of Wella Company. "I'm proud of the growth our company has achieved so far in just 17 months  and in Briogeo we have found a truly special and complementary partner. Briogeo has been at the forefront of the clean and natural hair revolution since the company started in 2013, and its rise has been nothing short of remarkable. Together we'll extend our sustainable product offerings even more, expand our premium retail footprint and drive both commercial and social impact to new levels," said Young-Scrivner.

Under the leadership of Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Nancy Twine, Briogeo has revolutionized clean and natural hair care, offering effective products and solutions for every hair type, hair texture, hair need, ethnicity, background and person. Briogeo has grown quickly since its inception and is an award-winning company, having earned the Allure Best of Beauty Award every year since 2018. Twine is recognized as one of the foremost entrepreneurs of a beauty start-up in the last decade and has been awarded Entrepreneur's 100 Women of Impact in 2021, the Goldman Sachs Builders + Innovators Award in 2020, and the Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) Female Founder Award in 2019.

Wella Company intends to support Briogeo and its strategy to excel at the forefront of sustainable beauty. Briogeo aligns with Wella Company's deep commitment to building a company with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) embedded into its core. The addition of the Briogeo portfolio of prestige hair care complements Wella Company's ambitions to deliver more diverse products for all hair types, while expanding clean and green products across its portfolio offerings.

"The strength of Wella Company's Research & Development, digital marketing and global operations, and their ability to reach 91 million hair and nail professionals and followers they serve and support will take our Briogeo brand to the next level," said Nancy Twine, CEO of Briogeo. "This is a significant strategic partnership for both sides, and one that is compatible in ambition, philosophy and culture. In Wella Company we have a committed partner to help our business and our employees reach the next level of growth. We're excited to accelerate our expansion and innovation, globally delighting more people in more geographies and through broader delivery channels."

Wella Company's history of female leadership is unique, having several entrepreneurial women founders including OPI co-founder Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, Nioxin's Eva Graham, and Sebastian Professional co-founder Geri Cusenza. Annie Young-Scrivner and Briogeo's Nancy Twine form a duo of minority women leading a high-growth beauty company -- a pairing that not only reinforces diversity and inclusivity but opens a wide aperture for minority women in the industry.

Wella Company returned to independent operating status on December 1, 2020 after affiliates of global investment firm KKR acquired a majority-equity stake in the company. Wella Company remains on an accelerated growth journey to become a leader in the hair, nail and beauty tech category across all delivery channels  professional, retail, ecommerce. Over the course of Wella Company's short tenure, the company has accelerated growth, growing double digit vs 2019 levels. The business is gaining momentum in every geography in which it operates (more than 100 countries) and across all regions: Americas, APAC, EMEA and Brazil.

About Wella Company

Wella Company is one of the world's leading beauty companies, comprised of a family of iconic brands including Wella Professionals, ghd, OPI, Nioxin, Sebastian Professional and Clairol. At Wella Company, we are innovators who seek to inspire consumers and beauty professionals through our brands to look, feel, and be their true selves. We are committed to building the best beauty company in the industry where our 6,000+ employees across more than 100 countries can bring their best selves to work. Guided by our company values and led by purpose to deliver positive impact on people through our products and towards our planet and society, we deliver sustainable growth to all stakeholders.

For more information on Wella Company, visit www.wellacompany.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

About Briogeo

Briogeo has revolutionized clean and natural hair care, offering effective products and solutions for every hair type, hair texture, hair need, ethnicity, background, and person. All Briogeo products are formulated 6-free  (NO harsh sulfates, silicones, parabens, phthalates, artificial dyes, and DEA) and are naturally derived with the brand's proprietary NOVA Complex, a blend of natural oils, vitamins, and antioxidants. Launched in 2013 by entrepreneur Nancy Twine, Briogeo has become one of the fastest-growing hair care brands in the world and one of the largest, independent Black-owned brands in the US. Briogeo continues to experience momentous year-over-year sales growth with a brand mission to inspire, educate, celebrate diversity, and empower every person's healthy hair journey.

Advisory Support

Briogeo was advised by Financo | Raymond James.

Wella Company Contact: Hilary Crnkovich

Chief Communications & Sustainability Officer

Phone number: + 646-217-1700

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE The Wella Company
DUBLIN, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Floor Grinding Machine Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global floor grinding machine market reached a value of US$ 258.5 million in 2021. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach a value of US$ 321.5 million by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 3.45% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, the analyst is 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.



A floor grinding machine is a specialized, hand-controlled equipment that is used for polishing and grinding granite, marble and concrete floorings. Single, quadrupole and dual disks are some of the common product variants. These machines consist of a regulating handle, wheel guard, power plug, vacuum hole, toolbox, control panel, water witch, and abrasive pads. Floor grinding machines are also widely used for levelling uneven joints, renovating, repairing damaged surfaces, and maintaining various types of granite, limestone, marble, terrazzo and concrete floors. These machines assist in removing inconsistencies and imperfect concrete, minimizing dirt and moisture damage and restoring old concrete to its original shape and form.



The significant growth in the construction industry across the globe is creating a positive outlook for the market. Floor grinding machines are widely used due to their durability, ease of functionality and enhanced efficiency in operations. In line with this, the widespread product adoption in malls and offices for removing paint and glue, enhancing the aesthetics, mechanical properties and interiors, and repairing and restoration of the floor are favoring the market growth. Moreover, various product innovations, such as the introduction of environment-friendly grinders that are completely dust-free, produce a low level of noise and aid in decreasing pollution, are providing an impetus to the market growth.

Additionally, the increasing demand for remote-controlled floor grinding machines that are adjustable and simple to operate are also positively impacting the market growth. Other factors, including the rising product demand due to the sudden shift toward polished concrete flooring and the implementation of various government initiatives to promote smart infrastructure development are anticipated to drive the market further toward growth.

Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Achilli S.r.l, Bartell Global Inc., Fujian Xingyi Polishing Machine Co.Ltd, HTC Group, Husqvarna AB, Klindex Srl, Levetec, Linax Co. Ltd., National Flooring Equipment, ROLL GmbH, Scanmaskin Sverige AB and Tyrolit Group.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global floor grinding machine market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global floor grinding machine market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the head type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the mode of operation?

What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

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 floor grinding machine 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 Floor Grinding Machine Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Head Type

6.1 One and Two Head

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Three and Four Head

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Others

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Mode of Operation

7.1 Remotely Controlled Grinders

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Manually Operated Grinders

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Handheld Grinders

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Application

8.1 Marble and Granite

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Concrete

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Others

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End User

9.1 Residential

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Non-Residential

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 Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Achilli S.r.l

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.2 Bartell Global Inc.

15.3.2.1 Company Overview

15.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3 Fujian Xingyi Polishing Machine Co.Ltd

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4 HTC Group

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5 Husqvarna AB

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5.3 Financials

15.3.6 Klindex Srl

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7 Levetec

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8 Linax Co. Ltd.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9 National Flooring Equipment

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.10 ROLL GmbH

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 Scanmaskin Sverige AB

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.12 Tyrolit Group

15.3.12.1 Company Overview

15.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7d1yiv

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
BEIJING, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yiren Digital Ltd. (NYSE: YRD) ("Yiren Digital" or the "Company"), a leading digital personal financial management platform in China, today announced that, effective as of April 28, 2022, the Company engaged Wei, Wei & Co., LLP ("WWC"), as the Company's independent registered public accounting firm, to replace KPMG Huazhen LLP ("KPMG"). The change of the Company's independent registered public accounting firm was approved by the audit committee and the board of the Company.

WWC is engaged to audit and report on the consolidated financial statements of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2021.

KPMG has served as the Company's independent registered public accounting firm since December 13, 2021 and has never issued an audit report on the Company's consolidated financial statements.

During the service period, there were no (i) disagreements between the Company and KPMG on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or audit scope or procedure, which disagreements if not resolved to the satisfaction of KPMG would have caused them to make reference in connection with their opinion to the subject matter of the disagreement, or (ii) reportable events pursuant to Item 16F(a)(1)(v) of the instructions to Form 20-F, except that KPMG has questioned the Company, subject to further evidence and assessments, as to whether certain entities, which had not been disclosed to KPMG by the Company as related parties, should be deemed as the Company's related parties. Such matters may have a pervasive impact on the disclosures of related party transactions and certain other financial statement captions including revenues and expenses. At the time of KPMG's dismissal, the Company did not provide adequate information for KPMG to resolve the abovementioned matters to their satisfaction. KPMG also advised the Company that it would have been necessary to expand significantly the scope of its audit and if it had expanded the scope of that audit, information may have come to their attention that, if further investigated, may have materially impacted the fairness or reliability of the financial statements to be issued. Due to their dismissal, the scope of the audit was not able to be expanded. No conclusions were reached before the Company dismissed KPMG as its independent registered public accounting firm.

We have provided KPMG with a copy of the disclosures hereunder and requested from KPMG a letter addressed to the SEC indicating whether it agrees with such disclosures. A copy of KPMG's letter dated April 29, 2022 will be disclosed on the Form 6-K furnished to the SEC on the same date.

About Yiren Digital

Yiren Digital Ltd. is a leading digital personal financial management platform in China. The Company provides customized asset allocation services and wealth management solutions to China's mass affluent population as well as utilizes online and offline channels to provide retail credit facilitation services to individual borrowers and small business owners.

SOURCE Yiren Digital
A cross-border highway regular lorry leaves the Nanpeng Highway Bonded Logistics Center, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, for Laotian capital Vientiane, on April 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

CHONGQING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has seen over 8,800 truck departures via its cross-border highway freight service between its launch and the end of April, local authorities said.

The service had delivered 19,804 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers by April 28, with a total cargo weight of 146,300 tonnes worth about 5.3 billion yuan (about 800 million U.S. dollars), said the Chongqing highway logistics base.

Launched in April 2016, Chongqing's cross-border highway freight service mainly caters to countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It has greatly shortened transportation times compared with traditional sea freight.

The freight service currently operates nine routes to ASEAN and Central Asian countries. It utilizes more than 30 overseas distribution warehouses in Southeast Asian countries including Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Chongqing, an inland city on the fast track of China's new round of opening up, saw its foreign trade exceed 800 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 22.8 percent from the previous year. 
Washington, April 29 : US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has said the US is considering taking "action" against countries that are not enforcing its Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia but, he added, it will take a more indulgent approach towards those among them that are "rethinking" their relationship with Moscow, sometimes going back over decades.

Yashwant Raj Washington, April 29 (IANS) US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has said the US is considering taking "action" against countries that are not enforcing its Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia but, he added, it will take a more indulgent approach towards those among them that are "rethinking" their relationship with Moscow, sometimes going back over decades.

Blinken on Thursday did not specify what shape or form that action would take but there have been suggestions of secondary sanctions. He also did not name any countries in either category.

India's ties with Russia, especially its refusal to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and continued imports of Russian oil and gas have been raised by US officials along with, in one case of egregious overreach, a threat of "consequences". More generally, the US has said it does not want to see India jack up its import of Russian energy beyond past levels because of discounted prices on offer.

"It's much better, in the first instance, if we can get any countries in question to voluntarily make sure that they're joining us in implementing the sanctions and not allowing them to be evaded," the Secretary of State said at a hearing in the House of Representatives in response to a question about countries that are either "hedging their bets" on Ukraine-related sanctions or are allowing them to be evaded.

But the US is also "looking at" using authorities that it has to "take action against those that are not" enforcing the sanctions.

Blinken went on to say that a number of countries "are rethinking their relationships, including their relationship with Russia going forward, and some of them had relationships with Russia going back decades, including at times when we couldn't have the same kind of relationship with them and now we can.

With these countries, he added, the US needs to "make sure that we are helping advance that transition and doing it in a way that, as a strategic matter, moves things in the right direction".

The Secretary of State did not name any country but he may have been referring here to India, which has had a long relationship with Russia going back decades to the time of the Soviet Union. There were times then that Moscow was on India's side when the US wasn't, including, most significantly in 1971, when America was, in fact, on the opposite side.

At a hearing at the US Senate on Tuesday, Blinken had faced similar questions about countries not enforcing the US's Ukraine-related sanctions. One senator, Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, had suggested that the administration should consider secondary sanctions to force these countries to fall in line.

"We made the right decision by saying that the United States is not going to continue to import Russian gas and oil but if that oil is (in the) international market, and Putin is able to sell it to somebody else, that obviously doesn't do us any good at all," Van Hollen said to Secretary Blinken at the hearing.

He added: "So I guess my question is very blunt: why aren't we applying secondary sanctions against countries that are increasing their imports of Russian commodities?" Hollen mentioned only China's continued and increased purchase of Russian gas and oil, but a number of European countries -- such as Germany and others -- and India have been on the radar of American officials and lawmakers, even though India's import of Russian energy is minuscule compared to its total energy imports.

Secretary Blinken had dismissed the suggestion outright.

"Where we can, it is far preferable to get countries to voluntarily not engage in these practices," he said.

The Senator pressed him again: "There are countries that are taking advantage of discounted Russian oil prices and they're able to unload it at lower prices, and they're taking advantage of it, which only helps Putin." Other Senators also pressed the Secretary of State on this point although they did not go as far as to suggest they be punished with something like secondary sanctions.

Most of these countries are long-time allies of the US such as Germany and other NATO countries and others are partners like India.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Jerusalem, April 29 : Israel came to halt to the sound of sirens to commemorate the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

At 10 a.m on Thurday, as the two-minute sirens pierced the air, people across the country stood in solemn silence in honour of the six million Jewish victims of the Nazis during World War II, Xinhua news agency reported.

On streets and highways, traffic stopped with many drivers stepping out of their vehicles, standing still in contemplation. Pedestrians halted their steps and stood in silence. In many homes, businesses, and offices people stopped their activity and stood still, commemorating the victims of the Nazi genocide.

The annual ritual is part of a series of memorial activities on the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, an official day to honour the Jews who died at the hands of Nazi Germany and its collaborators in World War-II.

At Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and President Isaac Herzog attended an official wreath-laying ceremony.

At the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, lawmakers, and officials participated in lighting memorial candles for the victims. Knesset Speaker Miki Levy lit candles together with his German counterpart Barbel Bas.

"I bow my head in humility and shame in front of the victims of the Holocaust," Bas said after the candle lighting.

"We must not forget and we will not forget. Our historical guilt stems from commitment. We must fight resolutely against anti-Semitism and all its manifestations, and we must preserve and revive the memory and pass it on to the younger generations," she added.
Beirut, April 29 : Najat Rochdi, the UN resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, has urged Lebanese authorities to adopt emergency development measures amid the current humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, a statement by Lebanon's Council of Ministers reported.

"The country needs emergency development that would put an end to the prolonged economic stagnation, and constitute a trigger for the growth of the country and its prosperity," Rochdi said on Thursday.

His remarks came during a ceremony held by Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail to sign the United Nations Strategic Framework in Lebanon for 2022-2025, Xinhua news agency reported.

Rochdi added that emergency development measures require commitment from all parties and willingness by the government to implement reforms.

For his part, Mikati said Lebanon is proud of the permanent partnership with the United Nations which supports the country on all levels.

He also praised the UN's emergency programs for their role in facing the main challenges in Lebanon.

"We extend our thanks and appreciation to Lebanon's friends from donor countries for their support to achieve the sustainable development goals," he added.
Jerusalem, April 29 : Israel's military has said it will be calling up six reserve battalions in the next few weeks, amid escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The move is made in order to preserve the presence of Israeli troops in the area between Israel and the West Bank, and to prevent Palestinians from crossing into Israel without permits, the Army added on Thursday.

The deployment of hundreds of reservists "will strengthen the IDF's (Israel Defence Forces) ongoing defensive efforts to prevent terrorist attacks and illegal crossings of the Judea and Samaria security barrier," the military said in a statement, using the Israeli term for the West Bank, Xinhua news agency reported.

The decision to recruit reserve battalions came after a situational assessment and was approved by military Chief of Staff, Aviv Kochavi, said the Army.

For the past weeks, the tension between Israelis and Palestinians has continued to heighten, featuring a string of Palestinian attacks in Israel killing 14, and Israeli raids on the West Bank. The two sides also saw growing unrest around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are claimed by the Palestinians, in the 1967 Middle East war, and has controlled them ever since.
Ankara, April 29 : Turkey "neutralized" 12 members of Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, the country's Defence Ministry said.

The YPG members were preparing to attack the Turkish-controlled military zones in Syria where the Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Peace Spring are being carried out, the Ministry said in a tweet on Thursday.

Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralized" to imply "terrorists" killed, wounded or captured in security operations, Xinhua news agency reported.

YPG members attacked a police checkpoint in Mare settlement in the Operation Euphrates Shield zone with anti-tank weapons killing one police officer on April 22, according to the Ministry.

The Turkish Army launched Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016, Operation Olive Branch in 2018, Operation Peace Spring in 2019, and Operation Spring Shield in 2020 in northern Syria.

Turkish authorities say the operations aim to eliminate terror threats against Turkey and provide a safe zone that will facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homes.

Ankara sees the YPG as the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for more than three decades.
Riyadh, April 29 : Saudi-led coalition involved in a war in Yemen has announced to release 163 Houthi prisoners, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Coalition spokesperson Turki Al Maliki on Thursday said the move was part of the humanitarian initiatives implemented by Saudi Arabia, Xinhua news agency reported.

The coalition had started to take action to release the prisoners in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, the spokesperson added.

The warring sides of Yemen, in addition to the Saudi-led coalition, started a two-month ceasefire on April 2, as part of the ongoing efforts to resolve the Yemeni crisis, which has been going on since 2014.
Jerusalem, April 29 : The family of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett received a death threat letter with a live bullet in a mail, the second this week, the police said.

The police on Thursday said in a statement that an investigation was launched and their "Lahav 433" special unit and the internal security service Shin Bet are working in tandem on the case.

Israeli state-owned Kan TV news reported that the letter was addressed to Bennett's 17-year-old son Yoni.

The police did not say if any suspects have been arrested, Xinhua news agency reported.

The first letter and bullet were sent to the workplace of the Prime Minister's wife Gilat on Tuesday, which included threats against her and Yoni Bennett, said the police.

Following the first incident, the Shin Bet said the security around Bennett and his family has been increased.

The Israeli President said the threat was part of the heated political discourse in the country.

"Political conflict, no matter how deep, should not reach violence, thuggery and death threats," he wrote on Twitter, noting that "we must lower the flames of the political discourse." It was not the first time Bennett and other leaders of the ruling coalition have received death threats, mainly by far-right activists, according to Kan TV.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Istanbul/Moscow, April 29 : Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the swap of a Russian pilot and a former US marine in Turkey through a phone call, said the Turkish presidential office.

According to the office's statement on Thursday, the exchange of Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko and American citizen and former marine Trevor Reed took place on Wednesday under the coordination and supervision of the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation.

Erdogan said in the statement that coordination and close dialogue between intelligence units should be continued to prevent humanitarian tragedies and ensure the establishment of an environment of stability, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to a brief statement issued by the Kremlin, Putin in the phone call thanked the Turkish President for prisoners swap at the Ankara airport.

According to previous reports, Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in 2010 on drug smuggling charges and extradited to the United States to serve a 20-year prison term.

Turkey's English newspaper Daily Sabah said Reed was detained in Russia in 2019 on charges of attacking police officers in Moscow and convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison.

The leaders also discussed the humanitarian issue in Ukraine, particularly taking into account the results of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' recent visit to Moscow, the Kremlin said.

A round of face-to-face talks between Russia and Ukraine was held in Istanbul in March. Erdogan has repeatedly said Turkey is ready to take the necessary initiative to end the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Abuja, April 29 : More than 23 extremist militants, including a prominent Commander of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), were killed in counterterrorism operations by the Nigerian military in the country's northeast region in the past three weeks, an official said.

The troops' operations also forced 1,159 militants to surrender and led to the rescue of 619 abducted victims within the region during the period, Bernard Onyeuko, the spokesman for the military, told reporters in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, on Thursday.

Onyeuko said the operations were conducted across Borno and Taraba states, with "impressive successes".

According to him, the surrendered terrorists and their family members comprising 627 children, 367 women and 164 men had been profiled and handed over to the appropriate authority, Xinhua news agency reported.

The neutralised ISWAP Commander, identified as Abubakar Dan-Buduma, and other militants had a gunfight with the troops in the Marte local government area of Borno, the military official said, declining to give details about the actual date of the anti-terror operation.

He said a notorious ISWAP informant and logistics supplier identified as Mallam Abba Lawan was also arrested in Auno, a town in the Konduga local government area of Borno, during the period.

The counterterrorism operations led to the destruction of militants' enclaves and their central workshop where vehicles are fabricated for vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, he added.
Abuja, April 29 : More than 62 bandits have been killed in various operations carried out by troops in Nigeria's northwest region in the past three weeks, the military said.

Bernard Onyeuko, a spokesman for the military, told reporters in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, on Thursday that at least 100 others were arrested by the troops during the period, Xinhua news agency reported.

Onyeuko said at least 179 abducted victims were also rescued by the troops, who have continued to record successes in the operations across the states of Katsina, Zamfara, and Kaduna.

He added that one of the successful operations took place on April 10, when the troops rescued 50 victims of abduction, including 18 children and 32 women in the Tsafe local government area of Zamfara.

No fewer than 592 rustled cattle were also recovered during the period of intense operations in the northwestern part of Nigeria, he said, adding the military was working out ways of bringing the incessant attacks in that region of the most populous African country to an end.

Armed attacks have been a primary security threat in Nigeria's northern and central regions, leading to deaths and kidnappings in recent months.
New York, April 29 : Meta surged 17.6 per cent on Thursday after a buoyant update for the first time since Q4 in February had sent the stock reeling 26 per cent, its worst-day ever.

Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021, reflecting CEO Mark Zukerberg's faith in a future of working, playing and studying in a virtual world.

Shares have lost nearly half their value in 2022.

Key metric Daily Active Users, which declined in the previous quarter for the first time, bounced back a bit from 1.93 to 1.96 billion.

Meta exceeded expectations for average revenue per user, but nearly every other key metric was a miss, including monthly active users.

Revenue rose 7 per cent in the quarter, marking the first time in Facebook's 10-year history as a public company, that growth has landed in single digits.

Analysts were expecting 7.8 per cent growth.

For the next quarter, the company forecast revenue of $28 to $30 billion, trailing the $30.6 billion estimate of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

A release said the guidance takes into account continued trends from the first quarter, including soft revenue growth, that "coincided with the war in Ukraine".

Facebook's family of apps, including the core app, Instagram and WhatsApp, accounted for 97.5 per cent of revenue in the quarter.

"We think while these times are challenging, over the long run, we do have a very strong competitive advantage when you look across the opportunities advertisers have to advertise both offline and online," said Facebook Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg.

Meta expects a tougher regulatory environment with Europe coming to an agreement on the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to rein in the power of digital gatekeepers.

Sandberg said though the finalised text of the DMA has not been made public, it was generally in line with expectations.

She added that she expects the regulatory environment to continue to be a "real challenge" for the whole industry.

(Nikhila Natarajan tracks Big Tech and tweets @byniknat)
New Delhi, April 29 : "The Pandemic was bound to leave an imprint on the minds of artists, something one can see in many artworks here, including mine. We are seeing it as a metaphor for multiple emotions that connect not just with the immediate external," artist Veer Munshi tells IANS during the opening of the India Art Fair (April 28-May 1).

For artist G.R. Iranna, whose works are being shown by multiple galleries, the fair is not just an opportunity to showcase one's works.

"What we have been missing for the past few years was interaction, not just with fellow artists but also visitors. Someone like me derives inspiration and ideas from the world, and that does not happen when you are constantly surrounded by walls," he says.

Presenting 77 exhibitors across 16 cities, including 14 non-profit foundations and institutions, the fair helmed by Jaya Asokan for the first time since her appointment in April 2021 spotlights the next generation of artists alongside modern masters through initiatives, including auditorium talks, performances, outdoor art projects, artist-led workshops and an online symposium in the run-up to the fair.

The latest edition also witnesses participation from Kochi Biennale Foundation, Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation and Serendipity Arts, among others.

Besides, major art galleries, including Vadehra Art Gallery, Nature Morte, Gallery Espace, Blueprint12 (all New Delhi), Experimenter, Emami Art and Akar Prakar (all Kolkata), TARQ, Tao Art Gallery, Jhaveri Contemporary, Chatterjee & Lal (all Mumbai), Gallery Veda, Art Houz, Apparao Galleries (all Chennai), Kalakriti Art Gallery (Hyderabad) and GALLERYSKE (Bengaluru/ New Delhi).

Presentations by legacy galleries -- Dhoomimal Art Gallery, DAG (both New Delhi) and Archer Art Gallery (Ahmedabad), seven Indian galleries are debuting at the 2022 fair: APRE Art House (Mumbai), Art Incept (Gurugram/New Delhi), Gallery Art Exposure (Kolkata), Modern Art Gallery (New Delhi), Ojas Art (New Delhi), Terrain.art (New Delhi) and Vida Heydari Contemporary (Pune), the fair is also expanding its digital presence through website editorial and films, a range of online talks, workshops and exhibition walkthroughs, as well as the IAF Parallel programme, including events and exhibitions of Indian and South Asian art, taking place in cities across India and the world.

Jaya Asokan, Fair Director of India Art Fair, says, "India Art Fair's return to its physical format has been a cause of great excitement for the Indian and South Asian art scene. The energy we have seen so far has been incredible, not just from our returning galleries and patrons but also from a whole new generation and base of artists, art lovers and young collectors. Coming out of the pandemic, the 2022 edition marks the beginning of a new era for Indian and South Asian art, with tremendous domestic demand and great potential for growth both regionally and on the global stage. We are proud to have BMW India as our Presenting Partner for the 6th year in a row." Alongside the main section of the fair, 'Focus' showcases solo presentations curated by participating galleries, including Sudip Roy by Aakriti Art Gallery (Kolkata), Chetnaa by Anupa Mehta Arts (Mumbai), Stephen Cox by Apparao Galleries (Chennai, New Delhi), Thota Vaikuntam by Emami Art (Kolkata), P.R. Daroz by Gallerie Nvya (New Delhi), Ankon Mitra by Gallery Art Positive (New Delhi), Vinod Daroz by Kalakriti Art Gallery (Hyderabad) and Christian Achenbach by Galerie ISA (Mumbai).

The 'Institutions' section returns with cultural festivals, collectives and non-profit foundations from the region, including Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation, Kochi Biennale Foundation, Aravani Art Project, Kolkata Centre for Creativity, Space Studio, HH Art Spaces, Museo Camera, Alkazi Theatre Archives, Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, Liszt Institute Hungarian Cultural Centre, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and Serendipity Arts.

'Outdoor Art Projects' include large-scale installations presented by institutions extending across the fairgrounds.

'The Studio', a brand new space at the fair this year will be dedicated to making bridges across creative fields beyond visual art, especially technology. Bringing a spirit of playfulness to the fair, the wide range of projects in 'The Studio' include games from the artist duo Thukral and Tagra.

This year's 'Artists in Residence' programme features fresh young talent whose voices resonate with the wider public. From Indu Antony, Haroun Hayward, Gurjeet Singh to Arpita Akhanda, artists in this section will lead specialist workshops, presentations and performances that address some of the most pertinent issues in the art world through their works.

The 'Auditorium Talks Programme' will witness talks, panels and performances by leading voices in the art world -- from artists to curators, gallerists and collectors. These include the BMW Art Talk with celebrated Indian artist Atul Dodiya in conversation with gallerist Shireen Gandhy; a Collector Talk by Kiran Nadar, with Dinesh Vazinrani; a film presentation and talk by South Asian diasporic artist Hetain Patel; artist presentations by India Art Fair Artists in Residence Haroun Hayward and Indu Antony; the launch of a seminal publication on 20th Century Indian Art published by Thames & Hudson and Art Alive.
Lucknow, April 29 : Tight security is in place in state capital Lucknow for the 'Alvida namaz' offered on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramzan.

After a gap of nearly two years, the 'namaz' will be offered in mosques.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, only five persons were allowed to offer namaz in a group.

Islamic Centre of India Head and Imam of Aishbagh Eidgah, Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, has appealed the people to maintain peace and adhere to prescribed Covid-19 protocols.

Security has been increased in the old city area, especially in view of the ongoing row over 'azaan' and 'Hanuman Chalisa' recitals across the country.

Mosques, both big and small, are all decked up for 'Alvida namaz' and areas around the mosques have been cleaned up.

Tents have been put up to protect people from the scorching sun.

Several Hindu outfits have put up stalls to offer 'sherbet' and water to those who are not observing fast.
Shamli : , April 29 (IANS) Two accused persons, who were arrested and later released on bail, in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district are now charged with the alleged killing of a 25-year-old youth whom they suspected to be a police informer, The youth identified as Vikas Saini was shot dead in Jhinjhana town when he was returning home from his grocery shop.

He later succumbed to his injuries on Thursday.

The police have filed a case under IPC section 302 (murder) against the accused.

Station House Officer of Jhinjhana police station, Rojant Tyagi on Friday said, "Vikas was admitted to the hospital for treatment in an injured condition, but he died during his treatment. The post-mortem report also confirmed the death by shooting." The victim's father has alleged that the accused identified as Hariom Kashyap and Sunil Kashyap were involved in betting and they were arrested on April 26.

Later, when the accused duo were out on bail, they allegedly killed Saini "suspecting him to be a police informer".

"Hariom and his partner Sunil were suspecting Vikas of being a police informer, because his grocery shop is located near Hariom's shop and the houses are also in the same locality. Due to this, both of them killed Vikas," said Dildar Saini, the victim's father.

The Shamli Assistant Superintendent of Police, O.P. Singh, said, "The police teams have been formed to arrest the two absconding murder accused. Police are also interrogating some close relatives of the accused."
Berlin, April 29 : The German Bundestag, or lower house of Parliament, has voted to provide "comprehensive support for Ukraine", allowing the delivery of heavy weapons to the war-torn nation.

A corresponding proposal, which was passed on Thursday by a vote of 586 to 100, allows the "supply of effective, including heavy, weapons and complex systems" to Ukraine, reports Xinhua news agency.

Deliveries were also to be accelerated.

However, Germany was also urged to "support all efforts by the Ukrainian government to reach a cease-fire in direct negotiations with the Russian leadership", according to a Bundestag statement.

Parliamentary groups of the governing parties Social Democratic Party, the Green Party, and Free Democratic Party as well as the opposition CDU/CSU union submitted the proposal after resolving initial disagreements.

Ahead of the vote, the right-wing Alternative for Germany and the Left Party declared to vote against the proposal due to concerns about a possible escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

On Tuesday, Minister of Defence Christine Lambrecht confirmed that Germany would supply Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine and provide training for the country's soldiers.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Kiev, April 29 : At least 10 people were injured after a Russian rocket hit a residential apartment building in Kiev at around the same time when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres were addressing a press briefing in the capital city.

Government adviser Anton Herashchenko said the attack took place at 8.13 p.m. on Thursday in Kiev's Shevchenkivskyi district, reports Ukrayinska Pravda.

"Due to the shelling, a fire broke out in the 25-storey building with partial destruction of the first and second floors," he told reporters at the scene.

The fire was brought under control at around 9.25 p.m., immediately after which search operations were conducted, the adviser said, adding that five people were rescued.

Herashchenko said the rocket was fired from the Black Sea region, "most likely from the territory of the Ukrainian Crimea".

During the press conference, Guterres criticised the Security Council for failing to prevent or end the war, adding that the UN will not give up on Ukraine and its people.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Thiruvananthapuram, April 29 : In the wake of shortage of funds, Kerala's Finance Department has capped Treasury payments in the first month of the new fiscal.

In its directive to the Treasuries Director, the Department asked for the reduction of the ways and means limit from Rs 1 crore to Rs 25 lakhs with immediate effect.

If there was a requirement for any payments to be made above Rs 25 lakhs, then special sanctions will have to come to effect.

Till April 25, the Treasuries were allowed to pay bills up to Rs 1 crore.

According to informed sources, the decision comes as the Kerala government is on a borrowing spree and is done to pay the salaries and pension to state government employees, besides paying of interests on earlier borrowed loans.

Kerala appears to have gone 'broke' is on account of a delay in sourcing funds, they added.

If borrowed funds do not return on time or if the GST compensation to the state does not come in time from the Centre, then the salaries and pensions to be paid in the first week of May might not happene.

When the economist turned Minister of Finance, Thomas Isaac was at the helm of affairs during the first Pinarayi Vijayan government (2016-21), he deftly managed the poor state of finance through proper fiscal management and now with first-time legislator K.N.Balagopal as the Finance Minister, things appear a bit tough.

Incidentally the total outstanding public debt of Kerala had skyrocketed after Vijayan took over and it now stands at above Rs 3 lakh crores.

Outstanding debts is the sum total of public debt which consists of internal debt, loans and advances from the Centre besides loans from financial institutions such as LICA and special securities and not to mention of borrowings from deposits in state PF, treasury, pension funds and insurance.

To get a clearer picture of the debt, it is best highlighted as a ratio of the size of the state economy/state gross state domestic product (GSDP).

A comparison of the national picture of states and union territories with the highest debt GSDP ratio in 2022 are Arunachal Pradesh 57.4 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir Kashmir 56.6 per cent, Punjab 53.3 per cent, Nagaland 44.2 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 43.4 per cent, Rajasthan 39.8 per cent, Meghalaya 39.2 per cent, West Bengal 38.8, per cent Kerala 38.3 per cent and Andhra Pradesh 37.6 per cent.

One thing which has to be noted is the present staggering figure of the outstanding debts of Kerala did not happen overnight and successive state governments to a certain extent can take credit for the achievements of the state in the fields of education and health, which leads the rest of the country and to reach here, investment is required, but looking deeper into it experts revealed the real situation.
New Delhi, April 29 : A delegation of 10 lawyers representing victims of post-poll violence in West Bengal are scheduled to meet President Ram Nath Kovind and Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday.

It is learnt that the delegation is likely to meet President Kovind at 12 p.m. at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and Home Minister Shah at 9 p.m.

In the evening at 4.30 p.m., lawyers of the Supreme Court, Delhi High Court and Delhi-NCR district courts, under the banner of "Lawyers for Justice" will hold a peaceful candle march at the India Gate.

While family members of victims are also expected to join the march, some of them may join the delegation to meet the President and Home Minister.

Earlier, claiming complete collapse of law and order in the state, the delegation had said that it will give representation to two leaders demanding imposition of "President's rule" in West Bengal.

Convenor of "Lawyers for Justice" and counsel of victims of political violence in West Bengal, Kabir Shankar Bose had said that the representatives will meet the President and Home Minister and give representation about the complete breakdown of law and order situation in the state.

"We will also demand imposition of President's rule in West Bengal for breakdown of law and order and state-sponsored violence," Bose said.

The lawyers body claimed that since 2018, the state has seen unprecedented state-sponsored violence targetted against particular groups and persons affiliated to certain groups and communities.

"Post May 2, 2021 after announcement of Assembly polls results, a reign of unprecedented terror, lawlessness and violence was unleashed by goons and anti-socials, which was actively supported by the ruling dispensation. Hundreds of thousands were driven out of their homes. Hundreds murdered. Daughters and mothers were raped," Bose had said.
Budapest, April 29 : The government of Hungary is ready to settle its dispute with the European Commission over concerns about the rule-of-law situation in the country, Gergely Gulyas, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff, said here.

On Wednesday, the Commission sent a formal letter to Hungary kick-starting a process that could lead to the freezing of European Union (EU) funds, reports Xinhua news agency.

In late 2020, EU adopted a mechanism that allows the European Commission cut funding to member states that violate the bloc's rule-of-law standards.

The government "welcomes" and has already studied the letter, Gulyas said in a statement on Thursday.

He said that the government does not consider the launching of the rule-of-law procedure justified and that there are issues on which it is not willing to compromise. These include Hungary's determination to stay out of the conflict in Ukraine.

Still, "there is nothing stopping it" from signing an agreement on the release of recovery funds, he said, referring to Hungary's 7.2-billion-euro ($7.56 billion) slice of the 800-billion-euro 'NextGenerationEU' recovery package, which the bloc has refused to sign off on for nearly a year because of rule-of-law concerns.

"The issues raised in the letter are all issues that we have been negotiating about for months with the Commission," Gulyas said.

There has been progress, he said, but "there are a number of points that remain open".

Hungary's government now has two months to respond to the Commission's letter and submit proposals to resolve the situation.

If the Commission is satisfied with the response, the so-called "conditionality mechanism" will be terminated.

If not, the process could continue for six to nine months, and could end with a proposal to the Council of the EU to suspend payments to Hungary.
Beijing, April 29 : An airport in Guangzhou, capital of China's Guangdong province, has announced the cancellation of domestic passenger flights amid a Covid-19 outbreak.

All inbound and outbound domestic passenger flights are cancelled from Friday to Saturday, Xinhua news agency quoted the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport as saying in a statement.

However, the cargo and international flights will run as planned, it added.

In the last 24 hours, the city added three confirmed locally transmitted Covid-19 cases and one asymptomatic carrier.

The four infected cases are all reported at the airport, three of which are staff members.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, April 29 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hosting a Sikh delegation on Friday evening.

The group will have people from different walks of life. In a tweet, Prime Minister Modi said: "This evening, I will be hosting a Sikh delegation at my residence. The group includes people from different walks of life. I will also be addressing the gathering at around 5:30 PM. Do watch".

Last month, Prime Minister Modi had met a delegation of leading Sikh intellectual voices from across the country at his official residence here.

The meeting witnessed a free-wheeling interaction by the Prime Minister with the delegation on diverse topics like farmers' welfare, youth empowerment, drug-free society, National Educational Policy, skilling, employment, technology and Punjab's overall development trajectory.

The representatives appreciated the continuous and multiple steps taken by the Prime Minister for the betterment of Sikh community.

In February, Prime Minister Modi had hosted prominent Sikhs from across the county.
Kiev, April 29 : Ukraine has carried out its latest prisoner exchange with Russia which brought back 45 people, including five injured soldiers, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced here.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, the Minister said the 45 people comprised 13 officers, 20 soldiers and 12 civilians.

On April 19, Ukrainian authorities rescued 76 people, of which 60 were Armed Forces personnel, while the rest were civilians.

On April 14, there was a 30-for-30 prisoner-of-war exchange and on April 1, Ukraine held an "86-for-86" exchange, 15 of them were women, Ukrayinska Pravda reported.

On March 24, Ukrainian authorities carried out a 10-for-10 exchange of prisoners of war.

Earlier, the Ukrainian authorities had also exchanged nine Russian conscripts for the captured mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, who was abducted on 11 March.

It is also known that exchanges have been carried out upon the decision of the military leadership.

In particular, at the beginning of the war, a Russian commander captured in Sumy region was exchanged for five fighters of the Territorial Defence Forces on March 1.

On April 15, in Kherson rgion, the military command exchanged 5 Ukrainian soldiers for four captured Russian troops.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Chennai, April 29 : Coimbatore MP and senior leader of CPI-M, P.R. Natarajan, has demanded a detailed inquiry in a case of misspelling the name of a railway station in Tamil language.

The MP said on Friday that he had already written a letter to the Union Railway Minister and wanted an immediate intervention in the matter.

The boards installed at the rear end of the station and at the parcel office reads -- 'Koyamputhur' instead of Coimbatore.

Natarajan while speaking to IANS said, "The Railways have to answer this as the name Coimbatore is spelled as 'Koyamputhur' in Tamil which is factually wrong. I have taken up the matter with the Union Railways Minister and expect a response soon." He said that the Railway officials must use the name as per the Tamil Nadu government guidelines. The senior leader also said that it has to be seen whether the Railway officials have done it deliberately or not.

B. Mohanraj, Secretary, Pollachi train passenger welfare association while speaking to IANS said, "This is indeed a major mistake and Railways should not have committed such an error. The Coimbatore Railway station officials must themselves make the correction as early as possible and not wait for higher-ups to clear this." He also said that the mistake might have been due to the presence of a large number of people from Kerala who are working at Coimbatore railway station as they spell it as Koyamputhur.

It is to be noted that the Coimbatore railway station was earlier under the Palakkad Railway division in Kerala.
Kabul, April 29 : A former general in the Afghan army says he and many other soldiers and politicians from the previous administration are preparing to launch a new war against the incumbent Taliban regime in the country.

Speaking for the first time about the plans, Lt Gen Sami Sadat told the BBC that eight months of Taliban rule has convinced many Afghans that military action is the only way forward.

He said operations could begin next month after Eid, when he plans to return to Afghanistan.

The Taliban took control of the country in a rapid offensive last August.

The hard-line Islamists swept across the country in just 10 days, as the last US-led NATO forces left following a 20-year military campaign.

Lt Gen Sadat said that he and the others would "do anything and everything in our powers to make sure Afghanistan is freed from the Taliban and a democratic system is re-established".

"Until we get our freedom, until we get our free will, we will continue to fight," he told the BBC, while refusing to declare a specific timeline.

The general underscored how the Taliban had been reintroducing increasingly harsh rule, including severe restrictions on the rights of women and girls, adding it was time to stop their authoritarian order and start a new chapter.

"What we see in Afghanistan in eight months of Taliban rule has been nothing but more religious restrictions, misquotation, misinterpretation and misuse of the scripts from the Holy Quran for political purposes," he told the BBC.

He initially planned to give the Taliban 12 months to see if they would change, he said.

"Unfortunately, every day you wake up the Taliban have had something new to do -- torturing people, killing, disappearances, food shortages, child malnutrition." Lt Gen Sadat said he received hundreds of messages daily from Afghans asking him what he was going to do about it.
Washington, April 29 : Richard Olson, a former US Ambassador to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, has pleaded guilty to undisclosed lobbying for Qatar while still in service and soon after his retirement, a media report said citing court records.

He is also accused of accepting a lavish trip to Qatar while still serving as the US envoy to Pakistan, said the Dawn news report.

"I wish to plead guilty to the offences charged, to waive trial in the Central District of California, and to dispose of the case in the District of Columbia in which I am present," he wrote in a consent letter submitted by his lawyer.

Olson, who has also served as US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was charged in the federal court over violation of a restriction on lobbying for a foreign country while in service and within a year after retirement, Dawn reported.

Olson has been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award and the Secretary of Defence Exceptional Civilian Service Award, and is a three times recipient of the State Department's Superior Honor Award.

He lived in Virginia after his retirement and was a regular on South Asian affairs at Washington's think tanks where he often appreciated Pakistan's efforts to contain terrorism.

Former US President Barack Obama sent Olson to Pakistan in 2012 when the then Ambassador, Cameron Munter, resigned after the 2011 raid in Abbottabad that led to the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden.

Munter was apparently not consulted before the raid but strained relations with Pakistan as Islamabad was informed about it later.

Olson presented his credentials to the President Asif Ali Zardari on October 31, 2012, and served in Pakistan till October 27, 2015.

The charges against Olson include courting foreign work while in office and using his political influence to advance Qatari interests in Washington after his retirement, Dawn reported.

The US Justice Department has also charged him with making false statements in ethics paperwork and violating laws restricting foreign lobbying by former federal officials, both misdemeanors.
Thiruvananthapuram, April 29 : Protests broke out at the iconic MM CSI Church here on Friday after one section opposed the elevation of the church to a Cathedral, a move the CSI South Kerala diocese had given its nod to.

Built in 1906, the magnificent church in limestone is a delight to anyone passing by it.

The CSI South Kerala diocese led by the moderator Bishop A. Dharmaraj Rasalam on Friday early morning had arrived to dedicate the church to a cathedral.

Those opposing it were present in large numbers and sensing trouble, a massive contingent of police was deployed that no untoward incident was reported.

There are 2,400 families who are members of this iconic church. As per the section opposing it, at present the church is run by an elected committee and once it becomes a Cathedral, then Bishop Rasalam would get the absolute control of the church which would be incorrect.

But Rasalam said since 1959, everybody has been wanting this elevation but for various reasons it could not take place.

"However, on perusal of records, we recently found out that a committee of the church in 1963 had given its nod for the elevation subject to the clearance of the CSI South Kerala synod. In January, the synod gave its nod and today we have all assembled here for the elevation function," said Rasalam.

Asked about the opposition and the protests, he said 99 per cent of the parishioners of the church are supporting this elevation.

"I do not know who all are protesting as we have done nothing wrong. The elected committee of the church Awill be running the administration and the bishop will have to be informed of all the decisions," added Rasalam.
Vienna, April 29 : Radiation levels at the exclusion zone of Ukraine's now-defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which Russian forces had controlled for weeks before withdrawing in late March, have remained within the safe range, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced.

Earlier this week, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi headed a mission to the plant, site of the worst-ever nuclear disaster, to deliver equipment, conduct radiological assessments and restore safeguards monitoring systems, reports Xinhua news agency.

Grossi told a news conference in Vienna on Thursday after returning from Ukraine that the IAEA staff had measured the radiation levels at an area of the Chernobyl's exclusion zone, where some excavation work had "presumably" been conducted by Russian forces.

According to data provided by the IAEA chief, the radiation dose level in the excavation area was 6.5 millisieverts per year, higher than the 1.6 millisieverts at nearby roads but well below the limit of 20 millisieverts that is considered safe for workers in areas exposed to radiation.

"There was an increase (in radiation levels) but this increase is still significantly below the authorized levels for workers in an environment with this type of radiation," Grossi said.

He added that the IAEA staff are still working to repair the safeguards monitoring systems at the Chernobyl.

The Chernobyl plant, some 110 km north of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, suffered one of the worst nuclear accidents in human history on April 26, 1986.

Russian forces took control of the plant on February 24, the day Moscow launched its invasion of Kiev.

The troops withdrew on March 31.

At Thursday's news conference, Grossi also expressed concern about the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant, which is still under Russian control.

"Zaporizhzhya is at the top of my list of concerns when it comes to the situation of the nuclear facilities in Ukraine," he said, adding that he had been in talks with both Ukrainian and Russian authorities to ensure the plant's safety.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Sonipat, April 29 : The 6th edition of the Jindal Internship Fair, organised by the Office of Career Services (OCS) at the O.P. Jindal Global University, was an incredible success with over 200 organisations participating in the 5-day fair, including 19 organisations which visited the campus for conducting the recruitment process.

The fair attracted more than 6,500 applications from over 1,100 participants for around 3,000 internship opportunities.

Spanning a broad spectrum of the industry, the organisations ranged from the legal and corporate sector to policy & research and media and advertising.

Leading industry giants including Airtel Payments Bank, Berkshire Hathaway Orenda India, Edelweiss Wealth Management, Global Trade Observer, Pi Consulting, SRF Foundation, RSPL Ltd. and many others shared summer internship opportunities for the first time.

They were also joined by regular patrons including Bajaj Capital, Centre for Budget & Governance Accountability, Child Rights & You (CRY), Coral Research Services, IDIA Charitable Trust, FICCI, Futures First, Kailash Satyarthi Foundation, LT Foods (Daawat), Publicis Groupe, PVR Cinemas, Max Healthcare, Shoppers Stop, Shriram Life Insurance, Tenon Group, Udayan Care, and WWF - India.

Students were offered a wide variety of lucrative profiles including Content Development, Crowd Funding, Data Analytics, Editorial, Finance, Human Resources, Legal Profile, Public Relations & Communications, Research, Social Media & Digital Marketing among others. These profiles were offered in online, in-office as well as hybrid modes.

This edition of JIF was inaugurated by the Registrar of JGU, Prof. Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik, in the presence of 8 School Deans/Executive Deans - Prof. (Dr.) Ashish Bharadwaj, Dean, Jindal School of Banking & Finance, Prof. (Dr.) Derick Lindquist, Dean, Jindal School of Psychology & Counselling, Prof. (Dr.) Jaideep Chatterjee, Executive Dean, Jindal School of Arts & Architecture, Prof. Kathleen Modrowski, Dean, Jindal School of Liberal Arts & Humanities, Prof. Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Executive Dean, Jindal School of Journalism and Communication, Prof. (Dr.) Mayank Dhaundiyal, Dean, Jindal Global Business School, Prof. R. Sudarshan, Dean, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, and Prof. (Dr.) S G Sreejith, Executive Dean, Jindal Global Law School on 4th April 2022, and in its 5-day journey, saw enthusiastic participation from students across all schools.

The Founding Vice Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University, Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, said, "We are delighted that the Office of Career Services has nurtured a range of industry partnerships for JGU students. The fact that internship opportunities from over 200 organisations were offered to students in a span of 5 days speaks volumes about JGU's ability to match the industry demand with supply of talent for meaningful industry engagements. I am happy to share that JGU is prepared for more such opportunities within the world-class curriculum of the current and the upcoming programmes in JGU." Rituraaj Juneja, Senior Director - OCS & Chief Industry EngagemenT Officer, spoke about the importance of internships in a student's life for professional development. He said, "Aligning with the vision of our founding Vice Chancellor, Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, the OCS has been working closely with the industry in providing each JGU student with a meaningful and enriching internship experience after every semester break. These internships also become a base for future career opportunities and we encourage students to make use of the opportunities presented through JIF." In keeping with past trends, this year too, first year students were the most enthusiastic participants. Over 55 per cent of the participants in the 6th Edition of JIF were in their first year of studies across different schools and programmes.
Srinagar : , April 29 (IANS/ 101Reporters) Kangri or Kangaer, an earthenware pot containing burning coal encased in a wicker basket, is an inexpensive way to keep warm during the harsh winters of Kashmir. The combination of the long pheran, the traditional Kashmiri attire, and the kangri is the most effective and reliable way to safeguard against the biting cold for the poor and underprivileged population in far-flung areas of rural Kashmir where electricity is still a luxury.

However, during the last few years, the Valley has witnessed many cases of Kangri cancer, a type of squamous cell carcinoma. Medical experts claim that the overuse of the kangri pot is the principal cause of this type of cancer. A recent study revealed that Kangri cancer patients had a history of using a kangri for 5-6 hours a day, 3-4 months in a year. Elements that are believed to contribute to the development of this cancer are heat, burning wood particles, smoke and burnt chinar leaves.

Dr Shaqul Qamar Wani, MD, Associate Professor and Consultant, Department of Radiation Oncology, State Cancer Institute, Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, told 101Reporters, "Kangri cancer is a type of squamous cell skin cancer that is more aggressive than other skin cancers and that usually occurs in the lower part of the body (lower abdomen and inner thighs), due to the frequent placement of the kangri close to these areas to keep oneself warm during chilling winters.

"As kangri is made and used in Kashmir, this cancer is found only in this part of the Indian subcontinent. In time, the heat injury to the skin takes the form of superficial reticular blackish-brown coloured lesions called 'erythema ab igne' or fire stains, which itself is a precancerous condition. If left untreated, these lesions may take the form of single or multiple well-defined lesions that will continue to grow and may be associated with itching, bloody discharge, and non-healing ulcers." An alarming increase in cases - cause for concern

Expressing her concern over the rising number of Kangri cancer cases in the region, she said, "For the last five years, we have registered over 400 patients with skin cancer, including the Kangri cancer patients in our hospital. The educated population are well aware of this disease. However, we need to have frequent awareness programmes for the economically weaker sections of society living in remote areas." Abdul Gani, a 75-year-old man from Central Kashmir's Budgam district, told 101Reporters, "Two years ago, I had some burn marks because of using kangri. I applied some homemade remedies, but they did not help much. So I decided to visit a dermatologist who, after brief treatment, suggested that I visit an oncologist." Gani's grandson, Aqib Hassan, said that his grandfather was advised to undergo many tests after consulting with the oncologist. He recalled that they were stunned when the doctor informed them that the burn marks were starting to show signs of cancer, a disease that was unknown to them.

"Later, we were advised to consider radiotherapy. My grandfather showed good recovery signs after the procedure. However, due to his advanced age, he suffered from various other health issues besides weakness," said Hassan. The preventive applications of radiation have been noted as "encouraging" in reducing some tumours and eliminating others.

Another patient, Ghulam Nabi Dar, 67, from North Kashmir's Baramulla district, was at SKIMS for his follow up check-up after being detected with Kangri cancer last year.

He said that before consulting an oncologist, he thought that the burns caused by the kangri were because of a common allergy as it caused itching, bleeding and ulceration. "I was shocked after hearing the diagnosis that there is even such a type of cancer. Initially, I was distraught, but doctors and counsellors encouraged me and gave me hope, and I was motivated to fight this disease," Dar told 101Reporters.

He added that the doctors educated him about preventing a recurrence of cancer by avoiding the use of kangri pots close to the body. They recommended he use adequate thermal protective clothing and alternative heat sources.

Prevention better than cure Dr Shaqul said that detecting this cancer early is the key to the cure. If the disease is localised, then a simple surgical procedure is effective. If it is advanced to locoregional draining nodes, it can be dealt with surgery followed by radiation to the problematic areas. All the facilities required to manage such patients are available in the Valley now.

An article published by Dr Mohmad Ashraf Teli, Departments of Radiotherapy and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, SKIMS, Soura, Srinagar-Kashmir, revealed that surgery is the frequent modality of treatment used in the management of these tumours.

Medical health professionals also believe that education and awareness about this type of cancer among the local Kashmiri community could help reduce the incidence rates.

"Regular medical screening at periodic intervals with blood tests, scans, and physical examinations is important due to its high metastasising potential and possibility of recurrence. Kangri cancer can be altogether prevented by finding alternative ways of keeping ourselves warm during winters.

"My sincere request to our community is to initiate and practice healthy measures from today to have a better and happy tomorrow. It does not matter how monetarily sound we are; there is always a way out. It may be difficult to replace kangri use all at once, but it will be possible over time. Until then, we should use it judiciously and try to keep it as far away from our skin as possible," said Dr Shaqul.

(The author is a Kashmir-based freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)
New Delhi, April 29 : Indian Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane said that there was an increase in seizure of arms and ammunition from Afghanistan in Kashmir.

General Naravane, who is all set to hang his boots on Sunday, said in a video released on Thursday: "There is definitely an increase in the number of weapons and other equipment, especially night-vision devices that we are capturing or unearthing, which definitely have come from Afghanistan." He added that there were also apprehensions that after Taliban took over Afghanistan last August, the mujahideens would be pushed into Kashmir by Pakistan.

"When the previous Taliban regime was there in Afghanistan in the early 2000s, we did have a little spillover. We had captured or killed Afghan terrorists (in Kashmir) also," Naravane had said the recently-concluded Raisina Dialogue.

Last month, General Naravane and other top military commanders reviewed deployments of troops at Western and Northern borders.

The military top brass had discussed the force preparedness at Line of Actual Control with China and the Line of Control with Pakistan.

In February this year, General Naravane had said the situation in Afghanistan was again brought to focus, the use of proxies and non-state actors to decisive effects.

"These actors thrive on local conditions, innovatively exploit low cost options, to devastating impact and create conditions, that limit the full use of sophisticated capabilities, available to the state," he had said.

The concept of sequential, and often graduated application of force, has also undergone significant changes.

"I have said this in the past, and I wish to reiterate, that in future conflicts, the troops, on the forward-most locations, ready and in a high state of alertness, may not be the ones to face the first wave of aggression," he had added.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, April 29 : In a latest development in connection with NCB's raid in the residential premises in the national capital's Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Nagar where 50 kg heroin and 47 kg suspected narcotics worth Rs over 100 crore was seized, two more persons were arrested by the NCB on Friday.

The NCB has claimed that the racket has links with Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

S.N. Pradhan, the Director General, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has claimed that narco terrorism module could be behind the entire case.

On Thursday, following a tip-off an NCB team raided the specified locations and recovered 50 kg high quality heroin, 47 kg suspected narcotics, Rs 30 lakh cash, cash counting machines and other incriminating material. The contraband was stored inside bag packs and jute sacks. One person was arrested during this raid.

"The seized heroin originated in Afghanistan and the drug money is suspected to be channelled through hawala. The seized contraband was packed inside online shopping store packets," the official had said.

"During investigation, it was revealed that an India-Afghan syndicate based in Delhi/NCR or the neighbouring states, seems to be connected to the case. These syndicates have expertise in manufacturing heroin locally," NCB Deputy Director General (Operations), Sanjay Kumar Singh had said.

According to him, these syndicates have been smuggling goods into India through maritime as well as land border routes.

"Heroin was smuggled in with various legitimate goods and was later extracted from those goods by the Indian counterparts with the help of some Afghan nationals," the DDG had claimed.

Raids were being conducted since Thursday and some were underway to bust the entire network.

The syndicate was found to be connected with the drug traffickers in entire North India, including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi.
New Delhi, April 29 : The Delhi High Court on Friday agreed to hear on May 6, the bail applications of JNU scholars-activists Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid, who were allegedly linked to a case of 'larger conspiracy' behind the 2020 Delhi riots.

Hearing the pleas, a division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar noted that a matter challenging the constitutional validity of the offence of Sedition under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code is pending for hearing before the Supreme Court on May 5.

Considering this, the bench said it would be appropriate to wait for the order in the matter before hearing the present appeals.

On April 27, the apex court had allowed the Central government to file its response on petitions demanding striking down the sedition law and posted the matter for May 5.

During the hearing, Chief Justice N.V. Ramana had said the situation on the ground is grave, and if one party does not like what the other is saying, Section 124A is used.

Sharjeel Imam has approached the Delhi High Court challenging the April 11 trial court order which refused him bail in the larger conspiracy case.

During the course of the hearing, the bench told Sharjeel's counsel Tanveer Ahmed Mir that the court is of the view that since Sharjeel is the purported co-conspirator as per the FIR, both the appeals will be heard together.

"There is absolutely no material has been adduced by the prosecution, attributed to the Appellant from which it could even remotely be suggested that the Appellant at any point in time had any intention to cause/incite violence. Rather from the material relied upon by the prosecution itself, which the Ld. Special Court has failed to take into consideration, it is manifestly clear that the Appellant to the contrary had on multiple occasions very categorically and emphatically called the protestors to not resort to violence at any cost," said his appeal.

According to police, Imam made alleged inflammatory speeches in Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, on December 13, 2019, and Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh, on January 16, 2020.

He has been in judicial custody since January 28, 2020, and is currently lodged in Tihar jail in Delhi.

Umar Khalid had also knocked the doors of the high court following a similar situation of bail denial in the trial court.

On Thursday, his appeal was adjourned for Friday, after the court's observation that his fresh documents explaining his alleged 'offensive speech' have not come on record.

His alleged offensive speeches delivered at Amaravati during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens were the basis of allegations against him in the riots case.

During the course of the hearing on Thursday, the petitioner submitted the materials and case laws detailing the meaning of the words 'krantikari' and 'inquilab' which was used by him in the alleged speeches.

The riots broke out in northeast Delhi in February 2020 after clashes between the anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and pro-CAA protesters took a violent turn.

The mayhem, which coincided with the then US President Donald Trump's maiden trip to India, saw more than 50 people lose their lives and over 700 injured.
Chennai, April 29 : A private college in Coimbatore has put 40 students in isolation after they showed symptoms of fever and cold.

The students were subjected to RT-PCR tests on Thursday and the results are awaited on Friday.

The college, which teaches physiotherapy, conducted a national conference from April 22 to 24, and students from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka participated in it.

College sources told IANS that the students fell ill after this seminar and a section of the college has been converted into isolation ward and the students were kept there. The college authorities were awaiting the results of the RT-PCR tests done on Thursday for further action, including admission to general hospital.

It may be noted that the state health department has issued strict Covid-19 standard protocol after signs of a slight increase in Covid-19 cases came up in the state. Tamil Nadu has also made masks compulsory and those who found without it would be charged fined Rs 500.

State health secretary J. Radhakrishnan, while speaking to IANS, said, "Yes we have come to know that students of a Coimbatore college are showing symptoms of fever and cold. The RT-PCR test is done and we are awaiting the results. There is no reason to worry but all necessary precautions have to be taken, including maintaining standard Covid protocol."
Kabul, April 29 : At least nine civilians were killed and 13 others injured in twin blasts in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Afghanistan's Balkh province, a police spokesman confirmed.

"The blasts occurred in a span of short time roughly at 7 p.m. on Thursday in Police District (PD) 3 and PD 10 of the city," the spokesman told Xinhua news agency.

The first explosion hit a bus, while the second one came 10 minutes later in a separate location, he said.

The nature of the blasts were not immediately known, the spokesman said, adding investigation into the incidents was still on.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far.

The past week claimed to be the deadliest since the Taliban came to power last August after 128 people were killed and 161 others were injured in violent incidents.
New Delhi, April 29 : Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana on Friday said 126 vacancies have been filled in various high courts in less than a year and he expects 50 more appointments.

The Chief Justice was speaking at the 39th Chief Justices' Conference, taking place after a gap of six years.

Justice Ramana said: "Due to our collective efforts, we could fill 126 vacancies in various High Courts, in less than a year. We are expecting 50 more appointments. This remarkable feat could be achieved because of your wholehearted co-operation and commitment to the institution".

He urged the chief justices of high courts, which are still having a number of vacancies, to forward the names for elevation at the earliest. The CJI pointed out that in the past one year, nine judges were appointed to the apex court and 10 new chief Justice for high courts, and thanked the other judges in the collegium for their cooperation.

He added, "I have also requested all of you, in our very first online interaction, to expedite the process of recommending names for elevation to High Courts, with an emphasis on social diversity. I am happy to note that the response from some of the High Courts has been extremely encouraging." The aim of the conference is to discuss and identify the problems that are affecting the administration of justice. "All of you have rich experience of more than ten years as Judges. You will be able to analyse the subjects objectively and make constructive suggestions. With your free and frank views on the subjects being discussed, we will certainly be able to arrive at meaningful conclusions," he added.

This conference will be followed by a joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices at Vigyan Bhawan on April 30. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the event.

Justice Ramana said: "Our conclusions and resolutions from today will form the basis of deliberations in the joint conference tomorrow. We will take these up with the government, and attempt to build consensus around the same".

Following major issues will be deliberated upon in the Chief Justices' Conference 2022: strengthening of the network and connectivity of all courts complexes pan India on priority basis; human resources/personnel policy; infrastructure and capacity building; institutional and legal reforms; and, appointment of high court judges.
Chennai, April 29 : Rural fintech player Spice Money on Friday said it has tied up with Religare Broking Ltd to facilitate rural populace to apply for shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

The life insurance giant is coming out with a premium initial public offering (IPO).

Spice Money offers essential digital financial and e-retail services such as cash deposit and Aadhaar led withdrawals, mini ATM services, bill payments and recharge, money transfers, loans, tours and travel and more to the rural citizens through Spice Money Adhikari App.

According to Spice Money, the association with Religare Broking aims to provide rural citizens with access to investment opportunities.

This association will allow over 95 per cent of rural pin codes to get access to assisted phygital platforms to invest in capital market securities.

Religare Broking is currently servicing over 10 lakh demat customers through its pan India network of over 1,100 branches and business partners across over 400 cities in the country.

Spice Money, on the other hand, has a network of over 10 lakh merchants (called Spice Money Adhikaris) serving over 10 crore households in over 700 districts across the hinterlands of India.

Sanjeev Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, Spice Money said: "Access to the IPO of a brand that commands nation-wide trust, like LIC, will help rural citizens warm up to the phenomenon of investment opportunities they are hitherto unaware of." "With the LIC IPO on its way, a huge opportunity awaits for new investors and its policyholders. Jointly Religare & Spice Money will play an instrumental role in building a rural India financial inclusion model, combining new age technology with human assistance and bringing Ghar Ghar Demat Account," Nitin Aggarwal, CEO, Religare Broking said.
Chennai, April 29 : The Covid-19 cluster at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) has increased to 171 despite authorities saying that there was nothing to worry about.

The institute is also continuing to function.

According to Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan, the state government and the IITM authorities are trying to prevent the infection from spreading outside the campus.

The IITM has asked people to wear masks, maintain social distance and go for Covid-19 tests in case they experience Covid-related symptoms.
New Delhi, April 29 : The much-awaited 47th Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting, with its focus on GST rate restructuring and extension of GST compensation cess, will now possibly be held in the first week of May, once the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman returns from her 10-day visit to the US after attending the World Bank-IMF meeting earlier this month.

Among the many items on the Council's agenda, the extension of the GST compensation cess to states could turn out to be a contentious issue if the government refuses to accede to the request, given its vociferous demand from several opposition-rules states.

The states have urged the Centre to extend the five-year compensation period under the GST law before its termination by June-end. Any move to extend the GST compensation deadline, however, will call for an amendment to the Indian Constitution, which will have to be taken up in the next parliamentary session because the Constitution's 101st amendment, states can only be compensated for five years, starting 2017.

Any denial of such a request would seriously hurt the revenues of states, which could force them to levy special cess on items which fall outside the purview of the GST Council, like the imposition of Covid Cess by the states of Jharkhand and Kerala. Under the existing law, states are given full compensation for the first five years of the introduction of GST on the assumed revenue growth rate of 14 per cent from the base year of 2015-16. Compensation cess is levied on luxury and sin items such as aerated drinks, coal, pan masala, cigarettes and automobiles over the peak rate of 28 per cent.

Reports also suggest that the GST Council is also contemplating the simplification of the tax regime by rationalising tax rates, and correcting the inverted duty structure, where the duty on final products is much lower than those of raw materials and intermediaries needed to manufacture the product.

"This could mean that the Council may decide to revise tax rates and may also review the exemption list. Thus, the industry can expect rate revisions, pruning of exemption list and increase of tax rates in respect of goods which are presently under inverted duty structure," says Charanya Lakshmikumaran, Partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys.

However, if the Council decides to discontinue with GST compensation cess, it will be a major relief for the industry which is paying compensation cess over and above the GST.

Merger of tax slabs of 12 per cent and 18 per cent into a single slab, may result in reduction of classification-related disputes.

"However, if the single slab is towards the higher side, the move will put a higher tax burden on the end consumers who are the ultimate bearers of tax burden," adds Lakshmikumaran.

Further, the industries whose effective tax rate is reduced will be required to pass on the relief to end consumers in compliance with the anti-profiteering provisions. There are also reports that the government may discuss the inclusion of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) under the GST regime because of the current high crude prices.

Experts like Lakshmikumaran agree that while no straightjacket formula can be prescribed to help industry in deciding the tax classification and other relevant issues, the Council should focus on administrative changes, which can be introduced in the areas of assessment under GST, advance ruling mechanism, constitution of tribunals, etc. which shall ensure timely disposal of issues and will also provide certainty to the industry.

The GST rate structure currently contains four important GST rate slabs -- 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent.

Many economists and industry experts feel that it is necessary to merge a few slabs to arrive at revenue-neutral rates. For this purpose, the GST Council previously deployed a committee or team of GST Council members under the leadership of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to study the GST rate rejig need issues and resolutions.

The committee has had several meetings in the past and its leader had met the Sitharaman to discuss the progress made in the GST rate rejig study.
Bhubaneswar, April 29 : Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be on a five-day official visit to the national capital and is scheduled to leave from here on Friday, sources said.

During his visit, Patnaik will attend a joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of the High Courts at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, which is scheduled to be held on April 30.

The Chief Minister is also likely to follow up some work pending with the Union Government, the sources said.

Just a month ago, Patnaik had visited Parliament and held discussions with several senior political leaders from different parties.
Los Angeles, April 29 : Frequent co-stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts toss back shots and break out funky dance moves in 'Ticket to Paradise', a romantic comedy in which they play hostile exes.

Universal Pictures brought a sneak peak of the film, which opens in theaters on October 21, to CinemaCon, the annual exhibition trade show currently underway in Las Vegas, reports 'Variety'.

The two A-list stars were not present at the Caesars Palace to promote their film 'Ticket to Paradise', but theater owners in the audience still appeared to be entertained by their on-screen reunion.

Clooney and Roberts play a divorced couple who fly to Bali to stop their lovestruck daughter (played by Kaitlyn Dever) from marrying a man she barely knows. The trailer, which hasn't been released yet to the public, showcases several funny moments, including Clooney's character drinking everyone on the island under the table and playing beer pong, which later prompts him to do the wave and the funky chicken.

Another moment that tickled the funny bone of the crowd was Roberts and Clooney's characters refused to sit next to each other on the plane and hurled insults until a flight attendant lets them switch.

"Worst 19 years of my life," Clooney says, to which Roberts replies, "We were only married for five." "I'm including the recovery," he replied back.

They attempt to set aside their differences and call a truce in the name of scaring their daughter out of marrying a person who is essentially a stranger.

"We have to do a Trojan Horse to make her think we're OK with this," Clooney tells his ex-wife. But their daughter doesn't suffer fools. The minute they land on the beach, she tells them: "You don't have to do a whole Trojan Horse thing." Ol Parker, best known for 'Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again' and 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel', directed 'Ticket to Paradise' and co-wrote the script with Daniel Pipski.

Roberts, the patron saint of romantic comedies, hasn't returned to the genre in nearly 20 years. But after a stretch including but not limited to 'Pretty Women', 'My Best Friend's Wedding', 'Runaway Bride', 'Notting Hill', and 'Eat Pray Love', Roberts says she struggled to fall in love with a script - that is, until 'Ticket to Paradise'.

As a bonus, the film offered a chance for Roberts to reunite with Clooney for the first time since 2016's heist thriller 'Money Monster'. They also collaborated on director Steven Soderbergh's 'Ocean's Eleven' and 'Ocean's Twelve', reports 'Variety'.

Romantic comedies have mostly been brushed off as a dying breed, according to 'Variety'.

However, the genre has been showing signs of life after Paramount's 'The Lost City', an amorous action-adventure starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, made a splash on the big screen this spring, grossing $100 million worldwide to date.

Universal is hoping that audiences will continue to show love for romantic comedies with 'Ticket to Paradise' and Billy Eichner's romantic comedy 'Bros'.

Eichner, who was on hand in Las Vegas, had the audience in stitches as he teed up the trailer for 'Bros', which is the first gay romantic comedy from a major studio.

"Usually when I come to Vegas, I come to see gay icons perform, like Cher, Britney Spears and the Bellagio fountain," he joked.

He then skewered Hollywood for largely ignoring stories about same-sex couples.

"It's important that before we got one movie about a gay couple we got two movies about talking hedgehogs," he said.

Eichner added: "If you like hedgehogs you'll love gay people." On a more serious note, Eichner said, "It isn't about gay people suffering tragically, it's about how hard it is to find another tolerable human being to go through life with." In the film, Eichner plays Bobby Leiber, a podcast host who get a shot at writing a romantic comedy about a gay couple, but one that "straight people will like." The assignment forces Eichner's character to confront his own issues around intimacy and relationships.

The footage gives a glimpse at sweeter moments, like Eichner's love interest Luke Macfarlane, and raunchier moments, like a four-person orgy.

Eichner promised the theatre owners that gay people were good for business and added the film will be a positive experience for straight audiences. His character might disagree, however.

"Gay sex was more fun when straight people were uncomfortable with it," Bobby lamented in the final moments of the trailer.
Washington, April 29 : A new bill was approved in the US state of Oklahoma to further restrict abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

Similar to a legislation in Texas, the bill will empower private citizens to enforce the law through civil lawsuits, making it much harder to challenge it in court, reports Xinhua news agency.

The vote at the state's House was was 68-12. The legislation already cleared Oklahoma's Senate in March.

"Oklahoma is a very pro-life state, and we want to protect the preborn babies that are in Oklahoma and are in the world," said state House representative Todd Russ, a Republican who co-authored the bill.

The bill now goes to Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it into law in the coming days and thus effectively block abortion access to Oklahoma from Texas which enacted the near-all abortion ban on September 1, 2021.

According to a study from the University of Texas, out of the thousands of state patients who travelled out of state for abortions from September to December, 45 per cent went to Oklahoma.

The number of US states which have introduced restrictive laws modelled after last year's Texas abortion ban now has risen to 13 including Oklahoma, according to a report of The Washington Post.

States controlled by Republicans are eager to restrict abortion rights within their own borders prior to this summer's highly-anticipated Supreme Court ruling on the landmark Roe v. Wade decision enshrining abortion rights, said the report.

Since last September, the Supreme Court has passed up three opportunities to overturn the Texas ban, a move some Republicans have interpreted as a green light for this kind of legislation.
Pune, April 29 : In a unique initiative, an NGO has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to donate all the loudspeakers taken off mosques and other religious places for enabling 'distance education' in far-flung schools and junior colleges in the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, or other border states.

Against the backdrop of the recent move by the Uttar Pradesh government to yank off loudspeakers from many religious places in that state, the Pune-based 'Sarhad' has written to the Prime Minister on the issue.

Sarhad Founder-President Sanjay Nahar said that thousands of these public address systems have been removed and may be rendered useless, to finally end up in the 'kabadi' (scrap) shops.

However, in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, there are hundreds of schools and even some junior colleges which are situated long distances apart, 5-7-10 kms or even more in some remote forested or mountainous areas.

"Through Sarhad initiative 'Ghar Ghar School, Har Ghar School', along with Vande Mataram Sanghatana (VMS), we are finalising a plan to recycle these discarded loudspeakers for such schools and junior colleges, help 'connect' them, amplify the teachers' classes/lectures to benefit all, clear the students' doubts, solve problems, etc.," an excited Nahar told IANS.

These could also be deployed for certain other common initiatives like relaying the National Anthem daily, morning prayers/pledges or conduct competitions on loudspeakers so all can take part irrespective of the long and tiresome distances involved, he added.

Besides, if a particular teacher is on leave or absent, the students can be 'linked' to some other nearby schools to relay the same period to ensure they don't miss out on the days' course education or lag in the syllabus, and relay common instructions during exams simultaneously, saving time and efforts, said VMS President Vaibhav Wagh.

VMS' Working President Sachin Jamge said it would be of particular importance during bad weather conditions when many small mountain villages remain practically cut off, but the facility of such 'distance education' would ensure the students feel part of the mainstream and don't miss out on their curriculum.

Last week, the Uttar Pradesh government cracked the whip on illegal loudspeakers and dismantled nearly 11,000 from various religious spots like mosques, temples, etc.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath came in for unabashed praise on Thursday from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray -- who started it all! "I wholeheartedly congratulate and stand grateful to the Yogi Government for having removed loudspeakers, specially the masjids (mosques), he said, adding how unfortunately in Maharashtra, there are no such 'Yogis' (hermits), but only 'Bhogis' (hedonists).

Nahar urged Yogi and Raj to consider the proposal in the national interest instead of sowing sectarian strife, and said 'Sarhad' can repeat the same in remote or border areas in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and other Northeastern frontier states.

"Regular use of these bullhorns will ensure alertness among the people, can be used in medical emergencies or terror situations to relay messages where mobile connectivity is poor and discourage the 'shady elements' who lurk in the border areas," Nahar said.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)
New Delhi, April 29 : A local court on Friday granted Delhi police two-day remand of Farid, alias Netu, who was arrested in connection with the April 16 Jahangirpuri violence case.

Farid, a close aide of alleged mastermind of the case Mohammed Ansar Shiekh, was arrested following a tip-off from from Purba Medinipur in West Bengal on Thursday.

Official sources had told IANS that Farid was one the key accused responsible for instigating the violence at Jahangirpuri.

"Soon after the violence, he left Delhi and went to West Bengal to evade arrest," the sources had said.

Severe communal clashes erupted at the Jahangirpuri area on April 16 during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in which nine people, including eight policemen, were injured.

The police has till now arrested 39 people and apprehended two juveniles while one of the arrested person's relatives was bound down for injuring a police Inspector by pelting stones at him.

The ongoing investigation into the communal clashes has revealed previous involvement of several accused in various criminal cases.

The focus of the probe is currently on the prime accused of the violence -- Md Ansar -- whose pictures of flaunting lavish lifestyle has even forced the Delhi Police to seek ED's help in the matter.

Arrested accused Farid has some connection with accused Ansar, as per the sources.
Kochi, April 29 : Malayalam actor-producer Vijay Babu, who is accused of raping his female colleague, on Friday filed an anticipatory bail plea before the Kerala High Court.

On Thursday, the Kerala Police issued a look out notice for the actor in connection with the rape case.

The court is likely to hear his plea in the afternoon session.

In his petition, he said that the actress is trying to blackmail him.

The actor said he has all evidences, including chat messages between him and the complainant, to prove his innocence and is ready to submit it before the court too.

The police suspect that Babu has fled the country and is presently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Babu, according to the police, is on the run after a female colleague hailing from Kozhikode filed a complaint in Ernakulam that she was raped and beaten up by him a few times at a flat in Kochi.

The complaint was registered on April 22.

Soon after the news surfaced, Babu appeared live on his social media handle on Wednesday, claiming that he was the "real victim" in this case, adding that he would take appropriate legal steps against the complainant, whom he also named.

The police apart from her complaint, have registered a second case against the actor for disclosing the name of the complainant.

She has also accused the actor of intoxicating her before the sexual abuse.

Speaking to the media, top police official C.H. Nagaraju said they have started the probe against him and have collected evidence also.
Chennai, April 29 : Tamil Nadu Assembly on Friday passed a unanimous resolution urging the central government to permit the state to send essential items, medicines to Sri Lanka on humanitarian basis.

The resolution was moved by Chief Minister M.K.Stalin signalling the government's changed stance.

Earlier, the DMK government in the state had asked the central government's permission to send the essential items to only Sri Lankan Tamils.

On Friday, moving the resolution, Stalin said the island nation is facing a severe economic crisis and the prices of essential items have gone up and are not affordable to the people.

Stalin said the Lankan problem cannot be seen as a problem of another country and "we have to lend help".

Referring to his earlier decision to supply essential items to Lankan Tamils, Stalin said Tamils in that island nation welcoming the move had said that the entire nation is suffering and the assistance should be provided to the nation as a whole and not only to the Tamils.

Stalin said the state government has decided to ship 40,000 ton of rice (value Rs 80 crore), life saving drugs (Rs 28 crore) and 500 ton milk powder (Rs 15 crore) to Sri Lanka.

As the state cannot send the items directly to Sri Lanka and has to be routed through the central government and Indian High Commission in the island nation and hence this resolution, Stalin said.

Earlier, Stalin had requested the central government to allow the state to ship the essential supplies including food grain, vegetables and medicines etc., from Thoothukudi port to the Sri Lankan Tamils living in Northern and Eastern Parts of Sri Lanka and Colombo, as well as those working in the plantations who are reeling under severe food crisis.

Tamil Nadu also sees several Lankan Tamils landing in the state owing to the economic crisis in their country.
Ottawa, April 29 : Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said the government plans to reopen its embassy in Ukraine soon.

According to a CTV report, Joly said before the Senate foreign affairs and international trade committee on Thursday that her objective is to do so in the coming days, weeks, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We just need to make sure that there is a secure environment for staff and also we're looking at what our other Five Eyes colleagues and allies are doing," Joly was quoted as saying.

Canada closed its embassy in Kiev on February 12 and relocated diplomatic staff to the western city of Lviv.

All staff members were later moved to Poland.

Last week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain planned to revive its on-the-ground diplomacy in Ukraine.

The US, France and Italy have announced similar plans.
Kolkata, April 29 : Acclaimed Bengali actress Madhabi Mukherjee has been hospitalised on Friday morning after she complained of extreme uneasiness.

Her family sources said that the 70-year-old actress, always considered a favourite of legendary film directors -- Late Satyajit Ray, Late Ritwik Ghatak and Late Mrinal Sen -- was hospitalised after her blood sugar level shot up suddenly.

It is learnt that although her condition is more or less stable, she is extremely weak and is undergoing different medical tests at the hospital.

Family sources said that the actress was not too well for the last few days. Her family did not want to take any risk and got her admitted to the private hospital.

She got married to Nirmal Kumar, another legendary actor of Bengal movies. However, they are separated now. She has two daughters.

Her memorable films include Ritwik Ghatka's 'Subarnalata', 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' and 'Komol Gandhar', Satyajit Ray's 'Mahanagar', 'Charulata' and 'Kapurush' and Mrinal Sen's 'Baishe Srabon' and 'Calcutta 71'. Her roles against two superstars of Bengali movie, Late Uttam Kumar and Late Soumitra Chattopahyay were quite popular among the Bengali cine-buffs
Mexico City, April 29 : Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he plans to submit a bill to Congress to overhaul the country's electoral system.

The proposed reforms include replacing the autonomous National Electoral Institute, the body that organises polls, eliminating proportional representation in Congress, and reducing the cost of up to 24 billion pesos ($1.2 billion), reports Xinhua news agency.

The Constitutional Reform on Electoral Matters will create the National Institute for Elections and Consultations, and federalise elections by scrapping the regulatory bodies currently in charge of organising elections in each state, the President told reporters here.

The reforms will end "electoral fraud" and guarantee "the full application of democracy", said Lopez Obrador.

According to the proposal, the number of legislative seats in the lower house will be reduced from 500 to 300, and the number of Senate seats will be cut from 128 to 96.

Also, the method of appointing deputies, senators and city councillors will be changed from indirect proportional representation to direct voting.

Since taking office in December 2018, Lopez Obrador has spearheaded reforms in several sectors, including energy.
Colombo, April 29 : Domestic debt in the form of government securities and development bonds will not be restructured as restructuring external debt is a top priority for Sri Lanka, central bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said.

Addressing a meeting of the Committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Weerasinghe also provided an update on the progress made during the recent discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, reports Xinhua news agency.

He said progress has been made towards establishing a macro-fiscal policy framework and initiating structural reforms.

The Governor also expressed confidence that a staff-level agreement with the IMF is likely to be reached within the next two months.

Weerasinghe announced that additional measures will be implemented to address urgent economic concerns.

The measures include introducing regulations to encourage the US dollar flows currently transacting in the informal market to be channeled through the formal banking system.

As a result of policy measures already introduced by the central bank and the government, he is of the view that expenditure on imports will be declining further to more sustainable levels.

Sri Lanka is going through its worst economic crisis brought about by foreign currency shortages and it halted external debt repayment on April 12.
New Delhi, April 29 : Amid the loudspeaker row and the controversy over 'Hanuman Chalisa' recitation, Maharashtra in-charge of the Congress, H.K. Patil met Sonia Gandhi on Friday and briefed her about the situation in the state where the Congress is a part of the MVA government.

Sources said that the issue of the appointment to the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker's post also came up during the meeting. After the Assembly elections of 2019, Nana Patole of the Congress was elected Speaker of the House. But the post fell vacant in February 2021, after Patole resigned and was subsequently appointed president of the state Congress. Patole's resignation had angered the Shiv Sena and NCP, allies of the Congress in the MVA, as they had not been consulted about the move. Since then the matter has not been resolved.

The state is also witnessing a lot of activity with regards to the loudspeaker and the "Hanuman Chalisa' issue. Raj Thackeray had recently given an ultimatum to the Maharashtra government to remove loudspeakers from religious places, especially mosques, in the state by May 3. Amravati MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana were arrested last week after they gave a call to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence 'Matoshree' here.

Patil met Sonia Gandhi as the Congress is taking feedback ahead of the 'Chintan Shivir' and in Maharashtra the party has just won a bypoll in Kolhapur and is elated over the results.

The party has started gearing up for the next Lok Sabha elections, and its win in bypolls has given a boost to the poll preparations.

The 'Chintan Shivir' is scheduled from May 13 in Udaipur where around 400 delegates will participate from across the country. The party has constituted six sub-groups to prepare an agenda for the event.
Kabul, April 29 : In its latest report, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that due to the imposition of new restrictions on the dress of female students and teachers in some provinces of Afghanistan, some students have dropped out of school.

According to the report, the Taliban closed one school in Balkh province for several days after some students had their faces uncovered.

According to an official from the school, the Taliban demanded the sacking of a teacher for her "immodest" dress.

Another school now has a teacher assigned to "prevent vice and promote virtue", the HRW report said.

"The requirements on hijab are getting tougher day by day," a teacher said, adding: "They (Taliban) have spies to record and report... If students or teachers don't follow their strict hijab rules, without any discussion they fire the teachers and expel the students." Heather Barr, associate women's rights director at the HRW, said: "The Taliban is imposing increasingly strict dress codes on both students and teachers and enforcing these dress codes by expelling students, firing teachers and even closing down the entire school.

"The students have told us they think that this is an effort by the Taliban to convince them to leave school." Meanwhile, Rina Amiri, the US Special Representative for Human Rights and Women in Afghanistan, criticized the closing of girls' schools in Afghanistan, saying it is taking Afghanistan in a "negative direction", TOLO News reported.

"The situation of women and children is continuing to go in a very negative direction. The longer this continues in this way without robust response from the Taliban, the greater the country is going to suffer more devastating consequences," Amiri said.

But the Ministry of Education said it is ready to open girls' schools above the sixth grade if the leadership calls for it.

In addition to global reactions, the ban on girls' schooling above the sixth grade has been met with widespread reactions from politicians, civil society activists and religious scholars.
New Delhi, April 29 : Amid the tactical firing at the security forces' camps in Chhattisgarh since the last 10 days, the intelligence agencies have sounded an alert that the Maoists may execute a bigger attack in the state.

Sources quoting the intelligence inputs said that the ultras have initiated more than 10 incidents of firing and shelling at the security forces' camps, the latest being on the CRPF's Milpa and Amalgunda camps in Chhattisgarh.

Sources also said that the 'Maoists may be planning to execute a bigger attack on the security forces in coming weeks'.

"The Maoists are currently running the Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC) in Chhattisgarh. They do it from March to June with a purpose to evaluate the strategy of the security forces and to inflict major damage to the security forces.

"The security forces are fully alert in Chhattisgarh and neighbouring states and we are also aware of their TCOC. We will not let them go free once caught in an encounter," a source in the security forces deployed in the Maoist area, said.

According to the information received from the security forces in Chhattisgarh, the Maoist have fired intermittently at night with grenade launchers from a distance to make their presence felt in the area. "This way, they also want to give a message to the local population that they are still strong and can attack the security forces at will, this is an old mind game of these ultras," a senior officer of the Chhattisgarh Police said.

The Potakapali camp of the CRPF in Sukma (Chhattisgarh) was targeted by the Maoists last Monday. They fired at the camp but later fled when the CRPF commandos retaliated with heavy firing.

The officials deployed in the operation areas said the Maoists start firing between 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. or in the wee hours and then flee from the spot when the security forces retaliate.

The operational camps of the CRPF, ITBP, BSF and SSB have been hit by firing in the last ten days, they added.

The officials said that this intermittent firing at the forces' camps is done to provoke them to come out of the fortified areas of the camps. But all the personnel have been directed to strictly follow the standard operative procedures during such incidents. In any case the security personnel are not allowed to go out of the base camp until they have been asked to do so by the commanders during such firing incidents.

The officials said that the Maoists footprint is decreasing in Chhattisgarh; however, they are still dominating in some parts of Bastar. The forces deployed there are fully alert and counter operations against them have been prepared, said the officials.
Jeddah, April 29 : Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah, local media reported on Friday.

"My visit reflects our joint will to start a new era of cooperation as the two brotherly countries. We will be making efforts in order to start a new era of enhanced relations between our two countries in all respects including politics, military, economy and culture," the Saudi Press Agency quoted Erdogan as saying in its report.

"It is in our joint interest to boost our cooperation with Saudi Arabia in such areas as healthcare, energy, food security, agricultural technologies, defence industry and finance. It seems that we have significant potential particularly in renewable and green energy," the President added.

The relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia significantly strained after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as Turkish officials alleged that Khashoggi was killed by a team of Saudi agents, reports Xinhua news agency.

Ankara has been recently seeking to restore ties with Riyadh and other Gulf Arab countries.
By Troy Ribeiro KunalRaina, Troy

By Troy Ribeiro

Series: 'Runway 34' (Showing in theatres)

Duration: 148 minutes

Director: Ajay Devgn

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Rakul Preet Singh, Abhinay Raj Singh, Boman Irani, Sharik Khan, Aakanksha Singh, Angira Dhar

IANS Rating: ****

Ajay Devgn's 'Runway 34', is inspired by a real-life incident and strongly reminiscent of the 2016 released English film 'Sully: Miracle on the Hudson'. Yet, it is distinct and proves to be a gripping drama pivoting around Captain Vikrant Khanna's flight from Dubai to Cochin, one rainy night, and how the skilled and experienced pilot saves 150 lives, with his maturity and foresight, preventing an impending aviation disaster, landing in Trivandrum instead, with limited fuel.

An edge-of-the-seat drama, the film keeps you hooked right from the beginning. The flight scenes displaying the fear and anxiety of the petrified passengers are real and palpable. The external flight shots of the aircraft flying amidst thunder and rain are also beautifully executed and appear real. The final landing of the plane in severe turbulence is frighteningly credible.

Image Source: IANS News

While the passengers and media term him a hero, Captain Vikrant Khanna faces a strict inquiry for his decision of landing at Trivandrum instead of Bengaluru and even opting for Runway 34 instead of the recommended Runway 16.

The second half of the film with the entry of Amitabh Bachchan as Narayan Vedant, the Investigating Officer, is equally exciting, although it is more of a courtroom drama with the inquiry committee and the pilots being interrogated.

How Captain Vikrant Khanna manages to hold his own against Narayan Vedant, convincing him of his sharp memory and flying skills through a simulated flight, thereby justifying his actions and decisions, forms the crux of this aviation drama.

Image Source: IANS News

Ajay Devgan, as the dashing and accomplished Captain Vikrant Khanna essays his character with his characteristic restraint and minimal expressions. He emotes through his eyes, conveying myriad emotions. An astute pilot, who places his passengers' safety before everything else, a family man but with a fun side to his personality, Ajay Devgn is every bit that pilot.

Amitabh Bachchan as Narayan Vedant expectedly takes centre stage with his flawless oratorical skills and charisma, and towers over everyone else in the inquiry scenes. As always, he is a treat to watch.

Rakul Preet Singh, as Co-pilot Tania Albuquerque delivers what is expected of her, given the limited scope of her character. The scene where she is frightened owing to the bad weather and thinks it is all over is a wee bit incongruous with the perception one has of a pilot.

Boman Irani as Mr Suri, the owner of the Skyline Aviation company, is credible.

Image Source: IANS News

The story is narrated in a linear manner, and is fairly straightforward with no element of intrigue or unexpected twists, although the drama quotient is fairly high.

Some parts of the film appear a tad rushed and unconvincing, especially the inquiry by the DGCA officials and the breath analyser tests.

The background music is effective especially in the scene when Captain Vikrant Khanna leaves the airport after the heroic feat.

Overall, 'Runway 34' is an interesting film which is a perfect combination of drama and good performances.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Jaipur, April 29 : As the scheduled power cuts in Rajasthan have become a daily trend, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday termed power shortage as a national crisis and accused the Central government of failing to supply adequate coal to states to generate sufficient electricity.

The state BJP, however, hit back and said the Chief Minister and his government were presenting contradictory facts on coal supply.

State BJP president Satish Poonia tweeted a DIPR letter dated April 24 on Friday, which read that 'there was no shortage of coal in Rajasthan'. He said, "There are contradictory statements coming in from the Department of Information and Public Relations and you on coal supply." Earlier in the day, Gehlot said, "The demand for electricity has surged in 16 states due to rising mercury; however, coal is not being supplied accordingly, due to which power supply is not possible as per requirement. This is a national crisis. I appeal to everyone to unite in this crisis and support the government in improving the situation. Turn off non-essential electrical appliances in your home or workplace," he further appealed to the masses.

Gehlot also hit upon the BJP for protesting against the power cuts and said, "In Rajasthan, the state BJP is working to put pressure on the electricity department workers by harassing them via protesting at the power houses. I would like to ask them that isn't it the job of the Central Government to provide coal to states. Will the directionless leadership of the state BJP question the central government as to why it is not able to provide coal as per the demand, due to which there has been a power cut in 16 states, he further questioned.

Meanwhile, Poonia said, "The shortage of coal is often talked about, but in the letter of DIPR of the Government of Rajasthan dated April 24, it has been clarified that 'there is no shortage of coal in Rajasthan and the state will supply uninterrupted power,' and hence this letter exposes the contradiction of Chief Minister's words and deeds," said Poonia.

Rajasthan is reeling under severe power crisis and 1 to 6 hour power cut has become a regular affair. There is a huge gap between the demand and supply of electricity and, hence, the power cuts are being done for one hour at all divisional headquarters, including the capital, two hours in districts, three hours in towns and up to 6 hours in the rural areas.
Hyderabad, April 29 : Nikhil Siddhartha has penned a hearfelt and poignant letter to his father who passed away on Thursday.

Nikhil was working on 'Karthikeya 2' when he received a phone call from home that turned his life upside down.

Nikhil was heartbroken to learn that his father Shyam Siddhartha, had died of corticobasal degeneration, a rare disease.

The distraught actor took to social media to inform his fans and followers of the bad news. Nikhil did, however, write a heartfelt note to his father that is deeply emotional.

Shyam, Nikhil's father, was taken to the hospital, but doctors declared him dead on Thursday. Nikhil and his family were devastated by the news, despite the fact that they had expected it because his father was suffering from the rare disease for a long time.

"Devastated that My father Shyam Siddhartha Passed away yesterday. Hope U find peace wherever you r Daddy..We Love u.." "Our RTC Xroad movie and Biryani Outings, Travel,laughter, Summers in Mumbai.. will miss them all.

"I am always proud to be Your son. Hope we meet again daddy", Nikhil wrote, as he also shared an elaborate message about his late father.

Nikhil's emotional post recalls his fond memories with his dad, as he also shared a couple of photos with his late father.

"The last 8 years he has fought it, doing his best to stay for us, ably supported by my mother and Family. However yesterday he breathed his last." "An Avid Movie Buff who was a huge fan of the Greats NTR & ANR , his dream was to see me someday on the silver screen. His motivation and unwavering support have made me what I am today", Nikhil recalls.

"Hope you find peace wherever you are Daddy. We Love you and Miss you a Lot. Not a day will pass without us thinking about you", the 'Karthikeya' actor wrote, leaving a deeper impact on his fans and followers as well.
Kiev, April 29 : Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said his country is willing to seize Russian assets to finance Kiev's post-war recovery.

"The funds of the Russian government and oligarchs will be one of the main sources for filling the Fund for the Reconstruction of our country," Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine is in talks with G7 countries over the seizure of Russia's assets, Shmyhal said, adding that Canada has already prepared legislation for such actions, reports Xinhua news agency.

Earlier, Shmyhal said that his cabinet has set up a recovery fund for Ukraine's long-term reconstruction and estimated that the country's full-scale recovery will cost around $600 billion.

Russia has over $600 billion worth of foreign currency reserves held in dollars, gold and other currencies, with about half of them believed to be frozen by the restrictions imposed by Western governments on its central bank.

The head of Russia's central bank has said it was preparing to take legal action to challenge the freeze.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Suva, April 29 : Effective from May 1, all fully vaccinated visitors to Fiji will no longer be required to produce a pre-arrival negative Covid-19 test prior to entry, a move that reduces costs and lends greater convenience to those travelling to the country, a government statement said on Friday.

The change applies to all visitors entering Fiji by air or sea who were previously required to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test or rapid antigen test (RAT) prior to their arrival, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Fijian government said that this step is in line with best practice for entry requirements among highly vaccinated societies and follows countries such as Australia and Singapore who have also removed Covid-19 testing as an entry prerequisite.

The requirement to book an in-country pre-Covid RAT test, prior to departing for Fiji remains. The test must be done within 48-72 hours of arrival.

Commencing May 1, the vaccination requirement for entry into Fiji has also been widened. All visitors above the age of 16 years must now display proof of full COVID-19 vaccination prior to entering the country.

The lowering of the age requirement for the vaccine prerequisite comes as more children globally are granted access to vaccines.

Fiji's key visitor markets have considerably high coverage of vaccination among those below the 18-year age threshold.

The government said that requiring that all tourists aged 16 years and above provide proof of vaccination prior to visits to Fiji further reduces the risk of community transmission of Covid and allows the island nation to capture a greater percentage of the fully vaccinated tourism market.

All other existing conditions for entry remain applicable.

These moves follow Fiji's continued effort to strengthen its in-country testing program and wider community surveillance efforts designed to ensure the safety of visitors and Fijians alike.

The Covid-19 Risk Mitigation Taskforce will continue to review Fiji's entry requirements and safe measures, with a focus on strengthening community surveillance and the robustness of the in-country testing digital platform, supplemented by the already high vaccination rates.

There have been no admissions of Covid-19 positive people to hospitals or deaths in the last four days even though there have been 21 new cases recorded this week, according to Permanent Secretary for Health James Fong in the latest update.

Fiji, which has a population of around 900,000, reported its first confirmed Covid-19 cases in March 2020.

It was hit by the second wave in April last year.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, April 29 : The National Green Tribunal has directed the Centre to come up with a law safeguarding public health in public places within three months.

The principal bench headed by NGT chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel while dealing with matters which have common prayer for direction to evolve standards for Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), noted that "Public place means any place to which the public has access, whether as of right or not, and includes auditoriums, hotels, public waiting rooms, convention centers, public offices, shopping malls, cinema halls, educational institutions, libraries, open grounds and the like which are visited by the general public." During the course of the hearing, the bench took note of a relevant article, in which it was stated that toxic gases and particulate matter may be generated indoors which may adversely affect the employees working in such places and also the general public visiting there.

As per the article, the sources of indoor air pollutants can include building material, formaldehyde, volatile organic carbon, radon, asbestos, particulate matter, gaseous pollutants, biological pollutants, said the order dated April 19.

The bench also highlighted the WHO Guidelines for indoor air quality, reference is made to sources of pollutants in indoor buildings including benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, naphthalene, nitrogen dioxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, radon, trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene.

It further said that Regulation need not be for domestic building as rightly pointed out by the environment ministry, observing there is no statutory bar to regulation indoor air quality under the Air Act or the EP Act and the Rules.

Accordingly, the green court was directed to form a committee of the ministries concerned --particularly the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Ministry of Health, with CPCB being the nodal agency.

"Joint Committee may hold its first meeting within one month and after deliberations work out appropriate standards and protocols for indoor air quality for safeguarding public health at Public places under the EP Act, EP Rules or the Air Act within three months. It will be open to the applicants to make their respective representations before the Committee. Based on the report of the Committee, MoEF/CPCB may issue appropriate orders under the relevant statutory provisions," read the order.
San Francisco, April 29 : Tech giant Amazon has announced that its Fire TV Cube (2nd gen) now supports Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) to directly connect compatible Bluetooth hearing aids.

The company said that this makes Fire TV the first-ever streaming media player to support ASHA.

"With this feature, your hearing aids connect with Fire TV at the system level, so you can not only enjoy audio from your favourite apps but also Alexa, music, navigational sounds, and more," the company said in a blogpost.

"Customers with compatible Starkey Bluetooth hearing aids can connect directly to Fire TV Cube for private listening, use your remote's volume buttons to control the streaming audio level," it added.

Bluetooth hearing aids connect with Fire TV on a system level, so users can enjoy private audio from favourite streaming services, apps, and games, as well as Alexa.

To pair hearing aids, users can visit Fire TV Settings, Accessibility, select Hearing Aids, and follow the on-screen instructions to connect them, much like you would with Bluetooth headphones.

"For an optimal experience, we recommend customers connect over a 5Ghz WiFi network, within 10 feet and in line of sight to Fire TV Cube," the company said.

"Due to the small size of hearing aids, their radio antennas require closer proximity for the best connection. Customers with 2.4GHz WiFi can still enjoy the feature, with range that varies depending on spectrum congestion," it added.
Bengaluru, April 29 : Karnataka police have stepped up efforts to arrest the accused who is absconding after carrying out acid attack on a 23-year-old woman near her work place at Sunkadakatte in Bengaluru.

According to Kamakshipalya police, three special teams have been on the job to nab the accused Nagesh.

The police say that all his family members have disappeared after the incident.

The preliminary investigations have revealed that the accused Nagesh had preplanned the acid attack on the girl and escaped.

Nagesh was allegedly in love with the victim, and when she rejected his proposal outrightly, he carried out the acid attack on her.

Police sources explained that the accused had poured 1 litre of acid on the girl while he had worn thin gloves so that it wouldn't hurt him a bit.

The victim was dropped by her father to her office at 8.30 am on Friday. The accused Nagesh sat in an auto wearing thin gloves and holding an acid bottle ready near her office and waiting for her arrival.

The victim waited outside the office as it was yet to open. She observed Nagesh coming towards her with a bottle and she started running from the spot. The accused chased her and poured all the acid from the bottle on her. After the attack, when the girl collapsed with pain, without remorse, the accused left the place.

The police have gathered inputs of the accused going to the court and pleading with advocates to argue for him and get bail. After failing to get any advocate, the accused is absconding.

The victim had called up her father after the attack.

She was shifted to nearby Lakshmi Hospital at 8.50 a.m.

She recorded her statement to the police and later was shifted to Saint John's Hospital.

Further investigation is on.
New Delhi, April 29 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday lauded AAP leader Atishi's United Nations General Assembly address and termed it a moment of pride for India.

"A moment of pride for India. Delhi and AAP make Indians proud. The world is now looking up to Delhi for solutions in many areas of urban governance. We all will learn from each other to make world a better place," Kejriwal said in a tweet while re-tweeting a post by Atishi containing her speech at the UNGA.

In her address at the UN General Assembly, Atishi highlighted the governance model of the Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital.

"Well done Atishi. This is a very proud moment. Many congratulations for making the world aware of the potential of the country including the sentiments of the people of Delhi and the nation on such a big international platform. The nation wants such progressive thinking. India now wants to move forward," he said in another tweet in Hindi.

AAP leader Atishi shared the video of her speech at the UNGA on Twitter. "An honour to present the transformation brought about in Delhi, by the @ArvindKejriwal govt, before the @UN General Assembly. I believe that the 'Delhi Model' can provide insights for solving problems faced by many countries across the world," she said while posting the video of her speech in a tweet.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Chennai, April 29 : AIADMK leader and former Tamil Nadu chief minister O. Panneerselvam (OPS) has offered Rs 50 lakh aid to Sri Lanka which is facing heavy economic crisis, and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin thanked the gesture of the opposition leader.

CPI legislator, K. Marimuthu, BJP floor leader Nainar Nagenthran and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader, J. Mohammed Shanavas offered their one month salary to Sri Lanka as their contribution.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday moved a resolution in the state Legislative Assembly Friday to send aid to Sri Lanka.

During the discussion on this resolution, O. Panneerselvam stood up and said that his family would like to contribute Rs 50 lakh for helping people suffering in Sri Lanka.

Stalin during his speech said that the proposal of the Tamil Nadu government to send aid to Sri Lanka was only the initial support and that the government was willing to provide more help to the island nation if necessary.

While lauding the gesture of O. Panneerselvam, Stalin said, "I do thank him for his gesture. He has announced this so that others would also contribute." The Chief Minister also said that the Tamil Nadu government was prepared to coordinate if political parties, NGOs, individuals come forward to extend support to Sri Lanka.

BJP floor leader Nainar Nagenthran who has announced his one-month salary as a contribution to Sri Lanka objected to certain remarks by some of the legislators 'condemning' the Union government for not having accorded permission to the Tamil Nadu government to send assistance and support to Sri Lanka.
Kabul, April 29 : Factions of the fallen Afghan republic are claiming attacks on the Taliban in many provinces in what seems to be an uncoordinated spring offensive, media reports said.

Those groups are tapping into vast reserves of potential guerrilla fighters from among the hundreds of thousands of Western-trained security forces that served the former government but lost their jobs after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, RFE/RL reported.

Former leaders of the West-backed republic hope the rebellion will eventually turn into a national uprising against what they view as Taliban rule that has repressed women and alienated ethnic and religious minorities.

They are also banking on attracting help from Afghanistan's weary neighbours and global powers concerned by the return of terrorist groups to the country, which is already reeling from rising violence by the radical Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K).

The Taliban, however, consider the resistance small and insignificant.

"There is nothing that has improved since the Taliban seized power," said a former official of the Afghan Foreign Ministry close to the emerging resistance, requesting anonymity because of security fears.

"I am sure we will see a much bigger uprising against the Taliban," he added, RFE/RL reported.

One of the most visible anti-Taliban groups is the National Resistance Front led by Ahmad Masud, son of Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Masud who successfully prevented the Taliban from overrunning Afghanistan until he was killed by Al-Qaeda assassins two days before the September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001, the report said.

Former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who like Masud hails from the northern province of Panjshir, is a close ally. The two left Panjshir in September last year, just weeks after the Taliban takeover of Kabul the previous month. But their supporters are still launching sporadic attacks against the Taliban in remote Panjshir valleys.

Supporters of former Interior Minister Masud Andrai have offered the most formidable resistance with somewhat regular attacks on the Taliban in Andrab, a high-altitude valley in the northern province of Baghlan.

One of the most significant attacks was in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif last week when supporters of former warlord Atta Mohammad Noor clashed with the Taliban.

His nephew, Sohail Zmarai, was reportedly killed in an intense firefight that was acknowledged by the Taliban, RFE/RL reported.
London, April 29 : Actress Rose Leslie said that she won't put 'pressure' on herself to ensure her husband Kit Harington, who went to rehab in 2019, continues to stay sober because she knows it's something he has to continue to deal with himself.

Leslie said: "I've learnt a lot about addiction and it's something Kit is forever going to be aware of, but it's on him whether he chooses to drink again." "No amount of nannying is going to be able to stop him from doing what he decides to do... I don't choose to put that pressure on myself. The responsibility of his behaviour is on him. It's not on me to guard him from it." Leslie and Harington welcomed their son into the world in February 2021 and she praised her former 'Game of Thrones' star for how he stepped up as a parent when she was busy filming 'The Time Traveler's Wife'.

She told the new issue of Harper's Bazaar magazine: "He wore the Baby Bjorn loud and proud. And there were many satisfying moments; we had an understanding that, when our son cried in the middle of the night, it was on Kit to go and look after him, as I would have to wake up early to work - it was kind of glorious." Leslie found going back to work for the first time "brutal".

She said: "I remember finding it very brutal, being wrenched away from him. There were parts of me that doubted whether I would be able to see it through for six months. It was so tough.

"It's mind-boggling to me that women who come back to work after giving birth don't feel supported. How can your employer expect you to sustain the mental capacity, the energy and the drive to do it with clout otherwise?" The 'Death on the Nile' actress needed to "build" her bond with her son, rather than expecting an instant connection.

Leslie said: "When my son was born, the narrative seemed to be that you're automatically going to be enamoured with this little person." "But why should that be the case when you have never experienced having a child? Why should it come innately? There's an element of me saying, 'Hey, buddy, we're here now. It's amazing. But I've got to get to know you, and forge the relationship that's going to see us through our lifetime.' "It's something my husband also found. Once we recognised that the love gets built rather than being 100 per cent there from the start, once we voiced that opinion to each other, it felt like a real release."
Chandigarh, April 29 : Two persons were injured in a clash between two radical groups in Patiala on Friday, the police said, adding that the situation has been brought under control.

Bransdishing swords and sharp-edged weapons, the warring groups pelted each other with stones. The cause of the provocation is believed to be a march organised by one group that was challenged by the other.

The police reportedly opened fire to disperse the agitators.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Nanak Singh, told the media that the situation has been brought under control.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Sakshi Sawhney, in a message urged people to maintain peace and harmony, saying even if there is a dispute or misunderstanding, it is important to resolve it by dialogue.

She said the present situation is under control and is being continuously monitored.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann tweeted, "The incident of clashes in Patiala is deeply unfortunate. I spoke with the DGP... peace has been restored in the area. We are closely monitoring the situation and will not let anyone create disturbance in the state. Punjab's peace and harmony is of utmost importance." Blaming political opponents for the incident, AAP spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang said: "The government is on its toes, dealing effectively with the matter," he said.
London, April 29 : Seven hours is the ideal amount of sleep for people in their middle age and upwards as a new study has found that both insufficient or excessive sleep is associated with poorer cognitive performance and mental health, including dementia.

The study, published in the journal Nature Aging, indicates that one possible reason for the association between insufficient sleep and cognitive decline may be due to the disruption of slow-wave -- 'deep' -- sleep. Disruption to this type of sleep has been shown to have a close link with memory consolidation as well as the build-up of amyloid -- a key protein which, when it misfolds, can cause 'tangles' in the brain characteristic of some forms of dementia.

Additionally, lack of sleep may hamper the brain's ability to rid itself of toxins, said researchers from the University of Cambridge and Fudan University.For the study, the team examined data from nearly 500,000 adults aged 38-73 years from the UK Biobank.

Participants were asked about their sleeping patterns, mental health and well-being, and took part in a series of cognitive tests. Brain imaging and genetic data were available for almost 40,000 of the study participants.

By analysing these data, the team found that both insufficient and excessive sleep duration was associated with impaired cognitive performance, such as processing speed, visual attention, memory, and problem-solving skills.

Seven hours of sleep per night was the optimal amount of sleep for cognitive performance, but also for good mental health, with people experiencing more symptoms of anxiety and depression and worse overall wellbeing if they reported sleeping for longer or shorter durations, the researchers said.
New Delhi, April 29 : China has allowed return of Indian students to its various universities on a "need-assessed basis", according to the Indian Embassy in China.

According to the Embassy, following the meeting of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on March 25, the Chinese side has expressed its willingness to consider facilitating the return of Indian students to China on a need-assessed basis.

In order to facilitate this, the Indian Embassy intends to prepare a list of such students which will be shared with the Chinese side for their consideration.

The embassy has come up with a form and requested Indian students to fill out citing their necessity.

Once the collated information is shared with the Chinese side, it would consult relevant Chinese departments and varsities to verify the list and indicate whether the identified students can travel to China to complete the course.

This coordination process would be carried out in a time-bound manner.

The Chinese side has also conveyed that eligible students should unconditionally abide by Covid-19 prevention measures, and agree to bear all expenses related to Covid-19 prevention measures by themselves.

Over 23,000 Indian students, primarily studying medicines, are stuck back home due to Covid-19 visas and flight bans by China in attempt to control spread of Covid-19.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kochi, April 29 : The question that's doing the political rounds is will the widow of Congress legislator P.T. Thomas contest the upcoming by-election to the Thrikkakara assembly constituency in Ernakulam district.

On December 22 last year the 71-year-old popular Congress legislator Thomas, who represented the constituency, passed away.

The seat is vacant and early this month the top brass of the state Congress made a beeline to her house and tongues started to wag that Uma Thomas, the widow of Thomas, might contest.

On Friday, things became clearer when she took part in a protest near here over the 2017 actress abduction case in which actor Dileep is an accused and was arrested and put in jail. He is now out on bail.

Thomas was the first person who came to meet the actress as soon as he came to know of the incident and when she was at the residence of a leading actor, after the abduction episode.

Seeing Uma at the protest venue, the media asked her if she is going to contest. Pat came the standard answer, "I don't know anything as these things are decided by the party high command. If I come to know of anything I will let the media know about it," said Uma and sped away.

Thomas had one term in the Lok Sabha and was a four-time legislator.

In 2016 and 2021 Thomas won easy victories from Thrikkakara assembly constituency.

In the 2016 polls Thomas defeated veteran Sebastian Paul of the Left with a margin of 11,966 votes and five years later Thomas increased his victory margin to 14,329 votes. On both occasions there was a wave in favour of the CPI-M led Left.

All eyes are now on the yet to be announced by-election, especially the CPI-M, as they have the now disgruntled veteran local Congress leader K.V. Thomas, who has been stripped of the post that he held in the state unit of the party. This happenned after the disciplinary committee of the Congress recommended this action when he failed to heed the directive of party president Sonia Gandhi not to attend the 23rd CPI-M party Congress.

Thomas also hails from Ernakulam and when asked about the impending by-election and what his position would be, he said "I will be with those who pursue development politics," and added that he will always be a Congressman.

For Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who got a second term, the first in Kerala for any CPI-M chief minister, the by-election is going to be an acid test. They received a shot in the arm recently when the son of a local top Indian Union Muslim League leader, also the vice-chairman of the Thrikkakara municipality, was involved in a gold smuggling case which they are going to raise during election time.

The IUML is the second biggest ally of the Congress led UDF.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, April 29 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has lodged an FIR with the Delhi Police against Kolkata Police for alleged fabrication and forgery of a recent order passed by a Kolkata court in connection with a coal scam case in which Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee has been named accused.

The FIR has been filed against Kolkata Police official with the Crime Branch.

"Joint director Kapil Raj was forced to give his voice samples by fabricating the court order. In 2021, an audio tape went viral on social media in which ED officials were discussing Banerjee's case with a businessman. Later on, Banerjee lodged an FIR against ED officials with Kolkata Police. The police had moved a local court regarding voice sample of the ED official," said a source.

The ED had said there was fabrication in the court order and now has filed an FIR with the Delhi Police.

Senior ED officials were earlier summoned by Kolkata Police in the matter pertaining to leaking of purported audio conversation between ED officials and the businessman.

The ED had approached Delhi High Court seeking relief in the matter. Summons were issued again after Trinamool Congress leader Banerjee and his wife were asked to join the ED's probe in Delhi.

The ED officials had then again approached the Delhi High Court for protection.

The Crime Branch said it was looking into the matter.
New Delhi, April 29 : The Border Security Force (BSF) said it on Friday shot down a drone, coming from the Pakistani side, in Punjab's Amritsar sector.

According to the BSF officials, the drone had entered Indian territory in the area falling near village Dhanoe Kalan in Amritsar sector at around 1.15 a.m.

The BSF personnel, deployed at the international border, heard the humming sound of a flying object and as per the standard operating procedure, fired and brought it down. The whole area was cordoned off and police and other security agencies concerned were immediately informed.

An intensive search of the area was carried out and around 6.15 a.m., the search party recovered a black-coloured, 'Made in China' quadcopter (drone), model DJI Matrice- 300, near village Dhanoe Kalan.

The quadcopter had no payload when it was shot down.

The BSF officials also said that the entire area was again searched to ascertain whether the drone was carrying any payload and dropped it before it was shot down by the BSF troopers. So far, nothing has been found, they added.

Anti-India elements in Pakistan have been using drones for transporting arms and narcotics into India. Along the Punjab border, the drones have been used to send narcotics, mostly like heroin, while in Jammu and Kashmir, arms and ammunition have been recovered from the drone when it was shot down by the security forces, senior BSF officials said.
Guwahati, April 29 : The District Sessions court in Assam's Barpeta on Friday granted bail to Independent MLA from Gujarat, Jignesh Mevani, who was first arrested by the Assam police on April 20 in Gujarat in connection with an "objectionable" tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mevani was again arrested by the Barpeta police on April 25 on different charges, including "outraging the modesty of a lady police officer" soon after the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Kokrajhar district granted him bail.

Mevani's lawyer Angshuman Bora on Friday said that his (Mevani's) bail application was granted by the Barpeta District Sessions court on a personal bond and surety of Rs 1,000.

"We yet to get the detailed order of the court. We are not sure when Mevani would come out from the police custody," Bora told IANS.

The 41-year-old legislator, who was elected from the Vadgam Assembly constituency, was first arrested by the Assam police on April 20 (from Gujarat) and taken to Kokrajhar district the next day.

Mevani, who is also the Convener of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, was sent to five-day police custody by Barpeta's chief judicial magistrate on April 26 on charges of "voluntarily causing hurt", "criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty" and "force on a woman cop intending to outrage her modesty".

Meanwhile, the Congress organised a series of demonstrations across Assam since last week against the "undemocratic arrest" of Mevani, who had earlier pledged outside support to the party.

The Gujarat legislator was arrested on April 20 following a complaint filed against him by an Assam BJP leader seeking action against Mevani under the IT Act.

Mevani had earlier alleged that his arrest is a deep-rooted conspiracy by the BJP and RSS.

"They (BJP and RSS) are doing this to tarnish my image and are doing this systematically. They did it to Rohit Vemula, they did it to Chandrasekhar Azad, now they are targeting me," he had told the media.
Kolkata, April 29 : The Calcutta High Court on Friday has issued notice for contempt of court to three top bureaucrats of West Bengal - Chief Secretary, H.K. Dwivedi, Finance Secretary, Manoj Pant, and Transport Secretary, Rajesh Kumar Singh.

A single judge bench of Justice Arindam Mukhopadhyay issued notice on a petition seeking a pension scheme for retired employees of the South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC).

A retired employee last year filed a petition seeking introduction of the pension scheme, and in September 2021, the bench of Justice Mukhopadhyay accepted the demand and directed the Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary and Transport Secretary to introduce it.

However, since the order was passed, there was been no progress on this count, following which the petitioner drew the attention of the court recently. On Friday, Justice Mukhopadhyay took a strong note of this and issued notice.

He also directed these three bureaucrats to be personally present at the court on May 20, and explain why the order of the court had not been adhered to as yet.

Samiran Mandal, the counsel for the petitioner, said that the North Bengal State Transport Corporation is giving pension to their retired employees. "However, the retired employees of SBSTC are deprived of pension. However, even after eight months of the court order, no pension scheme for WBSTC employees has been introduced. The court feels that this is a contempt of court and hence the three bureaucrats have been summoned and asked to give explanations," Mandal said.

--IANS src/vd

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New Delhi, April 29: The Russian ruble has bounced back after a sharp fall in March. At present it is trading around 70 to a US dollar -- the highest in over 20 months. The ruble plunged to an all-time low of about 150 to a US dollar in March just after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Not only has the Russian Central Bank pegged the currency with gold, the country's President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement under which foreign buyers are required to pay ruble for gas purchase. Any currency backed by gold is perceived to be stabler and stronger.

That apart, Russia also announced cutting off gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria after they refused to pay in ruble. While these countries are looking for alternative gas supplies, the choking of Russian gas could impact the lives of their citizens in the near term.

More than a third of Europe's energy requirements are sourced from Russia and the country's energy major Gazprom in fact enjoys a monopoly on pipeline supplies. Aided by high energy prices, the company's net profits soared to 2.09 trillion rubles in 2021, up from 135 billion rubles in 2020.

Despite stringent sanctions thrashed out on Russia after its Ukraine invasion, the Russian economy has not collapsed even as most analysts predict a massive contraction in 2022.

"The fundamentals in the Russian economy are still strong with huge foreign exchange and gold reserves... we continue to have a strong position in the global market, especially in the energy sector," senior Russian journalist Anna Koroleva told India Narrative. "If Russia turns off Europe's gas, they will not like it very much," she said.

Earlier, India Narrative reported that with 11 per cent of global oil reserves, sanctions against Russia will have limited impact. Russia also accounts for 21 per cent of gas production in the world and is one of the largest exporters of wheat.

According to news platform Foreign Policy (FP), Russian energy supply has only increased. The country's oil exports to Europe besides other countries including India have gone up.

Russia is also Beijing's third-largest gas supplier. Ties between the two countries have also been deepening.

"Putin in continuing to make at least a billion dollars a day by selling oil and gas, and the lion's share is from Europe," FP quoted former Europe specialist at the State Department, Edward Fishman as saying.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative

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Bengaluru, April 29 : The ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have locked horns over the issue of extending help to the families of the persons arrested for indulging in large-scale violence.

Congress MLA and former minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmad Khan has announced that he will help the mothers and children of the persons arrested in Hubballi. He has also stated that he will distribute food kits and Rs 5,000 cash to every family in Mastaan Shah Shaadi Mahal near Kasaba police station in Hubballi.

BJP National General Secretary and MLA, C.T. Ravi speaking on Friday took exception to it and stated that the Congress's role repeatedly comes into the open on such occasions. After the violence at DJ Halli-KG Halli and Padarayanapura, where agitators torched the police station and the sitting MLA's house, the Congress played a similar role in helping the accused families. The party gives monetary support and legal help through advocates, he added.

Congress MLA Zameer's name had also came to the front then also. Now also his name has come out for similar reasons. "He is the one pinching the baby and he is the one who is comforting the baby also," Ravi said.

"Congress wants to cause communal clashes to strengthen its vote bank. There were rumours of Congress supporting the hijab controversy from behind. They stood for the hijab and extended legal help. The advocates who argued for hijab charge Rs 50 lakh and they were in close touch with the Congress party. If we observe these developments, the role of the Congress is clear in the hijab crisis and the series of incidents of communal violence in the state," he claimed.

Congress MLA Khan stated that he will pray to Allah and ask him to punish those guilty as well as guide them on the right path during the sacred month of Ramzan. Help will be extended to the families whose earning members have been jailed. This should not be misunderstood. Those who are guilty let them be punished, he added.

Meanwhile, Opposition Congress leader Siddaramaiah distanced himself from the issue of Khan distributing food kits and cash to the families of the arrested persons. Siddaramaiah maintained that he wouldn't react on the issue.
New Delhi, April 29 : With an aim to empower homegrown semiconductor startups, chipmaker Qualcomm India will collaborate with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's (MeitY) Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), a statement said on Friday.

The collaboration will support a group of promising semiconductor design startups, as a part of the government and the industry's ongoing efforts to encourage innovation in the semiconductor space in India.

"There is a huge opportunity for Indian semiconductor startups due to the incentives provided by the Government," Rajen Vagadia, VP and President of Qualcomm India & SAARC, said in a statement.

"Qualcomm India is committed to helping semiconductor design startups capitalise on India's design and engineering talent to drive innovations that will power the intelligent, connected future we foresee, not only for India but the world," he added.

Qualcomm India plans to initiate and conduct the Qualcomm Semiconductor Mentorship Programme 2022 for select startups from the semiconductor space in India, with intent to provide and facilitate mentorship, technical training, and industry outreach.

Under this collaboration, C-DAC and Qualcomm India intend to work towards nurturing technical advancements and intellectual-property-driven innovation and product development required for semiconductor design in the Indian ecosystem.

It is also planning to work towards help reduce risks in innovation, accelerate the pace of business development, and develop soft skills and knowledge base of Indian startups engaged in semiconductor design.

Qualcomm India will shortlist up to 10 Indian semiconductor startups. Each shortlisted startup will be paired with a Qualcomm India leader for mentorship on product planning and development. The startup and the mentor will meet periodically either in person or through online meetings.

"The semiconductor industry is crucial for the growth of many other industries. We encourage Indian startups to come forward and meet the current and projected domestic demand for semiconductors with the support of Government-led programmes such as aMake in India' and the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme," said E. Magesh, Director-General C-DAC.
Mumbai, April 29 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday said it has arrested a Central GST Superintendent and an Inspector from Jaysingpur in Maharashtra's Kolhapur in a Rs 50,000 bribe case.

The officials were identified as Superintendent Mahesh Nesarikar and Inspector Amit Kumar Mishra, who are being produced before a Special CBI court in Kolhapur for remand.

Following a complaint lodged by an aggrieved person, the CBI registered a case on Thursday against Nesarikar and Mishra and launched its probe.

The complainant alleged that the duo had demanded Rs 75,000 through his income tax consultant to settle a matter pertaining to his service tax liabilities for the years 2017 to 2021.

Later, the officers negotiated with the tax consultant and settled the final amount of Rs 50,000.

The CBI laid a trap for the two officers and caught them while accepting the bribe money from the complainant, and later raided their premises to recover incriminating documents. Further investigations are underway.
Hyderabad, April 29 : The work on the Regional Ring Road (RRR) around Hyderabad will commence in three months, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced on Friday.

He said that the northern part of the RRR has already been sanctioned by the Centre and a Detailed Project Report (DPR) is in the final stage of preparation. He also assured the Telangana government that the Centre will consider its request for sanctioning the southern part of the project.

Gadkari was speaking at a programme in Hyderabad for laying foundation stone and dedication to the nation of 12 national highways and 7 Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) projects.

The projects of a total length of 460 km are estimated to cost Rs 8,000 crore.

The Union Minister praised the Telangana government for its offer to bear 50 per cent cost of the acquisition of lands for the project.

He suggested to the state government to have planned cities, industrial clusters, logistic parks along the RRR and acquire lands for them. He pointed out that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is also developing logistic parks.

The proposed RRR Ring Road will traverse around Hyderabad at an average distance of 40 km to 50 km and it will have a length of about 340 km. The overall cost of the project will be Rs 16,003 crore.

Telangana's Roads and Buildings Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy said land acquisition work for the 158-km long northern part will be expedited and completed during the current financial year.

The southern part, which will be 182 km long, is yet to be notified as a National Highway by the Union Ministry.

Gadkari described Hyderabad as a world-class city in the information technology sector and a growth engine for the country. He said a lot of development is happening around the city.

He said if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and $5 trillion economy is to be achieved, Telangana will also have to become a strong and prosperous state.

He assured that by the end of 2024, the road infrastructure of Telangana will be at par with the US.

He said from 2014 to 2024, a total amount of Rs 3 lakh crore would have been spent on national highway infrastructure in the state.

Stating that 26 green express highways are being developed in the country, he said 5 of them will pass through Telangana. the Indore-Hyderabad highway, which is 787 km long and being developed at a cost of 17,000 crore, will pass through Telangana to a length of 136 km.

Surat-Solapur-Kurnool-Chennai highway, being developed at a cost of 50,000 crore, will pass through Telangana to a length of 78 km.

Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam highway is being developed at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore while Rs 12,000 crore will be spent on the Nagpur-Vijayawada highway.
Chennai, April 29 : Students of a private college in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore who were kept isolated following symptoms of Covid-19 were found negative as per their RT-PCR test report.

A total of 40 students of the physiotherapy college had complained of Covid-like symptoms and were kept in an isolated ward in the college hostel.

The college had on April 22 and 23 conducted a seminar in which students from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala had taken part. There were around 3,000 students and these 40 students, who had actively participated in the seminar, were found to show symptoms like fever, throat infection, body ache, and other influenza-like symptoms, following which they were isolated.

Subsequently, Coimbatore health authorities had taken the samples of 83 people including 60 students, faculty members, cooks, and other staff of the private college The Health Department of Coimbatore corporation had a huge sigh of relief after they found that all the samples that were tested for Covid were found to be negative.

The Coimbatore health officials, including doctors of the private hospital who were treating the students in the isolation ward of the hostel, said that the students' throat ache and fever may be due to excessive consumption of ice water and ice creams during the seminar days.

The College authorities have however kept all the 40 students in isolation till Saturday even though the test results are negative
New Delhi, April 29 : The absence of India, Russia and China from the 'Declaration for the Future of the Internet' agreement, signed by 60 countries including the US, the European Union and the UK, has raised eyebrows among the stakeholders as Ukraine is one of the signatories of the declaration.

The declaration calls for an "open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure" internet, and asks countries to refrain from using social score cards -- a transparent criticism of China's social credit score.

A senior Joe Biden administration official said on Thursday that "the hope remains that time hasn't fully passed yet for India to join".

"We remain confident that like-minded countries around the world will -- will sign up," the official added.

The White House said that they have seen a trend of rising digital authoritarianism, where some states have been acting to repress freedom of expression, to censor independent news sources, to interfere with elections, promote disinformation around the world, and deny their citizens other human rights.

"The last two months have provided an extreme example of such behaviour in connection with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia has aggressively promoted disinformation at home and abroad, censored Internet news sources, blocked or shut down legitimate sites, and gone so far as to physically attack the Internet infrastructure in Ukraine," said the Biden administration.

"Russia, however, is hardly alone but just one of the leaders in a dangerous new model of Internet policy along with the People's Republic of China and some of the other most censorial states in the world." So far, 60 countries have endorsed the declaration, and according to the European Commission, more are expected to join in the coming weeks.

Google said that it's great to see countries coming together to launch the Declaration for the Future of the Internet (DFI).

"Through this effort, allies across the public and private sectors will work together to protect the importance of the global web, including by opposing shutdowns and other aefforts to splinter the global Internet," the tech giant said.

Microsoft President and vice chair Brad Smith said that "we need new and innovative internet initiatives that bring governments together with NGOs, academic researchers, tech companies and many others from across the business community".

The declaration aims to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of all people and promote a global Internet that advances the free flow of information.

It also advances inclusive and affordable connectivity so that all people can benefit from the digital economy and promote trust in the global digital ecosystem, including through protection of privacy.

The declaration emphasises that the internet should be decentralised and globally interconnected.

The partners in the declaration affirm that the Internet must reinforce core democratic principles, fundamental freedoms and human rights as reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Mumbai, April 29 : Amid the controversy over Hindi involving actors Ajay Devgn and Kichha Sudeep, actress Kangana Ranaut says considering Sanskrit is older than Hindi, Sanskrit should be the national language.

However, she explained why in her opinion, denying Hindi as the national language is indirectly a disrespect to the central government and the Indian Constitution.

The actress was interacting with the media on Friday during the trailer launch of her upcoming film 'Dhakkad'.

Asked her opinion on Hindi language controversy, Kangana said, "Firstly we all have the right to feel proud of our language, roots and culture. But our country is culturally and language-wise very diverse. So we need one common language to bring them together. When the Indian Constitution was made, Hindi was made a national language. Now see, technically speaking, Tamil is an older language than Hindi. But the oldest one is the Sanskrit language. So, in my opinion, Sanskrit should be the national language, not Hindi." She went on adding, "Having said that I do not have the answer why instead of Sanskrit, why Hindi is chosen as the national language. But now that the decision is made, if you do not obey it, you are denying the Constitution." Then she brings in the political angle and she explained her thoughts.

"If Khalistanis ask for a separate state, Tamils and people of Bengal are asking for a separate state, they are not defying just Hindi, they are defying the central government of Delhi. Despite the dark colonial past, we still use English as a linking language to communicate inside the country. Should English be that link, or Hindi, Tamil or Sanskrit should be the language? We have to decide that." said the 'Dhakkad' actress.

Referring to the controversy between Ajay and Sudeep, Kangana believes that both the actors are right in their own way.

"Hindi is our national language, so whatever Ajay sir said is right. But I understand the sentiment of Sudeep and he is not wrong either," she explained.
Jaipur, April 29 : A POCSO court on Friday awarded the death sentence to two persons who gang raped, murdered and then again raped a minor's body in Bundi district on December 23, 2021. It termed the case as the rarest of rare.

The accused were identified as Sultan and Chhotulal.

Bundi Superintendent of Police Jai Yadav said that the police started a manhunt after the body of the 15-year-old girl was found in the dense jungles falling under Basoli police station area.

The Superintendent of Police reached the spot and called a forensic team and dog squad to collect scientific evidence of the incident.

The police conducted an intensive search in the nearby dense forests. The entire area was sealed off and an in depth search operation was carried out in the entire forest with 10 police officers, 200 police personnel and the dog squad following which the criminals were arrested in just 12 hours. They confessed to their crime during interrogation.

The police collected evidence and presented the challan in the POCSO court in Bundi in 3 working days. The state government completed the formalities in just 24 hours and Mahavir Singh Kishnawat, Advocate in the Rajasthan High Court, was appointed as special public prosecutor.

The Special PP said in his arguments that when the minor victim escaped from accused Sultan and ran for help towards her maternal grandfather, Chhotulal 62 (accused), he also raped the victim. The marks on her body told the story of how the demons must have wrought their cruelty, he said, adding that the accused also raped the body of the deceased after the murder, which comes in the category of rarest of rare.

The court sentenced both the accused to death in just 11 working days.

Director General of Police ML Lather said that precise systematic research by the police was done with the use of scientific and technical tools.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said "This is the first case under the POCSO Act in the state in which two convicts have been sentenced to death simultaneously." Since the formation of our government, "8 convicts have been given death sentence, more than 137 have been given life and more than 620 convicts have been sentenced," he added.
Chandigarh, April 29 : Curfew was clamped in Punjab's Patiala's town on Friday after police had to fire into the air following a massive clash between members of the Shiv Sena led by Harish Singla and pro-Khalistan sword-bearing sympathizers outside the Kali Mata temple, who were pelting stones at each other and brandishing swords, police said.

Inspector General of Police, Patiala Range, Rakesh Aggarwal told the media the situation was under control and heavy police deployed. "The tension started following rumours that some of the protesters had been attacked," he said.

Eyewitnesses told the police that Nihangs, who gathered in front of the Dukh Niwaran Sahib gurdwara to oppose the Khalistan 'Murdabad March' of the Shiv Sena, marched towards the temple, raising pro-Khalistan slogans.

A police officer got injuries while trying to stop the Nihangs heading towards the temple, the police said.

Terming the incident of clashes as highly deplorable and extremely unfortunate that needs to be condemned by one and all in the strictest possible words, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann appealed to the people to maintain law and order at all costs besides upholding the long traditional love, peace, brotherhood, and harmony.

Expressing anguish, he called upon the people to extend fulsome support and cooperation to the police and civil authorities by exercising restraint in this hour of crisis.

He categorically said no one would be allowed to disturb the hard earned peace and communal harmony in the state.

"The incident of clashes in Patiala is deeply unfortunate. I spoke with the DGP, peace has been restored in the area. We are closely monitoring the situation and will not let anyone create disturbance in the State. Punjab's peace and harmony is of utmost importance," Mann tweeted.

Reiterating his government's firm commitment, he said: "Nothing should be done to disturb the peaceful atmosphere as we are all morally committed to make Punjab the most peaceful, harmonious and prosperous state in the country." As a preventive measure, a curfew has been imposed till Saturday morning.

Singla, the executive president of the Shiv Sena, led the anti-separatist march from Arya Samaj Chowk to Kali Devi Temple. They were raining slogans against Khalistan.

"The Shiv Sena will never allow Khalistan to be formed in Punjab or anywhere in India," said Singla. He also said banned Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannu had given the call to mark the foundation day of Khalistan on April 29.

Responding to the clash, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi advised the AAP government that peace and harmony are most imperative in a sensitive border state. "Punjab is not the place to carry out experiments." Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said: "Concerned about the tense situation arising due to clashes between two groups in Patiala. People of Patiala are peace loving and I appeal to them not to get provoked. Hope that Punjab Police will take firm action and ensure that law and order is maintained." BJP leader Harjeet Singh Grewal said action should be taken against both sides.
Islamabad, April 29 : Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Friday that the government will request authorities in Saudi Arabia to take appropriate action against those who instigated the use of indecent language and behaviour within the premises of Masjid-e-Nabvi in Madina, Express Tribune reported.

Referring to the heckling and abuse faced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, federal ministers and parliamentarians on Thursday, the minister stated that the act hurt the sentiments of the Muslim Ummah and was condemnable.

Sanaullah said the Saudi government will be requested to provide Pakistan with the identification of the culprits involved in the "shameful act" for action against them. The advice of the law ministry will also be sought to proceed against such elements, the report said.

"Such elements should be deported as they must not be permitted to stay anymore on the holy land," said the minister.

Sanaullah also accused former Prime Minister Imran Khan and ex-Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid for pre-planning the act.

"Imran Khan Niazi should refrain from spreading anarchy and hatred in the country, only to achieve his political objectives," Sanaullah said, adding that the former premier was targeting state institutions for the same resolve.

"Imran Khan will have to answer the people for his bad governance during the last four years," he said.
New Delhi, April 29 : The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has urged for an immediate investigation into the purported role of e-commerce major Flipkart in the Shaheen Bagh drugs racket reportedly busted by the Narcotics Control Bureau.

The seized drugs were kept in backpacks and jute bags and were wrapped in packets of e-commerce major Flipkart and other companies, according to reports.

"It is a serious question of law that must not be left unattended because it poses national security threats and is similar to illicit trade of arms," the traders' body said in a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The bureau seized about 50 kg heroin and arrested a man in connection with the seizure after it conducted raids in the Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, media reports said.
New Delhi, April 29 : For 62-year-old Pakistani national Mohammad Qamar, a seven-year ordeal ended on Friday after the Supreme Court ordered his release from a foreigners' detention centre, where he has been lodged since 2015.

A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hima Kohli noted that no material has been brought on record by the Central government to establish he is any security threat.

As he had married an Indian citizen and is father of five children, who are Indian citizens, the bench asked the Centre to take a decision on granting him a long term visa, and its decision should be placed before the court within four months. The bench said: "We are of the view that keeping the detenu in detention would not be apt." Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, representing the petitioner, submitted that persons who were under detention in Assam for over 2 years were released, and similar relaxation is not being given to Qamar, which amounts to discrimination.

Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj, representing the Centre, submitted that Uttar Pradesh had recommended against granting him a long term visa. The Uttar Pradesh government counsel cited a senior police officer's views that since he had already divorced his wife, there is no justification for him to stay in India.

However, the bench pointed out that there is nothing on record to show the divorce and also all his children are in India.

As the Centre's counsel argued that Qamar is a Pakistani national and he cannot claim fundamental rights under Article 19 and 21, the bench replied that he is over 60 years and he may need his children. "Where will you push him? Pakistan does not want him?" it told the ASG.

The bench said the Ministry of Home Affairs should take a fresh decision on Qamar's representation for a long term visa.

The top court released Qamar on condition of furnishing a personal bond of Rs 5,000 and two sureties of the like amount and his permanent address in Meerut where he proposes to stay.

Qamar's children had filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court seeking his release from the detention centre. Previously, the bench had queried the Centre, for how long it will keep a Pakistani national under detention against the backdrop that Islamabad denied accepting him as its citizen, and pointed out that there cannot be indefinite detention.

In August 2011, Qamar was arrested from Meerut, held guilty by a court for overstaying his visa and sentenced to three years and six months in jail.

After completing the sentence, he was sent to the detention centre at Lampur in Narela here on February 7, 2015 for deportation to Pakistan, but was languishing there since.
Bengaluru, April 29 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said Friday that the government will begin working on the proposed FMCG cluster in Dharwad in the current year itself.

The project offers potential employment to one lakh people.

"The state government is offering special concessions for the project," he said at a event to launch a new line of food products.

Stressing the need for companies which are formed by the people, for the people and work to meet the needs of the country, he said: "About 180 research institutions from all the sectors are functioning in Bengaluru. Karnataka and Bengaluru are contributing the lion's share in IT, BT exports from the country." Karnataka and Bengaluru are at the top in attracting Foreign Direct Investment in the country, and international level jobs are being created in Bengaluru, Bommai said, inviting entrepreneurs to invest in Karnataka in industry and technology sectors to generate more employment.

Regarding the long-awaited cabinet expansion, the chief minister said that he'll try to take up the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah who is likely to visit Bengaluru on May 3.

"I am heading to Delhi today (Friday) evening to attend the conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of all States. I have not discussed cabinet expansion with the party top brass. The party leadership will take the decision at appropriate time," he said.
New Delhi, April 29 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that 'New India' is scaling new dimensions, and leaving its mark on the whole world.

The Prime Minister on Friday hosted a Sikh delegation at his official residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, here.

The group included people from different walks of life. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri was among those present on the occasion.

Reiterating his appreciation for the mood of 'New India', the Prime Minister said: "New India is scaling new dimensions and is leaving its mark on the whole world. The period of Corona epidemic is the biggest example of this. At the beginning of the epidemic, people with an old mind-set were expressing concerns about India. But now, people are giving the example of India for its handling of the pandemic." "Earlier, concerns were being voiced over the enormity of the population of India and many were doubtful about vaccines for Indians. But today, India has emerged as the biggest vaccine maker. You will also be proud to hear that 99 per cent of the vaccination has been done through our own 'Made in India' vaccines," he said.

The Prime Minister noted in this difficult period, India has emerged as one of the world's largest start-up eco-systems.

"The number of our unicorns is constantly increasing. This growing stature and credibility of India provides maximum satisfaction and pride to our diaspora," he said.

Talking about the Indian diaspora, Modi said: "I have always considered our Indian diaspora as Rashtrdoot of India. All of you are the strong voice and lofty identity of Maa Bharati abroad.Even diaspora feels proud about the strides of growth that India is taking. Wherever we are in the world, 'India First' needs to be our primary faith." On the occasion, the Prime Minister recalled his long association with the Sikh community.

"Going to Gurdwaras, spending time in 'sewa', getting langar, staying at the homes of Sikh families has been a part of my life. The feet of Sikh saints keep falling from time to time in the Prime Minister's residence here. I keep getting the good fortune of their company," Modi said.The Prime Minister also recalled his visits to the places of Sikh heritage all over the world during his visits abroad.

"Our Gurus have taught us courage and service. The people of India have gone to different parts of the world without any resources and achieved success through their labour. This is the spirit of New India today too," he said.

Bowing to the great contribution and sacrifices of the Sikh Gurus, the Prime Minister recalled how Guru Nanak Dev ji awakened the consciousness of the entire nation and brought the nation out of darkness and took it on the path of light.

"The Gurus travelled all over India and everywhere there are their signs and inspirations. They are revered and there is faith in them everywhere. The feet of Gurus sanctified this great land and inspired its people. Sikh tradition is a living tradition of 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat'," the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed the county's gratitude for Sikh Community's contribution during the freedom struggle and after Independence. He said the "Sikh community is synonymous with the courage, prowess and hard work of the country".
Agra, April 29 : The anti-encroachment drive by the Railways has run into rough weather as Hindutva outfits in Agra have vociferously opposed the widening of platform number one at the Raja ki Mandi station.

Last week, the DRM office in Agra issued a notice to the management of the Chamunda Devi temple, which had encroached upon the railway land, to vacate so that the platform could be realigned.

The Raja ki Mandi station is sited in the heart of the city and most south bound trains from Delhi pass through this station. Almost every one hour there is a passenger train in addition to goods trains. The railway tracks take a sharp curve because of the temple. The railway officials say that due to the sharp curve speed has to be reduced and there is always a fear of avoidable accidents.

The dispute is over 70 metres of land towards platform number one.

The district officials including the district magistrate and senior police officials have visited the site and are trying to work out a solution.

Meanwhile, Hindutva leaders have sounded the warning bugle. One group threatened to lie on the tracks before running trains, another threatened to damage the tracks. BJP leader Shabana Khandelwal with scores of Muslims reached the temple on Friday to express solidarity with the temple management. Shabana said the temple was 150 years old and that she with her Muslim supporters would block the bulldozers.

The Railways have now issued a similar notice to a mosque in the Agra Cantt railway station premises.

The Railways divisional office authorities seem determined to go ahead with their plans. They said notices were issued and the concerned parties are expected to explain their positions by April 30.

One senior official said Raja ki Mandi railway station will be shut down if the opposition to free railway land from encroachments continued.

The railways are laying a third track on this vital trunk route, for which the station needs more land.
TAIPEI, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The latest COVID-19 resurgence in Taiwan is still raging, with single-day newly reported local cases reaching 11,974, data from the island's disease monitoring agency showed Friday.

The agency noted two new deaths from the disease involving two male patients who had received at least two doses of COVID-19 vaccine and confirmed to have been infected on April 18 and 21, respectively.

Another 339 imported cases were newly reported, it added.

Nearly 85 percent of the island's population has received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and 80 percent received two shots, said the agency.

To date, Taiwan has reported 100,753 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of these, 89,579 were local infections. 
New Delhi, April 29 : The Supreme Court on Friday observed that in the absence of any proof of dedication or user, a dilapidated wall or a platform cannot be conferred a status of a religious place for the purpose of offering namaaz.

A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V. Ramasubramanian noted that there is no evidence, at any given point of time, that the structure was being used as a mosque. It added that there is no allegation or proof of either of dedication or user or grant which can be termed as a waqf within the meaning of the Waqf Act.

"The report of the experts is relevant only to the extent that the structure has no archaeological or historical importance. In the absence of any proof of dedication or user, a dilapidated wall or a platform cannot be conferred a status of a religious place for the purpose of offering prayers/namaaz," it said, while dismissing appeals filed by the Rajasthan Waqf Board challenging an order of the Rajasthan High Court directing it not to interfere with the action of Jindal Saw Ltd and others in removal of the structure forming part of Khasra No. 6731 at village Pur in Bhilwara district.

In 2010, the firm was granted lease of an area measuring 1,556.7817 hectares for the mining of gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, iron, cobalt, nickel and associated minerals near village Dhedwas in Bhilwara.

In 2012, the Anjuman Committee addressed a letter to the Chairman of the Waqf Board stating there is a wall and chabutra (platform) on a 'Tiranga Ki Qalandari Masjid' where in olden times, labuorers used to offer prayers. However, the elders in the community said they have not seen anybody praying namaaz, nor there is access to water and stairs to reach the platform. The Waqf Board, however, said the area should be saved from mining and the high court constituted a committee of experts to examine the issue.

The committee, in its report submitted on January 10, 2021, said the dilapidated structure existing at Khasra No 6731 is neither a mosque nor any structure with archaeological or historical relevance.

The Waqf Board counsel argued that such an expert committee constituted had no representative from the Board and it was not associated with the report submitted, therefore, the report cannot be made basis of rejecting the structure on the hill as not a religious structure.

He contended that whether the structure is a waqf or not has to be decided by the Waqf Tribunal in terms of Section 83 of the Act and not in a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution.

However, the top court noted that perusal of the photographs shows that the structure is totally dilapidated without any roof and in fact a wall and some broken derelict platform exist at the spot. "The area is surrounded by vegetation and there is also nothing to suggest that the structure was ever used for offering prayers (namaaz) as neither the area is accessible, nor there is any facility of wazu (ritual cleaning), which is stated to be an essential step before offering prayer. The experts from the Archaeological Department have reported that the structure has no historical or archaeological importance." Dismissing the appeals, the bench noted that though the state government claimed that they have identified it to be a religious structure, however nothing has been produced on record.

"There is nothing on record that such decision if any, was arrived at after associating the writ petitioner. It is always open to the state as lessor to exercise the powers conferred in it by the lease deed after complying the principles of natural justice and on good and sufficient grounds."
Kolkata, April 29 : In an attempt to shed over-dependence on Central armed forces like the CRPF, West Bengal police have decided to set up a separate squad for counter-Maoist operations in the state.

The personnel from this squad would be selected from the members of the special task force (STF) of the state police and Kolkata police.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the standing committee of the Eastern Zonal Council held here on April 26, wherein the representatives from the Union Home Ministry had told the police forces of four eastern states -- West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha -- to remain alert over possible Maoist activities.

A highly-placed bureaucrat in the state government, who did not wish to be named, said that in the meeting, the West Bengal government's representatives had complained about withdrawal of central armed forces from the erstwhile Maoist bastions without prior discussing with the state governments concerned.

"While the pressure will be from our side on the Union government for sufficient deployment of central forces in the Maoist zones, the state police will have their own teams dedicated to counter-Maoist operations," he said.

The special training programme for the selected personnel will start soon. The training curriculum will include jungle surveillance and ambush techniques, unarmed combat methods and training without food and water for long hours.

Although there have been no Maoist activities in West Bengal recently, the police are worried about the resurgence of Maoist posters in the once Maoist stronghold of Junglemahal, scattered over the three districts of Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore.

The DGP, Manoj Malviya, has visited the Junglemahal area and reviewed the security arrangements there.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, at a meeting with bureaucrats and top police officers on April 27, had asked the police to resist any attempt of Maoist intrusion in the state from Jharkhand, besides directing the state police to seal the West Bengal-Jharkhand border at Belpahari.

She also accused the BJP leaders in West Bengal of maintaining a liaison with the left-wing extremists.
New Delhi, April 29 : The NCB on Friday said that three persons were arrested by them in connection with the Shaheen Bagh raid and two out of the three were Afghanistan nationals. They were rounded up from UP and Delhi.

NCB head SN Pradhan said that it was one of the biggest operations of the agency in which 50 kg pure heroin and narcotics worth over Rs 100 crore were seized from Delhi's Shaheen Bagh.

He said the accused arrested on Friday were in the process to manufacture more heroin and had set up a module to distribute it.

The Narcotics Control Bureau has learnt that the module was involved in manufacturing and distribution of heroin. There is a possibility that an international drug syndicate might have links in the matter.

The NCB is also making efforts to identify the possible route through which it was being supplied.

Three persons have been arrested in this connection so far while more arrests are likely in the matter.

The NCB has claimed that the racket has links with Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Pradhan claimed that a narco terrorism module could be behind it.

On Thursday, following a tip-off, an NCB team raided the specified locations and recovered 50 kg high quality heroin, 47 kg suspected narcotics, Rs 30 lakh cash, cash counting machines and other incriminating material. The contraband was stored inside bag packs and jute sacks.

"The seized heroin originated in Afghanistan and the drug money is suspected to be channelled through hawala. The seized contraband was packed inside an online shopping store packets," the official had said.

"During investigation, it was revealed that an Indo-Afghan syndicate based in Delhi/NCR or the neighbouring states, seems to be connected to the case. These syndicates have expertise in manufacturing heroin locally," NCB Deputy Director General (Operations), Sanjay Kumar Singh had said on Thursday.

According to him, these syndicates have been smuggling contraband into India through maritime as well as land border routes.

"Heroin was smuggled in with various legitimate goods and was later extracted from those goods by the Indian counterparts with the help of some Afghan nationals," the DDG had claimed.

Several raids have been conducted since Thursday and some are still going on to bust the entire network.

The syndicate was found to be connected to drug traffickers in the entire north India including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi.
Mumbai, April 29 : The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said on Friday that till Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray is the Chief Minister, his estranged cousin (Raj Thackeray) won't praise Maharashtra.

State NCP President and Water Resources Minister Jayant R. Patil made the caustic remarks when questioned about the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) head's recent praise for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

"Earlier, he lauded Gujarat, now he is praising UP. He will go all around the country, visiting and appreciating all other states except Maharahtra. As long as Uddhav Thackeray is the CM, he (Raj Thackeray) will not have a good word for this state," Patil said.

On a possible MNS-BJP tie-up, Patil said that given MNS' past record of treating the Hindi-speaking (North Indian) people in Maharashtra, the BJP is well aware of the consequences of such an alliance.

About speculation in some quarters that the BJP is wooing the MNS ostensibly at the behest of the Nagpur-based Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Patil pointed out that the RSS is a non-political organisation that doesn't concern itself with such things.

The NCP leader also surmised that it may be the BJP which is trying to drag the RSS into the whole affair to justify its stance, and hence such stories are being deliberately circulated.

Mostly on the political fringes for the past 18 years, the MNS has suddenly shot into the limelight with its shrill anti-loudspeakers campaign launched by Raj Thackeray as part of frantic efforts to carve a political niche for his party in the upcoming civic elections.
New Delhi, April 29 : The Delhi Police said on Friday that they have arrested one person in connection with the collapse of a three-storey building in south Delhi's Satya Niketan area on April 25, in which two persons were killed while four others were injured.

A senior police officer said that the accused, who has been identified as Raees, was produced before a local court which remanded him to 14-day judicial custody.

The owner was reportedly adding another floor to three-storey building when it collapsed.

In a joint operation carried out by the Delhi Police, Delhi Fire Service (DFS), and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), five persons, who were trapped under the debris of the building, were rescued and rushed to the hospital on April 25.

The incident occured a month after four persons were injured after a portion of a house collapsed in the city's Anand Parbat area.
Kabul, April 29 : A powerful blast targeted a mosque in Kabul on Friday, killing at least 10 people and wounding several others, security officials confirmed, media reports said.

The blast took place in the Darul-Aman area of Kabul and follows a spate of similar attacks around the country in the recent past, Tolo News reported.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, Abdul Nafay Takor, said that at least 10 people were killed and more than 20 others were wounded in the blast. The casualties were reportedly worshipers.

Earlier, the spokesperson for the Security department, Khalid Zadran, had said that at least five people were killed and more than 20 others were wounded in the blast.

Witnesses said the number of casualties could be higher. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast yet.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Thursday's twin blasts at Mazar-e-Sharif has risen to 11.

Mohammad Asif Waziri, spokesman for the Balkh Police Command, said that both blasts were caused by explosives placed in mini buses.

"We will arrest the perpetrators of this case as soon as possible and bring them to justice," Waziri said.
New Delhi, April 29 : The BJP will intensify its attack on Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren over allotting land to his wife and politics of appeasement.

Jharkhand BJP president Deepak Prakash said that there is complete anarchy in the state and his party will intensify its agitation against the Soren government.

Hitting out at Chief Minister Soren, Jharkhand BJP president Prakash told IANS that for the first time in the history of India, a chief minister is allotting land to himself, his wife, relative and close associates.

"Has any chief minister of any state of the country allotted land to himself, his wife, relatives and others violating all the laws and rule of land. There is complete anarchy in the state. Development work started in the previous BJP government has been stalled. The Soren government is anti-development," Prakash said.

Prakash, also a BJP Rajya Sabha member, noted that by allotting land on mining lease, Soren violated the provisions of the People's Representation Act as the chief minister is in-charge of state mines department.

Recently, the Election Commission (EC) has sought opinion on whether Chief Minister Soren's alleged actions fall under the purview of 'office of profit'.

The EC action came after Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais forwarded a BJP memorandum urging him to disqualify the chief minister from the Assembly according to the provisions of the Representation of People's Act, 1951 for 'misusing his official position' for personal gains.

Referring to the comment of Jharkhand minister Hafizul Hassan, Prakash said that this is the example of Soren government's politics of appeasement.

"Earlier, the Jharkhand government allotted space in the state assembly to offer 'namaz' and now, the minister is making inflammatory remarks. Stopping all the development work, the Soren government is only concentrating on appeasement of a particular community," he said.

On Thursday, Prakash tweeted a video of Jharkhand minister Hassan, and said: "This is the real face of the Hemant Soren government. Does the Chief Minister have courage to ask the minister to resign?" "Whatever the Central government is doing will cause them equal damage. We are 20 per cent, you are 70 per cent. If our 20 homes are shut, you too have to lose 70 per cent," the Minister was heard saying in the video.

Prakash said that the Jharkhand BJP has started state-wide agitation against the Soren government from April 21 to 30.

"BJP workers are protesting across the state against the anti-development and politics of appeasement and we will intensify in future," he added.
New Delhi, April 29 : Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, citing the pendency of 40 million cases in trial courts and several million cases in the high courts, on Friday said that a "pall of gloom settles" and it is a "hopeless situation".

In his address at a reception held by the Supreme Court Bar Association for Chief Justices of various high courts, he said that technological advancements adopted by the judiciary have enabled it to track the pendency of cases and added that an e-committee headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, is putting the entire data on the National Judicial Data Grid.

"When we see the result, a pall of gloom settles... you find that you are in a hopeless situation, a feeling of hopelessness starts developing." He said there are 24,000 judges at the trial court level and over 600 judges at the high court level. "The arrears in the trial courts are 40 million cases. So far as the pendency in high courts is concerned -- 4.2 million civil cases, 1.6 million criminal cases," he said.

The event was attended by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, judges of the Supreme Court and members of the Bar.

Venugopal added that in trial courts, cases are pending for 30 years, and at high court level cases are pending for 15 years, 10 years and so on. "Therefore, the question is with an average pendency of 8 years in the trial court, 8 years in the high court. How would you believe that the public has confidence in the justice delivery system," he asked.

He added that the top court judgments say access to justice is a fundamental right, but against whom the poor undertrial, who is detained for the same number of years as he would have been punished, will enforce fundamental rights. "According to me it has to be against the government of India, government of states as well as the judicial system itself," he added.

Citing pendency, the AG said this is the most pressing issue so far as the justice delivery system is concerned and the Chief Justices of the high courts would have to innovate and find reforms by which the entire arrears can be done away with.

The AG said there are 5,000 vacancies at the trial court level and some high courts are working with only 50 per cent judges. He added that the judges, governments, and lawyers have to work together to address this issue.

"76 percent of the inmates in jail are under trials and this is the highest in 25 years.. These are poor people who cannot even furnish bail and they rot in jail for years... something drastic has to be done. We have to all put our heads together to remedy this situation so that the justice delivery system can regain its position as an effective cure to the deep menace and disease which has crept into the system," he said.

Chief Justice Ramana said he fully endorse what AG has said.
Hyderabad, April 29 : A war of words broke out between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh after Telangana's cabinet minister K. T. Rama Rao spoke about poor basic amenities in the neighbouring state.

Addressing a meeting of CREDAI in Hyderabad on Friday, Rama Rao remarked that there is no electricity, water, or proper roads in Andhra Pradesh.

Several ministers from Andhra Pradesh condemned the Telangana minister's remarks and asked him to withdraw them.

It all started when speaking at the inauguration of property show of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI), Rama Rao, the Industries, Information Technology, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister compared the basic amenities in the twin Telugu states.

While highlighting how the basic infrastructure has significantly improved in Hyderabad over the last seven years, he said people appreciate the value of this when they visit other states.

In an apparent reference to Andhra Pradesh, he said his friend who went to a neighbouring state to celebrate Sankranti at his native place shared with him his experience during the stay.

KTR, as the minister is known, said the friend told him that he stayed in the village for four days, there was no electricity, no drinking water while roads were in bad condition. "He also suggested that I arrange a few buses and send people from here to the neighbouring state as then only they will realise the value of the work being done by the government in Telangana," said KTR, who is son of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

"If you feel this is an exaggeration you may goAAto the neighbouring state, then only you will appreciate us more," he added.

Andhra Pradesh's Education Minister Botsa Satyanarayana was quick to hit back at KTR. He stated that he personally experienced power cuts during his stay in Hyderabad and claimed that he had to use a generator at home.

He said it was not proper on part of a responsible minister to speak like that about a neighbouring state and asked him to withdraw the remarks.

Telangana's Roads and Buildings Minister Vemula Prashant Reddy joined the issue and wondered why Andhra Pradesh ministers were getting angry when KTR spoke the truth. He said it was because of such arrogance that people of Telangana fought for a separate state and achieved it. He claimed that realtors from Vijayawada and Amaravati have shifted to Hyderabad due to problems there.

Andhra Pradesh Minister P. Ramachandra Reddy denied that there are any power cuts in the state. He said if there are any technical problems, they are being rectified in 15 minutes. He said that since elections in Telangana are nearing, KTR has made some remarks for political mileage.

Another Andhra Pradesh minister K. Roja said somebody misled KTR.

Roja met Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in Hyderabad. Talking to reporters after the meeting, she said she was inviting KTR to visit Andhra Pradesh.

The Tourism Minister said she would personally show KTR the kind of revolutionary welfare schemes and programmes being implemented in Andhra Pradesh under the leadership of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

"This will inspire him to undertake similar programmes in Telangana," she said.
New Delhi, April 29 : The Supreme Court on Friday said the Indian medical students from foreign institutes are facing a tremendous challenge amid the Covid-19 pandemic, but granting them provisional registration to complete internship without having undergone clinical training would be compromising with the health of citizens.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing the National Medical Commission (NMC), contended before a bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V. Ramasubramanian that Ukraine crisis, along with the ongoing Covid pandemic, has brought out new challenges and a holistic view would be needed to protect the interests of the Indian students, who went abroad for their courses. He had emphasised that at the same, no compromise can be allowed with the quality of medical education expected from them in India.

The top court dealt with a question "whether the degree granted by the foreign institute even in respect of clinical training is binding on the appellant and the student has to be provisionally registered".

It directed the NMC "to frame a scheme as a one-time measure within two months to allow the student and such similarly situated students who have not actually completed clinical training to undergo clinical training in India in the medical colleges which may be identified by the appellant for a limited duration as may be specified by the appellant, on such charges which the appellant determines".

"It shall be open to the appellant to test the candidates in the scheme so framed in the manner within next one month, which it considers appropriate as to satisfy that such students are sufficiently trained to be provisionally registered to complete internship for 12 months," it added.

The top court said eligibility regulations are to ensure that a student meets the minimum eligibility condition as per the Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 1997, but after completing the curriculum, a candidate has to qualify the screening test, provided the entire duration of the course has been completed at the same institute located abroad.

The top court judgment came on a plea filed by the NMC challenging the Madras High Court orders passed in July and September last year.

The bench said: "We are unable to agree with the High Court that instead of three months of clinical training in China, two months training would be sufficient for provisional registration apart from the 12 months of internship. The courts are not experts in deciding an academic curriculum or the requirement of the clinical training which may be required to be satisfied by the students." It noted that the NMC is not bound to grant provisional registration to the student who has not completed the entire duration of the course from the foreign institute, including the clinical training.

The top court held that the NMC's decision not to grant provisional certificate to Pooja Thandu Naresh and others cannot be said to be arbitrary as without practical training, there cannot be any doctor who is expected to take care of the citizens of the country.

"The argument that certain students have been granted provisional registration will not confer any right with the student to claim provisional registration so as to undergo the internship. There cannot be any equality in illegality," it noted.
Kolkata, April 29 : Trinamool Congress strongman and the party's Birbhum district President, Anubrata Mondal, seems to getting isolated within his own party for using a red beacon with flasher on his vehicle.

Hours after a PIL was filed at the Calcutta High Court on Friday challenging the use of red beacon on Mondal's vehicle, the state Transport Minister Firhad Hakim, who is also the Mayor of Kolkata, told mediapersons that Mondal had no right to use the red beacon on his vehicle.

"It was unfair on Mondal's part to use the red beacon on his vehicle. He has absolutely no right to do that since he does not figure in the list of people entitled to use red beacons on their vehicles. No one is above the law. I have given clear instructions so that the red beacon is immediately removed from his vehicle," Hakim said.

At the same time, he said that the state transport department has decided to become more strict against those using red or blue beacons on their vehicles without proper authorisation.

"In future, such offending vehicles will be confiscated. The transport department will shortly issue a notification in this matter," Kakim said.

According to the state government, red beacons with flashers can be used on the vehicles of the Governor, Chief Minister, Cabinet ministers, justices of Calcutta High Court and the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly.

Red beacons without flashers can be used on the vehicles of the ministers of state, deputy speaker of the state Assembly, Mayor of Kolkata and the chief secretary.

Mondal falls under none of the above categories.
New Delhi, April 29 : The single biggest takeaway is back to basics. Regionalism is the new flavour in northeast politics. And importantly, NDPP leader and Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio is willing to take on the mighty BJP.

But has Rio in the process given an armour to his detractors to demand President's Rule? The merger of as many as 21 MLAs led by former Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang, onetime Neiphiu Rio's acolyte-turned-foe-now-turned-friend, came within hours Naga People's Front chief Shurhozelie announced that there will not be any merger between NPF and NDPP at the organisational level.

Well, Nagaland is back with its well-known political head hunting or head counting games. As many as 21 Naga People's Front (NPF) legislators on Friday quit the party and decided to merge with another regional outfit Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) led by Rio.

"A letter dated 29/4/2022 has been received from the President of NDPP (Chingwang Konyak) accepting the merger," a communication from the state Assembly said.

The issue is not how much big the setback is for Shurhozelie, the veteran regionalist, or even the NPF; the real issue is the NDPP and especially Chief Minister Rio's relationship with the BJP.

Now about 45-48 MLAs are with Rio in the 60-member Assembly and so will he continue to need support of 12 BJP legislators? Or why should he entertain the tantrums of BJP leaders? Earlier this year, the NPF had formally requested NDPP to merge with the party and even asked Chief Minister Rio to 'lead' the new party.

"We are extending invitation to the CM Neiphiu Rio and his MLAs to come together, as there is a desire by one and all among the Naga family that regional party of NPF and NDPP should come to an understanding together," a spokesman of NPF had said in January.

It was understood that Rio was keen for such a game only if he is given organisational leadership that is presidentship of the new regional party. Veteran regionalist and traditionally a non-Congress leader Shurhozelie was disinclined to give up the organisational leadership of the new regional force to Rio, who was once a prominent Congress face in the state politics.

For all practical purposes, both the parties NDPP and NPF were already working with a unity of purpose. The NPF legislators gave up their opposition cloak recently and extended support to the NDPP-BJP government.

While Nagaland had an opposition-less government, NPF leader Zeliang was designated as the chairman of UDA, comprising NDPP, BJP and NPF.

But Rio still has multiple challenges at hands. Firstly, perhaps the centre considers he failed or was not much inclined to convince NSCN (IM) leader Thuingaleng Muivah to give up the twin demands of Naga Flag and a separate Naga Constitution.

These issues are stalling the peace process in Nagaland and the final peace pact would be a major milestone for the Narendra Modi government.

There are central BJP leaders who suggest Rio's alleged nexus with NSCN (IM) is "not just an allegation" as the influence of gun and money have been critical instruments during elections in Nagaland way back starting from 2003.

The then Congress Chief Minister S.C. Jamir had first alleged in 2003 that the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) had intimidated voters in certain areas during the 2003 Assembly polls.

There is now a pending ED 'money laundering' case against five of CM Rio's associates. This can be opened up anytime and given somewhat embarrassing twist, his detractors say.

Already five people have been summoned for questioning by the ED and the Gauhati High Court has declined to put a stay on the same. Of course, this episode has lately added to Rio's nervousness.

Technically, the BJP leaders in Nagaland do not have much ground or any tool to fight the machinations of Rio and his number game (getting support of 21 NPF additional MLAs). But some Nagaland BJP leaders are making a few frantic calls to the central leaders.

Some feel the demand for imposition of President's Rule on some pretexts is not ruled out. There is also an exceptional situation that is related to the Naga peace talks, which are at their final stages.

Thus, anytime the government of India can say either it will allow an interim-alternative arrangement or even impose President's Rule to facilitate fresh elections and 'participation' of the ultra groups in the democratic process.

Regional forces make a lot of political significance in Nagaland and other northeastern states. In the past, the big brother approach of Congress was dangerous, and now the BJP going the same way.

In Manipur, the BJP's strategy on the eve of elections earlier this year has irked regional partner NDPP in Nagaland and even NPP in Meghalaya.

The BJP booted out NPP and NPF from its alliance and later contested all 60 seats to come to power on its own.

Obviously the apprehension is the saffron party will try the same game in Nagaland and possibly in Meghalaya too.

Both the Chief Ministers, Neiphiu Rio in Nagaland and Conrad Sangma in Meghalaya, have been working with the BJP so far to ensure their own survival. But the nervousness prevails.

And nervousness often forces one to take an assertive stance in politics.

Lately, Rio took away the portfolio of Roads and Bridges from Deputy CM and BJP floor leader in the Assembly, Y. Patton.

An aggrieved Patton was offered the additional portfolio of Land Resources by Rio later. This offer was strongly rejected by Patton, who said he was not keen to take an additional portfolio from his own BJP colleague and minister Paiwang Konyak.

Showing clear hints that NDPP-BJP differences have widened, one key BJP Nagaland leader had said, "It was a double game employed by Chief Minister Rio. The Department of Land Resources is with another BJP minister, Paiwang Konyak, and so Patton has done the right thing by rejecting it. We cannot take each other's portfolio and allow the NDPP to enjoy the larger size of the cake." (Nirendra Dev is a New Delhi-based journalist. He is also author of the books 'The Talking Guns: North East India' and 'Modi to Moditva: An Uncensored Truth'. Views are personal)
New Delhi, April 29 : The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on Friday dashed off a letter to Chief Wildlife Warden of Chhattisgarh seeking a factual report in connection with the allegations of tree felling and coal mining operations without mandatory clearances.

The letter by NTCA Assistant IGF Hemant Singh has asked Chhattisgarh for a factual report in connection with tree felling and coal mining operations in Parsa Coal Block in that state that have started without the mandatory clearances from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and the NTCA itself.

However, Chhattisgarh Chief Wildlife Warden PV Narsingha Rao questioned the very letter. "How can NTCA write a letter to us? There is no Tiger Reserve in the Parsa Coal Block," Rao told IANS.

"Relevant section of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 says that if any area connects the tiger reserve with a tiger reserve or a protected area, then any environmentally unsustainable activity requires a permission of the NBWL based on the recommendation of the NTCA. The section 38(O)g of this Act relates to the powers and authority of the NTCA," Kanchi Kohli, a senior researcher with the Centre for Policy Research said.

Parsa Coal Block is one of the 23 coal blocks under the Hasdeo Arand forest -- deemed as the largest contiguous stretch of dense forest in central India - that is spread over 1,70,000 Ha.

More than a decade ago, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had termed the Hasdeo Arand area as a 'No Go' zone for mining owing to the rich bio-diversity in the dense forest but later gave it away. However, allowing mining in the area was not decided.

The letter was prompted by a complaint lodged by activist Alok Shukla of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan.

As per media reports, a massive protest had erupted in Parsa Coal Block in Surguja division in Chhattisgarh when allegedly 300 trees were axed after the state government gave the green signal to non-forestry use of forest land in that project area earlier in the month for more than 800 Ha of forest land spread over two districts, Surguja and Surajpur.

Reportedly, the project proponent has been allowed to divert 1,136.328 Ha land currently, leading the activists to claim that more than 2.40 lakh trees in the dense Hasdeo Arand forest would need to be felled.

Among the many reports from multiple agencies, the latest report from Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun had recommended against mining operations as it said: "The intact habitat connectivity with tiger source population and the relative vastness of the landscape could augur well for recovering tigers."
New Delhi, April 29 : The Customs officials at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport have arrested a Ugandan woman for trying to smuggle in heroin capsules by swallowing them.

A Customs official said on Friday that she came from Doha on April 14 while she was arrested on April 24. During this period, she was in hospital as the officials were trying to extract capsules from her stomach through operation.

"She was intercepted after she had crossed the green channel, and was approaching towards the exit gate of international arrival hall. Subsequently, on thorough checking of her hand baggage, nothing suspicious was found and on medical examination, certain material was found inside her body," said the official.

The official said that a medical procedure yielded recovery of 126 capsules which resulted in recovery of a total of 887 grams of off-white colour substance. It was heroin, having international market value of Rs 6.65 crore.

"In view of the above, it was clear that the said passenger had violated provisions of section 8 of the NDPS Act, and had committed offence punishable under Section 21, Section 23 and Section 29 of NDPS Act. Accordingly, she was placed under arrest under section 43(b) of NDPS Act. The off-white substance in capsule form prima-facie found to be 'Heroin' was seized along with concealing material under section 43(a) of NDPS Act," said the official.

Further investigation into the matter is underway.
New Delhi, April 29 : As many as 2,381 people and 490 elephants have died in India from 2015 to 2018, according to a compendium published by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on Friday.

"Similarly, between 2000 and 2010, 0.5 million households have suffered annual losses due to crop raiding by elephants," according to the compendium titled 'Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) in select states of India', released in Dehradun on Friday.

Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav was in Dehradun to chair the 16th steering committee meeting of Project Elephant at the Forest Research Institute (FRi) where various aspects related to elephant conservation were discussed.

Yadav also released the preliminary report on 'Human-Elephant Conflict' (HEC), and a booklet titled 'Trumpet', a quarterly publication of Project Elephant division of the Environment Ministry.

The compendium stated that in spite of multi-pronged efforts, conflicts between elephants and people seem to be intensifying.

"(However), there is now an increased recognition that conflict resolution cannot be a one-off effort, but a continuous and sustained endeavor of learning and implementing different strategies over longer period of time. Although human-elephant conflict is one of the most well researched topics in both conservation biology and management in India; many questions beg satisfactory answers so as to devise lasting solutions to the problem," it said.

With an objective of making the HEC database readily assessable for policymakers and field managers, Project Elephant Division along with the Elephant Cell of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) embarked on the task of mapping HEC across the country.

In this report, preliminary details on HEC pertaining to seven elephant range states of India have been pictorially depicted and broad trends presented.

The report also identified new challenges such as elephant dispersal into human-dominated areas, rapid landuse transformation around elephant habitats, and sustained economic and infrastructure development related pressures that fragment, isolate and degrade elephant habitats, consequently resulting in human-elephant conflicts.

"The spatial relationship between elephants, people and associated socio-economic factors influences the occurrence and severity of human-elephant conflict," it observed.

The field manual is developed by WWF India, which is a handbook for forest staff working in key elephant landscapes across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Bengal, Assam and Uttarakhand.

"Human-elephant conflict is an area where we need to collaborate with all the stakeholders to save the lives of both humans and elephants. The efforts to bring out the field manual with WWF India and WII is such an endeavour, which I am sure will be a good tool for field officials to use in mitigating different HEC situations," said Ramesh Pandey, IG, Project Elephant.
Pune, April 29 : The ultra-aggressive and big-hitting batting line-up of Punjab flattered to deceive yet again to slump to a 20-run defeat at the hands of Lucknow Super Giants at MCA Stadium here on Friday.

After Kagiso Rabada's 4/38 restricted Lucknow to 153/8 on a sticky pitch, Punjab lost their way after captain Mayank Agarwal fell in power-play and Liam Livingstone was dismissed in the middle overs, eventually making 133/8 in their 20 overs.

Tall left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan took three wickets for 24 runs, keeping Punjab on the backfoot while Krunal Pandya was miserly in his spell of 2/11. Dushmantha Chameera (2/17) and Ravi Bishnoi (1/41) provided strong support for Lucknow to execute an excellent defence of 153.

After starting slow, Agarwal hit back with two sixes and two fours to score 25 off 18 balls. Both of his sixes came by backing away and creating room to carve the maximums over off-side. Agarwal attempted to do the same off Chameera but K.L Rahul at mid-off timed his jump well to take a brilliant catch in the fifth over.

Jonny Bairstow slammed two fours off Avesh Khan in the final over of power-play as Punjab signed off with 46/1. Post power-play, Lucknow made a mini-comeback through Bishnoi and Pandya. While Shikhar Dhawan was castled by Bishnoi in an attempt to slog-sweep, Bhanuka Rajapaksa tried to play for the turn but got a leading edge to point running from left off Pandya.

Livingstone danced down the pitch twice to hit Bishnoi for successive sixes in an over which yielded 18 runs. Just as it felt like Punjab would run away with the match, Lucknow fought back as Livingstone shuffled across to scoop and could only glove behind to keeper off Mohsin. In the next over, Pandya trapped Jitesh Sharma lbw after Lucknow took the review.

Bairstow waged a lone battle with the bat, taking two fours off Bishnoi. But Chameera delivered the knockout blow, forcing Bairstow to play a full, wide delivery and edged to the third man. Mohsin came back in his final over to take out Kagiso Rabada and Rahul Chahar. Though Rishi Dhawan slammed boundaries off Avesh Khan in the final over, it wasn't sufficient to deny Lucknow a well-deserved victory.

Brief scores: Lucknow Super Giants 153/8 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 46, Deepak Hooda 34; Kagiso Rabada 4/38, Rahul Chahar 2/30) beat Punjab Kings 133/8 in 20 overs (Jonny Bairstow 32, Mayank Agarwal 25; Mohsin Khan 3/24, Krunal Pandya 2/11) by 20 runs
New Delhi, April 29 : The Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) on Friday wrote to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, requesting him to reduce NEET Super Speciality 2021 cut-off percentile for the mop-up, stray vacancy round.

Referring to hundreds of vacant seats in the super speciality course, the doctors said that with the current cut-off of 50 percentile, many doctors will be unable to meet the cut-off criteria resulting in huge vacancies again.

As per the letter, there are a total of 889 super speciality seats that have gone unfilled after the second round of counselling for NEET Super Speciality 2021.

"As per the current seat matrix, a total of 889 super speciality seats (DM, MCH, DNB) have remained vacant even after second round of counseling for NEET SS 2021," the letter said.

The letter further read, "The current counselling process could be made more accessible to a large number of specialist doctors if the cut-off percentile for the eligibility was reduced to maximum." While talking to IANS, Rohan Krishnan, President, FAIMA Doctors Association, said that it is very important to understand the needs of super specialist doctors in India.

"The government lacks concern when it comes to super specialist doctors. That is why for better treatment of cancer or cardiac ailments, one has to think of going to Delhi or Mumbai. At least we should make such treatments available in all the state capitals," Krishnan said.
Chennai, April 29 : The Opposition AIADMK has urged the Tamil Nadu government to transfer the probe into the custodial death allegation at Tiruvannamalai to the CBI.

Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, E.K. Palaniswami raised the issue during Zero Hour in the Assembly on Friday.

The Opposition leader also demanded compensation for the family of the victim.

It may be recalled that a 47-year-old person, K. Thangamani of Thattaranai village of Tiruvannamalai district was picked up by the prohibition enforcement wing of Tamil Nadu police on charges of possessing illicit liquor. He was arrested by the police on April 27.

Thangamani who was remanded at Tiruvannamalai sub-jail, complained of breathlessness and was admitted to the Tiruvannamalai medical college hospital where he died on April 27.

Wife of Thangamani, and his relatives levelled allegations that the body had injury marks, and demanded action against the concerned police officers. They also refused to accept the body after post-mortem.

However, with the intervention of Tiruvannamalai district collector, the Tiruvannamalai district superintendent of police directed the police to conduct an investigation on the allegation of custodial death.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin while replying to the Opposition leader, E.K. Palaniswami said that the autopsy of the body was conducted in the presence of a judicial magistrate and investigation would be conducted on the basis of the report.

He said that all the details regarding Thangamani's death would be revealed to the House after the report of the autopsy is obtained.
New Delhi, April 30 : Twenty-five years after the Connaught Place shootout, the Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Centre to grant a compensation of Rs 15 lakh to the sole survivor of the incident.

"A sum of Rs 15 lakh is awarded as compensation, which shall be paid along with simple interest at 8 per cent per annum, from the date of the incident till the date of payment," said Justice Prathibha M. Singh in the order dated April 26.

At the time when the incident took place, the victim, Tarun Preet Singh, was just 20 years old.

"The trauma is not limited to the individual but also to his near and dear ones, who have rendered physical, mental and emotional support to the petitioner, which may include his parents, spouse, and now, his children. While the disability can be characterised as being not a major disability, the fact that he has not been able to lead a normal life for the last 25 years cannot be ignored. For a young boy of 20 years, suffering of any kind of disability due to no fault of his cannot be justified or trivialised," the order said.

"In addition, a sum of Rs 2 lakh shall also be awarded as litigation costs to the petitioner. From the total sum payable, a sum of Rs 1 lakh, if already paid in terms of order dated December 10, 1999, shall be adjusted," the order said.

On March 31, 1997, the police had opened fire on a blue sedan at the Barakhamba intersection, killing two of the three occupants -- Jagjit Singh and Pradeep Goyal. The target of the operation was a gangster named Mohammed Yasneen, who was also meant to be in a blue sedan.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, April 30 : The government on Friday announced that 50 per cent of farms would be under precision farming in the next 25 years.

The Ministry of Agriculture has been pushing for digitalisation in agriculture sector and to this effect, over the last few years, has signed a number of MoUs with private companies, including Microsoft and also AgTech (Agricultural technology) companies such as AgriBazar.

Referring to 10 MoU and the works going on in the sector, Joint Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Pramod Meherda said, "There are 32 more players. They have evinced interest in working with us, with the farmers. We are taking our time to analyse the requirement." Referring to the Committee on Doubling of Farmers' Income that had supported digital technology playing a transformational role in agricultural practices, be it using remote sensing, be it data analytics, drones, or internet etc, Meherda said, the digitalisation of agriculture will only be increasing, as more and more youngsters take to technology and there is an increasing penetration of smart phones for decision support systems and there will be more precision farming using all this technology to increase productivity.

"In the Amritkaal, i.e. the next 25 years, a total of 50 per cent of farms will be under precision farming," Meherda said at a seminar on Digitalisation in Agriculture here.

During her Budget 2022-23 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had, introducing and promoting digitisation in agriculture sector, talked of launching a scheme in public private partnership mode for delivery of digital and hi-tech services to farmers with involvement of public sector research and extension institutions along with private agri-tech players and stakeholders of agri-value chain.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Chennai, April 30 : A special court trying sexual offences against children, handed over the death sentence to a 49-year-old man in Chennai, for sexually assaulting his daughter while the mother of the girl was awarded a life sentence by the court.

The sexual abuse had come to light when the girl studying in Class 11 narrated her ordeal to her friends in school which they informed the teachers.

The teachers further conveyed the matter to the Childline authorities. Volunteers of the Childline rescued the girl and lodged a complaint with the all woman police station in Guindy.

The victim's father was arrested under the Juvenile Justice Act.

Special court judge for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO), M. Rajalakshmi awarded the death sentence to the 49-year-old man for sexually abusing his daughter. The judgment was pronounced on Friday.

The judge in her order said the man must be hanged by the neck till he is dead and added that the punishment is subject to clearance from the Madras High Court.

Section 6 of the POCSO Act says that capital punishment is given for the offence of aggravated penetrative sexual assault.

The girl revealed to the investigating officers that her father used to assault her since she attained the age of seven and had continued it even after she attained puberty.

The victim in her statement told the police that she got pregnant by her father in 2019 and that he had forced her to undergo abortion with the support of her mother.

She also revealed to the police that her father had inserted foreign objects in her genitals and had forced her to sleep nude with him.
Washington, April 30 : White House Communications Director, Kate Bedingfield has said she had tested positive for Covid-19.

Bedingfield, 40, tweeted she last saw US President Joe Biden on Wednesday "in a socially-distanced meeting while wearing an N-95 mask".

Biden is not considered a close contact as defined by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the White House official.

"Thanks to being fully vaccinated and boosted, I am only experiencing mild symptoms," the White House Communications Director wrote.

"In alignment with White House Covid-19 protocols, I will work from home and plan to return to work in person at the conclusion of a five-day isolation period and a negative test," she added.

The total number of Covid-19 cases in the United States has exceeded 81 million, with more than 993,000 related deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, Xinhua news agency reported.
We continue to position ourselves to deliver market-based solutions for our clients through our insight and market leading technology-based tools to accelerate operational efficiency and enhanced patient services.

D2, the industry's leading provider of commercialization services to pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and medical device manufacturers, as well as a developer of a unique set of tools supporting Pharmacy Operations and Patient Services for Specialty Pharmacies, Hubs, and Hospital Systems, has made two key hires to position itself for expansive growth this year and beyond.

D2 has added Greg Isaak, MBA, as Executive Vice President of Consulting Solutions, where he will be leading D2s consulting operations supporting pharmaceutical manufacturers. Mr. Isaak has been in leadership roles in the healthcare industry since 1998, including roles of increasing responsibility at Express Scripts, Premier Specialty Pharmacy, and Pharmacy Partners. Gregs experience across the PBM, Specialty Distribution, Specialty Pharmacy, and Infusion business provide him a unique perspective to bring value to our current and future partners. stated Dean Erhardt, President & CEO.

In addition,

D2 has added Scott Taylor, RPh., MBA, to join as Market Access Executive. Scott will be joining D2s existing Market Access team proving manufacturers with continued expertise in product positioning, contracting and coverage. Scott brings over 20 years experience working both inside the payer as well as a part of manufacturers commercialization teams. Scotts focus has been in delivering launch strategy, research planning, and product promotion for both Commercial managed care and Government payer markets. Adding Scott to our Market Access team continues to enable D2 to provide innovative coverage and contracting insights to our manufacturer partners, said David Saunders D2 SVP of Market Access & Reimbursement.

About D2

D2 Solutions empowers healthcare leaders with a unique combination of SaaS solutions and deep consulting expertise. We bring pharmaceutical manufacturers, payers, pharmacies & support providers, and patients together, empowering manufacturers to bring therapies to market faster and pharmacies to bring those therapies to the patients who need them. We lead manufacturers through the commercialization process, adding value to Trade & Distribution, Market Access & Reimbursement, and Patient Services. We also stand with pharmacies and hospital IDNs, providing the guidance they need to achieve compliance and licensure, solve regulatory challenges, and better connect with patients. Our proprietary technologies move clients even closer to their goals, finding that one point where everything moves forward.

For more information on D2, please visit http://www.D2rx.com.

Media Contact:

Jeff Siwak: jeff.siwak@d2rx.com

Phone: 314.494.1765

Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/22309464
Airbnb and the Tourism Authority of Thailand jointly promote nature-based stays across Thailand airbnb TAT responsible tourism

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Airbnb have joined hands to promote sustainable travel in Thailand amongst international and domestic travellers, via the launch of a new booking page on Airbnb's website and in the app, where travellers can book nature-based stays in seven key emerging provinces.

From organic farms to homestays and cabins in the countryside, the stays are selected by TAT to join its sustainable tourism promotion campaign. TAT is currently offering a 500THB discount on all bookings of these Airbnb stays available at http://www.airbnb.com/letsstartgoinggreenthailand.

The Airbnb-TAT collaboration is part of the TATs Green Newcomer campaign to drive awareness of the importance of green travel, in line with the Thai Governments Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economic Model to promote green and community tourism in secondary cities. The campaign is championed by the Department of Cultural Promotion, Department of Marine and Coastal Resources and Department of Environmental Quality Promotion.

The global rise of a more environmentally conscious traveller presents new opportunities for sustainable travel in Thailand, as more travellers look for ways to reconnect with nature and travel more sustainably. Notably, Airbnb-commissioned research by Economist Impact* across nine countries in the Asia-Pacific, found that more than 90 percent of Thais polled say that sustainable tourism is important to them, with almost two-thirds saying they will factor sustainable tourism practices into their holiday plans and are willing to pay a premium for sustainable tourism experiences.

Speaking of the collaboration, Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said, We are grateful for this opportunity to collaborate with Airbnb on the Green Newcomer campaign and to showcase eco-friendly tourism opportunities to Thai and international travellers. TAT believes that working alongside Airbnb will enable us to introduce unique and environmentally friendly accommodation to tourists and allow them to get closer to nature as well as conserve natural resources, enjoy Thailands historical and cultural heritage, and have a positive impact on the environment, economy and society.

Travellers can view and book the discounted accredited Airbnb stays at https://www.airbnb.com/letsstartgoinggreenthailand. The special stays include:

Tha Ma-O Bou-Teak Homestay in Lampang Old Town (Lampang)

Nestled in the old town of Lampang, this teakwood homestay is the perfect base to explore the local neighbourhoods and nearby natural attractions.

Forest Forest: Little House by the River (Nan)

This wooden farmstay overlooking the Yao River combines a unique retro style with expansive space. The perfect location to relax, read a book and reconnect with nature away from the crowds.

One Chan Farmstay (Chanthaburi)

Enjoy some downtime at this beautiful white house located on a mangosteen farm in Chanthaburi province. Visit the local market, explore the working farm and enjoy an afternoon tea while recharging your batteries.

Compact Container Close to Mun River (Ubon Ratchathani)

Explore the natural and historical sights of Ubon Ratchathani from this unique container stay near the Mun River.

Eco Cabin x Lovebirds (Ranong)

This gorgeous eco-cabin in the woods offers the perfect getaway. The bubbling stream nearby is a great place to enjoy a refreshing dip while taking in the forest sights and sounds.
Mission Critical Partners (MCP) announced the full agenda for the 2022 edition of its Conference for Advancing the Public Sector (CAPS), which will be held May 17-18. Multiple tracks will be offered during the virtual event that features nearly two dozen educational sessions and panel discussions. They are designed to help public-sector leaders better understand and respond to the most critical trends and issues affecting their organizations and stakeholders.

CAPS 2022 highlights include the following:



Update on 911 Initiatives Happening at the National Level  This panel discussion will explore projects that are underway to: a) improve emergency communications interoperability; b) begin the process of building a national 911 data system; c) establish interoperability between computer-aided dispatch systems nationwide, and more.

Big Data and Its Role in Improving Data Quality  Big data is an approach that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze enormous amounts of information from disparate sources to create context that makes the information actionable. Subject-matter experts will explore the potential for big data to improve emergency response and justice outcomes.

Public Safety Challenges with Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention  Emergency communications centers and their personnel are suffering from a nationwide acute staffing shortage. Subject-matter experts will explain the root causes of the shortage, and present strategies for addressing it that every center can utilize.

Hybrid and Remote Hearings  Considerations for Sustaining Court and Justice Operations  A variety of situations exist whereby it is prudent that certain participants  prisoners, witnesses, attorneys, and jurors  in a court hearing are not required to appear at the courthouse. Hybrid and remote hearings are the answer, and subject-matter experts will explore the technological and procedural implications of employing the strategy.

A GIS Success Story in Arizona  Next Generation 911 (NG911) systems rely on geospatial data generated by geographic information systems (GIS) to locate emergency callers. But that data first must comply with standards established by the National Emergency Number Association (NENA). Subject-matter experts will examine a project that leveraged the Model for Advancing Public Safety (MAPS) assessment methodology to determine the readiness of Arizonas GIS data statewide.

Cybersecurity Is a Team Sport  Every public-sector organization is at serious risk of a cyberattack, and every staff member has a role to play in safeguarding networks, systems, devices, and applications. Subject-matter experts will discuss policies, procedures, insurance requirements, and training regimens that will make a difference.

In addition to the educational sessions and panel discussions, CAPS 2022 also will present an impressive lineup of keynote speakers:

Nola Joyce, independent consultant to public safety and an MCP board member, will explore the challenges facing law enforcement agencies today.

Dr. Katherine Kuhlman, principal with Kuhlman Psychology and Consulting, will discuss strategies that public safety and justice leaders can use to help their personnel cope with uniquely stressful environments.

Richard Osborne, senior cybersecurity architect, and Matthew Yates, director of operations, for Secure Halo, which MCP recently acquired, will explore strategies used by federal agencies that state and local public sector organizations can use to reduce their cyber vulnerabilities.

Darrin Reilly, MCP president and chief executive officer, will examine the current state of communications across the public sector, as well as several initiatives designed to enhance interoperability, data integration, cybersecurity, and Next Generation 911 readiness.

The conference is free of charge to anyone who is employed by a public sector organization; vendor personnel also are invited to attend for a $400 fee. The registration page can be found here.

About Mission Critical Partners (MCP)

Mission Critical Partners (MCP) is a leading provider of professional and managed services, specializing in transforming mission-critical communications networks into integrated ecosystems that improve outcomes in the public safety, justice, healthcare, transportation, and utility markets. Our comprehensive experience and vendor-agnostic approach helps us develop modernized solutions for our clients that achieve maximum value and optimal efficiency while mitigating risk. Additional information and career opportunities are available at http://www.MissionCriticalPartners.com
Steinberg Law Firm 2022 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Recipients

Every year Super Lawyers releases an annual list of the industrys top attorneys in each state. Super Lawyers is a legal industry rating service that rates lawyers from more than 70 practice areas. The Super Lawyers list is curated through a rigorous selection process based on peer nomination, recognition, and independent research. This year, the following Steinberg Law Firm attorneys have made the South Carolina Super Lawyers list:



David T. Pearlman

Thomas M. White

Malcolm M. Crosland, Jr.

Steven E. Goldberg

Michael J. Jordan

Furthermore, Super Lawyers also releases an annual Rising Stars list for attorneys who are 40 years old or younger. Similar to the Super Lawyers list selection process, the Rising Stars selection process is just as involved and includes a lengthy evaluation of each attorney nominated. The Steinberg Law Firm has four attorneys named to this years South Carolina 2022 Rising Stars list, with Attorney Annie Andrews being a new selectee for this year.



Benjamin W. Akery

Catherine D. Meehan

Kelly M. Alfreds

Annie E. Andrews

Attorneys David Pearlman, Malcolm Crosland, Thomas White, Michael Jordan, Steven Goldberg, Catherine Meehan, Benjamin Akery, and Kelly Alfreds are no strangers to the SC Super Lawyers list. This is David Pearlmans 15th year in a row being named to the Super Lawyers list (2008-2022). David says, We are proud of all the lawyers who received this honor. It is our goal to live up to this recognition by our service to our clients every day.

Malcolm Crosland is an 11-time honoree of Super Lawyers and Thomas White has been named to the list nine times. Steven Goldberg is a five-time Super Lawyers honoree (2018-2022). Michael Jordan has been named to both the Rising Stars List (2012-2018) and Super Lawyers List (2021-2022). Benjamin Akery has been a Rising Star recipient for the past six years (2017-2022), and Catherine Meehan is a five-year Rising Star recipient (2018-2022). Kelly Alfreds was selected to the Rising Stars list for the first-time last year (2021), and this is her second year being a SC Super Lawyers honoree. Annie E. Andrews made the list for the first time this year.

The Steinberg Law Firm is proud to have more than half of their attorneys named to this prestigious industry list. The firms attorneys have over 170 years of combined legal experience handling personal injury and workers compensation claims. Their knowledge, care, and professionalism are what sets them apart from other firms. Congratulations to all the attorneys at the Steinberg Law Firm who have been added to the 2022 South Carolina Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists.

If you or a loved one has questions about a potential injury case, contact the firms team of attorneys at (843) 720- 2800. The firm offers free consultations and does not collect a fee unless they win your case. The Steinberg Law Firm has three offices in Charleston, Goose Creek, and Summerville. To learn more, visit http://www.steinberglawfirm.com today.
Brad is a proven leader with a deep understanding of customer needs, relationship management, and technology sales, continuing to strengthen our team and drive growth, says Michael Schimmel, CEO of Sympathy Brands.

Sympathy Brands Company, dedicated to providing support to those navigating end-of-life matters, names Brad Hainer Vice President of Sales. Hainer joins Sympathy Brands as the company rapidly expands its digital care ecosystem and marketplace. Focused on new growth strategies, Brad will lead channel development, to accelerate the growth of new customers and exceed expectations of the current client base.

Brad brings over 15 years of software sales and revenue leadership across multiple industries through his strong focus on team building, strategic planning, and consultative selling. Through data-backed decision-making and innovative sales execution strategies, Brad has demonstrated success in helping businesses accelerate growth. He has led revenue teams for both publicly traded and privately held companies of all sizes and stages of maturity. Brad is well regarded for building strong relationships with all stakeholders, including customers and partners, as well as ensuring alignment across all revenue-impacting roles.

Brad is a proven leader with a deep understanding of customer needs, relationship management, and technology sales, continuing to strengthen our team and drive growth, says Michael Schimmel, CEO of Sympathy Brands. Brads values and philosophical approach expand upon our commitment to providing unparalleled service, together with a best-in-class digital ecosystem.

The opportunity to join Sympathy Brands during this strategic growth phase excites me, said Hainer. It brings together two of my passions; building sustainable growth-focused organizations and fundamentally improving access to digital solutions to provide benefits including enriched family care and reduced workload.

Through Sympathy Brands family of brands, including eCondolence.com, Cemetery.com, shiva.com, and others, the deathcare industry can reach a familys community, providing support and services at relevant times. Sympathy Brands helps navigate end-of-life solutions by enabling technology to deliver meaningful connections with ease. Its proprietary platform, SBConnect serves to unite funeral homes and cemeteries with families and their expanded network of supporters, providing information at increased touchpoints throughout the journey, from pre-planning to at-need to aftercare including memorialization and commemoration. Focused on enriching family care and reducing workload, Sympathy Brands offers solutions to improve care such as automated, personalized messaging to families and the ability to virtually eulogize and memorialize the deceased with Viewneral, a virtual suite of interactive services. Sympathy Brands integrates with funeral homes and cemeteries existing technologies, including CRM, record management and websites, to continuously provide a leading, streamlined experience.

Visit SympathyBrands.com to learn more.

About Sympathy Brands Company

The Sympathy Brands Company family of brands, including eCondolence.com, http://www.cemetery.com, shiva.com, and others, supports families and industry experts through all stages of end-of-life matters with its trusted marketplace, leading technology and highly curated network of strategic partners. To learn more, please visit SympathyBrands.com.
Q5id, a pioneer of the self-managed proven identity, announced its membership in the Oregon Bankers Association, the Nevada Bankers Association, the Idaho Bankers Association, and Washington Bankers Association. These new relationships represent Q5s commitment to protecting the identity of individuals through providing secure, self-managed proven identities. Banks in particular stand to benefit from offering customers the ability to use biometrics to access their accounts and keep them secure, and Q5 adds significant value in this area, according to Q5id Founder and CEO Steve Larson. Our patented identity proofing solution creates secure identities that can be used for protecting accounts, customer assets, and data, said Larson. By joining these premiere associations, we can better partner with banks on what they need for frictionless onboarding, KYC compliance, and ongoing account security.

Q5id has already contributed to the associations by participating in virtual conferences as subject matter experts and discussing the use of self-managed identities and biometrics to replace less secure multi-factor authentication methods. Tony Clem, Q5id CISO, joined Becky Wanta, CIO & CTO, and Michael Bibeau, Chief Innovation Officer, in contributing to the Washington Bankers Association 2022 Virtual FinTech Conference with engaging roundtable discussions. "WBA is beyond thrilled to have had Q5id's participation and support for our annual Fintech Conference. Our attendees were incredibly grateful for their knowledge and expertise!" said Duncan Taylor, Senior Vice President.

Q5id provides industry-leading, patented identity proofing services that allow individuals to take back control and protection of their identity. Using multiple biometrics for secure, password-less logins eliminates credential theft, while the comprehensive identity proofing process allows for ultimate KYC due diligence.

With the ability to accurately prove identities with just a mobile device, banks using Q5ids technology can give customers a uniquely convenient and secure way to create accounts or access existing ones. Q5ids Proven Identity Solution offers the most robust identity proofing process with the least amount of friction on the market.

About Q5id

Q5id is transforming how individuals and organizations manage identities. With a patented, frictionless identity proofing process, Q5id offers unparalleled identity accuracy and security in a simple, easy to use mobile app. By placing the power of identity back in the hands of the individual, Q5id is poised to disrupt the identity landscape with the first readily available self-managed, proven, and truly secure identity. Founded in 2019 by four experienced identity leaders, Q5id is led by a world-class team and headquartered in Hillsboro, OR. For more information, visit https://q5id.com.
Mode Analytics has been a finalist in the 2022 SIIA CODiE Awards for its flexible visualization system, Visual Explorer. Visual Explorer enables analysts and data scientists to deliver information and insights to inform business decisions faster than ever before," said Gaurav Rewari, CEO, Mode Analytics.

Mode Analytics, the most comprehensive platform for collaborative Business Analytics and Interactive Data Science, today announced that it has been named a finalist in the 2022 SIIA CODiE Awards for its flexible visualization system, Visual Explorer, in the category of Best Business Information or Data Delivery Service.

The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-recognized awards program for the software and information industries. Produced by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade association for software, education, media and digital content, the awards represent the best products, technologies, and services in software information and business technology. Modes Visual Explorer was chosen alongside Lexis Nexis and PricePro as one of the best business information and/or data delivery solutions of 2022. CODiE Award winners will be announced during the https://siia.net/codie/celebrate/virtual winner announcement celebrations on June 8 and June 9, 2022.

The 2022 CODiE Award finalists highlight the products and people who drove their industries forward through innovative products and leadership in these uncertain times, said SIIA President Jeff Joseph. These honorees continue the proud tradition of CODiE Awards finalists of recognizing the most impactful products, services and leaders of their time, setting a foundation for the next generation of innovators. Congratulations to all who received this well-earned acknowledgment.

Visual Explorer is a best-in-class visualization suite that helps data analysts explore data faster and provides easy-to-interpret insights to stakeholders. Powered by Helix, Modes award-winning responsive data engine, Visual Explorer builds upon Modes unique ability to combine BI and Data Science, bringing together the workflows of analysts and business users in a way that has never been done before to answer questions quickly and advance knowledge across the organization.

We are honored by this industry recognition of Visual Explorer through the prestigious SIIA CODiE Awards, said Gaurav Rewari, CEO, Mode Analytics. Visual Explorer enables analysts and data scientists to deliver information and insights to inform business decisions faster than ever before. It empowers data teams to iterate on data-heavy visualizations, while also enabling business stakeholders to answer their own follow-up questions, rather than overwhelming the data team with frequent requests.

In addition to the SIIA CODiE Awards finals, Mode recently earned a 2022 Excellence in Customer Service Award from the Business Intelligence Group, a 2021 Best in Biz Award in the category of Customer Service Department of the Year, a Gold Award in the 8th Annual 2021 Globee Sales and Service Excellence Awards in the category of Best Use of Technology in Customer Service, and a Gold Stevie Award for Sales and Customer Service in the category of Front-line Customer Service Professional of the Year. Mode is also the recipient of 16 G2 Leader Awards for Winter and Spring 2022, including Momentum Leader, Small Business Leader, Enterprise Leader, Mid-Market Leader, and European Leader, and has one of the highest Implementation Index scores in the Analytics and Embedded Business Intelligence categories, ranked by customer satisfaction (based on user reviews and social data) and market presence (based on market share, seller size, and social impact).

For more information about Mode Analytics, please visit https://mode.com/.

About Mode Analytics

Modes advanced analytics platform is designed by data experts for data experts. It allows data scientists and analysts to visualize, analyze, and share data using a powerful end-to-end workflow that covers everything from early data exploration stages to presentation-ready shareable products. Unlike traditional business intelligence tools that produce static dashboards and reports, Mode brings the best of BI and data science together in a single platform, empowering everyone at your organization to use data to make high quality, high velocity decisions. Mode also supports the analytics community with free learning resources such as SQL School, open source SQL queries, and free tools for anyone analyzing public data. To start a free trial or learn more, visit https://www.mode.com.

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I just wanted the people to know that making killer ice tea isnt that hard, man. - Elijah Chavis

Weird Beverages recently announced the release of the long awaited winning Recipe for Really Great Iced Tea to much fanfare and excitement, momentarily causing internet interruptions in some areas. Weird Tea super fan Elijah Chavis has revealed the final recipe in a home-made video that has gone viral.

Its pretty trippy stated Chavis when asked how it felt to be the subject of a video that has just exploded onto the social media scene. I just wanted the people to know that making killer ice tea isnt that hard, man.

It the clip, which quickly garnered hundreds of views, Chavis is seen kicking back and enjoying what appears to be the award-winning recipe destined to be the feel-good hit of Summer 2022  Weird Teas Really Great Iced Tea. Made with only ingredients you want, and nothing that you dont, Weird Tea is indeed epic.

Stated Chavis friend Karyn Elijah and I were kicking it and he goes do you want some Weird Tea, and I was like, what? And then he just busted out a glass of ice and popped open the White Peach Oolong one and I was all damn dude, thats some bomb ass iced tea! and Elijah was like yeah, its lit. It was pretty cool.

Hundreds of recipes were reviewed, but the final selection awarded the coveted title of Recipe for Really Great Iced Tea shocked the dedicated fan base of iced tea drinkers everywhere. Social media comments included I want that, also Duuudddde!! and then simply LFG twice. We offer a look under the hood of this original and inspired recipe which is reminiscent of the classics but baked with a truly modern spin:

Get a cup. Get ice. Put ice in cup. Select your favorite flavor of Weird Tea. Pop open can and pour Weird Tea over ice. Wait a second. Enjoy.

Summer is right around the corner, Elijah and Karyn urge all fans of iced tea to stock up on Weird Tea as to not miss your opportunity to participate in this global phenomenon. Weird Tea is available at finer retail locations in greater Austin and in Southern California. Weird Tea is also available delivered to directly your door via Amazon, Walmart.com, or GoPuff  so dont blow it, get Weird this summer.

About Weird Beverages:

Weird Beverages is based in Austin, Texas and produces fine Iced Teas and fancy boutique Waters including four tea flavors (White Peach Oolong Tea, Passion Fruit Black Tea, Moroccan Mint Green Tea, Chamomile Hemp Hibiscus Tea) and two water products (crisp life-affirming Spring Water and delicious mineral enhanced Sparkling Water). Weird Beverages has committed 100% of all profits from the sales of Weird Water products to be donated to charitable causes, in perpetuity. Something Weird is Happening at http://www.DrinkWeird.com

About Iced Tea:

Weird Tea is like five times more delicious than Teavana, Tejava, Arizona, Peace Tea, Gold Peak, Pure Leaf, Honest Tea, Snapple, or Brisk. So that you know.
We are thrilled to be working with Vestwell, who has extensive experience expanding retirement savings through innovative solutions, said Dave Young, Colorado State Treasurer.

Vestwell, the modern fintech engine powering savings and investment programs for small businesses and individual savers across the country, today announced it has won a competitive bid to administer the Colorado Secure Savings Program and New Mexico Work and $ave auto-enroll IRA programs.

Colorado and New Mexico recently created a historic partnership, signing a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) for their auto-enroll IRA programs. Through this partnership, an estimated one million private-sector workers in Colorado and 430,000 in New Mexico will now have access to a retirement plan through their employer.

The Colorado Secure Savings Program and New Mexico Work and $ave programs will also provide increased accessibility for part-time, self-employed, and seasonal workers. The MoC allows individuals that live near the border and work in both states the ability to hold their retirement savings across state borders. Small business owners will be able to sign up for these programs at no cost to the employer.

We are proud to power the first-ever, multi-state auto-IRA program in the country, said Aaron Schumm, Founder and CEO of Vestwell. Colorado and New Mexico are pioneering the next phase in retirement savings through cross-state partnerships, bringing dignified savings solutions their workforce deserves.

Vestwell, in partnership with BNY Mellon, will serve as the Program Administrator, providing recordkeeping, custodial, and administrative services to employers and employees in Colorado and New Mexico. Vestwell now administers three of the five live state-facilitated retirement savings programs: Oregon, Maryland, and Connecticut. Across all its business, Vestwell currently powers nearly 25,000 small businesses, a million savers, and $25 billion in assets in all 50 states.

We are thrilled to be working with Vestwell, who has extensive experience expanding retirement savings through innovative solutions, said Dave Young, Colorado State Treasurer. This is a significant step towards providing Colorado employers and workers with the opportunity to save for a dignified and sustainable retirement.

Vestwell has a proven track record of providing high-quality retirement solutions to state facilitated programs, said Hunter Railey, Director, Colorado Secure Savings Program. As Colorado prepares to implement the Secure Savings Program, employers and workers will have some of the best services available to support their long-term financial security.

Colorado Secure Savings Program is expected to impact more than 40% of the states workforce. Nearly one million employees will now have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Colorado businesses with five or more employees that have been in business for over two years, will be required to offer a workplace retirement plan, either through Colorado Secure Savings Program or through a traditional 401(k) plan. The pilot program is expected to begin in October 2022 and enrollment will begin in 2023.

New Mexico appreciates the opportunity to work in such a collaborative environment to bring a high-quality retirement option to our employers and workers, said Tim Eichenberg, New Mexico State Treasurer. The expertise and experience Vestwell brings is a huge asset to our work to expand retirement savings.

New Mexico Work and $ave will support 62% of New Mexico private-sector employees who do not have a retirement plan through their employer. This will be a hybrid program consisting of a voluntary IRA and web marketplace. The marketplace options will be determined by the state Board. All companies, regardless of size, with their primary place of business located in New Mexico will be eligible to participate. The New Mexico Work and $ave program is expected to launch on July 1, 2024.

Vestwell is the only fintech company that partners with state governments to offer a personalized savings experience, on a state-of-the-art platform, spanning all savings vehicle verticals. Its technology sets the firm apart with smart learning, modern APIs, and a completely digital interface while reducing the administrative burden for states and small businesses alike.

State programs have turned to Vestwell for our award-winning team, technology, and industry-leading partners, said Douglas Magnolia, President of Vestwell. We have the unique understanding of how to effectively support state partners run successful programs due to our extensive experience working with states across the country on 529 College Savings, 529A ABLE (ABLE), and Secure Choice/Auto-IRA state-sponsored savings programs.

States and their private-sector partners continue to show that these programs are easy for employers and simple for savers. Closing the retirement savings gap requires innovation from the public and private sectors, and state programs have shown they are a key part of the overall solution.

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About Vestwell

Vestwell is the modern fintech engine powering savings and investment programs for small businesses and individual savers across the country. Were helping to close the savings gap by offering a flexible, cost-effective, modern solution to save for the critical aspects of life - retirement, education, and healthcare. Vestwell currently powers nearly 25,000 small businesses, more than a million savers, and $25 billion in assets in all 50 states. To learn more visit vestwell.com.
The COVID pandemic has not only shined a bright spotlight on the need for access to quality health care across the rural-urban spectrum, but it has also threatened the financial sustainability of many rural health care providers. Many rural hospitals and other health care providers were forces to halt many services, such as elective and preventative care procedures, which significantly reduced revenues. For many rural health care providers, this reduction in revenues elevated their levels of fiscal stress. While federal aids helped offset some of this COVID induced fiscal stress, for many rural health care providers the aid was insufficient.

In the research published in AEPP Access to Health Care and Rural Worker Productivity Steven Deller from the University of Wisconsin-Madison asks how access to health care impacts regional economic activity as measured by worker productivity.

Deller says, Results suggest that a 1% increase in the number of physicians per 100,000 persons in the region could result in an increase in earnings per worker of between $68.21 and $81.10 annually, depending on the measure of health. The increase for metro areas, however, is nearly 10 times higher than for nonmetro areas.

If you are interested in setting up an interview, please contact Allison Ware in the AAEA Business Office.

ABOUT AAEA: Established in 1910, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is the leading professional association for agricultural and applied economists, with 2,500 members in more than 60 countries. Members of the AAEA work in academic or government institutions as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of research, teaching, and outreach activities in the areas of agriculture, the environment, food, health, and international development. The AAEA publishes two journals, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, as well as the online magazine Choices and the online open access publication series Applied Economics Teaching Resources. To learn more, visit http://www.aaea.org.
A pharmacist can indeed answer quick questions about medications, but most patients dont know that. Its also safe to talk to a pharmacist because they are professional and compliant with privacy laws, said Phuong Sophie Le, PharmD, RPh.

Scheduled to broadcast Q3/2022, Advancements with Ted Danson will focus on recent improvements in pharmaceutical technology.

Hearing from experts in the field, this segment will explore how ImpactPharm, Inc. (ImpactPharm) is connecting patients with pharmacists via its patient platform that acts as an ecosystem to affordable care.

The show will educate about how ImpactPharm is making pharmacist services accessible for patients, reducing the time of waiting in line, and ultimately bridging the gap in patient care.

As a pharmacist, I know that currently people would rather go to Dr. Google than talk directly with their knowledgeable pharmacist. A pharmacist can indeed answer quick questions about medications, but most patients dont know that. Its also safe to talk to a pharmacist because they are professional and compliant with privacy laws, said Phuong Sophie Le, PharmD, RPh.

Audiences will also learn how ImpactPharm helps patients aim for products that provide comprehensive coverage, in addition to insurance.

With a strong sense of community as its foremost objective, ImpactPharm connects patients with pharmacists in an effort to reduce out-of-pocket expenses, said Beth Swaney, producer for the Advancements series. We look forward to exploring how the technology is helping to remove barriers to healthcare.

About ImpactPharm:

ImpactPharm is developing a patent-pending platform that connects patients with licensed and board-certified pharmacists to answer medication-related questions in a timely manner. With the understanding that the battle is much harder to fight alone, building an ecosystem with a strong sense of community is ImpactPharms foremost objective.

For more information, visit: http://www.impactpharm.app

About Advancements and DMG Productions:

Advancements is an information-based educational television series targeting recent advances across several industries and economies. Featuring state-of-the-art solutions and important issues facing todays consumers and business professionals, Advancements focuses on cutting-edge developments, and brings this information to the public with the vision to enlighten about how technology and innovation continue to transform our world.

Backed by experts in various fields, DMG Productions is dedicated to education and advancement, and to consistently producing commercial-free, educational programming on which both viewers and networks depend.

For more information, please visit http://www.AdvancementsTV.com or call 866-496-4065.
Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP For more information about the class action lawsuit against Maxgen Energy Services Corporation, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The Los Angeles employment law attorneys, at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a class action complaint alleging that Maxgen Energy Services Corporation violated the California Labor Code. The Maxgen Energy Services Corporation class action lawsuit, Case No. 30-2022-01255052-CU-OE-CJC, is currently pending in the Orange County Superior Court of the State of California. A copy of the Complaint can be read here.

According to the lawsuit filed, Maxgen Energy Services Corporation allegedly (a) failed to pay minimum wages, (b) failed to pay overtime wages, (c) failed to provide legally required meal and rest periods, (d) failed to provide accurate itemized wage statements, (e) failed to reimburse employees for required expenses, and (f) failed to provide wages when due, all in violation of the applicable Labor Code sections listed in California Labor Code Sections  201, 202, 203, 226, 226.7, 510, 512, 1194, 1197, 1197.1, 2802, and the applicable Wage Order(s), and thereby gives rise to civil penalties as a result of such alleged conduct.

Maxgen Energy Services Corporation allegedly failed to reimburse employees for required business expenses. California Labor Code  2802 expressly states that "an employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties..." During employment, Plaintiff and other California Class Members were allegedly required to use their personal cellular phones as a result of and in furtherance of their job duties. Specifically, employees were required to use their personal cellular phones to respond to managers while off the clock.

For more information about the class action lawsuit against Maxgen Energy Services Corporation, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is an employment law firm with offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside and Chicago that dedicates its practice to helping employees, investors and consumers fight back against unfair business practices, including violations of the California Labor Code and Fair Labor Standards Act. If you need help in collecting unpaid overtime wages, unpaid commissions, being wrongfully terminated from work, and other employment law claims, contact one of their attorneys today.

***THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT***
China's Cyber Assault on America - And Enemy of the State book series. So, how did the world's most populous country (1.4 billion) become such a force in cyberterrorism? For starters, more than half of China's population is online, so that's quite a few hackers to choose from when the government goes looking for the best and brightest.

China has long been a thorn in Americas side when it comes to nation-state attacks, and for some very obvious reasons.

China wants to be in the know about everything America does, as China feels threatened by Americas technology might.

Their quest for global domination requires China to learn everything they can about how Americas infrastructure works, which means stealing valuable information at any cost.

In Chinas Cyber Assault on America, A publication from the Enemy of the State Book Series, Charles Denyer reveals Chinas ultimate quest for global domination, and the massive, unprecedented level of theft of American intellectual property by the Chinese.

Excerpts from China's Cyber Assault on America:

We have no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years... Right now, it's already a done deal; it is already over in my opinion." A no doubt chilling statement from Nicolas Chaillan, the former head of cybersecurity at the U.S. Air Force. Chaillan continues, noting there was good reason to be angry" and described U.S. cybersecurity systems and defenses as at a kindergarten level.

What's on China's wish list when it comes to nation state attacks? Almost anything, the experts say. Anything that can disrupt our economic way of life. Anything that can give the Chinese an upper hand over the United States.

So, how did the world's most populous country (1.4 billion) become such a force in cyberterrorism? For starters, more than half of China's population is online, so that's quite a few hackers to choose from when the government goes looking for the best and brightest. And China has been launching cyber-attacks for the last two decades, with great success.

China's Cyber Assault on America, a publication from the Enemy of the State book Series by National Security & Cyber Security authority Charles Denyer

The Enemy of the State book series is available on Amazon.

About Charles Denyer

Charles Denyer is an Austin-based cyber-security and national-security expert who has worked with hundreds of US and international organizations to help them obtain a true competitive advantage with cyber security, data privacy, and compliance. He consults regularly with top political and business leaders throughout the world, including former prime ministers, vice presidents of the United States, White House chiefs of staff, secretaries of State and Defense, ambassadors, high-ranking intelligence officials, CEOs, entrepreneurs, civic leaders and others. He is an established author, with multiple books currently in print, along with being the personal biographer to three US vice presidents.
Drivers in the Boerne, Texas area can get oil and filter change at an affordable price at the Jaguar Boerne dealership.

Drivers know the importance of regular oil and filter changes for the engine. Replacing the vehicle oil is key to maintaining its overall health. Hence, regular maintenance of oil and filter change is recommended. Customers living in Boerne can head to the Jaguar Boerne dealership to avail themselves of the oil and filter change services.

Maintaining oil and filter helps improve the engine efficiency, increase its lifespan, get better mileage, remove engine wear particles, help cool the engine components, and enhance environmental friendliness. Therefore, taking the vehicle to a trusted dealership with the best service facility is crucial. Jaguar Boerne dealership is known for quality automotive service and repair.

Interested drivers who wish to take advantage of the oil and filter change service can visit the dealership's website to learn more about the terms and conditions. To get detailed information, interested customers can contact Jaguar Boerne dealership's service team at 830-428-2219 or visit the dealership in person at 32120 IH 10 West Boerne, TX 78006
Award-winning used cars dealership with premium services

Car buying options have improved over the years but are of almost zero value if the overarching management and related purchasing processes are made complex. Buyers with a penchant for all segments and brands often resort to those dealerships with a wide selection of vehicles. Freeman Motor Company, with its dealership network in Oregon, provides the customers with a satisfying experience through the affordable deals available on used cars. Moreover, this aspect stands out with more luster than ever before due to the recent CarGurus award the dealership received for excellent customer service.

Like other sectors, the automotive marketplace is also a breeding ground for filthy, fierce competition. However, nothing trumps the honor lent to a company by esteemed platforms such as CarGurus, which has grown to become the industry-leading digital retail solutions organization.

As reviewed by the customers in Salem and Portland, the dealership has upheld its eminent domain with multiple stages of buying broken down into more straightforward modes of purchase. Also, every factor central to buying cars has been carefully analyzed for the final curation of options and available financing schemes, resulting in a smoother process.

Customers interested in nearly new and other used vehicles can head out to Freeman Motor Company in Portland or Salem, Oregon. Bear witness to the seamless procedures involved in buying, heightened to excellence by the staff at the dealership. For a more comfortable car buying experience and exciting deals, contact the team at 503-310-5555.
Mauricio J. Barba

Top producer Mauricio J. Barba has been a mainstay in Miamis uber-competitive high-end real estate market since 1994. Respected in his native community by clients and colleagues alike; he has logged top honors for elite performance as the top 1% of all agents nationwide based on total sales volume. Mauricio is connected worldwide but specializes in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne, Brickell, Village of Pinecrest, South Miami, Palmetto Bay/Falls area, and the Beaches. His expertise is demonstrated through his ability to facilitate trouble-free transactions winning him clients for life who also become friends.

Mauricio is fluent in Spanish, committed to premier marketing on and offline, and keeps skills sharp with cutting-edge real estate seminars. Mauricio enters every room with confidence and professional approachability. But more importantly, he is prepared and precise, saving you time and effort. Clients rely on him to deliver and he takes the responsibility very seriously. People trust me with their single largest asset. Its a role that drives me to push for excellence every day. I give 110% because my success is their success.

Visit Mauricio J. Barba 's Haute Residence Profile: https://www.hauteresidence.com/member/mauricio-j-barba/

ABOUT HAUTE RESIDENCE

Designed as a partnership-driven luxury real estate portal, Haute Residence connects its affluent readers with top real estate professionals, while offering the latest in real estate news, showcasing the worlds most extraordinary residences on the market and sharing expert advice from its knowledgeable and experienced real estate partners. The invitation-only luxury real estate network, which partners with just one agent in every market, unites a distinguished collective of leading real estate agents and brokers and highlights the most extravagant properties in leading markets around the globe for affluent buyers, sellers, and real estate enthusiasts. HauteResidence.com has grown to be the number one news source for million-dollar listings, high-end residential developments, celebrity real estate, and more.

Access all of this information and more by visiting http://www.hauteresidence.com
The Beryl Institute announces the publication of Volume 9, Issue 1 of Patient Experience Journal (PXJ), an international, open access, peer-reviewed journal focused on research and proven practices related to understanding and improving the patient experience. Read in over 220 countries and territories, PXJ articles have been downloaded over 900,000 times and reflect the journals commitment to disseminating rigorous knowledge and expanding the global conversation on evidence and innovation in patient and human experience.

Published in association with The Beryl Institute, Volume 9, Issue 1 includes 27 articles representing commentaries, personal narratives, research studies and case studies covering topics such as:



Measuring what matters: A proposal for reframing how we evaluate and improve experience in healthcare

Assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on a children's hospital: The point of view of patients and families

The impact of patient-centered care on health outcomes in adolescents living with diabetes

Resource utilization among informal caregivers of lung cancer patients undergoing treatment

Patient reported experience in a radiation oncology department

Beyond HCAHPS: Analysis of patients comments provides an expanded view of their hospital experiences

Patient involvement in the development of PROMs within the MS Field: A systematic review

The research represents a broad range of global organizations and institutions including Johns Hopkins Health System, Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, Sant Joan de Deu Children's Hospital, University of Michigan Health, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, University of Saskatchewan, Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care, New South Wales Ministry of Health, Cancer Care Alberta, Alberta Health Services, Southlake Regional Health Centre, Ministry of Health Republic of Slovenia, Maastricht University, The Danish Multiple Sclerosis Registry, Trillium Health Partners, Island Health and Northwell Health.

The scope and breadth of this issue represents a powerful snapshot of both the reflective moment in which we find ourselves and the dynamic tensions we are experiencing that will and must push us forward. said Jason Wolf, Founding Editor of PXJ and President & CEO of The Beryl Institute. The reason we stand here today asking and declaring what lies ahead is because of the community we have built together. The words on these pages of this issue of PXJ represent it, the ideas shared reflect it and the lessons learned, ideas inspired, and actions taken as a result reinforce all that is possible.

To access Volume 9, Issue 1 of PXJ, visit: http://pxjournal.org/journal

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About Patient Experience Journal:

Patient Experience Journal (PXJ) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published in association with The Beryl Institute. Read in over 220 countries and territories, PXJ is committed to disseminating rigorous knowledge and expanding the global conversation on evidence and innovation on patient experience.

About The Beryl Institute:

The Beryl Institute is a global community of professionals and experience champions committed to transforming the human experience in healthcare. As a pioneer and leader of the experience movement and patient experience profession for more than a decade, the Institute offers unparalleled access to unbiased research and proven practices, networking and professional development opportunities and a safe, neutral space to exchange ideas and learn from others.

We define the patient experience as the sum of all interactions, shaped by an organizations culture, that influence patient perceptions across the continuum of care. We believe human experience is grounded in the experiences of patients & families, members of the healthcare workforce and the communities they serve.
I am looking forward to joining this amazing team and providing the very best in personalized dental care for my new patients, says Dr. Kate West.

Rivers + Tanner Family Dentistry provides superior and compassionate dental care for smiles of all ages. This thriving practice, located at 1065 Johnnie Dodds Blvd, Suite A in Mount Pleasant, SC, offers a full array of services, ranging from dental examinations and cleanings to full mouth reconstruction. This premier dental clinic, led by Dr. Chris Rivers and Dr. Dale Tanner, is thrilled to announce that Dr. Kate West has joined the team of dental professionals.

Dr. Kate West grew up in Doylestown, Pennsylvania and attended Clemson University where she graduated with a BA in biological sciences and a minor in microbiology. Dr. West then earned her DMD at the Medical University of South Carolina. She continued her education by completing an optional one-year general practice residency at Palmetto Health Richland Hospital (Prisma Health) in Columbia, SC, to enhance her knowledge in general dentistry. Dr. West is a member of The American Dental Association, The South Carolina Dental Association, The Academy of General Dentistry and The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. Dr. West enjoys growing with her patients and helping them transform not only their smile but their confidence as well. She is committed to providing exceptional dental care, utilizing advanced technology and techniques to improve the patient experience.

I am looking forward to joining this amazing team and providing the very best in personalized dental care for my new patients, says Dr. Kate West.

More About Rivers + Tanner Family Dentistry:

Rivers + Tanner Family Dentistry provides honest dentistry in a family-friendly environment. They focus on patient-centered care for all ages and abilities. Regardless of whether teeth are in great shape or in need of dental restoration, patients can depend on talented dental professionals to provide excellent care in a warm, relaxing atmosphere. Rivers + Tanner Family Dentistry provides a full range of general dentistry services, cosmetic options and restorative dentistry. Whether patients are in need of a simple filling, teeth whitening or desiring dental implants, this experienced team can meet all types of dental requirements. For more information about Rivers + Tanner Family Dentistry, please visit http://www.mtpleasantdentists.com or call 843-884-5166.
"We are excited to contribute to the efforts of these two organizations who closely understand the employment needs of todays veterans in the Sacramento region." SAFE Credit Union Community Impact Manager Amanda Merz

Recognizing a need to assist veterans seeking advanced and entry-level careers, SAFE Credit Union is awarding $30,000 in grants to two Sacramento-area organizations committed to providing employment resources to veterans.

SAFE is granting $20,000 to Cyber Proud and $10,000 to Volunteers of America, of Northern California and Nevada, as part of the credit unions grant program.

Cyber Proud will use the funding to provide employee training for veterans seeking careers in information technology. Volunteers of America plans to support homeless veterans with job-seeking resources.

We are excited to contribute to the efforts of these two organizations who closely understand the employment needs of todays veterans in the Sacramento region, says SAFE Credit Union Community Impact Manager Amanda Merz.

Cyber Proud plans to use the funds to enhance its Career Development Program, serving areas in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties. The program will provide veterans with career readiness training, industry mentoring, and job placement skills for information technology careers.

Our goal is to move individuals from lower-wage jobs to high-demand, high-wage careers, says Cyber Proud Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Colleen Morehead.

Volunteers of America will support homeless veterans with financial education sessions to help them improve their financial literacy while searching for employment. Volunteers of America also assists homeless veterans secure permanent housing and stability.

In Sacramento, theres a homeless problem, one that plagues many veterans, says Volunteers of America Executive Director Leo McFarland. Our organization is committed to keeping its veteran programs open and to continue serving homeless veterans in our community. With funding from SAFE Credit Union, these much-needed ongoing services will continue effectively.

SAFE annually awards grants in phases focusing on its three pillars of philanthropy: veterans, healthcare, and education. For more information on SAFE Credit Unions grants program, go to http://www.safecu.org/community/community-impact/funding.

About SAFE

SAFE Credit Union is a leading financial institution in Northern California with over $4.4 billion in assets and more than 240,000 members. SAFE is a not-for-profit, state-chartered credit union with membership open to businesses and individuals living or working in Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, Sutter, Butte, Nevada, Solano, San Joaquin, Contra Costa, Yuba, Amador, and Alameda counties. Insured by NCUA. http://www.safecu.org.


The amount of potential to be activated is so amazing at Sierra College. Entrepreneurial efforts at Sierra are tightly focused on equity and access. This is one of the things that I love most about this program and my role in it. Its where the rubber meets the road. Monique Brown

The Sierra College Board of Trustees in April voted to name Monique Brown as its first-ever Entrepreneur in Residence, (EIR) a contracted position that will help lead the community college districts drive to integrate entrepreneurship and innovation into everything Sierra College does, from student instruction to workforce training partnerships with area employers and the regions start up community.

We are thrilled that Monique Brown has agreed to be our first EIR, said Willy Duncan, Superintendent/President of Sierra College. She has tremendous skills and a stellar reputation as an innovator and connector in our region and beyond. Monique is already helping us to think and plan differently about how we prepare students to enter a very dynamic world of work that demands creativity and out-of-the-box solutions.

EIRs are relatively new to education, but not to Silicon Valley, where they hold positions in venture capital firms, private equity firms or startup accelerators, assisting in bringing new products or services to market by leveraging their industry knowledge, expertise and network. Within higher education, an EIR might inform curriculum and instruction design, be a resource to faculty and the administration with market knowledge and connections, help students connect with mentors, advisors, and investors or bring business concepts to market.

Today our jobs, the way we work, the tools we use and how we interact with others have all shifted. Higher education has struggled at times to keep up with the rapid pace of change, said Amy Schulz, Dean of Business and Technology at Sierra College. Thats why Sierra College is making some of these unique investments in our students  especially nontraditional students who have been underserved. Monique Brown is integral to how we can turn all students hopes and dreams into reality.

Brown is managing director for The Growth Factory, a business startup accelerator and accompanying venture fund based in Rocklin co-founded by Mark Haney, Rick Spencer and Monique Brown that invests in entrepreneurs with capital, tools, mentorship and community. She is responsible for overseeing operations, deal flow sourcing and screening, program design and execution, partner and mentor engagement, and ecosystem collaborations.

Over the last 10 years, Brown has worked with hundreds of talented and committed early-stage founders supporting them through the application of lean startup principles, capacity building mentorship, and making connections to the right resources. She has served as a mentor for programs like the Plasma and Big Bang Competition at UC Davis and the Sierra College Mentor Network. She also was part of a team that brought the global entrepreneurial pitch event, 1 Million Cups, to Sacramento, and previously served on the board for Social Venture Partners of Sacramento which is focused on galvanizing business leaders to contribute time, talent, and treasure to drive greater social impact.

The amount of potential to be activated is so amazing at Sierra College, said Brown. Entrepreneurial efforts at Sierra are tightly focused on equity and access. This is one of the things that I love most about this program and my role in it. Its where the rubber meets the road.

About Sierra College

Sierra College District is rising to the needs of our community. Sierra College serves 3,200 square miles of Northern California with campuses in Roseville, Rocklin, Grass Valley, and Truckee. With approximately 125 degree and certificate programs, Sierra College is ranked first in Northern California (Sacramento north) for transfers to four-year universities, offers career/technical training, and classes for upgrading job skills. Sierra graduates can be found in businesses and industries throughout the region. More information at http://www.sierracollege.edu.
University of La Verne President Devorah Lieberman on stage at the 2022 Scholarship Gala with student Ian Mendoza. Our students come from various backgrounds and circumstances, but they all have the common goal of gaining a quality education so they can graduate, having successful careers, and positively impacting their communities.

The University of La Verne raised a record $1.1 million for student scholarshipsand announced the receipt of more than $2.7 million in additional gifts and pledgesduring the 2022 Scholarship Gala on Saturday, April 23.

About 600 guests, including civic and community leaders, attended the black-tie celebration, which was held for the first time in the events history on the University of La Verne campus. Guests mingled, dined, and enjoyed a short presentation outdoors amid elegant ivy-covered walls, floral bouquets, and festive university colors.

This setting has reminded us why we love the University of La Verne and why we continue to work tirelessly for our students, President Devorah Lieberman told the attendees. And, tonight, it is about you and our student scholarships.

About half of University of La Verne students are the first in their families to attend college, and 98 percent need and receive financial aid. This year alone, the university allocated about $55 million in institutional grants and aid to support them.

During the Scholarship Gala program, Lieberman invited one such student to the stage to share his story. Ian Mendoza, a first-generation college student from Rancho Cucamonga, plans to use his business administration degree to help his family expand its food truck business.

He was joined on stage initially by just his parents. Then, one-by-one, Lieberman called up nearly 20 university faculty and staff who supported Mendoza on his college journey. When complete, he was enveloped by the comprehensive support network that made his college education possible.

Ian and his champions represent all University of La Verne students, Lieberman said. Our students come from various backgrounds and circumstances, but they all have the common goal of gaining a quality education so they can graduate, having successful careers, and positively impacting their communities.

In addition to the $1.1 million raised by the event itself, several other significant contributions to the university were announced at the Gala. They included:



$1 million from San Bernardino County Chair of the Board of Supervisors, Curt Hagman, to support the new Randall Lewis Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Social Impact, located in Ontario, intended to positively impact San Bernardino County.

$1 million from Inland Empire Health Plan Foundation by and through the efforts of Chair of the Board of Supervisors, Curt Hagman, to support the College of Health and Community Well-Being, intended to positively impact San Bernardino County.

$720,000 from Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital, led by Trustee John Raffoul, to support the nursing program at the College of Health and Community Well-Being.

Knowing that there is such strong support for our university is deeply encouraging and only strengthens our commitment to providing a relevant, equitable, and quality education to our students, said Sherri Mylott, vice president for University Advancement. Our future looks bright indeed.

This year marked the return of the Scholarship Gala following a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Civic leaders in attendance included: State Senators Anthony Portantino and Susan Rubio; San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman; La Verne City Council Members Muir Davis and Wendy Lau; Ontario City Council Member Debra Dorst-Porada; Pomona Unified School District Superintendent Richard Martinez; Pomona Unified School District Trustees Roberta Perlman and Andrew Wong; Rancho Cucamonga City Council Member Kristine Scott; Western University of Health Sciences President Robin Farias Eisner; Ohlone College President Eric Bishop; Frank Pine, executive editor at MediaNews Group; and Julie Miller-Phipps, president of Kaiser Permanente Southern California and Hawaii Health Plan and Hospitals.

The Scholarship Gala closed with an opportunity drawing for a 2022 Toyota RAV4 XLE, which was generously donated by the OREMOR Automotive Group, and won by alumna Melissa Chavarria 18.

Presenting sponsors of the Scholarship Gala included Trustee Sue Searing and her husband Lee Searing, and the Ludwick Family Foundation.

About the University of La Verne

Founded in 1891, the University of La Verne is a private, nonprofit, comprehensive institution founded on four core values: lifelong learning, ethical reasoning, civic and community engagement, and diversity and inclusivity. Ranked among the best in the country for social mobility by US News & World Report, the university serves more than 6,000 students on the historic La Verne location as well as across eight regional campuses and online.
Juliana Abu Bakar joins as Country Head of Wahed Malaysia "What attracted me to Wahed the most is that inclusivity is its main business objective. Im looking forward to making the Wahed brand a household name for Malaysian investment needs and thus, achieving our objective of providing inclusivity in the world of finance.

Wahed, a global fintech company that provides an efficient, reliable, and accessible way to invest, announced the appointment of Juliana Abu Bakar as Country Head of Wahed Technologies Sdn. Bhd. (Wahed Malaysia). Her responsibilities will include managing local offerings, implementing growth strategies, and spearheading marketing and business development functions in Malaysia.

Juliana Abu Bakar will be replacing Syakir Hashim - who has captained Wahed Malaysia from its inception. Syakir will be joining Waheds group management as its Senior Vice President of Business Operations. Under his leadership, Wahed Malaysia which was launched in October 2019, acquired over 250,000 clients and gained operational profitability.

Commenting on his new position and the appointment of Juliana Abu Bakar as Country Head, Syakir said: Today, we are one of the leading Digital Investment Managers in Malaysia, and I couldn't be more grateful. Id like to thank the Wahed Malaysia team, regulators, and wider ecosystem for supporting us. I start my new role at Wahed in comfort, as I know I leave our Malaysia operations in great hands with Juliana.

Juliana Abu Bakar brings years of experience to her new role at Wahed Malaysia. As the Head of Digital Wallet for Touch n Go, she developed and operationalized Touch n Go e-wallet as a new product, including obtaining related regulatory approvals from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). She also successfully enhanced use cases for the e-wallet by collaborating with strategic partners, along with obtaining online and physical merchants to accept the e-wallet as a new form of cashless payment.

Juliana Abu Bakars appointment comes directly after Wahed announced former SEC Director Lori Richards joining its Board of Directors as the companys first female director. Syakir Hashim added: Juliana joining us marks Waheds aim to promote a strong female leadership team at the company. We also hope her decision to be part of Wahed will pave the way for more diverse talent to join us and help us to create the best financial services for consumers.

My heart has always been in the fintech industry. What attracted me to Wahed the most is the fact that inclusivity is its main business objective. Ive been passionate about inclusivity through fintech since I promoted the idea of financial inclusivity for cashless payment via E-Wallet in Malaysia. Now we can say cashless payment through various methods including E-Wallet has become the norm here. Im looking forward to making the Wahed brand a household name for Malaysian investment needs and thus, achieving our objective of providing inclusivity in the world of finance. said Juliana Abu Bakar.

About Wahed Inc.

Wahed is a global fintech company that aims to improve financial inclusion and encourages social responsibility through accessible, affordable, and ethical investing. New York-headquartered and using the latest technology, Wahed has built an award-winning offering that is automated and available through mobile, making it easy for everyone to benefit from investing without compromising their values - all from the palm of their hand. Licensed in nine jurisdictions through its subsidiaries around the globe, with 11 offices and serving over 250,000 customers, Wahed is backed by renowned investors and advisors, helping them to strive for the goal of wealth management that is more equal, pure, and fair.

For more information on how Wahed is changing the world of finance for the better, visit https://wahedinvest.com/

About Wahed Malaysia

Wahed Malaysia (Wahed) offers an automated investing service designed for Shariah and ethical investing. Wahed Technologies Sdn Bhd is the licensed entity operating as the Digital Islamic Investment Manager. The platform allows investors from all income brackets to invest ethically and efficiently.

For more information on Wahed Invest, visit http://www.wahedinvest.com

"Disclaimer: Wahed Technologies Sdn Bhd.("Wahed") is licensed by the Securities Commission of Malaysia as a Digital Investment Management (DIM) company. Wahed is authorised to carry on the business of fund management incorporating innovative technologies into automated discretionary portfolio management services offered to clients under a license issued pursuant to Schedule 2 of the Capital Markets Services Act 2007.

All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of money you invest, and past performance does not guarantee future performance. Historical returns, expected returns, and probability projections are provided for informational and illustrative purposes, and may not reflect actual future performance. Wahed assumes no responsibility for liability for your trading and investment results. It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses. Past results of any trading system published by Wahed, through the Website or otherwise, are not indicative of future returns by that system, and are not indicative of future returns which will be realized by you."
The Landcue app utilizes data and imagery to assess value based on what farmers are growing, saving time and effort for our staff and improving efficiencies and transparency for our farmers.

Gallia County (Ohio) Auditor Robbie Jacks has joined Woolpert in a pilot program implementing Landcue, a geospatial tool that will increase the efficiency of Ohios Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) process. Landcue was developed to help local governments like Gallia County verify applications for the differential tax assessment of agricultural land.

Landcue uses satellite imagery to accurately determine the crop type or land cover within agricultural fields. It was designed to reduce the need for human inspection and provide insights about land development and related trends. The imagery collected via Landcue is detailed enough to support environmental and agriculture purposes but is not capable of discerning people or vehicles.

According to the Ohio Department of Taxation, farmland devoted exclusively to commercial agriculture may be valued according to its current use rather than at its "highest and best" potential use for property tax purposes. By employing current and defensible imagery through Landcue, permitting values can be set well below true market values and result in a substantially lower tax bill for working farmers.

Jacks said the accurate land-use determination provided through Landcue also will improve record-keeping, which is invaluable for property owners who live out of state. The increased efficiency of the tool also enables his staff to focus on more urgent and complicated tasks, reallocating resources for local schools, emergency responders and other essential services funded by the county.

The Landcue app utilizes data and imagery to assess value based on what farmers are growing, saving time and effort for our staff and improving efficiencies and transparency for our farmers, Jacks said. As technology continues to advance, we routinely examine affordable and effective opportunities to best support our constituents. Being involved in this pilot program to see if it is beneficial to Gallia County taxpayers at no cost was an easy decision.

About Woolpert

Woolpert is the premier architecture, engineering, geospatial (AEG) and strategic consulting firm, with a vision to become one of the best companies in the world. We innovate within and across markets to effectively serve public, private and government clients worldwide. Woolpert is an ENR Top 150 Global Design Firm, has earned six straight Great Place to Work certifications and actively nurtures a culture of growth, inclusion, diversity and respect. Founded in 1911 in Dayton, Ohio, Woolpert has been Americas fastest-growing AEG firm since 2015. The firm has 1,900 employees and more than 60 offices on four continents. For more, visit woolpert.com.


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Taco Bell slays with drag show brunch tour across Cantina locations

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Bestselling author and poet Elizabeth Acevedo follows up her acclaimed YA novels, including The Poet X and Clap When You Land, with Inheritance: A Visual Poem, a small-format picture book illustrated by Andrea Pippins. In the book, Acevedo spotlights and celebrates the often contentious subject of Black hair through the lens of her Dominican identity. Acevedo spoke with PW about the highly personal inspiration for Inheritance, her most well-known poem, and why she no longer straightens her curly hair.

How did you decide to write about the experience of living with Black hair in Inheritance: A Visual Poem?

Inheritance is an interesting poem because prior to being conceptualized as a visual poem, it was the poem I wrote as my honors thesis in undergrad. Its very much in response to a real situation where one of my parent figures was talking about my hair and then was talking about my relationship with my boyfriend at the timenow my husbandwho is Black American. It was kind of this question of aesthetics, of what it means to lighten a race, what it means to progress a family lineage. The name Inheritance is a play on the word hair but its also about the internalized beliefs people pass down without interrogating where they come from. How does self-love look when the people who look like you cannot love you?

How did you approach answering the question presented in the poem, How do you untangle this shipwrecked history of hair?

I was thinking about how you respond to a shipwrecked history, a history that is untethered from so much. Theres so much you dont know. I think it did go back to ancestors. How do you celebrate even when you dont know peoples names? How do you love them even if you dont know what they looked like or what they would have wanted for you? Its why so much of the poem orients around what would folks have wanted for us, for future generations? The cultural beliefs we undo and the cultural beliefs we reclaim. So that answer of a shipwrecked history and what it is to be stranded, the play on those words, is how do you re-tether yourself? I may never know my great-great-grandmothers name but this is a way to attempt to reconnect.

Although Inheritance: A Visual Poem centers Black hair, the commonplace albeit contentious designations good hair and bad hair dont appear. What motivated this decision?

I think theres already so much guilt and blame around how people style themselves that we create such a morality about it. We have that phrase in Spanish, pelo malo, that we use so colloquially people dont even think about it. For me, the questions felt so much deeper. They ask, if you marry this person, what will your children look like? What kind of hair will they have? Its not just good or bad, we are saying there is hair that will be more respected in the world, that it will allow them to have a cultural currency. I have no qualms with how individual people decide to style their individual hair. But at the societal level and especially when I proposed this poem and was thinking about the Crown Act [a law prohibiting discrimination in public schools and the workplace on the basis of natural hair styles and textures], its not just good or bad. It is literally politicized at a level where certain people cannot get an education because they walk into a class with braids, cannot get a job because they have locs. Its a lot more insidious even than just this moral undertaking of good or bad. Its literally legal or illegal. It felt like this much larger question.

Are the themes of self-love and acceptance regarding hair explored in Inheritance reflective of lessons you had to learn growing up as a Dominican woman with African ancestry?

Im from the Dominican Republic which is like 80% Afro-descended. I used to get my hair straightened on a weekly basis. Ive played basketball my whole life, high school basketball and college varsity. I had to get my hair straightened, would sweat my hair out and get it straightened again. Terrible financial investment. It was the idea of what was considered elegant, beautiful, and presentable. It didnt always sit right. I liked my curls, but I also really liked straight hair. I felt really beautiful with straight hair. I reached a certain point where I had written the poem, and was still actively straightening my hair when I would go to big events, and there was dissonance that I was carrying in my body between what I was trying to explore in the poem about love and ancestry and this belief that I am most beautiful when my hair is straight. I stopped straightening my hair, honestly, because of this poem. I havent touched a hot iron to my hair, or rollers or anything, in almost a decade because I want to accept who I am. The poem is powerful in terms of what it offered the world, but it was powerful in terms of what I had to face about myself as well.

Inheritance: A Visual Poem by Elizabeth Acevedo, illus. by Andrea Pippins. Quill Tree, $16.99 May 3 ISBN 978-0-06-293194-8
Tennessee lawmakers this week passed SB2247/HB2666, a bill that critics say will give partisan political appointees unprecedented veto power over what books can stay on the shelves in school libraries. The bill, if signed, would vest members of the states textbook commission with the final decision on whether a challenged book can remain available in public school libraries.

The bill comes amid an alarming nationwide spike in book bans, so-called educational gag orders, and other legislative efforts to ban content from schools and librariesthe vast majority of which, statistics show, involve race and the LGBTQ community. The bill comes after Tennessee governor Bill Lee last month signed a law imposing new requirements for school libraries in determining age appropriateness of materials.

As reported in Chalkbeat, the final legislation creates a new "statewide process in which parents, school employees, or other complainants can appeal the decisions of locally elected officials on books challenged.

Supporters of the bill insist the bill is necessary to assuage the concerns of parents who fear too much inappropriate literature is getting into schools. Opponents of the bill have argued that there are already well-established local policies in place in Tennessee schools and libraries for concerned parents to review or challenge the appropriateness of school library books. What the new bill does, in practice, critics say, is give the state new powers, via the appeal process, to effectively ban certain books statewide.

Lindsey Kimery, a Nashville school librarian, told Chalkbeat that the bill opens up opportunities for one parent or one person to dictate what is in all school libraries in our state.

Tennessee Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro added that the bill is another step down a really dark and dangerous path. In debating SB2247/HB2666, one of the bills Republican sponsors suggested hed like to see books deemed inappropriate burned.

At press time, Tennessee governor Bill Lee has not commented on the bill's passage, although he is expected to sign it.
Publishing politicized me. With a degree in comparative literature, I went to work for Andre Schiffrin at Pantheon Books in 1985. I had started at Knopf, but jumped at the chance to work at Pantheon, whose list struck me as more international. In addition to editing some international fiction, my job as Andres right-hand person involved typing all of his dictated correspondence: letters to a global array of intellectual and political giants including E.P. Thompson, Marguerite Duras, Michel Foucault, Edward Said, Gunnar Myrdal, Eric Hobsbawm, Juliet Mitchell, and an assortment of Chinese and Russian dissidents. Tom Engelhardt and Andre published Art Spiegelmans groundbreaking work Maus then, but that book was perceived at the time as a genre-busting work of art, not a political lightning rod.

The New Press story

What truly politicized me was an event that came to symbolize a watershed moment in the industry. For a combination of questionable financial and political reasons, in late 1989, at the height of Reaganism, when extreme consolidation was sweeping through industries including publishing, Andre was asked to downsize Pantheon significantly; it soon became clear that he was being pushed out. The ensuing battle with Random Houses owners and management culminated in a lunch hour of rage, during which such luminaries as Studs Terkel, Barbara Ehrenreich, Kurt Vonnegut, and Princeton historian Arno Mayer took to a podium with bullhorns on the sidewalk outside the Random House building on East 50th Street. The verb to be Newhoused came into the lexicon, connoting the sacrifice of quality for financial return on the corporate bottom line. Some 350 authors, agents, Random House employees, and other supporters picketed, sporting signs decrying Literary Plant Closings, declaring Publish and Perish, and calling on the Newhouse family to open their [accounting] books. In an unprecedented move, the entire senior editorial team of Pantheonthe Pantheon Five as some called themquit in solidarity with Andre.

Publishers Weekly ran a rare editorial by then editor-in-chief John F. Baker headlined A Sad Day for Andre Schiffrinand for Publishing. Baker published the rumors of political censorship, writing, We hear one of the complaints directed by current Random management against Pantheon, apart from its too large list and unprofitability, was that it published too many left-wing books, and why could these not be better balanced by some right-wing ones? Petitions and an advertisement signed by Czesaw Miosz, Nadine Gordimer, William Styron, Arthur Miller, Robert Stone, and dozens of other prominent writers came out in support of Andre and the Pantheon list. At the National Book Critics Circle awards ceremony that year, Ed Doctorow, winner of the award for best novel, described Pantheon as having been beheaded, and noted that even if no censorship was intended... the perceived effect is indeed to still a voice. New Directions founder James Laughlin, another honoree, also referenced a decapitation, which he characterized as a disgusting scandal.

In this highly charged political atmosphere, I remained behind enemy lines for a month or two after the senior editors had left, to ensure authors with books in progress were well served and to access helpful information for those editors starting new jobs elsewhere, including Sara Bershtel at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (now senior v-p, publisher, at Henry Holt) and Wendy Wolf at Harper (now v-p and associate publisher at PRH). (I think Andre would have been very pleased to see the recent appointment of Lisa Lucas to run Pantheon.)

Andre, unlike me, was a thoroughly political creature, and had thought even before the dismantling of Pantheon that the country needed a public interest publishing house, analogous to PBS and NPR in their respective media. I dont believe he ever thought he would be the person to do it, but following our departures, in 1990 he and I began meeting on his rooftop terrace on West 94th Street to plan what would become the New Press. We were joined over the following two years by former Pantheon editor David Sternbach, who helped draft the New Press mission statement, and shortly thereafter by Dawn Davis, who came to us from the banking program at First Bostonas the only one of us who knew how to use an Excel spreadsheet, Dawn was instrumental in formulating our first five-year plan. We had huge assists from former Random House senior v-p Tony Schulte, who had been pushed out along with Random House president Bob Bernstein, and Jane Isay, then publisher of Grosset Books at Putnam, two key New Press founding board members.

 While we experienced a bit of competitive awareness from some of the university presses... we were embraced by the independent and small press community. 

The publishing world we were entering as a new, independent press was completely foreign to us. Im sorry to report that in my five years at first Knopf and then Pantheon, I wasnt much aware of Graywolf, Copper Canyon, Seal, Curbstone, Spinsters/Aunt Lute, Mercury House, Four Walls Eight Windows, Coffee House, Island Press, Theater Communications Group, Thunders Mouth, Soho Press, or the dozens of other smaller indies. We were operating in parallel universes. When we started the New Press, Andre and I thought of ourselves as filling a gap in the publishing landscape between the large conglomerates, the university presses, and what we perceived as a large number of very small, niche, not-for-profits (many of which we could not actually name).

While we experienced a bit of competitive wariness from some of the university presses, to our surprise and delight we were embraced by the incredible independent and small press community. Led by visionaries including Scott Walker at Graywolf, this set of publishers met regularly, and very early on invited Andre and me to a meeting in Minneapolis to get to know us and share their collective wisdom about operating outside the publishing mainstream. Conversations ranged from marketing strategies to royalty platforms, health insurance, and fund-raising tipsmany of these independent presses operate as not-for-profits, as does the New Press.

During those first heady years, the New Press had a handful of notable successes, many of them related to race relations in the country, that helped establish us as a player in the progressive publishing world. Our first book out the gate in 1992, Studs Terkels Race, was published at the height of the furor over the riots after Rodney Kings arrest and hit the New York Times bestseller list. Two 1995 titlesLisa Delpits Other Peoples Children and Jim Loewens Lies My Teacher Told Megave us immediate street cred in progressive education circles. (Jim told us that over 20 publishers had rejected his book before we took it on; its been a staple of our backlist ever since, selling upwards of two million copies since. Progressive education becameand remainsone of our core categories.)

The year of 1995 also saw the publication of two New Press books that have dramatically resurfaced more than 25 years later: Kimberle Crenshaw et al.s Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement, and Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah, who this past November won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature.

By the end of our first decade in 2002, and around the time that Andre stepped back and I became executive director, it had become clear that, in addition to filling a gap in the publishing landscape, we were very much a progressive publishing house with an explicitly political agenda. As we worked to address issues we felt were absent in commercial publishing, this aspect of our mission became more focused and intentional.

The progressive landscape

While dozens of very small and independent publishers work at the progressive end of the spectrum, the number of expressly political, progressive publishers in the country with revenues over half a million dollars has been modest. These presses span a range of left-of-center philosophies, from the explicitly radical, 50-year-old Verso and the Chicago-based Haymarket to the more mainstream PublicAffairs Press (recently becoming a part of Hachette), which was created in 1997 by Peter Osnos, the former Times Books publisher at Random House, in honor of three of his heroes: Bob Bernstein, I.F. Stone, and Benjamin Bradlee.

Progressive presses seem to spring up in waves corresponding to the prevailing political winds. The 60s and 70s, not surprisingly, saw a blossoming, with many presses focused on specific demographics; several of these continue to publish robustly a half-century later. Haki Madhubuti founded Third World Press Foundation from his basement apartment on Chicagos South Side in 1967 with $400; describing itself today as the oldest independent publisher of Black thought and literature in the country, Third World has a list that includes work by Derrick Bell, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Marc Lamont Hill, and economist Julianne Malveaux. Feminist Press, founded three years later by Florence Howe, began as a crucial publishing component of second-wave feminism and has been lifting up insurgent and marginalized voices from around the world for over 50 years, playing a key role in the development of the womens studies field.

The 1980s saw another burst, corresponding to the culture wars sweeping the country during the Reagan administration. Cleis, Firebrand, and Alyson Press, founded within a few years of each other in the early 80s, focused on books for LGBTQ audiences. Arte Publico and Cinco Puntos published works by Hispanic authors, in English and Spanish. Kitchen Table and Women of Color Press, the latter founded at the suggestion of poet Audre Lord, focused on different aspects of feminism. Island Press and Chelsea Green, coincidentally both founded in 1984, were early publishers of books on environmentalism and sustainable living.

The turn of the millennium and the George W. Bush years saw yet another surge of new progressive publishers, notably Nation Books (recently renamed Bold Type Books as part of a partnership between the nonprofit Type Media Center and Hachette Book Group), and Melville House, which was initially founded by the wife-and-husband team of Valerie Merians and Dennis Johnson to publish a collection of 9/11 poetry drawn from Johnsons MobyLives blog. Akashic Books, set up during this period and perhaps best known for its iconoclastic Go the F**k to Sleep, also has a political nonfiction list featuring authors who are either ignored by the mainstream, or who have no interest in working within the ever-consolidating ranks of the major corporate publishers.

A more recent entrant to the field, the platform agnostic O/R books, founded by former Four Walls Eight Windows publisher John Oakes and former New Press publisher Colin Robinson, was established in the waning days of the Bush II administration. With a mission that includes embrac[ing] progressive change in politics, culture, and the way we do business, O/R began in 2009 with a focus on digital and print-on-demand books sold directly to consumers (the business model has since evolved to include more standard trade distribution). OR books span the progressive spectrum, from Julian Assange to climate change.

Many other presses in various parts of the country publish important progressive and radical political books as part of larger publishing programs.

Pushback

Political publishing naturally draws fire. The New Press received a cease and desist letter from the clerk of the Supreme Court when we published in 1993 May It Please the Court, an unauthorized book-and-tape set of previously unknown recordings of the Courts oral arguments. (Ironically, the Court backed down when none other than William Safire endorsed our publication and editorialized about why the recordings were in the public interest). NPR wouldnt partner with us, we were once told by an executive (no longer there), because Noam Chomsky was on the New Press list. A very embarrassed government employee called me to retract an offer to place New Press books in foreign embassies and outposts, once her supervisors had seen our catalogue. We had to join a case against the Treasury Department in order to publish Literature from the Axis of Evil during the first Bush administration. Michelle Alexanders The New Jim Crow (2010) has been banned in various prisons, prompting the New York Times to headline a piece Why Are American Prisons So Afraid of This Book. That book, along with more than 800 others, many published by independent, progressive houses, is currently on the list that a Texas lawmaker is working to ban from Texas school libraries. And Kimberle Crenshaw and her coeditors of Critical Race Theory have spent the past year in the nations cultural crosshairs.

At the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, all of the progressive, independent publishers Im in touch with went through the same near-death experience the New Press did. The kinds of bricks-and-mortar stores that typically feature our books operate on thin margins in the best of economic times. Before Bookshop.org geared up for the pandemic, and until a critical mass of stores got their websites and curbside delivery systems in order, sales through those outlets all but ceased. Amazon prioritized shipping essential goods over books, and many of us were hanging on by a thread.

What works

Progressive publishing houses often experience their biggest successes when their books tie into social movements, either those that readers are participating in, or those they are seeking to understand. Books on multiculturalism took flight during the 80s and early 90s; books on Islam and radical extremism followed 9/11; works on the rise of the Tea Party and the far Right, such as Arlie Hochschilds Strangers in Their Own Land, a National Book Award finalist that sold over 100,000 copies, helped the country to understand Trumpism. Many progressive publishers saw a spike in sales corresponding to the Black Lives Matter movement.

And the fate of almost every progressive publisher changed dramatically with the murder of George Floyd and the protests that ensued. In our 30 years of publishing, we had never seen that kind of demand for our booksparticularly the difficult ones on racial and economic justice, including deep backlist titles. As Americans struggled to understand structural injustice, they turned to progressive books and authors for explanations. Though it remains to be seen how sustained the interest in racial and social justice will be, the surge of deep backlist titles at the New Press and many other publishers was thrilling to witness.

As the New Press celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2022, we are trying mightily to put in process a series of books that may seem outre today: books calling for mandatory voting to solve the problem of voter suppression, attention to the problem of lack of sanitation in rural America, eradication of the tipped subminimum wage, no more police, and the abolition of juvenile detention centers. Our hope is that these books will be published and at the ready when the country is ready for them.

Diane Wachtell is executive director at the New Press.
Purdue University President Mitch Daniels has been reappointed to the ALL IN Higher Education Presidents Council, a group formed in 2012 that has made significant strides in encouraging students to vote and engage with the democratic process.

The council leads more than 330 U.S. college and university presidents, provosts and chancellors who have committed to full student voter registration through its ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge and for broad participation in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections.

Higher education leaders have a civic responsibility to prepare their students to become responsible and engaged participants in our democratic process. Top on that list is in exercising their right to register and vote, said Daniels, who served as the 2020 national spokesperson for All IN.

Historically, college students have voted at one of the lowest rates of any demographic group in the U.S. While turnout among college students jumped to a record 66% for the 2020 presidential election, the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education reports there is still work to be done to get students to continue to vote.

Together, university leaders must commit the time and resources that emphasize the value and importance of the student voice in our elections, Daniels said. We must help them become informed, engaged citizens and lifelong voters. Its also our mission to empower our faculty, staff, students and civic stakeholders to come together and determine solutions to the problems we face as communities for improving our quality of life.

Leading up to the 2020 general election, Purdue drafted a Voter Engagement Action Plan as part of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge to spur voter registration and turnout. The result: a 20-percentage point jump in student turnout  to 67% in 2020 vs. 47% for the 2016 election, said Melissa Gruver, associate director in the Civic Engagement & Leadership Development office at Purdue, who co-led Purdues 2020 efforts.

Purdues plan also sparked an increase in the overall registration rate among students to 86.4% from 79.3% in 2016. Meanwhile, undergraduate students voted at a rate of 59%, up from 48% in 2016, and the rate for graduate students jumped to 44% from 34% in 2016, she said.

In addition, the voting rate for Black students at Purdue was 45% in 2020 from 42% in 2016, Latino participation to 40% from 37%, and Asian and Asian American students to 20% from 15%, Gruver said.

For its efforts, Purdues 2020 action plan was selected the best in the Big Ten among the 12 conference universities that participated in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. The council established the ALL IN challenge to spur student voter engagement in 2016.

And Gruver looks for a repeat in the 2022 ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge after the success of the universitys participation two years ago.

In true Boilermaker fashion, we are up to the challenge, she said. We know the importance of getting more and more students engaged in our election process, and the ALL IN challenge matters for student participation in our local, state and federal communities.

In addition to Daniels, the 15-member ALL IN Higher Education Presidents Council includes presidents from Amherst College, Case Western Reserve University and Hamline University, as well as Prairie View A&M University, University of Massachusetts and Weber State University. Serving as council chair is Jonathan Alger, president of James Madison University.

The councils primary tool is its Presidential Commitment statement, which encourages voter registration among partner institutions and participation in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. By signing the pledge two years ago, Purdue made it a priority to ensure all eligible students would be able to register to vote and cast informed ballots in the 2020 election and beyond.

In April 2021, Purdue launched the Civics Literacy Proficiency program, which is designed to enhance the educational experience of Purdue students and graduate a more informed citizenry The program is required for incoming freshmen who started in Fall 2021 and optional for all other students. Purdue students have three options to satisfy the requirement, which will lead to a notation of Civics Literacy Proficiency on their transcripts:

Attending six approved civics-related events.

Finishing one of these 13 approved courses.

Completing 12 podcasts created by the Purdue Center for C-SPAN Scholarship and Engagement that use C-SPAN material.

Writer: Phillip Fiorini, 765-430-6189, pfiorini@purdue.edu

Sources: Mitch Daniels

Melissa Gruver, 765-494-6823, mgruver@purdue.edu

Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director, ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge 202-908-5226, jen.domagal-goldman@civicnation.org
Young Kim, associate head for research and an associate professor in Purdue Universitys Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, shows new anticounterfeiting technology for medications. (Purdue University photo/John Underwood)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Biomedical engineers are innovators in a laboratory: bringing concepts and dreams of future technology and science fiction to life today to better peoples health and longevity.

These faculty experts from Purdue Universitys Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering can explain a process or procedure regarding various areas of research  and in many times build, design and bring these concepts to the marketplace.

Below is a list of innovations from the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.

What inspires and pushes a biomedical engineer? A look behind the scenes of Purdue BMEs leader

Artificial intelligence has the potential to help engineers explore how cell signals are integrated to fight off invaders or activated to repair wounds, which are both essential for survival.David Umulis, a multidimensional mentor, professor, the Dane A. Miller Head of the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and senior research fellow at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue, is directing EMBRIO  an institute that is investigating how to use AI to crack the code of cellular defense. He credits a family friend and local pediatrician for pushing him to succeed and inspiring him to mentor faculty and students at Purdue.

Pediatric innovation: Tailoring new technology to the tiniest patients

A breakthrough in biomedical acoustics by a team led by George Wodicka, professor of biomedical engineering, led to the creation of a medical device that can alert nurses when a babys breathing tube is in the wrong position or obstructed. After 30 years of development, the Purdue invention is on its way to becoming the standard of care for babies worldwide.

After 30 years of development, the Purdue invention is on its way to becoming the standard of care for babies worldwide. Higher education, medical schools and manufacturers can work together to address pediatric health care resources and the need to expand FDA product testing for use in children, writes Mung Chiang in a column for Forbes. Chiang serves as executive vice president for strategic initiatives, the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering and founding director of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue.

Partnerships with Indiana-based biomedical device companies also could benefit pediatric device research and development, writes Craig Goergen, the Leslie A. Geddes Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, director of clinical programs in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and adjunct associate professor of surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Protecting medications from fraud  and improving how they travel through the body

Building devices that could help you monitor your ow n health

Partnering engineers with medical professionals

An engineering-medicine partnership between Purdues College of Engineering and Indiana University School of Medicine is developing technological solutions for pressing health care problems. Numerous programs, including expanded educational opportunities, degrees and access to clinical settings, are part of the partnership.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked in each of the last four years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://stories.purdue.edu.

Media contacts: Matthew Oates, 765-586-7496 (cell), oatesw@purdue.edu, @mo_oates

Kayla Wiles, 765-494-2432, wiles5@purdue.edu
When: Wednesday, June 1, 2022, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Where: Peston Lecture Theatre, Graduate Centre, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End ,

Speaker: Professor Jef Huysmans (QMUL)

Book now

What do the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in the Ukraine, and climate change have in common? An understanding that politics, whether global, international, or planetary, are defined by struggles for survival. In each of these cases, delivering security intensely operates as the first and main objective of politics. Borders close to an unseen extend to protect human life from a global pandemic. European politics is being redefined through militarised geopolitical fears of threats to state survival. Calls for a planetary politics continue to intensify in reference to life on earth heading towards a catastrophic collapse. Security seems to truly be the baseline of contemporary political order. However tempting such a conception of politics is today, one of the defining challenges for critical engagements with security remains how to take war, environmental degradation and pandemics serious but without making security the defining point of view of social and political life.

Really? Is that a major challenge? Why would you want to be critical about security in these conditions that obviously call for a profound security response? And, even if you want to, how can you gain critical leverage on security in a world that seems saturated by insecurities of such international and planetary magnitude? The lecture will engage with these objections by revisiting developments in Critical Security Studies (CSS) since the 1990s and propose a post-critical analytic that fractures security by foregrounding a conception of life-in-motion rather than life-unto-death. In doing so, the lecture introduces an international political sociology of insecurity that seeks to challenge the grip that founding politics in death retains in contemporary politicisations of insecurity.

About Jef Huysmans

Jef Huysmans is Professor of International Politics. After finishing his PhD at the University of Leuven (Belgium), he took up a lectureship in International Relations and European studies at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Later he moved to the Open University where he taught politics and international relations and was Director of the Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance. He joined Queen Mary University of London in January 2016.

He is best known for his work on the politics of insecurity, the securitization of migration, critical methods in security studies and IR, and an International Political Sociology of fracturing worlds. Currently he is working on the impact of giving conceptual primacy to movement for critical security studies and the development of a post-critical international political sociology.

The inaugural lecture is followed by a wine reception.

To attend online, please register here: https://qmul-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UPv7x-f3SXqDLoFKvp9JHA

Photo credit: Dance of soul by Ahmad Odeh [https://unsplash.com/photos/JhqhGfX_Wd8]
Ant Anstead has been denied full custody of his toddler son with ex-wife Christina Haack.

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Anstead's emergency request for full custody of Hudson London, his 2-year-old son with Haack, was refused Thursday by a California Superior Court judge in Orange County, People reported.

The ex parte application was denied because Anstead had "insufficient showing" of concerns surrounding Hudson and didn't give Haack enough notice, according to Page Six.

Anstead and Haack will attend a hearing about the matter June 28.

Anstead filed for full custody of Hudson on Thursday. In his filing, Anstead claimed he has been the "primary parent" to Hudson and said Haack has spent an "average of 9 full days each month over the last 20 months" with their son.

In addition, TMZ said Anstead raised concerns about Haack's parenting, including an instance where Hudson had a bad sunburn and said Haack once returned their son to him without disclosing her family had COVID-19.

Haack responded to the filing in a statement to Us Weekly.

"What Ant is doing deeply saddens me," she said. "If this was really about Hudson, as he says, this should have been handled privately with a private judge or mediation, as myself and my attorney have suggested. I have had my share of ups and downs but I am a good mom and I love my children with all my heart and I will always protect them."

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Anstead and Haack split in September 2020 after less than two years of marriage. Haack has two other children, daughter Taylor and son Brayden, with her ex-husband and former Flip or Flop co-star Tarek El Moussa.

Anstead has since started dating actress Renee Zellweger, while Haack recently married Joshua Hall.
Google is celebrating Belgian musician and composer Toots Thielemans on what would have been his 100th birthday.

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Thielemans, who is best known for his harmonica skills, made a name for himself in the world of jazz.

The illustration on Google's homepage -- by guest artist Melissa Crowton -- features Thielemans playing the harmonica while surrounded by other instruments.

Thielemans started playing the accordion at age 3 and became a performing musician at his parents' cafe. He picked up jazz in the early 1940s after hearing Louis Armstrong.

The musician toured and performed with other musicians, such as Quincy Jones, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra. Thielemans then became a staple on radio and television.

Thielemans released 21 records and appeared in commercials for Old Spice and Firestone. He was featured in film soundtracks and most notably performed the harmonica solo on the theme song to Sesame Street.
Mattea Roach, who hit a 17-game winning streak on Jeopardy!, has become the show's youngest super champion, and achieved other records.

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The 23-year old from Canada is also ranked eighth on the show's all-time consecutive games list, and holds the longest winning streak for a Canadian contestant. She told ABC's Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts that she was proud to represent her country on the show, especially since Jeopardy!'s late host Alex Trebek was also from Canada.

"To get to represent Canada on the 'Alex Trebek Stage' means a lot," she told Roberts. "As Canadians, we're so proud of our homegrown celebrities who made it big in the U.S. And so, it didn't occur to me as I was taping these shows that I had become the longest-running Canadian but I'm really honored by the support that everyone across the country has shown me. It's so meaningful and it fills me with so much joy."

Roach, a tutor who lives in Toronto, Canada, hit her 17th-consecutive win on Jeopardy! on Wednesday, and now has won a total of $396,182.

She won $8,000 from a bet in the Daily Double on the second round Wednesday, which helped her clinch the victory by just $1 after competitor Ben Hsia, an engineer from Fremont, Calif., also got the question in Final Jeopardy right.

Some other records this season have included Yale University Ph.D. student Matt Amodio hitting a 38-game winning streak, and Amy Schneider's recent 40-game winning streak, second only to Ken Jennings , who set the top record with 74 consecutive wins in 2004.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/28/2022



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

alum Victoria Fuller has dished about her current love life and "roster" of men and whether she'd be open to a stint on Bachelor in Paradise.Victoria, a Virginia Beach resident who finished in third place on Peter Weber 's season in 2020, certainly hasn't found her match yet."Am I dating? I am playing the field, if you will. I've gathered a roster," Victoria revealed during a recent appearance on the "Click Bait with Bachelor Nation" podcast, which is co-hosted by Joe Amabile Tia Booth and Natasha Parker "I can't date more than, like, four people at a time, but I don't date in Nashville... I'll never date in Nashville again. Well, not never, but not in the near future."When asked if she has a favorite man on her roster and how she manages multiple love interests at once, Victoria replied with a laugh, "I can't believe I said 'roster.' I'm getting myself in trouble.""I date a couple of people at a time and I see what I like and what I don't like," Victoria explained."So I know that may sound a little sketchy, and I've never done it this way before, but I feel like I owe it to myself to figure out who I want to be with long-term. So, managing it, I travel all the time. I am never here [in Nashville], so it's easy to manage."Victoria revealed that the men on her roster are "all pretty equal" at this point."I think they're all very different in their own way, so you can't judge one is better than the other. They're just different. And so, no, there's nobody whom I'm like, 'I'm going to marry this person right now,'" Victoria said.But Victoria said she's been having "a lot of fun" dating, even though many men allegedly "put in minimal effort to relationships.""[They] expect extraordinary results, and I just can't with f-cking guys these days. Because Joe, you wouldn't put 50 percent into your job and expect a raise," Victoria noted."So why do guys expect to put such little effort into [a relationship]... and then expect it to be this amazing thing?"Victoria complained that if a man is now "wowing" her and proving he's extraordinary, then he just ends up on her "list.""There's no top tier... y'all just fall in line," alum noted.Victoria teased how her last boyfriend was "pretty ordinary" and expected a superior romance."I was like, 'That's not how this f-cking works!' So that's where I'm at," Victoria griped, adding, "You either wow me and get your sh-t together or you're f-cking on the sidelines because I'm not playing this game anymore."Victoria said she's 28-years-old and wants kids and a family one day."You've got to bring something to the table, and if you're not, then you're out," she said.With that being said, Bachelor in Paradise would be Victoria's chance to potentially meet a guy who's serious about finding The One and potentially getting engaged in a short amount of time."In Paradise, a guy has to wow you and he's got to do it fast," Joe pointed out.Victoria therefore conceded that Paradise would be "a great place to meet somebody.""I think it does move fast and that part scares me a little bit, just because I like to take my time with things," Victoria shared."But I'm open to that. I hope that someone would want to pursue me and put all of their energy into me if they like me. And if they don't, then what the f-ck are you doing?... So I don't see why not. Possibly. Maybe."Natasha said Victoria seems to know who she is and what she wants, which would serve her well dating in Mexico on the summer spinoff."I love hearing that there are success stories out of it," Victoria told the podcast's co-hosts."If I did go and there was somebody, I'd be into it. But if there's not, then I'd check myself out and be like, 'Peace,' because I don't care. I'm not going to go just to get f-cking Instagram followers. I'm too old for this sh-t and I need to find somebody!"Victoria therefore advised all future Paradise men to make it known that they like her because she's not into a man who plays hard to get or wants to be chased."Do backflips and sh-t. I don't know, do something! Wow me!" she reiterated.Victoria's last high-profile romance was with Season 19 star Chris Soules . Chris reportedly slid into Victoria's DMs after she appeared on Peter's season and then she spent time on his farm in Arlington, IA, in Spring 2020.A source even told Us Weekly in May of that year that Victoria and Chris -- who quarantined together amid the coronavirus pandemic -- were " exclusively dating ."Although Victoria and Chris never shared photos with each other on Instagram, Victoria shared a picture of herself posing in a beautiful room on April 27 and captioned it, "Farm life."She also tagged her location as Arlington and posted other photos from inside Chris' house.Chris told the magazine in December 2019 that he had "given up" on finding his soul mate."I just think you know when you know, when you find it. I'm getting old enough to kind of learn that it's just about, like, when it's time, it will occur," Chris said, adding that he didn't have a timeline for settling down."As time goes by, I'm healthy, I'm semi-young, and when I meet the right person, it will be the right time."When Victoria competed on , she was accused of being attention-seeking and self-centered , and while she came across shy and sometimes insecure on the show's 24th season, Peter's ex-girlfriend Merissa Pence argued it was all an act.Merissa, who lives in Victoria's Virginia Beach hometown and previously hung out with her considering they have mutual friends, told Us in February 2020 that Victoria broke up four marriages by having affairs with the married husbands.Victoria was also admittedly emotional and dramatic on , and she and Peter bickered more than they got along while dating.However, Peter claimed he loved Victoria on the show as well as his other Final 3 bachelorettes, Madison Prewett and Hannah Ann Sluss Peter got engaged to Hannah Ann at his Final Rose Ceremony but ended up fighting for another chance with Madison once filming ending. Peter and Madison reunited on his After the Final Rose special but their romance never got off the ground, and Peter is currently single.Interested in more news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
With music and the smell of food filling the air, people pop in and out of different booths that dot the land at the outdoor Brattleboro Area Farmers Market that opened for the season on Saturday, May 7, 2022, and will run every Saturday until Oct. 29.
Westminster will hold its Town Meeting Saturday morning either on the lawn of the Westminster Institute, as seen here last year, or inside the fire station, depending on the weather.
Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.

State Sen. Corey Parent, R-Franklin District, writes from St. Albans. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media.
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On July 7, 1962, Connecticut Democrats nominated Gerald Lamb, a Waterbury politician and manager of a dental laboratory, as state treasurer.

Republicans had nominated a Black lawyer from Hartford to run for the post. Not to be outdone, John M. Bailey, the powerful, liberal chairman of both the state and national Democratic committees, who lorded over political tickets, anointed Lamb.

Lamb won the election, making history as the first Black treasurer of any state since Reconstruction in the 19th century. He earned reelection in 1966, later holding other state and federal roles.

And Democrats have never looked back. Lamb was the first of an unbroken string of African American Democrats nominated for state treasurer, a string that continues to this day.

Thats 60 years of exclusively Black candidates on the November ballots as Democrats for treasurer, most of whom won. The total number of Black Democrats nominated for other statewide offices in that same 60 years: Zero.

The record stands as both a badge of honor and a badge of shame for Connecticuts dominant political party. Its a problem, in the sense that the string of Black Connecticut treasurers has taken on a life of its own as an awkward cornerstone of state politics.

But its a problem that many Democrats, and many Black leaders, see no reason to fix. The string is as likely as not to continue in 2022, following the surprise announcement by first-term Treasurer Shawn Wooden on April 7 that he wont seek reelection.

Heading into next Saturdays Democratic state convention in Hartford, three candidates have emerged from the last-minute scramble with a chance to win the party endorsement: Erick Russell, a securities lawyer from New Haven and Karen DuBois-Walton, who heads New Havens housing authority, are both Black. Dita Bhargava, an investment firm executive from Greenwich, is of South Asian descent.

All three are likely to gain the 15 percent of convention delegates needed to qualify for an August primary  as Bhargava did in 2018, when she lost to Wooden, polling 43 percent of the votes.

Why have we been cubbyholed?

The string of African American Democrats in the treasurer spot generates friction and head-scratching. How does it keep happening that Black Democrats run, and win, for treasurer but not for any of the other five constitutional state offices  governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of the state and comptroller?

The problem I have with it is, why have we been cubbyholed? asked state Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, co-chair of the General Assemblys labor committee and one of the most prominent Black elected leaders in the state.

That was something that was decided a long time ago. I find it to be peculiar, Porter said to me as the House debated bills late Thursday night. I think they felt like they were giving us something that was guaranteed.

Decades after the age of political bosses, its a complex dance. Another Democratic 2018 candidate for treasurer, Arunan Arulampalam, who is of South Asian descent, saw some of his support evaporate after Ned Lamont, now governor, then the presumptive nominee, tried but failed to bring on a Black woman as lieutenant governor. That would have balanced the ticket without a Black treasurer.

Arulampalam told the CT Mirrors Mark Pazniokas at the time that he was pressured to drop out. He declined to join the primary but urged the party to look more broadly at what diversity means.

One dilemma: Its hard to reset because statewide seats dont come open often. Former Treasurer Denise Nappier held the office for 20 years until she retired in 2019, for example  and each office has hopefuls elbowing for it, often for years.

As former House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz said recently on Tom Dudchiks Capitol Report on WTNH-TV Channel 8, the party doesnt want to typecast Black candidates but it does want to reflect the states diversity.

An expectation that comes to life

The remarkable string of Black treasurers holds forth not exactly by orchestration, but it isnt unspoken, either. Many people described to me a sort of expectation that comes to life.

Ive always thought it was an African American spot, to tell you the truth, John Droney, who was Democratic state chairman from 1986 to 1992, when Francisco Borges was state treasurer, told me this week. I just always thought it was a good thing that we had Black people for high office.

But as for steering from the top to make it happen  no, Droney said. I used to be a person of authority and we didnt do anything to make it happen.

The real problem is not that African Americans own the treasurer post; its that every four years, the position is the sole way the party finds racial balance  with rare exceptions such as the election of Attorney General William Tong, who is Asian.

After Lamb, the party nominated John Merchant, who lost in 1970; Henry Parker, who won in 1974 and served until 1986; Borges; Joseph Suggs, who filled out Borges second term, then was nominated but lost in 1994; Nappier; and Wooden.

Connecticut has yet to nominate and elect a Hispanic Democrat for statewide office, a record that could end this year in the race for secretary of the state. The Hispanic population is larger, at 17 percent of the state compared with 11 percent for the Black population, but African Americans vote in an overwhelming bloc for Democrats.

Our community worked hard to get at the table, said Scot X. Esdaile, president of the NAACP in Connecticut, who sees no problem with the treasurer nominations going to Black candidates. The whites had the presidency for a long time and had this country for a long time, too.

The NAACP is nonpartisan but Esdaile can and does push for more representation generally by Black candidates. I dont think the other seats should be exclusive to white people.

No path to higher office

There have been close calls that show the string is not preordained  notably in 1998. Nappier, then the Hartford city treasurer, appeared to lose the convention endorsement by two votes to Frank Lecce, a West Hartford investment manager.

Nappiers forces flipped enough votes to wrest the nod from the convention before the tally was declared final, That caused a bitter rift as Barbara B. Kennelly, the U.S. congresswoman and nominee for governor  and John M. Baileys daughter  backed Nappier.

Don Noel, the Hartford Courant political columnist, wrote: Though Nappier took great pains to say her victory was due mainly to her qualifications, not her race, many delegates cited the fear of launching an all-white ticket as the reason for vote switches.

Heading into the primary against Lecce, Nappier told the Courants Chris Keating, If there is a color, it is the color green  the people's money.

Indeed, the main responsibility of the job, managing pension funds now worth $38 billion, is an awesome one, all the more because the treasurer in Connecticut, a sole fiduciary, is arguably the most powerful treasurer in the nation. Add to that the control over state debt and savings programs and the job could be called the most important elected role in the state, after the governor.

And yet, it has not proven a path to higher office  leading to a theory by Noel, the retired opinion writer.

Its not a position that gets you publicly known and therefore a steppingstone. If you want a diverse ticket without getting in the way of people with political ambition  if youre John Bailey and you want Blacks to be more prominent in your state or maybe youre just a good guy, its an easy seat.

Or, as Porter, the state representative from New Haven, put it: Its not a bad place to be, but it excommunicates you from all the other seats.

dhaar@hearstmediact.com
NEW MILFORD  The popular high school principals decision to stay on the job was met with relief from families, but questions still remain about why he wanted to leave and what this means for the embattled superintendent.

Principal Raymond Mankas resignation announcement last week was followed with an online petition to oust Superintendent Alisha DiCorpo and a walkout by New Milford students. He then rescinded his resignation during a Tuesday Board of Education meeting where members of the public said they were dismayed with his planned departure.

At the meeting, many parents who spoke during public comment said theyre looking for answers and feel the board is not relaying everything it knows.

Allison Sidel, who has an eighth- and 11th-grader in the district, said there is a disconnect between the strong feelings students said they have for Manka and the manner in which he announced his resignation.

We read the words in the email that he has made the decision to leave but theres clearly something going on, said Sidel, to which she received a loud round of applause from parents and students.

Why would such a beloved administrator choose to leave after one year ... what are some of the factors that could be going on here? Sidel continued. Everyone here really deserves to get honest feedback and not just lip service that were going to find someone whos going to take the role.

Manka and DiCorpo have declined to discuss specific details tied to the resignation.

The petition, created by a caregiver of a child at the high school, blames DiCorpo for Mankas wanting to resign, as well as connects her leadership to the reasons about 10 other former staff members recently left the district.

Hearst Connecticut Media reached out to all those prior staff members, and of the handful that responded, no one would comment. Kim Patella, head of the teachers union in town, could not be reached for comment.

Those who spoke during public comment were split on DiCorpo, with some criticizing her for issues facing the district and others defending her, saying challenges like turnover werent her fault.

Criticism facing superintendent

At the meeting, some parents pointed fingers at DiCorpo, citing specific reasons they feel she is not capable of remaining in her position.

Parent Andrea Price Johnson said her son was not able to receive online instruction from all his teachers when he missed close to two weeks of school in January due to having COVID-19.

He is a junior, the most important year of his scholastic history of his class resume, and I reached out to every single teacher begging them to go online so my son can learn. Hes got chemistry, hes got AP classes. These are extremely important years, Price Johnson said. Only one teacher stepped up. There should be an option for children who have COVID to be able to go online.

Susan Zeitler, another parent, said she finds DiCorpo unreachable.

I requested a meeting with Ms. DiCorpo at the end of July, before school started, Zeitler said. She said she had no time. She never contacted us to schedule a meeting even after school started.

Zeitler said she was disappointed she eventually met DiCorpo, along with New Milfords Health Director Lisa Morrissey, in April.

They really just didnt even listen to us, Zeitler said.

Some parents expressed their anger with DiCorpo over the ongoing issues the district has been having with school bus driver shortages and bus delays. School districts across the state have had similar issues, but New Milfords appear more severe.

Not everyone was upset with DiCorpo, however. Some, such as former New Milford school employee Betsy Stewart, thanked DiCorpo for her leadership.

Stewart said DiCorpo was the driving force that brought her to New Milford.

She added while she left the district under DiCorpos leadership, her reasons for leaving had nothing to do with the superintendent.

If anything, Alisha taught me things I carry to this new venture or putting initiatives in place that are because of Alisha and what shes taught me, Stewart said. The message of a teacher is somebody who can take what youve learned yesterday and apply it tomorrow. And thats exactly what Alisha does ... so I want to publicly thank Alisha. Because of her Im in a different position now.

Turnover

Some parents who spoke in support of DiCorpo said high turnover is common in educator positions. They pointed to other school districts around the state that now have or have recently experienced a high staff turnover, such as Brookfield and Easton-Redding-Region 9.

On Wednesday, DiCorpo told Hearst Connecticut Media the pandemic has been responsible for some of the districts turnover.

Throughout the pandemic, many people left positions nationwide for various reasons, she said in an email. All school districts across the state are facing challenges in staffing due to the creation of new positions that have afforded opportunities in various districts through ESSER (Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief)funding. These may be new and exciting opportunities, especially for employees who are seeking different types of positions and who carry various certifications.

She said nationwide, many employees are leaving for better work-life balance, working closer to home and shorter commute times, and depending on the type of position, work-from-home opportunities. The education field in particular has been hit hard,due to the pandemic, she said.

In the wake of COVID-19, school boards across the state have seen turnover among staff, including superintendents, teachers and administrators, said Robert Rader, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education. The challenges of remote and hybrid learning, as well as political issues, have made the last couple years more difficult for our school staff, he said.

He said he didnt know much about New Milfords specific situation.

But I know that school board members will do their best to provide the best people in these critical administrative jobs, Rader said. I know they have good policies for recruiting and retaining and supporting their administrators.

To help retain staff, DiCorpo said shes part of a Board of Education negotiating team and works through contract negotiations and working conditions.

The human resources director is in constant communication with our bargaining units. She is currently working on a retention plan, and we have worked hard to recruit talented staff to our district, DiCorpo said. As the opportunities are restored to attend on-site recruiting efforts for key school positions, we will continue to market our wonderful school system and demonstrate to candidates what opportunities await them should they choose to work in New Milford.

Superintendents review

Parents may get some answers when the school board completes DiCorpos annual review.

The Board of Education will begin the review in May, school board Chairman Wendy Faulenbach said.

Its usually done from the end of May to the end of June. There is no set deadline to how long it will take, Faulenbach said. Its done according to a specific process. The board has an evaluation rubric and they work through it.

The summary document of this review is available to the public.

The board works through the evaluation process and submits a summary regarding that evaluation that is completely open to the public ... And that document is accessible to the public and comes through the central office, she added.

This will be the first year the Board of Education will be evaluating DiCorpo. Previously, she served as an interim superintendent, and then was hired as superintendent, with her formal contract being initiated in June of 2021. The school superintendent is the only school employee the Board of Education reviews.
OTTAWA (AP)  Health Canada on Thursday lifted restrictions on gay men donating blood, a move Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said was good news for all Canadians" but had taken too long.

Trudeau said at a news conference the ban should have ended 10 to 15 years ago, but research proving it would not affect the safety of the blood supply had not been done by previous governments.

Trudeau said his government spent C$5 million dollars (US$3.9 million) on research into the safety aspects of changing the blood donation rules and multiple scientific reports showed our blood supply will continue to be safe.

Health Canada approved the request by Canadian Blood Services to end the policy that restricts homosexuals from donating blood for three months after engaging in gay sex.

The blood service asked Health Canada to allow it to scrap questions about gender or sexuality, and instead base screening on higher-risk sexual behavior such as anal sex.

Starting no later than Sept. 30, potential donors will be asked if they have had new or multiple sexual partners in the last previous months, no matter their gender or sexual orientation. Those who say yes will be asked if they have engaged in higher-sisk sex. If they have, they will need to wait three months after such activity before donating blood.

The agency says asking about sexual behavior rather than sexual orientation will allow it to more reliably assess the risk of infections such as HIV.

Catherine Lewis, a spokeswoman for Canadian Blood Services, said the criteria change is science-informed and allows the agency to be more inclusive about who can donate while still ensuring a safe blood supply.

The policy began in 1992 as an outright ban on gay men donating blood following a tainted blood scandal. Several changes were later made to the blood donation regime until deferral periods for donations by gay men were lowered from a lifetime ban to three months in 2019.
Following a warning from state officials, COVID-19 cases increased in Connecticut schools through the past week as students and teachers returned from April break, figures released Thursday show.

In the past week, 1,653 cases were reported among students, up from 1,110 the previous week, state data shows. There were 627 cases among teachers and staff in the past week, up from 382 cases the week before.

Most districts across Connecticut had April break either last week or the week prior. So the data released Thursday offers the first glimpse of cases since all Connecticut students and staff have returned to the classrooms.

Despite the increase, the number of cases among students and teachers remains far lower than figures reported in January during the surge of infections spurred by the omicron variant.

Ahead of students returning to the classroom, the states public health and education departments warned school administrators that cases could rise amid a broad increase in COVID-19 infections statewide.

Over the past several weeks, COVID-19 transmission rates have been steadily increasing throughout Connecticut and surrounding states. Given these increases, which may be driven in part by recent holidays, school breaks, and associated travel, schools should plan for an increase in COVID-19 cases in their school communities over the next several weeks, the message to school leaders read.

Despite maintaining authority to issue a broad school-based mask mandate, state officials remain committed to leaving decisions to local leaders. To date, no districts have instituted mask mandates, despite the rise in cases.

The message to school leaders instead focused on reminding districts about proper mitigation strategies that include encouraging frequent testing, hosting vaccination clinics and keeping sick teachers and staff out of school.

While no mention was made of reviving mask mandates, the message to school leaders did remind them to support those who choose to still wear a mask. It included a sample letter that districts could send to parents that contained a message urging people to wear masks if they are not feeling well.

COVID infections overall remain high across Connecticut. The state reported a seven-day positivity rate of 8.92 percent on Thursday. In the past seven days, the state said 5,531 new COVID-19 cases were found among 62,002 new cases.

Hospitalizations increased by a net of 57 patients in the past seven days for a total of 233, the highest figure in several weeks. There were 14 new COVID-19 deaths reported in the past seven days for a total of 10,840.

While infections continue to rise, more communities are seeing increased spread of COVID-19. In the past week, 23 more municipalities have been added to the states red zone alert list, bringing the total to 131. For a community to be in the red zone, it has to have more than 15 infections per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks.

Driving the increase in cases is omicrons BA.2 subvariant, which now accounts for roughly 70 percent of all COVID-19 cases in New England, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Three Florida correctional officers were arrested Thursday and charged with murder in the fatal beating of a handcuffed prisoner who had thrown urine at one of the officers, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced.

The guards were removing the inmate from a cell in the mental health unit of a Miami-Dade County prison on Feb. 14 to transfer him to a north Florida prison. After the inmate threw urine on the officer, they handcuffed him and a beating followed, the department said.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Conservative Republican lawmakers have approved a measure that would prohibit Kansas or its cities, counties or school districts from imposing mask mandates to control the spread of any infectious disease.

But the measure's supporters fell far short early Friday of the two-thirds majorities necessary in both chambers to override a veto from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. She has not said what she will do.
HARTFORD  With about a week before the state Democratic convention sorts through its candidate endorsements for the top state offices, state Sen. Matt Lesser of Middletown on Thursday announced one of the worst-kept secrets in Connecticut: he is running for Secretary of the State.

During an announcement in a windy Veterans Memorial Park outside the Legislative Office Building, Lesser, who was first elected to the General Assembly in 2008, said he is enjoying good support in an admittedly crowded field of potential candidates.

Ive never taken our democracy for granted, said Lesser, the co-chairman of the legislative Insurance & Real Estate Committee, who was backed by a couple dozen unionized auto and construction workers.

My mother is an immigrant who grew up in a dictatorship in Latin America and my grandmother is a refugee who survived the Holocaust, Lesser said. Every night we watch on the news Ukrainians fighting for their democracy, grateful that we can live in a country where we settle our differences at the ballot box. But thats in peril.

He warned that many Latino and Black voters have limited access to the polls that takes away their voices in determining public policy. These are real serious threats to democracy around the country and the work here in Connecticut is unfinished, Lesser said. He said that while other hopeful candidates for secretary of the state are fine people, he has the most experience.

I know how critical it is to support our front-line elections workers and provide them the resources cities and towns need to hold free and fair elections, he said during a brief announcement and news conference.

Lesser acknowledged that Democratic leaders usually seek to pick constitutional officers that reflect the states racial and ethnic diversity for the ticket that includes governor, lieutenant governor, Secretary of the State, State Treasurer, Comptroller and Attorney General. Only Attorney General William Tong is seeking reelection. Treasurer Shawn Wooden is not seeking reelection, while Comptroller Kevin Lembo recently resigned for health reasons. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill is also not seeking reelection.

I think that because there are a lot of things in play, I think well be able to come to the voters in the fall with a strong, diverse ticket that reflects the values and the base of the Democratic Party, Lesser said, noting that voting rights has become politicized. I think the right to vote is what unifies us in the country. Thats how we settle our differences.

Asked about getting feedback from delegates, Lesser said hes getting positive responses from throughout the state. While there are a lot of folks in this race who have regional pockets of support, Ive been able to build support across our five congressional districts and every corner of the state, Lesser said.

Other Democratic hopefuls who will come before delegates on Saturday, May 7 include state Rep. Stephanie Thomas of Norwalk, Rep. Hilda Santiago of Meriden, Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden and Maritza Bond, the health director for the city of Norwalk. Republicans who are seeking the party nomination include state Rep. Terrie Wood of Darien, Dominic Rapini of Branford and Brock Weber of New Britain.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
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NEW MILFORD  At first glance, the plans to develop a 122-acre area with 26 one-acre plots and 80 acres of open space, seems standard - like a development that may be approved in other towns.

Located in the area of Chaplin Road, with its frontage on Early View Lane and the right of way coming from Bonnie Vu Lane, the plans would allow for roughly 80 acres to be set aside for open, undeveloped space with smaller, one-acre lots organized around the concept of a cluster subdivision.

Nothing before this commission tonight indicates the cluster subdivision will affect the value of existing houses on Bonnie Vu Lane or Early View Lane, said Neil Marcus, the attorney representing the group behind the plans, Sycamore Trails Group, LLC.

All of it, Marcus added, is a way to provide meaningful open space and housing opportunities for the town.

But in an area that requires housing lots to be at least two acres, some town residents are pushing back. During a recent public comment period following the overview of the plans, a chorus of rejection levied by a dozen-or-so residents living in the immediate neighborhood showed a fiery local passion building against the developers plans.

A cluster in that area where we are - I just dont like that, said Dwayne Hensel.

Barbara Mitchell said she was concerned and disheartened to see the development proposal, adding that the developer calls it quiet acres, a title she takes issue with.

The noise is going to be outrageous, the Creamery Road resident said. Our lives are going to be very much disrupted.

The current proposal includes no detail on traffic pattern or the sewer infrastructure that may be needed for the proposed developments build-out because, under the towns bylaws, the issue immediately before the commission members centers on whether to approve the cluster development zoning change needed to accomplish the developers goals for the smaller-lot size.

Sycamore Trails Group is owned by Jose and Maria Cordeiro, with its principal agent registered as Lucy Cordeiro DeMelo, according to the states corporate database.

When, or, if, the approval comes, additional plans and controls would be dealt from the commission over how the project would proceed, according to Vice Chair Charles Bogie.

Approving the concept of the subdivision has nothing to do with the infrastructure or the lot layouts, its just the zone change to allow them to come in and apply for the cluster, Bogie said.

Terri and Kevin Bevilacqua, who moved to the neighborhood into a home built by the same developer behind the project, took it a step further.

I have a very difficult time with affordable housing, said Terri Bevilacqua, adding that she owns a credit company for real estate development focused in New York City and claimed, affordable housing has tanked property values, and its not a disputable point - it tanks your property values.

There are a lot of open spaces in New Milford that do not have houses around there, more than 80 acreswhy dont these gentlemengo to those areas and not disturb the beauty of the isolation of Bonnie Vu [Lane],  she added. There are so many other areas where they can go do their affordable housing.

Kevin Bevilacqua, an attorney, said the developers were slick enough to add the open space allotment but claimed the land designated could not be developed anyways and added the new home developments, if approved, would be interfering with the harmony of the area.

You are not giving me anything, you are not giving the town anything, the attorney proclaimed.

Batting away the concern over the affordable housing impact on local property values, Marcus explained that the homes planned in the development would be more affordable than the median home value in Fairfield County, which increased by more than 20 percent over last year as inventory dropped dramatically, but clarified the project is not low income housing or affordable housing as defined under the states 8-30g statute.

I wasnt talking about 8-30g I was talking about the economics of real estate construction, period, he said.

Still, the assurances over the nature of the development and the local process governing its approval seemed to carry little weight with those who stepped up to the microphone earlier this month to voice their displeasure over what the development might look like with respect to the impact on their properties.

Lisa Farkas said she was informed when she purchased her home that the property was a land trust, but she couldnt be sure if the information was accurate. All are welcome, to the neighborhood she said, but the idea that 26 acres would be set aside for property development stood as a threat to local wildlife living in the area.

To take that away from them is really a shame, she told the commission.

Tom Hoefer, a resident of Early View Lane, noted there were about 70 to 80 houses currently standing on the two-acre lots permitted under the areas zoning regulations.

To put 26 homes in that all of a sudden at half that size, is going to devalue our property, he said. I think that is the underlying concern here.

Terri Bevilacqua, who spoke multiple times during the comment period and worried about the devaluing of her home, added: There are families there, there are property values, there are millions of dollars of property investments right now - I am saying go to another place and make that your world, not Bonnie Vue Lane.

Before the public meeting closed, Marcus spoke to the flurry of concerns expressed and clarified several aspects of the process governing the proposal.

First, he said a recent state Supreme Court decision raised the standard for denials by local zoning officials in a ruling stipulates the bodies, cannot be based on the opinion of the public; it has to be based upon a reasonable determination of what the best options are.

He also affirmed again the development would not be affordable housing, but market rate housing, constructed at a lower cost to make the properties more affordable for buyers through the concept of the cluster development, which reduces infrastructure costs to make properties more affordable.

Further, Marcus said with more than 40 years experience as a local real estate attorney he was not aware of other local cluster developments degrading local property values in the town, adding the comments he heard seemed a lot like the well-traveled concept of not in my back yard, otherwise known as: NIMBY.

A lot of these comments in this session are basically NIMBY, he said. But NIMBY is not going to happen.

His next comment stirred those in attendance, with one alternate Zoning Commission member accusing the attorney of making a veiled threat as he addressed the crowd.

Quite honestly if we dont get the regulation to try and develop a cluster then we are going to do one of two things, Marcus said.

Life changes and so the questions is as we move forward, what is the best type of development on this site, period, its not a referendum over will there be development on the site or not, and I heard a lot of that tonight.

Its not about yes or no, he said.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  New Mexico is increasing child care subsidies that are already the most generous and broadly available in the U.S.

Low and middle-income New Mexico families have had access to the most generous child care subsidies in the country since last June, but they still paid as much as $900 per month for one child. Starting next week, the copay will be waived and child care will be basically free for all families up to nearly twice the median income in the state.

They're the latest copay waivers approved by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who made the announcement Thursday at a child care center in Albuquerque. She also announced grants to child care centers and additional subsidies to child care workers pursuing professional training.

The announcements today support a universal early childhood education and care system that increases access, maximizes parent choice, and supports early childhood professionals, Lujan Grisham said.

The copay waivers will run through July of next year, but the administration is hoping to extend it through other funding sources, said Early Childhood Development spokesman Micah McCoy. The administration has stopped and started copayments periodically during the pandemic due to inconsistent funding.

Starting May 1 and running through June 2023, the state will waive child care copays for households at 400% of the poverty line, about $111,000 for a family of four.

This round of waivers is estimated to cost $40 million and is funded by one-time federal pandemic relief. Families will save between $400 and $900 per month based on their income level. Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett said in a statement that it will expand eligibility for over 30,000 families.

Lujan Grisham unveiled the most generous and broadly available child care plan last July, which provides at least some subsidies to families at 350% of the poverty line, or about $93,000 for a family of four. Until now, families at the higher end of that income bracket, above 200% of the poverty line, were eligible for some subsidies but not copay waivers.

Other states like New York have raised subsidy eligibility levels by tapping into federal funding, but not as broadly as New Mexico.

___

Cedar Attanasio contributed reporting from Santa Fe. Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. Follow Attanasio on Twitter.
STAMFORD  More than 1,000 people who say they have lost loved ones as a result of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharmas actions are calling on the Department of Justice to accept a settlement with the Stamford-based company because they are concerned that continued opposition might jeopardize the proposed compensation for opioid victims and family members.

Victims and relatives are still fretting about the settlement, which is not a done deal because of pending litigation. DOJ, including the U.S. Trustee representing it in Purdues bankruptcy proceedings, has maintained its opposition despite the growing support for a resolution of the thousands of lawsuits filed against the company. Last month, eight states, including Connecticut, that had appealed a bankruptcy judges approval of Purdues settlement plan announced they would accept a $6 billion national agreement with the company and the Sackler family members who own the firm.

You claim to be acting on our behalf, more than 1,000 signatories, including about 20 people from Connecticut, said in a letter sent this week to top DOJ officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland. However, we have reached out to you and asked for a meeting several times, and you did not even give us the courtesy of a response. So let us set the record straight. We, the undersigned direct, individual victims of Purdue, and tens of thousands more like us, strongly support the bankruptcy plan.

Those who signed the letter are particularly worried about possibly losing the personal-injury funds that would be included in the settlement. Purdue has agreed to pay eligible opioid victims and victims relatives between $3,500 and $48,000 each, for a total of up to $750 million.

It is no secret that if this plan does not go through, we will likely get nothing. In fact, in all the recent non-bankruptcy opioid settlements, the individual victims got nothing, the letter said. Moreover, if this plan is not implemented, the states would have to wait years to recover money to be used for abating the opioid crisis. With drug overdoses occurring at record rates, that is time we cannot afford.

The letter also said, as we speak, there are thousands of victims waiting for desperately needed funds. For some, it is funds to pay off the debt they incurred when they buried their son, daughter, or spouse. For others, it is funds to pay for the rehab of a loved one.

A message left for DOJ was not returned.

In a statement, Purdue expressed support for the letters goals.

The U.S. Trustees position stands in conflict with all 50 states and virtually all local governments and creditors, including personal injury victims, schools, hospitals and others, who understand that the enhanced plan of reorganization is the best option for people and communities suffering from the opioid crisis, the most fair and expeditious way to resolve the Purdue litigation, and the only way to deliver billions of dollars in value to fund programs specifically for abatement of the opioid crisis, the statement said.

Elizabeth Benton, a spokesperson for Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, said: Connecticut does not have a role in the DOJ appeal, and it would be inappropriate to comment on this letter directed to DOJ regarding their appeal.

The letters signatories also said they were unpersuaded by the reasons for DOJs opposition, including its objection to the settlement plans stipulation that third-party releases from current and future lawsuits related to Purdues opioids be granted to parties, including the Sacklers who own the company.

To be sure, the settlement is not perfect, the letter added. There may always be an opportunity for a more perfect resolution, but we cant let the perfect be the enemy of the good. There will be other bankruptcies for you to pursue your policy objectives where people wont die as a result of a delay. But those who died because of your delay in this case will never come back.

To enact its settlement plan, Purdue needs court approval. Bankruptcy judge Robert Drain confirmed the plan last September, but his ruling was overturned last December by district judge Colleen McMahon.

On Friday, a hearing for Purdues appeal of McMahons ruling will take place in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. If the Second Circuit finds that the bankruptcy court properly confirmed the settlement plan, Purdue officials anticipate it could take about two to three months before the company emerges from bankruptcy.

If a party disagrees with the Second Circuits ruling, they could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In another scenario, the Second Circuit might not answer all the legal questions and might send the case back to district court with instructions.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott
Waterbury Police Department / Contributed Photo

WATERBURY  A man suspected of stabbing and killing his wife Tuesday is being held on a $3 million bond, according to Waterbury Police Lt. Ryan Bessette.

Ainsley Panton, 28, of Waterbury was arraigned at Saint Marys Hospital Thursday. He was charged with murder and two counts of risk of injury to a minor, according to police.
Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

WINSTED  The Winchester Police recently hired Patrol Officer Abdullah Davranmakel. A cerremony for the Oath of Office will be held May 3, 10 a.m. at Winsted Town Hall, second floor chambers. The public is welcome; refreshments will follow the ceremony.

Davranmakel graduated April 5 from POST Police Academy in Meriden, a graduate of the 373rd Class of the Connecticut POST Academy.
Human rights groups have hit out at China over ongoing restrictions being imposed on Taiwan businessman Lee Meng-chu, also known as Morrison Lee, following his release from jail.



Lee "disappeared" in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen after taking photos of troops gathering near the border during the 2019 Hong Kong protest movement and sending them back to contacts in Taiwan.



He later appeared making a "confession" on Chinese state television, before being sentenced to one year and 10 months' imprisonment and two years' deprivation of political rights.



Although Lee was recently released from prison at the end of his jail term, the authorities are preventing him from going home to loved ones on the democratic island of Taiwan, saying his "punishment" hasn't been completed, as the two years' deprivation of political rights has yet to expire.



"The Chinese government's deprivation of political rights [sentencing] is in breach of international human rights law," Eeling Chiu, secretary-general of Amnesty International's Taiwan branch, said in a statement on the group's website. "No prisoner should be deprived of their right to freedom of speech, let alone those who have served out their sentences."



Chiu said Lee's trial had been full of procedural flaws and hadn't met international requirements to be judged a fair trial.



"The Chinese government should return Mr. Lee Meng-chu to Taiwan as soon as possible, and end its serious violations of his right to freedom of thought, expression, assembly and association," Chiu said.



The rights group Safeguard Defenders said Lee had been held in a "secret jail" system known as Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL) from after taking part in the 2019 Hong Kong protest movement, which began as a mass protest against plans to allow extradition of alleged criminal suspects to face trial in mainland Chinese, and broadened to include calls for fully democratic elections.



Politically motivated

It said Lee's prosecution was politically motivated, and that the same rules regarding deprivation of political rights hadn't been applied to a more prominent Taiwanese activist, Lee Ming-cheh, who was allowed to leave China as soon as his jail term ended.



It said there are at least three other Taiwanese nationals currently in Chinese jails on "spying" charges: Shih Cheng-ping; Tsai Chin-shu and Cheng Yu-chin.



According to the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the Peoples Republic of China (Article 12-2), Chinese nationals sentenced to criminal punishment are banned from leaving the country if the punishment has not been completed.



Taiwan has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), nor formed part of the People's Republic of China, but its nationals are regarded as Chinese citizens under another administration by Beijing.



The majority of Taiwan's 23 million people say they have no wish to give up their country's sovereignty or lose their democratic way of life under Chinese rule.



"By not allowing Morrison Lee to leave, Beijing is ... violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which it signed in 1998, although not yet ratified," Safeguard Defenders said in a statement.



"Safeguard Defenders urges China to respect its own laws and international rights norms and allow Morrison Lee, who has served his time, to go home and reunite with his family," it said.



It added: "China also manipulates deprivation of political rights to prevent Chinese rights defenders from freely going home after release from jail, instead subjecting them to weeks, months, even years of continued illegal detention."



No 'political rights'

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference on that Lee is currently serving "an additional sentence," in a reference to the two years' deprivation of political rights.



Shih Yi-hsiang, head of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, said Lee Meng-chu would likely not even be able to exercise "political rights" in China, so the exit ban made no sense.



"The Taiwan Association for Human Rights believes that, in any case, Lee Meng-chu is not a Chinese citizen, but a Taiwanese citizen," Shih said. "It is meaningless to insist on some additional sentence now."



"We think this is ridiculous; the Chinese government has no reason to force Lee to stay in China, and we advocate his safe return to Taiwan," Shih told RFA.



Yang Sen-hong, president of the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights, said the CCP makes a habit of arbitrarily arresting people.



"You have to be very strong when standing up to the CCP regime," Yang said. "I hope that the Taiwanese government and its Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) will actively move to rescue Lee Meng-chu."



The MAC declined to comment, saying it was respecting the stated wishes of Lee and his family.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
A scorched-earth campaign is underway in the region, where the internet has been down for weeks.

Junta troops torched more than 500 homes in five villages over the past three days in Myanmars Sagaing region, residents said Thursday, where nearly three-fourths of townships have been cut off from internet access since early March amid ongoing military raids.

The arson attacks occurred between April 25 and April 27 in the Sagaing townships of Mingin, Khin Oo, and Shwebo, residents told RFAs Myanmar Service, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.

Soldiers destroyed around 200 and 70 homes in Mingins Thanbauk and Zinkale villages, respectively, on April 25, some 220 homes in Khin Oos Thanboh village the following day, and an unconfirmed number of homes in Shwebos Malar and Makhauk villages on the evening of April 27, they said. The number of homes set alight in Shwebo township was not immediately clear because residents remain in hiding.

Villages burned by the military in Myanmar

One resident of Khin Oo said that the fires in Thanboh broke out early in the morning April 26 after two columns of troops entered the village.

The fires were burning almost the whole day and died down only at about 5 p.m., he said.

There have been more raids since they cut off the internet. More troops have been brought in and there have been more atrocities committed, such as setting houses on fire and killing people.

Aung San Myint, a 35-year-old villager who was arrested during the raid on Thanbo village and forced to work as a guide, was later shot dead by the soldiers who held him captive, he said.

Residents said Thanboh village is home to around 300 houses and is adjacent to Magyee Tone village, where many members of the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia live. They said that while the military and Pyu Saw Htee often enter the area, Tuesday marked the first time homes there had been set on fire.

A resident of nearby Kyauk Myaung sub-township, who declined to be named for security reasons, said the attacks likely took place after informants reported to the army that members of the anti-junta Peoples Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries are active in the area.

Other sources said that the military unit responsible for the arson attacks was accompanied by Pyu Saw Htee fighters and identified it as the Kalemyo township-based Infantry Battalion No. 87, with an estimated force of around 150 troops.

Attempts to contact junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, for comment on the burnings went unanswered Thursday.

However, in a statement on April 4, he told RFA that soldiers were not responsible for arson attacks in Sagaing.

Some PDFs and [armed ethnic] groups attacked villages where [pro-junta] militias have been formed, he said at the time.

They set the villages on fire when they leave and blame the military or Pyu Saw Htee.  When villages are destroyed by fire, it is the [junta] who must rebuild them. So, we have no reason to burn the villages.

Since early March, internet access has been cut off in 27 of the 37 townships under the administration of Sagaing  including the embattled townships of Debayin, Kani, Pale, Khin Oo and Shwebo, where much of the fighting between the military and the PDF has taken place in the region.

An aerial view of Chaung Oo village, in Sagaing region's Pale township, where junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee fighters burned more than 300 homes, Dec. 18, 2022. Credit: RFA

Internet restrictions

A member of the Monywa University Students' Union, who declined to be named, called the shutdown a violation of residents right of access to information.

People in these areas have no way of learning about what is happening in other parts of Myanmar, about the political situation outside Sagaing region, or how the fight against the military is going on in various townships, he said.

They only have information from those around them, as if they are cut off from the outside world.

Residents have been reduced to sharing information between themselves via weekly text messages, he said.

Data for Myanmar, a research group that monitors how conflict affects communities, recently said that as of April 16, junta troops have torched more than 9,000 homes across the country since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup. More than 60% of the homes  the most of any of Myanmars 15 states, regions and territories  were located in Sagaing, the group said.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering (center) presents House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a letter from the Dalai Lama during an official visit to Washington D.C., April 28, 2022.

Tibetan exile leader Penpa Tsering has wrapped up his first official visit to Washington D.C. with a meeting on Thursday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders and public talks scheduled for Friday evening.

Tsering  the Sikyong or elected head of Tibets India-based exile government the Central Tibetan Administration  began his visit on Tuesday with talks held with Uzra Zeya, the State Departments Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues. The Department also hosted a lunch for Tsering attended by ambassadors from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries.

Participating in Tserings meeting on Thursday with Pelosi were International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) board chairman Richard Gere and acting president Bhuchung Tsering; Zeegyab Rinpoche, abbot of the India-based branch of Tibets Tashilhunpo monastery; U.S. congressman Jim McGovern; and Namgyal Choedup, representative of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

Speaking to RFA after the meeting, Choedup noted this weeks visit to Washington was the first by Tsering, a former speaker of Tibets exile parliament in Dharamsala, India, who won a closely fought April 11, 2021 election to become Sikyong held in Tibetan communities worldwide.

Choedup described Thursdays talks as decisive and constructive, calling Tibetans grateful for Pelosis continued support. The meeting also discussed collective decisions on future courses of action regarding how to resolve the Sino-Tibetan conflict, Choedup said.

Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago, and Tibetans frequently complain of discrimination and human rights abuses by Chinese authorities and policies they say are aimed at eradicating their national and cultural identity.

U.S. congressman Michael McCaul, ICT board chairman Richard Gere, and Sikyong Penpa Tsering are shown left to right. Photo: RFA

We are trying to burst the myths or narratives that the Chinese government has been presenting for many decades about Tibet being a part of China, which is not true, said ICT board chairman Richard Gere, also speaking to RFA on Thursday.

And we are trying to push for a genuine dialogue [between China] and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Gere added.

The Dalai Lama and Tibets India-based exile government the Central Tibetan Administration have proposed a Middle Way approach to talks with Beijing that now accepts Tibets status as a part of China but urges greater freedoms for Tibetan language, religious, and cultural rights.

Nine rounds of talks were previously held between envoys of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and high-level Chinese officials beginning in 2002, but stalled in 2010 and were never resumed.

Congressional supporters of the Dalai Lama would love to have the Dalai Lama address a joint session of the U.S. Congress by video," said representative from Texas Michael McCaul, a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The American people stand with the Tibetan people and with the Dalai Lama, who is one of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time, McCaul said.

Penpa Tsering ends his Washington visit Friday evening with a panel discussion held at George Washington University on the Tibet-China dialogue and a public talk with the D.C.-area Tibetan community. He will then visit Tibet communities in Philadelphia and New York before moving on to meetings in Canada.

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFAs Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Arrests of high-profile executives may cause market jitters, but help the economic recovery after COVID.

Trinh Van Quyet, Chairman of FLC Group (left) and Do Anh Dung, Chairman of Tan Hoang Minh Group (right).

Recent arrests in Vietnam of business leaders amid a larger crackdown on corruption could cause some bumpy days on the stock market and hit the property sector, but a serious housecleaning will improve the overall business climate, analysts told RFA.

In late March, authorities arrested Trinh Ban Quyet, chairman of property and leisure company FLC Group and its subsidiary Bamboo Airlines, on charges of stock market manipulation, after he failed to report to authorities his sale of 74.8 million shares in the company in January.

In early April, authorities arrested Do Anh Dung, chairman of the Tan Hoang Minh property development group, on suspicion of fraudulent appropriation of assets, after the company issued private bonds between July 2021 and March 2022 while submitting false information and hiding other relevant information about the business.

International and local media called these arrests a signal that Vietnams largest companies were now a target of the Vietnamese Communist Partys anti-corruption efforts.

Big companies with long lasting business issues should be very nervous, Nguyen Van Duc, the CEO of the Dat Lanh Real Estate Company, told RFAs Vietnamese Service.

This could trigger a collapse of the real estate market, especially in the area dealing with resorts and leisure. Many businesses have invested tens of thousands of billions of dong [hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars] in a resort development project, but purchasing power hasnt been able to catch up, he said.

Reuters reported that as of Wednesday, Vietnams benchmark index had fallen 13.8 percent this month, with investors and brokers partially blaming the recent arrests for the downturn.

The market had been steadily trending upward since hitting a low in March 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the countrys relative success at keeping the number of cases down for 2020 and early 2021, the pandemic still had a major impact on the economy.

Households still experienced lower incomes, job loss, and hardships. Inequalities, differences in abilities to cope, vulnerabilities, and policy implementation challenges are cautionary signs and offer relevant lessons to consider as Vietnam faces a much more challenging phase of COVID-19 ahead, the World Bank said in a report.

The turmoil in Vietnams economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing the government to tackle corruption in hopes of speeding a recovery, Duc said.

Theyd rather do it earlier than later to avoid an even more damaging collapse, he said.

Authorities have tried to calm investors fears about the arrests.

The crackdown on questionable dealings of real estate tycoons would have the beneficial effect of easing the rise of real estate prices, said Duc.

During Tan Hoang Minh Groups case, the government discovered a plot to increase real estate prices in Ho Chi Minh City, and the country in general, when they offered a bid on a property that was 8.3 times higher than the initial offering, he said.

As a result the government decided to examine the entire company. I think this was a sound action of the government that prevented an unreasonable and dangerous price spike of real estate.

Le Dang Doanh, the former president of Vietnams Central Institute for Economic Managment (CIEM), told RFA that the arrests of Dung and Quyet might represent a turning point for the country.

In the short term, some investors will be worried about market fluctuation, but this will bring about a better business environment for the stock market in the long term, said Doanh.

I believe regulations to prevent corruption like weve seen in these cases will be created. For example, there are currently no regulations on bonds issued by enterprises, therefore we have not been able to effectively monitor this issue, he said.

The Tan Hoang Minh group used bonds to raise money for a specific project but then used the acquired capital for other purposes, authorities allege.

Many similar incidents have been discovered. I think thats a positive sign for Vietnams business environment, Doanh said.

More investigations into large companies and arrests of key personnel are likely as the Standing Board of the Central Steering Commitee on Anti-Corruption, under the Politburo, has set up eight inspection teams to detect corruption, local new outlet Vietnam+ reported.

During a meeting on Wednesday, members of the anti-corruption committee reviewed their response to FLC and Tan Hoang Minh, a major embezzlement scandal involving the Vietnam Coast Guard High Command, and a bribery case at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for spaces on COVID-19 rescue flights for Vietnamese citizens abroad, the report said.

Investigators have examined more than 1,200 cases involving more than 2,000 suspects. More than 700 cases involving more than 1,500 defendants have been brought to the court, Vietnam+ said.

Analysts have said that recent high-profile arrests are intended to demonstrate that Vietnam is getting tougher on corruption.

At the same time, the countrys government continues to punish citizens who discuss the cases publicly.

In mid-April, authorities arrested Hanoi resident Dang Nhu Quynh for allegedly posting information on Facebook about the arrests of Trinh Ban Quyet and Do Anh Dung, and said that the Ministry of Public Security would continue prosecuting people and companies that are guilty of similar crimes.

Quynh was charged with violating state interests for publishing unverified information.

The law applied in Quynhs case is designed to prevent the spread of false information that could damage the reputation of people and companies, legal experts said. But many people who have been punished were found guilty even if the information was true.

Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
The last Ukrainian fighters in the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the strategic port of Mariupol vowed on May 8 not to give up as they face a bloody final showdown with Russian invaders after the evacuation of civilians.

"We will continue to fight as long as we are alive to repel the Russian occupiers," Captain Svyatoslav Palamar, a deputy commander of Ukraine's Azov Regiment, told an online news conference.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the major developments on Russia's invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

"We don't have much time. We are coming under intense shelling," Palamar said, pleading with the international community to help to evacuate wounded soldiers from the plant.

Officials on both sides said the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal had been completed. Eight buses carrying 174 Mariupol civilians, including 40 evacuated from the steelworks, arrived in Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhya on May 8, AFP reported.

Azovstal, with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders holed up in its sprawling network of underground tunnels and bunkers, has achieved a symbolic value in the conflict, with the Russian forces seeking a celebratory win ahead of the Victory Day holiday on May 9.

The conquering of Mariupol would also give Moscow a land bridge between the Crimean Peninsula, which it illegally annexed in 2014, and regions run by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told leaders of the Group of 7 (G7) countries on May 8 that 60 civilians died in the bombing of a school on May 7 in the eastern Luhansk region.



"They were hiding from shelling in the building of a regular school, which was attacked by a Russian air strike," he said during a virtual meeting.

Serhiy Hayday, the governor of the Luhansk region, told reporters earlier that Russian forces had bombed the school in Bilohorivka where about 90 people were sheltering, triggering a fire that engulfed the building.

Hayday said 30 people were rescued from under the rubble.

Bilohorivka is an urban settlement about 10 kilometers west of Lysychansk, which is under heavy Russian bombardment.

Zelenskiy denounced Russia's heavy shelling in the east of the country, saying Russia has "forgotten everything that was important to the victors of World War II" a day before Moscow commemorates the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany.

WATCH: In the first stage of the operation to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal steelworks, which is under attack by Russian forces in Mariupol, over 150 people were brought out by bus. Those who got out told harrowing stories on May 3 of bodies strewn around the plant.

After Zelenskiy met with the G7 leaders, the group condemned Russias "unprovoked, unjustifiable, and illegal military aggression" against Ukraine and its "attempts to replace democratically elected Ukrainian local authorities with illegitimate ones."

The G7 leaders commemorated the anniversary of the end of World War II by pledging to "spare no effort" to hold Putin and the architects "and accomplices of this aggression," including the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Belarus, accountable for their actions.

The leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States said Putin's actions "bring shame on Russia and the historical sacrifices of its people."

The United States after the meeting announced sanctions against three Russian television stations and executives from Gazprombank along with a ban on Americans providing accounting and consulting services to Russians.

Ahead of the virtual meeting, British officials announced an extra $1.6 billion in military aid for Ukraine. The funding includes 300 million pounds of military equipment promised by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This includes radar systems to target Russian artillery, GPS jamming equipment, and night-vision devices.

Earlier in the day, Zelenskiy met with the president of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, Baerbel Bas, who traveled to Kyiv by train, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced new weapons and equipment for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russian individuals and entities connected with the invasion. He also said the Canadian Embassy would reopen.

Zelenskiy said securing the Bundestag's approval of heavy arms deliveries to help Ukraine fend off Russian attacks was one of his country's top priorities.

The visit came after a major shift in German policy to send heavy weapons to Ukraine, including self-propelled howitzers and Gepard anti-aircraft systems, also known as the Cheetah system.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has faced increasing criticism over Germany not doing enough to help Ukraine amid Russia's invasion. But Scholz's government reversed course last month and pledged to export heavier weapons to Kyiv.

On May 6, Zelenskiy called on Scholz to take a "powerful step" and visit Kyiv on May 9 -- the date that Russia commemorates as the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. There was no immediate word on whether Scholz had agreed.

The German chancellor emphasized Germany's historical responsibility in supporting Ukraine against Russia's war in a televised speech he was to deliver to mark the anniversary.

"We have learned a central lesson from our country's catastrophic history between 1933 and 1945," Scholz said, according to a transcript of the address quoted by dpa.

"Freedom and security will triumph -- just as freedom and security triumphed over violence and dictatorship 77 years ago," he said.

On the battlefront, Russia's Defense Ministry said on May 8 that it had destroyed a Ukrainian Navy ship near Odesa in an overnight missile strike.



The ministry's statement added that Russian air defenses also shot down two Ukrainian SU-24 bombers and a Mi-24 helicopter over Snake Island in the Black Sea at night.

The reports could not be independently verified.

The head of Ukraine's regional military administration said Russian troops launched a series of missile strikes in the Odesa region during the day on May 8.



According to Maxim Marchenko, the attacks took place beginning early in the day, and Ukrainian air-defense units shot down four missiles, but an apartment house was hit, wounding a young girl, and a substation was destroyed, knocking out power in six neighborhoods.

On May 7, the Ukrainian military said it had destroyed a Russian landing ship near Snake Island, hitting it with an armed drone. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Russian forces launched a new offensive last month along most of Ukraine's eastern flank, with some of most intense attacks and shelling taking place recently around Popasna in the Luhansk region.



There has also been fierce fighting around Popasna in recent days amid a sustained Russian assault, and Hayday said Ukrainian forces had been pulling back and that the town had been destroyed.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said his troops had taken control of most of the town.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and dpa
Early in the morning on April 27, a drone crashed in a muddy field southwest of the Russian city of Kursk, around 100 kilometers northeast of the border with Ukraine. Locals tracked down the destroyed device not long after, and posted photographs to Telegram and other social media.



The device appeared to be a Bayraktar TB2, a versatile Turkish-designed unmanned aerial vehicle capable of long-distance surveillance as well as dropping guided bombs or firing anti-tank missiles.



It wasnt the Russians who were flying the drone.



And that wasnt the only unusual thing that happened in that part of Russia that same morning: There were also two unexplained explosions at Russian military and industrial sites -- one in Kursk and one near Voronezh, not far to the east.



Nor does it appear to have been Russians who flew low-altitude attack helicopters in the pre-dawn hours of April 1 around the time that a fuel depot exploded less than 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the major developments on Russia's invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Since February 24, Russian forces have laid waste to towns and cities in northern, eastern, and southern Ukraine, killing thousands of civilians and forcing millions to flee in a war that prompted the West to punish Moscow with sanctions and send massive supplies of military aid and support to Kyiv.

Ukrainian forces thwarted an offensive aimed at taking Kyiv in the wars early weeks, prompting Russian troops to withdraw from close to the capital. Much of the fighting is now focused on the region known as the Donbas and other areas in the east and south.



Away from the active battlefronts within Ukraine, though, theres a less bloody, less prominent front in the two-month-old war, a shadow campaign that has included attacks on military and industrial targets in Russia itself.



Its not clear how many incidents have occurred, or whether they resulted from air strikes, or missiles, or sabotage. An unofficial tally by RFE/RL, based on open-source reporting, counts at least a dozen since the wars beginning.



The preponderance of evidence points directly at Ukraine, but the attacks have gone largely unheralded by Kyiv.



Theyve also been played down by Russia -- for reasons that, analysts said, include embarrassment that its formidable military is unable to protect the country from being attacked from a foreign location.



Some of the incidents may also have a more mundane explanation, said William Alberque, director of strategy, technology, and arms control at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies: negligence or corruption in Russia and its armed forces.



On the one hand, you have to understand that Russia is moving ammunition at scale, so accidents are going to happen, Alberque told RFE/RL. But once you get over, what, 22 accidents in 60 days? Then you are also going to be looking at enemy action.



Some of it is bravery, some of it is incompetence, some of it is Russian corruption, but lets not get bogged down in the details, he said. The larger picture is that this is incredibly poor Russian planning, incredibly poor Russian execution; theyve allowed infiltration of their airspace, and by missiles.



Ukrainian officials, including some of President Volodymyr Zelenskiys top advisers, have merely winked at the prospect that Ukraine was willing to attack Russia itself, even as Ukrainian forces are dwarfed by Russias more powerful military.



"If you (Russians) decide to massively attack another country, massively kill everyone there, massively crush peaceful people with tanks, and use warehouses in your regions to enable the killings, then sooner or later the debts will have to be repaid," presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said in a post to Telegram hours after the explosions.



Karma is a cruel thing, he wrote.



Contested Airspace



The incidents have been varied in their nature. One recurring theme is Turkish drones.



Ukraine has invested heavily in Turkish technology; Bayraktars are among the most advanced drones on the market. During the 2020 war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan devastated Armenian forces and their allies mainly due to Bayraktars.



In October, four months before Russia sent thousands of troops into Ukraine, Ukrainian commanders used a Bayraktar to attack an artillery position of Russia-backed separatists in the Donbas in retaliation for shelling from those forces. Russia has complained publicly about Turkey, a NATO ally and general thorn in Moscows side in the Black Sea region, supplying the drones to Ukraine.



Ukrainian commanders have used the Turkish drones against Russian forces within Ukraine. And judging by photographs posted to social media accounts and claims from Russian authorities, they are being used routinely to fly over Russian territory.



Two days before the Bayraktar crashed near Kursk, another Turkish drone came down in the same region. Purported photos of the drone showed identification numbers and a Ukrainian flag stenciled on a wing.

On that same day, April 25, residents of Bryansk, which is about 155 kilometers northeast of the Ukrainian border, awoke to dawn skies blackened by thick smoke from a major oil pipeline that had been set ablaze. Regional Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said a fire had broken out at the Transneft-Druzhba oil depot but no cause was given, and it was unclear if the Bayraktar could have been used to fire a missile.

Russian bloggers on Telegram and elsewhere said two oil tanks had been hit by explosive devices.



Again, Ukrainian authorities made no claim of responsibility, and Russian officials did not publicly accuse Kyiv or assign blame for the fire.



Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, a former deputy chief of Ukraines General Staff, predicted there would be more such strikes in the future.



"We will not just watch them hit our railway stations, fuel and lubricant processing plants, and so on, he told RFE/RLs Ukrainian Service on April 25. The time has come for this to happen to them as well.



'War Is War'



Nor are the attacks a new phenomenon.



The day after the February 24 invasion began, a tactical ballistic missile hit the tarmac at a Russian air base in Millerovo, less than 10 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Two Su-30 jet fighters were destroyed.



Again, Ukrainian officials said little about the incident. But Yuriy Butusov, the chief editor of the Ukrainian news site Censor.net, stated flatly that it was a Ukrainian strike.



In response to the bombing and rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities, the 19th Missile Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck hit the Russian air base Millerovo with a Tochka-U ballistic missile, he said in a post to Facebook.



Yury Fyodorov, a Russian military analyst, said it was wholly plausible that Ukrainian intelligence was behind the incidents.



Why not? After all, Russia is absolutely mercilessly bombing Ukrainian cities, warehouses, railway facilities, [civilians], and it feels entitled to do this, he told Current Time. War is war. And these things need to be answered in whatever ways possible.

To date, one of the most striking incidents known to have occurred happened on April 1, when a fuel depot exploded in Belgorod, less than 50 kilometers from the border, injuring two people. Multiple videos posted to Telegram showed what appeared to be two Mi-8 helicopters flying low over villages in the vicinity shortly around the time of crash. The regional governor said the helicopters were from Ukraine.



That same day, a rocket exploded in a different part of the Belgorod region; open-source researchers said the trajectory of the rocket, and the fact that it was a model that is not believed to be in Ukraines arsenal, led them to believe it might have been an errant Russian missile.



How much of this quote-unquote enemy action is due to the fact that the entire Russian system is sowed with incompetence and corruption? Albeque said.



Where is all this vaunted electronic warfare? Russia was supposed to have some of the worlds leading electronic warfare capabilities? he said. And then we have drones that are flying over these ammo dumps and oil storage depots: what the hell is that about?



'Completely Legitimate'



While Western officials have voiced concerns about the war expanding beyond Ukraines borders, potentially into NATO territory, some have also effectively endorsed Ukrainian efforts to attack Russian targets within Russia itself.



It is completely legitimate for Ukraine to be targeting in Russias depth in order to disrupt the logistics that if they werent disrupted would directly contribute to death and carnage on Ukrainian soil, British armed forces minister James Heappey said in an interview with Times Radio on April 26.



During an appearance before a Senate committee on April 27, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked how the United States would view Ukrainian attacks inside Russia.



It was up to Ukraine, he said, to do everything necessary to defend against Russian aggression.



The Ukrainians are being opportunistic, Alberque said: Even when explosions can blamed on negligence, theyre happy to wink and nod, and let the world think they are the result of a special operation. And the Russians are happy in some cases to blame the Ukrainians, rather than admit corruption involving Russian civilian or military authorities could be to blame.



The Ukrainians are trying to target, to get all the ammunition depots, and fuel depots. They are absolutely doing what they can to hit those facilities as much as possible, he said. But he said it would be a mistake to ascribe every fire or blast in Russia to Ukraine.



I dont want to take credit from the people, the Ukrainians, who are doing actual sabotage. Thats happening. Period. he said. But lets also not present Ukraine as some super-Ninja force that is slaying dragons way out in Siberia.

With reporting by Current Time and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
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RFE/RL correspondent Maryan Kushnir met with Ukrainian soldiers fighting Russian forces in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. One of the soldiers called the Russian troops "cannon fodder," describing their tactics as "desperate" and without any coherent strategy.
An insight into the work of a foreign volunteer risking his life to help dispose of explosives littering the abandoned battlefields around Kyiv. Of all the lethal munitions strewn across towns north of the Ukrainian capital, Chris Garrett says perhaps the nastiest are the Bouncing Betty-type mines designed to spring out of the ground and explode at waist-height. Speaking by telephone from the north of Kyiv, the British explosives expert describes the leaping Soviet-designed OZM fragmentation mines, which he says are very, very dangerous to remove, especially when hooked up to trip wires.

Garrett, a tree surgeon from the Isle of Man, served briefly in the British Army as a teenager, but told RFE/RL that he gained much of his knowledge of explosives after he began clearing landmines in Burma in 2014. After the war with Russia-backed separatists broke out in the spring of 2014, he arrived in Ukraine and fought with the controversial Azov Battalion, once shooting a pro-Russian fighter at point-blank range as he fled an armored advance. After that traumatizing escape Garrett switched his focus to explosives ordnance disposal (EOD). Three days after the full-scale Russian invasion began on February 24, the 37-year-old traveled to Ukraine, and this month he received a personal note of thanks from the National Police of Ukraine for the voluntary EOD work he has been doing in the country.

Garrett is one of at least two Western volunteers in Ukraine now sifting through the wreckage left behind from the Russian invasion to find and destroy unexploded ordnance. The Briton relies on donations to support the work. He says this is because, by asking for resources and equipment from the Ukrainians, all Im doing is taking the equipment out of their hands, adding that he and his colleagues are trying to raise money for equipment to help us while were here, then once this is all over the plan is to leave it behind for the Ukrainians.

A shoestring budget is the main reason Garrett is often photographed on his popular Instagram account handling explosives without heavy protection. For some of the work I would prefer to have protection, but one of those bomb suits costs $45,000, Garrett says, referring to the astronaut-like protective suits synonymous with bomb scares in the west.

Predicting the time needed to clear the bomb-scattered areas north of Kyiv is difficult, the Briton says, because were still finding [vacated Russian] positions -- theres no map from their side of where the positions were." Nonetheless, he predicts that within "another month or so well have the bulk of the explosives gone. Then, after that, it will just be a case of, if we get a call saying theres an item been found, obviously well go out and deal with that."

Along with the nightmarish leaping landmines, Garrett says unexploded submunitions delivered by rockets, such as those seen above are especially fragile and, unlike defused artillery shells, the bomblets can detonate from the slightest touch. Im not going to go and pick one up, Ill destroy it in place where it is," he says. "The big worry is that someone else around you might knock one they havent seen in rubble. Generally, the one you dont see is the one that will get you.

The volunteer chose to reenter Ukraine for the dangerous, profitless work because, he says, you just know that with every single munition that youre removing -- every bit of unexploded ordinance, you are removing a hazard for someone else. And the bulk of the time its civilians that are getting hurt long after the war is finished.
However, at the same time, several super rich business persons were prosecuted for misconduct and misinformation in the fields of real estate and bonds trading, showing that the private sector and private enterprises operate in two different extremes.

Rare cases

The development process of enterprises is also associated with the country's integration process, when the country keeps pace with the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). With this agreement, domestic enterprises have awakened and rushed outside to look for opportunities. Other economies are also taking this opportunity to explore the Vietnamese market of nearly 100 million people. It can be said that at the present time, Vietnamese private enterprises have entered a new stage of development. There is more focus now on quality, with an aspiration to build large, multi-industry private corporations and reach out to the world market.

During the last ten years, many large private corporations have appeared in Vietnam. They have diversified businesses and have stepped outside, competing directly with major competitors from Europe to the US, something that the previous generation of private enterprises could only dream of. This proves that the entrepreneurship as well as the management capacity of Vietnamese private enterprises has improved. All these steps show that they have a specific path and a clear goal.

On the other hand, one can look at the cases of large private enterprises that have been dubious in the past to the point of being prosecuted. However, personally I still think that these are just minor incidents in the overall picture of private enterprises, and basically, Vietnamese private enterprises are still in a strong development stage.

Crony culture

In Vietnam, crony relationships in businesses still raise big doubts, especially those related to real estate, because our system still has many shortcomings. For example, in the field of land, which is believed to be the most corrupt, because the Land Law has many shortcomings people can easily misuse the loopholes. Land is defined as owned by the entire people, but is managed by the State and represented by the owner. But the State here has too many different levels of management, and the management power is also very wide, so land management tends to overlap across many departments.

In 2013, when amending the Land Law, there were also many opinions suggesting that the State should only recover land for security and defense purposes and public purposes. As for economic purposes, the recovery is not consistent with the role of the State. Even if the law is passed, there is still a big gap in the implementation process. The proof is that at present there is no field that complains as much as the land sector. It is clear that the issue of market and State management of land has become distorted.

Mistakes in the field of land are not isolated but occur on a large scale and involve many localities and a number of ministries and branches. For instance, in the case of competent officials, especially when acquiring land of high commercial value, public opinion sees doubts in dubious dealings. Here, crony relationships can help private enterprises grow but cannot help private enterprises mature.

In recent years, Vietnam has had a number of private enterprises develop strongly, but this development is thanks to the crony culture. Because without a relationship, these enterprises are very difficult to access for investment resources of the state as there is no other way to grow.

The crony culture causes the market to distort, because of the inadequacies in the policies and management of the State mechanism. Building a market economy in the true sense of the word is a common desire that has been mentioned for a long time in Vietnam and has actually been concretized by the legal system and documents. But the actual reality is still far away.

In addition, if you look at the Vietnamese economy, there are still many problems to becoming a real market economy. The structure of Vietnamese enterprises includes state-owned enterprises, enterprises and private enterprises. Current policies are mainly incentives for state-owned enterprises and FDI enterprises, while private enterprises receive very few incentives, and this is favorable for the crony culture to develop.

Looking at all the above inadequacies, I think that economic thinking by the State must intervene deeply and widely in enterprises and the market. This is what causes the reverse effect, that is to say, in order to enjoy preferential policies for development, some private enterprises are forced to accept dubious dealings with individuals in state management agencies. The phenomenon of group interests and crony businesses has created an unequal competitive environment with other businesses. This needs to be phased out soon in order to return to a market which is open, transparent and non-disparaging.

Pham Chi Lan, Economist
Weather Alert

...National Weather Service Cold Water Safety Message... ...Please check with state and local authorities regarding guidelines for allowed activities... * The warm air temperatures today in the mid to upper 70s may cause people to underestimate the dangers of the cold water temperatures which are currently only in the mid 40s across Lake Champlain, and in the upper 40s in the regions smaller lakes and rivers. * The cold water temperatures can quickly cause hypothermia to anyone immersed in the water. According to the US Coast Guard, when the water temperatures are below 50 degrees, the chance of immediate incapacitation due to cold shock is extremely high. Anyone on small boats, canoes or kayaks should plan accordingly if recreating this weekend and use extreme caution to avoid this threat. Paddle smart from the start and always wear your life jacket!
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Residents in Mississippi heard a loud explosion that rocked several homes Wednesday morning around 8:03 a.m. CDT (9:03 a.m. EDT). It was a fireball blazing through the early skies, according to NASA.

The fireball was seen by about 30 persons in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. It was followed by "many" reports of a loud boom from Claiborne County, Mississippi. Officials characterized it as a "primarily heard, scarcely seen" fireball.

"What struck me as unusual was how few eyewitness reports we had given the skies were so clear," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office said in a statement.

The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) instrument onboard the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) 16 and 17 saw a series of brilliant flashes that scientists believe were generated by the meteor breaking up in the atmosphere.

Satellites initially noticed the object 54 miles (87 kilometers) above the Mississippi River near Alcorn, Mississippi, Space.com reported.

NASA Says A 90-Pound Asteroid Shook Mississippi

According to NASA, the item was most likely a "piece of an asteroid" weighing around 90 pounds and measuring about a foot in diameter. Although the incident did not cause any harm, Cooke told USA Today that several individuals reported feeling their houses quake.

"The fragmentation of this fireball generated an energy equivalent of 3 tons of TNT (trinitrotoluene), which created shock waves that propagated to the ground, producing the booms and vibrations felt by people in the area," the space agency said per WIONews.

Even though most people simply heard it, it was more than 10 times brighter than the full Moon at its brightest.

UPDATE After multiple reports of a loud sound this morning across a portion of our state, MEMA has confirmed with NASA it was a fireball that caused the noise.



No injuries or property damage have been reported. We are told the meteor ran parallel to the Mississippi River.  msema (@MSEMA) April 27, 2022

ALSO READ: Meteor Fireball Eeriely Shocks Indiana Skies With Loud Explosion [LOOK]

Cooke went on to say that the space rock slammed into the atmosphere at a speed of 55,000 miles per hour, causing the dazzling blaze. It also disintegrated, resulting in the pressure waves that triggered the booms and shaking.

According to him, pressure increased up near the front of the fireball as it traveled further into the sky. The fireball shattered apart and caused a minor explosion as the pressure differential between the front and back of the space rock increased.

Scientists believe the asteroid was a 1-foot (0.3 meter) wide asteroid that fragmented around 34 miles (55 kilometers) above a marshy region of Louisiana, north of the town Minorca.

Locals Record Fireball

The bolide, or exceptionally brilliant meteor, was likely 10 times brighter than the full moon at its peak. Despite its fantastic brilliance, few individuals claimed to have seen it in the sky.

WREG obtained dashcam footage of the descending fireball in Mississippi.

The Vicksburg Post stated that it wasn't obvious at first if the fireball that many witnessed and the loud roar were linked. The Claiborne County Emergency Management Agency even had to release a statement to reassure residents that the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station was "not implicated" in the loud noise and "the site is secure."

However, satellites recorded multiple brilliant flashes linked with the space rock that disintegrated 34 miles over a Louisiana "swampy region."

RELATED ARTICLE: Asteroid Half the Size of a Giraffe Hits Iceland 2 Hours After Astronomers Spotted Space Rock

Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times.
Plans for a bullet-train line that could zip commuters between the Central Valley and Silicon Valley  linking the low-income region and its affordable housing with higher-paying tech jobs on the coast  took a major step forward this week as rail officials signed off on the 90-mile extension.

The High Speed Rail Authority Board unanimously approved plans and environmental clearance for the segment between San Jose and Merced on Thursday. Now, the agency estimates the line will open for service in 2031, though the project has faced repeated delays and cost overruns.

Construction has been under way in the Central Valley for about seven years, but the rail boards vote is novel in the sense that its the first time plans to extend train tracks to a coastal region have been approved.

The train system could take riders between Fresno and San Jose in about an hour, a roughly three-hour drive by car today. Dan Richard, a former chairman of the Rail Authority Board who resigned in 2019, said the extension will help California address a jobs-housing mismatch between the disparate regions.

Really, this state is divided between the coastal and the inland areas, he said. A key element of high-speed rail, apart from being a fast choo-choo train, is the ability to meld the entire state together and to balance our more under-developed areas with the more prosperous ones.

From the outset, supporters of the project pitched the bullet train as a way to connect the states low-income interior with its prosperous coast. State and regional leaders said the Merced-San Jose extension moving forward will help California realize that vision.

Completion of this critically important high-speed rail project helps the state expand economic opportunity and affordable housing, two critical goals for all of us, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said in a statement.

The segment would be part of the rail projects 500-mile Phase 1, which aims to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles. With approval of the Silicon Valley extension, nearly 400 miles of that first phase has been approved.

California voters approved $9.95 billion in bond funding for high-speed rail in 2008, with the promise that money would be used to help build a 220-mph train to deliver riders between the states biggest regions in under three hours.

But the project has faced ridicule over repeated construction delays and soaring costs, with its total budget growing from $33 billion to about $105 billion in the Rail Authoritys latest business plan. Trains were initially supposed to start running in 2020. Now, the agency doesnt anticipate the first trains will start running in the Central Valley until 2029.

Originally, the Rail Authority planned to build track inward from Los Angeles and the Bay Area, including the line running east from Silicon Valley. Gov. Gavin Newsom stunned many state legislators and rail advocates two years ago when he announced he would focus first on the Central Valley line due largely to rising costs.

In that sense, approval of the Merced-San Jose segment this week was a jolt of momentum for rail supporters, whove struggled to repair the projects image in the wake of discontent over the Central Valley-first approach.

Brian Kelly, the High Speed Rail Authoritys chief executive officer, said in a statement that the vote is a major milestone and brings us one step closer to delivering high-speed rail between the Silicon Valley and the Central Valley.

Rail officials have long stressed that planning for extensions to the Bay Area and L.A. has never stopped, despite the agency running track in the Central Valley first.

Despite the Rail Authoritys challenges, polling suggests most voters havent shunned the project. The Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies released a survey this month that found 56% of registered voters supported continuing construction on the train, even if the Central Valley segment is built first, while 35% opposed it.

The section approved this week will connect San Joses Diridon Station and a station in downtown Gilroy to the five-station Central Valley segment from Merced to Bakersfield, the projects initial 171-mile stretch.

Rick Harnish, executive director of High Speed Rail Alliance, a national advocacy group, said the move underscores how the Rail Authority has not lost sight of its ultimate goal of connecting coastal and inland areas  and creating a system that spans physical and economic barriers.

This is the first rail crossing of Pacheco Pass, which changes the economic geography of the state, Harnish said, referring to the mountain range between the Central Valley and Silicon Valley. This is a huge step forward.

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.

Rail authority officials said the rail is currently under construction at 35 active job sites along 119 miles in Californias Central Valley.

A second phase in the Bay Area  from San Jose to San Francisco  is expected to gain its environmental clearance this summer, according to the authority. Its projected to open for service in 2033. Plans for that segment call for high-speed rail stops at San Francisco International Airport, the Caltrain Mission Bay station at Fourth and King streets and, eventually, at the basement of Salesforce Transit Center.

High-speed rail will share train tracks on the Peninsula with Caltrain, and the commuter rail is in the process of electrifying its tracks. The most construction-intensive portion of the San Jose-to-Merced segment involves tunneling a 15-mile stretch of tracks through Pacheco Pass in the Diablo Range.

High-speed rail is one major component of an ambitious set of plans by the regions transit agencies to connect Northern California by rail. The Salesforce Transit Center would also potentially link with a second Transbay Tube that could expand the BART system. That vision, however, is years, if not decades, from becoming reality and lacks the funding to make it happen.

Meanwhile, headwinds facing the statewide high-speed rail project havent subsided, either. For starters, it remains unclear how California will pay for the full cost of the train  and Newsom and some state legislators are deeply at odds over his strategy for the project.

Newsoms latest budget proposal once again asks the Legislature to approve $4.2 billion in bond funding to complete construction of the trains initial segment from Merced to Bakersfield. The money reflects the remainder of the funding that voters approved in 2008.

But the governors request still faces resistance among some powerful lawmakers, who argue the focus on building the trains Central Valley segment first is a far cry from the original vision sold to voters. They have pushed to instead spend a chunk of the money to improve commuter rail systems in the states most populous regions.

Lauren Hernandez, Ricardo Cano and Dustin Gardiner are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com, ricardo.cano@sfchronicle.com, dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByLHernandez, @ByRicardoCano, @dustingardiner
Airbnb is allowing its employees around the world to live and work anywhere  a move that company leaders on Thursday called the start of a new chapter that will put workplace flexibility above location.

The new policy at the San Francisco-based company represents a solution to the tension that can arise when employees work exclusively from a corporate office or exclusively from home, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said in an email to employees Thursday.

It combines the best of both worlds, he said, by giving workers the freedom to work in an office or remotely, while requiring most employees to meet in person for about four weeks a year.

The hope is that the new flexibility will harness the best of the digital world and the best of the physical world, Chesky wrote in his email. It should have the efficiency of Zoom, while providing the meaningful human connection that only happens when people come together.

Most employees can choose to work from home or from the office. Those who choose to work remotely can do so from anywhere in the country without changes to their compensation, and starting in September, employees will be allowed to live and work in almost any country for up to three months a year in each location, Chesky said.

Youll have the flexibility to do whats best for your life  whether thats staying put, moving closer to family, or living in a place youve always dreamed of, Chesky said.

In lieu of a hybrid model where employees would be required to work in the office a certain number of days each week, the vacation rental company is prioritizing meaningful in-person gatherings throughout the year, Chesky said. Most employees will be asked to come into the office each quarter for about a week at a time.

Being together to connect and collaborate has always been an essential part of our culture, and were doubling down on that, Chesky said.

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The policy change follows months of pandemic-induced remote work at Airbnb that yielded the most productive two-year period in the companys history  Airbnb went public, upgraded its services and reported record earnings, Chesky said. Employees have demonstrated that working remotely is not an issue, he said.

I trust you, and flexibility only works when you trust the people on your team, he wrote in his email. Youve shown how much you can accomplish remotely.

PayPal, headquartered in San Jose, told its employees in San Francisco last week that it is closing its Market Street office and allowing them to choose whether they work remotely or in the South Bay office.

Andy Picon (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon
BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Friday held a phone conversation with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store at the latter's request.

Li said that Norway is an important partner of China in North Europe and relations between the two countries enjoy a profound foundation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Norwegian King Harald V held a successful meeting in 2018, vigorously pushing forward the development of China-Norway relations, Li noted.

China stands ready to work with Norway to treat each other with mutual respect and equality, consolidate political mutual trust, and deepen win-win cooperation, to promote the healthy development of bilateral ties, he said.

Li pointed out that China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Norway in such fields as economy and trade, tackling climate change, green technologies and environment protection, and to expand imports of competitive agricultural and fishery products from Norway.

He expressed the hope that the two sides will bolster cooperation in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and improving global health, and enhance communication on multilateral affairs in the UN Security Council.

Li called on the Norwegian side to work together for an early conclusion to the negotiations on a free trade agreement and a double taxation avoidance agreement, in order to send positive signals to the world and keep global supply chains stable.

China, he said, will continue to open its door wider, and is committed to deepening bilateral and multilateral international cooperation.

For his part, Store said Norway and China enjoy close and profound relations, and the two countries maintain sound economic and trade cooperation and in-depth communication at the UN Security Council and other multilateral occasions.

Norway has long adhered to the one-China policy and is ready to deepen cooperation with China in fields including green economy, marine economy and climate change, strengthen people-to-people exchanges and expand cooperation between businesses, Store said.

The two sides also exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine. Li elaborated on China's principled position. 
As COVID cases creep up in the Bay Area, some precautions are staring to be reintroduced. The BART board, for instance, voted on Thursday to reinstate a mask mandate on trains and platforms until the middle of the summer. Some forecasts are indeed worrisome: A model developed at the Mayo Clinic projects that U.S. COVID cases will double in the next two weeks  albeit from a low base, and still at levels well below the December-January omicron peak. For those who do catch the virus, what happens in the body even if symptoms never appear? We talked to scientists about how asymptomatic COVID runs its course.

Latest updates:

Giants close clubhouse, bring back mask requirement due to COVID outbreak: With outfielder Mike Yastrzemski, relievers Zack Littell and Dominic Leone, and other members of the organization testing positive for COVID-19, the San Francisco Giants will limit clubhouse access to only essential personnel, according to KNBR. President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi told reporters on Friday that the team was stepping up precautions to limit the spread of the coronavirus, including a requirement to wear masks again. Members of the media, who were recently allowed to return to the clubhouse this season for the first time since the pandemic began, will be temporarily barred from entry. We have concerns about the level of contagiousness in our clubhouse given a string of recent positives, and are taking measures to try to mitigate risk of further spread, both internally and externally, Zaidi said.

Bay Area counties elevated into medium community level, per CDC: Two Bay Area counties are now classified as having a medium level of coronavirus, according to metrics by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Marin and San Mateo counties, along with Santa Cruz County, are now the only ones in the entire state to have moved up from the low category, based on the agencys revised criteria. They are among about a dozen counties in the western half of the United States not currently in the lowest risk category. The COVID-19 level for each region is measured by the number of cases, hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions.

Should you worry about BA.2.12.1 subvariant now spreading in California? Yet another omicron offspring, once again more infectious than its predecessors, is climbing rapidly in California and could make up half of new cases in a matter of days, health officials said. Its unclear whether the coronavirus subvariant  known as BA.2.12.1  will hasten the rising swell of cases across the state, including in the Bay Area. But its believed to be driving a surge in the New York region and other parts of the Northeast, where it already makes up nearly 60% of cases, according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read the full story.

Hospitalizations climb in S.F. as Bay Area COVID cases jump: Coronavirus cases have climbed about 70% in California since the beginning of the month, off the low rates reported following this winters omicron surge. Cases in the Bay Area have climbed even more, up 155% over the same period, according to state data analyzed by The Chronicle. As of Friday, the Bay Area reported roughly 23 cases per 100,000 residents per day, compared to 14 cases per 100,000 for the state. San Francisco and San Mateo counties are outpacing all other areas with COVID-19 infections, each reporting 31 cases per 100,000 residents. Thats nearly double the 16 per 100,000 tallied in Los Angeles, the nations most populous county. San Franciscos coronavirus test positive rate has jumped to 7.4%, and hospitalizations have nearly doubled, with 44 COVID-19 patients in the citys hospitals as of Friday compared to 24 at the beginning of the month.

Vaccines for youngest children may arrive by June: The Food and Drug Administration on Friday scheduled dates in June to review COVID-19 vaccine data for children 5 and under, the last remaining group not cleared for the shots. The FDA meetings are typically the final step before authorizing the rollout of vaccines. The agencys outside panel of experts will meet on June 8, 21 and 22 to review applications from Moderna and Pfizer for child vaccines. The dates are tentative. We intend to move quickly with any authorizations that are appropriate once our work is completed, said Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Los Angeles County reports pretty significant increase in COVID cases, hospitalizations: Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are rising in Los Angeles County at a rate that Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer called pretty significant during a press briefing on Thursday. She encouraged residents of the nations most populous county to get vaccinated and boosted as cases have doubled since the beginning of April. The county is reporting 122 cases a week per 100,000 residents, according to data compiled by the Los Angeles Times. There are 249 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county, up from 209 last Friday. Ferrer added that public health officials have seen a rise in outbreaks at workplaces and schools since the indoor mask mandate was lifted, with the number of cases reported in students in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools more than doubled since late March. Ferrer urged people to take mitigation efforts seriously: You dont want unchecked transmission, which leads to the possibility of more variants of concern.

White House communications director tests positive for COVID-19: Kate Bedingfield is the latest administration official to test positive for the coronavirus, according to a tweet she posted on Friday. The White House communications director said President Biden is not a close contact. This morning, I tested positive for COVID-19. I last saw the President Wednesday in a socially-distanced meeting while wearing an N-95 mask, and he is not considered a close contact as defined by the CDC, she said, adding she was vaccinated and boosted and experiencing mild symptoms. She will work isolated for five days.

Trump officials aimed to silence CDC on pandemic guidance for churches: The former administration attempted to restrict the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions coronavirus mitigation measures for churches early in the pandemic, according to newly released emails. As COVID-19 outbreaks ramped up in places of worship Kellyanne Conway and Paul Ray advised the president to strike the recommendations, such as holding online services, from the agencys guidance. The new CDC draft includes a significant amount of new content, much of which seems to raise religious liberty concerns. In the attached, I have proposed several passages for deletion to address those concerns, Ray wrote. In response to the release of the emails, Representative James Clyburn, chairman of the select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis, said in a statement Friday, As todays new evidence also makes clear, Trump White House officials worked under the direction of the former president to purposefully undercut public health officials recommendations and muzzle their ability to communicate clearly to the American public.

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.

Rocker Ozzy Osbournes COVID diagnosis has wife Sharon very worried: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame icon Ozzy Osbourne has contracted COVID-19 following a string of other health issues, his wife Sharon Osbourne revealed through tears Thursday on her new show The Talk UK. I am very worried about Ozzy right now, she said. Weve gone two years without him catching COVID and its just Ozzys luck he would get it now. My family is my life. Sharon said she is eager to return home to Los Angeles to be with Ozzy, who in January 2020 revealed he was battling Parkinsons disease. He has also recently had back and neck surgery, as well as a life-threatening staph infection.

BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants fueling rise in cases in South Africa: New confirmed coronavirus cases are up 32% in Africa, driven by a spike of new infections in South Africa due to the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of omicron, according to a regional briefing by the World Health Organization. Researchers in South Africa said in a study that the new lineages were detected there in late December, about a month after the parent omicron strain was identified. The sub-variants appear to be more contagious than BA.2 and began gaining traction in South Africa in mid-April, according to the report. More research is required to determine the severity of BA.4 and BA.5. It remains unclear how large an effect this shift in the distribution of different omicron lineages will have on the epidemic in South Africa and elsewhere in the world, they said.

What actually happens in your body when you have asymptomatic COVID? Many people who get tested regularly for COVID-19  including, recently, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris  test positive despite reporting no symptoms at all. But such asymptomatic infections, which can also occur with other kinds of viruses, are difficult to track, since you may never know if you had one. So for those who remain symptom-free, what actually happens in the body, and what does that mean for how the virus is transmitted? Read the full story.

BART temporarily reinstates mask mandate: BARTs board of directors on Thursday approved a temporary amendment to require riders to wear masks in paid areas of the system with limited exceptions. Passengers will again be required to wear face coverings on trains and all portions of stations beyond fare gates, according to an update from the agency. Free masks will be available in station agent booths for those who need them. The rule will be effective until July 18, unless the board decides to extend it, BART officials said. Read the full story.

U.S. COVID cases are forecast to double in the next two weeks: With BA.2 infections rising steadily in many parts of the U.S., including California, daily COVID-19 cases are projected to increase 99.9% nationally in the next two weeks, according to modeling from the Mayo Clinic. With the national coronavirus positive test rate now at 6%, daily cases are expected to rise from 40,224 on April 23 to 80,418 by May 7. The average of daily cases will increase from 14 per 100,000 people to 24.5 per 100,000 over the same period. Bay Area hotspots  including San Francisco, Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Napa counties  are forecast to experience the biggest uptick in cases in the state during that time.

Measles cases up 80% in 2022 due to pandemic disruptions: A dramatic surge in measles cases among children in the first two months of this year is a worrying sign that could signal larger outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease due to pandemic-related disruptions, according to a joint bulletin from the World Health Organization and UNICEF. The risk for large outbreaks has increased as communities relax social distancing practices and other preventive measures for COVID-19 implemented during the height of the pandemic, the agencies said. Almost 17,338 measles cases were reported worldwide in January and February 2022, compared to 9,665 during the first two months of 2021. Because it is so contagious, health experts worry measles could grow exponentially as millions of children have missed routine vaccinations due to the pandemic. It is encouraging that people in many communities are beginning to feel protected enough from COVID-19 to return to more social activities. But doing so in places where children are not receiving routine vaccination creates the perfect storm for the spread of a disease like measles said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director.
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Dozens of English language instructors from City College of San Francisco and their students rallied in the citys Mission District on Thursday to show their opposition to 130 faculty layoffs and hundreds of class cuts planned at the long-suffering community college.

They say cut back! We say fight back! chanted the crowd of nearly 60 people who gathered in the sun at Bartlett and 22nd streets outside of City Colleges Mission campus. In Spanish, they cried: No elimine ESL! Dont cut English as a Second Language!

Yet City College leaders say that layoffs and class cuts are needed across the whole school to close a $7 million budget gap caused by declining enrollment. At an as-yet unscheduled special meeting in May, the trustees expect to vote on whether to lay off up to 50 full-time faculty and 80 part-timers for the next academic year, while eliminating 300 classes. In the ESL department alone, they will considering laying off 37 instructors, including seven full-time faculty, resulting in an 8% cut to the program.

The American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 has challenged the layoffs, and a judge in the Oakland Office of Administrative Hearings is expected to issue a ruling next week.

To explain the budget gap, City College Chancellor David Martin pointed to a stunning drop in students not just during the pandemic, but over the past decade  an enrollment dive that occurred even as the city made college classes free to all San Francisco residents in 2016.

Public records show that City College enrolled fewer than 25,000 students last fall  a loss of more than 2,100 students, or 8%, from the year before. Even more jarring is the enrollment plunge over the past decade: the student body has fallen by 66% from nearly 73,000 in 2012 to 24,791 today. Yet even when student numbers were much higher in 2012, an accreditation commission threatened to shut down City College, in part for spending more on faculty than it could afford.

That sent the school into a seven-year tailspin from which it has yet to recover. Martin, hired in September, is the colleges eighth chancellor in nine years.

City College has pared its faculty by more than 500 instructors over the past decade, to 1,133 full- and part-time faculty, a 31% decrease, records show. In recent years, the college has also eliminated hundreds of classes  many of them vocational and lifelong learning programs for older adults  in part because state education policy has shifted to rewarding colleges with more students who transfer to four-year schools. Most City College students, however, are older part-timers seeking to improve their vocational or English skills to gain an economic leg up.

On Thursday, faculty members and union leaders said that shrinking the school in response to declining enrollment only makes the problem worse.

The cuts to date have been devastating to educational opportunity, have driven down enrollment, and prevent the college from serving the real needs of San Franciscans, Adele Failes-Carpenter, political director of the American Federation of Teachers local 2121, told The Chronicle.

If the cuts go through, she said, many more staff will also lose their jobs through a domino effect.

Dina Wilson, an ESL teacher at the Mission campus, told the crowd what the union has been saying all along: There is money in the budget to save all classes!

And yet, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, which renewed the colleges all-important accreditation status in 2017, placed City College on an enhanced monitoring status in 2020 and said its finances were in the danger zone. The college has remained on the watch list.

John Rizzo, vice president of the City College Board of Trustees, said the days of failing to balance the colleges budget are over.

With COVID, we, like every other community college in the country, have seen a decrease in students, Rizzo said. And while we hate to lose any of our excellent faculty, we have to have a balanced budget for next year. Thats the bottom line.

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 proposed cuts will get us there, he said.

Until then, students and faculty say they will protest and urge college leaders to preserve the programs and instructors they love.

Students in the floristry and horticultural program have started a petition to save the program they say wont survive if, as proposed, it has just one instructor left instead of two.

Laying off that instructor would be disastrous for the floristry program, said Amy Reid, who said she had been thrilled to discover that City College, in my own backyard, offers a nationally recognized program and is in her first semester. Now, she said, she is in shock.

Reid said the instructor who might lose her job is a tenured professor who has worked at the college for 22 years and is an industry standout.

At the Mission campus rally, student Taeko Tatemo told the crowd that shes learned so much English, shes become a teacher herself, teaching children Japanese.

These teachers are assets for somebody like me, she said. City College should not do anything like this. Its wrong.

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov
Santa Clara police are investigating a shooting that occurred Wednesday night at the Kaiser hospital on Lawrence Expressway, where a nurse apparently took his own life.

Officers received reports of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the emergency department of the Kaiser campus shortly before 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Assistant Police Chief Wahid Kazem told The Chronicle. Officials at Kaiser said the incident occurred in a closed room adjacent to the emergency department, and no other staff or patients were threatened.

Multiple police officers arrived at the scene  a typical response for any situation involving gunshots, Kazem said  but law enforcement did not lock down the hospital. Kaiser staff quickly isolated the area to avoid impacting patient care.

Our hearts go out to the family, friends and coworkers affected by this terrible loss, Dr. Rakesh Chaudhary, physician in chief at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center, said in a statement. Our teams are on site providing emotional support and resources for staff, Chaudhary continued. We are grateful to our employees and physicians who responded immediately and for the compassionate outpouring of support our Santa Clara team is receiving from colleagues at Kaiser Permanente and other health care systems.

In spite of the tragedy, the Santa Clara Medical Center has remained open and fully operating, Chaudhary said. The emergency department restricted some patient areas while Santa Clara police investigated the scene, but those rooms are back in use. Although the department temporarily diverted ambulances to nearby hospitals Wednesday, it still accepted walk-in patients. Ambulance services resumed Thursday at 7 a.m.

While its not possible to know specifically why the Kaiser nurse took his life, nurses across California say the stress of their jobs rose significantly during the pandemic and has not eased up because so many of their colleagues no longer want to work in hospitals.

Many nurses say they are deeply frustrated about being overworked and understaffed, that they receive relentless requests for overtime and that they get little time to even use the restroom or take a needed break. Hospitals in California are short the equivalent of more than 40,000 full-time nurses, a UCSF study reported in August 2021, nearly 14% less than needed.

Nurses are increasingly airing these complaints publicly as several hospital systems  Sutter, Stanford, the University of California and Tenet  negotiate new labor contracts with their health care workers. Nurses on strike at Stanford Health Care and the Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital said this week that improving access to mental health care is among their top priorities in labor negotiations. (An administrator responded that Stanford Health has recently added additional therapy sessions to its employee assistance program.)

Brittaney West, one of the striking nurses, said she and her colleagues are exhausted from working back-to-back shifts in jobs that are mentally and physically taxing. West works in the intensive care unit and has watched some of her colleagues move to far less stressful roles  such as triage by phone.

Were burning ourselves out to make sure patients still get excellent care, West said, speaking Friday from the Stanford picket line in a car she had decorated with balloons and streamers.

At the time of Wednesdays incident, Bay Area nurses were still grappling with another recent high-profile loss. On Jan. 20, the Alameda County Sheriffs dive team retrieved the body of 27-year-old Stanford nurse Michael Odell, who had apparently left in the middle of his shift two days earlier.

Cell phone location apps traced Odells final movements as he drove across the Dumbarton Bridge to a shoreline wildlife refuge in Fremont. According to sheriff's spokesperson Lt. Ray Kelly, he parked near the toll plaza and walked into the water.

David Hernandez, a striking emergency room nurse at Stanford who helped search for Odell, pointed to studies showing that nurses have higher suicide rates than the general population and report higher feelings of anxiety and depression.

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.

Its deeply ingrained in nursing culture to put yourself last, said Hernandez, a nurse for nine years who credits his regular visits to a therapist with making it possible for him to keep doing his job.

If you need help Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 to reach a counselor at a locally operated crisis center 24 hours a day for free. You can also text "Connect" to 741741 to reach a crisis counselor anytime for free. See More Collapse

Nurses, particularly those in emergency medicine, see a lot of trauma, which has always contributed to stress, depression and anxiety, he said, adding that hes felt those things himself.

And then came the pandemic.

Being an emergency room nurse was hard before COVID-19  but since then, you took a hard job and threw gasoline on it, Hernandez said.

Suddenly nurses were health care heroes.

Theres a lot of pressure to live up to the glory of being a hero, Hernandez said. If Im a hero, I dont need help. I cant admit that Im not OK.

Rachel Swan and Nanette Asimov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com, nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan, @NanetteAsimov
The Ruby Princess cruise ship that docked in San Francisco on Saturday had 37 coronavirus cases among people aboard the ship, local health officials said Thursday. The Ruby Princess is under investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The vast majority of people who tested positive experienced mild or no symptoms, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health. These cases come more than a week after health officials recorded 143 coronavirus cases aboard the Ruby Princess ship on April 11, and nearly a month after another 73 cases were recorded on a March 27 trip on the same ship, San Francisco public health officials said.

The April 23 trip ended in San Francisco after a 7-day trip along the Pacific Northwest coast with stops in Astoria, Ore., Seattle and Vancouver; the April 11 trip was a 5-day voyage along the West Coast with stops in San Diego and Ensenada, Baja California-Mexico; and the March 27 trip ended in San Francisco after a 15-day Panama Canal cruise, according to a cruise planning site, CruiseMapper, and cruise line officials. The ship can carry more than 3,000 passengers and 2,100 crew members.

The CDCs dashboard that tracks COVID-19 cases recorded at participating cruise ships operating in United States waters indicates that the agency has started an investigation into the cases aboard the Ruby Princess and said the ship remains under observation.

More for you Cruise ship with coronavirus-infected passengers and crew docks in San Francisco

Officials with the CDC could not be reached on Thursday afternoon. The CDC uses what it calls an investigation threshold to determine when an investigation is needed, based off of the number of reported coronavirus cases aboard cruise ships.

Officials with Princess Cruises  which owns and operates the Ruby Princess  told The Chronicle in a statement that the CDC has not requested additional information for Ruby Princess in connection with the coronavirus cases.

Covid has unfortunately become a part of normal life, and Princess, along with the entire cruise industry, continues to operate with measures that exceed any other commercial setting, Princess Cruises officials said. Because those established cruise health protocols work, there have been no outbreaks on board.

Cruise officials added that In the rare occasions when coronavirus cases are reported, testing protocols are in place to help to maximize onboard containment with rapid response procedures designed to safeguard all other guests and crew as well as the communities our ships visit.

San Francisco public health officials said that cruise operations at city ports have been in strict compliance with all CDC rules and regulations, in addition to San Franciscos own protocols and procedures.

As part of a memoranda of agreement for all vessels docking in San Francisco, city health officials said that 95% of the crew and passengers disembarking in the city are required to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus in order to decrease the risk of severe illness among cruise passengers arriving into the city. Cruise lines also report the number of confirmed and suspected coronavirus cases to the health department 24 hours before theyre expected arrival at the Port of San Francisco, health officials said.

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 Ruby Princess vaccination rate for the trip that docked in San Francisco on April 23 was 100% for the crew and 99% for guests, public health officials said. For the ships April 11 trip, the ship had a 100% vaccination rate for both crew and guests.

One person aboard the April 11 trip required hospitalization, a figure that public health officials said speaks to the incredible efficacy of vaccination.

Traveling on cruise ships will always pose some risk of COVID-19 transmission, CDC officials said on the webpage, adding that public health measures like wearing masks, and getting tested and vaccinated against the coronavirus will play a crucial role in reducing the spread of the coronavirus.

Jessica Flores and Lauren Hernandez are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Lauren.Hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores @ByLHernandez
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Hundreds of teachers, students and parents walked picket lines at Oaklands public schools Friday in a one-day strike over controversial school closures caused by declining enrollment.

While the districts nearly 80 schools remained open during the labor action, officials said there werent enough substitutes, administrators or other staff to accommodate or keep students safe and so they urged families to keep their children home for the day.

While other unionized district workers were not directly participating in the strike, many were expected to be absent Friday as well, with their labor leaders advising them to notify supervisors that they wouldnt feel safe given the picket lines.

The strike is just the latest challenge for Oakland Unified. It comes months after Oakland teachers planned a sick-out during Januarys omicron wave, prompting the district to cancel classes and angering some families. It also comes two years after schools shut down due to the pandemic, forcing Oakland families to endure one of the longest school closures in the country.

The school board voted in February to close or merge 11 schools over the next two years, a decision made in large part to address the districts declining enrollment and ongoing overspending, which could leave the district in financial ruin in the years to come. The district has lost about 15,000 students over the past 20 years.

The district currently has a qualified budget, which means it could end up without enough money to pay bills in the coming years. Without ongoing cuts and other adjustments to spending, Oakland schools could face another state takeover, county officials say. The state bailed out the district in 2002 with a $100 million loan, resulting in a takeover. The district is still paying that off.

Those opposed to school closures argue that the tactic doesnt save money. Some opponents contend the district is not facing immediate insolvency, with plenty of money this year and next, in large part because of one-time federal and state pandemic recovery funding.

Teachers stood in front of schools across the city, walking picket lines to ensure classrooms were shuttered for the day, before heading to an afternoon rally at the edge of Lake Merritt. In some cases, district officials said, students did show up and were cared for by administrators and other staff on site.

Education Oakland Unified urges families to keep kids home Friday due to teacher strike as school closure fight escalates

Oakland Unified said in a statement that a state board had denied the districts effort to get an injunction to stop the one-day strike. Spokesperson John Sasaki said that while the district is disappointed in the decision, it will continue to put the needs of kids first and do what it thinks is best for them.

On Friday morning, about 20 students and teachers were marching in front of Oakland Technical High School just after 8 a.m., carrying signs and chanting, Hey, hey, ho ho, school closures have got to go.

The 2,000-student high school was otherwise quiet.

Junior Satya Zamudio took a break from marching with friends to speak about her opposition to closures.

Were so disappointed in what our district is doing, she said. Its very blatant the district doesnt care about what we say.

Kaia Palmquist, also in 11th grade, said her statistics teacher has been talking to them about the closures in class, about the costs and other ways to save money, like turning off the lights at night.

OUSD isnt supposed to be a profitable organization, she said. Theyre treating us like a company.

Her statistics teacher, Errico Bachicha, was also on the picket line.

It doesnt make any sense to affect so many students to save $4 million, he said. Among the many things wrong with closing schools is how it will disrupt education. Theres been enough school closures to know it will make things worse.

Oakland Education Association officials said 75% of the unions 2,300 educators who participated in the strike vote supported the one-day walkout, although they declined to say how many teachers submitted a ballot.

Some teachers who didnt support the strike entered schools through side doors Friday.

District officials said the strike was illegal, while union leaders argued that they were striking over unfair labor practices related to the school boards decision to shutter schools without consulting with the community. State officials have not yet determined whether the unions claim is valid.

School board President Gary Yee declined to address the strike, but said he wanted to thank parents and caregivers for making accommodations and adjustments Friday.

Many parents said the strike meant one more day students didnt get the needed education and support at a time when so many are struggling academically and emotionally.

A day of school is meaningful for kids, said Oakland parent Megan Bacigalupi, founder and executive director of CA Parent Power, an education advocacy group. This just seems like the consequences kids and families will have to bear was not even considered.

Another parent, Lakisha Young, CEO of Oakland REACH, a parent-run literacy organization serving more than 500 families of color, said she hadnt heard one parent who wanted to keep their kids home Friday.

Folks just want to drop their kids off and know theyre going to get a good education, she said, adding many had to skip work and a paycheck for the day. The district is mired in political fighting when families are trying to get their kids to learn math.

Late Friday morning, teachers and families rallied at the Lake Merritt amphitheater.

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We love what we do, Keith Brown, president of the Oakland Education Association said over a loudspeaker. But now its time for Oakland Unified, for the school district, the superintendent, and the majority on the school board to value our students, to value our families, value our educators, value our community.

Parent Robert Liu-Trujillo, whose son attends a district high school, said he was at the rally to oppose school closures, acknowledging that some might question the wisdom of a one-day strike that closes schools, but it makes sense.

The more they close down schools, the harder it is on families in the long run to get a good education, he said. I think that is more of a burden in the long term than a one-day strike.

At the end of this school year, Parker Elementary and Community Day School are slated to close, while the middle school grades at La Escuelita will be eliminated. The additional closures and mergers would happen next summer.

Hundreds of parents and community members argued against the closures during school board meetings, while two teachers participated in an 18-day hunger strike to protest the decision.

Union leaders said they were striking for the students and families who would suffer the most by the closure of schools, which disproportionately affect Black and brown students.

The ACLU has asked state Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate the closure plan, saying the disproportionate impact on Black students violates their rights.

At Parker, one of two schools scheduled to close this year, parents, teachers and community members picketed in front of the school Friday before moving down to the heavily trafficked MacArthur Boulevard.

Parent LaDecie Riley said she was feeling many emotions about the closure of her kindergarten sons school.

We chose this one because its convenient to where we live, she said.

Hillary Chen, a substitute assigned full time to Parker, said many students have parents and grandparents who attended the school as well.

It's pretty sad, she said. Its just a big family school.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
April brought an abundance of notable new places to eat and drink on the Peninsula and the South Bay. More bakeries arrived, including the popular Little Sky Bakery in Menlo Park and Manresa Bread in Palo Alto, plus fresh options for Caribbean food, Hawaiian shave ice and edomae-style Japanese fare. Meanwhile, in beer-centric San Jose, a new taproom is brewing unusual creations with candy cap mushrooms and blue corn.

Manresa bakery spin-off expands

Palo Alto shopping center Town & Country Village is home to the fourth and newest outpost of Manresa Bread, the popular bakery spin-off of Michelin-starred restaurant Manresa. Head to the bakery for partner and head baker Avery Ruzickas excellent breads and pastries that incorporate house-milled grains like rye and red and white wheat flours. Beyond sweets, savory items include a breakfast sandwich with onion jam and baguettes filled with prosciutto, herb butter and pickled vegetables. The Palo Alto location joins others in Los Gatos, Los Altos and Campbell.

855 El Camino Real, Ste. 138, Palo Alto. manresabread.com

A new home for naturally leavened bread

Elena Kadvany/The Chronicle

Little Sky Bakery, a staple at farmers markets throughout the Peninsula and South Bay, is now selling fresh bread and enormous cookies out of a permanent home in Menlo Park. Everything owner Tian Mayimin bakes is naturally leavened, from twisted, golden loaves of cinnamon raisin pain de mie to onion-Parmesan bialys. Soon, Mayimin will open a cafe across the street with more food, including naturally leavened dumplings and pizza.

506 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park. littleskybakery.com

Tokemoanas moves to San Mateo

Redwood City Polynesian restaurant Tokemoanas has relocated to San Mateo. The larger location is serving dishes like lu sipi, bone-in lamb slow-cooked in coconut milk and spices, and Polynesian-style curry with chicken and potatoes. Its one of the Bay Areas few Polynesian restaurants.

4000 S. El Camino Real, Unit B, San Mateo. tokemoanas.square.site

Chefs fast-casual offshoot debuts at Peninsula food hall

Provided by Gourmand Group

Little Blue Door, from the team behind Palo Altos popular Ettan, is now serving Kerala fried chicken and spiced egg puffs inside State Street Market in Los Altos. The casual Cal-Indian counter spot is the brainchild of Michelin-starred chef Sri Gopinathan and Ettan owner Ayesha Thapar. Its the latest restaurant to open at the food hall, also home to Traci Des Jardins new El Alto.

170 State St., Los Altos. statestreetmarket.com

S.F. owners open edomae-style sister restaurant

The owners of San Franciscos Sasa Japanese Restaurant have expanded to the Peninsula with Sushi Jin in Mountain View. Its an edomae-style restaurant, focused on sushi made with cured or treated seafood (like at the acclaimed Sushi Yoshuzimi in San Mateo). The menu includes chefs choice nigiri, scallop crudo flavored with miso and yuzu, and Wagyu beef croquettes, among other dishes. Inside the sleek, wood-filled space on Rengstorff Avenue, diners who sit at the 10-seat sushi bar get a full view of the open kitchen.

580 N Rengstorff Ave ., Ste. J, Mountain View. sushijinmtv.com

A San Francisco Indian spot expands

Tilak, a neighborhood Indian restaurant in San Francisco, chose Menlo Park for its second location. In the former Una Mas space on Santa Cruz Avenue, Tilak is serving everything from tandoori-cooked vegetables to butter chicken and masala-spiced racks of lamb. Its the sole Indian restaurant in downtown Menlo Park.

683 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park. tilakmenlopark.com

Fluffy shave ice arrives in San Jose

Bowls of gloriously colorful dragon fruit and guava shave ice are the focus at the newly open Pau Hana in San Joses Japantown. Customers can customize the Hawaiian dessert with drizzles of condensed milk, boba pearls or a scoop of ube ice cream. Special flavors include Mexican mangonada and halo halo, the classic Filipino dessert.

248 Jackson St., San Jose. instagram.com/pauhanashaveiceco

San Jose gets a Caribbean restaurant

Courtesy Kory Botkin / WDS Visuals

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Jamaican patties, fried goat with plantains and pimento-smoked jerk chicken are on the menu at Island Taste, the South Bays newest Caribbean restaurant. Owners Marc and Dorianne St Fleur, the children of Caribbean immigrants, brought in Jamaican chef Imani Manning to create the menu. Beyond staple dishes from Jamaica and Haiti, there are twists like oxtail tacos or Tuesday-only jerk chicken burritos.

225 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose. islandtastegrill.com

A new Stanford art museum cafe debuts

Tootsies, from the chef and owner of Palo Alto Italian favorite Vina Enoteca, has a new outpost at Stanford Universitys Cantor Arts Center. Head to the museum cafe for panino sandwiches on house-made focaccia, panzanella salad and fresh pastas like fusilli cacio e pepe. Owner Rocco Scordella took over the campus space after noted chef Jesse Cools longtime Cool Cafe closed in the fall.

328 Lomita Drive, Stanford University. tootsiesbarn.com/location/stanford

A South Bay taproom with an unusual focus

Courtesy Ginger Fierstein

At Fox Tale Fermentation Project in San Jose, beer is brewed with surprising ingredients like dried candy cap mushrooms, blue corn and ume plums. The new taproom is run by a couple with a passion for brewing and fermented foods: Felipe Bravo, the former production manager for Fort Point Beer Co.s research and development team, and partner Wendy Neff, who worked as a chef on Facebooks superfoods team. Fermented creations like beet top sauerkraut, preserved Meyer lemons and fermented escabeche also make their way into Fox Tales food.

30 E. Santa Clara St., Ste. 120, San Jose. foxtalefermentationproject.com

A popular San Jose coffee shop expands

San Joses Nirvana Soul has opened a second location in Cupertino. The coffee shop is known for its drinks with twists, including a banana chai and ube latte made with coffee beans roasted in-house. For food, there are pastries, sweet potato pies and waffles in flavors like churro and chorizo-cheese. Owners, sisters and San Jose natives Jeronica Macey and BeAnka Ashaolu also host poetry and comedy nights and highlight local artists in the cafe.

19700 Vallco Parkway, Cupertino. nirvanasoulcoffee.com

Elena Kadvany is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: elena.kadvany@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ekadvany
Regarding Poorly run effort needs oversight (Editorial, April 28): Its ironic that The Chronicle tells us in its editorial that the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing needs an oversight commission, and in the Bay Area section we learn that a Cake baker beats S.F.s layers of regulation.

The layers of regulation that prevent cake bakers from getting timely permits are the result of layers of oversight, which have taught city officials that its better to say no and avoid criticism than to say yes and serve the public. A commission to oversee homelessness department would be a burden on it, make it less responsive and agile and take money away from much needed services for the homeless. The responsibility for oversight of the department is with the mayor, which is where it belongs. The last thing needed is more layers.

Richard Springwater, San Francisco

Mitigate JFK car closure

Regarding The long road to car-free JFK (Front Page, April 28): As a lifelong appreciator of and contributor to the Academy of Sciences and the de Young, I find it appalling that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has voted to close John F. Kennedy Drive to disabled parking indefinitely, disregarding the discriminatory hardships this imposes on the elderly, infirm and disabled.

It was hard enough dodging skateboards, scooters, bicycles and Segways to cross JFK from a disabled parking place, but now we are completely disenfranchised and denied accessibility. If there is any heart left in the board, perhaps they can at least make more disabled parking spaces available in the museums very expensive underground parking lot and make them free.

Noel Robertson, Fairfax

Pay back student loans

Regarding Biden needs to fulfill his promise (Open Forum, April 27): I empathize with those who have student debt. It took me until I was into my 40s to pay mine all off.

I understand seeing student loans as the only option at the time and not thinking much about paying them back. At the same time, those of us who take loans do know part of the deal is paying them back. And there are always other choices. I could have gone to a state school, which would have saved thousands. I could have gone to community college for two years and transferred, also saving thousands.

How is it fair to those who have paid their loans back, or those who made choices to avoid loans, to forgive student loan debt and throw it back to taxpayers?

Lauren Picciani, Alameda

Unions must modernize

Regarding 1973 Coors strike inspires Amazon organizing (Insight, April 24): There are many lessons to be learned from Allyson Brantleys article that connects the labor movement of the past to the present and future.

Every day we see more workers expressing their right to self-determination in their workplace in a way that arguably we have not seen in awhile  Brantleys article illuminates the struggle that carries on to this day and the lessons we can learn from leaders like Allan Baird and Andy Cirkelis, who led the Coors boycott representing Teamsters Local 888.

We have to be willing to work outside of the established norm for organizing workers and start to connect with workers on a deeper level, which involves community and political components along with traditional labor organizing tactics.

Im proud to be a Teamster member who can say Baird is a mentor and has taught me to be a better union member and advocate for working people. It is my hope that the labor movement continues to captivate the minds of the American public, not only in this moment, but moving forward.

In solidarity,
San Franciscos office occupancy rate continued its spring recovery, rising above New York and San Jose last week, according to a review by a building security firm.

After four months of increases, 33.4% of San Francisco workers were back at their desks last week, higher than New Yorks 32.9% and San Joses 31%, but still behind seven major cities in security firm Kastles Back to Work Barometer. San Francisco has consistently had the lowest occupancy rate among the 10 cities during the pandemic, measured by security swipe-ins.

Average occupancy in the 10 large cities was 40.5% last week, down from 42.8% the prior week, a dip that Kastle attributed to the Easter and Passover holidays. New Yorks occupancy fell over 4 percentage points from 37.1% in the previous week, while San Francisco saw a smaller decline from 34.6%. During the depths of the omicron surge at the end of last year, occupancy in both cities was around 10%.

The city of Austin has consistently had the highest office occupancy tracked by Kastle and was at 58% last week, followed by fellow Texas cities Houston and Dallas.

Both San Francisco Mayor London Breed and New York Mayor Eric Adams have urged firms to bring back workers to the office to help revitalize urban streets and the broader economy.

You cant stay home in your pajamas all day, Adams said at an event in February. That is not who we are as a city. You need to be out, cross-pollinating ideas, interacting with humans. It is crucial. Were social creatures, and we must socialize to get the energy that we need as a city.

Even as virus cases have fallen, safety concerns around crime have become top of mind in New York, according to a recent poll sponsored by the Partnership for New York City, a business group. Of 9,386 office workers polled, 74% said public safety has gotten worse on transit during the pandemic. Two weeks ago, after the poll took place, a gunman shot 10 people on a subway in Brooklyn.

San Francisco officials are seeing other signs of recovery. San Franciscos unemployment rate fell to 2.5% in March, the lowest level since February 2020, though around 20,000 fewer residents are employed compared to before the pandemic. New York Citys unemployment rate was 6.5%, while the national figure was 3.6%.

Many local economic indicators reached pandemic-era highs in March, as the city continues its slow recovery, the citys Office of the Controller said in a report released on Thursday.

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.

Other metrics are seeing improvements but remain far below 2019 activity. Downtown San Francisco BART exits were up in the first three months of the year but still only around a quarter of pre-pandemic levels.

Around a fifth of San Francisco office space remains vacant and rents have been flat. (Offices are defined as vacant when no lease is signed for the space or the tenant is trying to sublet it, while Kastles occupancy figure is a measure of workers physically present at their desks.)

Kastle, headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area, operates in 2,600 buildings with 41,000 tenants across 47 states.

Roland Li (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf
Every year the San Franciscos Planning Department produces a housing inventory and balance report meant to give policy makers a sense of how the city is doing when it comes to producing all types of housing. Last week the latest 129-page study was presented to the Planning Commission. Here are five takeaways from the report:

Theres more affordable housing: San Francisco did better in its affordable housing production in 2021 but still has a long way to go.

A total of 1,495 new affordable units were finished in 2021, about 32% of the new units added to the citys housing stock. That is 25% higher than the five-year average of 1,196 units.

Of the total, about 26%  or 355 homes  were affordable units in market-rate developments, which are required under the citys inclusionary housing laws. The rest of them, 74%, were in all-affordable projects subsidized through tax credits, bonds and other public subsidies.

Some of the more noteworthy low-income housing projects that opened in 2021 included Mercy Housings 152-unit 691 China Basin  named after former CEO Sister Lillian Murphy  and 1950 Mission St., where Mission Housing and Bridge Housing built the 157-unit La Fenix.

S.F. hit state-mandated housing goals, barely: San Francisco will narrowly exceed its overall state-mandated housing goals from 2015 to 2022  but only because the city produced far more market rate units than was required by the State Department of Housing and Community Development and the Association of Bay Area Governments, which sets the goals.

The city managed to plan for 29,011 units, 142 more than the 28,869 target. But, most of those were market rate. The city exceeded its above moderate goal by 70% while falling short of its low-income goal by 54% and its moderate income goal by 52%.

Felix Uribe/Special to The Chronicle

ADUs are on the rise: San Franciscos effort to encourage accessory dwelling units  also known as granny flats or in-law apartments  is finally paying off.

In 2021, 248 ADUs were completed, of which 97 were added in buildings with two to four units, and 50 were in structures with five or more units. The rest were the sort of backyard cottage dwellings that have become popular in the more suburban towns across the Bay Area.

The ADU production represented a 53% increase over 2021 and a huge jump over 2017, when just 26 ADUs were added.

New housing isnt spreading across the city: Politicians in San Francisco love to talk about equity, but when it comes to housing production, the whole west side of the city is MIA. In 2021 the three biggest market rate housing developments were all in the South of Market.

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 biggest, at 1169 Market St., is the final phase of Trinity Place, a 1,900-unit project that has been under construction for a dozen years. That one has 502 apartments on top of the citys biggest Whole Foods. Just to the west is Chorus, a 395-unit tower at 30 Otis St., the future home of City Ballet. Finally, 371 apartments were added at 1140 Harrison.

Fewer projects, but more housing units: The citys Planning Department has seen fewer projects filed each of the past five years, dropping from 612 in 2017 to 420 last year. But its not all bad news.

Despite the drop in number of applications the number of actual units proposed in 2021  a whopping 7,817  was higher than the previous four years. That is mostly thanks to the Stonestown Galleria out by San Francisco State University, where Brookfield Properties wants to turn a sea of asphalt parking lots into 3,251 apartments.

The second biggest application that came in was for 808 units at 50 Main St. in the South Financial District.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen
About 5 million honeybees bound for Alaska last weekend got waylaid when Delta Air Lines routed them through Atlanta, where most of the bees died after being left for hours in crates on the ground during hot weather.

The bees were the first of two shipments ordered by Alaska beekeeper Sarah McElrea from a distributor in California. The bees were to be used to pollinate apple orchards and nurseries in Alaska, where they are not native.

But the bees were bumped from their original route to Anchorage, Alaska, and instead put on a flight to Atlanta, where they were to be transferred to an Anchorage-bound plane, according to published reports.

McElrea said she worried when the 800-pound shipment didnt arrive in Atlanta in time to make the connecting flight. The next day, she said, Delta told her some bees had escaped, so airline workers put the crates holding the bees outside a Delta cargo bay.

In a panic, McElrea reached a beekeeper in Atlanta, who rushed to the airport and discovered that many of the bees had died from heat and starvation, according to The New York Times.

Delta called it an unfortunate situation.

In an emailed statement, Delta spokeswoman Catherine Morrow told The Associated Press on Friday that that the airline was made aware of the shipment situation ... and quickly engaged the appropriate internal teams to assess the situation. We have taken immediate action to implement new measures to ensure events of this nature do not occur in the future.

Morrow said Delta apologized to McElrea. The airline declined to make anyone available for an interview.

The beekeeper in Atlanta, Edward Morgan, called more than a dozen people to go to the airport and try to save any bees that were still alive.

Its devastating to see that many dead, Georgia beekeeper Julia Mahood told Atlanta broadcaster WABE. Just clumps of dead bees that had no chance because they were left outside with no food and basically got lost in Deltas machinery.

McElrea, who runs a business called Sarahs Alaska Honey, said that she had received previous shipments of honeybees on Delta from Sacramento, California, to Anchorage via Seattle many times. The airline told her that last weekends shipment didnt fit on the plane, so they were rerouted through Atlanta.

McElrea said her supplier in California will replace the shipment, which was worth about $48,000. She said she is hoping Delta provides some help, although she acknowledged that shipping live animals carries risk.
MONTREAL (AP)  American pharmaceutical company Moderna will build a vaccine factory in Montreal, its first outside of the United States, the company and government officials announced Friday.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Trudeau said the factory will be operational as soon as 2024, will employ up to 300 people and able to produce 100 million doses of mRNA vaccines a year.
Post-release offenders might not be alone anymore as they may have a new light waiting for them to get back on their feet or start a new beginning.

The Be The Light: The Honorable George P. Kazen Empowerment Center ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Wednesday afternoon at the Laredo Federal Courthouse with a slew of city and county dignitaries including Mayor Pete Saenz, Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, Dr. Ricardo Cigarroa and others.

The facility -- located inside the Laredo Federal Courthouse located at 1300 Victoria Street -- honors the late U.S. district judge who served for close to 40 years in the Laredo community. The facility will offer recently released prisoners a place where they can find a job or prepare for an interview.

United States District Court Judge Diana Saldana, who worked with Kazen during his time in office, offered the keynote speech to the opening of the facility and stated how much it serves to remember his legacy.

The facility will offer post-release offenders the one-stop experience of getting the clothes necessary for a job interview, see where they are hiring around the community and help them start fresh.

"We are just really excited to be a part of Laredo, Saldana said. I think Laredo is a very special community, as I love it dearly, and we have so much to offer.

"I think that people who come to Laredo from out of town and relocate here realize the love and the warmth of this community. So I am just excited that we are entering into this partnership with our other agencies in the community to meet that goal of trying to help and empower people who need help."

Saldana states that for her personally, Kazen was her light. He helped show her the way to get where she is while setting the tone in such an important profession on how to treat others with respect and dignity.

"He was the light to me by showing me through his actions on how he valued every human being that he came in contact with, whether it was here in the courthouse or whether it was out in the community. He really taught that me through his actions, Saldana said. I still remember the day that he called me, and he told me that he was going to take me as the liaison judge for Laredo. I think that is where he passed over that baton if you will, as the light had already been given to me from the moment that I met him. I think he knew that I was going to continue the work.

Kazens family, which includes his two sons and daughter, were also present at the event and shared what they believe the facility means to them and their fathers legacy.

"The family is extremely proud, and I am happy that the court system has dedicated this to his memory," said George Kazen, the eldest of the siblings. "This is something that dad firmly believed in and was something that he had a strong passion about -- both him and my mom, as my mom spearheaded the Bethany House program here in Laredo. Dad was also concerned about the direction of lives after they did their duty to society and always believed that they should have the chance to make a fresh start when they go out."

Kazen stated that he believes that the new facility was a perfect way to establish his legacy. He thinks he would be extremely proud, even though he knew his father -- a humble man -- would not have looked forward to seeing a building under his name.

"Everyone talks about how he guided and taught and loved, but from a family perspective, it was that and even more so," George Kazen said. "He was always the mentor of the family always giving advice and direction, and always showing us the right way and guiding us. Each one of us is a testament to his accomplishments."

Kazens only daughter, Elizabeth, was also at the ceremony. She stated that he was his best mentor and always treated her the same as her siblings. She credited her father's teachings for everything she has accomplished.

"I feel very proud of my dads legacy, and I am very happy that Judge Saldana has taken the time and effort to continue his light and that was his purpose," Elizabeth Kazen said. "He was my everything. I believe he was not just my light but rather everyones light, as he showed by his actions the way he thought I should be. I admire him for the way he was and everything he did, and I just aspire to be like him."

Saldana stated that she was glad that the late judges family went to the event to see the facility and how much he continues to be remembered, even a year after his passing.

"I am honored to have the family here," Saldana said. "I am honored to work with Magistrate Judge Kazen, because his father was really my mentor, the biggest inspiration in my professional life."

Saldana states that the opening of the facility now leads to the next phase, which is working with the various partner agencies and groups they have around the community to connect the people that need these services.

We are going to be partnering with different community agencies to be able to provide services for post-release offenders for resume building, job training, giving them access to and knowledge on who is hiring, and giving them the clothes that they can feel confident them in dress for success such as business shoes or whatever they need to be successful as they enter the workforce, Saldana said.

According to the district judge, the facility and the court will also soon install some computers in an effort to help the released offenders with anything they need to find employment or any other resources. However, many of the facilities they will be working with will be external to the court, as they plan to partner with local agencies and organizations to gather all the resources that the post-release offenders might need in one area.

She states that partnering with partners who already have the computer labs and other necessary things is a form of bridging the gap that exists between these agencies in an effort for them to work together.

All of the services that the new facility will offer to the post-release offenders are free of charge.

During the ceremony, Tijerina offered several words as to why he believed Kazen was a remarkable man and how his light will help people struggling for a new start and a better beginning to accomplish that through the facility. And Cigarroa also remembered the late judge for all the times he saw him speaking to his father at their home and how he was also someone that taught him about life and the importance of freedom and justice.

As the Be The Light: The Honorable George P. Kazen Empowerment Center opens its doors, Saldana said that this is only the beginning, as she does have plans for the center to become much more important in and around the community.

"Right now, we are going to be focusing on our post-release offenders, but the goal is to really expand to our community and to go and do outreach to ensure that anyone who needs these types of resources are able to get them," Saldana said. "Then if we are able to put them in touch with the different partners, we are going to do that, but that is another aspect of this, which is really kind of reaching out and being that light in the community to ensure we dont have people into the criminal justice system. That would be the goal."

Saldana states that people interested in getting help from the new facility can do so by visiting the Laredo Federal Courthouse, going to its website and looking at contact information, or by calling the federal probation department at the federal courthouse.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Tennessee lawmakers cut taxes, helped subsidize a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans, added a new level of scrutiny for school library content and imposed tougher restrictions on transgender athletes in a busy 2022 legislative session that wrapped up for the year Thursday.

Lawmakers have sent Republican Gov. Bill Lee plenty of bills to consider, though he has not vetoed anything as governor. He has already signed some this year. Others have become law without his signature.

Here are some key bills that the GOP-controlled General Assembly passed and spiked since January.

BUDGET

The $52.8 billion spending plan for 2022-23 includes a one-month sales tax holiday on groceries, a $750 million boost to K-12 schools and $100 million in violent crime reduction grants. It also features a $121 million break to waive the state portion of vehicle registration tag fees over the next year, $9.7 million to eliminate a professional privilege tax for doctors and $68 million for one-year broadband tax relief. Lawmakers balked at Lee's proposal to add $200 million to relocate a handful of schools in flood plains, redirecting it to state reserves.

TITANS STADIUM

Lawmakers agreed to authorize $500 million bonds to help fund a new Tennessee Titans stadium, while allowing Nashville to raise its hotel-motel tax by 1%, which is expected to funnel $10 million more annually toward the stadium.

SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA

Lee secured passage of his overhaul of the state formula for funding Tennessee's multibillion-dollar K-12 education system. Tennessee would join nearly 40 other states that attach a set amount of money per student.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE

As a federal investigation hovers over the statehouse, lawmakers passed a campaign finance and ethics face-lift. Among the provisions, certain politically active nonprofits must disclose spending totaling at least $5,000 within 60 days of an election on communications that contain a state candidates name or likeness. Political committee leadership must provide identification. Candidates and officeholders must sign disclosures of financial interest under penalty of perjury. Campaign finance reporting requirements would increase in the 10 days before an election.

ABORTION

Lawmakers voted to add harsh penalties for doctors who violate strict regulations over dispensing abortion pills. An anti-abortion proposal nearly the same as a Texas law failed, as legislative leaders noted Tennessee already has strict laws.

TRUTH IN SENTENCING

A measure expected to lengthen criminal sentences and potentially increase incarceration costs is headed to Lee after his office and criminal justice advocates raised concerns. The truth in sentencing bill would require serving entire sentences for various felonies, which legislative leaders argue ensures justice for victims.

REDISTRICTING

Lee approved new congressional and state legislative maps drawn by GOP lawmakers during their once-a-decade task of redrawing political seats. Left-leaning Nashville was carved into multiple congressional districts as Republicans seek to flip a longstanding Democratic seat.

CONGRESSIONAL RESIDENCY RULES

Amid redistricting, lawmakers passed residency requirements on most U.S. House and Senate candidates, seeking to nudge one or more Republican congressional hopefuls off the ballot. Lee let the bill become law without signing it after the candidate filing deadline, meaning the change won't apply retroactively to qualified candidates. The Tennessee Republican Party has since removed a handful of candidates for not meeting other requirements.

COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS

More limits on COVID-19 safety measures passed this year. They include requiring employers to provide medical or religious exemptions if they require proof of a COVID-19 vaccine  already signed by Lee  and a ban preventing governments and businesses from having COVID-19 policies that treat people with immunity from getting sick differently from vaccinated people. Another bill allows pharmacists to prescribe ivermectin, though medical experts say the anti-parasitic is not an effective COVID-19 treatment.

LGBTQ STUDENTS

Lee has already signed off on adding harsh penalties against public schools that allow transgender athletes to participate in girls sports. Lawmakers also voted to ban transgender athletes from participating in female college sports. However, lawmakers failed to pass a bill to let teachers and districts use the pronoun that a transgender student does not prefer by protecting teachers from employment punishment and schools from civil liability.

SCHOOL LIBRARIES

GOP criticisms of school libraries carried to the last day of session, when lawmakers moved to let the politically appointed state textbook commission remove books from public school libraries statewide. The panel would have veto power when people appeal decisions by local school boards in book removal challenges. Lee proposed, and has already signed, requirements that school libraries post their contents online and regularly review their policies to ensure materials are age-appropriate and suitable.

VOTING ISSUES

Lee signed lawmakers' ban on instant runoff voting, ending the state's legal disputes with the city of Memphis, where voters havent used the method since voting for it in 2008. Separately, lawmakers agreed to set a 2024 deadline to join the vast majority of states with voting systems that include a paper record of every ballot cast.

DELTA 8

Lawmakers failed in efforts to ban or regulate delta-8 THC, a psychoactive chemical cousin of marijuanas main intoxicating ingredient.

PIPELINES

Lawmakers approved a bill that strictly limits the ability of local governments to stop oil and gas pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure projects in their jurisdictions.

HOMELESS CAMPING

Lawmakers approved legislation that threatens felony penalties against homeless people who camp overnight on local government property  including in parks  and misdemeanors for camping around highways any time.

GUNS

Several notable gun measures failed this year, including funding for gun safety and a push to lower the minimum age for carrying a handgun from 21 to 18.

JUNETEENTH

Gov. Lee proposed making a state holiday for Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of U.S. slavery, with funding for the state workforce day off. The majority-white Legislature quietly spiked the bill in a committee.

SHACKLING PREGNANT INMATES

Lawmakers agreed to a long-pushed Democratic proposal to strictly limit the shackling of pregnant inmates.

DACA LICENSING

Lee has signed legislation allowing immigrants who came to the U.S. as young children to become licensed professionals. Those with federally authorized work permits could obtain professional and occupational licenses if they meet licensing requirements.

ANTI-LGBTQ MARRIAGE BILL

Tennessee attracted national attention when Republicans began pushing to create a new marriage contract designed to exclude same-sex couples. The bill was dropped amid constitutional concerns.

POLICE RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT

Lawmakers advanced legislation banning local officials from requiring police officers to live in the county they patrol. Lee has since signed it. Law enforcement officials have argued residency requirements hinder recruitment amid staffing shortages.
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Alert: Relatives tell media that former US Marine killed fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in war with Russia
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)  The North Dakota Attorney General's Office has again refused to get involved in a dispute over the ownership of the historic Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge which BNSF Railway is planning to raze.

The nonprofit group, Friends of the Rail Bridge, believes the state owns the 139-year-old structure, which would require the State Historical Society to determine its historical significance, a decision that could stop demolition.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP)  As people in a packed courtroom wept, Lucy Henning talked about her own guilt at the death of her father, Alan Henning, who was tortured and beheaded by the Islamic State a decade ago.

If I weren't a moody teenager, maybe he wouldn't have gone, she said through tears at Friday's sentencing hearing for Alexanda Kotey, one of two British nationals  known as the Beatles by their captives  who was convicted in U.S. District Court in Alexandria for their roles in the hostage-taking scheme. Roughly two dozen Westerners were abducted and four Americans were killed.

Lucy said she has many questions about her father that remain unanswered: Did he want to send us a message? Was he mad that we didnt get him out? Was he buried or cremated? Or was he just left there?

Kotey was sentenced Friday to life in prison. The sentence was a foregone conclusion under the plea deal he entered last year. El Shafee Elsheikh, another British national, will be formally sentenced in August and will also receive a life term. The death penalty was not an option under the terms of the agreement that allowed their extradition to the U.S.

Kotey was specifically charged with conspiring in the kidnapping and deaths of four Americans  journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig. Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were all beheaded. Mueller was tortured and raped by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi before she was killed. British aid workers Henning and David Haines were also killed by beheading by the Islamic State.

About a dozen family members and survivors spoke at Friday's hearing. Kayla Mueller's father, Carl Mueller, said that during the ordeal, I lost my faith in God, and I lost my faith in our government. My government left her there for 18 months. They would not allow us to negotiate.

He said the trial and prosecution of Elsheikh and Kotey restored his faith in government, prompting tears from Judge T.S. Ellis III.

Kayla's mother, Marsha Mueller, said she and her husband are still desperate for the truth about her daughter's death. Unlike the other three Americans, whose beheading deaths were recorded on video and spread across the internet, Kayla's death remains something of a mystery. The Islamic State said she was killed in a Jordanian air strike  the U.S. government believes she was killed by ISIS.

I am thankful for each shred of truth, no matter how painful it is to hear, she said. We will continue to search for our daughter's remains.

Throughout the victim impact statements, Kotey made eye contact with the victims, while Elsheikh looked away or kept his eyes closed. His apparent indifference to the victims' words drew the ire of Sotloff's mother, Shirley Sotloff, who demanded Elsheikh look at her while she spoke.

We are forever broken by the loss of our beloved son and defined as the people from a horror movie, she said, referencing the beheading videos that circulated worldwide.

Kotey declined to speak at Friday's hearing, referencing instead a 25-page letter he wrote to the court ahead of sentencing. The letter describes his conversion to Islam at age 19 and expresses some ambivalence about his actions, while also justifying brutality as a response to Western foreign policy.

In retrospect I can say that, throughout our endeavors, there were actions we took that demanded moral compromises, he wrote.

While Elsheikh was not sentenced, the judge ordered him to attend Fridays hearing so victims would not have to travel to two separate sentencings to say their peace.

Kotey and Elsheikh were captured in Syria in 2018 and brought to Virginia in 2020 to stand trial in federal court. A third Beatle, Mohammed Emwazi, also known as Jihadi John, who carried out the beheadings, was killed in a 2015 drone strike.

The only issue of consequence to be decided at Friday's hearing was whether the judge would recommend a prison other than the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, for Kotey to serve his term. His lawyers said that unless the judge recommends otherwise, Kotey will almost certainly be sent there.

Ellis acknowledged that the conditions at Florence are more severe than at other prisons, but he declined to make a recommendation, saying it should be left to the judgment of the Bureau of Prisons.

Regardless of where is sent, Kotey will be one of about 50 inmates in the prison system subject to special administrative measures that severely restrict his ability to communicate with other inmates or the outside world.

The terms of his plea agreement, though, require the U.S. government to transfer Kotey to the custody of Great Britain if it agrees to take him and imprison him for the rest of his life. The deal also requires Kotey to meet with any victims' family members who request it.
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MIAMI (AP)  The premier of the British Virgin Islands appeared in federal court in Miami on Friday after his arrest on cocaine-smuggling charges, while Britains governor of the Caribbean territory announced that a corruption inquiry found ample reason to suspend the islands elected government.

The arrest of Premier Andrew Alturo Fahie, 51, in Florida prompted the U.K.-appointed governor of the British Virgin Islands to release a damning report Friday from a probe into separate wide-ranging allegations of corruption.

The dramatic developments place the immediate future of the British overseas territory into doubt. The string of islands inhabited by 35,000 people east of Puerto Rico is currently under a 2007 constitution giving it limited self-governance under a governor who is the ultimate executive authority as the representative of Queen Elizabeth II.

Fahie was arrested Thursday at a Miami-area airport along with his territorys director of ports, Oleanvine Maynard, in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency sting. Maynards son, Kadeem Maynard, faces the same changes in the alleged scheme. He was arrested in St. Thomas.

According to a criminal complaint, Fahie and Maynard had been at the airport to meet Mexican drug traffickers, who in reality were undercover DEA agents.

A DEA confidential source had previously met with Maynard and her son after being introduced by a group of self-proclaimed Lebanese Hezbollah operatives, according to the complaint. They started arranging plans to ship cocaine through the port at Tortola, and they both talked about involving Fahie.

You see with my premier, he's a little crook sometimes, Oleanvine Maynard told the DEA source, according to the complaint.

The day of the arrest, a meeting was called to see a shipment of $700,000 in cash the British territory officials expected to receive to help smuggle cocaine from Colombia to Miami and New York, the complaint said. The money was fake.

The DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement these arrests show the DEAs resolve to hold corrupt members of government responsible for using their positions of power to provide a safe haven for drug traffickers and money launderers in exchange for their own financial and political gain.

At a Friday hearing conducted via Zoom, Assistant U.S. Attorney Frederic Fritz Shadley asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman to keep both Fahie and Maynard detained prior to their trial.

Shown in a tan prison uniform, Fahie did not speak other than to state his name and date of birth and agree for the hearing to be conducted online. A bond hearing was set for next Wednesday.

Fahie's attorney Theresa Van Vliet did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a news conference in the British Virgin Islands capital of Road Town, Gov. John Rankin said the arrests prompted him to release  earlier than originally intended  the report of a commission of inquiry launched in January 2021 over allegations of widespread government fraud.

Rankin said the inquirys commissioner recommended suspending the territorys constitution and locally elected parliamentary government for at least two years, but that a decision on that would be made in consultation with British officials.

The commission had concluded that unless the most urgent and drastic steps are taken, the current situation with elected officials deliberately ignoring the tenants of good governance will go on indefinitely, Rankin told the televised news conference.

The deputy premier, Natalio Wheatley, who was named acting premier this week while Fahie was said to be in Miami for a cruise conference, said he does not think it is necessary to suspend the constitution.

He said he supports a cooperation framework between the governor and government to swiftly implement recommendations under a very tight timetable without resorting to direct rule.

Meanwhile, Britains top diplomat called the arrest and drug charges extremely concerning and instructed the minister for overseas territories to travel immediately to the islands.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said there were already significant concerns about the deteriorating state of governance and how that left the British territory vulnerable to organized crime. Truss said the report shows substantial legislative and constitutional change is required.

At Fridays news conference, Gov. Rankin said the inquiry concluded that millions of dollars were spent on projects that were abandoned or found to be of no public benefit. A series of contracts worth almost $1 million awarded to a former adviser of the premier were not completed, Rankin said.

Some of them were, on their face, false, the governor said.

The commissioner also recommended independent vetting of all customs officers and a police investigation into possible corruption in customs. There could be possible criminal prosecution in several cases, the commissioner said.

He concludes that its highly likely serious dishonesty may have taken place across a broad range of government, and that theres information that a substantial number of elected officials may be involved, Rankin said.

____

AP writer Danica Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico
PHOENIX (AP)  Businessman Steve Gaynor announced Thursday that he's bowing out of the race for the Republican nomination for Arizona governor, saying he saw little hope of winning in the crowded field despite internal polling that showed he'd fare better against fewer competitors.

Gaynor said survey results showed he would be competitive in a head-to-head race with any of the three top Republicans seeking the nomination. In a three-way race, he said his polling showed a reasonable chance of winning, but little if any hope in a four-way race.

I am nothing if not a rational decision-maker, and I therefore have decided to suspend my campaign for governor, he said in a statement.

Gaynor is the second well-known Republican to leave the race, following state Treasurer Kimberly Yee's January decision to instead seek a second term in her current office.

His exit leaves three top GOP candidates and two lesser known names to slug it out for the chance to take on the Democratic nominee in November. Former television news anchor Kari Lake, developer Karrin Taylor Robson and former congressman Matt Salmon are leading Republican contenders and will appear with two others on the Aug. 2 GOP primary ballot.

Gaynor announced he was seeking the GOP nomination last June, penning a letter to Republicans that highlighted border security, election integrity, water supplies, education and critical race theory. That's a catch-all phrase for any teaching in schools about race and American history and a rallying cry for some conservatives who take issue with how schools have addressed diversity and inclusion.

He said in a statement that he entered the race because he was angry about the direction of the nation and knew he could lead the way in solving the problems.

After months on the campaign trail, and with due respect to my competitors, I remain convinced that my business skills and leadership style make me the best choice for Governor, Gaynor said.

Salmon said in a statement that Gaynor brought professionalism, business acumen, and smart policy ideas to the table  all sorely needed in this country.

He thanked Gaynor and hinted that Gaynor's ideas will be helpful if he wins the race.

Democrats in the primary race include Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, former lawmaker Aaron Lieberman and Marco Lopez, a former Nogales mayor and Obama Administration border official.
LOS ANGELES  Nine people were arrested by state wildlife police on suspicion of poaching, selling animals on the black market and other offenses after a sprawling investigation by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife investigation, the agency said.

Eight men were arrested on suspicion of poaching white sturgeon from Sacramento Valley waterways, the department said last week. A ninth man was arrested on suspicion of selling Dungeness crab and red abalone on the black market.

I am proud of the dedicated wildlife officers who spent countless hours investigating this wildlife trafficking case to protect our native sturgeon population, which is already severely affected by historic drought conditions, David Bess, deputy director and chief of the law enforcement division, said in a release.

The investigation into the sturgeon poaching suspects began in May 2021. Andrew Chao, 31, and Ay Pou Saechao, 35, both of Oakland, allegedly caught sturgeon, removed their eggs and sold them to Igor, Lyudmila, Yevgeniy and Olga Petryanik in San Francisco.

The Petryanik family is suspected of processing the sturgeon roe into caviar and selling it on the illegal wildlife market, the Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a release. Chao and all four members of the Petryanik family are facing poaching charges in a case that is still pending prosecution.

California Fish and Wildlife

In January, the Oakland men were again under investigation for allegedly poaching sturgeon from the Sacramento River.

On March 14, officers pulled Chao over and found an 85.5-inch white sturgeon in the back of the vehicle, authorities said.

The fish was alive and returned safely to the water. Chao was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to poach sturgeon and possession of an oversize sturgeon.

Investigators said they found links between Chao and Saechao and opened a concurrent investigation into others suspected of poaching sturgeon.

During surveillance on the other suspects, investigators saw the illegal capture of nearly 40 sturgeon, they said.

The suspects were also observed catching and using juvenile salmon as bait for the sturgeon, another unlawful act, the Department of Fish and Wildlife said.

On March 30, Chao and Saechao; Huan Van Nguyen, 72, of Elk Grove; and Sacramento residents Lai Chow Saechao, 34; Ou Hin Saetern, 37; Sengon Saechao, 32; Andy Serncho Saephanh, 35; Nai Fow Saechao, 39; and Choy Gwen Saephan, 32, were arrested on suspicion of poaching, fishing and possession violations after officers served search warrants.

Officers reportedly found illegally possessed deer and abalone, illegal guns including a ghost gun and an AR-15 along with illegal narcotics and illegal marijuana.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  Some Tigrayan troops have refused to return home after serving as peacekeepers in the disputed Abyei region on the border between Sudan and South Sudan because they fear for their safety, according to the Ethiopian military.

The Ethiopian military in a statement blamed the defection on what it said was misinformation spread by supporters of the Tigray People's Liberation Front, or TPLF, the party of Tigray's fugitive leaders. That statement cited false narratives spewed by the lobbyists" on behalf of the TPLF.

Ethiopian troops made up the majority of the 4,000-strong peacekeeping force in oil-rich Abyei, although Sudan was opposed to the presence of Ethiopians as peacekeepers.

We defected because we want to raise awareness about the siege in the Tigray region, Gebrie Kidane, a peacekeeper who is now seeking asylum in Sudan, told The Associated Press. Besides, it is not safe for us to return home. They could arrest or even kill us if we return.

The Ethiopian army didnt cite the number of defecting troops, but Gebrie said they are more than 500.

This is the second defection incident involving Ethiopian peacekeeping troops in recent months.

At least 100 Ethiopian peacekeepers deployed to Sudan's Darfur region defected and asked for asylum in May 2021. All of them were ethnic Tigrayans.

Tens of thousands of people are feared to have died in Ethiopias civil war that erupted in November 2020 after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent his troops into Tigray, alleging an attack on an army base there carried out by Tigrayan forces.

Ethnic Tigrayans have since been targeted in mass arrests across the country. Even some Tigrayan members of the Ethiopian army have been detained.

Rights groups have implicated both sides in war atrocities, although federal troops and their allies face most of the accusations.

Ethiopian authorities have outlawed the TPLF, making it difficult to hold peace talks.
SEATTLE (AP)  The father of a child who was hit with pepper spray during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in Seattle has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging assault and negligence by police officers.

Their use of force sparked national outrage after video and photos showed medics and other protesters pouring water and milk on the screaming childs face to relieve his suffering, the Seattle Times reported.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Thursday against Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort  who was convicted in special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation and later pardoned  seeking to recover nearly $3 million from undeclared foreign bank accounts.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in West Palm Beach, asks a judge to force Manafort to pay fines, penalties and interest after prosecutors say he failed to disclose more than 20 offshore bank accounts he ordered opened in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Justice Department alleges Manafort failed to file federal tax documents detailing the accounts and failed to disclose the money on his income tax returns. The lawsuit charges the money was related to consulting work in Ukraine with his deputy Rick Gates and an associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, who were both key figures in Muellers investigation.

In court documents, the Justice Department alleges Manafort knowingly, intentionally, and willfully filed and conspired to file false tax returns from 2006-2015 in that he said he did not have reportable foreign bank accounts when he knew that he did. The suit says the Treasury Department notified Manafort of the fines and assessment in July 2020.

Manaforts lawyer, Jeffrey Neiman, argues the suit is being filed for simply failing to file a tax form.

Mr. Manafort was aware the Government was going to file the suit because he has tried for months to resolve this civil matter, Neiman said in a statement. Nonetheless, the Government insisted on filing this suit simply to embarrass Mr. Manafort.

Manafort, who led Trumps campaign during a pivotal period in 2016 before being ousted over his ties to Ukraine, was among the first people charged as part of Muellers investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. He was later sentenced to more than seven years in prison for financial crimes related to his political consulting work in Ukraine. Trump pardoned him in December 2020.

Though the charges against Manafort did not concern the central crux of Muellers mandate  whether the Trump campaign and Russia colluded to tip the election  he was nonetheless a pivotal figure in the probe that shadowed Trump's presidency for years.

His close relationship to Kilimnik, whom U.S. officials have linked to Russian intelligence, and with whom he shared internal Trump campaign polling data, attracted particular scrutiny during the investigation, though Mueller never charged Manafort or any other Trump associate with conspiring with Russia.

Despite the pardon, the government believes Manafort still owes the money for the alleged financial misconduct.
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP)  A former Pennsylvania attorney general who served jail time for leaking grand jury material and lying about it was taken into custody Friday on an alleged probation violation, more than a month after she was charged with drunken driving, officials said.

Kathleen Kane, 55, was behind bars at Montgomery County Correctional Facility outside Philadelphia to await a hearing. No hearing date had been set as of Friday afternoon.

A message was left for her attorney in the drunken driving case.

Once a rising star in Pennsylvania politics, Kane resigned as attorney general after being convicted in 2016 of perjury, obstruction and other counts for leaking secret investigative files to embarrass a rival prosecutor.

Kane was sentenced to 10 to 23 months behind bars, serving her time at the Montgomery County jail outside Philadelphia. She was released in 2019. Her term of probation doesn't end until October 2025.

On March 12, police in Scranton were called to the scene of a two-car crash and said they found Kane behind the wheel of an Audi.

Kane told responding officers she was a designated driver, but surveillance video showed Kane herself had been drinking alcohol at a Scranton restaurant shortly before the crash, according to an affidavit.

Kane had watery, bloodshot eyes and slurred her words  police said she had trouble saying the word designated  and failed a field sobriety test, the documents said.

Kane was charged with drunken driving and careless driving. Four days later, a Montgomery County judge issued a bench warrant for her arrest.

The state's former top prosecutor also faces a May 26 hearing on the drunken driving charge.
BOSTON (AP)  A former employee of the Massachusetts agency that oversees unemployment insurance benefits has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years behind bars for using her job to fraudulently apply for federal COVID-19 relief funds through stolen identities and manipulated records.

Tiffany Pacheco, 36, who had previously spent time behind bars on an identity theft conviction, was also ordered by a federal judge on Thursday to pay restitution of nearly $200,000.

Pacheco, who also goes by Tiffany Tavery and previously lived in New Bedford, was hired by the state Department of Unemployment Assistance in April 2020 shortly after her release from prison, federal authorities said.

While she worked at the agency, she submitted Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims for five people, in two cases using stolen personal information obtained through her job, prosecutors said.

She also manipulated records pertaining to her own claims.

In June 2020, she submitted Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims reflecting that she and her husband had an income of $0 in 2019 and no dependents. A month later, after obtaining access to the state agencys computer system, she changed her 2019 income to $240,000 and their dependants to seven to increase their benefits, prosecutors said.

Ms. Pacheco violated the publics trust by egregiously abusing her position as a DUA employee to perpetrate a fraud scheme that stole personal information from innocent victims and stole money from hardworking taxpayers, U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement. COVID-related assistance is intended to help hardworking American workers most affected by the pandemic. To take from these funds is to take from those experiencing legitimate hardship and genuine need.

Pacheco pleaded guilty in August to wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

Her husband and a friend have previously been sentenced to prison for their roles in the scheme.
File/AP

BERLIN (AP)  Germany and Turkey on Friday summoned each other's ambassadors over a row sparked by a Turkish court's decision to sentence a prominent Turkish civil rights activist and philanthropist to life in prison.

Western governments and rights groups strongly criticized this week's ruling which found Osman Kavala guilty of attempting to overthrow the government with mass protests in 2013. The court in Istanbul also sentenced seven other defendants to 18 years in prison each for aiding the attempt.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Republican lawmakers in Kansas on Thursday approved an increase in funding for public schools but tied the extra money to allowing parents to send their children to any school with room for them.

The measure passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature and sent to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly would boost direct state funding to local school districts by about 6%. The $6.4 billion in funding for 2022-23 complies with past Kansas Supreme Court rulings in a lawsuit filed against the state in 2010 by school districts.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Two men have pleaded guilty for their role in an organized retail theft ring that stole about $1 million from stores across California, officials said Friday.

Authorities said Anton Salaam, Marion Paul Tilley and two other suspects stole high-end jewelry from multiple JCPenney and Sams Clubs stores in nine counties between September 2020 and February 2021. They then sold or exchanged the items.

The thefts were different from the flash mob style smash-and-grab robberies captured on video in California and other states last year, Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

The suspects in this case broke into the stores when they were closed and stole from the jewelry sections.

Organized retail crime looks like a lot of things, Bonta said. He announced a similar widespread takedown last month.

The prosecutions came as some critics, including state lawmakers of both political parties, said the state should do more to combat retail theft. But a state Assembly committee this week defeated a bill supported by retailers that would have toughened a 2014 ballot measure that lowered penalties for thefts and other crimes.

Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats and both running for reelection this year, have said the state should better enforce existing laws. Bonta on Friday launched a new way for witnesses to report thefts online.

Newsom signed a law in 2018 that required the California Highway Patrol, working with the state Department of Justice, to create an Organized Retail Crime Task Force. The highway patrol said the task force has since participated in 1,031 investigations resulting in 449 arrests and the recovery of more than $21 million worth of merchandise.

In the most recent case, investigators recovered stolen jewelry from the suspects homes. Salaam was sentenced to 16 months in prison and Tilley is awaiting an identical sentence after both pled guilty to organized retail theft, according to Bonta's office.

The locations of the thefts ranged from Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area to San Bernardino and Santa Clarita counties near Los Angeles. Also targeted were stores across the Central Valley, including those in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Placer, Sacramento and Tulare counties.

The other two suspects also face organized retail theft charges. One is awaiting arraignment in July on that charge and an additional charge of child endangerment for allegedly having an illegal assault weapon in the presence of her 9-year-old child.

The other suspect remains hospitalized for severe injuries following a crash while he was being taken into custody by Bullhead, Arizona, police in January 2021. A $50,000 warrant has been issued for his arrest upon his release from treatment.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  Families who save for college would get tax cuts plus the option to roll unused savings into a retirement account under a bipartisan bill sponsored by U.S. Sens. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Susan Collins of Maine.

The Helping Parents Save for College Act would provide a tax credit that covers 50% of the contributions low- and middle-income families contribute to 529 Plan college savings accounts. It also would allow those who don't use the funds to roll them into a Roth IRA retirement account.
BERLIN (AP)  The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said Friday that Japan is making significant progress on its plans to release treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant next year.

A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency visited the plant in February and met with officials from the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  American Idol winner Laine Hardy was arrested Friday after being accused of putting a listening device in his ex-girlfriend's college dorm room, authorities said.

Hardy, 21, of Livingston, Louisiana, faces a felony charge of interception and disclosure of wire, electronic or oral communication, Louisiana State University spokesman Ernie Ballard said. Hardy surrendered to the LSU Police Department and was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.

A spokesman for Hardy, who is not an LSU student, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Hardys attorney, C. Frank Holthaus, said in a statement to USA Today that his client has been and will continue to be completely cooperative with the Louisiana State University Police Department on this matter.

Holthaus did not immediately respond to a telephone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

According to the arrest warrant, a woman and her roommate found a recording device inside their dorm room on April 6. The following day, they reported the finding to LSU police. The woman told police she found the device, which looked like a phone charger, under her futon, the warrant stated.

She told officers that she believed her ex-boyfriend, Hardy, had left the device in her room earlier because he appeared to know details about what was going on in her life even though she hadnt told him about them. Police said they later found evidence of secret recordings made over 10 days in February, the warrant said.

The victim advised she immediately confronted him, to which he admitted to her that he left a bug in her room but discarded it in his pond, a police affidavit said.

Hardy, who won Season 17 of the television talent show American Idol in 2019, told his nearly 750,000 followers about the investigation in a Facebook post Thursday.

I understand that my career has thrust me into the public spotlight, and I embrace that wholeheartedly as my entire world belongs to my music and my fans. However, due to the sensitive nature of this allegation, I humbly ask for privacy at this time. I have the utmost respect for the law and will assist in their investigation as needed moving forward, he wrote.

If convicted, Hardy faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
AP

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility on Friday for two bombings in the country's north that targeted the countrys minority Hazara ethnic group a day earlier.

The car bombings Thursday in Mazar-e-Sharif killed at least nine people and wounded 13 others, according to local Taliban officials. The Hazaras are mostly Shiite Muslims, who IS consider heretics. An IS statement said 30 Shiites were killed or wounded in the two attacks.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged a rapid halt to fighting in Ukraine on Friday and said they will work together to improve humanitarian conditions there.

The Ukraine war must be stopped immediately and we agree to create a conducive situation so that negotiations and a peaceful solution can be reached quickly Widodo said after meeting with Kishida in Jakarta.

Indonesia is Kishidas first stop on an eight-day trip that will also take him to Vietnam, Thailand, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine "shook the foundations of the international order, including in Asia, and it must be strongly condemned, Kishida said.

Kishida and Widodo also discussed Indonesias role as current chair of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations.

We will use Indonesias leadership of the G-20 as a catalyst for a humanitarian response and world economic recovery, Widodo said.

Widodo announced Friday that he has invited both Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G-20 leaders' summit in Bali in November. He said Putin agreed to attend but it was unclear whether it would be in person or virtually. It was not immediately known whether Zelenskyy would attend.

Widodo also said he rejected a request from the Ukrainian leader for weapons from Indonesia.

The mandate of Indonesias Constitution and the principles of our foreign policy prohibit providing arms to other countries, Widodo said. However, we are ready to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

I reiterated the importance of ending the war immediately, he said. I also emphasized that peaceful efforts should continue and Indonesia is ready to contribute to these peaceful efforts, he said in televised remarks.

Indonesia is hoping for additional Japanese investment, especially in energy, cement, agricultural technology and health, and that Japan will make Indonesia an important part of the global supply chain for its industries, Widodo said.

Japan is Indonesias third largest export destination and fifth largest investor. Cooperation between the two countries includes the Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit system and Patimban Port in West Java province.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Friday ordering a central Indiana middle school to allow a transgender student to have access to the boys restroom.

The order issued by U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt requires John R. Wooden Middle School to allow the seventh-grader identified only as A.C. to have access to the restroom while litigation continues.

Pratt cited Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.

The overwhelming majority of federal courts  including the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit  have recently examined transgender education-discrimination claims under Title IX and concluded that preventing a transgender student from using a school restroom consistent with the students gender identity violates Title IX. This Court concurs, Pratt wrote in her ruling.

The 7th Circuit handles federal appeals from Indiana.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and Indiana Legal Services filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville in December 2021, on behalf of the transgender student.

The law is clear: denying transgender students their right to use the correct restroom is discrimination, Stevie Pactor, an ACLU of Indiana attorney, said in a statement. We hope that public schools and legislators will take notice and forgo future challenges by providing equal treatment to all students.

We are happy that, with this order, our client will have the same opportunities as his peers to learn, grow, and succeed at school, Megan Stuart, an attorney for Indiana Legal Services, said in the statement. His worries should be about things like homework and friendships, not whether he can use a restroom.

A message seeking comment was left for the administration of the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville
Hassan Ammar/AP

BEIRUT (AP)  Lebanon's military on Friday said it has detained five people in the northern city of Tripoli as they prepared to smuggle 85 migrants by boat to Europe.

The announcement came days after a boat carrying more than 60 migrants capsized on April 23 off the coast of Tripoli. Seven bodies were recovered, with 47 people rescued and the others still missing. Survivors blamed the Lebanese navy of causing the accident by ramming into the boat.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  Consumers in Connecticut will be able to know when their personal information is being tracked and how it's being used under a wide-ranging data privacy bill that's headed to Gov. Ned Lamont's desk.

The legislation, dubbed a consumer bill of rights, also allows people to access, correct, delete and obtain a copy of their personal data, as well as opt out from having their information used by marketers, retailers and others for various purposes such as targeted advertising. The bipartisan bill easily cleared the House of Representatives on Thursday by a vote of 144-5, about a week after it passed the Senate unanimously.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)  A man who pleaded guilty this month to killing a pregnant Florida teenager a decade ago has been sentenced to 40 years in prison after sending authorities to dig up a field in rural Alabama in a fruitless search for her body.

Jacobee Flowers, 34, would have received a lighter sentence of 25 years in prison if the remains of Morgan Martin, 17, had been found, the Tampa Bay Times reported. He had told authorities in Pike County, Alabama, where to look in their unsuccessful search earlier this month.

Flowers, the father of Martin's unborn child, was taken into custody on Tuesday, and apologized for his actions during his sentencing on Thursday.

I want you all to know that I am a human being. Im not a monster, despite what you may think, he said. Theres not a day that goes by, in the last 10 years, that I havent felt the deepest level of regret.

Leah Martin, the teen's mother, wasn't receptive.

I hope that every day that you sleep, you have to see her, the teen's mother, Leah Martin, shouted at Flowers in court Thursday. Do you understand me? I hope you see her face and the child that you killed. You didnt only kill my child, you killed your own.

Court records show Martin left home one night in 2012 to speak to Flowers and never returned.

For years, her disappearance was classified as a missing persons case, and Flowers was listed as a person of interest. Eventually, it was assigned to a cold case squad that found evidence linking Flowers to her killing  even though Martin's body had not been found.

In 2016 a grand jury indicted Flowers, who was in state custody on unrelated charges at the time, on a first-degree murder charge in the teen's death. Six years passed before he pleaded guilty this month to a lesser charge of second-degree murder.

Flowers said Martin's body was buried in a field in Alabama, and as part of the April 1 plea agreement, he promised to help authorities recover it in exchange for a lighter sentence.

According to court records, text messages from 2012 showed a strained relationship, with Flowers begging Martin to abort the pregnancy because having the baby could affect his existing relationship with another woman. Then 24, he was also worried about charges for having sex with a minor, officials said.

Martin decided to continue the pregnancy, choosing JaLeah as her baby girls name, the newspaper reported.

Detectives on the cold-case squad obtained cellphone tower records to track Flowers movements the night Martin disappeared. Records show he drove around her home and then went to his home before heading to a restaurant where he worked the closing shift.

He also visited the mother of two of his children before going back to the restaurant. He then drove throughout Tampa Bay before returning to St. Petersburg.

It was not clear why authorities believed Martin's remains are in Alabama.

After Flowers pleaded guilty, he spoke with investigators in Alabama over a video chat and pointed them toward a specific location, Pike County Sheriffs Office Lt. Troy Johnson told WTSP in Tampa.

Investigators there used ground-penetrating radar to search, and also brought in a backhoe to dig more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) deep during a week-long search that came up empty.

Unfortunately, whether it was because of the many years that have gone by or because of the lack of the reliability of the information that we got, we just werent able to find what we are looking for, St. Petersburg police spokeswoman Yolanda Fernandez told WTSP.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  The Minnesota Legislature pushed through a bill Friday to give bonuses to workers who were on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic and to replenish the states unemployment insurance trust fund following months of negotiations.

Leaders of the Republican Senate and Democratic House majorities announced an agreement Thursday morning and moved to put together legislation and get it before both bodies for a vote on Friday. The final proposal includes $2.7 billion to refill the trust fund after it was depleted during the pandemic, and $500 million in bonuses of about $750 each for people whose jobs were deemed essential and who worked in-person.

The Senate passed the bill on a 65-1 vote Friday and sent it to the House, where it passed 124-5. Walz was expected to sign the bill into law later Friday.

Lawmakers hoped to move quickly and get the bill passed and signed before a Saturday due date for employers who saw higher tax bills after legislators missed a March 15 deadline to refill the trust fund and avert an automatic tax hike on businesses. But officials from Minnesota's employment and economic development agency said Thursday that the state would have to issue credits or refunds to employers because it was too late to distribute updated tax bills.

The amount for front-line worker bonuses is half of House Democrats' original $1 billion proposal but twice as large as the $250 million allocated by lawmakers for the bonuses last year. That money was never distributed due to disagreements on eligibility requirements and amount per worker.

Democratic Sen. Erin Murphy, of St. Paul, told reporters after her chamber voted that there was no reason at all that lawmakers couldn't have used $1 billion of Minnesota's $9.25 billion budget surplus for front-line workers. But, she added, "$750 is real money. It's going to make a real difference for people.

Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said Thursday that state officials will start working on an online application portal for the worker payments as soon as Walz signs the bill into law. Republican Sen. Karin Housley said it will be a few months before workers get checks.

The National Federation of Independent Business in Minnesota, which represents more than 10,000 small businesses, praised lawmakers for the unemployment insurance plan.

This is a huge win for small business owners across Minnesota, John Reynolds, the group's state director, said in a statement. The UI repayment deal stops higher payroll taxes this year and avoids a decade or more of higher unemployment insurance taxes. Main Street businesses who are facing mounting economic headwinds will start saving money almost immediately.

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Mohamed Ibrahim is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP)  A Montana's sheriff's deputy was justified in killing a man who was running away from officers after refusing orders to drop a machete, a jury assigned to review the case found.

Johnny Lee Perry II, who was Black, died Aug. 29 after being shot in the back in a field northwest of Missoula by a white deputy responding to a report that Perry had threatened a man with a machete.

Coroners inquests are required under Montana law whenever law enforcement officers are involved in a fatal shooting or someone dies in law enforcement custody.

Deputies told Perry repeatedly over about 30 minutes to drop the machete as he swung it around in an open field, according to testimony and video footage presented Thursday during a coroner's inquest before a jury at the Missoula County courthouse.

As Perry began moving toward a camper, deputies shot him with foam bullets. Perry then started to run when Deputy Justin White issued a command for Deputy Sean Evans to shoot. Perry, 31, was struck in the back.

The jury deliberated for 45 minutes before finding Evans wasn't criminally responsible for Perry's death.

Perry's mother, Lesha White, told the Missoulian that no one asked her son what made him feel threatened or asked him if he actually threatened the man that led to the 911 call. She said the not guilty verdict had been predicted and expected, due to the narrative of the inquest.

Protesters left Black Lives Matter signs outside the courthouse and were in the courtroom for the hearing, NBC Montana reported.
King Middle School will have a new principal for the 2022-23 school year.

Green Dot Public Schools, the Los Angeles-based charter school operator that took over King almost two years ago, announced Wednesday that Marian Williams will step into the top job after Principal Julia Rich last month announced she'd resign at the end of the year.

Williams, who is currently the principal for Kirby Middle School in Memphis, Tennessee -- also operated by Green Dot -- will begin her role as principal of King in June.

RELATED: King Middle principal to resign at end of school year

Williams was selected for the role through a "competitive process" which included input from teachers, staff and regional leadership, according to a news release.

"I am thrilled to be joining this community," said Williams in the news release. "I am looking forward to supporting middle schoolers here with the same passion I bring to my current school now. I'm looking forward to growing our students' academic success together with our whole community."

While at Kirby, Williams was recognized as "Principal of the Year" in 2020 and oversaw the school's transition from being in the botton 5% of schools in Tennessee to an award-winning middle school in Memphis, with "dramatic" improvements, the news release said.

RELATED: Beaumont schools working to avoid need for more charter partners

"We are thrilled to welcome Marian to Beaumont," said Executive Director of Green Dot Public Schools Southeast Texas Cliff Claflin in the announcement. "We can't wait to see the great things to come from her leadership at King Middle School."

Beaumont ISD partnered with Green Dot Public Schools to prevent King Middle School from being taken over by the state after more than four years of failing accountability scores at the campus prior to COVID-19.

"We are impressed with Ms. Williams' track record of improved outcomes for students and enthusiasm for the work ahead," said BISD Chief Innovation Officer Anetra Cheatham in the release. "We look forward to an outstanding partnership and great opportunities for our students."

olivia.malick@hearst.com

twitter.com/OliviaMalick
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Col. Darnell Weaver was sworn in as the superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police on Friday, the 15th person to lead the agency, but the first person of color in the role.

At this moment in time, I believe this is the moment to connect our communities with our law enforcement, not separate them," Gov. Dan McKee said at a ceremony at the State House. You have the skill and the ability to do just that."
BURLINGTON, N.C. (AP)  A North Carolina man has been arrested after deputies say he held his girlfriend and her two children against their will, a sheriff's office said.

Deputies with the Alamance County Sheriff's Office responded to a domestic call on Tuesday and spoke with a family member who told them that the woman and her children were inside and believed to be in distress, the News & Record of Greensboro reported Friday.
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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Unexplained hepatitis cases not caused by COVID-19 vaccines

CLAIM: A recent outbreak of unexplained hepatitis cases among children is being caused by the adenovirus vector used in some COVID-19 vaccines, including the Johnson & Johnson shot.

THE FACTS: Medical experts say this isn't the case, mainly because the dead adenovirus used in the J&J vaccine is a different strain than the one linked to the recent hepatitis cases. British health authorities this month have documented more than 100 cases of unexplained hepatitis, inflammation of the liver, among young children, and some social media users are suggesting the cases could be linked to J&Js vaccine. While it isnt clear whats causing the illnesses, which have also been identified in the U.S., a leading suspect is adenovirus, a common group of viruses that can cause cold-like symptoms, fevers, sore throats and intestinal issues. Adenovirus was detected in 75% of the recent juvenile hepatitis cases tested, U.K. health officials have said. Viral vector vaccines, like the J&J vaccine, use dead, nonreplicable adenovirus to help trigger an immune response, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The AstraZeneca and Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines also use viral vectors. Social media users are highlighting this connection to push the baseless claim that the adenovirus vector is causing the mysterious cases. But experts say thats not possible. Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, told The Associated Press that current evidence indicates these hepatitis cases could be caused by adenovirus type 41, which is associated with intestinal infections. The adenovirus used as a vector in the J&J vaccine is type 26. Offit added that the adenovirus used as a vector in the vaccine cannot reproduce itself in the body and spread. The combination of the fact that its not the type of adenovirus thats expected to cause hepatitis, nor is it a virus that reproduces itself, makes the claim ludicrous, Offit said. Dr. Mark Slifka, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Oregon Health & Science University, pointed to an April paper by researchers with Scotlands public health department describing their initial investigation into the first Scottish cases of the sudden liver disease. The investigation noted that none of the children had been vaccinated against COVID-19, nor were the other patients in the U.K. What appears to be happening on social media, is that people are jumping to conclusions that are not based on current evidence, Slifka wrote in an email. A spokesperson for Public Health Scotland also told the AP that there is no evidence to support the claims linking the juvenile hepatitis cases to COVID-19 vaccines. Further, no increased risk of hepatitis was identified in clinical trials of the vaccines, or after emergency use authorization allowed many people to be vaccinated, Slifka noted. Adenovirus is currently circulating in children at higher than average levels after dropping during the pandemic. One theory being explored is that children who werent exposed to adenovirus over the last two years as COVID-19 restrictions were in place may now be getting hit harder upon exposure.

 Associated Press writer Sophia Tulp in Atlanta contributed this report.

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Denmark still offering COVID-19 vaccinations

CLAIM: Denmark has become the first country to suspend COVID-19 vaccinations.

THE FACTS: Denmark is ending broad vaccination efforts, meaning it will no longer send out vaccination invitations or reminders, but people can still get vaccinated against COVID-19 as needed. Social media users shared posts that misinterpreted a statement from the Danish Health Authority about the countrys mass vaccination program that began in December 2020, falsely suggesting Denmark would no longer be vaccinating citizens. Denmark becomes first country to suspend COVID vaccinations, an Instagram user wrote. Similar claims were also shared on Facebook and Twitter. Denmarks health authority states on its website that starting May 15, electronic vaccine invitations will no longer be issued, but people can still receive their vaccine. Vaccine invitations notify people when they are eligible to receive a shot and provide information on the vaccine and time slots to book an appointment. Vaccines will still be recommended, especially among groups who are at risk of developing severe disease and people who have started the vaccine course but havent completed it. The second booster shot is currently offered to people with weakened immune systems or other types of diseases. Denmark has not suspended covid vaccinations, Signe Breitenstein, spokesperson for the Danish Health Authority, wrote in an email to The Associated Press. The vaccine coverage is high in the Danish population and the epidemic situation is favorable. We can therefore close the broad vaccination programme for the time being, which for instance means that electronic invitations to be vaccinated no longer are sent. Around 81% of Denmarks population of 5.8 million has received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, while nearly 62% have received a booster. Bolette Sborg, Denmarks chief physician, also noted Tuesday in an update about the vaccine program that Denmark is in a good place with COVID-19. Spring has arrived, vaccine coverage in the Danish population is high, and the epidemic has reversed. Therefore, the National Board of Health is now ending the broad vaccination efforts against covid-19 for this season, the update stated. Denmarks vaccine program is set to resume in the fall in anticipation of potential new variants or an increase in cases heading into winter. "Prior to this, a thorough professional assessment must be made of who and when to be vaccinated and with which vaccines," Sborg said. We expect to present a plan for the overall framework for the 2022/23 season before the summer holidays.

 Associated Press writer Arijeta Lajka in New York contributed this report.

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Officials: Ukraine didnt send text warnings in Transnistria

CLAIM: Ukrainian authorities warned the people of Transnistria in a text message that Ukraine was planning an attack on the region.

THE FACTS: Two Ukrainian government sources said in public statements on Tuesday that the country is not responsible for the message, which did not display any evidence it came from a verified source. Recent explosions in Transnistria, a small strip of land under the control of separatists near Moldovas border with Ukraine, have raised concerns that the war between Russia and Ukraine could extend there. Following reports of another round of explosions on Tuesday morning, social media users posted that some residents in the breakaway region had received text message warnings claiming to be on behalf of Ukrainian agencies stating that the countrys military was planning an attack. Some social media users shared a photo of a screen displaying the purported text message, which stated in Russian, The Security Service of Ukraine strongly recommends that the civilian population be evacuated to safer regions. We assure you that the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not wish harm to civilians, however, the people remaining in the cities will be perceived as sabotage groups and will be liquidated without warning. The message urged residents to evacuate before 7 p.m., at which time the text said Ukrainian forces were set to launch an attack on military facilities. The photo of the message was shared widely on Tuesday, but it was not immediately clear on what day or at what time it was sent. Still, no such strike was reported in Transnistria around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and two Ukrainian government sources said in statements that the text messages were not sent by Ukrainian authorities. The state of Ukraine has nothing to do with this and similar provocations, the military's main intelligence directorate wrote in a statement in Ukrainian. Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun tweeted an image of the text on a screen, with a statement saying, Ukraine hasnt sent such text messages and has no plans to attack Transnistria. The photo of the purported text message did not include a phone number, signature or any identifying details and showed no indication it came from a verified source or official agency. The Security Council of Transnistria has said explosions believed to have been caused by rocket-propelled grenades hit the Ministry of State Security in the capital of Tiraspol on Monday, and explosions at a radio facility in Maiac as well as damage to a military unit in the village of Parcani, were reported on Tuesday morning. No injuries have been reported and no one has claimed responsibility for the blasts. Transnistria has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops in the breakaway region, nominally as peacekeepers, The Associated Press has reported. Ukrainian officials have expressed concern about Moscow using those forces to invade Ukraine.

 Sophia Tulp

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Elon Musk didnt get Bill Gates suspended from Twitter

CLAIM: Shortly after Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter on Monday, Bill Gates was suspended from the platform.

THE FACTS: A screenshot purporting to show a suspension notice on Bill Gates Twitter account on Monday is fake. In the hours after the Tesla CEO reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, the screenshot emerged on the platform with claims it showed Musk had already influenced the social media company to suspend billionaire philanthropist Gates, who he has publicly criticized in recent days. Elon moves quick, said one Twitter user who posted the manipulated screenshot on Monday afternoon. First thing, commented another user. The screenshot appeared to show Gates Twitter profile, including his picture, follower count, bio, location and website, above a notice saying, Account suspended." However, Gates account has remained active throughout the week, and an archive of the web page documented on Monday at about 1:15 p.m.  around the time news first broke that Twitter was poised to accept Musks offer  shows his account had not been taken down and no such notice had been posted. Gates also tweeted at 4:36 p.m. and 6:05 p.m. on Monday. There is other evidence that the image is fake. Twitter profiles that are suspended appear to users without profile pictures or bio sections. They no longer list details such as follower counts, locations or website links, either  unlike what was shown in the altered screenshot. Those who visit a suspended profile only see the users handle, and a gray background where the profile picture and header photo are usually displayed, along with an account suspended message. On Sunday, Musk called out Gates in a tweet, saying that he turned down a request from the Microsoft co-founder to discuss climate change philanthropy because he believed Gates was short-selling shares of Tesla stock. I heard from multiple people at TED that Gates still had half billion short against Tesla, Musk also wrote in a Twitter reply to a user who had posted screenshots of an alleged text message conversation between the two business magnates. Still, Musk has also said he wants his worst critics to remain on Twitter because that is what free speech means.

 Sophia Tulp

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Clip shows French TV error, not election fraud

CLAIM: The number of votes for French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen decreased from 14.4 million during a live count to 13.3 million when her defeat was declared.

THE FACTS: The discrepancy was caused by a computing error during an election night live count run by TV channel France 2, causing inaccurate figures to be displayed at one point during the show, according to a statement from the broadcaster. There is no record of Frances Interior Ministry officially reporting the inaccurate figures. After Emmanuel Macron won a second term as president on Sunday, some social media users suggested without evidence that election fraud may have played a role in his victory. Some Twitter users pointed to a clip from a France 2 broadcast that showed a graphic displaying more than 14.4 million votes for Le Pen, seemingly beating Macron at that time, who was shown on screen to have about 14.2 million votes. The result shown during that point in the broadcast for Le Pen was higher than the final count later announced by the Interior Ministry. Official results show Macron received nearly 18.8 million votes, while almost 13.3 million votes were cast for Le Pen. How is it possible that the number of votes counted for Marine le Pen went down from 14.4m during the live count to 13.3m at the declaration? one Twitter user wrote Monday, sharing the clip. It stinks of election fraud, commented another in French. The channel, however, said in a statement Monday that Le Pen never actually received 14.4 million votes. Instead, France 2 attributed that figure, aired about 9:10 p.m., to a technical error that caused the graphic to show erroneous figures. A software glitch counted the votes of certain municipalities twice for both Macron and Le Pen, inflating their respective vote counts at the time, France 2 said. That error, immediately noticed, has been subsequently corrected, the broadcaster added. Several versions of the Interior Ministrys election results page archived throughout Sunday do not show Le Pens total votes surpassing 13.3 million.

 Sophia Tulp and Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia contributed this report with additional reporting from Sylvie Corbet in Paris.

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NEW YORK (AP)  It took eight long years for Sarah Solemani to get a murky part of Britains post-World War II history from the pages of a book to our TV screens.

She had been impressed by Jo Blooms 2014 novel Ridley Road about a Jewish-led underground anti-fascist resistance movement in London in the 1960s. But making it into a series was hard-going at first.

It got rejected everywhere. No one wanted to make it. It felt very niche, she explained. Then two things happened: Brexit in England and Donald Trump in the United States. Suddenly, nativist lurches in democracies weren't so niche.

I just had to be relentless in pushing it. And Im glad I did, because, actually, it reveals a lot about the country when it came out, said the English actor, writer and activist.

Ridley Road, a four-part series that makes its U.S. debut May 1 on PBS' Masterpiece, takes viewers to a part of British history that they may not have known. In the early '60s, members of the fascist National Socialist Movement held rallies in London, waving swastikas and demanding leaders free Britain from Jewish control.

We like to think were on the right side of history," said Solemani, who grew up in London with an Iranian father and Northern Irish mother. "We like to think of history as good guys and bad guys. And we were the good guys and Hitler was a bad guy and he died in the bunker and that was the end of it. And its not true.

Ridley Road  in the '60s, a multicultural thoroughfare in northeast London  centers on an unconventional heroine, a young Jewish hairdresser who goes undercover into the neo-Nazi movement. While her story may be fictional, the history of fascists fighting anti-fascists on the streets of London is not.

I think what this series does is just remind us that we are constantly battling against fascism, Nazism and neo-Nazism. I think the show is very relevant because it reminds us that this is ongoing," said Susanne Simpson, Masterpiece executive producer.

"This is a slice of history that certainly I didnt know had taken place in Britain, and I dont think many people had known. But its true today. We see it happening in the U.S. and we see it happening worldwide. And what question I think Sarah was asking with the show was, What are we going to do about it?

While set during what is considered the fun, liberating Swinging Sixties, the series explores how fascism can take hold. In the case of England, the rise of large corporations disturbing main street's mom-and-pop stores, an influx of foreign workers to rebuild post-war Britain and the bulldozing of homes to make skyscrapers all played a part. Some vulnerable people became susceptible to the slogan Take Our Country Back.

No one sets out to be a villain of history. Everyone is setting out thinking theyre doing the best thing they can in the moment theyre in. So it tries to humanize why white working class people are susceptible and vulnerable to far-right views, Solemani said.

Anti-fascists  working without the support of the government  used their muscle and espionage techniques such as wire-tapping and infiltration to disrupt the National Socialist Movement, which was behind synagogue arsons. Often the anti-fascists were Jewish ex-servicemen who had fought the Nazis abroad.

Theyd been at war and theyd come home only to find Nazis on their doorstep. So in their eyes, it was muscle against muscle, an eye for an eye. There was no other option, said Solemani. Its a remarkable story of hope and sacrifice.

The chapter in British history might have seemed very dusty and foreign to Americans until 2017 when hundreds of white nationalists descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, screaming Jews will not replace us! All of a sudden, Take Our Country Back wasn't too far away from other nativist slogans like Make America Great Again.

The series underscores that pluralistic democracies need to be actively protected and that freedom is a privilege that shouldn't be passively given away. As one Jewish leader says: An anti-fascist fights. An anti-fascist does. Still, Solemani says there are many ways to do that.

Im very cautious of telling people they need to do more because people are at maximum capacity  theyre working longer hours, not earning enough, she said. Its not about shaming people into doing more. Its saying a good antidote to being overwhelmed and a good antidote to despair is action.

Solemani, who studied politics at Cambridge University and follows resistance movements around the globe, said even small acts  demonstrating, signing petitions, writing letters  can help an individual feel useful.

When you stand up, when you see something happening in a public space, you actually become revitalized, youll feel less depressed, youll feel less overwhelmed, she said.

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
COLUMBIA, Md. (AP)  An 18-year-old student was seriously injured when he was stabbed in a fight in a Maryland high school parking lot Thursday and a 17-year-old boy has been taken into custody, police said.

The stabbing happened around 11 a.m. in the parking lot of Long Reach High School in Columbia, Howard County police said in a news release. Investigators believe the stabbing occurred during a fight between the two students, but its not clear why they were fighting, police said.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  An Ohio prosecutor is promising to retry a former vice squad officer charged in the death of a woman he shot while working undercover almost four years ago.

Earlier this month, a Franklin County judge declared a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a verdict on murder and voluntary manslaughter charges against former Columbus officer Andrew Mitchell.
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The leader of a veterans' care center in Massachusetts where 76 veterans died after contracting the coronavirus in the spring of 2020 lacked both the leadership skills and the temperament to run such a facility when he was hired in 2016, according to a blistering state Inspector General's report released Friday.

The 91-page report, which covers the period from May 2016 until February 2020  just before the pandemic struck with full force  was also highly critical of the process that led to the hiring of Bennett Walsh as superintendent of the Holyoke Soldiers' Home and of state oversight of the home.

The investigation that led to the report started in 2019 in response to pre-pandemic complaints about Walsh, who resigned in October 2020 as he faced criminal charges over his handling of one of the deadliest known COVID-19 outbreaks at a long-term care facility in the U.S. Those charges were dismissed last year.

Superintendent Walsh did not have and did not develop the leadership capacity or temperament for the role of superintendent, a summary of the report said. He created an unprofessional and negative work environment, retaliated against employees he deemed disloyal, demonstrated a lack of engagement in the homes operations and circumvented his chain of command.

He sometimes became visibly angry at employees, yelled at them, and in one case said publicly that he wanted to hit and belt a worker, according to the report. He also said that he wanted to hurt a veteran who had spoken out against him, the report said.

Walsh was also frequently absent during regular business hours and staff did not always know where he was.

Walsh, a former Marine, had no supervisory experience in a health care setting or skilled nursing facility when he was hired, although according to state law, that was not required of the home's superintendent at the time. His appointment also did not properly comply with state law.

The report acknowledges that Walsh inherited some problems with the 240-bed facility when he was appointed by Gov. Charlie Baker in 2016, including ongoing staffing issues, tension with employee unions and key leadership vacancies.

Even with these management challenges, the office found that Superintendent Walsh was not engaged in the broad range of leadership duties required to manage the home, the report said.

Walsh declined to answer questions from the Inspector Generals office and instead invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination, the report said.

One of Walsh's attorneys, Michael Jennings, said in a statement that his legal team is solely focused on a response to the state attorney general's appeal of the dismissal of the criminal charges.

We have no comment at this time relating to the newly released Inspector Generals investigation report which has no relevance to our work responding to that appeal," he wrote.

Another attorney for Walsh has in the past defended the way he ran the home, and blamed the state for failing to respond to requests for help.

The report also criticized the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services and the state Department of Veterans Services for not adequately addressing complaints about Walsh. The state twice investigated Walsh during his four years at the facility, but those investigations were flawed, unnecessarily restricted in scope and biased in Superintendent Walshs favor, the report said.

Many of the issues in the Inspector General's report have already been resolved, according to a statement from the office of Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders.

The administration is reviewing the report from the Inspector General, which identified several recommendations that have already been addressed by the Department of Veterans Services and the Soldiers Home. The administration filed legislation almost two years ago to strengthen oversight of the soldiers homes and looks forward to addressing these issues with the Legislature, the statement said.

In addition, an August survey by the Joint Commission, an independent organization that runs a health care accreditation process, found no deficiencies at Holyoke, while the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has inspected and certified the facility, the state said.

In addition to those who died, dozens of other residents as well as staff members fell ill with the disease.

An investigation by a former federal prosecutor hired by Baker found that management made several utterly baffling decisions that allowed the virus to run amok, such as combining two locked dementia units, both of which already housed some residents with the virus.

The Inspector General's report released Friday also makes several recommendations to improve oversight and management not just in Holyoke but at its sister facility in Chelsea.

They include requiring superintendents to be a licensed nursing home administrator with extensive management experience; giving the state Department of Public Health the authority to provide independent clinical oversight and support; and the establishment of an ombudsperson and a hotline so residents, their families and staff can confidentially report problems.

The state has announced plans to build a new $400 million home to replace the current Holyoke facility that was built in the early 1950s.
PHOENIX (AP)  A judge in Phoenix on Friday sentenced a woman o two years of felony probation, fines and community service for voting her dead mother's ballot in Arizona in the 2020 general election.

But the judge rejected a prosecutor's request that she serve at least 30 days in jail because she lied to investigators and demanded that they hold those committing voter fraud accountable.

The case against Tracey Kay McKee, 64, is one of just a handful of voter fraud cases from Arizona's 2020 election that have led to charges, despite widespread belief among many supporters of former President Donald Trump that there was widespread voter fraud that led to his loss in Arizona and other battleground states.

McKee, who was from Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale but now lives in California, sobbed as she apologized to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Margaret LaBianca before the judge handed down her sentence. McKee said that she was grieving over the loss of her mother and had no intent to impact the outcome of the election.

Your Honor, I would like to apologize, McKee told LaBianca. I dont want to make the excuse for my behavior. What I did was wrong and Im prepared to accept the consequences handed down by the court.

Both McKee and her mother, Mary Arendt, were registered Republicans, although she was not asked if she voted for Trump. Arendt died on Oct. 5, 2020, two days before early ballots were mailed to voters.

Assistant Attorney General Todd Lawson played a tape of McKee being interviewed by an investigator with his office where she said there was rampant voter fraud and denied that she had signed and returned her mother's ballot.

The only way to prevent voter fraud is to physically go in and punch a ballot, McKee told the investigator. I mean, voter fraud is going to be prevalent as long as theres mail-in voting, for sure. I mean, theres no way to ensure a fair election.

And I dont believe that this was a fair election, she continued. I do believe there was a lot of voter fraud.

Tom Henze, McKee's attorney, pointed to dozens of cases of voter fraud prosecuted in Arizona over the past decade, many for similar violations of voting someone else's ballot, and said no one got jail time in those cases. He said agreeing with Lawson that McKee should do 30 days jail time would raise constitutional issues of fairness.

Simply stated, over a long period of time, in voluminous cases, 67 cases, nobody in this state for similar cases, in similar context ... nobody got jail time, Henze said. The court didnt impose jail time at all.

But Lawson said jail time was important because the type of case has changed. While in years past, most cases involved people voting in two states because they either lived in or had property in both states, in the 2020 election people had bought into Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud.

What were hearing is voter fraud is out there, Lawson told the judge. And essentially what were seeing here is someone who says Well, Im going to commit voter fraud because its a big problem and Im just going to slide in under the radar. And Im going to do it because everybody else is doing it and I can get away with it.

I dont subscribe to that at all, he said. And I think the attitude you hear in the interview is the attitude that differentiates this case from the other cases.

LaBianca said that while she agreed with Lawson, ordering jail time would give McKee what she told the investigator what she wanted: going after people who committed voter fraud.

And if there were evidence that this crime was on the rise, and that heightened deterrence may be called for, the court might order jail time, LaBianca said. "But the record here does not show that this crime is on the rise.

And abhorrent as it may be for someone like the defendant to attack the legitimacy of our free elections without any evidence, except your own fraud, such statements are not illegal as far as I know, the judge continued.
GALESBURG, Ill. (AP)  A sheriff's deputy in western Illinois setting up spike strips on a roadway was killed Friday morning when he was struck by a car driven by man who was fleeing authorities after allegedly being spotted at a store with a gun, officials said.

In a news release, the Illinois State Police said the Knox County deputy was struck shortly after 8 a.m. as he was setting up spike strips to try to flatten the tires of the fleeing vehicle that was being pursued in nearby Henry County by Galesburg Police officers. The officers, responding to a 911 call about a suspect with a gun at Circle K covenience store in Galesburg, were chasing the vehicle after the driver fled during an attempted traffic stop.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP)  A 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty Friday to malicious wounding in a shooting that injured two students at a Virginia high school in September.

The teen pleaded guilty to two counts of malicious wounding and four gun charges in the shooting that prompted panicking students at Heritage High School to run for the exits and barricade themselves in classrooms, The Daily Press reported. The teen did not have a plea agreement.

An argument spilled out of the cafeteria and into the school hallway when a 17-year-old punched the teen in the face and the teen pulled out a gun, Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Travis White said. There were about 100 students in the hallway at the time, court documents said.

A history teacher tried to break up the fight and saw the teen pull out the gun, White said.

He attempted to get the other students out of the way, White said of the teacher. Frankly, Im surprised he wasnt shot himself.

The teen fired multiple shots in the hallway, White said, striking the 17-year-old in the head, leg and finger. A 17-year-old girl was also struck in the leg.

Both students survived, and both are recovering, White said, noting they are out of the hospital.

Court documents state the teen ditched his handgun in a trash can as he fled the school and ran home. A relative took him to surrender to authorities. He was given a Miranda warning, then gave a statement to police with his mother present.

He admitted that he shot the gun after a physical altercation, White said.

The shooting took place less than two weeks into the school year, as Newport News students returned to in-person classes after pandemic lockdowns. The school was closed for more than a month after the Sept. 20 shooting.

Before Fridays hearing, prosecutors reduced an aggravated malicious wounding to malicious wounding, reducing the possible sentence for the charge from life in prison to 20 years. The change was based on improvement to the girl's leg wound, White said.

The teen faces up to 65 years behind bars at sentencing Aug. 5 .
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey is leaving state government next month, Gov. Bill Lee said.

The governor will name a successor in coming weeks, his office said Thursday. Piercey's departure is effective May 31.

Piercey joined the administration in January 2019 and was a member of the Governor's Unified Command Group during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also led efforts to innovate public health operations in Tennessee and strengthened the workforce pipeline in health care, Lee's office said.

Lisa led our states health response through one of the most challenging crises Tennessee has faced, and I commend her faithful service to Tennesseans, Lee said. She has played an invaluable role in my cabinet, and I wish her much success as she enters the private sector.

Piercey, 44, told WPLN-FM that among her reasons for leaving is to spend more time with family, which includes triplets who will be high school seniors. She is also starting a consulting firm to advise private equity firms that want to invest in health care, the station said.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to extend the U.N. political mission in Libya for three months, with the United States and Britain accusing Russia of blocking a longer and more substantive mandate that would include promoting reconciliation of the countrys rival governments now claiming power.

Russias U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow insisted on a three-month extension to pressure U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to urgently appoint a new special representative to head the mission, known as UNSMIL. The former U.N. special envoy, Jan Kubis, resigned on Nov. 23 after 10 months on the job.

Nebenzia said in the absence of a new envoy, the U.N. mission has been unable to provide substantial support for the political process in Libya for more than six months. He blamed some unidentified members of the Security Council who he claimed are not ready to accept a scenario where UNSMIL is guided by an African representative, saying their opposition is non-constructive and a manifestation of neo-colonialism.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward, who oversaw negotiations on the resolution, said after the vote that Russia has once again isolated itself by not joining consensus with the 14 other members of the council who supported a one-year substantive mandate.

U.S. deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis said a short mandate severely complicates the U.N.s ability to recruit a new head of for the mission and creates uncertainty for the Libyan people and their leaders over the Security Councils commitment to Libya.

DeLaurentis also criticized Russia for eliminating critical language on reconciliation and security sector reform which the councils three African members were pushing to include in the resolution adopted Friday.

The oil-rich North African nation plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. It then became divided between rival governments  one in the east, backed by military commander Khalifa Hifter, and a U.N.-supported administration in the capital Tripoli. Each side is supported by different militias and foreign powers.

In April 2019, Hifter and his forces, backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, launched an offensive to try and capture Tripoli. His campaign collapsed after Turkey stepped up its military support of the U.N.-supported government with hundreds of troops and thousands of Syrian mercenaries. An October 2020 cease-fire agreement led to an agreement on a transitional government in early February 2021, and elections scheduled for last Dec. 24 which werent held.

The countrys east-based House of Representatives named a new prime minister, former interior minister Fathi Bashagha, to lead a new interim government in February. The lawmakers claimed the mandate of interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who is based in the capital, Tripoli, expired when the election failed to take place. But Dbeibah insists he will remain prime minister until elections are held.

Week-long talks between the rival sides in the Egyptian capital ended on April 19 without an agreement on constitutional arrangements for elections.

After Kubis resigned, Guterres appointed American diplomat Stephanie Williams, a fluent Arabic speaker who served as deputy U.N. special representative in Libya from 2018-2020 as his special adviser and sent her to Tripoli. She oversaw the agreements on the cease-fire and transitional government and told reporters after the recent meeting of the rivals in Cairo that they agreed to reconvene in May.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq replied that he expects Williams, whose contract is set to expire, to continue in her role until we have any further notice to give you.

Gabons U.N. Ambassador Michel Biang read a statement on behalf of his country, Ghana and Kenya, saying the widening divisions in Libya are unfolding at a crucial juncture that demands unified Security Council action to make progress toward a sustainable peace that the Libyan people are craving for.

The three African council members called on Libyas rival parties to settle their differences politically, bearing in mind that the military option will not provide a sustainable solution to the root causes of this crisis.

They denounced foreign interference in Libya, demanded the synchronized withdrawal of all foreign fighters and mercenaries, and called on the U.N., the African Union and international partners to support a national dialogue and reconciliation in the country.

Biang stressed that since the situation in Libya mainly affects the countrys African neighbors, Africans should be involved in the search for a solution and the next U.N. special envoy should be an African.

Norways deputy U.N. ambassador Trine Heimerback said the councils failure to agree on a substantive mandate not only sends an unfortunate signal to the Libyan people but also to the whole region, stressing UNSMILs pivotal role in supporting Libyas political process and contribution to the countrys stability.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  A 38-year-old woman has been arrested and charged in a hit-and-run crash that killed a 14-year-old girl in Des Moines, police said.

The crash happened Thursday afternoon a few blocks east of Hiatt Middle School on the citys east side, police. First responders found 14-year-old Ema Cardenas with critical injuries after she was hit by a sport utility vehicle that fled the scene, according to police.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP)  A federal judge has sentenced a woman to eight years in prison for providing the fentanyl that caused the overdose death of a 16-year-old Porcupine boy.

Tarriah Provost, 24, earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy with intent to distribute a controlled substance as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

Louis Sandoval died of an overdose on Dec. 2, 2020. An autopsy found fentanyl in his system, which Provost admitted to giving him.

Provost told the judge that Sandoval was like a little brother to her and she wouldnt have given him the drug if she thought it would kill him, the Rapid City Journal reported.

Through their statements, Provost and her attorney told the story of how addiction caused the defendant's life to deteriorate.

Provost attended the University of Colorado Boulder in 2015 after winning a scholarship. After dropping out, Provost returned to Pine Ridge and had a son.

According to her defense attorney, Jennifer Albertson, Provost's life shifted after she was prescribed oxycodone following a car accident in November 2019 and surgery in May 2021.

Albertson characterized Provost as someone who had an oxy habit and didnt go over there with any malice when she supplied Sandoval with a fentanyl pill.

Four others  Donna Garnette, Kelly Grass, Jesse Grass, and Kimberly Janis  took the same plea deal as Provost for their involvement in the transportation and sale of pills. Kelly Grass was sentenced to 57 months in prison. Jesse Grass does not have a sentencing date yet. Sentencing for Janis is May 16 and June 22 for Garnette.
IN SUMMARY

California abortion rights groups, providers and Democratic lawmakers are all getting ready for a potential influx of out-of-state women. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to dramatically scale back, or even end, the constitutional right to abortion.

By Alexei Koseff

CalMatters

California abortion clinics are building new facilities closer to transit hubs and training more staff. A package of a dozen abortion rights bills moving through the Legislature could expand the number of providers, provide financial assistance to women traveling to California to terminate their pregnancies, and legally protect the doctors who treat them.

As new restrictions rapidly sweep the country in anticipation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this summer that may dramatically scale back or even end the constitutional right to abortion, California is preparing to step into the void -- and welcome a possible surge of patients losing access in dozens of other states.

"People from across the country are already looking to California as a haven state, as a beacon to provide them the care they need," Jodi Hicks, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said during a recent online program. "It is our moral imperative that we continue to provide the leadership that people are looking for."

Planned Parenthood, which operates about half of the 165 abortion clinics in California, reports that it has treated at least 80 out-of-state patients per month on average since September, when Texas adopted a law allowing residents to seek civil damages against anyone who aids an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

That move turbocharged a political and cultural battle that has all but cut off abortion access in the most conservative parts of the country in recent years and sent advocates in liberal states scrambling to build a bulwark for reproductive rights.

Unable to secure an injunction against the Texas law while courts consider the legality of the novel attempt to circumvent Roe v. Wade -- the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that protected the right to an abortion without excessive government restriction -- clinics in the state shut down to avoid a deluge of lawsuits. Thousands of patients are now seeking abortions elsewhere, overwhelming neighboring Oklahoma and New Mexico and pushing some women further afield to more friendly states including California.

"The need right now of expanding access is pretty clear to all of us," state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins told reporters last month. The San Diego Democrat is carrying Senate Bill 1375, which would allow some nurse practitioners to independently perform first-trimester abortions without a doctor's supervision.

Getting ready for more patients

Sue Dunlap, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, said she has been preparing for years for the moment when the organization would have to become a haven for patients from all over the country who have nowhere else to turn for an abortion.

That has included expanding and reorganizing its network of facilities to be near airports, bus and train stations, and supportive emergency rooms and medical providers. Dunlap said she worked with UCLA's law school to establish a new center for the study of reproductive health law and policy. Planned Parenthood Los Angeles also collaborates with medical schools across the country on abortion training, particularly in states where those opportunities might not otherwise exist.

Dunlap declined to provide data on how many out-of-state patients the organization serves, arguing that the numbers would not fully reflect the situation because of the secrecy and fear surrounding abortion. But she noted that Los Angeles, as a center of tourism and commerce, has long been a destination for women seeking abortions -- even before it was legal, when patients often then crossed the border to Mexico for the procedure.

"Los Angeles is a place that people identify with ideas of freedoms," Dunlap said. "Los Angeles is also a place that, when you don't know where to go, you come here."

The people who do come "are almost always in incredibly desperate situations," she added, and many have more challenging circumstances and complications than in the past.

Dunlap mentioned a pregnant woman from Texas who was diagnosed with breast cancer, necessitating a double mastectomy. Though the woman did not want to terminate her pregnancy, Dunlap said, she had to travel to one of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles' clinics in recent months because she could not get an abortion in her own state.

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, which covers Northern and Central California and Northern Nevada, said it treated 66 out-of-state patients at its California clinics between September and March, including 22 patients from Texas. One of them was a college student who was prepared to use her scholarship money to fly to California until it provided her with a voucher, according to an anonymous patient testimony shared by the organization.

With Oklahoma and other states on the verge of shutting down abortion access as well, president and CEO Stacy Cross said the organization is preparing to take on between 250 and 500 more patients per week in its network of facilities.

Medication abortion is now available at all of its sites. Clinics are hiring more staff and making sure any medical provider who is licensed to perform abortions has the necessary training, even if they specialize in one of the other services that Planned Parenthood offers, so that they can schedule more appointments.

Next month, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte plans to break ground on a new, larger facility in Reno that is closer to the airport. Cross wants to add a second site in northern Nevada for what she anticipates will soon be more patients coming from Utah.

The work is personal for Cross: Both of her grandmothers died from a lack of access to reproductive care -- one from an illegal abortion and the other in childbirth, delivering her ninth child at age 47, she said. She worries that Californians don't fully understand how quickly and fully abortion access could shut down across the country if the Supreme Court reverses the Roe decision.

"Every time I even say those words out loud, it sends a chill down my back. It's horrific to think about," Cross said. But California has done an amazing job preparing: "We fill the gaps."

Divide deepens between red and blue states

Those gaps are almost certain to widen in the months to come. Spurred on by the success of the Texas law, anti-abortion legislators across America are racing to advance new restrictions.

In just a one-week stretch this month, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy; GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma signed a bill making it a felony to perform an abortion in the state, punishable by up to 10 years in prison; and Republican legislators in Kentucky overrode a governor's veto on a measure to impose broad new requirements on abortion providers that they say make it impossible for them to continue operating. A federal judge temporarily blocked the Kentucky law on Thursday.

Though many of the policies are currently unconstitutional, conservative states are laying the groundwork in anticipation that the Supreme Court will soon uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. A decision on that case is expected by June, and some experts believe the justices will take the opportunity to overturn the Roe ruling altogether, which would trigger near or complete bans on abortion in about half of states, including Arizona.

Liberal states are responding with their own measures to protect the right to abortion in law, and to increase access to accommodate a potential influx of patients from beyond their borders.

In November, Vermont voters will decide whether to amend the state constitution to enshrine reproductive autonomy, while Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is trying to circumvent her state's Republican-controlled Legislature by asking the state Supreme Court to overturn a pre-Roe abortion ban that is still on the books.

Oregon recently approved a $15 million fund that could provide financial assistance to patients, including those from outside the state, who need help paying for abortion fees and other costs. Washington adopted legal protections against prosecuting people who aid an abortion or women who experience pregnancy losses. Democratic legislators in Maryland overrode a veto by the Republican governor to pass a bill that would require health insurance plans to cover abortions and put $3.5 million toward training providers.

Several states have adopted or are pursuing measures to expand who is authorized to perform an abortion to include other advanced medical professionals beyond doctors, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, following a move that California made more than a decade ago.

"California has been on the forefront for a long time," said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the Guttmacher Institute, which researches and promotes reproductive rights. "It has helped other states see what's possible."

Making California an abortion 'sanctuary'

California is pushing further still. In September, after the Texas law took effect, Gov. Gavin Newsom convened the Future of Abortion Council, a coalition of reproductive rights, health and justice groups, to explore how to make the state a "sanctuary" for abortion. More than 40 policy recommendations, released in December, formed the basis for the sweeping legislative package now advancing at the Capitol.

If approved by the end of session in August and signed by Newsom, the measures would become law next year, though supporters hope some pieces might be incorporated into the state budget that must be approved by June 15. Those could kick in immediately this summer, when the Supreme Court decision on abortion is expected.

"There is definitely an urgency to get some of these things in place and get prepared, because this is happening regardless of whatever timeline our Legislature is on," said Lisa Matsubara, general counsel and vice president of policy for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, which is sponsoring or co-sponsoring most of the bills in the package. "We are doing everything we can to make sure we are as ready as we can be."

The centerpiece is SB 1142, by Democratic Sens. Anna Caballero of Salinas and Nancy Skinner of Berkeley, which would create a state-administered fund to assist patients who face financial barriers to obtaining an abortion and support public research into improving access. Advocates are seeking $20 million from the state to launch the fund.

There is also Assembly Bill 2134 by Assemblymember Akilah Weber, a San Diego Democrat, which would set aside money for clinics that provide uncompensated care to low-income patients whose insurance does not cover abortion and contraceptive services. Supporters argue the funding is crucial to ensure that not only wealthy women are able to travel to California for abortions.

Jessica Pinckney, executive director of ACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE, the only statewide abortion fund in California, says the bill could expand its grants to women who need help paying for their abortion, travel and lodging, lost wages, a doula or other expenses.

Last year, the Oakland-based fund supported 551 patients with an average of about $300, Pinckney said, not enough to meet anybody's full need. She would also like to do more outreach to let women know the fund exists.

About 80 people the fund served were from 18 different states Pinckney added, but most are low-income or patients from one of the dozens of mostly rural counties without an abortion provider, who may need to travel hours and stay overnight for a multi-day abortion procedure in their second trimester.

"Even in the state of California, there are quite a few barriers," Pinckney said. "This is an unmet need for Californians already."

In recognition that conservative states may continue to ramp up legal and financial penalties for abortions, another collection of bills aims to protect doctors who travel to other states to perform the procedure or who treat out-of-state patients: AB 1666 by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, an Orinda Democrat, would nullify civil judgments from other states related to reproductive care. AB 2091 by Assemblymember Mia Bonta, an Alameda Democrat, would prohibit medical providers and health insurers from sharing information in cases that seek to penalize abortion. AB 2626 by Assemblymember Lisa Calderon, a Whittier Democrat, would prevent the state medical board from suspending or revoking the license of a physician who is punished in another state for performing an abortion in accordance with California law.

Other major legislative efforts include Atkins' bill to allow abortions by independent nurse practitioners and AB 1918 by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, which would create a "reproductive health service corps" for underserved parts of the state.

"It's about strengthening our foundation, our health care foundation, to expand the pool of health care professionals who can provide abortions," Atkins said.

Last stand for anti-abortion activists?

The measures are moving through the legislative process so far with widespread support from the overwhelmingly Democratic lawmakers, and seem likely to be approved if they reach the governor's desk. Newsom already signed a law last month that prohibits health insurers from charging a co-pay or deductible for abortions, thus eliminating out-of-pocket costs for covered patients. He pledged that California would continue to "protect and advance reproductive freedom for all."

Yet the bills have not been entirely without controversy. Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Capitol last week to oppose AB 2223 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat, which would end a requirement that coroners investigate the cause of fetal deaths resulting from suspected self-induced abortions, clarify that women cannot be held criminally or civilly liable for pregnancy loss or abortion, and create an ability to sue prosecutors and others who violate that protection.

Protesters holding crosses and "Babies' Lives Matter" signs packed onto the steps of the building to hear from Pastor Jack Hibbs of the Calvary Chapel Chino Hills megachurch. Nearby, a Christian band and twirling dancers led a crowd in a worship service.

Supporters say the measure is necessary to protect Californians from overzealous law enforcement and district attorneys who may be hostile to abortion rights. They point to two Kings County women who were charged with murder and imprisoned in the past five years after delivering stillbirths and testing positive for methamphetamine, in what Attorney General Rob Bonta has called a misapplication of the state criminal code. Advocates argue that fear of prosecution may deter some women from seeking necessary care.

But critics of the Wicks bill highlight a provision that states women cannot be penalized for "perinatal death due to a pregnancy-related cause," referring to a baby who dies in an undefined period immediately after birth, which they contend is so vague as to legalize infanticide.

"It is trying to really tear down one of the few restrictions that California does have when it comes to terminating pregnancies, and that is the actual point of delivery," Jonathan Keller, president of the religious advocacy group California Family Council, said following the Capitol rally.

While Wicks has vehemently denied that's what the measure would or is intended to do, Keller said, "Intentions don't matter. It's actual legislative text that matters." He added that the outrage has helped his group organize broader and more fervent opposition to the abortion legislation than it has managed in the past.

"We do think that many of the bills in this package are actually out of step with the state of California," Keller said, including the fund to help out-of-state women travel to California for abortion care. He calls it "abortion tourism."

His claims have been picked up by the Republican National Committee, which issued a statement denouncing Wicks' bill and calling abortion "murder," but seem unlikely to gain much traction in the Democrat-dominated Legislature.

At the first committee hearing for the bill, following the rally, only one legislator questioned Wicks, who slammed her opponents' tactics: "These same groups that are trying to ban abortion across this country and imprison people for stillbirths have manufactured a disinformation campaign using disturbing and violent imagery that is not grounded in medical science or the text of the bill," she said.

Despite nearly an hour of testimony from opponents, the bill sailed through on an 11-3 vote.

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Police in Oakland are looking for an at-risk 15-year-old girl. A police spokesperson made the announcement late Thursday afternoon.

Aniyah Nelson was last seen at about 8 p.m. Sunday in the 4500 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way. She was wearing a dark green jacket with fur, and white pants. Nelson is considered at risk because of her age.

She is Black and stands 5'6" tall. She weighs 120 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. Her family said she is in good mental and physical condition.

Anyone with information about Nelson's whereabouts is asked to contact the Oakland Police Department's Missing Persons Unit at (510) 238-3641.

San Francisco police arrested a man this week on multiple charges after he allegedly evaded arrest, collided with multiple police cars and injured multiple people including a police officer.

Officers received reports around 9:40 p.m. Wednesday of a stolen vehicle near Grant Avenue and Green Street that had been involved in several recent car burglaries.

Responding officers found the vehicle with the man, a 24-year-old San Francisco resident, inside. The officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the man allegedly fled without the officers in pursuit.

Officers at Union and Montgomery streets later saw the vehicle enter a dead-end before attempting to leave. As he was attempting to leave, the man collided with a marked police vehicle.

He then continued toward Alta and Montgomery streets, colliding with a second marked police vehicle and injuring one of the officers inside.

The man then allegedly drove the stolen vehicle to Columbus Avenue and Broadway, where he collided with a third vehicle that was also occupied, injuring those inside, according to the SFPD.

The man attempted to flee on foot, the SFPD said, but officers ultimately stopped and arrested him at Pacific Avenue and Beckett Street. Officers later found a high-capacity ammunition magazine within the allegedly stolen vehicle.

The man was subsequently taken to San Francisco County Jail, according to the SFPD.

Investigators encouraged people with knowledge of the collisions or the alleged auto burglaries to contact the SFPD at 1 (415) 575-4444 or text "SFPD" to TIP411. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Caltrans' plans to close a portion of U.S. Highway 101 for overhead sign replacement work this weekend has been cancelled due to weather.

Initially, Caltrans was scheduled to replace an overhead sign bridge between South Airport Boulevard in South San Francisco and San Bruno Avenue in San Bruno, thereby closing southbound Highway 101 between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday. Northbound freeway traffic would not have been affected.

Caltrans has not announced when the work would be rescheduled.

The Cherry Parade is returning to San Leandro in June, and city officials are reaching out to anyone interested in participating in the parade.

San Leandro residents and community groups are encouraged to participate, either by entering as a participant or being a spectator.

Applications are available online at www.sanleandro.org/paradeapp until May 11.

The parade will begin at 10 a.m. June 4, starting at the San Leandro BART Station's south parking lot, then proceeding along Parrot Street and East 14th Street before concluding at San Leandro City Hall.

The city is celebrating its 150th birthday this year.

A charitable group wants to display a cross as it has done for more than 50 years on Albany Hill in Albany and proposed what it thought was a reasonable solution that the city rejected.

Albany Hill is a local landmark on the end of Taft Street, where the ground rises to 338 feet above sea level. On a peninsula that juts out from the east side near the top of the hill, the Albany Hill Cross stands, erected by the Albany Lions Club on Easter 1971.

The city owns the land but the Lions Club, the world's largest service club and a group seeking to improve the world through kind action, has an easement that allows them to display the cross. Now the city wants to take the easement by eminent domain.

"Something has to be done about the cross," Albany Lions Club President Ken Berner said.

Berner has been a member of the club for 53 years and has been president three times.

The problem is a potential First Amendment violation. As a result, the Lions Club has offered to purchase the land around the cross to avoid the potential violation.

But the Albany City Council rejected the offer and could pay $750,000 plus attorneys fees for the roughly acre of land where the cross is located.

The money to take the easement will come from the city's General Fund, Brown said.

The Lions were hoping to resolve the matter in a reasonable way and may resort to litigation, attorney Robert Nichols said. Nichols is a member of the Albany Lions Club.

The cross is lit each Christmas and Easter, drawing thanks from people in Albany as well as El Cerrito and Berkeley. But not everyone is supportive of the cross, Berner and Nichols both admitted.

Easter services have been held at the cross for years, this year drawing more than 100 people. Pre-pandemic roughly 150 to 180 people on average would attend.

People can see the cross from the east from some distance and it's also a place for private worship, as it sits among tall trees with benches nearby.

Oakland firefighters are battling a fire near Lake Merritt Thursday evening.

An Oakland Fire Department spokesperson said the fire is burning near 1200 Lakeshore Avenue. Several apartment buildings are located in the immediate neighborhood.

The fire started after 7 p.m.

Teachers in Dublin have been organizing this week as contract negotiations head into their next round on Friday. On Tuesday, educators with the Dublin Teachers Association held a rally and march to draw attention to issues they say the Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) has with hiring and retaining teachers. The assembled marched to the school board meeting and spoke, as well.

Teachers' association president Robbie Kreitz presented the board with her concerns and was at the rally.

Kreitz said her union's ultimate goal is to recruit more teachers and retain the ones that are already employed. She said she loves her job but is frustrated with the state of teaching in Dublin.

Chip Dehnert, public information officer for DUSD, said it is not out of the ordinary for teachers to come to meetings and speak about their concerns during contract negotiations. But he pushed back on the idea that the District didn't have the best interests of the students in mind when it negotiates with teachers.

Dublin's rally coincides with similar events throughout the state this week from nurses, who, like teachers, are facing burdensome recruitment and retention issues that affect either nurse to patient or teacher to student ratios.

When citing a national teacher shortage, many people point to a 2016 study done by the Learning Policy Institute. The study estimates a deficit of needed teachers of up to 112,000 per year; the study also said that the United States will need 316,000 teachers per year by 2025.

In California this year, the Learning Policy Institute found that two-thirds of districts surveyed faced increased vacancies compared to pre-COVID years. Six districts still had to fill 10 percent or more of their vacancies.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office has arraigned and charged two suspects alleged to have taken part in the abduction of three-year-old "Baby Brandon."

The Baby Brandon kidnapping on Monday horrified residents and indeed the country for its brazenness and is being described by the DA's office as "broad-daylight and bizarre."

Jose Portillo, 28, and Yesenia Ramirez, 43 were arrested on Tuesday and have been remanded to jail with no bail, the District Attorney Jeff Rosen's office said.

A third suspect, Baldomeo Sandoval, will be released from custody today, according to the San Jose police, who said that details of his involvement have come to light and he will not be facing charges at this time.

Portillo can be seen allegedly on his way to the abduction carrying a baby carrier in footage that police released. Ramirez is a family friend who had been with child and his grandmother that day, according to the San Jose police.

The child, being referred to as Brandon Doe in the charges, was kidnapped while he was in his grandmother's care while his mother was at work, Rosen said. Ramirez had driven the infant and his grandmother to Walmart to shop. Upon returning to the family's apartment in the 1000 block of Elm Street, the grandmother left Brandon on a bed while she unloaded the groceries.

A 911 call was made around 1 p.m. and police began tracking the alleged kidnapper Portillo, whom they said could be seen leaving with a "noticeably heavier" car seat.

Officers and the FBI worked together to identify Portillo's location, which was an apartment in the 2000 block of Mathers Street. Once there, authorities said they found the child.

Though the DA says there is still no motive in the crime, they allege that "numerous" baby care items were found in Ramirez's apartment, such as baby formula, diapers in the same size as Baby Brandon, and a baby rocker. The DA also noted that both Portillo and Ramirez are childless.

In a press conference on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the San Jose Police said that the infant was smiling and happy when he was reunited with his mother. A medical check up of the child also determined that he had been uninjured.

A jury on Wednesday found a former Antioch man guilty of two counts of forcible sexual abuse of a child under 13 and displaying harmful material to a minor.

Henry Cordon, 36, was convicted in Contra Costa Couty Superior Court in Martinez. The Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office said in a press release Cordon was arrested in May 2019 by the sheriff's office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force at his home, after investigators found child sexual abuse material on his devices and in his e-mail account. He's been in custody since then.

Prosecutors said between May 1, 2017, and September 1, 2017, Cordon used sexually graphic images to arouse the victim in violation of California Penal code section 288.2 in Contra Costa and Stanislaus counties.

While in custody, Antioch Police officers took a report from the mother of the victim indicating her child had been sexually abused by Cordon in 2017.

Cordon was sentenced on Sept. 16, 2020 to six-and-a-half years in prison for receipt and possession of child pornography, stemming from a May 2019 investigation. Once his Contra Costa case concludes, Cordon will be extradited to Florida to face federal charges alleging he produced child pornography in 2011 with another victim.

Cordon will be sentenced in Contra Costa on July 22, 2021. He faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in state prison.

The National Weather Service forecast for Friday for the San Francisco Bay Area calls for slightly warmer temperatures under mostly sunny skies with highs ranging from the 60s to the mid 70s. Overnight lows Friday morning will range from the 40s to the 50s.

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.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office has arraigned and charged two suspects alleged to have taken part in the abduction of three-year-old "Baby Brandon."

The Baby Brandon kidnapping on Monday horrified residents and indeed the country for its brazenness and is being described by the DA's office as "broad-daylight and bizarre."

Jose Portillo, 28, and Yesenia Ramirez, 43 were arrested on Tuesday and have been remanded to jail with no bail, the District Attorney Jeff Rosen's office said.

A third suspect, Baldomeo Sandoval, will be released from custody today, according to the San Jose police, who said that details of his involvement have come to light and he will not be facing charges at this time.

Portillo can be seen allegedly on his way to the abduction carrying a baby carrier in footage that police released. Ramirez is a family friend who had been with child and his grandmother that day, according to the San Jose police.

The child, being referred to as Brandon Doe in the charges, was kidnapped while he was in his grandmother's care while his mother was at work, Rosen said. Ramirez had driven the infant and his grandmother to Walmart to shop. Upon returning to the family's apartment in the 1000 block of Elm Street, the grandmother left Brandon on a bed while she unloaded the groceries.

A 911 call was made around 1 p.m. and police began tracking the alleged kidnapper Portillo, whom they said could be seen leaving with a "noticeably heavier" car seat.

Officers and the FBI worked together to identify Portillo's location, which was an apartment in the 2000 block of Mathers Street. Once there, authorities said they found the child.

Though the DA says there is still no motive in the crime, they allege that "numerous" baby care items were found in Ramirez's apartment, such as baby formula, diapers in the same size as Baby Brandon, and a baby rocker. The DA also noted that both Portillo and Ramirez are childless.

In a press conference on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the San Jose Police said that the infant was smiling and happy when he was reunited with his mother. A medical check up of the child also determined that he had been uninjured.

PG&E crews have repaired a gas leak Thursday afternoon in San Pablo that forced the closure of streets in the immediate vicinity, according to a San Pablo police spokesperson.

The gas leak occurred earlier Thursday near the intersection of Rumrill Boulevard and Road 20.

The streets are now open to motorists.

PG&E crews capped the leak and have made the necessary repairs to the damaged gas line.

Police in Oakland are looking for an at-risk 15-year-old girl. A police spokesperson made the announcement late Thursday afternoon.

Aniyah Nelson was last seen at about 8 p.m. Sunday in the 4500 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way. She was wearing a dark green jacket with fur, and white pants. Nelson is considered at risk because of her age.

She is Black and stands 5'6" tall. She weighs 120 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. Her family said she is in good mental and physical condition.

Anyone with information about Nelson's whereabouts is asked to contact the Oakland Police Department's Missing Persons Unit at (510) 238-3641.

The results are in: Marin County likes to party and is hardy.

Marin County is touting its ranking as number one in the state for healthiness from the annual County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, which assesses all 58 counties in the state of California from most to least healthiest.

But Marin is also ranked high for binge drinking, and its racial and economic disparities are factors in the county's overall outlook.

The rankings look for quality of life, social and economic factors, clinical care, health behaviors (such as smoking), and environmental factors.

San Mateo County came in as the state's second healthiest county, with Santa Clara coming in third. With Marin, these counties also rank as the wealthiest in the state.

Specific factors in Marin County that contributed to its score include a population that is more highly educated, physically active, has a high life expectancy, and is insured with medical coverage. Marin also has access to clean water and below-average air pollution.

The annual report is created by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. According to countyhealthrankings.org, this year the focus was on economic security in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The institute said that the average living wage in the U.S. is $35.80 per hour for a household with one adult and two children and it used this data to determine which counties in the state had the most people earning a living wage, something that contributes to a county's healthiness. Marin is the third wealthiest county in the state, according to U.S. Census Bureau; it also ranks 15th nationwide.

According to Marin County, it has been "#1" in the annual health rankings for 12 of 13 years.

A teacher in a San Rafael high school has been arrested for child endangerment after she allegedly appeared intoxicated on the job, the San Rafael police announced on Thursday.

Teagen Leonhart, 46, of San Anselmo, is an English teacher at Terra Linda High School, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has previously worked at Novato High and San Rafael High.

Leonhart was removed from her classroom on Wednesday morning after a school employee alerted an administrator that she might be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, police said.

The school administrator entered Leonhart's classroom, allegedly saw signs of intoxication, and removed her from the class and called the police.

The SRPD sent a state-certified drug recognition expert (DRE) to the school, the department said. According to police, Leonhart initially denied being under the influence but an alcohol screen allegedly showed her blood-alcohol content to be three times the legal limit for driving. Police allege that she then admitted to drinking that morning. The DRE officer also alleges that the teacher was also under the influence of a prescription drug and cannabis.

BART riders will once again be required to wear a mask while on BART property after the transit agency's Board of Directors approved its own mask mandate Thursday.

The board voted 7-0, with Directors Debora Allen and Robert Raburn abstaining, to require masks within BART's paid areas through at least July 18, 2022. The vote came just over a week after a federal district court judge struck down the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's mask requirement for public transit and airplanes.

The California Department of Public Health also announced last week that it would align with the CDC and drop its own mask requirement for public transit and transit hubs like bus stations and airports.

After BART said in a statement April 20 that it would make masks "optional but strongly encouraged" throughout its system, BART Board President Rebecca Saltzman and Directors Janice Li and Bevan Dufty announced they would propose adding a mask requirement to the transit agency's customer code of conduct.

Stop in the name of environmental law.

That's what prosecutors across the U.S. are telling the U.S. Postal Service in a lawsuit that aims to stop the agency from replacing most of its vehicle fleet with more fossil-fuel burning vehicles.

Led in part by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, attorneys general in 15 states and the District of Columbia as well as the city of New York and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Northern California.

More than 100,000 new "gas-guzzling" vehicles will be on neighborhood streets for the next 30 years, if the purchase goes through, Bonta said.

The Postal Service is replacing the vehicles because they are nearing the end of their useful life.

The state prosecutors allege that the Postal Service is not complying with the National Environmental Policy Act, even its basic requirements.

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.
If youre a student on your own in a foreign country, its nice to know that someone is watching out for you.

For many students, that person is Judy Shabtai.

It just feels really good to know that you are able to make a students life easier, says Shabtai, program coordinator with SFUs English Language and Culture (ELC) program.

We want them to know that were here for them whenever they are in need of support.

For Shabtai, this included becoming accredited as a Registered International Student Immigration Advisor (RISIA) to offer immigration and student visa advice to ELC students throughout the pandemic to help them stay and study in Canada.

As part of SFU's Lifelong Learning, the English Language and Culture (ELC) program has been helping international students to achieve their goals by providing English language skills training. The ELC program immerses learners in both the English language and the Canadian university environment, acculturating them to SFU and post-secondary learning in Canada.

With our students, there is more support than is required for domestic students, Shabtai says. For the majority of our students, the ELC program is their first experience in Canada and often they look to us for help whenever they encounter unfamiliar situations that are difficult for them to comprehend because of language and cultural differences.

When the pandemic struck, there was a lot of confusion, Shabtai says, especially around the rules for students travelling to Canada as travel rules and quarantine requirements were constantly changing. As a result, she began assisting students with navigating the changing travel rules and obstacles caused by the pandemic. She felt it would be a good time to take the RISIA course to better support students.

It is no exaggeration to say that many students see Judy as an integral part of their support system here in Vancouver, says Bertrand Lee, director of the English Language and Culture program. She has advocated on their behalf on numerous occasions, providing advice and helping them settle into their life in Canada.

On her own initiative, Shabtai decided to pursue the RISIA accreditation in order to advise students on immigration matters. With it, shes able to reference legislation and help students with applications to acquire or extend their study permits at ELC. Her expertise has also been crucial whenever called upon to communicate updates to ELC university partners and agents throughout the pandemic about study permit eligibility and travel to Canada.

The immigration aspect has really been useful, she says. The timing was right. I knew it would provide support for the students, but I didnt know it would be so instrumental for us navigating as a team through the pandemic.

I was fortunate and grateful to have guidance and be included in SFU initiatives such as the CARES Program. Carolyn Hanna, director of International Services for Students, and the ISAP (International Student Advising and Programs) team have been especially helpful.

The response from students has been positive.

Ive had a lot of feedback from students whove said the guidance has been helpful for them, Shabtai says. Its really made them more confident in finding their feet here. I do hope they continue to turn to me for support as the friendly Canadian who can help them feel at home away from home.
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Due to the high demand for qualifications, expertise and skills, Vietnam-based enterprises tend to employ foreign employees to work in Vietnam. The foreign employees must obtain a work permit (WP) or a WP exemption certificate (WPEC) before entering a labor contract with the employer. So, if a foreign employee works in Vietnam without a WP, what are the legal risks he or she faces?

Note the following issues in this matter.

1. Why must foreign employees have WPs to work in Vietnam?

A WP is a document that a competent labor-management agency of Vietnam issues to a foreign employee to legally work in Vietnam. Labor Code 2019 stipulates that the conditions for foreign employees working in Vietnam include:

(i) Being at least 18 years old and fully capable of civil acts.

(ii) Having professional qualifications, techniques, skills, work experience and having "sufficient health."

(iii) Not being a person who is serving a sentence or has not been cleared of criminal charges under foreign or Vietnamese laws.

(iv) Having a WP.

Thus, foreign employees must meet the above requirement to work in Vietnam. Accordingly, unless the employee is exempt from the WP, having a WP is one of the mandatory conditions.

2. Which cases are foreign employees exempt from WPs?

Foreign employees must not apply for WPs in some cases. Instead, they can obtain WPECs in some cases, including one of the following:

(i) Foreign employees hold important positions in foreign-owned enterprises such as capital-contributing members or owners of limited liability companies or members of the board of directors of joint-stock companies.

(ii) Foreign employees entering Vietnam for a short-term period of fewer than 30 days and no more than three times in a calendar year.

(iii) Foreign employees working in representative offices and projects of international organizations or nongovernmental organizations in Vietnam or entering Vietnam to perform work under official development assistance projects.

(iv) Foreign employees are students from overseas schools who have internship agreements with Vietnamese enterprises and foreign volunteers.

(v) Foreign employees are foreign lawyers who have been granted a license to practice law in Vietnam or foreign employees who work in the field of journalism or are sent to Vietnam by a foreign organization to teach and conduct research at international schools.

(vi) Foreign employees moving internally within 11 service industries in Vietnam's service commitment schedule with the World Trade Organization.

(vii) Foreign employees entering Vietnam under cooperation agreements or for diplomatic purposes.

(viii) Foreign employees marrying Vietnamese people.

3. What are the legal risks when foreign employees work in Vietnam without WPs?

According to the regulations, when foreign employees work in Vietnam without WPs (except for the case of WPEC), both the foreign employees and enterprises are sanctioned for administrative violations as follows:

(i) For enterprises using foreign employees without the WP or WPEC or with an expired WP, the following levels of fine are as follows:

From 60 million Vietnamese dong (approximately $2,624) to 90 million Vietnamese dong (approximately $3,936) for violations involving one to 10 people.

From 90 million Vietnamese dong (approximately $3,936) to 120 million Vietnamese dong (approximately $5,248) for violations involving 11 to 20 people.

From 120 million Vietnamese dong (approximately $5,248) to 150 million Vietnamese dong (approximately $6,560) for violations involving 21 or more people.

(ii) For employees working in Vietnam without the WP or WP exemption, a fine of 15 million Vietnamese dong (approximately $656) to 25 million Vietnamese dong (approximately $1,093) shall be imposed. The employee, in this case, might be expelled from Vietnam.

In addition, if a dispute arises between the foreign worker and the enterprise about the labor relationship, the foreign employee may not be protected by Vietnamese law.

Linh Nguyen is a senior paralegal with BLawyers Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  2022 BLawyers Vietnam. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission of Lexology.
India will on Friday launch an open network for digital commerce (ONDC) as the government tries to end the dominance of UScompanies Amazon.com and Walmart in the fast-growing e-commerce market, a government document showed, Reuters report said.

The launch of the platform comes after India's antitrust body on Thursday raided domestic sellers of Amazon and some of Walmart's Flipkart following accusations of competition law violations. The companies did not respond to request for comment on the raids, the report said.

Indian retailers, key supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have long contended that Amazon and Flipkart's platforms benefit a few big sellers, via predatory pricing, though the companies say they comply with all Indian laws.

The government's so-called ONDC platform will allow buyers and sellers to connect and transact with each other online, no matter what other application they use. It will be soft-launched on Friday before being expanded, the trade ministry told.
Is it true or not that you are feeling upset of being away from your dearest sibling who is currently dwelling abroad in light of the fact that it's Rakhi round the corner? Well in the event that yes is your response, the uplifting news for you to be content is that you can now send Rakhi to your beloved brother across globe.

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Tell your sibling on this favorable event the amount you miss him. Being a sister, you stay miles from your sibling because of expert reasons. This diminishes the opportunity to actually tie Rakhi string around the wrist of your sibling.








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This weather alert is brought to you by Child Development





The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for Schuylkill County for Friday.RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM FRIDAY MORNING TO 10 PM EDTFRIDAY EVENING FOR EAST-CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA...The National Weather Service in State College has issued a Red Flag Warning, which is in effect from 9 AM this morning to 10 PMEDT this evening. The Fire Weather Watch is no longer in effect.* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zones 037 Tioga, 041 Northern Lycoming, 042 Sullivan, 046 Southern Lycoming, 049 Union, 050 Snyder, 051 Montour, 052 Northumberland, 053 Columbia, 057Dauphin, 058 Schuylkill, 059 Lebanon, 065 York and 066 Lancaster.* TIMING...Friday morning through Friday evening.* WINDS...Northwest 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 15 percent.* TEMPERATURES...Mid 50s to low 60s this afternoon.* IMPACTS...Rapid wildfire growth and spread expected. Outdoor burning is not recommended.PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring or are imminent due to a combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and dry fuels. Any fires that develop may quickly get out of control and become difficult to contain.
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If the Russia-China statement was supposed to make the world safe for autocracy, it didnt have a very long shelf-life. The autocrats overplayed their hand, said George Magnus from Oxford Universitys China Centre. COVID cul-de-sac Xi faces a parallel reverse over COVID, having manoeuvred his country into a disastrous cul-de-sac. Some 43 cities making up two fifths of Chinese GDP are in some form of lockdown at a time when the rest of the world is returning to normal. Much of Xilin has been a prison for almost seven weeks. The financial capital Shanghai is in week four, and Beijing is again on a knife-edge. Communist Party cyber-censors are struggling to suppress netizen fury akin to the seditious rumblings two years ago over the treatment of Wuhan whistleblower Dr Li Wenliang. The great totalitarian lockdown is failing, but there is no sign that Xi intends to call it off. The loss of face would be too great. I dont see any path to the exit, said Roger Garside, a former British diplomat and author of China Coup: the Great Leap to Freedom.

To persist with dynamic zero-COVID against Omicron borders on insanity, but President Xi is trapped by his own triumphalism. The state media has gone beyond the point of no return in weaponising Chinas low death toll for propaganda purposes, deeming it a dazzling vindication of his leadership. Nor can he let go. The population has no antibodies beyond the modest protection of its defective vaccines, and Xi refuses to let in Western vaccines. Some 40 per cent of those aged over 60 have not been fully jabbed. To relax would imply the sort of fatalities seen in Hong Kong, where deaths reached almost 300 a day in March. Multiply that by 200 for China and the figures become vertiginous. Xi is doomed to persist with zero-COVID at least until his coronation - no longer so certain - at the 20th Party Congress in October. Perpetual nightmare

What looked like a Chinese triumph in mid-2020 has turned into a perpetual nightmare, with ever more malign consequences for the economy. Loading Capital Economics says output contracted by 3.2 per cent in March under its proxy measure of GDP. The slump in services matches the Delta shock last year. Long-distance journeys are again nearing the nadir seen two years ago. New housing starts have fallen by a quarter, and sales of construction machinery have fallen by a third. Under this proxy measure, Chinas economic output is scarcely higher today than in late 2019, while the US has leap-frogged ahead. This reversal of fortunes looked unthinkable two years ago when many assumed that the pandemic would bring forward the Chinese sorpasso, the supposedly inevitable moment when China overtakes the US to become the worlds economic master. Chinas leaders drew a dubious conclusion from the COVID travails of the West. They thought it validated the organising principle of the Communist state as such. It convinced them that their model was better, so they doubled down, said Mark Williams, Asia chief at Capital Economics.

They launched a Maoist rectification purge of the tech sector and the unruly private companies that generate most of Chinas economic growth, presenting these attacks as a form of trust-busting in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelts Square Deal. The real purpose was to bring all centres of rival power under Xis tight control. On current trends, Beijing is now less likely to pull ahead in comprehensive power by the end of the decade. There is nothing inevitable about Chinas rise in the world. Lowy Institute Xi is alert to the danger of a fresh recession. He has ordered a blast of investment in infrastructure, telling the Central Committee that Chinese growth must surpass US growth this year. Bill Bishop from Sinocism says this has echoes of Chairman Maos call to exceed the UK, catch up America in 1958, at the onset of the catastrophic Great Leap Forward and the starvation of some 35 million people - catalogued in Yang Jishengs harrowing book Tombstone. The relaxation of debt controls and the return to stimulus as usual may engender another short-term boomlet and a better few months for distressed Chinese equities. But it does nothing to tackle the Leninist-capitalist model of top-down credit control at the root of Chinas economic stagnation.

Premier Li Keqiang warned a decade ago that China had already picked the low-hanging fruit of catch-up growth and breakneck industrial expansion. It would remain stuck in the middle income trap if it clung too long to this obsolete development strategy. Loading Xi picked up some of his points: chiefly the quest for hi-tech ascendancy. He ignored the deeper political point: that it requires a degree of pluralist free-thinking to compete at the technology frontier, where the air is thinner. A recent study in China: An International Journal concluded that the growth rate of Chinese total factor productivity - the gold standard measure of true performance - collapsed from 3.1 per cent in the 2000s to 1.1 per cent over 2010-2019. Chinas profile no longer resembles those of Japan and the Asian tigers as they broke out of the trap. It has converged with Western levels of productivity before it is rich. In hindsight, we can see that China suffered the greatest damage from the global financial crisis of 2008, not the US as the Communist leadership supposed.

The window is closing on Chinas bid for world mastery. Its workforce is shrinking by 3 million a year. It is running out of time before the ageing crisis hits in the late 2020s. Zero COVID has flattened the economic trajectory so much that China is no longer narrowing the economic gap with the US at all. On current trends, Beijing is now less likely to pull ahead in comprehensive power by the end of the decade. There is nothing inevitable about Chinas rise in the world, says Australias Lowy Institute. China has hit an economic and diplomatic dead-end. It can be the worlds superpower colossus, but not under this model and not in wolf warrior conflict with the West, shackled to Putin. And not as long as Xi has his way. The Daily Telegraph, London
The large increase in funding from the Australian government in 2020 is largely due to spending on employer incentives for apprentices and trainees. The Australian government has said in the 2021-22 financial year, its total funding contributions for VET will increase to $7.8 billion. While the policy focus has been on apprentices and trainees, the VET system provides training to a wide range of occupations. About 6.5 million people are employed in occupations with a skill level commensurate with a VET qualification, and about 41 per cent of forecast job growth to November 2025 are in occupations aligned to VET qualifications. What are the major issues? Apprentices are an important option for young people and account for about 10 per cent of the pathways young people take from school to work.

Outside of apprentices and trainees, the VET sector continues its long decline as a pathway. In 1986, there were roughly the same number of young people aged 15 to 24 enrolled at VET institutions as there were at higher education institutions. By 2016, the split was 78 per cent higher education and 22 per cent VET. Part of the reason for this decline is chronic underfunding of the sector. Mitchell Institute analysis shows that universities receive about twice the amount per full time equivalent student as vocational providers. Universities are also more able to supplement the domestic student income from international students. International students at VET providers, however, are concentrated at non-public providers. TAFEs are the largest providers in VET, but they only enrol about 5 per cent of VET international students. A major part of the governments response to broader skills training needs is through JobTrainer, which it claims will offer 450,000 places for school-leavers and job seekers to upskill. While 450,000 sounds like a lot, what constitutes a place or an enrolment in VET can vary enormously and range from a half a day first aid course to a four-year apprenticeship.

The most recent year-to-date data shows that while government funded full-time equivalent enrolments have increased in 2021 compared to 2020, they have not exceeded pre-pandemic levels. What are the major parties offering? The memory of policy disasters and the current skills shortages mean that key VET battlegrounds will be sector stewardship and the sectors role in meeting skills needs. As evidence of their support for the VET sector, the Coalition will highlight their funding of apprentices and trainees during the pandemic, trading off the public association of apprentices with wider VET.

The Coalition can argue that federal investment in VET is at record levels because of their policies, even though this is largely due to the wage subsidy program that employers receive instead of general investment in the sector. Loading The Coalition will highlight the $3.7 billion over five years for the new announced in the recent. But analysis shows this amount returns Commonwealth funding to pre-pandemic levels. It is also unclear whether states and territories will agree to the conditions placed on the funding. Labor is framing its VET policy around a restoration of locally manufactured products and green skills. Labor is adopting the free TAFE programs that originated in the states and placing a requirement that 70 per cent of Commonwealth funds go to public providers. The Greens have the most ambitious policy by offering free education across all levels of education and a focus on public provision of education. This involves removing funding for any education provider which is for-profit and the abolition of student debt.
Hidden in plain sight in Brett Whiteleys Archibald Prize-winning portrait Self Portrait in the studio is a blue and white ceramic vase that gives a hint to the artists lesser-known obsessions.

In Whiteleys equally famous The Balcony 2 a narrow-necked Persian jar appears to float in the frame of an expansive ultramarine harbour.

Whiteley is best known for his oils, particularly those peerless water views from Lavender Bay, but his restless energy found its way into tapestries, prints, drawings and ceramics.

Brett Whiteley in John Dellows pottery studio in Katoomba c 1984. Credit:John Dellow

The vase of his Self Portrait is unlikely to have been made by Whiteley himself  Brett and Wendy Whiteley had an extensive collection of blue-and-white ware. But a new exhibition Brett Whiteley: Blue and White brings together 45 hand-formed works made by Whiteley, which bear the artists trademark cobalt blue and white glaze.
The historic villa of Willow Grove, which was pulled down to make way for the $915 million Parramatta Powerhouse, is lying in bits in a storage facility in south-western Sydney and seems unlikely to be reconstructed anytime soon.

National Trust NSW has withdrawn from the reference group set up by the Perrottet government to find it a new site, saying that on inspection of the buildings stored remains and catalogues, it had concluded that the mansion could not be authentically reconstructed.

The Italianate villa Willow Grove before it was dismantled. Credit:Steven Siewert

The surviving Victorian mansion on the Parramatta riverside was to have been photographed, catalogued, documented and surveyed in detail to enable it to be reconstructed on a new site to be decided by mid-year.

The 1891-built home came down last year after the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union lifted a green ban that had protected it from relocation. A separate heritage-listed row of terraces has been incorporated into the design of the Parramatta Powerhouse.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Spectrum is thrilled to introduce you to the winners of this years Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists awards. In the 26th year of the prize, the three winners - Diana Reid, Ella Baxter and Michael Burrows - are all first-time novelists with three very distinct novels. Reids Love and Virtue is a topical novel about consent set on a university campus, Baxters New Animal is a wry story of a mortuary cosmetologists journey to self-discovery after her mothers death, and Burrows Where the Line Breaks playfully experiments with form as a PhD student seeks to reveal the identity of the Unknown Digger in his doctorate. The judges were critic and poet Thuy On, 2011 SMH Best Young Australian Novelist Gretchen Shirm and SMH Spectrum editor Melanie Kembrey. The three stood out from the many entrants for their strong narrative voices, memorable characters and sharp writing - theyll make you laugh, cry and keep thinking long after youve turned the final page. What does it mean to be an SMH Best Young Australian Novelist? The annual prize was created by then literary editor Susan Wyndham in 1997 to recognise young, local writers.

The awards are open to writers aged 35 and younger at the time of publication of their nominated books and the judging panel changes each year.

Previous winners include Nam Le, Jessie Tu, Alice Bishop, Robbie Arnott, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Hannah Kent, Sonya Hartnett, Malcolm Knox, Elliot Perlman, Luke Davies, Christos Tsiolkas and Gillian Mears. The prize was established by former Herald literary editor Susan Wyndham to recognise emerging local writing talent. The awards are open to writers aged 35 and younger at the time of publication of their nominated books. Thanks to the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, Diana Reid will receive $8000, with Ella Baxter and Michael Burrows each getting $1000. Here, Spectrum deputy editor Robert Moran chats with the winners. Diana Reid, 26, Love and Virtue The Sydney author, based in Surry Hills, earned Sally Rooney comparisons with her topical debut Love and Virtue, a coming-of-age novel about sex, consent and class politics at a fictional Sydney uni.

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Diana Reid: I am conscious that when youre asking someone to read a book youre asking them to give you literally hours of their life, so if anything it should at least be interesting. Congratulations on being named our best young, Australian novelist. I think you also win $8000 in prize money. What will you do with it?

Im not sure yet. Put it in a bank account? That seems sensible. I think the ultimate compliment for a book is that made-up word, unputdownable. Love and Virtue is really unputdownable.

Thank you! I am conscious that when youre asking someone to read a book youre asking them to give you literally hours of their life, so if anything it should at least be interesting. Youve got to give them a reason to keep turning the pages. What specifically led you to write a novel about campus life and consent?

I think it was twofold. One, I just like reading campus novels - The Secret History by Donna Tartt or Brideshead Revisited or the Sally Rooney novels are some of my favourite books. I wasnt conscious of a popular Australian campus novel - thats not to say they dont exist, but I just hadnt come across them - so I guess I just wanted to write the book I wanted to read. The other element was that Id obviously just left university. I wrote this at 24, the year after I graduated, so I think the setting and the social observations from that time were just very fresh to me. Want to know more? Heres... Declan Frys review of Love and Virtue

Neha Kales interview with Diana Reid

Diana Reid on the joys of ocean swimming Its a very detailed depiction of uni life. Did you spend your uni days taking diary notes in the hope theyd come in handy one day?

(laughs) No, I really didnt! The book is fictional. Its set in an environment Im familiar with, but all the people and all the events are made up. But I think when I started writing, there were observations Id made while I was at uni that Id unknowingly stored away in some part of my mind. I know that like Michaela, the novels protagonist, you studied philosophy at the University of Sydney. Have any uni friends or faculty been in touch about the novel, like, Hmm, that bit hits close to home ?

Um, I havent had any defamation claims, if thats what you mean (laughs). No, theyve been very supportive. The two main characters in the book, theyre studying philosophy, and Im actually doing a Women in Philosophy event at Sydney Uni next week. The narrators quite disdainful of that kind of event in the book, so I did have to assert that her opinions are not mine.

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Whats the most interesting feedback youve received about the book?

I probably underestimated how much it might interest older people, especially because the book deals with sex and consent which are now, fortunately, in the public conversation so prominently. But what was interesting was so many women who went to uni like 10, 20, 30 years ago have said to me they felt it spoke to their experiences as well. Which I guess is kind of depressing in some ways to think it hasnt changed, but also as an author its always nice to know youve written about something thats transcended topicality and is more of a universal human experience. Loading Yes, youve helped so many older people time travel to a really depressing time in their lives.

Yes, literally. So many people have commented that they cringed at their former selves reading it, which is certainly how I felt writing it. Youre publishing your next novel in October. What you can reveal about that?

Its called Seeing Other People and its also set in Sydney, about young people, but its not a campus novel. In this one, I was interested in looking at where we draw the line between self-love and selfishness, and so its a sort of comedy-drama about two very different sisters, two years apart, and their relationship over the course of a summer. Whats your writing process like? Do you lock yourself away or is it more spontaneous?

Ive had an unusual writing experience because I wrote the bulk of both of my novels in lockdown: Love and Virtue I wrote in 2020, and Seeing Other People I wrote last year. I was forced to be inside both times, which I dont know if that bodes well (laughs). I mean, I cant only write when theres a plague on. So the third novel, unless we have another convenient lockdown, you might be dealing with FOMO while trying to get it done?

Yes exactly, Ill finally have to wrestle with the limits of my own self-control. Ella Baxter, 36, New Animal

By New Animals second page, when its protagonist, funeral embalmer Amelia Aurelia, is imagining how shed do the death make-up of the man she just slept with, youre certain that Bellingen-raised, Melbourne-based author Ella Baxter is one of our most original new literary voices.

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Ella Baxter: I feel like with all creativity its really nice to go right to the reach of where youre comfortable and even a bit beyond. Do you appreciate winning awards?

Oh god yes, I love it. External validation works very well for me. Is it true you were working as a kindergarten teacher while writing New Animal? Thats a unique perspective shift to go through day-to-day.

It is. But I was hungry for something meatier, I think. I was unhappy with my job and I felt Id burnt out years before. I was trying to find a way to be a creative person and also have an income, but it felt like the two wouldnt align. Anytime I had a 9-to-5 job I was miserable, but anytime I tried to pursue creativity full-time it just felt like you were mainlining into poverty. How long did you teach?

Six years. I was teaching three-year-olds and it was at a sort of Reggio Emilia-inspired centre so it was all, like, rocks and wood, no plastics, everything was nature-based. I loved the children, I just find the education system completely the antithesis to what I believe in for child development. The book is quite dark. Did that ever bleed into your daytime headspace?

No, my life was totally like two bubbles; I felt like a double agent or something. I feel like with all creativity its really nice to go right to the reach of where youre comfortable and even a bit beyond, and especially when youre in a job when youre singing nursery rhymes and having circle time all day. Want to know more? Heres... Thuy Ons review of New Animal

Kylie Northovers interview with Ella Baxter

Ella Baxter on why being a writer and writing are two separate things Whats harder to write about: sex or death?

I think theyre both quite enjoyable to write about, like even the dark parts of them can be illuminating and they always shine a light on some aspect of humanity that is quite hidden. I feel like writing about grief really made me understand love and attachment, and writing about sex made me understand more about the connection, or disconnection, between the body and mind and about how they can work for or against each other.

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I love the origin story of the book, about the kink party you attended in Byron Bay that inspired you to delve into the BDSM scene for the novel. What kind of things did you see there?

I have this level of curiosity that has actually been a bit of a hindrance in my life because I can become a bit too obsessed with finding out more. I just went through every room in the house, and I was so fascinated by what I was seeing: people in full latex, like sensory deprivation; a pack of people crawling past in leather dog masks. It was shocking and spectacular and confusing and mesmeric. But I have this thing where I fall asleep when I get overwhelmed, so I just fell asleep on their couch. Loading You fell asleep at the kink party.

Yes! And when I woke up, I had this crocheted blanket over me. That juxtaposition of sweet, maternal energy really fascinated me. New Animal is being made into a TV series by Marieke Hardy. Are you involved in it much?

Yes, I think Im named as a consultant. What does that mean?

Weve had a couple of meetings on character development and back story and things like that. But really, Im so happy for them to take it and do what they want with it. Mariekes just a genius. The stuff she comes up with, shes just so fing clever, I love the way her brain works and I dont think she shies away from complexity in female characters. Have you written your next novel?

I just finished one. But Im at a stage where I cant let it go. Im worried its too much (laughs). Too much compared to the BDSM-funeral embalmer novel? Wow.

Its called Woo Woo and its about female rage and vengeance. I wrote it while I was being stalked and its about an artist whos being stalked. The police, therapist, stalking specialists, they all told me, like, dont write the book, basically, cause anything like that the person can take as engagement. But I cant not do that. I want my own rage to, like, fill up space.

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One of Melbourne theatres biggest silver linings to the long, grey pandemic cloud  Malthouses summer season Outdoor Stage  is to become a permanent addition to the citys cultural scene after a multimillion-dollar investment from the state government.

Malthouse Theatre artistic director Matthew Lutton with musicians Rita Satch and Thando who performed at the latest Outdoor Stage summer season. Credit:Eddie Jim

The stage, which sits in the capacious courtyard in Southbank between Malthouse, ACCA and dance company Chunky Move, was a COVID innovation born of necessity: a brainwave that allowed audiences to attend music, comedy and cabaret when indoors theatres were closed or severely capacity-capped. So far it has hosted 25,000 people at 80 events, over two years.

Our plan with it has always been for it to be a seasonal, ongoing part of the Malthouse experience, said Malthouse executive director and co-CEO Sarah Neal.

Aside from the COVID stuff, its just a great space, and it allows us to be able to do a lot of additional programming, to bring in different artists that we wouldnt necessarily get the opportunity to work with  as well as partnering with festivals like Yirramboi and Midsumma.
An appeal court has ruled that a doctor from the controversial Chelmsford psychiatric hospital in Sydney is entitled to a retrial of part of his defamation suit against a journalist and publisher, overturning an earlier decision to dismiss the case.

Dr John Gill and his late former colleague John Herron, who was deregistered as a doctor in the 1990s over unrelated matters, launched defamation proceedings in 2017 against the ABCs Steve Cannane and HarperCollins over his Walkley-nominated 2016 book Fair Game: The Incredible Untold Story of Scientology in Australia.

Dr John Gill leaving the Chelmsford royal commission hearing in 1989. Credit:Palani Mohan

Federal Court Justice Jayne Jagot dismissed the case in November 2020 and the men lodged an appeal in December, before Herrons death in February last year.

Jagot had described the defamation case as a bid to rewrite history about the mens work at the defunct private hospital and rejected the claims against Cannane and HarperCollins. But on Friday, the Full Court of the Federal Court  Justices Steven Rares, Michael Lee and Michael Wigney  ruled that Gill, the surviving appellant, was entitled to a retrial.
High-profile independent candidate Jo Dyer has been cleared to continue her campaign in the marginal South Australian seat of Boothby after realising yesterday she may still be a dual British-Australian citizen.

Jo Dyer is running as an independent in South Australias most marginal seat. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Dual citizens are not allowed to be elected to parliament.

Dyer confirmed today that the British Home Office had revoked her UK citizenship before she nominated as a candidate.

She used the news to speak out against Section 44 of the Australian Constitution, which blocks dual citizens from parliament.

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Requiring candidates to renounce a secondary citizenship at the point of nomination is an inhibitor to attracting the widest possible range of people from diverse backgrounds to stand for election to our federal parliament, she said.

Dyer is the former director of Adelaide Writers Week and was a friend of the woman who accused former attorney-general Christian Porter of alleged sexual assault.
Hells Angels chapter president arrested and imitation AK47 rifle seized in Melbourne

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When Laura Baxter was accused of monopolising the attention of actor Tom Cruise aboard Scientologys Caribbean cruise ship in 2004, she says her punishment was to be locked in an extremely hot engine room of the Freewinds ship.

She was shouted at by church officials and then for three days she says she was only allowed to leave to eat for a few minutes at a time or return to her room to sleep for a few hours. She had to urinate in a bin out of fear of being punished for going to the bathroom unaccompanied, she alleges.

The Freewinds cruise ship docked in the port of Castries, the capital of St Lucia. Credit:AP

And in the months after she was finally allowed out, the woman who is now an Australian resident was subjected to intense surveillance and interrogations.

That 2004 birthday celebration for Cruise is mentioned  although the actor is not directly named  as part of an important legal claim lodged in a Florida court that accuses Scientology of child trafficking, covering up multiple sexual assaults and forced labour. There is no suggestion Cruise was aware of Baxters situation.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Every time we ask Siri a question on our iPhones, were using artificial intelligence, of course, but in what other ways will it infiltrate our lives? AI already goes beyond just Siri or Alexa. Every time you get directions from Google Maps, its AI thats working out the shortest path from A to B. When you get a film recommendation on Netflix, its AI that knows about peoples preferences and a little too much about you. More than three-quarters of the movies watched on Netflix are those the algorithms choose for us. And were spending more and more time locked away in digital and virtual realities. If [Facebook founder] Mark Zuckerberg is right, well all be enjoying the metaverse very soon. And theres a distinct possibility well find these artificial realities more attractive than the real physical world. Thats something to worry about right now. Are the applications of AI virtually limitless? Its hard to imagine a part of our lives that wont be touched by AI. Hal Varian, chief economist at Google, has a good way to predict the future: simply look at what rich people have today. Rich people have chauffeurs. And in the future, AI will give us autonomous cars that drive us everywhere. Rich people have personal bankers that manage their money. And soon, well all have robo-bankers that manage our more modest assets. Of course, there are also ways AI will infiltrate our lives that wont be so good. AI might be used in our workplace to decide who gets promoted, in our courts to decide sentencing. We need to make some important choices about putting limits on AI. Thats supposing were offered those choices. Yes, its disturbing to think how authoritarian governments can misuse AI. Even in democracies, weve witnessed the abuse of AI by Cambridge Analytica

[in 2016, the British data firm, working with Donald Trumps election team, harvested 87 million Facebook profiles to predict and influence voting decisions]. According to The Economists Democracy Index, the number of democracies has declined in the past decade, and the global average score fell to its lowest level since the index began in 2006.

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You spearheaded a petition signed by thousands of AI experts across the globe about the dangers of autonomous AI in warfare. But its not humanoid robots youre losing sleep over. When we talk about killer robots, its not Terminator but much simpler technologies like the semi-autonomous drones being used in Libya, Syria and, most recently, Ukraine. Humans are increasingly being removed from the decision-making in such drones, replaced by computers. This will take us to a dystopian future that will look like a bad episode of [the sci-fi series] Black Mirror. Like other technologies such as chemical weapons or blinding lasers, we must regulate against AI-driven autonomous weapons. Ive spoken about the risks of killer robots at the United Nations half a dozen times. And thousands of my colleagues, other experts in AI, share these concerns. As do 26 Nobel laureates, the UN Secretary-General, the European Union Parliament, 61 per cent of the public in 26 countries, and civil society organisations like the International Committee of the Red Cross and Amnesty International. Toby Walsh says George Orwell got one thing wrong in his book 1984: Its not Big Brother, people watching people; its computers watching people. Credit:Grant Turner/UNSW What alarms many of us is that the two authoritarian superpowers, China and Russia, already use AI to control their populations through surveillance and misinformation. The use of AI by authoritarian countries like China and Russia worries me, too. George Orwell got one thing wrong in his book 1984. Its not Big Brother, people watching people. That has limits. No, its computers watching people. You can surveil a whole nation in real time. And we see certain countries starting to go down that road. Look at the terrible things being done to the Uyghurs [in north-west China], enabled in part by AI technologies such as facial recognition. You moved to Australia from the UK in 2005. How does Australia rate globally in its research into AI? Australia punches above its weight in AI. Were easily in the top 10, and by some measures even top five, in the world. This was one of the reasons I moved here, along with the better weather. Having said that, the federal government has been investing much less than other nations in AI. Whoever wins the next election needs to invest more to keep us ahead. Under the most recent governments, we saw a hostility to universities, and despite all the talk about investment in the technology sector, this hasnt materialised. We are squandering our lead and we cant afford to.

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If we slip behind, will this affect our national security? Most definitely. AI will change how we fight war: autonomous submarines are being developed by both the Chinese and the Russians. And China is increasingly using AI to develop its industrial base even further  economic strength, after all, leads to military strength. Loading You write that AI cannot match the intelligence of a two-year-old, but it can do narrow-focused tasks that have profound consequences. Can you give any examples? I could tell you about AI that diagnoses COVID-19. Or about the AI that I worked on to route trucks more efficiently, saving a major Australian company from emitting thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide. But let me give you instead some of the more unusual applications that have come out recently. How about the AI invented here in Australia by the music production company Uncanny Valley that composed a Eurovision song that won the very first AI song contest? Or the AI-designed craft beer on sale here in Australia courtesy of the folks at the Australian Institute for Machine Learning? Youve described how AI can augment human intelligence: make us better chess players, composers, medical specialists. Isnt this just old-fashioned cheating? Weve always used tools to augment what we can do. We werent the fastest animal. Or the strongest. But we were the smartest, so we built tools to make us the fastest and strongest. And were now building tools to make us even smarter.

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So far, AI is a collection of single-purpose, different technologies. Will we see the day when it can create a super-intelligent conscious being? There are no laws of physics that we know about that would prevent us replicating human intelligence in silicon. And machines would have many advantages over human frailty. Computers will be faster, will have more memory and will never forget. They can look at data sets beyond human imagination, identifying patterns that our puny brains would never spot. Think what we could do with even more intelligence on the planet. Cure cancer? Generate limitless clean energy with nuclear fusion? Solve world hunger and poverty? Unlock the mystery of where all the missing socks go? Walsh explains what we can do to prevent the harmful consequences of mutant algorithms in 10 Minute Genius | Mutant Algorithms on UNSWs Youtube channel. Credit:Yaya Stempler Youve said the AI revolution is being spearheaded by companies that dont adhere to the usual corporate rules. How so? The Big Tech companies building AI have immense wealth. That gives them immense power. And they arent governed in the same way as old-fashioned corporations. Take Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat. When it listed on the New York Stock Exchange, it sold its shares to the public with no voting rights at all. Despite this, the IPO raised $5 billion, and the stock closed its first day up 44 per cent. What was the US Securities and Exchange Commission thinking? How did we go from executives of public listed companies being accountable to the shareholders, to them being accountable to no one but themselves? The big bogeyman is the threat to privacy  Our privacy has already been eroded over time, thanks to technologies like CCTV, and we havent noticed. If we arent careful, it can wipe out our last bit of privacy.

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Facial-recognition technology, powered by AI, has charged ahead in leaps and bounds. One study even claimed that algorithms could predict a persons sexuality from one image of their face. The claims that software could tell someones sexuality from a single image have been shown to be bogus. And its not just bogus, but dangerous. There are countries where homosexuality is still illegal, and even a few where it is punishable by death. We continue to struggle to get facial recognition software to recognise people of colour, to recognise women, and most especially to recognise women of colour. Loading On the flip side, youve described how facial-recognition software was used to reunite more than 10,000 children in Indian orphanages with their parents. Tell us some other good-news AI stories. First up is Halicin, a new type of antibiotic recently discovered using AI. Its named after HAL, the AI computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. With drug-resistant bacteria on the rise, we desperately need to discover new antibiotics like this. Second is Deepminds AlphaFold software, which can accurately predict the shape of proteins. This promises to unlock the secrets to life. This was arguably one of the most important stories last year, not just in AI, but in the whole of science. Will AI result in significant job losses? Jobs are a concern. But the conversation here should also be about the jobs that technology creates, and about the skills people need for those new jobs. In the Industrial Revolution, we made some significant structural changes to society to support the disruption industrialisation brought to the workplace. We introduced unions, labour laws, a welfare state, pensions and other reforms to support people and ensure the benefits were fairly distributed. We need to think in similar, bold ways about this AI future.

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The government must be bold and commit to a fully-fledged revamp of Circular Quay in the June budget, Cities Minister Rob Stokes says, despite mounting pressure on the states finances that will mean some major infrastructure projects are delayed.

An investment decision on the long-awaited Circular Quay renewal project is now imminent and Stokes wants Premier Dominic Perrottet to lock in the most dramatic option which would allow the Cahill Expressway to eventually be turned into a pedestrian high line.

Circular Quay is the gateway to Sydney and Australia for many tourists, but has long been regarded as underplaying its potential. Credit:sydneyimages.com.au

At a minimum, the ferry wharves must be replaced as they are nearing the end of their life. But a more ambitious renewal plan would involve the railway station, retail precinct and surrounding public space, costing billions.

All the planning works done. I think everyone thinks its a really good thing to do, Stokes told the Herald. [But] its quite an expensive exercise. These are constrained times, we cant do everything.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister hits out at Australian Government

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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size One day in 2001 the TV current affairs producer Anita Jacoby was researching a story on organ donation when she came across a newspaper article about ratters, morgue workers who stole from corpses. The story, which was from 1996, told how staff at Glebe morgue, in Sydney, routinely rifled through the pockets of recently deceased people, pilfering cash and belongings, including jewellery and items of clothing. Three ratters had been fired following an investigation by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption. It was a disturbing story, but something about it struck Jacoby as odd. The amounts of cash were relatively small  $10 or $20  inconsequential by ICACs standards. Sensing something amiss, Jacoby tracked down the three former staff members, who told her there was indeed a far larger story at the morgue, involving senior pathologists removing body parts without the consent of relatives, and conducting bizarre experiments on the corpses. According to the former staffers, senior pathologists had stabbed dead bodies to study blood splatter patterns and smashed skulls with hammers to replicate murder methods. There were also claims that plastic surgeons had practised on the faces of the deceased, and that in some cases spines had been removed and replaced with broomsticks. One of our sources told me that I needed to speak to the former morgue manager, called Frank Smalley, says Jacoby. I tracked Frank down and went to visit him at his house, where he had kept a 50-page document with data on all the corpses: names and causes of death and the dates of autopsy. Next to that was a list of the body parts that had been taken: eyes, brains, femurs, knees, lungs. Frank had given it all to the ICAC, and theyd done nothing. The subsequent story, The Body Snatchers, aired on Nines Sunday in March 2001, presented by investigative journalist Helen Dalley. (A modified version also ran on 60 Minutes.) In it, Professor John Hilton, director of the morgue, admitted on camera that hed used knives on bodies, without permission, to test the effects of stabbing, and that up to 1000 bodies were being buried every year without their brains. Its got to be stopped, said a parent of one of the deceased. Theyre scavenging from bodies. The story was a bombshell, prompting two government inquiries and a change to the NSW Human Tissues Act 1983, making it a legal requirement that next of kin give consent before any of their relatives body parts are removed. For Jacoby, The Body Snatchers had everything that makes journalism worthwhile: human interest, social justice and, most importantly, impact. Helen and I went hell for leather to make sure [the harvesting of body parts] was stopped, and it was. Twenty years on, and Jacoby is no less in love with storytelling. Widely recognised as one of the most accomplished TV current affairs producers in Australia, she has, in the course of a 40-year career, worked as a senior producer for all of Australias commercial networks, as well as the ABC, SBS and Foxtel, and was for a time managing director of the Australian arm of British giant, ITV Studios. She has produced and won multiple awards for marquee programs such as 60 Minutes, Enough Rope and The Gruen Transfer, and hustled interviews with Bill Clinton, Elton John and Alan Bond, among others. She has, from behind the scenes, wrangled contracts, massaged egos and mended fences, all the while trading on her talent alone in a churn-and-burn business populated by network silverbacks and boys-club politicking. One of the things I like about Anita is that she doesnt suffer from the ego problem, says long-time friend and ABC TV producer Helen Grasswill. She detests bragging and doesnt big note.

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Jacoby with Andrew Denton, host of the TV program Enough Rope, at the AFI Awards in 2004. Credit:Angela Wylie Jacoby, who is in her early 60s, has blue eyes, a gold and red streaked pixie cut, and the compact frame of the habitually active. (For many years she played competition squash, and she still swims two kilometres a day.) Together with her accountant husband, John Cary, she lives in a large, modern home on the waterfront at Pittwater, on Sydneys northern beaches, with books and artwork and a minor museums worth of African carvings and facemasks, collected by the couple on their travels. The morning I turn up, the view is chocolate-box pretty, with ducks on the water below and a little nursery of sailboats, their rigging clinking in the breeze. I love living here, she tells me. I saw a shark this morning, just cruising around, out there. Theres all this stuff going on here that you hardly even notice most of the time. I realised that Ive travelled all over the world and told hundreds of stories, only to find probably the richest story of my life within my own family. Jacoby no longer works hands-on in TV, something she says she misses all the time. Instead, she contributes to a constellation of industry bodies, including as chair of the ABC Advisory Council, which advises the ABC board on programming, and as an associate member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority. She also does pro bono work on the board of a group called Women in Media, among others. Mentoring is a big thing for her. Anita never imposes her view, says TV presenter Hamish Macdonald. But at the same time, she wont bullshit you if she thinks an idea or decision isnt right. For the past three years, however, Jacoby has been consumed by a more personal project, a book called Secrets Beyond the Screen, to be published next week. Even in an age of genre-melding titles, Secrets is a shape-shifter, a detective thriller by way of memoir, a family history that detours into Gothic tragedy and Cold War intrigue. I had no idea when I started that itd turn out like that, Jacoby tells me. When I found all this new stuff, I realised that Ive travelled all over the world and told hundreds of stories, only to find probably the richest story of my life within my own family. Anita Jacoby grew up the elder of two children in Killara, a middle-class suburb in Sydneys north. As a teenager, she was a rebel: she wagged school, went surfing, didnt study. Her parents sent her to Presbyterian Ladies College, an expensive private school, but in year 10 she was expelled for smoking. (She finished school at Abbotsleigh, another private school nearby.) I was pushing boundaries, she says. I needed to find my own place in the world.

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The principal figure in Jacobys life was her father, Phillip. Born in Germany, Phillip had escaped to Australia on the eve of World War II before starting several successful businesses. He was tall, elegant, gentlemanly; a pipe smoker with an Errol Flynn moustache, fluent in several languages, a lover of culture, ideas and a good suit. He could be warm and tender but also manipulative, given to using his commanding presence to impress or intimidate, depending on his mood. Phillip was quite a severe man, and he didnt take fools gladly, says Helen Grasswill, who knew him well. He could be brusque, and people were sometimes scared of him in the sense of saying something he might ridicule. To Jacoby, however, he was perfect. Phillip would shower her with attention, to the exclusion of his wife, Josephine, and son, Karl. (Phillip had another daughter, Linda, from a previous marriage, who grew up largely in boarding school.) Come the weekend, he would spend hours with Jacoby in his book-lined study, talking about the world and current affairs. He taught her to think critically and ask questions. There must be a reason, he would counsel her. Her mother, Josephine, was more often Jacobys adversary, policing her relationships and homework. But her father was always an ally. Jacoby as a young girl with her father, Phillip, who escaped to Australia from Germany just before World War II. Credit:Courtesy of Anita Jacoby In the 1950s, Phillip ran a business importing telephone cabling; by the 1960s, he was bringing in electrical equipment from Japan, and had secured the Australian distribution licence for Sony, then the worlds largest consumer electronics manufacturer. Growing up, the Jacobys always had the latest technology: transistor radios, reel-to-reel tape decks, Japanese television sets. As Jacoby writes, I understood the power of pictures in storytelling from a young age. By the age of 15, Jacoby had decided she wanted to be a journalist. After leaving school, she worked briefly for Paul Hamlyn, the publishing company, and The Australian Womens Weekly, under influential editor Ita Buttrose. (Many of us were going to the same hairdresser [as Ita], Jacoby writes in her book. Some were even copying her lisp.) But getting into television was her ultimate goal. After a year at the Weekly, at the age of 21, she got a researchers job at a kids current affairs show called Simon Townsends Wonder World! The conditions were appalling, with low pay and 12-hour days. Jacoby told her father, who suggested she look for work at smaller, regional TV stations. This she did, becoming a reporter at Channel 3 in Newcastle.

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Jacoby with her mother Josephine and brother Karl, circa 2000. Credit:Courtesy of Anita Jacoby Jacoby was on the ascent. In 1983, she and Grasswill, whom shed met at Hamlyn, set up their own production company. In 1985, she moved to breakfast television as a producer at Network Tens Good Morning Australia before switching to Nines Today show, with George Negus and Liz Hayes. She was a potent character, recalls Hayes. Incredibly energetic, committed and hard-working. She stood out. Despite this, Jacoby was overlooked for promotion three times, with the job going to a man on each occasion. Again, her father urged her to look for other opportunities. She duly resigned, in 1989, but a couple of days later was lured back with an offer to be associate producer at 60 Minutes, then at its height. I loved it, she says. Theyd give you an American Express card, you jumped on a plane and went anywhere in the world. According to Jacoby, her father encouraged her to pursue stories that will make a difference. During her six years at 60 Minutes, she produced stories on Alzheimers, AIDS and disability. She left the program in 1995, but returned in the early 2000s to make several ground-breaking specials, including an exclusive on Rolah McCabe, a Victorian woman with terminal lung cancer who made Australian legal history when she sued Big Tobacco and won. I can still see Rolah, says Jacoby. She was thin and gaunt, and decades of smoking had affected her voice. Jacoby with 60 Minutes colleague, reporter Jennifer Byrne (at right), in 1998. Credit:Courtesy of Anita Jacoby Sixty Minutes was relatively progressive, but Jacoby learnt how hard it was being a woman in Australian television. It was incredibly blokey, she tells me. Management were all men who only employed other men because they felt challenged by smart women. There was a particular type of woman who made them feel comfortable, the woman who would dress in a flirtatious way and all the rest. But if you just wanted to be good at your job and deliver on that, it made them really uncomfortable. Jacoby looked to the senior women around her, including Kerri-Anne Kennerley, who had co-hosted Good Morning Australia with Gordon Elliott. In her book, Jacoby describes how Kennerley guilefully turned Elliotts ego to her advantage: Although he thought he was in charge, in fact, she was in charge. Like Kennerley, Jacoby would remain comfortable in her own skin and confident in her abilities.

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Nothing ever got handed to these women, says friend and former 60 Minutes reporter Jeff McMullen. Those breakfast programs are just puppet shows. They barely take the women in the audience seriously, let alone the women in the studio. And women like Anita and Liz [Hayes] had to fight their way up through that. Today, he adds, there are young women performing superbly in the Ukraine and with the floods and elsewhere and no one is second guessing them about being female. That is a huge change, and Anitas generation made that possible. In Easter 1990, Jacoby took her then boyfriend, Anthony McClellan, to a cattle farm her family owned in north-western NSW. She and McClellan went for a spin around the property on a motorbike, with Jacoby riding pillion. At one point, however, Jacoby lost her balance and got her right foot trapped in the back wheel. Her leg became mangled in the spokes and had to be amputated. (She now wears a prosthesis below the knee.) For someone as active as Jacoby, the accident was a catastrophe. A young Jacoby at her familys farm near Boggabri in north-western NSW. Credit:Courtesy of Anita Jacoby Her father was devastated; she now believes the stress of it hastened his descent into dementia. He became erratic, hitting out at his wife, Josephine. He went to a home, where he was heavily sedated. He died in 1996; Jacoby still carries a photo of him in her wallet. She didnt talk publicly about the accident: hardly anyone outside 60 Minutes knew about it. Instead, she focused on her career. She developed an interview program with broadcaster John Laws on Foxtel, and worked with comedian and presenter Andrew Denton on an ABC TV program called Enough Rope. Then, in 2013, she was headhunted to run ITVs local operations. One night soon afterward, she was at a dinner party at the home of her half-sister Linda in Sydneys eastern suburbs. Jacoby announced her new job, adding that she wished her father were around to see it. A friend of Lindas, a lawyer named John Atkin, then turned to Jacoby, looked her in the eye and asked if shed known about that infamous, long-running court case involving her father in the 1950s.

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The man charged with directing a massive drug-smuggling operation from inside Barwon Prison has been jailed for 32 years for murdering a man in a shooting outside a Melbourne shopping plaza.

Australian Federal Police allege George Marrogi was this year directing criminal operations for a drug syndicate while pretending to be speaking to his lawyer on a prison phone. They have charged him over his alleged connection to $55 million worth of methamphetamine and heroin that was seized by investigators in February.

George Marrogi has been jailed for 32 years for murder. Credit:Facebook

Marrogi was in prison awaiting sentence for the murder of Kadir Ors, whom he fatally shot outside Campbellfield Plaza on September 26, 2016. On Friday, he was ordered to serve at least 27 years before he is eligible for parole. Marrogi was found guilty of murder by a Supreme Court jury last year.

Justice Paul Coghlan said the 33-year-old had spent 15 of the past 16 years in custody for other crimes and time on remand over Ors death. Marrogi was arrested and taken into custody the day after he shot Ors and sat through three trials, which all ended without verdict, before he was found guilty by a fourth jury.
Victoria has recorded more cases of flu in the past few days than the whole of last year, as influenza returns after being seen off by COVID pandemic border closures.

There wasnt a single community acquired case of the flu detected in Victoria in 2021, with all the 109 recorded cases found in returned travellers, according to Professor Kanta Subbarao, the director of the World Health Organisations Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza.

Victorias Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton gets his flu jab on Friday. Credit:Twitter

Subbarao said while it was now clear we will have an influenza season  the first in three years  how severe that season is, is something that will be very hard to predict.

There have been 886 cases of influenza recorded in Victoria this year, including hundreds in recent days.
A 28-year-old woman has been charged with murder over the death of a young child at a home in Madora Bay on Wednesday morning.

Officers were called to a residence on Balclutha Crescent, in the coastal suburb to the north of Mandurah, about 4.50am on Wednesday in relation to a noise complaint.

Police at a Madora Bay home on Wednesday investigating the death of a 14-month-old boy. Credit:Nine News Perth

After arriving at the scene, the officers identified a 14-month-old boy who was unresponsive.

Emergency first aid was given to the child until St John Ambulance arrived but the toddler could not be revived.
Finland's decision on its membership in NATO "will be taken very soon," said Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin during her visit to Greece on Thursday.





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Opposition leader Anthony Albanese is yet to commit to a second election debate with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and has left the heavy lifting to Labor colleagues on his first day of campaigning after a weeks isolation.

After appearing on breakfast television on Friday morning, Albanese declined to hold a major press conference before flying to Perth ahead of Labors weekend campaign launch.

Anthony Albanese insists he is willing to debate Scott Morrison again, but will not let the prime minister control the timing or venue.

Im up for more debates, Albanese told the ABC. But Im not up for the prime minister deciding when, who, how that all occurs.

Labor officials are still weighing up whether to agree to a debate hosted by the Nine network on May 8, wanting to see whether their leader has completely recovered from COVID-19.
I was driving my kids to the supermarket when they suddenly started screaming, and pleading for mercy. NO! Mum! they shouted, please, stop! But I didnt stop, even though I could have ended their suffering in a moment. Indeed, I cranked it up further. Because I was rather enjoying it.

No, I hadnt confiscated their phones, put The Sound of Music on the car stereo or announced that we were moving to Adelaide. The cause of their pain was that, with the federal election approaching, Id decided to explain the workings of our bicameral parliamentary system, delivering my impromptu civics lesson while I had them trapped in a fast-moving vehicle.

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Interestingly, its not politics per se that makes my kids scream with boredom. Indeed, they quite like discussing the misadventures of politicians, particularly when those mishaps have been spliced together into a hilarious TikTok video. Theyre interested in big issues too: the environment, the pandemic response, even the economy can occasionally hold their interest, particularly when it affects the price of handheld electronic goods.

But ask them to describe how our democracy is actually constituted  how many houses of parliament there are, how those houses work and how we vote for them  and a phoneless life in Elizabeth Park suddenly seems attractive by comparison.
Loading The McGowan factor WA Premier Mark McGowan will feature heavily at the launch. He razed the state Liberal Partys parliamentary presence to just two lower house seats in March 2021 on the back of his governments management of COVID-19, and continues to command high levels of popularity, with an approval rating of 64 per cent in February even after controversy over restrictions and vaccine mandates. WA has the nations highest vaccine booster rate, the lowest COVID-19 hospitalisation rate, and another record-breaking multibillion-dollar surplus is expected to be handed down in the May 12 Budget.

McGowan copped criticism from within his own party after he appeared alongside Scott Morrison just weeks before the election was announced, but three weeks out all has been forgiven. Labor is actively pitting Morrison against McGowan on social media, particularly when it comes to economic management and the pandemic. The pandemic is a sore point for the Coalition in WA after it supported Clive Palmers High Court challenge to the states hard border. The policy, which was in place for 23 months, won McGowan support within WA but was often a flashpoint with other states and the Morrison government. Morrison criticised states keeping hard border policies in place as cave people in a reference to the childrens movie The Croods. Whenever Morrison fields questions about McGowan he is quick to point out the contest is between himself and Albanese, and that the WA Premier will still be Premier after election night. One Labor MP, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could discuss the campaign freely, said their party planned to push the Coalition harder on the Palmer case and on comments made by senior Coalition MPs  including Barnaby Joyce likening WA to North Korea  during the pandemic. There is a tone that lacks respect for the West, they said.

Not one Liberal politician from WA broke ranks over the border case. The MP said the McGowan governments budget wins also bode well for federal Labor. WA Labor and Labor members are pitting Mark McGowan against Scott Morrison in election material. Credit:Facebook I think part of the thing that Mark and the team have done in WA is just shift the dial on how people see and trust Labor on those big economic questions, they said. Drum said McGowans presence at the campaign would be used to drum up support from WA voters, but the party would need to balance the message so McGowan didnt put off eastern states Labor supporters.

Its a delicate balancing act, because on the one hand, youve got a situation where all those tactics make sense in WA but theres a national campaign message youre giving, he said. Its not really clear that McGowans government has any popularity beyond our borders. In fact, the odd disparaging comment he might have made about other states might [mean] the opposite. McGowan, who was also isolating after contracting COVID at the same time as Albanese this week, told media upon re-emergence on Thursday that he was looking forward to the Opposition Leader arriving in WA. Seats in play If Labor nab their target seats from their opponents they will even a ledger that has been skewed towards the Liberals since the Hawke era.

Pearce, held with a margin of 5.2 per cent, and Swan, held by 3.2 per cent, are considered the partys best prospects thanks to the retirements of party stalwarts Christian Porter and Steve Irons. Loading Hasluck is considered a tougher prospect due to the personal profile of its incumbent, Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt, who holds a 5.9 per cent margin. Brand MP and opposition resources spokeswoman Madeleine King, who wont be able to make the campaign launch after contracting COVID-19, said retirements breathed life into elections. Thats always, in any seat, an opportunity for change because youve got two new names and less influence of the incumbency, she said.

King said Pearce, being contested by Labors Tracey Roberts and the Liberals Linda Aitken, had morphed into more of a Labor seat thanks to significant boundary redraws. Its increasingly urbanised, kind of like Brand to be honest, that sort of outer suburban area, she said. Earlier this month Morrison said Labor was counting seats as won before the vote was cast in the west. I think that hubris of counting seats on the path of the Labor Party, assuming they have already won them, I think is quite offensive to people, he said. A WA Liberal party spokesperson said every seat in WA was important to the Liberal Party.
The high cost of renting or buying a house in Sydney is one of the hot issues in this federal election but both major parties are ignoring a vital part of the solution.

The Coalition governments main housing policy is an extension to the Home Guarantee Scheme which helps first-home buyers raise the deposit, usually 20 per cent of the purchase price, needed to take out a bank loan. The program will cover 50,000 people, including single parents and people in the regions, cutting their deposit to as low as 2 per cent.

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As with other similar schemes, however, the extra cash is problematic because it will only add more heat to the market and could raise prices further.

The ALP has targeted its support at the bottom end of the market by promising a $10 billion public housing fund. Certainly, rental stress among disadvantaged Australians is a serious problem. An annual survey by Anglicare released this week found that, for them, the rental market is the toughest it has been in 12 years.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size The very first tweet was sent on March 21, 2006. Just setting up my twttr, was the message, posted by company co-founder Jack Dorsey, at the time a clean-cut 29-year-old university dropout. In the entirety of 2007, there were around 1.6 million tweets posted. Some 16 years later Twttr, which was almost immediately renamed Twitter, now dominates news and political discourse across much of the world. Its the platform of choice for journalists, businesspeople and politicians to blast out short missives to the few hundred million Twitter users and beyond. There are around 500 million tweets posted every day. Will Elon Musk makes things better or worse at Twitter? Credit:AP Over the years Twitter has become more and more important. Its a constant and persistent public discussion about public issues, a barometer for the popularity of new ideas and public figures, and an endless feed of news from around the world and across countless topics. Its facilitated real-time conversations between people on Earth and astronauts, introduced new phrases and terminology, given visceral access to wars happening half the world away and offered direct communication with celebrities and world leaders. But it has also become a vehicle for rampant harassment and political polarisation. Users, many anonymous, viciously trolled women and progressives in the video game industry in a 2014 frenzy that included rape and death threats and became known as Gamergate.

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As president, Donald Trump wielded Twitter like a cudgel to direct his admirers against enemies, while conspiracy theories about voter fraud and even more unhinged claims such as the world being run by paedophile cults circulated despite Twitters best efforts. In Australia, some of the most persistent abuse has been targeted at female journalists, such as the ABCs outgoing 7.30 host Leigh Sales, who received sexist slurs and worse from some left-wing social media users. Now  after fundamentally changing the way so much works online  Twitter is being bought by the worlds richest man for more than $60 billion in one of the most fascinating corporate transactions in recent history. And everybody wants to know, will Elon Musk make things better or worse? The service has no shortage of issues to fix; it is after all known to its most ardent users as the hell site. Aside from its inability to mitigate those growing issues of abuse, hate speech and misinformation, its attempts to do so have been attacked as censorship. Including by Musk. And, for all its importance, it just doesnt make enough money, which is reflected in its mediocre stock chart. Twitters shares were worth more in late 2013 than they are today while Facebook, now called Meta, went public in 2012 at $US38 a share and now trades at more than $US200. The reason is plain: Meta produces more than $US100 billion ($140 billion) a year in revenue compared to Twitter, which takes in about $US5 billion. Loading Musk says hes not purchasing Twitter for financial reasons, but he will still need it to make money to generate interest payments for the $US13 billion in debt he is using to buy it. Shares in one of his other companies, the buzzy electric vehicle maker Tesla, are on the line to secure $US12.5 billion in loans too and their value has been plummeting in recent days.

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Theres never been an online platform with a bigger gulf between how influential it is and how much revenue it brings in, meaning Musk has a big opportunity to turn it around. At the same time, Musks self-described approach of free-speech absolutism, which seems to presage the return of divisive but engaging figures banned from the site, most notably former US president Donald Trump, risks making the platform even less desirable for users, further weakening its proposition to advertisers. After all, platforms that have pursued a similar no-holds-barred approach to free speech such as messaging platform 8Chan and right-wing social network Gettr remain on the fringes of the internet. And that is if Trump, who has said he does not want to be lured back to Twitter, can be persuaded to return. Steve Johnson, co-founder and chief investment officer of fund manager and Twitter shareholder Forager, says the buyout was fair but frustrating. Shareholders are getting an appropriate price given where the company is, he says, but wont get a piece of returns that are likely ahead. I think the thesis for a long time, for investors, has been that the platform has been dramatically under-monetised, he says. The ad platform itself is still bizarrely disappointing. Just really dumb things. Steve Johnson, co-founder and chief investment officer of Forager [Twitters] not generating anywhere near as much revenue as they should be for the amount of people using it, and the amount of time that they spend on it. Forager bought shares in Twitter in 2020, seeing the potential that new activist investors could raise the companys revenue per user, but Johnson says things have not gone well. Product improvements have driven a little more engagement, but arent bringing in more money.

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The ad platform itself is still bizarrely disappointing. Just really dumb things. A fellow investor we know went to Thailand on holidays. Twitter knows where he lives and what he tweets about, knows everything about him, and he starts getting ads written in Thai on his Twitter feed. You dont see that from places like Facebook, he says. The other massive thing was an extraordinary ramp up in staff-based compensation and the expenses side of the business, that was again supposed to drive all of these improvements, and we werent seeing a lot of evidence of it. Its not like Twitter doesnt know what the problems are, but its been extremely hesitant to make core changes, possibly for fear of breaking parts of its old and cumbersome technology stack. The building blocks of Twitter, like retweets and hashtags, were after all community creations born of necessity. The key will be identifying further needs and serving them, rather than Twitters current approach of offering supplementary options like an ad-free subscription or NFT profile images. For his part, Johnson says he thinks Musk can do it. [Musk] has a track record of doing difficult things and doing them well, effectively forcing or incentivising or driving people to achieve those outcomes, and thats probably what Twitter needs from a business perspective, Johnson says. There are people building very, very valuable businesses off the back of Twitters shortcomings. It should be Twitter building those things. Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California. Staff are waiting for answers on what Musks deal means for them. Credit:Bloomberg

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Musk has an extraordinary track record of success. He was a founder or otherwise instrumental in the success of payments behemoth PayPal, rockets and satellites company SpaceX, carmaker Tesla, and tunnelling firm the Boring Company. His boosters say that means he is better placed than anyone to turn Twitter around. And what do the people whove run Twitter in the past think of Musks chances? Jack Dorsey, who continued as Twitters CEO on-and-off until leaving for good late last year, and whose public comments about the service have become increasingly spiritual and metaphysical over the years, is full of optimism. I dont believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company, he tweeted. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Credit:Getty Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness. Whatever the force of Dorseys observations, which have also included endorsements for various changes to Twitters features, they are odd coming from a man who had the power to make them as chief executive but did not do so.

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An episode of the satirical One Nation cartoon series that aired unverified allegations of electoral fraud has been pulled down by TikTok, Facebook and Instagram at the urging of the electoral commission but it remains on YouTube.

The Australian Electoral Commission raised concerns with all the major social media platforms that the animated video, part of One Nations highly successful Please Explain web show, aired incorrect claims about the upcoming federal election.

Labor frontbencher Penny Wong is depicted instructing Anthony Albanese in election fraud.

One Nation leader Pauline Hansons chief of staff, James Ashby, who commissions and gives sign off to Melbourne animation studio Stepmates on the content of each video, stood by the episode. He said it highlights the corruption in politics.

Theres a sense of tongue-in-cheek in the statements used but its always anchored in fact, Ashby said.
Singapore/Jakarta: Vladimir Putin has confirmed his attendance at this years G20 summit in Bali in a conversation with Indonesia President Joko Widodo.

Western leaders such as United States President Joe Biden had demanded Russias exclusion from the group of major economies following Moscows invasion of Ukraine and continuing war against its neighbour.

Vladimir Putin spoke to Joko Widodo on Thursday night. Credit:Pool Sputnik Kremlin

Prime Minister Scott Morrison also left little doubt about Australias stance on Putin joining world leaders on the Indonesian holiday island in November, saying that sitting around a table with the Russian president would be a step too far.

Indonesia, which holds the G20 presidency this year, had been unwilling to revoke Putins invitation to the summit, knowing there was no consensus among G20 states to expel Russia.
The ultimate penalty The resumption of executions has thrust the spotlight back onto the hardline stance on narcotics of Singapore, which shares one of the worlds busiest land crossings with Malaysia and regards the death penalty as a core national policy, crucial to maintaining its status as one of the safest places on the planet. The island nation is far from alone in Asia in handing out the ultimate penalty for drug trafficking. The region is a global leader when it comes to capital punishment for drugs crimes. According to the latest report by Harm Reduction International, which assembles figures on the death penalty for drugs, there were 237 known drug-related death sentences handed down worldwide last year and more than 90 per cent of them were in south-east Asia. Indonesia was the frontrunner with 89, followed by Vietnam with at least 87, Malaysia 15, Laos 14, Singapore 10 and Thailand two.

Yet while Singapore has resumed executions, none of its regional neighbours except Vietnam - where capital punishment is a state secret and numbers are unknown - have actually carried one out in recent years. In 2021, Indonesia went a fifth straight year without delivering one for any offence, Malaysias last execution was in 2017 and Thailand hasnt put a prisoner to death for drugs since 2009, although it did execute a man by lethal injection in 2018 over a robbery resulting in death. The war on drugs Its not to say that those tied up in the drugs game or linked to it have not paid the highest price at the hands of the state. The Philippines abolished the death penalty in 2006 but President Rodrigo Duterte took matters into his own hands after his election in 2016 in a so-called war on drugs that rights groups estimate has led to more than 20,000 drug-related killings by authorities and vigilante groups. And in countries such as Indonesia, the lack of executions doesnt equate to progress, said HRIs human rights lead Ajeng Larasati, who is Indonesian. A protester outside the Singapore embassy in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday. Credit:AP

There is a still a huge appetite [by courts] to sentence people to death for drugs in Indonesia, she said. In Malaysia, judges are also still prescribing the sentence despite even though they have limited discretion to opt for a life sentence and whipping rather than the death penalty for drug trafficking, under an amendment to the law passed in 2017. Last October Hairun Jalmani, a 55-year-old single mother of nine in Sabah, was sentenced to death after being found with 113 grams of methamphetamine. There are at least small signs things might change. A parliamentary committee is expected to this year table a further amendment to the law in Malaysia, where convictions for murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking have had mandatory death sentences. But Dobby Chew, the Malaysia-based executive coordinator of the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, warns the anticipated changes fall a long way short of abolition, as had briefly been foreshadowed by then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad when won election again in 2018.

From what we understand its only going to recommend that mandatory death sentences be replaced with full discretion for judges, Chew said. Across the Johor-Singapore Causeway, though, there is no sign anything will change. In Singapore, drug trafficking, including for more than 15 grams of heroin, is among the offences that carries a mandatory death penalty and all but three of 60 prisoners on death row were there on narcotics offences, according to the Transformative Justice Collective, a Singaporean organisation seeking reform of the city-states justice system. This week, the United Nations human rights office expressed alarm at a rapid rise in the number of execution notices issues since the beginning of the year in Singapore. But Singapore authorities staunchly back the deployment of capital publishment, pointing to its deterrent effect and studies they say demonstrate support by its population.

A guard keeps watch over Changi prison in Singapore, where most death row prisoners are there for drug crimes. Credit:Getty The Herald and The Age requested an interview with Singapore Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on the use of the death penalty but was directed instead towards statements by the Central Narcotics Bureau and Attorney Generals Chambers defending the execution of Nagaenthran, saying he had been transporting enough heroin to feed the addiction of 510 drug abusers for a week. In response to previous questions, though, the home affairs ministry said: The death penalty is an important component of Singapores criminal justice system. It is applied only after due process of law and with judicial safeguards. We use capital punishment in the most limited of circumstances, to deter the most serious crimes in Singapores context, such as murder and drug trafficking, and this has proven effective. In so doing, the larger interest of ensuring our peoples fundamental human right to safety and security, is served. In parliament here last month, Shanmugum said the majority of Singaporeans believed the death penalty served as an effective deterrent against serious crimes, reading from preliminary findings of a government study. The home affairs ministry has said there is evidence that drug traffickers had reduced the amount of drugs they transported because they knew about the death penalty and the thresholds for different drugs, pointing to reductions in the trafficking of opium and cannabis after the introduction of the mandatory death penalty in 1990 and another government study showing severe legal consequences had limited [offenders] trafficking behaviour.

Loading The deterrence argument is one that is furiously contested including by rights groups. Based on research that has been carried out, there is no reliable evidence of the deterrent effects of the death penalty. Its not just for drugs, its also for other crimes punishable by death, Larasati said. The way McMahon sees it, it is also ineffective on another front. It is almost never the drug kingpins themselves who are ensnared. The so-called zero tolerance policy only works against the easy target  the intellectually disabled or the drug addicted or the generally incompetent low-level drug mule, he said. That in itself should give pause to reflect on whats really happening because those people are constantly replaceable by an endless line of foolish or vulnerable young offenders.
Prince William has praised Australias emergency service workers and communities for the brilliant job they have done coping with the truly horrendous flooding that had devastated parts of NSW and Queensland.

The Duke of Cambridge, second in line to the throne, heard first-hand about the aftermath of the flooding which devastated the region during a call with several emergency services and community leaders from northern NSW on Thursday (AEST).

Prince William talks with community leaders and emergency services workers from flood hit NSW communities on Thursday. Credit:Kensington Palace

On the video call, William acknowledged it was hollow words to sit in the comfort of his palace on the other side of the world, but he said he was committed to helping the communities raise and maintain awareness. He reassured them that he didnt want them to feel forgotten.

Record rainfall in late February and March led to the declaration of a national emergency across the two states, leaving 22 dead on the east coast and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes.
Kyiv: Ukrainian forces fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the countrys industrial Donbas region, as both nations traded accusations over shaky peace talks.

Meanwhile, the United Nations sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol, where the mayor said the situation inside a steel plant that has become the southern port citys last stronghold is dire.

Citizens are begging to get saved, Mayor Vadym Boichenko said. There, its not a matter of days. Its a matter of hours.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in remarks published early on Saturday, said lifting Western sanctions on Russia was part of the peace negotiations, which he said were difficult but continue daily by video link.

Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky told Polish journalists that chances were high the talks, which have not been held in person for a month, would end because of Russias playbook on murdering people, the Interfax news agency said.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has announced the first known human case of H5 bird flu in the United States in a person in Colorado.

The person tested positive for avian influenza A(H5) virus and was involved in the culling of poultry presumed to have had H5N1 bird flu, the centre said in a statement.

This case does not change the human risk assessment for the general public, which CDC considers to be low, the agency added.

The H5 avian flu has been found in 29 American states. Credit:AP

The patient reported fatigue for a few days as the only symptom and has since recovered, the CDC said, adding that the person was being isolated and treated with the influenza antiviral drug oseltamivir.
Andrew Fahie is charged with conspiring to import drug into the US and money laundering by the Drug Enforcement Agency



The Guardian

The premier of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has been arrested in a sting operation in Miami on charges of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and money laundering.

The BVI governor, John Rankin, confirmed in a statement that Andrew Fahie had been arrested on Thursday morning, saying: I realize this will be shocking news for people in the territory. And I would call for calm at this time.

Oleanvine Maynard, the manager director of the Caribbean territorys port authority, was also detained in the operation in which DEA agents posed as cocaine traffickers from Mexicos Sinaloa cartel, the Miami Herald reported.

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Liz Truss, the British Foreign Secretary, said she was appalled by the arrest.

Truss said: This afternoon, the premier of the British Virgin Islands, Andrew Fahie, was arrested in the United States on charges related to drug trafficking and money laundering.

I am appalled by these serious allegations.

She said had held talks with Rankin and stressed the importance of the recent inquiry into corruption in the Caribbean archipelago.

Last year, the UK set up a commission of inquiry into misgovernance in the British overseas territory, which has heard allegations of systemic corruption, cronyism, jury intimidation, and misuse of public funds.

In his statement, Rankin said Fahies arrest was the result of a US operation led by the US Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA) and was not linked to the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) report.

The remit of the Commission of Inquiry focused on governance and corruption and was not a criminal investigation into the illegal drug trade. To avoid unnecessary speculation, I intend to move ahead urgently on publication of the inquiry report so the people of the BVI can see its contents and its recommendations in the areas it addressed, he said.

Addressing the commission of inquiry last year, Fahie denied that there was any corruption in the BVI.

He said: The key to any country is its reputation, but so far, and thank God for that, there is no evidence provided in the CoI showing that the BVI is corrupt.

Statement From Governor Of The British Virgin Islands Mr. John Rankin CMG - April 28, 2022

I would like to provide an update to the people of the British Virgin Islands on recent law enforcement action taken by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency about which I have been informed today.

It is my duty as Governor to inform you that this morning the Honourable Premier Fahie was detained in Miami on charges related to conspiracy to import a controlled substance and money laundering.

As this concerns the arrest of a British citizen, the US Government has informed the UK Government of this arrest, as part of the usual process followed when a British citizen is arrested abroad. The UK Government has subsequently informed me as Governor.

As this is a live US investigation I have no further information on the arrest nor can I comment any further on it.

However, what I can confirm is that the arrest was a US operation led by the DEA and is not linked to the Commission of Inquiry report.

The remit of the Commission of Inquiry focused on governance and corruption, and was not a criminal investigation into the illegal drug trade. To avoid unnecessary speculation, I intend to move ahead urgently on publication of the Inquiry Report so the people of the BVI can see its contents and its recommendations in the areas it addresses. I will have a call with Minister Milling and the Acting Premier Honourable Natalio Wheatley tomorrow to discuss further engagement between the UK and BVI on this urgent issue.

I realise this will be shocking news for people in the Territory. And I would call for calm at this time.

The Honourable Deputy Premier Natalio Wheatley will remain Acting Premier of the Territory. I will discuss with him and Cabinet the way forward in continuing to support the good governance of the Territory.

I will provide a further update in due course.

The indictment against FAHIE.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Human Trafficking Human Smuggling Unit (UMM) of the Sint Maarten Police Force has been carrying out investigations into several human smuggling incidents since the middle of 2021, originating from Sint Maarten (Saint Martin) with the ultimate final destination being the USVI.

Nationality people who were being smuggled often were Haitians, Venezuelans, and Brazilians. In the meantime, several arrests have been made of suspects who are believed to have played an organizing role within this smuggling organization.

Collaborating closely with the French police, a suspect involved in this investigation was arrested by the French police upon request of the human smuggling team of KPSM.

During one of these human smuggling incidents, the vessel used encountered problems and ultimately sank. One of the crew members went missing in the process and probably drowned. This investigation is ongoing and the UMM team is not ruling out more arrests.

KPSM Press Release.
Gold Royalty extends expiry date of its offer to purchase elemental royalties and files third notice of variation and extension

Gold Royalty Corp. (NYSE American: GROY) (\Gold Royalty\, or the \Company\  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/gold-royalty-corp/ ) announces that it has extended the expiry date of its previously announced A offer (the \Offer\) to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Elemental Royalties Corp. (TSXV:ELE) (\Elemental\) to 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on May 12, 2022, subject to any further abridgement, extension or withdrawal.

A Third Notice of Variation and Extension, which sets out consequential amendments to reflect the extended expiry date, will be filed under Elemental\-s profile at www.sedar.com and mailed to Elemental shareholders. Other than with respect to the extension of the expiry date, the revisions do not change the principal terms or conditions of the Offer in any material respect.

David Garofalo, President and CEO of Gold Royalty, commented: \As previously stated, we commend the Elemental team for what they have built to date. However, we continue to believe that combining with Gold Royalty represents a unique and compelling opportunity for Elemental shareholders to benefit from enhanced scale, growth and liquidity. To that end, we have made several overtures to Elemental\-s board and management to engage in discussions and gain access to diligence with the objective of reaching a mutually-beneficial, board-supported transaction. While our attempts to engage have thus far been unsuccessful, we remain ready and willing to engage in discussions and gain access to management and due diligence with the objective of potentially revising the current offer and reaching a mutually-beneficial, board-supported transaction for the benefit of all stakeholders.\

The Company has extended the expiry date of the Offer by 10 working days in order to afford Elemental shareholders additional time to review and consider the Offer. In the event that the conditions to the Offer, including the receipt of requisite deposits of Elemental common shares, are not satisfied by the new expiry date and in the absence of constructive engagement with Elemental towards a negotiated transaction, the Company does not currently plan to further extend the expiry date.

Conditions to the Offer

The Offer remains subject to certain conditions, including, among other things: (i) there having been validly deposited pursuant to the Offer and not withdrawn at the expiry time that number of Elemental Shares, together with the associated rights under Elemental\-s shareholder rights plan dated December 30, 2021 (the A \SRP Rights\), which constitute more than 50% of the Elemental Shares outstanding, excluding those Elemental Shares beneficially owned, or over which control or direction is exercised, by Gold Royalty or by any persons acting jointly or in concert with the Offeror, if any. This condition cannot be waived by Gold Royalty; (ii) there having been validly deposited under the Offer and not withdrawn, at or prior to the expiry time, such number of Elemental Shares, together with the associated SRP Rights, that, together with the Elemental Shares held by Gold Royalty and its affiliates, represent not less than 66 2/3% of the total number of outstanding Elemental Shares, calculated on a fully diluted basis; and (iii) Gold Royalty having determined, in its reasonable judgment, that there does not exist and there shall not have occurred or been publicly disclosed since the date of the Offer, a material adverse effect.

The Offer is subject to certain other conditions in addition to those listed above. A more detailed discussion of the conditions to the consummation of the Offer can be found in the Company\-s Offer and Circular dated January 11, 2022, as supplemented by the Notice of Change dated January 21, 2022 and as further supplemented and varied by the Notice of Variation and Change dated April 11, 2022 and the Third Notice of Variation and Extension dated April 27, 2022 (collectively, the \Offer Documents\), available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on Gold Royalty\-s website at www.goldroyalty.com/elemental-offer/.

Elemental shareholders are strongly encouraged to read the Offer Documents carefully and in their entirety, since they contain additional important information regarding Gold Royalty and the terms and conditions of the Offer, as well as detailed instructions on how Elemental shareholders can tender their Elemental Shares to the Offer.

About Gold Royalty Corp.

Gold Royalty Corp. is a gold-focused royalty company offering creative financing solutions to the metals and mining industry. Its mission is to acquire royalties, streams and similar interests at varying stages of the mine life cycle to build a balanced portfolio offering near, medium and longer-term attractive returns for its investors. Gold Royalty\-s diversified portfolio currently consists of net smelter return royalties on gold properties located in the Americas.

No Offer or Solicitation

This news release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to buy or sell, or a solicitation of an offer to sell or buy, any securities. The Offer is being made solely by, and subject to the terms and conditions set out in the Offer Documents.

Notice to U.S. Elemental Shareholders

Gold Royalty has filed with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form F-4, as amended by Amendment No. 1 (the aRegistration Statementa), which contains a prospectus relating to the offer to acquire the securities of Elemental, under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. SHAREHOLDERS OF ELEMENTAL AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES ARE URGED TO READ SUCH REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND ANY AND ALL OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR TO BE FILED WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE OFFER AS THOSE DOCUMENTS BECOME AVAILABLE, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THOSE DOCUMENTS, BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT GOLD ROYALTY, ELEMENTAL, AND THE OFFER. Materials filed with the SEC will be available electronically without charge at the SECa?s website at www.sec.gov under Gold Royaltya?s profile and the materials will be posted on Gold Royaltya?s website at www.goldroyalty.com.

Gold Royalty is a foreign private issuer and is permitted to prepare the offer to purchase and take-over bid circular and related documents in accordance with Canadian disclosure requirements, which are different from those of the United States. Gold Royalty prepares its financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, and they may not be directly comparable to financial statements of United States companies.

Shareholders of Elemental should be aware that owning Gold Royalty shares may subject them to tax consequences both in the United States and in Canada. The Offer Documents may not describe these tax consequences fully. Elemental shareholders should read any tax discussion in the Offer Documents, and holders of Elemental shares are urged to consult their tax advisors.

An Elemental shareholder\-s ability to enforce civil liabilities under the United States federal securities laws may be affected adversely because Gold Royalty is incorporated in Canada, some or all of Gold Royalty\-s officers and directors and some or all of the experts named in the Offer Documents reside outside of the United States, and a substantial portion of Gold Royalty\-s assets and of the assets of such persons are located outside the United States. Elemental shareholders in the United States may not be able to sue Gold Royalty or its officers or directors in a non-U.S. court for violation of United States federal securities laws. It may be difficult to compel such parties to subject themselves to the jurisdiction of a court in the United States or to enforce a judgment obtained from a court of the United States.

NEITHER THE SEC NOR ANY STATE SECURITIES REGULATOR HAS OR WILL HAVE APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE GOLD ROYALTY SHARES OFFERED IN THE OFFER DOCUMENTS, OR HAS OR WILL HAVE DETERMINED IF ANY OFFER DOCUMENTS ARE TRUTHFUL OR COMPLETE. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.

Elemental shareholders should be aware that, during the period of the Offer, Gold Royalty or its affiliates, directly or indirectly, may bid for, or make purchases of, the securities to be distributed or to be exchanged, or certain related securities, as permitted by applicable laws or regulations of Canada or its provinces or territories and the United States, including Rule 14e-5 under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.A To the extent information about such purchases or arrangements to purchase is made public in Canada, such information will be disclosed by means of a press release or other means reasonably calculated to inform shareholders in the United States of such information.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

Certain of the information contained in this news release constitutes \-forward-looking information\- and \-forward-looking statements\- within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws (\forward-looking statements\) and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Gold Royalty\-s actual results, performance and achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied therein. The words abelievea, aexpecta, awilla, \propose\ and derivatives thereof and other expressions which are predictions of or indicate future events, trends or prospects and which do not relate to historical matters, identify the above mentioned and other forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements, including among others, statements regarding the satisfaction of the conditions of the Offer and the anticipated timing, benefits and effects of the completion of the Offer, involve risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the ability to obtain necessary approvals, and to meet the other conditions under the Offer, the ability to realize the benefits under the proposed transaction, material adverse effects on the business, properties and assets of the parties; the impact of general economic and market conditions; any inability of the operators of the properties underlying the parties\- royalty and other interests to execute proposed plans for such properties, risks related to such operators or the exploration, development and mining operations of the properties underlying the parties\- royalty and other interests; impacts of macroeconomic developments; and the impact of and the responses of relevant governments to the COVID-19 pandemic and the effectiveness of such responses and theA other important risks and uncertainties set out in the Offer Documents, Gold Royalty\-s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended September 30, 2021 and its other public filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Bjoern Wylezich / TNS

A Hartford man has pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge and admitted he violated the terms of his parole after he was pulled over for speeding last summer and found with a gun, federal authorities said.

Andre Hudson, 43, pleaded guilty Thursday to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, the U.S. Attorneys office said.
For the second year in a row, Connecticut lawmakers passed a bill to limit the Department of Corrections use of solitary confinement on those in the states prisons and jails.

The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Ned Lamont, who vetoed a similar proposal last year.

This years measure largely codifies an executive order Lamont issued in place of his veto, a set of policies he said better protected the incarcerated population and those who work in the correction system. The bill would also establish independent oversight of the Department of Correction, reestablishing an ombuds office that had been open for 37 years before it was shuttered in 2010 to save money, as well as a correction advisory committee that meets and works with the ombuds regularly.

The governor, the Department of Correction and advocates reached an agreement on this years proposal, likely avoiding another veto.

The Senate passed the bill 29-6 on April 27. The House approved it 98-45 the next evening.

At least 27 people submitted testimony on the bill from their prison cells. They compared being in solitary to torture. They talked about how isolation affects their mental health and how solitary makes them feel broken when they go home. They told legislators how incarceration makes them feel like animals, imploring their elected officials to see them as human.

It is time that prisoners are viewed as fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, as loved ones, as members of the community, as human beings, wrote Roberto Alvarado.

Others talked about the things theyve done while imprisoned. Noah Wade Hendron told legislators about how he was a teachers assistant at Cheshire Correctional Institution, helping to change his incarcerated peers lives through education.

Helping other men get their G.E.D. is one of the most rewarding things that Ive ever done. It opens doors that they never knew existed, he wrote.

Hendron asked legislators to put an end to needless lockdowns, solitary and restraints, which he said dehumanize people and make it harder for them to have healthy relationships when they go home.

He ended his two-page handwritten letter with a simple statement, a message he hoped lawmakers would keep in mind as they considered the bill : Were not all bad.
American photographer Dawoud Bey, a MacArthur Fellow recipient, has been capturing and elevating the African American presence through his work since 1975.

I was a musician before I became a photographer, and Ive written and published poetry when I was younger, so I always had the need, I suppose, to express myself, Bey said. My godmother gave me a camera when I was 15 years old. The following year I went to see an exhibition Harlem On My Mind at the Metropolitan Museum, the first visit to a museum I ever made on my own. The experience of seeing photographs of ordinary African Americans on the wall of a museum began to point to what I might do with the camera I had gotten the year before.

Best known for his street and portrait photography, his work has been exhibited at prestigious institutions around the globe, and on May 5, he will deliver a presentation as part of NXTHVNs upcoming keynote presentation, beginning at 6 p.m. NXTHVN, located in the Dixwell neighborhood of New Haven bills itself as an arts "incubator" and describes itself as "a new national arts model that empowers emerging artists and curators of color through education and access."

Catherine Avalone / Hearst Connecticut Media

Dawoud Bey isnt only a renowned photographer, hes a professor, so his commitment to arts mentorship goes hand in hand with NXTHVNs rigorous pedagogy, said Kalia Brooks, director of programs and exhibitions at NXTHVN. People have an idea about what art and artists should look like, and Beys work and narrative supersede these falsehoods. At its core, NXTHVNs programmatic events are inspired by our desire to expand opportunities for our community. The same can be said for Beys powerful portraits that highlight underrepresented communities and his projects that expand arts access to those same communities.

During his talk, Bey will speak about the trajectory of his practice and his upcoming works, including An American Project, the artists first major career retrospective in 25 years.

My discussion with Kalia Brooks will focus on the history based work that I have made over the past decade, looking at how aspects of the African American past remain visible and relevant in our contemporary moment, Bey said. That work begins with The Birmingham Project, that commemorates the lives of six young African Americans killed in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963 and goes up to the recent work that I made in Louisiana on and around the landscapes of five different plantations.

Whitten Sabbatini/ Contributed photo

The photographs from An American Project were selected by the two co-curators, Corey Keller, who was then at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Elisabeth Sherman, a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Corey got the idea for the exhibition when my book Dawoud Bey: Seeing Deeply was published in 2017, Bey said. That book is a retrospective look at my work going back to my earliest photographs from the early 1970s. Corey saw the book and thought it would be great to use that as the basis for shaping an exhibition. She invited Elisabeth to become her co-curator and we had our first meeting at the Whitney Museum in New York to start thinking about how to shape 40 plus years of work into a coherent exhibition.

The exhibition ultimately reveals the ways Bey thinks about making photographs has changed, even as his work has always remained centered on the larger social world.

The current work that I am doing brings aspects of American history in relation to African Americans into a conversation about the role that art can play in our lives, Bey said. It can call us to remember, and in remembering hopefully make connections between history and our current circumstances. History explains how we got to where we are now. We need to be reminded of that history in order to realize that things are not just happening, and that everything has a history. The continuing abuse of Black bodies in this country has a very long history.

For more information on Beys presentation, visit nxthvn.com or register at eventbrite.com.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect the updated event date.
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FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP)  Amber Heard pushed to have details of her marriage with fellow actor Johnny Depp included in an op-ed piece that she wrote about domestic violence, even though her lawyers wanted those passages removed from the article, which is now the subject of a libel lawsuit, according to evidence introduced Thursday at the trial.

Jurors in the libel lawsuit Depp filed against Heard heard testimony Thursday from Terence Dougherty, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. It was the ACLU that drafted the article under Heard's name, reflecting her role as an ACLU ambassador on gender violence issues.

Dougherty testified about the push-and-pull that occurred between first draft and publication of the op-ed piece in The Washington Post in December 2018  strategically timed by both the ACLU and Heard to coincide with the release of Aquaman, a movie in which she played a prominent role.

Depp sued in Fairfax County Circuit Court after the article was published, in which Heard says that two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our cultures wrath for women who speak out. Depp's lawyers say that's a clear reference to abuse allegations she levied against Depp in 2016 that Depp says are untrue.

Dougherty testified that numerous ACLU lawyers reviewed the article at various stages, and asked Heard's lawyers to review the piece as well to ensure it did not run afoul of a non-disclosure agreement she had with Depp in connection with the couple's 2016 divorce.

During those discussions, Heard sent back an edited version approved by her lawyers that specifically neutered much of the copy regarding her marriage," according to an email from Jessica Weitz, an ACLU employee who coordinated with Heard.

According to the email, though, Heard was looking for a way to have a deleted passage restored to the article.

The various drafts of the articles were not shown to the jury so it's not clear how many personal details were in the first draft and how much Heard's lawyers had excised.

But the final version contains very little about Heard's personal experiences. It doesn't mention Depp at all. In addition to the passage about a public figure representing domestic abuse, in another passage she writes, I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.

Much of the article talks about legislative priorities for advocates of domestic abuse prevention. Other passages refer to parts of her personal life unrelated to Depp.

Dougherty testified that "the language that wound up in the final op-ed piece was very different from the original language" in the draft, Dougherty said. It did not refer directly to Ms. Heard's relationship with Johnny Depp.

While the trial is supposed to be over whether Depp was defamed in the article, very little testimony in the first three weeks, leading up to Thursday, has related to the article itself or its contents. Heard's lawyers predicted at the outset of the trial that it would become a mudslinging soap opera that would delve into messy details of Depp and Heard's personal lives.

Heard's lawyers, though, have said that even if the jury were to believe that she was never abused by Depp, Heard should still prevail in the lawsuit because the article is not about Depp, does not defame him, and Heard's free-speech rights allow her to weigh in on matters of public importance like domestic violence.

Much of Dougherty's testimony also centered on whether Heard has fulfilled a promise to donate $3.5 million  half of her $7 million divorce settlement with Depp  to the ACLU. Dougherty testified that the ACLU credits her with contributing $1.3 million so far and expected the money to come in over a 10-year period, but that she has made no contributions since 2018.

Jurors also heard briefly from Depp's business manager, Ed White. White said he intervened in 2016 to resolve financial difficulties for Depp, including unpaid taxes and a cash crunch. When he blamed Heard for an excessive wine bill that featured multiple $500 bottles of Spanish Vega Sicilia wine, Heard's lawyers responded with a barrage of questions over Depp's spending excesses, including spending millions of dollars to shoot journalist Hunter S. Thompson's ashes out of a cannon.

Depp and Heard met during filming of The Rum Diary, an adaptation of a Thompson novel. Depp testified earlier that he and Thompson were friends, and that Depp actually found the lost Rum Diary manuscript when he was going through Thompson's papers.
HARTFORD  In what has become a nearly annual rite of spring in the General Assembly, legislation that would have banned open containers of alcohol in motor vehicles ran into bipartisan opposition and failed again Thursday night when it was removed from a larger state Department of Transportation bill.

While the issue could still come up in another bill before the midnight May 4 adjournment of the General Assembly, it is most likely to join the proposed mandatory motorcycle helmet law on the side of the legislative road.

State Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, admitted there was not enough support for the bill, leaving Connecticut among a handful of states that still allow open containers in vehicles.

This bill has received a lot of talk due to a provision that is in it right now, which would bar the open containers in the cabin of all passenger vehicles, Lemar said with a wry smile to his House colleagues. But he stressed that because of the states failure to ban open containers, federal funds that would have gone to road construction, instead have been invested in educational campaigns, including road signage and police overtime for drunken-driving checkpoints.

Since it was first introduced in 1989, the provision has been defeated by various arguments in the legislature, from University of Connecticut fans balking at the possibility of breaking the law during in-car tailgate parties in inclement weather, to minority lawmakers fearful of police using the law to racially profile drivers and passengers in parked cars on city blocks who might be drinking a beer.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Connecticut, Delaware, Missouri, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Mississippi and Virginia are the only states that allow open containers in vehicles. Mississippi also allows drivers to consume alcohol while behind the wheel.

And as I can count to the handful of states that allow open containers, and I can count all the way up to $132 million, the number of dollars we have lost over the last 20 years, I can also count to 76, Lemar said, the magic number needed to pass a bill in the 151-member House. Since I can count to 76, Mr. Speaker, the clerk is in possession of an amendment.

The bill, which passed 147-3 after Lemars amendment was accepted, heads to the Senate for final approval and includes provisions to allow blood transport vehicles to use high-occupancy-vehicle lanes; allow big trucks to use a driving tactic called platooning, in which they follow closely behind each other to save fuel; and for the DOT to create a transit app.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
HARTFORD  During a four-and-a-half hour debate that underscored Connecticuts politically charged divide on stolen cars, youth crime and generational trauma in underserved communities, the state House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill late Thursday aimed at providing more services  and consequences  for juveniles in the criminal justice system.

Suburban Republicans, who ended up unanimously supporting the legislation, said it should have held youths more accountable for crimes including stolen cars, while urban Democrats said that trauma is generational and illustrates the need for better investments in social services and preschool to stop the juvenile crime that has become more noticeable in the pandemic.

The debate is likely to continue into the upcoming statewide political season as high-profile gun violence and car thefts has migrated to leafy suburbs. The legislation, which passed 129-17, next heads to the Senate.

I hear over and over again that crime is down, that we dont have a problem, and I can tell you the people that I represent certainly feel a whole lot less safe, said Rep. Laura Devlin, R-Fairfield, who is expected to gain the Republican nomination next month to run for lieutenant governor with Bob Stefanowski, of Madison. I can only wonder whats taken so long that we finally recognize we do have an issue to address. I wonder if we would have taken action sooner, how many lives we could have saved. How many interventions in the lives of kids to turn them around.

Its about where were going as a state, said House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, stressing the need for better accountability. Its not about incarcerating children. We all know when there is not a consequence for actions, there will be a repeat of the actions.

The bill passed with opposition from Democratic progressives and racial minorities including Rep. Robyn Porter, of New Haven. Theres been a lot of talk about an uptick in crime, car theft, Porter said. A year, two years weve been dealing with this. Well, weve been in a pandemic for two years, but I can tell you my community has been in a pandemic for a lot longer than that. We have been suffering from car thefts, robberies, gun violence, gang violence for decades. So this is nothing new to us.

She said stepped-up policing hasnt helped.

If we become more punitive without it being evidence-based, we run the risk of pouring money into a system that has historically not benefited communities that look like mine, Porter said. And not to leave out the rural communities, because this really is not a race issue. This is a poverty issue. So if we want to talk about eradicating crime, we need to be talking about how we eradicate poverty, because poverty is a policy choice.

Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, co-chair of Judiciary Committee who led the debate said that juvenile justice reforms enacted in the General Assembly over the past 15 years, including raising the age that teens are considered adults in the justice system, has been bipartisan. Stafstrom and proponents of the legislation noted that while there was an increase in stolen cars during the pandemic, thefts have since dropped sharply.

If enacted into law, the bill would require a juvenile charged with a crime to be arraigned in court within five days of their arrest; and would give state Superior Court judges the option to implement GPS monitoring for certain repeat motor vehicle offenders. Action on the bill was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was delayed by a partisan controversy over the GPS portion.

Under the bill, police could hold suspects for eight hours, instead of six, when they are seeking a detention order from a judge; and it expands their access to records on juvenile arrests. Additionally, the bill would treat all motor vehicle thefts the same. Instead of basing the punishment on the value of car, as is the case now, it would be focused on the number of offenses. A first car-theft offense would be a misdemeanor and second offense would be a felony.

The most impactful way to reduce crime is by preventing it from happening and this bill takes meaningful steps to achieve that goal, said Rep. Jennifer Leeper, D-Fairfield, who voted for the legislation.

Sometimes we have to walk in the shoes of others to understand what is actually going on, said Rep. Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven. Many parents work a couple of jobs and they are not at home to watch for these children. That creates a different dynamic, a dynamic where there is no supervision. What are we doing as a legislature to ensure that families are whole, to ensure that the parent can spend time with that child? We need to invest in families.

He said that $1.25 million for statewide judicial outreach could be spent in his city alone.

This starts with the grandparents, the great-grandparents, said Candelaria, who voted for the bill. Today that child is living in the same vicious cycle. Why is it that this youth has made the decision to steal a car? Did we provide support to that family that may have gone through a trauma?

The electronic monitoring provision was a major sticking point for several Democrats, who despite their opposition, largely still voted for the measure. In a preliminary vote, the House passed an amended version of the bill earlier in the debate by 143-2.

Rep. Michael DiGiovancarlo, a Waterbury police officer, and Rep. Anne Hughes, co-chair of the House Democratic Progressive Caucus, were the two Democratic no votes.

Hughes said the GPS monitoring would disproportionately impact brown and Black youth who will be tagged as criminals to their communities, to their peers because we failed to provide upstream prevention services before this moment.

The data doesnt even support it as a tool that works, said Rep. Quentin Williams, D-Middletown.

Hughes also voted against the bill when it came to a final vote. Other Democrats who opposed the bill were Williams, Rep. Andre Baker, of Bridgeport; Rep. Brandon Chafee, of Middletown; Rep. Pat Dillon, of New Haven; Rep. Josh Elliott, of Hamden; Rep. John Hennessy, of Bridgeport; Rep. David Michel, of Stamford; Rep. Travis Simms, of Norwalk, and Rep. Charlie Stallworth, of Bridgeport.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
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BRIDGEPORT  When confronted with the large amount of explosive material found in his Stratford garage, police said a New Canaan police officer told them he didnt need any licensing because he had a badge.

On Friday, the officer, David Rivera, 34, was arraigned in state Superior Court in Bridgeport on charges of illegal possession of explosives, illegal storage of explosives, illegal possession of an assault rifle, illegal storage of a firearm and three counts of improper transfer of a firearm.

As Rivera stood beside his lawyer, John R. Gulash, Senior Assistant States Attorney Tiffany Lockshier urged Judge Ndidi Moses to set a high bond.

An enormous amount of explosives were found in his home, enough to blow up his house and perhaps the area around it, Lockshier said. She said the investigation is continuing and more charges could be forthcoming.

But Gulash argued that the danger with the amount of explosives found was being exaggerated. He said his client, who trains dogs for law enforcement, will claim that the explosive material was being used to train explosive-sniffing dogs and the assault rifle found actually belonged to someone else.

There is nothing about this case that indicates my client would flee the jurisdiction, Gulash said.

But Judge Moses said based on the seriousness of the charges and the amount of explosives found, she was ordering Rivera held in lieu of $250,000 bond. She continued the case to May 10.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit of Stratford Detective John Therina, Rivera, who has been out of work from the police department on workers compensation, has been running Black Rock Canines, a dog training facility on Hunters Mountain Road in Naugatuck.

Earlier this month, the affidavit states that two employees of the dog training company complained to state police about their concerns of a large amount of explosive material, including TNT, Rivera was storing at both the training center and a factory building in Naugatuck.

The affidavit states the employees were concerned that Rivera did not have a license to have the explosives and that the explosives were being kept in unsafe containers. The witnesses told police Rivera claimed he was using the explosives to train dogs in detecting them.

The witnesses told police that after they confronted Rivera about the explosives, he moved them to his home in Stratford, the affidavit states.

On Tuesday, Stratford police, members of the state police bomb squad and agents of the FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms served a search warrant on Riveras home.

In the garage, they found numerous items they determined to be high explosives as well as items they considered to be low explosives, the affidavit states.

The affidavit stated that some of the explosives had begun to degrade and crystallize, indicating they were extremely unstable.

All the explosive material that was found in the garage was found to be unlocked and accessible to anyone who was in the garage, the affidavit states.

The affidavit states that when police searched the basement of the home they found three weapons, including an AR-15 assault weapon in an unlocked wooded box. The affidavit states that Rivera did not have the proper paperwork to obtain the guns.

Rivera, a police officer for nine years, has been placed on leave pending the resolution of the case and an internal affairs investigation, New Canaan Police Chief Leon Krolikowski said Friday.

The chief said the investigation was related to Riveras off-duty conduct outside of New Canaan.

Subsequently, Mr. Rivera was placed on leave, and he is presently prohibited from serving as an active-duty New Canaan police officer, Krolikowski said. Mr. Rivera will remain on leave, pending adjudication of any criminal case and the completion of an internal investigation.

Rivera, a K-9 officer, has been a member of the New Canaan Police Department since 2014. Rivera has received commendations and awards from the department in recent years after helping to save the life of a man who was overdosing and successfully capturing a man with a gun who was refusing to drop the weapon.

Prior to joining New Canaan, Rivera was a member of the Bridgeport Police Department.

Last July, Rivera filed a lawsuit against New Canaan, claiming discrimination based on skin color and race after he was not chosen for the departments Special Response Team. That case is going to trial, court records show. He also lost a grievance complaint he had filed earlier this year, seeking wages related to his time out with an injury.
H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media

RIDGEFIELD  Reenactors began setting up on Friday morning for this weekends events honoring the 245th anniversary of the Battle of Ridgefield.

Members of the Connecticut 5th Regiment set up their camp on the front lawn of the Jesse Lee Memorial United Methodist Church. Students from East Ridge Middle School took a trip to the camp and heard a presentation from the reenactors.
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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)  The mother of a 3-month-old baby kidnapped from their San Francisco Bay Area home said a woman arrested in the case met the family at church and had been spending a lot of time with them ever since she was nine months pregnant.

Carolina Ayala told Spanish language television stations Wednesday that after she gave birth, Yesenia Ramirez was a constant presence at her home.

She would go to my house a lot, she always wanted to be there, Ayala said in Spanish in an interview with KTST-TV, a Telemundo affiliate.

Ramirez, 43, was arrested in the kidnapping of Brandon Cuellar along with Baldomeo Sandoval and Jose Portillo, who police said entered the family's second-floor San Jose apartment on Monday and took the baby while his grandmother unloaded groceries.

Sandoval, who Ayala said is Ramirez's husband, was released without charges Thursday, San Jose Police officials said in a statement.

Details regarding Sandovals involvement with this case have come to light and he will not be facing charges at this time, it said.

Ramirez and Portillo were arraigned Thursday on kidnapping, felony burglary and conspiracy charges and are being held without bail.

Attorneys with the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office, which is representing Ramirez and Portillo, did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.

Portillo, 28, was captured on surveillance video carrying a baby car seat and a small blanket and walking toward the apartment, police said. They said the motive for the kidnapping is still under investigation.

On Monday, Ramirez offered to buy supplies for the baby and drove the baby and his grandmother, Victoria Mejia, to the store and back home, Mejia told the Telemundo affiliate. Police said Ramirez had been communicating with Portillo moments before he took the baby and drove away.

Ayala said she was at work cleaning a home when her sister-in-law called her to let her know her child was missing.

"I felt like half of my heart had left with him. I felt like I died, Ayala told KDTV-TV, a Univision affiliate.

Police found the unharmed baby on Tuesday inside a home where Portillo lived.

Ayala was reunited with her son hours later, a moment she described as having my soul return to my body.

I cried out of joy, I cried until I got tired of crying," she told Telemundo 48.
GREENWICH  The Greenwich schools reported 44 new cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, according to the districts online tracker, bringing the districts total number of cases for April to 339.

That is more than double the 167 cases of COVID-19 that were reported in the district in March, according to the tracker. And the district was closed for six school days for Spring Recess in April.

The district had reported 63 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, which was the first report after schools were closed from April 15 to April 24. The total cases reported since students and staff returned from recess is 107, according to the tracker.

The jump in COVID-19 cases after spring break follows a trend seen statewide, according to state data released Thursday. In the past week, 1,653 cases were reported among students statewide, up from 1,110 the previous week, state data shows. There were 627 cases among teachers and staff in the past week, up from 382 cases the week before.

Despite the increase, the number of cases among students and teachers locally and statewide remains far lower than figures reported in January during the surge of infections spurred by the omicron variant.

The states public health and education departments had warned school administrators that cases could rise amid a broad increase in COVID-19 infections statewide.

Over the past several weeks, COVID-19 transmission rates have been steadily increasing throughout Connecticut and surrounding states. Given these increases, which may be driven in part by recent holidays, school breaks, and associated travel, schools should plan for an increase in COVID-19 cases in their school communities over the next several weeks, the message to school leaders said.

Greenwich Public Schools said it had urged families to take COVID-19 precautions before students returned from break, providing self-test kits for use as needed.

Families are strongly recommended to test their child on Sunday evening, April 24, before allowing them to return to school the next day, the district said in an email sent to families earlier this month. Also, please notify your school nurse on or before that evening if their child has either tested positive or has been exposed to a positive case of COVID.

The district made self-test kits available upon request to students, staff and families through the school nurses and main offices before Spring Recess began.

The school district updates its online tracker twice each week to keep the community informed on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cases by school, category

In Greenwich schools, April ranks as third for the most cases of COVID-19 reported with 339. But it also saw some of the largest daily reports since January, when the omicron variant hit and the district reported 1,422 cases for the whole month.

As of Friday, along with 44 new cases of COVID-19, the district also had 45 active cases, which impacted 12 schools, according to the tracker.

The most active cases were reported at Greenwich High, with 13; followed by Riverside, with seven cases; Eastern Middle with five cases; Central Middle and Western Middle with four cases each; Hamilton Avenue and the International School at Dundee, with three cases each; Glenville with two cases; and Cos Cob, Julian Curtiss, New Lebanon and Old Greenwich with one case each.

Of the 45 active COVID-19 cases, 38 cases were among students, five cases among teachers, and one case each with a service provider and an administrator, according to the tracker.

Since March 1, when the Greenwich school district moved to a mask-optional policy, a total of 506 cases of COVID-19 have been reported among students and staff.

The school district so far has reported 2,609 cases of COVID-19 since classes began Sept. 1, 2021, which is nearly four times the 700 total cases reported in the entire 2020-21 school year.

According to the tracker, the monthly totals for new cases of COVID-19 reported in the Greenwich school district have varied widely. The totals are: 339 cases in April; 167 cases in March; 137 cases in February; 1,422 cases in January; 392 cases in December; 65 cases in November; 29 cases in October; and 58 cases in September.

A number of families in the Greenwich Public Schools have been hit hard by COVID-19 this school year, with 439 families reporting 949 cases.

Previous reporting by Assistant Managing Editor Nicholas Rondinone is included in this story.
Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

The Connecticut Task Force on Police Transparency and Accountability has been suggesting reforms to the Connecticut police force dating back to 1903. On Jan. 11, the task force voted to approve a report that summarizes the various reforms that it would like to see implemented statewide.

In recent years, police reform has become a hotly debated topic that seems to be divided mostly along political lines. But why is this? After all, policing should be a social issue, not a political one; however, in todays polarizing society this is simply not the case. Harry Zaher, author of Defunding the police is a logical way to reduce harm in the CTMirror writes, We want to invest in fostering community, building accountability and preventing harm before it occurs. But in a city such as New Haven, with a crime index of 6 (100 being the safest) and a violent crime rate that is one of the highest in the nation, a reduction in police presence would torment the city and likely spike the citys crime rates. While tackling issues such as lack of housing, unaffordable health care, low wages, unemployment, poor public transportation, low-quality education, unaddressed mental illness, generational trauma and embedded cultural norms are all important issues, these are not overnight solutions, and will take years if not decades for bills and policies focused on solving these issues to be implemented and for the state budget to be adjusted accordingly.
More sun and warmer temperatures are expected over the weekend, but officials are warning that Fridays dry air and wind continues to present a higher risk of forest fires.

Connecticut, along with Massachusetts, Rhode Island and much of New York are at an elevated risk of fire growth and spread throughout the day Friday and into the early evening, the National Weather Service said in a bulletins issued early that morning.

Northwest winds sustained at 10 to 20 mph with gusts 25 to 30 mph are expected, along with minimum relative humidities of 10 to 15 percent, one notice from the agencys New York office reads.

In Connecticut, the spring forest fire season typically lasts into mid-May, according to the states Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The agency has set the forest fire danger level for Connecticut to very high for Friday, meaning residents are barred from burning brush - even if they have a permit to do so - within 100 feet of grassland or woods.

Westport Fire Chief Michael Kronick asked residents to exercise caution.

Its critical to obey local laws regarding open fires, carefully dispose of hot charcoal, and completely extinguish smoking materials, Kronick, who also serves as the regional fire warden, said.

The Westport Fire Department said several wildfires were reported across the region Thursday afternoon. Other departments have also reported several brush fires across the state.

Typically during the spring fire season, lighter fuels that dry out quickly in the sun will burn, rather than fire penetrating deeper into the ground, according to DEEP. With leaves off the trees, the sunlight is able to dry out material faster than it would during the summer months.

Brush fires are labor intensive and take a long time to bring under control. Multiple brush fires can severely tax a communitys firefighting resources, Kronick said. Prevention is the best approach.

Officials say anyone who sees a brush fire should call 911 as soon as possible, and explain what they saw and where.

After Friday, slightly warmer temperatures in the low 60s are expected Saturday, with breezy winds again of up to about 11 mph. Overnight should see clear skies with a low reaching the high 30s or low 40s. Sunday things warm up a bit more with clear skies again and a high in the upper 60s reaching 70 degrees in some areas. Sunday should also see winds subside to around 6 mph.

Clouds should return Sunday night into Monday, with a chance of showers early next week.
The Minister of Economy, Florin Spataru, declared on Friday, at Plopeni Mechanical Plant, that almost 100 million dollars will be invested this year in capabilities for companies in the defence industry of Romania, Agerpres reports.

"Romania's defence industry has a strategic importance for this country. Which is why, in order to keep up with the new technological innovations, in order to implement new projects, you need investments, but also the research&development component which will bring improvements or create new products. (...) We will continue to invest, making sure that the available money we have at this moment, almost 100 million dollars, will be invested this year in capabilities for companies in the defence industry and we will continue on this road for the following years so that we will reach the necessary retrofit and recover from the lost time and this chronic loss of investments that we had in the last years," Minister Spataru said.He said that there will be a plan to reorganize the defence industry so that companies can go back to being viable, from an economic standpoint."Electromecanica (company in Ploiesti, ed. n.) is making profit. There are other companies in the defence industry that are making profit. (...) We are looking at the profitability of these companies, but we must also look at the turnover. There is a major potential, a large potential on this segment, but that emergency ordinance through which we erased a part of the debt, because not all debts were erased, only those related to military protection, we believe that it is a normal action, an important step in turning these companies efficient and functioning. We will evaluate the assets they have and we will come with a plan of reorganizing the defence industry, so that these companies will go back to being viable, from an economic standpoint", minister Spataru concluded.
President Klaus Iohannis welcomed on Friday Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov at the Cotroceni Palace, with talks focusing on ways to deepen bilateral relations, security developments arising from the Russian Federation's military aggression against Ukraine and support to Ukraine, energy security, coordinating regional and European positions in the run-up to the NATO Summit in Madrid, the Presidential Administration informs.

At bilateral level, the two top officials emphasized the common interest in further developing Romania and Bulgaria's deep partnership in political, economic and security terms. With regard to economic cooperation, the sides pointed out that Romania is Bulgaria's second largest EU trading partner, as trade exchanges have increased significantly in the last years.

President Iohannis and Prime Minister Petkov discussed the common goals of improving road and river connections along the Danube and the necessary measures to ensure the navigability of the river. In this regard, they emphasized the need for the rapid implementation of the European Fast Danube project, aimed at improving navigation in the Romanian-Bulgarian section of the Danube.

Both leaders emphasized the important role of the communities on both sides of the Danube, with interconnections contributing to economic development and creating new opportunities for them, the cited source said.

As regards the energy sector, President Klaus Iohannis reiterated Romania's support for joint European efforts to end the European Union's energy dependence on the Russian Federation as soon as possible, in line with the European Council's agreed approach.

The head of the state also stressed the importance of completing energy interconnections among EU member states, particularly in the current difficult circumstances where the Russian Federation has halted gas exports to Bulgaria and Poland. President Klaus Iohannis underscored the major importance of the rapid operationalization of the Bulgaria-Greece gas interconnector and commended the recent steps taken in this direction by Bulgaria. The two top officials also stressed the importance of bilateral and regional cooperation in dealing with this complex energy situation and reiterated the importance of cooperation in achieving the European climate change goals.

Regarding the security developments generated by the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine, President Klaus Iohannis reiterated the support the Romanian authorities provide to Ukraine on multiple levels, the assistance offered to Ukrainian refugees through the Suceava-based humanitarian hub and the support to facilitate Ukrainian exports as a way of supporting the Ukrainian economy. Ways of coordinating relief and situation-management measures were also discussed.

President Iohannis also approached aspects related to the active and comprehensive support that the Republic of Moldova needs.

"President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Kiril Petkov also discussed the advancement of Romania and Bulgaria's Schengen accession, stating that this will contribute to strengthening both the Single Market and the resilience of the European Union as a whole, which is the more so necessary in the current context, marked by multiple crises. The two top officials agreed on the continuation of coordinated action for achieving this common goal," the Presidential Administration said.

AGERPRES
A bomb threat on Friday morning at the Henri Coanda International Airport in Bucharest was false, according to the Bucharest National Airports Company (CNAB), Agerpres reports.

"The checks carried out by specialists have been completed and it has been found that the bomb threat was false. The passengers are to be boarded back and the Lufthansa aircraft, bound for Munich, will take off as soon as possible," according to CNAB.A bomb threat to an aircraft belonging to Lufthansa that was to take off from the Henri Coanda International Airport in Bucharest was reported on Friday morning, according to the Bucharest National Airports Company (CNAB).A task force was established at the airport in accordance with the specific procedures in force.Flight LH 1655 to Munich ETD 06:00hrs had 130 passengers on board.Despite the threat, air traffic at the Henri Coanda Bucharest International Airport operated normally with no disruptions.
The initially announced schedule of Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov's visit to Romania today will be delayed until after 16:00hrs, according to the Romanian government, Agerpres reports.

Petkov was initially scheduled to call on the Romanian Government House at 11:30hrs.The two prime ministers will have private and public talks, with the participation of European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean, who will also attend the signing ceremony of an agreement between the national governments of Romania and Bulgaria on opening a ferryboat check point on the Romanian - Bulgarian state border.At the end of the talks, the three officials will hold a joint news conference.Petkov will also be welcomed by Romania's President Klaus Iohannis at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.Romania's Defence Minister Vasile Dincu is scheduled to meet his Bulgarian counterpart Dragomir Zakov, who accompanies Petkov on his Romanian tour, at the Defence Ministry.The Defence Ministry also announced that, for objective reasons, the meeting between the two ministers will take place later than [previously announced.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca declared on Friday that his Bulgarian counterpart, Kiril Petkov, specified that until June 30 the gas interconnector between Bulgaria and Greece will be finished, from a technical standpoint.

"Both PM Kiril Petkov, as well as PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis confirmed their shared interest that the gas interconnector between Bulgaria and Greece to be finished on time. PM Petkov mentioned that until June 30 he has the certainty that this will be finished, from a technical standpoint. A period of testing and verification will follow, and most likely, this fall, we will have gas on this interconnector," Ciuca said, during a joint conference with the Bulgarian counterpart and the European commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean, which took place at Victoria Palace.

He specified that this interconnector will have a capacity of approximately 1.5 billion cubic meters.

"It is important through both quantity, as well as for the possibility of ensuring the traffic of gas from both South-to-North, as well as from North-to-South," Ciuca explained.

The Romanian PM said that the interruption of gas supply from Russia is a problem that affects not only Romania and Bulgaria, but other countries in the region and in Europe.

"A reason why we must subscribe our national actions in the overall measures that EU is about to take. It was already established that on May 5 there will be a regional meeting of the Ministers of Energy. For this reunion there will be ministers that will take part from countries that have the potential to supply with gas, this is about Azerbaijan and Turkey, and we hope that based on the talks that will take place during this regional reunion, conclusions to be reached and decisions in the regional plan, which will also be in the EU's benefit as well. Basically, it is intended to be a pilot project for identifying solutions, where after, based on the results of this reunion, to be able to have a clear set of decisions," Ciuca showed.

"What we realized is the fact that we have an infrastructure that until now we were not able to use fully, we did not fully optimize it. This is about the pipeline that brought gas through Romania, Bulgaria towards Turkey. Now we can work in reverse and the possibility of buying liquified gas together is a huge opportunity, because the price levels will also be different if we buy together. On top of this, our partners from Azerbaijan are also a possible source for additional gas," Kiril Petkov highlighted.

AGERPRES
The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) reports that the cyber attackers who made unavailable on Friday a series of websites belonging to the national authorities, financial-banking institutions, respectively, used network equipment from outside Romania, Agerpres reports.

On Friday, starting at 4:00 am, a number of websites belonging to the national authorities and some financial-banking institutions were the victims of a Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) type of cyber attack.Following the investigations carried out by the CYBERINT National Centre within the Romanian Intelligence Service, it was established that the cyber attackers used network equipment from outside Romania. The attackers took control of the equipment in question by exploiting cyber security vulnerabilities, respectively the lack of cyber security measures, and used them as a vector of attack on the Romanian websites, the same source reports.The cyber attack was claimed by the pro-Russian KILLNET group, which specializes in DDoS attacks. Also, earlier this same month, the KILLNET group launched DDoS attacks on the websites of institutions in states such as the US, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, but also on NATO sites.The responsibility for ensuring the primary cyber security of the affected infrastructures does not belong to the Romanian Intelligence Service. However, given the scale of the attacks with an impact on national security, the CYBERINT National Centre within the Romanian Intelligence Service is actively cooperating with the entities responsible for investigating cyber attacks and remedying their effects, the SRI explains.The Service also adds that the affected sites are not part of the National System for the Protection of IT&C Infrastructures of national interest against threats from cyberspace (TITEICA) managed by the Romanian Intelligence Service through the CYBERINT National Centre.
Regular Romanian-Bulgarian meetings are needed in order to strengthen defense cooperation in accordance with the plan NATO has activated for Romania and Bulgaria, the two countries that share the same destiny, of ensuring security in the region, visiting Bulgarian Defense Minister Dragomir Zakov said on Friday in Bucharest.

"As agreed, these meetings must take place on a regular basis, because Bulgaria and Romania are not only close allies, close neighbors, not only are they faced with the same challenges and threats, but they share the same destiny as allies, as neighbors, of ensuring the security of the region. And we strongly believe in this. There's a NATO plan which has been activated for Romania and Bulgaria, and it's very important that we meet and discuss how to implement the decisions in order to strengthen the practical dimension of defense cooperation. (...) We are ready to work together for the security of the region, for the security of our nations," Dragomir Zakov declared after the meeting with the Romanian Defense Minister Vasile Dincu.

DefMin Zakov also referenced his visit to Kyiv together with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.

"I was part of the delegation led by Bulgarian Prime Minister these days to Kyiv and I saw firsthand the devastating effects of the Russian attacks. What we saw on TV was a far cry from what we saw on site. And in fact, leaving Kyiv last night, we saw three missiles flying over our heads. The Ukrainian air defense was able to intercept one of them, the other two hit residential buildings in Kyiv. Words are superfluous under such circumstances," the Bulgarian Defense Minister said.

He explained that "NATO is setting up two battle groups in the region, one in Romania and another one in Bulgaria, and the latter is about to become operational."

"We are also prepared to work together in multinational exercises, to increase the interoperability of our troops so that our soldiers are able to work together, talk to each other and fight together. I am leaving Bucharest with a strong feeling for the Romanian nation. I am confident that our successes will continue, that we will work hand in hand to increase the security of our nations, as well as the security of the Alliance," Zakov concluded. AGERPRES
April 29 is a day of gratitude, sacrifice and gives us all the opportunity to celebrate war veterans, "the brave soldiers who fought for the defence of the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and interests of Romania in the campaigns carried out by the Romanian Army in World War Two," the Minister of National Defence, Vasile Dincu, underlined on Friday, in the message occasioned by the War Veterans Day, Agerpres reports.

"Romanians with a love of country and a spirit of sacrifice, our soldiers responded to the call of duty and put the country before their own lives. (...) April 29 is a day of gratitude for us. I think it should be one of the most important holidays of our nation, because it is a day of sacrifice, and no free country can be built without the sacrifice of the forefathers, without whole generations having sacrificed their blood or any other type of sacrifice. I hope that in the future, especially seeing the hard times that whole peoples are going through today, we will have to think that this day of gratitude will become one of our national holidays," said Dincu who was present at the military ceremony organized at the Monument of the Homeland Heroes, located in front of the National Defence University.Dincu expressed his gratitude to the war veterans for their service in the service of the homeland, adding that their experiences are very valuable lessons for today's military, and the wealth of values that includes dignity, courage and altruism are the legacies for the future.On this occasion, wreaths were laid by state institutions, a council of priests officiated the religious service, and the military guard presented the honor to the participants in the event.In this context, there was an event of static and dynamic presentation of a truck produced by Automobile Dacia SA, in a configuration adapted to people with mobility disabilities, the vehicle being tested by Vasile Zbanca, a serviceman wounded in the theatre of operations in Afghanistan.
The contract between Romgaz and Exxon for taking over the American participation in the Neptune Deep perimeter in the Black Sea will be signed next week, the Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu, announced on Facebook on Friday, Agerpres reports.

"We have had discussions with Romgaz and Petrom and, once they enter this project, we will try to speed up and burn some stages, to help as much as possible with the bureaucratic part, with the opinions that have not yet been taken in such a way as to hasten this," Popescu added.He specified, in order to eliminate any kind of speculation, that the perimeter of Neptun Deep is not part of the continental area won by Romania in the Hague process with Ukraine."It has been in Romanian territorial waters since the beginning. Now we see, better than ever, what a security umbrella of the North Atlantic Alliance means," the governmental official said.According to him, "no one raises the issue of investment security in Romania.""In the near future, Romania's gas production will double, and this means complete independence of our country, and we will also become a provider of national energy security. And, given that we will have enough gas, we estimate that prices will also settle", he completed.
Groupe Renault Romania Foundation has donated to the Romanian National Red Cross Society four commercial vehicles that will be used in the humanitarian transport for refugees in Ukraine, according to a company statement, Agerpres reports.

Perfectly adjusted to transport articles of daily necessity, these vehicles will be used by volunteers of the Romanian National Red Cross Society in the humanitarian transports they will make to ensure the access of refugees from Ukraine to medical supplies, food, water and other vital goods."We believe it is our duty to contribute to the humanitarian cause of supporting refugees in Ukraine. We joined this effort with conviction and decided to make this vehicle donation to the Romanian Red Cross out of a desire to meet immediate logistical needs for the transport of humanitarian materials for those who need our solidarity so much at the moment," said Mihai Bordeanu, General Manager of Automobile Dacia.Along with the four vehicles, the Groupe Renault Romania Foundation offered the Romanian National Red Cross Society a donation in cash as well as in non-perishable and hygienic products collected following an internal campaign among the Group's employees."In the midst of these sufferings caused by the armed conflict in Ukraine, it is encouraging to see the level of solidarity of companies. The generosity of Renault Group Romania ensures the Romanian Red Cross the opportunity to respond in a very short time to the needs of the Ukrainian citizens by sending humanitarian materials. We are grateful to the Groupe Renault Romania Foundation for the constant proof of social responsibility, solidarity and humanity," underscored Ioan Silviu Lefter, General Manager of the Romanian Red Cross.
The cyber-attacks this morning against websites of Romanian public bodies and private organisations have been claimed by the Pro-Russia cybercrime group Killnet and justified by them by the fact that Romania supports Ukraine in the military conflict with Russia, according to Romania's National Cybersecurity Directorate (DNSC), Agerpres reports.

"Today, a series of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks took place on sites belonging to Romania's public bodies and private entities. The sites gov.ro, mapn.ro, politiadefrontiera.ro, cfrcalatori .ro, and otpbank.ro were targeted by attackers who aimed to disrupt these online services by overloading these sites with massive traffic from multiple sources. The attack was claimed by the cybercrime group Killnet on a communication channel called The Telegram that justifies it by the fact that the Romanian government supports Ukraine in the military conflict with Russia. National Cybersecurity Directorate (DNSC) specialists are working together with the authorities to investigate these cybersecurity incidents."According to DNSC, a list of IP addresses identified as being involved in this attack will be soon released."The release is part of the standard process of monitoring and identifying resources involved in cyber-attacks amidst the Ukraine-Russia conflict, which the directorate has put in place since the outbreak of the military conflict. We want to reiterate the need and importance of implementing adequate cybersecurity measures for the protection of websites and cyber infrastructures. A cybersecurity guide that you can use in this regard can be accessed on the dnsc.ro website: https://dnsc.ro/vezi/document/ghid-securitate-cibernetica-2021. Also, on the site, in the guides section, you can find useful information on ways of reacting to various types of cyber-attacks."Access to the websites gov.ro, mapn.ro, politiadefrontiera.ro, cfrcalatori.ro and the website of a financial institution was affected by a series of DDOS (distributed denial of service), cyber-attacks on Friday morning, according to the Romanian government.In the meantime, access to the www.gov.ro site was restored.
A bomb threat to an aircraft belonging to Lufthansa that was to take off from the Henri Coanda International Airport in Bucharest was reported on Friday morning, according to the Bucharest National Airports Company (CNAB), Agerpres reports.

A task force was established at the airport in accordance with the specific procedures in force.Flight LH 1655 to Munich ETD 06:00hrs had 130 passengers on board."The aircraft was parked in an isolated area in order for the specialists to carry out specific response procedures in case of a bomb threat, which are still in progress. The passengers have been disembarked and grouped together in the boarding area of the terminal while the necessary checks have been carried out," according to CNAB.Despite the threat, air traffic at the Henri Coanda Bucharest International Airport is operating normally with no disruptions.
The agreement with Bulgaria in the field of transport signed on Friday will allow the opening of a new border crossing point in southern Giurgiu-Ruse, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said.

At the Victoria Palace of Government, Prime Minister Ciuca received Bulgarian counterpart Kiril Petkov, saying it was a "good opportunity" to resume dialogue on a number of topics of interest.

"An important point of the discussion is our collaboration in the field of transport, which benefited from the contribution of the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean. We materialize this cooperation through the results that benefit our citizens. The agreement signed today in Bucharest in the field of transport will allow the opening of a new border crossing point of the Romanian-Bulgarian border in Giurgiu-Ruse," Nicolae Ciuca wrote on Facebook.

"It is a joy to witness the signing of the Giurgiu-Ruse PTF agreement with my counterpart and my friend, the Prime Minister, Kiril Petkov, and to discuss our bilateral cooperation in various fields, including transport, energy and the situation in Ukraine," Prime Minister Ciuca said on Twitter.

AGERPRES
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Friday that he agreed with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov to reconfirm joint support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, to condemn the aggression of the Russian armed forces and to uphold that the atrocities and war crimes be brought before international courts.

The head of the Executive held a joint press conference with his Bulgarian counterpart, Kiril Petkov, and the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean.

"Today's discussion was very productive, benefiting from topics of common interest and, of course, the presence of Madame Commissioner, especially for what was one of the main topics, namely how we can develop joint transport and interconnection programs. Naturally, we started our discussion from the security context. Mr. Prime Minister [of Bulgarian gov't] came to Bucharest after a visit to Ukraine, in Kyiv, we were both in Kyiv this week," said Nicolae Ciuca.

He said that the very complex situation generated by the invasion of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine had been discussed.

"Together we reaffirmed our support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and we condemned together the aggression of the Russian armed forces and, in particular, the atrocities and war crimes, the blasts that resulted in the deaths of civilians, women and children, the unjustified, unprovoked and absolutely illegal destruction of schools and hospitals. And we also agreed that together, we uphold that everything that happened there be identified brought before the international courts," Ciuca said.

AGERPRES
On Friday, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca sent a message to the veterans of the World War II in which he thanked them for everything they did for the homeland and for the Romanian people, Agerpres reports.

The Prime Minister added that in the "illegitimate and unprovoked" conflict in Ukraine, houses, apartment blocks, streets, parks, memories, families, lives were destroyed by the "Russian bullets and bombs," and "this ultimate form of inhumanity cannot remain unpunished.""I extend my greetings and best wishes of good health and long life to those who taught us to cherish freedom, while surviving the terrible horrors of World War II, horrors that we can hardly imagine today. We honour the memory of those who put the country above their own lives, and we pay eternal homage on this day of the Enlightenment Week to those who have written with blood the recent history of Romania. Our generation has the privilege of learning from these life lessons directly from the war veterans, and we, in our turn, we will pass on to our children and grandchildren that their freedom to live, dream and love carries the price paid by our forefathers, with their freedom, love, dreams and life," said the head of Executive.The PM referred to the conflict in Ukraine, underscoring that no one imagined that, seven decades after the end of the World War II, "Europe's peace will once again hang in the balance."The conflict in Ukraine, illegitimate and unprovoked, is awakening in us the horror and suffering of our grandparents. Who would have thought that, more than seven decades after the end of the WWII peace in Europe will hang in the balance once again. We have seen how our neighbours' houses, apartment blocks, streets, parks, memories, families, lives look like - all destroyed by the Russian bullets and bombs. This last form of inhumanity cannot go unpunished. It is our moral duty towards not only the Ukrainian people, but also towards the future generations," added Ciuca.According to the Prime Minister, the unconditional solidarity of the European and NATO partners, as well as the openness with which the Romanians welcomed in their homes those who left the path of war, showed once again that "peace and humanity will always prevail in the face of darkness.""Dear comrades, hand over these history sheets to your children and to your children's children. Their future depends on our choices today. Distinguished war veterans, invalids and war widows, thank you for all you have done for the Romanian people and for our motherland! On your day, personally and on behalf of the Romanian Government, I greet you comrades and wish you to stay in good health and have a long life! Many returns of the day! I have the honour to salute you!" Ciuca said.
President Klaus Iohannis welcomed on Friday, at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, the Prime Minister of the Government of Bulgaria, Kiril Petkov, who is paying a working visit to Romania.

Earlier in the day, the Bulgarian Prime Minister met at the Victoria Palace of Government with his Romanian counterpart, Nicolae Ciuca. The two officials had one-on-one talks and took part in the signing ceremony of the agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria on the opening of the Giurgiu-Ruse ferry international border crossing point at the Romanian-Bulgarian state border.A plenary meeting of the two delegations will take place starting with 16:00 hrs, with the participation of the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean, and from 17:30 hrs, the two Prime Ministers and the European Commissioner will hold a joint press conference at Victoria Palace of Government.The visit of the Bulgarian Prime Minister was supposed to start at 11.30, with the reception at Victoria Palace, but the schedule has been delayed. Kiril Petkov paid a visit to Ukraine.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca announced on Friday that he had agreed with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov that, by the end of next week, a task force with specialists from both countries will be set up to carry out transport and energy programmes, noting that the two countries will act together to enter the Schengen area and to support Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia on their European path.

Nicolae Ciuca said that a joint government meeting could take place in September and noted that the Bulgarian side had come up with a proposal to consider the possibility of building a larger number of bridges.

"Therefore, there is a possibility that, starting from the current security context, starting from the reality and needs that our countries can cover in terms of the support that we can give to the entire region, especially Ukraine, we believe that it is necessary, in the next period, to analyze, bilaterally, everything that can represent the joint effort and the putting together of the capabilities, of resources, so that we can find common solutions", added Ciuca.

Prime Minister Ciuca also said that he has agreed with his Bulgarian counterpart to act together to join the Schengen area.

"A topic on the agenda of discussions was the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. We agreed that together we can continue the discussions at EU level and, once we have received the report from this summer, we can no longer be subject to this mechanism and, through this, we have also gone towards what the common objective of both of us means, namely accession, acceptance in the Schengen area," said Ciuca.

"Together we agreed that the Republic of Moldova is the most vulnerable country in the current security context and we agreed to provide the necessary support, together with the other countries in the European Union and in this context together we will support the European path of both Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and Georgia. We see together a packaged path, so that we can support and ensure with our expertise all that means the technical process of accession," added Nicolae Ciuca.

AGERPRES
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Friday that Romania does not recommend Romanian citizens to leave the Republic of Moldova, noting that at this moment it is not the case for such a decision.

"At the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government, we have carried out the analysis of the indicators that could generate such a decision. We have also discussed (with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria's Government, ed. n.) this problem and as it resulted it was a more technical decision and, of course, the argument would be the one related precisely to Transnistria, but we are convinced that, as the Prime Minister said, once with the re-analysis of the indicators that can generate such a decision, we will probably have a precise communication," said Nicolae Ciuca, in the joint press conference with his Bulgarian counterpart, Kiril Petkov, and the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean, held at the Victoria Palace.

"We all support Moldova and we will be good partners both during the crisis and on their way to the EU. I want to make that clear. The information that has been spread by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a level of risk is currently being reviewed. It was a risk lift from a technical point of view, so to speak, for a particular region. I, personally, hope that soon this position of ours will be revised, but we would all like to inform the people of Moldova that there is a greater risk at the moment," Kiril Petkov explained why the Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Ministry has recommended the Bulgarian citizens to leave Moldova.

AGERPRES
Romania has tested thermobaric piercing ammunition, a product it is ready to manufacture for the Ministry of National Defense at the Plopeni Mechanical Plant, informs the Ministry of Economy, on its Facebook page, Agerpres reports.

"Today, at the Plopeni Mechanical Plant, we participated in the testing of the thermobaric piercing blast for AG-9 grenade launcher, for the homologation of the industrial prototype. This stage is part of the implementation of the manufacturing project, at industrial level, of thermobaric piercing ammunition for AG-9 grenade launcher, through the technological transfer from the Scientific Research Center for CBRN Defense and Ecology, at CN ROMARM SA," said Minister Spataru."A product of strategic importance and with a high market potential was tested at Plopeni, southern Prahova County. At present, thermobaric munitions are made by a small number of world producers, and those from the proposed configuration will be developed within the "thermobaric piercing " project is not currently in mass production or on the export list of the largest arms manufacturers in the world," Spataru added.The thermobaric piercing blast for AG-9 grenade launcher is an ammunition with combined shrapnel and blast effect, with the ability to pierce concrete, brick, earth waves and armored targets.The ammunition was developed in 2019, at the experimental model level, within the Military Equipment and Technologies Research Agency within the Ministry of National Defense, as was later on taken over for manufacturing in the defense industry, based on a technology transfer project funded by Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) and Romarm SA.
As many as 1,016 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Romania, down 130 from the previous day, with over 20,400 RT-PCR and rapid antigenic tests performed, the Health Ministry informed on Friday, Agerpres reports.

Of the new cases, 109 were in re-infected patients, who tested positive more than 90 days after the first time they recovered from the disease.Most of the newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in Romania since the previous reporting were recorded in Bucharest City - 258 and in the counties of Cluj - 83, Maramures - 54, and Brasov - 50.As of Friday, 2,892,989 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Romania.- Hospitalisations -As many as 1,210 people with COVID-19, down 10 from the previous reporting, including 73 children, are hospitalised in Romania at specialist care facilities.Out of the total number of hospitalised patients, 200 patients are in intensive care, up seven, no minors.Of the 200 patients admitted to ICU, 178 are unvaccinated against COVID-19.- Deaths -According to the ministry, another seven Romanians infected with SARS-CoV-2 - five men and two women - are reported dead in the last 24 hours.Out of the total seven patients who died, four were unvaccinated and three fully vaccinated. One of the dead vaccinated patients was between 50-59 years old, one was between 60-69 years old and one was between 70-79 years old. All dead patients had commorbidities.Since the beginning of the pandemic, 65,478 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania.
On 28 April, the EU-US Task Force on Energy Security met in person in Washington to discuss implementation of the 25 March Joint Statement by Presidents Biden and von der Leyen.

The meeting, chaired by Amos Hochstein, US Senior Advisor for Energy Security, and Bjorn Seibert, Head of Cabinet of the European Commission President, reviewed progress on diversifying natural gas supplies to Europe and reducing Europe's demand for natural gas. The discussion followed two recent Task Force convenings that included senior US and European Commission officials, representatives of EU Member States, and industry participants.

The sides also discussed the EU Energy Purchase Platform and plans to establish a framework to accelerate diversification of gas supply, including additional LNG supplies. The sides also discussed options to reduce Europe's demand for natural gas, including with the deployment of heat pumps, technologies that promote energy efficiency and savings such as smart thermostats, and renewable energy.

In the coming weeks, work will continue at technical and senior officials' levels, and the Task Force decided to reconvene in person in June, to assess progress on the workplan.

European Commission




David Nicklaus David Nicklaus is a business columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow David Nicklaus 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

Larry Swedroe has lived through one revolution in investing. Now hes advising clients through a second.

The first was the creation of passive index funds, which enabled ordinary investors to earn market returns at a low cost instead of paying for stock-picking advice. The second, still in its early stages, is the rise of sustainable investing, the notion that portfolio decisions should be based partly on whats good for society or the planet.

Swedroe, the chief research officer at Clayton-based Buckingham Strategic Wealth, has written 16 books about passive investment strategies. His 17th title, co-authored with California money manager Samuel Adams, guides people through the issues that arise when they try to do well while doing good.

Swedroe said he decided to write Your Essential Guide to Sustainable Investing after seeing more interest from investors and reading more academic literature on the topic.

In that literature, the answer to whether one can achieve high returns while pursuing social goals has shifted from a firm no to a hopeful maybe.

An earlier generation of socially responsible funds defined themselves by what they excluded, such as tobacco companies or gun manufacturers. Academic theory was clear: Investors in such funds would sacrifice some return as the price of their beliefs.

Modern sustainable funds tend to use the acronym ESG, indicating a focus on environmental, social and governance issues. Such funds assets grew 50% last year to $2.7 trillion and, globally, they hold about one-third of all managed money.

Instead of taking an exclusionary approach, ESG funds strive to buy companies that are rated highly on a variety of environmental, social and governance measures.

ESG funds have outperformed regular index funds in recent years, largely because so much money is flowing into sustainable strategies, but investors shouldnt necessarily expect such results going forward.

That pushes the price of green stocks higher and higher, and the same amount of money cant keep coming in forever, Swedroe said in a recent interview.

When a stock becomes more popular, and hence more expensive, investors should expect lower future returns. But ESG proponents offer a solid reason why their favored investments deserve a premium: Theyre less risky.

A firm that doesnt pollute wont incur stiff fines, and one that treats workers well can avoid labor unrest. A well-governed company is less likely to destroy value with ego-driven acquisitions.

The sustainable investing landscape, however, is filled with pitfalls for investors. Seven major firms rate ESG performance, and their opinions can differ widely. One firm ranks Facebook in the top 1% of ESG companies; another puts it in the bottom 5%.

If youre intrigued by ESG funds, Swedroes book can help you avoid the pitfalls. What were trying to do is educate people so they can make an informed decisions that reflects their values in the right way, he said.

The book also presents evidence that sustainable investing has pushed companies to do things like reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is changing corporate behavior, Swedroe said. Well get moving toward a sustainable planet faster than would be the case if investors didnt care.

Investors clearly do care, but the investment world doesnt make it easy to separate the truly forward-thinking companies from those that are simply greenwashing their data. For anyone who wants to align their money with their values, Swedroe and Adams provide a valuable primer.

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A highly infectious bird flu has poultry farmers and state officials on alert in Missouri and Illinois.

Ongoing transmission of the disease  which can infect wild and domestic birds of different species  has led various state agencies to urge managers of commercial flocks to take special steps to protect their animals. Illinois officials are even trying to enlist the publics help at the backyard level, by encouraging people to pause their use of bird feeders or bird baths, to potentially slow the spread of the virus.

Although the disease, called highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, can infect pretty much any bird, certain kinds are more prone to succumb to it, and some are more prominent carriers fueling its spread. Wild waterfowl, in particular, act as top carriers by producing and shedding high levels of the virus.

They turn into virus-making machines, said Daniel Shaw, an avian diagnostician at a lab within the University of Missouris College of Veterinary Medicine.

The main concern, Shaw and other experts say, is preserving the health of the poultry industry, given the potential for widespread disruption and die-offs if infections surface at chicken or turkey farms  where birds have a nearly 100% mortality rate from the virus, and where entire flocks are euthanized to combat the disease.

The disease does not pose a threat to humans, outside of rare cases. And, thus far, the threat of the virus exceeds its actual toll in states like Missouri, which has not borne the same brunt of larger outbreaks seen in other places. Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin have been affected far worse. Confirmed infections have affected 29 states overall and more than 35 million birds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In contrast, only six commercial flocks in Missouri have been infected, along with three backyard poultry flocks, based on USDA data  representing a statewide total of more than 430,000 birds. And the Missouri Department of Conservation says that only a handful of infections in wild birds, such as geese and bald eagles, have so far been detected in the St. Louis area.

Weve been lucky, said Shaw, describing the relatively low impacts in Missouri.

Still, worries about infection have sparked a variety of recommendations aimed at minimizing risks of transmission, and safeguarding poultry farms. For example, farms should avoid using equipment that has been on other poultry operations. And people who do enter the farms should put on clean shoes and protective suits.

Farms have also been encouraged to move birds indoors, to minimize the risk of exposure to the virus.

But not all poultry producers buy into that strategy.

Serena Stuart is one local chicken farmer who says the threat of the virus  and recommendations to keep birds inside, as a precaution  presents a dilemma.

We raise all of our animals on pasture, year-round, said Stuart, owner of Stuart Farm in Franklin County, where she has hundreds of chickens  100 egg-laying birds, and 800 others raised for their meat. We arent a confinement farm, so that makes it kind of hard.

But the advice to push birds indoors isnt just incompatible with her operations approach to raising chickens. Its also at odds with her farms stance on what is best for bird health.

She said that allowing chickens to be outdoors helps promote stronger immune systems in the birds, meaning that protecting them indoors could compromise their health or make them vulnerable in other ways.

Its kind of that Catch-22, as I see it, she said. Protecting them makes them a little more vulnerable.

Stuart argues that major health scares like this one, and others, threaten to be persistent and recurring challenges until large-scale poultry farms begin to raise more resilient birds.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has asked residents to temporarily stop using bird feeders and bird baths, or to clean them out once a week if they cant be moved.

Though its unclear if residents are listening.

A Metro East store specializing in those kinds of products for wild birds said it hadnt seen any drop in sales since the April 21 announcement from the agency.

Threats from the disease are expected to persist for at least a few more weeks.

Illinois advisory about backyard bird care extends through May, and experts say the danger of transmission is greatest during the migration season for wild birds and when the weather is cooler.

Farmers like Stuart say they wont breathe a sigh of relief until July or so because it is more difficult for the virus to survive in warmer and drier conditions.

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Just a few years after kickstarting a new generation of St. Louis-made F-15 fighter jets, the U.S. Air Force is outlining plans to cut its order nearly in half.
FRANKFURT, Germany  Shareholders of Bayer on Friday voted to reprimand the German drug and farming supplies maker for its top management pay scheme, after one leading proxy advisory group said it did not adequately reflect Bayers litigation burden.

At Fridays annual general meeting, 75.89% of shareholders voted against approval of the report on executive board compensation.

In the run-up to the vote, advisory firm Glass Lewis wrote in a report that it took issue with how Bayer adjusted a management payout component that is contingent on group cash flow to strip out the effect of major litigation.

Settlements of U.S. claims that weedkiller Roundup causes cancer have cost Bayer billions. Bayer has repeatedly said that the product is safe to use, which has been confirmed by U.S. and European environmental regulators.

We find the impact of litigations should be accounted for in management boards remuneration outcomes, Glass Lewis said in the report at the time.

Even tough the vote has no direct legal consequences, it marks another setback in Bayers shareholder relations after investors in 2019 voted to disapprove of how Chief Executive Werner Baumann and his top team had managed the company.

Investors took issue at the time with how Bayer handled lawsuits related to Roundup, a product inherited as part of the 2018 takeover of St. Louis-based Monsanto.

Bayers executive board, however won clear votes of confidence from shareholders at last years annual general meeting and in 2020.

Shareholders on Friday voted 82% in favour of the executive boards actions during the past business year.

In Germany management compensation resolutions are not legally binding, and the supervisory board remains responsible for setting the compensation of the management board irrespective of this shareholders vote.

Norways $1.3 trillion wealth fund, which holds 2.27% in Bayer, said this month it would vote against the remuneration package.

Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz of Reuters.
ST. LOUIS  SSM Health has agreed to acquire SLUCare Physician Group, the entity that staffs St. Louis Universitys medical school, the organizations announced this week.

The deal, pending regulatory and other approvals, will impact more than 600 faculty and medical professionals at SLUs medical school, in addition to a bevy of administrative and support staff. SLUCare will become an academic physician division within SSM Health in St. Louis. It also will partner with SSM Health Medical Groups more than 600 providers.

Officials said SSM Health will offer employment to all medical school faculty and staff upon the deals closing. SSM Health is targeting a July 1 goal for integration.

St. Louis University, SSM Health, the medical school and SLUCare officials plan to meet with medical school faculty and staff about employment, compensation and benefits over the coming weeks, they said.

SSM Health, a Catholic, not-for-profit health system, also will provide more information about tuition benefits in upcoming meetings. Full-time medical school employees and their families are eligible for free tuition at St. Louis University.

SLUCare patients wont experience disruption to their providers or location of services, according to a release.

SLU officials said the deal is a significant investment in its medical school, though financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This partnership will expand the scope of our primary and specialty health care, allowing greater access to clinical trials for our patients, while we educate diverse and committed future physicians for our region, and grow our research in the School of Medicine, Dr. Christine Jacobs, dean of the medical school and vice president of medical affairs, said in a statement.

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Like a lot of us, A.J. Jacobs spent a chunk of the past two years doing puzzles, but at least he got a book out of it.

The Puzzler, which he began before the pandemic, is the result. Like the self-described human guinea pigs other books  The Know-It-All, about reading the Encyclopedia Britannica, and the self-explanatory The Year of Living Biblically  it charts an experiment. But this experiment is easier to relate to and less rigid since  instead of following a predetermined course  the book loosely chronicles him taking a stab at more than a dozen kinds of brain-teasers.

You could easily read The Puzzler as a guidebook. Follow along as Jacobs and his family travel to Spain, pre-pandemic, to participate in an international jigsaw puzzle-off. Sympathize (or not) as he discovers his own name in the New York Times crossword, only to realize its on a low-interest day. Learn about familiar diversions such as rebuses as well as lesser-known ones like Japanese puzzle boxes, fiendish wooden containers that lack instructions on how to open them.

Thrill  if, like me, you love musical theater  to a surprising number of references to the late Stephen Sondheim, a puzzle nut.

Although Jacobs has been accused of smugness in previous books, hes a self-deprecating guide to these puzzles (most of the 18 chapters come with several for us to solve, along with offering tips). He steps back to ponder why we love puzzles even though he still stews over one from his youth, and a more recent example convinced him that one of his books has the wrong title.

Those stories build to the kind of conclusion that wasnt as clear in books where, for instance, he threw away polyester clothing because the Bible says not to wear mixed fabrics or insulted strangers because hed taken a vow of truthfulness. In a way, The Puzzler is a self-help book that assures us theres good reason to spend an hour in the bathtub with a pencil and a Sudoku or months fiddling with the worlds largest Rubiks Cube (a task he farms out to a college student).

Writes Jacobs of a logic problem: Its a crash course in perspective-taking, in seeing the world from someone elses point of view. Which to me is an absolutely crucial skill, especially in these times of heightened tribalism.

When a professor discovers the best way to get groups of conservatives and liberals to cooperate is collaborating on puzzles, that feels hopeful. Brain-teasers remind us the world is more complicated than we know, theyre a good way to exercise our minds and they might hold answers to the worlds biggest problems.

Sure, they also can make us howl in frustration. But over the course of the book, Jacobs realizes that even vexing puzzles offer comfort. We may not know how to solve them, he writes, but at least we know those problems can be solved.
THURSDAY, April 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday released proposed rules  first announced a year ago  to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

"The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in an FDA news release.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf discussed the proposed bans Thursday while appearing before a congressional subcommittee, the Washington Post reported.

Califf told the panel that the proposed bans would "reduce the mortality risk of current smokers of menthol cigarettes or flavored cigars by substantially decreasing their consumption and increasing the likelihood of cessation," the Post reported.

Califf's remarks came nearly a year to the day after his predecessor, acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock, announced the same proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored small cigars.

The ban would "address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products," Woodcock said at the time.

"Flavored tobacco, including flavors found in some cigars and cigarillos, makes smoking more appealing by reducing initial aversive responses, particularly for young people," Woodcock explained.

Menthol cigarettes have been marketed aggressively to Black Americans for decades. About 85% of Black smokers use menthol brands compared with 30% of white smokers, the FDA said, and research shows menthol cigarettes are harder to quit than traditional tobacco products.

Anti-smoking and civil rights advocates applauded the proposed ban.

"This is a giant step forward" in reducing health disparities caused by smoking, Carol McGruder, co-chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, told the Post.

In 2019, there were over 18.5 million menthol cigarette smokers aged 12 and older in the United States, with particularly high rates of use by young people, Black people and other minorities, the FDA said. Modeling studies have estimated a 15% reduction in smoking within 40 years if menthol cigarettes are no longer available, the agency said, and those same studies estimate that 324,000 to 654,000 smoking-related deaths overall (92,000 to 238,000 among Black Americans) would be avoided over the course of 40 years.

Experts agreed that the public health impact of following through on the proposed ban could be enormous. Black men have the highest rates of lung cancer in America, largely due to smoking, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"FDA's actions today send a clear message that Big Tobacco's strategy to profit off addicting Black Americans will no longer be tolerated," Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network, said in a statement. "Currently, lung cancer death rates in Black males are 15% higher than those of white males in the U.S. If we're going to address these very real health disparities, we must take strong action to end the industry's targeting of Black communities."

Dr. Raja Flores is chair of thoracic surgery at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. He said, "It's a crime that this has gone on for so long  that they've focused on the most vulnerable population, like the African American community.... We see the disparities and the results in Black patients because of menthol cigarettes. They don't do as well as white patients with lung cancer. It's about time that we do something to stop this."

Geoffrey Fong, principal investigator of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, said as many as 1.3 million people could quit smoking and potentially hundreds of thousands of premature deaths could be averted if the United States' experience mirrors that of Canada after it banned menthol cigarettes.

"This is potentially an extraordinary, landmark intervention to reduce the No. 1 preventable cause of death and disease," Fong told The New York Times.

American Lung Association President and CEO Harold Wimmer said the proposed ban could "be the single most significant action taken by FDA in its almost 13-year history of regulating tobacco products."

"Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death among Black Americans, claiming 45,000 Black lives every year," Wimmer said in a statement. "Black men have the highest rates of lung cancer in the U.S., and Black middle and high school students smoke flavored cigars at rates higher than cigarettes. These statistics did not happen by accident. They are the results of decades of marketing directed at Black communities by the tobacco industry. Halting the sale of these flavored tobacco products lays the groundwork for reversing decades of disparities in tobacco use, disease and death in Black and brown communities."

However, anti-smoking advocates predicted that the effective dates of the bans remain at least two years away.

"The FDA has a duty to protect public health with nothing short of ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products," the American Heart Association said in a statement. "The American Heart Association and our nationwide network of advocates will relentlessly work with FDA to ensure the final rules are as strong and comprehensive as possible. We urge the agency to quickly issue final rules and remove these harmful products from the market."

Public comment on the proposed rules starts May 4, and the FDA will also hold public hearings on June 13 and June 15.

More information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has more about menthol and flavored tobacco products.

SOURCES: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, news release, April 28, 2022; Raja Flores, MD, chair of thoracic surgery, Mount Sinai Health System, New York City; American Heart Association, statement, April 28, 2022; American Lung Association, statement, April 28, 2022; American Cancer Society, statement, April 28, 2022; Washington Post; The New York Times

Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
Inside the Wildlife Rescue Center in Ballwin, a box turtle with a fractured shell munches on a lunch of chicken breast, strawberries and lettuce.

Six baby opossums squirm and look a little incredulous while a worker picks them up to weigh and inspect them; their mother had been hit by a car.

A squirrel recovering from burns skitters around in a cage, and several dozen others skitter alongside him in a designated squirrel room full of cages and aquariums.

May and June are the busiest months of the year for this nonprofit facility, a time of year when cottontail rabbits multiply like, well, rabbits, and when baby seasons for other critters align.

But of the tens of thousands of calls the center gets a year, only about 10 percent result in animals coming in. Not all of them need help, though they do see up to 3,500 patients a year.

People will call and they say they see an animal and it needs to be rescued and taken to the wild, said executive director Kim Rutledge. And thats this idea of the wild beginning somewhere else. But everything is the wild. As space is more and more limited as time goes on, were educating people that its a cool thing to have wildlife in your yard. If you have diverse animals, thats means you have healthy habitats.

The baby squirrel found on the ground at the foot of your tree may have fallen from a nest, but his mother may come back. The fawn seen sitting calmly on the ground next to your back porch will likely be fine  the mother is looking for food, and should return.

In general, if you see a nocturnal animal out during the day, especially this time of year, its probably mom, she says. Theres a lot of very hard working single mothers in the wildlife world.

The Wildlife Rescue Center, which has a budget of about $400,0000 and runs mostly on small donations, accepts almost all native Missouri mammals except deer. They see opossums, squirrels, cottontail rabbits, red foxes, water birds like ducks and geese, as well as box turtles, frogs and snakes.

For larger raptors like eagles and hawks, they refer callers to the World Bird Sanctuary in Valley Park. For native wild songbirds, its Wild Bird Rehabilitation in Overland.

Its a busy baby season there as well. The phones are just nonstop, said Wild Bird Rehabilitation president Diane Doster, who said they keep a couple hundred birds at a time during the busy May month.

Some birds are migrating, get disoriented and fly into windows. Some baby birds fall out of their nest and a parent is nowhere to be found. Some are attacked by dogs or cats.

Like the Wildlife Rescue Center, the bird rehab center talks callers through circumstances to see if a bird really needs to be seen or disturbed.

I had a call this morning that this woman in Augusta had a bluebird house with babies and she saw bluebird feathers on the ground by the house, so something, probably a hawk, got one of the parents, she said. In this case what happened, which is common, the other parent then gets spooked over the death of its mate and takes off. So then you have all the babies and they are starving. They determined the birds needed help, and the woman brought them in, where they will be hand-fed and weighed until they are ready for release.

The Wildlife Rescue Center in Ballwin sits on 11 acres of land on the edge of Castlewood State Park. It has trails and a small pond which attracts its own wildlife. Though they dont name their patients, they name their native residents: Brock the red-shouldered hawk, Denise and Tyrese the Canada geese, Baron and Karen Von Heron.

Rutledges lab and boxer supermutt Hazel, who is a rescue herself, lopes around the facility on three legs  a back leg was amputated after an injury.

Her title? Director of human enrichment.

Its a big job, jokes Rutledge.

Outside the building is an array of larger cages for adult animals that are almost ready to be released. Nobody lives there now because its baby season, but they will be full this summer with rarer residents like mink or groundhog or the odd rescue. An outdoor cage once housed a confiscated mountain lion until they could get it to a specialized facility in Colorado.

The building itself is made up of a network of rooms marked with bright green, leaf-shaped signs: the ICU, the skunk room, the raccoon room, the waterfowl room, the opossum porch.

The cottontail room is kept much quieter for smaller babies, who sleep in tanks covered with towels. Though it takes only about 21 days to grow into independence, the rabbits are highly sensitive and shouldnt be disturbed if necessary. So if a cottontail needs medicine, the worker might also clean the cage and feed them at the same time.

Rutledge says they advise callers not to disturb a rabbit nest unless they need to.

If people are curious if a nest was orphaned, the idea that wild parents will abandon their young because of human scent is just not true. Wild animals dont just abandon their young willy-nilly. If theyre orphans, its usually because something happened to mom.

All of the animals get weighed regularly to check for growth, fed certain formulas and combinations of food, and, if appropriate, provided enrichment like discarded Amazon shipping boxes or cozy hammocks made of fleece.

Squirrels go from living in smaller cages and aquariums, to larger cages, to larger living spaces on the squirrel porch, where they build nests inside special wooden boxes and exercise and practice balance and jumping on larger branches.

When its time to release them, workers wait until around noon when the squirrels usually take a nap  a squirrel siesta, said Rutledge. They cover the hole of the squirrel box with mesh and remove it, squirrel, box and all.

We can do that with the first one, said Rutledge. The second one is what we call a squirrel rodeo. Workers remove all the branches in a cage and catch the squirrel in a net, put them in a box and and release them into the wild, usually away from the grounds.

They try to take adult animals back to where they came from, which sometimes mean drivers shuttle furry or scaly passengers across the state. Most rescues come from St. Louis County, St. Charles County and Jefferson County.

Its a tremendous amount of work and chart-monitoring juggled by employees and volunteers who may start their day at 6 in the morning, and are relieved by another shift of workers who stay until late at night.

They find humor under sometimes tragic circumstances, ooohing over healthy golden squirrel poops that are the result of the right formula mix, smiling at the adorable way an injured turtle stretches his neck to reach a treat or knowing with a single sniff upon walking into the building that the skunk babies are growing up. The babies usually dont spray, but as they get older, they leak a little, and get moved outside. (Just in case a caregiver gets sprayed, the facility has a shower.)

The work is tremendously rewarding, they say.

Humans have such a huge impact on the natural world, and a lot of that is negative, said Rutledge. So anything we can do to shift that balance a little bit more to the positive, if we can utilize that experience and collective knowledge to positively impact wildlife, then why wouldnt we? Humans do want to help.

WHAT TO DO

Rehab centers ask that you call first before disturbing and bringing in an animal. To inquire or to donate time, supplies or money, call or visit their websites.

If you see a rabbit, squirrel, opossum, raccoon or other small native mammal that appears to need help, contact:

Wildlife Rescue Center: 1128 New Ballwin Road, Ballwin; 636-394-1880; mowildlife.org

If you see a native songbird that appears to need help, contact:

Wild Bird Rehabilitation: 9624 Midland Boulevard, Overland; 314-426-6400; wildbirdrehab.org

If you see a raptor that appears to need help, contact:

World Bird Sanctuary: 125 Bald Eagle Ridge Road, Valley Park; 314-337-8889; worldbirdsanctuary.org

For other animals, visit Animal Help Now at ahnow.org to find a resource in your area.

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CLAYTON  A St. Louis County jury on Thursday decided Beau Rothwell deliberated when he killed his pregnant wife, rather than murdering her in what he described as a red haze of rage.

After three days of testimony, the jury found Rothwell, 31, guilty of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and abandonment of a corpse. Sentencing will be July 8. First-degree murder carries a sentence of life without parole.

Rothwell testified Thursday that he and his wife had argued at their St. Louis County home on Nov. 11, 2019, about his extramarital affair. He struck his wife in the head from behind with a mallet, he said, followed her as she stumbled toward the garage door and then delivered a fatal blow.

In the heat of everything, I hit her again, Rothwell told the jury. I believe I cracked her skull, she fell unconscious and fell down the stairs.

He said he never planned to kill his 28-year-old wife, Jennifer Rothwell, who was six weeks pregnant. The deadly encounter arose after he refused to reveal the identity of his mistress. He testified that his wife was angry, told him he could keep his mystery bitch and said the pregnancy was the result of an affair with another man.

All this happened in just moments, he said.

The killing set off a series of efforts to clean up the crime scene and conceal what hed done: buying bleach and paper towels to disinfect the house, driving her body an hour north to an area near Troy, Missouri, wrapping a plastic bag around her head with duct tape, dumping her naked body in the woods and covering her in brush. He said he got the idea to remove her clothes from watching TV crime shows about hiding evidence but couldnt explain why he did it. He then discarded a tarp he had used to hold her body along with soiled cleaning supplies in a business trash bin off the highway during his early morning drive home from Lincoln County.

He testified to abandoning her car on Olive Boulevard early that morning to make it appear as though she had car trouble on her way to work. He said he sent text messages to her phone that day to make it seem as though he was worried about her. He also participated in search parties with her relatives and co-workers.

Police found multiple bottles of bleach inside the Rothwell home near Creve Coeur, along with a wet, blood-stained carpet. Investigators relied on DNA evidence to confirm the blood belonged to Jennifer Rothwell.

Beau Rothwell testified he was in panic mode and trying to appear normal.

It was this feeling of needing to keep up the facade, he said.

On Wednesday, the jury was shown multiple text and Facebook messages, some sexually explicit, between Beau Rothwell and his mistress, as well as a list of pros and cons about leaving his wife that he had compiled.

Beau Rothwells lawyer, Charles Barberio, said in opening statements Tuesday that the couple began dating while both were studying engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia; they moved to St. Louis for work. They had struggled since 2018 to have a child, then Beau Rothwell lost interest in 2019 and began having an affair. They learned she was pregnant at the end of October 2019.

Jennifer Rothwell was an engineer at MECS Inc. in Chesterfield. Beau Rothwell worked at Ambitech, now called Zachry Engineering, in the St. Louis area.

Throughout the trial, the prosecution sought to portray Beau Rothwell as a meticulous planner in nearly every aspect of his life, eliciting testimony about work and home obligations and methodical planning to achieve a pregnancy. His defense lawyers drew testimony from the couples co-workers who said Beau Rothwell was level-headed and that there were never signs of abuse in the couples relationship.

Assistant Prosecutor Tom Smith told jurors in closing arguments Thursday that Beau Rothwells claim that he killed his wife in a red haze was a lie and that the evidence of premeditation and his efforts to cover up his crimes speaks for itself. He reminded the jury of a pathologists testimony that the force of the second and fatal blow could not have been accidental.

He deliberated when he got the weapon, Smith said. He deliberated when he drew it back. He deliberated when when he brought it down on her head. It was all part of his plan.

Barberio urged jurors to acquit his client of first-degree murder, while finding him guilty of abandoning her corpse, evidence tampering and voluntary manslaughter. He said Beau Rothwell clearly lost control of his actions because he believed his wifes claim during the argument that the baby was not his after months of a passionless marriage and countless fruitless attempts to get pregnant. A paternity test later confirmed Beau Rothwell to be the father.

The state is trying to turn this extramarital affair into some sort of motive or deliberation, Barberio said. There simply isnt any evidence that he ever planned to do it.

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ST. LOUIS  A former police officer has sued St. Louis County, alleging racist behavior, retaliatory treatment and exclusionary hiring practices.

Shanette Hall worked at the countys police department from October 2010 through April 18. She started as a 911 dispatcher and became a sworn officer in September 2014.

She also worked for years with the St. Louis County Chapter of the Ethical Society of Police, an association advocating for equality in the community and local police departments.

While Hall filed suit on Wednesday, she spoke out publicly over a year ago when the department transferred her one day after she appeared in a national media outlets video with other Black female officers talking about the culture of policing.

She said her supervisors reassigned her to a patrol position in a different precinct with a predominantly white staff, an abrupt shift from her work in human resources recruiting officers, including minority officers.

At the time, the department said transfers were commonplace and noted that in 2020 there were 388 transfers or reassignments of commissioned personnel.

Halls lawsuit alleges that when she asked her supervisors to provide a reason for the transfer, the departments human resources leader, Carl Becker, told her thats for the department to figure out, and that eight days after her transfer the department posted a job opening for her former role as a recruitment officer.

She said she reapplied for the position but was denied, and was later passed over for a role as a police academy instructor, even though she alleges she was more qualified than the person selected.

Her attorney, Jerome Dobson, said they filed the lawsuit to shine a light on problematic behavior they said exists in the department in hopes of effecting change.

I just know that Shanette is a remarkable person and what I would say is the fact that she has left the department is a really sad statement about the department, because it is their loss and the communitys loss, he said.

He noted while recruitment wasnt the most exciting job in the department, Hall knew it was important to hire effective officers who understand what their role is in an effort to encourage a modern approach to policing.

The lawsuit details a host of allegations of racist behavior by command staff in the hiring process, such as using applicants names to screen out Black candidates, doling out lower scores to Black candidates answers to subjective questions on written exams and only allowing white men to bypass either the written exam or physical test.

Dobson said those behaviors are the essence of racial discrimination.

The suit also detailed what Hall said was racist behavior by superiors that was not formally addressed and resulted in no discipline. She cited a complaint submitted by a resident that Officer Michael Coletti was displaying a flag at his house for the Three Percenters, a group linked to a plot to kidnap Michigans governor and to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

No disciplinary action was taken, according to Halls suit. Coletti was an instructor at the police academy at the time of the complaint and remains in that position.

Hall also accused Lt. Keith Wildhaber of using abusive language toward her and publicly ridiculing her work as an officer and her association with ESOP. The suit said former Chief Mary Barton sent Hall a letter apologizing for his conduct but did not discipline him.

During a meeting about racial issues in the department in 2021, Hall alleges that Becker asked why the n-word was okay to use in some context(s).

Throughout the suit, Hall said this behavior was reported numerous times without discipline or action.

Hall also said on numerous occasions, Lt. Col. Kenneth Gregory, who is now the departments chief, denied seeing racist behavior. Gregory is the agencys first Black chief.

Dobson said while the chief didnt actively oppose Hall, inaction was fatal to Shanettes career in the department.

St. Louis County Counselor Beth Orwick declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying she could not discuss pending litigation.

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KANSAS CITY  A federal jury here has awarded $5 million to each of four women who alleged they were sexually abused by a guard at Chillicothe Correctional Center.

The $20 million verdict came after days of testimony this week in which the women said Edward Bearden sexually assaulted them at the womens prison in western Missouri, about 90 miles northeast of Kansas City.

Bearden, who worked for the Missouri Department of Corrections from 2008 to September 2018, denied the accusations.

No criminal charges have been filed against Bearden.

The trial began Monday before Chief U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips.

During opening statements Monday, one of the womens lawyers, Susan McGraugh, said Bearden considered the womens prison his personal hunting ground. She said he would groom and compliment the prisoners, giving them items they were not allowed to have like soda; sexually harass them; isolate them into small spaces without cameras; and rape them.

Beardens lawyers said the incidents never occurred and painted the women as not to be trusted.

Ashley Zieser was the first of four woman to testify during the trial.

It was in a warehouse, where Zieser was working, that she first encountered guard Bearden. He stopped her, grabbed his penis and said, You know you want that, she said. It was just the beginning of his abuse, she told jurors hearing the civil case Monday.

Later, Zieser said, she was cleaning the administration building when Bearden told her to get the trash out of a break room, which she did. But then he came up behind her, slid his hands in her pants and assaulted her, she said.

It felt like forever, Zieser told the jury seated in the federal courthouse in downtown Kansas City, before recounting additional allegations against Bearden.

McGraugh told the jurors about three other victims: Lynnsey Betz, who alleges Bearden pushed her against the wall of a cleaning closet and assaulted her; Karen Keil, who says Bearden raped her more than 20 times in a storage closet; and a fourth woman listed in court records as Jane Doe who alleges Bearden complimented her before he followed her into a room and forced her to perform oral sex.

Nicolas Taulbee, a lawyer with the Missouri Attorney Generals Office, which is representing Bearden, told the jury the case was one of who you believe and said the allegations were not true.

This did not happen, Taulbee said twice during his opening statement.

The women know each other and have convictions that include crimes of dishonesty, such as forgery and fraud, Taulbee said.

A verdict form signed Thursday showed jurors found in favor of $5 million in damages to each of the four women.

2022 The Kansas City Star. Visit kansascity.com.
UPDATED at 10:15 a.m. Friday with mugshot, additional details from captain.

ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY  Deputies investigating a crash Wednesday night ended up in a shootout with a suspect and an eight-hour standoff near Bismarck, Missouri, authorities said.

Robert W. Taylor, 45, of Farmington, was being held Friday without bail at the St. Francois County Jail. He is charged with two counts each of assault of a special victim, armed criminal action and resisting a felony arrest.

Taylor was treated for a gunshot wound to his arm, police said.

A deputy suffered minor injuries when a pellet from Taylor's shotgun apparently grazed the deputy's forehead, said Chief Deputy Gregory Armstrong with the St. Francois County sheriff's office. The deputy was treated at the scene.

The incident began about 5 p.m. Wednesday as St. Francois County sheriff's deputies investigated a report that a car involved in a crash had left the scene. On Washington Drive, near the Iron Mountain Lake area, the deputies spotted a car that matched the description of the car in the crash, Armstrong said. They later learned it wasn't the right car.

When deputies walked onto the property, they approached a camping trailer where Taylor lived, Armstrong said. Taylor began firing shots at police from multiple weapons through the camper walls, according to a statement from the sheriff's department.

Deputies took cover and began shooting back. At some point, a Missouri Highway Patrol critical incident negotiator arrived, and for the next eight hours tried talking with the man. Initial reports indicated children might have been in the camper, but authorities later learned there were no kids.

About 2 a.m. Thursday, Taylor surrendered; he was treated and released from a hospital, police said. Taylor also had outstanding warrants for assault, domestic assault and stealing in Jefferson County, a separate parole violation in Missouri and an additional warrant in St. Clair County in the Metro East.

In addition to St. Francois County deputies, first responders from at least five other agencies along with highway patrol troopers and SWAT personnel assisted the sheriff's office.

Kim Bell of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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MEHLVILLE  Superintendent Chris Gaines noticed that a lot of students were absent when he visited an elementary school last spring on the Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr.

Next year, Muslim students in the Mehlville School District wont have to choose between celebrating the holiday marking the end of Ramadan or attending class.

Were recognizing what our community is celebrating and what are the best instructional days for us, Gaines said. If weve got half the kids in a classroom, its not a regular school day.

After studying attendance trends from recent years, the Mehlville School Board added Eid al-Fitr to the calendar starting in the 2022-2023 school year, making Mehlville the first district in the St. Louis region to observe a Muslim holiday.

In 2019, Ramadan fell during the school year rather than in summer for the first time in a decade. The monthlong period of fasting during daylight hours culminates with Eid al-Fitr from Sunday to Monday and will be moving earlier in spring for the next few years. The holiday falls on April 21 next year.

The holidays shift in the calendar has coincided with a growing immigrant and Muslim population in the Mehlville School District. Up to 50% of students observe Ramadan on some campuses.

Aside from the logistical factor, adding the holiday signals the districts focus on inclusion, Gaines said.

One of the things we talked about in our strategic plan is making sure our students have a sense of belonging in their schools, he said.

Ramadan is marked by fasting during the daylight hours along with acts of charity and service. Younger children are not required to fast, but at Bierbaum Elementary a group of Muslim students decided to forgo music class for the month to help out in other classrooms. At Oakville High, fasting students were given the opportunity to spend their lunch period in the library.

Imam Eldin Susa of the St. Louis Islamic Center met with staff and parents on the districts calendar committee to express the importance of celebrating Eid al-Fitr with family members, including sharing gifts and a morning prayer in mosques.

A groundswell of cultural awareness has led to the addition of religious or cultural holidays across the country in recent years. New York City public schools started observing Eid al-Fitr in 2015. Last year, Congress made Juneteenth a federal holiday to commemorate the abolition of slavery in the U.S.

Oakville High senior Adnan Subasic said he was excited for his younger siblings to get the day off for Eid al-Fitr next year.

I think that its amazing that Mehlville is adding Eid as a holiday, because it makes it feel like the school district has started to recognize us after all these years of skipping school, he said. I had always wondered why other holidays like Easter and Christmas would get a week or weekend off but we couldnt just get that one day. Now theyve finally made it a reality.

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WASHINGTON  Business PACs, many of which paused donations earlier this year amid fallout from the violent Jan. 6 Capitol attack, have begun to send more money to lawmakers, including to the 147 Republicans who voted against certifying the presidential election results of some states.

Political action committees from defense, agriculture and other business sectors have led in donations to such lawmakers, including to House GOP leaders and rank-and-file members on committees that regulate their industries, a CQ Roll Call analysis of campaign finance data shows.

Still, PAC money is down. Donations to both parties House and Senate campaign arms dropped significantly in the first four months of this year when compared with the same period in the previous two election cycles, federal election records show.

PACs, for example, sent $3.7 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee in the first four months of 2017 but only $1.3 million in the same period this year  a 65 percent decrease. PAC donations through April 30 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also were down, from $2.6 million in 2017 to $1.8 million this year. Fundraising overall to such committees, however, has been high, making up for lost PAC money with individual contributions.

PACs sharply curbed donations to the Senate committees. The National Republican Senatorial Committee collected $9.2 million from PACs in the first four months of 2017, when the GOP was in the majority and preparing with the White House to overhaul the tax code, but just $1.5 million in such donations in the same period this year. Thats an 84 percent drop.

In-person events resuming

Representatives of business and industry PACs say their coffers are slowly beginning to open back up  and, they say, they expect a more robust return to political giving heading into the summer and fall. Not only have many PACs decided to reengage after Jan. 6, but lawmakers and candidates also are increasingly returning to in-person fundraising events, luring corporate and lobbying interests eager to mingle.

Recovering from the pandemic and grappling with the January 6 attack on the Capitol is taking time, said Micaela Isler, executive director of the National Association of Business Political Action Committees. Through town halls, focus groups and other outreach, companies and business associations have utilized this time to field thoughtful input from the men and women who support their PACs.

PACs of companies and industry associations get their money from executives deemed qualified to donate and not from corporate funds, although companies do pay staff to run their PACs.

Employees continue to believe their company and trade association PACs are important ways for them to exercise their civic duty and provide support to lawmakers who will advocate for their jobs, industries, and communities, Isler said in an emailed statement.

Last month, the top business and industry PACs contributing to the 147 lawmakers were major defense contractors such as General Dynamics, as well as Duke Energy, American Crystal Sugar Co. and PACs connected with the Associated Builders and Contractors and the National Association of Realtors.

Realtors will continue to engage

The realtors PAC is proud to be one of the largest, most bipartisan political action committees in the country and will continue to engage in a bipartisan way on behalf of our 1.4 million members, the group said in a statement. Following a recent meeting of the RPAC Board of Trustees, our association lifted the temporary pause that was previously put in place on all federal political disbursements. This decision will ensure we continue to engage with political candidates in an effort to support Americas homeowners and our nations real estate industry.

Duke Energy, similarly, said it had phased out its pause.

Engaging with policymakers on both sides of the aisle is critical as we progress our clean energy transformation, company spokesperson Neil Nissan said in an email. Our pause on federal political giving allowed us an opportunity to be reflective about a significant and troubling event in our nation, as well as how we support candidates and elected officials.

Some companies, though, have said they will freeze out lawmakers who voted against the electoral results. JP Morgan Chase, for example, said it was resuming its giving but not to such members, according to Reuters.

Corporations, vulnerable to consumer and shareholder pressure, have had to calculate their competing political risks. Making donations to the 147 may subject them to boycotts or public relations problems, but withholding contributions may limit their interactions with GOP leaders, who could regain the majority in the House or the Senate in next years midterm elections.

Members who voted against certifying the Electoral College results from Pennsylvania and Arizona, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and the chambers No. 2 Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, were among the top recipients of contributions from business PACs in April.

Arms maker gave the most

So was Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a Missouri Republican on the House Agriculture and Armed Services panels who is expected to announce a bid in the coming days for the Senate seat left open by the retirement of GOP Sen. Roy Blunt.

Hartzler, who is the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, got $5,000 last month from General Dynamics. The company, whose products include tactical vehicles, rockets and machine guns, gave the most  $51,500  in April of all business PACs donating to members who were among the 147 objectors to electoral votes, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

The Associated Builders and Contractors disclosed donations to several lawmakers who voted against certifying electoral results, including McCarthy, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx and Tom Cole of Oklahoma.

Associated Builders and Contractors believes in the foundations of democracy, which include free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power, Kristen Swearingen, the groups vice president of legislative and political affairs, said in a statement. ABC actively engages in the political process to advance policies that better the individual, the industry and the nation through fair and open competition. We embrace the diversity of ideas that powers American prosperity by advancing productivity, innovation and individual freedoms, and we look forward to continuing to participate in that process.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  As a mom and a Christian conservative, Lorissa Sweet found herself increasingly frustrated with Republicans in the Indiana Statehouse who she said were too willing to compromise on such issues as abortion and gun rights.

Then COVID-19 hit, and Sweet says those same legislators who campaigned as conservatives who believe in individual freedom stood by as she was ordered to shut down her dog grooming business. Kids were required to wear masks in school and some employers mandated workers be vaccinated, prompting protests by angry voters.

Now the County Council member from rural northern Indiana is among roughly two dozen liberty candidates running in Tuesday's primary  including challenges to several top-ranking GOP House members and bids for open seats. Both sides say the 23 challenges to sitting GOP lawmakers is unusually high in a state where Republicans control all statewide offices and Democrats have scant legislative influence.

Unlike in other GOP races across the country  including Ohio, which also has a statewide primary on Tuesday  the Indiana legislative contests have focused on state issues, rather than which candidate is closest to former President Donald Trump or has his support. And while it's unclear if the challengers can defeat incumbents backed by Republican leaders' multimillion-dollar campaign fund, they say they are tapping into a deep resentment among voters  and even winning a few seats could nudge the Legislature further to the right.

You just assume when you elect Republican representatives and senators that they're going to reflect your values and do the right thing. And then they didn't, said Sweet, 43, who is facing a far better-funded 20-year incumbent. You get even five of us elected and youre going to turn the tide."

For some of the challengers, the discontent started years before COVID, after Indiana lawmakers and then-Gov. Mike Pence in 2015 approved a religious-freedom law that was quickly criticized as allowing discrimination against gay people. Facing a national backlash and concerns from Indiana business leaders about possible boycotts, lawmakers altered the measure to make clear it cannot be used to discriminate, a change that infuriated some social conservatives.

At the heart of Tuesday's challenges is a conservative group, Liberty Defense, which touts a no-compromise view on issues like the religious objections law, banning all abortions and repealing Indianas red flag law, which allows police to seize guns from people who show warning signs of violence.

During a protest against vaccine mandates at the Indiana Statehouse last September, the group announced a plan to recruit 100 like-minded candidates in 100 days for various offices. Candidates say the group reached its goal in a matter of days, with many challenges growing from protests against the COVID-19 shutdowns and complaints that GOP legislators didn't take action to end Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb's executive orders, including a mask mandate.

Holcomb also enraged social conservatives in March when he vetoed legislation to ban transgender females from girls school sports; the Legislature is expected to override his veto in late May.

Liberty Defense PAC, which is largely funded by conservative individuals, has issued endorsements and promoted the liberty candidates" on social media and elsewhere to stir up voters in what is likely a low-turnout primary since Indiana has no statewide races on the ballot. The PAC made donations in the hundreds of dollars to endorsed candidates, and has helped with mailers and items like hats.

Among the endorsed candidates are two incumbents, Reps. Curt Nisly and John Jacob, who have angered members of their own party with hardline stances, such as repeatedly pushing a complete ban on abortion. Nisly defeated a moderate Republican incumbent in 2014, making him an inspiration to the liberty candidates, his campaign chairwoman said.

Still, defeating incumbents is rarely an easy task, and the challengers are targeting some well known and influential lawmakers, along with some of the House's most conservative members. They have the backing of the House GOP campaign operation, which had raised nearly $3.4 million by end of March and has given over $1 million to candidates for the primary  including those trying to unseat Nisly and Jacob. Liberty Defense PAC had raised a total of about $95,000.

Republican House Speaker Todd Huston said the incumbents can run on a strong record of low taxes and unemployment, along with a strong budget surplus for the state. Legislative leaders decided earlier this year to hold off on major anti-abortion action until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade, but said they will return to a special session to act if the court gives states greater authority to limit it.

We have to live in the practical world of getting things done and we have a lot of accomplishments, Huston said. We feel good.

The liberty candidates are predominantly running in heavily Republican districts, so even primary wins by far-right challengers would likely provide few opportunities for Democrats to dent the GOP's current 71-29 House majority.

If the challengers end up winning legislative seats, Huston said, theyll have to figure out, do they want to be able to get things done or just focus on the things that probably arent practical to get done?

Sweet, who has raised about $27,000 for her campaign, is running against Rep. Dan Leonard, 73, a top Huston lieutenant who had raised about $250,000 as of the end of March  more than half from the House Republican Campaign Committee.

Leonard has drawn the wrath of social conservatives for his frequent role in blocking proposals from Nisly and Jacob  either by raising procedural objections or not taking up bills assigned to the House committee he leads. He says the Liberty Defense candidates have an unrealistic view of what it's like to make laws, and the give-and-take that's sometimes necessary, even in a statehouse where Republicans hold a supermajority.

They want it all or nothing and so consequently what theyre getting is nothing, he said. So why send someone to the Statehouse to get nothing? It doesnt make a lot of sense to me.

Challengers like Brittany Carroll, a family law attorney running for a central Indiana seat, dismiss that argument.

Republicans hold larger legislative majorities in Indiana than in states such as Texas, she noted, yet Indiana lawmakers arent as aggressive in pushing issues such as the Texas ban on abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy. In 2020, Indiana voters supported Trump over Joe Biden by wider margins  57% to 41%  than Trump's victory in Texas or several other GOP-led states.

Indiana could be leading in terms of liberty, like Florida, like Texas, Carroll said.

Carroll also said she is undeterred by the incumbents' fundraising advantages.

No amount of money is going to overcome an angry voter.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
By his own account, Ilias Sabirov, a Moscow businessman, had supplied Russias military with high-performance computer chips made in the United States for years.

Then, in 2014, Russia seized the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, and the U.S. government began imposing a series of new sanctions and export controls on Russia, including severely restricting sales of such chips.

But that didnt stop Sabirov from obtaining more, according to U.S. authorities and a Reuters review of Russian customs records.

In the spring of 2015, a parcel containing more than 100 memory chips specially hardened to resist radiation and extreme temperatures  critical components in missiles and military satellites  arrived at Sabirovs business address in Moscow, according to the Russian customs records and a U.S. federal indictment. American prosecutors allege that the rad-hard chips were sourced from a company in Austin, Texas, called Silicon Space Technology Corp., or SST, but shipped to Russia via a firm in Bulgaria to evade U.S. export law.

After Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, the United States and more than 30 other nations responded with an unprecedented barrage of additional sanctions and export restrictions. But the story of how the American chips made it from Texas to Moscow back in 2015 shows how sensitive Western technology can still end up in Russia despite strict U.S. export controls.

This account of the criminal case against Sabirov and two Bulgarian businessmen, which remains open, contains new details from interviews with U.S. officials and several of the main actors, including two fugitives. And it points to the challenges of imposing a rigorous export-control regime, especially on so-called dual-use components that can serve both civilian and military purposes.

The Texas scheme and other U.S. criminal cases involving sensitive technology that ended up in Russia, reviewed by Reuters, reveal a chain of willing suppliers, front and shell companies and false claims on export forms that specialized Western components were intended for civilian rather than military use. Sought-after parts have included microelectronics and precision tooling for the Russian military.

During war, said U.S. Department of Defense spokeswoman Sue Gough, rad-hard chips play an essential role for communications, intelligence and surveillance.

Acquisition of radiation-hardening technology by nuclear-capable aggressive states, like Russia, could embolden them, increasing international security destabilization, Gough said. Therefore, protection of these chips is extremely important to U.S. national security.

Today, Russias efforts to circumvent U.S. restrictions on military and other sensitive technology are on the rise, according to U.S. Homeland Security Investigations officials. A specialized unit of 25 U.S. counter-proliferation analysts, whose objective is to spot suspicious shipments, shifted their sole focus from China to Russia in late February, the HSI officials said.

China doesnt dominate our attention like they used to, and its Russia where weve seen the biggest increase lately, said Greg Slavens, who recently retired after 30 years as a HSI counter-proliferation supervisor. The Russians have steadily increased their attempts to get chips for missile and space technology.

The Kremlin did not respond to questions about U.S. accusations that it uses deceptive schemes to bypass Western sanctions and trade restrictions. Russia has previously cast Western sanctions as a hostile act.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, who met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Washington on April 21, said in a statement the same day that her department is laser focused on depriving Russia the items and technologies it needs to sustain its war machine.

Complicating matters for U.S. law enforcement: Since 2018, Russia no longer authorizes U.S. export-control officers to conduct on-the-ground checks to ensure that sensitive goods are used for their officially declared purposes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Even when suspects are identified, cases can take years to investigate and adjudicate while accused Russian nationals remain beyond the arm of U.S. law. In the Texas matter, it took about five years for U.S. authorities to bring criminal charges and impose a penalty.

Sabirov, as well as the two Bulgarian businessmen, Dimitar and Milan Dimitrov, were indicted in 2020 on charges of illegally exporting rad-hard chips to Russia and money laundering. And SST, which changed its name to Vorago Technologies in 2015, was fined $497,000 last year by the U.S. Department of Commerces Bureau of Industry and Security in a separate enforcement action. The bureau oversees export licenses for goods that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

The Texas company, which had been repeatedly warned by its own lawyers that it couldnt ship rad-hard chips to Russia without a license, admitted that from 2014 to 2019, it had conspired with the three men to do just that. Reuters couldnt determine whether the chips ultimately were used for a military purpose. The U.S. attorneys office in the western district of Texas declined to comment.

In a statement, Vorago said it is, and always has been, committed to zero tolerance compliance with all U.S. laws, including export controls. It said it has been fully cooperative in the U.S. investigations and has implemented strengthened compliance procedures and training to prevent a recurrence.

The company also said it was deliberately misled into believing that shipments were going to Bulgaria for use in Europe  a legal export. These customers provided a seemingly valid end-user certificate to Vorago certifying that the end user of Voragos products was not in Russia.

Sabirov denied any wrongdoing in an interview with Reuters and said the rad-hard chips never went from Bulgaria to Moscow, contradicting evidence gathered by U.S. prosecutors and customs records reviewed by Reuters. He said he always complied with U.S. export rules and never laundered money. The sanctions they applied on myself, on my companies and on my friends are absolutely unfair, absolutely fake and absolutely wrong, he said.

Milan Dimitrov also denied any wrongdoing. The accusations of export violations are nonsensical, he told Reuters. The whole thing is a misunderstanding. His father, Dimitar Dimitrov, couldnt be reached for comment.

Sabirov, who is in Russia, and the two Bulgarians remain fugitives in the criminal case.

Cold war echo

A review by Reuters of U.S. court and other federal records shows that the Texas case isnt unique.

Between 2008 and 2014, a father-and-son team smuggled more than $65 million worth of sensitive microchips from New Jersey to Moscow-area companies directly associated with Russian military, intelligence and nuclear-warhead design programs, according to U.S. authorities.

Alexander Brazhnikov Jr. of New Jersey, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Russia, pleaded guilty in federal court in 2015 to purchasing microelectronics inside the United States, repackaging and relabeling them, and then shipping the goods to Moscow apartments and vacant storefronts linked to his father, a Russian national. There were 1,923 shipments in all, and the son admitted that the money to pay for it was laundered from Russia through 50 foreign shell companies, registered in countries stretching from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific to Panama and Belize in Central America, court records show.

We believe that the microchips were all going to the military-industrial complex because Russia doesnt produce anything else that would have required that level of chips, said Peter Gaeta, one of the prosecutors on the case, which remains open.

The son, whose field of study was listed as nuclear physics in court records, was sentenced to 70 months in prison and was released in December 2018. His father, Alexander Brazhnikov Sr., owner of a Moscow-based microelectronics import-export firm, was charged with conspiracy and remains a fugitive. The company allegedly distributed the components acquired in the United States to Russian defense contractors licensed to procure parts for the Russian military and security service, and Russian companies involved in the design of nuclear weapons.

The scale of this case is just daunting, Gaeta told Reuters. But this was not a lone wolf operation. This is happening across the board with Russia.

Alexander Brazhnikov Jr. declined to comment on the case. His father couldnt be reached.

In another case, Alexander Fishenko, a dual citizen of the United States and Russia, ran a years-long scheme to procure and ship sensitive microelectronics from U.S.-based companies to Russian government customers, including its military and intelligence services.

Fishenko owned a Houston, Texas-based export company and also was an executive in a Moscow-based procurement company, according to federal prosecutors. Between 2002 and 2012, his export company shipped goods through New York to contacts in countries including Finland, Canada and Germany who would send them onto Russia. Among the items were electronics with applications in radar and surveillance systems, weapons guidance systems and detonation triggers.

Fishenko and 10 other people were indicted in 2012 for participating in a conspiracy to sell controlled technology to Russia without required licenses. He later pleaded guilty to, among other charges, acting as an agent of the Russian government. Seven others were convicted either through pleas or at trial. Fishenko spent more than seven years behind bars.

New York lawyer Richard Levitt, who represented Fishenko in the case, declined to comment, and Fishenko himself couldnt be reached.

It is common for illegal exports of controlled technology to go through middlemen overseas to hide the true destination of the goods, said Daniel Silver, a former federal prosecutor in Brooklyn who handled the Fishenko case. These global networks can shield U.S. exporters by making it harder for law enforcement agents to connect the dots.

In recent years, Russia has tried to blunt Western export restrictions by making more parts at home or shifting to suppliers located in allied countries, such as China. Still, Russian companies remain heavily reliant on the West for high-precision machinery and some high-performance semiconductors like the radiation-hardened chips Sabirov imported.

If a Russian satellite orbits around the Earth without a glitch, you can definitely assume that it contains Western electronics, an executive with a U.S. semiconductor maker said, asking not to be named. Russia doesnt make such chips and China, despite heavy investment, has yet to bridge the gap with rivals, the person said.

To supply its military, Russia has found high-tech suppliers in the U.S. and other Western countries. Between 2015 and 2018, Almaz-Antey, a state-owned manufacturer of Russias sophisticated air-defense missile systems, managed to bypass German export restrictions and procure nearly $10 million worth of high-precision metalworking machines, according to a person familiar with the matter and an official case summary filed with a Hamburg court. Export-license papers claimed the machinery was destined to various Russian producers of civilian goods in the city of Yekaterinburg when, in fact, they were delivered to a nearby Almaz-Antey facility, according to the person familiar with the matter and the case summary. Almaz-Antey didnt respond to a message seeking comment.

Suzette Grillot, a professor of international studies at the University of Oklahoma, said Western trade restrictions on Russia worked during the Cold War because the West then dominated world trade. When you went from the U.S. to Russia in the early 1990s, it was a different world technologically speaking, the place was definitely behind the times in communications and other technologies, she said.

But replicating Cold War sanctions to squeeze the Russian economy and military industry today seems like an elusive goal, Grillot said, because Russia has had almost unlimited access to Western technology for the past 30 years and can now also rely on alternative suppliers such as China and India. You cant unring a bell, she said.

Top secret

Trained as a physicist and chemist, Wesley Morris had developed solutions to harden semiconductors against heat and radiation. In 2004, he founded SST (now called Vorago Technologies) in a bid to monetize his patented inventions. Morris told Reuters that his techniques caught the attention of the U.S. military, and SST received millions of dollars in research grants from the U.S. Department of Defense, including from top-secret missile programs, to hone its technology.

But 10 years later, in the spring of 2014, SST was still chasing its first significant commercial order. Thats when Morris, the companys chief executive, said he learned from a newly recruited salesman that a Russian businessman, Sabirov, was interested in buying rad-hard chips from SST. Sabirov, the salesman said, wanted to purchase them for Russias space agency, making him an attractive customer prospect because Russia relies almost entirely on imports for its rad-hard requirements.

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, said it had no information about Sabirovs involvement in procuring electronic components for Russia.

Sabirov arrived at a meeting at SSTs office in Austin in May 2014, accompanied by a Bulgarian associate, Dimitar Dimitrov. The two men formed an odd pair, Morris and several other people who dealt with them said. The Russian spoke English fluently and projected the confidence of a man with solid connections in his countrys state bureaucracy. The Bulgarian appeared to be a brilliant scientist whose scuffed shoes suggested that he didnt worry too much about his attire. Both men seemed to have solid technical backgrounds.

According to Morris, Sabirov told him that one of his Russian companies, Kosmos Komplekt, had been buying rad-hard chips from SSTs bigger U.S. rival, Aeroflex, since 2011, and was interested in transitioning to SSTs products.

I wanted to get the business, Morris recalled thinking at the time.

A spokesman for Cobham Group, which acquired Aeroflex in September 2014, said Aeroflex had stopped shipping rad-hard chips to Sabirov in Russia prior to the acquisition.

A week after the May 2014 meeting in Austin with Sabirov, SSTs outside lawyer dampened Morriss expectations of quickly clinching a lucrative contract. Anything that requires a license to Russia is currently subject to a presumption of denial, the lawyer told Morris and other executives, according to Commerce Department documents.

Morris told Reuters he wasnt ready to abandon what could be the transformational contract SST had longed for. From his conversation with Sabirov, Morris said he had grown hopeful the Russian would order $10 million worth of goods. He said he believed that the chips would be used in satellites, not in missiles.

Morris said that in July 2014, he and Sabirov discussed their options upon meeting on the sidelines of a nuclear-technology conference in Paris. Morris said his ideas hinged on obtaining one of the few export licenses U.S. authorities were still granting as part of Washingtons cooperation with Russia on joint space programs.

Days after the Paris meeting, however, Morris lost hope. Geopolitical tension with Moscow had escalated after a Malaysian airliner flying through Ukrainian airspace was downed by a Russian-made missile, killing 298 people. Even though Moscow denied involvement in the tragedy, obtaining an export license to Russia was now virtually impossible, Morris concluded after conferring with SSTs lawyer.

We cant send you anything, the American CEO said he told Sabirov.

But Morris said Sabirov proposed to him an alternative solution: how about using Bulgaria, a country for which an export license wasnt necessary, as a transit point? To avoid the need for a U.S. license, chips could be mounted on electronic boards in Sofia, effectively changing the products designation in export documents before they were shipped to Moscow.

In early August 2014, Morris again conferred with SSTs lawyer, who said the plan wouldnt fly. Unless Sabirov could prove he was adding substantial value in Bulgaria, a license for export to Russia likely would be required, the lawyer advised in an email, according to Commerce Department documents. The documents dont name the lawyer.

That same month, Sabirov told SST that since sanctions had disrupted his business of procuring parts for Russia, he had set up a Bulgarian company that would target civilian markets in Europe, according to former SST employees and the Commerce Department documents. The plan was to assemble modules with chips and sell them to car makers for use in engines and exhaust systems. Rad-hard chips arent commonly used in automobiles because of their cost.

Sabirovs Bulgarian business  Multi Technology Integration Group EOOD, or MTIG  was set up by a relative of a business partner in Sofia. The next month, September 2014, MTIG ordered a silicon wafer of rad-hard memory chips from SST for $125,000, according to interviews and federal court documents. Sabirov told SST that MTIG would test the chips and that more orders would follow, according to interviews and Commerce Department documents.

The wafer, which had been produced using SSTs hardening process at a Texas Instruments Inc foundry, was shipped to MTIG at the end of January 2015, according to former SST employees. Four months later, after the eight-inch wafer had been cut into 115 memory chips, the semiconductors were shipped to one of Sabirovs companies in Moscow, Sovtest Comp, where a 4.6-pound parcel arrived on May 25, according to Russian customs records, interviews and Commerce Department documents.

Texas Instruments said it complies with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate. At this time, we are not selling into Russia or Belarus.

By the time SST shipped the wafer to MTIG, the U.S. company had undergone a change in management. In early January 2015, Morris had been stripped of his CEO title after losing a battle for control with the firms main investor, New Scientific Ventures. NSV declined to comment. The new CEO, Bernd Lienhard, learned of the shipment to Bulgaria in March 2015, according to the Commerce Department documents. Vorago declined to comment about Lienhard being informed about the deal.

The company rebranded itself as Vorago Technologies that August, but its fortunes continued to rely on Sabirov. In the fall of 2015, Lienhard learned that the Russian was planning to order five more wafers. Lienhard sent Sabirov an email saying it was the most important biz opportunity for us this year and we are very committed to do whatever necessary to help you, according to the Commerce Department documents.

In November 2015, the two men exchanged more emails. Lienhard offered a steep discount if Sabirov ordered more wafers before year end.

How would you feel about the following scenario? Could you buy only 3 wafers this quarter and we would reduce the price per wafer from currently $125,000 to $100,000? Lienhard emailed Sabirov. You would help us a lot.

Five days later, Sabirov asked if there were any obstacles for direct shipment to Moscow? Lienhard responded that the wafers would have to be sent to Bulgaria to comply with export regulations, according to the Commerce Department documents, which contained excerpts from the communications.

In December 2015, a new Vorago sales executive, Anne Joubert, met with Sabirov and Dimitar Dimitrov in Munich to discuss additional wafer purchases, according to interviews and Commerce Department documents. Days later, MTIG sent Vorago a purchasing order for five more wafers. Federal documents show that Vorago shipped two of them to MTIG in December 2015.

In July 2016, Joubert flew to Bulgaria where she met with Sabirov and the two Dimitrovs. During the meeting, Joubert asked if MTIG was shipping Voragos rad-hard chips to Russia, according to interviews and federal court records. Maybe, Sabirov replied. When Joubert said this would violate U.S. export regulations, Dimitar Dimitrov assured her that all of the chips the Texas company previously had shipped to MTIG had remained in Bulgaria.

According to the federal indictment, this claim was false because some chips had been sent to Russia. The indictment says that the Ship to address on an MTIG invoice was Sabirovs company, Sovtest, in Moscow. Joubert declined to comment.

Sabirov continued discussing ordering more wafers, including during a meeting with Lienhard in Sofia in August 2018, according to the Commerce Department documents.

That December, an export control officer from the Commerce Department went to Sofia to verify that Vorago chips had been used by MTIG in Bulgaria. The officer met with the younger Dimitrov, Milan, who denied the semiconductors had been sent to Russia and said they were still in Bulgaria, according to the federal indictment.

By then, Vorago, Sabirov and the Dimitrovs were under investigation by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Commerce Department for alleged export violations, according to interviews.

In early 2016, the companys founder, Morris, informed the FBI about what he viewed as alleged irregularities at the firm, including the sales involving Sabirov, according to people familiar with the matter.

Weeks after the tip-off, in April 2016, FBI agents raided Voragos head office in Austin, searching the premises while staffers were told to remain in one room, according to the people familiar with the matter. It was a very disruptive day, one former employee recalled.

According to people familiar with the matter, the federal investigations made slow progress. In July 2019, the FBI raided the third floor of an office building, also in Austin, where Vorago had relocated. That same month, arrest warrants were issued for Sabirov and the Dimitrovs.

Seventeen months later, in December 2020, the U.S. Justice Department announced the indictment of the three men on charges of illegally procuring rad-hard chips and money laundering.

Then, last September  six years after the Texas company first began shipping the specialized chips to Bulgaria  the Commerce Department announced a settlement in which Vorago agreed to pay a penalty: $497,000, the proceeds of its sales. Neither Vorago nor its executives were charged in the criminal case.

David Gauthier-Villars reported from Istanbul, Steve Stecklow from London and John Shiffman from Washington. Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York and Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Beats swimming or flying, apparently

Not a lot of St. Louisans are laughing these days over the costly debacle that is the Loop Trolley. A tongue-in-cheek video posted on Twitter by Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship (whatever that is) claims to have been commissioned by the Missouri Department of Transportation and BiState Development to get everyone excited to ride The Loop Trolley again!! Uh, no, dont get too excited.

The video starts with a colorfully dressed young man peering out over the expanse of the abandoned Loop Trolley line as a cartoon trolley makes its way along the tracks to a catchy electro-pop tune and lyrics that urge: Everybody, everybody, ride the trolley, ride the trolley. Then it makes fun of everyone who would rather ride the trolley from Forest Park to the Delmar Loop than walk, bike, swim or fly.

The video is beyond silly. But then, some would argue, so is the trolley.

Heroic bid to save migrants lives

A member of the Texas National Guard, Spec. Bishop Evans, appears to have sacrificed his life to save two migrants caught in the heavy current of the Rio Grande. Even though the job of the guard is to assist with Mexico border interdiction efforts and deter illegal crossings, this heroic soldier recognized the priority of protecting life. He suffered the same fate as 23 migrants who drowned this month alone.

Evans deployed along with 10,000 other National Guard troops on orders from Gov. Greg Abbott, who this month tried to stage a headline-grabbing spectacle on the border to embarrass President Joe Biden and generate publicity ahead Texas gubernatorial election. Abbott ordered state troopers to halt cargo trucks from Mexico for illicit drug inspections. Thousands of trucks were delayed at the border, but not a single drug shipment was seized. Abbott also tried to load immigrants on buses bound for the nations capital, again to embarrass Biden. That also backfired when buses left half-full, helping only to get the migrants to their desired northern destinations.

Reports revealed that flotation devices were ordered for troops on the border but didnt arrive in time. So Evans had to jump into the water without one.

Temper, temper

Merriam-Websters new definition of girl  a person whose gender identity is female  was inevitably going to spawn debate. What it also spawned, says the FBI, was an internet screed from a California man who said the dictionarys headquarters should be shot up and bombed, prompting the Massachusetts-based publisher to close its offices for a week.

Jeremy David Hanson, 34, of Orange County, is charged with interstate communication of threats to commit violence. Authorities say this is the latest in a string of deranged threats Hanson has made against various targets regarding conservative culture-war issues like gender and race.

Police talked to him last year, for example, about allegedly threatening to bomb Hasbro toys for dropping the Mr. from Mr. Potato Head. When DC Comics announced the new Superman was bisexual, Hanson allegedly told the company he wanted to shoot up and bomb your headquarters for discriminating against conservatives and silencing conservative speech.

In past talks with the police, officials said, Hanson has said he has trouble controlling his temper and promised to stop. This time, it could cost him up to five years in prison.

Pilot of the year

A pilot in California parachuted out of his small, supposedly malfunctioning plane before it crashed into the hills of the Los Padres National Forest. He videoed the whole harrowing episode, which has now gone viral. And that, alleges the Federal Aviation Administration, was the whole point of what investigators now say was an intentional plane crash. Theyve yanked his license.

Trevor Jacob, a thrill-seeker who posts his various adventures on YouTube, had cameras mounted around the exterior of the small plane, as well as a selfie stick that he brought with him as he jumped out. He was able to capture his own descent to the ground, while also showing the plane crashing from several angles. How convenient.

Aviation officials also note Jacob didnt call air-traffic control, or try to restart the engine, or attempt to glide to a landing. And there was the oddity of bringing along a parachute on a small-plane outing, which isnt normal.

YouTube commenters seem to agree. If this wasnt staged, youre a bad pilot, wrote one. If this was staged, youre possibly a criminal.

Uniting to defeat a divider

Members of Utahs Democratic Party remarkably chose to put their state and country before their party. Recognizing that their chances were slim to none of prevailing in the states upcoming U.S. Senate race, they decided not to back a Democratic candidate and, instead, throw support to an independent candidate, Evan McMullin, who is best suited to beat incumbent Sen. Mike Lee in November.

Democrat Kael Weston had sought the nomination, but party members including former Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams convinced delegates not to nominate anyone. No Utah Democrat has won a U.S. Senate seat in more than 50 years.

Opposition to Lee has intensified since the revelation of Lees text messages to President Donald Trumps former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, about the 2020 election and Capitol insurrection. We know that Sen. Mike Lee was quite involved in the effort to overturn our democracy, McMullin, a former CIA agent, told reporters.

His United Utah Party thanked the courage and wisdom of the Democratic Party for setting aside party loyalty. If only Lees party had thought of that back on Jan. 6, 2021.
Controversy over the impact of short-term vacation rentals in Hawaii persists, as the Aloha State continues to contend with post-pandemic overtourism and reassesses how out-of-area travelers affect the communities theyre visiting.

The city of Honolulus City Council recently passed new legislation, which extends the required minimum duration for guest stays in short-term rentals on Oahu to three months, from the current period of 30 days.

The Council passed the measure in an eight-to-one vote, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Since Honolulus Mayor Rick Blangiardi introduced the request for these changes himself, its expected that hell readily sign off on the bill.

With few exceptions, the new rules will also restrict the operation of short-term rentals to the islands resort-zoned areas in Koolina, Kuilima, Makaha and parts of Waikiki. The only exceptions made might be for apartment-zoned areas close to resort areas, which may permit short-term guests to rent entire properties as Transient Vacation Rentals, or for B&Bs where someone resides on the property long-term, but may rent rooms to visitors on a short-term basis.

The measure will also increase registration fees for legal vacation rentals and prohibit on-street parking in communities zoned as rural, residential or apartment-use. Vehicle traffic and parking congestion has been one of the major issues impacting residents ever since Hawaii began welcoming back out-of-state travelers.

Locals remain divided over the value of allowing short-term rentals, according to the Associated Press.

"Short-term rentals are disruptive to the character and fabric of our residential neighborhoods," Thomas Cestare of the Lanikai Association opined in a written testimony.

"I just think that the vacationer that comes here that rents for 30 days is contributing to our community," said April Perreira Pluss, who has designated a portion of her Kailua home as a vacation rental. Pluss said she would never have purchased the property if shed realized short-term rental legislation might change.
Norway has sent its entire stockpile of Mistral 2 MANPADS (Man-portable air-defense systems) to Ukraine. Norway no longer uses MANPADS but it is looking for a new one to be used by the one infantry battalion that guards the Russian border. The new missile system is supposed to be selected by 2025.

Norway, like many nations, retires weapons its forces no longer need or use just in the case older weapon is needed for some future emergency. Eventually retired weapons become too old for use and are scrapped.

Mistral is basically a heat seeking missile but the fire and forget option enables the operator to locate a target using the optical/infrared sight, mark that target as the one for the missile to go after when launched and send the missile on its way. Fire and Forget has become a common feature for all manner of guided missiles, especially anti-tank, anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles of all sizes.

The Mistral is similar to the American Stinger missile but not as portable. Stinger is a 14.3 kg (31.5 pound) shoulder fired anti-aircraft system that fires its 10.1 kg (22.2 pound) missile out to 4,500 meters. Both systems have similar resistance to countermeasures and a warhead of about the same size (2-3 kg/4.4-6.6 pounds). Mistral uses various launchers (weighing from 22.5 kg/49.5 pound to a ton) to fire one or more 18.7 kg (42 pound) missiles out to 6,500 meters.

Mistral entered service in 1989 but underwent a major upgrade in the 1990s to Mistral 2. A Mistral 3 upgrade entered service in 2019 and one of the features of that version is a longer range (over 7 kilometers).

Ukraine prefers more portable and modern MANPADS but Mistral 2 is still useful and combat proven over the last three decades. Mistral is more suited for defending fixed locations, like supply warehouses, hospitals or headquarters.

What Ukraine would really like from Norway is NASAMS and Norway is considering that request. Ukraine needs NASAMS right now, which means Norway would have to send some of the NASAMS batteries it is using to protect itself from an increasingly hostile Russia.

NASAMS is far superior to the similar Russian Buk M1 system Ukraine and Russia use, NASAMS is a system developed by Norway in the early 1990s and entered service in 1998. Norway pioneered the use of AMRAAM air-to-air missiles as surface-to-air weapons and developed the fire control and launcher equipment needed to make it all work. It was a simple but very effective use of air-to-air missiles for air defense. Other air-to-air missiles have been used for ground-based air defense systems but the Norwegian version is seen as the best of the lot. Norway has six NASAMS batteries for its own defense. Eleven other nations, like Hungary, Spain, Holland, Chile, and the United States, Finland and Lithuania also use NASAMS.

The NASAMS was initially developed for the Norwegian Air Force by Norwegian firm Kongsberg, in cooperation with American partner Raytheon, which produces AMRAAM. A major upgrade, NASAMS 2, officially entered service in 2007 and since then it has gained interest in more nations.

NASAMS popularity is due to a truly open architecture that, unlike the competitor systems, allows NASMS to be used with a wide variety of radars. Initially NASAMS used the American made MPQ-64 Sentinel radar but some customers requested a system that can work with different radars and air-to-air missiles. NASAMS has been tested and configured to work with more than 25 different radar systems and can fire just about any air-to-air missile that can be fired from NATO aircraft. All that is required is modifications to the size and electrical connections in the NASAMS launcher cells and software modification of the fire control system. Since NATO has long-established standards for NATO weapons NASAMS takes full advantage of this.

So far NASAMS has been configured with AIM-120 AMRAAM (together with the longer-range ER variant), AIM-9X Sidewinder and the European IRIS-T. The last one is an interesting story. Norway has a big stock of IRIS-T for their F-16 fighters but the new Norwegian F-35 is not compatible with IRIS-T, so they decided to use this very modern European missile as an anti-aircraft missile in NASAMS systems. This example clearly shows how flexible this system is while the competitor systems are tied to a limited number of missiles and radar.

A typical NASAMS battery consists of 12 launcher vehicles (each carrying six missiles), eight radar vehicles, one fire control center, and one tactical control vehicle.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 28, 2022 / China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation ("Sinopec Corp." or the "Company") (NYSE: SNP)(HKEX:00386)(SSE:600028) announced today that its Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, has been posted to the Company's website at http://www.sinopec.com/listco/En/investor_centre/reports/20-F/. The soft copy of the Company's annual report on Form 20-F could also be downloaded through above website.

The Company will deliver within a reasonable time a hard copy of its 2021 annual report on Form 20-F, including its complete audited consolidated financial statements, to any shareholder upon request.

To request a hard copy of the annual report, please write to:

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation

22 Chaoyangmen North Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China

Zip Code: 100728

Attention to: Investor Relations Department, Secretariat to the Board

SOURCE: China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:
FILE PHOTO: The Kohls label is seen on a shopping basket in a Kohls department store in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., January 25, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON (Reuters) - Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) on Friday recommended that Kohl's Corp investors elect two of the 10 board nominees put forth by activist investment firm Macellum Advisors as the department store considers selling itself.

ISS said Macellum nominee Jeffrey Kantor, who had been chief merchandising officer at retailer Macy's Inc and a former chief executive at the Hecht Company, and Pamela Edwards, who had been a former chief financial officer at Victoria's Secret and Express, would bring critical expertise to the board.

"Some incremental change at the board level may provide added comfort to investors that the strategic alternatives available are being weighed against the upside and risks associated with the standalone plan, and add expertise," ISS wrote.

The report lends considerable support to Macellum's proxy fight which comes on the heels of a similar battle waged last year. In 2021, Macellum and several partners reached a settlement to drop that fight in return for getting two of their nominees seats on the board. The company also added a third independent director to the board at the same time.

This year the stakes may be even higher as Macellum has argued that Kohl's has done too little to turn its business around and is now pressing the board to sell the company. The company said it has met with more than 20 potential buyers.

Two weeks ago Reuters reported that Franchise Group Inc had joined the bidding for Kohl's.

ISS pointed to market skepticism about the sale process and said it likely stems from a lack of trust in the board's commitment to an expedited sale, as opposed to a lack of confidence in the board members' expertise in M&A matters. That could be addressed by "adding independent voices with relevant industry experience, rather than additional M&A experts."

Investors will decide who sits on Kohl's board on May 11.

Kohl's earlier on Friday urged investors to back its 13 director candidates and said Jonathan Duskin, Macellum's portfolio manager and one of the hedge fund's director candidates, poses a "threat." Kohl's said six of the 10 Macellum nominees have never served on a public board and none have served on the board of a retail company similar in size to Kohl's.

Kohl's operates more than 1,100 stores in the United States and is valued at $7.6 billion.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Atwell, LLC is pleased to welcome Casey Jones to its team as a Senior Project Manager in the Oil & Gas group. Based in Atwells Greenwood Village, Colorado office, Casey will be responsible for managing GIS/Mapping projects, developing best-practices and client-specific GIS solutions, monitoring project coordination and execution, and promoting and expanding Atwells Oil & Gas market.

Casey Jones brings a wealth of industry knowledge and more than 24 years of experience in the Oil & Gas industry. He has been a Blue Sky Certied Consultant for 11 years and has trained students all over North America. He has helped design, engineer, and construct over 3,000 miles of midstream assets in the Western and Rocky Mountain regions, managed survey teams on fast past gathering system projects, and led GIS teams on cross-country FERC pipeline projects. His areas of expertise include natural gas gathering systems, metering and interconnects, and dehydration, as well spatial databases, geomatics, and system integration. As a member of the Pipeline Open Data Standard Association (PODS), he has served on the education committee and chaired the new construction workgroup. He is also involved in other organizations such as Petroleum Users Group (PUG), Association of Petroleum Surveying and Geomatics (APSG), Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA), and Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA).

Caseys industry knowledge in GIS systems coupled with his extensive background in designing, engineering, constructing, and managing projects within the Oil & Gas industry will make him a great asset to our team, said Atwell Vice President Matt Rosser.

Atwell, LLC is a national consulting, engineering, and construction services firm with technical professionals located across the country. Creating innovative solutions for clients in industries such as real estate and land development, power and energy, and oil and gas, Atwell provides comprehensive turnkey services including land and right-of-way support, planning, landscape architecture, engineering, land surveying, environmental compliance and permitting, and project and program management.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005121/en/

Timothy Augustine, Senior Vice President

ATWELL, LLC

248.447.2005

[email protected]

Source: Atwell, LLC
LIMA, Peru--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Compania de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. (Buenaventura or the Company) (NYSE: BVN; Lima Stock Exchange: BUE.LM), Perus largest publicly-traded precious metals mining company, today announced results for the first quarter (1Q22) ended March 31, 2022. All figures have been prepared in accordance with IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) on a non-GAAP basis and are stated in U.S. dollars (US$).

First Quarter Highlights:

1Q22 EBITDA from direct operations reached US$ 431.9 million, compared to US$ 39.7 million reported in 1Q22, reflecting US$ 300 million resulting from the sale of Buenaventuras stake in Yanacocha and US$ 45 million from Newmonts contribution to La Zanjas future closure costs.

1Q22 EBITDA including associated companies reached US$ 578.7 million, compared to US$ 162.8 million in 1Q21.

1Q22 net income reached US$ 636.2 million, compared to a US$ 16.4 million for the same period in 2021.

1Q22 exploration at operating units increased to US$ 14.0 million, from US$ 9.3 million in 1Q21, aligned with the Companys strategy to focus primarily on exploration.

1Q22 capital expenditures were US$ 19.9 million, compared to US$ 13.0 million for the same period in 2021. 1Q22 CAPEX includes US$ 2.8 million in CAPEX related to the San Gabriel Project and US$ 4.7 million in CAPEX related to the Yumpag Project.

The Company continued its strategy of progressively reducing fixed costs at the Uchucchacua mine to improve the cost structure efficiency when the operation restarts

1Q22 COVID related expenses were US$ 5.3 million, compared to the US$ 11.7 million reported in 1Q21. 2022 COVID related expenses estimates are between US$ 12.0 and US$ 14.0 million.

Buenaventuras cash position reached US$ 337.4 million as of March 31, 2022. Net Debt was reduced to US$ 771 million, achieving a 1.71x Net Debt to EBITDA ratio.

Aligned with the Companys commitment to deleveraging, on March 2, Buenaventura fully paid its syndicate loan amounting to US$ 275.0 million, and on March 18 the Company cancelled US$ 50 million of its revolving facility.

On March 30, the San Gabriel Mine Project received the Government of Perus approval of all required permits, enabling the Company to immediately commence mining project construction, development and exploitation.

2022 Production Guidance will be updated in 2Q22 due to a new mine plan in progress for El Brocal, resulting in an expected 1.0 to 1.5 million ounce decrease in silver production for the full year 2022.

Financial Highlights (in millions of US$, except EPS figures):

1Q22 1Q21 Var Total Revenues 232.9 185.9 25% Operating Income 77.2 -9.5 N.A. EBITDA Direct Operations 431.9 39.7 989% EBITDA Including Affiliates 578.7 162.8 255% Net Income 636.2 16.4 3786% EPS 2.50 0.06 3786%

(*) As of March 31, 2022, Buenaventura had a weighted average number of shares outstanding of 253,986,867.

For a full version of Compania de Minas Buenaventura First Quarter 2022 Earnings Release, please visit: https://www.buenaventura.com/en/inversionistas/reportes-trimestrales/2022

CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION:

Compania de Minas Buenaventura will host a conference call on Friday, April 29, 2022 to discuss these results at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time / 10:00 a.m. Peru Time

To participate in the conference call, please dial:

Toll Free US:

+1-844-282-4460

Toll International:

+1-412-317-5611

Passcode:

Ask to be joined into the Compania de Minas Buenaventuras call.

Webcast:

https://services.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=Spdaim83

If you would prefer to receive a call rather than dialing in, please register via the following link. Please use this option 10-15 minutes prior to conference call start time:

Call Me Link: https://hd.choruscall.com/?$Y2FsbG1lPXRydWUmcGFzc2NvZGU9JmluZm89Y29tcGFueS1lbWFpbCZyPXRydWUmYj05

Passcode: 1374720

Participants who do not wish to be interrupted to have their information gathered may have Chorus Call dial out to them by clicking on the above link, filling in the information, and pressing the green phone button at the bottom. The phone number provided will be automatically called and connected to the conference without any interruption to the participant. (Please note: Participants will be joined directly to the conference and will hear hold music until the call begins. No confirmation message will be played when joined.)

Company Description

Compania de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. is Perus largest, publicly traded, precious metals company and a major holder of mining rights in Peru. The Company is engaged in the mining, processing, development and exploration of gold and silver and other metals via wholly owned mines as well as through its participation in joint exploration projects.

Buenaventura currently operates several mines in Peru: Tambomayo*, Orcopampa*, Uchucchacua*, Julcani*, La Zanja*, El Brocal and Coimolache.

The Company owns 19.58% of Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde, an important Peruvian copper producer.

For a printed version of the Companys 2020 Form 20-F, please contact the investor relations contacts on page 1 of this report, or download the PDF format file from the Companys web site at www.buenaventura.com.

(*) Operations wholly owned by Buenaventura

Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release and related conference call contain, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements including statements related to the Companys ability to manage its business and liquidity during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Companys results of operations, including net revenues, earnings and cash flows, the Companys ability to reduce costs and capital spending in response to the COVID-19 pandemic if needed, the Companys balance sheet, liquidity and inventory position throughout and following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Companys prospects for financial performance, growth and achievement of its long-term growth algorithm following the COVID-19 pandemic, future dividends and share repurchases.

This press release may also contain forward-looking information (as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) that involve risks and uncertainties, including those concerning the Companys and Cerro Verdes costs and expenses, results of exploration, the continued improving efficiency of operations, prevailing market prices of gold, silver, copper and other metals mined, the success of joint ventures, estimates of future explorations, development and production, subsidiaries plans for capital expenditures, estimates of reserves and Peruvian political, economic, social and legal developments. These forward-looking statements reflect the Companys view with respect to the Companys and Cerro Verdes future financial performance. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors discussed elsewhere in this Press Release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220428006356/en/

Contacts in Lima:

Daniel Dominguez, Chief Financial Officer

(511) 419 2540

Gabriel Salas, Head of Investor Relations

(511) 419 2591 / [email protected]

Contact in NY:

Barbara Cano

(646) 452-2334 / [email protected]

Company Website: www.buenaventura.com

Source: Compania de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A.
PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- CIM Group announced today that a CIM-managed fund has signed a lease with NPSG Global, a provider of critical e-fulfillment warehouse implementation services, for 2250 S. Litchfield Rd., a 450,619-square-foot industrial facility in Goodyear, Arizona which it acquired in August 2021.

NPSG provides a full-range of services such as design and fabrication of racking and conveyance systems, engineering teams to facilitate the planning and installation of warehouse systems including equipment assembly, and the selection and integration of management software systems.

NPSG appreciates CIMs no-nonsense approach to quickly agreeing upon terms and executing this lease. Given our clients requirements for us to secure space in a timely manner, we value the relationship we built with CIM and their willingness to customize the terms of the lease to match our needs. We look forward to working with the CIM team again in the future, said Tad Selby, CEO, NPSG Global.

Located adjacent to the Phoenix Goodyear Airport, 2250 S. Litchfield is a recently completed industrial facility that features 36-foot clear heights, 190-foot truck courts, and ample auto and trailer parking on a 29.2-acre site. The property offers excellent access to multiple modes of transportation, including proximity to the I-10 freeway with a direct connection to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Loop 303, Union Pacific Railroad, and Sky Harbor International Airport.

Demand remains strong for modern, well-located industrial facilities such as our Goodyear property. Industrial buildings are required to meet ever-expanding logistics requirements, and third-party logistics providers such as NPSG are aiding businesses to quickly gear up operations that are the backbone of efficient product delivery, said Shaul Kuba, Co-Founder and Principal, CIM Group.

With close proximity to Southern California, Goodyear is located in Phoenixs southwest valley, which is an area that CIM believes has strong demand from both e-commerce and regional distribution centers for tenants focused on low cost of labor, cost of power, and a business-friendly climate.

For more than 25 years, CIM Group has utilized its broad expertise to own, develop, reposition, and operate real estate assets, transforming communities and creating dynamic environments throughout the Americas.

About CIM Group

CIM is a community-focused real estate and infrastructure owner, operator, lender and developer. Since 1994, CIM has sought to create value in projects and positively impact the lives of people in communities across the Americas by delivering more than $60 billion of essential real estate and infrastructure projects. CIMs diverse team of experts applies its broad knowledge and disciplined approach through hands-on management of real assets from due diligence to operations through disposition. CIM strives to make a meaningful difference in the world by executing key environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives and enhancing each community in which it invests. For more information, visit www.cimgroup.com.

About NPSG Global

NPSG Global delivers critical e-fulfillment warehouse implementation services, from design consultation, to technical integration, to buildout, to retrofits  providing facility operators maximum site efficiencies. We cover key design and execution needs while bridging the two for fast, headache-free projects.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005540/en/

Karen Diehl

Diehl Communications

310-741-9097

[email protected]

Source: CIM Group
Harvard University spinout advances a unique complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-powered drug discovery platform that opens a new dimension in cell-based screening

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- CytoTronics, a biotechnology company building a next-generation complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-powered drug discovery platform, today announced it has raised $9.25M in initial seed funding, led by Anzu Partners with participation from Milad Alucozai (BoxOne Ventures) and institutional investors. CytoTronics will use this seed funding to advance its breakthrough platform that utilizes computer chip technology to conduct a suite of electrical and electrochemical cell-based assays.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220428005157/en/

CytoTronics's Co-Founders (Photo: Business Wire)

The CytoTronics platform offers an integrated single-cell resolution electrochemical-imaging array. Based upon a decade of research and proof-of-concepts developed and pioneered at Harvard University, the CytoTronics team aims to re-engineer life science data acquisition. The unique technology arose from a collaborative research project among electrical engineers, chemical biologists, and biomedical researchers at Harvard, where the CytoTronics founding team recognized its potential to revolutionize drug discovery across various therapeutic areas. The suite of patented technologies has been licensed exclusively to CytoTronics under an agreement coordinated by Harvard Office of Technology Development to enable its commercial development.

Modern drug discovery relies upon screening for effective compounds to bind to known cellular targets, which is often an expensive and time-consuming process. CMOS technology previously revolutionized the consumer electronics industry through device miniaturization, and now CytoTronics is leveraging the same CMOS technology to measure and manipulate live cells. The advanced CMOS electronics developed by CytoTronics achieves single-cell spatial resolution that greatly enhances the accuracy of the measured cell-biology information and enables optics-free images of growing cells. Additionally, the circuit integration facilitates the packaging of these techniques into small, plug-and-play devices for affordable and at-scale research for drug discovery applications.

We are targeting the roughly $20 billion low-throughput cell-based assay market with the CytoTronics platform and plan to quickly progress to higher-throughputs  in short, making drug discovery research more precise, automatic, repeatable, and scalable, said Jeffrey Abbott, Ph.D., co-founder & CEO at CytoTronics. This seed funding allows us to commercialize our research-demonstrated devices and move towards becoming a unique electronics player in the now optics-dominated, cell-based drug screening global market.

The innovation underpinning CytoTronicss technology was developed in the labs of cofounders Donhee Ham, Ph.D., the Gordon McKay Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Hongkun Park, Ph.D., the Mark Hyman Jr. Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Physics in Harvards Faculty of Arts and Sciences. CEO Abbott and Chief Technology Officer Vince Wu, Ph.D., were advised by Park and Ham as researchers at Harvard, where they contributed to the inventions over the course of several years. Abbott and Wu are also joined on the CytoTronics Board of Directors by Cofounder and Chief Business Officer Duane Sword, Executive Chairman Douglas Kahn, and Anzu Partners Principal Jenna Abelli.

Thanks to the support from our investors, we have the opportunity to further develop the CytoTronics platform to offer unique information and statistics from cells in real-time at a much higher resolution than previously possible, said Wu. Our technology will enable scientists and researchers to capture highly valuable image-based information from cells in real-time and in high-throughput, which will potentially revolutionize early-stage drug-discovery process in multiple areas such as oncology, gastroenterology, cardiology, and neurology.

We are proud to lead CytoTronicss seed round and look forward to supporting the team as they move into the next phase in developing this unique CMOS-powered biotechnology platform, said Jenna Abelli, principal at Anzu Partners. We believe the high-resolution images and data readouts from the CytoTronics platform have the potential to unlock new avenues in bioinformatics where novel insights are easily gleaned from mining the rich multi-parametric data and applying it to therapeutic research and phenotypic screenings.

The technology from the Ham and Park labs enables, truly, a leap ahead in electrochemical measurement of cultured cells, at the subcellular and intracellular levels. Theyre packing electrodes into the chip, collecting millions of measurements, and giving it an accessible visual readout, all in one device, said Chris Petty, Director of Business Development in Harvard Office of Technology Development. Its been exciting for us in OTD to work with Jeffrey, Vince, and Duane to validate the market opportunity through extensive customer discovery, and were delighted to see CytoTronics launch with robust seed funding and a strong founding team to take the technology forward.

CytoTronics recently opened office space in the Agility Labs life sciences facility in Boston, MA, which is equipped with private dedicated biosafety level 2 wet biology labs and dry electronics labs, to continue research and further develop its platform.

For more information about CytoTronics, please visit https://www.cytotronics.com/.

About CytoTronics

CytoTronics enables optics-free imaging for drug discovery through its complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) electronics platform. Building upon a suite of innovations licensed from Harvard University, CytoTronicss technology measures and manipulates live cells to produce real-time, high resolution electrical and electrochemical cell-based assays. By providing unique single-cell resolution readouts that are not currently available in todays cell-based drug screening market, CytoTronics is enhancing the accuracy of cell-biology information that can be used to revolutionize drug discovery. For more information, please visit https://www.cytotronics.com/ or http://www.linkedin.com/company/CytoTronics.

About Harvard Universitys Office of Technology Development

Harvards Office of Technology Development (OTD) promotes the public good by fostering innovation and translating new inventions made at Harvard University into useful products that are available and beneficial to society. Our integrated approach to technology development comprises sponsored research and corporate alliances, intellectual property management, and technology commercialization through venture creation and licensing. More than 90 startups have launched to commercialize Harvard technologies in the past 5 years, collectively raising more than $4.5 billion in financing. To further bridge the academic-industry development gap, Harvard OTD manages the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator and the Physical Sciences & Engineering Accelerator. For more information, please visit https://otd.harvard.edu.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220428005157/en/

CytoTronics Media:

Brandon Reid

[email protected]

Source: CytoTronics
PARIS & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Eyevensys, a privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company developing non-viral gene therapies for ophthalmic diseases today announced that the company will be presenting preclinical data on its two lead candidates for geographic atrophy (GA) and wet AMD at the upcoming Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2022 Annual Meeting. The conference will be held May 1-4, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. ARVO is the world's leading conference in ophthalmology where researchers from academia and industry can meet to share the latest developments in science and therapeutic development.

ARVO will also hold its annual meeting in a virtual format from May 11-12, 2022. A replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days following the event.

The presentation details are as follows:

Poster Presentation: Transferrin protects RPE cells from oxidative damages Date and Time: May 1, 2022 from 12:15 PM to 2:15 PM MDT Presenter: Jenny Youale Session Title: AMD and diabetic retinopathy Poster Number: # F0098 Poster Presentation: Transferrin confers neuroprotection in ex vivo and in vivo glaucoma rat models Date and Time: May 2, 2022 from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM MDT Presenter: Karine Bigot SessionTitle: Neuroprotection and Neuroregeneration Poster Number: # A0427 Oral Presentation: Decorin for choroidal neovascularization fibrosis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of retinal pigment epithelium Date and Time: May 4, 2022 from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM MDT Presenter: Francine Behar-Cohen Session Title: Subretinal fibrosis  clinical challenges, mechanism, and diagnostic tools Room: 2B/3C Mile High Blrm

About Eyevensys

Eyevensys is a privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company developing its innovative technology to enable the sustained intraocular production of therapeutic proteins to treat a broad range of ophthalmic diseases.

The Eyevensys technology, developed by Pr. Francine Behar-Cohen, uses electroporation to deliver proprietary DNA plasmids encoding therapeutic proteins into the ciliary muscle of the eye. This approach induces the sustained intraocular production of therapeutic proteins.

Eyevensys is advancing a dual gene plasmid, EYS809, expressing two therapeutic proteins, a potent VEGF inhibitor and an endogenous protein with anti-angiogenic and antifibrotic properties for the treatment of wet AMD which also has the potential be a treatment for diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema and central retinal vein occlusion.

Eyevensys is also developing EYS611, a treatment for the later stages of dry AMD and for retinitis pigmentosa and potentially other retinal degenerative conditions including glaucoma. The treatment encodes for a potent iron chelator with antioxidant and endogenous neuroprotective properties. In animal models, the treatment has been shown to be safe and effective at slowing the degeneration of retinal structure and preserving function. EYS611 has been granted Orphan drug designation for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa in the EU and in the US.

Eyevensys was founded in 2008. The company has offices in Paris, France and the U.S. The company is funded by the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Pureos Bioventures, Bpifrance through the Innobio Fund, Karista, Inserm Transfert Initiative, Pontifax, Global Health Sciences Fund, and Korean Investment Partners.

For more information about Eyevensys, please visit www.eyevensys.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005689/en/

Jeanene Timberlake

RooneyPartners

[email protected]

+1 646.537.5649

Source: Eyevensys
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A. (NYSE: SUPV) (the Company) announced that on April 29, 2022, the Company filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC).

The Companys financial statements for the year ended 2021 were issued under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the Central Bank of the Republic of Argentina (the BCRA), i.e. excluding paragraph 5.5 (Impairment) of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments with respect to financial instruments of the public sector and to financial entities included in Group B and Group C, as defined by the BCRA.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Companys financial statements filed with the SEC have been presented under IFRS without exceptions, given that no partial adoption of IFRS is permitted. The Companys financial statements filed with the SEC present significant differences with respect to the Companys financial statements issued under the BCRA standards.

In compliance with the New York Stock Exchange rules, the Form 20-F is available on the Companys website at http://www.gruposupervielle.com. In addition, all shareholders of the Company may request, free of charge, a hard copy of the Companys complete audited financial statements filed with the SEC. To request a hard copy of the Companys audited financial statements, or for any other inquiry in respect of this press release, please contact the Investor Relations Department of the Company, whose contact information is as follows: [email protected]

About Grupo Supervielle S.A. (NYSE: SUPV; BYMA: SUPV)

Grupo Supervielle S.A. (Supervielle) provides a range of financial and non-financial services to its clients. Focused on helping transform and facilitate their life experiences, Supervielle offers agile solutions and effectively adapts to fundamental changes. Supervielle brings together multiple platforms and brands, developing a diverse ecosystem with a shared vision where customer centrality and digital transformation form its backbone. Since May 2016, Supervielles shares have been listed on the ByMA and NYSE, example of its value, soundness, and commitment to strengthening the national economy. As of the date of this report, Supervielle had 288 access points and 2.0 million active customers. As of the date of this report, Supervielle had 456,722,322 shares outstanding and a free float of 64.9%.

For further information access http://www.gruposupervielle.com

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Ana Bartesaghi

[email protected]

Source: Grupo Supervielle S.A.
Highlights for 2021: Listing of shares on Euronext Growth Paris in April 2021 Investment in Exos Financial and in Miami International Holdings Completion of a second round of private placement financing in January 2022 (post-closing) Investment in Israeli company Gauzy, a world leader in smart glass and ADAS technologies (post-closing)

Financial elements: Net assets of 8.9m as at December 30, 2021 Total return of 16.7% over the year 2021 due to the increase in the share price since the listing in April 2021



LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

Hamilton Global Opportunities plc (GB00BMDXQ672 - ALHGO) publishes its annual results for 2021, approved by the Board of Directors on April 29, 2022, and its annual financial report, which is available on the company's website in the Investors section (hamiltongo.eu) and on the AMF website.

Gustavo Perrotta, Founder and Managing Director of Hamilton Global Opportunities, said:

"We are pleased with this first year marked by the admission of HGO shares on Euronext Growth Paris and the favorable evolution of the share price which underlines our investment dynamics. As announced at the time of the listing, our objective is to provide investors with a permanent vehicle to capture and maximize the value creation generated by investment opportunities in international tech companies. In line with our strategy, we have completed two high-profile investments: Exos Financial and Miami International Holdings. We look forward to the continued development of the Hamilton Global Opportunities portfolio in 2022, following the investment in Gauzy in the first half of 2022, with several similar targets already identified to date.

PERFORMANCE Assets as at 30 December 2021 (in ) December 31, 2021 December 31, 2020 Tangible assets 2 297 3 888 Investments 5 592 071 292 194 Trade and other receivables 57 100 57 100 Fixed Assets 5 651 468 353 182 Debtors: amounts falling due within one year 143 041 109 418 Cash at bank and in hand 3 429 902 22 745 Current assets 3 572 943 132 163 Net current assets/(liabilities) 9 224 411 485 345 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (362 830) (402 011) Net assets 8 861 581 83 334

Details of the main changes in the financial statements

Net assets amounted to 8.9 M, compared to 0.09 M on December 31, 2020. This increase in the second half of the year is due to the capital increase carried out during the period for an amount of 9.6 M.

At December 31, 2021, the cash position was 3.5 million.

Financial key performance indicators 2021 2020 NAV per share 27.82 N/A Cash realisations N/A N/A Capital investment as a percentage of net assets 61% N/A Operating loss (261 650) (49 097) Cash generated from operations (590 515) 23 472 Total shareholder return 16.67% N/A

The share price as at 31 December 2021, has increased by 16.67% to 49 (vs 42 in April 2021). The Financial year ended December 31, 2021 was the first year of operation of the Company in its current form. These indicators will become more relevant in fiscal year 2022 as the investments are very recent and have an investment horizon of up to 48 months.

Highlights of the year 2021

Hamilton Global Opportunities shares admitted to Euronext Growth Paris

On April 26, 2021, Hamilton Global Opportunities plc announced the direct listing of its shares on Euronext Growth Paris. Hamilton Global Opportunities plc gives to investors the opportunity to access private equity capital returns through a listed investment vehicle which focuses on investments in Tech, Fintech and MedTech principally in the United States and Israel.

First major investment as a listed company in Exos Financial

On July 6, 2021, Hamilton Global Opportunities plc announced its first major deal with a $3 million investment in Exos Financial, as part of a Series B funding round which will be used to accelerate growth both organically and through acquisitions. Exos builds a data-enabled institutional finance platform designed to deliver the full suite of investment banking services in a modern and interconnected way.

Investment in Miami International Holdings, the first private multi-market platform operator in the U.S.

On October 7, 2021, Hamilton Global Opportunities plc announced a USD $3 million investment in Miami International Holdings, Inc. one of the leading exchange players in the U.S. options market. Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH) is the parent company of multiple securities exchanges, based on the MIAX platform, developed in-house and designed for derivatives trading.

Post-closing events

Completion of a second private placement financing

On January 27, Hamilton Global Opportunities plc announced that it had successfully raised 4.5 million from European investors at a price of 49 per share, in line with the closing price on January 26, 2022. These new resources allow Hamilton Global Opportunities plc to accelerate the deployment of strategic investments in mature growth companies in the US and Israel.

Completion of investment in Israeli company Gauzy

On April 11, 2022, Hamilton Global Opportunities plc announced that it had successfully completed an initial investment of $2 million in Israel's Gauzy, a global leader in smart glass and ADAS technologies, in a Series D financing round. This investment was made as part of Hamilton Global Opportunities plc's momentum in line with its strategy of focusing on technology companies with strong potential for profitable and responsible growth. Gauzy is a true pioneer in nanotechnology applied to light control, and is the only materials science company in the world developing, producing and commercializing two of the three technologies applied to smart glass, Suspended Particle Devices and liquid crystals for use in a variety of industries, as well as a number of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) for vehicles in the automotive industry.

About Hamilton Global Opportunities:

Hamilton Global Opportunities PLC (HGO) is an investment company listed on the Euronext Growth Market in Paris (ALHGO) focusing on investments in Tech, Fintech and MedTech principally in the United States and Israel. The HGO management team has significant relevant experience in structuring direct investments in the areas above mentioned. For more information, please visit: hamiltongo.eu

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005594/en/

Hamilton Global Opportunities

Gustavo Perrotta

Founder & CEO

[email protected]

Gavin Alexander

Partner

[email protected]

Andrew Wynn

Partner

[email protected]

NewCap

Louis-Victor Delouvrier

Investor Relations

[email protected]

+33 (0)1 44 71 98 53

NewCap

Nicolas Merigeau

Media Relations

[email protected]

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 98

Source: Hamilton Global Opportunities plc
Industry veteran Stephanie Read moves from independent director to President/Chief Executive Officer role

Scott Myers, former CEO of AMAG Pharma and Cascadian Therapeutics appointed Chair of the Board of Directors

Kevin Bain and Ildiko Mehes, experienced pharmaceutical executives, also join the Board of Directors

Stefan Antonsson, interim CEO, will return to role as independent director

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Highland Therapeutics Inc., a privately held pharmaceutical company that through its wholly owned subsidiary, Ironshore Pharmaceuticals Inc., is focused on the commercialization of JORNAY PM (methylphenidate HCl) extended-release capsules (CII) for patients with ADHD, today announced the appointment of Stephanie C. Read as President/Chief Executive Officer, the appointment of Scott Myers as Chair of the Board and the additions of Kevin Bain and Ildiko Mehes as independent members of the Board of Directors. Stefan Antonsson, who has been serving as interim CEO will return to his role as an independent director.

It is my pleasure to congratulate Ms. Read in her transition from the Board of Directors to President/CEO, said Scott Myers, recently appointed Chair of the Board. Ms. Reads leadership in product development, corporate strategy, business development and specialty care commercialization will be key to driving sustainable growth with JORNAY PM, while enabling diversification into new therapeutic areas. I look forward to working closely with her to create value for patients, our employees and stakeholders."

The Board is grateful to interim CEO Stefan Antonsson for providing strategic direction and leadership continuity as we completed the financial restructuring of the company. After a brief transition, Stefan will return to his role as an independent member of the Board of Directors.

Commenting on her appointment, Ms. Read said, Highland and its subsidiaries are a rare instance of a privately held company with an exciting commercial product and experiencing rapid growth. I am pleased to join this seasoned executive team who have been successful in developing and launching JORNAY PM. With new capital from our shareholders and fresh perspectives from the new Board, we have the opportunity to continue to develop our products, people, processes and culture as we explore additional populations who may benefit from JORNAY PM."

Board of Directors:

Scott Myers, Chair of Board

Mr. Myers is a proven executive who brings nearly three decades of global pharmaceutical and medical technology most recently as CEO of AMAG, sold to Covis Pharmaceuticals, SA in November of 2020. Mr. Myers is a serial CEO, serving as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rainier Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on metastatic bladder cancer that was purchased by Fusion Pharmaceuticals in March of 2020. Prior to joining Rainier, Mr. Myers served as Chief Executive Officer, President and as a director of Cascadian Therapeutics Inc. prior to its acquisition by SeaGen in March of 2018. Mr. Myers also served as Chief Executive Officer of Aerocrine AB, a medical device company from 2011 to 2015 prior to its acquisition by Circassia. Mr. Myers is currently an independent director of Selecta Biosciences where he serves as the Chair of the Compensation and Benefits Committee, as well as a member of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Mr. Myers also serves as the Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Nomination and Governance committees and is a member of the Audit Committee for Harpoon Therapeutics, a clinical stage oncology company. Mr. Myers is also Chairman of the Board for Sensorion, SA, a gene therapy company focused on inner ear diseases. Mr. Myers is also Chairman of the Board of Dynavax Technologies, a Hepatitis B vaccine and COVID Adjuvant commercial stage company.

Stefan Antonsson, Independent Director

Mr. Antonsson has over 30 years of commercial experience in the pharmaceutical industry, primarily as a senior marketing executive, and he has established a proven track record of contributing to the success of rapidly growing pharmaceutical companies. Stefan was a key member of the Richwood/Shire senior management team and played a leadership role in launching Adderall and developing Adderall XR, acquiring and launching Carbatrol, and initiating the development of Intuniv. Stefan has also held senior marketing positions with Pharmacia and Forest Laboratories and executive positions with Vela Pharmaceuticals and Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals. Stefan has also been involved in several entrepreneurial ventures which successfully developed, licensed, and commercialized CNS products. Stefan also completed a long-term consulting assignment as Senior Vice-President of Marketing for Supernus Pharmaceuticals where he was part of the senior management team that established the commercial function for the company and successfully launched two anti-epilepsy drugs. Stefan earned his BA from Columbia College and MBA from The Stern School of Business, NYU.

Kevin Bain, Independent Director and Chair of Audit Committee

Mr. Bain is currently Chief Corporate Development Officer of Cell Research Corporation, a Singapore-based biologics company. This is a clinical-stage company developing a platform of products using stem cells from the umbilical cord lining membrane. From early 2006 through mid-2020, Kevin worked in the generic pharmaceutical and biosimilar business in companies founded and led by Robert Wessman. Kevin joined Alvogen in August 2009 as Chief Financial Officer, with responsibility for all Finance and Information Technology functions for the global Alvogen business. In November 2015, Kevin moved to a sister company named Alvotech as Chief Financial Officer. He has led several financing rounds, raising more than $1.5 billion in total value. Prior to joining Alvogen and Alvotech he spent almost four years with Actavis as Vice President of Finance for the US business of Actavis. From mid-2001 to early 2006, Mr. Bain was VP of Finance with a division of Danaher Corporation. From 1979 to 2001, Mr. Bain held positions of increasing responsibility within the finance organization of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies in both Canada and the US, including Vice President of Finance for J&J Medical Products. Mr. Bain graduated from the Accounting program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, Canada, and later earned his Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation. Kevin is currently a Board member and Chair of the Audit Committee of Akorn Pharmaceuticals, a leading US-based specialty pharmaceuticals company.

Ildiko Mehes, Independent Director

Ms. Mehes is an advisor to investment management firms, consulting firms and pharmaceutical companies about a wide range of risks and opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry. She previously spent 12 years at Teva Pharmaceuticals in a variety of business and legal roles including, most recently, Senior Vice President & General Counsel. Her areas of responsibility in the U.S. and Canada spanned New Product & Portfolio, R&D, Regulatory Affairs, and Legal Affairs. She has extensive expertise in intellectual property, including related to ADHD drugs, and also has significant pharmaceutical M&A experience. Prior to Teva, Ildiko was a pharmaceutical patent and commercial litigator. Ildiko is admitted to the Bars of Massachusetts and Ontario, Canada. She is also the recipient of several awards, including the National Post/ ZSA Canadian General Counsel Award for Litigation Management and the Association of Corporate Counsels Global Award for Litigation Management. Ildiko holds a B.A. (Honors) in Economics from Queens University, a J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School, both in Canada, and completed the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton Business School.

Stephanie C. Read, Chief Executive Officer

In addition to serving as the newly appointed President/CEO, Stephanie will continue to have a seat on the Board of Directors. Ms. Read also serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of ALSP Orchid Acquisition Corporation I. Ms. Read's 24-year biopharmaceutical career spans Global Research and Development, Medical Affairs, Alliance Management, Commercial and Business Development and Equity Investing. All leadership roles have included driving transformational change within organizations to accelerate top- and bottom-line growth, and diversification of company portfolios. Ms. Read's therapy area expertise includes Psychiatry (inventorship of MYDAYIS), Gastroenterology, Oncology & Pain, Infectious Disease, Immunology and Rare Diseases. Ms. Read's industry appointments include the last 6.5 years with CSL as global VP, Corporate Strategy and Business Development, 7.5 years with AstraZeneca/MedImmune in a variety of Medical Affairs, Commercial and Business Development roles, and over six years with Shire PLC in R&D and Global Medical Affairs (including inventing, developing and launching new treatments for ADHD). Stephanie holds a M.Sc. in Biotechnology from The Johns Hopkins University and a B.Sc. in Biology from Virginia Tech.

WARNING: ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE

See full prescribing information for complete boxed warning.

CNS stimulants, including JORNAY PM, other methylphenidate-containing products, and amphetamines, have a high potential for abuse and dependence

Assess the risk of abuse prior to prescribing, and monitor for signs of abuse and dependence while on therapy

See additional important safety information below.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

WARNING: ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE

CNS stimulants, including JORNAY PM, other methylphenidate-containing products, and amphetamines, have a high potential for abuse and dependence. Assess the risk of abuse prior to prescribing and monitor for signs of abuse and dependence while on therapy.

CONTRAINDICATIONS

Known hypersensitivity to methylphenidate or other components of JORNAY PM.

Concurrent treatment with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI), or use of an MAOI within the preceding 14 days.

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS

Serious Cardiovascular Reactions: Sudden death, stroke, and myocardial infarction have been reported in adults treated with CNS stimulants at recommended doses. Sudden death has been reported in pediatric patients with structural cardiac abnormalities and other serious heart problems taking CNS stimulants at recommended doses for ADHD. Avoid use in patients with known structural cardiac abnormalities, cardiomyopathy, serious heart arrhythmias, coronary artery disease, and other serious cardiac problems.

Sudden death, stroke, and myocardial infarction have been reported in adults treated with CNS stimulants at recommended doses. Sudden death has been reported in pediatric patients with structural cardiac abnormalities and other serious heart problems taking CNS stimulants at recommended doses for ADHD. Avoid use in patients with known structural cardiac abnormalities, cardiomyopathy, serious heart arrhythmias, coronary artery disease, and other serious cardiac problems. Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Increases: CNS stimulants may cause an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. Monitor all patients for hypertension and tachycardia.

CNS stimulants may cause an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. Monitor all patients for hypertension and tachycardia. Psychiatric Adverse Reactions: CNS stimulants may exacerbate symptoms of behavior disturbance and thought disorder in patients with a pre-existing psychiatric disorder and may induce a manic or mixed episode in patients with bipolar disorder. In patients with no prior history of psychotic illness or mania, CNS stimulants, at recommended doses, may cause psychotic or manic symptoms.

CNS stimulants may exacerbate symptoms of behavior disturbance and thought disorder in patients with a pre-existing psychiatric disorder and may induce a manic or mixed episode in patients with bipolar disorder. In patients with no prior history of psychotic illness or mania, CNS stimulants, at recommended doses, may cause psychotic or manic symptoms. Priapism: Prolonged and painful erections, sometimes requiring intervention, have been reported with methylphenidate products in both pediatric and adult patients. Priapism has also appeared during a period of drug withdrawal. Immediate medical attention should be sought if signs or symptoms of prolonged penile erections or priapism are observed.

Prolonged and painful erections, sometimes requiring intervention, have been reported with methylphenidate products in both pediatric and adult patients. Priapism has also appeared during a period of drug withdrawal. Immediate medical attention should be sought if signs or symptoms of prolonged penile erections or priapism are observed. Peripheral Vasculopathy, including Raynauds Phenomenon: CNS stimulants used to treat ADHD are associated with peripheral vasculopathy, including Raynauds phenomenon. Careful observation for digital changes is necessary during treatment with ADHD stimulants.

CNS stimulants used to treat ADHD are associated with peripheral vasculopathy, including Raynauds phenomenon. Careful observation for digital changes is necessary during treatment with ADHD stimulants. Long-Term Suppression of Growth: CNS stimulants have been associated with weight loss and slowing of growth rate in pediatric patients. Monitor height and weight at appropriate intervals in pediatric patients.

ADVERSE REACTIONS

Based on accumulated data from other methylphenidate products, the most common (>5% and twice the rate of placebo) adverse reactions for pediatric patients and adults are: appetite decreased, insomnia, nausea, vomiting, dyspepsia, abdominal pain, weight decreased, anxiety, dizziness, irritability, affect lability, tachycardia, and blood pressure increased.

Additional adverse reactions (5% and twice the rate of placebo) in pediatric patients 6 to 12 years treated with JORNAY PM: headache, psychomotor hyperactivity, and mood swings.

PREGNANCY AND LACTATION

CNS stimulant medications, such as JORNAY PM, can cause vasoconstriction and thereby decrease placental perfusion.

The developmental and health benefits of breastfeeding should be considered along with the mother's clinical need for JORNAY PM and any potential adverse effects on the breastfed infant from JORNAY PM or from the underlying maternal condition. Monitor breastfeeding infants for adverse reactions, such as agitation, insomnia, anorexia, and reduced weight gain.

Please visit http://ironshorepharma.com/labeling.pdf for additional important safety information and the Full Prescribing Information, including Boxed Warning, for JORNAY PM.

About Highland Therapeutics Inc.

Highland Therapeutics Inc. is a pharmaceutical company whose mission is to develop and commercialize innovative, patient-centric treatment options. Based in North Carolina, subsidiary Ironshore Pharmaceuticals Inc. is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of pharmaceutical products within the US. Based in Grand Cayman, subsidiary Ironshore Pharmaceuticals & Development, Inc. develops novel therapeutics by leveraging its proprietary drug-delivery technology.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information, which reflects the companys current expectations regarding future events. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the companys control that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and, except as expressly required by applicable law, the company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Nelson F. Isabel (647) 260-7875

Source: Highland Therapeutics Inc.
Hudson North debuts this spring to inspire confidence, and fashion-forward style this season and beyond

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Bay, Canadas leading destination for life and style, is pleased to launch Hudson Northa new, private apparel brand designed by Canadians, for Canadians. Hudson North is a collection of elevated essentials, and the inaugural Spring/Summer line caters to style-seeking and contemporary shoppers with more than 200 wardrobe staples built to deliver effortless style through modular mixing and matching with pieces that are easily harmonized within lifes everyday wardrobes. The first of its seasonal collections launches nationwide today in-store and on TheBay.com.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220428005962/en/

(Photo: Business Wire)

We wanted to deliver a brand that embodies how our customers live and move throughout the day no matter their fashion expression, says Laura Janney, Chief Merchant at The Bay. Hudson North offers quality, foundational pieces that are versatile enough to build upon with trends, and sophisticated enough to be worn on their own. These elevated essentials will quickly become go-to staples this season, and well beyond.

Born from thoughtful design in modern silhouettes, the debut assortment features apparel for both women and men, from volume dresses and tops, wide-leg pants, shorts and culottes to denim, loungewear, jackets and knitsall built on a palette of understated neutral tones, occasional pops of colour, and refreshed silhouettes that deliver timeless style.

Get inspired by The Bay, every day, through its social media accounts: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook.

ABOUT THE BAY

Through a digital-first, purpose-driven lens, The Bay helps Canadians live their best style of life. The Bay operates thebay.com featuring Marketplace, one of the largest premium life & style digital platforms in Canada, with a seamless connection to a network of 85 Hudson's Bay stores. The Bay has established a reputation for quality and style through an unrivalled assortment of products and categories including fashion, home, beauty, food concepts and more. Follow us on our social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

The Bay and Hudsons Bay operate under the HBC brand portfolio. Founded in 1670, HBC is North Americas oldest company. The signature stripes are a registered trademark of HBC.

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Lauren Polyak

Director, Public Relations

[email protected]



Tiffany Bourre

DVP, Communications, PR & Heritage

[email protected]

Source: Hudson's Bay Company
New York-based Iris House, an affiliate of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, will host its annual Women as the Face of AIDS Summit on Monday, May 2, 2022 at Bethel Gospel Assembly, 2-26 East 120th Street (between 5th and Madison Ave), while also allowing attendance virtually. Now in its 17th year, the 2022 Summit is themed, Racism: The Hidden Driver of HIV and will feature renowned American sociologist and scholar of urban poverty, Dr. Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Director of the Center for Racial Justice at the University of Michigan, and author of Remaking a Life: How Women Living with HIV/AIDS Confront Inequality (2019, University of California Press).

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- New York-based Iris House, an affiliate of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, will host its 17th Annual Women as the Face of AIDS Summit, on Monday, May 2, 2022 at 11:00am. The first summit to be presented since 2019, the organization will offer a hybrid model of the program to allow for in-person and virtual participation. The in-person event will take place at Bethel Gospel Assembly, 2-26 East 120th Street, New York.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005572/en/

(Graphic: Business Wire)

As a thought leader in the field of women and HIV, the Iris House Summit draws participants and attendees from around the country and internationally, many who are women living with HIV. The 2022 Summits theme, Racism: The Hidden Driver of HIV, will explore the implications of intrinsic racial biases in healthcare, as well as the intersections of the COVID-19 and HIV viruses, plus the effects of substance use and mental health. The Summit will feature a morning plenary by renowned American sociologist and scholar of urban poverty, Dr. Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Director of the Center for Racial Justice at the University of Michigan, and author of Remaking a Life: How Women Living with HIV/AIDS Confront Inequality (2019, University of California Press).

Other Summit highlights include: ViiV Healthcares presentation on From Risk to Reason  Reframing HIV Prevention and Care for Black Women; 12 breakout sessions by organizations including but not limited to, The Well Project; National HIV Aging Advocacy Network; NYC Department of Health, and Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health. Iris House will also present awards to three trail-blazing women who have made extraordinary contributions to ending the AIDS epidemic: Marvelyn Brown, author, speaker, and HIV activist; Maria Mejia, The Well Project Ambassador and peer educator; and Masonia Traylor, Founder and CEO of Lady BurgAndy, Inc.

BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) women continue to be a vulnerable population, and this event meets a great need in our community for them. Womens health being at the forefront, while providing a space to create discourse around such issues, gives credence to this annual event, stated Ingrid Floyd, Iris House executive director.

The Women as the Face of AIDS Summit is produced annually by Iris House with the financial support of dozens of organizations, including government agencies, corporations, and community-based organizations. This years lead sponsors include the New York City Council, ViiV Healthcare, Gilead Sciences, Orasure Technologies, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Additional supporters include Mt. Sinai Institute of Advanced Medicine, Ryan Health, and Select Health, among others. To learn more about the Summit, go to irishouse.org.

About Iris House

Iris House provides services for women, families and communities living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. In addition to providing family-center services that promote prevention, education and awareness, Iris House also offers practical services that address the day-today needs and reality of living with HIV/AIDS. Iris House provides nutritional counseling and meal programs, intensive case management, scatter site housing, mental health services and support groups and job life skills training. Since opening its doors in 1993, Iris House has assisted more than 2,000 individuals cope with HIV/AIDS and served tens of thousands in testing, outreach and prevention programs. In 2021 IH served over 7,500 individuals.

For more information on Iris House and Iris House Programs, please contact Nichole Benjamin, Director of Development at 646 548 0100 ext. 222 or [email protected]. More information may be found at www.irishouse.org. You may also keep up with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005572/en/

Nichole Benjamin

Office, 646 548 0100, ext. 222

Source: Iris House
CONCORD TOWNSHIP, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ranpak Holdings Corp. (NYSE: PACK) announced today that it will release its first quarter results at approximately 7:30 a.m. (ET) on Friday, May 6, 2022 and will host a conference call and webcast at 8:30 a.m. (ET) on that day.

The conference call and earnings presentation will be webcast live at the following link: https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/484888156. Investors who cannot access the webcast may listen to the conference call live via telephone by dialing 888-330-2446 or 240-789-2732 and use the passcode: 8498994.

A telephonic replay of the webcast also will be available starting at 11:30 a.m. (ET) on Friday, May 6, 2022 and ending at 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Friday, May 13, 2022. To listen to the replay, please dial 800-770-2030 or 647-362-9199 and use the passcode: 8498994.

About Ranpak

Founded in 1972, Ranpak's goal was to create the first environmentally responsible system to protect products during shipment. Ranpaks mission is to deliver sustainable packaging solutions that help improve supply chain performance and costs, reduce environmental impact, and support a variety of growing business needs globally. The development and improvement of materials, systems and total solution concepts have earned Ranpak a reputation as an innovative leader in e-commerce and industrial supply chain solutions. Ranpak is headquartered in Concord Township, Ohio and has approximately 850 employees. Additional information about Ranpak can be found on its website: https://www.ranpak.com.

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Contact for Investors:

[email protected]

Source: Ranpak Holdings Corp.
+ 2021 sales up +73% to 2.1 million

+ Success of the recent IPO, raising approximately 9 million enabling the Company to finance the ramping up of its development in France and abroad

LYON, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

SMAIO (Software, Machines and Adaptative Implants in Orthopaedics  Euronext Growth Paris ISIN: FR0014005I80 / Ticker: ALSMA, eligible for PEA-PME equity savings plans) (Paris: ALSMA), a French player specialized in complex spine surgery with a global offer comprising software, adaptative implants and related services, today published its 2021 annual results1, approved by the Board of Directors on April 29, 2022, and confirmed its 2022 outlook.

Philippe ROUSSOULY, CEO of SMAIO, commented: On behalf of the entire SMAIO team, I would again like to thank all the shareholders, including our partner NuVasive, who contributed to the success of our IPO on the Euronext Growth market. The funds raised through this operation will help us effectively deploy our unique and global solution in spine surgery, i-kontrol, which combines precise planning, customized execution and analytic monitoring of patient data over time. In 2022, we are intending to significantly accelerate our commercial development, notably in North America thanks to NuVasives support, and to make full use of the immense potential of our KEOPS database and our tailor-made surgical technologies in order to pave the way for the gradual automation of spine surgery procedures.

2021 annual results

Simplified income statement ( millions) 2021 2020 Sales 2.1 1.1 EBITDA (2.3) (2.0) Operating profit / (loss) (3.3) (2.5) Current profit / (loss) before tax (3.4) (2.5) Net profit / (loss) (3.1) (2.2)

Annual sales totaled 2.1 million in 2021, an increase of +73% compared with the previous year (1.2 million) that had been affected by the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the public health situation improved in 2021, the Company continued to suffer the consequences of the crisis with the impossibility of accessing certain key markets such as the United States and United Kingdom, travel restrictions having only been lifted at the end of the year. Sales therefore remained concentrated in France (60% of activity), although the first export distribution contracts signed in 2020 have begun to bear fruit, underpinned at the end of 2021 by a distribution agreement for the Australian market.

From the second half of 2021, the Company began to market its patient-specific K-rods with around a hundred surgical procedures performed, primarily in France. Marketing authorization requests were filed with the FDA to obtain approval to market these tailor-made implants in the United States, a market that strongly values technological innovations.

The margin on implant sales improved from 53% in 2020 to 55% in 2021, thanks to better procurement conditions negotiated in 2021 with a second qualified subcontractor. Nevertheless, sales via distributors, which now account for close to 40% of total sales and generate lower margins than direct sales, weighed on the general improvement in margins, which should see a significant increase once the Company is in a position to develop its sales in the United States.

Other operating expenses, primarily comprising external costs and wages and social security contributions, increased in line with the development of sales activity, the intensification of R&D efforts, legal restructuring operations undertaken prior to the IPO and staff taken on in the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021. The total payroll increased by approximately 27% on the previous year, but its proportion of total operating expenses fell (to 44% in 2021 from 49% in 2020).

Depreciation and provisions totaled 1.1 million, versus 0.6 million the previous year. This increase was a result of the rise in R&D spending and thus the amortization of corresponding capitalized costs, the supplying to health facilities of a growing volume of sets of instruments amortized over 5 years and the taking into account of the low consumption level of inventories of implants of extreme sizes.

Incorporating the elements detailed above, the 2021 operating loss was 3.3 million, compared with a loss of 2.5 million in 2020, the increase in operating expenses primarily associated with the increase in the payroll and with development projects not yet being sufficiently offset by the mark-ups generated by the growth in sales.

Strengthened financial structure

SMAIOs cash and cash equivalents (574 thousand at end-2021) were strengthened at the end of the first quarter of 2022 by the 8 million in net proceeds generated by the capital increase undertaken at the time of the Companys IPO on the Euronext Growth market in Paris. SMAIOs current cash position will allow it to finance the Companys development in accordance with the strategy presented at the time of its IPO.

Implementation of the value-creating partnership with NuVasive

Sharing a similar vision of the importance of spinal realignment planning and implant placement to achieve favorable, repeatable and long-lasting results, in the first quarter of 2022 NuVasive, a global leader in spine technology innovation, and SMAIO signed a partnership and licensing agreement to further develop SMAIOs surgical planning solutions and to support the innovation pipeline and commercialization efforts.

As part of this collaboration, NuVasive has pledged to invest a total of $10 million (9m2) in the Company, of which $5 million (approximately 4.5 million) has already been invested within the framework of SMAIOs IPO in early April. The balance will consist of milestone payments made when the Company receives FDA 510(k) clearance for two software solutions interfacing with the American groups technological platforms.

NuVasive has exclusivity regarding the planning tool development partnerships implemented by SMAIO for a three-year period from the date on which the second software solution is approved.

Moreover, within the framework of this partnership, the Company will put in place an image analysis and planning assistance service for NuVasives clients, which will be billed and will thus generate recurring payments proportional to the number of analyses performed.

Strategy and outlook

In 2022, and in accordance with the strategy announced at the time of its IPO, the Company will pursue three key objectives:

1. The implementation and ramping up of the partnership with NuVasive, focusing on the development of a customized version of the i-plan platform for NuVasive (including the KEOPS, Balance Analyzer 3D and SPIDER Plan software and related services) and, at the same time, an image analysis service offer.

2. The development of the i-kontrol solutions marketing activity in Europe, the United States and Australia. To achieve this, the Company will build on its own sales force, its partner NuVasive for the commercialization of its surgery planning services in the United States and a network of distributors and agents in Europe, Australia and the United States.

3. The development of innovative R&D projects aimed at improving the accuracy, speed and reliability of spine surgery, with morphologically adapted guides 3D-printed from scans of the vertebrae to be operated upon enabling implants to be accurately positioned in the pedicles, or morphologically adapted trackers allowing vertebrae to be detected in space in order to steer them or guide a robotic arm.

Upcoming financial events:

Shareholders AGM: June 20, 2022

June 20, 2022 Publication of H1 2022 sales: July 12, 2022, after market

About SMAIO

A precursor in the use of clinical data and imaging of the spine, SMAIO designs global solutions for spine surgery specialists. The Company has recognized expertise thanks to KEOPS, its Big Data management software that has become a global reference with more than 100,000 patient cases documented.

SMAIO offers spine surgeons a comprehensive platform, I-Kontrol, incorporating planning, implants and related services, enabling them to treat spinal pathologies in a safe, effective and lasting way.

SMAIO is positioned at the forefront of innovation with the ambition of providing surgeons with the first active robotic solution enabling a high level of performance and repeatability to be systematically achieved.

Based in Lyon, France, SMAIO benefits from the skill and expertise of more than 30 highly specialized staff.

For further information, please visit our website: www.smaio.com

Listing market: Euronext Growth Paris

ISIN: FR0014005I80

Mnemonic: ALSMA

Disclaimer

This press release contains non-factual elements, including, but not limited to, certain statements regarding future results and other future events. These statements are based on the current vision and assumptions of the management of the Company. They incorporate known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could result in significant differences in results, profitability and expected events. In addition, SMAIO, its shareholders and its affiliates, directors, officers, counsels and employees have not verified the accuracy of, and make no representations or warranties about, statistical information or forecast information contained within this news release and that originates or is derived from third party sources or industry publications; these statistical data and forecast information are only used in this press release for information purposes. Finally, this press release may be drafted in French and in English. In the event of differences between the two texts, the French version will prevail.

1 Audit procedures have been carried out on annual accounts. The management report, the corporate governance report, the annual financial statements and the auditor's report on these annual financial statements were posted on 29 April 2022 on the Company's website (www.smaio-finance.com) and on the Euronext website (www.euronext.com).

2 Based on an indicative exchange rate of 1 euro for 1.10 dollars

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005433/en/

SMAIO

Philippe Roussouly

Chief Executive Officer

Fabrice Kilfiger

Chief Financial Officer

[email protected]

NewCap

Dusan Oresansky/Quentin Masse

Investor Relations

[email protected]

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 92

NewCap

Nicolas Merigeau

Media Relations

[email protected]

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 98

Source: SMAIO
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SMBC, a member of SMBC Group, today announced the appointment of Debbie Freer as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Americas. The appointment was effective on April 1, 2022.

Hirofumi Otsuka, CEO of SMBC Group in the Americas and President & CEO of SMBC Americas Holdings, Inc., said, Debbies appointment as COO is a natural fit as she has spearheaded the successful transformation of our business in the Americas Division in addition to championing our diversity and inclusion initiatives. I am confident she will continue to lead our growth plans for SMBC in the region as well as ensure a relentless focus on our diversity efforts.

Debbie commented, As COO, I hope to push us further on our journey to become a leading corporate and investment bank and to make our mark here in the Americas, with growth, teamwork, and client success. This firm has a rich history and culture that lends itself to deep and meaningful relationships with our clients, and I look forward to building our brand in the region.

Debbie joined SMBC in April 2019 as Chief Strategy Officer and Head of the Strategy & Transformation Department, where she led the establishment of a bank holding company structure and strategic plan, implemented through a transformation program with robust governance and projects spanning the organizations three lines of defense.

Before joining SMBC, Debbie was Global Head of Custody & Fund Services Product Development & Transformation at JPMorgan Chase. Prior positions included senior leadership roles at UBS, RBC, Citibank and Merrill Lynch.

About SMBC Group

SMBC Group is a top-tier global financial group. Headquartered in Tokyo and with a 400-year history, SMBC Group offers a diverse range of financial services, including banking, leasing, securities, credit cards, and consumer finance. The Group has more than 140 offices and 86,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) is the holding company of SMBC Group, which is one of the three largest banking groups in Japan. SMFGs shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York (NYSE: SMFG) stock exchanges. As of December 31, 2021, its total assets were $2.18 trillion.

In the Americas, SMBC Group has a presence in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Backed by the capital strength of SMBC Group and the value of its relationships in Asia, the Group offers a range of commercial and investment banking services to its corporate, institutional, and municipal clients. It connects a diverse client base to local markets and the organizations extensive global network. The Groups operating companies in the Americas include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., SMBC Nikko Securities Canada, Ltd., SMBC Capital Markets, Inc., SMBC Rail Services LLC, Manufacturers Bank, JRI America, Inc., SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc., Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro S.A., and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005171/en/

Mina Takahashi

Direct: +1-212-756-5593

[email protected]

Source: SMBC Group
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The AZEK Company Inc. (the Company or AZEK) (NYSE: AZEK), the industry-leading manufacturer of beautiful, low-maintenance and environmentally sustainable outdoor living products, including TimberTech decking, Versatex and AZEK Trim and StruXure pergolas, announced today its participation in the following investor conferences:

J.P. Morgan Homebuilding & Building Products Conference

Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Location: Virtual

Presentation: 8:15am ET

Participants: Jesse Singh, Chief Executive Officer and Peter Clifford, Chief Financial Officer

B. Riley Securities 22nd Annual Investor Conference

Date: Thursday, May 26, 2022

Location: The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, CA

Presentation: 1:00pm PT

Participants: Jesse Singh, Chief Executive Officer

The Companys presentation at the J.P. Morgan Homebuilding & Building Products Conference will be broadcast live over the internet and can be accessed through the Company's website, investors.azekco.com. To listen to the presentation, please go to the "Investors" section of the website at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the broadcast to register and download any necessary audio software. For those who are not able to listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available shortly following the conference on our website, and will be accessible for a limited time.

To find additional information about AZEK including the most recent investor presentation please visit investors.azekco.com.

About The AZEK Company

The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE: AZEK) is the industry-leading designer and manufacturer of beautiful, low maintenance and environmentally sustainable outdoor living products, including TimberTech decking and Versatex AZEK Trim and StruXure pergolas. Consistently recognized as the market leader in innovation, quality and aesthetics, products across AZEKs portfolio are made from up to 100% recycled material and primarily replace wood on the outside of homes, providing a long-lasting, eco-friendly, and stylish solution to consumers. Leveraging the talents of its approximately 2,000 employees and the strength of relationships across its value chain, The AZEK Company is committed to accelerating the use of recycled material in the manufacturing of its innovative products, keeping millions of pounds of waste out of landfills each year, and revolutionizing the industry to create a more sustainable future. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the company operates manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Minnesota, and recently announced a new facility will open in Boise, Idaho. For additional information, please visit azekco.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005590/en/

Investor Relations Contact:

Eric Robinson

312-809-1093

[email protected]

Media Contact:

Rachel Mihulka

1-402-980-9603

[email protected]

Source: The AZEK Company Inc.
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Twig Group, a London based fintech, announces the acquisition of Mobi Market, a premier UK based mobile phone recommerce player, in a deal worth over $10m.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005052/en/

Names left to right: Dean Ray, Oliver Tedcastle, Geri Cupi, Emeka Nwadike and Dominic Lovegrove. (Photo: Business Wire)

Twig Group is the fastest growing European fintech, providing an array of financial services rooted in circular economy principles. Its suite of products include a mobile banking solution called Twig app, Twig Pay, which is a checkout and merchant based circular payment solution and For The Earth - a B2B impact sustainability solution.

Mobi Market is one of Europes fastest growing value-added recommerce players of used mobile phones, offering a circularity based service, which enables users to quickly and easily resell their pre-owned mobile phones. In addition, Mobi Market has key relationships with Network Operators, Retailers and Insurance Companies to provide high quality pre-owned devices to a wide variety of customers.

Through the acquisition of Mobi Market, Twig Group will augment its ability to service its customer base with yet another circular economy proposition, further boosting its credentials with its core customer base consisting mainly of Gen Z and Millennials.

This includes embedding its Twig Pay service - a checkout feature promoting the greenest circular payments solution in the market, allowing customers to use their pre-owned fashion and electronics items, for instant trade in and to finance their new purchases.

Geri Cupi, Twigs founder and CEO comments: We are excited to welcome Mobi Market and its team into our Twig ecosystem. Mobi Market has proven itself a leader in the field, a testament to Doms, Emekas, Deans and Olivers work. We look forward to joining forces to bring another dimension to circular economy services and delighting our customers.

Dominic Lovegrove, Mobi Markets co-founder mentions: Since its very inception in 2016, Mobi Market growth has been powered by the mission of establishing a credible and efficient ecosystem for used mobile phones, as a sustainable proposition for our customers. Today, as we enjoy one of the fastest growth trajectories in the sector, we are excited to partner with Twig and drive Mobi Market into its next chapter. We look forward to continuing our customer focus with improved capabilities thanks to our Twig partnership.

Twig Group were advised by Devonshires Solicitors and Rawlinson & Hunter.

www.twig-group.com

- Ends -

Notes to Editors

About Twig

Twig is a London, UK-based new generation fintech, rooted in circular economy principles Its mission is to empower consumers to value, unlock and enjoy wealth that they never knew they had.

Clients can get instant cash for the fashion and electronic items they no longer want.

As a part of its unique proposition, Twig is now offering a carbon offsetting service, making it possible for its clients to offset their entire lifestyle carbon footprint.

All of this is in addition to enjoying traditional banking service benefits (debit card, domestic and international bank transfers). Twig powers the circular economy, making Twig a positive and compelling environmentally conscious choice for the consumer.

Twig is committed to making a positive impact on the environment and it is officially certified B Corp.

About Mobi Market

Mobi Market was founded in 2016 by Dominic Lovegrove, Emeka Nwadike, Dean Ray and Oliver Tedcastle, with a mission to power a sustainable alternative to the mobile market ecosystem, providing a seamless way for consumers to sell their pre owned mobile phones.

Mobi Market is currently the UKs fastest growing value-added resellers in the used mobile phones sector, bringing a circular and sustainable approach to the personal electronic mass consumption.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005052/en/

For further information contact:

Ben Demiri

[email protected]

Source: Twig Group
Massachusetts school district utilizes PowerSchools unified solutions to monitor student and educator performance, pinpoint learning gaps, and create personalized learning environments

FOLSOM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC), the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America, today announced Veritas Preparatory Charter School (VPCS) in Springfield, MA has seen improvements from the utilization of PowerSchool solutions to monitor student and educator performance and expand personalized curriculum development capabilities. Through PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS), PowerSchool Enrollment, PowerSchool eCollect Forms, PowerSchool Unified Classroom Performance Matters, PowerSchool Unified Talent, and PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special Programs, VPCS has been able to increase student-teacher collaboration and pinpoint learning gaps through a unified suite of education technology solutions. VPCS is currently completing its implementation of PowerSchool Unified Classroom Schoology Learning, which will provide instructors, students, and parents with a solution capable of learning management, assessment, and professional development all in one place.

Since integrating PowerSchool into our schools workflow, we have continued to see nothing but success, said Lynne Mills, Director of Business Management, Veritas Preparatory Charter School. We are very thankful for the ongoing support provided by PowerSchools products and implementation teams and look forward to utilizing the full family of PowerSchool products for decades to come.

Among the PowerSchool products in use, VPCS has seen the most return on investment through Performance Matters by helping the school achieve its mission of creating and adapting school curriculum to meet the needs of its students. Through Performance Matters, VPCS has improved its ability to monitor academic performance. Performance Matters has helped identify at risk students, pinpoint areas for improvement among educators, and inform school leaders of critical performance trends to make more data-informed decisions.

Prior to PowerSchool, VPCS utilized multiple platforms to manage student and staff information. While functional at the time, the school experienced various operational pain points due to the disparate tools being used, making the need for a unified education technology provider evident. Despite initial concerns associated with migrating data from the schools various tools to a new provider, PowerSchools implementation team supported VPCS each step of the way and continues to ensure the schools ongoing success through PowerSchool products.

As seen by Veritas Preparatory Charter Schools success, utilizing a unified suite of education technology tools is an effective way for schools to achieve their instructional goals and best serve their students, said Maulik Datanwala, PowerSchool Chief Operating Officer. Im very proud to see the impact PowerSchool solutions have made at Veritas Prep and happy to support their continued progress today and into the future.

Founded in Springfield, Massachusetts in 2012, VPCS mission is to prepare students in grades 5-8 to compete, achieve, and succeed in high school, college, and beyond. Since the schools founding, VPCS has grown to become one of Massachusetts top-performing middle schools serving over 370 local students in the Springfield area.

Learn more about the full suite of PowerSchool solutions available to school districts at https://www.powerschool.com/solutions/.

About PowerSchool

PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC) is the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments and analytics in one unified platform. PowerSchool supports over 45 million students globally and more than 14,000 customers, including more than 90 of the top 100 districts by student enrollment in the United States, and sells solutions in more than 90 countries. Visit www.powerschool.com to learn more.

 PowerSchool. PowerSchool and other PowerSchool marks are trademarks of PowerSchool Holdings, Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

PWSC-C

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005401/en/

Media Contact

Beau Berman

[email protected]

(916) 908-8947

Source: PowerSchool Holdings, Inc.
KATY, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Yesterday at Igloo Coolers headquarters in Katy, Texas, Walmart celebrated Igloos long history and commitment to Made In USA with elected officials and prominent executives from both respective companies in attendance. In honor of this recognition, Igloo created the new Overland Series of coolers exclusively for Walmart, which are made in the USA.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005439/en/

Left-to-right: Igloo President and CEO, Dave Allen, Laura Phillips, SVP, Global Sourcing - Customer and Business Development, Walmart, and Texas Senator Paul Bettencourt at the Igloo Factory in Katy, TX. (Photo: Business Wire)

Igloo is proud to be recognized by Walmart for our history and commitment to manufacturing right here in the USA, said Dave Allen, president and CEO of Igloo Products Corp. I couldnt be more grateful for our amazing American manufacturing staff and local community that have contributed to Igloos success over the last 75 years.

Walmart's collaboration with Igloo is part of a long-standing commitment to supporting American manufacturing that dates back to the company's founder, Sam Walton. Nearly two-thirds of Walmart's annual product spend is made, grown, or assembled in the U.S., and the company recently announced a new $350 billion investment in American-made items.

"Walmart is proud to work with companies like Igloo that are making excellent products for our customers right here in the USA," said Laura Phillips, senior vice president, Global Sourcing & U.S. Manufacturing at Walmart. "Sourcing locally creates American jobs, grows small businesses, and benefits communities like Katy, TX. We're excited to feature Igloo's American-made Overland Series exclusively in our stores."

"Manufacturing, distribution, and customer sales are literally the 'beating heart' of US business. As a strong proponent of job creation and economic development, I wish Igloo and Walmart success in their business endeavor," said Texas Senator Paul Bettencourt.

The Overland Series of coolers are adventure-ready performance ice chests built for the great outdoors. They feature extra-thick 1.5-inch foam-insulated walls and an insulated lid for extended ice retention, along with thoughtful design details like a spill-resistant latching lid, locking plates for added security, durable oversized hinges, UV inhibitors, built-in bottle openers and more. The four-SKU Igloo Overland Series, including the 25-Quart Bail Handle Cooler, 50-Quart Chest Cooler, 52-Quart Roller Cooler and 72-Quart Chest Cooler, are now available at Walmart.

To keep up with all things Igloo, follow and like:

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

About Igloo:

Born from a modest metalworking shop back in 1947, Igloo has been instrumental in redefining how we live, work and play. What began with bringing clean water to the worksite quickly moved into super-functional, best-in-class ice chests. Igloo products made the family outdoor recreation movement of the 20th century possible. Suddenly, taking your kids camping on the weekend became easy and cross-country road trips became a summer vacation staple.

As we approach our next century, Igloo is 1,400 employees strong. We are proud to calla 2.4 million-square-foot, three-building facility inKaty, Texas home. With more than 500 products sold at thousands of retailers around the globe, we can confidently call ourselves the number one cooler manufacturer in the world.

And through it all we havent lost sight of our original goalto create products that enable the pursuit of happiness (however you define it). Thats why were still working hard every day to innovate, create and make it easier for you to get out, work hard and play even harder.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005439/en/

Igloo Press Contacts:

Master Plan Communications, Inc.

Debs Loomis

714.310.9651

[email protected]

OR

Ashton Maxfield

949.289.6493

[email protected]

Source: Igloo
IT Services delivers strong sequential revenue growth for the quarter at 3.1% in CC, Revenue growth for the year at 27.3% YoY, and EPS growth rate for the year of 17.0% YoY

BANGALORE, India & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) today announced financial results under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2022.

Highlights of the Results

Results for the Quarter ended March 31, 2022:

Gross Revenue was Rs 208.6 billion ($2.7 billion1), an increase of 28.4% YoY

IT Services Segment Revenue was at $2,721.7 million, an increase of 3.1% QoQ and 26.4% YoY

Non-GAAP2 constant currency IT Services segment revenue increased by 3.1% QoQ and 28.5% YoY

IT Services Operating Margin3 for the quarter was at 17.0%, a decrease of 60 bps QoQ

Net Income for the quarter was Rs 30.9 billion ($406.9 million1), an increase of 4.0% QoQ and 3.9% YoY

Earnings Per Share for the quarter was at Rs 5.64 ($0.071), an increase of 4.6% YoY

Operating Cash Flow was at Rs 23.3 billion ($307.3 million1), which is 75.5% of Net Income

Results for the Year ended March 31, 2022:

Gross Revenue was Rs 790.9 billion ($10.4 billion1), an increase of 27.7% YoY

IT Services Segment Revenue was at $10,355.9 million, an increase of 27.3% YoY

Non-GAAP2 constant currency IT Services Segment Revenue increased by 26.9% YoY

IT Services Operating Margin3 for the year was at 17.7%, a decrease of 254 bps YoY

Net Income for the year was Rs 122.2 billion ($1,610.5 million1), an increase of 13.2% YoY

Earnings Per Share for the year was at Rs 22.35 ($0.291), an increase of 17.0% YoY

Operating Cash Flow was at Rs 110.8 billion ($1,460.4 million1), which is 90.7% of Net Income

Our closing strength of employees for IT Services was at 243,128, an increase of 45,416 employees on a YoY

Performance for the Quarter and Year ended March 31, 2022

Thierry Delaporte, CEO and Managing Director said, We have had an outstanding year, finishing with $10.4 Bn in revenues, and an industry-leading growth of 27% year on year. This is our sixth straight quarter of strong revenue growth at or over 3%. We are excited with the addition of Rizing and the CAS Group to Wipros service offerings. With all markets, sectors and Global Business Lines now growing in double-digits year on year, we have a strong foundation for next years growth.

Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer said, Our efforts on client mining have resulted in an addition of eight customers in more than $100 Mn bucket on YoY basis. We delivered operating margins of 17.7% for the year, after significant investments on solutions, capabilities and talent. Net Income for the year was highest ever at $1.6 Bn and delivered robust growth in EPS of 17.0% YoY.

Outlook for the quarter ending June 30, 2022

We expect Revenue from our IT Services business to be in the range of $2,748 million to $2,803 million*. This translates to a sequential growth of 1% to 3%.

*Outlook is based on the following exchange rates: GBP/USD at 1.34, Euro/USD at 1.12, AUD/USD at 0.73, USD/INR at 75.26 and CAD/USD at 0.79

Capital Allocation

The interim dividend of Rs 1 and Rs 5 declared by the Board at its meetings held on January 14th and March 25th, 2022 shall be considered as the final dividend for the financial year 2021-22.

IT Services

Wipro continued its momentum in winning large deals with our customers as described below:

A US-based global healthcare company will leverage Wipro FullStride Cloud Services to engineer products for cloud and digital technologies based on a Product Oriented Delivery (POD) model.

A US-based multinational technology company has renewed its existing contract to curate geospatial information that will enable the customer with evaluations and recommendations on map modelling processes.

A leading US-based global benefits and payroll administration company has awarded Wipro a transformational business process services contract to optimize costs in health & wealth benefits and customer care.

A multinational telecommunications network company, headquartered in the Nordics, has awarded Wipro a contract to drive transformation and digitalization of business processes that enhances customer value through high quality service delivery.

A leading Europe-based provider of transport solutions has partnered with Wipro to transform their digital workplace, supporting the shift towards sustainable transport solutions.

Digital Services Highlights

We continue to see increasing traction in digital oriented and other strategic deals as illustrated below:

A leading global cosmetics company has selected Wipro to rollout their SAP S/4HANA in a region that will drive their business growth. This transformation will enable the customer to harmonize their business processes, accelerate time to market, innovate, and enhance user experience.

A leading Asia-based multinational automotive electronics supplier has selected Wipro to develop the engineering blueprint for their next generation software defined vehicle platform using Wipros Cloud Car architecture.

Designit has been selected by a multinational technology conglomerate to design a digital onboarding experience and support hybrid working needs of employees of a large company in the mobility sector.

A Smart City based in the Middle East has selected Wipro to build a secure, reliable on-demand 5G network using autonomous drones for the high-bandwidth requirements of residents, businesses, and visitors.

A Europe based financial services company has renewed its Data Center and cloud infrastructure management contract with Wipro to support its transformation to a Hybrid Cloud model.

A government body based in the Middle East has selected Wipro as the digital partner to build a data-led AI marketplace that will bring the local talent, government and private sector together.

Wipro is engaged as the primary partner to design and develop hardware for a series of RUs (radio units) to enable end to end O-RAN 5G solution deployment for service provider customers with one of the leading US based telecommunications networking provider.

Analyst Recognition

Wipro was recognized as a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data and Analytics Service Providers

Wipro was recognized as a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Outsourced Digital Workplace Services

Wipro was recognized as a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Customer Service BPO

Wipro was featured in HFS Top 10: Retail and CPG Services, Application Modernization Services and SAP S/4HANA Services, 2022

Wipro ranks among the Top Service Providers in Whitelane Benelux IT Sourcing Study 2022 and Netherlands IT Outsourcing Study 2021

Wipro was rated as a Leader in Everest Groups Digital Interactive Experience (IX) and Digital Product Engineering Services PEAK Matrix Assessment 2022

Wipro was rated as a Leader in Everest Groups Artificial Intelligence (AI) Services and Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) Solution Provider Landscape with PEAK Matrix Assessment 2022

Wipro was recognized as a Leader in Everest Groups Healthcare Payer Operations and Oracle Cloud Applications (OCA) Services PEAK Matrix Assessment 2022  Global

Wipro was recognized as a Leader in Avasant Healthcare Payor Digital Services and Provider Digital Services RadarView 2022 - 2023

Wipro was rated as a Leader in Avasant Intelligent Automation Services RadarView 2021  2022

Disclaimer: *Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Data and Analytics Service Providers, Jorgen Heisenberg, et al, 7 February 2022. Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Data and Analytics Service Providers, Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Outsourced Digital Workplace Services, Daniel Barros, et al, 22 February 2022. Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Customer Service BPO, Deborah Alvord, et al, 28 March 2022. GARTNER and MAGIC QUADRANT are registered trademarks and service marks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartners research publications consist of the opinions of Gartners research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose

IT Products

IT Products segment revenue for the quarter was Rs 1.2 billion ($15.8 million1)

IT Products segment results for the quarter was a loss of Rs 0.02 billion ($0.29 million1)

IT Products segment revenue for the year was Rs 6.2 billion ($81.4 million1)

IT Products segment results for the year was a profit of Rs 0.12 billion ($1.5 million1)

India business from State Run Enterprises (ISRE)

India SRE segment revenue for the quarter was Rs 1.9 billion ($24.6 million1)

India SRE segment results for the quarter was a profit of Rs 0.17 billion ($2.3 million1)

India SRE segment revenue for the year was Rs 7.3 billion ($96.2 million1)

India SRE segment results for the year was a profit of Rs 1.2 billion ($15.5 million1)

Please refer to the table at the end for reconciliation between IFRS IT Services Revenue and IT Services Revenue on a non-GAAP constant currency basis.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains non-GAAP financial measures within the meaning of Regulation G and Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K. Such non-GAAP financial measures are measures of our historical or future performance, financial position or cash flows that are adjusted to exclude or include amounts that are excluded or included, as the case may be, from the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS.

The table at the end provides IT Services Revenue on a constant currency basis, which is a non-GAAP financial measure that is calculated by translating IT Services Revenue from the current reporting period into U.S. dollars based on the currency conversion rate in effect for the prior reporting period. We refer to growth rates in constant currency so that business results may be viewed without the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, thereby facilitating period-to-period comparisons of our business performance. Further, in the normal course of business, we may divest a portion of our business which may not be strategic. We refer to the growth rates in both reported and constant currency adjusting for such divestments in order to represent the comparable growth rates.

This non-GAAP financial measure is not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles and should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with IFRS and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. In addition to this non-GAAP measure, the financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS and the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures with the most directly comparable IFRS financial measure should be carefully evaluated.

Results for the Quarter and Year ended March 31, 2022, prepared under IFRS, along with individual business segment reports, are available in the Investors section of our website www.wipro.com

Quarterly Conference Call

We will hold an earnings conference call today at 07:30 p.m. Indian Standard Time (10:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time) to discuss our performance for the quarter. The audio from the conference call will be available online through a web-cast and can be accessed at the following link- https://links.ccwebcast.com/?EventId=WIP290422

An audio recording of the management discussions and the question-and-answer session will be available online and will be accessible in the Investor Relations section of our website at www.wipro.com

About Wipro Limited

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 240,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future.

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements contained herein represent Wipros beliefs regarding future events, many of which are by their nature, inherently uncertain and outside Wipros control. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Wipros growth prospects, its future financial operating results, and its plans, expectations and intentions. Wipro cautions readers that the forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, complete proposed corporate actions, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry.

Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Annual Reports on Form 20-F. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

For the convenience of the readers, the amounts in Indian Rupees in this release have been translated into United States Dollars at the certified foreign exchange rate of US$1 = Rs 75.87, as published by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on March 31, 2022. However, the realized exchange rate in our IT Services business segment for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 was US$1= Rs 75.91 Constant currency revenue for a period is the product of volumes in that period times the average actual exchange rate of the corresponding comparative period IT Services Operating Margin refers to Segment Results Total as reflected in IFRS financials

WIPRO LIMITED AND SUBSIDIARIES INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION (Rs in millions, except share and per share data, unless otherwise stated) As at March 31, 2021 As at March 31, 2022 Convenience translation into

US dollar in millions

Refer footnote 1 ASSETS Goodwill 139,127 246,989 3,255 Intangible assets 13,085 43,555 574 Property, plant and equipment 85,192 90,898 1,198 Right-of-Use assets 16,420 18,870 249 Financial assets Derivative assets 16 6 ^ Investments 10,576 19,109 252 Trade receivables 4,358 4,765 63 Other financial assets 6,088 6,084 80 Investments accounted for using the equity method 1,464 774 10 Deferred tax assets 1,664 2,298 30 Non-current tax assets 14,323 10,256 136 Other non-current assets 15,935 14,826 195 Total non-current assets 308,248 458,430 6,042 Inventories 1,064 1,334 18 Financial assets Derivative assets 4,064 3,032 40 Investments 175,707 241,655 3,185 Cash and cash equivalents 169,793 103,836 1,369 Trade receivables 94,298 115,219 1,519 Unbilled receivables 27,124 60,809 801 Other financial assets 7,245 42,914 566 Contract assets 16,507 20,647 272 Current tax assets 2,461 2,373 31 Other current assets 24,923 28,933 381 Total current assets 523,186 620,752 8,182 TOTAL ASSETS 831,434 1,079,182 14,224 EQUITY Share capital 10,958 10,964 145 Share premium 714 1,566 21 Retained earnings 466,692 551,252 7,266 Share-based payment reserve 3,071 5,258 69 Special Economic Zone Re-investment reserve 41,154 47,061 620 Other components of equity 30,506 42,057 554 Equity attributable to the equity holders of the Company 553,095 658,158 8,675 Non-controlling interests 1,498 515 7 TOTAL EQUITY 554,593 658,673 8,682 LIABILITIES Financial liabilities Loans and borrowings 7,458 56,463 744 Lease liabilities 13,513 15,177 200 Derivative liabilities - 48 1 Other financial liabilities 2,291 2,961 39 Deferred tax liabilities 4,633 12,141 160 Non-current tax liabilities 11,069 17,818 235 Other non-current liabilities 7,835 7,571 100 Provisions 2 1 ^ Total non-current liabilities 46,801 112,180 1,479 Financial liabilities Loans, borrowings and bank overdrafts 75,874 95,233 1,255 Lease liabilities 7,669 9,056 119 Derivative liabilities 1,070 585 8 Trade payables and accrued expenses 76,512 99,034 1,305 Other financial liabilities 1,470 33,110 436 Contract liabilities 22,535 27,915 368 Current tax liabilities 17,324 13,231 174 Other current liabilities 24,552 27,394 361 Provisions 3,034 2,771 37 Total current liabilities 230,040 308,329 4,063 TOTAL LIABILITIES 276,841 420,509 5,542 TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 831,434 1,079,182 14,224 ^ Value is less than 1

WIPRO LIMITED AND SUBSIDIARIES INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF INCOME (Rs in millions, except share and per share data, unless otherwise stated) Three months ended March 31, Year ended March 31, 2021 2022 2022 2021 2022 2022 Convenience

translation into

US dollar in

millions

Refer footnote 1 Convenience

translation into

US dollar in

millions

Refer footnote 1 Revenues 162,454 208,600 2,749 619,430 790,934 10,425 Cost of revenues (109,805 ) (147,965 ) (1,950 ) (423,205 ) (555,872 ) (7,327 ) Gross profit 52,649 60,635 799 196,225 235,062 3,098 Selling and marketing expenses (10,679 ) (14,078 ) (185 ) (41,400 ) (54,935 ) (724 ) General and administrative expenses (8,689 ) (12,528 ) (165 ) (34,686 ) (46,382 ) (611 ) Foreign exchange gains/(losses), net 886 1,075 14 2,995 4,355 57 Other operating income/(loss), net - 7 ^ (81 ) 2,186 29 Results from operating activities 34,167 35,111 463 123,053 140,286 1,849 Finance expenses (1,122 ) (1,717 ) (23 ) (5,088 ) (5,325 ) (70 ) Finance and other income 4,447 3,946 52 20,912 16,257 214 Share of net profit/ (loss) of associates accounted for using the equity method 4 (16 ) ^ 130 57 1 Profit before tax 37,496 37,324 492 139,007 151,275 1,994 Income tax expense (7,755 ) (6,399 ) (84 ) (30,345 ) (28,946 ) (382 ) Profit for the period 29,741 30,925 408 108,662 122,329 1,612 Profit attributable to: Equity holders of the Company 29,721 30,873 407 107,946 122,191 1,610 Non-controlling interests 20 52 1 716 138 2 Profit for the period 29,741 30,925 408 108,662 122,329 1,612 Earnings per equity share: Attributable to equity holders of the Company Basic 5.39 5.64 0.07 19.11 22.35 0.29 Diluted 5.38 5.63 0.07 19.07 22.29 0.29 Weighted average number of equity shares used in computing earnings per equity share Basic 5,510,335,838 5,470,020,412 5,470,020,412 5,649,265,885 5,466,705,840 5,466,705,840 Diluted 5,524,619,810 5,486,955,729 5,486,955,729 5,661,657,822 5,482,083,438 5,482,083,438 ^ Value is less than 1

Additional Information:

Particulars Three months ended Year ended March

31, 2022 December

31, 2021 March

31, 2021 March

31, 2022 March

31, 2021 Audited Audited Audited Audited Audited Revenue IT Services Americas 1 58,342 56,644 46,510 217,874 178,091 Americas 2 63,963 61,076 46,475 239,404 179,821 Europe 60,743 59,620 45,107 233,443 165,441 APMEA 23,560 23,596 20,825 91,103 82,462 Total of IT Services 206,608 200,936 158,917 781,824 605,815 IT Products 1,201 1,767 2,117 6,173 7,685 ISRE 1,868 1,623 2,302 7,295 8,912 Reconciling Items (2 ) (3 ) 4 (3 ) 13 Total Revenue 209,675 204,323 163,340 795,289 622,425 Other operating income/(loss), net IT Services 7 14 - 2,186 (81 ) Total Other operating income/(loss), net 7 14 - 2,186 (81 ) Segment Result IT Services Americas 1 11,530 11,390 9,863 42,820 33,040 Americas 2 12,150 12,057 10,500 47,376 41,589 Europe 9,056 9,172 8,704 35,739 31,673 APMEA 1,946 2,483 3,074 10,523 11,476 Unallocated 361 173 1,257 434 5,153 Other operating income/(loss), net 7 14 - 2,186 (81 ) Total of IT Services 35,050 35,289 33,398 139,078 122,850 IT Products (22 ) 96 145 115 45 ISRE 171 134 587 1,173 1,061 Reconciling Items (88 ) 16 37 (80 ) (903 ) Total Segment result 35,111 35,535 34,167 140,286 123,053 Finance expenses (1,717 ) (1,403 ) (1,122 ) (5,325 ) (5,088 ) Finance and Other Income 3,946 3,578 4,447 16,257 20,912 Share of net profit/ (loss) of associates accounted for using the equity method (16 ) 76 4 57 130 Profit before tax 37,324 37,786 37,496 151,275 139,007

The Company is organized into the following operating segments: IT Services, IT Products and India State Run Enterprise segment (ISRE).

IT Services: As announced on November 12, 2020, effective January 1, 2021, the Company re-organized IT Services segment to four Strategic Market Units (SMUs) - Americas 1, Americas 2, Europe and Asia Pacific Middle East Africa (APMEA).

Americas 1 and Americas 2 are primarily organized by industry sector, while Europe and APMEA are organized by countries.

Americas 1 includes Healthcare and Medical Devices, Consumer Goods and Lifesciences, Retail, Transportation and Services, Communications, Media and Information services, Technology Products and Platforms, in the United States of America and entire business of Latin America (LATAM"). Americas 2 includes Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, Manufacturing, Hi-tech, Energy and Utilities industry sectors in the United States of America and entire business of Canada. Europe consists of United Kingdom and Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Benelux, Nordics and Southern Europe. APMEA consists of Australia and New Zealand, India, Middle East, South East Asia, Japan and Africa.

IT Products: The Company is a value-added reseller of desktops, servers, notebooks, storage products, networking solutions and packaged software for leading international brands. In certain total outsourcing contracts of the IT Services segment, the Company delivers hardware, software products and other related deliverables. Revenue relating to the above items is reported as revenue from the sale of IT Products.

India State Run Enterprise segment (ISRE): This segment consists of IT Services offerings to entities/ departments owned or controlled by the Government of India and/ or any State Governments.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Constant Currency IT Services Revenue to IT Services Revenue as per IFRS ($Mn)

Three Months ended March 31, 2022 IT Services Revenue as per IFRS $ 2,721.7 Effect of Foreign currency exchange movement $ (1.3 ) Non-GAAP Constant Currency IT Services Revenue based on previous quarter exchange rates $ 2,720.4 Three Months ended March 31, 2022 IT Services Revenue as per IFRS $ 2,721.7 Effect of Foreign currency exchange movement $ 43.2 Non-GAAP Constant Currency IT Services Revenue based on exchange rates of comparable period in previous year $ 2,764.9 Year ended March 31, 2022 IT Services Revenue as per IFRS $ 10,355.9 Effect of Foreign currency exchange movement $ (33.0 ) Non-GAAP Constant Currency IT Services Revenue based on exchange rates of comparable period in previous year $ 10,322.9

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Contact for Investor Relations

Aparna Iyer

Phone: +91-80-6142 7139

[email protected]

Abhishek Kumar Jain

Phone: +91-80-6142 6143

[email protected]

Contact for Media & Press

Purnima Burman

Phone: +91-80-6142 6450

[email protected]

Source: Wipro Limited
- Earnings Call Scheduled for 8:00 a.m. ET on May 23, 2022 -

GUANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- XPeng Inc. (XPeng or the Company, NYSE: XPEV and HKEX: 9868), a leading Chinese smart electric vehicle (Smart EV) company, today announced that it will report its first quarter 2022 unaudited financial results on Monday, May 23, 2022, before the open of U.S. markets.

The Company's management will host an earnings conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on May 23, 2022 (8:00 PM Beijing/Hong Kong time on May 23, 2022).

Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

United States: +1-833-350-1333 United Kingdom: +44-203-547-8612 International: +1-236-389-2427 Hong Kong, China: +852-3012-6671 China Mainland: 400-820-9391 Conference ID: 7028829

Participants please dial-in 5 minutes prior to the scheduled start time to be connected to the call.

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.xiaopeng.com.

A replay of the conference call will be accessible approximately two hours after the conclusion of the call until May 30, 2022, by dialing the following telephone numbers:

United States: +1-800-585-8367 International: +1-416-621-4642 Replay Access Code: 7028829

About XPeng

XPeng is a leading Chinese Smart EV company that designs, develops, manufactures, and markets Smart EVs that appeal to the large and growing base of technology-savvy middle-class consumers in China. Its mission is to drive Smart EV transformation with technology and data, shaping the mobility experience of the future. In order to optimize its customers mobility experience, XPeng develops in-house its full-stack advanced driver-assistance system technology and in-car intelligent operating system, as well as core vehicle systems including powertrain and the electrification/electronic architecture. XPeng is headquartered in Guangzhou, China, with main offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, San Diego and Amsterdam. The Companys Smart EVs are mainly manufactured at its plant in Zhaoqing, Guangdong province. For more information, please visit https://heyxpeng.com/.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005229/en/

For investor and media inquiries:

For Investor Enquiries:

IR Department

XPeng Inc.

E-mail: [email protected]

Jenny Cai

The Piacente Group

Tel: +1-212-481-2050 or +86-10-6508-0677

E-mail: [email protected]

For Media Enquiries:

Marie Cheung

XPeng Inc.

Tel: +852 9750 5170 / +86 1550 7577 546

E-mail: [email protected]

Source: XPeng Inc.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia & SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Zymeworks Inc. (NYSE: ZYME), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation multifunctional biotherapeutics, today confirmed it has received an unsolicited, non-binding proposal from All Blue Falcons FZE (ABF) and its affiliates to purchase the Company for $10.50 per share in cash.

The Zymeworks board of directors will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Zymeworks shareholders. The board reminds shareholders that no formal offer has been made by ABF, and as such there is no need for Zymeworks shareholders to take any action at this time. If a formal offer is made, it will be reviewed by the board with its advisors, and a formal recommendation by the board will be made to shareholders in due course.

Advisors

Kingsdale Advisors is acting as strategic shareholder and communications advisor to Zymeworks. Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati are acting as counsel to the Company.

About Zymeworks Inc.

Zymeworks is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation multifunctional biotherapeutics. Zymeworks suite of therapeutic platforms and its fully integrated drug development engine enable precise engineering of highly differentiated product candidates. Zymeworks lead clinical candidate, zanidatamab, is a novel Azymetric HER2-targeted bispecific antibody currently being evaluated in multiple Phase 1, Phase 2, and pivotal clinical trials globally as a targeted treatment option for patients with solid tumors that express HER2. Zymeworks second clinical candidate, ZW49, is a novel bispecific HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate currently in Phase 1 clinical development and combines the unique design and antibody framework of zanidatamab with Zymeworks proprietary ZymeLink linker and cytotoxin. Zymeworks is also advancing a deep preclinical pipeline in oncology (including immuno-oncology agents) and other therapeutic areas. In addition, its therapeutic platforms are being leveraged through strategic partnerships with global biopharmaceutical companies. For more information on our ongoing clinical trials visit www.zymeworksclinicaltrials.com. For additional information about Zymeworks, visit www.zymeworks.com and follow @ZymeworksInc on Twitter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220428006375/en/

Investor Inquiries:

Jack Spinks

(604) 678-1388

[email protected]

Media Inquiries:

Diana Papove

(604) 678-1388

[email protected]

Source: Zymeworks Inc.
FILE PHOTO: Oil barrels are pictured at the site of Canadian group Vermilion Energy in Parentis-en-Born, France, October 13, 2017. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/

By Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices fell on Friday, reversing in volatile trade, pulled downward by the U.S. heating oil contract that plummeted by more than 20% at one point on the day of its expiration.

The front-month U.S. heating oil contract, which is a proxy for diesel prices, soared to a record high of $5.8595 a gallon before falling as low as $4.4067 a gallon. Diesel futures have climbed as investors worry about tight supplies globally following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The heating oil contract expired on Friday, along with the global Brent benchmark and U.S. gasoline futures. Volumes in all three front-month contracts was low, creating outsized volatility in the market and leading to late-day sell-offs, analysts said.

"The fireworks were all in the expiring diesel contract," said Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. "Today's expiry is especially volatile and may not be reflective of actual tightness."

The more-active second-month Brent crude futures contract fell 12 cents to settle at $107.14 a barrel. The expiring front-month contract rose $1.75 to settle at $109.34 a barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude, which does not expire on Friday, fell 67 cents to settle at $104.69 a barrel, as traders sold energy contracts across the board.

The front-month heating oil contract's volatility was not mirrored in the more-active second-month U.S. heating oil contract, which gained $0.0088 a gallon to settle at $4.0172 a gallon.

Both Brent and WTI rose for the week and posted their fifth straight monthly gain. Brent ended the month up 1.3%, while WTI ended up 4.4%.

Prices have been buoyed by fears that Russian supply will continue to be disrupted by the conflict in Ukraine. Futures rose this week on the increased likelihood that Germany will join other European Union member states in an embargo on Russian oil.

Russian oil production could fall by as much as 17% this year, an economy ministry document seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday, as Western sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine hurt investments and exports.

The oil and gas rig count, an indicator of future supply, showed U.S. oil rigs rose by three to 552 this week.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies are likely to stick to their existing deal and agree another small output increase for June when it meets on May 5, six sources from the producer group told Reuters on Thursday.

Still, there are bearish demand factors looming. China has shown no signs of easing lockdown measures which have hit its economy and global supply chains.

Crude's rally could stall and prices could average just less than $100 a barrel this year, a Reuters poll found on Friday, as economic risks and China's COVID lockdowns counter supply shortfalls due to the Ukraine war.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; additional reporting by Noah Browning and Florence TanEditing by David Goodman, Barbara Lewis, David Gregorio, Jane Merriman and Cynthia Osterman)
J. Scott Penny, chief acquisitions officer of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE: BRO), and Patrick Quinlan, the owner of Patrick Quinlan Insurance ( Quinlan Insurance ), today announced that Brown & Brown, Inc. ( Brown & Brown ) has entered into an agreement to acquire the general insurance operations of Quinlan Insurance. The transaction is expected to close in late June 2022, subject to certain closing conditions.

With over 35 years of experience in the insurance advisory business, Patrick Quinlan established Quinlan Insurance in Dublin in 2008 as a boutique-style commercial insurance brokerage, offering meaningful professional commercial insurance advice, services and solutions to a wide range of commercial segments. Today, the ten seasoned insurance advisors on the Quinlan Insurance team specialize in providing property insurance solutions to apartment block management companies and property owners and their agents.

Barrett Brown, president of Brown & Browns Retail segment, stated, Patrick demonstrated the entrepreneurial spirit valued by Brown & Brown in building his successful agency. We are excited about the capabilities that the Quinlan Insurance team brings to our OLeary Insurances operations and the further growth and enhancement of our presence in Dublin.

Patrick Quinlan stated, I truly welcome this agreement. It will benefit our customers and our staff and provides certainty in these uncertain times. This opportunity will allow us to continue growing our business and focusing on our customers in partnership with OLeary Insurances and Brown & Brown.
According to a report by Reuters, the public transport operator (RATP) in Paris temporarily suspended the use of 149 electric buses made by Bollore's (BOLL.PA) Bluebus brand after two of the vehicles caught fire.

"The RATP has requested a full report from the manufacturer Bollore to explain the causes of these incidents," the state-owned transport company said in a statement.

On Friday, one of the electric busses caught fire close to the French capital's national library, the RATP said in a statement, adding that no passenger was harmed.

The bus driver immediately evacuated all the passengers. Nobody was hurt, RATP said, while the city fire service said the blaze was put out by around 30 firefighters.

"Given that this was the second fire recently on an electric bus of the same Bollore Bluebus 5SE series in less than a month, RATP took the decision ... to temporarily withdraw the 149 electric buses," RATP said.

By Michael Elkins
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE: RBA) today announced that its wholly owned indirect subsidiary, Ritchie Bros. UK Holdings Ltd. ("RB Purchaser") is discontinuing the Phase 2 review by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (the "CMA"). The Sale and Purchase Agreement dated August 9, 2021 (the "Agreement") pursuant to which the RB Purchaser had agreed to purchase Euro Auctions Limited, William Keys & Sons Holdings Limited, Equipment & Plant Services Ltd and Equipment Sales Ltd. will automatically terminate on June 28, 2022.

The decision follows the referral of the proposed acquisition to a Phase 2 review by the CMA. Amongst other things, completion of the Agreement is conditional on receipt of clearance from the CMA on terms satisfactory to the RB Purchaser, but after extensive consideration the RB Purchaser does not believe there is any realistic prospect for approval by the CMA on such terms given the significant concerns raised by the CMA to date.

The Company intends to issue redemption notices with respect to the US$600 million aggregate principal amount of 4.750% senior notes due 2031 and the C$425 million aggregate principal amount of 4.950% senior notes due 2029 previously issued to finance a portion of the cash consideration for the proposed acquisition and expects to complete the redemptions within 10 business days.

Ann Fandozzi, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are disappointed by the decision taken by the CMA to refer the proposed acquisition to a Phase 2 review and respectfully disagree with their views. While we believe the proposed acquisition would have accelerated our strategy, we remain committed to forging ahead in our transformational journey to become the trusted global marketplace for insights, services and transaction solutions. We will continue to seek out and execute on organic investments and key acquisitions to accelerate our pace in achieving our ultimate vision."
FILE PHOTO: A customers holds the new green colour Apple iPhone 13 pro shortly after it went on sale inside the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., March 18, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Segar

By Paresh Dave and Nivedita Balu

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) -Apple Inc on Thursday forecast bigger problems as COVID-19 lockdowns snarl production and demand in China, the war in Ukraine dents sales and growth slows in services, which the iPhone maker sees as its engine for expansion.

Shares were down 2.2% in late trade after executives laid out their glum outlook on a conference call. The news outweighed record profit and sales for Apple's fiscal second quarter, which ended in March.

Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri warned in an interview that the war in Ukraine, which led Apple to stop sales in Russia, would cut sales more deeply in the fiscal third quarter.

He told analysts on the call that supply-chain issues would hurt sales in the quarter by $4 billion to $8 billion, "substantially larger" than the hit in the second quarter.

Supply problems were focused on a corridor in Shanghai, China and reflected COVID disruptions and chip shortages, he added. The pandemic was also affecting demand in China, he said.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said that almost all of the Chinese factories doing final assembly of Apple products had restarted after recent COVID shutdowns, but the company is not forecasting when the chips shortage, mostly affecting older products, would end.

Cook said he hoped COVID issues would be "transitory" and "get better over time."

At least one analyst said the outlook lacked clarity.

"We were all looking for just better guidance on what is really going on over there (China) ... and that didn't come out," said Louis Navellier, chief investment officer for Navellier & Associates.

Kim Caughey Forrest, Chief Investment Officer at Bokeh Capital Partners, said that ongoing demand remained a big question, despite Apple's management of supply chain in the March quarter.

Indeed, other high-profile tech companies also raised concerns. Amazon on Thursday posted a disappointing outlook as it was swamped by higher costs, sending its shares down 9% after the close, and Intel Corp forecast a bleak quarter based on supply chain issues, and its stock fell 4%.

Both companies, along with Apple, are part of the broader Nasdaq index, which has fallen nearly 19% this year as rising inflation drives investors elsewhere.

MARCH QUARTER STRENGTH

Apple's overall fiscal second-quarter revenue was $97.3 billion, up 8.6% from last year and higher than analysts' average estimate of $93.89 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

Worldwide phone sales revenue was $50.6 billion, a 5.5% increase from a year ago, and services sales rose 17% to $19.8 billion, both ahead of analyst average forecasts.

However, Maestri said that services growth would decelerate from the March quarter, while remaining in double-digits. He cited several factors, including more unfavorable currency exchange rates.

Total profit was $25 billion, or $1.52 per share and easily topped analysts' expectations of $23.2 billion and $1.43.

Apple also raised its dividend 5% to $0.23 per share and the board approved a buyback for an added $90 billion in shares.

Investors have been bracing for drops in consumer spending on tech gadgets and services as the war in Ukraine and other factors drive up the cost of oil, food and other staples.

Cook shrugged off an analyst question on inflation and consumers.

"We're monitoring that closely. But right now, our main focus, frankly speaking, is on the supply side," he said.

Asked about rising inflation, Maestri said demand, particularly for iPhones, had been higher than the company had anticipated at the start of the quarter. But he noted inflation was affecting expenses.

The pandemic, including the shift to hybrid work, has benefited other businesses.

Apple said iPad sales fell 2% to $7.65 billion due to supply-chain constraints, while revenue from Mac computers, also facing supply-chain issues, rose 14.7% to $10.4 billion.

Sales of wearables, home speakers and accessories rose 12% to $8.8 billion, and was the only unit to miss Wall Street targets. Maestri said Watch and AirPods sold well, and attributed the miss to seasonal variability in demand for other accessories.

Apple said it now has 825 million paying subscribers across its at least seven subscription offerings, up by 40 million from 785 million last quarter. Its growth comes as rivals such as Netflix Inc report subscriber losses.

(Reporting by Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif. and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Henderson and Bernard Orr)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of streaming service Amazon Prime Video is seen in this illustration picture taken March 5, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/Illustration

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Amazon's Prime Video launched a movie rental service in India on Thursday, promising to release more than forty original series and movies over the next two years in a key market.

The worlds second-most populous nation with a population of nearly 1.4 billion, India is a valuable market for Amazon and its rivals Netflix and Walt Disney Cos Disney+ Hotstar.

"We are super excited about the launch," Gaurav Gandhi, head of Amazon Prime Video India said at a function, adding that the service would widen customers' reach and choice. It enables them to pay per movie, instead of a flat monthly fee.

The move comes five years after the U.S. tech giant launched its streaming service in India, and the company said it planned to more than double its investment in Prime Video over the next five years, but did not give figures.

The company unveiled plans for 41 original series in three Indian languages, some to be produced by top Bollywood directors such as Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar.

Amazon has invested heavily in acquiring and producing local content in India, where, founder Jeff Bezos said in 2020, Prime Video was doing better than anywhere else in the world. Amazon does not break out user numbers by country.

It is also expected to take on heavyweights such as India's Reliance Industries, Sony Group Corp and Disney in the battle for exclusive digital broadcast rights to the hugely popular Indian Premier League (IPL).

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
ATLANTA, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that Founder and CEO Paul Noble of global supply chain innovator Verusen, was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 Southeast Award finalist. Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive business awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies who think big to succeed.

Paul was selected by a panel of independent judges according to the following criteria  entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact  among other core contributions and attributes.

We may be past pandemic status in the US, but with the lockdown in China, a ban on goods from Russia, and a long road to recovery in our global economy  AI has never been a more powerful force for driving sustainable growth and prosperity in our global supply chain, said Paul Noble, Founder and CEO of Verusen. This is why I founded Verusen  to transform and define a new era in the industry. I am honored to receive this prestigious award from Ernst & Young, for their recognition of my unwavering dedication to tackling the challenges of one of the most recognized pain points in the world: the supply chain. At the end of the day, I want to help reduce risk, minimize waste, empower companies to meet their end-to-end material management goals, and create a new way to conduct business on our planet.

Regional award winners will be announced on June 15, 2022. The regional winners will then be considered by the National independent judging panel, and National awards will be presented in November at the Strategic Growth Forum, one of the nations most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in June 2023.

For over 35 years, EY US has celebrated the unstoppable entrepreneurs who are building a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous world for all. The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized more than 10,000 US executives since its inception in 1986. Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners have exclusive, ongoing access to the experience, insight and wisdom of fellow alumni and other members of the entrepreneurial community in over 60 countries  all supported by vast EY resources.

SponsorsFounded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are presented by PNC Bank. In the Southeast, sponsors also include Cresa, King & Spalding LLP and ADP, LLC.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year Entrepreneur Of The Year is the worlds most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind.

It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. National overall winners go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year title. ey.com/us/eoy

About EY Private As Advisors to the ambitious, EY Private professionals possess the experience and passion to support private businesses and their owners in unlocking the full potential of their ambitions. EY Private teams offer distinct insights born from the long EY history of working with business owners and entrepreneurs. These teams support the full spectrum of private enterprises including private capital managers and investors and the portfolio businesses they fund, business owners, family businesses, family offices and entrepreneurs. Visit ey.com/us/private

About EYEY exists to build a better working world, helping create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

Ernst & Young LLP is a client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited operating in the US.

About VerusenVerusen is a leading Supply Chain Intelligence provider focused on helping global manufacturers streamline their supply and materials management strategy. Verusen utilizes advanced data science and artificial intelligence to harmonize disparate material data across multiple enterprise systems in order to provide complex supply chains with material truth for supply and inventory planning and procurement intelligence. This helps organizations reduce risk, optimize working capital, and ensure production uptime to meet customer needs. The result is a foundation that organizations can trust to fuel digital transformation and support supply chain maturity initiatives. Headquartered in Atlanta, Verusen has been named one of Georgias Top 10 Innovative Technology Companies. Visit verusen.com for more information, or follow us on Twitter at @Verusen_AI and LinkedIn.

PR Contact:Greg CrossPenVine for Verusen[email protected] +1 925 413 5327

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1e3d651a-a2d4-4bc7-a5dd-da774d702ccf

Paul Noble, Founder and CEO Verusen Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) announced that Founder and CEO Paul Noble of global supply chain innovator Verusen was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 Southeast Award finalist.

Source: Verusen
Englewood, CO, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- iLending, a national leader in automotive refinancing, is pleased to announce that Christian Marcussen has been named Chief Digital Officer. In this role, Mr. Marcussen will be responsible for technology-related, digital, and innovation services including infrastructure, security, communication services, and software development.

Bringing Christian on will keep iLending in the technological lead and is absolutely key to our ongoing growth and success, said iLendings CEO, Tom Holgate. Staying ahead in digital services paves the way for iLending to better deliver safe and secure car refinancing to potentially millions of consumers, empowering us to continue helping them save every month. By embracing innovative technology, we are set to improve upon systems and processes and be the automotive refinancing leader.

Holgate added, Christian is joining on the heels of the hiring of our new CMO, Renee Brown, and comes to iLending as the company launches a brand refresh and new logo, in addition to our exciting Wheels in Motion Sweepstakes, providing the chance for clients to win a new car. We are very well positioned for the future of this industry.

When the opportunity presented itself to join iLending, it was not a difficult decision, shared Marcussen. This was a logical next step for me, this opens the door to implementing the kinds of strategies and technologies that will significantly enhance iLendings digital platforms and clear a pathway to accelerated progress. I am joining a team of extremely dedicated professionals with a clear vision  to transcend being just a car refinance company. I am joining a team that shares my passion for improving consumers financial situations. Leading the evolution of experience-driven consumer technologies and core technologies is an exciting challenge  and something I am eager to meet head-on.

Prior to joining iLending, Mr. Marcussen was with Abound Credit Union in Louisville, Kentucky where he led Strategy, Technology, Marketing, and other areas for six years. Prior to Abound, he was at Mazuma Credit Union in Kansas City for 12 years as the Chief Information Officer. He has a degree from the University of Northern Iowa.

###

About iLending

Founded in 2006, iLending is the national leader in car refinancing, saving consumers an average of $145 per month in car payments. Through a best-in-class process and strategic partnerships with lenders nationwide, iLending offers terms that consumers cannot find on their own. iLending exists to empower better financial lives by reducing burdens and improving peace of mind. We are a BBB Accredited Business and maintain an A+ rating. www.ilendingdirect.com

Kevin Hubbard iLending (303) 708-2869 [email protected]

Source: iLending
North Carolina, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Leading press release distribution and SEO link building service, Magic PR, announce their new image SEO service that guarantees to boost your websites Google ranking, drive quality organic traffic and most importantly, crown you the image SEO king over your competition.

A study by New York based agency, We Are Social and social media firm, Hootsuite, found that the average internet user spends over 6 hours a day on the internet.

So, theres your audience, but how do you cut through pages of content to attract them to your website?

Thanks to the constant stream of varied content produced on social media, gone are the days of websites relying on long bodies of text for marketing. Todays audience needs that unique hook to stop their scrolling and reel them in.

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If you are running an eCommerce, celebrity news or stock photo website, then utilising image SEO is extremely important. As it not only increases your websites viability on social media and google but images are perfectly optimised to appeal to an audience reading at home on their phone or laptop screen.

Magic PR uses their expertise in maximising your online presence with their new image SEO service, to provide your website with authority, relevance and trust, that ensures a boost in your online traffic.

For your image SEO to reach its highest potential, Magic PR targets:

The Images Popularity  This is important to search engines, as if they see an image is used frequently, (think about how many times youve seen Johnny Depp or Amber Heards face the last week), then it will rank highly. Magic PR will embed your images to other similar websites that are already trending, to give you that advantage.

 This is important to search engines, as if they see an image is used frequently, (think about how many times youve seen Johnny Depp or Amber Heards face the last week), then it will rank highly. Magic PR will embed your images to other similar websites that are already trending, to give you that advantage. Authority  Magic PR strives to provide your website with access to influential media and news outlets such as Apple, Bing and Google News networks, while also helping you determine the best place for your image.

 Magic PR strives to provide your website with access to influential media and news outlets such as Apple, Bing and Google News networks, while also helping you determine the best place for your image. Credit  to widen your audience, especially within niche or difficult subject areas, Magic PR will ensure that wherever your images are used, links are also built, and people are redirected to your website.

So, why settle for an inferior service when Magic PRs expertise can make you an image SEO king?

More information

Magic PR also offers a specialised press release distribution service and an exclusive SEO process that utilises link building on Amazon, Bing, and Google Cloud that guarantees results.

To find out more on how to become an image SEO king, please visit the website at https://magicpr.com/

https://thenewsfront.com/image-seo-king-get-the-royal-treatment-with-magic-prs-new-image-service/

Source: Magic PR
Austin, TX, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As we enter our next 50 years, we celebrate the growth of our leadership team with six individuals who inspire us to dissect challenges and embrace possibilities. Meet our six new principals!

Principals

Isabel Corsino, AIA, NCARB, RID, has experience as both architect and educator. This background gives her a unique perspective and understanding of her craft.

Erik Leitner, RA, has been an integral part of our commercial team, working on projects like The HEDGE and The ALMA apartments, two affordable housing projects in Austin.

Garrett Martin, AIA, left a career in aerospace to follow a passion for education architecture. He advocates for educators by ensuring the built environment supports their mission.

Derek Pennant-Jones, Controller, the king of brevity.

Principal Emeritus

In his 37 years with Pfluger, Cliff Trinkaus, RA, RID, has made significant contributions to educational architecture in Texas and has worked on nearly every significant project in the Pfluger-Austin portfolio.

Mike Elmore, AIA, LEED AP, brought four decades of experience to support Pfluger's entrance into the Dallas-Fort Worth market. His expansive knowledge of educational architecture helps clients explore new ways the built environment can support their vision.

_______

ABOUT PFLUGER Founded in 1972, Pfluger Architects is a Texas-based firm that creates spaces to engage and inspire. With offices in Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, Pfluger is committed to a sustainable and human-centered design approach that meets the needs and budget of each client.

Heather Blazi Pfluger Architects (210) 227-2724 [email protected]

Source: Pfluger Architects
LAS VEGAS, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via InvestorWire  ProConcept Marketing Group, Inc. (OTC PINK: PRMK) announces an update on its anticipated merger with Lelantos Holdings, Inc. and consulting contract with Golden Triangle Ventures, Inc. (OTC PINK: GTVH) (or GTV) to provide further insight into the corporate developments and current strategies within both companies.

The partnership between Lelantos and GTV was developed to provide a mutually beneficial interest between both companies and achieve the goal of enhancing value for all stakeholders involved. As Lelantos has been actively working towards a full merger with ProConcept Marketing Group, Inc. to become a publicly traded Company, the business has been moving forward with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") to complete its corporate action and accomplish its reverse merger. Lelantos Holdings previously announced its partnership and consulting contract with Golden Triangle Ventures which was stated to repay GTV its initial $500,000 investment in Q1 2022 and provide a monthly retainer fee of $250,000 per month, with the first two months of service anticipated to be paid in January 2022. Due to several unexpected delays in launching the large-scale agricultural refining operation in Michigan, this financial commitment to Golden Triangle Ventures has yet to be satisfied; however, the Lelantos team fully expects to honor and complete its previously announced obligations after the Michigan refining operation is fully developed.

Lelantos Holdings has made substantial progress in 2022, not only with its build-out of the large-scale refining operation in Michigan but throughout its expansion plans and overarching Company goals. In 2022, the operation has received all of its equipment, completed the full installation and site build, assisted the operation in obtaining the necessary certifications and approvals, developed the SOPs and plans for the operations and the anticipated white label division. Additionally, the Lelantos management team has formed numerous strategic partnerships to compliment the Companys expansion plans and is now helping its client to secure the final approvals needed to launch the Michigan operation. Originally, Lelantos was retained to provide engineering services for the facility build-out, procurement of all equipment, complete project development, employment and staff training, as well as full management and oversight. The relationship has recently expanded significantly and Lelantos will now be consulting on an array of other projects and services within its current relationships throughout the nation and abroad. Lelantos is developing the framework and plans to support several other operations, similar to Michigan, to provide a turnkey service and support structure to other refining operation opportunities that the Company is working with now. Lelantos is eager to complete its reverse merger and become a publicly traded company. As this goal comes to fruition, the Company will share further details into its operations, partners, projects, investments, vertically integrated business model, and its plans for expansion in further markets.

Golden Triangle Ventures has been providing crucial support to Lelantos Holdings throughout the process to become publicly traded, as well as facilitating the development of the necessary corporate structures that are elemental in their operation as a publicly traded Company. Additionally, GTV has reengaged with different marketing partners and resources to launch a full suite of services that will assist the multiple products and services offered by each Company. These resources are now in queue to be launched with the goals of delivering the Company story, products and services to a vastly expanded audience.

Nathan Puente, president and CEO of Lelantos Holdings, stated, We greatly appreciate the hard work and the significant investment of both money and time that GTV has put into assisting us to become a public entity. Without their guidance and help, we would not be as far along in the process that we are. The delays we have experienced have been completely unforeseen; however, we are diligently getting past these hurdles and expect to be fully operational in the very near future. I look forward to not only repaying the initial investment back to GTV as originally planned, but to also developing a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship that lasts for many years to come.

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain information set forth in this press release contains "forward-looking information," including "future-oriented financial information" and "financial outlook," under applicable securities laws (collectively referred to herein as forward-looking statements). Except for statements of historical fact, the information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements and includes, but is not limited to, the (i) projected financial performance of the company; (ii) completion of, and the use of proceeds from, the sale of the shares being offered hereunder; (iii) the expected development of the company's business, projects and joint ventures; (iv) execution of the company's vision and growth strategy, including with respect to future M&A activity and global growth; (v) sources and availability of third-party financing for the company's projects; (vi) completion of the company's projects that are currently underway, in development or otherwise under consideration; (vi) renewal of the company's current customer, supplier and other material agreements; and (vii) future liquidity, working capital and capital requirements. Forward-looking statements are provided to allow potential investors the opportunity to understand management's beliefs and opinions in respect to the future so they may use such beliefs and opinions as one factor in evaluating an investment. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are based upon what management of the company believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has provided guidance to issuers regarding the use of social media to disclose material nonpublic information. In this regard, investors and others should note that we announce material financial information on our company website, www.LelantosHoldings.io, in addition to SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls and webcasts. We also use social media to communicate with the public about our company, our services and other issues. It is possible that the information we post on social media could be deemed to be material information. Therefore, in light of the SEC's guidance, we encourage investors, the media and others interested in our company to review the information we post on the company website.

CONTACT INFORMATIONLelantos Holdings, Inc.[email protected]

Corporate CommunicationsInvestorBrandNetwork (IBN)Los Angeles, Californiawww.InvestorBrandNetwork.com310.299.1717 Office[email protected]

Source: ProConcept Marketing Group, Inc.
Nicosia, Cyprus, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Representatives of Rafarma Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTC: RAFA) visited Uzbekistan and discussed the prospects for the company's development in the territory of the innovative research and production pharmaceutical cluster "Tashkent Pharma Park". Rafarma Pharmaceuticals is not new to the Central Asian market, the company has been operating there for a long time and plans to increase its presence by creating local production.

Over the next three years, the company plans to build a plant there designed according to all Industry 4.0 standards: a flexible industrial base that can easily, quickly and cost-effectively undergo significant modernization and modification depending on production tasks, drugs and required technologies.

The plant will include two production units:

production of sterile preparations for the market of Uzbekistan and the countries of Central Asia

production of fractionated blood plasma elements and other products in the form of frozen plasma and blood factors, as well as the development of a network of laboratories for plasma procurement

Rafarma Pharmaceuticals is the initiator of the development of new approaches to the drugs from blood plasma creation in Uzbekistan. The company's project, which became a part of a list of measures to accelerate the development of the pharmaceutical industry in Uzbekistan in 2022-2026, will consist of two stages: the creation of a modern certified laboratories network for plasma collection and then the creation of a plant for its fractionation. In 4-5 years, the business's expected revenue will be tens of millions of dollars.

To date, the country's government is working on legislative changes in the principles of working with blood plasma in the medical sector and is also preparing documents to allow the based on it medicine export. The implementation of the Rafarma Pharmaceuticals project will begin as soon as the necessary regulatory framework creates in the government, which is expected to happen soon.

Uzbekistan ranks first among the Eastern Europe countries in terms of economic growth, and the expected changes will only strengthen the country's influence in the pharmaceutical market.

ABOUT RAFARMA PHARMACEUTICALS:

Rafarma Pharmaceuticals is a diversified pharmaceutical company dedicated to the new treatments and solutions development for patients in various fields. Regularly cooperating with leading research institutes and pharmaceutical companies around the world, the business has earned a reputation as a reliable manufacturer and distributor. Rafarma Pharmaceuticals has more than 25 programs in molecular biology, nuclear medicine, immunology, sustainable packaging and many other fields at the moment.

For more information, please visit https://www.noyarp.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT:

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Except for historical matters contained herein, statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as may, will, to, plan, expect, believe, anticipate, intend, could, would, estimate, or continue, or the negative other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risk, uncertainties and other factors which 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. Also, forward-looking statements represent our managements beliefs and assumptions only as of the date hereof. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in the Company's filings with OTC Markets. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly 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.

CONTACTS:RAFARMA PHARMACEUTICALS [email protected] (307) 429-2029

Source: Rafarma Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Source: RAFARMA PHARMACEUTICALS INC
Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

Pratteln, Switzerland, April 29, 2022 -- Santhera Pharmaceuticals (SIX: SANN) will publish its annual report for the year 2021 by June 3, 2022 and hold its Annual General Meeting on June 29, 2022.

Santhera will publish its annual report for the financial year 2021 by June 3, 2022, as permitted by SIX Exchange Regulation, in order to enable Santhera to reflect developments that could include progress with its ongoing financing activities.

Santhera has scheduled its Annual General Meeting of shareholders for Wednesday, June 29, 2022. The Company will publish the invitation and agenda items at a later stage.

PRELIMINARY UNAUDITED 2021 FINANCIAL RESULTS

On March 11, 2022, Santhera has published the following preliminary unaudited key figures for the financial year 2021:

Total revenue for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, amounted to CHF 6.6 million (2020: CHF 15.0 million). The decrease in revenues is mainly attributable to an agreement with the regulatory authorities in France to supply Raxone free of charge from August 2021 while reimbursement discussions are ongoing. Operating expenses of CHF 46.1 million (2020: CHF 58.4 million) were 21% lower due to reduced expenses for development, marketing and sales, and general administrative purposes following the termination of the Puldysa program in 2020 and the subsequent restructuring. The net financial expense of CHF 8.5 million (2020: CHF 14.4 million) reflects the costs associated for financing, partially offset by the effects of the exchange of the 17/22 convertible bond. For 2021, the Company recorded a net loss of CHF 52.6 million (2020: CHF 67.6 million).

As of December 31, 2021, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of CHF 21.2 million compared to CHF 12.4 million as of December 31, 2020.

Total consolidated equity as of December 31, 2021 amounted to CHF 9.9 million compared to a net equity deficit of CHF 6.4 million as of December 31, 2020.

In CHF thousands 2021(preliminary unaudited figures) 2020(audited) Revenue from contracts with customers 6,644 15,008 Operating expenses -46,090 -58,347 Operating result -43,290 -53,076 Net financial result -8,462 -14,380 Net result -52,599 -67,659 In CHF thousands Dec 31, 2021(preliminary unaudited figures) Dec 31, 2020(audited) Cash and cash equivalents 21,208 12,411 Other current assets 3,263 5,312 Noncurrent assets 66,529 70,964 Total assets 91,000 88,687 Total equity 9,909 -6,354 Convertible bonds 49,444 57,875 Other noncurrent liabilities 6,137 8,097 Current exchangeable notes 1,569 10,595 Other current liabilities 23,941 18,474 Total liabilities 81,091 95,041 Total equity and liabilities 91,000 88,687

DECISION OF SIX EXCHANGE REGULATION

As required by SIX Exchange Regulation, Santhera hereby reprints the following extract of the decision of SIX Exchange Regulation (translation from the German original):

The exemption from the obligations for maintaining listing and thus the deferral of the publication of the annual report for the year 2021 as well as the filing of this report with SIX Exchange Regulation Ltd by June 3, 2022 at the latest is hereby approved subject to the following provision (lit. a) and conditions (lit. b):

a. SIX Exchange Regulation Ltd reserves the right to potentially suspend trading in the securities of Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding Ltd for a certain period of time if it does not publish its annual report for the year 2021 in accordance with the provisions on ad hoc publicity (art. 53 Listing Rules in conjunction with the Directive on Ad hoc Publicity) and submit it to SIX Exchange Regulation Ltd by 23:59 on Friday, June 3, 2022, at the latest.

b. Santhera has to publish a media release regarding the present decision in accordance with the provisions on ad hoc publicity (art. 53 Listing Rules in conjunction with the Directive on Ad hoc Publicity) by 7:30 a.m. on Friday, April 29, 2022 at the latest. Such media release

has to include the full text of clause I of the present decision in a prominent place;

must mention the reasons for postponing the publication and filing of the annual report for the year 2021;

must mention the unaudited key figures such as net sales, EBITDA, EBIT, net profit/loss, total assets, equity etc. with regard to the business results 2021.

About SantheraSanthera Pharmaceuticals (SIX: SANN) is a Swiss specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative medicines for rare neuromuscular and pulmonary diseases with high unmet medical need. Santhera has an exclusive license for all indications worldwide to vamorolone, a dissociative steroid with novel mode of action, which was investigated in a pivotal study in patients with DMD as an alternative to standard corticosteroids. The Company plans to complete the rolling submission of its filing for approval for vamorolone with the US FDA in Q2-2022. The clinical stage pipeline also includes lonodelestat to treat cystic fibrosis (CF) and other neutrophilic pulmonary diseases. Santhera out-licensed rights to its first approved product, Raxone (idebenone), outside North America and France for the treatment of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) to Chiesi Group. For further information, please visit www.santhera.com.

Raxone is a trademark of Santhera Pharmaceuticals.

For further information please contact: [email protected] orEva Kalias, Head External CommunicationsPhone: +41 79 875 27 80[email protected]

Disclaimer / Forward-looking statements This communication does not constitute an offer or invitation to subscribe for or purchase any securities of Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG. This publication may contain certain forward-looking statements concerning the Company and its business. Such statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Readers should therefore not place undue reliance on these statements, particularly not in connection with any contract or investment decision. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

# # #

Attachment

Source: Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG
Washington, April 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice for Americas 32.5 million small businesses in President Bidens Cabinet, announced the National Small Business Week award winners in the categories of Small Business Investment Company of the Year, Small Business Exporter of the Year, and the Top Federal Contractors of the Year.

These entrepreneurs have made significant impacts on their industries and our nation, advancing innovative solutions to global challenges, securing capital to help their firms thrive, or finding creative solutions to strengthen Americas supply chains, said Administrator Guzman, Their grit, ingenuity, and spirit of service are a powerful example of what the American people can achieve when we invest in entrepreneurs and small business owners from all walks of life and come together to build a better America through entrepreneurship.

The winners in each category will be recognized during the National Small Business Week (NSBW) virtual Awards Ceremony event on May 5, 2022.

Guzman added, I want to thank my leadership team Bibi Hildago, Associate Administrator for the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development; Bailey DeVries, Associate Administrator for the Office of Investment and Innovation; and Gabriel Esparza, Associate Administrator for the Office of International Trade, for working with these small businesses to secure funding for expansion and counseling needs, as well as their thoughtful leadership and service to help position our small business ecosystems to excel in these highly competitive marketplaces.

The 2022 winners for these categories include:

Exporting Award: The SBA recognizes the importance of small exporters to our economy as they remain committed to maintaining sustainable growth through innovation and global expansion, especially as e-commerce has emerged as a rare bright spot during the pandemic.

Small Business Exporter of the Year

Glacier Hops Ranch

Tom Britz - President & CEO

Whitefish, MT

Investment Awards: The SBA recognizes these companies for their mission dedication, successful investment track record, and unwavering support of small businesses nationwide, particularly in underserved markets.

Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) of the Year Award - Established Manager

Grayhawk Ventures Fund II, L.P. (Grayhawk)

Brian N. Burns, Sherman Chu, and Brian S. Smith - Managing Partners

Scottsdale, AZ

Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) of the Year Award - Emerging Manager

Valesco Commerce Street Capital, L.P. (Valesco)

Heather Hubbard and Bud Moore - Managing Partners

Dallas, TX

Government Contracting Awards: The SBA honors small businesses for their work in federal contracting with several categories of recognition such as the Prime and Subcontractor of the Year Award, the 8(a) Graduate Firm of the Year and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Excellence which recognizes large prime contractors that have excelled in the utilization of small businesses as suppliers and subcontractors within the construction, research and development, services, utility, and manufacturing industries.

Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year

Haight Bey & Associates, Inc.

Aliahu K. Bey - President & CEO

West Haven, UT

Small Business Subcontractor of the Year

M2 Global Technology, LTD

Douglas Carlberg - President & CEO

San Antonio, TX

8(a) Graduate Firm of the Year

The ELOCEN Group

Necole Parker - Principal & CEO

Washington, D.C.

Eisenhower Award Categories: Construction, Manufacturing, and Services

Construction

Hensel Phelps Construction Co.

Brad D. Lewis - Corporate Director of Supplier Diversity

Tysons Corner, VA

Manufacturing

L3 Harris Technologies  CSB Sector

Daisy Galvan - Supplier Diversity Manager/Small Business Liaison Officer (SBLO)

Greenville, TX

Services

Tetra Tech, Inc.

Barbara Petersen - Director of Contracts and Procurement, Small Business Liaison Officer (SBLO)

Pasadena, CA

For more information on the National Small Business Week Virtual Summit, visit www.sba.gov/NSBW.

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Cosponsorship Authorization# 22-1-C. The SBAs participation in this cosponsored activity is not an endorsement of the views, opinions, products or services of any cosponsor or other person or entity. All SBA programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.

###

About the National Small Business Week

For nearly 60 years, the SBA has celebrated National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of Americas entrepreneurs and small business owners. For more information on this years virtual event, visit www.sba.gov/nsbw.

About the U.S. Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov

Press Office United States Small Business Administration [email protected]

Source: United States Small Business Administration
COLUMBUS, GA, April 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire --Former senior Trump Administration DOE official, and republican congressional candidate, Dr. Wayne Johnson, said he will challenge the Biden Administration if it moves to unlawfully cancel student loan debt by way of executive action, as the administration signaled it is intending to do.

The White House, the Department of Justice and the Department of Education all know that any unilateral or broad form of student loan debt cancellation requires full congressional approval, stated Johnson.

Johnson said Biden and Secretary Cardona are bending to the wishes of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders with the belief that if they push student debt cancellation forward through Presidential Executive action, no one will object in the courts.

I will challenge if this is done, said Johnson. I will seek an immediate injunction and make a promise to the American taxpayers that I will do all I can to stop this overreach by Biden.

Tucker Carlson interviewed Johnson in 2020 and said Johnson knows more about the federal student loan program than anyone in the country.

Our nations student loan situation is a sad, sad mess, said Johnson. In fact, its a financial abomination affecting millions of families. To do something like what Biden and just about every Democrat is wanting to do  just giving away taxpayer money, without any plan to stop this problem going forward  is political pandering at its worst and a prime example of why we need to Stop the Stupid in Washington. "Stop The Stupid In Washington" is Johnson's official campaign theme.

Johnson, who oversaw the $1.7 trillion student loan program during the Trump Administration as the Chief Operating Officer for the Office of Federal Student Aid, has previously called for eliminating the entire Federal Student Loan Program. His proposals have recommended defined dollar limit federal grants and having banks and other lenders, including schools themselves, offer student loans and otherwise provide for the financing of higher education for students.

Canceling student loan debt while leaving the program itself unchanged is a recipe for continuously repeating this crisis, Johnson explained. That is the definition of insanity and will continue to send future generations into debt. It also creates the ongoing moral hazard of people expecting that if debt is canceled once, it will be canceled again in the future; so why not borrow to the max, believing full well it will never have to be paid back.

Taxpayers who pay their debts, work hard and live within their means should not be handed a bill for a purely political act by a president who is floundering in the polls, Johnson said. Taxpayers should not be forced to make an in-kind financial contribution to Joe Bidens re-election campaign or that of Sanford Bishop and other liberal members of Congress who are running scared from the debacle that is our current situation in Washington.

There is a way that we as a nation can solve this problem of runaway, out of control student loan debt and absurd college cost. However, it will require Republicans in Congress to take the Bull by the horns to change law and bring fiscal sanity into play. I am the Republican who has the knowledge and experience to lead this, according to Dr. Johnson.

Johnson is a rock-solid conservative candidate in the Republican Primary in the 2nd Congressional District covering Middle and Southwest Georgia. Johnson served as a Senior Official within the Trump Administration, was an officer in the U.S. Army and is an Eagle Scout.

Johnson obtained his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Mercer University and his MBA from Emory University. He was born, raised and currently resides in Macon.

www.JohnsonCongress.com

Dan McLagan4783248856[email protected]

Source: Wayne Johnson for Congress, Inc.
A Case Report Published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science

Herzliya, Israel and Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - Innocan Pharma Corporation (CSE: INNO) (FSE: IP4) (OTCQB: INNPF) (the "Company" or "Innocan") is proud to announce the publication of a case report regarding its compassionate care liposomal-CBD formulation (Innocan's LPT platform) (the "Treatment"). The Treatment was administered to a 14-year-old dog suffering from severe cervical pain, hip and elbow osteoarthritis and testicular neoplasia. It was reported that the Treatment resulted in decreased pain and improved mobility. The journal, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, is a global, peer-reviewed, open access publication that bridges animal and human health, brings a comparative approach to medical and surgical challenges, and advances innovative biotechnology and therapy.

The Treatment involved a novel cannabidiol (CBD) analgesic, administered to a dog that was cachectic and had hip and elbow osteoarthritis and severe neck pain in addition to a testicular neoplasia. The dog had been previously unsuccessfully treated with a canine osteoarthritic supplement, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and gabapentin. Therefore, an addition of Innocan's LPT liposomal CBD injectable formulation was administered subcutaneously and the dog was monitored via: (i) an activity monitoring collar (PetPace); (ii) owner wellbeing questionnaire; (iii) a pain interactive visual analogue scale (iVAS); (iv) blood work and CBD plasma concentrations. One week from the Liposomal-CBD administration and for up to three weeks following the Treatment, the dog had improved and the owner-provided pain scores were reduced from 21 to 10 (on a scale of 40) and iVAS pain scores were reduced from 10 to seven (on a scale of 10). Additionally, collar activity scores were increased from approximately five to 25 (Figure 1). CBD was quantified in the dog's plasma for at least 28 days after the Treatment.





Figure 1

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6922/122083_05ff4cdd34b1b9aa_002full.jpg

This case report showed that subcutaneous administration of liposomal CBD provides high exposure in terms of AUC (Area Under the Curve), with CBD plasma concentrations maintained for at least 28 days after Treatment. The pharmacokinetic data combined with the related efficacy data suggest that treatment with liposomal-CBD in this case may be an effective and attractive additional treatment as part of multimodal pain management in dogs suffering from chronic pain. This formulation can be an alternative route to oral CBD administration in cases where owner compliance, palatability and/or bioavailability are low. Further investigations of this formulation are of interest.

Frontiers | A Case Report of Subcutaneously Injected Liposomal Cannabidiol Formulation Used as a Compassion Therapy for Pain Management in a Dog | Veterinary Science (frontiersin.org).

"I would like to thank our most brilliant team of scientists associated with our Liposome technology labs in Jerusalem: Ahuva Cern, Daniel Zilbersheid, Atara Hod and Prof. Barenholz," said Iris Bincovich, CEO of Innocan, "I am thrilled to see one of the world's most renowned publications covering our achievement from the Jerusalem labs that may serve as evidence to the efficacy of our formulations and drug delivery systems."

Innocan's relationship with The Hebrew University

Innocan Pharma Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, has entered into a worldwide exclusive research and license agreement with Yissum Research and Development Company ("Yissum"), the commercial arm of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with respect to the design, preparation, characterization and evaluation of hydrogels containing CBD (or other cannabinoids) loaded liposomes. The research and development initiative is led by Professor Chezy Barenholz, head of the Membrane and Liposome Research Department at The Hebrew University, which is the inventor of over fifty-five patent families, two of which underlie Doxil, an FDA-approved drug for breast cancer treatment. This unique liposome platform technology may have a wide range of applications, such as epilepsy, pain relief, inflammation and central nervous system disorders. A patent was filed covering this technology on October 7, 2019.

About Innocan

Innocan Pharma is a pharmaceutical technology company that focuses on the development of several drug delivery platforms containing CBD. Innocan Pharma and Ramot at Tel Aviv University are collaborating on a new, revolutionary exosome-based technology that targets both central nervous system (CNS) indications and the Covid-19 Corona Virus using CBD. CBD-loaded exosomes hold the potential to help in the recovery of infected lung cells. This product, which is expected to be administered by inhalation, will be tested against a variety of lung infections.

Innocan Pharma signed a worldwide exclusive license agreement with Yissum, the commercial arm of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to develop a CBD drug delivery platform based on a unique-controlled release liposome to be administered by injection. Innocan Israel plans, together with Professor Barenholz, to test the liposome platform on several potential conditions. Innocan Israel is also working on a dermal product that integrates CBD with other pharmaceutical ingredients as well as the development and sale of CBD-integrated pharmaceuticals, including, but not limited to, topical treatments for the relief of psoriasis symptoms as well as the treatment of muscle pain and rheumatic pain. The founders and officers of Innocan Pharma Ltd. each have commercially successful track records in the pharmaceutical and technology sectors in Israel and globally.

For further information, please contact:

For Innocan Pharma Corporation:

Iris Bincovich, CEO

+972-54-3012842

[email protected]

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Caution regarding forward-looking information

Certain information set forth in this news release, including, without limitation, information regarding research and development, collaborations, the filing of potential applications with the FDA and other regulatory authorities, the potential achievement of future regulatory milestones, the potential for treatment of conditions and other therapeutic effects resulting from research activities and/or the Company's products, requisite regulatory approvals and the timing for market entry, is forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond Innocan's control. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Innocan, including expectations and assumptions concerning the anticipated benefits of the products, satisfaction of regulatory requirements in various jurisdictions and satisfactory completion of requisite production and distribution arrangements.

Forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this news release. The key risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: general global and local (national) economic, market and business conditions; governmental and regulatory requirements and actions by governmental authorities; and relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, customers, business partners and competitors. There are also risks that are inherent in the nature of product distribution, including import / export matters and the failure to obtain any required regulatory and other approvals (or to do so in a timely manner) and availability in each market of product inputs and finished products. The anticipated timeline for entry to markets may change for a number of reasons, including the inability to secure necessary regulatory requirements, or the need for additional time to conclude and/or satisfy the manufacturing and distribution arrangements. As a result of the foregoing, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information contained in this news release concerning the timing of launch of product distribution. A comprehensive discussion of other risks that impact Innocan can also be found in Innocan's public reports and filings which are available under Innocan's profile at www.sedar.com.

Readers are cautioned that undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information as actual results may vary materially from the forward-looking information. Innocan does not undertake to update, correct or revise any forward looking information as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122083
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - James Bay Resources Limited (CSE: JBR) ("James Bay" or the "Company") announced today that it has received the partial final award (the "Decision") from the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce. James Bay, through its interest in Crestar Integrated Natural Resources Limited ("Crestar"), had participated in the arbitration hearing held in late January and early February, 2022. The arbitration had been initiated by The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Total E&P Nigeria Limited, and Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (the "Claimants"), against Crestar in respect of an agreement for assignment dated July 3, 2014 (the "SPA") under which the Claimants agreed to assign their interest in Oil Mining Licence No. 25 ("OML 25") to Crestar. James Bay through Crestar had defended its rights under the SPA in the arbitration, and counterclaimed for damages incurred as a result of the Claimant's breaches under the SPA.

The Decision found for the Claimants, and James Bay is consulting with its legal counsel to determine whether there may be any basis to appeal the Decision.

About James Bay Resources Limited

James Bay is a Canadian resource company with 54,014,068 shares outstanding and trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "JBR". Please visit the James Bay website at www.jamesbayresources.com.

Disclaimer

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Corporation's operations, exploration and development plans, expansion plans, estimates, expectations, forecasts, objectives, predictions and projections of the future. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "projects", "intends", "anticipates", or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or "variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "can", "could", "would", "might", or "will" be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of James Bay Resources Limited to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the Company's business generally risks related to operations, construction delays and cost overruns, the actual results of exploration, development and construction activities, conclusions of economic evaluations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future commodity prices, as well as those factors discussed in the sections relating to risk factors of our business filed in James Bay Resources Limited's required securities filings on SEDAR. Although James Bay Resources Limited has attempted to identify important factors that could cause results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, 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 will prove accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. James Bay Resources Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

For further information about James Bay, please contact:

Stephen Shefsky

President and CEO

Tel: 416-366-4200

[email protected]

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE U.S. OR TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122201
Plymouth, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - Plymouth Rock Technologies Inc. (CSE: PRT) (OTCQB: PLRTF) (FSE: 4XA)(WKN# A2N8RH) ("Plymouth Rock", "PRT", "Plyrotech", or the "Company") a leader in developing unmanned technologies and detection apparatus is providing this update on the status of a management cease trade order (the "MCTO") granted on March 31, 2022 by the British Columbia Securities Commission under National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Order ("NP 12-203").

On April 1, 2022, the Company announced that, for reasons disclosed in the news release, there would be a delay in the filing of its financial statements, annual information form and management's discussion and analysis for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2021 (the "Annual Filings") beyond the period prescribed under applicable Canadian securities laws (the "Default Announcement"). The Company reports that it anticipates filing the Annual Filings on or before May 30, 2022 and will provide further updates on the timing of the filing, as necessary.

During the MCTO, the general investing public will continue to be able to trade in the Company's listed common shares. However, the Company's chief executive officer and chief financial officer will not be able to trade in the Company's shares. Other than as disclosed in this news release, there are no material changes to the information contained in the Default Announcement. The Company confirms that it intends to satisfy the provisions of NP 12- 203 and will continue to issue bi-weekly default status reports for so long as it remains in default of the Annual Filings requirement.

About Plymouth Rock Technologies Inc.

We are on a mission to bring engineering-driven answers to the most critical problems that threaten our safety. We work with government, law enforcement and military to innovate solutions for national security, defense and space systems. The Company is developing the next generation of threat detection solutions and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).

PRT designs and manufactures purpose-built multirotor UAS, utilizing Artificial Intelligence, cutting-edge sensors, and the latest dual-camera modules as standard, offering thermal capabilities alongside high-definition real-time air-to-ground streaming, with the ability to mount multiple, various sensors, modules, and payloads.

Our advanced threat detection methods fuse artificial intelligence with augmented reality interfaces to eliminate human operating error. Plymouth Rock products, both airborne and land-based, will scan for threat items at greater 'stand-off' distances than current existing technologies. Our unique radar imaging and signal processing technology creates new opportunities for remotely operated, non-intrusive screening of crowds in real time.

Plymouth Rock's core technologies include: (1) UAS platforms engineered to conform to NDAA FY2020 Section 848 ("PRT UAS"); (2) A compact microwave radar system for scanning shoe's ("Shoe Scanner"); (3) A compact modular radar utilized for a variety of applications, from aircraft to weapon detection ("CODA").

www.plyrotech.com

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dana Wheeler, President and CEO

+1-774-404-7685

[email protected]

Investor Information

Tasso Baras

+1-778-477-6990

[email protected]

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122238
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 29, 2022) - Xtra-Gold Resources Corp.(TSX: XTG) (OTCQB: XTGRF)("Xtra-Gold" or the "Company")is pleased to announce the acquisition of its third drill rig (the "Drill Rig"), which will substantially accelerate the Company's exploration efforts at our Kibi Gold Project. The Drill Rig consists of a CS1000/P4 crawler-mounted diamond drill rig specifically designed for Xtra-Gold.

(Picture of Xtra-Gold's CS1000/P4 Crawler-Mounted Diamond Drill Rig Arriving at Our Mine Camp in Ghana)

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Xtra-Gold is unique for a gold exploration company for operating its own fleet of drill rigs, which has significantly reduced our drilling cost versus contracting rigs from third parties. This has dramatically reduced our finding cost per ounce of gold.

The Company is also pleased to announce a summary of our first quarter financials ("Q1 2022"):

-Total Assets increased to US$12,024,580 (March 31, 2022) from US$10,232.901 (March 31, 2021), comprised mainly of cash, liquid securities, and gold inventory ("liquid assets");

-Zero Debt; and

-Pre-Tax Income for the Q1: US$1,194,307.

The full details of the Q1 2022 Financials with MD&A can be viewed on the Company's website at www.xtragold.com.

James Longshore CEO/Co-Founder states: "Our Company continues to self-finance our hard rock drilling programs with internal cash generated from our alluvial contract mining ("Community Mining Project"), making us a truly unique company in the gold exploration sector. This will give our shareholders significant upside potential in our stock price as the gold resource continues to expand."

About Xtra-Gold Resources Corp.

Xtra-Gold is a gold exploration company with a substantial land position in the Kibi Gold Belt. The Kibi Gold Belt, which exhibits many similar geological features to Ghana's main gold belt, the Ashanti Belt, has been the subject of very limited modern exploration activity targeting lode gold deposits as virtually all past gold mining activity and exploration efforts focused on the extensive alluvial gold occurrences in many river valleys throughout the Kibi area.

Xtra-Gold holds 5 Mining Leases totaling approximately 226 sq km (22,600 ha) at the northern extremity of the Kibi Gold Belt. The Company's exploration efforts to date have focused on the Kibi Gold Project located on the Apapam Concession (33.65 sq km), along the eastern flank of the Kibi Gold Belt. The Kibi Gold Project (Zones 1-3) Mineral Resource Estimate, produced by Xtra-Gold on September 30, 2021, represents the only Mineral Resource ever generated on a lode gold project within the Kibi Gold Belt. The NI 43-101 Technical Report entitled "Xtra-Gold Resources Corporation Kibi Gold Project", jointly prepared by Pivot Mining Consultants (Pty) and Tect Geological Consulting, and dated November 16, 2021, is filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

The TSX does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward- looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of the Company's mineral properties, and the Company's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological and operational difficulties encountered in connection with the activities of the Company; and other matters discussed in this news release. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Contact Information

For further information please contact:

James Longshore

Chief Executive Officer

Tel.: 416-628-2881

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.xtragold.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/122155
PASADENA, Calif., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Amorphology Inc, a NASA spinoff company founded from technology developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the California Institute of Technology, has partnered with Additive Technologies (AddiTec), a founding partner of Meltio, an additive manufacturing company pioneering the development of affordable multi-metal 3D printing systems. Together, Amorphology and AddiTec are developing the additive manufacturing of multi-metal gear components for robotics.

Building on their previous collaboration of 3D printing large-scale strain wave gear flexsplines using directed energy deposition (DED), the partnership between Amorphology and AddiTec has now turned to the development of multi-metal, functionally-graded gear components, combining two different steels together within a single part. The three-inch diameter flexspline demonstrator is part of a zero backlash strain wave gearbox used in robotic arms and precision-motion mechanisms. The thin-walled flexspline has competing requirements of wear resistance in the teeth and a fatigue-resistant body that motivates the use of two different materials during 3D printing. The steel in the toothed region is a precipitation hardening martensitic stainless steel typically used in high-strength applications with an average hardness of 35 Rc. In contrast, the steel below the toothed region is known for high toughness with a lower average hardness. By combining the two steels strategically in a gear, it becomes possible to tailor the mechanical properties to take advantage of the benefits of each alloy.

Through its exclusive licensing agreement, Amorphology is developing its intellectual property around multi-metal 3D printing, specifically functionally graded metals, which allows for the strategic transition between more than one metal during 3D printing to produce multi-functional parts that are free from cracks and unwanted phases. The core technology, developed over a decade ago at JPL, focuses on the design of multi-metal transitions to achieve predictable mechanical or physical properties in the printed part. Unlike conventional claddings or overlays, functional grading aims to achieve the best possible properties at the interface between dissimilar metals or composites in a 3D printed part, which is useful for preventing failures such as those caused by thermal mismatch or fatigue cracks. Tailoring the interface between different metals during printing can be achieved through diffusion at the interface by allowing the disparate metals to mix or by adding one or more intermediate compositions at the transition. The prototype developed in the current partnership was produced through wire-fed DED by printing the base of the gear from high-toughness steel and then sharply transitioning to the high hardness steel at the vertical location where the teeth begin, using the melt pool to diffuse the layers. The materials could have also been transitioned by mixing powders of the two materials in the powder-blown configuration of the DED printer.

"Functional grading with multiple materials allows us to develop gear components for robotics that cannot be fabricated with conventional metallurgy. The ability to tailor the properties of a gear via alloy composition gives us an entirely new design freedom when developing precision mechanisms," said Dr. Glenn Garrett, Amorphology CTO. "Whether it's improving the wear resistance of gear teeth while maintaining toughness in the rest of the part or using high-value steel in combination with low-cost steel to save cost, multi-material additive manufacturing is allowing us to innovate in the way that we approach gears for robotics. We can tailor properties for machinability, cost, hardness, strength, corrosion resistance, even density. For large gears where it makes sense to use additive manufacturing to save machining costs, this could be a real advantage."

"Meltio's dual-wire DED technology provides an ability to change from one material to another material automatically during the fabrication of metal components. This results in gradual change in properties and functions which can be tailored for enhanced performance," said Dr. Yash Bandari, Business Development Manager at AddiTec.

The multi-metal flexspline demonstrator from Amorphology and Additec is designed so that the high-performance high-hardness steel resides in the gear teeth and the rest of the cup is made from highly machinable tough steel. The as-printed hardness of the gear teeth through DED was measured to be around 30 Rc while the base of the cup measured at around 7 Rc (87 Rb). A further increase of the gear teeth hardness is possible through subsequent heat treatment. Future work will focus on different combinations of steels, and the development of localized heat-treating strategies to optimize the properties of each metal in the bi-metallic gear. Amorphology is actively developing other applications for functionally graded metals in applications such as thrusters, rockets, robotics, and gears, and is seeking partners for further development and licensing.

To learn more about this project email or call:Peter Czer- [email protected] / 310.560.7793

About Amorphology

Headquartered in Pasadena, California, Amorphology is a NASA JPL/Caltech spinoff with exceptional lineage and intellectual property developed as part of the space program. Amorphology is a leader in applying advanced materials and manufacturing technologies toward improving gear production for robotics and other industrial applications using amorphous metals, also known as bulk metal glass (BMG), additive manufacturing, and custom metal alloys and composites.

About AddiTec

AddiTec is a founding partner of Meltio and is proud to serve as the master reseller of Meltio's products in North America. Its focus is building an ecosystem for Meltio's technology and driving business opportunities. AddiTec has a 6-year heritage in the design and development of multi-laser metal direct deposition technology and has completed a broad range of customer installations and benchmark work, as well as providing training and customer application support. AddiTec's customers include prominent universities, major research centers, technology centers, national laboratories, and a wide range of industrial customers in the aerospace, nuclear, automotive, mining and energy sectors. For more information, visit us at https://www.additec.net/

For more information, licensing, or partnerships:

Amorphology, IncPeter CzerDirector of Strategy, Partnerships & Technologywww.amorphology.comE: [email protected] P: 310.560.7793

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SOURCE Amorphology
PANAMA CITY, April 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. ("Bladex" or "the Bank") announced today that the Bank filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 (the "2021 Annual Report") with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC").

The 2021 Annual Report and audited financial statements can be accessed by visiting either the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or Bladex's website at www.bladex.com. The Bank can also provide a copy of the Bank's audited financial statements or annual report on Form 20-F, upon a written request and without charge.

Bladex, a multinational bank originally established by the central banks of Latin-American and Caribbean countries, began operations in 1979 to promote foreign trade and economic integration in the Region. The Bank, headquartered in Panama, also has offices in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, the United States of America, and a Representative License in Peru, supporting the regional expansion and servicing of its customer base, which includes financial institutions and corporations.

Bladex is listed on the NYSE in the United States of America (NYSE: BLX), since 1992, and its shareholders include: central banks and state-owned banks and entities representing 23 Latin American countries, commercial banks and financial institutions, and institutional and retail investors through its public listing.

For further information on Bladex, please access its website at www.bladex.com or contact:

Investor RelationsE-mail address: [email protected]. Tel.: (+507) 210-8563Head Office Address: Torre V, Business Park, Ave. La Rotonda, Urb. Costa del Este,Panama, Republic of Panama

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SOURCE Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. (Bladex)
Breakthrough Closes Largest Ever Dedicated Life Science Real Estate Fund, Excluding Recapitalizations of Existing Portfolios

Final Closing Surpasses Initial $1.5 Billion Target to Support World's Leading Biopharma Companies in Key Clusters Across the United States and Europe

LOS ANGELES, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Breakthrough Properties, a joint venture of Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital, today announced the final closings for the Breakthrough Life Science Property Fund. The venture raised $3 billion in direct capital and co-investments, to scale a global portfolio of best-in-class ecosystems for dynamic early-, mid-, and late-stage life science companies.

The $3 billion raised in fund and co-investment capital surpassed Breakthrough's initial $1.5 billion target. It is the largest real estate fund dedicated exclusively to the life sciences sector, excluding recapitalizations of existing portfolios, according to CBRE and JLL Research. The Fund was raised from a diverse group of institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds and high net worth individuals spanning four continents.

Founded in 2019, Breakthrough has established itself as one of the most active players in the life science sector with 4.6 million square-feet of projects in the pipeline across San Diego, Boston/Cambridge, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, Oxford, and Cambridge, UK. Breakthrough will use the newly raised funds to finance its ongoing developments, which are in various stages of design, construction and pre-development, and fuel its pursuit of additional opportunities throughout the United States and Europe.

Through a range of ground-up campus developments, lab conversions and StudioLabs, the company's proprietary flex lab program geared toward hyper-growth start-ups, Breakthrough provides cutting-edge environments to the full spectrum of life science innovators  ranging from venture-backed discovery companies to established big pharma anchors. Breakthrough will continue to leverage the market expertise and vast relationship networks of Tishman Speyer, Bellco Capital and its Scientific Advisory Board to create environments for leading biotechnology innovators and offers services to support their long-term business needs.

Over the past three years, Breakthrough has assembled an exceptional team of life sciences professionals adept at curating scientific ecosystems defined by best-in-class infrastructure, collaborative amenities and services, and dynamic tenant spaces that meet the needs of the world's most innovative companies at any point in their growth.

Breakthrough Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Dan Belldegrun said, "Breakthrough was founded just three years ago with a mandate to create and operate inspired, cutting-edge environments for life sciences entrepreneurs and researchers on their quest to discover life-saving treatments for patients. We are honored to support our inspirational clients and partners and grateful for the confidence demonstrated by our investors. We look forward to putting these resources to work in support of the next generation of critical discoveries."

Tishman Speyer CEO and Breakthrough Co-Chairman Rob Speyer commented, "Breakthrough Properties was created on the conviction that Tishman Speyer's global real estate and investment platform paired with Bellco's life science expertise and deep relationships would make for an unbeatable combination. There is an acute and accelerating need for well-located, cutting-edge lab space. The Breakthrough Life Science Property Fund can enable us to deliver more of these projects across the U.S. and Europe."

Bellco Chairman and Breakthrough Co-Chairman Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS, said, "Breakthrough Properties promises a new way to curate environments that foster life-changing and life-saving discoveries. Our platform recognizes that best-in-class infrastructure is but one component of a thriving ecosystem. It also requires mentorship, innovation spaces, the ability to collaborate with other leading scientists, and access to venture capital."

Breakthrough's rapidly growing portfolio includes The 105 by Breakthrough in Boston, which is fully leased to CRISPR Therapeutics and will open its doors later this year. In 2021, Breakthrough broke ground on its 515,000-square-foot Torrey View by Breakthrough development, a 10-acre research and development campus in San Diego which signed a major prelease with the biosciences arm of global medical technology company BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company). Its Torrey Plaza campus, an office-to-lab conversion in San Diego, is leased to a range of innovative companies, including Tandem Diabetes Care, Janux Therapeutics and Protego Biopharma, Inc.

Sustainability is at the forefront of all of Breakthrough's initiatives, with a particular emphasis on increasing energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions and providing healthy workspaces for users. Breakthrough targets LEED Gold certification at all of its United States properties and BREEAM Outstanding certification in all of its projects across the United Kingdom and European Union.

About Breakthrough Properties (btprop.com)

Formed in 2019 as a joint venture between global real estate owner, developer and investor Tishman Speyer and biotechnology investment firm Bellco Capital, Breakthrough Properties is a life science real estate development company that leverages cross-sector collaboration to deliver environments that foster innovation and scientific breakthroughs. Breakthrough Properties' mission is to acquire, develop and operate the best life science properties in leading urban technology centers around the world and support scientific innovation across biotechnology, agriculture and nutrition. Breakthrough combines Tishman Speyer's decades of global real estate development experience with Bellco Capital's industry-making biotechnology entrepreneurship to reimagine environments where companies can create life-changing therapies for patients.

About Tishman Speyer (tishmanspeyer.com)

Tishman Speyer is a leading owner, developer, operator and investment manager of first-class real estate in 31 key markets across the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. We develop, build and manage premier office, residential and retail spaces for industry-leading tenants, as well as state-of-the-art life science centers through our Breakthrough Properties venture. With global vision, on-the-ground expertise and a personalized approach, we are unparalleled in our ability to foster innovation, quickly adapt to global and local trends and proactively anticipate our customers' evolving needs. By focusing on health and wellness, enlightened placemaking and customer-focused initiatives such as our tenant amenities platform, ZO., and our flexible space and co-working brand, Studio, we tend not just to our physical buildings, but to the people who inhabit them on a daily basis. Since our inception in 1978, Tishman Speyer has acquired, developed, and operated 498 properties, totaling 219 million square feet, with a combined value of over $124 billion (U.S.). Our current portfolio includes such iconic assets as Rockefeller Center in New York City, The Springs in Shanghai, TaunusTurm in Frankfurt and the Mission Rock neighborhood currently being realized in San Francisco.

About Bellco Capital (bellcocapital.com)

Bellco Capital is an investment firm founded in 2003 by Rebecka Belldegrun, M.D. and Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS and is the hub for entrepreneurship within the Bellco life science ecosystem. Bellco has a longstanding track record of building and investing in companies that change the paradigm of care for patients. Today, Bellco builds biopharma companies via its partnership with Two River, a New York-based life science investment firm, and invests in life science companies via Vida Ventures, a leading life sciences venture capital firm - this breadth provides the Bellco ecosystem with even greater reach and visibility to passionate leaders and innovative technologies across life sciences. Bellco's most notable impact has been in leading the cell therapy field with the founding of Kite Pharma, acquired by Gilead Sciences in 2017 for $11.9 billion, and Allogene Therapeutics, the second largest biotechnology IPO of 2018. For more information, please visit www.bellcocapital.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Any such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Furthermore, Breakthrough Properties disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, new information, data or methods, future events or other changes.

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SOURCE Breakthrough Properties
Annual awards program from The Globe and Mail celebrates excellence among senior executives in Canada

MONTREAL, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - CAE (NYSE: CAE) (TSX: CAE) is pleased to announce that Helene V. Gagnon, CAE's Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement has been awarded a 2022 Report on Business Best Executive Award.

The Report on Business Best Executive Awards is an annual program to celebrate excellence among leaders at the SVP, EVP and C-suite (or equivalent) levels. The 50 winners chosen for 2022 were selected based on career background, leadership style, achievements and impact.

Ms. Gagnon was recognized for her outstanding leadership in managing CAE's reputation and relationships with internal and external stakeholders worldwide and impact on Corporate Social Responsibility.

"Since joining CAE in 2015, Helene has exceeded all expectations thanks to her extraordinary vision and leadership. She has led the way in completely transforming CAE's culture," said Marc Parent, CAE's President and CEO. "What sets her apart is the way she leads. Helene marries her astute knowledge of business with exceptional emotional intelligence  she is a leader you want to follow. Her recognition as one of Canada's Best Executives is well-deserved."

Ms. Gagnon played a leading role over the last year in creating Industry for Vaccination which led to 400,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines being administered through companies in Quebec.

About Helene V. Gagnon

Throughout her career, Helene V. Gagnon has garnered 70 scholarships, awards, and distinctions, notably, the prestigious Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100 award from the Women Executive Network in 2007. She has been involved in more than 50 organizations and 25 Boards of Directors. Currently, she is a member of the Board of directors of Hydro-Quebec where she chairs the Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Committee; she is Vice Chair of the Board of the Montreal Airports and Vice Chair of the Board of the Canadian American Business Council. She is also a Board member of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada and of Aero Montreal.

A graduate of McGill University with a degree in Civil Law (B.C.L.) and Common Law (LL.B.), Ms. Gagnon also holds a Master's degree in Public Administration and Public Policy from the London School of Economics (M.Sc). She is a member of the Quebec Bar, holds the professional certifications of Accredited in Public Relations (APR) and Fellow (FCPRS) from the Canadian Public Relations Society as well as the Global ESG Competent Boards Designation (GCB.D).

About CAE

CAE is a high technology company, at the leading edge of digital immersion, providing solutions to make the world a safer place. Backed by a record of 75 years of industry firsts, we continue to reimagine the customer experience and revolutionize training and operational support solutions in civil aviation, defense and security, and healthcare. We are the partner of choice to customers worldwide who operate in complex, high-stakes and largely regulated environments, where successful outcomes are critical. As testament to our customers' ongoing needs for our solutions, over 60 percent of CAE's revenue is recurring in nature. We have the broadest global presence in our industry, with more than 13,000 employees, 180 sites, and training locations in over 35 countries. www.cae.com.

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SOURCE CAE INC.
MIAMI, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Cansortium Inc. (CSE: TIUM.U) (OTCQX: CNTMF) ("Cansortium" or the "Company"), a vertically-integrated cannabis company operating under the Fluent brand, today announced the closing of a non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") that includes a 10.0% unsecured convertible debenture in the principal amount of US$3.5 million ("the Debenture"), as well as 3,076,923 pre-funded common share purchase warrants (each a "Pre-Funded Warrant") at a price of US$0.39 per Pre-Funded Warrant, for aggregate gross proceeds of US$4.7 million.

The Debenture will come due in 2032 and is convertible into common shares of the Company at a conversion price of US$0.79 per common share. Each Pre-Funded Warrant shall entitle the holder to purchase one common share at an additional exercise price of US$0.40 per common share (for a total common share issue price equal to US$0.79) for a period of 12 months from the date of issuance. The conversion price for both the Debenture and Pre-Funded Warrant reflects a premium of approximately 295% over the closing price of the Company's common shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange on April 28, 2022.

The Company may repay the Debenture, in whole or in part, at any time.

The net proceeds of the Private Placement will be used by the Company to reduce the principal amount outstanding under its previously announced April 2021 Credit Agreement and for general working capital purposes. In addition, the Company will designate $3.25 million of the gross proceeds of the Private Placement as an equity cure under the April 2021 Credit Agreement for the quarter ended March 31, 2022. For purposes of the April 2021 Credit Agreement, the equity cure proceeds will be deemed to have been received during the quarter ended March 31, 2022 for purposes of EBITDA used in the calculation of the Consolidated Interest Coverage Ratio, which is required to be 2.50:1.00.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws. Accordingly, these securities may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to exemptions from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of Cansortium in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Cansortium Inc.

Cansortium is a vertically-integrated cannabis company with licenses and operations in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Texas. The Company operates under the Fluent brand and is dedicated to being one of the highest quality cannabis companies for the communities it serves. This is driven by Cansortium's unrelenting commitment to operational excellence in cultivation, production, distribution and retail. The Company is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

Cansortium Inc.'s common shares trade on the CSE under the symbol "TIUM.U" and on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol "CNTMF". For more information about the Company, please visit www.getfluent.com.

Forward-Looking Information

Certain information in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "an opportunity exists", "is positioned", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates, and projections regarding future events.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based on many opinions, assumptions, and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in the public documents of the Company available at www.sedar.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect the Company; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

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SOURCE Cansortium Inc
HONG KONG, April 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- China Mobile Limited (the "Company") (HKEx: 941) announced today that it has filed its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021 (the "2021 Form 20-F") with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC").

The 2021 Form 20-F is available on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at http://www.chinamobileltd.com and on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. Shareholders may also request a hard copy of the Company's complete audited financial statements, free of charge, by contacting the Company at Investor Relations Department, China Mobile Limited, 60/F, The Center, 99 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong (Email: [email protected]; Telephone: 852-3121-8888; Fax: 852-2511-9092).

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SOURCE China Mobile Limited
SINGAPORE, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Coinllectibles, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cosmos Group Holdings, Inc. (OTC: COSG) is pleased to share its latest initiative in community engagement by releasing exclusive POAPs (Proof of Attendance Pictures) for its series of AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) sessions. POAPs are Ethereum-based NFT badges which are considered to be unique digital collectibles, and are given to participants for attending events in the physical world, online, or the metaverse.

"While POAPs are not widespread within the NFT community, we feel the POAPs are a really interesting way to encourage broader participation with the artist or partner. They enable more people to engage with the physical pieces as well as provide an element of experience and access to a digital collectible associated with that art form. We recently held an AMA session where we released the inaugural Coinllectibles' POAPs minted with the authentic photographs of Andy Warhol by photographer William John Kennedy. We saw an encouraging uptake of community members participating to receive the POAPs. Of course the Kennedy signed limited edition pieces themselves, including the Warhol Holding Marilyn Acetate, are special and of interest to many collectors, but we feel the POAPs can add to the long term engagement by more people to the artist and recognition of Kennedy's work," said Toby O'Connor CEO of Coinllectibles.

There will be further opportunity to access a POAP and learn more about William John Kennedy and his work with Andy Warhol and the special editions pieces on 4 May. Community members are welcome to join the 4th May session at 10pm HKT/ 3pm BST and access the event online via these channels:

For more information, please follow @Coinllectibles on Twitter (https://twitter.com/coinllectibles) or visit https://coinllectibles.art.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, which are often indicated by terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "goal," "intend," "look forward to," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements regarding future business activities including the expansion into the decentralized financing space. These forward-looking statements are not promises or guarantees and involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described or projected herein include uncertainties associated with operating a business in Singapore and Hong Kong, risk of interference by the PRC government, ability to compete, that financial resources do not last for as long as anticipated, and that COSG is a holding company that may not realize the expected benefits of NFT's offered by Coinllectibles. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other risks can be found in COSG's regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including in its current report on Form 8-K filed on September 17, 2021. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. COSG undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise.

For media queries, please contact:

Ms Rachel LimDirector, Marketing & PR[email protected]

About Cosmos Group Holdings Inc

Cosmos is a business group that operates in two business segments:

Arts and Collectibles

Financing

Through CoinllectiblesTM, the group provides authentication, valuation and certification (AVC) service, sale and purchase, hire purchase, financing, custody, security and exhibition (CSE) services to art buyers through traditional channels, as well as through leveraging blockchain technology through the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

With subsidiaries licensed under Hong Kong's Money Lenders Ordinance, the group currently primarily provides unsecured personal loan to private individuals, with a small portfolio of mortgage loans.

The group is integrating the two business segments by offering secured financing services to prospective art and collectibles purchasers to provide a one-stop arts and collectibles purchasing and financing experience.

About the Company  Coinllectibles

Coinllectibles is a technology company supporting the collectibles industry with a focus on rare memorabilia and artworks that exist and have intrinsic value in the real world, whether tangible or intangible in nature.

Coinllectibles applies blockchain, marketplace, metaverse and NFT technologies as tools to disrupt and enhance the real world collectibles industry. The technology underpinning NFTs (non-fungible tokens) has multiple functional use cases that Coinllectibles is applying to areas including art, sports, watches, numismatics, limited edition toys, limited edition fashion wear and sneakers. NFTs have the power to transform our societies and some areas may be subject to regulations. Coinllectibles uses NFT technology solely to provide a legally-binding digital ownership token (DOT) to a tangible or intangible collectible, which our analysis suggests would functionally fall outside any regulatory parameter.

Website: www.coinllectibles.artFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoinllectiblesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/coinllectibles/Twitter: https://twitter.com/coinllectiblesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coinllectiblesTelegram: https://t.me/Coinllectibles

About Coinllectibles Fusion DOT

Coinllectibles prides the Fusion DOT as the industry "Gold Standard". Being a Gold Standard, a Fusion DOT contains the following on the Inter Planetary File System (IPFS)  (1) a sale and purchase agreement reflecting the purchase, by the person minting the Fusion DOT, of the underlying asset at a fair value with all rights and restrictions clearly detailed, (2) bailment terms governing the rights to possession whilst the underlying asset remains with Coinllectibles, (3) a transfer deed reflecting the transfer of the ownership of the underlying asset (together with all rights and restrictions) by the transferor to the holder of the Fusion NFT, (4) ownership title deed written into the description of the Fusion DOT and (5) the unequivocal identification file of the underlying asset, whose ownership is reflected in the title deed represented by the Fusion DOT.

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SOURCE Cosmos Group Holdings Inc.
New safes for controlled substances anticipated to help reduce organized retail crimeAll 97 CVS Pharmacy locations in the state now using time delay safe technology

WOONSOCKET, R.I., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of an ongoing commitment to support law enforcement and help build safer communities, CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) today announced the completed installation of time delay safe technology in all 97 Nevada CVS Pharmacy locations, including those in Target stores. The safes are anticipated to help prevent pharmacy robberies and the potential for associated diversion of controlled substance medications  including opioid medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone  by electronically delaying the time it takes for pharmacy employees to open the safe. In addition, the safes are anticipated to benefit the safety and well-being of CVS Pharmacy customers and employees.

The company's rollout of time delay safes is in support of the Nevada Organized Retail Crime Association's efforts in partnership with local and state law enforcement, and the retail community to fight back against escalating organized retail crime.

"The new security measures being implemented by CVS Health will help protect Nevadans," said Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford. "These new safes will help reduce retail crime, protect employees and keep opioid medications off the street. In a state that has been hit hard by the opioid crisis like Nevada, these measures are invaluable."

CVS Health first implemented time delay safe technology in 2015 in CVS Pharmacy locations across Indianapolis, a city experiencing a high volume of pharmacy robberies at the time. The company saw a 70 percent decline in pharmacy robberies among the Indianapolis stores where time delay safes had been installed. Since then, the company has introduced time delay safes across 22 states, including Nevada, and the District of Columbia, resulting in a 50 percent decline in robberies at CVS pharmacies in those local communities.

"While our company continues to focus on moving the country one step closer to a post-pandemic world by increasing access to COVID-19 vaccines, testing and other measures to help create healthy communities, supporting law enforcement efforts in their battle against organized retail crime also remains a focus," said Thomas M. Moriarty, Chief Policy Officer and General Counsel, CVS Health. "Criminal activities that organized retail crime rings fund are a clear danger to our communities, so it is important that retailers, law enforcement and political leaders work together to solve this problem. Time delay safes can help reduce the theft and diversion of prescription medications and bring added security to our stores which creates a safe environment for our patients and colleagues."

The time delay function cannot be overridden and is designed to serve as a deterrent to would-be pharmacy robbers whose goal is to enter and exit their robbery targets as quickly as possible. All CVS Pharmacy locations in Nevada display visible signage warning that time delay safes are in use to prevent on-demand access to controlled substance narcotics.

CVS Health's time delay safe program is one of many company initiatives to help address and prevent prescription medication misuse and diversion. Through its Safe Medication Disposal Program in Nevada, for example, the company has installed 18 drug disposal units in select CVS Pharmacy locations and donated one unit to a local police department in the state. To date, nearly 29,000 pounds of unwanted and expired medication have been collected in Nevada.

Presently, the company supports over 4,000 safe medication disposal units in CVS Pharmacy locations and through local law enforcement organizations nationwide. Together, these existing medication disposal units have collected nearly 4 million pounds of unwanted medications that might otherwise have been diverted, misused or ended up in the water supply.

For downloadable time delay safe photos, please visit the Media Resource Center.

About CVS HealthCVS Health is the leading health solutions company, delivering care like no one else can. We reach more people and improve the health of communities across America through our local presence, digital channels and approximately 300,000 dedicated colleagues  including more than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and nurse practitioners. Wherever and whenever people need us, we help them with their health  whether that's managing chronic diseases, staying compliant with their medications, or accessing affordable health and wellness services in the most convenient ways. We help people navigate the health care system  and their personal health care  by improving access, lowering costs and being a trusted partner for every meaningful moment of health. And we do it all with heart, each and every day. Learn more at www.cvshealth.com.

Media contacts:Monica Prinzing831-241-8294[email protected]

John Sadler702-486-0657[email protected]

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SOURCE CVS Health
CLEVELAND, Ohio, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Euclid Chemical Company, a leading manufacturer of concrete and masonry construction products, announced today that it has acquired Chryso's North American cement grinding aids and additives business. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquired technologies are sold to cement manufacturers to enhance the performance of cement and to reduce CO2 emissions during its production. Cement is the key ingredient in concrete, the world's most widely used building material.

"This is a strategic acquisition that more closely aligns Euclid Chemical with the cement industry, while complementing our strong offering in the concrete industry," said Euclid Chemical President Tom Gairing. "In addition, the sustainability benefits of these products support customer demand for more environmentally friendly solutions, as well as our mission to build a better world for all of our stakeholders."

About Euclid Chemical

Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Euclid Chemical has served the global building market for more than a century as a leading manufacturer and supplier of specialty products and technical support services for the concrete and masonry construction industry. Euclid Chemical's expansive product line includes admixtures, fiber reinforcement, concrete repair products, flooring materials, decorative concrete systems and more. Learn more at www.euclidchemical.com.

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SOURCE The Euclid Chemical Company
RESTON, Va., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: LDOS) today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.36 per outstanding share of common stock of Leidos Holdings, Inc. The cash dividend is payable on June 30, 2022, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on June 15, 2022.

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500 technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company's 43,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $13.7 billion for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Media contact:Melissa Lee Duenas(571) 526-6850[email protected]

Investor Relations:Stuart Davis(571) 526-6124[email protected]

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SOURCE Leidos
LOS ANGELES, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MatchCraft, a global leader in digital advertising technology, was again recognized by Microsoft Advertising, this time as the Global Rising Star of the Year. MatchCraft took home the top prize for its global focus on integrating features that drive both scalability, feature adoption, and growth for its reseller and agency partners.

At the heart of MatchCraft's vision and mission is its ability to deliver consistent results across multiple channels and to do so in a scalable manner. A critical component of their success is the inclusion of Microsoft Advertising inventory in their suite of solutions. "Given the challenges local businesses have faced around the world, maximizing advertising budgets and reach was the driving force behind much of our development in 2021," says Sandy Lohr, CEO of MatchCraft. "To be recognized a second time, not just for our efforts in the Americas but Globally, is truly an honor and speaks to the strength of our partnership with Microsoft Advertising."

"Microsoft Advertising is delighted to show our appreciation and acknowledge the well-deserved recognition for MatchCraft as the Global Rising Star of the Year. Our partners are critical to our business and it's a privilege to recognize those who lead with a spirit of collaboration, innovation, and inclusive behavior. Our partners have displayed a strong commitment to their clients, and to their communities during a time of uncertainty and disruption," added Sean O'Connor, International Marketing Director at Microsoft Advertising.

About MatchCraftMatchCraft provides a best-in-class advertising platform that enables companies to successfully sell and manage search, display, and social campaigns for their advertisers. Unlike other advertising technology platforms, MatchCraft's platform AdVantageTM helps organizations efficiently manage campaigns of all sizes, enabling clients to deliver results to their advertisers. MatchCraft's sophisticated real-time bidding algorithms, and a team of digital marketing enthusiasts, work relentlessly to deliver exceptional ROI for merchants around the world. MatchCraft is a fully remote company with team members across the US, Europe, Mexico, and India. For digital marketing news, advice, and to stay in the loop on product rollouts, follow MatchCraft on Facebook, MatchCraft on Twitter, MatchCraft on LinkedIn or visit www.MatchCraft.com.

About Microsoft Advertising

Represent your brand at its best with advertising solutions guided by an uncompromising respect for privacy, brand safety, and data security. Microsoft Advertising provides intelligent solutions that empower you to deliver engaging, personalized experiences to over a half a billion people worldwide. Bing powers billions of searches monthly on the Microsoft Search Network, including Verizon Media properties (AOL, Yahoo), platforms like Amazon and Apple, and on Microsoft services like Windows, Office and Microsoft Edge. Extend your reach and campaign performance with Microsoft Audience Network, high-quality native placements across devices on premium sites like MSN, Outlook.com, Microsoft Edge, and Verizon Media. Only Microsoft Advertising offers LinkedIn Profile targeting on search and native to help you find highly relevant audiences based on their company, job function and industry. With Microsoft Advertising, gain access to in-depth insights, intelligent advertising tools that use AI to improve campaign performance and audience targeting solutions to create more personalized advertising experiences. Microsoft Advertising. Intelligent connections.

Contact: Amie Slott, [email protected]

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SOURCE MatchCraft
For Years Alex Schnee or 'Alex on the Map' Has Been a Go-To Resource for National Parks, Now She's Sharing Her Tips on How to Navigate Their New Ticketing Systems

NEW YORK, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Oh the great outdoors! It is safe to say that after two years of quarantines and lockdowns, Americans are more eager than ever to travel, get outside, and enjoy the sunshine, fresh air, and everything this beautiful country has to offer. For many, a trip here or there is enough to satisfy the urge for adventure. However, thousands of national park visitors are running into some additional challenges this year: national park reservation systems.

Alex Schnee, better known as 'Alex on the Map' is an industry-leading travel and outdoor blogger who is now helping thousands plan their trips to national parks while navigating the new reservation systems. Holding an innate passion for nature and growing up right next to Glacier National Park, Alex has built an impressive career and reputation as an outdoor expert, providing in-depth information and resources related to national parks and the outdoors.

Throughout her travels and her tenure as a blogger and freelance writer for publications such as Fodor's, the Huffington Post, Bustle, and more, Alex has continually run into the same question, "How do I manage to plan a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the national parks that require reservations?" Eager to bridge the gap for her audience, Alex created a free guide with information on the national parks that highlights each reservation system and how visitors can tackle these new hurdles for entry. Schnee takes members behind the curtain as an industry expert to unveil how to plan the perfect national park adventure.

"The new reservation systems can be confusing, and my goal is to educate visitors as to why they are important for the preservation of the parks while also helping adventurers plan a trip they'll never forget."  Alex Schnee

Through proof of concept, dedication to innovation, and unwavering commitment to a shared passion for the great outdoors; Alex Schnee's purpose-driven vision has come to fruition as she helps countless individuals plan their trip in a sustainable way.

To learn more about Alex On the Map, please visit: https://alexonthemap.com/

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About Alex SchneeAlex Schnee is a travel and outdoor blogger known for her industry-leading blog, Alex on the Map. Growing up right by Glacier National Park, she works to create content that helps visitors to outdoor spaces do so responsibly. Whether it's helping visitors navigate the increasingly-confusing ticketing systems, or helping people get outside more by getting a job in the outdoor industry through her Facebook group, she works to make the outdoors accessible and preserve it for generations to come. Noted as an outdoor expert in various national publications, Alex Schnee paints a brilliant picture of the United States National Park System and provides readers with an easy-to-follow plan for reservations.

PRESS CONTACT

NAMEAlex SchneePHONE1-406-250-1697

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SOURCE Alex Schnee
WASHINGTON, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

News Advisory:

Event: Digital event with panel to discuss World Press Freedom 2022 coming from the studios of the National Press Club. The webcast will be available at this address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl_m8bkPNOA When: 10a.m.-11:30a.m. (Eastern) Who: -- Jen Judson, 115th President of the National Press Club and Land Warfare Reporter for Defense News; -- Jason Rezaian, Washington Post Global Opinions writer. Author of the book: "Prisoner" and producer of the popular podcast "544 Days" on Spotify; -- Kathy Kiely, Lee Hills Professor of Press Freedom Studies at the University of Missouri and former reporter for USA Today; -- Bill McCarren, Executive Director of the National Press Club and board member of Reporters Without Borders US. -- Zaki Daryabi, Publisher of Etilaatroz, an independent Afghan news organization DETAILS: The panel will discuss significant developments in press freedom during the past year focusing cases where the National Press Club is particularly involved including: Austin Tice and Emilio Gutierrez-Soto. There will be special emphasis on some of the most dangerous places in the world for working journalist including: Ukraine, Mexico, Afghanistan and China. Daryabi will join the panel to discuss Afghanistan and there may be other special guests. In 2011, the only year when World Press Freedom Day was based in the United States, the activities and events were hosted at the National Press Club.

Editors Note: Daryabi fled Afghanistan last fall and was briefly in Dubai before settling in Maryland. He and his team continue to produce daily editions of Etilaatroz from remote locations. On World Press Freedom Day, the Press Club has invited him to do his work from the Club itself and he will be onsite working when not on the panel.

Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. The Club has 3,000 members representing nearly every major news organization and is a strong voice for press freedom in the United States and around the world. Contact: Bill McCarren, 202-662-7534 for the National Press Club

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SOURCE National Press Club
Dea Sujardi takes on Senior Advisor role; Kelly Ang takes on Investor Relations responsibilities

SINGAPORE, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Golden Gate Ventures, one of Singapore's first VC funds, founded by Silicon Valley natives, recently announced a series of updates to its team, as it continues to invest in its top talent.

Dea Sujardi, former Head of Indonesia, takes on the role of Senior Advisor in Indonesia. Leveraging her deep local market knowledge, she will focus her energy on bringing to the firm deep insights about the fast-changing Indonesian landscape to help the investment team stay ahead-of-the-curve, and to give founders a finger-on-the-pulse, especially for those eyeing expansion plans into Indonesia.

After two years with the firm, Andri Wardhani, Senior Associate is moving on to a new adventure and Golden Gate Ventures is very excited for her to continue to have a positive footprint in the region.

As one of the oldest established VC funds in the region, Golden Gate Ventures sees itself as a catalyst to help nurture and develop great talent for the local ecosystem.

Building on her tenure at Golden Gate Ventures, Kelly Ang, will be expanding her responsibilities under an investor relations track, with the anticipated influx of investor capital flowing into the region. With the support of the firm, Kelly is on executive education classes with University of Colorado Boulder and University of Virginia. This is part of the firm's continued talent investment strategy that has similarly benefited Partners Angela Toy and Justin Hall.

Meanwhile, Associate Freddy Shen will be moving to a corporate venture capital role after three years with the firm to focus on later-stage investment.

About Golden Gate Ventures

Golden Gate Ventures is a VC fund in Southeast Asia (SEA) founded by Silicon Valley natives. Since 2011, Golden Gate Ventures has launched four funds and invested in over 60 companies. The firm focuses on investing in the rising consumer internet class in Southeast Asia. Breakout companies include Carousell (mobile classifieds), Appota (Vietnam mobile publishing platform), Alodokter (HealthTech), Carro (Auto Marketplace), and Xendit (Payment Processing).

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/people-moves-at-golden-gate-ventures-301536117.html

SOURCE Golden Gate Ventures
SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative (QLHC) announces the award of OneSource, Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative's groundbreaking clinical trial data management solution developed in collaboration with OpenClinica as the grand prize winner at the 2022 Bio-IT World Innovative Practices award in the Clinical & Health-IT category. By integrating clinical trial data systems directly with existing electronic health records, OneSource achieves new levels of efficiency and quality control for clinical trial data management. Grand prize awards were also granted to AstraZeneca, Guardant Health with IQVIA, Merck KGaA with Genedata.

Deployed in the ongoing I-SPY COVID-19 trial, OneSource eliminated data transcription errors that commonly occur in clinical trials laboratory and concomitant medication data, reducing time to data completion, and resulted in a greater than 50% reduction in clinical trial coordinator effort for daily data entry at a representative site. The improved fidelity and efficiency therefore offer additional key downstream costs savings in data monitoring and cleaning, which typically account for a significant portion of human resources for clinical trials.

OneSource was originally conceived in a partnership between Quantum Leap, UCSF and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The central concept is for critical clinical and health data to be entered only once - at the point of care  acting as a single source of truth that can be accessed for multiple secondary applications. Best-in-class interoperable systems are used to leverage existing capabilities to facilitate the collection, sharing, and reporting of structured data from authoritative sources.

"It is a fully integrated framework that allows, FDA-compliant direct communication with the EHR to improve data quality and reduce costs," said QLHC CEO James Palazzolo. "OneSource breaks new ground by creating a data quality infrastructure that enables users to improve healthcare quality, accelerate clinical research, and advance healthcare value."

As of March 1st, 2022, The I-SPY COVID trial enrolled 3,073 subjects, with 1,113 randomized subjects receiving investigational agents and 1,960 subjects in the Real World Data (RWD) cohort. QLHC and OpenClinica designed and built the software with a proof of concept (POC) in February 2021, and the first production site deployed at UCSF in May 2021. Currently, installations are in full production at 8 clinical sites using Epic electronic health record (EHR) systems, with Cerner EHR system deployments launching in April 2022.

Since 2003, Bio-IT World has hosted an elite awards program, highlighting outstanding examples of how technology innovations and strategic initiatives can be powerful forces for change in the life sciences, from basic biomedical research to drug development and beyond.

"The Bio-IT World community consistently delivers innovation to drive the life sciences forward," said Allison Proffitt, Bio-IT World Editorial Director. "This year, our panel of peer judges were particularly impressed with efforts to shift processes and data culture to empower data science and AI, with comprehensive and integrated tools for drug discovery, and with forward-thinking approaches to structuring and normalizing both clinical and real-world data.

The awards ceremony will be held during the plenary program on Tuesday, May 3, at the 2022 Bio-IT World Conference & Expo in Boston.

"It's exciting to be recognized by Bio-IT World," said Adam Asare, QLHC Chief Data Officer/ UCSF Informatics Director for the Breast Care Center. "It's a clear reflection of the quality of our partners and our collaborative efforts with OpenClinica, the FDA and the I-SPY program."

The low implementation costs, ease of configuration and reusability across sites is leading to expansion of implementations by mid-year for both the I-SPY COVID and the I-SPY 2 Breast Cancer Trials.

OneSource is a collaboration between members of Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative, UCSF, the FDA, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The work is supported in part with federal funds from BARDA under contract number MCDC2014-001.

About Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative

Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative is a 501C(3) charitable organization established in 2005 as a collaboration between medical researchers at University of California, San Francisco and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Our mission is to integrate high-impact research with clinical processes and systems technology, resulting in improved data management and information systems, greater access to clinical trial matching and sponsorship, and greater benefit to providers, patients, and researchers. Our goal is to improve and save lives. Quantum Leap provides operational, financial, and regulatory oversight to I-SPY. For more information, visit https://www.quantumleaphealth.org/.

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SOURCE Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative
NEW YORK and GENEVA, Switzerland, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Wella Company, a global leader in the $100 billion beauty industry with a top professional and retail hair, nail and beauty tech portfolio comprised of iconic brands including Wella Professionals, OPI, ghd, Nioxin, Sebastian Professional and Clairol, announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Briogeo, one of the fastest growing hair care brands in the world and one of the largest independent Black-owned brands in the United States.

"Acquiring Briogeo marks Wella Company's first portfolio expansion as an independent entity. Briogeo's high-growth, eco-ethical and natural hair care products complement our existing hair portfolio and sustainable offerings and will fuel our growth momentum in the hair category, which is now the fastest growing segment in beauty," said Annie Young-Scrivner, Chief Executive Officer of Wella Company. "I'm proud of the growth our company has achieved so far in just 17 months  and in Briogeo we have found a truly special and complementary partner. Briogeo has been at the forefront of the clean and natural hair revolution since the company started in 2013, and its rise has been nothing short of remarkable. Together we'll extend our sustainable product offerings even more, expand our premium retail footprint and drive both commercial and social impact to new levels," said Young-Scrivner.

Under the leadership of Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Nancy Twine, Briogeo has revolutionized clean and natural hair care, offering effective products and solutions for every hair type, hair texture, hair need, ethnicity, background and person. Briogeo has grown quickly since its inception and is an award-winning company, having earned the Allure Best of Beauty Award every year since 2018. Twine is recognized as one of the foremost entrepreneurs of a beauty start-up in the last decade and has been awarded Entrepreneur's 100 Women of Impact in 2021, the Goldman Sachs Builders + Innovators Award in 2020, and the Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) Female Founder Award in 2019.

Wella Company intends to support Briogeo and its strategy to excel at the forefront of sustainable beauty. Briogeo aligns with Wella Company's deep commitment to building a company with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) embedded into its core. The addition of the Briogeo portfolio of prestige hair care complements Wella Company's ambitions to deliver more diverse products for all hair types, while expanding clean and green products across its portfolio offerings.

"The strength of Wella Company's Research & Development, digital marketing and global operations, and their ability to reach 91 million hair and nail professionals and followers they serve and support will take our Briogeo brand to the next level," said Nancy Twine, CEO of Briogeo. "This is a significant strategic partnership for both sides, and one that is compatible in ambition, philosophy and culture. In Wella Company we have a committed partner to help our business and our employees reach the next level of growth. We're excited to accelerate our expansion and innovation, globally delighting more people in more geographies and through broader delivery channels."

Wella Company's history of female leadership is unique, having several entrepreneurial women founders including OPI co-founder Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, Nioxin's Eva Graham, and Sebastian Professional co-founder Geri Cusenza. Annie Young-Scrivner and Briogeo's Nancy Twine form a duo of minority women leading a high-growth beauty company -- a pairing that not only reinforces diversity and inclusivity but opens a wide aperture for minority women in the industry.

Wella Company returned to independent operating status on December 1, 2020 after affiliates of global investment firm KKR acquired a majority-equity stake in the company. Wella Company remains on an accelerated growth journey to become a leader in the hair, nail and beauty tech category across all delivery channels  professional, retail, ecommerce. Over the course of Wella Company's short tenure, the company has accelerated growth, growing double digit vs 2019 levels. The business is gaining momentum in every geography in which it operates (more than 100 countries) and across all regions: Americas, APAC, EMEA and Brazil.

About Wella Company Wella Company is one of the world's leading beauty companies, comprised of a family of iconic brands including Wella Professionals, ghd, OPI, Nioxin, Sebastian Professional and Clairol. At Wella Company, we are innovators who seek to inspire consumers and beauty professionals through our brands to look, feel, and be their true selves. We are committed to building the best beauty company in the industry where our 6,000+ employees across more than 100 countries can bring their best selves to work. Guided by our company values and led by purpose to deliver positive impact on people through our products and towards our planet and society, we deliver sustainable growth to all stakeholders.

For more information on Wella Company, visit www.wellacompany.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

About Briogeo Briogeo has revolutionized clean and natural hair care, offering effective products and solutions for every hair type, hair texture, hair need, ethnicity, background, and person. All Briogeo products are formulated 6-free  (NO harsh sulfates, silicones, parabens, phthalates, artificial dyes, and DEA) and are naturally derived with the brand's proprietary NOVA Complex, a blend of natural oils, vitamins, and antioxidants. Launched in 2013 by entrepreneur Nancy Twine, Briogeo has become one of the fastest-growing hair care brands in the world and one of the largest, independent Black-owned brands in the US. Briogeo continues to experience momentous year-over-year sales growth with a brand mission to inspire, educate, celebrate diversity, and empower every person's healthy hair journey.

Advisory SupportBriogeo was advised by Financo | Raymond James.

Wella Company Contact: Hilary CrnkovichChief Communications & Sustainability OfficerPhone number: + 646-217-1700Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE The Wella Company
NIWOT, Colo., April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wiland, Inc. will hold its 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on May 19, 2022, at 10 a.m. MDT. The meeting will be held at the Company's offices located at 7420 East Dry Creek Parkway, Niwot, Colorado 80503.

The Company encourages those stockholders who are able to do so to attend in person. Those who wish to do so may view the meeting remotely via Zoom teleconference. Stockholders of record as of the close of business on April 15, 2022, are entitled to vote at the meeting, either by attending in person or by submitting their signed and dated proxy (stockholders will not be able to vote via Zoom teleconference).

The business to be conducted includes the election of the Company's directors as well as any other business that is properly brought before the meeting. Members of the Company's Board of Directors and management team will participate in the meeting, and there will be a brief presentation by the management team.

About Wiland, Inc.

Wiland is the nation's leading provider of high-performance marketing audiences that enable relevant connections at scale across all digital and offline channels. Wiland operates the largest independent cooperative database in the U.S., helping thousands of leading brands and organizations utilize first-party data to optimize their return on marketing investment. Wiland's superior audiences, enhancement data, and business intelligence solutions form a comprehensive suite of products that solve today's greatest marketing challenges.

Since 2005, Wiland has assembled the brightest minds, the best technology, and the most extensive individual-level spending data in order to deliver a competitive advantage to its clients. Beyond fueling the success of thousands of organizations, Wiland serves as an industry innovator of targeted marketing solutions that have their foundation in consumer data ethics and privacy protection.

Related links:https://www.wiland.com

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SOURCE Wiland, Inc.
The Result meets the company's RMB 100 billion target for FY2021 with the company also delivering a strong start to FY2022 in the first quarter

Despite ongoing issues related to COVID-19, the company continues to post strong increases in revenue and profit

HOHHOT, China, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Global dairy giant Yili Group has become Asia's first dairy producer to post annual revenue exceeding RMB 100 billion, consolidating the company's dominance in the region.

Total revenue for the company in 2021 was RMB 110.595 billion, up 14.15% year on year, and more than RMB 13.7 billion compared to the previous year. Net profit jumped 23% year on year to reach RMB 8.732 billion.

First-quarter results for 2022 revealed the overall revenue for Yili Group was RMB 31.047 billion, an increase of 13.47% year on year. Net profit rose by 24.08% year on year to reach RMB 3.508 billion.

Pan Gang, Chairman and President of Yili Group, noted that Yili will work at full capacity to ensure a sufficient supply of dairy products under the ongoing epidemic. The company will keep working with partners to meet customers' health needs, as well as to create value for employees, investors and society.

Core products continue to top the market

Yili's core products maintained strong momentum in 2021 due to the company's investment in product innovation, product portfolio optimization and channel expansion.

Its major liquid milk business generated revenue of RMB 84.911 billion, up 11.54% year on year, and continues to top the dairy market. Yili Pure Milk, Satine Pure Milk and the AMBPOMIAL Yoghurt Series set record annual sales of RMB 20 billion. Satine Organic Series continued to rank first in the organic milk segment in 2021. The ice cream sector generated RMB 7.161 billion for Yili in revenue, up 16.28% year on year.

New growth drivers emerge with the milk powder business leading the run

In FY2021, the company's milk powder and related businesses generated RMB 16.209 billion in revenue, an increase of 25.80% year on year, showing strong growth momentum. In the high-potential cheese sector, Yili's cheese business grew by more than 150% year on year.

Company R&D expenditure grew 23.39% to RMB 601 million, a figure significantly higher than the industry average.

Yili continues strategic expansion throughout the industrial chain

In March 2022, Yili completed the formal acquisition of Ausnutria Dairy. The company founded a cheese company in response to rapid growth in the industry. Yili's main products have now entered markets across five continents and more than 60 countries and regions, with revenue from its overseas business growing by 8% year on year. Strong examples of the company's overseas achievements include its ice cream production base in Indonesia and the upgrading of the Westland factories.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/yili-becomes-asias-first-dairy-producer-to-exceed-rmb-100-billion-in-annual-revenue-301536418.html

SOURCE Yili Group
April 29, 2022

Nushares ETF Trust

333 West Wacker Drive

Chicago, Illinois 60606

Re: Registration Statement on Form N-1A

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have acted as counsel to Nushares ETF Trust (the Trust), a Massachusetts voluntary association (commonly known as a business trust), in connection with Post-Effective Amendment No. 80 to the Trusts Registration Statement on Form N-1A to be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) on or about April 29, 2022 (the Registration Statement), with respect to the issuance of shares of beneficial interest, with $0.01 par value per share (collectively, the Shares), of the Trusts Nuveen Short-Term REIT ETF (the Fund). You have requested that we deliver this opinion to you in connection with the Trusts filing of the Registration Statement.

In connection with the furnishing of this opinion, we have examined the following documents:

(a) A certifica te of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts dated as of a recent date, as to the existence of the Trust;

(b) A copy, stamped as filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, of the Trusts Second Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust dated July 27, 2016, and all amendments thereto (the Declaration);

(c) Copies of the Declaration and the Trusts By-Laws dated June 15, 2016 (the By-Laws), and certain resolutions adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Trust authorizing the issuance of the Shares of the Fund (the Resolutions), each certified by an authorized officer of the Trust; and

(d) A printers proof of the Registration Statement.

In such examination, we have assumed the genuineness of all signatures, the conformity to the originals of all of the documents reviewed by us as copies, including conformed copies, the authenticity and completeness of all original documents reviewed by us in original or copy form and the legal competence of each individual executing any document. We have assumed that the Registration Statement, as filed with the Commission, will be in substantially the form of the printers proof referred to in paragraph (d) above. We also have assumed for the purposes of this opinion that the Declaration, By-Laws and Resolutions will not have been amended, modified or withdrawn with respect to matters relating to the Shares and will be in full force and effect on the date of the issuance of such Shares.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004 +1.202.739.3000 United States +1.202.739.3001

Nushares ETF Trust

April 29, 2022

Page 2

This opinion is based entirely on our review of the documents listed above and such other documents as we have deemed necessary or appropriate for the purposes of this opinion and such other investigation of law as we have deemed necessary or appropriate. We have made no other review or investigation of any kind whatsoever, and we have assumed, without independent inquiry, the accuracy of the information set forth in such documents.

As to any opinion below relating to the formation or existence of the Trust under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, our opinion relies entirely upon and is limited by the certificate of public officials referred to in (a) above.

This opinion is limited solely to the internal substantive laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as applied by courts located in Massachusetts (other than Massachusetts securities laws, as to which we express no opinion), to the extent that the same may apply to or govern the transactions referred to herein. No opinion is given herein as to the choice of law that any tribunal may apply to such transactions. In addition, to the extent that the Declaration or the By-Laws refer to, incorporate or require compliance with the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act), or any other law or regulation applicable to the Trust, except for the internal substantive laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as aforesaid, we have assumed compliance by the Trust with the 1940 Act and such other laws and regulations.

We understand that all of the foregoing assumptions and limitations are acceptable to you.

Based upon and subject to the foregoing, please be advised that it is our opinion that:

1. The Trust has been formed and is existing under the Trusts Declaration and the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a voluntary association with transferable shares of beneficial interest commonly referred to as a Massachusetts business trust.

2. The Shares, when issued and sold in accordance with the Trusts Declaration and By-Laws and for the consideration described in the Registration Statement, will be validly issued, fully paid, and nonassessable under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts except that, as set forth in the Registration Statement, shareholders of the Trust may under certain circumstances be held personally liable for its obligations.

This opinion is given as of the date hereof and we assume no obligation to update this opinion to reflect any changes in law or any other facts or circumstances which may hereafter come to our attention. We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the Registration Statement. In rendering this opinion and giving this consent, we do not admit that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

We consent to the use of our report dated February 28, 2022, with respect to the financial statements and financial highlights of Nuveen Short-Term REIT ETF (NURE) as of December 31, 2021, incorporated herein by reference, and to the references to our firm under the headings Financial Highlights in the Prospectus and Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm in the Statement of Additional Information.

/s/ KPMG LLP

Chicago, Illinois

April 28, 2022
The first new Air Force aircraft of a program expected to train a generation of airmen has rolled off the production line, complete with a paint job that honors the trailblazing World War II-era Tuskegee Airmen.

The T-7A Red Hawk training aircraft was unveiled by Boeing at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, and is one of 351 aircraft to be delivered under a $9.2 billion contract signed in 2018, an Air Force statement said Thursday.

The T-7A will train airmen to fly fourth and fifth-generation fighters, such as the F-35. It is set to replace the Air Education and Training Compounds T-38C Talon. The initial version of the T-38 made its debut in 1961 as the worlds first supersonic training aircraft.

The T-7A Red Hawk has its red tail symbol and name taken from the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and the 99th Fighter Squadron, the first African American fighter squadron.

With this rollout, we honor our storied history and the heroes who wrote the chapters, Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, U.S. Air Force Academy superintendent, said in the statement. We usher in an exciting new era of aviation and a new generation of heroes who will write the next chapters.

The Red Hawk is the first Air Force aircraft to use digital tools that allowed it to move from the design phase to testing in three years. It will be tested on the ground before heading to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for flight testing later this year, the statement said.
A 23-year-old paratrooper from Marion, N.C., died Thursday in a vehicle training accident at Fort Bragg, the North Carolina base said Friday.

Spc. Luis Herrera was participating in routine training at the time of the crash, which involved three other soldiers. He was assigned to Raider Company, 2nd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, the base said in a prepared statement.

Spc. Herrera was an exceptional paratrooper and an engaged friend to all those who knew him. Luis was a soldiers soldier who always led by example and never missed a chance to leave a positive impact on those around him, said Col. Theodore Kleisner, commander of 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division. Our brigade was made better by the selfless service of Spc. Herrera. The leaders and paratroopers of 1st Brigade Combat Team are committed to ensuring every resource is available to his family and peers to help them through this difficult time.

Herrera is survived by his wife, parents, family, and friends, Fort Bragg said. His battalion is planning a memorial service to honor him in the coming weeks.

Our thoughts and prayers, along with the paratroopers of Geronimo 2nd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, are with Spc. Herreras wife and loved ones as we mourn the loss of Luis, said Capt. Daigoroh Abreu, his company commander. Big Lous presence was a gift to us all, and his radiant smile brought warmth to all who knew him.

The other three soldiers involved in the crash were treated at Fort Braggs Womack Army Medical Center. One has been released from the hospital while the other soldiers were admitted for treatment and observation.

The paratroopers death was the second fatal Army training accident in less than a week. Pfc. Joseph A. Marquez, 20, died Monday in a single-vehicle crash during training at the Yakima Training Center near Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. Two soldiers also were injured in the accident.

No details were released about either crash and both are under investigation.

Herrera enlisted in the Army in November 2017 as an infantryman and served two deployments to Kuwait, according to Fort Bragg. His military awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, two Army Achievement Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, and the Parachutist Badge.

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(Tribune News Services)  The Coast Guard and its partner agencies searched a combined 9,521 miles since Saturday and rescued Tuesday five adults and one child aboard a 19-foot vessel near Etal Atoll in Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia.

Coast Guard Forces Micronesia, Sector Guam watchstanders got a call at 6 a.m. Saturday about an overdue boat that left Namoluk Atoll Friday for a 35-mile trip, but failed to arrive in Etal Atoll as planned.

The Coast Guard deployed several assets and worked with local and federal partners to search for the missing boat.

The crew of the merchant vessel Navigator found the missing vessel about 14 miles from its destination after it ran out of fuel during stormy weather.

The navigator crew provided fuel for the boat, allowing all the passengers to arrive safely in Etal.

The Navigator is part of the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue program made up of volunteers from around the world, who assist during search-and-rescue operations.

Also participating in the search were Air Station Barbers Point C-130 Hercules air crew; Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Henry crew, Air Force KC-10 Extender air crew, and merchant vessel North Star crew.

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YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan  The U.S. Navy tried out a new drone system recently aboard one of its older destroyers, a project that, if successful, could provide low impact, unmanned air support for the warship.

The Aerosonde Small Unmanned Aircraft System, property of defense contractor Textron, Inc., successfully completed its first flight on April 4 from the deck of the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins, according to a company news release that day.

It was unclear Friday where the flight took place. The Higgins, homeported at Yokosuka, joined the 7th Fleet in August, according to the Navy.

The Aerosonde was installed in February and is expected to remain aboard the Higgins through October, with an option for an extension, 7th Fleet spokesman Lt. Mark Langford told Stars and Stripes in an email April 21.

The Higgins, an Arleigh Burke Flight II variant commissioned 23 years ago, lacks the onboard hangar built into later, Flight IIA and Flight III variants to fully accommodate MH-60 Seahawk helicopters. The Navy is using the Aerosonde, which has a relatively small footprint, to fill that gap.

The Aerosonde UAS provides an aerial component without needing to launch a manned helicopter, Langford said. Its sensor suite is personalized for the [destroyer] and its planned missions, and [it] greatly extends visual or radar horizon sensor ranges beyond the ships organic capabilities.

The Aerosonde has a 12-foot wingspan and weighs 80 pounds, according to Textrons website. It has a range of 75 nautical miles, can stay aloft 14 hours, fly at a maximum 65 knots and carry up to 20 pounds.

A two-person team can launch the drone in under an hour; its powered by the same fuel that Seahawk helicopters use, Textron spokeswoman Susan Benhoff told Stars and Stripes.

When you see these systems operate in collaboration with other manned and unmanned systems you begin to see their true power and potential, she said in an April 21 email. We have already demonstrated that air, land and sea unmanned systems can team with each other, extending range beyond line of sight or allowing for operations over the horizon line.

A typical Aerosonde mission includes maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, Langford said.

Private contractors operate the system is under a fee-for-services model, which Benhoff said gives flexibility to both the Navy and Textron.

Only the Higgins has the Aerosonde right now, but a second drone may deploy later this year, probably on another 7th Fleet vessel, Benhoff said.

Textron also plans to field another version of the system thats capable of vertical takeoff and landing called the Aerosonde Hybrid Quad UAS, she said.

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 SAN DIEGO (Tribune News Service)  Defense attorneys indicated Thursday they plan to request a mistrial in the Fat Leonard Navy bribery scandal, capping a highly unusual three-day special evidentiary hearing held to determine if prosecutors improperly failed to disclose exculpatory evidence or knowingly advanced a false narrative during the first several weeks of trial.

Lawyers for the five former naval officers on trial are expected to file briefings asking for a mistrial, dismissal and other lesser remedies in court over the next several days, with prosecutors given time to reply with their own briefings.

But U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino has refused to put the trial  closing out its ninth week with several more to go  on hold in the meantime and has ordered the jury to return to the courtroom Monday morning after being absent a week.

Im not going to rush the deliberative process on this, U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino told attorneys, stressing the gravity of the forthcoming motions. Theyre significant, theyre important, and the court is going to take its time on that.

The past week has been a scramble to get to the bottom of why federal investigators failed to create a report to be disclosed to the defense documenting brief conversations they had over the phone and in text messages with a prostitute in the Philippines. The woman, Ynah, was allegedly paid by Leonard Glenn Francis, a military contractor nicknamed for his large physique, to have sex with one of the defendants, former Capt. David Lausman.

In the conversations, Ynah denied having sex with a man who she wouldnt identify and said she slept on the couch in his hotel room, according to evidence. She further said she lied to Francis about having sex so she would get paid.

Lausmans attorneys argue that prosecutors violated the Brady Rule, referring to the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brady v. Maryland that requires the disclosure of exculpatory evidence.

The evidentiary hearing  which was held outside the presence of the jury to determine if a violation occurred  ventured into what has been described as unprecedented territory Thursday when two assistant U.S. attorneys from the prosecution team were questioned from the witness stand by their trial adversaries, the defense attorneys.

A larger-than-usual audience was present for the spectacle: the U.S. attorney himself and other supervisors from the office sitting on the left, behind the prosecutor table, and several curious members of the federal defense bar watching from the gallery on the right.

The lead prosecutor, Mark Pletcher, testified that he had always intended for the special agents to write a report about their conversations with Ynah, which had occurred at the beginning of March, just after opening statements had concluded in the trial. But he said he needed more clarity on the circumstances of the contact before he could determine the best way to report and disclose it.

The two agents who communicated with her were from different agencies, the conversations occurred over different mediums over a series of days and there were substantive text messages, which could be either disclosed in their entirety or summarized by agents, he explained.

The need to generate a report came up between the agents and Pletcher four times over the course of several days or weeks, with Pletcher each time saying he need to think about it and that he would circle back later, he testified.

Pletcher said he was consumed with the trial at the time  putting on the first six witnesses and also helping re-strategize how the case would be presented, including moving a major witness to the front of the lineup rather than the end as planned.

He said the report had fallen through the cracks and it shouldnt have.

I was at fault in that I didnt resurface and raise this issue for completion when it was raised to me, Pletcher said.

Joseph Mancano, defense attorney for the lead defendant, former Capt. David Newland, stood up and raised an objection to that notion: Being busy is no exception to a Brady obligation, he told the judge.

Prosecutors have argued that even though the report should have been produced, there was no Brady violation because Lausman was never specifically implicated by Ynah to the government.

The information she provided was very vague, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Wasserman, who was also called to testify, said of Ynahs disclosures to agents. That included a refusal to name the man or say when or where the hotel incident occurred. There was nothing we had that was facially exculpatory.

The resumption of trial without a ruling on whether there was a Brady violation leaves both sides in an awkward position come Monday, when former Cmdr. Stephen Shedd is expected to begin his testimony. Shedd, who has already pleaded guilty to bribery charges, was expected to talk in part about the allegations regarding Lausman and Ynah, including what he saw and what Lausman told him.

Now, that specific testimony  at the very least  wont be permitted due to the Brady controversy, Sammartino confirmed. But defense attorneys are concerned there are more potential roadblocks that could present an unfair narrative.

From the defenses perspective, this is part of a pervasive pattern of prosecutorial misconduct, said one of Lausmans attorneys, Laura Schaefer. Our concern is whats happened here is just a small part of whats been going on in this case from the very beginning.

The judge said such issues would have to be dealt with as they come up, until she can rule on the coming motions, including one asking for a mistrial.

There is a continuum of relief that can be sought, in the courts view, Sammartino said. Maybe a category of evidence that shouldnt come in.

She added that, until then, We are going to continue this trial. I am not willing to postpone this jury any further.

2022 The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Visit sandiegouniontribune.com.

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NAPLES, Italy  Capt. Aaron Shoemaker took over Friday as commanding officer of Sicilys Naval Air Station Sigonella, relieving Capt. Kevin Kepper Pickard Jr., who had served in the role since 2019.

At Sigonella, Pickard oversaw the Navys only forward-deployed air station in Europe through the COVID-19 pandemic, the evacuation of Afghan refugees and flooding that affected not only the base but also its family housing complex, said Rear Adm. Scott Gray, commander of Navy Region Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia.

Gray praised Pickard for his forward-thinking leadership, and he presented the base with a Navy Unit Commendation for its work on behalf of Afghan evacuees during Operation Allies Refuge in 2021. The honor is the second-highest award a Navy unit can receive.

I honestly could not have asked for more, Gray said of Pickards efforts.

Pickard next will serve as chief of staff for Navy Region Northwest in Bangor, Wash., beginning in June, according to a Friday statement from NAS Sigonella.

Shoemaker will oversee a base that has 37 tenant commands, including a Marine tilt-rotor squadron. About 2,300 sailors, 700 civilians, 800 Italians and 2,200 military family members work or live on the base.

His last Navy assignments include a stint as branch head at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations from July 2020 to August 2021 and a three-year stretch as assistant deputy director for operations for the Joint Staff in Arlington, Va., according to his LinkedIn profile.

Shoemaker, whose first deployment as a pilot was to Sigonella in 2001, said his priorities will include professionalism, readiness and families.
WASHINGTON  Florida National Guard soldiers who trained troops in Ukraine before Russias invasion are now training Ukrainian forces again outside the war-torn country, chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Friday.

The United States has commenced training with the Ukrainian armed forces on key systems at U.S. military installations in Germany, Kirby said. "This new training effort  is in direct support of recent U.S. security assistance packages."

About 160 of the Army National Guard troops deployed in December to Ukraine for a training mission before they were pulled out of the country Feb. 12 as Russia prepared to launch its invasion less than two weeks later.

The U.S. troops were sent to an undisclosed location in Europe, but recently had a sentimental reunion with the Ukrainians they had once trained, Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon.

"The recent reunion now of these Florida National Guard members with their Ukrainian colleagues we are told was an emotional meeting, given the strong bonds that were formed as they were living and working together before temporarily parting ways in February, he said.

For now, there are no plans to return to training forces inside Ukraine as President Joe Biden has said he will not send U.S. troops into the country, but the Pentagon is considering remote training for Ukrainian troops there.

The trainers would be obviously outside Ukraine, but able to communicate with Ukrainian troops inside Ukraine virtually, Kirby said. So that's an option available to us [but it] hasn't started.

The Florida National Guard troops are still deployed on their original December orders, he said. There has been no decision made on whether their deployment will be extended.

Useful and constructive

Training is necessary because Ukrainian forces are unfamiliar with some of the weapons that the U.S. sent Ukraine, such as the 90 155mm howitzers included in recent back-to-back $800 million military aid packages, Kirby said.

These efforts build on the initial artillery training that Ukraine's forces already have received elsewhere, and also includes training on the radar systems and armored vehicles that have been recently announced as part of security assistance packages, he said.

Canadian forces are also training Ukrainian troops on the M777 howitzer, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand confirmed during a news conference Thursday at the Pentagon with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Two groups of 50 Ukrainian troops are undergoing howitzer training  one in Germany and one in an undisclosed European country, Kirby said.

We want to make its not only useful and constructive for Ukrainians, but  not so time-consuming that it takes them out of their fight for too long, he said. These soldiers are eager to learn these new skills, but they're also eager to apply those new skills in the conflict.

The U.S. earlier this year trained Ukrainian forces on Switchblade drones, commonly called kamikaze drones for their ability to fly into a target and launch explosives, the Pentagon has said.

Russias assault slows

The training comes as Russias renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine creeps along, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday.

Because of this slow and uneven progress  again without perfect knowledge of every aspect of the Russian plan  we do believe and assess that [Russian forces] are behind schedule in what they were trying to accomplish in the Donbas [region], said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Russian forces have made some incremental, uneven and slow advances southeast and southwest of Izyum in eastern Ukraine, the official said. The U.S. believes Russia wants to close in on Ukrainians from the east, north and south but have failed to encircle them, so far.

They have not been able to link the north [line of advance] with the south, the official said. In fact, they're nowhere close to linking the north and south as the Ukrainians continue to push back."

Still, Russia continues its onslaught in eastern Ukraine, targeting most of their airstrikes on Mariupol in the south and on a Ukrainian operations area near the Donbas, the official said.

Most of those munitions have been dumb bombs, meaning not precision-guided, which are known to cause more damage to civilian infrastructure, the official said.

Most of Russias airstrikes are launched from outside Ukraine and the aircraft return to Russia afterward because the airspace above Ukraine remains contested, the official said Thursday.

It's not like the Russians own every airfield in Ukraine and are using it  that's not the case, the official said. The Ukrainians still are operating their air forces and their missile defense systems inside the country."

As of Friday, Russia has launched 1,950 missiles since the start of the war, the official said.
WASHINGTON  The commanding officer of Submarine Training Facility San Diego was fired following a Navy investigation, the Naval Education and Training Command said Friday in a statement.

Cmdr. Jared Severson, who is from Colorado, lost his position Thursday due to a loss of confidence in his leadership ability based on the findings of a command investigation, according to the statement.

The Navy declined to detail the investigations focus or its findings.

Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, it would be inappropriate to provide further information at this time, said Cmdr. Brian Wierzbicki, NETC spokesman.

Capt. Steve Antcliff, commander of the services Submarine Learning Center, made the decision to remove Severson, who had led the training facility command since June, according to the Navy.

The submarine training facility at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego provides basic training for officers and enlisted sailors to attain necessary qualifications and certifications, according to its website.

Severson was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 11, also at Point Loma. The service did not say what his position will be there.

Severson, a submarine warfare officer, enlisted in the Navy in May 1999 and commissioned as an officer in September 2001, according to his service record. He previously served at Submarine Development Squadron 5 in Siverdale, Wash., and Submarine Force Atlantic in Norfolk, Va.

Lt. Cmdr. Chris Lindahl, who is from North Carolina, has taken command in Seversons place. He had been serving previously as the training facilitys executive officer.

Seversons photograph and biography were removed from the Submarine Learning Centers website and replaced with Lindahls as of Friday morning.

Lindahl commissioned in 2007 through the Naval ROTC program at Virginia Tech University, according to the website. He holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and a masters degree in engineering management.

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TAIPEI, Taiwan  Taiwan, which had been living mostly free of COVID-19, is now facing its worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic with over 11,000 new cases reported Thursday.

Cases have been on the upswing since late March. In April, the island's central authorities announced that they would no longer maintain a "zero-COVID" policy like the Chinese government's in which they would centrally quarantine positive cases.

Instead, the government is asking people to quarantine at home if they test positive, unless they show moderate to severe symptoms.

Chen Shih-chung, the island's health minister, announced Thursday they had found 11,353 new cases, along with two deaths. During the daily press briefing held by the Central Epidemic Command Center, he said 99.7% of the cases in the current outbreak either had no symptoms or had mild symptoms.

Chin Siz-rong, a 24-year-old travel agent in Taipei, isn't planning to take any extra precautions because he already got a booster COVID-19 vaccine and is used to wearing a mask. He said he switched to takeout when he eats out alone, but still will go to restaurants with friends.

"I already got three shots, and now everyone is saying its severity is like a cold. So I'm not too afraid for myself," said Chin.

Most of Taiwan's 858 COVID-19 deaths came from summer 2021. Until this month, it had been the island's one major outbreak in the pandemic.

Taiwan has been relatively lucky throughout the pandemic, but also has maintained strict border controls with a two-week quarantine on arrival required for all visitors.

Domestically, mask wearing is universal both outdoors and indoors. Masks are legally required on public transportation and in places like shops and theaters.

In the past few weeks, as cases have ratcheted up, people scrambled to buy up rapid tests with stores selling out in just a few hours. Convenience stores across Taipei were unsure where their next delivery would come from.

Difficulty buying rapid tests is likely due in part to the government's thought throughout the pandemic that there are few benefits to mass testing. The health minister last year said that public funds and medical resources could better be used elsewhere.

That changed with last year's outbreak.

The central government this month said it would work with Taiwanese companies who manufacture tests to ensure that everyone would have access. A system was rolled out Thursday that limits each person to buying one pack of five tests per trip. Each purchase must be linked to an individual's national ID to ensure that there is no stockpiling.

Experts are worried about the 5 million people who have not been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Those who did not complete a full vaccination course are four times more likely to get moderate or severe symptoms compared to those those who have gotten a booster, said Ho Mei-Shang, a vaccine expert in Taiwan who has also worked for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Central News Agency.

Most vulnerable in Taiwan's outbreak this time are children and the elderly. The vaccination rate among people over 75 is 72.5%. However, only 59.1% in the same age group received a booster.

Wang Zi-yu, 78, said she overcame her hesitation and got three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

"I thought not getting the vaccine is worse. In the beginning with the AstraZeneca vaccine, I was worried," she said, referring to concerns that the vaccine could cause a rare blood clot. "And then later I got the Moderna shot and didn't have any negative reaction. It was fine."

Many of her friends are concerned about the side effects of getting the COVID-19 vaccine, Wang added.

Society's youngest are also not protected. Some schools have switched back to remote learning based on the number of positive cases each school is reporting. The island is opening up vaccine shots to children ages 6-11 next week.

A 2-year-old boy in New Taipei City died last week, the youngest victim of COVID-19 in Taiwan. His condition deteriorated rapidly after testing positive in a rare case.

Still, officials urged the public to not panic, saying that Taiwan was better prepared with vaccines and ways to ensure moderate and severe cases would get prompt attention.

"We want to tell the public, from the medical world, please rest assured," said Chiu Tai-yuan, a lawmaker who also heads the Taiwan Medical Association. "Last year's outbreak situation is not like the one we face today."
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii  The Army this week unveiled 20 newly built barracks at Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaiis Big Island, the first phase of construction to replace the roughly 100 1950s-era Quonset huts.

Construction took two years at a cost of $17 million, Lt. Col. Kevin Cronin, commander of the training area, said in a phone interview Wednesday. He oversaw a dedication ceremony Tuesday that included a traditional Hawaiian blessing.

The 132,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area replicates the kind of austere conditions troops could expect to face in combat. U.S. soldiers and Marines, as well as troops from partner and ally nations, use the area for live-fire training, including heavy artillery and missiles.

Were the premier Pacific training area where [troops] reach the highest level of readiness, Cronin said. Its great to have new buildings and new facilities for our troops to come here to train.

Anything that allows the troops to focus on training  what theyre here to do  is important, he said.

The Quonset huts are prone to overheating in the sun and becoming too cold at night, he said. Rodents have encroached on the buildings over the decades.

The Quonsets were built in the 1950s, primarily by soldiers with the Hawaii Army National Guards engineer units, Cronin said.

Each new barrack is designed to house 50 individuals, he said. The next 80 barracks will be built over roughly the next decade, with the entire project costing about $200 million.

It is being done in phases, with two rows of Quonsets to be demolished in each stage.

There is no requirement from a historical preservation standpoint to save any of the Quonsets, said Cronin, but added that from a personal standpoint he would like to see a couple stay standing.

I would like to see [saved] the Quonset hut chapel  which is the only Quonset hut chapel in the Department of Defense  and the theater, which is located next to the chapel, he said. We would still use them, but as two remnants of where we came from here at PTA. Its always important to remember our legacy.

That history goes back to December 1943, when Marines from the 2nd Marine Division arrived on the Big Island to train and refit after the Battle of Tarawa a month earlier, Cronin said.

Then they went off to their victories in the Pacific  Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima, to name a few, he said.

The size of the training area continued to grow, and in 1964 the Army signed a 65-year lease with Hawaii for about 23,000 acres of state land.

The Army is attempting to renew that lease before it expires in 2029. It is seeking public comment on the draft environmental impact statement for that renewal.

Securing a new lease is no small matter for the Army because that state land fully surrounds the 758 acres of federal land that include the training areas airfield and cantonment  including all those rows of soon-to-be-built barracks.

Few of the dozens of people who showed up to public hearings on Monday and Tuesday evenings on the Big Island expressed support for the renewal.

We gotta say, stop the leases, Maxine Kahaulelio, a longtime community organizer in Hawaii, said at Tuesdays hearing in Waimea. No more military. Go home. We wanna throw you guys a luau in 2029  the biggest luau you guys want  and then escort you guys out of our island and say, Mahalo.

Kalani Flores, another frequent critic of the training range, said at the hearing Tuesday that Pohakuloa is an incompatible location for the live-fire training because it is the energetic center of the island and every explosion and gunshot causes an energetic disturbance on our island that has far more repercussions than you can understand.

Cronin seemed to take such opposition in stride when asked during the interview for his impression of the hearings.

I welcome those comments and comments across the stakeholder spectrum because thats part of the process, he said.
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  South Korean police arrested a man Thursday suspected of defacing a bronze statue of the late General of the Army Douglas MacArthur in Incheon.

Detectives from the Incheon Jungbu station took a 60-year-old Korean man into custody following a 2:50 a.m. disturbance call at Freedom Park, an Incheon police official told Stars and Stripes by phone on Thursday. Police did not identify the man but said he belongs to an activist group called the Peace Agreement Movement Headquarters.

The group describes itself on its website as a peaceful organization that opposes the deployment of American troops in South Korea and their joint military exercises.

The man is suspected of destroying public property by writing Deport U.S. troops in red paint at the base of MacArthurs statue located at the park, the police official said.

The man is also accused of chiseling a nearby inscription honoring MacArthurs place in South Koreas history, as well as defacing MacArthurs face on a separate memorial with red paint.

South Korean government officials customarily speak to the media on condition of anonymity.

The man has a history of run-ins with law enforcement, according to the police official, who said an investigation is underway. He did not say if any charges were filed against the man.

Videos and photos posted Thursday on the groups Facebook page showed an unidentified man using a hammer and red spray-paint to deface the memorials. A caption to the posts said the man acted with a sense of loyalty derived from the only wish for the independence and unification of the fatherland.

The group makes a strong demand for the abolishment of [U.S.-South Korean] war games for an aggressive war on North Korea, the post said.

The 10-foot-tall statue of MacArthur was erected in 1957 and has since been the source of ire for protesters. In 2018, a 61-year-old pastor was arrested and charged for setting the statue on fire, according to a Yonhap News Agency report.

MacArthur commanded the U.S.-led United Nations forces during the 1950-53 Korean War, and before that, Allied forces in the Pacific in World War II.

While his military achievements are reflected in his numerous awards, including a Medal of Honor for his campaign in the Philippines against Japanese forces, he is widely acknowledged in South Korean history for orchestrating an amphibious assault against North Korean forces in Incheon.

On Sept. 15, 1950, MacArthur oversaw Operation Chromite, a risky amphibious landing at the Incheon seawall behind North Korean lines. The successful landing proved to be the stepping point for retaking Seoul, the capital city, roughly two weeks later.

According to the South Korean Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs website, the statue of MacArthur was erected in Freedom Park because it commands the view of the site of the Incheon landing.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.
JAKARTA, Indonesia  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged a rapid halt to fighting in Ukraine on Friday and said they will work together to improve humanitarian conditions there.

"The Ukraine war must be stopped immediately and we agree to create a conducive situation so that negotiations and a peaceful solution can be reached quickly," Widodo said after meeting with Kishida in Jakarta.

Indonesia is Kishida's first stop on an eight-day trip that will also take him to Vietnam, Thailand, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine "shook the foundations of the international order, including in Asia, and it must be strongly condemned," Kishida said.

Kishida and Widodo also discussed Indonesia's role as current chair of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations.

"We will use Indonesia's leadership of the G-20 as a catalyst for a humanitarian response and world economic recovery," Widodo said.

Widodo announced Friday that he has invited both Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G-20 leaders' summit in Bali in November. He said Putin agreed to attend but it was unclear whether it would be in person or virtually. It was not immediately known whether Zelenskyy would attend.

Widodo also said he rejected a request from the Ukrainian leader for weapons from Indonesia.

"The mandate of Indonesia's Constitution and the principles of our foreign policy prohibit providing arms to other countries," Widodo said. "However, we are ready to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine."

"I reiterated the importance of ending the war immediately," he said. "I also emphasized that peaceful efforts should continue and Indonesia is ready to contribute to these peaceful efforts," he said in televised remarks.

Indonesia is hoping for additional Japanese investment, especially in energy, cement, agricultural technology and health, and that Japan will make Indonesia an important part of the global supply chain for its industries, Widodo said.

Japan is Indonesia's third largest export destination and fifth largest investor. Cooperation between the two countries includes the Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit system and Patimban Port in West Java province.
TOKYO  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Tokyo on Thursday that his country wants to strengthen ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific region that share the same values, and work together to end Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

"My trip is a clear political signal that Germany and the European Union will continue and intensify their engagement with the Indo-Pacific region," Scholz said after meeting Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Kishida said he and Scholz agreed that as members of the Group of Seven industrialized nations they share a responsibility to work together to end Russian aggression and restore peace, stability and international order as quickly as possible.

"The Ukraine crisis shakes the foundation of the international order not only in Europe but also in Asia. Any attempts to change the status quo must be avoided, especially in East Asia," Kishida said at a joint news conference.

"If we do not clearly show (to Russia) that this kind of unilateral change to the status quo by force and recklessness has a high cost, it will give the wrong message to Asia," he said.

On his first trip to Tokyo as chancellor, Scholz said both Germany and Japan are defenders of the "rules-based international order," the principles of the U.N. Charter and the defense of universal human rights. Scholz said he also wanted to come to Japan because Tokyo will take over as chair of the G-7 after Germany.

Japan has imposed sanctions against Russia in line with other G-7 countries and provided support for Ukraine out of concern that Russia's invasion could embolden China and intensify tensions in East Asia. China has long sought to take control of independently governed Taiwan, and has threatened to do so by force if necessary.

Japan has also provided Ukraine with non-lethal defense equipment in an exception to its policy against exporting military materials to nations in conflict.

Germany had initially refused to send any offensive weapons to Ukraine and later balked at sending heavy equipment such as armored vehicles.

Scholz's government, under pressure domestically and from allies, recently reversed that policy and agreed to send offensive weapons and allow Ukraine to purchase German armaments, and to support weapons swaps with allies who in turn are sending heavy equipment to Ukraine.

Japan hopes to work closely with Germany as strategic partners on "various challenges that the international community faces, including responses to China," Kishida said.

Scholz said Germany and Japan also agreed to work together to strengthen economic cooperation in areas such as 5G technologies and economic security.

He said ensuring that supply chains become less dependent on individual countries is "a task that is more relevant than ever," in a reference to China.

___

AP writer Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
In an escalating war of words, Russia warned Western countries not to test our patience after the United States and Britain publicly backed Ukraines right to strike Russian territory following a spate of mysterious fires.

Russias Foreign Ministry accused the West of openly encouraging Ukraine to attack Russia - and said Thursday that countries should take seriously Moscows warnings that any attack will lead to a tough response.

The West openly calls on Kyiv to attack Russia, using, among other things, weapons received from NATO countries, spokesperson Maria Zakharova told journalists in Moscow. We advise you not to further test our patience, she said.

The comments come after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was Ukraines prerogative to strike back on Russian soil. Asked whether the United States should support offensive operations, Blinken said he believed that it was vital that Ukraine do whatever is necessary to defend against Russian aggression and that the tactics of this are their decisions.

The comments come as Ukrainian officials said unexplained fires and explosions that were reported in recent days against sensitive targets in Russia were justified - and could increase - but did not take responsibility for them.

Blinkens comments, made in testimony to a congressional panel, appeared to resonate in Kyiv, where an adviser to Ukraines president cited them - and insisted the country would defend itself in any way, including strikes on the warehouses and bases of the killers [Russia].

The world recognizes this right, Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted.

Podolyak, one day earlier, had said reports of explosions in three Russian regions near Ukraines eastern border - including Belgorod, where Kremlin officials earlier this month accused Ukraine of carrying out a helicopter attack against a fuel depot - were karma.

Podolyak cited different reasons - including possible divine intervention - for the alleged attacks, but he did not confirm or deny whether Ukraine was responsible. If you decided to attack another country en masse, kill everyone there en masse, crush civilians with tanks en masse, and use warehouses in your regions to ensure the killings, then sooner or later the debts will have to be repaid, Podolyak said in a Telegram post written in Russian. Karma is a cruel thing.

Podolyak also suggested on Ukrainian state television that the pace of the attacks could increase in line with the rise in tensions in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian Pravda.

Britains defense minister, Ben Wallace, told the BBC on Thursday that it would be legitimate under international law for Ukraine to attack the logistics structure of the Russian army. British armed forces minister James Heappey made similar comments on Tuesday and indicated that his country would not oppose Ukraines use of British-supplied weapons to hit military targets in Russia - sparking immediate blowback from Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened lightning-fast retaliation Wednesday against any country that intervenes to support Ukraine. If anyone intends to intervene from the outside and create a strategic threat to Russia that is unacceptable to us, they should know that our retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast, Putin told Russian lawmakers at the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg.

Russias Defense Ministry, citing Heappeys comments, accused Britain of encouraging Kyiv to strike Russia and threatened to respond. We would like to underline that Londons direct provocation of the Kiev regime into such actions, if such actions are carried out, will immediately lead to our proportional response, the ministry said.

Putins foreign minister said earlier in the week that the chances of the conflict in Ukraine escalating into a nuclear war should not be underestimated. Sergei Lavrov said Monday on Russian television that the risk was serious and real, and accused Western powers of fighting a proxy war against Russia by funneling weapons into Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Western donations of weapons to Ukraine and other countries threaten the security of the continent and provoke instability, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.

At a briefing on Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price branded Lavrovs comments as provocative and deeply irresponsible.

Price said that loose talk of nuclear weapons, nuclear escalation is especially irresponsible.

- - -

The Washington Posts Mary Ilyushina, John Hudson, Ellen Francis and Liz Sly contributed to this report.
RIGA, Latvia  The Kremlin has sought to minimize discussion of Russian war losses inside Ukraine. But apparent Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil in the past week highlight how the conflict has spilled across the border, unsettling residents of regions near the border and threatening to upend President Vladimir Putins effort to insulate his citizens from the fighting he started.

In the wake of the shellings and strikes, local authorities are sounding alarms  as well as calling for revenge and in some cases evacuations  as they contend with the growing peril.

The attacks, which Ukrainian leaders have neither confirmed nor denied but which one senior adviser winkingly described as karma on Wednesday, suggest that Kyiv is increasingly able to reach into Russian territory as the war continues. Empowered by NATOs military aid, Ukrainian troops are hitting infrastructure, military targets and, Russian authorities say, at least some villages. Russian citizens are now waking to the same explosions that Ukrainians have faced for more than two months, making the conflict far more immediate and dangerous.

At least 11 hits appear to have occurred since the fighting began Feb. 24, most of them since late last week. Most seem to have involved shelling or triggered Russian antiaircraft weaponry. A handful were suspicious explosions at Russian military facilities near the border.

They have drawn Russian fury.

The Anglo-Saxons publicly recommend that Ukraine move hostilities onto Russian territory. And supply it with the means to implement this plan, Margarita Simonyan, editor of the state-run Russia Today news outlet, tweeted Thursday. What choice are you giving us, idiots? Complete destruction of the remaining Ukraine? Nuclear strike?

In recent days, residents of the most vulnerable areas have posted videos of apparent explosions and Russian antiaircraft defense rockets streaking into the nighttime sky.

I think this is coming here, one anxious witness can be heard saying, along with an expletive, in a video showing intense flames and a massive plume of thick smoke billowing over the city of Belgorod early Wednesday.

In another video filmed several hours later, what is described as a Russian humanitarian convoy comes under fire as it speeds across open fields in the afternoon sun.

We are riding here, they are shelling us, we are trying to escape. God have mercy! This is scary, Alena Berezovskaya, a pro-Kremlin activist and journalist, said in the clip that the state-run RIA Novosti outlet posted Thursday.

Berezovskaya sits in what looks like a military truck. Booms can be heard around her. The convoy was said to have come under attack in Zhuravlyovka, less than a mile into Russia, after delivering supplies to Russian-held territory near Ukraines second largest city of Kharkiv.

She nervously adjusts her green helmet as the rolling Russian countryside streaks by her window, the fields bearing the first green blush of spring.

Its scary on a human level, of course, but everything is in the hands of God, she said.

With large portions of Russian border territory feeling a sense of vulnerability, local leaders have had little choice but to acknowledge what is happening to their residents and try to protect them. Early this month, authorities declared the second-highest terrorist threat level in regions closest to Ukraine. They advised residents to avoid gathering in large crowds.

Belgorods governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Wednesday that he was woken up at 3:35 a.m. that day from a loud noise, like an explosion.

The governor of neighboring Kursk, Roman Starovoit, explained the loud banging sounds Kursk residents had heard as the work of Russian air defense equipment. On Monday, two Turkish-made Bayraktar drones were shot down over the region, RIA Novosti reported, raising the possibility of serious danger for residents since the drones can be equipped with powerful weaponry.

Some expect that in the next stage of the war, attacks could be a near-daily occurrence.

We assume that . . . some kind of missiles or Bayraktars will now be flying in and strike almost every day, and we will see many more such reports, said Ruslan Leviev, founder of the Conflict Intelligence Team, an independent analytical group that uses open-source data to track military activities.

Few Ukrainians offer any sympathy, with an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky saying Russians should not be surprised to find themselves targeted.

Sooner or later the debts will have to be repaid, Mykhailo Podolyak wrote in Russian in a Telegram post that attributed the shellings, explosions and unexplained fires to the work of divine intervention after the relentless assault of Mariupol during the week leading up to Orthodox Easter.

Ukraines Western backers support strikes on military sites inside Russian territory.

The country should do whatever is necessary to defend against Russian aggression, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a congressional panel on Wednesday. It would be legitimate under international law for Ukraine to attack the logistics structure of the Russian army, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told the BBC on Thursday.

Many NATO nations initially were cautious about providing weaponry that could reach deep into Russia. Those cautions have ebbed somewhat. But even without directly providing long-range equipment, the alliance can still backfill Ukraines stocks and enable it to take greater overall risks.

Given Russians broad support for the war, incursions on Russian soil are likely to provoke public calls for escalation, rather than the opposite, said Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of France-based political analysis firm R. Politik.

Russian society is not ready for peace. Russian society expects that Ukraine will be defeated, she said. Everything that comes from Ukraine, like attacks on Russian territory, only fuels such sentiments.

Yet such strikes, she added, also challenge the Kremlins domestic narrative that what is happening in Ukraine is a special operation  quick and fast  and not a war.

Attacks are more likely intended as messages to Russian leaders rather than efforts to turn the broader public against the fighting, said Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

People may perceive it as warning shots. But so far, warning shots are more for the Kremlin, he said. Ukraines substantial military capabilities are becoming evident, and it is even possible that the nature of the war in the border regions will change.

Zhuravlyovka, the village where the humanitarian convoy was targeted Wednesday, has faced repeated incidents. At least two residents were injured during nighttime shelling on Monday, according to Gladkov, who wrote on the social network VKontakte that he wanted to evacuate the area for a safer place but that some residents were refusing.

Village leader Anzhelika Samoilova recounted how she and other residents, many of them elderly, had spent the night in a basement for safety.

These are horrific emotions. No one expected this. No one was prepared for this. When I saw this with my own eyes, I was shocked, Samoilova said in a video posted to the governors VKontakte profile that showed a modest home with part of its roof blown away. It was scary to come outside.
On a visit to Kyiv, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited several towns around the capital that had been destroyed in the war and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, two days after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to urge for an immediate end to the conflict.

When I see those destroyed buildings, I must say what I feel. I imagined my family in one of those houses that is now destroyed and black, said the secretary general in the town of Borodyanka, Ukraine. I see my granddaughters running away in panic, part of the family eventually killed.

The war is an absurdity in the 21st century, Guterres said. The war is evil.

In Borodyanka, a devastated town where many buildings have been reduced to rubble, Gutteres spoke to the areas governor, who told him that though residents were returning, some were still looking for bodies in houses.

Upon returning to Kyiv from his visit to destroyed suburbs, the secretary general was visibly affected - personally affected by it, U.N. Spokesperson for Ukraine, Kris Janowski told U.N. News.

Wherever there is a war, the highest price is paid by civilians, Guterres said in Irpin, Ukraine. He was speaking from a destroyed Irpinksy Lipki residential complex, and said everyone should remember that innocent civilians were living in these buildings. They were paying the highest price for a war for which they have not contributed at all.

On Tuesday, Guterres met with Putin in Moscow to reiterate the United Nations position on the situation in Ukraine. The aim of Guterress visits was to discuss immediate steps to stop the fighting and ensure the safety of all, U.N. spokesperson Eri Kaneko said.

Putin agreed after the meeting in principle to allow U.N. and International Committee of the Red Cross involvement in civilian evacuation from the Azovstal plant in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Standing before a church in Bucha, a town where evidence of brutal atrocities and mass graves has raised global concern, Guterres spoke of the importance of a thorough investigation and accountability, appealing to Russia to cooperate with the International Criminal Court.

On Wednesday evening outside the U.N. headquarters in New York, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan said it was time for action. International law cant be a passive spectator. It cant be sedentary. It needs to move with alacrity and to protect and to insist on accountability.

Khan opened an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanities on March 2.

Guterres has also tried to broker the evacuation of civilians from a steel plant in the city of Mariupol.
STUTTGART, Germany  Cultural isolation, family separations and lack of mental health support are among the factors that could explain why service members overseas appear more at risk to attempt suicide than their counterparts in the continental U.S., a new government report says.

Meanwhile, easier access to guns explains why troops based in the U.S. account for a higher percentage of suicide deaths, a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday said.

The GAOs review was prompted by 2021 directive from Congress to examine factors involved in the rising number of suicides within the military, which has struggled to counter an upward trend in such deaths.

In 2020, the military recorded 384 active-duty service member suicides, a 33.5% rate increase since 2016, the GAOs analysis found. The number dropped to 328 in 2021, according to DOD data.

But to date, the Pentagon has not fully assessed suicide risk at remote overseas installations, the report said.

Service members assigned to remote overseas installations between 2016 and 2020 accounted for 8% of the active-duty population, but 8.5% of reported suicide attempts and 5.5% of reported suicide deaths during the same period, the report said.

Non-military firearms were involved in more than half of reported suicide deaths inside the continental U.S., while such firearms accounted for 21% and 26% of such deaths among active-duty service members at remote or non-remote installations outside of the continental U.S., respectively, the GAO found.

The GAO defined remote locations as those outside the contiguous United States, including those in Alaska, Hawaii and overseas that have less Morale, Welfare and Recreation funding; that qualify as a hardship-duty pay location; or that have less than standard tour lengths.

Military officials at remote overseas installations told the GAO that they believed service members should undergo more rigorous screening prior to being assigned.

By establishing such a process to assess risk factors for suicide and related challenges associated with assignment to remote OCONUS installations, DOD can improve its understanding of risks and challenges and better address them as needed, the GAO said.

Officials from U.S. Army Garrison Alaska, Fort Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska told the GAO that a long winter with seasonal periods of extended darkness and light could affect service members and contribute to mental health issues.

Meanwhile, officials from Yokosuka Naval Base in mainland Japan and Marine bases in Okinawa said restrictions that put limits on off-base travel for some service members  especially those who are young or have limited transportation  could lead to isolation. An inability to relax, socialize or engage with Japanese culture has been further exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

Navy and Marine Corps suicide prevention officials stated that risk factors including lack of access to behavioral health care, barriers to health care, cultural and religious beliefs, and social isolation caused by separation from friends and family may be more prevalent at remote OCONUS installations, the GAO reported.

The GAO made a series of recommendations, including that DOD establish a process to assess suicide risk at remote overseas installations. The report also said the Defense Department should develop a strategy to address shortages in primary care behavioral health providers, including at remote overseas bases.
Russian forces appear to be at least several days behind where they wanted to be in their new assault on the Donbas region of Ukraine, the Pentagon said Friday, citing Russias incremental progress and strong Ukrainian resistance.

The assessment comes after Russia abandoned its earlier goals in the invasion to capture the capital city of Kyiv and other major Ukrainian population centers, focusing instead on a section of eastern Ukraine where fighting has been going on for years.

Russia has relied on airstrikes, followed by artillery strikes, before moving its ground forces forward but has still faced stiff Ukrainian defenses, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon.

Russias incremental gains are south of the town of Izyum, the official said, with ground movements that are fairly plodding.

In Mariupol, Ukrainian officials are waiting to see whether there will be an evacuation of the Azovstal steel plant. A Mariupol official said Friday that the area remains under tank fire from Russian troops.

Mykhailo Vershynin, the chief of the Donetsk region patrol police, told The Washington Post that the area surrounding the Azovstal field hospital is still being bombarded at a time when officials have called for a planned evacuation from the steel plant in the besieged port city. The area is reeling after another significant air raid by Russian Tu-22M3 bombers, he said.

Right now, we are under tank fire, Vershynin said, adding that Ukrainian forces are facing more naval artillery fire Friday. We dont have a cease-fire.

The strikes follow unprecedented air attacks at a time when Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of preventing civilians trapped in the Azovstal plant from leaving.

Vershynin said a shortage of food and water has long been critical for us, for civilians, and for the wounded.

There is a serious shortage of this, as well as of medicines, as well as of surgical instruments, he said.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said in a news release that more than 600 people have been injured in the airstrikes at the hospital. Boychenko claimed that the more than 20,000 people reported to have died in Mariupol since the start of a full-scale Russian offensive there was more than during the two years of the Nazi occupation during World War II.

Vershynin emphasized to The Post that the hundreds of wounded Ukrainians, many of whom can hardly walk or need to be carried, had to be evacuated.

We are ready to leave the territory of the Azovstal plant, he said. But this requires guarantees.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Friday he was touched by the resilience and bravery of the Ukrainian people more than two months into the Russian invasion.

Guterres, who met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Thursday, tweeted photos of his time touring decimated buildings around the capital.

I was moved by the resilience and bravery of the people of Ukraine, he wrote. My message to them is simple: We will not give up.

Five Russian missiles rocked the capital during Guterress visit, according to Ukrainian officials. Russia on Friday confirmed it struck the city, saying it had destroyed an arms factory. Other buildings were also reportedly hit.

Guterres, who on Thursday said the war in Ukraine was evil, vowed that the United Nations would redouble its efforts to save lives and reduce human suffering.

In this war, as in all wars, the civilians always pay the highest price, he tweeted Friday.
KYIV, Ukraine  The United Nations doggedly sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol on Friday, while Ukraine accused Russia of showing its contempt for the world organization by bombing Kyiv when the U.N. leader was visiting the capital.

The mayor of Mariupol said the situation inside the steel plant that has become the southern port citys last stronghold is dire, and citizens are begging to get saved." Mayor Vadym Boichenko added: "There, its not a matter of days. Its a matter of hours.

Ukraines forces, meanwhile, fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the country's industrial Donbas region. Artillery fire, sirens and explosions could be heard in some cities.

In other developments:

 A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, his family said in what would be the wars first known death of an American in combat. The U.S. has not confirmed the report.

 Ukrainian forces are cracking down on people accused of helping Russian troops. In the Kharkiv region alone, nearly 400 have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted after Moscows Feb. 24 invasion.

 The international sanctions imposed on the Kremlin over the war are squeezing the country. The Russian Central Bank said Russias economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year, and the outlook is extremely uncertain.

On Thursday, Moscow's forces launched a missile attack on a residential high-rise and another building in Kyiv, shattering weeks of relative calm in the capital following Russia's retreat from the region early this month.

U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said one of its journalists, Vira Hyrych, was killed in the bombardment. Ten people were wounded, one of them losing a leg, authorities said.

The missile strike came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"This says a lot about Russias true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the U.N. and everything the organization represents, Zelenskyy said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was Russian President Vladimir Putin's way of giving his middle finger" to Guterres.

In an apparent reference to the Kyiv bombing, Russias military said it had destroyed production buildings at the Artem defense factory.

The missile strike came just as life in Kyiv seemed to be getting back a little closer to normal, with cafes and other businesses starting to reopen and growing numbers of people going out to enjoy the arrival of spring.

Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst and head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said the attack carried a message: Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure."

Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east also have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.

But so far, Russias troops and the separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains.

In the bombed-out city of Mariupol, around 100,000 people were believed trapped with little food, water or medicine. An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders and 1,000 civilians were holed up at the Azovstal steel plant.

The Soviet-era steel plant has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more dire after the Russians dropped bunker busters and other bombs.

Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse, said Boichenko, the mayor.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said the organization was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv to create safe passage.

This time, we hope theres a slight touch of humanity in the enemy, the mayor said. Ukraine has blamed the failure of numerous previous evacuation attempts on continued Russian shelling.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that the real problem is that "humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals. Moscow has repeatedly claimed right-wing Ukrainians are thwarting evacuation efforts and using civilians as human shields.

Also Friday, two towns in central Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region were hit by Russian rockets, the regional governor said. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.

Fighting could be heard from Kramatorsk to Sloviansk, two cities about 18 kilometers (11 miles) apart in the Donbas. Columns of smoke rose from the Sloviansk area and neighboring cities. At least one person was reported wounded in the shelling.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.

The constant attacks show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people, he said.

If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones, as they did with Mariupol.

A senior U.S. defense official said the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of Ukrainian resistance.

The U.S. believes the Russians are at least several days behind where they wanted to be as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. militarys assessment.

The governor of Russias Kursk region said that a border post came under mortar attack from Ukraine and that Russian border forces returned fire. He said there were no casualties on the Russian side.

In the village of Ruska Lozava, near Kharkiv, hundreds of people were evacuated after Ukrainian forces retook the city from Russian occupiers, according to the regional governor. Those who fled to Kharkiv spoke of dire conditions under the Russians, with little water or food and no electricity.

We were hiding in the basement. It was horror. The basement was shaking from the explosions. We were screaming, we were crying and we were praying to God, said Ludmila Bocharnikova.

A video posted by Ukraine's Azov battalion showed troops raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the government building in the center of the village, though fighting continued on the outskirts.

Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for," she said, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it.

The Marine Corps said Cancel served four years but was given a bad-conduct discharge and sentenced to five months' confinement for violating orders. No details on the offense were given.

At least two other foreigners fighting on the Ukrainian side, one from Britain and the other from Denmark, have also been killed.

___

Associated Press journalists Jon Gambrell and Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, Yesica Fisch in Sloviansk, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.
Seven Jewish American troops who died in World War II received new headstones that accurately reflect their faith at ceremonies in France, Belgium and Luxembourg this week.

The seven men had been buried under Latin-cross headstones, which were replaced by Stars of David, the American Battle Monuments Commission said Friday.

We take pride in being able to right this wrong, commission spokeswoman Alison Bettencourt said in a statement.

The headstone replacements came after genealogical research by the U.S.-based Operation Benjamin and requests by the families of the service members, the commission said.

Jewish service members were sometimes buried under crosses as a result of clerical errors or because they had disguised their faith to protect themselves in case they were captured by Nazi troops, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2020, adding that the cross was considered the default symbol.

A ceremony in Hamm, Luxembourg, on Wednesday replaced the cross with a Star of David on the gravestone of Technician 5th Grade Everett Seixas, a soldier from New York who died during World War II.

His family members brought the flag they received when Seixas was buried in 1949. U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg Thomas Barrett spoke at the event, a statement from the embassy said.

I am thankful to see Everett Seixas publicly recognized as a man of proud Jewish heritage who fought for the United States and his faith, Barrett said, as cited in the statement.

The gravestone of Pvt. Marvin Ashkenas, of Bloomfield, N.J., was replaced at Epinal American Cemetery in Dinoze, France. Maj. Maxwell J. Papurt, of Cleveland; 2nd Lt. Howard U. Feldman, of Allentown, Penn.; and Pvt. Albert Belmont, of New York, received Stars of David at Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold, France.

Another ceremony at Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupre, Belgium, honored 2nd Lt. Kenneth E. Robinson, of Cleveland, and 1st Lt. Joseph Sugarman, of Memphis, Tenn.

Efforts by Operation Benjamin to provide accurate gravestones to Jewish troops killed during the war began in 2014.

The organization is named after Benjamin Garadetsky, a U.S. serviceman killed in 1944 who was mistakenly buried underneath a cross at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France.
BEIRUT  The leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group warned Friday that if Israel continues to target Iran's presence in the region, Tehran could eventually retaliate by striking deep inside Israel.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's warning came in a speech during a ceremony in Beirut marking "Quds Day," or Jerusalem Day, a traditional show of support for the Palestinians. Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters and officials from allied Palestinian groups attended.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes over the years on targets in Syria  where Iran, like Hezbollah, supports President Bashar Assad's forces  but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. It has acknowledged targeting bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Hezbollah, in Syria. Israel says its attacks are against Iranian entrenchment in neighboring Syria.

Hezbollah, one of Iran's main arms in the region, was formed in the early 1980s during Lebanon's civil war by Iranian officers and Tehran has been arming and funding the group since.

Nasrallah's comments came two days after an Israeli missile strike in Syria killed four Syrian soldiers and wounded others, according to Syrian state media. A Syrian opposition war monitor gave a higher death toll for the early Wednesday strike that hit suburbs of the capital, Damascus, saying it killed six Syrian soldiers and four Iran-backed fighters.

Last month, an Israeli missile attack on Damascus killed two colonels with Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Iran retaliated shortly after by firing surface-to-surface missiles on what it described as an Israeli spy center in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.

"The Islamic Republic's military stance is developing to a level that if the Israel's aggression continues on Iranian presence in the region it might strike at Israel directly," Nasrallah said.

The ceremony, on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, was the first large gathering by Hezbollah since the coronavirus pandemic started.

Nasrallah said Iranian officials now believe that "the time when we bring our martyrs" and hold funerals for them has ended.

"We will avenge our martyrs. This is an important development," Nasrallah said.
ALEXANDRIA, Va.  As people in a packed courtroom wept, Lucy Henning talked about her own guilt at the death of her father, Alan Henning, who was tortured and beheaded by the Islamic State a decade ago.

"If I weren't a moody teenager, maybe he wouldn't have gone," she said through tears at Friday's sentencing hearing for Alexanda Kotey, one of two British nationals  known as the "Beatles by their captives  who was convicted in U.S. District Court in Alexandria for their roles in the hostage-taking scheme, which took two dozen Westerners as prisoners and resulted in the death of four Americans.

Lucy said she has many questions about her father that remain unanswered: "Did he want to send us a message? Was he mad that we didn't get him out? Was he buried or cremated? Or was he just left there?"

Kotey was sentenced to life in prison Friday. The sentence was a foregone conclusion under the plea deal he entered last year. El Shafee Elsheikh, the second British national, will be formally sentenced in August and will also receive a life term. The death penalty was not an option under the terms of the agreement that allowed their extradition to the U.S.

Kotey was specifically charged with conspiring in the kidnapping and deaths of four Americans  journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig. Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were all beheaded. Mueller was tortured and raped by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi before she was killed. British aid workers Henning and David Haines were also killed by beheading by the Islamic State.

About a dozen family members and survivors spoke at Friday's hearing. Kayla Mueller's father, Carl Mueller, said that during the ordeal, "I lost my faith in God, and I lost my faith in our government. My government left her there for 18 months. They would not allow us to negotiate."

He said the trial and prosecution of the Elsheikh and Kotey restored his faith in government, prompting tears from Judge T.S. Ellis III.

Kayla's mother, Marsha Mueller, said she and her husband are still desperate for the truth about her daughter's death. Unlike the other three Americans, whose beheading deaths were recorded on video and spread across the internet, Kayla's death remains something of a mystery. The Islamic State said she was killed in a Jordanian air strike  the U.S. government believes she was killed by ISIS.

"I am thankful for each shred of truth, no matter how painful it is to hear," she said. "We will continue to search for our daughter's remains."

Throughout the victim impact statements, Kotey made eye contact with the victims, while Elsheikh looked away or kept his eyes closed. His apparent indifference to the victims' words drew the ire of Sotloff's mother, Shirley Sotloff, who demanded Elsheikh look at her while she spoke.

"We are forever broken by the loss of our beloved son and defined as the people from a horror movie." she said, referencing the beheading videos that circulated around the globe.

Kotey declined to speak at Friday's hearing, referencing instead a 25-page letter he wrote to the court in advance of sentencing. The letter describes his conversion to Islam at age 19 and expresses some ambivalence about his actions, while also justifying brutality as a response to Western foreign policy.

"In retrospect I can say that, throughout our endeavors, there were actions we took that demanded moral compromises," he wrote.

While Elsheikh was not sentenced, the judge ordered him to attend Friday's hearing so victims would not have to travel to two separate sentencings to say their peace.

Kotey and Elsheikh were captured in Syria in 2018 and brought to Virginia in 2020 to stand trial in federal court. A third Beatle, Mohammed Emwazi, also known as "Jihadi John," who carried out the beheadings, was killed in a 2015 drone strike.

The only issue of consequence to be decided at Friday's hearing was whether the judge would recommend a prison other than the "supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado, for Kotey to serve his term. His lawyers said that unless the judge recommends otherwise, Kotey will almost certainly be sent there.

Ellis acknowledged that the conditions at Florence are more "severe" than at other prisons, but he declined to make a recommendation, saying it should be left to the judgment of the Bureau of Prisons.

Regardless of where is sent, Kotey will be one of about 50 inmates in the prison system subject to "special administrative measures" that severely restrict his ability to communicate with other inmates or the outside world.

The terms of his plea agreement, though, require the U.S. government transfer Kotey to the custody of Great Britain if it agrees to take him and imprison him for the rest of his life. The deal also requires Kotey to meet with any victims' family members who request it.
(Tribune News Service) The explosion was so loud, said Ukrainian Special Force officer Leonid Ovdiiuk, that it sounded as if a building had collapsed. So bright that even in the nighttime darkness it flashed like the sun.

He landed on his back, his left leg grotesquely flipped and resting upon his chest. His left side was shredded, and when he tried to speak to the other soldiers, the air escaped from holes in his neck.

A mine had detonated, killing the commander beside him and leaving Ovdiiuk choking on his own blood.

That was May 20, 2020, in the Donbas region, as Ovdiiuk fought the Russians in a war still nearly two years away from expanding into the American consciousness and onto American television screens.

Now Ovdiiuk, 36, is in Philadelphia, and in pain, his left arm mostly useless, his left leg in a brace, searching for specialized care and rehabilitation services he hopes can restore or at least improve his mobility.

I want to run, Ovdiiuk said. Thats his goal.

He came here through Revived Soldiers Ukraine, a nonprofit founded in 2015 that brings seriously wounded troops to the United States for advanced treatment and surgeries at facilities in New York, Orlando, Chicago, San Antonio, and elsewhere. Hes assisted by local volunteers Roman Vengrenyuk, a Philadelphia financial analyst, and Olga Dishchuk, a licensed practical nurse in King of Prussia.

Were looking now for a doctor who can help, Dishchuk said. Hes kind of losing hope.

She and her husband, Oleksandr, invited Ovdiiuk to stay at their Huntingdon Valley home while they seek specialists who can address the particularly complicated kind of injuries inflicted by military munitions. Ovdiiuk underwent arm surgery in Boston three weeks ago, but doctors could not achieve what they hoped.

He got to Pennsylvania about a week ago.

Sitting in a soft chair on the patio of the Dishchuk familys home, a cane gripped lightly in his hand, Ovdiiuk said he rarely thinks of that day. Or rather, he tries not to think of it.

But the memory is as embedded as the shrapnel in his torso, the details as familiar as the faces of his children.

Russia invaded Ukraines Crimean peninsula in February 2014, and the next month armed pro-Russian separatists seized government buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk, the area collectively known as the Donbas.

Ovdiiuk, a police officer by profession, signed up to serve Ukraine. For the next six years, he and his all-volunteer unit, Battalion Luhansk-1, from the city of Luhansk, fought without respite.

That day was so normal, Ovdiiuk recalled. Just another day in the war.

His unit was operating in its regular zone of responsibility, some miles from the Seversky Donets River, the Russian forces on one side, Ukrainians on the other. The battalions job was to ensure no enemies crossed.

Ovdiiuk and his commanding officer drove ahead of the patrol, through a heavily wooded route. One strange occurrence: A swan flew in front of their vehicle. A white swan. It seemed to come from nowhere. Later Ovdiiuk would think of it as an omen, a warning not to go farther.

They stopped the military vehicle and proceeded on foot.

Ovdiiuk was blasted from head to toe.

Neither man stepped on a mine, he said. He believes the device was triggered by remote control, a double charge that blew up four feet in front of them. The explosion on the ground was followed almost instantaneously by a second at chest level.

Human Rights Watch announced last month that Russian forces have been using banned antipersonnel mines in the Kharkiv region, north of where Ovdiiuk was hurt. The POM-3 mine carries a sensor that detects when someone approaches and ejects an explosive into the air.

Ovdiiuk spent 2 1/2 weeks in a coma, losing more than half his body weight, down to 100 pounds on his 6-foot-1 frame. It took three months before he could get out of his hospital bed, more before he could walk. His lungs still are weak, the damage to his neck and spine enduring.

Initially he was treated at the Hospital of Internal Affairs in Kyiv, the capital, followed by more treatment and rehabilitation at Next Step Ukraine, a center for soldiers with spine and brain injuries.

He came to the United States seven months ago, getting care in Orlando and Jacksonville and most recently in Massachusetts.

Ovdiiuk has so much metal in his body that he cannot undergo MRIs, he said, because the magnetic pull of the machine could dislodge the shrapnel and cause greater injury. That makes doctors reliant on other imaging techniques, even when an MRI could produce more subtle information.

Thats what happened in Boston, Ovdiiuk said. Surgeons planned to move muscles from his healthy right leg into his left arm but upon incision saw that the internal condition of his arm was not what they expected.

Now we are looking for the best possible rehab facility for him, said Vengrenyuk of Revived Soldiers Ukraine, because his injuries are not civilian injuries.

Ovdiiuk is among more than 50 troops that the group has shepherded to the United States since 2015. The organization, which has received high honors from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, took in and spent $459,000 in donations, grants, and other revenue in 2019, according to its most recent public tax filing.

Last month, as Russia pounded cities and civilians, the nonprofit provided Ukraine with $2.7 million in donated ambulances, first-aid kits, bomb-shelter generators, and bullet-proof vests and helmets for medical personnel.

Ovdiiuk has been aged by wounds and worry. His wife, Hanna, and their two sons, 11 and 4, have fled and fled and fled again, and now are staying with his mother in western Ukraine.

He wants to end this loop of surgery and rehabilitation, to get better and return to Ukraine. He wants to rejoin the fight against Russia but knows that might not be physically possible.

Still, Ovdiiuk said, he could direct other troops and share his experiences and insight with them. Hes still a soldier.

I want to go back to the military, he said. I want to get back on my feet.

President Joe Biden has offered the details on how his administration intends to bring 100,000 Ukrainian refugees to the United States.

And Ukrainian Americans in the Philadelphia region  among the nations largest enclaves  say theyre ready to provide a big, warm welcome.

Everybodys family, said Rada Dubashinsky, 50, of Bucks County, who came to the United States from Dnipro, one of Ukraines largest cities, after the Soviet Union collapsed. Were trying to help each other within the country as much as we can, finding places to settle, finding places to live.

Shes already assisting two newly arrived Ukrainian families, including a mother and three children who managed to escape the war and come to Schwenksville. They met through a gymnastics connection between their children, and now Dubashinsky and others help the family with everything from finding clothing to obtaining legal documents.

For Ukrainians in desperate need overseas  more than 5 million have fled the country since the Russian invasion, and millions more are displaced internally  the embrace of countrymen in cities like Philadelphia, New York, and Cleveland may be the easiest part of their landing.

Under Bidens Uniting for Ukraine program:

 Ukrainians would largely arrive under whats called humanitarian parole, which is merely a permission to enter the country, not an official immigration status. It provides no path to permanent residency or citizenship.

 Ukrainians will be eligible to work. But those entering on parole get none of the federal benefits and services that go to legal refugees, including assistance with housing, health care, and employment.

 The program relies heavily on goodwill. And while theyre sure to find plenty of it, Ukrainians will need to be sponsored by American citizens or organizations. A similar effort last year that invited Americans to act as mini-resettlement agencies for 76,000 Afghan evacuees has struggled to gain traction.

Finally, a program has developed! said Iryna Mazur, the honorary consul of Ukraine in Philadelphia. Its been really hard to respond to Ukrainians, What is happening? President Biden promised to take us. ... Its a good and important first step, and a lot of people are just extremely grateful.

Many questions remain, said Mazur, who has been in discussions with Department of Homeland Security officials during the past two days. For instance, can one citizen sponsor multiple people from Ukraine?

She had no immediate estimate on how many people could be coming to this region.

Whats clear is much of the welcome will fall on the local Ukrainian community. And in Philadelphia, that community has big shoulders, in numbers and institutions.

About 15,245 Ukrainian immigrants live in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburban and South Jersey counties, along with 54,324 people of Ukrainian ancestry.

Theyve built and continue to lead institutions including the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center in Jenkintown, the Ukrainian League of Philadelphia in Fairmount, and the Ukrainian Selfreliance Federal Credit Union in Feasterville. Manor College, founded by a Ukrainian religious order in 1947, will confer its first-ever honorary degree on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky next month.

Theres a lot of people ready to step up in any way they can, a lot of interest in that sponsorship model, said Gretchen Shanfeld, senior director of program operations at Nationalities Service Center, a Philadelphia resettlement agency. Were really working in partnership with the Ukrainian consul and Ukrainian American organizations to see what they need.

Private sponsorship of newcomers  the Biden administration has stressed family reunification as a goal  largely happens outside of the formal resettlement process.

This program will be fast, it will be streamlined, and it will ensure the United States honors its commitment to the people of Ukraine, and that they need not go through our southern border, Biden said Thursday at the White House.

People and organizations can apply to sponsor Ukrainians via a portal on the Department of Homeland Security website thats set to go live on Monday.

To be eligible to come here, Ukrainians must have a sponsor, meet or complete public-health requirements, and pass rigorous biometric screening and security checks. Those who are approved will be considered for stays of up to two years.

Sponsors too will need to pass government vetting  and declare their financial backing for arriving Ukrainians.

By putting costs on sponsors, the administration chose to outsource its moral obligation to support newly arrived Ukrainians, Krish OMara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service in Baltimore, said in a statement. We urge policy makers to consider implementing some semblance of a safety net for those rebuilding their lives from scratch.

The ongoing Afghan resettlement offers a comparison, as most evacuees entered under humanitarian parole. The U.S. government eventually did provide financial support, but the effort to attract the involvement of everyday Americans through a public-private partnership called Sponsor Circles has drawn about 700 participants.

The Biden administration missed an opportunity to make more robust use of the U.S. refugee-admissions program, said Yael Schacher, deputy director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International. A parole program that relies on a U.S. relative or tie for all support cannot be a pathway to the United States for some who most need it.

In announcing Uniting for Ukraine, Biden said Ukrainians should not travel to Mexico to try to enter the United States. After Monday, people appearing at the border or other U.S. ports of entry without a visa or travel authorization will be denied admission and referred to the new program.

Schacher said that wrongly limits the rights of Ukrainians, and all other nationalities, to seek asylum at the border.

The State Department intends to bolster Uniting for Ukraine by expanding official refugee admissions from Europe under the Lautenberg program, which assists persecuted religious minorities. The federal government also is working to identify particularly vulnerable Ukrainians, including women and girls, children, ethnic minorities, and gay and trans people. Embassies and consulates in Europe will increase the number of appointments available for those seeking visas.

The program offers no assistance to other nationalities impacted by the war.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians who have escaped the war continue to move into the Philadelphia region.

The newest Ukrainian refugees stepped onto dry land on Wednesday, maritime legal battles having trapped them on a docked ship since February. People offered the seven sailors money, chipped in for food, and brought them cheesesteaks.

Im very grateful that we received all the help that we got, said Andriy Tiupa, 19, a steward on the Ocean Force.

They are part of our community now, said Mazur, an immigration lawyer.

The men pray that their loved ones in Ukraine are uninjured. Friends have been killed in the war.

Roman Zhukov, a volunteer with the Honorary Consul of Ukraine, said the local community is assisting the sailors  and will help all those who arrive in Philadelphia.

We are getting ready for everyone that is coming, Zhukov said. Were working on it day and night.

___

(c)2022 The Philadelphia Inquirer

Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.inquirer.com

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Identifying unknown organisms, forecasting the weather and understanding the potential impacts of a tsunami.

These are all possibilities opened up by a new website that has been built to provide easy access to an enormous range of environmental research data.

New Zealands seven Crown Research Institutes have created the National Environmental Data Centre website to make the environmental information held by CRIs more accessible to all New Zealanders.

The datasets include a huge range of information from climate and atmosphere, freshwater, land and oceans, including biodiversity and geological data.

They will be of benefit not only to advance science, but also for a myriad of uses by Maori, central and regional government, businesses, researchers and the general public.

"The website demonstrates the active collaboration of our CRIs and the extensive research and development they undertake for the benefit of New Zealand. Bringing all of this freely available research data together creates a significant advantage for all our users," says John Morgan, Chair of Science New Zealand.

The research data is extensive and, although much of it is already being used, the new website substantially increases accessibility and convenience. It contains a wide variety of tools and resources that range across seven environmental categories from atmosphere to land and ocean.

"G lobal eradication and response database - Gerda" - hosted by Plant & Food Research - is a collaborative database that looks at the rates of invasion of unwanted species from around the world. This has been intensified by the increased rates of international trade and travel, by climate change and by the urbanisation of pest species.

"Our Future Climate New Zealand" (Climate change projections) - hosted by NIWA - enables the user to make climate change projections for New Zealand. By employing a range of maps and charts the user can choose from a variety of scenarios to help forecast climate change. Such projections are invaluable for urban planning by central and local governments, and individuals can use the material to better understand the future of a specific region.

"National Tsunami Hazard Model" - hosted by GNS Science - is an all-encompassing dataset that not only defines the maximum expected tsunami height, but also provides links about tsunami monitoring, tsunami understanding, public awareness and more.

"Biota of New Zealand" - hosted by Manaaki Whenua - is New Zealands principal resource for taxonomic information about fungi, land invertebrates and plants, and plant pathogenic bacteria and viruses. This resource plays a critical role in the identification of unknown organisms at New Zealands borders. It is also our catalogue of rare and threatened species - an invaluable record of New Zealands unique biodiversity.

NIWAs Chief Scientist, Environmental Information Dr Jochen Schmidt represents the joint CRI Expert Group behind NEDC.

"We have populated NEDC with a range of data sources," says Schmidt, "and we will add more. The website will continue to develop, and the open access will allow better collaboration in the development of top-class data modelling and computer design. This is a living data source that will be updated when new information is supplied. It will also ensure any data source remains supported."

Informatics Team Leader from Manaaki Whenua, Nick Spencer, agrees, and says, "This important collaboration paves the way for the CRIs to provide even greater value from the information we care for on behalf of New Zealand. Making data easier to find and access will support data-led decision making and enable new research insights that will help New Zealand adapt to environmental change".

The website can be found at: https://nedc.nz/
Up-and-coming local surfer Tao Mouldey hopes to leave competition in the white wash when he competes in the World Junior Surfing Championships this May in El Salvador.

The 14-year-old Mount local is quickly making a name for himself and has been surfing since he was four.

I just saw the surf and I was like I want to try that out. So we went down to the surf shop and bought a little board, and since then I was into it.

Tao hasnt just been into surfing  its easy to say he has been killing it!

A humble fella, Jen Mouldey, Taos mum, shares just how well the young surfer is doing.

Hes been surfing extremely hard over the last few years travelling NZ and Australia for competitions and training, winning 13 national Surfing NZ competitions across the under-14 and under-16 divisions in the last year  and [he] placed first overall in NZ for both divisions.

Tao also won the 2022 Billabong Grom series for the under-16 section and just returned from Dunedin, having won the South Island Championships.

Receiving regular coaching from Matt Scorringe of The Art of Surfing, and training weekly with Tauranga Boys College surf team, coached by Damien Galven, Tao is in top surfing shape.

When he found out that hed made the team for the World Junior Surfing Championships, Tao says his reaction was quite hard to describe. I was excited, nervous and just everything. Its pretty cool.

Darn right its cool  only the top three boys and girls who place in the under-16, and the under-18 divisions, make it into the national team to compete in the championships.

The competition itself hosts more than 340 surfers from 44 countries worldwide.

Tao already has Australias Sunshine Coast, and Hawaiis famous waves in his surfing repertoire.

I asked him what his game plan is for when he hits the El Salvadorian surf?

You can approach it in many ways  you can try get as much possible waves in a heat, or just wait for the good ones  it kind of depends what the break is, says Tao.

Looking to the future, Tao says: I reckon it would be pretty cool to make the Olympic team  thats the end goal.

Tao and his family are thankful to friends and family, the local community, businesses and Bay Boardriders that have helped to raise funds for his championship adventure so far. Tao leaves for El Salvador on May 21.

To support him, visit: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/please-support-mount-maunganui-local-tao-mouldey
High seclusion rates, particularly for Maori, in Bay of Plenty mental health facilities is worrying New Zealands Chief Ombudsman.

Peter Boshier has published reports of follow-up visits to Te Toki Maurere in Whakatane and Te Whare Maiangiangi in Tauranga in July and August last year.

Both are mental health inpatient units run by Bay of Plenty District Health Board.

Concerns around seclusion practices were reported for both facilities.

Seclusion is the involuntary confinement of a patient alone in a room or area from which the patient is physically prevented from leaving.

The 2021 inspection found the number of seclusion events at the Tauranga facility had increased since the last inspection, from 59 events in six months, to 85 events. The number of hours spent in seclusion had dropped, from 1413 to 833.

The inspection of Te Toki Maurere unit in Whakatane also showed an increase in seclusion events, from 26 in six months in 2018 to 39 over six months in 2021.

However, data showed seclusion was generally reducing over time.

"My views on the use of seclusion are well-documented but I reiterate that I consider seclusion is a serious intervention with no therapeutic benefit and potentially harmful effects on patients," says Boshier.

"It concerns me greatly that reducing and eliminating its use seems to be making only slow progress, despite my regular calls for it to be stopped."

Although a project team has been established at Te Whare Maiangiangi to reduce high and increasing levels of seclusion at the facility since the Ombudsmans last inspection in 2018, Boshier says progress has been slow.

BOPDHBs Reducing Seclusion project team have acknowledged that Maori are still overrepresented in seclusion data, a fact Boshier also highlights in his report of Te Whare Maiangiangi.

"I have made a recommendation in my report that Te Whare Maiangiangi addresses its high use of seclusion, particularly as it relates to Maori," he says.

"This should simply should not be happening. There is absolutely no reason for Maori patients to be secluded more than any others. I urge the Ministry of Health to address this as a matter of urgency."

BOPDHB Mental Health and Addiction Services business leader Jen Boryer says action plans to address the recommendations are in place and have been provided to the Ombudsman.

Improvements have been made in recent years such as the number of seclusion hours dropping by 41 per cent (from 1413 to 833) since the previous inspection, says Boryer.

A clinical nurse specialist is also employed with a direct focus on seclusion reduction, and that role encompasses Safe Practice Effective Communication training with a focus on reducing seclusion for Maori, she says.

Mental Health and Addiction Services are participating in workstreams as part of the Te Toi Ahorangi - Maori Wellbeing and Equity Strategy which will yield benefits for whanau. 

The report shows both units were over capacity at the time of inspection as well.

Te Toki Maurere in Whakatane has an operating capacity of 10 beds and had 15 clients during the inspection in July 2021. Eight of the patients were men and seven were women.

Taurangas Te Whare Maiangiangi has 24 beds and was at 120 per cent capacity during the inspection in August last year.

There were 29 tangata whai ora in the unit, 20 women and nine men.

Boshier recommends the DHB address the over occupancy in Whakatane of as a matter of urgency as well as unit improves data-recording systems.

This is to ensure the collection and reporting of reliable and accurate seclusion information.

"Reliable and accurate data is essential to ensure that the unit continues its progress towards reducing and eliminating the use of seclusion," says Boshier.

Boryer says the BOPDHB is committed to the Health Quality and Safety Commission work on ensuring safety for all  Zero Seclusion  Safety and Dignity for All.

She says significant work is underway on business cases with clinical service plans outlining new models of care.

The business case for a new unit to replace Te Toki Maurere is a top priority for the BOPDHB.

Acting deputy director-general mental health and addiction Philip Grady says The Ministry of Health is committed to reducing and eventually eliminating seclusion.

Our guidelines are clear: seclusion should be an uncommon event, used only when there is an imminent risk of danger to the individual or others, and when no other safe and effective alternative is possible.

Grady says there are a number of national and local DHB initiatives underway to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint in mental health services.

We are pleased to see improvements have been made in some regions, he says.

Overall there is more work to be done to address the inequitable outcomes experienced by Maori who come under the current Mental Health Act.

The Government is currently working to repeal and replace the Mental Health Act, because it has not kept pace with the times and may have contributed to these inequities, says Grady.

Significant investment has also been allocated to upgrading and improving existing mental health and addiction facilities and building new facilities, he says

-Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
Council ownership of water entities has been confirmed by the Government as part of the Three Waters Reform.

The majority of the 47 recommendations from the Three Waters Working Group have been accepted by the Government.

Three Waters Reform will see the countrys 67 council-owned and managed water service providers combined into four publicly owned entities.

There were concerns around ownership and privatisation, which lead the working group to recommend a shareholder model, where councils would get one share per 50,000 people.

Under this model Tauranga City Council, with a population of 155,200 will get four shares in Entity B and the Western Bay of Plenty District Council will get two shares because of its population of 58,100.

Fundamentally these reforms are about delivering clean and safe drinking water at an affordable price for New Zealanders. Without reform, households are facing water costs of up to $9,000 per year, or the prospect of services that fail to meet their needs, says Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson.

Everyone accepts the need for change. You only have to look at the number of burst pipes, boil water notices and the volume of sewerage spewing into our harbours to see we cant carry on as we are and that our water infrastructure is crumbling.

At the heart of councils concerns have been the issues of ownership and voice, By accepting the majority of the recommendations made by the independent Working Group on Representation, including a shareholding plan, we have listened to these concerns and modified our proposals accordingly, he says.

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta says: The working group was tasked with addressing the issues of most concern to the sector and Cabinet has agreed to the majority of their recommendations that ensure councils, iwi and communities have a strong voice in the new entities.

I acknowledge the anxiety around change, but ratepayers and local communities cannot keep paying more and more for services that have been underinvested in for too long, and now put their health at risk.

Thats why the Government has extensively engaged with local government, iwi and hapu, the water industry for more than four years to understand the case for change and assess the best option for reform.

This is the best option to deliver the clean, safe and affordable drinking water New Zealanders deserve while also retaining community ownership and protecting against future privatisation, she says.

In line with the working groups recommendations the Government will:

Provide for a public shareholding structure that makes community ownership clear, with shares allocated to councils reflective of the size of their communities (one share per 50,000 people).

Further strengthen and clarify the role of the Regional Representative Group; with joint oversight from local councils and mana whenua to ensure community voice and provide tighter accountability from each water services entity board.

Maintain that board members are to be appointed based on skills and competency;

Strengthen connections to smaller communities including through local sub-committees feeding into the Regional Representative Group, to ensure all communities voices are considered as part of investment prioritisation.

Recognise and embrace Te Mana o te Wai  the health and wellbeing of our waterways and waterbodies  as a korowai, or principle, that applies across the water services framework.

The Regional Representative Group is not about ownership but rather ensuring community inclusion and voices are heard, securing a kaitiaki or guardianship role for the protection of our environment, and maintaining the focus on the long-term planning required for national infrastructure, says Mahuta.

Its a model that makes sense and is already working well.

Without the changes we are making all the evidence points to a legacy of broken pipes, outdated sewage plants, and potential repeats of the tragic Havelock North gastroenteritis outbreak that killed four people and made thousands sick. This should not be the case in a first-world country, she says.
The Ministry of Health are reporting 8,242 community cases of Covid-19, 480 hospitalisations and 14 deaths today.

Todays seven-day rolling average of case numbers is 7,540  a reduction from last Friday, when it was 8,166.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson says with ongoing community transmission across the motu it is important we all remain vigilant.

Please continue to follow public health advice to stay at home, away from school or work if youre feeling unwell.

Another way to protect you, your whanau and friends is to get vaccinated, if you arent already. Its free and available for everyone aged five and over.

Vaccination remains our best defence against Covid-19 and a booster  in addition to first and second doses  gives you greater immunity against Omicron and severe illness. Theres a much lower risk of being hospitalised if youre up to date with your Covid-19 vaccinations.

So, if you or your whanau are due for a Covid-19 vaccination  whether it be a first or second dose or a booster  please, make an appointment today.

Today we are sadly reporting the deaths of 14 people with Covid-19. Eleven of the deaths being reported today are for people who have died over the previous seven days. Three deaths were between 12 and 17 April.

Delays to reporting can also be associated with people dying with Covid-19, rather than from Covid-19, and Covid being discovered only after they have died.

These deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 737 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 13.

Of the people whose deaths we are reporting today, two people were from the Auckland region, one from Bay of Plenty, one from Waikato, one from Taranaki, one from Whanganui, one from MidCentral, one from the Wellington region, five from Canterbury and one from Southern.

One person was in their 50s, two in their 70s, seven in their 80s, and four were over 90.

Eight were women and six were men.

Out of respect, we will be making no further comment.

Vaccinations administered in New Zealand

Vaccines administered to date: 4,026,548 first doses; 3,977,808 second doses; 31,749 third primary doses; 2,627,258 booster doses: 261,367 paediatric first doses and 113,893 paediatric second doses

Vaccines administered yesterday: 58 first doses; 92 second doses; 27 third primary doses; 1,584 booster doses; 120 paediatric first doses and 1,011 paediatric second doses

People vaccinated

All Ethnicities (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 4,056,231 first dose (96.4%); 4,006,880 second dose (95.2%), 2,623,401 boosted (71% of those eligible)

Maori (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 520,990 first dose (91.2%); 504,001 second dose (88.3%), 234,179 boosted (54.8% of those eligible)

Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 281,849 first dose (98.3%); 276,947 second dose (96.6%), 139,563 boosted (57% of those eligible)

5 to 11-year-olds all ethnicities: 258,646 first dose (54.3%); 111,214 second dose (23.3%)

5 to 11-year-olds - Maori: 40,768 first dose (35.3%); 12,582 second dose (10.9%)

5 to 11-year-olds - Pacific Peoples: 23,467 first dose (47.5%); 6,264 second dose (12.7%)

Note that the number for People vaccinated differs slightly from Vaccines administered as it includes those that have been vaccinated overseas.

Vaccination rates for all DHBs

Northland DHB: first dose (90.1%); second dose (88%); boosted (67.7%)

Auckland DHB: first dose (99.2%); second dose (98.3%); boosted (72.9%)

Counties Manukau DHB: first dose (96.2%); second dose (95%); boosted (65.9%)

Waitemata DHB: first dose (96.5%); second dose (95.6%); boosted (70.7%)

Waikato DHB: first dose (95.1%); second dose (93.6%); boosted (66.6%)

Bay of Plenty DHB: first dose (95.1%); second dose (93.4%); boosted (66%)

Lakes DHB: first dose (93.2%); second dose (91.4%); boosted (66.3%)

MidCentral DHB: first dose (96.4%); second dose (95.2%); boosted (72.1%)

Tairawhiti DHB: first dose (93.2%); second dose (91%); boosted (65.8%)

Whanganui DHB: first dose (91.9%); second dose (90.4%); boosted (71.5%)

Hawkes Bay DHB: first dose (97.2%); second dose (95.6%); boosted (69.8%)

Taranaki DHB: first dose (94.6%); second dose (93.3%); boosted (68.1%)

Wairarapa DHB: first dose (96.4%); second dose (95%); boosted (72.9%)

Capital & Coast DHB: first dose (98.5%); second dose (97.8%); boosted (79.4%)

Hutt Valley DHB: first dose (96.6%); second dose (95.7%); boosted (75%)

Nelson Marlborough DHB: first dose (96.4%); second dose (95.2%); boosted (73.3%)

West Coast DHB: first dose (92.7%); second dose (91.3%); boosted (71.6%)

Canterbury DHB: first dose (99.7%); second dose (98.9%); boosted (74.4%)

South Canterbury DHB: first dose (94.7%); second dose (93.7%); boosted (74.5%)

Southern DHB: first dose (98.5%); second dose (97.4%); boosted (73.1%)

Partially and second doses percentages are for those 12+. Boosted percentages are for 18+ who have become eligible 3 months after having their second dose or 16 and 17 year olds who have become eligible 6 months after having their second dose.

Percentages are based on 2020 HSU data - a health-specific population denominator. As the population continues to change over time, coverage rates can exceed 100%.

Hospitalisations

Cases in hospital: total number 480: Northland: 34; Waitemata: 73; Counties Manukau: 65; Auckland: 101; Waikato: 43; Bay of Plenty: 14; Lakes: 2; Tairawhiti: 0; Hawkes Bay: 9; Taranaki: 6; Whanganui: 4; MidCentral: 9; Wairarapa: 3; Hutt Valley: 8; Capital and Coast: 6; Nelson Marlborough: 7; Canterbury: 65; South Canterbury: 2; West Coast: 1; Southern: 28

*Average age of current hospitalisations: 59

Cases in ICU or HDU: 15

Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region only, excluding Emergency Departments): Unvaccinated or not eligible (44 cases / 16.8%); partially immunised <7 days from second dose or have only received one dose (5 cases / 1.9%); double vaccinated at least 7 days before being reported as a case (73 cases / 28%); Received booster at least 7 days before being reported as a case (129 cases / 49.4%); Unknown (10 cases / 3.8%)

*Please note the average age of current hospitalisations is for the Northern Region admissions only at this stage. This data is recorded and extracted from the same source as the vaccination status of patients in Northern Region hospitals.

We are currently working on a data solution which would include the average age of current hospitalisations from additional DHBs.

Cases

Seven day rolling average of community cases: 7,540

Seven day rolling average (as at same day last week): 8,166

Number of new community cases: 8,242

Number of new community cases (PCR): 307

Number of new community cases (RAT): 7,935

Location of new community cases (PCR & RAT): Northland (233), Auckland (2,446), Waikato (483), Bay of Plenty (265), Lakes (143), Hawkes Bay (283), MidCentral (313), Whanganui (118), Taranaki (184), Tairawhiti (68), Wairarapa (78), Capital and Coast (542), Hutt Valley (196), Nelson Marlborough (284), Canterbury (1,462), South Canterbury (150), Southern (888), West Coast (103), Unknown (3)

Number of new cases identified at the border: 74

Number of active community cases (total): 52,771 (cases identified in the past 7 days and not yet classified as recovered)

Confirmed cases (total): 920,728

Please note, the Ministry of Healths daily reported cases may differ slightly from those reported at a DHB or local public health unit level. This is because of different reporting cut off times and the assignment of cases between regions, for example when a case is tested outside their usual region of residence. Total numbers will always be the formal daily case tally as reported to the WHO.

Tests

Number of PCR tests total (last 24 hours): 4,040

Number of Rapid Antigen Tests reported total (last 24 hours): 16,472

PCR tests rolling average (last 7 days): 3,147

Number of Rapid Antigen Tests dispatched (last 7 days as of 29 April 2022): 1.4 million
A $16.2m initiative to support the Pacific business sector has been launched by the Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio in Tauranga today.

Named the Pacific Business Village, funding has come from the multi-year appropriation budget in 2021 to support economic development for Pacific communities, which has been used by the Ministry of Pacific Peoples to create the initiative.

The initiative is set out to create a strategic framework for long-term economic development for Pacific business in the regions outside of Auckland.

A key priority of the Pacific Business Village using the Tauola Business Fund, is to provide direct investment into businesses to accelerate their long-term growth, and assist with the economic recovery from the impact of Covid-19.

The Fund provides up to $100,000 grants to support existing small and medium sized businesses in the regions outside of Auckland to create immediate employment, stimulate growth, increase productivity, and ensure Pacific businesses thrive in response to the impacts of Covid-19,  says Hon Aupito William Sio.

At the centre of the Villages vision is the creation of a circular Pacific economy using Pacific Business Networks, Pacific Business Providers and Pacific Businesses.

By collaborating with Networks and Providers, The Village can provide better access for Pacific businesses and improve Pacific economic development across Aotearoa.

The Village is complementary to existing services and meets unmet demand in the regions.

Among the first recipients of the funding was Bay of Plenty and Waikato based building, painting and renovation company Boydie's, represented by managing director Andrew Boyd.

Andrew Boyd. Photo: Taylor Rice/SunLive

"Being a Pacific Islander, you're like a minnow, you're not really noticed by everybody else. This grant has allowed me to break down that barrier," says Andrew.

"I've been able to employ seven more guys since November last year, and we have another guy starting next week.

"I was funded a two tonne digger, safety equipment and toolbelts. Having that allowed me to have guys come in to work and not worry or stress about not having the right equipment.

"Being a Pacific Islander myself I know that not having the right tools makes you feel not good enough for the job. This funding has made the guys comfortable and feel 100 per cent.

"I also have a few mates that own businesses that didn't get the funding that are utilising this equipment like the digger.

"We're all here to help each other out."

Another recipient of the funding is Deep Dive Divison, a Waikato based environmental science company that is focused on sustainability and creating strong partnerships that enhance the health and well-being of the water in New Zealand.

Deep Dive Division Founders Tua Karalus and Courtney Karalus. Photo: Taylor Rice/SunLive

"The cultural values our community has sets Pacific and Maori businesses apart, it's unlike any other in the world," says Deep Dive Divison founder Tua Karalus.

The company provides a range of underwater services, such as environmental monitoring and building underwater film and television sets. This has enabled the company to work on films such as the 'Avatar' movie series.

Deep Dive Divison founder Courtney Karalus says that the funding has enabled the company to further work on their goal of creating a sustainable future for the earth, as well as the Pacific people.
On this day in 1864, a remarkable Maori victory was achieved against tremendous odds.

The battle of Gate Pa, more than any other, convinced the British of the futility of assaulting a completed modern pa and undermined their will to continue the Waikato war.

158 years later, The Anglican Parish of Gate Pa held a short service at St. Georges Anglican Church on Friday, to commemorate the Battle of Gate Pa and to honour all those who fought and died in this event.

The event which started at 4pm, the same time as the British forces began their march up Pukehinahina, spoke of the battle and had a silent reflection with images playing.

Students from Gate Pa school attended the event, giving a reflection of the history their school is rooted on.

Tauranga's Jan Tinetti and Angie Warren Clark were also present at the commemoration.

At 4.30pm the bell sounded 60 times to remember the approximately 60 men who lost their lives in the battle.

The service finished with prayers/karakia for the future of Tauranga city.

Historian and Iwi representative Buddy Mikaere says in order to understand the present and why were like this today, you need to understand the past and where we come from.

In doing that, it helps going forward. You understand where we are now and you understand that it is a shared history and a shared heritage and that it belongs to us and so thats got to be a good foundation for reconciliation of the community, and thats our objective here basically.

Its quite emotional to be here on this soil because of what happened here. But more recently its more because I can see the range of people who have taken an interest in our history that turn up to this event every year  its just wonderful.

Over the years there has been an increase in interest and of the number of people that come through. Its now represented across the whole community, says Buddy.

This year, Buddy has launched a project to build a new centre at the site that aims to establish Te Putake O Te Riri - Pukehinahina Gate Pa - the New Zealand Land Wars centre which will have a focus on 1864 and the battles at Pukehinahina - Gate Pa and Te Ranga.

Buddy says over the years, more people are joining to commemorate this historic event.

I think its a natural growth across the whole of New Zealand community.

Its a kin to the growth of Te Reo, and the fact that you hear it all the time now  on TV and radio  you see more people say kia ora then they say hello.

If you take an interest in the language, it easily leads your interest into other things, says Buddy.

The New Zealand culture is something that makes us unique in the world. This is just an outgrowth of that.

Because St. Georges Church sits on the site of the Battle of Gate Pa, the Anglican Parish of Gate Pa community feels a sense of responsibility for holding the story of both the battles and the aftermath with integrity, and to offer ways the people can hear about, engage with and reflect upon these stories and what they mean for those living in Tauranga Moana.

2014 saw huge gatherings commemorate the 150th anniversary of the battles of Gate Pa and Te Ranga with some very significant events held on the actual days of the battles.

It continues to be the Anglican Parish of Gate Pas hope that these would be the beginning of some ongoing events for the people of this city to engage with the story of the New Zealand Land Wars and the colonial past and how these shape present-day New Zealand society.

The Church offers this simple service as a contribution to this ongoing commemoration.
BRASILIA, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Brazilians traveling abroad spent 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in the first two months of 2022, a 173 percent increase compared to the same period last year, according to data published Friday by the Central Bank of Brazil.

The bank's report said the jump in tourism spending abroad was due to relaxed health restrictions as COVID-19 cases declined.

Since March 2020, such spending dropped because of travel restrictions and a depreciation of the Brazilian currency against the U.S. dollar.

Despite the increase, Brazilian tourism spending abroad remains well below the pre-pandemic period.

In the same period of 2020, Brazilian travelers spent 2.32 billion U.S. dollars abroad, that is 55.7 percent more than in the first two months of this year. 
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Guernsey To Delay Tax Reform Debate To Explore Corporate Tax Options

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

29 April 2022

The Guernsey Government on April 26, 2022, announced that a parliamentary debate on tax reform, scheduled for July, will now be delayed until the end of the year, to allow time for consideration of corporate tax options. Earlier, Guernsey's Policy and Resources Committee proposed that the territory could implement a goods and services tax to buoy the territory's finances.

The Policy and Resources Committee announced that it had decided on April 26 that it "should bring the Policy Letter on the Tax Review to the States Assembly for debate later in 2022, and not at the July debate as originally intended."

The Government said the Committee is finalizing an agreement for an external review of corporate tax options for Guernsey and Alderney. It said "the review will provide a thorough assessment of plausible corporate tax options, looking at what potential they may have to generate additional revenues to fund essential services and whether they allow the Bailiwick to continue to compete internationally or if they would present risks for the local economy."

The Government said: "It is now expected the review will be completed in the summer. As it is important its findings are made available before an informed debate is held, the Committee is proposing to postpone the debate until Q4 of 2022. The Committee is also mindful of the feedback from the community to take into account the considerations around population which are the focus of the ongoing population review, and the delay will allow for this work to be part of the public and political discussion on revenue raising measures."

"The Committee believes the debate should be held before the end of 2022. Already, the impacts of the changing population make-up are being felt, putting greater demand on health services and other costs, and there is an urgency in agreeing a long-term solution so that the detailed work on reforming the tax and social security systems can happen. That detailed work to develop and implement any changes that the States ultimately agrees would take some time and so it is not anticipated that the changes would take effect for at least two to three years."

Background

In February 2022, Guernsey's Policy and Resources Committee had committed to also studying potential revenue-enhancing changes to Guernsey's corporate tax regime. The announcement came in response to concerns raised by taxpayers about proposals earlier put forward by the Committee, and supported by the Government, to fix the territory's finances, chief among them being the introduction of a goods and services tax.

In a February 15, 2022, statement, the Government said: "The Policy and Resources Committee is commissioning further work on the issue of corporate taxation as part of its work on the Tax Review. The Committee is engaging with States Members, industry and most recently, the wider community on the Tax Review. Already this engagement has seen many questions raised on the role of corporate tax, the evolving offshore tax landscape and whether it can play a larger part in any solution whilst ensuring that Guernsey's finance sector remains competitive and internationally compliant."

"The Committee is expecting additional revenues to come from taxes on business as part of the overall tax reforms that will be needed to meet the forecast shortfall of around GBP85m per year. Its current assumption is that an additional GBP10m will come from corporate taxes. This continues to be reviewed and updated based on the latest available information and it is also subject to the ongoing discussions taking place internationally on corporate tax rates, and Guernsey alongside the other Crown Dependencies is engaging actively in those discussions. This means the amount of revenues raised could ultimately be more or less, however it is very unlikely it could generate the full GBP85m per year."

In March 2022, Mark Helyar, Treasury lead for Guernsey's Policy and Resources Committee, indicated that the Government is under pressure to consider options other than a goods and services tax, stating the committee is not "ideologically wed to [the implementation of] a Goods and Services Tax".

He said: "We are listening to islanders, to businesses and to states colleagues in both Guernsey and Alderney. We will keep engaging and keep listening. The Committee is not ideologically wed to a Goods and Services Tax, or any other tax for that matter. It is simply looking for the best, workable solution to a very difficult problem. We want to find that solution in an open and constructive way."

The introduction of a GST with either a five or eight percent rate was included in two of three options put forward by Guernsey's Policy and Resources Committee, which was asked to identify potential sources of revenue for the government. The alternative was proposed to be a three percent "health tax", levied through the social security system.
Why it matters: Modern computers are based on semiconductors, partially because they can direct a current in one direction. Doing that in a superconductor has been thought impossible for over a century, but researchers in the Netherlands have found a way. The discovery could make computers hundreds of times faster than they are currently.

This week, researchers at the Delft University of Technology published a paper on how they achieved one-directional superconductivity. This could let computers replace semiconductors with superconductors, which can carry a current indefinitely with no energy loss, potentially increasing computer speeds by orders of magnitude.

According to Associate Professor Mazhar Ali, superconductor-based computers could reach speeds up to a terahertz. Superconducting might not be usable for consumer computers in the near term, but Ali thinks server farms and supercomputers could implement it.



Ali (middle), along with fellow researchers Dr. Yaojia Wang (left) and Dr. Heng Wu (right)

Normally, currents run through superconductors without any resistance, which makes stopping or directing their flow impossible. Ali says his group was able to do it by sandwiching a quantum material between two semiconductors.

Currently however, the research team has only tested the method at extremely low temperatures. Thus far, any superconductor-based system using this process would be extremely sensitive to heat. Ali's team plans to see if the method can work at temperatures above 77 Kelvin (about -321 Fahrenheit), at which point computers might be able to use these superconductors with the help of liquid-nitrogen cooling. The next step will be to figure out how to produce enough superconductors for a chip.
What just happened? Activision Blizzard's shareholders have approved Microsoft's $69 billion buyout of the company, with a massive 98% voting in favor of the acquisition. But Wall Street is still betting on the deal falling through.

Bloomberg reports that shareholders approved Microsoft's offer of $95 per share. The stock price had hit $82 following news of the acquisition, meaning anyone who bought then would have been guaranteed $13 per share profit when the deal completed. However, the current share price has fallen to around $77, suggesting investors aren't confident the merger will be finalized.

As reported back in February, the uncertainty stems from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) looking into the acquisition. Buying Activision Blizzard would make Microsoft the third-largest video game company after Tencent and Sony, and that's brought the attention of regulators examining potential antitrust issues.

A group of organizers last month urged the FTC to monitor Microsoft's takeover, warning that it could have "anticompetitive horizontal effects." The statement noted that the deal could also have a detrimental impact on the unionization efforts of some Blizzard staff, noting that no US Microsoft staff belong to unions.

The FTC played a significant part in blocking Nvidia's acquisition of Arm earlier this year, having previously sued to stop the purchase from going through. Microsoft also has to gain approval from governments in the European Union and China.

Not all Activision Blizzard shareholders want the buyout to complete. SOC Investment Group, an activist group with a small stake, has encouraged other shareholders to downvote the deal. It believes the company is being undervalued due to "the board's incompetent handling" of the sexual harassment lawsuits it has faced and would rather the board be replaced so Blizzard can rebuild its damaged reputation.

The merger has until June 30, 2023, to close.

h/t: PC Gamer
What just happened? In another sign that things are far from rosy at Netflix, the streaming giant has laid off a number of editorial staffers and contractors at its Tudum fan site that launched just over four months ago. The company insists the project isn't going to be shuttered, but this appears to be another belt-tightening exercise for Netflix after it lost subscribers for the first time in a decade.

Tudum, named after the first global fan event in September, arrived in early December as a Netflix companion site. It features exclusive content related to the streaming service, such as if a series has been renewed (it probably hasn't), when it is coming out, trivia about shows, and a lot more.

But Deadline reports that as part of a restructuring of Netflix's marketing department, 25 positions at the company have been eliminated, most of which came from Tudumten members of staff were reportedly laid off from the site.

The move might look as if Netflix is getting ready to close down Tudum, but a spokesperson said this isn't the case. "Our fan website Tudum is an important priority for the company," they confirmed.

Uh oh! Looks like I have to do this tweet again. Is anyone hiring? Netflix just laid off my team (my job included). It was an incredible few months and I'm grateful for it but I'm stoked about whatever's next. Email is in bio.  josh terry (@JoshhTerry) April 28, 2022

Former Vice culture writer Josh Terry tweeted about the layoffs, noting that he and his team had been let go from Tudum.

The news comes just as Netflix's quarterly results revealed it had lost 200,000 subscribers since the beginning of the year, which it blames on password sharers, increased competition, and its withdrawal from the Russian market. But a recent report shows that US consumers may have reached peak subscription: American households have stopped adding to their roster of streaming subscriptions after almost two years of constant growth.
A hot potato: Imagine if Twitter announced it would be publishing users' IP addresses and location data in an effort to combat unwanted behavior on the platform. It would undoubtedly cause a stir, but that's exactly what the Chinese equivalent of the site, Sina Weibo, is doing.

As reported by The Register, Sina Weibo's post titled "IP Territorial Function Upgrade Announcement" claims the action is being taken to protect users' rights and make the service more pleasant to use.

"In order to reduce undesirable behaviors such as impersonating parties, malicious rumors  as well as to ensure the authenticity and transparency of the disseminated content, the site launched the 'IP Territory' function in March this year," reads the translated statement.

The feature sees IP addresses recorded and the province or municipality from where they originate included in users' posts. It isn't possible to opt out of the function.

Twitter has long had a problem with toxic users and trolls making the platform a generally unpleasant place for many. Nevertheless, few people are unlikely to believe showing IP addresses and location data is a good solution, given the privacy implications.

The move seems especially insidious in China, where the government's monitoring of the internet is notoriously stringent and dissidents are punished harshly. A 2019 report revealed citizens using a VPN to access Twitter, which is blocked in the country, and post messages critical of the government faced detention and interrogation.

VPNs would be an option in this case, but as The Reg notes, they're illegal in China, meaning using them comes with its own risk.

Not everyone is against the move. "I feel this initiative not only standardizes civilized speech, but is to prevent foreign forces from provoking various confrontations on the Chinese network, After all, in these special times, China is indeed a thorn in the eyes of too many countries. In reality, a lot of spies have been arrested recently, and cyber spies are more invincible " wrote one user.

China has been tightening its grip on its internet recently. Douyin, known as TikTok in the rest of the world, last week asked users to report any criticism of the government and its policies. Additionally, China's $30 billion streaming industry looks set to be hit with regulations that include limiting the amount of money streamers can receive from fans and tightening restrictions on the type of content they can show.
What just happened? No longer is El Salvador the only country in the world where Bitcoin is an official currency. Joining the South American nation is the Central African Republic (CAR), which has now approved the cryptocurrency as legal tender.

A bill governing the use of Bitcoin was adopted unanimously by parliament last week, writes Reuters.

Despite being rich in natural resources such as gold and uranium, CAR is one of the poorest countries in the world and has been embroiled in civil war since 2012. It currently uses the French-backed CFA franc as its currency, as do six other former French colonies in Africa.

What's especially strange about CAR adopting Bitcoin as an official currency is that just 11 percent of the 4.8 million population have access to the internet, notes The Verge.

Former CAR prime minister Martin Ziguele, now an opposition MP, said the bill signed by President Faustin Archange Touadera was approved "by proclamation."

It's speculated that the move could be linked to CAR's close relationship with Russiait was one of the 35 nations that abstained from a United Nations vote condemning Russia's invasion of Ukrainewhile also undermining the CFA and France.

"The context, given the systemic corruption and a Russian partner facing international sanctions, does encourage suspicion," French analyst Thierry Vircoulon told the AFP news agency.

El Salvador made history last year when it passed its Bitcoin law in June and the cryptocurrency became legal tender in September. The government has faced plenty of criticism from citizens and organizations over the decision, including the World Bank, which refused to help with the implementation, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has urged the country to drop Bitcoin as an official currency. But El Salvador isn't giving up on crypto or its plans to build Bitcoin City.
Why it matters: Less than two months after acquiring the music service Bandcamp, Epic Games seems to be coming to its defense. However, this case perfectly aligns with Epic's battles with mobile platform holders. Is it simply using Bandcamp in its crusade, or did their interests just happen to coincide?

This week, Epic Games and its recent acquisition Bandcamp have come out against Google's upcoming policy changes, which will force the music app to process digital payments exclusively through Google's payment system. Bandcamp co-founder and CEO Ethan Diamond said this is incompatible with the original purpose of the music service. Epic, which struck a deal to purchase Bandcamp in early March, filed a motion in a California court with the same sentiment.

Currently, Bandcamp processes digital music purchases on its Android app through its existing payment system, which lets it pass 82 percent of sales revenue to artists. During some promotions, it gives all sales proceeds to artists, which is why the service is popular with indie musicians.

Apple users can only listen to music, buy it on physical media, or buy merchandise. Bandcamp's iOS app doesn't process digital purchases at all because Apple's required revenue cut makes it impossible for the company to be so generous. The Android app could end up this way unless Epic or the court system can broker a compromise.

Until now, Google's payment system hasn't been mandatory for digital music purchases on Play Store apps, but that exception ends on June 1. Afterward, Google will take 10 percent of the Bandcamp app's digital purchase revenue. Epic and Bandcamp said this would either force the latter to pass the extra cost to consumers (taking the cut from artists is a nonstarter for them), delist the Bandcamp app, or operate it without digital purchases like the iOS app.

Epic's court filing describes Google's policies as monopolistic and even illegal. It echoes the language Epic used in its legal battle against Apple over the right to operate the mobile version of Fortnite without using Apple's payment system.

Despite Epic mostly losing that fight, governments worldwide are starting to legislate against forcing apps to use platform holders' payment systems. Late last month, Dutch regulators mandated that Apple allow local dating apps to use third-party payment processors. Last August, South Korea passed a law forbidding Google and Apple from forcing their payment systems onto apps. Such regulations could clash with Google's upcoming policy change.
India has unveiled new GPS-assisting tech. The new technology also tested the so-called GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation) on Thursday, Apr. 28.

The Global Positioning System models across the globe are still not perfect. It can experience various issues that will definitely affect its accuracy.

Hello Tracks provided some of the problems that GPS systems can experience during operations:

Inaccuracy due to insufficient satellite signals.

Cold starts after being inactive for too long.

Poor hardware since GPS is not usually updated by airlines and other flight companies.

GPS devices usually perform less when on low batteries.

New GPS-Assisting Tech Unveiled by India!

The United States, Russia, China, and other big nations already have some technologies to aid their GPS models. One of these is the so-called Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS).

Also Read: US Missile Defense Systems Still Ineffective Against ICBMs-Even After 15 Years, Says New Study

Now, India is also working on its own SBAS model, the new GANAN tech. This innovation was specifically developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), as reported by WION.

#india : @IndiGo6E ATR plane makes maiden landing using 'Gagan' tech devlpd by @isro & @AAI_Official



Using 15 indian ground stns & 3 Gsat(8,10,15)sats, Gagan augments aircraft's position accuracy, by correcting GPS signal



With Gagan, Pilots can land in Tier2/3, non-ILS apts pic.twitter.com/DfuEf7aUdS  Sidharth.M.P (@sdhrthmp) April 28, 2022

During the recent test, ISRO used its ATR 72-600 aircraft to check if the new GAGAN system is efficient. The experiment's findings revealed that India's own SBAS system could perform well in both Tier 2 and Tier 3 airports.

Now, how can GAGAN help passenger airplanes?

How GAGAN Works

Dr. Mylswamy Annadurai, the former Director of India's UR Rao Satellite Center, explained that the new GAGAN system could correct the GPS signals.

This means that airplanes can rely on this new GPS-assisting tech to have more accurate positioning when landing and during actual flights.

He added that GAGAN's ground segment has fifteen ground stations and a Master Control Center located across India.

If you want to see more details about India's new GAGAN system, you can visit this link.

Recently, Japan's ASDF F-15 recently crashed and went-off radar.

Meanwhile, RAF warning was previously issued because smart meters are believed to have negative effects on the United Kingdom's EWS.

For more news updates about GPS and other defense tech-related topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: US Space Command To Use Non-Traditional Sensors for Ground, Sea Missile Defense Radars

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Written by: Griffin Davis

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NASA, together with its partners at the German Space Agency at the Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), has decided to halt the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) mission and finally set it on the ground after eight years.

The SOFIA mission will officially conclude its operations no later than Sept. 30 when its current mission extension will end as well.

The End of SOFIA

NASA started using SOFIA, which happens to be a modified Boeing 747SP registration N747NA, from 2009 to 2010 and on May 26 of 2010, the flying observatory succesfully sent its first image of the solar system.

This telescope was a project between NASA and DLR which aimed to observe and study the infared universe and understand significant events such as the formations of solar systems and new stars.

Last month, NASA and DLR sent the Boeing 747SP to Chile to commence its first trip to South America and conduct a two-week project.

However, on the first day of April, SOFIA eventually returned to the United states. The mission recorded 14 flights departing and landing in Palmdale, based on FlightRadar24.com's data and reported by Simple Flying.

Meanwhile, on April 27, the observatory mission conducted a flight that lasted for a duraton of ten hours and flew all the way up to the northern Saskatchewan in Canada before trailing its way back to California.

Read Also: SOFIA Flying Observatory Detects Atomic Oxygen In Upper Layers Of Mars Atmosphere

Why is it Finally Concluding?

Based on an astrophysics decadal survey, which is a community-informed document that produces top priorities for astrophysics research in the next 10 years, they recommended on November 2021 that SOFIA must halt its operations.

DLR and NASA had to heed to this recommendation.

SOFIA costs about 85 million per year in order to operate, according to the evaluation of National Academies' Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020, the science productivity of the mission is not proportional to its huge operating costs.

Furthermore, the report said that SOFIA's capabilities are not necessarily in line with the science priorities of the Decadal Survey for the next decade and years to come.

Hence, the Decadel Survey had to encourage NASA and DLR to conclude the SOFIA mission once its mission extension is over.

"SOFIA's annual operations budget is the second-most expensive operating mission in Astrophysics, yet the science productivity of the mission is not commensurate with other large science missions," officials stated in NASA's report of allocations for the 2023 federal budget request, reported by Space.com

Furthermore, the 2023 White house budget request supported the call of the Decadal survey, stating that SOFIA's closure will be "consistent with the recommendations of the science community."

SOFIA will be finishing eight years of its mission on Sept. 30, which happens to be a three-year extension beyond its supposed mandate. The mission employs a modified Boeing 747 airplane with a reflecting telescope that conducts high-atmospheric infared observations.

There have been many cancellation requests before but with the Decadal Survey, SOFIA will finally hit the ground.

However, NASA noted that SOFIA's data will remain available for use even when the mission has halted. With their newly launched James Webb Space Telescope, they will be seeking to "advance the future of scientific discovery in infared astrophysics."

SOFIA will conclude its scheduled operations for the 2022 fiscal year and a shut down will immediately follow.

Related Article: NASA Perseverance Rover Films Stunning Video of Solar Eclipse on Mars

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tecla

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A live-action adapatation of the beloved 80's anime series Robotech is in the works and the production has recently tapped Hawkeye director Rhys Tomas to lead the movie, after years of switching directors, writers, and studios.

The anime series is a definite classic and serves as an important historical piece of American kids' cartoons and the U.S. anime industry.

If you want to revisit the Robotech world, this is the perfect guide for you! But if you are like anyone who has never heard of Robotech but still excited for the movie, this will also serve helpful for you!

Read also: The Beginner's Guide To Anime: The Must-Watch Essentials

How Many Robotech Seasons Are There?

There are many Robotechs out there from mangas to movies, and it could be overwhelming, but hold your horses because the most vital important part of the franchise lies of course in its original cartoon which premiered in 1985 and lasted with 85 episodes.

The series revolves on one epic story but it is still divided up into three main arcs, firstly the Macross saga, secondly the Masters saga, and lastly the New Generation saga.

The Very First Saga

It all started when a giant alien spaceship crash-landed on planet Earth, with great precaution and worry, humanity uses its technology called protoculture to protect the population from possible alien attacks. This particularly includes the Veritechs, who are jet fighters with the ability to transform into humanoid mech, and the spaceship SDF-1.

When huge aliens called the Zentraedi came to Earth to bring back their space ship, the stunt Pilot Rick Hunter unexpectedly gets drawn into an interstellar war and a love triangle between SDF officer Lisa Hayes and darling pop star Lynn Minmei. Talk about epicness!

The Macross Saga really started out strong with its exciting narratives, rest assured that the first saga will not bore you to death but will keep you binging for more episodes!

Defending the Earth

The Masters Saga will a take an even bigger turn when the Zentraedi join forces with humanity, and their Masters also landed on Earth with a huge armada to capture the galaxy's only source of protoculture. It will be up to Dana Sterling, daughter of two Veritech aces from the Macross Saga, to protect Earth from the Master's assault and she will find out an interesting history on protoculture!

The spoilers must stop because this will be up for you to find out more!

The Ultimate Mission to Free Humanity

The New Generation Saga is perhaps the most exciting saga and everything that ensues will be pure epicness. When the alien species called Invid invades and takes over the Earth to steal protoculture for themselves and when the Robotech Expeditionary Force were destroyed after their ultimate mission of freeing humanity, survivor Scott Bernard organizes a team of freedom fighters to defeat the Invid and save planet Earth.

Where to Watch?

Robotech is anything that is classic. It is an American 80's cartoon, 80's mecha anime, and a classic reminder on how America has adapted anime. It highlighted mature storytelling while still toning down the violence to make it more appropriate for children.

The three sagas of the original cartoon, the 1986 sequel Robotech II: The Sentinels, and the 2007 Shadow Chronicles movie are all available for streaming in the Funimation streaming service. You can also rent them in Prime Video, iTunes, and Vudu.

Related Article: Best Anime Games to Play on PC in 2022 | 'Dragon Ball,' 'Attack on Titan,' and More

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NASA's James Webb Telescope is one step ready to observe and explore the universe!

The space observatory, which holds a massive mirror that has the ability of peering even in the most distant reaches of space, has now completely aligned, announced by NASA's Webb team on Wednesday.

Particularly, the world's premier space observatory, has successfully accomplished several steps within the past few months, which were vital for aligning its 18 gold mirror segments.

It is worth noting that the mirror is so large that it needed to be folded inside the rocket for its launch last December 25. When it finally reached an orbit a million miles from Earth last January, NASA unfolded and aligned the mirror through a careful process.

The James Webb Space Telescope concluded its alignment phase when it demonstrated how it can capture "crisp, well-focused images" with the use of all four of its science instruments. The images were released last April 28.

This milestone will enable the mission team to proceed to the next step which is the science instrument commissioning. Hence, the telescope will enter a new phase of preparation after the process of aligning all of its instruments and mirrors.

NASA noted that the next phase could take at least two months and with Webb still on track to finish in June once the plan succeeds.

Scott Acton, Webb wavefront sensing and controls scientist at Ball Aerospace, said in the NASA's blog post that the images have profoundly changed the way he sees the universe.

"We are surrounded by a symphony of creation; there are galaxies everywhere. It is my hope that everyone in the world can see them," he added.

Read also: NASA will End SOFIA Flying Observatory Mission: Find Out Why

Into the Exoplanets and Galaxies

The Webb telescope has the special ability to peer inside the atmospheres of exoplanets and study how some of the first galaxies were formed after the universe began. They will be observed through infared light, something that is invisible to the human eye.

However, the very first high-resolution images of the cosmos are unlikely to be received soon but it could arrive until the end of June, since Webb has to recalibrate their instruments. But the images released by NASA showing clear and well-focused images proves the efficiency of their instruments.

The $10 billion telescope has undergone many processes since its launch on Christmas day of last year. Webb had to rocked to deep spance which took almost a month and it had to go through a complex seven-step allignment process for it to pass.

For the next phase of work, science instrument commissioning along with telescope calibration will have to be conducted. Instrument commissioning entails masks, lenses, filters several equipment to function properly in various configurations.

Meanwhile, for calibration activities, there is a list of milestones that Webb must accomplish before it becomes officially operational.

Related Article: NASA Perseverance Rover Films Stunning Video of Solar Eclipse on Mars

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The Moon, as we all by now, is our planet's only natural satellite. Much has been said and researched about it, but it goes without saying that there is still so much to learn about it.

Various lunar missions have been launched by the different space agencies around the world and it can even be said that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is at the forefront of it. In fact, it currently has a robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon ever since its launch more than a decade ago.

During that span of time, that same robotic spacecraft has been sending awe-inspiring photos of and around the Moon back to Earth.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

The spacecraft in question is known as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). NASA describes it as "a robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric polar mapping orbit."

The LRO was launched to space on June 18, 2009 at 5:32 p.m. EDT. It entered the Moon's orbit five days later and its Exploration Mission officially began on Sept. 15 of the same year. This mission was completed in 2010 and the LRO has since been on an extended mission.

According to NASA, "The mission has provided technical innovations and made surprising discoveries that have changed our view of the Moon." The space agency adds that the data gathered by the LRO will be particularly useful for future scientists and explorers.

Images Taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

The LRO has been orbiting the Moon for 13 years as of press time and in that span of time, it has sent back images of the moon and even around the moon. These images have undoubtedly given a lot of information to scientists about our only natural satellite.

Here are some of the images:

A Lunar Sunrise

"On June 10, 2011, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter angled its orbit 65 to the west, allowing the spacecraft's cameras to capture a dramatic sunrise view of the moon's Tycho crater," NASA says of this image.

Described to be around 51 miles in diameter, Tycho is located at at 43.37S, 348.68E.

The Moon's North Pole

This particular image of the Moon's north pole was taken by the the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC).

Related Article: NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Spots Water Molecules Around The Moon

The Wargo Crater

This lunar crater has been named after NASA's former chief exploration scientist, Michael Wargo, who died in 2013. Located on the far side of the moon, the Wargo Crater is 8.6 miles in diameter.

A View of the Earth

The LRO was available to snap this image of our planet while orbiting its natural satellite.

According to NASA, the center of the Earth seen on the image is actually the coast of the African country of Liberia. The brown area seen in the upper right is actually the Sahara Desert.

Read Also: NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Snaps a Photo of Saturn

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Longer Mars missions can be possible, thanks to a new energy-gathering tech that is claimed to be better than the nuclear energy-based system.

Extending activities on the Red Planet is quite tricky since astronauts usually run out of power.

NASA and other space agencies believe that nuclear fission reactors can provide the needed energy for essential machines operating on the Red Planet.

The international space union has been making efforts to create an efficient nuclear fission reactor that can provide enough power for long-term Mars missions.

But, a new study claimed that a new solar energy-based system is actually a better option compared to nuclear fission reactors.

Longer NASA Mars Missions are Possible?

According to SciTech Daily's latest report, a new study was conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

Also Read: NASA Mars Curiosity Rover Navigates Back From Gator-Back Terrain | Rocks 'Not' Good For its Wheels

Based on their findings, the flexibility, lightweight, and high efficiency of photovoltaics can provide enough power for extended or longer Mars missions of NASA and other space agencies.

In the new study titled "Photovoltaics-Driven Power Production Can Support Human Exploration on Mars," which was published by the Frontiers journal, solar energy-based technologies can actually allow astronauts to have 480-day space missions on the Red Planet.

They even claimed that photovoltaic energy generators are comparable to or even better than the suggested nuclear fission reactors.

"Photovoltaic energy generation coupled to certain energy storage configurations in molecular hydrogen outperforms nuclear fusion reactors over 50%," said Aaron Berliner, a bioengineering doctoral student at UC Berkeley.

Other Things Revealed by Photovoltaic Study

Aside from revealing the solar energy-based system's efficiency, the new study also offered a new perspective on the upcoming Mars colonization.

Involved scientists said that they are also checking other technologies that can be helpful during long-term space missions on the Red Planet, as well as other heavenly bodies in the solar system.

If you want to see more of their findings, you can visit this link.

Meanwhile, the NASA Perseverance Rover successfully arrived at Mars' River Delta.

On the other hand, a new Mars colonization study claimed that humans could breathe on the Red Planet.

For more news updates about Mars missions and other space topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: NASA Perseverance Rover Films Stunning Video of Solar Eclipse on Mars

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(Photo : Unsplash/Zana Latif) back pain

If you are suffering from back pains because of your bad posture, the Zen app can help correct that. Zen uses posture mirroring software that reminds you to stop hunching over the desk.

The app also sends alerts when it detects that you are not sitting up straight so you can correct your posture and avoid back problems.

Zen App Helps Correct Posture

The Zen app may sound easy to use, but the catch is you need to permit it to use your phone's webcam to check on your posture. That immediately raised some privacy concerns.

According to TechCrunch, Zen currently has 1,000 users, and it also has a version that it sells to employers. The startup has signed up around 30 companies, including over a dozen enterprises, since it launched the app back in October 2020.

Given the increasing growth in worker surveillance tools since the pandemic-triggered boom in remote working, there are a lot of reasons for privacy concerns.

Also Read: Smartphone App May Help Doctors Find Link Between Weather And Arthritis

Many are concerned that employers will use the app to spy on their staff while working.

But Zen assures its users that it has taken a privacy-centric approach to building the webcam-based posture correcting tech.

This means that the company took some specific steps to reassure users that they are not being watched by it or anyone else as the AI watches them, according to TheWebServ.

The app's posture correction software is open source, and the AI processes the data locally, which means it does not need an internet connection to function, so users can verify for themselves that it is not uploading or streaming any data to the cloud by testing it with their internet connection disabled.

How Posture Check-In Work

Zen users can use the app how they want to. Some users do short posture check-in, around 30 minutes or an hour with the feature enabled, several times a day, instead of keeping it on all the time, according to Media Assistant.

The developers learned that users only need a short daily check-in to stay posture aware.

Daniel James, the CEO of Zen, said that they noticed that the majority of their users do not leave the app on all day. Instead, they do a short 30 to 60-minute posture session during their first work session in the morning and another one around 12:00 NN or 4:00 PM.

This correlates to how most people meditate as they spend a short time actively being aware of their thoughts which strengthens their passive awareness throughout the day. This works the same way for posture too.

James added that doing short small sessions every day increases your posture awareness and behavior change. Also, in user interviews, people often tell them that Zen is in the "back of their head even when they are not at their desktop."

Some Zen app users reported that when they find themselves slouching, they start to notice it and move back into an upright position naturally.

From this analytical data, the startup decided to recommend that people start using the app for only 30 minutes a day during the 7-Day Posture Challenge. People saw great results in increased posture awareness and decreased back and joint pain.

In 2021, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science developed selfBACK app to relieve back pain.

.

Related Article: Yoga As Good As Physical Therapy For Treating Lower Back Pain: Study

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Elon Musk's new Twitter plan considers charging companies for embedded tweets.

This means that websites and other businesses using the social media platform to promote their products need to pay before posting their content.

Ever since the billionaire purchased Twitter for billions of dollars, he had been the focus on the social media's fans. Most of his statements are observed since he now owns the online platform.

Musk explained the reason behind his latest plan for Twitter.

Elon Musk Twitter Plan: Paid Embedded Tweets?

According to Independent UK's latest report, the popular tech CEO stated that charging companies for embedded tweets can attract more lenders.

Related Article: Elon Musk Twitter Update: $1.2 Billion Revenue, User Count Error, and Coca-Cola Purchase Joke

Elon further explained that this would attract more lenders that Twitter could take advantage of. On the other hand, some anonymous sources claimed that Elon was negotiating with the banks.

They added that these financial firms helped him secure the $44 billion funding he used to buy Twitter. The banks then decided to lend him $25.5 billion after he convinced them that the social media platform could generate income.

It is still unclear if the suggested action of the billionaire can trigger a deal cancellation. If Twitter ever decided to remove the deal, the company needs to pay around a $1 billion penalty.

Elon Musk Shares Opinion About Far-Left Individuals

While the billionaire announced his latest Twitter plan, he also shared his opinion regarding far-left people.

In one of his new tweets, he claimed that far-left people actually hate everybody.

"The far left hates everyone, themselves included!" said the billionaire via The New York Post.

But Im no fan of the far right either.



Lets have less hate and more love.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2022

But, he said that he is not also a fan of far-right individuals. Instead, he suggested that far-left and far-right people show more love instead of hate.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk said that Twitter DMs should be similar to Signal.

On the other hand, Twitter ensured that Elon Musk's buyout would not make the platform more toxic.

For more news updates about Elon Musk and Twitter, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Left or Right? Elon Musk Creates a Chart Showing his 'Side,' Aims to Make Twitter Politically Neutral

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Parts of Ukraine remain without any internet service post-war, but they have found an alternative to stay connected, and that is by the emergency Starlink receivers.

Starlink Helps Ukrainians Stay Connected

The SpaceX-owned satellite internet service that CEO Elon Musk touted at the start of the war has emerged as a lifeline for several country areas, with over 10,000 satellite dish antennas in service, and more are on the way, according to CNBC.

Dmytro Zinchuk, the head of network operations for the internet provider Freenet, which mostly serves the area around Kyiv and western and northern Ukraine, said that the satellites are not ideal internet. However, since there is still no connection at all, Starlink is just salvation for those who have been without connection for weeks.

Zinchuk said that his company had integrated five government-donated Starlink terminals in its mad dash to get as many customers back online as possible in areas that faced heavy Russian bombardment. That can mean wiring hundreds of people to a terminal meant for a single household.

Also Read: Elon Musk Brings On-the-Go Charging for Starlink Satellites in Ukraine; New Shipments Confirmed by Vice Prime Minister

Zinchuk added that they are well aware that Starlink was not created for this, but they successfully launched 150+ subscribers on one Starlink.

Most of the basic Starlink kits donated to Ukraine include a 23-inch-wide receiver dish that needs to be mounted outside and a cord that connects to a simple router that projects a Wi-Fi internet signal, according to Nikkei Asia.

The internet speeds depend on the signal, but one Starlink enthusiast in Kyiv, Oleg Kutkov, said in a phone interview that he often gets 200 megabits per second download speeds, which is fast enough for most people, especially for household internet use. Americans normally pay $110 a month for internet service.

How Starlink Gets its Signal

Starlink gets its signal from the constellation of satellites that orbit the planet at low altitudes, while the satellites of its competitors orbit Earth at high altitudes, according to Business Insider.

That often leads to faster and more reliable service, though NASA has warned that more Starlink satellites could interfere with its mission to monitor the asteroids.

Andrii Nabook, a senior official in Ukraine's ministry of digital transformation, a government agency with a broad mandate over tech issues, said that his office had donated around 200 receivers to local providers since the war with Russia began.

Nabook and his team traveled to the city of Chernihiv, which is the north of Kyiv, in early April after Russian forces retreated to set up the antennas for the satellite dish.

The ministry has also donated Starlink receivers to Kyiv hospitals, schools, fire departments, and village governments.

After Mykhailo Fedorov, the digital transformation minister of Ukraine, sent an open request in February for Musk to send receivers, the SpaceX CEO promised that the company would.

Satellite internet has been around for years, but it is typically used by militaries or as a last resort for rural areas that have trouble getting reliable connections.

But in recent years, the space industry has opened the door for orbital constellations of smaller satellites that can give service, including Starlink and a rival service from Project Kuiper of Amazon.

In March, Elon Musk also sent solar batteries to Ukraine.

Related Article: Elon Musk Says SpaceX Will Provide More Terminals in Ukraine to Stabilize its Internet Service Amid Chaos

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[Pick] I thought I was going to have an accident Why was he found not guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol?
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LSU Police arrested American Idol winner Laine Hardy on Friday on an eavesdropping complaint filed by a student.

New details: American Idol winner Laine Hardy admits bugging ex-girlfriend in dorm room, police say

A source told The Advocate that Hardy is accused of secretly recording a student by leaving a device in their room. The source required anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss the case before Hardy's formal processing, which was occurring Friday morning.

LSU spokesman Ernie Ballard sent a text to reporters Friday listing the charge but did not offer specifics.

"Lane Reed Hardy (Non-LSU student) was arrested by LSU Police today and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for violation of 15:1303-- Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Electronic, or Oral Communication. His arrest warrant has been filed with clerk of court," Ballard wrote.

+7 Louisiana's Laine Hardy reached stardom at an early age. Here's how he got to this point. Livingston Parish native Laine Hardy became a star in the entertainment industry at the age of 17 when he won "American Idol" in 2019, and his

Thursday night, Hardy posted a generic statement on his Facebook page saying LSU police were investigating allegations against him.

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Friday morning, an LSU Police vehicle arrived at Parish Prison as a cadre of reporters and photographers watched. A gate attendant appeared to take the temperature of the driver and then let the vehicle pass.

University records show that a complaint was made recently alleging the illegal interception and disclosure of wire, electronic or oral communications. The offense is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and prison time from 2-10 years. It was not immediately known if the Hardy arrest stemmed from that specific complaint, which was made April 7.

Hardy's statement Thursday did not address the nature of the accusation.

"Earlier today, I received a warrant due to allegations made against me and have been fully cooperative with the Louisiana State University Police Department," he posted Thursday night. "I understand that my career has thrust me into the public spotlight, and I embrace that wholeheartedly as my entire world belongs to my music and my fans.

"However, due to the sensitive nature of this allegation, I humbly ask for privacy at this time. I have the utmost respect for the law and will assist in their investigation as needed moving forward," the post said.

The type of device used was not known, though modern technology easily allows remote monitoring. Smart speakers and similar devices constantly "listen" for a word to "awaken" it, and recordings can be listened to remotely through online accounts. Other types of recorders are always on.

Hardy, 21, was born in Baton Rouge but now lives in Livingston Parish. He rose to fame in 2019 when he became the first Louisiana native to win the American Idol crown during the singing competition's Season 17 finale.

TV listings show he is scheduled to appear on American Idol on Monday as part of a 20th-anniversary special.

This is a developing story.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and LSU President William Tate IV respond to comments by University Lake partners, as hey share an update on the restoration of the six lakes surrounding LSUs campus Monday at the Milford Wampold Memorial Park. The first phase of the University Lakes Project is now fully funded and construction on its first phase will begin this summer.
A second former Special Air Service soldier who has given evidence supporting war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith in his defamation case has admitted that he is the subject of an investigation into an alleged murder in Afghanistan.

Roberts-Smith is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times for defamation over a series of articles in 2018 that he says portray him as a war criminal who was involved in the unlawful killing of six unarmed Afghan prisoners. He denies all wrongdoing.

Ben Roberts-Smith arrives at the Federal Court in Sydney on Friday. Credit:Peter Rae

During cross-examination by the media outlets barrister, Nicholas Owens, SC, on Friday, Person 35, a former elite soldier who served alongside Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan, admitted that the Office of the Special Investigator was examining an allegation that he was himself involved in an unlawful killing of an Afghan man in a compound in September 2012 where two men were killed.

Person 35 told the court that both killings were lawful. He has also told the Federal Court that he did not witness Roberts-Smith commit war crimes on deployment.
Yet some retail, hospitality and other businesses  key stakeholders in the CBD  are finding it difficult to acclimatise to the new-look roads. Nic Poltronieri, owner of Hearns Hobbies on Flinders Street, said he was a cyclist who supported the idea of bike lanes but was struggling to see how they benefited his niche store. Using car parking spaces for outdoor dining was another pandemic-inspired initiative. Credit:Getty Lots of businesses in the city are destinations, people visit because the experience is only available there. For that reason, most of my customers come by car, he said. Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra also weighed in this week, saying road changes introduced during the pandemic had caused congestion.

Not everybody rides a bike in. Not everybody catches a train. Not everybody goes to the theatre on a bicycle. Not everybody goes to a nice restaurant on a bicycle either, he said. So I reckon we need a rethink. Loading The sentiment illustrates the challenge facing the City of Melbourne and its 2030 transport strategy. The municipality hopes to manage road congestion, improve amenity and provide incentives to those who commute in an environmentally and health-friendly way, such as on a bike, and also want to embrace new trends, for example, reallocating road space to outdoor dining. Feedback appears generally positive. A report into the introduction of bike lanes completed for the council by consulting firm Deloitte in October received 524 supportive and 219 unsupportive responses.

Planning firm Urbis last year analysed the impact of converting car-parking spaces into outdoor dining and bike-parking facilities in the cities of Melbourne, Yarra and Stonnington. It found the users of one car space contributed an average of $950 per day to the local shopping strip. With six bikes parked in the same area, an average of $1700 was pumped into local shops, while outdoor dining contributed $1660. Alison Lee, a co-author of the study, said there was growing evidence from Melbourne and internationally that could help allay traders concerns. Interestingly, retailers found extra numbers would flow into their stores when a thriving, vibrant atmosphere was created, she said.

Following the lead of global cities such as Paris, London, Milan and Bogota to encourage more cyclists and pedestrians, would, over time, likely result in the character of stores changing, Ms Lee said. Its crazy for the CBD of Melbourne to try and compete with suburban shopping malls in terms of parking convenience, she said. Logistics are also a consideration. Delivery driver Stefan Roth described the CBD as an obstacle course that had become more difficult to navigate in the past two years. Loading zones were already at a premium and there are now even less, he said. I see vans making the calculation where they would rather stop in a bike lane than have to park blocks away and make half a dozen trips back and forth just to finish the delivery. If the council wants to continue like this, well need a completely new approach to deliveries, he said

State MP Rod Barton, a former taxi driver and founder of the Transport Matters Party, said new bike lanes werent a top concern for taxi and hire car drivers but were a frustration. Loading At peak hour, youre looking down the lanes and theres no bikes there at all, he said. I would suggest drivers preference is they werent there, but it hasnt become a formal complaint. Capp said bike lanes were proving disproportionately popular. While office attendance remains at 30 per cent of pre-COVID levels, bike lane volumes are at 60 per cent. We know traffic congestion is an issue faced by many major cities around the world, particularly since the pandemic as more people are choosing to drive. But we also know that enabling different transport modes is really important for the long term, she said.
Most of Western Australias COVID-19 restrictions were lifted on Friday morning and cafes and bars across Perth were already celebrating a much-needed uptick in customer numbers. From 12.01am, WAs mask and vaccination mandates were eased, and all capacity limits at venues were removed  a moment those in the hospitality sector have been waiting on for months. Grouch & Co owner Ren Taylor said the change would relieve staff as well as customers. Credit:Holly Thompson Grouch & Co owner Ren Taylor said she had already seen more people dining in at her cafe in Myaree. Hospitality will benefit from this sign that were on the way to recovery. Hospitality has been so hard hit, especially the clubs and bars and sit-down restaurants, she said.

Were really fortunate that we have a great ability to be flexible and do takeaway really easily. But were so excited to see people come back in and dine and feel confident. I think the masks signified people were worried, and the removal of a mask is a bit of a physical sign that actually, were doing OK. Weve had people this morning, though, still wearing masks, which we totally understand as well. She said communication with the masks on had also been difficult. Weve got a few deaf customers who come in as well and I know that for them that this will be a welcome relief, Taylor said.

Good Things cafe owner Jake Carter said back in 2020 when WA first went into lockdown, there had been a state of panic around what was going to happen to the business. Capacity limits affected us, we had to remove tables and spread everything out, he said. Good Things, which has cafes in Mosman Park and Fremantle, has already experienced a new energy. Credit:Holly Thompson We are really grateful we have been able to operate in some capacity throughout the pandemic in Perth, it was really hard to see what was happening over east with the continuous lockdowns. The mental health aspect of things was big for our customers too, not being able to go and get a daily coffee. When you cant do that, and you cant have that daily interaction with others, you really realise how much it means to you.

Good Things gathered a good local following throughout the pandemic, so Carter opened a second store in Fremantle. Paola Arosi, who works at The Royal, is hopeful life will return to the Perth CBD. Credit:Holly Thompson He said he hoped that now, with no masks and no capacity limits, the customer base there could continue to grow. The Perth CBD was one of the most difficult areas for hospitality during the pandemic, with many people choosing to, or needing to work from home. The Royal owner John Parker said since restrictions had been reintroduced at the end of last year, he had experienced a 40 per cent drop in turnover.
Apparently, that is not the case, at least so far. The Nine Network, along with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, has put forward a proposal to host a debate on May 8 that would air during the usual 60 Minutes timeslot on Sunday night to ensure a large audience. Morrison says thats fine by him, and he has also committed to a Channel Seven debate next week.

For a leader who has struggled to make an impression on voters, and has just spent a week at home in isolation with COVID-19, you would think Albanese would be true to his word. And you would think the opportunity to go head-to-head with the prime minister before a national audience to make the case for change would be hard to pass up.

His answer could not have been more emphatic: Every day, every week is fine ... There has never been a prime minister who is so shy about having a debate ... I am up for a debate on ABC, 7, 9, 10, Herald, West ... Everyone can host one. I will turn up wherever they are.

When Labor leader Anthony Albanese appeared at the National Press Club in January, the final question of the day was asked by Laura Tingle, the press clubs president. She wanted to know whether he would commit to debating Prime Minister Scott Morrison during the election.

Albanese, despite his every day, every week rhetoric of the past, has yet to take up the challenge. On Friday, his first day out of isolation, the best he could offer was that while Im up for more debates ... Im not up for the prime minister deciding when, who, how that all occurs. We are running out of time in this campaign, and it is essential that at least one debate between leaders happens on free-to-air television.

We would expect that this tension will be resolved in coming days and that Albanese will agree to at least one, probably two, more debates. The tedium of this ritual during election campaigns is wearing. The need for an independent debate commission to set the rules and the structure of leader debates has been obvious for decades  without it, parties will squabble to ensure any political advantage. After the third debate in the 2019 federal election campaign, Morrison and then Labor leader Bill Shorten publicly agreed to set up a commission that would avoid media companies bidding to host the two leaders.

Morrison now says that Labor rejected a commission, while Labor says the coalitions negotiations were not made in good faith.

It may be that Albanese is still recovering from COVID-19, and he may prefer to hold one debate on the national broadcaster, the ABC. But his reticence to date is hard to understand when you consider that Sky News declared Albanese the winner of the first debate after responses from the 100 undecided voters found that 40 per cent supported him while 35 per cent backed Morrison, with the rest not convinced either way.

For decades, these types of debates have given the public the opportunity, outside of parliament, to judge how well leaders can match up against each other and articulate their policy platform. Some have been moderated by journalists only and some included questions from undecided voters in the audience. Both have merit. While some have been more compelling than others, their format ensures that they are free of the many distractions that are often a feature of a media press conference, and political fudging can be challenged by their opposition or moderators.
Construction workers in Victoria will be banned from redeveloping the John Curtin Hotel as part of a union-led protection of the Carlton pub and its Labor Party history.

A rare green ban has been imposed by the building industry group of unions  the CFMEU, Electrical Trades Union, the Plumbing and Pipe Trades Employees Union, and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union  meaning they will advise all members against working on the site following its sale to an overseas buyer.

Unionists and local residents gather at Carltons John Curtin Hotel to back the green ban on the redevelopment of the site. Credit:Darrian Traynor

Secretaries of the unions on Thursday unanimously agreed to the green ban, a practice popularised in the 1970s and credited with saving the City Baths, the Regent Theatre, Flinders Street Station and Queen Victoria Market from development.

Were going to protect this institution, Victorian Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari told The Age. We wont let our heritage be trashed. This is not a building you should touch.
People have as many stereotypes about dogs as there are distinct breeds: Chihuahuas are nervous; border collies are hyperactive; golden retrievers are great with children; and, most infamous, some large breeds - like the American pit bull terrier and Rottweiler - are aggressive.

But a research paper published on Thursday by scientists studying the link between genetics and dog behaviour suggests that our preconceived notions may be wrong.

Great with children: Golden retriever. Credit:iStock

Breed means very little in predicting the behaviour and personality of an individual dog, the researchers found. That appears to be especially true for traits that are most commonly associated with a dogs personality, qualities such as cuddliness, friendliness toward strangers and aggression.

What the dog looks like is not really going to tell you what the dog acts like, said Marjie Alonso, a co-author of the study and the executive director of the IAABC Foundation, the charitable arm of the International Association of Animal Behaviour Consultants.
Second Stage Theater is returning to its Upper West Side home at the McGinn/Cazale Theater with two world premieres in the upcoming 2022 summer season.

Steph Del Rosso's 53% Of will begin previews on June 14 ahead of an official opening on June 28. The title refers to the 53 percent of white women who voted for Donald Trump. According to a press description, "The president is coming to town, and the good ladies of Bethlehem, PA are beside themselves planning to give him a hero's welcome; later, their husbands drink and posture during his swearing in. And in Brooklyn, a group of 20-something white women gather to plan . . . a revolution? Or is it a ritual to absolve their own guilt? 53% Of shines a spotlight on the status quo and shakes up our perceived notions of who calls themselves good and who pleads ignorance." Tiffany Nichole Greene directs the production, which will run through July 10.

Johnny G. Lloyd's Patience follows, beginning previews August 2 ahead of an official opening on August 16. According to a press description, "Daniel plays solitaire. Professionally. He's very good  some would say the best. But he is ready to retire and settle into that perfect new house with his husband-to-be, Jordan. He's just got to hold it together through one final, career-defining match. A sports-inspired fantasia, Patience is a meditation on black excellence, next chapters, and playing a very long game alone." Zhailon Levingston directs the production, which runs through August 28.

Casting for both productions will be announced at a later date.
MOSCOW, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Russia has barred entry to the country for nine individuals from Iceland, three from Greenland, three from the Faroe Islands and 16 from Norway in a retaliatory move, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement Friday.

The countermeasures were taken in response to the decisions made by Iceland, Norway, and the Danish autonomies of Greenland and the Faroe Islands to join the European Union's sanctions against Russia, the ministry said.

The reciprocal measures were taken in relation to a number of parliamentarians, government members, business, media, and academic representatives as well as public figures, who have actively "promoted anti-Russian rhetoric," and have participated in the implementation of anti-Russian policies, it added.

The individuals will be added to Russia's stop-list, and prohibited from entering the country. 
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) during a news conference in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C. on April 28, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

$33 Billion Ukraine Aid Bill At Risk of Being Bogged Down By COVID Bill Tie-In

A $33 billion aid package to Ukraine that President Joe Biden asked Congress to pass could face hurdles over efforts to tie the bill together with an unrelated $10 billion COVID package.

Bidens April 28 request includes $20.4 billion in military assistance along with $8.5 billion in economic assistance. The package also includes $3 billion in humanitarian assistance to address food shortages around the globe.

The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen, Biden said during a live address on April 28. We either back the Ukrainian people as they defend their country, or we stand by as the Russians continue their atrocities and aggression in Ukraine.

The measure already has several proponents in Congress.

Today, President Biden sent Congress his request for $33 billion in emergency funding to support the Ukrainian people, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a tweet. I will make sure the Senate prioritizes this important funding package so we can get help to the Ukrainian people fast.

President Bidens $33 billion Ukraine aid request is another stepby no means the lastin keeping faith & fulfilling our commitments, wrote Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in another tweet. Congress must put its money where its mouth ismatching rhetoric with real action.

If Putin thought he could invade Ukraine with impunity, this request by @POTUS is another reminder that he made a severe miscalculation, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) wrote on Twitter. Now, Congress must act with the urgency this moment demands to approve this additional funding to support Ukraine.

In the past, several Senate Republicans have supported such measures, and several have joined Democrats in coming out in favor of the package.

There is a desperate need for this assistance. We cant play politics with this. We have to get this done, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said in support of the bill.

The sooner the better on Ukraine, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said.

However, some Democrats hope that they can attach a $10 billion COVID relief bill to the foreign aid package.

That bill, worked out weeks before, stalled in Congress after Republicans demanded that the bill include an amendment blocking Bidens plan to end Title 42, a Trump-era rule that allowed Border Patrol agents to turn away many illegal aliens apprehended at the border over public health concerns.

Some Democrats, particularly those in vulnerable seats like Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), have joined Republicans in opposing the White Houses plan to overturn Title 42 as the United States continues to face unprecedented levels of illegal immigration.

If Democrats insist on attaching the COVID bill to the aid package these old conflicts could be reignited, potentially slowing the progress of a bill that, on its own, has relatively broad bipartisan support.

Asked about suggestions to combine the two bills, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the ranking Republican member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said simply, Thats not going to happen. Thats an awful way to do business.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters that such a scheme could slow the progress of both billsor kill them entirely.

I think the prospects of each being passed would be greater if they were kept separate and if each had the potential for amendments, he said.

It remains unclear whether Democrats, who have remained frustrated by GOP demands that have slowed the COVID bill, will try to force the two together.

If they do, some Senate Democrats in vulnerable seats may feel obligated to support a Title 42 amendment. However, this would all but doom the package in the House, where Democrats retain a slight edge.

Nick Ciolino contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden meets virtually from the Situation Room at the White House with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on March 18, 2022. (The White House via AP)

82 Percent of Americans Now View China Unfavorably: Poll

More Americans view China unfavorably than ever before, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center.

A total of 82 percent of U.S. adults reported that they held an unfavorable view of China, according to the poll, with 92 percent reporting that they thought Chinas deepening partnership with Russia posed a problem for the United States.

Vitally, about two-thirds of the more than 3,500 people surveyed in March described China as a major threat to the United States, a 23-point increase since the question was first asked by Pew in 2013.

SinoAmerican relations have continued to sink in recent years as a range of issues has brought the nations to loggerheads time and again.

President Joe Biden told Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping that there would be consequences if China continued its apparent support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The United States has also been increasingly concerned about the regimes escalated military harassment of Taiwan, a self-ruled island that the CCP views as a Chinese territory. The communist regime has vowed to unite Taiwan with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Washington is obliged under federal law to ensure that Taiwan has the military means to adequately defend itself.

Another area of contention is the CCPs continued campaign of economic and cyber espionage against the United States. The FBI has estimated that it opens a new China-related counterintelligence investigation about every 12 hours and that there are more than 2,000 such investigations currently ongoing, utilizing resources from all 56 U.S.-based FBI field offices.

Relatedly, the Department of Justice recently announced several high-profile criminal cases in which it alleges that Chinese agents systematically attempted to stalk, harass, and intimidate Americans of Chinese descent.

One of those cases included an alleged plot to attack a U.S. Army veteran in order to prevent him from running for Congress. Another dealt with a scheme to stalk, surveil, and blackmail a U.S. Olympic figure skater and her father to ensure they wouldnt speak out against the regimes human rights abuses.

The results of the survey appear to indicate a broad agreement among U.S. adults with the opinions of senior intelligence officials that the CCP is currently the single greatest threat to the United States.
A Soldier Dies in the Biden Border War and Chinas Strategic Drug War

Commentary

On April 22 Texas Army National Guardsman Specialist Bishop C. Evans drowned in the Rio Grande while trying to rescue two people struggling in the river. Specialist Evans (Spc. is the military abbreviation) grew up in Arlington, Texas.

As a soldier serving in a Texas task force deployed to assist the U.S. Border Patrol and police, its a fair bet Evans knew the individuals were illegally crossing the Mexico-U.S. border.

Im certain Bishop Evans military mission was to observe and assist police. He had a radio to call for help.

However, he saw human beings in immediate danger. So, he acted, disregarding his safety in order to aid endangered human beings.

Evans was on duty in uniformed service when he died at the border. In my opinion Evans demonstrated the genuine courage of a decisive soldier willing to sacrifice beyond the call of duty. The tab on his uniform read U.S. Army. He was an American soldier subject to U.S. military law. We should laud his heroism.

Yet small White House voices dismiss his death because he was on state duty.

Bishop Evans had values. He valued human life. Patriotism is another demonstrated value. In high school he was on the JROTC drill team. He joined the National Guard in 2019 and served overseas.

The river took Evans valuable life. The migrants safely crossed into the United States.

Then Customs and Border Patrol arrested them. CNN and Dailymail.com cited a Texas Ranger source. The two migrants were suspected of being involved in illicit transnational narcotics trafficking.

Drug smugglers. Given the lethality of fentanyl, drug smugglers are a link in a chain that murders Americans by the thousands. Two milligrams can kill a human being. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from April 2020 to April 2021, over 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses and fentanyl was involved in two-thirds of the deaths.

Fact: Bishop Evans was a very good man who died attempting to rescue two criminals. Their criminal act jeopardized his life.

No matter how woke leftists feel about immigration, undocumented entrance into the United States is a violation of law. Trafficking illegal drugs is criminal. If the Rio Grande Two were smuggling fentanyl, then they were aiding mass murder.

Fact: Bishop Evans was an American who happened to be black. Ive noticed major media neglect this fact. Evans life absolutely mattered, to his family, friends, fellow soldiers. Has Black Lives Matter taken a position on his death? The Biden administration avoids addressing his death. It doesnt fit the Democrat Partys current ethnically and culturally divisive narrative.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the states border effort has caught gang members, cartel insiders, cop-killers, rapists, and even suspected terrorists. Other states have assisted Texas effort. We are seeing a state-led national effort to address a problem the Biden administration intentionally magnifies and inflames.

More bitter reality: The Associated Press reports that in March, migrant apprehensions along the southern border soared to 221,000  a 22-year high. Some six million migrants illegally enter the U.S. annually. Houston, Texass metropolitan area has about 6.6 million people. The U.S. cannot economically and socially sustain adding a Houston a year in uncontrolled immigration.

Its a type of human wave invasion. So, call it the war it is: The Biden Border War. As for the migrants Evans tried to save, they were logistics personnel in Chinas 21st-century Strategic Drug War.

Communist China is the worlds primary source of fentanyl. Beijing either ships it directly to the United States or smuggles it in via Mexico. The Chinese Communist Party has the power to control fentanyl production but doesnt.

In 2017 the National Interest sardonically called Chinas strategy the Reverse Opium War.

The historically informed get it. From 18391842 Chinas Qing dynasty went to war with Britain to stop the Brits from selling opium in China. The drug threatened Chinese social cohesion.

China lost. China also lost the Second Opium War (18561860).

Im historically sympathetic, but China is now attacking America with deadly illegal drugs.

Bishop Evans died as a soldier fighting in two wars threatening America.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Alberta Premier Calls on Trudeau Government to End Pointless COVID-19 Travel Restrictions

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said he has called on the federal government to end its pointless COVID-19 travel restrictions that no other major country in the world has.

Albertas conservative MLAs have called on Trudeau to scrap pointless travel restrictions, including the vaccine passport, Kenney said in a Twitter post made on April 28.

I dont know any other major country in the world that has a similar policy, he added.

He also shared a video of his Live: Question and Answer program on YouTube from April 20, in which he was asked if he can help bring an end to the vaccine passport mandate imposed on air travellers.

Yeah, we have pushed for that, Kenney said in response. We did bring in a motion in Albertas legislature that the government voted for, the government MLAs, calling on the Trudeau federal Liberal government to drop the remaining travel restrictions, and particularly the vaccine passport.

Albertas conservative MLAs have called on Trudeau to scrap pointless travel restrictions, including the vaccine passport. I dont know any other major country in the world that has a similar policy. pic.twitter.com/lCBHYRxtQd  Jason Kenney  (@jkenney) April 28, 2022

Kenney continued to say that the proof of vaccination policy is pointless, and an alternative should have been set up.

We think it serves no useful public health purpose. They dont have an alternative, which is a negative test, which might be a reasonable accommodation, but in any event, I think its a pointless policy, he said.

On March 16, the Alberta legislative assembly voted in favour of the motion to call on the federal government to end travel restrictions. While the conservatives voted in favour, Kenney said in a Twitter post that the NDP members of the legislature had sided with their ally Justin Trudeau by voting against the motion.

The motion called on the provinces legislative assembly to recognize that the current air travel restrictions imposed by the federal government have no measurable public health benefit, and to call on the government to revoke its proof of vaccination requirement for airline passengers and its pre-departure COVID-19 testing requirement for international airline passengers entering Canada.

On March 18, the government cancelled the pre-entry COVID-19 tests for fully vaccinated Canadian citizens or foreign travellers coming into the country by land, water, and air, beginning April 1. Fully vaccinated travellers are still required to use the ArriveCan app to monitor their health conditions within 72 before their arrival in Canada, while people who dont qualify as fully vaccinated can only enter the country under limited circumstances.
The logo of Amazon at the company's logistics center in Bretigny-sur-Orge, near Paris, on Dec. 7, 2021. (Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

Amazon Declines to Describe Search-Algorithm Data: Australian Regulator

SYDNEYAmazon.com Inc. has declined to describe its product-search system to an Australian competition regulator that has heard complaints of large marketplace platforms giving preference to in-house wares.

The companys withholding of the information sets the scene for a possible repeat of Australias 2021 showdown with Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.s Google, which resulted in those firms paying content royalties to media organizations.

The regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), mentioned Amazons stance in a report issued on Thursday that was part of the same five-year review of big-tech regulation that involved Facebook and Google.

The ACCC said it had surveyed 80 online merchants and that nearly half believed large marketplace platforms skewed searches and website presentation to favor in-house products.

Amazon had told the regulator it did not give an advantage to its own products but the ACCC sought details about inputs of Amazons algorithms, which were not provided, the report said.

As a result, the ACCC does not have information about how Amazons algorithms produce search results, the report said.

Amazon Australia director of public policy Michael Cooley said in a statement the companys offers were the ones we think customers will prefer, regardless of whether it is from Amazon or one of our seller partners.

We provide data directly to Seller Partners to help them manage their businesses, and give key insights, he added.

The data Amazon gave sellers included online tools providing data analytics about their own sales, the number of customers viewing the products they sell, and their conversion rates, Cooley said.

Questionnaire results published with the ACCC report included several comments accusing Amazon of giving preference to its own products. One unnamed respondent wrote: Amazon products are always listed first and then second-hand products are available in small print at the bottom of the listing.

The ACCC noted that, unlike other large online retail markets, such as those of the United States and Britain, Australias was not dominated by Amazon. The company did not start operations in the country until 2017.

Its sales in the year to June 2021 were just a quarter of the A$5.3 billion ($3.8 billion) generated by eBay Inc, the ACCC said.

Still, allowing large platforms to give their own products preferential treatment might influence purchasing decisions and damage competition, the regulator said. The platforms should be made to disclose any activities which favored their own products, it said in the report.

Hybrid marketplaces, like other vertically-integrated digital platforms, face conflicts of interest and may act in ways that advantage their own products with potentially adverse effects, ACCC chairperson Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a statement accompanying the report.

We have concerns about particular examples of self-preferencing by hybrid marketplaces in Australia, which mirror similar concerns raised by overseas regulators.

($1 = 1.4053 Australian dollars)

By Byron Kaye
Actor Amber Heard arrives in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Va., on April 28, 2022. (Michael Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)

Amber Heards Lawyers Revised Article Johnny Depp Sued Over

FALLS CHURCH, Va.Amber Heard pushed to have details of her marriage with fellow actor Johnny Depp included in an op-ed piece that she wrote about domestic violence, even though her lawyers wanted those passages removed from the article, which is now the subject of a libel lawsuit, according to evidence introduced Thursday at the trial.

Jurors in the libel lawsuit Depp filed against Heard heard testimony Thursday from Terence Dougherty, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. It was the ACLU that drafted the article under Heards name, reflecting her role as an ACLU ambassador on gender violence issues.

Dougherty testified about the push-and-pull that occurred between first draft and publication of the op-ed piece in The Washington Post in December 2018strategically timed by both the ACLU and Heard to coincide with the release of Aquaman, a movie in which she played a prominent role.

Depp sued in Fairfax County Circuit Court after the article was published, in which Heard says that two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our cultures wrath for women who speak out. Depps lawyers say thats a clear reference to abuse allegations she levied against Depp in 2016 that Depp says are untrue.

Dougherty testified that numerous ACLU lawyers reviewed the article at various stages, and asked Heards lawyers to review the piece as well to ensure it did not run afoul of a non-disclosure agreement she had with Depp in connection with the couples 2016 divorce.

During those discussions, Heard sent back an edited version approved by her lawyers that specifically neutered much of the copy regarding her marriage, according to an email from Jessica Weitz, an ACLU employee who coordinated with Heard.

According to the email, though, Heard was looking for a way to have a deleted passage restored to the article.

The various drafts of the articles were not shown to the jury so its not clear how many personal details were in the first draft and how much Heards lawyers had excised.

But the final version contains very little about Heards personal experiences. It doesnt mention Depp at all. In addition to the passage about a public figure representing domestic abuse, in another passage she writes, I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.

Much of the article talks about legislative priorities for advocates of domestic abuse prevention. Other passages refer to parts of her personal life unrelated to Depp.

Dougherty testified that the language that wound up in the final op-ed piece was very different from the original language in the draft, Dougherty said. It did not refer directly to Ms. Heards relationship with Johnny Depp.

While the trial is supposed to be over whether Depp was defamed in the article, very little testimony in the first three weeks, leading up to Thursday, has related to the article itself or its contents. Heards lawyers predicted at the outset of the trial that it would become a mudslinging soap opera that would delve into messy details of Depp and Heards personal lives.

Heards lawyers, though, have said that even if the jury were to believe that she was never abused by Depp, Heard should still prevail in the lawsuit because the article is not about Depp, does not defame him, and Heards free-speech rights allow her to weigh in on matters of public importance like domestic violence.

Much of Doughertys testimony also centered on whether Heard has fulfilled a promise to donate $3.5 millionhalf of her $7 million divorce settlement with Deppto the ACLU. Dougherty testified that the ACLU credits her with contributing $1.3 million so far and expected the money to come in over a 10-year period, but that she has made no contributions since 2018.

Actor Johnny Depp appears in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Va., on April 28, 2022. (Michael Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)

Jurors also heard briefly from Depps business manager, Ed White. White said he intervened in 2016 to resolve financial difficulties for Depp, including unpaid taxes and a cash crunch. When he blamed Heard for an excessive wine bill that featured multiple $500 bottles of Spanish Vega Sicilia wine, Heards lawyers responded with a barrage of questions over Depps spending excesses, including spending millions of dollars to shoot journalist Hunter S. Thompsons ashes out of a cannon.

Depp and Heard met during filming of The Rum Diary, an adaptation of a Thompson novel. Depp testified earlier that he and Thompson were friends, and that Depp actually found the lost Rum Diary manuscript when he was going through Thompsons papers.

By Matthew Barakat
Some parents have lost trust in routine immunizations for their children because of how COVID vaccines were handled

If I had a baby today, I wouldnt give my child a single vaccine, a lawyer named Nancy James confided in me this week. Nancy (not her real name) lives outside of Athens, Georgia, and is married to an orthopedic surgeon. The mother of two young adults, Nancy says she has deep reservations about the current vaccination schedule set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Though her worries about vaccine safety pre-dates COVID, her questions about the safety, efficacy, and necessity of the COVID vaccines, Nancy says, have solidified her mistrust of the CDC.

Immunization Hesitation

Nancy (who asked The Epoch Times not to use her real name for fear of reprisals from her husbands medical colleagues) is not alone.

A growing number of increasingly vocal parents, along with non-profit organizations dedicated to childrens health (like Childrens Health Defense, ICAN, and Millions Against Medical Mandates), patriot groups, medical professionals, and human rights lawyers are raising both ethical and science-based objections to the current routine childhood immunization schedule.

Indeed, the CDC saw steep declines in orders for routine childhood immunizations in 2020, on the order of 15 percent, which indicates that many children are receiving far fewer shots than pre-COVID. While immunization rates started to climb back up in 2021, the number of vaccines being ordered for Vaccines for Children, a federal program that pays for vaccines for low-income families, still remained approximately 7 percent lower than before COVID.

Logistical Difficulties

There are several reasons why families in the past two years have been deciding to skip some or all routine childhood immunizations. One was logistical. As public health officials in each state echoed the federal governments recommendations for people to stay home to stay safe, parents became afraid to bring their children to the doctor. While doctors are able to diagnose and treat other pediatric issues over Zoom, a baby must be in person to get a vaccine.

In many school districts across the country, school nurses host information sessions about routine vaccines for parents. Some districts even offer vaccine clinics on school campuses. So when children began engaging exclusively in on-line learning, access to vaccination also dropped.

But it was not just logistics and the perceived lack of risk from infectious illnesses during the lockdowns that led to families opting out of childhood vaccines. During this time of concerns about COVID, families have also begun skipping childhood vaccinations because they are questioning whether the current CDC vaccine recommendations are in the best interests of their childrens health.

People are realizing that theyve been lied to, said Stuart Fischbein, a community-based obstetrician based in Southern California. The idea that youd get two shots and then things would open up? That was a lie. That youd get vaccinated and be able to take off the mask? Another lie. Two weeks became two years. So, come on, how can anyone believe public health officials or the CDC anymore?

Fischbein, along with an increasing number of medical doctors, says that he is opposed to COVID vaccines for children because, he says, the risk-benefit ratio for that age group just doesnt add up. Fischbein also told me that he supports parents who are choosing alternative vaccine schedules for childhood illnesses.

Once you dont believe the CDC you start looking into everything, Fischbein said. That became particularly true in regards to the COVID vaccines themselves. There are no long-term safety studies. Anyone who tells a parent the vaccine is safe is saying something that cant be verified. The truth is we dont know. But we are seeing an unprecedented number of side effects being reported. Honestly, you have to be wearing blinders to not see the damage being done by this vaccine.

Brain Decline Caused by Vaccines?

While the mainstream media is reporting on the decline in childhood vaccinations as a problem, parents like Nancy and doctors like Fischbein say that not vaccinatingor vaccinating on a gentler, more delayed schedulemay actually be the safest, healthiest choice for todays children.

Since the year 2000 autism rates have increased by over 200 percent. Today, according to new CDC data published last December, 1 in every 44 children has autism. While autism is a spectrum disorder that manifests differently in different people, its estimated that between 25 and 30 percent of those with autism cannot speak. Perhaps even more troubling, the life expectancy for a person with autism is 36 years old, according to 2017 research published in the American Journal of Public Health.

It was her sons deteriorating health that led Nancy and her husband to start researching mainstream medical recommendations. The decline began, she says, after Nancy took him to the doctor when he was about a year old. His leg became red and swollen where he received his immunizations. That night he spiked a fever, becoming cranky, snotty, and lethargic. But the pediatrician reassured Nancy that her sons sickness was normal.

I didnt think of it in terms of a reaction, Nancy said. They gave me an information sheet that said to expect the baby to be fussy after the appointment.

But at the next doctors visit, Nancy realized that her son had stopped saying the words he had been saying before, like mama. Then he started staring incessantly at his hands and exhibiting other signs of autism. Still, she says, she and her doctors were not overly concerned.

But by the time her son was a preschooler, he was diagnosed with autism. Although her mothers brother had a brain injury at birth, no one on either side of her family had ever had an autism diagnosis. About five years after his health had started to decline, Nancy found herself wondering if her sons brain issues, which she knew were not genetic, could be related to having been given so many vaccines at such a young age.

Then, in 2008, Nancy found out about Hannah Polingthe daughter of a neurologist and a nurse who also lived in Athens, Georgia. Hannah Poling had become severely autistic after getting a round of shots before age two. At 19 months her pediatrician wrote that she was alert and active and spoke well. But at that visit she was given five vaccines, after which she developed brain seizures and severe health problems.

It took eight years for her family to get compensated. She would need around-the-clock care for the rest of her life, and the government had agreed to compensate her family for their daughters vaccine-induced brain injury to the tune of more than $1.5 million, as reported by CBS News. Part of the Polings agreement with the government was to seal her medical records. If vaccines were not implicated in autism, Nancy found herself thinking, why the lack of transparency?

It was only after reading about the Poling case that Nancy began to believe that her sons myriad health problemsthough he is verbal and relatively high-functioning, her son continues to struggle with impulse control, communication difficulties, anxiety, and insomniamay have largely been due to over-vaccination. In the meantime, several peer-reviewed scientific studies have found that children vaccinated according to the CDCs current guidelines are at much higher risk of brain damage, eczema and other autoimmune disorders, and gastrointestinal disorders than their unvaccinated counterparts.

Whats going on? The truth is no one really knows, wrote the co-author of one of these studies, Brian Hooker, a microbiologist at Simpson University in Redding, California, in a 2021 article I published on my website, JenniferMargulis.net. But its urgent that we find answers to these questions.

Nancy agrees. In fact, she welcomes the controversy surrounding the safety of the COVID vaccines for children and thinks it will create more awareness of vaccine safety in general.

Theyve been downplaying the fact that these vaccines are causing injuries, pretending that their own data from VAERS is not reliable without providing safety data. But this time people are waking up, she said. There are so many injuries, its not working to just deny them.

Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., a frequent contributor to the Epoch Times, is an award-winning science journalist and the author of Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Decisions for a Happier, Healthier Family.
Modern superheroes who expose the truth

When I was young, my very favorite hero was Superman: Superman was good. I enjoyed the uplifting and patriotic stories of virtue triumphing over evil. Although Superman had a weakness (kryptonite), he never let this stop him from doing right. I adored his motto Truth, Justice, and the American Way and repeated it often.

Fast-forward to today. I have found a new, real-life hero to admire in the book American Muckraker: Rethinking Journalism for the 21st Century by James OKeefe. Instead of struggling against some radioactive rock, the muckrakers task, while exposing the truth, is to struggle against corruption, censorship, and even physical intimidation. OKeefe is one of these muckrakers who, like Superman, fights for good.

OKeefe heads Project Veritas, which, on its website, says that it investigates and exposes corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in both public and private institutions to achieve a more ethical and transparent society. In his book, OKeefe talks about his organization, himself, and other muckrakers.

I found the book quite uplifting and I believe that my readers will, too.

Logo for Project Veritas. (Public Domain)

Real News, Gripping Stories

OKeefes book gives an accurate account of what is really happening in the news. The public is constantly exposed to fake news and the morally corrupt who lie. There are sophisticated efforts by the government and powerful interests to censor ideas. Deep analysis has given way to the superficial glance, which makes it difficult for the United States to remain a republic, since an environment of trust is needed to make educated choices.

But in this book, readers get the satisfaction of seeing corrupt people exposed. As the muckrakers triumph over the darker side of humanity is quite the coup, our sense of moral judgment is satisfied.

The book also enables readers to connect to people with inner strength and integrity. Richard Hopkins is a Marine veteran and a USPS worker from Erie, Pennsylvania. By accident, Hopkins overheard his postmaster talking about how ballots processed after Election Day in 2020 needed to be backdated in order to be counted in the election. He reported this to Project Veritas, and then did an anonymous interview telling what he had heard.

Later, Hopkins signed an affidavit attesting to what he had heard. Senator Lindsey Graham promised to use Hopkinss testimony in Senate hearings that would investigate voting irregularities in the 2020 election.

OKeefe says the unelected government, or federal bureaucracy, sent a criminal investigator for the USPS Office of Inspector General to investigate Hopkins. The investigator tried to get Hopkins to recant his statement. No fool, Hopkins discreetly recorded the interrogation.

The tape was released and exposed how badly a federal officer treated a whistleblower. OKeefe concluded this retelling by saying that one can only imagine the lies the media would be publishing today about Hopkins if the interrogation recording did not exist.

Throughout the book, OKeefe seems at times to be talking directly to his readers. His thought-provoking discourse delivered in a sensitive style will make the reader think deeply.

Maintaining Integrity

For OKeefe, a persons integrity is his or her capital. People can only lose it once, and they can lose it privately just as easily as publicly.

How does OKeefe, then, address the issue of a reporter deceiving a subject in order to extract information? The muckraker must balance the urgency of the circumstances with the compelling public interest of what is being exposed. It is the American muckrakers job to expose the truth, OKeefe believes. In an unjust society, power can be measured by ones ability to lie and get away with it. If the muckrakers story is important enough, the story will force its way into mainstream circulation. Therefore, the muckraker is the custodian of the publics conscience.

Because of this immense responsibility, the muckrakers job never ends. OKeefe finds himself identifying with Sisyphus, the sufferer in Greek lore, consigned to push a rock up a hill for eternity only to see it roll back down every time.

Rethinking Journalism

OKeefe feels that if in the 20th century, the medium was the message, then in the 21st century, the medium would seem to be the messenger. He goes on to say that, lest America become a nation of feckless cowards, citizens must fight for what is right, and exposure is the one thing the chronically dishonest fear.

The balance of political forces has now changed, OKeefe says. The role of the oppressor is now reversed. David assumes new strength, while Goliath is attacked on all sides. The hunter has become the quarry.

Cover of American Muckraker: Rethinking Journalism for the 21st Century. (Post Hill Press)

In the spirit of Superman, OKeefe says, The muckraker has learned one lesson time and again: When the truth is on your side, you dont back down. He concludes with the hope that others will join him. The muckraker dreams of an army of truth-tellers, of people willing to fight, even to suffer, to expose the truth.

American Muckraker: Rethinking Journalism for the 21st Century

By James OKeefe

Post Hill Press, Jan. 25, 2022

Hardcover: 288 pages

Linda Wiegenfeld is a retired teacher. She can be reached for comments or suggestions at lwiegenfeld@aol.com
'Art should be bright in order to awaken people's kind side ... as kindness can change people's thoughts.'

Embracing the unique color, texture, and shape of every piece of wood, a Taiwanese sculptor has created hundreds of carvings that all have a story to tell.

For the past 30 years, Tsai Mingfeng, 49, has been crafting outstanding wood sculptures, chiseling and hammering conscientiously to express the righteous principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance in each of his works of art.

Tsai believes art can have a profound effect on people, and to achieve this desired purpose, it must express itself and connect to people in a righteous way. Referring to the many modern art forms prevalent today, Tsai said art has lost the traditional touch and instead seems to be infected by negative messages.

Art is by no means incomprehensible, and it doesnt need to be explained, Tsai told The Epoch Times. Coming across good art is like meeting an acquaintance, and everyone from children to the elderly will understand it and be moved or happy when they see it.

Tsai, who has won several accolades in his arena, said its his faith that has guided him in each of his creations.

Tsai Mingfeng with his sculpture of the famous Chinese military general Guan Yu. (Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

(Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

(Courtesy of Minghui.org)

Faith Inspires Creativity

Growing up, Tsai was headstrong and had his own opinions about everything. He wanted to be different from the people around him and became a loner. At the age of 15, he left his home in Sanchong to study woodcarving in a factory in Hsinchu city, where he attended classes at night at a local art school.

After about a year, he dropped out because he wasnt learning many carving techniques. Almost two years later, Tsai met Huang Hongyan, a renowned local woodcarving artist, and rose to become one of his favorite students.

Tsai said each piece of artwork is a new creation. He doesnt want to create the same thing every time, and that also makes his job more difficult.

Sharing his secret to inspiration, Tsai said many of his carving skills and new ideas come from the self-cultivation discipline of Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, which consists of five gentle exercises along with moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

I thought of many new ideas while meditating, he told The Epoch Times.

Tsai Mingfeng working at his studio. (Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

(Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

During the rainy season of 2004, Tsai, who was then in his 30s, came across an advertisement on television about mind-body health. Learning that the system was practiced by millions in more than 100 countries worldwide, he decided to learn Falun Gong. Tsai said that after reading the teachings, he felt that it was what hed been looking for his whole life.

After cultivating my inner self and living by the moral principles of Falun Dafa, my view of things completely changed, he said. I no longer feel angry and have stopped being greedy, competitive, or calculating; the good changes in me have also led those around me to feel good.

The most noticeable improvement in Tsais personality was his calm and composed demeanor. In the past, due to his irritable nature, he often found himself quarreling with others. Apart from developing a heart of compassion, he also found himself caring less about his own self-interest and becoming humble. With this, he said, he stopped chasing unrealistic goals in life.

The heaviness I used to experience has now disappeared, and I feel an uplifting sense of calm, both mentally and physically, he said.

Tsai Mingfeng practicing the fifth exercise of Falun Gong. (Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

(Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

Talent Rooted in Morality

With the transformation in his temperament came a breakthrough in his woodcarving career.

In 2013, Tsai set up a factory in New Taipei city. Having his own business, he found more time to work on his art.

Tsai not only works pieces of wood, but also roots. Carving on roots gives him a deeper understanding of life, he said. Roots form the foundation of plants, and healthy roots help the plant grow better. He said one should never forget ones roots, while working hard is an inevitable component of success in life.

Besides sparking the breakthrough in his career, Falun Dafa has deepened his wisdom, he said, which has in turn led to him making inroads in his woodcarving skills. He believes that the way artists behave in daily life affects their artwork. When my temperament improved, my woodcarving skills improved, too, he said.

As an example, Tsai said that when he outlined General Guan Yus posture, he got stuck and didnt know how to carve the eyes in a way that would embody righteousness and majesty. Similarly, when he worked on a piece depicting three pigs, he faced the challenge of how to carve their adorable faces. He said it was while meditating that he got the inspiration for how to carve the sculptures.

(Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

(Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

Use Wisdom to Create Righteous Influence

The talented artist especially excels at carving animals. He said the Taiwanese people enjoy woodcarvings of pigs, as they symbolize auspiciousness.

Tsai said that as an artist, he has a responsibility to contribute positively to society and understands that works of art must influence people in the right way. He believes he mustnt be impatient while working on his sculptures, because if an artists emotions are unhealthy, that can cause the opposite effect and destroy the harmonious energy.

I have to use wisdom to create righteous influence, he said.

The more an artists thoughts are focused on fame and fortune, the more warped the expression of art is. The morality in this depraved era has been deteriorating quickly, and the artwork is getting darker. Art should be bright in order to awaken peoples kind side. I hope my art can express kindness, as kindness can change peoples thoughts.

(Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

(Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

In 2021, Tsai and his teacher Huang Hongyan participated in a teacher-student joint exhibition held by the Taoyuan Department of Cultural Affairs.

I personally think its very meaningful for teachers and students to exhibit together, he said. It not only represents inheritance, but also a kind of respect the student has for the teacher. The greatest achievement of a person is not fame and fortune, but the ability to appreciate and cherish.

Tsai Mingfeng (R) with the distinguished woodcarving artist Huang Hongyan at the exhibition held by the Taoyuan City Cultural Department in 2021. (Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

The exhibition held by the Taoyuan City Cultural Department in 2021. (Courtesy of Tsai Mingfeng)

Evil Cannot Prevail

Over the course of his career, Tsai has produced many pieces depicting the persecution that Falun Gong adherents face in China, representing various themes such as freedom, longing, and evil cannot prevail.

Falun Gong was first introduced in China in 1992, and by the late 90s, around 70 million to 100 million Chinese people were practicing it, according to official estimates. However, in July 1999, then-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin launched a nationwide propaganda campaign and persecution of the spiritual practice. In the past nearly 23 years of suppression, countless Falun Gong adherents have been detained, imprisoned, tortured, and even killed for their organs.

Tsai said that in witnessing such a crime against humanity, his heart is pained.

Chinese people suffer the most directly from the CCPs persecution of faith and its abuse of human rights, he said. These kindhearted people who cant defend themselves are persecuted to death, and this deeply pains my heart.

Tsai said people should remember that evil cannot win over righteousness and that its important to stand with goodness and justice.

The artist said he wants to further sharpen his skills with the wisdom gained from following the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance. If life is a work of art, the most important element is self-cultivation, he said. Cultivating oneself is like hammering wood before it can be given the final desired shape. Without cultivation, our lives would lack substance, and we could never achieve our true purpose.

Jocelyn Neo and Arshdeep Sarao contributed to this report.
Vials labelled "Astra Zeneca COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" and a syringe are seen in front of a displayed AstraZeneca logo, in this illustration photo taken on March 14, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

AstraZeneca Predicts Revenue Hit as Demand for COVID-19 Vaccines Falls

Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said that it expects the revenue from its COVID-19 vaccines to decline by up to a quarter this year as demand wanes for the product.

Announcing its results for the first quarter of 2022, the firm said the sales of Vaxzevriamore commonly known as the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccineis expected to decline later in the year.

Total revenue from COVID-19 medicines is anticipated to decline by a low-to-mid-twenties percentage, the business said on April 29, adding that the majority of Vaxzevria revenue in 2022 is expected to come from initial contracts.

Health workers administer the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to the elderly at Central Vaccination Center in Bang Sue Grand Station in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 13, 2021. (Sirachai Arunrugstichai/Getty Images)

It comes despite global sales of the vaccine rising around fourfold in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period 12 months ago, to more than $1.1 billion.

In Europe, sales of the vaccine were down by 40 percent during the same period, the business revealed.

But it said that declining sales of Vaxzevria will be partially offset by Evusheld, a COVID-19 treatment that was last month approved for use in the UK with patients with poor immune responses.

The firms overall revenue grew by 60 percent to $11.4 billion in the first three months of the year, beating analyst expectations by a little under half a billion dollars.

It comes as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus infection rates continue to fall across most of the UK.

England, Scotland, and Wales have all recorded a drop in infections while the trend in Northern Ireland is uncertain, according to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on April 29.

Across the UK, 2.9 million people in private households are estimated to have had the CCP virus in the week to April 23, down from 3.8 million the previous week.

The figures confirm the surge in COVID-19 driven by the highly transmissible Omicron BA.2 variant is now receding, though the prevalence of the virus is high by historic standards.

The figures come as the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 in the UK is also on a clear downward trend, having peaked at around the same level that was reached during the first Omicron surge in January.

England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have scrapped all legal COVID-19 restrictions.

Wales has ended most restrictions, including mask mandates for public places, though the mask mandate for medical settings will remain in place for another week.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Out of a vast galactic menagerie of space images, a pair of celestial angel wings was discovered by researchersthe stunning spectacle, composed of trails of stars and dust, formed as a result of two galaxies colliding.

The picture, taken by NASA/ESAs Hubble Space Telescope, shows a nearly symmetrical object in the VV689 system, in the constellation Leo, which is actually the product of two distinct galaxies in the process of merging.

Although stars in galaxies are typically too far apart to collide with other stars in such encounters, the gravitational interaction between these two objects is enough to cause deformations, throwing stars into different orbits. This yielded the almost symmetrical trails of stars and dust and gave rise to the objects nickname: the Angel Wing.

The two merging galaxies in the VV689 system, from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, were nicknamed the Angel Wing because of their symmetrical dust trails giving the impression of a vast set of galactic wings. (ESA/Hubble and NASA, W. Keel. Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt/CC BY 4.0)

Detail of the two merging galaxies in the VV689 system. (ESA/Hubble and NASA, W. Keel. Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt/CC BY 4.0)

The sighting in the VV689 system is unlike chance alignments of galaxies which merely appear to overlap from the viewpoint of the Earthsuch as Hubbles sighting of a galactic pair called NGC 3314 in June 2012, which appeared to collide but this was actually a trick of perspective. The galaxies were actually tens of millions of light-years apart.

Another Hubble finding, in May 2012, revealed that our own Milky Way is, in fact, on a collision course with our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy (or M31). The cosmic meetup is expected to happen some 4 billion years from now and will likely fling our sun into a new region of our galaxy; though it hasnt yet been determined whether the encounter will be a head-on collision, a glancing blow, or a near miss.

It will then take another 2 billion years for the pair to merge together to form a single elliptical galaxy similar to those commonly seen throughout our local universe.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in June 2012 produced an incredibly detailed image of a pair of overlapping galaxies called NGC 3314, which although appearing to collide are actually tens of millions of light-years apart. (Courtesy of NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and W. Keel (University of Alabama)/CC BY 4.0)

An illustration shows the inevitable collision between our Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy, which will occur approximately 4 billion years from now. (Courtesy of NASA, ESA, and A. Feild and R. van der Marel (STScI))

(Courtesy of NASA, ESA, and A. Feild and R. van der Marel (STScI))

The discovery of Angel Wing in the VV689 system was a product of Galaxy Zoo, a crowdsourced citizen astronomy project consisting of hundreds of thousands of volunteers who helped astronomers wade through a deluge of data from robotic telescopes and to classify galaxies.

The volunteers discovered a rogues gallery of weird and wonderful galaxy types, some of which had not been previously studied. Noteworthy objects from the project were chosen for detailed follow-up observations using Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys. The selected celestial targets for inspection include ring-shaped galaxies, unusual spirals, and a striking selection of galaxy mergers not unlike VV689.

Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter
The Amazon website is seen in Dandenong, Australia, on Dec. 5, 2017. (Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Australian Consumer Watchdog Concerned Over Product Ranking Algorithms

Australias consumer watchdog has started to scrutinise product rankings on online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Kogan for potential unfair competition practices.

After imposing tens of millions of dollars in penalties on hotel booking site Trivago and ride-sharing and food delivery mobile app Uber for misleading customers, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has switched its target to the most popular e-commerce websites in the country.

The federal government agency is contemplating the need for new regulations for online marketplaces as it is increasingly concerned about the loopholes in these platforms algorithms.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said that although online marketplaces made it more convenient for buyers and sellers to conduct transactions, consumers and third-party sellers who listed their products on those platforms might be adversely affected by the way algorithms ranked products.

They should explain to consumers and sellers why their search functions and other tools promote some products over others, she said.

Websites like Gumtree, and Facebook Marketplace in Australia, play the role of newspaper classifieds and largely deal with second-hand items.

On the other hand, Kogan, Catch, and Amazons platforms function as hybrid marketplaces, selling their own brand products as well as items from third-party sellers.

Gottlieb said the above model of business could create a conflict of interest where those platforms gave an unfair advantage to their own products.

However, eBay has expressed concerns about the possibility of hybrid marketplaces using data to favour their merchandise, a spokesman of the company said in comments obtained by AAP.

The e-commerce company submitted these concerns during the ACCCs inquiry. However, it is not involved in the aforesaid practice as eBay only facilitates transactions from partner sellers.

General views of the Amazon Fulfillment Centre in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 23, 2017. (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, in many countries, Amazon has been accused of leveraging the data collected from its platform to launch knockoff merchandise and unfairly promoting those products at the expense of other sellers.

In defending its position, Amazon said that the company determined the offers on its website in Australia based on what it believed customers would like, no matter whether the products were sold by itself or by other businesses.

The vast majority of customers who take the time to compare all of the non-featured offers ultimately select the offer weve featured on the product page, which confirms that were doing a good job predicting what customers want, Amazon Australia public policy director Michael Cooley told AAP.

The company also said that it provided sellers with data such as the number of customers viewing their products and their conversion rate, and analytics tools.

The ACCC said that no online marketplace was dominating the market in Australia at present; however, there was a possibility that one may emerge in the future.

Currently, Amazon is the fastest-growing marketplace in Australia, with a 57 percent increase in revenue in 2021.

The company hit $1.755 billion (US$1.25 billion) in sales last year and was catching up with Coles, whose supermarket online sales reached $2 billion in the same period.
Australian Wholesale Electricity Prices More Than Doubled Over the Year

Australian households and businesses are faced with another cost of living pressure, with wholesale electricity prices revealed to have more than doubled over the last year.

The Australian Energy Market Operator revealed in its latest quarterly energy dynamics report that electricity spot prices had soared 141 percent over the year to the 2022 March quarter (Q1), to an average of $87 per megawatt-hour (MWh).

Queensland was the state that experienced the most significant episodes of high demand and price volatility, while prices in New South Wales (NSW) had the strongest rise.

Violette Mouchaileh, AEMOs executive general manager, said the quarter highlighted the ongoing electricity gap between the northern and southern National Electricity Market (NEM) states.

Wholesale prices in Queensland and NSW were again significantly higher than in southern states, Mouchaileh said. This was due to the larger price-setting role of black coal generation and system security constraints limiting daytime electricity transfers from Victoria into NSW.

Renewable sourced energy also continues to increase its share in the NEM, at 33.7 percent of its large-and small-scale supply.

Conversely, black coal generation reached its lowest share of any quarter and brown coal-fired generation dropped five percentage points over the year to 60.4 percent of NEM.

Origin Energys own quarterly report paints the same picture, with the average NEM spot electricity price up 150 percent in Q1 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

Wholesale prices across the NEM have risen significantly compared with the prior period driven by higher coal prices, lower solar output associated with the La Nina summer and baseload outages across the NEM, Origin CEO Frank Calabria said.

The jump in wholesale electricity means households will need to brace for higher electricity bills.

Cattle are seen in front of wind turbines at the Taralga Wind Farm in Taralga, Australia, on Aug. 31, 2015. (ark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Former Premier of Queensland Campbell Newman said the power price surge was due to the transition to renewables.

This is the path to Net-Zero. An uncompetitive economy & high cost of living, he wrote in a post on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Labors National President Wayne Swan said it was the result of the Coalitions war against renewables.

Electricity prices are higher because cheaper renewables are not moving into the system as quickly as they should be doing so, Swan told Nine network.

Additionally, the Greens Party Leader Adam Bandt blamed both the Liberal and Labor governments for running a protection racket for coal and gas.

Coal is driving up the cost of electricity. We need a plan to switch from coal to renewables, but Liberal and Labor are both pledging to keep coal in the system for longer, Bandt said.

Global coal prices have trended upwards since the beginning of the pandemic, prices spiking to a record US$422 a tonne after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The University of Melbourne Engineering Professor Ivan Mareels has previously told The Epoch Times of the importance of ensuring sufficient energy supply amid a transition to the more intermittent power generation that comes with renewables.

Mareels noted that the intermittency of solar and wind meant more solar panelsalso known as photovoltaics (PV)and wind turbines had to be installed to compete with similar levels of fossil fuel generation.

A gigawatt of PV is not a gigawatt of coal-fired power, he said, noting that four times as much solar and wind power would be needed to replace the equivalent amount of coal generation.

Mareels said that while he believed the transition to a 100 percent renewable grid was eventually necessary, doing so should require significant planning and consideration.

We cant transition like a cowboy, Mareels said. We have to transition carefully.

Saying we can do this overnight, take all the coal-fired power plants, and shell be alright mateits not going to work.

Daniel Khmelev contributed to this article.
Biden Admin Approves $238 Million Loan Cancellation for Former Beauty School Students

The Biden administration said it will discharge a total of $238 million in student loan debt for those who attended a now-defunct beauty school that failed to teach them how to cut hair.

The U.S. Department of Education in 2016 stripped the Marinello Schools of Beauty, a for-profit school chain with 56 campuses across the nation, of federal funding because of pervasive and widespread misconduct.

According to the department, Marinello made widespread, substantial misrepresentations about the education it offered, and failed to train students in key cosmetology skills, such as how to cut hair.

As a result, students would have found it extremely difficult to pass necessary state licensing tests and receive the promised return on their educational investment, the department said, noting that class-action lawsuits filed in Nevada and California alleged that the school used salons as profit centers and exploited students as a source of unpaid labor.

The Federal Student Aid (FSA), which oversees the $1.6 trillion portfolio of federal student loans, said it would provide forgiveness via its borrower defense program to students who attended the school from 2009 through 2016. The program cancels the debt of those who can prove they were defrauded by their schools.

Typically, students need to file borrower defense claims on their own in order to have their debt wiped out. But this time, the FSA said it will offer a group discharge for 28,000 borrowers, including those who hadnt yet applied for borrower defense, the first time it has done so since 2017.

Including Thursdays actions, the Education Department has now approved more than $18.5 billion in loan discharges for more than 750,000 borrowers, including $1.2 billion for those who attended now-defunct ITT Technical Institutes, and about $2 billion for 105,000 students who claimed to be defrauded by other schools.

The announcement comes as President Joe Biden says hell make a decision about student loan forgiveness in the coming weeks.

I am not considering $50,000 in debt reduction, but Im in the process of taking a hard look at whether there will be debt forgiveness, and Ill have an answer in the next couple weeks, Biden said at a White House press conference.

This departs from the proposal by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has been calling on Biden to use his executive power to erase up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt for all borrowers and to make sure that the canceled debt wont be treated as taxable income. Some other Democrats, notably Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), have also advocated for $50,000 in debt relief.
British MP Groups Vulnerable to Foreign Hostile Actors: Standards Committee

The rise and lack of scrutiny of Parliament cross-party groups are a target for hostile state actors, according to chilling evidence in a new government report.

Informal groups called APPGs (All-Party Parliamentary Groups) involving members of Parliament (MPs) and Lords in Britain often meet up to discuss all sorts of topics. From concerns around net zero, human trafficking, to promoting museums, music, and fisheries, the list goes on. The main brunt of APPGs is seen as a vital part of how Parliament works, helping to foster debate on matters of public interest.

But a detailed report from the Standards Committee following a long-running investigation claims that if left unchecked, APPGs could represent the next great parliamentary scandal. The role of the Committee is to regulate MPs conduct, propriety, and financial interests.

Must Never Provide a Backdoor

The report includes a range of potential proposals to tighten the rules for the informal groups, and stop them from being used as a vehicle for improper access or influence by lobbyists and hostile foreign states.

There are currently 744 groups and the report says the sheer number of them makes improper access and influence more likely and makes monitoring compliance with the rules more challenging.

The inquiry marks the first in-depth investigation into APPGs since the Standards Committee previously reviewed them in 2013.

In a statement, Chair of the Committee on Standards Chris Bryant MP said that All-Party Parliamentary Groups are really useful, but they must never be a backdoor means of peddling influence around the corridors of power or pursuing a commercial interest.

Todays report represents a wake-up call for us all. The evidence we have gathered is chilling and points towards an urgent need for the House to take action, he added.

Bryant said he had a range of possible measures to regulate them and ensure they continue to enhancerather than endangerthe integrity of Parliament. The proposals will be consulted ahead of preparing a final report with recommendations for the House.

Parliament always has, and always will, be a target for hostile foreign states. But with better regulation and transparency around these informal groups, we can ensure they continue to make a positive contribution to our democracy, he added.

CCP Agent Involved in Political Interference: MI5

The inquiry report follows Januarys news that an agent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had been active in the UK Parliament. Britains MI5 security agency warned that Christine Ching Kui Lee acted covertly with the United Front Work Department of the CCP to interfere in UK politics.

Lee, a lawyer, had been involved with MPs and as members of the now-disbanded all-party parliamentary group, Chinese in Britain.

Detail of an MI5 Security Service Interference Alert (SSIA) identifying Christine Lee as an agent of the Chinese regime operating in the British Parliament, issued by the Office of the Speaker of the House of Commons on Jan. 12, 2022. (House of Commons/PA)

Director of Security for Parliament Alison Giles told the Committee that Lees close involvement with an APPG and its Chair created the conditions for improper influence in Parliament.

As far as the Chinese in Britain APPG is concerned, Lee was instrumental in setting it up. She attended meetings of that group and would have participated in discussions. As you are aware from news coverage, she funded the parliamentary staff of the chair of that group, to the tune of approximately half a million pounds [$630,000] over a period of years. The conditions for influence certainly existed, she said.

Giles added that in 2013, there was one occasion when she directly funded the APPG, and she paid for the then chair to go on an all-expenses-paid trip to China for four days.

Though the country was not named in the report, the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International UK cooperated with the Committee to highlight efforts by the Russian state to legitimise itself through interaction with UK Parliamentarians (pdf).

The organisation noted that 2020s Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament report (pdf) on Russia highlighted that Russia considers the UK one of its top Western intelligence targets. As Chair of the APPG on Russia, Bryant has repeatedly spoken on overt aggression and interference from the former Soviet Union, increasingly so during the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Lobbying Is a Public Good

We agree that Parliament should not be used as a way for lobbyists to impress their clients. Nonetheless, it is important that the response to these fears is proportionate, the report said, but adding that lobbying is, in general, a public good.

The House already has clear rules on lobbying. But last year, Conservative MP Bob Seely and foreign policy and national security think tank the Henry Jackson Society said during a webinar that the UKs Lobbying Act was archaic and not capable of dealing with agents and proxies of foreign states.

The UK is an influence peddlers paradise at the moment, Seely said at the time.

The report noted that OpenDemocracy, which was created by the left-wing billionaire George Soros, estimated that APPGs have received around 25 million ($31.5 million) worth of benefits from outside bodies since 2018, of which more than half is provided by private sector organisations.

Some of the measures put forward to tackle influence will be to reduce and regulate the number of APPGs, enhance transparency, and ban secretariats funded (or provided) by foreign governments.
Ukrainian soldiers patrol next to a destroyed Russian tank in the village of Lukianivka near Kyiv, on March 30, 2022. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images)

British National Killed in Ukraine, Foreign Office Confirms

A British national has been killed in Ukraine and another is missing, the UK Foreign Office has confirmed.

In a statement on April 28, the Foreign Office said: We can confirm that a British national has been killed in Ukraine and are supporting their family.

On the missing person, the spokesperson said: We are aware of a British national who is missing in Ukraine and are supporting their family. We are urgently seeking further information.

UK media, including the BBC and Sky, have named the dead man as Scott Sibley, a British military veteran who is believed to have been fighting in support of Ukrainian forces against the Russian invasion.

A fundraising page set up in Sibleys name paid tribute to his contagious laugh and ability to cheer us up.

Tributes were also left on the Facebook page of the Logistic Support Squadron, where a picture was posted alongside the comment: This week the Sqn has lost a former serving soldier. A man that showed Commando spirit until the end. RIP. Scott Sibley.

Talking to Times Radio on April 29, International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the death was terribly sad.

But she denied that Foreign Secretary Liz Truss caused confusion by saying in February she would support UK nationals who chose to fight for Ukraine.

The government was clear that the travel advice was: do not go to Ukraine. It was clear and it was reiterated many times, she said.

A number of British nationals, including both military veterans and people without combat experience, are thought to have travelled to Ukraine.

Two BritonsShaun Pinner and Aiden Aslinwere both captured earlier this month while fighting with the Ukrainian armed forces against Russia.

They have been paraded on Russian state TV, which showed them asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson to help bring them home.

A small number of serving British personnel are believed to have gone absent without leave to join the resistance in Ukraine.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said last month that serving British soldiers who leave their posts to fight in Ukraine will be prosecuted for breaking the law.

Veterans minister Leo Docherty has previously written to armed forces charities to encourage those tempted to travel to the war zone to turn their efforts to helping the Ukrainian people from the UK.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office said on April 29 that it is urgently seeking more information following reports of British nationals being detained in Ukraine.

UK non-profit organisation Presidium Network have said that two civilians working as humanitarian aid volunteers were captured by Russian forces on April 25 at a checkpoint south of the city of Zaporizhzhia in south-eastern Ukraine.

They were not working for the Presidium Network, which helps to get aid into Kyiv.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Could the space wars of science fiction become reality?

Space is increasingly becoming weaponized. While that may seem very far away, the dangers felt on earth would be all too real.

Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said Americans would feel an immediate impact. Our ability to pump gas into our cars, or withdraw money from our banks, would be very much threatened.

In this special report, we dive into how this could all play out, the steps being taken, and how space maybe isnt so far away.

And joining us to help shed light on the topic are Brandon Weichert, author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower; Dr. Malcolm Davis, senior analyst in defense strategy and capability at ASPI in Canberra, Australia; and Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center.

Other topics in this episode:

Shanghai Residents Fight Back Against Virus Control

US Warship Sails Along Taiwan Strait, Angers China

Have other topics you want us to cover? Drop us a line: chinainfocus@ntdtv.org

And if youd like to buy us a coffee: https://donorbox.org/china-in-focus

Subscribe to our newsletter for more first-hand news from China.

For more news and videos, please visit us on Gettr and Twitter.
A general view of the Centers for Disease Control headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on April 23, 2020. (Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images)

CDC Finds No COVID-19 Vaccine Link in Mysterious Child Hepatitis Cases

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) appeared to rule out COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines as factors in the mysterious cases of hepatitis among children in Alabama.

The CDC report, published Friday, said that none of the Alabama children tested positive for COVID-19 when they were taken to the hospital. None also had a previously documented case of SARS-CoV-2, also known as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, or had received the COVID-19 vaccine.

All nine children tested positive for an adenovirus, officials said, and five of them tested positive for adenovirus type 41. The virus generally causes gastrointestinal illness in children including diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea. Respiratory issues and fever are also common symptoms, the CDC said.

The CDC last week issued a health advisory over the mysterious hepatitis cases in Alabama, but cases have also been reported in Wisconsin, Illinois, and North Carolina, according to local officials. So far, the CDC has only reported on the Alabama cases.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said Thursday it is investigating the death of a child, as well as suspected cases in three other children. One of the children needed a liver transplant, state officials have said.

On Thursday, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said around 170 cases have been reported in 16 countries, up from about 74 cases in the United Kingdom just two weeks ago.

What is particularly unusual is that the majority of these children were previously healthy, Dr. Philippa Easterbrook, a WHO official, said on Thursday during a live-streamed event.

The WHO said in an advisory that at least 74 children worldwide have tested positive for the adenovirus, which is a common type of virus that can cause stomach pain, respiratory issues, bladder infections, and more.

This doesnt at this stage prove that theres a causal link to these cases, but it is a promising interesting early signal that is being looked at in more detail, Easterbrook remarked Thursday.

Easterbrook also ruled out that COVID-19 vaccines are the cause of the majority of the child hepatitis cases because most of the children havent received the shots.

Japanese officials this week, meanwhile, confirmed the countrys first child hepatitis case in what is believed to be the first case reported in Asia. The child did not test positive for adenovirus, officials said, according to reports.

Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver that can be caused by a viral infection, alcohol, prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications acetaminophen, very high doses of certain herbal supplements, toxins, and various medical conditions. Hepatitis viruses, which spread via bodily fluids, can also cause liver inflammation.

Symptoms of hepatitis include abdominal painnamely in the upper right part of the abdomen right below the ribsdark-colored urine, light-colored stools, and jaundice, which is the yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes.
A man walks among supersonic cruise missiles at the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, in southern China's Guangdong Province, on Sept. 28, 2021. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

China Deploys New Missiles Against the US Navy

News Analysis

Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) on April 20 revealed two new missiles intended to increase its ability to overwhelm the defenses of U.S. Navy ships that help deter Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aggression.

While the disclosures were timed to coincide with the 73rd anniversary of the PLA Navy (PLAN), the timing also served to counter the implications of the April 14 sinking of the Russian cruiser Moskva for the Russian-technology-dependent Chinese navy.

These disclosures also had the main elements of a CCP propaganda department orchestration: vague images derived from obscure videos; and an echo chamber of propaganda organs, this time by the South China Morning Post and the Global Times.

The more important missile disclosure was that of a new anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) that could be capable of hypersonic speed, but is small enough to be fired from the vertical launch systems (VLS) of PLAN cruisers, destroyers, and frigates.

For the PLA, ASBMs are a key weapon to deter a U.S. military response to a Chinese attack against Japan or Taiwan. They are accurate enough to target large U.S. Navy ships like aircraft carriers and fast enough to stress U.S. ship defenses.

Already deployed PLA ASBMslike the DF-16B, DF-21D, and DF-26Bare much larger, not designed for ship launching, and are controlled by another service, the PLA Rocket Force.

But as the PLAN has 3,300-plus vertical launchers, it could potentially overwhelm U.S. Navy ships or those of any other democracy around the world that lacks the means to defend against ASBMs.

Some Chinese internet observers called this missile the YJ-21, or Strike Eagle-21, and it was shown being fired vertically from a new PLAN 13,000-ton Type 055 cruiser. It features a unitary diameter first stage and a finned second stage that may or may not have a rocket motor.

The YJ-21 ship-launched anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) in a still from real-time camera footage released by Chinese media. (Courtesy of Rick Fisher)

In an April 20 article, Minnie Chan, a military issue reporter for the South China Morning Post with a long record of assisting PLA propaganda themes, cited Chinese analysts reporting that this new ASBM has a range of 600 miles to 930 miles.

On April 21, the Global Times reported the new missiles were merely speculative and an example of hype by foreign media.

But there has been a prior Chinese warning of this missile. In his famous 2017 university briefing on future Chinese naval programs, leaked on the Chinese internet, Adm. Zhao Dengping was the first to disclose publicly that the PLAN was working on an ASBM that could be fired from the vertical launchers of warships.

In early 2018, a source at an Asian military exhibit told this analyst that the PLA had started to test this new ASBM, and the most recent disclosures indicate this missile may now be in service.

Another April 20 disclosure came in the form of a brief video that provided a clearer, but not high-definition, image of the PLAs new air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM), which arms the Xian Aircraft Corporation H-6N refuelable medium bomber of the PLA Air Force (PLAAF).

While first seen in 2017 and featured prominently in a 2018 major PLA military parade, it was not shown armed with its novel ALBM. The Chinese propaganda department only allowed one other vague image of this missile to appear.

But the latest image seems to confirm Chinese source reports from early 2017 of a new H-6 version that would be armed with a large ALBM.

A view of the Chinese militarys air-launched ballistic missile that arms H-6N bombers in a still from real-time camera footage released by Chinese media. (Courtesy of Rick Fisher)

This missile appears to be an air-launched version of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation three-stage DF-21D, a 1,050-mile range anti-ship ballistic missile. When launched from altitude, the ALBM version likely has a range exceeding 1,200 miles.

Unrefueled, the H-6N could launch ALBM strikes against the increasingly important U.S. military bases at Guam.

But with multiple aerial refuelings from the PLAAFs new Y-20U tankers, the H-6N could approach Hawaii close enough to launch ALBM strikes against the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor.

It is also likely that the current or future versions of the PLAs ALBM will be able to target U.S. military satellites in low Earth orbit, which are crucial to distributed U.S. military operations in the Pacific.

The PLAs new ALBM and ship-launched ASBM are now part of an array of at least 20 weapons that target large U.S. Navy ships. Ship-launched ASBMs can further increase the PLAs ability to overwhelm U.S. Navy ships with long-range missile strikes.

In addition, the ALBM, like other large PLA theater-range missiles, can be armed with a nuclear warhead, while the small ASBM could be armed with small tactical nuclear warheads that would also arm shorter-range PLA ballistic and cruise missiles.

Starting under the Trump administration, one American response was to get out of the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty that prevented U.S. deployment of missiles with a range greater than 300 miles, and start developing new theater-range missiles.

According to reports, the U.S. Army may purchase more than 3,900 of its 300- to 500-mile range Precision Strike Missile; a new 930- to 1,200-mile Typhon medium-range ballistic missile; and a 1,860- to 3,100-mile-range Long Range Hypersonic Weapon.

Since the Typhon is based on the U.S. Navys Raytheon SM-6 anti-aircraft and missile intercepting missile, it is possible that this missile could also be developed in a new U.S. vertical launched ASBM.

In Asia, U.S. Navy warships can deploy over 4,200 vertical launch systems. While a larger number than that of China, the PLAN could catch up quickly; from 2021 to early 2022, it deployed over 1,200 new VLS on new warships.

A new U.S. ASBM could pose a powerful deterrent to the CCP using its warships to attack Japan or invade Taiwan. At the same time, multi-role surface-to-air missiles could allow for a more robust defense against the large variety of PLA missiles that target large U.S. Navy warships.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
People wearing protective masks wait in lines to pay for their products at a supermarket following the COVID-19 outbreak, in Chaoyang district of Beijing, on Apr. 24, 2022. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

China Q1 Consumption Lags in Key Coastal Provinces; Q2 Off to Weak Start

BEIJINGChinas first-quarter retail sales lagged in key coastal economic regions with areas hit by COVID-19 outbreaks showing particular weakness, according to regional data, pointing to further sluggishness in consumption in the second quarter.

Chinas two biggest provincial economiesGuangdong province in the south and Jiangsu province near Shanghaiposted retail sales growth of 1.7 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively, from a year earlier, according to recent data from local statistics bureaus, below nationwide retail sales growth of 3.3 percent.

Retail sales in Shanghai, Chinas most populous city, dropped 3.8 percent as the metropolis battled its most serious COVID-19 outbreak. Cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in the financial powerhouse since March, and the impact is widely expected to be particularly severe in the second quarter after a prolonged city-wide lockdown followed in April.

In Tianjin, a major port city near Beijing that was hit by an Omicron outbreak in the first quarter, retail sales contracted 3.9 percent.

The worst COVID-19 outbreaks since 2020 and tough restrictions on activity and mobility weighed on already weak consumer sentiment in the first quarter, hammering contact-intensive service sectors such as transportation, accommodation, and catering.

This weakness was reflected in Chinas first-quarter gross domestic product, which grew only 4.8 percent compared with the Chinese regimes full-year growth target of around 5.5 percent. The economy was also hurt by slowing trade, a property downturn, and uncertainties over global supply chains during the Russia-Ukraine war.

The pace of household spending growth softened in the first quarter and is likely to have weakened further at the start of the second quarter as virus controls were tightened, Capital Economics wrote in a note on Tuesday.

But a reasonable recovery is still on the cards, as long as new outbreaks are contained, given how depressed activity has been in many areas.
A Phantom 4, developed by major Chinese consumer-drone maker DJI, flies during its demonstration flight in Tokyo, on March 3, 2016. (Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo)

Chinas DJI Halts Russia, Ukraine Business to Prevent Use of Its Drones in Combat

BEIJINGDrone company DJI Technology Co. has temporarily suspended business activities in Russia and Ukraine to prevent use of its drones in combat, in a rare case of a Chinese company pulling out of Russia because of the war.

DJI is internally reassessing compliance requirements in various jurisdictions. Pending the current review, DJI will temporarily suspend all business activities in Russia and Ukraine, the company said in a statement released Tuesday.

Many Western brands and companies have withdrawn from the Russian market due to Moscows invasion of Ukraine, but Chinese firms have kept operating there. Beijing has refrained from publicly criticizing Russia over the war.

Both Ukraine and Russia are thought to be using DJI drones in combat, even though the company maintains that its products are intended for civilian use.

Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Federov wrote an open letter last month appealing to DJI to block sales of its drones in Russia, contending that Russian troops were using DJI products in Ukraine in order to navigate their missiles to kill civilians.

The AeroScope system installed in DJI drones allows the detection and monitoring of other drones and their operators in the vicinity via special receivers. The worry is that Russians might be using the AeroScope system to attack Ukraine drone pilots.

DJI has rejected claims that it leaked data on Ukraines military positions to Russia, after German retailer Mediamarkt cited Russias use of DJI drones in the war as a reason it removed the companys products from its shelves.

Last week, DJI said in a statement that its drones are not marketed or sold for military use. It said it unequivocally opposed attempts to attach weapons to its products.

We will never accept any use of our products to cause harm, and we will continue striving to improve the world with our work, the company said.

Another Chinese business, ride hailing company Didi Global, reversed a decision to withdraw from Russia after it was criticized by members of the Chinese public for bowing to pressure from the West.
An employee uses a computer to check parcels at the warehouse of a logistics base of JingDong Group on November 5, 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province.China. (Wang He/Getty Images)

Chinas Internet Giants Conduct Large Layoffs, See Exodus of Top Executives

The Chinese Communist Partys reins on high tech industry has led to cuts in the sector

Amid the authorities sweeping crackdown on the internet industry, Chinese tech giants are axing thousands of employees following last years resignation of founders or CEOs from their companies.

Speaking to The Epoch Times on April 23, Shen Rongqin, a Ph.D. at the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) and associate professor at York University in Toronto, Canada, said that major internet companies faced a headwind in their development as Chinese authorities have been imposing strict controls on the internet since 2021.

On April 22, an employee of JD.com (JD), known as also Jingdong Group, a Chinese e-commerce giant, posted on Maimai, a Chinese LinkedIn, that on March 31, he was unexpectedly asked to sign a notice of termination of labor relations with the company, and his contract was discontinued that day. His workplace access card was immediately deactivated.

Ten years of dedication to JD ended one day with just a piece of paper, he wrote.

JD has conducted large-scale layoffs since March, and topped Maimais hot search term on March 29. A number of anonymous sources claiming to be JD workers said that the companys human resources department forced employees to leave on their own initiative on the grounds of not meeting performance standards and problems being found in employees computers, according to a report by a Singapore-based digital media outlet on April 22.

Jingxi, one of JDs subsidiaries acting as a special offer shopping platform, cut 10-15 percent of its 4,000 employees, removed the departments located in provinces such as Guangxi, Sichuan, and Guangdong, and slashed half of the jobs in the advertising business.

Other business units such as JD Worldwide, JD Retail, JD Logistics, and JD Technology have set layoff ratios between 10 and 30 percent according to the Chinese version of VOA on April 2.

JD had 314,906 full-time employees as of 2020 according to Statista, a German-based portal site specializing in market and consumer data.

JDs Beijing headquarters didnt respond to The Epoch Times request for comment about the layoffs.

In March, Chinas Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) dropped to 49.5 percent reported the Bureau of Statistics on March 31. A value below 50 percent represents a negative situation, which, according to Shen, drives the internet sector even worse.

Besides JD, high-tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent laid off tens of thousands of employees in February, multiple sources familiar with the matter told the Chinese media.

Alibaba is axing at least 15 percent of its staff or about 39,000 people. And Tencent planned to cut its low-margin or loss-making business this year, most probably conducting layoffs in Tencent Video and Tencent Cloud, according to Reuters on March 16.

Youzan Micro Mall, a retail technology service platform that reportedly provided online sales for 6 million stores, laid off nearly 2,000 employees.

Causes of Layoffs in Chinas Internet Companies

Some analysts believe the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) variable and tough policies, as well as the poor market environment since the outbreak of COVID-19, led to unprecedented layoffs at Chinese high-tech firms in recent years.

Large-scale layoffs in the internet industry grabs public attentionalthough the sector makes up less than 2 percent of Chinas employment-populationhighlighting the deterioration of a workforce market for domestic demands. It may be a symbol of the changing macro-environment in China as a whole, Shen said.

According to Shen, this deterioration is partly due to those internet firms reaching a plateau phase, a stagnation with few opportunities left for rapid growth. Therefore, venture capital will not be invested in the sector anymore.

Shen said some large technology enterprises have failed in their efforts to explore diversified businesses, citing DAMO Academy, a science research institute backed by Alibaba, as an example.

A woman walks past an Alibaba sign outside the companys office in Beijing on April 13, 2021. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

As of April 22, the share prices of Alibaba, Tencent, and JD, which are listed in Hong Kong, have dropped 60 percent, 45 percent, and 30 percent respectively from the year before.

Huang Jinqiu, director of Asia Newsweek, told The Epoch Times he believes the wave of layoffs indicates that the dividends from previous years of Chinas reform and opening-up have been exhausted, and that old reform is now confronting deep water.

The political system reform is at stake. Unless the [CCP] body system is completely eradicated, it will be impossible for China to achieve real economic prosperity. Huang said.

CEOs and Founders Retreat from Internet Business Front

In the face of the CCPs tight grip on leading internet companies last year, founders and CEOs have withdrawn from their companies one after another.

On April 7, JD Group announced that Liu Qiangdong, 48, dropped his position as chief executive officer, retaining his title as chairman of the board. Since 2020, Liu Qiangdong has stepped down from at least 230 positions in 228 companies of JD.

The exodus of executives first began on Sep. 10, 2019, when Ma Yun relinquished his role as chairman of the Alibaba board. After that, the Ant IPO faltered, and Alibaba was fined 18.2 billion yuan (about $278 million); Alibaba was then investigated by the regulatory authorities for an alleged monopoly.

On March 17, 2021, Huang Zheng, 40, chairman of agriculture technology platform Pingduoduo, announced in a letter to shareholders that he was resigning from the company.

On May 19, 2021, Zhang Yiming, the CEO of internet giant ByteDance and co-founder of the short-video app TikTok, stated in an internal letter that he was stepping down from his position.

On Oct. 29, 2021, Kuaishou Tech., a video-sharing mobile app developer, announced that its board had agreed to the resignation of co-founder Suhua as CEO.

Wang Xing, CEO of the shopping platform Meituan, canceled all of his 17,000 plus posts on Fanfou, a Twitter-like microblog founded by Wang, after the State Administration of Market Supervision announced on Oct. 8, 2021, that it was fining Meituan 3.442 billion yuan (about $519 million) for alleged monopoly violations.
Microbiologist Anne Vandenburg-Carroll tests poultry samples collected from a farm located in a control area for the presence of avian influenza, or bird flu, at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on March 24, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Colorado Inmate Tests Positive for Bird Flu, Marking First US Case

An inmate at a state correctional facility in Delta County, Colorado, has tested positive for avian flu, also known as H5N1 flu, the Colorado Department of Public Health announced on April 28.

The unnamed man, 40, tested positive for the flu earlier this week following a nasal swab test and the result was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday.

Repeat testing on the person was negative for influenza, officials said.

According to the department of public health, the man, who is largely asymptomatic and has only reported fatigue, tested positive after being in close contact with infected poultry. Officials noted that the virus may have been present in his nose without causing infection.

He was working in a pre-release program at a commercial poultry farm in Montrose County before testing positive, Public health officials said.

The individual is now isolating and receiving the influenza antiviral drug oseltamivir (tamiflu), which has been approved by the FDA for treatment of acute uncomplicated influenza and is recommended by the CDC.

It makes the first known confirmed case in the United States from the current outbreak of the virus and only the second known infection worldwide of this particular strain after an individual in the United Kingdom tested positive for it in January.

The UKs Health Security Agency said at the time that the individual was asymptomatic and was self-isolating.

Officials, citing scientific research, said that the risk of catching the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is low as avian viruses spread among wild birds and poultry and so do not typically infect humans, nor do they spread from person to person.

We want to reassure Coloradans that the risk to them is low, said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, state epidemiologist, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. I am grateful for the seamless collaboration between CDC, Department of Corrections, Department of Agriculture, and CDPHE, as we continue to monitor this virus and protect all Coloradans.

HPAI mainly affects birds, although it has been discovered in a variety of other animals including pigs in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, dogs in Thailand, and domestic cats in Germany, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In domestic poultry, it can prove particularly deadly.

So far, the outbreak of HPAI has spread to more than 30 states, from Pennsylvania to Utah.

Colorado health officials said on Thursday that the infected chicken flock has beeneuthanized and disposed of while those who responded to the outbreak, as well as other inmate workers working on the farm, were given personal protective equipment.

The latest incident of a human case of avian flu comes after a 4-year-old boy in Chinas central Henan province tested positive for the H3N8 strain of bird flu.

Chinas National Health Commission said in a statement that the boy had been in close contact with chickens and wild ducks and developed a fever and other symptoms on April 5. He was admitted to a hospital on April 10.

Officials said they carried out medical assessments of individuals who had been in close contact with the child and no abnormalities were found.
New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was unsure if the state would appeal a ruling that rejected the Democrat-controlled legislature's new congressional district maps. Photo taken on Aug. 24, 2021. (Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

Court-Ordered New York Map Re-do Could Mean Three More GOP Congressional Reps

Republicans are poised to add as many as three seats in Congress depending on how New Yorks rejected congressional district maps are revised under a court order by an appointed nonpartisan Special Master.

The New York Court of Appealsthe states highest courton April 27 upheld lower court rulings that new congressional maps drawn by the Democrat-controlled legislature are unconstitutionally gerrymandered.

The seven-member panel, all appointed by Democratic governors, also said in its 4-3 ruling that the states Democratic lawmakers violated a 2014 constitutional amendment approved by voters that left post-Census reapportionment up to an independent redistricting commission.

The court kicked the case back to Steuben County Judge Patrick F. McAllister, a Republican whose rejection of the maps was being appealed by the legislature.

McAllister has appointed Carnegie Mellon University postdoctoral fellow Jonathan Cervas to serve as Special Master in drawing the new congressional and state senate lines by late May.

New Yorks June 28 primary will likely be delayed for congressional and state senate candidates while the maps are being redrawn.

New York is set to lose one seat in post-2020 Census reapportionment; the states 27-member congressional delegation is being trimmed to 26 congressional districts (CDs) beginning with the 2022 election cycle.

Before reapportionment, Republican voters held majorities in eight of New Yorks 27 CDs, with Democrats holding a 19-8 congressional delegation majority.

The maps drawn by the states legislature would have given Democrats majorities in registered voters in 22-of-26 refashioned CDs for a potential 22-4 congressional delegation advantage.

In a national context, Democrats were banking on New Yorks blue biased map to sustain modest gains in post-Census congressional redistricting.

According to reviews and constantly updated trackers posted by Real Clear Politics, Politico, Fox News, and FiveThirtyEight, among others, neither party stands to make significant gains from post-2020 Census redistricting in securing the 218 seats necessary to hold the majority in Congress.

In early April, varied analyses indicated Democrats would make modest gains of eight-to-11 Democratic-leaning districts while the GOP would lose two-to-six Republican-leaning seats amid significantly fewer competitive districts nationwide.

But after Florida adopted its 28-CD mapwhich faces legal challengesthat gives Republicans an 18-8 congressional district advantage, the scenario has shifted with revised analyses indicating 189-191 seats are strong Biden and as many as 202 are strong Trump.

On April 4, FiveThirtyEights redistricting tracker indicated there were 181 Democrat-leaning congressional districts, 182 Republican-leaning districts, and 34 highly competitive districts.

On April 28, FiveThirtyEights tracker identified 169 CDs as Democratic-leaning, 193 as Republican-leaning, and 33 as highly competitive.

Redistricting has created seven more Democratic-leaning seats nationally versus one more Republican-leaning seat, the updated analysis states. This is due to aggressive map-drawing by Democrats in states such as Illinois as well as court decisions overturning Republican gerrymanders in Kansas and North Carolina.

But the maps dont account for incumbency, with far more Republicans seeking reelection in competitive districts than Democrats.

According to FiveThirtyEight, after factoring in incumbency, The GOP is positioned for a net gain of about four or five seats in 2022 even with as many as 66 seatsFlorida (28), New York (26), Missouri (6), Kansas (4), New Hampshire (2)being challenged in court or not, as yet, mapped by lawmakers.

Republicans have benefited from their own brazen cartography in states like Florida and courts striking down Democratic gerrymanders in states like Maryland and New York, the analysis states.

Republicans have also shored up their existing position by converting light-red districts into safer seats in states like Texas.
Coyote Attacks Girl in Huntington Beach

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.A girl was being treated on April 29 for serious but non-life-threatening injuries she suffered in an attack by a coyote near the Huntington Beach Pier.

Officers were called at 9:45 p.m. on April 28 to the beach north of the pier regarding reports of a coyote attack, said Jennifer Carey, the Huntington Beach Police Departments public information officer.

Officers located the girl and took her to a hospital, Carey said. Police declined to release details about the girl, but Fox11 reported she is believed to be 2 or 3 years old, and was with her mother and a sibling on the beach when the attack occurred. The station reported that the girl was bitten in the face.

The Huntington Beach Police Department worked in coordination with the California Department of Fish and Game to track the coyote.

Police said two coyotes were spotted during the search, and officers shot at both of them. Video footage captured one of the animals running along the shoreline.

On the morning of April 29, a coyote was found dead on the beach, and the second animal was found on the same day in the afternoon at Huntington Street and Atlanta Avenue and was euthanized, Lt. Toby Archer said. The dead coyote was being taken in for rabies testing, but it was unclear if it was the animal that attacked the girl.

The Huntington Beach Police Department has been conducting increased trapping efforts throughout the city over the last several weeks, Carey said.

Residents sighting a coyote are asked to call 714-960-8811.
Crypto Miners Electricity Use in Texas Would Equal Another Houston

By Naureen S. Malik

From Bloomberg News

The Texas grid operator expects to increase electricity demand by up to 6 gigawatts by mid-2023, more than enough to power every home in Houston.

The forecast from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas is the first official estimate on how much stress miners are apt to put on the states electrical system. Officials expect 5 to 6 gigawatts of new demand over the next 1215 months, the equivalent of up to about 1.2 million homes.

Its just the tip of the iceberg. All told, about 17 gigawatts worth of crypto miners have inquired about plugging into Texass grid, according to Brad Jones, Ercots interim chief executive officer.

Thats about the equivalent of load of two-and-a-half New York Cities, Jones said in a telephone interview.

Texas has been aggressively courting crypto miners, who are drawn to the states cheap power and laissez-faire regulation. Critics warn the increased demand could be too much for the grid, which collapsed during a 2021 winter storm, leading to blackouts that left 246 people dead. But miners, along with many Texas politicians, argue crypto will make the grid more resilient because operators can quickly scale back to give the system a break when demand spikes.

Ercot is working with miners to prepare the grid to handle about 25 gigawatts of crypto demand over the next decade, Jones said. When asked if Texas aims to be the worlds largest mining center, he replied: Yeah, thats what we are planning.

Flexible Load

If all 17 gigawatts started up and operated at full throttle around the year, they would increase peak demand on the grid by more than 20% for next year. However, the new miners are willing to be flexible load in which Ercot could give orders to ramp up or down depending on grid conditions, just like power plants, said Jones.

Ercot has a program in which large consumers can tell the grid operator how much theyre willing to curtail electricity prices. If crypto miners participate, Ercot could dispatch orders to their facilities to ramp up or ramp down demand, just like how power plants are ordered to dispatch, Jones said. Miners have already started to enroll.

While making demand react to grid conditions can be useful, crypto mining is adding demand to an already burdened grid and then needing to adjust it going forward, said Cisco DeVries, CEO of OhmConnect Inc., the largest residential energy use manager. While that can be helpful, it also poses enormous challenges to the transmission and distribution system and to prices.

Ercot is putting a lot of effort into clearing the grid for the onslaught of new crypto mining coming online, said Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd.s Austin Storms, who attended a Tuesday public meeting held by an Ercot task force to discuss the expected surge.

My biggest takeaway is that Ercots really setting the stage for Bitcoin mining in Texas at this point, said Storms, the vice president of Bitcoin mining operations at Galaxy Digital. The message that Ercot sending is that Texas is open for Bitcoin miners.

2022 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
DeSantis Says Bidens Disinformation Board Not Acceptable in Florida

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, on April 29, rejected the Biden administrations newly formed Disinformation Governance Board, comparing its aim to educate the public about disinformation to stifling dissent and likening it to George Orwells Ministry of Truth.

The creation of the Disinformation Governance Board was announced by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on April 27. Its purpose, he said, was to counter the spread of false information.

Heading the board will be Nina Jankowicz, who previously served as a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center. Her appointment drew harsh criticism from some on social media who contend that she would not be an impartial executive director because she has previously referred to Hunter Bidens laptop as a Trump campaign product and suggested it was a Russian influence op.

This is not acceptable, said DeSantis. They want to stifle dissent  The public is sick of this.

We know they actually appointed somebody to lead [the board], who herself has been an advocate for COVID lockdowns who herself has put out disinformation about the Hunter Biden tapes, who supported Russia collusion, conspiracy theories, he said at a press conference.

You cannot have a Ministry of Truth in this country, DeSantis said in reference to Orwells 1984 novel. People can speak the truth to a very decaying and discredited ruling elite in this countryso lets get real here.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 23, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sounded the alarm about the newly formed agency in a tweet on April 27, warning the public that the Marxist left (is) coming after your most basic constitutional rights, you better believe it now.

This is under the Department of Homeland Security, so instead of the Department of Homeland Security focused on stopping drugs from coming into America, or securing the border, stopping illegal immigration, theyre not going to be focused on that, he wrote on Twitter. Theyre focused on policing speech, on making sure that people cant share information or say things that they decide is misinformation.

DeSantis stated that he was not having it in Florida.

We believe its essential that individual Floridians and Americans are able to speak out against false narratives trying to be jammed down our throats by this regime, the Republican governor told a crowd of supporters during a check presentation for infrastructure improvements to Levy County. I honestly thought this was just a bad April Fools joke, but they are actually going to create [it] through the Department of Homeland Security.

DeSantis said that you dont have to look any further than the recent purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk to know that people are fed up.

Musk saw that and saw people being censoredlike the Babylon Bee, a satirical site, being locked down, he continued. All because they had the temerity to do satire about some of the transgender ideology.

Florida owns stock in Twitter through the State Retirement Fund, and DeSantis said he was prepared to take the company to task if they had rejected Musks offer because the Twitter board would have breached their fiduciary duty to the shareholders.

They had to accept the offer because financially, it made sense, he explained.

DeSantis said he believes the current government wants to stifle dissent, and hes glad that Americans can nowthrough platforms like Twitterspeak the truth and fight back.

As far as the disinformation bureau, the governor said, Were not going to let Biden get away with this one, so were fighting back.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a press conference in The Villages and signs SB 7044 on April 19, 2022. (Screenshot, The Florida Channel)

DeSantis Vows to Sign Constitutional Carry Gun Law

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed on April 29 that Florida will have a Constitutional Carry gun law before the end of his term.

Constitutional Carry, sometimes called permitless carry, allows people to carry a weapon without a license or permit. The term was derived from the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which gives citizens the right to bear arms.

I cant say if it will be next week or in six months, but before Im done as governor it will be signed into law, DeSantis said at a press conference in Levy County.

Pointing out that 25 states have already enacted permitless carry legislation, he said, We used to be the leader on Second Amendment issues.

In the State of Florida concealed carry applications are processed by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services which is headed by Nikki Fried, who was the only statewide elected Democrat in the last election.

Fried is vying with two other Democrats for a spot on the ticket in the November elections. One is Charlie Crist, who in his bid for governor in 2014 lost to then-Gov. Rick Scott, who is now in his third term as a member of Congress. The other is state Sen. Annette Taddeo of Miami.

DeSantis took aim at Fried during the press conference.

The official in charge of [applications] doesnt even support the Second Amendment, DeSantis said. Why would you want to subcontract out your constitutional rights to a public official that rejects the very existence of those rights?

Nikki Fried, Floridas agriculture commissioner, speaks with others in Washington on July 20, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Fried said in a written statement that DeSantiss comments were absurd political pandering, noting that Florida has experienced several of the worst mass shootings in the country.

Its an insult to the memories and families of every victim of gun violence, she wrote. We should be passing laws to prevent gun violence and working to fix our states affordable housing crisis, not creating chaos to score political points.

In 2018, Florida lawmakers passed one of the nations toughest gun control laws after the Valentines Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The shooting occurred during the legislative session and legislators crafted a bipartisan bill that was signed into law by then-Gov. Rick Scott. It imposed a three-day waiting period and raising the legal age for purchase.

The National Rifle Association pushed back.

The NRA filed a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the law, which raised the legal age to buy a gun from 18 to 21. However, a federal judge dismisses the lawsuit in June 2021.

DeSantis said signing the constitutional carry bill was the one thing I wanted the Legislature to do but he did not indicate how or when that would happen. The bill died in its first committee in March without being heard.
Dont Expect Anything of Substance to Emerge From Inquiry Into Use of Emergencies Act

Commentary

The people who created the Emergencies Act understood just how serious the invocation of that act could be. It is an act to be used only in the direst of circumstances when all other means of maintaining public order have been exhausted. The suspension of civil liberties can never be taken lightly or done frivolously. That is why a clause was built into the act calling for a full inquiry into its use that must be done within 60 days of its invocation.

While the Liberal government cant prevent an inquiry from happening, they have many tools at their disposal to ensure the outcome wont harm their electoral fortunes and they are already using them. I wish I could look forward to seeing a solid, intensive review of the governments actions during the truckers Freedom Convoy protests but I dont hold much hope of being satisfied with the outcome.

To begin with, the government literally waited until the last minute legally possible to launch the inquiry. They had until April 25 to call it and that is what they did. If they truly had any interest in self-examination, they would have called the inquiry weeks ago. They wanted to put this off as long as possible.

Next, the government appointed Justice Paul Rouleau to head the inquiry. I dont doubt that Rouleau is a very capable judge and I do expect he will take the task seriously. Justice Rouleau was appointed to his position by a Liberal government, though, and was very active with the Liberal Party in the past. Rouleaus Liberal connections may or may not impact his inquiry, but they surely erode the credibility of it. There are plenty of qualified justices they could have selected who had no ties to their party.

The terms of the inquiry are incomplete and are completely contrary to the spirit of the law calling for the inquiry. The commissioner is directed to do a deep dive into the protesters themselves but offers no direction on looking into the actions of the government itself. The intent of the inquiry is to determine whether the government was justified in invoking the Emergencies Act. The way this inquiry is set up makes it appear as if it is building the case for the invocation rather than questioning it. If the commissioner isnt tasked with investigating all angles of the issue, including the governments own actions, the outcome will be of negligible value.

Even if Rouleau decides to broaden the scope of the inquiry and look into the governments actions, it doesnt look likely he will have much success in getting answers. The Liberal government has already repeatedly invoked cabinet confidentiality in order to avoid answering questions posed by a special parliamentary committee investigating the use of the act. There can be little doubt that they can and would do the same if Rouleau tried to get testimony from cabinet members or the prime minister himself.

When asked directly about whether Rouleau will have access to cabinet documents and discussions as he conducts his inquiry, Liberal House leader Mark Holland said the government will provide as much information as possible. Hardly a statement instilling confidence in the Liberals appetite for transparency in this investigation.

There are many questions to be asked that will likely never be answered. Why did the government, with all its resources, rely on CBC reports that contained false information on foreign funding to make decisions? Why is the public safety minister still using debunked claims of arson to justify the invocation of the act?

Most importantly of all, why was the act needed when most of the protests had already been dismantled through the conventional application of the law? We wont find out because Rouleau hasnt been directed to ask that.

The report wont be released until Feb. 20, 2023. While doing an important inquiry is time-consuming, with something this critical it could and should be done in a shorter time span. The government wants to draw this out as long as possible with the hope that the public will have lost interest by the time the investigation is finished. Unfortunately, with the short attention span of most Canadians these days, they may be right.

Hopefully, Canadians will learn what really happened behind closed doors when the government chose to invoke the most extreme measure they had in their legislative arsenal with the Emergencies Act. If we do find out though, it will be through inside leaks and possibly committee inquiries. The Rouleau inquiry will uncover little of significance. Just as it was modelled to.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Education Union Press for Gender Affirmation Leave at Tasmanian University

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the University of Tasmania (UTAS) are locked in a battle after UTAS declined to comply with the unions request to provide up to 30 days leave for transgender staff.

The university currently offers 10 days of special leave for their staff irrespective of their gender, however, the NTEU slammed the option as it is not specifically for trans and gender diverse people.

Amy Sargent, National Convenor of the Queers Unionist in Tertiary Education (QUTE), a network of members of the NTEU advocating for the LGBTIQ+ community expressed that the Gender Affirmation Leave will save the lives of tertiary education workers.

Sargeant said that 10 days is not enough for staff, and called for a greater amount of leave given which must be renewed each year so staff are afforded the security to seek assistance.

Recovery time for gender affirmation surgery can take 6 to 8 weeks with extensive periods of rest in the first two weeks after surgery.

The consequences can be too difficult to bear for many, deprived of income during a highly traumatic time in their lives of which they have no control over, Sargent said.

The union has since released a petition calling for support for the leave to be implemented at the university, according to the NTEU, the petition has gained almost one thousand signatures.

So far, gender affirmation leave has been implemented at Deakin and Sydney University as well as the Northern Territory Government, with major corporations such as Woolworths, Allianz, TPG, Westpac and ANZ also taking part.

Management at the University of Tasmania needs to listen to not only the union but those who have supported our petition and accept our requests, Sargeant said.

However, despite increasing workplaces implementing gender affirmation leaves as part of staff benefits, advocates for the recognition of biological sex have commended the universitys stance against the 30 days of gender-transitioning leave.

Coalition for Biological Reality spokeswoman Stassja Frei told the Australian on April 28 that workers need extra leave for all kinds of reasonsknee operations, the death of a child, crippling endometriosis, Frei said.

Im surprised the union saw it as fair and equitable to single out transgender people as more deserving than other staff.

The discussions come amidst an election season where transgender rights have become a key election issue.

Liberal candidate for the seat of Warringah, Katherine Deves and biological-sex campaigner has spoken out against transgender women competing in female sports.

However, her statements faced a significant backlash after her previous comments on social media platforms surfaced, such as calling Wear it Purple Dayan annual LGBTQIA+ day for young peoplea grooming tactic that pushed for extreme body modification.

In one of her deleted tweets in May 2021, Deves wrote: They will not stand for seeing vulnerable children surgically mutilated and sterilised, and attached a photo of a teenager who had undergone top surgery.

She has since alleged she has faced death and rape threats for her comments.

Though she expressed her apology, Deves said that she was confident in her win at the SBS interview on April 24 and in an email sent to Liberal supporters on April 18, she wrote that she wasnt going anywhere.

My opponents, parts of the left media and Twittersphere have been unrelenting in calling for me to be disendorsed, because of past statements, her email wrote.

I have been bullied in the most vile way and received death threats. Im not going anywhere, as the Prime Minister said yesterday.
Elon Musk Says Democratic Party Has Been Hijacked by Extremists

Elon Musk drew criticism from left-wing Twitter users after he posted that the Democrat Party has been hijacked by extremists.

On Thursday, Musk posted a meme image that showed a timeline from 2008 to 2021. The picture showed both conservatives and liberals were near the center of the political spectrum, with Musk depicting himself slightly to the left of the center.

But over the next 13 years, the meme shows, Musk is seen remaining near the center while the right remains the same. The liberal figure, which is seen running to the left, then is seen at the extreme left portion of the spectrum while Musk is now on the conservative side.

Later, in response to another Twitter post, Musk wrote: I strongly supported Obama for President, but todays Democratic Party has been hijacked by extremists.

On Monday, Musk and Twitter announced they came to an agreement for Musk, considered the worlds richest person, to purchase the social media website and take it private. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO hasnt yet assumed control over Twitter, as closing such a deal could take weeks or months, while current CEO Parag Agrawal and other top employees are still employed at the company.

After Musk posted the meme and criticism of the Democratic Party, left-wing users immediately criticized him, and some threatened to leave the site.

Its now 100% clear that Musk is part of the GOP propaganda apparatus, MSNBC contributor Dean Obeidallah wrote in response to the post. I know you were hoping to be wrongbut its clear that Elon Musk is exactly as vile as you thought he was.

Left-wing commentator and Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King similarly wrote: The right didnt move at all during the past 20 years? Zero movement? Thats what this illustration says.

While novelist David Leavitt issued a response to the image, claiming: This is propaganda.

After the TwitterMusk deal was announced, several celebrities and other verified blue check mark users said they would leave the platform.

Looks like Im about to say goodbye to Twitter as well. Ive been pulling back a bit from social media anyway. This will be just the push I need to go all the way on this app, posted Charles Blow, a New York Times opinion writer.

Musk also wrote early Friday that the far left hates everyone, themselves included. Earlier this week, he declared that Twitter should remain neutral and said left-wing users are the ones who are primarily attacking him online.

For Twitter to deserve public trust it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally, Musk said.

On Thursday, Twitter reported 229 million daily users in the first quarter of 2022, which is up about 15 million from the December-ended quarter. Analysts said in notes that the rise was higher than expected, although the firm said its revenue rose to $1.2 billion in the first quarterslightly below earnings forecasts.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the start of the production at Teslas Gigafactory in Berlin on March 22, 2022. (Patrick Pleul/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)

Elon Musk Sells $4 Billion Tesla Shares After Agreeing to Purchase Twitter, Says No More Sales Planned

Elon Musk sold nearly $4 billion worth of Tesla shares this week, just days after the billionaire agreed to purchase Twitter for $44 billion, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the filings, the CEO offloaded about 4.4 million shares of the electric vehicle company for about $3.9 billion, with the majority of the share sales taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sales prices ranged between about $872 and $999 per share. The filings dont reveal the reason behind why Musk sold his shares.

In a post on Twitter shortly after the filings were published on Thursday, Musk said: No further TSLA sales planned after today.

Musks offloading of Tesla shares came after Twitters board of directors on Monday reached an agreement on the businessmans $44 billion offer to acquire the social media platform and take it private.

The company accepted Musks proposal of $54.20 per share in cash after previously resisting the offer.

Model Y cars during the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, on March 22, 2022. (Patrick Pleul/Pool via Reuters)

Musk, in a statement following the agreement, reiterated his previous comments regarding the need for Twitter to allow for freedom of speech while touting his vision for the future of the social media platform.

Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated, he said.

I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spambots, and authenticating all humans.

Twitter has tremendous potentialI look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it, Musk added.

However, the deal still needs to be approved by Twitters shareholders and regulators.

It will also require that Musk come up with some cash.

The Twitter profile of Elon Musk with more than 80 million followers is shown on a computer in Chicago on April 25, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Prior to the agreement, the billionaire confirmed last week that he had secured $46.5 billion in funding commitments to finance the takeover, including $25.5 billion in debt financing through Morgan Stanley and other financial firms, such as Bank of America, Barclays, and Mizuho.

He has also committed to providing $21 billion in equity financing.

Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Allen & Co. are working as financial advisers to Twitter, while Morgan Stanley is serving as lead financial adviser to Musk.

However, Tesla shares were down 12 percent this week, closing at $877.51 Thursday amid speculation that Musk could be set to sell off another big chunk of his Tesla stake.

Others are concerned that Musks purchase of Twitter could ultimately prove a distraction from Tesla as he works to implement a string of updates that he believes will improve the social networking site, which could potentially see him selling his stake in the company.
Enviro Groups Pocket Millions from Wind Industry: Report

A new report shows that many high-profile environmental organizations take money from wind power companies, raising questions about their independence and objectivity as the Biden administration pursues large-scale offshore wind projects along the coasts of the United States.

Titled Conflicts of Interest, the report was produced by the Save Right Whales Coalition, a group concerned about the potential impact of industrial-scale wind on the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Our investigation sought to understand why environmental groups that have worked vigorously to protect right whales have gone silent in the face of massive industrialization of right whale habitat. If the money flow is influencing the actions of these environmental groups, the public deserves to know, said Lisa Linowes, who belongs to the Save the Right Whales Coalition.

At least $4.2 million in donations are documented in a spreadsheet examined by The Epoch Times.

Bay State Wind, a venture led by the Danish wind turbine giant rsted, donated $500,000 to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, one of the United States top research hubs for oceanography, marine science, and related disciplines.

rsted also donated an undisclosed sum to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), as proudly advertised on its sponsorship webpage.

The National Audubon Society, known for its bird conservation advocacy, has also accepted funding with ties to the wind industry.

Both the National Audubon Society and Maine Audubon received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the New England Forests and Rivers Fund, which is financed in part by Avangrid and Eversource, both of which have large wind power portfolios.

Ocean Wind, another rsted subsidiary, has also funded New Jersey Audubon, as has the offshore wind firm Atlantic Shores.

In addition, Avangrid has funded Sharon Audubon.

Many consider wind turbines highly dangerous to birds and bats.

While a study financed by the pro-wind energy nonprofit American Wind and Wildlife Watch estimated there were just 214,000 to 368,000 wind turbine-related bird fatalities in the United States and Canada, many other studies have arrived at higher estimates.

Planners, decision-makers, and wind turbine operators should regard most, if not all, existing mortality estimates at wind farms as highly imprecise and potentially biased low, wrote researcher Shawn Smallwood in his own study, which estimated bird and bad wind turbine fatalities at an average of 573,093 per year in the United States. (Smallwoods study was funded by the National Renewable Energy Lab and the California Energy Commission).

We are concerned that financial conflicts of interest are interfering with your analysis of offshore wind projects, coalition members wrote in an open letter to the organizations and firms named in the report.

Linowes, who also serves as executive director of WindAction Group, told The Epoch Times she is concerned about the lack of data on the long-term ecological impact of wind installations.

She worries that environmental groups with financial ties to Big Wind will not push hard enough to get to the truth.

Linowes cited a 2021 hearing in the United Kingdoms House of Lords at which expert witnesses testified regarding the possible environmental effects of such installations in the North Sea, already an environmentally degraded habitat.

We are talking about, effectively, [urbanizing] the sea by introducing all these structures, said Melanie Austen, a Professor of Ocean and Society at the University of Plymouth, during that hearing.

The marine plans and the knowledge base around large-scale impacts of marine renewables are not keeping pace, Austen later added.

Americans have come to expect environmental groups to be voicing the same concerns, but its not happening, Linowes told The Epoch Times.

The Save Right Whale report quotes Woods Hole marine ecologist Mark Baumgartner, who told The Washington Post that we already have a fairly industrialized ocean, with shipping traffic and fishing activities. Adding these large wind farms with many, many, many turbines is certainly concerning.

As noted above, Woods Hole accepted $500,000 from Bay State Wind in 2018.

Linowes acknowledged that an FAQ on her groups website that claimed it is documented that replacing the soft sea bottom with wind turbines has led to a loss of sand eels overstated the conclusiveness of that link.

The North Atlantic right whale population has fallen rapidly in recent years, prompting concern from environmentalists.

The best available scientific information shows that the North Atlantic right whale population cannot withstand any additional stressors; any potential interruption of foraging behavior may lead to population-level effects and is of critical concern, wrote representatives of multiple environmental groups in a letter expressing concern about the impact of surveys for offshore wind.

Linowes and her colleagues referenced that missive in their own open letter.

While speaking at a wind industry conference last year, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland outlined the Biden administrations goals for rapidly scaling up offshore wind.

Linowes told The Epoch Times she has not heard from the groups named in the report.

I think they want us to go away, she said.

The Epoch Times has reached out to rsted, Avangrid, Atlantic Shores, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the WWF, the National Audubon Society, New Jersey Audubon, Sharon Audubon, and Maine Audubon.

The Epoch Times has also reached out to the American Clean Power Association, a group representing the wind industry.
This weeks selection features biographies of George Washington and J.R.R. Tolkien, and a classic about healing through a childs love.

Humor

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

The Complete Peanuts

By Charles Schulz

There are 26 volumes of the Peanuts cartoons. This set features some strips dating back to 1950 and previously unpublished. This is a great way to keep these memorable characters around forever, including Charlie, Linus, Lucy, and, of course, Snoopy. Great for laughs.

Canongate Books, 2007, Vol. 1: 320 pages

Fiction

Into the Abyss

One Second After

By William Forstchen

America is thrown back into the 19th century when an electromagnetic-pulse attack knocks out cars, computers, phones, and electricity. John Matherson, an Army veteran and now a college professor in a small mountain town of North Carolina, finds himself struggling to save his family, his friends, and the town itself in the ensuing horror and chaos. They run out of medicines, nearly starve, and find themselves fighting for their lives against a band of marauders intent on killing or enslaving them all.

Forge Books, 2011, 528 pages

History

Exiled From the Bolsheviks

After the Romanovs

By Helen Rappaport

Paris was a second home to Russias nobility from the late 19th century until World War I. Some, in fact, visited year-round. Following the Russian Revolution, many fled to France for safety. This book follows these Russians in France before and as expatriates after the Revolution. It shows how princes who had lived in luxury were reduced to driving taxis and how their wives had to work at fashion houses. As they carved out new lives in a strange land, they also had an impact on their new home.

St. Martins Press, 2022, 336 pages

Biography

An Ordinary and Extraordinary Man

The Real J.R.R. Tolkien: The Man Who Created Middle Earth

By Jesse Xander

J.R.R. Tolkien may be the most beloved 20th-century author with the most diverse reader base, as he appealed to readers across the spectrum. This book offers a fresh look at Tolkiens life. Xander reveals Tolkien as simultaneously archetypically ordinary and extraordinarily remarkable, an obscure professor who wrote momentous fiction. It offers a fascinating look at the author and the influence Tolkien has on modern letters.

White Owl, 2021, 176 pages

A Great Single Volume on Washington

Washington: A Life

By Ron Chernow

Here is an incredible single volume on the life of the great and the good man George Washington. Ron Chernow has produced a great work for those hoping to receive a fair, detailed, and beautiful glimpse into the mans life as a youth, soldier, farmer, general, and president. Its a worthy addition to works on our first president.

Penguin Books, 2011, 928 pages

Classics

A Soul Redeemed

Silas Marner

By George Eliot

Falsely accused of stealing money from his church, weaver Silas Marner departs town for Raveloe, where hes a stranger. He keeps to himself, turns his back on God, and hoards the money he earns. When his gold coins are stolen, he is crushed, but then one night he finds a golden-haired toddler asleep on his hearth. Her mother has died, and so Silas raises the child, naming her Eppie. This sweet girl becomes the tool of his salvation, bringing him back into the company of others and allowing him to learn to trust again.

SeaWolf Press, 2021, 232 pages

For Kids

Cats, Kids, and Learning to Read

Whittington

By Alan Armstrong

A stray cat makes his way to a barn full of rescued animals, where he tells them and two children, Ben and Abby, stories about his ancestor who had helped Dick Whittington. Meanwhile, with their help, Ben becomes a better reader.

Yearling Reissue Edition, 2006, 208 pages

Modern Childhood Classic

The Monster at the End of This Book

By Jon Stone, Illustrated by Michael Smollin

Introduced in 1971, featuring the lovable, furry old Grover, this book has become a childhood staple and will have readers laughing as Grover boisterously laments each turning page, getting ever closer to the so-called monster.

Golden Books, 2015, 26 pages
This week, we look at a classic Disney fairytale and an uplifting comedic drama about a Syrian refugee family thats transplanted to Canada.

New Release

Peace by Chocolate

Tareq (Ayham Abou Ammar) moves from Syria to Antigonish, Nova Scotia, after his familys chocolate factory is bombed. He had dreamed of becoming a doctor, but his father, Issam (Hatem Ali), urges him to focus on the more direct necessity of survival: rebuilding the chocolate business. This sets up a conflict between old traditions and modern ambitions.

With its beautiful scenery, a brilliant cast, and peppy script, the film shows how a young and enterprising refugee struggles to secure a better future for himself and his family.

Comedy | Drama

Release Date: April 29, 2022

Director: Jonathan Keijser

Starring: Hatem Ali, Ayham Abou Ammar, Yara Sabri

Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Where to Watch: Theaters

Rated: 4 stars out of 5

Family Pick

Wonder

August Pullmans (Jacob Tremblay) facial deformities (Treacher Collins syndrome) have prevented him from attending mainstream schools in the past. Now he and his family brace themselves as he sets off for fifth grade at the local school.

Based on a bestselling book, this film has some deeply moving scenes as Auggie navigates the tumultuous waters of both bullying and acceptance. The acting is superb, with believable performances by the adults and children alike. Ultimately, its an inspiring movie with enriching life lessons.

Drama | Family

Release Date: Nov. 17, 2017

Director: Stephen Chbosky

Starring: Jacob Tremblay, Owen Wilson, Julia Roberts

Running Time: 1 hour, 53 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG

Where to Watch: Redbox, DirecTV, Vudu

Rated: 4 stars out of 5

An Action Comedy

Capable FBI Agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) messes up a case she was assigned to, but tries to redeem herself by entering an upcoming beauty pageant that has been targeted by a terrorist plot. Theres just one problemshes a total tomboy.

This movie has some pretty good comedy scenes that mainly have to do with Hart trying to submerge her tomboyish nature and learn how to be more feminine and alluring (shes never even worn a dress). However, this gimmick sags some by the films third act.

Action | Comedy | Crime

Release Date: Dec. 22, 2000

Director: Donald Petrie

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt

Running Time: 1 hour, 49 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Where to Watch: HBO Max, Amazon, Redbox

Rated: 3 stars out of 5

Classic Fairytale

Cinderella

When good-hearted, lovely Cinderellas mother dies, her father marries a woman who treats her cruelly. Misfortunes heap upon Cinderella, but her animal friends and benevolent Fairy Godmother might be able to help.

Walt Disneys animated take on the original fairytale imbues it with hilarious humor and delightful, beautifully rendered songs. This film is a charming classic.

Animation | Family | Fantasy

Release Date: March 4, 1950

Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske

Starring: Voices of Ilene Woods, James MacDonald, Eleanor Audley

Running Time: 1 hour, 14 minutes

MPAA Rating: G

Where to Watch: Redbox, DirecTV, AMC

Rated: 4.5 stars out of 5
Keith Raniere (C) sits with attorneys Paul DerOhannesian (L) and Marc Agnifilo during closing arguments at Brooklyn federal court in New York, on June 18, 2019. (File courtroom artist's sketch/ Elizabeth Williams via AP)

FBI Accused of Doctoring Evidence in Child Sex Trafficking Case

A convicted sex trafficker has accused the FBI of doctoring evidence in his case, which is under appeal.

Keith Raniere, the former leader and founder of NXIVM, was sentenced to 120 years in October 2020 after a federal jury found him guilty of sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, and racketeering. Ranieres alleged crimes have been the subject of multiple documentaries, including HBOs August 2020 series The Vow.

While an appeal hearing is set for May 3 for Raniere, he said on April 28 that he has come into possession of evidence that could overturn his entire case. According to Raniere, the FBI manipulated digital photos to make it appear as if he had photographed a female under the age of 18.

Specifically, there is evidence that computer data related to digital photographs taken of a nude female were materially altered to make it appear that these photographs were taken in 2005, Ranieres motion states. The government used the year 2005 to establish the female as being under the age of eighteen, making the photographs contraband.

Ranieres motion contains sworn statements from three digital forensic experts, including one who worked for the FBI for 20 years.

Retired FBI special agent Richard Kiper, who was a computer forensic examiner for the bureau from 1999 to 2019, said in his sworn statement that he believes there was evidence tampering in Ranieres case.

In my 20 years serving as an FBI agent, I have never observed or claimed that an FBI employee tampered with evidence, digital or otherwise. But in this case, I strongly believe the multiple, intentional alterations to the digital information I have discovered constitute evidence manipulation, Kiper said.

My analysis demonstrates that some of these alterations definitely took place while the devices were in the custody of the FBI. Therefore, in the absence of any other plausible explanation, it is my expert opinion that the FBI must have been involved in this evidence tampering.

Among his findings are dates, file names, and timestamps of digital photos being altered while in FBI possession, Kiper says. He also said photos were manipulated to appear as though they came from Ranieres computer hard drive when they were actually placed there manually.

In addition, Ranieres motion included sworn statements from Steven Abrams, an attorney and retired digital forensics expert, and computer scientist Wayne Norris.

They agreed with Kipers findings.

Dr. Kipers third finding is that the filesystem access data metadata was overwritten on Sept. 19, 2018. I agree. This sort of mishandling of digital evidence is common among lay people. I regularly observe attorneys mishandle their clients evidence produced in discovery in this manner, but this sort of mishandling of evidence is unexpected from the FBI, Abrams said.

This is either a rookie mistake or a purposeful act of digital sabotage.

Norris made similar comments.

I believe, based on what I have reviewed, that Dr. Kiper is correct in his assessments that no plausible explanation exists for the anomalies in the Governments exhibits other than intentional tampering on the part of the Government, Norris said.

Raniere seeks a new trial, as well as a stay of his scheduled May 3 appeal hearing. Federal prosecutors responded to his motion on the same day, calling Ranieres accusations against the FBI frivolous.

According to federal prosecutors, any potential FBI doctoring of digital evidence wouldnt affect Ranieres conviction because his victim has testified that he photographed her nude when she was 15.

The crux of Ranieres argument appears to be that the Federal Bureau of Investigation manipulated computer images and photographs of Ranieres victim Camila to make it appear that these photographs were taken in 2005, i.e., when Camila was a minor, prosecutors said in their April 28 response.

But, as noted in the governments brief on appeal, Camila appeared at Ranieres sentencing, and herself confirmed that in September 2005, when she was still fifteen, [Raniere] took naked pictures of [her].'

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has yet to rule on whether Ranieres May 3 hearing will be delayed pending the outcome of his April 28 motion.
FBI Warrantless Searches of Americans Data Doubled From 2020 to 2021: ODNI

The number of searches conducted by the FBI of Americans communications doubled from 2020 to 2021, according to a report released on April 29 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

The ODNI report details U.S. intelligence agencies use of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which authorizes the warrantless surveillance of electronic communications content stored by U.S. internet service providers. ODNI noted that this years report is the first one to track the FBIs use of unminimized Section 702 collectionraw data collected by the National Security Agency (NSA).

According to the report, the FBI used its Section 702 powers to collect the data of roughly 3.4 million U.S. people in 2021up from 1.3 million a year before. The report only provides statistics for 2020 and 2021.

A senior FBI official reportedly said at an April 29 press briefing that the 3.4 million figure is certainly a large number.

I am not going to pretend that it isnt, the official said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Senior Biden administration officials reportedly attributed the uptick in FBI searches to Russian cyberattacks throughout 2021.

More specifically on this threat, we identified a pool of potential victims, which did include U.S. persons, and we ran that against our 702 collection in order to identify who, in particular, Russia was actually targeting, the senior official said, according to The Record.

The report noted that tracking the exact number of Americans caught in the FBIs surveillance dragnet is difficult because the bureau tracks its Section 702 data differently from other agencies.

For reasons discussed more fully below, these statistics are reported separately from NSA, CIA, and NCTC due to unique variations in FBIs data, chief among them that FBI does not count the number of unique query terms, but instead counts the total number of queries, which could include duplicate queries of the same term, the report reads.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released a statement on April 29, reacting to the report and calling for a more detailed explanation from the FBI. Section 702 of FISA is set to expire next year unless reauthorized by Congress.

For anyone outside the U.S. government, the astronomical number of FBI searches of Americans communications is either highly alarming or entirely meaningless. Somewhere in all that over-counting are real numbers of FBI searches, for content and for non-contentnumbers that Congress and the American people need before Section 702 is reauthorized, Wyden said.

The FBI must also be transparent about the particular circumstances in which it conducted a staggering 1.9 million additional queries in 2021. Finally, the public deserves to know whether the FBI has fully addressed the extensive abuses of its 702 search authorities that have been documented for years. Baseline transparency is essential if the federal government wants to hold such sweeping surveillance powers.
Packs of menthol-flavored and non-menthol cigarettes are displayed for sale in a smoke shop in Los Angeles on April 28, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

FDA Proposes Ban on Menthol Cigarettes, Flavored Cigars

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is suggesting a ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

The federal agency said in a statement Thursday that the proposed new product standards are based on clear science and that they will save lives, adding that the new rules would not be enforced on individual menthol smokers, but only on manufacturers and distributors.

The new rules would not apply to flavored tobacco.

Studies have estimated a 15 percent reduction in smoking and a 324,000 to 654,000 reduction in smoking-related deaths if menthol cigarettes were no longer available in the United States, the statement says.

The FDA says in its statement the minty taste and aroma of menthol cigarettes makes them more appealing to youth and more addictive.

The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit, said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in the statement.

However, one Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study shows 60 percent of teen smokers use nonmenthol cigarettes and that teen smoking has dropped to an all-time low of 1.5 percent.

FDA researchers also reported in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research that menthol cigarettes are no more, and perhaps less, harmful than nonmenthol cigarettes.

A public comment period on the matter is set to begin on May 4 and run through July 5, with the FDA holding public listening sessions on June 13 and 15.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) released a statement applauding the move from the Biden administration saying that, for decades, the tobacco industry has been targeting African Americans and have contributed to the skyrocketing rates of heart disease, stroke and cancer across our community.

The FDA estimates the menthols ban would prevent 92,000 to 238,000 smoking-related deaths among African Americans over the course of 40 years. And Becerra characterizes the proposed rules as an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities.

You know, this is a public health decision made by the FDA, and the objective of it was not to address politics or handle politics in one way or another, but to save lives, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday.

President Joe Biden in February announced his commitment to reduce the nations cancer death rate by half in the next 25 years as part of an effort to reignite former President Barack Obamas Cancer Moonshot initiative. According to the FDA, tobacco use is a leading cause of cancer and death from cancer, and approximately 30 percent of all cancer deaths in the United States are caused by smoking.
Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, speaks in Washington on March 18, 2021. (Susan Walsh/Pool/Getty Images)

FDA Could Authorize COVID-19 Shots for Young Children in June: FDA

U.S. drug regulators signaled on April 29 that they may authorize COVID-19 vaccines for young children in June.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it plans to convene its expert advisory panel, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC), to consider updates to the Moderna and Pfizer emergency use authorizations (EUAs).

Moderna announced Thursday it submitted an EUA for children aged 6 months to 5 years old; Pfizer is still waiting on clinical trial data after its two-shot primary regimen failed to trigger an adequate immune response in children from 6 months to 4 years of age.

The FDA is holding the dates of June 8, 21, and 22 for the meetings.

A spokesperson for the agency told The Epoch Times in an email that normal FDA procedures are, for decisions in which VRBPAC are consulted, the FDA typically waits until after hearing from the panel before greenlighting or rejecting the applications.

After consulting the committee, the FDA has in the past cleared vaccines within days.

We would anticipate June authorizations for one or more of the pediatric vaccinations, provided the data is sufficient, Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told the Washington Post.

No children under 5 can currently get a COVID-19 vaccine, frustrating some parents and healthcare professionals despite the low risk COVID-19 presents to many kids.

On the other hand, Modernas trial produced substandard effectiveness, prompting multiple experts to say the results do not warrant authorization.

The FDA was poised to meet with VRBPAC on Pfizers vaccine for young kids in February, but abruptly canceled the meeting days before it was scheduled.

The data that we saw made us realize that we needed to see data from a third dose, as in the ongoing trial, in order to make the determination that we could proceed with doing an authorization, Marks told reporters on a call at the time.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA commissioner, who sits on Pfizers board, later said the delay stemmed from the low number of COVID-19 cases among both arms in the trial.

Children are much less likely to experience any symptoms from COVID-19 and to experience severe illness after contracting the disease, which is caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Seemingly responding to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief White House medical adviser, who recently indicated regulators might wait to look at the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines together with an aim of producing less confusion among parents, the FDA said it understands the urgency to authorize a vaccine for age groups who are not currently eligible for vaccination and will work diligently to complete our evaluation of the data.

Should any of the submissions be completed in a timely manner and the data support a clear path forward following our evaluation, the FDA will act quickly, the agency said.
Police officers stand guard near a passenger van, after a blast at the entrance of the Confucius Institute University of Karachi, Pakistan, on April 26, 2022. (Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)

Female Suicide Bomber Kills 3 Chinese Teachers and Pakistani at Karachi University

KARACHIA female suicide bomber killed three Chinese teachers in Pakistan on Tuesday, police and officials said.

The blast detonated by the 30-year-old woman blew up a minivan outside Karachi Universitys Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and cultural center, killing her, the three Chinese teachers and a Pakistani driver.

Broken window glasses after a blast near a passenger van at the entrance of the Confucius Institute University of Karachi, Pakistan, on April 26, 2022. (Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)

It was the first major attack this year against nationals of long-time ally China working in Pakistan, and it drew Beijings condemnation.

A separatist group, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) based in the southwestern province of Balochistan, said the mother of two, who held a graduate degree in zoology and was studying for another, had volunteered for the attack targeting China, whose investment projects in Balochistan they oppose.

Baloch Liberation Army once again warns China to immediately halt its exploitation projects  Otherwise our future attacks will be even harsher, the BLA said in an email.

Baloch separatist guerrillas have been fighting for a greater share of their provinces natural resources for decades, mostly focusing attacks on natural gas projects, infrastructure, and the security forces.

But in recent years they have attacked Chinese projects and workers. Balochistan and its deep-water port in Gwadar are a major link in the Chinese communist regimes Belt and Road network of infrastructure and energy projects stretching to the Middle East and beyond.

Pakistans newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who took power this month, condemned what he called a cowardly act of terrorism.

I am deeply grieved on the loss of precious lives including of our Chinese friends in the heinous attack in Karachi today, Sharif said in a statement. He promised a speedy investigation.

For years, suicide bombing in Pakistan have been a tactic of Islamist militants, usually carried out by men or boys. The Baloch separatists said this was their first suicide attack by a woman and warned of more.

A Pakistan interior ministry official who declined to be identified said the woman, a science teacher from Balochistan, had signed up for a second masters degree at Karachi University about five months ago.

An investigation had been launched by police and civilian and military intelligence agencies, the official said.

The acting vice chancellor of Karachi University, Nasira Khatoon, expressed heartfelt condolences to the families of the blast victims.

We hope that the government will punish the elements involved  and believe that every possible step will be taken to reach the elements behind the attack, she said.
Following the Money

Redactions and Secrecy at the National Institutes of Health

At OpenTheBooks.com, we have a simple mission, Adam Andrzejewski said. Its Every Dime, Online, in Real Time. Our vision is to post online every dime taxed and spent at every level of government across the country.

In a recent episode of American Thought Leaders, host Jan Jekielek sits down with Adam Andrzejewski, CEO and founder of the government watchdog organization OpenTheBooks.com, to discuss government spending. In particular, they look at Dr. Anthony Faucis contract and financialshe earns more than the president of the United Statesincluding Faucis hidden contract with the government and the reluctance of his employer, the National Institutes of Health, to disclose the earnings of its scientists, who receive royalties from third parties, such as pharmaceutical companies, for co-inventions.

Jan Jekielek: Recently, you made some headlines after being removed as a Forbes columnist when you published a report about Dr. Anthony Faucis personal finances. Before we go there, I want to talk about OpenTheBooks.com and the amazing work you do.

Adam Andrzejewski: At OpenTheBooks.com, we have a simple mission. Its Every Dime, Online, in Real Time. Our vision is to post online every dime taxed and spent at every level of government across the country. Last year, we filed 47,000 Freedom of Information Act requests, the most in American history. We successfully captured $12 trillion worth of government spending. And we do this so people can follow the money and hold their elected officials accountable for tax and spending decisions.

Mr. Jekielek: Did you just say that last year you filed 47,000 requests?

Mr. Andrzejewski: Yes, 47,000 FOIA requests. For the first time in our nations history, weve captured virtually every single public employees salary and pension record at every level. In school districts, for example, we have the salary payroll file displayed online. You can search those salaries for free from our website.

Mr. Jekielek: Why is this important?

Mr. Andrzejewski: The American experiment is premised on the individual. We instituted a government to secure our rights, and our Founders knew the power of transparency and wrote it into the Constitution. Article 1, Section 9 states that an account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time. With the internet and the age of big data, we have the capacity to open the books and post every dime online. People should be able to hold their elected officials accountable for tax-and-spend decisions. At OpenTheBooks.com were empowering people to hold their officials accountable.

Mr. Jekielek: Tell me a few of your other unusual finds.

Mr. Andrzejewski: Ive got a great team of auditors, and we realized in 2019 that the human waste reports in San Francisco came with latitude and longitude coordinates. So we did what any good watchdog organization would do and took that file. Over a nine-year period, there were 130,000 cases of human waste publicly reported. We put that file on an interactive map, and the whole city was brown. That map trended on Twitter. Im proud to say we reframed the homeless debate. It was a health catastrophe, and a picture tells a thousand words.

And when President Joe Biden claimed the Afghanistan withdrawal was a successful extraction of a military force, we showed the staggering cost of the abandoned military gear: 600,000 weapons, 75,000 military vehicles, and up to 16,000 night-vision devices left behind.

Mr. Jekielek: Tell the audience, what is FOIA?

Mr. Andrzejewski: The Freedom of Information Act is the statutory process that citizens use to capture information they already own as citizens.

Mr. Jekielek: What got you thinking about Dr. Anthony Faucis finances?

Mr. Andrzejewski: I was training a new hire, and our federal payrolls were posted for 2019, the latest year available. I was looking at this in January 2021 and noticed Dr. Anthony Fauci was the top paid federal employee, out-earning everybody else, including the president. And I said to the trainee, Thats your first piece. Ghost draft a thousand words. Lets build it out from every angle. And lets put it up at Forbes. Thats what kicked off the investigation.

So we filed the FOIA request for information on his contract with all its amendments, modifications, and changes; his job description; his conflict of interest documents; his royalties, if any; and his ethics statements. The National Institutes of Health, Faucis employer, produced virtually nothing subject to that request. We sued them in federal court in October. Theyve still produced almost nothing, but theyve admitted theyre holding 1,200 pages subject to that request.

So theyre engaging in expensive litigation paid for by taxpayers to keep those same taxpayers from learning how their tax dollars are being spent.

Mr. Jekielek: Given your knowledge, what, in general, are you expecting to see in these 1,200 pages?

Mr. Andrzejewski: On Dr. Faucis contract, we expect waivers for conflict of interest. One of the waivers may be with him and his wife, Christine Grady. Many people dont know that Christine Grady is head of the Department of Bioethics at the NIH. Dr. Grady has stated that her team has issued COVID-19 studies from a bioethics standpoint, like the intersection between mask mandates and a loss of personal freedom.

There may be a conflict of interest here. Theyre sitting at the bioethics table, but theyre also sitting at the same breakfast table at home. While Tony Fauci was running Americas response to COVID-19 from a health standpoint, his wife was setting the foundation on the bioethics studies. That lends itself to a lot of questions.

And here again, we advocate transparency. All those studies need to be published online for the American people. All of Dr. Faucis finances, which are public documents, should be immediately released by NIH. We shouldnt have to engage in expensive litigation to open the books on Dr. Anthony Fauci or to call for the ethical studies from Christine Grady.

Mr. Jekielek: It almost sounds like a kind of a conspiracy? Where do you see that?

Mr. Andrzejewski: I brought you a physical example. Roughly 1,000 scientists are either currently employed or retired from the NIH. They can receive royalties of up to $150,000 per year from third parties, say pharmaceutical companies for co-inventions, and its perfectly legal. The NIH admit they owe us 3,000 pages worth of line-by-line royalties. Now, every single line could be a potential conflict of interest, especially during a pandemic. So we want to see that database. And on Feb. 1, NIH started producing, subject to our lawsuit, 300 pages a month of those royalties. Now I want to show everybody what theyve produced. Heres the first production, its 3,000 pages, and the only thing you can see on it is the scientists name, the NIH employee or retiree.

All the payments to the scientists are redacted. Theyre blacked out. All the names of the companies paying the royalty are also blacked out. So basically you have 3,000 pages that are worthless for oversight.

Thats terrible precedent, and we need to sue on that basis.

Mr. Jekielek: Youve started a substack because you no longer have a Forbes column. Is this where your future reports will be posted?

Mr. Andrzejewski: When Forbes canceled my column, I opened the substack column. Our first piece describes how fact-finding Fauci led to my cancellation at Forbes. Its gotten more than a hundred thousand views, and nearly 6,000 people have subscribed to it. You can see it at substack.com, Open The Books.

Mr. Jekielek: How did this situation cause your column to be canceled? Youve published quite a few hard-hitting pieces in the past.

Mr. Andrzejewski: The information I published was so sensitive to the NIH, Faucis employer, that two directors, two bureau chiefs, and two public relations officers took time out from protecting the nation during a pandemic to write a letter to Forbes, an organization thats been around for 100 years, and basically said, We dont like Andrzejewskis reporting. They delivered a subliminal message, and Forbes got the message. Within 24 hours, I was told I couldnt write about Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The NIH needs to open the books on the Fauci family finances. Theyve admitted theyre holding 1,200 pages related to our Freedom of Information Act request from 15 months ago. These are public documents, and they need to come clean with the American people.

And heres what we found. Dr. Anthony Fauci is the top paid federal employee and makes $456,000 a year. Christine Grady makes $238,000. If you add together their salaries, then tack on 30 percent for federal benefits, the two Faucis annually clean off more than $900,000 a year. His pension will likely be the largest in federal history. If it was up to NIH, we wouldnt even know what the Faucis are making.

Mr. Jekielek: But all sorts of other officials in the government require the same kind of oversight, right?

Mr. Andrzejewski: There needs to be a lot of oversight at every level. And Congress isnt doing its job. At OpenTheBooks.com, were taking on the responsibility to give that oversight to government spending.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Jan Jekielek Senior Editor Follow Jan Jekielek is a senior editor with The Epoch Times and host of the show, "American Thought Leaders." Jans career has spanned academia, media, and international human rights work. In 2009 he joined The Epoch Times full time and has served in a variety of roles, including as website chief editor. He is the producer of the award-winning Holocaust documentary film "Finding Manny."
U.S. Marines take part in a joint amphibious assault exercise off the waters of South China Sea in Claveria, Cagayan province, Philippines, on March 31, 2022. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

Former US Marine Killed Fighting in Ukraine as Military Contractor

Willy Joseph Cancel, an American citizen and former U.S. Marine, has died in Ukraine this week while fighting against Russian forces, according to his family.

Cancel had been working for a private military contracting company when he was killed on April 25, the 22-year-olds mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.

The Marine veteran worked full-time as a corrections officer in Tennessee and signed up to work for the private military firm prior to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. After the war started in February, the company asked for contractors to aid in the war effort.

Cancel agreed to join and flew to Poland on March 12 and entered Ukrainian territory around March 12.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it, said Cabrera.

The circumstances of Cancels death remain unclear and his body has not yet been recovered. His mother said officials notified the family upon learning about her sons death.

They havent found his body, Cabrera told the network. They are trying, the men that were with him, but it was either grab his body or get killed, but we would love for him to come back to us.

A U.S. State Department official reportedly refused to comment on Cancels death due to privacy considerations, but noted that they are aware of these reports and are closely monitoring the situation, CNN reported.

We once again reiterate U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict and the singling out of U.S. citizens in Ukraine by Russian government security officials, and that U.S. citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so, using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options, said the official.

Cancel is survived by his wife, Brittany Cancel, and his 7-month-old son.

His death comes more than a month after American citizen Jimmy Hill was killed in Chernihiv. Hill had traveled to Ukraine in December 2021 so his partner, Irina, a Ukrainian citizen, could receive treatment at a local hospital for multiple sclerosis, according to KIFI-TV.

From NTD News
The Google logo on the company's European headquarters in Dublin, on Feb. 27, 2021. (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

Global Tax Overhaul Will Not Slow Googles Investment in Ireland, CEO Says

DUBLINA global tax deal will make no difference to Alphabet Googles operations in Ireland as the company remains committed to investing and adding staff to its European hub there, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said on Thursday.

Last year 136 countries agreed the first major overhaul in a generation of the rules for taxing multinationals, with measures to be introduced including a minimum tax rate of 15 percent, intended to discourage companies from booking profits in low tax countries.

The Irish government dropped its opposition on the eve of the deal, having for decades relied on a low rate of 12.5 percent to help convince global giants like Google to make Ireland their European hub and become some of the countrys largest employers.

We are going to continue to investwe have invested over 1.5 billion euros ($1.58 billion) over the past five years in Ireland and that gives an indication of how we are committed to the country, Pichai told national broadcaster RTE in an interview, saying the tax changes made no difference at all to its investment plans.

Ireland is a unique place. It gives us a chance to attract the best talent in the industry. I think it will serve a crucial role not just in Europe, but helping drive the transatlantic partnership. And so as a company were very committed.

Google employs over 9,000 people in Ireland and Pichai said it was committed to continuing to grow that number.

Pichai was speaking after meeting Irelands Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who was leading an Irish trade mission to the West Coast of the United States.

Following separate meetings with Apples Chief Executive Tim Cook and Microsofts President Brad Smith, Varadkar told RTE that he expected both to be among other companies that will increase their presence in Ireland over the coming years.

($1 = 0.9485 euros)

By Padraic Halpin
The Google logo adorns the outside of its NYC office building in New York on June 3, 2019. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Google and Mass Formation Psychosis

Commentary

An argument could be made that Google is as or more dangerous than the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), although obviously they arent committing genocide or doing forced organ transplants like the CCP.

However, the company that began with the now-erased slogan Dont be evil has done a lot of it and is doing more. It has more reach than anybody, any nation, any leader, anything, especially on that most important of all organsthe human mind.

Some statisticsPopulation of China: 1.4 billion. Facebook users: 2.9 billion. Google users: 4.3 billion.

The Google number is based on 4.72 billion internet users worldwide and a market share of 92.24%, as of May 2021. For reference, the population of Earth is roughly 7.75 billion.

Clearly, Google is far more influential than anything else on this planetoutside of God, of course. So what is the company up to?

Frankly, I dont knowand most likely, neither do you, even if you work for the company. So much goes on behind its hidden algorithms that, at this point, no mere mortal could understand even a small percentage of it.

But here are a couple of things that popped up in the past couple of days. First, from Yahoo:

Republicans are filing a complaint alleging that Googles email platform unfairly censored GOP fundraising emails by filtering messages to users spam folders at a far higher rate than it did Democratic fundraising pleas.

The complaint, dated April 26, was filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as part of a joint effort by the Republican National Committee (RNC), National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).

The complaint cites a study from researchers at North Carolina State University that found that, throughout the 2020 election cycle, Gmail allowed the vast majority of emails from Democrats into users inboxes, while more than two-thirds of emails from Republicans were filtered into spam folders.

Liberals and progressives caught with their thumbs on the scale again?

Thats pretty bad, if true, for obvious reasons. And Id bet my proverbial house it is. One reason is that, as of 2020, Google had 132,121 employees, the overwhelming majority of whom, we know from various polls and whistleblowers, are liberals. No doubt they had numerous workers eager to write the requisite code. It cant be all that difficult.

But another recent Google development is more insidious. In fact, to me as a writer, its the most evil of thought crimes. Snejana Farberov at the New York Post explains:

Google has rolled out a new inclusive language function that is intended to steer its users away from what it deems to be politically incorrect words, like landlord and mankind.

Google Docs introduced the woke feature this month that shows pop-up warnings to people typing in words or phrases considered to be non-inclusive, such as policeman, fireman or housewife.

The online word processors algorithm will alert them that their chosen terms may not be inclusive to all readers and then goes a step further by suggesting alternative, more inclusive words to use.

For example, it might suggest humankind instead of the gendered mankind, or police officer instead of policeman.

The new AI-powered language feature, called assistive writing, has been widely panned by critics, who have accused the search engine of being both intrusive and preachy.

Thats an understatement. This is a head-on attack on the English language, one of the great monuments of Western civilization. To me, as a writer, this is equivalent to rape.

Farberov tells us what this new assistive writing did to Martin Luther King Jr.s I Have a Dream speech, turning the evocative the fierce urgency of now into the mild, less offensive the intense urgency of now.

Its not hard to imagine what this would do to all the monuments of literature, from Aeschylus to Dickens. The next step would be to take some notes out of Beethovens symphonies to make them more inclusive.

Meanwhile, again from the NY Post article, a transcription of an interview with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, where he uses the n-word and says a host of other reprehensible things about black people, raised no red flags.

Im sure one of their busy bees is now off fixing this.

Whats frightening in just these two is that they are just the tip of the Google iceberg. Who knows what other games, many more subtle, they are playing with our minds?

If youre looking where most of the much-talked-about Mass Formation Psychosis is coming from, look no further. Its Google.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures after speaking during a rally hosted by the former president at the Delaware County Fairgrounds on April 23, 2022 in Delaware, Ohio. The week earlier, Trump announced his endorsement of J.D. Vance in the Ohio Republican Senate primary. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

GOP Primaries Will Test Trumps Continuing Sway Over Party

As the buzz heats up around a number of primary electoral contests set to take place in May, some people have come to view the elections as unofficial referenda on the continuing influence that Donald Trump wields over the Republican Party and the willingness of GOP voters to affirm a party identity distinct from that forged during Trumps time in the White House.

The outcome of these races is full of significance for the November midterm elections as well as for November 2024, when many believe Trump plans to make another bid for the White House.

In the view of Keith Naughton, the principal of Maryland-based consulting firm Silent Majority Strategies, the former president does indeed have a great deal on the line in the coming primaries, and their outcomes may well signal a shift toward a different brand of Republicanism.

Georgia GOP Gubernatorial Primary

One of the more closely watched contests is the gubernatorial primary set to take place in Georgia on May 24, which pits the states Republican governor, Brian Kemp, against Trump-backed challenger David Perdue, who served as one of Georgias senators from 2015 to 2021. Whoever wins the GOP nomination will square off against presumptive Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams, a former state senator and minority leader of the states House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017.

Despite Trumps endorsement, a RealClearPolitics poll gives Kemp a marked lead, with 47.7 percent support compared to 33.9 percent for Perdue. No other candidate in the poll has double-digit support.

The Georgia race is an interesting test, as it is a one-on-one race. If Trump fails to dislodge Kemp, it is very bad for Trump, Naughton said.

If Trump can push Perdue to the nomination, thats a big win for him. But if Perdue then loses to Abrams, it is a big problem.

Naughton is of the view that Trumps influence within the GOP is on the wane and that Trumps support for Perdue may have limited impact on the outcome of the race.

Note that in the recent Trump endorsements in Pennsylvania and Ohio, the Trump candidate has edged into the lead, but neither has moved over 30 percent. Trumps endorsements are looking more and more like a niche phenomenon, moving less than 10 percent of Republican votersenough to change a multi-way primary field, but not moving the majority of GOP voters, he said.

Naughton said he sees this diminished influence as a sign that GOP voters are increasingly making assessments of candidates based on their merits and not looking to Trump to decide whom to back. As of this writing, the latest polling data affirm Naughtons view. A poll conducted by the University of Georgias School of Public and International Affairs found that Kemp holds a more than 20-point lead over Perdue, and hence Kemp is likely, in the absence of a major upset, to cruise to the nomination without a runoff.

Ohio GOP Senate Primary

One race for which the outcome may be hard to predict at this point is Ohios GOP Senate primary, set to take place on May 3. Here, too, Trumps influence appears to be sharply limited.

Venture capitalist J.D. Vance has gotten Trumps endorsement in his effort to succeed retiring Sen. Robert Portman. But polls conducted between April 13 and April 24 suggest that the endorsement has failed to make Vance the frontrunner. Currently, Vance enjoys 23 percent support, the same as former state Treasurer Josh Mandel. The two are slightly ahead of entrepreneur Mike Gibbons, whose support stands at 13 percent, and state Sen. Matt Dolan, with 11.5 percent.

Pennsylvania GOP Senate Primary

One of the strongest signs that GOP voters increasingly dont fall into lockstep with Trumps wishes comes across in the race in Pennsylvania to replace retiring Sen. Pat Toomey. The primary is set to take place on May 17. Dr. Mehmet Oz, a celebrity physician, has received Trumps endorsement, but so far, this appears to have given Oz little advantage over rivals including former hedge fund CEO David McCormick, who recent polls suggest enjoys 22.2 percent support, compared to only 18.8 percent for Oz.

Both candidates have a considerable lead over political consultant and commentator Kathy Barnette, whose support stands at 10.8 percent. Oz has been the subject of aggressive criticism from McCormick questioning whether Oz is really a conservative, particularly on social issues. However, polls arent unanimous, and one administered by the Trafalgar Group found Oz with a very modest 3-point lead.

Alabama GOP Senate Primary

Elsewhere, Trumps influence appears even more limited. Another southern state, Alabama, will hold a Senate primary on May 24 pitting Katie Britt, a former aide to retiring Republican lawmaker Richard Shelby, and Mike Durant, a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot who made headlines for his role in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu and subsequent imprisonment in Somalia.

Since Trumps withdrawal of his endorsement of Rep. Mo Brooks, no one in the primary contest enjoys the former presidents support. A poll conducted by The Hill has found Durant with 33 percent support, Britt with 23 percent, and Brooks with a mere 12 percent.

North Carolina GOP Senate Primary

In North Carolina, which is set to hold its GOP Senate primary on May 17, Trumps support for Rep. Ted Budd appears to have finally kicked in and made a significant difference in the latters prospects against former governor Pat McCrory. Average poll results culled from April 1 to April 10 have Budd with 34.3 percent support, compared to 22 percent for McCrory and only 7.7 percent for former Rep. Mark Walker, whom Trump unsuccessfully encouraged not to pursue a Senate seat this year. Trump reportedly promised to back Walker in the race for a House seat in return for Walkers staying out of the Senate race and avoiding complicating things for Budd.

Texas GOP Attorney General Runoff

Another state where Trump appears to command a bit more sway is Texas, whose race for attorney general is underway. Trumps candidate, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Land Commissioner George P. Bush both did well in the March 1 primary without clearing the 50 percent bar needed to secure the nomination. Hence, the two are headed for a May 24 runoff.

Recent polling by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin found Paxton with a wide lead, enjoying 47 percent support, more than twice the 21 percent for Bush.

Besides Trump, Paxton has the support of influential political figures within the state. Former aides of Paxton have accused him of retaliating against them by firing them after they accused him of bribery and other misdeeds. But on April 25, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick filed amicus curiae briefs urging the state Supreme Court to throw out the whistleblower lawsuit that Paxtons opponent Bush has used to try to discredit the attorney general.

Missouri GOP Senate Primary

Another fierce contest plays out in Missouri, where the pending retirement of Sen. Roy Blunt opens the field to a wide range of GOP candidates in the primary elections coming up on Aug. 2. Foremost among them are former Gov. Eric Greitens, current Attorney General Eric Schmitt, and Rep. Vicki Hartzler. Greitens resigned from office in 2018 amid allegations of campaign finance violations and sexual misconduct, leading some to question his suitability as a current candidate.

In a crowded field, recent polls have Schmitt with 23 percent support, and Greitens and Hartzler virtually neck and neck with 22.5 percent and 22 percent, respectively. The fact that Trump hasnt yet weighed on in this race poses a stark question for some observers. If and when he does so, some may view the outcome as a measure of Trumps continuing ability to tip the balance of a hotly contested race.
Hidden No Longer, Eyes Reveal Rare Mental Condition

Australian researchers have made a breakthrough in a rare mental condition, aphantasia, that makes people unable to visualise images.

Previously thought to be difficult to diagnose, researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have discovered a method for proving and diagnosing the rare mental condition via a persons eyes responsiveness to light.

Those who do not have aphantasia can visualize a bright and dark object, which evokes a visible pupillary reflex of contraction or dilation as it would if they walked out into the sun or into a dark room. Professor Joel Pearson the senior author of the paper publishing the results of the study said in a UNSW media release that this reflex exists in the human eye to optimize the amount of light hitting the retina.

However, people with aphantasia can not visualize bright or dark objects so their pupils do not change.

Pearson said that the results of the study provide the first physiological proof of aphantasia and establish an objective method of measuring visual imagery.

With over 1.3 million Australians thought to have aphantasia, and 400 million more internationally, we are now close to an objective physiological test, like a blood test, to see if someone truly has it.

The diagnosis method developed in the study revolves around this idea and is essentially a two-part eye test, monitored using fitted glasses that can track eye movements and pupil size. The study involved 42 participants who reported having a visual imagination and 18 with self-reported aphantasia.

The first part of the test sets a baseline for the participants reactions by monitoring their eyes whilst they are shown bright and dark shapes on a grey background. In this part of the study both participants with aphantasia and those without had their pupils constrict in response to the bright objects and dilate in response to the dark objects.

Part two of the test monitored the participants eyes when they are asked to think of a bright object and then a dark one, with their eyes open. Participants without aphantasia were able to visualise a bright or dark object and their pupils contracted or dilated correspondingly. Whereas participants with aphantasia were unable to imagine either a bright or dark object thus their pupils underwent no significant change.

Researchers also noted that in the second portion of the test, the pupils of those who reported vivid visual imaginations were more enlarged than other participants.

Pearson said that although there was knowledge of imagined objects causing endogenous changes in pupil size, it was surprising to see that the pupils of those with more vivid imagery changed more dramatically.

Endogenous changes occur when a variable that is dependent on other variables in an experimental model is changed by an independent variable that is imposed on the model.

This really is the first biological, objective test for imagery vividness, he said. One of the problems with many existing methods to measure imagery is that they are subjective, that is to say they rely on people being able to accurately assess their own imagery.

Aphantasia impacts multiple areas of peoples lives, including the level of emotion that is felt when reading, how things are held in short term memory and the number of details in lifelong memories.(fizkes/Shutterstock)

A potential flaw of this test was that a person who didnt have aphantasia could simply not attempt to imagine a bright or dark shape and they would show up as lacking a visual imagination although they do not.

The UNSW researchers addressed these issues by adding a third component to the study where participants were told to imagine one object and then four whilst their eyes were monitored with the glasses.

Our pupils are known to get larger when we are doing a more difficult task, said Lachlan Kay, PhD candidate in UNSWs Future Minds Lab. Imagining four objects simultaneously is more difficult than imagining just one.

For both people with aphantasia and those without, the difficulty of the task was increased so, through monitoring the participants eyes, the researchers could see if the participants were actually attempting to fulfil their tasks.

The pupils of those with aphantasia dilated when they imagined four shapes compared to one, but did not change based on the whether the shapes were bright or dark.

Kay said that the pupils of the participants with aphantasia enlarging when they attempted a more difficult task showed that they were trying to imagine the shapes in the experiment but werent able to do it in a visual way.

Pearson added that the pupil response in those with aphantasia as they were assigned the four objects task was another exciting find.

For the first time we have strong biological evidence that those with aphantasia are really trying to create a mental image, putting to rest claims that they may simply not be attempting to create a mental image, he said.

Over 1.3 million Australians are thought to have aphantasia, and 400 million more internationally. (Stock-Asso/Shutterstock)

Rebecca Keogh PhD, Macquarie University research fellow and another author of the study, said that in regards to memory and aphantasia the findings of the study are very interesting.

Our previous work has shown that aphantasic individuals are able to perform visual working memory tasks, remembering many images for a short period of time, without using visual imagery, Keogh said.

These findings further highlight the wide variability of the human mind that can often remain hidden until we ask someone about their internal experiences or invent new ways to measure the mind, she said. It reminds us that just because I remember or visualise something one way, doesnt mean everyone does.

Following the study, Pearson and his team intend to develop and run an online test based on the one used in the study to provide a globally available and effective way of measuring peoples capacity for visual imagery.

This really is an exciting time, said Pearson. We are very close to having objective, reliable tests for extreme imagery, aphantasia and hyperphantasia (extremely strong visual imagery) that could be scaled up to run online for millions of people everywhere.

Aphantasia impacts multiple areas of peoples lives, including the level of emotion that is felt when reading, how things are held in short term memory and the number of details in lifelong memories said, Pearson.

This new method will allow us to understand the brain mechanisms of extreme imagery and the global implications for how we think, make decisions and feel, he said.
Hong Kong actor Kenneth Tsang poses after winning the Best Supporting Actor award for his movie "Overhead 3" during the Hong Kong Film Awards in Hong Kong on April 19, 2015. (Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

Hong Kong Actor Kenneth Tsang Dies in Quarantine Hotel

HONG KONGVeteran actor Kenneth Tsang has died while in a COVID-19 quarantine hotel in Hong Kong, local media reported.

Tsang was best known internationally for his action roles in the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day, John Woos The Killer in 1989, Rush Hour 2 in 2001, and The Replacement Killers in 1998.

Tsang had been undergoing seven days of quarantine after returning from Singapore on Monday and was found collapsed on the floor of his hotel room by staff on Wednesday, according to the South China Morning Post and other media.

The South China Morning Post said Tsang was 87 but other sources gave his age as 86.

No cause of death was given and the paper said he had tested negative for the virus and had no underlying medical conditions.

In all, Tsang had some 237 acting credits, mainly in Hong Kong film and television productions, and especially in detective and martial arts movies, according to his IMDb page.

Born in Shanghai, Tsang began acting after obtaining an architecture degree at the University of California, Berkeley, making his debut in 1955. In 1969 alone, he was credited in more than 20 movies and continued working up to the time of his death.

Tsang was married three times and had a son with his first wife, Lan Di, and a daughter with his second wife, Barbara Tang.

Hong Kong is dealing with a renewed outbreak in cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant and requires all inbound travelers to undergo quarantine for up to 14 days.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (C) reviews a military honour guard with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) during a welcoming ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 8, 2018. (Greg Baker/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

House Passes AXIS Act That Accuses China of Whitewashing Russias War Crimes

The House passed legislation on April 27 that would require the State Department to submit ongoing reports to Congress documenting Chinas support of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

H.R. 7314, referred to as the Assessing Xis Interference and Subversion Act or, more simply, the AXIS Act, will now go to the Senate for consideration.

The text of the legislation states that Chinas communist regime has engaged in a pro-Russia propaganda campaign that make it culpable in whitewashing Russias war crimes, which include the indiscriminate killing of countless Ukrainian men, women, and children.

Russia is currently being investigated for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), meanwhile, has been accused by American leadership of tacitly supporting the alleged crimes, and called out by international leadership for its refusal to condemn Russia.

Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), who sponsored the bill, said that the legislation was necessary to inform the public and Congress of the full extent of the Sino-Russian relationship.

The alliance between the Chinese Communist Party and the Russian Kremlin is the new Axis of evil that threatens the United States and the rules-based international order, Barr said in a statement. We need a full report on the extent of the collaboration between Russia and China to inform the public and enable lawmakers to begin positioning the U.S. to overcome this geopolitical challenge.

The United States has accused the CCP of tacitly enabling Russias war in Ukraine. Documents leaked to the press from within the U.S. government suggested that the CCP knew about the invasion ahead of time and that Chinese officials requested Russia postpone the war until the end of the Beijing Olympics. Other reports suggested that China was mulling a Russian plea for financial and military assistance with its war effort.

A report from within Ukraine, potentially created with the help of an unknown partner nation, said that Chinese state-backed hackers conducted a large cyber attack on critical civilian and military infrastructure in Ukraine the day before the war started.

CCP leader Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced a no limits partnership on Feb. 4, and have repeatedly reaffirmed their commitment to one another in the face of international condemnation and outrage. The CCP also refused to engage in international efforts to condemn Russias aggression and stated that multilateral financial sanctions against Putin and Russia were illegitimate.

The deepening partnership between the CCP and the Kremlin has alarmed Western strategists, with one defense expert claiming that China would continue to support Russia even if it deployed a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

As such, many in Washington consider the Chinese communist regime to be a willing partner in Russias war.

The Chinese Communist Party has proven it is not willing or capable of acting as a constructive partner in Russias unprovoked attack on Ukraine, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in an April 28 statement. Rather, they are complicit.
Hussein Borhot is seen in a courtroom illustration in Calgary on April 28, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Mary Haasdyk)

Calgary Man Admits to Terrorism Activity With ISIS

A man who admitted to terrorism-related acts with ISIS told a judge Thursday he didnt know any better.

Hussein Borhot, 36, pleaded guilty to one count of participating in terrorism group activity between May 9, 2013, and June 7, 2014, as well as to kidnapping for a terrorist group while in Syria.

RCMP arrested him in July 2020 after a seven-year investigation.

An agreed statement of facts read in a Calgary courtroom said Borhot travelled to Syria through Turkey to join ISIS. He signed up as a fighter, received substantial training, and excelled as a sniper.

He did not tell his wife or father in advance of the trip, said the document.

Court heard that Borhot revealed much of the information to an undercover officer after he returned to Canada.

Borhot said he prays to kill non-believers and then they kill him and so he can go to jannah (paradise), said Crown prosecutor Domenic Puglia as he read the details in court.

Borhot also said that if he had an opportunity to go back, he would go. He said: Anything for deen (faith), for religion, anything.

Court heard that Borhot told the officer that he and some other ISIS fighters travelled to a village, where they kidnapped a number of opposing fighters.

He told the officer that he had sworn an oath of allegiance to ISIS and had a close call upon arriving back in Calgary when he was found to be carrying documentation from the group.

Borhot thought he was done when they found it, but Allah was with him. Borhot said that Allah blinded the authorities not to see it, Puglia said.

He said Borhot told the officer that he loved shooting and jihad (religious struggle), while mimicking the movement of holding a machine-gun in his hand.

When asked by Court of Queens Bench Justice David Labrenz whether the facts were correct, Borhot replied that they were, but said, I didnt know better.

His lawyer said outside court that Borhot wanted to do the right thing.

He wants to take responsibility for what happened. Hes here to take responsibility for his actions. He was quite a young man when this occurred, said Rame Katrib.

Hes grown a lot since then. What he did was terrible. He acknowledges he did some heinous and terrible things and hes here to be punished.

Borhot had been free on bail with strict conditions, including wearing ankle-tracking devices, not applying for travel documents, and heeding a ban on having firearms, ammunition, or explosives.

A four-week trial was to begin Nov. 21. The case is to be back in court May 26 for sentencing.

Prosecutor Kent Brown hopes the case will act as a deterrent.

We hope that this process has the effect of deterring others from engaging in the same kind of behaviour, he said.

Brown said there is to be a joint submission to the court on sentencing. The maximum sentence for participating in terrorism group activity is 10 years, but the maximum for the kidnapping is life in prison.

Borhots cousin, Jamal Borhot, is also accused of joining ISIS and faces three counts of participating in terrorist group activity.

He had a trial date scheduled for October, but is searching for a new lawyer. He is to return to court May 13.

By Bill Graveland
Indiana AG Files Lawsuit Against Black Lives Matter Foundation

Co-Founder claims funds disclosure leads to trauma

Todd Rokita, the Attorney General of Indiana, has filed a lawsuit against the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) as part of an ongoing investigation of the organizations fund management.

Rokitas petition, filed on April 26, asks the court to enforce a civil investigative demand (CID) that his office had issued to BLMGNF in February. The CID was issued as part of the AGs investigation opened earlier this year to determine whether the groups actions related to fundraising constitute a violation of the Indiana Nonprofit Corporation Act or the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act.

Protecting Indiana consumers from this house of cards is critical, Rokita said in an April 28 statement. There are concerning patterns of behavior from this organization, and we will do what it takesincluding this lawsuitto get to the bottom of it.

According to a 2020 report by BLM, it had raised more than $90 million in donations for the year. The organization distributed around $21.7 million to 30 entities and affiliated chapters, including one in South Bend, Indiana. An IRS filing by BLM showed that it carried $0 in assets, revenue, and expenses for the first half of 2020.

The AGs office is seeking documents and relevant information to ensure that funds donated by citizens have been used for intended purposes, and not for the personal benefit of BLM directors. If the organization refuses to comply with the CID order, it could be subject to sanctions as per state law.

There are many Indiana stakeholders and donors who have been impacted by these allegations. This lawsuit will allow for a court to swiftly and efficiently resolve the states request for information, Rokita added.

The petition asks the court for an injunction restraining the organization from fundraising in Indiana as well as suspending its rights to do business in the state if BLMGNF does not comply with the investigative demand.

BLMGNF co-founder Patrisse Cullors was in charge of the foundation in 2020. She was eventually forced to resign in May 2021 amidst criticism over a lack of financial transparency.

An April 14 report by the New York magazine highlighted the organizations purchase of a 6,500-square-foot estate in California back in October 2020 worth $5.8 million. Cullors called the report a racist and sexist attack on the BLM movement.

At a recent event, Cullors insisted that activists suffer trauma when charities under their control are made to disclose what they did with public donations.

This doesnt seem safe for us, this 990 structure  this nonprofit system structure, Cullors said, according to the Washington Examiner. This is, like, deeply unsafe. This is being literally weaponized against us, against the people we work with.
People shop for cooking oil made from oil palms at a supermarket in Jakarta, Indonesia on March 27, 2022. (Willy Kurniawan/Reuters)

Indonesia Industry Body Confident Palm Oil Export Ban Could End in May

JAKARTAIndonesia should be able to tackle its cooking oil shortage in the next few weeks and lift an export ban on palm oil and its refined products in May, an industry body said on Thursday, a day after a last-minute policy U-turn sparked more alarm for markets.

The worlds top palm oil producer expanded an export ban on raw materials for cooking oil to include shipments of crude palm oil and most of its refined products just hours before it took effect at midnight Wednesday, in an attempt to secure domestic supply and bring down soaring prices.

Sahat Sinaga, senior official at the Indonesian Palm Oil Board, said that decision had shocked the industry, but that he was confident the supply issue could be resolved not long after the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr in early May.

He added that a palm oil export target of 34 million tonnes in 2022 would be met.

Asked about the timeline suggested by the palm oil board, Trade Ministry senior official Veri Anggrijono said we are all hoping this can be solved quickly.

A trade ministry regulation on Wednesday said the export policy would be reviewed monthly, or as often as needed, while Chief Economics Minister Airlangga Hartarto said it could be lifted when bulk cooking oil recedes to 14,000 rupiah ($0.97) a litre nationwide.

It sold for 19,000 to 20,000 rupiah a litre in Jakartas markets on Thursday.

Previous measures to tame prices had failed due to distribution problems, not supply shortages at factories, Sinaga said, but he expressed confidence in the governments assigning of food procurement agency Bulog and other state firms to handle distribution.

It will be a great success. It wont take long. After Eid, the market will be flooded, he said.

Markets had shown relief when Indonesias chief economic minister said on Tuesday the ban would only cover refined, bleached, and deodorized (RBD) palm olein, but a day later authorities announced other products would be included.

That had an immediate impact on global vegetable oil prices, sending palm oil futures in Malaysia up by 9.8 percent. The jitters spilled over into markets on Thursday as the ban took effect.

Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi said the decision was taken after careful consideration and monitoring cooking oil supply daily.

I hope we all understand the urgency of this policy, Lutfi said.

Palm oil association GAPKI said the industry was working with the government to ensure affordable cooking oil supplies, but urged authorities to avoid a lengthy and devastating ban on palm oil exports.

Very Negative Impact

A total ban on the export of CPO and all its derivatives, if prolonged, will have a very negative impact on not only plantation, refinery and packaging companies, but also millions of smallholders, GAPKI said in a statement.

Demonstrating Indonesias determination to enforce the ban, its navy on Thursday said it had seized two tankers carrying crude palm oil, palm olein and methanol for paperwork discrepancies the day before the measure took effect.

MT World Progress was travelling towards India with 34,854.3 tonnes of palm olein, while MT Annabelle was bound for the United Arab Emirates with 13,357.4 tonnes of crude palm oil and 98 barrels of methanol on board.

The ban has trapped at least 290,000 tonnes of the edible oil meant to be headed to India at Indonesian ports and oil mills, four industry officials told Reuters on Thursday.

Shares in Indonesia palm oil companies fell on Thursday, while concern over the ban pushed the rupiah currency to its lowest since July 2021. In Riau province, small farmers said prices of palm fruits were already dropping.

Radhika Rao, senior DBS Bank economist, said the prospect of exports being impacted was negative for Indonesian earnings and the current account and would dampen sentiment on the rupiah.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday said peoples need for affordable food trumped revenue concerns for now.

The ban gave a lift to his approval rating in an independent survey conducted from April 20-25  recovering slightly from a 15-percentage-point slump from January.

Food seller Sandri, 42, said he was struggling, but supported the presidents move to bring cooking oil prices down.

Its been heavy on me, because the government said oil prices in markets have gone down. But in reality, its still the same, theres no drop yet, Sandri said.

($1 = 14,460.0000 rupiah)

By Fransiska Nangoy and Bernadette Christina
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shake hands before their bilateral summit in Tokyo, Japan on April 28, 2022. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/Getty Images)

Japan, Germany to Deepen Security Cooperation Amid Russia-Ukraine War

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed Thursday to establish an intergovernmental panel to boost their security cooperation amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

In a joint press conference, Kishida said that both leaders reaffirmed their intention to hold intergovernmental consultations and work closely together to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Today we agreed to set up intergovernmental consultations with the participation of the heads of government. The first consultation is envisaged for next year, he remarked.

PM Kishida: I had an exchange of views at length with Chancellor Scholz of #Germany, who chose #Japan as his first stop during his visit to Asia. With Germany, which holds the #G7 presidency this year, (1/2) pic.twitter.com/lyGhkJ86El  PM's Office of Japan (@JPN_PMO) April 28, 2022

Scholzs two-day trip to Japan is his first to an Asian country since becoming chancellor of Germany last December. He said the trip was a clear political signal that Germany and the European Union would intensify engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.

We want to intensify the German-Japanese partnership. That works with the 2+2 talks that we have already established. But we also want to have regular government consultations with each other, he said.

The two leaders opposed unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force in the East and South China seas, where Beijing has increased its military presence, and urged the international community to respond decisively to Russias aggression against Ukraine.

They pledged to increase support for Ukraine and continue to impose unprecedentedly tough sanctions on Russia, which Scholz said have caused significant damage to Moscows economic development.

Japan and Germany are also aiming to reduce reliance on Russian coal imports. Kishida said that Japan will seek alternatives to diversify the countrys energy sources, but added that his government must first examine the impact on the industry.

We will do everything we can to ensure that nobody is dependent on supply chains from one country at a time. That is the experience we have now had with the Russia-Ukraine crisis. It will take time but will have to play a big role for us, Scholz said.

The Russia-Ukraine war has highlighted Germanys energy reliance on Russia and is spurring Berlin to take security more into account in its foreign and trade policy and to strengthen ties with allies.

Scholzs visit to Japan comes on the same day that the German lower house of parliament passed a motion in support of Ukraine that included a clause calling on his government to threaten China with sanctions if it seeks to circumvent Western restrictions on Russia or deliver weapons.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Ships await the offloading of cargo in Long Beach, Calif., on Jan 11, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

LA Ports See Increase in Wait Times for Cargo Stored at Docks

LOS ANGELESThe time containers are staying at ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach before being shipped by rail or truck increased again last month, according to the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.

In March, containers leaving on trucks stayed at port terminals for more than six days, an increase of about half a day since February.

For cargo shipped by rail, the containers stayed on the docks for nearly eight days, up from five days the month before, the association said.

Dwell time was already higher than usual and the increase in March did not help, Jessica Alvarenga, the shipping associations manager, said in a release. Every part of the supply chain is being impacted by the delays, but it is important to continue moving cargo as efficiently as possible to ensure that people continue receiving goods at their doorsteps and shelves remain stocked.

Before the pandemic, cargo waited an average of three days.

At the Port of Los Angeles, nearly 57,000 containers were waiting to be shipped domestically, according to the port.

Of those, about half had arrived within the past four days. Another 8,400 were waiting up to eight days. Nearly 19,000or about 33 percentwere lingering at the docks for more than nine days.

The Port of Los Angeles is working to address dwell times, Port of LA Spokesman Phillip Sanfield told The Epoch Times.

We continue to work with public and private stakeholders in the supply chain to minimize dwell times, Sanfield said. We meet throughout the week assessing the situation and looking for ways to improve fluidity.

The number of containers moving by rail has increased and the port is also working with railroads to address the situation, Sanfield said.

At the Port of Long Beach, the number of lingering containers has increased by nearly 800 units since the beginning of April, reaching nearly 6,200.

Both ports continue to delay the implementation of a container dwell fee, now on hold until April 29 when the fee will be reconsidered.

The executive directors of both ports will reassess fee implementation after monitoring data over the next week, the Port of Long Beach announced April 22.

Gene Seroka, executive director for the Port of LA, briefed port commissioners April 28 about the increase in cargo at the docks.

Since October 2021, the number of containers waiting at the terminals has climbed primarily because of the recent activity around the rail product, Seroka said.

Rail volume has increased six-fold in the last month and a half alone, Seroka told commissioners. Its important we get this caught up.
A nurse administers a pediatric dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to a girl in Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 19, 2022. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

LA Unified Considers Delaying Student COVID Vaccine Mandate Until 2023

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is recommending delaying the deadline of its COVID-19 vaccination requirement for students until the summer of 2023in alignment with the states timeline.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho recommended the district postpone its student vaccine mandate from August 15, 2022, to July 1, 2023, according to an April 28 statementtwo weeks after the states health department announced the delay of its student vaccine mandate from July 2022 to July 2023 because the vaccines have yet to be fully approved for children under 16 by the Food and Drug Administration.

Carvalho came to the decision after consultation with health experts and the districts medical director, citing high COVID-19 vaccination rates among students 12 and older and low transmission rates in the school community, according to the statement.

We know that students do best when learning in the classroom with their peers, Carvalho said in the statement. Due to the high vaccination rates among students 12 and older, low transmission rates in our schools and our nation-leading safety measures, we have preserved in-person learning in the safest possible environment.

Alberto Carvalho, then Miami-Dade Schools superintendent, is seen during a school board meeting in Miami, Fla., on March 1, 2018. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

About 84 percent of students 12 and older have been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to an April 28 report (pdf) released by the district.

The LAUSD saw a spike in casesabout a 5 percent increaseafter spring break when mainly symptomatic people were being tested. However, after spring break in Aprilwhich was after the district lifted its mask mandate on March 23COVID-19 test positivity rates have remained below one percent, according to the report.

The report also cited a studyby the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of CaliforniaLos Angeles (UCLA)on in-school transmission rates that reported no estimated classroom transmission in the district since January 31, 2022, after the Omicron surge peaked.

We studied positivity at the classroom level in Los Angeles Unified throughout the school year, UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute Dr. Vladimir Manuel said in the April 28 statement. Our models suggest no or very small amounts of classroom transmission since January, even after lifting the outdoor and indoor masking mandates.

A student walks toward Royce Hall on the campus of the University of CaliforniaLos Angeles in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 11, 2020. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Carvalho said that vaccinations are and remain our greatest tool to fight against COVID-19 and that the district still plans to increase vaccination rates among students.

For the remainder of the school year, we will further improve our student vaccination rates via accessible school-based clinics, while offering vaccines for all students ages 5 and older, he said. Providing ongoing support, especially in communities where students and their families have been hardest hit by illness, and addressing the educational, mental health and economic challenges of the pandemic, is my top priority.

With the recommended postponement, the LAUSD joins other large school districts in the stateincluding the Long Beach Unified, the Corona-Norco Unified, and the Capistrano Unifiedin aligning with the states student COVID-19 vaccine deadline.

The San Diego Unified School District, however, said earlier this month it plans to continue its vaccine mandate for students ages 16 and up, effective as early as July for the districts summer school program.

The LAUSD Board of Education will vote to finalize this recommendation on May 10.
Liberals Plan to Review Secret Lab DocumentsWith or Without Conservatives

Tory MP says the Liberals are trying to bypass Parliament with the NDPs support

The federal Liberals will move ahead on a special, all-party, security-cleared committee to review documents related to the firing of two scientists from the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipegeven if the Conservatives continue to reject their plan.

Government House leader Mark Holland said Wednesday the NDP has agreed to the idea, and he hopes the Tories and Bloc Quebecois will also participate.

Members of the ad-hoc committee will be able to see unredacted documents, but an independent panel of three former judges, to be jointly chosen by the parties, will have the final say on what material can be made public without jeopardizing national security.

But the Conservatives rejected the proposal last December, preferring the documents be turned over to a regular committee of MPs who would decide what material would be released to Canadians, in an attempt to hold the Liberal government accountable.

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons Mark Holland rises during question period in Ottawa on Feb. 15, 2022. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

The Liberals have resisted revealing any details as to why Chinese Canadian virologist Xiangguo Qiu and her biologist husband, Keding Cheng, were escorted out of NML in 2019 during an RCMP probe and subsequently fired in January 2021.

In March 2019, Qiu was also charged with shipping samples of deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to Chinas Wuhan Institute of Virology. In an interview with NTD last June, Conservative MP Michael Chong said he was aware of seven federal scientists at the NML who collaborated with Chinese scientists on some of the worlds most dangerous viruses and pathogens.

On June 2, 2021, opposition MPs joined forces and defeated the Liberals in a 179149 vote on a motion demanding the Trudeau government come clean by producing unredacted documents concerning the firing, virus transfer, and research collaboration.

The motion demanded the documents be submitted to the parliamentary law clerk within 48 hours upon adoption, and that members of the now-defunct Special Committee on Canada-China Relations retain the right to release whatever material they chose.

The government refused to obey the order. Instead, former health minister Patty Hajdu told the House on June 8, 2021, that she had sent the records to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) as its the appropriate level of security.

NSICOP was created in 2017 specifically to allow MPs to review sensitive matters. It submits classified reports to the prime minister, which are later presented in Parliament in edited form. Its members must have top security clearance and are bound to secrecy.

On Dec. 17, 2021, former Conservative leader Erin OToole announced he will not name any Tory MPs to the NSICOP until the wraps are taken off the documents.

In his letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, OToole said NSICOP has become a committee of the Prime Ministers Office and has been used by the Trudeau government to avoid accountability and that is diminishing its credibility.

Until the requested documents are deposited with the law clerk, as previously ordered, and until you agree to a non-partisan effort to make statutory change to NSICOPs governing legislation, Conservatives will not participate in NSICOP, he said.

Conservative MP Michael Chong rises during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on May 31, 2021. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Chong seconded OTooles opinion as he had previously said that members of NSICOP serve at the pleasure of the prime minister, meaning the prime minister has the power to review and demand revisions of any documents before they are made public.

Speaker Anthony Rota also agreed that NSICOP is not a committee of Parliament. In his speech in the House of Commons on June 16, 2021, he said that the committee exists outside of Parliament.

Nothing in the [NSICOP] act affects or limits the privileges of the House to order the production of documents, even those with national security implications, Rota said. It is for the House and not for the government to decide how such documents are to be reviewed and what safeguards are to put in place, if any.

In a January letter, Holland again urged the Conservatives to reconsider his compromised proposal. He said Wednesday that the governments planned allparty committee respects the Conservative desire to be able to see the full documents and to contest any redactions.

If they dont budge from their position, then I have to question the authenticity of their request, Holland told The Canadian Press.

You cant, on the one hand, say that you want to see documents but then refuse to see them. You cant say you want to be able to challenge redactions, but refuse to participate in a process that would challenge redactions.

Holland said the government wants the planned committee to begin its work as rapidly as possible.

Given that the Liberals and NDP account for a majority of members of the House of Commons, it would be appropriate for us to proceed without the other two parties, he said.

Chong responded late Wednesday that the Tories would not join the committee. He accused the Liberals of bypassing Parliament with the support of the NDP.

Its clear the Liberals are panicking and covering something up by creating this nonparliamentary committee, he told The Canadian Press. We are going to continue our efforts to get these documents in a parliamentary committee.

The Bloc had no immediate comment.

The Canadian Press and Noe Chartier contributed to this report.
Ukrainian Preident Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint press conference with UN Secretary-General following their talks in Kyiv on April 28, 2022. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

RussiaUkraine War (April 29): Ukraine Cracks Down on Anyone Suspected of Aiding Russian Troops

The latest on the RussiaUkraine crisis, April 29. Click here for updates from April 28.

Ukraine Cracks Down on Anyone Suspected of Aiding Russian Troops

Ukrainian authorities are cracking down on anyone suspected of aiding Russian troops under laws enacted by Ukraines parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Feb. 24 invasion.

Offenders face up to 15 years in prison for acts of collaborating with the invaders or showing public support for them.

Not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion, and pro-Moscow sentiment is more common among Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east.

Although the Zelenskyy government has broad support, even among many Russian speakers, not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion. Support for Moscow is more common among some Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east. An eight-year conflict there between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces had killed over 14,000 people even before this years invasion.

Some businessmen, civic and state officials and members of the military are among those who have gone over to the Russian side, and Ukraines State Bureau of Investigations said more than 200 criminal cases on collaboration have been opened. Zelenskyy has even stripped two SBU generals of their rank, accusing them of treason.

A registry of collaborators is being compiled and will be released to the public, said Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraines Security Council. He refused to say how many people have been targeted nationwide.

With martial law in place, authorities have banned 11 pro-Russian political parties, including the largest one that had 25 seats in the 450-member parliamentthe Opposition Platform For Life, which was founded by Viktor Medvedchuk, a jailed oligarch with close ties to Putin.

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Biden Government Is Running Out of Cash for Ukraine

The U.S. government needs Congress to approve its $33 billion request as soon as possible because it only has $250 million remaining from the previous package of assistance for Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki has said.

U.S. President Joe Biden signed the request on Thursday. He admitted that $33 billion is not cheap but claimed that caving to aggression is going to be more costly.

During a press briefing on the same day, Psaki was asked what the deadline was for when the government absolutely needs the new funding. She responded that the need is urgent, as is the need for COVID funding is urgent.

As you know, we had $3.5 billion in military security assistance. We have about $250 million of that left in drawdown. So, obviously, we will work to expedite that and provide that to the Ukrainians, the spokeswoman said.

She emphasized that to provide Kyiv with the weapons they need, the artillery they need, the equipment they need, getting new funding was certainly urgent.

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NATO Scrambles Jets After Unidentified Aircraft Detected

NATO announced it scrambled fighter jets over both the Black and Baltic seas due to Russian aircraft flying near the military alliances airspace.

Over the past four days, NATO jets were scrambled several times in the two regions, the military alliance confirmed in a statement on Friday, to track and intercept the planes. The alliance said those aircraft belonged to the Russian military, although the models of the planes were not provided.

NATO radars tracked a number of unidentified aircraft over the Baltic and Black Seas since April 26, it said, adding that its air response team launched fighter jets in their respective regions to intercept and identify the approaching aircraft.

Read the full article here

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More EU Nations Reject Moscows Gas-Supply Terms

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Friday that Prague has no plans to pay for Russian gas deliveries in rubles, as demanded by Moscow.

He was quoted by media after speaking at a joint press conference with his Polish counterpart, saying: As for the ruble payment, the Czech Republic does not intend to give in to Russias blackmail. Other countries that agree to this are making a mistake. It is a violation of sanctions. It is dangerous.

Danish energy group Orsted has also signaled it has no intention of paying for gas supply in the Russian currency. The companys CEO Mads Nipper explained to Market Wire: This is because we are devastated over what happens [in Ukraine] and refuse to give in to unilateral demands from Russia and Gazprom.

Orsted has a long-term gas supply contract with Gazprom for annual deliveries of up to two billion cubic meters, which runs from 2011 to 2030.

Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said at a press conference, recorded Friday on his social media account, that some European companies that import natural gas from Russia have agreed to Moscows payment scheme, but they do not talk about it honestly.

Szijjarto explained that in order to buy gas, importing companies, and not countries, should open two accounts with Gazprombank, one in euros or dollars and another one in rubles.

And we will do it, like others, I would like to emphasize, like others  it is not true that others have refused this, they simply do not talk about it so honestly for various reasons, and the international liberal media support them in that, he said, adding, We are open about this issue.

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US Comments on Chemical Attack Accusations Against Russia

The United States has not been able to verify reports of the alleged use of chemical weapons by Russian forces in Ukraine but is very, very much focused on the matter, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) asked Blinken to provide an update on the governments recent claims that chemical weapons may have been used by Russia. Noting that it might be more appropriate to discuss this issue in a different setting, Blinken underlined that the US government is looking at the matter very, very carefully.

I dont believe that weve been able to verify that use, but I want to come back to you, he told Kinzinger.

He added that there are different kinds of chemical agents that could have been used, including riot-control agents that would be prohibited.

But in terms of the use of chemical weapons, I think what I can say here is that we have not yet verified the use but it is something we are very, very much focused on, Blinken stressed.

Two weeks ago, Blinken said the government had credible information that Russian forces may use a variety of riot-control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents in the aggressive campaign to take Mariupol.

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Mariupol Mayor: Conditions Dire at Steel Mill

The mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol says those hiding at a massive steel mill are running out of food, water, and medicine.

Vadym Boichenko described the situation at the Avozstal steel plant as dire. The steel mill is the last position held by Azov fighters.

Boichenko said he hoped a cease-fire would allow those inside the steel mill to safely leave. Russia earlier offered a truce that was rejected by Ukrainians, who claimed Moscow previously broke other agreements.

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Russia Makes Last-Gasp Dollar Bond Payments in Bid to Avoid Default

Russia made what appeared to be a late U-turn to avoid a default on Friday, as it made a number of already-overdue international debt payments in dollars despite previously vowing they would only be paid in rubles.

Whether the money would make it to the United States and other Western countries that sanctioned Russia was still not clear, but it represented another major twist in the game of financial chicken that has developed about a possible default.

Russias finance ministry said it had managed to pay $564.8 million on a 2022 Eurobond and $84.4 million on a 2042 bond in dollarsthe currency specified on the bonds.

The ministry said it had channeled the required funds to the London branch of Citibank, one of the so-called paying agents of the bonds whose job is to disburse them to the investors that originally lent the money to Moscow.

Russia has not had a default of any kind since a financial crash in 1998 and has not seen a major international or external market default since the aftermath of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

The risk of another one though is now a flashpoint in the economic tussle with Western countries which have blanketed Russia with sanctions in response to its actions in Ukraine that Moscow has termed a special military operation.

The bonds were originally supposed to be paid earlier this month but an extra 30-day grace period that government bonds often have in their terms meant Moscows final deadline was on May 4.

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Russia Cuts Interest Rate

Russias central bank cut its key interest rate on Friday, saying that it saw room for further decrease this year, as the regulator tries to tackle soaring inflation and support the countrys shrinking economy.

The Central Bank of Russia lowered the key rate to 14 percent from 17 percent as it looks to mitigate the impact of international economic sanctions introduced against the nation over the military operation in Ukraine.

The rubles rebound from sharp losses in the days immediately following Feb. 24 had slowed the surge in consumer prices during the subsequent weeks, the regulator said in a statement announcing the reduction.

The external environment for the Russian economy remains challenging and significantly constrains economic activity, the Bank of Russia said.

With price and financial stability risks no longer on the rise, conditions have allowed for the key rate reduction, the regulator added.

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Putin, Zelenskyy to Be at G20 Meet, Says Host

Indonesias President Joko Widodo says that both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to attend the G20 summit to be held in Bali in November.

Widodo, the current chair of the G20 group, made the remarks in a televised statement on Friday in which he said that he had telephone conversations this week with Zelenskyy and Putin. He said he urged both leaders of Ukraine and Russia to end the war through negotiations.

I reiterated the importance of ending the war immediately, he said. I also emphasized that peaceful efforts should continue and Indonesia is ready to contribute to these peaceful efforts.

He said that he invited Putin and Zelenskyy to the G20 summit as the war in Ukraine has had a major impact on the global economy.

We understand that the G20 plays the catalyst role in the recovery of the global economy, Widodo said.

Widodo said that he has rejected the Ukrainian leaders request for arms but instead will send humanitarian aid.

The mandate of Indonesias constitution and the principles of our foreign policy prohibit us from providing arms assistance to other countries, Widodo said. However, we are ready to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

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Spanish Ship in Poland With Arms for Ukraine

The Spanish government said Friday that its largest shipment of military equipment to Ukraine so far is on track for delivery after a ship carrying 200 tons of material has docked at a port in Poland.

Spains defense ministry confirmed the ships arrival in Poland. Spanish newspaper El Pais, citing Polish port authorities, said the vessel had docked at the port of Gdynia, where the material would be unloaded and transported some 700 kilometers (435 miles) to a logistics base in Ukraine.

The shipment includes 30 trucks, several special heavy transport vehicles, and 10 smaller vehicles that will be used to transfer the military material to Ukraine, according to Spains prime minister.

The shipment to Ukraine on the Spanish ship Ysabel, a 149-meter (489 feet) vessel, was announced last week by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during a visit to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This is the largest shipment made up to now, more than doubling what we have sent so far, he added.

Prior to the shipment on the Ysabel, Spain had sent 1,370 anti-tank grenade launchers, 700,000 machine-gun cartridges as well as an armored ambulance and medical material to Ukraine.

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Poland Seizes Russian Gas Assets

Warsaw has obliged the Polish subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Novatek to transfer its gas infrastructure to the nations state companies, Government Spokesperson Piotr Muller said on Friday. Novatek, which is on Polands sanctions list, on Thursday stopped gas supplies to some of the countrys regions.

Today Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki requested state companies PGNiG, PSG and Gaz-System to immediately supply gas to grids formally owned by Novatek, on the basis of the crisis management law, Muller said.

He added that by the order of the prime minister, Novateks subsidiary Novatek Green Energy is obliged to transfer the networks to those companies, which will then supply gas to the cut-off municipalities.

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NATO Plans Troop Exercises to Deter Russia

Tens of thousands of troops from NATO and other north Atlantic nations will take part in a series of military exercises across Europe in the coming weeks as western countries seek to deter Russia.

The exercises, backed by aircraft, tanks, artillery, and armored assault vehicles, will take place in Finland, Poland, North Macedonia, and along the EstonianLatvian border. They will include troops from NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force, which includes non-NATO members Finland and Sweden.

The deployments will begin this week in Finland, where troops from the United States, Britain, Estonia, and Latvia will participate in Exercise Arrow to improve their ability to work alongside Finnish forces.

Also this week, some 4,500 troops will take part in Exercise Swift Response, which will include parachute drops and helicopter-borne assaults in North Macedonia. The operation will include forces from the United States, Britain, Albania, France, and Italy.

Next month, 18,000 NATO troops, including forces from Britain, France, and Denmark, will take part in Exercise Hedgehog along the EstoniaLatvia border.

In late May, about 1,000 British soldiers will join troops from 11 other nations for Exercise Defender in Poland.

The security of Europe has never been more important, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said. These exercises will see our troops join forces with allies and partners across NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force in a show of solidarity and strength in one of the largest shared deployments since the Cold War.

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Journalist Killed by Russian Strike on Kyiv

The U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty says one of its journalists was killed by a Russian missile strike on Ukraines capital, Kyiv, Thursday night.

Vira Hyrych died when the building she lived in was hit and her body was found in the buildings rubble Friday, Radio Free Europe said. Hyrych had worked for the broadcasters Ukrainian-language service since 2018, Radio Free Europe said in a statement.

Describing the attack, Russia says it destroyed production buildings at a defense factory in Kyiv. Russia used high-precision, long-range weaponry to hit the Artem factory in the Ukrainian capital, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday.

The spokesman appeared to be referring to strikes on Kyiv that took place on Thursday evening, shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said cruise missiles were used in the attack and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and four hospitalized when a residential building was hit.

Konashenkov also said Russia had destroyed a missile launch site that Ukraine had used to strike the Russia-held Ukrainian city of Kherson.

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Russia Says Struck Kyiv Rocket Plant With Missiles

Russia said on Friday that its forces had destroyed the production facilities of a space-rocket plant in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with high precision long-range missiles.

The armed forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine, the defence ministry said.

High-precision long-range air-based weapons destroyed the production facilities of the Artem rocket and space industry enterprise in the city of Kyiv.

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Russia Fires Two Missiles at Kyiv, at Least 10 Injured: Ukrainian Officials

Russia fired two missiles at the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Thursday evening and one of them struck the lower floors of a 25-story residential building, injuring at least 10 people, Ukrainian officials said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the blasts had hit the central Shevchenko district.

The State Emergency Service, which referred to Russian shelling, said one blast damaged an unnamed facility while the other occurred in a residential building, which was nearby. Parts of the ground and first floors were destroyed by fire, it said in an online post.

Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba both said Russia had used missiles in the attack.

Reuters eyewitnesses had earlier reported the sound of two blasts in the city. Reuters was not able to immediately verify the officials accounts of missile strikes.

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Russian Parliament Chief Says Ukraine Is Mortgaging Itself to the United States

Russias most senior lawmaker said on Friday that Ukraine was effectively mortgaging itself to the United States by seeking to tap billions of dollars of weapons loans proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden.

Biden on Thursday asked Congress for $33 billion to support Ukrainea dramatic escalation of U.S. funding for the war with Russiaand the Ukrainian president pleaded with lawmakers to give the request a swift approval.

Vyacheslav Volodin, who as the speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament often voices the Kremlins views, accused the United States of seeking to profit from the war while indebting future generations of Ukrainians.

Lend-Lease is a commodity loan, and not cheap: many future generations of Ukrainian citizens will pay for all the ammunition, equipment and food that the United States will supply, Volodin said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is driving the country into a debt pit, he added.

Bidens funding request includes over $20 billion for weapons, ammunition, and other military assistance, as well as $8.5 billion in direct economic assistance to the Ukrainian government and $3 billion in humanitarian aid.

Congress on Thursday passed legislation that invokes the Lend-Lease Act of 1941, originally proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help arm British forces battling Nazi Germany, to allow Biden to supply weapons to Ukraine on loan, The New York Times reported.

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Ukraine Hopes to Evacuate Civilians Holed Up With Fighters in Mariupol Steel Works

Ukraine hopes on Friday to evacuate civilians who are holed up in a vast steelworks with the last Azov fighters in the southern city of Mariupol.

An operation is planned today to get civilians out of the plant, President Volodymyr Zelenskyys office said without giving details.

Russia did not immediately comment on the Ukrainian presidencys remarks.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said after meeting Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday that intense discussions were under way to enable the evacuation of the Azovstal steel plant, which has been pounded by Russian forces occupying Mariupol.

We are depending on the goodwill of all parties and we are in this together, United Nations Crisis Coordinator Amin Awad told Reuters on Friday morning.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in principle to U.N. and International Committee for the Red Cross involvement in evacuating the Azovstal plant.

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First Ukrainian Corn Cargo Leaves Romanian Black Sea Port

A cargo ship carrying over 71,000 tonnes of Ukrainian corn finished loading in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta on Thursday, the first since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the manager of port operator Comvex said.

With Ukraines seaports blocked since the war started more than two months ago, the worlds fourth-largest grain exporter has been forced to send shipments by train via its western border or through its small Danube river ports into Romania.

This is the first panamax vessel with Ukrainian corn to leave the port, Comvex President Viorel Panait told Reuters.

Comvex operates Europes fastest-loading grain terminal, which can process up to 70,000 tonnes per day, as well as a mineral handling terminal, said Panait, who is also president of the Constanta Port Business Association.

Earlier in the week, the operator finished loading around 35,000 tonnes of Ukrainian iron ore, with a second ship expected to be loaded around May 15, he said.

Compared with the initial moment, when everyone was searching for alternatives, transport corridors for these exports are slowly taking shape, Panait said.

Around 80,000 tonnes of Ukrainian grains have been sent to Constanta so far, with another 80,000 approved and en route, Constanta Ports manager said on Tuesday.

European Union member Romania shares borders on the Black Sea, a major shipping artery for grain and oil, with Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine, and Russia.

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Blasts Hit Kyiv While UN Chief Visits

Russia fired two missiles into the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Thursday during a visit by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Ukrainian officials said.

The rockets shook the central Shevchenko district of the city and one struck the lower floors of a 25-story residential building, wounding at least 10 people, Ukrainian officials said.

Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba both said the blasts were caused by Russian missiles.

The explosions occurred after U.N. chief Guterres completed talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy focusing on efforts to evacuate civilians from the Russian-besieged southern port of Mariupol.

Guterres told Portuguese broadcaster RTP when asked about the blasts: There was an attack on Kyiv  it shocked me, not because Im here but because Kyiv is a sacred city for Ukrainians and Russians alike.

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US Congress Revives World War II-Era Lend-Lease Program for Ukraine

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly backed legislation on Thursday that will make it easier to export military equipment to Ukraine, reviving the Lend-Lease Act that helped defeat Hitler during World War II.

The House passed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 by 417 to 10, three weeks after it sailed through the Senate with unanimous support. It next goes to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law.

The measure revives a World War II-era program that allowed Washington to lend or lease military equipment to U.S. allies. In this case, it will help those affected by Russias invasion, such as Poland and other eastern European countries as well as Ukraine.

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Biden: Idea of Larger Proxy War Not True

President Joe Biden is rejecting the idea that Russias war in Ukraine could grow into a larger proxy conflict between Moscow and the United States and NATO allies that may even bring the world closer to nuclear confrontation.

At an event at the White House where Biden asked Congress for an additional $33 billion to aid Ukraine, the president said Thursday that the idea of a larger proxy war was concerning but not true.

He blamed Russian authorities for exaggerating such speculation, saying it shows the desperation that Russia is feeling about their abject failure with the invasion of Ukraine.

He added that no one should be making idle comments about the use of nuclear weapons and called doing so irresponsible.

Jack Phillips, The Associated Press, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Los Angeles Seeks Audit of Vision Zero Amid Increase in Traffic Deaths

LOS ANGELESCiting an increase in traffic fatalities on Los Angeles streets, the city council requested an audit by the controller into the citys Vision Zero Initiative, which aims to eliminate traffic deaths in the city by 2025.

The citys Vision Zero Initiative is without question well-intentioned. It sought to stem the overwhelming number of traffic collisions that take the lives of pedestrians and cyclists every year in our city, said Councilman Paul Koretz before the vote on April 29. At the time of its implementation, pedestrians and cyclists accounted for more than half of fatal traffic collisions, and children and seniors were five times more likely than drivers to be killed or severely injured.

However, Koretz said, This data doesnt look much better today, seven years after Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the Vision Zero executive directive.

Koretz said that 289 people were killed in traffic collisions last year as of Dec. 25, which is 21 percent more than the same period in 2020 and 19 percent more than in 2019. He added that nearly 1,500 people were severely injured last year, representing a 30 percent increase from 2020.

This is a safety issue, a public health issue, a quality-of-life issue, its a funding and resource issue and its an issue of priorities for our city, he said.

The motion, which passed 100, requested the Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin to conduct an audit of the Vision Zero Initiative, which will serve as guidance to the city as it continues its efforts toward eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries.

The motion also instructed the citys various departments and bureaus to report with a status update on the implementation of the immediate and long-term actions ordered in Garcettis executive directive and conduct an assessment of the nature of the traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries that continue to occur.

The departmentsincluding the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, Bureau of Engineering, Bureau of Street Services, Bureau of Street Lighting, Los Angeles Police Department, Bureau of Contract Administration, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and other relevant departmentswill also issue recommendations on how the city can prevent future fatalities and serious injuries and achieve the goals of Vision Zero Initiative within its timeline.
Hong Kong: Public policy programme pact signed

The Civil Service College today signed an agreement with Peking Universitys School of Government to jointly launch a masters programme in public plicy for the citys senior civil servants.

The aim of the programme, scheduled to be launched in September, is to broaden the horizons and enhance the expertise of the participating officers in public administration. About 15 senior civil servants, nominated by their departments, will take part each year.

At todays signing ceremony held online, Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip thanked Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO) of the State Council Deputy Director Huang Liuquan for the HKMAOs strong support and assistance for the initiative, and also Peking University for its efforts in rolling out the programme.

He said: The Master Programme in Public Policy carries strategic importance and is a key training programme for nurturing future leaders of the civil service in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

We look forward to cultivating senior echelons in the years ahead for the civil service of the Hong Kong SAR Government, which would be beneficial to the implementation of one country, two systems.

In addition, he noted that while acquiring public administration knowledge, it is of even greater importance for the participants to enhance the sense of national identity and strategic vision, better grasp the positioning of the city in the countrys system, deepen the understanding of the countrys overall development and strategies, and equip themselves with leadership capacity, in order to play a more active role in building the Hong Kong SAR and contributing to the country.

Run by Peking University specifically for senior civil servants of high potential, the two-year programme covers public administration and leadership skills, the countrys and Hong Kong affairs, global affairs and governance, as well as social studies and field work.

The officers will attend the programme full-time at Peking University in the first year. They will also be given opportunities to gain first-hand experience of the countrys development on various fronts through visits to different parts of the Mainland and exchanges with scholars, officials and other professionals in the relevant fields.

This story has been published on: 2022-04-29. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
YAOUNDE, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon's Minister of Public Health Malachie Manaouda has called on Cameroonians to stick to coronavirus restriction measures, saying the step was needed to avoid any importation of the virus from Europe and Asia that have witnessed new outbreak of positive cases.

"In view of the volume of trade that Cameroon maintains with the countries of the areas affected by this new wave of the disease, the risk of importing the virus has been proven," Manaouda said in a statement Thursday evening.

"Wearing of face mask, regular disinfection of the hands and respect for physical distancing and the prohibition of gathering of more than 50 people, especially in closed places, will continue to be mandatory," Manaouda said in the statement.

According to data from the Ministry of Public Health, as of April 6, the Central African nation had reported 119,780 positive cases, 1,927 deaths, and no hospitalized patients. 
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the House Judicary Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on April 28, 2022 in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Mayorkas Reveals More Than 389,000 Migrant Gotaways at Border in FY2021

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on 28 April told members of Congress that there were more than 389,000 gotaways at the U.S.-Mexico border during the fiscal year 2021.

The figure was disclosed in response to questions from Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) during his testimony at an oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.

Spartz grilled Mayorkas, Do you have an estimate number of those who were not captured by any cameras and couldnt be stopped by border patrol because they have a limited capacity?

In the fiscal year 2021, there were 389,155 migrants crossing the border completely undetected, replied Mayorkas, referring to those who were not apprehended or turned themselves in, and those who got past border agents.

Mayorkas testimony comes as the Biden administration is slated to lift Title 42, a Trump-era pandemic border policy first introduced in March 2020 that allowed the United States to turn away migrants at the southern border, without proceeding with the normal lengthy deportation process, based on the risk that they might bring COVID-19 into the country.

The Biden administration said it will end its use of Title 42 in late May given that public health conditions have changed. The move has attracted opposition from politicians from both parties, and triggered legal action from 21 states in a bid to delay or hinder the looming end of emergency border powers. A federal court on April 27 temporarily blocked the administration from lifting the measure, until arguments for a formal injunction can be considered.

The Biden appointee told the House Judiciary Committee in his opening remarks on Thursday, With the Title 42 public health order set to be lifted, we expect migration levels to increase as smugglers seek to take advantage of and profit from vulnerable migrants.

Yet Mayorkas insisted that his agency will be able to handle the expected wave of illegal immigration once Title 42 is terminated.

We are also sending a clear message in the region to counteract misinformation from smugglers, including that the termination of the Title 42 public health order does not mean that the U.S. border is open, he said.

That was part of a six-pillar plan for border security that the Department of Homeland Security released on Wednesday.

But Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) accused Mayorkas of using the plan to hide larger immigration issues.

The bottom line is you put out the six pillars yesterday to cover up the fact that you guys have lost operational control of many parts of the border already, Katko said.

During his testimony, Mayorkas insisted, We will not lose operational control of the border.
COVID-19 treatment molnupiravir developed by Merck & Co. Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP. in an undated handout photo released by Merck & Co. Inc. and obtained by Reuters, on Oct. 26, 2021. (Merck & Co. Inc./Handout via Reuters)

Merck Raises 2022 Forecast as COVID Pill, Cancer Drug Fuels Profit Beat

Merck & Co. on Thursday reported quarterly profit and sales that beat estimates and raised its full-year forecasts on strong demand for top-selling cancer drug Keytruda, its Gardasil vaccine and COVID-19 antiviral pill molnupiravir.

The U.S. drugmakers shares rose 1.8 percent to $85.90 before the opening bell as revenue rose 50 percent to $15.9 billion, with most of the growth coming from sales of molnupiravir, which was approved in November.

Analysts had expected sales of $14.7 billion, according to Refinitiv data. Excluding molnupiravir sales, revenue grew 19 percent in the first quarter.

The company now expects molnupiravir sales of between $5 billion to $5.5 billion, a cut to the upper end of its previous range of $5 billion to $6 billion.

We have the capacity to supply more to the market and it really depends with what happens with the pandemic. It depends on whether we do see more outbreaks, new variants, Chief Financial Officer Caroline Litchfield told Reuters.

Merck has shipped 6.4 million courses of the drug and data suggests it has been used by roughly 500,000 patients globally so far, executives said on a post-earnings conference call.

Robust sales will help Mercks acquisition plans as it looks to diversify before Keytrudas loss of exclusivity in 2028, said Millie Gray, analyst at Informa Pharma Intelligence.

Sales of Mercks cancer immunotherapy Keytruda rose 23 percent to $4.8 billion, about $300 million more than analysts had forecast.

Gardasil, which prevents cancers linked to human papillomavirus, brought in $1.46 billion in the quarter, around $200 million more than Wall Street estimates, thanks to strong demand especially from China, Merck said.

Molnupiravir sales stood at $3.2 billion, topping analyst estimates by around $100 million.

Enthusiasm for the pill, developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, has waned since it was shown to be about 30 percent effective in reducing hospitalizations, far lower than a rival antiviral therapy from Pfizer Inc..

Excluding one-time items, Merck earned $2.14 a share, easily topping analysts average estimate of $1.83.

The drugmaker raised its forecast for annual profit to $7.24 to $7.36 per share and sales to $56.9 billion to $58.1 billion, from its previous view of $7.12 to $7.27 a share and revenue of $56.1 billion to $57.6 billion.

By Michael Erman and Manas Mishra
A car drives by a new logo and the name 'Meta' on the sign in front of Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., on Oct. 28, 2021. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Meta Expanding Massive $1 Billion Illinois Data Center, Set to Power Everything From Facebook to Instagram Beginning Next Year

By Robert Channick

From Chicago Tribune

Meta, the social media giant formerly known as Facebook, is expanding its massive $1 billion data center under construction in DeKalb to nearly 2.4 million square feet, putting the college town west of Chicago at the center of its metaverse.

Slated to open next year, the five-building complex filled with servers and other computing equipment will create 200 jobs and power everything from Facebook posts to Instagram photos as one of 17 Meta data centers across the U.S.

This is the physical backbone of all of our apps and services, said Meta spokesman Tom Parnell.

The expansion, announced Thursday, will make the DeKalb data center one of Metas largest facilities, and an integral part of its ambitious plans to expand its social media platforms into an immersive virtual reality experience, Parnell said.

Metas bricks-and-mortar data centers supply the massive computing power needed to share information and connect users on the evolving social media platforms. The company has 14 data centers operating in the U.S., with three under construction, including DeKalb.

The DeKalb data center broke ground in 2020, starting with two buildings that are now 70 percent complete, Parnell said. Construction on the three additional buildings began in January, and the infrastructure buildout at the sprawling 505-acre site is expected to be finished in 2023.

Meta is hiring 200 workers to operate the facility, with positions ranging from technicians and electrical engineers to culinary staff. About half of the employees are already onboard, preparing the data center for its launch next year.

The impact Meta has made within the City of DeKalb goes beyond just an economic one, DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes said in a news release. Since day one, they have made a concerted effort to make a larger impact on DeKalb, and I look forward, with this announcement, to seeing that partnership continue to grow over the years to come.

The demand for data centers has been growing exponentially in recent years, spurred by the heightened need for cloud technology and remote connectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw work-from-home go mainstream. The adoption of long-term hybrid strategies for many companies portends continued growth, according to industry analysts.

The Chicago area is tied with Atlanta as the fourth-largest data center market in the world, behind Northern Virginia, Silicon Valley and Singapore, according to a new study by Cushman & Wakefield. The study cites low cost of land, a robust development pipeline and lower power costs than most large data centers as advantages for Chicago.

The study also notes that Chicago-area sites come with sizable incentives, a factor that helped bring Facebook/Meta to DeKalb.

Construction continues at Meta/Facebook as they expand their DeKalb Data Center with three new buildings in DeKalb, Ill., on April 27, 2022. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

In 2019, Illinois created the Data Center Investment Program, offering an exemption from state and local sales and use taxes for companies that invest at least $250 million and create 20 new operational jobs in a data center. The program also requires the data center to be carbon-neutral.

Facebook was granted the data center sales tax exemptions by the state, Parnell said.

As part of the green building requirement, Meta is partnering with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to develop a more sustainable concrete mix for construction of the data center. Meta has also invested in two new wind energy projects in Morgan and DeWitt counties, looking to support the DeKalb data center with 100 percent renewable energy.

One thing the DeKalb data center ostensibly wont be processing is facial recognition technology, after Facebook agreed to pay $650 million in a landmark settlement over alleged violations of Illinois biometric privacy law.

In November, Facebook announced it would shut down its facial recognition system amid growing concerns over the widespread use of the technology. As a result, Facebook said it planned to delete more than a billion facial recognition templates it had stored, putting an end to the feature that automatically recognized if peoples faces appear in memories, photos or videos.

About 1.6 million Illinois Facebook users who filed claims can expect to receive their $397 checks beginning May 9, according to Chicago attorney Jay Edelson, who brought the lawsuit against Facebook seven years ago.

2022 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A pedestrian walks in front of the new 'Meta' logo in front of Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., on Oct. 28, 2021. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Meta Still Subject to Consumer Lawsuits for Breach of Data Protection Rules, EU Regulator Says

The European Unions top court said Meta Platforms Inc. is still subject to consumer group lawsuits for possible violations of data protection rules, Bloomberg reports.

In a dispute between the Federation of German Consumer Organizations and Metas Facebook, Germanys top civil court sought the EU tribunals guidance on whether lawsuits to protect consumers from Big Tech were still possible under GDPR.

The EUs data protection rules do not prevent national legislation which allow a consumer protection association to bring legal proceedings, the EU Court of Justice clarified.

The EUs General Data Protection Regulation empowered data watchdogs to issue fines of 4 percent of a companys annual sales. The new rules put the regulators in charge of monitoring violations and investigating complaints, according to Bloomberg.

The EU regulators had penalized Metas WhatsApp 225 million ($266 million) for failing to disclose how it shared its data with its parent company.

By Anusuya Lahiri

 2022 The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
A vial and sryinge are seen in front of a displayed Moderna logo in this illustration taken on Jan. 11, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

Moderna Seeks Health Canada Approval for COVID-19 Vaccine for Kids Under Six

Health Canada is reviewing the first request to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for very young kids.

The Moderna application is for children between the ages of six months and five years old.

The company says a trial of 6,700 children determined the vaccine was safe and produced a similar antibody response to the one that is seen in adults.

A single dose for children under six is 25 microgramsone quarter of the size given to adults and teenagers and half the size used for children ages six to 11.

Health Canada received Modernas application this morning after the company made a similar request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday.

The trial took place mainly during the wave of the Omicron variant and the vaccine was less effective at preventing infection in kids than previous trials in adults.
More Transparency Needed in UK Governments Handling of FOI Requests: MPs

A select committee of MPs has criticised the Cabinet Office over its poor handling of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, calling for greater transparency of the process.

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) on Friday published the report of its inquiry into the Freedom of Information Clearing Housea body within the Cabinet Office that assists with the processing of FOI requestsurging the Cabinet Office to agree to an independent audit of the Clearing House, and to improve the tone from the top [of the government] and drive stronger FOI culture through proactive leadership.

The Clearing House, which was little known by the public, came under scrutiny after independent media platform openDemocracy made a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) in 2019 over the Cabinet Offices refusal to disclose an FOI list operated by the Clearing House.

The Cabinet subsequently released most of the information requested, but the tribunal proceeding had drawn attention to both the Cabinet Offices stated responsibility to make the way government works more transparent and the absence of information on the Clearing House, the report said.

The government published limited information on the Clearing House, which former Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove said was a three-person team, on March 18, 2021, with some details included in job adverts from April 2020, the report said, but further details on the bodys operations and how effectively it operates remains opaque to the ICO and the public.

The report said the information released on the Clearing House fell short of earlier public disclosures on the body when the responsibility for it rested with the Ministry of Justice, which oversaw FOI policies until the responsibility was transferred to the Cabinet Office on July 17, 2015.

MPs criticised Cabinet Offices disappointing decision to reject ICOs offer of an external audit of the Clearing House, saying it was misjudged given the Information Commissioners Offices Freedom of Information expertise and, importantly, the Commissioners independence.

They also said it was unacceptable that an internal reviewpromised by the Cabinet Office on Aug. 31, 2021is yet to have its reviewer appointed and its terms of reference finalised.

The committee also accused the government of lacking a proactive approach that advocates for the FOI Act more generally.

Citing the governments decision to exempt the new Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) from the scope of the FOI Act as an example, the report quoted Business minister Martin Callanan, who told the House of Lords that FOI is a truly malign piece of legislation when introducing legislation to underpin ARIA.

MPs called for the greater leadership from the Cabinet Office as the sponsor department for the Act and FOI policy, and recommended the government revisit its decision the exempt the ARIA, saying the exemption is a slide away from transparency being viewed as helpful towards a view that it is a hindrance and a concerning trend.

William Wragg, chairman of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, speaks during a committee meeting in the House of Commons, London, on Jan. 20, 2022. (Parliament TV/PA)

Commenting on the scathing report, Conservative Chair of PACAC William Wragg accused the Cabinet Office of dragging its feet over the matter.

Our Freedom of Information laws are a crucial part of our democracy, allowing citizens to hold [the] government to account, Wragg said in a statement.

As FOI policy owner and coordinating department, the Cabinet Office should be championing transparency across government, but its substandard FOI handling and failure to provide basic information about the working of the coordinating body has had the opposite effect, he said.

An internal review alone wont be sufficient to restore trust. The government must go further and allow for an independent audit of its practices such as the one offered by the Information Commissioner. The Cabinet Office has dragged its feet for too long on this issue and must act now to remove suspicion around the Clearing House, improve compliance with FOI laws, and regain public confidence.

The government is also urged to address concerns about the use of WhatsApp and other private messaging systems to evade the FOI Act.

The Cabinet Office didnt respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.
NATO Scrambles Jets After Unidentified Aircraft Detected

NATO announced it scrambled fighter jets over both the Black and Baltic seas due to Russian aircraft flying near the military alliances airspace.

Over the past four days, NATO jets were scrambled several times in the two regions, the military alliance confirmed in a statement on Friday, to track and intercept the planes. The alliance said those aircraft belonged to the Russian military, although the models of the planes were not provided.

NATO radars tracked a number of unidentified aircraft over the Baltic and Black Seas since April 26, it said, adding that its air response team launched fighter jets in their respective regions to intercept and identify the approaching aircraft.

Poland, Romania, Denmark, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom launched fighter planes to investigate the aircraft that were allegedly approaching NATO airspace, the alliance also said. Russian planes never entered NATO territory, the statement said, while the interceptions were done in a routine manner.

The statement noted that Russian planes often dont use a transponder indicating their position or altitude, and they do not file a flight plan with NATO.

Allies deployed from the north to the south of Europe remain unified in support of the NATO Air Policing mission, said Maj. Gen. Jorg Lebert, chief of staff for NATOs Allied Air Command. The quick response of NATOs two CAOCs demonstrates NATO forces readiness and capability to guard Allied skies 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

The interceptions come as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, as NATO has attempted to deploy more troops and military hardware near its eastern flank, namely in the Baltic states, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania.

NATOs leadership and President Joe Biden have both stressed they will not send troops to Ukraine, although Biden this week called on Congress to pass a $33 billion spending package for Ukraine, including weapons for the beleaguered country.

Both Republicans and Democrats have made statements indicating they will pass the massive spending package. House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Thursday that time is of the essence in giving more aid to Ukraine.

Every time I talked to the Ukrainians, and I talked to them a lot, its always about weapons, McCaul said in a statement. For Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his biggest criticism is I could have used these weapons last October, he said.

Meanwhile, Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) told reporters Thursday that he believes there will be bipartisan support.

I expected a robust one and we need a robust one to support Ukraine, so I assume that it will have bipartisan support, Menendez told reporters.

However, some members of Congress have expressed reservations about spending more money in connection with the conflict.

Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie  20h Congress just authorized Biden to transfer virtually any weapon of war, other than a nuclear weapon, to Ukraine, wrote Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Insane! Here is the link to the bill and the statutory definition of defensive article the bill references. I voted No.
A Border Patrol agent apprehends a group of Cubans who just crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into Eagle Pass, Texas, on April 19, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Number of Illegal Immigrants Living in US Rose by 1 Million in Bidens First Year: Report

The illegal immigrant population in the United States increased by one million in President Joe Bidens first year in office, according to a new report.

At the end of 2021, 15.5 million illegal aliens were residing in the country, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimated.

After rolling back key Trump-era policies, Biden presided over the largest number of apprehensions of illegal immigrants at the U.S.Mexico border in a calendar year in history. Almost 1.9 million arrests were recorded.

Massive numbers of illegal aliens are coming into the United States and theyre staying here, Spencer Raley, research director at FAIR and author of the new report, told The Epoch Times.

The state with the most illegal immigrants, according to the new estimate, is California, with 3.2 million. Texas has 2.2 million, Florida has 1.1 million, and New York has 1 million.

At the bottom of the list are West Virginia, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakotaall with under 10,000 illegal aliens.

The cost to taxpayers was estimated at $143 billion, up some $9 billion from a year prior when FAIR last released an estimate.

The group, which promotes policies that would reduce legal and illegal immigration in order to let America manage growth, address environmental concerns, and maintain a high quality of life, reached the figure by using Census Bureau data to calculate the total number of foreign-born residents presumed to be living in the United States.

After subtracting the total number of lawfully present immigrants, they add 30 percent to the total because of assumed underestimation.

Other groups use different methods to calculate the illegal immigrant population, which cant be definitively ascertained because some escape detection.

Yale researchers pegged the population at around 22 million as of 2016. Edward Kaplan, one of the researchers, more recently estimated the population at approximately 20 million.

The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, said in its latest estimate (pdf) that as of Jan. 1, 2018, roughly 11.4 million illegal aliens were residing in the country, unchanged from their estimate three years prior. And Pew Research estimated just 10.5 million illegal immigrants were living in the country in 2017.

Whatever the number, it has likely increased in recent months as the Biden administration repeatedly loosens both border enforcement measures and policies aimed at locating illegal immigrants for deportation.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a Biden appointee, has in a series of memorandums curtailed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from detaining and moving to deport aliens.

The guidelines are based in part on the principle that many individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States have been contributing members to this country, Mayorkas told the House Judiciary Committee in Washington on April 28.

The administration has effectively abolished ICE and is preventing Customs and Border Protection, which includes Border Patrol, from securing the southern border, FAIR said in its report.

Still, there are other factors at play, as the illegal alien population also increased during the Trump administration.

Per FAIR estimates, the population rose by two million across President Donald Trumps four years in office.

If the increase under Biden continues apace, it would reach double that over four years.

During the Trump administration, we did see a significant increase in the illegal alien population, but we never saw it to this degree, Raley said.

A strong economy draws illegal aliens who want jobs, according to FAIR. Portions of the economy have recovered from the widespread lockdowns in 2020, but still havent reached pre-pandemic levels.

Proposed solutions include reinstating fully many of the more successful Trump-era border policies such as the Remain in Mexico program.

That approach would have to be supplemented by enforcement mechanisms inside the country, Raley said. You would have to crack down on employers, which would probably entice a lot of illegal aliens to go home on their own accord, because the things that brought them here are no longer available. But you would also have to get serious again about taking the handcuffs off ICE and letting them apprehend immigration lawbreakers and ultimately remove them.
Police release tear gas into a crowd of demonstrators during clashes outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

Oath Keepers Member Pleads Guilty to Jan. 6 Seditious Conspiracy Charge

A member of the Oath Keepers pleaded guilty on April 29 to two charges related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Brian Ulrich, 44, of Georgia, pleaded guilty in court to seditious conspiracy in connection to the breach and obstruction of an official proceeding.

Ulrich has agreed to cooperate with the government as it continues its investigation into the riot that interrupted Congress certifying the 2020 presidential election.

Ulrichs lawyer declined to comment.

Ulrich now faces up to 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000, though sentencing guidelines set the range of jail time at 63 months to 78 months, prosecutors said in the plea agreement.

No sentencing date has been set as of yet for Ulrich, the second Oath Keepers member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy. Joshua James, 34, of Alabama, pleaded guilty in March.

James also agreed to cooperate with investigators.

Authorities say members and leaders of the Oath Keepers, a group comprised primarily of current and retired military members and law enforcement officers, planned and carried out a plan to interfere with the certification of the electoral votes from the election.

Many traveled from elsewhere to Washington to join the mob that breached the Capitol and caused lawmakers inside to huddle in fear.

In addition to encouraging others to go to Washington, Ulrich messaged over Signal that it is not over until January 20th, referring to Inauguration Day. And if theres a Civil War, then theres a Civil War, he wrote.

Ulrich bought and brought with him radios, tactical gear, and a motorcycle helmet, among other gear, according to charging documents.

After Ulrich learned the Capitol had been breached on Jan. 6, he went to the building and entered at approximately 3:22 p.m. He left after law enforcement officers deployed chemical irritants and pushed people towards an exit.

Ulrich intended to influence or affect the conduct of the United States government and to retaliate against the United States government, his statement of offense says. He accomplished this by intimidating and coercing government personnel who were participating in or supporting the congressional proceeding, including members of Congress, congressional staff, and law enforcement officers with the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department.

Ulrich was arrested on Aug. 9, 2021, in Georgia, and has been in custody since.

Federal investigators have launched a major investigation into the Capitol breach, and have arrested nearly 800 people in nearly all 50 states related to the incident. About 250 have pleaded guilty; only a handful have gone on trial, with juries convicting several and others being partially or fully acquitted in bench trials.

Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers leader, and other people who were or are part of the group have not yet entered pleas or gone on trial.
OC Community Invited to Crime Survivors Super Hero 5K

IRVINE, Calif.Walkers, runners, and Orange County residents of all ages will gather Saturday, April 30, for the annual Crime Survivors Super Hero 5K Run/Walk Health & Fitness Expo, to be held at Mason Regional Park in Irvine.

The annual event brings together crime victims and survivors, volunteers, law enforcement personnel, and participants from throughout southern California for a day of food, fun, and fitness aimed at engaging the community in becoming advocates for victims rights.

Crime Survivors founder and CEO Patricia Wenskunas told The Epoch Times that this will be the first in-person Crime Survivors race since before the pandemic shutdown in 2020, which dramatically impacted the organizations event and fundraising efforts.

We are excited to invite the community to come out and have fun, enjoy the expo and complimentary refreshments while helping to support crime survivors, Wenskunas said.

Wenskunas started the Crime Survivors 5K in 2004 after she survived an attempted murder on April 4, 2002.

We decided to start our very first run/walk in 2004 as a way to bring the community together to bring awareness, prevention, advocacy, and healing, as well as to give hope and healing to victims and survivors, Wenskunas said.

Were a non-profit, we dont get government or federal funding, so its been a challenge providing services, and sadly, there are more crime victims now than ever before. We are a voice for the voiceless, a voice for change, so this years event is very special and important for everyone involved.

More than 1,500 walkers and runners and over 100 vendors are expected to participate in the race and expo.

Participants can register at the gate starting at 7:00 a.m., with the run/walk starting at 9:00 a.m., immediately following a special guest presentation and traditional survivors dove release. This years event theme is Super Heroes, all attending are encouraged to don their favorite super hero costume.

In addition to the annual 5K, Crime Survivors hosts various events throughout the year including weekly service provider roundtables, victim advocacy programs, and an awards banquet honoring individuals and partner organizations who work year-round to provide the critical support and programs for victims, survivors, and their families.

For more information about the event, please visit www.superherorunwalk.org or crimesurvivors.org.
One Nation leader, Senator Pauline Hanson is seen during a press conference in Brisbane, Australia, on April 13, 2022. (AAP Image/Darren England)

One Nation Seeking to Clean Out Moderates From Centre-Right Liberal Party

Moderate MPs in Australias centre-right Coalition government will confront an additional challenge from the right-wing conservative One Nation party after it announced that it would preference the centre-left Labor opposition in five key marginal seats.

Pauline Hanson, national leader of the party, revealed on April 28, that in its first shot across the bow One Nation would preference the Labor Party over the incumbent Liberal Party in Bass in Tasmania (held by Bridget Archer), Indi (Helen Haines) and Goldstein (Tim Wilson) in Melbourne, North Sydney (Trent Zimmerman), and Sturt in Adelaide (James Stevens).

Many of the seats are held by slim margins by the Coalition, with North Sydney and Goldstein facing additional pressure from teal independent candidates funded by the Climate 200 groupbacked by billionaire Simon Holmes a Courtwho are pushing for more policies to deal with climate change.

The move is also significant due to the traditional ideological alignment between One Nation and the Liberal-National Coalition; however, Hanson revealed on Sky News Australia that the Coalitions decision to preference the Jacqui Lambie Network in Tasmania over her party spurred her into action.

Senator Jacqui Lambie reacts as she speaks in the Australian Senate at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on September 3, 2020. (Photo by David Gray/Getty Images)

Jackie Lambie hates their guts and will not work with them, she said on April 28. She votes most of the time with Labor and the Greens, and yet theyre preferencing her above One Nation who has tried to work constructively.

I have to stand my ground because (Prime Minister Scott) Morrison at the last election put One Nation last behind the Labor and the Greens. Why didnt anyone say something about that? she added.

I am doing Scott Morrisons job for himgetting rid of left-leaning Liberals destroying the conservative party.

Hanson said One Nation would preference the Coalition in other seats to help balance out any losses in the upcoming May electionnotably in the coal mining seat of Hunter in New South Wales (NSW).

One Nation polled above 10 percent in 16 electorates at the last election, with 14 of those in Queensland and two in NSW. Two-thirds of preferences from One Nation also flowed to the Coalition.

The party, which had the fourth-highest Senate vote in 2019, has drawn much support from disenchanted Coalition and Labor voters.

Both major parties have struggled to bridge the gap between a splintering voter base with pressure to adopt progressive causes such as climate change and gender diversitywhich can conflict with the interests of their traditional voter base.

Federal teal independent candidate for Wentworth Allegra Spender speaks to the media during a press conference following the Fuel Security Summit in Sydney, Australia, on April 21, 2022. (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi)

Left-leaning Liberals arent giving conservative Australian voters much reason to hope their party will act differently to Labor on issues such as immigration, the housing crisis, religious freedom, critical race theory, she said in a statement on Facebook.

However, the National party leader Barnaby Joyce-who is also the deputy prime minister in the Coalition governmentsaid negotiations over preferences with One Nation were ongoing in other areas.

Preference deals are inherently important. We rely on One Nation preferences in areas, and certainly, the Liberal Party relies on us to give them the numbers to be the government, he told reporters on April 29.

Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie said it was the case of the pot calling the kettle black.

When you are a mainlander and trying to run a campaign down here, it makes it very difficult, Lambie told the Nine Network. Its only a two-horse race down here. Pauline has just woken up to that, and its hit her hard.

Yet, One Nations move follows that of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), who announced in early April that it would run its largest information campaign to dislodge moderate Liberals.

Martyn Iles, managing director of the ACL, said the campaign would empower the right people to stand up for traditional values on issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia, queer education, and religious freedom.

The campaign comes as the federal government shelved its Religious Discrimination Bill, which would have allowed faith-based schools to teach content and employ staff on the basis of faith.

The Bill faced resistance from several Liberal MPs including Archer, Zimmerman, Fiona Martin in Reid, Katie Allen in Higgins, and Dave Sharma in Wentworth.

Nina Nguyen contributed to this article.
Ontario MPP Randy Hillier is seen as he arrives outside the Ottawa Police Services headquarters in Ottawa on March 28, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Ontario MPP Randy Hillier Denied Request for Bail Review

Ontario MPP Randy Hilliers request to have his bail conditions revised has been denied by the court.

Hillier, an Independent member of Ontarios legislature, turned himself in to Ottawa police last month over charges related to his participation in the Freedom Convoy protests earlier this year.

On March 29, he was released on bail with several conditions, including a prohibition from posting on social media about the Freedom Convoy protests, COVID-19 mask or vaccine mandates, or the anti-vaccine cause.

He is also banned from setting foot in downtown Ottawa, except for meetings with his lawyer, and from contacting any of the convoy organizers. In addition, Hillier cannot provide any support, including financial support, to the Freedom Convoy or any other organizations or causes that oppose the COVID-19 mask or vaccine mandates.

The MPP for Ontarios Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston riding appeared in court on April 28, hoping to have some of his bail conditions lifted.

Hilliers lawyer, David Anber, said his clients bail conditions should be thrown out because they are overly restrictive, and that there is a weak connection between the convoys actions and opposition to mask and vaccine mandates.

Anber said the situation in the national capital has changed and Hilliers bail conditions are no longer needed, citing Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson who said on April 27 that the city is now better organized to respond to protests than when the convoy arrived in late January.

However, Ontario Superior Court Justice Hugh McLean said Hillier and his lawyers had previously agreed to the conditions and acknowledged (their) need when they were set.

Your client, shall we say, has an interesting record of not following the law. He has a record of not listening to laws that were legally passed, McLean said to Hilliers lawyer, referencing Hilliers violation of provincial public health rules related to the COVID19 pandemic. McLean also noted that Hillier is held to a higher standard because hes a member of a legislature.

The Freedom Convoy protests began in January to oppose the federal vaccine mandate on truck drivers crossing back into Canada from the United States. As massive convoys of trucks began to arrive in downtown Ottawa, the event evolved into a national movement to call for an end to all pandemic-related mandates and restrictions.

On March 27, the Ottawa police called on Hillier to turn himself in over nine charges related to the convoy protests, including two counts each of obstructing a public officer, counselling mischief and mischief/obstructing property over $5,000. He is also charged with obstructing a person aiding a peace officer, assaulting a public or peace officer, and counselling an uncommitted indictable offence.

Issac Teo and The Canadian Press contributed to this article
Prep teacher Bronte Darvidis speaks about sanitizer to students at Lysterfield Primary School in Melbourne, Australia, on May 26, 2020. (Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Over 400 Australian Teachers Stood Down for Not Getting Third COVID Vaccine

Victorias state government has suspended around 420 public school teachers for not complying with the states COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

The majority of the teachers were put on leave without pay because they failed to get a booster shot by March 25.

Premier Daniel Andrews has continued to maintain the vaccination mandate for school teachers, reasoning that it helps save lives.

Im not going to apologise. Vaccines work, vaccines save lives, and Im very confident that people who have had one or two (doses) will get three very quickly, and I thank them for that, he said.

Im just about sick and tired of this constant negativity when it comes to schools. Our schools were open on day one of term one. Our absentee rates in staff, support staff and students are lower today than it was before the pandemic.

Under the current Victorias vaccine mandate, education workers and several other types of employees are required to present to their employers proof that they have taken three doses of a COVID vaccine or a medical exemption.

Those who did not meet the booster deadline on March 25 were forced to take a leave and not allowed to work.

The states Department of Education said nearly all public teachers in Victoria had complied with the vaccination rules.

As of April 26, 99.2 percent of the Victorian government teaching service have had three doses of a COVID vaccine and are permitted to attend work, a department spokesperson said.

We encourage any staff members who have not yet had their third dose to book in to protect themselves, their families and their school communities.

Among the jurisdictions in Australia, only Victoria and the Northern Territory require teachers to be vaccinated with a booster dose.

A cleaner is seen cleaning high-touch areas in preparation for students returning to Lysterfield Primary School in Melbourne, Australia, on May 25, 2020. (Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, the Victorian government has announced that from 2023 it would combine the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), which is granted to students completing their senior secondary education, and the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), a senior secondary certificate of education that has three award levels.

Starting next year, the state government will introduce the new VCE Vocational Major and Victorian Pathways Certificate.

The former is a two-year vocational and applied learning program that will replace Senior and Intermediate VCAL, while the latter will replace Foundation VCAL.

Victorian taxpayers will have to foot the bill for what the state government called the biggest reform to the senior secondary system since the VCEs inception, with a price tag of $277.5 million (US$196.5 million).

Of the above amount, $120.2 million will go toward helping schools implement the new certificates. In comparison, $69.4 million will be used to expand the Head Start apprenticeships and traineeships program, and the remaining $87.9 million will be spent on recruiting and training vocational teachers.
Partial Resumption of Work in Chinas Locked-Down Cities Cannot Break Supply Chain Bottlenecks: Analyst

Teslas first-quarter 2022 profit hit a record high; but on releasing the results, Tesla also said that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant pressure on the companys supply chain and factory operations. At present, only a fraction of its companies in certain regions in China have resumed work. Experts in Chinas industrial economy research admit that any place that resumes work on its own will face bottlenecks in the industrial chain.

On April 21, Beijing time, Teslas first-quarter financial report showed that its operating profit was $3.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 507 percent, and earnings per share attributable to ordinary shareholders was $2.86, a 6.3-fold increase year-on-year. Tesla attributed the surge in revenue to higher vehicle deliveries and higher average vehicle sales prices.

On April 19, Teslas Shanghai Gigafactory finally resumed work after 22 consecutive days of shutdown, the longest shutdown since the factory started operating. About 8,000 workers arrived at the Shanghai Gigafactory that day, and it plans to gradually reach full production in a single shift within 3 to 4 days, so that the output can reach half of the original double-shift production. Tesla is the first wholly foreign-owned vehicle manufacturer in China, and its resumption of work and production have led to the resumption of production by more than 100 suppliers.

Although the first white list of key enterprises in Shanghai marked Teslas Shanghai Gigafactory as a suspended enterprise that must resume work, and the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology released the Guidelines for Epidemic Prevention and Control of Shanghai Industrial Enterprises Resuming Work and Production (First Edition) on the evening of April 16, in order to promote the resumption of work and production, under the CCPs Zero-Covid policy there are still many unstable factors in Chinas auto industry supply chain.

On April 24, when reporting on the reopening of the key enterprises on the white list, CCTV admitted that the logistics between different provinces and cities is still not smooth. For example, they dont accept each others nucleic acid test results, the phenomenon of forcing truck drivers to find test points between expressways for repeated tests still exists, and enterprises that have resumed production are also facing many pressures, such as the Zero-Covid policy, personnel shortages, and logistics obstructions.

The report cites the situation of truck drivers in Ningde City, Fujian Province. Since the epidemic, more than 200 truck drivers in Ningde have been quarantined in other locations, and many people have been persuaded to turn around and go back at expressway intersections without unloading their trucks. The drivers are not only stranded, but are not allowed to get out of their trucks, get food, or use a public restroom. Therefore, many truck drivers are scared to try to deliver goods during the epidemic.

Battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) (300750.SZ), headquartered in Ningde City, supplies lithium-ion batteries to Tesla. In June 2021, CATL and Tesla signed a four-year supply framework agreement (January 2022 to December 2025).

Although CATLs battery module base in Shanghai has begun distribution, the battery modules are only one stage in battery production. The new factory planned by CATL in Lingang District of Shanghai is still under construction, and its groundbreaking ceremony was just held on Feb. 19.

Liu Zhibiao, chief expert and dean of the Changjiang Institute of Industrial Economics at Nanjing University, said on April 24 that the industry is a system that requires upstream and downstream cooperation. Therefore, the resumption of work must occur in the whole industry chain. Any place that resumes work in isolation will face the problem of bottlenecks. He also said that the escalated pandemic prevention policies in various places have divided the market, so it will seriously affect the operation of the economy.

Teslas Shanghai Gigafactory cuts costs by using parts made in China. According to a report by Chinas Securities Times in mid-January, the proportion of components the Shanghai-made Tesla vehicles use exceeds 80 percent.

Teslas 2021 Annual Report has projected the impact of the broken supply chain on Teslas production. Suppliers may not be able to deliver parts using the schedule, price, quality and quantity they need, the report said.

The Beijing News reported on April 21, two days after Tesla resumed work, that many of Teslas Jiangsu suppliers are still in a state of shutdown, and transportation is difficult. At present, some vehicles in Jiangsu are unloaded after arriving at a place near Shanghai, and then rely on Shanghai freight vehicles to take the goods into Shanghai. As a result, freight costs have also increased.
Police walk by the National War Memorial in Ottawa as operations to clear protesters continue on Feb. 19, 2022. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)

Police Say Woman Who Stood on Tomb of Unknown Soldier Not Associated With Convoy Truckers, Wont be Charged

Ottawa police say the woman who stood on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the first day of the trucker protest is not associated with the Freedom Convoy truckers. Police say she is unlikely to re-offend and wont be charged.

A woman who resides out of province was identified. She was spoken to, showed remorse for her actions and police are confident she will not re-offend, says an email statement from the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) on April 29.

The OPS said because no criminal charges were laid, her name wont be released.

Video footage of the incident on Jan. 29 shows the woman with a white winter jacket, black snow pants, and a toque standing atop the Tomb with a cup in her hand and yelling Freedom!

As she walks down from the Tomb she can be heard saying a typical French-Canadian curse.

The woman is from Quebec, OPS spokesperson Carole Macpherson told Blacklocks Reporter. There was no admitted association to the Freedom Convoy truckers.

The Epoch Times asked the OPS if the woman knew she was stepping on the Tomb or if this had been done inadvertently to reach a higher ground to yell.

The OPS said given no criminal charges were laid, its limited in the information it can provide.

The isolated incident was decried at the time by military officials and politicians in condemnation of the protesters.

I am sickened to see protesters dance on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and desecrate the National War Memorial, tweeted Gen. Wayne Eyre, Canadas Chief of Defence Staff on Jan. 29.

Generations of Canadians have fought and died for our rights, including free speech, but not this. Those involved should hang their heads in shame.

Minister of Defence Anita Anand retweeted Gen. Eyres message the same day with the comment, The behaviour were seeing today is beyond reprehensible.

The issue was studied by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs (ACVA) and its committee report called on law enforcement to continue its investigations.

Authorities erected a fence around the War Memorial after the Tomb incident, but veterans participating in the protest later took it down of their own volition and proceeded to remove snow and ice around it.

During House of Commons debates on Feb. 17 on the invocation of the Emergencies Act by the government to clear blockades and protests, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said The individuals outside are tearing down the barriers to attack those monuments.

The claim was false, among other false or unsubstantiated claims made by the minister surrounding the Freedom Convoy protest, such as that the protesters were linked to an arson incident, or that the individuals arrested in Coutts, Alberta, on serious charges had links to protest organizers in Ottawa.

The governments strong response to the memorial incident stands in contrast to other protests that have seen severe damage to statues and other historic sites of significance. The federal government has not condemned such acts that have taken place across Canada in recent years during social justice protests targeting symbols of colonialism, such as statues of historical Canadian figures like that of John A. Macdonald, the nations first prime minister.
Former president Donald Trump (L) listens as J.D. Vance, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, speaks during a rally hosted by the former president at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Ohio on April 23, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Polls Show Trumps Backing Having Major Influence In Ohio GOP Senate Race

Donald Trumps endorsement of J.D. Vance is having a powerful effect in the Ohio GOP U.S. Senate race.

In less than two weeks, Vance has climbed from a 5.4-point deficit to Josh Mandel and surged to a commanding 22-point lead, according to a poll conducted by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates and first published by Breitbart News on April 28.

The survey was commissioned by pro-Vance PAC Protect Ohio Values and conducted from April 25 to April 26 among 800 likely Republican primary voters.

Among the respondents who are told that Trump has endorsed Vance in the race, the Hillbilly Elegy author and venture capitalist is perched atop the field with 39 percent support.

Mandel, the former Ohio state treasurer and state representative who led in the polls for several months received 17 percent, followed by Ohio State Sen. Matt Dolan (14 percent), Cleveland investment banker Mike Gibbons (11 percent), and former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken (7 percent).

The margin of error is +/-3.46 points, and 13 percent of those surveyed remain undecided.

If the primary was held today, we would be the winner, Vance said at a No BS Tour town hall in Centerville, Ohio, on April 28. We still have five days to go, so its important to sprint to the finish line.

According to the new poll, when likely Republican primary voters are not aware of the Trump endorsement, Vance leads with 31 percent, followed by Mandel (19 percent), Dolan (12 percent), Gibbons (12 percent), and Timken (8 percent). Those who are undecided account for 17 percent of voters questioned.

Vance said his campaign started to gain momentum on March 18, when Gibbons and Mandel engaged in an on-stage altercation during a debate.

Trump announced his endorsement of Vance on April 15, citing the Yale Law School graduates debate performances and his ability to defeat likely Democratic party primary winner Tim Ryan in the general election.

Donald Trump Jr. campaigned for Ohio GOP U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance at a No BS Tour event in West Chester, Ohio on April 25. (Courtesy of Everitt Townsend)

Its hugely powerful, Vance said about Trumps stamp of approval. I think its the only endorsement in politics that actually moves votes, and it moves a lot of votes, especially here in Ohio.

Polls over the past two weeks show that Vances assessment is correct.

On April 15, the Trafalgar Group released a survey that found Mandel leading with 28 percent, followed by Vance (22.6 percent), Gibbons (14.3 percent), Dolan (11.6 percent), Timken (7.5 percent), central Ohio entrepreneur Mark Pukita (2.1 percent), Columbus businessman Neil Patel (0.8 percent), and 13.1 percent undecided.

The poll also showed that 54.9 percent of respondents, who are likely GOP primary voters, are either more likely or much more likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by Trump, who announced he was backing Vance hours later.

On April 27, Fox News published the first independent poll since Trumps endorsement of Vance. In that poll, Vance claimed a five-point lead at 23 percent compared to Mandels 18 percent.

Gibbons (13 percent), Dolan (11 percent), and Timken (6 percent) finished in the distance with 25 percent of the respondents saying they are undecided.

Vance is surrounded by Trump allies in the final days before the May 3 primary. On April 28, he is joined on campaign stops by former Trump campaign adviser and broadcaster Steve Cortes.

On April 30, Rep. Matt Gaetz (RFla.) will stump for Vance in East Canton. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (RGa.) will accompany Gaetz at Vances No BS Tour stops in Newark and West Chester.

For too long, conservative voices have been silenced and weaponized by the mainstream media and liberal elites, Gaetz said. J.D. Vance is the only candidate not afraid to stand up against the establishment and make the voices of everyday, working-class Ohioans heard in Washington.

Vance is the only [former] president Trump-endorsed candidate for the U.S. Senate in Ohio and is a true America First patriot who puts people over politicians and believes in taking action rather than just talking a big game on television, Greene said.

On May 1 and May 2, Sen. Josh Hawley (RMo.) and Turning Point Action Founder Charlie Kirk will campaign with Vance in Cuyahoga Falls, Westlake, and Dublin; while Kirk will also appear with Vance in Circleville and Mason.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asks questions during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 21, 2021. (Ken Cedeno/AFP via Getty Images)

Mandel will be joined by Sen. Ted Cruz (RTexas) at Faith and Freedom rallies in churches in Kettering on April 29 and in Toledo, Columbus, and Lebanon on April 30.

Cruz endorsed Mandel on April 4 when Mandel sat atop the polls.

As our nation faces crisis after crisis under Joe Biden, our country needs conservative fighters to stand up to the radical Democrats who want to exploit these problems to deliver socialism to America.

Thats why I am supporting Josh Mandel for U.S. Senate, Cruz said in a statement. A United States Marine, Josh is a proven fighter for our American way of life, a champion for the unborn, and a stalwart advocate for our religious liberties.

Organizations like Ohio Value Voters, the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio, National Association for Gun Rights are supporting Mandel.

Gen. Michael Flynn, who served as Trumps national security adviser, and North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn have endorsed the Cleveland native, as has Utah Sen. Mike Lee a conservative ally of Cruz.

Club for Growth, a conservative organization that helped elect Cruz in 2012, is supporting Mandel.

A group of pastors prays with Ohio Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel at a Faith and Freedom rally in Mansfield, Ohio in early March. (Courtesy of Josh Mandel Twitter)

Mandel has centered his campaign on churches by hosting Faith and Freedom rallies across Ohio. In March, a group of 114 clergy members wrote an open letter endorsing him.

The mantra of our campaign is pastors over politicians, Mandel said. Im more interested in earning the support and endorsements of pastors, Christian activists, and citizens who are Christians than getting approval from politicians.
Benedict Rogers, CEO of Hong Kong Watch (R), and Matthew Leung , a former reporter for Hong Kong Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao (L) at a press conference held by Hong Kong Watch in the UK. (Hong Kong Watch Facebook Page)

Press Freedom in Hong Kong Nearly Dismantled, Report Says

Since the Chinese regime imposed the National Security Law in Hong Kong on July 1, 2020, almost all independent and pro-democracy media outlets have been forced to close, and many journalists and media executives have been jailed and are awaiting trial.

The freedoms of the once-flourishing international media center were almost completely dismantled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), leaving very few organizations and individuals willing to speak out.

A recent report (pdf) by Hong Kong Watch (HKW), a human rights organization headquartered in the UK, details the variety of ways the crackdown on the press has developed in the former British colony in hopes of bringing the events to peoples attention.

The report titled In the Firing Line: The Crackdown on Media Freedom in Hong Kong drew on interviews with 10 plus journalists in exile and reports by leading press associations in Hong Kong.

HK Police Violence Toward Journalists

From June 2019 until early 2020, millions of people took to the streets of Hong Kong to protest Beijings introduction of a proposed law allowing the extradition of criminal suspects from the city to mainland China.

The Hong Kong Police responded to the protestors with disproportionate and unjustified force, such as, using tear gas, pepper spray, water cannons, rubber bullets, and beating people severely with truncheons.

According to the report, of the 222 journalists who responded to a Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) survey on violence against journalists when covering public order events, only 28 said they had not been rough handled by police.

One former South China Morning Post (SCMP) photojournalist, a foreign national, told HKW of several occasions in which he was pepper-sprayed and teargassed at close range by the citys riot police.

I was in Lockhart Road in Causeway Bay on one occasion with two other photographers, and we saw the police punching a guy and pushing him into a van. I took pictures of the guy being punched, and the riot police turned around and sprayed a gel at me, which went over every part of my body. My camera was dripping with this gel. And then it started to burn. My whole body was burning, he told HKW.

The hatred that the police showed against the media was shocking, the journalist added while describing a different incident of being deliberately targeted by the Hong Kong police with teargas spray.

In another interview, a reporter for Ming Pao at the time, Matthew Leung, told HKW he was shot at least four times with pepper balls and was arrested on one occasion while covering the protests on the frontlines.

Rising Censorship of the HK Government

Stephen Vines, a distinguished British journalist at Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong, told HKW that a new director was installed at RTHK following a government review of the broadcaster in February 2021.

The review said there were deficiencies in RTHKs management structure and subsequently announced that the director of broadcasting needed to be replaced.

That director, an experienced journalist named Leung Ka-wing, was replaced by Patrick Li, a civil servant who had previously served in various government departments.

The atmosphere changed overnight. Patrick Li issued directives by messaging. We would simply be told that the Director has decided this, with no consultation. We were told every proposal for a theme, a story, [and] a program had to be approved by the management. There were so many redlines, but they were never spelled out, Vines told the HKW.

In another interview with HKW, Chris Wong, a former news presenter at TVB, a Hong Kong-based television broadcasting company, illustrated his personal account of some of the most extreme forms of censorship by the broadcaster.

In November 2019, pro-democracy district councilor Andrew Chiu was attacked in the Quarry Bay area of Hong Kong, and during the scuffle his ear was bitten off. Although the photographs and footage clearly show the incident, Wong was asked to report it differently by the broadcaster.

The script that the editor provided said that Mr. Chius ear fell off naturally, somehow. Nobody did anything, it was not a bite, and the ear just fell to the floor. The editors did not want to cover violence by pro-Beijing blue supporters, Wong told the HKW.

He also pointed out that in the coverage of the protests, TVB focused extensively on violence by some protesters but never covered the protestors press conferences. Meanwhile, it broadcast all police and government press conferences in full.

Protestors wearing black shirts could only be identified as black shirts people, not as protestors. We were told do not say protestors, Wong added.

The International Community

Benedict Rogers, the co-founder and Chief Executive of HKW and the reports author, said that the CCP has destroyed nearly all media freedom in Hong Kong, a city that was once the beacon of press freedom in Asia. He called on the international community to take action and demand that the CCP and the Hong Kong Government uphold the freedom of the press guaranteed by the Basic Law.

Meanwhile, Rogers urges the international community, including all relevant bodies at the United Nations (UN), to speak out to protect those journalists in Hong Kong who continue to try [to do their job] and seek the release of [the journalists] in prison or facing prosecution.

Rogers also suggested that the international community should consider actions, such as sanctioning senior Hong Kong officials who own property in the UK or who have a role in suppressing Hong Kongs freedom.

The international community must not allow those responsible for these violations to get away with impunity and without consequence, Rogers said.
A man hangs from a lamp post and holds a placard from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2022. (Noe Chartier/The Epoch Times)

Prohibiting Biker Convoy From Downtown Ottawa Is Unconstitutional: Legal Advocacy Group

A legal advocacy group says the City of Ottawas move to prevent Rolling Thunder biker convoy participants from accessing a designated downtown area with their vehicles this weekend is unconstitutional.

We write to caution the City that its intention to enforce a motor vehicle exclusion zone would be a gravely unjustified and unlawful restriction on Canadians freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly guaranteed under the Charter, writes lawyer Hatim Kheir of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms in an open letter to Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson on April 29.

The exclusion zone is designed to prevent a vehicle-based protest from getting close to Parliament Hill or blocking parts of the downtown core. Vehicles not affiliated with the event will be allowed access by driving past police barricades.

Kheir says the Justice Centre welcomes the enforcement of usual city bylaws, but blocking an area to vehicles has no legal basis.

The motor vehicle exclusion zone is an exercise of executive and police power that is not established by a by-law or any other statute. Therefore, it is not prescribed by law as required by section 1 of the Charter, and therefore it cannot be justified.

The Justice Centre said it may take legal action if the city does not respect freedom of assembly.

The Epoch Times contacted the City of Ottawa for comment, but it was unable to respond by publication time.

The civil liberties legal advocacy group has lately been engaged in many litigation cases challenging COVID-19 restrictions, and its lawyers supported the organizers of the Freedom Convoy protest that took place in February.

The open letter was also sent to the Ottawa Police Service (OPS), the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Rolling Thunder

Watson said in a press conference on April 28 that he hoped to restore the residents trust in the city and its police force with the management of the Rolling Thunder event, after some felt abandoned during the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa.

Hundreds of motorcycles are expected to participate, with additional support on four wheels, and they will roll along a planned route with no stopping or parking allowed. This will take place on Saturday.

Rolling Thunder organizer Neil Sheard says the goal of his event is to pay homage to veterans by driving around and saluting the National War Memorial, but the route designated by the city wont allow it.

Another group planning an event this weekend will hold a ceremony at the Memorial on Saturday morning.

Veterans for Freedom has planned what it calls OP DIGNITY to reclaim the monument after it says authorities desecrated it by erecting a fence around it during the Freedom Convoy protest and beating veterans during the police clearing operation.

A third group, Freedom Fighters Canada, has planned events on Parliament Hill Friday and Saturday.

Aggressive Stance

The city and the OPS have taken an aggressive stance in an attempt to minimize disruptions and deter unlawful activities.

The OPS wrote on Twitter on Friday afternoon that it is aware of several vehicle convoys headed to the Ottawa area. Please be advised that your convoy will be diverted and you will not be able to stop or remain on area roadways.

Exclusion zone established by the City of Ottawa. (City of Ottawa)

Hundreds of police officers from the RCMP and the OPP will also support the OPS.

People certainly have the right to protest peacefully, and I want to emphasize that no illegal activity will be tolerated. Were stepping up enforcement and there will be significant consequences for people who break the law, said Watson on April 28.

Along with the vehicle exclusion zone, the OPS has stated that online communications will be monitored and that organizers would be held accountable for their actions before, during, and after events.
President Joe Biden (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet during the U.S.-Russia summit at Villa La Grange on June 16, 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland. Biden is meeting his Russian counterpart, Putin, for the first time as president in Geneva, Switzerland. (Peter Klaunzer - pool/Keystone via Getty Images)

Putin Accepts Invitation to Attend G20, Setting up Potential Biden Showdown

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the Group of 20 event in November, according to Indonesias president, as White House officials publicly expressed reservations about the matter.

Last night at 7, I spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in a statement Friday. President Putin expressed his gratitude for the invitation to the G20 summit and he said he would attend.

The Russian government has not publicly responded to Widodos statement. Russia is a member of the G20, which unites the worlds top economies.

I have invited [Ukraine] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to attend the G20 summit, the Indonesian president also said in a statement. Widodo said that he spoke to both Zelenskyy and Putin this week in separate phone calls, saying that he told the Russian president to immediately end its 2-month-long invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to Twitter that he thanked Indonesian leader Joko Widodo for the invitation to attend the G20 summit during their call. Its not clear whether Zelenskyy will accept the invitation. Ukraine is also not a member of the G20.

Previously, President Joe Biden said Russia should be removed from the G20, while senior White House officials have walked out of G20 events where Russian delegates were present. On Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to reports Putin may attend the summit and expressed misgivings.

The president has been clear about his view: This shouldnt be business as usual, and that Russia should not be a part of this, Psaki told reporters Thursday. But, again, its six months away.

G20 members include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United States, and the European Union. Spain is currently invited as a permanent guest.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Ukrainian officials said that its forces have been taking significant losses in recent days. But they stressed that Russias military is losing even more troops and armored units.

Ukraine has acknowledged losing control of some towns and villages there since the assault began last week, but says Moscows gains have come at a massive cost to a Russian force already worn down from its earlier defeat near the capital.

We have serious losses but the Russians losses are much much bigger  They have colossal losses, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said, without elaborating. Western officials said Russia had been suffering fewer casualties after narrowing the scale of its invasion but numbers were still quite high.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (L) talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as they prepare to inspect honour guards during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Oct 9, 2019 in Beijing, China. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)

Reaction to Beijing Security Deal Hysterical Suggests Solomons Prime Minister

Embattled Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has sought to justify a contentious security deal with Beijing, saying his government did not react hysterically to the AUKUS deal when it was announced.

Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has faced scrutiny and pressure over a security pact with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that could lead to troops and weapons being stationed in the region.

Speaking in the Solomon Islands Parliament, Sogavare delivered another fiery address in defence of the agreement, accusing Australia of not notifying him of the AUKUS trilateral agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom.

The deal was unveiled in a surprise announcement and will see Australia armed with nuclear-powered submarines in response to a more aggressive Beijing.

I learnt of the AUKUS treaty in the media. One would expect that as a member of the Pacific family, Solomon Islands and members of the Pacific should have been consulted to ensure this AUKUS treaty is transparent, Sogavare said.

When Australia signed up to AUKUS, we did not become theatrical or hysterical about the implications this would have for us, he added. We respected Australias decision.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has denied Sogavare had no knowledge of AUKUS saying all Pacific nation leaders were notified after the official announcement.

I did have that conversation  and no issues were raised at that time in that discussion, he told reporters on April 29. As time goes on and new relationships are entered into, theres obviously been some other influences in the perspective taken by the Solomon Islands prime minister.

He also said there was a remarkable similarity between those statements and those of the Chinese government.

Morrison emphasised the role Australia continued to play in the Pacific country saying, Australia is their primary security partner in the region. Were the first call.

The Australian prime minister has stated outright that there would be no military bases in the region, warning it would be a red line for his government.

The White House has also warned that the United States would respond accordingly if Beijing were to set up a military presence in the South Pacific following a visit by U.S. Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell where they also met with religious leaders and key members of the political opposition.

Experts have warned that a fully implemented security deal between the Solomon Islands and Beijing could lead to geopolitical tensions in the region akin to the South China Sea. The Solomons was the site of extensive fighting during World War IIthe Battle of Guadalcanalbecause of its critical position and influence over vital sea lanes.

Prime Minister Morrison has also hinted that other Pacific nations have faced similar pressure to adopt a security deal with Beijing.

Do you think theres not the same pressure going on in Papua New Guinea that there is in the Solomon Islands? Of course, there is. That is happening in all of those countries, he told reporters on April 20.

Beijing has previously shown interest in the autonomous region of Bougainville in the PNG, reportedly offering US$1 billion in infrastructure investment in the area under the banner of the Belt and Road Initiative. Bougainville is also on course to achieve independence from PNG by 2027.
A supplied photograph of an Australian Army M1A1 Abrams tank firing at targets during Exercise Chong Ju at Puckapunyal training area, Victoria, Australia on May 17, 2018. (AAP Image/Supplied by Australian Department of Defence)

Red Tape Will Strangle Labor Partys Proposed DARPA-Lookalike: Defence Industry Expert

The opposition Australian Labor Partys promise to establish a dedicated military research agencyakin to DARPA in the United Stateswill simply spawn bureaucratic red tape and struggle to deliver actual results, according to defence industry expert Lincoln Parker.

On April 28, shadow ministers from the centre-left Labor party pledged to establish a brand-new agency within the Department of Defence, if elected, to fund pivotal research in breakthrough technologies for national security.

The Advanced Strategic Research Agency (ASRA) would be geared towards working alongside the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United Kingdoms newly established Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA).

DARPA has been credited with innovations such as unmanned anti-submarines, sixth generation jet fighter technology, the internet, GPS, Siri, and is now working on hypersonic weapons.

The U.S. Defence Advanced Research Projects Agencys Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle emerges from its rocket nose cone and prepares to re-enter the Earths atmosphere, in this illustration. (Courtesy of DARPA)

Brendan OConnor, the shadow defence minister, and Matt Keogh, the shadow minister for defence industry, said ASRA would be a premier avenue for linking small and medium businesses, universities, and AUKUS countries.

ASRA will also aim to leverage private investment into its research priorities. It will ensure the development of sovereign research capabilities for Australia, especially in getting prototypes to delivered technology, they said in a statement.

It is unclear how Labors proposal will differ from the governments existing military research and development group, Defence Science and Technology (DST).

Brendan OConnor, shadow defence minister and the Member for Gorton during the opening of the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on June 18, 2020. (Sam Mooy/Getty Images)

Lincoln Parker, chair of the Liberal Partys Defence and National Security Policy Branch who has worked in the defence industry for 20 years, said Labors proposal lacked detail and had no plan, no budget, and no strategy on how it would overcome existing hurdles in government research.

Any government agency is going to be hamstrung before it has already begun, he told The Epoch Times in an email. Bureaucracy, government procedure, processes (e.g., red tape), and an institutional aversion to any risk are the impediments Australia faces today to being truly successful.

Parker said existing private defence groupings were already delivering results and a new government entity would not offer anything different.

For instance, the entire New South Wales Defence Innovation Network team (where Parker currently works) consists of about four people in total, and we deliver world-leading defence innovation capabilities to both Australia and especially the U.S. military, he said.

Two Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 stealth fighter jets fly to the Avalon Airshow in Victoria (Australian Defence Force/Handout via REUTERS)

Try doing that within government. Multiply the headcount and budget by 100 and youd still not deliver capability into the hands of the war fighter or industry as fast as we have, he added.

Parker said governments would be better off putting funding into the existing private defence industry rather than promise the world but deliver an atlas.

Democratic governments have, in recent years, attempted to replicate the success of DARPA. Germany has its Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND), Japan has its Moonshot R&D, and Canada just announced a CA$1 billion (US$780 million) investment over the next five years into its own science innovation network.

Meanwhile, advanced military research is already underway between Australia, the United States, and Britain under the AUKUS agreement in cutting-edge fields like quantum technology, artificial intelligence, undersea capabilities (including drones), advanced cyber, and hypersonic weapons.
A gas tank is seen at a chemical plant in Oberhausen, Germany, on April 6, 2022. (Martin Meissner/AP Photo)

Report: Germany Top Buyer of Russian Energy Since War Began

BERLINGermany was the biggest buyer of Russian energy during the first two months of the war in Ukraine, an independent research group said Thursday.

A study published by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air calculates that Russia has earned 63 billion euros ($66.5 billion) from fossil fuel exports since Feb. 24, the date Russian troops attacked Ukraine.

Using data on ship movements, real-time tracking of gas flows through pipelines, and estimates based on historical monthly trade, the researchers reckoned Germany alone paid Russia about 9.1 billion euros for fossil fuel deliveriesmostly natural gasin the first two months of the war.

Claudia Kemfert, a senior energy expert at the German Institute for Economic Research who was not involved in the study, said the figures were plausible given the recent sharp increase in prices for fossil fuels. Last year, Germany paid about 100 billion euros in total for imports of oil, coal, and gasa quarter of which went to Russia, she said.

The German government said it couldnt comment on estimates and declined to provide any figures of its own, saying these would need to come from companies that procure the energy supplies.

Germany has faced strong criticism for its reliance on Russian fossil fuels despite warnings from allies that this could endanger its own and European security. Then-Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed back last year against U.S. efforts to halt a Russian gas pipeline to Germany, a decision strongly backed by her successor, Olaf Scholz, whose Social Democratic Party have long advocated energy cooperation with Russia.

The pipeline was only frozen by Scholzs new center-left government shortly before Russias invasion of Ukraine. It has since scrambled to find alternative energy supplies, particularly for Russian natural gas, which now accounts for 35% of Germanys total imports.

Kemfert said a recent pledge by the German government to produce electricity only from renewable sources by 2035 was welcome.

But as long as Germany continues to buy fossil fuels, whether from Russia or other autocracies, it undermines both its own credibility and its energy security, she said.

The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, which is based in Finland and funded through grants and research contracts, said the second biggest importer of Russia fossil fuels in the two months since the outbreak of war was Italy (6.9 billion euros), followed by China (6.7 billion euros).

South Korea, Japan, India and the United States also purchased Russian energy after the start of the war, though significantly less than the European Union. As a whole, the 27-nation bloc accounted for 71% of Russias total income from oil, gas, and coal, worth approximately 44 billion euros, the CREA report found said.

Lauri Myllyvirta, the groups lead analyst, said year-on-year comparisons were difficult, but he estimated that Russias exports to Europe in the same period of 2021 were worth 18 billion euros.

So 44 billion euros () represents a doubling from last year, he said. The main driver is that market prices for gas rose from around 10 euros per MWh a year ago to above 100.

By Frank Jordans
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) delivers remarks during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 21, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Sen. Hawley Raises Concern DHSs New Disinformation Board Will Police Speech

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, raising concerns about the new Disinformation Governance Board that he fears will police free speech.

Mayorkas announced the creation of the board on April 27, insisting that its goal is to prevent the spread of online misinformation among minority communities, especially during the upcoming midterm elections. Hawley expressed surprise that an American administration would consider using government power to sit in judgment on the First Amendment speech of its citizens.

Rather than protecting our border or the American homeland, you have chosen to make policing Americans speech your priority. This new board is almost certainly unconstitutional, the senator wrote in the April 28 letter (pdf).

It can only be assumed that the sole purpose of this new Disinformation Governance Board will be to marshal the power of the federal government to censor conservative and dissenting speech. This is dangerous and un-American. The board should be immediately dissolved, he wrote.

Hawley accused the Biden administration of treating competing policy views as disinformation that has to be investigated and monitored.

Debates on issues like pandemic lockdowns, immigration, and foreign policy are core political speech protected by the First Amendment. He cited the Supreme Court quote that under the First Amendment, there is no such thing as a false idea.

The Republican senator criticized the governments decision of choosing Nina Jankowicz, who previously served as a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center, to lead the new board.

Jankowicz had earlier called Donald Trumps use of the National Guard during his presidency something she only expects from leaders of authoritarian countries. She called America a systematically racist nation, praised an article that called homegrown fascism as predating Trump, and attempted to portray the Hunter Biden laptop scandal as a Russian influence operation.

Hawley points out that Jankowicz has criticized free speech rights and First Amendment in the past, which would make her a suspect choice for heading the Disinformation Governance Board.

When Elon Musk announced his plans to take over Twitter, Jankowicz indicated that free speech absolutists taking over platforms would somehow harm marginalized communities. She has also called opponents of social media speech codes first amendment zealots.

The Republican senator asked the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide answers to some of his concerns about the board prior to Mayorkas testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on May 4 so that Congress can consider bringing in remedial legislation.

Musk, who recently bought Twitter, called Washingtons new speech regulating board discomforting in an April 28 tweet.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the governments decision to establish the board at a press briefing on April 28. However, she failed to provide more details on the matter. I really havent dug into this exactly. I mean, we, of course, support this effort, but let me see if I can get more specifics, Psaki said.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) speaks during a hearing to examine United States Special Operations Command and United States Cyber Command in review of the Defense Authorization Request for fiscal year 2022 and the Future Years Defense Program, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 25, 2021. (Andrew Harnik/Pool/Getty Images)

Senate Confirms String of US Attorney, Marshal Nominees After Cotton Lifts Hold

The Senate on April 27 voted to confirm a string of nominees to the U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Attorney offices after Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) lifted holds on their consideration.

Cottons holds, citing concerns over the participation of some nominees in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and riots in Portland, Oregon and demanding answers from the Department of Justice.

After the holds were lifted, the nominees were confirmed by a simple voice vote.

These nominations are very important to our states, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said in a speech requesting that Cotton lift the holds.

Cotton acceded to Browns request to bring the nominees to the floor, saying he would not object to their consideration.

In a speech on the Senate floor he explained his reasoning for changing course.

Though Cotton said he still wants answers from the Justice Department over the nominees participation in the 2020 protests, he has accepted that there is little chance of this happening under the current Democrat-ruled Congress and executive branch.

The facts will come out one way or another, Cotton said. If not this year, it will happen next year.

Now that Im confident the [DOJ] will receive the oversight that it deserves in this matter, I will no longer object to these nominees, Cotton said. I will withdraw my objection to the confirmation of todays nominees.

Following the vote to confirm the nominees, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) applauded the outcome but blasted what he described as GOP obstruction.

Its a good thing that our Republican colleagues finally stopped their indefensible obstruction of qualified U.S. Attorneys and Marshals. These nominees are vital to keeping our communities safe and secure and they should never have been held up for leverage in partisan games, Schumer said.

After months of waiting, communities in Georgia and Ohio and Nevada and Minnesota and New Hampshire and other states are finally getting the security they need with confirmed U.S. Attorneys. So Im very glad that this  finally, finally happened, Schumer continued.

It took too long but now its done, he added.

The confirmations of the important legal positions come as cities across the United States have faced a sharp increase in violent crime, with some cities on track to reach or surpass previous record highs for murder.
Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during a press conference at SpaceX's Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas on Feb. 10, 2022. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Senate Democrats Consider Calling Musk to Testify About Twitter, Content Moderation Plans

Some Democrats in the Senate are considering calling Elon Musk to testify in Congress about his purchase of Twitter.

The lawmakers didnt indicate they were concerned about the legality of the purchase, but rather about Musks intention to loosen content moderation in light of the billionaires recent comments about the importance of free speech.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said Democrats are thinking about the possibility of official hearings over Musks $44 billion deal to buy the social media giant.

Musk, who owns electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc. and commercial space venture SpaceX, has said that Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, a space where important conversations should be able to take place with as few constraints as reasonably possible.

Democrats on the commerce panelwhich has in the past held hearings with social media giants such as Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorseyagreed that such hearings should be called.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) argued that Twitter is central to democracy and our economy.

We have to understand the censorship or lack thereof, content moderation or not, that is going to be the policy for the new owner, he said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who has long spearheaded efforts to further regulate social media companies, agreed.

Blumenthal said that there was a powerful imperative to bring Musk in so that lawmakers could better understand his intentions with the platform.

After the Democratic lawmakers comments were made public, several conservative commentators derided the idea.

Senate Democrats might call Elon Musk to testify to Congress over his Twitter plans, Washington Times columnist Tim Young said in a Twitter post. I dont think they comprehend the level of intellectual beating theyre in for if they do that

Tom Fitton, president of the conservative-leaning organization Judicial Watch, also weighed in.

Senate Dems target @ElonMusk because he isnt interested in censoring their political opponents on @Twitter, he said in a tweet.

The reaction to Musks buyout of the platform has raised eyebrows among some who suggest Democrats are retaliating against the Republican celebration of Musks Twitter takeover.

At a TED event in Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 14, Musk shared his thoughts about Twitter.

Its just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law, he said.

In my view, Twitter should match the laws of the country, Musk said, acknowledging reasonable legal caps on free speech such as direct incitement to violence or the equivalent of yelling fire in a movie theater, for example.

But going beyond that and having it be unclear whos making what changes to where, having tweets mysteriously be promoted and demoted with no insight into whats going on, having a black box algorithm promote some things and not other things, I think this can be quite dangerous, he said.

Musks purchase of Twitter was praised by conservative commentators and Republicans in Congress, who see the move as a step toward more open discourse online. However, liberal commentators and Democratic lawmakers decried Musks purchase, suggesting that Musks more laissez-faire attitude toward free speech online would make Twitter more dangerous.

On April 28, the Federal Trade Commission opened a probe into whether Musks original 9 percent stake in Twitter complied with an antitrust reporting obligation.

This isnt the first time Musk has found himself in hot water with federal regulators.

In a 2018 tweet, Musk suggested that he had the funding to take Tesla private, causing the value of the companys stock to surge. The Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into the tweets, and Musk was ultimately forced to pay $20 million in fines and have all his tweets that could affect Teslas stock value approved by the company.

Musk couldnt be reached by The Epoch Times for comment.
Social Credit Fears Raised After Digital Identity App Announced Days After Macrons Election

Frances government has announced the creation of a new digital identity app for citizens to access both public and private services, coming just days after President Emmanuel Macrons reelection.

The biometric app, known as the Digital Identity Guarantee Service, was signed in a decree issued by Prime Minister Jean Castex and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, according to a translated statement published on the French governments website. It will allow French citizens to have a digital ID card, which is also in compliance with the European Unions European Digital Identity package.

It will allow users to scan their physical identity card, which will be used to access services, according to French outlet BFMTV. The digital identity app will not record fingerprints, but it will have details such as a photo, email and physical addresses, date of birth, and names.

The app allows the user, in particular, to generate electronic certificates containing only the identity attributes whose transmission he considers necessary to third parties of his choice, according to the French government decree.

Although the government published some details of the decree, its not exactly clear how broadly the app will be used across French society. During the COVID-19 pandemic, France was among the first European countries to adopt a vaccine passport system, which impacted restaurants, salons, and some forms of public transportation.

When the decree was signed this week, the leader of the Les Patriotes, Florian Philippot, called on French voters to resist the measure. Philippot said the move is tantamount to a social credit systemsimilar to the one used by the Chinese Communist Partyto track and punish people.

Just after the election, the government announces the launch of a digital identity application,' he wrote on Twitter. The goal: to put social credit in the Chinese way. Control and surveillance company!

Critics of digital identification, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have said such proposals would significantly imperil users privacy.

Second, a poorly constructed digital identity system could be a privacy nightmare. Such a system could make it so easy to ask for peoples IDs that these demands proliferate until were automatically sharing our ID at every turnincluding online. Without good privacy protections, digital IDs could also enable the centralized tracking of every place (again, online and off) that we present our ID, said the ACLU last year in a statement.

Meanwhile, French voters will again head to the polls in June for parliamentary elections, where Macrons party could face the risk of losing its majority.

The European Union is slated to introduce a digital identity application in 2022, according to a statement last year from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

It will allow everyone to control their identity online, and to interact with governments and businesses, across the EU, von der Leyen said.
As college has grown more expensive, many students have started believing that grades are something they bought, not something they have to earn. (Ben Mullins/Unsplash)

Study Reveals Pandemic Stress Led to Big Jump in Academic Cheating

Students under stress during the pandemic often used technology to cheat at higher rates, a new survey by four professors reveals.

Cheating using smartphones, using multiple computers to avoid screen lock programs, or copying papers to turn in online arent new tactics. But these behaviors increased among students during COVID-19.

The increase was worst in online classes, according to the survey.

The types of cheating have changed. So, the dynamics of using more technologies have given more access to greater cheating, said Missouri State University professor James Sottile, one of the surveys designers.

Marshall University professor George Watson, Sottile, Kansas State University associate professor Jia Grace Liang, and Missouri State professor Bonni Behrend emailed an anonymous survey to about 12,000 college students. Of those contacted, 701 students answered.

Grace Jia Liang, a professor at Kansas State University and co-author of a new study on cheating (Courtesy of Grace Jia Liang)

The results showed that cheating had changed dramatically during COVID-19.

About 29 percent of respondents said they had cheated more during the pandemic than in normal times.

The results showed that when students went online, the number of students cheating rose from 28.3 percent to 42.3 percent.

When theyre under stress, and youre anxious, and you feel like you have no alternative, I think cheating suddenly becomes an option for those who wouldnt normally do it, said Watson.

The advent of the smartphone changed cheating forever, he added. With phones, students had handheld access to vast amounts of information. Students can easily hide smartphones, look up information, and communicate stealthily with friends.

Its just become two clicks and youve sent it to everyone you know. Its just proliferated, Watson said.

When COVID-19 moved education online, educators faced a perfect storm for cheating, the survey said. Students felt stressed and teachers struggled to understand the new system.

Students could have chosen to endure these difficult learning conditions. Instead, they chose to cheat with readily available methods.

Often, students live so much in a world of free information that they dont think much of taking information to cheat, Sottile said.

What middle schools, high schools, and colleges need to do is clearly define when its cheating, he said.

George Watson, a professor at Marshall University and co-author of a new study on cheating (Courtesy of George Watson)

When schools catch cheating, they also need to follow through on punishing it. Today, students accused of cheating often hire lawyers in attempts to appeal their lost grades, he said.

As college has grown more expensive, many students have started believing that grades are something they bought, not something they have to earn, said Liang. Students justify their cheating because of the money they put into grades in college.

They are more thinking, I should have these grades, but you deducted the points, rather than thinking, Im earning the grades through these points, she said.

The increase in cheating wasnt caused by new methods, the survey noted. Rather, the moral principles students had didnt seem to stick in troubled times.

Very few students, when asked in the survey, stated that they had researched ways to cheat since the pandemic transition, the survey stated. In other words, the students already knew methods of cheating.

About 59 percent more students were caught in-person compared to online, the survey said. But students actually cheated more online.

For almost every behavior listed, students in online courses scored higher for academic dishonesty, the survey said.

The worst offenders for cheating were students in competitive fields, Sottile said. Graduate students and business students often cheated.

The more competition there is, the greater the cheating, he said.

But most students will cheat given the opportunity, Sottile said.

James Sottile, a professor at Missouri State University and co-author of a new study on cheating (Courtesy of James Sottile)

Its like the old saying. Why do you lock your doors at night? And the reason why you lock your doors at night is because you keep the honest people honest, he said.

To prevent cheating, professors should create assignments that are impossible to cheat on, Liang said.

Instead of multiple-choice tests or essays, teachers should assign students projects that are difficult or impossible to cheat at using internet resources, she said.

If you want to decrease cheating, you want to move away from standardized quizzes and standardized exams. And you want to create more project-based assignments, Sottile said.

When compared to a similar survey that Watson and Sottile created in 2010, this survey revealed several changes in how students cheat.

In 2010, the percentage of students who cheated online compared to in-person was almost the same. But something snapped when students went online during COVID-19.

For educators and educational institutions, it is necessary to realize that cheating is not going away any time soon, especially in a more and more digitalized world, the survey concluded.

Also, the gender gap in cheating has closed, Watson said. Although cheating statistics for male and female students werent far apart in surveys, men cheated more in 2010. The most recent survey suggests that women cheat the same or more than men do.

Its going to be interesting to see if that carries on in the future, Watson said.

Students are also more willing to admit to cheating, Liang said.

I think another thing we noticed is how students will not hesitate in admitting theyre cheating. Thats a higher percentage of admitting theyre cheating, which means they have some kind of knowledge of what is dishonest behavior.
Swedish military armored vehicles in the harbour of Visby, on the Gotland island in Sweden on Sept. 14, 2016. (Soren Andersson/AFP via Getty Images)

Sweden to Strengthen Military Infrastructure in Baltic Sea Amid Tensions With Russia

The Swedish government on Friday announced plans to allocate more than $160 million to further increase its military capabilities on a strategically important island in the Baltic Sea amid security threats from Russia over its likely NATO membership.

Max Elger, the countrys minister for financial markets, told reporters the extra budget is to expand several military infrastructures on Gotland, Swedens biggest island.

The aim is to be able to house many more conscripts and to make operations more effective, and in that way contribute to greater capacity  on Gotland, said Elger.

Gotland is strategically important due to its ideal location in the Baltic Sea. It is situated around 200 miles from Kaliningrad, the headquarters of Russias Baltic Fleet.

Sweden reactivated the armys Gotland Regiment in 2018, which had been disbanded more than a decade earlier, and has reinforced the islands defense with surface-to-air missiles and other measures.

Last month, Swedens defense minister condemned Moscow for violating the countrys airspace after four Russian fighter jets briefly entered its territory just east of Gotland. It is unclear if that incident is related to Sweden boosting its defenses in the same region.

Russian fighter jets in Swedish airspace east of the Swedish Baltic Sea island of Gotland, on March 2, 2022. (Swedish Air Force/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)

It will lead to a firm diplomatic response from Sweden, Peter Hultqvist told news agency TT at the time. Swedish sovereignty and territory must always be respected.

Just days before the airspace violation, Sweden announced it would send 5,000 anti-tank weapons along with other military equipment to Ukraine. Just weeks later, the government sent another 5,000 anti-tank launchers along with demining equipment to the country in conflict.

Meanwhile, Swedens prime minister Magdalena Andersson said on Friday the government does not plan to hold a referendum if its parliament decides to proceed with an application for NATO membership, explaining she believes a referendum was a bad idea.

I dont think it is an issue that is suitable for a referendum, Andersson told reporters. There is a lot of information about national security that is confidential, so there are important issues in such a referendum that cannot be discussed and important facts that cannot be put on the table.

Following Russias attack on Ukraine in February, both Sweden and Finland reviewed long-held beliefs that military neutrality is the best means of ensuring national security. Both Nordic countries are now likely to join NATO and could apply for membership simultaneously as soon as mid-May, according to reports.

Reuters contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Elon Musk's twitter account is seen on a smartphone in front of the Twitter logo, on April 15, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Rancher Offers Elon Musk 100 Acres to Move Twitters Headquarters to Texas

An Austin rancher has offered to donate free land to Elon Musk for the use of a new Twitter headquarters in Texas, if he chooses to relocate the company from San Francisco to the Lone Star State, reported Austonia.

The board of Twitter accepted Musks deal to buy the social media platform for $44 billion on April 25, after weeks of media speculation.

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas put out a public invitation to the tech billionaire to move Twitters headquarters to the state, where three of Musks other companies are already located.

Jim Schwertner, president and CEO of Schwertner Farms, soon made his own private bid to Musk.

Elon Musk, Move Twitter to Schwertner, TX. 38 Miles North of Austin in Williamson County, and we will give you 100 Acres for FREE, Schwertner said on Twitter on April 26.

Schwertner owns 20,000 acres of farms and ranches on land just north of Georgetown, Texas. We think its a good idea, especially when youve got Samsung coming to Taylor, said Schwertner to Austonia. Samsung Electronics is building a $17 billion chipmaking campus in the suburb of Taylor. I mean, this area is exploding and we want to be part of this explosive growth, he said. Schwertner said that the move would be a win-win for everybody involved, claiming that a business like Twitter would bring plenty of jobs to Texas and a boon for the local economy. The Texas ranchers offer has the support of Abbott, who promptly posted a tweet in support on April 27. I will declare it a Free Speech Zone, said Abbott, Maybe we can rename it Twitter, Texas. Think about it, @elonmusk.

Musk, who already has a business relationship with the Lone Star State, announced last year that he would move Teslas headquarters from Californias Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas, after complaining about the Golden States unfriendly business environment.

The tech entrepreneur is also building a manufacturing plant for his SpaceX operations in Austin and his Boring Company is headquartered there as well.

The billionaire had purchased more than 2,500 acres southeast of downtown Austin in the citys extraterritorial jurisdiction for his three companies.

Musk built a $1.1 billion factory on a small portion of the land, which is also Teslas new headquarters.

Other social media companies like Meta and TikTok also have their headquarters in Central Texas. In an already deleted tweet, Musk had previously joked about turning Twitters Bay Area headquarters into a homeless shelter, which he claims is barely used since the pandemic placed employees at home. I just think with all the stuff hes done, he evidently likes Texas, right or he wouldnt have moved from California, said Schwertner about Musk, adding he wants to be part of his plan if hell come visit with us. In a reiteration of his offer, Schwertner wrote a tweet to Musk on April 27 and told Austonia that his proposal is a serious gesture to help the citizens around Williamson County. Musk has yet to respond to or publicly acknowledge the Texas ranchers offer.
My story isnt unique. Im one of many millions of Americans that bought into an unproven theory that depression and anxiety are caused by unbalanced brain chemistry. After taking psych meds for sixteen years, I can honestly say Ive given traditional psychiatry and allopathic medicine a fair opportunity to bring balance to my brain.

It all started in the fall of 2002. I suffered from postpartum depression after the birth of our daughter and sought assistance from a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with generalized anxiety disorder and postpartum depression. He prescribed Effexor, an antidepressant that was intended to treat both the anxiety and depression.

As I think back to my life at that time, I had many reasons to be excessively worried and overwhelmed.

I was caring for a newborn with a heart defect that might have required surgery, my husband was on permanent disability due to a traumatic brain injury he sustained from a motor cycle accident several months prior, and our two-year-old son was exhibiting signs of full spectrum autism (with which he would soon be diagnosed). My hormones were raging as is to be expected postpartum, plus I was 14 months sober. Its an understatement to say that my nervous system was on fire. As I reflect back on that time in my life, who wouldnt be stressed under those same conditions?

My psychiatrist presented me with an antiquated tale that I had a brain chemistry imbalance to explain my anxiety disorder, which, he said, is why I drank alcohol to self-medicate prior to getting sober. At the time, it seemed to make sense. I bought it.

The antidepressant worked for a few years and then I started experiencing breakthrough depression  which is when a person is taking an antidepressant, but they have a major depressive episode despite taking medicine. So up the dose we went, switching meds when I maxed out on the doses of one antidepressant or he would add an additional brand of antidepressant. At one point he switched me from Effexor to Zoloft because the Effexor created mania-like symptoms.

By 2013, I was on 200mg of Zoloft and 300mg of Wellbutrin. There was never a discussion about the risks involved with using antidepressants as a long-term treatment strategy to deal with anxiety and depression. When I asked my doctor about tapering off meds, he said, The dose that got you well, will keep you well. I dont know why I believed him. However, the longer I took these drugs, the more episodes of depression I experienced and they lasted longer.

After being on two powerful antidepressants for several years, I experienced a hypomanic episode. Thoughts raced through my mind, and I talked so fast I wouldnt let anyone get a word in. My creativity was explosive with amazing ideas that fueled intense, goal-directed behavior, and my need for sleep was cut in half (about four hours per night to feel refreshed and rested), to the point that I didnt sleep a few days one week. At that point, my doctor diagnosed me as bipolar II and had me stop taking the Wellbutrin cold turkey.

I questioned the bipolar II diagnosis. I told my doctor that I thought the Wellbutrin caused the hypomania  why else would he want me to stop taking that medicine if it wasnt part of the problem? I was told that only people with bipolar respond to the use of antidepressants with either hypomania or mania.

The bipolar II diagnosis didnt make sense to me. There is NO HISTORY of bipolar in my family. Depression? Yes. Anxiety? Yes. Alcoholism? Hell, yes! Bipolar? NO!

But then my psychiatrist gave me some hope. He said, Michele, once we start you on a mood stabilizer, you wont get depressed and the hypomania will even out. He assured me that I would get better and that I could live a happy, meaningful, productive, fulfilling life.

At that point, I had been suffering three major depressive episodes a year that would last one to two months at a time with very few days of relief in between. Not only was the depression disturbing and debilitating for me, but I was drowning in a sea of shame.

How did I become someone who could barely function? I used to be a make it happen kind of girl. I worked full time during the day and got my bachelors degree taking classes at night. I climbed the corporate ladder while earning my degree in communications from San Jose State University. By the time I graduated from college, I was a high-performing sales executive ranked in the top 2% of an international business communications company, and over the next two decades, I founded two nonprofit corporations.

But now, after using powerful psych meds for depression and anxiety for more than a decade, I couldnt do basic things like go to the grocery store, plan a meal, make dinner, or get together with friends. During the episodes of depression, I would stop attending my recovery meetings, and work was out of the question. I wanted to but I simply couldnt care about anything including my appearance. I didnt bathe for days on end, or brush my teeth, and exercise wasnt an option. I had no energy and my zest for life was nonexistent. I lacked the capacity to find any joy in my life even though I had so much to be grateful for, which intensified my guilt and self-loathing.

I spent more and more time in bed as the depression progressed. I would sleep all day and wake up only in time to pick up the kids from school. I did my best to pretend I wasnt depressed. I didnt want depression to scar my kids like growing up in an alcoholic home scarred me. Sleeping was the only relief I found from the relentless guilt, self-loathing and overall dread of living a life void of happiness, connection, fulfillment, and passion. And then I would wake up to the horror that the depression didnt disappear while I slept. Despair and hopelessness consumed me.

Lost in a world of isolation and loneliness, depression is pure hell. Thats why I was willing to try anything to make it go away. At this point, I still believed the story that depression, anxiety, and bipolar were brain chemistry issues that could be remedied by psych meds.

So with bipolar II as the diagnosis du jour, my psychiatrist prescribed a mood stabilizer (actually an anti-seizure medicine) called Lamictal. He said that this drug was the least likely to cause serious side effects in terms of cognitive impairment, weight gain or other medical issues. Unfortunately, it gave me a rash  a rash that could be fatal if I continued taking it. Then I was prescribed another anti-seizure medication used as a mood stabilizer called Trileptal. This time my liver enzymes tanked in three months. My family doctor insisted that I stop taking Trileptal immediately or I would risk damaging my liver.

After serious reactions to the first two mood stabilizers, I started to wonder if I should listen to the wisdom of body. I refused to try Risperdal because I heard bad things about its side effects. I also didnt want to try lithium because of the possible risk of weight gain and cognitive impairment. Plus lithium can damage your kidneys and cause problems with your thyroid, and at high doses, a person can slip into a coma and die. Regular blood tests are also required to ensure that lithium is in a safe yet therapeutic range.

Finally, in the summer of 2013, my husband and I decided that I was going to taper off the 200mg of Zoloft and let my body take a break from psych meds. Against medical advice, my doctor agreed to help me taper off Zoloft, which I had been taking for the last nine years. He recommended lowering the dose 50mg per week. So in five weeks, I came off of Zoloft completely.

The withdrawal from Zoloft was horrible. I was beyond sick for five months. Dizzy, nauseous, with tingly feelings like pins and needles throughout my body, crippling anxiety, crying, emotional overwhelm, unable to think straight or focus; I was miserable.

Several months later, my mood started to even out. I felt the best I had in years. An even mood, happy, balanced, clear-headed and grateful to be alive. I enjoyed the simple pleasures of life again. I loved every precious moment with my kids and husband and started putting my life back together. And then we moved to the country about twenty-five minutes away from the place my husband and I called home for sixteen years. The move took place about six months after I was stable off of SSRIs (Zoloft) and the nightmare didnt just resume, it escalated.

I experienced debilitating anxiety. Up until that point, I had never experienced sleep problems of any kind. But now I wanted to sleep, I was tired. I would lie in bed with my eyes shut and the motor of my mind wouldnt turn off to relax into slumber. It wasnt mania. I had no good ideas. I didnt feel invincible. I didnt want to stay up and work on a project. I wanted to sleep, but it felt like I was plugged into a light socket, with electricity surging through my body. I was humming on the inside. This awful sleep disturbance went on for about a month. Every day that passed without sleep made me more and more anxious. I started to unravel emotionally, wondering what was going to happen to me mentally if I didnt get quality, restorative sleep.

I didnt know it then, but the anxiety and insomnia I experienced after we moved was protracted withdrawal syndrome from antidepressants (which can occur months and even years after tapering off SSRIs). Finally, after a month with no sleep, I was a mess. The anxiety was escalating and I was terrified. Without an alternative, I called my psychiatrist and he recommended I start taking an antidepressant to treat the anxiety.

He started me with 50mg of Zoloft and soon I was back up to 200mg  the max dose. Then he added 2mg of Abilify, an antipsychotic that was prescribed to protect me from mania. For me, the problem with taking psych meds was that the depression and anxiety just keep getting worse and more severe over time.

In October 2015, I checked myself into a residential program for anxiety. I was 14 years sober and yet I could not function despite taking psychotropic medication for generalized anxiety disorder.

The hospital did genetic testing and said that I would metabolize Pristiq  an antidepressant used to treat both anxiety and depression  better than Zoloft, the medicine I had been taking for roughly nine years. Within three days, I was switched from 200mg of Zoloft to 50mg of Pristiq. The result was a disaster.

By December 2015, I was in a suicidal depression. Why was I depressed? I was happily married. We have wonderful, healthy, amazing kids. We have a beautiful home. We have money. Im sober. I have lots of friends and yet I wanted to die.

I prayed every night that entire month for God to give me cancer so that I could die with dignity and grace and not scar my children and husband with the legacy of suicide.

The next month, January 2016, I finally agreed to try lithium for what my doctor said was treatment resistant, bipolar depression. My doctor told me that if he presented my case to the best psychopharmacologists in the country, they would all ask the same question: Why havent you tried lithium with this patient?

I knew lithium would make me fat. I knew lithium would affect my cognition and memory. But I wanted to live and I was desperate to make the depression STOP. I had so much to live for and I was determined to be happy, joyous, and free.

Lithium helped for about five months. Unfortunately, I gained 25 pounds in six months. I had a breakthrough depressive episode on 900mg of lithium and 100mg of Pristiq.

If this medication was supposed to be balancing out my brain chemicals, how come I was not staying stable? Then, my doctor prescribed Wellbutrin to pull me out of another suicidal depression.

Soon I was on 900mg of lithium, 100mg of pristiq, and 300mg of Wellbutrin. Wait. Didnt he take me off Wellbutrin three years ago because of hypomania? At that point, I was too sick to give a shit. In fact, I think I was secretly hoping for a little hypomania  anything to make the depression go away.

Then the Wellbutrin started causing awful anxiety. So my psychiatrist switched the Wellbutrin to instant release at 100mg. Modified cocktail: 900mg lithium, 100mg Wellbutrin, 100mg Pristiq.

That cocktail worked for four or five months until another suicidal depression in June 2017. I was in Maui staying at an incredible resort with my husband and children. Maui is one of my favorite places in the world and I was researching bipolar treatment facilities instead of hanging out with my family on the beach.

So whats next? He prescribed 50mg MORE of Pristiq, even though I was already at the maximum dose. Final cocktail: 900mg lithium, 150mg Pristiq, 100mg Wellbutrin.

Since starting lithium in January 2016, not only did it not cure my supposed bipolar depression, but I got the added bonus of gaining 30 pounds, experiencing cognitive impairment and failing memory, ridiculously dry skin, and then recently my hair started breaking off.

That was it! Call it what you will  vanity run amuck some might say  but the breaking point for me was literally my hair breaking off.

I googled lithium and hair breakage and what came up was Dr. Kelly Brogans book, A Mind of Your Own: The Truth About Depression and How Women Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives.

Dr. Brogans research and clinical expertise enabled me to stop and consider if the psych meds I had been taking for the last sixteen years to treat anxiety and depression was actually working. My conclusion: NO.

Her book outlines an approach that goes beyond masking the symptoms of depression. From gut health to thyroid and blood sugar problems to systemic inflammation and hormonal imbalances, Dr. Brogan presents a holistic approach to deal with the underlying issues that may cause the symptoms of depression. She also provides detailed instructions about using lifestyle medicine to heal your body and reclaim your life.

After reading Dr. Brogans book, I had hope for the first time in five years, yet I didnt know how I would muster the courage to taper off psych meds again. My first attempt was brutal, emotionally and physically. But after reading Anatomy of an Epidemic and A Mind of Your Own, I couldnt un-know the truth. Their summary of the peer-reviewed medical research explained why I was getting worse over time the longer I stayed on psych meds. I simply couldnt ignore the science and research that long-term use of psych meds is linked to disastrous and debilitating outcomes, like mine.

The last several years have been a long hard road and yet there is no turning back for me. I am tapering off psych meds for the last and final time. I do not believe these pills are fixing my unbalanced brain chemistry; I believe they are causing it.

In no way do I think Im an authority on mental wellness; this is only my journey. But Ill tell you this: we have an epidemic of people taking psych meds for years at a time (sometimes decades) for a host of mental disorders and some of these people are not getting better. I was one of those people for sixteen years.

But its not just about me and my story. This is about our collective story, about people and families stuck in a failing system of psychiatry that emphasizes the maintenance of mental illness instead of a focus and commitment to manifesting mental wellness. Therefore, Americans suffering from anxiety, depression, and bipolar arent getting treatment options that equate to good, functional outcomes. As a society, we simply cannot lower our standards, accepting disability as a long-term outcome for people with mental health issues.

We must take responsibility for our minds and bodies, and advocate for ourselves as well as one another. When it comes to putting medicine in our bodies, we need to ask tough questions, expect real answers, and then weigh the consequences. And whenever possible, we need to embrace the concept of lifestyle medicine, which may take more energy, effort, time, and work in the beginning, but produce better results with no undesirable side affects.

We need to collaborate with our doctors instead of blindly giving our power away. We must demand holistic approaches for body/mind wellness instead of being seduced by the quick fix of popping pills to mask and numb symptoms. We need to raise our standards of care and expect doctors and holistic practitioners to do extensive blood work and run tests that get down to the root causes and conditions of the symptoms, with the intention to remedy the issues so we can thrive physically, mentally, and emotionally.

For almost two decades, I believed my mind was broken and that only psychopharmaceuticals could balance my brain chemistry. But today, I have hope. Thanks to Robert Whitaker and Dr. Kelly Brogan, Im beyond the breaking point, and Im armed with the truth and choices.

And as I taper off a cocktail of psych meds that have held me hostage for sixteen years, I walk confidently, courageously, and with conviction on the path toward mental wellness knowing that I will recover my mind and reclaim my life.

 Kelly Brogan MD. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Kelly Brogan MD. For more articles, sign up for the newsletter at www.kellybroganmd.com
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.When people report having profound out-of-body experiences during close brushes with death, skeptics often attribute it to physiological and psychological factors.

Robert Mays, who has studied near-death experiences (NDEs) for some 30 years, looked at some of these factors during a talk at the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) 2014 Conference in Newport Beach, Calif., on Aug. 29.

Hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation, is one often-cited cause. Another is rapid eye movement (REM) intrusion. REM is characteristic of the sleep state in which people often dream. REM intrusion is when REM activates during wakefulness, and some say the scenes of the afterlife, interactions with dead loved ones, life-reviews, and more, are a result of REM.

The experiences reported by NDEers diverge greatly, however, from the experiences usually reported under the conditions of hypoxia and REM intrusion, Mays said: NDEers almost always report that they have had a hyper-real experience that far outshines our ordinary, conscious experiencethat they felt the NDE realm was their true home, permeated by unconditional love, and that they are no longer afraid to die.

These characteristic aspects are simply not present with hypoxia, REM intrusion, and so on, Mays said.

Researchers at the University of Liege in Belgium looked at other physiological aspects. They wondered if people who have NDE-like experiences during non-life-threatening situationssuch as sleep, meditation, or after faintingwould describe the same feelings as people who have NDEs during life-threatening situations, including cardiac arrest.

These two sets of situations involve very different physiological states. While skeptics may argue that the physiological conditions connected with cardiac arrest (such as hypoxia) may cause the NDE, if people who are physiologically normal have the same experiences, it suggests the cause of these experiences is not physiological.

The researchers found that people in both life-threatening and non-life-threatening situations described their experiences the same way in terms of content and intensity.

There appears to be a consistency and commonality among NDEs independent of physiological factors, Mays summarized.

On a broader scale, Mays discussed the lack of evidence for a compulsory mind-brain connection. If the mind is definitively proven to be dependent on the brain, then the argument for NDEs as brain-based events would also hold true.

Yet a center of self has not been found in the brain, Mays said. He listed what he called enigmas of consciousness, many of which center on the fact that we have unified personalities that seem to coordinate the disparate regions of the brain.

For example, despite severe brain dysfunction, a unitary and coherent mind, or a whole person is able to exist, Mays said. If consciousness were so dependent on the brain, one might expect a damaged brain to fragment the persons central consciousness.

He spoke of a phenomenon called terminal lucidity, in which people with dysfunctional brains (including Alzheimers patients) suddenly seem to regain their memories and a calm, rational thought structure shortly before death. This may show, he said, that a central personality is not damaged when the brain is damagedits just somehow distant.

Neuroscience could greatly benefit from further study of NDEs, Mays said. For example, if it could be determined that the consciousness is able to operate outside the brain, it may be possible to use that consciousness to treat brain damage.

He would like to gain access to appropriate equipment and work collaboratively with neuroscientists to test hypotheses on how the mind may physically interface with neurons in the brain. This could be accomplished, he said, by testing living neurons in-vitro.

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The Next Ten Battles

Commentary

It is apparently much easier to tell the truth about state action the farther away it is from home. And hence even The New York Times seems alarmed at the covid lockdowns in Shanghai, and pretending as if nothing like that could happen here even though the whole practice of lockdown the world over was directly copied from the Wuhan model.

China is meddling with free enterprise as it hadnt in decades, says the paper. The results are familiar to those old enough to remember: scarcity, and the rise of black markets.

The disruptions are especially difficult for smaller businesses. A truck driver who asked me to use only his surname, Zhao, has been stuck in his vehicle, unable to work, in a Shanghai suburb since March 28 when the district was locked down. He, along with nearly 60 other truckers, have been drinking from fire hoses, struggling to secure food and without a bathroom to wash up in. Hes losing sleep, wondering how he will cover his loans: about $2,000 monthly for his truck and about $500 for mortgages, while continuing to support his wife and their two children.

What the chilling article (which likely understates the calamity) does not say: these Shanghai lockdowns are precisely what many of the architects of lockdown theory imagined as the right policy for the United States and the entire world in the Spring of 2020. They were brazen about it. Close your business, schools, churches, stay home, stand six feet apart, test constantly but dont go out, dont travel, dont shop unless necessary, no gatherings, live online, and so on it went.

What we see in Shanghai is the fulfillment of the lockdown vision for society, not just for China but for every country, all in the name of virus eradication through social destruction. Now that the chilling reality is presented to us, we see The New York Timeswhich, please recall, was first out with the demand that we go medieval on the virusdistancing itself as much as possible from the idea.

At last, elite opinion sees the downside. I interpret that as victory. Weve won the lockdown fight maybe. The more among its advocates who now say I never favored lockdowns the more we can be sure that this battle is won, at least rhetorically.

Weve also won the fight over vaccine mandates, which have been repealed by force of public pressure. It was never supposed to be this way; they were conceived of as a permanent feature of public life. They are mostly gone for now. So too for the preposterous apps that are supposed to carry our vaccine status as a ticket to admission to public life.

These are encouraging victories but just the beginning. The covid response exposed the vulnerabilities of many institutions. It revealed many problems that cry out for solutions, most related to what happened to the United States and the world over two years. This is not anywhere near an exhaustive list.

1. Pandemic Response

We apparently agree that lockdowns are not the key to solving a pandemic, though many are still defending the idea. Just today, a new model gained tremendous attention with a claim that many more would have died without lockdowns. A model. They will forever claim this. Some people just cannot let go.

But that still begs the question: what precisely is the role of individuals and public authority in the face of a new pathogen? We need some new consensus on this problem, else lockdowns are going to be deployed by default. They will do it again so long as it remains the only tool in the box, and right now it more or less is.

If we learn from history, the answer is not complicated. In general, it is the same one used in 2014, 2009, 2003, 1984, 1969, 1958, 1942, and 1929, and even 1918 in most places, among other periods. Dont panic. Public health should investigate and communicate the properties of the pathogen, its spread, prevalence, and severity. Experiment to find the best therapeutics. Go to the doctor if you get too sick. Let our immune systems work and allow herd immunity to develop through normal social functioning, while urging the most vulnerable to stay safe and wait it out.

This is what we always did in the United States. Two years ago was different. We tried a new theory and practice and it flopped, catastrophically. Worse, dissenting scientists were aggressively censored, attacked, and smeared, and this happened (we now know) on order from above. It was a time when the only approved science was government science, an experience on par with that which dominated totalitarian countries in the 20th century.

For eons, the presence of disease has been deployed as a cover for despotism, segregation, stigmatization, and even war. It happened in the ancient world and all through the modern era too. Somehow, some way, some countries cobbled together a social contract concerning what we would and would not do during a crisis. That contract was just shredded. We need to put it together again. We are nowhere near coming to terms with the relationship between freedom as we understand it and the presence of pathogens in society.

2. History

There are many mysteries concerning what happened to us over two years. What precisely happened in February 2020, when Anthony Fauci, Peter Dazsik, Francis Collins, and others, went to burner phones and encrypted calls, warning friends and family members of impending disaster, even as they neglected public-health basics like therapeutics and truthful messaging? Why did they do this?

There are so many surrounding gain-of-function research, the use of imprecise PCR technology, the privileging of mRNA shots, the role of Deborah Birx, the CDCs recommendations concerning plexiglass, distancing, closures, the school closures, the NIH junket to China in mid-February 2020, the push to mandate vaccines, the relationship between Big Tech and Big Government, death misclassifications, exaggerations over hospital capacity, and so much more.

We have a very rough sketch but when all the presumptions of civilized life are suddenly thrown overboard, the public deserves to know the fullness of the question: why?

The history is nowhere near being told in its fullness.

3. Administrative State

The federal district judge in Floridas decision on the federal mask mandate unleashed far more than was in the lawsuit. It was decided against the government, which is to say that for more than a year, the people who were telling us that we were wrong were themselves in violation of the law. That is an awesome realization.

And yet, there has been widespread media panic about the very idea that a court could overrule a government bureaucracy, as if nothing like this had ever happened before, and as if bureaucracies need not be burdened by any legal authority. Many of us have intuited that the deep state believes this to be true, but it was absolutely startling to see the DOJ, CDC, and administration spokespeople say as much. Apparently, they want absolute power, clearly, even dictatorial power.

Is this really the way we want to live, with government bureaucracies making fully autonomous decisions about what we can do in our homes, churches, businesses, and how we engage with neighbors, friends, and family? There is good reason to believe that most people reject this idea. And yet there is an entire layer of government out there, perhaps the most powerful one, that disagrees. This problem needs to be solved.

4. Education

The school closures never made sense: the kids were not vulnerable and the teachers in countries where schools remained open did not die. It would be nice to know how all this happened, who gave the orders, on what basis, how the message spread, how it was enforced, and whether any of the people who did this had thought even for a moment about the consequences of doing this.

The results were cruel but also bizarre. Homeschooling had existed under a cloud for many decades, and suddenly it became mandatory for most people. How did it happen that public schools, the crown jewel of progressive reform dating back to the late 19th century, were so blithely padlocked, in some places for two full years? Its simply incredible. And the results are everywhere and shocking.

Nonetheless, we surely discovered in the course of this disaster that there are other models of schooling that can readily compete with legacy public schooling that were not up to the task of withstanding the crisis. Its time for reform, or at least dramatic liberalization to permit more choice: homeschool, private school, hybrid community schools, charter schools, and more flexibility in compulsory schooling laws. We simply cannot just restore the failed status quo ante.

5. Health Care

For many months and up to a year, health care was inaccessible for many people. It became a covid-only service. Health care spending dramatically declined, in a pandemic! How did this happen? Who gave the orders? For months in most places in the United States, hospital parking lots were empty. Nurses were furloughed in hundreds of hospitals. Cancer screenings, treatments, checkups, and even childhood vaccinations were not taking place. This happened not only at hospitals but regular health clinics too.

Then theres dentistry, which for months almost did not exist in this country. Astonishing.

It was a sign of a deeply broken system. Even now, we have a major problem that people are spending vastly more on health services than they ever could consume, mostly through employer-provided plans that keep people deeply fearful of losing their job. Insurance as provided through the market is not really competitive since choices are so limited, premiums and deductibles so high, and their acceptance is so spotty.

One bright spot of the pandemic was the liberalization of telemedicine. Its a good start but mostly it is an illustration of the creativity and good service and price that comes from liberalization of this sector. The entire industry is overly regulated and controlled. It could benefit from real market forces.

And lets add to this the shocking attack on the freedom of doctors to prescribe treatments to their patients without getting warnings from medical boards acting as proxies for government bureaucrats. How precisely did this come about and what is going to happen in the future to stop this from happening?

The entire pandemic response amounts to a clarion cry: reform and disrupt this entire sector.

6. Politics

In the early 1940s, the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt offered to what later became the March of Dimes assistance in its fundraising for polio. The foundation refused because they worried about tainted public health concerns with politics. Very wise. There should be a strict separation but that did not happen in 2020 and following. Those who suspect that the entire pandemic response was part of a campaign to drive the president from office are not crazy; there is plenty of evidence to that effect.

And in 2021, we witness overt attempts on the part of the Biden administration to blame the disease on red states where Republicans enjoy majority support. It was an amazing thing to watch unfold, and of course the claims were only temporarily true as the virus migrated to blue states after which the White House shut up.

The entire response was tainted by political motivations from the start. Even from the early lockdowns, Trump trusted advisers who probably had ulterior motives, as they later hinted. Once he came around to the position that society should normalize, it appeared that he was no longer in charge of the response at all and the CDC/NIH was dictating policy with some purpose in mind.

Later, the Biden administrations push for vaccine mandates and mandatory masks was driven by some political position too: to be seen as anti-Trump regime as an appeal to the base.

There are no easy answers to how to fix this. It is apparent that politics and pathogens do not mix well. Can there be a wall of separation between public health and politics? Maybe thats a dream but it would seem to be ideal. How to bring it about?

7. Psychology

Brownstone has several top psychologists writing for us and they have all sought to explain the group psychology behind the mass panic. Rightly so. It cries out for explanation. How did we go from a country of seemingly normal-acting people to a wild pack of flagellant germaphobes in a matter of weeks? How can this be prevented in the future?

It was March 12, 2020, just as the panic was rising, when I met in a television studio a therapist who was being interviewed that day. His specialty was in personality disorders extending from trauma. He was utterly distraught because what he saw unfolding that day amounted to an extension of what his patients experience to the whole of society. He was nearly weeping simply because he saw what was coming.

A major problem right now pertains to the mental health of young people.

8. Economics

The disregard of basic economics during the pandemic was shocking. People routinely denounced those who worried about the economic fallout for putting money ahead of health, as if economics and health have nothing to do with each other, as if the delivery of food, the quality of the money itself, and the functioning of markets have nothing at all to do with taking on a health crisis. It was strange: it was as if an entire discipline didnt matter. And it did not help that the economists themselves fell largely silent.

Here we should include the astonishing thing: Big Tech willingly signed up to be mouthpieces for government priorities for two years, and this continues now. The censorship about which everyone is rightly screaming is directly related. This is not free enterprise. It is something else with an ugly name. It needs to stop. The wall of separation needs to apply here too and it should also address the massive problem of regulatory capture.

The principles of public health and economics share much in common. They are both focused on the general good not a single problem, and not for a short-term win but over the long term. There must be more cooperation here with each side learning from the most competent experts from the other side.

Also a plea: everyone in the social sciences needs to spend more time coming to understand basic cell biology. We should know by now that real life experiences cause many fields to overlap. There need to be intellectual and honesty checks running in both directions.

9. Class Differences

At some point in the middle of March 2020, nearly every top manager of every company in the United States received a memo that explained which businesses are essential and which have to close. Many in the professional class took their jobs home and did fine. Others in the working classes were shoved in front of the pathogen to bear the burden of herd immunity and only later told they had to get a vaccine that they didnt want or need.

Thenand this is truly hard to believepublic venues in major cities begin to close to the unvaccinated. No one seemed to care about the disparate impact of these policies by race, income, and class. Our cities literally became segregated as vast numbers were shut out of restaurants, bars, libraries, museums, and movie theaters. Its almost too shocking to contemplate.

Would any of this have happened if the Zoom class had an ounce of empathy for the working classes? Doubtful. As it was, major media venues kept urging their readers to stay home and get their groceries delivered, and by whom they never said. They just didnt care.

Do we still aspire to be a society with mobility in which strict demarcations between people are not enforced by law? We should hope so. But the pandemic response showed otherwise. Something needs to change.

10. Social Philosophy

Finally we come to the biggest problem of all. What kind of society do we want to live in and build? Is it based on the presumption that freedom belongs to all and is the best path for progress and good lives? Or do we want the rights of the people always to defer to the mandarins in the walled-off bureaucracies who give orders and expect only compliance and no challenge to their rule?

This is a huge question, and it is tragic that we are being called upon to ask it at all. It seems as if an entire generation needs to revisit the history of liberty and the Founding documents of the United States. More than that, an entire generation needs to become convinced that freedom actually matters, even and especially in a crisis of any sort, whether the arrival of a new pathogen or something else.

Clearly, something had gone wrong long before the pandemic response, some kind of social/cultural loss of confidence that freedom is the best path. We woke one day living in the midst of Schumpeters prediction: the blessings of freedom had become so abundant and ubiquitous that they were widely taken for granted and thus did the ruling class become overly tempted to overthrow the source just to see what would happen. The preexisting philosophical nihilism of the before times easily bled into despotism of the last two years. Chesterton said that those who believe in nothing will believe in anything. His point has been proven, and with disastrous results.

So, yes, there are victories all around us: lockdowns for now do not vex us and most mandates are gradually evaporating. But the intellectual, social, cultural, and political reckoning has just begun. It is going to touch every institution and every area of life, and consume the efforts of all of us for at least another generation.

From the Brownstone Institute

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The Provocation of Fragility

Commentary

In small things, if one pays close enough attention to them, can often be seen wider trends. One such small thing is a notice that has been posted recently in Londons Underground stations, by order, apparently, of the mayor of London, the Metropolitan Police, and public transportation authorities.

The word Staring is printed in large bold black letters on a blood-red background. A legend in smaller but capitalized black lettering says:

INTRUSIVE STARING OF A SEXUAL NATURE IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND IS NOT TOLERATED.

Then the legend follows, in yet smaller black or white lettering:

See it or experience it on public transport? Text what, where, and when to 61016. In an emergency, always call 999.

Aware of someone who is doing this and want to remain anonymous? Call the sexual harassment line on 0800 783 0137.

The last line is supposed to be encouraging:

Together we can stop sexual harassment.

It would take a long disquisition to dissect (or in the modern parlance, deconstruct) this notice, and I will attempt in a short space only to point to some of its more sinister features.

No one can doubt that being stared at is an unpleasant experience, and few of us can claim never to have stared. For example, Im inclined to fix my eyes on someone whom I believe I have met before, but Ive forgotten his or her name, or where and in what circumstances I met him or her. I catch myself doing this and then lower my eyes.

But whats the objective correlative of being stared at in a sexual manner? Are you necessarily being stared at in this way if you think you are? Is staring in the eye of the beholder or in that of the beheld? Is it possible to be oversensitive in the matter of being stared at? (A friend of mine pointed out something that I hadnt thought of, about piercings through the nose and other features of the face: Theyre so disconcerting that theyre done to avert the gaze of strangers.)

Is it possible to appear to be staring without actually doing so, for example, if one is very short-sighted or even partially blind? And how many seconds of regard constitute staring? Must a leer accompany the staring, and is a leer in the eye of the beholder?

Is it not possible that a notice such as this will call forth the very psychological fragility that its supposed ostensibly to assuage? Will not staringafter all, a pretty normal phenomenoncome to be yet another cause for anxiety, as if we lived in the most dangerous of possible worlds? How many stares proceed to sexual assault, let alone sexual murder?

The purpose, or at any rate the effect, of involving authorities in such a swamp of ambiguity, from which endless argumentation is certain to emerge, is to absolve them from their real and genuine duty to protect the public from unambiguous crime, which takes determination, intelligence, and courage, sometimes physical but always moral. If youre engaged in the suppression of staring, you will have neither the time nor the energy enough to tackle real malefactors.

The provocation of fragility requires a bureaucracy of defenders to alleviate its consequences. The more fragile people become, the more they will run to the authorities for protection, as children run to their parents when they imagine witches at the window. A fragile population requires protectors, since the fragile by definition are incapable of protecting themselves, for example by confronting or moving away from a starer, but the would-be protectors themselves are cowards who prefer imaginary enemies to real and dangerous ones: Thus is the dialectic between fragility and public employment on futile tasks created and maintained.

Perhaps the most sinister aspect of the whole notice is its appeal to anonymous denunciation, again whose main purpose is to create an atmosphere of fear, vulnerability, and mistrust in the public, the very atmosphere that totalitarian regimes love and create. What the authorities want, consciously or subconsciously, is a population whose individual members fear looking at one another and therefore fear conversing, for such a population cant oppose whatever is imposed upon it.

Complete atomization, though without individuality, is whats being aimed for.

The last lineIm tempted to call it the last strawis Together we can stop sexual harassment. This suggests, and is intended to suggest, that the authorities and the public are united in their priorities and their goals, and that the former have the latters interests at heart, with no interests of their own to pursue.

Needless to say, the notices didnt appear on the walls by spontaneous generation. In fact, the work involved in producing them must have been considerable. If my experience of a hospital is anything to go by, I can easily imagine the hours of meetings with earnest (though not serious) discussion over the problem of staring, the way to tackle it, the wording and design of the posters, and so forth. Perhaps the people involved in these meetings worked overtime, with a sense of urgency, under the misapprehension that activity is work.

At any rate, the overtime worked would be an argument in their favor if redundancies ever became imperatively necessary. No one in such meetings would dare to point to the futility of the whole enterprise, for fear of not being, in the words of human resources (which mines people as coal miners mine coal), a team player. Theres nothing worse in a bureaucracy than not being a team player.

Suppose I think, rightly or not, that someone is staring at me on the Underground in a sexual fashion and I denounce him: What happens then? Does the anti-staring squad get on the train at the next stop and tell him to refrain henceforward from doing so, or even arrest him if records show that its a second offense?

Of course the people who dreamed up and posted these notices that so seamlessly combine idiocy with nastiness dont seriously expect many people to read them thoroughly or reflect and act upon them. The message that they convey to the majority is the following: In your hour of danger, we care for you, so reelect us.

But with luck (that is, for the mayor, the police, and the transportation authorities), a sufficient number of fragile neurotics and paranoiacs will act upon the suggestions and sow fear like poison gas throughout the Underground.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Commentary

My friend and colleague Dr. Mary Talley Bowden recently posed this important question, which has puzzled many people during the pandemic:

A friend of mine from the age of 5 wont have anything to do with me now because of my Covid views. I know weve all experienced this. @akheriaty can you explain the psychopathology?

Such a great question. A friend of mine from the age of 5 wont have anything to do with me now because of my Covid views. I know weve all experienced this. @akheriaty can you explain the psychopathology? https://t.co/qdbMT6HOgK  Mary Talley Bowden MD (@MdBreathe) February 26, 2022

I suggest that two accounts of social psychologythe mass formation theory of Mattias Desmet and the mimetic contagion theory of Rene Girardhelp to answer this question. These two theories also go a long way toward explaining some of the more puzzling behaviors we saw emerge during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first theory, mass formation, was brought to public attention when my friend Robert Malone briefly summarized it on Joe Rogans podcast. The internet blew up as people searched to learn more about the concept. The tech overlords at Google intervened to bury information on the theory when people searched for mass formation. This interview landed Malone in permanent Twitter prison and brought the furies down on Rogan.

But Desmets theory is based on a body of sound social theory and psychology that has accumulated over the past hundred years. As professor Desmet at the University of Ghent has described, under conditions of mass formation, people buy into a narrative not because its true, but because it cements a social bond that they desperately need.

Mass (or crowd) formation emerges in a society under very specific conditions. The first condition is that people experience a lack of connectedness to other people, a lack of meaningful social bonds. Consider the loneliness epidemic which was worsened by the lockdowns. Our only bonds were virtual, an impoverished replacement for real human connection.

The second condition is a lack of meaning in life, which follows directly from the lack of embeddedness in social networksfamilial, professional, religious, and so forth. Desmet said in regard to this connection that Gallup polls in 2017 found that 40 percent of people experienced their job as completely meaningless, with another 20 percent reporting a strong lack of meaning in their work. Only 13 percent found their work to be meaningful.

Other social theorists from Max Weber to Emile Durkheim have documented this trend toward social atomization and loss of the religious dimension over the past two centuries in the West. The occurrence of mass formation thus became more frequent in the 19th and 20th centuries, when a mechanistic view of man and the world began to predominate.

The third condition for mass formation is a high level of free-floating anxiety in the population. One doesnt need studies, charts, and graphsalthough there are plenty nowto demonstrate this condition worldwide during the pandemic. Free-floating anxiety is a form of fear not directed toward a specific object or situation. If Im afraid of snakes, I know what I fear, and so I can manage this by not going to the reptile section of the zoo and not hiking in the desert.

Free-floating anxiety, such as the anxiety produced by an invisible virus, is extremely intolerable because one doesnt have the means to modulate or control it. People stuck in this state chronically are desperate for some means to escape it. They feel helpless because they dont know what to avoid or flee in order to manage this aversive state of mind.

The fourth condition, which follows from the first three, is a high level of frustration and aggression in the population. If people feel socially disconnected, that their life makes no sense or lacks meaning (perhaps because they cant work or go to school under lockdown conditions) or that theyre beset by free-floating anxiety and psychological distress without a clear cause, theyll also feel frustrated and angry. And it will be hard to know where to direct this anger, so people look for an object to which they can connect their anxiety and frustration.

If people are under these conditions, a narrative is advanced through the mass media indicating an object of anxiety and providing a strategy to deal with this target. But this is very dangerous: People become remarkably willing to participate in a strategy to exclude or even destroy the object of anxiety indicated in the narrative.

Because many people participate in this strategy collectively, a new kind of social bonda new solidarityemerges. The new social bond takes people from a highly aversive mental state to an almost euphoric relief, which spurs them to participate in the formation of a social mass. People begin feeling connected again, thus resolving part of the crisis. Life with this common bond starts to make sense, resolving the problem of meaning by uniting against the object of anxiety, which also allows an outlet for their frustration and aggression. But the pseudo-solidarity of the mass is thus always directed against a stigmatized outgroup; theirs is a common bond cemented by anger and disgust.

People buy into the narrative, even when it becomes absurd and out of touch with facts on the ground, not because they believe in the narrative, but precisely because it creates a social bond that they dont want to relinquish. As in hypnosis, their field of vision becomes excessively narrowed, focused exclusively on the elements of the accepted narrative. They may be dimly aware of collateral damage or contradictory facts, but these have little to no cognitive or emotional effectevidence simply ceases to matter.

The anger of the new social mass gets directed precisely against the people who dont want to participate in the mass formation, who reject the basis for the new social bond. For months, with high-profile figures from the president to public health officials lamenting the pandemic of the unvaccinated, it became clear who was the designated target: those who declined social distancing, mask-wearing, vaccination, or other COVID-19 measures.

For the mass that energizes around these measures, they become ritualistic behaviors that cement the social bond.

Participation in the ritual, which lacks pragmatic advantages and requires sacrifice, demonstrates that the collective is higher than the individual. For this portion of the population, it doesnt matter whether the measures are absurd. Think of walking into a restaurant with a mask on and removing it as soon as you sit down, for example.

Desmets research suggests that approximately 30 percent of the total population, typically those who are temperamentally prone to hypnosis, fully embrace the narrative that drives this mass formation process. Another 40 or 50 percent dont fully embrace the narrative but also dont want to publicly resist and incur the censure of the 30 percent segment of true believers. Another 10 to 20 percent of the general population isnt readily hypnotized and remains highly resistant to the process of mass formation, even trying to resist its destructive excesses. Ones level of intelligence doesnt correlate to which of these groups one ends up in, although some personality factors likely do.

Individuals in the mass are impervious to rational argumentation, and they respond instead to vivid visual images, including numbers and statistics presented in charts and graphs, and repetition of the messages central to the narrative. Desmet has also claimed thatas in a hypnotized state where one can be insensitive to pain, allowing even for surgery without anesthesiasomeone caught up in the process of mass formation becomes radically insensitive to other important values in life. All kinds of goods can be taken from him, including his freedom, and he takes little notice of these losses and harms.

In extreme cases, masses become capable of committing atrocities, all the while believing that theyre performing an almost sacral duty for the greater good. As Gustave Le Bon, author of the 1895 classic work, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, pointed out: If those who are awake try to wake up those who are sleepwalking, they will initially meet with little success; however, they must continue to try, peacefully and nonviolently, to prevent the worst outcomes. Any violence will be used as an excuse for the aggressors to increase their persecution and repression. So it is important to continue to speak the truth and exercise nonviolent resistance.

In addition to the mass formation theory, the insights of Stanford professor Rene Girard, one of the 20th centurys greatest thinkers, on mimetic contagion and the scapegoating mechanism are helpful to understand this phenomenon. In many ways, this complements the mass formation account. Girard saw that we imitate not only one anothers behaviors, but one anothers desires. We end up wanting the same thing(s), e.g., I need to be first in line for the vaccine, which will let me get my life back.

This can lead to mimetic rivalry and increase social tension and conflict. The mechanism that societies use to resolve this conflict is scapegoating. The social tension (amplified during lockdowns and with fear-based propaganda) is attributed to a person or class of person, with the proposal that if we can only rid ourselves of the [fill in the blank unclean member(s) of society] the social tension will resolve.

The banishment or destruction of the scapegoat (in this case, the unvaccinated) falsely promises to return society to a harmonious state and diffuse the threat of violent conflict. While scapegoating does relieve social tensions a bit, this is always only temporary. Mimetic rivalry continues, social tensions once again build, and another scapegoat must be identified (e.g., now the enemy are those who spread alleged disinformation). The cycle continues.

As an interesting side note, Girard argued that the crucifixion of Christ unveiled this scapegoating mechanism and simultaneously removed its power, because it revealed that the scapegoat was an innocent victimthereby robbing the scapegoating mechanism of its temporary power. The innocence of the scapegoated victim, the terminal phase of mimetic contagion, is a lesson we still havent learned.

Originally published on the authors Substack, reposted from the Brownstone Institute.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Catharine Greene, wife of a general in the American Revolution, was instrumental in maintaining troop morale, and played a key role in the development of the cotton gin

Catharine Littlefield, born in 1755 in what was then the British colony of Rhode Island, would grow up to become a dedicated wife and supporter of those around her, as well as a woman who could take action on her own when needed. Her mother died early during her childhood, and she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle, Catharine Ray (her namesake) and William Greene. It was while living with them that she met and fell in love with a frequent visitor, Nathanael Greene. The two wed in 1774, despite a 12-year age gap.

The Revolutionary War

Nathanael Greene was already heavily involved in colonial politics and the military while courting Catharine. In 1774, he helped to form Rhode Islands militia unit, the Army of Observation, which would later be absorbed into the Continental Army. He was appointed a major general at age 34.

Nathanael proved his loyalty and skill at the battles of Trenton in New Jersey and Brandywine in Pennsylvania, earning the respect of George Washington. In 1778, he was promoted to quartermaster general due to his administrative abilities. Two years later, Nathanael left that position to lead a small army into the South, where his strategic thinking and guerilla tactics led to victory over much larger British forces.

Within a year of their marriage, 20-year-old Catharines wishes to be a regular 18th-century homemaker were interrupted by the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Nathanael left to command troops in May 1775. After more than a year apart, Catharine refused to be separated from her husband any longer and joined Nathanael at his camp in late 1776. She would follow him throughout the war, only leaving him when pregnancy or the duties of motherhood required her to do so. Her insistence to be by his side earned her many criticisms from friends and family. That simply wasnt done.

This original portrait of Nathanael Greene was painted from life in 1783 by Charles Wilson Peale. (Public Domain)

It was during the years of the Revolution that Catharine and Nathanael had their six children: George, Martha, Cornelia, Nathanael, Louisa, and Catharine. The first two were named in honor of Gen. George Washington and his wife Martha. All but one of the Greenes children lived to adulthood; baby Catharine, their last child, died as an infant.

Catharine became best known for her ability to cheer up the troops during her visits to her husband. A lively young woman, she delighted in planning social events, such as dances, for the soldiers to improve morale. She also served as an unofficial translator between American and French ally military officials, volunteered her home as a military hospital, and visited the families of deceased soldiers to tell them the devastating news. She and other military wives, like Martha Washington, were important supporters of the militiaso much so that, in 2001, the Association of Quartermasters created the Catharine Greene Award to recognize the support and contributions provided by spouses of the Quartermaster Corps.

Mulberry Grove

After the Revolution, Catharine finally thought shed have the quiet life she first imagined. The Greene family moved to Mulberry Grove, a plantation near Savannah, Georgia, that had been taken from a Loyalist lieutenant governor and gifted to Nathanael as compensation for his military service. Their Quaker beliefs did not allow them to own slaves, which made it difficult to make Mulberry Grove successful, but they hoped all the same to profit from rice planting like previous owners of the plantation.

Nathanael had gone into debt during the war trying to clothe and feed his soldiers, making it essential that they make the land profitable quickly. Unfortunately, he died suddenly in 1786, leaving Catharine with five children, a plantation to run, and massive amounts of debt.

African American slaves using a cotton gin, 1790-1800, drawn by William L. Sheppard. This illustration appeared in Harpers Weekly, Dec. 18, 1869. (Public Domain)

She hired Phineas Miller, the childrens former tutor, as plantation manager. By giving in to the use of slave labor, they were able to make Mulberry Grove profitable within a few years. By 1791, Mulberry Grove was doing well enough to host George Washington on his presidential tour.

Catharine also took it upon herself to petition the newly formed U.S. Congress to forgive her husbands war debts. In 1792, George Washington signed the papers that freed her from that burden and provided Catharine with great relief.

But Catharines story does not end there.

Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin

There are many different stories about how she met Yale graduate Eli Whitney. He may have been a neighbors tutor, or a traveling companion, or perhaps just a house guest. No matter how they were introduced to each other, their meeting resulted in one of the greatest agricultural inventions of all time.

During an encounter with Whitney, she mentioned to him the difficulties of separating upland, or short staple, cotton from its seeds. He had heard similar complaints from neighboring planters who came to visit while he was staying at Mulberry Grove. The comment inspired Whitney to create a machine that could do this task more quickly and efficiently than could be accomplished by hand.

Catharine provided Whitney with the financial backing and the workspace he needed to tinker and invent what would become the cotton gin (short for engine) in 1793. The simple machine consisted of two rotating wooden cylinders set with wire teeth to comb the cotton. Catharine financed his 1794 patent application and all the lawsuits that followed, going into debt to do so. Her support of Whitney revolutionized American agriculture and led to cotton becoming a major cash crop for decades to come.

The cotton gin was invented at the right time and in the right place to revolutionize the Southern economy and cement the existing slave culture. During the 1790s, tobacco, once the Souths chief export, was no longer the cash crop. Over-supply of tobacco meant low prices, and since tobacco plants quickly exhausted soil nutrients, it became harder to grow.

As the cotton gin was introduced to the South, cotton replaced tobacco as the most profitable crop. The raw cotton yield grew exponentially through the 19th century, making the American South the worlds largest supplier of cotton. Most of the cotton was shipped to England and New England, where textile manufacturing thrived. Cotton allowed the United States to enter into the world market and set the stage for America to become a world power in the decades to come.

However, as cotton plantations grew, so did the amount of enslaved labor needed to grow and pick the profitable plants.

A model of a 19th-century cotton gin on display at

the Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden, Connecticut. (Tom Murphy VII)

From 1790 to 1808, when the slave trade from Africa was banned, more than 80,000 Africans were imported into the South to provide slave labor. By the mid-19th century, about one in three Southerners was a slave. The price of slaves skyrocketed during this economic boom. Slavery would go on to define the South and its culture for much of the next century.

Land was also needed to expand the plantations and grow more cotton. Plantations took up the majority of Southern land, inhibiting the growth of cities and industrial centers. This would lead to a great cultural divide between the agricultural South and industrial North, creating tension between these two halves of the nation. Additionally, the profitability of cotton led to westward expansion as people searched for new land on which to grow it when older plantations succumbed to soil exhaustion. As the country expanded, new states were added, and the political tension over whether the states should allow slavery or not was one of the biggest contributors to the start of the Civil War.

In the end, Catharine had to sell Mulberry Grove to pay off her debts, and she moved her family to Cumberland Island in Georgia. She married Phineas Miller in 1796 and died in 1814 at the age of 59. During her lifetime, Catharine provided much support to those around her, including her husband, his soldiers, and Eli Whitney, but she also looked after herself in the face of adversity.

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.

A previous version of this article contained an incorrect date of birth for Catharine Littlefield Greene. She was born in 1755. American Essence regrets the error.
An image of former President Donald Trump next to a phone screen that is displaying the Truth Social app in Washington, on Feb. 21, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump Posts on Truth Social, Signaling His Return to Social Media

Former President Donald Trump has posted on his Truth Social account signaling his return to social media.

IM BACK! #COVFEFE, Trump wrote on the platform, which he founded and is owned by Trump Media & Technology Group.

In the same post, he also shared a photo of himself appearing to use a phone while standing in front of his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Screengrab of the first @realDonaldTrump post on TRUTH Social. (The Epoch Times)

It comes after Trump said in February that people should get ready and your favorite president will see you soon!

The hashtag covfefe refers to a term Trump first posted in May 2017 on Twitter that said, Despite the negative press covfefe. It received over 122,000 shares and 155,000 likes before being deleted. Trump never corrected the spelling of covfefe nor explained what the term meant, and even wrote the next day, Who can figure out the true meaning of covfefe ??? Enjoy!

The term remains open to interpretation. Some say it refers to the name of a bill introduced in June 2017 by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.)the Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically for Engagement (COVFEFE) Act of 2017which would permanently archive all of a presidents official and personal social media posts, including Twitter posts, while in office. The bill did not pass.

Trumps first Truth Social post comes after Twitter announced on April 25 that its board accepted Elon Musks offer to purchase the company and make it private in an offer valued at about $44 billion.

The former president told Fox News on Monday he would not come back to Twitter and would stay on his own Truth Social platform going forward. The companys CEO is former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.).

Truth Social was launched on Presidents Day Feb. 21, 2022, on Apples App Store.

After over a million users spent weeks on a waitlist, the app switched to Rumbles cloud services on April 22 in a move the company said would enable it to scale significantly. Days later, on April 26, the Truth Social app rose to No. 1 on the Apple App Store downloads list.

An Android app for Truth Social is coming soon to the Google Play Store, according to the company.

A person checks the app store on a smartphone for Truth Socialowned by Trump Media & Technology Groupwith its website on a computer screen in the background, in Los Angeles, Oct. 20, 2021. (Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images)

Twitter banned Trumps account, as well as his campaigns account, while he was still president in 2021, two days after the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol building. Twitter said it permanently banned Trumps account due to the risk of further incitement of violence, citing two posts he made in the aftermath of Jan. 6.

The two posts did not allude to or directly call for any violence, but Twitter said that they were highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Trump had called for peace at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and told Capitol protesters to leave the area.

Facebook also banned Trump later. The company put the ban effective for two years after its independent court ruled that having an indefinite suspension from the platform was not permissible.

Update: This article has been updated with further details on the term covfefe.
Trump White House Blocked CDC From Recommending Virtual Church Services: Emails

President Donald Trumps administration stopped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from recommending people attend church remotely in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to emails made public on April 29.

The CDC planned to include the recommendations in guidance for faith communities released in May 2020, according to an email from May Davis Mailman, a White House lawyer.

Mailman wrote (pdf) that edits the White House made removes all of the tele-church suggestions from the guidance before it was released to the public.

The missive was one of several made public by the House Select Subcommittee for the Coronavirus Crisis.

The guidance did not include advice for attending church remotely, though they did say churches should consider suspending or at least decreasing use of singing during services, a line that was removed after about 24 hours.

In another email, Paul Ray, the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the time, told (pdf) colleagues that the CDCs draft guidance includes a significant amount of new content, much of which seems to raise religious liberty concerns.

Ray suggested edits and said the guidance should only be published if the CDC agreed to delete the offensive passages.

Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to Trump, thanked Ray, saying he was holding firm against the newest round of mission creep.

The group also mentioned possible activity from Trump regarding the church guidance. That day, Trump in a briefing said that houses of worship were essential places that provide essential services and said they should be allowed to reopen.

The declaration came as governors across the country imposed harsh lockdowns, with some forcing the closure of so-called non-essential establishments.

After the guidance was published, Dr. Jay Butler, a CDC official, wrote to colleagues to tell them that he was very troubled because there will people who will get sick and perhaps die because of what we were forced to do.

Our team has done the good work, only to have it compromised, he said in the email, which was released by the House panel.

Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, former editor-in-chief of the CDCs quasi-journal, told Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) during a panel hearing on Friday that in her 20 years at the agency, she never witnessed political officials change public health guidance before it was published due to it being offensive to them.

When scientific reports did not align with their political message, Trump administration officials tried to alter their findings, delay their release, or suppress them entirely, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the panels chairman, said during the hearing, which also included testimony from the Government Accountability Office officials on observed political interference at the CDC and other agencies.

Not everybody saw what transpired the same way, though.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the top Republican on the panel, decried how the CDC during the Biden administration allowed teachers unions to edit guidance on reopening schools before it they were opened, adding: It is interesting to note that Democrat examples that weve seen regarding political interference by the Trump administration involve things like looking to the First Amendment to protect free speech in our churches. Yes. That was something the administration looked at, because even during a pandemic, the Bill of Rights is not discarded.

Ray, the former White House official, told The Epoch Times in an email that the First Amendment guarantees Americans freedom to worship.

CDC has been perfectly clear that there are multiple ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Each faith traditionnot the federal governmentis best situated to understand the demands of its own beliefs and therefore to choose, among the multiple effective means of preventing the viruss spread, those means that best comport with its beliefs. The United States government has no business putting pressure on religious believers to choose methods of protection that clash with their beliefs over other methods that do not. The edits proposed to this document were designed to keep Americans safe while respecting their right to worship as they believe they should, he said.

Mailman, the ex-White House lawyer, told The Epoch Times that the administration shutting down churches and other religious facilities triggered concerns over constitutional rights.

The CDC primarily issues non-binding guidance, but during the pandemic that guidance has been adopted widely in the United States, particularly in 2020, and especially in Democrat-run states and municipalities.

Mailman mentioned in the email how she personally would have preferred drive-through services if she was old and vulnerable, a portion highlighted by Democrats on the panel.

But she said that comment falls in line with the view that people can choose what to do, including during a pandemic.

If an individual felt that they wanted to practice like that, if the church felt that they wanted to practice like that, they absolutely should be allowed to, especially if the congregation wants it, Mailman said. But theres a huge difference between what the congregation wants and what the government tells someone what they have to do or should do.
The UK government says the Online Safety Bill will protect children and others from 'harmful' content. (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

UK Online Safety Bill Could Drive More People Into the Dark Web

Critics of Britains new Online Safety Bill say they fear it will erode freedom of speech and could push more people into seeking alternatives on the dark web.

The Billwhich was last week given an unopposed second reading by British MPswould force Google, Twitter, Meta (formerly Facebook), and others, to abide by a code of conduct, overseen by Ofcom, and remove legal, but harmful content.

Pornography websites would have to use age verification technology to stop under-18s accessing their sites and social media platforms would be obliged not to allow misleading adverts.

Google would be expected to block non-compliant websites.

Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries, speaking on April 28, said: Were entering a new chapter where tech companies are held fully accountable for the content on their platforms. That they uphold their own promises to their users to protect people from toxic, racist, and misogynistic abuse and protect children from cyberbullying and other harmful behaviour. That we make sure the internet is a place where peoples rights to participate in society and engage in robust debate are protected.

She was speaking at the launch of the Declaration for the Future of the Internet, alongside representatives from the United States government and more than 50 other countries.

Nadine Dorries speaks in the House of Commons, in London, on April 3, 2019, in this screen grab taken from video. (Reuters TV via Reuters)

Will Geddes, security expert and co-author of Parent Alert: How to Keep Your Kids Safe Online, said while the Online Safety Bill was well-intentioned, there was a danger it would have unintended consequences.

He said some people, not willing to comply with a highly regulated internet, will move to using Tor and other similar software to access the dark web.

Geddes told The Epoch Times: That is leading people down an even more dangerous path. Because the dark web, or the grey web, is not controlled by anyone. If they want to get Britneys new album they might find a site there where they can download it for free but they could end up with their computer infected by a Trojan or ransomware or other malware.

The dark web is a part of the world wide web that requires special browsers to access. The most popular browser is Tor (from the acronym of its original name The Onion Router) but other search engines include Freenet, I2P, Not Evil, and Haystack.

Dark Web Bypasses Censorship

Cybersecurity and intelligence expert and CEO of Cybhorus, Pierluigi Paganini, told The Epoch Times: There is a wrong perception of the dark web. It is crowded with cybercrime organisations due to the pseudo-anonymity, but darknets are essential ecosystems to bypass censorship and ensure free speech. Consider that most illegal activities today also leverage instant messaging platforms like Telegram, but people are not aware of this and ignore the importance of such kinds of apps for the cybercrime ecosystem.

Geddes said there was a danger the legislation would also make Google toothless as a search engine.

He said: Journalists and security experts will look at terrorist content on the internet for legitimate reasons but a 15-year-old boy or girl might look at it out of curiosity. Children will seek out this content. Youre actually more likely to find it on an app rather than on the big social media platforms.

At the end of the day its a parenting issue, rather than bringing in Draconian rules that cant be enforced, Geddes added.

Tesla CEO Elon Muskwho is buying Twitter for $44 billiongrimaces after arriving on the red carpet for the Axel Springer award in Berlin, Germany, on Dec. 1, 2020. (Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

Elon Musk, who announced the $44 billion takeover of Twitter this week, said: I am against censorship that goes beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.

Conservative MP Damian Collins, chairman of the joint committee on the draft Online Safety Bill, urged Musk to clean up Twitter and said if he wanted to make it a digital town square he needed to remove the co-ordinated armies of bot accounts spreading disinformation and division.

Geddes said Twitter had become a toxic environment but he predicted Elon Musk would find a way to remove the trolls and bots without impinging on free speech.

He added: What Elon Musk does next with Twitter is going to be really interesting. Where does free speech end and abuse begin?

MP Says Free Speech Faces Slow Death

On April 19 Conservative MP Steve Baker, in an opinion piece in The Times of London, coauthored with professor Paul Dolan from the London School of Economics, criticised the Online Safety Bill for the chilling effect they thought it would have on free speech.

They wrote: When social media platforms become required by law to remove content, they will almost certainly start to remove increasing amounts and types of content. Under the threat of penalties, social media companies wont risk allowing content that could come close to legal but harmful to remain on its platform. Free speech and free discussion on the internet will die a slow and painful death.

Paganini said: Despite the Online Safety Bill aims to curb illegal and harmful online content through a new regulatory framework, it could have dramatic consequences on freedom of speech and privacy online.

The removal of legal but potentially harmful speech from social media platforms requests an extraordinary effort from IT giants. The concept of harmful is questionable and leaves ample room for interpretation by the moderator. The companies operating social media platforms will be under pressure and will be obliged to adopt automated systems to scan the content in real-time and block potentially harmful ones, said Paganini.

He said the big tech companies would be tempted to use algorithms to block content that may fall foul of the new law and he said: The spectre of strict censorship could materialise.
A protester holds up a photograph showing murdered civilians of the Ukrainian town of Bucha near Kyiv during a demonstration against the Russian military invasion of Ukraine in Berlin, Germany, on April 6, 2022. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

UK Sends War Crimes Experts to Help Ukraine Investigate Alleged Russian Atrocities

The UK will deploy a team of war crimes experts to support Ukraine with investigations into allegations of Russian atrocities, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has announced.

The team of specialists will assist the Ukrainian government as they gather evidence in preparation for prosecutions of alleged war crimes committed by the invading Russian forces.

In view of reports of alleged cases of rape committed by Russian troops, the British team will include experts in conflict-related sexual violence.

The experts will arrive in Poland in early May and meet international partners, NGOs, refugees, and the Ukrainian government to scope out the assistance they can provide.

Journalists work next to a mass grave in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 4, 2022. (Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

In a statement issued on Friday, Truss said: Russia has brought barbarity to Ukraine and committed vile atrocities, including against women. British expertise will help uncover the truth and hold Putins regime to account for its actions. Justice will be done.

Following talks with the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Friday, the foreign secretary said it is vital that those who committed war crimes are held to account.

This is about collecting a wide range of evidencewitness statements, forensic evidence, video evidence, she told broadcasters.

We will also use British intelligence to help show the link between what is happening on the front line and the Russian authorities, because it is important that everybody in the chain of command is held to account, she added.

Truss said bringing perpetrators of war crimes to justice would help prevent further atrocities by demonstrating to people that if they do commit war crimes, if they do use rape as a weapon of war, they will be held to account.

Also on Friday, the UK Foreign Office said it is urgently seeking more information following reports of two British humanitarian workers being detained by Russian forces in the country.

The two Britons have been identified as Paul Urey and Dylan Healey by UK non-profit organization Presidium Network.

A statement from Ureys mother, Linda, released by the organization, said the family members are extremely worried.

The two British civilians were working as humanitarian aid volunteers when they were captured by the Russian military on April 25 at a checkpoint south of the city of Zaporizhzhia in the southeast of the country, according to the NGO.

Meanwhile, around 8,000 British Army troops are to take part in exercises across Eastern Europe in one of the largest deployments since the Cold War.

Dozens of tanks will be deployed to countries ranging from Finland to North Macedonia this summer under plans that have been enhanced since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the show of solidarity and strength will see UK service personnel joining with NATO allies and those from the Joint Expeditionary Force alliance, which includes Finland and Sweden, for the exercises.

PA Media contributed to this report.
A demonstrator holds a French flag with the slogan "Freedom of Speech" during a demonstration in Paris on Oct. 18, 2020 . Demonstrations around France have been called in support of freedom of speech. (Michel Euler/AP Photo)

US Cancel Culture is Quietly Infiltrating French Society

What started as a left-leaning movement in the United States that targets public figures through shaming tactics has caught fire via social media through hashtags such as #MeToo, giving rise to a pervasive sub-society known as cancel culture.

However, it has moved well beyond U.S. borders and is becoming what some French consider a blight upon their society and its Canadian counterpart.

The refusal to call into question ones beliefs or certainties, to be confronted by or even hear of opposing points of view shows a worrying retreat of the democratic mind, Quebec Education Minister Jean-Francois Roberge and Frances minister of national education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, wrote in an open letter.

The two educational leaders criticized the self-described woke agenda and its toll on French culture in both countries in recent years. Collectively, they described it as a culture of intolerance and erasure that arrived from U.S. universities.

Quebec education minister Jean-Francois Roberge speaks during a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic at the legislature in Quebec City, on June 2, 2020. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

In the United States, a battle against woke-related censorship erupted last month as Elon Musk clinched a deal to acquire Twitter on April 25.

Musk has become what many consider a free-speech hero in the wake of the nations increasingly aggressive censorship and the removal of social media accounts with content that contradicts popular woke narratives.

As with many controversial movements, American cancel culture got its foot in the door with French Canadians and in France via the education system.

In 2019, more than 4,700 books were removed from library shelves in 30 secondary schools across southwestern Ontario and burned in a flame purification ceremony as a symbol of reconciliation with the regions indigenous people and the abolishment of outdated social representations.

Among the literary casualties were the comics Tintin and Lucky Luke, both of which have been long-standing cultural touchstones.

Canadian politicians sharply criticized the gesture, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said, On a personal level, I would never agree to the burning of books.

In France, American-style cancel culture has also infiltrated universities since 2019, giving rise to movements directed at everything from public monuments to art and the denouncing of celebrated intellectuals such as Alain Finkielkraut.

During a lecture titled Modernity, heritage, and progress, Finkielkraut was forced to dodge anti-racist protests and cancel culture supporters over his avid defense of Western traditions at the elite Paris university Sciences Po.

At the renowned Sorbonne University, protesters boycotted a theatrical performance of the classic Greek play The Suppliants by Aeschylus over similarities between the actors dark masks and American blackface makeup.

Newly reelected French President Emmanuel Macron waves from his car after his visit at the Saint-Christophe market square in Cergy, a Paris suburb, on April 27, 2022. (Benoit Tessier, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, who won a second term in office on April 24, was candid in his assessment of the origins of cancel culture.

There are certain social science theories entirely imported from the United States, he said.

Macron maintains that Americas woke agenda is racializing his country and creating more division, which has earned him scorn from progressives across the board.

However, many support his stance on cancel culture, including French Diversity Minister Elisabeth Moreno.

The woke culture is something very dangerous, and we shouldnt bring it to France, Moreno said.

In the United States, former U.S. President Donald Trump hasnt been coy in expressing his thoughts about the dangers of Americas woke agenda.

This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and to our values and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America.
The U.S. Coast Guard stopped more than 80 migrants off the Bahamas and the Florida Keys last week in Fla. in an undated photo. (Dreamstime/TNS)

US Coast Guard Stops a Total of 84 Cuban Migrants at Sea Over a 3-Day Span

By David Goodhue

From Miami Herald

MIAMIThe U.S. Coast Guard stopped a total of 84 people from Cuba migrating by sea off the Bahamas and the Florida Keys last week.

A Coast Guard cutter, the Paul Clark, returned the people to Cuba on Wednesday, the agency said.

They were stopped on the ocean between Sunday, April 17, and Tuesday, April 19. One group was 23 miles southwest of Cay Sal in the Bahamas.

The other four groups were interdicted in various areas of the Middle Keys, according to the Coast Guard.

South Florida is in the midst of a surge in maritime migration from both Cuba and Haiti.

More Haitians are taking to the seas to flee increasing violence and political instability than at any other time since 2004. The Coast Guard said its stopped 3,519 people since the beginning of October.

Additionally, more Cubans have been stopped at sea between the island nation and South Florida since the fall than at any other point in more than five years, according to the Coast Guard.

So far this fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1 and ends in September, the Coast Guard said its South Florida-based crews have interdicted 1,446 people from Cuba.

That number is almost on course to surpass the 1,468 people stopped in all of the fiscal year 2017. It was the final year of the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot immigration policy, which incentivized maritime migration from Cuba because those who stepped foot on U.S. soil were allowed to stay and apply for permanent residency after a year.

Cubans caught on the water were returned under the policy.

After the Obama administration ended wet-foot, dry-foot, maritime migration from Cuba dropped year-by-year to the point where by fiscal year 2020, the Coast Guard only caught 49 people trying to make the dangerous journey across the Florida Straits.

Experts on Cuba say deteriorating political and economic conditions within the communist country are behind the latest surge.

2022 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Anticipating a surge in illegal immigration this summer, President Joe Biden spoke with Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on April 29. Conservative political commentator and author Matt Walsh has accused Amazon of unfairly censoring his top-selling book, Johnny the Walrus.
Rashad Hussain, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, meets representatives of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong in Washington, on April 25, 2022. (Courtesy of Minghui.org)

US Religious Freedom Ambassador Meets With Representatives of Falun Gong Amid Ongoing CCP Persecution

U.S. State Department officials met six representatives of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong on April 25 for an update on the decades-long ongoing persecution in China.

The day marks the 23rd anniversary of a peaceful appeal dated back to 1999, when an estimated 10,000 adherents of Falun Gong, a meditation practice that was first introduced to the public in northeastern China in the early 1990s, gathered around the Chinese communist headquarters in Beijing.

The attempt to appeal to authorities for an environment to practice their faith without state interference or harassment, however, turned out to be in vain and the regime soon launched a long-lasting campaign to eradicate the spiritual group, which continues today.

No one deserves to suffer harassment, torture, or imprisonment for their faith, said Rashad Hussain, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, in an April 26 Twitter post.

A day earlier, Hussain condemned in his opening remarks Beijings ruthless persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China as being unacceptable and intolerable, according to Minghui.org, a website that documents the CCPs campaign of persecution against Falun Gong.

The ambassador made clear his intention to be very forceful in confronting the CCP about the persecution of Falun Gong, Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, who also attended the April 25 meeting, told The Epoch Times.

Levi Browde, a partner with a Manhattan-based software company and the executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, speaks at a Falun Gong rally on May 14, 2014. (Dai Bing/The Epoch Times)

A leaked document has shown that despite struggling to curb the pandemic in China, the communist regime continued to persecute Falun Gong adherents. Yet while lockdowns have been lifted in many cities of China, the number of arrests and harassment against Falun Gong practitioners has risen sharply, practitioners said during the meeting.

Chinese authorities arrested Fang Bin, the first Chinese citizen journalist who reported on the beginnings of the COVID-19 pandemic in central China, in early 2020. Being a Falun Gong practitioner, Fang suffered especially long detention and he has not been released yet, according to Minghui.org.

Ji Yunzhi, a Falun Gong practitioner and the mother of an attendee at the Monday meeting, was arrested on Feb. 1, three days before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, and died of torture while in custody last month.

Zhang Yuhua was one Falun Gong practitioner present in the meeting. Zhang herself had spent a total of 7 1/2 years in prison due to her beliefs. Her husband Ma Zhenyu, a radar engineer, experienced repeated torture during his 12 years in detention. In 2019, he was denied meals while forced to run 12 miles every day under the hot summer sun. Just one week before his release from detention, authorities drew 3 large tubes full of his blood, Zhang said in a speech at the meeting. Ma has been under strict surveillance since his release in 2020. Theres a special camera above the door of his apartment thats monitored by the police, she said.

He is specially targeted and must go through special security checks at public transport like the railway station or in the train car and at the airport. If the 610 Office find Falun Gong material in his bags, they can arrest him, Zhang said, referring to a body that is specifically charged with persecuting Falun Gong adherents.

Organ Harvesting

According to Browde, Hussain asked representatives to send the department the latest round of phone call investigations of the hospitals where state-sanctioned organ harvesting of Falun Gong adherents in China takes place.

Such human rights crimes were first brought to light in 2006 by a whistleblower whose ex-husband is a brain surgeon in northeast China who participated in removing the corneas of about 2,000 anesthetized Falun Gong prisoners.

Human rights researchers have been making phone call investigations of medical professionals at Chinese hospitals in the past decades. In the calls, they present themselves as a potential patient needing an organ. During many of the attempts, medical professionals have admitted that the live organs come from adherents of Falun Gong,

It was not until 2019 that an independent tribunal concluded, after a yearlong investigation, that the practice had occurred for years on a substantial scale and continues to persist.

Medical personnel in military hospitals that were the predominant perpetrators of organ harvesting have been moving quietly into civilian hospitals in an attempt to avoid attention, Browde told The Epoch Times.

We look forward to working with his office and other areas of the U.S. government to continue sanctions and other measures to penalize, in real terms, the perpetrators of the wrongful detention, torture, and killing of Falun Gong practitioners, he said.

The State Department on March 21 announced the imposing of visa restrictions on Chinese officials responsible for repressive acts against ethnic and religious minorities inside China and abroad, including the United States.

It was not specified who would be targeted or how many were subjected to the new restrictions.

Eva Fu contributed to this report.
Victorian Liberal Slam Labors Plans to Build Second Drug Injection Room

The Victorian Liberals have slammed the state governments plans to build a second drug injection room in metropolitan Melbourne, stating that it must not go ahead as the release of the consultation report on the second room gets further delayed.

Labor is focused on further destroying the CBDs efforts to recover and rebuild by putting an injecting room at the gateway to Melbournes CBD, said Emma Kealy, the Victorian Shadow Minister for Mental Health.

The condemnation comes as the state governments long-awaited consultation report on the second room, originally expected to be completed by the end of 2020, remain delayed with no news of its expected completion date.

The promise of a consultation report came as the Victorian Government announced a second medically supervised drug injection room on June 5, 2020, following the recommendations of an independent review panel.

The first drug injection room, established in June 2018, was made to supervise the administration of methamphetamine and heroin for drug users.

Though the establishment was absolutely positive in its effects on controlling drug abuse and deaths from overdose, it also concentrated drug crimes and abuse within the local neighbourhood, worsened by the reality that the room was right next to a local primary school.

Parents told the Herald Sun of stories of their children being to be able to differentiate between methamphetamine and heroin abusers they encounter on the way to school simply by their behaviour.

An adults dead body was also found by the school in May 2021.

On June 6, 2020, the Victorian government announced it would establish a second room in Melbourne CBD near Queen Victoria Market, a popular tourist attraction.

The Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews said that he was absolutely convinced that the second facility would save lives.

However, the announcement was met with backlash both by the local residents and the council, upset at the sudden announcement without any consultation.

Though the second room is now expected to be established on Flinders Street, at the very heart of the Melbourne CBD, outcries still persist, with local businesses pleading the government to establish a room away from the metropolitan area.

Nonetheless, no announcement of a report on the consultation of the second room has been released.

Kealy slammed the secrecy of the report and said that local traders feared the Government will push ahead with its plans for a second injecting room without seeing the final recommendations of the unreleased report.

Labors claims that consultation couldnt take place during lockdown are a weak excuse, given it managed to run online consultations on numerous other projects in the past two years, she said.

However, Andrews stated that there is a need for the government to do more to save lives and to change lives not just in North Richmond, but according to our expert panel in the City of Melbourne as well.

Both the Victorian Police Association and councillors of the Melbourne City Council have also opposed the Governments plans.

The Mayor for the City of Melbourne Sally Capp expressed that she would not be supporting the establishment of the second room at the current location.

Councillor Roshena Campbell, put forth another motion in the council room to end the motion for a second establishment of the injection room on April 28, 2022.

The movement comes amidst election season with the federal election expected to be held on May 21.
The JPMorgan Chase headquarters are pictured in New York on April 17, 2019. (Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images)

Wall Street Banks Keep Doubling Down on China

Commentary

Despite an extremely challenging operating environment, Wall Street investment banks continue to be bullish on their China business.

JPMorgan Chase was recently demoted as the lead underwriter for the Hong Kong IPO of a Chinese software giant after the bank published research that was unflattering to the company and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime.

The bank was poised to be the coveted lead-left banker on Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Hong Kong listing, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the proceedings. JPMorgan is still one of the underwriters, but has lost its role as the lead underwriter, now occupied by UBS and China International Capital Corp.

Apparently one of the banks equity research analysts cut its earnings estimates on Kingsoft recently. In addition, JPMorgan research analysts recently cut their ratings on dozens of Chinese companies in March, including stating that the Chinese internet industry had become uninvestable.

Clearly, the banks unflattering research could have something to do with its demotion as one of Kingsofts advisors. Never mind that a banks investment banking team, which advises clients on capital raising and IPOs, must maintain strict separation from its research analysts, who advise clients on where to invest, and the two departments cannot influence each others work. This, ironically, is called a Chinese wall in industry parlance.

The CCP couldnt be bothered with such trivial compliance matters, of course. And JPMorgan pays the price.

In the grand scheme of things, the Kingsoft deal is immaterial. But the anecdote underscores a tricky tightrope Wall Street investment banks are walking in China. But despite this complicated operating backdrop, the Chinese regimes punishing zero-COVID policy, a stagnant economy, and heightened China-U.S. political animosity, Western investment banks continue to double down on their expansion plans in the worlds number two economy.

JPMorgan has been revamping its China business recently, after becoming the first foreign bank to receive CCP approval for full ownership of its domestic Chinese business. Recently it announced that its top investment bank executive in China, Houston Huang, is leaving his post as of April 15. Huang is being replaced by Lu Fang, a former official who spent more than a decade at China Securities Regulatory Commission, the countrys securities industry regulator.

This changing of the guard is seen as a move to appease the Beijing authorities and solidify the banks position domestically. Last year, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon came under fire in China after joking that his bank would eventually outlast the CCP.

Wall Street investment banks are doubling down on China even in the face of logistical challenges such as Chinas strict COVID-19 lockdowns, such as the recent weeks-long shutdown of Shanghai, Chinas financial center.

China also needs to court such investments to maintain its U.S. dollar supply. As of Sept. 30, 2021, China had almost $1.3 trillion in dollar-denominated debt outstanding, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. Such borrowings debt service must be paid in U.S. dollars.

Whats in it for the banks? A slice of Chinas $58 trillion financial services sector, and the fees associated with arranging debt and equity raises, investment management, and mergers and acquisitions advisory. Western banks are counting on their name brands and vast experience to take market share quickly.

In practice, its unclear how Western banks can realize their China potential. U.S. investment banks were barred from participating in the massive $4.4 billion stock listing of Chinese energy giant CNOOC in April, due to U.S. sanctions. The worsening U.S.-China political landscape means that being locked out of Chinese deals could be the norm, not the exception.

But for now, the expansion continues. Shanghai, specifically, is where the banks are looking to increase their presence since the CCP has opened up the nations securities sector. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan recently shifted some staff from Hong Kong to Shanghai. Other banks, including Credit Suisse and UBS, are also increasing their investment banking workforce in Shanghai.

This is despite Shanghai employing one of the strictest lockdowns in China, confining residents to their homes for weeks on end. To ease the burden on its staff, Goldman charted vehicles to deliver food to its staff in Shanghai. There are anecdotes of staff at other banks living in and sleeping on the trading floor to avoid being confined to their homes.

Despite paying lip service, few global senior banking executives are keen to visit their China branch. Other than JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimons brief trip to Hong Kong in November, no international banking boss has set foot in China for almost three years, a Financial Times column recently observed.

No matter, investment banks are hoping that in the long run it will all be worth it. Right?

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Weaponized National Security Apparatus Makes for Dangerous America

Commentary

While Americas ruling regime engages in a war on wrongthink, targeting perceived enemiesincluding those it sometimes resorts to creatingwith all its might, actual enemies of the republic continue to be able to plot, plan, and sometimes strike.

Consider a few recent stories that illustrate this point and their ramifications.

Several weeks ago in a Michigan court, a massive federal prosecution collapsed when a jury found that one of the most politically potent October surprises imaginable was a farce.

Recall that in the heat of the 2020 presidential election, the FBI revealed that it had foiled a plot by a group of purported militiamen, allegedly enraged over Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmers Chinese coronavirus policies, to kidnap her.

The accused, a ragtag pro-Trump and anti-government group who were allegedly behind the wild operation, seemed straight out of central casting in the minds eye of a left that increasingly characterizes its political foes as terrorists.

Whitmer, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, and the political class and corporate media predictably blamed then-President Donald Trump.

Look at what the bad orange man provoked, they said.

Well never know the extent to which this pre-insurrectionary narrative affected voters, but in a pivotal swing state such as Michigan, which had hinged on such a small vote margin in 2016, and in the throes of a heavy early-voting election, the impact weeks out from Election Day could well have been meaningful, if not decisive.

As the alleged conspiracy moved toward trial, suddenly, it began to unravel. In July 2021days after the Biden administration had released its National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, which would cite militia violent extremists alongside racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists as presenting the most persistent and lethal threats to the homelandBuzzFeed reported stunning revelations about the case.

The federal government had at least 12 confidential informants involved in the kidnapping caper.

Working in secret, they did more than just passively observe and report on the actions of the suspects, the BuzzFeed article reads. Instead, they had a hand in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot, starting with its inception. The extent of their involvement raises questions as to whether there would have even been a conspiracy without them.

As James Bovard more recently detailed in the New York Post, one informant, Stephen Robeson, a man with a lengthy rap sheet, had organized key events to build the anti-Whitmer cohort. Another, Dan Chapel, would become second-in-command and lead the military training of the group.

Though several militia members explicitly opposed kidnapping the governor, Chapel and Robeson helped hatch a ludicrous plot to snatch Whitmer from her vacation home and take her away for trial, Bovard wrote. FBI operatives took the participants, who prattled idiotically about stealing a Blackhawk helicopter, for drives near Whitmers vacation home, which supposedly proved they were going to nab the governor and unleash havoc.

It was all a setup. Shortly before that excursion, an FBI agent texted instructions to Chapel: Mission is to kill the governor specifically. There were as many FBI informants and undercover agents as there were purported plotters in this case.

A Michigan jury concurred with the assessment that this was a fed-concocted plotthat the government had entrapped the defendants.

Of the four alleged conspirators, including two ringleaders tried in the Michigan court, two were acquitted on all charges. A hung jury failed to convict the pair of purported leaders.

The investigation, heralded as a major coup by federal prosecutors, proved to be a calamity on the merits.

But politically, the feds succeeded in helping generate a data point used to justify its war on wrongthink, which would be supercharged by Jan. 6, 2021. The plot, and the plotters, fit to a tee the National Terrorism Advisory Bulletins that the Biden administration would put forth subsequent to the Capitol breach, claiming, albeit euphemistically, that the preeminent threat to the United States was the frothing mad MAGA mob.

Speaking of, there was another major acquittal in Washington in recent daysfrom the so-called insurrection. Despite prosecutors best efforts, for the first time, a Jan. 6, 2021, defendant was acquitted on all trumped-up trespassing charges faced for having entered the Capitol, spent 10 minutes there, and left. He argued that he had been waved in by security.

The judge overseeing the bench case concurred. If this precedent were to hold, potentially countless Jan. 6, 2021, defendants might be let off, as videos indicate that perhaps hundreds of individuals were let in by security that day. This, of course, further discredits the insurrection narrative.

As does the fact that a recent court filing suggests that there were at least 20 federal assets embedded around the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, fueling further questions about what the government was doing that day and why its so reluctant to answer questions about it or disclose footage of it. How should the public perceive this revelationwhich authorities havent disputed, unlike when questioned about a seeming provocateur in Ray Eppsin light of the governments involvement in the Whitmer plot? And what should we make of the fact that as the intrepid Julie Kelly has honed in on, the director of the FBIs Detroit field office under which the Whitmer investigation/operation was run was bumped up to head the FBIs Washington office three months before the Capitol breach?

While purported white nationalist violent extremists are portrayed as the great threat to the homeland, an apparent black nationalist violent extremist attacked New Yorkers in a Brooklyn subway. As counterterror analyst Kyle Shideler noted, [Frank] James made repeated and routine references to violence and a willingness to conduct a shooting on social media, and he posted material linked to black identity extremist ideologies. Further, Jamess articulation of black identity extremism appears cogent and in line with common ideological expressions.

Is it possible that James slipped through the cracks because the security state has de-emphasized black identity extremists?

As Just the News reported:

In a 2017 intelligence assessment, the FBI warned what it called black identity extremists could launch violent attacks in the United States, especially against law enforcement. After the report leaked, liberal groups including the Congressional Black Caucus pressured the bureau to drop its categorization, according to Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez, who detailed the chain of events in his 2021 book BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution.

That led the FBI to eliminate its category of black identity extremism as a potential motivation for terrorism and instead adopt the term racially and ethnically motivated violent extremist, which is supposed to cover all ethnically motivated violence but, according to critics, is used to focus on white supremacists.

Such willful blindness may well have devastating consequences.

Another threat in effect downplayed by our regime is that of Islamic terrorists and specifically that posed by their greatest state benefactor, Iranwith which the Biden administration is seeking to strike another disastrous nuclear deal right now, seemingly at any and all costs.

That Iran wishes to avenge the death of former Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani by targeting prominent U.S. officials alone should probably kill any deal.

Yet, when just the kind of individuals who might execute such an operation acted suspiciously on our shores, authorities were incapable of sniffing them outand of course, the administration refused to budge.

Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali, men residing in Washington with alleged substantial ties to Iran, were able to develop large weapons caches, rent out apartments on behalf of federal officials, and cultivate ties with them under false pretenses that they were Homeland Security officials, all while allegedly trying to infiltrate the Secret Service.

As Lee Smith said, It seems odd that these actions barely raised the suspicions of the numerous federal agents living in [their] building.

Indeed.

Their efforts only made it onto law enforcements radar on a fluke, thanks to the work of an alert postal investigator looking into a March assault on a postal worker.

Remarkedly, despite the obvious potential threat, a federal judge in Washington ordered the men released on bailat the very time Capitol breachers with no criminal backgrounds and hit with nonviolent charges, facing the same court, languish in abhorrent conditions in pretrial detention.

This is just a few weeks in the United States under our current regime, but it reveals the great challenge we face with a national security apparatus that increasingly seems to conflate the regime with the nation as it weaponizes against the regimes purported foes, while city streets devolve into chaos and dysfunction and other threats to the homeland proliferate.

And all of this largely in the name of wokeness and equity.

Ones position on the war on wrongthink, which ultimately threatens not just liberty but American life, must be a litmus test for our political leaders.

They must articulate their understanding of the problem and how theyll combat it, or well cease to be America.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro looks on before delivering a statement to the media with U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien (not pictured) at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on Oct. 20, 2020. (Adriano Machado/Reuters)

Why Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Deserves to Be Re-elected: Part 1

Commentary

Jair Messias Bolsonaro is a retired military officer who has been the 38th President of Brazil since January 2019. When he was elected the nations president in November 2018, he singlehandedly brought an end to four decades of notoriously corrupt left-wing rule in the country.

Bolsonaros presidential campaign first gained traction when he promised to radically reduce crime in what used to be the worlds most homicidal countries. Bolsonaro himself was the victim of a brutal political crime while campaigning for the presidency, nearly fatally stabbed during a public rally in the city of Juiz de Fora near Rio de Janeiro.

The attacker was a left-wing extremist who was a member of the PSOL (Socialism and Liberty Party), a far-left party that split from former President Lulas Workers Party. After spending a month in the hospital, Bolsonaro struggled to return to the campaign trail and needed multiple surgeries to prevent further injury.

While the end of the countrys military regime in the 1980s was hailed as the commencement of a new era of human rights, from 1985 (the first year of civilian government) to 2018, the number of Brazilians who became victims of murder grew by astounding 257 percent.

However, after Bolsonaro became the President of Brazil, the murder rate began to drop quite dramatically. In his first year of presidency, it dropped by a whopping 25 percent in the first two months of 2019, compared with the same period in 2018. Improvements were also found in indicators of numerous other types of crimes, with dramatic falls in cases of rape, vehicle theft, grievous bodily harm, and armed robberies.

These impressive figures presented a positive step forward for Bolsonaro, especially when he was facing criticisms over his response to the fires taking place throughout the Amazon Rainforest.

In August 2019, Frances President Francois Macron told lies about the Amazon rainforest burning on an unprecedented scale in Brazil. Everything Macron showedfrom the photo shared on his Twitter account to the wild claim about these fires harming the whole of humanitywas patently false.

In reality, under Bolsonaros presidency, writes Sergio Moreira Lima, Brazils ambassador to Australia, deforestation of the Amazon has been reduced by 72 percent. In addition, about 9.4 million hectares of native forest are now entirely regenerated, and forests are planted on a further 2 million hectares.

Fires, burning in the Amazon Rainforest are pictured from space, captured by the geostationary weather satellite GOES-16 on Aug. 21, 2019. (NASA/NOAA/Handout via Reuters)

As the Brazilian ambassador also points out, 60 percent of the nations landscape remains covered by native vegetation, and protected areas amount to more than 25 percent of the entire national territory50 percent in the Amazon region alone. By comparison, only 30 percent of the Brazilian territory is dedicated to agriculture and ranching, while in some European countries, these figures are 65 percent.

Jair Bolsonaro entered politics in the 1990s as a former army captain with an undeniable conservative agenda. The mainstream media, both national and international, does not appreciate his conservative approach and often portrays him as a threat to democracy when such a threat actually comes from the left, including some members of the nations highest court.

On April 20, the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil arbitrarily decided by ten votes to one, to sentence Congressman Daniel Silveira to eight years and nine months in prison for posting insults against members of that court on social media.

Chief Justice Luiz Fux argued that Silveiras comments constituted criminal anarchy against democratic institutions, while Justice Alexandre De Moraes, who acted as rapporteur in the case, downplayed the defences argument that the lawmakers remarks fell under the umbrella of parliamentary immunity.

The constitution does not allow freedom of expression to be used as a shield for hate speech and attacks against institutions, De Moraes said.

Of course, the trial and conviction of an elected politician were entirely political and it violates the important principle of parliamentary immunity. The conservative federal MP was then sentenced to prison in an initially closed regime for verbally offending the very judges, who also stripped him of his seat in Congress and barred him from running for any public office in the October elections.

Justices of this Court, who effectively acted in this case as investigators, judges, and executers in their own cause, also imposed a heavy fine of $41,600 on this elected legislator in addition to requesting the removal of his parliamentary status.

Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro with the Brazilian Constitution during a motorcade and demonstration in favor of the government and against the Supreme Court amidst the coronavirus pandemic in front Supreme Court in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 31, 2020. (Andressa Anholete/Getty Images)

Society is in legitimate shock at the conviction of a parliamentarian protected by the inviolability of opinion granted to him by the Constitution, who only made use of his freedom of expression, President Bolsonaro said.

These new powers of the nations Supreme Court are entirely unconstitutional. In Brazil, there is an incredible politicisation of the courts by which individual judges effectively consider themselves to be above the law.

Brazilians tend to see these judicial rulings as usually uncertain and unjust. They believe that these unelected members of the judiciary have failed them, and they now support a democratically elected president who has demonstrated enough courage to use his constitutional prerogative to pardon that elected legislator. And the president did just that a day after the legislator was convicted for criticising those very judges who prosecuted and condemned him, thus violating the doctrine of separation of powers and the most elementary principles of due process.

Bolsonaro then posted on his Facebook an important message to explain that he was pardoning the elected legislator in the name of freedom of expression, an essential pillar of our democratic society.

According to the president,

The granting of a pardon is a constitutional, discretionary, and exceptional presidential measure aimed at preserving the traditional mechanism of checks and balances based on the separation of powers.  As the President, I have been democratically entrusted by the Constitution with the task of seriously looking after the public interest. Our society is now in authentic commotion, in view of the condemnation of a parliamentarian who should be protected by the principle of parliamentary inviolability of opinion and who simply dared to exercise his freedom of expression.

This bizarre episode helps put into a proper perspective the current political scenario in Brazil. At home and abroad, a deeply biased media keeps spreading false claims that Bolsonaro is a racist, misogynistic, homophobic, fascist, etc.

No, he is none of such things. He is a true patriot and a defender of the rule of law.

Part II coming soon.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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A Michigan police officer who fatally shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head had no complaints of excessive force against him but much praise for traffic stops that turned up drugs, guns and people wanted for crimes, according to his personnel file.

Records released Friday by Grand Rapids police show Christopher Schurr received more than a dozen letters of recognition since becoming an officer in 2015. The incidents sometimes began with a stop because of a missing brake light or a driver's sudden swift turn.

Your quick and professional actions resulted in another firearm being removed from the streets and two parolees taken into custody, then-Chief David Rahinsky wrote in 2017.

It's possible that complaints against Schurr are no longer in his file. The contract between Grand Rapids and the police union allows expungement of older records if officers complete two years without a disciplinary action.

A few past incidents that brought Schurr positive recognition turned into foot chases. A foot chase is what happened on April 4 when he stopped a car driven by Lyoya, a Black man, and said the license plate didn't match the vehicle.

Schurr, who is white, and Lyoya physically struggled across a front lawn while Lyoya's passenger recorded the scene on his phone.

Lyoya, 26, was on the ground when Schurr shot him after demanding that he take his hand off the officer's Taser, according to video.

State police investigating the shooting submitted a report Thursday to the Kent County prosecutor, who will consider if any charges are warranted. Chris Becker said he still needs reports about Schurr's Taser and body-worn camera.

A witness to the confrontation told Grand Rapids police that Schurr did everything he could to de-escalate the situation, according to an incident report released Friday, though some experts, civil rights groups and Lyoya's family vigorously disagree.

Lyoya's parents want Schurr fired and charged with crimes.

Schurr's personnel file, released to The Associated Press under a public records request, reveals only a few warts. He was ordered to drive safely after causing a crash while backing up his patrol car in 2021.

That same year Schurr said he stopped a car because an air freshener dangling from a mirror could obstruct the driver's vision. A search turned up a small safe that was subsequently broken open by a tow-truck driver at the request of another officer. A portion of a stolen gun was inside.

The search was deemed OK by internal affairs investigators, but Schurr was criticized for not reporting the broken safe, records show.

Schurr's file shows he was assigned early in his career to the south side of Grand Rapids, where a night-shift team of seven to 11 officers was given a performance award for 2016.

Rahinsky noted more than 500 felony arrests during countless foot chases, robberies, stolen car recoveries and other police responses, and no citizen complaints for excessive force or disrespect.

___

Find the APs full coverage of the fatal police shooting of Patrick Lyoya: https://apnews.com/hub/patrick-lyoya

___

White reported from Detroit. Condon reported from New York.
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NORWALK  City and community leaders celebrated the 150th anniversary of Arbor Day with a tree planting ceremony Friday at Naramake Elementary School.

Members of the Norwalk Tree Alliance, the Norwalk Tree Advisory and Eversource arborist Samuel Berg led the ceremony that included planting one Eastern Redbud tree on an island in front of the school and two Red Maple trees in the city right-of-way along King Street also near the school.

A group of third-grade students from Naramake read a poem called Trees! Trees! Trees! and Mayor Harry Rilling read the 2022 Arbor Day Proclamation, designating April 29, 2022 as Arbor Day in the city.

The benefits of adding more trees to our community are endless, Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling said during the ceremony. This year alone, the city has committed over $1 million towards tree planting.

emily.morgan@hearstmediact.com
Edwardsville Fire Chief James Whiteford updated the public safety committee Tuesday on the Ferrellgas propane tank farm.

He said he received a reinspection report earlier that day that cleared the site of all issues found by the state fire marshal last month except for one. Whiteford did not have a copy of the report with him Tuesday.

Resident Kenny Krumeich recently voiced concerns about the tank farm and the safety threat it poses, among other issues.

RELATED: Edwardsville resident seeks removal of propane tanks near his neighborhood

In 1967, the Edwardsville City Planning Commission heard a request from Skelly Oil Company (Skelgas) for a variance to store 60,000 gallons of flammable material on a 672-square-foot lot at the intersection of First Avenue and Longfellow Avenue. At that time, Edwardsville grew more in a north-south direction than the eastward trajectory favored now. Troy Road was the only north-south arterial road; there was no Plum Street west of Skelgas or a Governors' Parkway yet.

On Aug. 24, 1967, the Edwardsville City Council approved a motion to have flammable material stored at the site. At the time, Skelgas had someone in the local office six days a week. Ferrellgas bought Skelgas in 1996 and the office at the Edwardsville site closed years ago. There are still numerous tanks at the site.

On March 24, the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal (OSFM), conducted an inspection of the property. Information from the OSFM report included notes such as a large tank being too close to residential areas, an unverifiable date on a tank due to locked fencing and a lack of signage and proper extinguishers in place.

He said there are still multiple, smaller, empty containers and remnants of a shipping facility on-site and they haven't been maintained as good as one might expect. Other issues included a lack of on-site supervision and no contact telephone number in case of a problem or an emergency.The report added that no other action has been taken at this time.

After that report, Whiteford said Ferrellgas made some property improvements and were re-inspected. One of the OSFM requirements is for Ferrellgas to post the emergency contact information visible to first responders and neighbors. Another change is in leak detection, usually a laser eye that recognizes gas clouds. Left near tanks, if the system spies a leak, it shuts down the tank or system.

While that was going on, the city did another property inspection and found a few items that could be improved upon, Whiteford said. He said a 30,000-gallon propane tank Ferrellgas uses as a substation or storage depot for the company's smaller trucks had been one of the issues. Ferrellgas fills its smaller trucks to deliver propane to customers in Highland, Alton and Belleville.

Whiteford clarified that Ferrellgas undergoes two separate inspections. The one from Edwardsville focuses on the location site, ensuring the property meets current life safety requirements, including ingress and egress to allow the department to put out any fires, while tanks themselves are inspected by the state fire marshal.

Reporter Scott Marion contributed information to this article.
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NEW DELHI (AP)  An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Gigantic landfills in India's capital New Delhi have caught fire in recent weeks. Schools in eastern Indian state Odisha have been shut for a week and in neighboring West Bengal, schools are stocking up on oral rehydration salts for kids. On Tuesday, Rajgarh, a city of over 1.5 million people in central India, was the country's hottest, with daytime temperatures peaking at 46.5 degrees Celsius (114.08 Fahrenheit). Temperatures breached the 45 C (113 F) mark in nine other cities.

But it was the heat in March  the hottest in India since records first started being kept in 1901  that stunted crops. Wheat is very sensitive to heat, especially during the final stage when its kernels mature and ripen. Indian farmers time their planting so that this stage coincides with India's usually cooler spring.

Climate change has made Indias heat wave hotter, said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the Imperial College of London. She said that before human activities increased global temperatures, heat waves like this year's would have struck India once in about half a century.

But now it is a much more common event  we can expect such high temperatures about once in every four years," she said.

India's vulnerability to extreme heat increased 15% from 1990 to 2019, according to a 2021 report by the medical journal The Lancet. It is among the top five countries where vulnerable people, like the old and the poor, have the highest exposure to heat. It and Brazil have the the highest heat-related mortality in the world, the report said.

Farm workers like Baldev Singh are among the most vulnerable. Singh, a farmer in Sangrur in northern Indias Punjab state, watched his crop shrivel before his eyes as an usually cool spring quickly shifted to unrelenting heat. He lost about a fifth of his yield. Others lost more.

I am afraid the worst is yet to come, Singh said.

Punjab is India's grain bowl" and the government has encouraged cultivation of wheat and rice here since the 1960s. It is typically the biggest contributor to India's national reserves and the government had hoped to buy about a third of this year's stock from the region. But government assessments predict lower yields this year, and Devinder Sharma, an agriculture policy expert in northern Chandigarh city. said he expected to get 25% less.

The story is the same in other major wheat-producing states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Overall, India purchased over 43 million metric tons (47.3 million U.S. tons) of wheat in 2021. Sharma estimates it will instead get 20% to nearly 50% less.

Even though it is the world's second-largest producer of wheat, India exports only a small fraction of its harvest. It had been looking to capitalize on the global disruption to wheat supplies from Russia's war in Ukraine and find new markets for its wheat in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

That looks uncertain given the tricky balance the government must maintain between demand and supply. It needs about 25 million tons (27.5 million U.S. tons) of wheat for the vast food welfare program that usually feeds more than 80 million people.

Before the pandemic, India had vast stocks that far exceeded its domestic needs  a buffer against the risk of famine.

Those reserves have been strained, Sharma said, by distribution of free grain during the pandemic to about 800 million people  vulnerable groups like migrant workers. The program was extended until September but it's unclear if it will continue beyond then.

We are no longer with that kind of a surplus . . . with exports now picking up, there would be a lot of pressure on the domestic availability of wheat, Sharma said.

India's federal agriculture and commerce ministries didn't respond to questions sent to them via email.

Beyond India, other countries are also grappling with poor harvests that hinder their ability to help offset the potential shortfall of supplies from Russia and Ukraine, normally the world's largest and fifth-largest exporters of wheat.

China's agriculture minister, Tang Renjian, said last month that the winter wheat harvest was likely to be poor, hindered by flooding and by delays in planting.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
On this weeks episode of Segue, Southern Illinois University Edwardsvilles weekly radio program exploring the lives and work of the people on campus and beyond, College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Dean Kevin Leonard, PhD, interviews Tom Anderson, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.

This episode of Segue airs at 9 a.m. Sunday, May 1. Listeners can tune into WSIE 88.7 FM The Sound or siue.edu/wsie.

Anderson, who joined the SIUE faculty in fall 2020, earned a bachelors in biology from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2006, a masters in water science from Murray State University in 2011, and a doctorate in ecology and evolution from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2016. His research primarily focuses on population dynamics, community ecology, and species interactions, with most projects focused in aquatic ecosystems.

How did you become interested in biology? Leonard asks.

I grew up in southern Wisconsin in a small town, Anderson says. We did stereotypical small-town Wisconsin things  spending a lot of time camping, fishing, hunting and hiking at state parks nearby. Those those early experiences doing outdoor activities formed my love of being outside and nature and organisms.

Was there a pivotal moment in which you realized you wanted to devote your career to this field? Leonard asks.

Before the start of my senior year at UW-Eau Claire, I got an internship to complete my senior thesis project with a professor at a research lab in Colorado, explains Anderson. That opened my eyes to what you can do with a career in biology in terms of ecology.

He notes that before this experience, he thought a career in biology might lead to becoming a state or national park ranger or a high school teacher.

Being at this research lab exposed me to researchers from institutions all over the world and showed me that theres this alternative path where you can work with different organisms, study them in great detail and make a career out of it.

During that summer research program, he worked on a project about a woodpecker, where he woke up early most mornings, hiked up mountains to find woodpecker nests, and observed their behaviors. He credits this experience with solidifying his desire to continue on this career path.

Were there important individuals who encouraged and supported you as you decided to embark on a career in ecology? inquires Leonard.

Definitely my parents, as they were both teachers, Anderson says. My mom was a high school teacher, and my dad was a college professor in engineering. My becoming an instructor was definitely heavily influenced by their experiences.

He recalls listening to his parents talk about what they were doing at work and their interactions with students, and how his dad could remember the name of a student he taught 20 years prior. Knowing you could have that kind of impact on students lives was influential on his career choice.

What are the questions that have guided your research after you shifted to aquatic ecology? Leonard asks.

Im really interested in species interactions  things like predator or prey interactions or competition between species, says Anderson. In particular, salamanders are the main organism that I work with. A salamander was not an organism Id ever seen in my life prior to starting my masters, and somehow, I still got hired for a masters position to work on salamanders.

He discusses his masters project, which was on competition between two species that lived nearby Murray State in Kentucky. From there, his doctorate focused more on predator-prey interactions while attending the University of Missouri.

Tune in at 9 a.m. Sunday, May 1 to WSIE 88.7 The Sound to hear the entire conversatio
The Minister of Transportation and presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi on Friday told Delta State delegates of the party to vote for him on the merit of his past achievements and not because he hails from Niger Delta.

Chief Amaechi also told the Delta delegates to be wary of those making political promises, assuring them that he is the only one that would complete the $11.1billion Lagos - Warri - Calabar railway project which will pass through Asaba, if voted as president.

The APC Presidential hopeful who was at the party state secretariat in Asaba as part of his zonal consultation tours said the Lagos - Warri - Calabar rail project holds enormous economic potential for Delta state, adding that there is a strong possibility that it would be abandoned unless APC returns to power with himself as president.

"Don't listen to those who say l will do. Ask them what have they done. I fought insecurity in Rivers, l generated power which l cannot distribute because it is only the federal government that can distribute. If l'm elected president, l will make sure power remove from the exclusive list," he assured.

He reminded the delegates that the Warri - Itakpe railway project was abandoned until the Buhari led APC administration revisited it.

Chief Amaechi also paid a courtesy call on the Asagba of Asaba, Prof. Chike Edozien where he paid glowing tribute to the monarch.

"President Muhammadu Buhari has done well, you can agree or disagree. In October/November he will commission the 3rd Niger Bridge. We have started the $11.1billion Lagos - Calabar project which will pass through Asaba, the single biggest project in the world. This project must be finished.

"If l don't win the primary and the general elections, nobody else can do it because it is capital intensive. The moment we complete the Lagos - Calabar, Warri, things will be ok. What should bother us is how do we move forward. It takes courage and that was why came up with that theme " forward with courage. It requires courage to confront the challenges ahead," Amaechi added.

The minister also applauded the Asagba of Asaba and his Council of Chiefs promising to work with the National Assembly to create a constitutional role for traditional rulers in Nigeria. "Most of our traditional rulers are highly read. We need their wisdom, exposure and ideas in government," he further said.

Chairman of APC in Delta State, Elder Omeni Sobotie pledged to deliver the state delegates to the minister, saying "our own is different from my own."

"Our own son, the crown prince of Niger Delta is a man with the heart of a lion. He is courageous. If he had not come out it would have been difficult to market south south after our short time in government. The statutory delegates present here are 88, by the time we add others we have 151 delegates. We will ensure you have the whole of Delta," he said.

The Asaba monarch noted the past record of achievements of Chief Amaechi while praying for opportunity for higher service for the visiting presidential aspirant.
As the scramble among Igbo politicians for Nigerias presidency against 2023 general election deepens, an All Progressive Congress Chieftain in Ebonyi State, Uzor Tochukwu Okorie, has urged other aspirants to drop their ambitions and throw their weight behind Governor David Umahi.

Okorie made his stand known recently in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, while speaking to some journalists on his convictions over Umahis presidential ambition.

The Chieftain, a Coordinator of one of the Development Centres in Ebonyi State, hinged his call on what he described as unequalled achievements of the Governor in Ebonyi in the past couple of years. He emphasized that an Igbo president must be one who has an in-depth knowledge of the challenges facing the nation and the sagacity to provide solutions, describing Umahi as such a person.

Okorie claimed that Umahi has the magic wand to turn around the economy of the nation; address insecurity, unemployment, infrastructure and power problems of the country, having done so as Governor in Ebonyi with evident successes.

Okorie stressed: Governor Umahi has actually transformed Ebonyi State beyond our imagination to compete favorably with other developed nations.

Beyond roads and other magnificent infrastructural facilities stationed in different parts of the state, Umahi has performed well in other sectors such as Education, Agriculture, Human Capital Development, Power Supply, security of lives and properties amongst others.

In fact, he has touched all facets of the society, and has performed beyond his campaign promises which has placed him ahead of other Presidential candidates in the forthcoming general elections in Nigeria and should be given massive support.

When you look at Ebonyi State now, it is the most peaceful state in Nigeria when compared with the level of violence in other states.

My prayer is that he should be given a chance to replicate what he has done in Ebonyi state at the National level because you hardly get such a committed and dedicated Leader with passion elsewhere.

``He is outstanding in delivering Democracy dividends to the people without fear or favor.

On the issue of zoning the presidency come 2023, Okorie insisted that it should be the right of the Igbos of Southeast, without controversies, if justice and equity must be entrenched for peaceful coexistence in Nigeria.

The issue of Igbo Presidency shouldn't generate any controversy in Nigeria because other zones had taken their own share and it is the turn of the South East to produce the next president in 2023 for the sake of Justice, equity and fairness he emphasized.

Okorie who urged all Ebonyi people and residents of voting age to get themselves armed with their voter cards to support Umahis presidential bid, also enjoined Ebonyi citizens to support the endorsement of the Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Francis Nwifuru as Governor of Ebonyi State come 2023, under the platform of the All Progressives Congress.

He called on those raising objections to sheath their swords, insisting that the Governor desires the best for the State.

Recall that Nwifurus recent endorsement by some group in the State has continued to attract stiff opposition from certain critical stakeholders both from Izzi clan, his own people, and across the State.

Nwifuru was among the 16 State lawmakers that were recently sacked by a Federal High Court, Abuja, presided by Justice Inyang Ekwo.

Umahi, few days ago had purchased Expression of Interest form for his presidential ambition from the APC headquarters, Abuja.
China megacity mass-tests, cancels flights after suspected COVID case

BEIJING: The Chinese megacity of Guangzhou cancelled hundreds of flights yesterday (Apr 28) and launched mass testing of 5.6 million people after one suspected COVID case, as the battle to contain the coronavirus sweeps across the country.

ChineseCoronavirusCOVID-19deathhealth

By AFP

Friday 29 April 2022, 09:04AM

Chinas latest outbreak of COVID has centred on the economic hub of Shanghai, but cases now appear to be spreading to other major cities. Photo: AFP

China is facing its worst outbreak since the peak of the first wave in early 2020, with eastern Shanghai recording dozens of daily deaths and the capital Beijing sealing off whole neighbourhoods where handfuls of cases have been detected.

Under its zero-COVID policy, China has used lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions to stamp out infections.

The strategy is under strain, with the highly transmissible Omicron variant punching through health controls.

Rolling virus restrictions - including a weeks-long lockdown of virtually all of Shanghais 26 million residents - have damaged the economy, causing backlogs at the worlds busiest container port, a key node in the global supply chain.

Yesterday, Guangzhou, a major trade and manufacturing hub in southern China, announced mass testing for almost a third of its near 19mn residents after an abnormal test result was detected at its airport, where most flights have been cancelled.

Meanwhile, the tech hub of Hangzhou near Shanghai late on Wednesday ordered 9.4mn downtown residents out of its 12.2mn population to get tested every 48 hours if they want to access public spaces and transportation.

The aim is that the virus has nowhere to hide or settle, the city government said in a statement, raising fears of further restrictions across a city home to some of Chinas biggest companies.

China reported 11,367 new infections yesterday, a small daily tally compared with most major global economies, but enough to rattle authorities in the country where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, but that had until recently emerged relatively unscathed by the pandemic.

Over 10,000 of those cases were detected in Shanghai, where cases are trending downwards after a weeks-long lockdown which has enraged residents and seen rare protests against a government accused of bungling the response and failing to feed people confined at home.

The city is waging a campaign to reach zero-COVID at the community level - meaning no transmissions outside locked-down areas.

In recent days, more housing compounds have lifted movement restrictions and authorities yesterday said 90% of new infections were found in quarantined areas.

Around 50 new cases were found in Beijing, the seat of government for President Xi Jinping, who has until now hailed Chinas virus response as an example of the superiority of the countrys Communist leadership.

The capital launched mass testing of nearly all its 21mn residents this week and locked down more housing compounds in its populous Chaoyang district yesterday.

Residents are on high alert of a potential wider lockdown, with large gatherings, group travel and weddings suspended and some schools moving online.
Deputy PM Jurin touts Bhutan trade talks in Phuket

PHUKET: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit has praised trade talks with Bhutan held in Phuket, saying that expanded trade and investment cooperation is hoped to push exports of Thai herbs and traditional medicines to Bhutan, boosting total trade between the two countries to B3.6 billion by 2025.

economicstourism

By The Phuket News

Friday 29 April 2022, 11:06AM

Mr Jurin made his announcement after the 4th Thai-Bhutan Joint Trade Committee (JTC) Meeting (Minister Level) together with Bhutan Minister of Economics Linpo Loknat Sharma at the Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket Hotel yesterday (Apr 28).

Bhutan has a population of about 800,000 people. Total value of trade between Thailand and Bhutan in 2021 was B2.1bn, almost all of which are exports from Thailand to Bhutan, Mr Jurin noted yesterday

As a result, Thailand has a trade surplus with Bhutan of approximately B2.096bn, he said.

Thailands main export to Bhutan was textiles, namely synthetic fabric apparel, comprising approximately 70% of the total export value Other products included electrical appliances, fresh fruit, and chilled, frozen and dried fruit, he said.

Thailand imports from Bhutan food products such as coffee, tea, spices and fruit jellies, as well metals such as small cast metal products of copper, he added.

Investment from Thailand into Bhutan was another factor, Mr Jurin said.

For example, many Thai businessmen have invested in the service sector in Bhutan. in the business of hotels, accommodation, spas and restaurants, etc, he said.

Mr Jurin said he raised several points at the talks.

We should adjust the common trade target to increase from US$50mn next year to reach US$120mn by 2025, thats from B1.2bn to B3.6bn, an increase of about three times over the next three years. In the past, the rate of trade between each other increased by 15-20% annually, he said.

The second issue was to ask Bhutan to support the export of Thai herbs and Thai traditional medicines for sale in Bhutan, in terms of having the products registered, facilitating the import of the products and launching them to market. This will be a new target for Thai exports and a new market for Thai herbs and traditional Thai medicines, he said.

The third issue was to have an MoU on handicrafts which has now expired extended for another five years from the expiration date. It will help promote community handicrafts and products of two countries exchanging with each other both in production and trade, Mr Jurin said.

Another request was to extend the MoU on tourism between the two countries.

The MoU originally made between the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Bhutan Tourism Council is about to expire. We would like to see that extended for another five years and to have DASTA included in the agreement so we can work together on sustainable tourism.

We could then develop joint package tours so that when tourists from all over the world come to Bhutan, they can also come to Thailand, and tourists who come to Thailand can continue to Bhutan in the same package or tour program. This will be useful for both parties, Mr Jurin said.

The goal was to work together with Bhutan to jointly promote each countries soft power as another important selling point between the two countries, he said. It will focus on arts, culture, lifestyle, food, handicrafts, etc., attracting tourists from all over the world to both countries, Mr Jurin noted.

Mr Jurin invited businessmen in Bhutan to join the THAIFEX -ANUGA Asia 2022, the largest food trade show in Asia, which will be held in Thailand on May 24-28, and the fashion-related event The Marche by STYLE Bangkok from May 18-22.

He asked when Bhutan would relax entry measures for tourists into the country. This is in order to support Thai businessmen who are looking to invest in hotels, food, spas, and so on, so they will be able to formulate business plans in advance, he said.

Minister Lochnath Sharma in turn asked for Bhutan to enter a commodity-specific preferential trade agreement (PTA), such as it has with Bangladesh.

Mr Lochnath also raised the issue of Butan exporting apples, oranges and potatoes to Thailand.

Bhutan is implementing a new way of chemical-free farming. The [Thai] Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is currently considering conducting a pesticide-free analysis of these fruits, Mr Jurin said.

Mr Lochnath had asked the Ministry of Agriculture to consider this matter urgently to facilitate the importation of essential goods of Bhutan to Thailand to be an alternative for Thai consumers in the future, Mr Jurin explained.

This meeting is considered to have been very beneficial as it is an important opportunity to bring another category of products, namely Thai herbs and traditional Thai medicines, to Bhutan," Mr Jurin concluded.
Phuket BMW driver to be fined for obstructing ambulance

PHUKET: The driver of a BMW who refused to pull over to let an ambulance through in Phuket Town will be summoned to be fined for breach of the Traffic Act, Phuket City Police Chief Col Sarawut Chuprasit has confirmed.

transportcrimeaccidentspolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Friday 29 April 2022, 12:32PM

Phuket City Police Chief Col Sarawut Chuprasit has confirmed the driver will be fined, but not more than B500. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

The rescue teams was transporting an injured woman to Vachira Phuket Hospital when they were intentionally delayed by the BMW. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

The driver will be fined for obstructing an ambulance. Photo: Anit Jenrob

The move follows a video clip posted online yesterday showing the BMW sedan refusing to move to the left to allow the ambulance through, which was transporting an injured woman to Vachira Phuket Hospital. The ambulance had its warning lights flashing and was sounding its siren.

Worse, while refusing to move out of the way, the driver of the BMW drove down the centre of the road to prevent the ambulance from passing. The driver maintained a slow speed and periodically braked with no reason, as if intentionally attempting to delay the ambulance from proceeding.

The video stirred outrage online, and was quickly shared among many social media sites popular with Phuket residents.

Col Sarawut this morning (Apr 29) confirmed that officers had seen the video posted online.

We can identify the owner of the vehicle from the licence plates. The owner will be called in to identify the driver at that time so that person can be fined for breach of Sections 76 of the Traffic Act, he said.

It is an offence to obstruct an emergency vehicle, he said.

However, Col Sarawut confirmed that the fine could be no more than B500.

The drivers behaviour caused deep concern by the Kusoldharm rescue workers who were the medical team in the ambulance.

We urge all people to make way for ambulances. You never know if we are transporting a person with serious injuries, where a fraction of a minute might mean the difference between life and death, said Anit Jenrob, head of the rescue team.
Phuket drug raids land 9kg of ice, more than 54k meth pills

PHUKET: Police have seized more than 9kg of crystal meth (ya ice) and more than 54,000 methamphetamine pills (ya bah) in separate raids in Chalong and Cherng Talay.

drugscrimepolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Friday 29 April 2022, 03:14PM

A Thalang Police operation saw Worakorn Jay Phisan, 36, of Moo 1, Srisoonthorn, arrested at the parking lot behind the HomePro store in Moo 8, Chalong, said a report released by Thalang Police yesterday (Apr 28).

The operation was led by Acting Capt* Supapot La-ongsakul of the Thalang Police, noted the report, which credited the operation to no less than 10 senior officers, including Phuket Provincial Police COmmander Sermphan Sirikiong.

After placing Worakorn under arrest, subsequent raids of two homes in Moo 5, Srisoonthorn found Worakorn in possession of a Thai-made firearm with a four-inch-long barrel made to fire .38 bullets.

Officers also seized 5.494kg of ya ice, 40,400 ya bah pills and 70 tablets of ecstasy.

The report marked that officers also seized two ammunition magazines, one of which was loaded with seven .38 bullets. Officers also separately seized as evidence nine .22 bullets.

The paraphernalia seized in the raids included two digital scales, two wooden cabinets that required a key card to open, and the key card to open them, as well as a book containing records of his drug transactions, an assortment of plastic bags and a Samsung mobile phone.

Workaorn was placed under arrest and charged with possession of a Category 1 narcotic (amphetamine, ice and ecstasy) with intent to sell, possession of an illegal firearm and illegal possession of ammunition, the report noted.

Meanwhile in Cherng Talay, officers led by Lt Col Phit Thongto of the Phuket Provincial Police seized 3.534kg of ya ice and 14,000 tablets of ya bah in a separate raid.

The drugs were seized after four people were placed under arrest outside a house near a transport company office in Soi Khoktanode 10, Moo 6, Cherng Talay, said a separate report issued by Phuket Provincial Police yesterday.

The four were named as Pongphat Nad Puttharaksa, 24, and Nuttawut Boy Klongsurin, 28, both living in Moo 6, Cherng Talay, along with Miss Yanin Kik Nuchaikong, 26, from Uttaradit province and Ms Patcharin Pop Boonyam, 28, from Kantang District in Trang province.

In placing the four under arrest officers seized as evidence a Phuket-registered Honda Wave 110i motorbike valued at about B20,000, said the report.

The four were taken into custody and charged with possession of a Category 1 narcotic with intent to sell, the report confirmed.

Back in Chalong, a 59-year-old man from Sisaket Province was arrested in Soi Ta-iad.

Roongruang Dee Patikbutr was arrested in front of the All Time House rented room accommodation. A search of his room found him in possession of 24 ya bah pills.

Roongruang was taken to Chalong Police Station and charged with possession of a Category 1 narcotic with intent to sell, the report confirmed.

* A term used by Royal Thai Police indicating that the officer has been approved the rank but that the officer attaining rank had yet to be formalised by proclamation
Thailand Pass stays, but in faster form

BANGKOK: The government has said it has not cancelled the Thailand Pass registration requirement for foreign travellers yet but it will be made more convenient and quicker to obtain.

CoronavirusCOVID-19healthVaccinetourism

By Bangkok Post

Friday 29 April 2022, 08:52AM

An air arrival undergoes an immigration process at Suvarnabhumi airport in Samut Prakan province. Photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpakul

Dr Sumanee Wacharasint, assistant spokeswoman for the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), said the requirement will be retained but the procedure will be streamlined for smoother ease of entry into the country, reports the Bangkok Post.

The procedure involves checking vaccination certificates, proof of hotel bookings, insurance documents, and documents for booking RT-PCR tests upon arrival, said Dr Sumanee, who also serves as director of the Department of Disease Controls Risk Communication and Health Behavioural Development Bureau.

However, from May 1 the Test & Go entry scheme will be cancelled, without any need for bookings for alternative quarantine (AQ) hotels and RT-PCR tests, which will facilitate faster Thailand Pass registration, she said.

Vaccination certificates take less time to check than bookings, Dr Sumanee said.

Therefore, Thailand Pass registration has remained in place, and there should be no problems from May 1. But the CCSA will monitor the situation regularly. If the situation improves, a further easing of entry rules is expected to follow, she said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul earlier said the government will consider where they will scrap antigen testing and Thailand Pass registration requirements for foreign visitors after the Test & Go entry scheme and RT-PCR tests upon arrival are cancelled next month.

From May 1, fully vaccinated visitors will not be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival. They will be urged to self-test with antigen kits during their stay. Vaccinated travellers must register for entry via Thailand Pass and present proof of vaccination. If they test positive, they can enter their COVID-19 insurance process or take care of their own treatment.

Unvaccinated travellers will be welcomed if they present proof of a negative RT-PCR test no more than 72 hours before their trip and register via Thailand Pass.

They will be allowed entry without the need for any COVID-19 testing as in the case of vaccinated travellers.

High-risk visitors will be quarantined for five days.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden asked Congress on Thursday for $33 billion to bolster Ukraine's fight against Russia, signaling a burgeoning and long-haul American commitment as Moscow's invasion and the international tensions it has inflamed show no signs of receding.

The package has about $20 billion in defense spending for Ukraine and U.S. allies in the region and $8.5 billion to keep Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys government providing services and paying salaries. There's $3 billion in global food and humanitarian programs, including money to help Ukrainian refugees who've fled to the U.S. and to prod American farmers to grow wheat and other crops to replace the vast amounts of food Ukraine normally produces.

The package, which administration officials estimated would last five months, is more than twice the size of the initial $13.6 billion aid measure that Congress enacted early last month and now is almost drained. With the bloody war dragging into its third month, the measure was designed to signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that U.S. weaponry and other streams of assistance are not going away.

The world must and will hold Russia accountable," Biden said. And as long as the assaults and atrocities continue, were going to continue to supply military assistance.

Zelenskyy thanked the U.S. in his nightly video address to his nation. President Biden rightly said today that this step is not cheap," he said. But the negative consequences for the whole world from Russias aggression against Ukraine and against democracy are so massive that by comparison the U.S. support is necessary.

Biden's request to Congress comes with powerful Russian offensives underway in eastern and southern Ukraine, and pleas from Zelenskyy for long-range and offensive weapons. The U.S. and others have pledged to step up deliveries of such equipment, and summaries of Biden's plan mention artillery, armored vehicles and anti-air and anti-tank weapons and munitions.

Biden said the new package addresses the needs of the Ukrainian military during the crucial weeks and months ahead and begins a transition to longer-term security assistance thats going to help Ukraine deter and continue to defend against Russian aggression.

The proposal also comes as Russia has halted gas supplies to two NATO allies, Poland and Bulgaria, increasing anxieties that the war and its repercussions, in one form or another, could ultimately spread elsewhere.

Biden promised that the U.S. would work to support its allies energy needs, saying, We will not let Russia intimidate or blackmail their way out of the sanctions.

Bipartisan support in Congress for Ukraine is strong, and there is little doubt that lawmakers will approve aid. But Republicans said they were examining the proposal's details, including its balance between defense and other expenditures, and would not reflexively rally behind Biden's $33 billion figure.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate GOP leader, said that while Republicans are committed to helping Ukraine, Its a pretty eye-popping number.

Biden's billion request is more than half the entire proposed $60 billion budgets for next year for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development.

The $20 billion defense portion of Thursday's package amounts to about one third of Russias entire military budget and is well over Ukraines $6 billion defense expenditures. Both figures are for 2021 and were compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Institute, a Swedish organization that studies defense issues.

Biden has proposed $800 billion for the Pentagon for next year.

According to Brown Universitys Costs of War Project, the U.S. has spent nearly $2 trillion for Iraq, and another $2.3 trillion for Afghanistan, since Sept. 11, 2001. The costs of the post-9/11 wars in total for Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere are over $8 trillion.

The biggest potential stumbling blocks in Congress are Democrats' desire to also consider billions more to combat the pandemic, and a GOP drive to force an election-year vote on renewing some Trump-era immigration restrictions that seems likely to divide Democrats.

But combining those ingredients yields a complicated political brew that could slow the Ukraine money when every day counts for Kyiv's outnumbered forces. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he wants to combine the Ukraine and COVID-19 spending  the virus money gets only tepid GOP support  but was notably silent on that question Thursday.

Biden seemed to open the door to letting the Ukraine measure move separately, which would accelerate its pace. They can do it separately or together, Biden said, but we need them both.

Biden asked lawmakers Thursday to provide $22.5 billion for vaccines, treatments, testing and aid to other countries in continuing efforts to contain COVID-19.

But that request, which he also made last month, seems symbolic. In a compromise with Republicans, Senate Democrats have already agreed to pare that to $10 billion, and reviving the higher amount seems unlikely.

Biden also asked Congress on Thursday for new powers to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs, saying the U.S. was seizing luxury yachts and homes of bad guys. He proposed letting the government use the proceeds from selling those properties to help the people of Ukraine.

The president wants lawmakers to make it a crime to knowingly or intentionally possess proceeds directly obtained from corrupt dealings with the Russian government, double the statute of limitations for foreign money laundering offenses to 10 years, and expand the definition of racketeering under U.S. law to include efforts to evade sanctions.

In recent weeks, the U.S. and global allies have sanctioned dozens of oligarchs and their family members, along with hundreds of Russian officials involved in or deemed to be supporting its invasion of Ukraine. The White House says the new tools will toughen the impact of the sanctions on Russia's economy and its ruling class by making sanctions more difficult to evade.

Of the new money Biden is requesting for military purposes, $6 billion would be to arm Ukraine directly and $5.4 billion to replace U.S. supplies sent to the area. There is also $4.5 billion for other security assistance for Ukraine and U.S. allies and $2.6 billion for the continued deployment of U.S. forces to the region.

The proposed spending also has $1.2 billion to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing to the U.S. with cash assistance, English language instruction and help to school districts with Ukrainian students. There is $1.6 billion for global food programs to compensate for shortages prompted by the war's impact on Ukraine's food production.

___

Associated Press writers Chris Megerian, Fatima Hussein, Lolita C. Baldor and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

__

In a earlier version of this story, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the U.S. has spent about $2.2 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since Sept. 11, 2001, according to Brown Universitys Costs of War Project. The correct costs, according to Brown Costs of War, are an estimated nearly $2 trillion for Iraq, and another $2.3 trillion for Afghanistan. The costs of the post-9/11 wars in total for Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere are over $8 trillion.
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LONDON (AP)  Tennis great Boris Becker was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on Friday for illicitly transferring large amounts of money and hiding assets after he was declared bankrupt.

The three-time Wimbledon champion was convicted earlier this month on four charges under the Insolvency Act and had faced a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Judge Deborah Taylor announced the sentence after hearing arguments from both the prosecutor and Becker's attorney. She told the former top-ranked player that he's shown no remorse.

While I accept your humiliation as part of the proceedings, there has been no humility," Taylor said.

Becker will have to serve at least 15 months before being eligible for release.

The 54-year-old German was found to have transferred hundreds of thousands of pounds (dollars) after his June 2017 bankruptcy from his business account to other accounts, including those of his ex-wife Barbara and estranged wife Sharlely Lilly Becker.

Becker was also convicted of failing to declare a property in Germany and hiding an 825,000 euro ($871,000) bank loan and shares in a tech firm.

The jury at Southwark Crown Court in London acquitted him on 20 other counts, including charges that he failed to hand over his many awards, including two Wimbledon trophies and an Olympic gold medal.

Becker, wearing a striped tie in Wimbledons purple and green colors, walked into the courthouse hand in hand with girlfriend Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro.

The six-time Grand Slam champion has denied all the charges, saying he had cooperated with trustees tasked with securing his assets  even offering up his wedding ring  and had acted on expert advice.

At Friday's sentencing hearing, prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley said Becker had acted deliberately and dishonestly and that he was still seeking to blame others."

Defense attorney Jonathan Laidlaw argued for leniency, saying his client hadn't spent money on a lavish lifestyle but rather on child support, rent and legal and business expenses. Becker, he told the court, has experienced public humiliation and has no future earnings potential.

The judge said Becker's two-year suspended sentence for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion in Germany in 2002 was a significant aggravating factor in her decision Friday. She said he did not heed the warning and opportunity of that suspended sentence.

Beckers bankruptcy stemmed from a 4.6 million euro ($5 million) loan from a private bank in 2013, as well as about $1.6 million borrowed from a British businessman the year after, according to testimony at the trial.

During the trial Becker, said his $50 million career earnings had been swallowed up by payments for an expensive divorce and debts when he lost large chunks of his income after retirement.

Becker rose to stardom in 1985 at the age of 17 when he became the first unseeded player to win the Wimbledon singles title and later rose to the No. 1 ranking. He has lived in Britain since 2012.

___

More AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
GODFREY  The sweet Bicheel is a 2-year-old male black domestic short-haired cat at 5A's.

Sadly, his previous owners moved and abandoned Bicheel in a garage until he was found.

To adopt an animal from Alton's Five As, which stands for Alton Area Animal Aid Association, come out to the shelter and visit the animals. The no-kill shelter is open daily from 11a.m.-3 p.m. Come visit with the animals, fill out some needed paperwork and pay the adoption fee. 5A's is located at 5430 N. Alby St., in Godfrey.

If an animal requires surgery, you will get the animal day of surgery; if they have had their surgery, they are available for adoption that day.

The nonprofit no-kill shelter was organized and opened in 1956 and is an affiliate member of Illinois Federation of Humane Societies and the American Humane Association based in Denver, Colorado. A premier humane shelter in the Riverbend, 5A's has served the area for more than 60 years, providing compassion and care to abused, unwanted and abandoned animals.

The shelter serves Alton, Godfrey, Bethalto, East Alton and Wood River, as well as other adjoining communities. 5A's places approximately 500 "forever friends" into "forever homes" every year. Check out its website regularly for new incoming pet pics and fun upcoming events. Also, to support the shelter, don't forget to check out the area's largest thrift shop, "The 5As Thrift" in Wood River.
HARTFORD  Village officials may annex about 21 acres into Hartford for future development.

A public hearing on the proposed annexation is set for 6 p.m. May 17 at the Hartford Village Community Center. The proposed annexation property, bounded by the existing village limits on the north and east, is on Illinois 3 near the Lewis and Clark Confluence Tower.

Village officials want to zone the site as I-1, or industrial, with a portion zoned B-3, or Highway District.

Sheppard, Morgan & Schwabb is helping Hartford with the annexation.

In a separate project, Hartford officials also are currently accepting proposals for village-owned property in the South Wood River Subdivision. The properties are bounded by the Arbor Street, North Old St. Louis Road and West Rand Avenue.

Proposals for the property are being accepted until 2 p.m. on June 7. The village is reserving the right to decline any of the offers, or to negotiate on the property. Village board members will open and discuss the proposals at their meeting at 6:30 p.m. that day.

For maps and more details on either project, contact Hartford Mayor William Robertson at 618-251-2680.
KABUL, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The supreme leader of Afghanistan's Taliban-run administration has invited domestic and foreign companies to invest in Afghanistan and also called upon Afghans to get together and rebuild their war-torn country.

Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada made the remarks in his message on account of Eid-al-Fitr, marking the end of Muslim fasting month Ramadan.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan attaches great importance to reconstruction of the country for which it has assigned a competent economic committee to utilize all existing capacities toward the development of the country," he said in his message released by the state-run news agency Bakhtar on Friday.

Hibatullah also described Afghanistan as the common home of all Afghans and urged those who left their country to return home.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan wants positive relations with the countries of the region and the world. We allow none to pose a threat to other countries from Afghanistan and we also want other countries to engage with us on mutual respect," the message said.

The supreme leader expressed his resolve to ban poppy cultivation and drug-producing in his country, saying his administration would address the problems of farmers and the fellow citizens in general by providing alternative livelihoods.

Hibatullah also called upon international health organizations and aid institutions to help the people of Afghanistan in the health sector, which is facing a shortage of medicines, professional staff and medical equipment.

He also highlighted education as "the key to rescue our compatriots and pave the way towards country's development and prosperity."

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is working to strengthen education and learning, opening new schools and madrassas (religious schools) in many central and remote areas of the country for religious and modern education, and providing a safe environment for education," he said. 
MOSCOW (AP)  Russia's former economic development minister, the country's highest-ranking official to be jailed in nearly two decades, has been granted parole after serving more than half of an eight-year sentence on a bribery conviction, Russian officials confirmed Friday.

Alexei Ulyukayev filed a petition for early release after serving more than five years. A court in the Tver region, some 140 kilometers northwest of Moscow, granted him parole on Wednesday, court officials told the Interfax news agency.

Ulyukayev may be released from prison as soon as mid-May, the officials said, if no appeal against the parole ruling is filed.

The former minister was detained in 2016 at the headquarters of Russias largest oil producer, state-owned Rosneft, after a sting operation by Russias main intelligence agency. Prosecutors say he accepted a $2 million bribe from Rosnefts influential CEO, Igor Sechin, for giving the company the green light to privatize another oil firm.

The circumstances of the case sparked speculation that Ulyukayev was caught in a Kremlin power play involving Sechin, a longtime associate of President Vladimir Putin.

Ulyukaev went to Sechins office in November 2016 to discuss Rosnefts affairs, and was arrested as he was leaving the building with a bag full of cash that Sechin had given him. Ulyukayev told the court that he thought the bag contained a bottle of wine and a basket filled with sausages.

In tapes played in court during the trial, Sechin was heard telling Ulyukayev to take the bag with the sausage. Russian media reported that Sechin has a tradition of gifting people baskets of sausages from his own butchers shop.

Shortly after the arrest, Ulyukaev was dismissed from his post. He has maintained his innocence throughout the trial and insisted Sechin had set him up.
EDWARDSVILLE  A Beaumont, Texas, man has been charged with two Class X drug felonies after police allegedly found him carrying more than 11 pounds of marijuana.

Andy Q. Nghiem, 29, was charged Wednesday with cannabis trafficking and possession of cannabis with intent to deliver. The case was presented by the Illinois State Police.

According to court documents, on April 25 Nghiem was stopped by state police in Madison County. He allegedly was found to be carrying more than 5,000 grams of cannabis into Illinois using a motor vehicle, with the intent of delivering the cannabis to a Pennsylvania location.

Bail for Nghiem was set at $250,000.

Other drug-related felonies filed by Madison County of April 27 include:

 Ryan Cook, 27, of East Alton, was charged with possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony, and obstructing justice, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Wood River Police Department. According to court documents, on July 31 Cook allegedly had less than five grams of methamphetamine and furnished false information to a Wood River police officer. Bail was set at $45,000.

 Dennis C. Ing, 62, of Waterloo, was charged with possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department. On May 28 Ing allegedly had less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Mark R. McCullough, 56, of Belleville, was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department. On March 11 McCullough allegedly had less than 15 grams of cocaine. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Brenda L. Donithan, 24, of Granite City, was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department. On Jan. 21, Donithan allegedly had less than 15 grams of fentanyl. Bail was set at $15,000.
IVY GOODMAN, Stonington, Girls, Lacrosse, Senior; Goodman scored 12 goals and had 13 assists in three games. Her seven assists in the Bears win over Waterford established a school record. She surpassed the 50-goal mark for the season in Stoningtons victory over Ledyard.

DEAN PONS JR., Westerly, Baseball, Senior; Pons, a senior, struck out 14 batters in the Bulldogs five-inning win against Wheeler School/Rocky Hill. Pons had an assist on the remaining out, throwing out a runner on a groundout. Pons allowed just one hit and walked only two.

KATIE PIERCE, Wheeler, Girls, Lacrosse, Sophomore; Pierce scored five goals and the Lions beat Griswold to earn their first victory of the season. Wheeler avenged an earlier loss to the Wolverines this season with the 15-4 victory.

WEEKO THOMPSON, Chariho, Girls, Track Sophomore; Thompson, a sophomore, bettered her school record in the discus at the Classical Classic meet. She finished first in the event and also won the shot put.

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe's new utilitarian 4X4 will be available to order from May and priced from 52,000 for the five-seat passenger model, it has been confirmed.

The eagerly anticipated Ineos Grenadier, the brainchild of richest man in Britain as the replacement for the previous-generation Land Rover Defender, will be available as both a passenger car and a commercial vehicle, with prices starting from 49,000 for the latter.

Customers are currently able to reserve one with a refundable fee of 450, though deposits of 2,500 for vehicle build slot will be taken from 18 May for those who want to make their interest in the SUV concrete.

First deliveries are expected to arrive by the end of the year, with production due to begin in July at the company's new French factory, which Ratcliffe - a passionate Brexiteer - bought from Daimler in January 2021 having controversially ditched plans for a state-of-the-art vehicle plant in Wales.

Price confirmed: Sir Jim Ratcliffe's new utilitarian 4X4 will be available to order from May and priced from 52,000 for the five-seat passenger model (pictured)

By February, more than 15,000 potential customers were said to have reserved one of the 'back to basic' 4X4s.

Ineos Automotive estimates that it will sell around 6,000 Grenadiers annual in the UK once assembly at the new Hambach factory - which resides on the French-German border - reaches full capacity.

It says sales to customers here will be skewed towards commercial variants over the five-door passenger SUV.

Performance figures for the new model have been clarified, with the workhorse 4X4 expected to rival the market's most the latest pragmatic off-roaders, including Toyota's Land Cruiser and the new Land Rover Defender 'Hard Top' - both favourites among farmers in particular.

Ineos Automotive's offering for this market, called the Grenadier Utility Wagon, has just two seats, freeing-up the rear space for a load space of 2,088 litres.

It will have a towing capacity of 3,500kg and be able to winch a 5,500kg load.

The eagerly anticipated Ineos Grenadier will be available as both a passenger car and a 2-seat 'Utility Wagon' commercial vehicle (pictured), with prices starting from 49,000 for the latter

 Slide me  The 2-seat Grenadier Utility Wagon has load space of 2,088 litres (left). Adding a rear bench for the 5-seat passenger model (right) cuts it down to 1,152 litres - that's 77 litres more than a Land Rover Defender 110

This is the interior of the new car, which is a mass of switches and control functions. It looks more like the cabin on a military vehicle than a family SUV

The passenger model, which adds a bench in the rear to make it a five-seater and costs an extra 3,000, has the same towing and winching capabilities.

Ineos Grenadier model prices Grenadier Utility Wagon (2 seats): 49,000 Grenadier passenger variant (5 seats): 52,000 Grenadier Fieldmaster Edition (5 seats): 59,000 Grenadier Trialmaster Edition (5 seats): 59,000

However, the additional seating means the boot space is cut to 1,152 litres. That's 77 litres more than its biggest rival - the five-door Land Rover Defender 110, which costs a premium on the Ineos, starting from 59,835 in the UK.

The all-new British car brand also confirmed today that it will have two special edition versions of the Grenadier from launch.

These have been developed in partnership with Ineos-owned clothing brand Belstaff, with the nameplates based on the iconic fashion label's stylish jackets.

Both the Trialmaster and Fieldmaster will be priced from 59,000 and come with additional equipment as standard, including electrically-adjustable heated mirrors, a raised air intake, auxiliary battery, front park assist and a reversing camera.

The Trialmaster Edition (pictured) is one of two special edition versions of the Grenadier sold from launch, both of which are named after Belstaff fashion jackets. Ratcliffe also owns the clothing label

Both the Trialmaster and Fieldmaster (pictured) editions will be priced from 59,000 and come with additional equipment as standard, including electrically-adjustable heated mirrors, a raised air intake, auxiliary battery, front park assist and a reversing camera

Other upgrades for the special edition cars includes higher-grade seat materials and different interior colour options

'As a new vehicle manufacturer, opening our first order books is a significant milestone and we know thousands of customers have been patiently waiting for that day,' said Dirk Heilmann, the car brand's CEO

'Now we invite buyers to join us on the next stage of our journey and look forward to seeing how they spec their vehicles when finalising their orders.'

So far, it has announced a network of 24 franchised dealers across the country, which will be based in existing Audi, BMW, Ferrari and Ford dealerships, including Jardine Ferrari in Colchester and Sevenoaks, Halliwell Jones BMW in Chester, Harwoods Ford in Portsmouth and a new site called Days South Wales.

Another 10 UK retailers will make up the UK sales force.

All Grenadiers will be available with BMW-developed 3.0-litre straight-six-cylinder, twin-turbo diesel and petrol engines, boasting 249 horsepower and 285 horsepower respectively.

Both will be mated to the German brand's slick-shifting eight-speed automatic gearbox.

Sir Jim's automotive home: This is the Hambach factory bought by British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe as the new production site of his first vehicle, the Ineos Automotive Grenadier 4X4

The new Grenadier vehicles will be built by British petro-chemical billionaire Ratcliffe at his new state of the art factory on the Franco-German border in Hambach, which is a hub of automotive production and provides open supply lines in Europe

There was huge disappointment in Britain when Ratcliffe chose the ready-made Hambach factory ahead of publicly-shared plans for a UK factory on the site of the former Ford plant at Bridgend, which would have provided a huge economic and job boost for the region.

This was especially the case after the billionaire, who has topped the British rich list, had been a vocal Brexit supporter.

Yet, bosses said the economic argument for choosing the Hambach plant proved irresistible and impossible to ignore, especially in terms of providing delay-free part supply channels.

Mercedes-Benz had invested 470million in an all-new state of the art production line to build an electric 4X4 at Hambach in 2019, which it subsequently decided to switch elsewhere.

There was huge disappointment in Britain when Ratcliffe chose the ready-made Hambach factory ahead of less developed plans for a UK factory on the site of the former Ford plant at Bridgend in Wales

The availability of the Daimler site, which had recently been converted to handle the production of large SUVs, was an economic no-brainer for the new auto company

Bosses at Ineos Automotive said the plant is now 'Grenadier ready' as aims to start mass production this summer

Ineos stepped in and snapped up the Hambach factory for an undisclosed sum  but believed to be a bargain price - and has invested an additional 50million over the last 12 months to adapt it for Grenadier production, using the existing highly skilled 1,000-strong former Mercedes-Benz workforce.

Part of the deal also included an agreement for Smart - also owned by Daimler - models to continue being built at the site under contract.

The dedicated new Grenadier production line includes a new fully-automated body-shop, a new semi-automated paint-shop, an upgraded general assembly facility and a new high-tech quality assessment centre.

The factory has more than 250 robots for steel and aluminium welding and other functions.

Ineos Automotive's headquarters are still based on the UK, at its London's Knightsbridge HQ, yet its operational base is in Stuttgart, Germany, and its engineering partner is Austrian specialists, Magna Steyer.
The new chief executive of Barclays has had to apologise for a costly trading blunder.

As the bank released its first-quarter results, CS Venkatakrishnan said he was disappointed by the recent discovery of the error in the US which was entirely preventable.

The American banker known as Venkat took over from Jes Staley in November and has had a rocky start.

Barclays boss CS Venkatrishnan (pictured) said he was 'disappointed' by the discovery of a trading error in the US which he admitted was 'entirely preventable'

Barclays has been hit by three historic scandals since he took the reins  a timeshare mis-selling debacle, the US bond-trading issue and an accusation from the Bank of England that it is gaming the rules on pensions.

The fiascos are embarrassing for Venkat, who was chief risk officer between 2016 and 2020.

But he denied Barclays has a culture problem, saying: Very strong risk management and culture is important, as well as a harmonious relationship with regulators.

The US trading error, where Barclays sold more financial products  structured notes  than it was allowed to, means the lender has now paused its share buyback, which would have seen 1billion of spare capital returned to investors.

Venkat stressed this was only pending the outcome of talks with US regulators, and that the buyback would probably resume in the third quarter.

Its a question of when, not if, he said, urging investors to focus on results, which were exceptional compared to our competitors.

He said the bank would complete a full investigation into the error itself.

He declined to reveal how high up the hierarchy the probe could reach, but did not rule out clawing some pay back from former finance boss Tushar Morzaria.

First-quarter results show profits fell 6.9 per cent to 2.2billion.

It has set aside 540million to deal with the US trading issue.

The banks shares rose 3.1 per cent, or 4.38p to 146.3p.
The Treasury has launched a shake-up of the rules governing insurance firms to unlock billions of pounds of investment.

Economic Secretary John Glen said the review of the EU's 'Solvency II' regulations would let insurers invest policyholders' money more freely, including in green energy and infrastructure.

Boris Johnson has said such a move could unleash an 'investment big bang'.

Shake-up: Economic Secretary John Glen (pictured) said the review of the EU's 'Solvency II' regulations would allow insurers to invest their policyholders' money more freely

And Glen said: 'Our reforms will unlock tens of billions of pounds of investment in the UK economy, spur innovation in the market while protecting policyholders, and will cement the UK's position as a global hub for financial services.'

Solvency II rules dictate how much spare capital insurers must hold to cover losses if investments turn sour. Many in the industry say they are too cumbersome.

The Prudential Regulation Authority has said suggested changes 'would involve an increase in the risk of insurer failure compared to the current position'.
The controversial takeover of defence firm Ultra Electronics has moved a step closer after the Business Secretary agreed to further talks with the private equity bidder.

Kwasi Kwarteng (pictured) will hold discussions with US firm Advent International, which is trying to buy Ultra through British defence group Cobham, a company it already owns.

Fresh talks over a 2.6billion buyout  rather than a probe by competition regulators which could see the takeover blocked  indicate the deal could get the green light.

Talks: Kwasi Kwarteng (pictured) will hold discussions with US firm Advent International, which is trying to buy Ultra through British defence group Cobham, a company it already owns

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said it was continuing to work with the firms involved.

In response, Ultra said it had worked proactively and collaboratively with BEIS and regulators.

Ultra is seen as a highly strategic British firm because of its work for the military, which includes making submarine-hunting kits.

Kwarteng has faced calls to block the takeover amid fears the UKs defence industry is being hollowed out after other firms, including Cobham, were sold to US companies.
Anglo-Swedish drugs giant AstraZeneca expects revenue from its Covid-19 medicines to fall by a fifth this year as demand wanes for its vaccine.

The London-listed business has reiterated that it expected sales of Vaxzevria - more commonly known as the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine - will decline later in 2022.

It comes despite sales of the vaccine rising around fourfold in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period 12 months ago, to more than 875million ($1.1billion).

But in Europe sales were down by 40 per cent. Astrazeneca shares were broadly flat following the announcement.

Anglo-Swedish drugs giant AstraZeneca expects revenue from its Covid-19 medicines to fall by a fifth this year as demand wanes for its life-saving vaccine

Overall, its first quarter revenue beat expectations and rose 60 per cent to 9.1billion ($11.4billion) ignoring the impact of exchange rates.

This was driven by growth in most categories, the contribution of Alexion's portfolio of products and Covid-vaccine contracts.

A year ago the continent took four in five Vaxzevria vaccines produced as countries there were among the first to roll it out. The shot was AstraZeneca's second best-selling product in 2021 with sales of $3.9billion.

While sales of the vaccine are expected to fall this year, this will be partially offset by Astra's new Covid treatment Evusheld. It was approved in the UK last month for use with patients with poor immune responses.

The antibody treatment, which generated $469million in first-quarter revenue, came in just short of consensus expectations of $480million.

The pharma giant said that it had sold products for just under 8.8billion ($11billion) during the quarter, 51 per cent higher than the same period a year ago.

Cash profits (EBITDA) fell 16 per cent to $2.2billion, lower than market expectations. This reflected costs associated with the Alexion acquisition, including a $1.2billion charge related to the revaluation of Alexion's inventory.

Astra bought Alexion in July last year, so its medicines were not counted in Astra's results this time a year ago.

A year ago the continent took eight in 10 Vaxzevria vaccines produced as countries there were among the first to roll it out. The shot was AstraZeneca's second best-selling product in 2021 with sales of $3.9 billion

It will have 1,500 staff and serve as Alexion's new headquarters.

'Today's announcement is a milestone moment following the acquisition of Alexion in July 2021,' said chief executive Pascal Soriot.

'Our combined company has already successfully leveraged internal scientific synergies, and this move will act as a catalyst for even more external collaboration and innovation.'

'The move will provide access to some of the most innovative partners in academia and biotech, offering opportunities to accelerate our growth and collaborate with like-minded organisations as we continue to push the boundaries of science to deliver advances for patients.'

A 36 per cent increase in research and development costs also contributed to the profit decline.

The group continues to expect full year revenue to rise in the high teens and earnings per share to increase by a mid-to-high twenties percentage.

Separately the business announced that it will open a new research and development site in Cambridge, Massachusetts to be completed in 2026.

Commenting on the results Keith Bowman, an Investment Analyst at interactive investor said: 'Pharma giant AstraZeneca has delivered robust first quarter results, pushed along by growth in cancer treatments. Total quarterly revenue rose 60 per cent to $11.39billion, with core earnings per share of $1.89 surpassing analyst estimates of nearer to $1.70.

'Oncology related product sales rose 18 per cent to $3.38billion, while rare disease treatments adjusted for its previous Alexion takeover added a further 7 per cent sales growth. Full-year earnings and revenue guidance has been reiterated and plans for a new strategic research and development centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts' announced.

'In all, ongoing investment costs in drug development continue to weigh. The previous purchase of Alexion at what was considered a full price is also yet to be fully justified and has elevated net debt.

'On the upside, drug innovation remains high.'

Meanwhile, the company pared back its expectations for China, where it has an outsized presence. Last year, the country accounted for about 16% of AstraZeneca's total revenue.

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said it expected to see sales decline by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2022 in China, in part due to discounts it has agreed to secure a place on China's National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) for various medicines.

The country has also recently put in place COVID lockdowns, which analysts worry could affect sales in the second quarter.
Nigel Hughes: 'A reform of the system is needed to make it fit for purpose'

Savers who paid thousands for state pension top-ups saw their money disappear without explanation into the 'positively Kafka-esque' system run by the Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC.

Older people have handed over up to 4,000, only to see no increase to their state pension for months or over a year, and describe being sent round in circles by government staff and left at an utter loss over what to do.

Retired teacher Nigel Hughes, pictured right, paid around 1,600 in summer 2020, but the payment vanished and his repeated complaints and attempts to track it down were ignored.

'The frustration of dealing with DWP is huge,' says one retired civil servant who got caught out over a 4,000 payment.

'They have built a very effective brick wall around themselves.'

This is Money has covered many cases of readers struggling to get by or even forced into hardship due to state pension delays, although the DWP promised to get on top of problems by last November.

We are still hearing from readers experiencing such failures, with one 76-year-old retired charity worker making fruitless attempts to end deferment and restart his state pension payments for almost a year.

Now blunders over state pension top-ups, where older people make voluntary payments to boost their income in old age, have also emerged

We recently reported cases where an 11,200 payment was not processed for months, and a botched 79p increase could have led to a loss of thousands of pounds during retirement.

Pensioners have long complained about the baffling top-ups system, and being sent from pillar to post when they need help because it is run by two different departments of the Government.

They now also report waiting months to prise essential information out of the Government on which state pension qualifying years will boost their payments, and what and how to pay.

Mr Hughes says that it took 10 months for the DWP to send him these details, followed by his 20-month wait for an increase that was not resolved until This is Money took up his cause.

However, the DWP has only backdated his payments for the second phase of this delay.

'It does seem very inefficient having pensions administered by two separate departments with very little cooperation between the two,' says Mr Hughes, who received arrears of 870 and a state pension increase from around 143 a week to 154 following our intervention.

'When, as in my case, something goes wrong, you don't know where the problem has occurred, and communication with both is difficult and slow.

It cannot be right for the Government to sit on thousands of pounds of people's money for months or even years without boosting their state pension Steve Webb, former Pensions Minister

'Clearly letters are not dealt with promptly, or at all. A reform of the system is needed to make it fit for purpose and make communication between all involved easier.'

The 68-year-old, who lives in Herefordshire, adds: 'I would like to thank you for taking my case on and bringing it to a successful conclusion. It is unfortunate that it seems the public can only achieve results by involving the press.'

Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb, who is This is Money's pensions columnist, says it can be very confusing for people to know who to contact about top-ups, because National Insurance contributions are handled by HMRC whilst state pensions are worked out by the DWP.

Webb, now a partner at consultancy firm LCP, says of the failures in the cases we highlight today: 'People who want to top up their state pension are given the run-around.

'For obvious reasons people ring the DWP about their state pension but it seems that often it is delays at HMRC which are the initial problem.

'It cannot be right for the Government to sit on thousands of pounds of people's money for months or even years without boosting their state pension. Further delays are then caused by slow processing at the DWP end.

How do state pension top-ups work? This is Money's pensions columnist, Steve Webb, explains the baffling system to a reader trying to boost their weekly payments here.

'Meanwhile, anyone who rings up speaks to a different person each time who often knows nothing about their case, cannot see their full records, and promises action which doesn't materialise.

'The whole system is positively Kafka-esque and needs a shake-up.'

A DWP spokesperson says: 'All of these cases have now been resolved and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

'There were various reasons for these claims not being processed, most of which were beyond our control.'

'I seem to be going round in circles': Top-ups chaos suffered by savers

People left in limbo over after shelling out hundreds or thousands of pounds to increase their state pension have condemned their treatment at the hands of DWP staff.

Karen Reed (not her real name) spent more than 500 in June last year to fill two incomplete years of National Insurance contributions.

She told us: 'I have made a number of calls to the helpline, each time being assured my case would be looked into, but nothing has happened. A month ago I sent a letter of complaint with proof of the payment sent via my bank. I have not yet received a response.

'Consequently when I started receiving my pension at the end of January this year it was at the lower rate, although I was advised making this top-up payment would increase it by just over 10 per week.

The 66-year-old former secretary, who lives in Kent, approached This is Money for help saying: 'I am now at a loss as to what further action to take to get this matter resolved.

'It is so frustrating. I spoke to someone on one occasion, who seemed helpful, in the accounts department. When I rang back, I was told "We don't have an accounts department". I seem to be going round in circles.'

State pension top-ups: System is run by HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions

As in other cases, Ms Reed appears to have experienced a double failure involving both HMRC which had not processed her payment, and the DWP which did not act on her complaints.

When we raised her situation with the DWP, we were told that once it received notification from HMRC that Ms Reed had paid voluntary National Insurance contributions, it reviewed her state pension claim, paid arrears of 98.20 and increased her payments from 170.91 a week to 181.49.

After her case was resolved, Ms Reed told us: 'A big thank you to yourself and your team for your help with this. It should not be this difficult for individuals to receive the correct pension they are owed. I have no doubt I would still be waiting, phoning and getting nowhere without your input.'

'I no longer believe anything I'm told by DWP': Calls record and 4k of top-ups go missing

The DWP took six months to inform Adam Cooper (not his real name) what top-ups he needed to make to boost his state pension after he asked for the information when he turned 66 last summer.

'I made several calls to them and each time I was told that there was no record of my previous contacts and that someone would be in touch about it in six to eight weeks,' says the former civil servant, who lives in Merseyside.

Have you experienced a top-up blunder? If you are having trouble with top-ups or state pension payments, write to This is Money and tell your story at pensionquestions@thisismoney.co.uk. Please put PENSION DELAY in the subject line. We will not be able to respond to everyone, and you may also want to seek help from your MP. Expats can contact the MP representing the last constituency in which they lived before moving abroad. The DWP's pension service contact details are here and the number is 0800 731 0469.

'One adviser did say that she would send an urgent email and that I would hear something in a week. Needless to say I did not. A complaint forwarded by my MP was ignored.

'Eventually I complained to the Minister directly and I received a letter which said they had no record of my calls at all.'

After being notified of what he should pay in January, Mr Cooper handed over 4,000 to boost his state pension by around 26 a week, but then heard nothing more.

He contacted This is Money, and told us: 'I made a Freedom of Information request for recordings of the calls I made and despite having been told that they did not exist I have received a CD containing some of them. Apparently the others will have been deleted but I no longer believe anything I am told by the DWP.

'I escalated my complaint to the Independent Case Examiner. I am fortunate that I did receive my pension on time but it has taken over nine months to sort out what I would think is a straightforward enquiry.'

As in the case above, when we asked the DWP what had happened to Mr Cooper's top-up payment it appeared to have got lost at HMRC's end.

The DWP told us that once it received notification from HMRC that Mr Cooper had paid voluntary National Insurance contributions, it reviewed his claim, paid arrears of 1,022.73 and increased his state pension from 143.63 a week to 169.29.

Mr Cooper told us: 'I am under no illusion that this would not have happened without your intervention so I am most grateful to you for doing this for me.'

'I sympathised with DWP staff on frontline': But 66-year-old lost patience after year-long wait

The DWP sat on 4,000 of state pension top-ups for over a year and ignored the efforts of Janet O'Callaghan to find out why she hadn't received an increase worth around 25 a week.

She made the payment in February 2021, a few months before she turned 66.

The former pension administrator from Northamptonshire says DWP staff gave her various reasons for the delay, and when at the beginning they told her it was down to making furlough payments and Covid sickness she accepted that.

But she adds: 'I don't understand it because the last time they said there was a backlog but gave no real reason. There have been two state pension increases since I paid for top-ups. This will change my tax code. The longer it goes on the more of a mess it makes.

'I haven't chased this particularly hard with the DWP because I am lucky enough to also receive an occupational pension, and considered others who are less fortunate to be in greater need.

'I also sympathised with DWP staff who are on the "frontline" of grievances and I suspect are "firefighting" as more issues are coming to the forefront. However, 12 months is a long time to wait with no end in sight.'

In this case, the DWP apparently made a blunder not HMRC.

Ms O'Callaghan received a personal call from a DWP staff member, and subsequently told us: 'They have acknowledged that my NI record had been updated but they could not offer any real explanation as to why my pension top-up had not been processed  it had somehow slipped through their net.'

A DWP spokesperson said: 'We apologise for the delay in reviewing Ms O'Callaghan's state pension award after receiving notification from HMRC about her voluntary contributions. We have issued arrears of 1,357.10 and increased her state pension from 144.38 to 170.83.'

Ms O'Callaghan told us: 'I cannot thank you enough for taking this up on my behalf. I can't help but wonder how many other cases there are still waiting for resolution.'

A 76-year-old's attempts to end deferment went ignored for a year

Older people living overseas or trying to end state pension deferments have previously complained to us of long delays in getting payments sorted.

Hugh Gibney, 76, lives in County Meath in Ireland and has been trying in vain to get his state pension restarted since last spring.

He had previously received state pension for five years, as a result of building a National Insurance record when he worked in the UK, but paused his payments in 2016.

Mr Gibney initially wrote to the DWP to request his payments start again but received no response. In his second attempt, he submitted a claim but then heard no more.

After writing three letters to the DWP asking what had happened - including one sent by registered delivery to the Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey - and getting no response, he contacted This is Money.

When we raised his case, the DWP said: 'Once we received confirmation from Mr Gibney regarding the date he wished to reinstate his state pension, we were able to issue 26 weeks of arrears of 3,195.00, covering the period 05/10/2021 to 04/04/2022, and reinstated his state pension at 126.57 per week.'

It issued a separate letter informing Mr Gibney about his choice to receive either extra weekly state pension or a lump sum payment as a result of his five-year deferral.

Carole Ellis: Expat was told by staff in international pensions department that the DWP has a six-month backlog

'This situation is absolutely disgraceful': Expat's pension three months late

Carole Ellis, who lives in Cyprus, turned 66 in January but was still waiting for her state pension to start three months later.

She contacted the International Pension Centre four times, but told us: 'Nobody can tell me anything apart from 'I'll expedite the matter'!

'My bank account is UK based and I am fully paid up with my contributions. The first person I spoke to said there is absolutely nothing wrong with my claim but they are very busy and have a backlog of six months.

'Will my pension be backdated? This situation is absolutely disgraceful. I tend to phone their helpline every other Monday, and have now started to take names.'

The former administrator for a recruitment company says she had one 'quite helpful' conversation with a DWP staff member 'but as usual they don't really know what's going on'.

When This is Money intervened, the DWP issued Ms Ellis with arrears of around 3,100 and started paying her state pension.

A spokesperson said: 'We regret there was a delay in DWP processing Ms Ellis's claim.'

Pensioner says he informed HMRC and DWP he was in Vietnam, but his pension was suspended

David Bradley, who lives in Vietnam, had his state pension stopped last month and experienced trouble getting it restarted despite texting, writing and calling the DWP and HMRC.

The 69-year-old, who told us he and his wife are heavily dependent on the state pension, says an important letter from the DWP about his circumstances failed to arrive.

Mr Bradley says he informed HMRC some time ago that he was living in Vietnam, where state pension payments are frozen, but it had apparently not passed the information on to the DWP.

He adds that he also told the DWP where he was living about three or four weeks ago.

'Due to Covid we were unable to return to the UK since March 2020 until this year. I shall be travelling back to the UK next month,' he says.

When we raised his case with the DWP, a spokesperson said: 'Mr Bradley failed to notify the DWP of his move to Vietnam and as a result his state pension was suspended.

'We've contacted Mr Bradley and recorded his temporary address in Vietnam, reinstated his state pension and issued arrears of 1,529.12 covering the period 11 February 2022 to 7 April 2022.

'Mr Bradley's state pension will continue to be paid at the weekly rate of 202.64 whilst he temporarily resides in Vietnam.

'It's important to note that it's the responsibility of Mr Bradley to inform DWP of any change in his circumstances; this forms part of the claims declaration which Mr Bradley would have agreed to when he made his claim.'
Hawkins County traffic stop results in the seizure of over 30 grams of meth
The Ethiopian government said on Thursday that rebellious Tigrayan forces are still in the neighbouring region of Afar, despite a spokesman for the Tigrayan forces announcing their withdrawal days earlier.

Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu told state media that the news that Tigrayan forces had left Afar were big lies.

Afar Police Commissioner Ahmed Harif told Reuters on Thursday that Tigrayan forces were still in four districts bordering Tigray  Koneba, Abala, Berhale and Magale  and had not moved since Monday.

Getachew Reda, the spokeman for the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that controls Tigray, did not respond to requests for comment. On Monday, he told Reuters Tigrayan forces were leaving Afar.

The Tigrayan forces said they were withdrawing so humanitarian convoys could enter. Only a trickle of aid has made it into famine-hit Tigray, where more than 90% of the population need food aid, since the Ethiopian military withdrew at the end of June.

The United Nations has blamed government bureaucracy and fighting for blocking convoys.

Tigrayan forces have been fighting the central government since November 2020, when conflict erupted between the two sides. Tigrayan leaders accuse Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of wanting to centralise power at the expense of the regions; he accuses them of wanting to regain national power, which they lost when he was appointed in 2018.

On March 25 the federal government announced a unilateral ceasefire, saying it would allow humanitarian aid to enter.

Tigrayan forces agreed to respect the ceasefire on the condition that sufficient aid was delivered to their region within reasonable time.

Since the ceasefire was declared, 145 trucks have made it into Tigray, according to the U.N. World Food Programme. At least 100 per day are needed, the United Nations says.

SOURCE: REUTERS
Swedens government does not plan to hold a referendum if its parliament decides to proceed with an application for NATO membership, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Friday.

Russias invasion of Ukraine has forced both Sweden and Finland to review long held beliefs that military neutrality is the best means of ensuring national security, with both countries expected to make a decision in the coming few weeks.

Andersson said that a referendum was a bad idea.

I dont think it is an issue that is suitable for a referendum, she told reporters.

There is a lot of information about national security that is confidential, so there are important issues in such a referendum that cannot be discussed and important facts that cannot be put on the table.

Swedens parliament is reviewing security policy with a report expected in mid-May. Separately, Anderssons own party, the Social Democrats, are looking at whether to drop their objections to NATO membership.

With a majority in parliament backing membership, the ruling Social Democrats are seen as the biggest hurdle to Sweden applying to join the 30-nation alliance.

The leader of the Moderates, the biggest opposition party, has also rejected calls for a referendum on the issue.

Voters  are not naive about Russia, Ulf Kristersson told daily Aftonbladet earlier this week in a debate with Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar. Its very clear that Swedish voters have understood what happened on 24 February and have drawn their conclusions.

Dadgostar, whose party opposes NATO membership, told Aftonbladet that Swedes should get a say in the decision.

This .. has to go back to the voters, there has to be very strong democratic support in this question, she said.

Sweden holds a general election in September.

An opinion poll by Demoskop in daily Aftonbladet published on April 20 showed 57% of Swedes in favour of joining NATO, up from 51% in March.

SOURCE: REUTERS
Arna Kimiai, the woman who made headlines in 2021 after video footage showed her coughing on a San Francisco Uber driver, is back in the news.

Kimiai was apprehended by the Miami Police Department on Wednesday night. A spokesperson for the department said potential charges include fraud theft, organized scheme to defraud and fraudulent use of personal information.

ABC7 reported that Kimiai stole the identity of her neighbor, a San Francisco oncology nurse. Emily, who asked the outlet not use her last name, said she lived next door to Kimiai in Los Angeles in September before moving to San Francisco. Emily told the news station that Kimiai rented a Miami penthouse and set up an electric account with Florida Power and Light in her name.

The San Francisco Police Department said an individual came into the Southern Police Station on April 5 to report fraud.

"The victim stated that in March of 2022 that she received multiple inquiries from her credit card company regarding an apartment in Florida and a vehicle dealership in Southern California, which she did not initiate," San Francisco police said. "The victim reported this incident because she believes that she is a victim of fraud and/or identity theft."

SF police said the individual came back to the department, providing additional details from her own investigation, including the identity of the possible suspect. SFPD didn't share the name of the suspect.

Kimiai turned herself in after a warrant for her arrest was issued.

"As soon as Ms. Kimiai learned that there was a warrant for her arrest, she immediately arranged for her surrender to the Miami Police Dept.," Kimia's Berkeley lawyer, Seth Morris, wrote in an email on Thursday. "She surrendered last night, has been booked and is being processed, and should be released today."

Kimiai was first in the news more than a year ago when dashcam footage from March 7, 2021 showed her and another woman, Malaysia King, allegedly attacking, harassing and coughing on Uber driver Subhakar Khadka.

After Kimiai and King refused to wear masks, "an altercation ensued, largely captured on video, and one of the passengers reached over the driver from the rear seat area and stole the drivers cellphone." the San Francisco Police Department said.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

The video footage shared by KPIX-TV went viral, and many were shocked by the women's attack on the driver.

The behavior captured on video in this incident showed a callous disregard for the safety and wellbeing of an essential service worker in the midst of a deadly pandemic," Lt. Tracy McCray, who heads the departments robbery detail, said in a statement. "We take this conduct very seriously in San Francisco, and were committed to ensuring that justice is done in this case.

Kimiai's case over the Uber incident is ongoing. She's scheduled to appear in court next in June, ABC7 reported.

A third woman who was in the car wasnt charged, but Uber said it banned all three riders.
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COLONIE  The owner of the Capital Region's largest bus and limousine company estimates 60 percent of the stretch limo operators in the state have gone out of business since the 2018 limo crash in Schoharie that killed 20 people.

David Brown, owner of Premiere Transportation in Albany, said the decline is driven by two factors: Unease with stretch limos since the Oct. 6, 2018, crash and the expense of new regulations imposed by the state to improve safety. He said the numbers came from research by the Limousine, Bus and Taxi Operators of Upstate New York, a trade group of which he is a board member.

"We're seeing stretch limousines slowing fading away," he said.

Brown made the comments Friday at the latest meeting of the Stretch Limousine Passenger Safety Task Force, which was created by the state in response to the Schoharie tragedy.

Brown's assertions appear to mirror an ongoing trend that shows consumers moving away from renting stretch limos for weddings and proms and other celebrations over safety concerns and instead turning to buses and vans.

The Schoharie crash, the worst U.S. highway transportation disaster in more than a decade, led to new state and federal laws that strengthened regulation of the industry and subjected limo owners to more severe criminal penalties, significantly raising the risks and costs of operating a limo service in New York.

The new regulatory environment quickly pushed many of the small "mom and pop" limo companies to close, according to Brown, who is a board member of a state limo trade group.

"We're seeing a dramatic decline," Brown said. "These companies have had to close their doors. This is what we are seeing in the industry."

Brown, who is one of the 11 task force members, said that demand for stretch limos, which rose to popularity in late 1970s and 1980s, has been dropping in recent years as consumers have moved to buses and vans.

He said that's led to a wave of closures of limo businesses across the state, especially the smaller ones that have less resources to comply with new regulations.

Brown's company is not immune to the trend. He currently only has one stretch limo among his fleet of buses, vans, sedans and town cars. Before the crash, he had several.

Not everyone on the task force was sympathetic about the plight of limo operators.

The 2001 stretch Ford Excursion involved in the Schoharie crash was owned by the Hussain family in Wilton that also ran a motel and owned four limos they rented out on the weekends for weddings and trips to the Saratoga Springs race track. Nauman Hussain, who took on operation of the company after his father, Shahed Hussain, moved to Pakistan, pleaded guilty last year to 20 counts of criminally negligent homicide but avoided jail time.

Although they had insurance, the Hussains didn't go through the costly requirement of having its business certified by the state and having its vehicles pass the state's rigorous stretch limo inspection program.

Nancy DiMonte, a task force member whose daughter was severely injured in a 2015 Long Island limo crash that killed four of her daughter's friends, says if limo owners can't afford to comply with the laws, then they shouldn't be in the business.

"All businesses have to conform, people have to change," DiMonte said. "Survival of the fittest is what this is all about. If you can't cut it then you maybe have to get out."

In the months before the crash, the state Department of Transportation twice ordered the Excursion off the road after it failed roadside safety inspections. The Hussains kept renting out the vehicle and driving passengers.

The task force has been debating whether or not the DOT should attach GPS devices to track limos ordered off the road for safety violations.

A DOT official at Friday's task force meeting said that, since February 2021, the DOT has suspended the registrations of 52 stretch limos that violated state regulations, further constricting the industry. The companies have been blocked from trying to re-register them with the state.

The task force is currently looking to schedule a public hearing in the near future, although at least one board member has urged that the hearing be delayed until more deliberation can take place. Friday was just its third meeting.
GUILDERLAND  Twice a year, Arisha Ahmed and her father used to climb up to the flat roof of their home in Bangladesh, sit side-by-side on the swing they had there, and wait in anticipation to sight the new moon. If sighted, it meant Eid and the festivities to celebrate would begin the following day.

But once Ahmed moved to Guilderland at the age of 11, she faced a rude awakening. Instead of spending the Muslim holiday celebrating with family, she often found herself having to figure out whether it was worth the school work she would miss  and students older than her have often sacrificed their holiday over missing a test or having excessive makeup work.

So Ahmed and other Muslim students at Guilderland High School are taking matters into their own hands. In February, five students submitted public comments to the school board meeting asking the district to make Eid an official school holiday  and their advocacy is just starting.

Imagine going to school on Christmas, Ahmed said. Eid is a very important holiday for Muslims. Its about family and celebrating  its not about worrying, if you skipped school, youre going to have to make the work up.

Currently, the Guilderland Central School District closes schools for Christian holidays and the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, but that closure has not extended to students of other religions. The only school district in the Capital Region to close schools for all three Abrahamic religions holidays is the City School District of Albany.

Nehla Ismail, a 12th-grader who is in the schools Muslim Students Association (MSA), said this year felt like the right time to push for Eid off because of the schools growing Muslim population. MSA has 15 participating students, but Ismail and school advisers say it is a fraction of the schools overall Muslim population.

It has been difficult because people in the school are not completely aware of Ramadan because they grew up in this environment, she said. The school doesnt really talk about religious holidays other than the ones on the calendar.

A lot of students, she said, arent able to take the day off school because they have exams, tests or other commitments for extracurricular activities on Eid. This year, for example, Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, may fall on Monday  but there are Advanced Placement exams scheduled for Monday.

Other students strive to obtain perfect attendance for their college applications and dont want to sacrifice that.

You have to give up your religious celebration for the day because your school cannot accommodate it, Ismail said.

Many districts are increasingly facing calls to recognize their diversifying student body. Last month in Schenectady, some high schoolers felt the district sent mixed messages after it allowed students to go outside to celebrate the Hindu holiday of Holi, what is known as "The Festival of Colors," while a principal announced over the loudspeaker that students covered in colored powder afterward would not be allowed into a certain lunch period. A Schenectady schools spokeswoman said it was a misunderstanding.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

There are some things Guilderland has done to be more inclusive of Muslim students, including giving them prayer passes so they dont have to miss any of the five daily prayers, offering them prayer rooms or room dividers to pray in private, and opening up the library to fasting students during lunch periods.

Superintendent Marie Wiles was not available for comment Thursday, but the students said she met with them numerous times to give them advice and support in finding a way to propose making Eid a school holiday to the school board.

A school district would have to adapt to accept the rotating holiday, as the Islamic calendar follows the lunar, not solar, calendar; the dates for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha vary each year, depending on the new moon. The Jewish holiday dates also change each year based on lunar months.

But if other school districts have been able to figure it out, the students said, Guilderland should be able to, too.

The school environment has been changing recently towards being more diverse and inclusive of all people, Ismail said. I feel like the calendar doesnt reflect that. Its only right that we move towards a way that can accommodate all of our students."
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SCHENECTADY  Freshman Board member Jamaica Miles apologized to colleagues if she has ever been overly critical of the board in a way that was disrespectful.

She also denied she is using students to push her agenda, and warned the board to be solid in your justification for overriding the voters of this city if they have plans of trying to get her off the panel.

That admonition and her impassioned remarks during Wednesday nights Board of Education meeting came in response to a letter of criticism dated April 12 that Miles said she received from Board President Cathy Lewis and Board Vice President Bernice Rivera for what we believe are matters demonstrating poor judgment.

We have serious concerns about several of your recent actions, including related to your duties and responsibilities as a board member, by bringing these to your attention, our hope is that the actions will be corrected, the letter, which Miles read, states. We aim to work collaboratively for the best interest of the district.

The missive cited three instances, two of them student protests in November and April, and the third one related to Miles apparent criticism in March of an administrator for recognizing students for perfect attendance.

The community activist, elected to the board a year ago, addressed each incident and demanded respect from her fellow board members.

Miles, co-founder of All of Us Community Action Group, was outspoken in her opposition to the district adding more police or community engagement officers to school buildings. Despite pushback from her and others in the community, the measure was approved by a 4-3 tally in late March.

At a board meeting earlier this month, Rivera chided Miles for using impressionable minds to get her and her organizations message across. She highlighted a Times Union article where a student leader credited Miles with providing information that helped her make an informed decision about the protest.

As a board member, it concerns me that students are being prepped to participate in protest during the school day, which takes way from valuable instructional time and teacher and support staff, said Rivera. It is also concerning to me that students seem to be used to provide your organization, All of Us, more media coverage.

At the same time, Rivera noted that she strongly supports the right to protest, advocate and stand up for marginalized groups and is all for racial equity and equity.

What disappoints and discourages me is the fact that a board member is seemingly using students to promote their platform, added Rivera. This seems more the role of an opportunist than a board member and the public deserves more.

Miles shot back during the April 13 meeting that she doesnt control the media and that high schoolers were the ones who solicited her input in the run-up to the student-led demonstration.

They asked me questions and I answered them based on my skill, knowledge and understanding and more than 10 years of organizing experience, she said, adding she is trusted by students, parents and faculty.

She punctuated her remarks with a demand for respect.

I dont think everybody on the board understands how difficult it is to be repeatedly disrespected and to stay civil ... I expect the same respect and dignity that anyone else does," said Miles.

Lewis' and Riveras letter accused Miles of undermining the board by taking part in a demonstration at the high school in early November where some students upset with the new block scheduling walked out the building and rallied around the campus.

The document goes on to mention that Miles during a March school board meeting publicly criticized a staff member for recognizing students for their perfect attendance.

It is expected that board members support students in their achievements, any criticism of staff should be brought to the superintendent of schools as a personnel matter to be addressed accordingly, you did not do that, the letter writers said.

Miles said her comments were directed at the superintendent and had to do with our policy and practice as a district.

Rivera and Lewis also alleged in their letter that Miles facilitated and encouraged students to walk out of class during the school day to stage a protest and that she was denigrating Ms. Lewis in the public forum with students.

Your actions are inconsistent with your duty and obligation to work constructively and collaboratively as a board member, the letter states. The examples of your actions noted above are the opposite of this. We bring these to your attention in hopes of enhancing collaboration and moving forward productively in the best interest of the district.

On Wednesday, Miles said that after careful contemplation of the letter and Riveras comments from the earlier board meeting that if at any time, Ive expressed disappointment or concern or been overly critical of the board in a way that was disrespectful, I apologize.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

My passion and the importance of the issues may not have shown up in a way that members of this board are accustomed to, but I always show up with the priority of the students, families, and larger community, she added.

But she also questioned why board leaders hadnt reached out to her earlier if they had problems with what she may have said in November and were really interested in working collaboratively for the good of the school community.

She also took exception to Riveras comments about her pushing an agenda or platform.

She said in November she was driving by the high school and stopped to see what was going on when she noticed students walking out. Miles insisted she did not facilitate or encourage students to walk out of class during the school day at the April 6 protest at the high school over adding more police officers to Schenectady schools and that she merely shared information with the students when they commented about the vote.

I am not using students in any capacity for gain, I am insulted by the accusation and defamation of my character, she said. If it the intention of this leadership of this body to remove me as a member, be sure that your are solid in your justification for overriding the voters of this city.

Schenectady High School senior Login Abudalla took Rivera to task from her comments about Miles exerting influence on the students.

"If you find it hard to believe that students have minds of their own, then you don't know students of this district at all," said Abudalla.

She said Miles' advice actually went a long way in ensuring that the April protest at the high school was orderly and not chaotic.

Rivera said Wednesday that she understands how inspirational, how important, how valuable our students are.

I have dedicated my life to this, so I would never want any of the students to ever think that I am questioning their capabilities, I see it every day.

She talked about her days as a teacher in Schenectady and her job with NYSUT allows her to see other districts in Upstate New York has helped shaped her as school leader.

What I do, I think of my own kids, and every decision I make on this board is based on me looking at all my students, all of our students in Schenectady, as my own personal kids.

It is important for us to work together, it is important for us to collaborate, because thats what we do here on the board.








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BOISE, Idaho (AP)  A former Idaho lawmaker was convicted Friday of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial in which the young woman fled the witness stand during testimony, saying I cant do this.

The intern told a Statehouse supervisor that Aaron von Ehlinger raped her at his apartment after the two had dinner at a Boise restaurant in March 2021. Von Ehlinger said the sex was consensual.

At the time, the Lewiston Republican was serving as a state representative, but he later resigned.

Von Ehlinger, 39, was found guilty Friday of rape. He was found not guilty of sexual penetration with a foreign object.

Von Ehlinger sat calmly as the verdict was read, as he has throughout the trial.

Afterward, 4th District Judge Michael Reardon told the jury: This has been an unusual case attended by many unexpected circumstances, but I appreciate your attention ... and hard work.

A felony rape conviction carries a minimum sentence of one year in prison in Idaho. The maximum penalty can be as high as life in prison, at the judge's discretion. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 28.

As von Ehlinger was remanded into custody and handcuffed, he talked quietly with his attorney who removed items from von Ehlinger's pockets.

The prosecution remained stoic as they left the courtroom, but once they reached a lower floor they stopped to briefly to congratulate each other on the verdict.

Von Ehlinger's attorney, Jon Cox, could not be immediately reached for comment after the trial.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, and has referred to the woman in this case as Jane Doe at her request.

In a press conference, Ada County Prosecuting Attorney Jan Bennetts thanked the jury, investigators and the prosecutors who handled the case.

Last but not least, it took an incredible amount of courage for the victim in this case, Jane Doe, to come forward, Bennetts said. I want to acknowledge the courage that she took in coming forward.

Doe testified on the second day of the trial. She haltingly described the moments the alleged assault began, before abruptly leaving the witness stand.

He tried to put his fingers between my legs and I closed my knees, Doe said.

At that, she stood up.

I cant do this, she said, quickly walking out of the courtroom.

The judge gave the prosecuting attorneys 10 minutes to find her to determine if she would return and resume her testimony.

When she did not, the judge told the jurors they had to strike (Does testimony) from your minds as if it never happened, because the defense could not cross-examine her.

During the press conference, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katelyn Farley said the moment Doe left the trial was heart-wrenching, but said she and deputy prosecutor Whitney Welsh had prepared for trial knowing that Doe may not be able to testify.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

I think it's important that she decided to walk in the room, and she also decided to walk out  those were her choices, Welsh said.

During his testimony Thursday, von Ehlinger often spoke in a clear, loud voice directly to jurors, saying he and Doe decided to return to his apartment to hang out after eating at a fancy Boise restaurant. Then they began making out on the couch, he said.

Things were going well, and I asked (Doe) if she would like to move to the bedroom, von Ehlinger said. She said Sure. We got up, held hands and walked into the bedroom.

Deliberations stretched for seven hours until nearly 8 p.m. Thursday before the jury decided to break for the evening. At one point, the judge summoned the attorneys to his chambers because the jury asked a question. No details were made public about the jury's inquiry.

When the allegations became public  largely because of the legislative ethics investigation  Doe faced unrelenting harassment from some of von Ehlinger's supporters. Her name, photo and personal details about her life were repeatedly publicized in doxxing incidents. One of the people who frequently harassed her was in the courthouse to attend the trial, but law enforcement banned the man from the floor where the case was being heard.

During closing arguments, Farley told jurors that the case was about power in the wrong hands" used to the great devastation of Doe. Von Ehlinger had social, political and physical power over the petite intern, Farley said.

He used that power to rape and forcibly penetrate her, Farley said, pointing at von Ehlinger. Doe resisted in several ways, she said, highlighting the testimony of law enforcement investigators and a nurse sexual assault examiner who interviewed Doe after the alleged assault.

Words show lack of consent. Excuses of Why this shouldnt happen' show lack of consent. Yanking your head back and getting an injury shows lack of consent, Farley said.

But von Ehlinger's attorney told jurors the prosecution's case was made up of red herrings, and said von Ehlinger was a credible person who willingly took the stand to share his side of the story.

The investigators and the nurse who performed the sexual assault exam testified earlier this week. They said Doe reported being pinned down while von Ehlinger forced her to perform oral sex, and that she knew he frequently carried a handgun and had placed it on a dresser near the bed at the time of the assault. The nurse also testified that Doe had a goose egg on the back of her head from striking the wall or a headboard while trying to jerk her head away from von Ehlinger's grip.
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BRUSSELS (AP)  NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Finland and Sweden would be embraced with open arms should they decide to join the 30-nation military organization and could become members quite quickly.

Stoltenbergs remarks came as public support in Finland and Sweden for NATO membership mounts in response to Russias war in Ukraine. Media speculation in the two countries suggest the two might apply in mid-May.

Its their decision," Stoltenberg said. "But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be warmly welcomed, and I expect that process to go quickly.

He gave no precise time frame, but did say that the two could expect some protection should Russia try to intimidate them from the time their membership applications are made until they formally join.

Stoltenberg said hes confident that there are ways to bridge that interim period in a way which is good enough and works for both Finland and Sweden.

NATOs collective security guarantee ensures that all member countries must come to the aid of any ally under attack. Stoltenberg added that many NATO allies have now pledged and provided a total of at least $8 billion in military support to Ukraine.

Before launching the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that NATO stop expanding and pull its troops back from Russias borders. So the prospect of neighboring Finland, and Sweden, joining the trans-Atlantic alliance is unlikely to be welcomed in Moscow.

Finland has a conflict-ridden history with Russia, with which it shares a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border. Finns have taken part in dozens of wars against their eastern neighbor, for centuries as part of the Swedish Kingdom, and as an independent nation including two fought with the Soviet Union from 1939-40 and 1941-44.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

In the postwar period, however, Finland pursued pragmatic political and economic ties with Moscow, remaining militarily nonaligned and a neutral buffer between East and West.

Sweden has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years, choosing a path of peace after centuries of warfare with its neighbors.

Both countries put an end to traditional neutrality by joining the European Union in 1995 and deepening cooperation with NATO. However, a majority of people in both countries remained firmly against full membership in the alliance  until now.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Times Union file photo

The state will hold a public hearing on New York's landmark climate plan in the Hudson Valley, reversing a decision not to schedule a hearing in the region.

Ten public hearings were announced in March as part of the comment period - eight in-person and two virtual - but the Hudson Valley region was notably absent.
NY State Police

CATSKILL  State Police are asking the public for help locating a sex crimes suspect who failed to show up in Greene County Court after being released on bail.

The object of the search is Luis D. Fernandez, 46, of Kingston, troopers based in Catskill said Friday.
John Carl D'Annibale / John Carl D'Annibale/Times Union

On Wednesday, the state Court of Appeals invalidated the Democrat-drawn redistricting lines for the state Senate and U.S. Congress. New Yorks highest court cited abundant procedural missteps and the fact that the lines approved by the Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul were drawn with an unconstitutional partisan intent  in a word, gerrymandered.

The decision, which largely squares with what this Editorial Board called for earlier in the week, creates enormous headaches for the state Board of Elections, local election officials, scores of campaigns, and  last but hopefully not least  New Yorks aggrieved voters, who have spent the past few months wondering what districts they live in. Now theyll have to wait even longer for answers, and then stay energized to show up for two primaries: in June for state Assembly and judicial races as well as statewide contests including governor, and then later in the summer  maybe August?  for state Senate and Congress. Plan your vacations accordingly.
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ALBANY  The Court of Appeals, in its landmark redistricting ruling this week, stated that by "adhering to the will of the people of this state" it would throw out the political boundary maps drawn in violation of the state Constitution by Democratic lawmakers.

Its solution was to leave the job of redrawing the political boundaries for state Senate and congressional districts to a "special master," who was appointed by a state Supreme Court justice in Steuben County. That task must be completed by May 20 in order to hold primaries for the effected races that are expected to be moved from June to August.

Under the ruling issued Wednesday, the state's highest court may have cemented that every decade moving forward the courts may be left to decide new political maps instead of the Independent Redistricting Commission if further reform is not taken, according to Democratic and Republican officials.

"The Court of Appeals has created effectively an unworkable process," said David Imamura, Democratic chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission.

His Republican counterpart on the commission, former state Sen. Jack Martins, resigned from the position in March. Martins is running for his former state Senate seat. Martins deferred questions to Commissioner Charles Nesbitt, a former Assemblyman who is now the Republican chair.

"The thing that occurs to me is that we need to make it more difficult for the Legislature to draw their own maps and that it has to come back to the commission until their is a map," Nesbitt said. "Hopefully, that will work."

Nesbitt, though, acknowledged extenuating circumstances that made a simmering pot into a pressure cooker.

The commission, which was created by a constitutional amendment at the ballot box in 2014, did not get up and running until 2021. It lacked funding under the administration of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who helped to shepherd the initial creation of the commission. And U.S. Census data that would help frame its work was relatively late because of delays associated with the coronavirus pandemic and funding under the administration of then-President Donald J. Trump.

"I've said it time and time again," Nesbitt said. "This is no joke. The people of the state of New York voted to put this into the Constitution. That's no small thing. We have every responsibility to do what it takes to make it work. This time it didn't work the way it should; next time I pray that it would."

The likelihood of it not going back to the court in a decade, New York State GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy said, is unlikely.

"We deserve better," Langworthny said to reporters Thursday.

He pointed to commissions in California and other states, where he believes the process works more effectively. Langworthy recommended for the state to study the issue.

Imamura also cited California as a good model to follow, along with Colorado. He was particularly pessimistic about the opportunity for the commission to succeed in the future under current law, following the ruling by the Court of Appeals.

That majority ruling found that Democratic lawmakers violated the state Constitution by deciding to draw their own maps prior to the Independent Redistricting Commission delivering a second set of maps for the Legislature to vote on.

The issue was one of procedure, but it spoke to the substantive stalemate that occurred in a body that was split evenly between partisan appointees. Judges, and attorneys for both sides, throughout the appeals process, decried the commission as either failing at its job or being set up to fail.

"If one party or another decides it's in their interest to sabotage the commission, then as a result of the Court of Appeals ruling, a court will always draw the lines," Imamura said.

He is skeptical that Republicans hadn't already known their process in which they would challenge the maps in court: by arguing that without a vote on the maps, they were invalid.

"The Republicans told us they were unwilling to have a meeting because they didn't want to vote on the same maps again, but what is clear now in retrospect is that they wanted to deny a meeting so that they could set up their court challenge," Imamura said.

Nesbitt disagreed. There had "never been a determination about that" and it was beyond their scope to know how a court case would pan out, especially when Democrats and their lawyers had firmly asserted the Legislature had the right to draw its own maps.

"To depend on the outcomes of court for your result is always very iffy," Nesbitt said.

The debates between the commissioners dissolved into gridlock in January. Both sides continue to firmly highlight different issues, but because their deliberations took place largely in private, many of their assertions remain up for debate.

Democrats say Republicans refused to continue negotiating by drawing their own maps while Republicans contest that they had already compromised into agreement on nearly 90 percent of the boundaries, and the remaining time should be focused on debating final sticking points.

Ultimately, the sticking points were left on the table. No maps were brought forward for a vote by the commission. Lawmakers turned around and voted on their own, Democrat-drawn maps. Republicans immediately sued the state over the process on the grounds that they were intentionally gerrymandered and that they were drawn invalidly by the Legislature.

The Court of Appeals voted 4-3 that the maps were unconstitutional because of the process.

The process, in part, failed because voters rejected a ballot proposition this past November to give the Legislature the ability to draw their own maps if the commission failed to agree to a single set of maps. Republican and Conservative parties spent substantial money fighting the ballot question and the state Democratic Party spent no money on it.

At the end, the question of whether the Legislature could draw its own maps after the commission failed to do so became the decisive question.

"Who's abandoning the will of the people now?" Associate Judge Madeline Singas, a recent addition to the court, asked the Democrat's attorneys during oral arguments.

One of the attorneys replied that the commission "did not do it's job."

Associate Judge Anthony Cannataro then posited a version of the facts which would emerge as a part of the majority opinion that he and Singas joined.

"Is there nothing anyone could have done when the IRC process was becoming derailed?" Cannataro said. "Was it supposed to completely go off the rails and there was nothing anyone could have done about it?"

The process going forward, for now, will be to take it to the courts.
Northern Ireland goes to the polls on May 5 to elect 90 Assembly members to the devolved legislature in Belfast.

The last Assembly election, a snap poll in March 2017, was held as crisis engulfed the powersharing institutions, which had collapsed two months earlier amid a row about a botched green energy scheme.

Fast forward five years and voters will cast their ballots in the single transferable vote (STV) election with a similar cloud of uncertainty hanging over Stormont.

The ministerial executive imploded in February 2022 when the DUP withdrew its first minister Paul Givan in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol  a post-Brexit trading arrangement that has enraged unionists by creating economic barriers between the region and the rest of the UK.

Here are some of the main issues and themes that have dominated the election campaign and are set to factor when the votes are counted and efforts to form a new administration begin.

The race for first minister:

Somewhat confusingly for outside observers, there is no legal difference or power disparity between Stormonts first and deputy first ministers  their co-equal status is a cornerstone of the regions powersharing structures.

Under current rules, the largest unionist party occupies one of the posts and the largest nationalist party occupies the other, with the first ministers job going to the one that has more seats. A properly functioning ministerial executive cannot be formed without both roles being filled.

Since 1998, when the governance system was devised as part of Northern Irelands historic peace accord, the first minister has always been a unionist.

While Sinn Fein would gain no more authority if it displaces the DUP as the largest party and its Stormont leader Michelle ONeill assumes the first ministers job, it would undoubtedly be a symbolically significant moment in the post-Good Friday Agreement era.

Just how significant has been intensely debated during the campaign.

The DUP has insisted that Sinn Fein would be emboldened to call for a border poll on Irish unity if it emerged as the largest party. Unionist rivals characterise that as a scare tactic designed to shore up DUP support in the wake of a series of opinion polls that put the party well behind Sinn Fein.

The republican party, for its part, has maintained that it is prioritising the cost-of-living crisis over a push for constitutional change at this election.

Cost of living, waiting lists and the prospects of a swift return to powersharing:

There is the real possibility that Sinn Fein could emerge as the largest party but be prevented from taking up the first ministers post  certainly in the short to medium term  due to a lack of a willing partner in government.

Despite intense media questioning on the issue, neither the DUP or UUP have said they will serve as deputy first minister alongside a Sinn Fein first minister.

Their critics have denounced this stance as undemocratic and it potentially runs the risk of galvanising infuriated nationalist voters to back Sinn Fein in greater numbers.

The DUP and UUP have responded to the criticism by insisting any decision on entering an executive should only be taken with knowledge of what the new administrations proposed programme for government would look like.

Stormonts smaller parties have challenged the DUP and Sinn Fein to defuse the issue by agreeing to change the names to joint first ministers  titles that perhaps more accurately reflect the roles.

While Sinn Fein once proposed such a move, the party has now stepped back from that position, insisting that if it was good enough for a nationalist to serve as a deputy first minister it should be good enough for a unionist too.

If nationalist voters do coalesce behind Sinn Fein the obvious casualty would be the SDLP.

The party has shown signs of resurgence in recent years, as it has sought to promote young talent to its front-line positions, but it always faces the peril of being squeezed in a battle between the DUP and Sinn Fein for top spot.

Not surprisingly, leader Colum Eastwood has dismissed the fuss over the first ministers job as a distraction as he has tried to steer the electorates focus onto bread and butter issues such as soaring living costs and spiralling health service waiting lists.

The SDLP is not alone in concentrating on the real life difficulties facing an increasing number of households in the region.

All the parties accept there are currently too many citizens struggling to heat their homes or waiting years for a consultant led hospital appointment, and addressing those twin concerns have been front and centre of all the main manifestos.

In that context, the DUP has taken plenty of political flak for pulling down the executive at a time of such acute need across society.

It has justified the move by insisting the Northern Ireland Protocol is contributing to rising consumer prices and health service pressures and radical action was therefore required to force changes to it.

Aside from the issue of a Sinn Fein first minister, the DUP has made clear it will not re-enter an administration without major reform of the protocol.

While there are parallels with the crisis of 2017, albeit back then Sinn Fein was the party that quit government, there are important differences too.

The major difference is a recent law change that means an executive can trundle on in shadow format for six months without a first and deputy first minister in place. Before that change, failure to nominate to those positions within a week would have led to full-scale collapse of devolution and would have placed an onus on the UK Government to call another election.

With this buffer now in place, and departmental ministers from the last mandate able to continue in their jobs, few Stormont watchers are placing bets on a new executive being formed in the immediate aftermath of the election.

The Northern Ireland Protocol:

Contention over the so-called Irish Sea border has been a source of political and societal tension in Northern Ireland since it came into place at the start of 2021 under the terms of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

Jointly agreed by the UK and EU as a means to keep the Irish land border free-flowing, it shifted regulatory and customs checks to goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Many unionists and loyalists are furious about arrangements they claim are driving a constitutional wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

The other Stormont parties, which backed Remain in the Brexit referendum and represented a majority overall in the Assembly in the last mandate, acknowledge that changes to the protocol are needed to cut the burden of red tape on businesses.

However, they insist the main thrust of the arrangement  that Northern Ireland is afforded special status to enable its exporters to trade freely across the Irish border and further into the EU single market  should be retained.

For these parties, their stance on the protocol is unlikely to make or break their electoral fortunes.

For unionist parties, however, the Irish Sea border will assume much more significance on polling day.

While all unionist MLAs from the last mandate oppose the protocol, they differ on how to bring about changes.

The fallout over the Brexit deal was a key factor in the unprecedented turmoil that engulfed the DUP last year, when two leaders, Arlene Foster and her successor Edwin Poots, were ousted in successive internal revolts that occurred within weeks of each other.

That flux came amid poor polling results and fears within party ranks that the unionist electorate would blame the DUP for the protocol, accusing it of squandering its unprecedented influence in the Brexit process during the two-year confidence-and-supply deal with the Conservatives at Westminster.

The harder line Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) party is hoping to capitalise on the DUPs travails and has adopted a strident anti-protocol approach.

Critics have previously derided the TUV as a one-man band that relies solely on its leader, formidable barrister Jim Allister, for an identity.

While opinion polls suggest the party could be poised for a breakthrough in this election, with the potential to mop up disaffected DUP voters, it still faces a significant challenge translating any increase in overall vote share into physical seats in the keenly fought five seat constituencies.

On the other wing of unionism, UUP leader Doug Beattie has been trying to move his party more to the centre ground, insisting that engagement and negotiation rather that protest and government walk-outs are the way to bring about changes to the protocol.

The decorated military veteran is betting that any votes he loses from the ranks of traditional unionism he will make up by attracting more liberal unionists into the UUP fold.

The DUP has undoubtedly hardened its position on the protocol over the last 18 months as it bids to retain votes it was otherwise at risk of shedding to the TUV. This strategy culminated with leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldsons move to withdraw the partys first minister from the executive.

He is now a regular on the podium alongside Mr Allister at anti-protocol rallies organised by loyalist groups. Some of the gatherings have proved controversial and at one, in a clear sign of the tensions within the broader unionist family, a poster of Mr Beattie with a noose around his neck was seen.

The role that outgoing independent unionist MLAs Claire Sugden and Alex Easton, the latter a former DUP representative, could play in final shake-down of results should not be discounted and both will be confident of retaining their seats.

The rise of the others:

Sinn Fein had a very good election in 2017, winning 27 seats, and arguably maxed out its potential in several constituencies by capturing three of the five seats available. The DUP, by contrast, spread its 28 seats more broadly, winning more doubles with surplus votes to spare.

In theory, that means Sinn Fein would have to do very well to make gains on its 2017 tally, while the DUP could absorb a dip in popular support and still hold on to its seats in multiple constituencies.

It is possible that Sinn Fein could lose a number of seats but still emerge as the largest party, if the DUP loses more.

If that scenario plays out it will likely mean that the Alliance Party has had a very good election.

Support for the cross-community centrist party has surged at recent elections in Northern Ireland and all opinion polls indicate that rise is set to continue. It has long been the smallest of the five main Stormont parties but a good showing on May 5 could see it leap above the UUP and SDLP to become the third largest party.

Leader Naomi Long claims a big result for Alliance can herald the end of a political system based on binary division.

Stormont currently uses a community designation method that effectively hands blocs of unionists or nationalists a veto in contentious votes. That means parties that designate as neither, such as Alliance, the Greens and People Before Profit (PBP), cannot influence votes where the results are determined by how many unionists and nationalists support or reject a proposal.

The Greens are confident of retaining their two seats and PBP its single seat in west Belfast. Both parties would need to have a very good day to make gains.

A strong showing overall for the parties that make up the designation known as the others would undoubtedly strengthen the hand of those calling for reforms they claim are needed to reflect adequately the increasing diversity in Northern Ireland society.
The brother of Jennifer Poole, who was fatally stabbed seven times by her boyfriend in her Finglas apartment, has said his family are tormented by the thoughts of what she endured that day and that she spent her last minutes on earth with the "very worst of humanity".

Jason Poole told the Central Criminal Court today that: "No one deserves to die at the hands of another person for no reason. No one deserves to be treated like Jennifer was treated. No one should ever think they can control a person and make them feel worthless. Nobody should feel afraid or scared of someone else".

Sentencing judge Mr Justice Paul Burns noted this was "yet another case of a violent attack upon a young mother by a male partner.

The court also heard during today's sentence hearing that the defendant, 30-year-old Gavin Murphy, has a previous conviction for assaulting a previous partner.

The court heard that the relationship between Jennifer and Murphy had ongoing difficulties in the months prior to the fatal assault and the deceased's friend had observed injuries on the mother-of-two in the week of and the day before she was murdered

In a letter of apology to the Poole family which was read out today by his defence counsel in court, Murphy said: "I know that nothing I can say can take away the pain. Everyone knew and loved Jennifer. I cannot say how sorry I am for what I have done. I pleaded guilty to murder to show how sorry I am. I wanted to save everyone who loved Jennifer from having to go through a trial. I wanted to accept full responsibility, I will never forgive myself for what I did".

Mr Poole also said in his statement that their family have so many unanswered questions as to why and how someone could take the life of another person who was always there to help others who had a family and two "beautiful young children".

The testimony was heard as part of an emotional victim impact statement read today to the Central Criminal Court, where Murphy was sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murdering his girlfriend Jennifer Poole. The sentence was backdated to April 17 2021, when he went into custody.

Before sentencing the defendant, Mr Justice Burns said: "This is yet another case of a violent attack upon a young mother by a male partner, this case having fatal consequences for the deceased. Ms Poole was involved with the accused for one year prior to her death and their relationship was described as having difficulties. Her family and friends noticed injuries on Ms Poole prior to the fatal attack.

The judge added: "The accused appears to be of a violent disposition, having previously been convicted of assault causing harm to a previous partner and her mother, where he produced a knife. It shows his disposition for violence upon women".

"Ms Poole received seven stab wounds, her neighbour witnessed it in part and that must have been a harrowing experience for her. The victim impact statements made were very eloquent, it is clear Ms Poole was a good and caring person, a devoted mother and respected in her community. The loss has had a devastating effect upon the family, particularly her two small children who are left to make their way in the world without the love of their mother," he concluded.

Mr Justice Burns finally extended his condolences to the Poole family.

Mother-of-two Ms Poole (24) was stabbed to death at her first floor apartment in Melville Drive, Finglas, north Dublin, at around 2pm on April 17, 2021.

Neighbours raised the alarm and emergency services attended the scene before she was rushed to Connolly Hospital and died a short time later.

Her cause of death was haemorrhage and shock due to multiple stab wounds.

Gavin Murphy, with an address at Coultry Drive, Ballymun, Dublin 9 appeared at the court today for his sentence hearing, having pleaded guilty earlier this month on April 1 to murdering his girlfriend Ms Poole in her Dublin home last year.

Ms Poole, originally from the Ballygall area of Finglas, was a healthcare worker at Beneavin Lodge Care Home, and played camogie with local club Erins Isle.

After hearing two statements from Ms Poole's brothers this afternoon, Mr Justice Burns sentenced Murphy to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murder.

Earlier, the court heard that Murphy has 13 previous convictions for the use of a mobile phone whilst in custody, the unlawful seizure of a vehicle, criminal damage, burglary, the production of an article in the course of a dispute and two counts of assault causing harm.

The court was told that the two assault charges were against his "romantic partner at the time" and her mother, when a knife was produced during a fight.

Dean Kelly SC, prosecuting, told the hearing that Ms Poole's young son was outside at the time of the fatal assault and could hear his mother's cries for help. Ms Poole's friend and neighbour tried to break down the deceased's front door during the attack as Ms Poole screamed at her to kick the door in.
The Irish Housing Minister has said that he is seriously concerned, as new figures reveal a rise in the number of homeless people in Ireland.

The figures released by the Department of Housing show that in March 9,825 people were homeless.

It represents a rise of 3.5% since February.

Around 5,000 of those homeless are single adults, while 1,238 families are without a home and accessing emergency accommodation.

Over 2,800 children are homeless, according to the figures.

Housing Minister Darragh OBrien said that the figures were a serious concern.

The Government, local authorities and others are making every effort to reduce homelessness. Key to this is the delivery of new social housing and boosting overall supply, he said.

The Government is investing significantly in social and affordable housing, with a record 4 billion allocated for current and capital investment in housing this year alone.

We are providing more social homes, we are completing more homes in general and we have a strong pipeline of homes commenced.

This supply activity, as well as targeted measures specifically centred on homelessness, will allow us to meet the challenge of eradicating homelessness.

Homeless and housing charities have been warning for several months that the numbers may worsen, as many of the supports and protections introduced at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic are removed.

The vast majority of those homeless are in Dublin, with 4,886 adults recorded as homeless in the Irish capital in March.

Focus Ireland chief executive Pat Dennigan said: While the number of families homeless fell during the pandemic, during the period when the Government banned no-fault evictions, the number of single people homeless continued to rise month after month during this time.

When homelessness was first described as a crisis by a Government minister in recent years there were around 2,000 single people homeless, so it is hard to find language which describes our current situation.

Over the intervening years we have been much better at building new homeless shelters than we have been at building new social homes, and that must change.

Mr Dennigan said that Ireland must and should do both when it comes to tackling the housing crisis and finding homes for Ukrainian refugees.

The Government had admitted that it is under pressure to provide accommodation to arriving Ukrainian refugees.

We need to recognise that our chronic shortage of affordable homes creates profound challenges. This should not preclude the Irish government and Irish people from welcoming refugees fleeing war, persecution and threats to their safety, he said.

We must and should do both, and we cannot allow it to be an either/or situation.
Manufacturer Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas has appointed Michael Graber as the new president and chief executive officer of Toyo Tire USA, the aftermarket sales unit for passenger, light truck and commercial truck tires in the United States.

Having held the position of vice president of sales for Toyo Tire USA, Graber brings with him almost 30 years of professional experience, the majority of which was earned within the tire sector. In his new position, Graber will lead a team that is responsible for replacement market sales, strategic sales planning, pricing, marketing, product planning and consumer affairs.

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It is an incredible honor to have the opportunity to lead this organization, said Graber. Our talented team is committed to exceeding the expectations of our dealer partners and loyal customers. We intend to build on our strong foundation while continuing to develop innovative products and deliver first-class customer service.

We are excited to have Mike as our next president and CEO of Toyo Tire USA, said Tatsuo Mitsuhata, vice president in charge of global sales at Toyo Tire Japan. His broad background, including the last eight years of progressive responsibilities within Toyo Tire USA, gives us confidence that Mike will be able to lead this critical unit in our most significant market. He has the knowledge and respect of our customers, understands the market and challenges we face, and is a great advocate for the Toyo Tires brand. Graber will continue our aggressive US growth plans by maintaining our commitment to our dealers and customers.
This seemed like a peaceful week but a double shooting this afternoon shattered that illusion.

Accordingly and once again we believe this trend is one of the most important for locals to confront . . .

THE CURRENT RATE OF KILLING IN KANSAS CITY CONTINUES TO EXCEED THE PACE OF RECORD BREAKING HOMICIDES FOR 2020 AND 2021!!!



Remember . . .

At this point in 2021 Kansas City had recorded only 49 homicides . . . Today's killing could put KCMO as high as 50. At 157 homicides total -- 2021 was the 2nd highest deadliest year in local history.



In 2020 the local killing count around this calendar date was only 46 and that was the worst year for homicides in Kansas City history with a horrific total of 179.



Here's a glimpse at today's damage . . .



Fatal gunfire this afternoon . . .



Homicide 3500 blk Independence Ave.



Today just after 4pm officers were called to 3500 Independence Ave to the convenience store (express stop) on a shooting call.



On arrival officers located two adult male shooting victims just outside the store. One victim was unresponsive, another was severely injured.



EMS responded and declared the unresponsive victim deceased here at the scene. The other injured victim was transported to the hospital with life threatening injuries and was most recently listed in critical condition.



Preliminary indication is there was an altercation inside the store that led to shots being fired and the two victims being struck. There is no information on suspect or suspect vehicle description at this time.

There was a lot of vehicle and foot traffic around the area at this time and detectives are hopeful that someone heard or saw something.



If anyone has any information and has not talked to detectives yet they are asked to call the Homicide Unit directly at 816-234-5043, or the TIPS hotline anonymously at 816-464-TIPS. There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest in this case.

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A death report from earlier today . . .

Homicide 40th and Troost - Late Death



On 4/22 about 10:20 pm officers were dispatched to 4047 Troost on a reported injury accident. Arriving officers located an adult female injured at that scene. Preliminary investigation later determined the female appeared to have been struck by a vehicle that later left the scene. The vehicle striking the female appeared to have been the result of an aggravated assault with the vehicle rather than an accident/crash.



The injured female was taken to the hospital with what was described as life threatening injuries. Detectives responded and conducted additional investigation. Based on follow up investigation detectives located the vehicle believed to be involved and took a person of interest in custody for further investigation.



A case file was presented to Jackson County Prosecutors who filed charges for Aggravated Assault 2nd Degree and Leaving the scene of an Accident.



On 04-26-22 detectives were notified that the victim died from her injuries. Detectives will work with prosecutors to determine any applicable additional or amended charges.

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Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

KCPD investigating deadly shooting near Independence and Bales KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department is investigating a shooting Thursday afternoon that has left one man dead and another man seriously injured. The shooting was reported just after 4 p.m. near Independence Avenue and Bales Avenue. When officers arrived on scene they located to men who had been shot.

Double shooting leaves one dead on Avenue Just after four o'clock Thursday afternoon, officers were dispatched to a convenience store here 3500 Independence Avenue. They were dispatched initially on a shooting call. When they arrived they located to adult male shooting victims at the scene just outside of the store in the parking lot.

Kansas City police investigate fatal shooting on Independence Avenue SOURCE: KMBC Kansas City police said they are investigating a homicide Thursday afternoon in the 3500 block of Independence Avenue.Police said that officers were called just after 4 p.m. to the Express Stop convenience store on a shooting and found two men who had been shot just outside the store.Authorities said one victim was unresponsive, another was severely wounded.Emergency medical services declared the unresponsive man dead at the scene.

Kansas City woman dies days after hit-and-run crash KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A woman died days after she suffered severe injuries in a hit-and-run crash. Now, Kansas City police are working with prosecutors to determine if additional charges should be filed in the case. Kansas City police said 47-year-old Lanita Hart died Tuesday.

Developing . . .
In this quick post we check court cases, local threats and as always try to come away with some good news as local violence ramps up.

Check TKC news gathering . . .

FBI warns of increased 'sextortion' incidents targeting young boys KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The FBI Kansas City Division is issuing an issue to parents about an increase in "sextortion" incidents involving young children, specifically young boys. The bureau has received an increase in reports of adults posing as young boys to use social media to coerce young boys into sharing sexual images or videos and then using the media to extort money.

Kansas City man charged with assault, leaving an accident in woman's death KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man has been charged in relation to a woman's death after Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department officers found her injured after what appeared to be a traffic accident. Richard Douglass, 69, has been charged with second-degree aggravated assault and leaving the scene of an accident in relation to alleged events that left Lanita Hart, 47, dead, according to a release from KCPD.

Olathe East suspect remains hospitalized nearly 2 months after school shooting OLATHE, Kan. - The 18-year-old charged in a shooting at Olathe East High School is still not well enough to be released from the hospital, according to his lawyer. Jaylon Elmore is charged with attempted capital murder.

Kansas City man accused of murder, assault unfit to proceed to trial KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas City, Missouri man accused of killing one person and shooting another is found unfit to proceed to trial. In July of 2019, FOX4 told you about Albert Mangini. He's charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, armed criminal action, and unlawful possession of a firearm.

'HAND OVER ALL THE MONEY': Kansas City bank robber gets 7 years in prison A Kansas City woman will spend 84 months in federal prison after she admitted to carrying out two Northland-area bank robberies last year, according to prosecutors. Sarah T. Watkins, 42, was assigned the sentence by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner during a hearing Thursday in Kansas City's downtown federal courthouse.

Deputies called to Park Hill High School after student assaulted Deputies with the Platte County Sheriff's Office were called to Park Hill High School Thursday afternoon after a student was injured by another student in a school bathroom.The school's principal, Brad Kincheloe, sent a letter to parents and guardians:"We called law enforcement when we had a report of a possible assault on one student by another student.

Unified Government of WYCO/KCK to hold news conference Friday on recent cyber attack The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, said it will hold a news conference Friday to provide an update after a recent cyber attack.UG officials said they are still trying to assess the attack, but that no additional attacks have been identified.

Man who stole World Series ring from Reds player to spend 3 years in prison CINCINNATI (WKRC) - A man who stole a priceless piece of memorabilia from a Reds player has been sentenced to three years in prison. Casey Zang pleaded guilty to a theft charge for a crime that happened last August.

Seek Then Speak: KCPD announces new initiative for sexual assault survivors KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City Police Department announced a new initiative that gives sexual assault survivors a new way to report their incidents. Seek Then Speak is a program made in partnership with End Violence Against Women International where survivors can stay anonymous and document their cases.

Developing . . .
It's not really a newsflash that this town continues to confront problems with illegal dumping.

What's important is that residents are no longer willing to overlook the KANSAS CITY TRASHY CRISIS just to be agreeable.

Take a peek at this trashy town . . .



"The report by the City Auditor comes as resident satisfaction with the city's illegal dumping services has hit its lowest level since 2016."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Kansas City takes more than 3 weeks to clear trash illegally dumped on streets and lots: audit It takes Kansas City's Public Works Department an average of 24 days to resolve illegal dumping complaints, according to a newly released audit by the City Auditor. The audit, which focused on the length of time it takes the city to resolve illegal dumping service requests and community engagement efforts to address the problem, analyzed 2,700 illegal dumping service requests between February and August 2021 submitted through the 311 Action Center.

KCMO City Auditor recommends changes to city's response to illegal dumping cleanup KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City, Missouri, City Auditor's Office completed an audit on illegal dumping after requests from citizens for improvements. The audit will be presented to the city council at 2 p.m. Thursday. In the audit, 2,700 illegal dumping service requests submitted through the 311 system submitted between February and August 2021 were analyzed.

Audit suggests changes to improve illegal dumping in Kansas City KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A city audit provides a better look at the issue of illegal dumping in Kansas City and changes that could be made to improve the problem. The Public Works department is responsible for investigating and cleaning up sites that are reported through the city's 311 Action Center, an illegal dumping hotline and other reports.

Developing . . .
The permanent exhibition, spanning the 1700s to the present, highlights the groups multi-faceted history in the region, bad and good. - Frank Aymami
COVID-19 prevention drug Evusheld to arrive in Ontario next week

The province is set to receive about 11,000 doses of Evusheld from the federal government, with doses initially slated for high-risk patients.
Whether you live in Niagara or North Bay, we've got you covered.
'Removing it from our stores': Major recall at Winners, HomeSense and Marshalls triggers warning to shoppers over allergy fears with certain chocolate

'If you have an allergy to milk, do not consume the recalled product as it may cause a serious or life-threatening reaction'
Toronto police release photo of suspect wanted following alleged sexual assault in city's west end

Victim was reportedly walking near Bloor and Dundas at the time of the incident
The FOLD founder Jael Richardson, centre, with writers Kim Thuy, Catherine Hernandez, Kai Chen Thom and Carrieanne Leung at the 2018 festival. In-person events like this are back for the first time since 2019 and some of these writers are making repeat appearances. - Courtesy the FOLD
Roadshows in Guwahati, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nashik, Pune, Goa, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Chennai, Vijayawada, Hyderabad & Nagpur



(TRAVPR.COM) INDIA - April 29th, 2022 - With an aim to increase domestic footfalls, Department of Tourism, Government of Karnataka along with Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. shall organise Multi City Roadshows from May 2022 to November 2022 to promote Karnataka Tourism and Travel Industry, like various tourist places, hotels, resorts, homestays, Tour operators and other service providers from Karnataka. KSTDC has identified 19 cities across the country, which are the key source market for domestic arrivals. Guwahati, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nashik, Pune, Goa, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Chennai, Vijayawada, Hyderabad & Nagpur are the few select cities for hosting the roadshows.

The first leg of these B2B roadshows are being organized in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Lucknow on May 17th, May 21st, May 23rd and May 25th respectively.This exclusive B2B Roadshow will have over 15 stakeholders from Karnataka interacting with more than 100 travel agents/tour operators of the respective cities. The main objective of Karnataka Tourism is to promote the State as a destination for Leisure, MICE, Adventure, Wildlife and Wedding Destination in the Indian market. KSTDC shall be the nodal agency to conduct the roadshows in various cities of India.

The Roadshow will have B2B interactions and presentations that will showcase the destination and also open up new avenues in bringing the destination in new light to the travel and trade community. Cultural performance will be organised to showcase the vibrant art forms that Karnataka is known for. The Roadshow will bring together different aspect of Karnataka tourism such as Nature, Wildlife, Adventure, Pilgrimage, Heritage and cultural heritage, and many more.

Karnataka is home to a large and exciting portfolio of globally acclaimed tourism products with UNESCO World Heritage Sites, splendid wildlife and resplendent nature, virgin beaches to adorn. The Roadshow series will provide the impetus to the domestic inbound travel and would enhance the marketing efforts of Karnataka Tourism to promote our destinations to the travel-trade.

Mr. G. Jagadeesha, Managing Director, Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation said Karnataka with its diverse range of products is fast emerging as one of the most interesting and productive states for the travel-trade, both for leisure and business travel. Domestic Tourism being the backbone of the Tourism economy has a lot of potential which needs to be tapped. Post-pandemic, these Roadshow activities will be an excellent occasion for our stakeholders to renew contacts with the travel-trade across India.

About Karnataka

Karnataka  One State, Many Worlds, which is well known for silk, milk, coffee, honey and many more is being showcased in a magnificent manner through 25 different boutiques, each displaying tourism circuits, handicrafts, cuisines, art, craft, culture, handlooms, etc. from Karnataka. Famed Mysuru silk, Dharwad Kasuthi, rosewood inlay, and sandalwood articles, Ganjifa paintings, mirror embroidery, Spices, Bidriware, terracotta items, honey, wine etc.

The State offers an avid traveler a vast range of tourism landscapes including heritage, archaeology, religion, wildlife / ecotourism and handicrafts. The Roadshow presented an ideal platform for the suppliers to provide information, and to interact directly with Indias leading tour operators, key decision-makers from the industry, airline representatives and travel agents.

The Roadshow will be managed by Sphere Travelmedia and Exhibitions Pvt Ltd.,

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Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : THE NAUTILUS MALDIVES INVITES YOU ON AN EPICUREAN JOURNEY: TWO EXQUISITE NIGHTS, TWO STARS  MULTI-AWARD WINNING AND INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED CHEF KIRK WESTAWAY BRINGS HIS DOUBLE MICHELIN STARRED CUISINE TO THE NAUTILUS. Industry: Hotels

The Nautilus is your ultra-luxury bohemian hideaway in the Maldives. A highly personalised, immensely private island resort with just 26 beach and ocean houses and residences, where every experience is tailored to you. Where nothing is fixed and anything is possible. Where you are free to set your own beat; free to do  and to be  as you please.



(TRAVPR.COM) MALDIVES - April 29th, 2022 - From the bustling metropolis of Singapore to the tranquil shores of the Maldives, this May, The Nautilus Maldives invites its guests to savour an extravagant dinner with two-star Michelin Chef Kirk Westaway, paired with exquisite old world wines at Zeytoun, the overwater signature restaurant at The Nautilus. Chef Kirk Westaway is recognised globally for his mastery in reinventing gastronomic classics that are as easily received as they are comforting and refined. Born in Southwest Britain, Chef Kirk, Executive Chef of the two Michelin star restaurant, JAAN by Kirk Westaway in Singapore, is known for his deeply rooted passion for natural flavours that are reminiscent of his childhood in England and his philosophy to showcase British dining in a modern, refreshing light, therefore Reinventing British. The exquisite, limited dining experience taking place on May 18th and 19th, features an exclusive meal comprised of some of Chef Kirks signature dishes, including Fish and Chips, Goose Mouse Black Truffle, Beetroot Meringue or The Ultimate Tomato, Buffalo Milk Burrata cheese, Green Basil Sorbet or Roasted Langoustine, BBQ Sweetheart Cabbage, Kristal Caviar and Wagyu Beef Sirloin, and Mushroom Marmalade. Through my personal journey with food, from harvesting organic fruits and vegetables in my familys backyard as a child to becoming Executive Chef at JAAN in 2015, I am now led by two culinary philosophies, says Chef Kirk. The first is to always uphold the integrity of the produce and translate the best of each ingredient onto the plate. The second is that food should be comforting and form emotional connections. It is my mission to present guests with an unforgettable meal that evokes nostalgia through familiar yet elegant flavours of the finest seasonal produce the world has to offer. I have always been attracted to the sea and am looking forward to the tropical and natural ingredients I can use in the Maldives to refine my creations to take the Nautilus's guests on a refreshing and comforting culinary journey. says Chef Kirk. The extravagant gastronomic experience with the Krug Ambassador Chef Kirk Westaway will be further enhanced with a special selection of various types of Krug Champagne. The Nautilus General Manager, Andre Miethig, says: Chef Kirk Westaway will enable our guests to join in a unforgettable gastronomic journey with his expertly crafted and comforting dining experience. We are thrilled to have our guests join Chef Kirk for two evenings of adventurous flavours and gourmet art under the Maldivian starry sky that is not to be missed. The Nautilus is known as an idyllic island destination for foodies and gourmands seeking excellent food and impeccable service. With its unscripted dining philosophy, where guests can eat when they are hungry, have breakfast for dinner, drink Champagne in bed, The Nautilus delights in veering off script, crafting bespoke culinary journeys curated just for each and every guest individually. Guests of The Nautilus can explore intriguing infusions of Mediterranean and Arabic cuisine at Zeytoun, celebrate simplicity with Japanese and Latin-American creations at Ocaso, or savour an array of global delicacies at Thyme. No opening or closing times; no dress codes. Come as you are, enjoy great company and indulge in a shared passion for extraordinary cuisine at The Nautilus. Indulge your senses at this exquisite gourmet event with Chef Kirk Westaway and his extravagant dinner paired with world-class wines on May 18th and 19th at The Nautilus Zeytoun Restaurant. For reservations or enquiries, please contact hello@thenautilusmaldives.com or begin crafting a world of your own making by booking direct at www.thenautilusmaldives.com or call +960 660 00 00 ### Please contact the person or company listed above for information regarding the content of this press release. TravPR.com are not the issuers of this press release and are not responsible for the accuracy of the content. Share Release :



CONTACT INFORMATION Name: Gerrit Chng-Luchau Company: The Nautilus Maldives Phone: +960 660 0000 Email: gerrit@thenautilusmaldives.com Web: PRESS RELEASE TAGS


Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : THE NAUTILUS MALDIVES LAUNCHES THE MANTA RAY SYMPOSIUM IN VIEW OF THE UPCOMING MANTA RAY SEASON FROM MAY TO NOVEMBER 2022 Industry: Hotels

The Nautilus is your ultra-luxury bohemian hideaway in the Maldives. A highly personalised, immensely private island resort with just 26 beach and ocean houses and residences, where every experience is tailored to you. Where nothing is fixed and anything is possible. Where you are free to set your own beat; free to do  and to be  as you please.



(TRAVPR.COM) MALDIVES - April 29th, 2022 - The pandemic has caused a shift in priorities for the most discerning travellers, with guests looking for experiences that give meaning to their lives and spending their vacations more thoughtfully than ever before. Post-pandemic travel wish lists of elite travellers imply out-of-the-ordinary experiences as guests search for creative and outstanding ways to make the most of their trips with meaningful adventures and long-lasting memories to enrich the mind, body and soul. The Nautilus Maldives deeply understands this mindset and has lovingly crafted The Manta Ray Symposium together with the resident marine biologist expert and AquaNautica team at the private island resort. During The Manta Ray Symposium, the marine biologist will share valuable knowledge with The Nautilus guests in a casual and free-spirited atmosphere as well as accompany and guide The Nautilus guests on private excursions within Hanifaru Bays waters and coordinate with the Hanifaru Bay park rangers, who are experts in ensuring guests enjoy the most rewarding sighting opportunities. In convivial discussions, whilst guests are sipping fine concoctions created by The Nautiluss mixologist, the resident marine biologist expert will share in-depth knowledge about these beautiful, captivating, and mysterious creatures, different species, breeding and feeding habits and about Hanifaru Bay itself. Guests can learn about interesting facts, such as Mantas are born into a life of everlasting motion and that they can never stop moving and need the flowing of water over their gills to breathe or share important guidelines on how to snorkel with Mantas sustainably and respectfully; or how to best capture a photo of this one-of-a-kind experience without disturbing these gentle giants. In close interaction, the marine biologist and AquaNautica team will ensure that guests leave with an enriching experience and unforgettable moments spent amongst the corals and sea life of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. World renowned Hanifaru Bay, the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Maldives stunning Baa Atoll, which is just 15 minutes away from The Nautilus by luxury yacht, is one of the largest manta feeding hotspots in the world. Hanifaru Bay is unique as it has a vigorous water circulation system due to the funnel-like reef shape  approximately 1,300m long and 600m wide. During the north-western monsoon (May to November), enormous quantities of plankton get trapped in the bay, creating what is known as plankton soup, which attracts large numbers of filter feeding megafauna such as whale sharks and manta rays. More than 1600 individuals have been identified in Baa Atoll in the last manta season alone. Along with a few whale sharks, these manta rays display the unforgettable spectacle known as cyclone feeding. In this particular location, cyclone feeding can consist of more than 100 individual mantas. This special behavior is almost exclusive to Hanifaru Bay, the only location where youre allowed to swim and snorkel with these beautiful creatures. For an almost guaranteed sighting of the mantas, guests could consider booking their aquatic Nautilus adventure over a full moon or new moon phases. During this time, the tides are naturally a little higher, therefore capturing the most plankton within the bay ready for the mantas to eat. The lunar tide pushes against the oceanic current creating a dynamic clash of currents, increasing the sub- aqua nutrients available. If there is no presence of a counter-tide, the mixture of plankton simply washes over the bay into the outer periphery of the atoll. If there is a collision of currents, the plankton is swept up from deeper parts of the sea. Once it has risen, its biological instincts reject the light making it return back down to a higher point of the sea bed. This method of naturally collected plankton is what drives the mantas back for their plankton feeding frenzy. When all of these facets align, mantas in their masses, usually up to 200, commune and perform a show of feeding and intrigue, whirling up to the surface to take a look at the snorkelling visitors. Typically known as Mobula Alfredi, the reef manta ray is not only one of the largest but also one of the most iconic marine species in waters surrounding The Nautilus. Snorkellers and divers are far more likely to witness the grandeur of Mobula Alfredi than, for example, the Oceanic Manta Ray species, because they prefer communing in far shallower waters and are typically more sociable. With an average width of 325cm-400cm, weight of 700kg and life span of around 40 years, these magnificent creates will continue to grace Hanifaru Bays waters and The Nautilus atoll for many years to come. ### Please contact the person or company listed above for information regarding the content of this press release. TravPR.com are not the issuers of this press release and are not responsible for the accuracy of the content. Share Release :



CONTACT INFORMATION Name: Gerrit Chng-Luchau Company: The Nautilus Maldives Phone: +960 660 0000 Email: gerrit@thenautilusmaldives.com Web: PRESS RELEASE TAGS
The Ukrainian military have successfully repelled nine enemy attacks within the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area, destroying a large number of Russian military vehicles.

The relevant statement was made by the JFO Group on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

On April 28, 2022, the JFO Group successfully repelled nine enemy attacks. Thanks to the skilful actions and competence of the Ukrainian military, Russian occupiers suffered losses, the report states.

In particular, Ukrainian defenders destroyed six Russian tanks, one artillery system, 12 armored vehicles, one motor vehicle and one anti-aircraft gun.

The Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense units also shot down one enemy plane, one cruise missile and five unmanned aerial vehicles.

A reminder that Russias total combat losses in Ukraine have reached about 22,800 troops since the invasion started.

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Over the past day, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has destroyed 15 enemy air targets.

The relevant statement was made by the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

On April 28, 2022, Russian invaders intensified air strikes, air- and sea-based cruise missile strike. Five Kalibr- and Kh-type missiles have been shot down over the past day. The enemy also increased the number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the Ukrainian air space, which are successfully destroyed by our anti-aircraft defense systems. Nine UAVs were hit, namely seven Orlan-10 UAVs and two unidentified UAVs, the report states.

In Kharkiv Region, the anti-aircraft missile unit of the Ukrainian Air Force shot down one more Russias Su-34 fighter.

A reminder that Russias total combat losses in Ukraine have reached about 22,800 troops since the invasion started.

Photo: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

mk
With the missile strike on Kyiv during the visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kirill Petkov, Russia has once again demonstrated its attitude to Europe and the whole world.

Thats according to Ukraines Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who addressed the issue on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

"Russia stroke Kyiv with cruise missiles right when UN Secretary General @antonioguterres and Bulgarian PM @KirilPetkov visit our capital. By this heinous act of barbarism Russia demonstrates once again its attitude towards Ukraine, Europe and the world," the head of Ukrainian diplomacy tweeted.

Russia stroke Kyiv with cruise missiles right when UN Secretary General @antonioguterres and Bulgarian PM @KirilPetkov visit our capital. By this heinous act of barbarism Russia demonstrates once again its attitude towards Ukraine, Europe and the world.  Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 28, 2022

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on Thursday Russian troops attacked the Ukrainian capital with missiles. As a result of the strikes, a 25-storey residential building was partially destroyed and 10 people were injured, according to preliminary reports.

In addition, three explosions hit sites in Fastiv, Kyiv region.

Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Russian enemy continues to carry out offensive operations in the Eastern Operational Zone in order to defeat the Joint Forces, establish full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and maintain the land route with the occupied Crimea.

Thats according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In Volyn and Polissya areas, the Russians undertook no active efforts, no signs of the formation of offensive groups were spotted. Certain units of the Armed Forces of Belarus continue to perform tasks to strengthen protection of the state border with Ukraine.

No changes in the activities and composition of Russian enemy group were detected in the Siversky direction.

In the Slobozhansky direction, the Russians continue to focus their efforts on holding their positions near the city of Kharkiv and trying to inflict fire damage on units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in certain areas.

The invaders Russian conducted no active offensive operations in the Izium direction. Their main efforts were focused on conducting reconnaissance, identifying the Ukrainian defensive positions and their destruction by artillery fire.

In the Donetsk and Tavria directions, in order to prevent the regrouping of Ukrainian troops, the Russians are firing at their positions, using artillery, mortars, and MLR systems along the entire line of contact.

Russian occupiers continue the siege of the Ukrainian units in Mariupol, around the Azovstal plant.

In the temporarily occupied territories, Russian occupation authorities continue to restrict the movement and detain local residents and block humanitarian goods from the territory of Ukraine. In addition, Russian occupiers are robbing local farmers. For example, more than 60 tonnes of wheat were stolen from an agricultural facility in the town of Kamianka-Dniprovska, along with the trucks.

Fifteen aerial targets were downed by Ukrainian defenders over the past day, including a warplane, five cruise missiles, and nine drones.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell considers yesterday's Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian capital during the visits made by UN Secretary-General Guterres and Bulgarian PM Petkov a blatant disregard for international law.

Shocked and appalled about the Russian missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Russia demonstrates again its blatant disregard for intl law by bombarding a city while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is present, alongside Bulgarian PM Kiril Petkov, Borrell posted on Twitter.

As reported, on April 28, the Russians again fired missiles on the capital of Ukraine.

A 25-storey residential building was partially destroyed as a result of the enemy strike. According to preliminary data, 10 people were injured.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba noted that Russia had demonstrated its attitude to Europe and the world once again by firing missiles on Kyiv during the visits by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kiril Petkov.

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The Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine has resumed its operations in Kyiv.

That's according to Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra, Ukrinform reports, citing the NOS news site.

"The Dutch embassy in Kyiv will reopen today," Hoekstra said ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting.

Shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine started, the Netherlands moved its embassy from Kyiv to Lviv. Currently, a small number of embassy staff may return to Kyiv.

Hoekstra also stressed that the embassy in the capital is important because there is close cooperation with Ukraine. The Netherlands provides humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine.

Hoekstra noted that the Netherlands has joined forces with other countries that have already returned their embassy staff to Kyiv.

Earlier, the Dutch Embassy in Ukraine temporarily moved from Kyiv to Lviv for security reasons. The relevant decision was made on February 20.
In Mariupol, one of the attempts by Russian invaders to assault the area of the Azovstal steel plant ended in their escape and losses.

According to Ukrinform, Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, reported this on Telegram and published a video showing the escape and losses of the invaders after their assault on Azovstal.

"Video from the last street fights in the Azovstal area. It's unique because usually we only see TikTok fighters with empty windows. Here are the real consequences of Russian marines' attempts to attack Azov [Regime] and our marines," Andriushchenko said in a post to the video.

Earlier reports said that about 1,000 civilians and Ukrainian troops, including about 500 wounded, stay at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. The Ukrainian authorities are demanding that the Russians guarantee an urgent humanitarian corridor from the plant.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the assault on the Azovstal industrial zone inexpedient and ordered Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to cancel it and block the plant.

Russia's aggression caused one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes in Mariupol. The invaders are bombing unarmed residents and blocking humanitarian aid.

Soldiers of the Azov Regiment, Ukrainian marines and motorized riflemen continue to defend the Ukrainian port city.
The 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo eliminated a group of Russian paratroopers who were trying to storm the Ukrainian positions in Luhansk region.

"Russian paratroopers tried to storm the combat positions of the King [Danylo Brigade] infantry in Luhansk region today. After their mission failed, only seven invaders of the group survived. The rest were eliminated by our servicemen," the Brigade's press service posted on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

Personal belongings and documents of the invaders show that they came to fight in Ukraine from different parts of Russia.

"Udmurtia, Bashkortostan, Rostov region - the salt of the Russian world carried the idea of Greater Russia to the area of responsibility of our brigade but received a warm welcome instead," the military added.

On February 24, Russia launched a new phase of the eight-year war against Ukraine  a full-scale offensive.

The enemy massively shells and bombs peaceful Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages. The Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Territorial Defense Forces, and the entire Ukrainian people effectively resist and inflict heavy losses on Russian troops.

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Russian invaders build additional pontoon bridges across the Siversky Donets River to reinforce their troops in Izium direction.

As the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine posted on Facebook, Russian troops continue to conduct offensive operations in the Eastern Operational Zone to establish full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and keep the land corridor with the temporarily occupied Crimea.

In Volyn and Polissia directions, certain units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus continue to reinforce the section of the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in Brest and Gomel regions.

The readiness of the aviation component of the duty air defense facilities of Belarus was checked.

According to the General Staff, there is still a threat of missile and bomb strikes on Ukrainian objects from the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

In Siversky direction, the aggressors try to prevent the reserves of Ukraines Armed Forces from redeploying to the Eastern Operational Zone by keeping the appropriate set of troops.

In the areas of Russias Bryansk and Kursk regions bordering Ukraine, the enemy deployed part of the units withdrawn to restore combat capability.

In the future, the enemy could stage provocations in the areas adjacent to the state border of Ukraine. In particular, the Defense Forces units and infrastructure in the border areas could come under fire.

In Slobozhansky direction, the enemy group of the 6th combined arms army, coastal troops of the Baltic and Northern Fleets focus on holding positions in the area north and southeast of Kharkiv, trying to deploy additional artillery units.

In Izium direction, the invaders operate with units of the 1st guards tank army, the 20th combined arms army of the western military district, the 35th combined arms army, the 68th army corps of the eastern military district and the airborne forces.

According to the General Staff data, the enemy focuses the main efforts on conducting reconnaissance and inflicting fire damage on the Ukrainian units.

To redeploy more troops in Izium direction, the invaders build additional pontoon bridges across the Siversky Donets River.

In Donetsk and Tavriysky directions, Russian units try to launch an offensive in the Lyman, Sievierodonetsk, and Popasna directions.

The enemy continues to try to establish full control of Rubizhne and Popasna, carries out preparatory measures to advance towards Sievierodonetsk, continues artillery shelling of the positions of Ukrainian defenders.

In Kurakhove direction, the grouping of Russian troops was reinforced by additional artillery units from the 1st army corps.

In Mariupol direction, the enemy continued to launch airstrikes on Mariupol, focusing its efforts on blocking Ukrainian defenders in the area of the Azovstal plant, and redeployed some units from Mariupol to Kurakhove direction.

The invaders continue to launch air and missile strikes to destroy civilian infrastructure and disrupt the logistics of Ukrainian troops.

In the Southern Buh and Bessarabsky directions, Russian forces try to fight in order to improve their tactical position, continue to regroup, increase the system of fire damage, and harden positions.

The Ukrainian defenders hold certain defensive lines, eliminate the enemy, continue to advance deep into the territories occupied by Russians, and liberate settlements.

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Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Mykola Solskyi, Lithuanian Agriculture Minister Kestutis Navickas and EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski have discussed the possibility of exporting Ukrainian-produced grain via Lithuanias Klaipeda Port.

The relevant statement was made by the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Prior to the war, Ukraine exported 5 million tonnes of grain per month. As Ukrainian sea ports are now blocked by Russia, just 200,000 tonnes of Ukrainian-produced grain was transported by rail, road and the Dniester in March 2022.

Today, Ukraine has 20 million tonnes of grain harvested last year, which is not needed in the domestic market and was intended for export purposes.

Now we are considering the possibility of exporting Ukrainian-produced grain via Lithuanian and Latvian ports. The potential of the port is of no doubt. Railroad tracks may cause concern. In Poland, the gauge is narrower than in Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia, Navickas told.

According to Wojciechowski, disrupting Ukraines export route to the Middle East and North Africa is a serious problem. Also, there are fears that interrupted wheat supplies may cause some tension and issues in the aforementioned regions.

But, it is very important to support Ukraine, providing alternative export corridors, for example via Poland, ports of the Baltic Sea, Lithuania, Klaipeda Port  it is vital to continue exports, Wojciechowski stressed.

Meanwhile, Solskyi thanked Navickas, who was the first agriculture minister to visit Ukraine amid the war. Solskyi also expressed gratitude to the Lithuanian government and all Lithuanians who support Ukraine.

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NICOSIA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus' marine police said on Thursday they had helped rescue a group of 25 Syrian refugees, including six children, who were found in an inflatable dinghy off the northwestern coast of the island.

A police official at Polis-tis-Chrysochous, where the refugees were taken after a 12-hour overnight rescue operation, said the dinghy was spotted shortly after midnight about 13 nautical miles off the northwestern tip of Cyprus.

A coast guard vessel initially escorted the dinghy as it sailed towards the coast. However, the inflatable then began to leak, and the refugees were taken on board the coast guard vessel.

The refugees said they had set out from the southern coast of Turkey. They were identified at a local police station, and then transferred to a center for asylum seekers near the capital of Nicosia.

Asylum seekers make up 5 percent of the population of Cyprus, government data shows, and hosting them has become a major problem for the Mediterranean island.

Frontex, the EU border surveillance service, said last week that the arrival of immigrants in Cyprus by illegal means had tripled in the first three months of this year, to 5,100.

This number does not include about 10,000 refugees from Ukraine.

Police sources said that they are currently expecting more boats carrying irregular immigrants from Turkey, as the weather has improved with the onset of spring.

In recent weeks, more than 100 people have drowned attempting to reach the coasts of central and eastern Mediterranean EU countries. 
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal discussed the issue of green corridors for Ukrainian products with Federal Chancellor of Austria Karl Nehammer.

Discussed with the Federal Chancellor of Austria Karl Nehammer food security issues and green corridors for Ukrainian products. Grateful for the comprehensive assistance to Ukrainians, in particular with treatment of our military in Austrian hospitals, Shmyhal posted on Twitter.

As reported, Prime Minister Shmyhal said at the Cabinets meeting that international partners had made many important decisions in support of Ukraine during the week.

Photo credit: twitter.com/Denys_Shmyhal

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The meeting of the defense agencies and chiefs of staff of several dozen nations in Ramstein, Germany, united the efforts of individual partners in support of Ukraine and created a stronger mechanism for cooperation in defense issues.

Oksana Markarova, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States, spoke of this on Thursday in response to a question from Ukrinform's own correspondent.

"The historic meeting in Ramstein, organized by the United States, bringing together about 40 ministers and commanders of the armed forces  our friends, partners, and allies  has allowed turning bilateral coordination into a permanent coordination group," said Markarova.

According to her, this has contributed to ensuring that all partners now "absolutely clearly understand and know" what kind of weapons the Armed Forces need. Thus, this coordination group is focused on the main task  to find and deliver these weapons to Ukraine as soon as possible.

The ambassador also noted the "very high level" of cooperation between Ukraine and the United States, which is being observed in parallel lines between the heads of ministries and departments, military commanders, and presidents. "In fact, now the work is ongoing at all levels," the diplomat said.

As Ukrinform reported, on April 26, a meeting of defense chiefs and chiefs of staff of more than 40 countries took place at the Ramstein air base in Germany. According to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Millie, the main task of the talks was to synchronize and coordinate defense assistance to Ukraine.

The U.S. Department of Defense has established in Stuttgart, Germany, in the area of responsibility of the US European Command, a control center to coordinate the supply and optimize the delivery of military aid to Ukraine
Over EUR 1 billion in frozen Russian assets could be seized to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said.

Thats according to Irish Times, Ukrinform reports.

The State has already frozen EUR 1.2 billion in Russian-linked funds under an extensive EU sanctions regime  but in reply to a parliamentary question, Coveney indicated the State would be open to going one step further and seizing it.

The Opposition is arguing that the funds could also be used to help foot the bill for humanitarian aid given to refugees from Ukraine.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, referring to Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, one of the sources for financing the country's recovery fund will be Russian assets frozen abroad, estimated at a total of US$300 billion.
Head of the Ukrainian President's Office, Andriy Yermak, says Norway starting next weekend will close its ports to Russian ships, with the exception of fishing vessels.

As Ukrinform reports, the official announced this via Telegram.

"Norway is closing ports for Russian ships, as well as borders  for trucks from Russia. The government has decided to impose the fifth package of EU sanctions on its own territory," Yermak said.

According to the head of the Presidents Office, Russian vessels will not be able to enter Norway from next weekend, with the exception of fishing vessels.

As reported earlier, on February 24, 2022, Russia launched a direct invasion against Ukraine and continued its military aggression that had begun in 2014. Russian troops are carrying out massive bombings and shelling of peaceful Ukrainian towns and villages, having unleashed mass terror against the civilian population in the temporarily occupied territories.
Prague and Warsaw will continue to persuade their European partners that Ukraine should be granted the status of candidate for membership in the European Union.

"We have also decided to continue exerting the pressure so that Ukraine is granted the EU candidate country status. We want the door to the EU to be open for Ukraine. We want to show Ukrainians that we care about them," Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic also noted that Prague and Warsaw are deeply convinced of the need to impose further sanctions on Russia.

On July 1, the Czech Republic will assume the presidency of the Council of EU.

Ukraine hopes to receive EU candidate country status at a summit of EU leaders in June.

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Dozens of photos of Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, and other Ukrainian cities bombed by Russian troops are included in the exhibition, which opened on Thursday in the U.S. Congress building.

The exhibition was officially opened by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and the Ambassador of Ukraine to Washington, Oksana Markarova, Ukrinform's own correspondent reports.

The photos evidence the difficult times that the people of Ukraine are currently experiencing, according to Pelosi, who commented on the photos exhibited in Congress.

She noted the great heroism with which Ukrainians keep resisting Russian aggression, as well as the courage with which they endure the brutality of the Kremlin's war.

She noted that Congressmen had been told a lot about Russias firepower significantly outweighing that of Ukraine, but in terms of motivation, Ukrainians are far ahead of the Russians, to which the exhibit testifies.

She also noted that the U.S. Congress is making every effort to secure Ukraine's support, including by passing a land lease bill on the day the photo exhibition opens.

For her part, Oksana Markarova thanked U.S. Congress and the Government for their support, emphasizing that this is important for Ukraine and Ukrainians.

"I would like these photos to show my country differently," the ambassador said.

She noted that before the war, Ukraine used to be a country with happy faces, beautiful landscapes, its own achievements and innovations. However, Russian troops have destroyed cities, crippled civilians, and deprived many children of life and future.

Markarova stressed that Putin's forces are committing an actual genocide of the Ukrainian people, as evidenced by photos shot in Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, Hostomel and many other Ukrainian cities and villages.

"You can see horrific murders, abductions, torture, and rape," she said, stressing that it is difficult to name which war crimes Russia hasnt committed in a sovereign and peaceful Ukraine.

However, Ukraine continues to repel the Russian invasion, as well as to fight for the preservation of a peaceful international order. In this regard, Markarova thanked the United States and other nations for their support.

As Ukrinform reported, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that in the first two days since the special website was launched, more than 4,000 Americans have applied for sponsorship for Ukrainian refugees.
The Mediterranean Sea.  UNHCR/Alessio Mamo

More than 3,000 people died or went missing while attempting to cross the Central and Western Mediterranean and Atlantic last year to Europe. This is according to a new report released today by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, which calls for urgent support to prevent deaths and protect refugees and asylum seekers who are embarking on dangerous journeys by land and sea.

Of the 2021 total, 1,924 people were reported dead or missing on the Central and Western Mediterranean routes, while an additional 1,153 perished or went missing on the Northwest African maritime route to the Canary Islands. The number of those dead and missing reported in 2020 were 1,776 for the three routes. Alarmingly, since the beginning of the year, an additional 478 people have also died or gone missing at sea.

Most of the sea crossings took place in packed, unseaworthy, inflatable boats  many of which capsized or were deflated leading to the loss of life. The sea journey from West African coastal states such as Senegal and Mauritania to the Canary Islands is long and perilous and can take up to 10 days. Many boats drifted off course or otherwise went missing without trace in these waters.

Land routes also continue to be highly dangerous, where even greater numbers may have died on journeys through the Sahara Desert and remote border areas, in detention centres, or while in the captivity of smugglers or traffickers. Among the litany of abuses reported by people traveling these routes are: extrajudicial killings, unlawful and arbitrary detention, sexual and gender-based violence, forced labour, slavery, forced marriage and other gross human rights violations.

The COVID-19 pandemic and related border closures that continued in 2021 have also impacted movements towards North Africa and European coastal countries, with many desperate refugees and migrants turning to smugglers to facilitate these perilous journeys.

UNHCR warns that continued political instability and conflicts, deteriorating socioeconomic conditions as well as the impact of climate change may increase displacement and dangerous onward movements.

Launching an updated protection and solutions strategy for refugees on dangerous journeys along routes towards Europe across the Central and Western Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic, UNHCR is calling for US$163.5 million to assist and protect thousands of refugees and others.

UNHCR is appealing for support to help provide meaningful alternatives to these dangerous journeys and prevent people from becoming victims of traffickers. The approach calls for increased humanitarian assistance, support and solutions for people in need of international protection and survivors of gross human rights abuses.

The Appeal covers some 25 countries across four different regions connected by the same land and sea routes which are used by migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. They include countries of origin, departure, first asylum, transit, and countries of destinations.

At the same time, UNHCR is urging States to commit to strengthened humanitarian, development and peace action to address protection and solutions challenges.

UNHCR is also calling on states in the regions  in both Africa and Europe  to enhance legal frameworks and operational capacities at land and sea borders and in urban centres, and to ensure credible alternatives to dangerous journeys through inclusion, and strengthened youth programming and local community-based development.

States must ensure unimpeded humanitarian access for the delivery of essential services to people on the move or stranded en route, intercepted at sea, or held in detention centres, and to determine whether they have international protection needs.

Failing this, refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people and others will continue to move onwards in dangerous journeys in search of safety and protection. Other people, including migrants, will move onwards to seek a better life, hoping to find work or educational opportunities elsewhere in the absence of sufficient seasonal or longer-term legal pathways for safe and orderly migration.

The full document is available here: https://reporting.unhcr.org/document/2247

For more information on this topic, please contact:

In Geneva, Shabia Mantoo, [email protected] , +41 (79) 337 76 50

Note: An earlier version of this briefing note reported 1,544 deaths for 2020 for the two maritime routes. This has now been updated to reflect 1,776 dead and missing for the three maritime routes in 2020.
Families enter Uganda via the Bunagana border crossing after fleeing violent clashes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that began in late March.  UNHCR/Yonna Tukundane

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and 44 humanitarian partners are urgently appealing for US$47.8 million to respond to the critical needs of thousands of refugees who arrived in Uganda this year, fleeing violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and sporadic clashes in South Sudan.

Since January, Uganda has generously welcomed over 35,000 refugees. A third of those have arrived in just the past three weeks from the DRC, fleeing intense fighting in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.

As reports of violence in eastern DRC and South Sudan continue, this appeal will also strengthen Ugandas capacity to receive more refugees in case of further displacement.

UNHCR is coordinating with the Government of Uganda and humanitarian partners to provide emergency assistance and protection to refugees in border areas, and we are making efforts to relocate them to refugee settlements as soon as possible.

Needs are surging for protection, food, shelter and essential household items. Funding will also support urgently needed health-care supplies, as well as water, sanitation and hygiene services required to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases.

Uganda already hosts over 1.5 million refugees  the largest refugee population on the African continent  and is now receiving thousands of new arrivals from South Sudan, in West Nile State to the north, and the DRC, arriving in southwestern Uganda. While this influx may not be dominating the headlines, the challenges are significant and mounting.

The Uganda Emergency Appeal is intended to support coordinated efforts for an initial emergency response to the influx of up to 60,000 refugees in Uganda in the first half of 2022, with 45,000 new arrivals from April to June 2022.

For more information on this topic, please contact:
On a recent Friday night, a potent cocktail of excitement, nerves and pent-up energy filled the midsummer air at Rio de Janeiros world-famous Sambadrome, as decked out performers from the Salgueiro samba school and their fans waited for the annual parade to begin.

For 20 performers, the moment was particularly thrilling. Refugees from Syria, Venezuela, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they could hardly believe they were about to take part in perhaps the most Brazilian of all events  the all-night-explosion of music, drumming, dancing and creativity that is Rios annual Carnival parade competition.

The Salgueiro samba school, whose theme for this years parade was the fight against racism, invited the 20 refugees as part of a partnership with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to promote integration of refugees into the country. Brazil is home to recognized refugees from 88 countries and has received an estimated 325,000 refugees and migrants from its neighbour to the north, Venezuela, in recent years.

For most people, being a refugee seems like something sad, but this is pure happiness, said Yves Abdala, a 30-year-old Congolese refugee, panting after dancing his way down the Sambadrome in a Rastafarian-inspired costume that was as ornate as it was heavy.

Performing with other refugees from around the world filled me with energy.

Yves Abdala helped his fellow refugee, Syrian Adel Bakkour, put the finishing touches on his costume before the two headed to the Sambadrome.  UNHCR/Ruben Salgado Escudero

The event not only showcased the adaptability of refugees  after all, mastering sambas fancy footwork is an achievement in and of itself  but also helped bring the performers closer to their new country and its traditions. Rios samba school parade is serious business, and the schools are judged on a series of technical criteria, including performers dance skills. Participants commit to attending regular rehearsals that stretch well into the night and to learning  and belting out  the schools song.

For most people, being a refugee seems like something sad, but this is pure happiness.

For Adel Bakkour, a 29-year-old refugee who arrived in Brazil a decade ago after fleeing the war in his native Syria, taking part in Saturdays parade represented the crowning achievement of a difficult journey to safety. Adel was living a comfortable life in Aleppo, attending a private high school, when the conflict broke out. He and his brother fled, heading for Brazil, where their half-sister lived.

Although they were lucky to have family abroad who could receive them, adjusting to their new life was not easy. Living under the same roof as their 40-year-old half-sister, with whom the pair had had little contact, proved fraught. Also, back in Syria, Adel had been an excellent student, but Brazilian Portuguese was daunting, and his grades suffered as he struggled to master the language.

See also: Indigenous Venezuelans help others navigate life far from home

Over the past few years, however, Adel has become an unofficial spokesperson for Rios Syrian community at the university where hes working toward an undergraduate degree in international relations. He assumed a similar role during the lead up to the parade, fielding interviews with Brazilian media outlets. At the rehearsals, he struck up friendships with his fellow performers, both the other refugees and Brazilians from all walks of life.

One of my Syrian friends saw how excited I was with the rehearsals, and she says she wants to us both join Salgueiro next year, he said.

Just a few months after her arrival in Rio, Venezuelan refugee Ingrid Bucan gets ready to make her debut in the city's famed Carnival parade.  UNHCR/Ruben Salgado Escudero

Ingrid Bucan, a 47-year-old hair stylist who sold everything in order to flee her native Venezuela, said the parade confirmed her warm feelings about Brazil. She arrived in the country in 2020 with her husband and several of their children as well as four grandchildren and has received assistance in getting back on her feet, including Portuguese lessons and sessions with a therapist.

She and her family were among the more than 72,000 Venezuelans who have been resettled from the remote Amazonian state of Roraima to other parts of the country as part of a programme run by the Brazilian government, with support from UNHCR, to help give them better access to jobs and housing.

Dancing alongside other refugees made me so grateful.

Although she admits that learning to samba proved particularly hard, Ingrid said she could not think of a better way to celebrate her arrival in her new hometown, Rio, than by striding down the Sambadrome in company of thousands of Brazilians, as well as her fellow refugees. And because Salgueiro came in sixth place in the samba school competition, Ingrid and her fellow performers get the chance to take to the Sambadrome once again, as part of the champions parade held a week later.

Brazil has taught me so much. Even just learning another language changes your life, said Ingrid, donning a flamboyant costume in canary yellow with oversized epaulettes. Im proud to have represented all the refugees of the world in Carnival. Dancing alongside other refugees from around the world made me so grateful.
Jalila walking around her house.  UNHCR/Mohamed Alalem

When Jalila* first returned to the ruins of her family home in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi after four years of displacement, what struck her more than the gaping empty windows, collapsed walls and piles of ash that used to be their belongings were the memories of lost loved ones that still filled the empty spaces.

I didnt know what kind of shock Id have when I saw it. After I entered, I didnt eat for three days. I was emotional. I remembered my family, the 47-year-old charity worker explained.

Before their lives were torn apart, the large house in the Al-Sabri neighbourhood of Benghazis old town where Jalila was born was home to her and her mother, who lived on the ground floor, and two of her older brothers, who lived with their families on the upper floors. Family life revolved around a central courtyard with its fountain and shady trees, where the children would play in the warm afternoons while the adults drank tea.

That all changed in 2014, when Benghazi was engulfed by heavy fighting amid the political turmoil that followed the 2011 overthrow of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Al-Sabri, once home to some 22,000 families, bore the brunt of the clashes, forcing most residents to flee. The resulting destruction is still visible today, with block after block of bombed out or collapsed buildings, many riddled with bullet holes.

Libya: Returning Home in Dignity (Farah Harwida and Caroline Gluck, Producers/Mohamed Alalem, Editor, Videographer)

Across Libya, more than 168,000 people remain internally displaced as a result of the violence and instability, while a further 673,500 have since returned home to areas often lacking decent shelter and basic services. Benghazi is among the worst affected parts of the country, with around 38,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) and 191,000 returnees.

When the violence first erupted, Jalila and her family moved to another part of the city to stay with her sister, thinking it would only be temporary. We didnt take any belongings, we left with just what we had on us. No passports, no family booklets, [no] personal documents, she said.

But as the violence spread, the family left the city to join relatives in the town of Battah, some two hours east along the Mediterranean coast, where they would spend the next 18 months. A few days after their departure, neighbours from Al-Sabri contacted them to tell them that their home and everything in it had been destroyed in a fire.

I collapsed and I cried, as if they told me someone had died, Jalila remembers. It contained all the details of my life. All my belongings were there, my documents  all gone.

Jalila pours coffee by the fountain in her rehabilitated yard.  UNHCR/Mohamed Alalem

Tragically, the loss of her home was just the start of Jalilas suffering. The family returned to rented accommodation in Benghazi in 2016, but in June that year her eldest brother died, followed shortly afterwards by her mother and, five months later, her other brother, all from heart attacks.

My mother died of anguish, wanting to return. My eldest brother as well, she said. When I lost my mother and my brothers, I said to myself I wish I had only lost the house.

After another year of displacement staying with relatives in other parts of the city, in 2018 Jalila took the decision to return to the only place she had ever known comfort. I was determined to return to my familys house, she said.

She set to work, clearing rooms of debris and investing what little money she had in buying bricks and cement to have collapsed walls rebuilt. But despite her best efforts, the scale of the task was too big to manage on her own.

Support arrived when UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and its partner, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), contacted Jalila as part of a shelter rehabilitation programme, designed to help some of the most vulnerable people in the city to move back into their own homes.

Following an assessment, a team arrived to install new plumbing and electrical systems, fit a new bathroom, renovate the living room, replace windows and doors and repair the leaking roof.

"This is my kingdom."

Jalila is one of more than 130 families in Benghazi that have so far benefitted from the programme, with more families set to receive help this year. As well as renovating individual homes, the agency and its partners have also carried out repairs to schools, clinics and hospitals damaged during the conflict.

While much of the house requires further work, including the upstairs apartment where she hopes her late brothers family will one day return, Jalila is thrilled to be back in her own home.

Taking tea in her beloved courtyard, she describes a sense of peace that she has not known for years.

This is my kingdom  I am so happy with it, she says. I feel as if my family are still alive. Like their spirits are still here with me.

*Name changed for protection purposes
Ceramic teacher Lindsey Browning shows her class how to shape their clay bowls, Tuesday, April 19, 2022, at Eye of the Dog Art Center. Browning teaches ceramic workshops every Tuesday at Eye of the Dog and will be selling her pottery at the festival.
Like all great things, the 2021-22 editorial boards term has come to an end. Read more
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has ordered Novatek Green Energy, a subsidiary of the sanctioned Russian gas producer Novatek, to hand over its gas transmission infrastructure to Polish companies, government spokesperson Piotr Muller said on Friday

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2022) Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has ordered Novatek Green Energy, a subsidiary of the sanctioned Russian gas producer Novatek, to hand over its gas transmission infrastructure to Polish companies, government spokesperson Piotr Muller said on Friday.

On Tuesday, Poland imposed sanctions on 35 companies and 15 individuals who work in the country, including Gazprom and Novatek, leaving several dozen municipalities in Poland without gas.

"This company (Novatek), also by order of the prime minister, is obliged, on the basis of the law on crisis management, to transfer the infrastructures to these state-owned companies, which will implement gas supplies to those areas where the company associated with the Russian gas company previously provided its services," Muller told reporters.

According to Muller, the decision must be implemented immediately.

"The transfer process will start today and should be completed within a few dozen hours. If all goes well, the decision will be implemented today in some regions.

Everything, of course, depends on whether there will be resistance from Novatek and its employees. If there is such resistance, according to the law on crisis management, we can use coercive means," Muller added.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces. In response to Russia's operation, Western countries, including Poland, have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow and vowed to reduce dependency on Russian energy.

On March 30, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Warsaw will ban all imports of energy resources from Russia by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, Russian energy giant Gazprom announced the suspension of gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after they refused to pay for gas in rubles. Gazprom also warned that it would limit gas transit to other countries in case Poland and Bulgaria begin unauthorized use of Russian gas from the transit pipelines.
(@FahadShabbir)

Sao Paulo, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Apr, 2022 ) :Brazilian businesswoman Luiza Trajano has made it onto a lot of lists: TIME's most influential people, Forbes' billionaires, the biggest fortunes in Brazil...

But although she has been touted as a potential contender in Brazil's presidential elections this year, there is one list she says she is determined to stay off: the ballot.

With the country deeply polarized ahead of October's polls, "I want to unite Brazil," not divide it further, says the 73-year-old entrepreneur, who made her fortune building her family store, Magazine Luiza, into one of Latin America's biggest online retailers.

Not that Trajano, a household name in Brazil, is shying from the spotlight as the race heats up between far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and his nemesis, leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Known for her trailblazing work promoting women's equality, fighting racial discrimination and pushing to speed up Brazil's vaccination campaign against Covid-19, Trajano says she remains engaged as ever in this clutch election year.

"I want to take Brazil where I think it should be, where I think it deserves to be," she told AFP in an interview.

"I want to end these deep divisions that are causing the country a lot of harm," said the elegantly dressed businesswoman, a forceful speaker with an imposing personality offset by her contagious laugh and bright red lipstick.

Plenty of Brazilians would like to see Trajano get into politics.

With the business sector and political middle desperately seeking centrist alternatives to Lula and Bolsonaro, her name was floated as a potential "third-way" candidate.

There was also talk Lula could ask her to be his running mate.

"I've been invited plenty of times (to run), including for president," Trajano said.

But she added she doesn't want labels, beyond the ones she already has: chair of the board at Magalu, as her company is popularly known, and president of Women of Brazil, her 100,000-member empowerment initiative.

"I'm nonpartisan, but political," she said.

That has not stopped Bolsonaro from attacking her as a "socialist businesswoman.

" Lula has meanwhile sung her praises.

When TIME named Trajano to its list of 100 most influential people last year, the ex-president (2003-2010) wrote the magazine's blurb on her.

"In a world where billionaires burn their fortunes on space adventures and yachts, Luiza is dedicated to a different kind of odyssey... building a commercial giant while constructing a better Brazil," waxed the Workers' Party (PT) founder.

But Trajano wants to be clear: The PT has "never" asked her to run for office, she said.

Trajano grew up the only child of a modest family in the city of Franca, in southeastern Brazil.

She started working at 12 during school vacation, helping out at the household goods store founded in 1957 by her aunt, also named Luiza.

"I had the fortune to come from a family of women entrepreneurs, who believed in the power of women at a time when most women didn't work outside the home," said Trajano.

She took the helm in 1991, and soon turned the business into one of the biggest retail chains in Brazil, with nearly 1,500 stores, and an e-commerce pioneer.

"I've broken a lot of beliefs that limited me," said Trajano.

"I love doing that." Trajano rejects Bolsonaro's label of "socialist." But paradoxically, the fifth-richest woman in Brazil, whose fortune is estimated at $1.4 billion, says she is no fan of capitalism either, calling it "savage." She prefers to focus on ways to better society.

When Covid-19 hit Brazil hard and Bolsonaro flouted expert advice on containing it, Trajano mobilized a campaign called "United for the Vaccine" that rallied private-sector support for the public-health system.

Seeking to fight structural racism in Brazil, she launched a trainee program at Magazine Luiza in 2020 to recruit promising black employees -- drawing both applause and criticism.

Now she is setting her sights on including more women in politics.

Women currently hold just 15 percent of seats in Brazil's Congress. Trajano wants them to hold half.

She won't run herself -- but she's not slowing down, either.

"I change cycles, but I'll never retire," she said.
Pretoria, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Apr, 2022 ) :South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday praised West Africa's regional bloc ECOWAS for developing what he called a "decisive" anti-coup strategy.

West Africa has seen a resurgence of coups in recent months, and the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States has deployed "stabilising" forces in Guinea-Bissau.

After talks with visiting Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, Ramaphosa said Africa should emulate ECOWAS.

The continent has "a lot to learn in the way that ECOWAS is dealing with these matters much as it is experiencing a spate of these coups".

"The determination and the decisiveness of the leadership in ECOWAS is something that stands out as a very good example for the rest of the continent." ECOWAS has deployed a "stabilising support force" in Guinea-Bissau following a reported coup bid in February that claimed 11 lives.

The force includes troops from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Senegal, according to Guinea-Bissau's leader.

"ECOWAS has found a solution. In Guinea-Bissau I have troops from ECOWAS. We are going to do the same in other countries," Embalo told reporters.

Guinea-Bissau army spokesman Usmane Kuyate confirmed the arrival of a vanguard of the ECOWAS force.

"We have little information about this force, especially about its deployment on the ground," he told AFP. "Some of it has already arrived, the rest is still on the way." ECOWAS previously deployed a stability and security force in Guinea-Bissau after the 2012 coup that overthrew prime minister Carlos Gomes Junior.

That force left the country in 2020.

Guinea-Bissau, a Portuguese-speaking coastal state of around two million people south of Senegal, had seen four military coups since 1974.
UNITED NATIONS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Apr, 2022 ) :The UN Security Council has strongly condemned Tuesday's "heinous and cowardly" terrorist attack in the Karachi University, and called for bringing those responsible for it to justice.

The attack, which was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army, resulted in the deaths of three Chinese nationals and one Pakistani as well as several injured.

"The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the governments of Pakistan and China, and they wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured," a statement issued by the 15-member Council's president for this month, Barbara Woodward of Britain, said on Thursday.

"The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security," it said.

The statement added, "The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.

They urged all states, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the governments of Pakistan and China, as well as all other relevant authorities in this regard.

"The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed. They reaffirmed the need for all states to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts." UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is currently in Ukraine, issued a statement on Tuesday in which he strongly condemned the attack and express sympathies with the bereaved families.
(@Abdulla99267510)

Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad says the government and people of Pakistan extend their sympathies, support and solidarity to the people of Afghanistan and particularly with the bereaved families.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-April 29th, 2022) Pakistan has strongly condemned terrorist attacks in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan on Thursday, causing loss of precious Afghan lives and injuring many others.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said the Government and people of Pakistan extend their sympathies, support and solidarity to the people of Afghanistan and particularly with the bereaved families.

He said we believe these heinous acts of terrorism against innocent Afghans are aimed at weakening the resolve of the Afghan nation in pursuit of peace, stability and progress.

The Spokesperson said the targeting of Hazara and Shia community in Afghanistan through these acts of terrorism is also a matter of serious concern.

He urged the international community to extend all possible support and assistance to Afghanistan in combating terrorism and overcoming these challenges.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2022) The Russian armed forces have destroyed the Artem rocket and space plant in Kiev with a strike of high-precision long-range missiles, Russian defense ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said on Friday.

"High-precision long-range air-based weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed the production buildings of the Artem rocket and space industry enterprise in the city of Kiev," Konashenkov told reporters.

The Russian military also hit three traction electrical substations in the areas of the railway junctions in the cities of Fastiv, Krasnosilka and Polonne with high-precision Kalibr cruise missiles, the spokesman added.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2022) The Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) has claimed responsibility for the twin explosions in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

On Thursday, two explosions rocked Mazar-i-Sharif, the province of Balkh, leaving at least 9 people killed and 13 injured.

One of the blasts was staged near an educational facility while another one hit a vehicle.

The IS branch, Islamic State - Khorasan Province, has been operating in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan since 2015. The group has claimed responsibility for multiple bloody attacks.
Volodymyr Saldo, the new head of the administration of the Kherson region, which is now controlled by Russian forces, said that he was unaware of the plans for a referendum and to create some kind of republics in the region

KHERSON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2022) Volodymyr Saldo, the new head of the administration of the Kherson region, which is now controlled by Russian forces, said that he was unaware of the plans for a referendum and to create some kind of republics in the region.

"I don't know about any plans to hold a referendum on the creation of some kind of republics," he said at the first briefing.

According to Saldo, "the territory of the Kherson region remains the territory of the Kherson region, which is under the control of the military, therefore the appointment of civilians to the military-civilian administration, those who are currently working, is made by the military commandant.

"

The Russian military, during the special operation to demilitarize Ukraine, took control of the entire Kherson region in the south of the country and the Azov part of the Zaporizhzhia region. Civil-military administrations have been formed in the regions, broadcasting of Russian tv channels and radio has begun, and trade ties with Crimea are being restored.
(@FahadShabbir)

MURMANSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2022) The only border crossing point on the Russian-Norwegian border, Storskog, will be closed for trucks from Russia, and there will also be a ban on ships from Russia entering Norwegian ports, with the exception of fishing boats, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said on Friday.

"We are imposing the fifth package of EU sanctions in Norway. This means that we are closing the Storskog border crossing for trucks immediately. There will be a ban on the import of a number of chemicals. An exception will be made for (the island of) Spitsbergen, where a special treaty is in force," Huitfeldt was quoted by Norwegian broadcaster NRK as saying.

In accordance with the EU sanctions policy, Norway will also close ports to Russian vessels starting from May 7 with the exception made only for the fishing fleet, the broadcaster added, quoting Norwegian Fisheries Minister Bjornar Skjaeran.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces. In response, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow with the fifth sanctions package announced on April 8.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2022) A checkpoint in the village of Krupets of Russia's Kursk region has came under mortar fire, Roman Starovoyt, the region's governor, said on Friday, adding that firing points were suppressed by return fire.

"The morning in the border Rylsky district was restless. At about 8 a.m. (05:00GMT) mortars fired at the checkpoint in the village of Krupets. The firing points were suppressed by the return fire of our border guards and the military. There are no casualties or destruction," Starovoyt wrote on Telegram.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2022) The Taiwan issue is absolutely different from Ukraine, and American officials are misleading people by drawing parallels between the two, the Chinese Embassy in Washington told Sputnik on Friday.

"Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory and the Taiwan question is entirely China's internal affair. The Taiwan question and the Ukraine issue are different in nature and are not comparable at all," spokesperson Liu Pengyu said. The US and Taiwan have colluded with each other, and certain individual deliberately draws parallel between Taiwan and Ukraine despite they are two fundamentally different issues. Their aim is to mislead the public and profit from that."
(@FahadShabbir)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2022) The United Kingdom will send 8,000 military personnel to Eastern Europe to participate in military drills in a move to demonstrate UK military contribution to European security amid Russia's operation in Ukraine, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Friday.

"The security of Europe has never been more important. These exercises will see our troops join forces with allies and partners across NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force in a show of solidarity and strength in one of the largest shared deployments since the Cold War," Wallace said, as quoted by Sky news, adding that the drills aim to "showcase the scale and significance of the British Army's contribution to the defence of Europe.

"

Troops will be deployed in countries from Finland to North Macedonia, with dozens of Challenger 2 tanks and more than 100 armored combat vehicles, the broadcaster reported.

The UK army and other NATO troops will be trained to improve the ability of working together, "deterring Russian aggression in Scandinavia and the Baltic states," the UK defense ministry said.

The deployment is expected to reach a peak of about 8,000 soldiers between April and June, the report added.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces.
(UroToday.com) The 2022 Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) Hybrid Meeting included a session on high-risk and locally advanced prostate cancer and a presentation by Dr. Declan Murphy discussing the impact of histologic variants on treatment recommendations, particularly as it pertains to ductal, intraductal and cribriform histology. Dr. Murphy notes that pathology used to be quite simple, for example 10 years ago histology was scored as Gleason 6-10 and the number of cores were listed. However, today there has been several updates of the ISUP system (2014 and 2019), a grade group system, the percentage of pattern 4 present, the maximum core length, and utilization of genomic classifiers.

The definition of cribriform is cohesive tumor cells with the presence of circular spaces, creating a sieve-like or Swiss cheese appearance. Furthermore, cribriform glands should be assigned a Gleason pattern 4, regardless of morphology:

Previous studies have shown that cribriform growth is highly predictive for postoperative metastasis and disease-specific death in Gleason 7 prostate cancer, and thus the presence of this growth pattern is important when counseling men about the management of Gleason Group 2 or 3 prostate cancer. Dr. Murphy notes that some favorable intermediate risk cancers are candidates for active surveillance, which in his opinion are men with ISUP 2 (Gleason 3+4 = 7) without cribriform pattern, whereas those with ISUP 2 (Gleason 3+4 = 7) + cribriform pattern are not candidates for active surveillance. Ultimately, it is not well understood why cribriform drives worse outcomes, but it is essential for pathologists to report the presence of cribriform pattern and for clinicians to appreciate the significance of this growth pattern.

With regards to intraductal carcinoma of the prostate, this pattern is an expansive proliferation of malignant cells within pre-existing prostatic ducts and acini with a full or partially conserved basal cell layer with morphological growth similar to the cribriform pattern:1

Work from Dr. Murphys group has shown that patient-derived xenografts demonstrate that intraductal carcinoma of the prostate is a prominent pathology in BRCA2 mutation carriers with prostate cancer, which correlates with a poor prognosis.2 This work suggested that intraductal carcinoma of the prostate was present in 42% of BRCA2 patients and only 9% of sporadic patients. As follows is the Kaplan-Meier curve for survival stratified by presence of intraductal carcinoma of the prostate:

A 2017 systematic review from Porter et al.3 assessed intraductal carcinomas of the prostate prevalence with prostate cancer risk. This review, which included radical prostatectomy and prostate biopsy specimens from >7000 patients, showed that the intraductal carcinoma of the prostate prevalence increased from 2.1% in low-risk patient cohorts to 23.1%, 36.7%, and 56.0% in moderate-risk, high-risk, and metastatic or recurrent disease risk categories, respectively (p < 0.0001):

Intraductal carcinoma of the prostate was also highly prevalent in tumours following androgen deprivation therapy or chemotherapy (60%).

Dr. Murphy then posed the question Should we look for DNA repair defects in the presence of intraductal carcinoma of the prostate? Velho and colleagues4 assessed pathological and clinical characteristics associated with germline DNA-repair gene mutations, to facilitate selection of patients for germline testing. Among 150 consecutive patients underwent germline testing, pathogenic mutations were identified in 21 men (14%). Among those with germline mutations, 9 (43%) were in BRCA2, 3 (14%) were in ATM, 3 (14%) were in CHEK2, and 2 (9%) were in BRCA1. Men with germline mutations were more likely to harbor intraductal/ductal histology (48% vs 12%, p < 0.01) and lymphovascular invasion (52% vs 14%, p < 0.01). Finally, 44% of patients with a positive germline test would not have been offered genetic screening according to current National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines. However, since this study was published, there has been conflicting evidence regarding the role of intraductal carcinoma of the prostate and BRCA mutated prostate cancer. To summarize intraductal carcinoma of the prostate, Dr. Murphy notes that (i) this entity is associated with higher risk prostate cancer, (ii) it may (or may not) be associated with BRCA2 prostate cancer, (iii) this entity is likely still under-reported, and (iv) Dr. Murphy considers this to be like cribriform growth in localized prostate cancer. Ultimately, we should pay attention to the presence of intraductal carcinoma of the prostate, as it is considered to be a marker of aggressiveness.

Ductal adenocarcinoma is defined by its morphology, which includes tall columnar epithelium with stratified nuclei, a papillary, cribriform, or solid architecture, and an absence or patchy basal cell layers:

Men with ductal adenocarcinoma often present with lower urinary tract symptoms, and are more likely to present with T3/T4 disease. Additionally, PSA may not be too elevated, there are unusual sites of metastasis, and this histologic variant is associated with a poor prognosis. In a recent paper by Ranasinghe et al.5 at MD Anderson Cancer Center, they showed that ductal prostate cancers demonstrate poor outcomes with conventional therapies. Among 228 men with ductal adenocarcinoma, 63 underwent radical prostatectomy, 34 underwent radiotherapy, and 31 had neoadjuvant therapy prior to radical prostatectomy. Ductal adenocarcinoma patients undergoing radical prostatectomy or radiotherapy had worse 5-year MFS (75% vs 95% and 62% vs 93%, respectively, p < 0.001) and 5-year OS (88% vs 97% and 82% vs 100%, respectively, p < 0.05) compared with prostate adenocarcinoma patients:

In the 76 men who received adjuvant/salvage ADT after radical prostatectomy, ductal adenocarcinoma also had worse MFS and OS than prostate adenocarcinoma (p < 0.01). Additionally, upregulation of several intrinsic resistance pathways among patients with ductal adenocarcinoma renders ADT less effective. To summarize ductal adenocarcinoma, Dr. Murphy notes that it is (i) rare and underreported, (ii) associated with worse stage at presentation (except PSA) (iii) associated with a poor prognosis with local treatment alone, and (iv) associated with a poor response to ADT.

Dr. Murphy concluded his presentation by assessing histological variants in prostate cancer with the following take home messages:

We need to recognize that pathological variants are important

Standardized reporting is essential

We need to work closely with our pathology colleagues

We need to address pathology questions in clinical trials

Presented By: Declan G. Murphy, FRACS, FRCS, Peter MacCallum Cancer Center, Melbourne, Australia

Written By: Zachary Klaassen, MD, MSc  Urologic Oncologist, Assistant Professor of Urology, Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University/Medical College of Georgia, @zklaassen_md on Twitter during the 2022 Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) Annual Hybrid Meeting, Lugano, Switzerland, Thurs, Apr 28  Sat, Apr 30, 2022.





References:
(UroToday.com) The 2022 Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) Hybrid Meeting included a session on the management of metastatic hormone sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) and a presentation by Dr. Alicia Morgans discussing the treatment of vulnerable/frail patients with mHSPC. Dr. Morgans notes that according to the NCCN guidelines we currently have a plethora of options for the treatment of mHSPC in 2022. However, there is still debate regarding the optimal treatment of newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer. Dr. Morgans and Dr. Beltran recently wrote an editorial piece in JCO1 assessing factors that contribute to treatment decisions that should be considered when using shared decision making for patients with mHSPC. This includes cancer-related factors, patient-related factors, clinician-related factors, and treatment-related factors as highlighted in the following figure:

To answer the question Isnt androgen deprivation enough? Dr. Morgans suggests that for the majority of patients the answer is no.

When discussing the vulnerable and frail patient, it is important to define this specific phenotype. Indeed, we live in an aging world, with a predicted 21 to >28% of the population (specifically in Europe and North America) expected to be older than 65 years of age in 2050. Dr. Morgans emphasized that prostate cancer disproportionately affects elderly men, with a median age at diagnosis of 66 years of age and the most frequent age range for diagnosis being 65-74 years of age. However, chronologic and biologic age are not the same.

The International Society of Geriatric Oncology has published guidelines for the management of prostate cancer in elderly patients,2 providing key guidance. It is important for clinicians to understand the different steps in health status evaluation and the estimated time required to complete these evaluations. Importantly, a mandatory initial step is to perform a G8 and a Mini-COG assessment:

The G8 screening tool highlights 8 specific items that clinicians address, including those pertaining to food intake, weight loss in the last 3 months, mobility, neuropsychological problems, body mass index, number of daily medications, personal consideration of health status, and age:

The decision tree to determine a patients health status is provided by a combination of the G8 and Mini-COG stratifying patients into groups that are fit, frail, or disabled with severe comorbidities. The decision tree for this assessment is as follows:

When assessing disease control outcomes, Dr. Morgans notes that the survival benefit occurs early in follow-up. For example, when looking at abiraterone acetate in the LATITUDE3 and STAMPEDE4 trials, there is early separation of the curves between 6-12 months. Similarly, in the ENZAMET5 and TITAN6 trial, the survival curves separate (favoring the experimental arm) by 9-15 months of follow-up. Dr. Morgans also emphasize that the subgroup analyses for overall survival show a similar benefit regardless of age in the LATITUDE, TITAN, and CHAARTED7 trials. Additionally, there appears to be a potential survival benefit for radiotherapy in low-volume mHSPC in STAMPEDE with relatively low toxicity.8

In a vulnerable/frail patient population, certainly it is important to discuss quality of life outcomes for these patients. Although not analyzed by age, Dr. Morgans notes that quality of life was maintained over time in LATITUDE

Although in the mCRPC disease space, quality of life was also preserved with enzalutamide in the PREVAIL9 trial when analyzed by age.

When looking at adverse events in CHAARTED stratified by age, docetaxel was associated with a small increase in adverse events among patients that were >70 years of age, specifically with regards to neutropenia (age >70: 17% vs age < 60 years: 9%), febrile neutropenia (age >70: 9% vs age < 60 years: 7%) and fatigue (age >70: 9% vs age < 60 years: 2%).

Dr. Morgans concluded her presentation by discussing the treatment of vulnerable/frail patients with mHSPC with the following summary points:

Standard of care treatment for ALL patients with mHSPC is intensified therapy

Chronologic and biologic age are not the same; we can use geriatric assessments to help identify areas of reversible decline and areas of need

Disease control outcomes and quality of life outcomes suggest similar benefits to older and younger patients, with the curves for benefit separating early in follow-up.

Presented by: Alicia Morgans, MD, MPH, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Written by: Zachary Klaassen, MD, MSc  Urologic Oncologist, Assistant Professor of Urology, Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University/Medical College of Georgia, @zklaassen_md on Twitter during the 2022 Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) Annual Hybrid Meeting, Lugano, Switzerland, Thurs, Apr 28  Sat, Apr 30, 2022.

References:
'Mapping Freedom Project at USM Receives NSF REU Site Grant

Fri, 04/29/2022 - 11:18am | By: Margaret Ann Macloud

National Science Foundation

A digital humanities project at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that will make it possible for 30 students to live and work in Hattiesburg over the course of three summers to map the granular process of emancipation in Mississippi during the Civil War and through the period of Reconstruction to visualize freed-people's paths to citizenship.

The project, titled Mapping Freedom, combines digital humanities with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), by focusing on the use of mapping technology, including geographic information system (GIS). The $352,596 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site grant from the NSF allows for a paid, eight-week research experience ($600 per week + $250 in travel expenses per person), in addition to provided housing and dining, for 10 undergraduate humanities students from any Mississippi school starting Summer 2023 and continuing through Summer 2025. The experience will both expose undergraduates to significant research and help them visualize the role STEM can play in humanities projects.

"We are fortunate to host this REU at a university that is so supportive of the collaborative research that defines the digital humanities, said Dr. Susannah Ural, project lead and Director of USMs Center for Digital Humanities. My colleagues and I are excited to start working with undergrads from across the region and are grateful to the NSF for the support that makes this possible.

Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History

While Mapping Freedom is a standalone project, it is an extension of Dr. Urals Civil War and Reconstruction Governors of Mississippi (CWRGM) digital documentary project that is digitizing more than 20,000 letters written to Mississippi governors during the Civil War and Reconstruction period. The records of emancipation used in Mapping Freedom will be taken from the available documents in the CWRGM project.

At least half of the students working on this research will be from underrepresented groups across Mississippi, including racial and gender minorities, first-generation college students, military veterans, or other minority groups. There is a need for more individuals from economically underprivileged backgrounds in computer science and digital humanities, and there is also evidence that underprivileged students are more likely to enter and stay in science and engineering fields if their first interaction is with material they recognize and find socially significant.

NSF-REUs are extremely competitive and very prestigious to obtain, said Dr. Janet Donaldson, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education in USMs College of Arts and Sciences. The students that will be participating in this REU will have the unique opportunity to learn about Digital Humanities in a STEM-related aspect. This is a novel approach that is very specific to the program funded for Dr. Ural. We are very proud of her accomplishments and look forward to welcoming the students on campus for the program.

In addition to Ural, other project leads include co-PI Dr. Beddhu Murali, associate professor in computer science; Elizabeth La Beaud, Digital Lab Manager and assistant director of the Mississippi Digital Library; and Dr. Joslyn Zale, Research Associate & manager of USMs Certified Sport Security Professional program.

Learn more about Mapping Freedom and submit interest in applying to the research experience by visiting: www.usm.edu/digital-humanities/nsf-reu-program.php
USM Marine Education Center Wins Gulf Guardian Award

Fri, 04/29/2022 - 15:47pm | By: Van Arnold

Pictured: MEC Director Dr. Jessie Kastler and MEC Project Specialist Samantha Capers

The Marine Education Center (MEC) at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) received a prestigious Gulf Guardian Award during the Gulf of Mexico Conference held April 25-28 in Baton Rouge, La. The MEC project, A Classroom Course in Community Resilience, captured First Place for Youth Engagement.

Community Resilience in the Classroom is an educational program developed by USM and the Mississippi Alabama Sea Grant Consortium with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Bay Watershed Education and Training (NOAA B-WET) program. Staff of the MEC and Sea Grant partnered with /local K-12 teachers to promote student awareness of watersheds and their connections to the Gulf of Mexico through classroom and field instruction in climate change and rising sea level, especially high tide flooding and increased storm surge.

Since 2016, approximately 1,000 students from 12 schools in Mississippi and Alabama have completed the program. Selected teams have competed in six Stewardship Summits judged by several dozen community resilience professionals. In 2020 the full program of teacher training and classroom implementation was successfully completed online.

Students who complete the community resilience project know about hurricanes but may not have thought about specific challenges communities need to prepare for, like getting relief supplies across town to an isolated community when roads are blocked. After students complete their team project, they get it, said Dr. Jessie Kastler, MEC Director. It's a pleasure to see how they own their solutions and it's an honor for our program to be recognized with a Gulf Guardian Award.

The Gulf of Mexico Program initiated the Gulf Guardian awards in 2000 to recognize and honor the businesses, community groups, individuals, and agencies that are taking positive steps to keep the Gulf healthy, beautiful, and productive. First, second and third place awards are given in seven categories: individual, business/industry, youth environmental education, civic/nonprofit organizations, cultural diversity/environmental justice, partnership, and bi-national efforts.

MEC Project Specialist Samantha Capers, who taught previously at St. Martin Middle School in Ocean Springs, echoed Kastlers sentiments.

It is exciting to be part of the development team for this teacher resource that allows students to participate in their community in a meaningful way, she said.

The Gulf of Mexico Program began in 1988 to protect, restore, and maintain the health and productivity of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem in economically sustainable ways. The Gulf of Mexico Program is underwritten by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is a non-regulatory, inclusive consortium of state and federal government agencies and representatives of the business and agricultural community, fishing industry, scientists, environmentalists, and community leaders from all five Gulf States. The Gulf Program seeks to improve the environmental health of the Gulf in concert with economic development.

The Marine Education Center at USMs Cedar Point site in Ocean Springs serves as the education and outreach arm of the School of Ocean Science and Engineering. The center promotes understanding of coastal and marine science within the public sector and provides the tools coastal residents can use to become more effective stewards and advocates for the Gulf of Mexico through innovative, field-based educational experiences.

To learn more about the MECs A Classroom Course in Community Resiliency, visit: https://www.usm.edu/marine-education-center/classroom_course_in_community_resilience_draft.pdf
The association, Ilhas da Paz (Islands of Peace), in Mozambique, is providing essential food products to about five thousand families in the city and province of Maputo. This solidarity is something the association does annually within the framework of Ramadan, celebrated by Muslims.

Herminio Jose - Maputo, Mozambique

According to the representative of Ilhas da Paz, Mehmet Baslik, this year, among the beneficiaries of basic food baskets are the elderly, orphanages, mosques and the Social Services of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (SSPRM).

Minimising the suffering of families

Mehmet Baslik acknowledges that life is difficult in Mozambique. Still, with the contribution of people and companies of goodwill, they are trying to minimise the suffering of some Mozambican families who find themselves in distressing economic situations. For this reason, the association, Ilhas da Paz, managed to collect about 80 tons of food products to distribute to the needy.

Pope Francis on Fratelli Tutti

The representative of Ilhas da Paz further informed Vatican News that the association hosted, on Thursday, 28 April, a dinner to celebrate human brotherhood. The Maputo event has been inspired by Pope Francis encyclical Fratelli Tutti. Invited to the dinner are representatives of various religious denominations and members of the Mozambican Government.

With its Italian title, Fratelli Tutti is the third encyclical of Pope Francis, subtitled on fraternity and social friendship. The encyclical calls for more human fraternity and solidarity and is a plea to reject wars.

In the document, fraternity and social friendship are the ways by which Pope Francis indicates to build a better, more just and peaceful world, with the contribution of all: People and institutions. Fratelli Tutti deplores war and globalised indifference.

The document was signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyib, on 4 February 2019 in Abu Dhabi. It has become a flagship document for interreligious dialogue.
Vietnams Power Development Plan 8 (PDP VII) draft for the 2021-2030 period with a vision towards 2045 has been significantly delayed, however, a finalized draft is expected to be submitted to the Prime Minister in May 2022 for approval.

While the PDP8 has gone through several drafts, the latest revision proposes increasing electricity capacity to 146,000 MW by 2030 and incorporate the use of diversified sources of power in renewable energy as well as other fuel sources such as hydrogen and ammonia. This is significant as Vietnam made a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050 at the UNs COP26.

The time taken for approval and several revisions to the PDP draft shows that government agencies have found it challenging to come to a common ground with negotiations ongoing to develop a clear plan forward for the countrys energy security.

Vietnams rapidly growing economy has increased energy demand

Vietnam has become a manufacturing hub, increasing its energy needs rapidly. Power demand has increased by approximately 10 percent per year over the past decade. Vietnam went from a net oil exporter to a net oil importer in 2015, owing to its increasing demand for energy with greater dependence on coal.

In fact, Vietnam imports a significant amount of coal from Australia and Indonesia. Coal is responsible for approximately a third of electricity output in Vietnam. State-owned electricity provider EVN in March 2022 warned of electricity shortages due to limited coal supplies. To deal with the shortage Vietnam planned to increase imports from Australia while it also was in talks with South Africa to diversify its coal imports.

Therefore, Vietnam will need to slowly wean off coal and diversify its energy imports to meet supply shortages. And with external factors and geopolitical tensions, the government will need to secure adequate supplies and plan for any future shocks in its energy security.

As per EVN, Vietnam produced around 76,620 MW power generation capacity at the end of 2021. Out of this wind and solar energy made up 27 percent of capacity.

Significant opportunities in renewables but infrastructure needs to keep up

While Vietnam earlier was at the forefront of solar power, leading the Southeast Asian region, the industry has been forced to slow down. The countrys transmission lines have not been able to keep up, resulting in production losses. At times EVN has also told solar companies to cut electricity production as the power grid has not been able to keep up.

In contrast, however, wind capacity has been able to surpass solar and as per Fitch Solutions, this trend is likely to continue in the short to medium term.

PDP draft calls for diversifying energy sources, increasing renewables, reducing coal dependency

While precise details of the PDP8 draft are limited, the government said that it has worked with several agencies on data on renewables, net-zero emissions, and diversifying energy sources, which have been incorporated in the draft. The draft is also in line with Resolution No 55 on the national energy development strategy by 2030 with a vision towards 2045.

Vietnam plans to forego building any new coal-fired power plants. This would mean coal would reduce to 9.5 percent share of the capacity by 2045 compared to 15 to 19 percent previously. In addition, Vietnam is aiming for a 50 percent share of wind and solar power by 2045 compared to the previous target of around 40 percent.

As per S&P, for this target to be reached, Vietnam would need to have 42.7 GW of onshore wind capacity, 54 GW of offshore wind, and 54.8 GW of solar capacity by 2045. This will be a challenge, but something the government will need to implement if it wants to meet such a target.

The rapid expansion has also opened up opportunities for investors. Trungnam Group recently finished a 152 MW wind warm, the largest in Vietnam, in Ninh Thuan province. While Denmark-based Orsted, has proposed building a US$13.6 billion offshore wind project off Hai Phong.

Challenges ahead

The PDP draft is an ambitious target to meet Vietnams COP26 goal. This will be challenging as Vietnam strives to move towards renewable and diversified energy sources while balancing its need to become a production powerhouse.

The government will need further reforms; the limited grid capacity is in need of upgradation, and this has stifled the renewable energy sector. EVN maintains a monopoly over electricity transmission, and this could possibly be opened up to private investors to enable further development. The grid system will also need to cater to a mix of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

Reducing dependency on coal will not be easy as Vietnam wants to achieve high growth. While the pandemic slowed some demand, with Vietnam now open, demand is only expected to further increase. Thus, the government will need to balance its priorities using a phased methodical approach as implementation to meet these goals will be key.
Host Carol Castiel talks with former US Special Forces officer Mike Waltz, now a Republican Congressman from the state of Florida who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Waltz, who has served in the US military for over 24 years, analyzes the Biden Administrations policy toward Ukraine, Afghanistan and Africa and speaks of the need to do more to prevent malign actions by China against Taiwan. The second half of the show features an interview with historian and writer, Anne Applebaum, conducted by VOA senior Ukrainian broadcaster, Tatiana Vorozhko, on April 21, immediately after Applebaum met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
Cameroon's military said civilians this week buried scores of separatist fighters in mass graves after troops launched raids on rebel strongholds in the country's western regions. A separatist spokesman accused Cameroon's military of executing their captured fighters, which the military denies.

A video widely shared on the social media showed in Guzang, a village in Cameroons English-speaking North-West region, digging a mass grave for eight bodies. The people in the video say seven of the corpses they are burying were separatist fighters and one was a civilian.

Cameroon's military confirmed Thursday that civilians buried separatist fighters killed by government troops in Guzang. The military said it conducted raids in the past week in North-Western towns and villages including Guzang, Batibo, Wum, Ndu, Kumbo and Bafut, where separatists were attacking and harassing civilians.

Cameroonian authorities blamed anglophone separatists for kidnappings for ransom, disrupting traffic, and attacks on public buildings controlled by the central government in Yaounde.

The military said more than 40 fighters, including three self-proclaimed separatist generals, were killed in the raids.

Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, one of the separatist groups in Cameroon's English-speaking North-West and South-West regions. He acknowledged that fighters were killed but did not say how many. Daniel said Cameroonian government troops committed gross human rights violations against fighters including the troops killed in Guzang.

"Six of those fighters in Guzang, including one civilian, were all captured alive, their hands were all tied behind their backs before they were executed," Dianel said. "In a second location, still in Guzang, four soldiers [fighters] were captured, their hands tied behind their backs, two of them later died of bullet wounds, another one was executed in the Guzang market square. The Cameroon military attack against our freedom fighters in Guzang is a war crime and is a crime against humanity."

Daniel said fighters killed several government troops. He added that separatists will not surrender in their fight to gain what he calls the freedom of the English-speaking minority from the French-speaking majority Cameroon.

Cameroons military denied its troops were killed and that it committed crimes against fighters. The military said troops responded to protect civilians after fighters attacked civilians, shooting indiscriminately in the air.

Deben Tchoffo, governor of Cameroon's English-speaking North-West region, where government troops attacked separatists this week, said Cameroon's government will forgive fighters who drop their weapons and leave the bush, where he said separatists hide to commit atrocities against civilians.

"There is no need for somebody to go to the bush to express himself politically, socially," Tchoffo said. "From the instructions given to us we are going at the grassroots levels to reinforce he fight against the circulation of ammunition [war weapons] in the region and make sure all those that are still keeping them [weapons] are brought to book and prosecuted."

Separatists in English-speaking western Cameroon launched their rebellion in 2017 after what they said was years of discrimination by the countrys French-speaking majority.

The conflict has killed more than 3,300 people and displaced more than a half million according to the United Nations.
Missiles struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv Thursday during a visit by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, resulting in the death of an RFE/RL producer. Plus, Indonesia invites Ukraine to this years G-20 meeting. And, since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, people have spread information  and misinformation  about the war on social media.
Russia's relentless digital assaults on Ukraine may have caused less damage than many anticipated. But most of its hacking is focused on a different goal that gets less attention but has chilling potential consequences: data collection.

Ukrainian agencies breached on the eve of the February 24 invasion include the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which oversees the police, national guard and border patrol. A month earlier, a national database of automobile insurance policies was raided during a diversionary cyberattack that defaced Ukrainian websites.

The hacks, paired with prewar data theft, likely armed Russia with extensive details on much of Ukraine's population, cybersecurity and military intelligence analysts say. It's information Russia can use to identify and locate Ukrainians most likely to resist an occupation, and potentially target them for internment or worse.

"Fantastically useful information if you're planning an occupation," Jack Watling, a military analyst at the U.K. think tank Royal United Services Institute, said of the auto insurance data, "knowing exactly which car everyone drives and where they live and all that."

Information dominance

As the digital age evolves, information dominance is increasingly wielded for social control, as China has shown in its repression of the Uyghur minority. It was no surprise to Ukrainian officials that a prewar priority for Russia would be compiling information on committed patriots.

"The idea was to kill or imprison these people at the early stages of occupation," Victor Zhora, a senior Ukrainian cyber defense official, alleged.

Aggressive data collection accelerated just ahead of the invasion, with hackers serving Russia's military increasingly targeting individual Ukrainians, according to Zhora's agency, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection.

Serhii Demediuk, deputy secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said via email that personal data continues to be a priority for Russian hackers as they attempt more government network breaches: "Cyberwarfare is really in the hot phase nowadays."

There is little doubt political targeting is a goal. Ukraine says Russian forces have killed and kidnapped local leaders where they grab territory.

Demediuk was stingy with specifics but said Russian cyberattacks in mid-January and as the invasion commenced sought primarily to "destroy the information systems of government agencies and critical infrastructure" and included data theft.

The Ukrainian government says the January 14 auto insurance hack resulted in the pilfering of up to 80% of Ukrainian policies registered with the Motor Transport Bureau.

Demediuk acknowledged that the Ministry of Internal Affairs was among the government agencies breached February 23. He said that "a small part" of the ministry's data was stolen "but so far no case of its use has been established." He did not provide specifics. Security researchers from ESET and other cybersecurity firms that work with Ukraine said the networks were compromised months earlier, allowing ample time for stealthy theft.

Years of hacking

The data collection by hacking is a work long in progress.

A unit of Russia's FSB intelligence agency that researchers have dubbed Armageddon has been doing it for years out of Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014. Ukraine says it sought to infect more than 1,500 Ukrainian government computer systems.

Since October it has tried to breach and maintain access to government, military, judiciary and law enforcement agencies as well as nonprofits, with a primary goal of "exfiltrating sensitive information," Microsoft said in a February 4 blog post. That included unnamed organizations "critical to emergency response and ensuring the security of Ukrainian territory," plus humanitarian aid distribution.

Post-invasion, hackers have targeted European organizations that aid Ukrainian refugees, according to Zhora and the cybersecurity firm Proofpoint. Authorities have not specified which organizations or what may have been stolen.

Yet another attack, on April 1, crippled Ukraine's National Call Center, which runs a hotline for complaints and inquiries on a wide array of matters: corruption, domestic abuse, people displaced by the invasion, war veteran benefits. Used by hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, it issues COVID-19 vaccine certificates and collects callers' personal data including emails, addresses and phone numbers.

Adam Meyers, senior vice president of intelligence at the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, believes the attack may, like many others, have a greater psychological than intelligence-gathering impact  aiming to degrade Ukrainians' trust in their institutions.

"Make them scared that when the Russians take over, if they don't cooperate, the Russians are going to know who they are, where they are and come after them," Meyers said.

The attack knocked the center offline for at least three days, center director Marianna Vilshinska said: "We couldn't work. Neither phones nor chatbots worked. They broke down all the system."

Hackers calling themselves the Cyber Army of Russia claimed to steal personal data on 7 million people in the attack. However, Vilshinska denied they breached the database with users' personal information. "They didn't get any valuable information," she said.

She confirmed that a contact list the hackers posted online of more than 300 center employees was genuine as well as a spreadsheet with employee passwords. But she said other files the hackers posted  listing 3 million names and phone numbers and 1 million addresses  were not from the center.

Spear-phishing attacks in recent weeks have focused on military, national and local officials, aimed at stealing credentials to open government data troves. Such activity relies heavily on Ukraine's cellular networks, which Meyers of CrowdStrike said have been far too rich in intelligence for Russia to want to shut down.

On March 31, Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency said it had seized a "bot farm" in the eastern region of Dnipropretrovsk that was controlled remotely from Russia and sent text messages to 5,000 Ukrainian soldiers, police and SBU members urging them to surrender or sabotage their units. Agency spokesman Artem Dekhtiarenko said authorities were investigating how the phone numbers were obtained.

Gene Yoo, CEO of the cybersecurity firm ReSecurity, said it likely was not difficult: Subscriber databases of major Ukrainian wireless companies have been available for sale by cybercriminals on the dark web for some time  as they are for many countries.

If Russia is successful at taking control of more of eastern Ukraine, stolen personal data will be an asset. Russian occupiers have already collected passport information, a top Ukrainian presidential adviser tweeted recently, that could help organize separatist referendums.

Ukraine collects data too

Ukraine, for its part, appears to have done significant data collection  quietly assisted by the U.S., the U.K., and other partners  targeting Russian soldiers, spies and police, including rich geolocation data.

Demediuk, the top security official, said the country knows "exactly where and when a particular serviceman crossed the border with Ukraine, in which occupied settlement he stopped, in which building he spent the night, stole and committed crimes on our land."

"We know their cell phone numbers, the names of their parents, wives, children, their home addresses," who their neighbors are, where they went to school and the names of their teachers, he said.

Analysts caution that some claims about data collection from both sides of the conflict may be exaggerated.
The premier of the British Virgin Islands was arrested in Miami on Thursday for alleged money laundering and conspiracy to import cocaine, according to a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) complaint reviewed by Reuters.

Andrew Fahie, 51, was arrested at a Miami airport along with the managing director of the British overseas territory's Ports Authority, according to the complaint, which cited extensive testimony from a confidential informant.

The DEA complaint said Fahie had agreed to allow the informant, who was posing as a member of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, to use British Virgin Islands' ports to ship cocaine in return for a payment of $500,000.

The arrest of Fahie was first disclosed by British Virgin Islands Governor John Rankin.

"I realize this will be shocking news for people in the Territory," Rankin said in a statement. "And I would call for calm at this time."

Fahie could not immediately be reached for comment, nor could officials from the British Virgin Islands Ports Authority.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said that the arrests should send a clear message that "anyone involved with bringing dangerous drugs into the United States will be held accountable, no matter their position."

The DEA's complaint shows that the investigation, based on observations and recordings from the confidential informant, started in October.

According to the complaint, the informant claimed in meetings with Fahie, BVI ports Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard and her son, Kadeem Maynard, to be a cartel member looking to move thousands of kilograms of Colombian cocaine through Tortola island and eventually to Puerto Rico for export to New York and Miami.

"Fahie agreed to allow the confidential source to use the ports to ship his cocaine," according to the complaint, adding that he requested a $500,000 upfront payment in return.

The British Virgin Islands premier also requested help in paying down an $83,000 debt to a man in Senegal who had "fixed" some political issues for him, the complaint said.

Fahie was arrested in Miami after being separately shown designer shopping bags in a private plane that ostensibly showed $700,000 for him and Oleanvine Maynard, the complaint said.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement she was "appalled" by the allegations.

Fahie's arrest, she said, demonstrated the importance of a recently concluded Commission of Inquiry into allegations of corruption and abuse of office on the islands. The commission's report has not yet been published.

Deputy Premier Natalio "Sowande" Wheatley will remain acting premier indefinitely.

The premier's office did not immediately respond to requests for more information.
First came a court summons alleging Mikhail Samin had discredited the Russian army. Then came the threatening calls.

Samin, a 22-year-old from Moscow who has been posting commentary about the war in Ukraine on social media, shared details of those chilling calls with VOA.

In one expletive-laden call, a man warned that Samin had 24 hours to delete his posts, saying that only then, you may sleep peacefully."

When Samin tried to reason with the caller, saying that people, children, were dying in Ukraine, the caller replied, If you don't stop being stupid, we will throw you off the balcony."

The legal action and threats are becoming the new normal for those in Russia who defy the strict censorship around the war in Ukraine. Moscow in March passed a law to limit coverage of the military and invasion, and a mix of fines and website blocks has resulted in most independent news outlets being forced out.

Risky work

With traditional media limited, citizen journalists and activists like Samin are filling the void, but at great personal risk. Samin and student Ilya Kursov have both faced legal action for posts about the war and protests.

That new law was cited by authorities when Samin was summoned to court for "discrediting" the Russian army.

He had condemned the invasion in a March 6 Facebook post.

"A terrible thing is happening right now on behalf of [Russian] people," Samin had posted. "My compatriots  brainwashed or following criminal orders  have invaded the territory of a foreign country, destroying houses and killing people. Thousands of people are dying and suffering needlessly. There can be no justification for this. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, who started this war, cannot be justified."

For Samin, the death threats were more concerning than the threat of prison.

The door to his apartment was defaced with the letter Z, a pro-Kremlin symbol of war against Ukraine. Samins sister was scared when she saw the mark as she left to walk the dog.

Samin was at a loss for words when describing his view of Russia's attack on Ukraine.

"Nothing discredits the armed forces of the Russian Federation more than the war crimes they commit, like torturing people, killing civilians," he told VOA.

"There was a feeling of some unreality of what was happening because, before that, I was convinced that Putin would not do this," said Samin. "It was apparent that this [war] would immediately destroy the future of Russia."

Police pressure

When Ilya Kursov heard details of an anti-war protest in Barnaul, a city in the Altai Krai region of Siberia, at the end of February, the 24-year-old student shared the information on Instagram.

His post quickly came to the attention of police.

"I was abducted at 8 a.m. by [Russian police], right from my bed in the dormitory," said Kursov, who was studying at the Altai State Pedagogical University.

At the police station he was questioned about the social media post. The police officers pressured him, threatening him with a prison term, Kursov said. He wasn't allowed to call either his parents or lawyer and his laptop was confiscated.

The student believes the authorities are reacting so aggressively to any protest activity because, despite what the propaganda suggests, many Russians disapprove of the war.

Although many residents were afraid to join the protest openly, people approached the anti-war activists and spoke out for peace with Ukraine, he said.

Like Samin, Kursov is accused of "discrediting" the Russian army. Under the law, if the offense is repeated within a year, it can result in criminal prosecution, with a maximum punishment of up to 15 years in prison.

But the posts cited by police in Kursovs case were published before the law was enacted.

"I have two fines for 50,000 rubles [approximately $700],said Kursov.

The fine is about 1 times the median monthly income for his city, according to the Federal Service for State Statistics in Russia.

The student said that in court documents he saw, authorities had flagged more of his social media posts on the war.

"I am afraid the prosecutors would have an opportunity to use it against me, which leads to a criminal case," he said.

Both he and Samin have since left Russia, fearing for their safety.

Next to be targeted

With independent media blocked off in Russia, ordinary citizens like Samin and Kursov have become a key source of war information in Russia, media freedom experts said.

"After this huge blow against independent media, the next to be targeted are the citizen journalists," said Jeanne Cavelier, head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk at Reporters Without Borders.

"We can draw a parallel with what happened in Belarus, because when all major independent media were blocked and journalists were in prison or exile, the Belarusian authorities started to target citizen journalists," Cavelier told VOA.

Another factor is the chilling effect. As well as making arrests and blocking platforms, Russia wants to extend its foreign agents law to citizens as well as media.

"It frightens people; it makes them think twice before sharing any information, even if they feel very strong in their opinions or their criticism of the Russian authorities, so that's always a downside of any crackdown and repressive measures," said Gulnoza Said, the Europe and Central Asia program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists.

But while Kursov and Samin have been forced to leave their homes, both are adamant they will keep using social media to inform Russians about the war.

This story originated in VOA's Russian Service.
China will take steps to support its economy, including embattled internet platforms, as risks grow from its COVID-19 outbreaks and conflict in Ukraine, a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party said Friday, lifting markets.

The coronavirus and conflict in Ukraine have contributed to economic headwinds in a crucial year for China and President Xi Jinping, who is expected to secure a precedent-breaking third leadership term in the autumn.

Private economists have said Beijing's target for economic growth of about 5.5% this year will be hard to achieve without significant stimulus, as lockdowns and other tough measures to battle the pandemic create havoc for supply chains.

Friday's Politburo meeting chaired by Xi said it would support COVID-hit industries and small firms, speed work on infrastructure, and stabilize transport, logistics, and supply chains, according to a statement on the central government's website.

"We will strengthen macroeconomic policy adjustments to stabilize the economy, and strive to achieve the expected economic and social development goals for the full year," the statement quoted the Politburo as saying.

Top leaders conceded that efforts to stabilize growth, employment and prices were facing new challenges.

Chinese share prices surged in response to the pledges, particularly internet companies on which authorities clamped down last year, as the Politburo's pledge to "promote the healthy development of the platform economy" bolstered hopes the worst was over.

Authorities are set to have a meeting with internet majors next month, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Analysts believe more stimulus measures and some easing of property curbs will be needed to hit the government's growth target for 2022.

"While these messages are positive, the key is about the specific policies and their implementation," said Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.

"The economy is in trouble, with second quarter GDP growth likely turning negative (year-on-year)," he said. "A significant change of macro policy is necessary to turn the economy around."

Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura, said he still expected the economy to grow 1.8% in the second quarter and 3.9% in 2022.

COVID-19 jitters

Financial markets have been hit hard over the past two weeks by fears that lockdowns will cause severe damage for China's economy and derail a global recovery just as many nations rebound from pandemic-led slumps.

The benchmark share index jumped more than 2% Friday, with the tech-focused STAR50 Index surging nearly 5%. Shares of Hong Kong-listed tech firms rose, with the Hang Seng Tech Index up by 10%.

On Tuesday, Xi chaired a meeting that announced a big infrastructure push to boost demand, reinforcing Beijing's reliance on big-ticket projects to spur growth.

"Senior leaders called for a 'frontloading' of policy measures as well as increased support, confirming our view that the authorities will ensure a stable economic and political environment ahead of the 20th party congress later in the year," ANZ analysts said in a note.

"However, to attain the 5.5% target China may be borrowing from the future and incur more debt."

Beijing will also back "healthy development" of the property market, fanning hopes that some cities will relax supervision of escrow funds to help ease a liquidity crunch for developers.

But the Politburo said China would stick to a controversial dynamic zero-COVID policy to stamp out disease outbreaks while minimizing the pandemic's economic impact.
In a December speech, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Washingtons vision for Asia  or what U.S. officials have come to call the free and open Indo-Pacific.

When we say that we want a free and open Indo-Pacific  we mean that on a state level, that individual countries will be able to choose their own path and their own partners, Blinken said.

When discussing their Asia strategy, U.S. officials like Blinken frequently focus on the plight of smaller countries, saying they should be free to make their own decisions, especially in the face of rising Chinese coercion.

But what happens when a small Asian country chooses closer ties with China? Thats what happened this month, when the Solomon Islands, a tiny island chain in the South Pacific, announced it had signed a security pact with Beijing.

When a draft of the agreement leaked in late March, alarm bells sounded in Washington. The United States quickly announced it would send a senior delegation to the Solomons, a rare step for a country of only about 700,000 people.

But the U.S. delegation, which included top White House Asia official Kurt Campbell, arrived too late to persuade the Solomons to drop the deal, which by then had already been confirmed by officials in both Beijing and Honiara.

Neither country has disclosed the details of the security pact, but the draft deal, which is believed to mirror the final agreement, said if both sides agreed, Chinese warships could dock on the islands and that Beijing could send forces to help maintain social order.

The United States and its regional allies fear the deal could pave the way for China to establish a permanent military presence. The concern is perhaps most acute in Australia, which is only about a three-hour flight from the Solomons.

The Solomon Islands' embattled prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has insisted he will not allow the creation of a Chinese military base. Instead, Sogavare, whose fragile government faced deadly riots last year, said the deal would help provide domestic security. His assurance seems to have done little to alleviate U.S. concerns.

During their visit to the Solomon Islands last week, the senior U.S. officials issued a vague but direct warning to Sogavares government, according to a White House readout of the meeting.

If steps are taken to establish a de facto permanent military presence, power-projection capabilities or a military installation, the delegation noted that the United States would then have significant concerns and respond accordingly, the statement said.

U.S. officials have since refused to outline what retaliatory steps they could take. Instead, they point to their plan for expanded diplomatic and economic engagement with the Solomons, as laid out during the trip  even while repeating the same vague warning.

We have respect for the Solomon Islands sovereignty. The Solomon Islands will make its own decisions. But we tried to be clear how those decisions may implicate American national interests, said Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, who was part of the U.S. delegation.

It is a tricky situation for the United States, which wants to protect its interests but does not want to be seen as violating principles, such as noncoercion, which lie at the heart of its stated approach to Asia. Some analysts in the region say the United States is failing in this regard.

Theyve issued a coercive threat. And its public and its obvious and its on White House letterhead, said Van Jackson, a former Pentagon official who teaches at New Zealands Victoria University of Wellington. We want them to do what we want them to do, I mean, how much clearer can it be?

Geopolitical rivalry

Although the Solomon Islands has emerged as a strategic battleground between the United States and China, it is far from the only location where the rivalry is playing out.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has steadily expanded its military presence beyond its shores, most notably in the South China Sea, where it has created military outposts over the objections of its neighbors, who have overlapping territorial claims with China.

But as of now, China has established only a single overseas military base  a naval facility in the East African country of Djibouti. And although China is also reportedly considering a base in Equatorial Guinea on Africas west coast, Beijing is not close to challenging the global military influence of the United States, which maintains a network of more than 700 bases in more than 70 countries.

Should China be trusted?

But there are reasons not to trust Chinas long-term intentions in the region, according to many observers  especially in Australia, where officials have pointed to Xis 2015 promise to not militarize the artificial islands it had created in the South China Sea.

"President Xi looked [former U.S.] President [Barack] Obama in the eye and said that the 20 points of reclaimed islands on the South China Sea would not be militarized. Today they are militarized," Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said in a recent interview.

Even in the Solomon Islands, some fear the consequences of inviting security forces from an increasingly authoritarian government that does not embrace democratic values.

China has a totally different system of government. Solomon Islands is not familiar with that system, said Matthew Cooper Wale, the Solomon Islands opposition leader who opposes the security pact.

Such distinctions are not merely theoretical. When it comes to national security, they will affect how and what training is conducted, how arrests are done, the manner in which courts function, the extent to which individual rights can be expressed, and ultimately, how the rule of law is perceived, Wale said in a recent editorial.

Local tensions

Another concern is that the presence of Chinese security forces could exacerbate the Solomons' ethnic and political tensions, which as recently as November led to demonstrations and riots that attempted to oust Sogavare's government.

Much of that civil unrest was related to the Solomon Islands 2019 decision to recognize China instead of Taiwan. The government of Malaita, the Solomons most populous province that has long felt neglected, opposed that decision. It refused to accept any aid from Beijing and demanded a referendum on independence.

Under a bilateral agreement, Australian forces were sent to quell the November unrest. They remain in the Solomons. If tensions were to again worsen and Chinese troops also were dispatched, some analysts warn that two separate powers could be present in the same country, each with an interest in supporting different sides of the conflict.

What will we do if that turns out to be a civil war where under one arrangement  the Australian treaty with the Solomon Islands  a democratic government calls on Australia to intervene in a civil disturbance that might be supported by China? You just can't have two security forces in the same country, said Richard Herr, a law professor at the University of Tasmania in Australia.

Anna Powles, a Pacific security expert at New Zealand's Massey University, agreed. If the Solomon Islands governments collapsed, which force would have supremacy? You would essentially have two command control lines operating. A huge scope for miscommunication and accidents, she said.

Despite the risks, Sogavare has decided on a framework to welcome Chinese forces  a move he said would "diversify" his country's security. And the U.S. has little power to stop it, barring a major shift in approach that looks beyond the military dimension for a sustained period of time, some analysts warn.

"The U.S. has been absent from the region for a long time," said Powles, who thinks Washington should spend more time building relationships in the Solomons, as well as offering major health development programs and infrastructure items.

I dont think its too late," she said. "This deal is about the immediate for Sogavare. But it means the type of smart diplomacy we havent seen yet.
Ethiopian federal authorities are dismissing a claim by Tigrayan rebels that their forces have pulled out of the neighboring Afar region.

A spokesman for the Tigray People's Liberation Front this week said the rebels had withdrawn their fighters so the federal government would allow much-needed aid to reach the Tigray region.

But four days after that announcement, the federal government did not appear to be increasing the frequency of humanitarian convoys to Tigray, as some had hoped.

Earlier Friday, the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave a press briefing which stated, "TPLF forces have only withdrawn from a few areas of Eribti, Berehale, and Abala town while maintaining control of the surrounding areas of Abala affecting the aid corridor. It is still in control of other Woredas of Afar and the Amhara region."

The Afar regional communications office did not respond to a request for comment. It has not yet been possible to verify if Tigrayan forces are still in Afar.

Yohannes Abraham, a spokesperson for the TPLF, reiterated the claim to VOA that TPLF forces had left.

The pullout was done per the previous plan to withdraw in a step-by- step fashion," he said. "Contrary to the false narrations, as usual, alluded by the Ethiopian government and its subsidiaries in Afar and elsewhere, as we speak, there are no Tigrayan forces remaining in Afar. Even if humanitarian deliveries shouldn't be conditioned, as you know, the presence of our forces in Afar is no more an excuse for the region to block delivery of humanitarian aid.

William Davison, an analyst for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said the Ethiopian federal government had indicated the TPLFs pullout from Afar might result in more aid reaching Tigray.

'Absolutely desperate'

Throughout the governments communication following its humanitarian truce announcement," he said, "it made reference to the Tigray forces presence in Amhara and Afar regions, almost suggesting that its a condition for the increased delivery of aid for Tigrays forces to vacate those areas. ... It seems the conditions inside Tigray are absolutely desperate. ... Now we will see if this leads to something approaching unrestricted humanitarian access.

Ethiopian analyst Kiram Tadesse said, however, that even if the Ethiopian federal government gave the go-ahead for aid to enter Tigray, forces from the Afar and Amhara regions might still block them, as has happened in the past.

The humanitarian need in Afar and Amhara also is at a crisis point, Kiram said.

We should not be underestimating the potential challenge that could come from the Afar regional forces," he said. "Like in Tigray, many people in Amhara and Afar region are also in need of food aid, and there should be certain ways to deal with this deadlock, regardless of the urgent need to respond to the situation in Tigray, where access is a critical issue.

Combined, Tigray, Afar and Amhara have 9.4 million people who need humanitarian assistance, according to the U.N., which also said the humanitarian situation in Tigray in particular was so desperate that "people have been eating roots and flowers and plants instead of a normal steady meal."
Afghanistan lost two more local radio stations in April, as economic hardship hits the countrys media community.



The stations - Paktia Ghag, in Paktia province, and Sadai Maimana, in Faryab province - cited financial constraints in announcing the closure.



We were not able to pay either the electricity bill or our expenses, Zabiullah Ayoubi, managing editor of Paktia Ghag, told VOA.



For Ayoubi the closure is the end of an era. He worked at the station for 14 years, but says that since the Taliban seized control in August, he and his colleagues have not been paid.



Unless the economic problems are resolved, the station will remain shuttered, Ayoubi said.



More than 40% of Afghan media outlets closed between the Taliban takeover in August and the end of last year, according to media groups Reporters Without Borders and the Afghan Independent Journalists Association.



A joint survey by the media rights groups found up to 60% of journalists, around 6,400 people, lost their jobs in that period.



Taliban media guidelines and restrictions, coupled with economic hardship since the takeover, have impacted the finances of the media sector.



Previously, media could rely on international organizations for support, and private companies and the government for advertising revenue. But those sources have dried up.



Overall Afghanistan is facing a devastating humanitarian and economic crisis, the United Nations says.



The Taliban also ordered media organizations to share advertisements before airing them.



In an April 15 letter, viewed by VOA, the Taliban Ministry of Information and Culture said that media outlets are obliged to share advertisements that have political, security or social aspects with the ministry.



Revenue lost



Without financial assistance, local media will not survive, says Zahid Shah Angar, founder of the Suli Paigham radio station in the eastern province of Khost.



Except the state-run radio and TV stations in the province, others do not have the means to sustain themselves, and they will definitely shut if there is no financial assistance, Angar added.



Programs funded by donors and non-governmental organizations in agriculture, health, democracy and other sectors were key sources of revenue for media outlets. Private companies also provided paid advertising.



Unfortunately, we do not have any of these sources now, Angar said.



For eight months, his station has been unable to pay its 22 employees, Angar said. We lost all our income sources.



Additionally, four women who worked for the station stopped coming to work.



Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has said that women can still work, but Angar said, Our female colleagues are not willing to continue.



Even if our female colleagues are willing to work, we will not be able to pay them, he added.

For others in media, the economic fallout was a shock.



Sefatullah Zahedi, owner of Radio Sakoon in Helmand province, invested $30,000 in establishing his radio station.



I did not expect that something like this would happen, he said. I was thinking that the international community has invested here and will give us advertisements, projects and (sponsor) shows. But the opposite happened.



Radio Sakoons office in the capital Lashkar Gah, was damaged in the fighting and Zahedi had to spend $10,000 on repairs.



Now he faces more problems: paying the rent and salaries.



I am spending from my own pocket. I pay the rent, salaries, utilities, food and the internet, Zahedi said.



Some of the journalists in the province who lost their jobs work for him on a volunteer basis.



I told them that instead of doing nothing, they can work with me. I told them that we have a place, food, and the internet. Because they did not have anything else to do, they came to work with us.



Zahedi said four radio and three TV stations ceased operation in Helmand since the Talibans takeover.



Call for assistance



Economic problems are one of the main reasons media outlets are closing, says Hujatullah Mujadidi, vice president of the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association.



Unfortunately, the system collapsed and the international organizations halted their financial support. The government and private companies also stopped giving ads.



He and other Afghan media organizations have been calling on international organizations to support media, and for the Taliban to ensure media freedom, and greater access for journalists.



If media outlets are not supported, Mujadidi said, We will witness the closure of more outlets, and it will result in silencing freedom of expression and a loss of jobs.



It will be a catastrophe for media in Afghanistan.



This story originated in VOAs Afghan service.
Ethiopia's declared cease-fire with Tigrayan rebels in March raised hopes for possible peace talks to end the deadly 15-month war. While some northern areas of the Amhara region saw a brief return to peace, renewed fighting has left desperate civilians waiting for the bloodshed to end. Henry Wilkins reports from Shewa Robit, Ethiopia. Camera: Henry Wilkins
Israel's actions are creating conditions for its own destruction, Irans Revolutionary Guards commander on Friday told a Jerusalem Day rally at which the countrys new domestically-made Kheibar Buster missile was displayed.

State television said millions of Iranians joined rallies marking Quds Day, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, in state-organized marches across the country.

It showed the Israeli flag being set on fire and groups of people around the country shouting choreographed Death to America, Death to Israel slogans.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech that anti-Israeli protests and attacks showed that Palestinians rejected compromises by Arab authorities with Israel.

Opposition to Israel is a touchstone of belief for Iran, which backs Palestinian and Lebanese Islamist militant groups opposed to peace with Israel, which Tehran does not recognize.

"What has happened in Palestine in recent years annuls all plans for compromise with the Zionist enemy (Israel) because no plan for Palestine can be implemented in the absence or contrary to the opinions of its owners, the Palestinians," Khamenei said, speaking in Arabic and addressing Palestinians and other Arabs.

Thus, Khamenei said, all previous peace agreements -- such as the 1993 Oslo Accords, the two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and former U.S. President Donald Trump's plan dubbed the Deal of the Century "are null and void".

President Ebrahim Raisi, Irans military commanders and senior officials also attended the rallies in which people were allowed to march through the streets, the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago.

Iran's Jerusalem Day rallies are held annually in support of Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state in territories captured by Israel in a 1967 war, on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

"Stop your vicious deeds. You know well that we are people of action and reaction, Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami, addressing Israel, told demonstrators in Tehran.

"Our responses are painful. You create conditions for your own destruction. We will not leave you alone ...You know better than me what will befall you if you take evil action.

Iran's military has vowed to retaliate harshly against any attack by Israel, which has often voiced concern over the Iranian nuclear program. Tehran says the program is for peaceful purposes only.

Israel, whose existence the Islamic Republic does not recognize, has long threatened military action against Iran if talks between Tehran and world powers fail to curb Iranian nuclear activity. Iran says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.

In February, the Islamic Republic unveiled its "Kheibar Buster" missile with a range of 1,450 km (900 miles).

Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programs in the Middle East, says its ballistic missiles have a range of up to 2,000 km (1,200 miles) and are capable of reaching its arch-foe Israel and U.S. bases in the region.

Kheibar refers to an ancient Jewish oasis in the Arabian Peninsula's Hijaz region that was overrun by Muslim warriors in the 7th century.

Tehran regards its ballistic missile program as an important deterrent against the United States, Israel and other adversaries, and has rejected Western demands to halt it.

Over the past year, Iran and the United States have engaged in fitful, indirect talks in Vienna to revive a 2015 nuclear deal that then-President Donald Trump reneged on in 2018 and that Iran, in turn, began violating in 2019.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.

While they appeared close to resurrecting the deal in March, talks stalled over last-minute Russian demands and whether Washington might drop Iran's Revolutionary Guards from its Foreign Terrorist Organization list.
Kenya held a state funeral Friday for its third president, Mwai Kibaki, who died last week at the age of 90. Officials are hailing Kibaki for transforming Kenyas economy and education.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta led other African leaders and tens of thousands of Kenyans in paying last respects to Kibaki.

We are here not only to mourn an incalculable loss but also to celebrate a magnificent life, said Kenyatta. We celebrate a man of faith, a man of family, a man of honor and a man who always put Kenya and Kenyans first.

Kibaki led the East African nation between 2002 and 2013, when he stepped down after two terms.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was among the leaders who attended the prayer service at Nyayo stadium in Nairobi.

We remember President Kibaki for the leadership he demonstrated not only to Kenya but also to the African continent, he said. We remember him for his commitment to the people of Kenya and indeed to all of us as Africans.

Jacinta Njeri, 68, who was among the thousands gathered to remember the late president, said there was no leader like him.

We remember him for many things, she said. He will sponsor our children's education. He also developed our country. There is no better economist in Kenya than the president.

Kenyas third president is praised for transforming the countrys infrastructure, agriculture and education sector. His election in 2002 brought an end to four decades of one-party rule.

Political commentator Michael Agwanda told VOA Kibaki truly transformed the country.

He walked the life of Kenya governance since independence in 1963, he said. Thats a person the country was expecting to come with a lot of reforms in governance in economics and as a result, he did not disappoint people. On his first term as a president he stamped out corruption, it was not as much. He borrowed very little from the foreign and the local [lenders]. He used money and people started seeing the value for money.

The East African nation recorded its highest economic growth at 7% per year during his tenure in office.

Many Kenyans also remember Kibaki for his role in the 2007 and 2008 political violence. His disputed election win against opposition leader Raila Odinga, who accused him of rigging the vote, led to street protests and inter-communal clashes that claimed the lives of more than 1,100 people.

At the funeral, Odinga spoke about meeting with Kibaki after the violence and how the two agreed to work together. The truce led to the formation of a unity government, with Odinga becoming prime minister.

Kibaki will be buried on Saturday at his rural home in central Kenya.
Millions of Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries since Russia invaded their homeland. Others have moved to western Ukraine and the city of Lviv, which for now are relatively safe. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story of volunteers in Lviv who are opening their homes to the displaced families. Camera - Yuriy Dankevych.
Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has put the websites of two major French broadcasters back online in Mali, after the countrys military government pulled the broadcasters off the air in March and officially banned them from the Malian airwaves this week.

RSF put the sites back online Thursday, creating mirrors of the sites that can be accessed in Mali and are updated in real time.

Using a virtual private network had previously been the only way to access those websites in Mali since the military government blocked them and took their corresponding TV and radio stations off the air March 17.

Arnaud Froger, head of the RSF Africa desk, said that the action is part of the organization's work toward media freedom.

He said RSF has been getting banned media websites back online since 2015, so far having put 47 websites back online in 24 countries, most recently in Russia.

Its basically restoring your right to access to information that has been wrongfully denied by this censorship, Froger said.

On Wednesday, France Medias Monde, the parent company of RFI and France 24, said it was notified of the decision of Malis High Communication Authority to definitively ban the two stations in the country.

The High Communication Authority is the communication regulatory body in Mali, whose website says its primary mission is to protect freedom of information and communication and freedom of the press.

RFI and France 24 were taken off the air in March after RFI reported on alleged human rights abuses by Malis army around the town of Diabaly. Malis government said the report contained false allegations aimed at destabilizing the government.

In late March, after the French broadcast ban, Human Rights Watch and several media outlets reported on a Mali army operation in the town of Moura, where witnesses said 300 civilians were killed.

Tensions have been running high between the Malian and French governments. This month, France accused Russian mercenaries of staging a mass grave in Gossi, Mali, in order to blame it on French forces who had recently handed over a military base in Gossi to the Malian army.

Malis government then accused France of spying, but did not mention or refute the claim that Russian mercenaries are working with the Malian army.
In a move that is starving the resistance and hurting businesses, Myanmars junta has been cracking down on opposition forces by cutting off mobile internet service and telephone lines in the war-torn areas of the Sagaing and Magway regions and Kayah and Chin states, all strongholds of local armed groups, local defense forces and aid groups say.

That cutoff of communications capabilities also appears to presage major fighting.

A week after the opposition National Unity Government declared a defensive war Sept. 7 the junta blocked internet access in Gangaw, Myaing, Htee Lin, Taungtwingyi townships in Magway; Falam, Tedim, Tonzang, Matupi, Mindat, Kanpetlet Paletwa, Thantlang townships in Chin; and Ayartaw, Yinmabin, Kani, Pale, Ye-U, Tantse, and Budalin townships in Sagaing to restrict the flow of information and communication, local resistance groups said. Six of Kayahs seven townships are being affected by a mobile internet service cut. According to residents and local armed groups, mobile internet service can only be accessed in the capital, Loikaw.

Other reports indicate the shutdowns are more widespread, that internet service had been cut off in Sagaing except for four cities. Some internet providers had, according to the reports, cut mobile phone data, some had reduced the speed to 2G.

An operator with a call center operated by MPT, one of Myanmars telecommunications companies, told VOA Burmese in March, "Kalay, Sagaing and Shwebo three cities have mobile internet access, and the rest of the cities in Sagaing region including Monywa, have 2G internet service from March 3. However, SMS service available for texting with 2G." A query by VOA Burmese on Wednesday morning went unanswered and its journalists continue to experience difficulties in contacting sources in Myanmar due to mobile services outages.

A resident of Salingyi township told VOA Burmese that mobile internet was cut off on the night of March 3 and remains so in 23 townships in Sagaing, where clashes between military and local People's Defense Forces were intensifying.

Locals in Sagaings Depayin township also reported in early March that mobile internet services from network operators were no longer available. Locals said that there has been no fighting but internet lines had been cut off in several Depayin villages, where thousands were fleeing the war after the military council cleared the area.

Military operations follow cutoffs

After internet and telephone lines were cut off, the junta carried out heavy operations indiscriminately, dropping bombs on civilian villages, and firing guns and heavy artillery to ward off resistance forces active in the area, said a Peoples Defense Forces member in Sagaings Yinmabin township.

The military operations forced local armed groups to give up military bases. Although the armed groups would not say how many bases they had to give up, news reports published by the junta said that many bases were seized in Sagaing and Kayah. A Karenni PDF source  the Karenni are one of Myanmars ethnic groups -- said they had to give up many bases because they did not have enough weapons. Most of the local support for weapons is based on internet-dependent mobile banking.

Residents said March 29 that telephone lines had been cut off for a week in Mindat, where fighting between the military and local Chinland Defense Force groups had been going on for about a week. According to observers, the junta cut off communications to the CDF.

Mindat resident Ko Moun No told VOA Burmese, "Telephone lines have been cut off since the military troops reinforced from Mindat to Matupi on March 26, only very limited food supply allowed into the city as well.  Now, the whole Mindat township lost communication. I cannot communicate through internet either."

Villagers in areas where the internet has been blocked also say military forces commit human rights violations there, including torching houses and religious buildings, killing civilians and looting villagers goods and property. The junta always blames such incidents on ethnic armies and opposition peoples defense forces.

The Myanmar military is as ruthless as ever. There have been many unreported incidents in our village, said a 46-year-old villager in Magways Myaing township.

Junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun vowed to reporters in Naypyitaw, Myanmars capital, on March 24 that the military planned to intensify anti-resistance activities in Sagaing with the help of militias allied with the government.

Data for Myanmar, a research firm, said April 14 that from Feb. 1, 2021, to April 13, 2022, an estimated 9,187 homes were burned down by junta forces and groups working with them including 5,617 in Sagaing. The California-based Chin Human Rights Organization said the junta destroyed 34 churches and 15 other Christian religious buildings in Chin state between February 2021 and January 2022.

Local resistance chapters said they use walkie-talkies to communicate with allied forces to get around the lack of internet access and unreliable mobile phone signals.

All are donated by individual donors living abroad," an official of the Myaing Peoples Defense Force told VOA on April 12. Some devices can transmit a signal up to 16 kilometers, the maximum distance can be used, he added.

In addition to the internet blockage, telephone lines are also cut off ahead of heavy military operations and airstrikes. When this happens, armed groups and their medical teams prepare for battle. Once internet and phone services are cut, they are not restored.

When mobile and internet are cut off, we need to be ready and stationed near the front line to provide immediate assistance, said Radi Ohm, a member of an NUG mobile medical support team that works in Sagaing and Chin.

Members of the local armed groups say they have found ways to communicate without the internet -- mainly walkie-talkies, but also cell phones for calls and texts when there is a signal -- but the cutoffs have had a significant impact on the flow of funding. Monetary support domestically has dropped dramatically as mobile payment services such as KBZ Pay and Wave Money, two payment systems in Myanmar, no longer work. Foreign contributions are handled differently.

As the juntas bombing campaigns, airstrikes and offensives have created widespread displacement of civilians in the region, volunteer aid groups in conflict areas say they cannot provide enough food and medical care because of inadequate funding.

The junta often freezes the money in the KBZ Pay account. It also blocked mobile SIM cards used for KBZ Pay accounts. We are losing a lot of money because of this, a volunteer with a group helping conflict-area refugees based on the Shan-Kayah border told VOA on April 12. We received limited support from the NUG, but it is not enough, she added.

Cutoff hitting civilians, too

It is not just the opposition fighters who are being hit by the communications cutoffs.

Ko Thaung, a Chin political analyst, told VOA Burmese that internet and telephone lines have been cut off, which is causing a lot of trouble for locals, many of whom are worried about losing their businesses if their communications are cut off.

"Communication (internet and telephone lines) were cut off in Mindat and Matupi townships in Chin state. Because military convoys have been hit hard by local PDF attacks, the military is trying to disrupt communication so their movements cannot be traced. This has affected not only for PDF fighters but also the business community, as many people work online and use phones to do business, he said.

A local relief volunteer in Depayin said he relies on mobile internet for communication and weather information to help those displaced by the fighting.

Without a functioning communication system, it is difficult to organize aid assistance for refugees spread out in the area. It is in real chaos," he said.

According to a report by the Myanmar Now news site March 4, the junta has ordered Myanmars four telecommunication companies, MPT, Telenor, Mytel and Ooredoo, to shut down mobile internet in the 23 townships located in northwestern Sagaing where local PDFs are fighting with the military.

A telecommunications company source told Myanmar Now that the militarys directive referred to Telecommunications Law language giving the Transport and Communication Ministry the absolute power to temporarily block and filter content for the benefit of the people to justify the closures.

The 2021 edition of Freedom Houses annual Freedom on the Net report, Myanmars internet freedom score has fallen by 14 points since the military coup, the highest level in four years.

The VOA Burmese Service contributed to this report.
A prominent armed group in Myanmar fighting the military regime that seized control of the countrys government last year denies claims in a U.S. court complaint of conspiring with Japans yakuza crime syndicate to buy surface-to-air missiles with a mix of cash and drugs.

The claims surfaced after the arrest this month of four men in the United States accused of trying to broker the drugs-for-weapons deal for a trio of Myanmars many rebel groups: the Karen National Liberation Army, the Shan State Army-South, and the largest of them all, the United Wa State Army.

The ethnic minority-led groups have been locked in a struggle for autonomy with Myanmars central government for decades and control patches of territory along the countrys eastern border. The KNLA, the military wing of the Karen National Union ethnic group, also has been one of the few rebel groups to join a popular armed resistance to the military since it seized power from a democratically elected government in February of last year, coming under repeated air attack from the military in return.

Speaking with VOA by phone last week, the general secretary of the KNU, said he would wait to have the English-language court complaint translated before commenting on the details. But he insisted the KNU had zero involvement in the countrys well-established drug trade.

That is our policy, so that is what I can say, Tah Doh Moo said before hanging up.

KNU spokesperson and head of foreign affairs Taw Nee was more emphatic.

Also speaking with VOA by phone, he denied that the KNLA had any connections to the drug trade or the yakuza or any interest in acquiring surface-to-air missiles.

The KNLA is under control of the KNU  it is the military wing  and we dont have any dealing with this issue. We dont know it, because our policy is clear that we dont participate and we dont deal with this issue, so we dont know anything. We were very surprised [when] we heard about this news; nothing to do with it, he said.

The UWSA and the SSA-S could not be reached for comment, but the UWSA has denied involvement in the drug trade before.

The U.S. Treasury Department has called the UWSA the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in Southeast Asia. Authorities in Thailand have in recent years also made a number of large drug busts near stretches of the Myanmar border where the KNU has long held territory.

One way or another

According to the court complaint, the arrested suspects, a senior yakuza member and three Thai nationals, had arranged with an undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent to ship hundreds of kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine produced by the UWSA into the United States. The suspects allegedly also arranged with the agent to buy an array of weapons, including automatic rifles, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and portable surface-to-air missiles.

The complaint says the suspects conspired to broker the purchase from [the agent] of United States-made surface-to- air missiles (SAMs) as well as other weaponry, for at least two different ethnic insurgent groups in Myanmar, the Shan State Army and Karen National Union (KNU), and to accept large quantities of narcotics for distribution as partial payment for the weapons.

It goes on to add that the UWSA was also shopping for weapons, that two high-ranking KNU military officers had joined some of the videoconferences held to arrange the deals, and that the KNU specifically asked to trade for some of the weapons with heroin.

Myanmar has long been a major producer of heroins main ingredient, opium, and dominates Southeast Asias $60 billion trade in methamphetamines. Most of each pours into neighbors Laos and Thailand and onto markets farther afield out of eastern Myanmars Shan state, a hive of rebel groups and military-allied militias.

Jeremy Douglas, who oversees the region for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said there was no way many of these groups and militias were not profiting off that trade, whether by producing or trafficking or simply taxing the traffic that passes through their fiefs.

Moving shipments in any direction from Shan to Thailand or Laos requires trafficking from or through territories of different groups, and it is impossible they are in the dark and not making money one way or another, he said. They all deny involvement and point at the others  impossible.

Douglas said the vast profits Myanmars rebel groups and militias earn off the drug trade are surely helping to fuel the post-coup fighting, as it has for decades.

"Drugs are by far the largest source of income for militias and armed groups in Shan, and they have been and continue to be a way to pay for guns, soldiers and conflict, he said.

An absolute game changer

Even so, the resistance forces now aligned against the junta remain heavily outgunned. An arsenal of portable surface-to-air missiles in particular could help them put a major dent in the militarys air power, said Richard Horsey, a Myanmar analyst and senior adviser to the International Crisis Group, a think tank.

Anyone who is currently in active conflict with the Myanmar military would find MANPADS to be extremely useful, he said of the missiles, also known as man-portable air-defense systems.

After more than a year of fighting, the military has failed to put down a nationwide armed resistance stitched together from a handful of established rebel groups like the KNU and dozens of so-called peoples defense forces whipped up by the coup. With its fleet of fighter jets and helicopter gunships, though, the junta has inflicted deadly damage on contested towns and villages and driven hundreds of thousands of civilians from their homes.

The U.N. has accused the junta of deliberately bombarding civilian populations from both the ground and air in attacks amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The junta claims it is fighting terrorists in order to restore peace and stability.

Horsey said the UWSA and some other rebel groups are believed to have a few portable surface-to-air missile systems already.

The UWSA has not joined the post-coup resistance. But the Kachin Independence Army, another rebel group, has, and Horsey said it likely used a surface-to-air missile to shoot down a military helicopter last May.

More of the missiles, he added, could significantly help the resistance both deter more air attacks and make it much riskier for the military to move soldiers and supplies by helicopter to remote areas hard to reach by land.

Deployed in larger numbers, he said, surface-to-air missiles would be an absolute game changer.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called on the country's military to "bolster up their strength in every way to annihilate the enemy," state media reported on Friday, as new satellite imagery showed increased preparations for a possible nuclear test.

Kim made the remarks during photo sessions with troops, state media broadcasters and others involved in a massive military parade staged Monday, which marked the 90th anniversary of the army's founding.

The parade featured several of the North's latest missiles, including its largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-17, and a recently tested hypersonic missile.

The display demonstrated the "modernity, heroism and radical development of the armed forces of the Republic and their matchless military and technological superiority," Kim told troops at the photo session, state news agency KCNA reported.

North Korea says it opposes war and that its weapons are for self-defense, but at Monday's parade Kim said the mission of its nuclear force goes beyond deterring war to also include defending the nation's "fundamental interests."

Last month North Korea resumed testing its largest ICBMs, and there are signs it could soon test a nuclear weapon for the first time since 2017.

"Current satellite imagery indicates that preparations are well underway and should not be discounted as insignificant activity," the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report Thursday.

Analysts and South Korean and U.S. officials have said that the North appears to be restoring Tunnel No. 3 at its Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, used for underground nuclear blasts before it was closed in 2018 amid denuclearization talks with Washington and Seoul.

Kim has since said the country is no longer bound by that self-imposed moratorium on tests, but North Korea has not commented on the work or confirmed its purpose.

Commercial satellite imagery from Monday shows construction of new buildings, movement of lumber, and an increase in equipment and supplies immediately outside the new entrance to Tunnel No. 3, CSIS said.

"The date of a seventh nuclear test will undoubtedly depend exclusively upon the personal decision of Kim Jong Un," the report said.
The fall of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan gave Taliban fighters access to more than $7 billion worth of American military equipment, according to data in a report submitted this week to U.S. lawmakers and confirmed by the Pentagon.

The findings, first reported by CNN, shed light on the extent to which Washington sought to build, support and maintain the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) as a counterbalance to the Taliban and terror groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State Khorasan.

The report also details the bounty of weaponry and equipment awaiting Taliban officials once the last U.S. troops left Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 30, 2021, nearly two decades after the first U.S. forces arrived.

According to the report and to the Pentagon, the just more than $7 billion of U.S. military equipment is what was left of $18.6 billion worth of weapons and other equipment provided to the ANDSF from 2005 through August 2021.

It includes aircraft, vehicles, munitions, guns and communication equipment, as well as other gear, "in varying states of repair," according to Defense Department spokesperson Army Major Rob Lodewick, who emphasized that the military hardware and gear was the property of the now defunct Afghan government.

"The $7.12 billion figure cited in the department's recent report to Congress corresponds to ANDSF equipment and not U.S. military equipment used by our forces," Lodewick said in a statement. "Nearly all equipment used by U.S. military forces in Afghanistan was either retrograded or destroyed prior to our withdrawal."

Top U.S. defense officials have repeatedly faced criticism from some high-profile lawmakers who have called on them to account for the U.S. pullout as well as the collapse of the U.S.-backed government.

"We all witnessed a horror of the president's own making," Senator Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this past September, calling the way events played out "avoidable."

"Everything that happened was foreseen," Inhofe said at the time. "President Biden and his advisers didn't listen to the combat commander. He didn't listen to Congress, and he failed to anticipate what all of us knew would happen."

Defense officials, however, sought on Thursday to defend the military's actions and downplay the significance of the $7 billion in U.S. equipment and weaponry left behind, some of which had been brandished publicly by Taliban fighters.

"We're not naive.  Obviously, that's happening," a U.S. defense official told VOA, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the report, which has yet to be released to the public.

But the official cautioned that the equipment being used by the Taliban is not the same as that used by U.S. and allied forces before they left Afghanistan.

"It's not state-of the-art stuff," the defense official said. "Everything that we provided to the Afghan forces was not on the same level as ours or those of our allies."

The official also said that even the higher-end equipment was unlikely to give Taliban forces much of a boost.

"The high-end equipment, the aircraft, the UAS [Unmanned Aerial Systems], the precision munitions for the aircraft  that's very dependent on maintenance," the official said, noting that many of those systems "suffered very poor readiness rates" even when U.S. forces and contractors were on the ground helping Afghan forces.

"A lot of this stuff is likely to quickly become nonoperational," the official added.

Pentagon officials also told VOA that only a sliver of U.S.-owned and -operated equipment was left behind when the last U.S. troops departed Afghanistan, estimating its value at just more than $150 million before it was destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable.
RFE/RL journalist Vira Hyrych has died in Kyiv after a Russian airstrike hit the residential building where she lived in the Ukrainian capital.

Hyrych's body was found early in the morning on April 29 amid the wreckage of the building, which was hit by a Russian missile the night before, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting Kyiv on April 28 as airstrikes hit the capital, including the apartment block.

Videos and pictures from the site showed the lower floors of the building heavily damaged. Cars in the area had their windows blown out.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed "long-range, high-precision" missiles had hit factory buildings in Kyiv of Ukrainian rocket manufacturer Artem on April 28.

Ukrainian officials have not commented on whether the factory had been hit during the attack.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram on April 29 that one body had been retrieved from the rubble and another 10 people had been injured in the strikes. He gave no further details.

Hyrych, born in 1967, began working for RFE/RL in February 2018. Before that she worked at a leading television channel in Ukraine.
More than 35,000 refugees who have fled to Uganda this year seeking safety from violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, and 44 humanitarian partners are urgently appealing for $47.8 million to respond to the critical needs of newly arrived refugees.

Uganda already hosts more than 1.5 million refugees, the largest refugee population on the African continent. While the 35,000 refugees who arrived this year constitute only a fraction of that number, their needs nonetheless are great.

UNHCR spokesman Boris Cheshirkov said a third of those have arrived in just the past three weeks from the DRC. They had fled intense fighting in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.

Sporadic clashes in South Sudans West Nile state also have sent thousands fleeing into Uganda this year. Cheshirkov said a large proportion of the refugees this year, as in the past, are women and children.

In fact, that is one of the priorities that we have," he said. "The prevention and response to, for instance, gender-based violence to child protection needs. But the main thing that we need to provide now is shelter, it is food, it is basic household items, and these things are needed urgently. And that is why we need those funds right now.

Cheshirkov said the appeal is intended to support an initial emergency response to an anticipated influx of up to 60,000 refugees in Uganda in the first half of this year.

As reports of violence in eastern DRC and South Sudan continue, this appeal will also strengthen Ugandas capacity to receive more refugees in case of further displacement," he said. "Funding is also to urgently support needed health care supplies, as well as water, sanitation and hygiene services required to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases.

Cheshirkov said the UNHCR is working with the government of Uganda and humanitarian partners to provide emergency assistance and protection to refugees in border areas. He added that efforts were being made to move them to refugee settlements as soon as possible.
The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that refugee and migrant deaths are increasing at an alarming rate. More than 3,000 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean or Atlantic last year on attempts to reach Europe.

In comparison, 1,439 people died or went missing on those routes in 2019, and about 1,800 in 2020.

Since the beginning of this year, the U.N. refugee agency reports an additional 553 people also have died or gone missing while attempting to reach Europe.

UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo said desperation is driving more people to make perilous sea journeys in search of protection and a better life.



"Most of the sea crossings took place in packed, unseaworthy, inflatable boatsmany of which capsized or were deflated leading to the loss of life," she said. "The sea journey from the West African coastal states such as Senegal, Mauritania to the Canary Islands is long and perilous and can take up to 10 days. Many boats drifted off course or otherwise went missing without trace in these waters."



Mantoo pointed out that land routes also are highly dangerous, and even more people have died on journeys through the Sahara Desert and remote border areas than on the sea.



She said many people are subjected to horrific forms of abuse at the hands of smugglers or traffickers, armed and criminal gangs, and sometimes by law enforcement authorities.



"Among the litany of abuses reported by people traveling these routes are extrajudicial killings, unlawful and arbitrary detention, sexual and gender-based violence, forced labor, slavery, forced marriage and other gross human rights violations," Mantoo said. "UNHCR warns that continued political instability and conflicts, deteriorating socioeconomic conditions, as well as the impact of climate change, may increase displacement and dangerous onward movements."



The UNHCR is calling for support to provide credible alternatives to the dangerous journeys. It is appealing for $163.5 million to provide increased humanitarian assistance and solutions for people who need international protection.



The appeal covers some 25 countries in four regions. All are connected by the same land and sea routes used by migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. The UNHCR aims to provide essential services and protection to people on the move or stranded on route, intercepted at sea, or held in detention.
The Pentagon on Friday blasted the conduct of Russian troops in Ukraine. "It's very clear that Russian forces have committed war crimes," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters at a daily briefing. "There's no question about that."

Citing the bombing of hospitals and "pregnant women being killed," he called it "brutality of the coldest and most depraved sort." He also commented on how the United States underestimated the depth of Russian President Vladimir Putin's ruthlessness toward Ukrainians.

"We were certainly working under an assumption that Mr. Putin was capable of pursuing what he believed Russia's national interest to be with cold steel and with brutal determination," Kirby said. "I don't think we fully appreciated the degree to which he would visit that kind of violence and cruelty  and, as I said, depravity  on innocent people, on noncombatants, on civilians, with such utter disregard for the lives he was taking."

Russia has denied targeting civilians during its military campaign in Ukraine.

Kirby also slammed the Russian president's stated rationale for the invasion.

"Let's just call it what it is, his BS, that this is about Nazism and about protecting Russians in Ukraine ... when none of them, none of them were threatened by Ukraine."

Deaths in Ukraine

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department expressed sorrow over the death of an American citizen who was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces as Russia launched new attacks in eastern Ukraine.

Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was working with a private military contracting company when he was killed on Monday, and he is the first known U.S. citizen to die while fighting in Ukraine.

"We are aware of these reports and certainly stand ready to provide all possible consular assistance to the family," deputy State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter said in a daily briefing Friday. "However, out of respect to the family during this very difficult time, we don't have anything further to announce."

Porter also conveyed sadness over the death of Vira Hyrych, a journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a sister network of VOA.

"We express our most heartfelt condolences to her family, as well as her colleagues. The Kremlin's war continues to wreak havoc on Ukraine and its people, with dire consequences for those who continue to stand for justice and tell the truth about its brutality," Porter said.

Rescue workers discovered Hyrych's body Friday morning, after a Russian airstrike had hit her residential building in Kyiv the night before.

The news followed reports that two British volunteers helping to provide humanitarian relief in Ukraine had been detained by the Russian military at a checkpoint south of Zaporizhzhia.

The British nonprofit Presidium Network said the two men, both civilians, were working independently as part of a project in Ukraine to provide food, medical supplies and evacuation support.

Dominik Byrne, Presidium Network's co-founder, said the men had gone missing on Monday after entering Russian-held territory, where they were planning to help evacuate a woman.

Britain will deploy a team of war crimes experts to support Ukraine with investigations into Russian atrocities, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced Friday during a visit to The Hague, Netherlands.

Missile strikes

Russia confirmed Friday that it had carried out an airstrike on Kyiv Thursday as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting the city.

The Russian Defense Ministry said "high-precision long-range air-based weapons ... destroyed the production buildings of the Artyom missile and space enterprise in Kyiv."

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the move was a deliberate attempt to humiliate the U.N.

"This says a lot about Russia's true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of Russian authorities to humiliate the U.N. and everything that the organization represents," he said Friday in an overnight video address to the nation. "Therefore, it requires corresponding powerful reaction."

Ukraine's presidential adviser said Thursday that Ukraine should decide whether to strike Russian military facilities.

When asked if this could escalate the conflict, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told VOA, "What we're talking about here is not any intention of Ukraine invading Russia and trying to take Russian territory, going after Russian civilians, going after Russian hospitals. We're talking about consideration of military targets. It's something very different."

Peace talks

Zelenskyy said on Friday there was a high risk that peace talks with Moscow would end.

During an interview with Polish media, he said that "only direct negotiations and direct agreements" could lead to a successful deal between Russia and Ukraine.

However, the risks that negotiations "will cut off entirely are very high," he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of sabotaging Russia's peace talks with Ukraine. During an interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV, he said that negotiations had been progressing last month in Turkey until Western nations intervened.

"We are stuck because of their desire to play games all the time," Lavrov said, "because of the instructions they get Washington, from London, from some other capitals, not to accelerate the negotiations."

Mariupol

Lavrov was also asked about the U.N. chief's proposals to set up humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians.

"There is no need for anybody to provide help to open humanitarian corridors," he said, adding that the real problem is that "humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultranationals."

The Kremlin has claimed that far-right Ukrainians are blocking evacuation efforts and says such right-wing military regiments are one of the reasons it launched its military operation in Ukraine.

Guterres had said during his visit to Kyiv on Thursday that discussions were underway to evacuate civilians from the steel works in the port city of Mariupol, which has been heavily attacked by Russia.

Ukrainian officials said an operation was planned on Friday, but Reuters reported there were no signs of an evacuation by nightfall.

A senior U.S. official said Friday that Russia was predominantly using ordnance in Mariupol that was not precision guided.

"We think that speaks to the challenges that the Russians are having with PGM (precision-guided munition) replenishment," the official said.

VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and VOA State Department Correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
The U.N.'s refugee chief, Filippo Grandi, on a visit to Cameroon this week, vowed to give more support to displaced Central Africans and Cameroonians fleeing intercommunal violence. Grandi spoke at a ministerial conference in Yaounde on helping refugees from the Central African Republic and during a visit to northern Cameroon.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has said the U.N.s refugee agency (the UNHCR) would step up support for nearly 1.4 million displaced Central Africans.

Grandi was speaking at a conference in Cameroons capital, Yaounde, with ministers from Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan.

They are all countries with displaced people and refugees from the Central African Republic that have fled ongoing fighting back home since 2013.

The ministers pledged to continue to support ongoing reconciliation efforts in the CAR for peace to return to the troubled state so that IDPs and refugees can go home.

Grandi praised Cameroon, which hosts about half of the the CARs refugees.

He says Cameroon is home to about half-a-million refugees from the Central African Republic, Nigeria, and other nationals who find hospitable reception and peace in the central African state. Grandi says he met with Cameroonian authorities and UNHCR partners to find ways of increasing and coordinating international aid to improve conditions for people displaced from their homes by crises.

The UNHCR says about 600,000 people are internally displaced in the Central African Republic, while another 700,000 have fled to neighboring countries.

Olivier Fafa Attidzah is the agencys representative in the CAR.



They believe that they can find security once they get outside the Central African Republic, he says, especially coming to Cameroon and other neighboring countries like Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and South Sudan, Oliver expressed.

Ministers attending the Yaounde conference said less than 10 percent of the $226 million needed in 2022 to help displaced Central Africans had been raised.

They urged donor agencies and states to contribute more funds.

Meanwhile, Cameroon's territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, said President Paul Biya ordered his government to continue helping refugees in Cameroon.

Nji says Cameroon assists the UNHCR by providing free health care for all Central African refugees and free education for their children. Nji says Cameroon provides security for all refugees and land for the construction of refugee camps.

The U.N. says Cameroon also hosts more than 100,000 Nigerian refugees who fled Boko Haram terrorism.

U.N. refugee chief Grandi also visited Cameroon's northern border with Chad and met villagers who fled intercommunity violence between farmers, ranchers, and fishers in December.

The U.N. said more than 100,000 Cameroonians had fled over the border to Chad, where most remain.

Cameroonians displaced to the Bogo refugee camp said they would return to their villages but only after rival communities agree to peace.
Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

U.N. secretary-general meets Putin, Zelenskyy

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in Moscow and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday in Kyiv. During his mission, Putin agreed "in principle" to a brief pause in hostilities around the Azovstal steel plant in the besieged southern city of Mariupol to allow the evacuation of hundreds of civilians who have been sheltering there for weeks. On Friday, the U.N. said "high-level engagements" concerning the operation were continuing in both capitals.

In Kyiv, UN Chief Pledges More Help for Ukraine

Officials demand accountability for atrocities committed in Ukraine

Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova said Wednesday that the list of war crimes committed by Russian troops in her country was growing daily and accountability was critical. Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said that her office had opened 8,000 cases of serious human rights violations and that the number was growing daily.

At UN, Calls for Accountability for Atrocities in Ukraine

ICC Joins 3 Countries in Probing Possible Russian War Crimes in Ukraine

Sea crossings prove deadly for refugees, migrants in 2021

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said Friday that refugee and migrant deaths were increasing at an alarming rate. More than 3,000 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean and Atlantic last year as they attempted to reach Europe. UNHCR also noted that land routes continued to be extremely dangerous and that even larger numbers of people might have died on journeys through the Sahara Desert and remote border areas, in detention centers, or while in the captivity of smugglers or traffickers.

Thousands of Refugees, Migrants Died in 2021 on Sea Crossings to Europe

In brief

 The secretary-general continues his travels, going to Senegal, Niger and Nigeria. He will arrive in Senegal on Saturday, his 73rd birthday. The visits to three Muslim-majority African nations are part of Guterres' annual Ramadan solidarity visits, which were put on hold during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The Muslim holy month culminates Monday in most of the world with the Eid al-Fitr holiday. The U.N. says Guterres will highlight the impact of the Ukraine war on the African continent, which imports wheat and maize from the country. He will also use the visit to express his solidarity with victims of terrorism in the region.

 Donor nations pledged $1.4 billion on Tuesday to assist 15 million drought-affected and severely food-insecure people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. That amount includes a $200 million contribution from the United States. The U.N. says as many as 6 million people in Somalia face the risk of famine if the current rainy season fails.

 Food insecurity is also on the rise in the English-speaking Caribbean. A survey released this week by the Caribbean Community and the World Food Program found that a million more people are food insecure in the region today than in April 2020.

 The World Health Organization and UNICEF said Wednesday that worldwide measles cases increased by 79% in the first two months of 2022, compared with the same period in 2021. The two agencies warn that the rise could lead to the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and trigger larger outbreaks, particularly of measles, affecting millions of children this year.

Quote of note

"The pattern of abuse we are seeing in Ukraine is consistent with well-documented, grave crimes by Russian forces in other places such as Syria. The lack of accountability for those violations has regrettably opened the door for what is occurring today."

 Ida Sawyer, director of Human Rights Watch, to the U.N. Security Council Arria-formula meeting on accountability for atrocities committed in Ukraine on Wednesday. Russian troops have been supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military in that country's civil war since 2015.

Next week

Guterres is expected to brief the Security Council on his trip to Moscow and Kyiv on May 5. Several nations are likely to raise the issue of the two Russian missile strikes that occurred while the U.N. chief was in the Ukrainian capital on Thursday. He and his team were unharmed, but Zelenskyy said the strike while the world's top diplomat was in Kyiv was intended to humiliate the United Nations. British Ambassador Barbara Woodward said Friday that the strikes were "clearly a matter of grave concern" the council would address.
The United States and the European Union have warned against giving in to what they called Russian "blackmail" over gas supplies to Europe.



Russia, which supplies about 40% of Europes gas needs, had demanded that what it called "unfriendly" European countries pay their gas bills in rubles  seen as a way to prop up the currency in the face of Western sanctions on Russian banks, including its central bank. Some EU states have set up Russian bank accounts to try to work around the sanctions.

President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. was helping its European allies to diversify gas supplies.



We will not let Russia intimidate or blackmail their way out of these sanctions. We will not allow them to use their oil and gas to avoid consequences for their aggression. We're working with other nations like Korea, Japan, Qatar and others to support our effort to help European allies threatened by Russia with gas blackmail and their energy needs in other ways, Biden told reporters at the White House.



Aggression will not win. Threats will not win. This is just another reminder of the imperative for Europe and the world to move more and more of our power needs to clean energy, he said.

Cutoff



Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom cut off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday after they refused to pay in rubles. The two EU member states insist that the contracts stipulate payment in euros.



This time, Russia has pushed the border of imperialism  gas imperialism  another step further. This is a direct attack on Poland, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Thursday during a visit to the Zambrow compressor station, which receives gas from Russia.



Thanks to our actions, Poland will not need Russian gas at all from the fall. But we will also deal with this blackmail, with this gun at the head, so that the Poles will not feel it, Morawiecki added.



Visiting the devastated town of Borodyanka in Ukraine on Thursday, Bulgarias Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said his country could cope without Russian gas.



"Bulgaria will not be indifferent to this tragedy. We are in a firm position, as part of the democratic world, as part of the European Union, that we will stand by Ukraine. Because this is not just the battle of Ukraine, this is a civil choice of which side we want to stand with, Petkov told reporters.



Diversifying supplies

Poland and Bulgaria had declined to extend their gas contracts with Gazprom beyond this year. Both are diversifying their supplies of pipeline and liquified natural gas (LNG), said Tom Marzec-Manser, head of gas analytics at Independent Chemical & Energy Market Intelligence.



Given they were ending those contracts, they had already begun to invest in new infrastructure, or developing infrastructure, or sign new pipeline supply contracts or LNG contracts to backfill those volumes that would have been lost by the beginning of 2023 anyway. So, Polands going to get a new pipeline directly connecting it to Norway. Theres a second pipeline between Greece and Bulgaria, which will specifically carry Azerbaijani gas, Marzec-Manser told VOA.

Polish storage is incredibly high at the moment, and therefore it almost looks like they were prepared that something like this might happen, he said.

Serious sanctions

Many other European states continue to import Russian gas. Several European gas companies  including those from Germany, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia  have, at Moscows insistence, opened accounts with Gazprom Bank in Switzerland. The contracts are paid in euros but immediately converted into rubles.

Visiting Tokyo on Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters that his country could not risk losing Russian gas supplies in the short term.

Any interruption would have consequences for the economic situation. That is clear, and the government is also very clear about that, Scholz told reporters.



We know that it is a challenge that many European countries, including Germany, are dependent on imports of fossil resources from Russia. And that's why we set out very early, even long before the outbreak of this war, to analyze this situation in concrete terms and to derive decisions from it.



That has put us in a position where we can now stop imports of [Russian] coal by the autumn. That will put us in a position to reduce and replace imports of coal bit by bit. And the same will happen for gas. But that is a process that will require more time, Scholz said.



EU warning

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned members against giving in to Russia.

Companies with such contracts should not accede to the Russian demands. This would be a breach of the sanctions. So, a high risk for the companies, she said Wednesday.



Its not yet clear if those gas companies will face penalties for routing payments via Gazprom Bank. Marzec-Manser said Russia faces a dilemma.

Had a major German or Italian gas customer with contracts not just ending at the end of this year but, say, contracts running through to 2035, had they not agreed to do the switch in terms of their banking setup, would a cutoff have happened to them? Because the revenue impact on Gazprom would have been immense, he said.



Russias reputation also has taken a hit, Marzec-Manser added.

Until about a year ago, the reputation from a gas market perspective was considered to be a reliable one," he said. "Thats since long gone, even before the Ukraine war, I would say.



European nations say they are making preparations in case Russia turns off the gas taps. But analysts say such a move also would cost the Kremlin hundreds of billions of dollars a year in lost revenue.
The United States has not seen many signs that Russia-Ukraine negotiations are "proving fruitful" as Moscow's war on the country enters its third month, said a senior State Department official.

"The Russians don't seem to be willing to negotiate in a particularly meaningful way," State Department Counselor Derek Chollet told VOA in an interview Thursday.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Ukraine on Thursday after a stop Tuesday in Moscow, where he met for nearly two hours with President Vladimir Putin.

Chollet said that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Guterres before his trip to Moscow and Kyiv, and that the U.S. looks forward to hearing from the U.N. chief to see whether there is a way forward toward peace.

In Congress, proposed legislation scrutinizing China's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday. If adopted, the Assessing Xi's Interference and Subversion Act would require the State Department to submit ongoing reports.

The U.S. has not witnessed China providing weapons and supplies to Russia, but it is watching closely, American officials said.

"China will pay a price if it is seen as assisting Russia  either providing a direct assistance, particularly military assistance, or assisting Russia in evading sanctions," Chollet told VOA.

He warns that the "cooperation space" between the U.S. and China is "dwindling," just as Blinken is expected to elaborate on a U.S. approach toward China "in coming days."

The excerpts from VOA's interview with Chollet have been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: Today, President Biden announced a proposal to hold Russian oligarchs accountable. He's also asking Congress for additional money to help Ukraine. ... What makes today's announcement unique from previous ones?

Chollet: This is a historic announcement of support from the United States. President Biden (asked) Congress for over $30 billion in U.S. support for Ukraine. Twenty billion of that will be towards security and defense assistance. And then there will also be humanitarian assistance and economic support. So this is yet another example of United States commitment to a strong, secure and independent Ukraine.

VOA: Also today, congressional members are voting  (on the) Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022.

Chollet: Well, what the U.S. is focused on right now is getting the supplemental assistance through the Congress that the president has just proposed, and the $30 billion is the kind of scale and scope of assistance that we think reflects (that) it's in our interests to have a safe and secure Ukraine.

What's been critical throughout this crisis is the bipartisan support we've had from Congress. And Congress has been working very closely with the administration to get Ukraine the significant support that we've received thus far. But again, we're going to be quadrupling in the coming weeks if we get this $30 billion, which we believe we will, from the Congress.

VOA: Does the U.S. have an assessment on Putin's health?

Chollet: We don't. We obviously don't deal with him much in person nowadays. And so we do not have an assessment on his health.

What we do have an assessment of is of the consequences of the decisions he's making. He has made the wrong decision, we believe clearly, in prosecuting this brutal war against Ukraine. We gave him every opportunity to choose another path over many months, but we also made very clear to him that Russia and he would pay a high price if he pursued a war against Ukraine.

VOA: Has the U.S. talked to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after his meeting with Putin on Tuesday?

Chollet: We have been in very close touch with the secretary-general throughout this crisis. Secretary Blinken had an opportunity to speak with him on the phone before his trip to Moscow and Ukraine. I'm not sure if colleagues have spoken to him, since the secretary (Blinken) has not yet. But we, of course, will look forward to staying in touch with the secretary-general to hear about his trip, and if there is a possibility for a way forward on peace. We're doubtful. We have not seen (many) signs (of) hope that negotiations are proving fruitful. The Russians don't seem to be willing to negotiate in a particularly meaningful way.

VOA: Moving on to China's role in Russia's war against Ukraine. Could China face secondary sanctions if it provides material or financial support to Russia?

Chollet: Well, the United States has been very clear  President Biden in his conversations with President Xi (Jinping), Secretary Blinken in his conversations with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang (Yi)  that China will pay a price if it is seen as assisting Russia, either providing a direct assistance  particularly military assistance  or assisting Russia in evading sanctions.

China knows very well the economic consequences that it could face if it's seen as helping Russia. China itself is suffering because of the sanctions we have placed on Russia. So we are hoping that the Chinese make a decision not to support Russia.

VOA: Is Secretary Blinken's China speech before or after the US-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit?

Chollet: Well, I don't want to get ahead of the secretary's speech. He, of course, places a very high priority on our strategy towards China. We'll look forward to speaking to that in the coming weeks.

VOA: What is the U.S. approach to PRC (People's Republic of China)? Can (the) two countries work together after Russia's war in Ukraine?

Chollet: The US-China relationship is a very complicated relationship. There are elements of it that are conflictual, clearly are areas where the U.S. and China are going to fundamentally disagree. There are areas of that relationship that are competitive, and the United States welcomes the competition with China as long as we are playing by the same set of rules. And there are areas of the relationship that we think, by necessity, have to be cooperative. For example, on an issue like climate change, where we are not going to be able to address the consequences of warming climate if the United States and China can't find a way to work together. Unfortunately, that's a dwindling space in terms of the cooperation space.

VOA: As Washington is hosting a special summit with ASEAN in May, what is the U.S. pitch to ASEAN on Ukraine?

Chollet: This ASEAN special summit  will be a historic summit. It will be the first time that ASEAN leaders have been able to meet here in Washington and will be the largest meeting of leaders here in Washington since before the pandemic.  Our pitch to our ASEAN allies and friends is the same pitch we make to all of our allies and friends around the world: There's a clear side that we all should be on against what Russia has been doing in Ukraine. We want ASEAN friends to stand with us when it comes to isolating and punishing Russia.

VOA: How about the reported military drill between Vietnam and Russia, announced by Russian state media?

Chollet: I can't comment specifically on that drill. I was in Hanoi a few weeks ago, had long conversations with Vietnamese Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry officials about the U.S.-Vietnam relationship, which we believe has tremendous potential, and also our genuine concerns about Russia and the way forward with Russia.

Our point that we made to our Vietnam friends, which I believe they see merit in, which is that Russia is a far less attractive partner today than it was even four months ago. Russia is going to be more isolated in the world. It's going to have an economy that's destroyed. And frankly, its military has shown its vulnerability.

And so, if a country like Vietnam, for many decades, has had a relationship with Russia, and before that the Soviet Union. So, we realize that maybe perhaps some of the policy changes we're asking for aren't going to happen instantly. But nevertheless, we believe that those countries need to assess the relationship with Russia, and we're willing to be a partner with them as they're thinking through their security in the future.

VOA: Myanmar's military government is showing support for Russia. Speaking of it, do you have anything on the conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi?

Chollet: This was a sham judicial process, and it's just yet another example of the junta in Myanmar that unlawfully took power in February of 2021 to use the judicial system to try to go after their political enemies. What we need to see in Myanmar is a cessation of violence. We need to see a return to democratic governance. And until we see that happen, the United States is not going to be engaging with the junta. The junta representatives will not be part of the ASEAN special summit here in Washington.

Myanmar will be represented at a nonpolitical level, like it has been in ASEAN meetings, and the junta in Myanmar knows what it needs to do. It needs to adhere to the ASEAN 5-Point Consensus and get Myanmar back on the track to democracy, not use its judiciary to have sort of sham sentences against democratically elected leaders like Aung San Suu Kyi.
Harassed, Attacked or Detained? Reporters Without Borders, an international non-profit and non-governmental organization, says its studies show the number of female journalists that have been arbitrarily detained in recent years rose by 20 percent. Eighty-five percent of the study respondents say sexual harassment in newsrooms is common. On the next edition of Our Voices, we will examine why are female journalists are under fire and explore how it impacts the quest for press freedoms, especially in Africa.
U.S. President Joe Biden recently announced the Uniting for Ukraine program, which aims to streamline the process for Ukrainians who have fled their country and are seeking safety in the United States.

The new program, which took effect Monday, will complement existing legal pathways available to those fleeing Russian aggression due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis, Biden administration officials said.

"The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will continue to provide relief to the Ukrainian people, while supporting our European allies who have shouldered so much as the result of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine," Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement to reporters on April 21.

What is Uniting for Ukraine?

The program allows U.S. citizens and residents to sponsor Ukrainian refugees under different immigration statuses. The online portal, open to potential sponsors or organizations, is accepting applications and has received more than 4,000 requests so far, CNN reported.

Who qualifies under the program?



Ukrainians, or an immediate family member of a Ukrainian citizen. They must have a U.S. sponsor and have been a resident of Ukraine as of February 11.

What are the requirements?



They must pass security checks  including a fingerprint and an FBI name check and biographic and biometric screening  and meet public health requirements, such as having the proper vaccinations, before entering the U.S.

Those approved will be allowed to travel to the U.S., be considered for humanitarian parole on a case-by-case basis, stay in the country for two years, and apply for work permits.

"The United States strongly encourages Ukrainians seeking refuge in the United States who do not have and are not eligible for a visa to seek entry via Uniting for Ukraine from Europe. This will be the safest and most efficient way to pursue temporary refuge in the United States," a DHS statement said.

Who qualifies as a sponsor?

U.S. citizens and other residents who hold lawful status in the United States or who are beneficiaries of Deferred Enforced Departure, Temporary Protected Status, or Deferred Action, among others.

Sponsors will be required to prove they can financially support the refugee while they are in the U.S. They also need to pass security and background vetting "to protect against exploitation and abuse." The Ukrainian applicant will receive authorization only after everything is verified, including that the sponsor has the means to support them while they are in the U.S.

Who is not eligible for parole under the program?

Ukrainian citizens already in the U.S. are not eligible for parole under Uniting for Ukraine.

However, they can apply for Temporary Protected Status, which is another form of humanitarian relief that allows people to legally stay and work in the U.S.

What about those arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border?

Citing safety issues, U.S. officials have urged Ukrainians not to travel to Mexico in hopes of entering the United States. In addition, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has no place to hold them while they go through the Uniting for Ukraine vetting process.

Since Uniting for Ukraine's launch on Monday, Ukrainians who arrive at U.S. ports of entry without a valid visa or without preauthorization to travel to the United States through the Uniting for Ukraine program will be denied entry and told to apply to the program.

Biden officials hope this will curb the number of Ukrainian migrants seeking humanitarian parole along the border.

Those at the border must apply under the rules of Uniting for Ukraine, meaning they must have a qualifying sponsor or a non-government agency willing to sponsor them in the U.S. for up to two years. And they need to have all required vaccinations and pass background checks.

The Biden administration announced the private sponsorship initiative as another way the U.S. hopes to achieve President Biden's commitment to welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians displaced by the Russian military invasion.

As of Thursday, almost 5.4 million refugees have since left Ukraine, according to U.N. data.
The White House is signaling that a decision by Indonesia  who holds this year's Group of 20 presidency  to invite Ukraine to the November summit in Bali is not enough to ensure the attendance of U.S. President Joe Biden  unless Russian President Vladimir Putin is excluded from the gathering.

"Our understanding, and of course you could confirm this with the Indonesians, as we have reached out to them privately, is that they did invite them [Russia] before the invasion.  We've conveyed our view that we don't think they [Russia] should be a part of it," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday.

Earlier Friday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced that he had invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the economic forum's summit.

"We understand the G-20 has a catalyst role in global economic recovery, and when we speak of global economic recovery, there are two important factors right now: COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine," Widodo said in a video remark, outlining the rationale of his invitation to Zelenskyy.

Widodo said he had extended the invitation during a call with Zelenskyy on Wednesday, during which Widodo turned down a request for weapons but offered humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. He said that he had spoken to Putin on Thursday and that the Russian president informed him that he would be attending the summit.

"Indonesia wants to unite G-20," Widodo said. "Peace and stability are the keys to global economic recovery and growth."

That may be a tall order amid Western leaders' demands to kick Russia out of the group of the world's 20 largest economies. Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, among others, have raised concerns about Putin's participation in the summit and signaled they will not attend if Putin is there.

No diplomatic off-ramp expected

Psaki noted that while the administration welcomed Jakarta's move to invite Ukraine, it was pessimistic that Moscow would take a diplomatic off-ramp from the war ahead of the G-20 summit.

"We certainly haven't seen an indication to date of Russia's plan to participate in diplomatic talks constructively," Psaki said. "Our hope certainly is that will change, because obviously diplomatic talks and conversations is the way to bring an end to this conflict, and President Putin could end this tomorrow, could end this right now."

It was Biden who suggested that Kyiv attend G-20 meetings should other members disagree to kick Russia out. He made the point following a meeting with NATO members and European allies in Brussels last month, where, he said, they discussed expelling Putin from the G-20.

With China supporting Moscow to remain in the group, analysts point out that Widodo is in a tough position. Ultimately, his government may have to decide whether it is willing to trade Putin's attendance for several Western leaders' absence.

"I think the perfect solution for Indonesia would be, they invite Zelenskyy, and then the Russians say that Putin decided not to come, and then Jokowi doesn't have to make this decision," Gregory Poling told VOA, referring to Widodo's nickname. Poling researches U.S. foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration signaled it wants the G-20 to discuss the international economic repercussions of the Russian invasion and potentially Ukraine's reconstruction.

That idea will likely create further rifts in the economic forum. Middle-power G-20 members, such as India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and others, have centered their own agenda around post-pandemic recovery, which does not align with the West's focus of isolating Putin and helping Ukraine.

Jakarta has set three pillars for its G-20 presidency: global health architecture, sustainable energy transition and digital transformation. It has chosen "Recover Together, Recover Stronger" as the theme of this year's summit  a proposal that could unravel amid new geopolitical rivalries triggered by Putin's war.

Eva Mazrieva and Virginia Gunawan contributed to this report.
U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress Thursday to approve $33 billion in additional aid for Ukraine to help it resist invading Russian forces over the next five months. The House overwhelmingly passed legislation aimed at removing obstacles that slow the delivery of military assistance.

Those two developments would allow the U.S. to significantly ramp up both the quantity and speed of weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

"Investing in Ukraine's freedom  is a small price to pay," Biden said in a White House address. "We're not attacking Russia. We're helping Ukraine defend itself."

The White House said the new $33 billion spending plan would include more than $20 billion in new weaponry and military assistance, and $8.5 billion in economic aid for Ukraine. The White House said the remaining funds would be used for food production assistance, to allow use of the Defense Production Act to expand domestic production of other items disrupted by the conflict, and to support sanctions enforcement.

Biden's proposal is for more than twice the $13.6 billion that Congress previously authorized, a total that now has been mostly exhausted with arms shipments to Ukraine in recent weeks.

"Basically, we're out of money," to assist Ukraine, Biden said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration is confident a politically divided Congress will continue to support U.S. assistance to Ukraine.

"Certainly there is an urgency to getting this funding done," she said. "There has been bipartisan support in the past, and we're certainly looking forward to working with them to get this done as quickly as possible."

Also Thursday, the House of Representatives passed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act by a vote of 417-10. The Senate voted unanimously in support weeks earlier.

SEE ALSO:

The act, which is a revival of a World War II program, allows the U.S. government to bypass procedural obstacles that slow the delivery of weapons.

"It is vital that the U.S. does everything possible to get the necessary weapons to Ukraine and our eastern European partners to defend against Russia's unprovoked war of aggression," said Michael McCaul, the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee "With this bill, we are standing with the generations of Ukrainians impacted by this devastation."

'Aggression will not win'

In a direct message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden said, "You will never succeed in dominating Ukraine."

Biden criticized the Russian leader for cutting off natural gas shipments this week to Poland and Bulgaria, saying the United States and its allies "will not let Russia blackmail its way out of (economic) sanctions" that have been imposed on Russian financial institutions and oligarchs close to Putin.

"Aggression will not win. Threats will not win," Biden said.

Biden's new proposal calls for working more closely with international partners to "recover assets linked to foreign corruption," and extend the amount of time to pursue money laundering prosecutions from five years to 10 years.

A White House statement said the measures would "enhance the United States government's authority to hold the Russian government and Russian oligarchs accountable for President Putin's war against Ukraine"  to "seize property linked to Russia's kleptocracy," as Biden described it.

Earlier Thursday, Ukraine's presidential adviser said, "Ukraine should decide whether to strike (Russian) military facilities."

What we're talking about here is not any intention of Ukraine invading Russia, and trying to take Russian territory, going after Russian civilians, going after Russian hospitals. Psaki said, when VOA asked if the administration feared that could lead to an escalation. We're talking about consideration of military targets. Its something very different.

UN support

As Russia launched new attacks on eastern Ukraine, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Kyiv and nearby suburbs left in shambles by Moscow's assault. He later met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"The highest price is paid by civilians," Guterres said of the war as he toured Borodyanka and Irpin, as well as Bucha, where the bodies of civilians were found after Russian forces withdrew from the area a month ago. Those discoveries prompted calls for investigations of possible war crimes. Guterres on Thursday encouraged Russia to cooperate in probes by the International Criminal Court.

"I fully support the ICC, and I appeal to the Russian Federation to accept, to cooperate with the ICC," Guterres said. "But when we talk about war crimes, we cannot forget that the worst of crimes is war itself."

"The sooner this war ends, the better  for the sake of Ukraine, Russia, and the world," Guterres tweeted.

NATO expansion

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has pushed Finland and Sweden to consider applying to become members of the NATO military alliance. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said if they do choose to take that step, the process could be completed quickly.

"It is, of course, for Finland and Sweden to decide whether they would like to apply for membership in NATO or not. But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden would be welcomed with open arms to NATO," Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

Russia has expressed opposition to prospective NATO membership for Finland and Sweden, saying if they do join, Russia will deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea.

"This is fundamentally about the right of every nation in Europe to decide its own future," Stoltenberg said. "So, when Russia tries to threaten, to intimidate Finland and Sweden from not applying, it just demonstrates how Russia is not respecting the basic right of every nation to choose its own path."

National security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Columbus Mavhunga

HARARE, ZIMBABAWE  The United Nations Children's Fund and Zimbabwe have released a report saying nearly half the country's youth are not in school due to poverty exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report says the percentage has more than doubled in the last three years.

Still, the UNICEF representative in Zimbabwe, Tajudeen Oyewale, has praised the government for adapting well to the COVID-19 pandemic, and getting tens of thousands of children into remote learning programs during the lockdowns.

The new UNICEF report, however, found that nearly half the country's youth are not in school due to chronic poverty aggravated by the pandemic.

Before the pandemic, 21% of Zimbabwean youth were not in school. Now the number stands at 47%.

Taungana Ndoro, the spokesman for Zimbabwes ministry of education, told VOA he needed time to confirm the figures in the UNICEF report.

Thabo Dube is a 48-year-old unemployed man with nine-year-old twins and a 16-year-old. He used to run an informal farm produce shop before the start of the pandemic.

Dube said police confiscated his supplies when he tried to reopen his shop during a government-ordered lockdown.

When lockdown measures were eventually relaxed, Dube said he had no stock to sell or capital to restart  yet his children wanted to go to school. Dube said he moved them from private schools to a government school, but still cant afford the fees.

In Zimbabwe, families pay less than $100 per year to send their children to an elementary school, and about $300 for a secondary school. The fees may sound low but are a lot for people who sometimes get by on one dollar per day.

Oyewale said UNICEF is trying to keep children in school through several means, including the provision of learning materials.

Lastly, by the introduction of what we call school improvement grants, we are able to support households who are finding it difficult to bring their children to school, he said.

UNICEF says Zimbabwe is spending 13% of its budget on education instead of 20%, which was agreed to at a conference years ago in Dakar, Senegal.
Zanu PF Says Julius Malemas Remarks on Zimbabweans to Vote Out Useless Mnangagwa Waste of Time

Zanu PF communications director, Tafadzwa Mugwadi, says South Africas opposition Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema should not waste his time calling for the removal of the former liberation movement from power as the ruling party and current leadership have massive public support.

Reacting to Malemas call on Wednesday for Zimbabweans living in South Africa to return home next year to vote out Mnangagwas government, Mugwadi said, Malema does not have a Zimbabwean birth certificate and a Zimbabwe identity document and so we dont take him seriously. He would have obtained this if he was lucky to be born in Zimbabwe  If he made those remarks, he should know that Zanu PF and Mnangagwa are here, and here to stay with the people of Zimbabwe. He will be a better opposition leader if he knows that.

Addressing EFF members at a Freedom Day event, Malema said Zanu PF has completely ruined Zimbabwe.

Zanu PF has destroyed what was a promising land of Zimbabwe. The current leader of Zimbabwe is clueless like the South African leader. They are the same, they are like twins. So, the people of Zimbabwe, we want to make a plea. When you are here is South Africa dont worry you are at home but when they are elections are home, go there in your numbers. Go and vote and remove that nonsense that is happening in Zimbabwe and come back when you want to come back. You cannot just fold your hands.

The people of Zimbabwe must rise here is South Africa and go and vote for a proper government in Zimbabwe. If they have to come back, they can come back. They are welcome. No problem. But lets help each other so that there is a proper government in Zimbabwe and we will have a proper government in South Africa and we become one big family.

He said Zimbabweans should not think that all is well back home as they are in South Africa.

Lets not forget that as Zimbabweans we have got a duty back home to deliver a progressive government that will respect human rights, that will make sure the economy of Zimbabwe grows, that will make sure it defeats poverty and unemployment. A developing Zimbabwe is a solution to the problems of South Africa. So, we want to help Africans who are helping themselves. (VOA Zimbabwe Service Reporters)
Photo: Gary Mitchell/Shutterstock

Halfway through Julias sixth episode, Judith Jones, Julia Childs fabulously shrewd and stylish editor, treats our ears to some culinary poetry of her own: Food makes me feel creative. Yes, the woman (wonderfully portrayed by Irish actor Fiona Glascott) just spent a week trying to crack a bread recipe in a burning-hot kitchen. But its more significant than that. As this weeks episode confirms, Judith is the preeminent woman editor in the country, yet her boss, the renowned Blanche Knopf (Judith Light), thinks shes squandering her legacy by having an editing dalliance with cookbooks. Never mind that Judith also edits the likes of Albert Camus, Anne Frank, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Ive been around the block, Judith, Blanche spits at her. I own the block. And the block does not value her contributions to poultry, vegetables, or sauces despite the book sales speaking for themselves.

Looking back through a modern lens, we know Jones didnt heed Knopfs missive and continued to work with her close friend Child and a bevy of other culinary authors for the remainder of her career. (She retired from the publishing industry in 2011.) She also had a robust and enviable social circle, which Julia, for whatever reason, decided not to dive into just yet. On a recent phone call, Glascott told us more about Judiths passion for French cuisine, what shed love to see if we get a second season, and the joys of witnessing the shows mini Frasier reunion as a fan.

Okay, silly opener, but are you a Frasier fan? If I was around David Hyde Pierce and Bebe Neuwirth all day, I wouldnt stop talking about how much I love Frasier.

I am. Very much so! I didnt have any scenes with Bebe in the first episode, but I did with David. Listen, Im not one of these people who can hold back. I was like, Oh my God, Im such a fan of Frasier! He was so willing to talk about it. In England and Ireland, its constantly replayed and is very much a part of our lives all the time. You put the telly on and theres Frasier. He was like, This is great; its been so long since I talked about the show. I was thinking to myself, What are you talking about? I just saw you the other day with Martin and Daphne on TV. Bebe talked a bit about Cheers as well. To see them together onscreen made me way too excited.

What did you ask David about Frasier?

I really wanted to know what the week was like filming a sitcom. What day did you start rehearsing? What day did you get new scripts? When was your weekend? When were your tape days? I did an audience sitcom a few years ago with Jonathan Pryce called Clone, but it was only six episodes. I wanted to know what the real deal was like.

I found the seventh episode of Julia very interesting to watch unfold because, for the first time, we see many different perspectives questioning the genius of Julia and the idea of the cookbook. What does Judith see in Julia that others necessarily dont?

From what I read and investigated about Judith, this cookbook that arrived on her desk had never been seen before. The way it was laid out, for one thing  it had ingredients on one side and a whole page with very clear descriptions about how to do it on the other side. In the literary sense, this new way of writing arrived on her desk. Her brain immediately began pinging off all of those genius areas.

Judith also loved food and cooking, particularly French food. She spent quite a lot of time in France for work. At one point, a couple of friends of hers put together this little restaurant in their apartments. She was seeing someone who was a chef, and they would get up at the crack of dawn to go to all of the best markets and spend the day grating fish for a fish sauce  all these things Julia did, too. Judith loved the process of cooking and sitting down with people to eat. When Mastering the Art of French Cooking arrived on her desk, it was like her prayers were answered. There were so many people who knew Julia in Boston while we were filming: Oh, my grandfather used to sell her fish. The sheer force of that extraordinary personality mustve taken Judiths breath away.

Theres a lot of terrific literature about Judith and her publishing legacy. I recently read an article about her first round of notes for Julia, in which she argued that Mastering the Art of French Cooking was incomplete unless a recipe for mussels was added. What was your most interesting discovery about her?

I could keep you for hours talking about her. There wasnt just one thing. The more I got to know her, the more admiration I had for her. Something that really stuck with me is that on top of all her work and support for her writers, she would bring them, their partners, their children, their mothers, their animals for a week to stay at her home in Vermont. She would do whatever she felt was needed to make the writer feel comfortable to work. I thought that was really extraordinary. Her job was a vocation, not just a job. She would say, What grows together goes together when you cook. They would all go out for walks and take whatever was there to create something extraordinary. Theres no snobbery with Judith. No elitism. That really shows you the type of person she was. She was at the pinnacle of her career, particularly a woman at that time. She had a very happy marriage and many friends. She was interested in other people. I loved what you said  it was mussels, yes?

Yes, mussels, while editing the chapter about fish.

Thats wonderful. I didnt know that. She pushed the bread chapter as well. She really wanted Julia to include bread in the book. And she was right! It was a cookbook for America, not France.

Something I realized at the end of the episode was that weve only seen Judith in a professional capacity. Were shielded from her personal life, which, as you just described, seemed ripe for compelling stories. Was there a reason for this?

Whats interesting to me is watching a woman onscreen and seeing how fascinating, complex, wonderful, and difficult her work life can be. Even the audience doesnt know she has a happy homelife. I thought it was great that we saw Judiths professional life and didnt need to go into her personal life yet. I cant say what the thoughts of the writers were. If we get another season, hopefully well explore her a bit more outside that lens. Theres so much to Judith. I was pleased that we got to see her relationship with Blanche Knopf, for instance.

Id like to know how you interpreted Judiths office standoff with Blanche, her mentor. She argues, essentially, that Judith is tarnishing her legacy as a female editor by also finding fulfillment in cookbooks.

I dont think I or Judith or any woman should be told what theyre doing. If you choose to follow a certain career, thats not all you are. You dont have to be just one thing. Judiths realization and acknowledgement of how genius this first cookbook was  and the difference it would make to the cooking world and people at home  was enormous compared to what Blanche saw. Hell, she didnt see anything. It wasnt in the literary greats world that she was in. For Judith and for me, I felt, Well lets not get pigeonholed. Dont tell her what to do! She knows exactly what shes doing. Its a bigger conversation about feminism. Its a very nuanced conversation and different for every woman. We have two strong women in the scene having a conversation about how they really, really feel and not wanting to be told what to do. Its difficult to hear that from somebody whos your mentor, but it doesnt mean Blanche is right. Every scene with Judith Light is joyful. Have you ever spoken with her?

I have! Back in her Transparent days. Its great that you have another iconic Judith in your life.

Shes amazing, isnt she? Doing a scene like that with someone at her caliber  well, its enjoyable but not difficult. Thats her brilliance.

What was the required maintenance for Judiths incredibly chic haircut?

I call the style a bob, but Im sure its got a more official name. Im glad you asked me that! I had to get a little bit of a trim every two weeks. At one point, I had some time off from filming, and they ended up giving me a look that was a tiny bit shorter. I loved it. You have to keep your eyes on the follicles. The back grows quicker than the front. But that was for someone else to worry about. Im going to call the shows hairstylist right now and thank him.
Photo: CBS/YouTube

James Cordens reign of terror is almost at an end. Soon, people will be able to cross the street near CBS Television City without a musical breaking out, or visit Liverpool without wandering into a Beatles reveries of the past. The carpool lane? Soon to be un-karaoked. Deadline is reporting that James Corden will depart The Late Late Show ahead of summer 2023. Its been its a really hard decision to leave because Im so immensely proud of the show. Im thrilled to be extending, Corden said. I always thought Id do it for five years and then leave, and then I stayed on. Ive really been thinking about it for a long time, thinking whether there might be one more adventure. The senioritis has started to show on The Late Late Show, with a very silly and give-no-fucks attitude to the opening monologue. That and the open (playful) disrespect for senior VP of late night West Coast (there is no junior) Nick Bernstein made it seem as if Cordens days on the program were numbered. My bosses here at CBS have been incredibly supportive and extraordinarily patient with me while I made this decision, Corden said. He doesnt know if hes going back to England when his Late Late gig is over, nor does CBS have a replacement for him lined up at this time.

Updated 8:11 p.m.:

Corden took time out of his Thursday night monologue to discuss his last year of Late Late Show. After getting an unexpected pop from the audience for announcing that hed signed on to extend his contract, he had to explain that his extension was only for a year. When I started this journey, it was always going to be just that. It was going to be a journey, an adventure, he said. I never saw it as my final destination, you know? We do know, because Final Destination, ironically, will never end.
Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

On the afternoon of Thursday, April 28, Netflix told staffers at its editorial branch, Tudum  reportedly without warning  that they were being fired. At least ten full-time staff members and writers who were contracted until August were let go with no notice during a quiet week of no meetings, according to a former staffer who has since deleted their tweet.

Tudum is a self-described fan website that Netflix launched in December 2021 with blog posts, interviews, and behind-the-scenes content about its film-and-TV programming. The streamer staffed the site with writers and editors from established media companies like Conde Nast and Time Inc., offering them full-time positions and contracts scheduled until August 2022 to write positive and/or informational pieces about Netflix offerings. Two months after the launch, Business Insider wondered whether the platform might be competitive with news sites used to nabbing exclusives from the streamer, potentially diluting those outlets publishing power. In other words, in addition to Tudums stated mission of deepening fan engagement with Netflix offerings, it allows the company to preempt exclusive announcements such as trailers and premiere dates.

If you hadnt heard about Tudum until today, we dont blame you. Despite the resources and talent that have gone into the site, Netflix hasnt made much of an effort to promote it. Tudum doesnt even have its own official Twitter account to promote its articles. And as of today, the site has largely eliminated roles on its Culture and Trends team, including a number of writers of color. A company spokesperson gave a statement to Vulture noting, Our fan website, Tudum, is an important priority for the company.

Layoffs came after last weeks company-earnings report, in which Netflix admitted to losing subscribers for the first time in a decade. The next day, the companys stock price plunged 35 percent, and Netflix made major cuts to its animation division, canceling series and letting staff go. Even after layoffs began, Tudum was still putting out new content. Its most recent article was published today at 3 p.m. The website is still in beta.
Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, comedians across the country have been performing as a way to process their grief and lighten audiences spirits. Since then, shows in unorthodox settings such as bomb shelters have become common enough that Ukrainian comics have started writing jokes extolling the unique advantages they offer as comedy venues. One of those comics, Anton Tymoshenko, recently uploaded his April 17 stand-up set to YouTube for the rest of the world to watch. This is my first stand-up in English, sorry for mistakes, the videos description reads. I wrote it in a week, so sorry if its not funny. I was in a hurry to avoid death.

Tymoshenkos set, recorded in front of a small, packed crowd in what he says is a bomb shelter in Kyiv to raise money for Ukrainian relief efforts, is packed with pitch-black jokes where the resulting laughs more closely resemble yelps than guffaws. This is our Comedy Cellar, he says near the beginning of the set, referencing the famous New York comedy venue. Its really easy to find an audience for stand-up. You just come and people are here. And they cant go out because of air sirens.

After a few awkward references to Western pop culture like Jimmy Fallon and the Chris RockWill Smith Oscars slap to pull in international audiences, Tymoshenko stops pulling punches and begins lambasting the weak geopolitical response to Russias actions. I dont understand why they dont use every sanction right now, he says. Why do we always need to ask the West and the West answers us like its an internet provider? Like, Yes Ukraine, if you want to get a new package of sanctions, please upload more photos of dead people from Bucha.

In the sets best-written joke, Tymoshenko discusses many Western governments choice to keep purchasing Russian oil. Even if we forget about the war for a second, all people understand that we need to reduce the use of oil and gas to save our planet. But we continue to buy the stuff even when thousands of people are dying. Do you really think we will save the environment someday? he says. Im sure when people start dying of global warming, the world will be like, Okay, we are imposing sanctions against the sun. Now the sun cant buy iPhones.

To wrap up his set, Tymoshenko dispenses with the jokes and offers an honest plea: I know what you think while watching this video: The war is really far from me. I can always run away to Australia  Its false because our planet is an ellipsoid. Its a circle. So if you start to run from one point, someday you will get back to the place you start.
In Tamara R. Moses Raising Brooklyn, the lives of Afro-Caribbean women in a singular borough in New York City are explored through the often informal and exploitative childcare economy fostered by the citys white upper crust. Keying in on the nanny networks, mutual aid, and cultural connections that provide these West Indian women with crucial support and solidarity, Mose situates the women behind the strollers as strategists who expertly negotiate care work and community in the ways that stave off the cultural alienation and isolation embedded in their work. This week, Atlanta turns toward a white family who employs an Afro-Trinidadian woman as they grapple with, in Mosess words, losing ground to her ingenuity and influence in the rearing of their child.

Trini 2 De Bone opens with a middle-aged white man named Miles Warner returning home from a jog through the city (listening to Black Harlow by Sada Baby in his AirPods) to his penthouse apartment, where he sees his son, Sebastian (who is referred to as Bash), seated on the couch watching The Proud Family on his tablet. Miles asks his wife, Bronwyn, why their sons nanny, Sylvia, has not taken him to school. In Sylvias absence, they try to get Bash to eat coffee and eggs Benedict, but he only eats once some flavor is added to his dish. Here, the first sign of the chasm forming between the parents and their child appears as the Warners just begin to confront the ways that Sylvia has imprinted on Bash, from his taste in shows to the kinds of food he craves. The haunting of this revelation is made visceral by Miless hacking and only grows when the mystery of Sylvias disappearance is suddenly answered with a phone call. Miss Sylvia is dead.

Bronwyn takes Bash to school, and Bash informs her of Sylvias attentiveness and explains that she does not simply bring him to school, but she actually walks him to class. Stepping into a dead womans shadow, Bronwyn walks her son to class perhaps for the very first time and is noticeably uncomfortable doing so. A teacher comments that Bashs parents were notably absent on Family Picture Day, and Brownyn later scoffs over the phone to her husband. Certainly, they were not the only parents who failed to attend, she thinks. Miles brings up Sylvias death to discuss how they will prepare to tell their son. Do we want to tell him? Bronwyn asks. Miles is adamant that they should, calling it a teachable moment. That night his parents flounder for a bit in their efforts to tell him the tragic news. Sylvias dead, he tells his son before mentioning that funerals are special ceremonies for people who die where those who loved them are given a chance to celebrate their lives. Bash declares that he wants to go to Sylvias funeral. Still, he remains unsettled by her sudden disappearance and the unknown of where the dead go on to. Maybe Sylvia went back to Trinidad and Tobago, Bash remarks.

Speaking of homegoings, after attempting to have the package addressed to Sylvia returned to sender, another series of knocks on the door signal that the package has come back. When Bashs parents discover Sylvias wigs and bags at the house, they decide, despite Bronwyns hesitation, to attend the funeral so they can give her family the items and the package addressed to her. Bronwyn is uncomfortable with the influence Sylvia has had on Bash and proclaims that she wants to hire someone younger and more metropolitan as their next nanny. Metropolitan, of course, is coded with raced, classed, and cultural meaning. This is why she suggests a Chinese caretaker so that Bash can learn Mandarin in anticipation of a career in business or finance. Sounds expensive, Miles responds, noting the high demand for Chinese nannys in the city. Sylvia wasnt expensive, he adds. Not only does this moment reveal the racialized hierarchies which devalue Sylvias labor, ensuring she will be underpaid in comparison to non-Black caretakers, but it also exposes the root of Bronwyns discomfort with Bashs immersion in Trini culture: It is not so much that Sylvia imagines a hypothetical Chinese nanny would be a better caretaker but rather that the cultural influence of such a person would be more desirable in a global capitalist landscape that ascribes more value to Mandarin than Trini patois.

Bronwyns low regard for Afro-Caribbean people and culture thus reverberates throughout the episode. On the day of Sylvias funeral, her hellishness reaches new heights. As the family drives far from home to get to the church, Bronwyn remarks that they are practically in the islands, with a heavy hint of distaste in her tone (Shes really the living worst!). When the Warners arrive, they are eventually greeted by Sylvias daughter Khadijah who invites them to also stay for the wake and eat. Its betta belly bust then good food waste, she explains, borrowing her mothers phrase, as Bash finishes the line with her. You know mi heart, Bash responds when she clocks him.

When Bash and his parents finally enter the church, they make him hold their hands and stay close. Miles lifts him to see Sylvia in her casket and walks him back to sit in the pews. Next to them is Curtis, a white man who had Sylvia as a babysitter in his youth and allegedly acquired a Trini accent despite being from Tribeca. (Chet Hanks plays Curtis, and while I get it, I definitely rolled my eyes at him getting opportunities that extend his Jamaican patois appropriation tour.)

Any time is Trini time, the pastor declares to the funeral attendees as the service begins. As he gets deeper into his sermon, Bronwyn is shocked by how synced her son is with the expressive choreography of the community assembled for Sylvia. Weaving a full tapestry of Sylvias life, the pastor explains that she is survived by three children though she dedicated her life to caring for many others. Additionally, he notes her rich artistic life before she became a mother or a nanny, speaking of her initial move from Trinidad to the New York as well as Sylvias time in the Alvin Ailey dance company in Harlem and her local work to create dance programs for children in her community. Bashs parents are shocked by the fullness of Sylvias life as they likely never considered what it consisted of beyond her time with their child. In a tribute to Julia Edward, a Trinidadian dancer and choreographer known as First lady of Limbo, high school dancers from the program Sylvia founded perform her favorite song, Trini 2 De Bone by David Rudder.

As the dancers move fluidly, one of Sylvias daughters, Princess, cuts the music and demands that they stop all this bacchanal and listen to what she has on her heart. Who do you think she sacrificed to take care of those children? Princess asks as she stands before the pulpit. Where was she when we needed her? she asks aloud before becoming overcome with emotion and nearly pushing her mothers casket over. I needed you, mummy, Princess whimpers. In a brief moment, the fractured nature of Sylvias life is brought to bear by her own child. Despite knowing well the financial pressure to provide, which informed her mothers constant care work, Princess laments the care she did not receive as a result. For every moment Sylvia shared with the Bashes of the world, she was unable to present for her own babies. This is the toll of domestic laborers with domestic lives of their own.

As emotions run high, Bashs parents clutch their proverbial pearls and attempt to sneak out of the funeral in the midst of the chaos. Look, youre scaring the white people? Devon shouts to get the family and friends to emote with their audience (white guests) in mind. Its okay, we just sad. This is how we sad, Devon tells Bash as if their mourning and raw emotion needed translating. The cultural differences between the Warners and the largely Trini funeral guests are clear upon their arrival, and yet it is the fullness of their mourning  their laughter, dance, rage, sadness, and rejoicing which overwhelms the white family. Unlike Bronwyn, whose approach to death is largely dismissive and avoidant, or Miles, whose approach is rooted in careful research into the historical methods of mourning, Sylvias family and friends embody their grief rather than isolating or intellectualizing it, allowing themselves to feel the wide range of emotions that come with it.

On the car ride home, Bronwyn is unnerved to hear Miles singing Trini 2 De Bone to himself. Bash sleeps easy, saying goodnight to Sylvia as if she were still sitting in the chair across from his bed. His mother, however, remains restless. Did we do the right thing? Bronwyn asks Miles, referring to their decision to bring Bash to the funeral. He tells her not to worry; Bash can handle the grief. What Miles misses, however, is the source of his missuss concerns. When Bronwyn complains about Bashs desire to play the steelpan when he grows up like Sylvias uncle Samuel, it is not her sons mourning that troubles her but his malleability  the ease with which Sylvias consistent influence remade him and his appetites in ways that are illegible and thus horrifying to her. As they both fall asleep, Bronwyns fears that her white child could so easily adopt Black Caribbeans cultural habits, patterns, and tastes remain unsettled.

A series of knocks interrupt their slumber. The package is back. The husband finally opens it and looks inside, only to find numerous photos of Sylvia with Bash on Family Picture Day. In the end, a package addressed to Sylvia at her place of work reveals the specters of absence that preceded her death. Throughout this season of Atlanta, the show has grappled with the ghosts of the past at every turn. In this episode, we witness how these hauntings and histories produce ghosts and gaps in our present as well. As Sylvias death structures the plot, we never actually see her alive and thus, only ever encounter her memory and its enduring hold on those she cared for. Her labor outlives here in the city she called home, far away from her first home. In reflecting on Sylvias death and the vantage from which she is watched but never seen by her employers, the words of Trinidad-born Canadian poet Dionne Brand resonate: If I see someone, I see the ghost of them, the air around them, and where theyve been. If I see a city, I see its living ghostliness  the stray looks, the dying hands. I see its needs and its discomforts locked in apartments.
Photo: Robert Falconer

The television adaptation of Pachinko, Min Jin Lees 2017 best seller about four generations of a South Korean family living in Japan, has taken a few liberties with its source material. Lees novel begins in 1910 with Hoonie and Yangjin  parents to the main character, Sunja  struggling to make ends meet as boardinghouse owners in the South Korean fishing village of Yeongdo; their labor and sacrifices provide a blueprint for their descendants, whose stories follow chronologically. But on the decade-spanning Apple TV+ series, the plot jumps fluidly between timelines, seamlessly mirroring the suffering and joy of one generation into another and providing a modern anchor in Sunjas grandson Solomon (Jin Ha), who grapples with the reverberations of his ancestors decisions while pursuing a career in finance in the 1980s.

But the biggest departure from the book comes in the penultimate episode of the first season, Chapter Seven, which flashes back to Koh Hansus (Lee Min-ho) lower-class upbringing in Yokohama, Japan. Lees novel left Hansu, a wealthy fish merchant and father of Sunjas first child, as an enigma, offering only slight details about his personal life  hes married to a Japanese woman and works for her father  and almost nothing of his past. Series creator and showrunner Soo Hugh was fascinated by Lees rendering of the stoic, secretive Hansu and knew early in development that she wanted to use one of the first seasons eight episodes to explore his character and backstory.

Hugh foregrounds Hansus hard exterior with tragedy: Hes a survivor of the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake and the subsequent Korean massacre by Japanese vigilantes. Chapter Seven is a stand-alone episode that feels like a departure from the rest of the series, from the visual language down to the absence of its joyful title sequence, which was written into the script. I wanted audiences to know from the very beginning that were not watching a regular episode  that the vibration of this episode was going to be unsettling, says Hugh.

The 1923 Kanto earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the moment-magnitude scale and was so devastating that, to this day, Japan acknowledges the tragedy by practicing emergency drills across the country. Hugh first learned of the disaster while researching Japanese history in the months prior to launching the writers room. She was shocked she had never heard of it before. I felt like something of this magnitude should be studied and learned, she says. As I started to piece together the Kanto-earthquake research, it felt perfectly in line with Hansus backstory. She describes the earthquake as a sliding-doors moment for the character, who was set to chase the American Dream via an offer to move to the United States with the Holmes family, which employed him as a tutor. He has two paths in life, and the earthquake completely shuts off one path, Hugh says. He could have lived a completely different life if he hadnt been in Yokohama in 1923.

Americas looming presence in Korea and Japan during this period manifests not only in Hansus What if story but also in the costuming. Though Hansu wears a worn-down kimono as a sign of his forced assimilation into Japanese culture (Hugh and director Kogonada wanted Hansu to look young and fragile, according to costume designer Kyunghwa Chae), his father dons western garb. His father has a strong aspiration for western society and is dressed in just that: his desires, Chae says. Hansus father saw America as the answer to his familys plight and the only way out of their fate in Japan  the same mind-set that sends Solomon abroad for education and instills in him a reverence for his job at a western bank.

Once the writers established the story line for episode seven, Kogonada, who also directed the first three episodes of the series, pitched the idea of adding a scar to Hansus face. The mark above his eye, which is present from the Pachinko premiere onward, stems from a blow from his father during an argument about Hansus future in Japan and serves as a physical reminder of what Hansu lost that day. He carries with him the loss of his father and the loss of hope. On this day, he sees the ruthlessness of history and realizes what it means to survive, Kogonada says.

For Chapter Seven, war films provided a touchstone for all aspects of production. To help Lee embody this traumatic event and map out Hansus emotional journey, Kogonada assigned him a viewing of the 1985 Russian film Come and See, which depicts the effect of war on a boys life. We knew we wanted to end on Hansus face and that we were going to linger there and feel this transformation in his eyes, Kogonada says. The episode is shot in a different aspect ratio from the rest of the series to showcase it as a portrait of Hansu. This was a parenthesis in our story to step back both historically and in regard to Hansu, the director says. Wider aspect ratio is not suited for portraiture, so we added height because its shaped more for the face.

Survival is at the heart of Pachinkos framing of the Kanto earthquake, which killed over 100,000 people on September 1, 1923, including thousands of scapegoated Koreans. But much is still disputed about these murders at the hands of Japanese vigilantes in the earthquakes aftermath, and the show made fact-checking a priority. Employing historians, consultants, and experts, the series preproduction team went to work translating Japanese texts and watching documentaries to understand what exactly happened.

Episode seven of Pachinko is likely the first time western audiences will learn of the Kanto earthquake and massacre, and while accuracy was of the utmost importance, Hugh wanted to make sure the show didnt feel like a history lesson. She scaled back on the horrors of the violence; in her research, she read accounts of Koreans being lined up against the canals and then either shot or lit on fire. I didnt want to bring that kind of visual imagery to the show or to the real world, she says. Instead, the episode depicts a shack hiding Koreans set on fire  still conveying the brutality of the moment without indulging in explicitly gruesome images.

Hugh also took liberties with the time stamps present throughout the episode. 12:10 is the accurate timing of the earthquake  records showed stopped clocks indicating the initial impact  but the rest of these moments within the episode serve as a creative expression of Hansus fictional journey that day. In fact, Hugh acknowledges that much of the violence in the aftermath didnt actually take place the night of the earthquake: It was spread out over days, but because of the compression of time with the narrative, we moved it up.

One of the visuals the production team kept coming back to was the dust, which oral histories described as tinged yellow and hanging thick in the air. Production designer Mara LePere-Schloop focused on re-creating the texture and color, importing samples from the U.K. and Malaysia to their shooting location in South Korea. The production team dealt with COVID restrictions, supply-chain limitations, and film-industry standards around what was deemed safe for use. There was a difference between what we would use as set dressing versus airborne dust from canons, LePere-Schloop says. The special-effects team would spray different layers of watered-down dust onto set pieces to get the desired effect, while cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister tweaked the lighting to reflect the thick, smoglike quality in the air.

Kogonada and Hugh identified the initial trembling and subsequent collapse of the citys buildings as impactful moments in the episode. For the scene in which Hansu, his father, and Ryoichi experience the first quakes, LePere-Schloops team built the set onto a giant steel box that could torque and move in all directions so the scene wouldnt rely on camera movements to convey the shocks. The cast rehearsed the earthquake scene many times and shot it in one take. Most of the set was resettable, but the enemy was actually time, LePere-Schloop recalls. If it was a movie, we would have had a week to shoot that sequence. Instead, we had one night.

Over and over again, the people behind Pachinko describe working on Chapter Seven as akin to shooting an epic movie during the eight months of series production. The ambition and scale of the episode was really memorable, though it was a herculean task, Kogonada says. It required new locations, costumes, props, and crucial attention to detail from everyone involved  even as production shot the series out of order. But to bring such a significant moment for the Korean diaspora and Japanese history to life, Kogonada says, all of the challenges were worth it.
Liam Neeson in Memory. Photo: STX Entertainment

Even those of us whove generally enjoyed Liam Neesons recent run of tough-guy roles sometimes forget that he can be a hell of a performer, too. His latest, Memory, directed by action legend Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, The Mask of Zorro), offers a helpful reminder that Neeson kicking ass need not mean Neeson on acting autopilot. The film, a remake of the 2003 Belgian thriller The Memory of a Killer, follows a hitman suffering from early-onset Alzheimers, but the dementia element is more a narrative contrivance than a serious exploration of a debilitating illness. (For that, you might want to check out Gaspar Noes Vortex instead, also out this week.) But Neeson, who had been an intensely physical actor even before he started playing guys with special sets of skills, conveys the vulnerability, pain, and fear of the character so well that he turns a nothing plot element into something genuinely moving.

When we first meet Alex Lewis (Neeson), hes posing as a nurse in order to brutally strangle a man visiting his sick mother in the hospital. Our hero is not a good guy: Alex has spent his life killing people for money, often at the behest of gangsters operating in and around El Paso, Texas. But when hes given a job that involves targeting a young girl, he refuses to kill her. Is this a sign of a humanity hes always had, or is it a newfound hesitancy brought on by his condition? Youre going soft, his boss, Mauricio (Lee Boardman), says, bitterly.

A greater conspiracy is unfolding, however. The girl, Beatriz (Mia Sanchez), was a child-trafficking victim, and a dogged FBI agent, Vincent Serra (Guy Pearce, who himself starred in Memento 22 years ago, a film to which Memory occasionally nods), is hoping she will be the witness to help him take down a massive human-trafficking operation. The conspiracy, however, reaches through the upper levels of El Paso society, including the family of local businesswoman and philanthropist Davana Sealman (Monica Bellucci). While Serra and his partners, among whom is Hugo Marquez (Harold Torres) of the Mexican intelligence agency, encounter obstacles legal and otherwise, Alex seems to be the one person who can cut through all that red tape  a deadly lone wolf with what is now a personal grudge and not a lot of time left.

That results in an intriguing confusion of loyalties that the film probably could have done more with; Serra and his crew are torn over whether to try and stop Alex or to let him work his killing-machine magic. But overall, Memory works not so much as a procedural  its a bit too simply plotted for that  as it does as a character study. Credit the actors, and director Campbells willingness to give them their space. Neeson, in particular, is well-suited to portray Alexs growing fragility. When he wakes up in the middle of the night, haunted by the images of people he may or may not have killed, his fear and confusion are overwhelming. The actor has always had a thing for suffering; even his action movies are on some level about shame and regret and intense personal pain. But what was submerged in the previous movies is out in the open this time. One scene where Alex cauterizes a bullet wound in his torso with a bottle of liquor and a lighter is so agonizing that Id believe it if you told me Neeson had actually burned himself.

Theres an interesting edge to the action, too. Alex smashes heads and blows away people (not all of them bad guys, either) with ruthless, automatic efficiency, but it all feels reflexive, as if its been programmed into his muscle memory. That speaks to why hes able to keep offing people even as he seems to be losing his cognitive abilities. Hes been killing for so long that it comes as naturally to him as breathing. That makes for a compelling contrast: On the one hand, we get surprisingly effective and visceral violence  the genre spectacle at which Campbell has always excelled  and on the other, a very real tenderness and anguish thats quite rare in this sort of flick. In the end, Memorys greatest asset might be that it knows exactly what it is  a fun combination of sleazoid action and surprising emotion. Its the best kind of B-movie.
Im taking it one catastrophe at a time.

And now were at the fallout from the last two episodes. Javi chose to murder Darlene and Wyatt. Ruth chose to murder Javi. And now Wendy and Marty Byrde are scrambling to figure out how they can rebuild the bridges that get them out of the Ozarks and back to Chicago. The most interesting thing about this transitional chapter is where it ends: setting up Marty and Ruth as essentially warring drug operation leaders. The drug business just replaces its downed soldiers, and Marty goes to Mexico to become the new Javi while Ruth looks like she might become the new Darlene. New bosses, same as the old bosses.

The death of Javi severs all ties for Marty and Wendy Byrde because it kills both the Shaw deal and any connection to the FBI. The presumption would be that the Mexican leadership of the cartel would replace Javi, but with whom? Would it be someone who works with the Byrdes and Claire Shaw? Or just someone who kills them all? Wendy starts the episode with a stiff drink. Who can blame her?

Theres a fantastic exchange between Bateman and Linney discussing the deep hole life has thrown them into. Its a conversation that highlights the difference between the two: Marty seems genuinely sad while Wendy tends to righteous anger. He says, I didnt know she was going to kill him. She replies, Then youre a fucking idiot. Wendy doesnt have the same sympathy as Marty for anyone, much less Ruth, accusing Marty of dining on excuses to feel like shit. He believes they destroyed Ruths life, and its an interesting thing to consider. Wendy then goes into some absolute nonsense about Marty being a good salesman regarding how they got into this situation. Go rewatch season one. She was with this plan from day one and has often been the one to turn down witness protection and other ways to get out. Even here, she refuses to let go of the Shaw deal until she knows its dead. Have some fucking faith, she says, not realizing that she rarely has any in Marty.

After that excellent prologue, Pick a God and Pray gets back to the Ozarks. Ruth tells Three that its over. She can finally sleep.

Meanwhile, Claire wont talk to Wendy, and P.I. Mel Sattem goes to meet with Helens ex-husband, telling him that Helen worked for the drug cartel and is probably dead. Following Charlottes lead from the first half of this season, her daughter comes in and pleads with dad to let it go. Cut to Charlotte confessing to Wendy that she told Ruth where to find Javi. How do they get out of this? Could they testify against Omar and go into Witness Protection? Wendy shuts that down immediately. Get Omar back to Mexico? How do they get him into power again? What would it take to get Omar back in control? Wendy needs to talk to him first.

As Javis people start questioning Claire about his location, someone calls Mel to come back to the Ozarks. It turns out that Nathan Davis, played by the great Richard Thomas, is back. As if Wendy doesnt have enough problems. Remember how Mel and Maya were going to team up at the end of the first half-season. Well, now Nathan, searching for his missing son Ben, can add some fuel to that fire. Speaking of missing kids, remember Zeke? The baby that has already lived in like four homes wasnt killed by Javi and is now apparently in Ruths custody. What a twist that would be if the child that was cut out of a womans stomach in season one ends up raised by Ruth Langmore, of all people.

Marty takes a Hail Mary by going to Maya in the hope of rekindling the deal that she once offered. He could do 18 months and work for her as an informant. She thinks hes kidding. Youre just another criminal to me now. Get out of my office. Another lifeboat off the sinking ship that is the Byrde empire has floated away.

Omar Navarro has a visitor. A character who seemed like he could be done is thrust back into the spotlight. Its Wendy. She met with the FBI, Javi has disappeared, and Omar is sick of Wendys shit. She knows where Javi is. She knows who killed him. Hes furious shes even talking to him. He gets angry enough to rise and yell. I will kill you, Wendy! I will find a way! Is Wendy scared? Never. She actually makes a power move, calling the FBI to get Omar out of solitary AND make it clear that she did it. The idea is that she is the puppet master here, not him.

Marty goes to Ruth to ask what to do with Wyatts body. After all, the Byrdes own the only funeral home in town. Of course, Wyatt didnt have plans for his death. So they decide to put on a service for him. After a few transitional scenes, including an important one in which Marty confesses to going to see Maya and Wendy does not respond with the same transparency regarding Omar and one in which Mel shows Maya proof that Wendy rented a car on the day that Ben disappeared, its time for a funeral. They claim Wendy had to work (she didnt), and she meets the terrifying Father Benitez (Bruno Bichir), the new rep for Omar, who may want to keep his boss behind bars. The funeral is sad, including a vision of Wyatt and Ruth digging the grave. Theyre exhausted, but it ends with them laughing. Wyatt could always do that for Ruth.

What now? They must resecure Omars power in Mexico. Marty suggests that he goes down to get a handle on things and keep the money flowing to the FBI and the Shaws. Marty has to convince the cartel that Omar killed Javi. Is this setting up an endgame for the series in which Marty Byrde is a Mexican drug lord?

Clare Shaw comes to Ruth looking for product and tries to blackmail her with security cam footage from Javis murder. Dumb idea. Ruth comes out with a shotgun. Life tip: Dont blackmail someone who just killed in cold blood. However, the exchange does give Ruth an idea: The Snells whole drug operation is just waiting to be taken over.

As Ruth considers this, Marty heads to Mexico and learns that Omar promised to kill them all. It dawns on him that while he has been conveying every piece of information and step in his plan to Wendy, she hasnt been doing the same. After all of his risk analysis, is Wendy Byrde the one risk he never considered enough?

Dirty Laundry

 I know we live in an era of too many spinoffs, but I would totally watch Mel Sattem solve crimes every week. Maya can join the show too because they have really cute chemistry. It would be like a new Moonlighting.

 Something is terrifying about the serene delivery of Bruno Bichir as Father Benitez, right? It feels like he could be comfortable telling you how this is Gods will as he slits your throat. Hell bring another kind of danger to the final run.

 Its hard to believe there are only five episodes left because there are so many potential outs and traps for the Byrdes. Well know soon enough which ones they avoid.
Heading into the second episode of Under the Banner of Heaven, Im feeling equal parts intrigued and, admittedly, a little underwhelmed  if only because of the overly efficient pacing and overall look and feel of the show. Not that theres anything objectionable or poor about what weve seen so far. There is just something about it that feels more, I dont know, utilitarian than lyrical. But that might be preferable while were still at the beginning, and the show is certainly doing a great job of juggling all the details of this true-crime story and laying out the greater context in a clear, entertaining fashion.

All the while providing context for how modern Mormonism came to its beliefs. Take the title of this series, and Jon Krakauers book, which comes from a quote from John Taylor, the third president of the LDS Church:

God is greater than the United States, and when the Government conflicts with heaven, we will be ranged under the banner of heaven against the Government. The United States says we cannot marry more than one wife. God says different.

From about the mid-20th century onward, the mainstream LDS Church has succeeded and grown by assimilating into mainstream American culture, but it definitely wasnt always like that. Quite the opposite, in fact. In the early days, the church was much more akin to its modern libertarian splinter groups, in that it stood in direct opposition to the U.S. government, eventually settling in Utah to continue their way of life and practice polygamy. Under the leadership of Brigham Young, the Mormons were as militant a religious outsider group as any the Wild West ever saw. Its no wonder, then, that theres this whole libertarian-focused wing of Mormon fundamentalism. It seems thats the kind of group that the Lafferty brothers have gotten themselves involved with.

With a second Lafferty brother now in custody, Detective Pyre asks Robin why he fled from the officers leading up to his arrest: Well, from 1795 on, the government began discarding our freedom, so I ran from wrongful prosecution for failing to follow wayward laws that harm our LDS families. Jeez, RED FLAG, am I right?

Flashing back to the Lafferty-family saga, we find Dan and Robin living under the pressure of their fathers parting edict (The Lords elect must never allow anyone to take what is rightfully ours) and a floundering chiropractic business (compounded by Dan insisting on some new, more spiritual methods of practice on patients). Theyre in over their heads, and Brenda wants to help. When she finds that Dans wife, Matilda, is struggling with her new post  billing and bookkeeping for the family  she tells her that all they have to do is listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit, which, as Brenda puts it, women are better at doing than men anyway. Figuring Brendas a safe person to open up to, Matilda confesses she cant hear the Holy Spirit anymore. She knows its supposed to be more of a feeling than a literal voice, but she says she used to hear the Spirit when it told her to move out to Utah and marry Dan. And it didnt hurt that Heavenly Father had told Dan to marry her. But what if it wasnt God that said it to him? What if it was his father who told him that I was broken enough to say yes to a never-married 27-year-old Mormon who smoked and drank and fancied my sister?

Since their marriage, Dan has shaped up his act, and now hes head of the Lafferty household. With no option but to stay in a lane that was never hers and defer to the authority of her husband, Matilda is overwhelmed with a nagging sense of inferiority, and Brenda is probably the only person in her life who has told her that shes closer to God than anyone else around her. Robin overhears this whole convo and hes not feelin it, so he reiterates some of their dads advice to Allen: When the exciting stuff wears off, whats really important is that you find a woman who will help you build a family for eternity.

As Brenda will be told in so many words time and again, a womans rightful place isnt in her worldly ambitions. The more Brenda gets involved with the family, the more Allen wants to get her away. So he tries spending time with his eldest brother, Ron, and his wife, but that doesnt go over too well either. Brenda is too observant for them, too, and Ron doesnt like it when she asks for help on behalf of the rest of the family. Shes also clearly onto Rons shady business practices, aware enough of the oncoming recession to talk a little shop with him as he basically admits to being on city council so he can deregulate zoning laws and such for himself. As Allen puts it, Ron is his fathers eldest son, whether he wants to admit it or not, driven by the edict to keep building no matter what.

Things arent exactly peachy for Brenda at BYU either, having to ward off an inappropriate advance from a journalism professor. All in all, hers is a familiar story of a woman who is just too confident, capable, and correct about whats really going on to be tolerated by her own people. She reminds me of so many of the women I grew up with  strong, intelligent, with chutzpah to spare, ready to take on the world and make a name for themselves in a big way, but also loving their faith so much its hard to see the fences it has placed around their hearts desires (to be fair, that last part would also accurately describe my younger self).

Its not that extraordinary for Mormons to make sure folks are in their rightful place, says Allen. Mormons, non-Mormons, men and women, surely they all have their rightful place in the kingdom of Heaven, dont they? And killing those who step out of place, strange as it may seem, is all over our history and our scriptures.

Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief. 1 Nephi 4:13

Back to this mystery bearded-man group (I love that dude with a beard is enough of a profile to raise suspicion in 1980s Utah). With Robin still in custody, Pyre asks him if he has ever attended a group focused on tax issues. You mean Patriots for Freedom? He replies. It turns out those papers he was burning in his backyard might have been related. My brothers and I were building something modern and holy but worried that others may not understand. Well, the IRS certainly doesnt understand, and when it comes a-knockin, Dan sees it as a test from God and a sign to build a newer, better practice. As Robin tells it, the Patriots for Freedom were just helping them navigate their unjust tax burdens by filing lawsuits to relieve all citizens of unconstitutional tax laws, not to mention the burdens of Jimmy Carter, socialism, and haughty women who dont know their place. You know, all the godless stuff. [Raises Devil horns.]

Back to the present. Taba is checking with Forest Services for any sightings of three bearded men in the woods. A ranger brings him out to a spot where a strange group of folks were firing weapons like mad. Taba tracks them down to a cabin hideout, and Robins ominous words score the showdown to come: Nothing can stop the political kingdom of God from rising in glory.

Additional Scripture

 Seeing how this isnt a documentary, Im a little wary about the way all the Joseph Smith and early LDS Church flashbacks will play out. Not sure why, but for some reason, I assumed the show would resist spending as much time in that part of Krakauers book as it already has. At the same time, most of what weve seen so far has felt too quick, like a reenactment in a documentary. Since they are doing these flashbacks, I hope they go all the way with it down the road. Lots of rich material to be mined from that.
Chicken Kiev and Varenyky will be on the menu in Rome schools next week.

Children in Rome's city-run schools, from kindergarten up to junior high school, will be served a special Ukrainian menu from 2 May.

Each of the city's municipi, or boroughs, will serve Ukrainian specialities one day next week, beginning with schools in the centre on Monday, reports Italian newspaper La Repubblica

The initiative aims to facilitate integration between children and open the door to a different culture, according to Rome online newspaper RomaToday

It is also designed to welcome Ukrainian child refugees who have fled the Russian invasion of their country and arrived in Roman schools in recent weeks.

The variation to the children's regular menu will begin with Varenyky, a sort of ravioli filled with meat and cooked with butter, followed by the classic Chicken Kiev, served with a side dish of buttered potatoes.

Last month Rome issued a guide offering help to Ukrainian refugees arriving in the Italian capital as well as the symbolic gesture of decorating a subway train in the colours of the Ukraine flag with the word for "peace" written in Italian and Ukrainian.

Photo credit: MikeDotta / Shutterstock.com.
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Jair Bolsonaro has, once again, dealt a body blow to Brazilian democratic norms. Last week, during a live internet broadcast on a national holiday, the president pardoned far-right lawmaker Daniel Silveira, a day after the former military policeman was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison over his calls for supporters to invade the Supreme Court and his incitement of physical attacks against justices. It was, Bolsonaro argued, a question of free speech.

In theory, Brazils constitution does allow presidential grace. In practice, individual pardons are vanishingly rare. Worse, stepping in to ransom an ally for personal interest, immediately after a near-unanimous Supreme Court ruling and before all legal avenues are exhausted, is a willful and direct affront to the judiciary. It feeds a constitutional crisis and toxic culture wars. Whether Silveiras anti-democratic offenses are covered by the clemency provision isnt even clear. With less than six months to go before a presidential election that he appears unlikely to win, this pardon is also a salutary reminder of Bolsonaros authoritarian vision of government  with himself as the ultimate arbiter.

Silveira is unpleasant and almost, in himself, insignificant in an episode that has become about more than aggressive online tirades. A lawmaker swept to Congress in 2018s right-wing wave, he gained some notoriety during his campaign when he smashed a road sign in memory of Marielle Franco, a human rights activist murdered months earlier who had been critical of police action in the favelas and denounced paramilitary groups. Elected, he has done nothing of note in legislative terms. That hasnt stopped him getting caught up in an inquiry into disinformation and then in trouble over the video tirade that threatened Supreme Court justices, turning himself into a cause celebre. In one particularly unbecoming episode, he attempted to evade an electronic ankle tag by sleeping in his congressional office.

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Last week, he was sentenced to eight years and nine months, fined and stripped of his seat in the chamber of deputies. A decision that was always going to inflame the president, it also tested the mettle of Bolsonaros two appointees to the 11-member Supreme Court. In the end, only one of the two, Kassio Nunes Marques, voted to absolve the congressman. The second, Andre Mendonca, voted for a lower sentence  though under pressure from seething far-right social media, he later had to defend his decision.

The next day, the president announced a pardon. This is constitutional, and it will be carried out, he said during his weekly live.

The Supreme Courts justices, with their ability to select and delay cases, took a risk in sentencing Silveira, who has shown open defiance of judicial demands. American Universitys Matthew Taylor, who studies Brazil and judicial politics, points out that compliance is always a top priority for a Supreme Court. That is never more so than months before a highly polarized presidential election, with an unpredictable incumbent. Now the sentencing has intensified a head-on clash.

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Confrontation between the executive and the judiciary has been a feature of Bolsonaros presidency. Using other branches of power to distract from a poor track record is an old trick that Bolsonaro has embraced. He has attacked the justices and the electoral process, which they oversee. At the height of the pandemic, he joined a rally demanding the courts closure, and in September stirred up tens of thousands of supporters for a show of force, warning elections would be a farce and that he would not abide by the rulings of one of his betes noires on the court. There are three options for me: be jailed, killed or victorious, he said in one heated speech. Im letting the scoundrels know: Ill never be imprisoned!

Those collisions have stemmed from Bolsonaros inaction  the judiciary has stepped up to fill the vacuum left by the executive, as around Covid-19 public health measures and data but also from his actions, as justices in one of the most independent judiciaries in the region have rallied to defend democratic institutions. That effort has come at a cost, given, as Taylor points out, that securing congressional backing in the battle against executive on basic issues like electronic voting has required compromises, including taking a less aggressive stance on corruption.

Even against that background, though, last weeks pardon marks a new low point, a dog whistle to the presidents core supporters and a warning  and that was before a free speech gathering for loyalists at the Planalto palace on Wednesday, at which Silveira was welcomed like a conquering hero.

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The tough sentence will inflame Bolsonaros desire to pack the court with conservative sympathizers  something he has already promised  should he win again. Given the independence and individual weight of Supreme Court ministers, as the justices are known, and a longstanding tradition that has seen them appointed from and loyal to the political establishment, not individuals or single parties, thats easier said than done. Still, its a worry for checks and balances, and basic norms.

But theres more. Clemency, as early as medieval times, has been intended as an instrument to balance excesses, right historical wrongs or to defuse situations of tension, say when there are anti-government protests. In this case, Bolsonaro has done the very opposite. Much like former U.S. President Donald Trumps use of pardons to shield cronies, distribute favors and display the magnanimity of a sovereign, theres more than a touch of the autocrat here. The Brazilian leader placed himself in the position of adjudicator  lEtat, cest Bolsonaro.

Come October, no one can say they have not been warned.

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More from Bloomberg Opinion:

 Populism Has Killed Latin Americas Once-Powerful Technopols: Shannon K. ONeil

 For Its Expats, Brazil Is Now the Country of the Past: David Wainer

 Chile Cant Afford a Swerve Into Radicalism: Editorial

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Clara Ferreira Marques is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and member of the editorial board covering commodities and environmental, social and governance issues. Previously, she was an associate editor for Reuters Breakingviews, and editor and correspondent for Reuters in Singapore, India, the U.K., Italy and Russia.

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Fidelity to add 12,000 jobs across workforce Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Fidelity Investments said it will add more than 12,000 new jobs by the end of the third quarter, extending its record hiring spree. The plans will put the firm on track for a third consecutive year of record staffing growth, the Boston-based fund manager said in an emailed statement Thursday. Last year it made 16,600 new hires, more than double 2020.

Hiring will be across all job functions, Fidelity said  69 percent in customer-facing positions and 14 percent in technology roles.

The firm is adding to a workforce thats already more than 57,000 strong. The hiring announcement came in the same week that online brokerage Robinhood Markets said it would cut 9 percent of its staff.

Fidelity also reported Thursday that it had 33.5 million brokerage accounts by the end of the first quarter, a 14 percent increase compared with the year-ago period, and a 3 percent increase from the previous three-month period.

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The money managers business has been booming recently.

Last year revenue rose 15 percent, to $24 billion, while operating income climbed 13 percent, to $8.1 billion. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index calculated at the time that Fidelity was worth $74.8 billion, an increase of $12 billion, based on data in its annual report.

Fidelity oversaw $4.2 trillion in discretionary assets at the end of March.

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SEC accuses Vale of false dam safety audits

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday sued Brazilian miner Vale for allegedly making false and misleading disclosures about the safety of its dams ahead of a 2019 disaster that killed 270 people.

Beginning in 2016, Vale manipulated dam safety audits, obtained fraudulent stability certificates, and misled local governments, communities and investors with its environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures, the SEC alleged in a statement and court filing.

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Vale Chief Financial Officer Gustavo Pimenta said in a call with analysts on Thursday that the lawsuit was expected and that the company would dispute all allegations in it.

In January 2019, the companys dam in the Brazilian town of Brumadinho burst, unleashing a river of toxic mining waste that crushed a Vale dining hall and destroyed parts of the nearby countryside.

Vale, one of the worlds largest producers of iron ore, allegedly knew for years that its Brumadinho dam did not meet internationally recognized standards for dam safety, the SEC said.

In addition to the death toll, the disaster caused immeasurable environmental and social harm and led to more than $4 billion in losses to Vales market capitalization, it said.

 Reuters

Eli Lilly on Thursday said its potential blockbuster obesity drug achieved a goal of helping patients lose more than 20 percent of their weight in a late-stage clinical trial. The U.S. drugmaker also reported first-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street estimates. The drug, tirzepatide, which is also being studied as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, demonstrated up to 22.5 percent weight loss in adults with obesity.

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Danske Bank said it's in initial discussions with U.S. and Denmark authorities on ending the massive money laundering scandal that's dogged Denmark's biggest lender since 2018. The Copenhagen-based bank said potential fines are "likely to be material" and as a consequence it will not pay out dividends alongside the release of first quarter results on Friday, according to a statement on Thursday. Danske revealed in 2018 that a large chunk of $210 billion in transactions at its Estonian branch were suspicious.

Arkansas is suing Family Dollar over the discovery of more than 1,000 rodents in a distribution facility in the state that prompted the discount retail chain to recall items purchased from hundreds of stores in the South.

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While were on the subject of swashbuckling billionaires, Richard Branson has lately proposed lowering speed limits, a move he says will save gasoline and thereby reduce the flow of money to Russian President Vladimir Putins war machine. Im all for defeating Putin, but making drivers slow down would have little impact on his oil sales.

Lets start with the obvious: Weve been here before. In response to the 1973 oil embargo, the U.S. Congress mandated a 55 mph limit nationwide to save gasoline, a rule that was softened in the 1980s and finally abandoned in 1995. Thats essentially the rule that Branson wants the West to adopt in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Alas, our two-decade experiment with the 55 mph limit reduced gasoline consumption by at most 1%  probably much less  a finding that led the National Research Council to conclude dryly that the policys effect on fuel conservation was not large.

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Branson has in mind expressways, but although the average car hits peak fuel efficiency at 55-60 mph, most driving takes place in cities and towns, where both speed limits and efficiency are much lower. And even if we stick to expressways, setting limits according to the performance of the average vehicle misses the fact that lots of vehicles in current production do better at higher speeds. In 2021, Car and Driver tested fuel efficiency at 75 mph. At that speed, a number of cars, all of them luxury models, exceeded their EPA highway ratings by more than 30%. So if speed limits are about fuel efficiency, maybe those able to afford, say, the Porsche Panamera (43% higher fuel efficiency at 75 mph) or the BMW X3 Competition (39% increase) should be allowed to go faster. After all, the necessary technology exists.

One might object that letting owners of fancy cars drive faster than the rest of us would be ... well unequal. That concern, ironically, takes us back to the roots of speed limits, during the late years of the Gilded Age, when automobiles were seen as the playthings of the rich.

Connecticut adopted the first statewide motor vehicle speed limits in the U.S. in 1901. But already by the 1890s many cities and towns had followed the European model by establishing their own, classing automobiles with carriages and railroads and bicycles (yes!) as vehicles that should be forced to slow down within municipal limits.

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The very notion created conflict. To the elite of that era, the great speed at which cars could travel was considered an advantage  even a guaranty of safety. Tramps might stop a horse and hold up the riders, wrote Vogue in 1899. But not an automobile. The ability of the motor vehicle to escape an attacker, the magazine noted, would serve particularly to protect women traveling alone.

Not everyone agreed. In an editorial that would hardly have been out of place today, the New York Times called for mandated speed limits to combat the irresistible temptation to drive too fast. Nobody, wrote the paper, would buy a slow and safe automobile. And the wealthy were to blame: The chauffeurs have become so reckless, and are knocking foot passengers around at such a rate, that vigorous measures are demanded for the protection of life and limb.

Worry about collisions combined with class resentment to propel regulation of what was seen as an expensive toy. When residents of Hempstead, Long Island, decided to slow the motor vehicles that zipped through their village, a Boston newspaper sniffed that farmers were now telling wealthy urbanites heading to their summer houses how to operate their automobiles.

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Playing to the general disapproval of motor vehicles, newspapers took glee in covering mishaps. In May 1902, the Times reported the arrest of one I. Townsend Burden, a member of the citys fabled four hundred, for driving his car above the speed limit on Central Park West. The story noted with evident delight that the fancy automobile was chased down by a bicycle policeman.

In the ensuing decades, as automobile prices fell and ownership became common, speed limits throughout the country rose steadily. So did motor vehicle fatality rates, which peaked in 1937 at 30.8 per 100,000 population.

Four years later, everybody slowed down.

Although we tend to link concern about fuel economy to the 1973 oil embargo, the epochal event was actually World War II. Everyone knows gasoline was rationed. Whats less well remembered is that in March of 1941, when the U.S. was still technically not involved, President Franklin Roosevelt asked drivers to stay below 40 mph to conserve gasoline (and perhaps more important, rubber) for military use. Many states wrote the suggestion into law. Even in those that didnt, most drivers honored the presidents request.

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After the war, speed limits rose again, and here we are.

Which brings us back to Bransons advice. Were Sir Richard calling for stricter speed limits to save lives, he might have a case, although even there, the evidence is complex. If he were proposing that we save fuel by imposing different speed limits on different vehicles, hed be making an intriguing claim about the possibilities of todays technology. If he were suggesting that we conserve massively in order to send fuel to the Ukrainian military, hed be making an argument in the tradition of FDR.

Instead, his idea is that if we all just drive a bit slower, well reduce gasoline consumption so greatly that Putin will feel the pain  a notion that, however well intended, is simply wrong.

More from Bloomberg Opinion:

 Musk and Other Tech Billionaires Are Out of Control: Parmy Olson

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 Putin Is Losing So Heres How Hell Make the War Worse: Andreas Kluth

 Why Covid Saw Fewer Fender-Benders But More Traffic Deaths: Mark Buchanan

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of law at Yale University and was a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. His novels include The Emperor of Ocean Park, and his latest nonfiction book is Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down Americas Most Powerful Mobster.

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Russian gas has been attractive to Europe for decades because its easy to transport and almost always available. Some European Union countries depend on it because they are shutting coal plants, and Germany has even been planning for the end of nuclear power. Russias dominance has been enhanced by the depletion of North Sea fields controlled by the U.K. and the Netherlands. Gazprom PJSC supplies about a third of all gas consumed in Europe and, before the start of the Russian war in Ukraine, was on track to become even more important as the continent shrinks its own production.

1. Whats sparking the rethink?

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the European Union drew up a plan to cut gas imports from Russia by two-thirds by the end of 2022. Russia, after suffering punishing sanctions, hit back, with President Vladimir Putin signing a decree demanding that all buyers from unfriendly countries should pay in rubles starting from April. They would have to open special accounts with Russias Gazprombank JSC, in foreign currency and rubles, to handle their payments or face a cut-off in supplies. Poland and Bulgaria, whose contracts with Russia were due to expire in 2022, were the first to see their gas flow halted on April 27 for failing to abide by Putins new terms. Hungary said it had no choice but to agree to Moscows demands, adding that some other countries in the bloc were doing the same. Austria was confident it could keep the gas flowing, and Germany appeared to be pursuing a compromise.

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2. How did Russia become so significant?

With its vast Siberian fields, Russia has the worlds largest reserves of natural gas. It began exporting to Poland in the 1940s and laid pipelines in the 1960s to deliver fuel to and through satellite states of what was then the Soviet Union. Even at the height of the Cold War, deliveries were steady. But since the Soviet Union broke up, Moscow and Kyiv have quarreled over pipelines through Ukrainian territory, prompting Russian authorities to find other routes.

3. How vulnerable is Europe?

A supply crunch in 2021 provided a vivid insight into Europes reliance on gas flows from Russia with benchmark gas prices more than tripling. Gas stockpiles in the EU fell to a record low, with heavy maintenance taking place in the North Sea after Covid-induced delays, while supplies of liquefied natural gas were redirected to Asia to meet soaring demand there. In 2022, Europes LNG terminals were running at full throttle as a record amount of discounted supplies arrive, while domestic producers led by Norway were promising to keep production as high as possible. EU officials and buyers were tapping new supplies from Africa to Central Asia, while also planning to boost energy efficiency and using more renewables. But Russian volumes were still too large to fully replace in the short term.

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4. How vulnerable is Germany?

Germany, the EUs powerhouse, has been scaling back its use of coal and nuclear power and relies on Russian gas for about 40% of its needs. The country, which lacks LNG facilities, is now rushing to build those and secure supplies of the super-chilled fuel, and aims to wean itself off Russian gas by mid-2024. It also sends some gas to Poland, which according to Gazprom is of Russian origin, meaning that a potential standoff between Moscow and Berlin would hurt several countries at once.

5. Which other countries are exposed?

Russian supplies accounted for about 40% of Italys demand in 2021, but that country has been scouring the globe for replacements and has secured new agreements with suppliers particularly in North Africa. Some smaller gas buyers like Finland, also highly dependent on Russian gas, are planning to use floating LNG terminals. Poland, which generates most of its electricity from coal, invested in a new gas pipeline from Norway, set to start flows in October, while Bulgaria plans to increase Azeri gas imports in 2022 with the opening of a spur from Greece, a country that can also supply LNG. France relies on Russia for only about 17% of its gas use and its large nuclear-power industry means its less exposed than some other European countries.

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6. What role does Ukraine play?

About a third of Russian gas flowing to Europe passes through Ukraine. Even as the crisis in the region escalated into war, analysts said Russia, with a history of supply disruptions over price disputes, probably wanted to be seen as a reliable supplier. Gazproms shipments to Europe and Turkey were about 177 billion cubic meters in 2021, according to calculations by Bloomberg News and BCS Global Markets based on the companys data. When Ukraine and Russia reached a five-year gas transit deal in December 2019, assuring supplies until 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the nation would earn at least $7 billion from transit fees.

7. How has Russia disrupted the market before?

In 2006 and 2009, disputes with Ukraine over pricing and siphoning of gas led to cutoffs of Russian supplies transiting through the country. The second shutdown lasted almost two weeks in the dead of winter. Slovakia and some Balkan countries had to ration gas, shut factories and cut power supplies. Since then, the most vulnerable countries have raced to lay pipelines, connect grids and build terminals to import LNG shipped from as far as Qatar and the U.S.

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8. What supply networks are there?

Outside supplies, mostly from Russia, Norway and Algeria, account for about 80% of the gas the EU consumes. Germany imports much of its gas via a pipeline under the Baltic Sea called Nord Stream, which has been fully operational since 2012. (This was the supply line Russia on March 7 suggested could be cut as part of its response to sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine.) Belgium, Spain and Portugal face the problem of low storage capacity, as does the U.K., which is no longer part of the bloc and closed its only big gas storage site. The continent has a mass of pipelines, including Yamal-Europe, which runs from Russia through Belarus and Poland before reaching Germany, and TAG, which takes Russian gas to Austria and Italy. Many cross several borders, creating plenty of possible choke points.

9. What about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline?

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It was against this background that Nord Stream 2, a new Russian pipeline alongside the first, was completed in late 2021. But it became entangled in politics and a lengthy regulatory process, even before the war in Ukraine put it firmly on ice. There had been strong opposition from the U.S., which imposed sanctions that delayed construction. Following Moscows invasion of Ukraine, Germany suspended its certification process, and the EUs executive arm readied a revised energy strategy for the bloc to substantially reduce our dependency on Russian gas this year.

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Falling short on the battlefield, Putin is still playing a brilliant hand in the energy market, exploiting the weaknesses of years of myopic European policy. Right now, Germany only has bad options  and worse options. Both Berlin and Moscow are wielding the gas weapon  just at different speeds. Germany intends to stop buying Russian gas over time, perhaps by 2024, and in the meantime find extra supplies and build infrastructure to import liquefied natural gas from the U.S. and the Middle East. Russia is doing the opposite: wielding the weapon now.By now, Putin has essentially written off its gas business with Germany. Either in four weeks or in 24 months, Russia knows that it will not sell energy to Berlin. So the Kremlin is forcing Scholz into some painful choices, with Putin turning some of the economic weapons deployed against his regime on his favor.The Kremlin has told its European gas customers that if they want to continue receiving Russian gas, they have to pay for it via an account at Gazprombank, a state-controlled lender. The payment involves a two-step process with two accounts, one in euros, and one in rubles. The first step is a payment in euros; the second is its conversion into rubles for the clients account. Only after that conversion, which technically touches the Russian central bank, is completed, the payment is considered fulfilled. Germany  and France and Italy  never intended to impose an embargo on Russian gas now. The sanctions on the central bank were about stopping Putin accessing billions of dollars in hard-currency reserves, not about stopping gas payments. But Putin has turned the table: hes using the EU sanctions now against them by forcing them to do business with the central bank in rubles.If Berlin, Paris and Rome allow the payments to continue, they would be showing their own hypocrisy, opening a crack that would advance the Kremlins divide-and-conquer political strategy. They will also show that the EU is prepared to continue paying billions of euros each week to Russia, supporting the ruble -- and subsidizing his military  in the process. Worse, it wont be the last concession. Putin will exploit the gas weakness for more. Now is ruble payments; tomorrow may be about rolling back sanctions or military aid to Ukraine. If Berlin and other capitals follow the letter of their own sanctions, payments cant continue. But that means accepting gas sanctions they didnt intend to impose  at least, not yet. It will mean enormous economic and social costs and could cause European public support for Ukraine to wilt. On Thursday, Scholz said Germany was ready for a halt supplies. You have to prepare for it, and we already started this before the war broke out. We know what we have to do.Its not just a short-term problem, either. If Germany manages over time to find replacements for the gas, it will be at a much higher price. The era of cheap-Russian gas fueling the German economy is over. German energy-intensive companies, like its chemical giants, could not compete in the global market. Germany will face painful choices about the future of its industrial economy. In targeting first Poland and Bulgaria this week, Putin showed hes not bluffing. Warsaw and Sofia dont buy much Russian gas. Of the roughly 155 billion cubic meters the EU bought last year from Russia, Poland accounted for about 10 bcm, and Bulgaria for 3 bcm. The shutdown costs Russia very little in terms of revenue loss. But it sends a clear message to Germany.Scholz faces a terrible dilemma. I have argued that European gas imports are hypocritical, financing the Kremlin military machine, and unsustainable, leaving the EU at the mercy of Moscow. But Im writing these lines from Washington, where gas in plentiful and cheap, and its easy to take the high moral ground. Still, I dont see how Scholz has any other option but to stop payments in late May and face the consequences. Time is up.
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Russian President Vladimir Putins decree imposing a new payments system for gas supplies has placed the European Union and Russia at loggerheads, with Moscow demanding that EU companies open accounts in rubles. The issue, sparked by Russias war in Ukraine and the Western response to it, escalated on April 27 after Russia cut off gas sales to Poland and Bulgaria, which refused to pay in rubles. At stake is European unity, with some countries including Germany more reliant on Russian gas than others. The EUs legal guidelines so far have left some companies and governments confused.

1. What does the decree say?

Putin said on March 31 that he wanted his countrys gas bought in local currency, from April 1. The deposit of euros or dollars on the suppliers account would no longer be considered fulfillment of contractual obligations. Companies would first have to pay for gas using a euro account; then funds would have to be converted into rubles and sent into a second account at state-controlled Gazprombank JSC. Its only after the funds reach the ruble account that the payment would be considered complete. Putin said that if payments arent made in rubles, then gas exports would be halted. Europe depends heavily on Russian gas to heat homes and power industry.

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2. Why is Putin demanding to be paid in rubles?

When he announced his move, Putin said it was to protect Russias vital gas revenues from possible EU sanctions or seizure, as some member states had been proposing. By giving Gazprombank a central role in the payment mechanism, the Kremlin also could ensure the bank was protected from further sanctions. The ruble requirement forced the EU to confront deep divisions among its member states on how to address their dependence on gas from Russia. With prices for the fuel surging, the uncertainty has also boosted Russian income, while stoking political pressure on European leaders. Over the long haul, however, the gambit could be risky for the Kremlin if it causes the EU to speed up moves to diversify away from Russian supplies.

3. Whats the problem for companies and governments?

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Clarity. European companies from Italy to Hungary have been quietly taking steps to prepare to comply with Putins decree. German utility Uniper SE, a big buyer of Russian gas, has said it believes it can keep up purchases without breaching sanctions. And in Italy, another major client, Eni SpA is preparing to open ruble accounts at Gazprombank as a precautionary measure. Hungarys government is paying euros to Gazprombank, which it is then allowing to be converted into rubles. Its not clear whether it has opened a ruble account or not. Governments and companies see guidelines from the European Commission, the EUs executive arm, as ambiguous, with ambassadors for several nations, led by Poland, pushing for clearer guidance.

4. What does the EU say is allowed?

In a document dated April 21, the EU said that payments may be allowed in euros and dollars as long as any legal obligations end once the initial euro or dollar payment is made to Gazprombank. The guidance also advised companies to seek confirmation from Moscow that this was possible. EU officials said on April 28 that companies can buy gas without violating sanctions if they only open an account in euros to make their payment for gas and declare their obligation complete.

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5. What does the EU say is not allowed?

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the EUs executive arm, said on April 27 that the request from the Russian side to pay in rubles is a unilateral decision and not according to the contracts. According to EU officials, companies in the bloc that open an account in rubles to pay for Russian gas would violate its sanctions. This is because the mechanism involves the Russian central bank, which has itself been sanctioned, and they said Putins payments arrangement would constitute a loan to the central bank.

6. Whats the next step?

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated on April 27 that the ball is now in Russias court. His economy minister, Robert Habeck, said he has clarified with the commission that it is possible, within the sanctions regime, to transfer the money in euros. It remains unclear whether Moscow would accept that transactions are complete after the initial payment is made in euros or dollars, even if the funds are then converted to rubles. Payment deadlines for European companies are staggered, with many falling due in the second half of May. As they approach, companies and governments need to decide whether to accept Russian demands and potentially violate sanctions, or risk the prospect of rationing gas at home.

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7. Who enforces EU sanctions?

National governments, rather than the EU, are responsible for applying sanctions, identifying breaches and punishing violators. That means countries could end up finding different ways to interpret the EUs guidance, even though the bloc has said it aims to remain unified. If the European Commission concludes that a specific EU member state is flouting the sanctions, it could launch a legal process known as an infringement procedure, but that would take months, or years, to play out.

8. Could Europe refine its response?

The commission is in continual talks with member states to make sure they have what one official called maximum clarity on how to proceed. It told EU ambassadors that it would consider fine-tuning the wording of its guidelines, and the topic was likely to be reviewed by energy ministers.

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The democracies opposed to Vladimir Putins war in Ukraine have been clear that, in Boris Johnsons words, Putin must fail. But they havent defined failure. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss took a stab at it on Wednesday night, and its worth a closer look at what she said. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Her 2022 Mansion House speech, a set-piece event in the British political calendar, was headlined the return of geopolitics. She argued that winning the war in Ukraine is a strategic imperative that will require supplying the country with heavy weaponry, including tanks and airplanes, and ramping up arms production.

Gone was any pretense of limited, defensive help, but that disappeared with Russias massacres in Bucha if not before. The Biden administration has also amped up support, including asking Congress for another $20 billion in military aid as part of the $33 billion lend-lease package modeled on the World War II program that helped defeat Hitler.

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But Truss pushed the boat out beyond previous U.S. talk of a free and independent Ukraine and a weakened Russia, specifying what exactly the U.K. believes the goal ought to be: We will keep going further and faster to push Russia out of the whole of Ukraine, she said. Trusss reference to the whole of Ukraine  which includes Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014  suggests a return to pre-invasion borders should not be acceptable.

But who is we?

If Truss is speaking about Britain on its own (and, to be fair, thats the only country she represents), the effect is like a middle-school kid telling a few friends shell take on the high-school bully. Britain is a middling power, though it punches above its weight on international security because of its close relationship with the U.S., its seat on the United Nations Security Council and perhaps also its status as the worlds second largest arms exporter. Yes, soft power carries some weight, but for all of Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskiys praise of Boris Johnson, the British cannot push Russia out of Ukraine.

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Truss, of course, knows this well. Often mooted as a potential successor to Boris Johnson, her speech was principally aimed at a domestic audience. Still, it laid down a marker for the U.S. and other NATO allies and democratic nations, too.

For months now, policies have focused on whats called escalation aversion, and centered on two arguments. The first, embraced by many U.S. Republicans, was that while our sympathy with Ukraine may be great, our interests are limited unless Putin decides to attack a NATO member. That case has been thoroughly demolished  not just by the humanitarian devastation in Ukraine, but by the global economic and security consequences and Putins continued ratcheting up of threats. The desire to avoid escalation drove Putin to double down.

If Putin succeeds there will be untold further misery across Europe and terrible consequences across the globe, Truss noted. We would never feel safe again. She is right. Russia would convert any territory it has conquered to military bases. Biden echoed those sentiments to Congress on Thursday in arguing for the lend-lease program.

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The other argument that limited support for Ukraines military effort was the trapped-rat theory of Putins behavior: If he didnt have a way out, hed only become more desperate, possibly leading to the use of nuclear or other banned weapons. The argument for off-ramps has achieved little. It didnt prevent atrocities in Bucha, Mariupol or elsewhere. Last week Putin, tested an intercontinental nuclear-capable missile. This week, he warned of lightening fast retaliation for those intervening to help Ukraine. He has cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria and is threatening Moldova too.

Putins entire raison detre is expansionist and zero-sum. NATOs transparency about its high threshold for intervention  in other words, its lack of strategic ambiguity  simply gives Putin a wider berth. Trusss more interventionist language, if carried through outside of Britain, could help establish a sense of strategic ambiguity that should give Putin pause.

Responding to the threat posed by Putin requires a long-term policy of heavily arming Ukraine and seeking to degrade Russias war-making abilities financially and militarily. That much seems to be happening. But it also demands a markedly different strategic concept, one that embraces the possibility of preemptive interventions.

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Truss called on allies to reject the false choice between euro-Atlantic security and Indo-Pacific security. In the modern world, we need both. We need a global NATO. The evocation of NATOs Article 5 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks is a precedent of sorts, but NATO has never done much to flesh that out. The Madrid summit in June is a chance to change that.

Trusss definition of victory, returning Ukraine to its pre-2014 borders, raises the stakes considerably. But then Putins repeated reference to his nuclear arsenal had already done that. As Truss notes, this path carries risks. There is always the chance that a proxy war becomes a hot war.

It is in Britain and NATOs interest to prevent that from happening, but avoiding escalation in an attempt to contain costs is exactly what left Ukraine so vulnerable and it is what increased wider security risks today. Deterrence breaks down without credibility. Instead, Britain and its allies must accept the possibility of escalation because, as Truss put it, inaction is the greatest provocation.

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.

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Why are so many employees of major technology companies so left-wing, in particular so invested in woke ideology? I would like to consider this question without judging whether this is good or bad. I would also like to think about it in abstract terms, separate from any controversies involving any particular tech company, which are variously accused of being biased against the right or the left. And I fully acknowledge that there is a prominent strain of libertarianism in the tech world, though even that tends to be of the more liberal variety.

On to the question: Tech employees are relatively young and well-educated, and younger and better-educated people in the U.S. tend to lean left. But this is more a restatement of the situation than an explanation of it.

One factor in the current political alignment of tech employees is that wealthy people and institutions are usually more willing to invest in symbolic goods, and woke ideology places great emphasis on rhetoric about equality and fairness. The major tech companies have been extremely profitable, and that in turn makes such positioning possible.

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Another hypothesis concerns meritocracy. The top tech companies are very meritocratic in that they try to hire the very best programmers, engineers and managers, if only because so much money is at stake and these companies are sufficiently profitable that they can afford top talent.

Yet a meritocracy of intellect does not itself constitute a corporate culture or common set of values for employees. A series of meritocratic hires will come from a variety of backgrounds and cultures; its not as if they all went to Eton together. Those meritocratic hires thus may want some additional layer of shared culture  and the enterprise of tech, so often based on the manipulation of abstract symbols, does not provide it.

Wokeism does. In fact, this semi-religious function of woke ideology may help explain what many people perceive as the preachy or religious undertones to woke discourse.

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You might wonder why this shared culture is left-wing rather than right-wing. Well, given educational polarization in the U.S., and that major tech companies are usually located in blue states, it is much easier for a left-leaning common culture to evolve. But the need for common cultural norms reinforces and strengthens what may have initially been a mildly left-leaning set of impulses.

Developing such a common culture is especially important in tech companies, which rely heavily on cooperation. The profitability of a major tech company typically is based not on ownership of unique physical assets, but on the ability of its workers to turn ideas into products. So internal culture will have to be fairly strong  and may tend to strengthen forces that intensify modest ideological proclivities into more extreme belief systems. (To be clear, I am not using the word extreme in a normatively negative fashion  nor do I intend the comparison of woke with religion to be normative.)

All of this is happening in a country where religious belief and participation are weakening, and in an industry where employees are not just Christian but Hindu, Muslim, Jewish or have other religions in their family backgrounds. That too boosts the need for an internal quasi-religious substitute, accessible to people of diverse backgrounds.

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A related possibility is that employees of the major tech companies  at least many of them  are not as left-leaning as it appears. If the predominant internal corporate culture is left-leaning, and you are paid a lot to cooperate with other people, you might simply go along to get along. The underlying reality will be a lot more complex.

If you find the left-leaning orientation to be objectionable, it is not enough to simply inveigh against it. Often, attacking a coordinating norm serves to reinforce it, just as persecution can make a religious group stronger and more cohesive.

Instead, you might hope for a different evolution: First, you might want for those companies to become less profitable, thereby decreasing managements interest in symbolic goods. That could help reverse the paradox of such wealthy institutions having such egalitarian rhetoric. You also might wish to see them more invested in traditional hiring networks, which would create a common cultural background separate from the woke ideology. Finally, you might hope that the anonymized expression of actual political views within the company could, over time, make it more acceptable to be out as right-wing.

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Those are not impossible dreams. Nor is it impossible for tech company employees to become even more left-wing; all it would take for the current trends to accelerate. Because the hard truth is that, for all its religious undertones, wokeism is a market-based ideology. As markets change, it will evolve.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Tech CEOs Cant Afford to Ignore Their Stock Prices: Trung Phan

 How Facebook and Amazon Rely on an Invisible Workforce: Parmy Olson

 Corporate America Is Not as Woke as It Appears: Tyler Cowen

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of economics at George Mason University and writes for the blog Marginal Revolution. His books include Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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Explosion at Kabul mosque kills over 50 Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight A powerful blast killed more than 50 worshipers after Friday prayers at a Kabul mosque, its leader said, the latest in a series of attacks on civilian targets in Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The explosion rocked the Khalifa Sahib Mosque in the capitals west in the early afternoon, said Besmullah Habib, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry, who said the official death toll was 10.

A health agency source said hospitals had received 66 dead and 78 wounded so far.

The attack came as worshipers at the Sunni mosque gathered for zikr  an act of religious remembrance seen as heretical by some hard-line Sunni groups.

A spokesman for the countrys ruling Taliban condemned the blast, saying the perpetrators would be found and punished. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.

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Scores of Afghans have been killed in recent weeks in blasts, some of which have been claimed by the Islamic State.

 Reuters

Fire erupts at nation's most revered shrine

A fire broke out Friday in the compound belonging to the most revered Shiite shrine in Iran but was quickly extinguished, the countrys state-run news agency reported. No one was injured.

The report by the Islamic Republic News Agency said a cleaning machine in the yard of the Imam Reza shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad caught fire. Fire engines quickly arrived and put it out. IRNA also said the cause of the incident was under investigation.

The shrine, about 560 miles northeast of Tehran, is the largest complex housing a tomb in Iran and one of the countrys most-visited sites.

This month, an attacker stabbed three clerics at the shrine, killing two of them. The assailant was arrested.

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 Associated Press

Lawmaker suspended for porn in Parliament

British Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Conservative Party has suspended a lawmaker as it looks into reports that a member of the party watched pornography on his phone in the House of Commons debating chamber.

Neil Parish, a Conservative in Parliament since 2010, was suspended from the party after reporting himself to a standards official, said a spokesperson for the partys chief whip, who oversees discipline.

An outcry in the case came as Johnson is under pressure over parties held at his Downing Street office and residence when the country was under strict coronavirus lockdown rules.

 Reuters

4 dead in incident at Canadian military college: Canada's Department of National Defense said an investigation was underway into a fatal incident involving a vehicle at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, that left four cadets dead. The incident happened early Friday, it said. Further details were not available.

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Child hepatitis cases rise in U.K. amid global outbreak: The U.K. Health Security Agency has identified 34 confirmed hepatitis cases in children since Monday, bringing the total to 145 amid a series of unexplained cases in children around the world. The agency said 10 children had received liver transplants but none had died. Findings suggested the rise in cases may be linked to a cold virus known as an adenovirus, the agency said, adding that it was also looking at other possible infections, including covid-19, or an environmental cause.

Brazilian town builds Christ statue taller than Rio's: Rio de Janeiro's famous Christ the Redeemer has competition. To attract tourism, the town of Encantado in southern Brazil has built a Christ the Protector that is 141 feet tall, compared with Rio's 125 feet. The counts include the statues' pedestals.

 From news services

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BEIRUT  The leader of Lebanons militant Hezbollah group warned Friday that if Israel continues to target Irans presence in the region, Tehran could eventually retaliate by striking deep inside Israel. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Sayyed Hassan Nasrallahs warning came in a speech during a ceremony in Beirut marking Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, a traditional show of support for the Palestinians. Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters and officials from allied Palestinian groups attended.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes over the years on targets in Syria  where Iran, like Hezbollah, supports President Bashar Assads forces  but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. It has acknowledged targeting bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Hezbollah, in Syria. Israel says its attacks are against Iranian entrenchment in neighboring Syria.

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Hezbollah, one of Irans main arms in the region, was formed in the early 1980s during Lebanons civil war by Iranian officers and Tehran has been arming and funding the group since.

Nasrallahs comments came two days after an Israeli missile strike in Syria killed four Syrian soldiers and wounded others, according to Syrian state media. A Syrian opposition war monitor gave a higher death toll for the early Wednesday strike that hit suburbs of the capital, Damascus, saying it killed six Syrian soldiers and four Iran-backed fighters.

Last month, an Israeli missile attack on Damascus killed two colonels with Irans paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Iran retaliated shortly after by firing surface-to-surface missiles on what it described as an Israeli spy center in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.

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The Islamic Republics military stance is developing to a level that if the Israels aggression continues on Iranian presence in the region it might strike at Israel directly, Nasrallah said.

The ceremony, on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, was the first large gathering by Hezbollah since the coronavirus pandemic started.

Nasrallah said Iranian officials now believe that the time when we bring our martyrs and hold funerals for them has ended.

We will avenge our martyrs. This is an important development, Nasrallah said.

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TEHRAN, Iran  Thousands of Iranians marched in the capital of Tehran on Friday to mark Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, a traditional show of support for the Palestinians. It was the first time such marches were held since before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Iran has been marking the day, the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, since the start of its 1979 Islamic Revolution led by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The name Quds Day comes after the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

Demonstrators chanted Death to Israel and Death to America  slogans that have become tradition in mass rallies in Iran since its revolution  and set fire to American, British and Israeli flags.

Iranian state TV later showed a variety of ballistic missiles on display at the rally, describing them as Israel hitters.

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Iran does not recognize Israel and supports the Palestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah, militant groups that oppose it. Israel views Iran as its archenemy in the Middle East.

The rallies all headed to Tehran University, where the ceremony ended at Fridays noon prayers. Similar rallies took place in other Iranian cities and towns.

State news agency IRNA quoted a general of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards expeditionary force, known as the Quds force, as saying that Iran backs all groups ready to fight Israel.

We support any front that is formed against this criminal regime, and we will support any community that is ready to fight this criminal regime, Gen. Esmail Ghaani said at a speech in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Many high-ranking Iranian officials attended the rally in Tehran, including hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi and the powerful Guard commander, Gen. Mohammad Salami.

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Salami warned Israel that it would face a painful response if it takes any offensive action against Iran. If the slightest act of evil is being taken by you, you know better than me what will befall you, he said.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a speech broadcast live on television condemned unnamed Arab states in the Persian Gulf for normalizing ties with Israel, referring to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

We condemn the treacherous move to normalize relations with Israel, he said, and reiterated Irans support for the Palestinian cause.

We have always said this, we have always acted on this, and we have stood by it, Khamenei said.

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Andrew Dominik had no clear idea what film he wanted to make when he came to make This Much I Know to Be True, the second music documentary he has made with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. The first film, One More Time with Feeling, was shot six years ago and suffused with Caves grief for his son, Arthur, who died accidentally in 2015. The first one was just Nick asking me to come and do this thing - and it was weird, because the film just didnt matter; there was a situation going on that trumped everything, says Dominik.

This time around, he only knew that he wanted to film the songs on the Bad Seeds most recent albums, Ghosteen and Carnage: songs of requiem, grief, acceptance and love. Because I had a connection to them, says Dominik. Id been there when they were made, you know. And it wasnt a great time in my life when they were making those songs, so they really meant something to me. But the motive for making these films is not that I want to say something. I turn up, somethings going on and I film it.

Plus it was COVID time. We wanted to hang out, you know what I mean? Do a play date, kind of thing.

Bad Seeds composer and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis says that their work now overlaps so much with Dominiks that he feels like part of the band. Ellis and Cave wrote the music for Dominiks The Assassination of Jesse James (2007) and the forthcoming Blonde, based on Joyce Carol Oatess imaginary biography of Marilyn Monroe; Dominik stayed around after shooting One More Time with Feeling to help mix Ghosteen.

And when we did Carnage, I would send him the mixes. Andrew has an opinion and when youre making stuff, you need an opinion so you can move forward. And Andrew is nine out of 10 times right. Were just waiting for him to join Grinderman so we can make that elusive third album.

Ellis used to be wary of the idea of making concert films, because he thought the presence of a camera would change how they behaved. But with Andrew, you know, I dont even notice hes there. Of course, you know youre filming, but I think there is a comfort there that can only come about through trust.

The film took shape as they talked about it. When Dominik turned up, as he puts it, Cave showed him the extraordinary figurines he had been making that depicted the story of the Devil. And I realised its just a disguised account of his life, you know. That had to be in there. So did The Red Hand Files, the website where Cave answers readers questions about life with thoughtful essays. Because he was obsessed with them. There was a period when I was living with him in LA and he was making a record at the time but, really, all he cared about was the Red Hand Files.

Dominik was also keen to have Marianne Faithfull, whose voice is heard on Carnage, in the film. Both Cave and Ellis are close to her, but nobody pretends she is easy-going  on top of which she was suffering the long-term effects of COVID and was in a wheelchair. Warren and Nick started telling me how difficult it was going to be, how impossible it was going to be and then I thought OK, weve got to get her here! Its going to be great! Itll be good! And she was.

Dominik has found Caves reconciliation to bereavement moving to watch. Nicks kind of recovered. Which is amazing because I dont think the person in the other movie would have believed such a thing was possible. I guess what Nick found out earlier than most people do is that at a certain point, life is just going to become a series of losses so how do you deal with that? And he has good advice about it. The thing that strikes me, watching the film, is just how sane what he had to say was.

The music is melancholy, but the dominant mood of This Much I Know To Be True is thus a quiet joy. Nick was determined, and this seems like a weird thing to say, to make the best of Arthurs death, you know, says Dominik. And he was very diligent about it. So here we are, years later and you know, Nicks a pretty happy guy! He feels pain, Im sure, but as his capacity for that has increased, so has his capacity for everything else. And I guess thats what the film has to say.

- STEPHANIE BUNBURY
Sarah Ferguson has won the race to replace Leigh Sales as the host of the ABCs flagship current affairs program 7.30.

The ABC announced on Friday that the former Four Corners host and Gold Walkley award-winner would be taking the reins once Sales steps down in June, ending the broadcasters hunt for a replacement, which began in February.

Sarah Ferguson, former host of Four Corners, will take over from Leigh Sales on 7.30. Credit:ABC

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age reported Fergusons anointment was imminent on Saturday.

Other candidates in the running for the position included 7.30s chief political correspondent Laura Tingle and Insiders host David Speers.
Readers will recall a certain amount of tizz in various online communities over an act of campaign camaraderie the prime minister extended to the media during a stop in western Sydney. The innocuous drinks event somehow became prima facie evidence of big media suckling at the teat of big government. Or something.

Scott Morrison Credit:John Shakespeare

That stretch even had ABC journalists (though probably not Laura Tingle) taking to social media to defend the prime minister (!) and his social largesse as routine governmental interaction with the fourth estate. Others pointed out that the opposition leader had done exactly the same thing.

But wait, theres more.

This week the prime minister and his team doubled down on the socialising with an invite for the press pack travelling in Rockhampton to attend a laser tag and ten-pin bowling night at Rocky Bowl and Leisure, where a laser tag and ten-pin bowling combi is priced at $26. Say it with us, How good is Queensland?
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says the Liberal Partys move to preference Clive Palmers United Australia Party ahead of Labor in Senate races in other states is disgraceful.

Liberal how-to-vote cards published yesterday show the party will not preference UAP at all in the WA Senate election, but preference the party second in Victoria and Tasmania and third in Queensland and NSW. The move will likely improve UAPs chances of securing a Senate spot in those states.

The Liberals have placed UAP last on all of its how-to-vote cards for the lower house, though these are only recommendations to voters who choose preferences themselves.

On Thursday, WA Senator and Attorney-General Michaelia Cash said Clive Palmer was no friend of WA.
Washington: Memories of the Battle of Guadalcanal will galvanise US Congress to demand action to keep the Chinese from establishing a base in Solomon Islands, according to a senior Democrat on the armed services committee and the AUKUS caucus.

Days after the Solomon Islands sent shock waves across the region by signing a security cooperation pact with China, Democrat Congressman Joe Courtney, the co-chair of the Friends of Australia Caucus, said he was deeply concerned by the deal and likened Beijings encroachment to boiling a frog, where you turn up the temperature bit by bit.

US Democrat Congressman Joe Courtney is on the AUKUS Caucus, which promotes the interests of Australias security alliance with the US and the UK. Credit:Facebook/Joe Courtney

Courtney told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that while the war in Ukraine had been a priority this year, news of Chinas latest deal was starting to filter throughout Washington, sparking a growing desire for the US and its allies to do more to safeguard the region.

For the US, this is not a development that involves sitting on a barstool, thousands of miles away, having an opinion, said Courtney, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, which has oversight of the Department of Defence and the nations military.
Liberal moderate Dave Sharma told a forum last year fossil fuels were a necessary evil in Australias energy system but he didnt support more public money going into oil and gas, in comments unearthed as the Coalition faces a fresh internal struggle over climate action.

Labor and independent candidates are capitalising on the government split over net zero as prominent Nationals reignited division within the Coalition over the target, pulling climate change back into the election campaign spotlight.

Wentworth incumbent Dave Sharma labelled fossil fuels a necessary evil. Credit:James Brickwood

Fossil fuels at the moment, have a necessary but evil impact in our system, Sharma told a Sydney forum about offshore petroleum exploration on August 18. If you like, theyre a necessary evil, but we need to be transitioning away from them.

The office of the backbencher, who is defending his patch against independent candidate Allegra Spender, has not responded to questions about whether he stood by the comments in light of the hundreds of millions of dollars devoted to fossil fuels alongside renewables in the federal budget.
London: Australias former foreign minister Alexander Downer has criticised the decision by Foreign Minister Marise Payne to let the UK High Commissioners posting fall vacant during the Queens Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

George Brandis, who is the current High Commissioner to the UK, finishes his four-year posting on April 30 and will fly home to Australia on Saturday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne. Credit:Steven Siewert

Whoever the Labor or Liberal party picks to replace Brandis would be unlikely to arrive in the UK to take up the position until mid-June at the earliest.

The Queens Platinum Jubilee celebrations, marking her 70 years on the throne, will take place across the country on the four-day bank holiday weekend from June 2 to 5.
London: We have been remarkably lucky so far. Human beings invented nuclear weapons 77 years ago, but havent used them to slaughter each other since Nagasaki.

We created long-range rockets, as Vladimir Putin reminded us again last week when he unveiled his Satan II Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, but have avoided using them to annihilate our rivals cities.

We are playing with genetic engineering, space travel, AI, and even enhancing the virulence of some pathogens, but have yet to deliberately use any of these technologies for mass warfare.

Firefighters try to put out a fire following an explosion in Kyiv, Ukraine. Credit:AP

With good fortune comes hubris and complacency: the chances of another major global conflict  and, at worst, another world war  are much higher than we realise, and are continuing to increase. Nobody knows the exact probability, but even a 10 per cent chance of a global catastrophe this century would be terrifying, and ought to justify an urgent, renewed focus in every Western country on making sure Armageddon can be avoided through robust deterrence, new alliances, vast investments in defensive weaponry and urgent diplomatic engagement.
Washington: Small rocket builder Rocket Lab USA Inc is gearing up for a mission that seems more appropriate for a big-budget action movie: catching a falling four-storey-tall rocket booster with a helicopter.

The Long Beach, California-based company is trying to slash the cost of spaceflight by reusing its rockets, a trend pioneered by billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musks SpaceX.

Small rocket builder Rocket Labs mid-air recovery of a rocket.

But unlike SpaceXs reusable, two-stage rocket Falcon 9, which reignites its engines to return to Earth, Rocket Lab aims for a helicopter with two pilots to pluck a 11.9-metre-tall booster stage from mid-air using a combination of ropes, parachutes and a heatshield.

Im pretty confident that if the helicopter pilots can see it, theyll catch it, Rocket Lab Chief Executive Peter Beck told Reuters. If we dont get it this time, well learn a bunch and well get it the next time, so Im not super worried.
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Sarah Crompton, WhatsOnStage



"Jodie Comer has the ability to communicate many conflicting emotions simultaneously: she is funny when she is vomiting down a loo, but also utterly vulnerable and terrified; when she describes her mother she is both loving and ashamed.

"Each thought and emotion registers not only in her face, but in her body. She seems to imprint things onto herself before speaking. By the end of the play, she doesn't even look like the woman who began it."









Arifa Akbar, The Guardian



"A one-woman play about a lawyer who specialises in defending men accused of sexual assault, until she is assaulted herself, it demands frenetic, non-stop physical and emotional engagement from its lead.

"Comer delivers. She roars through Suzie Miller's script. The play roars, too, sometimes too loudly in its polemic, but Comer works overtime to elevate these moments. Directed by Justin Martin, Comer's Tessa Ensler is a ruthlessly competitive young barrister with a sly wit."





Ava Wong Davies, The Independent



"When Tessa decides to take her rapist to court and becomes the witness  and is cross-examined by a patronising, vicious QC  Comer is alternately steely and impassioned, noble and embarrassed, flustered and composed. It's a remarkably agile performance.

"The production itself is full of striking elements: musical compositions by Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka pop star Self Esteem) throb and hum like a pulsing vein, and Miriam Buether's set design initially places Tessa in a vast library, surrounded by legal documents. The walls around her then fall away, leaving her stranded in an inky void. Perhaps it's a mite too emphatic, but it's potent nonetheless."





Dominic Maxwell, The Times



"If you're one of the fans who have already made this West End run a sell-out  give or take day seats, returns and a weekly ticket scheme, with a cinema broadcast to come  rest assured you are in for something special. And if the play itself, first seen in Sydney in 2019, is unabashedly driven by an agenda that Comer's character has then been created to serve, it still makes its point in style."





Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph



"If there's an issue with the play it's that in its final epilogue, it bluntly avows that need for systemic change, effectively demanding our indignation, whereas that concern bubbles up quite naturally in response to what we witness. Though the presentation of what happens to Comer's thirtysomething character  Tessa Ensler  unambiguously shows her as a rape victim, Miller's slant, and Comer's portrayal, still teem with rich nuance, testing sympathies."





Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out



"It's understandable that Comer wanted to kick off her stage career with a meaty 100-minute monologue about something she feels passionate about. If all famous actors simply went for the best play possible, we'd be stuck with even more bloody Hamlet. With Prima Facie, Jodie Comer had something to prove about herself, and something she wanted to say about the world, and she's done both.
Winnipegs artists are putting the products of their creativity into helping the Ukrainian war-relief effort.

Winnipegs artists are putting the products of their creativity into helping the Ukrainian war-relief effort.

Oseredok, the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre, is holding an online art auction of works donated by artists and city collectors that runs until 9 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4.

Lot 47, Acrylic on canvas by Ewa Tarsia, Eyes Wide OpenTrees Forests More Trees (Supplied)

The works can be viewed in person today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. at Oseredok, which is at 184 Alexander Ave. They can also be seen online and bid on.

Proceeds will go to the Canada-Ukraine Fund as well as Oseredoks initiatives to assist Ukrainian refugees arriving in Manitoba.

Among the 85 works available include pieces by mixed-media artist Don Proch, photographer John Paskievich, digital artist , multimedia artists Aganetha Dyck and her son, Richard Dyck, and painters Michael Boss and Bill Lobchuk.

While some of the works are influenced by Ukrainian culture and Ukraines struggle against Russias invasion, such as Lament of Ukraine by Daria Mudryj and Babushka by Melva Widdicombe, there are also many works unrelated to Ukraine, including landscapes of Manitoba and Winnipeg, portraits and collages.

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @AlanDSmall

If you value coverage of Manitobas arts scene, help us do more.

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Canadian "Jeopardy!" Hall-of-Famer Mattea Roach is now tied for the sixth longest streak in the TV quiz show's history.

Canadian Mattea Roach appears in an episode of Jeopardy! in a handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Jeopardy Productions, Inc. **MANDATORY CREDIT**

Canadian "Jeopardy!" Hall-of-Famer Mattea Roach is now tied for the sixth longest streak in the TV quiz show's history.

She's tied with David Madden and Jason Zuffranieri, who also won 19 games.

The 23-year-old's winnings total US$460,184 -- the sixth biggest haul in the show's regular-season history.

Roach, who lives in Toronto and was raised in Halifax, has also earned a spot in the show's tournament of champions, set to air in the fall.

She holds the longest win streak by a Canadian contestant.

One more win would put her in 5th place.

Roach lives in Toronto, but she has said on the show that she spent much of her childhood and part of her adolescence in Halifax, and has also lived in Calgary and Moncton, N.B.

Caitlin Hayes, the North Vancouver resident who competed against Roach on her 10th episode, said she's having a blast watching her former rival's impressive run.

"It's really fun every night to watch and be cheering her on," Hayes said. "She's so good."

Hayes already knew Roach would be a formidable opponent when she took to the Alex Trebek stage back in February.

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The show films five episodes each day, and Hayes had been in the studio audience the previous day.

"So I sat there for, like, 10 hours and watched her play five games in a row. She won all five and she was so good," Hayes said.

The next day, Hayes was called on to compete first thing. After a slow start, she was the only person to get the Final Jeopardy clue right. Unfortunately, she missed out on winning because she didn't wager enough  something her nine-year-old daughter hasn't let her forget.

"She's definitely constantly saying, 'Mommy should have bet more.'"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2022.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Roach's total winnings were US$469,184.
Inside a cavernous stone fortress in downtown Pittsburgh, attorney Robin Frank defends parents at one of their lowest points  when they risk losing their children.

Attorney Robin Frank poses for a photograph outside the Family Law Center in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. A longtime family law attorney, Frank fights for parents at one of their lowest points  when they risk losing their children. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Inside a cavernous stone fortress in downtown Pittsburgh, attorney Robin Frank defends parents at one of their lowest points  when they risk losing their children.

The job is never easy, but in the past she knew what she was up against when squaring off against child protective services in family court. Now, she worries shes fighting something she cant see: an opaque algorithm whose statistical calculations help social workers decide which families should be investigated in the first place.

A lot of people dont know that its even being used, Frank said. Families should have the right to have all of the information in their file.

From Los Angeles to Colorado and throughout Oregon, as child welfare agencies use or consider tools similar to the one in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has identified a number of concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. Related issues have already torpedoed some jurisdictions plans to use predictive models, such as the tool notably dropped by the state of Illinois.

According to new research from a Carnegie Mellon University team obtained exclusively by AP, Alleghenys algorithm in its first years of operation showed a pattern of flagging a disproportionate number of Black children for a mandatory neglect investigation, when compared with white children. The independent researchers, who received data from the county, also found that social workers disagreed with the risk scores the algorithm produced about one-third of the time.

County officials said that social workers can always override the tool, and called the research hypothetical.

Child welfare officials in Allegheny County, the cradle of Mister Rogers TV neighborhood and the icons child-centric innovations, say the cutting-edge tool  which is capturing attention around the country  uses data to support agency workers as they try to protect children from neglect. That nuanced term can include everything from inadequate housing to poor hygiene, but is a different category from physical or sexual abuse, which is investigated separately in Pennsylvania and is not subject to the algorithm.

Workers, whoever they are, shouldnt be asked to make, in a given year, 14, 15, 16,000 of these kinds of decisions with incredibly imperfect information, said Erin Dalton, director of the countys Department of Human Services and a pioneer in implementing the predictive child welfare algorithm.

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This story, supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, is part of an ongoing Associated Press series, Tracked, that investigates the power and consequences of decisions driven by algorithms on peoples everyday lives.

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Critics say it gives a program powered by data mostly collected about poor people an outsized role in deciding families fates, and they warn against local officials growing reliance on artificial intelligence tools.

If the tool had acted on its own to screen in a comparable rate of calls, it would have recommended that two-thirds of Black children be investigated, compared with about half of all other children reported, according to another study published last month and co-authored by a researcher who audited the countys algorithm.

Advocates worry that if similar tools are used in other child welfare systems with minimal or no human interventionakin to how algorithms have been used to make decisions in the criminal justice systemthey could reinforce existing racial disparities in the child welfare system.

Its not decreasing the impact among Black families, said Logan Stapleton, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. On the point of accuracy and disparity, (the county is) making strong statements that I think are misleading.

The Family Law Center in Pittsburgh is seen on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Around the country, as child welfare agencies use or consider algorithmic tools like in Allegheny County, an Associated Press review has identified a number of concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Because family court hearings are closed to the public and the records are sealed, AP wasnt able to identify first-hand any families who the algorithm recommended be mandatorily investigated for child neglect, nor any cases that resulted in a child being sent to foster care. Families and their attorneys can never be sure of the algorithms role in their lives either because they arent allowed to know the scores.

SAFER, FASTER

Incidents of potential neglect are reported to Allegheny Countys child protection hotline. The reports go through a screening process where the algorithm calculates the childs potential risk and assigns a score. Social workers then use their discretion to decide whether to investigate.

The Allegheny Family Screening Tool is specifically designed to predict the risk that a child will be placed in foster care in the two years after they are investigated. Using a trove of detailed personal data collected from birth, Medicaid, substance abuse, mental health, jail and probation records, among other government data sets, the algorithm calculates a risk score of 1 to 20: The higher the number, the greater the risk.

Given the high stakes  skipping a report of neglect could end with a childs death but scrutinizing a familys life could set them up for separation  the county and developers have suggested their tool can help course correct and make the agencys work more thorough and efficient by weeding out meritless reports so that social workers can focus on children who truly need protection.

The developers have described using such tools as a moral imperative, saying child welfare officials should use whatever they have at their disposal to make sure children arent neglected.

There are children in our communities who need protection, said Emily Putnam-Hornstein, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hills School of Social Work who helped develop the Allegheny tool, speaking at a virtual panel held by New York University in November.

Dalton said algorithms and other predictive technologies also provide a scientific check on call center workers personal biases because they see the risk score when deciding if the case merits an investigation. If the case is escalated, Dalton said the full investigation is carried out by a different social worker who probes in person, decides if the allegations are true and helps determine if the children should be placed in foster care.

CMU researchers found that from August 2016 to May 2018, the tool calculated scores that suggested 32.5% of Black children reported as being neglected should be subject to a mandatory investigation, compared with 20.8% of white children.

In addition, the county confirmed to the AP that for more than two years, a technical glitch in the tool sometimes presented social workers with the wrong scores, either underestimating or overestimating a childs risk. County officials said the problem has since been fixed.

The county didnt challenge the CMU researchers figures, but Dalton said the research paper represented a hypothetical scenario that is so removed from the manner in which this tool has been implemented to support our workforce.

The CMU research found no difference in the percentage of Black families investigated after the algorithm was adopted. The study found the workers were able to reduce this disparity produced by the algorithm.

The county says that social workers are always in the loop and are ultimately responsible for deciding which families are investigated because they can override the algorithm, even if it flags a case for mandatory investigation. Dalton said the tool would never be used on its own in Allegheny, and doubted any county would allow for completely automated decision-making about families lives.

Of course, they could do that, she said. I think that they are less likely to, because it doesnt make any actual sense to do that.

Despite what the county describes as safeguards, one child welfare expert who worked for an Allegheny county contractor says there is still cause for concern.

When you have technology designed by humans, the bias is going to show up in the algorithms, said NicoLee Biddle, who has worked for nearly a decade in child welfare, including as a family therapist and foster care placement specialist in Allegheny County. If they designed a perfect tool, it really doesnt matter, because its designed from very imperfect data systems.

Nico'Lee Biddle, a former foster care kid turned therapist, social worker and policy advocate, talks about the use of data-driven algorithms outside one of the county's Children, Youth and Families offices in North Versailles, Pa., on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. "This shows when you have technology designed by humans, the bias is going to show up in the algorithms," says Biddle, who has worked for nearly a decade in child welfare, including as a family therapist and foster care placement specialist in Allegheny County. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Biddle is a former foster care kid turned therapist, social worker and policy advocate. In 2020, she quit, largely due to her growing frustrations with the child welfare system. She also said officials dismissed her concerns when she asked why families were originally referred for investigation.

We could see the report and that decision, but we were never able to see the actual tool, she said. I would be met with  What does that have to do with now?

In recent years, movements to reshape  or dismantle  child protective services have grown, as generations of dire foster care outcomes have been shown to be rooted in racism.

In a memo last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cited racial disparities at nearly every major decision-making point of the child welfare system, an issue Aysha Schomburg, the associate commissioner of the U.S. Childrens Bureau said leads more than half of all Black children nationwide to be investigated by social workers. Over surveillance leads to mass family separation, Schomburg wrote in a recent blog post.

With discussions about race and equity looming large in child welfare circles, Putnam-Hornstein last fall took part in a roundtable of experts convened by the conservative American Enterprise Institute and co-authored a paper that slammed advocates who believe child welfare systems are inherently racist.

She said she collaborated with the group that suggested there are racial disparities in the incidence of maltreatment because she sees the need for reforms, and believes that the adoption of algorithmic decision aids can help guard against subjectivity and bias.

Some researchers worry that as other government agencies implement similar tools, the algorithms could be allowed to make some decisions on their own.

We know there are many other child welfare agencies that are looking into using risk assessment tools and their decisions about how much fully to automate really vary, said Stapleton. Had Allegheny County used it as a fully automated tool, we would have seen a much higher racial disparity in the proportion of kids who are investigated.

LAB RATS

A decade ago, the developers of Alleghenys tool  Putnam-Hornstein and Rhema Vaithianathan, a professor of health economics at New Zealands Auckland University of Technology  began collaborating on a project to design a predictive risk model for New Zealands child welfare system.

Vaithianathan and colleagues prototyped a new child abuse screening model that proposed using national data to predict the risk that the child protection system would confirm allegations that a child had been mistreated by age 5. The plan was scrapped after documents revealed the Ministry of Social Developments head sharply opposed the project, declaring: These are children, not lab rats.

The minister wasnt the only one concerned. Emily Keddell, a professor of social work at Otago University in New Zealand who analyzed the tool in the peer-reviewed Critical Social Policy journal, found that it would likely have resulted in more Maori families being tagged for investigation, reinforcing existing structural inequalities by contributing to the ongoing stigmatisation of this population.

In response, Vaithianathan said that she and her collaborators are open to community criticism and committed to showing their work, even if jurisdictions decide against it. She added that she has worked extensively with Indigenous Maori researchers.

We encourage agencies to listen to those critical voices and to make leadership decisions themselves, she said.

Vaithianathan and Putnam-Hornstein said they have since expanded their work to at least half a dozen cities and counties across the United States and have explored building tools in Chile and Australia.

Brian Chor, a clinical psychologist and child welfare researcher at the University of Chicagos Chapin Hall, said the pair are respected for confronting ethical and racial concerns in creating the tool. He also said that Pittsburgh was the perfect place to create a model algorithm for other public welfare agencies.

A sign points the way to the entrance to the office where workers field calls at an intake call screening center for the Allegheny County Children and Youth Services office in Penn Hills, Pa., on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. Incidents of potential neglect are reported to Allegheny Countys child protection hotline. The reports go through a screening process where the algorithm calculates the childs potential risk and assigns it a score. Social workers then use their discretion to decide whether to investigate those concerns. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Allegheny County is probably an early adopter where the stars seem to be aligned, where they have the data, Chor said. They have a solid recipe that I think is replicable.

In several public presentations and media interviews, Vaithianathan and Putnam-Hornstein said they want to use public data to help families in need.

Were researchers and were trying to model what good, good approaches look like in this field, Vaithianathan said in an interview. The developers also noted in a document sent to Pennsylvanias Department of Human Services last year that demand for their tools had increased due to the pandemic, as the state weighed a proposal for a statewide tool that would cost $520,000 to develop and implement.

Vaithianathan has said the tool ultimately can help address racial bias, and has pointed to a 2019 Stanford University evaluation commissioned by Allegheny County that suggests it may have had a modest impact on some disparities.

Ive always felt that these are tools that have the opportunity to improve the quality of decision making, Vaithianathan said at a November panel. To the extent that they are used with careful guardrails around them, I think they also offer an opportunity for us to try and address some of those systemic biases.

But when AP asked county officials to address Carnegie Mellons findings on the tools pattern of flagging a disproportionate number of Black children for a mandatory child neglect investigation, Allegheny County questioned the researchers methodology by saying they relied on old data.

The researchers reran the analysis using newer data to address the countys concerns and reached many of the same conclusions.

In response to AP, Allegheny County provided research that acknowledges the tool has not helped with combating disparities in the rates at which Black and white child neglect cases are investigated. A recent unpublished analysis written by the developers themselves determined no statistically significant effect of the algorithm on this disparity.

We dont frame the entire decision-making process around race, though clearly its an important thing that we think about, Dalton said.

Dalton said her team wants to keep improving the tool and is considering new updates, including adding available private insurance data to capture more information about middle class and upper income families, as well as exploring other ways to avoid needless interventions.

Dalton also downplayed the algorithms role in neglect investigations.

If it goes into court, then theres attorneys on both sides and a judge, Dalton said. They have evidence, right?

Chor said Alleghenys tool is applied at the most important point of the child welfare system.

The very front end of child protection decision-making is understandably the most impactful decision that you can make on a childs life, because once you come into contact with the hotline, with an investigator, then your chance of being removed, of course, is increased, Chor said.

The latest version of the tool excludes information about whether a family has received welfare dollars or food stamps, data that was initially included in calculating risk scores. It also stopped predicting whether a child would be reported again to the county in the two years that followed. However, much of the current algorithms design remains the same, according to American Civil Liberties Union researchers who have studied both versions.

The county initially considered including race as a variable in its predictions about a familys relative risk but ultimately decided not to, according to a 2017 document. Critics say even if race is not measured outright, data from government programs used by many communities of color can be a proxy for race. In the document, the developers themselves urged continuing monitoring with regard to racial disparities.

The moon sets behind homes in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. Around the country, as child welfare agencies use or consider algorithmic tools like in Allegheny County, an Associated Press review has identified a number of concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

If over a million dollars have been spent creating and maintaining this tool, only for call screeners to disagree with it, for racial disparities to stay essentially level, and for screen-ins to continue at unreasonably high rates, is that the best use of Allegheny Countys resources? asked Kath Xu, an attorney at the ACLU.

Child welfare agencies in at least 26 states and Washington, D.C., have considered using algorithmic tools, and at least 11 have deployed them, according to a recent ACLU white paper by Xu and colleagues.

LITTLE TRANSPARENCY, GROWING INFLUENCE

Family law attorney Frank says shes always worried about the lack of due process and secrecy surrounding Allegheny Countys child welfare algorithm. Some of her clients have asked if the system was surveilling them because they used public assistance or community programs, but she cant answer.

I just dont understand why its something thats kept in secret, Frank said.

Once, Frank recalled, a judge demanded to know a familys score, but the county resisted, claiming it didnt want to influence the legal proceeding with the numbers spat out by the algorithm.

Bruce Noel, who oversees call screeners using Alleghenys tool, said that while the risk score advises their decision on whether to launch an investigation, he is torn about sharing that information with families because of the tools complexity. He added that he is cognizant of the racial disparities in the underlying data, and said his team didnt have much input into development.

Given that our data is drawn from public records and involvement with public systems, we know that our population is going to garner scores that are higher than other demographics, such as white middle class folks who dont have as much involvement with public systems, Noel said.

Dalton said she personally doesnt support giving parents their score because she worries it could discourage people from seeking services when they need them.

I do think there are risks and I want the community to also be on board with  the risks and benefits of transparency, Dalton said.

Other counties using algorithms are taking a different approach. Larimer County, Colorado, home to Fort Collins, is now testing a tool modeled on Alleghenys and plans to share scores with families if it moves forward with the program.

Its their life and their history, said Thad Paul, a manager with the countys Child, Youth & Family Services. We want to minimize the power differential that comes with being involved in child welfare  we just really think it is unethical not to share the score with families.

In the suburbs south of Denver, officials in Douglas County, Colorado, are using a similar tool and say they will share scores with families who request it.

Oregon does not share risk score numbers from its statewide screening tool, which was first implemented in 2018 and inspired by Alleghenys algorithm. The Oregon Department of Human Services  currently preparing to hire its eighth new child welfare director in six years  explored at least four other algorithms while the agency was under scrutiny by a crisis oversight board ordered by the governor.

It recently paused a pilot algorithm built to help decide when foster care children can be reunified with their families. Oregon also explored three other tools  predictive models to assess a childs risk for death and severe injury, whether children should be placed in foster care and if so, where.

For years, California explored data-driven approaches to the statewide child welfare system before abandoning a proposal to use a predictive risk modeling tool Putnam-Hornsteins team developed in 2019. The states Department of Social Services spent $195,273 on a two-year grant to develop the concept.

During the project, the state also explored concerns about how the tool may impact racial equity. These findings resulted in the state ceasing exploration, department spokesman Scott Murray said in an email.

Putnam-Hornsteins team is currently working with one of the nations largest local child welfare systems in Los Angeles County as it pilots a related tool.

The embattled agency is being audited following high-profile child deaths, and is currently seeking a new director after its previous one stepped down late last year. The complex-risk algorithm helps to isolate the highest-risk cases that are being investigated, according to the countys Department of Children and Family Services.

So far, the experiment has been limited to the Belvedere, Lancaster, and Santa Fe Springs offices, the agency said. The tool also has allowed the agency to generate and review reports about cases involving Black children and families who were deemed low-risk, but were still investigated and didnt result in any conclusive or substantiated allegations, the county said.

In the Mojave Desert city of Lancaster, U.S. Census shows 22% of the citys child population is Black. In the first few months that social workers started using the tool, county data shows that Black children were the subject of nearly half of all the investigations flagged for additional scrutiny.

The county did not immediately say why, but said it will decide whether to expand the tool later this year.

Back in Pittsburgh, family law attorney Frank is still trying to untangle how, exactly, the countys algorithm is impacting each client she shepherds through the system.

To find strength on the brutal days, she keeps a birthday calendar for the children shes helped and sends them handwritten cards to remember times when things went right.

Shes still haunted by a case in which she says she heard a social worker discuss a mothers risk score in court around 2018. The case ultimately escalated to foster care, but Frank has never been able to understand how that number influenced the familys outcome.

County officials said they could not imagine how a risk score could end up in court.

Theres no way to prove it  thats the problem, Frank said.

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Associated Press reporter Camille Fassett contributed to this report.

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Follow Sally Ho and Garance Burke on Twitter at @_sallyho and @garanceburke.

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Lawyers for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and many of those who had claims against the company over the toll of opioids joined together Friday to urge a federal judicial panel to allow a plan that would settle lawsuits across the country.

FILE - Nicholas Rivers of Maine, holds a sign that reads DOJ Hammer the Sacklers" during a protest with advocates for opioid victims outside the Department of Justice, Friday, Dec. 3, 2021, in Washington. A federal appeals panel is scheduled to hear arguments on whether members of the Sackler family can be granted protection from lawsuits as part of a bankruptcy settlement for the company they own, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma. If the company doesnt get what it wants, it could have to fight off thousands of individual lawsuits. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Lawyers for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and many of those who had claims against the company over the toll of opioids joined together Friday to urge a federal judicial panel to allow a plan that would settle lawsuits across the country.

The legal question facing the judges from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York: Does a bankruptcy judge have the authority to grant members of the Sackler family who own the company protection from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids?

Sackler family members have insisted on the legal shield in exchange for providing the money behind the proposed settlement. And as their offer was boosted over more than two years of negotiations and mediation, most of the parties came to support the deal  including all the states.

But the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee's Office, an arm of the Justice Department, has continued pushing back, asserting it's improper to provide a legal shield for members of the wealthy family who have not themselves filed for bankruptcy protection.

A non-debtor says: I can get the benefit of a discharge but I dont need to comply with any of the rules of the bankruptcy code and I dont need to contribute all of my assets, Michael Shih, a lawyer for the office, told a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit in a hearing Friday in New York City. Thats the fundamental inconsistency here.

Lawyers for Purdue and others who support the settlement said that the protections for Sackler family members would be limited to cases involving opioids and are needed to get a fair outcome, rather than seeing the fight continue through many trials all over the country.

FILE - A man looks at cardboard gravestones with the names of victims of opioid abuse outside the courthouse where the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy is taking place in White Plains, N.Y., Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. A federal appeals panel is scheduled to hear arguments on whether members of the Sackler family can be granted protection from lawsuits as part of a bankruptcy settlement for the company they own, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma. If the company doesnt get what it wants, it could have to fight off thousands of individual lawsuits. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The releases at issue are not only important to the plan, they are absolutely essential, said Mitchell Hurley, a lawyer for the official committee of unsecured creditors in Purdue's bankruptcy case told the judges.

Purdue lawyer Marshall Huebner pointed out that unlike other parties, the Bankruptcy Trustee's office and federal government are not in line to receive any money from the settlement. He told the judges that allowing lawsuits against the Sacklers to move forward might not result in more money to fight the opioid crisis  in part because most of the family's wealth is in trusts, much of it overseas.

We are bringing in billions and billions of dollars to save lives, Huebner told the court.

All three judges asked pointed questions on the positions of both Huebner and Shih.

The 2nd Circuit judges did not indicate when they would rule, but it often takes weeks or months after a hearing.

No matter how the 2nd Circuit rules on the case, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is possible. If Purdue and its allies win, they still must go back to the bankruptcy judge to get the latest version of the deal approved.

Under the planned deal, Sackler family members would contribute $5.5 billion to $6 billion over time, plus give up ownership of the company. Purdue would then become a new entity known as Knoa Pharma that would dedicate its profits to fighting the nation's opioid epidemic.

Most of the Sacklers' money also would go to fighting the epidemic, but at least $750 million would be distributed to some individual victims and their families.

Other product-liability cases have been settled through bankruptcy court by using the sort of protections this deal would give the Sacklers. But opponents of the settlement are challenging the strategy based on the fact that a handful of parties still object to the deal.

Almost all the governments and other entities that originally sued Purdue have agreed to the settlement. Besides the bankruptcy trustee, the only official objectors left are Canadian local governments and First Nations, and two mothers of sons who died of opioid overdoses.

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This week, more than 1,000 families who have lost loved ones to overdoses sent a letter asking the U.S. Justice Department to drop its opposition. They said individual victims would not receive payments if the settlement is derailed.

One of the letter-signers is Chery Juaire of Marlborough, Massachusetts, who lost two adult sons to overdoses. She said Friday that she hopes the court clears the way for the settlement  and that the Justice Department stops fighting against it.

We just hope the judges agree with our position and hope they rule soon, she said, because lives are at stake.

The federal judge overseeing Purdue's bankruptcy case approved a settlement last year that was later rejected on an appeal brought primarily by attorneys general for eight states and the District of Columbia. The sides then went to mediation that ultimately persuaded the Sacklers to increase their contribution by more than $1 billion.

Purdue is perhaps the highest-profile player in the opioid industry. But several other drugmakers, distribution companies and pharmacies also have been sued by state and local governments. While a handful of cases have gone to trial, many also are being settled.

Earlier this year, drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and distribution giants AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson finalized deals to provide a total of $26 billion. Most of the money is required to be used to fight the opioid crisis, which has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the last two decades.
OTTAWA - Canada has announced a new responsible businessstrategy to ensure companies prevent or ease negative effects to human rights and the environment in their operations overseas.

International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development Minister Mary Ng rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, December 16, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Patrick Doyle

OTTAWA - Canada has announced a new responsible businessstrategy to ensure companies prevent or ease negative effects to human rights and the environment in their operations overseas.

Advocates, however, are criticizing the strategy for being largely a repeat of the previous one put in place by Stephen Harper's Conservative government in 2014.

Canada's international trade minister said the new strategy will help Canadian companies operating abroad to build on the "Canadian brand" and set themselves apart from competitors.

Minister Mary Ng said the strategy is a set of tools and supports to help companies adopt high ethical standards, including to uphold human rights and protect the environment.

"Businesses are shooting themselves in the foot, to their own success, by not having strong responsible business conduct, because we know that having it will just make them more successful," Ng said in an interview.

Emily Dwyer, who heads the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, said the strategy fails to centre the rights of people and communities affected by corporate wrongdoing.

Catherine Coumans, research co-ordinator at MiningWatch Canada, said there was basically nothing new in the strategy.

"I just started thinking, 'Oh my god. All I'm seeing is just a repeating of things that already exist.' Just the tiniest tweaks.

The previous strategy focused on the extractive sector, while the new strategy is not industry-specific.

Ng said the strategy and the work of Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan will be "complementary."

O'Regan said last week he is preparing legislation to make Canadian companies ensure that they are not using slave labour or exploiting child workers overseas.

The five-year strategy announced by Ng aims to have Canadian companies put in place responsible business practices.

The government said it will include provisions in bilateral and multilateral trade agreements to advance responsible conduct globally.

Dwyer noted that the strategy says the government has been doing that since 2009, which means it hasnt been having an effect, because companies are still involved in abuses.

The strategy also does not say what those provisions will specifically contain, she said.

"We certainly think that having a human rights focus  embedded in trade agreements is important. But there's not enough detail in the strategy to see what is actually meant by that," Dwyer said.

Companies that use the Trade Commissioner Service, which helps sell their products and services abroad, will need to attest that they will engage in responsible business conduct.

The service's benefits can be withdrawn if a company fails to comply with Canada's "laws, policies and standards" on responsible business conduct.

Ng did not say how binding the strategy is, but said "countless" companies that want to grow and work internationally rely on the Trade Commissioner Service.

Coumans said the attestations are not new, as the 2014 strategy had "integrity agreements" that performed the same function. These agreements are problematic because they are not made public, she said.

"If people don't know which companies have signed these and which companies have not, we can't hold either the company or the government to account," Coumans said.

Anyone who wants to report grievances against companies for alleged wrongdoing can go to the National Contact Point, a government agency meant to address human rights and environmental complaints, or the Canadian ombudsperson for responsible enterprise, a watchdog for human rights abuses by Canadian companies abroad.

Ng praised the ombudsperson, calling the office a very good tool for ensuring Canadian companies respect human rights.

"They've got the tools and the resources to do the work that they have been given the mandate to do," said Ng.

Dwyer said the strategy fails to deal with the fact that these two dispute resolution mechanisms "are completely ineffective.

A 2015 report by OECD Watch looked at national contact points from several countries including Canada over a 15-year period. It found "the overwhelming majority" of complaints do not stop corporate misconduct or give harmed people remedy for abuses.

The ombudsperson lacks real powers to investigate or to compel documents and testimony, Dwyer said. "So expect that the result is going to be the same."

The Liberal government appointed the first ombudsperson in 2019, replacing the corporate responsibility counsellor, which had faced widespread criticism as a toothless entity.

At issue is whether the new ombudsperson Sheri Meyerhoffer, a lawyer with a long record in business and international development, can compel reluctant companies to co-operate with her investigations and follow her recommendations.

Ng said she is "very confident" in the work Meyerhoffer is doing.

Last month, two federal New Democrats, Peter Julian and Heather McPherson, tabled two private-members bills that would make Canadian companies more accountable for human rights abuses and environmental harms abroad.

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Julian said Bill C-262 would create legal tools, giving victims of human rights violations by Canadian companies abroad recourse in Canadian courts.

McPherson said Bill C-263 would give the corporate responsibility watchdog the power and teeth to investigate wrongdoing by Canadian corporations.

Dwyer said the two bills fulfil the criteria that she is looking for.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2022.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
BEIJING (AP)  China says it halted railroad freight traffic with North Korea as it deals with the spread of COVID-19 in the border town of Dandong.

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2017, file photo, visitors walk across the Yalu River Broken Bridge, right, next to the Friendship Bridge connecting China and North Korea in Dandong in northeastern China's Liaoning province. China on Friday, April 29, 2022, said it halted railroad freight traffic with North Korea in Dandong as it deals with the spread of COVID-19 in the border town. (AP Photo/Emily Wang, File)

BEIJING (AP)  China says it halted railroad freight traffic with North Korea as it deals with the spread of COVID-19 in the border town of Dandong.

The countries had reopened trade between Dandong and North Koreas Sinuiju in January following a two-year pause while the North imposed one of the world's most restrictive pandemic border closures despite the strain on its broken economy.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Friday the decision to suspend the freight services was taken in light of the current epidemic situation in Dandong, but he gave no other details.

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The Dandong city government on Monday ordered all residents to swiftly return home and stay there to stem the spread of the virus. It said the government would make strenuous efforts to ensure the daily needs of residents but made no mention of links with North Korea and did not say when the lockdown would be lifted.

While many countries are dropping restrictions and trying to live with the virus, China has been sticking to a zero-COVID approach, which requires mass testing and lockdowns and keeping its international borders largely shut.

North Koreas decision to tentatively reopen-cross border trade with China, its main ally and economic lifeline, possibly reflected a growing urgency in its need for outside relief.

North Korea still claims to have a perfect record in keeping out COVID-19 from its territory  a claim widely doubted. But the closure of its border to nearly all trade and visitors for two years further shocked an economy already damaged by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile program.

Experts say the North would have focused on importing fertilizers to boost food production, factory goods to spur dismal industrial production, and construction materials to support ambitious development projects that leader Kim Jong Un touts as major accomplishments.

The North has been accelerating its weapons tests in recent months, including its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 in March, as it revives brinkmanship to pressure the United States to accept it as a nuclear power and remove sanctions. South Korea's Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean affairs, didn't immediately provide more details on the suspension of freight traffic between North Korea and China.
NEW DELHI (AP)  An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia's war in Ukraine.

A woman harvests wheat on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Thursday, April 28, 2022. An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia's war in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

NEW DELHI (AP)  An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Gigantic landfills in India's capital New Delhi have caught fire in recent weeks. Schools in eastern Indian state Odisha have been shut for a week and in neighboring West Bengal, schools are stocking up on oral rehydration salts for kids. On Tuesday, Rajgarh, a city of over 1.5 million people in central India, was the country's hottest, with daytime temperatures peaking at 46.5 degrees Celsius (114.08 Fahrenheit). Temperatures breached the 45 C (113 F) mark in nine other cities.

But it was the heat in March  the hottest in India since records first started being kept in 1901  that stunted crops. Wheat is very sensitive to heat, especially during the final stage when its kernels mature and ripen. Indian farmers time their planting so that this stage coincides with India's usually cooler spring.

Climate change has made Indias heat wave hotter, said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the Imperial College of London. She said that before human activities increased global temperatures, heat waves like this year's would have struck India once in about half a century.

But now it is a much more common event  we can expect such high temperatures about once in every four years," she said.

India's vulnerability to extreme heat increased 15% from 1990 to 2019, according to a 2021 report by the medical journal The Lancet. It is among the top five countries where vulnerable people, like the old and the poor, have the highest exposure to heat. It and Brazil have the the highest heat-related mortality in the world, the report said.

A farmer carries wheat crop after harvested on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Thursday, April 28, 2022. An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia's war in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Farm workers like Baldev Singh are among the most vulnerable. Singh, a farmer in Sangrur in northern Indias Punjab state, watched his crop shrivel before his eyes as an usually cool spring quickly shifted to unrelenting heat. He lost about a fifth of his yield. Others lost more.

I am afraid the worst is yet to come, Singh said.

Punjab is India's grain bowl" and the government has encouraged cultivation of wheat and rice here since the 1960s. It is typically the biggest contributor to India's national reserves and the government had hoped to buy about a third of this year's stock from the region. But government assessments predict lower yields this year, and Devinder Sharma, an agriculture policy expert in northern Chandigarh city. said he expected to get 25% less.

The story is the same in other major wheat-producing states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Overall, India purchased over 43 million metric tons (47.3 million U.S. tons) of wheat in 2021. Sharma estimates it will instead get 20% to nearly 50% less.

Even though it is the world's second-largest producer of wheat, India exports only a small fraction of its harvest. It had been looking to capitalize on the global disruption to wheat supplies from Russia's war in Ukraine and find new markets for its wheat in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

That looks uncertain given the tricky balance the government must maintain between demand and supply. It needs about 25 million tons (27.5 million U.S. tons) of wheat for the vast food welfare program that usually feeds more than 80 million people.

Before the pandemic, India had vast stocks that far exceeded its domestic needs  a buffer against the risk of famine.

Those reserves have been strained, Sharma said, by distribution of free grain during the pandemic to about 800 million people  vulnerable groups like migrant workers. The program was extended until September but it's unclear if it will continue beyond then.

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We are no longer with that kind of a surplus . . . with exports now picking up, there would be a lot of pressure on the domestic availability of wheat, Sharma said.

India's federal agriculture and commerce ministries didn't respond to questions sent to them via email.

Beyond India, other countries are also grappling with poor harvests that hinder their ability to help offset the potential shortfall of supplies from Russia and Ukraine, normally the world's largest and fifth-largest exporters of wheat.

China's agriculture minister, Tang Renjian, said last month that the winter wheat harvest was likely to be poor, hindered by flooding and by delays in planting.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
OTTAWA - The federal government has set aside about $1.5 billion to compensate Indigenous people who have been without clean drinking water, the result of a class-action lawsuit initiated by First Nations communities.

Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu drinks water from a glass as she listens to speakers appearing virtually during a news conference, Thursday, April 28, 2022 in Ottawa. The federal government has set aside about $1.5 billion to compensate Indigenous people who have been without clean drinking water, the result of a class-action lawsuit initiated by First Nations communities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - The federal government has set aside about $1.5 billion to compensate Indigenous people who have been without clean drinking water, the result of a class-action lawsuit initiated by First Nations communities.

But while the government called the settlement "historic," people living under the country's longest boil-water advisory called it unfair and frustrating at a news conference Thursday.

Chief Wayne Moonias of Neskantaga First Nation in Ontario said the 27-year-long advisory is "heartbreaking," particularly for children who've never known clean water.

Community member Roy Moonias said he's only entitled to claim six years of compensation even though he's lived under the advisory since 1995.

"That is B.S.," Moonias said. "Who made that call?"

He said the water treatment plant in Neskantaga is still incomplete, "and our people have lost hope in this project."

"The government of Canada should be accountable for the wrongdoing of this community," he said.

The settlement will compensate people living in communities that were subject to a drinking water advisory of at least one year between November 1995 and June 20, 2021.

Tataskweyak Chief Doreen Spence said the class-action lawsuit was intended to make the federal government aware of the injustice faced by Indigenous people.

The lawsuit was initiated by Neskantaga First Nation, Curve Lake First Nation and Tataskweyak Cree Nation in 2019. The court approved a settlement agreement on Dec. 22, 2021.

But representatives from those communities who were invited to speak at Thursday's news conference said people are still suffering.

Sharon Sakanee, health director for Neskantaga, said people have come to the nursing station with skin rashes caused by the water.

"We are asked to use bottled water to bathe, to cook, to clean, and thats not acceptable," she said.

Sakanee's son was born a month after the water advisory came into effect in 1995. She said he died by suicide in 2012  shortly before the community declared a state of emergency over suicides  and "he never got to drink clean drinking water since the day he was born, and thats what all our children today are facing.

"It's just another form of genocide," she said.

Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said individual compensation will never make up for the harm to people's lives, but added the government's commitment of at least $6 billion through the settlement is meant to end all boil-water advisories "once and for all."

"I agree, nobody should have to fight so hard for basic human rights," she said.

Spence invited Hajdu to visit her community in Manitoba, which has been under an advisory for five years, to get a better understanding of the living conditions.

In a news release, the government said it "acknowledges the past harms caused to First Nations by a lack of safe drinking water and is firmly committed to supporting these communities by addressing systemic barriers and developing sustainable solutions."

The settlement also includes a $400 million First Nation Economic and Cultural Restoration Fund, and a promise of "making all reasonable efforts" to repeal the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act and introduce a replacement law by the end of the year.

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If we want to build reconciliation, a path to healing, we have to address these basic fundamental rights of individuals," Chief Moonias said.

The Trudeau government promised to end all long-term boil water advisories when it was first elected in 2015. So far 132 advisories have ended but there are still 33 active in 28 communities.

Tataskweyak elder Eunice Beardy said the prime minister "makes promises but doesn't keep them."

Im hoping that someday before its my time to leave this earth I see that clean water for our young people, she said.

The settlement claims period is open and people can apply for compensation until next March.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2022.
IQALUIT - A company that runs the largest mining operation in Nunavut says it has awardedtens of millions of dollars in contracts to Inuit firms in the hamlet of Sanirajak, but some residents say they dont know where that money has gone.

The Mary River mine sits about 150 kilometres south of Pond Inlet, Nvt., as shown in this undated handout image. The company that runs the mine, Baffinland Iron Mines, says it has given tens of millions of dollars to Inuit firms in the hamlet of Sanirajak, but some community members say they dont know where that money has gone. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.*MANDATORY CREDIT*

IQALUIT - A company that runs the largest mining operation in Nunavut says it has awardedtens of millions of dollars in contracts to Inuit firms in the hamlet of Sanirajak, but some residents say they dont know where that money has gone.

An Oct. 18, 2021, memo from Baffinland Iron Mines, which runs the Mary River iron ore mine near Pond Inlet, summarizes community engagement with its neighbours.

A section of the memo highlights direct benefits to Sanirajak, a settlement of about 850 people, including $42.9 million awarded to Inuit firms there since 2018.

Baffinland told The Canadian Press in a statement that it could not provide details on the money, including the names of its contractors in Sanirajak,because its commercial contracts are confidential.

It did say the $42.9 million is "committed," but not all of it has been spent. The company said the figure represents the value of contracts awarded to Inuit firms for work at its Mary River and Milne Inlet sites, with most of the costs being labour, materials, equipment or facilities.

"Contractor profit is only a portion of the $42.9M figure," it said.

Baffinland added that it defines an Inuit firm in an agreement with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, the group that represents Inuit in the Baffin region and acts as the mining company's landlord.

The agreement states an Inuit firm must carry out the majority of its business in the Nunavut Settlement Area and be enrolled with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the land-claims body that represents Nunavut Inuit and keeps a registry of all Inuit firms in the territory.

The Canadian Press put questions to the Qikiqtani Inuit Association but did not receive a response.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. said it classifies Inuit firms as organizations that either have 51 per cent of voting shares owned by Inuit, a co-operative controlled by Inuit, or a sole Inuk proprietorship.

The registry lists three Inuit firms in Sanirajak: Pilitak Enterprises Ltd., a construction company; the Sanirajak Co-op; and Pirursiak Arctic Tours.

Annie-Claude Gelinas, Pilitaks director, said in an email that the company has never done business with Baffinland.

Joyce Arnardjuak, manager of Pirursiak, said it hasn't done any business with the mining company either.

Nick Snider, the Co-op's general manager, said in an interview that the Co-op helps with shuttling employees to Baffinland's planes and has spent $60,000 on community food hampers distributed by Baffinland.

But that doesn't come close to the nearly $43 million.

"There's no sum that large coming through us," Snider said.

The mining company gives money quarterly to the Co-op based on how many employees from the community work for the mine, he said.

"That was around $16,000 or something like that per quarter," he said.

Snider said Baffinland does contribute a lot to the community and is the biggest employer in Sanirajak. About 70 people work at the mine.

Dora Anguilianuk, one of three Inuit shareholders in Pilitak Enterprises, said she could not point to any business done with Baffinland.

I have no idea, because Ive never dealt with anything to do with Baffinland, she said.

Anguilianuk said shes responsible for supervising Inuit staff.

When theres projects going on  I mostly look after the girls in the kitchen, the cleaners, she said.

She said she couldnt say how much she receives from Pilitak as a shareholder, but that she receives the money once a year.

Shareholders have annual meetings to discuss upcoming projects, she said.

We basically discuss the projects that were held that year and things that will be worked on in the communities.

Anguilianuk said the company has had a hard time recruiting and retaining Inuit staff.

Sometimes its really hard to find people here, she said.

Joelie Kaenerk, who represents Sanirajak in Nunavuts legislative assembly, praised Baffinland for engaging with the community.

"Over the past years, I do believe Baffinland is doing very well with its community information tours," he said.

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But he added he has not seen millions of dollars from Baffinland come into the community.

"I have not seen this $42 million myself," said Kaenerk, who added that he planned to raise the issue in the legislative assembly.

The mining company has proposed to expand its operations by doubling its output and building a railway to the sea. That proposal is currently before the Nunavut Impact Review Board and a decision is expected in May.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2022.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship
Manitoba is well-positioned to combat climate change  so its time to stop sitting on our laurels and take greater action, according to an international think tank leader.

Manitoba is well-positioned to combat climate change  so its time to stop "sitting on our laurels" and take greater action, according to an international think tank leader.

"Manitoba has all of the ingredients to get moving in this space, but weve been kind of sitting on our laurels for too long, talking about how, Oh, we have hydro power, or, Were not a big part of the problem," said Jane McDonald, executive vice-president of the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

"Its time to sort of (get) moving and get ambitious about how we could be part of this new economic future."

Such a future requires a major shift to electricity, redirecting mining efforts and developing low carbon fuels, McDonald said.

She delivered a speech to Manitobas business community Thursday. The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce held the luncheon at the Delta Hotel.

The world is on track to warm by 3 C by 2050 if nothing changes, she said. Itd result in a 30 per cent loss of land species, major migrations from already hot climates like India and Pakistan, and continuous natural disasters, Chamber members heard.

"Canadian conversation always devolves into, Oh the oil and gas sector they really need to clean up their game," McDonald said. "Its not about oil and gas. Its about building a new system that doesnt use oil and gas."

Just four per cent of Canadas vehicles are electric, she said. But, governments globally are turning to incentives and mandates to popularize the new transport.

Manitoba needs to electrify its transportation grid and its buildings, among other things, McDonald said.

"Government wont be able to fund all of this," she told business professionals. "Its going to cost us about $100 billion a year in annual investments to get to net zero (emissions) by 2050, and theres no way the federal government can keep covering all of that."

The provinces business sector can increase its manpower on mining more energy-efficient materials like nickel, lithium and cobalt, McDonald said. Partnerships with First Nations are crucial, she added.

"Were going to need to see a lot more jobs," she later told the Free Press.

Curt Hull has been mapping the economic growth that could come out of zeroing in on an environmental strategy. Hull is a Climate Change Connection project director and was in the audience Thursday.

"I wouldnt say (the current environmental jobs market) is growing leaps and bounds," he said. "(But), theres actually thousands of job years in the future for this."

Financial investment often stops businesses from committing to more environmentally friendly practices, McDonald said.

"If we (dont) do anything, were only going to end up dumping our money over and over again repairing the fallout from these extreme events that were starting to see," she said.

Another roadblock is a lack of understanding, money or resources on how to make change.

"In our discussions, it was just a sense of, business didnt know necessarily where that next step was," said Loren Remillard, president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

So, the non-profit has partnered with Efficiency Manitoba. The Chamber will have a staff member responsible for helping companies access environmental programs and government funding.

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Efficiency Manitoba, a Crown corporation, has over 35 programs to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

"Every time we do an event focused around climate change and the environment, theres more and more companies that are in that (environmental) space," Remillard noted.

Globally, the goal is to slow warming to 1.5 C by 2050. Manitoba set a greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal of one megaton by Dec. 31 (beginning Jan. 1, 2018) in its Made-in-Manitoba Climate and Green Plan.

Manitobas emissions declined by 589,000 tonnes in 2020 compared to 2019  a 2.65 per cent reduction  according to a provincial spokesperson. The province will report on its 2022 target "once data is available to do so," the spokesperson wrote in an email.

There will be approximately 5,200 new Manitoban jobs in the environmental and cleantech sector by 2025, according to ECO Canada.

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LONDON (AP)  Twitters quarterly profit, revenue and the number of daily users on its platform are rising but its quarterly report, released days after agreeing to be sold to billionaire Elon Musk, offered scant details about what it expects on the financial front for the rest of the year.

FILE - In this April 26, 2017, file photo is a Twitter app icon on a mobile phone in Philadelphia. If Elon Musk and Twitter get their way, the company will soon be privately held and under his control. The most obvious immediate change would likely be Twitter's stock being taken off the New York Stock Exchange. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

LONDON (AP)  Twitters quarterly profit, revenue and the number of daily users on its platform are rising but its quarterly report, released days after agreeing to be sold to billionaire Elon Musk, offered scant details about what it expects on the financial front for the rest of the year.

The social media company on Thursday reported net income of $513 million, or 61 cents a share, but that includes a big one-time gain from the sale of its MoPub business, clouding comparisons with the year-ago period.

Revenue, most of it from ads, rose 16% to $1.2 billion in the three months to March compared with the same period last year, though the company said the figure reflected headwinds associated with the war in Ukraine, without elaborating.

Twitter reported an average of 229 million daily active users in the quarter, which was about 14 million more than a revised 214.7 million daily users in the previous quarter.

The San Francisco company canceled a conference call with executives and industry analysts that usually accompanies its results, so there will be little further insight into the companys current financial condition.

Given the pending acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, we will not be providing any forward looking guidance, and are withdrawing all previously provided goals and outlook, the company said.

Musk, who's paying $54.20 for each outstanding share of Twitter, did not speak publicly on the quarterly report, perhaps among its last as a publicly traded entity.

Musks $44 billion deal to buy Twitter was announced earlier this week and is expected to close sometime this year. But before the deal is completed, shareholders will have to weigh in, as well as regulators in the U.S. and in countries where Twitter does business. So far though, few hurdles are expected, despite objections from some of Twitter's own employees, along with users who worry about Musk's stance on free speech and what it might mean for harassment and hate speech on the platform.

Angelo Zino, tech analyst at CFRA, said the results, combined with a slew of challenges facing the digital ad industry, should solidify the boards decision to approve Musk's offer.

We see little reason to believe Twitter could extract greater shareholder value remaining public," he said in a research note.

Still, Twitter shares have yet to reach the buyout price and on Thursday, the companys stock rose slightly to $49.11.

The gap between the deal price and current stock price seems to indicate that some investors remain uncertain about when and whether the deal will be completed, said Harry Kraemer, a former CEO and chairman of Baxter International who is now a professor at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management.

One factor in the uncertainty is how unusual it is for an individual to buy a multibillion-dollar company.

In the case of a publicly-traded company acquiring another, investors can examine the buyers financial disclosures and see whether they have the cash to fund the deal. The buyer can also issue shares to raise funds, as needed.

But in this case, Tesla is not buying the company, Elon Musk is, Kraemer said. Elon Musk is an individual. You cant look at a balance sheet and see where the cash is coming from.

Another factor is Musks propensity to change his mind, fueling fears he could back out of the deal, even if he has to pay a $1 billion break-up fee.

Musk, who also runs the electric car company Tesla, as well as SpaceX and other ventures, says he plans to take Twitter private. If he does, the company will no longer be beholden to shareholders or publicly report its financial results, which have been mixed at best since the company went public in 2013.

Twitter has struggled to consistently post profits as a public company while generating lackluster revenue growth compared to the two dominant forces in digital advertising, Google and Facebook.

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On one hand, going private could give Twitter more room to experiment while focusing less on short-term profit and its stock price. On the other hand, even the world's richest man is likely to want the company to make money.

I think there is nothing better for Twitter than Elon Musk buying it and ideally replacing the board, and also doubling down on investments into products and new revenue-generating sources, John Meyer, a technology entrepreneur and investor, told The Associated Press earlier this week.

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Barbara Ortutay reported from Oakland, California.

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See all of APs tech coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/technology
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The United Nations doggedly sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol on Friday, while Ukraine accused Russia of showing its contempt for the world organization by bombing Kyiv when the U.N. leader was visiting the capital.

In this image provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres leave a news conference during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 28, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The United Nations doggedly sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol on Friday, while Ukraine accused Russia of showing its contempt for the world organization by bombing Kyiv when the U.N. leader was visiting the capital.

The mayor of Mariupol said the situation inside the steel plant that has become the southern port citys last stronghold is dire, and citizens are begging to get saved." Mayor Vadym Boichenko added: "There, its not a matter of days. Its a matter of hours.

Ukraines forces, meanwhile, fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the country's industrial Donbas region. Artillery fire, sirens and explosions could be heard in some cities. And a senior U.S. defense official said the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of Ukrainian resistance.

In other developments:

 A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, his family said in what would be the wars first known death of an American in combat. The U.S. has not confirmed the report.

Firefighters try to put out a fire following an explosion in Kyiv, Ukraine on Thursday, April 28, 2022. Russia mounted attacks across a wide area of Ukraine on Thursday, bombarding Kyiv during a visit by the head of the United Nations. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

 Ukrainian forces are cracking down on people accused of helping Russian troops. In the Kharkiv region alone, nearly 400 have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted after Moscows Feb. 24 invasion.

 The international sanctions imposed on the Kremlin over the war are squeezing the country. The Russian Central Bank said Russias economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year, and the outlook is extremely uncertain.

On Thursday, Moscow's forces launched a missile attack on a residential high-rise and another building in Kyiv, shattering weeks of relative calm in the capital following Russia's retreat from the region early this month.

Clean-up crews prepare to work at the site of an explosion in Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday, April 29, 2022. Russia struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday evening. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said one of its journalists, Vira Hyrych, was killed in the bombardment. Ten people were wounded, one of them losing a leg, authorities said.

The missile strike came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"This says a lot about Russias true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the U.N. and everything the organization represents, Zelenskyy said.

A Ukrainian soldier stands guard at the site of an explosion in Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday, April 29, 2022. Russia struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday evening. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was Russian President Vladimir Putin's way of giving his middle finger" to Guterres.

In an apparent reference to the Kyiv bombing, Russias military said it had destroyed production buildings at the Artem defense factory.

The missile strike came just as life in Kyiv seemed to be getting back a little closer to normal, with cafes and other businesses starting to reopen and growing numbers of people going out to enjoy the arrival of spring.

A liquor store owner looks at the damage to his shop caused by an explosion in Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday, April 29, 2022. Russia struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday evening. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst and head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said the attack carried a message: Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure."

Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east also have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.

But so far, Russias troops and the separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains.

Emergency services arrive in the area following an explosion in Kyiv, Ukraine on Thursday, April 28, 2022. Russia struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday evening. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

The U.S. believes the Russians are at least several days behind where they wanted to be as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east, said the senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the American militarys assessment.

As Russian troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been slow and uneven and certainly not decisive, the official said.

In the bombed-out city of Mariupol, around 100,000 people were believed trapped with little food, water or medicine. An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders and 1,000 civilians were holed up at the Azovstal steel plant.

People take shelter in the basement of a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine on Thursday, April 28, 2022. Russia struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday evening. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

The Soviet-era steel plant has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more dire after the Russians dropped bunker busters and other bombs.

Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse, said Boichenko, the mayor.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said the organization was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv to create safe passage.

Firefighters put out a fire after a Russian rocket attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 28, 2022. Russia mounted attacks across a wide area of Ukraine on Thursday, bombarding Kyiv during a visit by the head of the United Nations. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

This time, we hope theres a slight touch of humanity in the enemy, the mayor said. Ukraine has blamed the failure of numerous previous evacuation attempts on continued Russian shelling.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that the real problem is that "humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals. Moscow has repeatedly claimed right-wing Ukrainians are thwarting evacuation efforts and using civilians as human shields.

Also Friday, two towns in central Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region were hit by Russian rockets, the regional governor said. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.

Kateryna Hodza, 85, and her grandson Dorschenko take a bus from a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. They fled from Mala Tokmachka, in Zaporizhzhia region, as thousands of Ukrainian continue to leave Russian occupied areas. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Fighting could be heard from Kramatorsk to Sloviansk, two cities about 18 kilometers (11 miles) apart in the Donbas. Columns of smoke rose from the Sloviansk area and neighboring cities. At least one person was reported wounded in the shelling.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.

The constant attacks show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people, he said.

Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) servicemen enter a building during an operation to arrest suspected Russian collaborators in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. Ukrainian authorities are cracking down on anyone suspected of aiding Russian troops under laws enacted by Ukraines parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Feb. 24 invasion. Offenders face up to 15 years in prison for acts of collaborating with the invaders or showing public support for them. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones, as they did with Mariupol.

The governor of Russias Kursk region said that a border post came under mortar attack from Ukraine and that Russian border forces returned fire. He said there were no casualties on the Russian side.

In the village of Ruska Lozava, near Kharkiv, hundreds of people were evacuated after Ukrainian forces retook the city from Russian occupiers, according to the regional governor. Those who fled to Kharkiv spoke of dire conditions under the Russians, with little water or food and no electricity.

A police officer inspects a destroyed area following a Russian missiles attack on Thursday in Fastov, south of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

We were hiding in the basement. It was horror. The basement was shaking from the explosions. We were screaming, we were crying and we were praying to God, said Ludmila Bocharnikova.

A video posted by Ukraine's Azov battalion showed troops raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the government building in the center of the village, though fighting continued on the outskirts.

Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.

Kateryna Hodza, 85, takes a bus from a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. They fled from Mala Tokmachka, in Zaporizhzhia region, as thousands of Ukrainian continue to leave Russian occupied areas. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for," she said, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it.

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The Marine Corps said Cancel served four years but was given a bad-conduct discharge and sentenced to five months' confinement for violating orders. No details on the offense were given.

At least two other foreigners fighting on the Ukrainian side, one from Britain and the other from Denmark, have also been killed.

A small wooden cross hangs inside a car parked in a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. Thousands of Ukrainian continue to flee Russian occupied areas. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

___

Associated Press journalists Jon Gambrell and Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, Yesica Fisch in Sloviansk, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
With passenger traffic running at one-quarter of pre-pandemic levels, the Winnipeg Airports Authority needed plenty of government support  as well as relief from its debt holders  to make it through 2021.

With passenger traffic running at one-quarter of pre-pandemic levels, the Winnipeg Airports Authority needed plenty of government support  as well as relief from its debt holders  to make it through 2021.

However, "We have recently had some of our busiest days since the pandemic. We have had a very busy spring break season, and we are certainly looking forward to a positive recovery," new chief executive officer Nick Hays said at the WAA annual meeting Thursday, held at the end of the departures lounge.

Winnipeg Richardson International Airport counted 1.2 million passengers in 2021, which was even slightly less than 2020, when it had three months of regular traffic before the pandemic hit. Last years count was only about 25 per cent of 2019s 4.5 million passengers.

Passenger totals at the Winnipeg airport had not been that low since 1971.

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg Airports Authority President and CEO Nick Hays says business is starting to return to pre-pandemic levels.

While travellers are reboarding planes with gusto these days, Hays said it will "take a few more years to recover, in terms of passenger volumes and take a few more years beyond that for us to work off all the extra debt we had to incur during the pandemic."

Total revenue for 2021 was $75.1 million, compared to $139.8 million in 2019, when it recorded a profit of $3.4 million.

In September 2020, the WAA increased its airport improvement fee to $38 from $20, which is included in the price of every flight out of the Winnipeg airport.

The revenue statement for 2021 included $7.8 million in federal government support. Total federal relief in 2021 totalled $13.9 million, including the forgiveness of $3.5 million in land lease charges.

That assistance helped the WAA reduce its net loss from $48.1 million in 2020 to $34.2 million in 2021.

One constant amidst all this change has been cargo. It is a real bright spot for us in Winnipeg. It remains a key focus and source of growth for us now and into the future.  CEO Nick Hays

Last year, it had to issue another $100 million in debt and it was granted three years of relief from existing debt holders after the WAA  and every other airport in Canada  breached its debt covenants.

At the end of 2021, WAA had $633 million in long-term debt.

It has quickly become obvious to Hays, who replaced Barry Rempel as CEO at the end of February, how significant the growth of the cargo business is to Winnipeg operations.

"One constant amidst all this change has been cargo. It is a real bright spot for us in Winnipeg. It remains a key focus and source of growth for us now and into the future," Hays said.

Cargo landings and the gross weight of cargo was up every quarter last year, compared to 2020 and 2019.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES Hays was reluctant to say exactly how much the airport earns in revenue from cargo business, other than to say it is substantial and growing.

"Those increases reaffirm our commitment to continue to make significant, targeted, investments in our cargo campus to ensure the community has what it needs to succeed," Hays said.

While the WAA slashed capital expenditure last year to save costs, it continued to invest in the development of a $62-million multi-tenant air cargo logistics facility to be built at the site of the current Air Canada cargo building at the end of Sargent Avenue.

Hays was reluctant to say exactly how much the airport earns in revenue from cargo business, other than to say it is "substantial and growing."

However, there is some question about the long-term growth in air cargo in light of global trends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and current vulnerability of global supply chains.

Hays said hes only heard talk about increasing volumes from WAAs key cargo partners.

With all the talk about the environment being a top priority, air cargo is the most polluting form of transport known to man. How do you square that circle?  Logistics expert Barry Prentice

Meantime, Barry Prentice, a long-time logistics expert at the University of Manitoba and former member of the WAA board of directors, wonders just how sustainable air cargo is.

"With all the talk about the environment being a top priority, air cargo is the most polluting form of transport known to man," he said Thursday. "How do you square that circle?"

While air cargo traffic increased during the pandemic, the number of direct passenger routes out of Winnipeg has declined.

United Airlines recently cancelled its direct service to Chicago and Denver, and currently the only non-domestic destination with regular scheduled service is to Minneapolis.

While Hays said he could not give any specifics about any new connections on the horizon  there are now direct flights to Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., that werent available before the pandemic  hes heard from the community "loud and clear about the need to bring back those important routes including to the U.S."

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA - Police in Ottawa made several arrests Friday while facing off against protesters opposed to COVID-19 mandates, wearing helmets and carrying batons as big-rig trucks and campers attempted to make their way to Parliament Hill.

A temporary no-stopping sign is fixed with paper clips to a road sign near Parliament Hill, Thursday, April 28, 2022 in Ottawa. The area is part of a motorized vehicle exclusion zone set by the Ottawa Police Service. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - Police in Ottawa made several arrests Friday while facing off against protesters opposed to COVID-19 mandates, wearing helmets and carrying batons as big-rig trucks and campers attempted to make their way to Parliament Hill.

Protesters arrived Friday afternoon as part of the "Rolling Thunder" rally, organized by Freedom Fighters Canada, a group dedicated to speaking out against COVID-19 mandates.

Many of the protesters were also part of the three-week "Freedom Convoy"demonstration that gridlocked Ottawa's downtown earlier this year with big rigs, prompting the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act for the first time. That protest ended after hundreds of police officers moved in to disperse the crowds, making dozens of arrests.

Before the crowd arrived Friday, Ottawa police promised that protesters would not be allowed to get a foothold for a prolonged occupation this time.

They called in more than 800 reinforcements from the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police and regional police services to guard every major downtown intersection and prevent protesters from bringing vehicles into the core.

It started calmly enough, with familiar shouts of "Freedom!" as protesters mingled and danced on Wellington Street, the main drive in front of Parliament Hill. Protesters also marched through the ByWard Market with a police escort.

But early Friday evening, police warned of a large convoy trying to make their way into the city. Soon,hundreds of protesters were crowded around large trucks and campers just outside the parliamentary precinct.

As night fell, protesters yelled "Hold the line," trying to push officers away from the vehicles. Police gradually attempted to push the crowds away from the trucks and back toward Parliament Hill as protesters called them "traitors."

People were drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana throughout the crowd, and there were several clashes as police with helmets and batons moved the increasingly angry and adversarial group near the police line.

Ottawa city Coun. Jeff Leiper reported seeing police smash a truck window to take control of the vehicle. Police were seen making arrests and handing out tickets on the street.

City workers put up signs indicating a no stopping zone for motorists along the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, ahead a motorcycle convoy dubbed Rolling Thunder Ottawa that will take place over the weekend, in Ottawa, on Thursday, April 28, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Some of the vehicles left on their own, as a tactical police armoured vehicle led a tow truck to the scene.

Organizers appealed to the protesters to move back to Parliament Hill for a "party" after the final big-rig truck was moved out. Much of the crowd dissipated before 10 p.m.

The "Rolling Thunder" group had not initially been clear about the cause they're rallying for, except to say they would "peacefully celebrate our freedom," and they oppose the removal of veterans from the National War Memorial during the "Freedom Convoy."

However, many faces in the crowd belonged to protesters from the "Freedom Convoy" months earlier.

Angela Manella from North Bay, Ont., was in the national capital to protest the vaccine mandates in February. She said she's returned because the mandates are still in place.

"My experience of the convoy protest was that there was so much love and connection and just such good energy," Manella said Friday next to the Centennial Flame.

"I want to continue that energy and that momentum to continue to stand up for all of us."

She said there was a sense of community among protesters at the convoy in February and that may be part of what is drawing them together again.

Others who gathered near the War Memorial said they are only in Ottawa this weekend to honour veterans who police removed from the site along with the rest of the protesters in February.

"It's mostly like a parade to honour them for what they have done, they stood up for the right causes," said a protester in a black leather vest who would only identify himself as Mario.

The rally Friday night is expected to be followed by a convoy of hundreds of motorcycles through downtown Saturday, with a stop at the War Memorial and another rally on Parliament Hill.

Vehicles that are part of the rally won't be allowed into a zone that includes the war monument and Parliament, police say, nor will they be allowed to stop along the route, but participants can walk through the area.

It's also a chance for Ottawa's police force to win back the trust and respect of the community, after coming under heavy criticism during the February protest for allowing it to go on so long before taking action.

For more than three weeks, protesters created encampments in downtown streets, which were packed with big rigs adorned with messages speaking out against vaccine mandates, COVID-19 restrictions and the prime minister.

"I think we're going to have to wait and see. The Ottawa police lost a lot of trust last time. So this weekend is going to be a real test for them," said Brian Latour, one of the organizers of a counter-protest in Ottawa.

Some nearby residents remember the last protest as a nightmare  one they don't want to relive.

"A lot of them are concerned, some are scared and some are mad," said Mary Huang, president of the Centretown Community Association, which represents the neighbourhood closest to Parliament Hill.

She said neighbours are still traumatized after the protest. The loud airhorns droning on at all hours of the night meant that many couldn't sleep, and some people felt intimidated when they left their homes, she said.

They're worried this weekend will be a repeat, before residents have even had a chance to recover, she said.

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Ottawa police have promised they won't allow another "illegal occupation" of the city, that there will be no tolerance for a long-term protest and any encampments will be dismantled.

By 4 p.m. Friday, city bylaw officers said they had issued 185 tickets and towed 20 vehicles related to the rally.

A statement on the "Rolling Thunder" website attributed to organizer Neil Sheard says the protesters plan to leave on Sunday, and they do not support "blockades, obstruction of police performing their duties, damage to property or hate and vitriol directed to the residents of Ottawa."

The statement also encourages supporters to follow the laws, and says police will be held accountable in court for their actions during the event.

"Lastly, as seen during the lawful protest in Ottawa, spread as much peace, love and patriotism to your fellow Canadians as possible," the statement says.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2022.
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has cancelled its vote on whether to reinstate suspended Grand Chief Arlen Dumas, who is under investigation for alleged harassment and sexual assault.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has cancelled its vote on whether to reinstate suspended Grand Chief Arlen Dumas, who is under investigation for alleged harassment and sexual assault.

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In a notice to chiefs obtained by the Free Press, the AMCs cabinet said it passed a motion Thursday to cancel the May 4 vote and reschedule it when the probe wraps up.

In March, the Free Press reported a senior female employee had filed a police report alleging Dumas had sexually assaulted her. Her claims have not been tested in court.

Chiefs suspended Dumas after the allegations were made public, and cancelled their general meeting. The chiefs ordered an arms length workplace investigation, of which few details have been made public.

Dumas was set to address chiefs ahead of a non-confidence vote, but Thursdays memo says the assembly has delayed that process in order to provide time for the independent and confidential workplace investigation against (the) grand chief to be completed.

Last summer, Dumas was re-elected as grand chief despite allegations in 2019 that he had sent text messages to younger women that made them feel uncomfortable. He was first elected in 2017.

 Staff
A body bag was wheeled from a Manitoba Avenue home Thursday afternoon, as the Winnipeg police forensics unit and plainclothes officers stood by.

A body bag was wheeled from a Manitoba Avenue home Thursday afternoon, as the Winnipeg police forensics unit and plainclothes officers stood by.

Police had not yet said what occurred at the home on the 900 block near Sgt. Tommy Prince Street, nor what the law enforcement response was.

However, neighbours told the Free Press a body had been found in the morning near the front entrance of the white 1 1/2-storey home.

"Its sad, so very sad," said Olive Monkman, 76, of the reported discovery across the street.

Her son, Denny Hunt, called her while she was inside Thursday morning, and said there was something going on outside.

"He says, Its all taped up  youve got to be kidding. So I came out the veranda and I looked, sure enough I saw a body laying there and all the (police) cruiser cars," Monkman said.

A woman, likely in her early 50s, moved in with young children earlier this year, Monkman said.

The other day, Monkman said, a "young guy" came by her house looking for a woman.

"But he was so out of it, he got the wrong house," she said.

That man then crossed the street to go to the house that now appears to be the focus of a police investigation, she said.

"They covered up a body at 10 oclock," said Hunt, 51. "Right in the front (of the house)."

A police cruiser car stood watch Thursday afternoon over the home, which had been cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape, along with much of the block, while a uniformed officer spoke with a woman carrying a clipboard, dressed in plainclothes.

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Forensics officers came in and out of the home to a white police van. One carried an evidence marker; another had a camera.

Later, an unmarked black van pulled up and was led under the tape, and two men carried out a gurney to the front of the house. Police held up black cloth, shielding the area from view, as the men lifted the bag onto the gurney.

Monkman has lived on Manitoba Street with her son and others for about three years. She said its normally a fine place to live, but thinks the city has changed since she moved from up North with her parents as a girl.

More violent, she said, and it happens anywhere.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera
There will not be any changes to Winnipegs ban on pit bulls after a narrow council vote that rejected a call to end the controversial rule.

There will not be any changes to Winnipegs ban on pit bulls after a narrow council vote that rejected a call to end the controversial rule.

In a 9-7 vote late Thursday, a slim majority of councillors opted to keep the ban in place on owning specific breeds of dogs. Since 1990, American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, and predominant mixes of those breeds, have not been allowed as pets in the city.

THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE / Ryan Remiorz Since 1990, American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, and predominant mixes of those breeds, have not been allowed as pets in the city.

Prior to the vote, Mayor Brian Bowman told reporters he would not support the change.

"(The ban) was brought in after a vicious attack on one of our residents and I, for one, dont want to be responsible for increasing the number of pit bulls in the City of Winnipeg," said Bowman.

"A bite from a pit bull is very different than a chihuahua. Dogs do bite, but the bite from a pit bull can be deadly."

The mayor joined councillors Jeff Browaty, Scott Gillingham, Kevin Klein, Janice Lukes, Brian Mayes, John Orlikow, Jason Schreyer and Devi Sharma in voting to keep the ban. Councillors Markus Chambers, Shawn Nason, Cindy Gilroy, Sherri Rollins, Ross Eadie, Vivian Santos and Matt Allard voted to end it.

As the head of councils protection, community services and parks committee, Rollins said she participated in a few appeals of dangerous-dog designations that made it clear some people still owned the banned pets in Winnipeg.

"Its always been true that a ban hasnt prevented (these dogs) from being in the city," Rollins told the Free Press.

A call to eliminate the ban was included in a set of proposed changes to the Responsible Pet Ownership By-law.

Council also approved new rules for owners of at-risk and dangerous dogs. Rollins said those changes should help shift the focus from breed to behaviour and improve safety. Winnipeg Animal Services said the vast majority of city residents supported a "breed-neutral approach" on dogs during public consultations.

The at-risk dog focus will identify owners the city can work with to help prevent their animals from being declared dangerous.

Coun. Shawn Nason, who has long opposed the breed ban, said the fight to end it will continue.

"I thought we had enough (votes) to remove this discriminatory ban but it sounded like the fear-mongering that was presented as part of the delegations and (by) some of those around the council table ruled the day," said Nason.

The councillor said he expects advocates will continue to lobby against the ban, potentially at the provincial government level.

"Were down today but well dust ourselves off and well move forward," he said.

Nason noted all dogs can bite, so the city should not prejudge specific breeds.

Serious dog attacks in recent years have involved both banned and permitted breeds.

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In 2020, four dogs were involved in a vicious attack outside the Capri Motel, leaving two people with life-altering injuries. At least three of the animals were American pit bull terriers.

And in 2021, a permitted Siberian husky fatally attacked two small dogs at a canine daycare  an animal the city later labelled a "dangerous dog."

Meanwhile, council also rejected a proposed two-year pilot project that would have allowed backyard chickens, after hearing concerns that the program could worsen the spread of avian flu.

"The majority of councillors said its not the time, not the priority or plan for now. For me, its primarily due to avian flu (and) animal-welfare considerations," said Rollins.

Joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
OTTAWA  A federal minister was put on the spot Thursday when a northern Manitoba chief suggested a visit to her First Nation to experience what its like to have to boil water before drinking it.

OTTAWA  A federal minister was put on the spot Thursday when a northern Manitoba chief suggested a visit to her First Nation to experience what its like to have to boil water before drinking it.

At a news conference to announce that applications are now open to compensate First Nations with long-term drinking-water advisories, Tataskweyak Chief Doreen Spence said federal officials cant understand her communitys pain.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Tataskweyak Chief, Doreen Spence.

You guys dont see the everyday impacts of what we go through, Spence said, inviting federal Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu to visit her community 143 kilometres northeast of Thompson.

Come and see our community so you would get a better understanding, and see first-hand our living conditions having to not live with clean drinking water all these years. If you really say reconciliation, to make it up to us.

Tataskweyak, also known as Split Lake, will enter its fifth year of having a boil-water advisory on May 17.

In that time, children have developed skin rashes and the community insists cancers have been caused or worsened by the water.

While Ottawa has upgraded its existing water-treatment plant and water quality, elder Eunice Beardy said the chemicals being used give the water a bleach-like taste nobody in Canadas capital would accept.

How would they like to have a glass of Javex? Beardy asked, comparing clean water in Thompson to the dark liquid she sees flowing out of her taps.

Why is it that other people who come into our communities are treated really well if theyre not native? she said, adding the Liberals are just the latest government to break its promises.

Its time that they heard our people and listen to them  not just give them a little bit just to keep us quiet for a while.

Spences community and two Ontario First Nations filed class-action lawsuits in 2019, which Ottawa settled for $6 billion last December.

The settlement includes $1.5 billion in compensation for people living in communities that were subject to a drinking-water advisory of at least one year between November 1995 and June 20, 2021.

Eighteen of Manitobas 63 First Nations qualify for funds.

A handful of Indigenous leaders who spoke at Thursdays news conference were unimpressed by the terms of the settlement.

Its not fair, Beardy said. How can you put a limit on when you start getting sick and when you stop? That doesnt make sense at all. Im hoping that someday, before its my time to leave this earth, I see that clean water for our young people.

Hajdu said individual compensation will never make up for the harm to peoples lives, but added the government has earmarked funds to end all boil-water advisories once and for all, such as by opting for more expensive equipment that will last longer before needing repairs.

I agree, nobody should have to fight so hard for basic human rights, she said.

The Trudeau government promised to end all long-term boil water advisories when it was first elected in 2015. So far 132 advisories have ended but there are still 33 active in 28 communities.

Recently, the Liberals pledged to replace existing drinking-water legislation, which Indigenous leaders have argued is ineffective and gives Ottawa too much control.

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The settlement claims period is open and people can apply for compensation until next March.

Construction is underway to help solve the other two remaining boil-water advisories in Manitoba which, like Tataskweyak, are northern, Cree communities.

Mathias Colomb Cree Nation should have a new sewage-lift station completed in August, according to Ottawa. Extreme cold weather, the COVID-19 pandemic, supply-chain issues and site conditions have all delayed completion, the department said of the community, also known as Pukatawagan.

Shamattawas water-treatment plant is undergoing repairs, and Ottawa is helping train more local residents to operate the plant, which should be fully operational in September.

 With files from Canadian Press

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Roughly 500 calls for flooded basements swamped a Winnipeg plumbing company after last weekends storm. The Colorado low estimated to bring up to 40 millimetres of rain to parts of Manitoba this weekend may spark yet another boom in business.

Roughly 500 calls for flooded basements swamped a Winnipeg plumbing company after last weekends storm. The Colorado low estimated to bring up to 40 millimetres of rain to parts of Manitoba this weekend may spark yet another boom in business.

Barrett Ferguson, owner of Pleasant Plumber Inc., said he was taking rapid-fire calls from potential customers city-wide during the recent deluge.

"Theres no way to keep up with 500 calls on a weekend, so youre telling a lot of people, Unfortunately, I cant come out there right now," Ferguson said. "We try to assist people over the phone with tips."

It wasnt until Thursday his crews caught up with the backlog.

Ferguson said the culprit for basement flooding is usually one of three things: a failed floor drain, sanitary sewer backup, or sump pump failure  and many of last weekends calls were for broken pumps.

Forecasters are encouraging property owners to have their sump pumps in working order ahead of yet another looming low-pressure system.

Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued a rainfall warning for southeastern and south-central Manitoba. A special weather statement remains in effect for all of the south.

Although this system is estimated to be weaker than other recent storms, it could still be impactful as precipitation adds to existing water in the Red River Basin, Environment Canada meteorologist Sara Hoffman, said.

Hoffman described the system as "very large" and "slow moving."

Winnipeg and the Red River Valley can expect rain, whereas the west  including Brandon and Dauphin  can expect heavy, wet snow mixed with rain.

The southernmost parts of Manitoba can expect rain beginning Friday night, and Winnipeg will see rain by 7 a.m. Saturday, Hoffman said.

Anywhere from 10 to 20 mm of rain is expected to fall across southern Manitoba near the international border. Precipitation will be heavier in the central Red River Valley (some 20 to 40 mm of rain). However, its unlikely the system will produce thunderstorms, Hoffman said.

The wind gusts will cap at about 60 km/h Sunday.

On Thursday, the Rural Municipality of Montcalm declared a 30-day state of emergency.

"Inside the communities, everything is OK, because were all dike-protected  most of the farm areas are dike protected, also," Reeve Paul Gilmore said, adding hes most concerned about road closures, which could trigger evacuations.

Some 16 homes along St. Marys Road in Montcalm may need to be evacuated.

St. Jean Baptiste had its ring dike closed at the east side of town; pumping operations are underway, Gilmore said.

"Last weekends storm was a wake-up call for us," the reeve said. "Our public works department has been working basically 24 hours (a day) to maintain the sewer system in the communities. Its been hard on our staff, and they are greatly appreciated, thats for sure."

States of emergency are also in place for the RMs of Cartier, Headingley, Morris and Ritchot, in response to overland flooding and other notable factors.

An overland flood warning is in place for parts of southern Manitoba, both north and south of Winnipeg.

Residents in Morris are stocking up on portable pumps in the meantime.

Jacques Bouchard, 35, owner of Morris Home Hardware, said he has sold more water pumping equipment so far this spring than all of last year. The store sold out of its first order; a second set of pumps was to arrive Thursday  and theres a wait list.

"Ive never ordered double before," said Bouchard, who has run the store for five years.

"The majority of the people who are buying pumps are (using them) for yard flooding to stop the water from coming into their house," he said. "Some of them are buying pumps as (a) backup, in case their pump fails."

Morris will have the north mouth of its dike closed Friday to divide the town from the Red and Morris rivers. Highway 75 will be closed for a time as a result.

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"Provincial crews are closely monitoring river levels at the town of Morris and are taking actions to keep PTH 75 open as long as possible on the north side of Morris," a provincial flood report said Thursday.

The Manitoba hydrologic forecast centre extended its flood warning for the Assiniboine River to include areas from St. Lazare to Brandon.

In central Manitoba, flood warnings remain in effect for the Red River between Emerson and the floodway inlet, and the La Salle and Pembina rivers.

The Red River is expected to crest for the second time in Manitoba between May 3 to May 7.

Due to continued rainfall and snowmelt, a high-water advisory has been issued for the Whiteshell lakes.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca
Forget textbooks  a growing number of students and teachers in Manitoba are learning about the histories, cultures and contemporary lifestyles of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people directly from elders and knowledge keepers.

Forget textbooks  a growing number of students and teachers in Manitoba are learning about the histories, cultures and contemporary lifestyles of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people directly from elders and knowledge keepers.

Manitoba has earmarked $1.6 million to expand an initiative that has seen elders partner with school divisions throughout early 2022 to share teachings on traditional knowledge systems.

This initiative supports respectful and relational engagement with elders and knowledge keepers to embed Indigenous worldviews across curricula, instruction, assessment and within mental health and well-being programming, said Education Minister Wayne Ewasko, as he announced the above expansion and launch of a new provincial policy directive Thursday.

During an event at Niji Mahkwa School in Winnipeg, Ewasko told reporters his departments latest initiatives respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canadas calls to action that identify education as a key part of the reconciliation.

Mamahtawisiwin: the Wonder We are Born With  a policy directive and conceptual framework for Indigenous education  aims to support the holistic achievements of all First Nations, Metis and Inuit students by supporting Manitoba teachers in incorporating Indigenous pedagogy, languages and culture into their teaching and practices.

Indigenous pedagogy is good pedagogy, said teacher Angela Fey, co-chairwoman of the Indigenous Inclusion Directorate Advisory Council, a group that provides ongoing advice to the education department.

And Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing benefit everyone.

The mamahtawisiwin framework is guided by principles emphasizing Indigenous worldviews and values, mutual understanding about the rights of Indigenous peoples, respect for diversity, shared accountability and responsibility, and the importance of using equity and student-focused lenses in the K-12 education system.

The Inninew (Cree) phrase nods to a teaching that means people are born with big hearts and their role is to help others. The name was gifted to the province by an elder in northern Manitoba.

The 73-page document underpins Manitoba Educations new action plan, which was unveiled last week as the governments revised road map to reform public schooling in response to the 75 recommendations in the K-12 commissions 2020 report.

(The action plan replaces the Better Education Starts Today strategy, a document that supported the widely controversial and now-defunct Bill 64.)

It was developed with input from knowledge keepers, students, teachers, superintendents, post-secondary institutes, early childhood educators and community partners.

Myra Laramee, an elder in the Winnipeg School Division, offered a prayer before the news conference Thursday. Laramee later spoke about the importance of teaching students about mother earth being a living entity that must be protected.

We have some good footprints to make and I believe that thats going to happen. The children in this school are going to wake up with their children knowing those seven teachings (respect, courage, humility, love, wisdom, honesty and truth), she said.

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A total of 33 schools across 11 divisions were part of the initial knowledge keeper pilot program earlier this year.

High schoolers from Niverville have built relationships with leaders from Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation and Dauphin middle schoolers have taken part in a community pow wow with an elder from Ebb and Flow First Nation, among other projects.

The minister of Indigenous reconciliation and northern affairs touted the announcement Thursday.

Alan Lagimodiere said the initiatives respond to calls to action to improve education attainment among Indigenous youth, develop culturally appropriate curriculum, protect the right to Indigenous languages and enable parents to participate fully in the education of their children.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
Mayor Brian Bowman is renewing calls for the province to pony up cash for infrastructure upgrades in the wake of 60 million litres of diluted sewage being dumped into the Red River.

Mayor Brian Bowman is renewing calls for the province to pony up cash for infrastructure upgrades in the wake of 60 million litres of diluted sewage being dumped into the Red River.

The city allowed the sewage to flow into the river from April 23 to 25 to prevent it from backing up into basements, when a major storm overwhelmed the south end sewage treatment plant.

Bowman told media the latest sewage spill highlights the need to promptly fund major projects that would prevent wastewater from winding up in rivers and lakes.

It underscores why weve been investing so much (to reduce) combined sewer overflows and why weve increased the annual investments from $30 million to $45 million (from 2024 to 2027 to reduce that type of spill). Of course, we would welcome the support of other levels of government to help expedite things even further, he said.

The mayor said sewage spills are not only gross and unsightly but cause environmental damage that warrants attention. On Thursday, he echoed a frequent municipal call for the province and feds to commit cash to expedite the $2.3-billion master plan to reduce combined sewer overflows. Those overflows occur when heavy rain or snow overwhelms older sewers that collect precipitation and wastewater in a single pipe, causing them to overflow into rivers.

Bowman said the city should also explore additional steps to reduce spills.

I dont think we should say, Weve stepped up by tens of millions of dollars (for) the investments (so) were good. I think we need to be open to (other) ways we can try to mitigate and speed up diversions, he said.

The mayor accused the provincial government of adding caveats to its support for the second phase of the $1.85-billion north end sewage treatment plant upgrade, which he says are delaying the project.

The province denies that claim.

If approved, the city, province and feds would spend a combined $552 million for the second phase of that project.

The province had wanted the city to explore private operations of the upgrade, which the city rejected. Bowman says the province now wants to involve the Canada Infrastructure Bank in the project, a change he said would delay the tri-government funding request.

The infrastructure bank funds public-private partnerships.

Bowman did not specifically blame Premier Heather Stefanson for the delay, stating shes trying to resolve the matter.

But he said there is a provincial delay and no federal holdup.

The prime minister is very clear (saying) lets get on with this and thats my sentiment as well, he said.

The mayor also accused the province of adding conditions to its support for a separate tri-government funding request in which the three levels of government would spend a combined $538 million on the first steps of the Winnipeg Transit Master Plan.

Were now in 2022 and we want to see that project move forward and (not) move back to more debate and dialogue. We need to proceed on that as quickly as possible, said Bowman.

The mayor told reporters there appears to be some disagreement over the number of zero-emission buses in the plan, though he did not offer details.

The city and province held a joint news conference in November to announce support for both projects, which would still require federal approval.

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In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Stefanson said the province is eager to see both projects move forward despite confusion at the municipal level.

Both of these important climate adaptation projects have been advanced by the province to Infrastructure Canada and the federal review process is ongoing, the spokesperson said.

The statement said the north end sewage upgrade funding awaits a final business case from the city, while the transit request is being reviewed by federal officials.

Despite provincial questions about whether the project should involve more zero-emission buses than diesel buses, given the 20-year life span of the diesel buses and environmental considerations, we understand the project is advancing in accordance with the citys original plan, the spokesperson said.

Joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
MAYOR Brian Bowman has declined to weigh in on one councillors controversial comments at a Winnipeg Police Board meeting, after allegations her statements amounted to harassment.

Mayor Brian Bowman (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

MAYOR Brian Bowman has declined to weigh in on one councillors controversial comments at a Winnipeg Police Board meeting, after allegations her statements amounted to harassment.

City of Winnipeg integrity commissioner Sherri Walsh has informed Coun. Sherri Rollins a complaint was filed about her comments at the March 4 board meeting. The complainant argued the comments "equated the work of the board with that of the Thunder Bay Police Board."

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Rollins remarks referenced a 2018 report about the Thunder Bay, Ont., organization, which recommended that board be temporarily replaced for allegedly failing to address issues of systemic racism.

Bowman declined to weigh in on the matter Thursday: "Im not privy to any specific complaints where Im not a party, so Im not able to offer comment."

However, the mayor said the issue highlights progress on council, since there now is a way to cope with complaints against elected officials.

"The purpose of the integrity commissioner is to create that avenue for complaints to be adjudicated, and I fully support the integrity commissioner and her (role)," said Bowman.

Rollins has said her comments were geared at pushing the local board to get answers on how police handled the so-called "freedom convoy" at the Manitoba legislature that caused noise disruptions and traffic delays in her ward.

She described that call for scrutiny as a key part of her job.
Two Indigenous brothers have filed separate lawsuits against the province and Child and Family Services, in which they claim they were abused and neglected decades ago.

Two Indigenous brothers have filed separate lawsuits against the province and Child and Family Services, in which they claim they were abused and neglected decades ago.

Winnipeg lawyer Norman Rosenbaum of Merchant Law Group filed the suits on behalf of the siblings, who allege their placements after being seized by social workers caused lasting damage.

Both men seek unspecified damages, plus costs for medical care and counselling.

The province and CFS have yet to file statements of defence.

"Its extremely difficult for survivors of abuse," Rosenbaum told the Free Press on Thursday.

"Without commenting on the alleged assailants when a child is in a vulnerable circumstance  that can be problematic, without care being taken by the placing agency."

The most recent suit, filed April 19, alleges social workers left a Winnipeg man in a foster home where he was beaten, choked and abused verbally by the family tasked with his care.

The man lived with his mother and siblings in Camperville until he was taken into care by what was then called the Childrens Aid Society at six, according to the statement of claim. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press files)

The Metis and First Nations man lived with his mother and siblings in Camperville, on the west shore of Lake Winnipegosis, until he was taken into care by what was then called the Childrens Aid Society at six, according to the statement of claim. His brother, who filed a separate suit, was put in the child welfare system at the same time.

It claims he was apprehended without "reasonable and probable cause" because his mother had harboured him from abuse at Pine Creek day school, which closed in 1969.

The child welfare system then sent him to live with a non-Indigenous family in Minneapolis, who eventually adopted and renamed him, the claim says.

Its alleged Manitoba CFS failed to adequately inspect the home. Court documents claim he was choked repeatedly, beaten with objects, punched and bloodied, and degraded with racist names after he was adopted.

According to the claim, when he spoke to a Manitoba social worker about the alleged abuse, they reportedly said: "You have to live with what you get."

The lawsuit claims he suffered and continues to suffer because of the child welfare placement, including: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, a difficulty with relationships, and the loss of amenities of life. It is also claimed he struggles with suicidal ideation and has attempted suicide and other forms of self-harm.

In the lawsuit filed Feb. 3, the other brother, who now lives in Camperville, accused the province and CFS of breaching their duty of care by placing him into a group home in Emerson, where he says he was repeatedly physically and sexually abused.

The man, who was born in 1971 and grew up on the west shore of Lake Winnipegosis, entered the child welfare system at around five years old, along with his older brother.

While in care at the last group home in Emerson, the homes director beat the man with sticks, brooms and belts, leaving bruises, the statement of claim reads. (Wayne Glowacki / Winnipeg Free Press files)

He lived in various placements in the province, all operated by one group home director, according to the statement of claim.

While in care at the last group home in Emerson, where six-to-eight other children also lived, the homes director beat him on "numerous occasions" with sticks, brooms and belts, leaving bruises, the statement of claim reads. It is also claimed the director would get another adult to beat the plaintiff for "alleged misbehaviour"  including beatings focused on his kidneys.

The plaintiff was allegedly plied with alcohol, cannabis and cigarettes, according to the statement of claim, with the group home director encouraging him to get drunk along with the other children. The group home operator also sexually assaulted the children in care, the lawsuit claims.

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The sexual assaults included at least one act of anal intercourse which caused the child pain and bleeding, the claim says, as well as forced oral sex.

The statement of claim alleges no child welfare workers supervised or attended the group home, nor was the home operator "properly assessed for suitability."

Its also claims there was no proper monitoring, supervision or interviews of the children in the home, nor did CFS provide any supports, "let alone counselling," which would reasonably have revealed the physical and sexual assaults.

The suit claims the plaintiff has suffered "severe and devastating injury, loss, pain" and damage, including mental health concerns and the loss of income.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera
The city is reviewing a series of potential Winnipeg Transit changes, including: limiting the number of pass options, eliminating free ridership for Transit Plus users on conventional buses, and expanding the low-income WINNpass program.

The recent city report suggests removing annual bus passes for Winnipeg Transit riders. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Sudoma

The city is reviewing a series of potential Winnipeg Transit changes, including: limiting the number of pass options, eliminating free ridership for Transit Plus users on conventional buses, and expanding the low-income WINNpass program.

The public works committee examined the proposal as part of a new transit fare report Thursday.

The report suggests removing annual bus passes, as well as three-, 14- and 21-day passes, which collectively account for only around four per cent of fare revenue, making them the least popular options for Transit riders.

Limiting the number of fare options could encourage riders to consider longer-term passes and generate more than $300,000 in revenue over 2023, the report says.

Under the current system, around 687 Transit Plus users access conventional Transit for free. The proposal seeks to end that measure and save an additional $102,320.

"These passes were initially utilized as a short-term incentive program to encourage Transit Plus customers to try out the conventional transit system," Transit communications officer Megan Benedictson wrote in an email to the Free Press.

The news came as a surprise to Ken Shachtay, chairman of Independent Living Resource Centre.

Shachtay, a wheelchair user who frequently rides both forms of local transit, said incentivizing people to use conventional buses already saves Winnipeg more than $25 per ride.

"It was introduced as a cost-saving for handi-transit, and I think its basically done that If they can show me facts and figures to the alternative, I can be switched," Shachtay said.

"I have no problem paying, but Ill be taking Transit Plus a hell of a lot more."

Patrick Stewart, an independent living consultant, was also confused by the suggestion to charge Transit Plus users to ride conventional buses.

"Transit Plus is Winnipeg Transit. It is not a special service for special people. Its a service that has to exist because we have physical barriers in the world that prevent taxpaying citizens from using the bus like everybody else," Stewart said.

"If you are already paying for access to Transit Plus, well, youre just paying access to Winnipeg Transit. What does it matter what vehicle that youre taking?"

The proposal also suggested removing the citys $5 SmartCard rebate.

The changes are in line with the Winnipeg Transit Master Plan council approved in 2021 and will make Transit more equitable for all users, Benedictson said.

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If council approves the proposal, Transit will use the savings to improve its WINNpass program, which offers low-income riders a 50 per cent discount on monthly passes. (Transit Plus riders who are low-income are eligible to apply for the program.)

With more funding, WINNpass could expand to include youth under 17, making Transit more accessible for families with financial barriers, Benedictson said.

It could also include a discounted daily fare for riders using e-cash, she added.

The report does not pursue a motion from Coun. Vivian Santos to move toward a $1 bus fare, saying broad fare reductions would require Transit to buy more buses.

City council will vote on the changes during its next meeting in May.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca
Manitobas surgery and diagnostic test backlog has increased to 169,198 procedures, according to new estimates released Friday by Doctors Manitoba.

Manitobas surgery and diagnostic test backlog has increased to 169,198 procedures, according to new estimates released Friday by Doctors Manitoba.

The physicians advocate organization said it is seeking updated data from the provincial government and has filed a freedom of information request.

The estimated backlog rises 1,311 cases since last month. The total figure includes 55,571 surgeries (an increase of 751 since last months estimate), 46,189 diagnostic imaging procedures (up 938) and 67,438 diagnostic tests (such as endoscopies, mammograms and allergy screens).

Theresa Hlady is among the thousands who are still waiting.

She was informed a year ago she needed cataract surgery but hasnt been able to book in with a surgeon, and expects a much longer wait. Earlier this week, an ophthalmologist told Hlady she now needs cataract removal surgery on both eyes.

"Things are multiplying, and theres going to be a whole generation of us that are going to have to be in a nursing home because were blind," she said Friday, worried shell lose her vision

"Because Im on my own and independent, Im concerned about whats going to happen if I dont get this done before I cant see at all out of this eye."

There has been some progress in clearing the backlog of diagnostic tests, Doctors Manitobas estimate suggests; there are 378 fewer compared to last month.

However, some patients may no longer need a test they were waiting for, the physician advocacy organization said, explaining some patients might have relocated, their conditions improved or deteriorated, they received a different test or they died while waiting.

Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Kristjan Thompson, an ER physician at St. Boniface Hospital, stated the rate of backlogged procedures is starting to slow.

"This reflects what we are seeing on the front line, with more and more staff returning to operating rooms and other areas, helping the system get closer to its pre-pandemic baseline volumes. That said, physicians are looking for a concrete plan from the province on addressing the shortage of nurses, technologists and other professionals needed to catch up and keep up with testing and surgeries. This is the biggest barrier to clearing the backlog," he stated in a news release.

The organization, which represents more than 4,000 physicians, has been estimating the surgical backlog by comparing the number of procedures completed with pre-COVID-19 pandemic baseline levels, but that comparison is not as reliable two years later.

Provincial officials previously requested a more comprehensive analysis from Doctors Manitoba, but the organization hasnt received current provincial data.

"While there have been several positive and constructive meetings with the task force itself, provincial health officials have not yet shared any additional data to help with refining the backlog estimates. To help advance work in this area, and get clearer information for the thousands of Manitobans waiting for tests and surgeries, Doctors Manitoba has now filed a freedom of information request to formally seek this necessary data," the organization stated in the news release.

A spokesperson for the health department did not answer questions about whether it has the data and why it hasnt been publicly released. In an emailed statement, they said the health-care system is "back to fully operational levels" and is in the "recovery phase."

The provinces surgical backlog task force hasnt yet been able to determine the full extent of the backlog.

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"Addressing the pandemic backlog is an immensely complex task as is quantifying the backlog. The (diagnostic and surgical recovery task force) continues to work with the health system, applicable stakeholders, such as Doctors Manitoba, to do so and is working to bring in the technology to track the reduction of the backlog in the form of a central intake system," the department spokesperson stated.

The backlog of diagnostic tests is still "staggeringly high and heading in the wrong direction," said Bob Moroz, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals.

"Doctors Manitoba rightly points to the lack of technologists as the primary barrier to solving this crisis. The province needs to do everything possible, as soon as possible, to retain the qualified diagnostic staff we have and to train and hire more. The alternative is grim."

While she waits, Hlady has been looking into going out of province for eye surgery, but she said Manitoba needs to "pick up the slack" to provide proper care for everyone waiting.

"What does the government want? Do they want to put out some bucks now and get this rectified or do they want us all to depend on them in the future at nursing homes?"

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca
The Red River Valley is bracing for what could be its highest spring flood volume since 1997, with dozens of rural Manitoba homes already evacuated and communities on alert.

The Red River Valley is bracing for what could be its highest spring flood volume since 1997, with dozens of rural Manitoba homes already evacuated and communities on alert.

Provincial officials arent panicking because, they say, communities and properties in the flood zone are protected from the projected peak thanks to upgrades since the "flood of the century" 25 years ago.

Fisaha Unduche, executive director of hydrologic forecasting and water management, said this weekends Colorado low could dump between 30 and 80 millimetres of precipitation in southern and central Manitoba, and higher amounts in the U.S. portion of the Red River basin.

That could propel the Reds peak flows past those of the major flood in 2009, which were the highest since 1997, he said at a news conference Friday.

Mike Sudoma/Winnipeg Free Press Fisaha Unduche, executive director of hydrologic forecasting and water management for Manitoba, said this weekends Colorado low weather system could propel peak flows past those of the 2009 flood, which was the largest since 1997.

"Were going through a little bit of crazy weather this year," said Unduche, citing four weather systems which dumped extreme amounts of snow and/or rain earlier this month.

Unduche said peak levels on the Red are expected in Emerson around May 7-9, and they could stay within the valley until May 14.

Graphic: Today's James Avenue water levels Posted: 6:04 PM Oct. 9, 2019 Water levels in Winnipeg are measured in feet James, the level above the normal winter ice level as measured at a gauge on the Red River east of James Avenue in the Exchange District, just downstream of The Forks where the Red and Assiniboine rivers meet. Zero feet James is the baseline winter ice level on the Red River at James Avenue. This is the baseline for measuring river levels in Winnipeg. Read Full Story

The province announced Friday night it had closed Highway 75 on the north side of Morris, due to the rising Red. A dike had been constructed on the road, and Hwy. 75 at Provincial Road 205 was open for local traffic only, a news release said.

Earlier in the day, rural residents who stay put had been deemed at risk of being cut off from emergency services if local access roads are under water.

Six rural municipalities  Cartier, Fisher, Headingley, Montcalm, Morris and Ritchot  have declared local states of emergency, said Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk, as communities made final preparations for the storm.

In Montcalm, about 60 kilometres south of Winnipeg, 17 homes on partially-submerged St. Marys Road (Provincial Road 246) on the east side of the Red were ordered to evacuate.

Some households were refusing to leave as of Friday, said Reeve Paul Gilmore.

Most of the homes are protected by ring dikes, he said. "I hope they have boats. If not, we will have to make arrangements to get them out if it becomes more severe."

RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Julie Courchaine said officers will be doing patrols and checking in with those whove stayed behind, "as long as its accessible."

In a news release, the City of Winnipeg said 16 properties could be at risk of river flooding, with one owner advised to build a dike.

I hope they have boats. If not, we will have to make arrangements to get them out if it becomes more severe.  Reeve Paul Gilmore

Basement and overland flooding is a risk throughout the capital. About 40,000 sandbags were available at three city yards (1220 Pacific Ave., 1090 Thomas Ave. and 1539 Waverley St.).

Just south of Winnipeg, at least 14 homes have been evacuated in Ritchot. The figure could climb to between 50 and 60 this weekend, said Mayor Chris Ewen.

"Its just a matter of being on standby, in case we see the precipitation that is anticipated," he said. "Were all hoping for good weather. Mother Nature has been slamming us with Colorado lows."

In Altona, a Tiger Dam  large portable tubes filled with water to act as a flood barrier  has been set up in a vulnerable area of the town, about 100 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

"We are as prepared as we can be," said Mayor Al Friesen. "Our hope would be that three inches dont fall like last (weekend)."

SUPPLIED Tiger Dams, which are large tubes filled with water to act as a flood barrier, get set up in a vulnerable area of Altona.

The province has issued a mix of flood warnings and watches, while Environment Canada has put out rainfall warnings for central and southern Manitoba, and snowfall warnings for some areas of the North.

Environment Canada meteorologist Alysa Pederson said 20-40 mm of precipitation is generally expected, with higher amounts in some places.

"Were anticipating a worsening of the overland flood situation," she said.

Depending on how much rain falls, peak flows on the Red could be between 90,000 and 115,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) in Ste. Agathe, said Unduche.

In 2009, the peak flow was 91,000 CFS, he said.

Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press Unduche said peak levels on the Red are expected in Emerson around May 7-9, and they could stay within the valley until May 14.

The province is using the Red River Floodway and Portage Diversion to reduce water levels in Winnipeg. Unduche said the level at James Avenue could climb as high as 20 ft., a lower mark than 2009.

Retired Environment Canada meteorologist Rob Paola said an additional 25 mm of rain this weekend would make it the second-wettest April on record in Winnipeg, and the wettest in more than 100 years.

The total as of Friday was 73 mm of precipitation (rain and melted snow) at Winnipegs airport, he tweeted.

Piwniuk said its too soon to say how long the closure of Highway 75 could last. The province is monitoring water levels on the south side of Morris, in case it has to close that section of the major trade route.

The north closure creates a four-kilometre detour for drivers, including trucks hauling goods between Manitoba and the United States.

If the south section closes, a detour of 165 km will add up to $300 per truck journey, with a ripple effect for consumers, said Aaron Dolyniuk, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association.

"Initially, drivers and companies bear that cost. Longer term, it gets passed on to you and I," said Dolyniuk. "We hope there is not as much rain as forecast and the impact is minimal."

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching
Opinion

I KEEP asking myself the same questions:

Why would U.S. President Joe Biden reach out to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro? And why now?

Remember that former U.S. president Donald Trump severed diplomatic relations with Venezuela in 2019 over Maduros violent crackdown on internal dissent. Recall, too, that Trump undertook more than one attempt to forcibly remove Maduro from power  as meticulously outlined in John Boltons book on his time as Trumps national security adviser.

But in March, after preliminary talks last fall, the Biden White House dispatched three top administration officials to meet secretly in Caracas with Maduro and a few of his closest advisers. It was the first U.S. official diplomatic encounter with top Venezuelan leaders in almost 25 years. That couldnt have been easy for official Washington, given Venezuelas continuing pariah status.

What was Biden hoping to accomplish with these talks? Yes, two Americans  Citgo oil executive Gustavo Cardenas and Cuban-American Jorge Fernandez  were released as a humanitarian gesture. But eight others remain in Venezuelan prisons.

For the Venezuelan side, Maduro reportedly asked for all oil sanctions to be terminated and any ongoing investigations of his family to be halted. Moreover, he demanded the U.S. government recognize him as the legitimate president of Venezuela until the general elections slated for 2024.

Not surprisingly, the reaction from the anti-Venezuela crowd was swift and decidedly critical. New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez, the chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, did not mince words: Nicolas Maduro is a cancer to our hemisphere and we should not breathe new life into his reign of torture and murder.

Republican lawmakers from Florida were even more blunt in their attacks. In a letter to Biden, they stated emphatically that they represent several thousands of Venezuelan nationals, most who have come to the United States fleeing the brutality and the butchery by Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro.

In light of these criticisms, then, why would Biden want to court the Venezuelans?

It is possible the Biden White House was dipping its toes in the diplomatic waters to see whether the Maduro government is interested in improving its human-rights situation, releasing political dissidents and American detainees and in conducting more open democratic elections.

Of course, securing oil supplies from Venezuela, a country that holds the worlds largest oil reserves, was a central policy driver for the Biden team. All of this diplomatic back-and-forth came together in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine and Washingtons subsequent decision to halt imports to the U.S. of Russian oil.

As White House press secretary Jen Psaki told the assembled media, We need to ensure the supply meets the demand out there in the marketplace. Obviously, were engaging with big global oil producers around the world to meet that demand.

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At the same time, Chevron, a leading U.S. oil company, was undoubtedly pushing the Biden administration to break bread with the Maduro government. Indeed, the Venezuelan energy sector is desperately in need of outside investment to rebuild its energy infrastructure, to modernize its exploration and extraction capacity and, ultimately, to increase its oil output.

Its no surprise, then, that Chevron, given its past involvement in Venezuela, would want to be part of that.

Since Venezuela also has an oil for doctors program with Cuba, I couldnt help but wonder whether the Biden White House was looking to divert oil to the U.S. in order to punish the Cubans. That would further intensify the tough economic conditions in Cuba today and, more importantly, play well with the anti-Cuba constituency in south Florida before the 2022 midterm elections.

Bidens Venezuelan gambit, then, is very reminiscent of past U.S. behaviour in Latin America. Its mostly about following the money, pragmatic opportunism and once again sticking it to the Cuban government. So this diplomatic outreach is less about resetting relations with Venezuela and more about trying to squeeze the Cuban government.

At the moment, the fledgling U.S.-Venezuelan entente is effectively on hold. The domestic political pushback in the U.S. was essentially too much for Biden in a midterm election year. Thats probably just as well, as far as the Cubans and Venezuelans are concerned.

Peter McKenna is professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
THE federal governments Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) legislation has been a simmering political issue for some time, but has not featured prominently in coverage of Canadian politics. Recent news, however, should give rise to grave concerns about the governments recent reforms and the lack of effective safeguards against misuse of MAiD.

Opinion

THE federal governments Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) legislation has been a simmering political issue for some time, but has not featured prominently in coverage of Canadian politics. Recent news, however, should give rise to grave concerns about the governments recent reforms and the lack of effective safeguards against misuse of MAiD.

MAID, as originally formulated by the government in 2016 in response to a 2015 Supreme Court ruling, was available only to Canadians whose death was "reasonably foreseeable," allowing primarily cancer patients to choose death with dignity rather than enduring suffering prior to death.

This was a reasonable compromise and limit on who could access medically assisted death, which ensured the interests of the elderly, ill and disabled were protected from overly broad availability and misuse of MAiD.

But, in 2019, a single Quebec judge ruled in Truchon v Canada that the requirement that death be reasonably foreseeable violated Canadians charter rights.

There were compelling reasons why the federal government should have appealed this ruling. But the government failed to do so, instead deferring to the ruling of a single judge, and introduced amendments to MAiD creating a new track for disabled and ill Canadians whose deaths were not "reasonably foreseeable."

The Liberal government went even further, reversing its previous opposition to the use of MAiD by Canadians suffering solely from mental illness. This new practice will commence in March 2023.

Since the 2015 Carter decision, disability rights advocates have both spoken out against and urged caution regarding the use of medically assisted death. The core of the argument is that MAiD, if clear limits are not imposed, will be seen by disabled Canadians as the only alternative to end their suffering given a lack of government-provided medical, housing and income supports.

Without such supports, disabled Canadians may feel pressured into an openness to assisted suicide. Academics Trudo Lemmens and Leah Krakowitz-Broker, for example, argue that the governments revised law transforms MAiD into "a terminal therapy for lifes suffering."

That prediction appears to be coming to pass for Canadas most vulnerable people. Earlier this month, a 51-year-old woman in Ontario ended her life using MAiD following a lengthy struggle to find public housing that would not aggravate her chronic multiple chemical sensitivities condition.

The woman, anonymous but referred to as "Sophia," left records dating back over two years detailing her efforts to find proper government support to help her live a life of dignity in light of her illness. Facing obstacle after obstacle, Sophia eventually, reluctantly, turned to assisted death.

"This person begged for help for years, two years, wrote everywhere, called everyone, asked for healthy housing," argues Rohini Paris, an advocate who was in regular contact with Sophia prior to her death. "Its not that she didnt want to live. She couldnt live that way."

"The government sees me as expendable trash, a complainer, useless," said Sophia in a heartbreaking recording made eight days prior to her MAiD-facilitated death. But no Canadian, lest of all our most vulnerable countrymen, should be left to fend for themselves in the face of disability and illness. The use of the new more permissive MAiD regime to substitute for government supports that would allow people to live with dignity is enraging to disability-rights activists. It should be to everyone.

Just this week, it was revealed that police were investigating the circumstances of a medically assisted suicide conducted under MAiD in Abbotsford B.C. Nurse Donna Duncan, following a series of inconclusive diagnoses after a concussion, was approved for a medically assisted death just 48 hours after receiving approval from two MAiD practitioners. Duncans daughters were shocked to learn this, and obtained an injunction delaying their mothers death, but were subsequently informed over the phone that she had received a medically assisted death.

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These stories are sure to arise more often under the new, more permissive MAiD law, and even more so next year when mental illness will be allowed as a rationale to receive an assisted death.

In October 2020, Canadas Parliamentary Budget Officer published a document entitled "Cost Estimate for Bill C-7 Medical Assistance in Dying," which provides a cost breakdown of the governments revised MAiD law. The report compares the "net reduction in health care costs" associated with providing medically assisted suicide under the old and new MAiD legislation.

The report concludes that "Expanding access to MAiD will result in a net reduction in health care costs for the provincial governments."

Try to wrap your mind around that last paragraph. A bland government report summarizing the financial advantages of expanding access to death rather than the supports vulnerable Canadians need is the stuff of dystopian novels.

But is it really surprising? Its clear that some of the direst predictions about what could result from this formulation of MAiD in Canada have already been realized. Things will only get worse.

Royce Koop is a professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba and academic director of the Centre for Social Science Research and Policy.
BOISE, Idaho (AP)  A former Idaho lawmaker was convicted Friday of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial in which the young woman fled the witness stand during testimony, saying I cant do this.

FILE - State Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger, R-Lewiston, listens during a hearing at the Idaho Statehouse in Boise, Idaho, on April 28, 2021. The trial for the former Idaho lawmaker accused of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern began on Monday, April 25, 2022, with attorneys asking potential jurors about their political leanings and whether they saw news stories about the case. (Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP, File)

BOISE, Idaho (AP)  A former Idaho lawmaker was convicted Friday of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial in which the young woman fled the witness stand during testimony, saying I cant do this.

The intern told a Statehouse supervisor that Aaron von Ehlinger raped her at his apartment after the two had dinner at a Boise restaurant in March 2021. Von Ehlinger said the sex was consensual.

At the time, the Lewiston Republican was serving as state representative, but he later resigned.

Former Idaho state Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger looks on as the defense asks questions of a witness during the second day of testimony in his rape trial at the Ada County Courthouse, Wednesday, April 27, 2022, in Boise, Idaho. (Brian Myrick/The Idaho Press-Tribune via AP, Pool)

Von Ehlinger, 39, was found guilty Friday of rape. He was found not guilty of sexual penetration with a foreign object.

Von Ehlinger sat calmly as the verdict was read, as he has throughout the trial. Afterward, 4th District Judge Michael Reardon told the jury: This has been an unusual case attended by many unexpected circumstances, but I appreciate your attention ... and hard work.

A felony rape conviction carries a minimum sentence of one year in prison in Idaho. The maximum penalty can be as high as life in prison, at the judge's discretion. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 28.

As von Ehlinger was remanded into custody and handcuffed, he talked quietly with his attorney who removed items from von Ehlinger's pockets.

District Judge Michael Reardon confers with attorneys during the second day of testimony in the rape trial of former Idaho state Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger, right, at the Ada County Courthouse, Thursday, April 28, 2022, in Boise, Idaho. (Brian Myrick/The Idaho Press-Tribune via AP, Pool)

The prosecution remained stoic as they left the courtroom, but once they reached a lower floor they stopped to briefly celebrate the verdict.

Von Ehlinger's attorney, Jon Cox, could not be immediately reached for comment after the trial.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, and has referred to the woman in this case as Jane Doe at her request.

In a press conference, Ada County Prosecuting Attorney Jan Bennetts thanked the jury, investigators and the prosecutors who handled the case.

Former Idaho state Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger testifies on his own behalf during day three of his rape trial at the Ada County Courthouse, Thursday, April 28, 2022, in Boise, Idaho. (Brian Myrick/The Idaho Press-Tribune via AP, Pool)

Last but not least, it took an incredible amount of courage for the victim in this case, Jane Doe, to come forward, Bennetts said. I want to acknowledge the courage that she took in coming forward.

Doe testified on the second day of the trial. She haltingly described the moments the alleged assault began, before abruptly leaving the witness stand.

He tried to put his fingers between my legs and I closed my knees, Doe said.

At that, she stood up.

FILE - Former Idaho state Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger glances toward the gallery during his rape trial at the Ada County Courthouse on April 27, 2022, in Boise, Idaho. The former Idaho lawmaker was convicted Friday, April 29, 2022, of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial in which the young woman fled the witness stand during testimony, saying I cant do this. (Brian Myrick/The Idaho Press-Tribune via AP)

I cant do this, she said, quickly walking out of the courtroom.

The judge gave the prosecuting attorneys 10 minutes to find her to determine if she would return and resume her testimony.

When she did not, the judge told the jurors they had to strike (Does testimony) from your minds as if it never happened, because the defense could not cross-examine her.

During the press conference, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katelyn Farley said the moment Doe left the trial was heart-wrenching, but said she and deputy prosecutor Whitney Welsh had prepared for trial knowing that Doe may not be able to testify.

I think it's important that she decided to walk in the room, and she also decided to walk out  those were her choices, Welsh said.

During his testimony Thursday, von Ehlinger often spoke in a clear, loud voice directly to jurors, saying he and Doe decided to return to his apartment to hang out after eating at a fancy Boise restaurant. Then they began making out on the couch, he said.

Things were going well, and I asked (Doe) if she would like to move to the bedroom, von Ehlinger said. She said Sure. We got up, held hands and walked into the bedroom.

Deliberations stretched for seven hours until nearly 8 p.m. Thursday before the jury decided to break for the evening. At one point, the judge summoned the attorneys to his chambers because the jury asked a question. No details were made public about the jury's inquiry.

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When the allegations became public  largely because of the legislative ethics investigation  Doe faced unrelenting harassment from some of von Ehlinger's supporters. Her name, photo and personal details about her life were repeatedly publicized in doxxing incidents. One of the people who frequently harassed her was in the courthouse to attend the trial, but law enforcement banned the man from the floor where where case was being heard.

During closing arguments, Farley told jurors that the case was about power in the wrong hands" used to the great devastation of Doe. Von Ehlinger had social, political and physical power over the petite intern, Farley said.

He used that power to rape and forcibly penetrate her, Farley said, pointing at von Ehlinger. Doe resisted in several ways, she said, highlighting the testimony of law enforcement investigators and a nurse sexual assault examiner who interviewed Doe after the alleged assault.

Words show lack of consent. Excuses of Why this shouldnt happen' show lack of consent. Yanking your head back and getting an injury shows lack of consent, Farley said.

But von Ehlinger's attorney told jurors the prosecution's case was made up of red herrings, and said von Ehlinger was a credible person who willingly took the stand to share his side of the story.

Earlier this week, jurors heard from investigators and a nurse who performed a rape exam. They testified that Doe reported being pinned down while von Ehlinger forced her to perform oral sex, and that she knew he frequently carried a handgun and had placed it on a dresser near the bed at the time of the assault. A nurse also testified that Doe had a goose egg on the back of her head from striking the wall or a headboard while trying to jerk her head away from von Ehlinger's grip.
A near-head on collision shut down Highway 43 in both directions. The accident occured at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

According to the Winona County Sheriffs Department, a helicopter had been called in as well as the jaws of life.

According to a report conducted by the Minnesota State Patrol, a 2007 Dodge Caravan, driven by Adam Mohamed Elmi, 55 of Rochester, attempted to pass a 2019 Peterbuilt Tractor driven by William Ralph Mackey, 75 of Walnut Shade, MO while traveling northbound on Highway 43.

As Elmi was trying to pass, a 2009 Chrysler 300 driven by Melissa Ann Gruber, 34 of Winona was traveling southbound and both vehicles collided, according to the report.

Gruber veered at the last second to avoid Elmi, which labels the crash as a near head-on collision, according to the Sheriffs Department.

Elmi was extricated from his vehicle with the jaws of life and transported to Gundersen La Crosse with what the State Patrol report described as non-life-threatening injuries.

The two passengers in the Caravan were both transported to Winona Health with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the report.

Gruber was transported to Winona Health with non-life-threatening injuries.

Mackey did not have any injuries, according to the report.

All parties involved had their seatbelts on and alcohol is not a factor, according to the report.

Entities responding to the accident were Winona County Sheriffs Department, Winona County Emergency Management, Wilson Fire and Rescue, Winona police and Winona Area Ambulance.

Highway 43 is open again, the Winona County Emergency Management stated on their Facebook page.

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Standing at a podium outside the entrance to Carnegie-Schadde Memorial Public Library, Mayor Rob Nelson moved aside the scarf he wore to ward off the 40-degree temperature and displayed a T-shirt which announces that the wearer supports the local public library.

The shirt design was made and distributed during a campaign to realize a project decades in the making. And as of Thursday, the project officially began with a crowd of roughly 50 people congregating at the entrance of the building to hear planners speak as part of a groundbreaking ceremony.

We really owe this day to a lot of people who made contributions great and small, and despite setbacks and obstacles and disappointment, never stopped believing this project was possible, Nelson said. To the scores of citizens who donned their stylish T-shirts ... and all the folks who got loud for the library and saw the vision of what we could have here, and made this happen, we owe them all a deep, deep debt of gratitude.

The event began with childrens activities, which library staff and planners of the event said they wanted to see as the focus because the project will create more space for young children and teenagers.

Youth Services Program Assistant Cari Teasdale kicked off the event by reading So You Want To Build A Library by Lindsay Leslie to a group of children as part of a storytime activity. The children, most donning plastic yellow hard hats bearing the name of the library, also filled out worksheets as the minutes inched closer to speeches from those integral in the planning of the expansion and renovation.

After a yearlong delay and decades of planning, organizers celebrated being able to commemorate the breaking of ground on the project, though construction crews have been taking down trees and moving utility lines at the neighboring former Dane County Title building, which will be torn down to make way for the extension of the library. Demolition of the building has currently been delayed, which is why it is still standing.

The library, built in the first few years of the 20th century, will be extended east with the addition of a 19,500-square-foot building. The first phase of constructing that addition is set to be completed in May or June 2023, which is when the second phase of renovating the current 13,000 square feet will begin. That work is scheduled to be completed in October 2023.

Former Library Board of Trustees Chairperson Mary Grant outlined a timeline for the attendees as she emphasized the work organizers put into gathering information and changing designs as years passed.

I realize this has been a little dull, but I lived through it all, Grant said, eliciting laughter from the crowd. And I want to highlight how much time, and energy, was put into the planning of this library expansion. No matter how much you plan, it is difficult to plan or predict the future.

The $11.9 million project was realized after years of fundraising. In 2019, after more than one meeting of deliberation, the Baraboo City Council approved borrowing $6 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay for a portion of the project. Juanita Schadde, the wife of the late longtime business owner of Schadde Plumbing, donated $2.5 million to the library, which prompted the changing of its name to reflect the importance of both the Schadde family and building architect, Andrew Carnegie.

Planners submitted an application for the USDA loans. They waited. Then they were asked to submit more paperwork. It became a cycle, said Pat Cannon, director of the Community Development Authority, which controls the funding for the project through a library trust fund. They would submit proof of something only to be asked for more, frustrating the organizers who had been hoping to begin the work after years of planning, Cannon said.

Eventually, the loan was approved and the project delayed by about a year. In February, proposals from construction companies were opened. Vogel Bros. Building Co. of Madison won the project.

Pete Vogel, president and CEO, spoke Thursday of their work in other library projects and the importance of the institutions as a part of community gathering spaces.

Libraries have, and will continue to hold, a very special space in our communities, Vogel said. They serve and provide a wonderful window to the world for everybody in the community through the materials, programs they hold for community members of all ages, from the youngest to the most experienced.

The overall theme of the ceremony was gratitude for financial contributors, from Schadde to the local bake sale organizer, and to those who supported the work for years as obstacles delayed the work until they finally made it to the event Thursday. Nelson remarked on how the everyday patrons are who will make this dream a reality.

To coin a phrase, its taken a community to make this happen, Nelson said. I want to remind you folks that this building, which is going to be grand and inspiring and beautiful, will ultimately just be a building. The true treasures here on this property continue to be our talented and compassionate staff, and most importantly, all of you, who are going to fill these spaces with ideas and laughter and creativity and questions and wonder.

Follow Bridget on Twitter @cookebridget or contact her at 608-745-3513.

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JUNEAU  A 20-year-old Whitewater man was placed on a $100,000 cash bond Friday on charges of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl with whom he had allegedly been in a relationship without the parents knowledge.

Cristhiam Daniel Martinez Games is charged with second-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 16. The charge is a class C felony offense with a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and 15 years of extended supervision. Martinez Games was originally charged with a Class B felony for the charges, but they were reduced on Friday.

Dodge County Assistant District Attorney Jin Ho D. Pack asked for the $100,000 amount because Martinez Games, who currently is on a warrant for deportation from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had moved a lot and used aliases.

The defendant lacks ties to the county, the state and even the country, Pack said. Im very concerned he will not come back.

Pack said that the Dodge County District Attorneys Office has been in contact with ICE and that a hold has been issued on the warrant to allow Martinez Games to go through the court proceedings in Dodge County.

Attorney Katherine Findley, from the Dodge County Public Defenders Office, said Martinez Games was extremely cooperative with law enforcement and is employed with a residence in Whitewater.

Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Martin De Vries agreed with the high bond amount with conditions that Martinez Games may not have any direct or indirect contact or communication with the victim, victims family or residence. He also may not have contact with anyone under the age of 18.

According to the amended criminal complaint:

Martinez Games said he had moved to the U.S. three years ago and resided in South Dakota before coming to Whitewater. He said he was in a relationship with the 15-year-old girl. He said he was in contact with the girl after being friends on Facebook. He admitted to having sex with the girl, according to the amended complaint, and said that the childs parents did not know about the relationship.

In the original complaint, the girl had said she had not seen him since they lived near each other, before the early hours on Tuesday morning when she was allegedly assaulted in her Juneau home.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled on May 8.

Follow Terri Pederson on Twitter @tlp53916 or contact her at 920-356-6760.

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A Portage mother is continuing her sons legacy of giving nearly a year after his death.

Ezra Jahn was 17, freshly graduated from Portage High School, when he died in a car crash on May 31, 2021. Now, his mother Dawn Jahn has partnered with the American Red Cross of Wisconsin to host a blood drive in honor of the boy she described as a giver.

He always gave, said Jahn. No matter who you were, what you needed, he would take the time to make sure that you were happy, that you had what you needed.

The goal for the drive  set to take place June 6  is 42 donor appointments. Jahn said 21 of those slots have already been filled by friends and family, many of whom have never given blood before.

Even if theyd never done it before, theyd do it for Ezra, Jahn said.

Helping Jahn to "do it for Ezra" is Justin Kern, communications director at the American Red Cross. When Jahn initially reached out to the Red Cross, it had been just a few months since her son had died.

We are happy to work with (Jahn) and have this blood drive happen, Kern said. I think the big thing is to do something in Ezras memory.

According to Kern, the American Red Cross does many in memory of drives annually. Jahns drive, he says, is filling up fast, but still has availability.

Our hope definitely is to get it booked up soon, Kern said.

If the appointments do fill up and people are still interested in honoring Ezra with a blood donation, Kern said theres an alternative way to give.

If you go: When: Monday, June 6, 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Where: United Methodist Church, 1804 New Pinery Road, Portage Appointments: Visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter ZIP code: 53901; sponsor code: Ezra; or call (800) RED CROSS

Even if this drive books up, what well encourage folks to do is to make an appointment at another drive coming up, he said. Its still that same legacy.

Working at the Red Cross and putting memorial blood drives together, Kern said hes learned a lot about legacy.

Everybody that donates blood really is connected with helping to save lives, said Kern. Thats never lost on me.

No matter how people are able to donate, Jahn said she knows her son would be grateful.

I think he would appreciate it, she said. His legacy can be still of giving towards the community and people that are in need."

A paragraph on the flyers for Ezras blood drive describes him as very caring to everyone around him.

If you were down, it was his goal to make your day better," the flyer reads. "And if you were lucky enough to know him, you also know that Ezra gave the best hugs.

His mother said this is how she wants him remembered, not just as a car crash victim. She added that beyond blood donation, those who want to honor her sons legacy can do something else: Buckle up.

I truly believe if my son wouldve been wearing a seatbelt hed still be here today, said Jahn.

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A group of Poynette High School art students recently put their best foot forward in a national shoe designing competition.

Across the country, 250 high schools were selected for the Vans High School Custom Culture competition, which is sponsored by Vans. Each school was sent two pairs of sneakers for students to decorate with themes of Hometown Pride, and VanD(IY)oren Legacy  the latter in honor of Paul Van Doren, co-founder of the California-based shoe and apparel company, who died last year at the age of 90.

Art teacher Kaitlyn Heintz heard about the contest from senior Advanced Placement art student Kyla Thays, and promptly registered for it online.

I believe Vans wanted to try to include a diversity of schools among their selection for the contest across the nation, Heintz said.

In mid-February, the school received the news that theyd been selected, along with two pairs of white Vans and a $50 gift certificate to art supply website Yoobi.

Along with Thays, fellow seniors Hope Ninmann and Montana Milton designed and painted two pairs of shoes over the course of two months. According to Heintz, the trio were selected for their exceptional talent in both skill and design.

The Hometown Pride themed pair of shoes focuses on the MacKenzie Educational Center, featuring a badger on one shoe and a bison on the other. Nature, said Heintz, was a common theme among the students in design brainstorming sessions.

The discussion kept turning back to the natural beauty and resources of the area, said Heintz. With the maple syrup season taking place, it was a major influence on the design.

The VanD(IY)oren Legacy shoes, on the other hand, highlighted Poynettes art program. Each shoe showcases different aspects of the program, from instruments to paint tubes.

The second pair, said Heintz was inspired by a high schoolers take on the four pillars of Vans: Action sports, art, music and street culture.

They had fun making a graffiti-type design with lots of colors and imagery, she said.

The Top 50 out of the original 250 competing schools were announced Monday. While Poynette didnt advance to the next round of competition, Heintz said the contest was still a really awesome experience and she hopes Poynette will be selected again next year for the contest.

The students were very excited to participate and enjoyed the process of painting the shoes, she said.

That process, Heintz added, took the three students two months of planning, drawing, and painting.

It was fantastic to watch these three students work together and meld their artistic styles to create these designs, Heintz said.

The Vans website says the purpose of the contest is to inspire and empower high school students to embrace their creativity through art and design, and to bring attention to diminishing arts education budgets.

According to Principal Mark Hoernke, his students couldnt be a better fit for that very purpose.

We are so very proud of our students and the work that they do, Hoernke said. They are not only talented, but also work so very much to practice and perfect their talents.

Hoernke added that he was thankful for Poynettes talented teachers, who do such a great job guiding our kids.

Another Wisconsin school, West Allis Central High, did make it to the 50.

Voting can be done through the contest website customculture.vans.com until May 6. According to the contest site, the Top 5 winning schools will be announced between May 9 and May 20. The first-prize winner will receive $50,000 toward its arts program, while the four runners-up will each receive $15,000.

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The 14-year-old boy accused of murdering Lily Peters in Chippewa Falls made statements "that his intention was to rape and kill the victim from the get-go," a prosecutor said Wednesday.
STURGEON BAY  A jury in Door County on Friday found an 86-year-old man guilty of killing his wife and disposing of her body more than four decades ago.

Jurors returned guilty verdicts on charges of first-degree murder and disinterment of the dead against Richard Pierce, who has maintained his innocence.

Carol Jean Pierce has not been seen since Sept. 5, 1975, and her remains have never been found. Investigators say Richard Pierce moved to Cheboygan, Michigan, shortly after his wife disappeared.

Investigators searched Pierces Michigan home in 2008. Prosecutors believe that Carol Jean Pierces body was hidden in the Michigan home for years until Richard Pierce removed it.

In September of 2018, the Wisconsin Cold Case Review Team looked at the case and concluded there was enough evidence to show Richard Pierce was set to gain from his wifes disappearance, WBAY-TV reported.

Investigators from Sturgeon Bay and Michigan then spent weeks searching Richard Pierces property in Michigan, looking for possible evidence related to the womans disappearance. Her remains were never located. However, a cadaver dog handler testified at trial that the dog had six hits for human remains in Pierces house.

The prosecution argued that Pierce would benefit from his wifes death, getting her property, including a home and truck, and could move on with a new girlfriend.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 5.
How often do college professors in Wisconsin encourage students to explore a wide variety of views?

How interested are students in discussing controversial ideas on campus?

How much have students learned about the First Amendment?

Those are just a few of the innocuous yet important questions a UW-Stout professor plans to ask college students attending University of Wisconsin System schools this fall.

Professor Tim Shiell's free speech survey appears straight-forward and worthy. It shouldn't trigger outrage, much less an interim chancellor's resignation.

Shiell had planned to send his questions to UW System students earlier this month but agreed to wait until the fall after several university leaders objected. This included interim UW-Whitewater Chancellor Jim Henderson, who actually resigned this month, citing the survey as a big reason why. He said he believes students are already exposed to a variety of voices.

Henderson is entitled to his opinion. But the purpose of this survey is to gauge student views -- not his own. And enough examples of intolerance of unpopular views on campuses justify a serious examination. In 2016, for example, protesters delayed a speech by conservative activist Ben Shapiro at UW-Madison, though his talk eventually resumed. A year later, protests over conservative speakers on campuses in California, New York and Vermont turned violent.

At the same time, some GOP lawmakers have sought to squelch speech on campus by nitpicking professors' syllabuses and threatening student protesters with expulsion.

Critics of Shiell's survey worried its results might be released before the fall elections and misused by candidates for political advantage. That's possible. Politicians often latch on to news they think provides rhetorical advantage. But the survey could just as easily show their assumptions were wrong.

Instead of fretting over what students might say, school administrators should welcome and learn from the feedback.

Some critics claim the survey wasn't properly vetted. They are wrong. The project's research team included Shiell and other professors specializing in politics, research methodology, psychology and constitutional law. They even ran their questions past an advisory group that included Janine Geske, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice and member of the State Journal editorial board.

Critics worry that the survey takers received donations from conservatives. That's true. But liberal donors and foundations give to campus projects, too. UW System works hard to protect the integrity and independence of all its work.

As Shiell explained: "Im a liberal professor being funded by a conservative donor to run a nonpartisan center."

Critics of the survey should remember the UW Board of Regents' heroic call for free inquiry more than a century ago. A plaque on Bascom Hall at UW-Madison enshrines the Regents' words from 1894: Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.

You can't sift and winnow if you're afraid to speak. So surveying students on their ability to speak their minds should be celebrated, not censored.
The online Canton Fair, which is hailed as the "barometer" and "wind vane" of China's foreign trade, has built a unique economic and trade bridge for Chinese and foreign exhibitors and buyers.

Marketing personnel with Qingdao Jifa Group Holdings Co., Ltd. in Jimo District, Qingdao City, east China's Shandong Province, promote clothes produced for overseas market via the livestreaming platform of the China Import and Export Fair, April 15, 2022. [People's Daily Online/Liang Xiaopeng]

The 131st China Import and Export Fair was held online from April 15 to 24. It was the fourth time that the event has been held online.

The latest session of the event, also known as Canton Fair, basically maintained the same scale as that of the previous session. It gathered about 25,500 domestic and overseas exhibitors, who showcased more than 3.05 million exhibits during the event, including 951,500 new products, both record highs.

Fifty exhibition sections have been set up for 16 categories of commodities; the official website of the trade fair attracted 10.09 million visitors and saw 33.9 million pageviews during the event; and 536,000 overseas buyers from 228 countries and regions registered for the exhibition, rising 41.8 percent from the previous session.

The Canton Fair, which has been held continuously for over 60 years, has accumulated a huge number of "fans".

Although it was held online due to the protracted pandemic, the 131st session of the event still saw active participation by exhibitors and buyers and achieved plenty of fruits with the help of new technologies and forms such as image and text, video, 3D, and virtual reality (VR).

Statistics suggest that during the latest session of the Canton Fair, the online exhibition booths of exhibitors registered over 6.22 million visits, and the participating enterprises hosted 85,300 livestreaming shows to showcase their products.

An employee with Hebei Tieniu Bicycle Industry Co., Ltd. based in Guangzong County , Xingtai City , north China's Hebei Province, sells bicycles for children via livestreaming during the 131st China Import and Export Fair, April 21, 2022. [People's Daily Online/Wang Lei]

"We hosted six livestreaming shows within one day during the trade fair," said Wang Dingying, deputy general manager of Ningbo Peaceport Import and Export Co., Ltd.

The company's products were displayed in 14 exhibition sections of the trade fair, which covered hardware, garments, home decorations, shoes, suitcases and bags, office supplies, consumer electronics, household electrical appliances and other categories.

Livestreaming shows on household electrical appliances were the most popular, according to Wang, who added that new models of small appliances such as coffee maker and high-speed blender attracted buyers from India, the Philippines and other countries immediately after they were displayed.

One of the highlights of the 131st Canton Fair was high-tech products and new products that made their debut at the event.

More exhibitors showcased products they independently developed and products under their self-owned brands during the 131st Canton Fair compared with in previous sessions.

Shanghai Dragon Import and Export Co., Ltd. exhibited a good number of new products at the event, including exquisite aluminum cookware and stainless steel pot with ergonomically designed bakelite handle. Featuring novel design and high-quality materials, these products that suit market demands drew the attention of many overseas buyers.

Green and low-carbon products turned out a hit during the event. Foshan Mega Green Products Co., Ltd. based in Foshan city, south China's Guangdong Province, brought to the 131st Canton Fair many new environment-friendly bamboo products, including degradable PLA (polylactic acid) cup and eco-friendly lunchbox.

"Bamboos' growth cycle is shorter than trees, and cutting them down won't cause soil erosion. So they can replace trees as a production material and thus help protect the environment and save resources," pointed out Feng Limei, general manager of the company.

"The epidemic has affected the living and eating habits of consumers, which is reflected in their surging demand for disposable tableware," Fend said, adding that their degradable tableware received a lot of negotiation intentions during the event.

Overseas exhibitors have also reaped the benefits of the Canton Fair. A total of 402 overseas companies from 32 countries and regions around the world exhibited diversified and characteristic products at the international pavilion of the 131st Canton Fair, including Spanish soap, Chilean red wine, Turkish coffee pot, Korean sheet mask, German bearing and Afghan pine nut.

The number of global partners of the recent Canton Fair has reached 170, including 50 from countries along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative and more than 40 from all member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The Canton Fair is a golden name card of China's foreign trade development and has gained the huge advantage of high credibility during the past over 60 years, said Lin Xiaofeng, vice president of overseas marketing at Shenzhen Topray Solar Co., Ltd. in Guangdong, adding that the company has been able to establish long-term cooperative relations with many Chinese and foreign customers via the platform.

The high popularity of the Canton Fair is underpinned by the Chinese market filled with enormous business opportunities and the resilient Chinese economy.

China's foreign trade has posted positive year-on-year expansion for seven consecutive quarters; and during the first quarter of 2022, the country's foreign trade value totaled 9.42 trillion yuan ($1.44 trillion), up 10.7 percent year on year.

The impressive performance of China's foreign trade has injected confidence and strength into Chinese and foreign exhibitors at the latest Canton Fair.

The online Canton Fair has provided solid support for stabilizing global industrial and supply chains and added strong impetus into global economic recovery, according to Bekar Mikaberidze, chief representative of the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Guangdong.

"China has a broad market, and I have full confidence in making deployment and deepening our exploration of the Chinese market," Mikaberidze added.

(Source: People's Daily Online)
The sidewalk in front of 324 North Main St., Woonsocket, where a Rhode Island State Police officer-involved shooting took place Wednesday evening. The suspect involved has since died.
Spread around the United States, there are small towns that come alive during the summer months more than any other. Brimming with character, these one-of-a-kind towns offer a perfect mix of the "it" vibes within and natural scenery around to cool off on a hot summer's day.

Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

Alligators and other wildlife can be spotted during a swamp tour of Lake Martin in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. Editorial credit: Wirestock Creators / Shutterstock.com

A popular summer destination with a small-town feel, Breaux Bridge is the "Crawfish Capital of the World." Located in St. Martin Parish, two hours west of New Orleans, the town's cool vibe and Southern charm are reflected in skeet shooting, jambalaya cookouts, and the eclectic Lagniappe antique store. It is also the birthplace of crawfish etouffee, as well as home to the annual Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, filled with fun and delicacies. The decadent everyday eating options include the famous etouffee at Poche's, boudin sausage, and smoked spare rib po'boys for the especially hungry at the Acadiana Jerky Co., and Cajun Claws for the lovers of seafood variety. Bounded by canoe country of Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge, one can take on the cypress-lined atmospheric waterways or spot alligators and other wildlife at the swampland preserve at Lake Martin.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Set surrounded by state parks, Cannon Beach's dramatic shoreline dotted with giant rock formations makes for stunning scenery, as the coolest escape in America. Anyone in town must experience strolling along the sandy beaches to find respite from the sun beneath the famous Haystack Rock crowning the paradise. Named one of the world's most beautiful places by National Geographic, the scenery calls for a picnic, complete with stunning coastline views of endless waters and more boulders around. The blend of the remarkable natural areas and a charming village vibe is complemented by a nationally renowned art scene in town. One can absorb the unique character of this charmer through a simple stroll around the eclectic streets, all within close distance of the beach. There's an array of art galleries in-between cute eateries, fine restaurants, epic shops, and boutiques.

Cape May, New Jersey

Beachgoers enjoy a beautiful day in Cape May, New Jersey. Editorial credit: Racheal Grazias / Shutterstock.com

Since the Victorian era, Cape May has been welcoming summertime lovers from big cities like Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. for the cool, quaint town feel. Being the last stop on the New Jersey shore, its beaches give off the "cool" vibe in a refreshing manner, rather than MTV. The town itself comes with Victorian mansions and minimalistic, modern B&Bs to spend most of the time spent exploring. Closed-off to traffic, there's the happening shopping and dining district in town, including the Washington Street Mall for relaxation and people-watching. The Congress Hall resort in the heart of the town overlooking the beach and known as the "Summer White House," opened in 1816 as a boarding house but became a magnet for those wanting to vacation in style. For more cool activities, one can take a surrey ride into the sunset for a spirited evening on the waters, visit the Cape May Lighthouse, as well as see the Jersey Shore Alpacas.

Ketchum, Idaho

Winter Wonderland in Ketchum, Idaho.

A popular summertime destination featuring 250 days of sunshine, the cool Ketchum was once just a modest mining and ranching town. Known for its laid-back sophistication, it is a natural paradise galore with mountain biking, fly-fishing, and incredible arts events within scenic surroundings. Coming with an epic culinary scene, one can lunch on the mountain at Seattle Ridge Lodge, dive in on fondue at the historic Roundhouse, and wash down a fowl burger with a schooner at Grumpy's, the atmospheric local watering hole. The lucky few will be able to reserve a seat at Enoteca for an authentic Italian fare that is always in high demand. There's the new, hip, and Aspen-like Limelight Hotel for an upgraded mountain-lodging stay.

Laguna Beach, California

An aerial view of Laguna Beach, California.

A cool coastal destination full of natural beauty, Laguna Beach is flanked to one side by mountains and bordered by the Pacific to the other. Offering the best of both worlds in one small town, one can take an early-bird hike in the morning's breeze, followed by a cool-off in the refreshingly brisk ocean, before hitting the soft sands. While the beaches are the main draw with surfing and eco-adventures, the marina is full of cool vibes and things to do. From sailing and swimming for the active to a charming aquarium for families, there's also the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Master's events. Adjoining and blending into beauty with the town of Dana Point, the cliff-side views for some unforgettable shots are just a short hike away. There's the Heisler Park, the Crescent Bay Point Park, the Crystal Cove State Park, and the 1,000 steps Beach for more explorations.

Monterey, California

A view of Monterey, California. Editorial credit: Darryl Brooks / Shutterstock.com

The idyllic, little peninsula-set town is a perfect place to "cool off," offering an even mix of hip and R&R for an eclectic getaway. A morning stroll along the famed Fisherman's Wharf surrounded by scenic water views comes with spotting seals and other marine life. The vibrant Monterey Plaza is fantastic for atmospheric brunches and a day full of shopping. For their daily fill of exercise, one can choose the Monterey Peninsula Recreational Trail or the popular 17-mile coastal trail that is a jogger's and biker's galore, also beloved by photographers. Taking one through Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach with various vistas, kayakers also make the same path in the waterways. The Monterey Bay is great to wander around, while the kids will adore the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Dennis the Menace Park. The dining scene comes with many water-bounded restaurants, serving the freshest daily catch right out of the boat.

Sebastopol, California

A large street sign over the Barlow market area in Sebastopol, California. Editorial credit: JudeAnd / Shutterstock.com

Set in the stroll-worthy surroundings of apple orchards and vineyards, the small town of Sebastopol is only 15 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Called charming and quirky by the Revealed America founder Marty Behr, its out-of-proportion diversity of attractions include local eateries to dine on a delicious down-home burger or grilled salmon that was just frolicking in the waters, among many other uniquely-catered dishes. The streets are lovely to wander about in the summer sunshine, filled with boutiques, cutting-edge art, rare antiques, and wine shops. One can scavenge for street art on the way to Barlow, a 220,000-square-foot culinary and arts center. The cool, marketplace-like establishment comes with modernist architecture, reminiscing of the picturesque apple canneries that were once here.

Sonoma, California

City Hall in Sonoma, California.

The idyllic getaway into the heart of the Sonoma County renowned for its wines, Sonoma is a small town with a quaint atmosphere, bordered by its more famous sister, Napa. The most notable wineries include the Jacuzzi Family Vineyards, Gundlach Bundschu Winery, and the Cline Cellars. The scenic Sonoma Valley is a great place to relax with a picnic and a wine bottle picked out earlier. Encompassed by state parks with wineries in between, there are varying vistas, from the beautiful orchards to the towering redwood trees with hiking trails that will make one feel like a million miles away from people. Upon getting a fill of tasting and hiking, one can attain a different kind of scenery at the Pacific Ocean beach just an hour away, perfect for a "cool" day trip on an especially hot summer's day. The Sonoma Plaza is full of shopping, while its restaurant scene includes chefs that masterfully pair perfect wines with the chosen dishes.

South Lake Tahoe, California

Aerial view of South Lake Tahoe, which is on the California-Nevada Stateline.

Straddling the Nevada-California border already makes this town a cool place to visit, but with 300 days of sunshine per year and an enormous freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Lake Tahoe is sure to leave a lasting array of memories. A mecca for boating, kayaking, and swimming, while spending the night away in Nevada-side's casinos and nightlife defines the coolest getaway. For the active, there are the iconic Sand Harbor, the Emerald Bay State Park, and the Cascade Falls Trail. One can also stay in style at a "glamping" site with 31 cabins featuring hotel-like amenities, kitchens, as well as complimentary breakfast, and nightly campfires. There is also the eco-friendly, award-winning Cedar Glen Lodge set on the lake's northern shore and an array of restaurants in town.

Traverse City, Michigan

Aerial view of downtown Traverse City, Michigan.

The lakeshore beauty of Traverse City comes with many cool attractions. The Grand Traverse Pie Company was excellent enough for Oprah to visit, choosing the Old Mission with plump Michigan Montmorency fruit as her favorite pie out of the 12 on the menu. The elevated food scene includes unique creations like root vegetable waffles and fried sage at "Sugar 2 Salt" to keep that perfect beach body. The town is also adored by the art fans, coming with cool architecture pop-ups all over, such as the mechanic's garage at Randy's Olde Town Services. The state mental hospital-turned shopping village at Grand Traverse Commons comprises one of the nation's most extensive historic preservation and adaptive reuse developments. For a getaway into nature, the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is only 25 miles to the west, featuring the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive and Dune Climb to Lake Michigan.

Wellfleet, Massachusetts

Wellfleet Marina Harbor.

Set on the outer Cape Cod, Wellfleet is a favorite summertime hideaway for a calm and quiet time-spent. The two-mile-wide picture-perfect small town is a burst of color and flavor, sandwiched in between two stunning beaches to each side, the Bay and the Atlantic. Strolling in the sunshine, the real "eye-candy" streets are lined with clapboard houses overtaken by hydrangea vines, while the smattering of art galleries across Main Street offers more feasting for the eyes. The idyllic and unforgettable getaway comprises lying on an un-crowded beach and washing down Wellfleet's famous oysters with a glass of something chilled, days-on. There's also the new-in-town famed PB Boulangerie & Bistro, run by Daniel Boulud alum Philippe Rispoli, and the GAA Gallery filled with cutting-edge contemporary art for second-time visitors.

These epic towns comprise some of the most idyllic places in the nation, offering one a multi-faceted approach for the next cool getaway. From unique nature- and town-scapes, to the quaint beaches, to spanned-out food and art scenes, one will find that special vibe that will be imprinted in their mind as the coolest time spent.
McCracken County High School teacher accused of making fake vaccine cards for students to use on field trip
Adorable twin red-bellied lemurs born at Chester Zoo

Two adorable twin red-bellied lemurs  a species listed as vulnerable to extinction  have been born at Chester Zoo.

Zookeepers spotted the fluffy duo nestled in mum Ainas (4) thick fur just moments after their birth on Thursday 7 April 2022.

The tiny primates currently weigh just 70 grams each and will spend the first few months of life clinging to mum and riding around on her back, before gaining in confidence to branch off and explore on their own.

Red-bellied lemurs are one of the worlds rarest primates with their numbers having declined by more than 30% in recent years.

An international conservation-breeding programme involving some of the worlds leading zoos is now playing a vital role in the efforts to secure the species future.

The worlds authority on the state of nature, The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), lists red-bellied lemurs as Vulnerable and as a result, face a high risk of extinction in the wild.

Jessamine Smith, Primate Keeper at Chester Zoo, said: The birth of any red-bellied lemur is always a real boost for the conservation breeding programme, but to have twins born for the very first time at the zoo is incredibly special.

Red-bellied lemurs are one of the few lemur species that form a monogamous couple, meaning that they pair up for life and live in a small family troop of mum, dad and their offspring.

So far mum Aina and dad Frej are both doing a wonderful of job of caring for their new babies  they can often be seen snuggled up in mums fur and clinging tightly to her as she leaps from tree to tree.

At the moment theyre absolutely tiny, but they develop really quickly and within a few months will be off exploring the tree tops by themselves.

Scientists report that Madagascar, the worlds most biodiverse island with wildlife that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet, has already lost up to 90% of its forests  leaving many species on the brink of extinction. Large-scale habitat loss across Madagascar continues to be the biggest factor in the demise of thousands of species, including the red-bellied lemur.

Lemurs are also hunted for food and persecuted for their occasional raids on crops, as well as being captured for the illegal wildlife trade.

Mike Jordan, Director of Animals and Plants at the zoo, added: Red-bellied lemurs are sadly undergoing a sharp decline in Madagascar meaning the safety net population found in leading zoos around the world is becoming ever more important.

The arrival of these two new babies will help us continue to play a vital role in ensuring the species has a future.

In tandem with this key international conservation breeding programme, our experts are also working in Madagascar alongside our field partners Madagasikara Voakajy.

The teams are fighting to protect the remaining forests; home to thousands of species that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. As part of this weve also been actively engaging with local communities and schools to educate younger generations about the importance of wildlife and healthy forest ecosystems  providing a much brighter future for the worlds most biodiverse island.

In 2015, the Malagasy government established The Mangabe New Protected Area, co-managed by the zoos field partner Madagasikara Voakajy and the communities that live in the Mangabe region, providing a safe haven for nine species of lemur, as well as hundreds of other endangered species.

The new lemur twins can be found in the zoos walkthrough Madagascar lemur habitat, giving nature lovers the opportunity to walk among rare lemurs, while educating visitors on the work the zoo is carrying out in Madagascar.
Air ambulance called to incident in Gresford

The Welsh Air Ambulance landed in Gresford earlier today to assist with an incident.

A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said: We were called at approximately 10:00am to an incident near Chester Road in Gresford, Wrexham.

We sent an advanced paramedic practitioner in a rapid response vehicle, an emergency ambulance and air ambulance to the scene.

One patient was conveyed by road to Wrexham Maelor Hospital for further treatment.

The air ambulance then flew to Ruthin Road in town.
Childrens language and literacy project to be expanded

A project which has supported over 500 children to improve their language, communication and reading skills hopes to help up to 2,000 more across Wales following 290,000 funding from the Welsh Government.

The Remote Instruction of Language and Literacy (RILL) project, led by Bangor University, provides 7-11-year-olds with an intensive and interactive ten-week language and literacy programme in Welsh or English, either in or out of the classroom.

Launched following the introduction of restrictions in April 2020 to stop the spread of Coronavirus, RILL will be expanded to help improve the literacy skills of learners in Wales.

This will include rolling the project out to more schools, expanding the project in Welsh and providing extra lessons for children and parents to learn together at home.

Bangor University are working with the North Wales school improvement service, GwE, to develop RILL Cymraeg. The bespoke Welsh-language version focuses on building Welsh vocabulary and transferable literacy skills.

33 schools in north Wales have been involved in the project.

RILL has helped children maintain literacy skills during Covid-19 period. As schools recover, funding for RILL will help support learners and teachers to improve language, communication and reading skills.

This will ensure learners are prepared for their academic future and the Curriculum for Wales.

Jeremy Miles, Minister for Education and Welsh Language said: Language, communication and reading skills form the foundations of all learning. Developed here in Wales with a unique focus on both Welsh and English, the RILL programme will be able to help learners improve their skills following the pandemic. I look forward to seeing the results of this innovative project.

The programmes lead researchers, Dr Manon Jones of Bangor University and Dr Cameron Downing of Leeds Trinity University, said: Were delighted to be working with the Welsh Government to further develop and scale our Literacy programme.

This project will build on the existing collaborative partnership between GwE and Bangor University in using research to improve educational outcomes for learners.

At its core, the RILL programme is based on our theoretical and empirical understanding of how we learn to read and spell and the RILL Cymraeg programme  developed in collaboration with GwE  has been specifically designed for the Welsh language. This really sets it apart from other Welsh literacy programmes.

This funding will allow us to work with schools and teachers across Wales to further develop, deliver, and rigorously evaluate the programme. We hope our programme will support teachers and learners to boost literacy skills in Wales.
People forced to skip meals to feed their children as food bank usage increases

More than two million food parcels were handed out across the UK last year as people resort to skipping meals to feed their children and turning off the heating to deal with the cost of living crisis.

New figures released by the Trussell Trust charity  which provides emergency food supplies to people in need  reveal the extent the pandemic and financial hardships were having on households before the recent rise in energy costs.

In Wrexham 6897 food parcels were handed out to people across the county borough between April 2021 and March 2022. Of those, 2521 were given to children locally.

In neighbouring counties 7813 food parcels were administered in Flintshire and 5064 in Denbighshire.

Over the 12 month period food banks across Wales provided 131,232 food parcels.

UK wide this figure was more than 2.1 million  with 830,000 for children.

This represents a 14 per increase compared to the same period in 2019/20  before the pandemic  as more and more people are unable to afford the absolute essentials that we all need to eat, stay warm, dry and clean.

It is also the first time that food banks in the Trussell Trusts network have provided more than two million parcels, outside of 2020/21, at the height of the pandemic.

Food bank managers are now warning of an accelerating crisis across the UK following the cut to Universal Credit, as the cost of living continues to soar. Need for food banks in the Trussell Trust network has accelerated throughout the past six months:

July  September 2021 saw a 10% increase in comparison to the same period in 2019

October  December 2021 saw a 17% increase in comparison to the same period in 2019

January  February 2022 saw a 22% increase in comparison to the same period in 2020

The charity is warning that these figures will worsen as the cost of living crisis continues, as it calls for the UK government to act now and help prevent hundreds of thousands more families being forced to the doors of food banks

With the energy price cap rise just starting to bite, the charity says for most people at risk from financial hardship  who cannot work or work longer hours due to disability, caring responsibilities or mental health issues  there is very little protection ahead.

Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said: People are telling us theyre skipping meals so they can feed their children. That they are turning off essential appliances so they can afford internet access for their kids to do their homework.

How can this be right in a society like ours? And yet food banks in our network tell us this is only set to get worse as their communities are pushed deeper into financial hardship. No ones income should fall so dangerously low that they cannot afford to stay fed, warm and dry.

There is still time for the UK government to do the right thing. We are calling on the UK government to bring benefits in line with the true cost of living.

As an urgent first step benefits should be increased by at least 7%, keeping pace with increases in the cost of living. In the longer term, we need the government to introduce a commitment in the benefits system to ensure that everyone has enough money in their pockets to be prevented from falling into destitution.

By failing to make benefits payments realistic for the times we face, the government now risks turning the cost of living crisis into a national emergency.
Wabtec, a rail engineering firm, plans 80 job losses at its two UK sites in Doncaster and Birkenhead. All 150 staff are threatened with fire and rehire, where they will be sacked if they dont re-apply for their own jobs on inferior terms and conditions.

Wabtec Rail Ltd has used the pandemic as a pretext for attacks on its workforce it had attempted to implement for years. In July 2020, during the first wave of COVID-19, their rail refurbishment factory announced plans for up to 450 redundancies, following a 45-day consultation period. The remainder of the workforce was to be fired and forced to take new, inferior contracts.

Wabtec Rail's 08853 shunts London North Eastern Railway Mark 4 coaches outside the workshops in Doncaster. August 27, 2019. (Credit: Creative Commons/Geof Sheppard)

The firm is part of Wabtec Corporation, a major US conglomerate, based in Pittsburgh, that employs 27,000 people in 50 countries and has an annual turnover of 6 billion, supplying components and services to the rail industry. It is listed on the Standard and Poors 500 index of large companies on the New York Stock Exchange.

The transnational expanded into the UK in 2011, running a rail refurbishment works in Doncaster and another plant in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Doncaster has an industrial heritage spanning generations, with the famous Flying Scotsman and Mallard locomotives being built there in the 1920s and 1930s. The skilled jobs threatened include factory operatives, assembly fitters, engineers, and supervisors.

Negotiations between Wabtec Corporation and the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union (RMT) have been ongoing since March 2021 over redundancies, flexible contracts, and increased exploitation. The company claims the stepped up productivity measures are to create modern working practices, motivated by the challenging economic climate.

There is mounting opposition to these attacks, rolled out in the context of a pandemic that was routinely used by employers as a pretext for the imposition of wholesale attacks on wages and working conditions. Workers in heavy industry and engineering were forced, as key workers, to continue to labour in unsafe, overcrowded factories while the super-rich increased their wealth.

RMT members at Wabtec voted by a large majority to reject a company offer in March, the second time the new flexible working conditions have been refused. The companys response was to insist on job losses and threaten to fire and rehire the workforce.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said that Wabtec has behaved disgracefully, meekly stressing that the union is open to talks but will not rule out an industrial response.

The RMT has engaged in protracted negotiations with a company acting disgracefully and even now only warns of possible industrial action. They did not mobilise their members or raise a call for solidarity across the sector, and among other workers facing similar threats. The attack at Wabtec comes amid ongoing strikes and planned action on the railways, with hundreds of conductors engaged in weekend strikes on TransPennine Express trains over pay. The RMT is currently balloting its 40,000 members over national strike action.

The outcome of the unions prolonged talks with Wabtec is the imposition of fire-and-rehire. This is part of an international process of restructuring required by the corporate elite to extract from the working class the huge sums of bailout money doled out to corporations and financial institutions throughout the pandemic. The trade unions are an integral part of this process.

While the RMT has declared this an official dispute, with the lack of publicity given, and the unions refusal to respond to this reporters queries, one must assume they are attempting to return to the negotiating table and assist the company in implementing its plans without calling for strike action.

In 2014, rail workers organised in the RMT balloted for the first time in the history of the firms British operations, achieving a 90 percent vote to strike. The action was called off at the last minute by the union, who work hand-in-glove with management to keep a lid on potential industrial action. The RMTs political allies in the Labour Party made the token gesture of submitting an Early Date Motion in parliament, which was signed by just 11 members of parliament (MPs) and commits the party to nothing.

Wabtec is making similar attacks at Birkenhead, Merseyside, threatening to fire-and-rehire its 130 staff to impose productivity increases. The Unite union has threatened to organise a strike ballot if the company maintains its threats. The company denies that it plans to make mass redundancies.

This dispute is being artificially separated from that at Doncaster by Unite and the RMT. Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham stated, Wabtecs management must understand that Unite has always fought back against fire and rehire and we are fully prepared to do so again here. But the union has previously agreed to productivity increases at the site. Across the UK, it has allowed the imposition of fire and rehire by betraying several recent struggles, such as those at Go North West and Jacobs Douwe Egberts.

In March, P&O ferries carried out the mass sacking of 800 seafarers, represented by the RMT. Although such practices are legal, companies are only able to implement them with the complicity of the union bureaucracy.

The latest fire and rehire was carried out by a firm based in Hull, CDS Energy Services, who sacked 60 workers earlier this month. The company, located at the citys Saltend oil and gas terminal, immediately sought to rehire 30 of the sacked workers.

These issues affect rail workers across the globe. Engineers at the US division of Wabtec struck for nine days in March 2019, but the struggle was betrayed by the United Electrical union, which agreed wage and benefits cuts with the company, creating a two-tier workforce for new hires. The union also accepted the companys demand for further restrictions on the right to strike. For workers to fight back against the assault launched by the employers, they must take the leadership of the struggle into their own hands through the formation of rank-and-file committees.
The WSWS will be publishing the strike diary of a nurse who wishes to remain anonymous for purposes of job security. Are you a Stanford nurse? Contact us and tell us how the strike is impacting you. We respect anonymity.

Day 4

The mood on the picket line today is still enthusiastic and optimistic. Nurses are gathered with coworkers, blasting music and cheering as cars pass, honking in support. A group of resident physicians joins the picket. Techs, nursing assistants and transport workers are out with us before their own shifts. There is a feeling that we are strongly supported by other workers in the hospital.

Theres a crucial question circulating among us. It comes up in even the briefest conversations with coworkers. Why havent we heard anything from the union?

The email updates from CRONA (Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement) give us no information. The most recent email clearly indicates that nurses have been pushing to find out what is going on. In response, CRONA explains that they are in federal mediation and writes, When the parties are in mediation, there will not be detailed updates. Your CRONA team will of course let you know if there is anything to report.

Striking Stanford nurses (WSWS Media)

This is a big red flag. Nurses are not passive people. We call crisis nurses when our patients are declining, we question orders from physicians, we get MRI or CT on the phone to organize the timing of our patients scans. We are constantly coordinating, constantly active, moving and fighting. The same must be done now.

We need ways to figure out what is going on and share information among ourselves. If the union isnt telling us anything, that means nothing good is happening. If they were winning at the negotiating table, they would have every reason to tell us.

We need our own networks to make sure all nurses know what is going on in the strike at all times. If CRONA isnt going to tell us anything, we need to have a way to figure it out ourselves so we are all on the same page. Get your coworkers phone numbers on the picket lines, connect on social media, start Facebook pages so we can all start talking together about what is going on, what we want in this fight and how we plan to get it.

Nurses at many other hospitals across California have contracts expiring or are already on strike. Did you work at a Sutter hospital before Stanford? Do you know a Kaiser nurse from nursing school? Did an old coworker move to SoCal and now works for Cedars-Sinai? Is there a travel nurse on your unit who works at hospitals across the state? Get in touch with them, tell them there is no reason for us to strike separately when we would all benefit by striking together.

Hospital administrators and their investors across all nearby hospital systems are no doubt working together to keep our struggles separate. They will continue to spend tremendous resources to beat us back, isolate us and wear us down. They are cutting off our health care in two days. They are putting up scab nurses in nice San Francisco hotels.

How can we win a strike if we are isolated and kept in the dark? Nurses, lets do what we do best and rely on each other. Lets share information and connect with each other and our co-workers across the state.

Sign up for the World Socialist Web Site Healthcare Worker Newsletter here and find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/WSWSHealthcare. These are both crucial tools in the fight to unite all healthcare workers with the entire working class to maintain safe working conditions, oppose hospital closures and layoffs, and defend the right to high quality health care.
On April 16, Martyn Bradbury, editor of New Zealands Daily Blog, published an extraordinary attack on the Socialist Equality Group (SEG), the New Zealand supporters of the International Committee of the Fourth International.

Martyn Bradbury (Credit: Facebook / Martyn Bradbury, thedailyblog.co.nz, WSWS Media)

Bradbury calls on the Security Intelligence Service (SIS), the states domestic spy agency, to openly investigate Socialist Equality Group as Chinese enablers and for possible treason. The SIS has a long and well-known history of spying on left-wing and anti-war organisations and activists, including during the movement against the Vietnam war and protests against nuclear weapons.

In crude McCarthyite language, indistinguishable from that of the extreme right, Bradbury writes: the craven China worship by quisling website Socialist Equality Group decry [sic] any criticism of the largest human rights abusing regime on the face of the Planet, China, by attacking anyone challenging their authoritarian abuses.

It is necessary to call this out for what it is. Bradbury has emerged as a shill for the security agencies, and is fingering the Trotskyist movement for state repression. His hysterical outburst, under the headline China lab leak theory refuses to die, is further confirmation that there is nothing remotely left wing or progressive about the Daily Blog, a middle-class nationalist publication that supports the Labour Party-Greens government of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

The attack on the SEG, which was reposted on April 27 with an extended denunciation of China, has the character of a preemptive strike. It is aimed at intimidating anyone who opposes the pro-war hysteria being whipped up by Washington and its allies, including the New Zealand political establishment and media. The Daily Blogs post undoubtedly reflects discussions that are underway within the political establishment about how to stop the development of a genuine internationalist revolutionary leadership in the working class to oppose the drive to war and the capitalist system that is its source.

Bradburys reference to Chinas human rights abuses echoes the cynical propaganda from the media and US intelligence agencies, which have accused China, without any evidence, of carrying out genocide against the Uyghur population. The US ruling class has zero concern for the working class in China, including the Uyghurs, who certainly suffer repression and exploitation at the hands of the capitalist state.

The political opposition of the Trotskyist movement to the Maoist Chinese Communist Party regime in Beijing and its oppressive methods from the standpoint of the international working class is longstanding and well-documented. However, the US is actively preparing for war with China and deliberately escalating tensions with Beijing.

Over the past three decades, it is US imperialism and its allies, not China, which are responsible for the criminal wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libyato name only a few of the most recentthat have killed millions of people and destroyed entire societies. The invocation of human rights has been used to justify every single war against Americas enemiesincluding the present US-NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.

Bradburys attack on the SEG comes as the war in Ukraine escalates, and there are growing threats against China, which US imperialism regards as the major obstacle to its domination over the Eurasian landmass. The Ardern government has sent dozens of troops to Europe to join the war effort and faces a growing crisis in New Zealand. As elsewhere around the globe, historic class struggles are on the agenda, fuelled by the soaring cost of living and the disastrous spread of COVID-19.

There are precedents for the sort of state repression the Daily Blog is demanding. During the First and Second World Wars, the New Zealand state imprisoned hundreds of anti-war and left-wing activists for sedition; leftist and socialist publications were banned. In the United States, 18 members of the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party were put on trial and sentenced to prison terms during WWII for opposing the war.

Bradburys comparison of the SEG to Vidkun Quisling, Norways Nazi-collaborationist leader in World War II, is not accidental: during World War II, the Trotskyists were smeared as fascist collaborators, by Stalinists and others, because of their principled opposition to war. By absurdly painting China as the modern-day equivalent to Nazi Germany, the Daily Blog presents any opposition to the US-led war drive as criminal.

Bradbury makes clear that what he regards as treason is the SEGs exposure of the anti-Chinese propaganda that he has been publishing for years to justify New Zealands integration into the US military build-up in the Indo-Pacific region. The blog post particularly objected to a World Socialist Web Site article by SEG member John Braddock, which outlined the Daily Blogs role in promoting the right-wing conspiracy theory that COVID-19 originated in a laboratory in Wuhan.

The theory, which has been thoroughly discredited by scientists, was concocted by Trumps fascist ally Steve Bannon and his associates. The lab leak lie serves definite political purposes: to divert blame for the disastrous US response to the pandemic, which has led to more than a million deaths; and to demonise China in preparation for war. The Daily Blog editor unabashedly lines up behind Trump, declaring that he might have been right all along and that deep suspicion of China is justified.

The Daily Blog paints China as a threat to New Zealand and calls for it to be turned into a fortress, with military spending increased from 1.5 to 5 percent of GDP. Bradbury has joined the latest media furor over Chinas security agreement with the Solomon Islands. On March 26, he declared: China is stepping into our sphere of influence through insidious means masquerading as security. He called for NZ to decouple its economy from China, describing this as a national security issue.

Since 2017, the Daily Blog has promoted the pro-US academic Anne-Marie Brady, a key player in New Zealand and Australias anti-China campaign. She has accused Chinese-born MPs of being spies, and demanded state surveillance of Chinese student organisations, cultural groups, media organisations, academics and businesses with ties to China.

Now, Bradbury wants this witch hunt to be extended to target the Trotskyist movement, the only political tendency fighting to build a global movement of the working class against war, based on socialist and internationalist principles.

Internationally, as the danger of a third world war increases, the ICFI faces increasing censorship and threats of state surveillance. In Germany, the Socialist Equality Party has been labelled as left wing extremist by the state security agency, because of its opposition to capitalism and to the revival of militarism. In Australia, where the Morrison government and Labor are promising billions of dollars for the military to prepare for war with China, electoral laws have been changed in order to prevent the SEP and other minor parties from participating in the current election under their party name.

Internationally, the US-led war plans are backed by various pseudo-left groups, which are close to the trade union bureaucracy and represent sections of the upper middle class. These include the Democratic Socialists of America, Socialist Alliance in Australia, and the Left Party in Germany, among others.

In New Zealand, the Daily Blog speaks for a similar middle-class layer, close to the Labour Party and its allies, including the unions, which fears any working class movement developing against the Ardern governments militarist policies, as well as its assault on living standards and the criminal decision to end NZs COVID-19 elimination strategy.

In the final analysis, the privileges of the upper middle classes depend on the suppression of the class struggle at home, and on New Zealands alliance with the US and Australia, which safeguards NZs neo-colonial sphere of influence in the Pacific and its business interests throughout the world.

The blogs contributors include former Unite union leader Mike Treen, liberal commentator Chris Trotter, former Alliance Party member Liz Gordon, former Mana Party member John Minto, and other individuals from the pseudo-left liberal milieu. None of them has objected to Bradburys embrace of the SIS and his denunciation of socialists as traitors; this is because they agree with him.

We call on workers to reject the nationalist and militarist propaganda spewed out by the Daily Blog, and to defend the SEG and the WSWS against Bradburys provocative call for suppression by the state.

Workers and young people seeking to oppose war can only do so by turning to the socialist and internationalist program fought for by the SEG, which is aimed at uniting workers throughout the world in opposition to the capitalist system. In New Zealand, this requires a political break from the Labour Party and its supporters, including the Daily Blog.
An Amazon distribution center is heavily damaged after a strong thunderstorm moved through the area Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Edwardsville, Ill.(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

On Tuesday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that Amazon would not be held liable for the deaths of six employees in the collapse of an Illinois warehouse which was struck on December 10 by an EF-3 tornado.

According to OSHA, the DLI4 facility in Edwardsville, Illinois, met minimal safety guidelines for storm sheltering when it was leveled by the weather system. The warehouse was among several workplaces that were struck by the storm, which caused nearly 100 fatalities across the lower Midwest United States in the month of December 2021. The Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory near Louisville, Kentucky, was hit on the same night, leading to 8 fatalities.

Although declining to fine the corporation for the catastrophe, a letter published by OSHA pointed to several risk factors that it noted in conducting its investigation which was started following the disaster.

Of top concern was that a megaphone, which is cited by the facilitys Emergency Action Plan (EAP), was locked in a cage and not accessible. In addition, some employees did not recall the location of the DLI4 designated severe weather shelter-in-place.

According to the letter, Amazon managers began directing employees to go to the restroom in response to local weather alerts and tornado warnings approximately 10 minutes prior to the tornados touch down. The restroom which the six victims were directed to collapsed soon after they took up shelter in it. I recommend that you voluntarily take the necessary steps to eliminate or materially reduce your employees exposure to the risk factors described above, the letter concludes.

A CNBC report from December cites comments from Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA official currently working with the National Employment Law Project. They [OSHA] will try to figure out what happened, but mostly their job is to see if there was a violation of any standard, she said. OSHAs investigation was a formality and likely to be narrowly focused on things such as whether exits are accessible or if emergency action plans were in place.

OSHA, according to comments cited in a Business Insider article last September, is woefully understaffed and has always been very limited in the size of penalties that the agency can levy on employers they catch violating the law. As of 2021, the agency has issued less than 300 health violations throughout the pandemic for violations of health and safety practices.

On the evening of December 10, 2021, employees at the DLI4 facility were told to shelter-in-place at the Amazon facility, which is listed as a delivery station by the company and employs 190 people. In texts exchanged with friends and loved ones, some workers who did not survive the storm said management wouldnt let them leave or cancel their shifts, despite the many severe weather warnings that had been issued in the previous days.

CNBC cites the experience of Craig Yost, a delivery contract worker who also took up shelter inside the unsafe restroom. According to the report, Yost and co-worker Larry Virden, 46, ran into the men's bathroom closest to the garage where the delivery vans are parked. They had been made to believe that the room was built to withstand the storm. Suddenly, the lights began to flicker. Then the hit came, it states, citing comments from another worker.

Yost was buried under rubble and suffered multiple fractures and a concussion. Virden was not so lucky and was one of the six that lost their lives that night.

According to CNBC, All the victims were contracted delivery employees for Amazon, with the exception of [Clayton] Cope, who was a maintenance mechanic at the warehouse. Confirming this, the New York Times wrote at the time that [o]nly seven people at Amazons [DLI4] site were full-time employees.

The DLI4 delivery station is one of many such facilities run by Amazon throughout the country. To meet its requirements during the busy holiday season, Amazon will outsource its delivery services to any one of its more than 3,000 third-party contractors. Even while many of these workers often wear Amazon uniforms and drive Amazon-branded vans, states CNBC, they are not entitled to many of the benefits and protections of an Amazon associate.

According to the Times, this system complicated the rescue effort in Edwardsville. The newspaper said that authorities had challenges identifying who was actually present at the facility on the evening of December 10. A Bloomberg investigation last year notes working conditions are so tough and unforgiving that [Amazon delivery contractors] have been known to abandon their package-laden vans on the first day of work and disappear.

OSHAs decision to let Amazon off scot-free follows a $60,000 wrist-slap fine by the state of Washington for willful and serious health and safety violations. According to the states government, the work processes at Amazons warehouse in Kent, the closest fulfillment center to the corporations Seattle headquarters, create a serious hazard for work-related back, shoulder, wrist, and knee injuries.

In early April, members of the United States House Oversight Committee announced an investigation into Amazon due to concern over recent reports that Amazon may be putting the health and safety of its workers at risk, including by requiring them to work in dangerous conditions during tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme weather.

The Democratic committee members co-signing the letter of inquiry, which include chairperson Carolyn Maloney of New York as well as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) and Cori Bush (Missouri), called on Amazon CEO Andy Jassy to respond by April 14. While not publicly responding to the committee, Jassy falsely claimed in a letter to shareholders published April 14 that [Amazons] injury rates are sometimes misunderstood and that they were about average relative to peers.

In fact, regular studies have shown Amazons injury rates exceed the national average in the warehouse industry. A worldwide company incident report in January showed that even after minimizing incidents among its online retailing units, Amazon still had a higher injury rate than its competitors (6.4 injuries for every 200,000 working hours compared with a 5.5 injury average). This did not include figures among its numerous contractors.
The Tunnel Fire, located approximately 14 miles northeast of Flagstaff along U.S Highway 89, was reported at 4:22 p.m. on Sunday, April 17, 2022, and the proximate cause is unknown but currently under investigation. Wildfire conditions have been primed in the Southwest by the driest conditions in at least 1,200 years, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change in February.

In this photo provided by the Coconino National Forest, the Tunnel Fire burns near Flagstaff, Ariz., on Tuesday, April 19, 2022.(Coconino National Forest via AP) [AP Photo/Coconino National Forest]

More than a week after the fire erupted, it was 43 percent contained as of Thursday morning, and had burnt more than 19,000 acres.

The fire is located in an area with dry grass and brush, with scattered Ponderosa pine. Windy conditions caused the fire to rapidly spread in a northeast direction and caused spotting ahead of the fire, which exploded in size, fueled in part by a multi-year drought made worse by human-induced climate change. The decades-long megadrought, combined with low humidity and high winds, has contributed to the tinderbox conditions in the region.

The Arizona Department of Transportation reported that US 89 had reopened Monday after a temporary closure. US 89 is the main arterial route for transportation to and from Tuba City, which is the primary route residents of the Navajo and Hopi Reservations use to travel to and from Flagstaff.

There has been no update on the number of structures destroyed since Tuesday, April 19, when it was announced that 24 structures had burned. The Sacred Peaks Equine Sanctuary, a non-profit horse rescue, was reduced to smoldering rubble. According to WBUR, owner Kathy Oliver was able to rescue all 22 of her horses even as flames surrounded the farm on Wednesday.

A Red Cross Shelter was opened at Sinagua Middle School at 3950 E. Butler Ave. in Flagstaff for those evacuated from areas affected by the Tunnel Fire, according to Coconino County. Animals were not allowed into the evacuation center. However, household animals could be taken to the Coconino Humane Association at 3501 E. Butler Ave. in Flagstaff, and horses, goats, sheep, pigs and chickens could be taken to the Fort Tuthill County Stables.

Northern Arizona University President Cruz Rivera announced Friday morning that the university will provide immediate assistance with housing, meals, or emergency funds for all NAU students, according to a tweet by the university.

According to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, a crew of 76 members of the Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team have been sent to the Tunnel Fire to assist with firefighting efforts.

On Tuesday evening the fire burned through the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and kept blazing toward the northeast for another three to four miles. At 4 a.m. Wednesday it was approximately three miles from burning beyond the boundaries of the Coconino National Forest.

Helicopters were used in fire suppression efforts on the fire, which grew to 20,198 acres by Thursday, while crews continued making progress dowsing hotspots along the fires western flank near Forest Road 420 (Schultz Pass Road) and around Timberline Estates and Wupatki Trail subdivisions.

There has been a lot of work, progress, and investment on line construction around many parts of the Tunnel Fire, Deputy Incident Commander Shelby Erickson said last Wednesday. However, we wont be declaring areas with line around them as contained until were confident the line will hold during the forecasted high and shifting winds through the next few days.

On April 21, Republican Governor Doug Ducey declared a state of emergency to aid communities impacted by the fire. More than 750 households have been evacuated, according to a statement released by his office.

The declaration of emergency will release $200,000 from the general fund to the Director of the Arizona Division of Emergency Management, Allen Clark.

The Coconino County Board of Supervisors also declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, which allows them to spend emergency money and request assistance from the state of Arizona.

The federal $1.2 trillion infrastructure legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden in November 2021 included making $3.3 billion available for wildfire management over several years.

The legislation allocated $500 million each to thinning projects, planning and conducting prescribed fires, developing and improving fuel breaks where fires can be stopped or slowed, and mapping and defending at-risk communities. $1.5 billion is allocated for the US Department of the Interiors (DOI) Wildland Fire Management Program to be administered on the DOIs 7.1 million acres. It also funds fire science research, real-time monitoring equipment and restoration treatments on federal and tribal land with a very high wildfire potential.

The federal funding amounts to throwing a bucket of water on a raging fire. The Nature Conservancy estimated in June 2021 that the US requires a minimum of $5-6 billion every year just to treat high priority forests and fire-proof high-risk communities.

In June 2021, Governor Ducey signed a bill that provided $100 million in funding to fight wildfires through 2023. The $100 million appropriation included $25 million to pay for 720 state prisoners to clear brush and other flammable material under direction of state forestry officials, and some contract clearing operations. Inmates make $1.50 an hour when they are fighting fires and as little as 50 cents when clearing brush, compared to the median hourly wage of $22 for a full-time firefighter. The bill had overwhelming bipartisan support in the legislature.

Crooks wildfire near Prescott, Arizona

The Crooks Fire combusted on Monday, April 18, eight miles south of Prescott, Arizona, near Mt. California. On Tuesday, fire authorities said the fire had burned 600 acres in the Prescott National Forest, but it quickly grew to 1,612 acres when it was mapped at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Most of the growth was toward the northeast as it burned south of Potato Patch and past Mt. Union as it approached Big Bug Mesa Road.

The fire is burning in continuous thick, dry, dead and down fuels in very rugged terrain. Erratic winds and fire behavior are making conditions hazardous for firefighters.

The fire is approximately two miles west of the Goodwin Fire that burned more than 28,000 acres in 2017.

On Monday, April 25, a wind from the north pushed the Crooks Fire three miles to the south around Ash Creek, increasing the size to 5,893 acres according to a fixed wing flight very early Monday morning. The northern perimeter of the fire is eight miles south of Prescott, Arizona. The eastern edge is about a mile west of the Goodwin Fire that torched about 28,000 acres in 2017.

The north wind provided favorable conditions Monday to complete containment operations on the north side to prevent spread to the northwest into Lookout Mountain and Dosoris Canyon. Throughout the day and into the night Monday, firefighters extended the fireline south of Lookout Mountain toward the Ash Creek area and from Moscow Peak west to Senator Highway.

FEMA reported that the fire threatened 700 homes in and around the communities of Potato Patch, Mountain Pine, Groom Creek and Walker. The fire also threatened 50 businesses, local fire stations, a community center, post office, elementary school, and infrastructure power lines in the area.

Research by scientists at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL) published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in November 2021 found that two-thirds (approximately 68 percent) of the increase in vapor pressure deficit (VPD) is due to human-caused climate change. Higher VPD contributes to the greater likelihood of wildfires.

If mitigation efforts arent taken, wildfire activity in the western United States will increase, resulting in significant impact on human lives, human health and the economy, said the studys author, climate scientist Benjamin Santer.

Our results suggest that the western U.S. appears to have passed a critical threshold, and the dominant control on the fire weather variation has changed from natural climate variability to anthropogenically caused warming, explained UCLAs Prof. Rong Fu, who led the study. The trend toward increasing wildfire risk will likely continue over the western U.S. for decades to come.

2020 was a record-breaking fire season in the history of the western US, especially in California, Oregon and Washington. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the total area burned in these three states reached 8.8 million acres. Recent studies of fire behavior in the region indicate that warming due to climate change is increasing not only the area burned by fires, but also fire frequency, fire intensity and fire season length.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden called on Congress to approve $20 billion in weapons shipments for the US war with Russia as part of a $33 billion spending package.

To date, the United States has sent $3.7 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine, meaning that Biden is proposing to expand US involvement in the conflict by a factor of six. This would mark a quantitative turning point in the war, massively expanding the US intervention just as the war is rapidly spiraling out of control and metastasizing into a continent-wide conflict.

President Joe Biden walks to speak to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Des Moines International Airport, in Des Moines Iowa, Tuesday, April 12, 2022, en route to Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The announcement is part of a major escalation of US involvement in the war, in which US officials are more and more openly admitting that the United States is effectively at war with Russia. Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin described the meeting of US officials with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by saying, our focus in the meeting was to talk about those things that would enable us to win the current fight. Austin then said, We want to see Russia weakened.

On Sunday, in an interview with CBS, former US Army Europe Commander Ben Hodges declared, You know, were not just observers cheering for Ukraine here. The United States, Hodges said, should declare, We want to win. He concluded, that means finally breaking the back of Russias ability to project power outside of Russia.

Bidens address, which was intended for a far broader audience than the remarks of Austin or Hodges, was characterized by shameless, bare-faced lies, contradicting the statements of his own defense secretary.

We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom, Biden said. So, we need to contribute arms, funding, ammunition, and the economic support We either back the Ukrainian people as they defend their country or we stand by as the Russians continue their atrocities and aggression in Ukraine.

Lets be blunt. Bidens war with Russia has nothing to do with the Ukrainian people, who are being used as cannon fodder by the kleptocratic regime in Kiev at the behest of its Washington paymasters.

The United Sates instigated the war by encircling Russia with troops, tanks and nuclear weapons, expanding NATOs borders 400 miles to the East over the course of decades, and backing Ukrainian plans to retake Crimea, which Russia claims as its territory. Washingtons aims are nothing less than the overthrow of the Russian government and the total subordination of Russia to imperialism, which Biden admitted when he declared last month that Putin cannot remain in power.

Following Bidens remarks, the president was asked by a journalist, How worried are you by a growing number of Russian comments in the media and amongst some of their officials painting this conflict as actually already a conflict between NATO, the US and Russia? And theyre painting in very alarmist terms, talking of nuclear weapons, saying its a life-or-death struggle, et cetera.

And just separatelywell, connected to that: Lavrov himself says its already a proxy warnot a direct war but a proxy war. So are either of those two things true?

To this, Biden replied, Theyre not true, adding, I think its more of a reflection not of the truth but of [Russias] failure.

It is the policy of the US media to insist that claims the administration chooses to deny at a given moment are Russian. In this case, however, these were not merely Russian comments, but statements by Bidens own defense secretary, as well as the undeniable reality visible to anyone who is not willfully deluding himself.

Bidens dishonesty is a reflection of the fact that the US population does not support war with Russia, and that the administrations strategy is to create a set of facts on the ground that make war inevitable, then leave the American population with a bill of goods.

The brazen lying by the Biden administration relies on the fact that the American press is as tightly controlled as in any totalitarian state. No one dares call the emperor naked. The US media, for its part, knows that its lies will be supported by a war-crazed and bloodthirsty affluent upper-middle class, which has fully embraced Bidens plans for war with Russia.

Not one journalist got up to ask the obvious question: Your own defense secretary just said we are in a fight with Russia, while you just said you are not. Which of the two of you is lying?

Nor did anyone ask:

According to Politico, the White House has set up a tiger team to plan the eruption of a full-scale war with Russia. According to this teams estimates, what percent of the American population will die in a full-scale nuclear war with Russia?

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his most open threat to date to retaliate against the US and other NATO members for their involvement in the war.

If someone decides to intervene into the ongoing events from the outside and create unacceptable strategic threats for us, they should know that our response to those oncoming blows will be swift, lightning-fast, Putin told Russian lawmakers. We have all the tools for this... We will use them if needed. And I want everyone to know this. We have already taken all the decisions on this.

If this is the response of Russia to $3.7 billion in US weapons flowing to its borders, what will be its response to $20 billion?

US military strategists, for their part, are not only planning for nuclear war, but openly talking about it. On Wednesday, Seth Cropsey, a former deputy undersecretary of the Navy, authored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled, The U.S. Should Show It Can Win a Nuclear War.

He wrote, The reality is that unless the U.S. prepares to win a nuclear war, it risks losing one. He added that Putin would need to reckon with the possibility that NATO could decapitate the Kremlinyes, suffering casualties in the process, but still decapitate it.

In the midst of such rhetoric, Edward Luce of the Financial Times warned, Without most people being aware of it, the world is entering its most dangerous period since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. The majority under the age of 50 have grown up thinking the nuclear spectre is a relic of the last century. In the past few weeks, the prospect of a nuclear exchange has become the most live threat to this centurys peace.

The working class must be alerted to the immense dangers posed by the present situation. It is urgently necessary to develop a new and powerful movement against war, aiming to unify the struggle against war with the fight against social inequality, poverty, the surging cost of living and the COVID-19 pandemic. The elaboration of the socialist perspective upon which this movement must be based will be the central aim of May Day 2022, which will take place Sunday, May 1. We urge all of our readers to promote and attend this critical event.
On Thursday, Germanys parliament, the Bundestag, gave the green light for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.

The motion, with the cynical title Defending Peace and Freedom in Europe, was jointly introduced by the governing partiesSocial Democratic Party (SPD), Greens and Liberal Democrats (FDP)as well as the Christian Democratic (CDU/CSU) opposition, passing by 586 votes to 100, with seven abstentions. It is a barely veiled declaration of war on Russia.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) advocates the delivery of heavy weapons in the Bundestag on 27 April (Photo: DBT / Florian Gaertner / photothek)

The ten-page motion calls on the German government to continue and, where possible, accelerate the delivery of needed equipment to Ukraine, including extending the delivery to heavy weapons and complex systems, for example in the framework of the ring exchange. The ring exchange refers to a process whereby Eastern European NATO members supply Ukraine with Soviet-era weaponry, which is then back-filled by Germany with ultra-modern equipment.

The motion advocates the comprehensive economic isolation and decoupling of Russia from international markets. It states that in addition to intensifying and accelerating the supply of effective, including heavy, weapons and complex systems by Germany, this is the most important and effective means of stopping the Russian advance.

Accordingly, the German government should follow up the embargo on coal decided by the EU as quickly as possible with an exit roadmap for Russian oil and gas imports, and initiate a far-reaching exclusion of all Russian banks from the SWIFT international banking communication system. The motion adds that Germany should further severely restrict economic relations with Russia and Belarus, and consistently implement, selectively expand and tighten the far-reaching sanctions against Russia decided so far.

The Bundestag passed its declaration of war just two days after the US government held a war summit at Ramstein Air Base in Rhineland-Palatinate with representatives of 40 nations to plan the next stage of the escalation. The meeting left no doubt that NATO itself is the driving force in the war with Russia.

The aims of the war are now clear, the WSWS commented in regard to the meeting. The bloodshed in Ukraine was not provoked to defend its technical right to join NATO, but rather was prepared, instigated and massively escalated in order to destroy Russia as a significant military force and to overthrow its government. Ukraine is a pawn in this conflict, and its population is cannon fodder.

Meanwhile, both sides are with increasing openness considering the use of nuclear weapons. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin have both made it clear that they will resort to this means if Russia feels its existence is threatened.

If someone decides to intervene in ongoing events from the outside and create unacceptable strategic threats to us, they should know that our response to these coming strikes will be quick, lightning quick, Putin told Russian parliamentarians on Wednesday. He said Russia had all the tools for a quick counterstrike, adding, We will not brag about them for long: We will use them if we have to. And I want everyone to know that.

The US is also stepping up its threats. They range from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins statement that the Ramstein meeting was called to win the conflict with Russia, to former US Army Commander in Europe Ben Hodges announcement that the US was out to break Russias back, to discussions about the odds of victory in a nuclear war in the Wall Street Journal.

In that newspaper, Seth Cropsey, a former high-ranking official in the Department of Defense, published an opinion piece entitled, The US should show it can win a nuclear war. In it, he suggests that the US destroy a Russian nuclear missile submarine, thereby reducing Russias second-strike capabilitythat is, its ability to strike back after an American nuclear attack.

Instead of countering this dangerous spiral of escalation, which threatens to turn all of Europe and large parts of the world into a nuclear desert, the German government and the Bundestag continue to fuel it.

At the meeting in Ramstein, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) announced that the German government would now also supply Ukraine with heavy weapons and provide it with Gepard anti-aircraft tanks. Just four days earlier, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had warned in Der Spiegel of a nuclear war and made assurances that everything would be done to avoid a direct military confrontation with the nuclear power Russia. Now he has cast his own warning to the wind.

The Bundestag has reaffirmed this dangerous course. Its decision is accompanied by a breath-taking falsification of history. To set German tanks in motion against Russia again, the responsibility arising from our own history is invoked. Germany has a special responsibility to do everything possible to ensure that aggressive nationalism and imperialism no longer have a place in Europe and the world in the 21st century, the motion says. Accordingly, the motion claims, the Bundestag fully supports Ukraines right to self-defence.

It takes a lot of effort to fit so many lies into a single paragraph. The biggest imperialist power in Europe, which twice plunged the continent into a world war, is fighting nationalism and imperialism by allying itself with Ukrainian nationalists to wage war against Russia!

In fact, the Nazis, in their war of extermination against the Soviet Unionand before that, the Kaisers imperial army in the war against Bolshevik Russiahad collaborated with Ukrainian nationalists who unreservedly advocated the independence of Ukraine, and in World War II participated in the genocidal crimes of the Nazis.

Todays rulers in Kiev revere these collaborators as heroes and have erected monuments to them. For example, the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, is an avowed supporter of Stepan Bandera, the leader of the fascist-terrorist Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which was responsible for the slaughter of tens of thousands of Jews, Poles and Russians.

Even after the Bandera biographer and historian Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe had described Banderas crimes in detail in the latest issue of Der Spiegel, Melnyk publicly acknowledged his role model. In defending his admiration for the Nazi collaborator, he tweeted that Germans, above all, should rather hold back with lectures on whom we Ukrainians should revere.

Elsewhere, the Bundestag resolution welcomes the ban on broadcasting Russian propaganda channels. It does so on the grounds that freedom of the press is central to the defensive capabilities of democracies. So freedom of the press prevails where one is allowed to listen only to the propaganda of ones own government, and that of the other side is suppressed!

The Bundestags declaration of war is not a spontaneous response to the reactionary Russian war against Ukraine. It has been prepared over years. Back in 2014, when the US and Germany organized a right-wing coup in Kiev to install a regime dependent on them, a fierce campaign to revive German militarism and reinterpret history raged in Germany.

The government proclaimed that Germany had to once again play a role in foreign policy and military affairs commensurate with its economic weight. Political scientist Herfried Munkler relativized German responsibility for the First World War and proclaimed that Germany, as a power in the centre [of Europe], had to once again become the taskmaster of Europe. Historian Jorg Baberowski proclaimed that Hitler had not been cruel and that his war of extermination had been forced on the Wehrmacht.

When Russia responded to the coup in Kiev by annexing the largely Russian-populated Crimea, Germany imposed the first sanctions. The Ukrainian army, which had almost completely broken apart after the coup, proved powerless at the time. Germany and France therefore negotiated the Minsk Agreement, freezing the conflict over eastern Ukrainewhich is also Russian-populated.

In the meantime, the Ukrainian army was systematically rearmed. The Bundestag resolution boasts that Germany has provided a good two billion euros in financial support since 2014. No country has provided more financial support to Ukraine in recent years, it adds. How much of this has gone to military projects is not mentioned.

The reactionary response of the Putin regime, which reacted to NATO encirclement with war, is now being used to advance the militarist and imperialist goals of 2014, for which there is little popular support.

One day before passage of the Ukraine motion, the Bundestag debated the first reading of the special fund appropriation of 100 billion euros, which triples the defence budget in one fell swoop this year. Here, too, all parties pulled together, with the only disputes being differences over technical details.

In the debate, it became clear that the 100 billion euros are only the beginning. Defence Minister Lambrecht enumerated a long list of deficiencies for which funds were needed for maintenance and repair. For ammunition shortages alone, 20 billion euros would be required. Planned armament projectsincluding procurement of nuclear-capable F-35 fighter bombersmeant that the 100 billion in special funds would quickly be depleted, she said.

The Reservists Association is urging a doubling of troop strength. With around 200,000 soldiers, the Bundeswehr is too small, association President Patrick Sensburg told the Rheinische Post. For national defence, he said, around 340,000 servicemen and women and 100,000 regularly exercising reservists were needed.

The Left Party and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), most of whose deputies voted against the Bundestags decision to supply weapons, supported the governments aggressive course. Four AfD deputies even voted in favour of the motion, while three abstained.

The Left Party, whose votes do not matter at the moment, officially speaks out against arms deliveries in order to keep up appearances, while pushing all the harder for tough sanctions.

Thuringias Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left Party) told the Thuringer Allgemeine, Before Russia turns off the gas tap, we turn off the money tap, step for step. Before Putin escalates, we have to escalate. The entire energy infrastructure that Russia owns in Germany must be put under trustee administration, he said.

The return of German militarism and the threat of nuclear war can only be stopped by an independent working class movement that unites workers of all countries in struggle against exploitation, war and capitalism. This perspective will be discussed by the International Committee of the Fourth International at its May Day rally this Sunday.
Despite the claims in the corporate media in the US and elsewhere that there is an accelerating wave of COVID-19 in China, the actual figures demonstrate that Chinese public health workers are successfully containing an outbreak of Omicron BA.2. The number of infections is significantly lower than in the United Stateswhere the Biden administration claims that coronavirus is no longer a pandemicand fewer Chinese have died in two months than die in the US every single day.

The death toll in the US has fallen to a low of about 400 a day. By contrast, the cumulative death toll in China since Omicron BA.2 invaded the country from overseas in early March is 287over a period of nearly 60 days! During the same period, 42,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19, more than 100 times as many as in China.

By midnight of April 27, 2022, the National Health Commission (NCH) of the Peoples Republic of China had confirmed 4,923 deaths across mainland China. On March 1, 2022, that figure was at 4,636. All but two of these 287 deaths occurred in Shanghai, the main financial hub and a center of both manufacturing an world trade, when cases began to explode in mid-March.

The first of these deaths in the financial hub occurred on April 17, when three fatalities were reported. By then, cases had peaked with a seven-day average of daily cases at 26,412, and several rounds of mass testing had already been conducted. The lockdown was approaching its third week.

Two days later, on April 19, another seven deaths were reported, raising mainland China's total to 4,648. The next day brought another seven deaths, and the day after, eight, bringing the total to 4,663. On April 22, Shanghai saw its first double-digit count in deaths with 11 fatalities, and the number rose to 12 the day after, bringing the cumulative number to 4,686.

Last Saturday, April 24, Shanghai health authorities reported a sudden jump in fatalities to 39 deaths, and then on Saturday, another 51. The rise in counts has remained stable since, with 51 on Monday and 48 on Tuesday. Yesterday, 47 perished.

Since March 1, 2022, there have been 677,980 COVID cases across the mainland, with the lions share of infections in Shanghai, 558,147 as of Wednesday. Yet, little more than 96,000 of these cases were confirmed as symptomatic. In other words, if not for mass testing and contact tracing, almost 80 percent of community infections could have been missed.

Assuming a commonly accepted infection fatality ratio (IFR) for COVID of around 0.5 percent, another 300 deaths can be expected over the next few weeks at the present levels of symptomatic infections.

The importance of making such a detailed account of these statistics is that, repeatedly, various media outlets have cited experts claiming that the numbers reported by Chinese authorities are rigged to provide a rosier picture of their pandemic response and therefore shouldnt be trusted. The apparent political intent is to malign the Zero-COVID policy and the efforts to prioritize the population's lives over the economy, i.e., corporate profit.

For instance, CNN quoted infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Collignon, an Australian National University Medical School professor, saying that Shanghai should have had as many as 700 deaths for every 100,000 cases because Hong Kong had 9,000 COVID deaths out of 1.19 million infections in January 2022. Minneapolis epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm and others have made similar statements.

As to the lower death count, first, the response in Shanghai has been far different than what transpired in Hong Kong. Early medical attention and treatment can stem complications from an infection. Every effort is being made to administer and attend to asymptomatic and symptomatic cases.

Second, given the data being presented by the NHC, the time course of infections to deaths is proceeding according to expected epidemiological predictions. The apparent lower death toll as compared to all reported cases has everything to do with the Chinese health authorities identifying all infections, which commonly has not occurred in other countries.

During the massive waves of infections in Europe, the US, and everywhere Omicron gained a firm foothold, the positivity rate spiraled upwards, implying a significant undercount of infections. Most cases being reported are among symptomatic patients seeking medical attention.

For instance, according to Worldometer, there have been 82.8 million COVID infections during the pandemic. However, according to a recent seroprevalence study by the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC), the actual estimate of COVID infections by February 2022 is closer to 200 million. And this does not consider a considerable rate of reinfections.

Suppose we were to employ the 0.5 percent IFR rule for COVID, based on the 80 million estimated infections. In that case, the US would be expected to suffer 400,000 COVID deaths. But the current official death toll is approaching one million, consistent, based on the IFR, with an infection total of 200 million.

Presently, close to 400 people are still dying from COVID every day. But these grim tolls are spun in a positive light by the White House and its coronavirus experts.

Despite the turmoil Chinese health officials faced in the latter part of March and into April, their persistent efforts appear to be gaining on the virus. Indeed, many of the recent reports in the bourgeoise press have begrudgingly acknowledged that efforts to contain the pandemic are proving effective.

The current seven-day average of daily cases has declined to 17,000, a 35 percent decline over 11 days since its peak. On Wednesday, there were only 11,285 new locally transmitted infections across the mainland, the lowest figure Since April 3. If we exclude cases reported in Shanghai, mainland China found only 663 locally transmitted cases yesterday. In Jilin province, site of the initial outbreak in the northeast, COVID cases are down to 154.

Shanghai too has reported its lowest figures since the mid-April peaks of over 27,000 COVID cases. Yesterday there were just 10,622 COVID cases reported, of which 1,292 were symptomatic, prompting officials to begin the steps to exit lockdown by easing restrictions in districts where COVID-19 infections were eliminated.

Residents line up for the first round of mass COVID testing in the Jingan district of western Shanghai, China, Friday, April 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Chen Si, File)

However, the outbreak in Beijing is being followed carefully by the world press as authorities explained that for about a week, community transmission was occurring undetected. Most of the initial cases were discovered in Chaoyang District at a middle school, pushing authorities to respond expeditiously.

Yesterday, 48 symptomatic and two asymptomatic cases were reported in Chinas capital, underscoring the concern that the outbreak is far more extensive than current figures indicate. Efforts are underway to conduct three rounds of mass testing citywide this week, with the first completed on Monday for the more than 19.8 million residents.

As in Shanghai, a jump in cases is expected. It is not a harbinger of an explosion of cases, but a product of the systematic effort to find all infections to assist in long-established public health controls and to eliminate the pathogen from the community. Currently, only Chaoyang District is in lockdown while movement restrictions are enacted in high-risk neighborhoods. A wider lockdown may be implemented should the citywide testing indicate community spread is much more extensive.

Rather than applauding the monumental and essential efforts undertaken to contain these outbreaks, the spokespersons for the financial oligarchs decry these efforts. Colm Rafferty, chairman of the Beijing-based American Chamber of Commerce in China, told the Wall Street Journal, Today, the situation in Beijing appears to be stable, but we remain concerned about the possibility of a citywide lockdown.

The Journal added, A total of 46 cities and their 343 million inhabitants across the country were under partial or full lockdowns or faced some degree of movement restrictions as of Monday  These cities account for more than 24 percent of Chinas population and over 35 percent of its gross domestic product.

The Journal never bothers to ask, To what extent did Omicron disrupt economic activity in the US? More than 80 million people were infected from December through February, accounting for one-quarter of the US population. It also killed 170,000 people during that period, including a substantial number of previously fully vaccinated individuals.

More than 8.7 million Americans were out of the labor market because of COVID or caring for someone infected. More than 5.3 million parents and caregivers were taking care of children who were home from school, and airlines had to cancel flights due to labor shortages. As businesses, restaurants, and retail stores were cutting back hours, health care workers were once more being brought to the brink of exhaustion as emergency rooms and hospitals were brimming with infected patients.

Chris Williamson, a chief business economist at IHS Markit, said of the pronounced pullback in services and manufacturing sectors, Soaring virus cases have brought the US economy to a near standstill at the start of the year.

The Journal wrote on January 24, In the US, IHS Markits composite purchasing managers indexwhich measures activity in both the manufacturing and services sectorsfell to 50.8 in January from 57 in December, to hit an 18-month low  Much of the economic impact comes from COVID-related staff absences, Simon MacAdam, senior global economist at Capital Economics, said in a note to clients.

To have allowed the coronavirus to run roughshod over the Chinese population would have been another historic assault on the international working class, one of many they have endured during the pandemic.

However, based on current trends, the Zero-COVID strategy should end the present threat by the virus in China in less time than it took for Omicron to sweep through the populations of the US and Europe like a tsunami. On a social scale, measures to eliminate the virus have consistently proven the correct response. However, the war against the coronavirus is a war against the socioeconomic conditions that allow the threat to persist. Defeating the virus will require a frontal assault against capitalism.
Regular readers of the World Socialist Web Site in the UK have given interviews or sent in personal appeals for workers and young people to take part in the International May Day Online Rally on Sunday.

Leaders from the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world Trotskyist movement, will outline a socialist and internationalist programme on which to organise global resistance by the working class against the threat of world war, the continuing pandemic, and destruction of the living standards and democratic rights.

Chris Donaghy, from Belfast, Northern Ireland

With everything going on in the world right now, the US-NATO wardrive, the Covid-19 pandemic, the pitiful wages being offered workers, the huge rise in poverty worldwide, asylum seekers not having the right to asylum, and the incredible increase of people being made homeless, I strongly encourage workers and youth of all races, religion, gender and sexual orientation to attend Sundays May Day rally.

The only war that everyone should be fighting is the war against the pandemic, as statistics show that the virus is still spreading like wildfire but the ruling class are only interested in profit. I feel that the restrictions should remain like keeping masks, social distancing and free PCR testing at least until the virus is under control. But the ruling class are only interested in filling their pockets.

Over here in Northern Ireland they have closed PCR testing centres, which I find completely and utterly irresponsible, why would you close them down when Covid is still spreading? The main parties in Northern Ireland only interest is profit making. National Health Service staff are working tirelessly to stop the spread of Covid yet where I live people are having to wait for up to 6 hours for an ambulance because they are stretched so thin.

NHS workers are heroes and deserve a massive increase in wages for keeping us safe during the pandemic. I lost my Mum to Covid on the 29th of October 2021 and I can't thank the staff at Royal Victoria Hospital enough for everything they did for her. I remember saying to one of the doctors looking after her in ICU, Thank you for doing everything you can and he said, I just wish we could do more. But they did everything in their power to save my Mum, there is not a day goes by where I don't think about her and I wish that I could turn back the clock to change it.

I believe that this upcoming meeting could well be the most important so far, as we must strongly oppose the reactionary war begun by Putin's invasion, but we must also strongly oppose the US-NATO wardrive! Please attend the May Day meeting to address the major problems facing the world right now.

Daniella is an opponent of the government's Covid response of letting it rip. She has worked closely with the Safe Education For All group and is a member of Fighting for Vulnerable Lives and the UK Educators Rank-and-File Committee

Daniella

Im attending the May Day rally because this capitalist, imperialistic system cannot carry on. We are still in a raging pandemic, even though our governments are acting like its over and have made the general population feel as if it is over and dropped all mitigations under the cover of war with Ukraine.

This war is a distraction at a perfect time to divert people from whats happening domestically, such as the Covid catastrophe and the cost-of-living crisis which has been created by the ruling class. They have failed in controlling Covid and not seeking peace through diplomacy and adhering to the Minsk agreement.

I do not agree with the Russian invasion, but we must look at the history of the situation and the people from the breakaway republic of ethnic Russian Ukrainians who have been shelled, with 14,000 people killed, over eight years by the Ukrainian army.

If there is not a social revolution, I fear we will be close to the end of humanity through Covid, war and climate change. The working class must stand up and say no more.

Diane Hatton is a retired bookkeeper from Manchester

I would encourage people to register for the May Day Rally to hear the views and unbiased news, contrary to the very selective western propaganda that is the only news available from our mainstream media.

Diane Hatton

Knowing from past experiences, I take all western media with a little pinch of salt because, lets face it, we have been lied to and misled in the pastmainly due to the media being owned or funded by billionaires with their own agenda.

I also wonder why so many alternative free press sources have been silenced or blocked for reporting news that doesnt suit the wests narrative. It begs the question, what dont they want us to know? When known liars such as our very own Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been caught not just lying to the British public but misleading parliament and lying to the queen, no less, why would we put our trust in the establishment now?

We are living in very scary times. I am old enough to remember the (albeit I was very young) Cuban missile crisis back in the 60s, and the deception at that time was that the Soviet Union posed a nuclear threat to the world by putting a nuclear arsenal in place on Cuba. However, what we were not told was that this action was in direct response to weapons placed by the USA on Turkish soil aimed at the Soviet Union. An agreement was reached by both powers. However, Cuba has been paying the price for this collaboration with the USSR ever since.

Despite the breakup of the Soviet Union, this has not deterred the US from continuing be a thorn in the side of Russia by whatever means possible. The USA has in my opinion done what it has done throughout historyto destabilise any country where there are spoils to be pillaged and keeping them firmly in the grip of world power. The USA has long held power like a school bully stealing the pocket money from all those around while the other western powers have held on to its coat. However, another big power has entered the playground and threatened the bully by refusing to hand over their pocket money. Now other big boys have joined the fight. Now all the little boys are starting to stand up to the bully.

The world has become a very dangerous place. But I believe that there is a growing appetite for change for the better, and we must encourage those around us to look beyond the lies and propaganda and seek for the truth.

Andrew is a chef from Inverness, Scotland

With thousands of civilians and combatants dead in Ukraine, the US and NATO powers continue to attempt to spread their power and influence through blood and destruction. Through this militaristic provocation we risk not only losing the lives of the soldiers, forced to fight, or the civilians forced to lay down their lives in the name of vicious capitalism, but worldwide barbarism. The idea is that we are without the means to pose any challenge to these warmongers. That is not the case. We, the youth of today, have the means and motive to collect ourselves underneath the banner of socialism and rise up against these pseudo fascist powers.

Malcolm Bray is a former miner from Barnsley

I'm fully in support of the upcoming May Day online rally organised by the WSWS, a must event for all workers who are entering struggle across the world.

Malcolm Bray

Ive been attending the May Day rallies held by the International Committee of the Fourth International consistently over the years, which are genuinely international. The principle of international workers solidarity has become a dead letter as far as the trade unions are concerned. This May Day is even more critical given what is happening.

Workers are being hit hard by hikes in the cost of living. Workers have also endured terrible suffering through the pandemic and now the real threat of a world war by the US and NATO against Russia. Hundreds of thousands of workers around the world are standing up and fighting back against governments who are inflicting pain on millions through austerity. Governments and the media have stopped reporting on the pandemic, with a price paid in death by the working class which is tantamount to social murder.

Many are looking for answers to this crisis and a perspective, a perspective that will mobilise the greatest social force on the planet, the international working class. I've been posting on different sites on social media on this very important event that workers should join and listen to. The questions confronting workers cannot be fought from the standpoint of a single or isolated issue, but from a class standpoint and most importantly internationally. I'm truly looking forward to this event.

Chris Porter is a sociology lecturer from Manchester

There is no time more pressing than the present for the world's working class to rally in opposition to the reckless, deceitful drive of the profit-crazed ruling classes towards war, plunder and the sacrifice of countless lives to those ends. I'll be attending the May Day Rally and encourage anyone else who wants to make sense of what's going on in the world to also attend.
Are you a rail worker? Contact the CP Rail Workers Rank-and-File Committee at cpworkersrfc@gmail.com. If youre an educator, connect with the Cross-Canada Educators Rank-and-File Committee at cersc.csppb@gmail.com.

***

Members and supporters of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) are conducting a campaign across Canada to mobilize a large delegation of workers to attend Sundays International May Day Online Rally. The event, which will begin at 3 p.m. Eastern, will advance an international program of struggle for the working class against imperialist war and the ruling elites let it rip pandemic policy.

Teachers at Westmount High School in Montreal demonstrated against the Quebec government's reckless decision to reopen schools in the midst of the pandemic's second wave (Photo: Robert Green)

The campaign included a joint meeting convened April 24 by two rank-and-file committees established by educators and rail workers across Canada. Speakers from the Cross-Canada Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee and CP Rail Workers Rank-and-File Committee reviewed the struggles of education staff and railroaders over recent months, and advanced the necessity for workers in all industries to unify their struggles globally in opposition to the nationalist and corporatist trade unions.

The meeting adopted the following resolution:

This meeting of education and rail workers declares its full support for the International May Day Rally co-sponsored by the World Socialist Web Site and International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees on May 1. The rally will provide a political perspective to unify the struggles of the working class internationally against capitalist barbarism, the pandemic and imperialist war. The US-NATO proxy war against Russia raises the imminent threat of a global conflagration fought with nuclear weapons. The war is producing an explosion in the cost of living for workers everywhere, further exacerbating already unprecedented levels of social inequality and making the basic necessities of life increasingly unaffordable. The ruling elites in Canada, the United States and Europe are meanwhile squandering tens of billions of dollars on weapons and other military gear to escalate the conflict in Ukraine, bring about regime change in Moscow, and reduce Russia to the status of a semi-colony. Having sacrificed millions of lives during the pandemic to an entirely preventable disease, governments in Canada, the US, Britain, France and Germany couldnt care less if millions more are incinerated in a nuclear exchange. Education and rail workers have sought to fight back against the brutal conditions of exploitation we confront. But our efforts have been sabotaged at every turn by the nationalist and corporatist trade unions. The education unions have forced teachers and support staff back into dangerous schools during the pandemic, and denounce any collective action by workers against the ruling class profits before life policy as illegal. The rail unions help management enforce a dictatorial regime of brutal work schedules, the cover-up of safety concerns, and a draconian disciplinary procedure aimed at intimidating and firing workers who speak up. The trade unions all back the Liberal/NDP confidence-and-supply agreement, which will allow the Trudeau government to wage war abroad and impose austerity on workers at home through 2025. This is why the Cross-Canada Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee and CP Rail Workers Rank-and-File Committee are organized entirely independently of the pro-capitalist unions. Our committees believe that a new international strategy is required for the working class, one that unifies our struggles across borders against the domination of social life by a financial oligarchy and for the reorganization of society to meet the urgent social needs of the vast majority. We issue a strong appeal to all workers across Canada and internationally to attend the May Day Rally, which will advance a socialist program to put an end to war, the sacrificing of workers safety and very lives to boost corporate profits, and the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting heard two reports: one from Laurent Lafrance, the national convener of the CERSC, and another from Penny Smith, a WSWS writer who has played a leading role in establishing the CP Workers Rank-and-File Committee. The reports dealt with the terrible working conditions confronting education staff and rail workers during the pandemic as ruthless rail operators seek to boost profits.

They also addressed the role of the corporatist unions in collaborating with management to impose the ruling elites demands, and the unions sabotaging of every workers struggle. The railway unions play an ever more blatantly treacherous role as a labour police, suppressing any opposition to the dictates of corporate management, said Penny Smith. The Teamsters, Unifor and others regularly conspire with corporate management and governments to impose concessions-laden contracts that ignore wage demands or the chronic health and safety issues that have plagued the industry for decades.

Laurent said, Todays meeting demonstrates the willingness of diverse groups of workers to unite and speak with one voice in opposition to the attempts of union bureaucracies to divide and isolate us, a strategy which is aimed at weakening us before the state and the bosses, and ultimately preventing a revolutionary movement of the working class against capitalism. After decades of union betrayals and divisive politics, this willingness to unite has become a concrete possibility thanks to the political leadership of the WSWS and the Socialist Equality Parties from which we draw our political guidance. This initiative, it should be remembered, is part of the efforts of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees organized by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI).

Explaining why he plans to attend the May Day rally, Malcolm, an educator from British Columbia, stated, This May Day highlights the need, greater than ever before, for the international working class to organize itself politically with the revolutionary socialist perspective of the SEP. In the year 2022, how could it be any clearer that capitalism is driving humanity off a cliff?

The pandemic has demonstrated that the working class is an international class. For teachers, the conditions we face are not different from those of comrades in Toronto, Philadelphia, Miami, Paris, Tokyo, Buenos Aires or anywhere else in the world, outside of China. Everywhere it is the same social actors at work: governments driven by the need to prioritize corporate profit, political parties, at all ends of the political spectrum, from conservative to liberal to left, kowtowing to the financial aristocracy and demanding that the economy trump every other social need, and trade unions that do nothing more than tell workers to shut up, keep our heads down while imposing austerity wage reductions and ignoring our right to a safe workplace.

Governments only answer to the class consciousness and social tensions that the pandemic has awakened in the working class is imperialist war. Everyday they, and their bootlickers in the media, scream about a Russian bogeyman who will come for all of us once he is finished in the Ukraine. Therefore, billions of dollars that could have been used for public health measures or relieving skyrocketing gas and food prices, are immediately earmarked for weapons. How do these policies benefit the working class besides marching us closer to a nuclear holocaust? They dont!

Instead the media and their middle-upper class enablers prattle on about democracy, human rights and the rule of law. What foul and rank hypocrisy! Workers arent blind to the track record of Western imperialism. What concern was there for democracy when the CIA plotted and hatched coup attempts against governments in Chile, Iran, Egypt and Venezuela? What concern is there for human rights when the West supports the fundamentalist government of Saudi Arabia? What concern is there for the human rights of the Palestinian people who live under a brutal Israeli occupation, are shot at and thrown into Israeli dungeons on an almost daily basis? What concern is there for the journalists and human-rights advocates that are being murdered by the Ukrainian government as we speak, by far-right, neo-Nazi forces embedded in that countries armed forces? What concern was there for the international rule of law when NATO bombed Libya? When it bombed Yugoslavia? When the United States and its lackeys invaded and occupied Iraq, murdering hundreds of thousands? The answer is always NONE!

Liam, a graduate student from BC, wrote, At a time when the United States risks war with a nuclear power, I intend to attend the May Day rally to bolster the clarion call of the ICFI against great power conflict. We, the workers of the world, must reject the war propaganda of NATO and the United States and embrace the proletarian call for a revolutionary struggle against capitalism and imperialism.
In one of the largest deployments since the Cold War, Britains government announced Friday it was sending 8,000 army troops across Europe from next month to participate in a slew of military exercises.

As of April 2021, there were 86,240 soldiers serving as regulars in the British Army, meaning that around 10 percent of the entire force is being sent to confront Russia.

Tanks uploaded on military truck platforms as a part of additional British troops and military equipment arrive at Estonia's NATO Battle Group base in Tapa, Estonia, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Sergei Stepanov)

The troop movement, to gather momentum between April and June, is the latest escalation by Britain as part of NATOs de facto war against Russia. The announcement was made hours after US President Joe Biden signed off on a massive $20 billion of weapons shipments

In a Ministry of Defence (MoD) press release, Commander Field Army Lieutenant General Ralph Wooddisse said, The UK makes a significant contribution to the defence of Europe and the deterrence of Russian aggression. The British Armys series of exercises is fundamental to both. We continue to deploy across Europe, from the Baltic to the Aegean, to train and fight alongside our allies and partners, providing powerful, capable and ready forces to support NATO.

Troops will be deployed mainly in a series of four separate NATO wargames codenamed Arrow, Hedgehog, Defender and Swift Response.

There is no exact number of troops participating from the countries involved but the MoD noted, Tens of thousands of troops from NATO and Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) allies and partners are involved in the exercises.

The UK-led JEF comprises nine other High North, North Atlantic and Baltic Sea nations: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. It was established in 2014 at the initiative of Prime Minister David Camerons Conservative government and the United States/NATO.

An MoD breakdown states, Troops from B Squadron of the Queens Royal Hussars have deployed to Finland this week to take part in Exercise Arrow. They will be embedded into a Finnish Armoured Brigade, with participation from other partners including the US, Latvia and Estonia. The exercise will improve the ability of UK and Finnish troops to work alongside each other as part of the JEF, deterring Russian aggression in Scandinavia and the Baltic states.

NATOs Exercise Swift Response began this week and sees elements of 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team and 1 Aviation Brigade Combat Team operate alongside French, American, Italian, and Albanian counterparts in North Macedonia. There are 4,500 personnel on the exercise including 2,500 British troops. The exercise involves parachute drops, helicopter-borne air assaults and sees a company of French paratroopers integrated into the 2 Parachute Regiment Battlegroup and an Italian battlegroup working to a British chain of command.

In Exercise Hedgehog, in May, the Royal Welsh Battlegroup and the Royal Tank Regiment exercising on the Estonia-Latvia border alongside 18,000 NATO troops, including French and Danish, who are part of the British-led NATO enhanced Forward Presence. Hedgehog is the biggest military exercise in Estonia and takes place every four years.

While Operation Hedgehog is underway, Exercise Defender in Poland is ongoing until late May, with 1,000 soldiers from the Kings Royal Hussars Battlegroup and C Squadron of the Light Dragoons deployed alongside troops from 11 partner nations including Poland, Denmark and the United States. This exercise involves Challenger 2 tanks and other armoured vehicles deploying from the NATO Forward Holding Base in Sennelager, Germany. The deployment is supported by 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade operating from the UK and in bases in Europe.

Britain has taken part in and sometimes led NATO operations for years, backing the encirclement of Russia. Over the past year this has intensified, beginning with the May 2021 launch of NATOs Carrier Strike Group 21 armada, headed by the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier with seven helicopters visible onboard at Portsmouth harbour. May 1, 2021 (credit: WSWS media)

Early last month, more than 3,000 sailors and Royal Marines were deployed to the Arctic Circle, ashore, at sea and in the skies of Norway, as Britains contribution to Cold Response 2022. This involved around 30,000 troops from 27 NATO allies and partners. The two-week operation, a live-fire rehearsal for war on Russias northern flank, was the largest military exercise hosted in Norway since the Cold War. The Joint Forces website noted, Britains biggest warship, HMS Prince of Wales, led the naval fleet, demonstrating her ability to act as NATO command shipa role she will hold for the rest of 2022. This was the first time one of the Royal Navys Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers has been so far north. The ships role in the exercise saw her work side-by-side with a breadth of British and Allied air power from F-35B Lightning stealth fighters to the Americans unique Osprey MV22 aircraft and Sea Stallion helicopters.

Norway shares a 200 kilometre (124 mile) land border with Russia, with the operations drills involving 200 aircraft and 50 vessels held a few hundred kilometres from Russia.

The UKs military build-up was prefaced with a statement Monday on Ukraine from Defence Secretary Ben Wallace. He boasted that Britain had already handed Ukraine more than 5,000 anti-tank missiles, 5 Air Defence systems with more than 100 missiles, 1,360 anti-structure munitions, and 4.5 tonnes of plastic explosives. Weeks after hostilities began the UK stepped up its arming of Ukraine with Starstreak high velocity and low velocity anti-air missiles. I am able to now report to the House that these have been in-theatre for over 3 weeks and they have been deployed and used by Ukrainian forces to defend themselves and their territory.

While Parliament was in Easter recess, my ministerial team hosted a Ukrainian government delegation at Salisbury Plain Training Area to explore further equipment options. This was quickly followed by the Prime Minister announcing a further 100 million worth of high-grade military equipment, 120 armoured vehicles, sourcing anti-ship missiles, and high-tech loitering munitions for precision strikes.

The UK was now offering a deployment of British Challenger 2 Tanks to Poland to bridge the gap between Poland donating tanks to Ukraine, and their replacements arriving from a third country.

Britain is deploying virtually the entire capability of its armed forces from the Arctic to the Mediterranean, Wallace boasted. We have temporarily doubled the number of Defence personnel in Estonia, sent military personnel to support Lithuanian intelligence resilience and reconnaissance efforts, deployed hundreds of Royal Marines to Poland, and sent offshore patrol vessels and Navy destroyers to the Eastern Mediterranean. We have also increased our presence in the skies over south-eastern Europe with four additional Typhoons based in Romania. That means we now have a full squadron of RAF fighter jets in southern Europe, ready to support NATO tasking.

A Daily Telegraph article reported, In a further message to the Kremlin, nuclear-powered attack submarines from the UK, US and France have berthed in Britains Faslane naval base on the Clyde [in Scotland], home to the UKs strategic deterrent.

Earlier this week HMS Audacious, a Royal Navy Astute-class hunter-killer boat, was seen loading Tomahawk missiles at the naval facility in Gibraltar. The submarines are all understood to be preparing to take part in naval exercises in the north Atlantic, due to start in the coming days.

After nearly triggering an armed conflict last summer with Russia in the Black Sea, when a British warship entered waters near Crimea, Wallace said Thursday that the UK would send anti-ship Brimstone missiles to Ukraine specially to prevent a Russian blockade of the Black Sea.

Wallace threatened that Russia could not be allowed to control the Black Sea as its not theirs anymore. The Telegraph reported, The latest intelligence assessment from the Ministry of Defence suggests there are 20 Russian navy vessels in the Black Sea, including submarines.
On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy addressed the Republican House Conference in a closed-door meeting for the first time since the release of audio last week confirming that after the failed coup of January 6, 2021, McCarthy held then-President Donald Trump responsible for the attack and thought Trump should resign.



A new book by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for Americas Future, quotes McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreeing that Trump was responsible for trying to overthrow the election and that he should be impeached.



Ive had it with this guy, McCarthy told fellow Republicans following the attack.



He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, McConnell told Martin shortly after midnight on January 7, 2021. Couldnt have happened at a better time.



After the reporting surfaced last week, McCarthy initially denied that he had suggested Trump bore some responsibility for the failed coup. In an apparently reflexive lie, he called the reporting totally false and wrong. But within hours, Martin and Burns released audio recordings in which McCarthy declared Trump culpable for attempting to overthrow the election of Joe Biden.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the house minority leader, who is in line to become house speaker should the Republicans win control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, received a standing ovation from Republicans after explaining himself and defending his comments.



The Post described Republicans admitting that at the time McCarthy made his post-coup comments, many were having similar thoughts of being eager to move on from the 2020 election and rid themselves of Trump, whom they viewed at the time as a failure.



All of us were trying to make sense of, you know, what happened, why did it happen, why didnt we stop it?... We were all trying to wade through that as the dust was settling, and then the dust settled. And I think he came to the right conclusion, Texas Representative Jodey Arrington told the Post following the meeting.



The day before the meeting, the New York Times released additional audio from a January 10, 2021 House Republican leadership conference call. The audio featured McCarthy and Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise, the minority whip and second highest ranking Republican House member.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The pair discussed the comments of Florida Representative and Trump acolyte Matt Gaetz following the coup. One of 147 Republicans (139 in the House and eight in the Senate) to vote against certifying the election of Biden, even after the attack on the Capitol, Gaetz went further, openly defending the fascist violence.



Im calling Gaetz, Im explaining to him... Im going to have some other people call him too, but, the nature of what, if I am getting a briefing, Im going to get another one from the FBI tomorrow. This is serious shit. To cut this out, McCarthy said on the January 10, 2021 call.



Hes putting people in jeopardy, McCarthy added. And he [Gaetz] doesnt need to be doing this.

Acknowledging the pre-planned character of Trumps coupthat it was not a spontaneous riot that got out of hand, as McCarthy and virtually the entire Republican Party now claimMcCarthy said: We saw what people would do in the Capitol, you know, and these people came prepared with rope, with everything else.



Agreeing with McCarthy, Scalise replied: Its potentially illegal what hes doing.

In the same January 10 call, McCarthy and Scalise discussed the conduct of Trumps co-conspirators following the attack. They specifically named Representatives Louie Gohmert of Texas, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Barry Moore and Mo Brooks of Alabama.

After discussing some of the fascistic statements they were circulating prior to, during and following the coup, McCarthy suggested that they be kicked off of Twitter, as Trump was following the attack. We cant put up with that, McCarthy said, adding, Cant they take their Twitter accounts away, too?



After these initial outbursts over the coup attempt, however, McCarthy quickly reversed course, eventually traveling to Mar-a-Lago for an audience with Trump and making his peace with the would-be dictator.

In this he was responding to two factors: he took the measure of the Democratic Partys spineless response following the attack and weighed it against the support Trump continued to receive within the far-right base of the Republican Party.



While Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a strong Republican Party following the attack, Gaetz, Greene, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry and other Republican House members voiced their support for Trump and their opposition to impeachment.



McCarthy, McConnell and the rest of the so-called Republican establishment made a political calculation and dropped any suggestion that Trump no longer represented the future of the Republican Party.



More than 15 months after the failed coup, nearly every current Republican and aspiring Republican candidate for office has made the same calculation and embraced Trumps lies concerning the stolen election.



Immediately following the tapes release, multiple news outlets reported that McCarthy was on the phone with Trump, seeking to placate the partys leader-in-exile. The Washington Post reported last Thursday that after McCarthy called Trump, the ex-president was not upset at McCarthy and was glad he did not follow through by supporting impeachment efforts.



Trump was interviewed last Friday at his Mar-a-Lago estate by reporters from the Wall Street Journal. In the interview, Trump said that while he didnt like [McCarthys January 10] call, he had a very good relationship with McCarthy.



I like him. And other than that brief period of time, I suspect he likes me quite a bit.



I think its all a big compliment, frankly, Trump told the Journal. They realized they were wrong and supported me.

He added, almost immediately, as you know, because he came here and we took a picture right thereyou know, the support was very strong.



By picture right there, Trump was referring to a photo McCarthy took with him on January 27, 2021. The photo op occurred one day after 45 out of 50 Senate Republicans voted against moving forward with the impeachment trial against Trump on the specious grounds that because Trump was no longer in office, he could not be impeached.



While McCarthy has, for now, seemingly placated Trump and his Republican allies, there remains the very real possibility that if the Republicans take back the House this November, especially with Trump-endorsed candidates, they will block McCarthy from becoming speaker.



The Post reported that the aforementioned Gaetz was the only Republican lawmaker who confronted McCarthy during Wednesdays Republican conference meeting. The night before the meeting, Gaetz released a public statement attacking McCarthy and Scalise: Rep. McCarthy and Rep. Scalise held views about President Trump and me that they shared on sniveling calls with Liz Cheney, not us. This is the behavior of weak men, not leaders.



There is no doubt Trump and his allies like Gaetz are keeping McCarthys revelations close to their chest in order to extract concessions from him in the future, or perhaps use them to deny McCarthy the speakership, should the Republicans take back the House.

The intensity of the political warfare within the ruling class, which has not abated nearly 16 months after Trumps failed coup, underscores that without an independent intervention of the working class, the outcome will be a further lurch to the right of the entire political system and the strengthening of the fascist forces.
Trade concerns

The Council heard 41 trade concerns on measures maintained or newly introduced by 25 WTO members, which included 11 new issues. These concerns were raised over a wide range of measures, including tariffs and tariff rate quotas, import and export bans and restrictions, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, alleged discriminatory domestic taxation, domestic content requirements, import licensing requirements and countervailing duties.

The measures encompass a wide range of sectors (e.g. agricultural, information technology, fisheries, forestry and food products) as well as specific products, such as air conditioners, apples, cheese, cosmetics, energy drinks, instant coffee, mobile phones, pears, plain copier paper, pulses, tyres and steel. The full agenda of the meeting, including the list of trade concerns discussed, is available here.

Many members took the floor to express their strong opposition to the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian Federation responded by saying that the WTO was not the proper venue for a discussion of this nature and expressing concern over the restrictive measures introduced by several members on Russian products and sectors in response to the conflict. These members noted those measures would not have been introduced if Russia had not invaded Ukraine.

Transparency and notifications

Members welcomed the report by the WTO Secretariat in document G/L/223/Rev.29, which contains the status of notifications under the provisions of WTO agreements in Annex 1A of the WTO Agreement. The document's latest revision updates the information on the notifications submitted by members up to 31 December 2021.

Members considered the document very informative and thanked the Secretariat for the update. Some members expressed concern about the lack of improvement in notifications compliance across agreements since the report's previous revision. They further noted that the challenge of incomplete and missing notifications was not limited to members of a particular region or grouping, but widespread, despite the availability of Secretariat assistance and training opportunities.

Members reiterated that addressing the operation and effectiveness of current notification practices, as recommended in the proposal on transparency and notification procedures, would be a practical means of making progress on these issues with a view to strengthening the WTO's performance in this area.

The chair, Ambassador Lundeg Purevsuren of Mongolia, drew members' attention to the Beta version of the Notifications Portal, available in notifications.wto.org, which was released by the Secretariat at the beginning of this year for members' review. The portal seeks to consolidate, under a single system, all general information concerning notifications and the information for the agreements on trade in goods summarized and presented following the template of document G/L/223/Rev.29.

Proposal on graduated LDCs

Members discussed again the LDC Group proposal on measures to allow graduated LDCs with a gross national product (GNP) below USD 1,000 to be granted benefits pursuant to the provision of Article 27.2 of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, i.e. exemption from the provision on export subsidies (WT/GC/W/742-G/C/W/752).

On behalf of the LDC Group, Chad said that an agreement on this decision would make an important contribution to remedying the difficult circumstances that graduating LDCs were encountering, particularly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine. It would also contribute to the further integration of LDCs in the multilateral trading system.

Some developed country members acknowledged the challenges that LDC members were facing as a result of two consecutive and overlapping global crises but also noted gaps remaining in the information that is needed for this proposal to be workable from a technical perspective. Nevertheless, they stood ready to consider ideas and proposals with the LDC Group as to how to address those gaps.

Subsidiary bodies

The Council was not able to reach a consensus on a slate of names for its subsidiary bodies. Members agreed to suspend this agenda item and to reconvene the Council as soon as a slate of names was ready for its consideration.

New chair

At the end of the meeting, the Council elected Ambassador Etienne Oudot de Dainville of France as its new chair for 2022, and thanked Ambassador Lundeg Purevsuren of Mongolia for his service as chair for 2021.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods is scheduled for 7-8 July 2022.
HENDERSON, Ky.  Columbia Brands USA plans to upgrade its existing distribution center in Robards with a $3.7 million investment, resulting in the creation of 175 new full-time jobs, including warehouse associate and supervisory positions.

City, county and state leaders, along with representatives from Columbia, announced the move Thursday afternoon in downtown Henderson.

The upgrades to the 520,000-square-foot distribution center are expected to be complete by May 2023 and will allow Columbia to move its popular line of performance fishing gear from its current location in Portland, Oregon, to Henderson County.

Columbia Brands USA sells apparel and footwear throughout the U.S. under brand names Columbia, Sorel, Montrail, prAna and Mountain Hardware, with a revenue of $3.12 billion in 2021.

More: How first-time Evansville homebuyers can beat the competition. (A cover letter can help!)

The Robards facility went online in 2004 and currently employs about 200 people.

Columbia's Vice President of Global Distribution Alonzo Plater said the move will put the company in a better position to quickly get its products into the hands of customers. The PFG line is gaining popularity in the southern U.S., Plater pointed out.

"It's all about proximity to our customers," Plater said. "... When you look at what we've been able to do with the Robards facility, it's easy to see this was a unique opportunity to expand and better serve our customers."

Plater said Columbia was becoming an "employer of choice" in the region due to its competitive wages and work culture.

The average hourly wage for the 175 new jobs created is expected to be $24, based on an incentive agreement between Columbia and the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority that was approved Thursday. It will stretch over the next the next 10 years.

More: Henderson's Tri-Fest is back after 2 years of COVID cancelations. Here's what to know

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"We have really enjoyed working with Columbia," Henderson County Judge Executive Brad Schneider said. "This project will truly be of regional benefit and help make our communities continue to be places people want to live and work."

The Columbia project is just the most recent in a surge of economic development and job growth in Western Kentucky, with more than $1.7 billion in investments and 2,400 jobs created since 2020.

State Sen. Robby Mills lauded Columbia as being a good corporate citizen and the announcement as one that may indicate the future of the area's employment base.

"Everything is aligned around I-69," he said. "I think we could someday see this area become a mecca of distribution. ... Companies like Columbia do their homework. They know what they're doing when they choose to invest in an area."

This article originally appeared on Henderson Gleaner: Columbia Sportswear: Upgrades, new jobs coming to Western Kentucky
When Bob McClancy was found dead in his recliner with a handgun in one hand and an empty bottle full of pills in another, it seemed that the Vietnam veteran and former cops post-traumatic stress disorder had finally gotten the best of him.

But it would take years  and require a son to turn against his own mother  before a series of calculated lies were uncovered and the truth about Bobs death would finally be revealed.

To those who loved him, Bob was known as a funny man who loved animals, had a kind heart, and was devoted to his extended family.

He just always took care of us, his niece told Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, airing Wednesdays at 8/7c on Oxygen.

After his first marriage fell apart, the Bradenton County Sheriffs detective found love again with an aloof but beautiful secretary at the Florida sheriffs office named Martha Ann.

Martha Ann, a mom to two young sons, was going through a painful divorce and the pair soon began a new life together, marrying in 1995.

Bob was very down to earth and he taught me a lot of things, her son Sean McGavic told "Dateline" correspondent Keith Morrison, adding he had helped him learn how to be a man.

A few years after they got married, Bob retired and the couple moved to a big, secluded hillside cabin in Coker Creek, Tennessee. While Martha Ann was still working in accounting, the couple made plenty of time for family and friends and seemed, to friend Debbie Hartman, to be the perfect couple.

Never once did I hear them argue or have a sour word against one another. Never. Just very loving, she said.

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It was an idyllic life in many respects, but Bob was still tormented by memories from his past. The Vietnam veteran struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered from flashbacks, nightmares, and depression, despite taking heavy medication.

Bob was determined to beat the debilitating illness and set off in January 2006 for an intensive six-week program run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. There he met fellow veteran Charles Chuck Kaczmarczyk and the pair became fast friends, even continuing the friendship when both men returned home.

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But on May 15, 2006, Bob was found dead in his favorite recliner at the age of 56 years old. He clutched a gun in one hand, although it had never been fired, and an empty bottle of pills in another. A do-not-resuscitate order had been signed by Bob and left in the kitchen.

It was Kaczmarczyk who would discover the body and place the call to 911.

The  uh, Mr. McClancy appears to be, uh, expired, he told the dispatcher in a monotone.

The death seemed to be a suicide, although some of the investigators and Bobs family had found Kaczmarczyks demeanor on the 911 tape and in the days that followed as surprisingly unemotional and almost cold.

On the day of his death, Hartman still remembers arriving at the couples home to find a frantic Martha Ann.

The two of us just sat there and hugged each other and bawled and, you know, just cried our eyes out. It was horrible, an emotional Hartman recalled.

Martha Ann and Kaczmarczyk stayed in touch, seemingly to help each other through their grief. But Hartman soon began to suspect the pairs relationship had turned romantic, noticing on a cruise the friends took together that Martha Ann and Kaczmarczyk often wore matching outfits and Kaczmarczyk had began ordering for Martha Ann.

The couple got engaged a short time later and were secretly married in Las Vegas before the year was over.

Her romantic life wasnt the only thing that was changing. Martha Ann told her friends and family she had gotten a prestigious new job with the federal government that would require her to spend time in Washington D.C. and fly on the vice presidents airplane. She soon was telling others shed been promoted to a job with the state department. The couple began making lavish purchases, including a luxury RV and vintage Corvette.

They volunteered together visiting military facilities as Kaczmarczyk  who sported some of the militarys highest honors  presided over ceremonies celebrating the nations military.

Chuck would go out with all these medals and hed go to the local high school and to veterans parades, McGavic recalled.

It was during one of these visits in early 2008 that a local reporter was inspired by his story and published an article with details of his military accomplishments, but the story didnt seem right to other military veterans and they reached out to the Air Force.

The Air Force contacted the Department of Veterans Affairs and after a thorough investigation, they discovered that Kaczmarczyk had lied about many of his military accomplishments and had never seen any combat.

Its very offensive, Special Agent Nate Landkammer, a former marine and VA investigator in Nashville, told Dateline: Secrets Uncovered.

Even stranger, Martha Ann, who had never served in the military, had also showed up at a military retreat falsely claiming to have won a Purple Heart. Landkammer learned that her prestigious new career in Washington D.C. was also a lie and Martha Ann had never worked for the state department.

But the deception didnt end there. Landkammer also uncovered an elaborate plot by the couple to scam the government out of VA benefits and social security. Martha Ann even claimed in one set of documents that Kaczmarczyk was 100% disabled and was homebound and unable to care for himself. Martha Ann was also cashing in on social security disability benefits herself after claiming to be suffering from debilitating back pain. Together, the couple was bilking the government of approximately $10,000 a month.

This is definitely the case of a career. I dont think Ill ever work anything like this again just because of the different twists and turns, Landkammer said.

After an undercover investigation caught the couple scamming the system, moving freely about and doing extensive yard work, they were charged for the crimes and sentenced to federal prison in 2013.

Charles got 30 months, federal, and then Martha Ann got 20, Landkammer said.

As Martha Ann was getting ready to serve her sentence, she asked her son to store some boxes and documents for her. Thats when he discovered a disturbing set of photos in the trash bin on one of her computers.

The photos were of Bobs body, posed in various ways. Sometimes he was holding the revolver, sometimes he wasnt. It was obvious the photos had been taken before law enforcement authorities were ever called to the scene.

McGavic alerted authorities and agreed to record a phone call for investigators where he confronted his mom about the photos, which had been taken by Kaczmarczyk.

It had to be done, McGavic said of turning against his mother. I was nervous but at the same time you have to know.

The phone call left him believing his mom may have had something to do with his stepfathers death.

McGavic and his wife also provided authorities with Bobs last will and testament cutting out his only daughter, which Landkammer later concluded had been forged by Martha Ann.

The will in particular ended up being a major part of the investigation, Landkammer said.

But it was Kaczmarczyks own confession to police that would ultimately land Martha Ann behind bars for Bobs death.

Kaczmarczyk told authorities that Martha Ann had been slowly poisoning Bob with his post-traumatic stress medications, sprinkling what she called magic dust into his food until he eventually overdosed.

I think the investigation showed that she was clearly the mastermind, Landkammer said.

Although Martha Ann insisted that she had never killed her husband, a jury convicted her attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

As part of a plea deal with prosecutors, Kaczmarcyzk agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.
Throughout the 74 years of the Met Gala, there have been many iconic red carpet looks, but music and fashion star Rihanna has managed to consistently produce the most impressive, internet-stopping looks year after year.

Rihanna is arguably the most highly anticipated guest of the Met Gala, rightfully so given the number of dramatic looks shes donned in the last few years. While its not confirmed if Rihanna will attend Mondays Met Gala, which is celebrating the exhibit In America: An Anthology of Fashion, she will still likely be the most-anticipated arrival of the night.

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The music icon, who is currently pregnant with her first child, started off her Met Gala reign with more subdued, traditional red carpet styles before transitioning into the dramatic, high-fashion looks spectators have now come to expect.

Rihanna made her Met Gala debut in 2007 for the Poiret: King of Fashion exhibit, where she attended wearing a Georges Chakra white dress embellished with silver gems and paired with short mesh gloves. Her next appearance happened two years later for The Model as Muse exhibit, where she wore a fitted tuxedo with sculptural shoulders by Dolce & Gabbana. She again went with a more subdued, yet elegant red carpet style in 2011 for the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit, wearing a black lace, one-shoulder Stella McCartney dress.

Her Met Gala red carpet style took a dramatic turn in 2015 for the China: Through the Looking Glass exhibit. Rihanna stunned on the red carpet wearing a bright yellow, custom Guo Pei gown, a look that has since become one of the most memorable in her overall style trajectory.

Rihanna in Guo Pei at the 2015 Met Gala. - Credit: Steve Eichner

Steve Eichner

Rihanna seemingly upped the ante for her next Met Gala appearance in 2017 for the Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art of the In-Between exhibit when she arrived on the red carpet wearing an avant garde, floral petal-themed look by Comme des Garcons.

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For many, Rihannas 2018 Met Gala outfit is considered her best of all time. For the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination exhibit, Rihanna left her mark on the red carpet wearing a custom Maison Margiela Pope-inspired pearl and jewel-embellished white dress with a matching mitre.

While we wait to see if Rihanna will return to the Met Gala this year, WWD looks back at the music icons Met Gala style evolution. Click through the above gallery for more.

READ MORE HERE:

The Best Met Gala Red Carpet Looks of All Time

Everything to Know About the 2022 Met Gala

A Complete History of the Met Gala

Launch Gallery: Rihanna's Met Gala Style Evolution

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The University of California school system will begin offering free tuition and fees to California residents who are members of federally recognized tribes.

There are currently 109 federally recognized tribes in California, home to more people of Native American and Alaska Native heritage than any other state in the country.

For the past decade, Native American students made up less than 1 percent of the universitys total enrollment.

Native Americans who reside in California will soon be eligible for free tuition at the University of California school system, a critical announcement that comes as the country is in a heated debate over the student debt crisis.

In a letter to university chancellors, University of California president Michael V. Drake announced that starting in the fall semester, California residents who are members of federally recognized Native American, American Indian and Alaska Native tribes will be eligible for full-ride scholarships.

The decision comes as part of the formal launch of the UC Native American Opportunity Plan, a program intended to make the school system more diverse and more affordable to Native American undergraduate and graduate students.

It costs about $38,504 to attend a UC school annually for in-state students in the current 2022-2023 school year, with tuition at $13,104, and additional campus fees, books, health insurance, housing and transportation costs included.

Notably, the UC Native American Opportunity Plan could also help alleviate future students from taking on student debt, a crisis currently rocking the country and prompting President Biden to move forward with some form of student debt forgiveness. Biden previously campaigned on forgiving at least $10,000 in federal student loans per borrower, but has yet to take any action on the issue since assuming office.

Offering free tuition would also allow Native American students to bypass the rising cost of attending college, with an analysis by Georgetown University finding between 1980 and 2019 college fees rose by 169 percent, while wages for young workers aged 22 to 27 went up by only 19 percent over the same period.

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The universitys announcement is also significant given California is home to more people of Native American and Alaska Native heritage than any other state in the country. There are currently 109 federally recognized Indian tribes in the state.

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There are also several non-federally recognized tribes currently petitioning for federal recognition.

However, Native Americans made up less than 1 percent of the UC school systems student enrollment in Fall 2021 and have consistently done so for the past decade.

The University of California is committed to recognizing and acknowledging historical wrongs endured by Native Americans. I am proud of the efforts the university has made to support the Native American community, including the creation of the UC Native American Opportunity Plan, said Drake.

A report compiled by UC Davis Strategic Native American Retention Initiative found that in the 2017-2018 school year, about 2,200 American Indian/Alaskan Native students graduated from a California high school, with only 708 meeting UC college requirements. Of those students, 294 enrolled in UC.

In comparison, about 418,000 students graduated from a California high school that same school year and 208,769 met UC college requirements.

Native American students are only 0.5 percent of the total population of Californias high school students and make up only 0.3 percent of the total population who met UC college requirements.

The report explained that challenges Native American students face are complex, as many are from first-generation families and low college-going communities, often plagued with high crime and drug rates and few resources to support educational success.

The UC school system hopes its plan to offer free tuition to Native American students in California will entice more to pursue a higher education.

We hope that the number of students benefiting from the plan will grow in future years as more Native American students choose to apply to UC and accept our offers of admission, Shawn Brick, UCs executive director of student financial support, said in a statement.

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The IRS claims that a 62-year-old Wellington man did not report all of the money he earned from 2010 to 2017 and that cost the U.S. Treasury more than $277,000.

A 62-year-old Wellington man this week pleaded guilty to a charge of tax evasion after authorities accused him of failing to report nearly $870,000 in income he earned while working for a defense contractor in the Middle East.

Ronald L. Thomas faces a maximum five-year sentence, according to the Internal Revenue Service. No sentencing date has been set.

IRS officials claim that Thomas failure to report all of the money he earned from 2010 to 2017 cost the U.S. treasury more than $277,000.

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During most of those years, Thomas was manager of a company that had a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense and worked in Afghanistan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. In the last two years, Thomas was a consultant for a Mexican oil and gas venture, IRS officials said.

Thomas is the third top-level official at a defense contracting company to face charges of tax evasion. Since February, two others have pleaded guilty, admitting they didn't report their full income to the IRS, officials said.

jmusgrave@pbpost.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Wellington man pleads guilty after not reporting all of his income
Editor's Note: The article was updated to correct a misquote by ABCNews.com of a line from a science.org story.

Backlash erupted this week against New York University's Grossman School of Medicine in response to reports the school is in discussions to hire Dr. David Sabatini, a biologist who is facing accusations of sexual harassment.

Sabatini resigned from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology earlier this month after a review by his department head, the dean of science and the provost recommended his tenure be revoked due to his violation of MITs policy on consensual relationships, according to a letter MIT President L. Rafael Reif sent to faculty.

"The reviewers found Professor Sabatini engaged in a sexual relationship with a person over whom he held a career-influencing role, he did not disclose the relationship at any time to his supervisors, and he failed to take any steps to relinquish his mentoring and career-influencing roles, as the policy requires," Reif said in the letter.

"The Committee also had significant concerns regarding his unprofessional behavior toward some lab members," the letter added.

Members of the NYU community, including its union for graduate workers, a group for women in STEM and a group of STEM researchers planning on forming a union organized a protest against Sabatini's hiring on Wednesday.

Downtown at NYU but still want to join the protest tomorrow? Nyu students are walking out at 1:15 to join our colleagues uptown at Langone. Meet in front of @nyusilver to take the subway to the 2pm protest. @nyustudentgov @nyuydsa @nyuresearchers pic.twitter.com/lDylJMmnqk  NYU GSOC|UAW (@GSOCUAW) April 26, 2022

The groups also started a petition which had gathered over 300 signatures by Thursday afternoon.

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"To hire David Sabatini as a faculty member is to put his work above the safety of the women in NYUs community. It is additionally completely hypocritical to the DEI efforts that NYU have made in the past two years," the petition reads.

"We, the undersigned, collectively condemn NYU for the immense harm already done by even considering Sabatinis employment," the petition added.

Signatories also pledged that until Sabatini is removed from consideration, they will not give or attend any talks, seminars, conferences or symposia hosted by NYU Langone Health, the academic medical center that comprises the school of medicine. They also vowed not to teach any courses at NYU Langone or collaborate with any labs at NYU Langone.

News that Sabatini may be hired by NYU was first reported on science.org, which also reports that Sabatini has been forced out of or fired from three leading institutions for sexual harassment or for violating workplace or consensual sexual relationship policies.

In response to the allegations made at MIT, Sabatini told ABC News, "Although I have taken full responsibility for having had a consensual personal relationship with a professional colleague, the outcome thus far has been out of all proportion to the actual, underlying facts. As I have maintained consistently from the start, I differ sharply with the way this matter has been characterized and I intend to set the record straight and stand up for my integrity."

PHOTO: Graduate students, faculty and alumni from New York University's Grossman School of Medicine participate in a walkout to protest a report that the school may soon hire Dr. David Sabatini in New York, April 27, 2022. (Dieu-Nalio Chery/The New York Times via Redux)

In an email sent to staff last August, Dr. Ruth Lehmann, the director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, a nonprofit research lab affiliated with MIT, said an investigation by an outside firm found that Sabatini violated the institute's policy on sexual harassment and other policies unrelated to research misconduct, according to science.org.

Sabatini is suing the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Lehmann, and the woman who accused him of sexually harassing her. Sabatini claims he was in a consensual relationship with the accuser.

Among the claims Sabatini made in the lawsuit filed in October was that the investigation Whitehead conducted was a "sham" and was flawed.

He also alleged that claims made by the woman that he was sexually harassing her are "fabricated" and that his relationship with the woman was consensual. Sabatini also accused the woman of being "determined to destroy" him, he alleged in the lawsuit.

Sabatini claimed the woman and her attorney pressed Lehmann and Whitehead to conclude that Sabatini engaged in misconduct and terminate him on that basis.

In a countersuit, the woman accusing Sabatini of harassment said he "coerced" her into having sex with him while she was a graduate student and committed assault and battery on [her] when he coerced her into having sex with him despite her protests.

The woman also alleged in the suit that Sabatini created a work environment where to get ahead and gain his approval, undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows were to indulge a highly sexualized lab environment."

The woman alleged that more than once, when women joined the lab, Sabatini tried to engage them in unwelcomed discussions about their private, sexual lives and he groomed them, exploring just how far he could go with those under his authority, in the suit. Those who do not participate were either cast aside or embarrassed until they, at least, played along, the countersuit alleges.

She said she suffered financial losses, reputational harm, pain and suffering and emotional distress due to Sabatini's retaliatory behavior against her claims.

Sabatini allegedly interfered with the investigation as reflected in numerous reports from those interviewed, resulting in investigators' making negative credibility determinations about ... Sabatini and support [of] another finding of misconduct," lawyers representing the woman told ABC News in a statement, citing the investigation's findings.

Lawyers for Whitehead and Lehmann claimed, in a court filing, that Sabatini's lawsuit was a "direct attack" on what was then a pending investigation at MIT.

Whitehead in the filing, said the investigation, conducted by the law firm Hinckley, Allen, was initiated after it received "concerning information" in an anonymous survey. Whitehead also noted that there were claims by other men and women who raised concerns about his conduct and the environment of his laboratory to independent investigators.

Sabatini said the NYU community's concern is based on a misunderstanding.

"The concern is based on a misunderstanding of what happened in Boston regarding a romantic relationship I had with a 30-year-old principal investigator who had her own separate lab," Sabatini said

He added, "Female students and scientists deserve support and a lab environment free from inappropriate conduct, which I firmly believe I provided. I only want a fair assessment of the facts of the situation and to get back to work."

Sabatini said he understands the NYU community's concern over his hiring.

PHOTO: David Sabatini attends the Pershing Square Sohn Prize Dinner at Consulate General of France in New York City, May 22, 2019. (Patrick McMullan via Getty Images, FILE)

"I have mentored dozens of women who succeeded professionally and personally. I understand how upset many in the NYU community who have not heard all of the facts are about the possibility that I might join the faculty there," Sabatini said.

NYU Langone said Thursday that it has not yet come to a decision on whether it will offer Sabatini a position.

"We are taking a thorough look at the full set of facts and circumstances involving his tenure and departure from MIT," NYU Langone said in a statement.

NYU Langone said accomplished and upstanding scientists who worked with Sabatini for years have given a different account of what happened at MIT.

"A main reason for that examination is that, by all accounts, there were many pertinent aspects of the matter that were never publicly disclosed. For example, we have heard directly from dozens of Dr. Sabatini's peers and colleagues describing a first-hand view that is starkly at odds with the investigation and its outcome," NYU Langone said.

It added, "The investigation itself is now the subject of litigation, which details a variety of alleged procedural flaws."

NYU Langone also said it would take into consideration protests from the community over his potential hiring.

"We do not wish to dismiss anyone's viewpoint and indeed the feedback from our community that we have sought out and are hearing is being thoughtfully included in our considerations. We would never make any hiring if we thought it would place our personnel at any risk or compromise in any way our commitment to hiring people of the highest integrity and professionalism," NYU Langone said.

NYU faces backlash over potential hire accused of sexual harassment originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Matt Gaetz of Florida were among the Republicans who voted against the bill. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

The House passed a bill easing the provision of military equipment to Ukraine, sending it to Biden's desk.

The vote was nearly unanimous, but 10 House Republicans voted against the bill.

That comes after 8 House Republicans voted against suspending trade relations with Russia.

The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday allowing the Biden administration to more easily lend and lease military equipment to Ukraine, which is currently under siege by Russian troops.

The vote comes after the Senate passed the "Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022" via voice vote  meaning none of the 100 senators had any objections  earlier this month, and the bill now heads to President Joe Biden's desk.

The legislation revives a World War II-era program that the US used to quickly supply Allied countries within weapons as they fought against Hitler.

But 10 House Republicans, most of them on the right flank on the party, voted against the measure. That comes after 8 Republicans voted against suspending normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus in March amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

"Handing President Biden a blank check to fix Ukraine is like handing a drowning victim an anchor  it doesn't end well," Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, who leads the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said in a statement to Insider when asked why he opposed the bill.

These are the 10 House Republicans who voted against the military aid bill:

Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona

Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina

Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida

Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky

Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina

Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania

Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin

Insider has reached out to each of the lawmakers' offices for comment on the vote.

Tiffany released a statement clarifying that he "strongly" condemns the Russian invasion, but said the US is "already the largest donor to this war."

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"President Biden is requesting billions more in aid for Ukraine that could potentially draw our military into another trillion-dollar conflict half a world away," he added. "If the last two decades have taught us anything, it is that it's always much easier to get our country into a foreign conflict than it is to get out."

Davidson told Insider in a statement that he supports helping Ukraine, but said there's "no excuse for giving the executive branch the power of a blank check."

Massie, a libertarian, tweeted that the bill was "insane" and insinuated that the weapons are not purely defensive.

Meanwhile, Gosar told Insider in a statement that "every vote" to provide military support to Ukraine "draws us closer to a war with Russia."

This is not our fight," he added. "I reiterate my hope for immediate peace talks and resolution of hostilities. Sending more weapons of war is counter to peace and will extend the death and destruction."

Joel Valdez, communications director for Gaetz, told Insider in an email that the Florida congressman "supports weapons for Ukraine" but "opposes waiving America's future rights for repayment."

As the war in Ukraine has unfolded, some Republicans have come under fire for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin, or characterizing Ukraine as a dictatorship.

Former President Donald Trump declared that Putin's rationale for invading the country was "genius" and "savvy," while Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "thug."

In response, some Republican senators have pushed back, with Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina telling Insider that Cawthorn is an "outlier" within the party.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Camp Lejeune Justice Act will help many who seek damages for health issues related to toxic water contamination in the mid-late 20th century.

Samantha Sinclair-Via has been surrounded by health problems for much of her life, and is determined to get a bill passed for those she's been fighting for since 2008.

The Camp Lejeune Justice Act has already passed through the House, but advocates are still in need of Senate support. If passed, the bill would allow people exposed to contaminated drinking water at MCB Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station from 1953 to 1987 to sue the government and potentially recover damages for harm caused by the water.

"This is my calling," Sinclair-Via said. "We are a family, the Camp Lejeune Toxic Water survivors, and I will not quit fighting until I am six feet under."

Related coverage: Camp Lejeune Justice Act introduced in U.S. Senate by N.C. Republicans, two Democrats

Related coverage: As Camp Lejeune water bill gains support, House committee wants to hear from toxic-exposed vets

As reported by the Daily News in January, more than 125 U.S. representatives have signed on as cosponsors, and in November, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced a similar bill by the same name in the Senate.

Sinclair-Via and former Marine reservist Curtis Crawford have coordinated an event for this Saturday, April 30 from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at The Sunset Inn located at the intersection of North Marine Blvd and Western Blvd.

The rally for the Camp Lejeune Justice Act will take place Saturday, April 30.

According to a release from Crawford, the rally will be the third time that their group will be gathering in Jacksonville to continue to spread the word about Camp Lejeune.

"This event could possibly be one of celebration, as we are expecting the Camp Lejeune Justice Act to soon pass and be signed into law," the release said. "We are hoping this will be the case."

The release said once the bill passes, they will have two years to file suit in the eastern North Carolina court system.

"We're just trying to, once again, be like, 'Hey look, we need this passed,'" Crawford said. "It just gets it out there in front of the public's eye to let them know that, hey, it's still being worked on, it's not a dead issue."

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Curtis Crawford poses with commissioner Robin Knapp.

During the rally, Congressman Greg Murphy will speak to help push the importance of the legislation, and Crawford said there will also be a live podcast on location.

Crawford said he lost a lot due to health issues caused by the toxic water.

"I lost a business and a job, my ability to work full time, my house went in the same process," Crawford said. "So, yeah, I've seen everything kind of disappear from my life because of it. But hey, you take what you're given and you use it for the best."

Sinclair-Via is also familiar with health issues, as she lived on base from 1976 to 1987, and has been fighting this issue since 2008.

Not only has she suffered cancer twice, but her son was born missing both kidney flaps, her mother died from multiple myeloma at age 69, her father died from Agent Orange chemicals, and her nephew was born with his aorta and pulmonary arteries flip flopped.

"I have also lost a fetus and have suffered ovarian tumors, uterine fibroid tumor and clavicle tumor and autoimmune skin hypersensitivity (allergic to everything)," Sinclair Via said. "I am here fighting because I promised my 24-year veteran father, and to help other sick veterans and dependents."

Onslow County Commissioner Robin Knapp is also passionate about the cause.

"These folks who have suffered throughout the years because of decontaminated water deserve to be heard and receive full compensation," Knapp said. "Many have suffered needlessly."

The Camp Lejeune Justice Act has made it through the House, but still needs support in the Senate.

More: Camp Lejeune toxic water survivors to hold outreach event

More: Camp Lejeune Justice Act key for toxic water survivors, Be patient says leading advocate

Sinclair-Via said she's watched so many die since she started with longtime Lejeune water advocate Mike Partain and the movement's leading figure Jerry Ensminger.

She said she feels Marine leaders are waiting for the disabled, sick, cancer-ridden veterans to die off, not realizing dependents are sick too.

"We aren't going anywhere," Sinclair-Via said. "It's upsetting to see some of the Republicans vote against the PACT act when they were supposed to support our military veterans. I appreciate Tillis as he helped me with my case and also appreciate Greg Murphey."

Crawford said he wants to let people know that this isn't just a military issue and that they're standing for everyone: the children, the family members, the husbands and wives.

"There have been too many lost lives because of this," Crawford said.

Plaques were presented to commissioners who came out to the rally; Vice Chairman Tim Foster accepts his.

He said this is the largest mass contamination of people in the history of the U.S., and that he wants to see everyone embrace the issue, instead of sweeping it under the rug.

"My father said in an article in 2009, that he loved being a Marine, but the thing he loved so much has killed his family, and he called it genocide," Sinclair-Via said. "I got cancer at 29, and proved not genetic, and then again at 43. I am 47 now, I'm doing this for the people I love, our veterans. We are the true meaning of Semper Fi."

More: A Survivors Fight: NC woman shares story of life ravaged by toxic water at Camp Lejeune

Sinclair-Via said there will also be a countrywide outreach on May 19, and people should also check out the documentary Semper Fi: Always Faithful.

Reporter Morgan Starling can be reached at mstarling@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on The Daily News: Rally for Camp Lejeune Justice Act bill this weekend in Jacksonville
ACHE students participated in community-wide service projects as part of the ACHE day of service.

The Arkansas Colleges of Health Education students coordinated a Day of Service this past Saturday, following their week of service during National Osteopathic week.

Sydney Despain, a student very involved in community service, wanted to give other students the opportunity to participate in volunteering activities through their college. She reached out to her friends and Charitee Floyd, ACHE's Student Services and Activities coordinator.

"It was Sydney's idea and Sydney's vision to have something like this," Floyd said. "We kind of tried to model it after the United Way Day of Caring. The hope is each year to make it bigger and better, expand upon it."

The ACHE's week of service included the following events:

Tuesday, April 19

Lunch and learn with United Way of Fort Smith on their service in the Fort Smith Community.

Wednesday, April 20

Lunch and learn with the Degen Foundation for healthcare and education.

Thursday, April 21

Blood drive in the ACHE parking lot from 1 pm. to 5:30 p.m. with the Arkansas Blood Institute.

Friday, April 22

Kickball tournament on the field in front of ACHE. Dinner provided by BBQ Club. Admission per person is a canned food item to benefit the local Community Clearinghouse organization.

ACHE students at their kickball tournament during their Week of Service.

Students who attend ACHE but relocated to a different rotation site hospital could still sign up for opportunities in their specific community. Statewide, more than 50 student volunteers participated in the day of service. Volunteer sites included Northwest Arkansas, Fort Smith, Little Rock, Hot Springs and Pine Bluff.

In her experience with volunteering, Despain found that it's not that others don't want to volunteer, it just may be that they don't know where to start. She wanted to gather a group of students to set up those opportunities at ACHE.

"(We wanted to) all go out on the same day and support the mission of ACHE which is to improve the lives of others, especially the communities that we're living in," she said.

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ACHE students on their Day of Service with Our House in Little Rock.

The Degen Foundation, which provides healthcare funds, through grants and special services to promote health and education, donated to the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education for needed supplies.

A main volunteer site the Fort Smith students participated at was Habitat for Humanity. The Degen Foundation helped to purchase gloves, long sleeves, goggles and other necessary clean up and building supplies. The crew was also able to make t-shirts promoting the event.

Devin Brown, a junior at ACHE, moved to Fort Smith from Virginia with previous volunteer experience at Habitat for Humanity. At first, he didn't have an open mindset about how he could get involved in the Fort Smith and ACHE community.

"I've truly grown here," he said. "I've learned so much here and the people here are just amazing. Fort Smith itself has been an amazing place and you never know who you're going to meet here."

ACHE students on their Day of Service with Habitat for Humanity in Fort Smith.

Despain said she doesn't feel like she's accomplished anything outstanding. She just wanted to give others the opportunity to do the things she enjoys doing. Floyd praised her commitment to organizing the events of the week.

"We have a lot of great students and (Sydney is) just a prime example of what a great student is," she said. "She not only has all the classroom stuff but all the extra stuff. She cares about it for sure. And that's she she truly has a heart for, for serving the community and meeting people where they're at."

ACHE students working with the Salvation Army on their Day of Service in Rogers.

Despain noted that every student is able to give back to the community and as healthcare professionals, it's part of their job.

"Being in these positions as future healthcare professionals and leaders is a immense privilege," she said. "I think we often forget how much of a privilege that is and how much our community looks up to us as leaders. For us to have the opportunity to go back and do those things you wouldn't see doctors or medical students doing... I think it speaks a lot to who we are as an institution. I feel very proud that I get to help set those things up and promote that reputation the school already has."

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas Colleges of Health Education Students Host Day of Service
Will the Washington Commanders go offense or defense in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft? Washingtons preference would likely be to move down in the first round, adding more selections in a draft that is considered strong in the middle rounds.

Who does ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. see the Commanders taking the first round of his final mock draft? He has Washington going offense with Ohio State wide receiver Chris Olave.

If Washington wants to put Carson Wentz in a position to succeed, it could take Olave and pair him with another Ohio State receiver in Terry McLaurin. The Commanders defense has a lot of young talent, but the offense is lacking. Olave is great after the catch.

In Kipers final mock draft, Olave is the third wide receiver off the board, with Garrett Wilson going to No. 8 to the Falcons and Drake London landing with the New York Jets at No. 10.

If Kipers scenario played out, the Commanders would presumably decide between Olave and Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton.
The House passed legislation on Thursday establishing a lend-lease program to make it easier for the U.S. to send military aid to Ukraine, with the measure now headed to President Biden for his signature.

The Ukrainian Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act would make it easier to provide support to Ukraine as it defends itself against Russias invasion, which has entered its third month.

The bill passed by a vote of 417-10, with all 10 no votes coming from Republicans.

The Senate passed the legislation by voice vote earlier this month as part of a deal to end permanent normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, as well as a bill to ban Russian oil imports.

The bipartisan bill, first introduced by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in January, was aimed at streamlining power that the president already has under the Arms Export Control Act to lend and lease defense equipment when it is in the best interest of U.S. national security.

Ukrainian forces have demonstrated unbelievable strength and bravery, and we must again serve as the arsenal of democracy and ensure they have the full range of resources necessary to defend their sovereignty, Cornyn said in a statement following passage of the bill.

This legislation will be a game-changer for Ukraine, and Im grateful to my House colleagues for recognizing its importance and quickly sending it to the Presidents desk, he continued.

Passage of the bill came hours after Biden on Thursday sent a request to Congress for $33.4 billion in additional assistance to Ukraine, including more than $20 billion in security assistance for Ukraine and other military aid.

The request also includes $8.5 billion for economic assistance and $3 billion in humanitarian assistance and food security funding.

This wouldnt be the first time the U.S. implemented a lend-lease program help its partners.

Prior to entering World War II in 1941, Washington established one to help Great Britain and other allies during World War II while not actively fighting in the war.

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The legislation comes as Russias invasion of Ukraine drags into its third month. Washington has provided Ukraine with over $4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration, including about $3.4 billion since the invasion began on Feb. 24.

Updated at 5:35 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A man charged with killing a state trooper who entered his Grundy Center home during an armed standoff has filed notice that he intends to plead self-defense.

Prosecutors, in their own filing, are asking a judge to prevent testimony supporting a claim that the shooting was justified under Iowa's "stand your ground" law.

There was no immediate ruling on the motions. A pretrial conference in the case is set for Monday.

Michael Lang, 42, is scheduled for trial May 9 in the April 9, 2021, shooting death of Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Jim Smith. He is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and assaulting a police officer.

In a filing Tuesday, the attorney representing Lang notified the court his client would offer a justification defense, requiring him to show he acted in self-defense.

Sgt. Jim Smith was a 27-year veteran of the Iowa State Patrol. He was shot during a standoff with a suspect in Grundy Center, Iowa, on Thursday, April 9, 2021, and later pronounced dead.

Anticipating the move, prosecutors in a filing the day before asked District Judge Joel Dalrymple to block Lang's attorneys from questioning witnesses about self-defense or the "stand your ground" law.

"A person is not authorized to use force to resist an arrest even if the person believes the arrest is unlawful or the arrest is in fact unlawful," the prosecutors wrote.

They also asked Dalrymple to block defense attorney Aaron Hawbaker from questioning witnesses about whether troopers had a warrant to enter Lang's home.

"This is a legal issue and not an issue for the jury to consider," they wrote. "In this case law enforcement did not need an arrest warrant as a public offense was committed in a Peace Officers presence."

Utah defense attorney Mitch Vilos, author of the Self-Defense Laws of All 50 States, says such pleas are rarely successful in cases involving the deaths of law enforcement officers.

Generally, defendants would have to show they didnt know they were shooting at a law enforcement officer, Vilos said.

Its very difficult to use that kind of a defense, he said. Theres a good chance a judge wont allow a self-defense instruction.

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According to police statements and court filings, Smith's death came after a series of confrontations between Lang, a onetime candidate for Grundy County sheriff, and law enforcement officers.

More: Officers' use of force 'justified and reasonable' in standoff that killed Iowa State Patrol sergeant, state review finds

Grundy Center police attempted to pull over Lang, whom they believed had been barred from driving, but Lang instead fled, then assaulted and disarmed an officer who caught up with him, police allege.

Lang returned to his home and barricaded himself inside, police said. Lang's father arrived and advised officers that his son had guns in the house. Joined by sheriff's deputies and troopers, police cordoned it off while Smith, a 27-year patrol veteran, led a team inside to find and arrest Lang.

As they searched upstairs, Lang stepped out of a doorway and fatally shot Smith with a shotgun, authorities said.

Some members of the team removed his body from the house while others took shelter in Lang's basement as the standoff continued. After several hours, troopers in an armored personnel carrier crashed into the house and exchanged fire with Lang, who was badly wounded.

Taking him into custody, they transported him to a hospital, where he remained for nearly two weeks before being transferred to a detention center.

More: What we know about Michael Lang, the suspect arrested in the fatal shooting of Iowa State trooper Sgt. Jim Smith

In March, Dalrymple granted a motion to move the trial from Grundy County to Webster City, about an hour west in Hamilton County, because of concerns about pretrial publicity.

In a related filing Tuesday, Hawbaker asked that prosecutors be prevented from referring to Smith as a "victim" because it "assumes a crime has been committed."

Hawbaker also asked that prosecutors not be allowed to present evidence of Lang's criminal history, past bad acts, and history of alcohol and drug abuse.

Dubbed a hero, Smith was only the second Iowa trooper to be shot and killed in the line of duty.

An Iowa Attorney General's Office review of the handling of the standoff determined that law enforcement officers had acted reasonably and that their use of force was justified.

"Because of Langs actions, officers had no other reasonable choice but to shoot Lang. Otherwise, responding officers or innocent bystanders would have been put in harms way," Iowa Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown wrote in a letter to the Grundy County attorney .

Daniel Lathrop is a staff writer on the Register's investigative team. Reach him at (319) 244-8873 or dlathrop@dmreg.com. Follow him at @lathropd on Twitter and at facebook.com/IowaGadfly.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Death of Iowa Trooper Jim Smith: Michael Lang to claim self-defense
A man who pleaded guilty for his part in the death of an Ogletown man in 2018 will spend 20 years in prison.

Kalif Reeves, 24, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Eric Davis for killing 22-year-old William Laws, who was shot a few blocks from his home on Davies Road in Chestnut Hill Estates.

About 2 a.m. on March 9, 2018, New Castle County police said officers responded to Malvern Road and Augusta Drive for a reported shooting.

There, Laws was found with a gunshot wound to his chest, police said, and he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Responding officers found William Laws with a gunshot wound to his chest, police said, he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The following day, police arrested and charged three men, Shai Thodos, Noah Youngs and Edwin Rivera with Laws' shooting death. They pleaded guilty to their part in the crime and were sentenced, according to the Delaware Attorney General's Office.

Reeves was named as a suspect and a warrant was issued for his arrest, police said at the time. Later that month, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Reeves by the U.S. District Court of Delaware for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and the FBI put up a $10,000 reward for information leading to his capture, according to police.

MAN SENTENCED: Defendant gets 23 years in slaying of Wilmington man

Reeves was arrested two months later in Philadelphia and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, according to court documents. He was sentenced last month.

Court records charging Reeves conceal from public view affidavits and incident reports that would indicate why police believe he committed the crime.

Contact the reporter Yusra Asif @ yqureshi@delawareonline.com

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: 20 years prison sentence handed down in slaying of Ogletown man
The men and women of law enforcement do more to serve our local communities and our state than I have space to list here.

From assisting motorists with disabled vehicles on our highways to all the community service they perform, our local police, county sheriffs deputies, Illinois State Police troopers and other law enforcement personnel truly exemplify how one person can make a positive difference in the lives of many others.

For nearly two years, these most heroic and dedicated of public servants have been unfairly maligned by Illinois Democrat politicians and the radical left special interest groups that fund their campaigns, culminating in the passage of a series of new laws last year that enhance protections for criminals and violent offenders while neglecting the needs of law enforcement.

More: State Rep. Andrew Chesney of Freeport hopes to replace Brian Stewart in Senate

Earlier this month, in a rare display of bipartisanship, we commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Illinois State Police at the State Capitol in Springfield with a visit from a group of state troopers who were on hand for the passage of House Resolution 752 on March 29, recognizing the rich history and contributions of the state police on their centennial celebration.

Democrat and Republican leaders jointly sponsored the resolution and took time to personally thank the visiting state troopers. Unfortunately, Governor Pritzker and his allies in the state legislature have failed to back up their platitudes with support for police when our men and women in law enforcement needed it the most.

Illinois voters will render the final verdict on the anti-police agenda of JB Pritzker and Illinois Democrats at the ballot box this November. In the midst of their ramming through a radical criminal justice reform package in January 2021, I introduced House Resolution 963 to honor law enforcement and everything they do for Illinois families. All 44 Republican members of the Illinois House of Representatives co-sponsored my resolution. Sadly, not one Democrat joined us.

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One important issue we have found bipartisan agreement on has come through strengthening Illinois Move Over Law, also known as Scotts Law.

In 2019, we formed the Move Over Task Force in the wake of the tragic roadside deaths of Illinois State Police Trooper Brooke Jones-Story in Stephenson County and Trooper Christopher Lambert in suburban Cook County.

That same year, in 2019, the Illinois State Police (ISP) reported 72 squad car crashes, with 27 of those crashes related to Move Over violations. The ISP issued 6,570 citations and 3,627 warnings statewide for Move Over violations.

Clearly, we had to step up to improve public education on the issue and strengthen enforcement.

We passed new laws that took effect in 2020 to increase the penalty for Scotts Law violations and enhance public awareness of the law, which requires drivers to change lanes when approaching stationary emergency vehicles, including all highway maintenance vehicles displaying flashing lights, and any stationary vehicle with their hazard lights activated.

The law also states, if changing lanes is not possible or unsafe, drivers are required to proceed with due caution, reduce the speed of their vehicle and leave a safe distance until they have safely passed the stationary vehicle.

This months celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Illinois State Police serves as a reminder of the sacrifice made by all our state troopers who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

To honor their memory, to respect the families and loved ones they left behind, and to prevent future needless tragedies on our highways, we must all be mindful of Scotts Law to move over and slow down. A few extra seconds of your time is a small price to pay for protecting the lives of others. We cannot ever lose sight of that.

Andrew Chesney is a state representative for the 89th District in Illinois.

This article originally appeared on Journal Standard: Move over, slow down: Men, women of law enforcement deserve support
Ruidoso Middle School's Night Watch robotics team took first place in the MESA Foam Bots category at the New Mexico Robotic Combat Tournament April 23.

The team was among 40 middle and high school students who gathered to show off the design, speed, and agility of their mechanical creations in the robotic combat match.

The New Mexico Robotic Combat Tournament, sponsored by the New Mexico Tech Department of Mechanical Engineering, was held April 23 on the universitys soccer field, drawing dozens of enthusiastic students, teachers, faculty, and family members.

According to tournament organizer Curtis OMalley, Ph.D., assistant professor of mechanical engineering, the robotic combat tournament is the culmination of months of research and preparation work performed by New Mexico Tech students.

From left, teacher Jason Butts and students Rubye Chappa, Emmie Navarrett, and Alex Beason from Carlsbad High School cheer on Benedict, their blue combat robot at the New Mexico Robotic Combat Tournament held April 23 at New Mexico Tech, hosted by the universitys Mechanical Engineering Department.

New Mexico Tech students work as educational research assistants and develop middle school and high school course curriculum content, including design requirements, instructional content on coding, wiring, component selection, descriptions of electronics components their function and purpose, as well as provide support for teachers and students in terms of help sessions or actually leading workshops in classrooms across New Mexico, O'Malley said.

More: Robots used to sanitize local schools

All of this being flexible to the needs of individual classrooms, as each school and student is unique and brings a different set of prior knowledge and experience.

OMalley said the combat robotics program helps New Mexico Tech students by training them to document and present technical content in a format that can be easily understood and evaluated by someone who is not yet an engineer.

Being able to convey instructions to managers, suppliers, and technicians that do not have the same engineering background is an important career skill, and, in this case, the New Mexico Tech student learns that skill and helps educate the next generation of engineers that will work with them in a few years.

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More: Ruidoso schools plan for online learning in the new school year

While the program teaches students basic electronics and coding, they also can opt to build larger, more complex robots in different brackets where more engineering design challenges are introduced to the project, according to OMalley.

The goal of the program is to meet teachers and their class at the level they are and help them advance their knowledge of math and engineering through an engaging project-based program that introduces an aspect of competition and excitement, he said. All while having a support system of New Mexico Tech students and faculty to help with troubleshooting or explaining new content and concepts.

The Ruidoso Middle School Night Watch team April 23 in Socorro, New Mexico at New Mexico Tech's Robotic Combat Tournament.

Jacob Breitha, a 10th-grader from Socorro High School, said his robot, titled Hand of God, was designed with a unique hammer feature to assist it in its first competition.

Everybody kept telling me it was their favorite, he said.

The MESA Club from Carlsbad High School, advised by engineering and physics teacher Jason Butts, used 3-D printing for their combat robot Benedict, which took first place in the competition.

These kids worked very hard on this the better part of the year, Butts said. Theyre a great set of kids. We had a blast.

The robotic tournament draws on students, faculty, staff, and professionals from Sandia Labs and other professional settings to volunteer as judges, according to Bin Lim, Ph.D., chair of the New Mexico Tech Department of Mechanical Engineering. Students competing in the tournament also receive a tour of the Mechanical Engineering Department, he said.

Students and teachers crowd around the arena April 23 at the Robotic Combat Tournament hosted by New Mexico Tech.

New Mexico Robotic Combat Tournament winners

3lb Weight Class

1st Place - Sponge Bot (NMT Design Team),

2nd - Flip Off (AIMS Middle School team)

1lb Weight Class

1st Place - A Bot Named Curtis (NMT club team build and driven by a student from Sarracino Middle School)

150 Grams Class

1st Place - Instinct (SAE club team)

MESA 3D Printed Class

1st Place - Benedict (Carlsbad HS)

2nd Place - Steak on a Plate (John Adams Middle School)

MESA Foam Bots Class

1st Place - Night Watch (Ruidoso Middle School)

2nd Place - Bob Ross (Sarracino Middle School)

Jessica Onsurez can be reached at jonsurez@gannett.com, @JussGREAT on Twitter at by phone at 575-628-5531.

This article originally appeared on Ruidoso News: Ruidoso, Carlsbad student teams win at robotics competition
As our parents and loved ones age, we find ourselves increasingly worried about every possible troublesome fall ranging from one day slipping in the bathroom to getting tripped up by the next financial scam that drains them of every dollar.

Just as we need to remove throw rugs that can be a hazard in the home, we must, unfortunately, carefully consider if a loved one is increasingly at risk of losing a large share of their life savings to financial predators.

Michigan's Financial Exploitation Prevention Act, which took effect last September, requires banks and credit unions to train employees and put procedures in place to spot signs of financial exploitation.

The goal is to make Michigan's financial institutions better equipped to identify and report financial exploitation of older consumers and vulnerable adults.

Financial institutions also have more room to freeze customer transactions or assets under certain circumstances if fraud is suspected.

One credit union asks questions about financial vulnerability

The Michigan Legacy Credit Union  which has branches in Wyandotte, Warren, Pontiac, Highland and Flat Rock  is now partnering with Wayne State Universitys Institute of Gerontology to offer a survey to customers that can help prevent financial abuse.

The survey, which is voluntary, can help give a baseline of someone's vulnerability and then alert employees at the Wyandotte-based credit union, which has 23,000 members, to be on the lookout for potential issues. Many members worked in municipal and health services fields.

Michigan Legacy Credit Union President and CEO Carma Peters said financial schemes escalated during the pandemic -- including romance scams, grandparent scams and caregivers who take financial advantage of the elderly.

Michigan Legacy Credit Union President and CEO Carma Peters told me in a phone interview that financial schemes escalated during the pandemic  including so-called love interests met online who consistently need money, scammers pretending to be grandchildren in trouble and yes, caregivers who take financial advantage of elderly people.

One grandmother almost lost $60,000

One older credit union member was convinced after scammers reached out to her that she needed to send tens of thousands of dollars to help a grandson who was in trouble in Turkey.

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"She panicked," Peters said. "Of course, they're going to play on 'You've got to do this immediately to get him out of trouble.'

"So she was going to do that just to get her grandson out of trouble."

But thankfully, she didn't send the $60,000 that was demanded by con artists. The credit union employees suggested that she talk to a relative first to make sure that the grandson was really in trouble.

After that phone call, the customer learned that the grandson wasn't even out of the country.

"People get taken advantage of for all of their retirement savings," Peters said.

It's not unusual, she said, for victims to lose $80,000 to well over $200,000 in some financial exploitation cases.

She noted that there are so many attempts to con consumers out of their money that it's almost impossible to keep up with it these days.

"It's very sad," Peters said.

More: Odd scam offers free food or deep discounts where someone else pays the bill

More: Survey scams offer free items, hide behind big names: The No. 1 red flag

More: Scammers pretend there's a problem with your Social Security benefits, number

An emotional loss of a spouse, early onset dementia or another medical issue can all trigger changes in the way someone reacts to carefully crafted efforts to manipulate them to hand over their money.

Maybe you're seeking companionship because you're lonely and you're more vulnerable to a romance scam.

Maybe you don't feel like you're on a good financial footing and you're more vulnerable when someone suggests that they can help you make money on Bitcoin.

In some cases, Peters said, caregivers will attempt to manipulate a senior into buying them a car because they claim they need one. But the senior ends up losing that money and doesn't benefit.

She noted that banks and credit unions now are looking out for abnormal transactions, as well as changes in behavior of customers. Is a normally happy customer suddenly nervous or depressed? Did the customer recently lose a spouse  and now is withdrawing large sums of cash?

It's also important to talk about such issues with loved one and exchange information about potential scams.

Peters noted that older adults who read information about financial exploitation and scams are more likely to identify signs and avoid becoming victims.

Anyone can be vulnerable

Peter A. Lichtenberg, director of the Institute of Gerontology at Wayne State University in Detroit, told me that adults don't have to be well into their retirement years to end up being financially vulnerable.

"Older adults are not scammed more often than other people are," Lichtenberg told me. "Unfortunately, they lose more money."

Lichtenberg, who has spent nearly two decades researching financial vulnerability, said the main goal of the survey is to prevent financial exploitation.

"We look at it as a risk scale," he said.

The 17-question survey asks things such as: How often do you worry about financial decisions that you recently made? Have you noticed any money taken from your bank account without your permission? How often do your monthly expenses exceed your regular monthly income?

How often do you talk with or visit others on a regular basis? Has a relationship with a family member or friend become strained due to finances as you have gotten older?

Often, Lichtenberg said, people view financial decisions as purely an intellectual activity but ignore the emotional and psychological triggers.

One's financial health, he noted, is part of one's overall health as people age. Not having enough money  or constantly worrying about money  can contribute to a lower quality of life and even a shorter lifespan.

If someone is fearful of not having enough money or their relationships are strained, they could be more vulnerable to exploitation. Someone who lacks confidence about their financial decisions could become a victim of fraud.

Cognitive decline and psychological vulnerability can make older adults more susceptible to scams and identity theft.

"First, don't answer the phone if you don't recognize the number," Lichtenberg advises.

Reach out to a trusted friend if you think a pitch doesn't sound right and talk things over first before handing over any money. Don't let anyone rush you into anything. If you're anxious about a decision, step back and take a little more time to do more research.

Someone who is facing anxiety or loneliness might want to turn to someone they trust to discuss financial pressures. The answer may be to seek help for anxiety or depression from a mental health professional.

Many times, experts say, those who have lost money to scams or financial predators don't admit it to others. But it can help to report situations to the police and alert others in your community to be aware of potential warning signs.

Lichtenbergs website OlderAdultNestEgg.com offers help for older adults, professionals and friends and family. The financial vulnerability survey is also at that website and can be used by people who would like to find out their risk level.

The Institute of Gerontology has a SAFE program  Successful Aging thru Financial Empowerment  which offers counseling at no cost to help repair the damage of financial scams. Among other things, SAFE can help recover money, file police reports and freeze credit reports. The OlderAdultNestEgg site has information about SAFE.

Peter A. Lichtenberg, director of the Institute of Gerontology at Wayne State University in Detroit, said adults don't have to be well into their retirement years to end up being financially vulnerable.

Peters and Lichtenberg will discuss the pilot project with other credit unions in the future, including on June 10 at the Michigan Credit Union League & Affiliates' Annual Convention and Expo at the Renaissance Center in Detroit.

Michigan Legacy Credit Union created a campaign during Aprils Financial Literacy Month to encourage existing members to take the Financial Vulnerability Survey and have their scores uploaded to the credit unions database.

New members of the credit union age 50 and up are automatically offered the Financial Vulnerability Survey. Dozens have taken it thus far. Their scores are included in a database to help monitor these members accounts for abnormal financial activity.

Ideally, this pilot program will be utilized throughout the state of Michigan, and nationally, to help combat this epidemic and provide another tool to protect older adults from financial fraud, Peters said.

Anonymous data from the project will be analyzed by Lichtenberg and his team to expand research insights into vulnerability and safeguards for older adults.

How to protect yourself

One piece of advice: If possible, consider ways to monitor a loved one's financial statements. Big numbers aren't always a sign. Some scammers start out small, maybe a caregiver who uses a debit card to cover their own expenses, such as gas or groceries.

Many advisers, including Lichtenberg, see value in having someone named as a trusted contact on an account. A bank, credit union or brokerage is able to contact that person to verify if a situation is legitimate.

A trusted contact could be an adult child, a friend, an attorney or some else that the financial institution can contact for extra help in emergency situations. The consumer can remove a trusted contact or switch contacts, if necessary.

Lichtenberg said finances are often a taboo topic for discussion, yet people are hungry for information about their own financial vulnerability level.

Consumers also can contact the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services, even anonymously, by calling 877-999-6442 or by going online to Michigan.gov/ReportFraud2DIFS if they suspect fraud by an individual, financial services business or insurance industry.

Contact Susan Tompor via stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @tompor. To subscribe, please go to freep.com/specialoffer. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Legacy Credit Union, Wayne State survey helps stop fraud
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty

A new conspiracy theory on the rightthat a marauding band of arsonists and kamikaze pilots have been sabotaging the national food supplyhas captivated Donald Trump supporters with the help of a big name: Tucker Carlson.

The theory has no basis in fact. Last week, an image began circulating on Facebook showing local news headlines about fires and other accidents at American food processing plants that produce everything from Hot Pockets to potatoes. The implication was that something was afoot with the food supply, even if the conspiracy theorys proponents themselves couldnt explain what it was. The image spread to Telegram, the social media messaging app that's become popular on the American right, with conservative figures like Jan. 6 rally organizer Ali Alexander reposting it.

But despite a total lack of evidence that anything out of the ordinary is going on, that didnt stop Carlson from running a Fox News segment on the debunked supposition.

Industrial accidents happen, of course, but this is a lot of industrial accidents at food processing facilities, Carlson said during an April 21 segment on his primetime show.

Tucker Carlson Torches Kevin McCarthy as a Puppet of the Democratic Party

Carlson opened the segment by suggesting that a sinister plot was at play, even if no one could explain what it was. He then kicked it to his guest, Seattle talk radio host Jason Rantz, who called the timing of recent fires very suspicious.

Youve got some people speculating this may be an intentional way to disrupt the food supply, Rantz said.

Despite what Carlson, Rantz, and an anonymous image posted on Facebook say, theres no evidence of an unusual amount of fires at American food-processing plants. A Snopes review found similar numbers of fires in earlier years. And while Carlson pointed to roughly a dozen fires as proof of a conspiracy theory, a 2017 Census report found that the United States has 37,000 food processing plantssuggesting that a dozen fires wouldnt significantly hurt the food supply.

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Right-wing blogs promoting the plot have also used an expansive definition of recent. In the widely circulated Facebook image, for example, the first headline about a fire cited in the meme came from January 2021, more than a year ago. A post on right-wing commentator Tim Pools blog about the fires cited a Tysons Meat fire as far back as 2019 as evidence of a suspicious sabotage campaign.

Tucker Carlson Gloats Over Elon Musk Buying Twitter, Likens It to Trump Winning in 2016

This new brand of conspiracy theorist doesnt just suspect a nationwide arson gang, though. Theyve also seized on two recent plane crashes at food processing plants, at an Idaho potato plant and a General Mills plant in Georgia.

Neither of those cases suggests a plot to deliberately crash planes. In the Idaho accident, a UPS pilot crashed into a factory chimney that her father claimed was positioned too close to the approach to the runway where she was trying to land. In Georgia, the plane crashed into a group of mostly empty tractor trailers in a remote part of the plant. Neither incident appears to have been targeted at a linchpin of the food supply.

Still, Carlson had questions.

What's going on here? he asked on his show about the plane crashes.

Even the arson theorys proponents have struggled to explain the motivation behind launching an elaborate attack on food processing plants. There are often vague insinuations that Joe Bidens administration is behind the attacks, or that the fires are to blame for rising food prices. But its rarely explained why Biden would want to induce a famine ahead of the midterms by, for example, sabotaging a Hot Pockets facility.

All the same, right-wing personalities have theories. On the far-right personality Stew Peters show, one pundit claimed nefarious forcesbent on causing a repeat of the Ukrainian Holodomor faminewere behind the industrial accidents.

Even Carlson, the conspiracy theorys most prominent proponent, struggled to figure out whether the number of fires was even notable.

What are the odds of that? Carlson said. I have no idea.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Oksana Brown told her husband, Paul, and her son, Anatoliy, about the scheme: she was going to fake her death for insurance money, York County detectives said.

Between 2018 and 2019, Brown, a former Baltimore police officer trainee, had obtained a total of $750,000 in term life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance policies from CUNA Mutual Group, Gerber Life Insurance and Assurity Life Insurance Co., detectives said.

Next, on Sept. 28, 2019, Brown flew from Washington Dulles International Airport to Istanbul  and then boarded a connecting flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

Brown, her husband later reported to the U.S. Department of State, died of poisoning by unknown substance in Ukraine on Oct. 27, 2019, detectives said.

For the next several months, detectives said, Paul Brown and Anatoliy Brown  who both knew that she was alive  went through the insurance claim process. They later asked to cancel them.

When Oksana Brown flew into John F. Kennedy International Airport in 2020, she was arrested and extradited to York County.

Previous coverage:Pa. dropped charges against York County woman after her death in Ukraine. But she's alive.

In this photo from Jan. 19, 2021, Oksana Brown, 47, of York Township, walks into District Court 19-1-01 in York. Brown is accused of conspiring with her husband, Paul, and son, Anatoliy, to fake her death in Ukraine for $750,000 in term life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance policies.

Now, Oksana Brown, 47, of the 600 block of Harvest Drive, York Township, is charged with criminal conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. Meanwhile, Paul Brown, 52, and Anatoliy Brown, 27, also of the 600 block of Harvest Drive, York Township, face charges of insurance fraud and criminal conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

York County Detective David Jay filed the charges on Tuesday in District Court 19-2-02 in York Township.

Read:Woman kept grandma's remains in freezer, collected Social Security, York County judge finds

Jack McMahon, Oksana Browns new attorney, said he did not know a lot about the facts of the case.

McMahon said he heard that law enforcement arrested his client on Friday morning at her home. He said he had been in touch with detectives, though, about arranging her surrender.

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I dont know what changed between when he talked to me the other day and today, McMahon said. You know, again, that doesnt seem too cool to me. But thats OK.

District Judge Scott Laird arraigned Oksana Brown at 9:30 a.m., set bail at $25,000 and scheduled her preliminary hearing for May 25, according to court records.

She was unable to post bail, court records state. York County Prison, though, reported that she was not there.

Stephen McDonald, Paul Browns attorney, could not be reached.

Laird also arraigned Paul Brown at 9:30 a.m., set bail at $15,000 unsecured and scheduled his preliminary hearing for May 25, according to court records.

Court records do not list an attorney for Anatoliy Brown.

Check out:Woman accused of killing husband in York County is indicted in Social Security fraud case

How we got here

The York County District Attorney's Office attached various documents, including what's purported here to be Oksana Brown's Ukrainian death certificate, to a motion to dismiss the charges against her in 2019.

The following account is taken from almost 300 pages of court documents, which include criminal complaints and affidavits of probable cause, search warrants and lawsuits:

On April 8, 2018, Oksana Brown shoplifted a smoke detector and two tubes of caulk, worth $30.17, from the Walmart in the Shrewsbury Common Shopping Center.

Then, on May 22, 2018, she dropped off a letter at the Pennsylvania State Polices York station that accused a trooper of touching her genitals without consent and promising leniency in exchange for sex.

Police launched an internal affairs investigation and determined that none of that happened.

Oksana Brown later pleaded guilty to retail theft for two years probation and 50 hours of community service for shoplifting. Law enforcement then charged her with making a false report and unsworn falsification to authorities.

On Dec. 18, 2019, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Justin Roberts asked to drop that case, reporting that she died in Ukraine.

The Commonwealth and the Pennsylvania State Police, Roberts wrote in court documents, have confirmed the legitimacy of the death notice documentation and have no concerns of fraud at this time.

But on May 7, 2020, Dave Mueller, Oksana Browns former attorney, told York County District Attorney Dave Sunday that his client was still alive.

Mueller reported that he was going to withdraw as her counsel.

Six days later, Oksana Brown emailed the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, reported that she was still alive and requested her passport back. She showed up there and spoke with Special Agent S. Karim Quereshi on June 24, 2020.

Also of interest:Wondering how you can help the people of Ukraine in central Pennsylvania? Look no further.

New shoplifting case

Besides the allegations of insurance fraud, Oksana Brown is also now accused of shoplifting about $155 worth of merchandise on April 12 from the Lowes on Carlisle Road in West Manchester Township.

In an interview, Oksana Brown told investigators that she had no money because her tenants did not have to pay rent for a long time, police said.

She reported that she needed the items, police said, to repair apartments.

In that case, Oksana Brown is set to appear for a preliminary hearing on June 6.

Dylan Segelbaum is the courthouse reporter at the York Daily Record, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Contact him at dsegelbaum@ydr.com, by phone at 717-916-3981 or on Twitter @dylan_segelbaum.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Insurance fraud: York County woman faked death in Ukraine, cops say
DES MOINES, Iowa  Rumors on a bus the morning of March 4 tipped an assistant principal and counselor that a student at a Kansas high school might be armed. Soon, two school officials were looking for Jaylon Elmore.

He was in shop class, his backpack next to him. It was about 10:30 a.m. The varsity football player was taken to the school office, where officials asked to search his backpack, according to an affidavit.

Elmore refused, grabbing a homemade pistol from it and firing five shots, the records state. One round hit an assistant principal, and another struck a police officer assigned to the suburban school outside Kansas City. The officer returned fire, critically woundingElmore, who is now charged with attempted capital murder.

The incident came three days before a drive-by shooting outside a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, that killed one teen and injured two others.

Izaah Knox, with the Urban Dreams social services nonprofit, center, hands out fist bumps to East High School students as they return to class Wednesday, March 23, 2022, in Des Moines, Iowa.

This month, in Pittsburgh, two 17-year-old boys were fatally shot and nine others wounded over Easter weekend during a mass shooting at a party of mostly teenagers at an Airbnb. Some 90-100 rounds were fired during the chaos.

The shooting came just as police there and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were planning a news conference to discuss how youth were getting hold of guns in the city.

The incidents are emblematic of a national trend: Across the U.S., more kids are getting their hands on guns and using them in an escalating number of murders, suicides and accidental shootings, experts and data say.

'It's a worsening problem': Guns were leading cause of death among children, teens in 2020, research says

1,352 shootings involving kids already this year

By March 31, there were at least 1,352 incidents where teenagers younger than 19 were injured or killed by gunfire this year, figures from the Gun Violence Archive show. That total in 2021 was 5,543 incidents.

The archive's data, which is publicly sourced, also shows that more than 1,500 people 18 years old or younger were killed by gun violence in 2021, up from 1,380 in 2020.

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"Gun violence among youth is increasing dramatically  that's just what the data shows," said Mark Bryant, executive director of the nonprofit archive, which claims no affiliation with any advocacy organization. "I'm not able to see how we are going to come down off this. I don't know that it will necessarily continue to trend up, but I'm not seeing anything that would say, 'OK, well, it's cool now.'"

The Gun Violence Archive shows one incident of a teen involved in a shooting in Eugene on March 26 of this year. It also showed two incidents in 2021, one in Springfield and one in Eugene, that involved a teen.

Caution is needed in analyzing the numbers, which have been cyclical over the decades, and in analyzing how the police and politicians respond, said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University.

Firearms-related homicide was the top cause of death for those ages 1-24 beginning in 2017 and continuing through 2020, when there were 10,186 gun-related deaths for the age group, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention records published April 16 in The New England Journal of Medicine. Gun homicides overtook motor vehicle accidents, which had been the leading cause for 60 years. Firearm-related deaths have been rising since 2013, and there was a 29.5% increase from 2019 to 2020.

In 2020, gun-involved homicides by kids under 18 were up to 1,704 incidents from 1,225 in 2019  a 39% year-over-year increase of 479 shootings, according to FBI data compiled by Fox.

The same year, 2020, U.S. homicides involving all age groups were up 30%.

Fox said that big cities, and those with the highest gang activity, such as Chicago and Philadelphia, make up the bulk of teen cases.

The violence is not spread evenly across U.S. cities and towns, skewing the overall picture to suggest youth violence is up everywhere.

What goes up generally comes back down, Fox said. "You don't want to minimize the severity of it when someone talks about thousands more people being killed. But let's not also conclude that the trajectory will continue."

Report: Unregistered, untraceable ghost guns leave police investigations in the dark

Adding to the youth homicide toll are teen gun suicides. Suicide attempts by firearms are fatal 90% of the time, one study released in 2019 found. Comparatively, 8.5% of all suicidal acts reviewed by the study resulted in death.

Youth suicides and attempts, particularly among girls, have increased over the past decade. In 2020, suicide was the second-leading cause of death for 10- to 24-year-olds, behind unintentional injury, according to the CDC.

Accidental shootings by those under 18 have also jumped. From the start of 2015 to the end of 2020, there were at least 2,070 unintentional teen shootings, causing 765 deaths, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

Already this year, there have been at least 77 accidental shootings by youth, resulting in 31 deaths, according to data from the group.

Where do young people and teenagers get guns?

Experts and community members cite many reasons  poverty, instability and trauma as well as a lack of hope, education, opportunities and mental health resources  for the rise in gun violence among young people. But they also seek to figure out where the kids are getting guns.

Some minors grab legally owned firearms from their homes, stealing from a parent, guardian, relative or friend. Others commit home burglaries and car break-ins, including of police vehicles. Still others get guns through gang connections.

Federal and state laws generally bar people younger than 18 from purchasing guns.

But experts also say young people are increasingly using homemade firearms typically purchased over the internet, according to the ATF.

Elmore, 18, a senior at Olathe East High School in Kansas, allegedly used a camouflage-decorated 9 mmghost gun. Exactly where he got it has not been disclosed.

Ghost guns, as they're sold now, are typically assembled from kits and carry no serial numbers, making it nearly impossible for law enforcement to track their origins.

In mid-April, President Joe Biden moved to crack down on ghost guns with new restrictions on the sale and distribution of the guns and parts. The new rules include requirements on manufacturers and sellers of ghost guns to do background checks and stamp the weapons with serial numbers to make them traceable.

From the start of 2016 through the close of 2020, the ATF reported some 24,000 suspected ghost guns were recovered nationally by law enforcement from potential crime scenes. Roughly 325 homicides or attempted homicides were committed using the weapons.

Merrick Garland: Ghost guns are real guns. And we'll regulate them to save lives.

"A person can make a gun for themselves  and that's perfectly legal," said John E. Ham, ATF's Kansas City-based spokesman, so long as purchasers are not convicted felons, convicted of domestic violence, addicted to narcotics or in the country illegally.

He stressed that "the caveat on the federal law is that a personally made firearm cannot enter commerce. So it can't be sold. It can't be traded. You can't give it to your buddy."

Ten states and some cities have moved to curtail ghost guns, which can also be made from 3-D printers.

Many teen shooters get guns at home

Ghost guns still make up a very small share of the overall gun marketplace, Bryant said. Most guns that wind up in the hands of young people come from the home, according to gun control advocates and the ATF.

If you cant find a gun in under two hours, you arent looking hard enough, Bryant said, noting that many states have lowered restrictions to owning and carrying firearms.

"These kids get these guns from their houses. They break into houses. They break into cars, Bryant said. In most cases, he said, They don't have to build a gun.

More:Negligence claim against father in federal lawsuit revived, son killed himself with father's service weapon

Nicole Hockley, co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise, an anti-gun nonprofit founded after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, said 68% of gun-related incidents at schools have involved shooters who took guns from their own homes.

The percentage grows to about 76% when relatives' homes are included.

Research from Carmel Salhi, a Northeastern University professor, shows that 70% of parents believe their children can't get to the guns in their homes.

But in his research, Salhi found that some 30% or more of teens from 13 to 17 years old reported they could gain control of a loaded gun kept in their home in under five minutes. Half could gain access in less than an hour.

Law enforcement and gun-control advocates also note the 64% year-over-year surge in gun sales in 2020  making 2020 a record year for firearms purchases.

The ATF's Ham said to curb the surge in violence, the country needs to look beyond law enforcement.

"There are a lot of guns in circulation. It takes more than one federal agency or one law enforcement agency" to quell the violence, he said. "It takes community involvement, it takes responsible gun ownership, it takes parents taking steps to make sure that those guns can't walk out of their house."

Editor Michelle Maxwell contributed to this report.

Follow reporters Andrea Sahouri and Eric Ferkenhoff on Twitter: @andreamsahouri, @EricFerk.

Guns in America: Nearly 40 million guns were purchased legally in 2020 and another 4.1 million bought in January

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Youth gun violence jumps 'dramatically': Where are teens getting guns?
20 makeup and skincare products approved by TikTok star Mikayla Nogueira

 Recommendations are independently chosen by Revieweds editors. Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission

If Hyram Yarbro is TikToks resident skincare expert, Mikayla Nogueira is the apps go-to makeup guru. The Massachusetts-based creator stands on her soapbox to reveal whats poppin on the makeup front, and occasionally, shell share whats not worth your coin. Along the way, Mikayla's viral stardom has led to several collaborations and partnerships, including a makeup collection for Glamlite, a live makeup class with LOreal Paris, and most recently, a three-piece skincare set featuring her tried-and-true favorites from Glow Recipe called Glow Essentials by Mikayla.

Theres a lot more where this came from. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get all our reviews, expert advice, deals and more.

Although Mikayla has gone on to work with some of the beauty brands on this list, shes shared with her 11 million-plus followers that these are examples of stuff [she] cant live without and stuff [shes] bought over and over again.

1. This hydrating serum from Neutrogena

Plump and hydrate skin with the Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hyaluronic Acid Serum.

Whether youre into wearing makeup or not, know that it pays to create a good skincare routine based on your skin type and concerns. Mikayla says she leans on Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hyaluronic Acid Serum to give her skin some TLC. This really hydrates and plumps my skin, she explains in an April 2021 video featuring her favorite drugstore makeup products. Hyaluronic acid, the serums main ingredient, gives our tissues their 'squish' and volume, NYC-based dermatologist Susan Bard, MD, previously told Reviewed.

Get Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hyaluronic Acid Serum from Ulta for $21

2. This makeup-gripping primer from Milk Makeup

Ensure makeup stays in place with the Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Hydrating Makeup Primer.

The Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Hydrating Makeup Primer is 100% my all-time favorite high-end primer, Mikayla unabashedly declares in part one of her four-part Full Face of my Favorite Makeup at Sephora series. Mikayla adds that she loves the texture and she lets the formula sit on her skin for two minutes before proceeding with the rest of her makeup routine.

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The primer purports that it smooths skin, grips makeup up to 12 hours, and locks in hydration. One customer raved about its longevity in a review on the retailers website, writing, I love the cooling effect this has. Your makeup will last all day!

Get the Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Hydrating Makeup Primer from Sephora starting at $18

3. This refreshing facial mist from Milani

Revive dull skin with a spritz of the Milani Supercharged Revitalizing Facial Mist.

Another product Mikayla touted in her Full Face of the Best Drugstore Makeup on the Market is the Milani Supercharged Revitalizing Facial Mist. She sprays the mist onto her face to prep [her] skin ahead of applying her makeup. The mist uses citrus, ginseng, and turmeric extracts to hydrate dull skin.

Get Milani Supercharged Revitalizing Facial Mist from Ulta for $10

4. This long-wearing foundation from Nars

Make way for a smooth and bright complexion with the Nars Radiant Longwear Foundation.

For a makeup base that stays in place, Mikayla is a fan of the Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation. This foundation is just so beautiful, she says in part one of her four-part Full Face of my Favorite Makeup at Sephora videos. Its radiant, its medium to full coverage, [and] lasts very well throughout the day.

The foundation also claims to provide 16 hours of fade-resistant wear and to be both transfer- and sweat-resistant. Its available in 34 shades ranging from Siberia, a very light [shade] with warm undertones to Mali, a very deep [shade] with neutral undertones.

Get Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation from Ulta for $49

5. This full coverage foundation from Maybelline

Try the Maybelline Superstay Full Coverage Foundation for a long-wearing base that claims to last the whole day.

On the drugstore side of things, Mikayla swears by the Maybelline Superstay Full Coverage Foundation. Its my all-time favorite, she says in her Full Face of the Best Drugstore Makeup on the Market video. I love legitimately everything about this foundation: the finish, the lasting power, the coverage.

This foundation makes a bold claim, declaring that it lasts for 30 hours with full coverage and a natural matte finish. One Ulta customer backed up its long-wearing claims while awarding it five stars. I never had the old formula but this sticks and stays on my face almost transfer-proof, the customer wrote in regards to the wearing experience. As someone with oily skin, I never found a good foundation and this is a great one. It comes in 24 shades, catering to very light to deep skin tones.

Get Maybelline Superstay Full Coverage Foundation from Ulta for $13

6. This brightening concealer from Hourglass

Conceal blemishes and add a touch of radiance to the skin with the Hourglass Cosmetics Vanishing Concealer.

In part two of her Full Face of my Favorite Makeup at Sephora TikToks, Mikayla says the Hourglass Cosmetics Vanishing Concealer is one of the best [shes] ever used. This full-coverage concealer contains microspherical powders that blur and brighten for up to 16 hours of instant skin perfection. Mikayla calls the concealer flawless, saying it blends out super smoothnever cakey. While she doesnt speak to the long-wearing claim, a Sephora customer vouched for its capabilities: I cannot say how impressed I am. This is the only one that worked. [It's] full coverage, brightens, and stays full day no touch up needed. Does not crease at all!

You can find the concealer in 11 shades ranging from very light to deep with neutral, pink, yellow, peach, golden, and red undertones.

Get the Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Concealer from Sephora starting at $16

7. This sculpting cream bronzer from Tarte

Reach for the Tarte Sea Breezy Cream Bronzer to define and sculpt your cheekbones.

Mikayla reaches for the Tarte Sea Breezy Cream Bronzer when she wants to contour her face. This cream formula contains marine plant extracts that claim to diminish signs of aging while simultaneously giving the skin a soft, seamless finish. To apply the cream bronzer, Mikayla dips her makeup sponge into the pan and taps it along her cheekbones.

It gives me the most beautiful chiseled cheekbones, she explains in part two of her Full Face of my Favorite Makeup at Sephora series. The bronzer is available in three matte shades from a medium tan to a deep brown.

Get the Tarte Sea Breezy Cream Bronzer from Tarte for $29

8. This multi-purpose concealer from L.A. Girl

Use the L.A. Girl HD Pro Concealer to color correct, highlight and contour.

If youre looking to make your dollar go far, Mikayla recommends the L.A. Girl HD Pro Concealer as a cream contour in part one of her Full Face of the Best Drugstore Makeup on the Market video. Mikayla prefers the shade Medium Beige for her very light skin tone, but the concealer comes in 31 shades to suit plenty of skin tones.

The brand also says you can use additional shades of the concealer for other parts of your makeup routine, such as to color-correct or highlight.

Get L.A. Girl HD Pro Concealer from Ulta for $3

9. This creamy blush from Rare Beauty

Make your cheeks pop with the Rare Beauty Stay Vulnerable Melting Cream Blush.

Cream blushes grew in popularity in the last few years, and Mikayla is particularly smitten with the Rare Beauty Stay Vulnerable Melting Cream Blush. It melts right into the skin, she says in the second video of her Full Face of my Favorite Makeup at Sephora TikTok series.

Furthermore, the formula maintains that it doesnt clog pores or crease upon application. You have five shades to choose from: neutral pink, bright pink, coral, berry, and mauve.

Get the Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Stay Vulnerable Melting Cream Blush from Sephora for $21

10. This eye-catching blush from Dior

Add a pinch of pink to your complexion with the Dior Backstage Rosy Glow Blush in Light Pink.

Powder blush fans, listen up. According to Mikayla, the Dior Backstage Rosy Glow in Light Pink is the one you need. It looks intimidating, but it actually fits your skin tone once you put it on, she shared in part three of her Full Face of my Favorite Makeup at Sephora series. Mikayla prefers placing it onto the apples of her cheeks just for that little pop [of color].

This popular tickled pink-colored blush also has a peach-tinted counterpart called Light Coral. That would be the one to choose if youre more inclined to try your hand at a peach-toned flush.

Get Dior Backstage Rosy Glow Blush in Light Pink from Dior for $39

11. This glowy highlighter from Benefit Cosmetics

For a blinding, lit-from-within glow, place the Benefit Cosmetics Cookie Powder Highlighter on the high points of your face.

The Benefit Cosmetics Cookie Powder Highlighter is only for those that enjoy a shimmer thats very blinding, as stated by Mikayla. If youre looking to buy this, consider yourself warned. Benefit describes the colorthe only option availableas golden-pearl and recommends sweeping the formula onto the tops of your cheekbones for a glowing complexion.

Get Benefit Cosmetics Cookie Powder Highlighter from Macy's for $30

12. This eye-defining palette from Huda Beauty

The New Nude Eyeshadow Palette from Huda Beauty has you covered with its eclectic selection of nude, shimmering and pink swatches.

If you have yet to find a great everyday eyeshadow palette, look no further than this option that Mikayla says is underrated in the fourth installment of her Full Face of my Favorite Makeup at Sephora videos. The New Nude Eyeshadow Palette from Huda Beauty features a variety of colors, ranging from neutrals to an abundant array of shimmering tones. Better yet, theyre supposed to glide onto the eyelid like butter, thanks to the inclusion of aloe vera and coconut oil.

Get Huda Beauty The New Nude Eyeshadow Palette from Sephora for $65

13. This transfer-proof eyeliner from Urban Decay

Line and define your tightline with the Urban Decay 24/7 Waterline Eyeliner Pencil in Legend.

[The Urban Decay 24/7 Waterline Eyeliner Pencil] is the best liner for your tight-line[it] doesnt transfer, Mikayla declared in part four of her Full Face of my Favorite Makeup at Sephora series. She also says that she uses this liner every dayhigh praise from a makeup guru, to be sure. The jet-black creamy pencil claims to stay in place all day once applied to the waterline, where other liners may fade away quickly.

Get Urban Decay 24/7 Waterline Eyeliner Pencil in Legend from Ulta for $22

14. These eyebrow-sculpting options from NYX

Etch natural-looking, hair-like strokes within the scant areas of your brows using the NYX Lift & Snatch Brow Tint Pen Waterproof Eyebrow Pen and the NYX Micro Brow Pencil Vegan Eyebrow Pencil.

Whether you prefer a thick, sculpted eyebrow look or a natural, feathery one, finding the right products is key to achieving either. In part three of her Full Face of the Best Drugstore Makeup on the Market videos, Mikayla gave her stamp of approval for two brow products from NYX: the Lift & Snatch Brow Tint Pen Waterproof Eyebrow Pen and the Micro Brow Pencil Vegan Eyebrow Pencil.

Both allow you to create fine lines that look just like your natural brow hairs, so it comes down to if you prefer the precision of a waterproof ink pen or the softer shading of a creamy brow pencil. Both come in shades ranging from blond to black, but the pen offers 10 colors instead of the pencil's eight.

15. This brow and lash gel from Essence

Keep brow hairs in place with the Essence Lash and Brow Gel Mascara.

Once again, Mikaylas putting you onto another drugstore fixture for brows: the Essence Lash and Brow Gel Mascara. Unlike the aforementioned brow products from NYX, this gel ensures that your brows and lashes keep their shape throughout the day without adding any color to the hair. In addition to its affordable price, Mikayla says her brow hairs dont budge when she sets them with this clear gel.

Get Essence Lash and Brow Gel Mascara from Ulta for $4

16. This volumizing mascara from Charlotte Tilbury

Create dramatic, fluttery lashes with a coat of the Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Push Up Lashes Volumizing & Lengthening Mascara.

For some people, finding the right mascara can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. However, Mikayla was able to find the one for her, and its the Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Push Up Lashes Volumizing & Lengthening Mascara. I get compliments every time I wear this mascara, she says in part four of her Full Face of my Favorite Makeup at Sephora videos.

The loads of accolades that her lashes receive may partially be thanks to the comb-like wand, which professes to add volume, length, and lift to each lash.

Get Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Push Up Lashes Volumizing & Lengthening Mascara from Sephora for $29

17. This moisturizing gloss from NYX

Get glossy lips using a swipe of the NYX This Is Milky Gloss Lip Gloss in FO-MOO.

The final step in Mikaylas Full Face of the Best Drugstore Makeup on the Market routine concludes with a swipe of the NYX This Is Milky Gloss Lip Gloss in FO-MOO.

Per the brands description of the product, the shade is a sheer baby blue, but from the looks of it on Mikayla, it appears clear once on the lips. The gloss also claims to hydrate the lips for up to 12 hours with a vegan milk blend, not to mention that it aims to satisfy your sense of smell with its vanilla milkshake scent.

Get NYX This Is Milky Gloss Lip Gloss in FO-MOO from Ulta for $9

18. This pout-inducing duo from Charlotte Tilbury

Give your pout a rosy sheen with the Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Pillow Talk.

Beauty loversMikayla includedrave about this particular lip combo. The Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in the dusty pink shade Pillow Talk, paired with the brands Lip Cheat Liner in the same hue, [is] like the perfect nude pink, she says.

Trace the outline of your lips with the liner to add definition and fullness before filling them in with the lipstick for a rosy, glowing pout.

19. This shine-tamping powder from Laura Mercier

Sweep the Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder across your makeup beat to lock the look in place.

To ensure that all your hard makeup work doesnt fade throughout the day and oily skin stays in check, finish your look with a dusting of setting powder, like Mikaylas pick from Laura Mercier. Love, love, love, she exclaims in part two of her Full Face of my Favorite Makeup at Sephora as shes showing off her pot of the translucent, loose powder.

Besides keeping makeup in place, the powder claims to soften the look of blemishes and signs of aging while soaking up oil and eliminating shine throughout the day. It comes in two finishes, matte and radiant, and three translucent shadeslight, medium, and darkin each finish.

Get the Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder from Sephora starting at $24

20. This makeup-setting mist from Urban Decay

Spray a generous amount of the Urban Decay Ultra Glow All Nighter Setting Spray for a dewy finish.

Finishing your look with a setting spray is another way to keep your makeup from budging but without the dryness a powder may cause to dry skin. Mikayla completed her four-part makeup favorites from Sephora routine with a spritz of the Urban Decay Ultra Glow All Nighter Setting Spray. The spray imparts a dewy finish on the face, in addition to supplying the skin with hydration.

Get Urban Decay Ultra Glow All Nighter Setting Spray from Sephora for $33

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John F. Kennedy Archival Images

President John F. Kennedy laughs during a press conference, Aug. 9, 1963. Credit - National Archive/NewsmakersGetty Images

Nearly six decades after President John F. Kennedys assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, myths and misunderstandings persist about the President. The tragic way in which the handsome political leader was gunned down so young, at the age of 46, is a big reason why theres continued fascination with him and his administration.

History in its most cursory form is a beauty contest, and as we look at John F. Kennedy, hes a perfect President for the television age, because he shows up so well and he speaks so elegantly, says Mark K. Updegrove, author of the new book Incomparable Grace: JFK in the Presidency.

Here, Updegrove highlights, in his own words, a few common misconceptions about JFKs presidencyand what they say about how America chooses to remember his place in American history.

Myth: JFK won the Cuban Missile Crisis by staring down the Soviets

President John F. Kennedy signs the order of naval blockade of Cuba, on Oct. 24, 1962, at the White House, Washington, D.C., during the Cuban missile crisis. AFPGetty Images

I would say that that the Cuban Missile Crisis is JFKs greatest moment in his presidency. Its certainly the most dangerous moment, not only during the course of his administration, but in the history of mankind, as we stared down the Soviets and found ourselves on the brink of possible nuclear annihilation. And its Kennedys coolheadedness and his equanimity that saves us at that time from what might have been the biggest tragedy in the history of the world.

But what is mythologized is that the Cuban Missile Crisis is a zero-sum gamethat we stared down the Soviets, the Soviets blinked and then retreated from Cuba. And while that is true, what we also need to understand is this is not just the act of a very rash, bellicose adversary in the Soviet Union, in Nikita Khrushchev, who brazenly shipped nuclear missiles to Cuba, just 90 miles off of American shores. There was a reason for him doing that, and that is that the Soviets were at an intrinsic disadvantage in terms of nuclear weaponry across the world. The reality was we had far more nuclear weapons than the Soviet Union did. And the Soviets knew that. They also knew that we had U.S. offensive missiles in Turkey, just shy of the Soviet border. So what seemed like recklessness on the part of Nikita Khrushchev was really more of a calculated risk.

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Ultimately, what happens, although the world didnt know it at the time, is that yes, the Soviet Union retreated from Cuba, taking their missiles with them. But we also, six months later, as part of a backdoor agreement with the Soviets, withdrew our missiles from Turkey. So it was really a quid pro quo to ensure that there werent nuclear weapons by the other side that were very close to the border of that country posing an existential threat.

Read more: A historians reflections on what John F. Kennedy Meant to Americans

Myth: JFK would have pulled out of Vietnam

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (C) and U.S. Army chief-of-staff General Maxwell Taylor (L) confer on Sept. 24, 1963, at the White House in Washington, D.C., with U.S. President John F. Kennedy prior to their visit to South Vietnam to review U.S. military efforts. AFPGetty Images

Theres wide speculation that JFK would have had the prudence to pull U.S. troops out of Vietnam. Thats because, privately, JFK had spoken to certain folks and said that he would pull out after his reelection in 1964. He didnt say that to any of his military advisers and of course, Lyndon Johnson kept the same staff more or less in place when he became president and they gave him very hawkish advice on Vietnam. And we know what happened with Johnson; he doubled down on Vietnam, escalated the war to the nations detrimentto the worlds detriment, to a large extent. But speculation that JFK would have definitively pulled out of Vietnam has become widely accepted. It even became the subject of Stephen Kings novel and the subsequent Hulu mini series 11/22/63.

But while JFKs pattern as President suggests that he would have taken a more prudent path, because he did so in averting military conflict in Laos, Berlin, and Cuba, there is no evidence that that we can see definitively that suggests that he would have withdrawn from the war. There are a couple of television interviews that Kennedy does two months before his death, in September of 1963, and in both, he says that it would be a deep mistake to withdraw from Vietnam. He subscribes to the Domino Theory, which suggests that if you let Vietnam fall to the communists, there will be countries of greater geopolitical significance that could fall in succession. This is, of course, at a time when we were enmeshed in a Cold War with the Soviet Union, and we were battling for hearts and minds throughout the world.

I think we tend to conflate the views of John F. Kennedy in 1963 with those of his brother when he was running for President in 1968. Robert Kennedy emerges in 1968 as an anti-war candidate, though Bobby Kennedy was an extraordinarily hawkish advisor to his brother as attorney general. So his feeling about Vietnam changed. The Kennedys have almost become monolithic in a way.

Read more: The enduring power of John F. Kennedys Message to the World

Myth: JFK was a consistent champion of civil rights

On Aug. 28, 1963, President John F. Kennedy poses in the White House with leaders of the March on Washington (left to right) Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, A. Philip Randolph, President Kennedy, Walter Reuther and Roy Wilkins. Behind Reuther is Vice-President Lyndon Johnson. Three Lions/Hulton ArchiveGetty Images

JFK is associated with the fruition of civil rights and became an icon in the Black community. Many Black families had photographs of John F. Kennedy in their homes, sort of symbolizing governmental intervention in the area of civil rights and Kennedys progressivism.

But while Kennedy had very faithfully intervened in the release of Martin Luther King, from what may have been a very dangerous stay in a rural prison during the course of Kennedys presidential campaign in 1960and he would go on to win the majority of the Black vote partly as a result of thathis commitment to civil rights was very slow in revealing itself in his presidency. Initially, he was very reactive. He refused to do anything on a proactive basis relating to civil rights. At the same time, the majority of Americans didnt see the urgency in pushing civil rights and neither did John F. Kennedy. He was far more interested in foreign policy. Foreign policy is the route that he saw to being a great President. I think, frankly, hes hoping the issue of civil rights goes away because its an embarrassment to the United States. At a time when were trying to say that we are morally superiorthat democracy is a better way of life for its citizens than what we consider Soviet tyrannywe also have second-class citizens in our own country, living in a system in parts of the country that is, by and large, apartheid, and that doesnt make us look particularly good.

But he finally steps up when George Wallace, the very prejudiced, bigoted governor of Alabama, stands in the doorway of an administration building at the University of Alabama [in June 1963] and refuses to allow the integration of the school despite a court order to do so. Kennedy realizes hes got to go on television and preempt Wallace, and he does so and gives a largely extemporaneous speech, in which he elevates the civil rights movement to a moral issue. At the same time, Kennedy proposes a Civil Rights Act that would break the back of Jim Crow. But, when hes assassinated, he has exercised very little political muscle in attempting to pass the bill, which has languished. And it takes Lyndon Johnson with his great legislative skill, exploiting the martyrdom of John F. Kennedy, to get through the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

Times are tough for Alex Jones, his media operation Infowars, and his businesses and associates facing legal headaches and financial blows alongside the conspiracy theory mogul.

Several defamation lawsuitsfiled by people whom Jones and his network have targeted with alleged falsehoods, harassment, and conspiracy theoriesare leaving a mark on his disinformation empire. And both Jones and Infowars have faced widespread social media bans.

But Jones is a wily one, having also invested in online infrastructure thats enabling his proteges to grow with their own audiences. Through the creation and fostering of his independent video hosting platform, Banned Video, Jones is shepherding the careers of employees and outside contributors, as they build a repository of far-right digital content.

How Russian Disinformation Goes From the Kremlin to QAnon to Fox News

Many of those personalities have storied histories of their own, and to some degree mirror the trajectory of Jones own career: appealing to some of the wackiest conspiracy theories the internet has to offer, laundering far-right extremism, and espousing an abundance of hateful rhetoric.

Though Jones and Infowars have been ejected from most mainstream internet services, Banned Video has provided a vehicle for far-right creators to side-step some of those restrictions. In a sense, Jones has found a way to keep his legacy (and businesses) thriving, even after having been canceled by Big Tech.

Because other personalities hosted on Banned Video lack the outsized national profile of Jones, many have been able to produce content for Infowarswhile enjoying access to mainstream internet services and platforms that have given their platforms owner the boot. It has enabled those creators to rack up millions of views, collectively, and to leverage things like online payment processors, enabling their content to become profitable. And through the implementation of redirecting URLswith names like Free News and Battle Plan NewsJones and his crew have been able to veil Infowars content as links are posted to mainstream social media sites.

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Greg Reese Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

Infowars editor and producer Greg Reese is one such figure. On Banned Video, Reese produces edited and scripted segments that delve into the fantastical tendencies of online conspiracy communities, often racking up hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of views. Some videos contain verbatim Russian propaganda about alleged corruption of Western nations. One such video on the platform blends baseless accusations that Ukraine is overridden with Nazi sympathies, along with an antisemitic bent. In that video, Reese echoes historical distortions to allege that Zionist political forces shared alliances with Nazis because both wanted their own ethnically pure state.

The word Nazi is a made-up slur, Reese says in the video, before alleging that world leaders in politics and business are seeking to enact fascist control over the globe.

Some of Reeses highest-trafficking content on Banned Video contains conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and vaccines. In one of his videos for the platform, he claims that the Pfizer vaccine contains nano-tech activated by 5G broadband signals to build an internal electronic system with an endless potential for bio-manipulation in people who are vaccinated. It has more than a million views.

Another asserts that the same world elite leading the response to the pandemic are plotting a false flag attack on the world using smallpox. Reese earned nearly a million views claiming that vaccines are bioweapons, and hundreds of thousands of views arguing that vaccines are killing people to usher in an era of transhumanism.

In one video, Reese goes through a list of the ten stages of genocide to argue that the U.S. is conducting one against patriotic Americans. Another regurgitates flat-earth conspiracy theories. And one video alleges that QAnon conspiracy theories are meant to brainwash their followers to religiously trust the plan without question and be submissive to a New World Order take over of the world.

Is it the great awakening, or is it the New World Order making its final move? Reese rhetorically asks in the video. Who is to say this hidden army is not controlled opposition posing as the American patriot movement? A great final lie to trick us all into a deeper state of tyranny while they sacrifice pawns and reshuffle the deck for another round of their sick control game?

Harrison Smith Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

Harrison Smith broadcasts on Infowars airwaves and uploads content on Banned Video. Though Twitter suspended Smith from its platform in 2020, the Infowars host has managed to evade the suspension and to share his Banned Video content on the platform. With access to the Twitter ether, Smith has managed to send content viral to the point of reaching Fox News host Tucker Carlsons primetime program and former President Donald Trump. (Reached by email by The Daily Beast, Smith said he had been temporarily suspended a few times from Twitter but that his current account was created in 2017. After The Daily Beast inquired with Twitter, Smiths account was permanently suspended.)

Smith embodies Jones habit of allying with and glazing over far-right extremist movements and believers, seen clearly in his cozying up to the sub-sect of the modern white nationalist movement led by racist and antisemite Nick Fuentes. On a promotional poster for Fuentes most recent American First Political Action Conference event, Smith was listed as a special guest. (Smith has also admitted to attending the event in past years.) Smith has interviewed other extremists for Infowars, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, and has attended events hosted by far-right figures like podcast host Ethan Ralph. Smith told The Daily Beast he has attended events hosted by Fuentes and Ralph in a personal capacity, not as a representative for my employer.

Smith has his own history of espousing far-right rhetoric. He once ranted about killing officials in President Joe Bidens administration and promoted white genocide conspiracy theories. Smith has invoked the great replacement white supremacist conspiracy theory by nameand that particular conspiracy theory has driven several racist mass murders. He has advanced anti-immigrant talking points about the 1965 Immigration Act, which revoked explicit racial quotas from U.S. immigration policy, saying that it made the U.S. into a dumping ground for the Third World. During the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, Smith praised the attackers, calling them patriots. And in a conversation on-air with an antisemitic caller, Smith once faulted the FBI for supposedly being directed by Jewish organizations like the Anti-Defamation League.

After the Christchurch masacre, in which a white supremacist murdered Muslim worshipers in New Zealand, Smith combed through the shooters manifesto on air for Infowars, initially condemning the manifesto before finding points where he thought the mass killer was kind of right.

Despite these prior remarks, Smith told The Daily Beast he advocates for self-governance, freedom, individuality, and the continued existence of all people, regardless of race or ethnicity.

The America First Political Action Conference Is Courting Republicans Towards Extremism

Harrison has lauded the extreme rhetoric of Patrick Howley, a writer for the conspiracy clickbait blog National File, and a newer addition to the invite-only Banned Video platform. Though Howley does not work at Infowars, he has been a regular guest on the network. Infowars and National File have had a close relationship since the latters earliest days, once co-hosting an event coinciding with the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

On Banned Video, Howley has uploaded gobs of hateful and conspiratorial content targeting racial minorities and Jews. In one video, he alleged that national media was pushing an agenda of violence against white people in America, and in another he responded to criticisms of author Alice Walkers antisemitic beliefs by doing a crude impression of a Jewish affect and yelling, The goyim are going to notice!a common antisemitic catchphrase online. Howley regularly deploys his bigoted Jewish affectation in antisemitic rants that depict Jews as sinister plotters of the downfall of Western society. In one video, he remarks that it's almost as though a dreidel has been spun to see who gets genocided first, and white males, it turns out, are first on the list.

Patrick Howley Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

Howley is still active on Twitter, where he has nearly 75,000 followers. On his profile, he has accused the musical artist Lizzo of advancing hostile agitation against White males on behalf of jewish interests because the record label she is signed to is led by a Jewish male. He has advanced white genocide conspiracy theories, writing to white Twitter followers that a genocidal racialist system is determined to destroy you and wants you dead. Howley has written that Zionist and Chinese institutions are genociding white people. He has faulted conservatives for not stating that the Fake News media is run by Jews. Howley has posted that Everything blacks hate about white people they are really just talking about Jews. He has also claimed that the mainstream conservative movement is run by leftists and owned by the Zionist foreign lobby to advance the goals of white demographic replacement through mass legal immigration. He tweeted, Stop blaming Whitey for your problems. Realize Jewish people own everything. He has also claimed that it is just obvious that Israel did the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In February, Howley authored an article for National File, which he promoted on Twitter, praising the neo-Nazi group National Socialist Club. He has asserted that recently confirmed Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was a product of the modern environment in which privileged minorities earn long-run shekels for ganging up on white men who are being genocided.

Howley has managed to evade moderation from Twitter despite posting antisemitic messages to his account and promoting links to Infowars websites. (Twitter did not provide a statement to The Daily Beast on Howleys use of Twitter prior to publication.) And along with Reese, Howleys host publication National File has used content on Banned Video to promote links soliciting funds via PayPal, enjoying access to a platform otherwise off limits to Jones and Infowars. National File utilizes Revv to process credit card payments for its site, another online function which Infowars faces limited access to.

When reached via email, Howley sent The Daily Beast a comment deriding racially divisive propaganda and New World Order stooge puppets who dance for the cannibalistic pedo Cabal. Howley later said that response was satire and he did not respond to further questions.

A representative from PayPal did not directly respond to an inquiry about Reese and National Files PayPal accounts, but wrote back, We regularly assess activity against our Acceptable Use Policy and carefully review actions reported to us, and will discontinue our relationship with account holders who are found to violate our policies. The Daily Beast attempted to contact Revv via a web form on the companys website for media requests, but did not receive a response.

Dan Friesen, co-host of the podcast Knowledge Fight, which recounts and reviews Infowars programming with a critical eye, told The Daily Beast that he doubted whether the lesser-tier personalities currently hosted on Banned Video possessed the charisma, audience networks, or enterprising drive that enabled Jones to ascend as a behemoth in political media, pointing to the relative fades into obscurity experienced by Infowars personalities David Knight and Millie Weaver after they left Jones ranks. However, Friesen said that current personalities appeals to extremist communities using the Banned Video platform could provide chances to network and potentially carry on should Jones actually crumble under the weight of lawsuits.

Joe Rogans Im a Moron Defense Is a Cop-Out

Even in the hypothetical case that lawsuit turmoil prompted Jones to retire from his seat at the Infowars broadcast desk, Friesen said that the driving philosophy of Jones is likely to last, with or without the conspiracy theory kingmaker. Whether its seeding chaos in the news cycle or whitewashing extreme ideas for a devout audience, the model of media exemplified by Jones already exists elsewhere today and for much larger and mainstream audiences. Even if this trio of far-right proteges fail to fill Jones shoes entirely, Jones model has been replicated by others enough to persist even in a world without Jones on air.

The main goal of Infowars is to obscure and confuse reality, to make people sort of believe in alternative sets of facts. I think there are a lot of folks doing that, with or without Alex, now, Friesen said. In a grim sense, the damage was done a while ago.

For those currently suing Alex Jones for defamation, including the parents of Sandy Hook mass shooting victims, and the countless others caught in Infowars scope throughout time, that harm has been gravely serious. The wider project of weaponized misinformation and conspiracy theories that Jones has built his business on has alarming consequences for the greater stability and health of the societies they inhabit.

Jones launch and curating of his Banned Video platform has enabled Infowars content to salvage some of its viral potential online under new presentation styles, and it has empowered a crop of far-right personalities to produce their own content under the larger Infowars brand.

Tech platforms interested in keeping Jones and his cronies off their services must realize that moderating a figure like Jones brings with it a constantly shifting game of whack-a-mole, requiring adaptability and a close, constant eye.

(Attempts to reach Reese via an Instagram direct message were unsuccessful. Inquiries sent to an email address listed on Infowars website for media interview requests went unanswered.)

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A person gives blood

An Australian rule banning many former UK residents from giving blood over fears they could spread Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) has been scrapped.

For two decades anyone who lived in the UK during its "mad cow disease" crisis has been barred from donating.

In rare cases, the fatal illness has been spread through blood transfusions.

But citing a review of epidemiological data and expert advice, Australia's health regulator said the cohort would no longer be excluded.

People who lived in the UK between 1980 and 1996 will soon be able to roll up their sleeves to give blood or plasma.

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is estimated to affected 180,000 cattle during the outbreak. Its human form - vCJD - has been attributed to 178 deaths.

It's thought that one in 2,000 people in the UK is a carrier of the disease. But it appears that relatively few who catch the infectious agent that causes the disease then go on to develop symptoms.

Australia's blood donation service, called Lifeblood, hopes the long-awaited move will unlock new donors at a time when high demand is straining stocks.

"It's the number one query that we've had for change in Australia over the last few years and certainly, anecdotally, lots and lots of people are telling us that this change will enable them to donate," executive director Cath Stone said.

"We are optimistic that we'll see tens of thousands of new people."

Lifeblood is working to update their screening processes to accommodate the change, but those who want to donate will be able to by the end of the year.

With a weekly need for 33,000 donations, the organisation is hoping barriers to donation for men who have sex with men will also soon be removed.

Australia was not alone in banning donations from former UK residents - others included France, the US and Canada.

But other countries have begun to lift or relax the restrictions, after Ireland lifted its ban in 2019.

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A corrections officer in Mississippi has been cited in the abduction and death of a beloved rooster named Carl Jr.

According to WLOX, the officer was terminated and issued a misdemeanor arrest citation by Ocean Springs Police for cruelty to an animal other than a dog or cat.

Carl the Rooster, a well-known figure in downtown Ocean Springs, Mississippi, was often spotted hanging around local businesses where owners would leave out water for him, according to the Sun Herald.

The rooster went missing Sunday from the Gulf Coast community roughly 90 miles east of New Orleans and later was confirmed dead after residents posted videos on social media of people walking off with Carl's body.

"So sad, our Carl Junior rooster downtown was killed sometime between Sunday and now ... but their identity has yet to be released," said Connie Moran, former Ocean Springs mayor in a Facebook post Thursday morning.

Moran included a couple of surveillance videos with her post showing what appeared to be a woman carrying a rooster out of a building and walking off while being followed by a group of men.

Ocean Springs Police had the videos and charged a suspect with the crime. The rooster was "a fixture of the community," said Capt. Ryan Lemaire, who heads the department's criminal investigation division. "It's a shame, you know, because it's a living creature and they didn't kill it for food because they dumped his body."

The corrections officer was not taken into custody but will have her first appearance in court on May 4, WLOX reported.

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'When they were still alive': Arizona man arrested after 183 frozen animals found in freezer, including dogs and birds

Social media exploded with posts decrying the demise of Carl the Rooster, many under the hashtag #justiceforcarljr.

Tasia Kenosky, a resident in Ocean Springs, said many people have connected in the community over the death of Carl in a post on Facebook.

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"I never thought Id shed a tear for a rooster, but Carl deserves our tears," she wrote. "He was happy, very personable, and he brightened so many peoples days."

Contributing: Joshua Williams and Mike Snider

Follow reporter Asha Gilbert @Coastalasha. Email: agilbert@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Carl the Rooster abducted, later found dead in Mississippi
Denison High Schools Texas Scholars enjoyed a traditional hamburger picnic prior to the presentation of medals at the Texas Scholars Picnic, hosted annually by the Denison Chamber of Commerce and the Denison Education Foundation.

For the first time since the pandemic hit in 2020, Denison High Schools 2022 Texas Scholars were able to gather with school and community leaders at Loy Parks Mayor Arena to celebrate an important academic achievement: the successful completion of the more rigorous high school curriculum as recommended by the State of Texas. Sponsored and hosted annually by the Denison Education Foundation and the Denison Chamber of Commerce, the students were awarded Texas Scholars medals following the traditional hamburger picnic.

More than 150 Texas Scholars gathered last week at Loy Parks Mayor Arena to celebrate an exceptional academic achievement: the successful completion of the more rigorous high school curriculum as recommended by the State of Texas.

We are all incredibly appreciative and proud of the fine young people you are, of the choices you made to work hard and take the tough coursesand of your determination to become successful and productive citizens, said DHS Principal Dr. Cavin Boettger. We have no doubt that you will continue to impact our world in so many positive and meaningful ways.

Happy faces were the order of the day at the annual Texas Scholars Picnic which celebrated more than 150 DHS graduating seniors who successfully completed the more rigorous high school curriculum as recommended by the State of Texas.

The DHS Class of 2022 Texas Scholars are: Noah Abu Sarris, Joel Aguilar, Brooke Ainsworth, Ian Francis Akers, Allyson Marie Ard, Jose David Ariza, Lukas Baca, Marlon Balderas, Simeon Cole Banks, Iosimar Barron, Amia Bazaldua, Eden Becker, Lilith Bergland, Abigail Katherine Blunt, Addison Branum, Rachel Christine Brock, Soraya Brown, Dakota Fitzgerald Buttrill, Rachel Carapia Leon, Caleb Chitwood, Annaka Clark, David Michael Clark, Kamryn Jade Cole, Dylan Michael Coley, Christian Collum, Willow Conner, Bailey Jo Cook, Corey Craig, Mackenzie Crockett, Baileigh Janai Davis, Michael Deering, Gabriel Denson, Chloe Dawn Deweber, John Richard Dornstadter, Roni Douda, Hunter Cole Dutton, Jesse Estrada, Jakalen Dreshun Fields, Kannon Tyler Finch, Logan Fisher, Alexis Maria Flatten, Melissa Flores, Jennifer Garay Santos, Giovanni Garcia, Kaiser Ewan Garner, Isaiah Geesey, Moriah Geesey, Remington Doc Gibson, William Forrest Gillespie, Elizabeth Gonzalez Ortiz, Alice Hannah Gouge, Axton Grams, Victoria Rahe Greenhaw, Hannah Grinspan, Natalie Haden, James Ross Hall, Ashlinn Hamilton, Lyrik Dacie-Laine Hanson, Mason Hanson, Jackson Harris, Jaydin Harris, Lukus Harris, Kemberly Harvey, Shellby Harwell, Aiden Lloyd Hearn, Joseph Michael Henderson, Hunter Mathew Henson, Jacqueline Hiberd, David Michael Holder Emerson, Drew Abigail House, Blayn Hubert, Sophia Leonor Huffman, Samuel Leigh Jackson, Alexis Lynn Jenkins, DeTeaurean Johnson, Peyton Johnson, Alexi Jordan, Jenna King, Chloe Koberowski, Kale Landers, Cyrena Louis, Cooper Mackay, Avery Martin, Katelynn Martinez, Landry Massenburg, Braden Maxwell, James McClure, Lucy Caroline McManus, Paige McMillan, Michael McVeigh, Anterrion Medrano, Andrew Meek, Joseph Moody, Joshua Gabriel Morales-Vines, Christopher Muir, Kaleigh Neff, Logan OKray, Mackenzie ORear, Dashae Owen, Madison Patterson, Brilee Ann Payne, Jawon Peele, Addyson Cate Perkins, Haidyn Peterson, Cody Pierce, Maggie Pierson, Tenley Powell, Danielle Prater, Caleb Pridemore, Zaidan Ramey, Lus Ramirez, Anahy Ramirez Avila, Aubry Redwine, Hope Rhoads, Grace Rhodes, Ainsleigh Richardson, Brian Richardson, Lily Robinson, Eric Rosas, Samantha Ross, Crystal Sanchez, Jayson Schafer, Jaidyn Schutes, Lauren Sexton, Halie Sharp, Faith Shaw, Mary Siems, Ahjaleigh Smith, Conner Smith, Raven Smith, Luke Sparlin, Benjamin Robert Speed, Noah Stegman, Hannah Stone, Lisa Nichole Sutherland, Mackenzie Thompson, Saray Torres, Caitlyn Trobaugh, Allison Turner, Yasmina Ultsch, Luis Velasquez Avila, Logan Voight, Asher Wagner, William Wallis, Jude Walters, Peyton Williams, Brendan Wolf, Tanner Woods and Jocelyn Zepeda.

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Sunny skies and mild temperatures welcomed more than 150 outsstanding Texas Scholars to the annual Texas Scholars Picnic at Loy Parks Mayor Arena.

Sunny skies and mild temperatures welcomed more than 150 outsstanding Texas Scholars to the annual Texas Scholars Picnic at Loy Parks Mayor Arena.

This article originally appeared on Herald Democrat: DHS Texas Scholars celebrate success
Home Town Kickstart Gives Winslow, Ariz. a 'Major Boost': 'Doesn't Even Look Like the Same Place'

HGTV stars aren't just standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona  they're making big changes in the whole town.

For the second episode of Home Town Kickstart Presented by PEOPLE, airing May 1, Ben and Erin Napier dispatch two of their fellow HGTV stars to the small community immortalized in the Eagles song "Take It Easy."

In a sneak peak from Sunday's episode, Leslie Davis and Lyndsay Lamb of Unsellable Houses head off to Winslow to give the community a "major boost."

"Thank you ladies for kickstartin' our hometown," one resident says to the HGTV duo in the clip. "Doesn't even look like the same place," adds another.

In the new six-part series, the Napiers are taking all that they've learned from revitalizing their native Laurel, Mississippi, over the years, as well as the small community of Wetumpka, Alabama, which they gave a major overhaul on last year's Home Town Takeover, and applying it to six more American towns in need of a helping hand.

RELATED: Home Town's Erin Napier Says She Gave Up Social Media for Lent: 'Life in the Last 40 Days'

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The Napiers send teams of two or three HGTV experts to each of the communities that will get the Kickstart treatment.

Ben explains that their next stop, Winslow, is situated in Navajo county and was settled in the late 19th century, just like Laurel. He adds that it is a neighboring town to the Navajo and Hopi people.

In an interview with a town leader, he shares that there was a time when they would have thousands of cars coming through Winslow each day as it sat right on Route 66.

In 1979, Erin explains, a new highway rerouted travelers around the town, which led to the loss of steady tourism.

They've capitalized on their "rock n roll fame," Ben explains, by creating a corner honoring the Eagles song. But the mayor says that people will come to the spot to take a photo, and "that's kind of where it ends."

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RELATED: Erin Napier Shares Update on Construction at Her Family's New Country House: 'Work in Progress'

Davis and Lamb share that they are excited to be going to a small community being "small town girls" themselves.

The duo shares that over six weeks they are taking on three projects that will hopefully have a "significant impact on the community."

The team will work on the home of a youth mentor, a nostalgic restaurant and a public art project inspired by Route 66 and the native Hopi culture to be a new tourist destination to attract visitors.

Home Town Kickstart Presented by PEOPLE airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on HGTV.
FILE PHOTO: Alexanda Kotey, who the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) claim is a British national, is seen in this undated handout picture in Amouda

By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday imposed a lifetime prison sentence on a member of an Islamic State militant group nicknamed "The Beatles" that beheaded American hostages, at a hearing where one victim's mother told the defendant, "I will not hate you."

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia, held an emotionally charged sentencing hearing for London-born Alexanda Kotey, 38, who pleaded guilty to murdering U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.

Hostages held by Kotey and his fellow militants nicknamed them "The Beatles" for their British accents. The hearing included testimony from victims' relatives.

Family members described the dread of knowing loved ones were in captivity, and the grief they felt in the aftermath of their deaths.

"I will not hate you," Kassig's mother, Paula Kassig, said to Kotey during the hearing. "It would give sadness, pain and bitterness too much power over me. I choose to let my heart be broken open, not broken apart."

Kotey's lawyer said during the court hearing that, in an effort to "make amends," Kotey is meeting with some family members of victims.

Ellis agreed to keep Kotey detained in Alexandria until July and said that arrangement would facilitate those meetings.

Kotey was a citizen of the United Kingdom, but the British government withdrew his citizenship. His Islamic State cell took journalists and aid workers hostage, tortured them and circulated videotapes of gruesome beheadings on the internet.

Kotey admitted to inflicting torture on hostages, including waterboarding and electric shocks with a stun gun.

Kotey's lawyers had asked the judge to make a recommendation that Kotey not be sent to Supermax prison in Colorado known as ADX Florence, home to some of the world's most dangerous criminals, including the Mexican drug kingpin, El Chapo.

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Ellis declined to make any recommendation to the Bureau of Prisons about where Kotey will eventually be sent. That means Kotey is likely heading to ADX Florence, but the federal Bureau of Prisons has yet to determine where to send Kotey.

U.S. authorities had advised British officials that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty. As part of Kotey's plea agreement, U.S. authorities have also agreed to make their best efforts to transfer him to a prison in the United Kingdom after 15 years.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)
(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk sold about $4 billion worth of Tesla Inc. stock days after reaching a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter Inc.

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The Tesla chief executive officer offloaded 4.4 million shares on April 26 and April 27, according to regulatory filings. Musk has now disposed of more than $20 billion worth of stock in the electric-car maker during the last six months.

The worlds wealthiest man reached an agreement on April 25 to acquire Twitter using a financing plan thats alarmed some Tesla investors. In addition to pledging tens of billions of dollars worth of his Tesla shares to support margin loans, Musk has vowed to line up some $21 billion worth of equity. Its been unclear how much of that would come from selling a portion of his Tesla stake.

Tesla shares rose 3% as of 4:30 a.m. Friday in New York, before the start of regular trading. The company has shed about $275 billion worth of market value since Musk first disclosed having taken a stake in Twitter early this month.

Its a brutal cycle for Tesla investors to navigate and casts a shadow on the name, said Dan Ives, a Wedbush analyst with the equivalent of a buy rating on the shares. The Twitter deal is becoming an albatross for Teslas stock.

Musk, 50, tweeted after the filings were released Thursday that he has no further Tesla sales planned after today. Its unclear whether he may have done more than $4 billion worth of selling. The tweet could imply there were more disposals on Thursday that would have to be reported by Friday.

The Twitter deal is poised to be one of the biggest leveraged buyouts in history, with Musk arranging $25.5 billion of debt and margin-loan financing from lenders including Morgan Stanley. If it were to fall apart, the party breaking up the agreement would be required to pay a termination fee of $1 billion under certain circumstances.

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Twitter shares closed Thursday at $49.11, short of the $54.20 that investors will receive for each share they own under the companys deal with Musk.

Musks pursuit of Twitter has once again highlighted the extent to which Teslas valuation hinges on how involved and invested its CEO is in the business. Hes headed the company since 2008 and has long been its largest shareholder.

Teslas stock slumped late last year as Musk offloaded more than $16 billion worth of shares, his first sales in more than five years. The disposals started in November after Musk polled Twitter users on whether he should trim his stake.

With a $252.2 billion fortune, Musk is the worlds richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. But the recent slump in Tesla shares has shaved off $18 billion from his net worth this year, even as the carmaker reported better-than-expected earnings earlier this month.

(Updates to add context started in seventh paragraph)

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Seven Navy sailors assigned to the USS George Washington have died by suicide during the time the aircraft carrier has been undergoing a yearslong overhaul in Newport News, Virginia, the Navy said Thursday.

The Navy acknowledged Thursday that in addition to the four suicides in the past year that CBS News has reported, three more sailors assigned to the carrier died by suicide in 2019 and 2020.

The three suicides from 2019 and 2020 occurred while the USS George Washington was under the command of Capt. Kenneth Strong. According to the Navy, Strong left the ship three months ahead of schedule because of "individual incidents of poor judgment and leadership acumen." Despite his early departure, Strong was awarded a Legion of Merit for, among other things, winning a score of 98% on the 2019 Safety and Occupational Health Management Evaluation.

The living and working conditions on the carrier present challenges for the sailors. While it's in the shipyard, the George Washington is essentially a construction zone, where it can be cramped, hot and loud for the crew on board.

One of the ship's crew told CBS News that "it feels like Big Navy has left us out to dry. Nobody cares."

After reports that three sailors had died by suicide in a single week in April, the Navy opened an investigation last week into their deaths. It's examining whether living conditions on the carrier played a role in the suicides and whether the ship's commanders did everything they could to make the conditions as acceptable as possible.

The USS George Washington's overhaul is behind schedule  the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for unexpected repairs have kept the carrier in the shipyard for nearly a year longer than expected. The carrier has been docked at Newport News Shipbuilding for a major overhaul since 2017.

FILE: The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington leaves the US naval base in Yokosuka, 60 kms south of Tokyo, for the last time for refueling and complex overhaul on May 18, 2015. / Credit: TORU YAMANAKA/AFP via Getty Images

The Navy's top enlisted leader, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith, visited the carrier last week and took questions from the sailors. In response to a question about living conditions on the ship, Smith said, "I think we probably could have done better to manage your expectations coming in here," according to audio and a transcript of the visit to the carrier.

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"What you're not doing is sleeping in a foxhole like a marine might be doing. What you are doing is going home at night, most nights," Smith said, adding, "The downside is some of the shit that you have to go through logistically will drive you crazy."

The USS George Washington is not the first carrier to experience a rash of suicides while going through a major overhaul. In September 2019, three sailors assigned to the USS George HW Bush died by suicide within one week as the ship was going through a restoration in Virginia.

The Pentagon in March launched the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee to review prevention activities. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said earlier this month that the committee will look into conditions across the force including for those on ships.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the president is aware of the situation, and cares about the mental health of service members.

"Well certainly the president is regularly briefed and is aware, and the service of men and women and the stress and the pressure on them is something that is on his mind, including making sure that we have the right mental health care, the right treatments for any individual who may be suffering from depression or anything that might lead to suicide," she said.

For immediate help if you are in a crisis, call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All calls are confidential.

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A group of 4,000 Nigerians who fled years ago to neighbouring Niger because of jihadist violence have returned home despite ongoing insecurity and almost non-existent services in the area.

The refugees' return to Mallam Fatori town in the Abadam district of Borno state on March 31 and April 1 is part of the authorities' effort to shut crowded camps, bring back refugees and relocate internally displaced people who want to go home.

But aid workers are worried the returns to the northeastern town, which has been deserted for half a decade and is close to areas still controlled by jihadists, will cause harm and more displacements.

Borno authorities did not respond to AFPs multiple requests for comment on the returns.

But officials have previously said they only return people to safe areas, with the goal of weaning them off humanitarian assistance and encouraging farming activities.

The refugees had been living with more than 180,000 others in southeast Niger's Diffa region, where they began arriving in 2014 when it was deemed safer than conflict-wracked northeast Nigeria.

However, Boko Haram and its rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group, have since spread over the border, launching attacks from their island enclaves in Lake Chad.

On March 9 alone, gunmen attacked three villages in Niger where Nigerian refugees were present, according to a local researcher who tracks the conflict.

"They killed about 45 people and abducted 22 others," Malik Samuel of the Institute for Security Studies told AFP. "So, many refugees want to come back to Nigeria."

- Mines, mortars -

Nigerias military has conducted clearance operations and patrols alongside Nigerien troops ahead of the returns, but Abadam remains a stronghold for ISWAP, which has taken over from Boko Haram to become the dominant threat in the region.

For years, the insurgents have infested the area with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), laying road ambushes and, more recently, firing mortar bombs towards military posts.

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"Even troops are cautious about going on patrol," said a security source in the state capital Maiduguri, adding that in Mallam Fatori, the "troops' preoccupation is securing the base from the terrorists."

According to a second security source who collects conflict data and asked to remain anonymous, there were almost 50 attacks in Abadam in the past six months alone, including 38 on Mallam Fatori.

Attacks have often had little impact, as there were hardly any civilians in the area until these returns, but in February ISWAP said it had killed at least 30 soldiers in two ambushes.

ISWAP has also warned the government not to return civilians to the area, even infiltrating the town earlier in March and burning down shelters that were built by the authorities for the refugees.

A local official who said he was with the governor when the refugees returned told AFP that a detachment from the Multinational Joint Task Force, comprising troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, was stationed in the town.

"But their mandate is only for two months," he said, asking to remain anonymous.

Since the refugees' return, no large-scale attacks have been reported on the town but the real test will come next month, when the rain starts and farming activities can resume.

Some civilians could try and go beyond the trenches to access fields, where the risk from mines and kidnapping is high.

- Limited water -

In the meantime, access to essential services is limited and aid workers cannot fill gaps because they consider the area out of reach due to insecurity.

Whats more, there are no safe roads to and from the town, which is only accessible through Niger.

"We are concerned about the untimely repatriation ... to Mallam Fatori," said Camilla Corradin, a spokeswoman for the INGO Forum which represents 54 international NGOs providing humanitarian and development assistance in Nigeria.

Repatriations that "do not align with international legal frameworks," she added, "will be unsustainable and cause harm, including subsequent displacement."

A senior humanitarian official based in the northeast and who gathered information from the town said there was sparse access to drinking water.

"The only water point is in the military base. They have working hours so there are limited times when returnees can access it," the aid official said, asking to remain anonymous.

Borno gave food and cash to the refugees and built temporary shelters, classrooms and a healthcare centre, according to a statement in March from the governor's spokesman Isa Gusau.

But according to the aid official, the school does not yet have teachers and medical supplies are lacking at the clinic.

A second humanitarian source based in Abuja said they had received the same details from "informants" in the town.

Both said that there was also no functioning market, with the closest one located across the international border, in Niger.

"The truth is," the first security source said, "the refugees ... are literally living in a concentration camp. They are kept in the town, without access to basic needs, and they can't move out."

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Upon his arrival in the city, the Head of State received the corresponding honors from Ecuadorian military authorities.

Later, he will fulfill a busy work schedule within the framework of the Binational Cabinet.

Among the objectives of the Peruvian Government, the following stand out: the full implementation of the 1998 peace agreements, in addition to Ecuador complying with its obligations in terms of Integrated Water Resources Management and the cessation of contamination of shared basins.

Similarly, it involves establishing courses of action to meet the needs linked to access to water, sanitation, health, and education services for border populations.

According to the schedule, prior to the bilateral meeting, the Head of State will visit the Integrated Center for Solid Waste Management in Loja.

At approximately 10:45 a.m., the meeting's plenary session and the Binational Cabinet will take place at Bernardo Valdivieso Cultural Center.

During the event, five thematic axes will be addressed: social and cultural affairs; environmental, energy, and mining affairs; economic, commercial, and investment affairs; infrastructure and connectivity; as well as security and defense.

Finally, the Joint Declaration by both nations will be signed.

A su llegada a la ciudad de Loja en Ecuador, el presidente Pedro Castillo recibio los honores correspondientes por parte de las autoridades militares ecuatorianas. Posteriormente, cumplira una recargada agenda de trabajo en el marco del Gabinete #BinacionalEcuadorPeru.

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The global maritime industry oversees the movement and handling of over 800 million containers in various ports worldwide. Africa controls about 12% of this volume, with its clearing and forwarding market standing at almost $4 billion.

That said, Africa's freight space is stuck with numerous challenges. Some include congestion at ports, opaque processes of service providers, fragmented payments, and low visibility and documentation.

These were the four main challenges Hio Sola-Usidame fronted while running Logigrains, a company he founded in 2016 involved in logistics and commodities trading. OnePort 365 was the business he launched three years later to tackle these issues in Africa's freight management space. And in a new development, the three-year-old startup confirmed to TechCrunch that it has raised $5 million in seed funding.

Founder and CEO Sola-Usidame explained to TechCrunch that in his experience working in the freight forwarding space, generating a quote for a shipment takes about 10 to 14 days. According to the founder, most of the processes involved in the supply chain are manual, which is why it takes time for quotes to be generated.

"Typically, these guys have to deal with as much as 10 different middlemen. The way it works is this, there are probably about six different channels involved -- you have a trucking phase, you have a customs brokerage, you have a terminal, you have a shipment, you have a warehouse, and then you have marine insurance," he said. "As of today, I can tell you 80% of transactions are very much offline."

Say this hurdle gets passed, the next one to cross becomes visibility, where Sola-Usidame argues that out of every 10 trucks that leave the ports in Nigeria, three go missing in transit; the reason being that just above 20% of them have a tracking system.

"What you're seeing is a situation whereby cargo worth $100,000 is being hauled by a truck driver earning $400, and as a result, there's a lot of theft that goes on because there's no visibility," he said, giving more description. "If you can track your UPS parcel worth less than $100, why can't the guy loading $100,000 worth of cargo in a container track where this container is in Africa?"

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When it comes to payments, shippers use different payment methods across singular channels. Also, documentation in Africa is pretty much pen and paper, while the rest of the shipping and freight industry globally has moved to the electronic bill of ladings.

OnePort 365 says its platform solves these problems by providing end-to-end digitization of freight management for stakeholders in this space. It is building an operating system for cross-border trade in Africa, helping traders to manage their freight forwarding processes and enabling other value-added services, the company said in a statement.

The CEO claims that his startup, present in Nigeria and Ghana, cuts booking time from 10 to 14 days to "minutes." Traders can also connect with shipping and inland transportation vendors and manage the entire process (from booking to payments), including real-time visibility of their shipments. And in terms of payments, OnePort 365 claims to aggregate different methods enabled by the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) so traders have access to instant payouts.

OnePort 365 bootstrapped throughout its first year. While the CEO didn't share numbers on bookings and users, he disclosed that his company has increased the number of twenty-foot equivalent unit containers (TEUs) by 140% and grown its revenue by more than 420% last year. Its business customers also grew from five to 50.

OnePort 365

Hio Sola-Usidame (CEO, OnePort 365). Image Credits: OnePort 365

The seed round was led by Mobility 54, the VC arm of Toyota Tsusho and CFAO Group. Participating investors include SBI Investment, Flexport, ODX, a Singaporean syndicate fund and other angel investors. Samurai Incubate also followed on after participating in OnePort 365's previous round.

OnePort 365's says its platform covers air freight, ocean freight, inland haulage (trucking, barge, and rail), pay-as-you-go warehousing, marine insurance and customs brokerage. The new funding will look into how the company can improve its efficiency and lower cross-border trading overhead across the continent.

More money also includes trying to edge out the competition as the market for cross-border logistics services is said to hit revenues of $32 billion by 2025. Multiple companies are needed for the market to reach its full potential, and there are a few known ones: Ghanas Jetstream and Nigeria's SEND and MVX.

Sola-Usidame argues that his team, made up of Maersk and DHL alumni, has firsthand experience running traditional freight forwarding businesses, giving the team some sharpness over others.

"For us, we had experience running this in the traditional space before OnePort 365, and it's a massive edge that gives us a lot of experience and having a good understanding of the space, and that's what's led us to significant growth in that period, he said.

The company plans to use the funding to add more people and expand to "three major hubs" across the continent before Q4 2022. Other deployments of capital will go into ramping up its tech and providing trade finance to the shippers.

There is great potential to unlock significant commercial opportunities across the continent by addressing the long-standing challenges that have made it difficult to move freights into and around the continent, and we are confident that OnePort 365 has what it takes to succeed, said Takeshi Watanabe, CEO of Mobility 54 Investment SAS said in a statement.
Strangely enough, a near-death experience can be so affecting that it can stick in your brain for the rest of your life. Recently, the BuzzFeed Community shared memories of when they were moments away from death. Here are a few stories from those lucky people:

Westend61 / Getty Images/Westend61

1. "When I first learned to surf, I got knocked off my board. I was one of those kids that HATED having water in my eyes, and my goggles filled with water. I panicked when I opened my eyes, which stung from the salt water, and when I tried to come up, I hit the board and couldnt come up around it. I couldnt see, couldnt breathe, and sucked a whole bunch of saltwater up my nose. My instructor saw me fall and got me out pretty quick."

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2. "When I was 15, I had a horrible one-in-a-million accident that almost cost me my life and left me blind in my right eye, all thanks to a FUCKING ICE CUBE! I was at a friend's house about two blocks from my own with a couple of other friends with no cell phones. I was in his kitchen getting some ice, but he didn't have the ice dispensing fridges you mostly see today; instead, he had those ice cube trays that you fill with water, freeze, then crack to get the ice out. Well, when I cracked it, a piece of ice flew out and ricocheted into my open right eye, causing it to pop like a blood-filled water balloon. The shock must've been so bad that I passed out because I awoke to a foggy silhouette of my friend holding me for dear life as he rushed down the street from his house to mine so I didn't lose any more blood."

"The doctors said that if the ice cube had gone one centimeter deeper or if I had lost any more blood then, I'd be dead. Since they had never seen a case as unique as mine, they asked me to be the subject for many med students' papers and presentations. I'd go to their classes where they asked me questions, did papers on me, studied my vision, and stuff like that. I'm now 27 with stage 3 glaucoma and have had 23 surgeries and around 87 stitches." StonedSuicide John Shepherd / Getty Images/iStockphoto

3. "In 2013, I had the worst asthma attack of my life, where absolutely no air was getting through. I couldn't even cough. I thought that I was going to die. The last thing that I remember was my coworkers saying that my entire face was cherry red. The next thing I knew, I was up in an ambulance. I was in the hospital for like six hours getting breathing treatments. Not being able to breathe is the absolute scariest feeling I have ever experienced, and I used to go unconscious for hours due to a heart condition. Not being able to breathe was worse than my heart rate randomly going down to 10 beats per minute. I'm just very happy that it happened at work. If it had happened while I was home, I would have died."

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4. "My family had an RV when I was a kid and we would travel to different states and camp at different campgrounds. One day, there was this weird smell in the camper and my dad thought it was just the onions so he threw them out. We all started to fall asleep one by one, and eventually, my dad realized the gas from the stove was leaking into the camper."

Jane Welcomia / Getty Images/iStockphoto

5. "I was in a car crash a few years back. I remember two clear thoughts as my car hydroplaned: 'This could be how I die,' followed quickly by 'Oh well, as long as it doesn't hurt too much.' Fortunately, the seatbelt and airbag came to my rescue and I walked away with a fractured humerus."

contrafibularities

6. "When I was 17, I developed an irregular ovarian cyst. It was growing pretty quickly, so my doctor scheduled a surgery to remove it. He said to come in if I felt a sharp pain, which would mean that it had burst and we could cancel the surgery. A few days later, I felt a sharp pain, so I went in for an ultrasound. It was still there, so they sent me home. A few days after that, and about a week before my surgery, I felt it again. I decided not to go in since it was the same pain I'd felt earlier. I went in for surgery the following week, and when they opened me up, they saw that not only had the cyst burst, but part of my ovary had ruptured and my body wasn't flushing out the fluids. I'd been bleeding internally all week. If I had gone in when I felt the pain, they would have seen that the cyst was gone, and likely canceled the surgery. I then would have died either from internal bleeding of my ruptured ovary, or sepsis from my body not flushing out the cyst."

l49ca8a44c

7. "When I was a teenager, I was in a serious car accident. All I remember was waking up in the ER with blood all around me. The next thing I remember was at 12:30 a.m when a friend came to see me in intensive care. It turns out, I was ejected from our car after an 18-wheeler ran our car over. The skin on my left upper arm and my right shin were completely gone, and you could see the bones and muscles. I also had a depressed skull fracture. A few days after that, I threw up lots of blood. I had started to bleed internally and the doctors missed it for five days. After painful skin grafting on my left arm, shoulder, and right shin, plus surgery to secure my depressed skull, I did recover. Every day, I look at the scars that I have from this accident. I was so much more fortunate than our driver. He was ejected from the vehicle and dragged down the highway between the last two wheels of the 18-wheeler. He passed away two days later just down the hallway from me in intensive care."

tfswin

8. "A few years ago (pre-COVID), I had bronchitis. One morning, I woke up feeling especially lousy  coughing, short of breath, with a pain in my chest. I would have just assumed the bronchitis was getting worse, except that I also had a strong sense of impending doom. Not even anxiety  just a certainty that something was terribly wrong. I woke my husband and made him take me to urgent care. When they realized that my pulse oximeter was hovering around 80% when it should be close to 100%, I got an ambulance ride to the local hospital and a diagnosis of viral pneumonia and bilateral pulmonary embolisms (multiple blood clots in both lungs). If I'd stayed home, I likely wouldn't have survived the night. Thanks, Impending Sense of Doom!"

AllysonLT David Sacks / Getty Images

9. "I was drunk at my friend's bachelorette party where we were on a river and I decided that it would be fun to jump off the boat for some reason. Obviously, the current was much, much stronger than my dumb drunk ass realized. I caught a branch and figured out at that moment that I had made a very grave mistake and was just holding on for dear life trying not to go under. I still remember to this day three years later, even with how drunk I was, the exact thoughts going through my head: 'Im going to drown because Im drunk and my parents and friends are going to be so pissed at me.' My friends were not happy with me when I got back on the boat. Im sober now, and if you have done something like this while drinking, it might be a sign to reevaluate your relationship with alcohol."

rugratfromspace

10. "In 2007, I had 25% of my liver removed due to a tumor. It's such a risky surgery that I went directly to the ICU instead of the recovery room. My husband was sitting beside the bed when he saw all of the indicators on the machines slide down to zero and loud alarms started going off. My room was filled with medical professionals and he was shoved into the corner. I had no pulse, no respiration, no response to the sternum rub, nothing. Medications were pushed and they were just about to start compressions when I came back. It turns out that it hurt so much just to breathe, that my brain over-rode life preservation and told my lungs to stop inflating. Very scary!"

anne_of_the_gables

11. "A friend and I went to see the northern lights in Iceland. It was close to midnight and pitch black. When we stepped off the tourist bus, our guide warned us to stay close and make sure that our eyes adjusted to the darkness. I stepped on a rock as I got off the bus and thought that I should kick it out of the way for the people behind me. As I was kicking the rock over and telling people to be careful, I fell down a black Icelandic rock ravine. I didnt go as far as it felt, but while I was tumbling down I thought that I was a goner because I couldnt see anything around me and everything was spinning."

"Luckily, my friend was behind me and said that I basically just disappeared out of the light. Another person on our trip saw me vanish, turned on his phone light, and was able to help me back up the hill. I only had a few scrapes and a jammed finger, but I dont think the tour bus driver even knew how close he was to a drop-off. The moral of the story is always listen to your tour guide!"

Jill Gould

12. "I had been one of the lucky ones who got to drive even though I was diagnosed with seizures at 15 because I only had partial. Four years ago, when I was 30, I had an absence seizure that got me to drive over my exit on the freeway that curved, over the on-ramp coming onto the freeway, and into the section where there were bushes, grass, and trees. I rammed into the trees and totaled the decent car that I bought three months prior, and walked out dazed and lost. I was near my home and wandered. Someone else saw it and called the police, But I should have been killed by the impact and by the smash. I walked out, and only got burned by the airbag in minimum damage, and could no longer drive. I still cannot believe it."

brynjw19

13. "I don't know why I have so many stories for this, but I have choked on spaghetti so many times, like at least five. Ive got quite good at just keeping calm and reaching into my mouth to pull out individual strands until the right one comes out of my airway."

Rachel S G Grandriver / Getty Images

14. "I almost died when I was 21. I was going through my second round of chemo treatment at the infusion center when I had a severe allergic reaction to the chemo. First, I felt itchy and uncomfortable all over, then my vision suddenly went black even though I was awake. The nurses had me lie down and put an oxygen mask over me. I later learned that my breathing slowed because my airways had started to close, causing my heart rate to go up. I wound up passing out and getting intubated."

"What they don't tell you when they intubate you is that you can still feel pain and your nerves still work, even if you're unconscious. They had to intubate me twice because the first time, they weren't able to gain access to my airway. I passed out after that and didn't wake up until over eight hours later, in the ER. My parents were by my side and later, the doctors came in and explained what happened. I still feel so fortunate that when the reaction occurred, I was in the hospital and the medical team was able to respond right away."

xy8lu

15. "My mom and her entire family almost died from carbon monoxide poisoning when she was a kid. There was a gas leak in the HVAC in the new addition to their house. My mom and her brother passed out in the house, and their parents got them in the car. My grandma passed out while my grandpa drove to the hospital. He collapsed in the ER doorway. Luckily they were all ok; even the dog made it out!"

Ashley Johnson

16. "I suffered for many years with endometriosis that was not yet diagnosed, which meant lots of different surgeries to deal with all of the collateral damage. When it was finally diagnosed, they treated me with all kinds of medications that eventually eroded my G.I tract. The result almost cost me my life. One morning, I was awakened by my ex-fiance, who heard me 'gurgling,' and looked into my eyes, which were open but 'there was no one home.' He sat me up, and I started vomiting copious amounts of blood. The ambulance was called and I was rushed to the hospital. In the emergency room, I kept losing consciousness with intermittent projectile vomiting of more blood. The gastroenterologist screamed in a panicked voice, 'I'm getting you to the OPERATING ROOM RIGHT NOW! RIGHT NOW!'"

"I flatlined twice on the operating table, was 'paddled,' then 'cracked' and resuscitated. To this very day, I am a teaching case at that hospital as 'A G.I. patient who came that close to death and actually survived.'"

calico016

17. "When I was 15, I was going with my mom to the supermarket. I was in an awful teenage rage mood for absolutely no reason. Wed been bickering all day and it carried on during the car journey. Suddenly, she pulled over and ordered me to get in the back seat because I was pissing her off so much. I was sitting behind her in the back seat with my arms folded when we got T-boned by a lorry doing 45mph in a 30mph zone. It completely crushed the entire passenger side of the car. We both had minor injuries and were trapped in the car until the fire brigade came and freed us. If I hadnt pissed her off so much, Id have died in that accident."

Saraheds Chrissadowski / Getty Images/iStockphoto

18. "A month ago, I was going for a backflip like normal during a cheer competition, but right after my feet left the ground, I decided not to rotate. Momentum kinda said, 'fuck you,' and I kept going backward and I landed on my neck. I was so close to breaking my neck but only came out with my fifth jammed finger."

Charliebean

19. "A few lifetimes ago, I was at a kegger with my boyfriend. I was really smashed, he was really smashed, and everyone was really smashed. I stumbled and was about to run face-first into the bonfire. I remember my arms were outstretched and I was going in. My boyfriend just happened to be walking by at the time, grabbed my shirt, and pulled me back. We both laughed and went on our way, not even giving it a second thought. Ill tell you what, I shudder still when I think about it."

gschwazenhag Brillianteye / Getty Images/iStockphoto

20. "When I was 21, I was in a horrible car accident. My sister was driving us to a friend's house on a winding backroad and the next thing I know, we were going 40 miles an hour into a telephone pole and rock wall. I saw my life flash before my eyes and I really thought that I was about to die. I hit my head hard against the headrest and ceiling, knees into the dashboard, and I remember glass and metal falling on me. I think that I blacked out for a while but I was in serious shock. When I got out of the car and the cops came, I looked at my side of the car and the entire floor was ripped out from under me, and the front was crushed in and mangled. I somehow managed to come out with only scrapes, severe whiplash, and lots of bruises. The officers on the scene said that I was so lucky to be alive and it was a miracle that I hadnt been crushed or dragged out under the car. I still get freaked out being in the front passenger's seat of less experienced drivers."

Nikocat24

21. "When I was in the Navy, I was trained to chock and chain an aircraft. Once when I ran out to do it, I felt this different breeze and looked up, only to see my head inches from the tail rotor of the helicopter that I was chaining down. A couple of years later, one first-class petty officer killed himself by stepping into a tail rotor."

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A proposed to plan to keep open an Ipswich nursing home will not pan out due to time constraints.

Following Avantara Ipswich's announcement that the nursing home would close by the end of May, the community rallied to come up with an alternative plan. The goal was to raise $500,000 by today so that the building could be purchased from Avantara.

At an April 18 meeting in Ipswich, city council member Mike Hammrich walked attendees through the proposal to keep the nursing home open. It would have been owned by a nonprofit group with a five-member board and Rural Health Development helping to manage the facility.

More: Pending closure and poor care at Ipswich nursing home latest outcomes of staffing crisis

Hammrich noted then that something similar happened with the Selby nursing home. But Selby area residents had three months to raise money and Ipswich had just three and a half weeks, he said.

Ultimately, the money was not raised because there was not enough time, Hammrich said on Thursday afternoon. He said he's confident the fundraising goal could have been reached if the community had more time. About $170,000 was raised almost immediately after the announcement of the plan, he said.

Had $500,000 been raised, $250,000 would have gone to Avantara just to purchase the building. Hammrich said Avantara was firm on that price.

A smooth change of ownership would have allowed the nursing home to retain its Medicare and Medicaid licenses, meaning it wouldn't have to close. But starting over after a closure would force the nursing home to obtain new licenses, which can take up to six months, Hammrich said.

More: Pending closure and poor care at Ipswich nursing home latest outcomes of staffing crisis

The next hurdles would have been dealing with building repairs, staffing issues to reopen and finding residents.

Raising $1 million would have left the Ipswich group with about $700,000 even after buying the building, which would have been ideal, Hammrich said.

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He praised the effort, noting that the community jumped at the opportunity to help keep the nursing home open. He said that Avantara was also helpful and walked them through the process.

"We gave it one heck of a shot," Hammrich said.

A shortage of staff was given as one reason officials for the Avantara Ipswich nursing home said they will close the 40-bed facility on May 31. Challenges related to COVID-19 were also listed.

A South Dakota Department of Health inspection in 2021 noted troubling incidents of inadequate resident care, including four violations that were listed as Quality of Life and Care Deficiencies.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Ipswich short of funds to keep nursing home open
By Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) - Just under 500 seafarers remain stuck onboard 109 ships at Ukrainian ports - skeleton crews who were left on board to enable their crew mates to be evacuated amid the conflict with Russia, shipping officials said on Friday.

Those remaining should be allowed safe passage out too, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) association said.

Two seafarers have been killed and six merchant vessels have been hit by projectiles - which sank two of them - around Ukraine's coast since the start of Russia's invasion on Feb. 24.

Ships and crews also face multiple perils such as floating mines.

Around 1,500 merchant sailors have been safely evacuated from stranded vessels via humanitarian corridors on land and at sea over the past six weeks, according to data gathered by the ICS in conjunction with UN shipping agency the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Referring to skeleton crews left behind, Natalie Shaw of the ICS said "the escape route out of the apocalypse must be open to these seafarers as well".

Separately, the IMO said its maritime safety committee had adopted a resolution this week to take necessary immediate actions in setting up a safe maritime corridor in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to enable the stranded ships to sail without threat of attack.

The biggest cluster of vessels that have been unable to sail - some 25 ships - are stranded in the port city of Mykolaiv.

Five ships are stuck at the port of Mariupol, which has seen some of the worst destruction in the war, which Russia calls a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West say the fascist allegation is baseless and that the war is an unprovoked act of aggression.

The ICS data pinpointed the location of 99 vessels, with the remaining 10 unaccounted for as their tracking transponders were switched off.

Most of the 109 stranded vessels were either bulk carriers or general cargo vessels and other ships include oil tankers, the ICS data showed.

The seafarers who were evacuated and those still stuck come from 27 countries, with the largest number from the Philippines and India. Other nations with crew members holed up included Russia, China, Denmark, Greece and Turkey.

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Frances Kerry)
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2017. Pool/Saul Loeb via Associated Press

Trump refused to condemn China's treatment of Uighur Muslims during an interview for a new book.

"I would rather not say at this moment," Trump told the authors.

Trump's own State Department concluded that China was committing genocide against Uighurs.

Former President Donald Trump refused to confirm his own administration's findings that China is brutally abusing Uighur Muslims during an interview with the authors of a new book.

"Where," Trump asked New York Times political reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns during their interview with him for their book "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future."

Trump continued, "I would rather not say at this moment, but I will let you know, maybe before your book."

Trump's hesitation to criticize China isn't new, but it underlines how the president who sparked a trade war between the world's two largest economies will still pull his punches on subjects closely watched by the Chinese Communist Party.

Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton wrote in his 2020 memoir that Trump went so far as to praise the building of determent camps for Uighurs. Trump reportedly made those comments during a private 2019 meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Most of the West has roundly criticized China's treatment of Uighurs, including Trump's own administration. There are about 11 million Uighurs in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. Human rights organizations have documented numerous examples of cruel detainment and re-education efforts aimed at stamping out what Chinese leaders view as religious extremism.

The State Department declared on Trump's last full day in office that China was committing genocide and crimes against humanity.

"I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs by the Chinese party-state," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement at the time.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The U.K. defense secretary warned in an interview published Thursday that Russia could become a cancerous growth within Ukraine as Moscow seeks to expand its control within eastern Ukraine.

Well, I think its certainly the case that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, having failed in nearly all his objectives, may seek to consolidate what hes got  sort of fortify and dig in, as he did in 2014, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News in an interview, referring to Russias annexation of Crimea.

And just be a sort of cancerous growth within the country of Ukraine and make it very hard for people to move from them out of those fortified positions, he continued. So I think its really about if we want this to not happen, we have to help Ukrainians effectively get the limpet off the rock and keep the momentum pushing them back.

Wallaces remarks come as Russia launches a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss this week pushed the West to provide heavy weapons, tanks and airplanes to Ukraine, saying that failure against Putin would have global security consequences.

Leaders of the U.K. and the U.S. have said they are expecting a prolonged conflict in Ukraine, and are committed to supporting Ukraines military for the duration.

President Biden is asking Congress to authorize more than $30 billion in additional security, economic and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, administration officials said Thursday.

U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack alleged on Wednesday during a United Nations meeting that officials had credible evidence that Russian forces were executing civilians.

It was the latest in a long list of war crimes Russia is allegedly committing in Ukraine, with the U.S. and allies expressing particular fear over the human toll in Mariupol, which is largely under Russian control.

There is also increasingly fear that the war could spill into other countries as it drags on.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed in a statement on Wednesday that Russia was also seeking to destabilize the Molodovan breakaway region of Transnistria, saying in a statement They show that if Moldova supports Ukraine, there will be certain steps.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A rental villa on the island of Kea, in Greece

PIETER BRUNDYN/COURTESY OF IN RESIDENCE Villa Lianne, on the Greek island of Kea, is available to rent through In Residence.

The seven-bedroom retreat with a private pool sits just steps from the Atlantic Ocean and the Sea Pines Beach Club on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. A double-height living room and massive kitchen with a marble-topped island give a sense of drama; bunk beds and a basement playroom complete with billiard table make the home perfect for families. And the 4,800-square-foot villa lists for just $680,000.

If it sounds too good to be true, well, it is  sort of. The Red Cardinal, as the property is known, is an offering from Pacaso, which sells vacation-property shares (as little as one-eighth) across the United States and in Spain. So while you can buy your dream escape on Hilton Head for less than a million bucks, you'll have to share it with seven other families who are, like most of us, in desperate need of some downtime.

Pacaso represents the newest  and perhaps most significant  step in the evolution of the vacation-rental business, which has undergone massive change in recent years. As more travelers seek out larger spaces, more privacy, and the blissful sense of freedom that comes with booking a whole home instead of a hotel room, gone are the drab Saturday-to-Saturday rentals of yore. They've been replaced by luxurious retreats with white-glove service and high-end finishes, now out there for anyone seeking an escape, whether they're buying or just renting for a long weekend.

Views from vacation rental homes in France

Courtesy of August Augusts fractional membership options include properties in Chamonix (left) and Provence (right), France.

And escape is indeed what many travelers are after. According to a Travel + Leisure survey of 369 parents with kids under age 18, rest and relaxation was the primary motivation for taking a trip this year. A close second: reconnecting with loved ones.

"After the past couple of years, travelers have really learned to appreciate slowing down and are living more in the moment," says Rossella Beaugie, of the villa agency the Thinking Traveller. The firm, which she cofounded with her husband, Huw, specializes in rentals on European islands, including Corsica, Mallorca, Mykonos, and Sicily. It recently acquired White Key Villas, the Greek luxury rental brokerage, adding dozens more estates to the company's portfolio.

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"Greece is ideal for travelers looking to take it easy, as many of the islands have a slow-living mentality, hidden beaches and walking paths, and secluded villas," Beaugie notes. She says in-demand islands include Tinos, Hydra, Paros, and Syros, "all of which have their own personality."

A guest room in a former monastery in Croatia

PIETER BRUNDYN/COURTESY OF IN RESIDENCE Lopud 1483, a former Franciscan monastery in Croatia, is available to rent through In Residence.

Travelers are also turning to vacation rentals because they typically offer more amenities than a standard-issue hotel room. One recent study by the design studio Gensler found that vacationers rank in-unit kitchens as one of the most coveted features in a place to stay, outranking other pandemic-era must-haves like windows that open and in-room work spaces.

Flexible cancellation policies are equally in demand. "Consumers are looking for the same ease and consistency from rentals that they get from large hospitality brands," says Brian Egan, the CEO of Evolve, a vacation-rental platform. "Expectations have significantly changed during the past two years," Egan adds, noting that five-star customer support is no longer optional.

Tom Ito, Gensler's global hospitality lead, echoes this point: "Hosted rentals can be attractive to some travelers as they can provide the additional level of service, making a stay go from good to great and, in some cases, even exceptional."

Vacation Rentals 2.0: The Agencies to Know

If You're Looking to Cast a Wide Net

Well-known platforms such as Airbnb have zillions of listings, so whittling down the options is a must. Find the best using Airbnb Luxe, where fees include the services of a dedicated trip planner, who can arrange extras like a private chef. Homes & Villas by Marriott International has a growing roster of rentals around the world that promise hotel-caliber amenities and services, including professional cleaning, plus the option to pay with Bonvoy points.

If You Need Next-level Service

Evolve vets every one of the 16,000-plus homes listed on its site and offers 24/7 support in the event something goes wrong. You can also look to advisors, like those on the T+L A-List; they often keep a black book of vacation homes. Zachary Rabinor of Journey Mexico (info@journeymexico.com), for example, often recommends Villa Escondida, a four-bedroom hideaway in Oaxaca. France expert Philip Haslett of Kairos Travel (philip@kairos-travel.com) favors the Lily of the Valley hotel's Villa Pool Suite, a private three-bedroom property less than a mile from the beaches of the Cote d'Azur.

If You Want to Get Close to Nature

WorldMark by Wyndham, recently launched a hiking concierge program. It gives guests who book an apartment-style suite at one of five WorldMark properties near national parks, including Yellowstone and Yosemite, free access to written guides from outdoor-adventure expert Ash Nudd.

The Roellia Villa, in Porto Heli, Greece

Courtesy of The Thinking Traveller The Thinking Traveller portfolio includes the Roellia Villa, in Porto Heli, Greece.

If You Want to Feel Like a Local

In Residence by Pieter Brundyn got its start in Cape Town, but in recent years the portfolio has expanded to include more than 200 villas around the world, including destinations like the Caribbean and Greece. The agency's accommodations are often privately owned primary or secondary homesas opposed to those used only as rentalsso they have a truly residential feel.

If You're Ready to Put Down Roots

Pacaso offers ownership shares of enviable properties in places like the Florida Keys and Maui, plus ski towns across the American West. Prefer to invest without getting locked into just one place? London-based August is another fractional ownership company. Its customers can buy bundled shares of five holiday homes in different parts of Europe. "We wanted to give the opportunity to own multiple homes," says Melie Dunod, August's cofounder and CEO. "We then manage all of the properties, and you access the homes whenever you want through our booking system." Inspirato, which offers a private portfolio of homes to members of its Inspirato Club, launched its own real estate arm in 2021. Those who buy through Inspirato Real Estate can list rental properties with the company while also reserving dates for their own use.

A version of this story first appeared in the May 2022 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline Why Vacation Homes Are Hotter Than Ever.
Ukrainian authorities unveiled their first war crimes charges Thursday against members of Russia's military, as the U.S. and other countries worked behind the scenes to help Kyiv with more than 8,000 criminal investigations connected to potential atrocities in the two-month old war.

The first charges accuse 10 Russian servicemen of holding civilians hostage and mistreating them in Bucha, a Kyiv suburb, in March. Russia's military occupied Bucha for a month, and authorities and witnesses say mass graves and bodies in the streets were found in the town after the Russian withdrawal. Some Bucha residents were found dead with bullet wounds and their hands tied behind their backs.

Ruslan Kravchenko, Bucha's chief prosecutor, said all of the accused were noncommissioned officers and privates from Russia's 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, a unit recently honored by Russian President Vladimir Putin for its commitment to the "motherland and state interests."

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova told USA TODAY that her office is documenting and cataloguing evidence of suspected deliberate bombing of civilian buildings, hospitals and other infrastructure by Russian pilots, as well as mass graves, reports of civilians shot at close range with their hands bound, bodies showing signs of torture and brutal accounts of rape and other forms of sexual violence.

The 10 suspects unveiled Thursday have not been identified by name, though prosecutors published their photos and appealed for information about their identities.

Venediktova's office has published a separate list of Russian officials, ministers, military commanders and propagandists who are under investigation for suspected war crimes.

"The most important thing for our investigations right now is to stop the war," said Venediktova, 43, a former law professor. "It's a huge problem to try to investigate what's happening in somewhere like Mariupol when we don't have access to the territory at all. Or in Kharkiv, where they are under air raid attacks almost every hour. If the Russians had not withdrawn from the Kyiv region, we would not have known about some of the terrible things they did. Russia is doing everything it can to hide what it's done."

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Silenced by poison, bullets, jail: Navalny, Nemtsov and more Putin critics

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, center, and Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Britain's Karim Khan, right, visit a mass grave on the grounds of the Church of Saint Andrew in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on April 13, 2022.

First charges a 'milestone' in probe that could eventually target Putin

War crimes experts, including two top former U.S. ambassadors, said Thursdays announcement is a critically important step in what will undoubtedly become a years-long effort to hold Russia accountable for atrocities committed in Ukraine.

"This is a milestone to have some charges being brought. And I think there will be many more to come, said Clint Williamson, a former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues.

Williamson, who is assisting the Ukraine government on war crimes matters as part of a U.S.-European Union project, said bringing charges against specific individuals is a critical aspect of an overall campaign for accountability that could ultimately include a tribunal for far more senior leaders, including Putin.

"I think it is important for the Ukrainian people to see that progress is being made on investigations and prosecutions, said Williamson.

"It's also potentially important as a deterrent for Russians who might be inclined to commit crimes to see that there actually is some sort of accountability process that's in motion, added Williamson, who is a former war crimes prosecutor himself.

Stephen Rapp, another former war crimes prosecutor and war crimes ambassador, said such charges against suspected front-line perpetrators of violence against civilians are in many ways as important as trying to hold top leadership accountable.

"It basically sends a signal that youre not going to get away with it, that you cannot kill your way out of these things," Rapp said. "This is an effort to show with real hard evidence and real hard law that there are consequences  and that people who are responsible for these crimes can be confronted by their victims and in a fair process be convicted and sent away for the rest of their lives."

Rapp agreed that one benefit of bringing such cases immediately is that it could serve as a deterrent as Russia shifts its assault to the eastern part of Ukraine.

You want to raise the risk, and certainly the perception of risk to the perpetrators, said Rapp.

White House seeks quicker sale of mega-yachts, other seized Russian assets; Biden requests $33B in new aid

Ukrainian prosecutor: 600 suspects on her list

Venediktova said her office oversees about 100 separate Ukrainian teams comprised of investigators, prosecutors, human rights lawyers, and forensic experts and ballistic specialists who have spread out across the country to try to collect evidence where alleged war crimes have taken place, in areas where Russia's military forces have recently withdrawn. She said that all of Ukraine's law enforcement agencies are helping collect evidence.

In all, Venediktova's office has identified about 600 suspects, mostly from the senior ranks of Russia's military hierarchy, though some suspects are junior members who were taken captive by Ukraine as prisoners of war. Ukraine wants to prosecute the majority of the cases in its own courts.

Behind the scenes, the Biden administration is quietly helping Venediktovas team with money and expertise to build her case against the Russian officials on her suspect list, as well as to coordinate with various international organizations that have opened their own probes.

"The U.S. is supporting a range of international investigations into atrocities in Ukraine. This includes those conducted by the International Criminal Court, the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe," U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack said Wednesday during remarks at an informal meeting of the UN Security Council. "The U.S. welcomes the opening of the investigation by the ICC into atrocity crimes committed in Ukraine, and we intend to engage with all stakeholders to achieve our common objectives in ensuring justice."

Venediktova said senior legal advisers from Britain, the European Union and Williamson, Schaack's predecessor, have been in Ukraine since "the first days of the war" to help plan and coordinate investigations and provide foreign expertise. Several European countries including Germany, France and Poland have opened their own criminal investigations into alleged war crimes in Ukraine, as has the International Criminal Court.

She added that Ukraine needs more technical assistance from U.S. software companies such as Microsoft to help process and securely store thousands of digitized victim statements, photos and video clips. There's a "huge mass" of data that needs to be analyzed, managed and protected from potential cyber attacks, she said.

Ukraine's prosecutor's office has established a website where victims and witnesses can submit evidence. And there's a flood of digital information coming in  from witnesses' social media posts, photographs, video and audio recordings  that authorities are trying to sort through and analyze.

Alexa Koenig, executive director of the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, said it could take years to wade through all the evidence. But she said it is critically important to process it as soon as possible, to point investigators to the most important cases  and those that could lead to speedy prosecutions.

Rapp, who is also advising Ukraine on war crimes matters, said Russias aggression against its Western neighbor presents unique challenges  and opportunities  when compared to other conflicts, such as Syria and Myanmar.

In those and other recent cases, the government in power was actively hostile to any sort of accountability process because the leadership was complicit in the crimes. In the case of Ukraine, there is a democratically elected government with robust law enforcement and criminal justice capabilities, as well as the legal authority and mandate to investigate crimes that are occurring on their own territory, Rapp and others said.

U.S. providing money, expertise

So far, the U.S. has provided at least $30 million for accountability efforts in Ukraine, and has "repurposed" potentially tens of millions in other U.S. assistance that had been given to the country for broader purposes, said Williamson.

Rep. Tom Malinowski, a former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the Obama administration, said Congress was just notified that the Biden administration would request another $33 billion in security, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

The U.S. has received high praise for its efforts to help Ukraine, especially with military aid and war crimes prosecutions.

But some experts say the U.S. could do more, and faster, including contributing experienced U.S. federal agents and prosecutors to the effort who have special training in gathering evidence of war crimes and human rights violations.

IA grave digger prepares the ground for a funeral at a cemetery on April 20, 2022 in Irpin, Ukraine.

"We need more (boots) on the ground," Rapp said.

Such on-the-ground assistance could help Ukraine with the nuts-and-bolts of actually gathering evidence and building cases, said Rapp. He said both the FBI and Department of Homeland Security have agents who can travel internationally and do that kind of work, as well as prosecutors who are familiar with what kind of evidence is needed to get convictions.

To that end, the EU recently established a "Joint Investigative Team," which the U.S. government could join  either by deploying people overseas or helping remotely from Washington, Rapp said.

Malinowski, however, said Washington is moving at warp speed in helping Ukraine  and that it plans to do more soon. "This is, I think, by U.S. government standards, an unprecedented and unusually fast and comprehensive assistance effort."

"I'm sure there's more that can be done," the congressman said. "That's why the administration is coming to us with a new supplemental spending request."

Dozens of bodies wait to be buried at a cemetery in Bucha, outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. Ukraines president told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the Russian military must be brought to justice immediately for war crimes, accusing invading troops of the worst atrocities since World War II. He stressed that Bucha was only one place and there are more with similar horrors.

Wayne Jordash, a British international criminal lawyer who has worked on humanitarian cases for the last 20 years and has been working in Ukraine since 2015 on war crimes cases in Crimea and Donbas, said Ukraine is not lacking in strategic advice from foreign lawyers and experts. He said what Ukraine needs now is people on the ground who are willing to go with Venediktova's local prosecutors into the areas where crimes have been committed and work with them.

'It simply doesn't exist anymore': A visual look at the devastation of Mariupol

Jordash is part of an advisory council set up by Venediktova and is in the process of designing a program of "mobile justice units" that will support Ukraine's prosecuting authorities. He said the idea of these units is not to do separate investigations but to "inject expertise and resources" where needed. The flexible and mobile units have been designed to meet that need.

The first of these "mobile justice units" is due to launch within a few weeks, Jordash said, and it will be comprised of leading experts in various fields, from prosecutors to open source investigators,communications experts to forensic specialists.

Jordash said more units will be brought online as the concept is developed and as other places within Ukraine become available to be investigated.

"We need to be alert to the fact, for example, that at some point somewhere like Mariupol is going to need to be investigated, and it's likely to be a complete disaster there. It's going to take a lot of focus," Jordash said, referring to the city where Ukrainian officials say there is evidence of mass graves. Until recently Mariupol had been under near-constant bombardment by Russia. About 100,000 people remain trapped there.

The charges against the 10 Russian servicemen unveiled Thursday accuse them of rounding up civilians, blindfolding them, tying their hands with plastic ties and forcing them to their knees. The victims were threatened with murder and the Russian soldiers deliberately fired shots in their direction. They were also allegedly deprived of food and water. Prosecutors are still building cases against those accused of more serious crimes in Bucha.

Reuters reported this week that Venediktova's office may soon unveil charges, likely against three Russian pilots suspected of bombing civilian buildings, two operators of a rocket launcher suspected of targeting civilian areas and two military personnel suspected of murder and rape. Some of the suspects in these cases were captured by Ukraine's military, while others will be charged in absentia, the wire service reported.

Contributing: Karina Zaiets

More:

Putin claims a win in Mariupol. What does that mean in a war in Ukraine that Russia is losing?

'This fight is not cheap': Biden's biggest aid request yet heads to Congress, along with sanctions plan

U.S. sanctions target Putin's Russian family, but a larger shadow family may remain

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine charges first Russian war crime suspects as Biden sends aid
At the end of this event, the Peruvian Head of State said there is still a long way to go to face common problems such as drug trafficking, indiscriminate logging, crime, poverty, and pollution, among others.

The top official stressed that Peru and Ecuador are united by history, customs, music, as well as the peoples who call on authorities for a solution to their demands.

For his part, the hosting country's President stressed that the meeting in Loja served to address issues of great importance for the strengthening of the bilateral relationship and development in border areas.

Peace agreement

The Ecuadorian Head of State also mentioned the historical importance of the peace agreement between Peru and Ecuador signed in Brasilia in 1998 for bilateral integration and development.

In this regard, Mr. Lasso announced that it is up to both leaders to organize the activities within the framework of the 25th anniversary of the peace treaty, which will be commemorated in 2023.

The neighboring country's top official mentioned that in 2003 he served as the presidential delegate in charge of reviewing the peace agreement, which included the execution of public works and projects.

"() we must contribute our decision and political will so that those works, which have as purpose bringing our border area closer together, are carried out," he expressed.

Los presidentes Pedro Castillo y @LassoGuillermo suscribieron la Declaracion de Loja al culminar el Encuentro Presidencial y XIV Gabinete #BinacionalEcuadorPeru.

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Weather Alert

...FREEZE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM PDT TUESDAY... * WHAT...Overnight temperatures expected to drop into the low to mid 30s with sub-freezing temperatures as low as 30 to 32 in the cold prone areas of these zones. * WHERE...In Washington, Kittitas Valley and Yakima Valley. In Oregon, Foothills of the Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon and Foothills of the Southern Blue Mountains of Oregon. * WHEN...From 2 AM to 8 AM PDT Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Frost and freeze conditions will kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Sensitive plants and vegetation should be protected. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. To prevent freezing and possible bursting of outdoor water pipes they should be wrapped, drained, or allowed to drip slowly. Those that have in-ground sprinkler systems should drain them and cover above- ground pipes to protect them from freezing. &&
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Presidente Pedro Castillo: "Con el presidente @LassoGuillermo reafirmamos la responsabilidad de continuar trabajando por la #integracion de nuestros pueblos, sobre la base de una agenda comun, orientada a lograr el bienestar y desarrollo de las poblaciones de ambos paises".

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The Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) is hosting one of Europes largest international university conferences.

The two-day conference will dedicate a separate session to the war in Ukraine with topics including the consequences of the war to the academic sector and aiding academics and fellows forced to leave the country and their homes.



Other topics include university autonomy, collective thinking and the freedom of learning, BME said in a statement.



The conference is being attended by 400 participants, including 72 university rectors and 96 deputy rectors, it said.
The fresh newsletter for the International Community in Hungary - described by readers as a "Great read each week" - is now available for your interest and use via the link below.

You can see the new edition of the Xpat E-Magazine here:

xpatloop.com/newsletters/2022/29-april.html



1. For your interest there's an essential selection of News, Information & Inspiration:

E.g. New Panoramic Air Balloon Service will Start in Budapest's City Park from May 1st.



2. Plus there are new Movies in Budapest, fresh Special features, and What's On highlights:

See below to widen your horizons (even further) at a local gig / dance / theatre performance.



3. Finally here's an update about the St. George's International Community Event on Saturday:

Ticket sales via Funcode end this Friday at 4pm - or earlier once the last few tickets are reserved.

Join in for a great variety of live English music by The Vibe + cheese, wine & many charity prizes!



Now here's hoping you enjoy what's in it for you below.

Yours with kind regards & best wishes, Team XpatLoop



Photo: 'The first sunrays in the Vajdahunyad Castle' - courtesy of Krenn Imre Photography



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Shortcut Links:



Latest News / Interviews / Directory / Calendar / New Movies / Sponsorship



Notes:



You're in good company together with thousands of expat readers + high-level locals = a cosmopolitan group of internationally-minded folks, known as the Xpat Community.



Feedback:



Your feedback is always welcome. Here are a few examples:



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"Two thumbs up on XpatLoop's website and newsletter. A really great resource for us expats. Easy to navigate and loads of excellent ideas on what's on in Budapest, plus activities for the weekend. Keep up the good work!"



Sandra Knibbs, Principal at Dance Craze Academy:

"XpatLoop - great work informing us about the most compelling events in the city!"



Ephie Christodoulides, Client Manager at KPMG:

"I just wanted to say thank you for all the work you are doing on the site".



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"As a fellow expat here in Hungary, I thought to say how great XpatLoop is for the community as a whole."



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Thanks to XpatLoop for an excellent working relationship of over 20 years!



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Thank you for your important service during these troubling times.



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Just a short note of deep appreciation to you all at XpatLoop. At these difficult and potentially solitary times your mailings are doing a wonderful job at keeping us expats in the loop, and ensuring that we still feel part of the vibrant community which is Budapest.



Rough Guide To Budapest, the most knowledgeable & entertaining guidebook:

"for Arts & Entertainment: The best online listings are provided by XpatLoop.com"



Lonely Planet, the worlds largest guide book publisher:

"XpatLoop: What the foreign community in Budapest is thinking and talking about.
YORK  A man who set himself and a bathroom on fire, inside a traveling bus on Interstate 80 in York County, has pleaded not guilty to six felonies.

Aaron Ray, 34, of Brunswick, Georgia, appeared for arraignment this past week in York County District Court.

This case began in late February when a deputy with the York County Sheriffs Department received a call for service on the interstate, at mile marker 358 (two miles west of the Waco exit) regarding a fire on a transport bus.

According to court documents, when the deputy arrived, all the passengers on the bus had already been evacuated and were standing in the ditch. The driver immediately pointed to Ray as the person that started the fire in the bus.

As I approached Mr. Ray, the passengers of the bus all started screaming that he was trying to kill everyone on the bus, the deputy says in the affidavit he filed with the court. Given these reasons, I placed Mr. Ray in handcuffs and told him he was being detained until the investigation could be completed. I noticed Mr. Ray had minor burns on his arms from the fire.

The deputy called for an ambulance so Mr. Ray could be examined.

Mr. Ray kept stating he did in fact start the fire but believed that people were trying to hurt him, so he was trying to defend himself, the deputys report says.

Another deputy arrived on scene and during a search of Rays person, deputies found five used syringes, two plastic bags containing methamphetamine and a lighter.

Meanwhile, a passenger on the bus had used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire in the bathroom on the bus. The bathroom was filled with smoke and still smoldering. A few passengers told the deputies Ray had been in the bathroom of the bus for almost 30 minutes when they observed smoke coming from the bathroom. They said he came out of the bathroom on fire and the bathroom was engulfed in flames.

The affidavit also says Ray told deputies he was paranoid from the drugs he had taken earlier and he said he started his clothes and some tissues on fire, in the bathroom. He also said he was injecting the meth into his body with syringes.

Ray was transported to York General Hospital for medical clearance before he was taken to the York County Jail.

He pleaded not guilty to three counts of terroristic threats, all Class 3A felonies; possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony; third degree arson with a value of more than $1,500, a Class 4 felony; and criminal mischief with a value of more than $5,000, a Class 4 felony.

A jury trial has been scheduled for Aug. 23.
YORK  A driver who decided to recline while driving 74 mph on Interstate 80 in York County has been sentenced to jail time for possession of controlled substances with the intent to deliver.

The case began when a trooper with the Nebraska State Patrol was on patrol on the interstate. The affidavit filed with the court says the trooper was in the passing lane and next to a vehicle driven by Garey L. Howze, 23, of Minneapolis, Minn. The trooper first saw Howze sitting upright in the driver seat and then he saw him lean the drivers seat back while traveling at a fast rate of speed.

Following the drivers reclining, the vehicle slowed to 72 mph and continued eastbound, moving toward the shoulder line several times.

Howzes vehicle exited the interstate at York and the trooper approached the driver at a gas station in York.

The affidavit, filed by the trooper, says Howze became hesitant about answering questions regarding where he was coming from and to where he was headed.

A drug service dog alerted to the presence of a controlled substance in Howzes vehicle and a probable cause search was done. During that search, troopers found a white trash bag holding six heat-sealed bags of marijuana with the product weighing more than five pounds.

Howze was initially charged with possession with intent to deliver, a Class 2A felony; possession of more than one ounce of marijuana, a Class 4 felony; and having no drug tax stamp. Those were amended to one count of attempt of a Class 4 felony, which is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

This week, he was sentenced by Judge James Stecker to 30 days in jail and he was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $7,600.
A car owner has been fined Rs 500 by Kerala Traffic Police for not wearing a helmet properly -- an amusing incident but a problem for the person affected as he now has to approach the authorities to get the error corrected. In an apparent goof-up by the Kerala Traffic Police, Ajith A, who owns only a Maruti Alto car, received an unpleasant surprise recently -- a challan of Rs 500 for "driving or causes or allows a motorcycle to be driven by wearing a protective headgear not securely fastened to the head of the wearer (helmet) (chin strap)."

This is what the challan dated December 7, 2021, stated and as proof of the same, the challan shows two people riding a bike with the pillion rider not wearing a helmet.

Also read: 2022 Kawasaki Ninja 300 launched in India at Rs 3.37 lakh, gets new colours

At the same time, the challan also indicates that the vehicle class is a 'motor car' and the registration number is that of Ajith's car -- KL21D9877. The goof-up seems to have occurred as the registration of the motorbike, the image of which is attached to the challan appears to be KL21D9811.

Ajith, however, said that he has decided to file a complaint with the Motor Vehicles Department to address the issue. When contacted, police said it could be the result of a clerical or typographical error when the registration number was being entered into the system.

(With inputs from PTI)
New Delhi: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal expressed his desire that startups must incorporate in India and list in India and not move to tax havens. He also urged them to approach the government if they face any issues and assured that it would strive to resolve problems.

Addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)- Global Unicorn Summit- Shaping 1,000 Unicorns by 2030 in New Delhi, Goyal stressed that instances of fudging revenues, data fraud, tax evasions and other malpractices have to be curbed at an early stage or it would kill the entrepreneurial spirit of young startups and have a very damaging effects to the startup ecosystem. (Also read: Zero Defect Zero Effect scheme for MSMEs launched, additional subsidy for women entrepreneurs)

Goyal has called for more transparency and the setting up of better standards and benchmarks and more self-regulation in the starup ecosystem. He asked startups to think in long-term, in order to create sustainable wealth for ourselves and society.

He also emphasised on further strengthening of ethics and corporate governance norms in startups. (Also read: Inside Shark Tank India judge Namita Thapars home: Lush green balcony, plush interiors and more)

The Minister said that Venture Capitalists must also promote and protect Intellectual Property created by young entrepreneurs, provide expertise to scale-up and explore greater capital infusion. He expressed hope that Indian Intellectual Property would benefit the world but asked that India be the primary beneficiary these innovations. Reiterating the Prime Ministers clarion called of vocal for local, and local to global, Shri Goyal said that there could be nobody better than our startups to realize both these mantras.

Terming cyber security and data privacy as pressing issues faced by the global economy as digitization rose, Shri Goyal noted that India's consumer digital economy is worth approximately USD 100 billion and is expected to become a USD 800 billion market by 2030. He spoke of the persistent need to ensure that the enormous data collected by digital technology platforms is safeguarded.

Speaking of the tech revolution that Indian economy has been witnessing, with unicorns emerging in Fintech, Edtech, Healthtech,

e-Commerce and media among other sectors, the Minister reminded that within 2-3 months of Startup India Global VC Summit 2019, National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC) was formulated, which, he said, had done a stellar job in promotion innovation and startups.

Goyal stressed that Indian startups are now offering some outstanding, high-quality solutions to the modern problems faced by society. He cited examples of Qure.ai, the Mumbai-based Startup that uses deep learning algorithms to interpret X-rays and CT scans in seconds and Bengaluru based CropIn Technology which provides one-stop SaaS based solutions to farmers - real time weather updates and predicts crop yields.

Speaking of the need to encourage startups whose business model is based on high tech innovation in engineering, defence or significant scientific advances, the Minister said that technology makes the impossible, possible! With rise of digital commerce metaverse new opportunities for the users and providers to connect will be unlocked, he said and asked for the metaverse to be leveraged to boost trade and commerce.

He opined that in Indias bid to become Aatmanirbhar in energy and defence, there was a lot of white space which can be filled by startups, thus reducing our dependence on imports. Space is another avenue in which Government is encouraging private players to explore collaboration with ISRO, he added.

Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Minister said Don't just keep your dreams local, make them Global and added that many of Indias startups were already venturing out beyond the borders of India and making a mark for themselves in both emerging economies and developed world by being scalable and affordable. Asking the nation to buy from startups and encourage B2B procurement from startups, the Shri Goyal said that startups must also be stimulated by subscribing to their IPOs and giving them access to domestic capital.
New Delhi: Hollywood starlet Monica Bellucci whose action-thriller film 'Memory' co-starring Liam Neeson, Guy Pearce and Taj Atwal among others released on Friday (April 29) recently spoke about her 'crazy' role in the film, getting to know her 'Taken' co-star Liam Neeson and the experience of aging.

In a chat with WION, the 57-year-old actress spoke about her role as Davana Sealman, a philanthropist and businesswoman involved in crimes.

She said, "I was excited to play this role. I have not played many where I am the antagonist. There are some aspects of Davanas life where she is a good human being, but theres other times where she is a monster. Playing this duality interested me. For this role, I wanted to break the mould in which I have been cast most of my life. I gained some weight and the lighting and makeup also contributed to the creation of this new type of character for me."

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE:

Monica expressed she had a great time working with renowned star Liam Neeson as he is 'full of emotions' and 'incredibly deep'.

Speaking about him, she said, "He is full of emotions. He is a man who is incredibly deep. We talked about so many things. He is very human. I felt someone so sensitive and delicate, and I liked talking to him very much. I think it is beautiful to have a human relationship with people who you work with."

In the trailer of the film 'Memory', Monica's character Davana tries to delay aging and live upto 135 years. The Italian diva said that she doesn't relate to Davana as she believes aging is a good thing.

Personally, she said, it 'opened up new opportunities' for her to play novel characters. "Playing Davana Sealman in Memory was a key to a new door for me to open," she said,

The film 'Memory' directed by Martin Campbell released in theatres on April 29.
Srinagar: Former Chief Minister of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah questioned that if the situation is normal as claimed by the government, then why Shab-e-Qadr, Jumat-Ul-Vida prayers are barred at the historic Jamia Masjid.

Portraying tourist arrivals as normalcy wont do, government must explain if this deliberate interference in religion or situation is bad, the NC leader said.

Omar asked, On one hand, the government claims the situation was normal, why Jumat-Ul-Vida and Shab-e-Qadr prayers have been disallowed at the historic Jamia Masjid.

He said that linking tourist arrivals with normalcy wont do. Tourism cant be linked with normalcy. Either it is artificial normalcy or the one being portrayed by the government itself. The fact is that the situation is far from normal, he added.

The former J&K CM further said, "The accession was not a mistake. I do not believe India has irrevocably adopted this path. But it is a matter of concern. When you have processions outside mosques and there are slogans of (if you want to live in this country, you will have to chant Jai Shri Ram), what do you think people will feel."

Bashing the Center as well as TV Anchors on bulldozing property issue, Junior Abdullah said " I am sorry, but when bulldozers are run over the houses of Muslims and television channel anchors are shouting that we might have to import bulldozers, what do you think people will feel when news anchors on top of those bulldozers ask them why only a wall was destroyed and why not the full building. He said they should be impartial but the act as partial"?

Over the issue of one country and one language, Omar said, India is too diverse to have one national language. When you pick up a currency note gives space to all the languages. It's understood that we are more than one language and more than one religion, why should there be a national language' I do not think a place like India needs a national language, we do not need a national religion."

Meanwhile, Peoples alliance for Gupkar declaration (PAGD) spokesmen M Y Tarigami in a statement said, "Administrations directive not to allow prayers on Shab-e-Qadr, Jumat-Ul-Vida at historic Jamia Masjid Srinagar unacceptable.

Tarigami added, "Since it amounts to direct interference in the people's religious matters, the move is unacceptable and reprehensible."

PAGD urges the government to reconsider its decision forthwith and allow the people to offer prayers, Tarigami said.

Earlier authorities have asked the managing body of the Jamia Masjid, not to offer prayers on Shab-e-Qadar and Jumat-Ul-Vida, the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.

Reacting to the statement of Omar and PAGD and other politicians about the ban of prayers at Jamia Masjid, Jammu and Kashmir police too issued a statement saying there were inputs and we had apprehension about the law-and-order problem.

A top police official said that they had received credible inputs that some fringe elements may cause disruptions and resort to law-and-order problems at the historic Jamia Masjid on the eve of Shab-e-Qadr and Jumat-Ul-Vida prayers.

Keeping in view the inputs, a decision to close the masjid temporarily was taken, the official said, that after 3 pm Friday (Jumat-Ul-Vida), people are yet again free to offer prayers at the masjid.
New Delhi: After winning in the recently concluded Assembly polls in the four states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to execute a detailed action plan for the Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections scheduled next year.

The BJP will execute a detailed action plan from May 5 to May 20 in the state to strengthen the party for the Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections scheduled to be held in 2023, said an ANI report citing party sources.

The core leaders of the Chhattisgarh BJP reportedly held an important meeting with party national president JP Nadda and party national general secretary BL Santosh in the national capital on Thursday. It was attended by former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, BJP state president Vishnu Dutt among other leaders.

The party sources have understood to have said that discussions were held regarding the execution of a detailed action plan from May 5 to May 20.

"As per this plan, vistaraks (observers) will be sent to all the Shakti Kendras of the state. There are more than 4,500 Shakti Kendras in the state. Each Shakti Kendra includes 5-7 booths. All vistaraks will carry out the election preparations at these booths in 15 days," sources told ANI.

They further revealed that after that the party is also preparing to hold protests on various issues including unemployment allowance in the state in the presence of the party`s Yuva Morcha. The party is also chalking out a plan for the same, sources added.

Sources further told that instructions were given to strengthen the party at the booth level during the meeting. The 2018 Chhattisgarh Assembly elections were held in two phases on November 12, 2018, and the second on November 20, 2018.

In 2018, Congress in Chhattisgarh Assembly polls won 68 of the total 90 seats. The BJP was reduced to only 15 seats while the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh Jogi-Bahujan Samaj Party (JCCJ-BSP) combine won seven seats.

(With Agency Inputs)
NEW DELHI: Amid the fourth wave scare in the country, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) on Friday approved Serum Institute of India's Covid-19 vaccine Covovax for the 12-17 age group, news agency ANI quoted sources as saying.

NTAGI approves Serum Institute of India's Covovax for the 12-17 age group: Sources #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/v84yzEAEMA  ANI (@ANI) April 29, 2022

It may be noted that last month, an expert panel of the countrys central drug authority had recommended granting emergency use authorisation (EUA) to Covovax for the 12-17 age group.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved Covovax for restricted use in an emergency situation in adults on December 28. Earlier on February 21, the Serum Institute of India had submitted an application to the DCGI seeking EUA for Covovax for the 12 to 17 years age group.

The Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) then deliberated on SIIs application and recommended granting EUA to Covovax.

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla recently said that Covovax for children will be sold for the same price of Rs 225 in the private market if it's included in the government's vaccination program.

Poonawalla had said that Covovax has been approved by DCGI and we're waiting for GoI to allow us to put it on CoWIN app to make it available to everyone.
YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. A conscripted serviceman died after sustaining a gunshot wound at a military base Thursday evening, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

The Ministry of Defense said that according to preliminary data 20-year-old Private Samvel Sanoyan was shot by one of his comrades.

Authorities did not say whether or not the shooting was intentional or accidental.

Private Sanoyan died while being transported to a hospital. An investigation is underway to reveal the circumstances of the incident, the Ministry of Defense said.
Amritsar: The unmasking of an educated woman in a space which is traditionally ascribed to men itself explains the prevailing dangerous trend among young girls in going to any length in pursuit of realizing their materialistic needs.

The arrest of an MSc Biotech student of Khalsa College Lovepreet Kaur by the sleuths of Counter Intelligence (CI) in a smuggling case along with her two male accomplices from Amritsar is a warning or tip of an iceberg of the dangerous but hidden trend that has raised many an eyebrow.

Till her arrest by CI on April 28, Lovepreet Kaur, a resident of Kotkapura, was just another young girl going to college for higher studies to boost her professional career but the preliminary investigations by CI revealed how she was perilously close to becoming the notorious smuggler of the future.

Kaur along with cousin brothers Deepak Rai and Mehak Rai, both residents of border village Mahawa, were arrested by CI along with 6 kg of heroin during a raid conducted by CI at a flat rented by Lovepreet Kaur and Deepak Rai who lived in a live-in relationship near Amritsar, informed Assistant Inspector General, CI, Surinder Singh.

The value of seized drugs is claimed to be around Rs 42 crore in the international market.

However, police were yet to get into details of the extent of her involvement in the smuggling operation during the three days of police remand given by the court.

The principal of Khalsa College Dr. Mehal Singh said they had an MSc Biotech student by the name Lovepreet Kaur but said he was not sure whether it was the same Lovepreet Kaur who was arrested by police.

But the moot question is how many more smuggler educated young girls like Lovepreet are allegedly involved in the smuggling of drugs or in its transportation all along the Indo Pak international border spanning around 553 km in Punjab?

Police maintain that it is a matter of investigation but will the statistics of underground cross-border smuggling of drugs and its transportation be ever revealed even as there is no formal data source that could provide the engagement of women smugglers to understand the prevailing situation and take corrective measures?
New Delhi: With 3,377 new Covid-19 infections being reported in the last 24 hours, India's total tally of cases rose to 4,30,72,176, according to Union health ministry data updated on Friday (April 29, 2022).

Indias death toll has climbed to 5,23,753 with 60 daily fatalities today. The active cases further increased to 17,801 in the country.

COVID-19 | India reports 3,377 fresh cases, 2,496 recoveries and 60 deaths in the last 24 hours. Active cases 17,801 pic.twitter.com/wkaLxHxjPn  ANI (@ANI) April 29, 2022

The country also reported 2,496 recoveries in a day. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has increased to 42530622, while the case fatality rate has been recorded at 1.22 per cent.

ALSO READ | These states make wearing face masks compulsory amid rising Covid-19 cases

An increase of 821 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The ministry also informed that the active cases comprise 0.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.74 per cent.

The daily positivity rate was recorded as 0.71 per cent and the weekly positivity rate as 0.63 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered under the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 188.65 crore on Friday at 8 am.

The last 24 hours saw a total of 4,73,635 Covid-19 tests being conducted in the country.

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New Delhi: A police complaint was filed by those residing near Bhalswa landfill site here against the North Delhi Municipal Corporation in connection with a fire raging at the dumping yard since the last four days.

The residents filed the complaint at Bhalswa Dairy police station, demanding legal action against North Delhi Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh, Deputy Mayor Archana Dilip Singh and North MCD standing committee vice-chairman Vijay Kumar Bhagat.

In the complaint letter, the locals said the smoke emitting from the fire at the landfill site has been posing a risk to their lives.

"The fire that has been raging since the last four days has been posing health risk for the residents in Bhalswa. Residents of Bhalswa are not being able to breathe. The smoke is causing major health problems, especially for the elderly and the children," the complaint copy mentioned.

Firefighters struggled to douse the fire at the site for the fourth straight day on Friday.

Meanwhile, Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal issued summons to the North MCD commissioner over the incident and sought details about steps taken by the civic body to clear up the site.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has also slapped a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) for being negligent and not taking proper steps to prevent the fire at the Bhalswa landfill.
New Delhi: The Delhi University on Thursday (April 28, 2022) issued guidelines for the "centenary chance" exam for drop-out students, stating eligible candidates can appear for a maximum of four papers in the annual mode and up to eight papers for semester-wise tests.

The portal for the registration of interested candidates will open from May 1, the university said.

The drop-out students have been given this one-time chance in view of the Delhi University's year-long centenary celebrations starting May 1.

In March, Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh had announced that DU students who dropped out would be given a "centenary chance" to complete their studies and get their degrees.

A proposal for this was approved at a special Executive Council meeting on January 28 held to discuss the centenary celebrations of the university.

The guidelines issued by Registrar Vikas Gupta state that undergraduate and postgraduate students and those pursuing professional courses, who have completed their course work and statutory requirement prescribed for completion of the course, will be considered for the centenary chance.

However, M.Phil and PhD students, who could not complete their degrees, will not be considered for this chance, the guidelines stated.

The eligible candidates can appear for a maximum of four papers for the annual mode of exam and up to eight papers for the semester scheme.

The examination will be conducted tentatively during October this year and March next year through physical mode. It will be held for theory and practical examination, and not for internal assessment, the university stated.

The university informed that the students while applying for "centenary chance" need to provide the details and documents as required.

"Failing to provide the details/documents, as required, may lead to non-consideration of his/her candidature in the Centenary Chance examination.

"Further, it will entail no right for the students to claim any relief in any forum on this count," the guidelines stated.

The examination fee will be Rs 2,000 per paper.

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New Delhi: A local court in Assams Barpeta district on Friday (April 29) granted bail to Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani in the case of alleged assault on a policewoman.

Anghsuman Bora, lawyer of Jignesh Mevani told ANI that Mevani is likely to be released on April 30 owing to some formalities.

The Gujarat MLA was remanded to five days of police custody by Barpeta's chief judicial magistrate on April 26 for "voluntarily causing hurt", "criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty" and "force on a woman cop intending to outrage her modesty".

Mevani was first arrested on April 20 and granted bail later in connection with his tweets on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Gujarat leader was arrested by an Assam police team from Palanpur town in Gujarat. Soon after his bail in the tweets case, on Monday (April 25) he was rearrested on different charges, including "outraging the modesty of a lady police officer".

The Gujarat legislator was arrested for his tweets on the PM following a complaint filed against him by Assam BJP leader Arup Kumar Dey, seeking action against Mevani under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), section 153(A) (promoting enmity between two communities), 295(A), and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and sections of the IT Act.

The Assam state Congress unit had protested against the arrest of Mevani, an independent MLA, who had extended his support to the grand old party in September 2019.

(With agency inputs)
A magistrate's court here on Friday rejected Independent Amravati MP Navneet Rana and her husband and MLA Ravi Rana's applications seeking home food in prison. The couple were arrested last Saturday after they gave a call to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence 'Matoshree' here.

The Ranas eventually dropped their plan, but were arrested by the police and booked for sedition and `promoting enmity between different groups'. They are currently in judicial custody. While Navneet Rana is lodged in Byculla prison, her husband is in Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.

The couple's bail applications would come up for hearing in the sessions court on Saturday.
Amid reports of thermal power plants in several North Indian states already reeling from soaring temperatures and heatwaves, there is some good news for Haryana as the electricity commission has given a nod to the state government to purchase additional electricity from other states.

Haryana will now take additional power from Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and other sources to meet the consumption said state Power Minister Ranjeet Singh.

"We will tackle the situation within a week. 1200-1400 MW additional power would be taken from Adani. Power consumption has increased. Further, 350 MW of additional power would be taken from Chhattisgarh and 150 MW from Madhya Pradesh," the Minister told ANI.

However, it has been reported that the power commission has pulled up the Haryana government for the poor planning of the crisis and reiterated that such demands of additional supply must be made in advance in the future,

Thermal power plant closed in Haryana

Power Minister Singh further said a unit of the thermal power plant has been closed for technical issues.

"A unit of a thermal power plant had been closed. Its router had to be changed. It has to be brought from China. It could not happen during COVID due to the lockdown in China. The replacement will be completed soon," added Haryana Power Minister.

Power shortage in Delhi

Meanwhile, the Delhi government, which is also experiencing a power crisis, has expressed its concern over the possible shortage of coal in power plants that supply electricity to the national capital.

Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain held an emergency meeting at Delhi Secretariat in this context on Thursday and also wrote a letter to the Central Government requesting its intervention so as to provide enough coal for the power plants supplying electricity to the national capital.

Centre on power crisis

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Thursday that the country`s thermal plants hold about 22 million tonnes of coal which is enough for 10 days and replenishment will be done continuously.

The minister referred to thermal plants not working to their full capacity due to the surge in prices of imported coal.

He said the power ministry has given requisite directions to the thermal power plants.

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Indian Navy Recruitment 2022: Indian Navy has called for the offline application to fill the role of Pharmacist, Fireman and Pest Control Worker. The application needs to be submitted in offline mode on or before June 26, 2022.

A total of 127 posts will be filled by the Indian Navy under this recruitment programme. Candidates can check registration, application, important dates and other details at the official website of the Indian Navy- joinindiannavy.gov.in or scroll down.

Indian Navy Recruitment 2022: Vacancy details

Fireman - 120 Posts

Pest Control Worker (Erstwhile Begary) - 6 Posts

Pharmacist - 1 Post

Indian Navy Recruitment 2022: Last Date to apply

The last date to apply is June 26, 2022

Indian Navy Recruitment 2022: Eligibility criteria

For Pharmacist posts - Candidates should have passed class 10th from a recognized board

Pest Control Worker (Erstwhile Begary) - 10th passed from a recognized Board; Ability to read, speak Hindi/Regional Language.

For Fireman posts- Candidates should have passed matric from a recognized Board.

Candidates must pass a specified physical test.

Height without shoes 165 cms provided that a concession of 2.5 cms height shall be allowed for members of the IST.

Chest (Unexpanded)- 81.5 CMs and on expansion should be 85 cms.

The minimum required weight to apply is 50 kg.

Indian Navy Recruitment 2022: Age-limit

Age should not exceed 56 years

Indian Navy Recruitment 2022: Selection Process

Candidates will be selected on the basis of the Physical Fitness Test, Provisional Appointment Letter, and Document Verification.

Indian Navy Recruitment 2022: How to apply

Go to the official website of the Indian Navy- joinindiannavy.gov.in

On the homepage, look for career selection and click on the relevant link

Download the form and take its printout

Fill out the form, attach a picture and send the same to the address mentioned below

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As a war of words between Jharkhand's ruling JMM and opposition BJP continues over Chief Minister Hemant Soren's alleged office of profit case, legal experts claimed that in the light of earlier Supreme Court verdicts, it is unlikely that he will be disqualified as an MLA.

The chief minister, who was accused of violating a provision of the Representation of the People Act, is currently not in Jharkhand and speculations are rife that he is consulting lawyers.

Governor Ramesh Bais also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi earlier this week but what transpired in those meetings is not known.

Following the BJP's allegation that Soren, while heading the mining department, allotted a stone chips mining lease to himself in 2021 flouting office of profit norms, Bais sent the party's representation to the Election Commission under Article 192 of the Constitution.

The Article authorises the governor to decide on disqualifying an elected member of the state Assembly on the poll panel's opinion.

While the EC has sought from the government documents related to the mining lease allocation, the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) threw its weight behind the CM saying no rule was broken as the allocation was cancelled.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Ashok Ganguly told PTI that it is unlikely that the CM will be disqualified under Section 9A of the Representation of Peoples' Act, 1951 in view of three judgments of the apex court.

Under that section, a contract has to be made for the supply of goods or the execution of any work undertaken by the government. A constitution bench of the Supreme Court in 1964 in the case of CVK Rao vs Dentu Bhaskara Rao has held that a mining lease does not amount to a contract of supply of goods," he said.

In 2001, a three-judge bench of the apex court in the case of Kartar Singh Bhadana vs Hari Singh Nalwa & others also made it clear that a mining lease does not amount to execution of a work undertaken by the government, Justice (retd) Ganguly said.

"Kartar Singh's case has been relied upon in a subsequent Supreme Court judgment also,? he said.

Even if the CM is disqualified by any authority, he can challenge it in the high court and in that case, as per a Supreme Court order, the adjudication has to be completed within four months, the former judge said.

Under Article 164 (4), one person can be a minister for six months without being a member, he said.

Senior Supreme Court advocate Ajit Sinha said it has to be proved that the chief minister held an office of profit.

The governor's report is being examined by the Election Commission under the office of profit norms. If the decision goes against him (CM), he has a right to challenge it," Saha told PTI.

BJP national vice-president and former chief minister Raghubar Das had on Monday demanded the resignation of Soren, his successor, accusing him of misusing power.

Das had made the office of profit allegation against the CM in February. The BJP called on the governor earlier this month and Bais sent its representation to the EC.

A JMM delegation also met Bais, submitted a memorandum on the saffron party's ?misdeeds? and urged him to send it too to the EC.

Senior JMM legislator Sudivya Kumar, who was a member of the delegation, said the CM in his election affidavit in 2014 and 2019 had mentioned the lease.

He did not conceal anything. The lease has been surrendered too," Kumar said.

A PIL is pending in the High Court of Jharkhand in the office of profit issue against Soren.

If legislators hold an ?office of profit' under the government, they might be susceptible to government influence, and may not discharge their constitutional mandate fairly. The rules were framed so that there is no conflict between the duties and interests of an elected member.
YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. The number one beneficiary of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement is Artsakh and the people of Artsakh, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said at a meeting with President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan and Artsakh Cabinet members in Yerevan.

PM Pashinyan said that the Government of Armenia has always attached importance to informing the Government of Artsakh on the negotiations around the NK conflict, the content and course, challenges and opportunities, and that this principle will be preserved.

The number one beneficiary of the NK settlement is Artsakh and the people of Artsakh, and therefore any content that would be negotiated and implemented covertly is illogical and it is impossible to imagine such thing, Pashinyan said.

PM Pashinyan praised President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyans recent statement that the authorities of Artsakh are also adopting the peace agenda. The agenda of peace is not an agenda of defeat. The agenda of peace is an agenda of overcoming the disaster of the war and the following difficulties and guaranteeing the security and rights and future of the people. As a result of cruel, difficult work I see the sequence of steps that should lead us to this destination that we are talking about, that being the guarantee of the security and rights of the people of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh, the PM said.

The PM highlighted that Artsakhis should live in Artsakh, consider themselves Artsakhis and Armenians.

A huge part of our joint work concerns the socio-economic sector and it is principled for us that people live in Artsakh and feel themselves safe in Artsakh. I am sure that we are on the right track and I am happy that the authorities of Artsakh share this agenda, Pashinyan said.
New Delhi: Amid the tactical firing at the security forces camps in Chhattisgarh over the last 10 days, the intelligence agencies have sounded an alert that the Maoists may execute a bigger attack in the state, reported IANS.

Sources quoting the intelligence inputs said that the homegrown ultras have initiated more than 10 incidents of firing and shelling at the security forces` camps, the latest being on the CRPFs Milpa and Amalgunda camps in Chhattisgarh.

Sources also said that the Maoists may be planning to execute a bigger attack on the security forces in coming weeks.

"The Maoists are currently running the Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC) in Chhattisgarh. They do it from March to June with the purpose to evaluate the strategy of the security forces and inflicting major damage to the security forces.

"The security forces are fully alert in Chhattisgarh and neighbouring states and we are also aware of their TCOC. We will not let them go free once caught in an encounter," a source in the security forces deployed in the Maoist area, said.

According to the information received from the security forces in Chhattisgarh, the Maoist have fired intermittently at night with grenade launchers from a distance to make their presence felt in the area. "This way, they also want to give a message to the local population that they are still strong and can attack the security forces at will, this is an old mind game of these ultras," a senior officer of the Chhattisgarh Police said.

The Potakapali camp of the CRPF in Sukma (Chhattisgarh) was targeted by the Maoists last Monday. They fired at the camp but later fled when the CRPF commandos retaliated with heavy firing.

The officials deployed in the operation areas said the Maoists start firing between 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. or in the wee hours and then flee from the spot when the security forces retaliate. The operational camps of the CRPF, ITBP, BSF and SSB have been hit by fire in the last ten days, they added.

The officials said that this intermittent firing at the forces` camps is done to provoke them to come out of the fortified areas of the camps. But all the personnel have been directed to strictly follow the standard operative procedures during such incidents.

In any case, the security personnel are not allowed to go out of the base camp until they have been asked to do so by the commanders during such firing incidents. The officials said that the Maoists' footprint is decreasing in Chhattisgarh; however, they are still dominating in some parts of Bastar. The forces deployed there are fully alert and counter operations against them have been prepared, said the officials.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually inaugurate the Global Patidar Business Summit (GPBS), organized by Sardardham today. Prime Minister will inaugurate the summit at 12 noon. The summit is being held at Surat.

Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said that the summit is aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship and value creation among the youth.

At 12 noon tomorrow, 29th April, will inaugurate the Global Patidar Business Summit via video conferencing. This Summit is being held in Surat and is aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship and value creation among the youth. https://t.co/0yVVlxqYnv  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 28, 2022

According to Prime Minister`s Office (PMO), the Sardardham is organizing GPBS under `Mission 2026` to provide an impetus to the socio-economic development of the Patidar community.

The Summit is organized every two years. The first two Summits were held in Gandhinagar in 2018 and 2020, and the current Summit is now being held in Surat.

The main theme of GPBS 2022 is "Aatmanirbhar Community to Aatmanirbhar Gujarat and India".

As per the PMO, the Summit aims to bring together small, medium and large enterprises within the community; nurture and support new entrepreneurs and provide training and employment assistance to the educated youth.

The three-day Summit, being organized from April 29 to May 1, covers various aspects of government industrial policy, MSMEs, start-ups, and innovation among others.
Bhubaneswar: The controversy over the Puri Heritage Corridor project further intensified after Congress Legislature Party Leader Narasingha Mishra expressed concern over the "massive" construction close to the Shree Jagannath Temple. Mishra expressed concern over the project a day after BJP Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi questioned transparency in the entire work being carried out by the state government for making Puri an international heritage site.

The CLP leader, a member of the Odisha Assembly Committee formed to inspect the construction in the restricted zone of the 12th-century national monument, said this on Thursday after personally visiting the shrine and inspecting the works.

He said there is utter confusion as the BJP MP has alleged that there is no permission from the Archaeological Survey of India for the work and an RTI activist also claimed that the state did not get the required nod from the ASI.

The state government on the other hand claimed that no rule is violated in the implementation of the project. Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra has made a public statement saying that the work is being done in "coordination" with the ASI.

Even as the state government claimed that it was constructing some toilets, cloakroom and other devotee amenities, Mishra said: "I found foundation has been laid for massive construction. Though I am not an expert, it appears that foundation work is made to raise five to ten storied buildings near the temple boundary wall, which is much within the prohibited zone and required ASI's permission..."

Mishra said that no work can be done without the permission of the ASI. The Congress leader also said that the House Committee formed for the corridor project to inspect the work has not yet visited the place. "I heard Speaker saying that the House committee was considering whether it can inspect the matter which is under sub-judice of the high Court. As of my knowledge, there is no such restriction on the House Committee," he said.

The Congress leader said his party was not opposed to development, but no such work is being done by violating law of the land.

Meanwhile, Puri BJP MLA Jayanta Sarangi said: "I support the issues raised by BJP MP. We want development. But it should be done as per the law."

"BJP has never opposed development works anywhere in the state. But we cannot support illegal work carried out by the government on the plea of people's welfare," Sarangi said, adding that construction near the temple without the ASI's permission is illegal.

BJP, Congress politicising Puri Heritage Corridor project: BJD

However, the ruling BJD countered the opposition's remarks saying that the BJP and Congress were politicising the issue in the name of religion. BJD chief whip Pramila Mallick said the government has taken up the construction activities following discussion with experts.

"The administration has been doing its work within the framework of law and regulations. There has been no violation of any law in the project work," Mallick said, alleging that a BJP MP was opposing the project just to push her political career by playing with the sentiments of people.

Meanwhile, Gajapati maharaja of Puri Dibyasingha Deb has clarified that the project will have no adverse impact on the temple's structures.
New Delhi: Amid the ongoing power crisis in India, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday urged the Narendra Modi government to running the "bulldozer of hatred" and start running power plants instead.

The Kerala Congress MP also sought to know from Prime Minister Narendra Modi whether he cared about the country and its people as the coal and electricity crisis has created havoc in the country.

"On April 20, 2022, I told the Modi government to stop running the bulldozer of hatred and start power plants of the country, today the coal and electricity crisis has created havoc in the entire country, he said in a Facebook post.



"I am saying again - This crisis will destroy small industries, due to which unemployment will increase further. Small children cannot stand this scorching heat. The lives of patients admitted in hospitals are at stake. There will be financial loss by stopping rail, metro services," the Gandhi said in his post.

"Modi ji, do you not care about the country and the people," he asked and used the hashtag "#BJPFailsIndia".

With large parts of the country facing long power cuts, the opposition Congress on Friday said the central government's misgovernance and mismanagement led to this "artificial" crisis in the scorching summer.

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh alleged that the Modi government was not providing logistical support for coal distribution to power plants across the country, leading to the crisis.

The Modi government cannot run away from its responsibility and blame states for all the problems in the country, he added.
Ayodhya: Seven people were arrested by the Ayodhya police on Thursday (April 28, 2022), all accused of disturbing the peace and equanimity of the city by throwing objectionable posters and objects at several mosques in Ayodhya.

The arrested accused have been identified as Mahesh Kumar Mishra, Pratyush Srivastava, Nitin Kumar, Deepak Kumar Gaur alias Gunjan, Brijesh Pandey, Shatrughan Prajapati, and Vimal Pandey. All of them are residents of Ayodhya.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Ayodhya), Shailesh Kumar Pandey, said that the incident was carried out by 11 people out of which seven have been arrested while four others are absconding.

"A total of eight persons on four motorcycles, led by Mahesh, threw objectionable posters and objects outside the mosques. The police recovered the objects, a mobile phone, and vehicles have been impounded. We have arrested seven people so far, four are absconding. We will arrest them soon. Action under the Gangsters Act and NSA will also be initiated against them," said the SSP.

During the investigation, it was found that Mahesh Kumar Mishra was the main conspirator and along with his other accomplices, a conspiracy was hatched at Brijesh Pandey's house in opposition to the recent incident in Jahangirpuri of Delhi. It also came to light that the accused on the night of Wednesday first reached the Beniganj Tiraha where after seeing a Police Response Vehicle (PRV) car could not execute the plan on Beniganj Masjid and thus moved to other mosques. They threw the objectionable posters and objects at Ayodhya's Masjid Kashmiri Mohalla, Tatshah Mosque, Ghosiyana Ramnagar Masjid, Idgah Civil Line Mosque and Gulab Shah Dargah behind Dargah Jail.

Police also said that out of the seven arrested, three accused have a previous criminal history.

"The accused Mahesh has four cases registered against him in Kotwali Police station Ayodhya. Apart from this, the accused Nitin and Vimal also have cases registered against them," said a police officer.

Police said that all the seven accused have been booked under Sections 295 (injuring or defiling places of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code.

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Barpeta: Independent Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Friday vowed to fight against the BJP and the RSS all his life and called his arrest over a tweet a conspiracy by the Prime Ministers Office.

I have faith in the Indian judiciary, I had to get bail. BJP and PM Modi arrested me just for a tweet and kept me in jail in Assam, what message do they want to give? This was a conspiracy planned at the PM's office. I will fight against BJP & RSS all my life, the independent Gujarat MLA said, according to ANI.

I have faith in the Indian judiciary, I had to get bail. BJP & PM Modi arrested me just for a tweet & kept me in jail in Assam, what message do they want to give? This was a conspiracy planned at PM's office. I will fight against BJP & RSS all my life: Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani pic.twitter.com/PyaUFc7cX7  ANI (@ANI) April 29, 2022

Mevani was earlier given bail by a court in Assam's Barpeta district on Friday in connection with an alleged assault case filed against him by a policewoman.

Barpeta District and Sessions judge Paresh Chakraborty granted bail to Mevani on a Personal Recognisance (PR) bond of Rs 1,000 in the case filed at the Barpeta Road police station.

The court had heard both Mevani's lawyer and the public prosecutor on Thursday on the bail application and reserved judgement for Friday.

Jignesh Mewani, an independent MLA from Gujarat had been picked up by a posse from Assam police last week from Gujarat and arrested in a case against him for a purported tweet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he had claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "considered Godse as God".

The MLA from Vadgam seat in Banaskantha, who has pledged his support to the Congress, had used the same tweet to also urge PM Modi to appeal for communal harmony during his visit to Gujarat, the FIR at Kokrajhar Police Station said, according to PTI.

After being released on bail in the case on his tweet, the Dalit leader from Gujarat was rearrested after being charged with assaulting a policewoman who was part of the police party which accompanied him to Korkrajhar, a complaint for which had been registered in Barpeta.

In this case, he was booked under IPC sections 294 (uttering obscene words in public), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assaulting a public servant in the execution of duty) and 354 (using criminal force to a woman intending to outrage her modesty).

The court on Tuesday had sent him to five days in police custody.
New Delhi: With ace poll strategist Prashant Kishor turning down the offer to be inducted into the Congress citing the need for "transformational reforms" in the grand old party, political analysts say the development could be a setback in the Congess` aim of making its mark in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls as well as the 2024 general elections.

"The preparations of Congress have suffered a setback. After the crushing defeat in the recently held assembly elections in five States, Congress was seeing hope in Kishore`s strategy," a source said. While Congress leaders may not give much importance to Kishor`s refusal to join the party, especially on the basis of his role in the party`s Special Action Group which has been formulated for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, many think otherwise.

Congress is formulating a fresh strategy to take the PM Narendra Modi-led government out of power in the General Elections slated to be held in 2024.

"The party`s future path will be clear at the Udaipur Navsankalp Shivir to be held from May 13-May 15. But before that, to implement the suggestions of Prashant Kishor, Congress President Sonia Gandhi decided to form an Empowered Action Group for the Lok Sabha elections," sources said.

"PK had advised Congress to focus on 370 Lok Sabha seats and change its media strategy. He was offered a position as a member of the Action Group but he gave a jolt to Congress! The question is whether Congress will be able to implement his suggestions without him?" sources said.

Prashant Kishor, also referred to as PK, had also shared the strategy of building a strong alliance against the BJP by keeping the Congress at the Centre of Opposition parties. He had proposed leaving out certain old allies of the Congress and joining hands with new allies, including parties like JDU in Bihar, TMC in Bengal and TRS in Telangana, sources said.

Apart from these parties, PK has good relations with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal among others.

After the death of Congress leader Ahmed Patel and the sidelining of senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Congress lacked a strong leader who could parley with other parties, and currently, Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi herself is engaging with other party leaders.

With Kishor`s decision to not join the party, the alliance plan of Congress is likely to be affected. Allies like NCP, and Shiv Sena have from time to time demanded from Congress to leave the command of UPA, sources said.

Also, Kishor`s decision has thrown up a crisis for Congress in Gujarat. Congress is in the process to make Patidar community leader Naresh Patel as Chief Ministerial face by getting him into the party in the Gujarat assembly elections likely to be held by the end of this year.

According to sources, PK`s strategy was behind this. Naresh Patel had put a condition in front of Congress to give command of campaigning to Prashant Kishor. On Friday, Naresh Patel came to Delhi and met him. He was also scheduled to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi but the meeting did not take place.

Clearly, the `Gujarat plan` of the Congress seems to be floundering. However, some Congress sources are claiming that Naresh Patel will join the party.

Apart from elections and alliances, PK was advocating for major changes within the Congress, which are now likely to be incomplete.

After Kishore`s refusal, Congress leader Pawan Khera told ANI, "Congress has made an identity in the whole country by values and work. When we talk about Congress, we talk about values by rising above the individual level. Talks to strategists are on at different times. We accept everyone`s suggestions."

Khera said that there is no harm in his decision (referring to Kishor`s call to not join the party). "There must have been some reason why he turned down the offer," he said. However, on the question related to the possibility of PK working for Congress in the future, Khera said that the doors of Congress are never closed.
New Delhi: Actress Malaika Arora shared the first picture of her car accident scar on Thusday (April 28) in an Instagram selfie. While showing her scar was not the intention of the photo, fans couldn't help but notice the scar in the middle of Malaika's forehead.

In the picture shared on her Instagram story, Malaika was seen sitting in her car and sipping on her 'green juice' full of 'collagen' with her stylish shades on.

Check out her post here:

Malaika Arora had met with a car accident near Khalapur Toll Plaza in Mumbai on April 2 after which was admitted to the hospital in Panvel.

A week after her accident, she had shared a note on Instagram giving a health update to her fans and informing them of what happened.

"A big heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for being there making sure I come out of this with renewed vigour. I'm now on my road to recovery and I assure you, I'm a fighter and I'll be back before you know it!," she had written.

She has since returned home and even resumed work. However, in a recent interview, Malaika admitted that though she is healing physically, mentally 'it doesnt go away completely'. Malaika also talked about how the incident has given her trauma.
New Delhi: 7th Pay Commission latest update: Even as the central government employees have long been pressing for the demand to hike fitment factor, contradictory reports from time to time play spoilsport.

As per new reports, the buzz around fitment factor seem to be glimmering faintly. The government reportedly is not in favour of hiking the fitment factor right now. These are just initial reports though. Till the government has an official announcement regarding the same, nothing concrete can be evaluated.

Meanwhile, if and when the fitment factor is hiked, the basic salary or the minimum wages of the central government employees under 7th Pay Commission too will increase substantially.

Several media reports had previously said that the government might soon give its nod on raising the fitment factor. The central government employees unions have long been demanding for hiking minimum pay of Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000 and fitment factor be raised from 2.57 times to 3.68 times.

If the government makes announcement regarding the hike in fitment factor of central employees, then their salary will consequently increase. In fact, with the increase in fitment factor, the minimum wage will also increase. Employees are currently getting salary under fitment factor on the basis of 2.57 percent, which if increased to 3.68 percent, there will be an increase of Rs 8,000 in the minimum salary of the employees. This means the minimum pay of the central government employees will be hiked from Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000.

Check out this assumptive salary calculation post the hike in fitment factor under 7th Pay Commission

If the fitment factor is raised to 3.68, the basic salary of the employees will become Rs 26,000. Right now, if your minimum salary is Rs 18,000, then excluding allowances, you will be getting Rs 46,260 (18,000 X 2.57 = 46,260) according to the 2.57 fitment factor.

Now, if the fitment factor is 3.68, then your salary will be Rs 95,680 (26000X3.68 = 95,680).

The Union Cabinet had in June 2017 approved recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission with 34 modifications. The new scales of pay provided for entry-level basic pay going up from Rs 7,000 per month to Rs 18,000, while at the highest level i.e. Secretary, went up from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh. For Class 1 officers, the starting salary was at Rs 56,100.
New Delhi: eKYC is one of the important documentations to get the benefit under PM KISAN. eKYC is also mandatory for PMKISAN Registered Farmers. As the schedule for the 11th instalment of PM KISAN is approaching near, eligible farmers must be curious to know the deadline and other details regarding eKYC.

One of the updates regarding the eKYC is Aadhaar-based OTP authentication facility. The Aadhaar-based OTP authentication which had been temporarily suspended is now back at the official PM KISAN portal again. (Also read: 7th Pay Commission: Buzz around fitment factor glimmers faintly? Basic salary hike of up to Rs 26,000 at stake?)

As per the PM KISAN official website the following three things must be noted. The website says:

1. eKYC is MANDATORY for PMKISAN Registered Farmers. OTP Based eKYC is available on PMKISAN Portal.

2. You may also contact nearest CSC centres for Biometric authentication based eKYC.

3. Deadline of eKYC for all the PMKISAN beneficiaries has been extended till 31st May 2022.

If you are looking to complete the PM-KISAN e-KYC process, you can check out the step by step process below.

- Visit the official PM Kisan website https://pmkisan.gov.in/

- In the right hand side, below the home page, you will see Farmers Corner

- There is a box just below Farmers Corner that mentions e-kyc

- Click the e-kyc

- A page will open that facilitates Aadhar Ekyc

- Now, you will have to enter your Aadhar number and then the Captcha code shown and click on the search button

- After that, you will have to enter your mobile number linked to your Aadhar card and click on Get OTP button

- The OTP will be sent to your registered mobile number

- Punch in the OTP and click on the Submit For Authentication button

- As soon as you click Submit For Auth button, your PM KISAN e-KYC will be successful

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme was launched by PM Modi in 2019. The Scheme aims to provide income support to all landholder farmer families across the country with cultivable land, subject to certain exclusions. (Also read: Video circulating amongst bankers, scantily clad female dancers entertain UCO Bank staff at party hosted by SBI Life)

Under the Scheme, an amount of Rs 6000 per year is released in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs 2000 each directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. In a financial year, PM Kisan installment is credited thrice through --Period 1 from April-July; Period 2 from August to November; and Period 3 from December to March.

ln the beginning when the PM-KISAN Scheme was launched (February, 2019), its benefits were admissible only to Small & marginal Farmers' families, with combined landholding upto 2 hectare. The Scheme was later on revised in June 2019 and extended to all farmer families irrespective of the size of their landholdings.
YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. The Armenians of Artsakh accept the agenda of peace, but on the other hand they do not see any direction of deviating from the right to self-determination, President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan said during the meeting with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

Therefore, I want to thank for the view that any topic, any document will be discussed with the Artsakh leadership and will be within the logic of the people. Of course, I want to fix that no other way is possible. We have a long political fight to run. The security component is the most important today, he said, adding that the stability created by the direct mediation of the Russian peacekeepers today allows to discuss the socio-economic programs.

The President of Artsakh said that the socio-economic programs are important because if there are no people in Artsakh, the political fight and talking about security become nonsense. Thats why demographics and socio-economic programs today are again relevant. The programs, which have started after the war, continue, he said.

In his turn Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan considered the fact of infiltration of Azerbaijani units into the area under the responsibility of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh worrying. We hope that the representatives of the Russian peacekeeping contingent will consistently ensure the withdrawal of Azerbaijani units from the responsibility zone of the peacekeeping forces, he said.
Amritsar: The Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday spotted a Made in China drone along the India-Pakistan border near Dhanoe Kalan village of Amritsar Sector and shot it down. A senior BSF officer said that personnel on night patrolling near the international border heard a humming sound during the early hours on Friday, according to ANI.

"Personnel illuminated the area by firing para bombs to aim at the object and fired several shots towards it," he said. During the morning hours, an extensive search operation was launched and a quadcopter was recovered in the fields near IB.

Today at about 1:15 am, BSF troops shot down a Quadcopter, Made in China, Model-DJI Matrice - 300 near Dhanoe Kalan, Amritsar sector. They had heard buzzing sound of a suspected flying object/drone entering from Pakistan into Indian territory in the area. pic.twitter.com/k4y7vuEA5Q  ANI (@ANI) April 29, 2022

"The quadcopter was coming from the Pakistani side was shot down by its troops in Ram Tirath area of Amritsar sector," he said.

The BSF also issued a statement in which it said, "An intensive search of the depth area was carried out and at about 6:15 am, the troops recovered a black coloured Quadcopter, "Made in China", Model-DJI Matrice - 300" near Dhanoe Kalan."
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has launched an international religious tour package from Lucknow to Nepal by air at a moderate cost for this summer, an official said. The six-day-five-night package will start on June 19 and end on June 24.

IRCTC Chief Regional Manager (Lucknow) Ajit Kumar Sinha said as part of the programme, people will fly from the Amausi airport here to Kathmandu. In Nepal, they would be taken to the Pashupatinath temple, the Boudhanath Stupa, the Durbar Square and different locations in Pokhara.

Sinha said an individual will be charged Rs 48,500 for the tour while the cost for two people booking together would be Rs 39,000 each, and it would further come down for three people in a group.

Also read: Indian Railways invites bids for 200 Vande Bharat Trains with estimated cost of Rs 26,000 crore

The package includes accommodation in a three-star hotel and Indian food, he added. "Based on the response, more such planned trips will be organised from Lucknow to Nepal," Sinha said.

Booking for the package can be done at the IRCTC Gomtinagar office or on the IRCTC website, he added.

(With inputs from PTI)

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The government of India has cancelled 657 trains to fulfil the supply of coal to combat the power crisis. The cancellation of trains is expected to provide free routes for faster movement of coal carriages to avoid a situation of power crisis. The cancelled trains include daily mails, express trains and passenger trains as well. A total of 533 coal rakes are put on duty.

For the power sector, 427 rakes were loaded yesterday. 1.62 million tonnes of coal is loaded for the power sector. With severe heatwave conditions leading to upscaled demand for power in the country, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India informed that coal received from imports is being pushed to priority sectors at a fast pace.

In a conversation with ANI today, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Director (Operations and BD), N Srinivas, spoke on the coal supply situation in India and said, "Whatever amount of coal is being imported and reaching Indian ports, we are moving it to priority sectors."

Also read: Mumbai local train: AC tickets to be 50 per cent cheaper: Raosaheb Danve

"In the Western dedicated freight corridor, the whole movement of the coal supply chain is from ports to the plants which are mainly based in northern India. Imported coal coming to Mudra or Kandla ports is moving fast forward, and we have given very clear instructions that this product has to move on priority. So, coal supply is moving forward on priority," Srinivas said.

"The train wagons are transporting coal running at a speed of around 100 kmph. You see that this is an automatic section. These goods train ensure definite transit assurance," he further added.

The official added, "We are now also moving at such a fast pace, particularly ports near power plants of Dadri, Jhajjar, and other Rajasthan areas. The transit time has been reduced. Wherever there is a coal shortage, we will ensure that coal supply is available.

We will be able to move it fast and ensure that no power plant is shut down."Amid the heatwave conditions, several states in India are facing frequent power outages due to the shortage of coal in the thermal power stations. On this matter, Union Minister for Coal and Mines, Pralhad Joshi, a few days ago asserted that there is no shortage of coal in the country.

Amid the concerns over coal shortage in India as temperatures soar across the country, demanding higher power supply, Prahlad Joshi mentioned that the country has 21-22 million tonnes of coal on average in thermal power plants.

With inputs from ANI
The dedicated 59-km railway test track, may hit a roadblock as the authorities are reconsidering the proposal to allot a portion of land falling inside the Sambhar Salt lake, Rajasthan. The lake holds international importance, hence deliberations were made to allot land inside the lake to lay the track in the 4th state wetland authority meeting on April 12.

However, reportedly, as it is not possible to allot lakes land, the wetland authorities may ask railways to look for an alternative. According to the proposal of the dedicated test track (Broad Gauge line), of the 59 km track, 18 km lies within the lake, while the rest of 41 kms falls outside the lake.

The no objection certificate (NoC) by the revenue department will be given on condition that no construction will be done in kasras of Sambhar Lake. If the concerned railways authorities will agree on this condition then only the revenue department will allot 51.8-hectare of Nawa village land that lies outside the periphery of Khasra number 1 of Sambhar lake.

Also read: IRCTC launches international 'religious tour package' from Lucknow to Nepal, details here

The government land of Gudha, Bavli, Mohanpura and Khardiya has already been allotted by the state for the project, and the allotment for the remaining govt land is in the final stages.

The completion of this project is by December 22 and railway has until now spent approximately Rs 160 crore on embankment and bridge works of the project. Once the project is complete, it is believed that India will enter the league of countries like United States, China, Germany and Australia that hae dedicated tracks for train trials.

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Dubai: Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) probe, Hope, has captured stunning images of Mars' enigmatic auroras that will provide new insights into the interactions between the Red Planet's atmosphere, its magnetic fields and the solar wind. Auroras are dancing waves of light like the northern lights seen on Earth which have captivated people for millennia. They appear on a planet when solar activity disturbs its atmosphere. The latest observations by EMM include a never-before-seen phenomenon , dubbed the 'sinuous discrete aurora' -- a huge worm-like aurora that extends halfway around the Red Planet.

"When we first imaged Mars' discrete aurora shortly after the Hope probe's arrival at Mars in 2021, we knew we had unveiled new potential to make observations never before possible on this scale, and we took the decision to increase our focus on these auroras," said EMM Science Lead, Hessa Al Matroushi. "We can obtain nearly whole-disk, synoptic snapshots of the atmosphere to investigate atmospheric phenomena and interactions. It means we are seeing discrete auroral effects on a massive scale and in ways we never anticipated," Matroushi said in a statement.

Emirates Mars Mission Discovers New Mysterious Martian Aurora

Observations of a stunning new type of Martian aurora by EMMs Hope probe open up new areas for investigating Mars highly dynamic plasma environment pic.twitter.com/LrikqPxQDI  UAEGOV (@UAEmediaoffice) April 28, 2022

The sinuous discrete aurora consists of long worm-like streaks of energised electron emission in the upper atmosphere extending many thousands of kilometres (km), stretching from the dayside into the night side of Mars, EMM said. The aurora observations were imaged when Mars was experiencing the effect of a solar storm, resulting in a faster, more turbulent stream of solar wind electrons than usual. The observations are some of the brightest and most extensive yet seen by Hope.

Also read: Rare astronomical event: Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn to align in straight line this week after 1000 years

The mission scientists noted that the interplanetary magnetic field is carried by the solar wind and drapes around Mars, combining with magnetism in the Martian crust to form Mars' magnetotail, a complex array of magnetic fields on the Martian night side. "Having additional bandwidth and resources available to us meant we could be opportunistic and focus more on the area of discrete auroras than we had originally planned," said Omran Sharaf, EMM project director.

"That agility has certainly paid off as we have now opened up whole new avenues of investigation into these transient and dynamic phenomena. Novel science was a core mission objective and this is certainly novel," Sharaf said. Observations made using Hope's EMUS (The Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer) instrument range between 90-180 nanometre (nm) wavelengths, according to EMM.

The ultraviolet (UV) emissions imaged in the new set of observations show where energetic electrons are smashing into atoms and molecules in the Martian upper atmosphere, some 130 km above the planetary surface. These electrons come from the solar wind and are energised by electric fields in Mars' magnetosphere or space around Mars with dominant magnetic field of the Red Planet, the team explained. "The sinuous discrete aurora was a shocking discovery that in many ways has us scratching our heads and going back to the drawing board. We have ideas, but no solid explanation for why we are observing intense aurora of this shape and at planetary scales,? Rob Lillis, EMUS team member at the University of California, Berkeley, US.

"We now have the opportunity to re-examine prior observations of Mars by missions such as MAVEN and Mars Express to search for signatures that could flesh out Hope's new observations and perhaps help us try and unpick quite what is happening here," Lillis said in the statement. Three types of aurora have previously been observed around Mars: the diffuse aurora is observed only during intense solar storms, when interactions with the highest energy particles cause the atmosphere around the entire planet to light up, mission researchers said.

The discrete aurora, on the other hand, is highly localized and observations made to date have appeared to bear out the theory that it is directly linked to the patchy magnetic fields produced by magnetized minerals embedded in Mars' crust, they said. Both of these aurorae are observed on Mars' nightside, while a third class, the proton aurora, has been measured on Mars' dayside and is driven by interactions between the solar wind and hydrogen in Mars' exosphere. These three types of aurora had previously been identified, but clear global images of the discrete aurora were elusive until new observations were made by EMM's probe shortly after its arrival on Mars in February 2021.
New Delhi: Elon Musk told banks that agreed to help fund his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc that he could crack down on executive and board pay at the social media company in a push to slash costs, and would develop new ways to monetize tweets, three people familiar with the matter said.

Musk made the pitch to the lenders as he tried to secure debt for the buyout days after submitting his offer to Twitter on April 14, the sources said. His submission of bank commitments on April 21 were key to Twitter`s board accepting his "best and final" offer.

Musk had to convince the banks that Twitter produced enough cash flow to service the debt he sought. In the end, he clinched $13 billion in loans secured against Twitter and a $12.5 billion margin loan tied to his Tesla Inc stock. He agreed to pay for the remainder of the consideration with his own cash.

Musk`s pitch to the banks constituted his vision rather than firm commitments, the sources said, and the exact cost cuts he will pursue once he owns Twitter remain unclear. The plan he outlined to banks was thin on detail, the sources added.

Musk has tweeted about eliminating the salaries of Twitter`s board directors, which he said could result in about $3 million in cost savings. Twitter`s stock-based compensation for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2021 was $630 million, a 33% increase from 2020, corporate filings show.

In his pitch to the banks, Musk also pointed to Twitter`s gross margin, which is much lower than peers such as Meta Platforms Inc`s Facebook and Pinterest, arguing this leaves plenty of space to run the company in a more cost-efficient way.

The sources requested anonymity because the matter is confidential. A Musk representative declined to comment.

Bloomberg News reported earlier on Thursday that Musk specifically mentioned job cuts as part of his pitch to the banks. One of the sources said that Musk will not make decisions on job cuts until he assumes ownership of the company later this year.

He went ahead with the acquisition without having access to confidential details on the company's financial performance and headcount.

Musk told the banks he also plans to develop features to grow business revenue, including new ways to make money out of tweets that contain important information or go viral, the sources said.

Ideas he brought up included charging a fee when a third-party website wants to quote or embed a tweet from verified individuals or organizations.

In a tweet earlier this month he subsequently deleted, Musk suggested a raft of changes to the social media giant`s Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price, banning advertising and giving an option to pay in the cryptocurrency dogecoin. Twitter`s premium Blue service now costs $2.99 a month.

In another tweet he deleted, Musk said he wants to reduce Twitter`s dependence on advertising for much of its revenue.

Musk, whose net worth is pegged by Forbes at $246 billion, has indicated he will support the banks in marketing the syndicated debt to investors, and that he may unveil more details of his business plan for Twitter then, the sources said.

Musk has also lined up a new chief executive for Twitter, one of the sources added, declining to name the identity of that person. He told Twitter`s chairman Bret Taylor earlier this month that he does not have confidence in the San Francisco-based company`s management. Parag Agrawal, who was named Twitter`s chief executive in November, is expected to remain in his role until the sale of the company to Musk is completed.

TOO RISKY FOR SOME BANKS

Musk has been inundated with offers from potential equity partners to join him in the Twitter deal, and he will decide in the coming weeks if he teams up with someone, one of the sources said. It is unlikely that Musk would partner with a private equity firm given that the deal is not structured as a traditional leveraged buyout, the source added.

Musk disclosed on Thursday he sold $4 billion worth of Tesla shares, a move likely aimed at helping finance his deal for Twitter.

The Tesla chief executive also told the banks he will seek moderation policies on the social media platform that are as free as possible within the legal constraints of each jurisdiction Twitter operates, the sources said, a position that he has repeated publicly.

The $13 billion Twitter loan is equivalent to seven times Twitter`s 2022 projected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. This was too risky for some banks who decided to participate only in the margin loan, the sources said.

Another reason some banks opted out is because they feared Musk`s unpredictability could result in an exodus of talent from Twitter, harming its business, according to the sources.

A Twitter spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment

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New Delhi: Global technology brand OnePlus on Thursday launched premium 10R 5G and affordable OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G smartphones, along with Nord Buds in the Indian market.

The OnePlus 10R with 150W SUPERVOOC Endurance Edition and the OnePlus 10R 80W SUPERVOOC start at Rs 43,999 and Rs 38,999, respectively.

The company has debuted the industry-leading 150W charging technology with the OnePlus 10R Endurance Edition.

Nord CE 2 Lite will be available starting from Rs 19,999 and the OnePlus Nord Buds will be available at Rs 2,799, said the company.

In India, the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite will go on sale on April 30 and the OnePlus Nord Buds will go on sale on May 10.

OnePlus 10R comes pre-installed with OxygenOS 12.1 based on Android 12.

The device will receive three major Android updates and four years of security updates, the company said in a statement.

"The OnePlus R series exists to make the seamless integration of top-of-the-line hardware and software more accessible to a wider audience of gaming enthusiasts," said Navnit Nakra, India CEO and Head of India Region, OnePlus India.

"Our fastest ever charging technology, combined with the MediaTek Dimensity 8100-MAX chipset, a high refresh rate display, and an advanced cooling system enable the OnePlus 10R to deliver truly exceptional performance," he added.

The Nord CE 2 Lite is a power-packed device offering a fast, energy-efficient chipset, a massive battery with fast charging, and a 120 Hz display.

With the launch of Nord Buds, OnePlus has forayed into the entry-level TWS audio category in the country.

On the other hand, the OnePlus Nord Buds boasts a refreshing new design, an excellent audio experience, and great battery life with super-fast charging.
New Delhi: At least 10 people were killed and 20 injured after a powerful blast hit a mosque in Afghanistans capital Kabul on Friday (April 29).

According to AP report, the Khalifa Aga Gul Jan Mosque was packed with hundreds of worshippers who had gathered for prayers on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The blast occurred two hours after Friday prayers as worshippers were performing rituals," interior ministry deputy spokesman Bismillah Habib was quoted as saying by AFP.

Habib said the blast ripped through the Sunni mosque in the west of Kabul at around 2 p.m. (1000 GMT), Reuters reported.

Mohammad Nafi Takor, the Taliban-appointed interior ministry spokesman, has not provided more details yet, while Taliban security men cordoned off the area. The source of the explosion is yet to be known and no one has claimed responsibility yet.

The local residents told AP on condition of anonymity that the explosion was so loud that the neighborhood of the mosque "shook from the blast".

Emergency Hospital in downtown Kabul confirmed to Reuters that it was treating 20 patients injured in the powerful explosion. A nurse at another hospital, on the condition of anonymity, said they had received several wounded patients in critical condition.

Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has been witnessing attacks on mosques targeting the country's minority Shiite Muslims. These past attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group's regional affiliate-- Islamic State in Khorasan Province or IS-K.

(With agency inputs)
WASHINGTON: A US judge on Friday imposed a lifetime prison sentence on a member of an Islamic State militant group nicknamed "The Beatles" that beheaded American hostages, at a hearing where one victim`s mother told the defendant, "I will not hate you."

US District Judge TS Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia, held an emotionally charged sentencing hearing for London-born Alexanda Kotey, 38, who pleaded guilty to murdering US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.

Hostages held by Kotey and his fellow militants nicknamed them "The Beatles" for their British accents. The hearing included testimony from victims` relatives. Family members described the dread of knowing loved ones were in captivity, and the grief they felt in the aftermath of their deaths.

"I will not hate you," Kassig`s mother, Paula Kassig, said to Kotey during the hearing. "It would give sadness, pain and bitterness too much power over me. I choose to let my heart be broken open, not broken apart."

Kotey`s lawyer said during the court hearing that, in an effort to "make amends," Kotey is meeting with some family members of the victims. Ellis agreed to keep Kotey detained in Alexandria until July and said that arrangement would facilitate those meetings.

Kotey was a citizen of the United Kingdom, but the British government withdrew his citizenship. His Islamic State cell took journalists and aid workers hostage, tortured them and circulated videotapes of gruesome beheadings on the internet.

Kotey admitted to inflicting torture on hostages, including waterboarding and electric shocks with a stun gun. Kotey`s lawyers had asked the judge to make a recommendation that Kotey not be sent to Supermax prison in Colorado known as ADX Florence, home to some of the world`s most dangerous criminals, including the Mexican drug kingpin, El Chapo.

Ellis declined to make any recommendation to the Bureau of Prisons about where Kotey will eventually be sent. That means Kotey is likely heading to ADX Florence, but the federal Bureau of Prisons has yet to determine where to send Kotey.

US authorities had advised British officials that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty. As part of Kotey`s plea agreement, US authorities have also agreed to make their best efforts to transfer him to a prison in the United Kingdom after 15 years.
New Delhi: The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) on Thursday (April 28, 2022) declared the prevailing interest-based banking system as against the Sharia law. Pakistan's top Islamic court directed the government to replace it with an interest-free system by the end of 2027.

In the ruling, the court has told the federal government and provincial governments to facilitate all loans under an interest-free system. The FSC has also directed the government to provide loans under an interest-free system.

The court gave its verdict after the Supreme Court had referred the case back to the court in 2002 following the appeals against the decision of the FSC.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Muhammad Noor Meskanzai, Justice Syed Muhammad Anwar and Justice Khadim Hussain M Shaikh, heard many constitutional petitions and reserved the verdict on April 12 after the conclusion of the case.

The FSC, in its long-awaited verdict, ruled that the elimination of interest was a religious and legal obligation as parliament had already agreed to make Sharia-compliant laws. The bench, in the written judgment, said the prohibition of Riba is the "cornerstone of the Islamic economic system".

ALSO READ | Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif greeted with 'Chor-Chor' slogans in Saudi's Madina, video goes viral

"Therefore, we have decided that every loan which extracts any additional amount upon the principal from the debtor is Riba, hence, any transaction that contains Riba even at the slightest level, falls within the category of Riba thus prohibited. Furthermore, all the prevailing forms of interest, either in the banking transactions or in private transactions fall within the definition of Riba,? according to the verdict.

The ruling read out by Justice Anwar said the amount received by the banks that exceeded the actual loan fell under the category of interest. "Every kind of interest of banks is called riba," it added.

The ruling said that the Islamic banking system was "risk-free and against exploitation."

"All laws and regulations that facilitate interest are considered illegal," the court said, adding that such laws should be abolished from June 1, 2022.

The court also banned the payment of interest over the late payment of bank loans. "The government should immediately remove the word interest' from all laws," the decision said.

The court further directed the government to take internal and external loans under an interest-free system and added that an interest-free system would be more beneficial. However, it acknowledged that the transition towards an Islamic system would take time but the bank's deposit "could be cleared of riba immediately".

However, it said that the government can fully make the economic system free of interest by the end of 2027.

(With PTI inputs)

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YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan received the delegation headed by the Director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe Hans Kluge, the Parliaments press service said.

Alen Simonyan welcomed the cooperation agreement signed yesterday between the Ministry of Health of Armenia and the WHO Regional Office for Europe. The Speaker of Parliament expressed hope that it will contribute to the development of the health system in all directions.

Various assistance provided to Armenia by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the fight against the pandemic was touched upon at the meeting.

Both sides highlighted the implementation of the legislative initiatives aimed at health system reforms. The importance of efforts to have access to different health areas and to provide quality services was also stressed.

Minister of Health of Armenia Anahit Avanesyan and Deputy Minister Lena Nanushyan, Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Healthcare, member of Parliament from Civil Contract faction Narek Zeynalyan and deputy of the Civil Contract Faction Arsen Torosyan participated in the meeting.
Kyiv: Russia fired two missiles into Kyiv on Thursday (April 28, 2022) during a visit by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow pressed an assault in the east that drew new U.S. pledges of military and humanitarian aid.

The rockets shook the central Shevchenko district in Ukraine`s capital and one of them struck the lower floors of a 25-storey residential building, injuring at least 10 people, Ukrainian officials said.

Reuters witnesses reported hearing two explosions, but their cause could not be independently verified. There was no Russian comment on the blasts.

Russia withdrew its invading forces from near Kyiv in early April after failing to capture the city, which has since hosted visits by top officials from the United States and its European allies.

But Thursday`s blasts, heard soon after Guterres completed talks with Ukraine`s President Volodymyr Zelensky, highlighted concerns that Kyiv still remains vulnerable to Russian heavy weaponry.

"There was an attack on Kyiv ... it shocked me, not because I`m here but because Kyiv is a sacred city for Ukrainians and Russians alike," Guterres told Portuguese broadcaster RTP when asked about the blasts.

Zelensky said the blasts "prove that we must not drop our vigilance. We must not think that the war is over."

Guterres` discussions with Zelensky focused in part on evacuating Ukrainian fighters and civilians holed up in a steel plant in the besieged southeastern city of Mariupol, Russia`s main target in the eastern Donbas region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in principle to U.N. and Red Cross involvement in evacuating the plant during talks in Moscow with Guterres on Tuesday. Ukrainian officials worry Russia wants to capture those trapped inside, an allegation Moscow denies.

The West believes battles for Mariupol and other eastern and southern areas may determine the war`s outcome. Russian forces are now entrenched in the east, where Moscow-backed separatists have held some territory since 2014, and also hold a swathe of the south they seized in March.

Ukraine`s general staff said Russia was stepping up its military assault in the Donbas.

"The enemy is increasing the pace of the offensive operation. The Russian occupiers are exerting intense fire in almost all directions," it said.

`NOT CHEAP`

Putin calls Moscow`s actions a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine, defend Russian-speaking people from persecution and prevent the United States from using the country to threaten Russia.

Ukraine dismisses Putin`s claims of persecution and says it is fighting an imperial-style land grab that has flattened Ukrainian cities, forced more than 5 million to flee abroad and killed thousands.

Heeding repeated Ukrainian pleas for heavier weaponry, U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress on Thursday for $33 billion to support Kyiv, a massive jump in funding that includes over $20 billion for weapons, ammunition and other military aid.

The package, intended to cover needs through September, builds on efforts by the United States and its allies to punish Russia for its Feb. 24 invasion.

"We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom," Biden said on Thursday. "The cost of this fight - it`s not cheap - but caving to aggression is going to be more costly."

Washington, which together with its allies has placed sweeping sanctions on Moscow, hopes Ukrainian forces can not only repel Russia`s assault on the east but also weaken its military so that it can no longer menace neighbours.

Russia says that amounts to NATO waging a "proxy war" against it, and has made a number of threats this week of unspecified retaliation. It cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday after they refused to pay in roubles, marking Moscow`s toughest response yet to Western economic sanctions.

CROSS-BORDER STRIKES

Russia has also reported what it says have been a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian regions that border Ukraine and has warned that such attacks risk significant escalation.

On Thursday, two big explosions were heard in the Russian city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine, two witnesses told Reuters. It was not clear what caused them and whether there were any casualties or damage.

Ukraine has not directly accepted responsibility for strikes inside Russia but says the incidents are payback. Russia has taken umbrage at statements by NATO member Britain that it is legitimate for Ukraine to target Russian logistics.

"In the West, they are openly calling on Kyiv to attack Russia including with the use of weapons received from NATO countries," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Moscow.

"I don`t advise you to test our patience further."

Ukraine reported blasts overnight in the southern city of Kherson, the only regional capital Russia has captured so far since the invasion.

Russian troops in Kherson used tear gas and stun grenades on Wednesday to quell pro-Ukrainian crowds, and were shelling the entire surrounding region and attacking towards Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian officials said.

Russian state media quoted an official from a self-styled pro-Russian "military-civilian commission" in Kherson on Thursday as saying the area would start using Russia`s rouble currency from May 1.

The U.S. mission to the OSCE security body said the Kremlin might attempt "sham referenda" in southern and eastern areas it had captured since the Feb. 24 invasion, using "a well-worn playbook that steals from historys darkest chapters".

"These falsified, illegitimate referenda will undoubtedly be accompanied by a wave of abuses against those who seek to oppose or undermine Moscow`s plans," the U.S. mission said. There was no immediate Russian comment.

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Washington: The United States is engaging with India over the issue of Ukraine and this will continue in the upcoming Quad summit in Japan next month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters here.

"We have had a number of engagements, as you know, with leaders in India about our approach to supporting the Ukrainians in this war, whether that is sanctions and the enormous sanctions package we've put in place or, of course, the assistance we've provided. We will convey the same sentiments in this meeting," Psaki said.

She was responding to a question on the Quad summit in Japan in May and how the issue of Ukraine would be raised or discussed.

The Quad comprises Japan, India, Australia and the United States and the US Administration has said President Joe Biden will be meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi there.

"This meeting is several weeks away, so a lot can certainly happen. And as you know, other members of Quad have also been vital partners and supporters of the Ukrainians' effort to fight the war," Psaki said.

"Japan--just as an example--has not only provided a range of assistance but they've also agreed to divert some of the LNG resources to help Europe. So, there are a number of steps they have also taken that will be a part of the discussion," she said.

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A conscripted serviceman died after sustaining a gunshot wound at a military base Thursday evening, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said.

April 29, 2022, 09:04 Conscripted serviceman dies from gunshot wound at military base

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 29, ARTSAKHPRESS: The Ministry of Defense said that according to preliminary data 20-year-old Private Samvel Sanoyan was shot by one of his comrades.

Private Sanoyan died while being transported to a hospital. An investigation is underway to reveal the circumstances of the incident, the Ministry of Defense said.
President Joe Biden has asked Congress for $33 billion to fund both humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine through September, he said Thursday, CNBC reported, citing high-ranking officials of the US Presidential Administration.

April 29, 2022, 10:35 Biden asks Congress for $33 billion in aid for Ukraine

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 29, ARTSAKHPRESS: The $33 billion includes a request for $20.4 billion in additional security and military assistance for Ukraine, as well as additional money to fund U.S. efforts to bolster European security in cooperation with NATO allies.

The administration said this is intended to equip Kyiv and European partners with additional artillery, armored vehicles and anti-armor and anti-air capabilities, accelerate cyber capabilities and advanced air defense systems, and help clear land mines and improvised explosive devices.

Another portion of the $33 billion is a sum of $8.5 billion to help support the Ukrainian economy.

That total will help fund Ukraines government, support food, energy and health care services for the Ukrainian people, and counter Russian disinformation and propaganda narratives, Biden said.

Part of it is also intended to support small and medium-sized agricultural businesses during the fall harvest and for natural gas purchases.

Another $3 billion will help provide more traditional humanitarian assistance in the form of wheat and other commodities to people outside Ukraine who have been hurt by the dramatic rise in the price of food caused by Russias blockade of Ukrainian ships that would otherwise be exporting millions of metric tons of grain around the world.

The supplemental budget request to Congress is expected to win broad support among Republicans and Democrats, even as it pushes the total American expenditure in Ukraine past $36 billion in just nine months.

The other part of Bidens package Thursday is a broad set of proposals to Congress to change current laws to make it easier for the Treasury and State departments to follow through on the hundreds of individual sanctions that have been imposed on Russian oligarchs, companies and government officials since the start of the war.

Under U.S. federal law, in order to sell off seized assets, prosecutors must first show that they are the proceeds of a crime. Currently, being a sanctioned Russian oligarch isnt a crime.

Legal scholars have noted that without a crime, oligarchs could sue for the return of their property and would stand a good chance of winning in court. Under Bidens proposal, Congress would create a new federal offense of knowingly possessing proceeds directly obtained from corrupt dealings with the Russian government.
Poland and Romania have announced on April 28 about holding military exercises amid Russian special operations in Ukraine, Ria Novosti informed.

April 29, 2022, 11:15 Poland, Romania announce about holding military exercises

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 29, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: In Poland, starting from May 1, military equipment will be transported on almost all roads of the country for a month, the citizens were urged not to take photos, not to publish information about the equipment, its movement. It was noted that the movement of equipment will be carried out mainly in the north and east of the country.

Meanwhile, the Romanian Defense Ministry, commenting on the information on social media about the transfer of military equipment to the border with Ukraine and Moldova, announced about the holding of military exercises with the participation of NATO countries.
Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan visited the military units located in the southern direction of the Republic, the defense ministry said.

April 29, 2022, 10:13 Armenian Defense Minister visits frontline

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 29, ARTSAKHPRESS: The minister got acquainted with the conditions in the military positions and talked to the position-holder servicemen. Commander of the unit, Major-General Artak Budaghyan presented the ongoing works on strengthening the frontline.

During the visit the Defense Minister also met with personnel who are included in the three-month military trainings. The minister thanked them for the active participation to the defense of the Homeland.

The Defense Minister gave concrete instructions and tasks to the commanders of the military units to solve the registered shortcomings in a short period of time.
On April 29, Narine Abrahamyan, a psychologist at the National Center for Addictions Treatment, within the framework of the " Capacity Building for Social Workers in Artsakh" program funded by the Armenian Relief Fund organized a seminar on "Professional Burning" for psychologists and social workers.

April 29, 2022, 15:20 Psychological seminar held in Stepanakert

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 29, ARTSAKHPRESS: In an interview with "Artsakhpress", the psychologist said that the program helps the local specialists.

"This is my second visit to Artsakh for professional activities.

During the meeting, the local specialists voiced their concerns. I tried to answer them as much as possible," said N. Abrahamyan, noting that the purpose of the meeting is to strengthen the capacity of Artsakh doctor-psychologists.
Within the framework of the "Best Student" educational program of the Armenian Relief Society, 105 students who took part in the 44-day Artsakh war were provided with financial assistance.

April 29, 2022, 16:07 A group of students who participated in the 44-day Artsakh War received support from the Armenian Relief Society

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 29, ARTSAKHPRESS: Lilit Martirosyan, Chairwoman of the Artsakh Branch of the Armenian Relief Society, said that every year the Armenian Relief Society included needy, socially vulnerable groups of the border areas of Artsakh.

Priority was given mainly to socially vulnerable students. Each was given $ 100. The total amount of assistance made $ 10,500," said Lilit Martirosyan.
Denmark has become the first country to halt its Covid vaccination program, saying it is doing so because the virus is now under control, CNBC reports.

April 29, 2022, 17:31 Denmark becomes the first country to stop its Covid vaccination program

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 29, ARTSAKHPRESS: Spring has arrived, vaccine coverage in the Danish population is high, and the epidemic has reversed, the Danish Health Authority said in a statement Wednesday.

Therefore, the National Board of Health is now ending the broad vaccination efforts against Covid-19 for this season, it said. People will not be invited for vaccines from May 15, it said, although everyone will be able to finish their course of vaccination.

Denmarks Covid vaccination campaign began soon after Christmas in 2020. Some 4.8 million citizens have been vaccinated, the health authority said, with more than 3.6 million people receiving a booster shot.

At the same time, many people have been infected since the omicron variant became the dominant strain of the virus, it said, meaning immunity levels among the population are high.

We are in a good place, Bolette Soborg, unit manager at the National Board of Health, commented.

We have good control of the epidemic, which seems to be subsiding. Admission rates [to hospitals] are stable and we also expect them to fall soon. Therefore, we are rounding up the mass vaccination program against Covid-19.

Soborg insisted that the public can still be vaccinated over the spring and summer if they want, and that vaccination sites will remain open around the country.

He added that immunization was still recommended to people for whom Covid poses a heightened risk, such as those over the age of 40 and for unvaccinated pregnant women. We also continue to recommend that you complete your started vaccination course, he said.
On the day Labor's leader has emerged from COVID-19 isolation, the party's deputy has been struck down by the virus.

Richard Marles has been forced to miss Labor's campaign launch this weekend after he tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.

"I will be isolating at home and following advice," Mr Marles said on Twitter.

"I'll be back on the trail in no time, fighting for a better future with Anthony Albanese."

Mr Albanese came out of seven days of COVID-induced isolation on Friday.

The opposition leader started the day in Sydney before flying to Perth later on Friday ahead of Sunday's campaign launch in Western Australia.

While coming days will see Mr Albanese take it easier on the campaign trail as he recovers from the virus, he said he was looking forward to a return to in-person campaigning.

"It's no use not looking after your health, there's still three and a bit weeks to go in this campaign," he told ABC TV.

"I certainly feel much better today than I did yesterday ... for me the peak was day three and four of iso, but now I'm feeling good."

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was reassuring Mr Albanese was out of isolation.

"We're very pleased that our captain will be back on the field with us," he told reporters in the Sydney-based electorate of Reid.

"Consistent with doctor's orders, he is coming back, making sure he can do enough on the first day back."

However, Labor has come under criticism after Mr Albanese did not appear at a press conference on Friday, despite making multiple morning TV appearances.

Dr Chalmers tried to shrug off suggestions the opposition leader was attempting to avoid scrutiny, as well as concerns Mr Albanese was not liked by voters in critical seats despite Scott Morrison's own unpopularity.

"The campaign has still got three weeks to run. Anthony Albanese has done a heap of interviews this morning, and he will have a heap of engagements out west as well, consistent with the health advice," he said.

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As the election campaign moves into the second half, Mr Albanese said he was up for further leaders' debates with Mr Morrison.

Mr Morrison said he had agreed to participating in two debates next week, one on the Nine Network and the other on Seven.

During a press conference, Mr Morrison said it was important for all three debates to be held before people started early voting on May 9.

"And so Seven and Nine have booked the hall. I'll be there, I'll get myself a new tie and off we can go," he said.

Mr Albanese said he wanted to see a debate on the ABC.

"The national broadcaster can have a role here as well and the prime minister thinks that he is the only person who has a say in this," he said.

"The idea the ABC would be excluded from any participation is rather extraordinary, and that is the suggestion being made by Scott Morrison."

Mr Albanese said the national secretaries of both major parties should be able to work through a debate schedule for the remainder of the campaign.

"I'm up for more debates, but I'm not up for the prime minister deciding when, who, how that occurs," he said.

Meanwhile, Labor announced a plan to improve the public service if elected.

Under the plan, the "arbitrary staffing cap" would be abolished, temporary contracts would be converted into permanent positions, and the number of consecutive fixed-term contracts offered will be limited.

"A stronger public service will deliver better outcomes for the community, use precious public resources more effectively and contribute to building a fairer and more inclusive Australia," Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher said in a statement.
Dexter Eugene Jackson knew he had "a one in a million chance" of being pardoned by the US president for his 2002 cannabis conviction. Three days ago, his prayers were answered.

On a Tuesday morning like any other, Dexter was on his way to work in the US state of Georgia when he received a phone call.

The woman on the other end was congratulating him. Dexter thought it must be a spam call.

That was until the woman, a journalist from the local CBS TV station, revealed the reason for the call: the 52-year-old was among three Americans being pardoned for their crimes by President Joe Biden.

"It was crazy," Dexter tells the BBC. "I had to pull over and take a deep breath."

When he drove home to tell his wife Tamika, she went online - and sure enough, there was Dexter's name on the White House website, one of just three pardons, the first of Joe Biden's presidency.

A staff member from the White House soon reached out to confirm he had a special pardon certificate arriving in the mail.

Pardons are not a declaration of innocence. But wiping a criminal record clean has practical benefits - such as regaining the right to vote in some states - while reducing stigma, and increasing morale.

"I've got a new lease on life," says Dexter. "I want to give thanks to President Biden and the Department of Justice."

Short presentational grey line

In 2002, Dexter was convicted in a federal court in Georgia on cannabis distribution charges.

Although he did not participate in trafficking, prosecutors said he let dealers make transactions within the pool hall he owned and operated at the time.

"My part in the whole thing was being friends with the wrong people and turning a blind eye to things," he says.

But admitting to the mistake, he adds: "My mom always said you're only as good as the company you keep."

Dexter was sentenced to four months behind bars, followed by 12 months of probation.

He served his time in South Carolina, where he claims most of his fellow inmates were "attorneys and other high-profile people in the community" rather than "what you see on TV".

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He felt shame for a while - but then began reflecting upon how he had erred and how he could change, sometimes in conversation with other prisoners.

One of them - who was serving a much longer sentence - told him the best thing he could do was take life one day at a time, he recalls.

And one day at a time, the father of two has "hit the ground running" since his release.

President Biden said Dexter and the other pardoned people had "demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation and are striving every day to give back and contribute to their communities"

Teaching himself how to fix smartphones and tablets through online tutorials, Dexter converted his pool hall into Jack of Trades, a phone repair store in the city of Union Point.

He hired local high school students to help, through a work experience programme for young adults. He says he has remained in touch with every single one, all of whom are doing well.

Five years ago, he secured a real estate licence and began fulfilling a life-long ambition to build and remodel houses in the area, like his father Perry once did.

He loves helping first-time home-buyers and his work is important because, as the White House noted on Tuesday, quality affordable housing is in short supply in Athens.

Dexter first appealed for clemency, via his lawyer Bruce Morris, during the Obama administration. Now, President Biden - who acts on advice from officials - has granted his wish.

The Jackson family has deep roots in the Athens community.

Perry Jackson, a local city councilman and Parent Teacher Association (PTA) president, opened the Jacksons Bar-B-Que family restaurant in 1977 - now managed by Dexter's brother Kevin.

Dexter has served on the local planning and zoning board, and the county recreational board.

He recognises that many in his community stood with him and helped rebuild his confidence after prison, from business associates and bankers, to his church group and even his probation officer.

Now he is giving back.

"My mom and dad always said good follows good. When you do right by your community and your people, good will follow you."

Dexter promised his parents he would someday get his rights reinstated. Both died within two years of his conviction, and his lawyer has also passed away. But he believes all three are looking down from above with pride.

"I haven't [even] had a speeding ticket since that conviction," Dexter says. "I've lived a model life and tried to help other people."

Pardon in hand, he is now ready to plan the next stage of his life.

He is excited to watch his grandchild - one-year-old Halo - grow up. He wants to pursue further real estate qualifications, write a book, and even run for political office.

"A lot of people let that one mistake define them and they give up," he says. "I never let it stop me. I want to show that you can make mistakes, but you can put it behind you and go on."
Prince Edward arrives at St Johns, Antigua and Barbuda (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)

Prince Edwards royal tour of Caribbean will be among the last to take place campaigners predict as their trip has been marked by anti-colonial protests and calls for slavery reparations.

The Earl of Wessex and his wife Sophie began a week-long tour of Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia last Friday in celebration of the Queens platinum jubilee.

The couples scheduled trip to Grenada was cancelled at the last minute following advice from the countrys government and governor-general.

Though an official reason has not been disclosed, the abrupt change of plan comes hours after reports that Britain directly owned hundreds of enslaved Black people in Grenada during the 18th century.

As the tour has progressed, so too have calls for reparatory justice from campaigners across all three destinations on the itinerary  from open letters demanding reparations to outright monarchial objections on the streets.

The Earl and Countess of Wessex visit the Patricia D James secondary school in Castries, Saint Lucia (Getty Images)

By the end of the tour, more countries in the Caribbean had indicated a future desire to divorce the British monarchy  namely Antigua & Barbuda and Saint Kitts & Nevis  just as Jamaica and Belize had, following the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges accursed excursion in recent weeks.

Responding to the Wessexes trip, Philip Murphy, author of The Empires New Clothes: the Myth of the Commonwealth, said: Its now clear that William and Kates ill-fated Caribbean tour last month wasnt an outlier caused by poor planning.

This is now likely to be the pattern for royal visits to the region and I expect theyll peter out; 2022 looks like being a pivotal year.

On Wednesday, Edward and Sophie were met by a group of protesters before a trip to a cocoa plantation in Saint Lucia where people held banners reading repatriation with reparations and Queen say sorry while playing drums and chanting.

Prince Edward inspects a guard of honour as he attends a performance celebrating Saint Lucias young people (Getty Images)

Shortly beforehand, the earl spoke to a road sweeper with a broom standing in front of the small crowd of Black people and joked I hope you keep this lot in order while pretending to wave the broom. This remark has been criticised as another tone-deaf gaffe.

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Republic, a UK-based anti-monarchy pressure group, claimed Edward demonstrated a contemptible lack of interest in issues raised by Antiguas prime minister during a meeting on Monday, in which the leader appealed to the Wessexes to use their diplomatic influence to help provide reparatory justice for Caribbean countries that were colonised by Britain.

The prince laughed in response and joked that he had not been taking notes during Gaston Brownes remarks, so could not respond to all the points he had made  much to the disappointment of campaigners. The prime minister did not laugh at the comment.

During this meeting, Mr Browne also signalled the countrys intention to become a republic at some point in the future.

Ahead of their visit to Antigua & Barbuda, ambassador Dorbrene OMarde, chairman of the nations Reparations Support Commission, published an open letter about reparations to the royal couple.

The couple meet Philip Pierre, prime minister of Saint Lucia (Getty Images)

The protests followed similar demonstrations in St Vincent and the Grenadines on Saturday, where some held signs saying compensation now and Britain your debt is outstanding.

The royals faced another high-profile cancellation in this country when its prime minister, Ralph Gonsalves, announced that he would not be receiving the couple because of an overseas medical appointment.

The couple were mocked for gifting the Saint Lucia prime minister Philip J Pierre with a signed photograph of themselves as a gift when kick-starting their visit to the island nation on Friday.

While it has previously been a custom for visiting royals to present world leaders with images of themselves during overseas visits, commentators slammed the gesture as narcissistic, tone-deaf and insulting, particularly in the context of growing calls for slavery reparations. Some critics claimed that the present would make a lovely ashtray.

"The Royal Family needs to focus on truth, reconciliation and justice... it starts with an apology"@SholaMos1 says Prince Edward and Sophie's royal Caribbean tour should be cancelled unless they are prepared to do what's needed.@IainDale | @theJeremyVine | #JeremyVine pic.twitter.com/4CGHmcCIVt  Jeremy Vine On 5 (@JeremyVineOn5) April 22, 2022

Commentator Shola Mos-Shogbamimu criticised the royal family and UK government for refusing to apologise for transatlantic slavery and pay reparations to the families of those who were held in captivity by white supremacist slavers.

Whatever island they end up going to  the point is that the royal family is not ready to do the needful.

What theyre trying to do with this tour is to recreate and bask in the glory of the British Empire, and these former colonised Caribbean nations are not having any of it, she said.

There are three things that need to be focused on, which the royal family and this government is not ready to: truth, reconciliation and justice. If theyre not ready to do that then what the heck are they going there for?

A protest at the Fond Doux Cocoa Plantation in Saint Lucia during the royal visit (PA)

In a strongly worded article published via Breadfruit News, solicitor Jomo Thomas Chambers gave a blistering assessment of the royal familys relationship with its former colonies.

We must not shake hands and smile with criminals. These colonial visitors should be made uncomfortable, the piece, entitled Mr Colonialism comes to town, reads.

This visit by Edward and Sophie must be the last of its kind to our country ... They must shudder at the thought of returning to these shores until they accede to our just demands to pay reparations for their brutal crimes against indigenous and African peoples.

Jomo Thomas Chambers had strong words for the royal family (Supplied)

Mr Chambers, who is the former chair of the St Vincent & Grenadines Reparations Committee, continued: The colonials organised and benefitted from the royal charter that allowed English slavers to travel to Africa and kidnap our ancestors.

Edward and his wife Sophie should be reminded that they have stepped onto a crime scene at every turn.

The National Council of St Vincent and the Grenadines said: We as a community feel that the royal family and Buckingham Palace must rethink the future of royal tours following previous visits, given their involvement in the treatment of people of colour.
The Cayuga County Health Department is making adjustments to its COVID-19 vaccination clinics after experiencing difficulties with the state's registration system.

Nancy Purdy, the department's director of community health services, told the Cayuga County Board of Health on Tuesday that the clinics will be open to walk-ins and electronic scheduling will no longer be used.

Until now, the health department utilized the state's registration system to sign up residents for vaccination clinics. When a new vaccination clinic was scheduled, an individual could go online, find the clinic by date and register for their vaccination.

But there were some features of the registration system that confused the public, according to Purdy. She said she even saw a mistake when registering her husband for a shot.

"At the clinic, it absolutely dilutes our efficiency," said Purdy, who added that the problems with the system caused delays at a recent clinic.

Another change the department may make is limiting the types of shots it offers at clinics. Many of the department's clinics have offered different types of COVID-19 vaccinations, including first and second doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, pediatric Pfizer doses and booster shots. A clinic is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Friday, May, 6, at the Fingerlakes Mall Event Center where all shots will be available.

While nothing has been finalized, Purdy said they are considering doing specific clinics for different types of shots, such as a clinic where only second boosters are offered, and increasing the number of clinics.

"We are going to stay in tune to what the public needs and what kind of response we're getting," she said.

The health department is hoping to boost the county's vaccination rate, which has been virtually unchanged over the last few weeks. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 59.3% of the county's population is fully vaccinated. Nearly 57% of fully vaccinated residents have received a booster shot.

The push to get more people vaccinated and boosted comes as Cayuga County experiences another uptick in COVID-19 cases. The county has 219 active cases and a case rate of 235.06 per 100,000 people. Based on the CDC's metrics, the county has a high community level, which factors in the case rate, hospital admissions and staffed beds occupied by COVID-positive patients.

In other news:

 After the local health department ended its contact tracing investigations in January, the state Department of Health is ending its efforts on Friday.

The Cayuga County Health Department issued a news release announcing that the state will no longer contact COVID-positive individuals to inform them of their positive test results and provide isolation orders.

Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 is advised that they should isolate for five days. But with no contact tracing and the use of home tests, there is no way to enforce that recommendation.

The health department acknowledged that the pandemic is ongoing, but added that "there is now greater reliance for every individual to assume responsibility for keeping themselves and close contacts safe and reduce the spread of COVID-19 virus."

Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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The Auburn/Cayuga Branch of the NAACP examined the most recent graduation rates for local students in different groups and discussed what can be done.

The group held a virtual presentation, led by Dr. Eli Hernandez, the NAACP president, where he talked about the 2021 graduation rates for students in Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES school districts, including Black students, Hispanic or Latino students, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students. Over 10 people, including Auburn Enlarged City School District Superintendent Jeff Pirozzolo and Jack Hardy, chair of the Auburn Civil Service Commission, attended the online event.

After speaking about the local NAACP and its work, Hernandez  who is also the vice president of the Auburn school board  talked about graduation rate statistics for Cayuga County-area students as of August 2021. According to the data from the state Department of Education, there were 720 Cayuga County-area students who entered high school in 2017 with the expectation of graduating in 2021, Hernandez said. Of that number, 604 students, or 84%, graduated. Of the total 631 white Cayuga County-area students of that grouping, 86%, or or 545 students, graduated.

Of the 26 Black Cayuga County-area students of that grouping, 16 students, or 62%, graduated, Hernandez added. For Hispanic or Latino students, 61%, or 17 out of a total 28, graduated. The local graduation rate for economically disadvantaged students, 73% graduated, with 225 out of 310 students. For Cayuga County-area students classified as English language learners, seven out of nine students graduated, a rate of 78%.

Hernandez talked about the numbers and what could be learned in regard to the future. For example, he noted that according to the state Education Department, the graduation rate for female Cayuga County-area students who entered high school in 2017 with the expectation of them graduating in 2021 was 87%, as of that August. By comparison, the graduation rate for male Cayuga County-area students was 82%.

"Why is that? Do we have a problem with our males not graduating? If we do, what can we do about it? This is when you and the district begin to start digging deep into the data and figuring out, who were these kids? Could they have been African Americans, could have been Hispanics? Could they have been economically disadvantaged, could have been white students," Hernandez said. "And I'm only saying it that way because that's the way, obviously, the state and the whole world wants to put labels on all of us, so we will go by that. So when you look at this, you then need to figure out, so our females are still graduating higher than males, why is that? What can we do? Are we failing our males?

Hernandez also compared the graduation rate of the last couple years for white Cayuga County-area students versus the rate for Black students.

"Why do we do this? Why do we say, 'Black vs. white'? Because we do need to look at the lowest graduating subgroup to that of the highest, and that's where you start talking about disproportion," he said. "What can we do? Why can't we close the gap? How do we close the gap? Those are the conversations that we should be having. I'm not here today to blame Cayuga County and to blame the districts. We're here to say, 'Hmm, we notice that there is a problem, we have to fix it and we're all, as a community, ready and willing to do so.' So what are we going to do about this?"

Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.

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U.S. Rep. John Katko's bill to assist small states and rural areas in securing federal disaster aid is closer to a House vote.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday advanced the legislation, which aims to address issues encountered by Cayuga County and other rural communities when seeking disaster declarations.

If Katko's bill is approved by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden, it would expand the role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's small state and rural advocate. The measure would also require the Government Accountability Office to review how FEMA deploys individual assistance after disasters.

"In recent years, rural communities in central New York have been hit by severe and costly flooding," said Katko, who is the ranking Republican member of the House Homeland Security Committee. "In the aftermath of these disasters, local officials in rural communities and small states often struggle to secure federal aid due to onerous obstacles in the disaster declaration process."

Katko was motivated to pursue a legislative solution after what happened to Cayuga County in 2017. The southern part of the county was affected by flooding and severe storms. The state applied for a major disaster declaration to get federal aid for the county. But FEMA denied the request and rejected the state's appeal.

It's unknown when the House will vote on the legislation, but it has bipartisan support. The cosponsors include U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, a New York Democrat, and U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Florida Republican.

Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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After the state Court of Appeals tossed the newly drawn congressional district maps, all sides agree that the lawsuit challenging Democratic congressional candidate Josh Riley's ballot status is now "moot."

The state Supreme Court in Albany, where the lawsuit was filed, asked attorneys for Riley and Diane Dwire, who challenged Riley's petition, how to proceed after the state Court of Appeals ruling. A hearing was scheduled for Monday, May 2.

The state Board of Elections informed state Supreme Court Judge Laura Jordan, who presided over the case, that the hearing is "moot and should not proceed" because of the Court of Appeals ruling requiring New York to draw new congressional district lines.

Joseph Cote, the attorney representing Dwire, wrote that "the pending motion and the entirety of this action should be moot." Riley's attorney, James Long, said he preferred to "proceed on the merits" or have the court consider his motion to dismiss the case. But he agreed with the state Board of Elections that the ruling "renders this litigation moot."

In a follow-up notice from the court, it acknowledged that the redistricting decision "has potentially rendered this action moot" and adjourned the hearing.

One reason the lawsuit is now considered moot is that the ruling will likely cause the rescheduling of the congressional primary elections, which would require a new petitioning process.

Dwire, a member of the Onondaga County Democratic Committee and a supporter of Democratic congressional candidate Francis Conole, objected to Riley's petitions and filed a lawsuit accusing his campaign of fraud. The legal challenge targeted at least two top Riley campaign staffers who circulated petitions. Seven voters, in affidavits, said the aides did not witness their signatures, despite identifying themselves as the witnesses on the petitions.

Because of the seriousness of the allegations, Riley's status on the Democratic primary ballot was in jeopardy. The lawsuit aimed to have his petitions invalidated, which would result in his removal from the ballot.

With the Court of Appeals redistricting decision, it's possible Riley could run in a different district. Riley was one of two Democrats in the short-lived 22nd Congressional District who reside in Ithaca. If the new map leaves Tompkins County out of the redrawn central New York district, one option is to run in Ithaca's new district. However, members of Congress are not required to live in the districts they represent. He could choose to run in the newly drawn Syracuse-area district.

The new maps are expected to be released in May. A court-appointed special master will oversee the process.

Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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A review of stretch limousine safety mandated by New York state in 2020 now has an October 2022 deadline for completion.

In response to the October 2018 limousine crash in Schoharie County that killed 20 people, former Gov. Andrew Cuouo signed a package of safety measures in February 2020 that mandated seat belts, special licensing and harsh penalties for u-turns in the for-hire transportation industry.

The legislation also included the creation of a stretch limousine task force to "conduct a comprehensive review of matters influencing the safety, adequacy, efficiency and reliability" of limousine transportation.

"These far-reaching reforms deliver much-needed protections that will help keep dangerous vehicles off our roadways, crack down on businesses that do not prioritize safety and will give New Yorkers peace of mind when they enter a limo in this state," Cuomo said at the time.

This week, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office said that because the task force has "sat idle, failing to convene since its inception in 2020" the governor has ordered a final report to be issued on the matter in October.

Hochul signed legislation on Thursday extending the deadline from its original Nov. 1, 2021 to Oct. 1, 2022 for the Stretch Limousine Passenger Safety Task Force to issue its final report.

Hochul's office said that in October 2021 she made new appointments to the task force, which has since "been diligently working through recommendations, is reviewing safety measures, and is exploring all options to deliver the best product to help ensure better protection for passengers."

Members of the Task Force include state Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Mark J.F. Schroeder, state Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez, Superintendent of the New York State Police Kevin Bruen, Westchester County Director of Operations Joan McDonald, Thruway Authority Executive Director Matthew J. Driscoll, President and CEO of Premiere Transportation David J. Brown, Co-Owner of Red Oak Transportation Edward Stoppelmann, retired Department of Transportation inspector Ron Barton, State Police investigator Albro Fancher, and parents of victims involved in the crash, Kevin Cushing and Nancy DiMonte.

The task force has met twice so far, on Feb. 3 and March 15. The next public meeting was scheduled to be held Friday, April 29.

"We owe it to the families of those who were lost in the Schoharie tragedy to make real change that will prevent anything like it ever happening again," Hochul said in a statement. "The best way to honor the memory of the victims is to act with urgency in getting answers as to what caused the crash in 2018. I am signing this legislation to ensure the critical mission of the Task Force is no longer delayed and the appointees have a deadline they can work toward in earnest."

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CATL, the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer, reported a 23.6% drop in the first-quarter profit on Friday, its first fall in two years, as it battles soaring raw material costs and a resurgence of COVID-19 in China. CATL, whose clients include Tesla, Volkswagen and BMW, booked a net profit of 1.49 billion yuan ($226.69 million), a filing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange showed.

That was down from 1.95 billion yuan profit a year earlier despite a big jump in revenue to 48.68 billion yuan from 19.17 billion yuan a year earlier. Prices of key metals such as lithium nearly doubled in the first three months, weighing on CATL's profit margins and prompting it to raise battery prices in March.

(Also read | Tesla supplier CATL considers sites for $5 billion battery plant)

Other battery makers have reported lower earnings for the March quarter, hit by rising raw material costs and supply chain disruptions. South Korea's LG Energy Solution Ltd (LGES) reported a 24% quarterly profit drop earlier this week.

Like its rivals, CATL is ramping up production and mineral sourcing to meet growing demand for electric vehicles. It said earlier this month it had secured exploration rights for a lithium clay deposit in the central province of Jiangxi in China and set up a joint venture in Indonesia for nickel mining. Consulting firm Wood Mackenzie says CATL is on track to more than triple its cell manufacturing capacity by 2025.

(Also read | China's CATL launches battery swap service for electric cars)

CUT POSSIBLE

The gross profit margin for CATL's EV batteries fell to 22% in 2021 from 26.56% in the previous year. The Ningde, Fujian-headquartered company remained far ahead of its competitors in the domestic market. 51% of the nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) batteries and 49% of the lithium phosphate (LFP) batteries installed in China's electric vehicles in the first three months were from CATL, according to China Automotive Battery Research Institute.

By comparison, rival BYD provides 1.6% of NCM batteries and 34% of LFP batteries, while LG Energy had its name on 6% of the NCM batteries installed, the institute said.

First Published Date:
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Toyota Motor on April 28 began pre-sale of the bZ4X, the first Toyota-branded all-electric model in China. Manufactured and sold by both GAC Honda and FAW-Toyota, the BEV model comes with five trim levels with pre-sale prices varying from 220,000 yuan ($33,093) to 300,000 yuan ($45,130).



bZ4X; photo credit: Toyota China



Riding on Toyota's e-TNGA platform, the bZ4X is the first model of the bZ full-electric vehicle series. Positioned as a mid-sized SUV, it measures 4,690mm long, 1,860mm wide, and 1,650mm tall, roughly the size of the RAV4. The wheelbase of the bZ4X spans 2,850mm, 190mm longer than that of the RAV4.

The pure-electric model will offer six options of color skins. It will take on Volkswagen's ID.4 in China.

Toyota said it equips the bZ4X with a solar panel on the roof, which can produce enough electricity to make the SUV drive up to 1,750km per year.

The model will be armed with the third-generation Toyota Safety Sense system that offers Level 2 driver assistance functions. Other intelligent features include the Mobileye EyeQ4 autonomous driving chip, front-facing monocular camera, 12 ultrasonic and millimeter-wave radars.

bZ4X; photo credit: Toyota China

The bZ4X will feature Toyota's steer-by-wire system, which allows a driver to make an easier U-turn with single hand.

Toyota will offer the China-made bZ4X in both front-wheel-drive (FWD) and all-wheel-drive (AWD) variants. The former will feature a single 150kW electric motor capable of a 0-100km/h acceleration of 8.4 seconds. The latter will carry an 80kW electric motor at both the front and rear axles, and can zip from 0-100km/h within 7.7 seconds.

bZ4X; photo credit: Toyota China

Per the CLTC standard, the carmaker claims the 71.4kWh ternary battery pack from Panasonic will allow the FWD version to travel up to 615km on a single charge, while the AWD one come with two range variants500km and 560kmthanks to the 72.5 ternary battery offered by CATL.

The battery used in the bZ4X supports 150kW DC fast charging, allowing it to go from dead to 80% of its capacity within only 30 minutes.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- The founder and CEO of Chinas Roborock intelligent cleaning robot company, Chang Jing, has reportedly completed his D financing round with roughly $200 million raised for his automaking project, Luoke Auto.

Photo credit: Roborock



The round was led by Coatue and participated by Sequoia Capital and IDG Capital. The project is valued at $2 billion.

At the end of 2021, Luoke Auto raised over $50 million in its C investment round, led by Chinas well-known tech giant Tencent. Chang Jing has reportedly turned down NIO Capital, and Meituan regarding the auto-making project.

Luoke Autos first production model is expected to be a rang extended off-roader in the RMB300,000-500,000 ($45,521-75,869) market. According to Chang Jings previous statement, the off-roader is likely to feature a range of over 1,000km. The vehicle is estimated to be ready for the public eye in 2023.

Luoke Auto is currently headquartered in Shanghai with Chang Jing as president. The former CTO of WM Motor, Yan Feng, has joined the company, assuming the position of CEO.

In addition, Luoke Auto has established a subsidiary in Anhui province, namely Anhui Luoke Auto Manufacturing Co., Ltd., according to the corporate database Qichacha.
HOZON Auto, the startup that names its EV brand after the Chinese mythological character Nezha (currently dubbed NETA), amazed industry watchers by surging registrations of its affordable vehicles in the first quarter of the year, outpacing rivals such as XPeng, Li Auto, and NIO.

According to the data compiled by Gasgoo Auto Research Institute (GARI), there were 27,126 NETA-branded vehicles registered in the first three months of 2022, representing a whopping 440.3% year-on-year growth. In terms of the quarterly registrations, HOZON Auto was the second runner-up among Chinese startups, even outselling the high-profile NIO.

The landscape of Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) startups used to be led by the trio affectionately coined Wei Xiao Li, which stands for NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto. The situation was changed in October 2021 when HOZON Auto transcended NIO, which faced a month-on-month plunge in registrations due to the retooling of production lines.

HOZON Auto continued its upward trajectory in the following two months. In December last year, its monthly registrations for the first time exceeded 10,000 units, the fourth Chinese NEV startup to hit the milestone.

Affected by the factors like the Spring Festival holiday, HOZON Auto failed to maintain the month-on-month growth impetus in the first two months of this year. Nevertheless, it still moved up to the runner-up place among Chinese startups in February and once again delivered a registration volume of over 10,000 units in March.



HOZON Auto currently offers three production models under NETA brand. According to the chart made by Gasgoo, a fact can be learnt that the company's majority registrations were contributed by the NETA U and the NETA V. The contribution of the NETA N01, the startups first mass-produced model, has been so negligible. According to the data compiled by GARI, the NETA V and the NETA U accounted for 68% and 31.8% of the company's Q1 registrations.

Rural strategy

The lesser-known startup's vigorous sales growth didnt come out of nowhere. Founded in 2014, it chose to get a head start in rural areas and lower-tier cities, which are usually neglected by major EV brands, but also see rising demands for EVs.

The three NETA-branded models are all priced below 200,000 yuan ($31,000). The cheapest NETA V SUV costs only 65,900 yuan ($10,215) after subsidies, even less than a third of Teslas most affordable sedan in China.

China hopes NEV sales can reach around 20% of all new vehicles sales in 2025. Driven by the national goal, the country is posting rising demands for mass-market electric vehicles, which give the startups like HOZON Auto a foothold as there are still plentiful budget buyers prioritize price over branding.



Some industry watchers regard price as a key factor to define a smart car. XPeng's chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng said a profitable smart car should be priced at least 150,000 yuan ($22,870). Nevertheless, HOZON Auto's CEO Zhang Yong believes that intelligent cars should be enjoyed by the general public rather than merely being the toy of the haves.

NETA V Pro; photo credit: NETA



In fact, the startup has rolled out some budget-friendly products with decent intelligence experience. For instance, the NETA V Pro, which hit the market in Nov. 2021 with a maximum price of 80,900 yuan ($12,330), boasts the Level 2 driver assistant system, which is backed by high-performance chips and up to 14 high-precision sensors, the most in its segment. Assisted by cameras, millimeter-wave radars and ultrasonic radars, the full-speed ACC (adaptive cruise system) is able to cover more than 20 complex scenarios such as congestion, intersection parking, uphill, and downhill. The car is also equipped with an upgraded 14.6-inch intelligent control-mounted screen with a 1,9201,080 HD resolution and the information security protection system offered by 360 Security.

Although the intelligence level of HOZON Autos vehicles still trailed behind that of NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto, it does serve as a good selling point for the consumers with limited budget.

Initial focus on B2B market

Another gateway HOZON Auto picked at its initial development phase is the B2B (business-to-business) market.



2020 NETA N01; photo credit: NETA



The startup's first production model, the NETA N01, was launched to mainly serve governmental agencies and enterprise users. Before the model hit the market in July 2018, HOZON Auto has struck deals with such car rental platforms as Didi Chuxing, Yiduyongche, and Share'n Go, which agreed to purchase cars from the EV company.

The authorities of Tongxiang city, where HOZON Auto's plant is located, purchased the NETA N01s as government cars in August 2018, and bought the NETA Us two years later.

In November 2019, the company formed a strategic partnership with the municipal government of Nanning city, and subsequently delivered at least 800 vehicles to local authorities and enterprises.

HOZON Auto made its foray into the domestic car hailing market starting 2020. In January of that year, the startup deployed 1,000 EVs in Yichun city through Share'n Go for car rental service. In August, the company offered at least 1,000 NETA N01s to a Chengdu-based ride-hailing platform. About four months later, Guangxi NETA Mobility Technology Co., Ltd., a mobility service platform backed by HOZON Auto, purchased 1,200 NETA Us to operate car hailing service in Hangzhou.

B2B users made a remarkable contribution to HOZON Auto's sales about a few years ago. However, the company has realized that it is necessary to place stronger emphasis on private users, partly as it saw demands for government cars and mobility services sharply declined after the pandemic outbreak.

The efforts to shift the business focus to private users have delivered a positive result. In 2021, a total of 53,783 NETA-branded vehicles were registered by private users, which accounted for 82.5% of the startup's annual registrations, according to the data compiled by GARI. For the first quarter of this year, the share of private users stood at 87.4%.



HOZON Auto is working on strengthening its presence in higher-tier cities. Regarding the first-quarter registrations of NETA-branded vehicles, the top 2 cities were Hangzhou and Zhengzhou, and both of them were the so-called new first-tier cities in China. Notably, the metropolises Guangzhou and Shanghai, and many provincial capital cities like Chengdu, Wuhan, Hefei, and Nanjing all appeared on the list of the top 20 cities.

Marketing tactic

The startup is also striving to improve its brand popularity by means of marketing tactics, some of which did work. When it launched the EV brand Nezha (afterwards renamed NETA) in 2018, the company didn't expect that a homonymous domestic animated film would become a sleeper hit in the summer of the next year. By forming crossover cooperation with the film maker, the brand was rapidly known by a wider range of consumers, and its sales correspondingly jumped.

Hong Kong IPO

There is a growing talk of an IPO in Hong Kong later this year for HOZON Auto. According to some media channels, the startup has already kicked off a Pre-IPO round of financing, which would value the company at around 45 billion yuan ($6.86 billion).



Photo credit: NETA



Although HOZON Auto has not commented on the IPO rumor yet, it is quickening the pace of fundraising. According to the business data platform Tianyancha, the startup has so far completed nine rounds of financing. The latest one was reportedly closed in February this year with over 2 billion yuan raised, valuing the company at over 25 billion yuan ($3.811 billion).

Besides, HOZON Auto introduced 360 Security and the Chinese power battery giant CATL as investors through two significant rounds completed in the second half of 2021.

Nonetheless, the money it has so far raised is far below that for a mature EV brand.

In the increasingly crowded smart car field, players are dedicated to enhancing their products' competitiveness by building up R&D capabilities, which absolutely requires vast sums of money.

What's more, HOZON Auto also needs a huge amount of capital to expand its sales and service network, especially in first-tier and second-tier cities. As money is required on all fronts, going public seems to be a necessary path which leads the startup to a higher development stage.
LOS ANGELES  Wicked Sensual Care on Friday announced resident sex educator, brand strategist, and Guide to Wicked Sex creator, jessica drake, is hosting Couples Night from 7-10 p.m. Wednesday, May 4 at Columbia Missouri's Passions In Columbia. Located at 1108 Business Loop 70 E, Passions In Columbia carries a large selection of adult toys, lingerie, shoes, erotic books, and gifts.



Passions in Columbia is known throughout the region for being a high-end superstore thanks to its knowledgeable staff and upscale atmosphere.



"I'm so excited to be hosting Couples Night at Passions in Columbia," said drake. "In addition to hosting the evening, I'll be doing a live Q&A session with the attendees, and well have vendors on-site performing product demonstrations and training. There's going to be a fun meet-and-greet, photo opportunities, and, of course, a few sexy surprises along the way. Come early so you don't miss out!"



A multiple award-winner with more than 20 years of experience in the worlds of sensuality and wellness, drake is quick to point out that live events like Couples Night are "passion projects" in the truest sense of the term. "From giving sexual wellness seminars around the world to writing, directing, and hosting my Guide to Wicked Sex video series, I am constantly receiving questions about sex, relationships, and intimacy. It's important to me to share my personal perspective that sex is not just a series of steps leading to a desired result, but instead a whole-body experience. It's about confidence, communication, consent, being seen, and ones willingness to be open and experience new things."



Follow jessica drake on Twitter and Instagram
LOS ANGELESVibratex will celebrate Magic Wand Day on May 20 by hosting a display contest for retailers where the winners will receive cash and prizes.

The date marks the May 20, 1968 debut of the Magic Wand, which continues to be a best-selling product.

Recognizing the countless fans who have shown their love with ink, this years display contest theme is Magic Wand Tattoos, the company said in a statement. Weve even printed temporary tattoos (designed by a prominent artist!) for you to apply or give to customers.

To enter the contest, click here to download graphics that can be posted or printed. Next, click here to fill out a form to request a supply of temporary tattoos, which can also be ordered from your distributor. Retailers can then set up a creative Magic Wand Day display or online promotion, which can then be photographed and submitted by the May 20 deadline by clicking here.

The winners will be announced on June 2.

The prizes will include:

 First Place  24 Magic Wands (6 of each SKU) for resale and $1,000 to be shared among store staff.

 Second Place  12 Magic Wands (3 of each SKU) for resale and $750 to be shared among store staff.

 Third Place  8 Magic Wands (2 of each SKU) for resale and $500 to be shared among store staff.

For more information or questions about the contest, e-mail [email protected].
The revival of College Bowl, hosted by Peyton and Cooper Manning, will be getting a second season.

Per Deadline, the NBC show will also have a new showrunner in Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! veteran Harry Friedman.

Both Mannings will be back for the second season, and will serve as executive producers along with their brother Eli. No premiere date was announced for season two, with casting still underway per a release from NBC.

If youre not familiar with College Bowl, its essentially a tournament-based quiz show between college students, with tuition money up for grabs.

Capital One returns to award $1 million in life-changing scholarships, providing all the student competitors with tuition assistance for their participation. The winning team will take home a scholarship and claim victory as Capital One College Bowl champions. Last season the team from Columbia University beat out rivals from the University of Southern California to take the title. With a wide variety of subjects, teams must work together to test their knowledge in a five-round tournament. The top two schools advance to the final where they compete for the coveted Capital One College Bowl trophy.

The revival of College Bowl premiered last June, nearly 70 years after it initially debuted on the radio.

So, just in case you needed more of the Manning brothers in your life (or you were jonesing for new episodes of a game show to watch), youll soon have more College Bowl content to consumer.

[Deadline, NBC Universal]
Memory" is an interesting title for the latest Liam Neeson thriller. Do you remember the last Liam Neeson thriller? Or the one before that? Who was it that got took in that one? It began getting hard to tell these films from one another years ago, and yet they've kept coming. Key & Peele" only seems more prophetic for making the actor's name plural. Liam Neesons is right.

He contains, and kills, multitudes.

Memory, which opens in theaters Friday, doesn't much alter the formula but makes for a brutal and bleak variation on the Liam Neeson theme. It casts a broader, more interwoven noir tapestry set around the Texas borderlands, with an ensemble cast including Guy Pearce, Monica Bellucci, and Ray Stevenson. If you come to Memory hoping Neeson is going to growl one-liners like Commit THAT to memory! or If memory serves me correctly, you're toast!"  you may be surprised to find a movie less interested in such action-star heroics than it is something murkier and more cynical.

Does that make it good? Well, I wouldn't go that far. The filmmaking, by Martin Campbell, the British director of thrillers both glossy ("Casino Royale") and gritty ("Edge of Darkness"), lacks the texture and sense of place that could have made Memory (much of which was shot in Bulgaria) something more than a throwaway. But the performers  Neeson and particularly Pearce  don't phone anything in.

Neeson plays an El Paso, Texas, assassin named Alex Lewis who tilts more toward bad guy territory than most of the actor's protagonists. Of course, though, Alex has a moral compass that won't tolerate certain things. He smashes one guy's head against the bar for his rude behavior toward a prostitute. And he won't kill kids. When Alex refuses to kill a 13-year-old girl (Mia Sanchez), a crime syndicate seeking to cover up a child trafficking ring comes after him. At the same time, Alex is beginning to experience early onset Alzheimer's. That, curiously, only seldom affects his mission to protect the girl and bring down the syndicate, but it does make Alex even bolder; his life is fading away, anyway.

At the same time, the FBI agent Vincent Serra (Pearce) is trying to bring down the ring and is watching over the very same teenage girl, but his higher-ups keep pushing him toward other cases. Pearce's very presence in a memory-loss thriller is a nod to Memento. In one scene, when Neeson writes clues on his forearm to help himself remember, you half expect Pearce to grab the pen and give him a few pointers. There's much that's familiar in Memory, a remake of the 2003 Belgian thriller Memory of a Killer.

Alex and Vincent form a loose partnership as two men trying to carry out one act of justice in a place without it. If the Liam Neeson thriller has cast Neeson as a kind of globe-trotting vigilante and defender of justice in a fallen world, it's fitting that he should make his way to the U.S.-Mexican border. Credit Memory for summoning outrage for the plight of young Mexican immigrants along the border.

Pearce, sweaty and grungy steadies Memory; it's his film as much as Neeson's. But if anything, they seem like actors who ought to be in something better than this, an often slipshod movie populated largely by stock and half-formed characters  like Bellucci's somewhat ridiculous millionaire, an El Paso mogul pulling strings to cover for her son. There's just enough here to imagine a better, more memorable iteration of Memory.

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Starting in its fall 2023 semester, Northern Arizona University (NAU) will provide tuition-free college education for Arizona residents with a household income of $65,000 or lower.

The university announced its Access2Excellence (A2E) initiative Thursday, where students meeting the threshold will have tuition fully covered by scholarships and financial aid.

NAU President Jose Luis Cruz Rivera said while Arizonas economy is booming, the majority of new jobs growth is projected to create will require a college degree. The state of Arizona, meanwhile, is near the bottom of the country in postsecondary attainment, he cited while referring to an Arizona Board of Regents report that found a current ninth-grader in the state has a 17% chance of obtaining a college degree by 2029.

Unless we do something dramatically different, the fortunes of the people of Arizona will not dramatically change and hence they can be shut out from this economic boom, Cruz Rivera said.

He added: If we really want to ensure that the people of Arizona can contribute to and benefit from the future economic development of the state, we need to really step it up in terms of making an affordable, high-quality education accessible to them.

The idea behind the initiative, he said, is to make the cost of college clearer to potential students.

Right now we can speak endlessly about how affordable an NAU education is for low-income students, given the wide variety of financial aid that we provide, but it really requires students to actually apply to college, apply for financial aid, get admitted and get a letter back saying what their financial aid package looks like before they know for sure that they can aspire to afford higher education, he said.

A2E instead guarantees that Arizona students under the income threshold will have their tuition fully covered by the financial aid package.

That's a very powerful message that I think will resonate with those that are questioning perhaps the value of college and affordability of college and hopefully will broaden participation in higher education, he said.

The $65,000 threshold is based on statistical modeling to see how we could expand access to the program and still meet our enrollment targets and our revenue projections, Cruz Rivera said. The university currently manages around $400 million in total financial aid, he added.

The threshold is also close to Arizonas median income, meaning approximately half of households in the state fall below it.

The A2E initiative will begin in fall 2023 for first-year and transfer students at the university, including both Flagstaff and statewide campuses in part to ensure potential enrollment increases are distributed responsibly, Cruz Rivera said.

Figures will also be monitored over time to ensure they are sustainable. Based on modeling, the universitys projection is that enrollment will increase slightly in the first year, and will require a few years before [it] really takes hold.

NAU will also continue to provide financial aid to students in households with higher incomes, stating that we want to make sure its affordable for everyone, any track. Were committed to maintaining the lowest cost of attending school in the state.

The universitys Pledge program will continue for existing students in 2023, Cruz Rivera said.

For new students moving forward, we will institute a predictable tuition program that will allow families to understand what annual increases would be expected moving forward, and this is something that would be done through the ABOR processes that are in place for tuition setting. But the Pledge program will apply for all existing students, he said.

Cruz Rivera said the initiative is a building block as NAU moves toward the vision set by its strategic roadmap, which he said is hoped to be finalized in the coming weeks.

Another recent example is the admissions pilot program announced in February.

[A2E] is more closely related with some of the aspirations we have laid out in our strategic roadmap, around, for example, meeting students where they are, he said. ...We will be very intentionally looking at how can we increase enrollment outside of Flagstaff at those sites in a way that will meet those communities needs more directly.

"By saying that program will cover the tuition costs in financial aid for all students, not only in Flagstaff but also statewide, now it's creating the conditions for us to really be more effective in attracting students that are priced out, and that in turn translates to our ability to better prepare them for the new jobs that are coming on board in the state.

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The Tunnel Fires containment increased to 43% Thursday as firefighting crews continue to mop up and secure the blazes perimeter in the Sunset Crater National Monument and Black Mountain areas.

The fires total acreage was reduced to 19,075 acres following a more accurate measuring of the fires edge south of Darton Dome. Crews will remain active for several days to patrol, mop up small fires and address reports of smoke as needed.

There are currently nine crews for a total of 338 active personnel with two dozers, 16 engines, one air attack plane and one helicopter. As work is accomplished, personnel will be released to respond to priority fires elsewhere in the Southwest. Friday morning will see fire management transition to the hands of a smaller, local Type 4 Team from the Coconino National Forest.

The dust is starting to settle around the Tunnel Fire, but important questions about the fires cause and early management remain unanswered. Primarily, much of the public has expressed concern with what occurred between when the fire was reported on Sunday, April 17, and when it erupted to destructive strength on Tuesday, April 19.

The Arizona Daily Sun has been in close contact with Coconino National Forest to provide the community with updates on their investigation. The U.S. Forest Service planned to release data logs directly to the Daily Sun, but after conferring with their law enforcement division, had to retract the offer in the interest of investigative integrity. Forest supervisor Laura Jo West and acting special agent in charge Brian Webb offered statements on the Tunnel Fire investigation and the release of information.

We know you want answers, and you deserve to have them, wrote Jo West in her statement to the Daily Sun.

She described how the data logs detailing Forest Service response between April 17-19 were fully intended for public release, but deemed to include details relevant to the current investigation into the cause of the fire.

Releasing them at this point could potentially compromise the integrity of that investigation, wrote Jo West. Law enforcement has asked us to wait until its investigation has concluded before we release that information.

On behalf of law enforcement, Webb wrote that premature release of information about an investigation damages the integrity of the investigation and could irreparably damage the governments ability to prosecute a case, either criminally or civilly.

We understand that the time needed to complete an investigation can be frustrating, Webb said, especially to those that may have suffered traumatic loss from this wildfire, but an accurate, thorough and professional investigation is necessary to determine, as accurately as possible, the facts surrounding the fire. We would ask that the public be patient while we complete our investigations.

While the raw data might not be released until the investigation concludes, Jo West did offer her personal assessment of what she reviewed.

I have full confidence that Forest Service firefighters acted appropriately, professionally, and aggressively to suppress the Tunnel Fire from the beginning, she wrote. I am proud of them and profoundly humbled to work alongside them. What I see when I look at what transpired is a deeply committed team of professionals giving their all to protect their neighbors and their community. The wind may have had the upper hand on that terrible day, but they never gave up.

Sean Golightly can be reached at sgolightly@azdailysun.com

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Update: 29-04-2022 | 13:33:35

The Vietnam Red Cross Society (VNRC), in collaboration with the Thua Thien-Hue Peoples Committee, launched a Humanitarian Month 2022 at a ceremony in the central province on April 28. 

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (fourth from left) and delegates launch the Humanitarian Month (Photo: VNA)

With the theme Connecting the community, spreading acts of kindness, the month aims to call people to connect by doing kind deeds no matter how small.

Addressing the event, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed that voluntary and humanitarian work is not the sole responsibility of the State or any single organization, community or individual, but the common responsibility of the entire society, in which the State should play a proactive and orienting role.

The President appealed to agencies, organisations, enterprises, philanthropists and people from all walks of life to continue join hands with the VNRC and the Party and State to support the poor and the disadvantaged people, thus building a united community staying healthy and safe amid the pandemic, natural disasters or war.

VNRC President Bui Thi Hoa said during the Humanitarian Month 2022 from May 1 to 31, the whole VNRC will strive to mobilise 400 billion VND to help one million people in difficult circumstances.

On the occasion, the VNRC launched two key programmes for the next five years, including the "Safety for poor and disadvantaged fishermen" and "Nutrition for poor and disabled children."

Initiated by the VNRC in 2018, the movement has mobilised 1.513 trillion VND, supporting 3.3 million people in difficult circumstances.

At the ceremony, domestic and foreign benefactors donated and committed nearly 400 billion VND to the VNRC./.

VNA
The voice of the youth should be heard, especially in these times when the global landscape is changing at a rapid pace. True, while some young people have chosen to "lie flat", opting out of the race to build a better career, most youths are still striving for a better life and are becoming the main force in global communication in the era of social media.

In particular, the potential of Generation Z, that is, those born between 1995 and 2009, should not be underestimated. As the first social generation to have grown up having access to the internet and portable digital technology, Gen Z has been dubbed "digital natives" and accounts for about 24 percent of the world's population.

In order to bridge the global divide between countries, people need to learn about different cultures and the characteristics of the youth in different countries, and find the best way to establish and continue intercultural communication amid rising complexities and uncertainties across the world.

Compared with other generations, Gen Z sees social media as the best source of news and best channel to connect with each other.

Given these facts, China should develop new communication channels and help Chinese youths to develop new communication skills to better publicize Chinese culture among their counterparts in other countries.

The greatest wealth and strength of any nation is its youth. So the leadership needs to create international exchange programs to enhance the youths' individual and social development, because those who participate in such activities are more likely to meet with and befriend youths from other countries and cultures, which could influence the rest of their lives.

A good example of such programs are the people-to-people exchange events the Chinese Communist Youth League Central Committee organizes every year which allows foreign students to attend seminars and engage in different activities, even live with a host family to better understand Chinese culture.

Currently, online programs are organized to help Chinese and foreign youths feel connected amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, innovative ideas need to be used to boost international exchanges for Gen Z, so that they can promote traditional Chinese culture across the world during the pandemic.

The key to establishing good communication with adolescents is to talk in a way they are familiar and comfortable with. It is important to provide them with down-to-earth information, tell exciting stories, and help them develop a deep affection for Chinese culture and solve the cultural communication problem.

Foreign students studying in China, too, can help promote Chinese culture across the world, not least because they have a relatively good understanding about China and can deftly use social media, and their expressions can be more easily understood and appreciated by youths of other countries.

Besides, Gen Z is more likely to understand and appreciate different world views. Yet it needs to know the real conditions of China and other countries to realize the difference between theory and practice.

Chinese adolescents should also be encouraged to travel and communicate with their peers to develop a deep affection for the motherland, which in turn will prompt them to foster cultural exchanges.

The world is undergoing unprecedented changes and some Western countries have been desperately trying to contain China. As such, China, after having ended the era characterized by poverty, foreign invasions and bullying, now needs to take measures to stop the West from "scolding" it any further.

In other words, China should take advantage of the younger generation and social media to tell its stories and make its voice heard globally.

The author is a member of the All-China Youth Federation and director of the Institute for Dialogue of World Civilizations at Huaqiao University.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.
The Beatrice Public Schools Board of Education Committee of the Whole discussed changes to the elementary project and an increase in cost of lunches and transportation at its Thursday meeting.

BPS set out with an aggressive timeline for its new elementary school project, hoping to break ground in the summer. BPS Superintendent Jason Alexander said, after losing five weeks, the project will have a new construction management firm.

Originally, the Southeast Nebraska Education Agency approved seeking a contract with Johnson Controls for the project. Alexander said the school district and ESU 5 received a draft of the contract from Johnson Controls without cost details.

"The timeline has become very concerning to me as the person in charge of moving this project forward, Alexander said. Time is slipping away too quickly, and with that we called another SNEA meeting to talk this over. Without delaying any further, the SNEA got together. They granted us permission to terminate negotiations with Johnson Controls at that point, and engage Hausmann Construction in a negotiations process. Essentially, we said we can't wait any longer to begin these conversations that should have started three weeks ago, four weeks ago."

Hausmann Construction was the second highest ranked of the firms the SNEA interviewed.

A contract was put in front of [Hausmann Construction], and within 24 to 48 hours, that contract has been signed and approved, Alexander said. The only person left to sign it is me. Thats just because we got it back today. Hausmann signed the contract with little to no required change With that said, Im not saying were going to be able to break ground in July like we had initially planned A lot of it will depend on how quickly we can get Hausmann uploaded onto the project.

Alexander said the project is 80 to 90% through its architectural phase. He also said the project will finance through Pinnacle Bank

In very short order, Pinnacle Bank has made very aggressive and sweeping moves to help us in this project on our behalf, to get a financing package figured out, he said.

Assistant Superintendent Jackie Nielsen discussed a need to increase school lunch prices.

So we know that for last two years, the USDA has provided COVID-19 child nutrition response waivers to provide no-cost meals to all students, Nielsen said. However, at this time point in time, Congress has not given USDA authority. So we do not know if they are going to extend. We do not know if theyre going to approve new waivers. We are kind of in limbo We are following the guidance from the State Department of Education.

Nielsen said the district will have three options to pursue in terms of lunch prices. The first is to raise prices in response to a negative food service account balance. The second option is to do nothing with prices in the face of a positive balance. The third is to raise prices even with a positive balance to address increase costs of food and supplies.

Nielsen said she recommends moving forward with the third option. That would bring prices of lunches up by $.10.

Nielsen discussed an increase in bus transportation fees. Currently, the fee is $130. More than 600 students ride the buses, not including the two special education buses. Nielsen recommended raising the fee to $160 to cover the increased cost of fueling and staffing.

The bottom line is I really wish we didnt need to increase our costs, but its a service we provide, Alexander said. That service costs us money. In order to provide it, were going to have to continue to charge more.

The committee also considered pay increases to staff members, including paras and administrators.

The Board of Education will hold its next regular meeting on Monday, May 9 at 7 p.m. in the BPS Administration Building.

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GREENWOOD  Standing on a truck bed in front of hundreds of people, many wearing the signature red hats with white letters proclaiming Make America Great Again, Charles Herbster delivered the bad news.

Friday evenings rally, where the Republican gubernatorial candidate was going to appear with former President Donald Trump at I-80 Speedway, was postponed to Sunday because of the threat of severe weather.

We just walked through the weather reports, and he (Trump) and I both made the decision, Herbster told the crowd just after 3 p.m.

The program was scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., with Trump scheduled to speak after 8 p.m.

As forecasters monitored the likelihood of severe weather developing Friday afternoon, Herbster said he was in regular contact with Trump, who with input from the former presidents pilots and the National Weather Service, decided to postpone his appearance until Sunday.

The most important thing of any event, of any rally, is not the message, but its all of you, Herbster told the crowd. Its the safety of all of you.

As Herbster continued to speak, attendees started making for the exits. Some leaped over metal barricades. Several people told Herbster they would stand and wait through the weather. One man yelled fake news at Herbster as he discussed the weather outlook.

I hope its not fake news because we had to make a decision, Herbster replied. We made that decision based on your safety.

Later Friday, Trump's team announced a revised schedule for Sunday, with entertainment beginning at noon, a program starting at 2 p.m. and the former president speaking at 5 p.m.

Before the postponement, Friday's rally  a signature event in Herbster's campaign for governor  was shaping up as a celebration of the one-term president.

A midway, like those that will pop up at county fairs across Nebraska later this summer, featured stands with T-shirts printed with pro-Trump and anti-Biden messages, flags and all kinds of other memorabilia.

One merchant, Adrian Robinson, rolled his cart among the crowd and routinely bellowed Joes gotta go!

Ive been following Trump since 2015, said Robinson, from St. Louis. Ive gone to 48 states.

Robinson said he admires what he sees as Trumps confidence and competence. He said his cart-bound business does more than pay the bills.

It helps spread the word, he said. I want to help this movement in any way I can.

Scott, another of the merchants, who chose not to provide his last name, stood behind a table full of his merchandise  camouflage hats and shirts bearing bald eagles. He said he makes custom shirts for every rally, this one featuring a scowling bipedal elephant clenching giant fists.

I follow Trump rallies all across the country, he said. In the summer, I follow the Grateful Dead and sell their merchandise. ... It allows me to see all the different parts of this country.

Herbster hosted a lunchtime tailgate on the grounds ahead of Friday's event, which was to feature several Trump allies, including Kellyanne Conway, his 2016 campaign manager and longtime adviser; and Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow.

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference, and David Bossie, president of Citizens United, walked the grounds to mix and mingle with rallygoers, while petition organizers gathered signatures for various campaigns and candidates worked the crowds.

Many of the people in attendance said they had come specifically to see Trump.

Thomas Sullivan, of Plattsmouth, said he missed Trumps last stop in Nebraska when he flew into Eppley Airfield just days before the 2020 election, and couldnt pass up another opportunity.

They gave enough advance notice here where I had to come to this, Sullivan said. This is historic. Who knows what hes going to say today that might be something that goes way down in history?

Sullivan said he had planned to vote for Herbster for governor until all these accusations came out, referring to as many as eight women who have accused the agribusiness owner of sexual misconduct.

Among those who have accused Herbster of groping them are state Sen. Julie Slama of Sterling, as well as other women in their teens and early 20s, according to a report by the Nebraska Examiner. Herbster has denied any wrongdoing.

Sullivan said the accusations had made him 50-50 on whether to vote for Herbster or Jim Pillen, a hog farmer from Columbus who serves on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.

Theres quite a few accusations that came out, and that doesnt look good, Sullivan said.

Postponing the rally was a disappointment, Sullivan said, but he said he plans to try and come back Sunday.

Another couple, who declined to give their names but who said they lived just down the road, said they werent frustrated by the cancellation. In fact, they welcomed the prospect of rain, they said.

Its no bother to us, but I could see the people who drove clear across the state would be, the man said.

I figured it would get canceled, the woman who was with him said. But we wanted to come anyway, just in case.

As he wrapped up his announcement that the rally had been postponed, Herbster reiterated to members of the crowd that the decision was made for their safety, and promised the president would appear in a few short days.

Heres the most important thing, Herbster said, "hes coming and he loves you.

John Grinvalds of the Beatrice Daily Sun contributed to this story.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS

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The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has confirmed a flock of turkeys found dead near MSU Billings died of highly pathogenic avian influenza, according to FWP spokesperson Robert Gibson.

The birds were discovered by a man living in the neighborhood west of MSUB. On April 11, the man found a bird dead in his yard. Thinking the bird died after it was hit by a car, he threw the bird in the trash, Gibson said in an email to the Gazette.

The man found another bird the next day and called FWP.

Consequently, FWP game wardens found seven dead turkeys in the neighborhood, Gibson wrote. Three tom turkeys were sent to the lab. This week the lab confirmed that the birds died of highly pathogenic avian influenza. The dead birds were the first turkeys in the United States confirmed to have died of HPAI.

Gibson clarified the birds were not considered wild turkeys since they had at some point in the past interbred with domestic turkey.

Wild or Merriams turkeys, the truly wild species found in the states forests and fields, avoid contact with people. The infected flock, which congregates in the city and is used to close contact with humans, are not, according to Gibson.

HPAI spreads quickly through bird flocks, but it is not hazardous to people or other animals. It threatens domestic chickens and other flocks and has been responsible for depopulating several flocks elsewhere in the state.

To prevent the spread, biologists and veterinarians recommend removing attractants that congregate birds  such as feeding grounds and bird feeders, Gibson wrote. The always-fatal disease spreads through bird-to-bird contact or when birds are in contact with other bird feces.

People should disinfect clothing, shoes and equipment any time they are in contact with a bird. People raising domestic flocks should house the birds away from areas where they may come in contact with wild birds. This includes small song birds.

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Another array of wonderful Billings-area events is coming up. Here's a rundown:

TAIKOPROJECT at the Alberta Bair Theater

TAIKOPROJECT aims to reinvigorate the Japanese percussion art and blend traditional style with innovative and fresh aesthetics. They'll perform at the Alberta Bair Theater on Friday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $45 and available at albertabairtheater.org.

Puddle of Mudd and Gilda House at the Pub Station

Long-standing rock stalwarts Puddle of Mudd will bring the heat to the Pub Station Ballroom on Friday, April 29. Billings rock band Gilda House will open. Doors are at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m., general admission tickets are $29.50 and available at thepubstation.com.

Jacket Jambalaya at Craft Local

Montana State University Billings' music department is putting on this Cajun-themed fundraiser, with appearances from MSUB Jazz Band and Chamber Ensemble. Music starts at 7:30 on Friday, April 29. $25 admission includes the concert and two drinks, and reservations are available at (406) 567-2350.

'Twilight Tones' and 'Opera: A History' at NOVA Center for the Performing Arts

This "double feature" combines an original, humorous short in the style of The Twilight Zone and a series of pieces sung by incredible local talent portraying opera through the ages. Performances on Friday, April 29 and Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 1 at 2 p.m. Tickets are between $10-$21 and available at novabillings.org.

Arbor Day Tree Giveaway

On Friday, April 29 from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m., the Yellowstone Conservation District is providing free trees to Yellowstone County residents in celebration of Arbor Day. 475 individually bagged trees will be given away in the parking lot next to Yellowstone Winery and Cellars at 1335 Holiday Circle. In case of rain, enter the on-property warehouse.

Thresh: 'Storytelling Through Art and Dance' at the Yellowstone Art Museum

At 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, choreographer and dancer Preeti Vasudevan will perform Storytelling through Art and Dance with students from Lame Deer High School at the Yellowstone Art Museum. The performance is part of "First Voices," a larger project that Vasudevan is working on with students from the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Event qill conclude with a Q&A with special guest Misty Kuhl, Director of Indian Affairs at MSU.

P.E.A.K.S. Style Show and Dessert

Billings non-profit P.E.A.K.S. are holding this fundraiser on Saturday, April 30 at St. Bernard Church on 226 Wicks Ln. Event is at 1 p.m., with doors at 12:15 p.m. The theme of the style show is "Run for the Roses," and the fashions were provided by the Montana Dress Co. Tickets are $25 with reserved seating, call Rose at (406) 697-1098 or Nedra at (406) 252-8884. All money raised with help cancer patients in treatment.

Erik Olson Organ Trio at Art House Cinema and Pub

Billings based jazz pianist is bringing this night of "soul jazz" to the Art House on Sunday, May 1 at 7 p.m. Featuring Bill Honaker on drums and Craig Hall on guitar. Tickets are $25 and available at arthousebillings.com/erikolson.

MeatEater Live with Steven Rinella and Friends at the Alberta Bair Theater

The cast of the hugely popular MeatEater Podcast will take the Alberta Bair stage on Tuesday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m. Headlined by host Steven Rinella, who is releasing a new book, the MeatEater crew will share outdoors lessons and hold a trivia contest. Each ticket holder gets a signed copy of the book. Tickets are $33, $50 and $65 and available at albertabairtheater.org.

Texas Hippie Coalition at the Pub Station

This metal band hails from, you guessed it, Texas, and they'll be bringing those southern grooves to Billings on Thursday, May 5 at the Pub Station Taproom. Doors are at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. $20 general admission tickets are available at thepubstation.com.

And more live music

There will be a dance with music from Crow Country at the Moose Lodge on 131 Calhoun Ln. on Friday, April 29. Dance is from 6-10 p.m. Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and hot dogs with fries will be served from 5:30-7 p.m. Cost is $10.

Cimarron Band will be play the Rotary Club fundraiser at the Northern Hotel on Friday, April 29th from 6-9 p.m.

On Saturday, April 30, The Cimarron Father Daughter Duo will be at the Levity Bar and Casino from 7:30 p.m to 10:30 p.m.

Montana poet/guitarist Daniel Kosel plays Craft Local from 7-9 p.m. on Saturday, April 30.

Jonah Morsette brings killer guitar and sweet vocals to Yellowstone Cellars and Winery on Saturday, April 30 from 7-9 p.m.

Bozeman five-piece Not James Taylor will be at Craft Local on Saturday, April 30 at 9 p.m.

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Democrats running in Montanas Eastern U.S. House district squared off in Havre on Thursday night for a debate on agriculture issues.

Former Billings City Council member Penny Ronning, state Sen. Mark Sweeny and Skylar Williams of Billings took questions for an hour on federal agriculture politics, and rural issues. The debate was organized by the Montana Farmers Union and Montana Cattlemens Association. The event was televised and livestreamed.

Sweeney, a Miles City native who lives in Philipsburg, said it was crucial that Eastern Montana had a representative in the next Congress who understood the importance of the farm bill to Montana. The candidates were asked what they would do to assure farmers had the right to repair their own equipment. Sweeny said he would include right-to-repair in the next farm bill.

I believe in 2023, we probably have the opportunity to have the most important piece of legislation for Montana, and I think right-to-repair could be a part of that, Sweeney said. The farmers and ranchers that I know are probably the most independent, resourceful people I've met and to think that they don't have the right to repair their equipment is absurd. So I absolutely would support or even carry legislation for the right to repair farm equipment.

Right-to-repair shouldnt stop the farm, said Williams. There are several instances in which self-repairs arent allowed by manufacturers.

This issue does not just affect farmers and it may cost farmers more than just the repair bill that John Deere charges for a technician to come out. It can cost them, like Mark said, time in farming and harvesting, Williams said. This issue also affects cellphone carriers. If you own an Apple device, more often than not, youre denied the ability to repair your own cell phone. Dishwashers, Maytag, they do the same thing. The right to repair bill encompasses everything. If you own your product, you should be able to fix your product. You should be able to do anything you want with your product. It is yours. You paid your money for it. You own it.

Ronning said that the farmers in her family couldnt function without repairing their own equipment.

I'm a big supporter of the right for farmers to be able to repair their own equipment. Both sides of my family are ag family. South Dakota, North Dakota, is where most of my family live on farms, Ronning said. I grew up with a grandfather that fixed his own equipment. My uncles fix their own equipment. My cousins fix their own equipment. I can't imagine anyone having to wait in line if, let's say, there's multiple farmers or ranchers that have equipment waiting to be fixed and it's harvest season. That just doesn't make sense to me. I absolutely support this, and support Sen. (Jon) Tester's work on what he's doing on this.

There were several mentions by the candidates of need to work with both of Montanas U.S. senators. Ronning said none of the candidates participating in the debate at the campus of Montana State University Northern were familiar enough on federal farm policy to go it alone on agriculture in Congress.

One of the greatest champions we have right now is Sen. Tester, watching him work in a bipartisan way. I would also give credit to Sen. (Steve) Daines in this also. So, for me, I would rely heavily on folks like yourselves, as well as Sen. Tester and Sen. Daines to walk through this, Ronning said.

All three candidates expressed support for country-of-origin labeling, or COOL, for animal protein, a subject thats been in the news this week as Congress takes on antitrust concerns in cattle markets. Both of Montanas U.S. senators support labels on meat sold in grocery stores. The issue is controversial in the meatpacking industry because cattle from other countries are slaughtered in the same packing plants as domestic beef and currently get the same product of the USA label.

COOL labeling is very vital for quality packaging. It's not just with meat packing. You take the same example for products out of the country. You buy a wrench in China, you have very low expectations of that wrench. You buy a wrench in America, you know that thing is going to last. You know thats going to get you a few years at least, Williams said. And it's the same with beef and pork. You should always know where your food is coming from, who it's been inspected by, where it's been packaged, not just everything prior and the very last bit was packaged in the United States.

Ronning said it was important that the labeling is mandatory, a requirement thats divided liberal farm groups from conservative groups on the issue. This week, conservative ranchers testifying in congressional hearings said a labeling mandate is too much government involvement.

I think it's just mandatory that Americans know what they're ingesting and where that product was grown and raised and harvested. It is mind boggling to me that we don't know that with our pork and beef. I just don't understand that, Ronning said. Labels would add value to domestic beef, she said.

Sweeny pointed out that United States produce does have country of origin labeling now. COOL fell apart for beef after the trade groups aligned with the meatpacking industry teamed up with Canada to challenge the labels as a trade violation. Canada threatened tariffs on several United States goods if the labeling stuck. After those threats, Congress backed down on COOL.

We look at an avocado and we know where that's from, or carrots and, it should be, especially in Montana, something that we take pride in, Sweeney said. So, not just country of origin labeling, but even take it a step further and we have the best beef in the world. So, Montana produced beef and I think that creates marketing opportunities. Not just in the United States, but all over the world. I think our farmers and ranchers and producers are very good at what they do and take a lot of pride in that. So yes, I would support COOL.

A week ago in Miles City, three of the four Republicans running for U.S. House in Eastern Montana attended a debate, where they were asked the same questions.

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MetraPark has a barn shortage.

It's something that's left organizers with the Northern International Livestock Exposition, or the NILE, scratching their heads in frustration and pushing county officials to find a solution.

"They keep tearing these buildings down," said Rick Hamilton, president of the NILE organization. "We have to keep modifying our event."

The NILE is an annual, weeklong gathering staged at MetraPark each October that features rodeos, competitions and livestock shows along with smaller events. It draws participants and spectators from across the region and has garnered national attention.

The organization also puts on the Montana Agri-Trade Exposition or MATE Show each February at the Metra.

Hamilton pointed to the two events and said that the NILE stages two of the largest and longest running events at Metra.

"And we feel like we're getting squeezed," Hamilton said.

Specifically, the frustrations center on the old barns at MetraPark, the oldest of which were torn down by the county in the last two years. The demolition of the barns reduced stall space at the Metra from 400 to just under 200.

Metra has since set up temporary stalls that have roof coverage too but open sides, something both groups have said will work until a permanent solution is found.

Its contract with MetraPark promises the NILE will have 400 stalls. After meeting with NILE officials earlier this month and hearing their concerns, the county is working to get new barns built.

"The board has given them our word we'd do it and I plan to do it," said county commissioner John Ostlund.

Commissioners have directed Metra staff to put together a proposal on how best to replace the barns; when the proposal comes back commissioners will then vote on whether to send the plans out to bid.

Hamilton acknowledged the barns torn down by Metra were aging. But the NILE is one of the principle users of those facilities and Hamilton doesn't understand why no one talked to his organization.

"They said they were unusable," Hamilton said. "Well, they didn't ask us  we're the ones that use them. We were mostly left out from any of these discussions."

And that's at the heart of his frustration with the county. As MetraPark has torn down or removed many of its aging structures, many of them used by the NILE or MATE, no one has sought the NILE's input.

"We used to utilize all those buildings," he said.

With the diminished barn space, NILE officials have partnered with Miller's Horse Palace in Laurel for stall use during the rodeo and stock show. Miller's now hosts the NILE's horse events.

They've also reduced the spots they sell to vendors for the MATE Show as space has shrunk, Hamilton said.

County commissioners are in the midst of a debate over future management of MetraPark and whether it should be privatized. Hamilton's hopeful that however it shakes out, NILE organizers will have more of a voice at the table as MetraPark moves forward.

At some point, if the NILE continues to grow and Metra continues to reduce its ag space, the NILE will have to go somewhere that can better accommodate it, Hamilton said.

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Hong Kong: Air crew quarantine revised

The Government today announced that the testing and quarantine arrangements for air crew will be revised starting May 1 following the adjustments to the inbound control measures with effect from the same day.

From May 1, non-Hong Kong residents will be allowed to enter Hong Kong from overseas places and the route-specific flight suspension mechanism will be adjusted.

In view of the adjustments, the Government considers it appropriate to update the testing and quarantine arrangements applicable to air crew.

Air crew members who will spend a short layover in Hong Kong and not enter the local community will be subject to a stringent closed-loop arrangement during their stay in the city.

They must present a negative result of a pre-departure rapid antigen test (RAT), use the dedicated channel in the airport upon arrival and take point-to-point transport to an airport hotel, which is designated to receive air crew under the closed-loop arrangement only.

They are also required to self-isolate in the hotel rooms until they leave Hong Kong via point-to-point transport to the airport and through the dedicated channel there.

The Government will also adjust the testing and self-isolation requirements for locally based air crew, with a view to relieving local airlines' manpower constraints.

Having due regard to the fact that locally based passenger crew members are subject to a stringent closed-loop arrangement when they lay over in outports, they will be required to undergo self-isolation in a designated quarantine hotel until they obtain a negative result of a polymerase chain reaction-based nucleic acid test conducted on the third day following their return to Hong Kong.

For locally based cargo crew, they will no longer be subject to self-isolation requirements upon their return to Hong Kong as they are subject to a stringent closed-loop arrangement when they lay over in outports and have no passengers to interact with throughout their flight duties.

However, these cargo crew members must undergo the test-and-hold arrangement at the airport upon arrival and obtain a negative result of a nucleic acid test before leaving.

Moreover, all locally based air crew members are subject to medical surveillance until the 14th day following their arrival, during which they are required to conduct repeated nucleic acid tests.

They also need to conduct daily RATs, avoid mask-off activities in public places, refrain from going to crowded places and mass gatherings, and keep a log of their activities until the seventh day following their arrival. In case of non-compliance, the designation status of relevant air crew members will be revoked.

The Government has requested airlines to introduce robust mechanisms to ensure that their air crew members fully comply with the requirements during the medical surveillance period.

Airlines will be held responsible for overseeing the activity logs of their air crew and conducting regular checks on the logs. If an airline is found not to be exercising due diligence over its air crew's compliance, the crew's designation status will be revoked.

Furthermore, starting May 1, all air crew members deployed by local airlines for operating flights in and out of Hong Kong will have completed three doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

Meanwhile, the Government announced that nine hotels which were earlier used or reserved as community isolation facilities (CIFs) will be converted to designated quarantine hotels, which will provide around 4,000 additional rooms.

These hotels will begin services and accept room bookings from early May.

The Government explained that it decided to change the use of these hotels having assessed the usage of CIFs in anticipation of the increasing number of inbound travellers.

This story has been published on: 2022-04-29. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Billings fire and medical crews spent several hours rescuing a woman who fell from the Rims on Thursday night.

First responders were dispatched to the Rims around 8 p.m., Billings Fire Department Battalion Chief Darrek Mitchell said. Rescuers managed to pull her back to the top of the Rims via high-angle rescue.

It was very labor intensive. Access was pretty difficult, and we had no visibility, Mitchell said.

Before BFD rescuers reached the woman, Mitchell said medics with American Medical Response reached her and rendered aid. About 18 people contributed to the rescue effort, which Mitchell said took about two hours.

The woman was taken to a local hospital, but BFD was not able to provide an update on her current condition.

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At a coroners inquest Friday morning in Missoula, a jury confirmed a young Native American man died by suicide last summer during a chase with Missoula police, clearing the officer involved of any liability.

Close to midnight on Aug. 12, Missoula Police Officer Garrett Brown initiated a traffic stop on a car driven by Brendon Galbreath, who was 21.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Coroner Jessie Billquist-Jette oversaw the inquest held at the Missoula County Courthouse.

It was Billquist-Jette's second inquest for a fatal officer-involved shooting in two days. An inquest jury found a Missoula County Sheriff's deputy not criminally liable for shooting Johnny Lee Perry II to death in August. According to the Washington Post, 1,046 people have been fatally shot by law enforcement in the past year.

Dash and body camera footage played for the public at Fridays inquest showed that during the stop, Galbreath apologized profusely for not using a turn signal when he turned. Brown testified he thought Galbreaths driving was indicative of someone under the influence.

That stop didnt have to go the way that it did that night," said Galbreaths mother, Eva Racine. "He was a 21-year-old who did not have to die.

When Brown spoke with Galbreath, the officer asked if he had consumed alcohol, which Galbreath denied. Bloodwork done later returned positive results for both THC and alcohol.

Brown went back to his patrol car to gather information and Galbreath drove off.

He traveled east on Broadway through downtown Missoula, eventually turning south on Orange Street. At the intersection of Beckwith and Stephens avenues, he made a u-turn and shortly after stopped the car.

As Brown exited his police car, he heard a gunshot from Galbreaths vehicle. Footage showed Galbreath firing a handgun on himself. Brown fired a single shot with his service pistol, which went through the front windshield but did not hit Galbreath.

Montana Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation Major Case Investigator Edward Tommy Teniente recalled officers on scene called for medics about nine seconds after shots were fired.

Missoula County Sheriff's Office Deputy Coroner Stephen Gorr was tasked with determining the cause and manner of Galbreaths death. He confirmed at the inquest Galbreath died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Several of Galbreaths loved ones were at the inquest on Friday at the Missoula County Courthouse. They wept as the video footage was played in the courtroom.

In his closing arguments, Missoula County Chief Deputy Attorney Matt Jennings said the inquest process leaves Galbreath's family with many unanswered questions about why things happened the way they did.

Brown described the situation as the worst-case scenario in his testimony.

Community response

Around noon on Friday about 35 people waited outside the Missoula County Courthouse for the final result of the inquest and to show their support for Galbreaths family. That number grew to over 50 after jury deliberations concluded.

Some brought signs with messages of Justice for Brendon and Transparency Now. Others brought brightly colored flowers.

I just want to thank you guys for being here and creating and holding space, said Terrance LaFromboise, Galbreaths brother. It creates that safe space for us as a family to take this all in and realize this experience is a big part of what were going to carry for the rest of our lives.

LaFromboise and the rest of Galbreaths family were first shown police footage from the incident on Thursday, the day prior to the inquest.

Its everything that weve just been asking for, its the sign behind me, LaFromboise said, standing in front of a sign, strewn across the front of the courthouse reading Transparency for Brendon in black letters outlined in yellow and red.

The family waited seven months and 11 days by LaFromboises count to view the footage from the night Galbreath died.

Thats something that I just feel is the most important thing, LaFromboise said. "Weve just been asking for communication  nothing more, nothing less."

LaFramboise said he felt dismissed for asking these questions.

Galbreaths friends and family members called for improved response from law enforcement when working with people who struggle with their mental health.

LaFromboise said that in the footage from the incident he never heard a mention of Galbreaths mental health status, nor did responding officers offer empathy toward his state of mind. Additionally, during the inquest, Brown mentioned that he had completed training in firearms, demobilization and high-stress situations, but never mentioned any mental health or crisis intervention training, according to LaFromboise.

LaFromboise sang songs for the crowd and performed one that he created for Galbreath after the incident. He sang through tears. The beat of his drum echoed across the courthouse lawn with each strike.

Later, OShay Birdinground and Zach Rides At The Door, who was Galbreaths best friend growing up, joined LaFromboise to sing more Blackfeet songs.

The final song that they sang at Fridays event was meant to represent the two new journeys that Galbreath and his family are each on now, LaFromboise said.

"With life we have to then take the precious moments we have to cherish every single second," LaFromboise said. "Because we never know  you just never know  when we want that second back."

In the next legislative session, LaFromboise hopes to help create legislation in Galbreaths name to support agencies within the criminal justice system to be better equipped to respond to those experiencing a mental health crisis.

Were going to that point where we have to ask our state for more, he said.

Second inquest in a week

Galbreaths inquest is the second being held in Missoula this week. The first cleared Missoula County Sheriffs Deputies of any criminal wrongdoing in the shooting death of Johnny Lee Perry, a Black man who reportedly was threatening someone with a machete at a campsite southwest of Missoula.

Since 2015, there have been over 5,000 fatal police shootings, according to the Washington Post. Black Americans are killed at a substantially higher rate  Black people are twice as likely to be killed by police than white people in the United States.

Most people killed by law enforcement are men between the ages of 20 and 40.

Thirty years ago today, four police officers were acquitted of assault and excessive force beating of Rodney King.

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Late last week, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a letter to Montana State Hospital (MSH) in Warm Springs announcing the termination of their provider agreement due to the failure of the hospital to meet health and safety standards, after four patients died in what investigators said were "preventable" deaths. This means that the State Hospital will lose $7 million annually in critical funding.

In many ways, this is personal. My mother worked in the lab as a medical technologist at the State Hospital. She was proud of the work she did, taking care of some of our state's most vulnerable people. She was a single mom, and was able to support my brothers on the union salary and benefits. Thirty years later, serving as the director of the Department of Public Health and Human Services, I steered the department and the State Hospital through the first year of a global pandemic that pushed our public health care system to its limits  I know, better than almost anyone, how difficult a job it is.

But it is precisely for this reason that I am so bitterly angry that the current administration and the current director of DPHHS have failed us. I know, better than almost anyone, that this crisis was avoidable.

CMS conducts routine reviews of health and safety standards at the State Hospital, issuing warnings when something falls short of those standards. It's the responsibility of leadership at DPHHS and MSH to address. During my tenure, CMS discovered that some of the mirrors that had hung in the State Hospital for decades posed a threat to our patients and staff, they issued a warning and we replaced every single one.

Because we responded to the CMS warnings, we never lost funding, and more importantly, patients stayed safe. That is how the process should work.

I know the politics of it all can feel frustrating, but this is a tragedy. Four people died. Our most vulnerable patients and their families aren't getting the care and the support they deserve. The staff aren't getting the pay or the safety protocols they deserve. We must meet this moment. We won't stop talking about this because our constituents' lives and livelihoods are at stake.

So I have some questions for Governor Gianforte and Director Meier:

Under your leadership, the State Hospital ignored established COVID protocols during the outbreak, pulled back the COVID differential funding that had previously succeeded at retaining staff, and refused to use the National Guard to do support work so the trained staff could deal with the medical and emotional needs of patients, leading to a "fast-moving staff exodus." You had money and solutions at your disposal to address these staffing shortages and you took no steps to address them. Why did you take no substantive steps to fix the staffing shortage?

You've had complete control for 15 months and counting now. Why are you still blaming the last administration instead of taking ownership of your mistakes?

If the State Hospital gets shut down, what will you say to the Montanans who will lose good paying jobs and to the Montanans who count on MSH as a last-resort provider of mental health care?

When county attorneys doubt a defendant's "ability to participate and fitness to proceed" in their own defense, they send them to the State Hospital for treatment. If MSH can no longer take these patients, county attorneys might be forced to drop these cases, putting our communities' safety at risk. What are you planning on doing to address this dire public safety concern?

You've handed a $2.2 million contract to a private out-of-state consulting firm. Is this an attempt to defund our public facilities?

This goes far beyond politics  this is truly a crisis of leadership.

Montanans deserve well funded facilities that everyone can access regardless of income; workers deserve good paying jobs; our families deserve a State Hospital that can provide mental health care during crises; our communities deserve the peace of mind knowing that our criminal justice system is addressing mental health.

The current administration has spent the last week blaming the State Hospital problems on their predecessors. They seem to forget that neither of the two Democratic administrations lost federal funding. This is a serious crisis that will affect nearly every corner of our state  it's irresponsible for the Gianforte administration to try to dodge blame. Take ownership of the problem. Work toward a solution that puts Montanans first.

It takes diligence to run the State Hospital. It is a hard job, but you ran for it, you asked Montanans to trust you to run our public facilities. So far, you have failed that trust. It's time to step up and do your job.

Sheila Hogan is the executive director of the Montana Democratic Party.

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A Bismarck man arrested for allegedly pointing what was later deemed to be a toy gun at a police officer has been charged with terrorizing.

Joseph Williams, 42, also is charged with misdemeanor physical obstruction of a government function. Terrorizing is a felony that carries a possible five-year prison sentence.

A deputy Burleigh County sheriff saw Williams point what appeared to be a shiny revolver-style handgun at a passing Bismarck police squad car on East Rosser Avenue on Thursday, according to an affidavit. Williams after seeing the deputy allegedly put the gun in his waistband and ran inside a garage. Police said they found the gun when they executed a search warrant. It bears a resemblance with that of a real firearm and could be confused for a real one from a distance or a moving vehicle, the affidavit states.

Williams when he was transported to Burleigh Morton Detention Center allegedly refused to exit the squad car and became combative, the document states. No attorney is listed for him in court documents.

Williams is set for an Aug. 10 trial on an unrelated charge of felonious restraint.

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North Dakota health officials are monitoring for the arrival of a new descendant of the omicron variant of the coronavirus that is quickly gaining ground in the eastern U.S.

Federal officials estimate that BA.2.12.1 could account for nearly one-fifth of the COVID-19 virus circulating in the region that includes North Dakota, according to Kirby Kruger, head of the state Health Department's disease control division and forensic pathology section.

"As these new variants continue to emerge, we will need to continue to watch what impacts they have on infectivity, illness severity, previous immunity and treatment," he said.

Scientists say BA.2.12.1 spreads even faster than BA.2, the subvariant that was more contagious than the original omicron. They're trying to figure out other aspects, including whether vaccines are as effective against it as previous variants, according to The Associated Press.

"It is a relatively new subvariant and there is much we still need to learn about it," Kruger said.

All COVID-19 test samples in North Dakota that in the past week went through the process used to determine variants were omicron, according to data provided by Kruger.

"Of the specimens collected on or after April 17 that have been sequenced and determined to be omicron, 94.7% were BA.2," he said.

Weekly data

North Dakota confirmed 440 COVID-19 cases over the past week, the most since weekly reporting began six weeks ago.

The Health Department's coronavirus dashboard, which is updated every Friday, is aimed at showing longer-term trends and severity of disease, rather than daily virus data that could be skewed by the fact that results from widely available COVID-19 home test kits are not required to be reported to the state.

There were 31 COVID-19 hospital admissions in the past week, compared to totals under 20 in each of the the previous four weeks. Federal officials reported 11 deaths over the week, after none the previous week and six the week before that.

Coronavirus patients still made up a low percentage of hospital patients -- taking up less than 3% of occupied inpatient beds and intensive care unit beds statewide. The two hospitals in Bismarck on Friday had a total of 25 staffed adult and pediatric inpatient hospital beds available and 11 adult and pediatric ICU beds open.

There have been 241,127 confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Dakota during the pandemic that began in March 2020. CDC data shows 2,268 virus-related deaths in the state. County-level death data is not available.

The state also no longer reports the number of active COVID-19 cases, as part of the recent shift in its coronavirus approach from pandemic to "endemic," essentially meaning that coronavirus is expected to be a part of daily life.

More information

Federal data shows that North Dakota continues to have some of the worst COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country: 65.6% of adults in the state are fully vaccinated, with the rate for all vaccine-eligible people -- age 5 and older -- at 59.1%. The national averages are 76% and 70.3%, respectively.

COVID-19 booster shots are recommended for people 12 and older. North Dakota's booster rate is 41.8%, compared to 47.5% nationally.

County-level COVID-19 risks determined by the CDC can be found at https://bit.ly/3Clifrq. Burleigh and Morton counties both are considered at low risk, as is much of the rest of the state.

State Health Department guidance and resources for businesses is at https://bit.ly/3w0DpKj.

Go to https://www.ndvax.org or call 866-207-2880 to see where COVID-19 vaccine is available. Information on free public testing and free test kits is at health.nd.gov/covidtesting. More detailed pandemic information is at www.health.nd.gov/coronavirus and https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

Reach News Editor Blake Nicholson at 701-250-8266 or blake.nicholson@bismarcktribune.com.

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RAPID CITY, S.D.  A federal judge has sentenced a woman to eight years in prison for providing the fentanyl that caused the overdose death of a 16-year-old Porcupine boy.

Tarriah Provost, 24, earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy with intent to distribute a controlled substance as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

Louis Sandoval died of an overdose on Dec. 2, 2020. An autopsy found fentanyl in his system, which Provost admitted to giving him.

Provost told the judge that Sandoval was like a little brother to her and she wouldnt have given him the drug if she thought it would kill him, the Rapid City Journal reported.

Through their statements, Provost and her attorney told the story of how addiction caused the defendant's life to deteriorate.

Provost attended the University of Colorado Boulder in 2015 after winning a scholarship. After dropping out, Provost returned to Pine Ridge and had a son.

According to her defense attorney, Jennifer Albertson, Provost's life shifted after she was prescribed oxycodone following a car accident in November 2019 and surgery in May 2021.

Albertson characterized Provost as someone who had an oxy habit and didnt go over there with any malice when she supplied Sandoval with a fentanyl pill.

Four others  Donna Garnette, Kelly Grass, Jesse Grass, and Kimberly Janis  took the same plea deal as Provost for their involvement in the transportation and sale of pills. Kelly Grass was sentenced to 57 months in prison. Jesse Grass does not have a sentencing date yet. Sentencing for Janis is May 16 and June 22 for Garnette.

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The South Dakota Senate has approved the rules for an impeachment trial of the states attorney general for his conduct surrounding a 2020 fatal car crash. The Senate will hold a two-day proceeding in June that gives just hours to either side to argue their case. Republican Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was impeached by the House this month over a car crash in which he killed a pedestrian but initially said he may have struck a deer or other large animal. The trial will start June 21. Ravnsborg said after his impeachment that he is looking forward to the Senate trial as a chance to be vindicated. His attorney and spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
An American citizen, Willy Joseph Cancel, was killed fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in Ukraine, members of Cancel's family confirmed to CNN.

The 22-year-old was working with a private military contracting company when he was killed on Monday. The company had sent him to Ukraine, and he was being paid while he was fighting there, Cancel's mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.

Cancel, a former US Marine, according to his mother, signed up to work for the private military contracting company on top of his full-time job as a corrections officer in Tennessee shortly before the war in Ukraine broke out at the end of February, Cabrera said. When the war began, the company, according to Cabrera, was searching for contractors to fight in Ukraine and Cancel agreed to go, Cabrera said.

"He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn't come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn't have to be involved in it," Cabrera told CNN in a phone interview.

Cancel flew to Poland on March 12 and crossed into Ukraine sometime over March 12 and 13, Cabrera said.

The group of men Cancel was fighting alongside were from "all different countries," Cabrera said.

Cabrera was told by those who notified her of her son's death that his body had not been found.

"They haven't found his body," she said. "They are trying, the men that were with him, but it was either grab his body or get killed, but we would love for him to come back to us."

A State Department official said they are "aware of these reports and are closely monitoring the situation."

"Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment," the official added. "We once again reiterate US citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict and the singling out of US citizens in Ukraine by Russian government security officials, and that US citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so, using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options."

Cancel leaves behind a 7-month-old baby and a wife, Cabrera said. Cancel was living in Tennessee before he left for Ukraine, and is originally from Orange County, New York, said Devin Tietze Jr., Cancel's brother-in-law.

Cabrera said Cancel "always put everybody ahead of himself."

"He was just a really thoughtful person. He always put everybody ahead of himself even when situations were so stressful," Cabrera said of her son. "He always kept everybody laughing and calm. He was the man that stood up when everybody else stood back."

Tietze said Cancel was the "type to fight for what's right regardless of the outcome," when asked why Cancel had decided to join the fight in Ukraine.

"He believed wholeheartedly this shouldn't have happened and he wanted to go help the people in Ukraine," Tietze said in a phone interview.

Cabrera said Cancel "wanted" to do the military contract work.

"It was something that he believed in his heart, that was the right thing. He was the type of man who always stepped up when everybody else stepped back, and there were a lot of men who were like that that were with him," Cabrera said.

Earlier on Thursday the British government confirmed a UK citizen had been killed in Ukraine and said officials are "urgently seeking further information" on another who is missing, a UK Foreign Office spokesperson told CNN.

"We can confirm that a British national has been killed in Ukraine and are supporting their family," they said.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry created a special unit, the International Legion, for foreign fighters who wanted to join the fight against Russia. More than 20,000 volunteers and veterans from 52 countries had expressed their desire to join the fight as of March 7, according to Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, commander of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry, which will run this legion.

CNN previously reported on foreign nationals, including citizens from the US and the UK, who had left home to join the fight in Ukraine.

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North Dakota's oil output briefly plummeted to just 300,000 barrels per day earlier this week as the second blizzard to hit the state in April pummeled the oil patch.

That amounts to a 70% drop in production relative to the start of the month.

State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms provided updated production estimates to state regulators at Friday's Industrial Commission meeting. He said production has already rebounded to about 700,000 barrels per day in the week since the blizzard hit.

The state's oil industry had been steadily producing about 1.1 million barrels per day for the past year up until April's storms.

Helms called the amount of damage in the western part of the state "incredible," noting widespread power outages that brought the oil patch to an abrupt halt last weekend. More than 4,000 power poles were damaged in the storm, and crews for Montana-Dakota Utilities and rural electric cooperatives have been working around the clock to restore power. Snowy roads also caused production to fall, as oil workers could not access well sites or other energy infrastructure.

"All the natural gas processing plants were down, some as briefly as nine hours," Helms said. "Some are still down six days later. The recovery is extreme."

The first blizzard hit North Dakota on April 12 and lasted several days. It caused production to fall to about 750,000 barrels per day, Helms said. That figure had recovered to 950,000 barrels per day when the second blizzard arrived last Saturday.

Oil production is still particularly low in Williams and Divide counties, which sustained some of the most extensive damage to power systems. Much of the oil patch is powered by electricity, including well sites, pipelines and processing facilities.

Gov. Doug Burgum, who chairs the three-member Industrial Commission, suggested the state spend money to improve the resiliency of power systems in the Bakken, as the drop in production caused by the storms means companies, mineral owners, the state and counties will collect less oil-related revenue.

The governor said the poles that were somehow reinforced, such as those with cables known as guy wires, fared better in the latest blizzard.

"If we're a few guy wires away from having resilient power, shouldn't we be spending oil tax revenues back in building that resiliency ... so we're not sitting in this situation?" he asked.

Outages update

Last weekend's blizzard at one point cut power to an estimated 19,000 people. That figure was down to about 6,800 on Friday, according to North Dakota Emergency Services spokesman Eric Jensen.

The restoration effort has included dozens of ground crews with regular equipment and also tracked vehicles to help pull them through the mud, along with airplanes and drones.

Burgum on Friday issued an executive order easing driving restrictions for carriers, contractors and rural electric co-op workers entering the state to assist with power restoration. The hours-of-service waiver is in effect for 30 days. All other road safety and vehicle compliance regulations still apply.

Many of those who remained in the dark were making do with generators, including Carla Jean Falcon-Grile and Phillip Grile. The rural Williston couple have relied on theirs to run their TV and a heater that goes in their bedroom at night to keep them warm.

We use lanterns at night to find our way to the bathroom, Carla told The Associated Press.

The high price of gas has made it more difficult to keep generators running. The Griles have been conserving some power by grilling outside. Falcon-Grile said she immediately donated meat and other food from a large freezer before anything went bad.

Falcon-Grile said they did get water service on Tuesday, but she has heard power might not be restored until next week.

We are praying it comes on soon, she said.

The towns of Zahl, Appem and Hanks might not get power until Tuesday, according to Montana-Dakota Utilities spokesman Mark Hanson.

Those are lines that ran east-west, where we had the biggest issues because of the wind, he told AP. Those 6 miles are ... theyre bad. In one direction going 6 miles, there are 33 poles down and 58 broken arms. Its not the easiest terrain to get around in, and there are a lot of wet potholes.

But MDU -- a major power supplier in western North Dakota and eastern Montana -- had reduced its outages from a peak of about 18,000 to 100.

Red Cross spokesman Shelby Pudwill said six shelters were set up in northwestern North Dakota but haven't seen much traffic.

It was pretty hectic at first, Pudwill said. But people really come together in times like this and there hasn't been a huge need for our support.

Prairie Public over-the-air radio broadcasts in the Bismarck area at 90.5 FM are now at half power. The broadcasts had been down due to ice damage to the main transmission line at the tower site. As of Friday, "the signal is reaching all of Bismarck-Mandan but gets fainter farther out," spokeswoman Marie Offutt said.

The nonprofit networks expanded listening options including the Prairie Public app and the prairiepublic.org website are not impacted.

The weekend is shaping up to be rainy and windy, according to The National Weather Service. The forecast calls for as much as 3 inches of rain and wind gusts that could reach 40-50 mph in some areas.

The most recent flood outlook for the Missouri River Basin, released Thursday, says the recent storms have greatly increased the risk of widespread spring flooding.

Flooding has been occurring in recent days in eastern North Dakota due to snowmelt and heavy rainfall. Some roads remained closed Friday, and most of the region was under either a flood watch or a flood warning.

The state Department of Transportation said it was placing load restrictions on state highways in the northeast on Monday. Load limits are aimed at protecting roads left vulnerable by wet conditions. Restrictions typically are implemented until roadbeds have stabilized enough to carry normal loads.

(Associated Press Correspondent Dave Kolpack contributed to this story.)

Reach Amy R. Sisk at 701-250-8252 or amy.sisk@bismarcktribune.com.

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"Freedom is awaking from its coma today because of a huge, huge, huge Supreme Court decision -- huge," Rush Limbaugh declared in 2010. "I cannot tell you how big this is."

What, pray tell, had roused freedom from its slumber?

The Supreme Court's Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, which ruled that corporations have First Amendment rights. I thought then, like most conservatives, that the court was correct. Unlike many these days, I still do. The New York Times Co. has every right to argue for its preferred policies, and so does Koch Industries.

It's difficult to exaggerate how committed the right once was to this principle and how much it appalled the left. Masterpiece Cakeshop, we conservatives contended, had every right not to be compelled to make "gay wedding cakes" because of the owner's religious beliefs. Hobby Lobby had a First Amendment right to defy provisions of the Affordable Care Act that violated its religious freedom. We won both arguments at the Supreme Court.

That era is now officially over.

Florida recently passed the Parental Rights in Education bill (tendentiously called the "Don't Say Gay" law by detractors). The Disney Co., under Chief Executive Bob Chapek, tried to stay out of the controversy. But a pincer movement of internal and external political pressure forced the company to publicly oppose the bill.

Worse, a video of a Disney meeting at which executives boasted of their "not at all secret" agenda to incorporate gay and transgender themes into Disney content was leaked at the worst possible moment. The very online right was already in a full-blown moral panic about pedophilia, basically holding that anyone who opposed the bill was either a "groomer" or "groomer friendly." (Once a term for adults who manipulate underage children for sexual abuse, "groomer" suddenly meant dissenters from a moral crusade.)

Against the broader backdrop of the populist fatalism of the Trump era, which holds that conservatives "never win" when they play by the rules, it was something of a perfect storm.

Florida Republicans, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, voted to strip Disney World of its special status under something called the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Crafted by Republicans in 1967, the improvement district deal exempted Disney World from zoning and tax laws in exchange for Disney transforming a massive amount of swampy land into the Magic Kingdom and running it without taxpayer money. Economically and politically, it was win-win for both Disney and Florida -- until last week, when a remarkable number of politicians suddenly embraced a purist libertarian opposition to such public-private partnerships of which there are over a thousand in Florida.

Of course, Orlando International Airport and Daytona International Speedway, with similar exemptions, will be fine, because the libertarian arguments are entirely pretextual. This was about punishing Disney. Florida's lieutenant governor even admits that if Disney simply changed its politics, everything could go back to normal. Oh, is that all?

The view on the right is that DeSantis is a courageous brawler, beating back a behemoth of "woke capitalism." It's certainly true that DeSantis comes out a winner on the national stage as he contemplates a presidential run in 2024.

I will also concede that DeSantis' supporters have a point. If corporations will let themselves be bullied out of their lanes by the left, they shouldn't be surprised if they invite retaliation from the right. As problematic as I find this whole spectacle, it would be a good thing if corporations thought twice about picking sides in the culture war. As Michael Jordan once said, "Republicans buy sneakers too."

But whether the costs outweigh the benefits is unknowable, particularly in a climate in which what constitutes winning is redefined on the fly by Twitter mobs. After all, as National Review's Charlie Cooke notes, DeSantis had "already won": Disney took its shot at the Florida parental rights bill, and even though all of its sponsors were recipients of Disney's political contributions, Disney lost. But the right's equivalent of Twitter-addicted woke activists wanted a pound of Mouse flesh.

Privately, some defenders say the Reedy Creek Improvement District rescission, which doesn't go into effect until next year, will never happen. Saner heads will prevail, opting not to shift massive burdens onto county governments and taxpayers (this would explain why Disney has largely stayed mum). But that theory assumes DeSantis is the mob's master, not its servant.

And even if -- a big if -- corporate America takes the right lessons here, there's no chance activists on the left or right will, at least for the foreseeable future. When you reward mobs, you get more mobs.

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"The damage we have assessed so far is unprecedented. Its the worst damage Montana-Dakota Utilities has had on its system. We have hundreds of cross arms broken and miles of poles down."

-- MDU spokesman Mark Hanson, on the scope of last weekend's blizzard, which cut power to thousands in western North Dakota.

q q q

Recent news stories have become a distraction for the important work of the legislative assembly during its interim meetings. I want to do what I can, within my power, to lessen such distractions.

-- Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, announcing his resignation effective June 1, following a report that he had traded scores of text messages with a man jailed on child pornography charges.

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Over the coming months, please join fellow Bismarckians to honor our history as we reflect upon what Bismarck has become over the course of 150 years, and celebrate the vibrant, growing community our residents are proud to call home.

-- Mayor Steve Bakken, as the city prepares to kick off its sesquicentennial celebrations with a parade, concerts and more starting in May.

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Taxing oil more gets you less.

-- Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, arguing that North Dakota's price-based triggers for oil taxes could drive away production.

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"I figured there was nothing I could do, nothing I could do. I freaked out. I just closed my eyes and hoped that I gave him mercy."

-- Wade Bison, in pleading guilty in the hit-and-run death of 77-year-old Mandan resident Erwin Geigle, and telling a judge that he repeatedly struck Geigle with a pickup after initially hitting him in a fit of anger and realizing how badly Geigle was hurt.

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I have had the opportunity to lead the organization for 6  years now. In that 6  years, I have not had another single issue that I have received more messages, more phone calls, more emails about than this issue. Thats saying a lot.

-- Farm Bureau President Daryl Lies, on Summit Carbon Solutions proposed Midwest Carbon Express pipeline, slated to pick up emissions from ethanol plants across the Upper Midwest and bring them to North Dakota for injection underground.

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"Everybody's just hoping and praying that electricity comes on sometime soon."

-- Sherlock Hirning, superintendent of the Divide County School District in Crosby, a town that went days without power after last weekend's blizzard.

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Access is a key risk factor for abuse and addiction of prescription opioid medication. If we reduce the accessibility of unused or expired medications, the fewer drugs there are to be misused, and fewer people will be at risk for abuse, addiction, overdose and even death.

-- Susan Kahler, Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health's substance abuse prevention coordinator, on the importance of prescription drug "take back" disposal events.

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They were both in great shape right up until the end.

-- Donna Hatzenbuhler, daughter-in-law of Tony Hatzenbuhler, 100, who died April 18, followed a few hours later by his brother Mathias Matt Hatzenbuhler, 96. The Mandan brothers served during World War II and farmed near each other for years.

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"We really feel that if people have what they need, they can spend their money on things they might be missing, like gas or rent."

-- Cindy Barnhardt, whose husband, Jim, is the founder of Dream Center Bismarck, which among other things includes food services for the hungry.

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A deluded woman spewed perverted nonsense at a Clark County School Board meeting in Nevada after apparently sipping from a batch of DeSantis-imported Kool-Aid.

"Disney is super creepy and weird. California allows you to have sex with kids as long as there's a 10 year or less age difference. That's where we're taking our kids, with our sexually confused teachers who don't have children of their own?" she shouted (see video below).

"Teach your girls not to let every guy cum in them so they won't have to have abortions! Take control of your children! Oh god, I'm sorry, ejaculate. Don't let everyone ejaculate.  Planned parenthood was founded to kill minorities."

Board members kept trying to interrupt her with "All right folks," and "All right " and "Fol", but when they finally managed a full sentence  "Please leave the dais," she spun out into absurdity: "No!  Hey! You have a box of pubic hairs!"

Funny how the far-right folks supposedly fighting for "family values" can be the most depraved of them all.
To impress his Q and far-right followers, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has put on quite the show since early March, attacking Disney first for its support of LGBTQ rights, and then for "injecting sexuality" into its cartoons. But the performance artist has had no qualms about accepting  and keeping  $100,000 in Disney contributions over the last couple of years.

According to the Herald-Tribune, some Republican politicians  "including state Rep. Joe Harding, who sponsored HB 1557, and state Rep. Randy Maggard"  have returned Disney contributions since the company opposed the "Don't Say Gay" bill, but DeSantis seems to be keeping his pockets tightly zipped.

From the Herald-Tribune:

DeSantis' political committee received three contributions from Disney totaling $100,000 and a $6,809 in-kind contribution for "food and beverage," likely catering for a fundraiser or some other campaign event. Disney gave DeSantis $50,000 in 2019 and $50,000 in 2021.  Yet while DeSantis repeatedly has criticized Disney since then, and also has fought back with legislation punishing the company, there is no indication he has refunded the company's contributions, as some other GOP lawmakers have. The governor's political committee didn't issue any refunds to Disney in March, according to campaign finance data posted on the Florida Division of Elections website. April campaign finance data is not available yet through the Division of Elections, but the governor's committee has data through April 22 posted on its own website, and doesn't list any refunds to Disney as of that date.

In mid-March Disney announced it was suspending all political contributions in Florida.
A consultant recommends reshaping SUNY Erie Community College by cutting faculty and administrators, discontinuing ECCs South Campus as a home for programs or departments and phasing out programs with low enrollment.

The report by education consultant RPK Group confirms more cuts are likely in store for ECCs South Campus, but does not mean ECC will shut down the Orchard Park campus completely, ECC President David Balkin said.

"Just because a program will no longer be hubbed at South Campus doesnt mean ECC wont continue to offer classes and programs there," Balkin said.

The overriding message here is that a community college isnt just its two or three campuses. Its how we are integrated into the community, he added. We will always have a presence in the Southtowns, but that will change based on demand, just as our presence in the north and city will change based on student and industry needs.

The report doesnt contain any big surprises. Balkin and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz have been talking about the need to stop the bleeding at ECC since Balkin came aboard as president in February. ECC has been suffering for years from enrollment declines that havent been matched by cuts to faculty, administration, staff, programs or infrastructure.

In his State of the County address last month, Poloncarz announced a $2.5 million retirement incentive for eligible ECC faculty and administrators and stressed the need to take substantial action now or face bankruptcy.

RPK isnt sharing anything that everyone hadnt already understood, Balkin said. But they have helped us by climbing through the data to ensure that our understanding was truly data-driven as opposed to anecdotal.

Poloncarz said he had read the report "and it spells out quite clearly the serious nature of the financial concerns that SUNY Erie is dealing with. We will continue to work with President Balkin in his ongoing efforts to attempt to address the significant shortfalls that the college faces going forward," he said.

The draft report also contained guidelines to help ECC assess its programs and class offerings. A final version will be published on the ECC website, ecc.edu, when it's completed.

ECC hired RPK Group to conduct the study of its operations and resources in December with funding from the John R. Oishei Foundation, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, M&T Foundation, Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, First Niagara Foundation, Western New York Foundation and the Erie Community College Foundation.

The firm, which specializes in sustainable business modeling for higher education, found that of 50-some colleges it has worked with, SUNY ECC has the most redundancies in faculty and administration, with dozens of duplicate positions across its North, City and South campuses.

ECC currently serves less than 8,000 students, down from about 14,000 a decade ago. RPK predicts that enrollment will not rebound to earlier peaks but that the college should focus on improving student outcomes  retention of students and completion of their degrees  over enrollment as ways to improve the overall financial picture.

Balkin said the team and the county recognized the need to start taking action before RPKs report was in; hence the retirement incentive that Poloncarz announced April 7.

Balkin has been frank about the need for layoffs at ECC before the fall semester if not enough people take the incentive. Earlier this month, he deactivated six low-performing programs at South Campus, which will be taught out to allow students to complete their degrees but are not accepting new students.

RPKs recommendations for further changes include:

Staffing  Unify and right-size the college by moving away from a multicampus model with three separate administrations and staff and toward a one college model with faculty and staff distributed based on student needs  including eliminating programs that fail to attract students.

 Unify and right-size the college by moving away from a multicampus model with three separate administrations and staff and toward a one college model with faculty and staff distributed based on student needs  including eliminating programs that fail to attract students. Programming  Eliminate older programs with fewer than 30 students enrolled (on a three-year average), declining or single-digit growth and degree production below 10 per year. Monitor newer programs implemented since 2018 if they have fewer than 60 students enrolled, have declining enrollment and degree production below 20 per year.

 Eliminate older programs with fewer than 30 students enrolled (on a three-year average), declining or single-digit growth and degree production below 10 per year. Monitor newer programs implemented since 2018 if they have fewer than 60 students enrolled, have declining enrollment and degree production below 20 per year. Physical footprint  Move all program homes to City Campus or North Campus and reduce or reallocate staff at South Campus to reflect reduced activity there, while partnering with industry and community resources to continue a presence in the South Towns.

Balkin pointed to a new auto tech co-op program that allows ECC students to work for pay at two area auto dealerships, West Herr Automotive Group and Northtown Automotive Cos., as part of their degree studies as a new way to expand programs on and around South Campus to better serve industry and student needs.

He said South Campus is still home to nine programs that are open for fall enrollment, guaranteeing that students who enroll this year will be able to complete their two-year degrees. But he said ECC will be taking a hard look at class and program sizes based on the RPK guidelines.

We are also looking at whether it makes sense to combine programs in ways to make them more effective rather than deactivating them, Balkin said.

Balkin said the college tried for years to boost enrollment by casting a wide net and offering more classes at different times  resulting in more classes with fewer students, a model that allowed faculty to meet their contract requirements to teach five classes a semester, but with some classes serving only a handful of students.

The ideal situation is that we are efficient in using our faculty, Balkin said. We want them to have the greatest impact possible as they are teaching.

Andrew Sako, president of the Faculty Federation of Erie Community College, said his union members are awaiting the final version of the report and will then craft a response.

So far, he said, he finds it troubling that the report offers little explanation of how ECC got into its financial straits. Sako said New York State underfunded ECC for years, contributing less than called for in state education law, and that ECC and the county deferred maintenance that could have created more space for small programs to grow and a more appealing environment to attract students.

Its not just an enrollment issue or a contract issue, its a funding issue, he said.

Sako said he hopes the ECC administration will make an effort to work hand in hand with faculty, including long-term faculty who have institutional knowledge that should be tapped to guide younger teachers before they retire.

I think some of these things could be done over time," he said. "But if they truly want to fix the college, they need the people doing the work to be the ones that are guiding it."

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New York's congressional and State Senate candidates found themselves floundering in limbo Thursday, not knowing where their districts will be or when the primary election will be, thanks to a state Court of Appeals ruling a day earlier overturning the new district lines drawn up by the State Legislature.

Meanwhile, the State Board of Elections asked the judge overseeing the redistricting case to speed up the drawing of new district lines if possible, and Democrats pondered a last-second legal Hail Mary pass in the federal courts to try to possibly reinstate the maps that the state's highest court overturned as unconstitutional.

It all made for a political environment of unprecedented uncertainty. At a time when candidates expected to be gearing up for a June 28 primary, instead they found themselves not knowing what to do next. Advisers to the campaigns said that they are pretty much on hold at least until a court-appointed special master releases new district lines on May 16 and possibly until those final lines are approved May 24.

"I've talked to a few New York members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and they know they just kind of have to wait it out, basically," said former Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, a Republican and a longtime expert on the redistricting process.

"A lot of people don't know what the hell's coming next," added a longtime Democratic politico in the state who asked not to be identified by name.

That being the case, the incumbent lawmakers who plan on running for Congress in districts based in Western New York  Rep. Brian Higgins of Buffalo, Rep. Chris Jacobs of Orchard Park and Rep. Claudia Tenney of the Utica area  largely stayed silent on Thursday.

My focus remains squarely on winning my race, taking back the House, and ensuring Congress has a strong conservative majority to be a firewall to the reckless policies of Joe Biden," said Jacobs, a Republican.

But political pros said the court's decision is likely to affect those three lawmakers  and their challengers  differently.

Several political experts said Higgins, a Democrat, will likely be the lawmaker least affected when Jonathan Cervas, the special master hired by the court to draw the congressional district lines, puts forth his proposed congressional map.

Higgins serves a Buffalo-based district now and was set to get a nearly identical district under the map that the court rejected as a partisan gerrymander. And given that Cervas will be charged with drawing a nonpartisan map that keeps "communities of interest" together, it's likely that the new district where Higgins wants to run will include all of Buffalo.

What's less certain is whether that Buffalo-based district will include Niagara Falls, as it currently does.

"Brian has been proud to represent the most diverse congressional district in upstate New York," said Chuck Eaton, Higgins' campaign spokesman. "The Buffalo-Niagara Falls region has a shared identity with shared interests. Preserving this area's connection in its congressional representation makes sense for the people of Western New York."

It's also unclear which Buffalo suburbs would be included in that district, as some will likely be parceled off to a district where Jacobs, a Republican, would run.

The gerrymandered map that the court rejected included an oddly shaped district that stretched from northern Niagara County to Watertown, and that's where Jacobs planned to run. Political pros said, though, that the special master almost certainly will draw different lines for that district.

"Realistically, if they do these maps properly, there's no way I'm going to have Jefferson County," said Mario Fratto, a Geneva lawyer and businessman who wants to challenge Jacobs in a Republican primary.

Fratto acknowledged, though that that might not be possible. The special master could redraw the map so that two districts in the western part of the state run north to south rather than east to west. In that case, Geneva could be part of a different district than the one where Jacobs is likely to run.

Meanwhile, Tenney  a Republican who has campaigned aggressively in the Southern Tier and planned to run there after the Legislature divided her old Utica-based district  could end up facing a huge dilemma.

Two potential nonpartisan maps, one drawn up by David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report and one drawn up by the right-leaning Empire Center, Thursday show a district centered on Utica that includes huge swaths of conservative rural territory. That would leave Tenney having to decide whether to return to her home base or to run in a Southern Tier-based district, presuming such a district even exists in the special master's plan.

While the state Supreme Court justice overseeing the case gave Cervas, the special master, until May 16 to propose new congressional and State Senate lines, the State Board of Elections sent the judge a letter Thursday essentially saying the process needs to move faster.

In their letter, Board of Elections Commissioners Brian Quail and Kimberly Galvin noted there are only 46 days between May 24  the date by which the special master must finalize congressional lines  and July 9, the last possible day that ballots could be sent to military and overseas voters for a potential Aug. 23 primary.

That being the case, the election commissioners asked the judge in the case, Patrick F. McAllister, to make sure that both the congressional and State Senate lines be finalized by May 24 "and the court consider expediting the approval process for both the congressional and State Senate lines in any manner possible."

But there's one possible complication that could interfere with the special master's work. Democrats hinted on Thursday that they may go to federal court to try to get the lines drawn by the legislature reinstated.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the Hudson Valley Democrat who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told Politico Thursday that state law requires a primary on June 28.

"Unless and until that federal court order is modified, the state needs to have a federal primary on June 28," he said. "The state decision ignores that fact. We think thats a problem."

Maloney said Democrats were considering legal action on that point, which was first raised a day earlier by Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias.

"New York is currently under a federal court order to hold their federal primary elections on June 28," Elias tweeted. "Neither New York nor a NY state court can modify this. Only a federal court can."

Lawsuit or no lawsuit, Cervas said he's ready to move forward with his work.

I am thrilled to assist the New York courts in delivering constitutional maps that will provide equal representation for all New York residents for the next decade," he said in a statement.

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A Buffalo man who pleaded guilty in an interstate marijuana trafficking operation failed to notify the Department of Justice and Homeland Security Investigations of the criminal conduct, according to a release Friday from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo.

Vincent Lopresti, 26, of Buffalo, pleaded guilty to a misprision of a felony before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo. The charge carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua A. Violanti, who is handling the case, stated that between 2016 and June 2019, Lopresti received marijuana from the Robert Fiels drug organization, distributed and helped distribute the marijuana, concealed the marijuana and stored it until he could sell it, and by his actions helped the marijuana distribution conspiracy to continue.

Fiels was previously convicted and is awaiting sentencing, prosecutors said.

The plea is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the New York State Police.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 1.
Carrying a gun to an airport security checkpoint is illegal and has serious consequences to our operation and to the traveling public. As a result of this incident, this individual faces a stiff federal financial civil penalty. When you add up what he is likely to spend in attorney fees and the various financial penalties, this mistake will likely run him into the thousands of dollars," said Bart R. Johnson, TSA federal security director for upstate New York.
A judge on Thursday sentenced a 19-year-old Niagara Falls woman to up to four years in prison for fatally stabbing a teenager at a Metro Bus station on Ellicott Street nearly two years ago.

Teenager takes manslaughter plea; victim's mother calls fatal stabbing 'murder all day' Rashanae Clayton  age 17 at the time of the May 29, 2020, killing  faces up to four years in prison, rather than 25 years, because she will be sentenced as a youthful offender.

The defendant, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was granted youthful offender status. Erie County Judge Susan Eagan sentenced her to an indeterminate sentence of 16 months to four years in prison, the maximum sentence for the youthful offender, according to Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn.

Rashanae Clayton pleaded guilty in January to first-degree manslaughter in the May 29, 2020, death of Corrisha Thomas of Niagara Falls. Thomas, who was 17, died from a single stab would to her upper chest.

Flynn said in January that the two had had altercations in the past. The stabbing was captured on cellphone video and bus station surveillance cameras, he said.

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Three Town of Tonawanda police officers were commended by their chief Friday, a day after they worked together to pull a driver out of a burning vehicle.

According to a statement from Police Chief James Stauffiger, the crash was reported at about 1:45 p.m. Thursday near Parker Boulevard and Faraday Road. A vehicle had hit a pole and went through a fence.

Officers Sarah Heft and Alyxander Pasquale saw the fire inside the vehicle as it filled with smoke.

The driver, Saverio M. Depinto, 46, of the Town of Tonawanda, was locked inside.

The officers initially couldn't get into the vehicle, but Pasquale "commanded" Depinto to open his door. Then he and another officer, Jacob McCormick, pulled him out of the car.

A witness told police Depinto's car was speeding on Faraday Road and failed to stop at a stop sign on Parker before crashing.

Depinto faces a felony count of reckless endangerment and misdemeanor counts of driving while ability impaired by drugs and reckless driving.

"Officers Heft, Pasquale and McCormick are commended for their decisive actions in performance of lifesaving actions," Stauffinger said.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  Among the scathing findings of an investigation launched after the police killing of George Floyd is that Minneapolis police used covert or bogus social media accounts to monitor Black individuals and groups despite having no clear public safety rationale for doing so.

The report released Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights echoes numerous past revelations that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have  sometimes illegally  secretly surveilled prominent people and communities of color even though they weren't involved in any criminal activity.

Overall, the two-year investigation found that the Minneapolis Police Department engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade, including stopping and arresting Black people at a higher rate than white people, more frequent use of force on people of color and a department culture that tolerated racist language.

Regarding social media, it spotlighted departmental abuses turned up in a review spanning activity between 2010 and 2020.

Officers used covert, or fake accounts to seek and gain access to the online profiles of Black individuals including an unnamed City Council member and a state elected official, the report said, as well as groups such as the Minneapolis NAACP and Urban League. The activity included friend requests, comments on posts, private messages and participation in discussions.

When doing so, officers posed as like-minded individuals and claimed, for example, that they met the targeted person at a prior demonstration or protest, the report said.

The report acknowledged that law enforcement can have legitimate reasons for tracking social media if a clear investigative purpose to advance public safety exists, and if clear procedures and accountability mechanisms are in place.

But Minneapolis police fell well short of those standards, investigators determined, improperly using the accounts to surveil and engage Black individuals, Black organizations, and elected officials unrelated to criminal activity, without a public safety objective.

The report doesnt include enough details to support criminal charges against any specific officers or lawsuits by individuals who were targeted, but some observers say it seems likely the Human Rights Department has other information from the investigation that a lawyer could use to try to build a case.

Spokesman Taylor Putz said the agency was unable to release any information beyond what's in the report because the case is still considered open while it works with the city to address the problems it identified.

Minneapolis police spokesman Howie Padilla said his department was still digesting the document and declined further comment.

Via Twitter, the Minneapolis NAACP expressed dismay over having spent years working with police to try to address problems only for MPD to continue to stall efforts and turn around and surveil us.

Andrew Ferguson, a law professor and expert on police technology and surveillance at American University, said that of the many examples of misconduct outlined in the report, the abuse of social media raises a red flag for all police departments.

What is happening in Minnesota is happening in many jurisdictions, because there are few rules in place and no accountability, Ferguson said. Police rummage through social media without limits, turning our digital lives into sources of surveillance. It might feel less violent than some of the other police misconduct, but it is still violative and wrong.

For Diala Shamas, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, the revelations are echoes of a covert FBI program from the 1950s to early 70s, known as Cointelpro, that illegally conducted surveillance and sabotage against civil rights groups and other organizations, sowing paranoia, distrust and violence. Targets included the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panthers, Malcolm X and many others.

The police actions in Minneapolis, Shamas said, amount to Cointelpro tactics with a modern twist.

Law enforcement agencies across the country have been using social media surveillance for years, however. A 2016 survey by the Urban Institute and the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that 70% of departments mined social networks during investigations.

But the rules governing how they do so are often opaque, vague or not a matter of public record.

In an ongoing study of police policies in U.S. jurisdictions with at least 100,000 people, researchers at the Brennan Center for Justice found just 35 police departments had publicly available policies that in some way addressed the use of social media for collecting information. Of those, 15 had language setting some limits on undercover or covert online activity. But several were vague or set a low bar for authorization, simply requiring supervisor approval.

I would say that very few if any of the policies really gave detailed, robust limitations on the use of undercover accounts, said Rachel Levinson-Waldman, deputy director of the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program.

Police misuse of social media has been uncovered in departments beyond Minneapolis, she noted.

In Tennessee, a lawsuit by the state chapter of the ACLU exposed the use of covert Facebook accounts by Memphis officers to target activists of color and community justice advocates. A federal judge determined that violated a longstanding consent decree barring the department from infringing on activities protected by the First Amendment.

And in California, the Brennan Center obtained records showing that third-party social media monitoring companies had pitched their services to the Los Angeles Police Department, including the ability to create furtive accounts for officers. While the city requires approval for some undercover online activity, Levinson-Waldman said, there are exceptions such as for threat assessments that allow officers to sidestep real oversight or accountability.

Facebook and its parent company warned both departments they had violated terms of service, she added. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all have policies prohibiting the use of their data for surveillance, and Facebooks guidelines for law enforcement specifically prohibit fake accounts.

Shamas, of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said covert surveillance like that practiced in Minneapolis and elsewhere can have serious and chilling effects.

The idea that you dont know that the person youre liaising with is undercover or an informant means youre going to be less likely to explore new ideas for strategies and campaigns, she said, all the things that are important for a democratic society.

This story was first published on April 28. It was updated on May 2 to correct that the Brennan Center hasn't finished studying the police department policies in all U.S. jurisdictions with at least 100,000 people.

Associated Press reporters Doug Glass in Minneapolis and Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
When humans concentrate too much power in too few hands it is a time-honored tradition that corruption, sometimes absolute corruption, is manifested.

Just look at Vladimir Putin. For decades he terrorized oligarchs, poisoned political opponents, obtained a monopoly on information for blackmail purposes and since 2000 murdered 28 journalists who reported about corruption in his regime, all in the name of consolidating power in himself. From that terrorized, frightened and frozen Russian soil grew the bitter fruits of authoritarianism.

If the present war wasnt so deadly and sickening to see, one could be amused at the many experts who said invasion and war was a myth, or military buildup on Ukraine borders a prelude to nothing. For experts this turned into a Black Swan event or a surprise with major consequences. We as a planet are now being menaced with real threats of nuclear war.

History is no stranger to misjudgments and power abuses. Even in the modern world and in America we are experiencing large concentrations of power corrupting people and organizations at various levels. More broadly, we are seeing the fruits of power concentration in: a servile GOP, oil energy companies who price gouge during wartime, businesses like Amazon exploiting their workers, Facebook profiting off of private client information and actual paper print newspapers standing back and letting it all be. How could one mention abuse of power and leave off Donald Trump, who even as president was nothing more than a cowering and frightened Putin poodle.

Make no mistake these are frightening times, but as Immanuel Kant warned us, If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on. Also, Susan Neiman said in Moral Clarity, Fear of death is worse than death itself, for in poisoning our lives it undermines our trust, and ultimately our freedom.

When it comes to being frightened and living a life of splendid vassalage appeasing Putin, we would do well to remember John Milton. We should never bow and sue for grace to deify Putins power or threats, but rather prefer hard liberty to the easy yoke of servile concessions.

Bill Licata, Esq.

Buffalo
In this time of great peril for Ukraine the United States of America should rise to the defense of Ukrainian people. Throw off the shackles of powerlessness and do the right thing.

First, fly the flag of Ukraine in every neighborhood, on every county and state flagpole. June 14 is Flag Day and this day should be devoted to a democracy that is threatened by an irrational dictator, Vladimir Putin.

Second, use peaceful means of protest against the Russian invasion. Boycott news services that give comfort to Putin. Turn off the computer or TV when Tucker Carlson appears. Do not buy products that advertise on shows that support the invasion. Send letters and texts to media stations that coddle the oligarchs and Putin.

Third, send money to legitimate organizations that are aiding Ukraine and its allies. Refuse to buy any products that are produced in countries friendly to Russia. Money can hurt Putin more than anything else.

Fourth, at one time Americans were urged to pray for the conversion of Russia. Religious communities throughout the United States should promote peace and condemn the Russian genocide.

Finally, we have two major patriotic holidays coming up during the spring and summer. The parades that celebrate Memorial Day and Fourth of July should include a salute and celebration of the brave actions of Ukraine and its allies including Poland, and the eastern NATO countries.

So shake off that powerless feeling, go buy and unfurl the Ukrainian flag, boycott Russian sympathizing media outlets and even March for Ukraine at our national patriotic holidays. Together we can help a fellow democracy not only win the war but throw off the yoke of the criminal invasion of Ukraine. You are not powerless.

Joseph Yonder

Depew
The change that moves the opening day of walleye season to May 1 makes the decision-making process a bit more difficult if you are both a turkey hunter and a walleye fisherman. May 1 would normally kick off with chasing bearded gobblers. If things had stayed as they were in years past, opening of walleye season would have been May 7 this year. That all changed April 1.

Of course, other activities can take up valuable outdoor recreation time in May. Perch fishing on Lake Erie is going full bore; the salmon and trout action on Lake Ontario is getting better every day (with the big Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby starting May 6); the lower Niagara River trout fishing is still going strong from boat and shore; and inland lakes such as Chautauqua and many of the Finger Lakes are turning on as the waters continue to warm. Whats a sportsman (or woman) to do?

If sleep (or work) isnt a huge consideration, you could get up early for turkey hunting, come home for some sleep at noon, and then head out for some night walleye fishing when the action is best in May. You just might be able to pull it off, in a perfect outdoor world. If you tag out on turkeys early, you will have more time to squeeze in as much outdoor time as possible chasing different species of fish.

My first night walleye fishing experience on Lake Erie was last year, thanks to Bob Rustowicz of Cheektowaga and Todd Wojciechowski of Lancaster. We had tried to hook up for a trip several times in 2020, but Cvoid-19 and the weather got in the way.

His call came as promised in May 2021 and we made plans to fish out of the Point Breeze area of Lake Erie. I had been night walleye fishing on other bodies of water, but never on Lake Erie. Rustowicz said the planets were aligning, and it was shaping up to be a perfect night.

We never fish past midnight, but there is a good chance we will be done way before that, said Rustowicz. It should be prime tonight.

Yes, he just jinxed us.

When we met Woj, he was working on the big motor to his 18-foot Tracker. I wondered if that was a good sign. Maybe one of the planets dropped out of alignment.

Rustowicz had borrowed the boat earlier that week and the motor had worked just fine. In fact, he used it to troll as slow as possible due to another issue. When he arrived at his fishing destination, he couldnt find the remote for the bow mount trolling motor. He called Woj.

Where is the remote for the trolling motor?

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds.

On the dashboard of my truck, said Woj. Maybe I should leave it in the boat.

Rustowicz was already on the lake that night and they managed to catch fish despite the motor handicap.

Rustowicz was not worried on our evening adventure. Todd can fix anything! And he did. In 10 minutes, we were on our way to Lake Erie as the sun slowly set.

As Wojciechowski backed the boat into the lake, the sun was sinking into the horizon in spectacular fashion. As we headed to Evans Bar to try to catch some walleyes, the sun was gone  leaving a beautiful purple haze. Another omen? Off course, they forgot the music.

Lake Erie is without a doubt the walleye capital of the world. Estimates say there are nearly 76 million eyes age 2 and older in this Great Lake.

We will be fishing in rocky areas, focusing on 6 to 12 feet of water, Rustowicz said. You can catch walleyes from Smokes Creek (near Buffalo) all the way to the Pennsylvania line, but we picked this spot because there will be less boat pressure.

A clear sky and a calm lake brought out a few boats, but the most amazing thing is that four kayakers were fishing alongside us, taking advantage of the calm conditions. And they were catching fish, too.

The walleyes like to hide behind the big rocks when they are on the feed and ambush bait, Wojciechowski said. We will run stickbaits like Husky Jerks, Chatter Raps, Rapalas and Smithwick Elite 8 Rogues.

Anything that is a shallow diving lure should work.

Knowing how far the lure is back is important in order to keep a consistent presentation. Wojciechowski uses the new Okuma Convector Low Profile Line Counter reels that have a high speed of 6.3-to-1 ratio. The rods are the Okuma Kokanee 7-foot sticks that offer a great feel. The rod and reel were in our hands as we motored back and forth across the bar.

We try to keep the speed between 1.5 and 2.2 miles per hour, said Rustowicz. The lures are back 60 to 100 feet, depending on what the bottom terrain calls for. If you are hitting bottom, pick your rod up or bring some line in. When you do hit bottom, check your lure for weeds and make sure it is clean.

It can be a little tricky taking weeds off a lure with three treble hooks  in the dark. However, we were all wearing head lamps to make sure the sharp lures did not catch more than a fish.

It was about an hour in when Wojciechowski noticed that something was up with the trolling motor.

My trolling motor is losing power, he said. I think one of the batteries is dead. They were new batteries!

As he shined a light into the battery compartment, he could see one of the wires was not attached. Battery power did not last long. We soon needed to fire up the big motor and troll as slowly as we could with that power source. We were able to get the speed as low as 2.3 mph going one way, which was not bad. However, the fish were being finicky. We had four or five hits with no fish to show for our efforts.

Finally, several hours later, we hit our first fish. Rustowicz broke the ice, followed by Wojciechowski with a couple. The hot lure was the Smithwick Elite 8 Rogue in blue. It was nearing midnight. Yes, it was getting late, and we were talking about packing up. Most of the other boats in the area were already gone.

Woj handed me the Smithwick lure and almost immediately I had a hit. Success and dinner for the table. We decided to take another pass. I hit another, this one a bigger fish. It was clearly the largest of the evening, and it was a fitting end to a treasured first-time Lake Erie experience.

Bob and Todd apologized. Sorry the fishing was off. We will have to get you out again when the fishing is better. We caught five fish. The evening was far from a loss.

There was one downside. I did not return home until 2 a.m. I have not seen those hands on the clock in that position in a long time. I am now an early to bed, early to rise guy. In fact, I was up at 2:30 a.m. for a turkey hunt a few days later. I guess it is all relative, a small price to pay to experience the great outdoors.

Walleye  and turkey  season is open again.
(Bloomberg) -- The European Unions electricity market is broadly fit for purpose even as prices skyrocket in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

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The blocs power market ensures efficient and secure supply under relatively normal conditions and is worth keeping, according to a report published on Friday by the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators. Still, some emergency measures could be considered to help the region deal with surging prices that have battered the region in recent months.

The EU is under pressure from several nations including Spain and France to reform its electricity market because record gas prices have also sent electricity rates soaring. Bills are rocketing for many millions of homes, stoking a cost of living crisis just as everything from food to petrol are also getting much more expensive.

We have a massive opportunity to leverage our unique, integrated energy EU market model for the energy transition and for achieving greater energy independence, said Christian Zinglersen, a director at ACER. It would be a shame and counter-productive if the current pressures were somehow to set this back.

The market currently operates under a pay as you clear model, where prices are set in daily national auctions by the cost of the most expensive unit of energy needed to meet demand.

Spain Presses EU on Lower Gas Price Cap to Ease Power Crunch

ACER argues that the EU should stick with that model and avoid breaking the link between gas and electricity prices by moving toward an average price framework.

Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson confirmed that she had received the report on Thursday and that it would be discussed with ministers from the 27 member states at a meeting Monday.

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We have to discuss how to find ways so that this extraordinary situation in the gas market will not have such a poisonous impact on our electricity market, she said at an event in the U.S. I dont know if we will find a consensus.

Price Signals

Last year, the regions integrated market resulted in about 34 billion euros ($36 billion) of benefits and actually helped to smooth volatility. It also provides price signals that encourage the development of renewable sources, according to the study.

Instead of radically reforming the three-decades-old electricity market, member states would be better off putting in place measures that help address the root cause of spiraling costs of gas, according to ACER. Those could include energy efficiency efforts, fuel switching as well as seeking out new sources of supply from other countries.

Still, the report concedes that the current framework is not designed for the emergency situation that the EU currently finds itself in, and offers some possible interventionist measures that the bloc and member states could consider during future price shocks.

A temporary relief valve -- similar to systems used in Texas and Australia -- would involve the market operating normally until prices reach a protracted high level that breaches a pre-defined threshold.

The reports publication comes just a couple of weeks before the European Commission is expected to unveil its plan to wean itself off Russian gas, including proposals on boosting renewables, making it easier for clean energy companies to receive permits and recommendations for speeding up power purchase agreements.

(Updates with Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson comments in seventh paragraph.)

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Patagonia Gold Corp.

Vancouver, BC., April 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Patagonia Gold Corp. (Patagonia or the Company) (TSXV: PGDC) announces its audited results for the financial year ended December 31, 2021 (YE 2021). The audited consolidated financial statements for YE 2021, together with the related managements discussion and analysis, are available on the Companys website and under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.



Highlights

Generated revenue of US$18.1 million and gross profit of US$4.5 million in YE 2021.

Produced 9,336 gold equivalent ounces (1) and sold 10,007 gold equivalent ounces (1) .

Closed Can$9.3 million financing for exploration and development of precious metals projects in Argentina.

Started a 3,500 meters drill program at Tornado/Huracan in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina.

Completed 675 shallow, exploratory drill holes totaling 15,286 meters at the Monte Leon area, also in Santa Cruz.

Received definitive environmental permit for the development of the Cap-Oeste project.

Completed 901.5 kilometers of ground magnetics, geophysical surveying and 156 shallow, exploratory drill holes totaling 1,708 meters at the Calcatreu project located in Rio Negro Province, Argentina.

Spent US $4.6 million for the exploration of key projects in Argentina.

(1) Consisting of 6,562 gold and 198,989 silver ounces of production and 7,062 gold and 215,541 silver ounces sold, converted to a gold equivalent using a ratio of the average spot market price for the commodities each period. The ratio for year ended December 31, 2021 was 73.03:1 (2020  85.99:1).

Christopher van Tienhoven, CEO stated: Despite ongoing difficulties as a result of the global pandemic, the Company continued gold and silver production and advanced work on its key exploration projects. The drilling at Monte Leon, 10 kms southeast of Cap-Oeste, has identified a potential new source of near-surface, oxidized mineralization, which our initial tests suggest may be amenable to processing on the Cap-Oeste leach pad. New exploration and engineering work is planned to define the lateral and depth extent of Monte Leon mineralization and to permit the estimation of maiden mineral resources for this exciting mineral prospect.

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Qualified Persons Statement

Donald J. Birak, an independent, consult ing geologist and Registered Member of SME and Fellow of AusIMM, is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this news release.

About Patagonia Gold

Patagonia Gold Corp. is a South America focused, publicly traded mining company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company seeks to grow shareholder value through exploration and development of gold and silver projects in the Patagonia region of Argentina. The Company is primarily focused on the Calcatreu project in Rio Negro and the development of the Cap-Oeste underground project. Patagonia, indirectly through its subsidiaries or under option agreements, has mineral rights to over 420 properties in several provinces of Argentina and Chile and is one of the largest landholders in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina.

For more information, please contact:

Dean Stuart

T: 403 617 7609

E: dean@boardmarker.net

Christopher van Tienhoven, Chief Executive Officer

Patagonia Gold Corp

T: +54 11 5278 6950

E: cvantienhoven@patagoniagold.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements with respect to, among other things, the anticipated increase in interest in the Argentina mining sector, advancement and development of gold and silver projects in the Patagonia region of Argentina, the anticipated growth in shareholder value, future processing on the Cap-Oeste leach pad and potential for expansion at Monte Leon. Wherever possible, words such as may, will, should, could, expect, plan, intend, anticipate, believe, estimate, predict or potential or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect managements current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.

Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.




Ukrainian servicemen install a machine gun on a tank during repair works in the Donetsk region (AP)

Vladimir Putin could seek to consolidate Russias territorial gains in Ukraine and dig in like a cancerous growth, the UKs Defence Secretary has warned.

Mr Putin has seen his lightning invasion plan, to seize Kyiv within days, fail and now his troops are only making slow progress in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine where they are being redeployed, according to western officials.

Mr Wallace told Sky News: Its certainly the case that Putin having failed in nearly all of his objectives, may seek to consolidate what he has got, fortify and dig in as he did in 2014, and just be a cancerous growth in the country of Ukraine and make it very hard to move them out of those fortified positions.

Its really about if we want this to not happen we have to help Ukrainians effectively get the limpet off the rock and keep the momentum in pushing them back.

Mr Wallace said Russian troops must first and foremost be driven out of parts of Ukraine they have recently invaded but did not rule out that a further aim should be retaking Crimea.

He stressed that the international community believes Russia should leave Crimea which it annexed in 2014.

We are supporting Ukraines sovereign integrity...that of course includes Crimea and Donetsk, he told Sky News.

But first and foremost lets get Russia out of where they are now in its invasion plans and help Ukraine resolve, do you remember the Minsk agreement which Russia has basically ripped up, was all about trying to resolve those two occupied territories (Donetsk and Luhansk).

But the key thing here is to continue to support Ukraines sovereign integrity and their ablity to defend themselves.

The Defence Secretarys comments came after Liz Truss said in a keynote speech on Wednesday night that Russia should be pushed out of the whole of Ukraine.

The Foreign Secretary also stressed that the crisis in Ukraine must be the catalyst for an overhaul to the Wests approach to international security.

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She said the UK needed to strengthen its military while building alliances with free nations around the world, using their economic power to deter aggressors who do not play by the rules.

She added that the G7 group of leading industrialised nations, the US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada, should act as an economic Nato defending collective prosperity, while the Western military alliance must be prepared to open its doors to countries such as Finland and Sweden.

Speaking at the Mansion House in the City of London, Ms Truss said the international architecture intended to guarantee peace and prosperity had failed Ukraine in the face of an attack by a desperate rogue operator, in the shape of Mr Putin, with no interest in international norms.

Russia is able to block any effective action in the UN Security Council. Putin sees his veto as a green light to barbarism, she said.

In the short term, she said Western allies must double down on support for the government in Kyiv, providing the heavy weaponry it needs to push Russia out of the whole of Ukraine.

At the same time, she said the events of the past months must be a catalyst for wider change.

Now we need a new approach, one that melds hard security and economic security, one that builds stronger global alliances and where free nations are more assertive and self-confident, one that recognises geopolitics is back, she said.

At home, she said that should mean an increase in defence spending with the Nato minimum of two per cent of national income a floor not a ceiling.

At the same time, the UK needed to build a series of strong partnerships with like-minded countries around the world in a network of liberty.

In Europe, Finland and Sweden should, if they choose to join Nato, be integrated into the alliance as soon as possible, while states like Moldova and Georgia - which are not Nato members - should have the means to maintain their sovereignty and freedom.

Nato, which has traditionally been focused on the defence of Europe, needed to adopt a global outlook, working with allies like Japan and Australia to ensure the Pacific is protected and democracies like Taiwan are able to defend themselves.

Ms Truss said the West had to be prepared to stand up to aggressors who try to exploit their economic power as a tool of foreign policy to exert control and to coerce others.

Access to the global economy must depend on playing by the rules. There can be no more free passes, she said.

We are showing this with the Russia-Ukraine conflict - Russias pass has been rescinded.

The G7 should act as an economic Nato, collectively defending our prosperity. If the economy of a partner is being targeted by an aggressive regime we should act to support them. All for one and one for all.

Ms Truss also singled out China, which has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, while increasing imports from Russia and commenting on who should or shouldnt be a Nato member.

China is not impervious. They will not continue to rise if they do not play by the rules, she said.

China needs trade with the G7. We represent around half of the global economy. And we have choices.

We have shown with Russia the kind of choices that were prepared to make when international rules are violated.
Fierce clashes between Damascus troops and ISIS in Jabal Al-Bishri, Raqqa Strong clashes in the early hours of Friday morning between ISIS and Damascus forces, their proxy militias in Jabal Al-Bishri area near the administrative border between Al-Raqqah and Deir Ezzor provinces.
PeopleImages / Getty Images

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are designed to help low-income families pay for food by providing money once a month. In most states, the benefits are deposited on the same day each month, based on factors such as your Social Security number, last name, case number or account number.

See: SNAP Benefits  These States Acknowledged Emergency COVID Allotments for February

Find: SNAP Benefits  How Is Eligibility Determined?

If you wonder when your SNAP benefits are deposited every month, the easiest option is to visit the Providers website and find your state in the EBT in My State dropdown tab.

In most states, SNAP benefits are transferred to recipients via a prepaid electronic benefit transfer card, which is a debit card with the specific benefit amounts already loaded onto the card. Some states call it an EBT card while others, such as Texas, customize the name (in Texas its called the Lone Star Card). Individual states are responsible for scheduling when SNAP payments go out.

The SNAP program is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and provides benefits to roughly 42 million people, NPR reported. Last year the Biden administration approved the largest increase in food stamp benefits in the programs history, upping the payment by an extra $36 a month.

As previously reported by GOBankingRates, families of four will receive a maximum allotment of $835 if they are in the 48 contiguous states or Washington, D.C. Here are some of the other payment allotments:

A family of four will receive a maximum of $1,074-$1,667 in Alaska.

A family of four will receive a maximum of $1,573 in Hawaii.

A family of four will receive a maximum of $1,231 in Guam.

A family of four will receive a maximum of $1,074 in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Following is a rundown of when SNAP benefits are reloaded in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, according to the AS.com website unless otherwise indicated:

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Alabama : Between the 4th and 23rd of the month, depending on your case number

Alaska : First day of the month

Arizona : Between the 1st and 13th of the month, depending on the first letter of your last name

Arkansas: Between the 4th and the 13th of the month, based on the last digit of your Social Security number

California : First 10 days of the month, depending on the last digit of your case number

Colorado : Between the 1st and 10th of the month, based on the last digit of your Social Security number

Connecticut . From the 1st to the 3rd of the month, based on the first letter of your last name

Delaware : Loaded over 23 days, beginning with the 2nd day of the month, based on the first letter of your last name

Florida . Between the 1st and 28th of the month, based on the 9th and 8th digits of your case number

Georgia : Between the 5th and 23rd of the month, based on the last two digits of your ID number

Guam : First day of the month

Hawaii : The 3rd and 5th of the month, based on the first letter of your last name

Idaho : During the first 10 days of the month, based on the last number of your birth year

Illinois : On the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 17th, and 20th of the month, based on a combination of the type of case and the case name

Indiana . From the 5th to the 23rd of the month, based on the first letter of your last name

Iowa: During the first 10 days of the month, based on the first letter of your last name

Kansas : During the first 10 days of the month, based on the first letter of your last name

Kentucky : During the first 19 days of the month, based on the last digit of your case number

Louisiana : Between the 1st and the 14th of the month, based on the last digit of your Social Security number

Maine : From the 10th to the 14th of the month, based on the last digit of your birthday

Maryland : From the 4th to the 23rd of the month, based on the first letter of your last name

Massachusetts . During the first 14 days of the month, based on the last digit of your Social Security number

Michigan . From the 3rd to the 21st of the month, based on the last two digits of your ID number

Minnesota : From the 4th to the 13th of the month, based on the last digit of your case number

Mississippi : From the 4th to the 21st of the month, based on the last digit of your case number

Missouri : During the first 22 days of the month, based on your birth month and last name

Montana : Between the 2nd and 6th of the month, based on the last digit of your case number

Nebraska : From the 1st to the 5th of the month, based on the last digit of your head of households Social Security number

Nevada : During the first 10 days of the month, based on the last number of your birth year

New Hampshire : The fifth day of the month.

New Jersey : During the first 5 calendar days of the month, based on the 7th digit of your case number.

New Mexico : During the first 20 days of the month, based on the last two digits of your Social Security number

New York: During the first 9 days of the month, based on the last digit of your case number, except in New York City, where benefits are loaded over 13 days that are not Sundays or holidays

North Carolina : From the 3rd to the 21st of the month, based on the last digit of your Social Security number

North Dakota : The first day of the month

Ohio : From the 2nd to the 20th of the month, based on the last digit of your case number

Oklahoma : From the 1st to the 10th of the month, based on the last digit of your case number

Oregon : From the 1st to the 9th of the month, based on the last digit of your Social Security number

Pennsylvania: During the first 10 business days of the month, based on the last digit of your case record number

Puerto Rico : Between the 4th and 22nd of the month, based on the last digit of your Social Security number

Rhode Island : The first day of the month

South Carolina : During the first 10 days of the month, based on Social Security number, for those whove received benefits continuously since before Sept. 1, 2021; otherwise, from the 1st to the 19th of the month, based on the last digit of your case number, as per the Providers website

South Dakota : The 10 th of the month

Tennessee : From the 1st to the 20th of the month, based on the last two digits of your Social Security number

Texas: During the first 15 days of the month, based on the last digit of your Eligibility Determination Group, or EDG, number

Utah : On the 5th, 11th or 15th of the month, based on the first letter of your last name

Vermont : The first day of the month

Virginia : From the 1st to the 9th of the month, based on the last digit of your case number.

Washington: Staggered according to application date and application finalized period, as per the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services: Application date from the 1st through 15th of the month and finalized period from 1st through 15th of the month, paid on the 1st through the 10th of the month Application date from the 1st through 15th of the month and finalized period from 16th through 31st of the month, paid on the 11th through the 20th of the month Application date from the 16th through the 22nd of the month and finalized on any date, paid on the 1st through the 10th of the month Application date from the 23rd through the 31st of the month and finalized on any date, paid on the 11th through the 20th of the month



See: SNAP Benefits  Are There Home Delivery Services That Accept EBT Cards?

Find: Why Backward Budgeting Could Be Exactly What Your Wallet Needs

Washington, D.C. : From the 1st to the 10th of the month, based on the first letter of your last name

West Virginia : During the first nine days of the month, based on the first letter of your last name

Wisconsin : During the first 15 days of the month, based on the eighth digit of your SSN

Wyoming: From the 1st to the 4th of the month, based on the first letter of your last name

You can use your SNAP benefit card at any SNAP-authorized retailer. Authorized retailers include most supermarkets as well as some farmers markets, convenience stores and big-box stores like Walmart and Target. You can also use the card at some online grocery retailers.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: SNAP Benefits: When Will My Card Be Reloaded?
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy exits the headquarters of the Republican National Committee after the House Republican Conference caucus meeting in Washington on April 27, 2022. Credit - Bill ClarkCQ-Roll Call/Getty Images

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIMEs politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox.

Clean-up, aisle GOP.

Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy may have ridden the last hellish week as best as he could have hoped. First, he got called out by his colleagues for slamming then-President Donald Trumps role in inflaming the Jan. 6 riot in a phone call made days after the attack, which was published by New York Times reporters. He then suggested some members of his conference shouldnt be allowed on social media platforms. And on yet another recording revealed by the New York Times, he suggested some of his own nominal allies in the Republican Party had used rhetoric that may have endangered people on Jan. 6.

In short: McCarthy, the heir apparent to lead the House if Republicans take back the majority, isnt quite the shoo-in that he was six months ago. But his colleagues havent entirely abandoned him. Yet.

House Republicans have been playing nice in recent days, despite the stunning revelations from two New York Times reporters forthcoming book about the last gasps of Donald Trumps presidency. Lawmakers have dodged questions and blamed journalists for the discord, although most are careful not to explicitly defend McCarthy. The GOP rank-and-file has been looking at McCarthy with a skeptical eye as the likeliest successor to Speaker Nancy Pelosi should Republicans retake the majority in the midterms, gauging whether he actually shares their views and fealty to Trump. These tapes dont help his case.

Still, McCarthy hasnt been tanked by his fellow Republicans. The signals from Trump suggest that McCarthy remains copacetic with the Mar-a-Lago circuit. The MAGA crowd doesnt seem to have been enraged by the betrayal, and McCarthy has continued churning through fundraising calls without any hint of resistance from the partys loyalists. The GOP seems on a glide path to win at least enough seats in Novembers elections to overtake the Democrats razor-thin margin.

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The apparent loyalty may be because, by and large, McCarthys conference likes him. McCarthy recruited much of the Tea Party class of 2010, not out of any particular affinity for the individuals but out of opportunism. He saw the likes of the anti-Washington candidates as reliable votes in his favor for his climb to power. The burn-it-down caucus eventually ousted his partners and allies Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and John Boenher. But McCarthy had a direct line to the troublemakers from 2010 and onward, and he has done everything possible to coddle them and their successors in Congress in pursuit of his ultimate goal: the Speakers gavel.

But heres the problem with that naked ambition: math. In practice, the Speaker needs the majority support of the winning party. And very real threats to McCarthys coalition remain. If Republicans have a blow-out victory along the lines of 2010s Tea Party win or Democrats 2016 anti-Bush wave, McCarthy is probably safe. But if its a close election season, McCarthy could be denied the Speaker slot with a few defections from the likes of Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Madison Cawthorn, and Lauren Boeberta cohort of Trumpist lawmakers who have each been summoned to his office for a stern talking-to.

Then, theres the secondary question: will Fox News scuttle his changes? The channels hosts have been hunting McCarthy in the last few days, claiming hes a puppet of the Democratic Party and a proxy for liberal ambitions, leading some viewers to wonder if its a chicken-and-egg scenario: whether Trump is privately gunning for McCarthy, or if the network will prod Trump to eventually turn on one of his own. Its been well-established that the symbiosis between the network and Trump drove national policy during Trumps four years in office, and McCarthys fate may hinge on the less-than-subtle messaging coming from the nations leading cable channel.

Ultimately, McCarthys Republicans will have to run 435 different races from campaigns in Madawaska, Maine, to Manawaiopuna Falls, Hawaii. Democrats could defend their majority, and Republican infighting could still defy the historical pattern that suggests theyll take the majority. The real drama unfolding in Washington has to do with whether McCarthy treats his future as a crystal ball or a shaky Magic 8 Ball; just how much of the GOPs prospects are preordained, and how much actually are in play? As it stands, its a coin-toss for McCarthy.

Make sense of what matters in Washington. Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter.
Following severe weather Thursday night, officials are urging residents to remain aware of the further possibility of storms.

Paul Fajman, a meteorologist with National Weather Service Omaha/Valley Office, said the storm in Northeast Nebraska started a little after 4 p.m. on Thursday in the northern part of Platte County and the southern portion of Madison County. The wind wasnt really an issue that night, he noted, but there was a large amount of hail. People posted photos of the area on the organizations social media, Fajman added.

We did have some video that we got from the emergency manager there where hail was covering the ground and it looked like snow, Fajman said. It was like an inch or so of hail there and then other people were submitting pictures that were on Highway 91 there where you can see the tire tracks going through the hail, there was so much of it. The reports that we got from Platte Center, it hailed for like a good hour. A lot of that hail initially was smaller around pea-sized, dime-sided, but the larger hail reports we got were up to 2 inches.

According to Platte County Emergency Manager Tim Hofbauer, once the Platte/Madison County line got pelleted with rain and extensive hail, this started elsewhere.

As other storms started moving in the area, we kind of had a similar situation start happening in other parts of the county, Hofbauer said. One of them was up just a little bit north of Platte Center, where it dumped 5.5 inches of rain. The area by Lindsay was 6 to 7.5 inches of rain.

Of course, he said, that resulted in heavy flooding.

That basically came back through Platte Center on Elm Creek and the Elm Creek, of course, dumps into the Shell Creek and so that combination of creeks that come through there flooded Platte Center, Hofbauer said. Starting about 10 o'clock, they started seeing water coming up and it's receded now. They did do a voluntary evacuation around 10 o'clock last night for people that lived in the southern part of the community. They did have sandbaggers out to putting sandbags up.

Monroe had also seen some storm action.

There were reports of 5.5 inches of rain that fell there too, he added. There was some flooding, closing Highway 22 for a period of time.

As of Friday, Highway 81 between Platte Center and Columbus had remained closed  Shell Creek runs underneath that highway and its flooded there. A number of gravel roads were also closed.

Shell Creek now is going to be a concern north of Columbus, possibly affecting the Monastery and the Mason road/48th Avenue and 18th Avenue, Hofbauer said. We're watching that real close to see if it's going to have any effect on those two roads.

Fajman said on Friday that there was a chance of more severe weather that night.

Platte County is in an enhanced risk of severe weather. And that is the third-highest category on the scale, Fajman said. A little bit farther to the south, there's a moderate risk for severe weather and tonight we're looking at hail. It will certainly be possible but we're expecting more strong winds tonight and there's a tornado possibility too.

Hofbauer said he encourages people to be aware of those possible weather conditions.

If we get a couple of big rain showers like we had last night, it could flare up again. We could start seeing some flooding again, Hofbauer said. Definitely be weather aware tonight and be aware of rainfall and where you live and things of that sort so that you cannot be caught off guard.

Hannah Schrodt is the news editor of The Columbus Telegram. Reach her via email at hannah.schrodt@lee.net.

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NORRISTOWN  A former Pennsylvania attorney general who served jail time for leaking grand jury material and lying about it was taken into custody Friday on an alleged probation violation, more than a month after she was charged with drunken driving, officials said.

Kathleen Kane, 55, was behind bars at Montgomery County Correctional Facility outside Philadelphia to await a hearing. No hearing date had been set as of Friday afternoon.

A message was left for her attorney in the drunken driving case.

Kane resigned as attorney general after being convicted in 2016 of perjury, obstruction and other counts for leaking secret investigative files to embarrass a rival prosecutor.

Kane was sentenced to 10 to 23 months behind bars, serving her time at the Montgomery County jail outside Philadelphia. She was released in 2019. Her term of probation doesnt end until October 2025.

On March 12, police in Scranton were called to the scene of a two-car crash and said they found Kane behind the wheel of an Audi.

Kane told responding officers she was a designated driver, but surveillance video showed Kane herself had been drinking alcohol at a Scranton restaurant shortly before the crash, according to an affidavit.

Kane had watery, bloodshot eyes and slurred her words  police said she had trouble saying the word designated  and failed a field sobriety test, the documents said.

Kane was charged with drunken driving and careless driving. Four days later, a Montgomery County judge issued a bench warrant for her arrest.

The states former top prosecutor also faces a May 26 hearing on the drunken driving charge.
Since 17 of April the current annihilation attacks and an eradication campaign is launched by the Turkish occupation army with participation of Kurdistan Democratic Party, the PDK, against medya defense zones in Southern Kurdistan in a clear target of the Kurdish culture and identity embodied in the Kurdistan Freedom Movement.

Iraqi politicians and men of religion and notable figures expressed their rejection of the attacks of the Turkish army in Southern Kurdistan.

Head priest and the spiritual leader of the Sabaean-Mandeans in Iraq and the world, Satar Jabar Helo made a statement to ANHA.

Satar Jabar Helo confirmed that the ''attacks by Turkish troops on the Iraqi soil are unacceptable,'' saying: ''at a time where we reject the Turkish military operations on the Iraqi soil that is unacceptable, we lay much stress on the necessity of consolidating positive tries with Turkey based on the mutual interest of both countries, and solving the security related issues via cooperation and joint coordination, the sovereignty of Iraq should be respected''.

Satar Jabar Helo confirmed that Turkish occupation forces in Iraq should withdraw from Iraqi territories, '' Turkey should withdraw its forces proper from Iraqi soil in a way that shows respect to the Iraqi sovereignty. Hostile acts will not create any sound ground for any sustainable solutions or complementarity in the face of security challenges that necessitates among other priorities increasing the security cooperation between the two sides as a successful way to meet all sought interests and stand up to challenges''.

Satar Jabar Helo said ''Iraq has the legal right to take necessary measures and proper steps in accordance with the United Nations Charter and the rules that regulates the international law towards such hostile acts because it (Turkey) does not respects the principle of neighbourliness''.

L..A

ANHA
Tears welled up in the eyes of the condemned man as he sat pale and dejected in the courtroom of the Old Courthouse on the Square.

Howard Henninger had just been sentenced to 15 to 20 years of solitary confinement and hard labor at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

You have pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree, one of the most serious crimes in the commonwealth, Judge Edward Biddle said from the bench. The sentence must be a severe one in view of the gravity of the offense.

It was April 27, 1922, and The Sentinel was reporting the final disposition of a homicide case that had some unusual twists and turns.

Just two days later, on April 29, news surfaced that the prosecution had secretly exhumed the body of Irene Henninger three weeks before the sentencing of her husband and after the court had denied a defense motion to have her remains removed from the grave and examined.

It is said that it was done at daybreak and that the cemetery was carefully guarded while the work was in progress, the newspaper reported. A postmortem was held at an undertaking establishment. Yet, despite this revelation, there were no follow-up stories reported in The Sentinel in the century since the crime.

Feeling the strain

On April 27, defense attorney John D. Faller asked the court for leniency, saying his client was only 25 years old with a young son he wanted to raise. Besides, the guilty plea saved the county time and thousands of dollars.

Former District Attorney William Kramer, acting as special counsel, argued that a substantial sentence needed to be pronounced on Henninger to send a message that commands the public to be law-abiding. Kramer was convinced a jury would have found the defendant guilty of second degree murder.

By then, Henninger had been an inmate in the Cumberland County Jail for almost a year. He had tried to get away with murder and make it look like an accident. The Sentinel was vivid in its description of a June 21, 1921, interview between an unidentified journalist and the accused killer. It was not unusual for newspapers back then to run stories without bylines.

He was lying on a cot in his cell, but when spoken to arose, sat on the couch, lighted a cigarette and complained of a headache, the story reads.

Well, Henninger, I guess youre glad the strain is over? the reporter asked. You tell em, Henninger said in response.

The reporter pressed for comment on the charges, but Henninger refused to offer details on the murder. Instead, he talked about his family.

He first met his wife in Harrisburg and they were married about five years ago, the story reads. Two years ago, they went to Mechanicsburg to live. Their little son was four years old on the 6th of June.

Henninger said he and his wife had not gotten along since their wedding. Their stormy relationship was made worse by suspicions of infidelity. Raymond Lewis  the man with whom Irene may have been intimate  was locked away in a different jail cell on a charge of forgery.

Described as a youth of good appearance, Henninger had a wealth of black hair. He was tall, but not stoutly built, with dark eyes.

I dont care to talk about it, he said, regarding the murder. I would like to go in the jail office. I want an attorney.

Suspicions

For an alibi, Henninger said he had visited Harrisburg the afternoon of Feb. 12, 1921, only to return to his home on East Simpson Street around 8 p.m. when he found his wife dead on the basement floor with clothing from an overturned laundry basket scattered nearby.

Publicly, Coroner J.H. Deardorff announced the cause of death as a broken neck from a fall downstairs, but the neighbors were convinced it was foul play. They knew that the couple had quarreled often. Eventually, the rumors came to the attention of District Attorney Merrill Hummel.

On June 22, two days after Henninger was arrested, The Sentinel published a story about a conspiracy involving Deardorff and Police Chief Edward Cocklin. During the investigation, the coroner discovered something suspicious prompting an agreement with the chief to keep their mouths shut, but their eyes and ears open.

The decision ... proved to be a wise one, the newspaper reported. On going to the home of Mr. Walker, father of the dead woman, the day after the body was found, Chief Cocklin picked up the child and said Did you kiss mamma before leaving home? and received this reply, No, mamma dead.

That poked a hole in the alibi that the accident had taken place while the father and son were in Dauphin County. Other information led police to question Percy Myers, a 16-year-old boy who lived with the family and worked with Howard at the Mechanicsburg silk mill.

Will I get into any trouble if I told the truth about the matter? the teenager asked. After being reassured by investigators, Myers told a story of spousal abuse, as claimed by Howard Henninger.

Myers account

On several occasions, the husband told Myers that he had been tempted to desert his wife and that she had assaulted him by shooting him in the leg and by cutting him with a knife. Myers provided detail as a witness to the murder.

On Sunday morning, Feb. 12, Howard found a letter addressed to Irene from Raymond Lewis. Infuriated, he stormed into the bedroom where he woke Irene and flashed the letter in her face. Myers heard the noise and decided to investigate only to end up holding the child while Howard beat Irene senseless with a club.

Henninger then removed her night gown and tied it around her face, leaving his wife to smother to death, The Sentinel reported. [He] then washed the body, dressed it in a wrapper and dragged it down stairs into the cellar, leaving it lying at the foot of the steps.

Then he gathered together some soiled clothes, placed them in a clothes basket, carried them down into the cellar and scattered them about the dead body of his wife ... making it appear that she had died from a fall down the cellar steps while carrying the basket of clothes.

At 5 p.m. Feb. 12, Henninger pulled down all the shades in the house and went by trolley car to Harrisburg to back up his alibi. The testimony of Myers was pivotal. Four months later, police arrested Howard who confessed to other details.

Henninger denies that he tied his wifes night gown over her face, but says that he held his hand over her mouth, The Sentinel reported. After she was dead he washed up all of the blood-stained clothing, the walls and the floors and burned the club with which he killed his wife. Before leaving the house, he prepared a meal for his little son and the Myers boy.

His wife buried, Henninger began to worry that his scheme could be exposed. This led him to booze and to seek bad company. It was reported he had threatened Myers to divulge no secrets.

Following his arrest, The Sentinel reported that Henninger is glad that the terrible strain under which he had been living is over, now that the facts are known,.

In early March 1922, defense attorneys asked the court to allow the body to be exhumed and examined to determine the exact cause of death.

He [Faller] characterized the coroners findings as confusive, garbled and contradictory, The Sentinel reported. More over, two reports were filed or alleged to have been filed, a most unusual occurrence. There was no inquest and no post-mortem.

The court ultimately rejected the defense motion and Henninger entered his plea in April to murder in the second degree.

Joseph Cress is a reporter for The Sentinel covering education and history. You can reach him at jcress@cumberlink.com or by calling 717-218-0022.

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Vanessa Jean-Baptiste, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, dons PPE equipment before entering the room of a patient with COVID-19 March 1, 2022. Two years into the COVID19 pandemic, Jean-Baptiste continues to work three 7:00 pm to 7:00 am shifts a week in the hospital's ICU.

New coronavirus cases leaped in Ohio in the week ending Sunday, rising 67.1% as 3,668 cases were reported. The previous week had 2,195 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Ohio ranked 36th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 5% from the week before, with 219,630 cases reported. With 3.51% of the country's population, Ohio had 1.67% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 16 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

In mid-March Ohio shifted to reporting data only weekly. While Johns Hopkins University gets some data also from federal sources, the changes may make week-to-week comparisons inaccurate.

Crawford County reported 12 cases and three deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported nine cases and two deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 11,161 cases and 212 deaths.

Within Ohio, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Butler County with 113 cases per 100,000 per week; Hocking County with 99; and Monroe County with 88. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were Franklin County, with 483 cases; Butler County, with 432 cases; and Hamilton County, with 421. Weekly case counts rose in 63 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Hamilton, Franklin and Butler counties.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Ohio ranked 43rd among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 63.2% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 76.9%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.

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In the week ending Sunday, Ohio reported administering another 37,340 vaccine doses, including 8,263 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 38,666 vaccine doses, including 8,569 first doses. In all, Ohio reported it has administered 17,394,414 total doses.

Across Ohio, cases fell in 18 counties, with the best declines in Ashtabula County, with 23 cases from 33 a week earlier; in Portage County, with 40 cases from 49; and in Madison County, with 2 cases from 8.

In Ohio, 185 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 198 people were reported dead.

A total of 2,669,698 people in Ohio have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 37,793 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 79,954,418 people have tested positive and 976,702 people have died.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Ohio's COVID-19 hospital admissions falling

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, March 27.

Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

Last week: 1,040

The week before that: 1,188

Four weeks ago: 1,968

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

Last week: 39,713

The week before that: 41,915

Four weeks ago: 66,508

Hospitals in three states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in six states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 16 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Crawford County reported 12 additional COVID-19 cases this week
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Department of Homeland Security is stepping up an effort to counter disinformation coming from Russia as well as misleading information that human smugglers circulate to target migrants hoping to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border.

The spread of disinformation can affect border security, Americans safety during disasters, and public trust in our democratic institutions, the department said in a statement Wednesday. It declined The Associated Press request for an interview.

A newly formed Disinformation Governance Board announced Wednesday will immediately begin focusing on misinformation aimed at migrants, a problem that has helped to fuel sudden surges at the U.S. southern border in recent years. Human smugglers often spread misinformation around border policies to drum up business.

Last September, for example, confusion around President Bidens immigration policies combined with messages shared widely across the Haitian community on Metas Facebook and WhatsApp platforms led some of the 14,000 migrants to the border town of Del Rio, Texas, where they set up camp. Some were ultimately expelled and were flown out of the U.S.

We are very concerned that Haitians who are taking the irregular migration path are receiving misinformation that the border is open, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at the time.

The new board also will monitor and prepare for Russian disinformation threats as this years midterm elections near and the Kremlin continues an aggressive disinformation campaign around the war in Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly waged misinformation campaigns aimed at U.S. audiences to further divisions around election time and spread conspiracy theories around U.S. COVID-19 vaccines. Most recently, Russian state media outlets, social media accounts and officials have used the internet to call photographs, reporting and videos of dead bodies and bombed buildings in Ukraine fake.

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The board will be led by disinformation expert Nina Jankowicz, who has researched Russian misinformation tactics and online harassment.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden, a Democrat, repeatedly said he would push tech companies, including Facebook, to crack down harder on misinformation and conspiracy theories that have overwhelmed social media and its users.

Dozens of Republican lawmakers and pundits took to social media on Wednesday to widely criticize the new board and call for it to be disbanded.

Rather than police our border, Homeland Security has decided to make policing Americans speech its top priority, a tweet from Missouris U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley read, in part. Theyre creating a Disinformation Board.

DHS said in its statement that the board will protect privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties as part of its duties.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Apr. 28HENDERSON  Workers at an Ardagh Group plant at 620 Facet Road just outside Henderson demonstrated outside the plant in a "show of solidarity" amid union contract negotiations between the company and United Steelworkers Local 222M, which represents those workers.

"We're just going through negotiations with the company, with Ardagh Group," local Vice President Alexander White said, "and we're fighting for a fair contract."

White and others, including recording secretary Audrey Williams, wore red shirts and held signs that read, "Essential workers deserve a fair contract." Drivers passing the union members along Facet showed their support by honking.

"Anyone can't just go in our plant and do the jobs that we do," Williams said.

"We actually are trained to do our specific jobs. Not anyone off the street can come in and do it."

Ardagh has a contract with Local 222M that expired this year. Negotiations for a new contract started in Texas last month. Williams, the local's recording secretary, said leadership had to walk out of negotiations because Ardagh "was not giving us a fair contract."

Williams said Ardagh is trying to "take away our holiday pay, raise our insurance premiums and raise our deductibles. They are not offering a substantial raise for the actual jobs we do."

"We won't stand for it. We are prepared to strike," Tricia Perry said. "We got to do what we have to do to survive. It's called survival. Our friends, family and loved ones need us and this county needs us."

Perry said she is the lone mechanic at the plant. She repairs the equipment necessary to manufacture glass goods.

"We were essential workers when we were going through COVID," she said. "We're essential workers now. Pay us like that."

"We're out here standing in solidarity, trying to show support for our union and let the company we mean business," Lead Furnace Operator Justin Burr said. "They're trying to take away some of the things that make this job what it is and we're not gonna stand for it."

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Local 55 represents mold makers, who create the molds used in the manufacture of glass goods. Members of that local attended to show "support for our brothers and sisters at Local 222," as member Jim Rotello said.

"Our contract is due at the end of August," Rotello said. "If things go south for us, we hope we get the same support."

"Our contract is up this year too," Local 55 President Shane Ferguson said. "We're out here in support of our brothers and sisters for a fair contract."

While Local 222M members were gathered outside the plant their leadership were conducting further negotiations in Pennsylvania. The union granted Ardagh an extension on the expired contract. The deadline to create a new contract is this Friday. If another extension is not granted, "then we strike," White said.

Ardagh Group could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Local 222M represents 242 workers at the plant. Six employees are not represented. North Carolina is what's called a "right-to-work" state. That means there are laws on the books that make it illegal to require an employee to join a union in order to take or keep any particular job. North Carolina's right-to-work law was ratified in 1947.

Thirteen other locals in the country have contracts with Ardagh, such as Local 226M in Burlington, Wisconsin. Earlier this month, the Journal Times of Racine, Wisconsin reported that leaders of USW Local 226M threatened to strike if wages at the factory didn't keep up with the rate of inflation.

Ardagh has hit financial headlines recently. In February, the Irish Times, reporting on the company's annual financial report, noted that Ardagh recorded a $766 million loss in 2021, down from a $35 million profit in 2020.

The Luxembourg-based company wrote off part of the value of its glass-container business in North America, accounting for $395 million of the loss. It reported that the write-off came after weighing its ability to pass cost increases to its customers.

Ardagh makes glass and metal packaging  bottles and cans. The Henderson plant  which is on a frontage road off U.S. 1 near the Walmart distribution center  is part of its glass business.

Paul Colson is the global company's CEO. Ardagh operates 109 locations in Europe and the Americas, including three in North Carolina.
This is a developing story.

After leaving work during the early morning hours of April 24, Henry McDonough stopped by the Time Saver convenience store, 502 W. Bay St., to buy a pack of cigarettes. While standing at the checkout counter, he felt a sharp pain in his left leg.

It was a bullet.

McDonough applied pressure as he waited for an ambulance to arrive.

Before the bullet entered his left leg, he later learned, it had gone through the stomach of Benjamin Tucker, 27. Tucker, a British national on vacation in Savannah to visit family, died as a result of his injuries.

Previous report: One person killed in two unrelated shootings in downtown Savannah on Sunday

The Time Saver convenience store on MLK JR Boulevard and West Bay Street.

When it all happened so fast that I don't even really remember, like, much of what happened other than there was a few guys dragging a dude out of a store, said McDonough. And I thought it was gonna be a fight. And then the next thing I know, I was in the store with my back turned when it happened. And then I heard the shot, and then I felt it hit me in the leg.

Please join us in celebrating the life of Ben Tucker (27) with an applause in the 27th minute at Liverpool v Villarreal. Cruelly taken away from us following a shooting in Savannah, USA - 24/04/2022



Youll Never Walk Alone mate 



Please spread the word #YNWA #LFC pic.twitter.com/QSbdQsdoZ2  Josh Bothe (@JBothe09) April 26, 2022

Georgiemae Lawrence arrested

Savannah police arrested 28-year-old Georgia Mae Lawrence for murder and booked her into the Chatham County Detention Center on the morning of the shooting.

When Savannah Morning News asked the Savannah Police Department if there was any more information regarding the circumstances surrounding the shooting, such as if Tucker was targeted, SPD spokesperson Bianca Johnson said the investigation remained active and that "the current indication is that this is not a random shooting."

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No further details were available.

McDonough said he doesnt know Tucker or anybody else involved in the incident. He said one of Tuckers friends reached out to him and asked if he had any more information.

I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, said McDonough, who added that he hasnt heard from SPD detectives since they spoke with him in the hospital. I think it seemed like they had pretty much like, I guess, they already figured it out by then.

McDonough added, Honestly, its kind of terrifying to think about man. What are these people going to do? Somebody who's willing to just shoot somebody in a really crowded scenario?

For now, McDonough is trying to recover and return to work as soon as possible.

I guess in a weird way, I'm looking for my own sense of closure on this, said McDonough.

Crime Tip Lines

SPD detectives are asking anyone who has information or was at the store around 1 a.m. when the incident occurred to contact police with tips. Tipsters can call the SPD Tip Line at 912-525-3124 or CrimeStoppers at 912-234-2020.

Drew Favakeh is the public safety and public health reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at AFavakeh@savannahnow.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Ben Tucker death 'not a random shooting': Savannah GA Police
Two British aid workers have been captured by Russian forces in Ukraine, a humanitarian organisation said.

Paul Urey and Dylan Healy were detained on Monday at a checkpoint south of the city of Zaporizhzhia, Presidium Network, a UK-based NGO, said.

The Foreign Office said it was urgently seeking more information. Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan told Sky News: The Foreign Office is doing all it can to support and identify these two people.

Presidium Network said the pair were working as part of a Joint Humanitarian Operations Centre project in Ukraine to help provide food and medical supplies and evacuation support, adding they were not working for the organisation.

At the time of their capture they were helping a woman and two children evacuate to a town southwest of Zaporizhizhia. The two men were last in contact around 4am on Monday.

A statement from Linda Urey, mother of Paul, said he was a Type 1 diabetic who needs insulin treatment. The family are extremely worried, Ms Urey said.

Mr Urey, 40, is understood to be a family man with two children from northwest England. He took up humanitarian aid work after failing to qualify for the army and spent eight years working in Afghanistan.

Urey was described as a family man (Supplied)

Mr Healy, from Huntingtdon, Cambridgeshire, was a kitchen manager at a UK hotel chain before heading to Ukraine.

The pair were said to be friends.

Dominik Byrne, founder of Presidium Network, told the BBC he was making an appeal on behalf of the captured men to get the support we need from the UK government and from the international community, as well as on the ground.

Ukraines Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) said on Wednesday that Russian forces were abducting people in Zaporizhzhia and other parts of Ukraine for likely use in future prisoner exchanges.

This filtration campaign targets men of military age, former military and law enforcement personnel, and pro-Ukrainian activists for interrogation, torture, and possible execution, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

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The GUR also said Russian forces were sending Ukrainian hostages to Crimea to replenish the exchange fund.

Men sit outside a house in Zaporizhzhia that was damaged by a missile attack (Reuters)

The intelligence service speculated that Russian forces may be preparing to use captured Ukrainian civilians in May 9th Victory Day celebrations, saying that Russian forces did the same for propaganda purposes in Donetsk in 2014.

The capture of the aid workers came to light the day after the first report that a British person had been killed fighting in Ukraine.

Army veteran Sibley was killed in Ukraine

Tributes were paid this week to Scott Sibley, a British army veteran, as the Foreign Office reported that a UK national had been killed. A second UK national was reported missing.

It is thought the pair were fighting against invading Russian forces as volunteers supporting Ukraines army, though this was not confirmed.

A small number of British troops are known to have travelled to Ukraine since Russia invaded. Last week, two British fighters were paraded on Russian state TV after being captured in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

The UK has formally told all citizens not to travel to Ukraine and declined to send troops to support the war effort. The government is instead supplying Ukraine with weapons and financial aid, in line with western allies.

The Ministry of Defence announced on Friday that around 8,000 British troops will be sent this summer to take part in exercises across eastern Europe with allies from Nato and the UK Joint Experditionary Force alliance, which includes Finland and Sweden.

Dozens of British tanks will join the troops in countries from Finland to North Macedonia in the largest deployment in Europe since the Cold War.
Gen. Robert E. Lees possibly impending meltdown is still on hold following a judges order allowing a lawsuit over the statues fate to continue.

The seemingly never-ending legal saga over Charlottesvilles Confederate statues will continue for the foreseeable future, beginning a new chapter this month as attorneys for bidders connected to the Monument Fund succeeded in defending their lawsuit that, in part, seeks to prevent the destruction of the citys statue of Lee.

The hearing in Charlottesville Circuit Court was spurred by a lawsuit filed by two plaintiffs  Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation and the Ratcliffe Foundation, on behalf of its subsidiary Ellenbrook Museum.

The two allege the city violated the Freedom of Information Act, Virginia Public Procurement Act and state code when it awarded the Lee statue to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center in December. The Center is also named as a defendant.

Much of the lawsuit appears to be in response to the Centers intentions for the monument, titled the Swords Into Plowshares project, which notably includes a plan to melt down the statue and recast Lees brass ingots into a new work of art devoid of the controversies of the Confederacy.

Per its organizers, the project seeks to create a new work of public art that reflects the Charlottesville communitys values of racial inclusivity.

Andrea Douglas, executive director of the Jefferson Center, and Jalane Schmidt, director of the University of Virginia Memory Project, expressed frustration Friday with a recent order from Judge Paul M. Peatross that allows the lawsuit to continue.

While we are confident that this lawsuit should not impact the centers ownership, we are disappointed that this case is being allowed to move forward, Schmidt said. The community is not served by another unnecessary and expensive legal process. Nevertheless, we are not deterred.

Douglas said the center will continue with a community engagement process and called on community members to voice their support for the project and center.

According to previous documents filed in the case, the statue may have already been taken apart as the foundry began the smelting process prior to the lawsuit being filed. It currently remains in the Centers possession.

Peatross order comes after attorneys for the city and Center filed demurrers a legal term used to describe a dismissal based on the argument that a partys lawsuit cannot succeed  challenging the lawsuit in February.

During an early stage of a lawsuit, a court must consider legal matters in a light most favorable to the plaintiffs and assume alleged facts are correct. That means defendants must prove that the lawsuit cannot succeed even within this perspective.

A variety of arguments were presented during a hearing earlier this month, including claims that the plaintiffs had no standing to file the lawsuit; that the state code section outlining the removal process for war monuments does not apply to Charlottesville; and that FOIA law was not violated.

In a letter opinion dated April 19, Peatross largely overruled the citys demurrer siding with the plaintiffs arguments and allowing the lawsuit to continue. Peatross granted the Jefferson Centers demurrer on all three of the counts but declined to dismiss the center from the lawsuit.

[The court] denies the demurrer to dismiss the center as a party as it is a necessary party if relief is granted to the plaintiffs, he wrote. The complaint asserts the center has unlawful possession and ownership of the statue.

In his explanation of the findings against the city, Peatross wrote that, although the Supreme Court of Virginia decided that the state code did not apply to Charlottesville in the Payne v. Charlottesville case over 2017 vote to remove the Lee statue, it had since been amended.

The amendment clarified language that had been the basis for the state Supreme Court decision that the code did not apply to statues erected in cities before a prior 1997 amendment. Because of that, the code now applies to Charlottesville.

Additionally, Peatross wrote that he found the plaintiffs have standing to file a lawsuit as they have alleged a direct interest, pecuniary or otherwise, in the outcome of the controversy that is separate and distinct from the interest of the public at large.

Notably, Peatross agreed with the plaintiffs argument that state code allows the city to remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover the statue but not melt it down as intended by the center.

Peatross was not swayed by the citys argument that the plaintiffs did not have a right to enforcement under the Virginia Procurement Act because the act only applies to the city when it seeks to obtain goods and services, and that the removal of the Lee Statue was not a good nor service.

Given these facts of the Solicitation of Offers Statement, this Court finds that the solicitation of offers to acquire, remove, or relocate the Lee Statue, which per the complaint has a value of $325,000 or more, is a request for services under section 2.2-4301 of the Virginia Procurement Act, he wrote. The city is not requesting materials or equipment from offerors; they are requesting removal of the Lee statue, which comports with the definitional requirements of services as laid out in the cited section.

Peatross did not grant any injunctive relief to the plaintiffs, citing a desire to reserve that question for an evidentiary hearing. If the plaintiffs prevail they may be entitled to financial damages and attorneys fees.

No hearing date is currently set for an evidentiary hearing.

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In the five weeks since submitting a resolution for collective bargaining, the Albemarle Education Association has heard little from the School Board about its proposal, according to the association.

But that resolution appeared on the School Boards consent agenda Thursday as an information item, and dozens of teachers and community members attended the meeting to support the measure. The agenda was unanimously approved and there was no discussion on the agenda item.

Typically, the board approves consent agenda items listed for information at the following meeting.

The AEA submitted a draft resolution to the School Board in late March, which would given teachers, building-level administrators and support staff members the ability to form unions and start negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the division. About two-thirds of teachers supported unionizing in late March along with 70% of transportation staff and 80% of school nurses, AEA organizers said.

The group, which is part of the Virginia Education Association, would likely represent teachers during contract negotiations or collective bargaining.

Even though the board received the resolution for information, AEA wants to meet with members of the School Board to hammer out specific provisions.

Having some silence now is causing us a whole lot of angst, said Bekah Saxon, a local director with the Virginia Education Association who works to support the AEA and other groups in the area. We want to continue the collaborative relationship weve had.  We dont want this to become hostile or all about the lawyers fighting things out. We really want to be able to solve these problems as they come up.

By unionizing, school employees have said they hope to gain higher wages and a voice in the decision-making process, among other goals. Teachers, support staff, community members and University of Virginia students spoke in support of collective bargaining during Thursdays meeting.

Not paying your your workforce enough to live in the county and to be part of the community is morally reprehensible, said Emily Yen with the Charlottesville chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

About 76% of division employees live in Albemarle County or the City of Charlottesville, according to the school systems recent human resources report. The average pay for Albemarle teachers was $57,775 in the 2020-21 school year, according to state data.

The speakers argued during public comments that collective bargaining will help recruit and retain teachers.

When teachers are able to speak up on what they need and have a seat at the table in negotiating their contracts, they are more likely to stay on board, said David Zatyko, a former county teacher and substitute. Collective bargaining will help promote a workplace environment where teachers are not thrown to the wolves, where they can afford to survive without multiple jobs to better take care of their own families and to have the physical and mental stamina to give their fullest to their students.

Ella Tynch, a UVa student studying elementary education, said she wants to work in a unionized school system.

I know a lot of my fellow cohort members dont want to work here because the pay is so low, she said. They realized that teachers are not respected as they should be, and they are moving to other cities. You are losing students who are in your own community and being trained through one of the best education programs in the country.

The School Board has 120 days to respond to AEAs proposal under a state law that went in effect May 1, 2021. The board does not have to approve a resolution by the July 22 deadline. So far, no one has publicly spoken against the resolution.

Albemarle teachers and their supporters have urged the board to move quickly to adopt a resolution and start negotiating a contract.

Melissa Brown, an Albemarle teacher, said that she didnt think educators were being unreasonable in asking for collective bargaining rights.

Were not asking for the sun, moon and stars, Brown said. Were asking to be treated like professionals. Were asking to be a partner with you. ... I am begging you to do this for the future of this county and for the future of the students.

At the April 14 board meeting, AEA president Vernon Liechti called for the School Board to form a task force with the education association to work on the resolution. No board member publicly discussed that request at the meeting.

On Thursday, board members didnt comment on the resolution before print deadline.

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The deputy general counsel for the University of Kentucky will become the top lawyer for the University of Virginia, Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Friday.

Cliff Iler will serve as the lead attorney for UVa and supervise a team of nine other attorneys, including three attorneys for the health system, according to the news release.

Cliff is a brilliant attorney with over a decade of experience in higher education and healthcare law, Miyares said in the release. I am confident he will be an excellent addition to the University of Virginia and serve the students, faculty, staff, and Commonwealth well.

In Virginia, the attorney general has the power to appoint counsel within Virginias public colleges and universities.

Earlier this year, Miyares fired UVas previous lead attorney, Tim Heaphy, shortly after he took office. Heaphy had been on a leave of absence to lead the work of the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

He was appointed as UVa counsel and senior assistant attorney general in August 2018 by Miyares Democratic predecessor.

As UVas counsel, Heaphy has helped the university navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, weighing on requirements and sanctions for students who dont comply. The university also adopted new free-speech policies under his watch.

The decision to fire Heaphy came after various promises from Miyares to shake up the AGs office and change the way Virginias top legal office operates.

Iler, a Louisville native, has recently served as the deputy general counsel for Faculty, Students, and Research at the University of Kentucky and associate general counsel for the schools healthcare operations and healthcare colleges. He also worked as the lead attorney for other university hospitals and spent 16 years with a law firm in Atlanta.

Having the opportunity to serve as a senior assistant attorney general and as university counsel for the University of Virginia is an honor and a privilege, Iler said in the release. I look forward to working alongside the other members of the attorney general and university counsel team to provide outstanding legal services to the president, the Board of Visitors, and the other members of the UVa community.


Donald Trump, Jr. Dave Workman photo

"Donald Trump Jr. launches gun rights group, vows to fight Democratic gun control proposals," Fox News reports. "The Second Amendment Task Force plans to build its operation around Trump's high social media visibility and following, as well as his national media appearances."

"The Second Amendment Task Force is the first advocacy group that Trump has launched and been directly involved with," the report elaborates. "The group plans to make a push in the upcoming midterm elections this year, especially in the voter registration sphere."

Except it's not the first. Remember that "Second Amendment Coalition" his father announced and made him chairman of back in 2016? The one he co-chaired with fired NRA-ILA honcho and bump stock "regulator" Chris Cox? If you don't recall that group, it's probably because it didn't actually do much of anything and the webpage was taken down a half-a-year later.

As for "plans to make a push," it's fair to ask for whom. His father's Mehmet Oz pick comes to mind. Are there any other candidates gun owners may have concerns about?

It's also fair to ask what that push consists of. The Fox News piece gives us plenty of high-sounding platitudes but specifically, how will the "entirely devoted" Second Amendment Task Force "ensur[e] the Left is never successful in disarming American citizens"?

As an aside, that rhetoric is kind of hyperbolic. Ultimately, isn't ensuring they never will be something each of us will decide? .....
FILE - In this Oct. 21, 2015, file photo, cage-free chickens walk in a fenced pasture at an organic farm near Waukon, Iowa. Some farmers are wondering if it's OK that eggs sold as free-range come from chickens being kept inside. It's a question that arises lately as farmers try to be open about their product while also protecting chickens from a highly infectious bird flu that has killed roughly 28 million poultry across the country.
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FILE PHOTO: A doctor does an ultrasound on a patient from Austin, Texas, before her surgical abortion at Trust Women clinic in Oklahoma City, U.S., December 6, 2021. Picture taken December 6, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
As he declared April Autism Awareness Month in Enterprise, Mayor William E. Cooper was delighted to visit with a number of special guests representing Beacon of Hope Applied Behavior Analysis and Consulting of Enterprise.

Amber Aull, clinic director, was accompanied at the proclamation signing ceremony by children, parents and counselors who understand the importance of having an informed and supportive community that supports services and education for the one in 59 children diagnosed each year with the lifelong neurological disorder.

Beacon of Hope is a member of the Autism Society of Alabama, which recognizes that autism affects young and old alike, knows no racial, ethnic or social boundaries and can range from very mild to severe. The proclamation notes that accurate, early diagnosis, appropriate education and intervention are vital to the future growth and development of individuals with autism.

Aull thanked Cooper and the City of Enterprise for its role in promoting awareness and encouragement for the cause.
For the fourth year in a row, the Republican Women of Coffee County (RWCC) has contributed two $500 scholarships to Alabama Aviation College students to help cover the costs of their certification testing.

Student loans and Pell Grants cover tuition, but not the testing fees, which can run up to $500. Some students graduate, but then do not have the money to pay the certification testing fees. That is why RWCC decided to establish these scholarships. The Aviation College faculty determines who will receive the scholarships, based on GPA, attendance, attitude, helpfulness and being just the best students all around.
Southeast Gas congratulates its Community Service Scholarship recipients for 2022. Twenty-three students demonstrated their outstanding commitment to serving others, and will receive a $1,500 scholarship to the university, college or technical school of their choice.

This years recipients are: Riley Kate Benton, Dothan High School; Callie Dawson Carter, Straughn High School; Madelyn Victoria Cherry, Dale County High School; Richard Birch Cochran, Eufaula High School; Lauren Nicole Duffell, Highland Home High School; Bryson Dexter Grimsley, Abbeville High School; Makayla Noel Harrelson, Red Level High School; Tucker Beasley Kilcrease, Brantley High School; Laura Kate Meadows, Rehobeth High School; Caroline Grace Moody, Opp High School; Caiya Nance, Daleville High School; Collin Martin Paramore, Ashford High School; Callie Brianne Pope, Elba High School; Lauren Rodgers, Enterprise High School; Kiah Lawson Shealy, Greenville High School; Anais Rose Shelley, Headland High School; Laura Katherine Syler, Pleasant Home High School; Cooper Stafford Taylor, Andalusia High School; Miley Matalene Taylor, Charles Henderson High School; Jordyn McKailey Thornton, New Brockton High School; Summer Rynelle Waters, Luverne High School; Shelby Brooke Weeks, Carroll High School; and Kaden Denise Williams, Cottonwood High School.

The Southeast Gas Community Service Scholarship is a competitive scholarship available to high school seniors who serve their communities with a sincere intent of making the world a better place. This years recipients served in a variety of ways, including organizing food drives, advocating for children at the state and local level, providing disaster relief, volunteering at mental health centers, and serving local Veterans.

These students gave more than 10,000 hours to their communities, says Southeast Gas President and CEO Greg Henderson. Im overwhelmed by the way they serve others, and they exemplify our vision at Southeast Gas he says. Service is at the heart of who we are as a company, and one of the most impactful things we can do is help students who also see the benefits of giving back.

The Community Service Scholarship program is part of an overall commitment by Southeast Gas to serve area schools through its Give Back to Schools initiative. Since the scholarships inception in 2015, 144 students received more than $200,000 in funding to assist with college. Additionally, local schools in the Southeast Gas service area receive direct assistance through the companies Give Back to Schools programs, totaling more than $1,000,000 over the past 13 years.

Southeast Gas volunteers also spend time working to improve many of the campuses through construction assistance, landscaping, painting, gas appliance maintenance, light carpentry, tutoring, mentoring and many other activities.

Southeast Gas provides natural gas service to 36 communities throughout Southeast Alabama, and is owned by 14 cities  Abbeville, Andalusia, Brundidge, Dothan, Elba, Enterprise, Eufaula, Fort Deposit, Greenville, Headland, Luverne, Opp, Ozark and Troy.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey will not be involved in President Joe Bidens visit to a Lockheed Martin manufacturing plant in Pike County next week.

Her spokeswoman says she has prior commitments, and will not be greeting the president to Alabama in her official capacity as governor.

Biden is visiting the plant on Tuesday. The Lockheed Martin facility manufactures weapon systems such as Javelin anti-tank missiles that are among those being provided to Ukraine as a defense measure against Russia.

No other details about the visit have been made since it was announced by the White House on Wednesday.

Ivey has, for months, run a political campaign opposing much of the Biden administrations policies ahead of the May 24 Republican primaries. Her TV ads have included such quips as Poor Joe ... Bless his heart and No way Jose.

Iveys campaign team has since called the Biden presidency an unmitigated disaster.

A representative for Tim James, one of Iveys opponents, said that if James was governor, he would meet with Biden.

While we may not respect the man, we respect the office, said Brett Doster, general consultant for the James campaign. A Governor Tim James, in his official capacity, would meet with the President, but James would be frank with the President about his disastrous policies which are akin to a fiscal and cultural war on the American people.
Plans for a debate between Republican candidates for Senate are apparently dead after Mike Durant declined to accept three dates offered by the Alabama Republicans, party Chair John Wahl said Thursday night.

Wahl said Durant opponents Katie Britt and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks had both agreed to three separate dates for a debate that would be televised statewide but Durants camp opted not to participate after Durant said last week he would participate if a suitable date was available.

Plans for a debate have been discussed with the candidates since January, Wahl said, and time has all but run out with the primary approaching May 24. ALGOP would not only have sponsored the debate, Wahl said, but would have moderated it as well.

The Alabama Republican Party is very supportive of an open and fair debate process, Wahl said in a text message to AL.com. We felt it was important that Republican candidates had a debate platform they could trust and that was not biased against Republicans.

We offered our U.S. Senate candidates the opportunity to join in a Republican Primary debate sponsored by the ALGOP. At this time, it does not look like a Senate primary debate will be possible because of scheduling of the candidates.

In an interview with AL.com on Thursday night, Wahl confirmed that Durant said he could not take part in the three dates agreed upon by Britt and Brooks.

We were not able to find a date that works for all the candidates, Wahl said. We had dates that worked for Katie Britt and Mo Brooks, but we were not able to find a date that worked for the Durant campaign.

Wahl said he believed that that fact that Durant was leading in the most recent Senate polls factored into the process.

Its just in this culture, Wahl said. What we have are campaign consultants who dont, if the candidates in the lead, dont want to take a risk of anything going wrong. Its just easier to do nothing.

Wahl said he began talking with Republican candidates as soon as qualifying ended in January in the hopes of getting them together for a debate. ALGOP had partnered with Alabama television stations in Huntsville, Birmingham and Mobile as part of the Nexstar Media Group to televise the debate.

Britt and Brooks, who have been polling in second and third place, respectively, had been calling for a debate for several weeks  specifically calling out Durant to join them.

I think Mike Durant would get clobbered in a debate if somebody asked him a hard question, Brooks said at a campaign town hall earlier this month. He would be like a deer in the headlights.

At a campaign stop earlier this month, Britt said, I think if you have candidates that arent willing to be out and about, that arent willing to meet with people, that arent willing to travel the state, listen to people and learn about our challenges and opportunities, they are not going to do that once theyre elected.

Last week, Durant said he would participate in a debate if a suitable date could be nailed down.

Were fine with debates, Durant said while campaigning in Hoover. Weve got a schedule that was laid out, but if we could fit it in, wed be glad to do it. ...Its not scheduled right now, but my team is in conversations with everybody that wants to do it.

The Durant campaign did not respond to a request for comment Thursday night.

Mike Durant not only is afraid to debate Katie Britt, but now hes also lying about it, Sean Ross, spokesman for the Britt campaign, said in a statement to AL.com. We accepted three separate dates for the Alabama Republican Party/Nexstar debate and were looking forward to Katie showing on stage that shes the best candidate to defend our Christian conservative values and fight for the America First agenda. Durant, however, declined to accept a single date for a debate. Mike Durant should just come out and admit the truth: Hes still waiting on his liberal, anti-Trump big tech backers in California to allow him to participate in a debate.

Wahl said he thought not taking part in the debate was a mistake. He also noted that its not a new phenomenon for candidates polling well to avoid the debate stage. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, for one, has not taken part in a debate in her two gubernatorial campaigns.

I personally think they are making a mistake, both for the candidates and for the election process in general, Wahl said.

Its expected that there will be a runoff in the GOP Senate primary between the top two vote-getters on May 24. The runoff would take place on June 21.

We are hopeful that a debate may still be possible in the runoff, Wahl said. The Alabama Republican Party would like to make this opportunity possible for both our candidates and the people of Alabama.
TROY  The focus of Michael Slobodchikoffs contemporary American foreign policy class this semester at Troy University has been on Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukraine crisis semester, as Jackson Kiger, 21, a political science major from Huntsville, puts it.

He said, Were covering the crisis every day. We talk policy and everything that the president is doing and what the Ukrainians are doing and what their options are. Its been a great semester for that.

International policy is now coming close to campus. President Joe Biden will be in rural Pike County near Troy, to visit a Lockheed Martin manufacturing plant on Tuesday. The operations are where the crucial anti-tank Javelin missiles are made before they are shipped overseas and utilized by the Ukrainians.

On Thursday, the classroom conversation focused on Biden and the proximity of the visit.

Even if you dont agree with the things hes done as president, its important to recognize that hes the President of the United States and thats a big deal, said Kyndall Boynton, 20, of Enterprise and a junior who is majoring in international political science.

But the Democratic president is unlikely to make new friends in this Republican heavy state.

Purple among the redPresidential visits are uncommon to Alabama, and unheard of in Troy. The city nor Pike County has ever hosted the President of the United States before.

The county is Republican, and reliably so. Presidential and major election differentials have not changed much in the rural county south of Montgomery for the past two decades:

Trump won Pike County with 58.2% of the vote in 2020, and 59% in 2016. Biden only did modestly better than Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Republican John McCain received 57% of the countys vote in 2008. Eight years before that in 2000, former President George W. Bush won Pike County with 57.5% support.

The county even backed Roy Moore during the 2017 special Senate election, which Democratic candidate Doug Jones won. It was a tighter contest, but Moore receive 150 more votes in Pike County than Jones.

Troy University, as Kiger puts it, is more of a purple campus in the middle of a red and rural region of the state.

The university has been lumped with other Alabama-based institutions in national rankings for the most conservative universities in the U.S. But those rankings suggest Troy might be more left-leaning than the others: A Niche rating placed Troy as the sixth most conservative college or university in Alabama, behind Auburn, the University of Alabama, and the University of Alabama at Huntsville, among others.

Zach Lewis, 21, a political science major from Pensacola, described Troys campus as more fragmented where pockets of red and blue congregate among themselves.

In many ways, Lewis said, the campus atmosphere mirrors the deep political polarization nationwide.

I dont think the sides talk (to each other) the way they should, he said. Its everyone in their echo chamber repeating what they hear.

Kiger said among the most vocal on campus, Biden is not popular, though Lewis said that most students are generally uninterested in engaging in politics.

Its sad, he said. But its how polarized politics are.

Wont sway opinions

Kiger said he thinks Bidens trip to rural Alabama will be quite valuable in propping up his vow during the initial months of his presidency for bipartisanship.

It wont make anyone suddenly think hes a better president down here, Kiger said. We are a very deep red state. We are in a very deep red county. It wont sway opinions.

Kiger said the appearance could boost Bidens public opinion nationwide at a time when its sagging. Morning Consult has Bidens approval ratings as more unfavorable than favorable in 40 states, including a net -32 rating in Alabama.

Its great that he will get out and go around and do whatever he can to boost his public image, Kiger said. This shows, in my opinion, that Joe Biden is attempting to be a bipartisan president and will try to work across the aisle.

Biden is only planned to visit the Lockheed Martin plant that north of Troy. No other visits have been announced for Tuesday, though presidential itineraries can be altered suddenly.

Boynton hopes he stops off in the community, or swings by campus for a brief visit.

Its a great opportunity for Troy and the state of Alabama that the President is willing to come to our small town and is willing to see whats here, she said.
Masterise Group has announced a long-term corporate social responsibility program in Vietnam called 'Build a Better Future', which consists of progressive initiatives and practical values for the community.

The program focuses on three goals including environment  education  humanitarian aid, to enhance future generations' living environment, and education.

Toward the United Nations Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs), the program is a crucial step in line with the group's roadmap for sustainability, following its previous corporate social responsibilities (CSR) efforts.

Jason Turnbull (L), Deputy Managing Director and CFO, Masterise Homes, and partners accompanying the program. Photo by Masterise Group

The first approach is to provide a sustainable living environment by developing infrastructure. Masterise Group joins hands with local authorities in developing infrastructure providing services to address the specific needs of rural communities. It also sets goals to enhance the quality of education and raise social awareness, ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Besides, delivering humanitarian aid, the group commits to accompanying, enabling, and connecting communities as they grapple with complex challenges like natural disasters and epidemics.

"In this strategic program, we are gradually taking our small but effective first steps in collaboration with like-minded partners to enhance the living quality for Vietnamese people and contribute to building a sustainable community as a long-standing commitment at Masterise Group," said Jason Turnbull, Deputy Managing Director cum CFO, Masterise Homes.

Jason Turnbull, Deputy Managing Director cum CFO, Masterise Homes speaks at the press launch. Photo by Masterise Group

As a part of the program, Masterise Group announced the long-term strategic partnership with UNICEF Vietnam for the 2022-2024 period in the Innovation for Children project.

The project comprises innovations to enhance the living environment and education for future generations through introducing and testing innovative education technology to address learning poverty; children and adolescent-led innovation in schools; mainstream climate-resilient aspects by testing and scaling up the climate-resilient Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program; to draw lessons learned from testing and advocate for large-scale adaptation of practical innovations for regions that face similar situations.

Further information will be announced by Masterise Group and partners in the near future.

Jason Turnbull (L) and Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative to Vietnam, sign a long-term strategic partnership. Photo by Masterise Group

"We celebrate Masterise Groups support as an example of the important role that can be played to improve the development outcomes for children, to contribute to prosperity of the country in the future, and to actively tackle the challenges of climate change", said Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative to Vietnam.

The program is also a long-term partner of Room to Read in the girls education program  an effort to eliminate discrimination in education. Through this program, Masterise Group collaborates with Room to Read and others to organize classes in life skills education, counseling and giving mental support to girls in difficult circumstances.

Masterise Group will announce more information about the progressive and comprehensive initiatives under the 'Build a Better Future' program on a larger scale from South to North in 2022.

The UNICEF representative to Vietnam speaks at the press launch. Photo by Masterise Group

Masterise Group is a real estate private corporation with the main business lines including residential, commercial, retail real estate, property management services, and other profitable activities.

Masterise Homes, a member of Masterise Group, manages several luxury real estate projects and services in the Vietnamese market and beyond. The company demonstrates capabilities via a strategic partnership with Marriott International, one of the largest hotel brands in the world with iconic brands of Marriott, JW Marriott, and The Ritz-Carlton.
Ninja Van has introduced PUDO (Pick-up Drop-off) franchising into Vietnam, providing local small-cap entrepreneurs a profitable opportunity.

Ninja Van's Agency Sales Network, the official name for Ninja Van Retail's revolutionary PUDO business, is now expanding, with over 200 agents entering the network.

Ninja Vans agency sales network helps new entrepreneurs join E-logistic quickly. Photo by Ninja Van

To keep up with the changing pace of the e-commerce market, Ninja Van Vietnam, a fast-growing and leading e-logistics company in the market, is steadily becoming a favorite courier brand. Thanks to its well-built ecosystem, Ninja Van's agency sales network with PUDO points is expanding its presence across the country, promoting quick and precise delivery to end-users and boosting the revenue of business partners.

Ninja Vans staff support partners to run a steady business under the Ninja Van agency sales network. Photo by Ninja Van

The company has been offering new businesses its agency sales network - PUDO point franchising - to reduce risks in the logistics market. Ninja Van's agency sales network is an initiative to assist inexperienced partners in launching their first firm, maximizing their profits in the e-logistics market with minimum investment. With more than 200 PUDO points deployed by agents since 2020, the network has grown faster than expected thanks to its appealing policy and high return on investment rate.

Partners with a small amount of capital for a new business can open a well-prepared branded agent for as little as VND25 million.

A partner in Ninja Van's network. Photo by Ninja Van

Ninja Van Retail provides new partners with important assistance in deploying their first business in e-logistics with standardized operation, relevant to PUDO management and profitable services. One of the most significant features of Ninja Van's agency sales network is that the PUDO partners will be one of the important links in Ninja Van Retail's complex technical network and excellent customer services nationwide.

Ninja Van Retail's team will take all the responsibility for store renovation and support partners from all provinces despite geographical barriers to innovate logistics improvements.

The team will provide operation training to agency sales network partners, and the PUDO agent will be looked after by Ninja Van's personnel directly to ensure quality services across the network are synchronized. On the other hand, the team assists PUDO agents in evaluating operation quality on a quarterly basis in order to maximize business effectiveness. Ninja Vans agency retail network promotes manual threading, reducing agent labor while providing a stable income for partners.

The investment in Ninja Van franchising is refundable. Ninja Retails partners can decrease their financial risk because the franchiser will not impose fines or business pressure on its agents.

Compared to the previous period in 2021, the scale of e-commerce in Vietnam has increased by 53 percent despite Covid-19, and nearly 60 percent of Vietnamese consumers continue to shop online since social distancing.

According to VECOM, e-commerce business in Vietnam might be worth $52 billion in 2025. The results confirm the potential of e-commerce in the near future, and PUDO points are expected to be its spine to continue the momentum by 2025.

One can become a Ninja Van Retail partner by registering here. The joining fee is refundable. Ninja Van Retail will reward agents for expanding with more profitable costs and discounts; agents who refer others will receive VND5 million in cash and a 5 percent commission on income in two months.
The central province of Thanh Hoa has terminated the manufacturing plant of Vinaxuki, one of Vietnams earliest automakers, who went under seven years ago.

Thanh Hoa authorities will revoke the land and hand over the site to investment company TF Group to produce commercial cars with an investment of VND6.9 trillion ($300.67 million).

The auto manufacturing and assembling plant with a total capital of VND1.36 trillion began operation in 2011 and became inactive two years later as Vinaxuki struggled financially. It has not been reopened since.

The company originally wanted to make 15,000 trucks, 400 buses and 75,000 tons of auto parts a year.

Vinaxuki, established in 2005, and Truong Hai Auto were the first two private companies given operation permits.

The company thrived in the 2006-2009 period but fell into a crisis in 2010 and was forced to sell its factory to repay debts. By 2015, it was dissolved.

Before the company went under, its Chairman Bui Ngoc Huyen had repeatedly asked for help from the Prime Minister and other government bodies to save the company. He even sold his houses to pay the debt.
A Hamilton-class patrol boat gifted by the U.S. to the Vietnam Coast Guard in 2017. Photo by Vietnam Coast Guard

The U.S. has handed over to the Vietnamese Coast Guard a fourth center for training personnel and maintaining ships and a drone.

Robert Pope, director of the cooperative threat reduction program run by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), a combat support agency at the U.S. Department of Defense for countering weapons of mass destruction, said the handover ceremony was held in the northern port city Hai Phong.

Speaking to reporters in Hanoi Thursday he said the center is capable of maintaining bigger vessels, allowing them to operate longer and more frequently at sea.

"That would help Vietnam better monitor the countrys waters to ensure freedom of navigation and commerce."

The U.S. defense attache to Vietnam, Colonel Thomas Stevenson, said at the training centers the U.S. has installed simulators for Vietnamese sailors to improve their ability to sail ships to better serve their patrolling activities and protecting their countrys sovereignty.

The U.S. has also delivered to Vietnam 24 Metal Shark high-speed patrol boats and two Hamilton-class patrol boats, and is considering delivering a third, he said.

The U.S. Department of Defense said in June that Boeing subsidiary Insitu had received an order for six drones from Vietnam.

Vietnam and the U.S., formerly bitter foes, normalized relations in 1995.

The U.S. fully lifted a ban on the sale of lethal arms to Vietnam during President Barack Obama's visit in 2016.

In 2018 it sent aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to Da Nang, marking its biggest military presence in Vietnam since the Vietnam War ended in 1975.

Speaking to the media in Hanoi on April 20, U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, Marc Knapper, said his country is committed to working with Vietnam to strengthen its maritime security and maritime domain awareness capabilities.
The Vietnamese government is thinking of using two airports in the provinces of Dong Nai and Ninh Thuan for both military and civilian purposes.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has formed a team comprising several ministries and local authorities led by Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh to look into the possibility of using the Bien Hoa Airport in the southern Dong Nai and the Thanh Son Airport in the central Ninh Thuan for both military and civilian purposes. A proposal on the issue is expected to be completed before September.

Both airports were constructed before 1975 and have been used for military purposes for years. Dong Nai and Ninh Thuan do not have a civilian airport. The Long Thanh International Airport being built in Dong Nai is slated to begin operations in 2025.

Proposals to use the Bien Hoa and Thanh Son airports for civilian purposes have been made in the past in order to support local socio-economic development, especially for Ninh Thuan, which has emerged as a popular tourist destination. The province can receive around five million visitors a year, it is estimated, presenting a great opportunity for the aviation industry.

Vietnam now has 22 civilian airports.
Vietnam has slammed the unilateral fishing ban imposed by China in the East Sea as a violation of its sovereignty and jurisdiction over Vietnamese territory.

"Part of the fishing ban violates Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands, and Vietnam's sovereign rights and jurisdiction under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982, as well as the Agreement on the Delimitation of the Gulf of Tonkin between Vietnam and China that was signed in 2000," Le Thi Thu Hang, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Friday.

Hang reiterated that Vietnam's stance on China's fishing ban in the East Sea, known internationally as South China Sea, "is consistent and well established over the years."

China announced that it would enforce a summer fishing ban from May 1 to August 16, in waters that includes part of the Gulf of Tonkin and the Paracel Islands that belongs to Vietnam.

"Vietnam requests China to respect Vietnam's sovereignty over the Paracel Islands, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its maritime zones when taking measures to conserve biological resources in the East Sea, without complicating the situation towards maintaining peace, stability and order in the East Sea," Hang said.

Every year, China illegally imposes a unilateral fishing ban in the East Sea on fishermen from other countries, proclaiming strengthened supervision and threatening to punish actions that it considers violations.
The United States has committed not to conduct destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite missile tests, making it the first nation to make such a commitment, announced Vice President Kamala Harris in a speech at the Vandenberg Space Force Base.

The Biden administration is making this voluntary commitment in an effort to foster responsible behavior in space, said Vice President Harris.

The new declaration comes after Russia in November conducted an anti-satellite missile test that destroyed its Cosmos-1408 satellite, a soviet-era spacecraft that's been in orbit since the 1980s. In 2007, China conducted a similar test. These tests are part of their efforts to develop anti-satellite weapons systems.

These weapons are intended to deny the United States our ability to use our space capabilities by disrupting, destroying our satellites, which are critical to our national security, said Vice President Harris. These tests, to be sure, are reckless, and they are irresponsible.

Such tests do untold damage warned Vice President Harris, when China and Russia destroyed their respective satellites, it generated thousands of pieces of debris  debris that will now orbit our Earth for years, if not decades.

So far, the 18th Space Defense Squadron has identified more than 1,600 pieces of debris from the Russian test. There are over 2,800 pieces of debris still in space from Chinas test 15 years ago. The 18th Space Defense Squadron tracks debris and satellites to prevent collisions. This debris also presents a risk to the safety of our astronauts, our satellites, and our growing commercial presence, said Vice President Harris.

She called on all nations to join the United States in committing not to conduct such missile tests. The Biden administration has already begun to identify and implement norms of responsible behavior in space in other contexts.

One example is the Artemis Accords  a set of non-binding principles, based on the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 that guide the civil exploration and use of space. 18 nations have signed the Accords, committing to responsible behavior in space to facilitate space exploration, science, and commercial activities.

As we move forward, said Vice President Harris, we will remain focused on writing new rules of the road to ensure all space activities are conducted in a responsible, peaceful, and sustainable manner. The United States will continue to lead by example.
The recently released Annual Threat Assessment by the U.S. Intelligence Community predicts that Iran will remain a regional menace with broader malign influence activities.



The report notes that U.S. personnel, partners and interests are at risk from the Iranian regimes support for terrorist proxies and the rogue Syrian regime, as well as from Irans growing willingness to engage in aggressive cyber-attacks. In addition, Iran continues to work on its ballistic missile program and has resumed certain nuclear activities beyond the limits set by the Iran nuclear deal. The United States withdrew from the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, in 2018, under the previous administration.



For the past year, the United States has been in indirect negotiations with Iran over a mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA. As State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said, Every challenge that we face and would face from Iran  whether that is its support for proxies, its support for terrorist groups, its ballistic missile program -- would be all the more difficult to confront if Iran were in the possession of a nuclear weapon. The first thing we want to do is put Irans nuclear program back in a box, to take that challenge off the table.



There has been significant progress in the nuclear negotiations, but they have paused in recent weeks over a number of unresolved issues. At a press conference, Spokesperson Price said the United States is prepared for a return to full JCPOA implementation. We are also prepared for broader diplomatic efforts to resolve issues outside of the JCPOA, he declared. If [the Iranians] do not want to use these talks to resolve other bilateral issues, then we are confident we can very quickly reach an understanding on the JCPOA and begin to reimplement the deal itself. It is Iran that needs to make this decision.



Spokesperson Price emphasized that the United States is equally prepared for scenarios in which there is a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA and scenarios in which there is not a mutual returnWe would, he said, greatly prefer the former: to have the JCPOA and the verifiable, permanent limits that it would again impose on Irans nuclear program. Whether we are able to get there or not, that is a question for Iran.
ELKO  After raising trout in the classroom, Elko High School and Spring Creek Middle School students released the freshwater species into South Fork Reservoir at the end of March.

SCMS eighth-grade students enrolled in Ag Ventures, taught by Jenny Albisu, and EHS Veterinary Science students, taught by Heather Steel, gathered at Jet Ski Beach Campground where they received presentations from longtime NDOW Conservation Educator Joe Doucette and Brandolyn Thran from the Nevada Outdoor School.

Prior to releasing the trout, students discussed how they correctly and carefully prepared the aquarium water prior to the release. Discussions also highlighted responsible stewardship while enjoying the outdoors.

Steele explained students learned wildlife being raised in captivity is distinctly different from how they live in the natural world.

Creating a controlled natural environment requires a lot of maintenance and care, which comes with successes and failures, said Steel. They [students] were able to see the beginning phases of a trouts lifecycle, from egg to sac fry. The focus of field day, which included learning about releasing the trout into the lake, was to consider humans role in conservation, and how each one of us can make an impact.

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ELKO  The Northeastern Nevada Museum and several businesses affected by Covid-19 have received a combined $250,000 of ARPA funding from the City of Elko.

Fourteen businesses  mostly motels  received American Rescue Plan Act awards ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 under unanimous approval by the City Council.

The Council designated the disbursements out of the Citys $500,000 ARPA funding designated to local small businesses that experienced direct negative impacts as a result of the public health emergency.

Businesses awarded $25,000 grants were Comfort Inn, Days Inn, Rodeway Inn, Thunderbird motel, Elko Broadcasting and Stick with Us Amusement.

Grants of $15,000 and $10,000 were awarded to the Scottish Inn and Charlees Bar, respectively.

Economy Inn, Travelers Motel, barber Florecia Gayton, and coffee shop owner Sandra Marques each received $5,000 awards.

City distributes ARPA funding to small businesses, charter school ELKO  Eight businesses and the charter school received grants this week from American Rescue Plan Act funds designated by the City of Elko to

Financial Director Jan Baum explained the amounts disbursed to motels was determined through the owners applications and transient taxes verified by staff.

Baum added there is $155,000 remaining to be awarded of the $500,000 designated for small business.

Elko Convention Center will get $500K in Covid grants A $51,455 grant to the Elko County Recreation Board was tabled, however, because of concerns about conflict of interest

The Northeastern Nevada Historical Society and Museum, a nonprofit organization, was also approved to receive a $50,000 award for lost revenue funds for any governmental services.

City awards $3.4 million in ARPA funds for behavioral health services I cant think of anything more important than this that was in our applications. Im hoping this will really change the future of our community.

City staff recommends using a portion of the lost revenue allowance for community donations, Baum wrote in the agenda.

She noted the museum was closed for a long time due to the pandemic.

Mayor Reece Keener and Councilman Chip Stone abstained from their vote due to their business connections to the museum.

In January, the City received $500,000 to distribute among small businesses, and $3.4 million for behavioral services.

Nonprofits, including CADV, the Igloo Recreation Center, Horizon Hospice, have also received grants from a $1.15 million package earmarked for lost revenues.

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The most comprehensive comparative study to date drawing conclusions about government policy and results during the Covid-19 pandemic was published in April by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

The authors compared Covid outcomes in the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on three variables: the economy, education and mortality. The states were ranked based on a combined score of the three variables.

Its a revealing study that contradicts much of the conventional medical and media wisdom, particularly during the pandemics first year when severe lockdowns were viewed as the best, and only moral, policy.

Utah ranked first by a considerable margin over Nebraska and Vermont. The top 10 in the rankings are smaller states, with the notable exception of Florida, which ranked sixth. Recall that Floridas decision to open itself relatively soon was derided as cruel and destructive. Gov. Ron DeSantis was scorned as Governor DeathSentence.

The bottom 10 are dominated by states and D.C. that had the most stringent lockdowns and were among the last to reopen schools. Their economies are for the most part still behind most others in recovering from the pandemic.

New York, whose Governor Andrew Cuomo was an early Covid hero, ranked 49th. New Jersey ranked last with a miserable performance across the board. Gov. Phil Murphy didnt save lives but he did savage the economy and punished students as he followed teacher union demands on school closures.

Nevada was graded 44th overall among the states with only six states given lower rankings. The Silver State was assigned a near-bottom D grade, with Nevada ranked 48th on the mortality scale.

Governor Steve Sisolaks draconian lockdown orders in March 2020 were devastating to Nevadas economy. In April 2020, Nevada set the highest unemployment ever recorded  30.5%.

Throughout 2021, Nevadas unemployment was either the highest or second-highest state unemployment rate in the U.S. Sisolaks lockdowns also destroyed many non-essential small businesses, closing them permanently.

An earlier extensive State Pandemic Scorecard was issued in December 2021 by Politico, the authoritative liberal-leaning political news publication. It put Nevada tied for 48th  with Mississippi  in ranking the states overall COVID response.

Only Wyoming ranked lower than Nevada in handling COVID issues, according to Politicos scorecard.

The study pulled together what was then known about how states fared during the pandemic, and how choices each state made impacted its residents, businesses and schools. It grouped the then available information into four categories  health, economy, social well-being and education.

Nevada placed 49th in the economy category with Hawaii coming in at 50. The report noted that states that rely on tourism were deeply impacted by the pandemic.

Southern Nevadas hotel and casino industry was particularly hard hit. Casinos closed in March 2020 remained closed until June 2020. Sisolaks arbitrary capacity orders wildly fluctuated from 50% to 25%, back to 50%, made it difficult for businesses to plan and comply.

Nevada also received low marks for education, ranked 41st, on the Politico scorecard. That result was derived from changes in reading and math assessments from each states pre-pandemic baseline to the spring of 2021.

Under Sisolaks directives, Clark County schools remained closed for an entire school year.

The Republican nominee for Nevadas governor in November is certain to seize on both the Politico scorecard from last December and the current NEBR final report to blame Sisolak for badly mishandling the COVID pandemic over more than two years. Both studies bolster a Covid performance case against the politically vulnerable incumbent.

A Suffolk University/Reno Gazette Journal Poll taken in early April shows Sisolak with a net unfavorable rating among likely Nevada voters, with 42 percent having a favorable view of him and 45 percent an unfavorable opinion.

Sisolak may sink politically under the weight of his Covid response record.

Email Jim Hartman at lawdocman1@aol.com.

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A bird that is inextricably linked to the pinon and juniper forests that span the Western United States has seen its numbers decline over the last half century. Environmentalists announced Tuesday that they're petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the pinyon jay under the Endangered Species Act as a way to save the species and the trees. A very social bird, the jay is known for stashing away pinon seeds, a habit that helps propagate the next generation of trees. Pinon and juniper forests across the West already have been effected by climate change, hotter and drier conditions and more severe wildfires.
China has started a new comprehensive scientific expedition on Mount Qomolangma, the world's highest peak on the China-Nepal border.

The expedition is part of China's second scientific research survey on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which started in 2017.

More than 270 scientific research members from 16 squads are participating in the expedition, according to the second Qinghai-Tibet Plateau comprehensive scientific research team on Thursday.

With the most disciplines covered, the most scientific research participants, and the most advanced equipment utilized, the expedition is the largest since China's second scientific research survey on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau began.

The expedition focuses on major scientific issues such as westerly wind-monsoon synergy, Asian water-tower change, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human activities in the Mount Qomolangma area.

A total of eight weather stations will be set up during the expedition, four of which are planned to be over 7,000 meters above sea level. The highest weather station, at an altitude of 8,800 meters, will be the highest automatic weather station in the world if it is established successfully.

The expedition team will also conduct studies on environmental changes, changes in greenhouse gas concentration, ecosystem carbon sink functions, and human adaptation to extreme environments in extremely high altitude areas of the Mount Qomolangma against the backdrop of global warming, according to the research team.

The expedition is expected to provide scientific data about the changes in the atmospheric environment and cryosphere in the Qomolangma area, and reveal the laws of environmental change in Qomolangma's extremely high-altitude areas in the context of climate warming.

Launched in 2017, the second scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is of great significance to advancing the sustainable development of the region and promoting global environment protection.
Press Release

April 29, 2022 The Truth, now coming out, shall set me free, as I cry out for justice - De Lima Re-electionist Senator Leila M. de Lima welcomed the counter-affidavit of self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa recanting all of his allegations against her in relation to illegal drug trade. De Lima, the most prominent political prisoner under the Duterte regime, said Espinosa's counter-affidavit "only proves the lengths Duterte and his minions, inside and outside of the DOJ, have gone to fabricate testimony and evidence against me." "As I have always been saying, all allegations against me invented by the Duterte machine of lies and fabrications would ultimately unravel," she added. It may be recalled that Espinosa falsely testified in Senate hearings that De Lima was part of the illegal drug trade as then Justice Secretary during the Aquino administration - an accusation she has vehemently denied. In a counter-affidavit filed at the DOJ on April 28, Espinosa said he had no dealings with De Lima and emphasized that his previous sworn affidavits against the Senator were not true. "Any and all of his statements given during the Senate hearings, or in the form of sworn written affidavits, against Senator Leila De Lima are not true. He has no dealings with Sen. De Lima and has not given her any money at any given time," Espinosa's counter-affidavit read. Espinosa further said that the statement he made against the Senator "was the result only of pressure, coercion, intimidation, and serious threats to his life and family members from the police who instructed him to implicate the Senator into the illegal drug trade." Through the counter-affidavit, Espinosa also apologized to De Lima. The lady Senator from Bicol said she has always believed that no matter how much Duterte lies and uses false witnesses against her, the truth will still come out to set her free in the end. "I have been languishing in jail for the past 5 years on the basis of testimonies of convicted criminals who, like Kerwin Espinosa, were used by the DOJ to manufacture lies about me and about crimes that I did not commit. "As Duterte steps down from power, more of these convict-witnesses are only expected to come out and confess that they were intimidated, coerced, or bribed into making up the ridiculous and impossible story that I received money from the illegal drug trade," she said. "I also expect them to reveal the names of Duterte's officials who participated in this gross frame-up, so I can also finally bring these people to account for what they have done to me," she added. In a separate statement published on Twitter, De Lima said Duterte's lies is finally coming to an end as he nears the end of his presidency. "Duterte and his minions used the whole might and abused the power of the government just to destroy and send me to prison. As their power comes to an end, so will their lies, and the truth shall finally set me free," she said. Partly responding to Espinosa's expression of apology, De Lima, in a separate Tweet said: "Matagal ko nang pinatawad, at ipinasa-Diyos, yung mga ginamit o nagpagamit sa mga kasinungalingan laban sa akin--yung mga tinakot, binayaran, blinackmail o pinangakuan ng pera o kung anumang pribilehiyo." "Hinihikayat ko ang mga naging bahagi ng pang-aaping nagaganap sa akin na sumunod at magsiwalat ng kanilang nalalaman. Lumalabas na ang katotohanan. Malapit na ang hustisya. "Ang hangad ko: Pagpapanagot sa mga nasa likod nito. Ang pinakasigaw ko: HUSTISYA!" she added. This month, De Lima's former aide and co-accused in one of two remaining cases, Ronnie Dayan, for his part, belied receiving and delivering of supposed drug money to then Justice Secretary De Lima in a manifestation filed before the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branches 204 and 256. De Lima has consistently and firmly asserted her innocence in the cases filed against her. Due to lack of evidence, one of the three trumped-up drug charges against her has already been dismissed, which she called a "moral victory." The two other cases are still pending.
Minister of Economy and Finance Daniele Franco confirmed an intention of the Italian government to provide Ukraine with a loan of EUR 200 million, Finance Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko said in an interview with Italian Corriere della sera following the recent talks in Washington at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

"We are negotiating to receive funds on concessional terms: at 1% per annum, with a maturity of 15 years. In my opinion, other countries can also offer us loans on such concessional terms. Such financing would certainly help us," Marchenko said.

He also thanked Italy, which was the first of all countries to provide Ukraine with EUR 110 million on grant terms at the very beginning of the war unleashed by Russia.

The Ukrainian Finance Minister said that the preparation of an agreement on the next EUR 150 million loan from Germany, which will help support Ukraine's macro-financial stability, has also recently begun.

According to him, only last week Germany provided a EUR 150 million loan to support small and medium-sized businesses, an agreement on which was reached back in March 2020.

"Minister Christian Lindner also noted that they are considering providing us with military support in the amount of EUR 1 billion, but we expected from Germany no less financial support than that provided to us by the UK, Canada or the United States," Marchenko said.

According to him, Kyiv has high hopes for funding from the IMF managed account. "We encourage partner countries to consider reallocating 10% of their Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) that they received from the IMF in August 2021 and have not yet used. We are mainly targeting EU countries. However, specific rules should be agreed with the European Union and European Central Bank (ECB)," the Minister of Finance explained.

According to him, the EU countries will consider this issue, as there may be some restrictions on the use of SDRs by the ECB.

"But I think that countries will try to find a legal solution with the ECB to make SDRs available to Ukraine. The IMF is also working with other countries to find out how the allocated SDR quotas can be used to support Ukraine," the minister said.

As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, in his speech at the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, indicated that the country needs support of up to $7 billion monthly, and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted that up to $5 billion is needed monthly to cover the budget deficit.
Corteva Agriscience, an international research company in the field of agro-industrial complex, has decided to finally leave the Russian market due to its military invasion in Ukraine, and it initiated a plan to stop all production and commercial activities for this.

The company made the decision to stop working with the aggressor country on April 28, while on March 7 it suspended commercial activities in the Russian Federation, according to its website.

"Our priorities remain the safety of our employees and global food security. Since the onset of this tragic war, we have taken all possible action to support and protect our Ukrainian colleagues and their families, our customers, and the communities in which we operate, including through direct and indirect aid to address the immediate humanitarian needs," Corteva clarified in the message.

In addition, the company is currently helping Ukrainian farmers to carry out the 2022 agricultural season in the face of armed confrontation with the aggressor.

Corteva Agriscience is a global agricultural company. It offers farmers comprehensive solutions to maximize yields and profitability. It has more than 150 research facilities and more than 65 active ingredients in the portfolio.

Its Ukrainian branch, Corteva Agriscience Ukraine LLC (Kyiv) includes a central office in Kyiv, a research center in the village of Liubartsi (Kyiv region) and a seed production complex, opened in 2013 in the village of Stasi. Investments in the plant over five years amounted to more than $56 million.
Ukraine on Friday received grant funding of EUR 88.5 million from the World Bank Donor Trust Fund under the Second Economic Recovery Development Policy Loan Program for Ukraine.

"Grant funds will be directed to the general fund of the state budget of Ukraine to ensure priority social, humanitarian, health care costs, support for internally displaced persons," the Ministry of Finance said.

Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and World Bank Regional Country Director for Eastern Europe (Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine) Arup Banerji signed the corresponding agreement in Washington on April 21.

"Grant assistance is a priority for us, since we are already thinking about the future and about the restoration of the country after catastrophic destruction," the minister stressed at the time.

The Trust Fund was established by the World Bank Group and has already received contributions from Denmark (about EUR 20.5 million), Iceland (about EUR 460,000), Latvia (about EUR 5 million), Lithuania (about EUR 5 million) and the United Kingdom (about EUR 60 million).
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has decided to maintain gas prices for households at the current level, as well as benefits for enterprises important for defense, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.

"Today we are making a decision that gas prices for households will remain unchanged. There is no increase. UAH 8 per cubic meter, as it was," Shmyhal said at a government meeting on Friday.

He also said the preferential price will be valid for enterprises that perform vital functions to ensure the defense capability of Ukraine.
The possible holding of a referendum on the annexation of the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" to Russia will not give anything but additional complications in the negotiations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

Earlier, information about the possible holding of such a "referendum" appeared on several Telegram channels.

"There can be many such pseudo-referendums. Ukraine will not recognize them anyway. The main thing is that together with Ukraine, the whole civilized world will not recognize them. This will do nothing but make any negotiations more difficult," the president said when asked by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

"If we want to complicate all this for the whole Europe and the world, we can continue to play these referendums, which will not give any result - neither current nor historical," Zelensky stressed.
Three enemy cruise missiles struck the town of Fastiv (Kyiv region) on Thursday evening, said Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister.

"Just now three cruise missiles of the invaders hit Fastiv," Gerashchenko wrote on his Telegram channel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that five Russian cruise missiles flew into the city while UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was paying a working visit to Kyiv.

"And today, immediately after the end of our talks in Kyiv, Russian missiles flew into the city. Five missiles. And this says a lot about Russia's true attitude to global institutions. About the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the UN and everything that the Organization represents. Therefore, it requires a strong response.," Zelensky said in his traditional evening video message.

According to him, Russian missile strikes at Ukraine - Kyiv, Fastiv, Odesa, and other cities - once again prove that we cannot let our guard down. "We cannot think that the war is over. We still have to fight. We still have to drive the occupiers out," the president noted.
Bundestag votes to expand and accelerate provision of heavy weapons to Ukraine

The German Bundestag voted by a convincing majority in favor of expanding and accelerating the provision of heavy weapons to Ukraine, said Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk.

"The deputies called on the federal government 'to extend and, if possible, accelerate the supply of necessary equipment to Ukraine, as well as to expand deliveries with heavy weapons and complex systems,'" she wrote on her Telegram channel.

"The German Bundestag strongly condemns Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. In doing so, Russia grossly violates international and humanitarian law and tries to permanently destroy the European peace order," the document reads.

Kondratiuk expressed gratitude to German deputies for their decisiveness and readiness to provide Ukraine with the heavy weapons it needs right now.

"We expect that the German government will heed the call of the Bundestag," the deputy speaker added.
The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine strongly condemns the criminal actions of the Russian Federation on the so-called expropriation of crops from farmers in Kherson region, according to a commentary on the website of the ministry.

"Such a decision of the Legislative Assembly of Krasnoyarsk Territory of the Russian Federation is nothing more than a direct continuation of the criminal policy of the Soviet government, responsible for the massive artificial famine in Ukraine in 1921-1923, the Holodomor of 1932-1933 and the massive artificial famine of 1946-1947. By the theft of grain, which the invaders call "expropriation," the Russian Federation continues the work of the Stalinists and Nazis," the ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry also stressed that the export of grain from Kherson region, the blocking of shipments from Ukrainian ports and the mining of shipping routes threaten the food security of the world. Ukraine provides food for almost 400 million people worldwide, and Ukrainian grain is traditionally exported to Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

"With its illegal actions, Russia is actually stealing not only Ukraine, but also consumers abroad. According to the UN, about 1.7 billion people may face poverty and famine due to food system violations as a result of a full-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine," the report says.

In addition, the Foreign Ministry noted that the aggressor country continues to deliberately block sowing work in Ukraine, destroying agricultural equipment and inflicting missile strikes throughout the country.

It is emphasized that the policy of the aggressor state calls into question the expediency of its membership in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other international organizations.

"We demand from the Russian Federation to stop the illegal theft of grain, unblock Ukrainian ports, restore freedom of navigation and allow the passage of merchant ships. We call on the international community to tighten economic sanctions in order to stop the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and worsening of the situation with food security in the world," the department said.
Hong Kong: Positive response to job scheme

The Government today said that the 2022 Employment Support Scheme received applications from over 42,000 employers and about 27,000 self-employed people as at 6pm on the first day of the application period.

The online application portal was launched at 8am today and has been operating smoothly, it added.

The scheme will provide wage subsidies to eligible employers for three months, covering May to July this year.

There are two tiers of subsidy rates - a flat rate of $8,000 per month for each eligible employee with a monthly income of $8,000 or more; and a flat rate of $4,000 per month for each employee with a monthly income of $3,000 or more but less than $8,000, or each employee aged 65 or above earning less than $3,000 per month.

The scheme will also provide a one-off subsidy of $8,000 to eligible self-employed people.

Employers and the self-employed should submit their applications through the scheme's website by May 12.

Enquiries can be made via the live chat function on the website, by email or the hotline at 183 6122.

Applicants who need assistance may visit one of the five service centres by making an appointment through the hotline.

This story has been published on: 2022-04-29. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Press Release

April 29, 2022 Bong Go lauds PRRD for signing law granting mandatory benefits and allowance to healthcare workers Chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography Christopher "Bong" Go commended President Rodrigo Duterte for recently signing into law Republic Act No. 11712 which aims to provide health care workers continuing support amid the ongoing global health crisis. In line with the government efforts to promote the interest and welfare of healthcare workers, the Act, which Go authored and co-sponsored in the Senate, grants mandatory continuing benefits and allowances to public and private healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic or other public health emergencies. "Maraming salamat po, Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte dahil palagi niyo pong inuuna ang kapakanan ng ating mga healthcare worker. Alam naman po natin na hindi talaga madali ang kanilang mga trabaho sa araw-araw," Go remarked. "Sila ang ating sinasabak sa pandemya na COVID-19, isang gyera kontra sa kalaban na hindi naman natin nakikita. Kaya naman nakakatuwa na mas lalo pa natin silang matutulungan sa pamamagitan ng batas na ito," he added. Public and private HCWs covered by the law are entitled to health emergency allowance (HEA) for every month of service during a state of public health emergency based on the risk categorization. For HCWs assigned in low risk areas, they will receive PhP 3,000 while PhP 6,000 shall be given to those under medium risk areas. Furthermore, those who will be working in high risk areas will be granted PhP 9,000. In addition, the healthcare workers will be receiving separate compensation if they contract COVID-19 while on duty. For those with mild to moderate symptoms, they will receive PhP 15,000 while individuals with severe symptoms or under a critical state will receive PhP 100,000. Meanwhile, for those who unfortunately succumb to the virus, the government will be giving PhP 1,000,000 to the families they left behind. "Lahat naman ng healthcare workers na naka-duty ay maituturing na exposed sa banta ng COVID-19. Hindi nakikita ang kalaban na ito kung kaya't mahirap paghiwalayin pa kung sino ang exposed at sino ang hindi," explained Go on why he pushed to expand the provision of such benefits. Apart from the HCWs, non-health care workers (NHCWs) are also covered by the law, such as public and private medical, allied medical, administrative, technical, support and other necessary personnel employed by, and assigned in hospitals, health facilities, laboratories, medical or temporary treatment and monitoring facilities, or vaccination sites. Likewise, Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) and outsourced personnel hired under institutional or individual contract of service or job order who are similarly exposed to COVID-19, or other threats in times of public health emergencies, are included as non-health care workers under this Act. The benefits under this Act shall have retroactive application from July 1, 2021 and shall remain in full force and effect during the state of national public health emergency as declared by the President. From the start, Go has been advocating for a stronger healthcare system in the country. He has also been consistent in pushing initiatives to benefit all Filipino healthcare workers. He had earlier appealed for the provision of allowances for HCWs at the height of the pandemic. In 2019, the lawmaker was instrumental in the enactment of Republic Act No. 11466 or the "Salary Standardization Law 5". The measure gives all civilian government employees, including nurses, increased salaries broken down in tranches. In the same year, he also ensured that enough funding was allotted for the implementation of the 2019 Supreme Court decision that upheld Section 32 of the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002, which sets the minimum salary grade of the Nurse I position at SG-15. "Patuloy ko pa rin pong hinihikayat ang mga kasamahan ko sa gobyerno na siguraduhin natin na mabigyan natin ng nararapat na benepisyo ang mga healthcare workers. Sila ang dahilan kung bakit nanantili tayong ligtas ngayong pandemya," Go urged. "Ni piso at ni isang minuto ay hindi dapat masayang dahil buhay ang kapalit nito. Magmalasakit tayo sa ating kapwa. Walang tigil dapat ang serbisyo lalo na sa panahon ngayon na nangangailangan ang mga Pilipino," he stressed.
Shmyhal calls on UN to be more actively involved in issue of safe evacuation of people

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal discussed with Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres the issues of organizing humanitarian corridors, providing support for internally displaced persons and rebuilding infrastructure.

"Being unable to destroy the national unity of Ukraine, the enemy proceeds to acts of genocide in the temporarily occupied territories. Ukraine will continue to insist that the International Criminal Court make appropriate decisions on the crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine," Shmyhal was quoted by the government's press service after the meeting.

The prime minister noted that Ukraine's economic losses due to the war are growing daily, and called on the UN to join the country's reconstruction process, in particular, by providing technical support in mine clearance.

During the conversation, Shmyhal thanked the UN for supporting Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced persons.

At the same time, he stressed that the UN must take the lead in ending the war and mitigating its consequences.

"He called on the organization to become more actively involved in the issue of unblocking the opening of humanitarian corridors for the safe evacuation of civilians from the temporarily occupied territories," the message says.

Shmyhal said that the situation in Mariupol requires immediate intervention.

According to him, the UN should take all possible measures to influence Russia to comply with its agreements on providing humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of people to territories controlled by Ukraine, in order to prevent the deportation of Ukrainians to the Russian Federation.

In turn, Guterres noted that the UN is making every effort to evacuate people, in particular from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.
As of April 29, the bodies of 1,187 civilians who were killed by Russian invaders, were found in Kyiv region, head of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv region Andriy Nebytov said.

"Today, 1,187 of our compatriots, our peaceful citizens, who died at the hands of the Russian army, have already [discovered]," Nebytov said on the air of the Ukrainian telethon on Friday.

According to him, work to search for the dead continues every day, and "only yesterday, 26 bodies of the dead were found."

"Some 200 people remain missing and there is no information about them yet," Nebytov said.
Zelensky thanks Biden for his leadership in supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression: Were defending common values of democracy and freedom

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for his leadership in supporting Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression, stressing that U.S. help is needed more than ever.

"Grateful to Joe Biden and the American people for the leadership in supporting Ukraine in our fight against Russian aggression. We defend common values - democracy and freedom. We appreciate the USAs help. Today it is needed more than ever! " Zelensky said on Twitter.

As reported, U.S. President Joe Biden said that he asked Congress to approve his request for additional financial aid to Ukraine as soon as possible.

Later, Zelensky announced that the USA is preparing a new $33 billion aid package for Ukraine. In particular, more than $20 billion may go to defense, more than $8 billion is planned for economic support, and $3 billion will be used for humanitarian aid.
Over past day, occupiers carry out 11 attacks on Donetsk region, three people killed, six injured

As a result of shelling by the Russian military in Donetsk region over the past day, three civilians were killed, six more were injured, several dozen civilian infrastructure facilities were destroyed, the National Police of Ukraine has said.

"Donetsk region. During the day, the police documented eleven Russian attacks. The occupiers fired on nine settlements. As a result of Russian attacks, three civilians were killed, six were injured," the National Police said on Friday in the telegram channel.

The police inform that as a result of the shelling, at least 27 civilian objects were destroyed - residential buildings, a farm, a factory, public utilities and railway infrastructure, an ambulance.

According to the report, the occupiers attacked Mariupol, Lyman, Avdiyivka, Maryiynka, Velyka Novosilka, New York, Ivanivka, Serebrianka, Novomykolaivka.

"The enemy fired at the civilian population from aviation, missile systems, Grad multiple launch rocket systems, tanks, heavy artillery," the report says.

The police opened criminal proceedings under Article 438 (violation of the laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
French Minister for European and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian strongly condemned the indiscriminate strikes of Russian troops on Kyiv and expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian people, as well as with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who were on a visit to Kyiv on Thursday.

"I strongly condemn the indiscriminate strikes by Russian troops targeting Kyiv last night. Full solidarity with the Ukrainian people, as well as with Antonio Guterres and Kiril Petkov who were nearby yesterday," Le Drian wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov believes that the Russian airstrikes on Kyiv during the stay in the Ukrainian capital of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres are "an attack on world security."

"While the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is visiting Kyiv, a permanent member of the UN Security Council - Russia - is launching missile strikes on the city. This is an attack on the security of the Secretary General and on world security!" Reznikov said on Twitter Thursday evening.
The Russian invaders continue their offensive operations in the Eastern Operational Zone, carry out active reconnaissance and identify Ukrainian positions, shell them with artillery, mortars and multiple launch rocket systems, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported.

As reported in the morning report published on Facebook on Friday, in Slobozhansky direction, the enemy continues to concentrate efforts on holding positions in the area of the city of Kharkiv and is trying to carry out fire destruction of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in certain directions.

The enemy did not conduct active offensive operations in Izium direction. The main efforts are focused on conducting reconnaissance, identifying the defensive positions of the Defense Forces units and hitting them with artillery fire.

In Donetsk and Tauride directions, in order to prevent the regrouping of our troops, the enemy fires at positions with artillery, mortars and multiple rocket launchers along the entire frontline.

The Russian occupiers continue blocking our units in Mariupol, in the area of Azovstal plant.

In Volyn and Polissia directions, the enemy did not conduct active operations, no signs of the formation of offensive groups were found. Certain units of the armed forces of the republic continue to carry out tasks to strengthen the protection of a section of the state border with Ukraine.

In Siversky direction, no changes were found in the activity and composition of the enemy grouping.

In the temporarily occupied territories, the occupying authorities continue to implement measures to restrict the movement and detention of local residents and block humanitarian supplies from the territory of Ukraine. In addition, the Russian occupiers are robbing the villagers. So, for example, more than 60 tonnes of wheat were stolen from the agricultural community in the city of Kamianka-Dniprovska along with freight transport.

Over the previous day, Ukrainian defenders hit 15 air targets: one aircraft, five cruise missiles and nine operational-tactical unmanned aerial vehicles.

Ukrainian defenders are conducting an active mobile defense, in some places they deliver counterattacks, nine enemy attacks have been repulsed, six tanks, one artillery system, 12 armored vehicles, one car and one anti-aircraft installation have been destroyed on the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions over the past day.
The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy states that Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland will work together to digitize the cultural heritage of Ukraine.

According to the press service of the Ministry, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko held an online meeting attended by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland and the Minister of Culture of Lithuania, where they established a working group on the functioning of the Lublin Triangle Foundation, which will support the digitization of cultural heritage of Ukraine.

"Together we must protect and preserve the cultural heritage of Ukraine for future generations. After all, it is part of Europe. Only through joint efforts, deepening friendly relations between the countries, we will definitely succeed," Tkachenko was quoted as saying by the press service.

It is noted that the parties will support the process of digitalization of the objects of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Ukraine, as well as the creation of a digital platform for their archiving, protection, development, distribution and popularization.
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy recommended that Parliament adopt at the second reading bill No. 7232 amending the Tax Code to increase a number of taxes for businesses that are associated with the aggressor state.

According to deputy head of the committee Yaroslav Zhelezniak in Telegram, following the meeting on Friday, a number of changes to the bill are proposed for the second reading.

Among them are the mandatory indication of ties with the Russian Federation in the labeling and advertising of goods of such companies, the loss of benefits for Diia.City, from investment nannies, tax incentives for direct taxes, as well as the inability to obtain a license for gambling.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that the USA is preparing a new $33 billion aid package for Ukraine.

"There is serious news for our state, for our defense. The USA has prepared a new support package for Ukraine. For $33 billion," he said in a video message Thursday night.

"In particular, more than $20 billion could go to defense. More than $8 billion are planned for economic support. Another $3 billion will go to humanitarian aid," Zelensky noted.

He called it "an important step by the United States." "And I am grateful for it to the American people and President Biden personally. I hope Congress will quickly support this request for aid to our nation," Zelensky said.
Press Release

April 29, 2022 TESDAMAN calls for fast but orderly transition for DMW Sen. Joel "TESDAMAN" Villanueva cautioned the Transition Committee establishing the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) in making the next steps to fully constitute the agency orderly but expediently. "The Transition Committee should aim for a speedy and orderly turnover of functions to the DMW during the transition period, while making sure that there are no interruptions to OFW services. Confusion and delays during this period will be at the cost of the livelihoods of our migrant workers," said Villanueva. The senator made this statement after DMW issued a department order lifting the deployment of migrant workers to Saudi Arabia, contrary to the prevailing ban imposed by the Department of Labor and Employment. He also said that the DMW should refrain from issuing orders or directives on deployment bans before the department is fully constituted. Republic Act No. 11641, or the Department of Migrant Workers Act, requires the DMW Secretary to consult with the Advisory Board on Migration and Development and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary before it decides any ban on the deployment of migrant workers, which can only be undertaken when the DMW is fully operational. The senator added that confusing directives especially on deployment bans make OFWs vulnerable to illegal recruiters and fixers. "The transition period compounds a very delicate time for our migrant workers. Not only will a new administration impact this important sector, but global events such as the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have far-reaching effects. Let's get our act together for our OFWs," said Villanueva. According to the author of and sponsor of R.A. 11641, the Philippines is currently seeing an uptick of OFWs going out of the country as the world is reopening from the pandemic. At the same time, returning OFWs adversely affected by the pandemic have led to a "reverse diaspora" or "brain gain" for the country. He also noted that government agencies have their hands full with providing OFW services in current areas of concern such as Shanghai, Hongkong, and Ukraine. "The Transition Committee faces challenging tasks especially during an election year, but our OFWs deserve a good and fresh start for the new department," said Villanueva. According to R.A. 11641, the new department will be fully constituted after the publication of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), submission of its staffing pattern to the Department of Budget and Management, and drawing up its budget in the General Appropriations Act for the first year of operations. "The faster the Transition Committee complies with the requirements of the law to constitute the DMW, the sooner we deliver our promise of dedicated service to our OFWs," Villanueva said. The Transition Committee includes the DMW's Secretary, the DFA's Undersecretary for the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs, as well as the heads of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB), National Reintegration Center for OFW (NRCO), National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP), and the Office of the Social Welfare Attache (OSWA). Villanueva reminded the Transition Committee that the government's policy is to make overseas employment an option rather than a necessity for skilled Filipino workers. "Our job in government is to provide the Filipino workforce with training and skills, and then help them find jobs and flourish wherever they choose. But it is also our job to make the Philippines the best place to work for Filipinos. The grass is always greener on the side where it is watered," said Villanueva, who chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development Panawagan ni TESDAMAN: Mabilis ngunit maayos na transition para sa DMW Nagbabala si Sen. Joel "TESDAMAN" Villanueva sa Transition Committee na magtatag sa Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) na gawing mabilis ngunit maayos ang mga susunod na hakbang para gawing fully constituted ang bagong ahensya. "The Transition Committee should aim for a speedy and orderly turnover of functions to the DMW during the transition period, while making sure that there are no interruptions to OFW services. Makakasagabal sa kabuhayan ng ating mga migrant workers ang anumang kaguluhan, kalituhan, o pagkaantala sa transition period na ito," sabi ni Villanueva. Ito ang naging pahayag ng senador matapos maglabas ng kautusan ang DMW na bawiin ang deployment ban ng OFWs sa Saudi Arabia, na taliwas sa kasalukuyang utos ng Department of Labor and Employment. Sinabi rin ni Villanueva na hindi dapat muna maglabas ng mga kautusan o direktiba ang DMW tungkol sa mga deployment ban habang hindi pa fully constituted ang departamento. Ayon sa Republic Act No. 11641, o ang Department of Migrant Workers Act, kailangan ng DMW Secretary na konsultahin muna ang Advisory Board on Migration and Development, at ang Secretary ng Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) bago magdesisyon tungkol sa kahit anong deployment ban, ang mangyayari lamang ito kung fully operational na ang DMW. Sinabi pa ng senador na maaring gamitin ng mga illegal recruiter at fixer ang mga nakakalitong direktiba lalo na tungkol sa mga deployment ban para manloko ng mga OFW. "The transition period compounds a very delicate time for our migrant workers. Direktang apektado na ang sector sa pagpasok ng bagong administrasyon, apektado pa sila ng mga global event gaya ng pandemic at alitan sa pagitan ng Russia at Ukraine. Let's get our act together for our OFWs," sabi ni Villanueva. Ayon sa author at sponsor ng R.A. 11641, tumataas na ang bilang ng OFWs na lumalabas sa bansa habang nagbubukas na ang mundo mula sa pandemya. Gayundin naman, may mga nagsisibalikan na OFW dahil pa rin sa pandemya, at nagreresulta ito sa "reverse diaspora" o "brain gain" sa Pilipinas. Sinabi rin ng senador na abala rin ang mga ahensya ng gobyerno ang pagserbisyo sa OFW sa mga areas of concern gaya ng Shanghai, Hongkong, at Ukraine. "The Transition Committee faces challenging tasks especially during an election year, but our OFWs deserve a good and fresh start for the new department," sabi ni Villanueva. Ayon sa DMW Act, magiging fully constituted lamang ang ahensya matapos ang publication ng Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), pagpasa ng staffing pattern sa Department of Budget and Management, at pagkakaroon ng budget sa General Appropriations Act sa unang taon ng operasyon ng ahensya. "Mas mabilis nating matutupad ang ating pangakong serbisyo sa mga OFW kung mas mabilis matapos ng Transition Committee ang mga requirement ng batas para sa pag-constitute ng DMW," sabi ni Villanueva. Ang Transition Committee ay kinabibilangan ng DMW Secretary, Undersecretary for the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs ng DFA, at mga pinuno ng Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB), National Reintegration Center for OFW (NRCO), National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP), at ng Office of the Social Welfare Attache (OSWA). Pinaalahanan din ni Villanueva ang Transition Committee na polisiya ng gobyerno na gawing option lamang para sa mga manggagawang Pilipino ang mag-ibang-bayan para makapagtrabaho. "Trabaho natin sa gobyerno ang bigyan ng skills training ang mga manggagawang Pilipino, para makapagtrabaho at magtagumpay saan man nila mapili. Trabaho din nating gawing "best place to work for Filipinos" ang sarili nating bansa. The grass is always greener on the side where it is watered," sabi ng chair ng Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development.
Three citizens of New York village in Donetsk region killed in airstrike, three more wounded  regional authorities

Three civilians were killed in an airstrike on the village of New York on Thursday, three more were wounded. A civilian was also wounded in Maryinka, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk Regional Military Administration.

"On April 28, the Russians killed three Donbas civilians and wounded three more with an air missile strike on the village of New York. Another person was wounded in Maryinka," Kyrylenko wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

He stressed that a total of 278 people have already been killed by Russians in Donetsk region, not including casualties in Mariupol and Volnovakha.
Education Ombudsman Serhiy Horbachov says that the government decree on the specifics of remote work in the public sector does not apply to teachers and educators, and they can work remotely from abroad.

"Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 481 of 04/26/22 does not apply to teachers and educators! An educational institution with a communal form of ownership is not "a business entity of the public sector of the economy. It is possible for a teacher to work remotely from abroad, this does not require a business trip," Horbachov wrote on the social network Facebook.

The Ombudsman called on the heads of educational institutions and education authorities, which require teachers to immediately return to Ukraine on this basis, to stop "arbitrariness and mockery of teachers."

"Let's not forget that the vast majority of teachers in schools and kindergartens are women. And many of them have children for whom they are responsible: that is why they tried to go abroad so that the children would be safe. If you demand the return of these teachers and educators, they will not leave children abroad, but will be forced to return with them to Ukraine. Under Rushists' missiles. Do officials really want this?" he wrote.

As reported, on April 26, the Cabinet of Ministers allowed employees of economic entities in the public sector of the economy to enter a remote work mode during the martial law period. At the same time, it is determined that the work of employees, members of the executive body and heads of business entities outside of Ukraine is allowed only in the case of a business trip, issued in the prescribed manner.
Moldova believes the combat in Ukraine is unlikely to spill over into Moldovan territory anytime soon, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian said.

"We believe there is no danger of military actions in Moldova, including the Transdniestrian region. The explosions that have taken place in Transdniestria inevitably affect the people's moral and psychological condition. However, we can't speak of risks of Moldova's involvement in a military conflict. There is no risk that this tension, which can't be ignored, could grow into a military conflict. Unlike Ukraine, our partners don't have information indicating this," Serebrian said on the Moldova-1 television channel on Friday.

Reiterating Chisinau's assumption that the recent incidents in Transdniestria were likely provoked by "pro-war forces" in the unrecognized republic, Serebrian said, "We are sure that the Transdniestrian leadership does not share the idea of involvement in the military conflict in Ukraine."

Serebrian described the security precautions and restrictions imposed in Transdniestria, including the red-level terrorist alert, as unwarranted.

Transdniestria imposed the red-level terrorist alert in its territory following a series of blasts on April 26. The incidents did not cause casualties.
Dutch Embassy resumes its work in Kyiv, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

"Today the Dutch embassy will reopen in Kyiv. Ambassador Jennes de Moll and a small team will work closely with Ukrainian authorities and partner countries on the ground," the ministry said on Twitter Friday.

The Embassy said that the consular section of the embassy remains closed.
Mykhailo Podoliak, advisor to the head of the Presidents Office of Ukraine, commented on the enemy missile attacks on Kyiv during the official visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was in Moscow on April 26.

"Missile strikes in the downtown of Kyiv during the official visit of Antonio Guterres. The day before he was sitting at a long table in the Kremlin, and today explosions are above his head. Postcard from Moscow? Recall why Russia still have a seat on the UN Security Council? " Podoliak said on Twitter Thursday.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has discussed with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss further arms supplies to Ukraine, they agreed on the need for a real embargo on Russian oil imports to Europe as soon as possible.

"In our new call today, Liz Truss and I discussed further arms supplies to Ukraine and agreed on the need to impose a real embargo on Russian oil imports to Europe as soon as possible. Real means 0% and no blends. We also discussed the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine, " he said on Twitter Friday.
Britain will send a team of war crimes experts to support Ukraine in investigating Russian atrocities, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.

"Russia has brought barbarity to Ukraine and committed vile atrocities, including against women. British expertise will help uncover the truth and hold Putins regime to account for its actions. Justice will be done," the British government quoted Truss as saying on the governments website Friday.

The specialist team will assist the Ukrainian government as they gather evidence and prosecute war crimes and will include experts in conflict-related sexual violence. They will arrive in Poland in early May and meet international partners, NGOs, refugees and the Ukrainian government to scope out the assistance they can provide.
As of April 29, Warsaw has already transferred military equipment and machinery to Ukraine for a total of PLN 7 billion (EUR 1.5 billion), Polskie radio said on Friday.

It is noted that, among other things, Poland delivered to Ukraine more than 200 T-72 tanks, which will be enough to form two brigades. Along with tanks, several dozen infantry fighting vehicles also arrived in Ukraine.

"Among the weapons that ended up in Ukraine are 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers, as well as Hailstone multiple launch missile systems. Poland also transferred air-to-air missiles for MiG-29 and Su-27 aircraft. In addition to heavy equipment, Poland supplied to Ukraine drones of the Polish production WB Electronics, which serve, in particular, for reconnaissance operations. The Ukrainians themselves brag about the presence of Polish Warmate drones, similar to the American Switchblade," the radio said.

It clarifies that from the Polish arsenal, the Perun portable anti-aircraft missile systems were also delivered to Ukraine, which "already have on their account, so far unconfirmed officially, downed Russian helicopters."

Poland is also reportedly transferring large number of ammunition to Ukraine.
Russian occupiers are stepping up filtration measures in the blocked city of Mariupol (Donetsk region), not letting men in or out, and are also carrying out a census of Ukrainian real estate, Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova has said.

"In order to enter the city, you need not only to have a paper on 'filtration,' but also Mariupol registration or evidence that you are going to relatives of the first line, parents or children. The occupiers do not let men in or out. The easiest way to enter the city is through the village of Vynohradne. Long queues formed there due to increased checks," Denisova said on her Facebook.

In addition, according to the ombudswoman, the Russian occupiers also introduced additional checkpoints in the city itself. Thus, almost all the men were taken to the "filtration camp in the village of Bezimenne. Even after passing through the filtration, they have not been allowed to go home for more than a week."

"In Mariupol, the invaders, through the heads of condominiums, collect information about the surviving apartments in order to inventory them and collect data on the whereabouts of the owners," Denisova said.

The ombudswoman called the actions of the aggressor country in Mariupol an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. She also said that by restricting the freedom of movement of citizens, the occupying country violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, Article 12 of which ensures everyone the right to free movement.

"I appeal to the UN Commission to Investigate Human Rights Violations during the Russian military invasion of Ukraine to take into account these facts of Russian war crimes and human rights violations in Ukraine," Denisova said.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained three Russian servicemen who were trying to seize Pivdennoukrainska nuclear power plant (NPP), collaborators in several regions of Ukraine and identified the invaders who committed atrocities in Bohdanivka, Kyiv region.

"Based on the materials of the Security Service, it was announced that two persons were suspected of treason, whom the Russian troops appointed as the so-called heads of the Kherson regional and city administrations in temporarily occupied Kherson," SBU spokesperson Artem Dekhtiarenko said on Friday in a video message posted on the agency's Telegram channel.

According to him, an assistant to the leaders of the so-called "DPR," who was responsible for media promotion and information support of terrorist activities, was detained in Dnipropetrovsk region.

"In Mykolaiv region, SBU officers detained three Russian soldiers in Voznesensk district, who were hiding in abandoned buildings near the regional center. It was established that they were part of an enemy group that took part in attempts to seize Pivdennoukrainska nuclear power plant," the SBU spokesperson said.

He said that these invaders also fired at the places of residence of civilians in the region.

In Luhansk region, as Dekhtiarenko said, the chair of the court in the temporarily occupied Novoaidarsk was exposed on high treason and assistance to the aggressor.

"In Kyiv region, the SBU identified a number of occupiers who committed atrocities in the occupied territories of Kyiv region. Among others, these are servicemen of the 15th brigade of the central military district of Russia. During their stay in the village of Bohdanivka, Brovary district, they abducted, abused and tortured Ukrainians," he said.
Home > 2022 > A Conversation with Shishir Jha on his film Tortoise Under the (...)

This interview explores the insights related to Shishir Jhas recently released docudrama film Tortoise Under the Earth (Dharti Latar Re Horo) which is based in Adivasi area of Jharkhand state and exposes the issue faces by the Santhal- the largest tribe in the state. The film focuses on the exploitation of the tribals in Jharkhand since the 80s after the government along with private companies discovered minerals and uranium. Adivasi songs, which have been performed on various occasions, were wonderfully captured as well as translated for a larger audience. In all the celebrations, one can get a glimpse of tribal affiliations to nature and animals, as well as brotherhood and cohesion in the film.

Shishir Jha is a Mumbai-based Filmmaker born in 1988, Bihar, India. He graduated from the prestigious National Institute of Design (NID) with a bachelors degree in Film & Video Communication Design. He was then selected for the masters degree programme in Film Direction at the Sarajevo Film Academy. He has received a Diploma in Filmmaking at the workshop of the late Abbas Kiarostami at EICTV (Escuela International de Cine y TV), Cuba 2016. He is one of the Directors of Shuruaat Ka Interval-an anthology of eight short films with the common theme was released as a feature film by PVR Directors Rare.

Neeraj Bunkar: Hello, Mr Shishir welcome to this discussion. I hope everything is good!

Shishir Jha: Hello Mr Neeraj, yes, all is well, and Thank you so much for the opportunity.

NB: So, my first question is, what brought you to filmmaking?

SJ: When I was a kid, my grandfather used to tell me stories. I kept on listening carefully and imagining to what he was saying. It transported me into new world. Each story provoked different emotion some made me feel afraid, others happy, full of love, brave, sometimes even cruel... Those experiences are unforgettable and had a great impact on my life. I have experienced the most powerful things through storytelling in this world...Additionally, I do enjoy the process, as filmmaking. Cinema uses elements from all the other art form. I have general affinity towards arts -literature, photography, music, paintings and it helps in creating emotion which somehow resonates within me.

NB: What prompted you to make a docudrama film specifically on the Santhal tribe?

SJ: It was during January 2019, when I came across a book on folk literature from Santhal Parganas by Paul Olaf Boddings Santal Folk Tales, a Norwegian folklorist and linguists, and I was fascinated to know about their folk stories, culture, belief system, tradition and the oral stories that have been passed down generations. I decided to come to this place and make a film based on these oral stories. For the first two months, I travelled in and around Jharkhand, creating my own personal experiences. I did not want to rely purely on the notions created in my mind through the books and articles that I had read. For me cinema is a way to connect with people. I let people, landscape, politics and seasons participate in this process to the extent that finding a form and a story becomes an organic process for everyone involved. I film daily and write daily... Or sometimes I write for the interlude in between the scenes so that there is a story which could act as a thread and could connect with the viewer as a whole. A docu-fiction format allows me to retain the rawness of real life.

NB: What are the challenges did you faced while making Dharti Latar Re Horo?

SJ: Santhali is not my Native language. I dont understand Santhali. It is like making a foreign language film. I approached this film more intuitively and visually. In this process lot of patient and time is required. I knew I cant rush. It took me lot time than the expected.

NB: What preparation did you need to do in the process of deploying Jagarnath Baskey and Mugli Baskey as the main characters of the story as they are not from the acting background?

SJ: I simply listen to them. It grows like a tree, very slowly and organically. We talk lot about their recent or past experiences and made scenes around them. I allow them to participate and guide me through their Journey, Culture, difficulties. We never had a bound script. I never told them What is film about. I remember the one scene where Ms. Mugli Baskey talking to flower that is invented by herself. There is one scene Mr. Jagarnath Baskey visiting the broken house of his uncle (Mama), and the uncle says the authority have forced us out from our own house. I wrote this scene but needed the broken house to shoot that scene. We dont have money to build a set. I kept searching the recent demolished house for three days but could not find. The next day I meet Mr. Jagarnath Baskey, He said you know what happened. I said no. You have to see this and film this. He took me to the nearby village where his uncle house is demolished. And this scene happed. That day I realised we all are making the same film.

NB: As your film highlights the issue of the tribal region and questions the oppressive nature of government policies and businesspeople, do you think that in this way cinema can bring such issues to the government and force them to rethink at the policy level?

SJ: Yes, I think cinema can bring a change. It opens a new perspective and discussions about our social and cultural responsibility. It allows us to see life closely and it transforms you spiritually.

NB: While watching the movie I realised that you deployed sound and images more explicitly to convey the emotions, what do you feel about this?

SJ: I try to retain a truth of the images. For me truth is a feeling which you get from people and places. Sound helps in recreating that.

NB: What do you think about the parallel cinema and in the present context alternative cinema? Do you think that your film fits into any of these binaries?

SJ: I do not believe in these categories. It is all cinemas. Either you like it, or you dont like it and there is no parameter or certain characteristic for artistic cinema. It is vast and infinite because it is coming from an individual. Cinema is very personal same as a painting, poetry or music.

NB: How do you look at the future of independent filmmakers in India?

SJ: Filmmaking is an expensive medium. But in a recent with the digital, an affordability has come along. We have filmed Tortoise Under the Earth for entire one year with two people in the crew. Equipments are getting handy with improving technology. You can manage with small crew. It is helping us in making personal films. This is one of the reasons we can see so many unique voices are coming from almost all part of India. Even buying handy equipment and getting finance is a struggle and that is the reason film-education has played significant role. It is providing a platform and time to experiment and learn. I think government and concern authority should think of making the Film and art institute free so that it can be practiced in a more democratic way. Even underprivileged and unaffordable sector encourages to study cinema. Still cinema is seen as a luxury in our country.

NB: Thank you so much Mr. Shishir for this wonderful discussion on the different aspects of film-making process specially with your film Tortoise Under the Earth. Looking forward to watching your upcoming cinematic experiments in the near future.

SJ: It was my pleasure to talking to you about my film and experiences. Thank you.

(Neeraj Bunkar, is a PhD student at Nottingham Trent University, UK, researching caste and cinema)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the Organization's plans to double support for Ukrainians under the conditions of war.

"I was moved by the resilience and bravery of the people of Ukraine. My message to them is simple: We will not give up. The UN will redouble its efforts to save lives and reduce human suffering. In this war, as in all wars, the civilians always pay the highest price," Guterres said on Twitter on Friday.

As reported, the UN Secretary General arrived on a visit to Ukraine on Wednesday evening, and on Thursday morning he visited the liberated cities of Kyiv region to the north-west of the capital.
The Spanish government said on Friday that 200 tonnes of military cargo sent by Madrid for Ukraine is now being transported to its destination, Associated Press said.

The Spanish Ministry of Defense said the Isabel ship had previously delivered these cargoes to Poland. The ship arrived at the port of Gdynia, where the military equipment was unloaded for further transportation for 700 kilometers to the logistics base in Ukraine.

The cargo includes 30 trucks, several special heavy vehicles and ten smaller vehicles, according to the publication.

The agency said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced this assistance last week during his visit to Kyiv. He said this is the largest consignment of goods transferred by Spain to Ukraine.

Prior to this, Associated Press said Madrid provided Ukraine with 1,370 anti-tank grenade launchers, some 700,000 machine-gun cartridges, an ambulance armored vehicle, and medical supplies.
In Sumy region on Friday afternoon, a Russian helicopter fired at Ukrainian territory with unguided missiles, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said.

"Today in the afternoon, at the site of Yunakivka border service department of Sumy region, a Russian military helicopter shelled Ukrainian territory. The defenders of Ukraine were not injured during the shelling," the service said on its Telegram channel.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine thanked its American partners for the 155 mm howitzer ammunition donated as part of military assistance.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine are grateful for the U.S. support and assistance. The US Department of Defense officially announces that 'United States Air Force airmen load 155 mm Howitzer ammunition bound for Ukraine into a C-17 Globemaster III at Travis Air Force Base, California," the General Staff said on Facebook.

The General Staff also released a photo of ammunition being loaded onto the aircraft.
Civilized countries not to take ideas of dividing Ukraine seriously  Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that civilized countries will not take Russian ideas about dividing Ukraine seriously.

Thus, he answered a question of a Polish journalist about his attitude to the statement of head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin about the possible transition of Western Ukraine under the control of Poland.

"My attitude to this statement is that civilized countries will not take this seriously," Zelensky said at a meeting with Polish journalists on Friday. According to him, "Russia 'gave' Hungary Zakarpattia in the information space, Poland advised to talk about Western Ukraine... Information signals are like rockets."

"This is aimed at ensuring that there is constant destabilization, so that the countries of Eastern Europe are divided," the president said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine was offered to transfer Zaporizhia NPP under the technical control of Russia, and "our international partners" also did this.

"We were offered to transfer the nuclear power plant under the leadership of Russia, and, unfortunately, some of our international partners offered us. We refused," he said during a meeting with Polish journalists on Friday.

Zelensky said that during the capture of the station by Russian troops, "they fired at nuclear units." "First, the IAEA said that there were no hits there. It was not true. We found them, they hit the nuclear unit," Zelensky said.

The president of Ukraine said "part of the nuclear power plant is occupied by the Russian military. Our technicians."

Zelensky said the Russians had brought Rosatom technicians to the station, but, he said "we know they want to leave because they do not know a lot of things. The equipment there is modern, and they saw this nuclear power plant many years ago. They tried to leave under various pretexts, they do not really want to be there."

"Today we are technically in control of the situation. We are waiting for the unblocking," the president said.
Civilian casualties from February 24, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, to 00:00 on April 28 amounted to 6,134 civilians (6,009 in the report a day earlier), including 2,899 dead (2,829), the Office of the High Commissioner United Nations Human Rights Organization (OHCHR) said on Friday.

"OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration," the UN said in the document.

According to him, this concerns, for example, Mariupol (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), and Popasna (Luhansk region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties. These figures are being further corroborated and are not included in the above statistics.

"Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes," the UN said.

According to confirmed UN data, some 970 men, some 646 women, 76 boys and 64 girls killed, while the gender of 70 children and 1,073 adults has not yet been determined.

Among the 3,235 injured were 76 boys and 67 girls, as well as 166 children whose gender has not yet been determined.

Compared to Thursday's report, five more children killed and six were wounded.

OHCHR said that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on April 29, there were 1,317 (1,266) killed and 1,182 (1,172) injured in government-controlled territory, and 94 (88) killed and 370 (357) wounded in territory controlled by self-proclaimed "republics."

In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 1,488 (1,475) killed and 1,683 (1,651) wounded.

The daily summary traditionally states that the increase in the figures from the previous summary should not be attributed only to the cases on April 28, since during this period the office verified a number of cases from previous days.
After the end of the war and the completion of investigative actions in Ukraine, a population census will be held, including to clarify the number of dead and/or missing people and search for them, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

"They [the Russian military] are removing traces. You know about the example of mobile crematoriums that the Russians brought [to Mariupol] and burned the corpses of people. In such cases, there will be a difficult investigation. How many people killed, no one knows for sure. Therefore, there will be an investigation, then there will be a census. It is necessary to find all these people [dead and/or missing]," Zelensky told Polish media in Kyiv.
Enemy deploys part of units in border regions with Ukraine in Bryansk, Kursk regions, provocation, shelling are not ruled out  General Staff

In the border areas with Ukraine, Bryansk and Kursk regions, the invaders have deployed part of the units previously withdrawn to restore combat capability, provocations and shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and border infrastructure by them are not ruled out, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.

The enemy continues the offensive in the JFO area in order to establish full control of the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and hold the land corridor with the temporarily occupied Crimea.

Enemy units from the first Tank Army, the 20th Army of the Western Military District, the 35th Combined Arms Army, the 68th Army Corps of the Eastern Military District and airborne troops are present in Izium direction. The occupiers are focusing their main efforts on conducting reconnaissance and inflicting fire damage on units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In order to ensure additional transfer of troops, they are building additional pontoon-bridge crossings across the Siversky Donets River.

In Donetsk and Tavria directions, the enemy units are trying to conduct an offensive in the Lyman, Severodonetsk and Popasna directions, trying to establish full control over Rubizhne and Popasna and undertaking preparations for advancing to Severodonetsk.

The enemy continued to inflict air strikes on Mariupol. Its main efforts are focused on blocking the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of Azovstal and the transfer of part of the units in the direction of Kurakhove.

In Slobozhansk direction, an enemy grouping from the sixth Combined Arms Army, coastal troops of the Baltic and Northern fleets is trying to hold their positions in the area north and southeast of Kharkiv and deploy additional artillery units.

In Volyn and Polissia directions, certain units of the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus continue to carry out tasks to strengthen the section of the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in Brest and Gomel regions. It was noted that the readiness of the aviation component of the air defense system was checked. The threat of missile and bomb strikes on Ukrainian targets from the territory of Belarus remains.

In Siversk direction, the enemy is trying to prevent the movement of the reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the JFO area.

On Pivdennobuzk and Bessarabian directions, the enemy is trying to improve the tactical situation. The occupiers set up assembly points for damaged vehicles and points for the repair and restoration of equipment.

The defenders of Ukraine hold certain defensive lines, destroy the enemy, continue to move deep into the territory occupied by the invaders and liberate settlements.
At least 1,900 children under 5 have died from malnutrition in Ethiopia's embattled Tigray region in the past year, according to a study conducted by regional health officials and seen by The Associated Press.

The deaths were recorded at health facilities across Tigray between June last year and April 1. Western Tigray, which is under the control of forces from the neighboring Amhara region, was not included in the survey.

A doctor involved in the study said the true number of child deaths from malnutrition is likely higher as most families are unable to bring their children to health centers because of transportation challenges. Most hunger deaths go unrecorded, he said.

``Because we cannot access most areas, we do not know what is happening on the community level,'' said the doctor, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. ``These are simply the deaths we have managed to record in health facilities.''

Tigray has been cut off from the rest of Ethiopia since June when fighters from the Tigray People's Liberation Front, or TPLF, recaptured most of the region as federal forces withdrew.

Banking services, phone lines, and road links are all down in the region, a situation the United Nations has said amounts to a ``de facto blockade.''

Ethiopian authorities insist there is no deliberate effort to target Tigrayan civilians. They have urged Tigrayan fighters to surrender.

More than 90% of Tigray's 5.5 million people require humanitarian assistance, including 115,000 children who are severely malnourished, according to UN figures.

Civil servants have not been paid in months. Many have run out of cash to buy food and other goods because banking services have been shut down.

The children of families living in urban areas are especially at risk of malnutrition, as their parents don't have farmland to grow food, Tigrayan health officials say.

Around 700,000 people in Tigray are in the grip of ``famine-like conditions'' due to the obstruction of aid, US officials estimate.

Ethiopia's federal government unilaterally declared a surprise ``humanitarian truce'' on March 24, an announcement it said would allow aid to flow into Tigray. But nearly one month later, only four convoys of around 80 food trucks have entered the region.

``Literally, nothing has changed,'' said an aid worker who recently visited Tigray. ``We are just seeing a handful of trucks; these trucks are better than nothing but they are not going to feed the millions of people who need aid (in Tigray).''

An estimated 2,000 trucks of food must enter Tigray every week to meet the region's needs, a UN official said at a meeting in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, on Wednesday, according to the aid worker, who attended.

That's a sharp increase from the previous assessment of 600 a week. The aid worker also spoke on the condition of anonymity for safety concerns.

Just 3% of the vegetable seeds and 10% of the fertilizer required for the current planting season have reached Tigray, according to UN figures, raising fears of a poor harvest that would deepen the region's hunger crisis.

Some health officials in Tigray say they simply don't have enough supplies to treat many patients they encounter. Some who recently spoke to AP said shortages are so dire that some patients' relatives must personally buy medicines from private pharmacies at inflated prices and bring them to the hospital before their family members can be treated.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war, according to estimates by international aid groups.

But there is little hope for peace talks as Ethiopian authorities have outlawed the TPLF, effectively making its leaders fugitives on the run.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.

The call comes in the wake of Turkish diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis over Russia's war in Ukraine, including by hosting Ukrainian and Russian negotiators for talks in Istanbul late last month.

The Turkish presidency said in a statement Tuesday that Erdogan proposed taking the ``Istanbul process to the level of leaders, a crucial threshold in the Russia-Ukraine negotiations.'' It sought to continue the ``positive progress of the Istanbul talks'' toward peace.

Talks stalled after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops of committing war crimes. Putin later said peace efforts were at a dead end.

Ankara, which maintains close ties to both Kyiv and Moscow, has presented itself as a neutral broker in a bid to end the fighting.

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Turkey on Thursday rejected accusations that its warplanes conducted unauthorized military flights over Greek islands, pointing the finger at fellow NATO-member Greece instead.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said accusations made by Greece ``do not reflect the truth'' and insisted that it was Greece's air force that carried out ``provocative flights'' near Turkey's coast, allegedly violating its airspace repeatedly over the southwestern towns of Didim, Datca, and Dalaman.

``While Greece is the party which started and escalated the tension, accusing our country of unfounded allegations is incompatible with the recent positive agenda and good neighborly relations between the two countries,'' the Turkish statement read.

Turkey and Greece have long-standing sea and air boundary disputes that intensified with moves to explore potential undersea natural gas reserves.

The disagreement has resulted in near-daily air force patrols and interception missions, mostly in disputed airspace around Greek islands that are near Turkey's coastline.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Thursday he contacted NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to report the alleged airspace violations by Turkey that he said included unauthorized flights over several large Greek islands.

``I made it clear to Secretary-General Stoltenberg that this type of behavior by a NATO ally in the southeast flank of the alliance is simply unacceptable. It undermines European security as well as the unity of purpose of NATO,'' Mitsotakis said.

Mitsotakis made the comments at a meeting with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.

On Wednesday, Turkey's ambassador to Athens was summoned to Greece's Foreign Ministry to receive a complaint about the unauthorized military flights.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry called on Greece to ``stop provocative actions and rhetoric'' and to support recently-resumed talks that aim to build confidence between the two countries.

``There is no change in Turkey's attitude toward resolving all Aegean disputes, including the width of the airspace, within the framework of a sincere dialog, in accordance with international law,'' the ministry statement read.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to the G20 summit in November, which will also be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the president of host nation Indonesia said Friday.

"I have invited President Zelenskyy to attend the G20 summit," said Joko Widodo, suggesting a compromise had been reached following Western pressure to bar Russia from the event in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

Putin confirmed in a phone call with Widodo he will attend the summit, to take place on Bali island, the Indonesian leader said in a live streamed address.

Russia is a G20 member, while Ukraine is not.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Indonesia has faced fierce pressure from Western countries, led by the United States, to bar Russia from the summit.

But Jakarta had insisted that, as the host, it must remain impartial, while US President Joe Biden had suggested Ukraine could take part.

Zelensky had announced in a tweet that he was invited to the summit by Indonesia on Wednesday, following a call with Widodo.

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Sudan will raise the capacity of its power grid link with Egypt from 70 MW to 300 MW and later to 1,000 MW after static compensators were delivered this week, the Egyptian embassy in Khartoum announced in a statement Thursday.

The capacity of the grid will be raised after the new compensators are installed, the embassy said, noting that the equipment had already been moved from Port Sudan to the northern area of the country.

The Sudanese equipment deal was fully funded by the Egyptian government, informed sources told Ahram Online.

The Egyptian Embassy in Khartoum congratulates the brotherly Sudanese people on this large and positive development and affirms Egypts continued support to brotherly Sudan in all fields, which is a priority to the Egyptian government and people, the embassys press release added.

In remarks to Ahram Online, Salah Ezzat, the official in charge of the southern regions affairs at the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), said work is underway to raise the capacity of the power grid link with Sudan using the Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) technology.

Ezzat expects work to raise the grid capacity between the two countries to 300 MW to be completed by the end of the year.

In March last year, the state-run EETC and the Sudanese Electricity Transmission Company awarded Siemens Energy a contract for the supply and installation of two STATCOMs in the Dongola and Merowe stations in northern Sudan.

The first phase of the project aims to supply Sudan with electricity with a capacity of 70 MW, while the second phase will raise it to 300 MW, said the Egyptian cabinet.

The Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy announced at the time that the implementation period of the contract would be around 18 months from the date of its signing.

This project will help Egypt export reliable power to its neighbor, bringing it closer towards its goal of becoming a regional power hub, said Siemens Energy Egypts Managing Director Emad Ghaly in March 2021.

Egypt and Sudans electricity grids were officially linked in April 2020 at a voltage of 220 KV, a year after the 100 km electricity line between the two countries was completed, according to the cabinet.

In the same month, Sudan's Ministry of Energy and Mining announced the completion of the extension of the grid to Sudans northern areas.

Egypt, a country with an electricity surplus of more than 25 percent according to officials, seeks to act as a regional electricity hub, exchanging electricity with nearby countries during peak demand and exporting electricity to countries in need.

The country has existing electricity links with Libya and Jordan and plans to transfer electricity to Iraq with a capacity of up to 700 MW for the first phase. Egypt and Jordan agreed in November last year to double the capacity of their electricity grid link to 1 GW.

In October, Egypt and Saudi Arabia awarded contracts to EETC and Saudi Electricity Company for the implementation of a project to link their power grids and allow the exchange of up to 3,000 MW of electricity at a value of $1.8 billion.

In the same month, Egypt, Greece and Cyprus also signed a trilateral agreement on power linkage few days after Egypt signed an accord with Cyprus on linkage between the two countries electricity transmission networks.

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Ethiopia on Friday rejected as "lies" claims of withdrawal by Tigrayan rebels from a region neighbouring war-wracked Tigray and accused them of trying to "impede" the delivery of aid.

The conflict between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) erupted in November 2020.

The TPLF on Tuesday said it withdrew from Afar region under rebel occupation for nine months, fulfilling a key demand set by the government when it declared a humanitarian truce last month.

The TPLF is "trying to mislead the international community by pretending to have withdrawn from (the entirety) of Afar region", Legesse Tulu, Ethiopian government spokesman, told a press conference.

"Even though it has withdrawn from some border areas of Amhara and Afar regions, it has seized (other) geographically key areas, while it has continued to occupy other areas," Tulu said.

Both sides' claims could not be independently verified.

"The international media echoed these lies without cross-checking facts," said Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman, Dina Mufti, in a separate press conference, referring to the rebels' claims of total withdrawal from Afar.

"The truth is that the TPLF forces have only withdrawn from a few areas of Eribti, Berehale, and Abala town while maintaining control of the surrounding areas of Abala affecting the aid corridor" through which aid flows to Tigray, as well as other areas in Afar and Amhara, he said.

The conflict began when Nobel Peace laureate Abiy sent troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF, the region's then ruling party, saying the move came in response to rebel attacks on army camps.

It followed months of seething tensions between the government and the TPLF, which had dominated politics in Ethiopia for three decades before Abiy came to power in 2018.

Humanitarian Aid

The war has driven hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine, displaced more than two million people and left more than nine million in need of food aid, according to the United Nations.

After quickly toppling the TPLF, the federal army was driven out of Tigray in June 2021 by the rebels, which then advanced into Afar and Amhara before retreating to Tigray in December.

But rebels continued to occupy some areas of the two regions.

In March, Ethiopia's government declared "an indefinite humanitarian truce effective immediately", which allowed several convoys of humanitarian aid to reach the region for the first time since mid-December.

The UN previously blamed both sides for the "de facto humanitarian blockade".

Legesse called on the international community "to continue its pressure... to make the (Tigray forces) leave from all areas it controls" in Afar and Amhara, accusing the rebels of "working hard to impede aid efforts".

Since April 1, 146 aid trucks have been able to enter Tigray, Mufti said, rejecting rebel claims that the government had limited the amount of aid supplied to the region.

Humanitarian organisations must however obtain permission from Addis Ababa and the Afar region for each convoy.

The UN World Food Programme this month said it was "ready to keep supplies flowing in at scale" after its latest convoy arrived in Tigray where six million people live.

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Pakistan's newly elected prime minister was visiting Saudi Arabia Friday on his first foreign trip since taking office, an attempt to boost economic relations with the wealthy, oil-rich kingdom as Pakistan struggles with huge debt, soaring inflation and a worsening energy crisis.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif landed on Thursday in the holy city of Medina, just weeks after political turmoil that rattled Pakistan's fragile democracy and led to the ouster of former Premier Imran Khan.

Sharif professed enthusiasm before his departure, even speaking in Arabic in a video that praised the "brotherly kingdom", a country where he spent years in exile and cultivated close ties with top officials.

Although Sharif sought to leverage his maiden trip to the birthplace of Islam as a diplomatic milestone, the political divisions that have pushed Pakistan to the brink of the crisis were on stark display during his three-day visit.

Dozens of Khan's supporters pumped their fists and hurled insults at Sharif, mobbing their political opponent as he visited one of Islam's holiest sites, a rare scene of chaos at the shrine in Medina that drew public anger and condemnation back in Pakistan.

Sharif's trip came at the invitation of the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry reported, in order to advance "economic, trade and investment ties'' and create "greater opportunities for the Pakistani workforce in Saudi Arabia.''

The kingdom hosts some 2.7 million Pakistanis, more than any other country. Remittances from expat labourers to Pakistan are projected to reach $32 billion this year, according to Pakistan's central bank.

"I will have wide-ranging discussions with Saudi leadership,'' Sharif tweeted, "to renew & reaffirm our bonds of brotherhood & friendship.''

Today I am embarking on a visit to Saudi Arabia to renew & reaffirm our bonds of brotherhood & friendship. I will have wide-ranging discussions with Saudi leadership. KSA is one of our greatest friends & as Custodian of the Two Holy Places, has a special place in all our hearts.  Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) April 28, 2022

Sharif is the younger brother of disgraced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who, like other powerful family members, has been dogged by accusations of corruption that they have dismissed as politically motivated.

The kingdom is familiar territory for the Sharif political house. After a bloodless military coup ousted the elder Sharif from power in 1999, Saudi Arabia agreed to host the deposed Nawaz Sharif and his family.

A 2008 U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks reported that Shahbaz and Nawaz Sharif "retain excellent business and personal relations with the Saudi royal family," adding that "Saudi money reputedly financed the Sharif's parliamentary campaign.''

Shahbaz Sharif was accompanied on his visit by a delegation of some 40 people, including officials and family members, a size that prompted sharp criticism from supporters of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or Pakistan Justice Party, and had Sharif vigorously assuring the public he took a commercial flight at his own expense.

Controversy rose as Sharif visited the mosque of Prophet Muhammad in Medina, part of the smaller umrah pilgrimage that can take place any time of year.

As Sharif's delegation glided through the immaculate courtyard, dozens of Pakistani pilgrims at the mosque could be heard yelling "chor!'' or "thief!'' at the sight of their newly elected prime minister, according to footage widely circulated on social media.

Saudi security guards could be seen attempting to restrain the pilgrims. In one video, a man could be seen tugging the hair of a Pakistani official.

The episode sparked widespread fury in Islamabad on Friday, as the new government condemned the ousted prime minister and his supporters for sowing division.

"This man (Khan) wants to destroy the society, this man has divided the nation, and this man is misguiding youths,'' said Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, demanding the Saudi government take action against those who accosted Sharif.

"These (people) should be deported so that we can also take action against these violators,'' Sanaullah added.

There was no comment on the issue from the Saudi authorities. The official Saudi Press Agency reported Sharif's evening prayers at the mosque in Medina without further details.

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Egypt signed multi-billion dollar agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) this week to encourage the creation of global consortia and alliances specialising in green fuel production. Green fuel is produced using renewable processes and from renewable resources.

The aim of these MoUs is to prepare a [suitable] investment climate for global alliances to start the financial, technical, and legal studies necessary to contract with Egypt ahead of the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Yehia Zaki, chair of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) told Skynews Arabia.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli said that Egypt was keen on attracting foreign investments in green hydrogen ventures and plans to introduce a package of incentives to press ahead with the countrys strategy to increase green fuel in its energy mix.

The premier said that this came as Egypt was becoming more determined than ever to implement huge green hydrogen projects to become a regional hub for energy.

The UN meeting, slated to be held in November in Sharm El-Sheikh, is gaining international momentum, especially from investors interested in green energy, seen as the holy grail in the battle to halt climate change.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) plans to produce between five and six million tons of green fuel products through projects that are currently being agreed upon with global consortia during the current period, with an expected date of production by mid-2024, Zaki added.

Over the past week, Hassan Allam Utilities signed two MoUs with the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) to build hydrogen plants in the SCZone and on the Egyptian Mediterranean coast, with a production capacity of up to 480,000 tons of green hydrogen annually in various stages until 2030.

Under the two MoUs, Masdar, one of the worlds leading renewable energy companies, and Hassan Allam Utilities, the investment and development arm of the Hassan Allam Holding Group, will form a consortium to develop green hydrogen production plants in the SCZone and on the Mediterranean coast, a cabinet statement said.

The MoUs were signed as part of efforts to encourage global, Arab, and local companies to enter Egypts green energy investment market, added the statement. These agreements represent a vital step forward in the development of the green hydrogen economy for both the UAE and Egypt and will play a significant role in our two nations decarbonisation efforts, CEO of Masdar Mohamed Jameel said.

Egypt and the UAE are slated to host the next two sessions of the COP27 and COP28 meetings.

CEO Hassan Allam said that the first phase of the project will establish a green hydrogen production plant to be operational in 2026. The plant will produce 100,000 tons of green methanol annually to supply marine transport ships in the Suez Canal, along with 2.3 million tons of green ammonia for export by 2030, in addition to supplying local industries with green hydrogen.

Earlier this week, a consortium led by EDF Renewables and UAE-based Zero Waste signed an MoU worth $3 billion for cooperation on the joint development of a green hydrogen and green ammonia mega-project to be located in the SCZone.

The project, signed by the Egyptian New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), the General Authority for the SCZone, and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, will see the production of 350,000 tons of green fuel per year.

Another MoU was signed during the week by the Egyptian government and AMEA Power UAE, affiliated with the Al-Nowais Group, to set up a project to produce another 390,000 tons of green ammonia annually within the SCZone.

Last month, Egypt and Norway signed two agreements to construct and operate a project to produce green hydrogen with a 100 MW capacity in the SCZone and another agreement on the purchase of hydrogen. The deal comes within the framework of an MoU that Egypt signed with Norways Scatec earlier in March for the construction of Egypts first ammonia plant at a cost of $5 billion.

On 10 March, the cabinet said that this project would have a production capacity of one million tons annually, with the potential to expand to three million tons. The project, expected to start production in 2025, will aim to export green ammonia to European and Asian markets.

The agreements were signed by a consortium of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, Egypts Orascom Construction, the Norwegian Scatec company, and the UAE-based ammonia producer Fertiglobe, a joint venture between the UAEs Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and the Netherlands chemical producer OCI.

The partnership further solidifies the Funds commitment to investing in the energy transition value chain in line with Egypts roadmap towards zero-emission targets, Ayman Suleiman, CEO of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, commented. We are thrilled to play an active role in the green transformation towards a more sustainable future, he said.

The Sovereign Fund of Egypt, Norways Government Pension Fund Global, and Scatec also signed a framework agreement on cooperation in developing renewable energy, green hydrogen, and green infrastructure in a number of African countries, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Ghana, South Sudan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Djibouti, and Uganda as a first phase, with expansion into other African countries in a second.

In the meantime, the US company Honeywell announced that it was seeking to pump $200 million in investments into Egypt for the production of green fuel and petrochemicals for jet fuel production in cooperation with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), according to a statement by the cabinet.

The announcement came during a meeting between Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek Al-Molla and a delegation from Honeywell to discuss future cooperation and investment opportunities in the fields of green energy.

Honeywells Country President for Egypt Khaled Hisham said that the country had the potential to become a pivotal centre linking Europe with the Middle East, especially in green fuel projects to refuel ships and produce hydrogen and ammonia.

The company also seeks to establish a centre to follow up on projects and provide consulting services in Egypt, Hisham added. Honeywell wants to expand its business portfolio in Egypt and participate in strategic projects, especially in the fields of green fuels and providing advanced technologies to reduce emissions. It could also contribute to initiatives being prepared for launch at COP27.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The Emirati ministry affirmed in a statement its full readiness to deal with any threats, adding that it will take all necessary measures to protect the UAE from any attacks.

The Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed responsibility for the past few drone and missile attacks on the UAE in the last three weeks.

A Saudi-led coalition that the UAE backs supports the internationally recognised government in Yemen, which has been fighting the Houthi rebels since 2015.

Egypt has strongly condemned the Houthi attacks on the UAE, describing them as cowardly acts of terrorism that pose a threat to the security and stability of the region.

Earlier on Wednesday, the United States announced that it will deploy a guided missile destroyer and state-of-the-art fighter jets to help defend the UAE after a series of missile attacks by the Yemeni rebels.

On Monday, the UAE intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis and reported no losses.
The murders all happened in January and February in one Iraqi province, Maysan, which borders Iran and where drug trafficking, tribal disputes and political score-settling have combined in a toxic mix reflecting the country's broader political divisions and struggle against corruption.

War-scarred Iraq is trying to recover from years of violence after the 2003 US-led invasion which toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. Normality often hangs by a thread.

But in Maysan, violence is a near-daily occurrence with police and judicial officials regular targets of assassination attempts.

"Drug trafficking and tribal conflicts are the two main causes of the deteriorating security situation in Maysan," independent MP Osama Karim al-Badr said in the provincial capital Amarah.

February has been particularly bloody.

First came the assassination of police officer Hossam al-Aliawi.

Judge Ahmed Faisal, who specialised in drug cases, was next to die. He was headed home when assailants blocked his route and opened fire, a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A month earlier, a prominent member from the movement of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr was killed.

Sadr's bloc emerged as the largest in parliament after October's elections. Months of intense negotiations among political factions since then have raised tensions while failing to form a majority parliamentary coalition that would name a new prime minister to replace Mustafa al-Kadhemi.

'He may be killed'

On the same day that Kadhemi visited Maysan in an effort to address the violence another murder occurred. The victim was a member of Saraya al-Salam, an armed faction affiliated with Sadr.

Kadhemi ordered a reshuffle of top security officials and warned: "We have two choices in front of us: the State or chaos."

Over the past years, Iraq has seen a surge in the sale and use of drugs, particularly in central and southern provinces that border Iran and which often serve as main routes for narcotics, particularly the stimulant crystal meth.

Iraq's interior ministry says Maysan has one of the highest rates of trafficking and consumption of drugs, and the provincial Security chief General Mohammed Jassem al-Zubaidi conceded that Maysan has served as a "route for drug trafficking".

His forces carry out daily raids, and "every day, we confiscate arms," he told AFP. Security forces also arrested dozens of people within the span of days.

But according to activist and journalist Sabah al-Silawi, efforts have been hampered by the dominance of tribal traditions, which run deeper in Maysan than elsewhere.

In a country where tribal allegiances are still deeply rooted while state institutions have been weakened by decades of war, tribes often resort to their own code of conduct and traditions to resolve personal conflicts or even deadly fights, avoiding turning to the authorities.

"An officer cannot perform his duties. He will be threatened by a tribe," Silawi said. "His family will be threatened -- he may be killed."

'Big problems'

Such violence extends to the Al-Sheeb border crossing with Iran, where there is fierce competition between rival tribes and armed factions for control, a customs officer said.

"They can threaten to kill employees who might be inclined to prevent trafficking of any kind, whether of drugs or expired food products," said the officer, who preferred to remain anonymous out of concern for his safety.

Influential tribal leader Karim al-Husseini referred to the Al-Sheeb crossing as one of the province's "big problems".

"There has been a lot happening at the border crossing," said Husseini, enveloped in a traditional robe as he sat in a room for receiving guests, under a mosaic of revered Shiite figure Imam Hussein.

Husseini, who claims the allegiance of a thousand clan members, defended what he described as the "peaceful coexistence" that prevails in the province, and rejected criticism of the tribes.

"The border crossing, in principle, should be a source of benefit for the province of Maysan and for Iraq. Not a source of disputes and problems," he said.

Another ingredient in this violent mix -- reflected in the killing of police officer Aliawai -- is rivalry between Iraq's political heavyweights, in a country whose political divisions escalated after the October elections.

In Maysan, like elsewhere in Iraq, political factions "vie for power and economic interests", Silawi said.

Two of Aliawi's brothers were killed in 2019. One was a commander in Asaib Ahl al-Haq -- a powerful faction in the former paramilitary Hashed al-Shaabi group, which alleged fraud after its political arm lost many seats in the parliamentary election won by Sadr's movement.

In response, the leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Qais al-Khazali, challenged Sadr and demanded that he clear himself of any ties with the killers and call for their arrest.

Sadr dispatched a delegation to Maysan to restore calm.
Sudan has found itself increasingly isolated since an October 25 military takeover that has seen foreign aid cut as part of the international community's response to the military takeover.

The northeast African country had already been in the grip of a dire economic crisis before the military takeover and a deadly crackdown on protesters calling for a return to civilian rule.

The Sudanese delegation's visit to Moscow fell "within the framework of exchanging views and discussing ways to develop and strengthen cooperation between Sudan and Russia," the ruling Sovereign Council said.

The delegation, which also includes Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim as well as senior energy and trade officials, would hold a series of talks with Russian counterparts during the visit, it said in a statement.

Sudan has been grappling with deepening unrest since the military takeover led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country's de facto leader since the 2019 ouster of autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

Burhan chairs the Sovereign Council, which was reshuffled after the military takeover.

The October military takeover drew widespread international condemnation, including from the United Nations Security Council which described it as "very concerning".

But diplomats said the council had failed to issue a joint statement as Britain, which called for the meeting, did not even seek to secure one given Russia's support for Burhan.

Moscow's envoy said at the time that Burhan was needed to maintain stability in Sudan, according to one diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Last year, Sudanese authorities said they were reviewing a deal negotiated under Bashir with Moscow for the construction of a naval base in Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast.

Officials said at the time that some clauses had been found to be "somewhat harmful".

Burhan said recently however that the agreement had not been cancelled.

Sudan was militarily dependent on Russia for decades due to crippling sanctions imposed by Washington against Bashir's government.

But since his 2019 overthrow, Sudan has moved closer to the United States which removed Khartoum from its crippling blacklist in 2020.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
"A terrorist group had recruited young Palestinian men in Lebanon to carry out major bombing attacks using explosive belts" and other munitions, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi told a press conference.

"Three separate targets were to be hit at the same time," the ministry said, in an operation Mawlawi said would have caused a large loss of life.

Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) said the instructions for the bomb plot came from an IS operative based in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, who is in touch with fellow Sunni extremists in Syria.

The instructions were passed to an undercover ISF agent who had successfully managed to infiltrate IS networks in Lebanon.

On February 7, the ISF agent was instructed to prepare attacks on a Shia religious compound in the Al-Laylaki neighbourhood, the Imam al-Kazem compound in Haret Hreik and the Al-Nasser mosque in Beirut's Ouzai suburb, the ISF said.

He was given three explosive vests and other weapons to conduct the attacks on February 16, the ISF added.

Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of Shia militant group Hezbollah, saw a wave of bombings in 2013 and 2014 carried out by Al-Qaeda linked militants in retaliation for Hezbollah's intervention in the civil war in neighbouring Syria on the side of the Damascus government

According to the ISF, the planned attack by IS was meant to "pay homage" to the group's slain leader Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, killed in a US raid on his home in rebel-held northwestern Syria last month.
The campaign, which aims to raise awareness about the issue of food waste in Egypt, comes in light of the governments goals to implement a new law to reduce food waste, according to the FAO website.

The latest reports issued by the FAO revealed that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region relies on imports to meet more than 50 percent of its food needs, yet it loses up to a third of the food it produces and imports due to waste.

Globally, the FAO estimates that 931 million tonnes of food, or 17 percent of all food available to consumers in 2019, went into waste bins of households, retailers, restaurants and other food services.

CEO of the Egyptian Food Bank Mohsen Sarhan said that the campaign aims to reduce food waste during the month of Ramadan.

The holy month traditionally features the consumption of large quantities of food at meals breaking the daily fast.

The campaign also aims to educate citizens to purchase only what they need during Ramadan, and encourage them to give what exceeds their needs to poor families, he added.

The campaign was launched in coordination and cooperation with the Unit for Monitoring Loss and Waste in Agricultural Products at the Agricultural Economics Research Institute, affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation.

The Food Bank is the first Egyptian non-governmental organisation established to eradicate hunger, aiming to deliver adequate food to families in need throughout the country. It was first launched in 2006.
On the centennial of diplomatic ties between Cairo and Washington on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gifted Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry with two letters marking the start of relations between the two countries in the 1920s.

The centennial was also marked by US Congressmen Mario Diaz-Balart and Dutch Ruppersberger, who issued a joint statement hailing that strategic partnership between the two countries.

In a Tweet on Wednesday, Blinken posted two letters sent in 1922 establishing the start of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The first telegram is a letter from former US President Warren G. Harding to King of Egypt Ahmed Fouad I recognising Egypts independence and sovereignty and establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, dated 26 April 1922.

The second is a letter from then-US Secretary of State Charles Hughes to Egyptian Prime Minister Abdel-Khalek Tharwat Pasha congratulating him on Egypts independence, also dated 26 April 1922.

Today marks 100 years of U.S.-Egypt diplomatic relations. To mark the centennial of our strategic partnership, I gifted Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry with the 1922 telegrams congratulating Egypt on its independence. pic.twitter.com/0nC753Es1t  Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) April 26, 2022

Blinken gifted the two letters to Shoukry during his visit to Washington in mid-April to commemorate the centennial of diplomatic ties, according to a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

There is a lot of history, but, I hope, a lot of good history we can actually make together in the months and years ahead, Blinken told the media before the meeting with Shoukry in Washington DC.

Trade volume between Egypt and the US amounted to $9.1 billion in 2021, making the US Egypt's second-largest trading partner after China, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt.

This represents a leap in trade volume from $6.9 billion in 2020, according to AmCham.

Egypt also accounted for 5 percent of the Middle East and North Africa exports to the US last year and 9 percent of the regions imports from the US.

Congressional Friends of Egypt Caucus

US Congressmen Mario Diaz-Balart and Dutch Ruppersberger also marked 100 years of diplomatic ties with Egypt, saying the two countries have together faced global challenges, including the global threat of terrorism.

The two congressmen, who are also co-chairs of the Congressional Friends of Egypt Caucus, hailed the partnership between Egypt and the US in a joint statement on Wednesday, saying it is built on a shared commitment to peace, stability, and economic growth for both countries.

"It is our shared hope that Egypt will continue to lead on the world stage and that Egypt and the United States will enjoy another century of partnership and progress to the mutual benefit of the Egyptian and American people, the congressmen said.

Cairo and Washington have also worked toward a solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict amid other global challenges, Diaz-Balart and Ruppersberger said.

Egypt and the US have cooperated to achieve a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict over the past decades and have repeatedly called for reviving peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis.

In May last year, Egypt, which has longstanding relations with both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions in Gaza after 11 days of Israeli assault.

Egypt and the US administration also share similar visions on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including the need for a two-state solution and for stopping the building of new illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Egypt, the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, participated in a meeting in Israel's Negev last month that included the US and Abraham Accord signatories Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.

During the meeting, Shoukry said Egypt has been striving for years to encourage both the Palestinian and Israeli sides to reach the necessary accommodation and compromise that can facilitate an end to the conflict.

"Decades after the Camp David Accords, we continue to honour that historic agreement with robust contributions to the peace and security of the entire region," the two congressmen said.

The Camp David Accords are US-brokered agreements signed between Egypt and Israel on 17 September 1978 that led to the peace treaty between the two countries in the following year. This became the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab state.

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World attention will focus on Egypt during the COP27 Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in November, the culmination of years of work on environmental protection and action against climate change.

The international communitys choice of Egypt as the venue for the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP27) in November this year is a recognition of the stability and development Egypt has achieved over the past seven years and a landmark in the recovery of its international status.

But the choice has not sat well with those who do not wish well to Egypt and its people. They maintain that Egypt cares little about environmental protection and that it has made no progress in this domain, a claim that is patently false, as I know from personal experience.

Some years ago, I had the good fortune to meet with and learn a lot from three leading international environmental experts, all of them Egyptian, Abdel-Fattah Al-Qassas, Mustafa Tolba, and Rushdi Said. Out of my concern for the issue, I presented a motion to discuss the issue in parliament. After I spoke, a fellow MP complimented my speech, then adding that fortunately, we live in a good and decent environment, thank God. At the time there was little awareness about environmental issues. In fact, the man thought I had been talking about the social environment.

The disappointment only increased my determination to draw attention to crucial environmental concerns. Along with like-minded colleagues, I pressed for the creation of a national council or Ministry of the Environment. A ministry was then created and was headed by Laila Iskander, a social entrepreneur long involved in promoting environmental and social development projects. She was concerned by global warming, and she urged measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She presented proposals to this end, but unfortunately the cabinet at that time was not interested.

But Egypt was not alone at that time in its lack of concern for environmental dangers. Since then, however, the question has become of paramount importance, and Egypt has made great strides at the governmental, parliamentary, and civil society levels in raising awareness and taking the necessary actions to address environmental problems.

Under President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, the environment has acquired the priority it merits. His personal concern has been practical and exacting. On opening a cement factory, for example, when given a presentation that covered the technical and financial aspects of the project, he said, now tell me about the environmental impacts. Without the proper precautions, cement production is an environmentally pollutant industry.

Al-Sisi also attended the Biodiversity Conference hosted by Egypt, making him the first Egyptian president to place the environment high on the national agenda and on the agenda of the presidency. Soon after coming to power, he issued a presidential decree on producing electricity from renewable energy sources, the first of many similar acts to promote clean and renewable energy.

In case some think I am blinded by pro-government bias, I will turn to other media sources to testify to the new political will and the consequent progress in environmental matters.

The US channel CNN, known for its biases in favour of Israel, Turkey, and Qatar and its inclination to ignore Egypts achievements, has recently hailed a number of developments in Egypt such as the new desalinisation plant at Gabal Al-Asfar, the initiative to replace old petrol-guzzling cars with more environmentally friendly natural-gas powered vehicles, the new green public transport network, the clean energy awareness-raising campaign targeting women in rural Egypt, and the grassroots project started by a group of women to recycle used cooking oil in energy production.

In addition, there is the monorail project that operates on electric power and the new battery powered microbuses that have begun to replace those operating on diesel.

The Egyptian government is applying the latest international standards for sustainable, smart, and green urban development. One example is the New Administrative Capital, which according to one report is a model of integrated sustainable development with interconnected systems for waste management, clean energy, and green lungs. According to the report, there is 17 m2 of green space per capita, in keeping with international standards.

New legislation is now in place to stimulate and regulate investment in green energy. The government has increased investment in green projects and is expected to raise it again soon. In September 2020, Egypt became the first Arab country to issue green bonds, selling $750 million worth of the five-year bonds to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability and to investing in the green economy to ensure a healthy environment with a minimal carbon footprint for future generations.

In 2020, Egypt chaired the Conference on Biological Diversity. It is co-chair of the African Group of Negotiators on the Climate Change Agreement and co-chair with the UK of a coalition on climate adaptation and resilience. To my knowledge, Egypt is the only country that has a group of environmental activists called Youth Against Coal.

Successful work speaks for itself. But it is also important for Egyptians to be aware of these developments. In her recent meeting with Al-Sisi, Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, lauded Egypts progress, noting that it was one of the first developing nations to adopt decisive policies on climate change. She added that she looked forward to the COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, which she believes will be a milestone summit on climate change.

Al-Sisi expressed his appreciation of the fruitful cooperation with the UN and his hopes for the forthcoming collaboration in preparing for the conference in Sharm El-Sheikh. Egypt, he said, is eager to build on the outputs of the COP26 Glasgow meeting last year with the aim of promoting practical and internationally applicable solutions and commitments regarding actions related to reducing carbon emissions and marshalling the necessary funding.

The worlds attention will be focused on Egypt in November this year, and I have no doubt that the Egyptian government and people will rise to the task of hosting a successful conference.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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World leaders and U.S. political and foreign policy elite paid their respects Wednesday to the late Madeleine Albright, the child refugee from war-torn Europe who rose to become America's first female secretary of state.

Led by President Joe Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, the man who picked Albright to be his top diplomat and the highest-ranking woman ever in the U.S. government at that time, some 1,400 mourners gathered to celebrate her life and accomplishments at Washington National Cathedral.

Albright died of cancer last month at age 84, prompting an outpouring of condolences from around the world that also hailed her support for democracy and human rights. Besides the current and former presidents, the service was attended by at least three of her successors as secretary of state along with other current and former Cabinet members, foreign diplomats, lawmakers and an array of others who knew her.

Biden, who delivered a tribute to Albright, said her name was synonymous with the idea that America is "a force for good in the world."

"In the 20th and 21st century, freedom had no greater champion than Madeleine Korbel Albright," Biden said. "Today we honor a truly proud American who made all of us prouder to be Americans."

Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also were scheduled to deliver tributes at the service, while the current secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and former secretaries Condoleezza Rice and John Kerry were slated to attend. Other top current officials expected to be present included Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA Director Bill Burns, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Mark Milley and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The members of the VIP audience were masked, as Albright's family had requested.


UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledged that the world body would not give up on ending Russia's war in Ukraine and would scale up support to the Ukrainian people during a visit Thursday to Kyiv.

"This war must end, and peace must be established in line with the charter of the United Nations and international law," Guterres said during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The two leaders met for 90 minutes Thursday at Zelenskyy's office in the capital. "I am here to focus on ways on how the UN can expand support for the people of Ukraine, saving lives, reduce suffering and help find the path of peace," the UN chief said. "I want the Ukrainian people to know that the world sees you, hears you, and is in awe of your resilience and resolve."

Guterres, who had been criticized in Kyiv for going to Moscow first, was clear on the UN position on the war. "As I said in Moscow, Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a violation of its territorial integrity and of the Charter of the United Nations," he said.

 Defending the Charter

Zelenskyy said he believes the UN is making Ukraine a priority. "In Ukraine, we are defending the principles of the UN Charter," Zelenskyy said. "I'm grateful to Mr. Guterres for his clear, straightforward position with regards to the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine. We value your attempts to use the goodwill mechanism. We need to use any option for the sake of peace."

The capital was not quiet during the visit. Explosions could be heard during the news conference, and Ukraine's foreign minister tweeted that the Russians had targeted the city with cruise missiles.

Zelenskyy said his discussion with the UN chief covered issues including ending Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports so it could export grain to the world and ease rising wheat and maize prices, and lessen shortages to many developing countries.
Jazz vocalist Nah Youn-sun has been invited to the UN's annual jazz concert to be held in New York on Saturday.

According to her management agency, she will sing the Korean version of John Lennon's "Imagine" at the concert, which is part of an event to celebrate International Jazz Day.

It is the second time Nah has been invited to the concert, after her performance there in 2017.

The celebration was launched by UNESCO in 2011 "to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe" and has since been observed annually on April 30.

American jazz pianist Herbie Hancock hosts the annual concert featuring renowned jazz musicians. All the musicians will sing the hymn to peace together at the end of the concert, with Nah singing it in Korean.

The concert will be livestreamed on social media including YouTube and Facebook.


One in five young people in Korea believe they will not become successful no matter how hard they work, a 2.5-fold increase from 1990.

According to the latest World Values Survey, 20.8 percent of Koreans aged 16 to 24 have no confidence in their future, compared to 8.4 percent three decades ago.

The average proportion among the 21 countries that were surveyed was 14.6 percent, up only 0.5 percentage point over the same period, so young Koreans are unusually pessimistic.

China is home to the highest proportion of young people without hopes of success, followed by Mexico and Sweden.

The Korea Institute of Public Administration analyzed the WTS data and said that growing social inequality undermines trust in society and gives rise to the belief that the system is unfair.

According to Statistics Korea, one in two people in Korea aged 19 to 29 feel job opportunities are unfair, while the proportion saying they trust other people fell from 71.4 percent in 2013 to 44.9 percent in 2020.
The U.S. Forces Korea conducted special training last weekend to practice seizing a North Korean nuclear facility buried deep underground.

The USFK publicized the drill on Twitter to send a warning to Pyongyang, just before North Korea staged a massive military parade on Monday where it showed off new nuclear-capable missiles.

The U.S. 2nd Infantry Division tweeted four photos on April 23 showing U.S. troops in protective suits equipped with gas masks, portable oxygen tanks and rifles conducting a search mission in a tunnel. One photo shows them guarding the entrance to the tunnel. The soldiers' chemical, biological and radiological protective gear is presumed to be new.


The White House is signaling that a decision by Indonesia -- who holds this year's Group of 20 presidency -- to invite Ukraine to the November summit in Bali is not enough to ensure the attendance of U.S. President Joe Biden -- unless Russian President Vladimir Putin is excluded from the gathering.

"Our understanding, and of course you could confirm this with the Indonesians, as we have reached out to them privately, is that they did invite them [Russia] before the invasion... We've conveyed our view that we don't think they [Russia] should be a part of it," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday.

Earlier Friday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced that he had invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the economic forum's summit. "We understand the G-20 has a catalyst role in global economic recovery, and when we speak of global economic recovery, there are two important factors right now: COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine," Widodo said in a video remark, outlining the rationale of his invitation to Zelenskyy.

Widodo said he had extended the invitation during a call with Zelenskyy on Wednesday, during which Widodo turned down a request for weapons but offered humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. He said that he had spoken to Putin on Thursday and that the Russian president informed him that he would be attending the summit. "Indonesia wants to unite G-20," Widodo said. "Peace and stability are the keys to global economic recovery and growth."

That may be a tall order amid Western leaders' demands to kick Russia out of the group of the world's 20 largest economies. Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, among others, have raised concerns about Putin's participation in the summit and signaled they will not attend if Putin is there.
On April 28, 2022, H.E. Chinese Ambassador Hu Zhangliang, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Sierra Leone, donated a batch of food and non-food items to the needy Muslim groups through the Ministry of Social Welfare of the Republic of Sierra Leone. Hon. Minister of Social Welfare Mme. Baindu Dassama graced the handover ceremony.

The donated items include 20 tons of rice, 5 tons of flour, 1,000 liters of cooking oil, 400 kgs of sugar and 8000 surgical facial masks, which were received by Inter Religious Council, United Council of Imams, Supreme Islamic Council and Sierra Leone Muslim Congress for further donation to the needy Muslim community.

On receiving the donation, Hon. Minister Mme. Baindu Dassama and the Muslim leaders thanked the Chinese Embassy in Sierra Leone for its continued support. They acclaimed that this donation is a great Eid al-Fitr gift for the Muslims in Sierra Leone. They assured that the donated items will be delivered to their intended destinations as soon as possible.

Ambassador Hu said that this donation is a vivid reflection of China-Sierra Leone friendship. He thanked Hon. Minister Dassama and the Muslim leaders for their support and coordination. He also expressed his good wishes through the Muslim groups to the Muslim brothers and sisters in Sierra Leone and wished them a happy Eid al-Fitr in advance.

Ambassador Hu introduced to the Honorable Minister and the religious leaders the development of Islam and the state of life of the Muslims in China. He reminded them that the rumours fabricated and spread by certain western forces about China's policy toward Muslims are ill-intentioned and misleading. He wished that the Sierra Leone friends would be able to go to China and see for themselves the realities after the COVID-19 pandemic.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 29, 2022 - 21:06 | All, Japan

The relatives of a young couple who were set to get engaged on the ill-fated tourist boat that sank in waters off Hokkaido last week have submitted the missing pair's marriage registration in an attempt to grant their last wishes.

Tomoya Suzuki, 22, boarded the Kazu I boat with his girlfriend on April 23 as part of a surprise trip for her birthday taking in the sights of the Shiretoko Peninsula. He had brought a ring to propose during the cruise.

The marriage registration filed with the Kitami city government office was not accepted. His uncle Kensuke Suzuki, 38, said, "It's a difficult thing, but at the very least we hope (their wishes) might be made a reality."

Although the bodies of part of the 26 people aboard have been found, the couple is still unaccounted for. The Japan Coast Guard announced Friday it has found the sunken Kazu I, and the families continue to wait to learn more.

Suzuki and his girlfriend knew each other from their childhood in Hokkaido. At the time of the accident, they were living together in Kitami for Tomoya's work.

Kensuke recalled Tomoya as "a sweet boy from a young age."

Tomoya's father Tsuyoshi Suzuki last had contact with the couple on April 23, when he wished his would-be daughter-in-law a happy birthday and received an around 10-second video showing how happy she was in response. When the news broke, he desperately tried to text and call Tomoya, but could not get through.

By the day's end, he was in Shiretoko for news of his son, whose car was still parked near a port. Tsuyoshi said he could not bear to look, and Kensuke broke down in tears upon seeing it.

Once the couple are found, Tsuyoshi said, he wants to "cover them in a warm blanket and let them rest, because the water must have been cold." At the same time, he expressed fury that their young lives had been lost, and that he could never forgive it.

Relatives of the couple are deeply dissatisfied with the response from Seiichi Katsurada, the head of Kazu I operator Shiretoko Yuransen.

The voice of the father of Tomoya's girlfriend shook with anger as he asked Katsurada what he could do now for his daughter at one of his appearances in front of families and others connected to the missing.

When Tsuyoshi pressed him on why he had allowed the boat to depart amid high waves on open seas, he said only that he was "sorry."

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KYODO NEWS - Apr 29, 2022 - 09:03 | All, Japan

Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos is one of the 112 foreigners recognized in this year's spring decorations for their notable contributions to relations with Japan, the government said Friday.

Roos, who served in the post from 2009 to 2013, will be among those receiving the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, the highest honor to be given to foreign nationals in this spring's commendations.

The 67-year-old told Kyodo News he was "deeply honored" by the recognition and wanted to thank the Japanese people for the "amazing years" he spent there.

Roos was the first U.S. representative to attend the annual ceremony in Hiroshima in 2010 to commemorate the victims of the atomic bombing by the United States at the end of World War II. This eventually led to the historic visit by then-President Barack Obama six years later.

Speaking of that time, Roos said he felt that the two countries "continue to hold a special position in attempting to eliminate all nuclear weapons from the face of the earth," an objective also sought by Obama.

Roos' tenure was also marked by the 2011 massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan and triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

As the ambassador, he was at the forefront of "Operation Tomodachi," a rescue and relief operation jointly carried out by the U.S. military and Japan's Self Defense Forces, which came to symbolize the bilateral alliance.

"When you have the bond that our two countries have, it wasn't a difficult decision to do everything we could to address the crisis," he said.

The foreign recipients, from 59 countries and regions, include Abbas Araghchi, who served as Iran's ambassador to Japan from 2008 to 2011. He will be conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.

"I did my best to promote the relationship between Iran and Japan. I am extremely happy," he said.

Araghchi, 59, played a major role when then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Iran's capital Tehran and then Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited Japan, both in 2019.

His embassy also aided the Japanese people in the aftermath of the 2011 disaster, for example serving Iranian dishes to people in Iwate Prefecture.

Among 4,034 Japanese nationals to be decorated, 453 are women, the highest number since the honors system was reformed in 2003. A total of 1,862 recipients come from the private sector.

Bunmei Ibuki, 84, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, will be conferred the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers, the highest honor in this spring commendations.

Makiko Tanaka, 78, Japan's first female foreign minister and daughter of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, will be one of the 11 recipients of the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.

Award-winning actress Kaori Momoi, 71, who had a role in Rob Marshall's "Memoirs of a Geisha," will receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette.

Honorees for industry promotion include Kenji Fujiyoshi, 78, former president of Mitsui Chemicals Inc. He will get the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.

The award ceremony will be held at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on May 10.

Related coverage:

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Japan PM, U.S. envoy pledge unity against nuke use on Hiroshima visit

Obama decided on Hiroshima trip week before announcement: top aide
KYODO NEWS - Apr 29, 2022 - 14:39 | All, Japan

Travelers wearing masks crowded train stations and airports across Japan as the Golden Week holiday began Friday without the issuance of a coronavirus state of emergency for the first time in three years.

Transportation reservations have increased sharply compared with those a year earlier, although they have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

Haneda airport in Tokyo was crowded from early morning with travelers and their luggage, as reservations for domestic departure flights of Japan Airlines Co. and All Nippon Airways Co. were almost fully booked, according to the airlines.

At the airport, all four security checkpoints of Terminal 2 were open for the first time in about two years.

"We'd like to support the local tourism while preventing infections," said Yumiko Kondo, a 49-year-old woman who was on a trip to Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan with her family.

Her 8-year-old son Eita said, "It's been a long time since I've been to an airport, so I'm very excited. I want to make a lot of memories."

At JR Tokyo Station, people flooded the platforms of the Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train after it fully resumed services on April 14 following suspension due to a powerful earthquake that hit northeastern Japan in March.

"I was worried that I wouldn't be able to return to my hometown for the holidays, but the services resumed sooner than I expected," said 36-year-old Kenichi Watanabe before going to Fukushima Prefecture with his family members.

According to Japan Railway companies, reservations for shinkansen bullet trains increased by 56 to 284 percent in the period from Thursday to May 8 from a year earlier.

Airlines' bookings from Friday to May 8 were 1.7 times higher than the previous year for domestic flights and 4.7 times higher for international flights.

In the previous two Golden Week holidays, local governments asked citizens to refrain from traveling across prefectures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. This year's Golden Week will end on May 8.

Related coverage:

ANA forecasts return to profit in FY 2022 amid recovering demand

Japan should ease COVID border controls for foreigners: panel members

Entire Tohoku bullet train line back in service a month after quake
By Supriya Singh and Eduardo Martinez, KYODO NEWS - Apr 29, 2022 - 10:06 | All, World, Japan, Feature

Japan's planned development aid for India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands carries a "geostrategic overtone," with some security experts saying it is part of initiatives to keep an increasingly assertive China in check.

The 4.02 billion yen ($31 million) in aid comes as Japan and India have been promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific in coordination with the United States and Australia, the four regional democracies collectively known as the Quad.

It marks the first time that India has accepted foreign assistance for development on the islands in the strategically important Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, reflecting deepening ties between New Delhi and Tokyo.

The islets are the only area in India with naval, air and ground forces intended to deter China, a neighboring giant with which the South Asian country is involved in several territorial disputes.

"If an armed conflict breaks out in the South China Sea, and if the U.S. and by default Japan get involved, the Andaman and Nicobar potentially can play a crucial role," said G.V.C. Naidu, a professor of Indo-Pacific affairs at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

China has overlapping claims with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam in the South China Sea, one of the potential flashpoints in the Indo-Pacific.

"The rim region of the Bay of Bengal is also one of the fastest-growing subregions in the Indo-Pacific," prompting India to pay "a lot more attention," to the maritime sphere and the islands, Naidu said in an email.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency inked the deal with the Indian government on March 30 to "reduce the dependence of the islands on diesel generation systems and utilize the power generated from renewable energy sources."

JICA said storage batteries will be installed by February 2024 in South Andaman to stabilize the power supply, contributing to India's plan to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2070.

The aid is also expected to help boost tourism, which is the archipelago's largest industry.

Analysts say that once infrastructure is developed, India and other naval forces could use the facilities to conduct the Malabar exercises in the Indian Ocean involving the four Quad members.

"The development of the islands' infrastructure will facilitate the participation of navies in Malabar, not just Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force," said Leszek Buszynski, an honorary professor of strategic and defense studies at the Australian National University.

Buszynski said China has criticized the Malabar exercises and Beijing is "sensitive to any expansion of the MSDF's area of operations," particularly in the South China Sea.

Ron Huisken, an adjunct associate professor at ANU's Strategic & Defence Studies Centre, said China's strategic priorities include avoiding the vulnerability of economic or military dependence on access to the Strait of Malacca, close to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Given that most of China's crude oil imports are transported through the strait, Beijing wants to ensure that "no other major power has secure access" to the waterway, Huisken said.

Japan's development aid to the islands comes after Tokyo and New Delhi signed an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement in September 2020, a move some speculate could provide Japanese warships with access to the islands and provide India access to Japan's facilities in Djibouti and elsewhere.

The ACSA enables the Self-Defense Forces and the Indian Armed Forces to provide each other with supplies and services, including food, fuel and spare parts as well as transportation. It also allows use of each side's facilities during joint exercises and U.N. peacekeeping operations.

The Indian Navy has been hosting a multilateral naval exercise at Port Blair, the headquarters of the Andaman and Nicobar Command, which is the only event of its kind in the entire Indo-Pacific.

"Both in scope and degree, these interactions are getting scaled up gradually," making the islands and their development relevant, all the more as the Indian economy expands and its trade grows, according to JNU's Naidu.

"No question, the investment has geostrategic overtone," he said.

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KYODO NEWS - Apr 29, 2022 - 11:21 | World, All, Coronavirus

South Korea to allow people to take masks off outside from next Monday amid a decreasing trend in the number of daily COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Kim Boo Kyum said Friday.

"The government has decided to adjust preventive measures (for the coronavirus) given the decreasing trend that has been continuing for the past six weeks," Kim said in his regular COVID-19 response meeting.

The decision came after the government decided to scrap social distancing rules last week including limits on the opening hours of businesses and the number of people allowed in private gatherings.

People will still have to wear masks when they attend gatherings of more than 50 people, Kim added.

President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol's transition team, however, called Friday's announcement "premature."

South Korea reported 50,568 new coronavirus infections on Friday after hitting more than 600,000 daily cases in mid-March. The cumulative number came to 17,194,616, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

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KYODO NEWS - Apr 29, 2022 - 22:52 | All, Japan, World

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday confirmed to strengthen cooperation toward realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific amid China's growing assertiveness in the region and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Widodo said Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations stand ready to build cooperation with their partners, and Kishida, who is on the first stop of his trip to Southeast Asia and Europe, underscored the importance of upholding the rules-based international order.

"We are facing many challenges, including the situations in Ukraine, the East and South China seas and North Korea, and maintaining and strengthening the rules-based, free and open international order has become more important," said Kishida in a joint press conference after the summit.

Kishida said that based on such understanding, the two sides confirmed they will strengthen cooperation toward realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific that Japan has been pushing forward and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific spearheaded by Indonesia.

Japan views Indonesia, this year's host of the Group of 20 major economies' summit to be held in November and a key economy in Southeast Asia, as a strategic partner sharing universal values such as democracy and the rule of law. Russia and China are members of the G-20.

The two sides also agreed the war in Ukraine must be ended through dialogue and to work together to deal with the economic and humanitarian impacts of the war.

Indonesia has been supportive of Ukraine but has not imposed sanctions on Russia over the invasion.

Kishida vowed to cooperate toward the success of the G-20 summit.

Indonesia said the same day Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his intention to attend the summit, and that Jakarta has invited Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the meeting.

Kishida also said Widodo has given him a "positive response" regarding lifting Indonesia's import restrictions on Japanese food products imposed after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.

He said Widodo will be invited to Japan when it hosts a special summit next year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Japan-ASEAN exchanges.

Kishida's eight-day tour will also take him to Vietnam, Thailand, Italy and Britain. He is scheduled to return to Japan on May 6.

With Japan and other Group of Seven nations taking a tough line on imposing sanctions on Russia following its attack on Ukraine, Kishida also plans to ask other ASEAN members, most of which have so far stood aloof from such action against Moscow, to collaborate.

During the trip, Kishida will also meet with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and hold talks with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Japan and Thailand, marking the 135th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, are seeking to sign an agreement on the transfer of defense equipment and technology to strengthen cooperation in the security field. Thailand is this year's host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit.

In Europe, Kishida is expected to discuss with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson how to respond to Russia's continued aggression in Ukraine and support people who have fled the war-torn country.

Kishida is planning to visit the Vatican during the trip and hold talks with Pope Francis, a Japanese government source said. It would be the first meeting in eight years between a Japanese prime minister and the pope.

Through the meeting, Kishida, who seeks a world free of nuclear weapons, aims to confirm the Vatican's support and deliver a message of peace at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested using nuclear weapons amid the war in Ukraine.

While the coronavirus pandemic has restricted in-person meetings, Kishida, who took office in October, has been increasing face-to-face diplomacy after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

The latest overseas trip follows his visit in late March to India and Cambodia as well as a visit to Belgium, where he and other leaders of the G-7 vowed to keep a close watch on any attempts to help Russia evade sanctions, in a possible warning to countries such as China that may seek to aid Moscow.

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KYODO NEWS - Apr 29, 2022 - 19:26 | All, Japan, World

Japan on Friday asked Kazakhstan to keep in line with the international community against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi made the request at a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Mukhtar Tileuberdi in Nur-Sultan, following Kazakhstan's abstention last month from the U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning Russia.

Tileuberdi, who doubles as deputy prime minister, responded by saying his country is ready to make diplomatic efforts toward a peaceful solution, according to the Japanese ministry.

Hayashi also met with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev earlier in the day. They agreed to develop the bilateral relations, the ministry said.

The Central Asian nation has maintained close relations with both Russia and Ukraine and avoided condemning Moscow over its invasion of the East European nation that began on Feb. 24.

Hayashi is on his five-day trip through Monday, during which he will also visit Uzbekistan and Mongolia.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Japan's establishment of diplomatic ties with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan following their independence from the former Soviet Union.

Tokyo has been trying to enhance economic relations with Central Asia in an apparent effort to counter the increasing influence of China, which continues to invest in large-scale infrastructure projects in the region through its "Belt and Road" initiative.

In 2004, Japan launched a foreign ministerial dialogue with five Central Asian countries, also involving Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, for regional development.

Related coverage:

Japan, 5 Central Asia nations vow to closely communicate over Ukraine
KYODO NEWS - Apr 30, 2022 - 03:00 | All, Japan

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday Japan's preparations for the planned discharge of treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant are proceeding largely in line with relevant international safety standards.

The IAEA task force, consisting of independent and highly recognized experts with diverse technical backgrounds from various countries, is reviewing the safety of the plan to enhance transparency and gain international understanding amid neighboring China and South Korea expressing concerns.

In its first report on plan's safety following the task force's mission to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in February, the agency summarized the overall progress in the technical preparations for the treated water discharge, expected to start around the spring next year.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi pointed out that Japan has made "significant progress in its preparations" and the task force is satisfied that plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry have identified the appropriate next steps for the water discharge.

Grossi added the IAEA's work will continue with the goal of releasing its conclusions before the discharge takes place.

Water that has become contaminated after being pumped in to cool melted reactor fuel at the plant has been accumulating at the complex, also mixing with rainwater and groundwater at the site.

It is treated through an advanced liquid processing system that removes radionuclides except for tritium, and the water will be released 1 kilometer off the coast of the power plant through an underwater tunnel.

Before the discharge, it will be diluted with seawater below one 40th of the current regulations, according to the government.
By Masakatsu Ota, KYODO NEWS - Apr 29, 2022 - 10:44 | All, Japan

A 2021 Japan-U.S. joint statement that referred to the Taiwan Strait for the first time in 52 years was meant to signal Washington's commitment to the security of Asia amid China's increasing assertiveness, former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said recently.

In an interview with Kyodo News about one year after his April summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, Suga said that while the two countries committed to enhance deterrence under a "functioning" alliance, they also tried to send out a message that Tokyo and Washington were seeking strategic dialogue with Beijing.

The statement on April 16, 2021, said, "We underscore the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues."

Expecting a backlash from the Chinese leadership over the reference, the statement also said, "The United States and Japan recognized the importance of candid conversations with China."

Taiwan was previously mentioned in a U.S.-Japan leaders' statement in 1969, before Tokyo and Washington recognized Beijing as the sole legitimate government of China.

Then Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato and U.S. President Richard Nixon said in the statement that "the maintenance of peace and security in the Taiwan area was also a most important factor for the security of Japan."

In the interview, Suga said he went into the summit with the stance that Japan would "respond calmly and firmly" to China's unilateral attempts to change the status quo and human rights issues involving the country, but that it was "not desirable to heighten military tensions unnecessarily" as Japan is geographically located close to China.

"I conveyed my thoughts about how Japan-China relations should be at the summit meeting," Suga said, pointing to the importance of economic ties between the two Asian countries.

Suga also revealed he had received indirectly a message from Beijing urging Tokyo to respect four basic documents between the two countries, including their 1972 joint statement, which states the Chinese government regards Taiwan as "an inalienable part" of China and that the Japanese government fully understands and respects this.

Communist-led China and democratic Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 after a civil war. China has regarded Taiwan as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, Beijing and Moscow moving even closer to each other is not desirable for Asia, Suga said, adding that strategic diplomacy is needed to change China's stance. China and Russia have been reinforcing ties in recent years as their relations with Washington have deteriorated.

The former premier said that ties between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were damaged during the administration of Biden's predecessor Donald Trump and that he urged the U.S. leader to build closer ties with ASEAN.

Suga also said he believes the Quad -- a framework involving Japan, the United States, Australia and India -- should push forward dialogue with ASEAN.

His remarks were made at a time when Japan's diplomacy under his successor Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is being tested amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the deteriorating security environment for Tokyo due to a rift between China and the United States as well as North Korea's missile and nuclear threats.

Suga quit as prime minister last October after serving in the post for about a year.

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FOCUS:Tough work awaits Japan-U.S. alliance to upgrade itself to face China
KYODO NEWS - Apr 29, 2022 - 19:36 | World, All, Coronavirus

China has suspended freight train operations with North Korea amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the Chinese border city of Dandong, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Since earlier this week, many residential compounds in Dandong, which lies opposite the North Korean city of Sinuiji, have been locked down against a backdrop of the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, while people living in such areas have been compelled to stay home.

Although North Korea claims it has found no COVID-19 infection cases, Pyongyang had suspended land traffic with China since early 2020, with worries mounting that the virus, first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, could enter the reclusive nation.

The freight train operations between the two countries resumed in January this year, as a plunge in trade with China apparently dealt a heavy blow to North Korea's economy, making it more difficult for its citizens to receive adequate food and daily necessities.

The bilateral trade plummeted around 90 percent in 2021 from 2019 before the pandemic began.

North Korea is seen to be vulnerable to infectious diseases due largely to chronic shortages of food and medical equipment triggered by international economic sanctions designed to thwart its nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions.

China is North Korea's closest and most influential ally in economic terms, accounting for more than 90 percent of its trade.

==Kyodo
NASA and its partners at the German Space Agency at the Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) will conclude the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) mission, after a successful eight years of science.

SOFIA will end operations no later than Sept. 30, 2022, at the conclusion of its current mission extension.

SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP airplane modified to carry a reflecting telescope. SOFIA completed its five-year prime mission in 2019 and currently is completing a three-year mission extension.

As part of its review of the current state of astronomical research, the National Academies' Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 evaluated SOFIA. The report, which provides peer-reviewed recommendations to NASA for the future of U.S. astrophysics, concluded SOFIA's science productivity does not justify its operating costs. The report also found SOFIA's capabilities do not significantly overlap with the science priorities the Decadal Survey has identified for the next decade and beyond.

The Decadal Survey therefore recommended NASA end the SOFIA mission after its current mission extension. NASA and DLR have accepted this recommendation. SOFIA will finish out its scheduled operations for the 2022 fiscal year, followed by an orderly shutdown.

Hundreds of individuals in the United States and Germany have contributed to the SOFIA mission over its lifetime. It began development in 1996, saw first light in 2010, and achieved full operational capability in 2014. In the eight years since, SOFIA's observations of the Moon, planets, stars, star-forming regions, and nearby galaxies included the discovery of water on the sunlit surface of the Moon in 2020.

Moving forward, SOFIA's data will be available in NASA's public archives for astronomers worldwide to use. NASA will continue to advance the future of scientific discovery in infrared astrophysics, starting with the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope, as well as further opportunities recommended by the Decadal Survey.



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The bank of the river Rhine is flooded in Cologne, western Germany, on July 15, 2021. (Photo by Tang Ying/Xinhua)

According to Edenhofer, although global emissions started to decline with the emergence of COVID-19, they have largely returned to pre-pandemic levels by now.



BERLIN, April 2 (Xinhua) -- To tackle the global challenge of climate change, it is essential for Europe to cooperate with China on the economics of climate change, Germany's leading expert Ottmar Edenhofer has said.

Due to its sheer size and vast potential for innovation, China's involvement is crucial for the world to solve the climate problem, Edenhofer, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview.

China's goals to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 are in alignment with the European Union's (EU) plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, said Edenhofer.

The fact that the United States has similar targets "means that the world's three most important economies are in alignment of the transformation pathway," he said.

In particular, Edenhofer, whose institute has actively engaged in providing insights to decision-makers, expects to see close cooperation between the EU and China in the field of carbon pricing.

China initiated its national carbon trading market in 2021. The EU has also started to launch a new emission trading scheme for the transport and building sectors as one of the main drivers of emission reduction in Europe.

According to Edenhofer, the EU and China should work together to establish a minimum price for carbon emissions in order to create a level playing field.

He acknowledged that the issue of carbon pricing was a complex one but said that it was "something we could start" with. He called a minimum CO2 price one of the "instruments that we could jointly implement."

According to Edenhofer, although global emissions started to decline with the emergence of COVID-19, they have largely returned to pre-pandemic levels by now.

This means that "the pandemic has not changed the underlying structure of our economy and our society."

A burning ring on a gas cooker is seen in Manchester, Britain, March 17, 2022. (Photo by Jon Super/Xinhua)

He said that a particularly worrying trend is the surge in the price of natural gas, which has led to the increased use of coal in the power sector and to a rise in global carbon emissions.

Assessing Germany's experiences in combating climate change, Edenhofer said that it was important to focus first on developing technology, and in particular to support infant technologies in relevant fields.

But technology alone cannot reduce carbon emissions, he said. Carbon emissions must be priced to avoid the increased use of traditional energy sources, such as coal, he stressed.

Furthermore, low-income households should be compensated to offset the growing costs of green energy and to popularize climate policy, he said.

Photo taken on Dec. 8, 2021 shows wind turbines at Changma wind farm in Yumen City, northwest China's Gansu Province. (Xinhua/Fan Peishen)

Edenhofer's institute has been working closely with its Chinese counterparts at the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and has published a series of papers jointly with Chinese scientists, particularly on carbon peaking.

"We are very pleased to be working with Chinese scientists," he said. 
We spoke to representatives from foreign companies, who are not just doing business in China, they are optimistic about doing more! Watch to hear what they had to say.



Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Tian Ge (L) and He Yanping (C) check residents' information with a community staff member in Beicai Town of east China's Shanghai, April 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland on Thursday reported 5,646 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 5,487 were in Shanghai, according to the National Health Commission's report Friday.

The rest of the cases were reported in 17 other provincial-level regions, including Beijing, Jilin, and Zhejiang.

Of all the newly reported local confirmed cases, 5,125 were previously identified as asymptomatic infections.

Shanghai also reported 9,545 of the 9,942 local asymptomatic carriers newly identified on the mainland.

Following the recovery of 2,796 COVID-19 patients on Thursday, there were 28,317 confirmed COVID-19 cases undergoing treatment in hospitals across the country.

Shanghai on Thursday also reported 52 deaths from COVID-19, bringing the mainland's total COVID-19 deaths to 4,975. 
BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The Ukraine crisis has dragged on for over two months with no immediate solution in sight. Though the situation unfolding is worrisome, endeavors to end conflicts and restore peace have never stopped.

Since the start of the crisis, China has been making unremitting efforts to defuse tensions and working actively to promote dialogue between Russia and Ukraine, voicing its support for peace and doing its best for talks.

China's stance, widely recognized by Russia and Ukraine, among others, is in line with the fundamental and long-term interests of the world, and its concrete actions have injected much-needed confidence and new impetus into the maintenance of global peace and stability.

On the Ukraine issue, China has always adopted an objective and impartial attitude and stood for peace and justice.

There is a complex historical context surrounding the ongoing crisis, the root of which is a Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation.

China maintains that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected, the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter must be fully observed, and the legitimate security concerns of all countries need to be taken seriously.

Since the early days of the crisis, China has committed itself to promoting peace negotiations and making vigorous de-escalation efforts including proposing to hold peace talks, which have received a positive response from the Russian side.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has since held dialogues via phone with leaders of many countries, reiterating the need for political courage "to create space for peace and leave room for political settlement" and encouraging the two sides to "overcome difficulties, keep the talks going and bring about peaceful outcomes."

The "four musts" put forward by Xi clearly explain China's position on the Ukraine issue, over which Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has also held in-depth exchanges of views with his counterparts of various countries.

The country has also put forward a five-point position and a six-point initiative on easing the humanitarian crisis, contributing China's wisdom to resolving the crisis and easing tensions.

At present, China supports Russia and Ukraine in overcoming difficulties and continuing peace talks, as well as the positive results achieved so far and the efforts made by relevant parties to prevent a large-scale humanitarian crisis.

The Ukraine crisis has become yet another information battlefield where certain U.S. politicians and media outlets have discredited and smeared China. They have fabricated lies, maliciously misinterpreted China-Russia relations and threatened to sanction China, seeking to pressure Beijing to abandon its independent foreign policy of peace and take sides.

Such unwarranted and toxic remarks have poisoned international relations and are extremely dangerous.

In fact, it was the United States that has made waves with the Russia-Ukraine conflict. From driving five rounds of NATO eastward expansion to plotting "color revolutions" in Russia's periphery, Washington has repeatedly trodden on Moscow's red line and sought to dominate European affairs by fomenting turbulence.

The crisis has laid bare Washington's unspoken calculations. Following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, Washington, with little interest in brokering a political solution, went on to fan the flames, magnify regional conflict, and fish in troubled waters.

The Ukraine crisis is indeed heartbreaking. Both Russia and Ukraine are friendly partners of China. Over the past 30 years, China-Russia relations have yielded significant progress featuring non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party. China-Ukraine relations, since their formation 30 years ago, have enjoyed a sound and steady momentum of development.

The Ukraine crisis broke out in Europe, but its spillovers are corroding world peace, stability and economic recovery. In the long run, all parties should draw lessons from the Ukraine crisis, stay committed to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously, uphold the principle of indivisible security and build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture through dialogue and negotiation, as laid out in China's newly proposed Global Security Initiative.

China sincerely hopes that Russia and Ukraine can cease hostilities and negotiate for peace at an early date.

As a champion for peace and justice, China views an issue from a long-term perspective and judges based on its merits. China chooses dialogue over unilateral sanctions, de-escalation over escalation, and will make unremitting efforts for peace talks.

Meanwhile, China is ready to join hands with all peace-loving and development-oriented countries and people to implement the Global Security Initiative, blaze a path toward lasting peace and universal security, and forge a strong synergy to build a community with a shared future for humanity. 
People fish on the Mekong River in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Aug. 6, 2021. (Photo by Sovannara/Xinhua)

KUNMING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Three Chinese law enforcement vessels returned to a port in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Friday, concluding the 116th joint Mekong River patrol by China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

Five vessels from the four countries, with 105 law enforcement officers on board, sailed over 700 km for four days and three nights to ensure the safety and stability along the river basin, according to the Yunnan provincial public security department.

The Mekong River, known as the Lancang River in China, is a vital waterway for cross-border shipping.

China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand have been conducting joint patrols on the river dating back to December 2011. 
Photo taken on Feb. 23, 2022 shows boat-shaped thatch houses in Baicha Village of Dongfang City, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Liu Deng)

HAIKOU, April 29 (Xinhua) -- In the island province of Hainan, the village of Chubao boasts something unique: dozens of boat-shaped thatch cottages lined up surrounded by coconut trees.

Tucked away in the boundless lush mountains in south China, the cottages feature walls made of wood or mud, and triangular thatch roofs, giving them the appearance of an overturned boat.

The boat-shaped houses were built by the local ethnic Li people in Chubao Village. For thousands of years, the local Li people have lived in these houses in the rainforest.

"We lived here for generations," said local villager Wang Shiqi.

In recent years, locals have gradually moved into modern new houses. But as the traditional dwellings bear testimony to the Li culture, they are now well preserved.

Authorities are applying for the houses to be included in the World Heritage List, hoping to draw more attention to the distinctive values of the Li culture.

Photo taken on Feb. 16, 2022 shows a boat-shaped thatch house in Chubao Village of Wuzhishan City, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Liu Deng)

Recently, the Hainan tropical rainforest and the traditional settlement of Li ethnic group have become part of the tentative list to qualify for inclusion in the World Heritage List.

The Li people have developed a distinctive culture over many years of development. Their colorful culture includes Li brocade, bamboo dancing, face tattoos, and boat-shaped houses, among others.

Legend has it that the ancestors of the Li people arrived in Hainan by boats. When they arrived, they turned the boats upside down as houses for shelter. Their descendants built the boat-shaped houses in memory of their ancestors.

In the late 1980s, about 800,000 Li people were still living in boat-shaped dwellings in Hainan.

But the houses were not that easy to live in, as they were made of thatch or mud, making them susceptible to the damage from wind and rain.

"In the summertime, it was cool in the houses, but in winter, the biting wind sneaked in through the cracks," recalled Wang Shiqi.

Aerial photo taken on Feb. 16, 2022 shows the view of Chubao Village in Wuzhishan City, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Li Duojiang)

As people's living conditions improved, they began to move out of the houses.

Though villagers no longer live in the houses, they have unique feelings attached to them.

"After all, we have lived here for a long time," Wang said.

Authorities have made efforts to preserve the traditional houses by putting them on the provincial-level list of cultural heritage under protection.

"The thatched houses reflected the Li people's wisdom for house location and layout and their architecture skills," said Li Jilong, with the provincial department of tourism, culture, radio, television and sports.

The houses should be preserved as cultural relics so that the younger generation will know the stories of their ancestors, said Chen Rongchuan, curator of the cultural museum in the city of Dongfang, which administers Baicha Village, home to more than 80 such houses.

"The traditional houses are of great value, and they should be well preserved," said Liu Baodang, with the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. 
A lorry drives out of the Hong Leng Huor Dry Port on the western suburb of Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Jan. 13, 2022.(by Phearum/Xinhua)

The RCEP trade deal gives a big boost to Cambodia's economy, with export to the member countries of the mega-pact up 11 percent in Q1. The top three export destinations are Vietnam, China and Thailand.

PHNOM PENH, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's total export to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member countries amounted to 1.95 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2022, up 11 percent from 1.75 billion dollars over the same period last year, a Ministry of Commerce's data showed on Thursday.

During the January-March period this year, Cambodia's top three export destinations are Vietnam, China and Thailand, the data said, adding that the kingdom shipped products worth 759 million dollars to Vietnam, 322 million dollars to China and 318 million dollars to Thailand.

Penn Sovicheat, Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's undersecretary of state and spokesman, attributed the export growth to the RCEP free trade agreement, which entered into force on January 1, 2022.

"It's just the start. The RCEP trade deal will give a big boost to our economy in the long term," he told Xinhua. "Under this mega-pact, Cambodia is projected to see a year's export growth at 9.4 percent to 18 percent, which will contribute to the national economic growth from 2 percent to 3.8 percent."

Garment workers make clothes at a factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Dec. 17, 2021.(Xinhua/Wu Changwei)

The regional trade pact comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

It will eliminate as much as 90 percent of the tariffs on goods traded between its signatories over the next 20 years.

"For Cambodia, China is a huge market for us, especially for our potential agricultural produce such as rice, bananas, mangoes, and cassava as well as industrial products, and processing goods," Sovicheat said.

Senior economist Ky Sereyvath, director-general of the Institute of China Studies at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said the RCEP trade deal has provided Cambodia bigger market access and a great opportunity to diversify its exports.

"This pact is also one of the key factors for attracting more international investors, especially from China, to Cambodia," he told Xinhua. "It will help Cambodia quicken its economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic."

Sereyvath said that through the RCEP trade pact, Cambodia could be a hub-and-spoke model to distribute goods from China to the ASEAN region.

Garment workers make clothes at a factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Dec. 17, 2021.(Xinhua/Wu Changwei)

Being the world's largest trade bloc, the RCEP trade deal has a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 26.2 trillion U.S. dollars, representing around 30 percent of global GDP, 28 percent of global trade, and 32.5 percent of global investment.

"The pact has served as a catalyst for regional and global economic growth and undoubtedly, all participating countries will benefit from it at different levels," Sereyvath said. "I believe that it will become a new center of gravity for global trade in the future."

Thong Mengdavid, a research fellow at the Phnom Penh-based Asian Vision Institute, said the pact offered an opportunity for regional countries to defend trade liberalization and promote economic integration, which are key to the post-COVID-19 recovery.

"The successful story of RCEP serves as a role model for multilateralism and is a hope for cross-regional economic cooperation and connectivity in the post-pandemic era," he said.
PHNOM PENH, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's total export to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member countries amounted to 1.95 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2022, up 11 percent from 1.75 billion dollars over the same period last year, a Ministry of Commerce's data showed on Thursday.

During the January-March period this year, Cambodia's top three export destinations are Vietnam, China and Thailand, the data said, adding that the kingdom shipped products worth 759 million dollars to Vietnam, 322 million dollars to China and 318 million dollars to Thailand.

Penn Sovicheat, Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's undersecretary of state and spokesman, attributed the export growth to the RCEP free trade agreement, which entered into force on January 1, 2022.

"It's just the start. The RCEP trade deal will give a big boost to our economy in the long term," he told Xinhua. "Under this mega-pact, Cambodia is projected to see a year's export growth at 9.4 percent to 18 percent, which will contribute to the national economic growth from 2 percent to 3.8 percent."

The regional trade pact comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

It will eliminate as much as 90 percent of the tariffs on goods traded between its signatories over the next 20 years.

"For Cambodia, China is a huge market for us, especially for our potential agricultural produce such as rice, bananas, mangoes, and cassava as well as industrial products, and processing goods," Sovicheat said.

Senior economist Ky Sereyvath, director-general of the Institute of China Studies at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said the RCEP trade deal has provided Cambodia bigger market access and a great opportunity to diversify its exports.

"This pact is also one of the key factors for attracting more international investors, especially from China, to Cambodia," he told Xinhua. "It will help Cambodia quicken its economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic."

Sereyvath said that through the RCEP trade pact, Cambodia could be a hub-and-spoke model to distribute goods from China to the ASEAN region.

Being the world's largest trade bloc, the RCEP trade deal has a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 26.2 trillion U.S. dollars, representing around 30 percent of global GDP, 28 percent of global trade, and 32.5 percent of global investment.

"The pact has served as a catalyst for regional and global economic growth and undoubtedly, all participating countries will benefit from it at different levels," Sereyvath said. "I believe that it will become a new center of gravity for global trade in the future."

Thong Mengdavid, a research fellow at the Phnom Penh-based Asian Vision Institute, said the pact offered an opportunity for regional countries to defend trade liberalization and promote economic integration, which are key to the post-COVID-19 recovery.

"The successful story of RCEP serves as a role model for multilateralism and is a hope for cross-regional economic cooperation and connectivity in the post-pandemic era," he said. 
PINGTAN, April 29 (Xinhua) -- It has been seven years since Lin Chih Yuan, a young man from Chiayi of Taiwan, came to the mainland to develop his new career.

After his arrival in Pingtan County, southeast China's Fujian Province, Lin first engaged in the restoration and renovation of local stone houses. Inspired by the stones at his work, he came up with the idea of creating his own brand "singing stone" and decided to start the business on rural tourism featuring B&Bs and cultural products.

As time went on, the nostalgic memories of Lin's family drove Lin to go forward. In 2021, with the help of local authorities, Lin finally found his ancestral home in Anhou Town of Pinghe County. He then took the place as his root on the mainland, as well as his new starting point to expand business.

Leading a team consisting of youngsters across the Strait, Lin now aims to ride the wave of boosted rural tourism in more cities in Fujian and share the Chinese cultural root to more people.

Lin Chih Yuan (1st L) talks with local villagers in Anhou Town of Pinghe County, southeast China's Fujian Province, April 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

Lin Chih Yuan arranges cultural products at his store in southeast China's Fujian Province, April 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

Lin Chih Yuan (L) walks out of his rural B&B with a colleague in southeast China's Fujian Province, April 26, 2022.

Aerial photo taken on April 26, 2022 shows a view of Beigang Village in Pingtan County, southeast China's Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)





Produced by Xinhua Global Service




U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg attends a hearing of a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, titled "A Review of the President's FY 2023 Funding Request and Budget Justification for the U.S. Department of Transportation" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the United States, on April 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg attends a hearing of a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, titled "A Review of the President's FY 2023 Funding Request and Budget Justification for the U.S. Department of Transportation" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the United States, on April 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg attends a hearing of a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, titled "A Review of the President's FY 2023 Funding Request and Budget Justification for the U.S. Department of Transportation" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the United States, on April 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg attends a hearing of a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, titled "A Review of the President's FY 2023 Funding Request and Budget Justification for the U.S. Department of Transportation" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the United States, on April 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
In just minutes, a flare on the Sun can release enough energy to power the whole world for 20,000 years.

An explosive process called magnetic reconnection triggers these solar flares and scientists have spent the last half-century trying to understand how the process happens.

It's not just a scientific curiosity: A fuller understanding of magnetic reconnection could enable insights into nuclear fusion and provide better predictions of particle storms from the Sun that can affect Earth-orbiting technology.

Now, scientists with NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, or MMS, think they've figured it out. The scientists have developed a theory that explains how the most explosive type of magnetic reconnection - called fast reconnection - occurs and why it happens at a consistent speed. The new theory uses a common magnetic effect that's used in household devices, such as sensors that time vehicle anti-lock braking systems and know when a cell phone flip cover is closed.

"We finally understand what makes this type of magnetic reconnection so fast," said lead author on the new study Yi-Hsin Liu, a physics professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and the deputy-lead of MMS' theory and modeling team. "We now have a theory to explain it fully."

Magnetic reconnection is a process that occurs in plasma, sometimes called the fourth state of matter. Plasma forms when a gas has been energized enough to break apart its atoms, leaving a motley of negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions existing side-by-side. This energetic, fluid-like material is exquisitely sensitive to magnetic fields.

From flares on the Sun, to near-Earth space, to black holes, plasmas throughout the universe undergo magnetic reconnection, which rapidly converts magnetic energy into heat and acceleration. While there are several types of magnetic reconnection, one particularly puzzling variant is known as fast reconnection, which occurs at a predictable rate.

"We have known for a while that fast reconnection happens at a certain rate that seems to be pretty constant," said Barbara Giles, project scientist for MMS and research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "But what really drives that rate has been a mystery, until now."

The new research, published in a paper in Nature's Communications Physics journal and funded in part by the National Science Foundation, explains how fast reconnection occurs specifically in collisionless plasmas - a type of plasma whose particles are spread out enough that the individual particles don't collide with one another. Where reconnection happens in space, most plasma is in this collisionless state, including the plasma in solar flares and the space around Earth.

The new theory shows how and why fast reconnection is likely sped up by the Hall effect, which describes the interaction between magnetic fields and electric currents. The Hall effect is a common magnetic phenomenon that's used in everyday technology, like vehicle wheel speed sensors and 3D printers, where sensors measure speed, proximity, positioning, or electrical currents.

During fast magnetic reconnection, charged particles in a plasma - namely ions and electrons - stop moving as a group. As the ions and electrons begin moving separately, they give rise to the Hall effect, creating an unstable energy vacuum where reconnection happens. Pressure from the magnetic fields around the energy vacuum causes the vacuum to implode, which quickly releases immense amounts of energy at a predictable rate.

The new theory will be tested in the coming years with MMS, which uses four spacecraft flown around Earth in a pyramid formation to study magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasmas. In this unique space laboratory, MMS can study magnetic reconnection at a higher resolution than would be possible on Earth.

"Ultimately, if we can understand how magnetic reconnection operates, then we can better predict events that can impact us at Earth, like geomagnetic storms and solar flares," Giles said. "And if we can understand how reconnection is initiated, it will also help energy research because researchers could better control magnetic fields in fusion devices."



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International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi speaks during a news conference in Vienna, Austria, April 28, 2022.

Radiation levels at the exclusion zone of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which Russian forces had controlled for weeks before withdrawing in late March, have remained within the safe range, IAEA said Thursday. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

VIENNA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Radiation levels at the exclusion zone of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which Russian forces had controlled for weeks before withdrawing in late March, have remained within the safe range, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Thursday.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi headed a mission to the Chernobyl plant earlier this week to deliver equipment, conduct radiological assessments and restore safeguards monitoring systems.

Grossi told a news conference in Vienna on Thursday after returning from Ukraine that the IAEA staff had measured the radiation levels at an area of the Chernobyl's exclusion zone, where some excavation work had "presumably" been conducted by Russian forces.

According to data provided by the IAEA chief, the radiation dose level in the excavation area was 6.5 millisieverts per year, higher than the 1.6 millisieverts at nearby roads but well below the limit of 20 millisieverts that is considered safe for workers in areas exposed to radiation.

"There was an increase (in radiation levels) but this increase is still significantly below the authorized levels for workers in an environment with this type of radiation," Grossi said.

Grossi added that the IAEA staff are still working to repair the safeguards monitoring systems at the Chernobyl.

The Chernobyl plant, some 110 km north of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, suffered one of the worst nuclear accidents in human history on April 26, 1986. Russian forces had been in control of the Chernobyl plant for five weeks before withdrawing on March 31, according to the IAEA.

At Thursday's news conference, Grossi also expressed concern about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant, which is still under Russian control.

"Zaporizhzhia is at the top of my list of concerns when it comes to the situation of the nuclear facilities in Ukraine," he said, adding that he had been in talks with both Ukrainian and Russian authorities to ensure the facility's safety. 

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi speaks during a news conference in Vienna, Austria, April 28, 2022.

Radiation levels at the exclusion zone of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which Russian forces had controlled for weeks before withdrawing in late March, have remained within the safe range, IAEA said Thursday. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)
A temporary stand selling daily necessities is launched in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid testing at a COVID-19 test site in Dongcheng District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

A delivery man contacts residents who ordered online in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang)

Medical workers go door-to-door to take swab samples for nucleic acid testing in Xicheng District of Beijing, capital of China, April 24, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Photo by Jiang Zhen/Xinhua)

Community workers transport medical supplies in Xicheng District of Beijing, capital of China, April 24, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Photo by Jiang Zhen/Xinhua)

A delivery man delivers parcels to the doorstep of households in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang)

A sub-district worker disinfects vehicles in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

Community workers pick parcels for residents in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

A resident picks parcels at the gate of a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

Community workers deliver medicine to residents in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

A resident picks a parcel with the help of a community worker in a community in Dongcheng District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

Residents queue up for nucleic acid testing at a COVID-19 test site in Dongcheng District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

A community worker delivers daily necessities to residents in a community in Xicheng District of Beijing, capital of China, April 24, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Photo by Jiang Zhen/Xinhua)

A resident poses for a photo with a parcel she picked in a community in Dongcheng District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

Community workers sort parcels in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 27, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

Community workers keep residents in good order to buy daily necessities in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

A community worker delivers vegetables to a senior resident in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid testing inside a residential building in a community in Haidian District of Beijing, capital of China, April 26, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua)

A staffer of a neighborhood committee (R, front) provides service for a senior who needs medical help in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid testing inside a residential building in a community in Haidian District of Beijing, capital of China, April 26, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua)

A resident (2nd L) buys vegetables at a temporary stand selling daily necessities in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

A delivery man loads packages onto a vehicle at a parcel distribution site in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang)

A supermarket employee (L) helps a resident pack vegetables at a temporary stand selling daily necessities in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

A temporary stand selling daily necessities is launched in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

A resident scans a QR code to join a WeChat group to buy vegetables in a community in Chaoyang District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

A staff member disinfects a public toilet in Xicheng District of Beijing, capital of China, April 24, 2022.

During the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing, people from different walks of life have joined the fight against the coronavirus, working against the clock to offer hearty support. (Photo by Jiang Zhen/Xinhua)
HANOI, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam recorded 6,068 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, down by 1,048 from Thursday, according to its Ministry of Health.

The new infections, recorded in 59 provinces and cities, were all domestically transmitted.

The Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the epidemic hotspot with 843 new cases reported on Friday, followed by the northern Phu Tho province with 386 and the central highlands Gia Lai province with 341.

The newly reported infections brought the total tally to 10,644,700 with 43,038 deaths. Nationwide, as many as 9,245,528 COVID-19 patients, or nearly 87 percent of the coronavirus infections, have so far recovered.

Over 214.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the Southeast Asian country, including approximately 195.8 million shots on people aged 18 and above, said the health ministry.

Vietnam has by far gone through four coronavirus waves of increasing scale, complication and infectivity. As of Friday, it has registered more than 10.6 million locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since the start of the current wave in April 2021, said the ministry. 
Photo taken on April 20, 2022 shows the China-aided diplomatic academy in Tunis, Tunisia. Tunisia and China on Thursday celebrated via an online ceremony the handover of the newly built Tunisian Diplomatic Academy, a China-aided project. (Xinhua)

TUNIS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia and China on Thursday celebrated via an online ceremony the handover of the newly built Tunisian Diplomatic Academy, a China-aided project.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, China has managed to complete the project with the highest standards and at the fastest speed, making positive contributions to deepening the friendly relations and practical cooperation between the two countries, said Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming during the ceremony.

China and Tunisia are natural partners in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road Initiative," and China is willing to join hands with Tunisia to move forward and seek common development, said Qian.

For his part, Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs Othman Jerandi said that the Tunisian Diplomatic Academy project, completed in December 2021 by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation after over two years of construction, is a clear symbol of the close and friendly cooperation between China and Tunisia.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the cooperation programs and development projects in various fields between the two countries have brought tangible benefits to the Tunisian people, said Jerandi.

Tunisia will well operate and maintain the diplomatic academy, carry out academic exchanges and training cooperation with China and other friendly countries, and promote the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, said the Tunisian top diplomat.

Covering an area of about 12,000 square meters, the academy is designed for training Tunisian diplomats. 

Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs Othman Jerandi shows the handover document during a ceremony in Tunis, Tunisia, on April 28, 2022. Tunisia and China on Thursday celebrated via an online ceremony the handover of the newly built Tunisian Diplomatic Academy, a China-aided project. (Photo by Adel Ezzine/Xinhua)

Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs Othman Jerandi (3rd R) attends an online handover ceremony in Tunis, Tunisia, on April 28, 2022. Tunisia and China on Thursday celebrated via an online ceremony the handover of the newly built Tunisian Diplomatic Academy, a China-aided project. (Photo by Adel Ezzine/Xinhua)

Photo taken on April 14, 2022 shows the conference hall of China-aided diplomatic academy in Tunis, Tunisia. Tunisia and China on Thursday celebrated via an online ceremony the handover of the newly built Tunisian Diplomatic Academy, a China-aided project. (Xinhua)

Officials from Tunisian Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassy in Tunisia attend an online ceremony in Tunis, Tunisia, on April 28, 2022. Tunisia and China on Thursday celebrated via an online ceremony the handover of the newly built Tunisian Diplomatic Academy, a China-aided project. (Photo by Adel Ezzine/Xinhua)
Falsehood 5: China is trying to deflect attention by claiming that "the United States, especially US defense contractors, are the biggest beneficiary of the Ukraine crisis" .

Reality Check: It is an indisputable fact that the US military enterprises have raked in huge profits since the Russia-Ukraine conflict started.

Since tensions surrounding Ukraine started to rise in October 2021, share prices of US military giants have shot up. Over the past six months, Lockheed Martin's shares have grown by about 35%, while those of Northrop Grumman gained 27% and Raytheon by 14.5%. James Taiclet, chief executive of Lockheed Martin, said that the competition between major powers would bring more business to the company.

http://tv.cctv.com/2022/03/26/VIDE7O6P9UbKyW37zBGyXTZt220326.shtml

According to the report Trends in International Arms Transfer published on March 14, 2022 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the volume of international transfers of major arms in 2017-21 was 4.6 percent lower than in 2012-16. However,US arms exports grew by 14 percent between 2012-16 and 2017-21, pushing its global share up from 32 percent to 39 percent.

https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2022/global-arms-trade-falls-slightly-imports-europe-east-asia-and-oceania-rise

Statistics released by SIPRI in December 2021 listed 41 US companies as among the world's Top 100 Arms-producing and Military Services Companies, accounting for 54% of the combined arms sales of the Top 100.

https://sipri.org/publications/2021/sipri-fact-sheets/sipri-top-100-arms-producing-and-military-services-companies-2020

Statistics of World Bank show that the US military budget has been rising year after year, accounting for more than one third of the world's total military expenditure since 2000. On March 28, 2022, the US Administration submitted to Congress a proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Budget request of $813.3 billion for national defense. The FY 2023 DoD Budget request is a 4.1% increase from the FY 2022 enacted amount. The US military expenditure accounts for nearly half of the world total and is equivalent to the military expenditure of more than 100 countries combined.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.CD?most_recent_value_desc=true

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2980014/the-department-of-defense-releases-the-presidents-fiscal-year-2023-defense-budg/#:~:text=On%20March%2028%2C%202022%2C%20the%20Biden-Harris%20Administration%20submitted,which%20is%20for%20the%20Department%20of%20Defense%20%28DoD%29.

CNN reported that the United States is expected to announce that it is sending hundreds of millions of dollars in new military assistance to Ukraine. If approved, the addition of approximately 700 million US dollars in security assistance would bring the total aid to Ukraine to more than 3 billion dollars since the start of the Biden administration, including nearly 2.5 billion dollars since the latest Russia-Ukraine conflict.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/12/politics/us-ukraine-security-assistance/index.html

Boaventura de Sousa Santos, a Portugese expert on international issues, said that US foreign policy and democracy are dominated by three oligarchies: the military-industrial complex; the gas, oil and mining complex; and the banking and real estate complex. One of their ways to gain enormous profits is to keep the world at war, and they are increasingly dependent on US arms sales.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/03/14/why-europe-needs-to-take-a-hard-look-at-itself.

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Congresswoman of the US, said in an interview that the US military-industrial won benefits from the Ukraine crisis while the people of the United States, Ukraine and Russia paid the price. It undermines US national security, but the military-industrial complex that controls US politicians runs to the bank.

http://tv.cctv.com/2022/03/26/VIDE7O6P9UbKyW37zBGyXTZt220326.shtml

Franklin Spinney, who worked for 26 years at the US Office of the Secretary of Defense, said the Russo-Ukrainian War has the champagne corks quietly popping in the Pentagon, on K Street, in the defense industry, and throughout the halls of Congress, who are making handsome money.

http://tv.cctv.com/2022/03/26/VIDE7O6P9UbKyW37zBGyXTZt220326.shtml

Erik Sperling, executive director of the anti-war organization Just Foreign Policy, said that everyone in Washington D.C. knows that weapons manufacturers are helping skew US policy towards militarism. They are cashing in on tensions over Ukraine as the United States pours weapons into the region, and many European countries are flooding the United States with weapons orders.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/ukraine-russia-raytheon-lockheed-martin-general-dynamics-weapons-industry

Tunc Akkoc, an experienced media professional, said that the United States is the country that created the Russian-Ukraine crisis as well as the biggest beneficiary.

https://content-static.cctvnews.cctv.com/snow-book/index.html?item_id=7931326657475095756&toc_style_id=feeds_default&share_to=wechat&track_id=5ac14172-d8f7-403f-b5ba-d559bfb75946

The US Defense Department has convened a meeting with heads of the country's top defense contractors, asking them to ramp up production to meet Ukraine's weaponry demand.

https://www.econotimes.com/Russia-Ukraine-conflict-Pentagon-to-meet-US-arms-manufacturers-to-ramp-up-military-assistance-1631473

Falsehood 6: China has not played a constructive role in resolving the Ukraine issue.

Reality Check: China has always been committed to promoting peace talks. China's position is objective and fair, and represents what most countries hope to see on this issue. China's constructive role has been commended by many in the international community.

On February 25, 2022, President Xi Jinping held a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and expressed that China supports Russia in solving the issue through negotiation with Ukraine.

On March 8, President Xi Jinping had a virtual summit with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. President Xi made four points on Ukraine, stressing that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected, the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be fully observed, the legitimate security concerns of all countries must be taken seriously, and all efforts that are conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis must be supported.

On March 18, President Xi Jinping had a video call with US President Joe Biden, stressing once again that all sides need to jointly support Russia and Ukraine in having dialogue and negotiation that will produce results and lead to peace, and that the US and NATO should also have dialogue with Russia to address the crux of the Ukraine crisis and ease the security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine.

On April 1, President Xi Jinping met with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen via video link, during which President Xi shared his four-point views on how to settle the Ukraine crisis under the current circumstances: first, promoting peace talks; second, preventing a humanitarian crisis on a bigger scale; third, fostering lasting peace in Europe and on the Eurasian continent; fourth, preventing the regional conflict from magnifying.

On March 31, 2022, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi put forward China's five commitments on the Ukraine issue in Tunxi, Anhui Province. First, China is committed to promoting peace talks as the right direction. China calls for a ceasefire and cessation of hostilities, and supports Russia and Ukraine in carrying out direct dialogue. Second, China is committed to upholding the basic norms governing international relations and opposes putting small and medium-sized countries at the forefront of geopolitical rivalry. Third, China is committed to preventing the resurgence of the Cold War mentality. China advocates the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and respects and accommodates the legitimate and reasonable concerns of all parties. Fourth, China is committed to upholding the legitimate rights and interests of all countries and opposes unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law. Fifth,China is committed to consolidating peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific.

On March 7, 2022, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi put forth China's six-point initiative on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine at the annual press conference:

First, make sure that humanitarian operations abide by the principles of neutrality and impartiality, and avoid politicizing humanitarian issues;

Second, give full attention to the displaced persons in and from Ukraine, and provide them with proper shelter;

Third, ensure the protection of civilians, and prevent secondary humanitarian disasters in Ukraine;

Fourth, provide for safe and smooth humanitarian aid activities, including providing rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access;

Fifth, provide for the safety of foreign nationals in Ukraine, allow them safe departure and help them return to their home countries; and

Sixth, support the UN's coordinating role in channeling humanitarian aid and the work of the UN Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine.

In March 2022, the Red Cross Society of China announced five million yuan worth of humanitarian assistance in kind to Ukraine. Also in March, the Chinese government decided to provide 10 million yuan worth of humanitarian supplies to Ukraine.

Many foreign leaders recognized China's constructive role on the Ukraine issue in their virtual meetings or phone conversations with President Xi Jinping.

On March 8, at a virtual summit between the leaders of China, France and Germany, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed their support for a negotiated settlement, their appreciation for China's initiative on the humanitarian situation and readiness to enhance communication and coordination with China to promote peace talks.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202203/t20220308_10649839.html

On March 16, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said he shared China's view that all parties should stay committed to promoting peace talks, and work to prevent a massive humanitarian crisis and contain the negative impact of sanctions on the world economy in order to avoid hampering global economic recovery.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202203/t20220318_10652947.html

On March 18, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that China and South Africa hold very similar positions on the Ukraine issue, and both sides support Russia and Ukraine in keeping the momentum of peace talks and settling disputes through dialogue and negotiation.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202203/t20220319_10653471.html

On March 18, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen talked about the need to uphold a balanced and fair position and make active efforts to promote peace talks.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202203/t20220319_10653473.html

Many foreign ministers, senior government officials and heads of relevant international organizations have recognized China's constructive role on the Ukraine issue.

On March 19, Zambian Foreign Minister Stanley Kasongo Kakubo agreed that conflicts should be resolved through diplomatic negotiations and appreciated China's active efforts to promote peace talks.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202203/t20220320_10653587.html

On March 22, Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Hussein Ibrahim Taha appreciated China's consistent position of upholding justice, saying that peace and stability cannot be achieved without China's support. He expressed readiness to work with China to strengthen dialogue and exchanges, promote mutual understanding and jointly address challenges.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202203/t20220323_10654522.html

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Pakistan is ready to work with China to adopt a common position and make a united voice. Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa expressed appreciation of China's position of upholding justice and balance and promoting peace talks.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/202203/t20220324_10654933.html

On March 29, President and Foreign Minister of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis said that the Swiss side also believes that diplomacy is the only right approach, and that they stand for resolving differences through dialogues and negotiations. Switzerland is ready to explore ways to strengthen cooperation with China and jointly play a constructive role in seeking a diplomatic solution.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202203/t20220330_10657582.html

On April 2, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai expressed appreciation and understanding of China's objective and fair position on the Ukraine issue.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202204/t20220403_10664402.html

On April 4, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba subscribed to China's views and expressed appreciation for China's humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202204/t20220405_10664766.html

On April 7, Mongolian Foreign Minister Batmunkh Battsetseg applauded China's sense of responsibility as a major country on the Ukraine issue, and spoke highly of China's commitment to promoting peace talks, resolving differences and providing humanitarian assistance.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202204/t20220408_10665786.html

On April 8, Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic lauded China's consistent position of upholding fairness and justice in international affairs and active efforts to promote peace talks.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202204/t20220410_10666398.html

On April 14, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son said that Vietnam welcomes China's efforts to promote peace talks, end conflicts and prevent humanitarian crisis. Vietnam shares many similarities with China in its position.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202204/t20220415_10668407.html

Foreign experts and eminent persons spoke highly of China's approach.

Xulio Rios, director of the Observatory of Chinese Politics in Spain, believed that China has been conducting diplomatic efforts based on its own philosophy, which is an independent approach and eliminates the difficulty of taking sides.

https://www.news.cn/2022-03/17/c_1128480629.htm

Hussain S. Alshammari, director of International Reporters Department of the Ministry of Media of Saudi Arabia, said that China's move shows that China has always advocated the settlement of disputes through negotiation, and China is a responsible power.

https://www.news.cn/2022-03/17/c_1128480629.htm

Dr. Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan, Director of the Centre of South Asia & International Studies in Islamabad, said that China advocates lasting stability and security in the region, and that China has always been making proposals to deescalate the situation in Ukraine. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible major country, China always faithfully fulfills its international obligations and plays a constructive role in maintaining world peace and stability.

https://www.news.cn/2022-03/17/c_1128480629.htm

B. R. Deepak, professor and sinologist at Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, said that China advocates a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, which can provide answers to the security dilemma of countries in the region.

http://www.news.cn/world/2022-03/17/c_1128480629.htm.

Cavince Adhere,a Kenya-based international relations scholar, said that as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has played an important role in maintaining world peace and security. In the process of fostering a fairer and more reasonable global governance system, China is committed to the path of peaceful development, which reflects its sense of mission as a major country.

http://www.news.cn/2022-03/17/c_1128480629.htm

Falsehood 7: China's position on Ukraine runs counter to its long-standing commitment to the principle of respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity, and is in contrary to the purposes of the UN Charter and basic norms governing international relations.

Reality check: China has all along followed the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. Respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries is a basic principle of international law and a basic norm governing international relations, which applies to all countries under all circumstances. International rules and norms are like traffic lights -- they are only effective when everyone abides by them, and only then can common security be ensured.

China is of the view that sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine, should be respected, that disputes between countries should be handled in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and that legitimate security concerns of all countries should be taken seriously and earnestly addressed.

China's track record on peace and security is better than any other major country. Since its founding decades ago, the People's Republic of China has never initiated any single war against others or invaded other countries.

China feels deeply and strongly about sovereignty and territorial integrity. No one cherishes sovereignty and territorial integrity more than the Chinese government and people; and no one follows this basic norm governing international relations and principle enshrined in the UN Charter more unswervingly and consistently than us.

In modern times, China suffered deeply from aggression by foreign powers and has painful memories of the past humiliations. About 20 years ago, the Chinese Embassy in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was bombed by the US-led NATO forces, leaving three Chinese journalists killed and many others injured. Even today, the United States and some other countries are still arbitrarily interfering in China's internal affairs and undermining China's sovereignty and security under the pretext of issues related to Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan and human rights. Due to external interference, China is the only P5 member that has not yet achieved complete reunification.

If the United States truly respects the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity, it should first stop applying double standards, stop interfering in the internal affairs of China and other countries, and earnestly respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China and other countries.

On February 10, 2022, US Senator Bernie Sanders pointed out that for the last 200 years the United States has operated under the Monroe Doctrine, embracing the premise that as the dominant power in the Western Hemisphere, it has the right to intervene against any country that might threaten its alleged interests. Under this doctrine the United States has undermined and overthrown at least a dozen governments in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In 2018, then US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the Monroe Doctrine "as relevant today as it was the day it was written" .

https://www.arise.tv/us-hypocritical-about-russia-ukraine-war-says-senator-sanders/

Over its nearly 250 years of history, there has only been less then 20 years when the United States was not waging military operations against others.

The 20-year-long war in Afghanistan launched by the United States in 2001 has killed 174,000 people including more than 30,000 Afghan civilians, displaced 3.5 million Afghan people, and left 23 million in acute hunger.

In 2003, using fabricated evidence and blatantly bypassing the UN Security Council, the United States launched the war in Iraq. It is reported that the eight-year Iraq war has killed more than 650,000 Iraqi people, displaced at least 5.1 million Iraqi refugees, and left 10 million Iraqis, which is about one third of the country's population, living below the poverty line.

The United States has carried out multiple air strikes against Syria over an alleged chemical weapon incident. Statistics show that 3,833 people were directly killed in the bombings by the US-led coalition between 2016 and 2019, half of them women and children. Instead of putting an end to conflicts and chaos, the so-called humanitarian intervention of the United States has only exacerbated humanitarian disasters in Syria.

https://archive.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/170-sanctions/41952.html

http://www.news.cn/world/2022-03/19/c_1128484649.htm

On March 18, 2022, President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia questioned why those in the European Union and the West, who are brainwashing others today, didn't think of the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity back in 1999. And on Kosovo, he said that there is no doubt who violated international law and without a decision of the UN Security Council made tough decisions to the detriment of Serbia.

https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics

https://sputniknews.com/20220324/vucic-slams-natos-ridiculous-russia-accusations-over-ukraine-recalls-illegal-bombing-of-serbia-1094146800.html

Alfred de Zayas, a senior UN expert, said in a recent exclusive interview with CGTN that from the perspective of international law, Russia's military actions in Ukraine violated the UN Charter, but the United States and NATO have broken international law so often over the years that "precedents of permissibility" have therefore been set for Russia's current actions in terms of customary international law.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-03-02/UN-expert-Color-Revolution-precipitates-Russia-Ukraine-conflict-184DLmWYKcw/index.html (more)
by Xinhua writers Li Jiayu, Ren Yaoting

XINING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Dubbed the "roof of the world," the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is often associated with only snow-capped mountains, grasslands and a cold climate, but photographer Bao Yongqing has captured an entire wildlife paradise for the world to behold.

Bao, 56, won the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2019 for his image titled "The Moment" which captured a standoff between a Tibetan fox and a marmot.

The first Chinese photographer to receive the international honor, awarded annually by the London's Natural History Museum, Bao said he is happy to use his camera to bring the plateau to the world.

Bao was born in Tianjun County in northwest China's Qinghai Province. Covered by the Qilian Mountain National Park, his hometown is ideal for capturing wildlife because of its rich biodiversity.

His odyssey with the camera began in 2012 when he was working at a local livestock company. He used to take pictures of animals in his spare time as just a hobby. But, thanks to the encouragement and influence of his photographer friends, it soon turned into a profession.

In 2015, he tracked a flock of falcons for more than 40 consecutive days and captured their photographs. Seeing the older falcons taking care of a brood of fledglings, he was astounded by the resemblance between the animal world and the human world.

"The male falcon would fly out to forage at 6 a.m. to feed the chicks and this reminded me of how human parents treat their babies," Bao said, adding that be it animals or humans, they love their children the same way.

This experience impelled Bao to devote himself to pursuing wildlife photography. He once stayed alone for nine days in a canyon cave at an altitude of nearly 4,000 meters, in order to completely record the living conditions of snow leopards.

Under China's highest national-level protection and listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, snow leopards are Bao's favorite subject for photography.

"The snow leopards are always gentlemanlike, walking with confidence and spontaneousness. Even when they encounter humans, they don't run away," Bao said, adding that he shivers with excitement every time he spots the rare species.

Despite his obsession with capturing thrilling moments, Bao refrains from luring animals close for a good picture. He always maintains a distance of more than 200 meters from his subject when shooting.

The best wildlife photographs come out when animals are in their natural state, free of external influences, Bao noted.

The shutterbug believes his years of dedication and creative endeavors are bringing positive outcomes.

"A picture is worth a thousand words" -- Bao realized its true meaning when his works were exhibited abroad and the Chinese government and people were lauded for their conservation efforts.

"I am glad to show the world our efforts in ecology protection at the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau," Bao said.

He has also enjoyed showing the beautiful wildlife species to the children in his hometown. "Because of urbanization, children nowadays are not as connected to nature as we once were," Bao said.

Expressing his utter joy in enlightening children about wild animals, Bao noted that only when more people know about wild animals can nature be better protected. 
KABUL, April 29 (Xinhua) -- A number of people were killed or wounded after an explosion ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday, eyewitnesses said.

"A large number of worshippers were affected by the forces of the explosion which occurred at midday," Mohammad Kabir told Xinhua.

"The worshippers in Khalifa Sahib Mosque in Sera-e-Allawoddin area of Karta-e-Sah locality in western Kabul were the apparent target of the blast. The nature of the blast has not been determined. It could be a suicide bomb blast," he said.

The Taliban security forces have cordoned off the area for precautionary measures.

The attack came shortly after Friday prayers when a group of worshippers were ritualizing Zikr, a special religious practice, to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan.

No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion yet.

In recent weeks, the war-torn country was hit by a series of terror attacks reportedly staged by militants of the Islamic State (IS) group opposing the Taliban-led caretaker government.

On Thursday, nine people were killed and 13 wounded in two explosions in northern Mazar-i-Sharif city. 
BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- China has called for joint efforts to further improve the vaccination rate among the elderly and other key groups, a Chinese health official said Friday.

China has seen a generally smooth COVID-19 vaccination drive, and the vaccination rate among the elderly is also gradually increasing, Lei Zhenglong, an official with the National Health Commission, told a press conference.

As of Thursday, more than 3.34 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered across the Chinese mainland, and around 1.25 billion people had been fully vaccinated, Lei said.

By Thursday, around 227 million people over the age of 60 had received at least one shot, representing 86.01 percent of the elderly population, while over 215 million seniors had been fully vaccinated, Lei added. 
WUHAN, April 29 (Xinhua) -- A cargo flight operated by SF Airlines arrived at Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province Thursday from Japan's Osaka Prefecture, marking the resumption of the air freight route between the two locations.

The all-cargo air route will operate flights three times a week, according to Hubei Airport Group.

The resumption of the air route is expected to promote the stability of the supply chain and further deepen economic and trade exchanges, the group said.

The air route was launched in August 2020 and suspended in August last year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the expiration of the aviation agreement. 
People view China's Hongqi E-HS9 smart electric SUV in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 14, 2022. Chinese automaker FAW Car has started selling Hongqi electric luxury cars in Israel, the Israeli car import dealership Samelet Group said Wednesday. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

by Xinhua writer Shang Hao

JERUSALEM, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese automakers have gained more and more popularity in the Israeli market with electric vehicles (EVs) amid the Israeli government's ambitions to gradually phase out fossil fuel vehicles.

In a showroom of China's automaker Geely Auto Group in the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv, Segal Yafa, a buyer from the south of the city, has signed a contract for three China-manufactured Geometry C electric vehicles.

"One for my husband, one for myself, and one for my friend," Yafa told Xinhua.

A staff member shows an electric car made by China's Geely Auto in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Nov. 10, 2021. Chinese automaker Geely Auto Group has started selling electric cars in Israel through the Israeli dealership Union Group. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

Most Israelis began to know about the Chinese brand Geely since its launch of Geometry C EV in November 2021. With dashing looks and affordable prices, Geometry C has achieved a strong market share here quickly, becoming the winner in the "Best Buy of the Year" category for 2022 nominated by Israel's major car magazine Auto.

"Good price, strong power and less pollution... it gains a good reputation," Yafa explained the reason for her choice.

Ronan Yablon, CEO of Geely Israel, told Xinhua that they have received more than 8,000 orders in less than five months.

Geely is a good example of the Chinese EVs in the Israeli market over recent years amid an ambitious green vision of the country.

People visit a car company selling electric cars made by China's Geely Auto in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Nov. 10, 2021. Chinese automaker Geely Auto Group has started selling electric cars in Israel through the Israeli dealership Union Group. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

According to a plan initiated by the Israeli Ministry of Energy in 2018, the import of vehicles powered by polluting fuels will be banned as of 2030, which makes EVs an irreplaceable choice for the public.

"The plan affects the welfare of all, and should not be delayed," read a statement from the ministry about the plan.

Yablon noted that "one of the most important goals with electric vehicles is to lower pollution."

A man views China's Hongqi E-HS9 smart electric SUV in Tel Aviv, Israel, on April 14, 2022. Chinese automaker FAW Car has started selling Hongqi electric luxury cars in Israel, the Israeli car import dealership Samelet Group said Wednesday. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

To encourage the import and purchase of EVs, the Israeli government has offered tax incentives and free registration for EVs. Until 2023, Israel plans to tax EVs at a significantly lower rate of 10 percent, compared with regular vehicles at 83 percent.

In addition, a total of 30 million new shekels (9.11 million U.S. dollars) have been allocated for the public EV charging infrastructure across the country.

"Most consumers in Israel are the middle class who value price advantages. We do have European EV makers, but they are more expensive, and Chinese EVs are good value for money," Tomer Hadar, an automotive editor for Calcalist, Israel's largest financial newspaper, told Xinhua.

Hadar added that "the Chinese EVs have won the hearts of Israelis due to their reliability and technology with excellent long-lasting batteries."

For a long period, Japanese and Korean automakers have dominated the Israeli market, but now Chinese automakers are trying to overtake their traditional competitors by switching lanes in the race for EVs.

"In terms of fuel vehicles, Israelis are more familiar with non-Chinese cars, but in the field of EVs, no one owns the experience as China," stressed Yablon.

In the first quarter of 2022, around 5,000 EVs were sold in Israel, among which some 750 EVs were from Geely, occupying a market share of 15 percent, according to Yablon.

Hadar expects that 15,000 to 20,000 EVs will be sold in Israel this year, and more than half of them will be Chinese ones.

Besides Geely, China's Hongqi EV has also hit the headlines of some Israeli media and gained the attention of buyers.

Chinese automaker FAW Car started selling its Hongqi E-HS9 EV in Israel in April, providing the market a new choice with a long range of 510 km and a 99-kWh battery.

"I'm impressed more with the interior design, almost perfect," Danile Shpitz, an Israeli buyer, told Xinhua in a showroom of Hongqi EVs in Tel Aviv.

Geely, FAW, Aiways, SAIC MG, BYD ... EVs from more than 10 Chinese automakers have got into the Israeli market by the second quarter of 2022.

Some Israeli car importers are in talks with various Chinese automakers to bring and sell their EV products here, said Hadar.

"Chinese brands now have a strong foothold in the Israeli market and the potential is amazing," Hadar told Xinhua. 
UNITED NATIONS, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Relief workers in northern Ethiopia delivered to the Tigray region 142 truckloads carrying 3,400 metric tons of food aid in April, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said three convoys also were able to drive the Semera road through the neighboring Afar region to deliver 10 tankers of fuel.

The deliveries targeted priority districts, including Mekelle, the regional capital; Abi-Adi, Adwa and Axum in the Central Zone; Adigrat in the Eastern Zone and Maichew in the Southern Zone. Relief also reached Sheraro and two refugee camps in the North-Western Zone, said OCHA.

Hostilities or villagers demanding they get a share of relief before allowing passage on regional roads previously blocked many such deliveries, it said.

The supplies are far below what is required to meet the level of needs in Tigray, OCHA said.

The humanitarian response also continues in conflict-affected areas of the Amhara and Afar regions neighboring Tigray. Humanitarians said that 10 million people had received food assistance from the government, the United Nations and partners since late December. 
The Experience Center of Central European Trade and Logistics Cooperation Zone(CECZ) is seen in Budapest, Hungary on April 12, 2022 (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

Hungary's geographical location makes it an ideal spot for a logistics hub, and the CECZ's record over the past decade has justified all its founders' expectations.

BUDAPEST, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The Central European Trade and Logistics Cooperation Zone (CECZ), founded here in 2012, is a major trade hub that facilitates trade cooperation between Hungarian and Chinese companies and also between China and the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEEC).

Established by Beijing as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the CECZ is China's first national-level trade and logistics overseas cooperation zone.

After ten years of development, the CECZ has now become a two-way interactive platform for Chinese and European enterprises, facilitating cooperation in the following areas: exhibitions and trade, logistics, warehousing and industrial investments.

Wu Jiang, chief executive officer (CEO) of the CECZ, has overseen the zone's development since its inception.

BUILDING BRIDGES

Wu arrived in Hungary to work in business and logistics more than 30 years ago. The idea to create the CECZ was first raised in 2011, he recalled.

In June of that year, Hungary hosted the first China-CEEC Economic and Trade Forum, where China set in motion its economic and trade cooperation with the countries of the region. This perfectly matched the Hungarian government's newly announced "Eastern Opening" policy.

Drawing on his years of experience, Wu was aware of the challenges inherent to such an undertaking. The participating Chinese companies had no prior experience in the region, and if they wanted to develop overseas, they would have to build up their presence from scratch. Platforms like the CECZ proved vital to their effort.

Cai Bin, authorized representative of China's Gree Electric Appliances Inc. in Hungary, is very impressed by the CECZ's potential to serve as a bridge for economic and trade cooperation.

"After our goods arrive, they are stored in the warehouse in the zone When we place an order, the staff here will help us deliver it to various supermarkets across Hungary, which is very convenient for us," she said.

Since Cai's company entered the zone in 2016, its business volume has increased significantly. The sales figures for 2021 are seven or eight times higher than they were in 2016.

A Container of China Railway Express is seen at the Csepel Freeport Logistics Park in Budapest, Hungary on April 12, 2022 (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

RAIL ROUTES

Hungary's geographical location makes it an ideal spot for a logistics hub, and the CECZ's record over the past decade has justified all its founders' expectations.

The arrival in June 2017 of the first Changsha-Budapest China-Europe freight train operated by the zone represented a new milestone in the CECZ's history. This train, carrying 41 containers filled with Chinese-made products, was the first to enter a European Union (EU) member state via Ukraine.

"The opening of the Ukraine-Hungary route has been a very beneficial addition to the trajectory of the China-Europe freight train," Wu said.

Compared with the traditional northern route of the China-Europe freight trains that reached the EU via Poland, this southern route avoids the predictable congestion at the Belarus-Poland border and shortens both travel distance and time.

In the past few years, the CECZ has established cooperation with the operators of other train routes, such as those linking the Chinese cities of Xi'an, Jinan, Guangzhou and Linyi with Budapest.

On January 29, 2017, the "China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line" was inaugurated by the CECZ and China's shipping giant COSCO.

Goods from Ningbo, China, are shipped by sea to the Port of Piraeus in Greece, and then delivered to Budapest by rail.

Most recently, on October 21, 2020, a regular cargo charter flight route between Zhengzhou and Budapest was opened.

Ghibli, a full-service logistics provider, was among the first companies to settle in CECZ's Logistics Park in Budapest's Csepel Port. "I am very proud that we were the first company to send an export train to China, and that together with the COSCO Group we have transported goods from Piraeus Port to Budapest," Ghibli's CEO Zoltan Szabo said.

Using the CECZ's platform, the company's warehouse capacity expanded from 15,000 square meters when it moved in 2013 to 55,000 square meters in 2021.

Worker loads goods onto the shelves with a forklift at the Csepel Freeport Logistics Park in Budapest, Hungary on April 12, 2022. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

EXPANSION

The past decade has also witnessed the CECZ's continuous expansion. Today, it also has an exhibition center in Budapest and two logistics parks respectively in Csepel Port and in Germany's Bremen Port.

Furthermore, the CECZ is now a major actor in industrial investment as well.

In 2021, the zone's cumulative investment portfolio was worth 135 million U.S. dollars. It was home to 175 enterprises, among them 50 Chinese-funded holding companies, accounting for a total trade volume of nearly 2.7 billion U.S. dollars and exports of 4.2 billion U.S. dollars. Huawei, Wanhua, Bosch, Siemens, Audi, Samsung and many other well-known Chinese and international are now active in the CECZ.

With the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce in recent years, the CECZ is also actively engaged in overseas warehouse construction and supports logistics services there.

"We hope to provide services for the projects of the BRI by building more trade and logistics parks," Wu commented. 
RABAT, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The OPEC Fund for International Development will finance 14.3 million U.S. dollars for the second phase of the studies in the submarine Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project.

According to a statement by the Moroccan Ministry of Finance on Friday, the agreement was signed by the Moroccan Finance and Economy Minister Nadia Fettah and the General Director of the OPEC Fund Abdulhamid Alkhalifa.

The Australian company WorleyParsons announced Wednesday in a statement that it has been awarded the second phase of the studies, which is progressing in accordance with the initial project planning.

In January, the Islamic Development Bank has signed an agreement with Morocco to provide 15.45 million dollars to the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline studies.

This gas pipeline project would cover 7,000 km long through 13 West African countries, and extend to Europe, according to WorleyParsons. 
QUITO, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Peruvian President Pedro Castillo arrived Friday morning in the southern Ecuadorian city of Loja to join his Ecuadorian counterpart Guillermo Lasso to co-chair the 14th Binational Cabinet meeting between the two countries.

The General Secretariat of Communication of the Ecuadorian Presidency said on its Twitter account that the Peruvian president was received at a local airport near the border city by Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Holguin.

In the city, Castillo and Lasso are scheduled to preside over the 14th Ecuador-Peru Binational Cabinet to analyze issues of common interest and projects in various areas in the border area between the two countries.

Informed sources said the meeting will address issues of border security, defense, cooperation, trade, energy, among others.

The Binational Cabinet is a platform for dialogue established by the two South American countries in 2007.

This will be the first time that Lasso and Castillo preside over a Binational Cabinet, an annual event to evaluate the progress in delivering commitments and draw new roadmaps for resolving issues of mutual interest.

Participating in the bilateral event are ministers from the two neighboring countries.

Speaking at the inauguration, Lasso said, "This day will be a great opportunity to continue promoting our common agenda on priority issues of benefit to both nations, particularly those related to the border area."

Lasso said that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the economies of the region in a "dramatic way" and that it is crucial to seek joint solutions at this time of social and economic recovery.

Participants in the meeting often discuss social and cultural issues in addition to production, trade, investment and tourism, infrastructure and connectivity.

Security and defense issues will also be discussed in addition to environment, energy and mining.

"On border security, I am sure that we agree on strengthening our fight against organized crime, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, arms and explosives and emphasizing the fight against illegal mining," Lasso said.

Castillo said Peru and Ecuador share multiple interests that stem from a long common border and grapple with drug trafficking, illegal mining, inequalities and poverty. 
SYDNEY, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Bird populations in Australian rainforests have failed to rebound from the bushfires that tore through large swathes of the nation more than two years ago, according to a new study.

The report, published in Global Ecology and Conservation and released on Thursday, investigated the unprecedented impact of the 2019-2020 "Black Summer" fires on the Gondwana Rainforests, which stretched about 366,500 hectares across the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Center for Ecosystem Science said it was the first time the World Heritage-listed area had been subjected to such devastating blazes, which wiped out about half the area.

"These rainforests are 40 million years old, and the fact we've burned up to half of it in just one fire season is astounding," said the report's lead author, UNSW ecology researcher Josh Lee.

Lee told Xinhua on Friday that initially the birds, unlike other wildlife trapped in the fires, were able to escape but they were now in peril because their habitat was struggling to recover.

"Some Australian bushland areas, such as those with eucalyptus trees, do well after fires, as it's part of their cycle, but that's not the case with rainforests," he said.

Lee said among the hardest hit bird species were the wompoo fruit-dove and the paradise riflebird which eat insects, leaves or fruit.

"Rainforests need these birds to eat and then disperse the seeds for the trees to grow in other parts of the rainforest - if we don't have the pigeons and doves to help the fire-affected areas regenerate, then we are in real trouble," he said.

The researchers say it is essential to continue studying the effects of large fires on the long-term conservation of rainforests, especially as climate change is expected to make such natural disasters more common.

"Because of how unique these ecosystems are and how rarely they burn, we really don't know much about what the recovery will look like," Lee said.

He said it would, therefore, be important to get an accurate timeline as to when other flora and fauna, not just birds, return to such fire-ravaged areas.

"There are a lot of species that only exist in the rainforests - they are not found anywhere else - so, if we did lose enough of these areas, then whole groups of species would be threatened with extinction," Lee said. 
MOGADISHU, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Somalia wrapped up leadership elections for the two chambers of Parliament on Thursday after more than a year of delays due to political differences and increased insecurity posed by al-Shabab terrorists.

The lawmakers on Tuesday elected Abdi Hashi Abdullahi as Speaker of the 54-member Senate or the Upper House and his two deputies while the 275-member Lower House elected Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur as the speaker on Thursday.

In his victory, Abdullahi who lauded the senators for participating in the election reminded them of the duty to effectively draft laws to address national challenges.

"There are challenges our country faces, such as the prevailing drought situation. I am certain we will address these challenges since we have established the House leadership," he said.

The senators were also elected.

In his victory speech, the Speaker of the House of the People, Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur noted the security and political challenges facing Somalia and pledged to promote inclusive politics.

"We are committed to leading the country towards reforms, restoring order and ending the suffering of the Somali people," he said on Thursday.

Somalia's international partners on Thursday welcomed the successful elections for leadership positions in the Upper House and the House of the People.

"We congratulate the newly elected speakers and deputy speakers as they assume their important responsibilities at this critical moment for Somalia," the partners including the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations among other Western nations said in a joint statement issued in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

They said the election of the parliamentary leadership is a major achievement after the protracted delays and obstacles in choosing the members of parliament.

The partners, who have been pushing for the conclusion of the electoral process amid power struggle fears by Somali leaders, appreciated the efforts of all Somalis who contributed to completion of these parliamentary votes.

"We urge that the election of the President now be completed promptly, peacefully, and credibly, so that Somalia's elected leaders can address national priorities for the benefit of all its citizens," they said.

Focus now turns to the elections of the president in which the current incumbent Mohamed Farmajo is expected to seek his re-election for the second term in office.

Two former presidents and ex-prime minister including Puntland president Said Deni are expected to contest for the presidency.

Somalia on December 1, 2020 missed a deadline to hold its parliamentary elections which were due to begin as agreed by the government and six regional states in September 2020.

Parliamentary and presidential elections were to be held between December 2020 and February 2021, respectively but were delayed due to disputes over composition of the electoral commissions and increased insecurity.

Farmajo, whose term in office officially ended on February 8, 2021, has been under pressure after the election date passed without resolution of issues related to how the vote would have been conducted in Somalia.

The 54-member Senate and the 275 members of parliament from the Lower House are expected to jointly elect a new president in an indirect vote in Mogadishu in May but no date has been set so far.

Somalia last held one-person, one-vote elections in March 1969 when the government was overthrown in a military coup. Parliamentary and presidential elections took place in late 2016 and early 2017 through a system of indirect suffrage. 
Ships and facilities are seen at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in Antwerp, Belgium, April 28, 2022. The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge have merged into Europe's largest port, allowing for exports of 147 million tons per year. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

BRUSSELS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge have merged into Europe's largest port, allowing for exports of 147 million tons per year.

At a ceremony for the new Antwerp-Bruges port held in Antwerp, Belgium, on Thursday, the port authority said the merger will allow the two ports to boost their roles as green energy hubs within Europe, and as global players within the supply chain.

With an overall throughput of 289 million tons per year, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges is a critical hub in worldwide trade and industry, and a crucial link for the handling of containers, breakbulk and vehicles. It is also home to 1,400 companies, and creates around 164,000 jobs, which generates an added value of 21 billion euros.

The newly-unified port plans to further strengthen its position in the international logistics chain, and take a leading role in energy and digital transition.

In addition, by 2028 the Port of Antwerp-Bruges should have the capacity to receive the first green hydrogen molecules on its platform, playing a key role in the roll-out of the hydrogen economy.

In February 2021, the City of Antwerp and the City of Bruges announced the launch of the merger process for their respective ports. On April 22 this year, the two cities signed the shareholders' agreement of the unified port company. 

Ships and facilities are seen at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in Antwerp, Belgium, April 28, 2022. The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge have merged into Europe's largest port, allowing for exports of 147 million tons per year. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Ships and facilities are seen at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in Antwerp, Belgium, April 28, 2022. The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge have merged into Europe's largest port, allowing for exports of 147 million tons per year. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Annick De Ridder (C), Vice Mayor of Antwerp and President of the board of directors of Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Dirk De faux (R), Mayor of the City of Bruges and Vice President of Port of Antwerp-Bruges, and CEO of Port of Antwerp-Bruges Jacques Vandermeiren attend the merger ceremony in Antwerp, Belgium, April 28, 2022. The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge have merged into Europe's largest port, allowing for exports of 147 million tons per year. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
MOSCOW/KIEV, April 29 (Xinhua) -- While the international community is making diplomatic efforts in hopes of ending Russia-Ukraine hostilities, analysts fear that the United States and its Western allies could simply nullify all such attempts by repeatedly providing military assistance to Ukraine.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres travelled to Russia and Ukraine this week to mainly explore how the UN could aid in evacuating civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol.

As part of international efforts to help solve the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Guterres' visit came at a time when fighting between the two countries has entered the third month and their peace talks have fallen into a stalemate.

DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Guterres in the Kremlin on Tuesday, when he told the UN chief that "despite the ongoing military operation, we still hope that we will be able to reach agreements on the diplomatic track."

Guterres said that the UN is willing, together with the International Committee of the Red Cross, to assess the situation at Mariupol's Azovstal plant in order to evacuate civilians from there.

After a meeting with Guterres on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters that his country was ready for urgent talks to evacuate people from Mariupol and hoped that the participation of the UN secretary-general in this mission would facilitate the evacuation efforts.

"We will continue to call for a complete ceasefire, as well as for immediate practical measures to save lives and minimize human suffering," Guterres stressed.

Commenting on Guterres' trip, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Moscow positively assessed the UN's desire to play a constructive and unbiased role.

Along with many other countries, China has always supported and encouraged all diplomatic efforts that are conducive to the peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis and has proposed a six-point initiative on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

WORRISOME MILITARY AID

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday requested Congress to appropriate 33 billion U.S. dollars to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia's military operation, including 20.4 billion dollars in military and security assistance.

Just a week ago, Biden announced that the United States would provide Ukraine with an additional package of security assistance worth 800 million dollars, or the eighth batch of such aid since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out on Feb. 24.

"It is clear that the West is interested in prolonging the conflict as much as possible in order to inflict maximum damage on Russia," said Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

According to him, the West aims to deplete Russia's military resources, hurt its economy and weaken the country politically.

But Kyryl Molchanov, deputy director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics, said that it is difficult to completely isolate Russia since it has a vast land with rich natural resources.

Meanwhile, massive military supplies from the West, including many portable smaller weapon systems, have raised public concern over a dangerous proliferation of arms across Europe.

In a recent article titled What happens to weapons sent to Ukraine? The U.S. doesn't really know, CNN reported that the United States has few ways to track its weaponry delivered to Ukraine. 
OTTAWA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said the Canadian government plans to reopen its embassy in Ukraine soon, local media reported Thursday.

According to the CTV report, Joly said before the Senate foreign affairs and international trade committee on Thursday that her objective is to do so in the coming days, coming weeks.

"We just need to make sure that there is a secure environment for staff and also we're looking at what our other Five Eyes colleagues and allies are doing," Joly was quoted as saying.

Canada closed its embassy in Kiev on Feb. 12 and relocated diplomatic staff to the western city of Lviv. All staff members were later moved to Poland.

Last Friday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain planned to revive its on-the-ground diplomacy in Ukraine this week. The United States, France and Italy have announced similar plans, CTV reported. 
WASHINGTON, April 29 (Xinhua) -- White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said on Friday that she had tested positive for COVID-19.

Bedingfield, 40, tweeted she last saw U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday "in a socially-distanced meeting while wearing an N-95 mask."

Biden is not considered a close contact as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the White House official.

"Thanks to being fully vaccinated and boosted, I am only experiencing mild symptoms," Bedingfield wrote.

"In alignment with White House COVID-19 protocols, I will work from home and plan to return to work in person at the conclusion of a five-day isolation period and a negative test," she added.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States has exceeded 81 million, with over 993,000 related deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. 
SAN FRANCISCO, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Twitter, Inc. on Thursday announced financial results for the first quarter of 2022 with revenue of 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 16 percent year over year.

The company's advertising revenue totaled 1.11 billion dollars, an increase of 23 percent, or 26 percent on a constant currency basis.

Subscription and other revenue totaled 94 million dollars, a decrease of 31 percent year over year.

Costs and expenses totaled 1.33 billion dollars, an increase of 35 percent year over year. This resulted in an operating loss of 128 million dollars and -11 percent operating margin, compared to an operating income of 52 million dollars or 5 percent operating margin in the same period of the previous year, according to the company.

Its stock-based compensation (SBC) expense grew 60 percent year over year to 177 million dollars and was approximately 15 percent of total revenue.

Net income was 513 million dollars, representing a net margin of 43 percent and diluted earnings per share (EPS) of 0.61 dollars.

Net cash provided by operating activities in the quarter was 126 million dollars, compared to 390 million dollars in the same period last year. Capital expenditures totaled 161 million dollars, compared to 179 million dollars in the same period last year.

The company's average monetizable daily active usage (mDAU) was 229.0 million for the first quarter, up 15.9 percent compared to the first quarter of the prior year.

The average US mDAU was 39.6 million for the quarter, up 6.4 percent compared to the same period of the prior year. The average international mDAU was 189.4 million for the first quarter, up 18.1 percent compared to the same quarter of the prior year.

"Given the pending acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, we will not be providing any forward-looking guidance, and are withdrawing all previously provided goals and outlook," the company said. 
BHUTAN: India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived in Bhutan on Friday on an official visit and said he was looking forward to a productive stay and increasing bilateral cooperation between the two countries. "It's wonderful to be back in Bhutan. It's great to see @FMBhutan Tandi Dorji again. I'm looking forward to a fruitful visit, "Jaishankar sent out a tweet. '

Jaishankar also posted photos of his arrival in the city. According to an official announcement from India's external affairs ministry (MEA), Jaishankar is in Bhutan at the invitation of his Bhutanese colleague Lyonpo Tandi Dorji.

Jaishankar will meet with Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Bhutan's King, as well as Dr Lotay Tshering, Bhutan's Prime Minister. He will also meet with his counterpart, Dr. Tandi Dorji. India and Bhutan have a unique and long-standing bilateral relationship marked by greatest trust, goodwill, and mutual understanding, the ministry said in a statement.

Since March 2020, Jaishankar will be Bhutan's first high-level foreign visitor. The two sides will discuss all areas of mutual importance during the visit, including upcoming high-level meetings, economic development, and hydropower cooperation. Jaishankar arrived in Dhaka on Thursday, beginning a three-day visit to Bangladesh and Bhutan from April 28 to 30. Jaishankar's visit to Bangladesh is remarkable because it is his first since March 2021.

During his official visit to Bangladesh, Jaishankar met with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and communicated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation to her to visit India later this year. EAM Jaishankar also discussed bilateral, regional, and international topics of mutual interest with Bangladesh's Prime Minister.

"This afternoon, EAM called on H.E. Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, and extended Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's invitation to visit India at her leisure later this year," according to an official statement. Jaishankar also met with Bangladesh's Foreign Minister, AK Abdul Momen, and extended an invitation to him to join the Joint Consultative Commission's next meeting, which will be conducted in India ahead to PM Hasina's visit.

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Raisina Dialogue 2022: PM to inaugurate Seventh edition today
KABUL: A former Afghan army commander claims that he, along with many other soldiers and politicians from the previous administration, are preparing to begin a new war against the country's current Taliban leadership.

Lt Gen Sami Sadat, speaking to the BBC for the first time about the plans, said that eight months of Taliban control had convinced many Afghans that military action is the only way forward. After Eid, when he hopes to travel to Afghanistan, he indicated operations could begin next month.

As the final US-led NATO forces left after a 20-year military effort, hard-line Islamists swept throughout the country in just ten days. Lt Gen Sadat stated that he and the others will do all in our ability to ensure that Afghanistan was free of the Taliban and that a democratic government was restored. "We will continue to struggle until we win our independence until we obtain our free will," he told the BBC, refusing to give a specific date.

The general emphasised how the Taliban had reintroduced more harsh control, including significant limits on women's and girls' rights, and that it was time to end their dictatorial rule and begin a new chapter. "We've seen nothing but greater religious limitations, misquotation, misinterpretation, and exploitation of scripts from the Holy Quran for political objectives in Afghanistan in the eight months of Taliban control," he said.

He had intended to offer the Taliban a 12-month grace period to see if they would change, he claimed.

Pakistan's devastating air attacks increase tensions with Taliban

Massive bomb blast in the mosque of Mazar-e-Sharif, 5 killed, more than 65 injured"

Taliban Govt denies presence of TTP militants in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON: Richard Olson, a former US Ambassador to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, pleaded guilty to undisclosed lobbying for Qatar while still in service and shortly after his retirement, a report quoted citing court records.

According to media reports, he is also accused of enjoying a luxurious trip to Qatar while still acting as the US envoy to Pakistan. In a permission letter provided by his counsel, he said, "I wish to plead guilty to the charges, forgo trial in the Central District of California, and dispose of the case in the District of Columbia in which I am present."

Olson, who has also served as the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was accused in federal court with violating a ban on lobbying for a foreign country while serving in the military and within a year after retiring, as per reports.

Olson is a three-time recipient of the State Department's Superior Honor Award and has received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award and the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award. After retiring, he moved to Virginia and became a regular speaker on South Asian issues at Washington think tanks, where he praised Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorism.

Former US President Barack Obama dispatched Olson to Pakistan in 2012 after the then-Ambassador, Cameron Munter, resigned following the 2011 Abbottabad raid that resulted in the assassination of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

Former Afghan army general prepares for a new battle with Taliban

Israel comes to a halt to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust

UN calls for immediate development measures in Lebanon amid crisis
Turkey's Defence Ministry stated it "neutralised" 12 members of Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.

In a tweet from the Ministry on Thursday, it said the YPG members were prepared to attack Turkish-controlled military zones in Syria where Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Peace Spring are being carried out.

Reportedly, Turkish authorities frequently use the phrase "neutralised" to refer to "terrorists" killed, wounded, or detained in security operations. According to the Ministry, on April 22, YPG members attacked a police checkpoint in Mare village in the Operation Euphrates Shield zone with anti-tank weaponry, killing one police officer.

Operation Euphrates Shield was initiated by the Turkish Army in northern Syria in 2016, followed by Operation Olive Branch in 2018, Operation Peace Spring in 2019, and Operation Spring Shield in 2020.

The operations, according to Turkish authorities, aim to eliminate terror threats against Turkey and create a safe zone that will allow Syrian refugees to return to their homes.

The YPG is seen by Ankara as the Syrian wing of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Turkey has designated the PKK as a terrorist organisation, and it has been fighting the Turkish government for more than three decades.

Turkey's cross-border operation in Iraq: At least 45 PKK members killed

Turkey's FM summons Iraqi envoy to defend cross-border offensive

Iraqi Presidency says Turkey's cross-border operation threatens security, sovereignty
Home  Just In  Memories of Nepal civil war: Fighting for the change that is meaningless to them

They have a few certificates with the names of Basanti Chaudhary and her husband Khushi Ram Chaudhary on a wall of the attic of their home in Ghorahi of the Dang district. Nearby the certificate, Basanti is lying on the bed, rubbing the wound on her abdomen. For the woman who cannot stand and sit properly, those certificates and painful wounds are similar.

The duo received the certificates for fighting the 10 year-long civil war in Nepal. Occasionally, they still make the couple happy, but the wound in her abdomen caused due to a bullet makes them immediately sad.

Basanti Chaudhary and Khusi Ram Chaudhary are two representative survivors of the civil war who have felt they have not received justice even after years of the peace process.

Scars of the civil war

The wound keeps paining all the time, makes it hard to stand and even sleep, says Basanti, rubbing the wound.

Khushi Ram also lives in a similar situation. He has fought four battles during the insurgency and has sustained scars of bullets on different parts of his body. The right side of his body is unmovable. Likewise, the left side is also in a critical condition.

The doctor has said that the scars on the neck have affected the head. As the right side of the head is affected, the left hand and leg have been nonfunctional, says Khushi Ram.

In 1996, when the civil war had just begun, the Maoists attacked Dangs headquarters, Ghorahi. That was the first and biggest attack made by the rebels against the army. Afterwards, the then government started torturing the public in rural parts of Ghorahi.

The torture was unbearable, and as result, the Tharu youth joined the Maoist party. Basanti and Khushi Ram were also those who joined the Maoist force then.

Basanti cannot remember the exact date when she went underground. But, she knows the year was 1996.

A few days before that, the army surrounded the entire settlement and beat the public. For a few days, we tolerated it, but after some time, we could not bear it, and we went underground, Basanti recalls.

The same night when they went underground, the army launched an operation in a jungle nearby Hapure, Dang. A bullet fired by the army hit Basantis abdomen. Basanti spent most of her time in a hospital instead of being involved in the civil war.

After receiving treatment in India and removing a bullet from the abdomen, she took part in the various fronts of war and fulfilled her responsibilities. But, now, the state does not consider her even as an injured person.

The indifferent state

The civil war did nothing to improve the lifestyle of the people of Ghorahi. Photo: Chandra Bahadur Ale

Yesterday, we were ready to take bullets for the sake of change, but today, we are struggling to get treatment, she has a grievance with the nation and the party that led the civil war.

Across Nepal, there are thousands of couples like Basanti and Khushi Ram who have fought to change the system of the country. Due to that contribution, there has been a little bit of reduction in inequality. The question against discrimination has started to come out. But, the ignorance of the government has agonised thousands of civil war fights such as Basanti and Khushi Ram.

It has been 15 years since the end of the armed conflict and the establishment of peace. But, the scars of bullets are still there on Khushi Rams neck.

He cannot walk well. For the last 20 years, he has been regularly taking the medicine.

His worries escalated after the government reduced his subsistence allowance from 51 per cent to 35 per cent of his medical expenses. The government, which the Maoists were also a part of, reduced the allowance.

The subsistence allowance was already insufficient earlier. As they have reduced further, it has created more difficulties in medical treatment, says Khushi Ram.

As both are injured, they are unable to work and are going through hard times. They are also facing trouble with managing finances for medication. The couple have already sold a big chunk of their land for treatment. Now, they are worried about the future of their son and daughter and grown-up grandchildren.

Till when will our life be like this?, Basanti says.

The local government is not for locals

The civil war survivors thought of receiving medical treatment once the constitution was promulgated. But now, they think they are not a part of the constitution that was introduced partly due to their struggles.

The constitution which was brought due to our hardship doesnt have a place for us, says Basanti.

In 2017, when the local governments were constituted, their hopes were raised again.

We thought that the government of our own place would address the problem of civil war survivors. But, we were wrong; nothing happened as expected, says Basanti.

Since then, she started realising that this system of democracy and federalism is also not for the warriors like them.

Due to the struggles of Basanti and Khushi Ram, the nation has achieved democracy and republicanism. A new constitution has been promulgated, and the first phase of its implementation has been completed.

Now, for the second phase, the elections are taking place soon. But, Basanti feels that the indifference and insult towards the civil war survivors by the nation are similar to the scars made by the bullets.

This story was translated from the original Nepali version and edited for clarity and length.
A top US official in the Pacific has warned that America would have to respond if the Solomon Islands allows China to establish a military base there.

Following a constructive and candid 90-minute meeting with prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink said that the security deals between China and the Solomon Islands present potential regional security implications for the US and other allies.

We wanted to outline for our friends in the Solomons what our concerns are, Mr Kritenbrink, US assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told reporters.

We have respect for the Solomon Islands sovereignty. But we also wanted to let them know that if steps were taken to establish a de facto permanent military presence... then we would have significant concerns, and we would very naturally respond to those concerns.

Mr Kritenbrink declined to elaborate on the nature of the US response, saying he was not in a position to talk about what the United States may or may not do in such a situation.

The American delegation, led by White House Indo-Pacific co-ordinator Kurt Campbell and Mr Kritenbrink, met members of Mr Sogavares government days after the Solomon Islands sent ripples across the Pacific region by signing a security co-operation pact with Beijing.

While the full details of the deal have not been disclosed, a draft copy suggests that the pact allows China to send police and military personnel to the Solomon Islands while also opening the door for Chinese warships to stop in port.

It has triggered worries of a possible Chinese naval base on the doorsteps of Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Kritenbrink also noted that the lack of transparency over the agreement is a fundamental concern.

What precisely are the motivations behind the agreement? What exactly are Chinas objectives and the like? he asked, according to Sydney Morning Herald.

I think theyre completely unclear because this agreement has not been scrutinised or viewed or subjected to any kind of consultation or approval process by anyone else.

Story continues

He added that they were not forcing countries to choose between the US and China but only promoting shared interests.

Any steps taken by countries, whether it would be China or anyone else, that run counter to those interests and principles, I think would be a fundamental concern to us and I think has some bearing on what were dealing with here, he was quoted as saying.

Earlier, New Zealands prime minister Jacinda Ardern questioned the motive of the security pact between the two countries as she raised concerns regarding Beijings growing assertiveness and interest in the region.

One of the reasons weve expressed this disappointment [is]  Australia and New Zealand both have heeded the call of the Solomons for support during recent disruption, she told BBC News.

And weve again highlighted that should any extended need exist, we are there to help and support. What gap remains that requires such an agreement with China?

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison slammed the move, saying a Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands would be a red line for his government, even as he acknowledge Mr Sogavares personal assurances that this would not happen.
Some companies have started requiring their employees to come into the office a few times a week now that most people have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Airbnb isn't one them. Company CEO Brian Chesky has informed employees in a letter that they have the option to work remotely forever. A "small number of roles" will be required to work in the office, but the majority of Airbnb employees don't have to come in if they don't want to.

Chesky wrote:

"We want to hire and retain the best people in the world (like you). If we limited our talent pool to a commuting radius around our offices, we would be at a significant disadvantage. The best people live everywhere, not concentrated in one area. And by recruiting from a diverse set of communities, we will become a more diverse company. "

The CEO said that Airbnb had recovered quickly from the pandemic thanks to people booking listings to work remotely, proving that the world is now more open to flexible work arrangements. Apparently, in the second half of 2021, 20 percent of the nights booked on its website were for stays of longer than a month.

Airbnb will pay employees the same salary wherever it is in their country they choose to work. It will implement pay tiers by country for both salary and equity starting in June, so those getting paid less based on their location could soon be earning more. International moves are much more complex, however, and the company said it won't be able to support employees who decide to live in another country this year.

That said, it will allow people to work in 170 countries for up to 90 days each starting in September. While employees still have to secure their own work authorization, the company is partnering with local governments to make the process easier.

In comparison, Google and Apple employees are making a gradual return to office and are now required to work a few days a week on site as part of a hybrid work plan. Twitter opened some of its offices in late 2021 but also told employees that they can permanently work from home.
RTHK: Damning report urges UK to suspend BVI constitution

The British Virgin Islands should have its constitution suspended, its elected government dissolved and effectively be ruled from London, according to a highly critical inquiry into governance in the British overseas territory released on Friday.

Queen Elizabeth's representative on the island, Governor John Rankin, had ordered the inquiry in 2021 to investigate "the corruption, abuse of office, and other serious dishonesty" in the territory's governance.

Its report found that millions of dollars of state funds were spent each year by politicians and ministries without proper process, along with serious dishonesty in relation to sales of public property and widespread abuse of appointments.

The report is not directly linked to the arrest on Thursday of the islands' elected premier, Andrew Fahie, on charges of money laundering and conspiring to import cocaine. But British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the arrest demonstrated the importance of the Commission's work.

The inquiry was led by British judge Gary Hickinbottom.

"He has concluded with a particularly heavy heart that unless the most drastic and urgent steps are taken, the current situation with elected officials deliberately ignoring the tenets of good governance will go on indefinitely," Rankin told a news conference.

"He notes that the people of the BVI deserve better, and that the UK government owes them an obligation to protect them from such abuses and assist them to achieve their aspirations for self-government as a modern democratic state."

Any decision to suspend parts of the constitution would fall to the British government, which said it was sending a minister to the BVI before announcing a path forward.

In a statement, Truss said that the report "shows clearly that substantial legislative and constitutional change is required to restore the standards of governance that the people of the British Virgin Islands are entitled to". (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-04-29. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Azernews





Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov has discussed the expansion of trade relations with Israel and Iran.

Cooperation with Israel

During the meeting with the Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman, the parties discussed the prospects for expanding trade relations and new opportunities for cooperation.

"During the meeting with Minister of Finance of Israel Avigdor Liberman, we had fruitful discussions on the current state of Azerbaijani-Israeli economic relations, prospects for expanding trade relations and new opportunities for cooperation," Mikayil Jabbarov wrote on his official Twitter page.

Azerbaijan and Israel have been expanding bilateral cooperation over the years.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan and Israel's cooperation is founded not only on economic partnership but also on traditional historical and cultural roots, as well as mutual respect and trust. Israel was one of the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan's state independence and establish diplomatic relations.

Furthermore, during the 44-day Second Karabakh War, Israel was among the first countries to express support for Azerbaijan's just position and territorial integrity. Azerbaijan expressed its willingness to involve Israel in the restoration of the country's newly liberated territories in January 2021. As a result, Israel will construct a buffalo farm in Azerbaijan's liberated Zangilan region.

Azerbaijan established its first Trade and Tourism Representative Office in Israel last year.

In 2021, the two countries' trade turnover totaled $928.4 million.

Cooperation with Iran

At the same time, during the meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari, the sides considered the possibility of expanding trade relations.

"During the meeting with Mehdi Safari, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran for Economic Diplomacy, we discussed the current state and prospects of economic cooperation between our countries. We also considered the possibility of expanding trade relations," the minister wrote on Twitter.

Azerbaijan and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on March 11 to establish new communication links between the East Zangazur economic region and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic via Iranian territory. The implementation of this project will put an end to Armenia's long-term policy of blockading Nakhchivan.

In 2016, Azerbaijan and Iran agreed to build the Khudafarin and Giz Galasi hydro junctions and hydroelectric power plants on the Araz River. They have a total capacity of over 1.6 billion cubic meters. It will have the capacity to generate 716 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. These hydro junctions and hydroelectric power plants will allow both sides to share the Araz River's water and energy resources.

After liberating its lands from Armenian occupation in the 44-day war in 2020, Azerbaijan regained control over a 132-km section of the Azerbaijan-Iran border. The re-establishment of control over the state border opened up new prospects for deeper cooperation between the two countries.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Iran in 2021 was $440.8 million.
LONDON, April 29, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a-" (Excellent) of National General Insurance Company (P.J.S.C.) (NGI) (United Arab Emirates). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect NGIs balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

NGIs balance sheet strength is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). AM Best expects prospective risk-adjusted capitalisation to remain at the strongest level, supported by good earnings retention and controlled growth. The assessment also factors in the companys good level of liquidity and low underwriting leverage. Offsetting rating factors include NGIs high dependence on reinsurance and exposure to volatile equity and real estate assets. The balance sheet strength assessment incorporates the UAEs low economic risk, and moderate political and financial system risk.

The company has achieved a five-year (2017-2021) weighted average return-on-equity ratio of 8.1%, which has been supported by robust and stable underwriting results from its non-life portfolio. NGI has demonstrated good underwriting performance across key non-life lines of business, with a five-year average combined ratio of 90.0%, as calculated by AM Best. Following strong growth in life business in 2021, this line of business contributed AED 5.7 million to underwriting profit. NGI generated net income for 2021 of AED 67.4 million (2020: AED 44.4 million), driven by strong investment and underwriting earnings.

NGI has a well-established profile in the UAE insurance market as a mid-tier player with a ranking of 11th based on 2021 gross written premium. The companys business profile is limited, due in part to its concentration to the highly competitive UAE market. NGI has a strong presence in the local motor and medical lines of business and is one of 16 insurers licensed to participate in the Dubai Health Authoritys mandatory health insurance scheme. AM Best expects the company to grow modestly over the short-to-medium term, with a focus remaining on achieving bottom line profitability and a balanced portfolio.

Story continues

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2022 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005519/en/

Contacts

Algirdas Karvelis, ACA

Financial Analyst

+44 20 7397 0285

algirdas.karvelis@ambest.com



Jessica Botelho-Young, CA

Associate Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0310

jessica.botelho@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com



Jeff Mango

Managing Director, Strategy & Communications

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644

jeffrey.mango@ambest.com
ReportLinker

Automotive Lightweight Material Market Research Report by Material Type (Composite, Elastomer, and Metal), Component, Vehicle, Electric & Hybrid Vehicle, Application, Region (Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa) - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19

New York, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Automotive Lightweight Material Market Research Report by Material Type, Component, Vehicle, Electric & Hybrid Vehicle, Application, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261225/?utm_source=GNW



The Global Automotive Lightweight Material Market size was estimated at USD 83.59 billion in 2021 and expected to reach USD 89.91 billion in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 7.74% to reach USD 130.80 billion by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2019 and 2020 are considered historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Automotive Lightweight Material to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Material Type, the market was studied across Composite, Elastomer, Metal, and Plastic. The Composite is further studied across Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer, Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer, and Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymer. The Elastomer is further studied across EPDM, NR, and SBR. The Metal is further studied across Advanced High Strength Steel, Aluminum, High Strength Steel, and Magnesium & Titanium. The Plastic is further studied across ABS, PA, PC, and PU.



Based on Component, the market was studied across Bumper & Fender, Door, Engine & Exhaust, Frame, Fuel Tank, Hood & Trunk Lid, Instrument Panel, Seat, Transmission, and Wheel.



Based on Vehicle, the market was studied across Heavy Commercial Vehicle, Light Commercial Vehicle, and Passenger Car. The Passenger Car is further studied across Economy Car, Mid-Sized Car, and Premium Car.



Based on Electric & Hybrid Vehicle, the market was studied across Battery Electric Vehicle, Electric Bus, Electric Truck, Hybrid Electric Vehicle, and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle.



Based on Application, the market was studied across Body in White, Chassis & Suspension, Closures, Interiors, and Powertrain.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.



This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Automotive Lightweight Material market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Automotive Lightweight Material Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Automotive Lightweight Material Market, including Alcoa Corporation, Arcelormittal, BASF SE, Covestro AG, Lyondellbasell Industries Holdings B.V., Novelis, Inc., Owens Corning, Stratasys Ltd., Thyssenkrupp AG, Toray Industries, Inc., and United States Steel Corporation.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Automotive Lightweight Material Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Automotive Lightweight Material Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Automotive Lightweight Material Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Automotive Lightweight Material Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Automotive Lightweight Material Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Automotive Lightweight Material Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Automotive Lightweight Material Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261225/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




ReportLinker

Automotive Refinish Coatings Market Research Report by Technology (Solvent Borne Coatings, UV-Cured Coatings, and Water Borne Coatings), Coat Type, Resin Type, Vehicle, End User, Region (Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa) - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19

New York, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Automotive Refinish Coatings Market Research Report by Technology, Coat Type, Resin Type, Vehicle, End User, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261191/?utm_source=GNW



The Global Automotive Refinish Coatings Market size was estimated at USD 9,449.90 million in 2021 and expected to reach USD 10,129.92 million in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 7.37% to reach USD 14,480.99 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2019 and 2020 are considered historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Automotive Refinish Coatings to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Technology, the market was studied across Solvent Borne Coatings, UV-Cured Coatings, and Water Borne Coatings.



Based on Coat Type, the market was studied across Activator/ Hardners, Basecoat, Clearcoat, and Primer & Filler.



Based on Resin Type, the market was studied across Acrylic, Alkyd, Epoxy, Nitrocellulose, and Polyurethane.



Based on Vehicle, the market was studied across Commercial Vehicles and Passenger Cars.



Based on End User, the market was studied across Aftermarket and OEM.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.



This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Automotive Refinish Coatings market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Automotive Refinish Coatings Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Automotive Refinish Coatings Market, including 3M Company, Akzo Nobel N.V, Alps Coating Sdn. Bhd., Arkema SA, Axalta Coating Systems, BASF SE, Bernardo Ecenarro S.A., Clariant International Ltd., Covestro AG, Cresta Paint Industries Ltd., Donglai Coating Technology, DSM Coating Resins B.V., Kansai Paint Co. Ltd, KAPCI Coatings, KCC Corporation, Matrix System Automotive Finishes, Mitsui Chemicals, Nippon Paint Holdings Co. Ltd, NOVOL Sp. Z o.o., PPG Industries, Inc., SEM Products, Inc., Sheboygan Paint Company, Sherwin-Williams Company, The Dow Chemical Company, and The Valspar Corporation.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Automotive Refinish Coatings Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Automotive Refinish Coatings Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Automotive Refinish Coatings Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Automotive Refinish Coatings Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Automotive Refinish Coatings Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Automotive Refinish Coatings Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Automotive Refinish Coatings Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261191/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




IndexBox, Inc.

Companies Mentioned in the Report: International Paper Company, Domtar Corporation, Sappi Limited, Resolute Forest Products, Canfor Corporation, West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., Ilim Group, Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill, Karjala Pulp LLC, Segezha, Essity, Stora Enso, Billerud Korsnas, Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA, UPM, Metsa Group, Norske Skog, Rygene, Kalpataru Papers LLP, Rama Pulp, Kabel Premium Pulp & Paper, Suzano Papel E Celulose SA, Eldorado Brasil Celulose SA



NEW YORK, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IndexBox has just published a new report: 'U.S.  Chemical Wood Pulp - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights' . Here is a summary of the report's key findings.

U.S. Chemical Wood Pulp Market Statistics

Imports $3,574.9 Million USD Exports $5,023.3Million USD Top Foreign Suppliers Canada, Brazil, Sweden Top Export Destinations China, Mexico, Japan

In 2021, after two years of decline, there was significant growth in the U.S. chemical wood pulp market, when its value increased by 6.1% to $27B. In general, consumption continues to indicate a relatively flat trend pattern over the past decade. Chemical wood pulp consumption peaked at $42.2B in 2018; however, from 2019 to 2021, consumption failed to regain the momentum. REQUEST FREE DATA

U.S. Chemical Wood Pulp Production

In 2021, production of chemical wood pulp was estimated at approximately 45M tonnes. Over the past decade, production saw a relatively flat trend pattern. The most prominent rate of growth was recorded in 2018 when the production volume increased by 8.9%. As a result, production attained the peak volume of 46M tonnes. from 2019 to 2021, production growth remained at a somewhat lower figure. REQUEST FREE DATA

In value terms, chemical wood pulp production expanded rapidly to $26.4B in 2021. From 2011-2021, production saw a relatively flat trend pattern. The growth pace was the most rapid in 2016. Chemical wood pulp production peaked at $50.5B in 2018; however, from 2019 to 2021, production stood at a somewhat lower figure. REQUEST FREE DATA

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U.S. Chemical Wood Pulp Exports

In 2021, after two years of growth, there was significant decline in shipments abroad of chemical wood pulp, when their volume decreased by -5.2% to 6.6M tonnes. Over the period under review, exports reached the peak figure at 7.7M tonnes in 2011; however, from 2012 to 2021, exports remained at a lower figure.

In value terms, chemical wood pulp exports soared to $5B in 2021. Overall, exports saw a relatively flat trend pattern. Exports hit record highs at $5B in 2011; afterwards, it flattened through to 2021.

Exports by Country

China (1.8M tonnes) was the main destination for chemical wood pulp exports from the United States, accounting for a 25% share of total supplies. Moreover, chemical wood pulp exports to China exceeded the volume sent to the second major destination, Mexico (715K tonnes), twofold. The third position in this ranking was occupied by Canada (472K tonnes), with a 6.8% share.

In value terms, China ($1B) remains the key foreign market for chemical wood pulp exports from the United States, comprising 24% of total supplies. The second position in the ranking was occupied by Mexico ($388M), with a 9.2% share of total exports. It was followed by Japan, with an 8% share.

From 2011 to 2020, the average annual rate of growth in terms of value to China stood at -1.4%. Exports to the other major destinations recorded the following average annual rates of exports growth: Mexico (-3.4% per year) and Japan (-1.1% per year).

Export Prices by Country

In 2020, the average chemical wood pulp export price amounted to $601 per tonne, declining by -11.5% against the previous year. There were significant differences in the average prices for the major export markets. In 2020, the country with the highest price was Spain ($829 per tonne), while the average price for exports to Canada ($478 per tonne) was amongst the lowest. From 2011 to 2020, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was recorded for supplies to Germany, while the prices for the other major destinations experienced more modest paces of growth.

U.S. Chemical Wood Pulp Imports

In 2021, purchases abroad of chemical wood pulp increased by 5.6% to 5.7M tonnes, rising for the third consecutive year after three years of decline. The total import volume increased at an average annual rate of +1.4% from 2011 to 2021.

In value terms, chemical wood pulp imports surged to $3.6B in 2021. In general, imports showed a relatively flat trend pattern.

Imports by Country

Canada (3.1M tonnes), Brazil (2.3M tonnes) and Sweden (236K tonnes) were the main suppliers of chemical wood pulp imports to the United States.

From 2011 to 2020, the most notable rate of growth in terms of purchases, amongst the main suppliers, was attained by Sweden, while imports for the other leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.

In value terms, Canada ($1.5B), Brazil ($871M) and Sweden ($148M) were the largest chemical wood pulp suppliers to the United States, with a combined 97% share of total imports.

Import Prices by Country

In 2020, the average chemical wood pulp import price amounted to $485 per tonne, waning by -24.4% against the previous year. There were significant differences in the average prices amongst the major supplying countries. In 2020, the country with the highest price was Sweden ($630 per tonne), while the price for Brazil ($383 per tonne) was amongst the lowest. From 2011 to 2020, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was attained by Sweden, while the prices for the other major suppliers experienced a decline.

About IndexBox

IndexBox is a market research firm developing an AI-driven market intelligence platform that helps business analysts find actionable insights and make data-driven decisions. The platform provides data on consumption, production, trade, and prices for more than 10K+ different products across 200 countries.

For more information, please visit

Website https://www.indexbox.io

Twitter https://twitter.com/indexbox

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/IndexBox

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/indexbox-marketing/

Product Coverage

Chemical wood pulp.

Related Links

Chemical Wood Pulp Market

Wood Pulp Market

Paper and Paperboard Market

Recovered Fiber Pulp

Graphic Paper Market

CONTACT: Contact Information Mekhrona Dzhuraeva Editor media@indexbox.io




DANONE

Press release  Paris, April 29, 2022

Danone seals a strategic alliance with CCU

for its Water business in Argentina

Danone and Compania Cervecerias Unidas (CCU) announce today a strategic alliance, as CCU Argentina has acquired a large minority stake in Aguas Danone de Argentina. This partnership will allow both companies to enrich their beverage offerings and strengthen their operations in the country.

Aguas Danone de Argentina stated:

"The strategic alliance announced today provides Danone with a partner of great prestige in the region, and our agreement is an important step that strengthens both companies in a highly competitive market. Danone has a history of partnerships in Argentina, and we are proud that Aguas Danone de Argentina joins forces with CCU to better serve Argentinian consumers".

Compania Cervecerias Unidas stated:

"We are proud to announce this alliance with Aguas Danone de Argentina. It represents the opportunity to enter a new beverage category in the country and jointly promote the development of brands such as Villavicencio, Villa del Sur, Levite and Ser, among others. This will generate a greater dynamism in the water industry with a stronger value proposition for all the consumers".





o o O o o

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Danone. In some cases, you can identify these forward-looking statements by forward-looking words, such as estimate, expect, anticipate, project, plan, intend, objective, believe, forecast, guidance, foresee, likely, may, should, goal, target, might, will, could, predict, continue, convinced and confident, the negative or plural of these words and other comparable terminology. Forward looking statements in this document include, but are not limited to, predictions of future activities, operations, direction, performance and results of Danone.

Although Danone believes its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. For a detailed description of these risks and uncertainties, please refer to the Risk Factor section of Danones Universal Registration Document (the current version of which is available at www.danone.com ).

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Subject to regulatory requirements, Danone does not undertake to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements. This document does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy Danone securities.

Attachment




Photo credit: NurPhoto - Getty Images

A former F-35 test pilot weighed in on the fighter jets performance in the Ukraine conflict and how it represents a massive leap forward from Cold War-era aircraft.

Billie Flynn contends the F-35 is so different from Soviet Cold War fighters that pilots used to the latter would be unable to transition to the F-35.

Flynn also thinks the F-35 is the most survivable aircraft for the dangerous skies over Ukraine.

One of the most noted authorities on the F-35 has some interesting things to say about the jet, including how it would fit in with European air forces, and how suitable the fighter is for the air war over Ukraine. Billie Flynn, a former Lockheed Martin test pilot, also talked about how the jet represents a massive leap forward from older, Soviet-designed fighter jets, noting that the pilots who train them would be unable to learn how to fly the F-35. Flynn also believes the F-35 is the only jet that can survive in the lethal air environment over Ukraine.

 You love badass planes. So do we. Lets nerd out over them togetherjoin Pop Mech Pro.

Billie Flynn is one of the most accomplished test pilots around. Flynn originally flew CF-18 Hornets for the Royal Canadian Air Force, and later flew as a test pilot for the Eurofighter Typhoon. He later went on to fly for Lockheed Martin for 17 years, from 2003 to 2020, in support of the Joint Strike Fighter program. Flynn is a big fan of the F-35, and if theres anyone who knows the jet inside and out, its him.

Photo credit: Hristo Rusev - Getty Images

In a wide-ranging interview with The Aviationist , Flynn touched upon a number of points about the F-35. One of the most interesting is his assertion that pilots in Eastern European countries that still fly Soviet-era fighters are just going to be unable to fly a fifth-generation jet like the F-35. Three NATO countriesSlovakia, Bulgaria, and Polandstill fly the Soviet MiG-29 fighter jet, classified by NATO in the 1980s as the Fulcrum. The MiG-29, designed in the late 1970s, is the equivalent of the American F-16 Fighting Falcon.

The collapse of the Warsaw Pact in 1989 and the absorption of most countries into NATO means that some countries fly both MiG-29s and F-16s. And, as it continues to modernize, Poland will soon be in the unique position of flying MiG-29s, F-16s, and F-35s. Does this mean a Polish pilot could fly all three?

Story continues

Not so fast, says Flynn. He contends that pilots that have flown Soviet-era fighters for the bulk of their careers would simply be unable to effectively fly the F-35. The MiG-29 is a completely different aircraft built with different design philosophies in mind. The MiG also lacks the technological sophistication of the F-35, from the stealthy design to the distributed aperture system that allows the pilot to see through the side of his aircraft.

Photo credit: Gallo Images - Getty Images

A pilot unused to such advances, flying on muscle memory and learned instinct, might not properly take advantage of everything the F-35 has to offer. Flynn believes that Polands air force, which could soon fly all three jets, would likely push F-16 pilots into the F-35, leaving MiG pilots to close out their careers on the aging jets.

Photo credit: DIMITAR DILKOFF - Getty Images

Flynn also believes that the F-35 would dominate in the air war over Ukraine, because it is exactly the environment the jet was built to excel in. The war has already claimed more than three dozen fighters and attack jets from both sides. Ukrainian Air Force jets, for example, not only have to deal with Su-30M Flanker and Su-35 Flanker-E twin engine, multi-role fighters, but S-400 long-range air defense systems and short-range battlefield air defense systems. Russian fighters must contend with Ukrainian fighters, Ukraines original air defense network, and now an increasing number of surface-to-air missile systems donated by NATO.

The F-35 is only the second fighter jet in history developed with stealth technology from the ground up, and specifically with the S-400 missile system in mind. Furthermore, Flynn believes the jets network of sensors, and ability to share data with other aircraft and ground assets, would make it an efficient air-defense killer, identifying S-400s and similar platforms and then killing them with ruthless efficiency. Flynn asserts that while nobody wants NATO dragged into the war, if it was, it would completely destroy the Russian forces.

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TORONTO, April 28, 2022 /CNW/ - FSRA's latest quarterly solvency report finds that the majority of Ontario pensions plans (85 per cent) were more than 100 per cent fully funded for the second consecutive quarter and are at the highest level since December 2009.

FSRA logo (CNW Group/Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario)

While this is an encouraging sign, plan sponsors and administrators are expected to have an effective governance framework in place and a good understanding of the risks facing the plan. This will enhance a pension plan's ability to withstand periodic stresses.

Solvency monitoring is one supervisory tool FSRA uses to improve outcomes for pension plan beneficiaries and to proactively engage in a dialogue with plan sponsors.

FSRA has released its Q1 2022 update on the estimated solvency ratios of Ontario's Defined Benefit pension plans.

Learn More:

Q1 2022 Estimated Solvency Funded Status of Defined Benefit Pension Plans in Ontario

FSRA continues to work on behalf of all stakeholders, including consumers and pension plan members, to ensure financial safety, fairness, and choice for everyone.

Learn more at www.fsrao.ca.

SOURCE Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario

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The Oregon Ducks lost their second key player in as many days with the news that guard DeVion Harmon is headed to Lubbock to join the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

The news comes only two days after Harmon reportedly entered the NCAAs transfer portal, and one day after former big man Franck Kepnang committed to the University of Washington.

Harmon began his collegiate career at Oklahoma but joined Dana Altmans team last year. He averaged 10.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.3 steals per game for the Ducks, serving as a secondary ball-handler to Will Richardson and a key scoring option.

Now he joins a very good Texas Tech team led by Mark Adams  a team that specializes in suffocating defense and grind-it-out style gameplay.

BREAKING: Texas Tech has landed a commitment from Oregon transfer DeVion Harmon. Harmon averaged 10.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.1 APG, and 1.3 SPG in 2021-22. Fantastic pick up for Mark Adams. pic.twitter.com/hCtmBLDRIN  Austin Massey (@austinmassey247) April 28, 2022

Oregon already filled one hole in the backcourt by adding transfer guard Keeshawn Barthelemy from Colorado, and they are getting Rivaldo Soares back for another year as well as incoming freshman guard Dior Johnson.

Still, losing Harmon is a tough pill for Oregon fans, and the very sudden departure will certainly raise some eyebrows amongst the Eugene faithful.

List
By Azernews





Azerbaijani beekeepers have started to relocate their farms to liberated Gubadli region, the Agriculture Ministry has reported.

The transfer is carried out in response to farmer requests, which the ministry has compiled into a list. Previously, the beekeepers took part in trainings organized by Azerbaijan's Mine Action Agency (ANAMA). The farmers were taught the rules of conduct in areas contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance during these trainings.

On April 26, Nasimi village in Sabirabad region hosted an event dedicated to the relocation of beekeeping farms to pastures in Gubadli region.

Representatives from the Agriculture Ministry, head of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) Baku office Fatih Yilmaz, adviser on agriculture at the Turkish embassy Hakan Galender, Gubadli Region executive office leadership, chairman of the Association of Azerbaijani Beekeepers Badraddin Hasratov, and head of the Association of Professional Beekeepers Elkhan Alakbarov attended the event.

Speaking at the event, the head of the ministrys livestock organization and monitoring department, Eldar Hasanov, stated that a pilot project to relocate beekeeping and sheep farms to liberated Kalbajar and Lachin regions' pastures had been successfully completed last year. He noted that after analyzing the final results of the project, Gubadli region's pastures were added to the list of those to which beekeeping farms will be relocated this year.

Moreover, Fatih Yilmaz mentioned that the Turkish agency is implementing projects in the agriculture field in Azerbaijan. He added that within the framework of these projects, technical support was provided to beekeepers in different regions of Azerbaijan.

This year, 38 beekeeping farms are to be resettled in Gubadli region. In total, 2,207 bee families will be relocated to Gubadli pastures.
DUBLIN, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Femtocell Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Research and Markets Logo

The global femtocell market reached a value of US$ 2.10 billion in 2021. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach US$ 9.07 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 27.8% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, the analyst is 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.



Femtocell refers to a small and light-weight cellular base station used for increasing the signal strength and coverage area of mobile networks. It is a wireless device used for improving the cellular reception in an office, home or building. Femtocell acts as a repeater that communicates with the mobile phones and converts voice calls into voice over information protocol (IP) packets. These packets are further transmitted over a broadband connection to the mobile operator's server. It offers quick data connections, in-premise voice and data services, reduced dropped calls and improved mobile voice output quality. Apart from this, it also has lower power consumption, IP backhaul and self-optimization capabilities.



Significant improvements in the 4G and 5G infrastructure are among the key factors driving the growth of the market. Furthermore, the rising demand for heterogeneous networks across the globe is also driving the market growth. High penetration of broadband services and mobile phones has enhanced the requirement for improved network coverage for high-quality video conferencing, calling and downloading of software and music.

In line with this, the increasing commercial applications of femtocell in multi-tenant buildings, hotels and office towers are also contributing to the market growth. Various technological advancements, such as product integration with the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve indoor coverage and maintain the need for smart devices, are acting as other major growth-inducing factors. Increasing investments in small-cell infrastructure, along with the utilization of distributed antenna systems and cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN), are some of the other factors that are expected to drive the market further.

Competitive Landscape

Story continues

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined with some of the key players being Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (Nokia), Analog Devices, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Fujitsu Limited (Furukawa Group), Huawei Technologies, Juniper Networks Inc., Motorola Inc., Netgear Inc., Samsung and ZTE Corporation.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global femtocell market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global femtocell market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the form factor?

What is the breakup of the market based on the technology?

What is the breakup of the market based on the type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

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 femtocell 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 Femtocell Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Form Factor

6.1 Standalone

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Integrated

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Technology

7.1 IMS/SIP Femtocell Technology

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 IU-H Femtocell Technology

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Type

8.1 2G Femtocell

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Key Technologies

8.1.2.1 CDMA

8.1.2.2 GSM/GPRS

8.1.3 Market Forecast

8.2 3G Femtocell

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Key Technologies

8.2.2.1 W-CDMA/HSPA

8.2.2.2 CDMA2000-EVDO

8.2.2.3 TD-CDMA

8.2.3 Market Forecast

8.3 4G Femtocell

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Key Technologies

8.3.2.1 WiMAX

8.3.2.2 LTE

8.3.3 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Application

9.1 Residential

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Commercial

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 Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis



14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (Nokia)

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.2 Analog Devices

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 Cisco Systems

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3.3 Financials

15.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.4 Ericsson

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4.3 Financials

15.3.5 Fujitsu Limited (Furukawa Group)

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6 Huawei Technologies

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7 Juniper Networks Inc.

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8 Motorola Inc.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8.3 Financials

15.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.9 Netgear Inc.

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9.3 Financials

15.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.10 Samsung

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 ZTE Corporation

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11.3 Financials

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/iigns8

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Summit Carbon Solutions, the Ames company behind a controversial carbon-capture pipeline in Iowa, said Thursday it will join an electric cooperative's efforts to develop a $1 billion, 100-million-ton carbon dioxide storage facility in North Dakota.

Summit said Thursday it will work with Minnkota Power Cooperative to develop an underground storage facility at Minnkota's Milton R. Young Station near Center, North Dakota, where the cooperative plans to capture emissions from the coal-fired power plant and sequester them.

While Summit and Minnkota have each independently worked to develop their carbon-capture and underground storage operations, they say they can "more quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively advance their projects" by working together.

Amanda Stamp joins hundreds of concerned land owners from across Iowa gathered in the rotunda at the Iowa Capitol Building in Des Moines to voice their concerns about the use of eminent domain takings for the proposed carbon pipeline.

Summit proposes building a $4.5 billion pipeline in Iowa and four other states that would capture carbon dioxide at ethanol, fertilizer and other industrial agriculture facilities, liquefy it under pressure, then transport it via the pipeline to North Dakota, where it would be permanently sequestered underground.

Minnkota said the underground carbon storage operation is the largest of only three permitted sites in the United States. Minnkota and Summit said the agreement enables them to develop additional storage that could more than double capacity.

In addition to the Minnkota project, Summit said it is independently developing the capacity to store about 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide in North Dakota.

MORE: Iowa official asks Summit Carbon Solutions for more information about possible pipeline leaks, dangers

Summit is one of three companies that have proposed carbon-capture pipeline projects in Iowa. The developers say the effort is needed to help ethanol and other energy-intensive agricultural industries remain viable as the nation seeks to cut net greenhouse emissions in half by 2030 to address climate change.

Summit proposes capturing carbon dioxide at ethanol and other plants in Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota, in addition to Iowa and North Dakota. It's requested a hazardous liquid pipeline permit with the Iowa Utilities Board to build about 680 miles of its 2,000-mile pipeline through Iowa.

Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com or 515-284-8457.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa pipeline builder Summit joins $1 billion carbon storage project
Evan McLaren (at left), seen here in 2017, says he now fully disavows the racist far-right movement of which he was once part. (Photo: Daniel Hosterman)

Evan McLaren (at left), seen here in 2017, says he now fully disavows the racist far-right movement of which he was once part. (Photo: Daniel Hosterman)

Evan McLaren, who played a pivotal role in the American white supremacist alt-right movement and attended a deadly fascist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, published a surprise statement Thursday renouncing his past racist and anti-Semitic activism.

I am not and never will be connected to the far-right again, McLaren wrote in the statement, published on Substack. My revulsion for conservatism and the political right wing is total. I reject and disavow my past actions, views, and associations.

HuffPost spoke with McLaren by phone Thursday morning as he drove to work from his new home in Norway. He affirmed that the statement was authentic. It makes him one of the most high-profile defectors from right-wing extremism in recent memory.

In his statement, McLaren, 37, said he is sorry for his white nationalist activism  which he described as a desperate, foolish mistake, damaging to others, to myself, and to society  but says he doesnt expect, and isnt asking for, any kind of absolution.

I apologize to everyone who was affected in any way by my past activities, he wrote in the Substack statement. The main purpose of this statement, however, is not to apologize. I do not realistically expect to repair my public reputation, to the extent that it meaningfully exists, or to heal rifts with people I have alienated. I dont hope or expect to be forgiven.

In 2017 McLaren was named executive director of the National Policy Institute, a racist think tank  funded by a reclusive millionaire  that sought to give white supremacism an intellectual veneer so as to better fold explicit ethnonationalism into the mainstream Republican Party.

At NPI, McLaren was the right-hand man of the groups leader, Richard Spencer, and helped organize a series of events that became flashpoints in the rise of the so-called alt-right, the American fascist movement that proliferated online during the ascendancy of former President Donald Trump.

Story continues

McLaren and Spencer were among the white men who infamously marched with torches across the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville the night of Aug. 11, 2017, chanting You will not replace us! and the Nazi slogan Blood and soil!

Neo-Nazis and white supremacists march and chant racist slogans the night before the

Neo-Nazis and white supremacists march and chant racist slogans the night before the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. (Photo: Zach D. Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The next day, McLaren and Spencer participated in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, the largest American white supremacist gathering in over a generation, which culminated with a neo-Nazi driving his car into a crowd of antifascist protesters, killing one woman and injuring 19 people. McLaren was arrested during the days events and later convicted on a charge of failing to disperse from a park after being ordered to do so by police.

Brothers and sisters across the alt-right  this is a taste of how it feels to be the tip of the spear entering our civilizational crisis, McLaren tweeted a day after the violence in Charlottesville.

During his tenure at NPI, McLaren frequently talked to the media, sometimes attempting to soften the alt-rights image.

Were not Nazis. Were not Confederates. Were not KKK members, he told PennLive in 2017, weeks after marching alongside Nazis, neo-Confederates and KKK members in Charlottesville. Were dedicated to the preservation of white heritage and identity. Were talking about European culture and identity. McLaren clarified in other statements at the time that he did not consider Jewish people to be white.

Through late 2017 and into 2018, McLaren helped organize speaking engagements for Spencer at college campuses, including Michigan State University and the University of Florida, events that both involved violence. Following the event in Florida, three fans of Spencer were arrested after one of them fired a gun at protesters.

Around this time, McLaren, originally from central Pennsylvania, passed the state bar exam and was poised to begin practicing law. Hail victory! he tweeted in celebration, using the English translation of the Nazi cry Sieg heil!

But by the summer of 2018, McLaren says hed started to grow disillusioned with NPI, an organization he described to HuffPost as an utter wreck and a mess. He also described Spencer as toxic.

McLaren resigned from NPI in August 2018 and later moved to Norway, where, he says, he slowly began deconstructing and thinking through white nationalism, a movement that he says he realized was leading nowhere and is leading nowhere.

McLaren said his eventual rejection of white nationalism doesnt mean hes now a moderate conservative or Republican. Rather, he told HuffPost, he sees white nationalism and conservatism in America as inextricably linked movements that feed off of and energize each other. (This relationship, he thinks, has intensified since he left the alt-right.) He describes his views today as leftist.

A handful of other prominent alt-right figures involved in the Charlottesville rally later claimed to renounce their far-right activism. Jeff Schoep, former leader of the neo-Nazi group National Socialist Movement, and Matt Heimbach, former leader of the Traditionalist Workers Party, both professed to disavow white nationalism.

However, those disavowals drew intense skepticism from observers across the political spectrum, and with good reason. Evidence emerged in a Charlottesville-related lawsuit that suggested Schoep was still involved in the movement, and Heimbach eventually appeared to abandon any pretense of having given up on extremism -- relaunching his hate group under a different name, and telling one media outlet: "Do I particularly like Judaism as a religion? No."

Over the past few years, McLaren has kept a low, offline profile at his new home in Norway, where he lives with his wife and child. He declined to name his employer, but said he works at a production job. He listens to leftist podcasts like Majority Report and Some More News and focuses his time on his family, his hobbies and fixing his house.

McLaren said that a few recent incidents, which he didnt describe in detail, compelled him to break his silence on Thursday  even if, as his statement acknowledges, its likely that the best move for someone who messed up as badly as I did is simply to go away and be quiet.

That people may assume I still hold radical views or remain actively connected to far-right political causes concerns me, McLaren wrote in the statement. I would understand, for example, if people in my local community who learned about me might worry about what I am up to, whether I hold and promote extremist views, or whether Ill resume disruptive political activity in the future. Possibly worse, in my daily life I occasionally encounter Trump supporters, closet racists, and right-wingers of various stripes who learn about me and assume that I am some sort of sympathetic fellow traveler.

McLarens statement concludes with the hope that in the future, people who search his name online might, after reading all the news stories about him, also find his disavowal of it all.

My only purpose here, he wrote, is that, on those occasions when someone happens to explore the Internet search results related to my name, they might also find this statement as an indication that, while I was a source of toxic energy and opinions in the past, I am at least not that anymore.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
LELAND, Miss., April 29, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Delta Health Alliance (DHA), a Mississippi coalition of innovative partnerships focusing on the health and education of those who make the Mississippi Delta their home, has partnered with verified identity platform Merit to bridge newly trained individuals with employment opportunities in their local communities.

These training opportunities are available through the Workforce Opportunities for Rural Communities grant or W.O.R.C. which was awarded through the U.S. Department of Labor. The Merit platform houses the digital credentials earned by graduates from Coahoma Community College and Mississippi Delta Community College short term medical skills and Early Childhood Development training programs.

"The W.O.R.C. program was A-1 every step of the way," said Tyna Sims, a Clarksdale resident and recent graduate of Coahoma Community Colleges phlebotomy course. Sims explained that the programs career staff along with the Merit app assisted her while she was out searching for jobs. "The Delta Health Alliance program has helped me tremendously on my journey. Just amazing opportunities. I would tell anyone to definitely go for it," she said. Sims is now employed with Fresenius Kidney Care in Southaven, Miss.

Allison Washington, associate vice president of Community Outreach at DHA, said Merit has provided an excellent platform for connecting students, who have completed workforce training, with employment opportunities in the Mississippi Delta.

"The mutual benefit of students being able to see jobs tailored to their individual credentials in the healthcare and early childhood sectors, alongside employment opportunities in the Mississippi Delta, is truly enriching the lives of many people," said Washington.

The digital certification partnership between DHA and Merit provides:

Digital versions of program degrees and certificates, known as "merits," that are automatically sent to graduates.

Access to the secure Merit app to accept and manage verified digital credentials, eliminating the need to carry a paper certificate for job interviews.

Easy and contactless verification of digital credentials using Merits built-in sharing tools.

Direct links to job opportunities in the region that are made available to individuals based on their credentials.

Story continues

"Every individual should be able to capture and access their verified accomplishments, skills, and education records," said Jacob Orrin, COO of Merit. "Our partnership with Delta Health Alliance partnership is modernizing how nonprofits identify, coordinate, and empower people to use their critical skills, and ultimately benefit the local community."

About Delta Health Alliance

Delta Health Alliance (DHA) is an innovative partnership that binds together communities of the Mississippi Delta to improve the quality of life. Comprised of more than 40 programs focused on every stage of growth, DHA offers the tools, guidance, and resources to meet the needs and challenges of those who call the Mississippi Delta and surrounding area their home. DHA provides the ingredients to ensure that all residents have the best health and educational opportunities in a region historically distressed economically. Whether a soon-to-be mom, a toddler preparing for kindergarten, a high schooler looking toward college or a senior wanting to stay active, DHA is a neighbor ready to provide a helping hand.

About Merit

Merits verified identity platform brings visibility, liquidity, and trust to people-data, giving organizations the clarity to make better-informed decisions, engage with individuals effectively, and pursue their mission efficiently. Merit works with trusted private, state, and municipal organizations to solve critical real-world problems in sectors such as workforce development, emergency services, licensing, education, and defense readiness. Find out more at merits.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005098/en/

Contacts

Delta Health Alliance Contact

Allison Washington

aswashington@deltahealthalliance.org

662-390-6457

Merit Contact

Mike Murphy

press@merits.com

833-463-7487
BRUSSELS (AP)  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Finland and Sweden would be embraced with open arms should they decide to join the 30-nation military organization and could become members quite quickly.

Stoltenbergs remarks came as public support in Finland and Sweden for NATO membership mounts in response to Russias war in Ukraine. Media speculation about the two countries suggests they might apply in mid-May.

Its their decision, Stoltenberg said. But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be warmly welcomed, and I expect that process to go quickly.

He gave no precise time frame, but did say that the two could expect some protection should Russia try to intimidate them from the time their membership applications are made until they formally join.

Stoltenberg said hes confident that there are ways to bridge that interim period in a way which is good enough and works for both Finland and Sweden.

NATOs collective security guarantee ensures that all member countries must come to the aid of any ally under attack. Stoltenberg added that many NATO allies have now pledged and provided a total of at least $8 billion in military support to Ukraine.

Before launching the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that NATO stop expanding and pull its troops back from Russias borders. So the prospect of neighboring Finland, as well as Sweden, joining the trans-Atlantic alliance is unlikely to be welcomed in Moscow.

Finland has a conflict-ridden history with Russia, with which it shares a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border. Finns have taken part in dozens of wars against their eastern neighbor, for centuries as part of the Swedish Kingdom, and as an independent nation, including two fought with the Soviet Union from 1939-40 and 1941-44.

In the postwar period, however, Finland pursued pragmatic political and economic ties with Moscow, remaining militarily nonaligned and a neutral buffer between East and West.

Story continues

Sweden has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years, choosing a path of peace after centuries of warfare with its neighbors.

Both countries put an end to traditional neutrality by joining the European Union in 1995 and deepening cooperation with NATO. However, a majority of people in both countries remained firmly against full membership in the alliance  until now.

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

Forecasts by Packaging Type (Rigid, Flexible), by Beverage Packaging (Water, Carbonated Soft Drinks, Other), by Pack Type (Bottles & Jars, Bags & Pouches, Trays, Lids/Caps & Closures, Other), by End-use (Beverage Packaging, Food Packaging, Personal Care & Cosmetics Packaging, Household Products Packaging, Pharmaceutical Packaging), by Filling Technology (Hot, Cold, Aseptic, Other) AND Regional and Leading National Market Analysis PLUS Analysis of Leading Companies AND COVID-19 Recovery Scenarios

New York, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "PET Packaging Market Report 2022-2032" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06272276/?utm_source=GNW



The PET Packaging Market Report 2022-2032: This report will prove invaluable to leading firms striving for new revenue pockets if they wish to better understand the industry and its underlying dynamics. It will be useful for companies that would like to expand into different industries or to expand their existing operations in a new region.



The rise in the Demand for Plastics Globally



Flexible plastics are expected to increase at the quickest pace in the globe from 2019 to 2024, followed by rigid plastics and board. The increased desire for prolonged shelf life in the retail sector, as well as customer demand for convenience items, are boosting barrier packaging film sales. Multilayer flexible packaging technologies, including metallised film, are being used by a variety of end-use industries. PET-based transparent deposition films are finding new applications in retort foods and pharmaceutical packaging, while high-barrier films are employed in case-ready and modified atmosphere packaging.



Changing Consumer Preferences



Consumers are increasingly purchasing things on the internet. This will continue to rise until 2028, resulting in a surge in demand for packaging solutions  particularly corrugated board shapes  that can securely transport goods via more complicated distribution routes. Corrugated boxes make for a major portion of worldwide transit packaging usage, and this trend will continue over the next five years as e-commerce sales channels become more widely used. The usage of intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) and, to a lesser degree, plastic and steel drums, will increase in industrial transportation.



Food, drinks, and medications are being consumed on the move by an increasing number of individuals. The flexible plastics industry is one of the key beneficiaries of this rising demand for simple and portable packaging solutions.



What Are These Questions You Should Ask Before Buying A Market Research Report?

 How is the PET packaging market evolving?

 What is driving and restraining the PET packaging market?

 How will each PET packaging submarket segment grow over the forecast period and how much revenue will these submarkets account for in 2032?

 How will the market shares for each PET packaging submarket develop from 2022 to 2032?

 What will be the main driver for the overall market from 2022 to 2032?

 Will leading PET packaging markets broadly follow the macroeconomic dynamics, or will individual national markets outperform others?

 How will the market shares of the national markets change by 2032 and which geographical region will lead the market in 2032?

 Who are the leading players and what are their prospects over the forecast period?

 What are the PET packaging projects for these leading companies?

 How will the industry evolve during the period between 2020 and 2032? What are the implication of PET packaging projects taking place now and over the next 10 years?

 Is there a greater need for product commercialisation to further scale the PET packaging market?

 Where is the PET packaging market heading? And how can you ensure you are at the forefront of the market?

 What can be the best investment options for new product and service lines?

 What are the key prospects for moving companies into a new growth path? C-suite?



You need to discover how this will impact the PET packaging market today, and over the next 10 years:

 Our 445-page report provides 301 tables and 289 charts/graphs exclusively to you.

 The report highlights key lucrative areas in the industry so you can target them  NOW.

 Contains in-depth analyse of global, regional and national sales and growth

 Highlights for you the key successful trends, changes and revenue projections made by your competitors



This report tells you TODAY how the PET packaging market will develop in the next 10 years, and in-line with the variations in COVID-19 economic recession and bounce. This market is more critical now than at any point over the last 10 years.



Forecasts to 2032 and other analyses reveal the commercial prospects

 In addition to revenue forecasting to 2032, our new study provides you with recent results, growth rates, and market shares.

 You find original analyses, with business outlooks and developments.

 Discover qualitative analyses (including market dynamics, drivers, opportunities, restraints and challenges), cost structure, impact of rising PET packaging prices and recent developments.



This report includes data analysis and invaluable insight into how COVID-19 will affect the industry and your company. Four COVID-19 recovery patterns and their impact, namely, V, L, W and U are discussed in this report.



Global PET Packaging Market (COVID Impact Analysis) by Packaging Type

 Rigid Packaging

 Flexible Packaging



Global PET Packaging Market (COVID Impact Analysis) by Beverage Packaging

 Water Packaging

 Carbonated Soft Drinks Packaging

 Other Beverages Packaging



Global PET Packaging Market (COVID Impact Analysis) by Pack Type

 Bottles & Jars

 Bags & Pouches

 Trays

 Lids/Caps & Closures

 Other Pack Type



Global PET Packaging Market (COVID Impact Analysis) by End-Use

 Beverage Packaging

 Food Packaging

 Personal Care & Cosmetics Packaging

 Household Products Packaging

 Pharmaceutical Packaging

 Other End-Use



Global PET Packaging Market (COVID Impact Analysis) by Filling Technology

 Hot Fill

 Cold Fill

 Aseptic Fill

 Other Filling Technology



In addition to the revenue predictions for the overall world market and segments, you will also find revenue forecasts for 4 regional and 20 leading national markets:



North America PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Outlook

 U.S. PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 Canada PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 Mexico PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis



Europe PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Outlook

 Germany PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 Spain PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 United Kingdom PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 France PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 Italy PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 Rest of Europe Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis



Asia Pacific PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Outlook

 China PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 Japan PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 India PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 Australia PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 South Korea PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 Rest of Asia Pacific Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis



LAMEA PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Outlook

 Brazil PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 Turkey PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 Saudi Arabia PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 South Africa PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 UAE PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market Forecast & COVID Impact Analysis

 Rest of Latin America, Middle East and Africa



The report also includes profiles and for some of the leading companies in the PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032, with a focus on this segment of these companies operations.



Leading companies and the potential for market growth

 Amcor plc.

 Andler Packaging Group

 Berry Global Group Inc.

 Canyon Plastics Inc.

 Clark Corporation

 Comar LLC

 Dunmore Corporation

 Gerresheimer Ag

 Graham Packaging Company

 GTX Hanex Plastic Sp. z o.o.

 Huhtamaki OYJ

 Illing Packaging

 Lowes Corporation

 Millet Plastics Inc.

 Nampak Ltd

 Plastipak Packaging Inc.

 Pluto Corporation

 Resilux NV

 Silgan Holdings Inc.

 Sonoco Products Company



Overall world revenue for PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 in terms of value the market will surpass US$77,813 million in 2022, our work calculates. We predict strong revenue growth through to 2032. Our work identifies which organizations hold the greatest potential. Discover their capabilities, progress, and commercial prospects, helping you stay ahead.



In summary, our 440+ page report provides you with the following knowledge:

 Revenue forecasts to 2032 for PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market, with forecasts for packaging Type, beverage Packaging, Pack Type, End-user, Filling Technology each forecasted at a global and regional level discover the industrys prospects, finding the most lucrative places for investments and revenues

 Revenue forecasts to 2032 for 4 regional and 20 key national markets  See forecasts for the PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 market in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and LAMEA. Also forecasted is the market in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, France, UK, Italy, China, India, Japan, and Australia among other prominent economies.

 Prospects for established firms and those seeking to enter the market including company profiles for 20 of the major companies involved in the PET Packaging Market, 2022 to 2032 Market.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06272276/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, in residence at Windsor Castle, appears on a screen via videolink during a virtual audience to receive Dr. Emmanuel Mallia, High Commissioner for the Republic of Malta, and his wife Elena Codruta, at Buckingham Palace in London on April 29, 2022.

YUI MOK/POOL/AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth is back on the screen.

After celebrating her 96th birthday at her Sandringham estate last week, the monarch returned to work at Windsor Castle this week. On Friday, she conducted two virtual audiences with Dr. Emmanuel Mallia, High Commissioner for the Republic of Malta, and his wife Elena Codruta as well as Johnston Busingye, High Commissioner for the Republic of Rwanda, and his wife Phoebe Murerwa.

Busingye and Murerwa rode in royal style to the engagement. In a video shared to Twitter by the High Commission for the Republic of Rwanda's page, the couple climbed into a horse-drawn carriage to take them from Rwanda House in London to Buckingham Palace.

Through the video chat, the Queen was able to greet her audience  and get a glimpse of her London residence of Buckingham Palace, where her guests were being hosted.

RELATED: Queen Elizabeth Celebrates Her 96th Birthday with Her Most Majestic Photo Ever!

 Horse-drawn carriage departs from #Rwanda House in London to take High Commissioner @BusingyeJohns to Buckingham Palace for the presentation of his credentials to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II @RoyalFamily. #RwandaInUK pic.twitter.com/wqtG2cmH9a  Rwanda in UK  (@RwandaInUK) April 29, 2022

On Thursday, the Queen had her first in-person engagement since returning to Windsor Castle when she welcomed Switzerland's President Ignazio Cassis and his wife Paola Cassis.

Although the Queen has been using a walking cane for several months, she appeared to go without it for Thursday's audience. Wearing a blue patterned dress and her signature three-strand pearl necklace, the Queen was all smiles as she shook hands and posed for photos with her guests.

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Although the Queen has been absent from a number of events in recent months due to health setbacks and mobility issues, the monarch stepped out on March 29 to attend a Service of Thanksgiving honoring Prince Philip.

Queen Elizabeth II, in residence at Windsor Castle, appears on a screen via videolink, during a virtual audience to receive Johnston Busingye, High Commissioner for the Republic of Rwanda, and his wife Phoebe Murerwa, at Buckingham Palace on April 29, 2022 in London, England.

YUI MOK/POOL/AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth

Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

Her latest visit to Sandringham in Norfolk, about 110 miles north of London, coincided with her birthday on April 21.

The residence  where the royal family traditionally gathers for Christmas  is full of reminders of her late husband, Prince Philip, who died in April 2021 at age 99. The Duke of Edinburgh spent much of his time at the cozy five-bedroom Wood Farm home on the Sandringham estate, which was modified in recent years to make it easier for him to get around, after he retired from public life in Aug. 2017. While the Queen remained largely at Buckingham Palace in London continuing her royal duties, her husband enjoyed life in the country with activities like carriage driving and painting.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (R), in residence at Windsor Castle, appears on a screen via videolink during a virtual audience to receive Dr. Emmanuel Mallia, High Commissioner for the Republic of Malta, and his wife Elena Codruta, at Buckingham Palace in London on April 29, 2022.

YUI MOK/POOL/AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth

On her birthday, the Queen was spotted going for a drive around the estate. Sitting in the passenger seat, the Queen gave a glimpse of her off-duty look, including bright pink lipstick, sunglasses and stud earrings.
INVL Technology

The resolutions of the Ordinary General Shareholders Meeting of the INVL Technology held on 29 April 2022:

1. Presentation of the Companys annual report for 2021

1.1. Shareholders of the Company are presented with the annual report of the Company for 2021 (attached) (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).

2. Presentation of the independent auditor's report on the financial statements and annual report of the Company

2.1. Shareholders of the Company are presented with the independent auditor's report on the financial statements and annual report of the Company (attached) (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).

3. Presentation of the Companys investment committees recommendation on the draft of the profit (loss) distribution (including the formation of the reserve) and the draft of the remuneration report

3.1. Shareholders of the Company are presented with the Companys investment committees recommendation on the draft of the profit (loss) distribution (including the formation of the reserve) and the draft of the remuneration report (attached) (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).

4. Presentation of the Companys Supervisory Boards feedback and suggestions on the stand-alone financial statements for 2021 of the Company, draft of the profit (loss) distribution, Companys annual report for 2021, draft of the remuneration policy, also regarding the activity of the Board of the Management Company and Companys investment committee, presentation of the information on Companys strategy implementation

4.1. Shareholders of the Company are presented with the Companys Supervisory Boards feedback and suggestions on the stand-alone financial statements for 2021 of the Company, draft of the profit (loss) distribution, Company annual report for 2021, draft of the remuneration policy, also regarding the activity of the Board of the Management Company and Companys investment committee, presentation of the information on Companys strategy implementation (attached) (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).

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5. Regarding the assent to the remuneration report of the Company, as a part of the annual report of the Company for the year 2021

5.1. To assent to the remuneration report of the Company, as a part of the annual report of the Company for the year 2021 (attached).

6. Approval of the stand-alone financial statements for 2021 of the Company

6.1. To approve the stand-alone financial statements for 2021 of the Company.

7. Deciding on profit distribution of the Company

7.1. . To distribute profit of the Company as follows:

Article (thousand EUR) Retained earnings (loss) at the beginning of the financial year of the reporting period 11 772 Net profit (loss) for the financial year 2 621 Profit (loss) not recognized in the income statement of the reporting financial year - Shareholders contributions to cover loss - Distributable profit (loss) at the end of the financial year of the reporting period 14 393 Transfers from reserves - Distributable profit (loss) in total 14 393 Profit distribution: - Profit transfers to the legal reserves - -Profit transfers to the reserves for own shares acquisition* - - Profit transfers to other reserves - - Profit to be paid as dividends - - Profit to be paid as annual payments (bonus) and for other purposes - Retained earnings (loss) at the end of the financial year 14 393

*the reserve is formed to purchase own shares





8. Presentation of the Companys Management Companys statement on the share purchase price

8.1. Shareholders of the Company are presented with the Companys Management Companys statement on the share purchase price (attached) (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).

9. Regarding the purchase of own shares of the Company

9.1. To authorise the Management Company to use the formed reserve (or the part of it) for the purchase of own shares and after evaluation of the economic viability to purchase shares in Company by the rules mentioned below:

i. The goal for the purchase of own shares  discount reduction between the net asset value and the market share price of Company and the possibility to sell its shares to the shareholders;

ii. The maximum number of shares to be acquired could not exceed 1/10 of the authorised capital Company;

iii. The period during which Company may purchase its own shares is 18 months from the day of this resolution;

iv. The maximum and minimal shares acquisition price of Company: the maximum one share acquisition price  the last announced net asset value per share, the minimal one share acquisition price  EUR 0.29;

v. The conditions of the selling of the purchased shares and minimal sale price: the acquired own shares may be annulled by the decision of the General Shareholders Meeting or sold by the decision of the Management Company on condition the minimum sale price of own shares shall be equal to the last net asset value and the procedure of selling the shares shall ensure equal opportunities for all shareholders to acquire the said shares;

vi. The Management Company is delegated on the basis of this resolution and the Law on Companies of the Republic of Lithuania to organise purchase and sale of own shares, to organise purchase and selling procedure of own shares and to determine an order and timing for purchase and sale of own shares as well as the amount of shares and shares price, and to complete all other actions related with purchase and sale procedure of own shares.

10. Regarding the adjustment of the terms of payment for audit services

Not to approve to set an additional salary of up to EUR 4,000 per year (VAT will be calculated and paid additionally in accordance with the order established in legal acts) to the Company's audit company UAB PricewaterhouseCoopers, legal entity code 111473315, for the audit services of the annual financial statements for 2021 and 2022 years in order to meet the requirements of the Articles 3 and 4 of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/815 of 17 December 2018 supplementing Directive 2004/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to regulatory technical standards on the specification of a single electronic reporting format.

11. Regarding the Report of the Audit Committee of the Company

11.1. In accordance with the rules of procedure of the Audit Committee of the Company (approved on 27 April 2017 by decision of the General Meeting of Shareholders of the Company), the shareholders are hereby briefed on the activity report of the Audit Committee of the Company (attached)(no decision is taken on this item of the agenda).

12. Regarding the approval of the terms of share options

12.1. To approve that option agreements with employees of the Companies subsidiaries (companies of which more than 2/3 of the shares are owned by the Company by right of ownership) would be concluded in 2022 under which employees of the subsidiaries of the Company, by 30 June 2025 and according to the procedure and time-limits prescribed by the option agreements will be granted the right to acquire free of charge up to 15,000 ordinary registered shares of the Company with the par value of EUR 0.29 per share.

12.2. Considering the fact that employees of the subsidiaries are granted with the right to acquire shares of the Company free of charge (that is, employees will not pay for the acquired shares of the Company), to approve than when own shares acquired by the Company are handed over to employees of the subsidiaries, the subsidiaries shall, within 10 business days after their employees acquire the right of ownership to the Companys shares, compensate to the Company for the cost of acquisition of these shares.

The person authorized to provide additional information:

Kazimieras Tonkunas

INVL Technology Managing Partner

E-mail k.tonkunas@invltechnology.lt

Attachments




American Overseas Group, Ltd.

HAMILTON, Bermuda, April 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Overseas Group Limited (BSX: AORE.BH) (Pink Sheets: AOREF.PK) (AOG or the Company) today reported consolidated net loss available to common shareholders of $5.5 million, or $117.07 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2021. This compares to consolidated net loss available to common shareholders of $5.0 million, or $107.24 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2020. Book value per weighted share at December 31, 2021 was $916.83, a decline from the book value per weighted share of $1,062.22 at December 31, 2020.



For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company had an operating loss of $5.0 million, or $105.79 per diluted share, compared to operating loss of $22.1 million, or $473.66 per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2020. The financial guaranty segment ended in April of 2020 due to a commutation of the remaining portfolio of financial guaranty reinsurance business it had assumed from Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp (AGMC). The aggregate outstanding par value of the reinsurance portfolio commuted was $345.0 million.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, net earned property and casualty premiums increased $5.0 million from $15.8 million a year ago to $20.8 million, driven by an increase in existing and new programs. Fee income increased $1.3 million from $9.9 million a year ago to $11.2 million while gross written premiums increased $55.6 million, moving from $364.9 million to $420.5 million. Direct written premiums were positively impacted by continued expansion of new programs, rate increases, and overall economic recovery. Loss and loss adjustment expenses as a percentage of earned premium increased from 56.5% to 69.1%.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, operating expenses increased $1.4 million from $12.8 million to $14.2 million due to several items. The Company incurred a $1.9 million increase in taxes, licenses and fees associated with program business written in Louisiana, of which $0.9 million of that increase was related to business written in the prior year, for which the Company received credits associated from its program partner in the prior year. Additionally, the Company recognized a one-time $1.2 million charge related to items previously held as a receivable against a personal guarantee contract. This contract is associated with a managing general agency program that was discontinued in the first quarter of 2020. While the Company no longer holds a receivable for the matter in question it continues to vigorously pursue its interests to recover expenses owed under the personal guarantee contract. Offsetting these non-recurring items were decreases in personnel costs of $1.3 million, depreciation of $0.2 million, and consulting and outsourcing costs of $0.2 million. The Company completed multiple steps that began in the second quarter of 2020 to reorganize and streamline its operations in mid 2021.

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For the three months ended December 31, 2021, the Company had an operating loss of $1.7 million, or $36.85 per diluted share, compared to an operating loss of $1.1 million, or $23.58 per diluted share for the three months ended December 31, 2020.

For the three months ended December 31, 2021, net earned property and casualty premiums increased $1.4 million from $3.5 million a year ago to $4.9 million, driven by an increase in existing and new programs. Fee income increased $0.5 million from $2.1 million a year ago to $2.6 million while gross written premiums increased $18.1 million, moving from $83.4 million to $101.5 million. Quarterly direct written premiums were positively impacted by continued expansion of new programs, rate increases, and overall economic recovery. Loss and loss adjustment expenses as a percentage of earned premium increased from 65.5% to 84.8% as loss costs significantly increased throughout 2021 due to both frequency and severity pressures.

For the three months ended December 31, 2021, operating expenses decreased $0.3 million from $3.5 million to $3.2 million primarily driven by reduced personnel costs.

As part of its ongoing capital management efforts, the Company will continue to redirect excess capital within the group to debt reduction unless other compelling opportunities present themselves.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains statements that may be considered "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, without limitation, the Company's expectations respecting the volatility of its insured portfolio, losses, loss reserves and loss development, the adequacy and availability of its liquidity and capital resources, its current run off strategy, its strategy for writing other reinsurance businesses and its expense reduction measures. These statements are based on current expectations and the current views of the economic and operating environment and are not guarantees of future performance. A number of risks and uncertainties, including economic competitive conditions, could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements.

Explanation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company believes that the following non-GAAP financial measure included in this press release serve to supplement GAAP information and is meaningful to investors.

Operating income (loss): The Company believes operating income (loss) is a useful measure because it measures income from operations, unaffected by non-operating items such as realized investment gains or losses. Operating income (loss) is typically used by research analysts and rating agencies in their analysis of the Company.

Information About the Company

American Overseas Group Limited is an insurance holding company incorporated in Bermuda and a tax resident of the United Kingdom. Its operating subsidiaries provide specialty property/casualty insurance, reinsurance and insurance management services. More information can be found at www.aoreltd.com.

American Overseas Group Limited

info@aoreltd.com

American Overseas Group Limited Consolidated Balance Sheets (unaudited) As at December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 (dollars in thousands) December 31, 2021 December 31, 2020 Assets Investments: Fixed-maturity securities held as available for sale, at fair value $ 102,678 $ 72,642 Equity investments held as available for sale, at fair value 3,781 4,143 Cash and cash equivalents 31,908 24,254 Restricted cash 4,440 548 Accrued investment income 553 355 Premiums receivable 76,626 73,073 Deferred insurance premiums 108,904 101,843 Reinsurance balances receivable, net 223,982 194,914 Deferred policy acquisition costs 4,588 3,590 Intangible assets 4,800 4,800 Goodwill 33,050 33,050 Other assets 3,166 3,767 Total Assets $ 598,476 $ 516,979 Liabilities and Equity Liabilities: Loss and loss expense reserve $ 215,642 $ 192,943 Deferred commission income 3,210 2,482 Unearned premiums 113,423 105,678 Ceded premium payable 82,059 71,989 Payable to general agents 7,121 4,331 Funds withheld 104,257 64,980 Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 12,420 7,922 Notes payable 16,521 16,521 Non-owned interest in VIE 300 300 Interest payable 451 451 Total Liabilities 555,404 467,597 Shareholders' Equity: Common shares 4,698 4,698 Additional paid-in capital 189,179 189,151 Accumulated other comprehensive income 1,124 1,962 Retained deficit (157,982 ) (152,482 ) Total Shareholders' Equity 37,019 43,329 Non-controlling interest of preferred shares of subsidiaries 6,053 6,053 Total Equity 43,072 49,382 Total Liabilities and Equity $ 598,476 $ 516,979 See Notes to December 31, 2021 Consolidated Financial Statements available on American Overseas Group Ltd. Website at www.aoreltd.com







American Overseas Group Limited Consolidated Statements of Operations (unaudited) (dollars in thousands, except share and per share amounts) Three months ended

December 31, Twelve Months ended

December 31, 2021 2020 2021 2020 Revenues Net premiums earned $ 4,905 $ 3,548 $ 20,840 $ 12,323 Fee income 2,582 2,050 11,248 9,946 Net change in fair value of credit derivatives - - - 2 Net investment income 232 57 439 709 Net realized gains on investments 5 71 55 1,580 Fair value adjustment - (2,227 ) - (173 ) Other income 22 323 128 323 Total revenues 7,746 3,822 32,710 24,710 Expenses Losses and loss adjustment expenses 4,161 2,322 14,392 10,522 Acquisition expenses 1,624 1,062 7,130 4,837 Operating expenses 3,200 3,508 14,238 12,802 Other expense - (252 ) - 78 Interest expense 451 451 1,803 1,803 Total expenses 9,436 7,091 37,563 30,042 Net (loss) available to common shareholders $ (1,690 ) $ (3,269 ) $ (4,853 ) $ (5,332 ) Income tax (expense) benefit (36 ) - (62 ) 322 Net (loss) before dividends (1,726 ) (3,269 ) (4,915 ) (5,010 ) Dividends on preference shares of subsidiary - - (585 ) - Net (loss) available to common shareholders $ (1,726 ) $ (3,269 ) $ (5,500 ) $ (5,010 ) Net (loss) per common share: Basic $ (36.73 ) $ (69.58 ) $ (117.07 ) $ (107.76 ) Diluted (36.73 ) (69.24 ) (117.07 ) (107.24 ) Weighted-average number of common shares outstanding: Basic 46,979 46,979 46,979 46,490 Diluted 46,979 47,208 46,979 46,719 See Notes to December 31, 2021 Consolidated Financial Statements available on American Overseas Group Ltd. Website at www.aoreltd.com





AMERICAN OVERSEAS GROUP LTD. NET INCOME AND OPERATING INCOME BY SEGMENT (dollars in thousands) Three months ended December 31, 2021 Net Income

Available to

Common

Shareholders Net Realized

(Gain)/Loss on Sales

of Investments Net Change in Fair

Value of Credit

Derivatives Fair Value

Adjustments Restructuring

Charges Operating

Income/(Loss) Property and casualty: Net premiums earned $ 4,905 $ 4,905 Losses and loss adjustment expenses (4,161 ) (4,161 ) Acquisition expenses (1,624 ) (1,624 ) Property/Casualty Underwriting Income (880 ) (880 ) Fee income 2,582 2,582 Operating expenses (2,958 ) (2,958 ) Income tax (36 ) (36 ) Property and casualty (1,292 ) - - - - (1,292 ) Financial guaranty: Net premiums earned - - Net change in fair value of credit derivatives - - Losses and loss adjustment expenses - - Acquisition expenses - - Operating expenses - - Financial guaranty - - - - - - Corporate and Investing Net investment income 232 232 Net realized gain/(loss) 5 (5 ) - Operating expenses (242 ) (242 ) Interest expense (451 ) (451 ) Other income, net of other expense 22 22 Corporate and investing (434 ) (5 ) - - - (439 ) Group total $ (1,726 ) $ (5 ) $ - $ - $ - $ (1,731 ) AMERICAN OVERSEAS GROUP LTD. NET INCOME AND OPERATING INCOME BY SEGMENT (dollars in thousands) Three months ended December 31, 2020 Net Income

Available to

Common

Shareholders Net Realized

(Gain)/Loss on Sales

of Investments Net Change in Fair

Value of Credit

Derivatives Fair Value

Adjustments Restructuring

Charges Operating

Income/(Loss) Property and casualty: Net premiums earned $ 3,547 $ 3,547 Losses and loss adjustment expenses (2,323 ) (2,323 ) Acquisition expenses (1,062 ) (1,062 ) Property/Casualty Underwriting Income 162 162 Fee income 2,050 2,050 Operating expenses (1,580 ) (1,580 ) Income tax (0 ) (0 ) Property and casualty 632 - - - 632 Financial guaranty: Net premiums earned - - - Net change in fair value of credit derivatives - - - Losses and loss adjustment expenses - - - Acquisition expenses (1 ) 1 - Operating expenses (1,316 ) - (1,316 ) Financial guaranty (1,317 ) - - 1 - (1,316 ) Corporate and Investing Net investment income 57 57 Net realized gain/(loss) 72 (8,806 ) 8,735 - Fair value adjustment (2,227 ) 2,227 - Gain on the sale of real estate 323 323 Operating expenses (611 ) (611 ) Interest expense (451 ) (451 ) Other income, net of other expense 253 253 Corporate and investing (2,584 ) (8,806 ) - 10,962 - (429 ) Group total $ (3,269 ) $ (8,806 ) $ - $ 10,962 $ - $ (1,113 )





AMERICAN OVERSEAS GROUP LTD. NET INCOME AND OPERATING INCOME BY SEGMENT (dollars in thousands) Twelve months ended December 31, 2021 Net Income

Available to

Common

Shareholders Net Realized

(Gain)/Loss on

Sales of

Investments Net Change in Fair

Value of Credit

Derivatives Fair Value

Adjustments Restructuring

Charges Operating

Income/(Loss) Property and casualty: Net premiums earned $ 20,840 $ 20,840 Losses and loss adjustment expenses (14,392 ) (14,392 ) Acquisition expenses (7,130 ) (7,130 ) Property/Casualty Underwriting Income (682 ) (682 ) Fee income 11,248 11,248 Operating expenses (13,010 ) (13,010 ) Income tax (62 ) (62 ) Property and casualty (2,506 ) - - - - (2,506 ) Financial guaranty: Net premiums earned - - Net change in fair value of credit derivatives - - Losses and loss adjustment expenses - - Acquisition expenses - - Operating expenses - - Financial guaranty - - - - - - Corporate and Investing Net investment income 440 440 Net realized gain/(loss) 55 (55 ) - Operating expenses (1,228 ) (1,228 ) Interest expense (1,803 ) (1,803 ) Other income, net of other expense 127 127 Corporate and investing (2,409 ) (55 ) - - - (2,464 ) Group total $ (4,915 ) $ (55 ) $ - $ - $ - $ (4,970 ) AMERICAN OVERSEAS GROUP LTD. NET INCOME AND OPERATING INCOME BY SEGMENT (dollars in thousands) Twelve months ended December 31, 2020 Net Income

Available to

Common

Shareholders Net Realized

(Gain)/Loss on

Sales of

Investments Net Change in Fair

Value of Credit

Derivatives Fair Value

Adjustments Restructuring

Charges Operating

Income/(Loss) Property and casualty: Net premiums earned $ 15,836 $ 15,836 Losses and loss adjustment expenses (8,945 ) (8,945 ) Acquisition expenses (4,968 ) (4,968 ) Property/Casualty Underwriting Income 1,923 1,923 Fee income 9,946 9,946 Operating expenses (8,963 ) 362 (8,601 ) Income tax 322 (76 ) 246 Property and casualty 3,228 - - - 286 3,514 Financial guaranty: Net premiums earned (3,513 ) 3,703 190 Net change in fair value of credit derivatives 2 (2 ) - Losses and loss adjustment expenses (1,577 ) (19,546 ) (21,123 ) Acquisition expenses 130 (153 ) (23 ) Operating expenses (1,825 ) (1,825 ) Financial guaranty (6,783 ) - (2 ) (15,996 ) - (22,781 ) Corporate and Investing Net investment income 709 709 Net realized gain/(loss) 1,580 (29,814 ) 28,234 - Fair value adjustment (173 ) 173 - Gain on the sale of real estate 323 323 Operating expenses (2,013 ) (2,013 ) Interest expense (1,803 ) (1,803 ) Other income, net of other expense (78 ) (78 ) Corporate and investing (1,455 ) (29,814 ) - 28,407 - (2,862 ) Group total $ (5,010 ) $ (29,814 ) $ (2 ) $ 12,411 $ 286 $ (22,129 )




More than $85 million granted for three aerospace initiatives

MONTREAL, April 29, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - The Quebec government announced an $85 million support package for three aerospace sector initiatives during Aero Montreal's Annual General Meeting today. The event was held in the presence of Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy and Innovation and Minister responsible for Regional Economic Development, and attended by 150 industry representatives at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) headquarters.

Aero Montreal Logo (CNW Group/Aero Montreal)

$12.77 MILLION TO STRENGTHEN THE SUPPLY CHAIN

During this gathering of aerospace industry players, Minister Fitzgibbon announced $12.77 million in support to enable Aero Montreal to implement the second phase of the MACH FAB 4.0 initiative as well as participate in the "Preferred Supplier" approach. Launched in 2016 as part of the 2016-2026 Quebec Aerospace Strategy, the MACH FAB 4.0 initiative was created to foster the integration of digital and advanced manufacturing technologies within SMEs.

Through this support, the Quebec government wants to facilitate the continuation of support for existing digital transformation projects. It will also help to expand the Quebec government's Digital Transformation Offensive (OTN) awareness and diagnostic initiative.

This essential lever for Quebec SMEs opens the way to an additional "preferred supplier" approach. By combining better knowledge of the financial assistance programs offered by the Quebec government and increased visibility of the needs of OEMs and the capabilities of Quebec suppliers, the "preferred supplier" approach will ensure that Quebec aerospace companies maintain their competitive edge.

"By accelerating and strengthening the digital shift begun in Phase 1, the extension of the MACH FAB 4.0 initiative is an essential tool to ensure the competitiveness of our Quebec aerospace companies in a period of economic recovery. By strengthening the value chain, from SMEs to OEMs, the Quebec government is ensuring that the attractiveness of the cluster's companies is enhanced and that they can adjust to market needs. By optimizing operations for companies, this 4.0 shift contributes to mitigating the labour shortage challenge, helps reduce our carbon footprint and optimizes manufacturing costs. This initiative undeniably preserves the aerospace sector's ability to remain Quebec's leading manufacturing exporter." Suzanne M. Benoit, President of Aero Montreal

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A MASSIVE MOBILIZATION FOR THE RECOVERY

Two complementary initiatives will also be supported by the Quebec government. The Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ) will receive $16 million for pre-competitive research projects, large-scale technology demonstrators and international partnerships. The Coalition for Greener Aircraft will also receive $56,472,754 to support the implementation of Phase 2 of the mobilizing project Collaborative projects of the aircraft of tomorrow (LPCAD-2). These investments in research and sustainable innovation will leverage support for innovation, identified by companies in the sector as the key link to an effective recovery.

ATTRACTING THE NEXT GENERATION  A CHALLENGE FOR THE FUTURE

Aero Montreal's Annual General Meeting was also an opportunity to highlight the massive commitment being made by the sector's companies to the Quebec aerospace cluster. In 2021, more than 480 Quebec aerospace leaders and specialists were involved in the cluster's working groups and committees with one common concern in mind: attracting future talent.

As the sector begins its recovery, a large majority of companies must meet the challenge of labour shortages. "The scarcity of labour marked the year 2021 and is likely to continue for years to come. In response, Aero Montreal mobilized as never before in 2021 to identify creative solutions that it will implement in 2022. We launched a community of interest on the subject by bringing together human resources management professionals, we increased our public visibility and, thanks to our tools, we facilitated the matching of the sector's opportunities with the talent available on the market. Moving forward, we will make sure we talk to the next generation to convince them of the great opportunities offered by our industry," says Ms. Benoit.

About Aero Montreal

Created in 2006, Aero Montreal is a strategic think tank that groups all major decision makers in Quebec's aerospace sector, including companies, educational and research institutions, as well as associations and unions.

The activities of Aero Montreal are made possible thanks to the participation of the governments of Canada and Quebec, the Montreal Metropolitan Community, as well as company members of the cluster.

SOURCE Aero Montreal

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2022/29/c8988.html
By Azernews





Azerbaijan and France have discussed prospects of cooperation in the mining industry.

At a meeting between AzerGold CJSC Board Chairman Zakir Ibrahimov, French ambassador's adviser Louis Toulorge and economic attache Yannick Haronis, the parties discussed the possibility of cooperation between AzerGold and French companies interested in working in Azerbaijan.

Zakir Ibrahimov briefed the participants about the company's achievements over the past five years. He noted AzerGold's successful operations in exploration, mining and other areas, the launch of new mines in the regions and the work done to increase economic efficiency in the mining sector.

Noting that AzerGold always attaches great importance to international cooperation in order to further optimize and improve its operations, Ibrahimov stressed that the company has a successful experience in partnership with foreign companies.

In turn, stating that French companies have extensive cooperation in transport and energy in Azerbaijan, Louis Toulorge added that they are interested in developing relations in other areas.

The parties discussed issues of mutual interest, including the application of know-how technologies to protect the environment and maintain the ecological balance, as well as opportunities for cooperation in future projects using alternative energy sources.

The Azerbaijani-French trade turnover amounted to $245.4 million in 2021.
Robert Murray Announced as the New President of the National Association of Waterfront Employers

PR Newswire

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2022

Robert Murray to succeed Lauren Brand who is retiring

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Robert W. Murray has been selected to lead the National Association of Waterfront Employers (NAWE) as its next president effective May 19, 2022. Rob has long served as a bipartisan relationship builder and will be a key advocate for NAWE's membership of US-based marine terminal operators and stevedores. Mr. Murray will work with current NAWE President, Lauren Brand, through the end of June to ensure a smooth transition.

Rob has ten years' experience as a strategic policy and political advisor to Senator Roger Wicker (MS). On Capitol Hill, Rob was the lead strategist for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law that provided $1.2 trillion in spending to improve our nation's infrastructure. He also worked on the FY20 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) which includes Army Corps funding for port dredging efforts  a key program for NAWE's members. Murray was also the lead staffer on the RESTAURANTS Act that established the Restaurant Revitalization Fund which provided small, independent restaurants billions of dollars in COVID-relief to prevent businesses from folding.

"I could not be more excited to join NAWE's team and hit the ground running. During my time on Capitol Hill, I have worked with some of the most passionate and competitive people in our country. These are relationships that I will always cherish," said Rob Murray. "I will be forever grateful to Senator Wicker and Mrs. Wicker for the opportunity to serve my home state of Mississippi in Washington, DC. I look forward to working with NAWE and its members on amplifying its advocacy efforts, addressing infrastructure, the supply chain, climate issues, and more."

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Robert Murray

Doug Morgante, Vice President of Government Relations for Maersk Inc. North America and Chair of NAWE said, "We're proud to welcome Robert Murray as the incoming President of the National Association of Waterfront Employers. The maritime industry is vital to our nation's supply chain, which is critical to our economy. NAWE is a voice for the maritime industry, and Rob's experience and knowledge of Capitol Hill will be valuable as we advocate on behalf of the maritime industry in Washington DC. We would also like to thank Lauren Brand for her leadership as President and wish her a happy retirement."

Lauren Brand, President of NAWE, said, "Working with NAWE's Board and its members has been a highlight of my career. With our skilled team we developed innovative tools for members and Congress to understand the nation's port and cargo infrastructure. In three short years, we raised the profile of marine terminals and waterfront workers and their role in our nation's economy. It has been an honor to serve as a subject matter expert to both the House and Senate  especially through the pandemic and supply chain challenges."

Lauren Brand

NAWE is a non-profit trade association whose member companies are privately-owned stevedores, marine terminal operators (MTOs), and other U.S. waterfront-related employers. NAWE's member companies engage in business at major U.S. ports on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, and Puerto Rico. Accordingly, NAWE's members operate the critical connection between global commerce and our Nation's economy and, as such, are committed to keeping America's international trade and commerce flowing.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/robert-murray-announced-as-the-new-president-of-the-national-association-of-waterfront-employers-301536465.html

SOURCE National Association of Waterfront Employers
Noem

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Neom and seven other Midwestern governors have sent a formal letter to the federal government seeking a waiver to allow the year-round sale of gasoline with 15% ethanol.

President Joe Biden visited Iowa earlier this month to announce he would allow the sale of the higher ethanol blend nationwide for this year only in an effort to lower gas prices. The move is intended to be temporary.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has praised that move, but she and the other Midwestern governors are asking for a permanent waiver in a letter sent Thursday to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan.

"This letter sends the clear message that renewable fuels are the immediate solution to high gas prices, lower emissions and restoring our energy independence, and we are proud to stand up and take this historic action," Reynolds said in a statement.

E15 is currently banned in several states from June 1 to Sept. 15 because it is believed to contribute to smog during warmer weather. Ethanol supporters say those claims are unfounded, adding that total emissions with E15 are less than E10 and gasoline with no renewable fuel.

In the letter, the governors said they had modeled the emissions benefits that would result from the change and concluded it would benefit air quality by reducing emissions from carbon monoxide, nitrogen and volatile organic compounds.

Along with Noem and Reynolds, the governors who signed the letter were Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, JB Pritzker of Illinois, Laura Kelly of Kansas, Tim Walz of Minnesota, Doug Burgum of North Dakota and Tony Evers of Wisconsin.

The eight states make up more than 10% of U.S. gasoline sales, according to a news release from Reynolds.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Kristi Noem and seven other governors want E15 to be sold year-round
Tallinna Vesi

AS Tallinna Vesis sales revenue increased by 2.3% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the previous year and reached 12.05 million. The sales revenue growth was attributable to the commercial customers' increased consumption of water services.



AS Tallinna Vesisi sales from water services sold to commercial customers reached 3.84 million in the first quarter of 2022, showing a 18% increase on the same period last year. The main factor behind the growth of sales revenue was the easement of the restrictions resulting from the slowdown in the spread of the coronavirus, which enabled the full reopening of the capital's hospitality sector, said Aleksandr Timofejev, Chairman of the Board of AS Tallinna Vesi. As a result, the occupancy rates improved and the volume of water services consumed by commercial customers increased.

AS Tallinna Vesis sales from water services sold to private customers decreased 4% compared to the first quarter of last year, reaching 4.9 million. The decline in consumption volumes for private customers was also linked to the easement of restrictions for preventing the spread of the coronavirus, which resulted in our customers spending more time outside the home than before, Timofejev said.

AS Tallinna Vesi's gross profit for the first quarter of 2021 was 4.38 million, showing a decrease of 15.4% over the year. The decrease in gross profit is mainly related to the growth in direct operational costs, including costs of chemicals and electricity, which increased 51% compared to the same period last year. The Company's operating profit was 3 million in the first quarter, showing a decrease of 1.66 million compared to the same period last year.

The Company's net profit was 2.88 million in the first quarter of 2022, which is 1.67 million less than in the same period of 2021. The decrease in net profit was influenced by changes in operating profit and net financial costs.

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According to AS Tallinna Vesis dividends policy the Company aims to distribute 50-80% of the Company's annual profit as dividends to its shareholders. On 28 April, the Company's Supervisory Council approved the Boards dividend proposal to the general meeting of shareholders to pay the shareholders a dividend of 0.65 per share of the annual profit in 2021. The payout is equal to 80% of the net profit for 2021.

In the first three months of the year, the Company reconstructed nearly 600 meters of water pipes and more than 2600 meters of sewers. In 2022, we aim to renovate at least 16 kilometres of water pipes and sewers. Currently, arrangements have already been made for the renovation of 17 kilometres of pipes, said Timofejev. Extensive renovation work will take place this year on Jarvevana Road and Tulika, Kotka, Sole and Loime Streets. The sewer pipes will also be renovated in Astangu area. In cooperation with the energy group Utilitas, pipes will be renovated in Kesk-Luha, Uue-Maailma, Ollepruuli and Tuvi Streets.

AS Tallinna Vesi works closely with the City of Tallinn in preparing a public water supply and sewerage development plan for the next 12-year period. The plan will be completed in the summer of 2022 and it will serve as a basis for preparing the development and investment plan of the Company, to develop Tallinns water and sewerage network in co-operation with the City of Tallinn.

AS Tallinna Vesi started and continued with investment projects, which will ensure the sustainability of water and sewerage services. Such as the renovation of the main pumping station shaft, the effluent outlet tower and the aeration tanks in Paljassaare that are part of the wastewater treatment process. At the water treatment side, renovation works are carried out on the filters that are part of the treatment process and at the water pumping station in Rummu Street.

The quality indicators of Tallinna Vesi in the first quarter of 2022 were at a very good level - the company provided a reliable and high-quality water and wastewater service. The quality of tap water provided by AS Tallinna Vesi was at an excellent level in the first quarter of 2022, being 100% compliant with all quality requirements. During the first three months of the year, the Company took 842 water samples.

Treated wastewater also fully compliant with all regulations and standards. Treated wastewater is discharged from the wastewater treatment plant into the Baltic Sea, in which it directly affects the marine environment. Significantly lower levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the effluent discharged into the sea is a proof of the excellent level of treated effluent.

Snowy winter and cold weather conditions in the first months of the year as usually affected the level of water loss and the number of sewer collapses. Although the parameters were slightly higher in the first quarter, they showed a decrease due to the milder weather conditions in March. Despite the increase, customers were guaranteed a continuous and high-quality water and wastewater service in the first quarter.





MAIN FINANCIAL INDICATORS



 million,

except key ratios



1st quarter Change 2022/ 2021



2022 2021 2020 Sales 12.05 11.78 13.18 2.3% Gross profit 4.38 5.18 6.06 -15.4% Gross profit margin % 36.36 43.97 45.96 -17.3% Operating profit before depreciation and amortisation 4.64 6.23 7.18 -25.4% Operating profit before depreciation and amortisation margin % 38.53 52.83 54.48 -27.1% Operating profit 3.00 4.66 5.67 -35.5% Operating profit - main business 2.92 4.50 5.62 -35.2% Operating profit margin % 24.92 39.55 43.02 -37.0% Profit before taxes 2.91 4.57 5.56 -36.4% Profit before taxes margin % 24.13 38.78 42.15 -37.8% Net profit 2.88 4.55 5.56 -36.7% Net profit margin % 23.88 38.59 42.15 -38.1% ROA % 1.12 1.77 2.09 -36.7% Debt to total capital employed % 54.17 54.83 54.81 -1.2% ROE % 2.46 3.97 4.70 -38.0% Current ratio 3.20 4.48 5.87 -28.6% Quick ratio 3.13 4.42 5.83 -29.2% Investments into fixed assets 2.78 2.28 3.59 21.9% Payout ratio % na na na

Gross profit margin  Gross profit / Net sales

Operating profit before depreciation and amortisation  Operating profit + depreciation and amortisation

Operating profit before depreciation and amortisation margin  Operating profit before depreciation and amortisation / Net sales

Operating profit margin  Operating profit / Net sales

Net profit margin  Net profit / Net sales

ROA  Net profit / Average Total assets for the period

Debt to Total capital employed  Total liabilities / Total capital employed

ROE  Net profit / Average Total equity for the period

Current ratio  Current assets / Current liabilities

Quick ratio  (Current assets  Stocks) / Current liabilities

Payout ratio - Total Dividends per annum/ Total Net Income per annum

Main business  water services related activities, excl. connections profit and government grants, construction services, doubtful receivables





STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME 1st quarter 1st quarter 12 months  thousand 2022 2021 2020 Revenue 12,053 11,784 53,294 Cost of goods and services sold -7,670 -6,603 -32,715 GROSS PROFIT 4,383 5,181 20,579 Marketing expenses -199 -121 -462 General administration expenses -1,131 -1,551 -4,438 Other income (+)/ expenses (-) -48 1,151 3,099 OPERATING PROFIT 3,005 4,660 18,778 Financial income 1 5 8 Financial expenses -97 -95 -387 PROFIT BEFORE TAXES 2,909 4,570 18,399 Income tax on dividends -30 -21 -2,234 NET PROFIT FOR THE PERIOD 2,879 4,549 16,165 COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE PERIOD 2,879 4,549 16,165 Attributable profit to: Equity holders of A-shares 2,879 4,548 16,165 B-share holder 0.00 0.60 0.00 Earnings per A share (in euros) 0.14 0.23 0.81 Earnings per B share (in euros) 0 600 0





STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION  thousand 31/03/2022 31/03/2021 31/12/2021 ASSETS CURRENT ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents 37,570 47,122 36,559 Trade receivables, accrued income and prepaid expenses 6,228 6,514 6,637 Inventories 922 809 702 TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 44,720 54,445 43,898 NON-CURRENT ASSETS Property, plant and equipment 212,732 203,516 211,546 Intangible assets 690 634 729 TOTAL NON-CURRENT ASSETS 213,422 204,150 212,275 TOTAL ASSETS 258,142 258,595 256,173 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY CURRENT LIABILITIES Current portion of long-term lease liabilities 464 393 421 Current portion of long-term loans 3,630 3,630 3,630 Trade and other payables 6,587 5,943 7,835 Prepayments 3,302 2,182 3,604 TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES 13,983 12,148 15,490 NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES Deferred income from connection fees 37,727 35,611 37,241 Leases 1,297 1,331 1,236 Loans 80,348 83,966 80,336 Provision for possible third party claims 6,018 8,424 6,018 Deferred tax liability 402 276 372 Other payables 68 35 60 TOTAL NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES 125,860 129,643 125,263 TOTAL LIABILITIES 139,843 141,791 140,753 EQUITY Share capital 12,000 12,000 12,000 Share premium 24,734 24,734 24,734 Statutory legal reserve 1,278 1,278 1,278 Retained earnings 80,287 78,792 77,408 TOTAL EQUITY 118,299 116,804 115,420 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 258,142 258,595 256,173





CASH FLOWS STATEMENT 3 months 3 months 12 months  thousand 2022 2021 2021 CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES Operating profit 3,005 4,660 18,778 Adjustment for depreciation/amortisation 1,639 1,567 6,520 Adjustment for revenues from connection fees -134 -125 -510 Other non-cash adjustments 0 -1,204 -3,610 Profit/loss(+) from sale and write off of property, plant and equipment, and intangible assets -3 0 -29 Change in current assets involved in operating activities 202 402 380 Change in liabilities involved in operating activities -811 -54 938 TOTAL CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES 3,898 5,246 22,467 CASH FLOWS USED IN INVESTING ACTIVITIES Acquisition of property, plant and equipment, and intangible assets -3,327 -2,923 -13,734 Compensations received for construction of pipelines, incl connection fees 665 508 2,892 Proceeds from sales of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets 3 0 29 Interest received 1 1 11 TOTAL CASH FLOWS USED IN INVESTING ACTIVITIES -2,658 -2,414 -10,802 CASH FLOWS USE D IN FINANCING ACTIVITIES Interest paid and loan financing costs, incl swap interests -117 -121 -460 Lease payments -112 -102 -408 Repayment of loans 0 0 -3,636 Dividends paid 0 0 -12,842 Withheld income tax paid on dividends 0 0 -158 Income tax paid on dividends 0 0 -2,116 TOTAL CASH FLOW USED IN FINANCING ACTIVITIES -229 -223 -19,620 CHANGE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 1,011 2,609 -7,955 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PERIOD 36,559 44,514 44,514 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT THE END OF THE PERIOD 37,570 47,123 36,559





Aleksandr Timofejev

CEO

Member of the Management Board

+372 62 62 200

aleksandr.timofejev@tvesi.ee

Attachment




Three Arrows Capital, a cryptocurrency trading and hedge fund manager, is moving its headquarters to Dubai from Singapore, becoming the latest among a growing number of firms looking to expand their presence in the Middle East.

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Tornado Global Hydrovacs Ltd.

CALGARY, Alberta, April 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tornado Global Hydrovacs Ltd. (Tornado or the Company) (TGH: TSX-V) today reported its audited consolidated financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021. The audited consolidated financial statements and MD&A are available on the Companys issuer profile on SEDAR and can be reviewed at www.sedar.com or on the Companys web site www.tornadotrucks.com .

Financial and Operating Highlights (in CAD $000s except per share data)

Three months ended December 31 Year ended December 31 2021 2020 2021 2020 Revenue $ 9,494 $ 5,186 $ 32,898 $ 30,832 Cost of sales 9,649 4,505 26,902 25,557 Gross Profit (155 ) 681 5,996 5,275 Selling and general administrative expenses 2,283 1,269 6,056 4,151 Depreciation and amortization 364 461 1,575 1,769 Finance expense 69 51 210 168 Impairment (reversal) 189 66 953 (108 ) Accretion expense 78 92 153 142 Stock-based compensation 220 - 489 - Loss on disposal of fixed assets - 1 77 2 Loss before tax (3,358 ) (1,259 ) (3,517 ) (849 ) Income tax recovery (expense) 517 224 302 182 Net loss $ (2,841 ) $ (1,035 ) $ (3,215 ) $ (667 ) Net loss per share - basic and diluted $ (0.022 ) $ (0.008 ) $ (0.025 ) $ (0.005 ) EBITDAS (1) $ (2,438 ) $ (588 ) $ (60 ) $ 1,124 EBIT (1) $ (3,211 ) $ (1,115 ) $ (1,248 ) $ (538 ) Total assets $ 25,315 $ 27,626 $ 25,315 $ 27,626 Shareholders Equity $ 12,130 $ 14,829 $ 12,130 $ 14,829

1 EBITDAS (earnings (loss) before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, non-cash impairment, gain/loss on disposal of fixed assets and stock-based compensation), EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and Gross Profit (revenue less cost of sales) are not defined by IFRS. EBIT is the result of the Companys EBITDAS less depreciation and amortization expenses, gains and losses on the disposal of assets, non-cash impairment and stock-based compensation. While not IFRS measures, EBITDAS, EBIT and Gross Profit are used by management, creditors, analysts, investors and other financial stakeholders to assess the Companys performance and management from a financial and operational perspective. Readers are cautioned that EBITDAS and EBIT should not be considered to be more meaningful than Loss before Tax determined in accordance with IFRS.

2021 Overview

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The Company completed two strategic actions during the second quarter of 2021. The Company moved all production into its production facility located in Red Deer, Alberta (the Red Deer Facility), effectively tripling the Companys monthly production capacity. To capitalize on the expected increase in infrastructure spending in North America and the impact that such spending will have on construction demand in general and hydrovac excavation demand in particular, the Company strengthened its executive management team with the appointment of Brett Newton as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company. In January 2022 Mr. Newton assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer and vacated the position of Chief Operating Officer.





On July 14, 2021, the Company entered into a $4,875 term loan and a $3,000 revolving operating line of credit (together the Credit Facility). The term loan was used to repay the balance of the non-interest bearing vendor take-back mortgage secured against the Companys Red Deer Facility and the revolving operating line of credit will be used for general working capital purposes.





The $1.2 USD trillion infrastructure bill (the Infrastructure Bill), previously ratified by US Congress and passed by US Senate, was signed by the US President on November 15, 2021, is expected to create a significant number of jobs in the US to improve broadband, water suppliers and other public works, which in turn is expected to increase the demand for hydrovac trucks in US.





In 2021, the federal government introduced a clawback provision with respect to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (the wage subsidy) that requires employers that are public corporations to repay a part of their wage subsidy claims for a qualifying period, to the extent the compensation paid to its named executive officers in 2021 exceeds that paid in 2019. The wage subsidy clawback resulted in the Company being required to pay back a total of $384 (the Clawback) to the federal government and negatively impacted the Companys gross profit and EBITDAS by $269 and $384 respectively.



Revenue of $32,898 in 2021 increased 6.7% compared to $30,832 in 2020 as customer demand continued to recover.





Gross Profit of $5,996 in 2021 increased by $721 compared to $5,275 in 2020 due to increased revenue and production efficiencies, including labour utilization, at the Companys Red Deer Facility. This was offset by reduced wage subsidy net of the amount repayable ($427 in 2021 compared to $1,206 in 2020) and one-time, non-recurring expenses discussed below. Gross Profit was positively impacted by the increased benefits from cost savings on parts sourced from China, although to a lesser extent than during 2020 due to increased freight and lead time. Gross Profit was negatively impacted by increased material costs experienced in Q4/2021 due to supply chain issues.





General and administrative expense of $6,056 in 2021 increased by $1,905 compared to $4,151 in 2020. The increase was due to general increased employee costs in North America to handle present and anticipated growth. The wage subsidy net of the amount repayable was less in 2021 compared to 2020. Also in 2020 the Company had temporarily laid off 40% of its employees and senior management and head office employees had taken salary reductions.





EBITDAS of negative $60, decreased by $1,184 compared to $1,124 in 2020, due to factors discussed below.





During 2021, the Company recorded a number of one-time non-recurring items which negatively impacted the Companys results. The impact of these adjustments totalled $2,633 in 2021 and 2/3 of this was related to inventory writedowns and to asset impairment of non-core hydrovac equipment and rental units.





The Company recorded a net loss of $3,215 in 2021, which represents an increase in the net loss of $2,548 compared to net loss of $667 in 2020. This was due to the factors discussed above, plus stock based compensation expense of $489 which is a non cash item.

4Q/2021 Overview

During Q4/2021, the Company recorded a number of one-time non-recurring items which negatively impacted the Companys Q4 results and are discussed above.





Revenue of $9,494, increased 83.1% compared to $5,186 in Q4/2020 as customer demand continued to recover.



Gross Profit of negative $155, decreased by $836 compared to $681 in Q4/2020 principally due to adjustments discussed below and reduced wage subsidy net of the amount repayable ($427 in 2021 compared to $1,206 in 2020). Gross Profit was negatively impacted by increased material costs experienced in Q4/2021 due to supply chain issues.





EBITDAS of negative $2,438, increased by $1,850 compared to negative $588 in Q4/2020, due to factors discussed above.





Net loss of $2,841 increased by $1,806 compared to a net loss of $1,035 in Q4/2020. This was due to the factors discussed above and stocked-based compensation of $220 (2020  $nil) which is a non cash item.





During Q4/2021, the Company recorded a number of one-time non-recurring items which negatively impacted the Companys Q4/2021 results. The impact of these adjustments totalled $1,463 in Q4 2021 and 2/3 of this was related to inventory writedown and to asset impairment of non-core hydrovac equipment and rental units.

Segmented information (in CAD $000s)

Year ended December 31, 2021 North America China Corporate Total Revenue $ 32,898 $ - $ - $ 32,898 Cost of sales 26,902 - - 26,902 Selling and general administrative 4,601 404 1,051 6,056 EBITDAS $ 1,395 $ (404 ) $ (1,051 ) $ (60 ) Three months ended December 31, 2021 North America China Corporate Total Revenue $ 9,494 $ - $ - $ 9,494 Cost of sales 9,649 - - 9,649 Selling and general administrative 1,760 196 327 2,283 EBITDAS $ (1,915 ) $ (196 ) $ (327 ) $ (2,438 )

Notes: Non-IFRS Measures - Readers are cautioned that EBITDAS is not a recognized financial measure under IFRS and as such EBITDAS should not be considered to be more meaningful than Loss before Tax determined in accordance with IFRS.

Outlook

Management believes the Companys business will continue to strengthen and expects the Companys production and sales of hydrovac trucks in North America in 2022 to continue to grow and capitalize on the significantly increased capacity of its owned facility in Red Deer over the long term for the following reasons:

A strengthened senior executive management team.

Expanded capacity and manufacturing and production efficiencies from the Red Deer Facility, which is fully operational.

Expected increased spending on infrastructure in North America, particularly in the US as a result of the Infrastructure Bill.

The Companys commitment to continuous improvement of its hydrovac truck design which in the Companys view has compelling advantages over hydrovac trucks currently offered in the market.

The Company anticipates adding new innovative products to our product lines that cover infrastructure, telecom and oil and gas industries.

Secured key manufacturing components, including chassis for customers, into future years through strategic relationships.

Strengthened dealer relationships in both Canada and US to meet the expected demand increase.

Expanded North American coverage for maintenance warranty and repair to better serve customers.

The majority of the one-time, non-recurring expenses accrued in 2021 were non cash and totalled $2,633.

The improved market environment experienced during the second half of 2021 is expected to continue into 2022 as customer confidence and spending levels continue to recover.

Limiting factors on the Companys ability to meet increased demand could include the possibility of chassis supply chain interruption due to chip shortages at the chassis manufacturer level and other supply chain issues related to other key components caused by the pandemic and exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, management believes that it will be able to manage these supply chain issues.

About Tornado Global Hydrovacs Ltd.

The Company designs and manufactures hydrovac trucks as well as provides heavy duty truck maintenance operations in central Alberta. It sells hydrovac trucks to excavation service providers in the infrastructure and industrial construction and oil and gas markets. Hydrovac trucks use high pressure water and vacuum to safely penetrate and cut soil to expose critical infrastructure for repair and installation without damage. Hydrovac excavation methods are quickly becoming a standard in the North America to safely excavate in urban areas and around critical infrastructure greatly reducing infrastructure damage and related fatalities. In China, the Companys subsidiary is used principally to source certain parts to the Companys North America operations.

For more information about Tornado Global Hydrovacs Ltd., visit www.tornadotrucks.com or contact:

Brett Newton

President and Chief Executive Officer

Phone: (416) 522-6390

Email: bnewton@tghl.ca

Advisory

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. The use of the words anticipates, should, may, expected, expects, believes and other words of a similar nature are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Although Tornado believes these statements to be reasonable, no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. Such statements include those with respect to: (i) management belief that the Companys business will continue to strengthen; (ii) managements expectation that the Companys production and sales of hydrovac trucks in North America in 2022 will continue to grow; (iii) managements expectation that the Company will be able to capitalize on the significantly increased capacity of its owned facility in Red Deer over the long term; (iv) the expectation that the Infrastructure Bill will lead to an increase in infrastructure spending and result in job creations and increased demand for construction and hydrovac trucks; (v) the Companys outlook for the 2022 fiscal year generally; (vi) the Companys expectation of adding new innovative products to its product lines that cover infrastructure, telecom and oil and gas industries; (vii) managements belief in the positive impact of securing key manufacturing components, including chassis, for customers into future years through strategic relationships; (viii) managements belief in the positive impact of strengthened dealer relationships in both Canada and US; (ix) managements belief in the positive impact of expanded North American coverage for maintenance warranty and repair; and (x) the Companys ability to meet increased demand may be limited by factors including chassis supply chain interruption due to chip shortages at the chassis manufacturer level and other supply chain issues related to other key components. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of prevailing economic conditions, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Tornado. Although Tornado believes these statements to be reasonable, no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release represent Tornados expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change after such date. Tornado disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities regulations.

Neither the Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.




Justice Neil Gorsuch (Getty Images)

Justice Neil Gorsuch was no favorite of the left when he was nominated and confirmed to Justice Antonin Scalias Supreme Court seat five years ago, and, in his short time in the court, he has largely operated in lockstep with the conservative majority.

But in a concurring opinion in a recent Supreme Court ruling that Congress can continue to exclude residents of Puerto Rico from a federal safety net program, Mr Gorsuch wrote what Democracy Now!s Juan Gonzalez called one of the clearest and most eloquent statements exposing US colonialism thats ever been issued by a Supreme Court justice, at least in my lifetime.

Last week, the Supreme Court voted 8-1 that Congress can continue to bar American citizens living in Puerto Rico from receiving Supplemental Security Income  direct payments to Americans living in poverty who are over the age of 65, blind, or disabled.

Jose Luis Vaello Madero, an American citizen born in Puerto Rico, challenged the law. Madero had been receiving SSI payments while living in New York, but when the Social Security Administration discovered that he had moved back to Puerto Rico several years ago, it cut off his payments and filed suit to recover $28,000.

Mr Madero sued, arguing that the exclusion of American citizens living in Puerto Rico violates the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution. He won in two lower courts, but was defeated at the Supreme Court.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico, dissented. Gorsuch voted with the majority, but, along with Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote a concurring opinion that clearly laid out his opposition to ongoing US colonialism in places like Puerto Rico.

Mr Gorsuch wrote that he wants to take aim at the legal rulings underpinning the differentiation in treatment between American citizens of American states and American citizens of territories like Puerto Rico by overturning what is known as the Insular Cases  a series of Supreme Court opinions in the early twentieth century holding that unincorporated, colonised American territories may be legally deprived of constitutional rights.

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It is past time to acknowledge the gravity of this error [the Insular Case rulings] and admit what we know to be true: The Insular Cases have no foundation in the Constitution and rest instead on racial stereotypes, Mr Gorsuch wrote. They deserve no place in our law.

Mr Gorsuch wrote that the rulings reflected the theories of social Darwinists and rested on clearly faulty legal grounds.

The flaws in the Insular Cases are as fundamental as they are shameful, Gorsuch wrote. Nothing in the Constitution speaks of incorporated and unincorporated Territories. Nothing in it extends to the latter only certain supposedly fundamental constitutional guarantees.

Mr Gorsuch voted with the majority, he wrote, because Mr Madero had not asked the Court to throw out the Insular Cases completely. He indicated that he would be happy to assist in that endeavor in the future.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who filed the majority opinion, wrote that because Puerto Rican residents are exempt from many federal income taxes, Congress has a rational basis for excluding them from the eligibility for safety net programs like SSI granted to other American citizens.

Ms Sotomayor, in her dissent, wrote that if the basis for inclusion in federal safety net programs is paying a certain amount of federal taxes, residents of sparsely populated states like Vermont, Montana and Alaska could also be excluded.

Its not just Puerto Rico, either. The USs colonial holdings today also include American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. In his opinion, Mr Gorsuch noted that the only island territory that currently has full constitutional rights is Palmyra Atoll, an uninhibited parcel of land in the Pacific Ocean. He called the situation embarrassing.

Puerto Ricos status is being debated this week in Congress, where advocates from the island and allies are pushing to pass the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act  which would allow residents of the island to vote freely on whether to become independent, become an American state, or take free association status with the US.

But the bill faces an uphill fight, while a majority of the courts liberals and originalists have not indicated any desire to overturn the Insular Cases. Nevertheless, Mr Gorsuchs words may serve as a rallying cry in the years to come.

The time has come to recognise that the Insular Cases rest on a rotten foundation, Mr Gorsuch wrote. And I hope the day comes soon when the Court squarely overrules them. We should follow Justice Harlan and settle this question right. Our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico deserve no less.
When Vanessa Bayer left Saturday Night Live in 2017 after seven seasons, she had two project ideas in mind she hoped to pursue: something exploring home shopping networks, after loving them so much as a kid, and another on her journey with childhood leukemia.

Cut to five years later and she has co-created and is starring in I Love That For You, combining both of those concepts into one with the story of a woman who overcomes childhood cancer to achieve her dream of becoming an on-air host at a QVC-inspired network  which she partially got by lying that her cancer had returned. The series came together when meeting up for brunch with fellow former SNL writer Jeremy Beiler, as the two realized they had both been separately crafting home shopping centered-projects and decided to team up. And when it was time to channel her own saleswoman persona, Bayer had a lifetime of prep.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

I watched it so much when I was little that its almost like when a little kid learns a foreign language when theyre young, I immediately picked it up. Its a language that I so love, like to me it might be the most beautiful language, just because its so soothing and so beautiful, Bayer told The Hollywood Reporter at Wednesday nights Los Angeles premiere. It was fun to be like, Oh for research I need to be watching so much of this. Every time I turn it on Im delighted. I love hearing the hosts talk about their lives, its so entertaining.

Bayer is so well-versed in QVC style that she was the personal consultant for co-star Molly Shannon, who plays the networks star host; She really taught me, Oh, Molly, when theyre selling things they always touch the objects and she really walked me through it. Shes a real expert, Shannon explained, learning along the way that 24-hour-product-hawking is really hard to do well.

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Bayer and Beiler visited QVCs Pennsylvania headquarters while writing the series, meeting hosts and taking a tour of the studio. We actually gleaned so much from that visit, it was really fun, Beiler remembered. And of course we bought mugs that say QVC and we use them all the time.

Seeing inside the home shopping world also changed their perception of the business and those who work for it, Beiler said, as they tried to move beyond the tendency or the first move to make fun of it.

We really realized that the best way to bring it to life was to emulate it really earnestly and to look at what is this actual talent that people have to sell anything and what kind of humanity are they bringing to it, Beiler said. The funny part takes care of itself because its just to ridiculous no matter what and theres a lot of artifice to it, but we really view it incredibly lovingly and we watch it and buy things from there.

The series also looks at cancer, and Bayers childhood experience with it, through a more comedic lens, as the star said she wanted to explore that part of the way I think I got through it was really just enjoying the perks of it and taking advantage of the special treatment.

I truly do in my heart of hearts believe that if you are going through a difficult time, whatever you get from that, whatever special treatment or perks or whatever, youve earned, you deserve that, Bayer said of taking that very honest stance. I always tell people who ask what to do when theyre sick, Im like, Use it to get out of things, use it to do whatever you want. Thats the trade-off.

The series, which rounds out its cast with Jenifer Lewis, Paul James, Ayden Mayeri, Punam Patel and Matt Rodgers, sees Lewis as head of the shopping network, and after planning to retire following the end of Black-ish, the star instantly signed on when hearing of Bayer and Shannons involvement.

I met Vanessa Bayer and Ive never fallen in love with anyone so instantly. All I wanted to do was pick her up and give her some sugar because shes made of sugar. I describe her as an angel made of cotton candy and Christmas morning, Lewis said. And Molly, how I dont laugh at that bitch throwing herself into fucking chairs  she tongue-kissed a tree for Gods sake.

I Love That For You premieres on Showtime May 1.

Best of The Hollywood Reporter

Click here to read the full article.
Sunshine will prevail the first part of the weekend, but Fredericksburgs Sunday looks cloudy and damp.

Despite a Freeze Warning issued for both Spotsylvania County and the city of Fredericksburg, temperatures this Friday morning only dipped to the upper 30s and low 40s. The above-freezing readings were thanks to the mixing provided by northwesterly winds, which refused to completely calm down overnight. With high pressure parked along the East Coast, those winds will be much lighter today than earlier this week.

With light breezes and plenty of sunshine on tap, Fredericksburg area thermometers will top out in the upper 60s Friday afternoon. By sunset at 7:59 p.m., temperatures look to be near 60 degrees on their way down to the upper 30s again by dawn. Saturday will then begin the weekend with mostly sunny skies, more light winds, and 2022s first official sunset at 8 p.m.!

However, things will get a bit complicated temperature-wise Saturday. A warm front is forecast to struggle northward across Virginia during the day, with the numerical models disagreeing on the timing and eventual location of that boundary. The official NWS high temperature forecast for the Fredericksburg vicinity on Saturday is the low 70s, but that could easily bump down into the upper 60s should that warm front be slower than thought.

Saturday night, a storm system will cross the Midwest, drawing moisture northward ahead of it. Showers will arrive in the Fredericksburg area during the wee hours Sunday morning and continue intermittently throughout the day. With overcast skies plus the nearby aforementioned warm front, afternoon temperatures look to only reach the upper 60s again to begin the month of May.

There could be a rumble of thunder Sunday afternoon as a weak cold front crosses the region, but nothing severe is expected in and around Fredericksburg. Local rain gauges will likely only record a tenth to a quarter-inch of liquid (per the graphic) from this system. That will help settle the pollen, but wont do much to alleviate the continued dry conditions.

For those seeking warmer conditions, the 80s will make a return early next week. Happy Friday!
The Fredericksburg Police Department has issued more than 1,000 citations for speeding since October.

That number could increase, as City Council voted 60 to review a proposed ordinance that would reduce the speed limit from 25 miles per hour to 20 on major downtown streets.

City Council will have a final vote on the matter at its May 10 meeting. If the ordinance passes, it will go into effect July 1.

Were very interested in reducing speeding throughout the city, downtown especially, as it increasingly becomes a crowded venue on the weekends, City Manager Tim Baroody said. We want to continue to encourage that, but in a way thats safe.

The areas impacted by the proposal would be Sophia Street between Lafayette Boulevard and Amelia Street; Caroline Street between Lafayette and Lewis Street; William Street between Washington Avenue and Sophia; and Lafayette between Sophia and Prince Edward Street.

Virginia code authorizes local governments to reduce the speed limit to 20 miles per hour in a business district. The definition of a business district is an area where 75 percent or more of the property abutting a street on either side, for a distance of 300 feet or more, is used for business purposes.

A team comprising the city managers office, the commonwealths attorneys office, the transportation, public works and planning departments met to identify downtown areas where the state code applies.

Council members said they hope lowering the speed limit isnt the only measure taken to improve traffic safety downtown.

I truly believe you dont monitor speed limits to get people to drive slower. You design the streets to induce people to want to drive more slowly themselves, Councilman Jason Graham said. Its much easier for us to lower a speed limit sign than it is to provide the infrastructure in a way thats conducive to that.

Baroody said that there are plans underway to improve safety for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists downtown through traffic-calming measures.

He said that in 2023, work will begin to convert some of the two-lane one-way streets downtown into two-way streets. He said that over time, the major corridors downtown that are one-way streets will become two-ways.

Until that work is complete, Baroody said he will continue to encourage Police Chief Brian Layton to strictly enforce the speed limit.

This is all about increasing safety downtown as well as throughout the city, Baroody said.

Councilwoman Kerry Devine said that in addition to enforcing a lower speed limit, city officials should look into providing more traffic safety education. She suggested reviewing the demographics of the offenders to note their age and residence and target them with materials warning of the changes downtown.

Right now were looking at writing a lot more speeding tickets, Kelly said. You cant change a persons driving habits with a sign.

Taft Coghill Jr: 540/374-5526 tcoghill@freelancestar.com

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By Azernews





By Sabina Mammadli

The construction of the Khudafarin-Gubadli-Lachin highway continues at full speed, the State Agency of Azerbaijan Automobile Roads has reported.

The highway, which is part of the road infrastructure projects being implemented in Azerbaijan's Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions, will play an important role in the social and economic development of the liberated regions and villages in Azerbaijan.

According to the agency, the highway will be 56,4 kilometers long, beginning at a section of the Hajigabul-Horadiz-Aghband-Zangazur highway and ending near the Khudaferin reservoir.

It was also noted that the construction of a new 14-km highway from Khanlig settlement to Gubadli city is also underway.

According to the statement, the total length of the two roads will be 70,4 km.

The Khudafarin-Gubadli-Lachin highway is being built in accordance with the first technical category and will have four traffic lanes.

The work on the construction of a roadbed on the 45-km section of the highway also continues. Asphalt concrete pavement has been laid on the 8-km section of the route.

Earthworks are being carried out, crossings, bridges and retaining walls are being built on the 14-km section of the road in direction of Khanlig.

Furthermore, bridges are being constructed at the 10th, 22nd, 32nd, and 43rd kilometers of the main road, the 4th kilometer of the access road, and the 1st kilometer of the highway to Gubadli city.

A total of 12 underground passages and a 1,040-meter supporting wall have already been built on the route.

This road will connect more than 30 settlements, including Gubadli and Lachin cities, passing through the territories of Zangilan, Gubadli and Lachin regions.

Gubadly-Eyvazli highway

In a separate statement, the Agency said that the Gubadly-Eyvazli highway will play an important role in the socio-economic development of Azerbaijans liberated regions and villages from Armenian occupation.

According to the information, the Gubadly-Eyvazli highway with a length of 28.5 kilometers is being built in accordance with the fourth technical category and will have two traffic lanes. Currently, large-scale construction work is underway along the road.

"In accordance with the project, unsuitable soil and vegetation layer are being removed on a 26-kilometer section of the road to widen the roadway, the statement noted.

The construction of the roadway has been completed on the section of the route from 23rd to 25th kilometer and work is underway to build roadway on the section from 27th to 28th kilometer.

Necessary amount of equipment and personnel was attracted to the construction site for speedy and high-quality performance of work.

Pile installation and concreting work undergoing on the four-span bridge (122.4 meters long), built on the 2.5th kilometer of the road. Preparations are underway for the installation of piles where a two-span bridge 66 meters long will be built, on 21st kilometer of the road.

It should be noted that the Gubadly-Eyvazli highway, the construction of which is scheduled to be completed this year, stretches through Azerbaijans Mahmudlu, Khidirli, Malikahmadli, Gundanli, Davudlu, Eyvazli villages liberated from the Armenian occupation, including Gubadly town.

The rapid construction of road, energy, and social infrastructure in Karabakh and East Zangazur is a global demonstration of Azerbaijan's strength and economic potential.

Priorities for reconstruction include building new transportation and communication lines, as well as restoring historically existing roads. Ten major highways totaling 665.4 kilometers in length are part of the region's road construction project.

One of the major projects completed in the region is the 101-km Victory Road, which leads to Shusha and is already in use. Over 1,400 km of roads are currently under construction in the liberated lands as part of 15 different projects. The Ahmadbayli-Fuzul-Shusha, Toghanali-Kalbajar-Istisu, Kalbajar-Lachin, Horadiz-Jabrayil-Zangilan-Aghband, Khudafarin-Gubadli-Lachin, Gubadli-Eyvazli, Shukurbayli-Jabrayil-Hadrut, and Fuzuli highways are great examples for these projects.

The construction of the Barda-Aghdam highway is also one of the road infrastructure projects being implemented in the Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions.

One of the most important issues in this direction is the rail and road connection between Nakhchivan and Azerbaijan's western regions, as well as the launch of the Zangazur corridor.

The establishment of the Zangazur corridor will help reinvigorate the South Caucasus road network. The corridor will also enable the construction of a railway line between Azerbaijan and Iran, as well as access to Iranian railways. At the same time, the Zangazur corridor will feature a motorway system in addition to trains. So, the creation of this corridor will also allow the opening of a road connection.

The Zangazur corridor and other transit transport corridors provided by Azerbaijan will reshape the world's transportation map. In other words, the new transport infrastructure will gain international status and become a route that Asian and Pacific countries can use.

The corridor will connect Azerbaijan's main territory with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, as well as Turkey, and will provide new prospects for the Turkic world as a whole. The corridor is of fundamental importance in restoring peace, security and cooperation in the South Caucasus.




Fremont Christian Womens Connection will meet for a noon luncheon on Monday, May 9, at the Midland University Dining Hall, Ninth and Pebble streets, in Fremont.

The theme for the luncheon is Picture A New Beginning. Wendy Dean of Simply Delicious in Valley will give a presentation. Arlan Trehearn will provide music.

Lori Mayer of Ansgar, Iowa, will speak on What are you looking for? How do you fill that empty void in life? Mayer is a retired registered nurse who has worked with special needs children. She loves anything outdoors. She has three children and seven grandchildren.

Cost of the luncheon is $15. Call Pat at 4002-720-3847 by May 3 to make a reservation. Honoring your reservation is necessary.

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Mary Robinson didnt recognize the signs that something was wrong.

She blamed dry skin for the sore that wouldnt go away in her nostril. She became overly out of breath when going up stairs. Her gums started bleeding.

Robinson was tired and irritable, but she was so busy.

A wife and mother of four, Robinson was a full-time teacher working at Fremont Public Schools with students who have visual impairments. She was managing construction of the FPS Sensory Courtyard, which offers experiences for children of all abilities.

Robinson then learned in 2014 she had an aggressive form of leukemia and treatment followed. Three years later, a relapse led to an allogenic stem cell transplant.

Throughout her journey, Robinson shared her thoughts via a website. Her thoughts have become a new book, Seed Stem Bloom  Lessons From My Faith-led Journey Through CANcer.

My books not just about my cancer journey, its about noticing the signs that God puts in our path, she said. We have to be open to it. We have to be watchful for the signs. God placed all these signs in my path, telling me that I was going to be OK.

She offers other encouragement.

I want people to know theyre not alone in their battles, she said. This book is a toolbox of strategies to use to navigate tough times and to help with your outlook. I think mindset, faith and hope play a huge role in survival.

Robinson never thought shed become an author.

But I never thought Id get cancer, she said.

In July 2014, Robinson had what she thought was a sinus infection. She went to her family doctor and asked for bloodwork, because she hadnt been feeling well.

Her doctor called the next day saying her red and white blood cells and platelets were low. Shed need to see an oncologist.

Robinson wondered what was wrong. Shed tried to take care of herself, exercising and eating right. She was only 38 years old.

I was scared, she said.

Her husband, Tim, was supportive, assuring Robinson hed be with her 100 percent. They told their young children  Brody, Holly, Colby and Shaylee that doctors would perform tests to see what was wrong.

The oncologist ordered a bone marrow biopsy and more bloodwork. A few days later, the Robinsons were called to the doctors office.

Robinson had acute myeloid leukemia.

You can survive this, the doctor said. This is one of the worst types of leukemia to have, but you have a 50% chance of survival.

Determined to beat cancer, Robinson turned to her husband.

Im in the 50 percentile of survivors, she told him.

Robinson was in an Omaha hospital for more than three weeks and had intense chemotherapy.

One night, Robinson had pain in her chest and worried about her heart. Shed been reading a devotional, playing Christian music and intensely praying, asking God to help all her organs to work as they should.

Thats when, she said, a miracle occurred.

My body became light as a feather and all of a sudden I felt this breath of life go through my nostrils and I breathed in really deep and all my pain went away, she said. I opened my eyes and nothing was there, but I know it was God or one of his angels.

It reminded her of the Biblical account of God breathing life into Adam.

I felt like I had a breath of health, she said.

The next day, Robinson told her doctor she knew she was in remission.

A bone marrow biopsy followed.

Days later, results showed she was in remission.

Robinson had about six weeks to recover, followed by weeklong chemotherapy sessions. Shed have four chemotherapy sessions, four weeks apart.

Her treatments ended in January 2015 and she began returning to a busy lifestyle. She eventually returned to work full time.

Then in May 2017, Robinson went to a routine checkup with her oncologist and learned she was having a relapse.

How can this be? she wondered. I feel fine.

She was 41 years old.

I felt like there was a tornado around me and I was caught in the middle and I didnt know what to do, she said.

Again, she and her spouse told their kids.

I think Im going to go back to the hospital, but Im going to fight with all my might to beat cancer once and for all with God in the ring beside me, taking swings any time I dont have the strength, she told them.

Robinson was hospitalized and underwent another intensive chemotherapy regimen.

She left the hospital in June 2017 and was at home recovering when a matching stem cell donor in Germany was found. Her stem cell transplant occurred Aug. 22.

Throughout her cancer journey, Robinson made posts on the nonprofit CaringBridge website to keep family and friends informed.

It was therapeutic for me to talk about whatever was on my mind that day, she said. I always tried to find the good in the day even if I was feeling crummy.

People began saying she should write a book.

After the transplant, Robinson had to be in isolation for 100 days, which became the hardest time in her life. Her fingernails fell off. Her body was covered with burns and blisters. She vomited for months after the transplant. She was weak and lost 20 pounds.

She slept a lot.

Robinson focused on picture of Jesus given to her by a fellow church member. It includes the words: I never said it would be easy. I only said it would be worth it.

Shed think, If I can just get through this minute, I can get through the next. If I can get through this hour.

I kept thinking something good was around the corner, she said. I had to have that optimism even when darkness was around me.

Robinson also knew she had a choice.

I had a choice to live or not do chemo treatments and die, she said. A lot of people are killed in accidents on a daily basis and they dont have a choice. I had a choice and I chose life.

She continued writing, starting back to work part time at FPS in August 2018.

In 2019, Robinson said her doctor told her that she was cured.

I still get goosebumps when I think about that time, she said.

Robinson began working with a book publisher in August 2020.

And with a heavy heart, Robinson resigned from her teaching position, leaving in August 2021 and focusing on her book.

Robinsons book came out April 12. Its available on Amazon.com or kaleidoscopeenergy.com/. She will have a book signing from 4-6 p.m., May 12 in the FPS Sensory Courtyard. Her book costs $16.99.

For more information or to have her speak at an event, email her at: kaleidoscopenergy@gmail.com.

Robinson can see the good thats come from her journey.

I feel like my faith is stronger, she said. I feel more open to talk about my faith with people.  I dont wish it upon anybody, but if I can help just one person then I think its a job well done.

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After a two-year absence, Healthy Kids Day is returning to the Fremont Family YMCA.

The event, which is free and open to the public, and is set from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, April 30, at the YMCA, 810 N. Lincoln Ave.

A host of activities are planned.

Activities in the large gym and turf room include: a bounce house, face painting, games and crafts. A balloon artist and Katie the Comfort Dog will be onsite as well.

Scoutys Shaved Ice will be in front of the facility and the YMCA will give away tickets for free ices to the first 300 kids.

Family Open Swim will be from 10-11 a.m. at the Dillon Family Aquatics Center and while Open Ice Skate will be from 1-3 p.m. at Sidner Ice Arena.

Kids who register for the YMCAs summer day camp at Healthy Kids Day will receive a free YMCA camp drawstring bag.

Businesses will have booths at which information and giveaways will be available. The Y will have drawings for prizes.

Jodi Nemec, marketing coordinator, encourages the public to attend. She believes kids will enjoy and benefit from the event.

Its a great way for them to see what a fabulous YMCA facility they have in their community if theyre not familiar with the Y, Nemec said.

The Fremont Y is largest YMCA in the United States.

We offer a wonderful variety of programs for families in our community, Nemec said.

The Y also has a No Youth Denied policy. Any child who wants to become a member can do so regardless of their financial circumstances.

Healthy Kids Day didnt take place in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Were excited to be offering it back to the public, Nemec said.

The Y promotes healthy living and offers opportunities to get kids away from electronic devices and shows them how much fun it is to be physically active.

It can give kids ideas of things they can do which can give them physical activity and healthier habits for life, she said.

For more information, contact the Y at 402-721-6952.

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Nathanael had the most wonderful dreams.

Ever since he was a boy, Nathanael wanted to become an architect and build synagogues  beautiful ones where the colonnades would sing and vaulted halls would draw the soul upward to God.

Hed worked so hard to gain respect among architects in his region and even a commission. But as a Jewish man in Roman-occupied territory, he faced a wall more formidable than any hed hoped to build.

At one point, Nathanael tries to tell a foreman that seawater is needed or the cement for a project wont set to full strength.

The foreman disregards the young architects warning.

Suddenly, a building Nathanael has been working on collapses. No one is killed, but Nathanaels career is over.

Nathanaels dreams have come crashing down and are scattered like the broken pieces of rubble at his former work site.

In The Chosen, Nathanael is depicted as a heart-broken architect who doesnt know that while his dreams of designing buildings may be over, God has a new plan for him as a builder of disciples in the Lords kingdom.

Filmmaker Dallas Jenkins is producing the fan-funded TV series, The Chosen. Based on the life of Jesus, it takes the Gospel and adds a fictional backstory to Biblical figures.

Was Nathanael in the Bible an architect? The Scriptures dont list his occupation before he became a follower of Christ.

The real Nathanael could have been a day laborer, potter or had some other job.

People who watch The Chosen are encouraged to read the Bible for themselves.

Jenkins has said his intention with The Chosen was to create a series that could be binge-watched and which would show Jesus in a more personal way  all while digging deeper into the lives of people who encountered him.

So even if the real disciple, Peter, never got in a fist fight on a bet or his brother, Andrew, wasnt a bad dancer, I think The Chosen helps us see the tender side of Jesus and better understand how tough it was for Jewish people who lived under the arrogance and brutality of the Roman Empire.

In The Chosens story of Nathanael, you can see how hard it would have been for a Jewish person to achieve his goals amid Roman tyranny.

After seeing his dreams crumble, we see Nathanael sitting under a tree with the beautiful drawings of a synagogue.

This was done for you, he says, holding the drawings up toward the sky, then setting them on fire.

Nathanael prays part of Psalm 102:

Hear my prayer, O Lord. Let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me. Answer me speedily in the day when I call.

Finally, Nathanael asks an impassioned question:

Do you see me?

Sometime later, a disciple named, Philip, looks up his friend Nathanael and tells him that hes found the One (the Messiah)  the One whom Moses wrote about and of whom the prophets foretold.

We begin to hear from the actual account in Scripture when Philip says the One is Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Can anything good come from Nazareth? Nathanael asks.

Come and see, Philip says.

As in the Scriptures, Jesus sees Philip and Nathanael approaching. Jesus describes Nathanael as a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit.

How do you know me? Nathanael asks.

He appears wary, but Jesus has an answer.

I saw you under the fig tree long before Philip called you, Jesus says.

Tender emotion fills Nathanaels face.

No human being was around when he looked skyward and asked if God saw him  and his pain.

Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel, Nathanael declares.

Jesus smiles.

You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree, Jesus says. You will see greater things than that. Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

Nathanael is deeply touched and encouraged.

Its a wonderful scene.

And it makes me wonder  why was the real Nathanael sitting under a tree?

Had he reached a crisis of faith similar to whats depicted in The Chosen?

Maybe the real Nathanael wasnt an architect, but did he suffer some type of loss?

Had his lifes path seemed to reach a dead end?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

I dont think well know in this life what brought the real Nathanael to that tree.

Or why Jesus chose to describe that particular moment.

Jesus could have said hed seen Nathanael in his house or walking along the road.

Whatever it was  it definitely had an effect on the real Nathanael, who immediately came to faith in Christ.

In watching The Chosen, Im reminded that weve all faced broken dreams.

Weve had times when we wondered what would become of our lives or if the Lord was really seeing us.

Many years ago, I was a single mom returning from visiting an older friend in Scribner.

Times had been hard for me at work and in my personal life.

I remember driving to the outskirts of Fremont at night. I could see a line of city lights on the horizon.

In the darkness, I prayed something like: Lord, youve got to help me. Youve got to let me know that my life isnt going to end up in a calamity. Youve got to give me some kind of hope for the future.

Not long afterward, I went to a womens retreat at my church. There, a speaker talked about a tough time in her life.

Then she shared a Bible verse, Jeremiah 29:11, which states: For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord of hosts, Plans to proper and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I remember vaguely thinking that was a nice verse. It resonated with me.

The next day, I was telling my friend, Martha Hartman, about the womens retreat and that Bible verse. I started to repeat the verse when I realized something.

God was answering my prayer almost word for word.

Id prayed that God would give me hope for the future.

The verse tells how God plans to give you hope and a future.

I shed some tears.

And whenever I was alone and scared, Id repeat that verse to myself.

Kind of like Nathanael under the tree in The Chosen, no one  but God  knew what Id prayed on that dark highway leading into Fremont.

I believe with all my heart that God answers our prayers  maybe not as soon or in the way we think, but he does so nonetheless.

The Chosens depiction of Nathanael is a reminder that our Lord sees us as we face our broken dreams.

And he has a good plan for us.

It may not be what we envisioned. What we wanted to build may not happen.

But Id venture to say that as we release our sorrows, hopes and dreams to God, he can use them to build something beautiful.

Tammy Real-McKeighan is news editor of the Fremont Tribune. She writes a weekly spiritual column.

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Shari Baloch, a 31-year-old mother of two, reportedly became the first woman to carry out a suicide bombing for the secular, ethnic Baluch rebels seeking independence for Pakistans largest and resource-rich province, Balochistan.

She killed three Chinese citizens and their Pakistani driver in front of the Confucius Institute in the southern seaport city of Karachi on April 26.

The attack raised questions about what motivated an educated, happily married, middle-class woman to blow herself up. Many in Pakistan wonder whether the attack signifies a new direction for the two-decade-old Baluch insurgency that is locked in a violent stalemate with Islamabad.

Since 2000, Baluch rebel groups have been engaged in conflict with the Pakistani security forces in the vast southwestern province bordering Afghanistan and Iran and hemmed in by the Arabian Sea. Islamabad blames the rebels for attacks on government forces, installations, immigrants, and laborers from the eastern Punjab Province and even pro-Islamabad Baluch figures.

Baluch nationalists and human rights watchdogs accuse Pakistani security forces of grave human rights violations by adopting harsh methods such as forced disappearances and killings to crush the insurgency.



Continuing violence during the past two decades has transformed the insurgency. It began as a tribal rebellion but has evolved into a handful of shadowy groups now attracting educated, middle-class Baluch professionals.



Shari was one of the news faces of this evolving insurgency.

Reports in Pakistani and international media suggest she was enrolled in a postgraduate program at Karachi University, where she carried out this week's attack. With a master's degree in zoology, she had taught at government schools for years.



Her husband, a dentist, taught at a medical school in southern Balochistan near Karachi. Sharis father is a retired university registrar, and her eight siblings are educated and pursuing a range of careers in academia and management.



We were shocked, her uncle, Ghani Parvaz, told the BBC's Urdu Service. We had never imagined that Shari could engage in such an act.



Kiyya Baloch, an exiled journalist covering Balochistan, says the first attack by a female suicide bomber heralds the possibility of similar attacks in the future.



"It is a paradigm shift because until recently, the Baluch nationalists prided themselves in being secular and opposed to the kind of radicalization that results in extreme violent acts such as this one, he said.

Baloch says a wide-ranging Pakistani crackdown that has included military operations, forced disappearances, and even extrajudicial killings of the insurgency's supporters fuels extreme desperation among those affected by the abduction or killing of their loved ones.



Both the state and the Baluch insurgents have adopted extreme positions, he told RFE/RL. "The state appears unwilling to give up its security-centric approach to Balochistan as it continues to prop up an artificial political leadership [in the region]. On the other hand, the insurgents have been radicalized to an extent that they are now resorting to suicide bombings.

Amir Rana, the head of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, a think tank that tracks militant groups in Pakistan, agrees. He urges Islamabad not to give up on a dialogue with the Baluch people.



It will be wise to leave the practice of imposing a government [made up] of favorite politicians, he told RFE/RL.



Several Pakistani politicians blame the countrys powerful military for propping up the Balochistan Awami Party. Now divided into rival factions, it emerged before the parliamentary election in 2018 and is made up of pro-military figures in Balochistan.

Baluch nationalists had always complained of a lack of autonomy and control over their resources, including hydrocarbons, minerals, their coast, and vital trade routes.

Balochistan is Pakistan's largest but least populated province -- with some 12.3 million people. It is also the country's poorest province. Baluch nationalist grievances have spurred five armed rebellions against Islamabad.

The current insurrection is the longest running and began in 2000 after Pakistani military dictator General Pervez Musharrafs government launched a crackdown against the supporters of late Baluch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Baksh Marri. By 2004, Nawab Akbar Bugti, another nationalist figure, threw his support behind the armed rebellion. Violence escalated dramatically in Balochistan after his killing in a military operation in 2006.

A Pakistani government crackdown against the large Marri and Bugti tribes eventually forced the insurgency to move into the vast southern coastal region of Makran. The area includes the seaport of Gwadar, which turned into a lynchpin for multibillion Chinese investments in energy and infrastructure, collectively called the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).



Since 2004, the Chinese have become a major target for Baluch rebels.

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), an old insurgent group, transformed into one of the most radical militant groups after its local commanders ditched exiled leaders and adopted suicide bombings and complex commando assaults on Pakistani military bases as new tactics.



After the Karachi attack, the group claimed to give a clear message to China that its direct or indirect presence in Balochistan will not be tolerated."



Rana says the tactics and operational strategies of the BLA and other Baluch militant organizations are changing fast.



The leadership of these groups is now in the hands of educated youth. Their rise has undermined the influence of the old tribal elites, he told RFE/RL. After the withdrawal of the NATO troops from Afghanistan last year, these groups now have access to a lot of modern weapons.



He sees the BLA and other Baluch factions adopting new tactics to achieve their objectives.



[The female] gender provides them with a new, dangerous dimension, he said.
Welcome to Gandhara's weekly newsletter. This briefing brings you the best of our reporting from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

If youre new to the newsletter or havent subscribed yet, you can do so here.

New Afghan war shaping up?

I write about the small resistance groups from among the remnants of the collapsed Afghan republic who are mounting uncoordinated attacks in a spring offensive against the hard-line Taliban government.

Supporters of the insurgency hope their attacks will gradually turn into a national uprising against the Taliban, whose rule has alienated ethnic and religious minorities, oppressed women, and stubbornly refused to include any non-Taliban Afghans in their decision-making.

There is nothing that has improved since the Taliban seized power, a former Afghan Foreign Ministry official close to the emerging resistance told me. I am sure we will see a much bigger uprising against the Taliban.

The Taliban is dismissive of the armed opposition, and experts are not convinced. Only insurgencies with foreign support have succeeded since the overthrow of the Afghan monarchy nearly half a century ago.

The armed opposition that has emerged is in a relatively weak position by historical standards, Kate Clark, the co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network think tank, told me. It controls no territory next to a border [and] has no neighbor or great power obviously backing it.

Baluch insurgency takes a dangerous turn

I report on how the first known suicide attack by a female member of the secular ethnic Baluch separatist rebels in Pakistan denotes a paradigm shift in their two-decade insurgency.

Shari Baloch, a teacher and mother of two, killed three Chinese and their Pakistani driver this week. She was married to a dentist, and her siblings and father have promising careers in academia and management. Her attack signifies that even educated, middle-class Baluch women could become more radicalized as no political settlement appears to be on the horizon between Islamabad and the Baluch separatists.

Kiyya Baloch, an exiled journalist from the province, says the bombing is a dangerous turn because it shows the extent of radicalism among the secular Baluch separatists.

Both the state and the Baluch insurgents have adopted extreme positions, he told me. "The state appears unwilling to give up its security-centric approach to Balochistan as it continues to prop up an artificial political leadership [in the region].

Taking stock of a pyrrhic mujahedin victory

Radio Azadi reports on how Afghans evaluate the mujahedin victory over the communists three decades after Afghanistans socialist government collapsed on April 28, 1992.

Ironically, the Islamists victory day comes one day after the anniversary of the communist coup on April 27, 1978, when pro-Moscow Afghan military offices overthrew the nearly 250-year-old Afghan monarchy.

It established [an incorrect] political tradition in Afghanistan, which is the overthrow of regimes through coups and the seizing of power through the barrel of a gun, said Tamim Asey, the director of the Institute of War and Peace Studies think tank. It enticed neighbors to intervene and transform Afghanistan and paved the way for proxy wars.

Afghans avoiding the Taliban

Radio Azadi reports on how some Afghans are avoiding the Taliban amid mounting incidents of Taliban fighters mistreating citizens who approach them for help.

My mother was beaten and humiliated by a female Taliban guard while she waited to receive aid outside an office," a young Afghan woman told us. She shared photos showing cuts and bruises on the hands and face of her 50-year-old mother.

I hope you found this weeks newsletter useful, and I encourage you to forward it to your colleagues.

If you havent subscribed yet, you can do so here. I encourage you to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Yours,

Abubakar Siddique

Twitter: @sid_abu

P.S.: You can always reach us at gandhara@rferl.org.
At least 10 people died on April 29 in a bomb blast at a mosque in Kabul, said a spokesman for the Taliban-led government police force.

More than 30 people were injured in the blast in the Afghan capital's Darul Aman district at around 4 p.m. local time. A Taliban official said earlier that seven were killed and 15 were injured but warned the numbers would probably increase.

"The death toll from the blast has risen to 10 and the number of injured to 30. Detectives and security forces have launched a serious investigation into the incident," Khalid Zadran, the Taliban's police spokesman in Kabul, said in a text message to RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.

Hundreds of worshippers had gathered for prayers at the mosque on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The source of the explosion was not immediately known and no one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid released a statement condemning the blast and saying the perpetrators would be found and punished.

Eyewitnesses told Radio Azadi that they had seen dozens of dead and injured at the site of the blast and that the number of dead was higher than what security authorities had indicated.

A similar blast one week ago at a Sufi monastery in Kunduz's Imam Sahib district killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens more.

Afghan Hazaras, predominantly Shiite Muslims, and several Sunni Sufi groups have been the target of a series of attacks and bombings in Afghanistan recently. Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) has claimed responsibility for many bombings against Afghan Shia.
A senior U.S. defense official says the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of the Ukrainian resistance
If you go

What: "A Benefit Concert for Ukraine," with musicians from Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, Colorado Vocal Art Ensemble, Colorado College Chamber Chorus, Ormao Dance Company, Womens Reflection Quintet, Siuzanna Iglidan and others

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Ent Center for the Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave.

Price: $25-$100; 255-3232, entcenterforthearts.org
By Azernews





By Sabina Mammadli

Azerbaijan and Russia signed a memorandum on cooperation in the field of pensions between the two countries.

The document was signed by Deputy Prime Ministers of the two countries, co-chairs of the Commission Shahin Mustafayev and Alexey Overchuk during the 20th meeting of the Intergovernmental State Commission on Economic Cooperation.

The document regulates relations between the two countries in the field of pension provision. The document defines the mechanisms for recognizing and protecting the rights of Azerbaijani and Russian citizens to pensions and other social insurance earned in the territory of these countries.

One of the priority activities is to conclude agreements with Azerbaijani citizens working abroad in order to ensure the recognition of their rights to future pensions and other social insurances.

Azerbaijan and Russia have mutual cooperation in different fields, such as economy, agriculture, customs, communications, high technology, and others. More than 230 intergovernmental and intercompany documents have been signed between the two countries and six "road maps" are being implemented.

Azerbaijani investments in Russia's economy have exceeded $1.2 billion, with the majority of these investments being in the non-oil sector. In addition, Russian investments in Azerbaijan's economy totaled $6.3 billion, with $5 billion invested in the oil sector and $1.3 billion invested in non-oil sectors.

Additionally, some 14 Russian companies have applied for participation in Azerbaijan's Karabakh reconstruction.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia amounted to $2.9 billion in 2021, making Russia Azerbaijans third-largest partner.
A cross with the name of Mykola Moroz, 47, is photographed at his house Tuesday before his funeral at the Ozera village near Bucha, Ukraine. Mykola was captured by the Russian army from his house in the Ozera village March 13, taken for several weeks to an unknown location and finally found killed with gunshots near his house.
Residents were displaced after a fire blackened two apartment units in Colorado Springs Friday morning, firefighter tweeted.

Colorado Springs Fire Department responded to 3730 Knoll Lane around 5 a.m. after alarms sounded, the agency tweeted.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze and no injuries were reported, the agency tweeted.

Firefighters said 19 residents were displaced and that Red Cross was assisting them, firefighters tweeted.

Investigators were trying to figure out the cause of the fire, firefighters tweeted.
Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country

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By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

Shusha is known as Azerbaijan's centuries-old musical center. The city became fame as a school of folk music masters in all Caucasus.

The city was called "the South Caucasus conservatory" as dozens of outstanding musicians were the natives of Shusha city.

Inspired by musical legacy left by Shusha musicians, People's Artist Arif Huseynov has created a series of paintings "Susha's prominent musical figures".

The exhibition organized by the Azerbaijan Artists' Union took place at the Baku Slavic University.

A minute of silence was observed to honor the memory of Karabakh wars martyrs who restored Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.

Susha's prominent musical figures

The theme of Karabakh has a special place in Arif Huseynov's art.

More than 15 beautiful paintings were showcased as part the exhibition.

Speaking about the exhibition, Arif Huseynov said that Shusha is homeland to a great number of outstanding personalities.

Through exhibition, students at the Baku Slavic University could learn more about musical legacy left by prominent cultural figures.

Arif Huseynov's art works are dedicated to such eminent figures as Uzeyir Hajibyli, Jabbar Garyagdioghlu, Seyid Shushinsky, Islam Abdullayev, Gurban Pirimov and Mashadi Jamil Amirov, etc.

Moreover, the artist donated reproductions of his paintings to the university.

Meanwhile, Arif Huseynov's s brilliantly illustrates both classical and contemporary literary examples.

His series of paintings on national folklore, tradition, material and cultural examples can be considered as a new and creative look on Azerbaijan's ancient miniatures.

In his art, Arif Huseynov reflects the rich inner world and traditions of the Azerbaijani people.

Arif Huseynov's works have been successfully showcased in Baku, Moscow, Prague, Istanbul, Tokyo.

His art pieces are kept in the National Art Museum, the State Art Gallery, the Moscow State Museum of Oriental Art as well as in private collections.

Over the years, the artist spends part of his time working with the young generation. He is preparing a new generation of talented artists.
FILE PHOTO: Pro-Trump protesters storm into the U.S. Capitol during clashes with police, during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

April 29 is a holiday for everyone who enjoys dancing. So put your dancing shoes on and get ready to celebrate the International Dance Day celebrated worldwide since 1982.

The global celebration of dance was initiated by the Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), the main partner for the performing arts of UNESCO.

The day is timed to the birth of Jean-Georges Noverre (17271810), the creator of modern ballet.

International Dance Day strives to encourage participation and education in dance through events and festivals held on the date all over the world.

Dance Day in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has celebrated International Dance Day every year since its inception. The history of dance in Azerbaijan is very rich and ancient.

Azerbaijani traditional dances are inextricably linked with history and the dance scenes engraved in Gobustan once again prove that.

There are various kinds of dances that have started to form in Azerbaijan since the Middle Ages.

As a rule, the Azerbaijani dance is divided into the three parts: the first part is a circle, the dancer holds the body high, the second congealing on the spot (suzme) and the third  again the circling. The third part is characterized by rhythm, and strong emotions.

Many dances, especially the old ones, are called the most beloved animals or plants. These include: "gazelle", "lale" (field poppy), "benevshe" (violet), etc.

They are very smooth and lively. The musical size of Azerbaijani dances is 6/8 and 3/4.

The dances of male and female sharply differ from each other.

Women's dances are characterized by soft lyricism and plasticity of graceful smooth movement.

Long skirt defines the tender movement of feet. The dance is focused entirely on used technique of upper parts of the arm and corpse (shoulder, head, mimics of face etc).

The main feature of male dance is the technique of feet. The dancer stands quickly on the tiptoe, and then quickly falls on his knee, etc.

Amina Dilbazi, Afag Malikova, Roza Khalilova, Tarana Muradova, Tamilla Mammadova, Boyukagha Mammadov, Kamil Dadashov, Boyukaga Atababayev and others have significantly enriched Azerbaijani dance art with new elements.
President Ilham Aliyev has said that Azerbaijans peace agenda is aimed at regional development.

He made the remarks at the international conference South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation, which was held at ADA University on April 29.

Our peace agenda and initiatives which have been publicly articulated and were supported by the international community is aimed at regional development, new opportunities for regional development in the South Caucasus. Not only between Azerbaijan and Armenia, of course, this is one of the most important elements of regional cooperation, but in the Southern Caucasus in general, he said.

The president noted that this opportunity was lost for 30 years because of separatism, Armenian aggression and because the South Caucasus was not integrated.

I think that there should be also an understanding in Armenia that they cannot continue to live like an isolated island in this region. They need to normalize relations with us, they need to put down territorial claims to Azerbaijan and to Turkiye and not to be hesitant in any kind of interaction on a trilateral level in the South Caucasus, he said.

Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan has previously proposed trilateral meetings at various levels, which have been supported by leading international organizations.

Recalling how Azerbaijan and Georgia have integrated while considering energy and transportation routes, the president stated that there is also an opportunity to invite Armenia to be a part of regional development and that they will benefit from it.

They will benefit from getting access to our energy resources. They can be to a certain degree a part of the international transportation corridors. So that in itself will generate additional wealth. And also, normalizing relations with Azerbaijan will open such opportunities for Armenia that probably today it is difficult even to predict. So these are our plans, he said.

Strengthening new realities, positive trends

The president added that the main concentration is on how to rebuild Karabakh and how to return the former refugees as soon as possible.

But apart from that, the last year since we have met and discussed last April, one of the important tasks in front of us was to strengthen the new realities and to work with leading international organizations to present our case, to present our vision for the region and also it was very important that the international community, the leading international organizations accept the new realities on the ground, and it happened, he said.

Noting that Azerbaijan has been actively advocating for a new era in the Caucasus, an era of peace and cooperation, the president stressed that finally, Azerbaijan got a positive response from Armenia and their government accepted five basic principles, which should be a foundation for a peace agreement.

At the same time, also, based on Azerbaijani proposal Armenia agreed finally to establish joint working groups with Azerbaijan to start the process of delimitation of our border. I think these are important signs of recent development and also it shows that now after a year and a half passed since the second Karabakh war, Armenian leadership and I hope population understands the necessity of peace, he said.

Aliyev emphasized that if a peace agreement is signed and those basic principles are known, then, peace in the Caucasus will be long-lasting and sustainable.

This is what we want, and I think that what we demonstrate and what we announce is a clear example of our will to contribute to the peace in the Caucasus, he said.

Moreover, recalling that the Armenian government also announced a peace agenda, he noted that this is a very positive statement but at the same time, there is a need to see actions.

And now I think, we see these actions, we see statements coming from the Armenian government, which are aimed at peace, which are based on the new realities in the region, and which are based on international law. Thats what we always were advocating for, he said.

The president underlined the importance that the Armenian government and political spectrum fully realize the new realities and totally refrain from any kind of attempts to take revenge.

All our efforts will be aimed at strengthening the positive trends. But we cannot do it unilaterally. We need to see in the Armenian government a partner, which we can trust and which we can agree on a long-term peace. So, I think that it is possible, but of course, it will depend on the internal political development in Armenia, he said.

Aliyev also emphasized that in the region there is a need to think about security and cooperation as an integral part of today and the future.

Because without security there will be no cooperation, there will be no economic benefits, he said.

Mines issue

Speaking about the planted mines, Aliyev underlined that it is one of the big problems and tragedies, adding that after the war ended more than 200 people, military and civilians were killed or seriously injured because of the mines.

It is very difficult now to demine the area because physically we dont have a capacity. Now we are increasing the number of personnel, we are purchasing the new equipment, new machines, including, very sophisticated like drones which can detect the mines contaminated area, but it takes a lot of time and efforts, he said.

The president recalled that Armenians had 10 to 20 days to leave the territories which they had to leave based on the agreement signed on November 10, but they used it for planting mines, for burning houses that they did not build.

Speaking about the international support, Aliyev stated that unfortunately, Azerbaijan did not get any support from any international organization so far.

What we do, we do it at our own expense. We wanted to contract several international companies which can help us to speed up the process, but unfortunately, the price they want to charge is several times higher than the cost we pay for our demining agency, he said.

Recalling the last conversation with EU Council President Charles Michel, the president noted that he told me that they will allocate 5 million euros for demining.

We are grateful for that but of course, it will not make big difference. We need serious support and also from international NGOs who deal with the mine problems. None of them so far turned their eye toward Azerbaijan. We know that several NGOs, and foundations, help countries to get rid of the mines, but in our case, nobody is helping. And everything that is done on the liberated territories is done with the financial source of the Azerbaijani budget only. Not a single dollar we got from any country or any international organization. And of course, it is not fair. It is double standards but what to do we live in this world. But anyway, no matter who will help us or not, we will clean the area, he said.

Additionally, the president noted that oil and gas delivery to Karabakh did not start yet.

But of course, we have plans to build gas lines, I mean to that part of Karabakh where we are now implementing the reconstruction works, he said.
Cortland Powers North is a 272-unit apartment complex northwest of Powers Boulevard and Barnes Road in Colorado Springs. The complex was purchased in 2018 by Atlanta-based Cortland, which has begun a 182-unit expansion of the property. Cortland also has proposed construction of a 294-unit apartment complex northwest of Powers and Platte Avenue.
By Trend

The scale of construction projects in Azerbaijan's liberated lands is remarkable, PhD Candidate at University of Cambridge (Department of Politics and International Studies) Yingfeng Ji told Trend on the sidelines of the 'South Caucasus Development and Cooperation' international conference in Shusha.

"I'm very surprised by the speed of infrastructure development, and the scale of construction process in Karabakh," the researcher said.

She outlined the road infrastructure of Shusha and Fuzuli cities, as well as the Fuzuli International Airport.

Moreover, Yingfeng Ji thanked the organizers for the event being held in Shusha.

"Such events provide open discussions with government officials, as well as a platform for scholars to share their experiences," she said.

Yingfeng Ji also expressed hope for the establishment of peaceful relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.




JOHNSTON  U.S. Senate candidate Abby Finkenauers criticisms of a state judge whose ruling would have knocked her off the ballot were not appropriate, Iowa state auditor and fellow Democrat Rob Sand said Thursday.

Sand said he called Finkenauer at the time to convey his feelings.

Sand, a lawyer by trade who previously worked in the Iowa Attorney Generals Office, said he is proud of the state court system and defended the judge who ruled against Finkenauer.

That judge did his job, Sand said Thursday for this weekends episode of Iowa Press on Iowa PBS. He worked all weekend to get that report issued on a Sunday night in order to give whoever was going to be the losing party a chance to appeal. And its a well-respected judge.

Iowa Republicans challenged some signatures on Finkenauers candidate paperwork, threatening her status on the ballot for Iowas 2022 elections. A state panel in a split vote ruled in Finkenauers favor, but Republicans appealed to the courts, and state judge Scott Beattie overturned the panels decision, effectively kicking Finkenauer off the ballot.

Finkenauer challenged the judges ruling, and the Iowa Supreme Court ruled unanimously in her favor. The former congresswoman and state legislator from Cedar Rapids will remain on the ballot as one of three Democrats running in Iowas U.S. Senate campaign.

Before the Supreme Court reversed Beatties decision, Finkenauer called the lower courts ruling partisan, misguided, outrageous and a gift to Republicans.

Republicans criticized Finkenauers comments at the time.

Sand said judges have political views, but that he believes Iowas court system prevents those views from impacting court rulings.

Judges, theyre human beings. They have their political views, Sand said. But we have a very good system in Iowa that sorts out the people who want to go in there and be political. And so what we end up with is a body of judges who do a good job of applying the facts to the law.

Sand said most people in the legal community agree with his views on Finkenauers comments. Sand also credited Finkenauer for pulling back on her criticism after he spoke to her.

To Abbys credit  when this was happening I called her and I told her how I felt about it. She and I have known each other for four years now. We have a pretty good relationship. I told her what I thought, Sand said. And to her credit, she said, Thank you for this. Were going to step back some of this and tone some of this down.

In a recent interview on WHO-TV in Des Moines, Democratic U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, when asked about Finkenauers criticism of the judge, said it was something she probably  wouldnt do.

Im not going to presume how a judge made their decision since Im not a judge and dont have that legal background, Axne said on WHO-TV. Im not going to wade into why Abby may have said one thing or another. I hope we can rely on our judges to do the right thing.

The Finkenauer campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The other Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in Iowa are Mike Franken, a U.S. Navy veteran from Sioux City; and Glenn Hurst, a physician from Minden.

The Republican incumbent is longtime U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley. He faces a primary challenge from Jim Carlin, a lawyer and state senator from Sioux City.

Iowas primary election is June 7.

Iowa Press can be seen at 7:30 p.m. Friday and noon Sunday on Iowa PBS and online at iowapbs.org.

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GREENSBORO  New COVID-19 cases and virus particles in wastewater continue to climb in North Carolina, although hospital admissions for the illness have declined, state health officials reported this week.

There were 9,431 new cases reported for the week ending April 23, compared to 7,279 the previous week, in data released Wednesday by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

Data shows 254 patients with COVID-19 were admitted to hospitals across the state during the week ending April 23, compared to 277 the previous week.

Locally, 30 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized Friday in Cone Health hospitals. Of those patients, 20 are unvaccinated, according to information provided online by the Greensboro-based health system.

This weeks DHHS report showed the percentage of emergency room visits for COVID-19 symptoms stayed at 2% for the week ending April 23, the same as the previous week.

In Guilford County, public health officials reported 191 new cases Friday, and no new deaths. Countywide, there are 2,026 active cases, officials said.

Another metric that health experts are watching closely is the number of COVID-19 virus particles in wastewater. It is serving as an early indicator of how quickly the virus may spread without relying on individual test results.

In the states latest report, 11.3 million COVID-19 virus particles were found in wastewater samples last week, up from 5.1 million for the previous week.

To put that into context, 100 million COVID-19 particles were found in wastewater samples in late January during the peak of the omicron surge.

DHHS reports the BA.2 variant made up nearly 88% of North Carolina cases for the period of April 3 to April 16 based on data from labs that conduct variant testing.

At least 53% of North Carolinas vaccinated population have had at least one booster shot or additional dose of vaccine, the DHHS report showed. At least 76% of adults in North Carolina have had at least one dose of vaccine, and 38% of children ages 5 through 17 have had at least one dose.

Still, people who have been vaccinated and boosted have tested positive for the virus, including Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers.

He tested positive Thursday, the sheriffs office said, and is experiencing symptoms including headache, cough, congestion, body soreness, and dizziness.

The sheriffs office said Rogers will continue to quarantine himself and follow CDC guidelines to avoid exposing others to the highly contagious respiratory illness. He will return to the office when his symptoms are resolved.

As a safety precaution, the sheriffs office said it has tried to identify and notify anyone who had close contact recently with the sheriff. Anyone who had close contact with the sheriff during the past week is encouraged to monitor themselves for symptoms related to COVID-19 and to seek medical care if needed.

Guilford Countys COVID-19 community level spread remains low, according to metrics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
GREENSBORO  Motorists have a shot at getting gas for $2.40 a gallon on Tuesday at an event sponsored by Americans for Prosperity-North Carolina, according to a news release.

From 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, motorists can get the $2.40 price at Pit Stop Gas Station, 1061 Alamance Church Road. The political organization is picking up the difference in price at the pump for 1,500 gallons of gasoline at the station.

It's part of the organization's The True Cost of Washington campaign, which says that the national average for gasoline was $2.40 a gallon on the first day that President Joe Biden took office. According to AAA, national average price for unleaded gas is $4.15 a gallon and the average cost in North Carolina is $3.86 today.

The organization is protesting the federal governments spending policies and regulations.
Nearly eight years after the murder of Britny Puryear, a law passed in her memory saw its first impact in North Carolina on Thursday.

Puryear, then a 22-year-old woman, was shot to death by her boyfriend in their Fuquay-Varina apartment in 2014, following a history of domestic violence, The News & Observer reported. Her boyfriend of four years, Logan McLean, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2016.

But now, years later, Britnys Law helped prosecutors convict 46-year-old Brian Sluss of a more severe murder charge in the disappearance of Monica Moynan.

Sluss testified in Wake County Superior Court on Wednesday that he did not kill his ex-girlfriend.

But while Moynans body has never been found, a jury found Sluss guilty on Thursday of first-degree murder involving domestic violence.

Moynan, who was 22 when she disappeared in 2019, had two children with Sluss. They met when she was 17 and he was around 37.

Sluss was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole.

What is Britnys Law?

In the wake of Puryears death, lawmakers sought to ensure that future cases like hers could see stronger convictions  enacting legislation that would toughen the punishment for defendants in some domestic violence homicides.

While first-degree murder is defined under state law as a willful, deliberate and premeditated killing, Britnys Law allows prosecutors to use a history of domestic violence as evidence of premeditation.

Under the law, first-degree murder charges can be brought in such cases, as long as the victims are current or former spouses, relationship partners, or people with whom the alleged killer shares a child.

It is intended to prevent defendants with past domestic violence offenses from arguing they killed their partner in the heat of the moment.

Those offenses include an act of domestic violence, a domestic violence protective order or the violation of one, making threats, stalking, cyberstalking and criminal trespassing.

First-degree murder carries harsher punishments than second-degree murder, bringing a maximum penalty of death or life without parole.

Britnys Law was signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper in 2017, after passing nearly unanimously through the North Carolina General Assembly.

If Britnys Law helps one family not lose a loved one, make sure that the murderer never gets out, then all of our time and efforts are working, said Stephen Puryear, Britny Puryears father, at the bill-signing ceremony.

The law came about after efforts by the Puryear family.

Britnys family watched her killer plead guilty to second-degree murder, escaping a first-degree murder conviction, Cooper said at the bill signing. They decided to use their tragic and painful experience to ensure better justice for future victims and their families.

Holly Springs murder trial

Sluss was the first person to be charged with first-degree murder involving domestic violence under Britnys Law, according to prosecutors.

Moynan, who was reported missing in July 2019, had filed a protective order against Sluss two years earlier after they had broken up, The N&O previously reported.

Prosecutors said they believed Moynan was killed on or around April 7, 2019, but Sluss claimed she disappeared around Fathers Day in June, saying he saw her that night and she said, I just cant do this right now, before leaving their Holly Springs home.

During his Wednesday testimony, Sluss confirmed he had used Moynans phone and social media accounts after her disappearance to make friends and family believe she was still alive.

The prosecution alleged that Sluss exhibited abusive and sexually predatory behavior, noting he was roughly 20 years older than Moynan and had initially lied to her about his age. Prosecutors questioned his morals as a father, his judgment, his relationship decisions and the truth of his statements.

The defense has argued that Moynan was an absent mother who walked out on him and his girls, said Tommy Manning, Sluss attorney.

Jarlyn Sluss, Brian Sluss ex-wife, was charged in 2020 in connection with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and obstruction of justice for allegedly helping Sluss by pretending to be Moynan on the phone to fool an apartment manager.
More than 120 posters and presentations were included in the 10th annual Student Undergraduate Research Festival Thursday and Friday at Carroll College.

The annual event is meant to be a celebration of students' research in a variety of disciplines. After switching to a virtual environment for the last two years, the event was held in person again this year.

It started Thursday with a keynote address on "Archaic Genomic Ancestry: What it can tell us about archaic humans, and what it can tell us about ourselves," presented by Dr. Fernando Villanea, assistant professor of anthropology, University of Colorado-Boulder.

On Friday, Carroll College students presented their research on a variety of subject matter including the effectiveness of various pain and disease therapy and treatments; work and labor songs of Butte; analyses of Mussolini, Perestroika, and Hezbollah; and an elemental analysis of Lake Helena sediments.

"I am so proud of the amazing research which occurs here at Carroll across all disciplines from the liberal arts to engineering, sciences, business, to nursing and health sciences," Carroll College President John Cech said in a campus newsletter Friday. "Our undergraduate student research here at Carroll would rival any undergraduate research occurring on college campuses across the United States."

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By Trend

A meeting of the trilateral working group on Karabakh, co-chaired by the deputy prime ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia will take place in the near future, Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a weekly briefing, Trend reports.

According to her, Russia considers the high-level trilateral agreements as the basis for the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations and continues to work actively with Baku and Yerevan, including on unblocking economic and transport ties, launching delimitation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, as well as agreeing on a peace contracts.

"The Armenian and Azerbaijani sides agreed to hold a regular meeting of the trilateral working group, co-chaired by the deputy prime ministers in the short term. As for border issues, contacts are planned to be carried out in Baku through the Foreign Ministry by the end of the week," Zakharova said.

Moreover, the Russian side notes the readiness of Azerbaijan and Armenia to move towards each other, the official added.




Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher said Thursday that the county suffers because of under-funding from the state, and urged another revenue source other than property tax to be found.

The mental health system is a wreck, Gallagher, who is retiring as county attorney after 22 years, told members of Hometown Helena, a grassroots civics group.

He said state government is not providing the adequate funding for basic services to meet human needs. He said the criminal justice system is not adequately funded either, noting the state is not reimbursing counties enough funds to cover the costs of holding state inmates in county jails.

Gallagher said there is only so much blood in the property tax turnip that can be squeezed to get those funds.

We need to understand that property taxes do not solve all of our problems, he said, adding that another revenue source needs to be found. But he said a sales tax was not an option either.

Gallagher spoke to the group about his office and his decision to step down.

I am 68 years old and tired of working as hard as I work, he said about his pending retirement. He recalled growing up in Helena and said he brought the perspective of being a Helena kid who grew at Sixth Avenue and Ewing Street.

He said his office has 27 people. Of those, 15 are lawyers and the rest are support staff. He said they had 667 felony prosecutions in the county last year and more than 4,000 misdemeanor citations.

Gallagher said there are $8 million in claims against the county now.

Gallagher said he had little doubt that any of his attorneys could leave the office and make more money elsewhere.

They come to the office because they want to make a difference, he said.

He said there are three qualified candidates seeking his job, joking he was going to keep who he was voting for to himself.

If you are going to look for an endorsement you are not going to get it, Gallagher said.

Those candidates are Charles Lane, Kevin Downs and Dan Guzynski.

Lane and Downs are both deputy county attorneys for Lewis and Clark County and Guzynski is chief of the Montana Attorney General Office's Prosecution Services Bureau.

Gallagher said they need to avoid the pitfalls that a well-meaning officeholder can step into.

I express my views in a way as to not express views of county government, he said, adding that was under the purview of the county commissioners.

Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021.

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Four Montana colleges have been selected to participate in a new program to help prison inmates secure federal tuition funding.

The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday that Montana State University Billings, Great Falls College, Helena College and Dawson Community College in Glendive were approved as the first institutions in the state to participate in the Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative.

It will allow inmates at the Montana State Prison, Montana Womens Prison, Crossroads Correctional Facility and the Dawson County Correctional Facility to get grant funding to access higher education, according to a press release from the department.

A 2013 study of educational opportunities in correctional settings by the RAND Corporation found that participants had a 43% lower risk of recidivism than other inmates. The study, which was paid for by the U.S. Justice Department, also found that inmates who participated in educational programs had a 13% higher chance of finding employment after their release.

The program was first launched in 2015 and includes 200 postsecondary schools across the country , the press release states.

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ABILENE, Texas  Republican efforts to stop the Biden administration from changing how asylum claims on the U.S. border are handled widened Thursday as Texas and Arizona asked courts to block new procedures that could decide asylum cases in months, instead of years.

The lawsuits pile onto an already busy week over immigration policy. The U.S. Supreme Court is questioning a rule that forces some asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico, and a federal judge in Louisiana temporarily stopped the phaseout of asylum restrictions that were put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has the Biden administration defending planned changes to asylum programs on all fronts. Those now include new rules that would empower asylum officers to grant or deny claims  an authority that has been limited to immigration judges for people arriving at the border with Mexico.

Thirteen states including Montana, all with GOP governors or state attorneys general, joined Arizona in a lawsuit filed in Louisiana. Texas filed a similar challenge.

This is nothing more than a radical attempt to set up a system that encourages illegal immigration and undermines the rule of law, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen also accused the Biden administration of incentivizing illegal immigration and failing to follow proper legal procedures in releasing the rule.

President Biden seems intent on erasing any semblance of control at our southern border, unleashing one disastrous and dangerous immigration policy after another, Knudsen said in a statement.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has said the new procedures will ease burdens on immigration courts, which are part of the Justice Department.

The Biden administration estimated last year that it would need to hire 800 more employees for asylum officers to handle about 75,000 cases a year. Without more money and new positions, it is unclear how much impact the move will have at first.

The United States has been the worlds most popular destination for asylum-seekers since 2017, according to the U.N. refugee agency, putting enormous strain on immigration courts. The court backlog has soared to nearly 1.7 million cases.

The states involved in the lawsuit have also sued to preserve o preserve so-called Title 42 authority, which denies migrants a chance at asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

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A Montana State Prison sergeant has responded in a series of videos to a report released earlier this month by a watchdog group calling on the state to investigate his ties to a white nationalist organization.

In three videos posted to YouTube in recent weeks, Kelly Chambers, a state prison employee since 2018, denied that his involvement with a white nationalist as described in the Montana Human Rights Network report qualifies him as a racist. He also made several statements in the videos disputed this week by his employer, the Montana Department of Corrections.

Chambers has also warned Montana Human Rights Network program director Travis McAdam, who authored the letter to the corrections department, to issue an apology and retract the report, or else he will summon Fox News down on the organization's purported attack on Chambers' freedom of religion.

In the videos Chambers said he will not address the past of Ron McVan, who Chambers refers to as a "father figure" and a guide in his conversion to Wotanism, which MHRN describes as a racist version of Norse folk mythology called Odinism. Chambers moved to Montana from California in 2018.

McVan is a longtime Butte resident and is known to his followers as a leader in Wotanism, having developed the modern strain of the ideology with David Lane, a domestic terrorist whose white nationalist group "The Order" robbed banks, bombed a synagogue and assassinated a Jewish radio host in the 1980s.

I know that the first thing that people are going to want me to do or ask me to do is justify (McVan's) past, justify who he was, and Im not going to do that. Im not going to go into that because as I outlined in the video yesterday, Ron McVan has been nothing but kind, open-hearted, respectful, generous, caring and a good friend to me, Chambers said in the video.

The MHRN report urged the Department of Corrections to look into whether Chambers has been spreading Wotanism within the prison on McVan's behalf, or exerting a white nationalist influence in the prison over inmates of color. Throughout the videos, Chambers references the prison simply as his employer. He did that "for legal reasons," he said.

In a video posted April 23, Chambers said his supervisors regarded the report "the same way as everybody else does, that (Travis McAdam, program director at MHRN) is full of absolute crap, and that these were baseless allegations and accusations he made because they know my work ethic and they know how I conduct myself at work and I am nothing but professional."

Carolynn Bright, a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections, said in an email Thursday the department has not issued an opinion on the MHRN report. That's not the only mischaracterization by Chambers pointed out by the department. In his second video, Chambers claims to have knowledge about Lane's history through his work as a prison official.

"Anybody who knows where I work and what I do for a living knows that we know all about David Lane. We know all about his activities, we know what he was responsible for, what he did and didnt do. Its part of our curriculum," Chambers said in a video.

But Bright said in a response to questions from the Montana State News Bureau that "information about David Lane is not a part of DOC correctional officer curriculum."

Chambers positions himself as a good employee, and said the MHRN report is a "baseless" attack on his freedom of religion. He does, however, not dispute having conversations about Wotanism within the prison.

"Theyre my beliefs. They are my own. I dont express them. I dont share them with people because of professionalism. It's not something you discuss in the workplace. It is what it is," Chambers said. "I do, however, answer questions that people have about Odinism if I can, if I know. I'm relatively new to it so I dont have all the answers, but thats the extent of it."

Bright, asked about Chambers' statement, said Corrections employees are "prohibited from sharing personal information or developing relationships with offenders that are anything other than professional."

Bright also referenced two policies on that point, one of which states: "Volunteers and MSP staff may not attempt to coerce or influence an inmate to change his religious preferences while at MSP."

'A cult mentality'

Throughout the videos, Chambers makes an effort to pivot antagonism toward MHRN. At one point, in an effort to discredit the report's description of Chambers' beliefs, he revealed that he could not be anti-LGBTQ because someone close to him is gay.

"We never said anything about Kelly Chambers espousing those particular views," McAdam said Wednesday. "I would say that is part of that deflection response. He's trying to change the conversation and get the focus off of him. That's part of the normal reaction that white nationalists have when they're called white nationalists."

Chambers has begun publicly responding to MHRN posts on social media. In the comment section of the organization's Facebook posts, another self-described "heathen" follower has emerged, but this time trying to coax Chambers away from his white nationalist strain of the mythology.

Scott Ernest, the 43-year-old who has been engaging with Chambers online, considered himself deep in the white nationalist movement in the Flathead area until 2015. In a phone interview Thursday, Ernest said he's spent the last week trying to give Chambers an off-ramp.

"I don't think he knew what he was getting into," Ernest said.

That's how Ernest found his way nearly 20 years ago into Pioneer Little Europe, a loose community of people who tried to shift the local politics toward a white nationalist stronghold. In short, Ernest's mix of exposure to the internet brought him from Florida to the Flathead Valley and the doorstep of April Gaede, a neo-Nazi behind Pioneer Little Europe. He became a recruiter for that cause.

Ernest was uneasy with the violence that often populated the white hate group forums he moderated. But he had considered himself a follower of the Norse pagan mythology since he was 12 years old, and the white nationalists' obsession with European tribalism made heathens like himself an easy recruit, he said.

"Being a heathen meant I was susceptible to the same ethnic call that a lot of white nationalists see, and that was what drew me into the community," Ernest said. "It's hard to say I was a moderate, but I don't want people to think I didn't believe in horrible things."

It was 2015, when David Lenio posted threats of violence against school children and synagogues in the Flathead on social media, that Ernest began mentally disengaging from the movement and inching his way out the door. He eventually transferred from Flathead Valley Community College to Montana State University, later moved to Florida and has co-founded an extremism consulting firm and de-radicalization organization called Hands of Eir.

Ernest said Thursday that Chambers' efforts to distance his Wotanism following from white nationalism is undercut by Chambers' own acknowledgement of the movement's creator, Guido Von List, who died in 1913. Chambers describes Von List as a German national who believed Wotanism would lead people back toward a tribal mentality, with tight-knit communities that would rely on each other, "much like the Native American tribes in American culture."

Ernest described Von List as the "father of Nazi Occultism," whose works had a documented influence on Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party.

"I'm not an expert, but I'm experienced," Ernest said. "It's basically a cult mentality.  He wants to believe whatever he wants, no matter how horrible it is, with no criticism."

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Correction This story has been corrected to reflect that the judge recently modified his original injunction regarding new voter ID laws. The April 22 order reinstated new requirements for ID needed to register to vote.

Montanans casting ballots in-person can still use student identification from in-state colleges or universities as their sole form of ID, contrary to information referenced by the Secretary of State in commercials currently airing on television.

The public service announcement-style TV ads feature Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen instructing viewers to visit her offices website to learn more about current voter ID requirements. But the websites information incorrectly reflects requirements signed into law last year. Those requirements were put on hold by a state judge three weeks ago, effectively reverting the states voter ID laws back to their status during the 2020 election cycle.

Dana Corson, Jacobsen's state elections director, did not respond to questions Wednesday, including whether Jacobsen's office plans to correct the online information. An automatic email from Jacobsen's spokesman indicated he was unavailable.

In a previous statement condemning the judge's decision to grant the injunction, Jacobsen noted that her office had already begun voter outreach regarding the new requirements.

"It's impossible to undo the steps that have already been taken to implement these legislative changes, including direct voter communication, education and outreach," Jacobsen said in an April 6 statement issued by her office.

The Legislature in 2021 added new restrictions on acceptable identification to vote in-person at polling places, but those restrictions have been put on hold by the judges order.

That means that voters do not currently have to show photo ID to vote in person  although they do need to show some form of identification. That can include a utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, voter registration card or other government-issued document showing the voters name and current address.

Alternatively, they can present a photo ID, including a Montana drivers license or state, tribal or school ID.

Jacobsens office vowed to appeal the injunction putting the new election laws on hold, and submitted a notice of appeal to the Montana Supreme Court the next day. As of Wednesday afternoon, however, her attorneys had not yet filed an opening brief in the case.

Ballots were mailed to overseas voters last week, while absentee ballots must be sent to all other absentee voters by May 13. The primary election is June 7.

The injunction put the brakes on portions of three other laws enacted in 2021  ending voter registration on Election Day, prohibiting voters who will turn 18 before Election Day from getting ballots in advance of their birthdays and restricting ballot-collection activities.

In an April 22 order, the judge modified the injunction to apply only to forms of ID needed when casting ballots. The law also added restrictions to the forms of ID needed to register. Those new registration requirements remain in effect, under the modified injunction.

Montanans can still use photo identification, including but not limited to a school district or postsecondary education photo identification or a tribal photo identification with the individuals name but need to pair that with documentation showing their name and address. That can include a utility bill, bank statement, paycheck or government document that includes their name and address. Under the now-suspended law, a student photo ID would have to be paired with one of those documents. Those documents must be originals if the voter is registering in person, or they can be copies of the originals if the registration is submitted by mail.

Under both the current law and the requirements passed in 2021, voters can also register using their Montana drivers license number, Montana state ID number or the last four digits of their social security number.

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At a coroners inquest Friday morning in Missoula, a jury confirmed a young Native American man died by suicide last summer during a chase with Missoula police, clearing the officer involved of any liability.

Close to midnight on Aug. 12, Missoula Police Officer Garrett Brown initiated a traffic stop on a car driven by Brendon Galbreath, who was 21.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Coroner Jessie Billquist-Jette oversaw the inquest held at the Missoula County Courthouse.

It was Billquist-Jette's second inquest for a fatal officer-involved shooting in two days. An inquest jury found a Missoula County Sheriff's deputy not criminally liable for shooting Johnny Lee Perry II to death in August. According to the Washington Post, 1,046 people have been fatally shot by law enforcement in the past year.

Dash and body camera footage played for the public at Fridays inquest showed that during the stop, Galbreath apologized profusely for not using a turn signal when he turned. Brown testified he thought Galbreaths driving was indicative of someone under the influence.

That stop didnt have to go the way that it did that night," said Galbreaths mother, Eva Racine. "He was a 21-year-old who did not have to die.

When Brown spoke with Galbreath, the officer asked if he had consumed alcohol, which Galbreath denied. Bloodwork done later returned positive results for both THC and alcohol.

Brown went back to his patrol car to gather information and Galbreath drove off.

He traveled east on Broadway through downtown Missoula, eventually turning south on Orange Street. At the intersection of Beckwith and Stephens avenues, he made a u-turn and shortly after stopped the car.

As Brown exited his police car, he heard a gunshot from Galbreaths vehicle. Footage showed Galbreath firing a handgun on himself. Brown fired a single shot with his service pistol, which went through the front windshield but did not hit Galbreath.

Montana Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation Major Case Investigator Edward Tommy Teniente recalled officers on scene called for medics about nine seconds after shots were fired.

Missoula County Sheriff's Office Deputy Coroner Stephen Gorr was tasked with determining the cause and manner of Galbreaths death. He confirmed at the inquest Galbreath died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Several of Galbreaths loved ones were at the inquest on Friday at the Missoula County Courthouse. They wept as the video footage was played in the courtroom.

In his closing arguments, Missoula County Chief Deputy Attorney Matt Jennings said the inquest process leaves Galbreath's family with many unanswered questions about why things happened the way they did.

Brown described the situation as the worst-case scenario in his testimony.

Community response

Around noon on Friday about 35 people waited outside the Missoula County Courthouse for the final result of the inquest and to show their support for Galbreaths family. That number grew to over 50 after jury deliberations concluded.

Some brought signs with messages of Justice for Brendon and Transparency Now. Others brought brightly colored flowers.

I just want to thank you guys for being here and creating and holding space, said Terrance LaFromboise, Galbreaths brother. It creates that safe space for us as a family to take this all in and realize this experience is a big part of what were going to carry for the rest of our lives.

LaFromboise and the rest of Galbreaths family were first shown police footage from the incident on Thursday, the day prior to the inquest.

Its everything that weve just been asking for, its the sign behind me, LaFromboise said, standing in front of a sign, strewn across the front of the courthouse reading Transparency for Brendon in black letters outlined in yellow and red.

The family waited seven months and 11 days by LaFromboises count to view the footage from the night Galbreath died.

Thats something that I just feel is the most important thing, LaFromboise said. "Weve just been asking for communication  nothing more, nothing less."

LaFramboise said he felt dismissed for asking these questions.

Galbreaths friends and family members called for improved response from law enforcement when working with people who struggle with their mental health.

LaFromboise said that in the footage from the incident he never heard a mention of Galbreaths mental health status, nor did responding officers offer empathy toward his state of mind. Additionally, during the inquest, Brown mentioned that he had completed training in firearms, demobilization and high-stress situations, but never mentioned any mental health or crisis intervention training, according to LaFromboise.

LaFromboise sang songs for the crowd and performed one that he created for Galbreath after the incident. He sang through tears. The beat of his drum echoed across the courthouse lawn with each strike.

Later, OShay Birdinground and Zach Rides At The Door, who was Galbreaths best friend growing up, joined LaFromboise to sing more Blackfeet songs.

The final song that they sang at Fridays event was meant to represent the two new journeys that Galbreath and his family are each on now, LaFromboise said.

"With life we have to then take the precious moments we have to cherish every single second," LaFromboise said. "Because we never know  you just never know  when we want that second back."

In the next legislative session, LaFromboise hopes to help create legislation in Galbreaths name to support agencies within the criminal justice system to be better equipped to respond to those experiencing a mental health crisis.

Were going to that point where we have to ask our state for more, he said.

Second inquest in a week

Galbreaths inquest is the second being held in Missoula this week. The first cleared Missoula County Sheriffs Deputies of any criminal wrongdoing in the shooting death of Johnny Lee Perry, a Black man who reportedly was threatening someone with a machete at a campsite southwest of Missoula.

Since 2015, there have been over 5,000 fatal police shootings, according to the Washington Post. Black Americans are killed at a substantially higher rate  Black people are twice as likely to be killed by police than white people in the United States.

Most people killed by law enforcement are men between the ages of 20 and 40.

Thirty years ago today, four police officers were acquitted of assault and excessive force beating of Rodney King.

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Most Montanans are unaware of the narrow margin by which our new state constitution was ratified on June 6, 1972. If 1,267 voters had changed their votes, Constitutional Referendum 68 would have been defeated. The vote was 50.2%, to 49.8 %, 116,415 to 113,883.

After approval, the new Montana Constitution caused more legal change in one day than had occurred since statehood. It repealed the outdated 1889 document which had defied reform for years.

From 1967 through 1968 the Montana Legislative Council had studied the old Constitution. The Council concluded that half of the provisions of the Constitution were obsolete.

The 1969 legislature agreed to place a referendum on the ballot calling for a Constitutional Convention. Voters agreed in the 1970 November election. The legislature set November 21, 1971 as the date to elect 100 delegates, based on the number of legislative house members from each district. The Montana Supreme Court ruled that elected officer holders were ineligible to run, so the gathering became a People's Convention. Because the words Constitutional Convention didnt fit well in newspaper headlines, the gathering was commonly called the Con-Con.

The 100 Con-Con delegates met Jan. 17, 1972. In less than two months they produced a document that would affect the lives of generations of Montanans.

One delegate commented at the end of the Convention, I think our proposed constitution is the finest gift to the young people of Montana that is in our power to give.

The vote approving the new document was set for June 6, 1972. A political twist occurred when the Montana Supreme Court held that since passage of the new constitution was controversial, the convention was prohibited from spending any state money for voter education. That was a shock to delegates.

Leo Graybill, convention chairman, and John Toole, vice chairman, thought that it would take a statewide media campaign to assure passage of Constitution Referendum 68. That's where I came into the mix. In April, they invited me to create and manage their advertising campaign. The reason: In 1970, I managed the statewide advertising campaign for Gov. Forrest Anderson's successful Montana Executive Reorganization Ballot Referendum. It reduced the state departments and agency boards of directors from 168 to down to 19. "Twenty's Plenty!" was the catchy slogan.

The Convention had no funds for a statewide campaign. So I donated my time and I convinced the majority of radio stations across Montana to broadcast free public service commercials with information about the new constitution. Fortunately, the groups who opposed it did not request equal time. This was before FCC regulations prohibited free broadcast time for controversial issues.

The extensive, statewide radio campaign augmented the local grassroots work of the 100 Con-Con delegates who worked in their communities, explaining the important improvements in the proposed constitution.They held public meetings, wrote newspaper articles and were interviewed on radio and television.

John Toole spoke to me after the win. I will always remember him saying, "Bob, considering the narrow victory, there would be no new Montana constitution, without the statewide radio public service commercials.

The new constitution affected all of us.

For example, prior to the 1972 constitution, millions of dollars of State cash was deposited at banks throughout Montana, drawing little or no interest. Under the new constitution, The State Board of Investment was set up. It now manages more than $20 billion, saving Montana taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.

This simple passage in the Constitution was almost revolutionary at the time. "Montana shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations." This led to numerous environmental protection laws governing clean air, clean water, mining reclamation and development and protection of our natural resources. The new constitution also changed the way schools are funded, requiring the legislature to fund a larger share of public elementary and secondary schools budgets.

Constitutional scholars rank the Montana document among the nation's finest. We can all be proud of the great efforts of the 100 Constitutional Convention delegates and all the Montanans who helped to gain those crucial votes needed to ratify the constitution.

Bob Henkel's Sage Advertising Agency handled ad campaigns for nine winning statewide ballot issues during the 1970s and 80s. In 2003, Henkel founded the Old Glory Landmark, big flag, in Centennial Park and managed it for 18 years.

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On Monday afternoon, the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office released a Dropbox filled with documents and video evidence from the ongoing investigation into the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, and wounding of director Joel Souza, on the New Mexico set of the Alec Baldwin film Rust last year.

Included in the remarkably large information dump were scenes of Baldwin rehearsing what would become the fatal shot; officers body camera recordings of Baldwin, crew members and law enforcement as early responders attempt to contain the scene; and police interviews with, among others, Baldwin, Souza (one as he receives treatment in the emergency room), armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed and weapons provider Seth Kenney.

It also included images of emergency crew members attempting to treat Hutchins and many photographs of the police scene, including bloody footprints and pieces of blood-soaked gauze.

No new information

What wasnt included was any new information about how a lead bullet got into the gun Baldwin held, why the gun fired though he claimed he did not pull the trigger or who brought the many rounds of live ammunition to the set in direct contradiction with production protocols.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was on the cusp of reaching a new level of recognition in a male-dominated field.

Also missing was any sense that the district attorney was any closer to deciding if charges would be filed against anyone involved.

So an information dump with little or no new information. If anything, it felt like an enormous distraction from the actual investigation. But there was blood, actual and emotional.

As media outlets around the world scrambled to sift through the unredacted, unorganized welter of material, some chose to use discretion, but others did not; within hours of the dump, the images of Hutchins final moments could be found all over the internet, along with the less disturbing but still invasive footage of Baldwin, Gutierrez Reed and others reacting to the shocking event.

Everything in the Dropbox file was, of course, what actually happened, and as a journalist, I can stand only on the side of transparency. But as a journalist, I also know that there are many details and images that add less to the illumination of a story and more to its sensationalism. Which, in turn, often distracts from the actual story while causing unnecessary harm to individuals.

Horrific images

Individuals including Hutchins husband and young son, forced to share a personally cataclysmic image with the rest of the world, or the countless crew members reliving one of the worst days of their lives. Having chosen to work behind the scenes, they are, as the videos circulate, now unwitting stars of a ghastly reality show.

New Mexico has very liberal disclosure laws, although there are exceptions, including for ongoing investigations. According to the sheriffs department, the massive release was a response to continued requests for documents relating to the case. According to a spokesperson, the department was in compliance not only with the states Inspection of Public Records Act, but also the states victims rights laws, which require that victims be treated with fairness, dignity and privacy throughout the criminal justice process.

After the release, however, Brian Panish, the lawyer for the Hutchins family, said in a statement: We were surprised by the decision of the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office to release such a large amount of evidence given that the investigation is still ongoing and active. For this reason, we are not going to comment on the material released except to say we hope the press will exercise discretion in how they use the graphic images and videos of the fatal events of Oct 21, 2021.

It should be noted that the number of users attempting to access the material caused the Dropbox file to crash shortly after it went out.

Not normal

Whether in compliance or not, this is absolutely not the way evidence in an ongoing criminal investigation is normally dispersed to the media, or in this case to whoever had the link to the Dropbox.

In its volume and its lack of editing and redaction, the information dump is difficult not to see as something more than disclosure. Was it an act of aggression toward the national press  you want the information? Heres aaaalllll the information. An attempt to force the DA to pick up her feet? Or simply the relatively small sheriffs department throwing up its hands? In any case, the result was the same: the dispersal of images, including those of a woman dying, that should have been redacted and a general feeling that it was somehow up to the press, and the public, to figure out what happened on that terrible day.

What the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office made available was not so much information as a challenge to play a morbid, deeply disturbing game of Clue.

The worst aspect of the dump was, obviously, the images of Hutchins. But given the involvement of Baldwin, the very public nature of the case and, well, the internet, there is also the issue of context. Releasing, pell-mell, video of peoples initial reactions to the shooting invites precisely the kind of arm-chair psychology social media loves. Is Baldwin or Gutierrez Reed upset enough? Worried enough? Upset and worried about the right things in the right way?

And what does that say in terms of responsibility? Hutchins husband, Matthew, has said one of the reasons he included Baldwin in the wrongful-death lawsuit he filed against the producers of Rust was that the actor was so quick to publicly distance himself from any responsibility. That was Baldwins choice, but it seems impossible that this footage will not have a similar effect in the court of public opinion.

An argument could be made that it is up to the media to use discretion to avoid such things, and that is fair but stickier. The startling release of so much information is, in itself, news, and for outlets, like The Times, that have been rigorously covering the Rust story, the details provided by the new documents and video are impossible to ignore entirely, particularly because the story has so much significance even beyond its specific tragedy.

That significance, however, is not about personality but protocol.

Hutchins death was entirely preventable. The film industry has strict multitiered protocols regarding the handling of weapons and ammunition on film sets; for reasons of economy, scheduling or oversight by more than one person, those protocols were not followed on the set of Rust, with terrible consequences.

Law enforcement too has protocols when dispersing information to the public, which include a duty to care for those involved in any investigation. Drowning the media with a deluge of images and details provides care to no one.

With all the evidence it has, the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office seems to have missed the key to the whole case: Protocols exist for a reason.

Mary McNamara is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

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CASEY  Two motorcyclists plan to jump their dirt bikes out of the World's Largest Rocking Chair on Saturday in Casey as part of a motocross tour hosted by Lincoln Trail Motosports.

Brett Cue of Rockton, Illinois and Troy "Smallz" Neault of Elkhorn, Wisconsin are scheduled to make their leaps at 5:30 p.m. at 117 East St., where the rocking chair towers 56 feet tall over the downtown business district.

"They are going to get lifted up into that big rocking chair and they are going to jump out of it," said Drew Jackson, director of operations for Lincoln Trail in rural Casey. He added that a dirt ramp will be erected on Saturday near the rocking chair to create a landing area for the two riders.

Jackson said Cue got the idea for Saturday's event a couple of years ago when he visited the rocking chair, giant mailbox, and the other world's largest items that have been built in recent years as part of the Big Things, Small town program organized by Bolin Enterprises, Inc. of Casey. He said the motorcyclist exclaimed, "I want to jump out of something!"

With Lincoln Trail hosting the Vurb Shred Tour motocross competition this weekend, Jackson said the timing of this event provided a good opportunity for Cue to make his jump alongside Neault. The Vurb Shred Tour started on Friday and is scheduled to continue through Sunday, May 1, at Lincoln Trail, 649 County Road 2150E, off of U.S. Route 40 between Casey and Greenup. Spectators are welcome.

Jackson said Lincoln Trail draws from several states for such motocross tours and it plans to bus Vurb Shred Tour attendees to the giant rocking chair jump so they can "see what Casey is all about." He anticipates that some downtown eateries and shops will be open late for the jump.

Deb Bohannon, marketing, media, and human resources manager for Bolin Enterprises, said they are expecting a large crowd to be in attendance in Casey for the jump and the Vurb Shred Tour.

"We have heard from interested people who want to come see the jump because it sounds like an off the wall idea," Bohannon said.

More information is available at lincolntrailmotosports.com/ and www.bigthingssmalltown.com/, and their pages on Facebook.

Contact Rob Stroud at (217) 238-6861. Follow him on Twitter: @TheRobStroud

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DECATUR  Parsons School students didn't know a fire truck would visit their school during College and Career Week until their teachers led them outdoors to see it and meet the firefighters.

We just answer their questions and listen to their stories, said Cpt. Anthony Laldonado, who hoisted kids up into the driver's seat of Engine 5 and told each one, You're hired!

When he asked one group if they knew what firefighters do, kindergartner India Hodge said, When a house is on fire, you have to go and cool it down.

And, not long after the event started, the firefighters got a call and had to leave, lights and siren going, to answer it, which their teacher Theressa Tozer used as a teachable moment.

Would we rather they stayed here with us or left to go help someone? Tozer asked. After a moment of glancing at each other, the kids chimed in that it was more important for the firefighters to leave if someone needed them.

In the distance, as she talked, was the sound of a siren.

What does a siren mean? she asked.

Somebody's house is on fire, said Kade Palmer.

And when you hear a siren and see lights, are you supposed to keep on driving or is your mom or dad or grandma or grandpa supposed to pull over so they can get by? she asked.

Pull over, India said.

The district is always focusing on how to prepare students for post-graduation, to prepare to compete in the world globally, Grayned said. Our focus has shifted from college to career readiness.

With that change, she said, has come the additions of opportunities to learn about the trades, Workforce Investment, certifications such as welding or certified nurse assistant, and an awareness that college is not what every student wants or needs to reach their goals.

The idea of a college and career week came from P12 Director of Teaching and Learning Marques Stewart, whose former district held a similar observation, Grayned said. A committee began planning in January and came up with themes for each day, scheduled community members to speak to students, visits to Richland Community College, lined up the vehicles for the touch a truck events like the one at Parsons on Thursday, and planned the Job Expos held at Eisenhower and MacArthur high schools for students seeking employment. Individual buildings and administrators had the freedom to tailor activities to their own students, and younger students were able to dress as a person in their dream job, for example. Grayned's own child dressed as a doctor but is torn between being a doctor and being a teacher, she said.

One week isn't all that's devoted to career planning, Grayned said, but giving a whole week to the activity is a good way to get the whole district on the same page at once.

We're continuing to push career readiness for students, Grayned said. I feel there's no better way than giving hands-on and engaging opportunities.

Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter

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Australia committed to the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta

Australias Ambassador to Vietnam, H.E. Robyn Mudie, visited the Mekong Delta in Vietnam from 28 to 29 April 2022.





Australian Ambassador Ms Robyn Mudie meets Mr. Tran Viet Truong Deputy Secretary of Can Tho Party Committee and Chair of Can Tho Peoples Committee to discuss Australia and Vietnam partnership

During the visit to the area which is home to over 17 million Vietnamese, the Ambassador reaffirmed Australias long-standing commitment to Vietnams priorities for the sustainable development of the region.

Since 2000, Australia has contributed over A$650 million in development assistance to the region. The Australian government has supported the construction of the My Thuan bridge and the Cao Lanh bridge, which was the countrys largest ever aid investment in mainland Southeast Asia.

While in the region, Ambassador Mudie visited the mural village at Cao Lanh bridge.

Australia recognises the importance of this productive and populous region to Vietnams vision for prosperity, resilience and security, said Ambassador Mudie.



During the visit Ambassador Mudie also discussed the complex and ongoing environmental challenges facing the Mekong Delta exacerbated by the impacts of climate change and transboundary water issues in the Mekong basin. Australia and Vietnam agreed a joint statement of commitment towards practical action on climate change in November 2021. In line with this commitment, Australia is supporting climate smart rice farming and environmental management in the Delta. The Ambassador visited the Tram Chim national park where Australias support is transforming the environmental management systems of the park through innovative technological solutions.





Australian Ambassador Ms Robyn Mudie visits Tram Chim National Park, Dong Thap province

The Ambassador visited Tan Hue Primary School where Australia has funded infrastructure to provide fresh drinking water for students.

During the visit, Ambassador Mudie also discussed opportunities for Australia and Vietnam to work together towards inclusive, private sector-led growth and sustainable development in Mekong Delta provinces.


President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas.

Dear Mr. President,

On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I sincerely congratulate you and your people on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the State of Palestine.

We attach particular importance to the relations of friendship and cooperation between our countries, which are bound together by religious and cultural roots. Azerbaijan, having held a number of important international events related to your country, has contributed to the process of resolving the Palestinian issue, ensuring peace and security in the region.

I believe that the good traditions of Azerbaijani-Palestinian friendly relations will continue to develop both on a bilateral and multilateral basis in accordance with the will of our peoples.

I wish you the best of health, happiness and success in your endeavors, and peace and prosperity to the brotherly people of Palestine.

Sincerely,

Ilham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, 19 April 2022
SPRINGFIELD  As overdose deaths continue to rise nationwide, Illinois lawmakers this month took aim at the drug contributing to many accidental overdoses.

On the last day of its spring session, the Illinois General Assembly passed, with no opposition, a bill that will allow pharmacists and physicians to dispense fentanyl and other drug testing supplies. Some local pharmacists say it could be instrumental in preventing overdose deaths and fighting the fentanyl crisis in Illinois.

There really isnt a reason why we shouldn't also have this ability to have testing equipment available for patients, said Lauren Young, the operations manager for Dale's Southlake Pharmacy in Decatur and the other Colee family pharmacies in Decatur and Forsyth.

If House Bill 4556 is signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, pharmacists will be able to provide, for some patients, tests that determine if certain drugs have been laced with fentanyl.

These tests are helpful, Young said, because many people who suffer from fentanyl-related overdoses or deaths never intended to take fentanyl in the first place.

Allowing individuals to test drugs for the presence of fentanyl before they take them means more people will have the chance to avoid accidental and unknowing fentanyl overdoses, she said.

This is not just a gateway drug or anything like that, Young said. A lot of times the people that are impacted by this are someone who has been dealing with pain issues for a long time, and they have just exhausted all of their avenues, and so they end up turning to a different supplier.

Health care providers know illicit drugs are being manufactured, sold and consumed, Young said. They still want their patients to be aware of what theyre consuming and to be able to prevent death when possible.

As pharmacists and part of the health care team, we know that they're fighting that addiction every single day, said Erica Colee, Youngs sister and one of the pharmacists at the Colee family pharmacies. So its not that we want them to be able to have access to (illicit drugs), but I want them to at least not be blindsided with what they have.

Colee's Community Pharmacy is located inside Crossing Healthcare, which operates an addiction treatment facility. Both Young and Colee said they see the devastation of opioid addiction on their patients and in their community.

It doesn't matter what anyone's background is. It affects everyone, Colee said. It could be your brother, your grandma, your aunt, your uncle. Its a quiet addiction.

Amid the ongoing opioid epidemic, concerns about fentanyl have grown in recent years.

In its pharmaceutical form, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid reserved for treating severe pain, usually for patients whove suffered from serious trauma like car accidents or gun violence, said Cindi Reed, pharmacist and owner of Oakwood Apothecary in Sullivan and Dicks Pharmacy in Arthur.

Its often prescribed in the form of a transdermal patch, but those prescriptions arent very common, she said. Between her two pharmacies, she distributes only about 30 fentanyl patches a month for three patients.

Reed said fentanyl is rarely used because its so potent and because health care providers are wary of the ways it can be abused.

According to the CDC, most recent fentanyl-related overdoses and deaths in the United States are linked to fentanyl made and sold illegally and mixed with other drugs, with or without the users knowledge.

Fentanyl in any form is extremely powerful, about 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.

Fentanyl is so concentrated. It's incredibly potent. Most of the opiates that we normally talk about, the hydrocodones, the oxycodones, you're talking in milligrams, Reed said. Fentanyl is dosed in micrograms.

But illicit drug manufacturers dont carefully measure doses like pharmacists do. Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal depending on a persons size or other factors.

Opioids, many linked to fentanyl, are the leading cause of overdose deaths in the United States.

Recent data from the CDCs National Center for Health Statistics showed the United States topped 100,000 overdose deaths in the 12-month period from April 2020 to April 2021, a 28.5% increase from the year before.

Young said the pandemic worsened already existing mental health and addiction problems for many people.

I think with everything that's happened, people are just trying to get to a better place, she said. And I think with the pandemic, that made it hard for people to hide some of those habits they were having, whether it was addiction issues or something else.

Colee said HB4556 is a first step toward empowering health care professionals to fight against the rise in overdoses.

How to fight back against increasing numbers of fentanyl overdoses across the state was a recurring debate for legislators in the last few weeks of session.

State Sen. Sally Turner, R-Beason, said she voted for HB4556 because access to drug testing supplies could help not just individuals struggling with addiction, but health care and emergency workers, too.

Turner would have liked for the bill to include a stipulation requiring health care providers to dispense information about addiction and treatment along with the testing strips. Spreading awareness about the dangers of fentanyl should be a priority, she said.

It's like a loaded gun, Turner said of the drug. Its a death sentence.

Turner opposed another bill meant to address the fentanyl crisis, House Bill 0017, which would have granted immunity from prosecution for possession of small amounts of fentanyl to people seeking medical treatment for an overdose.

She and many of her Republican colleagues in the Senate took issue with specific language in the bill referring to 3 grams of a substance containing fentanyl.

While Democrats argued that language was necessary because small amounts of fentanyl are often used to lace larger amounts of other drugs, Republicans said it was easy to misinterpret, and likely to be confusing in the courts.

During Senate debate on HB0017, Turner and another senator, Patricia Van Pelt, D-Chicago, grew emotional discussing loved ones lost to accidental fentanyl overdoses.

We had a son die of fentanyl, and he had no idea that fentanyl was laced in what he had, Turner said on the Senate floor. So, what Im saying today is that fentanyl doesnt even compare with any of these (other) drugs.

HB0017 was pulled from the record before the Senate could issue a final vote, an attempt by its sponsor to find a way to pass the bill in the future.

Turner said lawmakers need to be careful when crafting bills addressing fentanyl because of how dangerous even a small amount of the substance could be.

Any drug dealer thats adding fentanyl into their drugs, they're trying to get those people more addicted. But they aren't chemists, so they dont even know what the difference is if you put 1 gram, a half a gram, whatever, Turner said. They're killing people. That's the way I look at it. I have no sympathy about fentanyl whatsoever.

HB4556 was sent to the governors desk April 20, and with no opposition in the General Assembly, its likely to be signed into law soon.

While the bill wont solve the fentanyl overdose crisis, it will likely help ease the pain, Reed said.

If it saves a single life, it's totally worth it.

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Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. will be prohibited from carrying a handgun in public, both on- and off-duty, beginning July 1.

A new Indiana law authorizing all adult Hoosiers age 18 and older to carry a handgun in public without needing to obtain a state permit ironically bars Lake Countys chief law enforcement officer from doing the same due to a pending felony charge against Martinez.

Under current law, county sheriffs and other law enforcement personnel automatically are exempt from the states handgun permit requirement.

But that exemption was deleted by the Republican-controlled General Assembly in House Enrolled Act 1296 because beginning July 1 no one will need a permit to carry a handgun in public.

At the same time, the new law denies the right to carry a handgun in public to convicted felons; fugitives; some non-citizens; a person convicted of domestic violence, domestic battery or criminal stalking; a person under a restraining order; a person under indictment; a person formally deemed dangerous or mentally defective; or a person dishonorably discharged from military service.

According to court records, Martinez was indicted by a Lake County grand jury in January on a felony charge of resisting law enforcement and misdemeanor reckless driving.

Martinez is accused of failing to stop while driving an unmarked, county-owned Jeep TrackHawk at up to 50 mph over the posted speed limit on Taft and Main streets in Crown Point and Merrillville in September as two Crown Point police officers chased him with their lights and sirens activated, records show.

The Democratic sheriff has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial tentatively is scheduled for August, though it could be delayed while Martinez asks the Indiana Court of Appeals to consider tossing his criminal indictment.

A special judge on Wednesday granted Martinezs request to certify for immediate appeal the judges prior refusal to dismiss the sheriffs indictment, even before the sheriff is tried on the charges.

However, during that hearing, Martinezs attorneys, Michael Woods and Paul Stracci, also acknowledged the sheriffs indictment will make Martinez ineligible to carry a handgun when Indianas new permitless carry statute takes effect.

State Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, the sponsor of the permitless carry law, said hes not personally familiar with Martinezs legal troubles.

But Smaltz confirmed under the new law any person under indictment for felony, including a county sheriff, is ineligible to carry a handgun in public beginning July 1.

Martinez actually wont be the only Indiana sheriff disarmed that day.

Clinton County Sheriff Rich Kelly, a Republican, was indicted in March, accused of official misconduct and conflict of interest for his alleged mishandling of hundreds of thousands of dollars of jail commissary and other funds.

An unknown number of local police officers throughout the state with misdemeanor domestic violence convictions also will lose their ability to carry a handgun in public under the law.

Notably, the restriction only applies to prohibited persons carrying a handgun in public.

Both before and after July 1 any person in Indiana legally entitled to own a long gun or rifle, including the AR-15 and other rifles previously classified as assault weapons, can carry it in public with few restrictions.

Under Indiana law, handguns and rifles remain prohibited at school buildings and court houses. In addition, businesses and homeowners retain the right to bar customers or guests from bringing a firearm onto their property.

Aside from how it personally affects his ability to carry a handgun, Martinez said at a recent sheriff candidates debate he believes Indianas permitless carry law is a very scary situation.

He said under the law, for example, officers who spy a handgun in a vehicle during a traffic stop no longer automatically will have a basis to check whether the person carrying the handgun has a valid permit to do so.

Youre not going to know if that individual is a convicted felon, has been arrested for domestic battery, has any mental illnesses  so thats tying the hands of law enforcement officers, Martinez said. That is a bad idea. I think it risks public safety and officer safety.

Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter unsuccessfully made the same argument earlier this year when the new law was under consideration at the Statehouse and prior to it being signed March 21 by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb.

Carter, along with representatives of the Fraternal Order of Police, said eliminating handgun carry permits will make the 18,000 Hoosier police officers less safe because there no longer will be an easy way to confirm a person with handgun is legally entitled to be carrying it.

"If you choose to support this bill you will not be supporting us. You will not be supporting the front-line officer," Carter said. "Shifting the burden from the individual who applied for the permit to the front-line officer is wrong on so many levels. But that's what you're doing."

State Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, vehemently disagreed with the characterization that permitless carry will increase crime and endanger law enforcement.

"You absolutely can support law enforcement and support this bill," Freeman said. "You either trust the citizens of Indiana or you don't."

Among Northwest Indiana lawmakers, the new law was backed by state Reps. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point; Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie; Hal Slager, R-Schererville; and Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso; and state Sens. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores; and Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell.

Region lawmakers opposing the measure were state Reps. Mike Andrade, D-Munster; Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron; Pat Boy, D-Michigan City; Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago; Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary; Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond; Chuck Moseley, D-Portage; and Vernon Smith, D-Gary; and state Sens. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso; Michael Griffin, D-Highland; Eddie Melton, D-Gary; Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton; and Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago.

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New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. Near record high temperatures. High around 95F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 72F. SSE winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph.
ABINGDON, Va.  Hanna Smith is 18. She drives a red Jeep Wrangler to school each day. She loves agriculture and caring for her horse Christy and four dogs.

But thats not all.

Just weeks shy of receiving her high school diploma, the Abingdon teen will walk across the stage as one of the towns newest female entrepreneurs.

Smith, a senior at Abingdon High School, launched her own storefront earlier this year, already seeing a small profit since she opened in February.

Her store is HS Branded Buckle, a Western clothing and accessories store for the entire family that offers many top brand names in the industry like Ariat, Whiskey Bent Hat Co., Myra shoes and the ever-popular Hey Dude shoes that she cant keep in stock.

While juggling a busy school routine, Smith operates the store from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday. Smiths mother, Demetra, opens the store at 10 a.m., and her daughter takes over after leaving class in the afternoon.

Its no big surprise that the teen, who loves horses and everything to do with agriculture, chose to open a store that leans toward Western attire.

Give her a good pair of jeans, a Western graphic T-shirt and a pair of Hey Dude shoes, and shes good for the school day.

I always have on a pair of jeans. Im actually obsessed with jeans, laughed the teen, whose mother started dressing her in Western clothing when she was a toddler.

Although her style may be a little different from other teens, Smith loves the way she looks.

I embrace it, she said.

The Western attire she sells in her store represents her love of agriculture and her support of local farmers. Smith has been an active member of FFA since she was a freshman in high school, competing in livestock judging and veterinary science. She placed third in livestock judging at the Washington County Fair last year.

The teen plans to attend Virginia Highlands Community College in the fall to pursue a business degree. In the meantime, she wanted to open her own store because she said the time was right.

And she didnt have to go to the bank to make it work.

After receiving inheritance money from a family friend who was like a grandmother to her, Smith decided shed take the plunge and open the store.

I didnt want to waste the money. I wanted to invest it, said Smith, who received the money when she turned 18 in December 2021.

Im very grateful, but Im still in shock, said Smith, who will use the inheritance money to pay the monthly rent and to purchase inventory. The teen and her new store were featured on the Facebook page for the Washington County Commissioner of Revenue Office in April.

Chase King owns the building that is rented by the teen. He said he feels encouraged to see someone as young as Smith have the drive to open a business. Ive expressed my encouragement to her directly and told her Im impressed by her desire to run her own business. Im definitely happy for her. I think its great, said King.

The rate of new small businesses in the country has increased sharply in the past decade, and todays youth can account for some of that.

According to an online article by CNBC, todays teens are thinking outside the box when it comes to their future careers.

About 60% of teenagers would rather start their own business than work a traditional job, according to a survey conducted by Junior Achievement USA.

Wendy Davis, assistant principal at Abingdon High School, believes young entrepreneurs like Smith are vital to growing small businesses and the local economy.

Female entrepreneurs are much needed  not only to narrow the wage gap but to model female leadership for youth women. Hanna is doing so much more than starting a business. Shes inspiring young women who look up to her to do the same.

Smiths plan for the first year is to reinvest profits back into the operation of the store and not take any pay.

Long-range goals are to expand the stores inventory, offering more Western brands like Cinch Jeans and Clothing, a company at the forefront of the Western clothing industry.

Western wear can be expensive, but I want to offer reasonable prices, Smith said.

Shed also like to set up her inventory to sell at local rodeo events this year, one of which is Rodeo in the Valley in Bristol, Virginia.

The student confessed that she is starting her business with little experience. Instead, she is following one of the most preferred paths of an entrepreneur  relying on a mentor.

For Smith, that mentor is her mother, who is giving her daughter advice and guidance along the way. The teens parents formerly owned and operated an auto repair business in Pearisburg, Virginia.

Before opening the store, the mother and daughter decorated the store, painting the walls a turquoise color with a cowhide design.

Im really proud of her, said the mother. She needs some guidance here and there, but shes actually doing really well with it.

It was a big step, but we knew if anyone could do it, she could. I think its a good investment with her money, and I believe shell make her money back in time.

Smith hopes her decision to open the store will inspire other youth to follow their dreams.

Follow what your heart says, Smith said.

HS Branded Buckle is located at 1283 W. Main St. in Abingdon in the former Pine Hill Center. The store is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, but hours will be extended this spring.

Follow HS Branded Buckle on Facebook.
The Tri-Cities Airport Authority (TCAA)s 160-acre Aerospace Park has its first tenant, Final Forge, a protective equipment developer and manufacturer.

After signing a lease with the TCAA, Final Forge will relocate to Blountville, Tennessee, and begin construction of two new buildings that will take up 50,000 square feet at the Aerospace Park.

Final Forge develops and manufactures protective headgear for the military, law enforcement, first responders and homeland security forces. In a TCAA press release, David Rogers, president of Final Forge, emphasized how their new location at Aerospace Park will allow them to more efficiently meet the needs of their clients.

Being located at the airport will not only aid in the product flight testing, research and development activities, but will also provide aviation customers the ability to fly-in and have their equipment serviced on-site, Rogers said.

As part of their relocation from Plymouth, Massachusetts, Final Forge will, according to the press release, bring more than a dozen manufacturing jobs, as well as laboratory and production machinery and three aircraft, to their new facility.

In the press release, Gene Cossey, the TCAA executive director, welcomed Final Forge to the Tri-Cities region and said that he believes many more businesses would benefit from relocating to Aerospace Park.

We believe this is just the start of success for Aerospace Park, and like Final Forge, many more aerospace businesses will see the benefit of being located here in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, Cossey said.
BRISTOL, Tenn.  For the sixth summer running, Bristol, Tennessee City Schools will take part in the Governors Early Literacy Foundations (GELF) Book Bus program.

The Bristol Tennessee Book Bus will start making its way around the city beginning June 7 and will continue through the end of July.

James Pond, the president of GELF, explained that the goal of the GELFs Book Bus program is to provide kids with the literature they need to keep their literacy education going during the summer.

This [the summertime] is a time that theyre out of school. Reading is one of the most powerful activities they can do to maintain their learning and to become literate lifelong learners, which is what our goal is, Pond said. Thats how children will be academically successful and successful in life.

For Pond and GELF, it is crucial to meet the kids where they are. Because of this, they encourage each book bus in their program, 14 of which are currently active, to be tailored to meet the needs of the community.

We encourage all of our book bus programs to look at opportunities to partner with school feeding programs or organizations like Second Harvest to be able to provide food to a lot of these communities. We also encourage them to think about potential health partnerships, Pond said.

Kay Ward, the community outreach coordinator for Bristol, Tennessees public schools, explained the Bristol Tennessee Book Bus, which, with the help of GELF, has gone through a complete redesign, will be tagging along with the Bristol Tennessee City Schools nutrition summer feeding route once a week.

We go alongside them as they distribute meals, Ward said. It [the book bus] runs approximately one time a week to areas outlying, low-income areas of the city, as well as to our summer reading STREAM camp at Fairmount.

The books are being provided through donations received by the Bristol Public Library. Each kid who gets on the Bristol Tennessee Book Bus will be allowed to take one book, which is theirs to keep forever. Because of this, Ward encourages the kids to take their time choosing the book they want to take from the bus.

There are all kinds of books of all different levels. So its really up to the child as to which book they choose, Ward said. They are reminded that these are books that you can keep, so choose something that you might want to read again. It might become a favorite.

Ward also calls on parents to engage with their kids by helping them choose a book or reading to them out loud. She also pointed out that there will be books and resources for parents on the book bus.

We certainly promote reading aloud to children and for parents to become engaged in their childrens education, Ward said. For parents, we have some information on parenting skills. We also have magazines and some books that might be interesting on a parents level, so parents will model reading and the enjoyment of reading to their children.

Bristol Tennessee City Schools will release a hard copy of the Book Bus schedule towards the start of summer break. It will also be posted on the school district website at http://btcs.ss18.sharpschool.com/.

Parents will also receive reminders throughout the summer via voicemail, letting them know when the book bus is near them.

GELF was started in 2004 in order to manage and finance Dolly Partons Imagination Library for the state of Tennessee. In 2014, they partnered with the Appalachian Regional Commission to launch the first Book Buses in order to reach children in rural areas of Tennessee through mobile libraries.

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At 71, Rick Gray  a Republican-turned-Democrat-turned independent who drifted from Capitol Square to the classroom and the stage  is reprising his first role: politician.

Running for the Legislature in Oregon, as what that state calls a non-affiliated candidate, Gray is no less glib about the politics of his adoptive home than he was about publicly siding with striking air traffic controllers in 1981. That was indefensible apostasy for a Virginia Republican, and it cost him his job as Gov. John Daltons patronage-dispensing secretary of the commonwealth.

It was Grays first and probably biggest splash. Since then, hes been barely visible. You were more likely to see Gray teaching history at Midlothian High School in his native Chesterfield County or in the theater, acting in Staunton, Charlottesville and points further west and south.

His return to state politics conjures a line from a University of Virginia production of Shakespeares comedy, Much Ado About Nothing in 1990, in which Gray  then doing postgraduate work  appeared with Tina Fey and Sean Patrick Thomas, alums whose success in television and films is no laughing matter.

Gray was cast as Friar Francis, the meddlesome wedding officiant, who says, Hear me a little; for I have been silent so long and given way unto this course of fortune.

Grays course of fortune took him more than four years ago to Cannon Beach, a leafy, hilly retirement and Zoomer enclave of approximately 1,500 on the Pacific Coast, about 80 miles west of Portland, the uber-liberal hipsterville that overpowers Oregon politics, much as NoVa does RoVa.

Having idolized Teddy Roosevelt, the liberal Republican green of his day, and worked for Elizabeth Warren, the liberal Democrat who, TR-like, torments malefactors of great wealth, Gray has given up on the two parties because he believes they prefer to yowl about whats wrong with each other rather than work together on the right policies.

Ricks his own guy, said Chip Mann, an old friend of Grays, a fellow Chesterfield centrist Republican and colleague from state government who confesses to supporting the occasional Democrat. Politics has changed around him. Hes stayed focused on the left-of-center, moderate Republican approach.

Republicans, Gray says, grumble about race and culture instead of govern. Democrats, he says, dont know who they are, having dissolved into factions. This has the UVA history major wondering if 2022 might be another 1854, when, from the roiling sectional crisis, emerged a new party that was against slavery and for common sense: the GOP.

Thus, Gray, who is circulating voter-signature petitions to get on the ballot, is opting for an independent candidacy for an open, freshly redrawn seat in the House of Representatives. Among deep-blue Oregons 90 legislators  60 representatives and 30 senators  there are only three independents, one of whom is retiring.

It is a test case for my proposition that we have a time in American history when a third party could actually succeed, said Gray, having just finished his early morning bowl of homemade, 12-ingredient porridge thats built on a foundation of oats and barley.

Im clearly too old to be the front man to build it into a state or national power, but I could be the first in Oregon to build a pragmatic, problem-solving party with a powerful commitment to acting on the climate crisis.

As a baby boomer who grew up in a conservative Democratic family  his late father, Fred Gray, a delegate-turned-senator came up through the old Byrd machine  the younger Gray gravitated to the Virginia GOP, attracted by the moderates credited with its early success but who ultimately would be shunned by ascendant conservatives.

This included Linwood Holton, the first Republican elected governor in the 20th century who preached racial reconciliation to a state with a rigid black-white divide, and John Warner, the longtime U.S. senator who seemed to delight in opposing GOP ideas and politicians he deemed to the right of reason.

Gray would later give Democrats a try. He knocked on doors in New Hampshire  pre-scream  for Howard Dean in the 2004 presidential primary. After moving to Oregon following his mothers difficult death from dementia, Gray worked for Warren but was alarmed by the inattention of Democrats to voters beyond the partys anchor in Portland.

This convinced him Republicans and Democrats were alike in the wrong way: In a duopoly, you dont have to lead; all you have to do is criticize the other side.

Gray was 26 when Dalton appointed him secretary of the commonwealth, the office through which political jobs are distributed and flows such government paperwork as lobbyist spending reports, subpoenas for out-of-state arrests and applications for restoration of voting rights.

In August 1981, members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association went on strike, violating for the first time a federal law prohibiting job actions by government employees. While President Ronald Reagan would, in breaking the strike, bust the union, Gray aligned with the controllers, saying he wouldnt fly and that he shared their concerns about safety.

With Gray unable to get to Tulsa, Oklahoma, on time for a meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State  he considered traveling by train but it was a 27-hour journey from Richmond  he wrote the groups president to explain his planned absence and express his solidarity with the strikers.

It wasnt enough that Gray was going rogue on a non-negotiable issue with union-hostile Republicans. His boss was a governor who had used the state police to keep open strike-idled coal mines and shipyards. Gray would walk across Capitol Square from his office to the statehouse, posting his letter on the press room bulletin board.

Mann, who was working in the secretary of the commonwealths office and has been an alter ego to Gray, said he tried to talk him out of going public on his sympathy for PATCO strikers, particularly those whod been jailed. He told Gray, I dont think the higher-ups in the Dalton administration would like that.

And they didnt. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Daltons office was hit with a wave of mail sharply critical of Gray.

Though Gray would resign  these days, he calls his departure what it really was: a firing  he was unrepentant at the time, telling the newspaper, Im 30 years old, Im a product of the Vietnam era. It bothers me to see people whove done nothing violent ... just simply put in jail for their beliefs.

It was a rare burst of political theater.

Gray is now preparing for the second act.

Contact Jeff Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter, @RTDSchapiro.
Incumbent Catawba County Clerk of Court Kim Sigmon is seeking a third term in the position. In this years Republican primary, she faces a challenger in Patty Cook.

With no Democratic candidates running for the office, the primary will decide who holds the office for the next four years.

Sigmon and Cook both responded to questionnaires asking about qualifications for the job and what they would hope to accomplish if they win.

Kim Sigmon Background Age: 60 Occupation: Clerk of superior court, Catawba County  2014 to present; magistrate judge, Catawba County  18 years; Hickory Police Department  6 years, Advanced from patrol officer to first female police sergeant Education: St. Stephens High School; Appalachian State University, National Merit Scholar Recipient, Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice, Graduated in 1983 Current/Previous elected office: Clerk of Superior Court, Catawba County Organizational affiliations: NC Conference of Clerks of Superior Court, 2nd Vice President, 8 years; Catawba County Republican Womens Club, 10 years; Catawba County League of Republican Women, 8 years; Christ Alive Church, member, Newton, 14 years Campaign contact/social media: Facebook: Kim Richards Sigmon and Re-Elect Kim Richards Sigmon Clerk of Court Email: www.votekimsigmon.com

What makes you the best person to run the clerks office? What would you hope to accomplish if elected?

I have served the citizens of Catawba County for the past 30+ years.

I began my career as a law enforcement officer with the Hickory Police Department, becoming the first female police sergeant.

I excelled in leadership and was later appointed as a magistrate judge serving citizens and law enforcement, also rendering rulings and judgments in small claims court.

These two roles allowed me to develop strong leadership and supervisory skills that proved instrumental in my run for elected clerk of superior court in 2014.

I am a woman of strong faith in Jesus Christ, and I knew my professional experience, integrity, compassion and love for serving others made me uniquely qualified to run for clerk of superior court.

The voters agreed. I was sworn in December 1, 2014 as the clerk of superior court, where, with the help of the staff, we serve thousands of customers in the county.

I also serve as judge of probate, holding jurisdiction over matters in court relating to probate of wills, administration of estates and many other hearings.

Most importantly, I am responsible for the integrity and safekeeping of every paper, record or filing that is part of the judicial system in Catawba County.

As bookkeeper, I am accountable for receiving, investing and disbursing millions of dollars.

Some of my accomplishments over the past 8 years:

100% Audit, no findings in the N.C. Office of the State Auditors, April 2022;

#1 Audit in Top 25 N.C. clerks offices, NCAOC Internal Audit, April 2021;

Updated technology equipment providing online payments, filings;

Created new public online foreclosure upset bid calendar;

Created public digital court docket saving time for court appearances; and

new and improved online jury system.

I understand the role of clerk of superior court requires a person of strong character, integrity, of broad judicial intelligence, communication skills and is not for the faint-hearted. I strongly believe one of the strongest qualities for an elected clerk is to be a leader  the ability to lead others to excel, meet the same goals, communicate, while energizing employees to be the best they can be for the good of all.

A leader puts others before self and is not afraid to make hard decisions, does not run for popularity or lower the standards to meet others approval but will always follow principles of justice and truth.

A true leader is not self-serving, desiring power, influence or because a job is easy.

I promise to continue striving for excellence serving all citizens.

Patty Cook Background Age: 58 Occupation: Legal assistant from 2016 present; 1994-2016 Deputy and Assistant Clerk of Court for Catawba County Education: Graduated from St. Stephens High School 1982; Catawba Valley Community College-graduated 1984 with an associate degree in business administration Current/previous political office: None given Organizational affiliations: Member at Oxford Baptist Church; Catawba Valley Paralegal Association; Associate Member of The Catawba Valley Home Builders Association; Past Cub Scout leader Pack 312; Past officer of Newton-Conover High School PTO Campaign contact/social media: Website:www.pattycookforclerkofsuperiorcourt.com Facebook: Patty Cook for Clerk of Court

What makes you the best person to run the clerks office? What would you hope to accomplish if elected?

I have over 21 years experience as an assistant/deputy clerk of court.

Ive worked in the estates, special proceedings, and juvenile department. In 2013, I became an assistant clerk of court for estates/juvenile/adoptions. I have done estate, incompetency and guardianship hearings.

Ive worked in the courtroom with the judges and attorneys. I know the duties of the clerk of superior court.

I also have five years working for an attorney, so I know that side of the job. When elected I will be there working side by side with the staff at the clerks office, it will not be about me but about us as we serve the people of Catawba County.

I will treat everyone with fairness and compassion. I love Catawba County and look forward to serving the people of Catawba County.

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N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein praised Hickorys drug diversion program and said funds from a settlement with opioid companies would soon be released to local governments.

Stein heard presentations from police and health representatives about the Hickory Police Departments Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, commonly known as LEAD.

The program gives certain individuals facing low-level charges the chance to seek treatment for addiction rather than going through the traditional criminal justice system.

Hickory police have partnered with the Catawba County Sheriffs Office, police departments in Newton, Conover, Maiden and Claremont, District Attorney Scott Reillys office, Partners Health Management and Catawba Valley Healthcare on the program.

Hickory police Maj. Reed Baer shared data showing 57%  28 of 49 program participants  had not reoffended after entering the program.

Baer said that rate was initially much higher, around 80%. He attributed the fall at least in part to the pandemic and disruption of in-person services.

Duke University has been evaluating Hickorys LEAD program as part of a study and Baer said the department will receive the results of that study next week.

Stein lauded the citys efforts.

This was a tremendous education, Stein said. Obviously, I was familiar with LEAD but to see the depth and extent of commitment that the entire community has to its success, its very inspiring.

He asked about the greatest constraints facing the program. The reply: Resources of all types, including securing steady funding.

Stein had some good news in that area. He told the crowd Catawba County would be getting nearly $14 million in funds from a recent opioid settlement  $13.3 million of which will go to the county with the rest going to the city of Hickory.

He said the first payments to local governments are expected early this summer, with additional installments coming not too long after that.

The funds are part of a $26 billion settlement reached with four major companies last year. North Carolina is set to receive about $750 million of that money.

Stein said this money could go to help to support efforts like the LEAD program in Catawba County.

I wish that these funds were enough to make the problem go away, he said. Twenty-six billion sounds like a lot until you divide it by every county in the country and then it gets smaller quickly, but it is a sustainable source of funds. It will be around for a number of years and it will help augment the already important work yall are doing.

Kevin Griffin is the City of Hickory reporter at the Hickory Daily Record.

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President of the State of Palestine - Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Mahmoud Abbas has sent a congratulatory letter to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

story will be updated
An attorney for a contractor facing a lawsuit over the collapse of the Hickory arches said Thursday the company is not at fault for the fall of the 40-ton, $750,000 structure.

Lucie Peoples, an attorney representing Hickory-based Neill Grading & Construction Co., said the company is not responsible for the collapse because Neill did not design, fabricate or construct the arches; it subcontracted that full scope of work to (Mooresville-based Dane Construction).

Dane further subcontracted the design and fabrication pieces to Oregon-based Western Wood Structures.

All three companies are named in a lawsuit filed by the city of Hickory, which alleges that the only explanation for the collapse of the arches is negligence on the part of Neill Grading, Dane and Western Wood.

Peoples said the company could not say at this point which party or parties may be responsible for the collapse but they welcome the opportunity to participate in this process, assist with identifying the responsible parties and provide an amicable resolution for all involved.

Neill Grading has been a major player in Hickorys revitalization efforts in recent years. The company was awarded the $14.3 million contract with the city for the City Walk, which included the arches and pedestrian bridge.

The company performed the renovation of Union Square and was awarded a $20.8 million contract for the Aviation Walk, a component of the trail system that also includes the City Walk.

Dane and Western Wood did not respond to requests for comment as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The arches fell on Feb. 18, less than a year after they were installed. The fall damaged part of the Main Avenue Bridge, which is owned by the N.C. Department of Transportation, and damaged handrails on the Rudy Wright Pedestrian Bridge, resulting in the ongoing closure of that bridge.

Since the collapse, city leaders have prioritized recovering costs. They have pointed to a performance bond and warranty as key protections for the city.

Following Wednesdays lawsuit filing, Hickorys road to restitution will now run through the Catawba County courthouse.

Hickory filed the complaint Wednesday, a little more than a week after the Hickory City Council voted to empower City Manager Warren Wood and the citys recently-hired law firm of Rosenwood, Rose & Litwak to take actions deemed necessary to protect the citys interest.

The lawsuit alleges the negligence constituted a breach of contract for Neill Grading and with the other companies.

The city argues the contracts between Neill and Dane and Dane and Western Wood require Dane and Western Wood to compensate the city for loss and those companies have failed to do so.

The city is seeking damages of more than $25,000 and argues the city is entitled to a refund for the arches and compensation for the costs spent dealing with the damage.

Carl Burchette, the attorney representing Hickory, said the city believes that this lawsuit is necessary to bring the parties  including their multiple insurance companies  into a process to determine the cause of and responsibility for the arch failure.

Burchette said Neill Grading and Dane have agreed to reopen the bridge and estimate they would be able to do so within three months.

The city is encouraged by the response from Neill and Dane in repairing the Rudy Wright Bridge, but the city is still not made whole from the incident and Neill and Dane have acknowledged this fact, Burchette said.

Kevin Griffin is the city of Hickory reporter at the Hickory Daily Record.

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From Staff Reports

A Taylorsville man pleaded guilty to six counts of felony indecent liberties with a child and 15 counts of felony secret peeping in Alexander County Superior Court on Monday.

Michael Justin Childers, 33, was given an active sentence of six and one-half years to 12 and one-half years, followed by a suspended sentence of five to 17 and one-half years, along with three years of supervised probation, a news release from the Alexander County Sheriffs Office said.

Childers was also given a permanent no-contact order with his victims and is required to register on the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry upon his release from prison, the release said.

In 2020, Childers was charged with peeping after a camera was discovered on the floor of a staff bathroom at Wittenburg Elementary School on Nov. 30, 2020. Childers was a custodian with Alexander County Schools at the time, according to Hickory Daily Record articles from December 2020.

In March 2021, Childers was charged with additional counts of peeping and indecent liberties with a child after the sheriffs office found videos secretly recorded at the Walmart in Taylorsville during Childers employment there from 2016 to 2019, according to a Hickory Daily Record article from March 2021.

The indecent liberties charges were brought because some of the victims from the secret peeping charges were minors. Childers was not believed to have had sexual activity with minors, Alexander County Sheriff Chris Bowman said in March 2021. There were no signs of images or footage taken of children at Wittenburg Elementary by Childers, Bowman said.
Thanks to the outstanding expertise of staff scientists and educators, the Center for Dairy Research (CDR) has earned a reputation for world-class innovation. Now were proud to invite the dairy community to experience a new addition and renovated spaces at Babcock Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

This expansion and installation of state-of-the-art equipment enable our forward-thinking staff to optimize science and technology for the dairy industry. With the support of Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin and the dairy checkoff, CDR drives the development of new products, which ultimately creates new markets.

The project not only enhances our capabilities to research and develop the dairy products of tomorrow but will enable us to better train dairy professionals who will lead for decades to come. By leveraging our location on a college campus, prioritizing partnerships, and holding ourselves accountable to industry standards, CDR can discover more possibilities and pave the way for industry advancements.

Stepping into the CDR today is like entering a scaled-down, state-of-the-art dairy plant. Our miniaturized vats are now more enclosed and automated, providing a superior ability to experiment under controlled conditions. Other improvements include 10 specialty cheese ripening rooms, which can perfectly replicate the environments needed for anything from Camembert to Parmesan. Our applications lab and training center can comfortably seat 60 and allows for research and development and culinary teams to work on the latest and greatest applications in a licensed, collaborative kitchen space.

Being embedded in a world-class university allows us to conduct applied research on cheese and dairy products. We are in a great position to shift from our learnings in the lab to sharing new knowledge with professionals through industry short courses. Our Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker program continues to bring together the best of the best to blend the science and tradition of cheesemaking at the highest levels. If youre unable to visit us or participate in some of our coursework in person, Id encourage you to take a virtual tour or enroll in on-demand learning at cdr.wisc.edu.

From the very beginning of the facility design process, we invited industry experts to participate in advisory groups and incorporated their recommendations into our plans. Ensuring everything from flooring and materials to the processing equipment and layout meets industry standards allows us to effectively offer training on topics like food safety.

Early on, we decided that our revitalized center would be inspected by the state of Wisconsin . . . just like commercial cheese plants across the state. We're not making products for sale, but we wanted to reach the same safety standards that we advise others to adhere to. As a licensed and inspected facility, it is now possible for products from pilot plant trials to be provided to a consumer for tasting as part of a product development process.

Its an exciting time to be part of CDR. Because were funded through the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin and National Dairy Checkoff program, if your project is focused on improving the Wisconsin and the U.S. dairy industry, involves a dairy product or ingredient, and your company is based in the U.S., we are here to help you. To learn more about the dairy checkoff visit WisconsinDairy.org.

To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com.

(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2022

April 25, 2022
Election season is here. Early voting began Thursday. The primary election day will be Tuesday, May 17.

If you want to vote before election day early voting/one stop voting will be conducted at the Copperfield Centre, 349 Copperfield Blvd. Suite F, Concord. Hours will be Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays, May 7 and May 14 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

No. 1

I used to get really excited about election seasons. Ive been around elections and politics since I was a small kid. Mom and dad took Luke and I to precinct meetings and with them when they went into vote. It was really cool to be able to go behind the curtain and watch mom and dad mark their ballots and pull the lever and curtains open.

It was really cool that President Nixon sent letters to the vets who were in the VA Hospital at Christmas. My dad was in the hospital a few days before Christmas and weve still got the letter.

Papaw Radford used to get a handwritten note on his birthday from Congressman Roy Taylor. Im not sure where Papaw met the congressman, but he always got a smile when the note came.

When I was a teenager, I worked part time for a printer in Asheville with Aunt Christine. All the ballots for the elections had to be printed and she needed help getting all the work done. Later when I went to work for The Concord Tribune, she told me You must have gotten ink in your blood when you worked with me.

No. 2

Not as much fun as it used to be. Since social media and all different media outlets, I hate politics and elections.

There was a big drift to the negatives back in the 1980s when Sen. Jesse Helms blasted the airwaves with negative ads. It wasnt anything like what we have today and back then all you had to do was turn the channel on TV (we had three and one was snowy many days) or radio.

The bad thing today is you can't get away from it. My mailbox is full. My email box is full. And dont get me started on TV, Twitter and Facebook.

Jesse Helms doesnt seem too bad by todays standards. Jim Hunt  a Mondale liberal was one of Helms campaign lines.

Now we have former Gov. Pat McCrory (and former Charlotte mayor) standing by a steaming pile of crap. Its probably not real, but he is calling Congressman Ted Budd a pile of crap along with others in Washington.

Budd meanwhile is standing in front of the border wall with a pistol stuck in his waist band. I guess its better than a wheelbarrow full of crap. Our familys first impression of that commercial was hes liable shoot off his private parts.

Gun safety was something I was taught at an early age and it was not acceptable stick a gun down your pants. It didnt have to be said. The golden rule of guns is simple dont point a gun at anything you dont want to kill.

No. 3

Running unopposed. Cabarrus County will be getting a new district attorney with long-time DA Roxann Vaneekhoven not running for reelection and long-time assistant Ashlie Shanley is the lone candidate. Shanley has been Vaneekhovens chief assistant for several years.

Cabarrus Sheriff Van Shaw is also running unopposed for a second term.

Cabarrus Clerk of Superior Court Bill Baggs is also unopposed. He was first elected in 2010.

Shanley, Shaw and Baggs are all Republicans.

No. 4

New districts and different races. If you live in Cabarrus County, you wont be able to vote for Congressman Richard Hudson. The 8th District Congressman lives in Concord but he is running in the 9th District, which is much farther east of the 8th District, stretching into the Fayetteville area.

Hudson has been promoting himself as Fort Braggs Congressman for the past couple of years. He has three Republican opponents in the primary and one Democrat, who will be in the November election.

Cabarrus County is split into the 12th District and the 8th District. The westside of Cabarrus is combined with northern and eastern Mecklenburg County for the 12th District. Congresswoman Alma Adams is the incumbent in the 12th and faces John Sharkey in the Democratic primary. On the GOP side, Andrew Huffman, Nalini Joseph and Tyler Lee are seeking the seat.

Current 9th District Congressman Dan Bishop, a Republican, is running in the new 8th District. Eastern Cabarrus joins with Rowan, Davidson, Stanly, Montgomery, Union, Anson and much of Richmond counties make up the new 8th. Democrat Scott Huffman will face Bishop in November.

Experts said the new 8th is heavily Republican and the new 12th is a likely Democratic district.

No. 5

N.C. House and N.C. Senate districts. The best way to find out your district is to go to the Cabarrus County Board of Elections page online and click the personal sample ballot button: https://www.cabarruscounty.us/Government/Departments/Board-of-Elections/Sample-Ballots

Cabarrus County's N.C. House districts are: the 83rd District includes eastern Cabarrus and part of Rowan and Iredell counties; the 82nd District is mostly northwest Cabarrus County; and the 73rd District including part of Concord to Harrisburg.

The senate districts are bit simpler. Most of the county is in District 34, except the southern tip in the Midland area. The tip is District 35 along with several precincts in Union County.

Good luck sifting through the crap - dang I hope that doesn't mean I am agreeing with McCrory.

If you have a Friday Five, story suggestion or something I can rant about email mplemmons@independenttribune.com or call or text 704-786-0001.

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Google has taken a potshot at Microsoft, something it does occasionally, using a survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies  and paid for by its own cloud business  to ventilate the concerns of government users who are mostly locked into a Microsoft environment.

A blog post, written by Jeanette Manfra Google's senior director, Global Risk and Compliance, on 1 April  though certainly not a joke  said the survey found a majority of government employees were very concerned about cyber attacks striking their employers in the coming years.

Wrote Manfra: "And nearly one-third of surveyed government employees in the [Washington] DC metro area say they have experienced a disruption at work because of a cyber attack."

The survey covered 2600 employees, including 600 in the DC area and 338 from all levels of government across the country.

Manfra has worked in government ranks prior to joining Google; she is well remembered from 2017 as one official who told Congress she had not seen any evidence of Kaspersky software being exploited to infiltrate US government systems.

This happened during the years when the government was going after Kaspersky following the presidential elections of 2016, after claims that Russia had interfered to influence things the way of Donald Trump began to gain traction.

Manfra said in the blog post that the survey showed "a lack of satisfaction with legacy software, with more than 50% of government workers nationally responding that there are other products and services that could help them do their jobs better".

She did not shy away from mentioning Microsoft by name either, pointing out the "problems with IT monoculture" and stating: "According to survey respondents, 84% of DC metro government employees primarily use Microsoft products at work, including Word, Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive. This is confirmed bythat found 85% of government employees use Microsoft productivity software, far and away the largest IT productivity vendor by market share."

Manfra said the continued use of Microsoft products was due to laziness on the part of the government. "Given these vulnerabilities, why does government IT continue to rely on the same set of productivity tools in the workplace? The reason, according to survey respondents, has more to do with inertia than innovation.

"When asked why their employers used Microsoft services, around half said that the reason their employer continues to choose legacy, incumbent vendors was more about not wanting to change than wanting the most effective tool for the job."

Manfra said: "Coupled with these concerns about vulnerabilities comes a noted sentiment among those surveyed that their current IT solutions are not best for their needs.

"About half of those surveyed who primarily use Microsoft at work said that they would prefer to have a choice to use products and services from other companies. And among those who use Microsoft at work, 43% believe there are other products and services that would allow them to do their job better."

And she very gently reminded those in power that there are "other" products which can do the job as well  or maybe better  than Microsoft's products.

"With so many survey respondents reporting that they are dissatisfied with their legacy IT solutions, it may be time for the government to rethink its approach to procurement," Manfra wrote.

"In a separate research survey from Omdia in December 2021, 250 people responsible for technology purchasing decisions in the US federal, state, and local governments said government technology and procurement practices often are more about making things easier for IT vs choosing what employees feel would be the best solution.

"In fact, only 27% of officials surveyed in that research cited 'user demand' as a factor affecting their purchasing decisions.

"As governments work to meet the demands and preferences of their constituents  and their employees  its clear that theres an over-reliance on legacy solutions, despite a track record of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and poor user perception."

Microsoft was approached for its take on Manfra's statements, but the Redmond behemoth has apparently decided to sit this one out.
Autonomous driving technology company Pony.ai has been approved to operate public driverless robotaxi services in Beijing, with the public now able to experience a driverless robotaxi for first time in the Chnese capital.

Pony.ai was one of two robotaxi operators awarded a permit by Beijing city authorities to offer driverless service in southeastern Beijing, and Pony.ai has had a permit to driverless test since October 2021 but not with the general public in the car.

To ensure safety during the pilot program, a Pony.ai safety supervisor will sit in the front passenger seat.

The new program, which is free to the rider, is in addition to an existing test program in which Pony.ai can offer fee-charging robotaxi service to the general public that retains a safety driver behind the wheel monitoring the ride.

Pony.ai is now approved to conduct public facing driverless robotaxi rides in a 60 square kilometre area in a pilot zone in Yizhuang, Beijing - triple the operating area from the previous driverless 20 square kilometer testing area.

Approximately 300,000 residents in the area can now hail a driverless Pony.ai robotaxi using the PonyPilot+ app from 9am to 5pm, with hundreds of pick-up and drop-off locations including public facilities such as subway stations, parks, and stadiums, alongside central business centres and residential areas.

Pony.ais approval to operate driverless robotaxis in Beijing is a critical milestone in the transition from testing driverless autonomous vehicles within Pony.ai to offering driverless robotaxi rides to public passengers, said Pony.ai co-founder and CEO James Peng.

Peng said that to obtain its driverless permit, Pony.ai passed stringent safety test qualifications and criteria, including: driverless navigation of unprotected left-turns, temporary construction zones, smog, heavy rain and snow conditions, drivered mileage, and the number of orders received.

Since the launch of driverless testing, Pony.ai has demonstrated the technical quality of our system by successfully handling a wide range of extreme and complex scenarios. We did this by conducting multiple technical validations and iterations of driverless scenarios, and by improving system redundancy design, remote assistance platform development and fleet operation management, said Pony.ai co-founder and CTO Tiancheng Lou.

Pony.ai received approval to conduct driverless testing without passengers in Beijing in October 2021 and in November 2021 became one of the first two autonomous driving companies to start charging fares for robotaxi services in Beijing.

In Guangzhou, Pony.ai started driverless testing in June 2021 and recently became the first and only autonomous driving company to receive a taxi license in China. This Guangzhou license officially permits Pony.ais autonomous vehicles to operate as taxis, a milestone for the commercialisation of robotaxis in China.

Pony.ai says that as of April 2022, its autonomous vehicles have driven over 11 million real-world autonomous kilometers globally, including over 200,000 driverless kilometres.
SHELBYVILLE  A driver who hit and killed a Shelbyville pedestrian while driving at speeds police estimated at close to 100 mph was sentenced to a year in jail.

Briar W. True, 27, appeared for his sentencing in Shelby County Circuit Court Tuesday after being convicted of speeding in a bench trial in June.

Shelby County States Attorney Nichole Kroncke said True, of Neoga, had plowed into 84-year-old Sidney Manning as he was crossing Illinois 16 close to the U.S. Army Corps Visitors Center at 5 a.m. June 4, 2020.

(Police experts) estimated that Trues vehicle was traveling between 82 and 98mph at the point of impact, said Kroncke. The posted speed limit where the fatal accident occurred was 45mph.

She said the yearlong sentence was the maximum available and was imposed after the judge in the case listened to victim impact statements from Mannings family.

The states attorney said True has a criminal record that includes convictions for reckless driving, drug possession, driving under the influence and criminal damage.

But, in earlier comments to the Herald & Review, she had explained that the speeding charge was the most serious offense that could be sustained in the death of Manning.

For a charge of reckless homicide or reckless driving, speed alone is insufficient for that charge; thats what the case law in Illinois says, Kroncke added.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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By Azernews





Azerbaijan and Russia held bilateral consultations on Caspian issues on April 28, the Foreign Ministry has reported.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov received a delegation led by the Russian Foreign Ministry ambassador-at-large, the Russian president's special representative for the delimitation and demarcation of the Russian state border with the CIS member states, Mikhail Petrakov, within the frameworks of the consultations.

The parties focused on issues related to the implementation of trilateral statements signed by Baku, Moscow and Yerevan, including cooperation on Caspian issues, as well as delimitation and opening of communications.

It should be noted that prior to the meeting, bilateral consultations were held between a delegation led by Petrakov and a delegation led by the Azerbaijani president's special representative for the border and the Caspian Sea issues, Khalaf Khalafov.

The sides exchanged views on the implementation of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, preparations for the next Caspian Summit, and draft agreements on sectoral cooperation between the Caspian littoral states, which are currently under negotiation.

The legal status of the Caspian Sea was finally established in 2018. The Caspian Sea littoral states adopted a convention on the Caspian Sea status at the Aktau summit in August 2018. Due to the very rich resources in it (gas and oil), coastal states had problems reaching compromises. Despite signing the convention of 2018 it is not in force yet, due to the protracted process of ratification by Iran.
CHARLESTON  A widespread police crackdown on crime, with stepped up patrols in a nine-county area including Coles, Christian and Moultrie, netted 85 arrests on charges ranging from sexual abuse and child porn to drugs and illegal weapons.

A news release from the Illinois State Police said its troopers worked with local law enforcement in Project Safe Neighborhood which started in October and still continues. The stepped-up patrols are known as saturation details.

The release added: Seized during the details were 12 guns, 1,725 grams (nearly four pounds) of methamphetamine, 112,665 grams (more than 248 pounds) of cannabis, 15 LSD doses, 14 grams of cocaine, 5,311 grams (11 pounds) of mushrooms and two stolen vehicles.

In addition to the arrests, 199 warnings were issued along with 142 citations.

The enhanced patrols are paid for by grants from the U.S. Department of Justice. Gregory K. Harris, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois, said: ...Project Safe Neighborhood targeted enforcement patrols, in partnership with local law enforcement agencies, has and continues to be effective in removing individuals from our cities that are responsible for the increase in violence.

Continued enforcement by Illinois State Police, in collaboration and cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, not only increases the public confidence in knowing that law enforcement is working together to make neighborhoods safe, but also increases the trust between law enforcement and the communities that they serve.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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SHELBYVILLE  A Shelbyville man was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being convicted of armed violence and residential burglary charges.

Ryan C. Rice, 26, appeared Wednesday in Shelby Circuit Court where he had pleaded guilty.

Shelby States Attorney Nichole Kroncke said Rice was arrested on the armed violence charge on Feb. 16, 2021 after police patrols found him in possession of brass knuckles and a knife.

While out on bond for that offense, Kroncke said he was caught breaking into a Shelbyville home on Nov. 25 where he got into a prolonged fight with a witness who ended up chasing him.

Rice entered the back door of a second residence where he was confronted by the homeowner, said Kroncke. Rice again fled on foot and was pursued by the same individual that he had wrestled with. Rice entered a third residence where the homeowner, who was present, exited until police arrived.

Rice was found hiding in a basement closet under a bag and arrested, Kroncke added.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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The Food and Drug Administration issued Thursday an expected proposal to ban menthol flavoring in traditional cigarettes and all non-tobacco flavorings in cigars.

The actions had been expected for several weeks by industry analysts and anti-tobacco advocates.

Yet, it remains highly likely that tobacco manufacturers will have years to adapt to a menthol-free industry, if a menthol ban ever takes force.

The FDA likely will face multiple lawsuits from tobacco manufacturers and anti-smoking groups considering that in 2009, Congress exempted menthol from banned flavorings in traditional cigarettes in the federal Tobacco Control Act.

However, the FDA cites that law as allowing for the proposed ban since these proposed product standards are based on clear science and evidence establishing the addictiveness and harm of these products.

The stock prices of Altria and British American Tobacco have not moved on this news, which is indicative of it not being a significant (investor) concern, said David Sweanor, an adjunct law professor at the University of Ottawa and the author of several e-cigarette and health studies.

The FDA said its actions have the potential to significantly reduce disease and death from combusted tobacco product use, the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.

The next step for the FDA commences May 4 when the public can provide comments on these proposed rules, along with public listening sessions on June 13 and June 15.

The public will have the opportunity to submit either electronic or written comments directly to the dockets on the proposed rules through July 5.

Once all the comments have been reviewed and considered, the FDA will decide whether to issue final product standards, the agency said.

FDA incentive

Xavier Becerra, secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services, said in a statement that the proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit.

Additionally, the proposed rules represent an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities.

The FDA has said 30% of all adult smokers and more than 40% of all youth smokers consume a menthol style. About 85% of Black smokers prefer menthol flavoring, compared with 30% of white smokers, the agency said.

Rachel Denlinger-Apte, an assistant professor of social sciences and health policy at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said that decades of research has shown that menthol flavoring makes cigarettes more appealing, harder to quit, and are disproportionately used by youth and young adults, Black and African-American individuals, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Todays announcement by the FDA regarding a menthol cigarette and flavored cigar ban is a step in the right direction for reducing tobacco-related death and disease and achieving health equity.

The FDA cited as incentive for its proposed bans that they are a critical piece of the Biden administrations reignited Cancer Moonshot to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years; 30% of all cancer deaths in the United States are caused by smoking.

FDA also cited published modeling studies that have estimated a 15% reduction in smoking within 40 years if menthol cigarettes were no longer available in the U.S.

The agency stressed that it cannot and will not enforce against individual consumers for possession or use of menthol cigarettes or flavored cigars.

If these proposed rules are finalized and implemented, FDA enforcement will only address manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers and retailers who manufacture, distribute, or sell such products within the U.S. that are not in compliance with applicable requirements.

The FDA said state and local law enforcement agencies do not independently enforce bans contained with the 2009 federal law, and do not, and cannot, take enforcement actions against any violation of FDAs tobacco authorities, including its regulations, on the FDAs behalf.

Industry response

Analysts and industry experts have said that the FDA clamping down on menthol flavorings is one dramatic regulatory shift from the Trump administration to the Biden administration.

According to Barclays analyst Jain Gaurav, menthol cigarettes account for 35% of cigarettes sold in the United States.

That includes more than 50% of cigarette volumes for both Reynolds American Inc., which makes No. 2-overall traditional menthol cigarette Newport and Camel menthol brands, and for ITG Brands Inc., which makes Kool and Salem menthol brands.

Gaurav said U.S. menthol cigarette sales account for 25% of overall profits for Reynolds parent company, British American Tobacco Plc., as well as 15% of ITGs parent company Imperial Brands Plc.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. said in a statement Thursday that we strongly believe that there are more effective routes to deliver tobacco harm reduction than banning menthol in cigarettes.

Evidence from other markets, including Canada and the European Union where similar bans have been imposed, demonstrates little impact on overall cigarette consumption.

Reynolds said its viewpoint on scientific studies on menthol flavorings is that they show no difference in the health risks associated with menthol cigarettes compared to non-menthol cigarettes, nor does it support that menthol cigarettes adversely affect initiation, dependence or cessation.

As a result, we do not believe the published science supports regulating menthol cigarettes differently from non-menthol cigarettes.

We believe our portfolio of scientifically substantiated reduced risk products can play a critical role in its delivery, Reynolds said. We will continue to work with FDA to support access and choice for adult consumers.

Philip Morris USA, which makes top-selling Marlboro, said in a statement Thursday that we believe harm reduction, not prohibition, is the better path forward.

Taking these products out of the legal marketplace will push them into unregulated, criminal markets that dont follow any regulations and ignore minimum age laws.

We will continue to engage in this long-term regulatory process.

Next steps

Gaurav provided on April 22 how he sees the next steps unfolding.

We are on step 3/4 of a 9-step process, Gaurav said.

Every step of this process takes at least four months. This will mean that any final rule by the FDA is at least two years and more likely three years away.

Among the FDAs considerations are addressing scientific, legal, law enforcement, public health, industry and budgetary stakeholders.

Gaurav said the FDA will need to respond to all the comments in an iterative process before it can publish a final rule.

The industry will also likely pursue litigation once a final rule is published, he said. This can add another 1-3 years. The industry can request an injunction on implementation of a menthol ban during the time the issue is under litigation.

Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog said Thursday that while there is some risk a federal ban on menthol cigarettes could reduce smoker initiation and potentially be a catalyst that prompts a number of smokers to quit, thereby having some negative impact on cig volumes, we continue to believe a more likely scenario is for menthol cig users to convert to non-menthol cig products or to reduced-risk products that have a menthol variant such as e-vapor.

Following the menthol ban in the EU, BAT noted more than 90% of cigarette smokers remained in the cigarette category. Of those who stopped smoking, 70% moved to vaping.

Importantly, the FDAs guidelines require that, for this menthol ban on cigarettes to be implemented, it needs to be proven that it is science-based and does not have any unintended consequences, Herzog said. This could make for a lengthy process and an uncertain outcome.

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A Winston-Salem man died Wednesday from the injuries he sustained in an April 4 traffic crash on Peters Creek Parkway, authorities said Thursday.

Allen Sylvester Coleman, 78, of Hubert Court died at a local hospital, Winston-Salem police said.

Officers responded to a vehicle collision at 10:21 a.m. April 4 in the 2100 block of Peters Creek Parkway, police said.

Coleman was driving a 2000 Nissan Frontier pickup south on Peters Creek Parkway, and Kiara Symone Thomas of Winston-Salem was driving a 2017 Kia Forte north on Peters Creek Parkway, police said.

Coleman was making a left turn into the Parkway Plaza shopping center when he turned in front of Thomas vehicle, police said. Thomas was unable to avoid colliding with Colemans vehicle, police said.

Thomas vehicle then ran off the road and collided with a parked Ford Taurus in the parking lot of Biscuitville at 2145 Peters Creek Parkway, police said.

Coleman and Thomas, who were both injured, were taken to a local hospital for treatment, police said. Thomas was treated and released.

Coleman remained in the hospital until he died, police said.

Colemans death is the citys fifth traffic fatality this year, as compared with 10 traffic fatalities during the same period in 2021, police said.

Anyone with information about this crash can call Winston-Salem police at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800 or its Spanish line at 336-728-3904. Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County is on Facebook.

The Text-A-Tip program at 336-276-1717 allows people to text tips, photos and videos to the police.

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A Winston-Salem man was convicted on charges that he led an illegal drug-trafficking crew that got thousands of dollars worth of cocaine from various places, including Puerto Rico, according to a news release from the Forsyth County District Attorneys Office and court documents.

Daluis Alejandro Javier Guzman was found guilty Thursday by a Forsyth County jury on a slew of drug charges. Those include conspiring to traffic in cocaine, trafficking in cocaine by possession and possession with the intent to sell or deliver cocaine. He was also convicted of three counts of maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance at his apartment, his store and a vehicle.

Judge David Hall of Forsyth Superior Court gave Guzman three consecutive sentences totaling a minimum of 29 years, 8 months and a maximum of 38 years, 5 months in prison.

During the weeklong trial, Guzman represented himself, with assistance from criminal defense attorney Jerry Jordan. Penn Broyhill and Mark Parent, assistant district attorneys, prosecuted the case.

Winston-Salem police arrested Guzman, 31, of Power Plant Circle, on Feb. 28, 2020 after a yearlong investigation involving the police department, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, State Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Agency.

According to a search warrant, law-enforcement officers obtained permission to intercept cellphones for Guzman and others through a three-judge panel chosen by the Chief Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court.

On Feb. 28, 2020, police seized more than 8 kilograms of cocaine that had a street value of $800,000. Police also seized cash and large amounts of drug paraphernalia, including kilogram presses, according to prosecutors.

Winston-Salem police have also arrested numerous other individuals, including Guzmans girlfriend, Dorka Gomez-Rosario. Gomez-Rosario has been indicted on two counts of trafficking in cocaine, possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine, conspire to traffic in cocaine and sell and deliver cocaine. Her case is pending.

Lewis Frebrillet also has been indicted for possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana, possession of marijuana paraphernalia and conspire to traffic in cocaine.

Four other people have pleaded guilty to various drug charges coming out of the investigation, according to Broyhill. Those people are Carlos Cerda Peralta, Billy Dee Ingram, Marquice Kelly and Jonathan Little.

Hall also issued fines against Guzman of more than $500,000.

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Over the next 18 years, Forsyth County will get $23 million from a $26 billion opioid agreement, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein said during a news conference Friday.

That money will bolster efforts by local organizations such as Insight Human Services, where the news conference took place on Friday afternoon.

Were talking about the opioid crisis, which is the deadliest drug epidemic in American history, Stein said. In North Carolina, weve lost 20,000 lives to this crisis, and tragically, its worsening.

Stein said that the latest data from 2020 showed that opioid deaths spiked 40 percent.

In February, Stein announced the final approval of the $26 billion agreement with several major companies in the pharmaceutical industry  Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBeren and McKesson  as well as Johnson & Johnson.

Stein said this was part of a bipartisan effort by the countrys attorney generals to hold accountable the companies that, out of greed, hooked millions of people on opioids, causing this crisis.

It is the second largest state attorney general settlement in history, only exceeded by the settlement with the tobacco industry.

North Carolinas share of the settlement is $750 million. The first payment from the settlement will hit North Carolinas coffers this summer, Stein said.

Eighty-five percent of the settlement money will go to local governments, which will then distribute it to organizations dedicated to fighting the drug problem.

We knew that local government is where the rubber meets the road, he said.

The money can be used only for this opioid crisis, Stein said.

It is a dedicated source of funds that is going to transform peoples lives in your communities, he said. The funds have to be used for prevention, treatment, recovery or harm reduction strategies.

Insight Human Services is exactly the kind of organization the settlement money is designed to help, Stein said.

James R. Harner, chief executive officer for Insight Human Services, said the nonprofit organization has a housing program called BAT (Begin Again Treatment) that started in 2009. Over the past 12 years, the housing program has helped 1,680 people.

People stay for 90 days and get what is called MAT (Medically Assisted Treatment) as well as psychiatric services, Harner said.

Medically assisted treatment is when medication is used to taper the effects of withdrawal in the early stages of recovery and is coupled with counseling.

The most vulnerable people that the program tries to help are the ones who just got out of a state facility, a hospital or from a jail or prison, he said. The second most vulnerable population are the people who are homeless.

It takes time for people to recover, and its a lifetime struggle, Harner said.

The longer we can engage people in treatment, it pays off, he said.

Calvin Ward is a peer-support specialist and he knows what it is like to be addicted to drugs. He served seven years in prison and he was in and out of jail about 100 times over the years.

Soon as a client comes in, we start focusing their interests, he said.

Some people addicted to drugs havent had a good nights sleep in years or havent consistently bathed. Both Harner and Ward emphasized that drug addiction is not a moral failing; its biological, and much of the work is restoring peoples belief in themselves that they can recover.

The only thing you can recover in this process is your self-motivation and your self-worth, Ward said.

Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson said some people dont understand some of the strategies, such as the needle-exchange program.

Thompson and Stein said that you cant arrest your way out of the opioid crisis. Stein said the cycle has to be stopped.

Thompson said her department has responded to a number of drug overdoses. Officers are armed with naloxone, but sometimes one dose of it isnt enough to revive a person from an overdose. Thompson said that people can consume such a mixture of drugs that sometimes, it takes several doses of naloxone to help a person who is overdosing.

Its our job to work together, she said. The overdose problem is a community problem, and its going to take all members of our community working together to move us from addiction to recovery.

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After several earlier careers, John Mark Swink has found that he's happiest working from home, sweet home.

Swink runs The Salon at Salem Cottage, a hair salon beside his home on West Clemmonsville Road, which has been custom-made to his specifications  and in honor of his love of the architectural style of Old Salem.

Swink grew up in Rockingham in Richmond County, and went to school here at the UNC School of the Arts. And with the campus's proximity to Old Salem, he grew fond of that community, he says, because of "incredible craftsmanship, symmetry, simplicity and functionality."

"They're just beautiful houses, they're very solid," he says. "It has a feeling of history and quality and workmanship and craftsmanship."

His career as a hairstylist, he says, came about "definitely through the back door."

"I came to Winston-Salem in 1991," he explains. "I was an opera performer major at the School of the Arts in their master's program. After that, I moved to New York and worked in opera and musical theater for about 10 years. Then I had a weird viral sinus infection that paralyzed my vocal chords partially, which kind of ended that part of my career."

At that point, he had already thought about leaving New York to go back to family and friends in North Carolina.

Since he had an affinity for Winston-Salem and still had friends from his School of the Arts days, he came back considering getting a doctorate in voice so he could teach. He taught for two years at High Point University but could see that wasn't his calling  and that it would be difficult to teach voice with his vocal chords.

"You kind of need to be able to make sounds to teach sounds," he says.

He wound up at Parkland High School in 2006, teaching in its theater department for several years. He loved the kids and directing plays, he says, but "I didn't like being a teacher and having to follow a curriculum."

With his provisional license about to expire, he was looking for a new line of work when a friend suggested he look into working at a hair salon.

He attended beauty school for 10 months and got started in October 2010 at Salon 939 on Burke Street in downtown Winston-Salem. He enjoyed it but eventually decided to branch out on his own and open a salon beside his home.

The change came during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The salon was shut down for two months, and I had two months in the prettiest spring we have ever had, he says. I have a great back porch, and I sat on that swing and looked over... I thought 'I love being here, I don't like leaving here, I like spending my time here.'"

He enjoyed working at the downtown salon, but didn't see sunlight from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. some days.

"So I started turning it over in my mind, and figuring, OK, I pay this much for booth rent, I wonder if I just built something, what that mortgage would be."

He reached out to Mike Wilkes of MW Construction, who had renovated Swink's home when he first moved back to Winston-Salem and had always done stellar work.

"We have been planning this project for several years, so he knew exactly what he wanted to do," Wilkes says. "His home is a period home that has great detail, and he wanted to blend the same into his new hairstyling shop/addition."

They worked to mix the style of Old Salem and some Pinehurst architecture into the project. Because of zoning, various permits and red tape, they determined it needed to be attached to his house by a roofline and meet size restrictions for him to run the business connected to his home. They worked hard to make sure that with all that, it also fit with the style of the original home.

"He always knows what he wants," Wilkes says. "There's no detail, no pages left unturned... At the end of the day, I'm very excited for him. He has a very short commute  four steps  and he texts me regularly telling me how much he loves it.

"That's the greatest satisfaction, when I hear that from my clients."

Elisa Radatovich, one of Swink's clients for more than seven years, says she has been impressed with the results.

"It's cozy; it's just amazing," she says. "I love everything he's done with it... it's just beautiful, it's much more personal, and it's a nice space to get your hair done. It feels like a spa."

Swink is understandably proud of both the renovations to his home and the addition of the salon. He does such bustling business, he says, that he isn't taking any new clients currently; his schedule is full with loyal customers, many of whom followed him from downtown to his new location.

"My house is the child I don't have to send to college," he says. "That's where my disposable income goes, is my house."
First Vice-President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva has made a post on her official Instagram page, thanking employees of all state structures who took part in the elimination of the fire on the territory of the Azersun Industrial Park.

In a post on her official Instagram page, the First Vice-President said: "I am proud of the professionalism of the employees of government agencies who were involved in extinguishing the fire that broke out in Azersun Industrial Park in Haji Zeynalabdin settlement of Sumgayit city and express my deep gratitude to them."
The woman told police when she asked a friend for a ride from Lincoln to David City, the friend directed her to a man she didn't know. During the drive, he displayed a knife and a revolver and demanded she turn over her phone and luggage.
WAHOO  Kolton Barnes took the stand here for more than a day, telling jurors that he didn't remember much of the violent struggle he had with Kayla Matulka in the bedroom they shared. Or how she ended up with his double-edged knife sticking out of her chest, along with about two dozen more stab wounds.

But he was clear on how he said it started: With her coming at him with a knife.

Just before midnight July 14, 2020, Barnes, 27, says he returned home from the bar in Malmo after getting texts from his fiancee saying their relationship was over.

He said it was probably the 15th time she'd sent him a text like that.

Barnes texted her it wasn't over and, in others he later deleted, threatened to kick the door in if she didn't let him inside.

Prosecutors say a piece of trim from the door, found lying in the hallway with the nails up the next morning, suggests he followed through. Though Barnes denies it.

Video from across the street showed him getting into the garage with the opener. Inside, he said, he found two of his motorcycles on their sides and the interior door open.

"When I walked into the bedroom the lights were off. I seen my dog laying on the floor. She didn't look at me, she didn't move. But it was dark," Barnes said.

When he came around the door, he said he could see from the light of the TV.

"Kayla come at me with the knife," Barnes said. "I panicked and put my hand up to try to grab her wrist or stop her. And I ended up having to hit her in the side of the head three times."

He said they struggled and went to the floor.

"And when I sat up she wasn't moving and her eyes were huge. And it's just like that feeling when you stand up too fast and you zone out. I don't remember anything after that," Barnes said.

The knife was in her chest, he said.

Barnes calls it self-defense.

He said he has bits of memories after that. Of holding his dog, Diesel, who had been stabbed to death, too. Of feeling something in his pocket  the knife, he thinks  and throwing it into a field near Valparaiso.

"It was like a tilt-a-whirl nightmare. It's what it felt like," he said.

Asked if he thinks he inflicted any of Matulka's 27 stab wounds, two of which came after she died, Barnes said it's possible, even "very likely."

"I just don't remember," he said.

Barnes said he was just trying not to get stabbed and everything happened so fast. But he didn't remember Matulka moving after she went to the floor and admits he may have knocked her out with the punches.

Crime scene photos showed her on the floor naked, her eye black, her pajama top and shorts cut off her, a restraint on one of her wrists and the mattress shifted off the bed frame, and the outline of three fingers smeared in blood on the wall beside her.

Investigators found the ring Barnes was seen wearing that night under the bed.

"Why did you have your hand on the frame of the bed under the mattress?" Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Sandra Allen asked him on cross examination.

Barnes said he doesn't remember. He could've put his hand there to brace himself when he got up after they both went to the floor. It could have slipped off then, he said.

"You also could have had your hand on the bed frame while you were bending down stabbing Kayla 25 times, too. Isn't that true?" Allen said.

"I don't know. I don't remember," Barnes said.

"It's a possibility, isn't it?" she pressed.

"There are a lot of possibilities, yes," he said.

He said he didn't remember much of what happened afterward. How he left and came back multiple times, then drove to Matulka's mom's place in Blair.

The next morning, when he stopped at a store in Arlington and saw a blood stain on his shirt and got a new one, then saw all the cop cars at their house when he came over the hill at Malmo, Barnes said he was scared.

"It was pretty real at that point," he said.

Before that, he said he thought he just got too drunk and had a really bad dream.

Barnes said he didn't know what to do so he lied to the investigators and his family. At the time, he said he hadn't gone inside and had no idea what happened or who did it. Then, for months he told his mom it was a suicide.

Allen said Barnes' story has evolved over time, first after getting Matulka's mental health records, then after seeing the autopsy report and learning she couldn't have caused all the injuries herself.

"That's when you came up with this whole self-defense story, isn't it?" she asked.

Barnes denied it.

"I'm telling the truth because this is my chance to tell my side," he said.

Closing arguments are expected to come next week.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSpilger

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The Arbor Day Foundation is full of pride  pride for the work they do, the success they've had and for the place they call home.

The organization is known for its international work as the largest nonprofit dedicated to tree planting in communities, neighborhoods and critical forest lands, and it all takes place in the heart of downtown Lincoln.

Everyday we are making a difference in people's lives through the power of trees and it sounds simple, but it really is a big deal," says Dan Lambe, CEO of Arbor Day Foundation. "And we do all that from 12th and P in Lincoln, Nebraska."

Pride at the foundation runs especially deep this week as it celebrates its 50th anniversary Friday, which coincides with the 150th Arbor Day.

For Michelle Saulnier, this milestone comes after years of hard work and dedication to the foundation.

Saulnier, 56, first started with the organization when she was 21 as a temporary employee doing data entry before the organization had spread globally. Thirty-five years later, she is still just as proud to call the foundation home.

Its just surreal," she said. "I never expected Id be here this long, but its just been so much fun. At 50 years you get to look back at everything youve accomplished  and we have accomplished some great things. Now, we get to look ahead to what were able to do in the next 50 years."

Saulnier now works as chief of staff for the foundation after having multiple roles throughout her career. Her job in the Lincoln office is to keep the nonprofit focused and organized as they plan tree planting events across the world.

"I am proud of the fact that the Arbor Day Foundation has its home here and we are able to be in Lincoln and do such important things on such a large scale," she said. "Im proud of that and I hope others are as well."

The Arbor Day Foundation has spent this week celebrating its two monumental anniversaries, including ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

It was an iconic moment in a historic space," Lambe said. "To be invited by the New York Stock Exchange to help us celebrate our 50th anniversary by ringing the opening bell was just an affirmation that people are aware of the importance of the Arbor Day Foundation and the work we do."

The foundation estimates that nearly one million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day in 1872. Lambe said there is no way to know how many will be planted worldwide 150 years later, but it will be a big number.

Since its start in 1972, the foundation has helped plant 500 million trees in nearly 50 countries. Now, they plan to double that number in just five years.

"There has never been a more important time for trees and so its exciting that on our 50th anniversary of our foundation that trees and forests are being recognized as an important part in helping to solve some of the greatest problems facing people across the globe today," Lambe said.

The foundation relies heavily on donors to help support the distribution and planting of trees.

Jack and Terry Meinzenbach of Columbia, Missouri, have been donating to the foundation since 1975, just three years after it formed. The couple is from Chicago and first heard of the foundation through a brochure they received in the mail.

Climate change is my big motivation for trying to help the Arbor Day Foundation fulfill their mission to help us recover by planting, nourishing and celebrating trees," said Jack Meinzenbach, 77. "Theyre using trees to solve a problem that is critical to our survival."

Reach the writer at 402-473-2657 or jebbers@journalstar.com

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Kansas will be tightening its rules for adults receiving food assistance even though critics have warned that its new law is so sloppily written that it will apply to thousands more people than supporters intended.

The Republican-controlled Legislature on Thursday overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a GOP bill imposing a new job-training requirement for non-disabled adults. The changes will take effect July 1.

Republicans could overturn Kelly's action on their own because they have more than the two-thirds majorities in both chambers needed to do it. The votes were 86-36 in the House and 29-11 in the Senate, and almost no Democrats supported the override attempt.

GOP lawmakers have long argued that tighter rules for people receiving public assistance, coupled with state-provided job training, moves people from being dependent on the state's help into jobs.

What is the central solution to poverty? Its work, said Republican state Rep. Susan Humphries, of Wichita. "Work is not a punishment, its a blessing. Helping someone move to a place of self sufficiency is as gift to them.

In her veto message earlier this month, Kelly said the measure would unnecessarily burden some 30,000 adults. Republicans have put the number affected at less than half that, or about 12,000 adults.

Republicans said the new law applies only to non-disabled adults from 18 through 49 who do not have children. But Democrats said because of the bill's language, it could apply to both that group and all adults not working at least 30 hours a week.

There already were issues with this bill, Sen. Pat Pettey, a Kansas City Democrat, said Thursday in supporting Kelly's veto. We dont know with this additional language whether that is going that far.

Since July 2021, an average of nearly 199,000 people, including nearly 87,000 children, have received food assistance each month, with an average benefit of $300, according to the state Department for Children and Families.

The state tightened its rules for people receiving cash assistance in 2015 and 2016 under then-Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. Kansas gained national attention in 2015 for adding to state law a list of several dozen items that couldn't be purchased with the state aid, including tattoos, lingerie, concert tickets or sessions with a psychic.

Critics of those changes argued that they mostly kicked needy people off cash assistance and that many of those who obtained jobs still didn't earn enough to escape poverty. Advocates for the poor, social services agencies and food bank operators all said this year's bill simply would result in more struggling families going hungry.

They also argued that the tougher rules would increase bureaucracy, citing estimates that the state would have to spend $3 million to $5 million on additional staffing to enforce the new requirements.

Its punitive in nature," said state Rep. Jason Probst, a Hutchinson Democrat. "We are going to harm people with this if we do this override.

Supporters of the bill countered that the extra state staffing and spending would be an investment in improving poor families' lives.

We do nothing more than allow more people to be able to go to work, have an even better job and allow our employers to hire people who are better trained, said Republican Sen. Beverly Gossage, of Eudora.

Stafford reported from Liberty, Missouri.

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Mujtaba Karimi crowded with hundreds of others outside a half-open gate to Hamid Karzai International Airport one night late last August. Afghan or maybe American soldiers  hes unsure in the darkened chaos  fired their rifles in the air and launched tear gas, trying to disperse the crowd.

Karimi did not run. He couldnt.

The 27-year-old was a young up-and-comer with the Afghan government. He lived in a nice apartment. He drove a Toyota Land Cruiser and he wore good clothes. But by late August 2021, the government had fallen to the Taliban, President Ashraf Ghani  Karimis boss  had fled the country and America and its allies were evacuating as many of their friends as they could. Everybody wanted out. But Karimi needed out. As an official of the old-guard government, he was no longer safe.

He waved his blue official Islamic Republic of Afghanistan passport in front of a beefy U.S. soldier at the gate. He yelled Diplomat!  the only English word he knew that came close to describing his status.

The American reached out and grabbed Karimi, pulled him through the crowd. Suddenly, he was on the other side of the gate. He was on his way to something entirely new.

It was a small thing, Karimi said. But it changed my life.

Today, he lives in Omaha. In some ways, its not bad. He has a decent apartment. He takes English classes at the University of Nebraska at Omaha  today hes much more comfortable with English than that perilous day in August.

But in other ways, its not so great. In Afghanistan he could leave work at 4 p.m. Today he works second shift and is up past midnight studying English. He once worked for his nations president. Now he works for Walmart, pushing skid loaders full of boxes from trucks into the store.

He wants to become a citizen and make something of himself here. He wants to attend the prestigious John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, something he dreamed of long before relocating to the United States. But he knows he will need to take a lot more English classes and haul many more boxes in Omaha before he steps behind the ivy walls in Massachusetts.

The fall of Kabul late last summer spurred a mass exodus from Afghanistan. Roughly 75,000 Afghans have come to the United States since then. As of last week, state officials say 1,214 have resettled in Nebraska.

Some are educated professionals such as Karimi, who fled because they were Taliban targets. Others fled because they could see no future under the Taliban. People are still desperately trying to leave.

Everybody is just trying to get out of Afghanistan because of the restrictions and poverty, said Sayed Omar Sadat, 27, who fled Afghanistan because his wife worked in the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. The passport department is crazy nowadays.

Those that came during the sudden Afghan influx faced confusion and chaos once they landed in Nebraska. So many arrived in such a short time that it overwhelmed local resettlement agencies. Those agencies faced years where they were starved of federal funds and received almost no refugees because of Trump administration policies that severely limited refugee numbers. In the last nine months, following an abrupt pullout from Afghanistan by President Joe Biden's administration, they have been forced to quickly swing into action.

Because the airlift happened over a quick, two-week, period  there was very little time of actually very little structure around how those resettlement efforts would happen, said Matt Martin, assistant vice president for refugee and immigrant programs at Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska. In a normal world, thats a very structured process.

Kubra Haidari, a former Afghan refugee and current case manager for Omahas Refugee Empowerment Center, said chaos reigned from August until February.

Every day we were working, from, like, early morning  till 12 oclock at night, she said.

For many, an arrival in Nebraska was a bureaucratic accident. Sadat and his wife wanted to go to Virginia, but Virginia had reached its limit of Afghans. An immigration agent told him he was going to Omaha.

It was the first time I had ever heard of Omaha, he said.

He Googled it. Thatll work, he thought.

Many Afghans arrived with their documentation in disarray  or no documentation at all. The vast majority came in under a humanitarian parole status that allowed them to stay for up to two years. They must change to another status or face potential deportation.

More than half had to go into temporary housing, some for a significant period of time, Martin said.

Some hiccups have resulted from well-meaning people trying to help new arrivals. A Grand Island meatpacker brought in six families  41 people total  to central Nebraska so the adult males could work in the plant. The necessary coordinating or planning wasnt completed. The families ended up living in a hotel. But there has been a groundswell of support and locals are now working to get them into permanent housing.

A situation where a significant number of people are just dropped into a community without forethought and planning is really a recipe for, if not disaster, then at least some chaos and confusion, Martin said. We want to do what we can to get ahead of that in communities so it can be a better process for everyone.

At the Empowerment Center, intake works like this: The refugees are met at the airport and taken to their first residence, often an Airbnb during the recent wave. On the second or third day they are brought to the office. Staff explains basic things, such as calling 911 in an emergency.

Later comes cultural orientation.

When they arrive here, I think everything is a challenge for them, Haidari said.

Ahsan Arian, 29, a new arrival, said some of his fellow new immigrants are puzzled by things such as a mobile phone or Google Maps. They dont know about voicemail, he said. They dont know about texting.

Drivers license training is a critical class. Many Afghans have experience driving, but motoring around Omaha is a very different experience than the streets of Kabul.

One client drove his car for 20 years in Afghanistan but here was befuddled with all the stoplights and signals.

Many women dont know how to drive at all. And learning to drive is important for women who might get left alone with children while their husband works. Their lives in Nebraska open up if they can learn to drive. It helps them show their husbands they are equal, Haidari said.

The housing chaos made life difficult for parents who needed to get their kids into schools. Many showed up without records of required shots. The medical clinic the Empowerment Center works with nearly doubled its clients per week to 100 to accommodate the influx. Children cant go to school without a vaccine card. And they cant attend without a permanent address  Omaha Public Schools doesnt want them to enroll in one school, then move to another a week or month later.

New Afghan arrivals struggle with these things while continuing to unpack the heartbreaking ways in which they left their homes.

Arian was a journalist for French broadcaster RFI in Afghanistan. Colleagues of his have been murdered by the Taliban. His bosses told him he should leave. When he did, he had to leave behind his parents, siblings, his wife and 14-month-old child.

He prays its temporary, hoping to soon reunite with his family and build a new life in Nebraska.

I cant live without them, he said in a recent interview in his northwest Omaha apartment, where the living room currently consists of a donated chair, a stool and a Sony TV that doesnt work.

In Afghanistan, being a journalist is a dangerous but respected profession. In Omaha, he works the assembly line for Airlite Plastics while he applies for asylum.

I was something more in Afghanistan, but here I am something other, he said.

Ultimately, he wants to be a U.S. citizen. It would be a good gift for me.

Shafiq Jahish, 34, knows how hard this transition is. Hes been in the United States for eight years and works in information technology for First National Bank. It took him 3 1/2 years to get a visa even though he worked for the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

There are hundreds of pages of application that you have to complete, he said. Learning the system is one thing. But if you cannot speak and write in that language, it is even more difficult.

Established immigrants try to help, he said  Jahish translated much of the interview with Khan. But life in America is hectic.

Even though Arian is educated and has experience with English, here the pronunciation and the speed are different. Hes starting an ESL course. He hopes to be more fluent in a few months.

As the Afghan arrivals continue to adapt to their new home, Lutheran Family Services is preparing for the next wave of refugees to come: Ukrainians. President Biden has said he will accept 100,000. But they should arrive differently, not in one giant airlift. Already the agency has greeted some Ukrainian walk-ins.

Right now we are challenged on that front because there is no Ukrainian refugee program, at all. And so the services that we can provide are very minimal, Martin said. But we are trying to do what we can to provide at least some basic needs, emergency support, for the few who are asking so far. We are preparing to support more as necessary.

The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraskas first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.

The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraskas first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.

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People heading to the Friday evening rally in Greenwood featuring former President Donald Trump should be prepared for "strong, potentially severe" thunderstorms, the National Weather Service said.

Hail, damaging winds and the potential for heavy rain are in the forecast, said Dave Eastlack, a weather service meteorologist based in Valley.

"It could be a recipe for an unpleasant evening," he said.

The former president is scheduled to deliver remarks in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles W. Herbster at 8 p.m. at the I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, which is about 35 miles southwest of Omaha. The program, which also will feature other speakers, is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

Severe weather is expected across much of south-central Nebraska late this afternoon and evening. Most of the storm activity will occur between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m., the weather service said. The main hazard will be damaging wind gusts over 75 mph and large hail in excess of 2 inches in diameter. Tornadoes also are possible, especially between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. The storms will generally move from southwest to northeast at speeds of 40 mph or greater, forecasters said.

When asked Friday morning whether the Herbster campaign was concerned about the forecast or was considering canceling the event, campaign spokeswoman Emily Novotny said, No and no. We are guests at the event. The Herbster campaign wouldnt make any decisions regarding cancellation, she said.

According to an organizer of the Greenwood rally, parking is available at the venue beginning Friday morning, with on-site handicapped parking spots available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Attendees will be asked to enter I-80 Speedway from 238th Street southeast of the venue. Parking will be near the entrance, northeast of the racetrack, as well as on the tracks infield.

Once parked, guests will be asked to walk to the event entrance on the southwestern corner of the property.

The Secret Service will screen all rallygoers upon entry. A prohibited list of items includes alcoholic beverages; large backpacks, bags or suitcases; chairs; coolers; firearms; noisemakers; umbrellas; weapons; and any other items that may pose a threat to the security of the event as determined by and at the discretion of the security screeners.

An email from the event organizer says those attending are encouraged to wear masks and face coverings during the entry and screening process  areas where 6 feet of social distancing is not possible.

The former presidents appearance in Nebraska comes a week and a half before the May 10 primary election in which Herbster is competing for the GOP nomination for governor.

World-Herald Staff Writers Nancy Gaarder and Sara Gentzler contributed to this report, which also includes material from the Lincoln Journal Star.

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ELKHORN  The Walworth County Board earlier this month become the first county in the state to pass an ordinance prohibiting itself from accepting any donation from any person or non-governmental entity for the purpose of election administration, including the collection of ballots or voter registration.

The idea behind it is to stop outside money like funds from charity funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, from coming into the community and affecting the administering of elections.

Leading up to the November 2020 presidential election, more than 200 Wisconsin communities received money from the nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life. Five Democratic-leaning cities  Kenosha, Racine, Green Bay, Madison and Milwaukee  received the lions share.

Since then, the Republican controlled Legislature passed a law that would have prohibited government agencies from accepting private funds for the administering of elections. But Gov. Tony Evers voted it here. Other states have enacted similar laws.

In order to try to stop communities from accepting private election donations, now work is being done to enact change at the local level, through ordinances like what Walworth County passed.

Quote "The fact is that since COVID started, with increased utilization of absentee and mail-in voting, costs and effort for local election authorities has gone up. If local communities dont want to take private donations to help fund those increased costs, then either costs will fall to taxpayers or access to the polls will be limited for eligible voters. The reality is that these dollars flow to elected and appointed leaders who local communities trust to run elections; theres no reason to reject outside support that just saves taxpayers money." Sachin Chheda, Democratic consultant/Fair Elections Project director

Ron Heuer, president of the Wisconsin Voter Alliance, a nonprofit, is among those working to help encourage more counties and municipalities to pass similar ordinances. His alliance formed in September 2020 as a result of communities, including Racine and Kenosha, accepting private funds to help administer the election.

They sold it under the idea it was to protect people from COVID, Heuer said. But it was really a way to increase the Democratic vote for Joe Biden, Heuer asserted. By increasing the vote in minority neighborhoods, they were able to increase the vote for Biden with 8 or 9 out of 10 voting for Biden.

They spent a pile of this money on getting the vote out for Biden, Heuer said.

Sachin Chheda, a Democratic consultant and director of the Wisconsin-based Fair Elections Project, called Walworth Countys ordinance dumb.

This is governing by Twitter, not governing by actually taking facts and using the truth to make good decisions for taxpayers, Chheda said. The fact is that since COVID started, with increased utilization of absentee and mail-in voting, costs and effort for local election authorities has gone up. If local communities dont want to take private donations to help fund those increased costs, then either costs will fall to taxpayers or access to the polls will be limited for eligible voters. The reality is that these dollars flow to elected and appointed leaders who local communities trust to run elections; theres no reason to reject outside support that just saves taxpayers money.

Shannon Powell, Racines communications director, said he was not aware of any conversations being had about restricting the use of grant funds in Racine.

As many court cases have confirmed, it is legal to do so under state law, so we will continue to follow law just as we have done, Powell said. The City very transparently applied for grants to support and assist in running a safe election in the midst of a pandemic. The Clerk, her staff, and all the poll workers all did an amazing job.

Previously, Racine officials have said that their 2020 elections budget had been nearly entirely consumed by running the April 2020 election, which was nearly postponed by Evers one month after the coronavirus was confirmed to be present in Wisconsin.

Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian did not immediately return calls for comment about accepting the private grants.

The Wisconsin Voter Alliance filed a lawsuit trying to stop the flow of the money into the cities including Racine and Kenosha, but they have so far not been successful.

The reason you dont want to have private money in the election, you can have a guy like Zuckerberg controlling all the elections, Heuer said. Once we have done that, we have lost our country.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and others have argued that banning the practice would likewise stop the likes of conservative billionaires, such as the Koch family, from funneling money into right-leaning communities in get out the vote efforts.

Imagine if it happened in reverse, where the Koch brothers gave millions of dollars to only turn out people of white background in the suburbs, Vos said last fall. People would say, That is crazy. Well, thats exactly what happened with the money from Zuckerberg in reverse, where they focused only on turning out minorities in large cities.

Chheda responded to this, saying These (CTCL) funds went to more than 200 communities that needed support to fund local elections that had gotten more expensive. If the Koch brothers wanted to support to get votes out in communities instead of spending millions lobbying for tax breaks  that would be a good thing.

Chris Gable, chairman of the Republican Party of Walworth County, said since Evers vetoed any changes to state law pertaining to private election money, it is important for local governments to enact their own ordinances.

No other election reforms will occur before the November election. Its time for the counties and we the people to speak at a local level, Gable said.

Walworth County Administrator Mark Luberda said the ordinance that Walworth County passed just applies for the county. Municipalities within the county would still have to enact their own ordinances to prohibit individual cities and villages from accepting private funds.

Elections are a core aspect of what we do. Its reasonable we should be able to fund those, Luberda said.

Adam Rogan of The Journal Times contributed to this report.

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Now that Wisconsinites have treatment options for COVID-19 in pill form, Ascension Wisconsin wants to get the word out about one in particular.

Paxlovid is an antiviral drug that is nearly 90% effective at preventing severe illness from COVID-19 and has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by about the same percentage, research shows.

The U.S. has committed to purchase 20 million treatment courses, more than any other country in the world, the White House said in a statement Tuesday. Since December 2021, the Biden administration has distributed COVID-19 oral antivirals directly to states, tribes, territories and community health centers for free.

Last week, the World Health Organization strongly recommended and called for greater use of Paxlovid.

Pfizer makes the oral antiviral drug, which is a combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir tablets sold under the name Paxlovid.

Paxlovid is stocked on local pharmacy shelves, but many consumers remain unaware of its availability and their eligibility for this antiviral medication.

Paxlovid doesnt always mix with other drugs, so physicians and pharmacists should help patients know if it is safe and advisable to use Paxlovid. There are alternatives for treatment should patients not qualify. Other COVID-19 oral antiviral pills include Lagevrio (molnupiravir) and monoclonal antibody treatments include Evusheld and Bebtelovimab.

When Wisconsin first received Paxlovid in January, supply was limited.

Ascension Wisconsins regional infectious disease pharmacist Jim Davis said it was expected that the demand would exceed the short supply. However, that was not the case. Not many people knew about it.

This one fell through the cracks, Davis said. Now pharmacy shelves are stocked and there are few demands. Ascension has been bringing the medicine to the attention of its physicians and patients, and now its hoping to let the greater community know.

This medication is intended for emergency use for people at high risk of severe disease and hospitalization, such as those who are unvaccinated against COVID-19, as well as older or immunosuppressed patients. Its for treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults and children 12 years old and older weighing at least 88 pounds who have a positive COVID test.

These people could benefit from early intervention, according to health officials.

Paxlovid was additionally in short supply nationally after Food and Drug Administration authorization Dec. 21, but the Biden administration worked with Pfizer to accelerate the delivery of these pills, and they are now in ample supply, the White House said.

The presidents National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan lays out a map ensuring that these pills, along with other treatments, are available.

Specifics

Paxlovid requires a doctors prescription and must be taken as soon as possible after testing positive for COVID-19. In order to be effective, Paxlovid should be taken no more than five days after symptoms begin.

Those with COVID-19 symptoms should not delay getting tested, and, if the test comes back positive, call their doctor immediately to see if an antiviral medication is available to them. This includes when receiving a positive result through at-home testing kits.

People in the high-risk category that can benefit from the medication include anyone whos unvaccinated against COVID-19 as well as those suffering from cancer, chronic kidney or liver disease, diabetes, HIV, an autoimmune disease and a multitude of other conditions, Davis said. He mentioned the medication is not a replacement for the vaccine, but is a good opportunity for those who have not received the vaccine.

The medication works by blocking the enzyme thats responsible for virus replication. Davis said it doesnt matter what the surge in cases look like, Paxlovid works with the bodys cells where the virus is replicating.

Thats why this medication is so wonderful, Davis said.

Patients are to take pills twice a day for five days. Potential side effects include unpleasant taste and diarrhea, but both arent severe, Davis said.

More than 20,000 pharmacies stock the medication; its available at Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services, at dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/treatments.htm, provides a map that lists the locations where patients can find Paxlovid available.

Davis said its important for those that are at high risk to call their doctor as soon as they test positive even if severe symptoms dont occur immediately because severe symptoms such as shortness of breath may start several days later.

At that point, the immune system may overreact and cause great deals of inflammation, Davis said, which makes for other complications.

You have to be your own at-home advocate, Davis said. The more high risks you have, the more reason you have to call your physician.

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Copperas Cove, TX (76522)

Today

Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. Near record high temperatures. High 93F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low around 70F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
By Azernews





An Azerbaijani civilian has been seriously injured in a mine blast in Lachin region liberated from Armenia's occupation in the 44-day war in 2020, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General's Office has reported on its website.

At about 1400 on April 29, the regional prosecutor's office was informed that Azerbaijani citizen Parvin Salahov (30) was blown up by an anti-personnel mine in Lachins Safiyan village.

Salahov, a construction company worker, was seriously injured in a mine explosion during maintenance and construction work in the region, according to preliminary findings.

The fact is now being investigated by the Lachin region prosecutor's office.

Despite the fact that about 18 months have passed since the 44-day war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the latter's land mines continue to endanger human lives in the liberated lands.

Armenia spared no effort to plant land mines on Azerbaijani territory, not only during the 30 years of occupation but also on the eve of their return following the trilateral statement signed by Baku, Moscow and , in order to cause human casualties.

Almost every day, there is news of civilians or military personnel being injured or killed as a result of mine explosions in Azerbaijan's liberated lands.

This fact demonstrates that Armenia is continuing its mine warfare against Azerbaijan's both civilian and military people. It should be noted that approximately 80 percent of the mine maps submitted by Armenia to Azerbaijan are incorrect.

Armenia appears to be committing war crimes by concealing the locations of landmines, allowing more innocent people to be killed.

Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev earlier described as accurate only 25 percent of minefield maps provided by Armenia.

"They planted mines instead of trees in our territories. Both soldiers and civilians were killed and injured in the blasts. Unfortunately, only 25 percent of the mine maps provided by Armenia were useful," Hajiyev said.

The Azerbaijani regions liberated from Armenian occupation in the second Karabakh war in 2020 are the most mine-littered area in the world.

Armenia deliberately and constantly planted mines on Azerbaijani territories, in violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, thereby being a major threat to regional peace, security and cooperation.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered ceasefire agreement on November 10, 2020, to end 44 days of fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.
Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. Near record high temperatures. High 93F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will become overcast later during the night. Low 71F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
1. Yes. If inflation remains high and interest rates rise, the economy will be a major factor.

2. Yes. If the nation goes into a recession, it will be the issue on the minds of most voters.

3. No. Inflation will likely moderate by then; if so, the economy wont be a major issue.

4.No. All the turmoil involving Russia and Roe v. Wade will probably take center stage.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say how the economy will play with voters at this point.

Vote

View Results
The talk is based on an article that will appear in the August 2022 issue of The Journal of Arizona History. In his presentation, Stoutamire will examine the origins of the Museum of Northern Arizona, one of the Southwests most significant regional museums. He situates the museums origins within ongoing debates about the preservation of Northern Arizonas archaeological heritage. The debates pitted the residents of Flagstaff against Smithsonian archaeologists, and excluded indigenous communities in their entirety. Stoutamire is an assistant professor of history at UNK, where he coordinates the public history minor and MA concentration in public history.
KEARNEY  It was billed as a conservative forum and it stuck with the script Thursday night as candidates for the Kearney Public Schools Board of Education spoke their minds on a number of topics.

The topics included the school districts response to the COVID pandemic, Critical Race Theory and Comprehensive Sex Education.

Theres no need to put a mask on a kid unless the kid wants it, said Paul Hazard, one of the challengers in the field when asked to assess how KPS responded to health threats from COVID.

In situations like this you need someone who stands up, Hazard said.

As an incumbent Wendy Kreis had a front-row seat as KPS navigated the pandemic.

Our district kept our students in school. I dont know how we could have done better, Kreis said.

Thursday nights forum, co-sponsored by the Buffalo County Republicans and Central Nebraska Patriots, attracted six of the eight KPS candidates fighting to advance from the May 10 primary to the Nov. 8 general election.

Ultimately, three of the candidates will win four-year terms.

In addition to Kreis and Hazard, challengers John Icenogle, Derek Meyer, Dionne Moore and Jacob Reiter participated in Thursdays event. Incumbent Drew Blessing and challenger Will Kirkland were absent.

Moderator Joe Maul said the two no-shows, Blessing and Kirkland, were invited to participate. Maul said, however, he said the six participants represented viewpoints more aligned with the mostly conservative audience of about 120 who filled half of the space in the Kearney Eagles Club.

Unfortunately, the school board race is nonpartisan so candidates arent marked on the ballot if theyre Republican or Democrat, said Maul. He said the county GOP is signing up volunteers to be poll watchers on May 10.

During introductions, the six participants explained why theyre campaigning for the KPS Board. Many said the challenges of the pandemic exposed problems in schools.

Meyer said hes campaigning for the school board because you see things going on and its worrisome.

Kreis said as a child she fell in love with education. She said she hopes to continue leading KPS because its probably one of the best systems in the state.

Moore, the only single parent among the candidates, said she prayed about filing for school board. She said she wouldnt be a fiery board member but would vote conservatively.

Reiter, a civil engineer, said, I like to solve problems, I like to question people, and I like to question their motives.

Icenogle said, as a defense attorney, its common for people to characterize him as a liberal, but a lot of my job is halting government overreach.

Regarding mask mandates, Reiter said There have been tons of studies that prove that cloth masks do not stop droplets.

Icenogle said, Dr. Fauci lied.

As the pandemic progressed, Meyer said, It turned into you having to wear a mask, then you had to wear two masks, and then it was get a shot.

On Critical Race Theory, Hazard said CRT has no place in KPS. Lets teach history, not CRT.

Moore said CRT takes us apart when we should be coming together.

CRT is a divisive political tool, and its place is in the Dumpster, Reiter said.

Icenogle said, CRT is a lens for looking at history, and it shows our founders were imperfect.

Meyer said, CRT is a ridiculous theory thats being crammed down our kids throats. We need to learn about each others cultures. I tell my kid your character is what defines you.

Each of the candidates condemned the Nebraska State Board of Education for attempting to draft statewide health education standards.

The moderator, Maul, asked the candidates to define the health education standards. Some labeled them comprehensive sex education.

Its garbage put out by our state board of education, Moore said. Its nothing short of grooming kids to be victims.

Reiter said it is parents responsibility to protect their children. Innocence is a beautiful thing.

Health class should teach about safe sex, Meyer said, but dont promote it.

Kreis, who chairs the KPS Board, said she doesnt support comprehensive sex education. She said KPS drafted its own health education standards to reflect what the people want.

Hazard, a retired state trooper, called the states standards a pedophiles dream because they groom children to become victims of sexual assault.

The state does not have the authority to send us health standards.

Some of the candidates said whistle-blower employees ought to be protected against retribution if they report problems or wrongdoing in the schools.

Most said they would be accessible and a welcome input from parents.

Since he became a candidate, Icenogle said hes not skipped answering an email from voters and school patrons.

I spoke to teachers, Moore said, and they dont feel they have parents support.

Hazard suggested that board members make an effort to follow KPS activities and be more visible so parents can talk to them.

Meyer said, Transparency needs to be there. I believe that complacency got us into this mess.

Summing up the evenings discussions, moderator Maul said, We have an awesome school, but we cant let it slip away.
LEXINGTON  A 19-year-old Lexington man charged in the shooting death of a 15-year-old Lexington resident has accepted a plea deal.

Ramon Gonzalez Romero had been charged with felony first-degree murder, and use of a weapon to commit a felony.

Romero appeared in Dawson County District Court before Judge James Doyle on Friday. Per the plea deal, the first-degree murder charge was amended to manslaughter and the weapon charge was dismissed.

A sentencing hearing is set for 11 a.m. June 27.

At 7:25 a.m. Jan. 2, the Lexington Police Department respoonded to Lexington Regional Health Center for a 15-year-old teen with a possible gunshot wound.

Officers spoke with two individuals who reported a physical altercation had taken place near Airport Road and 20th Street. Romero had exited a white SUV and fired three rounds from a 12-gauge shotgun at a 15-year-old, according to court records.

The 15-year-old was transported to Lexington Regional Health Center by friends, but later died.

Officers interviewed one of the three occupants of the SUV who had been riding with Romero before the altercation. According to LPD reports, one of the occupants of the SUV reported they had been driving around when a black Chevy pickup began following them.

Occupants were the 15-year-old and the two individuals officers had spoken to earlier. The vehicles stopped around 20th Street and Airport Road, and one of the SUV occupants reported, at the beginning of the altercation, the 15-year-old possessed a black handgun, records say.

After Romero had fired the shots, occupants of the SUV asked him, Did you really just shoot him, to which Gonzalez Romero replied, Yeah, I did, records say.

The LPD obtained an arrest warrant for Gonzalez Romero, who later turned himself in.

Gonzalez Romero graduated from Lexington High School in 2020. Major Scott Ingalsbe of the Nebraska National Guard said Gonzalez Romero was joining the Guard, but had not attended basic training or been assigned to a unit.
ALMA  Rain, lightning and hail thundered down from the skies Thursday in south-central Nebraska.

The Harlan County Sheriffs Office reported two-five inches of rain throughout the county. But with the rain came hail. Most of the hail was pea- to quarter-sized, but there were reports of two-inch hailstones.

Lightning strikes south of the Harlan County Reservoir ignited two separate fires. Alma, Orleans, Republican City and Stamford all sent crews to the fires around 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

The fire chiefs in Harlan County have all agreed that everyone in the county is called when someone has a fire to just try to prevent a big fire and to get lots of help there quickly, said Alma Fire Chief Brian Seyler.

By the time the departments arrived on the scene, Mother Nature took over. With rain falling, the departments did not have to spray any water on the blaze, Seyler said.

While the moisture was welcomed, hail caused damage to the departments rigs that were on scene.

I was in my personal pickup, and it was pretty beat up, Seyler said. He was going to assess the damage today to the departments two grass rigs.

Lightning caused several fires Thursday in Kearney and Franklin counties. The Minden Volunteer Fire Department responded to a field fire between 33 and 34 roads on A Road. Upland was called for mutual aid.

We called all our Quad Cities, and everybody was out on calls, said Minden Fire Chief Tom Brown.

MVFD had four fire calls yesterday. The field fire burned about five acres of cornstalks.

A lightning strike in Holdrege caused two-thirds of the community to be without power from about 10:30 p.m.-1 a.m. Thursday into today. Brian Brinkman, electrical superintendent for the city of Holdrege, reported lightning hit a substation and caused damage to lock down a feeder line from Nebraska Public Power District. Residents in the southwest corner of town and the BD plant did not lose power.

According to the National Weather Service in Hastings, Holdrege had 0.27 of an inch of rain. Lexington received 0.19 of an inch of precipitation while Kearney had a trace amount of moisture.

Storms are likely to brew again today with a 70% chance of precipitation for the Kearney area with wind gusts up to 30 mph. A high wind warning will be in effect from 7 a.m. Saturday until 1 a.m. Sunday.
By Azernews





Azerbaijani Defence Minister Zakir Hasanov and NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Javier Colomina have met to discuss prospects for the development of bilateral relations and the regional military and political situation.

At a meeting held in Baku on April 29, Hasanov spoke about the positive results achieved in the field of cooperation with NATO. He emphasized the importance of further developing relations between the sides.

Furthermore, the delegation was informed on the reforms carried out in the Azerbaijan army in line with President Ilham Aliyev's instructions, as well as the work done in the liberated territories and the current situation on the Azerbaijan-Armenian state border.

Expressing gratitude for the warm welcome, Colomina highly appreciated the close cooperation of the Azerbaijani and Turkish armed forces.

He underlined this cooperation's significant contribution to Azerbaijan-NATO relations.

The two officials also discussed other issues of mutual interest.

Earlier, the visiting NATO official met President Ilham Aliyev. Furthermore, Colomina was received by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.

Colomina arrived in Azerbaijan on April 28. In his capacity as NATO secretary-general's special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, he is making his second trip to the South Caucasus.

This visit is part of regular consultations between NATO officials and representatives from Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia, and is an important format for taking stock of NATO relations with partners and exchanging views on future political dialogue and cooperation, particularly in light of ongoing preparations for the 2022 NATO Summit in Madrid.

The NATO official earlier visited Armenia and Georgia, where he had met with top Armenian officials, Georgian officials, MPs, representatives of international organizations, and civil society.

Relations with NATO started in 1992 when Azerbaijan joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. This forum for dialogue was succeeded in 1997 by the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, which brings together all Allies and partner countries in the Euro-Atlantic area.

Bilateral cooperation began when Azerbaijan joined the Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme in 1994. Thanks to regular participation in PfP activities, Azerbaijan has been able to contribute actively to Euro-Atlantic security by supporting NATO-led peace-support operations.

Azerbaijans participation in the PfP Planning and Review Process (PARP) since 1997 has allowed NATO and individual Allies to assist Azerbaijan in developing selected units to improve interoperability with those of the Allies.

NATO and Azerbaijan started work on a jointly agreed Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) in 2008 to integrate NATO standards into the teaching methodologies and curricula of the countrys Professional Military Education (PME) institutions.

In 2018, Azerbaijan asked NATO to also involve the Military High School, a pre-commissioning school, in DEEP.




The Gateway Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, will celebrate 100 years of Scouting in the Coulee Region with its Centennial Celebration on May 6-7.

Two events will occur, details include:

Centennial Gala  Friday, May 6, at the La Crosse Center

Scouting friends and alumni are invited to the Centennial Gala. The event will feature several components.

Distinguished Eagle Scout Award being presented to retired NASA Astronaut and Eagle Scout from Viroqua Mark C. Lee with comments from Mark. Mark Lee is the veteran of four space flights and was one of the first astronauts to walk untethered outside of the space shuttle. Only 2,000 Distinguish

ed Eagle Scout Awards have been awarded out of over 2.7 million Eagle Scouts who have earned the rank. The local BSA council encompassing an Eagle Scouts primary residence is responsible for nominations.

Comments from Topper Hagerman, visiting guest from Colorado and son of longtime Camp Decorah director and 1976 Oktoberfest Festmaster Sam Hagerman.

Five families with longtime Scouting involvement will receive the inaugural Hagerman Legacy in Scouting award: the Binsfeld, Dahl, Davy, Sleik and

Robert Skemp families.

Find more information and pre-register at www.gatewayscouting.org/100

Centennial Campo- ree  Saturday, May 7, at Camp Decorah

Families, Scouting alumni and members of the general public are invited to attend the Centennial Camporee. There will be a variety of fun activities for families to participate in including:

Activities such as: GPS navigation, outdoor cooking, mini submarines, compass course, gaga ball, balsa gliders, shooting sports, leatherwork, rocketry and more.

Guest displays and shows such as emergency services, River Valley Raptors, WisCorps Critter Mobile and more.

The event will also include a trading post, historical displays and more.

Plan to arrive at Camp Decorah between noon and 2 p.m. to begin your day. A closing campfire show will conclude the day at 5:30 p.m.

Find more information and pre-register to attend (preferred) at www.gatewayscouting.org/centennialcamporee.

About the Gateway Area Council

The Gateway Area Council provides programming to 1,000+ youth Scout members throughout a nine-county region of Western Wisconsin and Southeast Minnesota with the help of nearly 450 adult volunteers.

Gateway Area Council Scouting programs take place in Buffalo, Crawford, Jackson, Juneau, La Crosse, Monroe, Trempealeau, Vernon counties of Wisconsin and Houston County, Minnesota.

For more information, visit www.gatewayscout ing.org.

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Thousands of dedicated middle and high school student musicians from across the state are preparing for the Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA) State Solo & Ensemble Festivals.

Ten university campuses will host performances by more than 20,000 students, making this event one of the largest of its kind in the nation. UW-Milwaukee, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, Viterbo University and UW-Whitewater will hold festivals on April 30.

Aquinas High School students will compete on the Viterbo University campus in the Fine Arts Center and Nursing building.

Solo & Ensemble Festivals are scheduled for 8 a.m.  4:30 p.m. All events are open to the public and free of charge.

In conjunction with the in-person festivals, WSMA also offered an alternative participation option through its Virtual State Festival, where students were able to submit video entries for adjudicator feedback.

We are extremely proud to support Wisconsin students with access to both in-person and virtual programs like WSMA State Solo & Ensemble Festivals that contribute to a well-rounded education. The resilience through music education that the students have demonstrated this year is truly inspiring, said WSMA Executive Director Laurie Fellenz.

Students must earn a starred first rating in Class A (which consists of the most difficult music) at a WSMA District Music Festival to qualify for WSMA State Music Festivals. The participants, in grades 6-12, can choose from a variety of instrumental and vocal solo and ensemble categories for their performances in district festivals throughout the state, including in-person festivals and the WSMA Virtual District Festival.

Over the past six months, WSMA has held over 140 such events, involving more participants than any other student activity.

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Cleanup and damage assessment continue in the wake of Thursdays fire in downtown La Crosse.

La Crosse Fire Department Assistant Chief Steven Cash said Friday that department personnel were on the scene through midnight trying to determine the cause of a fire that destroyed a building at 318 Fourth St.

The fire broke out in a basement kitchen at India Curry House and quickly swept through the entire structure, including three upstairs apartment units.

Nobody was injured in the fire, and everyone who lived in apartment units on the 300 block evacuated before firefighters arrived. Firefighters also rescued four cats.

Cash said two businesses next door to India Curry House were temporarily condemned for human habitation but arent total losses.

They will not need to be demolished, Cash said. There are some minor repairs that need to be made before the condemnation orders are removed.

The owners of Glory Days, a tavern immediately north of India Curry House, have said they intend to re-open. The business sustained smoke and water damage but escaped fire damage.

The city has placed condemned signs on our building while we wait for the city engineers to inspect the damages, owner Blake Schoh wrote Friday on a Facebook post. While we wait, we ask for the community support in keeping an eye out for vandalism and theft as this place means so much to us and our patrons.

Schoh also wrote, Many thanks go out to the La Crosse and Shelby Fire Departments for their hard work.

Indian Curry House owner Om Parkash, who rents the building that was destroyed, said Thursday he wont decide the fate of the business until he can better assess the situation. He also owns two businesses in Rochester, Minnesota.

It depends on how its going to work out, Parkash said.

The west side of the 300 block is fenced off, and Cash said people should avoid the area if at all possible until the site is filled in. He said the department doesnt have a monetary estimate of the damage.

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Downtown Mainstreet Inc. was recognized for its outstanding downtown revitalization efforts and promotions at the 31st Wisconsin Main Street Awards ceremony held in downtown Fond du Lac on April 22.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation hosted the awards ceremony and recognized the efforts by Wisconsin Main Street volunteers and staff for their historic preservation and downtown economic development efforts of communities in Wisconsin in 2021.

WEDC congratulates DMI for its outstanding efforts to revitalize and improve downtown, said Missy Hughes, secretary and CEO of WEDC. A vibrant downtown is critical to a communitys overall economic development as well as the quality of life for its residents, and we commend DMI for being among the best in the state when it comes to strengthening its downtown.

Terry Bauer, executive director of Downtown Mainstreet, said: The Leithold Musics facade restoration and the opening of the second floor piano recital room is simply amazing. Abbie Leithold-Gerzema and Paul Leitholds investment improved the street-scape of Fourth Street in a positive fashion.

Jason Alberty and Andrew Bosshards investment in the Newburg Flats on Pearl created four beautiful apartments and a large commercial space. A special thank you to Marc Zettler, Zettler Design, for his design work on both of these fantastic projects.

Wisconsin Main Street is a community development program administered by WEDC that targets Wisconsins historic commercial districts. WEDC provides technical support and training to the 34 Main Street communities and 83 Connect Communities to help them revitalize their business districts based on guidelines developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Since the programs inception in 1987, Wisconsin Main Street community projects have resulted in the creation of more than 3,000 new businesses and more than 16,000 net new jobs. In addition, more than $2.5 billion in public and private investment has occurred in Wisconsin Main Street communities.

During fiscal year 2021, despite suffering one of the most dramatic economic declines in recent history, Wisconsin Main Street communities were responsible for the creation of an estimated 357 net new jobs and 134 net new businesses in the state. Nearly 25,000 volunteer hours were dedicated to improving the quality of life in communities around the state.

DMI has been part of the Wisconsin Main Street Program since 1990.

The complete list of Downtown Mainstreet La Crosse award winners:

Best Facade Rehabilitation: Leithold Music, La Crosse

Best Upper Floor Development: Newburg Flats on Pearl, La Crosse

Best Image Item/Campaign/Event: Downtown Decks, La Crosse

Best Creative Fundraising Effort: Valentines Day Gift Packages, La Crosse

Volunteer of the Year: Will Kratt, La Crosse

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Thousands of firefighters continued to slow the advance of destructive wildfires in the Southwestern U.S. but warned they were bracing for the return Friday of the same dangerous conditions that quickly spread the wind-fueled blazes a week ago.

At least 166 homes have been destroyed in one rural county in northeast New Mexico since the biggest fire currently burning in the U.S. started racing through small towns east and northeast of Santa Fe on April 22, the local sheriff said.

Winds gusting up to 50 mph (80 kph) were forecast Friday in the drought-stricken region. One expert said it's a recipe for disaster on the wildlands where some timber has a fuel moisture drier than kiln-dried wood.

Its a very, very dangerous fire day tomorrow, fire behavior specialist Stewart Turner said at a briefing Thursday night on the edge of the Santa Fe National Forest in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Like we saw last Friday, epic fire behavior, Turner said. It's a day that as a firefighter, we'll write about, we'll read studies about. It's going to be a big fire day.

A swath of the country stretching from Arizona to the Texas panhandle is expected to be hit the hardest by the return of the bad firefighting weather that has generated unusually hot and fast-moving fires for this time of year, forecasters warned.

Red flag warnings were in place Thursday for all of New Mexico and parts of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

More than 3,000 firefighters were battling fires in Arizona and New Mexico on Thursday  about half of those in northeast New Mexico, where more than 187 square miles (484 square kilometers) of mostly timber and brush has been charred.

They focused Thursday on preventing it from moving into the rural New Mexico community of Ledoux. That meant bolstering fire lines and sending in crews tasked with protecting structures.

Great progress again today, incident commander Carl Schwope said Thursday night. But tomorrow has the potential to be a very destructive day.

It will be chaotic if anything close to what happened (last) Friday occurs, added operations chief Jayson Coil.

Sheriff Chris Lopez, of New Mexico's Miguel County, confirmed for the first time Thursday night the fire there has destroyed at least 166 residences, 108 outbuildings and three commercial buildings. He joined authorities in neighboring Mora County in pleading with residents to pay close attention Friday to sudden changes in closures and evacuation orders.

Falling trees, possibly falling power lines, thats the kind of winds we're looking at, Lopez said.

Turner, the fire behavior specialist, said the gusty winds are only part of the problem. He said moisture levels in downed logs and woody debris are extremely dry just 2% in small twigs, pine needles and grasses that actually carry a forest fire across the landscape."

Moisture in a small log the size of a 4-by-4 post you buy at the lumber store ... are coming down to 8%, he said. Kiln-dry is 12%. So out there, thats drying to what a kiln would do.

In northern Arizona, authorities downgraded some some evacuation orders at a fire that has destroyed at least 20 homes near Flagstaff. It's now estimated to be 43% contained. Another fire 10 miles (16 km) south of Prescott was 23% contained, but officials at both blazes warned of worsening conditions expected Friday.

Elsewhere, one national incident team continued to oversee a large prairie fire in Nebraska, where more than 200 firefighters were battling a blaze that has been burning since last week.

About 68 square miles (176 square kilometers) of mostly grasses and farmland have been blackened near Nebraska's state line with Kansas, several homes were destroyed and at least one person was killed. That fire was 88% contained Thursday.

Sonner reported from Reno, Nevada. Margery A. Beck contributed to this report from Omaha, Nebraska.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Sri Lankas president has agreed to replace his older brother as prime minister in a proposed interim government to solve a political impasse caused by the countrys worst economic crisis in decades, a prominent lawmaker said Friday.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed that a national council will be appointed to name a new prime minister and Cabinet comprised of all parties in Parliament, lawmaker Maithripala Sirisena said after meeting with the president.

Sirisena, who was president before Rajapaksa, was a governing party lawmaker before defecting earlier this month along with nearly 40 other legislators.

However, Rohan Weliwita, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, said the president has not communicated any intent to remove the prime minister and a decision will be announced if such a step is taken.

Sri Lanka is near bankruptcy and has announced it is suspending payments on its foreign loans until it negotiates a rescue plan with International Monetary Fund. It has to repay $7 billion in foreign debt this year, and $25 billion by 2026. Its foreign reserves stand at less than $1 billion.

The foreign exchange shortage has severely limited imports, forcing people to wait in long lines to buy essentials such as food, fuel, cooking gas and medicine.

President Rajapaksa and his family have dominated nearly every aspect of life in Sri Lanka for most of the last 20 years. Protesters who have crowded the streets since March hold them responsible for the crisis and are demanding that they quit politics.

On Thursday, businesses were closed, teachers absent and public transportation interrupted as Sri Lankans joined a general strike to pressure the president to step down.

Rajapaksa earlier reshuffled his Cabinet and offered a unity government in an attempt to quell the protests, but opposition parties refused to join a government headed by the Rajapaksa brothers.

Both the president and prime minister have held on to their positions, while three other Rajapaksa family members resigned from the Cabinet earlier in April in what appeared an attempt to pacify angry protesters.

The weak, divided opposition has been unable to form a majority and take control of Parliament on its own.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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In the weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, millions of Ukrainians have fled the country as refugees. Hundreds of those refugees have now arrived at the southern border of the United States seeking asylum, after flying to Mexico on tourist visas.

At the border, Ukrainians, alongside thousands of other asylum seekers, must navigate two policies meant to keep people out. The first is the Migrant Protection Protocols, a U.S. government action initiated by the Trump administration in December 2018 and known informally as Remain in Mexico. The second is Title 42, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directive crafted in 2020, ostensibly to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The directive expels all irregular immigrants (those without permanent residency or a visa in hand) and asylum seekers who try to enter the U.S. by land.

On March 11, 2022, however, the Biden administration provided guidance allowing Customs and Border Protection officers to exempt Ukrainians from Title 42 on a case-by-case basis, which has allowed many families to enter. However, this exception has not been granted to other asylum seekers, no matter what danger they are in. It is possible that the administration may lift Title 42 at the end of May 2022, but that plan has encountered fierce debates.

The different treatment of Ukrainian versus Central American, African, Haitian and other asylum seekers has prompted criticism that the administration is enforcing immigration policies in racist ways, favoring white, European, mostly Christian refugees over other groups.

This issue is not new. As scholars of religion, race, immigration, and racial and religious politics in the United States, we study both historical and current immigration policy. We argue that U.S. refugee and asylum policy has long been racially and religiously discriminatory in practice.

Chinese asylum seekers

Race played a major role in who counted as a refugee during the early years of the Cold War. The displacement of millions fleeing communist regimes in Eastern Europe and East Asia created humanitarian crises in both places.

Under significant international pressure, Congress passed the 1953 Refugee Relief Act. According to historian Carl Bon Tempo, in the minds of President Dwight Eisenhower and most lawmakers, refugee meant anticommunist European. The text and implementation of the act reflected this. Of the 214,000 visas set aside for refugees, the law designated a quota of only 5,000 spots for Asians (2,000 for Chinese and 3,000 for Far Eastern refugees). Ultimately, approximately 9,000 Chinese (including 6,862 Chinese wives of U.S. citizens who came as nonquota migrants) were admitted under the 1953 refugee law, compared with nearly 200,000 southern and eastern Europeans, over the next three years.

Racial prejudice impacted the international response to refugees as well. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, United Nations officials had declared the displaced population in Europe a humanitarian crisis and appealed to the international community to relieve these pressures by accepting refugees. Over the next decade, Western nations including the U.S., France and Great Britain received millions of displaced Europeans as part of a larger Cold War public relations strategy to contain the Soviet Union and demonstrate the superiority of Western capitalist societies to life behind the Iron Curtain.

Millions of ethnic Chinese displaced by the 1949 Communist Revolution were not greeted so kindly. In the early 1950s, Hong Kongs population tripled due to mainland Chinese fleeing civil war and communist rule, triggering a crisis. Most Western countries, however, continued to exclude Chinese and other Asians from immigrating and made few exceptions for refugees.

In the United States, exclusionary provisions that barred Asians from immigrating as aliens ineligible to citizenship would not be removed from immigration law until the 1965 Immigration Act.

Haitian asylum seekers

The first Haitian asylum seekers, who are overwhelmingly Black, attempted to reach the U.S. in boats in 1963 during the dictatorship of Francois Duvalier. It was a period of great economic inequality and severe violent repression of political opposition in Haiti.

Between 1973 and 1991, more than 80,000 Haitians tried to seek asylum in the U.S. The U.S., however, consistently attempted to intercept and turn back boats carrying Haitian asylum seekers to avoid having to hear their cases.

In the 1980s and 1990s, nearly every single Haitian who tried to request asylum was either denied or turned away. Some disparities between asylum rates could be explained by political factors, particularly the U.S. governments interest in prioritizing refugees from communist countries.

However, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court both found, in Haitian Refugee Center v. Civiletti and Jean v. Nelson respectively, that racial discrimination could be the only reason for such strikingly different outcomes for Haitians. In Jean v. Nelson, the 11th Circuit heard evidence from plaintiffs that there was a less than two-in-1 billion chance that Haitians would be denied parole so consistently if immigration policies were applied in racially neutral ways. Both courts also noted the differences in outcomes of asylum claims between Cuban refugees, who were predominantly white, and Haitian refugees.

In the same time period, even while Black Haitian asylum seekers were being turned away, European immigrants, who were primarily white, received preference in the Diversity Visa system created by the Immigration Act of 1990. Northern Ireland, for example, was designated as a separate country from the United Kingdom, and 40% of diversity transition visas allocated during 1992 to 1994 were earmarked for Irish immigrants.

Similar accusations of racism and discriminatory treatment have surfaced over the last several months as Haitian asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border have been forced onto flights to Haiti and have faced degrading treatment.

Syrian refugees and the Muslim ban

Beginning in January 2017, President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders described by many refugee advocates as the Muslim Ban. The ban suspended the entry of people from majority-Muslim countries, including Syrians, and limited the number of refugee admissions of several majority-Muslim countries.

Syrian refugees, most of whom fled the Syrian civil war that began in 2011 and violence by the Islamic State, were specifically targeted in the Muslim Ban.

A February 2017 version of the Muslim Ban claimed that Syrian refugees were detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend[ed] from admission, with few exceptions. This contributed to a significant decrease in the number of Syrian refugees  from 12,587 to 76 between financial year 2016 to 2018.

Research shows that religion, particularly Islam, is used to create symbolic boundaries of racial distinction in order to promote immigration enforcement goals. Specifically, the government attempted to justify an exclusionary refugee policy based on race and religion by implicating Muslims and refugees in terrorism, as Trump did in speeches, even calling Syrians the trojan horse for terrorism.

International agreements for refugees and asylum seekers clearly state that admissions should be based on need. In principle, U.S. law says this as well. But these key moments in United States history show how race, religion and other factors play a role in determining who is in, and who is out.

While refugees from the war in Ukraine deserve support from the United States and other countries, the contrast between the treatment of different groups of refugees shows that the process of gaining refuge in the United States is still far from equitable.

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Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture. Sign up for This Week in Religion.

Laura E. Alexander receives funding from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) as a Public Fellow.

Jane Hong receives funding from Public Religion Research Institute as a public fellow and from the Louisville Institute as the recipient of a sabbatical grant.

Karen Hooge Michalka receives funding from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) as a Public Fellow and is a board member with Bismarck Global Neighbors.

Luis A. Romero receives funding from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) as a Public Fellow.

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By Azernews





By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijan's historical Shusha city, like the country's other liberated regions, is undergoing an extensive rebuilding process to restore normal life in the city and to return its previous glory after a long-lasting devastating occupation by Armenia.

Azerbaijan organizes massive political, humanitarian, and cultural events in addition to large-scale reconstruction to draw international attention to the destruction and humanitarian tragedy perpetrated by Armenia in Azerbaijan's former occupied lands, as well as to inform the world about its reconstruction and peace-building efforts in the region.

The Shusha city has hosted numerous big international events and witnessed a number of historic occasions since its liberation from Armenia's 30-year occupation in 2020.

Shusha Forum

An international conference titled "South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation", organized by the Center for International Relations Analysis and ADA University in Shusha on April 28, was one of the most recent major events to highlight Azerbaijan's peace-building efforts to the international community.

Experts, researchers and media representatives from about 50 foreign think tanks representing over 20 countries attended the forum to discuss the peace agenda formed by Azerbaijan to normalize ties with Armenia as a basis for the development of relations between the South Caucasus countries in the post-conflict period, the opening of communications, the region's progress, security and prosperity.

The delimitation of borders, as well as the signing of a peace treaty that recognizes territorial integrity and sovereignty, are key concerns on the region's agenda.

The question of establishing communications follows as integration is impossible without it. All of these responsibilities are necessary for Azerbaijan and Armenia to maintain lasting peace and mutual understanding, and hence for peace in the South Caucasus as a whole.

All additional considerations should be made within the context of these core duties. This is what Azerbaijan attempted to communicate to the Shusha forum attendees.

From the opening minutes, it was evident that Azerbaijan intended to have a substantial dialogue with representatives from important international think tanks and the media, and the easiest method to demonstrate what will be said is to familiarize the participants with the current situation. Thus, simply mentioning the mine danger left over from the Armenian occupation is insufficient to grasp the magnitude of the situation.

Initially, the forum participants landed at Karabakh's Fuzuli International Airport, which was constructed in less than a year, making it the fastest-finished big project in the liberated territories. This airport alone exemplifies Azerbaijan's tremendous potential and commitment to quickly restoring its liberated regions. This modern and stylish airport is located in the territory of total destruction and is a symbol of the future revival and prosperity of the liberated lands.

After familiarizing themselves with the airport, the delegation observed the demining operation in Fuzuli region before traveling to Shusha via the Victory Road, which was also launched as part of the grand reconstruction that kicked off in the liberated lands after the 44-day war with Armenia.

All of this acted as a visual help in preparation for the next debates on the mine danger, which would take place on April 29.

The organization of discussions in Shusha allows foreign experts who are involved in the region to better consider the realities, see firsthand the consequences of the Armenian occupiers' urbicide, ecocide, and cultural genocide, and obtain detailed information about post-conflict changes, restoration work, and plans.

Infrastructure projects in Azerbaijans liberated lands, particularly Shusha, are considered at panel talks. One of the key issues was the attainment of final peace, communication unblocking, and regional integration possibilities.

In his opening remarks at the forum, the president's special representative in Shusha, Aydin Karimov, stated that Shusha had hosted a number of major events in the past year and such events significantly contribute to the future regional development and long-term peace.

Presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev emphasized Shusha's importance for Azerbaijan, noting that the government is working on large-scale infrastructure projects there.

He said that the region is currently excessively fragmented, so it is necessary to build more connections, and more contacts between people. Azerbaijan, for its part, is ready for this process, and now it is up to Armenia to follow suit.

Hajiyev stated that Azerbaijan has taken initial steps to start the peace process and continues to work for peace. He highlighted that Azerbaijan has established a new reality in the area with the liberation of Karabakh from occupation.

The presidential aide stressed that the Azerbaijani army did not use any artillery or heavy arms during the 44-day war to liberate Shusha, and the battle ended with Azerbaijans victory after the liberation of the city. Hajiyev highlighted the importance of resolving the issue of delimitation and demarcation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian borders.

Assistant to the Azerbaijani First Vice-President Elchin Amirbayov stressed that Baku is ready to work both in existing formats and on any new platforms for establishing peace in the South Caucasus and called on other countries to influence the acceleration of the peace process.

Addressing the event, the presidents special representative in Karabakh, Emin Huseynov, emphasized that Armenia still refuses to provide Azerbaijan with maps of mined areas. Huseynov said that the accuracy of the mines maps provided by Armenia is 25 percent, and mines still put an end to human lives in the liberated lands. He noted that since the end of the war, over 150 people, including young people, civilians and members of the media, have been killed by landmines.

Since 1992, nearly 35,000 people have been killed or disabled by landmines, according to Huseynov. He stated that Azerbaijan's mine problem must be solved and that Armenia's distribution of precise mine maps will build long-term mutual trust between the two nations.

Huseynov also drew the participants' attention to the fact that the Karabakh conflict is over, and Baku is giving Armenia a chance to join the regional integration process before it's too late.

Strategy to inform int'l community

Furthermore, the participants discussed post-war construction and restoration in the liberated lands The panel discussed how Azerbaijan should implement important infrastructure projects that will help rebuild the Karabakh region and its future prosperity. They also discussed ensuring lasting peace in the region, eliminating traditional rivalry and other issues.

It was noted that Azerbaijan has created a new reality in the region after the 44-day war in 2020, and this reality demonstrates its importance in maintaining regional stability and economic development.

The Shusha forum, according to Daniel Pommier Vincelli, a scholar at the University of Rome Sapienza, is a highly important event, with the participation of representatives of various countries studying the history and geopolitical situation in the South Caucasus.

"Today we are talking about peace and development in the post-conflict period at this forum, we share our views. This forum in Shusha is an important message from Azerbaijan to the international community," he said.

Moreover, the panel discussed post-conflict regional cooperation and international relations in the region, as well as current and future opportunities in this regard. It was noted that Azerbaijan and Armenia must work together to eradicate inter-ethnic tensions and bring peace to the area.

Azerbaijan is increasingly educating the rest of the globe about the new realities. Despite the fact that certain nations' representatives continue to try to paint a misleading picture of the conflict and its repercussions, the world has recognized the new realities of the region, as President Ilham Aliyev stated previously. The recent UN event in Shusha, as well as countless trips by international delegations, diplomats, specialists, and media to the liberated regions, attest to this.

The current conference is another step toward fully legitimizing Azerbaijan's victory in the international community's minds. Baku is pursuing its agenda without hurrying anywhere, shattering Armenia's objectives as they emerge.

The strategy for informing the international community about Armenia's deeds was well-chosen. Hundreds of international journalists, specialists, diplomats, and public personalities documented what the Armenians did in the Azerbaijani regions they held for over three decades. Large events, such as the Shusha forum, which drew representatives from dozens of countries, were well-planned in this sense.

On April 29, discussions on the threat of mines and issues relating to the return of IDPs are taking place at ADA University in Baku as part of the forum.

Events background

The Shusha forum is a logical continuation of the international conference New vision for South Caucasus: Post-conflict development and cooperation held on April 13, 2021, at ADA University.

President Ilham Aliyev also attended the international conference and gave important messages on the post-conflict reality.

At that conference, the participants proposed to hold an international forum in Karabakh, which was welcomed by Aliyev. The current Shusha Forum should be evaluated in terms of the implementation of this proposal.

The main purpose of the Shusha international forum is to contribute to the development of relations among the South Caucasus countries in the post-conflict period.

The forum addresses issues such as regional communication line unblocking, regional security and prosperity goals, all of which are based on Azerbaijan's peace program for normalizing ties with Armenia.

The Shusha international forum provides an opportunity for foreign experts representing the world's leading think tanks, who are closely interested in the region, to see the realities, to get acquainted with the urbicide, cultural genocide, and ecosystem, to assess the humanitarian aspects of the mine problem.

At the same time, it will provide detailed information on Azerbaijans restoration and construction work and plans in the liberated territories.

The nefarious techniques, such as portraying Shusha as an Armenian city over the years, failed due to Shusha's status as the main venue for events of the UN and other influential organizations.
By Trend

Kyrgyzstan is canceling the mandatory requirement for negative PCR tests or COVID-19 vaccination certificates at border crossings from May 1, Trend reports with the reference to the Press Service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan.

During the meeting of operational headquarters, the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan, together with interested state bodies decided to remove the requirement for negative PCR tests or COVID-19 certificates of vaccination for citizens of Kyrgyzstan and foreigners crossing the state border through checkpoints in all modes of transport from May 1, 2022.

Further, Kyrgyzstan will continue its campaign to vaccinate the population against coronavirus infection, focusing on vulnerable groups of the population, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers reported.
Images That Changed Our View  30 Years of Reflection

The video that captured the beating of Rodney King was profound in so many ways. For the very first time, the nation witnessed police brutality in a raw form as filmed, not by a member of the media, but rather from an average citizen.

And marginalized communities of color now had evidence of what we had been saying for years  law enforcement used unlawful tactics and tended to target Black males and used excessive force without cause or care of discipline.

The proof was there. The video was broadcast for all to see. Then came the trial and the acquittal of the officers. The date was April 29, 1992.

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In 1992, I was serving as a deputy mayor of Los Angeles and found myself just as astonished as the next person to have seen the beating of Mr. King replay in my head as the not guilty verdict was read in court. The two did not equate.

As an individual, I knew this was wrong. As a community, it was too much to just shake off. Tensions between the police department and the Black community had grown to a tipping point prior to the Rodney King beating and the trial, and eventual dismissal of charges against the police officers, was too much to accept.

Since the 1992 civil unrest, I have gone on to represent South Los Angeles and surrounding communities as a representative in the State Assembly. I was selected to chair the Assemblys Public Safety Committee where I have authored legislation with the intent of reforming policing by creating better standards of conduct and essential training for law enforcement.

I carry with me the images of the tragic beating of Rodney King and the memories of outrage from the community to help guide policy that strengthens ties between police officers and the communities they serve.

One main take away from that time is violence and criminality would forever be caught in the act by anyone with a video recorder or cell phone. And though technology now plays a major role as evidence in court, the judicial system and police policies remain antiquated and prejudiced.

George Floyd, Eric Garner, and so many more have videos that serve as proof that we still need to work on police reform.

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Incremental changes have occurred by consent decrees mandating change and some by other external forces like community groups calling for change. Some change has taken hold by having the right leadership in place but changing a culture of policing that has its roots in slave capture is not something that happens overnight.

Last year, Governor Newsom signed into law my bill AB 89 creating new standards of training and conduct for law enforcement recruits, including prison guards. My bill, also known as the PEACE ACT, requires a college degree and ups the age limit of new officers to 21 from 18. This adds more training, life experience, and mental discipline giving officers a better chance to deescalate situations rather than taking impulsive and lethal actions when not needed.

As a community we must demand that law enforcement communicate better with our civic leaders and work with community-based organizations to better relationships. We must all be responsible for improving our neighborhoods and communities. And we must learn from the past to create a safer and brighter outlook for everyone to thrive.

We should work to ensure that a repeat of the tragedies, pains, and sufferings that occurred in 1992 never happen again.

Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer is the elected representative for the California State Assembly District 59.
American drugmaker Moderna is asking U.S. officials to approve its COVID-19 vaccine for the nation's youngest children. Children under 5 are the only group in the United States not yet able to be vaccinated.

Families have been waiting a long time to protect their young children, even as people are gathering in higher numbers and wearing fewer face coverings. But coronavirus variants continue to spread.

Moderna provided its study results to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The drug company hopes the information proves that two low-dose shots can protect babies and young children.

There is an important unmet medical need here with these youngest kids, said Dr. Paul Burton. He is Moderna's chief medical officer. Two shots for children will safely protect them. I think it is likely that over time they will need additional doses.

Currently, Pfizers vaccine is the only one approved for children. But that vaccine is only for children over the age of 5. That leaves 18 million young children and babies unprotected.

Pfizer is also expected to announce whether three of its even smaller-dose shots work for very young children. The FDA said in February that the companys two doses were not strong enough.

Some families have questioned why a shot for young children has taken so long.

FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks told U.S. lawmakers this week that the FDA cannot evaluate a product until a producer completes its application. In a statement Thursday, the FDA said Moderna still must send some additional data to complete its request.

Its critically important that we have the proper evaluation so that parents will have trust in any vaccines that we authorize, Marks said.

If the FDA approves Modernas vaccine for young children and babies, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would then have to recommend who needs it. It could either be for all young children or just those at higher risk from COVID-19.

The FDA will face some complex questions.

The two Moderna shots for young children are each one-fourth of the normal dose for an adult. In a study of kids ages 6 months through 5 years, data showed that the doses produced high levels of virus-fighting antibodies. It was the same amount produced in young adults, Burton said. There were no serious side effects reported, and the shots resulted in fewer high body temperatures than other usual vaccines for children.

Modernas vaccine proved between about 40 percent and 50 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 during the trial. Burton said the Omicron variant's ability to partly escape vaccine immunity was a reason that effectiveness was not higher.

Moderna's COVID vaccine so far has only been available to adults in the U.S. Other countries have already been offering the shot to children as young as 6. But months ago the FDA said it had concerns about a rare heart-related side effect in teenage boys.

COVID-19 generally is not as dangerous for children as it is for adults. But a small number have become very sick or even died. About 475 children younger than 5 have died from COVID-19 since the pandemics start, the CDC says. Child hospitalizations greatly increased during the spread of Omicron.

It is not clear how many parents plan to vaccinate their young children and babies. Less than one-third of children ages 5 to 11 have had two vaccinations.

Im Dan Novak.

Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by The Associated Press.

____________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

variant  n. something that is different in some way from others of the same kind

dose  n. the amount of a medicine, drug, or vitamin that is taken at one time

evaluate  v. to judge the value or condition of in a careful and thoughtful way

application  n. a formal and usually written request for something

proper  adj. correct according to social or moral rules

authorize  v. to give power or permission to

teenage  n. between 13 and 19 years old
Many places around the world are known for their curry dishes. Curry is a kind of sauce that is highly seasoned and sometimes spicy. The sauce is usually combined with vegetables and meat and served over rice.

Some of the best-known curries come from India and Thailand. Other countries in Asia, including Indonesia and Japan, also have their own special curry dishes.

South Africa is not so well known for its curry. But food expert Christopher Kimball recently praised a curry he found in Cape Town. He wrote recently about the dish, called Cape Malay, in a piece for The Associated Press.

Kimball describes Cape Malay curry as somewhat similar to Indian curry. But it is lighter in flavor, or taste.

Kimball learned about making the dish from cooking teacher Faldela Tolker. She told him the spices used in Cape Malay curry are similar to those in Indian curry, but they are used differently. They are not ground fine, like they are in Indian curry. Cape Malay Curry uses the whole form of each spice. After the sauce is cooked, the individual pieces of spice are removed.

The result is a lighter, brighter, milder curry than most people are used to, Kimball notes.

Kimball included a recipe for Cape Malay chicken curry in his new cookbook, Milk Street Tuesday Nights.

Here is how you can make Cape Malay curry for yourself.

First, mix spices together. You will need 15 milliliters (mL) each of whole fennel and cumin seeds, and five mL each of turmeric, salt and pepper. Put about 15 mL of the spice mixture onto uncooked chicken. Boneless, skinless chicken pieces called thighs work best, Kimball says.

Next, heat some cooking oil in a large pan. Add two medium-sized onions, cut into small pieces. Cook them for 8 to 10 minutes until they are lightly browned. Then add in four cloves of chopped garlic, two serrano chili peppers cut in half, and about 100 grams of fresh ginger. About 30 seconds later, add in about 500 mL of chicken broth and 500 mL of cherry tomatoes, along with two whole cinnamon sticks, two bay leaves and the rest of the spice mixture you prepared earlier. Then, add the chicken thighs to the pan. Make sure the chicken is covered with the liquid.

Bring the liquid to a simmer, then cover and cook for 25 minutes. Stir in about half a kilogram of potatoes, cut into small pieces. Cover the pan again and return to a simmer. Cook until the chicken and potatoes are soft, another 12 to 15 minutes.

Safely remove the chicken from the pan and put it onto a large plate. Remove the ginger, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and chili halves. Continue to simmer over medium heat for another five minutes.

Pull the chicken into bite-size pieces, then return it to the pan and stir to combine. Stir in juice from one lemon, then taste the mixture and add additional salt and pepper if needed.

After the cooking is finished, pour the curry mixture into a serving bowl and put fresh mint on top. Serve over basmati or jasmine rice.

The lemony, richly flavored curry takes about one hour to prepare and serves six people.

Im Ashley Thompson.

Christopher Kimball reported this story for the Associated Press. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English.

____________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

milder - adj. less strong or harsh in taste

recipe - n. a set of instructions for making food

pan - n a usually shallow and open metal container that has a handle and that is used for cooking or baking

broth - n. liquid in which food (such as meat) has been cooked

simmer -v. to cook (something) so that it is almost boiling for a certain period of time

FULL INGREDIENT LIST:

15mL fennel seeds

15mL cumin seeds

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

5 mL teaspoon turmeric

1 kg boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and patted dry

30mL grapeseed or other cooking oil

2 medium yellow onions, chopped

100-gram piece of fresh ginger, cut into 5 pieces

4 medium garlic cloves, minced

2 serrano chilies, stemmed and halved lengthwise

500 mL low-sodium chicken broth or water

500mL grape or cherry tomatoes

Two cinnamon sticks

2 bay leaves

1/2 kg Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes

30mL lemon juice (from 1 lemon)

Fresh mint leaves, torn

Basmati or jasmine rice
On a recent day, Bahez and Nabaz Farooq Ali were on Bamo Mountain in Iraq's Kurdistan area. The brothers hoped to make video recordings of a Persian leopard. It is believed there are only about 1,000 of the animals left in the wild.

"Our grandparents saw some even during the day," Nabaz said. Since then, the animals have almost all disappeared.

Most Persian leopards are in Iran and Afghanistan. Iraqi Kurdish conservationist Hana Raza estimates there may be 25 left in Iraq. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the animal as endangered.

Conservationists in Iraqi Kurdistan support increased efforts to protect the leopard. The animals are threatened by a severe loss of habitat, human interference, hunting and the effects of war.

Soran Ahmed is a biologist at the University of Sulaimaniya. He said about 10 different Persian leopards had been recorded. But he added that 10 others have been found dead in the last 10 years, two of them shot by bullets.

The Ali brothers had left their village of Horen to escape former president Saddam Hussein's violent campaign against the Kurds. When they returned in 1991, they found the village empty and partly destroyed.

"When people returned totheir villages, they also started to hunt randomly," Nabaz said. Hunting of the leopards' prey, such as wild goats, helped lead to a decrease in their numbers.

Hunting of endangered animals is not permitted in Iraq's Kurdish area. Anyone caught illegally hunting can be fined. But forest police official Akram Saleh said the laws can be difficult to enforce.

"The area is very large and we don't have the necessary resources to cover it," he said. "Hunters have better weapons, better cars than us."

In parts of Bamo Mountain, land mines have kept humans and cows away from some areas where leopards live, Nabaz said. The mines make researchers' work more dangerous. Animals in the area are also affected.

Data from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) show that the Kurdish area lost almost half of its forest between 1999 and 2018. That caused a severe loss in the leopard's habitat.

Razzaq al-Khaylani is a spokesperson for the KRG board of environment. He said a lack of public money for conservation and conflicts in the area have stopped some efforts.

Soran Ahmed said, Places like Bamo mountain, if effectively protected, could become a breeding site [for the leopards].

He added, "We have to save them, they are part of our culture and identity."

Im Jonathan Evans.

Charlotte Bruneau and Mohammed Jalal reported on this story for the Reuters news service. Jonathan Evans adapted this story for Learning English.

____________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

conservationist n. someone who works to protect animals, plants, and natural resources or to prevent the loss or waste of natural resources

habitat n. the place or type of place where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives or grows

randomly adv. in a way that is not regular or that does not follow a plan

prey n. an animal that is hunted or killed by another animal for food

breeding adj. the process by which young animals are produced by their parents
U.S. government officials say an unknown and fast-spreading disease has killed 85 wild horses in less than one week in the western state of Colorado.

Federal officials made the announcement Wednesday. The number of deaths at a federal corral, or holding area for horses, increased from an earlier announcement of 67.

Steven Hall of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, BLM, told Reuters the facility is under quarantine. That means animals are not permitted to enter or leave the area.

More than 2,500 animals are held at the facility in Canon City, 190 kilometers southwest of Denver. Animals that are sick or have been exposed to infected horses are being kept away from the healthy ones.

A BLM statement earlier this week said, "Wild horses at the Wild Horse facility in Canon City have been infected with an unknown yet highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease."

Fatal is a term that means deadly.

Most of the sickened horses had been transported from Rio Blanco County, near the neighboring state of Utah. Officials collected the animals last autumn, the BLM said.

Hall said the dead animals are being examined. Blood and tissue samples are being carefully studied at two university laboratories.

"The main symptoms seem to be respiratory issues and chest congestion," Hall said, adding that federal, state and independent veterinarians are investigating the issue.

Horses are not native to the United States. Their ancestors were animals freed or left by people during the settlement of the American West. The BLM said the horses must be controlled because the animals damage water supplies and eat food that native species eat. There are an estimated 80,000 wild horses in the U.S.

The agency collects some of the wild animals in events called roundups. BLM transports the animals to holding areas where some are sold.

Activists say the roundups and living conditions for the animals are inhumane.

Suzanne Roy of the American Wild Horse Campaign said in a statement posted on the groups website, "Disease outbreaks and deaths are the direct result of the BLM's mass roundups.

Roy added, "We can expect to see more suffering and death if BLM continues down this dangerous and destructive path."

Im John Russell.

Keith Coffman reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it for Learning English.

____________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

facility  n. something (such as a building or large piece of equipment) that is built for a specific purpose

contagious  adj. capable of being easily spread to others

sample  n. a small amount of something that gives you information about the thing it was taken from

respiratory  adj. medical: of or relating to breathing or the organs of the body that are used in breathing

congestion  n. the state of being blocked with fluid (such as blood or mucus)

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
A local teen went to the City Council seeking support. He received knowing nods and appreciation. But after some consideration, Mayor Paul Aziz says he won't declare June Pride month in Lebanon.
In 1994, Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism, a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response
LEXINGTON  The Bryan Elementary students in the Academy afterschool program got to learn about Arbor Day and the importance of trees to the environment.

The presentation was coordinated by Keep Lexington Beautiful (KLB).

KLB Director Elvie Montes said she arranged for Central Platte Natural Resources District (CPNRD) Communications Assistant Brody Vorderstrasse to speak to the students on Monday, April 25.

Vorderstrasse told the students about the history of the Great Plains and how it was all grassland before it was turned over to agriculture, more trees were brought in as a result.

The students got to do a coloring activity that taught them about what tree rings can teach people. At the end of the day, the students each got to take home a tree seedling.

If youve ever seen a tree stump, youve probably noticed that the top of a stump has a series of concentric rings. These rings can tell us how old the tree is, and what the weather was like during each year of the trees life. The light-colored rings represent wood that grew in the spring and early summer, while the dark rings represent wood that grew in the late summer and fall. One light ring plus one dark ring equals one year of the trees life, according to NASA Laboratory.

Because trees are sensitive to local climate conditions, such as rain and temperature, they give scientists some information about that areas local climate in the past. For example, tree rings usually grow wider in warm, wet years and they are thinner in years when it is cold and dry. If the tree has experienced stressful conditions, such as a drought, the tree might hardly grow at all in those years, per NASA Laboratory.

Arbor Day was founded in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska City, Nebraska. By the 1920s, each state in the United States had passed public laws that stipulated a certain day to be Arbor Day or Arbor and Bird Day observance.

National Arbor Day is celebrated every year on the last Friday in April; it is a civic holiday in Nebraska.
By Trend

Two Ecuadoran ministers announced on Thursday that they had decided to quit from their positions in the government led by President Guillermo Lasso, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The two outgoing ministers are Juan Carlos Bermeo, minister of energy and non-renewable natural resources, and Bernarda Ordonez, minister-ranking head of the Human Rights Secretariat.

The announcement of resignations, which took place just two days after Defence Minister Luis Hernandez submitted his resignation, came one month before the Lasso-led government completes its first year in office.

The Ecuadoran presidency confirmed the resignations by Bermeo and Ordonez.

Diego Ordonez, an Ecuadoran presidential adviser, told the local television station "Ecuavisa" that there was no cabinet crisis. He said that the resignations were part of a process aimed at strengthening the nation's governing team at the center.

Bermeo, who had served in the cabinet for 10 months, said that it was time for him to return to his private professional activities.

In the letter of resignation, Bermeo said that the ministry in his charge had managed to cement the pillars of management in the energy, hydrocarbon and mining sectors.

According to official sources, Bermeo could be replaced by Xavier Vera, who currently serves as vice minister of mines.

Meanwhile, Ordonez gave up the presidency of the Board of Directors of the Technical Agency for Social Rehabilitation, a governmental organ responsible for making public policies in the area.

Ordonez's resignation came at a time when the South American country's prison system is going through a serious crisis characterized by continuous prison riots since 2021, in which dozens of prisoners had been killed in clashes between rival gangs.

On April 26, Luis Lara was immediately appointed to replace Hernandez as defense minister.
In the small town of Caledonia, there lies a building that everyone in the community knows: Sno-Pac Foods.

Sno-Pac began in 1900 in a way as a lumber business. But not only did J.P Gengler have a lumber business, he also sold ice from a nearby pond.

The ice would be distributed all over the country, being stored in ice houses before being shipped off. The business started to find the identity its known for today once refrigeration became available, by machine that is.

Around that time, there was also a world war raging, which affected Genglers operations. Everyone was asked to produce more food for the war.

Suddenly, there was an influx of produce heading to Fort McCoy for soldiers. The product was packed in ice from the local pond almost like snow, remarked Peter Gengler, who is part of the fourth generation of Genglers to own Sno-Pac.

Peter recalled how the business took its produce at first to local restaurants after the war, keeping it on a smaller scale before the organics boom of the 1970s. He added that as the organics industry grew, so did Sno-Pac.

Nowadays, Sno-Pac delivers its produce across the nation; it can be purchased in its own bags and is included in ingredients of multiple household brands sold to other manufacturers. The main distribution, however, still lies here in the Midwest.

And while vegetables are their top trade, Sno-Pac also sells hay. Peter acknowledged that hay is a huge part of farming, because they farm 2,500-3,000 acres with a hilly topography. The hay is able to help not only with weed control, but also with covering the crops when the weather turns cold.

Peter emphasized that being family run has been important throughout Sno-Pacs operational years.

He said he always figured his kids would grow up and eventually run the business themselves. And that they have, because Zach is in charge of the farm department and Seth takes charge of the processing at the facility.

Peters main responsibilities revolve around the farm, looking over fields for when harvesting season comes around, as well as sales and purchasing.

He has also made a point of continuing to make Sno-Pac visible to the surrounding communities, as well as Caledonia, remarking that there are some people who will visit their facility for the first time. But of course, when a business is around as long as Sno-Pac has been, the community notices and is appreciative.

Peter reciprocated that appreciation, saying that the community of Caledonia is home for him and his family, as it has been for many generations. He added that with Caledonia being such a small town, almost everyone in town has worked at Sno-Pac in some way, shape or form.

He called the community a big family and acknowledged that they have been very supportive for 120 years.

And over those 120 years, there is still one thing at the heart of what Sno-Pac does: family. Peter said that they were organic before organic was cool, and he wasnt ready to be the one who lets that legacy change, not as long as he could help it.

To learn more about Sno-Pac, visit http://www.snopac.com/index.htm.
FRIDAY, April 29, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Land parasites that pose a risk to human and wildlife health can hitch rides on the millions of pounds of microplastics that float between oceans, a new study shows.

"It's easy for people to dismiss plastic problems as something that doesn't matter for them, like, 'I'm not a turtle in the ocean; I won't choke on this thing,'" said corresponding author Karen Shapiro. She is an infectious disease expert and associate professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis.

"But once you start talking about disease and health, there's more power to implement change," she said in a university news release. "Microplastics can actually move germs around, and these germs end up in our water and our food."

Microplastics  no bigger than a grain of rice  have contaminated waters as remote as in Antarctica.

This study found that three disease-causing parasites from the land can hitchhike on microplastics to reach oceans and end up in places they'd normally never be found.

The three parasites are Toxoplasma gondii, Cryptosporidium (Crypto) and Giardia, which can infect both humans and animals.

T. gondii  a parasite found only in cat feces  has infected many ocean species with the disease toxoplasmosis. It's been linked to the deaths of sea otter and critically endangered wildlife, including Hector's dolphins and Hawaiian monk seals. In people, toxoplasmosis can cause lifelong illnesses and developmental and reproductive disorders.

Crypto and Giardia cause gastrointestinal disease and can be deadly in young children and people with weakened immune systems, the study authors said.

For the study, the researchers conducted lab experiments to assess whether the parasites stay attached to two types of microplastics in sea water: polyethylene microbeads (often found in cosmetics such as exfoliants and cleansers), and polyester microfibers (found in clothing and fishing nets).

The parasites clung better to microfibers than to microbeads, but both can carry the parasites, according to the study published online April 26 in the journal Scientific Reports.

While microplastics that float on the ocean surface can travel long distances, those that sink may concentrate the parasites near the bottom of the sea where filter-feeding animals like zooplankton, clams, mussels, oysters, abalone and other shellfish live.

"This work demonstrates the importance of preventing sources of microplastics to our oceans," said study co-author Chelsea Rochman, a plastic-pollution expert and assistant professor of ecology at the University of Toronto. "Mitigation strategies include filters on washing machines, filters on dryers, bio-retention cells or other technologies to treat stormwater, and best management practices to prevent microplastic release from plastic industries and construction sites."

More information

There's more on microplastics at the National Geographic Society.

SOURCE: University of California, Davis, news release, April 26, 2022

Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
By Trend

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili and her Moldovan counterpart Maia Sandu discussed the latest developments in Moldova on Thursday, Trend reports citing Agenda.ge

During a telephone conversation, Zourabichvili expressed solidarity with Moldova, saying the European path is what brings us together.

For her part, Sandu thanks Zourabichvili for support, during these difficult times for the entire region.
A Downtown Madison organization that lifts up Black women and their business pursuits launched a training program last Sunday  at least 50 or more people flocked to the organizations vibrant co-working space to see several Black entrepreneurs showcase their venture.

For the launch, the Progress Center for Black Women space not only bustled with 13 business owners seemingly anxious to tell the story of their enterprise in exchange for a small grant, but also several local leaders intent on lending an ear and and providing educational and financial support. Businesses pitched included home care practices, clothing lines with colorful patterns, skin care services, lash extension offerings, real estate and digital printing.

FOCUS  standing for fundamentals, opportunities, consistency, understanding and success  is a program designed to get participants focused on the key aspects of running their business in a supportive environment that meets entrepreneurs where they are at, said Sabrina Madison, Progress Center founding CEO. The goal, Madison said, is to provide masterclasses, technical training and mentorship to help connect Black business owners to what she called the citys ecosystem.

The program will eventually materialize in the form of 12-week cohorts, as well as standalone training that covers operations management, marketing, professional development and the mental health of the entrepreneur, Madison said. FOCUS will additionally involve opportunities to participate in small business showcases and gain connections to local organizations that prioritize the growth of Black-owned ventures.

It comes as the Madison area has made many strides in addressing the needs of minority-led businesses the last few years. It also comes after the Progress Center recently moved from its former space in Fitchburg to the Capitol Square in summer 2021  and as what Madison called a culmination of the relationships shes built with local entrepreneurs that date back to before she opened the Center nearly a half decade ago, having hosted a few Black Business Expo events.

But theres still a long way for the city to go, Madison said, as several of the Progress Centers clients have yet to fully tap into the citys network of economic resources.

Nina Akli, a lifelong Madison resident and owner of online clothing shop AfribbeanBaby, said she was surprised at how many people and leaders were at the launch, where she talked up her business that sells African clothing for children. But Akli said she appreciated the opportunity to network, and that shes excited to eventually open a brick-and-mortar space for people to purchase her intricately patterned pieces.

Some of the leaders that attended Sundays launch included representatives from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.; city of Madison economic development department; UW-Madisons Small Business Development Center; Downtown Madison Inc.; the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce; the Center for Community Stewardship; as well as business mentors and lenders. They served as pitch judges for the entrepreneurs  the winners were provided tiered grants funded by WEDC and the city.

Madison soap shop Restoration Soap and Body Care received a $1,000 grant. Madison grief support nonprofit Healing Our Hearts Foundation received $700. And Aklis business and Madison screen printer DLK Printing both got $500.

Digest

Madison biomedical giant Exact Sciencesreported revenue of $486.6 million in the first quarter, an increase of 21% compared to what Exact Sciences garnered in 2021. Exact also reported a net income loss of $180.9 million, or $1.04 per stock market share, slightly better than the $1.12 analysts predicted. Its stock was about 5% down for the week, closing Thursday at $57.53.

Janesville-based nuclear technology company SHINE Technologies was recently awarded a 42-month contract worth $16.8 million to help the U.S. Department of Homeland Security improve border security. SHINEs project is to develop a new tool to detect and identify illegal bulk narcotics and other contraband material in commercial cargo at ports of entry, the company said in a statement.

Madison electronic health records company Health eFilings announced this week a partnership with Texas-based Practice EHR. Health eFilings said it would provide Practice EHR with tracking and reporting services for one of its payment systems and other programs, which helps doctors avoid financial penalties.

Madisons Spring Tech Kickoff is set for 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 19, at the Garver Feed Mill on the East Side. The kickoff is presented by the Forward Festival, which typically takes place in August and brings leaders in Madisons startup and tech community together to network and connect.

Madison online shopping rewards startup Fetch Rewards has partnered with Plymouth-based cheese producer Sargento, allowing Fetch mobile app users to get rewards for buying Sargento products. The startup contracts with over 600 total brands.

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The leader of a veterans' care center in Massachusetts where 76 veterans died after contracting the coronavirus in the spring of 2020 lacked both the leadership skills and the temperament to run such a facility when he was hired in 2016, according to a blistering state Inspector General's report released Friday.

The 91-page report, which covers the period from May 2016 until February 2020  just before the pandemic struck with full force  was also highly critical of the process that led to the hiring of Bennett Walsh as superintendent of the Holyoke Soldiers' Home and of state oversight of the home.

The investigation that led to the report started in 2019 in response to pre-pandemic complaints about Walsh, who resigned in October 2020 as he faced criminal charges over his handling of one of the deadliest known COVID-19 outbreaks at a long-term care facility in the U.S. Those charges were dismissed last year.

Superintendent Walsh did not have and did not develop the leadership capacity or temperament for the role of superintendent, a summary of the report said. He created an unprofessional and negative work environment, retaliated against employees he deemed disloyal, demonstrated a lack of engagement in the homes operations and circumvented his chain of command.

He sometimes became visibly angry at employees, yelled at them, and in one case said publicly that he wanted to hit and belt a worker, according to the report. He also said that he wanted to hurt a veteran who had spoken out against him, the report said.

Walsh was also frequently absent during regular business hours and staff did not always know where he was.

Walsh, a former Marine, had no supervisory experience in a health care setting or skilled nursing facility when he was hired, although according to state law, that was not required of the home's superintendent at the time. His appointment also did not properly comply with state law.

The report acknowledges that Walsh inherited some problems with the 240-bed facility when he was appointed by Gov. Charlie Baker in 2016, including ongoing staffing issues, tension with employee unions and key leadership vacancies.

Even with these management challenges, the office found that Superintendent Walsh was not engaged in the broad range of leadership duties required to manage the home, the report said.

Walsh declined to answer questions from the Inspector Generals office and instead invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination, the report said.

One of Walsh's attorneys, Michael Jennings, said in a statement that his legal team is solely focused on a response to the state attorney general's appeal of the dismissal of the criminal charges.

We have no comment at this time relating to the newly released Inspector Generals investigation report which has no relevance to our work responding to that appeal," he wrote.

Another attorney for Walsh has in the past defended the way he ran the home, and blamed the state for failing to respond to requests for help.

The report also criticized the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services and the state Department of Veterans Services for not adequately addressing complaints about Walsh. The state twice investigated Walsh during his four years at the facility, but those investigations were flawed, unnecessarily restricted in scope and biased in Superintendent Walshs favor, the report said.

Many of the issues in the Inspector General's report have already been resolved, according to a statement from the office of Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders.

The administration is reviewing the report from the Inspector General, which identified several recommendations that have already been addressed by the Department of Veterans Services and the Soldiers Home. The administration filed legislation almost two years ago to strengthen oversight of the soldiers homes and looks forward to addressing these issues with the Legislature, the statement said.

In addition, an August survey by the Joint Commission, an independent organization that runs a health care accreditation process, found no deficiencies at Holyoke, while the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has inspected and certified the facility, the state said.

In addition to those who died, dozens of other residents as well as staff members fell ill with the disease.

An investigation by a former federal prosecutor hired by Baker found that management made several utterly baffling decisions that allowed the virus to run amok, such as combining two locked dementia units, both of which already housed some residents with the virus.

The Inspector General's report released Friday also makes several recommendations to improve oversight and management not just in Holyoke but at its sister facility in Chelsea.

They include requiring superintendents to be a licensed nursing home administrator with extensive management experience; giving the state Department of Public Health the authority to provide independent clinical oversight and support; and the establishment of an ombudsperson and a hotline so residents, their families and staff can confidentially report problems.

The state has announced plans to build a new $400 million home to replace the current Holyoke facility that was built in the early 1950s.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
A total of 3,863 patients with MS were identified. The researchers found that the average age of prevalent MS patients was 51.7 years; 76.8 percent were women. The female preponderance was more pronounced among Black and Asian versus White or Hispanic individuals with MS (81.2 and 83.6 versus 76.3 and 74.5 percent, respectively). Blacks and Whites had similarly high age- and sex-standardized MS prevalence (225.8 and 237.7 per 100,000, respectively), while prevalence was significantly lower among Hispanic and Asian persons (69.9 and 22.6, respectively). Across all racial and ethnic groups, MS prevalence was highest between ages 35 and 64 years and decreased after age 65 years. The crude MS prevalence was low among adults aged 18 to 24 years but was highest in Blacks and Hispanics, lower in Whites, and lowest in Asian/Pacific Islander individuals (48.5, 25.0, 18.0, and 7.1 per 100,000, respectively).
WASHINGTON -- A senior U.S. defense official said Friday the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of the Ukrainian resistance.

We also assess that because of this slow and uneven progress, again, without perfect knowledge of every aspect of the Russian plan, we do believe and assess that they are behind schedule in what they were trying to accomplish in the Donbas, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. militarys assessment.

He said the U.S. believes the Russians are at least several days behind where they wanted to be as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east.

As the troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been slow and uneven, and certainly not decisive in any, in any event, the official said.

 By Lolita C. Baldor

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Ukraine cracks down on anyone suspected of aiding Russian troops

 A former U.S. Marine became the first known American to die fighting for Ukraine

 Ukraine slams Kyiv attack amid new Mariupol rescue effort

 Ukraine says Russian offensive in east picks up momentum

 NATO chief says Finland, Sweden could join quite quickly

Follow all AP stories on Russias war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.

The constant brutal bombardments, the constant Russian strikes on infrastructure and residential areas show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people. Therefore, the defense of our land, the defense of our people, is literally a fight for life, he said late Friday in his nightly video address to the nation.

He said the cities and towns of the Donbas will survive only if Ukraine remains standing. If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones. As they did with Mariupol.

Zelenskyy said Mariupol, once one of the most developed cities in the region, was now a Russian concentration camp among the ruins.

In Kharkiv, a major city to the north, the situation was brutal but Ukrainian troops and intelligence agents have had important tactical successes, he said without elaborating.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said about 20% of the citys residential buildings have been so badly damaged that it will be impossible to restore them.

Zelenskyy said rescuers were still going through the rubble in Kyiv after Thursdays missile strikes. He expressed his condolences to the family of Vira Hyrych, who was killed in the bombardment. He said she was the 23rd journalist killed in the war.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appears to have dismissed the need for the United Nations to help secure humanitarian corridors out of Ukraines besieged cities, striking a tough line a day after the U.N. chief toured war-wracked Kyiv with that very aim.

As an interviewer at Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV tried to ask Lavrov about U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians, Lavrov cut him off.

There is no need. I know, I know, an irritated Lavrov said. There is no need for anybody to provide help to open humanitarian corridors. There is only one problem  humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals, he said.

We appreciate the interest of the secretary-general to be helpful, he added. (We have) explained  what is the mechanism for them to monitor how the humanitarian corridors are announced.

During the hourlong interview, Lavrov also accused the West of sabotaging Russias peace talks with Ukraine. He claimed that thorny negotiations in Istanbul last month had been progressing on issues of Russian territorial claims and security guarantees until Ukrainian diplomats backtracked at the behest of the West.

We are stuck because of their desire to play games all the time, Lavrov said. Because of the instructions they get Washington, from London, from some other capitals, not to accelerate the negotiations.

When asked about the risks of war spilling into neighboring Moldova after a series of explosions rattled a breakaway border region within the country, Lavrov struck an ominous tone.

Moldova should worry about their own future, he said. Because theyre being pulled into NATO.

KHARKIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian authorities are cracking down on anyone suspected of aiding Russian troops under laws enacted by Ukraines parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Feb. 24 invasion.

Offenders face up to 15 years in prison for acts of collaborating with the invaders or showing public support for them.

Not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion, and pro-Moscow sentiment is more common among Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east.

Although the Zelenskyy government has broad support, even among many Russian speakers, not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion. Support for Moscow is more common among some Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east. An eight-year conflict there between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces had killed over 14,000 people even before this years invasion.

Some businessmen, civic and state officials and members of the military are among those who have gone over to the Russian side, and Ukraines State Bureau of Investigations said more than 200 criminal cases on collaboration have been opened. Zelenskyy has even stripped two SBU generals of their rank, accusing them of treason.

A registry of collaborators is being compiled and will be released to the public, said Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraines Security Council. He refused to say how many people have been targeted nationwide.

With martial law in place, authorities have banned 11 pro-Russian political parties, including the largest one that had 25 seats in the 450-member parliament  the Opposition Platform For Life, which was founded by Viktor Medvedchuk, a jailed oligarch with close ties to Putin.

KHARKIV, Ukraine  Hundreds of people have been evacuated to Kharkiv from the nearby village of Ruska Lozava that had been under Russian occupation for more than a month.

Almost half the village has escaped on buses, in shrapnel-ridden cars or on foot after fierce battles saw Russian troops pushed back and Ukrainian forces take full control of the village, according to the Kharkiv regional governor.

A video posted by the Azov battalion shows troops raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the government building in the center of the village although fighting continues on the outskirts.

Upon arrival to Kharkiv less than 12 miles (20 kilometers) away, those who fled have described to Associated Press reporters the dire conditions they faced while living in basements with little water and food and no electricity.

We were hiding in the basement, it was horror. The basement was shaking from the explosions, we were screaming, we were crying and we were praying to god, said Ludmila Bocharnikova.

WASHINGTON  A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, according to his relatives, making his the first known death of an American citizen while fighting in the war against Russia.

Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN. Cancel joined the Marines after graduating from Newburgh Free Academy in New York and served from 2017-21. He more recently worked as a corrections officer in Tennessee.

Cabrera said her son signed up to work with the private military contractor shortly before fighting began in Ukraine on Feb. 24 and that he agreed to go to Ukraine. She said he flew to Poland on March 12, entered Ukraine shortly thereafter and had been fighting alongside men from a number of countries.

He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didnt come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldnt have to be involved in it, she said.

Cabrera said her sons body hasnt been recovered.

Cancel had also served as a volunteer firefighter in New York and leaves behind a wife and 7-month-old son, according to an online fundraising page set up by a man identifying himself as Cancels father. Cancels wife received the call informing her of his death on Tuesday, the page said.

KYIV, Ukraine  A leading Ukrainian political analyst says Russias missile strike on Kyiv signaled its intention to keep fighting despite international efforts to mediate an end to the hostilities.

Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said Thursdays strike on Kyiv while U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting the city indicated Moscows intention to press its attack.

Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure, Fesenko told The Associated Press.

With this missile strike, the Kremlin is sending a warning to all international structures and organizations trying to influence or contain Russias aggressive military plans, Fesenko noted. While Russia has so far failed to score any significant gains in Ukraine, it intends to continue its offensive and keep striking cities with missiles.

The attack reportedly killed at least one person and wounded at least 10 others, and was the first on Kyiv since Russia refocused its efforts on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Guterres and his team were not injured.

LVIV, Ukraine  The mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol says those hiding at a massive steel mill are running out of food, water and medicine.

Vadym Boichenko described the situation at the Avozstal steel plant as dire. The steel mill is the last position held by Ukrainian fighters, who also are with civilians.

The Soviet-era facility has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more extreme after the Russians dropped a series of so-called bunker buster bombs and unguided munitions.

Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse, Boichenko said, according to a translator. They are begging to get saved.

He added: There, its not a matter of days, its a matter of hours.

Boichenko said he hoped a cease-fire would allow those inside the steel mill to safely leave. Russia earlier offered a truce that was rejected by Ukrainians, who said Moscow previously broke other agreements.

We hope theres a slight touch of humanity in the enemy, the mayor said.

Boichenko spoke Friday in a government-organized video conference.

MOSCOW  The head of the Russian Central Bank says the outlook is extremely uncertain as the countrys economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year.

International sanctions and falling consumer demand are squeezing the economy as inflation rises.

The Central Bank cut its key interest rate from 17% to 14% on Friday and predicted the economy would shrink by between 8% and 10% this year.

The current situation is extremely uncertain. Simultaneously, supply trends and the factors driving aggregate demand are also changing dramatically, Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina said.

The Central Bank said annual inflation was 17.6% as of April 22 and forecast it would rise to between 18% and 23% by the end of the year.

After a temporary surge, consumer demand is decreasing in real terms, accompanied by a rise in households propensity to save. The decline in imports due to the introduction of external trade and financial restrictions is outstripping the decline in exports, the Central Bank said in a statement.

Despite the gradual change in the country and commodity structure of exports and imports as new suppliers and sales markets emerge, businesses are experiencing considerable difficulties in production and logistics.

WARSAW, Poland  Ukraines first lady, Olena Zelenska, said the war hasn't changed her husband and has only revealed his qualities to the world, including his determination to prevail.

Zelenska, speaking in an interview with the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita published Friday, also said she has not seen her husband President Volodymr Zelenskyy since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Since Feb. 24, I have been seeing my husband just like you  on TV and on video tapes of his speeches, she said.

She accused Russia of trying to carry out a genocide against the Ukrainian people and expressed her sympathy with all those who have been forced to flee their homes.

I wish I could hug each of them. It is easy to imagine the difficult path they went through, escaping from basements or bunkers in Mariupol, from firing from Kharkiv, from the occupied Kyiv region, and even from Lviv or Odesa, which were also under fire from Russian missiles, she said.

The newspaper, making clear that it interviewed Zelenska remotely and not revealing her location, asked her if the war had changed her husband.

The war has not changed him, she replied. He has always been a man you can rely on. A man who will never fail. Who will hold out until the end. Its just that now the whole world has seen what may not have been clear to everyone before.

LONDON  Tens of thousands of troops from NATO and other north Atlantic nations will take part in a series of military exercises across Europe in the coming weeks as western countries seek to deter Russian aggression.

The exercises, backed by aircraft, tanks, artillery and armored assault vehicles, will take place in Finland, Poland, North Macedonia and along the Estonian-Latvian border. They will include troops from NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force, which includes non-NATO members Finland and Sweden.

The scale of the deployment, coupled with the professionalism, training and agility of the British Army, will deter aggression at a scale not seen in Europe this century, Lt. Gen. Ralph Wooddisse, commander of the U.K.s field army, said in a statement.

The deployments will begin this week in Finland, where troops from the U.S., Britain, Estonia and Latvia will participate in Exercise Arrow to improve their ability to work alongside Finnish forces.

Also this week, some 4,500 troops will take part in Exercise Swift Response, which will include parachute drops and helicopter-borne assaults in North Macedonia. The operation will include forces from U.S., Britain, Albania, France and Italy.

Next month, 18,000 NATO troops, including forces from Britain, France and Denmark, will take part in Exercise Hedgehog along the Estonia-Latvia border.

In late May, about 1,000 British soldiers will join troops from 11 other nations for Exercise Defender in Poland.

The security of Europe has never been more important, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said. These exercises will see our troops join forces with allies and partners across NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force in a show of solidarity and strength in one of the largest shared deployments since the Cold War.

The US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty says one of its journalists was killed by a Russian missile strike on Ukraines capital, Kyiv, Thursday night.

Vira Hyrych died when the building she lived in was hit and her body was found in the buildings rubble Friday, Radio Free Europe said. Hyrych had worked for the broadcasters Ukrainian-language service since 2018, Radio Free Europe said in a statement.

Ten people were wounded in the attack, including at least one who lost a leg, according to Ukraines emergency services.

Describing the attack, Russia says it destroyed production buildings at a defense factory in Kyiv. Russia used high-precision, long-range weaponry to hit the Artem factory in the Ukrainian capital, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday.

The spokesman appeared to be referring to strikes on Kyiv that took place on Thursday evening, shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said cruise missiles were used in the attack and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and four hospitalized when a residential building was hit.

Konashenkov also said Russia had destroyed a missile launch site that Ukraine had used to strike the Russia-held Ukrainian city of Kherson.

LVIV, Ukraine  A British aid group says it believes two Britons have been abducted by Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine.

The British Foreign Office said it is urgently seeking more information about the two mens case.

Dominik Byrne, the co-founder and chief operating officer of the Presidium Network, told the AP on Friday that the men were last heard from on Monday.

Byrne said the men were taken while trying to carry out an independent evacuation in Dniprorudne, near the city of Zaporizhzhia, some 470 kilometers (290 miles) southeast of Kyiv.

Byrne said the family that the two men had been trying to evacuate later were interrogated by Russian forces, who asked them about the British spies. Bryne said the family later escaped to Poland.

Byrne identified the men as Paul Urey and Dylan Healy. He said they had been operating on their own in the war zone and hadnt been associated with any aid group.

The British Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia hasnt acknowledged taking the men.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark  A 25-year-old Dane was allegedly killed in Mykolajiv on April 26 while fighting with the International Legion Ukraine, a unit for foreigners who want to join the fight against Russia, according to Danish broadcaster TV2. The mans name was not given.

In a statement to Danish media, the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen said it could not confirm the report and was in contact with Ukrainian authorities.

It may therefore take time before the details are clarified because the war creates extremely difficult conditions, the statement read.

The Jyllands-Posten daily, one of Denmarks largest newspapers, said up to 100 Danes have traveled to Ukraine to fight Russia, citing Ukraines Embassy in Denmark.

LVIV, Ukraine  The British Defense Ministry says Russias focus in its war on Ukraine remains the Donbas region.

In an update Friday, the British military said heavy fighting had been seen around Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. The British said they believe Russia is trying to attempt an advance south from Izium toward Slovyansk.

The British military said in a tweet: Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces.

The British military has been offering daily public reports on the fighting since the start of the war in February.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Despite the sudden closure of theaters and the cancellation of countless shows in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, employment in Wisconsins arts and cultural sectors has substantially rebounded, according to a new report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

State and federal pandemic relief programs were a pivotal factor in the survival of the states theaters, cultural organizations and performing arts venues, the study found.

Some 235 Wisconsin venue operators received a total of $221 million through the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, which provided operational support to a range of arts and cultural organizations during the pandemic. The federal Paycheck Protection Program, a forgivable loan program launched in April 2020, sent more than $119 million to qualifying arts and cultural groups, the study found.

The Wisconsin Policy Forum report, titled State of the Arts, found that state programs were also crucial in distributing federal pandemic relief funding to Wisconsins arts and cultural organizations. The Live Event Small Business Assistance Grant Program was the largest, providing $31 million.

The largest employment recovery gap remains in the motion picture and sound recording subsector, which includes movie theaters, the report noted.

In February, Madison saw the closure of the discount cinema Market Square Theatre.

Wisconsin is at or near the bottom of all 50 states in annual public funding support for arts and culture, yet appears to have placed greater emphasis than other states on using its federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) allotment to support arts and culture, the State of the Arts report states.

Data from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) show that so far Wisconsin has allocated 5.8% of its one-time ARPA funds toward arts, culture, and tourism, while states nationally averaged 1.7%.

The full report is online at: wispolicyforum.org/research/state-of-the-arts.

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A Madison man who chased after a group of men who had paid him for marijuana with counterfeit cash, then fired gunshots into their truck, wounding two of them, was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison.

Dane County Circuit Judge Chris Taylor said that while Alfa M. Umar III, 24, has support in the community, a family that cares about him and many positive attributes including no prior criminal record, it is an extraordinarily serious case. Its not a probation case, its just not.

Umar, who was originally charged with two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide for the shooting on Aug. 21, 2020, on Madisons East Side, pleaded guilty in November to one count of first-degree reckless injury.

Umars attorney, Joshua Hargrove, argued for probation with a suspended prison sentence hanging over Umar should his probation ever be revoked. Hargrove said Umar has spent nearly two years in custody awaiting a trial, then sentencing after he took a plea agreement, and no further punishment is necessary.

What it comes down to is how much more time is it that Mr. Umar needs to be in custody? Hargrove asked.

Hargrove said during Umars time in jail, he hasnt been sitting on his hands but has taken courses to improve himself and come out a better person.

Umars time in prison will be shortened by about a year and eight months, credit for the time he has spent in the Dane County Jail following his arrest.

Umar told Taylor he regrets the decisions he made that day and apologized to the victims, who were not in the courtroom, along with the people who live near the 1800 block of Commercial Avenue, where the shooting happened.

He also asked for Taylors forgiveness, and told her, Im not a monster.

Taylor agreed, telling Umar that its obvious he is loved by people who describe him as loving and kind.

Its also true that you fired a gun into a (truck) cab that had three people in it, she said. The disproportionate response, she said, was so hard to understand.

Assistant District Attorney Tracy McMiller asked for a 10-year prison sentence. While neither of the two men who were shot responded to attempts to contact them for victim impact statements, McMiller said when she last spoke to the man who was shot in the face and torso, he still had bullet fragments in his body and was continuing to feel lingering after-effects from the shooting, both physically and psychologically. During his treatment, he had to be put into a medically induced coma for a few days, she said.

Umar claimed the occupants of the truck had guns, but none were found on any of the three, in the truck, or along the route they took as they ran for help after the shooting.

Hargrove stood by the possibility that one of the three had a gun and that it had been hidden before police arrived.

The shooting happened after one of the men in the truck had arranged to buy marijuana in Facebook messages with Umars then-girlfriend, Mariana Sanchez. When they eventually met at Warner Park, one of the men handed Umar two fake $100 bills and got $40 back in real money from Umar.

After discovering the money was fake, Umar chased after the truck at high speeds down North Sherman Avenue. The chase ended on Commercial Avenue when Umar blocked the truck with his car, got out and fired gunshots into the truck.

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A Dane County jury on Thursday handed down mixed verdicts to a man accused in 2020 of trying to snatch a woman from a Downtown alley at gunpoint, finding him guilty of false imprisonment and attempted kidnapping, but acquitting him of strangulation and attempted second-degree sexual assault.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for about five hours before reaching the verdicts against Kavi T. Fix, 25, of Madison, after two days of testimony followed Thursday by closing arguments. Fix was also convicted of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Circuit Judge Julie Genovese revoked Fixs bail and ordered him taken into custody to await sentencing, agreeing with prosecutors that Fix now stands convicted of serious crimes. A sentencing hearing will be set after a pre-sentence investigation is completed by the state Department of Corrections.

Before his trial, Fix had been free after his parents posted $7,000 bail. Fixs attorney, state Assistant Public Defender Catherine Dorl, argued Fix is not a risk to flee because he is already on DOC supervision for a 2015 conviction for third-degree sexual assault and has also been supervised without incident by Dane County Pretrial Services.

But Assistant District Attorney John Rice argued that with the possibility of long prison sentences ahead, Fix now has the greatest incentive not to return to court.

Fix was charged after two women who were walking in an alley between Mendota Court and Langdon Street on June 19, 2020, called 911 after one of the women was grabbed by a man at gunpoint, who then tried to drag her away.

The attack was interrupted when two people walked into the alley and saw what was happening, causing the assailant to point his gun at them, then flee.

Using surveillance camera images, police tracked a car that sped away from Mendota Court, winding up at the intersection of South Bassett and West Wilson streets, where the car crashed. The driver was Fix. Along the way, the car had gone through two stop signs and nearly ran a red light at West Washington Avenue.

As police investigated, officers found a gun  a realistic-looking plastic BB gun with black paint covering the orange barrel tip  hidden in some bushes near the crash site. Testimony at Fixs trial indicated a high likelihood that DNA on the gun was Fixs.

Defense stance

Dorl argued that police had decided early in the investigation that Fix was their suspect and stopped looking for any other possible suspects, and instead looked for evidence that would back their notion, a clear case of confirmation bias.

Anything that contradicted their theory that Kavi Fix did it was either not collected or was not presented to you, Dorl told the jury.

Dorl argued that Fixs lies to police about having been at work that night until just before the crash were innocent. Fix made up the story and stuck to it because he did not want his parents to know he had been going out to bars that night in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anything Fix did as he walked around Downtown that night and tried to pick up women, Dorl said, were just things men Fixs age do, and there was nothing sinister about them, as she said prosecutors had implied.

Prosecutors rebut

Rice countered that the story Fix told police, which Fix changed piece by piece as police confronted him with evidence, was significant.

If you are a truly innocent man, you dont have any reason to lie, Rice said. The only reasonable conclusion when you look at all the evidence is that it was him.

Speaking earlier to the jury, Assistant District Attorney Rebekah Rennicke argued that Fixs movements Downtown, by car and by foot, along with the many text messages he sent to women that night, and an encounter in a Downtown parking ramp in which he tried to kiss a woman he did not know, set a pattern. She urged the jury not to buy the notion of Fix as the victim, but rather as someone who was exactly where he wanted to be that night.

This was not a case of wrong place, wrong time, she said. It was a case of right place, right time. This is where he wanted to be.

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Elementary and middle school students were evacuated from St. Dennis Catholic School Thursday afternoon because of a fire in the basement, the Madison Fire Department said.

No one was injured, but the fire caused heavy smoke throughout the 4K through eighth grade parochial school at 409 Dempsey Road, Fire Department spokesperson Cynthia Schuster said.

Firefighters responded to the fire in a basement storage room around 2:30 p.m., and battled the fire for more than an hour before extinguishing it at 4:01 p.m.

Schuster said the fire was contained to the room, but numerous storage items made it challenging to determine the origin of the fire and hot spots kept cropping up. The room also had poor ventilation.

Smoke has been an issue. Theres a lot of smoke, Schuster said.

Firefighters confirmed all 256 students and staff were accounted for. A beloved classroom guinea pig was also found safe, Schuster said.

The school established a meeting point for parents to pick up their children at Dempsey Road and Anchor Road.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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The Madison School District has named Mathew Thompson principal of La Follette High School.

Thompson had been serving as interim principal of the high school since September. Superintendent Carlton Jenkins told parents in an email Friday that Thompson has proven himself in that role.

Principal Thompson has demonstrated strong leadership, a commitment to honoring student voices (and) uplifting a dedicated staff, as well as a devotion to the La Follette community, Jenkins said.

Devon LaRosa, the former principal, left the district early into the 2021-22 school year for a position as deputy chief of schools in the Chicago Public School District.

Thompson has worked for the Madison School District in various roles for nearly 30 years, Jenkins said. He started as a special education teacher, then moved into leadership roles. He has served as assistant principal at Leopold Elementary, Cherokee Middle School and most recently La Follette.

Thompson has a masters degree in special education from UW-Madison and his administrative license from Edgewood College.

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A psychiatric hospital that opened in Middleton in August was cited by inspectors this month for not letting patients have visitors, despite a policy allowing them, and for not documenting the resolution of patient grievances.

Miramont Behavioral Health, which got a new owner in January, received five federal citations and two state citations after an inspection April 5-11 that was conducted in response to a complaint, according to inspection reports. The facility was found to be in compliance with Medicare requirements overall, with the federal violations resulting in standard level citations, not infractions considered more serious.

Will Callison, interim CEO at Miramont, said in a statement that the facilitys focus is to deliver the highest quality care to all patients. He said Miramont is in substantial compliance with all regulatory agencies.

According to inspectors from the state Department of Health Services, at least three of the 15 patients at the facility hadnt had in-person or virtual visits from family or friends, despite a written policy allowing such visits.

Miramont administrators told inspectors they werent allowing visitors because of COVID-19. But the facility failed to update their visitation policy to reflect COVID-19 visitor restrictions, according to one of two inspection reports.

Responses to 12 grievances from patients were not properly documented, inspectors said. There was no evidence to show any follow-up was done by the client rights specialists or any other staff, the other report said.

Inspectors said Miramont failed to complete an incident report for a patient who fell and sustained injuries, and who said another patient repeatedly came into his room.

The facility also didnt have a contingency plan for staff not vaccinated against COVID-19, and it discontinued medications a patient was court ordered to take, making him afraid to restart them, according to a worker.

The 72-bed hospital in Middletons Airport Road Business Park added to Dane Countys other 100 inpatient psychiatric beds at UnityPoint Health-Meriter, SSM Health St. Marys Hospital, UW Hospital and Stoughton Hospital.

In January, Summit BHC, based in Franklin, Tennessee, purchased Miramont and six other psychiatric hospitals from Memphis, Tennessee-based Strategic Behavioral Health. They include Willow Creek Behavioral Health, which opened in Green Bay in 2017.

Strategic Behavioral Health had regulatory problems, closing a facility in Las Vegas in 2020 after violations. The same year, authorities in Colorado shut down another after numerous citations.

In April 2018, before the city of Middleton approved the Miramont project, the Wisconsin State Journal reported on nine immediate jeopardy citations and other serious actions taken against facilities owned by the company.

The state health department has issued dozens of citations to Willow Creek Behavioral Health, the State Journal reported last year. Most of the violations dont appear to be as serious as some at the companys hospitals in other states, but one in 2020 involved a lack of supervision in connection with an adult patient charged with sexual assault of a juvenile patient.

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